#midnight madness was/is (???) a program

[inkykeiji]

watching willy’s wonderland (finally!!!) and i am absolutely loving the 1930s—1950s B-movie horror vibes!!! like the wooden acting and horrid script + the cheap practical effects and prosthetics are all great, but oh my god,, the cinematography n editing are by far my favourite. like the nonsensical camera angles and the shot compositions and the jump cuts and the shot/reverse shots with nic cage vs the animatronics???????? brilliant i loved it so much

[awardswatcherik]

TIFF48: Midnight Madness and Discovery Programs Announced with World Premieres of 'Dicks: The Musical' and Patricia Arquette's 'Gonzo Girl'

[bambikisss]

Django :: J.Yunho

-> Cop! Yunho x Criminal! Reader

-> Django: ATEEZ

-> After the bounty on you is raised, Yunho is sent out to go looking for you. What happens when he actually does find you outside of a club?

-> Warnings: Use of nicknames (Slut, princess, baby), degradation, spanking, use of handcuffs, car sex, from the back, ROUGH, oral (both reciving), Outlaw Yunho (deserves his own warnings at this point)

A/N: I have returned! I've been excited for ATEEZ's outlaw release, so I immediately thought of cop Yunho with Django. Plus, I just saw a video of Yunho getting mad and I immediately knew I had to write something about him. You are also nicknamed Django in this as well

Not proofread | Comments and reblogs are appreciated!

"Officer Yunho! Hey!" The busy police office doesn't stop Wooyoung from calling him as he enters the office, sighing as he asks what he wants. He had just came back from booking a criminal who punched him in the jaw, so he wasn't in the mood for whatever Wooyoung wanted to gossip about.

Before Wooyoung could show Yunho the meme he found, the police captain enters the room, passing around a wanted poster that was freshly printed. "Alright everyone, all hands on deck! We finally got a good picture to put on the wanted poster of the robber who has been making rounds around the city. She needs to be captured as soon as possible! The citizens of this city are constantly complaining about us not finding her."

Yunho nods at the captain's words, remembering the old lady earlier who was lecturing him while he was putting someone in his backseat. His eyes look over the wanted poster, noticing the now high bounty on you.

WANTED: Y/N AKA Django.

10 thousand dollar bounty! He can't help but scoff, knowing no one would turn someone else in for such a low bounty. He has often told his captain that they needed to raise the amount to actually make the citizens care, but his words were brushed off. His words were always brushed off, despite being one of the top cops who brought in the criminals. As he was preparing to go out on patrol to avoid doing any office work, the captain stopped him, handing him a stack of the wanted posters, giving him the silent look to go put them up all around the city. Yunho didn't even try to object, sighing as he accepting the papers before leaving the office, not wanting anyone else to add to his work load.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "No, ma'am, I cannot arrest him for parking here. This parking spot is not yours as it's public parking." Yunho couldn't help but sigh as he tried to hold back his anger at the woman's yelling, wanting nothing more than to yell back at her. But, he couldn't do that, not when he had this job to help people, even if they were centimeters from his face yelling about something as small as a parking spot.

Once he was finally back in his car, he drove a good bit away so he could be alone for a bit. Even though it was a good bit past midnight, the calls were still rampant. In moments like theses, it often made him wonder why he chose this job. He tossed his head back to rest against the headrest, taking a deep breath to help calm himself before he his phone began to ring, vibrating the many wanted posters of the criminal he still hadn't posted around the city. He answered the phone, returning to his natural position as he listened to Wooyoung.

"I'm currently working on the program for our bodycams, so I'm just calling to let you know that they'll be done for a while. I suggest you get some sleep while you can." Yunho thanked him before hanging up, smiling at the idea of finally being able to be asleep. He'd have to thank Wooyoung later for giving him a heads up.

As he returned to his upright position, he noticed someone walking out of a club, the woman walking right past the cop car. He couldn't help but admire the woman, his eyes moving over her beautiful short dress and heels.

Maybe he could do something else besides sleeping for the time being.

"Excuse me!" he got out of his car, jogging to catch up with the woman. He hoped he wasn't scaring her as he knew how some people felt about the police suddenly approaching them, but he hoped his charms could keep her from feeling so scared. He jogged in front of the woman, smiling as she met his eyes. "Sorry for bothering you, miss, but I-"

Oh. My. God.

Yunho paused as he made eye contact with the woman, his mind going back to the many wanted pictures that sat in the passenger seat of his car. He watched as a slow smile crept onto your lips, realizing that you're Y/N.

He just caught Django.

"You're under arrest, Y/N. Or, could I say Django." You tilted your head as you watched him roughly grab his handcuffs from his belt, the metal glimmering in the moonlight as he roughly grabbed your arm. You mentally cursed yourself for not realizing the car you walked in front of was a cop car, let alone the man you stopped to talk to was a cop. You tried to move from his strong hands, but he only pulled you closer to him, handcuffing your hands behind your back before he moved closer to you, pressing his chest to your back as he said into your ear "finally caught you, bitch." You would usually beat someone up for calling you a bitch, but to hear Yunho say it with a deep voice, filled with anger made your body warm up and your panties dampen. You wouldn't lie; he was hot and if he wasn't pushing you to get into his car, you would've given yourself to him to have his way with you. You were dying to know what was underneath the tight cop clothes that only showed off his muscles, mentally moaning at his roughness as he shoved you into the backseat before slamming the door shut.

Yunho couldn't believe he had been the one to catch you, smirking as he thought about what he could do with that lousy prize money- while it wasn't a lot, it was could be enough for a trip somewhere, maybe even a cruise.

He quickly got into the front seat before he began driving, thinking about what to do with you now that he had you handcuffed in his backseat. He knew that if he brought you back to the precinct, he wouldn't get the credit he deserved, plus you had escaped before so he couldn't bring you there. He bit his lip before pulling over into a empty alleyway, deciding to call his captain to tell him the great news. He looked back at you in the rearview mirror, gasping lightly as he noticed your legs now spread, giving him a perfect view of your now wet lace panties as your head rested back against the headrest. The image of you like that made his mouth water and pants tighten, cursing softly as he ripped his eyes from you. He waited at the tone for his captain to answer before he cursed as his voicemail began to speak. The one time he actually wanted this man to answer the phone, he wasn't. Yunho sighed before cursing softly, remembering that his body cams were off.

Why would he wait for the other police to punish you when he could? You gasped as the backseat door was ripped open, Yunho's hand moving to roughly pull you from the backseat to your knees in front of him, your knees now resting against the wet alleyway ground as he looked down at you with angry eyes. "What the fuck are you-"

"Shut up, slut. I suggest you do as I say or I'll make sure you'll spend the rest of your life behind bars." You jumped at his rough voice, watching as he began to unbuckle his pants, pushing them down his thick thighs to show you his large cock, hard and standing at attention against his stomach. Your mouth couldn't help but water, leaning forward to get a taste before hissing as his hand moved to grip your hair, roughly pulling your hair back so you could see his face, his tongue poking his cheek as his eyes darkened. "No. Good girls get to taste this cock. I don't think I should even let you look at it, let alone taste it." You were about to speak, your words cut off my his hand moving from your hair to roughly grip your cheeks, growling as he heard you whimper at his rough movements. It only made his cock harder, twitching in front of you, making you moan.

"You want this cock, you're going to earn it. Tonight, you belong to me- you are mine. You will answer to me or I will stop and drop you off in the jail in an instant." You nodded at his rough voice, mentally moaning when you hear him chuckling before moving forward, pushing only the head of his cock into your mouth, tossing his head back as your tongue moved around to gather the precum eagerly. Yunho closed his eyes at the feeling of your warm tongue moving over the slit of his cock before he decided he had enough, tossing his head forward to watch as he pushed the rest of his cock into your mouth, going down your throat in a slow pace. He watched as your eyes watered due to his large size, his hips moving in a slow pace as he clicked his tongue, shaking head in disappointment before removing his cock from your mouth.

"You want me to take care of that wet pussy you were showing me earlier, right slut?" you nodded at his question, gasping as his hands forcefully opened your mouth before he roughly pushed his cock back down your throat. "Then hurry up and pleasure me. Show me what you're good for, slut."

You nodded, your fingers digging into your wrist as you began to move your head along his cock, moaning around his long, thick length. You met his eyes while you did so, making Yunho moan as you moaned around him again, making him toss his head back against the wall. You moved faster as he cursed softly, praising you in between his moans.

"There we go, slut, now you're showing me what you're good for, fuck!" His voice raised as his hips began to move, dragging his length all the way out of your mouth before slamming back down your throat, making you choke around his length at his hard pace. You couldn't help but moan at rough he was being with you, squeezing your own legs to offer yourself some pleasure as he continued to fuck your throat at a fast pace. You soon felt his cock twitch, letting you know that he was going to cum. Yunho showed no sign of slowing down, though, moving even faster before roughly stopping his hips against your face as his cum filled your throat, choking out a moan before he slowly pulling out of your mouth as you cough, a mixture of drool and cum dripping down your mouth as you did so.

Yunho smirked before his thumb moved across your skin, gathering the mixture before shoving it back into your mouth, humming as your tongue moved around it to gather the mixture. He felt his cock harden immediately, hooking his thumb into the side of your mouth before helping you stand, ushering you to get back into the car. You carefully crawled in, gasping as you felt his hand meet your ass roughly, surely going to leave a mark as the car door slammed closed behind him. You rested your head against the seat as you felt his hands move around your body, pushing up your already short dress up your waist before kissing around your ass and lower back, whispering praises as he did so.

"I think you earned a bit of a surprise, don't you, princess?" He asked against your lower back, his hands moving to pull down your panties in a slow pace. You nodded, your brain too fuzzy from him face fucking you to think clearly. Yunho smirked at your state before letting his fingers move along your wetness, chuckling as he listened to you mewl at the teasing feeling. "What if my other officers were on duty tonight and caught you walking in front of their car wearing this slutty little dress instead of me, huh? Would you let them get a taste of this pretty pussy like this, princess?" He chuckled as you let out an almost drunk sounding "no, only you!"

"Fuck, yes that feels so good!" You moaned loudly as his finger suddenly plunged into your wet heat, his tongue soon following while he tasted you, making you moan loudly. It seemed like everything about Yunho was big- his cock, his muscles, even his tongue and fingers were big as he ate you out, his fingers moving in you at a rapid pace. He groaned as he felt his cock twitch underneath himself, letting his fingers move from you to lubricate himself before pumping himself, moaning loudly into your wet cut. The sounds and noises you were making for him made him move his own hand faster along his cock, plunging his tongue deeper into you to capture more of your wetness. You tasted so fucking sweet to him, making him want more of you.

It almost made him mad that his bodycam was off- he wanted to be able to watch the footage back of him having you like this.

"C-cum, I'm going to-" Your whimpers were cut off with a noise of disappointment as Yunho immediately removed his tongue from your wet cunt at your words, making you whine louder before yelping as his hand laid another spank to your ass. Before you could ask what the fuck he was doing edging you like this, you gasped at the feeling of his cock slowly pushing it's way into your cunt. Yunho swore it felt better than heaven; the way it wrapped deliciously around his long, thick cock made him toss his head forward with a loud moan, spanking you again. "That's such a nice pussy, baby. Too bad I'm going to ruin it"

That was the only warning you got before he began to pound into you, rocking your body as his hips roughly met the plush of your ass. He grunted as his hands held onto your handcuffed hands for balance, driving his hard cock into you at a fast pace. He tossed his head back as you moaned loudly, the feeling your orgsam soon washing over you as you toss your own head back, coating his cock in your warm cum. You laid against the seat limp as all of your energy left your body, trying to catch your breath as you felt him slowly pull out of you with a wet pop. You winced at the wet sound, wanting nothing more than to fall asleep against the leather seats.

"Don't think I'm done with you, slut. This is your punishment."

You gasped as you felt Yunho pick you up, sitting himself down before having you hover over his hard cock. You whimpered as he slowly sunk you back down onto it, moaning as you noticed the bulge forming in your stomach from how big he was. Once you were fully seated on his cock, Yunho noticed how tried you were, clicking his tongue before slapping your ass, grunting out "you better get to riding slut or that jail is going to be where you're laying your head for the night" "It's hard to ride you with my hands behind my back" You moaned out harshly, letting your head rest back against the front seat as you tried to catch your breath. Yunho chuckled, before leaning forward to kiss your neck, leaving marks along your neck before pulling back from you, holding up the handcuffs that were around your wrists. "There. Now ride me."

You nodded at his demanding voice, placing your hands on his shoulders before bouncing along his cock at a fast pace, moaning loudly at the feeling of his cock grazing your G-spot. Yunho moaned before smashing his lips against yours, gripping your hips to help you move along his cock at a fast pace as the sound filled the car. He let his tongue move to meet yours as you moved faster, panting into the kiss at the feeling of him going so deep into you.

"Fuck, Y/N baby, if you keep riding me like this I'm gonna fill you up with my cum." he couldn't help but laugh breathlessly as he tossed his head forward to let his lips hover over yours as you bounced his hands gripping your breasts now to for leverage as he fucks up into you, saying "and if you make me cum hard enough, I'll let you fucking go. Yeah baby, ride me hard like that and I'll let you go free"

You let his words provide sudden motivation to you as you begin to ride him again, meeting his rough thrusts as you bounce, gripping his hair as you pressed your foreheads against each other, moaning loudly as the wet sounds become louder int he car, the car moving with the force of you two.

"That's it, Y/N, I'm going to cum! You better cum with me, let me fill you up with my fucking cum!" Yunho tossed his head back as he slammed your down on his cock, an almost animalistic moan leaving his mouth as he cums, roughly kissing you as you squeeze around him, both your cums now coating your thighs and his cock. You both panted into the kiss before he carefully helped you to lay back against the leather seat, slowly pulling out of you as your legs shook.

You let your eyes close as you heard the car door close before the car turn on, being too tired to do anything as you slowly fell asleep. You soon woke up to the sound of Yunho on the phone, fully dressed in his police uniform as he spoke to who you figured to be his captain. You fixed your dress as you felt a surge of nervousness fill your body, reaching for the car door, feeling surprised as the car door opens, showing you it was unlocked. As you slipped out from the backseat, you realized Yunho had brought you back to where he had originally found you. You turned to him as he held out his card, his number written on it before he said to whoever he was on the phone with "Did I find Django? Y/N? No, I didn't."

You caught him smirking at you as you accepted the card, smiling back at him as you exited the car, the last thing you hear him say before you close the door being "yes I will go patrol and look for her." You carefully closed the door as he drove away, looking down at the card he gave you with his number on it.

Call me, Django ;)

[cinnajun]

ᵕ̈ ೫˚∗: arguments with zb1

a/n: omg i posted before midnight this is a big win

notes: yujin is not included due to his age!

wc | 1.9k

jiwoong

the best way i can describe an argument with jiwoong is “mature”

you guys don’t argue often at all so when you do there’s usually a good reason for you to be arguing

perhaps it has to do with your living situation, or you’re not taking an issue jiwoong talked to you about as seriously as he wants you to be, or you feel like he’s spending too much time away from you

whatever it is, your argument will last max 3 days

day one is reserved for sulking, and you might end up staying the night at a friend’s house while jiwoong sits with hao and hanbin and tries to work through what he’s feeling

day two is for thinking—both of you think through things rationally and take mental notes on what you did wrong and what you think was on the other person

then, day three is for talking it out. you’ll decide on a place to meet that isn’t home, and you’ll work through everything while not getting upset or saying something unwarranted.

then, afterward, you’ll go home together and do something light and fun to cheer the both of you up

things go back to normal within four days, and you don’t think about the issue ever again

zhang hao

fights with hao are not fun

hot take but i think he’s the type of person to ghost you when you make him too upset

so whatever you’re fighting over, be it the dishes or something he said, once he gets angry enough he will just walk out and not talk to you for a while

depending on how upset he is it can be anywhere from less than a day to three or four days with no contact between the two of you

so yeah this is kind of a red flag but you don’t fight literally ever so it doesn’t happen enough for it to be a big issue

and his reasoning for ghosting you is that he doesn’t want to say something he doesn’t mean and/or can’t come back from

hao knows he’s the type of person to just say something wildly untrue when he’s mad and his worst fear is doing that to you

he returns from his mental retreat so apologetically, even if you end up thinking you were more in the wrong

will bring you an apology gift (usually it’s flowers or some sort of sweet treat) and always has some big long speech prepared

you also apologize if you feel it’s warranted (which is almost every time)

things will go back to normal in max two weeks

hanbin

fights with hanbin are big and emotional

like super emotional

this man is so in love with you that you being the source of any negative emotions is really hard for him to stomach

and it’s likely that, for the course of your entire relationship, you’ll fight maybe once or twice at most

so the fight you have is big and possibly the result of a lot of pent-up emotions that built up over a long period of time

you’re the one to walk out, and he’s full-blown sobbing by the time that happens

he feels miserable for the next couple of days

you two don’t ghost each other but it’s minimal contact and you can barely look at one another without crying lol

hanbin will probably end up staying elsewhere and you’ll stay home, drowning your sorrows in ice cream while you cry on the phone with your friends

when you’re both sound enough to work it out, you two just kinda cry apologies at each other

when the time comes for you to actually talk it out, it’s pretty easy and you’re left wondering what exactly the fight was over in the first place

hanbin will kiss every single part of you after the wound is patched up

and then he’s attached to you for the next couple of days lol

things go back to normal in maybe three-ish weeks? like that’s when he stops being super clingy and you go back to regularly scheduled programming

matthew

fights with matthew are small

he seems like the type of guy to be able to talk out big issues without it blowing out of proportion

so any larger problems the two of you are like … worked out via controlled and calm conversation

then you will have a blowout argument over you losing one of the sweatshirts you took without asking (your mom took it to the dry cleaners and didn’t tell you)

your arguments are petty and it’s a lot of really fake words thrown back and forth

so it’s not like one of you is being unnecessarily mean to the other, it’s from both of you

you don’t talk for a couple of days (also mutual) and then your mom’s dry cleaning shows up with the sweatshirt in tow

you send him a picture of it with some tear stains on it and he’s like … are you crying

then he’ll show up at your house not even thinking about the sweatshirt, just the fact that he doesn’t like it when you cry

will do anything to get you to stop crying

apologizes 18 times and puts on the tear-stained sweatshirt while going “wow, it’s so clean!” in hopes that you’ll at least laugh

after he fixes the crying situation you apologize too and suddenly it’s like it never happened

things go back to normal in a week

taerae

fights with taerae are quiet

tbh i just think his anger/sadness/any negative emotion is quiet

there’s no yelling, no crying, no insults, no nothing

the argument itself will be a bunch of isolated statements paired with scoffs, rubbing your tumbles, and feeling exasperated

neither of you leaves to cool off, and you just sit in different rooms after the fact

the next day might be a bit awkward and taerae will be somewhat cold towards you (and it would be a lie to say you don’t reciprocate the same exact energy)

but at some point during the day, while you’re sulking and laying down in bed, taerae will come in and lay down next to you

starts off by saying sorry and then you talk things out while just … laying there

he’s neither the type of person to take all the blame nor the type of person to shove all the blame onto you

like you could be entirely at fault but he will distribute responsibility equally between the two of you

he’s just the type of guy who really does not like arguing so he will do whatever he can to fix it quickly

after you’re done talking you’ll go on a long drive together

it’s aimless and quiet, but he holds your hand the whole time :)

things go back to normal within 3 days

ricky

i think fights with ricky are turbulent

you never really know the direction they’re going to go in you know

you don’t necessarily fight often but it’s not like you never fight, either

i think it’s a healthy amount of bickering

somewhat like an old couple LOL

if you have a big argument, though, it’s pretty much the least fun you’ve ever had in your whole entire life

ricky isn’t the type of guy to yell and cry but he’s the type of guy to give you a look that makes you feel like crying

i also think he’d struggle to take everything you’re saying seriously so he might laugh in exasperation from time to time

which obviously makes you angrier

i think if you end up crying, though, ricky will have like a crazy moment of clarity where he’s like … oh shit

cue some crazy introspection

you’ll run off somewhere else in the house and he’ll just sit on the couch and think

he’s practically taking notes on the entire thing, and studying what he thinks was the most out-of-pocket for him to say and what he needs to apologize for

after he’s gathered his thoughts he’ll seek you out and ask if you’re okay sitting down and talking with him

and he will wait however long he needs to if you say no

he essentially says everything he feels necessary, ends it off with an apology and kisses your hand

then it’s over

things go back to normal within the day

gyuvin

you bicker with gyuvin a lot and 99.9% of the time it’s silly and super unserious

that’s the type of couple you are yk

so your fights are born out of your little, unserious arguments actually going a little bit too far, and they last soooo long

and most of it happens in front of your friends which isn’t nice either

it starts out very small, with little jabs at one another

keeps amping up for the rest of the night, and once you both leave whatever hangout you were at, all your friends are like … they’re gonna fight guys get ready

they’re right

you argue the entire way home and when he drops you off he doesn’t even give you a good night kiss, which makes things even worse

you continue arguing over text and into the next few days all while acting like everything is fine

meanwhile, you’re texting your friends (separately) like can you believe that he just said that? can you believe he’s pulling this shit?

finally they lock you two in a room and tell you to figure it out because your arguing is annoying

you will painstakingly be like “okay maybe i went too far” and he essentially does the exact same thing

and then he apologizes for not giving you a good night kiss that one time and everything is fine

things go back to normal in like 2 weeks but just keep in mind for the entire 2 weeks you were just being passive-aggressive with each other

gunwook

arguments with gunwook are born out of stress and aren’t really arguments

he’s a busy guy who’s doing a lot of things and sometimes he bites off more than he can chew

which isn’t nice because he refuses to be like “hey i might have to lay off boyfriend duties for a couple of days so i can work through all these commitments i made without thinking” because he thinks he’ll be a bad boyfriend because of it

essentially you’re not even aware he’s getting upset with you until the stress bubbles over one day

he accidentally tells you to leave him alone and let him work which makes you sad :(

but you do because you pretty much understand that he’s overwhelmed

but you’re still upset so you don’t just forgive him and move on because … idk … if he talked to you it wouldn’t have happened in the first place

is this petty … kind of yes but if you want things to change you need to put your foot down!!!

so you spend the next two or three days missing your boyfriend a miserable amount before he texts you saying “can we talk”

of course you can

you practically sprint to his house

and you talk!! and he apologizes for being mean to you while promising it won’t happen again

and gunwook learns from his actions so it really doesn’t happen again

things go back to normal in 3-4 days

thank you for reading !

tags: @happysmileybee @wtfhyuck

[teddybearsandspaceships]

Notes for another Cleo stream, this one from April Fools. (Cleo has been uploading VODs again \o/ so it will probably be available on Youtube soon! Still available on Twitch here.) Featuring Real Life talk and permit office shenanigans with Grian, Scar, Etho, and Pearl.

Cleo reads out a message congratulating them on the Real Life win only a minute into the stream [making life hard for the mods, who pin a message not to talk about spoilers, as usual ^^]

Cleo´s opinion on if their win is canon: “Why wouldn´t it be real? Why wouldn´t it be?” The test, going by TV series rules: if the special gets mentioned in a later episode it´s canon.

They discovered the allays having coffee at the kitty café that False put there :D

Apparently the group was initially concerned if people would be mad, but they were still making content. The “April Fools” part was just that it was a one-off.

In-game chat: Grian announces the permit office is open. Special opening hours for April 1st! Pearl and Cleo are immediately suspicious and say it sounds like a trap. Joel says that Grian is actually nice to day (but on midnight he turns back into a nightmare.) Cleo is not at all convinced.

About Real Life: ~"the first thing everybody did was wave to each other, and dance, and give hugs, and I think that says a lot"

Pearl apparently had a 0/10 experience at the permit office. The permit office is closed again. nobody is surprised.

After the recording, Scar mentioned that he was told he should get a lap belt too… Scar is not Scar-safe. Cleo is frequently concerned/worried about Scar, which is only appropriate. "I´m not worried he´s gonna hurt himself, I´m worried he´s gonna, just, tear down the fabric of society.” "He´s a special little sausage, and also needs poking with sticks on a regular basis. Like big sticks – not little sticks, massive, massive sticks."

ooh apparently three glass permits are up for grabs! Grian, Scar, Cleo, Etho, and Pearl have a discussion in front of the permit office. Very soon this involves talking about loopholes to the permit office rules, but Grian tells them to stop it, he will just make up more rules. Pearl says she might be an NPC, Cleo says AI is not that advanced. Scar has skins, hats, and plans for him and Skizz has permit enforcers, but no spoilers

They looked at the permit office and the backrooms, listened to some unsettling music, and then started talking about cooking (more specifically Scar started talking about his meat. That he cooked, as Etho was glad to hear him clarify.) Grian thinks Etho would eat grey sludge nutrition paste.

Etho´s daily sandwich: a foot-long baguette, provelone cheese, hungarian salami, lettuce, tomatoes, salt and pepper, balsamic vinegar-based dressing. With dill pickles on the side. Grian calls it the most gourmet sandwich. "The more I learn the more I both admire and get confused.” Etho doesn´t understand the big deal [tbh neither do I? It´s a sandwich.] Scar says it´s because of how mysterious Etho is. Etho considers dramatizing everything part of the job as a youtuber.

"being tortured by Grian is fun, right? Right?" - Cleo

What would be Cleo´s mission if someone had created her? Pearl: to burn things down? Cleo asked if she´s burned down things recently. Etho: "She´s a trap door flipper."

repeated discussions about if Pearl is an AI or not

"you don´t have to be an NPC if you don´t want to, you can break your programming" - killing Cleo, however, would not be unexpected. Pearl has already stabbed her in the heart repeatedly. Not in Real Life! They were together that series. [Is it just me or does Pearl´s “yeeah…” sound a little more hesitant ^^]

Bonus: Cleo contemplates stealing cOW

[flanaganfilm]

Mike, can you tell us your experience premiering Oculus at tiff 2013? I recently saw Perri Nemiroff’s interview with you (looking like a baby btw- so young) and it made me think about what your mindset must have been as in getting yo experience the launch of your career, post Absentia, at one of the most prestigious festivals.

Oh, I remember that very well... a lot changed in a very short amount of time. And I think I know the interview you're talking about, I keep trying to link to it here but it doesn't take...

So there are few things to point out about Oculus and about what was happening in my life at the time. When Oculus got greenlit, I was working full time as a reality television editor. I used to sneak out of my job at lunch to go to "doctor's appointments" whenever I had to come for production meetings or casting sessions (they started to think there was something really, really wrong with my health).

Making the movie was an amazing learning experience - it was my first "real" movie, and full of lessons. It was the first collaboration with people who would become pillars of my career moving forward, like producer Trevor Macy (who is now my partner at Intrepid Pictures and who has produced everything I've ever made since) and my DP Michael Fimognari, who is one of the most important collaborators of my life. It was also the first time I worked with a young actress named Kate Siegel, who played the spooky ghost in the mirror.

We went into TIFF with distribution already in place. FilmDistrict had committed to the project during the Cannes market before we shot the movie, so we thought we were set. It was going to be my big theatrical debut.

Just before we premiered at TIFF, FilmDistrict abruptly and bafflingly dropped the film. I still don't really know why. They had committed to a worldwide theatrical release for the movie, but for reasons that were never made entirely clear to me, they dropped us just before the festival. Suddenly the whole enterprise was in jeopardy, and I didn't know if anyone would pick the movie back up.

I was absolutely terrified.

Being my first "real" movie, I didn't really know how this world worked and couldn't understand why our distributor didn't want to release it. We'd made the movie they had been excited about, they seemed to really like it, and we'd done everything they asked - it was a shock to the system. So when we rolled into tiff, we were homeless and trying not to let FilmDistrict's abrupt change of heart poison our chances of another sale.

I had never been to TIFF before but heard about Midnight Madness, which had seen huge sales from Cabin Fever and Insidious. Bidding wars had broken out while the films were still screening. But being part of the program was absolutely no guarantee of distribution - in fact, this might be the highest this movie would ever rise.

Trevor Macy and I went to the world premiere of The Green Inferno, which was playing the night before we played, and the audience was ROWDY. Like, shouting and hollering throughout the movie. We looked at each other with wide, nervous eyes - if this was the Midnight Madness audience, they were going to hate our movie the next day. We were considerably slower, ponderous, and atmospheric in a room that seemed to demand visceral, overt entertainment. I left the screening feeling dejected and a little doomed. Trevor was more upbeat, citing conversations he'd had with the programmer, Colin Geddes, who assured us he'd put our movie in the best possible spot for its success.

Our screening was September 9th, 2013 at midnight. I was petrified, and we were sold out. I remember walking into the theater feeling like this was the most important screening of my life. I wasn't alone, thank goodness. Trevor Macy, Michael Fimognari, Brenton Thwaites, Katee Sackhoff, Rory Cochrane, and James Lafferty were on hand. The film seemed to play well. It was the opposite of the screening the night before, which Colin had told us would happen - "watch," he had said. "The Saturday night slot is the big crazy one. You guys are Sunday, and it's going to be completely different. They'll plug right in."

He was right. You could hear a pin drop for most of the first half, and then there were moments of scattered applause that picked up as the film progressed. By the end, people were jumping in their seats and cheering for young Tim and Kaylee. There was an audible gasp when the anchor swung. And the applause at the credits seemed heartfelt and loud.

Most of that is a blur for me. I found this grainy pic from the Q&A after the film. I still had no idea how it had gone, or what was going to come out of it. I remember having hard time putting words together, and I vividly recall feeling like I sounded like an absolute moron whenever I talked, and trying to pass the microphone over to the actors as often as I could.

It's tough to see everyone in the pic, but from left to right it is Colin Geddes, Michael Fimognari, myself, Trevor Macy, Katee Sackhoff, Brenton Thwaites, Rory Cochrane, and James Lafferty.

When I stepped out of the theater, though, I became aware that everything had changed. I was immediately surrounded by people who had seen the film, suddenly shaking a ton of hands and realizing that it had been a hit. I walked into the theater by myself, utterly anonymous, and feeling every bit like an imposter. But everything was different when I walked out. I remember someone from the press talking about it years later, and saying "I was there that night - you walked into the theater with nothing, and walked out with a career."

People were asking me to sign stuff. That had never happened in my life. People wanted to get pictures. It was SO. FUCKING. WEIRD. Someone snapped a picture during that little whirlwind, and you can see it on my (young, skinny, hopelessly naive) face - an overall bewilderment, a gentle disbelief that this was happening:

I loved my experience at TIFF. And it absolutely started everything. Relativity, Blumhouse, and WWE Films joined forces to make an offer on the movie at the festival, and we left with a theatrical distribution deal. My career had officially begun. Now, I wouldn't feel like it had for several more years - I remained in fight/flight/survival mode well through Gerald's Game - but in retrospect, yes, that's when it happened.

Thank you for asking this question, it's been a while since I've looked back at this period of my life. It kinda makes me want to watch that movie again. It has been a LONG time, and I owe it a lot.

Maybe everything.

[horseshoegirl]

Damn Those Dog Tags: Part 7 - Oh, What a Night!

📜 Have fun with this one! We got reunions! We got tension! We got some heat packing 👀

P.S..... Don't kill me for the ending.

❗ 18+, strong language, godmother reader/original female character, original child, sexual themes, mentions of violence/threats

#5.9K words

Part 6 | Masterlist | Part 8

This wasn’t the first time you worked New Year's Eve, but it was the first time you were staying past midnight.

Penny always had a rule. If you didn’t work Christmas Eve, you worked New Year's Eve. You always found it fair, though you never drew the short end of the stick when you worked for her during school.

New Year at the Hard Deck was always fun. The students in the Top Gun program would be the rowdiest, whether it permitted them to let loose or enjoy the holiday. And the locals loved it here.

Penny would decorate the bar, banners strung from the ceiling and balloons on random chairs. She’d leave the Christmas lights up to make it look festive, and she always splurged on confetti canisters for when the clock struck midnight. 

And the best thing? The harbour across the water from the Hard Deck would put on a fireworks display, the best view being from the back deck—where Sadie, Will and Alyssa were currently settled in. 

When Alyssa learned Sadie would tag along with you tonight, she took pity on her. She decided to forgo her New Year's Eve plans of sitting at home, watching the Ball Drop with Will, to spend it with the pair of you. Penny had graciously set up the Adirondack chairs and a small heater for the three of them as they waited for the display you knew was the only reason Sadie agreed to come. 

The bar hadn’t become as busy yet as you expected, but the anxiety for the rush tonight was driving you mad. Penny had run out to do a last-minute errand, leaving you and Jimmy to cover any early customers. You found yourself double-checking and triple-checking the inventory, leaning down occasionally to make sure the bottles of sanitizer were full in the bottom cupboard, despite having just filled them. 

And that stupid keg with the loose nozzle was still causing issues.

“Come on, you stupid, goddamn thing!” Huffing in frustration, you kicked it, knowing it wouldn’t solve anything. “Why do you have to do this to me? On today of all days.” 

“What did that Keg do to a beautiful woman like you?”

You froze.

Turning around, you couldn't believe your eyes. There was Jake, just like the day you met him, leaning up against the bar with the same cocky Mona Lisa grin, taking in your reaction to his sudden appearance.

“Jake!” you almost squealed, quickly making a run for the opening of the bar. Jake laughed wholeheartedly as you slid coming around the corner, hand whipping out to balance yourself before throwing yourself into him. 

Jake bracketed his arms against your back the second you leaped, pulling you further up and into him tightly, your legs swaying as you continued to laugh happily. 

“When did you get back?” you managed to ask through your laughter. 

“Late this morning,” he chuckled into your shoulder. You didn’t want to let him go. He was here. He was back. And suddenly, the mystery ache in your chest from his absence was disappearing with each second he held you. 

“Where are the others? Are they here?” 

“Not yet,” he said, putting you down but not letting you go, hands travelling to your waist. “On their way, I might have snuck out early.” 

“Jake, please tell me you're not going to get into trouble.” 

“Nah, I just got my report done before everyone else.”

You unwound your arms from behind his neck, your hands sliding down, slowly coming to rest on his chest. Peering up at Jake, you couldn't help the gentle smile.

"Hi."

He returned your grin before looking down at your mouth, murmuringly lowly, “Hi, darlin’.” 

“You want to see her?” you asked happily. Jake's stare lasted a few seconds before a soft smile stretched across his face, and he nodded. “She’s here?” 

You couldn’t help your glee. Sadie was going to be so excited. 

“Jimmy!” you shouted, turning in Jake’s arms. “Can you handle the bar for five minutes? Somebody needs to say hi to Sadie!”

The door to the kitchen swung open, and Jimmy walked out to smile at the sight of Jake standing next to you.

"Ah, Hangman! Welcome back!" he exclaimed, reaching out his hand. Jake gripped his forearm, his grin wide as he greeted him back. “Jimmy, it's good to see you.” 

“Everyone made it back, okay?” 

“Just by the skin of our teeth.” He joked. Something made you uneasy about how nonchalantly Jake spoke, whether he was serious or not. You knew you couldn't really ask what happened while they were deployed, but that didn't mean you weren't concerned for their well-being.  

“Go say hi to our girl. I can take care of it,” he winked at the both of you. 

Jake held your hand as you led him out to the back deck, coming to stop just before the doors. You turned to him, pressing a finger to your mouth, telling him to be quiet and to remain hidden.

When you stepped outside, Sadie and Will were deep in a conversation, Alyssa with her nose buried in her phone. She looked happy, you thought, a different comparison to Christmas day. While she seemed to have a good time, the traditions that she and Ridley had that you tried to keep up only made her sad. And you couldn’t help but shed a few tears when she admitted she thought she could be making new traditions with everyone else while opening her gifts, staring at the ones she left under the tree for her aunts and uncles. 

“Bug!” you called out to her. 

She turned her head mid-conversation, and you resisted the urge to laugh, her entire body, minus her head, encased by the big fluffy blanket she had brought with her.

“There’s somebody here to see you!” you called out to her, barely containing your excitement.

Sadie leaned forward in her chair, thinking somebody might be behind you before looking to the door with a curious gaze. You motioned for Jake to leave his hiding spot. He took a gigantic step, placing himself in her line of sight and out of from behind the door frame, his voice loud as he said, “I heard somebody missed me?” 

It took Sadie all but three seconds to gasp. 

“Uncle Jake!” she shrieked, blanket floating behind her as she practically flew out of her chair. Sadie slammed herself into his legs, gripping him tight as the first bouts of happy tears started to make themselves known. Jake did a double take, registering what Sadie had called him, a new weight settling in his chest. 

Sadie wanted him in her life. She wanted to have him as one of her honorary uncles. A slow smile spread across his face at the thought. He leaned down to peel her off his legs, picking her up and spinning her in a circle while laughing with her. 

“Wait, does that mean Auntie Nat and Uncle Roo are back? Uncle Bob?” she asked as he came to a stop, putting her down. 

“Coyote, Payback and Fanboy, too,” he nodded, kneeling beside her, his hand coming up to wipe at one of the tear tracks on her face. You never saw her smile as big as she did then, dimples on full display as she tilted her head back towards the sky, shooting her arms up in joy, before going to hug Jake once more. 

You weren’t surprised Sadie didn’t want to let him go - her hand was small in comparison as it rested against his wide shoulder. But it seemed like he didn’t mind, looking at you with a smirk every so often as Sadie filled him in on what he missed before looking back to her with interest. He latched on to the warplane museum story, asking her about all the different planes she saw; Sadie happily named off the ones she remembered. 

Alssya came to stand beside you, bumping your hip with hers as she watched the pair interact with each other. 

“Whose this hunk?” she asked, making googly eyes at Jake. “Is there something you're not telling me?” 

“What, Jake? He’s just a friend.” 

She scoffed. “Yeah, friends.”

“Lyssa, don’t. He doesn’t really have anyone else. And Sadie adores him.” 

Alyssa stared at you, really stared at you, before shaking her head. She leaned down next to your ear as she returned to her seat.

“Just friends don’t look at each other like that.” 

____

You got another break when Penny returned from her supposed errand, though it was more like a 'supposed reunion' with a certain Captain. Bob, Fanboy and Payback had followed her in not long after. Sadie booked it from sitting on Jake’s knee, crashing into them while crying and hugging them. 

Then shortly after, Rooster, Phoenix and Coyote arrived. Rooster hung back as Nat swept Sadie up in a full-bodied hug, Coyote also picking her up, much like Jake did and swung her in a circle. But last to the approach was Rooster, Sadie turning to spy him nervously, smiling at her as he held out his arms. Sadie stood stock still, tears welling in her eyes and her face becoming red as she held out her arms in front of her, racing to Bradley as he knelt down, pulling her into his arms. 

Out of all the people she welcomed home tonight, Rooster’s welcome made her cry the hardest. 

The night progressed.  You noticed Jake and Coyote playing a game of pool from behind the bar. Sadie had spent, and was still spending, a good chunk of time curled up in Nat's lap, retelling her the stories of what she missed while coming down from her crying spree. Bob was with them, sitting next to Sadie while striking up a conversation with Alyssa. Fanboy and Payback had left after saying hi, explaining they already had plans to go back home for the rest of the holidays. 

And Rooster found his perch, sitting at the piano taking requests. 

Your found family was back. And you couldn’t have been happier. 

You were saying goodbye to a customer when Coyote approached the bar, smiling as he ordered more drinks for himself and Jake. 

"How was she?" he asked as you reached down to get two beer bottles. "While we were gone?"

“She was miserable. Worrying about you guys every day,” you answered, taking each bottle to the opener fixed to the door. “The video chats really helped. I’m sorry I couldn’t speak with all of you guys. Cyclone made me choose.” 

Coyote shook his head, chuckling to himself. “It’s okay, Liz. We knew you were thinking about us.” 

"How was everyone else?" you placed the beers down on the counter. Javy turned, looking out at the rest of the squad. 

"Missing home,” he said while looking at Jake.

___

Penny finally came to relieve you again a half hour before midnight. 

You found a quiet booth no one had touched yet, sliding all the way to the back to put your legs up on the bench, sighing in relief when the pressure came off your ankles. You tilted your head back against the wall and closed your eyes. You finally felt like you could breathe and take a moment for yourself. 

Till you felt a hand on your bottom ankle, lifting up your legs so somebody could slide underneath them. 

“Whoever that is, you have five seconds before I kick you off this bench.” 

���And here I thought you missed me?” Jake replied back amusedly, hand resting on your calf. You kept your eyes closed, though you smiled fondly. 

“I’ll still kick you off this bench. This is the first time I’ve sat down in hours.”

"Nope, I don't think so." He said, pulling your legs forward and trapping them in his hold as your butt slid forward on the slippery wood. You let out a startled laugh, your hand whipping out to grasp the table to prevent the back of your head from connecting with the wall.

"Hey, watch it!" You called out, laughing with him as he dramatically held your legs closer. That was until he caught you staring off into the distance, eyes unfocused, once he noticed your laughter dying down.

“What’s wrong?” 

You jolted. “It’s nothing. I’m fine. Just tried."

He didn't buy it. “I’m not going anywhere unless you tell me what’s wrong.” 

He could read you so well, you thought. You weren’t fine. Ever since finding the letter, you were on edge, looking over your shoulder in parking lots and grocery stores, making sure you were never late to pick up Sadie from something. Or if Penny or Alyssa did, you’d stress making sure they let you know when they had her.

It was only a piece of paper.  And yet, it was burning a hole in your pocket.

Sighing, you slid your legs off Jake’s lap, using the momentum to sit next to him and pull Tyler’s letter out of your back pocket. It had been folded over so many times from you looking at it that the page was starting to crease. 

“Take a look at this. I found it in Ridley’s stuff.” 

You held it out to Jake. You couldn’t help but leer at his hands, prominent veins moving while long fingers worked to unfold the piece of paper. You watched his eyes scan the page, eyes tracking over the words until they paused at the bottom. You knew the exact moment he realized, his body becoming stiff and tense sitting next to you.  

“That fucker.” 

You gulped. Jake turned to face you, harshly throwing the letter down to the table.  “Do you think he’s the one who put the review in?” 

You shook your head. “I don’t think he can.” 

“Liz, he was threatening her." His words made you drop your head to the table. Your voice was muffled as you replied sadly, “And Sadie.” 

The contents of that letter scared you more each and every time you looked at it. Tyler had written inquiring after Sadie, demanding your sister return her to him or else. There was no legality in what he was requesting, Tyler having signed his rights over. And after witnessing what he did to your sister, there was never a hells chance you'd let him get close to her. 

You’d sooner die than let her suffer at his hands.

It was a quiet cry on your lips when threading your fingers through the roots of your hair, you admitted, "I'm so scared, Jake."

“Did you take this to the police?” 

“What good would that do?” you cried out,  pulling your head back up. “They’ll probably tell me there’s nothing they can do without evidence he’s actually been in contact with me. That letter is how many months old, Jake.”

You picked it up, playing with one of the edges, bending it back and forth.

“I keep looking over my shoulder. Worrying about Sadie while she’s at school. That he's going to do something,” you sniffed, pressing the heel of your hand into your eye before letting the letter fall once again to the table.

"Elizabeth."

You turned to face Jake upon hearing your name. He looked furious, his jaw firm and a vein on his forehead protruding angrily.  "I'm not going to let that happen. He'd be flat on his ass in two seconds before he got that close to Sadie," he spoke harshly before his face relaxed slightly. "Or you."

"I can't ask you to do that. You're not getting in trouble for us."

"Too fucking bad."

Feeling overwhelmed, you pressed your forehead into the side of Jake’s shoulder, taking the opportunity to try to compose yourself before turning to rest it against his shoulder. Jake turned his head, pressing his lips to the top of yours, murmuring into your hair, “I won’t let anything happen to her.” 

You leaned back, looking up at Jake thankfully. However, you were suddenly confused by the look of determination on his face.

Liz," he said softly. "There's something I need to tell you."

You straightened a little, placing your hand on top of his resting on the table. You couldn't hide the concern from your voice when you replied, "Of course, Jake. What's wrong?"

Jake took a deep breath, turning his hand over on the table to grasp yours. He opened his mouth to speak but stopped when he noticed the worry in your eyes.

Unfortunately, in that hesitation, it took almost two seconds for Bradley to slide into the booth opposite, a permanent scowl on his face as he immediately remarked,  “And what do we have going on here?” 

“Hi, Rooster,” you said, turning to him while attempting to force a smile on your face, letting Jake's hand go to place it under the table.

“You two seem pretty close. Something you want to share?”

The heat in his voice caused a bundle of nerves to form in your stomach. You knew what it looked like, you and Jake being this close to each other.  You hadn’t really told him about Sadie, and you knew any attempt to tell him now would only result in complete denial, to cover up whatever he thought he knew. 

You picked up the letter on the table before looking up at Jake. 

"It's up to you," he told you, not bothering to once turn towards Bradley. “I’m not saying a word.” 

Jake’s choice of words didn’t help either. But you respected that he was letting you choose to tell Bradley about the issue with Sadie for yourself. And something told you he would back you up either way. 

“Bradley, whatever your thinking...”

“I don’t know, Liz,” he interrupted you. “I think you didn’t listen to us when we told you to stay away from him. That he's bad news."

"Wow, subtle Bradshaw."

Rooster ignored Jake, still eyeing you harshly.

"Are you fucking him?"

You felt Jake tense beside you, a hand coming out to grip your thigh. Instead, you calmly asked, "How much have you had to drink tonight, Roo?

He didn't answer, too caught up in his words to listen to you. “Are you even thinking about Sadie? What this might do to her? Do you even care to think about her first? You're her aunt, you should be!"

Your heart dropped into your stomach. 

“Jake, let me up. I need to get back to Penny.” 

He didn’t move. “Your break isn’t over yet.” 

“Too fucking bad.” 

Noticing your need to escape, Jake stood up to let you out. He reached out when you weren’t mindful of the coat hook above your head in your desperate urge to flee. His hand prevented what would have been a painful moment for you, and despite the pain on your face from Rooster’s words, you managed a small smile in thanks after your head bumped his hand.

You took two steps forward before deciding to stop, turning around in a silent rage, only to throw Tyler’s letter to the table to stare dead into Bradley’s eyes. 

“It is about Sadie, you asshole.” 

Jake watched as you stomped off back to Penny, helping to relieve her of the sudden line forming around the bar. Penny’s face was one of gratitude as more people eagerly gathered in line to get their next drink before midnight. As he sat back down, Rooster watched you march off with an open mouth. 

“And here I thought you liked staying on that perch,” Jake leaned back, staring at Bradley while crossing his arms. “Observing, learning everything before you made your move.” 

“Fuck off, Hangman.” 

“You might want to take a look at that before you start mouthing off. Least of all to poor Liz.”

Rooster glared at Jake before looking at the piece of paper you threw down to the table, reluctantly picking it up. Jake remained seated as Bradley read, his eyes frantically moving back and forth the longer he read, and not unlike Jake’s reaction, Bradley reeled back, dropping the letter to the table as it burned him. 

“Motherfucker.” 

“My sentiments exactly.” 

Rooster eyed the piece of paper wearily. Then he started to put two and two together. Jake knew something he didn't. And he didn’t like that. 

"What's going on, Hangman?"

It took Jake a moment to think about what you’d want him to say. Bradley was always a stubborn person. He didn’t know your reasons for not telling the rest of the Daggers what had happened. But if Tyler really was going to follow through with his threats, Sadie needed to be protected. Bradley needed to know. 

“CPS called Liz in a few weeks before we left. Somebody put in a review on the paperwork for Sadie’s guardianship.”

Rooster was stunned. Out of all the things he expected Jake to say, that wasn't certainly one of them. Jake's words sobered his rage, at least for the moment.

 “Can they do that?” he asked, throwing himself back into the seat in disbelief.

Jake nodded, replying, "Somebody requested it from the outside. It wasn't internal." Bradley took a moment, staring at the piece of paper now in between them. 

“She says the list is non-existent, though my money is on Tyler if his letter isn't a dead giveaway," Jake glanced down, picking up the letter. He was brought back to that day of the hike when you told him of Tyler and your family, how you told him about the promise you ensure Sadie never suffered the same trauma you did growing up. He folded it up as you had done and pocketed it into his pants. “Regardless if she says he can’t.”

Rooster thought about his words before asking, "Why didn't she come to us?"

“If you haven’t noticed, she puts up a mask whenever she’s around you guys.”

Rooster scoffed. "How would you know? You’ve only really known her for less than a month.” 

Jake didn’t hesitate when he answered, “She’s the first to ditch on a Saturday night—collecting the dishes and disappearing when nobody else is looking, not bothering to ask someone to help to carry them in. And you should know better than anyone, Liz doesn’t have a tendency to ask for help.”

It was true, Bradley thought. Not once did you ask for help with anything. He practically had to sweet talk you into letting him pick up Sadie from school. But regardless, if it was about Sadie, you still would have let them know.

"She still would have told us."

“Really? Cause I think it’s no wonder she didn’t trust you if you’re resorting to calling her names because you saw something you didn’t like.” 

Bradley had enough, sliding out of the booth and starting in the direction of you to set the picture straight. 

“Bradshaw,” Jake called out after him. “Have you really asked her how she’s been since bringing Sadie home?”

Bradley stopped but didn’t turn around. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t be the only one that notices she clams up when her sister is mentioned. Whatever you see, It's clear she’s not grieving.”

Bradley turned back around, staring at the floor for a few seconds before looking back up at Jake.

“Whatever resentment you have for me, can you at least can it for now? Until we figure out who's targeting Liz and Sadie.”

Rooster sighed, making his way back over to the booth and popping himself back into the seat. 

“Okay, fine,” he relented. “Until Sadie and Liz are okay.”

“For Sadie and Liz," Jake nodded, looking down to straighten his nameplate. “Besides, I’ve officially got Sadie's stamp of approval. What type of Uncle would I be if I didn’t look out for her?” 

Looking back up at Bradley, Jake had to give Sadie credit.

Her statement about his ability to turn 'Red as a Rooster' was surprisingly accurate.

___

At five minutes to midnight, you found yourself ringing the bell three times. Jake and Bradley were the closest to you, having stayed in the booth talking. You’d be stupid not to realize Jake would have filled in Bradley regarding the issue with CPS. It was the longest you’ve ever seen them together in each other's company, let alone that close to each other, without deciding to tear one another apart. 

The minute the guy realized, somewhat drunkenly, he would be manhandled by two naval officers out of the bar, he quickly got up with both hands raised. Jake led him outside with a hand on his shoulder while Rooster stayed behind, observing you somewhat regretfully.

“I’m sorry, Liz.” As he spoke, you didn’t look him in the eye, deciding to polish a glass instead. This only made Bradley feel worse, hating that you were treating him like he wasn’t in the room.

"I should have..."

"Should have what, Bradley?" you snarked, pulling the rag from your shoulder and throwing it into the small sink under the bar. "Should have asked why I was so upset before jumping to conclusions?"

You glared at him, leaning forward on the edges of the makeshift counter. "For thinking that I don't put Sadie first? For thinking that I was fucking Jake?"

Some of the older patrons sitting at the bar shot you a look. You grimaced at your choice of words, but it didn't stop you from raging. Lowering your voice, you continued, "You know damn well I don't do anything without making sure she'd be okay. That she comes first before all else."

“I just wish you would have told us. We could have helped.”

You sighed, looking down and picking up your rag. “Honestly, Bradley. If I told you why, you’d hate me.”

Rooster paused for a second before replying, “Because of Sadie.” 

You looked up at him, instantly regretting it once you saw the look of pity on his face. You couldn’t stand his face, suddenly deciding you needed to collect the empty glasses Penny had left on the side of the bar. Only Rooster followed along the opposite side, coming to stand directly in front of you.

"Bradley, don't."

He didn't listen to you. "She's always with us. Saturday nights, special occasions, simply hanging. If not, your working."

You placed the whiskey glass in your hand down, head hanging low as you fought the pressure behind your eyelids.

"You don't want her to know what is going on. And I don't mean with Tyler or CPS, but with you."

You gripped your forearm, bracing yourself for his next words.

"It's okay to grieve Ridley, Liz."

His words made you crumble.

God Dammit, Rooster.

"I'm sorry I said you don't put Sadie first. I know you do. We all do," he said gently. Then his next set of words surprised you.

"And I'm glad you at least told someone. Even if it was Hangman."

That made you pause, finally deciding to look him in the eye and let your arm go, already knowing you were going to forgive him for his words about Sadie. But while you didn't care for the implications behind his words regarding you, there was something you needed to get off your chest. Your voice was fierce as you gave into that split-second urge to divulge the one thing that had been bothering you since after the Hike.

“Don’t shit on Jake all the time, okay?”

 He gave you a look, arching a brow almost playfully, but dropped his face the minute he realized how serious you were being.

"I get it. To you, he's rude, ignorant, and defiantly says the wrong thing at the wrong time. And he might be a womanizer, but he's been nothing but good to Sadie, okay? And me."   

Bradley’s face remained blank as you continued. "Sadie's picking up on all the animosity and hates it. So either you get over whatever issues you have with him and be there for Sadie, including letting Jake be involved in her life, with the rest of the Daggers in line, or I don't accept your apology.” 

"Okay."

Wait, What?

You looked at him shocked. He nodded to you once, knocking on the top of the bar twice with his knuckle before turning on his heel to leave. There was no way it was that easy, especially with Bradley.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" you called after him.

Bradley whipped around, hands gesturing out as he replied, "Because you asked," before continuing his walk to reclaim his previous spot at the piano bench, calling over his shoulder, "Besides, it's a new year. We need to make resolutions and shit!"

You had no idea what happened after you left Jake and Bradley to their own devices, but you couldn't help but chuckle, even somewhat nervously, at Bradley's sudden carefree attitude.

How long it would last was another thing.

After a quick bathroom break, you caught yourself in the middle of the Hard Deck as the final countdown started. You spied Will and Sadie with the sparklers you had brought, waving them around to match the numbers being said aloud.

Alyssa had joined Rooster momentarily at the piano, and you had a feeling she was purposely putting herself in a place where she’d be easily accessible for a midnight kiss. Something you'd be grilling her about the next time you saw her.

Coyote was standing next to the girl he had been chatting up all night, Bob and Phoneix were shouting the countdown together, and Penny and Mav smiling at each other.

But Jake was nowhere in sight. 

You sighed, turning around to go back to the bar, anticipating the rush once Penny popped the bottles of champagne. You were one step in the opposite direction before hitting a solid chest, a cry of surprise escaping your lips as a pair of arms came to stop you from toppling over. 

Jake was coming back into the bar when the countdown started. In years previous, when he wasn’t stationed somewhere or found himself out celebrating, he’d generally chat up a girl to seal the deal with a midnight kiss, which would usually end the night in someone’s bed.  

He had nothing but you on his mind, searching for you as he walked, finding you staring out the back doors to look at Sadie and her friend before your eyes travelled the rest of the room. You were there, standing in the middle of the floor, and as he told you not once, not twice, but three times now, you were beautiful. 

Time has a funny way of changing your priorities. Time spent away from your friends, family and home. Moments when you have nothing but time, waiting around for something to happen. Instances where, in life-or-death situations, you found yourself wondering how much time you had left. 

Would he ever own up to the fact that one of the photos Sadie must have accidentally sent him ended up in his cockpit? A photo of you from the picnic when Sadie was messing with the blanks. You weren’t looking at the camera, not even aware she had pointed it at you nor taken it, but rather staring off over the lookout, a soft smile on your face. 

And on those runs, the ones where enemy fire was inescapable and on the ones where they’d simply fly over doing recon, he’d look to that picture and think about you. 

He thought about how you scared him with your presence, how you cared. You challenged him to think more about life in the sky, the impending moment he would eventually burn in, simply by allowing him to see into your and Sadie’s lives. How much more time would he have left to be a part of your lives? 

Women always told him he wasn’t the type you’d settle down with. He was the one-night stand, the fling from the bar the night before deployment because it would be the last time he’d ever feel something. Being involved with him came with consequences, and it was just too high of a price to pay.  

And yet, before he left, you told him to come home. On that video call, you told him to come home. Sadie even wrote to him on the back of her plane photo she wanted him to come home.  So he secretly found himself looking at your picture, at Sadie’s, wanting to come home to both of you. 

You were off limits.

But he was tired of listening to what others were telling him to do. 

If the world, fate, or whatever guiding force was telling him all those other times weren’t right to kiss you, a kiss to start a New Year had to be it.

He found himself behind you, about to say your name when you turned, slamming yourself into his chest with a cry, and wobbled, so close to falling over. He reached out to grab you, pulling you upright and into his body. 

Ten, Nine, Eight…

"Jake?" you asked concerningly. His eyes were blown wide, just a bare line of green making up his irises. Looking up in worry something might be wrong, you found nothing of the sort. 

“What’s..”  you started to say, but the words died in your throat. Jake’s hand came up to grip the side of your face, fingers hooking themselves around the edge of your jaw, pausing momentarily before sliding to the back of your neck to find a grip within the roots of your hair. 

You drew in a sharp breath, feeling like your body was drowning underwater, ears muting out the shouts of everyone counting down around you. Instead, the voice in the back of your head took over, strangely sounding a lot like your sister's, attempting to encourage you to believe It must be lust.

Seven, Six, Five…

He found himself tilting your head back, pressing forward where your noses nudged together. Your fingers mocked his, slipping delicately up his cheek and settling into his hair. Finding yourself thinking, what harm would it do if you did give in to whatever this thing was if it felt so right? 

Four…

As Jake’s grip got tighter on your waist, you started rising on the balls of your feet to meet him, pressing your body into his.  Ridley’s voice, a mantra in your head, was screaming fuck it, fuck it, fuck it as you felt the warmth of his breath caress your lips. 

And Jake, wondering how you’d feel under him. What would your lips taste like? Would they be as soft as he’d imagined on those sleepless nights on the carrier during his deployment? Or would you kiss him as you did in his dreams, the ones that would make him startle wake?

Three…

But then came the little traitorous thought, ‘Would you care for it if he did?’ 

Two, One…

At the last second, just before the final shout of Happy New Year, Jake moved, pressing a delicate kiss to the farthest corner of your mouth instead.  The sound of popping outside overtook the sound of your heartbeat as you registered the softness of his lips just on the barest part of yours, his hands relaxing their grip on the back of your neck and waist.

His words warmed your cheek as he pulled back an inch; his breath was shallow as he spoke, “Happy New Year, Liz.” 

You almost chased his lips, eyes fixed on his mouth, as you managed to choke out a reply.

“Happy New Year, Jake.” 

Hehe, I'm sorry for another 'almost' kiss. I promise stuff is happening soon.

Tags:

@blue-aconite @tinytotontheoversizedpony @djs8891 @caitsymichelle13 @startrekfangirl2233

@mayhemmanaged @ereardon @dempy @shanimallina87 @teacupsandtopgun @daggerspare-standingby

@phantomxoxo @formulapierre @eli2447 @fulla02 @blckgrl-sunflower @mizzzpink @ohgodnotagainn

@bubblegumbeautyqueen @sarahsmi13s @desert-fern

Part 8: Drift Away is coming Soon.

Wickett ;)

[averagewriter-inthedark]

They Did The Monster Mash 🎃 | TGM Halloween Imagine

Set in an AU where the characters of TGM are classical and mythology monsters/creatures

TGM Masterlist

Characters & Pairings: mad scientist!Bob Floyd x mad scientist!reader (romantic), Dagger Sqaud (platonic)

Content Warnings: fluff, light profanity | female!reader (she/her) | wc: 2.4K

Premise: it’s All Hallow’s Eve, a night where ghouls and monsters alike awaken from every inch of the globe. What better way to celebrate the spookiest night of the year than gathering all those lurking in the shadows to the party everyone wants to be.

Note: HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Here’s a fluffy, spooky little imagine for y’all as a treat 🎃

——————-

‘Twas the night before Halloween, and all through the cemetery. Not a creature was moaning, as they basked in solitary. The pumpkins were lit, with carved faces to stare. In hopes the monsters of the night, soon will be there.

“Bob!” Y/n shouted, frantically searching for her coat. It was a quarter till midnight on October the 30th. Soon it would be Halloween. And with a full moon high in the sky it was the perfect moment to test out their newest creation. “It is almost time! We must make haste!”

“I’m right here, darling,” her coat in his hand, Dr. Floyd dimmed the lights on his way into the lab. The woman exhaled in relief, kissing his cheek before placing the coat over her shoulders.

“What would I do without you, my love?”

Bob adjusted his goggles over his prescription glasses, chuckling, “Probably half as mad as you are now.”

Any other woman would be offended by the comment, but Y/n, the mad scientist she embraced herself to be, only giggled. The two had met during their doctoral program, falling in love and conducting research as a duo. Before long they were blacklisted for unethical experiments, moving underground to hide from society.

But what the world didn’t know, was they uncovered a world beneath their own. Where monsters heard in legends and fairytales roamed freely. Living amongst humans to the naked eye.

Since forming partnerships with fellow outcasts like themselves, the couple have traveled every Halloween to Transylvania, Romania. There the infamous vampire Pete Mitchell, descendent of Dracula himself, hosts an annual Halloween festival with monsters and ghouls alike.

The party always started around sunset on Halloween night. So the two had plenty of time before gearing up their transportation pod to zap them to Pete’s mansion. Y/n placed her own goggles on, brushing away her dyed jet black hair with white streaks, mischievous smirk painting her lips, “Shall we begin?”

“It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin’ purple people eater. (One-eyed, one-horned, flyin’ purple people eater). A one-eyed, one-horned, flyin’ purple people eater. Sure looks strange to me.” The party was in full swing when the couple arrived. Creatures in every corner, a werewolf howling in the distance, bats flying overhead. They were home.

“Doctors!” They spun around to find the monster of the mansion sporting a cheshire grin, fangs threatening to poke out. Lord Pete Mitchell, having recently fed by the bright color of his eyes and lack of under eye bags, wore a snazzy black pinstripe suit with a blood red tie. The handkerchief in his breast pocket, as well as the soles of his shoes, were the same color. “It is so wonderful to see you. I’m always amazed by your entrance every year. God forbid the governments of the world discover you’ve cracked the code of transportation.”

“Don’t forget time travel,” Y/n winked, causing Pete to laugh.

“Of course,” he flashes his pearly white teeth before frowning after peering around them, “Where is your--.” Y/n gently cuts him off.

“Oh at the lab. Ever since we created his bride he refuses to leave the basement” Pausing she gives a knowing look, “You know how young love is, my Lord.”

Pete makes an ‘ah’ sound, “Yes, yes, I understand. When you return, do let him know he is missed. And that I cannot wait to meet his bride next Halloween.” He winks, adjusting the cuffs on his sleeves, “Please make yourself at home. We’re still waiting on a few more before the festivities of the night fully begin. Until then, the bar is open--as always--and do let me know if you need any more necessities for your upcoming projects.”

“Thank you, Lord Mitchell. My wife and I appreciate your hospitality and generosity greatly.” Bob shook his gloved hand, still able to feel the cold dead skin that laid beneath it. The vampire made his departure, moving to greet other guests. Y/n weaved her arm through Bob’s open arm, letting him guide her to their group of friends they spotted in the distance by the bar.

“Well look at what the wolves dragged in.” Jake Seresin, an incubus famous in both the underground and real world, was the first to notice them. With his ability to seduce and mentally bend people to his will, Jake succeeded in becoming a high profile Hollywood actor. Making it accessible for him to feed on the blood of men and women alike. Unlike Pete, who was a vampire, Jake appeared human and only took the form of his demon counterpart when he hadn’t fed in a long time.

“Seresin,” Bob nodded, glaring when the blonde creature approached to take Y/n’s hand and kiss her knuckles. He had nothing to worry about of course. Y/n was immune to Jake’s charms, threatening to experiment on him the first time he attempted to swoon her.

That had him running with his (literal) tail between his legs.

“Careful, Jake,” Came a teasing feminine voice from the side, “I hear the mad scientists have been searching for Incubi blood on the black market.” Jake sent a glare in the direction of the voice, the couple following it to find Natasha perched on a bar stool, stroking her black cat seated in her lap.

A witch, with family dating back to the Salem Witch Trials, Natasha was the type of woman people couldn’t help but fear and desire. In the small village she lived deep in the forest surrounding, rumors of the witch swarmed with many believing her responsible for the curse on the town's most corrupt and wealthy families.

Well, to them they were rumors….

Y/n slipped past Bob, opening her arms to the woman, “Lovely to see you again on this Holiday, dear Natasha.” The hug was brief, Y/n making sure to offer a light pet to the cat, piercing her with its stare.

“As to you, Madam Floyd.”

“Tell me,” Y/n leaned closer, “Were you successful?” Natashe smirked at the question, whispering under her breath.

“We shall find out once the sun rises. But I can assure you the Supreme Court will think twice before bringing forth groundbreaking cases to overturn.”

“Marvelous,” the doctor awed. She moved along to say hello to their other friends. There was Javy, a werecoyote and Jake’s best friend. The full moon affects him like it does werewolves, but he’d already consumed his monthly dose of Wolfsbane to prevent the transformation from happening.

There was Mickey, a hellhound who served as a guard for the Underworld. Tasked with keeping the secret of the supernatural hidden. One can imagine the headaches Jake gives him with being a celebrity in the real world. When Mickey became his hellhound persona, cracks in his skin appeared like molten lava.

Reuben was present, and thankfully Y/n remembered to wear her iron jewelry. The tall, handsome fairy sipped on his usual cocktail. Like Jake he was the most ‘humanlike’ of the bunch where he could easily walk amongst mortals without causing suspicion. His golden eyes were a stand out, however, often covered by contacts. Of the group he had known Mickey the longest, the two meeting centuries prior during a war between fae and goblins.

“I’m not late am I?” came a booming sound from the main entrance, all heads turning. Jake instantly groaned, the others pleased to see the Alpha werewolf, Bradley Bradshaw, in the flesh with his typical Hawaiian shirt and jeans.

“You’re right on time,” Pete announced from the top of the steps, raising a glass of red liquid. Bradley gave a two finger salute, strutting over to the group and ordered his go to--a pitcher of beer.

“Greetings, fellow myths and legends,” he drank half of the pitcher in a single gulp, winking afterwards, “at least to the humans that is.”

“What took you so long, Bradshaw?” Jake twirled his pue cue, “too busy brushing your winter coat? Or did you have to get one last howl at the moon?”

Used to the jabs, Bradley rebutted with, “Jake, good to see you again as always. You’re looking a little pale though--Did you not have time to drain a virgin before coming? I’m sure Pete can find someone in the nearby town.” Reuben whistled under his breath, Javy letting out a fool blown laugh.

“C’mon you gotta admit that was good,” he nudged Jake, who was very much offended.

“Men,” Y/n muttered, Natasha clicking her glass against hers in agreement. “They’ll never change.”

After several minutes of small talk and drinks, Pete tapped his spoon against his glass. The action is loud enough for supernatural hearing to get everyone's attention. For the mad scientists, they saw the reactions of their friends and followed their direction.

At the top of the mansion's grand staircase, Pete stood beside his wife Penny. The beautiful siren, infamous in Greek mythology for luring shipwrecked men to their death, was stunning in her black gown. Along her arms and neck, rimming her hairline were seafoam green scales, reflecting under the dim gaze of the lights.

“Good evening, everyone,” he began, “Thank you all for coming tonight. You’ve traveled from near and far, let my wife and I be the first to say Happy Halloween!” cheers broke among the crowd. Well really they were howls, moans, and chaotic laughter. “It truly is the best night of the year. And what better way to kick it off than to toast.” Penny was handed a glass of her own red liquid. To the human eye it’d be believed as wine. But to those witnessing below, they were well aware of what its contents contained.

Speaking of those in attendance, they all grabbed their own drinks and brews. Pete lifted his first, “Let us toast to the one time of year we get to leave the shadows. Where the world looks at us as more than creatures of night. They dress up as us,” chuckles echoed, “they consume everything in relation to us. They walk their streets oblivious to the fact we roam behind their shoulders.” Pete pauses, sending a sweet gaze to Penny. “To All Hallow’s Eve!”

“To All Hallow’s Eve!!’ glasses raised, everyone cheersing before downing whatever was left in their goblets. Bradley finished his first pitcher of beer, the bartender sliding down the next one. Natasha poured something out of her flask into her goblet. Leave it to the Witch to travel with her own brew.

“Alright,” Bradley raised the pitcher, “Let’s get this party started!” As if on cue the DJ, who happened to be a mummy, started to play the Halloween classics. Lights flashed on every corner, the dance floor glowing a spooky fluorescent green. Dry ice from the massive cauldron flooded the area.

Ghosts bogeyed during the Ghostbusters theme. Zombies got down and dirty to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. The children had a blast with ‘This is Halloween’ and ‘Time Warp’. Later on Nat and Y/n let loose to Rockwells ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’.

Bob kept his eyes on his wife during that one. Lowkey thinking about ending the party early.

Poker was played amongst the men. Pete even joined alongside two Harpys, Beau and Solomon. During this Y/n and Natasha conversed with Penny. They spoke of Y/n’s experiments, Natasha’s feud with the village she resides by, and Penny’s travels back to Greece earlier that year.

“Oh it was fascinating,” Penny boasted, finishing off her third glass of ‘wine’. “Still as beautiful as I remember, although it still takes time getting used to the fact they now call Anthemoessa ‘Cape Pelorum.’”

“Did you visit the Parthenon?”

“I tried,” the Siren scoffed lightly at the memory, “at night of course when no one was around, but I couldn’t get past the damn door. I’m not surprised though,” she rolled her eyes, “Athena never liked us.”

As Midnight approached the crowd began to gather on the dance floor. Of course the night could not end without playing the couple’s favorite. Once the DJ announced it was time for the grand event, Bob took Y/n’s hand, “May I have this dance, wife?”

“Why of course, husband,” she smirked. “This is our song after all.”

The others had already made way, forming their own little circle and grabbing partners of their own. There was a reason this particular song was favored over the rest. Starting from the very first verse.

“I was working in the lab, late one night. When my eyes beheld an eerie sight. For my monster from his slab, began to rise. And suddenly to my surprise.”

“He did the mash,” the moves Y/n and Bob started to do a twist, similar to Vince and Mia in the iconic dance scene of Pulp Fiction. “He did the monster mash.”

“The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash.” Natasha shimmied with Mickey. “He did the mash, it caught on in a flash.” Penny was spun by Pete. “He did the mash. He did the monster mash.”

A stunning succubus had managed to pull Jake under her spell. How fitting.

“From my laboratory in the castle east. (Wa-ooh) To the master bedroom where the vampires feat. (wa-wa-ooh) The ghouls all came from their humble abodes. (Wa-ooh) To get a jolt from my electrodes.”

Bob pulled Y/n to him, dancing chest to chest, “They did the mash, they did the monster mash.” Javy, Bradley, and Reuben were having a dance battle in the middle of the circle. “The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash. They did the mash, it caught on in a flash.” Y/n giggled, letting Bob twirl her in a circle, “They did the mash, they did the monster mash.”

It was a total spooky vibe. Monsters doing the Mash. Each time Dracula was mentioned everyone pointed to Pete, who rolled his eyes. He did, however, do the Transylvania Twist during its name drop, causing them all to hype him up.

The sun would rise at dawn, they’d all go back to living in the shadows. Back to a place where they were the villains of every story. Subjected to demise by the hero. No longer idolized and embedding fear in everyone who dared think of them. Once the sun rose, another Halloween had come and gone.

But until then, creatures of the night thrived in the darkness to the graveyard smash.

………

[mermaidsirennikita]

Do ypu have HR with the hero having this animalistic MINE MINE MINEEEE!!! I know all of them have them but there are some taking it to the next level

Weeeellll lol not all of them tbh. Because we are surrounded by pearl clutchers as of late.......

ANYWAY.

I'm obviously relistening to Seduce Me at Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas, her most underrated banger imo, and when Kev finally gets with the program and sneaks into Win's bedroom all he does is cover her mouth with his hand and go "YOU'RE MINE" and she realizes it is THE FUCK. ON. And then he rails her for like 48 hours in his little fuck cottage, yay!

The Bride by Julie Garwood is the quintessentially MINE MINE MINE romance novel. Medieval border marriage book. Alec Kincaid literally drags Jamie up to a window so his people can look at her, and when someone asks him in Gaelic "what do we call her?" He goes "YOU CALL HER MINE". (He does not realize that Jamie also speaks Gaelic, which is embarrassing for him, but also beneficial because she's like "OH".)

The Dragon and The Pearl by Jeannie Lin... I forget how much the hero says "mine", but he does tattoo the heroine with his symbol (consensually!) and it's soooooo possessive and erotic and emotional. And he's a villainous hero, so he's very like "YOU BELONG TO ME NOW"

Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale has a very alpha hero who suffers a stroke at the beginning of the book. The heroine helps him as he recovers (after some big asylum trauma) and he's always calling her like "my maddgirly" (her name is Maddy) and he's SUPER territorial over her and I love it.

Shadowheart by Laura Kinsale is also a very "MINE" romance, but it's mutual because Allegreto is a horrible villainous alpha who happens to like it when Elena gets rough in bed. However, he also gets his "MUAHAHAHAHAHA YOU'RE ALL MINE NOW" moment. Allegreto is crazy. *Obligatory Shadowheart's First Sex Scene is Noncon Warning*

The Wolf and The Wildflower by Stacy Reid! Wolf Duke is VERY possessive. Because he spent years in the Yukon living with wolves. (Really.) (He sniffs her crotch a lot.) (Shouldn't work but it sure does.)

Stephanie Laurens writes super possessive heroes because they have THE CONQUEROR'S BLOOD and are very alpha as a result. Scandal's Bride is my favorite I've read of hers thus far *obligatory "she drugs him for the first encounter" note* and Richard, lunatic of my heart, literally refers to Catriona as his snack (which he must have every morning or he will be very annoyed, and then he needs like a follow up snack thrice more throughout the day). But like. EVERY Cynster hero is a mine mine mine guy.

Elizabeth Hoyt knows how to write a mine mine mine. The Leopard Prince is an underrated one imo, because like Seduce Me at Sunrise it's one where the hero almost forces himself to give her up but at the last minute he's like "OH NO NO NOOOOOOOOO" and snaps and like, fucks her until she's screaming within earshot of her brothers and the guy who wanted to marry her.

Duke of Midnight proooobably has her most possessive hero, Everyone's (My) Favorite Douchecanoe Maximus Batten. I don't know that there are many romance heroes who get quite as MINE as Maximus fucking Artemis while talking about how he's gonna keep her trapped in like a special hunting lodge and kill elk for her and feed her the tastiest morsels, and it's honestly a real "oh girl it's like that huh" moment because she's a vERY rational woman and she's like "yeah tell me more about it keep going" lmao. Some of my favorite deranged dirty talk of all time.

Jennifer Ashley's Mackenzie brothers are super possessive. Like, even the "oh ho we have a fun time" ones (Mac from Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage and Cameron from The Many Sins of Lord Cameron") are still very "ALRIGHT NOW. CALM TF DOWN" if someone looks at their wives for too long lol. Ian (The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie) literally needs Beth around to feel complete and Hart from The Duke's Perfect Wife, another "Everyone Else Thinks He's Too Much But Iiiiiiiiiii Like 'Im" hero is sooooo possessive of Eleanor. Wasn't even in his own book yet and he still made time to put money down her bodice to remind her that DADDY STILL HAS CASH.

Monica McCarty's Highland Guard series is basically entire made up of "mine mine mine" heroes lol. The Chief has a MAJOR alpha hero. The Recruit is big on it too, especially since she tries to keep her accidental pregnancy from him and he feels the baby bump by accident and goes all *INFANT. DETECTED.* and is like "NO BABY OF MINE IS GONNA BE A BASTARD!!!!"

Though it's a funny moment, I still think the hero of Tessa Dare's Any Duchess Will Do making the heroine recite his courtesy titles while he bends her over his desk is both hilarious and ridic dumb possessive hot.

The Earl I Ruined by Scarlett Peckham has a very consciously dominant, "whose pussy is this?" type hero, which we love to see.

Joanna Shupe has very possessive heroes--Preston from The Bride Goes Rogue comes to mind, especially when mY BOY the Duke of Lockwood is like, vaguely making friends with Katherine, because Lockwood is so hot that every other hero in the series is like "You wouldn't fuck him??? OH PLEASE DON'T LIE TO ME I WOULD FUCK HIM" and gets very jealous lmao. Fwiw, Lockwood is possessive of Nellie in The Duke Gets Even. He's always like "I'm keeping you" and biting her tits to leave bruises and shit. Which is what Joanna Shupe is allowed to get away with in a trad historical in 2023 lmao.

Obviously. Derek Craven from Dreaming of You. McKenna from Again the Magic.

If you're up for something dark and angsty, A Rose at Midnight by Anne Stuart has a very intense YOU'RE MINE NOW YOU WENCH thing, but uhhh check your triggers. I loved it!

[sketchfanda]

Kirishima’s Mystique: Fun Times of the Chivalrous Stud Red Riot:The Cheetah Princess of Kenya

Now it was easy to forget especially with all the mayhem and what not that came their way during their first year alone, and heroics or no, but UA was still a high school. Festivals and sports events were the necessities for any regular fun highschool life after all, not to mention occassions such as when a new transfer student came along or the old classic, the foreign exchange program. One student from their own school and another from a school in a different country changing places for a period of time in the spirit of better co-operation and understanding of one another's cultures and differences. But of course UA was no exception to this especially when Minoru Mineta found himself selected (translation:Forced into volunteering) to attend a hero school all the way in Alaska, which left UA playing host to a splendid, perky and friendly young lady from Kenya by the name of Elena. She was a definite stunner in looks alone and the face she stood at an even 6 feet tall only enhanced that. It was like one had to wonder if Mina had a long lost twin of sorts in the girl, given their enthusiastic levels of energy and their social, affable personalities. To say nothing of the fact she was quite a dancer herself when it came to the brazilian art of Capoeria. But then of course there was her quirk, which was guaranteed to earn er a spot in the top 10 of her home country as a pro in terms of looks and ability. But one person was a little conflicted when it came to the exchange student and not for any negative reasons mind you. For our resident Red Riot, you see, the awkwardness was due to of course, his ever kinky girlfriends and their antics when it came to him and their loving,but by no means vanilla relationship as a trio.

Kirishima:*thinking to himself as he sat on the comfy mat in the campus gymnasium.*'There is no way these two didn't plan this? Midnight-sensei definitely had a part to play in it...'*the chivalrous hero thought to himself, as he looked out the window to see a view of the swimming pool. Mina and Maya of course hanging out with some of their lady friends/classmates, looking hot as all damn hell in the UA school swimsuits. Those one piece leotards left very little to the imagination,that was for sure,a playful toungue blep on his face directed at the cotton candy acid girl and the blue shapeshfter bombshell as they waved with cheeky smiles,blowing kisses his way. Damn he just couldn't stay mad at them.*

Elena:"Kirishima-kun, you alrighty? You seem distracted. Nothing serious I hope.."0w0^w^*The spikey haired redhead felt his brain hit the brakes as that ever peppy,melodic voice spoke up. Elena getting his attention as he found himself looking her way. Goddamn what a view to behold as the exotic Kenyan princess (Seriously, what were the odds they'd have an actual princess in their class!!), wearing nothing more than a white mid-riff baring tanktop and white spandex booty shorts,and her distinct jewellery accessories was doing her usual personal workout routine. Feeling his pulse racing as no doubt blood was rushing to a certain place at seeing this six foot African beauty perform stretches and yoga style twists and bends. Her flexibility on display as she practiced her chosen fighting style, reminding himself how much Mina and the excange student had bonded over their sense of rhythm and love of dance. Her dusky chocolate skin coated in a glistening sheen of perspiration which threatened to soak her workout wear as she casually,seemlessly shifted around like an eel swimming through grease. Currently looking his way as she did a handstand,one palm flat on the gym mat floor while her legs performed the splits. To say he was having ideas would be an understatement*

Kirishima:*managing to exert some sense of willpower and self control as he kept his libido tame and at bay, sending a modest friendly smile her way.*"Yeah, I'm good Elena-chan.no worries, just been thinking was all.."*Left unsaid was the fact Maya had been hosting the exchange student in her dorm room,or that the shapeshifting hottie and Mina had been having regular slumber parties. To which the teased and gave him ideas that Elena was, to say the least, more than into him and wanting to be "very good friends". Quirking a brow curiously as Elena giggled, her tone and body language just radiating such soothing energy. Before she ceased her handstand and her routine as she planted herself upright, standing on her feet as she walked over to him with a distinct bounce to her step. Those bright blue eyes twinkling as she stopped and bent over to face him. Her expression playful as she looked into his own crimson eyes and made him feel...a sort of sense of deja vu.*

Elena:^w0"Let me guess, was it about me naked? You and me doing some very adult things, of which I'm sure Ms.Midnight would certainly approve.0w0 How does she put it,ah yes, "Just two young heroes enjoying the spirit and energy of their youth together as they should."*the Kenyan beauty giggled cutely at the look on Eijiro's face, his jaw risking dropping at the words that came out of her mouth as she tilted his jaw shut, before gently cuppping and caressin his face.* "It's okay if you do and more of course. After all,you've been a very wonderful friend. And I certainly think it's time you and I became quite very good Friends,don't you?"*She quipped before capturing his lips in a sudden kiss. certainly not a chaste peck either,oh no, this was a full on sensual, erotic sort of kiss. Her tongue caressing his lips before making its way into his mouth to dance with and caress his own. Purring and smiling as she found him returning and giving in kind,as she felt him grasp her snow white shortcut hair as he deepened their liplock. The pair of heroes in training moaning as Elena found him probing her throat while she caressed and traced those sharp shark like teeth of his. he duo soon breaking for air as a little stand of saliva broke between them, panting as their faces were flushed with red blushes of arousal.*

Kirishima:*an amused deadpan smile on his face as the Kenyan princess playfully blepped and smiled at him in kind*"Let me guess,Mina and maya's idea? Makes sense why you asked me here...and why they got the view there..."*shaking his head in bemusement as Elena giggled,her tone not lacking any of its usual playfulness and feisty friendliness. Kissing him on the lips softly and sensually as she backstepped away a bit, striking a little pose for him that made thos toned,limber mscles of hers flex, standing out thanks to the sunlight and her glistening sheen.*

Elena:"Of all the boys here,you stood out to me the most at first sight when we met. They could tell soon as we got acquainted and insisted they were more than okay with it. And of course they were very detailed and descriptive singing your praises,you manly puppy you..." *soon as she’d finished saying that,the exotic African babe made the sturdy hero in training drop his jaw and widen his eyes,taking delight in having his attention as she began to strip. Peeling off her tanktop and shorts as she exposed and laid herself bare before him. Flexing and posing for him,her movements silky and graceful. Looking like some divine goddess as his red eyes drank her in from hewed to toe. Her long,strong,toned powerful legs, her firm arms and good lord her hips and thighs. To say nothing of her boobs and bubble butt. Before she shit him a wink and a smile,blowing a kiss his way as she flexe her muscles and begs to change. Her muscle mass boosting as f her hands and feet took on the traits of a feline,cat ears sprouting on her head and a tail forming from where her spine tailbone met the pelvis. Fur formed on her arms and legs up to her biceps and mid-thigh, showing the colour and pattern of a cheetah, another portion acting like a makeshift bikini. The transformation complete as she struck a pose, sending him a purr and meow a her tail wagged.*

‘Elena, home country:Kenya, birthplace:France. Quirk:We’re-Cheetah. A transformation type quirk that enhances Elena’s flexibility and senses while it also increases her strength and especially her speed as it provides her the traits and qualities of the African Cheetah, such as a set of sharp fangs an claw. Her affable charm,friendly personality and sensual charisma combined with the exotic appeal of her looks and quirk ensure this young lady has a bright future ahead in the pro hero circuit.’

Kirishima stared in awe,face blushing so red thst it made his hair look paler in comparison. If Elena was a 10 before,in her quirked form she was an absolute 11 as the Kenyan hero exchange student posed for him. Courting his attention as if she were a wild animal in mating season looking for a good time, fitting given the nature and appearance of her transformed state. Before the chivalrous hero in training shook his head steeling his nerves with a look of firm determination as he stood up, stripoing off his gym suit top. Elena licking her lips sensually at seeing his sculpted torso, a result of his hours of dedicated,rigorous training. Her silky tail swaying seductively as she watched the sturdy redhead continue to strip until he was as naked as she was. Silently oohing and aweigh at the sight of his exposed loins. Such smooth yet large heavy balls and of course his absolute unit of length and girth as it breathed freely in the open air. Rising to full mast erection as it stood stiff and firm as a flagpole, looking like he could hammer nails into solid wood with that meat stick of his. All without yet needing the added benefit and enhancement of his quirk as despite being a solid even statuesque six feet tall, the 5 foot 7 absolute unit of a young buck felt like an equal. A sensual smile and blush on her the were-cheetah girl’s face as her blue eyes twinkled with arousal as the young buck approached her. Looking as serious as he would on a mission, which in his mind was all the same,as a real man never left a woman waiting and wanting.

Elena:*softly gasped as Eijiro didn’t stop until their fronts were pressed together. His head level with her breasts as his face nuzzled the valley of her cleavage. Giggling and moaning as she felt her erection sandwiching between her thighs, his length and girth pressing against her slit and the crack of her juicy bubbly booty.* “Oh my, such a look in your eyes, Mina and Maya told me you really became quite the beast once you get in the mood. Well then, you Manly Man you, please show me what a real alpha male You can be….” *She playfully quipped, cupping Kirishima’s face in her hands as she tilted his head up, gasping delightfully as she found one of his hands clasp the back of her head and the other reach around to grab a nice handful of her ass. A melodic moan escaping her luscious milk chocolate lips as he gave a firm squeeze of that booty meat.*

Kirishima:”For you,Princess? I’m not gonna disappoint….”*not wasting anytime and leaving no hesitation or doubt, the shark teethed redhead pressed his lips to hers as they kissed once more. Elena’s moans and gasps music to his ears,as they made out with a deep passion to fuel the growing sparks of desire between them. Their hands exploring one another as Kirishima felt the silky spotted fur and her exquisite muscles while she used her own quite healthy thighs to massage and jerk off his magnum dong. Feeling her snatch gush and lube up that length and girth as she traced and memorised every detail of his physique. From his firm pecs to his washboard abs, he was on par with all those classical renaissance sculptures.*

it wasn’t long before their make out intensified as the two heroes in training truly ran with the spirit and energy of the pair youth in ways that would make Midnight proud. Rolling around the floor as they kissed and groped one another,their tongues dancing in a sloppy game of spit swapping and tonsil hockey before Kirishima sat on the matted floor, shuddering as Elena stroked his shaft. Her padded,furry pawed hands heavenly Especially as she would perform such stunning fellatio. Sucking snd blowing on his cock as it was clear Mina and Maya gave her their toys to practice on. Effortlessly deepthroating him as her blue eyes looked at his red ones with friendly sensuality. Twikling with glowing lust and admiration for her new “Alpha Male” who didn’t stay idle as she found him masaaajnf and smacking her swaying ass. Making that booty jiggle as his fingers teased and caressed her slit. Her nectar flowing with a steady stream of growing arousal as her tail wagged with erotic delight as she popped her mouth off of his cock, nuzzling her face against it as she smiled a catlike grin,tongue teasing his balls as she stroked that veiny womb hammer. Eyes glowing with lust as she awaited his next move.

Elena:”Ahhhn my alpha,you really do know yiur way with a girl’s body. Aah please, enjoy me to your hesrt’s content and have your fill. Keep this uo and we may become more than just very good friends…”*The Kenyan heroine in training melodically praised,as she found her body laying at a 90 degree piledriver angle. His hands grasping and massaging her spread thighs as his tongue lapped away at her snatch. The slithery muscle drinking up her love nectar as it probed her folds, the African jungle princess biting her lip sensual as her tail wrapped around his shaft. Idly stroking that length and girth as the primal animal instincts within her began to take hold, truly coming to imprint on Kirishima as her alpha male, her body entering a mating heat, awaiting to be claimed by him sexually.*

Kirishima:”Princess…you feel amazing…so Damn hot….”*Eijiro couldn’t help but feel like the first times he’d fallen for Mina and Maya as he found himself currently fucking Elena doggy, or rather kitty style. Balls deep inside her as heavy sacks smacked against her clit, making her juices splash against his pelvis and rain down on the floor beneath them. His muscles rippling and flexing as his cock pumped into her snatch like the pistons of a jackhammer drill. Elena’s smooth abs swelling from the thickness and reach piercing her welcoming, eager womb. The gym walls and ceiling echoing with the sexual rhythm of their mating, the cries of passion and skin slapping skin as he’d smack that stunning chocolate booty which was amazing to watch jiggle. Her tits swaying as her claws grasped and scratched the mat up,her tail wrapping around her designated alpha male’s waist as she looked over her shoulder at him with devotion.*

The exotic exchange student and her studly Alpha Male didn’t know how long they’d went at it but quite frankly all that mattered to them was to maintain the flow and rhythm of raw,primal passion and desire between them. Elena feeling orgasm hit her so swiftly that there was no way to keep count but ooh the sweet pornographic bliss whenever Kirishima came. Especially inside her, Maya and Mina were right on the money about forgoing condoms. A magnum dong like Kirishima could only be enjoyed raw as the cheetah Lycan beaut relished every intimate position they performed in their primal dance of man and woman. Sitting and bouncing on his lap as they kissed in the seated lotus, to rolling around playfully fighting for dominance in a mating and Amazon press. Hearts glowing her in sky blue eyes as she found herself held up in a full nelson, screaming yes over and over as Eijiro flexed his muscular form and pumped his cock into her over and over. Missionary, spread eagle, piledriver, a veritable kama sutra for their first time becoming animalistic friends with benefits was an absolute must for the duo as their momentum saw her laying flat on the floor. Kirishima mounted atop her as he fucked her prone bone, the primal part of Elena’s brain howling “get me pregnant” over and over like a mantra. Claws deep in the mat as his cock hammered into her overflowing, warm pussy. Her booty a lush meaty cushion jiggling with every impact of their loins. Shuddering as they came together, Elena purring as her tail caressed his back,turning her head as they kissed kissed one another softly and sensually. Breaking their liplock as they heard applause, turning to see the source and finding they weren’t alone anymore.

Mina:*grinning with erotic,Pervy delight,her golden eyes having a soar of mischief and lust to them as she and Maya stood over their boyfriend and roommate. Ceasing their clapping and beginning to strip off their swimsuit leotards.*”Well now,Maya-senpai I knew these two would get along famously. But if two is company and three is a crowd,what’s four?”

Maya:”ooh I’m sure we can make it work just fine Pinky. But first thing’s first,what’s say we stop watching and really make out like animals…”*the blue shapeshifter teased erotically as she and Mina and stood naked before their boyfriend and his new bestie with benefits. Their bodies radiating raw desire as their pussies fished with arousal.*

Kirishima stared,blushjng and wide eyes,his red hair wet frkm sweat and effort as he looked between at his girlfriends and Elena, the cheetah princess playfully blepping and smiling as she was clearly ready and willing for a four way. To which the sturdy hero could only roll his eyes and smile bemusedly before he set his face to a determined expression. MUscles flexing,tensing as he mentally prepared to use his quirk as need be. His little Red Riot was going to to need the extra boost and energy and A Real man would and should never leave his important ladies needing an wanting. As Elena’s alpha male especially, he knew that he needed to go, Plus Fucking Ultra…..

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

So… how would YOU rewrite MHA?

Well, a lot of the things @doodlegirl1998 said are true and are what I would do if I did rewrite MHA, but as @anastasian-dreamer says I do think that the death of Midnight and Eri's stuff are good for the story. Midnight dying alone and off screen is a moment that can really emphasis with the audience that death is a common thing in this world for heroes, and while she gets remembered it becomes just another headline affect a week.

Of what I would change though is:

1) I would want Bakugou to be removed from heroics after the final exam. I would have a build-up that really emphasizes both 'big fish from the small pond moving to the ocean' and the emphasis on flashy quirks alongside discrimination. By this I mean I'd dig out my fav headcanon: Aizawa thinks Bakugou was a bully victim from his peers and his attitude is a reflection of it. Bakugou still gets a strike his first day for nearlya attacking Izuku but it's somewhat brushed off because at the time I think Aizawa has read a basic file on his students but doesn't know everything.

Which is actually something I would have be the norm rather then just Aizawa. The hero teachers all have a test the first day to actually get a feel for their students and to judge them if they're good for heroics. There's another tract at UA called 'Secondary Heroics' where students are put if A) they missed the cut off for heroics, B) they failed the entrance exam BUT have a useful Quirk or C) they were part of the heroics program and removed due to a lack of ability, reliance on their Quirk or a general attitude. Something like my Red Flag program. Aizawa doesn't expel the kids, he sends them to secondary heroics in order to shape up. However often times the kids don't make it out of secondary heroics because they end up washing out. It's never held against them because being a hero is HARD. You can move back to the heroics program if you prove yourself or if you place high in the sports festival compared to a hero student.

Izuku and Bakugou stay in regular heroics because Aizawa in this AU does think both deserve the regular hero course. He sees how Izuku figures it out and goes: Oh, bad teaching and again he thinks Bakugou probably just needs to learn he doesn't need to protect himself. Still, he gets a strike as a warning and because they can't have students hurting each other.

After this, Aizawa gets the full files and learns Izuku is a late bloomer. He still thinks Bakugou is a victim because it's full of teacher praises, so he goes: ah, his peers thought him villainous though. We get todl this, we get shown this. And then it slowly is torn apart for Aizawa as he sees signs that point towards bullying. As Bakugou shows it's all about him facing actual consequences he's upset about, not that his peers don't like him. Then, I would have the final exam. I think in this one, they would know better then to put him and Izuku together, so instead I'd switch Izuku and Todoroki. Bakugou fails his final exam after getting mad Todoroki wouldn't listen, assaulting him ala how he punched Izuku. Bakugou is removed from the program as this is his third strike AND he failed his exam. Meanwhile, the other students who failed got a note that they will take the exam again before the next semester after summer school. If they fail, they get moved to secondary heroics.

How is this discrimination showing? Mostly it's because of Aizawa's assumption and we would see evidence that this happens frequently.

2) As an addition to the above, I would have the class reject Bakugou after some time due to his attitude. I would have a few hold outs who assume the same as Aizawa but they would eventually reject him to. They would band around Izuku, and frankly lay out how awful Bakugou is and Izuku shouldn't keep trying to be his friend. So Izuku gets dragged away from Bakugou and slowly begins seeing what was wrong with how he was treated by society, with flashbacks. Which then leads me to Inko.

3) Give Inko her own character. She's just a plot device in canon, and I would love to explore her as a character to give us more. Right now, as a lot of people agree, she reads as a neglectful mother who never supported her son because we BARELY see her unless she's freaking out about something her son did. Either play into that or have her be different.

4) Endeavour and Dabi time. I said before that I prefer Endeavour's redemption to Bakugou's and I stick to it. But I would also kind of... hmm... okay so Endeavour is convinced he was in the right. However because he gets to be number one, he ends up going: Oh I didn't need to do that, so I'm sad now, you have to forgive me. I then want Shouto and Natsuo to go: No we don't. Fuyumi and Rei... I'll admit I like the idea of Fuyumi being very much: yes we do and we can be a family again!! I also though want this ideal broken for her and her to understand her brother's don't have to forgive their dad.

As for Rei, I said before that we don't know the full story with her and while Horikoshi is scrambling to make Endeavour less bad I do find that the idea Rei wasn't completely innocent is an interesting idea. Rei's pushing for more kids is something I would want to keep, tying it into their marriage and having her want Shouto to be like: hey so it worked, I didn't suffer this for nothing. I would also though have her be slightly neglectful of her elder kids. Not intentionally though. Her mental health is something I would also focus on. Staying years in a mental hospital isn't as far fetched as some think, and I would really have it be adressed. Which then has Shouto being confronted with how society messed up his family because his rosy view of his mother and her protecting him gets shattered by Natsuo. I want Shouto to have to face the fact there was a lot going on because in reality that's what abuse is like.

This would then tie into Dabi who I'd keep mostly the same. I want Dabi to know he's in the wrong and not care. I want him to want revenge KNOWING it's fucked up but wanting it anyway. Because I love just a complete dick and the idea of it being Dabi is fun because I want him to have a sympathetic past but be unsympathetic. I would then though also focus on the idea of him being a villain and I would show his victims so we're aware of it. His arson cases would be discussed from the first chapter as a 'hey so this guy is shady'.

5) which brings us to all the LOV. Give us reasons they're villains and show us their crimes. Show Toga stalking and killing, show Spinner being shunned and resorting to crime, give us them as criminals. I'm firmly no redemption if only because I think it's more interesting but I still want to see more. (Also Magne needs to live).

6) Overhaul should have been in the news and his drugs should have been known to be a thing. It builds him up and then we get a gut punch when we learn Eri is the one whom the drugs come from.

7) Iida and Uraraka needed more spotlight as Izuku's friends and I would have Todoroki stay a friendly rival to Izuku. Shiggy is his big rival though.

And... that's what I would do that's different i guess.

[bracketsoffear]

Maureen Miller (TAZ: Balance) "I saw beyond the omniverse

far past the places we should see

but for my vision I was cursed

torn from my home and family

lost to my Crystal Kingdom"

"Maureen was a scientist who attempted to view the entirety of the planar system simultaneously, but the knowledge of what she saw destroyed her mind and killed her. Even her ghost was not immune to the cosmic madness that the vision imposed on her, though she was able to suppress it for brief periods."

Sci-Twi/Midnight Sparkle (My Little Pony: Equestria Girls) "Twilight Sparkle’s human counterpart came to Canterlot High during the Friendship Games hoping to study the magic around the school by capturing it in a device and earning a spot in an advanced study program. Her desire for knowledge and understanding of the human world's magic drives her to continue her studies of it, despite it becoming increasingly clear that she's in way over her head as she nearly gets her peers killed, and Cinch is able to convince her to unleash said magic in an ill-thought-out attempt to win the Games by tempting her with the opportunity for knowledge. The stolen magic corrupts her into Midnight Sparkle, her Superpowered Evil Side, who opens random rifts toward Equestria to reaches its magic, uncaring that it could destroy the human world as long as she can learn more about Equestrian magic. Even after being defeated, she survives as a threatening alter ego inside Twilight's psyche. She’s a classic example of someone being pushed over the edge by her desire for knowledge (combined with bullying by her peers and authority figures) and becoming something monstrous."

[talentforlying]

@hexsreality: 😊📺 — 𝐌𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐀𝐒𝐊𝐒

😊 — any career desires?

i'm in a pretty weird place in life atm, so i guess my biggest career desire is just to figure out exactly what i want to keep doing!! (and what will actually pay me 😩) most immediately, i'm hoping to get into a grad program for anthropology (focus in either media ethnography or forensic anthropology), and expand my paper into a much larger research project. i'm also hoping to get more work as a theatrical lighting technician (love me some catwalks) and expand my skillset/job opportunities by beefing up my programming skills and getting in more practical design experience.

long-term, i think i either want to grow my expertise in media ethnography & publish more papers about it, or pursue cold case + natural disaster forensic identification efforts. maybe do a dollop of lighting design. i'm very indecisive and i love many things with equal vigor, i fear.

📺 — favorite movie(s) and/or tv show(s)?

the world's end from edgar wright's cornetto trilogy remains one of my most BELOVED movies of all time. one of the most poignant stories i've ever seen put to film, with the cleanest and most creative narrative cohesion + scenic design + callback pay-off i've ever seen, plus a bitchin' soundtrack that syncs up beautifully with its action sequences. also, dramatic acting from thee simon pegg??? he's BRILLIANT, give him more serious roles i fucking beg of you. i never get tired of that movie. also high up on the list are annihilation, the usual suspects, and mad max fury road.

as for tv shows, i ADORE person of interest with all my heart, i have watched it far too many times and it never gets old. it's what i wrote my conference paper about!!! right behind it are nbc hannibal, westworld, midnight mass, the haunting of hill house, and bones, all of which i could watch on a loop without ever growing bored. i've also been watching a lot of ER lately, which is a great show but does emotionally damage me so bad that i'm currently on a month-long break lmao.

[bellaxgiornata]

Caught in the Undertow [Chapter Six]

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Original Female Character

[You can find the full summary and chapter list for this series here]

Warnings/tags: 18+ for this series; contains fluff, angst, domestic violence, depression, PTSD, smut

Word Count: 6.9k

a/n: Another sort of fluffy chapter for this series! Though Matty, your Daredevil is showing a little too closely in this one... Feedback is always appreciated!

Chewing my lip absently, my eyes scanned over the email response I’d just typed up for a client. Soft ambient music was playing from my laptop as I sat with my legs crossed underneath me on my couch. Eventually satisfied with the email I'd written, I hit the send button before pulling up Lightroom and loading an engagement session that I needed to finish editing this week. 

As the files began to upload, I slid my glasses from my face, rubbing the heel of my hand over my strained and tired eyes. I had awoken early this morning at just before six. Unable to fall back asleep as thoughts raced through my mind, I had decided to just jump straight to work. I’d been staring at my laptop for a few hours already and my eyes were killing me.

My phone began to vibrate loudly from beside my laptop as I slid my glasses back on. I leaned over towards my coffee table, grabbing my phone and expecting it to be a client calling. I grinned wide when I saw Matt’s name on the screen instead.  

It had been a few days since Matt had stayed the night here after my housewarming party. We’d fallen asleep wrapped in each other's arms and woken up to briefly cuddle–the entire thing still seeming surreal–before I needed to get ready for a wedding later that morning. I’d finished the wedding close to midnight that night, getting done with the job and finding he’d sent me a few cute text messages throughout the day to let me know he’d been thinking about me. The following day on Sunday I’d had an engagement party I was photographing in the evening. That same night he called me when I got home and we talked for over an hour while I was downloading the photos from the event and making dinner. Unfortunately yesterday I hadn’t heard much from him; Matt had been busy in court most of the day before working late on another case with Foggy afterwards so we hadn't really spoken.

But seeing his name pop up on my phone so early this morning was a welcome sight.

“Good morning, Matty,” I greeted as I answered.

“Morning, sweetheart,” he responded, the hint of a smile in his tone.

I bit my lip at the unexpected term of endearment, warmth blooming in my chest. “To–to what do I owe the pleasure of this early morning call?” I stuttered out.

“It’s been too long since I last heard your voice,” he answered me, all charm. “I missed it. And ,” he added, my stomach twisting pleasantly at his words, “I was wondering if you’d care to join me at Mad Goat for a few hours this morning? If you don’t have a shoot?” he asked hopefully. “I don’t really need to go into the office to work on things today and I…I’ve missed working with you beside me over coffee,” he admitted.

I smiled as my eyes slid over to my laptop. The program was just finishing uploading the images I needed to work on as we spoke. There really was no reason why I couldn’t work on them while sipping coffee and chatting with Matt like we used to do. 

“I have another engagement shoot at three-thirty this afternoon I need to get a few things together for,” I told him, my eyes darting to the time in the corner of my screen. It was just after nine. “But I’d love to spend a few hours working next to you,” I told him. “Just like old times.”

“I know we haven’t really defined whatever this is, or mentioned anything to our friends, but do I get to hold your hand if I want? Kiss you?” he asked curiously, uncertainty in his tone. “Is that…is that alright?”

I grinned, a sudden giddiness flooding me. “If you want to,” I answered him, chewing my thumbnail nervously.

“Then it’s better than old times,” he corrected me. “Because back then all I could do was imagine it, but now I actually have permission to act on it.”

“You’re a sweet talker, Murdock,” I teased him. “You know that?”

“Only for you, sweetheart,” he murmured back.

My heart swelled in my chest as my eyes glanced back at the program on my laptop. It had finished uploading the photos.

“Meet you at the coffee shop in twenty minutes?” I asked him.

“I’ll be there waiting for you,” he promised me. “Honey lavender oat milk latte with light ice?”

The fact that he remembered my coffee order despite the fact that it had been close to a year since the last time we’d gone knocked the air from my lungs. How much had he noticed about me through the years? How blind to everything had I really been? How had I not seen what was right in front of me after all of this time?

“Em?” Matt asked when I didn’t answer.

“Yeah, sorry,” I breathed out. “I just…can’t believe you remember my coffee order.”

“Of course I do,” he told me. “It was your go-to coffee whenever it was warm out. You always ordered it in the summer.”

“And you still ordered hot coffee even on a hot day," I recounted with a smile. "Because you never ordered anything iced; you always said it waters your coffee down and makes it taste weird."

“See, you–you remember,” he said, sounding a little breathless himself. “I’ll uh, see you in twenty?”

“Looking forward to it,” I told him.

°•°•°•°•°•°

The moment I pulled open the door to Mad Goat I was hit with the fresh smell of coffee and a rush of nostalgia. I stepped inside, my eyes scanning to our usual booth in the far back corner. Matt was sitting right there in the same booth we’d spent so many days together in. I stood there a moment, slowly smiling as I took in the sight of him with his dark glasses on, his attention focused on sliding his fingers along a paper as he read. There was a laptop closed on the table next to a stack of papers beside him along with two coffees. I adjusted the strap of my brown leather backpack, my heart fluttering in my chest with a lightness that almost made me dizzy. His hand stopped abruptly on the paper, his head rising from the table and turning in my direction. I bit my lip and made my way towards him wondering how it seemed as if he always knew when I showed up.

“Hey, Matty,” I greeted softly as I approached the little corner booth. “Did you miss me?”

A wide smile broke across his face, his white teeth flashing at me. He raised a hand up and removed his glasses, his sightless gaze falling near my shoulder.

“I did, actually,” he admitted.

He slid further into the booth to make room for me. One of his hands searched along the table until it came in contact with the iced coffee before he gently slid it towards me.

“Thank you,” I said, slipping the bag from my back before sitting down beside him. “Next round is on me, though.”

“Maybe I want to buy you a second cup,” Matt pointed out. “I do get paid in actual money now, Ms. Diehl.”

I chuckled as I set my backpack into my lap, unzipping it and sliding my laptop out. “I happen to recall Foggy mentioning the other night that someone paid you guys in rhubarb pie recently,” I said.

Matt grinned, ducking his head as he nodded. “Okay, so I do get paid in actual money and the occasional rhubarb pie.”

Placing the laptop onto the table, I got comfortable in the booth beside him. “I get the next round of coffee, Murdock. Only fair. Pretty sure I owe you more than the forty-seven dollars and thirty-two cents I gave you years ago.”

“The time spent with you all these years more than made up for that,” he whispered.

My hands hesitated on my laptop, my head turning over my shoulder towards him; the sight of him had me momentarily stop breathing. He was looking at me with an earnest expression on his face that had my palms beginning to moisten. 

“You don’t need to sweet talk me, Matty,” I murmured. “You already have my interest.”

The corner of his mouth curved into a smirk as he gazed back at me. “It’s not sweet talking if it’s the truth,” he countered gently.

I felt a flush creep up my cheeks as I finished opening my laptop, trying to quietly exhale a shaky breath so he wouldn’t hear it. I swallowed hard as I waited for my laptop to turn on, beginning to dig through my bag for my glasses case and cordless mouse. 

“So what’re you working on this morning?” he asked curiously, his tone shifting back to casual.

I slid my glasses onto my face, clearing my throat and trying to recover from the effect he’d just had on me. “Engagement session,” I answered, turning on the mouse. “I need it done by the end of the week but I’m hoping to knock it out this morning. You?”

“Prepping for a deposition tomorrow,” he told me, his attention returning to the papers before him.

  “Mmm, lawyer stuff,” I mused, loading Lightroom up on my laptop. “Does not sound fun at all. I much prefer what I’m doing.”

He chuckled beside me as I reached for my coffee; and then his warm hand landed on my right thigh, just above my knee. The coffee cup paused just before my lips, my body freezing at the contact. My stomach lightly flipped in a strange excitement–definitely not something another guy had made me feel before from a single touch.

“This is alright with you, right?” he asked, leaning towards me as he lightly squeezed my leg.

“Yeah,” I breathed out.

I took a drink of my coffee, ignoring the slight tremor in my hand as I set it back down on the table. I pulled open the folder in Lightroom that I had been about to work on this morning before he called me, but admittedly my attention was very much still focused on his hand on my leg. A small, depraved part of me suddenly wondered what it would feel like if he slid it further up despite how much of a very public setting we were in. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him reading again, his right hand running along the pages before him. I’d have thought he was oblivious to the effect he was having on me right now if I couldn’t see the permanent grin on his face.

My attention returned to my laptop, setting up a batch process for the images in the folder as I wondered how in the hell Matt Murdock had suddenly kickstarted my sex drive–the one that had been stalled for months because of my grief and depression.

Pushing those thoughts away, I minimized the tab for Lightroom while it worked before I pulled my email back up, groaning when I saw another email from a wedding planner I didn’t particularly enjoy working with.

“Hmm?” Matt hummed beside me.

“Nothing,” I grumbled. “Just an email from someone who I swear plots my demise at every wedding we work together.”

Matt snickered beside me, his hand falling away from his papers as he turned a bit towards me in the booth. “Okay, now I need to hear more.”

I huffed loudly as my eyes scanned the email. “It’s this wedding planner–Angelica Van Buren.” I rolled my eyes at how even her name was as haughty as she was. “I try to be friendly and professional with her, I swear. But she’s so infuriating. Treats every other vendor like the hired help–which like, okay, I am hired to help–but she insists I lug my shit through the servant’s entrances for every wedding we work together instead of using the front door like a normal person.” I held up a hand roughly. “And don’t even get me started on how I feel about it being called a servant’s entrance, by the way. Which she loves to call it any chance she gets.” I sighed, shaking my head as I skimmed her email. “Anyway. She basically butchered my timeline for this weekend. Which wasn’t unexpected. Now I’ll have like five minutes to scarf down the sad little paper bag meal I’ll be fed for the fourteen hours I’ll be working Saturday.” I picked up my coffee, taking another sip. “I miss courthouse elopement’s in Hell’s Kitchen sometimes,” I mumbled.

Matt laughed immediately. “Frank and Jodi?” he recalled.

My eyes went wide as I remembered the pair of bikers. “Oh my God, they were a riot !” I gushed. “Who knew sixty-something year old bikers could be hilarious and romantic?”

“Didn’t they gift each other handguns?” he asked curiously. “And they wanted you to photograph it?”

I sighed gently, smiling at the memory. “Yeah,” I answered him. “Yeah, they did. It was weird and wonderful. That’s the shit I love about this job. Not–” my hand waved at the irritating email from Angelica, “–this stuff.” I paused, glaring at the email for a moment as Matt’s hand squeezed my thigh again. “You know, shortly after I moved out of Hell’s Kitchen I photographed a wedding where the bride’s father told me he spent a quarter of a million on the whole day.” I caught the slight jaw drop on Matt’s face as his eyebrows shot up. “Yeah, gross right? Way too much for a wedding. Anyway, this bride had a list of pictures she wanted– none of them of her with her new husband. She wanted me to photograph her engagement ring and her three wedding bands–and I still to this day wonder why you need so many rings on one finger?” I shook my head before continuing, “Even her little dog that was there she cared more about. Hell, when I went back to edit everything later, I had more photos of the seven foot tiered cake she wouldn’t stop gushing about the baker it came from than photos of her and her husband.”

“Was it any good at least?” he asked. "The cake?"

“You know, that happened to be one of the few weddings I actually got to try the cake at since taking on more…uh, high end clients,” I told him. “Probably because there was a seven foot cake to feed fifty people. But no–the actual cake was dry as a bone. I cringe at what her father must’ve spent on it.”

“I don’t want to know,” he said, pulling a face.

“Anyway, my point being–I miss the weddings like Frank and Jodi,” I admitted. “It was an unexpected, weirdly sweet rollercoaster of an afternoon with them. Whereas the people I sometimes photograph now?” I sighed, shaking my head. “By the time I finished editing the bride with the seven foot cake's photos and reached out to her to deliver them, she told me they were already divorcing each other. Together for ten years and then divorced after six weeks of marriage.”

“He probably got tired of her talking about the damn cake,” Matt joked.

I grinned, bumping his shoulder with mine. “Or asking for another ring,” I joked back, earning a chuckle from Matt. 

I focused back on my photos, deciding to respond to the email later today. I pulled the editing program back up and began marking the images I’d keep for the couple, beginning the culling process of the photos in the folder. 

“That’s one thing I can’t stand about the weddings for these ‘high class people’,” I continued with a roll of my eyes, my attention fixed on my laptop. “Not all of them are like that, but a disturbing majority of them are getting married like it’s a social event and they’re going to plan another in a few years’ time. The ones where it’s just a show of wealth make me sick all day to work. Or, ugh, I get the few where the groom is literally trashing his soon-to-be-wife to his groomsmen while I’m photographing them getting ready–even worse if they’re discussing the details of what they really shouldn’t have been doing at the bachelor parties.” I cringed at a particular memory. “I love me a wedding where the vows make me teary eyed when they read them to each other,” I rambled on. “Or when the groom first sees his bride at the end of the aisle and he literally weeps like a baby in front of all of their friends and family–which is my favorite shot at any wedding.” My fingers worked almost mechanically as I continued through the cute engagement session on my laptop, my eyes focused on the screen. “And when they can’t keep their hands off of each other all day,” I continued. “The sweet forehead kisses during the first dance. Or when–”

Matt’s hand darted out, startling me when he captured my chin in his fingers in a firm grip. He carefully pulled my face away from my laptop and towards him. My breath caught in my throat. He was smiling wide as he leaned in towards me, his eyes dropping down to my lips right before he abruptly connected his mouth to mine. I was caught off guard, too shocked to respond right away, but then his fingers let go of my chin as his hand slid up, his warm palm cupping my cheek. I melted into him in the booth, my chest brushing against his. My mouth responded to his the moment my brain restarted. I kissed him back eagerly, my hand flying down under the table to the one he had squeezing my thigh and I gripped it tight, holding onto it like a lifeline. 

He tasted like the drip coffee he was drinking and I was once again dumbfounded that I was sitting in our coffeeshop with his mouth on mine. After a moment his lips pulled back, but I leaned back into him, connecting our lips once, twice more. It was almost impossible to stop kissing him. Matt’s hand on my cheek had to pull me back as he lightly chuckled, his lips planting a gentle kiss to the corner of my mouth.

“What–what was that about?” I asked him in shock, trying to recover.

He grinned wide back at me, my eyes lowering to focus on his soft lips again. I really wanted to keep kissing them.

“We’ve come here a lot over the two years we’ve been friends,” he told me, “and I’ve listened many times as you rambled on about the bits of wedding photography you were passionate about–a sweet couple you worked with, some funny story from a wedding you just photographed, an emotional toast a sibling gave, or you describing the emotion in some image you were editing and were yourself getting emotional over.” His grin grew into a smile, his eyes creasing as he looked back at me. “And every time I ever heard you gush about any of those, all I have ever wanted to do was just grab you and kiss you. Because it’s cute as hell and your love of other people’s love is sweet to hear. And I just…couldn’t help myself,” he admitted. “You’re adorable.”

Something warm rushed through my veins and I grabbed his face in both of my hands, drawing his mouth back towards mine. I could feel him smiling against my mouth as he kissed me back, the stubble of his face pleasantly scratching my skin.

“What?” I asked, lips moving against his mouth.

“We’re in a busy coffee shop,” he pointed out, grinning as he pulled back, brushing his forehead against mine. “And even though I’m blind I can tell we’re being stared at.”

“Am I embarrassing you, Matthew Murdock?” I questioned him coyly.

“No,” he whispered back, his mouth briefly connecting with mine again to prove his point. “But we should probably refrain from a public make out session.”

I pouted, leaning back in the booth. We were, in fact, being stared at. I blushed faintly even as I whispered back, “But I enjoy kissing you.”

The hand he had on my thigh slid an inch up my leg and I straightened. “And I enjoy kissing you, Em,” he murmured, his thumb sweeping over the fabric of my jeans. “But we won’t get any work done if we keep doing… that .”

I sighed, my eyes shifting from Matt’s handsome face to my laptop screen. “You have a point,” I grumbled out. “I do need to get this done.”

I picked up my iced coffee, drinking down a good amount of it as I focused back on my work. We fell into a comfortable silence for the next thirty some minutes; Matt reading his papers beside me with a look of intense focus on his face as I continued to work through the engagement session. His hand remained on my thigh, occasionally his thumb would begin to absently rub soothing circles along my leg or his hand would gently massage the muscle underneath it. Each time his hand moved my heart gave a little jolt, a small smile spreading over my lips.

As I was finishing culling the photos, Matt leaned over towards me. My eyes were still focused on the laptop screen but I felt his lips press a kiss to my shoulder, just over the top of my tee-shirt. I bit my lip, my attention turning towards him with a faint questioning hum.

“I missed this,” he confessed. “Sitting here working alongside you, drinking coffee.”

“I did too, Matty,” I admitted. “It feels like the world is right again.”

“It does,” he agreed softly.

My eyes darted to our empty coffee cups before I turned back towards him. “You still have more work to do?” I asked him.

“Yeah, a few emails to work up and notes to check,” he answered. I began sliding out of the booth but Matt’s hand quickly held on tight to my leg. “Where are you going?”

“I told you, Murdock,” I said, gingerly removing his hand from my thigh. “Second round of coffee is on me.”

“You’re not going to give up on this, are you?” he asked.

“Mmm, no,” I told him, rising to my feet. “Same drink?”

The corner of his lip turned up as he nodded. “Yeah, thanks, Em.”

“No problem, Matty. I’ll be right back.”

I made my way over to the register, ordering both of us another drink and paying. As I slid over to the counter, waiting for the barista to make our drinks, my eyes returned back to Matt in the back of the shop. He was huddled over his laptop again, one hand dragging through his hair with his elbow on the table in deep concentration. The fingers on his other hand traced over the braille reader hooked up to his laptop. I watched him for a few minutes wondering how in the hell someone so sweet and caring had walked into my life and also managed to want me back. It still didn't feel real.

The barista broke me out of my trance a few minutes later and I accepted the cups from him with a smile. I made my way back towards Matt, my heart skittering in my chest when he recognized my footsteps and glanced up towards me. 

"Need to recaffeinate?" I asked, holding his cup out towards him.

His hand reached out and I slipped the drink into it before plopping back into the booth beside him. I took a sip of coffee before setting it onto the table, my attention returning to the almost two hundred final edits I was making slight tweaks on. Matt's hand returned to my leg and I couldn't keep the smile from my mouth as I continued working. 

"What time is it?" he asked after a little bit.

My eyes darted to the corner of my screen, reading the time. "It's about a quarter to eleven," I told him.

"And what time do you need to get back for your shoot?" 

I chewed my lip in thought. The shoot was at three-thirty and it would take me probably a half an hour to get home from here with traffic and then I needed to gather my camera equipment and meet the couple at a park a couple blocks from my place. I'd probably need at least an hour to make sure I wasn't late. 

"Probably by two-thirty at the latest?" I answered him, turning my attention to him beside me. "Why, what's up?"

He leaned his right arm onto the table, turning a bit more towards me. He looked nervous as he looked back at me and my eyes scanned him curiously. 

"Can I…take you to lunch?" he asked, his eyebrows rising onto his forehead.

"Not tired of me yet?" I shot back.

He chuckled, shaking his head. "No, definitely not. But would that be…okay? Something you'd like to do?"

"Yeah, Matt, of course," I assured him. 

A smile broke across his face and he reached across the booth towards me, encircling his arms around my shoulders and pulling me into his muscular chest. A small squeal of surprise left me at the sudden gesture. He wrapped me in a warm embrace, placing a barrage of kisses to my temple as I giggled. 

"What's that all about?" I asked him between laughter.

"Just happy," he told me, holding me in a hug with his arms still wrapped around my shoulders. "How does brunch sound?"

"Matt," I said, abruptly serious as I turned the best I could to look up at him, "you know damn well I love me a good eggs benedict."

He placed a kiss on my cheek before releasing me and I straightened up in the booth, adjusting my blouse. 

"There's supposed to be a good place just across the street," he told me. "You want to finish up here and head over in a half hour?"

"Sounds like a plan," I told him. "I'm almost done here. You?"

His attention shifted back to his laptop and his braille reader. "Just an email I'm finishing responding to, but I can keep you company while you finish. I know you wanted to get that done this morning and I don't want to be the reason you don't."

"Ever so considerate," I mused, my attention returning to my work. "I'm mostly just doing small edits now. Then I just need to export the final images."

We fell into another comfortable silence for a little while, Matt typing away on his keyboard and finishing his email while I continued downing my coffee and editing images. After a bit I heard Matt packing his things up beside me. 

"Just finishing up," I told him. "About to export the images now."

"We should do this more often," Matt suggested, slinging the strap of his bag over his shoulder.

"It's definitely more enjoyable editing with company than sitting alone in my apartment," I agreed. 

I bit my lip, contemplating saying something more as I glanced over at Matt while the program on my laptop finished up. It wasn't a surprise when he somehow picked up on my hesitation–he always knew. 

"What's on your mind, sweetheart?" he asked, resting his chin in his hand as he leant on the table, his sightless gaze fixed on me. 

His eyes had focused on my chest as he spoke, a smirk spreading on his lips a moment later as if he could sense the way my body reacted to the way he called me ‘sweetheart’.

"I was just thinking that maybe we should do this…at one of our places next time," I answered slowly, my eyes sliding back to the laptop as a sudden shyness overtook me again at how blunt I was about to be. "So we can make out without an audience," I finished, voice lowering as I spoke.

He shifted beside me, his thigh suddenly bumping up beside mine. A flash of it bare in the dark before he slipped into my bed the other night ran through my mind and I felt my body warm. He threw an arm over my shoulder, leaning in to kiss my cheek. And then his mouth lingered beside my ear.

"Whatever you want, sweetheart," he whispered, his breath fanning along my neck.

I swallowed hard, definitely feeling an increase in body temperature now. My eyes were still on my screen, taking a moment to realize the program had finished. 

"My uh–my engagement session is finished," I breathed out, my heart pounding loudly in my chest. 

I didn't want to rush things with Matt, and I was still trying to figure my own shit out, but when he did things like this I was quickly finding that I was having a hard time not turning around and straddling him in the middle of the coffee shop and shoving his hands up my shirt and mine down his pants. The mental image of doing just that briefly flashed through my mind and my thighs involuntarily tightened against each other. 

Matt cleared his throat, removing his arm from around me. When I turned to look at him he appeared to be struggling a little himself. His cheeks were flushed and the muscles in his jaw were working. My brows furrowed, unsure of how he'd switched so abruptly from cocky to flustered. I opened my mouth to speak but he managed to cut me off before I could.

"Why don't we go grab lunch then?" he suggested quickly, voice sounding strained.

"Sure, just need to pack up my things," I told him.

I turned off my laptop and removed my glasses, returning both items to my bag before zipping it up. Matt remained silent the entire time; my mind still closely focused on how his thigh was still pressed to mine.

"All good, you ready to go?" I asked, confused by his strange silence.

Matt nodded, a tight smile forming on his face. I slid out of the booth and he followed after me. As I swung my backpack onto my back, he slid his dark glasses back on and unfolded his cane. I reached out and gently grabbed his wrist, guiding it to the crook of my elbow as usual before leading us out of the coffee shop. 

The heat of the midday sun was sweltering as we stepped outside. Matt thankfully seemed to have recovered from whatever had just happened inside, now appearing significantly more relaxed as he held on to me.

"So where is this place?" I asked him, my eyes scanning across the street.

"It's just around the corner on the block across from here," he told me.

"West fifty-first?" I clarified, my eyes darting towards the street.

"Yeah," he answered. "It's where Nat's used to be?"

"Oh!" I said, recognition dawning on me. I immediately started leading us both towards the crosswalk at the end of the block. "Nat's closed? They had good pizza."

"I don't think Nat could afford to keep the doors open anymore," Matt told me.

"That's a shame," I mumbled.

I brought us to a stop at the corner for a moment, scanning the street before stepping out. Matt’s grip tightened against my arm, roughly pulling me back just as a car whipped around the corner. My heart lurched into my throat as I stared wide eyed after the car that had blatantly just run a red light. 

"Fucking hell, what a dick!" I called out. I sighed, my attention shifting to Matt beside me who looked startled as well. "Thanks, I don't know how I didn't see that." And then I frowned, my eyes narrowing at him curiously. "Wait, how did you know there was a car coming around the corner?"

"I uh, could hear it," he said quickly, shooting me a tight smile.

I stared at him for a long moment before shaking my head. "Sorry, didn't mean to walk us in front of a car," I apologized, double checking before crossing again. 

"Wasn't your fault," he said off-handedly. "So I've never been to this place before but Foggy and Marci apparently love it."

"Well if Marci recommends it then it's good," I assured him.

As we turned the corner, the brunch place came into view immediately. I led us over, helping guide Matt inside as a hostess pleasantly greeted us. She grabbed two menus and led us further inside, seating us in a booth. Matt released his grip on me, sliding into the booth across from me. I frowned looking down at the menu.

“You want me to see if they have one in braille? Or would you like me to read the items off to you?” I asked Matt, my eyes scouring the paper in front of me.

Matt removed his dark glasses from his face, setting them onto the table beside himself. “I’m pretty sure Foggy told me they had a good vegetarian skillet.”

My eyes skimmed the menu, eventually landing on what I assumed he meant. I read it off for him, looking up towards him afterwards.

“Yeah, I’ll probably stick with that,” he answered. “Thank you.”

“Not a problem,” I told him, my eyes scanning the section of eggs benedict options. “Restaurants really need to be less ableist with their menus,” I muttered.

It was just a minute before a movement beside our table caught my attention. I straightenedup, my attention turning to the waitress who’d arrived–and then frowned immediately. She had pen to paper in her hand, her eyes focused solely on Matt as if I wasn’t even present. She was clearly biting her lip and blushing.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” she asked, clearly trying to pitch her voice to sound alluring and sultry.

I rolled my eyes and focused on the menu on the table. Matt ordered a water before the young waitress grudgingly turned towards me, a scowl on her face as she very obviously eyed me up and down.

I smiled politely, even if it was a tense smile. “Water’s fine,” I told her.

Her attention shifted back to Matt, the warm smile returning to her face. “I’ll be right back,” she told him before walking off, intentionally adding a sway to her hips.

I huffed in annoyance as I placed an elbow on the table, anxiously raking a hand through my hair. 

“What?” Matt asked.

My eyes darted up from the menu towards his quizzical expression. I frowned–there was no way he was that oblivious was there?

“Nothing,” I mumbled back. 

His eyes slightly narrowed back at me, quietly scrutinizing me. After a moment he opened his mouth to say something, but the pretty blonde waitress returned, making a show of bringing Matt his water.

“Are you ready to order?” she asked him sweetly, leaning a bit towards him, one hand on the back of his side of the booth.

My hand under the table clenched. How could one person be so rude? 

“Why don’t you start with the lady?” Matt suggested, his hand gesturing to me across the table.

The waitress grit her teeth, forcing a smile on her face as she turned towards me. I gave her my order before she quickly focused back on Matt, all flirtatious smiles and hair twirling. I was grateful when she finally disappeared a minute later after taking our orders and menus.

“I may be blind but I’m not stupid,” Matt pointed out. “Somethings bothering you.”

“It’s nothing,” I assured him.

“The waitress?” he asked.

I sighed, running a hand across my forehead. “Just the blatant flirting is rude when she could easily surmise you’re here with someone already,” I mumbled, grabbing my water and taking a drink. “Not like I don’t get it, I mean, you walk into a room and a lot of women are staring at you. But just… that is irritating.”

“If it makes you feel better, I could care less about her rude flirting. Though I am bothered by how she’s treating you,” he said. “Not exactly how I wanted a first date to go.”

One of my brows quirked up as I eyed him across the table. “First date?” I asked him curiously.

He cleared his throat awkwardly. “I mean, unless you’d rather it not be that?”

“I–” My voice caught in my throat; what were we doing kissing in coffee shops and grabbing brunch together if it wasn’t a date? “What are we doing?” I asked abruptly.

His brows creased together, his lips turning down at the corners. “I was hoping you’d enlighten me on that when you were ready.”

“So…this is a date?” I clarified, feeling nervous suddenly.

“I’d like it to be if you would,” he answered. “What do you want it to be, Em?”

I sat in the booth feeling my mind begin to race. The jealousy I felt over the waitress flirting with Matt had me certain I wanted things to be exclusive between us–I didn’t want him seeing anyone else as much as I didn’t want to see anyone else. But I also wasn’t ready for an actual, committed relationship just yet, especially since I didn’t know how that would even look for us. And certainly not while I was trying to recover from whatever I was struggling through.

“Exclusively…casually dating?” I asked him cautiously.

A small grin spread on his mouth. “Please define that for me,” he requested.

“Not seeing other people but…not exactly in a relationship?” I explained timidly. “Just…feeling things out? Seeing where things go?”

“I don’t want to see anyone else anyway, Emily,” he assured me.

“Neither do I,” I answered him quickly, my hands resting along the table.

He gazed back at me for a moment, a soft smile on his face as he did. His eyes were scanning along my face. “So what does that entail? This…exclusive casual dating between us? Going on dates? Kissing?”

“Yes, definitely the kissing,” I answered with a grin. His eyebrows rose on his forehead as his grin spread wider. “And the dates. The dates are a good idea,” I agreed.

“Cuddling?” he asked curiously, both elbows resting on the table as he leaned forward towards me with a look of extreme interest on his face.

I mimicked his body language, leaning towards him as well with a smile. “Yes, definitely cuddling. And hand holding, that’s allowed.”

One of his hands slid across the wooden table, searching for mine. I laughed lightly, placing my hand into his. His hand squeezed mine back.

“Maybe I should ask what’s not included instead?” he asked.

I bit my lip, thinking for a moment. The only thing that truly came to mind besides the actual commitment aspect of a relationship was also one thing I found myself desperately wanting with him. But I was also afraid it might completely complicate whatever was going on between us and push me into an actual relationship too soon. I still had things I needed to finish internally working through.

“Besides the pressure of an actual relationship," I began nervously, "we should…probably refrain from…sex,” I said, my cheeks flushing as I grudgingly admitted that thought aloud. “For now. Until we sort of figure this out. I just don’t want to complicate things. And I–I just want to…get my head on straight,” I mumbled the last bit.

His hand squeezed mine again. “I’m okay with that,” he whispered back. “I can wait for you, Em. However long you want, however long it takes.”

A shiver ran down my spine at his words and the way he was staring at me from across the booth–once again like I was the only one in the room despite the busy restaurant we were sitting in. Slowly he raised my hand towards his mouth, his plump lips placing a lingering, soft kiss to my knuckles that had my heart thundering in my chest and a warmth flooding low inside of me. I was almost immediately regretting taking sex off of the table. 

The waitress abruptly appeared beside the table, a loud huff of annoyance coming from her as she saw Matt kissing my hand. I watched a slow smirk carefully spread across Matt’s lips behind my knuckles, his gaze still focused on me. My eyes widened–had he somehow done that on purpose ? He couldn't have though, because I hadn't even noticed she was on her way over with our food. 

He brushed my knuckles against the smirk on his lips before releasing my hand and sitting back, making space for the waitress to set our plates down. Which she did with a little unnecessary extra force for the both of us before telling us to enjoy our meal in a clipped tone and abruptly leaving. 

My eyes remained on Matt as he felt around the table for his silverware, a smirk still on his mouth. 

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" I asked him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he answered airily. "You mind passing the hot sauce?"

I stared back at him for a moment, eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Not buying it, Murdock," I told him, sliding the hot sauce across the table and into his waiting hand.

He grinned, not saying anything more as his attention currently turned to his food. I speared a piece of strawberry off my plate, bringing it to my mouth and chewing thoughtfully as I watched him.

[anarcho-occultism]

Khan Noonien Singh

Khan Noonien Singh (August 15th, 1947-disappeared June 4, 1996) was an Indian activist, politician and dictator best known for his rule as Prime Minister of the Republic of India from 1984 to 1991 and as Khan of the Great Khanate of India from 1991 to 1996. Singh was born in 1947 to Adhar Singh and Hira Dakkar on the very date India officially became independent. Dakkar, notably, was the granddaughter of the famed Indian pirate/revolutionary and member of Britain’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Prince Chhatrasal Dakkar, better known as Captain Nemo. He was one of several hundred ‘midnight children’ born at the very moment India gained independence and like many of them was a metahuman. Singh, in particular, possessed latent psychic abilities that enabled him to quickly understand the emotions and intentions of those around him, a tool which greatly enabled him both as a child and into adulthood. Singh, owing to these abilities, would be discovered, kidnapped and forcibly recruited into the Chrysalis Project, a program intended to develop superior humans. The Chrysalis Project was the brainchild of the post-World War II incarnation of Hydra and was overseen by Wilhelm Strasse, a Nazi scientist smuggled out as part of Operation Paperclip who remained loyal to the ideals of that system. Singh’s treatment at the hands of the Chrysalis Project, which de facto raised him from 1950 to 1958, was extraordinarily mixed as was the case with many metahumans part of the project. On one hand, they were idealized as incarnations of a new super-race that would one day rule the world by the Hydra scientists running the program. On the other hand, the fact that so many Chrysalis subjects were not in line with Hydra’s Nazi racial ideals meant many were subject to physical violence and abuse and the project often tasked the metahuman children with a wide array of dangerous tasks.

Singh in particular was put in a number of heavily perilous situations at the behest of the Chrysalis Project. He was tasked with obtaining Kanamit technology during the brief lull between their departure from Earth and the world’s governments seizing their technology. Singh managed to pilfer only a single device, which was nonetheless enough to allow the Chrysalis Project to rapidly analyze human DNA. Singh was also sent to the underwater city of Rapture in 1959 to obtain plasmids, managing to sneak both in and out undetected thanks to playing off different factions within the city against each other. Hydra viewed the plasmids as a potential tool to augment their own ranks and avoid the need for the likes of Singh to directly father children. Singh also was tasked with carrying out contact with various other large criminal and terrorist cells to offer Hydra’s covert support to the likes of SPECTRE, THRUSH and KAOS as part of efforts to provoke global instability. By the time he reached age 13, Singh had already had dozens upon dozens of brushes with death and killed over 30 people personally. However, at this age, Singh finally came to question the Chrysalis Project’s intentions, recognizing the contradictions that his youth had caused him to ignore before. Singh would lead a small insurrection against Hydra in India, burning down the local Chrysalis Project facility and murdering several of those he knew were operating on Hydra’s behalf within India, most notably the mad scientist Dr. Cyclops. In the years that followed, Singh was somewhat aimless and unsure of what to do next, absent other direction. In other circumstances, he might have become a superhero and he initially did hold the likes of Superman in high esteem. However, in the early 1960’s, the emergence of the mutant community helped push him in a different direction.

The global backlash towards mutants was largely sparked by a belief that being born with superpowers was a result of literally mutation at birth. To many who hated them, mutants were as abominable as any kaiju and for similar reasons. The hostility to metahumans in general was pervasive, but there was a sense that for those who had become superhuman there was some attachment to baseline humanity left. However, mutants did not have to have that attachment and thus, in the view of anti-mutant activists, a distinct threat. In response to this backlash came the rise of Erik Lensherr, known better as Magneto. Magneto advocated a doctrine that mutants were the next stage of human evolution and should seek to take their rightful place as dominant over the rest of humanity, echoing the beliefs of John Wainwright. Singh would quickly come to embrace this mindset, though he welded it with unique elements of his own country’s circumstances. Seeing the destitution and poverty so many experienced in India firsthand–himself having lived through it after fleeing the Chrysalis Project–Singh came to believe that a part of why mutants should dominate was out of a sense of duty to uplift ‘lower’ humanity’s station. In this sense, Singh’s Augment ideology can be understood as a spiritual successor to Gellert Grindelwald’s perspective of wizard supremacy for the good of wizards and non-wizards alike as well as the even earlier conception of ‘white man’s burden’ that was popular in the 19th century. Singh wrote a series of letters to Lensherr outlining his beliefs of this sort and, while Lensherr never formally replied, a number of his later attitudes reflected heavy similarities to Singh’s thought and were a blueprint for his governorship of Genosha in the 1980’s.

Singh was able to lie low until the late 1970’s, when like many other Indian metahumans he was designated an enemy of the state by Prime Minister Priya Duryodhani. Duryodhani, seeking to seize dictatorial power for herself, used fear of civil unrest and metahumans as a tool to justify taking on emergency powers that enabled her to suspend elections and quash dissent by force. Most relevant to Singh, however, were the efforts of Duryodhani’s government to eliminate the Midnight Children and other metahumans. Hundreds of them were taken into government custody and subjected to abusive medical procedures that left most of them depowered and sterile. Singh himself was imprisoned and subject to this horrendous treatment, but managed to escape with some portion of his powers remaining. Singh was reportedly hidden by a man named Raghaven, who due to a psychotic break perceived Singh as his own son Raghu whom had been a victim of police violence during the Emergency. Eventually, the Emergency ended in 1977 and Duryodhani was removed from power in subsequent elections, but an embittered Singh vowed vengeance. He concluded the only way to protect metahumans in India was for them to seize control of the state apparatus. Singh over the next several years worked to build a power base, making contact with outside metahumans such as the Tomorrow People and Lensherr’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in a bid to gain support for his plans to seize political power. Within India, Singh recruited the bulk of surviving Midnight Children to his side and additionally built support among opposition to the regime, in particular focusing on dissenting government officials like Indu Sarkar and Vikram Malhotra (whom Singh gained the loyalty of by having a mutant ally of his heal a series of physical and mental injuries inflicted upon him by police).

Singh himself, meanwhile, used his charm to infiltrate the Kaurava Party and get close to Duryodhani. By the time of her 1980 return to power, Singh was a part of Duryodhani’s personal guard. By repeatedly halting (staged) assassination attempts, Singh has made himself seem a loyal supporter of Duryodhani. Singh continued to bide his time and build a covert power base of mutants and baseline humans alike within India while waiting for the opportune moment to claim full power. That moment would arrive in 1984, when World War III broke out after, in the wake of most American-based superheroes being abducted by the otherworldly beings known as the Beyonder or the Monitor, President Cyclops/Webster made a poorly-timed joke that convinced the Soviets to activate Project Koschei and invade large swathes of Europe and North America. While the rest of the world was distracted by trying to use Gojira to contain Cthulhu, the ongoing fighting in Germany, Hawaii and the Rockies and British Prime Minister Jim Jasper’s proclamation of a fascist ‘English Socialist’ regime in Britain after usurping Joan Carpenter, Singh had a perfect opening to organize the assassination of Duryodhani and her followers. Singh personally struck down the Prime Minister and allies embedded throughout India made quick work of fellow Kaurava Party members. Not only Kaurava Party leaders were targeted, Singh also eliminated a number of key opposition figures, high-ranking figures within the Indian military and even prominent businessmen and actors whom he deemed a threat to his rule. Singh’s proclamation of taking power in India occurred only after well over 1,000 men and women whom could have stood in his way were eliminated by his followers. The official story Singh provided was that Soviet operatives had sought to decapitate the Indian government as they had already done in neighboring China, which already was beginning to collapse into civil war. Singh’s assumption of the role of Prime Minister of India was thus framed as an effort to maintain stability.

Singh’s swift action and prepared excuses were crucial to giving his regime the legitimacy it needed early on. In the name of anti-communism, Singh was able to continue to purge potential threats to his rule. Singh did not, however, only have an iron fist to offer the people of India. He also pursued investment in infrastructure, education, healthcare and entertainment for the public, something that was both a logical outgrowth of his philosophy and a crucial act to wooing an uncertain public to his side. Singh spent the first three years of his reign largely focused on this consolidation of power, but after the 1986 general election allowed Singh loyalists to sweep Parliament, Singh felt comfortable enough to begin looking outward once more. His first priority was India’s large neighbor: China. Chinese-Indian relations had long been frosty, with a number of border skirmishes being fought with the country under their previous leader Chairman Peng Guoliang. But now Peng was dead, a victim of a Soviet first strike on Beijing, and a country with hundreds of millions was in the middle of a bloody struggle for power not seen since the 1930’s. Chinese refugees fled into Southeast Asia and India alike and Singh was easily able to make the case that intervention to restore order in China was a matter of India’s national interest. Both the Soviets and the United States also viewed restoring stability in China as important, but even after World War III formally ended in 1985, neither side was willing to trust the other in the country. India, in a sense, would be a nice, neutral compromise in the minds of American and Soviet leaders who agreed to Singh’s plan. Singh selected the warlord Wu Qinghua as the ideal candidate to manage China, ostensibly due to her ties to the old government coupled with a reformist bent. However, in reality, there was another reason for choosing her. Wu Qinghua was closely aligned with the Chinese criminal masterminds Fu Manchu, Shen Yu, and Zhang Tong–all three of whom were closely tied to the supernatural elements of Chinese history. The three figures were de facto immortal and possessed a number of heightened physical and mental abilities. Singh viewed them as natural allies to his own belief system and, as it turned out, they agreed.

By 1989, Indian support and the supernatural arsenal of the 3 ‘hidden hands’ behind Chairwoman Wu enabled China to once again be under one government (outside of Taiwan and Zheng Fa, which stubbornly clung to independence). With an ally/de facto puppet state secured in the North, Singh next sought to recruit additional allies across the globe. His vision had cleared considerably thanks to learning more of the supernatural world from Zhang–the Augment world would not only be run by mutants and superhumans, but by wizards, witches, cyborgs, vampires and any others whom had, by birth or by growth, transcended the domain of ‘normal’ humans. Singh invested a lot of time drawing former subjects to psychic research programs like the Athena Plan, Project Firestarter and the Zener Project to India, offering not only protection but a chance for vengeance. Singh also engaged in overtures to supernatural beings he considered potential allies, to mixed success. Lucius Malfoy and other remnant Death Eaters in Britain cordially received his overtures, but did not sincerely plan to taking much action to align with him. Queen Beryl’s Dark Kingdom comparatively was more open to such an arrangement, though Beryl herself harbored ambitions to rule the world on her own and viewed Singh as disposable. On the other hand, the ancient vampire known as Sariel who held those he fed upon in an unusually strong thrall, rejected the prospect of any alliance outright, vowing to conquer the world on his own. Singh quickly realized he could not solely rely on unusual humans as allies and by the time he officially proclaimed the Great Khanate of India he was ready to form alliances of convenience with mundane humans.

One of Singh’s first mundane allies was Kazakh dictator Ivan Radek, who infamously helped orchestrate the hijacking of Air Force One in 1991 while President James Marshall was aboard it. The extent to which Singh was in favor of such an action remains uncertain, but it is known Singh publicly condemned the hijacking and cut off Radek with little fanfare. He had his other allies Zateb Kazim and Heinrich Krull act with more discretion moving forward. The formal beginning of the conflicts dubbed the Eugenics Wars would only begin in 1992 following the assumption of power by ultranationalists in Japan. Japan’s existing pro-American government had been badly weakened by the destruction of Tokyo by the entity known as Akira in 1989 and order was restored largely at gunpoint by ultranationalist General Ryoichi Yoshi, who was deeply nostalgic for Japan’s imperial past. Singh viewed Yoshi as a potential ally and privately urged him to form a military regime, but Yoshi instead stood aside in favor of Mogataru Koga. However, an economic crisis allowed the collapse of his government and the ascension of Hiroshi Goto as Prime Minister, who began implementing Yoshi’s far-right policies including responding to rising violence in schools (demonstrated primarily by 1989’s Akademi High School murders) by forcing teenagers into deathmatches. For the Goto government, the United States was a particular enemy and, with Singh’s support, Japan launched an open war on the United States in 1992. The war was brief, owing to Japan’s comparatively weak military footing. Most of the potential aces in the hole–the use of mechas, weaponization of Monsterland kaiju or large-scale intervention by Japanese superheroes–were stymied by antiwar sentiment on the part of those whom could have introduced them. In the end, Japan was defeated and the Singh-aligned government collapsed (though not before killing US President Florentyna Kane in an attack on the US Capitol).

Singh was undeterred by the failure of his Japanese allies. Indeed, he ramped up the Great Khanate’s support to sympathetic factions across the globe. When South Africa collapsed into civil war amidst a coup by hardliner Karl Voster, Singh made sure to provide Vorster with large amounts of weapons and even some metahuman support. Singh also provided manpower and weapons to M. Bison’s regime in Panau as it began invading neighboring island nations such as Banoi, Lilliput and Patusan. Genosha proved to be a natural ally of Singh’s government, acting as a hub from which Indian-made weapons and volunteers provided by Singh could flow to various allies of convenience. The terrorist organization Cobra also partnered with Singh out of convenience, ramping up the threat posed by the group considerably since the denting given to it by 1980’s counterterrorism efforts. Cobra was Singh’s preferred proxy for installing Khanate-friendly governments in Southeast Asia, which succeeded in Sarkhan and Laos even as it drew Vietnam, Vietmahl, Cambodia and Thailand to unite against them. Even ostensible opponents of metahumans were willing to form alliances of convenience with Singh’s government. When Ayatollah Daryaei’s Iran annexed Iraq, proclaimed the formation of the United Islamic Republic and invaded Kuwait, Qumar and Asran simultaneously, India and their puppet government in China were the nations who blocked a resolution condemning their actions at the United Nations and funneled heavy amounts of aid to the country. The period from 1992 to 1994 was characterized by these small-scale proxy conflicts.

It was 1995 that would see the conflict really ramp up in intensity thanks to the crashing of a meteor near the Tiber River carrying the element Tiberium. Singh, wishing to seize the material for his own use, convinced his ally Hank Scorpio to mount a coup in the United States. Scorpio was able to temporarily seize the Eastern Seaboard and forced President Jack Stanton to resign in favor of his Vice President Bud Hammond. In Russia, a coup was likewise attempted by Ivan Tretiak, a Russian hardliner seeking to restore the USSR by ousting Russian President Sergei Karpov. While these coups were ultimately repelled, they delayed the securing of Tiberium. Singh would form a common cause with the Brotherhood of Nod, whom under the command of their enigmatic leader Kane wanted to seize Tiberium as well. Singh’s support for Scorpio, Tretiak and Nod would at last force the world’s hands, with Russia and the US agreeing to implement crippling sanctions on India and China. China’s government yielded first, with Wu Qinghua being forced to stand down in favor of Lian Ma. Meanwhile, Singh’s hold in India, for the first time in a dozen years, faced dissent. Strikes and protests that could have been crushed with little backlash in previous years now escalated to riots, the people of India no longer believing in Singh’s promises of a brighter future for India. Singh still resisted launching outright war until 1996, when the Global Defense Initiative announced an intervention into India to remove a Brotherhood of Nod cell within the country. Singh ordered the Indian Armed Forces to resist the intervention, which they did for a time but the outcome was never in doubt. Singh vanished from New Delhi alongside his closest allies and followers on June 4th. Lakshmi Rupavathy, the leader of Singh’s previously-impotent opposition, would become Prime Minister of what was now once again the Republic of India.

The fact Singh disappeared has led to no shortage of theories about what became of him. Some believe Singh, much like the earlier would-be conqueror Adenoid Hynkel, committed suicide after realizing his failure to fulfill his ambitions. However, the additional disappearance of so many of his core allies–many of whom were also well-known figures–has meant many are dissatisfied with that explanation (though something like the Jamestown mass suicide is theoretically possible, it would be difficult to destroy all the bodies involved). Some claim Singh and the Brotherhood of Nod’s leader Kane had in fact been the same person and Singh had simply gone to join the Brotherhood in full as his rule in India collapsed. Due to the lack of resemblance between Kane and Singh, this theory is largely the provenance of cranks. Some claim that Singh escaped back in time or to a parallel reality–with declassified documents indicating Singh had made contact with a parallel world dominated by a nation calling itself the Domination of Draka serving as fuel for this belief. This is a theory that, while possible, has little other evidence going for it. One of the most popular theories is that Singh and his followers escaped to outer space, either to find another planet to settle upon or simply to wait to return to Earth. Many who believe this theory claim that Singh and his followers may have been responsible for directing the Harvester fleet towards Earth or launching the Wolf-Biederman asteroid (sometimes also known as ‘Dottie’) at the planet, citing that the meteor appeared to change trajectories before heading towards the planet, unlike the previous near-miss of the Hamner-Brown comet. Despite doubts about the veracity of that claim, declassified documents from Singh’s rule do indicate a robust investment in space travel technology. Of all theories, this may prove to be the most credible, but remains unconfirmed to this day. Despite the frequent brutality of Singh’s rule, a number of people in India actually hold Khan Noonien Singh in high regard, owing to his investments in public services and his efforts to increase India’s international standing. A cult venerating Singh as a living god has a shockingly high following in India, with it being estimated the vanished dictator is worshiped by just under 1 million people.

Star Trek, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Midnight’s Children, Marvel Comics (Captain America, X-Men, Secret Wars, Iron Man), Wolfenstein: The New Order, To Serve Man, Bioshock, James Bond, The Man From UNCLE, Get Smart, Shikari (1963 film), DC Comics (Superman, Crisis on Infinite Earths), Odd John, Harry Potter, The Great Indian Novel, Piravi, The Tomorrow People, Indu Sarkar, Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi, Whoops Apocalypse!, Murder in the White House, A Colder War, Red Storm Rising, Red Dawn, Hotline Miami 2, 1984, The Devil’s Alternative, The Shoes of the Fisherman, The Red Detachment of Women, The Insidious Doctor Fu Manchu, Evil Genius, Phoenix Wright, Terror in Resonance, Firestarter, Second Sight, Sailor Moon, The Strain, Air Force One, Sahara, The Simpsons (Cape Feare, You Only Move Twice), Akira, I Was Born But…, Jack Ryan Series (Debt of Honor, Executive Orders), Yandere Simulator, Battle Royale, Godzilla, The Prodigal Daughter, Vortex, Mortal Combat, Just Cause, Dead Island, Gulliver’s Travels, Lord Jim, GI Joe, The Ugly American, Destroy All Humans!, The West Wing, Full Metal Panic!, Command & Conquer, Primary Colors, Political Animals, The Saint, Maanagara Kaaval, The Great Dictator, The A-Team (Children of Jamestown), The Domination Series, Deep Impact, Armageddon, Lucifer’s Hammer

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Adidas Originals Brings the Iconic Forum to Universities Around the Country Ahead of College Basketball Season

Timeless lifestyle staple arrives in university colors for the first time ever

New Forum Collection adds to brand’s investment in collegiate lifestyle wear this year following the launch of the first Originals footwear collection made for university partners and fans

Officially licensed colorways for Kansas, Indiana, Louisville and Arizona State will be available starting Sunday, October 1, 2023

Ahead of the college basketball season and “Midnight Madness” celebrations across the country, adidas today unveils a Forum Collection for four partner NCAA programs.

“There was remarkable interest in the Rivalry collection we launched specifically for university students and fans last month and we’re excited to be bringing customized streetwear to even more campuses,” said Peter Gellert, Director of adidas Originals Basketball Footwear. “The Forum is one of the greatest basketball sneakers turned streetwear icons and its stylish versatility fits perfectly with university colors.”

First introduced in the ‘80s, the adidas Forum quickly gained traction on the court and in music, being worn by some of the biggest names in the industry. Now, fans and students from the University of Kansas, Indiana University, the University of Louisville and Arizona State University can add the Forum to their collections in their respective college colors.

"The launch of this Forum collection signals our increasing investment in bringing the best product the brand has to offer directly to our partner universities and their communities,” said Jeanne Schneider, director of NCAA Sports Marketing at adidas. “This collection is a celebration of the Hoosiers, Jayhawks, Sun Devils and Cards as they tip-off the basketball season. We are excited to continue launching product that brings students and fans closer to their teams."

The new Forum collection comes amid a series of historic investments by the brand in its university partners and fans this fall. Last month, adidas Originals unveiled its first-ever footwear collection customized for university students and fans. Shortly after, the brand celebrated history as the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Women’s Volleyball team broke the attendance record for any women’s sporting event in global history – hosting 92,003 at Memorial Stadium for Volleyball Day in Nebraska.

Students and fans can purchase the newest Forum colorways starting Sunday, Oct. 1 for $120 at adidas.com and the adidas app.