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fictionalmenxyn · 6 days

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¡𝟏𝟎 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐈 𝐇𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮!

Pt.1 (making it a story…hopefully) (ALSO not movie accurate!!) (will be based in modern time rather than the 90s/00s)

Pairing: Rafe x reader (strangers/enemies to lovers)

(Face claim: Jessica Alba)

Warnings: language, mentions of the word ‘rape’ (due to a part in the book I reference ‘heroes’ if you haven’t read it, I kinda recommend, I read it for my gcse and it was one of the better books I did for English 😭)

-❂❂❂-

It was the beginning of summer, life was great. Even greater for Rafe, new place, fresh start. Moving from California, to Outer Banks was a big change. Well, it was nice for him. He hoped the people… mainly girls… were different from the fake basic girls in Cali.

It was his first day of school, as for you, it was a normal day of school.

You were in your stone grey Toyota gt86, blasting your rock chick music. As the car next to you blasts white chick music. You rolled your eyes at the basic taste of music.

You pulled off as soon as the light hit green. Driving over to the high school.

Once on you had parked up, you got out of the car. Grabbing your tote bag from the back seat you closed both doors and locked your car. Putting your keys into your bag. You adjusted the straps on your shoulder.

Rafe was already there, talking with his ‘tour guide’. The guy, Jake, went through the basics. More specifically the basics of what group of people was what. The ‘jocks’, ‘popular girls’, ‘cowboys’, etc.

That’s when Rafe spotted you from afar. You walked over to your small (preferably) friendship group. Sitting with them on the small brick wall.

Rage’s attention went from you as Jake patted his shoulder and chuckled. Rafe asked “who’s that??” Jake replied “that, my friend, is Y/n Y/l/n… no point in going for her, man.” Rafe’s eyebrow raised “why not??” Jake answered “dude, she’s like got a huge attitude and kinda a bitch…” Rafe scoffed “you probably said something to upset her or some shit, that’s why..” Jake shakes his head “all I’m sayin’ is, watch out for her, man.”

Rafe’s attention was back on you. The way your hair naturally curls, the way your white band tee hugged your chest nicely, the way your long black skirt hugged your curves in all the right places. The way the slight showed just the right amount of thigh that it would be a nice view; but doesn’t dress code you. The way your docs topped off the outfit nicely. Edgy, but modest. You had different style to other girls in the school. And Rafe, for the first time, wasn’t complaining. He never thought he’d be into girls that didn’t wear dresses that practically suffocated them. Or girls that didn’t wear skirts that showed half of your ass. You were different, a good different.

The bell snapped him out of his thoughts. Shit, he has class, he looked over to you one more time to see you walking away with your friends.

-❂❂❂-

You sat in class, the teacher spoke “so? Did anyone even bother to read heroes??”

A girl raised her hand, “yeah, it was so romantic…” you rolled your eyes and remarked “romantic? Larry raped Nicole, so Francis went on a mission. Then it was wasted cause he didn’t even get to complete the mission cause Larry shot himself. Then Nicole and Francis didn’t even reconnect officially… hardly a love story..”

The teacher spoke “thank you, Y/n… didn’t need the summary but thanks…” you crossed your arms and leaned back into the plastic chair “why can’t we read better books by better authors… like Emily Brontë, or George Orwell, even Chuck Palahniuk, maybe even Steven Ki-”

Your teacher spoke “alright, we get it, you say it every time, and I always say..” you mocked “I can’t do a single thing, it’s the school that picks, not me..” your teacher nodded “exa-” the classroom door opens.

Rafe walks in, he gave a small smile “wha’d I miss?” You look over your shoulder. Looking him up and down “discussing the fact this school picks shitty books rather than actual interesting ones…” he smirked when he heard you speak “great.” He left the class.

You looked to your teacher, they spoke “office, now” you place your books in your tote bag and put it over your shoulder. You gave a small smirk to your friends as they subtly cheered for you. As the completely agreed with your argument.

You walked down the hallway, Rafe leaned against the lockers on his phone. As you walked past he looked up, “Y/n… right?”

You turned on your heel and faced him “who’s asking?” He chuckles softly “I’m uh, Rafe… Rafe Cameron…” you nodded “I know, you’re Ward’s son, right??” He raised an eyebrow. How did she know?

You quickly added “my dad is in the same company as the one your father joined. He told me they chatted and mentioned that you’d be joining here…” he nodded “oh right… yeah, uh where you headin’?”

“The office, once again, the English teacher never likes me.” He chuckled as he walked over to her “why’s that? You smarter than her?” You shrug “wouldn’t say smart, I just have good taste in book unlike her or the school…” he nodded. Shoving his hands in the pockets of his slacks “so… mind if I walk with you?” You shook your head “I don’t mind. I wasn’t going to the principals office anyways..” he smirked “bad girl, huh?” You playfully rolled your eyes “more like, the principal is fed up of me going to her office… so here I am, roaming the halls for the next…” you look at your watch “..ten minutes”

He nods, you walk side by side. Rafe didn’t know what he was feeling. He wasn’t intimidated but felt almost shy. He couldn’t describe it, you look the type to rip people’s head off if they bark back at you. But honestly… that was hot in his eyes.

-❂❂❂-

It was currently lunch, you sat on the bleachers with your friends. Eating lunch and talking about anything and everything.

Rafe sat with Jake and a few of Jake’s friends. Rafe clicked almost instantly with Topper and Kelce. They’re both interested in golf, partying, girls, etc. So naturally they clicked.

Rafe would glance over to you from time to time. Topper chuckled “hey, if you keep lookin’ she’s gonna see, dude” Rafe rolled his eyes “fine with me.” The guys chuckled.

Kelce asked “hey Top, Y/n friends with your sister, right??” Topper nodded then sipped his can of Pepsi. Rafe looked to Topper, “wait seriously??” Topper put tossed his can in the trash “yeah, dude, she’s over my place quite a lot.”

Rafe’s ears perked, over Topper’s place quite a lot?? Damn…

He then looked back over to the group to see his sister, Sarah, walk over and sit with them. He watched as Sarah and you talked and laughed. He thinks to himself ‘if she’s friends with Sarah, that means she might come over our place? Oh. My. God’

-❂❂❂-

It was an hour or two after school, you sat on the couch. Your Marshall headphones resting on your head as you listen to music and read.

You hear footsteps approaching, it was your father. He holds an envelope to you. You pulled your headphone down, resting them around your neck. You opened the envelope and gasped “no way!” Your dad asked “what is it??” You answered “I got in! The art and music college we talked about! I got in!” He smiled “really?! Congrats, sweetie!”

Your younger sister (who’s completely opposite to you, full glam and girly, made you wanna gag) came downstairs is a slightly shorter than usual dress. Your father asked “and where are you going??”

Your sister, Gabs, replied “there’s this boy, his name is Brooks” you rolled your eyes “you mean the not so good looking guy who is a huge idiot??” “Shut up!!” Your sister looks back to your dad “he asked to go to the movies, go I pleaseee go daddy?” Your dad shakes his head “absolutely not, you know the rule. No dating till you graduate” Gabs rolls her eyes “please!” He replied “no, end of discussion.”

Gabs argued “this isn’t fair, Y/n gets to go out but I can’t??” You fake laughed “good one, Gabs.” Your father added “same rule applies to her.” You looked over to Gabs “and by the way, I’m not looking for anyone, not interested in a single soul…”

Gabs huffed, your father walks away. You crossed your legs on the couch and rested your now closed book in your lap. “So, where were you actually going? I assume you just lied to dad…” Gabs whispered “a party…” you lightly scoffed “you know you’re too young for those parties, especially with Brooks..” Gabs rolls her eyes “I’m only two years younger than you, quit it.”

Your father re-enters, “new deal, Gabs can have a date-” Gabs squealed and smiled. Your dad added “-if Y/n gets a date.” Gabs smiled drops. “What?! She won’t date! Daddy this is unfair!”

You grabbed your book and stood up, heading over to the stairs. Your sister complained “daddy! She won’t date at all, she’ll be buried and not have a date! C’mon!” You chuckled “good, I’ll keep it that way.” Gabs stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at you “you’re so selfish, you know that?!” You chuckled and walked down the hallway upstairs and to your room. Gabs huffed in annoyance.

If you date, Gabs can date. But you don’t wanna date anyone, do you? Not now, not ever… maybe that can change… maybe it’ll stay the same… who knows…

-❂❂❂-

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bizarre-blorbo-bracket · 9 months

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FINAL for real this time: Davis (Juror 8) from Twelve Angry Men vs the Bimodal Distribution from statistics

Propaganda under the cut, and it's REALLY worth it:

Davis (Juror 8) (these are all from the single submitter)

a quick lil list babes, and I apologise for all of this in advance:

He's from the fucking film 12 angry men. like, aside from letterbox bootlickers and middle school hass students NO ONE has watched this film let alone care about it, it was made in 1957, is shot almost exclusively in one room and the entire film is just middle aged white men yelling at each other over whether some not white poor kid should be sent to the electric chair. what the fuck.

Henry Fonda, the actor, was 52 years old at the time of filming

Henry Fonda is the father of Jane Fonda, the woman who would revolutionise the 80's with her home workouts and her blindingly neon leg warmers.

His name wasn't revealed until the very end of the film and even then it's just "Davis."

I could honestly give him a lil smooch

He's absolutely not girlypop but he's the ally-iest ally who's ever allied

He's categorised as a "Benevolent Leader" on the Heroes Wiki

instead of the overwhelming urge for me to coddle him like most all other blorbos, i would appreciate it switched

I have a photo of him inside my saxophone case and sometimes i forget he's in there, then he creeps into my saxophone bell and when I play it he shoots out like a ballistic missile

Dude, on ao3 there's more fanfiction about the real life 80's British punk band The Clash than the entire film of 12 angry men, let alone Davis (80 fics come up under the clash, while 10 come up for 12 angry men)

I have a counter, and I've watched 12 Angry men a total of 145 times. The figure is up on my wall in tallies. whenever the number goes up, I like to watch it in 5's so then I can put another full group of tallies on my wall.

I have incredibly detailed stories about how Davis would boogie down to ringo starr's solo career, and they're written within the margins of a book called Tobruk written by Peter Fitzsimons. The only reason I reread that book is to wonder at my elaborate works of fiction

My HASS teacher was the one to introduce me to 12 Angry Men as he played it for the entire class. He gave us a set of questions to complete on the film and a few Law based questions as a little treat, and he expected it to be handed in the next day. What he didn't expect was an 11 page monster of a response that included social commentary, 4 paragraphs dissecting the character of Davis alone, deeply discussed comparisons between the landscapes of politics and law in the 50's to the present, and basically an entire point-for-point summarisation of the film, completed with obscure quotes from Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon and Presley (Elvis). He presented the printed masterpiece in front of the entire class to shame me.

After class he explained how his favourite Juror would either be 6 or 5, because 6 seems like a big dumb teddybear and he just liked 5. I explained how I liked Davis because he didn't want to send a kid to die, then he told me how Davis would make a good cowboy (at this point in time I was unaware of Henry Fonda's role in Once Upon A Time in The West) and I proceeded to go home and write a 3 part orchestral composition that I could pretend would play as the soundtrack to Juror 8: A Cowboy's Tale or something like that

I had started to make an animation meme starring Davis but only gave up when photoshop literally deleted itself from my laptop

I didn't even hear that Juror 8's name was Davis when I first watched it in class, somehow I only heard it on my 6th rewatch but when I did I literally got so excited I literally got winded and cried a little bit, I had to take a panadol because I got so lightheaded

I have learned the musical motif that plays throughout the film on saxophone, clarinet, recorder, guitar, bass, ukulele, piano and trumpet

I have visions of him

One of Davis' 3 children HAS to be gay and nothing can convince me otherwise

honest to god I'd be a home wrecker if it came to him

I quote not only Davis but the film a lot, and sometimes in the dead silence of all my friends I go on about how the old man couldn't have possibly made it to the door in such a short amount of time to see the kid running down the stairs (because the old man has a limp, and Davis proved it my limping around the room, which I have to say was incredibly attractive of him)

He's literally an architect

I once had a dream where Davis was in my bass guitar case when I opened it, and i literally just picked him up and started picking him like a bass guitar until I tried to play a full chord and he bit the hand that was meant to be on the fretboard. I dropped him and he fell on his ass, and when I said "what the hell dude what was that for" he said bass chords are lowkey ugly to listen to, and since then i don't like playing bass chords because now they're lowkey ugly to listen to. before this ordeal, i enjoyed them, but alas

i once got my romantic partner to write me a davis x reader fanfiction as a birthday present

my parents believe that Davis is my first celebrity crush, and while they're actually wrong it's still actually so embarrassing they believe that because OH MY GOD it's literally JUROR 8 FROM 12 ANGRY MEN

I've attempted slam poetry about him

I've eaten a paper printed full a4 size photo of his hand

I would also not mind him to be literally my father, but given the rest of the things I've just said about him that's really weird and I recognise that

the Bimodal Distribution

First of all, it's a math concept. that is already pretty bizarre of a thing to be blorbo-ifying. Second of all, I don't know any calculus, and I don't consider myself a math person (because I hate arithmetic), but I really like this guy for some reason. I mean this graph clearly holds the secrets of the universe. don't you just want to l o o k at it . like you could solve everything in the world with that boy

#bimodal distribution #davis #juror 8 #12 angry men #final

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yourheartonfire · 1 year

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Reporter finds out that their city's hero is corrupt, and they make it their goal to expose them to the public. Somehow they fall in love. (Can go plucky reporter who openly confronts Hero, or cautious reporter who knows a corrupt hero is dangerous, so they get close under false pretenses to find evidence.)

Prompt courtesy of @thepenultimateword

"Wait. No. What is...?" The reporter's throat had gone dry as sand. They slapped the composition book shut, thrust it back into the gold paper wrappings. But it was too late. Afterimages of dates and names and dizzyingly high sums danced before their eyes - all in the hero's own neat handwriting.

"It's the proof you wanted, darling," the hero said, a dreamy smile on their lips as they gazed at the reporter through the candlesticks. "All the money I've been extorting from our city's villains in exchange for turning a blind eye to their wrongdoing. Happy one year anniversary."

The reporter stared from the hero's face back down to the gift, so beautifully wrapped. They had gotten the hero designer sunglasses. "You knew," they said. It was meant to be a question but... no. This was not a surprise. Somewhere over the past year, this had become an inevitability. "You knew I was..."

"Investigating me? Seducing me?" The hero chuckled and rose. The reporter managed to quash their flinch as the hero picked up the reporter's empty plate, then their own. "Darling, I spend my life foiling schemes. Yes, of course I knew."

The reporter sat, flooded in an adrenaline rush so strong they wondered if they were having a heart attack. The door to the hero's penthouse apartment was forty feet behind their back. Their fingers itched to grab that notebook and run - but some survival instinct kept them frozen to their chair as the hero prowled the dishes off to the kitchen.

"So," the reporter said evenly. "You've just been... toying with me, this whole time?"

"Toying with you," the hero purred, returning to cock a hip against the table and give the reporter that half-feral smile they had only ever seen behind closed doors. God help them, the reporter felt themselves blush. "Yes. That's a good word. You decided you'd try to seduce your way into my confidence, to uncover my secrets. So..." The hero traced a finger along the reporter's temple, teasing a lock of hair out to run between their fingers. "...I set out to seduce you back. And you win."

The reporter blinked. "What."

"You win." The hero gave a fond little tug to their hair and then let go. "I've fallen in love with you. So."

"You cant love me! I'm here to expose you!" The reporter scrambled backwards, clutching the notebook to their chest as if the hero hadn't just handed it to them, literally gift wrapped. "You've been blackmailing villains!"

The hero shrugged without a blush of shame. "Only those who would have bought their way out of the justice system anyway. Why shouldn't I cut out the middleman and use their money for crime-fighting?"

"Crime-fighting? You're lining your pockets!" The reporter waved a hand wildly at their luxury surroundings as they backed away. "The food, the clothes, the whole lifestyle!"

"And I'm the last hero of my generation still standing," the hero said, calm and steady as they paced forward. "You think that's a coincidence? Or you think it's because you and I both know sometimes doing the right thing means bending a few rules along the way?"

The reporter stopped dead again. "What are you talking about?"

The hero's hand closed on the reporter's wrist and - yanked was too harsh a word. It was a pull and a spin, like the sun dragging a meteorite into its gravity well and suddenly the reporter was wrapped up in the hero's arms. In their lover's arms, their back pressed to the hero's chest.

"This," the hero hummed into the protagonist's ear, swaying them both to the soft music trickling from the hidden sound system. "A year of lies and blurred lines and compromises to get your story. Hardly the stuff of journalistic ethics seminars. What would your friends and colleagues say?"

"So it's blackmail," the reporter whispered.

"If that's what you want. We could destroy each other. Or..." The hero's mouth pressed to the sensitive spot on the reporter's neck. They almost melted. "Or we could see what happens next, with all our cards on the table."

"You can't be serious." The reporter jerked away. The hero let them go. "You want to keep dating?"

"Of course. You're gorgeous, clever, a little reckless, and you have that flexible morality thing. It's like you were made for me. Like we were made for each other." The hero gave them a once-over so blatant the reporter blushed again. But they didn't move to corner the reporter. "Go home, think about it. Take the notebook."

"You won't chase me?" the reporter said before they could stop themselves.

The hero's grin widened. "How about I give you a head start?"

The reporter fled to the sound of the hero's laughter rattling in their chest.

#my fiction #hero x villain #reporter x hero #evil hero #filled prompt #thepenultimateword #reporter x villain #100 #300 #500

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anki-of-beleriand · 11 months

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Bad Liar ch. 6

Summary: Life is about lessons, and Wanda has been learning some harsh facts that had define her life and taken her to a place in which she was given a second chance. Then, all of a sudden, she meets you, and she realizes why it's easier to lie to yourself than to accpet what's right in front of her.

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff/ Female!reader - America/Kate - Mentions of past Vision/Wanda - past Natasha/Reader - Some Female!Reader/Carol Danvers - past Shuri/Female!reader

Warnings: Slow burn - lightly Enemies to friends to lovers - Mentions of abusive relationships - Toxic relationships - angst - drama - mentions of abuse - unrequited love - gay panic - fools in love - more tags as the story progress.

Author's note: New chapter and yes! This time around things start changing, and Wanda and R are experimenting some emotions that may changed their lives forever, so obviously they do the most mature thing they can do...they denied them.

Thank you so much for reading, commenting, liking and reblogging the story guys! Remember that English is not my mother tongue, so forgive my grammar, spelling and funny mistakes.

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18

Chapter 6

Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt

In the blink of an eye your relationship with your neighbour changed.

None of you were too sure as to how it happened, or when exactly it happened. But after that fateful day, in which you had played the part of a hero, you and Wanda engaged in a game of playful and deep conversations over the chat in your phones. For more than two weeks, you would seek your mobile while your heart skipped a beat, your lips curling into a strange smile that was not missed by those around you.

The changes had been so slow, and so deeply engraved in the idea of a new friendship that you and Wanda missed the signals.

The questions about the twins well-being turned into questions about preferences in music and movies, it became conversation about current events or what you usually do in your free time. At some point, even the friendly banter you two shared in the chat made you think of a juvenile adventure, but the thought was soon dismissed by your rational side telling you that friendships were supposed to be like this. A friendly chat, and a bickering friendship whenever you saw her right outside her home with the twins.

Whatever game you had entered into, for America and even Carol it was pretty obvious something had changed, and while Carol was trying to figure a way to reach out to you and not lose you; America had seen in your eyes, in your behaviour, in your phone who was behind the sudden changed. But whenever she tried to delve into the subject your quick dismissal and tangled explanations told your sister you were not ready to face reality. Much like Wanda, whenever America was to ask about the growing friendship between the both of you.

Of course, that didn’t mean you were not allowed to make questions or seek the answers eating out at you. So, when America couldn’t answer your questions about Wanda’s relationship status, or where was the husband and the father of her children, you went after the next best source of information you had.

Natasha Romanoff sat right in front of you, with her power suit on and a playful smile on her lips. The restaurant was packed, and the muffled conversation around you two was enough to bring relief to your mind that no one would be able to snoop into the conversation you would hold with the other woman. Natasha leaned in, her chin resting on the back of her hand, while her eyes gleamed with a knowing glint you had always hated on her.

“Now, this is quite surprising.” Natasha Romanoff leaned back on her chair; she tilted her head with her full lips drawing a tantalising smile you had come to know too well. “You either want to reignite a flame, or you are looking for something, Y/N.”

“Can I invite one of my oldest friends to lunch?” You retorted sounding slightly offended, Natasha snort signalling with her hand to the waitress.

“You hadn’t invited me to dinner since you broke up with Shuri.” Natasha had always been straight forward, you could always count on her to be direct and honest with you, and her brutality had saved you any trouble to not face the truths right in front of your face.

“So, what is going on?”

You shifted on the chair, the waitress taken the order from Natasha and then from you, he smiled bowing his head while giving Natasha a quick glance before walking away. The older woman tilted her head, resting her cheek on the palm of her hand while her eyes twinkled mischievously at you.

“Is it your new girlfriend or…”

“Oh, god, does everyone know about Carol?” You inquired frowning deeply. “She is not my girlfriend…”

“Someone should tell her that.” Natasha rolled her eyes leaning back. “So, what is it?”

“Wanda.”

Now this got Natasha’s full attention.

The older woman leaned forward again, her single eyebrow lifting slightly while her eyes twinkled with interested. Her lips quirked upwards, and you could tell she was trying to figure out what were your real intentions behind such a question. You pressed your lips together, tapping the table with your fingers drifting your eyes around the restaurant before settling them on Natasha.

“So, Wanda…”

“Now, stop right there, Tasha! I know that tone of voice and it’s not what you’re thinking.”

“It’s not?” Natasha chuckled, tilting her head. “I heard you went nurse on her and her kid a couple of weeks ago, and that you even brought Christine to her home to make sure the kid was fine.”

You rolled your eyes, of course Natasha would know about that. The freaking woman had a special ability to know everything that happened around her friends and the people she loved.

“Come on, Y/N, what is it you want to know?” Natasha finally inquired; you pursed your lips leaning forward lowering your voice as you did so.

“Her husband, the father of her children…what happened to him?” You didn’t beat around the bush with the question, Natasha scowled at you waiting until the food was served and the waitress had gone to speak again.

“Why are you asking this?” She finally asked piercing you with a deep stare, you shifted on your chair scrunching up your nose contemplating the real reasons for your question.

The truth was you hadn’t stopped thinking about Wanda since the day of the school event. The fact you got to see the glimpse of her family and a part of her you didn’t know was just a plus of what you were looking for. Why did you want to know that? Why was so important to know if the father of the twins would be back? If he was in the picture?

The answer to that question scared you.

More than you care to admit.

And thus, you decided to change the answer in your mind, it was not so much about Wanda, but the twins and what little you had discovered about them (and her). With that in mind, asking about the father, about Wanda’s status as single or with someone would be easier to handle.

The lies we told ourselves could go beyond the unimaginable, and you had learnt to lie to yourself a long time ago.

“I just…well, I was wondering if he is in the picture, why wasn’t he with her and the twins. I mean…”

“He is alive.” Natasha cut off your babbling, her posture never changed but her eyes were now analysing your every move, your every word.

“Oh, that…that’s good.” You replied frowning at your food, you pressed your lips tight while lowering your head.

“You don’t sound so happy about it.” Natasha replied after a few bites, you lifted your head offering a bittersweet smile.

“Oh, I’m just…I mean, are they divorced or…?” You trailed off clenching your eyes closed, Natasha snorted taking a sip from her glass before speaking.

“It’s not my story to tell, Y/N.” She straightened up and made sure you could not take your eyes away from her. “But I do want to make something very clear, Y/N, I won’t let you play with her the way you’re playing Danvers. Wanda doesn’t need, nor does she deserve to be played at by anyone. Not that Carol does, but with Wanda it is a little different.”

“I’m not playing with Carol or Wanda, that’s not what I was asking you this.”

Natasha shrugged gauging your reaction as she kept talking.

"Either way, Wanda is not gay, not even bi so…"

You placed a single hand on your face, hiding the growing blush on your cheeks. Natasha stretched her hand to grab her glass of water, her deep blue eyes seizing you up quite surprised by your sudden interest in Wanda.

"I'm not interested in her, not in that way." You stated with a straight face, trying to convince Natasha as much as yourself of the veracity of your words.

Natasha hummed, not really believing your words but not ready to start a discussion that you were obviously not ready to have.

"Then, what is your interest in her? Last time I checked you two didn't get along because you decided to be a bitch on your first encounter."

Natasha chuckled just as you rolled your eyes making a face.

"I wasn't being a bitch, she was being overly dramatic, that's all." You straightened up, lowering your gaze as you continued. "Anyway. I just noticed something the day I helped her with Tommy, I was just curious, that's all."

Natasha wanted to add something else, she could only imagine what you had discover to trigger the curiosity. Afterall, Natasha had accessed to the medical file of the twins and Wanda, she knew exactly what you had found that day. But for the moment, she would not dig further into your real intentions, and would play along with you while also finding her own way to know exactly what your intentions with Wanda were.

"Well, as I said, that's not my story to tell, perhaps you could take a chance of this newfound interest and ask her yourself."

You were very tempted to press the topic, and for a brief moment Natasha thought you would do it; but soon your interest drifted and the conversation changed into one of pure business and plans for the future. The questions you were left with, however, never left your mind, and you were already trying to devise a way to get the answers you were looking for.

Natasha or her part smiled to herself, you had played right into her hands and she had a plan for you already in mind.

‘This ought to be fun…’

_________________________________________________________

Winter had come early that year.

The rainy season had given way to low temperatures, piercing winds, and white, teasing snowflakes that would come from time to time to tease the inhabitants of the city Wanda now called her home. She glanced out of the window, with her eyes following the twirls of wind and snow dancing in the streets while the school offered a protection and warmth she was grateful for. She placed her chin on her hand, her green eyes softening slightly as she remembered the recent conversation she had been holding over the phone with Y/N.

Her lips curled slightly, she knew you were stubborn, but she never thought you were such a petulant child. The discussion had been quite foolish, and you had stood your ground quite firmly by sending her papers written by people Wanda could hardly recognize. It amused her to not end knowing how easily you get riled up whenever you knew you were in the right but someone tried to tell you were wrong. It had been quite some time since she found herself so relaxed by talking to someone that wasn't her therapist or Natasha, and the fact she didn't need to discuss her life and the problem plaguing her mind was a refreshing situation. It made her eager to continue talking to you, to allow the small glimpses of friendship to sprout so easily.

Wanda quite enjoyed contradicting you and whether she knew it or not, she was starting to look forward to those hidden conversations on her mobile.

“You seemed quite content over there, Wanda, good day?”

Wanda jerked away from her position, turning to see Natasha Romanoff standing by her desk, her head tilted to the side and her blue eyes twinkling with amusement just as Wanda felt her cheeks warm up at the sudden intrusion.

“I…yeah, you could say that.” Wanda straightened up trying to organise the paperwork laying on her desk. “Is there something you need from me, Natasha?”

“My, Wanda, can't a friend come over and see how you are doing?” Natasha sat down on the desk, crossing her legs while leaning forward, her eyes following Wanda’s gaze to the world outside just before she settled on the mobile the young woman had on her desk.

“Of course, you can.” Wanda replied, lifting her head to stare at the older woman. “I'm sorry, it’s just I thought perhaps you need something or…or something had happened?”

The unasked question hung heavily above their heads; Natasha shook her head glancing at the mobile on the desk vibrating under the pressure of a series of messages. The young woman went to grab her phone, but Natasha was faster than her, her red, puffy lips curling into a smile. Wanda felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment, and her heart hammering against her chest as if she had been discovered doing a naughty deed.

"Y/N? I thought you hate her." The statement rolled out with a hint of amusement and inquiry; Wanda looked down with her hands wriggling around a piece of paper.

"Hate is a strong emotion…"

"You said, and I quote, I hate that bitch." Natasha chuckled watching the mortified stare crossing Wanda's face at hearing her own words thrown back at her.

"I was mad that day." She defended herself by stretching her hand to the other woman wiggling her fingers in request of her phone. "I don't hate her, but I do think she is annoying and sometimes stubborn and quite frankly she is a spoiled brat."

"Ah, so you like her." Natasha was enjoying this conversation far too much.

The older woman raised a single eyebrow, her eyes studying every reaction that Wanda was experimenting. From the way those green eyes open wide, to the pinkish colour of her cheeks and the sudden trembling on her lower lip. Natasha was not a fool and she suspected something was happening, but she didn't dare yet to put a label on the sudden relationship between Wanda and Y/N, it would be far too early and far too foolish to jump to any conclusions. What Natasha did know was that this newfound friendship was helping Wanda with her mood, so the older woman considered that a winning situation.

"I wouldn't say I like her, more like I tolerate her." Wanda replied with a small voice. "She did help me with Tommy, and she is America's sister so…"

"Of course, it's not a matter of liking her but of putting up with her."

"Exactly." Natasha rolled her eyes but decided to not press the situation any further.

Wanda grabbed her phone, her eyes falling on the screen and her fingers trembling lightly just before she put the gadget away.

"Anyway, I came here because I talked to Y/N today." This seemed to grab Wanda's attention, Natasha narrowed her eyes before continuing. "Every year, just before Winter break we have a celebration for the seniors and really for the whole school. Y/N was supposed to be the organiser this year, and as our newest addition I also proposed you to be part of the committee."

"Me?" Wanda felt dizzy at the proposal, this could mean a lot of things for her.

She knew such an important position would require time and dedication, but most importantly she would be working right alongside you and that was something that was making her feel slightly anxious.

"Yes, it has been a couple of months since you got here, Wanda." Natasha softened her expression standing by the window before turning to Wanda. "You have done amazing work with the students; they love you and it is about time for you to make a name for yourself. Get notice and get credit for the amazing ideas I know you have, let everyone else know you and… Who knows? Perhaps, this is what you need to start healing."

Wanda nodded tentatively, she knew the responsibility she was being given was Natasha's way to empower her and get her more familiar with the world she had been introduced to.

"What about the press…" Wanda started and she was quite shocked to see the smirk on Natasha's face.

"Now, that's where Y/N comes in, she also needs this, and the press would be busier with her in the spotlight." Natasha winked at Wanda. "I've already spoken with Tony about this, your name would be hidden by everyone but the board, and you can work marvels without fearing your name would go out there and put yourself and the twins in danger."

Wanda knew she was given too much, but the old fears came rushing in. She remembered the old wounds on Tommy's back, the overprotective nature of Billy, her own weakness and incapability to form new bonds, to allow others closer. Wanda crumbled under her fear of Vision finding her again, and this time around, of Vision keeping his promise of destroying her and the twins.

"Natasha…" The name left Wanda's lips with a quiver.

The older woman stepped closer, wrapping a comforting hand around Wanda.

"Don't worry, Wands, Vision would never find you out in here, I made sure of it."

"I just… I know it's s a great opportunity, but he threatened me… Billy and Tommy�� And he has money, and…"

"It's gonna be fine, Wanda. I know it is."

Thunder rumbled right outside the classroom, the silver light of thunder ignited the darkened hall and America jumped slightly with her eyes wide to the door of her classroom. Soon the two women engaged in a conversation America was not ready to hear, a conversation that would be far too intrusive to listen to.

Stepping back, she turned around and left the hall before she could be discovered. The information she had just gathered out of chance store in her memory while her hands moved swiftly to write to her friends and call on an emergency meeting.

Now, more than ever, they needed the help of Kate's company to know the truth hidden behind Wanda Maximoff’s sudden appearance in the Academy.

_____________________________________________________________

The supermarket was full.

Everyone seemed to have chosen that day to fill up the pantries back home to prepare for the long weekend. Wanda winced when Tommy and Billy ran to the section with sweets and packaged goods she knew she would fight over with the twins. However, watching them ran free, with smiles on their faces and not a single sign of sickness or fear in their eyes was enough for her to allow them to pick something up to enjoy after dinner.

Wanda glanced at her phone, the notes app had the list of what she would need to make sure to spend some time with the twins and, perhaps, to repay the help you and America extended to her weeks ago. This last thought made her hesitate, she chewed her lower lip, with a crease of her brows at the sudden summersault her stomach experiment at the thought of having you back in her home.

“Let me guess, you are ready to fight over a box of Mac & Cheese and a yoghurt?” Your teasing tone was not missed by the young woman that turned around wide-eyed and flustered.

“Y/N!” She exclaimed, putting her phone away rather quickly, you tilted your head with an amused smirk playing on your lips.

“Wanda!” You exclaimed back, chuckling, walking closer to her, your eyes danced up and down her body before focusing on the cart she had behind her. “Ah, you already have the Mac & Cheese…but you are missing this!”

You put from the supermarket basket a six pack of your favourite yoghurt; the same one you had taken from her on your first encounter. You winked playfully, chuckling when Wanda merely rolled her eyes, clicking her tongue while shaking her head.

“Right, are you gonna take it from me like last time or…”

You opened your eyes in mock shock, leaning over and placing the pack on Wanda’s cart. Wanda shivered lightly, your close proximity letting her catch the smell of your perfume, and the warmth emanating from your body.

“Never, please allow me.” You straightened up but never bothered to put some distance between the both of you, you were enjoying the nervousness coming off from Wanda and a part of you was tingling all over to perhaps do something rather dangerous and daring.

“I…I...Uh…” Wanda was trying to say something but your eyes on her, and the teasing smirk on your lips made her lose her words.

“I’m pretty sure there is an intelligent thought behind those beautiful stutters, though I think you’re a lot smarter when you write to me than when you talk to me…”

“Oh, shut up!” She replied slapping you playfully on your arm, your laugh made her blush and stepped back to put a safe distance between you and herself. “I was just…I was just thinking that I never thought I would find you here.”

You nodded, turning to the sound of laughter coming from down the closest aisle, in there you could see the twins that had found America strolling around. You smiled at the sight, soon finding the figure of Wanda all the more comforting at the foolish scene the five of you played inside your head.

“I came here for some groceries, and something for tonight's dinner.”

Before Wanda could ask about the dinner, she heard her name and yours being called from two different parts of the supermarket. Wanda turned to see her children running towards her with America smiling sheepishly, you turned to the other end to see Carol Danvers coming with a satisfied expression on her face and the can of goods she had been looking for. Your stomach dropped, remembering the reason you ended up in the supermarket after work, and a sudden wave of guiltiness came over you when you realised the blond-haired woman had been really excited when you invited her over for dinner that day. You dared a side-glance to Wanda that was now engaged in a discussion with the twins, and a pang of affection mixed up with your guilt for the whole situation.

Something absurd, if you think about it, since you shouldn’t be feeling guilty about anything at all. You were not doing anything wrong, and whatever mixed up emotions you were experimenting, it was the mere confusion that Wanda had come to create in your mind by being herself.

“Hey, I found it!” Carol exclaimed happily, stretching her hand with a proud stance, she drifted her attention from you to the redhead talking with two children and her eyes opened in surprise, though another emotion flash in her eyes. “Oh, Wanda!”

Wanda turned around and she too was highly surprised at the sight of Carol in there, her eyes went from Carol to yours then back to Carol. You could see the realisation flashing in her green eyes, and your mind pressed over for you to speak and clarify the situation.

“Eh, Carol, right? Hi.”

“Yes, the very same.” The woman stretched out her hand, and Wanda soon found herself under the firm grasp of the woman. “How have you been? I never got a chance to ask Y/N how you were feeling after that night, I hope everything went well.”

Wanda shifted uncomfortably, shooting you a quick glance before returning her attention to Carol.

“It did, I was just…not feeling myself that day.” She retorted softly.

“Mom! Can we?” Billy stepped forward putting the pudding box up, pouting and putting on his best puppy stare to make Wanda give in.

Carol stepped aside, she was surprised by the sight of the kid but pleasantly so as she stood beside you, her hand sneaking in to entangle around yours. You tensed, grabbing the offering hand without actually looking at the blond standing beside you, Tommy stepped forward moving past his begging brother to look up at you with a shy smile.

“Hi, Y/N.” You knelt down letting go of Carol, while smiling back at the boy.

“Hey, Tommy, how are you feeling?”

“Better, thank you.” You ruffled the kids' hair winking at him.

“Nah, it was all on you, kiddo, you were a real superhero.”

Tommy smiled please, and you stood up to see Wanda about ready to burst under the begging of Billy and the sudden tension in the group.

“He is quite persistent, eh?” Carol commented amusedly, Wanda winced tilting her head.

“You have no idea.” She replied while lifting a single hand, Billy clamped his lips close while Tommy grabbed his brother dragging him away.

“Mommy said no more desert, Billy put it back.”

“It’s my fault, Professor Maximoff, I told them I could also make pudding for them next time I babysit.”

Wanda shook her head, her lips curling tiredly, “that’s okay.”

“I didn’t know you were so good with children.” Carol stated in a faint voice to your side, you turned to her eyebrows raised at her sudden change of tone and the close proximity with you.

“Why not?”

Carol made a face, shrugging, “you never seem the type and…I just thought it was cute.”

“Humph, I’m not cute.” You replied slightly offended, the woman rolled her eyes before leaning in to steal a kiss from you.

The kiss was supposed to last a few seconds, or so you thought.

But soon it became evident that Carol’s intentions were totally different. She put a possessive hand around your waist, pressing her body closer to yours while her lips danced sensually against yours, her tongue teasing around before she pulled away rather breathless and flustered. Whatever her intentions, Carol smirked satisfied, her eyes found those of Wanda that was shifting uncomfortably on her spot.

“Right, I think we better keep moving, there is going to be rain and…and the twins may catch something.” Wanda started talking fast, moving back while placing the pudding box on her cart. “It was nice seeing you, Carol, Y/N, America. I may need you tomorrow but I will text you the details…bye!”

You had never seen the young woman move as fast as she did at that moment, the twins waved good-bye and soon they were following their mom towards the other end of the supermarket. America stood there with a frown, her eyes found yours and the both of you had the same questioning glance on your faces. Carol on the other hand was tensed, her eyes flashing something cold with hints of sadness in them.

“Shall we go?” She asked, you turned to her frowning before nodding.

“Yeah, are you okay?” You stepped forward but Carol stepped back.

“Yes, just tired and a little hungry.”

“Okay, yes, let’s pick something else up and we go home.” You mumbled slightly confused, your heart hammering against your chest and your mind a twister of emotions, memories, and thoughts involving the woman you hadn’t stopped thinking about ever since you met her.

______________________________________________________________

Dinner had been a quiet event.

Something had been bothering you all afternoon and part of the night, and Carol had long lost the battle to try and regain your attention. She and America spoke most of the night, with Carol speaking about her adventures and the long process that led her to be the most decorated Captain in the air force and the newest commander of the base.

America had enjoyed the conversation, she asked questions about life in the force and the possibilities that could be opened for her. But as the conversation took a more professional note, you couldn't help but drift away into your own thoughts.

By the time you and Carol were left alone, you were even more confused than ever, and this only made the breach between you and Carol that much bigger, deeper and almost impossible to cross.

"You had been awfully quiet all night, is something the matter?" Carol had not missed your mood, and a part of her continued holding onto the hope that your relationship would turn out to be something meaningful.

"I'm just tired, and thoughtful." You replied offering a small smile. "Today was a long day at the office, and I followed your advice so tomorrow I will have lunch with Hope."

"You do?" This time around Carol was completely surprised, her face relaxed at the news and she took this chance to come closer to you.

"Yes, I think it is time to just rekindle that friendship and…" You shrugged, leaning back to face Carol. "I did miss her, you know?"

Carol knew.

The last year had been a complete roller-coaster for you, Carol had been there the moment you broke up with Shuri and your inner circle took sides without knowing the full context of the fight. Carol had found out by chance, but Hope had heard both sides of the story and had stepped aside by trying to balance her friendship with Shuri and with you. The breakup, as well as the weight of the daily business and raising a teenager had left you in an emotional state you wished to never experiment again. It was in the midst of such disarray that Carol and you made a deal.

Carol never imagined she would want more, and you never entertained the idea of falling in love again. And while you had been firmed in your resolution, Carol had been breaking the silent deal she had made the first night she spent in your bed.

Now, after almost six months of the affair, Carol realiser she had been a fool.

"I was offered a new position." Carol stated all of a sudden, she placed a hand on your shoulder and her fingers started a game you knew well enough.

"A position? Where?" You shivered as her fingertips brushed against your skin, her lips wrapped around your earlobe.

"They are renewing the security plans in the base of Eastern Europe." She whispered, her hand moving down your open shirt, your hands already positioned on her lower back pressing her closer to you. "They want me to lead the new training drills, and be in charge of the whole operation."

The blond-haired woman trembled with her legs spread and her clothed crotch pressed tentatively on your thigh. You lifted your leg applying more pressure, a soft moan leaving Carol's lips.

"What are you trying to say, Carol?" You asked softly, this time around you leaned in kissing the woman on her lips tearing out of her a needy moan just as you pressed her closer to you.

"Come with me." Carol finally stated, breathing hard, her hips rolling to get more friction.

She fluttered her eyes open, and as soon as she did she knew the answer to her question. Her face fell for a moment but a spark of determination ignited inside her chest. She offered a mischievous smile and without any warning she knelt down, her trembling hands playing with the zipper and the buttons of your pants.

"Let's just talk about this later." She finally mumbled, lowering your pants and underwear and digging right in your already wet pussy.

Your thoughts leaving your mind as soon as her tongue came into contact with your pussy. Your hand pressing her closer never once did you notice the tears in her eyes.

______________________________________________________________

Hope had chosen a nice restaurant right outside her office. The place was small, cosy and filled with sweet aromas of homemade food. The music was a remembrance of your teen years, and you couldn't feel more relaxed under such an atmosphere.

"So, you like the place I chose?" Hope asked amusedly, you snorted tilting your head with a shrug.

"It is nice." You played the nonchalant card, but Hope was not having any of it.

"I knew you would like it." Hope took a sip from her glass glancing around the place before letting her eyes rest on you. "The food in here is amazing, and actually this is a good place to think and have private conversations."

"Private, eh?"

Hope shrugged leaning back on her chair, "it's been a while and in my office we have the risk of one of my patients coming over without knocking, like Wanda did last time."

At the mention of the young woman you felt your body tense, your eyes diverted their attention from Hope to some unknown spot in the restaurant. Hope narrowed her eyes with some interest, filing this reaction away to bring it over later.

"Right, like last time…" You grabbed a napkin facing Hope with some trepidation. "How is she?"

"Who? Wanda?" Hope opened her eyes until the face you made told her the other woman was not the one you were talking about. "Ah, she is doing fine. After her brother's funeral she and her mom took some time off work and now they are back. It's just that she is not overly fond of coming back to the States."

"I see, that's good."

"And you? How are things with you, Y/N? What about America?" Hope was being honest in her questions, she had lost contact with you but she never stopped loving you like a sister.

She listened attentively as you evaded the topic of your life and instead focused on America and the family business. The conversation about your sister made Hope smile, she knew you adore the kid and your life decisions had been made around her well-being but she also worried that after your break-up with Shuri America had become your only focus.

"Right now she is just… Trying to decide what to do." You shrugged, shaking your head. "I just have a feeling that they would end up in the same University…breaking havoc as always."

Hope chuckled, America and her group of friends had been like that ever since they were little children. Everyone was expecting great things from them.

"Okay, that was a long storytelling about America, her friends, her future, school, and about your business and Tony, and Strange, and…"

You rolled your eyes, making a face you busy yourself with your fork. Hope tilted her head softening her stare.

"And you, Y/N? How are you, really? What about Carol? I heard you and her were a thing… But…"

Hope could see the topic become personal for you, your whole stance changed and soon your eyes dropped. The woman waited for a moment, her eyes never leaving your form and you knew she was just analysing your every movement and your every word.

"We were just fucking." You let out a heavy sigh after that, Hope winced at your crudeness but was really not surprised about it.

"I met her the other day, you know?" Hope pursed her lips before continuing. "Are you sure it is nothing else…?"

"I know she wants more." You replied. "But I made it clear to her, I cannot…"

"You can't or you don't want to? There is a difference in there, Y/N."

You fixed your position on the chair, grabbing the glass of water before speaking.

"I don't want to, Carol is amazing. She really is, but my affection for her doesn't go deeper than friendship." You took a long sip from your water, Hope offered a sympathetic smile. "I know she wants more, but I can't give her that. I don't want to hurt her."

"Well, it is inevitable, she has always had a crush on you and you just gave her something she wanted."

This revelation came as a surprise for you, Hope could tell you didn't know that detail about Carol.

"She never said anything."

"You are hard to crack sometimes, Y/N, and you were so absorbed in your pursuit of Shuri and all that you missed her feelings." Hope shrugged. "But now it's your time to make it right, if there is nothing else you can offer than a night of sex then you better end that right now."

You nodded furrowing your brows for a brief moment. Hope narrowed her eyes at you, and the next question almost made you choke on your own spit.

"And what's your relationship with Wanda Maximoff?"

"What?!" You exclaimed, changing to different shades of red. "There is no relationship whatsoever! What made you say that?"

Hope raised a single eyebrow, waving her hand away pointing at you.

"That reaction."

"This is nothing but me thinking how ridiculous you are being, Hope." You huffed indignantly, finishing your glass of water while looking away. "That woman is insufferable, and she has two kids, and really I find her quite dull and… And…"

"Insufferable?" Hope chimed in when you seemed lost at words.

"Exactly!" Hope rolled her eyes and you clicked your tongue aggravated by the suggestion. But there was something else, you grabbed your phone putting it away protectively while you made sure to never look Hope right in the eye.

She was very tempted to press the conversation, but she had a better idea.

"Right, sorry I ever asked." She stood up putting some bills on the table. "Walk me to the office, I have an appointment in five minutes."

You let out a sigh of relief, standing up you left a generous tip before going out of the restaurant. The day was cold and dark, but people were enjoying the Saturday afternoon with long walks and shopping for the holidays. Hope started talking about her own family, and how she had spent her last eight months away.

You listened carefully, always enjoying the presence of one of your oldest friends in ways you never thought possible. For a moment, you entertained the idea of telling Hope about your recent confusion, but voicing your thoughts would give a form to something you didn't want to face at the moment. Besides, it was nothing! You were confused because you had found in Wanda a kind heart and two amazing children, it was nothing more than sympathy.

The theory you had played inside your head crumbled the moment you found yourself staring into a pair of deep, green eyes.

"Wanda! I'm sorry to take this long, this slowpoke was just entertaining me after lunch." Hope let go of your arm coming towards Wanda and giving her a warm hug.

You stood there mouth hanging open as Wanda turned to Hope.

"Don't worry, I just got here as well so I didn't have to wait…" She trailed off, hesitant at first before turning to you. "Hello, Y/N, I hope you are doing fine."

Her tone was quite different, detached and almost cold. You furrowed your brows but soon shook away your head and offered a half smile.

"Yep, more than okay, Princess." Wanda tensed at the nickname, and Hope was having the time of her life observing the interaction. "What about you? Did you have a good night?"

"Not as good as yours, I bet." She replied icily, you opened your eyes with your lips parting with an answer at the ready but before you could say anything Wanda offered a strained smile to Hope. "If you don't mind, Hope, I think I will go inside. I need the bathroom. Y/N have a nice afternoon, give my best to Carol."

And with that she left in a hurry. You stood there slightly hurt by this reaction, but you concealed your expression as soon as you felt Hope's knowing stare on you.

"Right, she is crazy, I tell you no wonder she is seeing you."

Before you could go, the voice of your best friend stopped you.

"Don't judge her too harshly, Y/N, you don't know the whole story." Hope approached you giving you a long hug. "Stop running, Y/N, and start living, you fool. We will talk about that next time. Don't be a stranger."

"I won't."

Hope lifted her face to the building, a spark of curiosity awakening in her. This session promised to be an interesting one.

______________________________________________________________

Wanda hadn't stopped pacing around the room.

She had served tea twice, and her purse was left forgotten on the sofa while she babbled about the progress she had made, how empowered she felt at the moment. She talked about her job, about her family and her brother, she told Hope about the photo album and about her children. And just like that, her conversation went down a path she had tried to divert for more than thirty minutes.

"I have never been so scared before." Wanda dropped her weight on the chair, her hand resting on her forehead, covering the rampaging emotions going through her at the memory.

"I can't imagine what that might have felt for you, Wanda. Your children are your main motivator, and finding that one of them is suffering…"

"I thought I was failing; you know?" Wanda finally revealed. "I couldn't stop his voice from drilling mocking words inside my head. It was as if his predictions became real."

Hope scrunched up her nose, she let out a huff that Wanda answered with a crooked smile.

"Habits are difficult to break, his voice may be there as a memory but not as a compass to your actions." Hope softened her gaze. "But how did you overcome such hardship? Is Tommy doing better now?"

This time around Wanda leaned forward, her elbows resting on her knees and the wrinkles around her eyes and the bridge of her nose softened considerably. Hope observed with a twinge of interest the reaction, she didn't miss the body language and much less in the words Wanda was using to talk about what happened next.

"He is so much better now, I actually received help from my neighbour."

"Y/N?" Hope straightened up, her eyes going wide at this revelation.

"She and America, they came in and…" Wanda trailed off looking away from the knowing glance of her therapist. "Can you believe they are sisters? God, America is like the sweetest, smartest and kindest person I have ever known and Y/N…"

"What is it? Hope finally asked after a minute or so, Wanda shifted, crossing her arms and clicking her tongue.

"She is just… Infuriating!"

"I agreed though I believe you and I have different reasons for thinking that." Hope stated amused, Wanda winced leaning forward again.

"I know she is your friend, and she did help me with Tommy, but she is just…"

Wanda trailed off again, Hope waited for a moment and soon Wanda let out a heavy sigh.

"She is confusing." Wanda finally said, frowning at her own words. "And this thing she has with Carol, showing off as if…ugh, can you believe she was showing off last night? It's just…"

Wanda trailed off leaning back, "it's confusing."

Hope lifted a single eyebrow, her lips twitching fighting over her obvious reaction to such a declaration.

"Whatever you mean by that, Wanda? I mean, what does Carol and Y/N, for that matter, have anything to do with your confusion?"

Wanda pressed her lips together, her heart hammering against her chest and her cheeks tainted in pink. The young woman opened and closed her mouth before dropping her defences.

" I didn't know she… I mean that Y/N was into… I mean… " Wanda stuttered trying to find the right words, Hope waited for a moment before talking.

"Into women?"

"Yes!" Wanda exclaimed wincing, she had heard something of course, but to actually see you with the blond-haired woman, shared such a deep kiss, it had ignited inside Wanda an emotion that made her heart twisted with a painful thud.

Seeing you today, after what Wanda had seen, what she had imagined you and Carol were doing back in your home, it was almost ridiculously unbearable for her. Wanda wanted to come onto you and slapped you, but as soon as that thought sneaked in, another stranger, yet familiar emotion came to the surface.

Sadness.

"She is confusing, sometimes.". Wanda hesitated before continuing. "Sometimes she is… She is this nice person and some others she…"

"She is confusing." Hope chimed in, Wanda nodded and the look of pure panic and puzzlement in her green eyes told Hope this was a topic she could not press any further without discussing other important points about Wanda.

"Wanda, before Vision, was there anybody else you were interested in?"

The question caught Wanda by surprise, she straightened up, tilting her head while frowning a little. The young woman was trying to remember her childhood and her teen years, flashes of people she had been interested in came rushing into her mind but most of them had been singers or actresses that called her attention.

Then, she stopped her trail of thoughts. Actresses. No, actors. There was this one actress that she had always thought was beautiful but that was admiration, not attraction.

Then, she tried to go back to the mirage of faces until she found herself thinking of you. Her heart leaped, and Wanda shook her head rapidly.

"I…I don't remember." She stuttered, glancing at her feet.

"You don't remember or you don't want to say?" Hope pressed but Wanda didn't lift her face, and Hope knew the other woman would say nothing else about the topic.

However, Hope had sowed the seed of doubt and that would be enough to press the matter on another session. For now, she was starting to see a pattern in Y/N and Wanda, a dangerous game that if executed incorrectly could leave the women involved more miserable than they already were.

"I think this is all for today." Hope stated and she could tell Wanda was relieved by this.

"Okay, yes, today was…" Wanda gestured with her hands but said nothing else.

"It was." Hope smiled and Wanda hated the fact her therapist knew more than she cares to admit.

There was a long silence in between, Hope could tell Wanda was in the middle of an internal battle but the contents of this battle were the myriad of emotions Wanda had allowed herself for the very first time. Independence.

Wanda was finally freed to make decisions on her own, to take the path she thought better for herself and her children. Wanda was finally freed to be herself, and that was something the young woman was discovering little by little with the ups and downs that this discovery might mean.

“I never thought this was going to be this…difficult.” Wanda wrapped her arms around herself, she lifted her gaze to the ceiling pursing her lips.

“You are discovering yourself, Wanda, there are many aspects of your personality and even of your life that you hid in order to survive and to comply with what was expected of you.” Hope offered a comforting smile, her words washing over Wanda just as reality hit the redhead. “It can be difficult for as long as you fight it over, and this may happen because you are still fighting with the ghosts of the past.”

Wanda shifted on the chair, she never turned to Hope but the therapist didn’t need to see the expression on Wanda’s face to know she was struggling with the words and her thoughts at the moment.

“So, I could be…this could be…This is me?”

Hope tilted her head analysing the statement.

Who Wanda could be was more complicated than Wanda really knew, but certainly the little pieces that she had been revealing in the sessions and the little pieces she had discovered on her own were just a reflection of the amazing person that was hidden behind the masquerade of the well-behaved, quiet and mellow housewife that Vision had built from an early age.

“Isn’t it fantastic to start discovering what you are capable of? What can you really do? Who can you love?”

Wanda clenched her eyes close, feeling the tears rolling down her face. The last question made her heart jump and her stomach shrank with the sheer emotion of the real meaning behind such a question. Who could Wanda love…Who could be that one person she could love that would never make her feel the way she felt before.

The room drowned in a tense silence, without meaning to, and actually without thinking clearly about anything else Wanda lowered her teary gaze to the mobile she had dropped on the table. The screen popped up with a myriad of messages that had a single name on it.

A detail that had not escaped Hope at all, and that Wanda had evaded the moment the conversation turned to personal.

But now…Y/N’s name was a constant reminder that Wanda had been experimenting emotions she never thought possible.

And fear was still holding her back, and she was still denying herself the possibility of digging deeper into what she was feeling for the woman she had come across by chance. Wanda grabbed the phone in her hands, and with a tear rolling down, she put it away trying to hide the part of herself that Y/N had brought to the surface without meaning to.

_____________________________________________________________

Next chapter: Wanda's secret is out. Everyone has a plan, America is a fool and Kate decides that she can't wait for her any longer. There is a new player, and Wanda and Reader fell right into the schemes everyone prepared for them.

#fanfic #wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x reader #wandaxreader #female reader #imagine wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x female reader #reader #MCU AU #Modern MCU #Female Reader x Wanda Maximoff

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anti-the-glitch-bitch · 1 month

Text

The Phantom Soldier 3

Chapter 3: Trapped inside myself

Cw: child abuse, vivisesction, panic attacks

This is where the story starts getting into the meat of things so this is your only warning

Metal bites into his skin as Danny tries to break free from the table. He’s lost count of how long he’s been here. The GIW ambushed him with his parents' help after they found out that he was Phantom. They were so angry at him and no amount of begging had changed their minds. Now he’s trapped in a GIW base while they experiment on him.

“Please stop! I’m still alive!” Danny screams as the scalpel cuts into his abdomen and an agent cuts a hole in him.

The agent laughs and turns to another agent, disdain clear in their voice as they speak. “Make a note of how it tries to play on human sympathy. We certainly won’t be falling for that trick, Ecto scum.”

Danny cries out as the agent peels back his skin, ectoplasm and blood leaking out as the agent starts digging around in his stomach with heavily gloved hands. Yesterday, an agent had taken his spleen and Danny isn’t too keen to know what they’ll take today.

It takes hours for the agent to dig around and note the regrowth of Danny’s spleen. He’s exhausted and his cries are nothing more than whimpers at this point, but it never stopped the agents. In fact, it just seemed to egg them on even more. The agents end the day by taking a rib, barely sewing up the hole they’d made.

All Danny wants to do is sleep, but the pain won’t let him. Instead, he lies there, staring at the other metal table still covered in ectoplasmic goo. He stares and stares. His mind trying to save him from the spiral that’s waiting just around the corner. Trying to save him from thinking about the fact that this table is where his little sister used to be strapped down, screaming for someone to save her before she destabilized and melted away.

All he can hear are the echoes of her screams.

Begging for mercy from people who don’t care.

Begging for her brother to save her.

Begging for her heroes to rescue her.

Begging. Always begging.

~~~

Danny jerks awake with the echoes of his baby sister’s screams still ringing in his ears. He’s disoriented and doesn’t know where he is. All he can feel is pain, and exhaustion, and heartache, and his broken core, and he wants his parents but he can’t because they’re dead and it’s his fault.

An alarm is going off, and Danny can feel the beginnings of a headache coming on. People are rushing around him, talking over each other and making him think of the scientists that like to hurt him. That makes him flinch back, which only makes the pain worse. A keening noise is coming from somewhere and all he can think about is leaving the room he’s in to find somewhere cold and dark. But when he tries to get up, hands touch him and they hurt.

He needs to leave, but he can’t because he’ll be punished even worse, but what’s one more hurt when all he feels is pain. Everything is too bright and too loud, and all he wants is for the pain to stop, so he throws his arm out to try and stop the people touching him, but they just hold on even harder. Danny doesn’t recognize any of them. Where’s his handler? Why won’t they just leave him alone? Don’t put him in the chair. Not the chair. Anything but the chair. PLEASE!

…

Gasping for air, Danny is huddled in a corner. It takes him a while to calm down, but when he does, he realizes that the room is darker. The lights have been dimmed so they aren't so harsh and only one person is in the room with him. The man from yesterday.

Tony, isn’t it?

Danny winces from the pain of crouching on the floor, but he doesn't move from his spot. He realizes that he's still in the hospital room from yesterday and that calms him a bit more.

Looking around, he notices the complete silence, except for the tapping of fingers on a phone and some light music. It's very calming and melodic, and it gives Danny a chance to breathe deeply.

The tapping stops for a moment before continuing, drawing Danny's attention over to Tony.

Tony is…an enigma to Danny. He sits in a chair against a wall near the door looking slightly disheveled. His perfect hair is a mess. His shirt is covered in some kind of stain that smears across his chest and his pants have holes in the knees.

He doesn't look at Danny, but Danny can see the way Tony is trying (and failing) to stay relaxed. He can see it in the way his eyes flicker over at Danny, only to quickly return to his phone. Danny knows Tony wants to ask questions, but he doesn't, and that's the most confusing thing about him.

Danny tries and fails to get off the ground and back on the bed. When his legs give out, he just leans back against the wall and stares at Tony, waiting for the man to do something.

Tony seems to sense his gaze because, after just a few moments of staring, he turns his attention to Danny.

“How ya doing over there, kiddo? That was some panic attack you had.” Tony doesn't wait for a response, standing up from his chair.

Danny braces himself for whatever might come next. He just knows he's going to be put in the chair for his outburst.

Tony comes closer, but stops when Danny hunches in on himself. He crouches down so that he's on Danny's level, looking, for some reason, concerned. “Hey there. The doctors are a bit worried that you might have hurt yourself when you panicked. Can you stand up?”

Danny stares at Tony for a moment before giving him a small shake of his head.

“Okay. I'd like to help you up and back in bed. Are you okay with me touching you?” There's so much concern in his eyes, but Danny doesn't trust it.

When Danny gives Tony a small nod, the man stands and moves closer. It makes Danny nervous. He slams his eyes shut so that he doesn’t have to watch Tony come closer and closer to him.

The feel of hands under his arms forcing him to get up makes him flinch, but Tony doesn’t say anything about it. “Up and at 'em kid. Let’s get you back in bed so the good doctors don’t have a heart attack,” Tony says softly.

Danny doesn’t open his eyes as he’s led back to the bed. It isn’t until he’s lying back down and the soft blankets are covering him again that he slowly opens his eyes again. Tony has let him go and is now back in the chair he was sitting in. Just…watching him.

Is Tony waiting for him to say something? He’s never been prompted to talk when there is no question. Danny decides it's in his best interest to just watch the man until someone orders or questions him.

The silence is broken by Tony, who scooches his chair closer to the bed. “Alright, kid. You need a name because I can’t just keep calling you kid and I’m not calling you something as stupid as Phantom Soldier. You got any suggestions?”

There’s only silence.

“Uh-huh. Well, looks like it's up to me then?” Tony says, “Hmm. What about Michael or Mike? Terry? Adam? Patrick? Nathan? Tom? Brad? Robert?”

With each name said, a slight pause follows. When Danny doesn't respond, Tony just goes to the next name.

“Alright, kid, this is the bottom of the barrel. I don't expect you to like this one, but what about Darren?” Tony looks at him with a little hope, but mostly defeat.

Danny doesn't really like the name, but it's the closest to his own name and if he can't use his name, then this one will have to do. So, he gives Tony a small nod and watches as relief flickers over the man’s face.

“Darren huh? Well, I can work with that,” Tony says, giving Danny Darren a smile, “So, Darren, can I do anything for you? Are you cold? Oh, you're going to need clothes. Anything you like in particular?

“Never mind, I'll take care of everything. Well, Pepper will take care of everything.” Tony rambles on, evidently no longer caring if his audience talks back.

Darren watches Tony continue to talk about things he’s no longer sure about. He’s too caught up on the name ‘Pepper’. Is that Tony’s boss? Is this Pepper person the one who will give him orders? He hates the uncertainty of this entire thing. Waiting for more hurt to happen. Waiting for his orders to be given.

He just wants this all to be over with. He wants his friends. His family. His people.

His people?

Who are his people? He…he doesn’t remember where that thought came from. Too many times in the chair has left his brain with more holes than Swiss cheese. Does he have people besides friends and family? The more he tries to remember, the more his fading headache comes back.

Something about that statement makes his shattered core cry out. Ice cold and searing hot at the same time, causing the pain in his chest to flare out. It hurts. Oh, Ancients, does it hurt.

“Kid? Darren, are you ok? What's wrong?” Tony grabs Darren's arm as he grits his teeth and tries not to cry out from the pain. “Friday, get a doctor in here now. Something's happening.”

There's nothing these people can do for him. Nobody can fix the dead. Well, no living person can. He needs…something. Something that will fix his broken core?

Cold? Will that fix it? He needs Frostbite. He can't remember exactly who Frostbite is but Darren knows that he's important. He helps when Darren is broken.

White. Frostbite is white like freshly fallen snow.

The doctor comes rushing in and moves Tony out of the way. “Phantom? Can you tell me what's wrong?” She shines a flashlight in his eyes, checking for something.

Was that an order? It certainly sounded like one. “Cold. I need cold,” Darren spits out through gritted teeth as another flare of pain hits him.

“Friday, turn the temperature down for this room to twenty degrees,” the doctor says.

Another person rushes into the room and cracks a few ice packs before giving them to the doctor. She hands one to Darren, who immediately shoves it underneath his gown where his core lays. The sharp bite of the cold makes him hiss, but it also comforts him.

It's different from the icy pain of his core. This cold is a familiar cold that he used to know a long time ago. It helps soothe the hurt with an echo of family.

The doctor seems to know that something has changed and hands him two more ice packs. Taking them, Darren places one behind his back, where his core is, and rests the other on the back of his neck.

It feels so good to feel the cold again. It’s been so long since Darren was allowed to be in the cold that he's forgotten how amazing it feels.

“Your temperature is starting to drop to a worrying level. Are you doing alright?” the doctor asks.

Darren nods, “My normal temperature is closer to freezing and my pulse should be less than half the average person's heartbeat.”

Darren watches as the other person who had come into the room goes over to the computer and starts tapping away. Most likely to enter what he'd said.

The doctor continued to ask him questions about his health and what normal is for him. He's heard the information so many times from the doctors and scientists experimenting on him that he knows this information by heart.

Doctor Cho shows no signs of horror at the dump of information but the stranger at the computer can’t quite hide their shocked expression. Darren stares at them for a few moments before deciding to stop, instead looking down at his own hands.

It isn't his fault that he's like this…is it? He can't remember. He can't remember a lot of things these days. These people will probably put him in the chair and wipe the rest of his memories and then he'll just be a husk of nothingness.

“-ello? Darren, are you listening?” The doctor is still talking to him and he's zoned out.

“Yes,” he says with a small nod, looking back up at her.

“I was just letting you know that if your body handles the fluids well tonight and most of tomorrow, then we can start you off on a liquid diet. I don't want to rush your body too soon,” she says.

Darren doesn't respond, but she seems to expect this, turning and starting to talk to Tony.

“It might be months before he's ready to go upstairs, so don't rush things. Take care of yourself too. I don't want to have to call Pepper to come get you.”

Darren watches Tony roll his eyes as he agrees. The doctor turns back to Darren. “Someone will be checking on you every few hours, but if you feel any pain before then, you make sure to tell us.”

Darren nods, and the nice doctor smiles before turning and exiting the room, leaving him alone with Tony again. The awkward silence starts to build up again as Darren watches Tony fidget with his phone and watch. Between the cold of the ice packs and the quickly cooling room, he becomes even more relaxed. His eyes remain closed longer and longer with every blink and it's not until he yawns that Tony speaks up.

“I'm going to let you get some rest. I'll be in and out of here frequently, so if you think of something you'd like to have that will keep the boredom away, just let me or Friday know. I'm sure some of the other Avengers will be around at some point to check up on you and keep you company.” Tony watches him and looks slightly disappointed when all Darren does is nod.

After Tony leaves, Darren looks around the room, taking in the random pictures of different places placed on the wall. His eyes lock onto the white cup that has the ice in it and he's reminded of his sore throat.

Darren grabs it and is disappointed when he sees that the little bit of ice has melted into water. He wants to drink it, but the doctor said no liquids, and water is definitely a liquid. With a sad sigh, he puts the cup back on the table, pulls the blanket up a little higher, and closes his eyes to try and fall asleep.

Darren sleeps off and on all day. He's so used to being under constant guard that every time the door opens, he's instantly awake. He watches as different people enter the room and check things out on the machines or computer. He watches as they occasionally check his bandages. The minute they leave, he goes back to sleep.

Tony comes back twice, but only stays a few hours after the silence lasts for too long. He fills the room with ramblings that Darren doesn't understand, but when he's done, he leaves with that sad, disappointed expression on his face. Darren doesn't understand what he's doing wrong to cause it, but no one is yelling at him or punishing him, so he isn't sure what to do about it.

He still has no orders, so all he can do is sleep and hope that tomorrow will be less confusing than today.

~~~

“Bucky, you can't keep beating yourself up about this. You weren't you. You had no choice,” Steve says.

It's almost midnight, and Bucky is pacing back and forth in the living room. He's been like this since they'd gotten back from the mission. After the debrief, he'd rushed to the room that Tony had set aside for them. All he can think about are the glimpses of memories he keeps getting. Small snippets of being ordered to fight this tiny kid. Of the kid being beaten to a bloody pulp, begging for him to stop all while refusing to defend himself.

Bucky wants to throw up. He wants to go back in time and beat the absolute shit out of Hydra. He almost wishes he'd never been unfrozen from the cryo chamber in Wakanda, because then he'd never have to feel like this…he wouldn’t have to carry this giant ball of guilt and anxiety and shame.

Buck turns sharply to look at Steve, who’s sitting at their kitchen island. “You don't understand, Steve! That kid has been in my nightmares for months now. I've been trying so hard to forget about the past that I managed to trick myself into believing that kid didn't exist!”

Bucky swallows hard. “I beat the shit out of that kid. I beat him to within an inch of his life. I would be forced to drag him out of his windowless cell and fight him.” He chokes on the words as he forces them out. “If I hadn't been such a fucking coward, we could have saved him sooner!”

Steve walks over to Bucky and wraps him in a tight hug. He'd been doing this a lot since the memories of Bucky's time as the Winter Soldier started surfacing. Bucky would be in the middle of a sentence and then a memory would unlock and he'd have a meltdown. Steve would do what he does best and try to fix the disaster that is Bucky without fail.

It's why Bucky loves him. It's why Bucky will never tell him that he loves him.

Steve leans back and stares into Bucky’s tear-filled eyes. “That wasn't you. It wasn't your fault, Buck. You never would have touched that kid if you hadn't been brainwashed. You've got to stop beating yourself up about it.”

“You didn't see him. You didn't see the way his eyes lit up with terror. He thought I was going to kill him, Steve! I'll never be able to look that kid in the eyes and tell him how sorry I am. He's never going to have a normal life because of the shit I put him through,” Bucky says.

Steve lets out a soft sigh. He takes a step back, and already Bucky misses his warmth.

“You keep telling me I'm not a monster, but now we have a kid in medical that says otherwise,” Bucky says, his voice cracking on the last word.

“There's nothing I can do to tell you otherwise, is there?” Steve asks. “You keep talking about how you're a monster because of what Hydra forced you to do, but Bucky, that’s not true. I've watched you pour hours of research into the habits of bees because there's a hive at the park you want to move because you don't want it accidentally destroyed.

“I've watched you volunteer at animal shelters because you didn't want the animals to feel lonely. What about the homeless shelters you hang out at because ‘sometimes a person just wants to talk to someone who understands’? You've done terrible things, but that's because of the real monsters. Not you.”

Bucky isn't sure how to respond to that, because deep, deep down, he knows that, but he also knows that he's done things that have surely condemned his soul to hell. It doesn't matter that it wasn't him because it was him. He killed Stark's parents. He assassinated JFK. He tortured that kid.

Steve must have seen something in Bucky's eyes, because he reaches up and gently cups Bucky's cheek. “Buck, you need therapy for this. If you don't talk to someone about this, then it'll eat you alive.”

“What am I supposed to do Steve? Talk about my feelings? How's that gonna help me? That's not going to erase what I've done! IT'S NOT GOING TO HELP THAT KID!“ Bucky yells. He feels like he's going to explode. His skin feels tight with all the hopelessness and anger he feels. What he wants to do is punch someone, but that isn't going to happen. Not here.

Steve’s expression hardens. He grabs Bucky’s wrist and starts dragging him toward the door. “Where are you dragging me? Steve? Where are we going?” Bucky asks, but Steve doesn't respond.

Steve doesn't stop until they're at the training room. “You need to blow off some steam, and I need to beat some sense into you. We are going to train until you can't hear that little voice in your head talking bad about my best friend.” With that, he turns and pulls Bucky into the room.

Bucky's been in here often enough to train with the team. He knows that Tony modified the equipment so that even a supersoldier can get a real workout in. He knows that the mats are made with self-repairing fabric so that they can train as hard as they want. Bucky knows that behind the paint and plaster are walls made of vibranium, so that if things get out of hand, they won't accidentally destroy Tony's building.

Steve goes over to the far wall and opens up a locker filled with various things they might need for the workout. He grabs some hand wraps and walks over to the mats. When Bucky finally joins him, Steve’s already got one hand wrapped and is working on the other.

“Do we really have to do this? It's not going to change anything. It's not going to suddenly turn me into someone I'm not,” Bucky says.

“We are doing this until you're too tired to listen to that stupid voice that says you're the problem. Even if it takes all day,” Steve says as he finishes wrapping his other hand.

Steve throws the other wraps at Bucky, who automatically catches them. With a huff, he starts wrapping his own hands. Steve waits until Bucky is finished, and then attacks him.

Bucky, taken off guard, raises his arms to deflect the punch Steve throws at his head and steps back to avoid the kick to his side. He looks for a chance to attack, but Steve comes at him fast and hard, leaving no openings for a counterattack.

They’re at it for what must be five minutes when Bucky finally sees an opening. Steve goes in for a chest punch, but the door to the room opens and he turns his head towards the noise. Bucky takes advantage of his distraction, grabbing Steve’s arm and turning so he can throw Steve over his shoulder. It works and Steve ends lying on the mat.

Bucky smirks and goes to kick him gently, but Steve grabs his ankle still on the mat and jerks, causing Bucky to fall. Both supersoldiers lay there and look at each other for a few moments before bursting into laughter. Neither have broken a sweat, but Bucky still feels better for the small amount of energy expended.

“You boys done playing around, or do I need to come back later?” Amusement laces the familiar voice.

“Nah we're done, Nat,” Bucky chuckles.

“Well, then get your asses up and get changed. Clint’s downstairs making dinner,” Nat says before turning and leaving again.

Bucky lays there for a moment more before getting up. Steve is already up and making his way to the showers. Bucky can’t help but watch the backside of his best friend walking away. It’s the only time he can ogle him without Steve noticing.

“Come on, Buck. Hurry up, or we’ll be the last ones to show up,” Steve yells without looking back.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming,” Buck says as he jogs to catch up.

~~~

“You said he wouldn’t get hurt! Look at him, Clockwork. He can barely talk! How are they supposed to get him to trust them after what he went through?” A young goth turns to the figure in anger and frustration.

Clockwork turns to another screen that shows the Avenger Clint Barton making a large amount of spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread and salad. His adult form flickers to his elder form before switching to his child form, and he turns to look at the angry teen ghost.

“Out of all the timelines I saw, this is the one where he survived with the least amount of damage. Have faith, young Sam Manson. All is as it should be.” the cryptic ghost tells her.

“No! I am not dealing with your cryptic bullshit! When do we get to see him? He needs us. He needs ectoplasm to heal and last time I checked, the Avengers don’t even know what that is!” Sam floats over and pokes Clockwork in his chest as she yells at him.

A dark-skinned teen looks away from the screen showing Danny sleeping in the hospital bed. “Sam. We can’t help him when he’s like this,” he says sadly. “We can do a lot of things, but he needs more help than even Jazz can give him. We need to be patient and listen to CW. I don’t want to wait any more than you do, but we might do more harm than good if we try to help him now.”

Sam floats over to Tucker, tears shining in her eyes as she turns back to the screen. “I miss him, Tucker. I hate seeing him in so much pain and not being able to help him. It took us so long to collect ourselves that we were too late to save him from those bastards.” She places a hand on the screen, as if trying to touch the young man on the other side.

Tucker places an arm around her shoulders. “I do too, Sam. We have other things we can do while we wait. Now that he’s been found, we can go visit Jazz and let her know what’s happening. I’m sure she’d appreciate an update and we can visit with her for a while before we let the others know.”

“Yeah okay. It’s been a while since we’ve visited everyone,” Sam says before giving a loud whistling that seems to echo much more than normal.

A neon green portal opens up in the large clock tower and a small puppy comes barreling through the portal barking with excitement. The portal closes as the small green pup runs to Sam, flying up so it can lick her face with enthusiasm. Laughing, she holds the pup back so she can breathe.

“Hey Cujo. You’re still the bestest pup around I see,” she says and the puppy barks in reply. “We need to see Jazz. Can you take us to her?”

Cujo barks and squirms out of Sam’s grip to land on the wooden floor. With great fervor, the pup digs into the floor, creating another large portal. Sam wastes no time and steps through. Tucker gives a wave to Clockwork and then he too disappears into the portal.

Once the portal closes, Clockwork pulls up another screen to show a happy and healthy Danny surrounded by laughing Avengers. Cujo is sitting in his lap while Sam and Tucker pester Tony Stark. “You’ll have many trials, but you will also have many accomplishments. In the end, it will make you a great Leader and King.”

#dp x marvel #dp x mcu #danny is traumatized #danny phantom #avengers #fuck hydra #team phantom

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liillyliilly · 3 months

Text

A Place Where You Can Disappear

sugawara koushi x reader words; 1464 synopsis; she's the ghost at the end of the hallway- sugawara fully believes she is anyway.

Walking down the empty hallway of the main building always set his nerves aflame. Remembering all the ghost stories his own upperclassmen told him as he was trying to get to the gym was not a good way to start off practice. But he put on a brave face and kept walking with his head held high.

For three years, he shuffled along the hallway covering his ears and mumbling a prayer for safety. Asahi said the gods wouldn't let anything bad happen to him with that specific prayer. Asahi proudly claimed that the prayer was the only way he got through second year mathematics.

The first time Sugawara hears music start playing, then immediately being cut off with a slight startled scream, he gets scared.

He did his best to pick up his pace down the hallway. There was trash littered along the floor, and scratches and dents on the doors of the empty, unused classrooms.

I'm only a third year and I'm going to get murdered by a serial killer this early in my life.

He timidly shuffles his feet to the classroom where he heard the ruckus. He peers in through the glass of the door, only to be greeted with a dark room. Except for in the far corner, where a girl sat with a lamp on the desk. She seemed to be writing or drawing something in a notebook while her earbud wires dangled from her ears. She was nodding along to the beat of the music that was probably playing from her phone, which was sat on the table facedown.

Sugawara can't help but smile. She seems perfectly content with just being by herself and messing around. Sugawara hears the gym doors slam open, and he goes to exit the hallway and head to the gym, but not before stealing one last glance at his mystery girl.

This becomes a daily occurrence. Suga walking through the hallway, but stopping to check in on his mystery girl. Sometimes she eats snacks, sometimes she’s reading a book (Suga immediately goes out of his way to locate a copy of the book and read it), sometimes she is making some sort of craft. More often than not, she had headphones on and was staring at her phone screen.

While talking to Hinata one day, he subconsciously takes Hinata down the empty hallway with him. Doing his usual observation of her, Sugawara notices that she is crying, tears falling down her face and the tear mark lines on her skin are prominent from the light from the lamp. Ushering Hinata to the gym, Sugawara knocks on the door.

“May I enter?” He asks, loud enough for her to hear but not loud enough to scare her.

She sniffles before uttering a small yes. Sugawara tries not to trip on anything as he passes through entrance of the dark classroom.

“Are you alright?” When she nods and smiles, Sugawara becomes confused. “But you’re crying?”

“A very thoughtful observation, but if you would have bothered to pay attention, I’m watching a movie.” She pauses the video playing on her phone, taking out her left earbud so she could pay attention to the stranger invading her space.

Sugawara blurts out another question, “Can I watch with you?” He knows he can't stay for long, he had a practice to get to. But a short ten minutes couldn't hurt, he'd just do Daichi's tedious extra warm-ups for being late. She leans back onto her chair and folds her arms.

“What's in it for me.” She pauses before smirking, “Stalker.”

Sugawara blushes furiously. “I wasn’t stalking you! I was just-”

“Watching me for a very long period of time?” She offers, holding her hand out and motioning it into a semi-circle.

“Yes! Wait, no!” Sugawara covers his face with his hands and groans slightly, realizing anything else he would try to say would only end up with him as a blubbering mess. This is not how he wanted this conversation to go. He wanted to be seen as some sort of hero that swooped in just in time, not the creepy pervert stalker of a girl just chilling and minding her own business.

She leans over and drags the chair from the other desk next to her. Shifting her own chair to the side of the desk, effectively setting up a place for Sugawara to sit.

“Are you going to watch the movie with me or not?” She pats the seat of the chair. Sugawara hesitantly sits down next to her and nods slowly.

She closed out of the movie she was watching, and opened a new tab, typing away in English for a movie title. She asked if he was okay with subtitles, he nodded.

“One question, before we begin, why are you always in this empty classroom.”

“Because I’m the ghost that has been assigned to haunt this classroom.” She sticks her earbud into her left ear and hands Suga the right one.

“Really?” Suga whispers and tugs at the hair on the nape of his neck nervously.

“No!”

His ten minute internal clock passed, and he quietly excused himself from the room. She just waved at him, focusing intently on her movie again.

____________________________________

The following week, Sugawara didn't stop by her classroom again, needing to prepare a little more intently for the upcoming matches. He wasn't a starter, but he needed to be there for the same reasons all players are apart of the team, because they made a commitment and loved volleyball.

Tanaka finally gave up trying to get Sugawara's attention, telling Nishinoya that Suga was too far gone to be helped.

"Ghost Girl still haunting you?" Tsukishima mocked.

Sugawara rolled his eyes, tossing Tsukishima a ball to put away.

Instead of going home by ways of his usual path, Sugawara decided to backtrack, passing through the hallway to go to the main entrance of the school.

She wasn't there though. Pursing his lips, he entered the classroom, just to inspect it. Turning on the lights, he almost dropped his water bottle in reaction to his sights.

The classroom had desks, the usual set up, but on the front board was a lengthy list. A To-Watch list, he deduced. Movies ranging from Oldboy by Park Chan-wook, to the animated Anastasia from 1997. There was a beanbag in the opposite corner to where Ghost Girl had been sitting.

He hadn't noticed how the classroom was essentially a movie theater since he had only peeked in, and the lights were off. The banner hanging from the windows stated: Karasuno Movie Club.

The back wall that typically stored cubbies for students to put stuff in was replaced by rows of CDs, a projector, blankets, and several notebooks. Sugawara picked up one of the notebooks, and flipped to the front page. The notebook had just been started, seeing as all the other pages were blank.

Karasuno Movie Club

Members: 1

Advisor: None, special permission from Principal

Funds: ¥3747.12

Goals: Watch the Letterboxd Top 200 before graduation

Acquisition for New Members: That white haired boy who stares at me sometimes (possibly) (probably not though, he didn't seem too impressed with the movie we watched) (i mean who leaves ten minutes into Crazy Rich Asians?)

Sugawara smiled, tucking the book back onto its place on the cubby shelf. He took out three one thousand yen notes from his bag, and a sticky paper. Thinking about what to write was quite possibly the hardest thing he had done today. Ending up on a short statement of how he would love to be considered apart of the club, and that the money was a donation for the club.

Maybe this little movie club could be a place only they share.

_______________________________________

Sugawara was surprised to say the least when his desk had a small envelope on it.

She wrote about how hard it had been to find out his name, but that signing his initials on the note had helped her to find him, and flipping through the yearbooks too. She said that she didn't know if she could trust him to join the club, again mentioning the time he left early from watching a movie with her. But if he would show up on Saturday, maybe she could let it slide.

Saturday came as quickly as it went.

He brought the good popcorn, a variety pack of treats, and a blanket.

She was crouched down, twisting the knobs on the old projector, casting a light on the pulled down screen at the front of the room.

The beanbag was just big enough for two.

The paper taped to the outside of the classroom door was simple: Now Showing - "Ju-On: The Grudge" and "The Perks of Being A Wallflower"

#haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #hq #hq x reader #sugawara koushi #sugawara x reader #sugawara kōshi #sugawara koushi x reader #ghosts #movie club #movie club is so goated #strangers to lovers #he fully was so scared of her at first #like he truly believes in ghosts #he hates ghosts #but he likes her a lot #lilly's red string of fate

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alexcutecolly · 8 months

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The Tenor

Greatly inspired by that anon asking about preds putting on a musical number before eating their prey, I wrote this short story!

Warnings: some cursing, fearplay, unwilling g/t vore, uncaring pred.

Mainly NSFW vore accounts DNI!!

Words: ~2.1k

°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°

Your head feels heavy as you start regaining consciousness, your vision all blurred and confusing before your eyes focus on your surroundings.

“Mhhh?”

W…where am I?

It looks like you’re in the backstage of a massive theater. No kidding, every single equipment around you is gigantic compared to your size. The curtains are still closed, and the dark engulfs everything. The only exception being a single, big reflector casting its beacon of light before you.

Looking down, you realize you’re all tied up to a chair of your own scale.

“Uh???” You can’t move an inch, and any attempt at budging is vain; plus you can feel the ropes almost digging into your sitting form.

W… what happened? I was waiting in a queue to buy a ticket for Mr. Biggs’ next performance-

“Is… anyone there?” you call out, your voice resounding in the seemingly empty room.

“Oh! There you are! It took you longer that I thought to wake up!” a booming voice breaks the eerie silence, coming from above but behind you.

“U-uh?”

This voice-

“The Titanic Tenor…? Mr. … Mr. Biggs? Is… Is that you?”

He chuckles, moving from his previous position to face you.

“That is me indeed~”

“Mr. Biggs, w-what’s going on? Is… is this a joke?” you ask him, doing your best not to make a puppy-eyed face as you look straight at him.

“Oh, not at all! You see… you’ve been randomly picked for an unique, extraordinary event involving the one and only me!” he exclaims, putting his arms out with theatrical emphasis.

You raise an eyebrow.

“Ooookaaaay…? Aaaaand… Why does it require me to be bound to a chair, in dim light, in the backstage?” you question him, wriggling a bit in place.

“Oh it’s rather simple.” He grins menacingly.

“I’ll give you 60 seconds to escape. If you don’t make it, I’m going to eat you. How’s that sound?”

“W-WHAT-“

“I won’t repeat myself. The ropes are tight. I’m just sure you’ll come up with something” he says, keeping the same excited grin.

“But- this is absurd!!”

“Oh yeah it is! Absurd, that I haven’t done this before!”

You gulp nervously.

“And in the meantime, allow me to perform a cavatina dedicated to your despair only. It should last for the perfect amount of time as well.”

“B-but wait! Why do you want to eat me? I’m just a random spectator from your usual audience! Also… Aren’t tenors supposed to play the heroes, the good guys in operas? Not that we’re in a play right now but-“

“First of all. Although you’re technically right, there are some interesting exceptions in 19th century plays where the tenor plays the bad guy, and the main male protagonist/hero is played by a baritone. Just check out Giuseppe Verdi’s ‘Rigoletto’, so you’ll know what I’m talking about” he responds, moving his hand in the air as to shoo your doubts away.

“And for the reason why I’m so eager to make a meal out of you… Why can’t I? Shouldn’t I enjoy a snack every once in a while?”

“You can’t be serious-“

“Ta-ta, less complaining and more working on those ropes, or the only symphony you’re going to be listening to in a minute will be my belly’s. C’mon, the play is starting!”

“Just wait-!”

“Oooooh~ oh my dear preeeeey~

You should’ve walked awayyyy~

From the moment you feeelt

Your impending dooooom~”

The giant tenor is ignoring you now, his back turned to you as he starts to sing his malicious song.

Great, just great. You sigh.

So you begin wriggling and struggling, with your hands doing their best to release your wrists first.

Shit, he wasn’t lying about the ropes being tight, you think with a grunt.

“… And whaaaaat

are you going to doooo

once you’re all settleeed

inside my guuuut~… ”

Ugh, shut up.

His eyes meet yours, when he turns around as he continues with his mocking cavatina. He licks his lips for just a moment, causing you to flinch and look away from him.

Clenching your teeth, you feel a small wind of relief when you finally manage to untie one of the knots. The ropes feel a little loosened now. You don’t stop, and keep insisting on the other knots. Thankfully, it seems there’s only one remaining.

“… 20 seconds… is all that’s leeeeft~

Before you’re plunged

Down into my chest~…”

You curse under your breath, your sore fingers now attempting to undo what remains of the thread binding you to the chair. It’s all been wrapped around you, which makes it even harder to make it come off.

Eventually, you pull the rope and it finally releases you from your sitting position, and that’s when you toss it away and run for your life.

But that’s when you realize…

Wait… I’m not on the ground! He placed me on a fucking table!! Or… Is it a… stage?

“Was… was there not an escape route the entire time?” you ask yourself, horrified at coming at your conclusion.

“Nonono, there has to be one-”

“Oh my dear prey~

Your time is uuup~

And now you will be

Miiiiiine~”

He lets out the last word with a nice, prolonged High C before approaching, rubbing his hands together at your sight.

“Wait, nonono, I refuse to be eaten!” you say, standing up to him with your fists clenched.

“Oh c’mon sweetheart, you’ve had your chance. Now, give up and accept it.”

“’My chance’ your ass, you’ve tricked me! You made me believe I could run away in safety, but… How was I supposed to get down from here?” With a stern look you point at the edge of the table, which is at least 3 feet in giant size.

The tenor sighs. “Gorgeous. The actors aren’t supposed to leave the stage until the curtains are pulled! Don’t you know that?”

“B-but… we’re not in a play right now.”

“Says who?” the opera singer asks rhetorically, grinning from ear to ear.

!!!!

“Y-you didn’t correct me before! When I said the same thing!”

“I didn’t, yeah. Aren’t you happy, though? You’ve been promoted from mere spectator to main acting role!”

“A-as if this is what I was waiting in line for! I’m- I’m done with your stupid game!”

“Oh yeah sure, feel free to complain to the big boss if you’d like, then! And that is…”

He does a little twirl, turning around before doing a theatrical pose with his arms stretched out wide.

“ME!”

“…”

You have nothing else to say. The situation is already crazy enough for your understanding. Plus it feels so demeaning, it’s like your mind is detaching itself from your body.

“Anyhow, I hope you’ll behave now. Because…”

He leans forward with the usual wicked smile plastered on his face. You instinctively take a step back in fear, looking up to the famished giant.

“You’re going to be the spotlight of my lunch.”

You shake your head. “N-no please! Have mercy!!”

“And I will! Plus it’s not like you’re going to die, you silly goose!” he says loudly, reaching out towards you with his large hand.

You almost dodge his fingers, but they manage to grab the back of your jacket at the very last second. And so you’re lifted up in the air, wriggling in the caging fist of your captor.

“Ha-have you taken into account the fact that maybe I just don’t want to be eaten by you?” you wheeze out as you attempt to free yourself from his grip.

“Oh, I have. I just decided not to care.”

He raises you above his head, his lips slowly parting to reveal the teeth and the inside of the maw.

You shake your head again, as to wake yourself up from this terrible dream. But when reality sinks in, all left for you to do is a desperate attempt at reaching for the fingers that are holding you up in the air.

Though Mr. Biggs doesn’t waste any more time, and he drops you right into the wide, very welcoming opening below.

Letting out a scream, you land right onto his spongy tongue. Covered in saliva already, you cough and immediately try to slip away towards the front, but the giant keeps you in place by pressing you even more into his taste buds with his index.

“MMMMMM!!~” the tenor hums loudly, rubbing your body up and down to get more and more of your peculiar flavor. And you must taste amazing, because more and more pools of saliva are accumulating fast all around you.

After a while though, he retracts the finger to close his mouth and seal you inside. As soon as the light goes out, the muscle underneath you pins you to the palate, unperturbed by your struggling; and as if it wasn’t enough, it brushes against you tirelessly to gather even more of your taste.

In the end, there’s nothing that doesn’t make you feel like you’re being sucked onto like a tiny piece of candy.

On the outside, the giant can barely contain his appetite. Oh, to have a feisty snack like you before any of his shows!

Once he’s grown tired of having you stuck to the roof of his mouth, he starts swirling you around, moving you from cheek to cheek. His continued humming makes the whole damp cave vibrate, which you’d find even soothing in a totally different situation. And it only gets worse when he picks up the snarky song he was singing before, his purring another way to taunt his poor victim.

Having fun with your part, morsel? I can keep going for as much as I like-

All of a sudden the alarm on Mr. Biggs’ watch goes off, reminding him of the incoming performance.

Humpf. Nevermind, I guess. Almost forgot about that, he huffs, quite annoyed to interrupt his vicious snacking.

Welp. Every story must come to an end, sooner or later, after all. What really matters is enjoying the ride, right~?

And that’s when he begins to tilt his head back.

In the inside of his maw everything shifts incredibly fast. Not that it has was all peaceful up until this moment, but if you were laying horizontally on his tongue just a few seconds ago, now you’re sliding straight towards a new dark chasm- his throat.

“N-no, wait!! D-don’t swallow!!” you shout, wiggling and doing the best way you can to hold onto something- anything-, that prevents you from falling into the bottomless pit in the back.

But with all the fleshy interiors coated in saliva, your hands hopelessness slip, slip and slip. So you what you actually manage to accomplish, is to just stare as you pass through the hellish gate and go down the hatch.

*GLK~*

The tenor gently presses his big hand to his neck as he feels you travel down, deeper and deeper inside of him until you disappear behind his collarbone.

“Mmmmm, I needed that~ some entertainment before the great show, you know?” he speaks, as if you could actually listen to him.

The descend towards his stomach is tight. So so tight. It’s giving you claustrophobia. The heat is unbearable, and you’re not even in the main chamber yet. His heart is hammering somewhere very close to you, undeterred to your despair. And when you’re finally released in the stomach, it feels like your troubles are over for the moment.

If Mr. Biggs is true to his word, you’re going to be safe. For a while, at least.

…

Hopefully.

“Aaaah~ That hit the spot~” Mr. Biggs sighs, feeling your small but filling presence inside his belly. He smirks at your puny wriggling, rubbing your spot with more glee than annoyance.

“Mmmmm, don’t be shy and struggle more if you’d like~” he says, poking his middle again in hope to get more active reactions from you.

“In the meantime, the rest of the audience is waiting for me for the real play! Make yourself at home, you’re definitely not coming out for the next few hours~” he says, chuckling to himself.

Before going back to his dressing room though, he gathers the tiny chair and the discarded thread from the stage - more like a table to him - ‘borrowed’ from the non-giant singers and musicians. Thankfully nobody has walked in during the events that have just transpired, or that’d have been pretty weird - if not embarrassing - to explain.

Oh well, you think, getting more comfortable as you crawl up to the nearest stomach wall to lay against it. Your eyes growing heavier from exhaustion and the excruciating warmth.

At least I’ve got front row seats to a free performance.

#i loved writing this #i felt very inspired lol #and i might add mr. biggs to my ocs lolol #we love a snarky evil pred sometimes #safe vore #g/t vore #fearplay #non fatal vore #sfw vore #nonsexual vore #soft vore #male pred #uncaring pred #unwilling prey #unwilling vore #v0re #v.ore #v/ore #my writing

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writergeekrhw · 2 years

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HOW TO KILL A CHARACTER

(A Writing Spew)

I'm trying to archive some of my old Twitter writing spews on Tumblr. You know, because of things. So here's a rather big one. HOW TO KILL A CHARACTER.

/BeginSpew

Okay, you’re a writer. You’ve got a mess of characters. You want to move your audience. So, it’s time to take out the old writer’s ax and chop chop chop! But how do you do it with maximum impact without your audience turning against you forever?

Pull up a chair and Uncle Robert will explain it to you!

(Warning, there may be spoilers ahead for stuff that if you haven't seen it by now it's your own damn fault.)

Luckily, there are a lot of reliable tricks to kill that character. Any of them can work for both #TVWriting and #Novels. Some of them can backfire. Here are some proven approaches…

Death #1: The Intro Death!

Want to set the stakes for your world? Introduce a character or characters and fool the audience into thinking they will be a big part of the story. Then… CHOP! OMG THEY’RE DEAD! SHIT JUST GOT REAL! AKA the Hello-Die.

The Hello-Die pretty much always works because the audience hasn’t had time to really get invested, but they’re invested enough to feel the sudden shock.

Examples: Psycho. Buffy (S1E1). GOT Teaser. #DS9 pilot. Hill Street Blues (averted).

The Hello-Die is often used by shows to shake up your expectations in what has usually been a fairly safe genre. And yes, I did this in #Andromeda. You think this is a nice safe Fantasy/SpaceOpera/CopShow/FamilyDrama? NOPE! Hello-Die! Watch out for exploding Helmsbugs.

Death #2: The Mentor Death

Your character learns cool stuff from the smart old person. Then the smart old person dies! OMG! “But I had so much more to learn!” “True, but don’t you see? This was the real lesson.” AKA The Obi-wan.

The Mentor Death is pretty safe too. We all know the old people we learn from are going to kick it soon, right? But that’s okay, because WE GOT THIS! Circle of Life, ya’ll!

Examples: Star Wars. Star Wars again. Star Wars that other time too. Harry Potter.

Death #3: The Hero’s First Kill.

Your hero lives in a violent world, but they’re a good person. They don’t want to be a killer. Alas, the world needs them to kill. And you want to portray how that impacts your hero. And so that minor villain must die!

The HFK can be tricky. For best results, the victim should need killin’. Because you want the audience to still like your hero. Plus it’s your hero’s first kill, so you need to overcome their reluctance. Or maybe it’s an accident? (OR IS IT?)

Either way, now your hero is transformed and all it took was offing a minor character. WARNING: Often involves hero puke!

An excellent example of the HFK is the Stable Boy in GoT. Arya asked him to let her go. He wouldn’t. She insisted. He said the Queen would pay her handsomely for her. She lashes out with Needle and… OOOPS! Or was it an oops? Well now he’s dead & Arya’s on her way.

Death #4: The Villain’s First Kill

The opposite of the HFK. The villain is bad, but he hasn’t killed… yet. Then he takes his first victim (usually someone either plucky or gross) and he just can’t help himself! Afterward, unlike the hero, the villain feels good.

He’s got a taste for this now. It’s going to happen again. Cue dramatic (or ironic) music!

The VFK can also sometimes be the Intro Death. Maybe it’s not the villain’s 1st kill, but it’s the first we see. Either way, the VFK is relatively safe, though there's a risk that if the victim is too likable, the audience won’t just hate the villain, they’ll hate the author.

Which is why the VFK is often someone gross or “disposable” or even theoretically somewhat deserving. In American Psycho, the first kill is a homeless man, the second is a Wall Street asshole.

Another VFK example: In the Bone Collector, the first death is a man no one cares about, and he dies off-screen, but the next is a plucky woman who dies horribly onscreen. The story eases you into it.

Still, the VFK is fairly safe. It needs to be just bad enough to shock, but no so awful that you completely lose the audience. You can get awful later once you've built up good will.

Now come some of the tougher deaths to pull off, starting with...

Death #5: The Season One/Book One Death

An important character dies relatively early in your tale. This is usually done because you want to drive home the stakes even more. Also the death launches/twists the story. AKA The Boromir AKA The Ned AKA The Sean Bean.

The Sean Bean is tricky because you’ve spent a fair amount of time getting the audience invested. You may have even tricked them into thinking the Sean Bean is a major hero. The more invested they are in TSB, the higher the risk you might lose your audience.

To minimize audience hate, make sure they understand it’s kind of Sean Bean’s fault. Or a noble sacrifice. Or if the character is minor enough (Hi Tasha Yar) it's a way to show the random awfulness of the universe. The important part is your real heroes will learn from this.

There will be crying and anger and thirst for revenge (or Data will struggle to understand death and we’ll all love him for it.)

The Purpose of the Ceremony - YouTube

Now part of why the Sean Bean works is its earliness. The later in a story a character is killed, the more their death needs to have meaning. You can kill Tasha randomly in Season One but you would never do that in Season Six.

In Season Six, if a regular dies, it better not be random or the audience will feel angry and… Oh. Yeah. Her. I wasn’t on staff then. IT’S NOT MY FAULT!

Anyway, the later you get, the more meaning a death needs to have, ideally.

Now we’re getting into the Big Earned Deaths. So let’s talk about them.

Death #6: The Big Bad Death

This is pretty easy, honestly. The easiest. The audience has been waiting for this bastard to die for years! They will cheer. Even if you’ve run this asshole through the Face/Heel Revolving Door a few times (Hi Gul Dukat), by now, they’re past redemption.

The Big Bad needs killing. KILLING THEM IS KINDA THE POINT. Go for it. Make it as horrific and painful as you’d like. Make them fall a LOOOOOOONG way before they hit something. Make them bounce a bit. The audience will love you for it.

Death #7: The Sacrificial Hero Death

Solid option. You might want to foreshadow the heck out of this. Maybe even near-death your hero a few times. But still, the audience usually gets this one. After all, messiahs die. It is known.

There will be tears, but we all know sometimes the only way to save the world is to die. If the good done by the hero’s death outweighs the sadness the audience feels, this can even be uplifting. Bittersweet chocolate is the best, right?

The SHD is a perfect way to kill a beloved character late in a novel or show. They died for our sins! If not for them, we’d be toast. Very satisfying when done correctly. I mean, there are entire religions based on this. Do it right and it packs an immortal punch.

Death #8: The Shakespearean Tragedy

Your hero isn’t really a hero. They might’ve started that way and/or had good intentions, but they’ve slippery-sloped themselves into full blown villainy… and they know it.

They’ve had their moment of tragic awareness. They realize theirs is a tale told by an idiot. Time to go out in the blaze of glory/late heel-face-turn sacrifice/by their own hand. My kingdom for a horse! Lay on Macduff! Good night sweet prince!

The classic ST is incredibly satisfying for the audience. They’ve enjoyed watching a good person descend into villainy, living vicariously through his/her badassery. They felt bad when the badassery turned to madness. SO MUCH METH!

Now the villain realizes how wrong it all was, and how flawed they are, they deliver a final moral lesson, then CHOP! And... cue Baby Blue, maybe some passing prince gives speech... then... curtain.

Death #9: The Final Wrong

Remember how bad that bad guy is? Gee, when’s the last time they were really, really bad? Time for them to shockingly kill a beloved character right before the final confrontation with the hero! I know you traveled a long way to help, but die Scatman Crothers!

Now there’s no going back. Now the villain can’t be redeemed. They must die. Cue the final chapter/episode/season/third act.

This one is risky as hell and maybe don't kill one of your few/only female POC protagonists this way but hey, you be you.

Death #10: The Sidekick Sacrifice.

Your hero can’t just win clean, right? That’s boring. There has to be a cost. And sometimes that cost is Robin’s life. Often this is a minor heroic sacrifice in its own right, but by someone other than the hero.

The sidekick takes the bullet, goes into the warp core, etc. Can be combined with the Final Wrong. Either way, "I have been... and always shall be... your friend." Cue tears.

Death #11: The War is Hell

A variation on the Sidekick Sacrifice. Beloved character dies randomly in a final great battle because War is Hell.

Sometimes the WiH is just A Bad Break. The bullet came from nowhere. WTF?!? Sometimes this happens in the Fog of War. No one saw it. The hero finds the body afterwards and feels the cost of victory. It’s high, man. So very high.

And yes, I used this one in #TheGoblinCrown. War is Hell even in YA fantasy novels.

Death #13: I Couldn’t Save Her

The riskiest variation on the late character death. The kid your hero has been protecting all along dies. The hero tries to save her/him but fails. Generally, only done in the Darkest Timelines. Or at the start of Alien 3. Fuck Alien 3.

The ICSH tells your audience this is not a hero’s story. This is a brutal examination of the inherent unfairness of life. Surprise!

WORDS OF CAUTION!

WARNING: Beloved Characrer Deaths often do not go over well. Use with caution.

The Final Wrong, the Sidekick Sacrifice, the War is Hell, and the I Couldn’t Save Her/Him are all somewhat risky. Sometimes you kill the very character that the audience most cares about. You know, like Glen. Or Lexa. OMG Lexa!? You can lose big chunks of your audience this way.

Still all four can be effective ways of turning on the feels late in a story. If you use them, make sure they either feel super well-earned or that they fit your theme so well that the audience will accept it.

But be careful. The biggest danger here is when the audience doesn’t realize you’re going to go this bleak and then you do and they feel betrayed. Can be a deal-breaker.

The more innocent the victim, the more horribly they die, and the more pointless the death, the bigger the risk you run of turning off your audience completely. And if it's an underrepresented character that a percentage of your audience deeply identifies with? Oh boy. Run.

Death #14: The Glorious Last Stand

This character was a prick all along, really. No one liked them. But when the chips were down, when our backs were against the wall, the they pulled the pin in their grenade and blew up a crapton of Aliens. Hurray!

The GLS can be supercool. The GLSer wasn’t the hero or the villain. Somewhere in the middle really. But we admire the way they went out. Their death redeemed them. If done right, audience will cheer for their bravery, finally loving them just as they die.

Death #15: The Everybody Dies

Rare. Tricky. Deeply powerful when done right. The time for characters like these is done. Their world is over. Their final great sacrifice, or noble last stand, or tragic Bolivian gunfight was inevitable. But oh how brightly they burned in the end.

Look at how badass they were. Look how bravely they faced death. And remember what it meant! Perhaps we would not be alive today if not for their transformative deaths. We will never forget them. Also their death may spur us all on to victory/change/redemption.

Or maybe the Western is just over. We're gonna miss you, Butch and Sundance! Cue montage!

Death #16 (but not really): Apotheosis

Your character dies technically, but really they become one with the Prophets, God of Light, Force. AKA The Sisko. You can only really pull this off in genre or stuff that pretends not to be genre but really is. Modern variation: Uploaded into the A.I.

Apotheosis can work extremely well if done right. Star Wars does it a lot and it works pretty much every time. You get the OOMF of killing a major character, but you reassure the audience that "They will always be with us."

If handled poorly, it can feel like a huge cheat, but when done well, can be a very satisfying way to kill off your awesome main character at the end of a long series without totally pissing off your audience. Like I said... The Sisko.

FINAL WORDS!

There are lots more ways to kill characters, of course. Including the bad ways to kill.

The It Was Supposed to be a Cliffhanger &Then We Got Cancelled and Now They’re All Dead I Guess.

The That Actor Was a Prick So We Offed His Character and Didn’t Care How We Did It.

The Oh, I Realized I Didn’t Need That Character So Gave Them a Perfunctory Death.

But I think I’ve covered the major and better ways to handle offing a character.

So yeah. Sometimes characters need killing. Just remember, you need to make their deaths satisfying in terms of plot, character, and/or theme or you risk losing your audience.

There are no small deaths. Every character is some off-screen mother’s child. Make it count. Make it matter. Make it worth the pages/screen time.

But think about your favorite movies/books/tv show. I bet they all had memorable deaths. I bet you cried. ADMIT IT, YOU CRIED! Look, I cried when Mike died in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I CRY EVERY TIME I READ IT.

(Mike = War is Hell/Sidekick Sacrifice/Fog of War)

Character Death is one of the most powerful tools in a writer's arsenal. Like all powerful tools, it should be used sparingly, thoughtfully, and for maximum impact. Give them the deaths they deserve!

And with that, I officially pronounce this spew dead. But don't feel bad. This spew will always be with us.

/endspew.

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whileiamdying · 3 months

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All the Films in Competition at Cannes, Ranked from Best to Worst

The twenty-two films that premièred in the 2024 festival’s main program offered much to savor and revile.

By Justin Chang May 26, 2024

The seventy-seventh annual Cannes Film Festival came to a startling and joyous conclusion on Saturday night, when the competition jury, chaired by Greta Gerwig, awarded the Palme d’Or, the festival’s highest honor, to “Anora,” a funny, harrowing, and finally quite moving portrait of a sex worker’s madcap New York misadventures. It was startling because the movie, though one of the best-received in the competition, had not been widely tipped for the top prize, which seldom goes to a U.S. film; with “Anora,” Sean Baker becomes the first American director to win the Palme since Terrence Malick did, for “The Tree of Life” (2011), thirteen years ago. And it was joyous not only because the award was bestowed on a worthy and remarkable film but because Baker used the occasion to deliver the best, most eloquent and impassioned acceptance speech I’ve ever heard a Palme winner give.

Reading from prepared remarks, Baker singled out two other filmmakers in the competition, Francis Ford Coppola and David Cronenberg, as among his personal heroes. He dedicated the award to sex workers everywhere, a fitting tribute from a filmmaker who has put their lives front and center, with drama, humor, and empathy, in movies like “Starlet” (2012), “Tangerine” (2015), and “Red Rocket” (2021). He tossed some exquisite shade in the direction of the “tech companies” behind the so-called streaming revolution—including, presumably, Netflix, which came away as one of the night’s big winners; its major acquisition of the festival, Jacques Audiard’s musical “Emilia Pérez,” won two prizes. And, in a moment that drew rapturous applause, Baker delivered a plea on behalf of theatrical films, declaring, “The future of cinema is where it started: in a movie theatre.”

I was fortunate to see all twenty-two films in the Cannes competition on the big screen, projected under superior conditions in houses packed with fellow movie lovers. It’s my hope that, when these movies are released in the U.S., as the great majority of them likely will be, you will seize the chance to see them on the big screen as well—even “Emilia Pérez,” which Netflix may not keep in theatres for long, but whose bold dramatic and stylistic risks have the best chance of winning you over if they have your undivided, wide-awake attention.

I have ranked the movies in order of preference, from best to worst. Here they are:

1. “Caught by the Tides”

Jia Zhangke, a Cannes competition veteran, has long been the cinema’s preëminent chronicler of modern China (“Mountains May Depart,” “Ash Is Purest White”), mapping its social, cultural, and geographical complexities with great formal acumen, and also with the longtime collaboration of his wife, the superb actress Zhao Tao. Jia’s latest work, drawing on an archive of footage shot in the course of roughly two decades, unfurls a story in fragments, about a woman (Zhao) and a man (Li Zhubin) who fall in love, bitterly separate, and have a melancholy reunion years later. It’s an achievement by turns fleeting and monumental: a series of interlocking time capsules, a wrenching feat of self-reflection, and a stealth musical, in which Zhao dances and dances, standing in for millions who have learned to sway and bend to history’s tumultuous beat.

2. “All We Imagine as Light”

As the first Indian feature invited to compete at Cannes in nearly three decades, Payal Kapadia’s narrative début (after her 2021 documentary, “A Night of Knowing Nothing”) would be notable enough; that the movie is so delicately felt and sensuously textured is cause for outright celebration. Winner of the festival’s Grand Prix, or second place, it tells the story of two roommates, Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and Anu (Divya Prabha), who work as nurses at a Mumbai hospital. It teases out their personal circumstances—Prabha’s estrangement from her unseen husband, Anu’s frowned-upon romance with a young Muslim man (Hridhu Haroon)—with a quiet truthfulness that, like the glittering lights of the city, lingers expansively in the memory. (A forthcoming Sideshow/Janus Films release.)

3. “Grand Tour”

The Portuguese director Miguel Gomes (“Tabu,” “Arabian Nights”) delivered some of the most virtuosic filmmaking in the competition—as the jury recognized by giving him the Best Director prize—with this characteristically yet extraordinarily playful colonial-era travelogue. Shifting between color and black-and-white, set in 1917 but full of fourth-wall-breaking anachronisms, the movie tells a story of sorts about a roving British diplomat (Gonçalo Waddington) and a fiancée (Crista Alfaiate) he’s in no hurry to marry. But its true fascination lies in the humid atmosphere and wanderlust-inspiring splendor of its East and Southeast Asian locations, ranging from Singapore and Bangkok to Shanghai and Rangoon. It’s a movie to get lost in.

4. “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”

It’s impossible to absorb this blistering domestic drama without thinking of its dissident director, Mohammad Rasoulof, who recently fled Iran after being sentenced to prison and a flogging. (His appearance at his film’s première made for one of the most emotional moments in recent Cannes memory.) Shot entirely in secret, the story follows a Tehran-based husband (Missagh Zareh) and wife (Soheila Golestani) who are increasingly at war with their progressive-minded young-adult daughters (Mahsa Rostami, Setareh Maleki) during nationwide political protests led by women. The result is a thriller of propulsive skill and blunt emotional force, marrying the muscularity of an action film to the psychological intensity of a chamber drama. (A forthcoming Neon release.)

5. “Anora”

The director Sean Baker is near the height of his storytelling powers with this dazzling (and now Palme d’Or-winning) portrait of a Manhattan strip-club dancer (a revelatory Mikey Madison) who impulsively marries the ultra-spoiled son (Mark Eydelshteyn) of a Russian oligarch. Much comic chaos ensues, some of it pushed past the brink of plausibility, but Baker’s multifaceted love for his characters proves infectious and sustaining, as does his belief that acts of unexpected kindness can redeem even the darkest nights of the soul. (A forthcoming Neon release.)

6. “The Shrouds”

Early on in this elegantly sombre yet mordantly funny new movie, which stars Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, and Guy Pearce, the director David Cronenberg, a master of cerebral horror, unveils his latest invention: a technologically advanced burial shroud that allows people to watch a loved one’s body decomposing in the grave. So begins a drolly fluid inspection of classic Cronenberg themes—the deterioration of the flesh, the instability of the image, the paranoia-inducing incursions of technology into every aspect of life—but imbued with a nakedly personal dimension that the director has noted in interviews; the story was inspired by his wife’s death, in 2017, from cancer.

7. “Megalopolis”

In this legendarily long-gestating passion project, which I’ve written about at length, Francis Ford Coppola posits that our fragile, battered civilization is headed the way of the Roman Empire. The grimness of that prospect is unsurprising from a director accustomed to peering deep into the heart of American darkness (the “Godfather” movies, “The Conversation,” “Apocalypse Now”). For all that, the filmmaking here glows with a particularly hard-won optimism, even a welcome sense of play—borne out by an ensemble of actors, including Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, and especially Aubrey Plaza, who fully embrace Coppola’s rhetorical and conceptual flights of fancy.

8. “The Substance”

Sympathetic or sadistic? Feminist or misogynist? Coralie Fargeat’s body-horror bonanza, which won the festival’s award for Best Screenplay, has been one of the competition’s more polarizing hits, which is unsurprising; divisiveness should be expected from a story about an aging actress and TV fitness guru who, desperate to regain her youthful bod of yesteryear, effectively splits herself in two. Whether the outlandish premise (think “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by way of “Death Becomes Her”) and its blood-gushing fallout withstand intellectual scrutiny, there’s no doubting the ferocity of the two leads, Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, or Fargeat’s sheer filmmaking verve as she pushes her ideas to their sanguinary conclusions.

9. “Motel Destino”

Just a year after the Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz appeared in competition with a surprisingly stiff-corseted English period drama, “Firebrand,” it was bracing to watch him rebound with the competition’s most sexually uninhibited and flagrantly horny title; corsets don’t apply here, and even underwear proves blissfully optional. Set at a seedy roadside motel where the clientele never stops moaning, it’s a feverishly shambling erotic thriller starring three very game actors (Iago Xavier, Nataly Rocha, and Fábio Assunção) in a romantic triangle that plays like James M. Cain with sex toys—“The Postman Always Cock Rings Twice,” as it were.

10. “Emilia Pérez”

A trans-empowerment musical set against the backdrop of Mexico’s drug cartels might sound like a dubious proposition on paper, and, for the many detractors of this genre-melding big swing from the French director Jacques Audiard (“A Prophet,” “The Sisters Brothers”), what actually made it onto the screen was no better. But I was disarmed from the start by Audiard’s quasi-Almodóvarian vibes, his touchingly imperfect embrace of song-and-dance stylization, and, most of all, his three leads: the remarkable discovery Karla Sofía Gascón, a scene-stealing Selena Gomez, and a never-better Zoe Saldaña. All three (along with Adriana Paz) were recognized with the festival’s Best Actress prize, awarded collectively to the movie’s ensemble of actresses; Audiard also won the Jury Prize. (A forthcoming Netflix release.)

11. “Oh, Canada”

After a tense trilogy of dramas about male redemption through violence (“First Reformed,” “The Card Counter,” “Master Gardener”), the writer and director Paul Schrader has taken a gentler turn with an adaptation of “Foregone,” a 2021 novel by the late Russell Banks. (It’s his second Banks adaptation, after the 1997 drama “Affliction.”) In exploring the fragmented consciousness of an aging documentary filmmaker (played at different ages by Richard Gere and Jacob Elordi), Schrader bravely forsakes the narrative fastidiousness of his recent work and takes on grand themes of memory, mortality, and artistic self-reckoning, to formally ragged but sincerely moving effect.

12. “The Girl with the Needle”

This stark and terrifying black-and-white drama from the Swedish-born, Polish-based director Magnus von Horn (“Sweat”) was perhaps the competition’s bleakest entry. Set in Copenhagen immediately after the First World War, it pins us so mercilessly to the hard-bitten perspective of Karoline (an excellent Vic Carmen Sonne), a factory seamstress who becomes pregnant out of wedlock, that we scarcely notice her story shifting in a different, more sinister direction. It’s a bitterly hard-to-stomach brew of a movie, at once hideous and beautifully made, with a chilling supporting turn by Trine Dyrholm as a friend whose interventions turn out to be anything but benign.

13. “Three Kilometres to the End of the World”

The setting of this well-observed but emotionally opaque drama, from the Romanian actor turned director Emanuel Pârvu, is a small rural village where a closeted teen-age boy, Adi (Ciprian Chiujdea), is brutally beaten after being caught in an intimate moment with a male traveller. Pârvu teases out the legal, psychological, and moral fallout with the pitch-perfect performances and laserlike formal focus that have become hallmarks of new Romanian cinema. But, though the movie is persuasive enough as an indictment of small-town religious fundamentalism and homophobia, it proves curiously incurious about Adi’s perspective, to the detriment of its own human pulse.

14. “Kinds of Kindness”

After his Oscar-winning period romps “The Favourite” (2018) and “Poor Things” (2023), the Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos scales back—but goes long—with a sprawling, increasingly tedious compendium of comic cruelty. My favorite of the film’s three disconnected stories, all featuring the same actors, is the one where Jesse Plemons (the ensemble M.V.P., as the jury recognized with its Best Actor award) plays Willem Dafoe’s Manchurian candidate; my least favorite is the one where Emma Stone joins a sweat-worshipping sex cult. The one where Stone slices off her finger and cooks it for Plemons falls—much like the movie in Lanthimos’s over-all œuvre—somewhere in the middle. (A Searchlight Pictures release, opening June 21st in theatres.)

15. “Bird”

My admiration for the English filmmaker Andrea Arnold (“American Honey”) is such that I’m eager to revisit her latest rough-and-tumble coming-of-age story and find that I undervalued it. Arnold is certainly skilled at integrating recognizable actors, which in this case includes Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski, into her grottily realist frames, and she has an appealing lead performer in Nykiya Adams, as a twelve-year-old girl who overcomes persistent abuse and neglect. But the story may lose you—as it lost me—with a magical-realist turn that magnifies, rather than minimizes, the tortured-animal symbolism that has often dogged Arnold’s work.

16. “Beating Hearts”

An exchange of insults at a high-school bus stop provides a saucy meet-cute for a good girl (Mallory Wanecque) and a ne’er-do-well boy (Malik Frikah); so begins a raucous and endearing love story for the ages, in which the director Gilles Lellouche, with outsized glee and little discipline, merrily appropriates the conventions of classic Hollywood musicals and gangster flicks. The result is much too long at nearly three hours—the story spans several years, with Adèle Exarchopoulos and François Civil playing older versions of the two leads—but I can’t say I didn’t warm to its rambunctious cornball charm.

17. “Limonov: The Ballad”

Why make a film about Eduard Limonov, the globe-trotting Russian dissident poet and punk provocateur reviled for his pro-fascist sympathies? The filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov never musters a satisfying answer in this muddled English-language bio-pic, despite an energetically uninhibited central performance by Ben Whishaw and a cheeky panoply of filmmaking techniques—jittery camerawork, lengthy tracking shots—meant to catch us up in the épater-la-bourgeoisie exuberance of Limonov’s revolt. Considering his earlier work, I prefer the rebel-youth vibes of “Leto” (2018) and the dazzling cinematic assaults of “Petrov’s Flu” (2021), both of which also screened in competition here.

18. “Parthenope”

Nearly every new picture from the Italian auteur Paolo Sorrentino could be reasonably called “The Great Beauty,” the title of his gorgeous 2013 cinematic tour of Rome. (It left that year’s Cannes empty-handed, but won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.) His latest work remains most intriguing for its ambivalent but still sensually overpowering vision of the director’s home town, Naples, from which springs a modern-day goddess, named after Parthenope, a Siren from Greek mythology. She’s played by Celeste Dalla Porta, a great beauty indeed and an empathetic screen presence, though only fitfully does her character seem worthy of this movie’s epic enshrinement.

19. “Wild Diamond”

Another disquisition on beauty and its discontents, this time from the débuting French writer and director Agathe Riedinger. She hurls us the life and busy social-media feed of a nineteen-year-old, Liane (a terrific Malou Khebizi), who has nipped, tucked, and tailored every part of herself to realize her dream of being selected for a hot new reality-TV series. Part influencer-culture cautionary tale, part bad-girl Cinderella story, the movie glancingly suggests the soul-rotting effects of beauty worship, but it falls victim to the trap that Liane is trying to avoid: in a sea of worthy candidates, it doesn’t especially stand out.

20. “The Apprentice”

Donald Trump’s attorneys have threatened legal action to block the release of this drama about his early rise to fame and wealth under the mentorship of the attorney Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). It speaks to the useless proficiency of Ali Abbasi’s movie that the prospect of such censorship provokes more indifference than outrage. Shot to evoke cruddy nineteen-eighties VHS playback, the movie is well acted by Strong, Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump, and an increasingly makeup-buried Sebastian Stan as Trump himself, depicted from the start as a sack of shit that gets progressively shittier. It’s not dismissible, but it’s hardly the stuff of revelation, either.

21. “Marcello Mio”

In this trifling meta-comedy from the French filmmaker Christophe Honoré (previously in the 2018 Cannes competition with the lovely “Sorry Angel”), the actress Chiara Mastroianni embarks on a strainedly whimsical personal odyssey to examine the legacy of her late father, the legendary Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni, and her own conflicted place therein. To that end, she spends much of this overstretched movie in “8½” and “La Dolce Vita” black-suited drag as she navigates a roundelay of industry in-jokes; among the French cinema luminaries making appearances are Fabrice Luchini, Nicole Garcia, and, most welcome, Chiara’s mother, Catherine Deneuve.

22. “The Most Precious of Cargoes”

The French director Michel Hazanavicius continues his uneven post-“The Artist” run with this animated Second World War fable, adapted from a 2019 novel by Jean-Claude Grumberg (and narrated by the late Jean-Louis Trintignant). It has an affecting opening stretch, in which a baby girl, thrown by her desperate father from an Auschwitz-bound train, is rescued and raised in secret by a woodcutter’s kindhearted wife. But when the child’s provenance is discovered, stoking local antisemitism, the movie becomes a bathetic wallow in Holocaust imagery, drowned in an Alexandre Desplat score whose every surge turned my heart increasingly to stone. ♦

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bookshelf-in-progress · 4 days

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Author's notes about the Tanza and Auren fragment, because I keep having too many thoughts about it.

It's a good thing Auren started watching the movie only after his fictional self escaped from the rebels, because reliving his capture and near-execution might actually have been traumatizing.

He also missed out on the trauma of seeing fictional versions of his dead family and friends, who got much less flattering portrayals.

Tanza's desperation to stop the movie before Auren figures out what it's about is partially out of concern for his emotional health, but also out of sheer embarrassment at the idea that he's going to find out this exists (and maybe find out about her embarrassing tweenage obsession with this story).

(I can't believe I got the actor's name wrong for the first half of the story. I've gone back to fix it.)

(Also, if anyone thought this universe had good worldbuilding, I have fooled you all, because writing this I wasn't sure if tephans had chairs. The original story mentions an office chair, dining chairs, and folding chairs, but nothing about the seating in a living area. This scene gave me a minor crisis about this.)

Not only was the film a sensation that made its lead actor a star--he also became a Colin-Firth-in-Pride-and-Prejudice level heartthrob. (Which makes the real Auren a bit of a letdown to a lot of female tephans.) Tanza will never tell him about that.

Tanza was interested in the story because of its romanticized drama and the focus on the historical period. She did not have a crush like other girls. (If she did, it was toward the idea of this noble, tragic hero, not toward the actor.)

If there was a level of attraction toward the fictional Auren, it might be my window into imagining her romance with the real one. I can see Auren being attracted to Tanza (and in the original story there are two moments specifically where he's acting like a man in love), but I've had a harder time imagining Tanza developing romantic feelings for him. But there's something sweet in imagining this abandoned little girl (with her prickly outer shell hiding a vulnerable soul) falling a little bit in love with the story of the noble hero, never imagining that she'd grow up and find out the real man is so much better and in love with her. (There's also something weird about it, so it might be better not to go that way).

At some point, Auren is going to meet Corphan Holbrith at one of those political events/charity fundraisers he always has to attend. Holbrith is going to mention that he's overjoyed that the real Auren was found, because if the real prince hadn't shown up, Holbrith was half-afraid people would put "Prince Auren" on his own tomb.

(The two of them get along very well. Tanza just about dies from how surreal this moment is.)

The premise of the Prince Auren story has always been that there's been an Anastasia-style legend surrounding Prince Auren's survival. But now I'm sad that I didn't go full Anastasia, and make Auren discover that they made an animated musical about his alternate self.

The only reason I'm not immediately making a sequel about this premise is that I'm not sure Arateph has animation or musicals in the way that we know them (it might go a few steps too far in making them like humans).

There definitely is some kind of musical storytelling format (tephans have several strong musical traditions across their various regional cultures), and there's definitely at least one retelling of Prince Auren's imagined history in that format.

If we imagine the Prince Auren story works like the Anastasia story in our world, then there's a pretty good chance that Auren's survival story has become almost its own fairy tale, with lots of different reimaginings and retellings. Which makes it awkward after the real Prince Auren shows up. Can we keep telling versions of this story/putting on these beloved stage plays, etc.? Is it a fairy tale that has become public cultural property, or history that we need to stop circulating now that it's fully debunked?

#adventures in writing #arateph

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queen-of-writing-bad-things · 7 months

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Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 5 Masterlist

Status: Complete!

Main Masterlist

Synopsis: Five years have nearly passed since thirteen-year-old Henry Hart agreed to be a superhero's sidekick. He threw himself into the role, sacrificing his childhood to keep Swellview safe, make new friends he would never have met, do things he never thought he could, witness the greatest love story of all time, and find the family he never knew he was missing. It's only a matter of months before Ray and (y/n) finally make their vows, but time in the Man Cave is running out. Soon, Henry will have to leave his found family and set off on his own…

This story is mature in places with adult themes and language and uses she/her pronouns for a female reader. However, anyone is free to read and enjoy :)

Seasons 1, 2, 3, and 4 are also available now.

Episode 1: Henry's Birthday

Episode 2: Whistlin' Susie

Episode 3: Thumb War Part 1

Episode 4: Thumb War Part 2

Episode 5: Great Cactus Con (SMUT)

Episode 6: A New Evil Part 1

Episode 7: A New Darkness Part 2

Episode 8: A New Hero Part 3

Episode 9: Broken Armed and Dangerous

Episode 10: Knight & Danger (SMUT)

Episode 11: Grand Theft Otto (SMUT)

Episode 12: The Whole Bilsky Family

Episode 13: Secret Room

Episode 14: My Dinner With Bigfoot (SMUT)

Episode 15: Charlotte Gets Ghosted

Episode 16: I Dream of Danger

Episode 17: Holey Moley

Episode 18: Love Bytes

Episode 19: Double-O Danger (SMUT)

Episode 20: Massage Chair

Episode 21: Henry Danger: The Musical Part 1

Episode 22: Henry Danger: The Musical Part 2

Episode 23: Sister Twister Part 1

Episode 24: Sister Twister Part 2

Episode 25: A Tale of Two Pipers (SMUT)

Episode 26: Story Tank

Episode 27: Captain Mom (SMUT)

Episode 28: Visible Brad (SMUT)

Episode 29: EnvyGram Wall

Episode 30: Holiday Punch

Episode 31: Mr. Nice Guy (SMUT)

Episode 32: Theranos Boot (SMUT)

Episode 33: Rumblr (SMUT)

Episode 34: Cave the Date (SMUT)

Episode 35: Escape Room

Episode 36: Game of Phones (SMUT)

Episode 37: Remember the Crimes

Episode37.5: A Trip Down Memory Lane

Episode 38: The Beginning of the End

Episode 39: Captain Drex

Episode 40: The Fate of Danger Part 1

Episode 41: The Fate of Danger Part 2

Epilogue Part 1: All’s Well That Ends Well

Epilogue Part 2: To End Up With You (SMUT)

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scotianostra · 7 months

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One of Scotland's' most iconic films, Local Hero was released on February 18th 1983.

In the days before mobile phones we used to use things called phone boxes when we were not at home, and the phone box in Local Hero has become as iconic as the film itself.

There aren’t many films that have a 100% Tomatometer , on the movie website Rotten Tomatoes, backed up by an impressive 87% audience score, it should be all you need to know when choosing a movie to watch, expecially if you haven’t seen it before. IMDb also rate it highly with 7.4 out of 10.

Bill Forsyth’s oil-refinery comedy isn’t billed as a weepy. It is, however, a love poem to Scotland, and that’s what brings the lump to my throat.

Quirky, wry, gentle are words most often used for this comedy on the movie database site, IMDb, the starting point for many of my posts about those Scots in the acting profession in my posts. They brief story line on the site does not hint at the emotional turbulence you might soon be experiencing. So maybe it’s just me being a big sissy. Wouldn’t be the first time I lost the plot. All it says is "An American oil company sends a man to Scotland to buy up an entire village where they want to build a refinery. But things don't go as expected." The film is so much more than this and it stands the test of time much better than other Forsyth films like Comfort & Joy and Gregory's Girl, well in my opinion anyway!

Crackpot Texan oil magnate Felix Happer (Burt Lancaster) gets the idea that a small Scottish fishing village would be a marvellous acquisition for his so-rich-it-makes-you-sick company, Knox Oil and Gas, so he sends an executive gopher named MacIntyre (because that sounds Scottish, yeah – played by Peter Riegert) to close the deal and get the pipeline pencilled in.

“Mac” is met by some local “dork” called Oldsen (a young Peter Capaldi), who attempts to steer him through a tartan microculture that includes a lawyer-cum-publican/hotelier (Denis Lawson) who tapdances while standing on a chair shouting “Stella” – the name of his ever-randy wife; there is a super-hard marine biologist played by Jenny Seagrove who, after delivering a short lecture on the North Atlantic drift, ends up helping Oldsen to find that pistol in his pocket; and then there is a scene in which a very whisky-sodden Mac calls Texas from a red phone box on the harbourside, a phone box that has featured in so many peoples snaps when visiting Pennan in Banffshire.

Other bits of business in the film involve a salty Russian seafarer and overflying warplanes. You can see how it got the comedy tag, and I haven’t even mentioned the thing with the rabbit. And you can see how Mac ends up smitten.

This is all top material from a very talented writer/director, with photography and music from Glasgow born Mark Knopfler matches the acting and direction perfectly. But on first viewing I found myself asking halfway through, “What is this film actually about?” After not very much thought, I came to the conclusion that it was not a How Things Never Go According to Plan story, but a love poem to Scotland and the Scots. A bit slushy, but never mind. It’s only a film.

The scene when Mac phones to describe the Northern Lights, to me is very special, but the scene that prompted the lump in my throat at the end of the movie is when, having failed in his mission to secure the Knox refinery deal and mutilate one of Planet Earth’s most beautiful locations, Mac returns to his frigid steel-and-glass Houston apartment. He stands at his kitchen counter wondering what to do next, the hushed march of oil capitalism buzzing gently outside. He pulls from his coat pocket a handful of pebbles and shells, smelling one of them poignantly remembering as he spreads them on the work surface.

As Knopflers music gently plays he goes to his balcony and looks out to the city......the scene fades to black, then reopens 4,500 miles away, where, on the harbour side of a small Scottish fishing village, we see the phone box, perhaps ringing and the credits begin as the horns of Going Home blast out.

Others in the film include Rikki Fulton, Alex Norton, Kenny Ireland, John Gordon Sinclair and of course Burt Lancaster.

#scotland #scottish #history #cinema history #comedy gold #move #classic #Bill Forsth

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j2spntranscripts · 1 month

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☆ 2008 LAcon Jensen Solo

Official name: Creation Entertainment's SALUTE TO SUPERNATURAL (Jensen Ackles on stage) Location: Marriott Los Angeles Airport, Los Angeles, Cal Time: Sunday March 30, 2008, 12:00 PM-12:30 PM (GMT-7) Panelists: Jensen Ackles Last episode: 3x12 "Jus in Bello"- 2/21/2008 Next episode: 3x13 "Ghostfacers"- 4/24/2008

Question Index: 1- fav episode; 1x01, 2x20 2a- Side gigs; Guitarist, Singer🔮 2b- Craziest accomplishment 3- Future plays and acting aspirations 4a- 10 Inch Hero distribution 4b- Summer projects 5- Non-acting interests; guitar, golf 6a- 3x11; story location; Broward County, Florida 6b- most missed s3 character/actor; Jeffery Dean Morgan; Sterling Brown, Malik Whitfield 7a- Fan Request; Blue Steel impression 7b- 2x15; ACT ONE, INT. CRAWFORD HALL – NIGHT, (SAM POV); Caramels 8- 3x11; fav Dean death; worst Dean death 9- Character aspirations 🔮 10a- Dark Angel 2x11; Alec playing Chopin’s Etude in E; Jensen playing 10b- Future Dean singing 11- Phobias; 2x02, 2x11 12- Thoughts on DOOL FR1- Thoughts on Dean FR2- Closing

(video playlist/links and transcript below the cut)

(*if you notice any mistakes in the video transcripts or found more video or audio coverage of the con please point them out, thank you*👍)

Fan reports: [insomnia_geek] • [bardicvoice] • [sarah_p] (*warning: Fan reports as a source can't be fully verified unless video or audio of the con can confirm it. Be mindful not to take Fan Reports as the unquestionable and unbiased truth.*)

◘Jensen in LA: will he pursue a music career? by BabyBlueSteel◘ (0:33-3:15)

◘Jensen's entrance in LA Supernatural Con Q&A by IY◘ (0:28-1:50)

•(0:33 BBS, 0:28 IY) – Introduction

Jared leaves behind the curtains. Jensen puts down the photos, looks towards the curtains, then holds up his hand to the audience.

Jensen: Alright, he’s gone. It’s cool. (waves hand) (audience laughs) (sits down) You guys can (Jared makes a fart noise into his mic) all rel- (freezes)

Jared: (from behind the stage) Sorry, sorry, sorry. (audience laughs)

Jensen: (to audience straining) I’m sorry. (flaps his shirt) It’s an early morning. (?Breakfast sandwich?). (audience giggles)

How you doing? (audience cheers and screams) Alright, see you later. (mimics leaving) (audience laughs)

Audience member: Come back!

Jensen: I always do that.

◘Jensen by clockstopper◘

Umm, (looks up at the hanging vinyl posters to his left and points) wow we got, uh, Ugly (Jared’s). And, uh.. evil (Fredric’s). And, (turns to the other side) um, Chad (Chad’s). And, (creation assistant hands Jensen a water bottle) uhh, (nods) and there he is (Jensen’s). (audience laughs) Yeaah. Right on. (audience laughs)

◘Jensen LA SPN convention-17 Jensen Panel 01-04 by DW&DW◘

(tries to lay down his water bottle) Ohh, (but his chair is too high and has to stretch) Ughhh. Ahh. (finally succeeds then sits back up and laughs) I’m sorry this is.. really unprofessional.

Hi, how’s everybody doing? (chuckles) Uh, I know I just put my arm around (gestures) basically everyone in this room. (audience cheers and claps)

Soo, uh, yeah. Let’s, uh- let’s talk. I- I see- (points to his left) Is this the line up? (points to his right) We got, uh- Ooo. (gestures to himself) Do I get to choose? (audience laughs)

Adam: Be my guest.

Jensen: Alright, um…

Audience member: Not that hard. (laughs)

Jensen: (to audience member) It’s always the simple things that get me.

(points to his left) Alright, we’ll start here. How are you?

•(1:53 BBS, 0:45 DW)- LA08JA;Q1- fav episode; 1x01, 2x20

Fan: Um, hi. How are you?

Jensen: Good.

Fan: My name’s Michelle. (Jensen: Hi, Michelle.) I just wanted to know what has been your favorite episode of all time and why?

Jensen: Hm, uh, ha-hmm. What’s a good episode. I mean, we’ve done, like what? Over fifty. Um, soo, best episode. Best episode. I don’t know. You know e- ther-there’s always a- there’s always an affinity towards the, uh, the “Pilot” simply because it- it gave us the characters. Umm, a-and it kind of created this whole.. mess.

Uum.. (audience chuckles) And, uh.. beyond that I-I probably have to go with, uh, the one Kr- er, Eric Kripke directed last season, uh, “Things That Are and Things That Should Never Be.” (audience cheers and claps) Um.. I’d say simply for the fact that it just completely took me out of my element. So, I was like, you know, (snaps fingers) uhh, felt like I was a fish out of water. ‘Cause it stripped away all the things, all the crutches I use to- to play Dean, um, because he was thrust into this- this- this altered state of reality.

And it was challenging and I-I think that I kind of.. I like challenging things, because if-if-if- (waves hand) You know I said this earlier to somebody, um, if you’re not challenging yourself, you’re not evolving. And I think that as a- as a character and as an actor you- you- you kind of want to continue to evolve, um, all the time, so… That was a good episode.

Fan: Thank you.

Jensen: Thank you.

◘Jensen in LA: will he pursue a music career? by BabyBlueSteel◘

(turns to his right) Hi.

•(2:07 DW, 0:02 BBS)- LA08JA;Q2a- Side gigs; Guitarist; Singer🔮

Fan: Hi, Jensen. I’m Candy.

Jensen: Hi, Candy. (?Candy?).

Fan: Hi. Okay, so, um, I heard that you play guitar and then I think you sing, correct?

Jensen: Uhh, I-I-I do both.. moderately. (audience chuckles)

Fan: ‘Cause I just wondered if you’re gonna-

Jensen: Not well.

Fan: Okay. (laughs) I just wondered if you are gonna pursue that in any way or as just more of a hobby?

Jensen: Uh, no. I-I-I don’t think so. Um, you know, uhb, (nods) the gig I got right now keeps me pretty busy. (audience giggles) Um, and, uh, you know it’s- it’s- it’s funny because I.. ii-I have some- some really very talented friends, uh, here, who are musicians who I think.. uh, have played recently.

Did you guys s-see Steve last night? (audience claps and cheers) And, uh, I think Jason played the night before. Um, and also those are two very good friends of mine, (nods) very close friends of mine. And-and-and so, to have kind of those talents around me.. really puts me in my place. (audience chuckles) (laughs) As far as the musical aspect of it goes. (Fan: yes.) So, uh, I have no problem playing second fiddle to those guys. And-and I’m very content with where I’m- where I’m at and what I’m doing now.

•(3:10 DW, 1:04 BBS)- LA08JA;Q2b- Craziest accomplishment

Fan: Okay. One other question. (Jensen: Yes.) What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

Jensen: The craziest thing I’ve ever done? (Fan: mhm.) (gestures to the audience) This. (?) (audience laughs) This is nuts. If you would have told me when I was like, fifteen years old, “Hey, by the way, you’re gonna be on stage by yourself, talking to a room full of adoring.. people.” (audience laughs) I would have been like, “That’s nuts.” (audience laughs) “That’s crazy.” (shakes head) I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Fan: (laughs) Okay, thank you so much. (Jensen nods. Audience cheers and claps.)

Jensen: (turns to his left) Hi.

•(3:39 DW)- LA08JA;Q3- Future plays and acting aspirations

Fan: I just wanna know, uh, do you ever have anyone come up and ask you to do plays? And what future acting projects would you like to (?be involved?)?

Jensen: Mm, uh, well I heard Jared (thumbs back) touched on, um, Western, which (shakes head) he totally stole from me. (audience laughs) Um, but, uh- uh, No. No plans to be on stage any time soon, as-aside from the one I’m on right now. (audience giggles)

Um.. aaaand, as far as, uh, future projects, I- you know.. iii-I think, I- I want to play- I just like the characters- (to audience) You know, what I think is great- is a great character is, uh-um, John McClane. Uum, (audience woos) you know, and.. and I think there’s a little bit of that in Dean as well. Because, he’s kind of this, you know, tortured.. hero that’s kind of grew- you know, he- he.. (shakes head) he’s just constantly getting.. beat to hell. And- but he gets back up for more and he keeps going and he preservers. And it’s like, it’s the average joe that-that turns into a hero. (to fan) I-I really like that. I really like those kinds of characters. Um, and I think that they, uh, you know, they speak volumes to-to a lot of people as oppose to like, you know, some giant superhero with superpowers. I mean, this is, uh, an average guy, but in an incredible situation and he rises to the occasion. So, I-I like those stories (nods).

Fan: Well, I wish you continued success.

Jensen: Thank you very much. (Fan: Thank you.) Yeah. (audience claps)

(turns to his right)

•(4:54 DW)- LA08JA;Q4a- “10 Inch Hero” distribution

Fan: Hi, Jensen. (Jensen: Hi.) I’m Sue.

Jensen: Hi, Sue.

Fan: What happened to “10 Inch Hero”? (audience woos)

Jensen: That’s a great question. Um, I- I don’t know. You guys probably more- know more than me. Uh, I- I’m kind of in a locked box in Canada most of the year. Um, I don’t know. I-I-I know that they’re still, um, trying to get distribution and-and things like that. But, you know, it’s a- it’s a tough (?roader?).

◘Jensen in LA: the status of Ten Inch Hero by BabyBlueSteel◘

There’s a lot- a lot of movies out there that- (shakes head) that never see the light of day for whatever reason, because it’s a crazy industry, so. Um, you know, you just- you just do your work and you put it out there and you hope that somebody, you know, responds to it. (shrugs) And that’s.. y’know, that’s all you can do.

•(5:31 DW, 0:26 BBS)- LA08JA;Q4b- Summer projects

Fan: And are you gonna be doing anything in- in the summer?

Jensen: Um, there’s a few things that- that arrre possibilities, but, you know, I don’t want to jinx myself. And-and call ‘em out, so. Um, but yeah, it’s- it’s a possibility. (nods)

Fan: Okay, thank you.

Jensen: Yeah, thank you.

(turns to his right) Hi.

•(5:48 DW, 0:44 BBS)- LA08JA;Q5- Non-acting interests; guitar, golf

Fan: Hi. Um, what are your other interests other than acting?

◘Jensen LA SPN convention-18 Jensen Panel 02-04 (Golf BlueSte by DW&DW◘

Jensen: (smacks lips) My other interests. Um, well, like I said earlier, you know, fiddling on the guitar is-is- is kind of fun. Um, I like to play golf. That’s, uh, I-I- I got into that a few years back.

And- and it’s, you know, it’s funny, because, you know, there’s the old- there’s the old joke, the guy’s at the driving range with his little daughter. And he’s-he’s out there and he’s hitting the ball and he’s like, (jerking his head around) “Dammit! God! Sonna of-!” (audience laughs) He hits another one and he’s like, (throws his hand up) “That’s it! Come one!” (audience laughs) And he hits another one and he’s like, (shrinks into himself and grips his hand tight) “Guruuhhh!” (audience laughs) And the daughters like, “Dad, why do you play golf?” And he’s like, (turns his head) “It relaxes me!” (audience laughs and claps) (to fan) I’m that guy. (audience laughs, claps, and cheers) (nods)

I tried to do that without cussing and it’s very difficult. (audience laughs)

(turns to his right) Hi.

•(0:53 DW)- LA08JA;Q6a- 3x11; story location; Broward County, Florida

Fan: Yes. Hi. got two questions. Um, I asked Eric this yesterday and he didn’t know, but maybe you did?

Jensen: That’s impossible. He knows everything. (audience laughs)

◘Jensen on Mystery Spot location by IY◘

Fan: Um, I was actually born in Broward County and I was wondering if you had any idea why “Mystery Spot” was set in that particular location?

Jensen: Are you kidding me? The writer didn’t know, you think I’m gonna know? (audience laughs) (laughs)

Fan: Literally Caver knew the answer and he didn’t, but maybe they told you on set or something.

Jensen: (shakes head) Absolutely not. We are- we are strictly voices for the writers is, uh, yeah. (Fan: Okay, um-) Ah, yeah, if he didn’t know (shakes head) and then he just- like I- he does know everything. That guy’s a genesis.

•(1:27 DW, 0:27 IY)- LA08JA;Q6b- most missed s3 character/actor; Jeffery Dean Morgan, Sterling Brown

Fan: And the second thing is, of the characters that have, uh, died recently which one, um, are you gonna miss the most? Whether it’s the character or the actor that’s playing them.

Jensen: (looks up) Hmm.. Well, I think that’s- I mean, for me it’s an easy one and it’s Jeff. Um- (audience claps)

◘Jensen in LA: favorite dead guest star? by BabyBlueSteel◘

Fan: Well, he dies last season. (Jensen: Who?) What about this season?

Jensen: Oh, you mean recent- (Fan: Yeah.) You mean this season?

Fan: Like, I mean.. I know we- a lot of us are gonna miss Henriksen and Gordon. They were both great characters.

Jensen: (nods) Yeah, Gordon. Sterling, uh, is, uuh, I think that he’s, err, destined for great things. Um.. I know he was leaving (smacks lips) our set while we were filming.. to go and shoot a scene with Al Pacino (nods) and Robert De Niro (looks at fan with eyebrows raised) simultaneously. (audience woahs) So, uh, you- you will definitely be seeing more of him.

Um, and, uhhh, yeah Malik, Henriksen, (shakes head and looks at fan) also great charact- I mean, there’s so many great chara- That’s the great thing about the show. (nods) It’s also, uhh, you know, (smiles then chuckles) it’s kind of the tough thing about the show is that we have all of these great guest stars come on, you know, week to week, and (swipes hand) put in these great performances.

Um, unfortunately we don’t get to see them the next week or the week after. So, it’s, uh.. you know, me (points to Jared’s hanging vinyl poster to his left) and Goofy (audience laughs) all day long.

Fan: Thank you.

(smiles) Thank you. (points to the fan’s mic on his right) I think this mic might be down.

(turns to his left) Hi.

◘Jensen in LA: (baby) BLUE STEEL!! & caramels in Tall Tales by BabyBlueSteel◘

•(2:46 DW)- LA08JA;Q7a- Fan Request; Blue Steel impression

Fan: Hi, Jensen.

Jensen: How are you?

Fan: Good. You?

Jensen: (nods) I like the hat. (audience chuckles)

Fan: (giggles) Thanks. Okay, I have- actually I have two questions. (Jensen: Alright.) Okay, my favorite ep-

Jensen: Let’s go with number two.

Fan: Okay, can for all- for all of us can you do the Blue Steel.. impression? (audience laughs and cheers)

Jensen: (smiles to himself and then scratches his cheek) (audience woos and claps) (holds hand out) I mean, honestly is it that- (looks around the audience) (audience yes’ and catcalls)

◘Jensen LA SPN convention-19 Jensen Panel 03-04 (fave death) by DW&DW◘

Fan: It’s cute, right?

◘Jensen does Blue Steel by IY◘

Jensen: (looks back and forth) It’s just an impersonation of another movie. I mean…

Audience memberA: Do it for us, come on.

Audience memberB: Come on!

Audience memberC: We love you!

Audience memberD: Do it!

Fan: (to audience) How many of y’all want to see him do it? (audience cheers, raises their hands, and claps)

Jensen: (rolls eyes and shakes head) Alright, I’m gonna do it for one second. (audience laughs) (raises his head and smirks) (laughs) God, cameras are (?amazing?), like this.

Jensen mimics the fans with their cameras. He slowly raises his hands holding an imaginary camera and opens his mouth exaggeratedly and then pretends to shake hair out of his face. The audience laughs. Jensen lowers his hands and looks down. Then he looks up and sucks in his cheeks and purses his lips. Camera flashes go off. The audience laughs, screams, and claps.

Jensen: Yep. (squints and holds out a hand) It’s not even good, like- (shakes head) Not even- (Christopher Walken accent) It’s not even good. I don’t know why I’m talking like Christopher Walken. (audience laughs)

(to fan) Uhh, (Fan: Okay.) And-and the first question?

•(3:54 DW, 1:09 BBS, 0:50 DW)- LA08JA;Q7b- 2x15; ACT ONE, INT. CRAWFORD HALL – NIGHT, (SAM POV); Caramels

Fan: The first question? Okay, on season two-

Jensen: Or the second one, (shrugs) ‘cause I don’t know which one you had. (audience giggles)

Fan: On season 2, um, “Tall Tales,” (Jensen: mhm.) there’s always this one part that’s always bugging me, what are you eating?! (Audience member: Caramels or something.) Are you eating caramels in that?

Jensen: (nods) Um, caramels. (Fan: Okay.) (to audience) They were real. (audience chuckles) They were not sugar-free, (audience laughs) or fat-free, or any of that. And, (full body shiver/cringe) (audience laughs) I can never eat one of those again. (audience laughs) I think at any given time- and we did it probably seven takes. (audience ohs) I think- I think at any given time there was anywhere from twelve to fifteen in my mouth. (audience aughs) Um, (looks up and nods) that’s a lot of sugar. (audience giggles) (gestures to his mouth) So much to where my mouth was starting to, like, go numb. And I- I-I just- I- I was an idiot (?after nine times?). So, yeah.

Fan: Thanks, Jensen.

Jensen: You’re welcome.

(turns to his right) Step right up. Is that mic workin’?

•(1:46 DW)- LA08JA;Q8- 3x11; fav Dean death; worst Dean death

Fan: Hello?

Jensen: Nice. (audience chuckles)

Fan: Okay, question for Mystery Spot. What was your favorite Dean death? (audience laughs and claps)

◘Jensen in LA: favorite Mystery Spot death by BabyBlueSteel◘

Jensen: (laughs) Um.. I’ll tell you what my- my- First off I’ll tell you th-the, uh, my most unfavorite.. I guess, is- was the, uhm, (smacks lips)- Uh, (sits up) well, I guess it wasn’t death. It was just a scene where I was gargling the- (audience laughs) ‘Cause they actually gave me real Scope. Well, when you do that twelve times (audiences aughs) (shrugs) again you can’t feel your mouth. (numb tongue accent) And then I’m talking to Jared like this. (audience laughs)

Um, but my favorite death, um, (sucks on teeth then laughs) I like when the (swipes down) piece of furniture fell on me. (audience cheers and laughs) ‘Cause he’s just cruising along and (swipes hand) no more. (audience laughs)

Um, the (nods) car hit was pretty cool. (a few audience woos) Um..

Audience member: Tacos!

Jensen: Tacos? Yeah, but you didn’t actually see it. You just- you know, it was just like, (rubs fingers) “Do these taste funny to you?” (gestures) and then boom he wakes up.

Audience members: Shower!

Jensen: (nods) Shower. (to fan) The electrical shaver, him shaving then (mimics electrocution) “Bzzzzt”. (audience laughs) I don’t know there’s- there’s a lot. I enjoyed it.

Fan: Thank you.

Jensen: Yeah. I had a lot of fun doing that (?shit? or ?shift?).

(turns to his left) Hi.

•(3:04 DW)- LA08JA;Q9- Character aspirations🔮

Fan: Hi. I’m Tiffany. (Jensen: Hi.) Um, I just wanted to know what you’d like to see for your character in the next couple of seasons, what you’re hoping for?

Jensen: Umm…

Audience members: Not die.

Jensen: Life on earth? (holds up hand) (audience laughs) I mean, it’s obvious. Um.. You know, I-I- I like to, uh- I like to see the guys thrown into some really, really sticky situations, um, like they always are. But, uhh, I like, you know, I like it when they kind of get taken out their element, (smacks lips) um, like I touched on with, um, (smacks lips) with the show from the second season. Uh, I kind of like it, you know, where.. you can- you can take these characters, but still functioning as those characters, and put them in a situation that they’re just completely not used to.

Um, so, I, you know, mor-more of that is-is kind of what’s-what’s excites me. So, we’ll see what the whi-writers come up with, I don’t know.

I do love the fact that I see- I did see recently in a magazine that, uh, Sera Gamble, she was quoted as saying, um, “You know, sometimes I write lines and they just seem so vanilla to me, but instead of sitting there and thinking about them all the time, I’m just like, (waves hand) ‘Jensen will make that work’.” (audience laughs) (tilts head back and forth with a squinting smirk)

Fan: And did you?

Jensen: And I- Well, and I thought about it and I was like, “Well, thanks a lot Sara.” (audience laughs) “Makin’ my job twice as hard.” (tilts head with a smile) No, she writes me great. So, I’m very, very fortunate to have her.

◘Jensen LA SPN convention-20 Jensen Panel 04-04 (Paino in DA, by DW&DW◘

Fan: Thank you for coming.

Jensen: (nods) Thank you.

(turns to his right)

•(4:26 DW, 0:09 DW)- LA08JA;Q10a- Dark Angel 2x11; Alec playing Chopin’s Etude in E; Jensen playing

Fan: Hi, Jensen. (Jensen: Hi.) Um, I’m a musician so I appreciate that you’re like a musical- (Jensen: [bull horns hand sign] Rock and roll!) (audience laughs) And uh, I just wanted to, uh, ask two things.

One was in Dark Angel you played Chopin and I-I understand that was really you? Is that true?

Jensen: Yes.

Fan: Can you do (?that next breakfast?) (audience woos, claps, and cheers)

Jensen: It was two weeks of piano lessons, I don’t remember (swipes hand) a lick. (audience laughs) Yeah.

◘Jensen in LA: more singing for Dean? by BabyBlueSteel◘

•(0:35 DW, 0:09 BBS)- LA08JA;Q10b- Future Dean singing

Fan: And the second question is, uh, are we gonna get to see Dean sing again? Because, I think we’re looking for some new ringtones. (audience laughs, cheers, and claps)

Jensen: (looks up) Um… (looks at fan and shakes head) No.

Fan: There’s nothing to see (?in the room?) right now probably.

Jensen: I don’t know. There’s nothing in the script. (shrugs) So, yeah, that’s- that’s not up to me. (fan sighs) That would be- (Fan: Adlib.) that would be at Eric.

Fan: Adlib.

Jensen: Adlib? (audience laughs) Sure, (shrugs) I’d just bust into, like, some Albert Opera or something like that? (audience laughs) (Fan:?that’d be something?.) Right.

Fan: Thank you. (Jensen laughs shaking his head then turns to his left)

•(1:07 DW)- LA08JA;Q11- Phobias; 2x02, 2x11

Fan: Hi. (Jensen: Hi.) I’m Hedi. Um, we know that Sam and I are both afraid of clowns and Dean’s afraid of flying. What are you afraid of?

◘Jensen in LA: what Jensen is scared of by BabyBlueSteel◘

Jensen: What am I afraid of? I actually share you’re- you’re fear of clowns. (audience giggles) Um-

Fan: They are freaky.

Jensen: They- Well, there was- it was the stupid (gestures) Steven King movie the “It”. (audience oos, cheers, and claps) (shakes his head then shrugs) And it just- it ruined me. It just ruined me. And it-it- and to this day, you know, clowns in the gutters. (audience laughs) I just don’t like them.

Fan: Thank you.

Jensen: So it was funny because in that- in that episode, you know, Sam was the one being affect, but I don’t think Jared is actually afraid of clowns. He might be, I don’t know. Um- but, uh, I was the one going, (tenses) “Man, I’m freaking out.” (audience laughs)

(points) That and, uh, “Playthings.” The episode with all the dolls with no eyes. (audience aughs) (shakes head) I didn’t like that at all.

(turns to his right then back to his left) Thanks. (back to the next fan) Hi.

◘Jensen in LA: on Days Of Our Lives by BabyBlueSteel◘

•(1:55 DW, 0:00 BBS)- LA08JA;Q12- Thoughts on DOOL

Fan: Hi, Jensen. I’m Ronda.

Jensen: Hi, Ronda.

Fan: Hi. Um, how did you like working-

Jensen: (to audience) I could have busted out (nods) into song right there. (audience laughs) I with- I withheld.

Fan: (laughs) How did you like working on Days of Our Lives?

Jensen: Um.. I-I loved it. It was, (Fan: Good.) uh, yeah. I mean, it was, uh, kind of really my first.. um… llike.. time I really got to, like, dive into a character and like really kind of get my feet wet.. in the- in the industry.

Um, it taught me a lot of stuff. You know, the- the- especially the technical part of acting, you know: finding your camera, finding your light, not blocking the, you know, knowing your lines, not blocking cameras for other people. Just being spatially aware of, uh, the-the set. And I-I think that kind of training is, uhm- is hard to come by, just, like, in acting class.

Um, you know, I mean, acting class and theatre class you kind of.. break down scripts, break down characters, and really try to feel that character out. So, it helps performance. Um, but doing that performance while also keeping in mind (points to head then down) you have to hit your mark, and (points to his left) find your light, and make sure (points forward) that camera can see you, and (points to himself) know your lines, and (waves hand) you gotta do all this other stuff. It’s- It’s really difficult.

You know, um, there’s- we have some actresses and there- or actors and actresses and they come onto the show and they’re-they’re fantastic.. performers.. but a lot of times they just can’t- they can’t find their mark. They’re not comfortable, like, standing at, you know, they-they have to do- They were taught to do what’s natural. Or- Well, (shrugs) doing what’s natural may not.. include hitting your mark (hand chop), or finding your light (hand chop), or, you know, (waves hand) doing all that.

So, to- to have that kind of (pine cone gesture) training ingrained in you is, uh- was valuable. And I got a lot of that from them, so. (Fan: Yeah.) Yeah.

Fan: Well, love yah in both. (giggles) (?who said? Or ?just in?) that.

Jensen: (nods) Thanks. (Fan: Thanks)

(turns to his left) Hi.

(missing coverage *fan reports could be incomplete and/or erroneous)

•(insomnia_geek •19 bardicvoice para. 41)- LA08JA;FR1- thoughts on Dean

“How does he reconcile the contradictions in Dean's character? Life in general is a contradiction. Dean can play both sides, as he's complex and layered. He's real, and the writers write him very well. He just hopes he plays it off as well.” – IG

“Asked what aspect of Dean he finds most challenging and most fun to play, he said that what he really likes is that Dean plays both sides – that he gets very angry, and he lives with a lot of grief and sorrow, but while he isn’t really a happy guy, there are also things that bring him great joy. He said that he loves that slice of life mixture and that it makes Dean a real character. He said that what he most wants is to capture that and do him justice, to play Dean well.” – B

•(insomnia_geek para. 2, bardicvoice para. 42, sarah_p para. 30-31)- LA08JA;FR2- Closing

“That's when Jared came back onstage. Apparently he'd been mainlining Skittles backstage, didn't bring any out for Jensen. They talked quietly to each other for a moment out of mike pickup and joked a bit. Jensen said that they speak in code.” – IG

“Jared reappeared in that moment, bragging “But not as good as Jared plays Sam!”” – B

“Somewhere around this, Jared came back out, and he was EATING SKITTLES (which totally made me think of him offering to buy Papa Ackles Skittles at the AFGM intermission ;)), and didn't bring any for Jensen. I was ALREADY IN LOVE WITH THEM. AGAIN.

He and Jensen were talking really quietly to each other for a minute (Basketball scores, maybe? Can someone who was sitting closer confirm this?), and then they finished, and Jensen laughed and told us that they speak in code. Which, really, I would NOT doubt--they are just SO attuned to each other, it's fantastic.” – S

J2 panel starts.

#spn #supernatural #jensen ackles #spn con #spn transcript #lacon 2008 #2008

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