#ooh interesting - that *does* sound so much Michael

[gumnut-logic]

Rant warning

I swore I would never be a whiney or complaining fan. I’m extremely open minded and accept all ideas and angles and pairings and I’ve been in fandom a long time.

But never have I ever had such a bad emotional reaction to new fandom canon material in my life.

I’ve been a Trekkie for nearly forty years and I have adored it in all its incarnations, including the latest movies and the AOS reboot. Jim Kirk and crew will be beloved until the day I die.

But the last few years haven’t been as much fun.

I was excited for Star Trek Discovery only to drop it four episodes in, bewildered that it seemed to be good sci-fi, but something was missing. I figured some people might like it, but I didn’t consider it Trek at all, so turned my back on it.

Rumour had it that it got better as each season came along, but I was wary and didn’t bother with it for ages.

Then Picard came into play and I thought, ooh, this could be interesting, but even before I watched the first ep, someone warned me that if I didn’t like Discovery, I likely wouldn’t like Picard. So I stuck with the fandom I was playing in at the time and let the show grow, with the intention of maybe looking at it some day.

And then Strange New Worlds was announced. Pike! I knew this story! With the Enterprise and everything, there was talk of returning to the older type of Trek and I finally decided to reach out and try it.

Strange New Worlds is a return to the older way with new effects and so far, its okay. I think it is worth giving it a chance. So I watched all ten eps and enjoyed them. Yay, finally more Trek.

But then I ran out of episodes.

In SNW there are lots of mentions of events that happened in Discovery, so grudgingly I jumped into that show, looking for the roots of the Pike and Spock plotlines. I skipped season one altogether and watched the majority of season two until I go so bored, I dropped it in disgust. Michael Burnham is just ugh and tends to be the answer to just about everything. I believe the term is Mary Sue and none of the characters bar Pike drew my interest at all. Even Spock didn’t feel right.

Fine, okay, the show might float some people’s boats, but I could live without it, whatever. I’m all for peeps enjoying their thing.

Then I tried Picard.

I’m sorry, but the bloody show has traumatised me in ways I never thought a Star Trek show ever could. It is so depressing! Where is the hope????? The key to the world that is Star Trek? Hubby pointed out that the story was based on the fringes of the Federation - you know, the outer rim - sound familiar? I love Star Wars, hell, I adore the Mandalorian, but that kind of world does not belong in Star Trek! Yes, there would be edges of the society, but Picard himself said in First Contact that they had a world without money, he described a Utopia, so what the hell was this sudden injection of Star Wars into the franchise??? Only certain people live in this Utopia???? Does this sound familiar when referring to our current society???

But even that, I could handle. Even in a perfect world things are never 100 percent, and yes, conflict is needed to drive a story in many cases. I could even tolerate the blatant violence, I’m not unused to useless graphic gore, or for that matter unneeded and attention grabbing sex scenes.

But then they started killing off characters. Minor characters yes, but one thing these characters had in common was seeking out the Federation in hope for a better life, and to see their storylines end in brutal murder just broke me.

Call me a wimp, call me old fashioned, hell, just call me old, because I am, but that show is not Trek.

There is no hope. No matter where they turn, horror is all they find. While I understand that the current state of the world sucks and that humanity is facing some of its biggest challenges with Climate Change and the assholes among us, but Star Trek was always a sign of hope. It taught teenage me that humans weren’t the plague on the planet I felt they were, that we could be good, that we were going to get past world war three and there was a brighter future.

Looking at Picard…that’s not a bright future. That’s a reflection of the shit hole we are living in now. And while it is sci-fi, there is no way it is Trek.

What ray of hope are we sending to our children? Imagination is all we have in the darkest of times. Grim reality is all over our screens day in, day out. Trek is supposed to be that window of hope.

Thank goodness, I still have Jimmy and his crew and all the nineties Trek that happened before we gave up hope.

/end rant

I never thought a franchise could ever do this to me. I guess I was wrong.

Nutty

(It hurt, it really did)

[terminaxshowtime]

hold up I need to send you more songs bc music has been my life rn. actually genuinely curious on your take on this dagames song (IVE been enjoying it I love his rock music, ik you won't have much opinion fandom wise but :]) anddd this fnaf song which I find has an interesting sound (plus that added michael afton part at the end hits home)

sorry ive been so !!!! about art and music lately my only joy in life

dagames one: Oh that beginning is cool. And the modulation is sick. HOH i was not expecting it to be that loud though, that bass(?) is very overwhelming. i wish that i could hear the voice more because it's a damn good voice! the guitar and bass' low end is definitely overwhelming which sucks because i really want to hear this voice since it has the main melody after all (and a fitting timbre!). i really do like the little 'la la la'-s, i've been complaining about lack of little bits of high end for other songs and and that's perfect for high end. ooh i love that bridge with the guitar and drum, the drum is very good and the guitar progression is great. it also definitely has MUCH more of a progression than some of the other songs where it actually sounds like it changes (which i find is a huge issue with rock and metal songs is that they don't seem to progress which, as a music kid, hurts me). and the modulation at the end is great. good vibes all around, this song is probably my favourite out of the ones you sent me so far.

the fnaf one: i totally get the simple nature of the bass and drums, i think the distortion on the vocals is pretty fitting! i like the background strings when they do come in. it's a VERY simple song (not sure what instrument it is- orchestral hits maybe? but the fact that they are the same for 90% of the song does make me a little annoyed). i like how it wasn't overwhelming but at the same time it was very underwhelming? there wasn't really a single change in style that caught out my eye, which is usually what i'm looking for especially in ternary structure songs. and especially during some of the parts where lower vocals were added onto the mid range ones, i would've preferred there to also be a bit of high ones? idk. it's still a cool song though! just not something that would keep me interested enough to listen to on loop, but i can definitely see the appeal to it!

[ey-there-little-guy]

I think that maybe having size shifter Tubbo as being able to change others before he can change himself is sort of symbolic of his character? Maybe it’s emotional/how he sees the person too so one day Tubbo and Technoblade brush hands and the techno shoots up to like 200 ft and Tubbo almost gets crushed or he goes to hold micheal and the little piglin becomes utterly miniscule. And Tubbo tries to stop touching people but that just makes it worse whenever he DOES

OOH, that's an interesting idea!! :D Sorry I don't understand what you mean by it being symbolic, that's probably my bad if you want to elaborate (which you don't have to, just if you do!). But, the idea Tubbo spontaneously learns he can shift others sizes before he relearns how to sizeshift himself or something like that sounds like shenanigans waiting to happen. <3

cTubbo is a pretty logical person, he doesn't tend to let his full thoughts or feelings of someone be known to them, so when his sizeshifting abilities start making other people shrink and grow upon physical contact? If that person understands sizeshifting and Tubbo enough to take a guess at what their new (temporary) size says about the way Tubbo views them?? And if they don't understand at all and are freaking out over the change? Both are good. Oooh, depending on who, he's gonna have to acknowledge some feelings I think. But he doesn't want to so he tries to stop any 'situations' by pulling away from touch, but he can't avoid that forever and that's peak angst material.

That idea for Techno is fucking epic angst too, idk it reminds me of a scene from a tubbo animatic (Under the surface, one of the best ctubbo animatics ever imo) where Techno is shown to seem giant for a second and klsdjflkjdfkg dang, you're so right about that.

Oh gosh if Michael was getting smaller and smaller and smaller like that, I can see Tubbo feeling a bit freaked out, that's his son!! And he's not even able to shrink and join Michael! What if that worry makes Michael shrink even more and Tubbo isn't sure how to handle it, but he'll do everything to keep Michael safe and happy until he's goes back to normal size.

On the flip side there's also the possibility Michael could grow out of love, emotions are complicated and I like mixing up how they're expressed :] imagine a mini-giant sized 'little guy' who wants to play swords with you or hold his chicken. Just, Tubbo loving him so much it makes his heart feel so full and it manifests as Michael getting big enough to reach the top shelves he shouldn't touch stuff on, lol.

Same with Tommy, tbh, could grow from love or shrink from it, if Tubbo has been particularly worried for him lately. I don't think Tommy would like being very small ("no it's not just cause I'm shorter than you Tubbo, although that does feel fucking unnatural") but if he's somewhere safe with Tubbo I bet they could have loads of fun!! It's Tommy's turn for hand cuddles.

Hmm, Quackity and Ranboo would grow but for different complicated reasons, Ranboo might even grow more than Quackity did.

And the fact Tubbo doesn't want people to be shrinking and growing because of him, trying to bottle it up and making it so even little brushes of contact have disastrous effects... Oh my goshhh <3 he's gonna have a much harder time than he already does.

I went on a bit of a ramble but this was interesting to think about. ^-^ these ideas for sizeshifter!tubbo are so fun, thank you for the ask!! :D

[mysticdragon3md3]

I guess that's it for The Game Awards 2022. It's still kind of early in the night. Maybe I'll watch SuperButterBuns' VOD of her reactions. I wonder if Professor Thorgi did a reaction stream.

Anyway, here are my remaining reactions that I let pile up instead of posting as I typed them.

6:47 PM 12/8/2022 Oh. Oh? What's this? Big stage performance with big fantasy staging elements? o Halsey Lilith? So many costumed cloak people and a big demon in the back of the stage? Nice. Ooh. Big architectural thing. O.o Wait. Blizzard? Is this Diablo? Y'know, I never looked into what the story was about in Diablo. Are normal humans travelling into hell? Is hell invading Earth?

6:52 PM 12/8/2022 Best Audio Design. God of War Ragnarok won. I'll be honest: I didn't know who to vote for. But I was so tired of car racing sims and military shooters winning this category, even though I know they do painstakingly gather the realistic sounds. I just wanted some recognition for a fantasy series that has to make up sound effects for creatures that don't exist, magic that doesn't exist, etc. I think that type of creative sound design is much more impressive these days. At least to me.

6:53 PM 12/8/2022 Content Creator of the Year. Nibellion is who I voted for. Ludwig won? Who's that.

6:53 PM 12/8/2022 Most Anticipated game. I voted RE4. Zelda Tears of the Kingdom wins. To be expected.

6:54 PM 12/8/2022 Ooh! More Horizon! Is it III or DLC? Has to be DLC, right? this trailer was too "in medias res" for a part 3. "Burning Shores". The Hollywood Sign is still in tact. LOL And it takes place in Los Angeles? Well, I'm biased.

6:55 PM 12/8/2022 What the---? *o* The Last of Us series cast on stage with the videogame cast? ^o^ Pedro Pascal bowing to the voice actors. ^o^ First, he was all hugging that Grogu puppet at interviews and now this. He seems more fun the more I see him.

Best Action Game. Bayonetta 3. Hell yeah. Doug Bowser accepting the award for Platinum Games. I forgot it was a Nintendo game---franchise since Bayo 2. lol

6:59 PM 12/8/2022 I need to note something. Normally, TGA feels too padded with repetitive trailers, that it feels more like an ad show. But tonight hasn't felt like that at all. Normally, award shows feel so annoying whenever they try to have presenters appear on stage or point out stars in the audience, or especially when they have banter/skits. But none of that has felt annoying to me tonight, astoundingly. I guess it's different---effective when you care about the people taking up the time in the show. Even the devs that I've never heard of, you can feel how important all this recognition is for them. Normally, they get overworked and never recognized. So all of this, this awards show, feels special, whenever the camera turns to them, gives them stage time, gives them a chance to talk, etc. It's nice.

7:09 PM 12/8/2022 Also Keegan Michael Key is doing a comedy skit on stage, and normally I hate those at award shows, but this is nice. Y'know what really helps? This audience is so interactive. The cheering and reactions really help avoid any sense of awkward silence, waiting for jokes to be funny/entertaining. Keeps things flowing. Also the fact that the presenters/banter/skits tonight have been few, but also talking about things I'm actually interested in, when it does get used in the show, really helps. Is toad's mushroom cap a hat?...or not? Hm...???? ^o^ (But also maybe I haven't noticed the banter I'm not interested in, because I'm too busy typing/posting through it. lol)

6:59 PM 12/8/2022 Bandai Namco. Blue Protocol. "Your future needs you." Ooooh.

7:04 PM 12/8/2022 Transformers Reactivate???????? I can't believe I was getting excited for this concept of AI POV, watching time pass, suggesting immortal POV story themes, some kind of alien invasion…And I was eager for this "new" IP. And it turned out to be Transformers. lol Well, looks good.

7:07 PM 12/8/2022 Behemoth VR for Meta? Are people still using Occulus?

7:07 PM 12/8/2022 All these awesome trailers tonight, with cinematic tones and fantasy environments… It reminds me why I'm just not impressed with Avatar The Way of Water. That movie is trying so hard to build hype for itself. One of the trailers is talking about how Avatar is "the story of a generation" or something. And I'm like...These movie people have not seen videogames for the past 10 years.

7:11 PM 12/8/2022 Hey, does this Super Mario Bros Movie clip mean that an upcoming Mario game will have clear pipes?

7:11 PM 12/8/2022 Animal. I wonder why they chose Animal out of all the Muppets. What's this Muppet Mayhem that Geoff mentioned? Yes, we all love Malenia, Animal. lol And an Animal Crossing joke. With Animal. lol These Muppet skits at TGA are always good. ^u^

7:13 PM 12/8/2022 Best Score and Music. God of War Ragnarok. Nice. I voted for them because I still remember that E3 2016 Sony Press Conference when this same composer for God of War conducted the orchestra, and I really enjoyed that music piece from God of War that they played.

7:14 PM 12/8/2022 Animal is still screaming across the auditorium. lol

7:15 PM 12/8/2022 Action RPG from the Life Is Strange devs???????? Ok? Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. Angsty. But I like the idea of the protagonist being followed by an ally ghost. Both in terms of interesting AI support during gameplay, and for narrative. The protagonist isn't really alone. Angsty, but still emotional support too.

7:24 PM 12/8/2022 More show-crashing? Ever since Joker did it for Persona 5's collaboration with Super Smash Bros Ultimate, this has been a good gimmick for TGA.

Oh, it's Crash Bandicoot. He did Tweet something yesterday that put everyone on alert. I didn't know they're covering the mascot wearer's face now. Good choice. That was fine for short commercials decades ago, but I don't really want to see a real man's face through Crash's teeth in an awards show's lighting. Because of the circle indentation/patch in Crash's teeth, I can't tell if they covered his human face at the last minute, or if it's purposefully visible as a joke.

7:27 PM 12/8/2022 Accessibility award. God of War Ragnarok. I can't remember what I voted for, because I don't know much about this category. But I did a little research for this aspect of the nominees. And there was one game that said it could be played by blind players, and I was just just blown away. THAT is an accessible videogame! So I voted for it. What was it?…I think it was As Dusk Falls.

7:34 PM 12/8/2022 Best RPG: Elden Ring It was close between Elden Ring and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 for me. I want them both to get recognition.

7:34 PM 12/8/2022 Players Voice: Genshin Impact. Well, that's good. Genshin is so popular, I'd be sad if they didn't win something to reflect that. Funny that Geoff mentioned that they sifted through all the bots. lol

7:34 PM 12/8/2022 Best independent game: Stray WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!!!!!!! CAT GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7:35 PM 12/8/2022 Best Action Adventure Game: God of War Ragnarok I voted Stray because I thought it'd be hilarious if the cat game won over the AAA cinematic games. But honestly, I know that God of War Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West are a little more actiony than Stray. So I'm ok with this.

7:35 PM 12/8/2022 Best Ongoing Game FF14 Wait. 2nd award tonight for them? What was the first award they won today?

7:40 PM 12/8/2022 Best Game Direction. Yay! Reggie! Ooh, Elden Ring. Oh! Well deserved. Yay! Miyazaki!!!

7:44 PM 12/8/2022 Ooh! New Cyberpunk 2077 content! "Phantom Liberty". Edris Elba too! Ooh!

7:45 PM 12/8/2022 What's this big "global" announcement? Bandai Namco. Could be anything. Bandai Namco has so many IPs… Is that a meteor crashed into lava? Or some kind of manufactured satellite or space craft? "Feed the fire." What? "Let the last cinders burn." From Software! Y'know what I love about these live audiences still being heard over the trailer premiers? You can feel the excitement building! Wait a second…Is this that old IP???? Just remade for current image quality standards? Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon omg it is an old pixelated IP, brought into HD. O_O!!!!!!!!!! I love that Resident Evil 2 seems to have started this era of remaking series so old that they actually need more than just an HD image enhancement. No more of this "remaking" recent, already-HD games with unnecessary enhancements only 5 years later. lol

7:52 PM 12/8/2022 YOSHI-P IS HERE????????????????? OMG HE'S ACTUALLY HERE! I thought it was going to be a video message! O.O!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow, he memorized his announcement in English! O.O! Look at this FF16 trailer, man! This is the type of thing we see in this industry, and the movie industry wants us to be excited for Avatar? C'mon. Look at this! I guess Ifrit will be the protag's main summon. Again, I love hearing the audience cheering through the trailers.

7:57 PM 12/8/2022 Game of the Year. I love these orchestra montages of the nominees. ^-^ It's probably going to be God of War Ragnarok. Good choice. But also, did Horizon Forbidden West win anything tonight? I'd feel bad if they lost all their categories after getting their release window distracted by Elden Ring. I'm glad Xenoblade Chronicles 3 got nominated. I'm not familiar with it, but I heard everyone who has played it, LOVES it. At least it got recognized as a nominee. Like when Persona 5 snuck into the game of the year nominees. I want recognition for the anime-esque games. STRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CAT GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH, there's Elden Ring. I'm pretty sure God of War will win. It's been winning so much tonight already.

8:01 PM 12/8/2022 Ooh! Elden Ring won! Nice! How could I forget how much everyone was obsessed with that game when it released? No wonder Miyazaki came all the way from Japan. He already won another award, but having 2 awards is definitely worth the plane trip.

8:03 PM 12/8/2022 No, Miyazaki, this IS the appropriate place/time to say you have more ideas than even Elden Ring. We are excited. ^_^

I'm sorry, I was blowing my nose and couldn't hear what that 2nd person was saying. But interesting that TGA dropped out the music when they realized another person started talking. That was really nice of them. How many times have I seen the Oscars cut into the final speech and then even just drop the feed sometimes? But they dropped the music to accommodate the winners, then just brought it back up after he was done talking. Easy. Good.

8:05 PM 12/8/2022 6/25/2023 Collaboration with the LA Philharmonic, I think Geoff said.

8:31 PM 12/8/2022 Wait. Did IGN Live just say that the 2nd guy talking during the Game of the Year acceptance speech was arrested on stage? He wasn't supposed to be there??? What did he say??? I've got to go back and rewatch that.

[charliethomascoxuniverse]

Kin's Charlie Cox talks tough days on set and perfecting the Dublin accent

'There was a period of time when I was like, wow. I'm really kind of dreading going to work'

WED, 31 AUG, 2022 - 07:35 MAEVE LEE (X)

Working on a show such as the gritty gangland series Kin brings a range of emotions with intense storylines and for Charlie Cox, there have been some days where it has been particularly tough to shoot scenes.

Cox, who is also known for his role as Matt Murdock in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, plays Michael Kinsella in the RTÉ series which follows a Dublin family embroiled in gangland war.

Some have criticised the show in the past for seeming to glamourise gangland violence, but when Cox read the script, he felt it highlighted how “gruesome and uncomfortable and painful” that life can be.

With his character, the actor says he wants to portray the sense that he is “so far beyond” the possibility of exiting a life of crime.

“You should feel when you watch him do the things he does, a sense of reluctance and grief and frustration and anger and fear,” he explains ahead of the release of series two.

With the show comes some difficult scenes and while filming episodes two and three last year, the 39-year-old admits there was a period of time when he was almost "dreading" going to work.

"There was a period of time when I was like, 'wow. I'm really kind of dreading going to work," he says.

“I loved the creative process, I was loving the storytelling and I believed in it so much but sitting in those feelings. When you do a funeral scene, you’re doing a funeral all day. You’re sitting in that grief all day.”

It can be a “very uncomfortable” emotion to be living in and often lingers after scenes finish, the actor says.

“My feeling with this show, particularly what happens at the beginning is that if anything, it shines a light on how devastating to a family and to a community that life can be.”

Clare Dunne (Kin), Dervla Kirwan (Smother) and Charlie Cox (Kin) pictured at the RTÉ New Season Launch in the RDS Dublin. Picture: Andres Poveda Photography

His involvement in the crime drama series came during lockdown when his wife and producer, Samantha Thomas, asked him to read the show while they were in the States.

“I said to my wife, is there a version that they would consider hiring me and we can keep the family together and we can all go to Dublin and make the show?

“I’d read it and I’d also just finished watching Normal People and was really moved by that and reminded of the kind of storytelling I wanted to be involved in.”

While first getting acquainted with the Irish ways, the British actor says the strangest thing he has noticed about Irish people is the ability to agree by simply breathing in.

“It’s that thing where people agree with you by breathing in. I’ve tried to put it in the show a couple of times. The first time, I was in a car with a guy, and I was chatting to him…I thought he was asthmatic,” he jokes.

“He kept doing [it]. I’ve tried to put it in the show but it keeps feeling really fake, so I haven’t quite got it down.”

As for nailing the Dublin accent, Cox was “terrified” about getting it wrong and spent hours listening to podcasts and even took inspiration from ex-soccer player Shane Supple.

“I listened to Shane in an interview and there was a texture in his voice that I felt was unexpected for Michael and I felt like it was close to what I wanted to try and do with him and his voice,” Cox says.

“Not to copy and repeat but he has a clarity — he’s very clear about what he wants to say but there was a complete lack of ego. The opposite of a Conor McGregor-type thing.

"That was the closest I found to something that would suit Michael.”

~*~

[angsty-nerd]

Meta: Echo’s Big Fight in 3x09

Let's talk about the Big Echo fight. Because wandering around in the fandom this past week, I’ve seen a lot of very specific conclusions as far as what they were or weren't arguing about, and I’m not sure my take on that scene really aligns with other folks. So let me try to break it down a bit and give y’all an alternative perspective on it.

To start with, the scene opens with Max on edge because they're breaking and entering. Liz is singularly focused on the mission, and he's kinda freaking out. Instead of responding to his concerns, Liz gets straight to business.

"Ooh, ooh, this is interesting. Heath left Genoryx two days after I did. Must have realized he didn't need to be working underneath their corporate thumb."

Liz is kinda projecting here. Heath never once displayed any discomfort with Genoryx as a company the way that she did. He wanted her to stay. He wanted the resources there. We know these things as an audience, and Liz would too if she was thinking through the big picture at this point in time.

Max, on the other hand, doesn't know any of that. Here's what Max hears from Liz: he hears surprise. He hears Liz acknowledge that this is unexpected news. And right as he’s processing this unexpected reveal...Max sees Heath's Wild Pony t-shirt.

Weird coincidence #1 from Max's POV was Heath (the guy who is currently so pissed at Liz that he won't take her calls) supposedly rescuing Liz's science out of the good of his heart so that Genoryx doesn’t get their hands on it? This doesn't add up.

Weird coincidence #2 was Heath quitting Genoryx - a decision Heath made that Liz wasn't expecting.

The Wild Pony t-shirt is now the 3rd thing that doesn't add up. And if the t-shirt clue isn't adding up for you, see my post about it here:

The T-shirt is strike 3 for Max. He can't really pretend that he's not suspicious of Heath anymore. So he broaches the subject with her.

"How much do you know about this guy, Heath? How close were you?"

Max is feeling uncomfortable and looking for more information. He's trying to make the clue make sense. Why would Heath have the T-shirt? Does he have a connection to Roswell that Liz doesn't know about? And Liz doesn’t listen.

"This isn't the time to be jealous about a boy I met."

For all that Liz is clinical and on mission, she jumps very quickly to assuming that Max is NOT on mission. Yes, Max is inherently more emotional than she is. But throughout the episode he's been asking questions about Heath and NOT JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS. That's one of the keys to me here. Max really is trying to give her the benefit of the doubt about him.

At Liz's house, he asked about "the boyfriend" but he wasn't doing it in a jealous or judgy way. If anything it could almost be interpreted as concern. He started with "were you happy" and only when Liz kind of metaphorically admitted that any happiness was a façade...that's when he brought Heath into it. And yeah, Liz says that he impacted her life and helped her grow, but she didn't exactly express romantic feelings that would make Max jealous. So when she basically jumped straight to the jealousy assumption instead of actually discussing this with him, he starts getting worked up. Because she is not hearing him. She is not acknowledging that the facts they have found during this investigation are not adding up. So he is honest and blunt about what he's thinking.

"I'm just saying it's possible that he took your one-of-a-kind alien spores and quit, so that, just like you, he could use the research himself, free of Genoryx."

Max is the one who brings the science into this conversation. Not Liz. And he's not criticizing or questioning HER application of the science. He's questioning the trustworthiness of Heath. Because the lies are starting to jump out at him like a friggin’ neon light.

BUT — now that he's specifically brought up the science, he has her attention. Because Max questioning her science is HER sore spot. So what does she say back to him? Something kinda judgy.

"That grand trust speech certainly had a short shelf life."

Side note: I really don't think there actually was a "grand trust speech" in this episode. I can think of a few scenes where there might have been an opportunity for one. In particular during the milkshake scene when he admits to saving her tapes. But they actually don't talk about trust in that scene. They talk about having hard conversations. They talk about moving forward instead of looking backwards. But they don't talk about trust. My guess is that there might have been content cut for time at some point in this episode, that may have included some grand declaration from Max, but that's really just speculation on my part.

Regardless…Liz's response to Max bringing up the science is to basically accuse him of not trusting her. Which is not what he was saying. He was not questioning her use of the science. He was questioning her trust in Heath through the context of her science. So he elaborates on what he IS saying, and as he does, he's getting more and more worked up...because this does relate directly to his personal fears, and, frankly, his buried trauma that he's never properly addressed.

"I trust you. Okay? But I don't trust some guy I have barely met with a secret that could endanger me, could endanger my family and break the frickin' Internet if it came out."

Max doesn't know Heath, and he doesn't trust Heath with a secret that could endanger Michael and Isobel. His emotions are escalating, because now he's thinking about the science that scares him in the hands of a guy that all signs points to being potentially untrustworthy, and he's triggered.

BUT he doesn't back up his argument. He doesn't point out the very specific evidence he's identified that Heath is probably lying to Liz.

And Liz is inherently reactive and sometimes overly defensive (see 1x09 list of Liz's flaws). So even though he's focused on Heath, she immediately reacts defensively and takes it as a criticism of HER.

"You think I would let myself be conned?"

"No, I think you came out here looking for a partner, and it could blind you."

*deep breath* and this is where it starts to get personal. And rough. Max isn't entirely wrong here. But he also kind of is. Liz didn't choose Genoryx for partnership. She was looking for resources, freedom to do the science she wanted to do, and to save her father from deportation.

But partnership? Yeah, Liz wanted that. But she wanted that from MAX. She was looking for partnership in life, not in science.

And now that Max has thrown that direct criticism out there, Liz is going to throw a bomb right back at him.

"Just because you sabotaged me when I thought you were mine does not mean that Heath would take the same path."

Ouch. This is the hardest line in this whole scene for me to work with. Because it is combative. And purposefully hurtful.

BUT…she is NOT TALKING ABOUT HER SCIENCE. She has not said a single word about her science in this argument. She moved past that. She had the epiphany that she was wrong and she apologized (3x03). That is in the past for her.

This argument, for Liz, is about betrayal. This is about her believing that they were going to be partners and move their lives forward together (2x12), and right when she believed in that future, Max made another massive decision that directly impacted her life (just like he did in 1x13) instead of working with her to make big decisions together.

"And just because you changed the wallpaper doesn't mean you've mended your blind spots."

I really hate this "change the wallpaper" line. It feels like they're mixing metaphors. Liz called her life a commercial. Max is saying that she's changed her decor. Like...pick one and stick with it.

That aside… I think this barb is about her arrogance. Earlier in the scene, she seemed baffled at the idea that Max believes she could have been conned by Heath, because Liz is used to always being the smartest person in the room. She thought she was smarter than Diego and he figured her out. She believed her lab was secure, but Diego (possibly) got in. Sometimes, like most scientists, Liz is so bogged down in the complicated, brilliant details she’s thinking through, that she misses simple things that contribute to the big picture. And I think that's what Max is getting at here. In her arrogance, she believes that she can control the Heath situation. But she's not acknowledging the human factor here - that Heath is a person who may have his own unspoken ulterior motives driving him. Just like Diego did. She's just not seeing what Max is seeing.

BUT - again I'll say. Max is also not communicating the scope of the evidence he is collecting. They're both wrong here.

"I have learned my lessons, but you... oh, my God, you sound an awful lot like the guy who blew up my lab. So forgive me, but you're making it perfectly clear why I felt like I had to go and change the wallpaper."

This is the only line where Liz even comes close to talking about her science, but again, she's talking about his betrayal. She's talking about him undermining their partnership. She's talking about her need for a change of scenery from HIM.

And that’s when Max blows out the safe and they put the fight on hold to finish their investigation.

But, to sum it up…the fight was all about trust and betrayal. It was necessary for them to work through it, though frankly? I wish they could have finished the discussion. Because instead of them coming to some sort of peace with their trust in each other, the truth came out about Heath, Liz realized that she was wrong, she apologized, and they moved forward together, on mission.

I can’t help pointing out though…after the fight and Liz's epiphany about Heath, Max and Liz spent at least 15 hours in a car together. And I'm sorry, I refuse to believe that they didn't talk about anything important for 15 hours. Fic writers assemble? 😆

Many thanks to @ober-affen-geil for doing a quick review and checking me on opinions vs facts. Very important.

And for my next trick… road trips, life choices, and Robert Frost! Coming soon to a Tumblr near you…

[piratewithvigor]

Masterlist

Videos:

Tiktok I Made About Hawkeye In A Fit Of Despair

Tiktok I Made About My Assorted Wrestling Obsessions

Pictures Of The Undertaker As Random Sounds

Ooh It's Captain Jack Sparrow

TVC-15 Music Video V1

TVC-15 Music Video V2

Wrestling Videos Masterlist (Just AEW)

Wrestling Videos Masterlist (Everything But AEW)

Stories:

Music

Snake Boy - GNR, slice-of-life drabbles featuring Slash and his snakes

Love Break My Heart - GNR, Axl X Izzy, A half-life relationship is disintegrating at the seams. Neither of them is good for the other, but after 14 years together, they don’t know how to be with each other anymore. [Chapter 2], [Chapter 3], [Chapter 4]

The Big Five - GNR, Y/N X GNR, A newcomer to L.A., Y/N isn’t much for anonymous sexual encounters, but there are 5 exceptions

M*A*S*H

Out Of Sight, Out Of Our Minds - After a freak accident lighting a stove, Hawkeye suffered severe flash burns that have left him blinded. Most people recover within a week or so, but as the days drag on, BJ becomes more convinced that Hawkeye isn’t most people. [Chapter 2], [Chapter 3]

Wrestling

Ain't No Grave - Undertaker prepares to rise from the grave, but begins to wonder why

Dr. Isaac Yankem, D.D.S. - Reader encounters the most interesting classmate

Snaps - Kane questions his reality post-match

Forsaken - Undertaker wakes up in the hospital after the fire and meets a once-in-a-lifetime visitor

One Day - Undertaker always knew he would outlast his loved ones…

I Have To Bake A Cake? - Kane has to bake a cake

Kane Is Actually A Cold-Blooded Creature HCs

Eldritch Horrors Anonymous - Dr. Shelby’s led plenty of support groups before and helped plenty of people in them. But these people aren’t exactly people…

Stars - Kane's steadiest relationship through his life was always to the stars. [Chapter 2], [Chapter 3], [Chapter 4]

Romance Isn't Dead (Just Buried Alive) - When faced with one of the most frightening emotions of all time, Undertaker turns to Goldust for assistance

Exodus - 2009 Shane McMahon X Reader

Chest Cavity - Undertaker X Dr. Isaac Yankem, What 26 years of knowing someone inside and out does to a person…

Kitchen - Undertaker is given an option to change a part of his brother's past and potentially give him a brighter future

KNIGHTS - WWF Medieval AU, In the year 1184, King Vincent, Second Of His Name, has found himself nearing financial ruin. Ever since the death of his father, he dreamt of expanding the borders of his kingdom to span the continent and maybe into the lands beyond the seas. The further he expanded, however, the lower the reserves of the kingdom became. In an effort to revitalize the economy of Greenwich, the king devises a brilliant plan with the help of his council of lords. A plan for a tournament more beautiful and spectacular than any that had come before...

Lost - Kane X Daniel Bryan Kane loses his mask

Bubbles - Bret Hart X Shawn Michaels Shawn has a surprise for Bret

Fluff - Bret Hart X Shawn Michaels Bret faces his own fears of the pink and fluffy

Farm Fresh Produce - Bret Hart X Shawn Michaels Our boys get their happily ever after

Miscellaneous

Florist Gump - Forrest Gump Flowershop AU

How I Listen To Each Of My Favourite Bands (A Bullet Point Piece)

How To Listen To Prog Rock (A Bullet Point Piece)

[tedturneriscrazy]

🎶Knock, Knock, Knockin' On Hooty's Door🎵

I wonder if anything will happen in this episode.🙂

(I say as if I didn't watch the episode twice before going to bed and writing this post)

I don't think I'll ever not be amused by the way Hooty just...does things with his face

Seems like he found a thesaurus at some point

Okay so it's canonically spelled "Hootsifer," good to know

Also, this is really all we get of Lilith, huh?

His little hoot/coo at Lilith's letter❤❤❤

To borrow a meme format: If I had a nickel for every time Alex Hirsch was involved in a show where one of the characters was experiencing pubescent voice cracks, I'd have two nickels, which isn't very much but it's weird that it happened twice

Eda's face🤣

As much as this bit is played for laughs, Eda's clearly still shaken by what happened last episode

Jeez, Luz, priorities /j

Pictured: Hooty

The way King talks about being pelleted implies this is something Hooty does on the regular

Hooty's plan to help King is literally a Buzzfeed quiz? Okay then

Betcha never expected lore from Hooty, eh?

"DO NOT INTERRUPT"

Officially a "type of worm"

The dance being a grievous insult wasn't exactly from nowhere, but still funny nonetheless

WE DON'T TALK ABOUT THE FUCKING COCCOON

Tiny Nose playing Switch definitely seems to be drawing from Dana's real life experiences

Wait, Hooty and Tiny Nose are friends?

Well shit, turns out she could use magic this whole time. Guess her going Super Saiyan wasn't just the power glyph.

I am extremely skeptical of your medical credentials, TN

I have so many questions about the methodology they used for the blood test(s)

I think Hooty may have misinterpreted what King was looking for

I'm still amazed at how King has had, and continues to have, moments in the show with some of the greatest emotional weight

Ooh, sound powers!

"IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A CRUMBLE!!!"

It just occurred to me that that segment consisted mostly of Alex Hirsch talking to himself

Hello not-at-all obvious setup

Today I learned that Hooty is the baker of the house. Maybe he'd critique Amity's fairy pie.

Aaaaand there's the sleep inducing

Oh shit

In hindsight the Owl Beast being part of a dream sequence is rather obvious

Wow, Eda, tell us how you really feel about the Owl Beast

Oh we're just gonna ride aboard the Trauma Express today, huh?

Oh, I guess Lilith did make an appearance, after all

Damn, Gwen, not even looking

Oh shit dad issues

Sandy Cohen?! (To anyone who gets that reference, hi. How are your 30s treating you?)

Well, I know who Peter Gallagher voices now, anyway

Oh dear...

(Also, bright flashing lights triggering the curse? There's an epilepsy allegory in here somwhere)

Blood and eye injury? Gotta stretch that Y7 rating

Now we have some context for that look on Eda's face when Lilith mentioned their dad: good old fashioned guilt!

I desparately want to make a "Dude, you're getting a Dell!" joke, but I'm better than that

New memory! Raine!

Oh no...

I get the feeling I'll hate this part, too

They were exes!😢 Guess the fandom called that one

The reasoning for them being exes is understandable, all too real, and goddamn heartbreaking

That said, the fact they never stopped loving each other🥺😢😭

I do hope we can see Raine again under less...traumatic circumstances. Maybe that wedding that was mentioned?

Oh shit, are we getting into the Owl Beast's memories?!?! What a tweest!

Bet nobody expected Cloaked Moonface to show up in the frickin Hooty episode

(Also, holy shit I briefly forgot this was the Hooty episode)

Who is this mysterious cloaked figure? And why are they so tall and long?

So the curse was a sealed beast this whole time. Damn.

And it was just picked up as beach junk to sell as a trinket. So much for it being connected to Belos. (Not that people will stop trying to do so)

Who had "experiencing sympathy for the Owl Beast" on their Bingo cards for this episode? Yeah, me neither.

And here we have the necessary Eda coming to terms with her curse segment. More accurately, Eda and the curse coming to terms with each other.

Goddamnit why does it have to be cute

"It's like sandpaper" IT'S LIKE A CAT I FUCKING CAN'T

Insert Steamed Hams reference here to kill the mood

New transformation!

Oh no she's hot!

No, Hooty, you made it surprisingly much, much better!

She might have a problem pushing people away and holding onto guilt, but Eda always knows that she looks damn good

Oh right, Luz having girl problems. Fuck, so much is happening in this episode!

"Cotton-candy-haired Goddess" LUZ! 🤣

Attuned to other people's emotions = being a fucking creeper

Oh Luz, what happened to you back home?

Also, 99.999% certain Amity would love your cheesiness

That's...rather morbid, Hooty

So much lore development, including the fact the Owl House has a basement

Classic inanimate object silhouette fakeout gag. Subversion in 3...2...1...

There it is!

I can't imagine being pelleted is a fun experience.

Honestly I have so many questions about how Hooty got Amity there in the first place, but I'm not so sure I actually want to know the answers to any of them...

Cue much panicking

Wow, I'm really getting some Into the Bunker flashbacks

Oh this is gonna be amazing isn't it

I commend Luz for not actually dropping dead of embarrassment

Seriously, how can Hooty set all this up so fast yet not hold a pen?!?!?!

Poor Luz, she thinks this is destroying her chances

Meanwhile Amity is just "Oh, Titan, is this actually happening?!"

The way she's fixing her hair!❤

Goddamnit Luz let this play out, she's so clearly into this!

"Again?!" Okay who do I have to kill?

Luz is luzing it

Nooooooo....

JUST TALK FOR FUCK'S SAKE (aka how like 95% of issues in literally any plot could be solved)

Noooo Amity's so heartbroken right now💔

This isn't what either of them wanted!

To be fair, Hooty, Luz had a part in this too. Not that she can be blamed entirely. Poor thing clearly had some awful experiences back home...

Now Hooty is McFucking losing it

Why did I think he was gonna say "Looks like I'm gonna have to JUMP!" I think I've watched too much Homestar Runner (jk there's no such thing)

Those pulsating organs are still gross

Eda swooping in to save her son (No, really, he actually is now)

I'll say things get weird when Hooty gets upset!

Yes, King! Save them with your voice powers!

Damn that is some romantic lighting, and Luz is enjoying the eye candy (cotton candy, if you will)

Luz's reaction to Harpy!Eda is the family-friendly summation of how the fandom has reacted.

Hooty really just tearing up the landscape in remorse

Mother-daughter moment about love life!

I appreciate not just Eda's encouragement but her actually asking Luz what she wanted

God, Eda is best mom

Also, OH FUCK IS THIS HAPPENING?!

OH SHIT

THESE ADORABLY AWKWARD NERDS❤💜💙

"I'm not as cool as you think" could be interpreted as self-deprecating, but here it seems...oddly reassuring?

The way Luz eloquently says how she wants Amity in her future...beautiful❤

Luz making some good faces

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

YOU CUTE DORKS I LOVE YOU SO MUCH

THERE IT IS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

LOOK HOW HAPPY SHE IS

WE WERE LOSING OUR SHIT OVER A PECK ON THE CHEEK THREE WEEKS AGO AND NOW LOOK WHERE WE ARE HOLY FUCK

Awkwardness is still there, but that's to be expected

BET Y'ALL DIDN'T EXPECT THAT TRAILER SHOT TO BE IN THE HOOTY EPISODE HUH

THE WAY LUZ RUBS AMITY'S HAND😭😭😭😭😭

(And yeah, it's gonna still be scary, but only because it promises to be so wonderful)

Let's give it up for Hootsifer, goddamn!

Let'a also appreciate just how fucking funny it is that Lumity becomes official in the Hooty episode

Fus ro WEH!

Hooty actually saying "Luz's new GF" out loud...

In just about any other show the love interests getting together would be a climax/culmination of the entire plot. Here? It's actually used to advance the plot, and that is brilliant!

Dana Terrace and the crew really just knocking it out of the park again and again, huh

"They're adorable, and deserve all the happiness!" Well said, Hootsifer. Well said.

Probably for the best they had Hooty promise that. As much as what happened/progressed, there was a lot of property damage.

OH SHIT ONCE AGAIN

King's dad/relative! And he's voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson!

GODDAMNIT HOOTY

Wow. Just...wow. This episode.

King has voice powers! Harpy!Eda! Lumity are girlfriends for real!!!!

How do you pack so much into a single episode?! And so expertly?!

I had my suspicions before, but this confirms it: The Owl House is the greatest show of all time.

And we have two episodes left until the hiatus! And 11 episodes in the season after that! What are we in for?!?!?!

I, for one, can't wait to find out!

[maverick-werewolf]

#7: What books have shaped the way you think about writing the most? Why?

I can't wait to hear your answer, and I'm kind of shocked and appalled that I never thought to ask you this before now.

Ooh, interesting question. :o Thank you so much for asking! 🥰

(I wrote SO MUCH FOR THIS I am so sorry, I got very into this question, thank you yet again for asking, ilu <3)

I'm going to be that weird person and say that, honestly, the thing that influences my writing most isn't actually books - it's movies and TV shows, but especially movies.

I always wanted to make movies, my whole life. I love to think I still could, someday. That's my true dream of dreams. To me, film is the pinnacle of storytelling. Every storytelling medium has their shortcomings, yes, but, in my opinion, film brings all mediums together in a perfect blend that our ancestors would have marveled to witness - to see, to hear, to feel, to experience. Movies, cinema, is like nothing else that humanity has ever achieved: it's the absolute ultimate form of storytelling, a coalescing of almost every other creative medium into something truly moving, something exceptional, something utterly unique that is the meeting of so many great minds and so much talent that it can't really be compared to anything else.

*deep breath*

But I can't make movies, especially not right now. I'm not sure I ever will. However, these stories remain needing to be told; I have to get them out of my system, I have to tell these stories. It's my life's calling. So I turned to another favorite medium, and I started writing.

I try to write my stories as movies, if that makes any sense. I focus more on the immediate, the action, how words and dialogue can be paced in just such a way to both convey the emotion and setting needed for a book but also the image and immediacy that is created by film. I really, really hope I achieve that, at least to some degree.

Another thing that influenced me a lot was, actually, both playing with my brothers and making up characters with our toys, and - this is a big one - roleplaying in an online video game when I was a little kid (we're talking from 7-14 years old or so) and the characters I got to make, the stories I got to tell and be a part of, and the incredible friendships formed both in fiction and reality. That was one of my earliest experiences with storytelling and how beautiful it can be. That was when I first started writing, was from playing that game, Neverwinter Nights, on a server run by someone who has been my only lifelong friend and one of my truest friends ever since. He gave me the freedom to truly explore my creativity and my characters, and I thank him so often for doing that and leading me to being the writer I am today.

Something that, if it doesn’t sound too egotistical or something I dunno, I can say about my writing is that it’s very strongly character-driven. I try to make it very characterized. Characters are everything to me. I haven’t really read many books that focus on characters in quite the same way I do - and I think that comes from my years of roleplaying.

I guess it's funny to say that my writing wasn't really influenced much by the writing of others. It... mostly comes out of my own head. I certainly have consumed a lot of books, but I've never really felt like they in particular have influenced my writing to a great degree.

That being said, I'll list some of my favorites that probably have influenced me without me entirely realizing it.

1. Prey by Michael Crichton

I absolutely love this book. I cannot put into words just how much I adore this book. I love many of Crichton's books. I love his research and dedication to hard sci-fi, and I really really love his gripping, almost movie-like presentation. The quick, pithy sentences that hit hard and fast can literally raise your pulse just while reading. I really hope my writing comes across as excellently thrilling - so enthralling, so edge-of-your-seat - as does his. I always loved looking forward to the next exciting Crichton book.

Honorable mentions of his other books: Sphere (another favorite, seriously gripping), Timeline (get through the boring beginning and you're not putting it down), Jurassic Park (obviously)

2. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

I don't really have to put anything here, right? He's the father of all fantasy. I love his writing, his world - I love his languages, I love his presentation, putting the reader somewhere truly fantastical long before anyone had things like Google to look up what everything in the real world could possibly look like and see ten thousand artistic interpretations of all his fantasy elements. Just... yeah. I love LotR so much. He created fantasy from whole cloth, and I owe him and his writing so much for so many of my favorite things that I love and enjoy every single day. (Also: RIP Boromir I adore you my dude despite all your flaws)

3. Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

Like so many others of my generation, I was utterly captivated by the magic of the Harry Potter series. The books - especially the first four, to me - are such wonderfully told, gripping tales of friendship, magic, and mystery. I love their presentation and how they truly hold you from beginning to end. I couldn't put any of them down throughout the whole series (except the last one...), and I can only hope I hold readers in as much fascination and deep interest as this series held an entire generation for so long. I would look forward so much to the next Harry Potter book, and I would consume it within days, often less, and I would be in that world. Talk about some serious page-turners.

And now I have a SUPER WEIRD ONE for you...

4. Diadem series by John Peel

These books weren't finished during my childhood so I actually don't even know how the series ends, but holy smokes, I LOVED these books SO much when I was a kid. I loved the writing style. These were a huge inspiration for me when I first started writing, and I would often reread them for inspiration. I loved the characters and how they were so well characterized. Maybe they aren't, in retrospect, and it was just my kid brain, but I have no idea - I just know I really loved these books when I was super young and just starting to read, and I will always appreciate them for what they did for me and my overactive imagination.

I am absolutely, 100% positive that I'm forgetting some super ultra incredibly important books and I will feel incredibly dumb later for leaving those out, but that's all I got right now.

So thank you again for asking and letting me spew all this out somewhere!

[autumnleaves1991-blog]

The Next One’s on You 4/5

This one is going to hurt. I’m sorry. Here is chapter four: Champagne. Thank you so much for your support. I love every reblog, comment, and like.  Pairing: Maxwell Lord x F! Reader 

Warning: 18 + for language, mentions of pregnancy, toxic relatives  Taglist: @josepedropascal @mrschiltoncat @mrsparknuts @ghostwiththemostbitch @zannemes @oldstuffnewstuff @yespolkadotkitty @heythere-mel @justanotherblonde23 @artsymaddie @anetteaneta​ @maxlordsgf​ 

My Masterlist 

Chapter Four: Champagne 

From the outside the coffee shop looks closed for the evening, the neon's are off, the chairs are up, and all is quiet. Except for the light bleeding from under the door that leads to the back room. There you sit, on the cold freshly mopped tile in the most expensive dress you could ever imagine. Heels kicked off, knees pulled up to your chest, and head down. You slowly raise your head and see your face reflected off the walk in across the room. A diamond headband in your hair, curls falling out of the once elegant up-do, and mascara running down your cheeks. This was supposed to be the happiest day of your life, but it’s quickly become the worst. 

Becoming a figure in the public eye was never part of your ideal life plan. But, falling in love with Maxwell Lord IV and becoming his future wife, did not leave you with much of a choice. When he made the announcement at the next public event the press went crazy. Tearing apart every inch of your life with tweezers, paying old friends, roommates, people you had gone to school with for even a smidge of gossip. They were ruthless and hounded you all hours of the day from the moment you stepped outside your home and then all the way to work. At the coffee shop business was booming and every day you felt like the new animal at the zoo. Everyone coming to stick their ugly faces against the glass and ooh and ahh at the barista who had managed to ensnare Maxwell Lord.

They weren’t interested in who you were as a person or even how you had fallen in love. Because stuff like that, it doesn’t sell papers. Luckily, your fiancé had been navigating the press for years and knew how to keep them off your tail in your private life. Shielding you from them in the comfort of your own home and helping him plan the ‘wedding of the century.’ Maxwell hired a wedding planner that he thought would get along with you and thankfully Juliet was perfect. She was organized, professional, and knew exactly what you wanted.

Yes, it wasn’t the small intimate wedding you had always hoped for but at least it wasn’t gaudy. Invitations had been sent out, food ordered, floral arrangements chosen, cake sampled, everything was going according to plan. Even going dress shopping with your mother, and grandmother had been perfect. Finding an eggshell colored dress with no train and small puffs on the sleeves. The salesgirl had placed a diamond headband in your hair holding the veil in place and giggled telling you it was sent over by Mr. Lord as a wedding present. The headband was white gold and had leaves encrusted with diamonds that shimmered in the light.

The big day was fast approaching, and thankfully Mrs. Lord the former was nowhere in sight. Although it didn’t leave you with a good feeling in your stomach, she had been too quiet. 

On your wedding day you woke up bright and early, Juliet bringing you breakfast in bed and going over the schedule for the day. You sipped a cup of coffee and smiled just letting her talk. When she was finished a team of stylists came in and got you ready. Manicure, pedicure, massage, makeup, and an elegant up-do, you glowed from the attention. When the dress was lifted over your head and cinched into place your breath caught in the mirror at your reflection. Fingers tracing over the fabric soft under your fingers and fitting just perfectly. They slid the diamond headband in place, and you wiped quickly at the tears streaming down your cheeks.

“Oh honey,” you turn and laugh as your father cries watching you, “you’re so beautiful.” You hold out your arms and hug him and he squeezes you tight. Juliet ushers the two of you down and to the limo to take you to the cathedral. The only church big enough for all the guests you had been forced to invite. When you step from the limo you feel like Princess Diana on the television and give a small wave to the growing crowds. Fingers digging into your fathers’ arm as he confidently leads you forward. Inside are your roommates and friends Michael and Robin acting as your bridesmaid/man. They are ushered down the aisle to the wedding march and your dad takes a deep breath leading you.

Your steps are slow and sure as you pass the elegant floral arrangements of white roses. The petals lining the aisle as you smile at some of the familiar faces. When you look up your breath is sucked out and you beam at your husband to be. Wearing a tuxedo and a hint of a familiar pocket square sticking out. He’s perfect, and smiling so brightly he rivals the sun, as he watches you glide toward him. 

You reach out to grab his hand and feel it tighten around your own. His eyes glassy with unshed tears as he smiles at you. Not the fake one from the television but the one he reserves just for you, warm and so full of love. You beam right back at him and mouth I love you before turning to the officiant. You choose not to write your own vows instead following along with the usual lines. Saving your vows for when you’re alone later. When he comes to ask for objections your smile dims as the sound of heels clacking on the floor directs your attention to the aisle.

Mrs. Lord in a white chanel suit is stalking towards you with a sneer. Maxwell moves to stand in front of you when the doors at the back of the church open and in walks….Tom? Your sleazy date from the first night with Maxwell is strutting confidently up the aisle wearing a tuxedo and smiling broadly, coming to stand beside Maxwell’s mother.

“Hi baby,” he coos at you and you shudder.

“What is the meaning of this?” Maxwell hisses clearly angry.

“I have come to bring an end to this sorry excuse for a wedding. My son,” she turns to the crowd like the detective in the novels you read does before unraveling the great mystery, “has been tricked by this little harlot! She has been part of a plot to steal my son’s money and company from the beginning!” She turns to gesture at Tom. “Thomas here told me of her scheme. One year ago, she hired him to pretend to be her date and take advantage of her. She knew my son would be at the restaurant and wanted him to come to her aid.”

“That’s absolute bullsh-“ you're cut off as Michael steps forward.

“It’s true! She asked if I knew anyone she could use as a date to trap some rich guy, I never knew she meant Maxwell Lord,” he points at you and your heart beats loudly in your ears watching one of your oldest friends lie to your face.

“I was there that night, the night she needed to be ‘rescued’ she was all over my son and straddling him on the couch, sure didn’t look like someone who just needed comfort to me!” she shrieks, and several people scoff in outrage although at who it isn’t clear.

She continues on and on making more outlandish claims and each time you go to defend yourself another of your friends, coworkers, or even acquaintances would step forward and collaborate with her. Until you are in tears and Maxwell is withdrawing further and further away from you. The room goes silent as she makes the biggest claim of all, “AND I know she is pregnant! The little bitch is trying to claim my son is the father of her bastard child!”

Maxwell frozen turns to stare at you and your mouth drops open a hand coming to quickly cover it as the tears stream down your cheeks. From the back of the room another voice speaks out, “I can confirm it! She had the appointment two weeks ago, and I performed the ultrasound myself.” The technician from your doctor’s office steps forward holding out a black and white photograph.

Maxwell stares at it and then turns back to you, “Is it true?” he whispers voice cracking.

“Maxwell-“ you reach for him and he takes a step back.

“Is it mine?” he shouts, and you tremble, lip wobbling as you bite down hard enough to taste the tang of blood in your mouth.

“How can you even ask me that? Of course, it’s yours,” your voice quivers and he scoffs.

“Because it seems like everyone you know, is accusing you of sleeping around with fucking Tom!” he shouts, and you take a step back hand protectively covering your stomach.

He glares at you and you take a step back, “Were you going to tell me?” he begs, “That the baby isn’t mine?!”

Your voice cracks, “It is yours! I haven’t been with anyone else Maxwell, you know this!” you shout sobs swelling in your chest. All the guests watching the drama unfold. 

“Another lie!” his mother shouts, stalking over to Maxwell and whispering in his ear like the snake that tempted Eve. “She only wants to take your money, everything that you have worked so hard to build. All of your success will be hers. She doesn’t love you.” 

Your heart splinters as he nods and drops his head, she turns to you grinning. “I think it’s time for you to leave, you are not welcome here anymore.” 

“Maxwell,” you cry reaching for him but he is far away from you now. You hold your head up high and glare at the people who stepped forward. “How fucking dare you,” you say low and threatengly, “some of them taking a step back at the venom in your voice. You walk down the steps slowly and hold up a hand as your family tries to rush you, walking towards a smirking Tom you rear your fist back. It makes a satisfying crunch as you break his nose.

Shaking your hand as it stings and he curses at you from the ground, “Fucking bitch!” 

“Go to hell you lying son of a bitch! If you ever get near me or my child, I will have you arrested,” you storm out of the church blood boiling stomach sour. As you slam open the doors to the waiting area, a waiter for the cocktail hour passes and you crash into him. Coating you in champagne as he quickly apologizes begging for forgiveness.  You're too upset to even notice and when you open the doors of the church the press go nuts. Cameras flashing, you race toward the limo. Jeeves the driver, holding the door open as you dive inside, slamming it closed behind you. He quickly climbs into the driver's seat, and the tires squeal as he drives away. 

“Mrs. Lord, what happened?” You sob into your hands and try to catch your breath. 

“I didn’t become Mrs. Lord,” you mumble and he stays silent just driving until you’ve calmed down enough to give him directions. The night is dark and you make your way across town. You have nowhere to go. You live with Maxwell and your former friends and roommate betrayed you. “Jeeves?” he looks into the rearview in sympathy, “take me to work please,” your voice is soft and he nods turning the limo toward the coffee shop. He pulls up out front and you quickly wave him off as you get out of the car and stumble towards the door. Giselle is locking up for the evening and freezes upon seeing you. Quickly rushing to the door and letting you inside. You collapse in her arms and she lets you spill everything, running her hand up and down your back. 

The wedding, Maxwell’s mother, Tom, Michael, the baby...all of it comes pouring out. When you're spent and your eyes have no more tears you haul yourself off the floor and push into the backroom. Giselle follows and you ask for the keys, “I’ll lock the door when I leave just...please let me stay.” She nods and hugs you tightly again before grabbing her purse and sliding out the side door. You lock in behind you and lean against the door sliding to the floor. 

From the outside the coffee shop looks closed for the evening, the neons are off, the chairs are up, and all is quiet. Except for the light bleeding from under the door that leads to the back room. There you sit, on the cold freshly mopped tile in the most expensive dress you could ever imagine. Heels kicked off, knees pulled up to your chest, and head down. You slowly raise your head and see your face reflected off the walk in across the room. A diamond headband in your hair, curls falling out of the once elegant up-do, and mascara running down your cheeks. This was supposed to be the happiest day of your life, but it quickly became the worst. 

You place your hands protectively over your stomach, rubbing gently. Oh fuck...what have we gotten ourselves into now…

The rasp of knuckles sounds at the back door. 

[pricemarshfield]

personal problem

A Lexi x MC cheating AU, requested by @hizzieluthor​. Chapter 3/22. Read the chapter on AO3 here, or the full fic here. Rated E; minors DNI.

After an hour with a vibrator and some very vivid fantasies, Bea's worked out almost all the tension from a day spent around two of the hottest women at Belvoire, equally unattainable, both attained. Three, if you count Zoey, who greets her in the morning with a knowing smirk.

"So how'd your meeting go with Kingsley? I didn't think I'd see you until tonight."

"We got interrupted," Bea groans, sitting on one of their barstools, elbows on the table like her parents always told her not to do, head in her hands. "But she promised we could talk about it! Since I had to deal with Lexi."

"Right, such a difficult thing, to make out with a hot professor you can't get in trouble for kissing because she's not at this school," Zoey says with a little shake of her head. "Honestly."

"Oh, no, not that! God, okay, so--" Bea starts to recount her time in Ina's office, flirting with her and kissing her for like a second before the Dean fully walked in and interrupted to ask if Ina would spare her for Lexi? Like, what the fuck. Zoey gasps at all the right places in the story, especially when Bea talks about flirting with Lexi, too. "And then we made out, and guess what?"

"Dean interrupted again?"

"No! Ina called me."

Zoey's laugh is half-disbelieving, half-impressed. "Your life is completely wild, what the fuck, you've been here for less than two months! God, so did you let it go to voicemail?"

Bea knows this next part crosses the line from fun, gossipy drama to probably morally wrong, but it's Zoey, what's she gonna do, not tell her? "So I actually...picked up?"

Zoey's mouth drops completely open, and she stares at Bea like she's just said she stole the Mona Lisa. "You what?"

"No, I know, thinking back it's really dumb and honestly, kind of mean? No, not kind of. It's mean. But it seemed like a good idea? And it was really hot."

Zoey fans herself. Bea can't tell if she's joking or not. "It does sound hot. But are you, like, flirting with Lexi to get under the professor's skin or? Are you interested in her too?"

"Physically, sure," Bea says with a snort. "But as a person? No, she sucks. Ina..." She starts to smile, sees Zoey's expression soften in response. "She feels...real, you know? Like, completely outside of all this drama with the rankings and the T and Poppy."

"And also she's hot."

"So hot, oh my God."

"Okay," Zoey says. "Can I give you some possibly harsh advice?"

Bea pauses. She'll definitely deserve it, but she's not sure she wants to hear it here, in the early morning space where everything still feels light and easy and consequence-free. But it's Zoey, so. "Sure."

"If you want Ina as a partner, as more than a hookup, then you should probably stop messing with Lexi. Or with anyone--don't think I didn't see the kiss with Carter--"

"--that was mostly to mess with Poppy--"

"--and Lexi's mostly--yeah, some weird mindgame, or whatever, I don't always get you. But Ina doesn't know, right?"

"No," Bea says in a voice that comes out quieter than she meant it to.

"If you want this to work, if you really want a relationship and you're not just chasing her because she's a hot professor, you've gotta actually commit to her. And to the fact that you'll have to hide your relationship, and the fact that you'll have to be very, very careful to avoid it getting toxic. Honestly? I...nah, that's too harsh."

Bea tries to grin, keep everything funny. "What? You're on a roll, don't stop on my account."

Zoey looks at her for a long moment. Bea wants to duck away but she holds her ground. "I don't think you should date Ina. If you want to, I'll support you, because you're my best friend and I love you."

"Wow, gay," Bea mutters.

"I am literally talking you through two inadvisable relationships with two older women you shouldn't date that you seem keen on dating anyway, so glass houses. But I think you should think long and hard before you do."

Bea valiantly holds herself back from making a 'long and hard' joke and nods. "I see what you're saying. I don't necessarily agree with all of it, but I get where you're coming from, at least." After a long moment, where she can feel Zoey judging her, she adds, "Okay, I see what you mean about Lexi, I'll...stop. I mean, I won't be nice to her, but I'll stop--you know."

"Good!" Zoey says with a grin. "Then you should probably check your phone, because Kingsley's been blowing it up."

Bea glances at it, and sure enough, she has three new texts from Ina Kingsley.

Bea, I'm free whenever you are today.

We should discuss some things.

There are also some quizzes to grade. I'll be in my office for a few hours before my office hours begin.

The texts are drier than Bea after any amount of time talking to Michael, but after being interrupted by the actual literal Dean and Lexi planning on staying on campus, she gets that she wants to be careful. Besides, that's what Zoey was telling her. She has to get used to hiding some things if she wants Ina.

And she does. She really, really does.

Sounds good, Professor. I'll see you soon.

--

Bea doesn't dress up in her nicest outfit, but she is wearing her nicest non-lingerie underwear underneath it when she knocks on the door to Professor Kingsley's office. She pulls it open right away, dark circles under her eyes like she hasn't slept. She pulls Bea right in, locks the door behind her--ooh, finally a breach of propriety--and says, "I'm so sorry about Lexi."

"What?" Bea says, having completely forgotten about anyone other than the woman in front of her. "Oh, right. It's really okay, I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" Ina asks, hand on Bea's face all of a sudden, when did that happen, holy shit? "I don't...it'll be a little risky, if I fight to keep you--" Ooh. "--as my TA instead of hers--" Slightly less enthusiastic ooh. "--but I will, if you want me to. I don't--like seeing you with her. I know you kissing her was the kiss cam, and avoiding suspicion of any anything untoward with me, but...I hated it."

"Were you jealous?" Bea asks, hands twitching as she resists the urge to hold Ina's hand on her face even longer.

"Yes," Ina admits, quickly and easily. Bea could swoon. "Yes, I was jealous. I think...had she not been there, or if I could've stayed on our date instead of having to leave for the call from the Dean, I wouldn't have been able to say that. But Bea, I don't want anyone else to have you. And I--I understand I can't ask that of you. It's your life, and you would have to hide--"

Bea puts an arm around the back of Ina's neck to pull her in for a kiss, and Ina just fucking goes for it, pinning Bea to the door with her whole body, pressed together in as many points as possible. The kiss is deep and passionate and perfect, and it's only the fact that they're right against the door that prompts Bea to bite back a moan.

After a couple minutes of this, Ina pulls back, but only to rest her forehead against Bea's. Bea smiles up at her. Ina, miraculously, smiles back, no sign of wanting to cut and run at all.

The moment only lasts a second, though, and then Ina clears her throat, pulls back a little. "We should...talk about this."

"What's there to talk about?" Bea says. "I get that we have to keep things secret, I get that it's risky, but I want this and you want this, so what's the issue?"

Ina clears her throat, looking at Bea with so much emotion that it's almost uncomfortable. "I don't...Bea, if you want me--"

"--I do--"

"--then you'll still want me after you think through the consequences."

Bea groans, pushes Ina back until the professor's back hits her own desk. "Ina. I have thought this through. I have. And I'm all in. The question is, have you?" (She has thought it through. That's what that conversation with Zoey earlier was about.)

"Of course I have," Ina says, more a hiss than calm, casual discussion. "Bea, I've thought of nothing but you since the speakeasy. How could I not? Our conversation, you on top of me--" She clears her throat, face flushed. "But you don't want--"

"Hey, how about you let me tell you what I want? I'm an adult, I can make my own decisions."

Ina looks at Bea's face, and Bea tries to keep it nice and not angry about being pushed away again. She seems to come to a decision, and she presses a quick, chaste kiss to Bea's lips. Bea grins at her. "If you're sure, Bea."

"I am," Bea says. "No one else I'd want to be with but you. Promise."

Ina's eyes go a little darker at that, and Bea could tell Lexi to fuck off a thousand times without any flirtation whatsoever and it'd be worth it for the look on Ina's face. "Good."

"Good," Bea repeats, and kisses her one more time. This one's sweeter, less let's-fuck-on-this-desk-right-now and more I-really-really-really-really-really-really-like-you. "I want nothing more than to stay right here, right now."

"...but?" Ina asks. Bea's disappointment at having to leave is mostly soothed by Ina reading her well enough to understand what she's getting at.

"But I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to meet up with Lexi to TA," Bea grumbles.

"The one good thing about that wretched woman being interested in me is at least it means I know she'll leave you alone," Ina says, and lets her go.

Bea laughs, a little awkwardly, but Ina doesn't seem to pick up on it. "Right. Uh, before I go, though, we are--right? We're us?"

Ina nods. "If you want to be. And you were very insistent about the fact that you do."

"I do!" Bea says, smiling dopily at her. "Okay, good, I just wanted to be sure. I'll see you later?"

"I'll text you," Ina says. "I do actually have all these quizzes to grade."

Bea hates to leave her with that glum expression, so she kisses her and says, "I'll make it up to you later."

Then it's heading back over to Lexi's office, glancing at herself in the windows to make sure she isn't so obviously mussed up. She's certain that Lexi wouldn't expose her and Ina's relationship, if only because it would sabotage her chances of dating Ina.

It's not stupid to flex, just a little, right?

She knocks on Lexi's office door, hears the other woman call a disinterested, "Come in," and opens it. Lexi's at her desk, looking at something on her computer that she slams shut as Bea walks in. "Hughes. I've plenty of work for you to do to keep you away from Ina." Bea smirks at her, and Lexi's expression goes stony. "What, are you looking for a repeat performance of yesterday? I'm not exactly interested in bending you over and punishing you for your insolence right now."

Uh, damn. Bea blinks a couple times, shakes her head as if to physically clear the images of that. "No. Just letting you know that, uh, I win. So sorry, but you were barely even competition."

"You--" Lexi's eyes flash, and Bea thinks for a second that Lexi might throw something at her. Instead, Lexi sits back, and says, "Alright."

"See, I--alright?"

"Yes," Lexi says, voice weirdly calm. "I've still got work for you to do. And I have business to attend to."

"Leave her alone, she's not--"

"My business doesn't involve Ina at all, Hughes," Lexi says with an eyeroll. "But you need to go through and put all this--" She taps a stack of papers on the desk with a single finger. "Into a spreadsheet. Okay?"

"I...okay?" Bea says, too confused to put up a fight right now. Lexi passes her without a sideways glance and leaves the office.

That...wasn't what Bea was expecting. She texts Ina a quick working on some busywork, she's already left and Zoey a girl i have SO much news but don't worry i took your advice about Lexi and posts a picture of herself in a nice office to her Insta, then gets to work. The whole time, she's left thinking about what Lexi has up her sleeves, because there's no way she's actually that calm about losing Ina to her.

Not that she's going to get Ina back. Not that she's going to get Bea back; she's happy with Ina. She is.

[msmarvelouswinchester]

Love In Sin

Chapter 4

Summary - Special Agent Winchester is forced to go undercover with his frenemy Special Agent L/N when they try to track down a notorious drug dealer. How will Y/N and Dean complete their task? Will their relationship worsen or will new feelings emerge between them?

Pairing - AU Detective!Dean Winchester x Reader

Series Warning - Angst, Slow burn, Fluff, Implied Smut, Mentions of crime and drug, Swearing.

Chapter Warning - Slow Burn and a teeny tiny bit of angst.

Word Count - 2.5k+

Square Filled - Diner Food ( @spndeanbingo )

A/N - Beta'd by the lovely @deanwanddamons

Spn divider by the talented @talesmaniac89

Series Masterlist

My Masterlist

“How's the preparation for the party going?” Dean asked as he poked his head into the room where you were sitting on the floor, a mass of utter destruction around you.

“Woah sweetheart, it looks like you fought a war. What the hell happened?” Dean asked.

“I am exhausted, cranky and I am tired of putting up these damn streamers,” your hair was a mess, you were beyond tired and you needed coffee in your system. And you were also hungry.

“You should have called me. Y/N/N, let me help you,” Dean said and took a bunch of streamers in his hands.

“No Winchester, leave those. You have already helped me enough during unpacking. I should be able to put up a little decorations in the house. I am a special Agent for fucks sake.”

“Now I get it. Come on,” Dean said and pulled you up onto your feet.

“Where? Dean, we have the party tomorrow and I have so much to do! Ugh, who tells you to arrange a party the day after you move into a house?” you grumbled.

“Apparently the executive director of the bureau,” Dean chuckled, “And I am taking you out for a walk. You need food and coffee in you and neither of us are in the mood to cook.”

“How do you know I need coffee and food?” You narrowed your eyes at him.

“I have eyes, sweetheart,” Dean smirked at you, “I know how grumpy you are when you are hungry. You can’t even function properly.”

Dean was right. Food really lifts up your mood. You both went out for a walk and came across a little diner in the area. It was small but beautiful.

“One burger with fries, an apple pie divided in two and two cups of black coffee please,” Dean ordered.

“Coming right up sir,” a young blonde girl responded from behind the counter.

You and Dean took a seat at the diner.

“Why are we even arranging a party, what's the reason?” You asked.

“Just moved in, new house. A....a housewarming party?” Dean said deep in thought.

“That….sounds appropriate.”

“So it's settled then. A housewarming party,” Dean said, a small smile playing on his lips.

“Alright. Since I'm married to you, I should know some stuff about you just so I don't stutter when people ask me about my own husband. Tell me about yourself - where are your parents? What are your hobbies, other than watching the movie Die Hard on repeat?” you said.

“Hey, the Die Hard movie is a classic. You should learn to appreciate good films. As you know my name’s Dean Winchester, no middle name,” Dean smirked, “I have a younger brother, Sam who is a lawyer. He is engaged to this girl named Jessica-”

“Wait! Jessica? As in Jessica Moore? I think I know her. Maybe I went to high school with her,” you said thinking aloud.

“Small world,” Dean gave you a tiny shrug, “My parents are still together. My dad, John Winchester owns a garage and my mom, Mary Winchester owns a coffee shop near my parents’ house. My life's pretty boring. Tell me about yourself.”

“Well you already know a lot about me because apparently ‘you have eyes’,” you chuckled, “but my name is Y/N M/N L/N, I do have a middle name. I have two brothers named Michael and Gabriel, I am the youngest. My Mom and Dad are still together too. My Dad, Y/D/N works at a corporate office and my Mom Y/M/N used to teach at a primary school. So my life's pretty boring too.”

“Here's your order,” the server interrupted your conversation by placing three plates on your table, “and here's your coffee.”

The girl kept eyeing Dean. You cleared your throat as you saw him turning towards the waitress with a stupid smirk on his face. You took his hands and entangled your fingers with his, making him jump and look back at you.

“Nothing else,” you said in a cold voice surprising the girl and Dean. The girl walked away from your table quickly.

“Jealousy is a bad colour on you sweetheart,” Dean said to you in a cocky tone.

“Why would I be jealous? I am not jealous,” you replied but that was a big, fat lie. A switch had been flipped as soon as you saw that waitress ogling Dean. Maybe you were jealous.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” he said with a stupid smirk plastered on his face.

“I was not jealous but I think you should try to keep it in your pants if you want this cover to work,” you pointed out to him.

“Ooh, an affair, maybe it will spice things up a bit,” he winked.

“Dean,” you glared at him as he raised his hands in defence.

“So,” Dean said stabbing the piece of pie with a fork, “Any past relationships I should know about?”

“No,” You said after swallowing the piece of burger - the food was so good, “why should I tell you about my past relationships?”

“Let's see, I am your husband and I think I should know about your ex boyfriends...ex flings.”

“Fake husband. How many times do I have to remind you?”

“Okay, keep your secrets to yourself. I was just trying to make some small talk,” he shrugged.

“God you're so nosy. Fine,” you said biting into a single fry, “I don't have many ex-boyfriends or ‘flings’ as you may say, but I was in a serious relationship with a guy named Cain for almost three years but...uh-then we broke up and now he..he is just a bad memory. What about you?”

“Kinda the same. Had a few serious relationships. The last one was with a girl named Lisa. After two years of dating we realised we weren't made for each other so we broke up - it was an amicable breakup,” Dean said.

“No one night stands? Girls would kill to have a one night stand with you,” you said.

“Will you kill to have a one night stand with me?” He asked, making you choke on your food.

“W-what?” You said after regaining your composure.

“Just saying. We have the arrangement - you and I are already married. You can experience the full package if you want too,” Dean smirked.

“N-no, thanks,” you said and gulped down a glass of water. This man will be the death of you.

“So, tell me about Cain. I mean I have to live upto your expectations.”

“Trust me, you don't want to be like Cain,” you said, swallowing hard. You didn't want to speak about the topic of Cain, he was just a bad memory, no scratch that, the worst memory of your life.

“Did he hurt you?” Dean asked, his voice soft.

“No.” You looked down at your plate, suddenly finding it too interesting.

“He hurt you, didn't he?” Dean clenched his jaw.

“Why are you suddenly so interested in my past relationships? It's not important to our job. We are work colleagues, let's just keep it that way,” you said and abruptly left the table and went out of the diner.

You didn't know why you lashed out at Dean like that. Maybe because you were still not ready to talk about Cain. No one knew why you guys broke up - not even your parents, but Dean was just trying to talk to you as a friend. Now he was going to think of you as an overdramatic bitch. You buried your face into your hands as you heard footsteps approaching you.

“Y/N? I am sorry for what happened back there. I-I definitely crossed a line I wasn't supposed to cross. You're right - we are work colleagues, let's keep it that way,” Dean told you, “just remember whatever Cain did, you don't deserve it.”

You looked up to him and saw him staring at you.

“Come on, let's go back to the house. We have a lot of work to do,” he said and snaked his arms across your waist, making you jump a bit.

“Just to keep the cover,” Dean whispered into your ears. You nodded but you'd be lying if you said that your heart didn't skip a beat when he pulled you closer to him.

You opened your mouth to speak, but you were interrupted by the ping of your phone, which indicated you had received a new text.

“Oh look at that. Now what does Mr. Singer need? A BBQ party in our backyard?” Dean said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“According to trustful, internal sources, the right hand man of Crowley is apparently one of our neighbours,” you said reading the text as you saw the gears turning in Dean's head.

“So we gotta be cautious at the party. One slip, and our entire cover will be blown,” Dean said, immediately slipping into the serious work mode which you loved.

“Let's go and meet the neighbours then, husband,” you smirked at him.

“After you, sweetheart,” he grinned back at you.

Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!

Feedback is appreciated!

[maybecoolwords]

A Little Tension.. part 2

Pairing: Michael B Jordan x Actress!reader

Word count : 1417

Summary : This is the aftermath of Y/N’s little incident …

A/N : Thank you so much to everyone who read the first part, and since a lot of people liked it I decided to try and write a second part..Hopefully you guys enjoy this one, and i am open for requests if you have any.. GIF IS NOT MINE.

PART 1

“.. Well, that took an unexpected turn !”Those words were the host’s desperate way to break the tension between his two guests. At thankfully, they were enough to pull you and Michael from the staring contest you two found yourselves in. In your embarrassed state, you looked down at your high heeled shoes trying to, not only hide your face from the hysterically laughing audience but also to get over how crazy the butterflies in your stomach feel right now. And as cliché as it sounds, you couldn’t stop your brain from playing and replaying his exact words to you … Just to see you ..

In all honesty, you don’t really remember how that interview finished, or how you got back on your vanity chair in the first place. You are still so lost in your head, dreaming about him and the way he bites his bottom lip when he’s concentrating (and silently wishing you could do that for him), and about how his eyes would stare at yours every once in a while, with that beautiful smirk on his lips that made you lose your mind and - ughh, why can’t I just stop thinking about him?

You were just about to pull yourself away from some unholy thoughts that started roaming your head when your assistant spoke up: “ It’s seven o’clock, and fortunately you don’t have anything else programmed for the remaining of the day, so why don’t you just-“

“When the hell did you get here ?” You asked looking at her like she just appeared out of nowhere. Which to you, she technically did.

“Like 10 minutes ago? Wait –“ And then it dawned on her. “Were you seriously dreaming about Micheal B Jordan a few seconds ago ?” She asked with a grin tugging at her lips, and you just KNOW she’s about to tease the hell out of you if you answer that question.

“Like you were not..” You said, doing your best to act as nonchalant about the conversation as you could.

“Touché, I mean he did look hotter in person than he does in pictures and movies..” She said, folding her hands together while at the same time trying not to laugh at your frustrated state.

“Girl he’s my crush not yours !” You scolded her in a defensive kind of way before she started to really laugh at your whiny expression.

“As much fun as I wanna have with annoying you right now, I have to unfortunately leave. There’s a baby daddy waiting for me at home.” Your assistant and undebatably close friend said while she started packing her stuff back in her bag.

“You going home ?” You asked with the most innocent and baby-like pout you could muster at that moment.

“Oh don’t try to pull that on me Y/N, you know it won’t work-” Before she could start resisting your extremely irresistible expression, a knock sounded throughout your temporary dressing room. “Ooh, I think I know who that might be.” Your assistant added as she headed to open the door.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You answered as you turned around to face your mirror just in time to check if your makeup is still intact.

To be honest, you tried your best to act as apathetic about the situation as you could, but, the moment you heard his voice, and saw his reflection through the mirror, you just couldn’t help the charming smile that displayed on your lips, especially when he, on instinct, started to head towards where you stood.

Your assistant just stood there, dumbfounded, with her hand still on the door knob impatiently watching how the dramatic scene in front of her unfolds. It was when you coughed in order to get her attention and to silently ask her to leave that she understands the hidden message and starts to gather her stuff back in her bag.

“I’m gonna leave now ..” She said, while making sure she has her phone, jacket and car keys on her, and in the same time, not really expecting an answer from either one of you.

You were still facing the mirror on your vanity, and in the most ridiculous moment, your thoughts started to parkour in your brain. So many ways that you could start an actual conversation with your celebrity crush but none of them seemed proper enough for the situation. Should you apologize for being out of line during the interview? Or should you just lie and act like all you said was just for the sake of making tonight’s interview interesting? You just couldn’t figure it out-

“Are you gonna turn around and talk to me like a normal person would, or would you rather keep checking me out through that mirror you got there?”

“I was NOT checking you out!” You answered with a sharp inhale as you finally turned around and got a good look at him and God, your assistant was right, he does look hotter in person..

He let out a little laugh at your frustrated look as he decided to get a little more closer  to you – two steps closer to be exact - but still far.

“Look,-” you started, “I wanna start off by apologizing for being completely over the line during the interview. And I hope you understand that I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable in any way shape or form. And clearly I was not thinking professionally when I said what I said, you know?”

“Uhuh-” he answered, with his eyes locked on yours, and a teasing grin on his lips, just admiring how you could ramble forever, apparently, when you get embarrassed.

“I mean, I was just so star struck with how handsome and sweet, and..and respectful you are that I just couldn’t control my own mouth, and I know it’s not a good enough excuse right ?”

“Sure..” he added, still just looking at you, sneakily getting closer to where you stood, and letting you express yourself as freely as you can, because obviously, ain’t nothing stopping you from that right now.

With a little giggle you unintentionally added: “I’m just thankful I didn’t say I like you so much on live T.V.”

“I think you already did that sweetheart.” He said with a little chuckle, after he decided that it was finally time to get your attention back on him.

“Did what?” You asked in a dumbfounded way, just now realising how close he is to you.

“You might’ve not said it, but I’m pretty sure people are smart enough to figure out your little crush.”

“Oh my God!-” You said as you lifted your hand to hide your mouth. “-Did I say that out loud?” You asked him with embarrassment and a little bit of confusion littered all over your face.

“Just like you unintentionally said that I’m hotter in person than I look to be in pictures and movies..” He answered as he watched you literally bang your head on his chest in your best attempt to hide from him, and your embarrassment could not have been more evident.

“Hey, heey-” He started in his best attempt to make you feel less embarrassed, as he tried to lift your chin with his index and middle fingers, which, to his luck, worked in bringing your eyes to look at his. “-It’s okay. As a normal human being would, I actually love it when a woman I like says that  she likes me back.”

“Even if it happened on live T.V. ?” You asked before fully processing his words.

“Even if it happened on live T.V.” He chuckled.

It just dawned on you then that -“Wait, did you just say that you like me?” You asked in a hopeful tone with that same charming smile that wowed him when he first saw you.

He then felt confident enough to pull you even closer to him when he realised that your eyes keep going to his lips, and then put one of his hands on your hips when yours went instinctively on his chest, and let his other hand go to your face to get some of your hairs away from it.

But just as you parted your lips to brace yourself for what you think is your first kiss with him, he conveniently reaches for your ear and whispers: “How about a date first darling ?..”

[ryttu3k]

Hello naughty children it's Gehenna time.

...which means I'm going to read the book properly this time and write notes on each scenario, partially for my own reference, partially in answer to an ask from @rayshell22livejournalcom​ from about a zillion years ago. Sorry about that!

Mood soundtrack: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F# A# ∞; Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven; Yanqui U.X.O.

Prelude: Netchurch is an interesting character. Very skeptical, despite, well, the entire setting, although that's definitely, uh, broken by the end. Feel very sad for Afifa, who was a pawn in all this. Creepy babies galore!

Introduction: "While Vampire favors that futile, tragic, and - we'll say it - angst-heavy conclusion" - lmao you don't say. Although I do like how they have the consistent golden rule that if you don't like it, just ditch it! (Of course, the Gehenna scenarios as a whole have been completely retconned anyway by v20 and v5, so this entire book is a good example of taking what you want from it and ignoring the rest.)

"Some people are on opposite sides of this thing. They're elders who don't want to knuckle under to the Antediluvians (most elders will accept their proper place in the heirarchy again with the rising of their progenitors) and poor, misled souls who bought into the lie and are pissed about it (paging Mr. Pieterzoon). Bottom line: the Camarilla collapses like Enron/WorldCom as the worthlessness of its foundation becomes public knowledge. Chaos ensues among the vampire community, princes find themselves besieged by their own locals, and it's all a big clusterfuck."

Have I ever mentioned I love how VtM phrases stuff? Also F to Jan.

I like how they have a masterlist of what's actually going on with the Antediluvians. Spoilers ;D "For example, note that [Tzimisce] is simply referred to as [Tzimisce]. Even here at the game studio, our limited mortal minds weren't able to comphrenend the creature's real name." Lovecraft only WISHES he had eldritch abominations this spooky! Ennoia is 'Active and scary' and apparently spooks the devs just thinking about it. Makes sense. "Giovanni (Augustus Giovanni): Augustus is a pig, and he should probably die as one of the early events of Gehenna. He's the youngest of the Antediluvians and probably possessed the greatest ego (in mortal terms), so it'll be cosmic justice when he eats it." I love how no one likes Giovanni, even his creators. Malkav may or may not BE the Madness Network, in which case they cease to be an Antediluvian and just become... a part of the Malkavians, I guess? Absimiliard may or may not be chilling at the bottom of the ocean, because mood. Tremere / Saulot is definitely a fun one to play with, yeah. Although, oof, if Saulot ever gets control of their shared body, he's going to be fucked up if [Tzimisce] activates, so. Probably better to create a nice fresh body, like what BJD suggests with the child Saulot.

Chapter 1 - the lead-up: Basically a rundown of the signs and how they're interpreted. "An angel dies: How does an angel die? Who has the gall to rise up and slay one of God's firstborn? Or perhaps this is another metaphor. An angel could be a pure and gentle creature, or then again, it need not be one of God's angels (not that God's angels are necessarily pure and gentle). A feared and particularly vicious Necronomist Tzimisce, Sascha Vykos is sometimes referred to as the Angel of Caine. Many would rejoice the night that Vykos died." Hey rude :( I vote they kill Michael instead. He wants to be an Archangel? Fine, he can fulfill a prophesy XD

Honestly I really do dig that Ennoia Earthmelded with the entire planet. You can go so many directions with that, good or bad! Ennoia as The Beast Below, or Ennoia as Gaia? (Wow, that'd really fuck with the Garou XD) I love how the general consensus on Haqim is like, no one knows if he exists or not but lbr Ur-Shulgi is bad enough. Kinda dig the idea of the Toreador ante, Ishtar/Arikel, being genderfluid? I mean yeah essentially demigods have no need for gender anyway, but the constant debates over whether the Toreador ante is the female Ishtar or the male Arikel (or, uh, was it vice versa?) does lead to some interesting concepts. Ooh, similar to [Tzimisce] being linked to its entire clan (and the Tremere, anyone who's ever taken part in the Vaulderie, and anyone who knows Vicissitude), [Lasombra] may be connected to anyone who knows Obtenebration? [Ravnos]... yeah, probably dead. F to the clan. And yeah I think [Tzimisce] is flat-out the scariest one of all, and probably the one most likely to actually start the apocalypse, lbr.

Ugh this is one of the books that calls Sascha 'it' :-\ Do not like. ...Also do not like the suggestion that they're an unknowing agent of the Eldest, given, uh, the last chapter of the DA Tzimisce novel. Shoo! Shoo! You've ruined their unlife enough as it is!

Epistolary material! I do dig those. Most interesting: a letter to Sascha mentioning apocalyptic visions of New York but with the Carpathians in the background, and an anonymous letter to Hardestadt warning him of one of his line tearing down a castle that the writer feels believes the Camarilla. GO JAN FUCK IT UP.

And on to the scenarios themselves!

Chapter 2 - Wormwood: This is an interesting one. Literally a Biblical vengeance - God takes a good look at the Children of Caine and goes, "Well, this is fucked up", acknowledges that Caine never really sought true forgiveness and repentance, and sets forth Wormwood, the Red Star. The truly repentant are saved, the rest just. Die.

Herald here is a dhampir girl named Alia - thinblood father, human mother. When she's twelve, she becomes God's chosen, basically. Traveling with three thinblood guardians, one night, she's approached a Gargoyle named Ferox with True Faith, who sees himself as a fallen angel. And Alia offers him a way of redemption - find the chosen true believers, wait out Wormwood, receive judgement. Anyone can seek sanctuary, only the true believers and the ones genuinely willing to repent will survive the judgement itself. Alia and Ferox set out to find the other chosen ones.

Whew. Very full-on - the players remain in one place with a whole bunch of other vampires for forty nights. I mean, that's a test in and of itself XD All welcome! (Except infernalists and the antediluvians and Caine himself. They're fucked no matter what.)

Like. All welcome XD "Some Storytellers might feel that this character roundup could get too silly, suddenly having all these celebrity Kindred get together for a big slumber party, and they would be correct." Fuck that give me a slumber party AU XD

Am very glad about the note that the vampires inside only lose one blood point per 10 days, rather than every day. Otherwise, uh, it'd get gory.

Yeah, this is a really interesting scenario. Very character-focused, very introspective. All about the characters trying to work out what it means to be good people - not the strongest vampires, not the most powerful, but good people. Are they worthy of salvation? That's the crux of the story. Of course, it's very, uh, Biblical, heh, but it's first and foremost about morality and redemption. I dig it.

Also, giant vampire slumber party.

Chapter 3 - Fair is Foul: Ooh, this is a Lilith vs Caine scenario.

This one has the Withering hit in weird ways, including clan-specific ones - like the Banu Haqim only able to feed on vitae, then only able to gain sustenance from diablerie. Gangrel turn even more animalistic. Lasombra take to the seas, Obtenebration ripping holes straight to the Abyss. Malks, uh, leak madness. Nosferatu get even uglier, Toreador devolve into debauchery. Tremere develop third eyes, and yes, I did laugh out loud when I read that. Tzimisce... hmm... get a bit, uh, uncontrolled. And Ventrue find they can now only feed on... other Ventrue. Fun times!

"At your discretion, Lilith might be particularly vulnerable to Jewish True Faith, as the Jewish tales about her are the source of nearly every negative sentiment ever directed against her in writing. As a result, most orthodox Jews bear Lilith great contempt for defying her husband and her God." Yeah ngl I think she's pretty dang cool and I can just see, like, most of my ancestors facepalming at the idea XD;; Fuck obediance you do your own thing.

"Trying to work out traits for Lilith, Lucifer, Caine, or any of the Antediluvians would just be a waste of our word count and your time." I like the time they published a guide for fighting Caine. It was two words. "You lose."

Ah. Okay, Saulot in Tremere's body being taken over by the Eldest = scary, because have you ever been attacked by an Antediluvian wielding Thaumaturgy, Valeran, and Vicissitude at the SAME :) TIME? :) Yeah :)

Really dig the idea of Abel showing up as the first Wraith. The forgiveness element.

Overall, this isn't my favourite scenario, I think? It feels very chaotic, and while it's probably the most traditional to play, I'm not sure how much it literally challenges the characters, unlike the sheer soul-searching...ness of Wormwood?

Chapter 4 - Nightshade: Chapter starts with, "We all wear masks" and my first thought was "boy you have no idea" XD

Awww yes this is the masquerade break scenario! See here for my thoughts on that and how the Nephtali could be adapted to v5, heh.

Yeah okay earthquakes, volcanoes, and riots are normal enough. A horrible blood virus where it appears some flesh-like thing is living in people's veins and feeding off their blood sounds like something that starts with T and rhymes with Shzimitze. ...Probably. No one knows how the fuck it's pronounced anyway. Oops, those riots are apparently over the existence of vampires. Yeah that'd be... unfortunate. And more earthquakes, this time due to Kupala vs the Eldest. Whew. Red star, yep, standard. MORE earthquakes, this time due to the Second City rising. Sounds legit. Bad times all around!

The details on breaking the Masquerade are interesting. Basic emotions: denial, rationalisation, fear, anger, acceptance. The acceptance one is interesting, because I can definitely see some jumping to it straight away.

So, on to the scenario itself! Jan recruits the players to fight the... uh, mass under NYC. This is the corpse of the Eldest, which is more or less a giant fungal infection held together with Vicissitude, which frankly is just icky. This actually is  canon-compliant with BJD, since it apparently has only just... dissipated? or whatever there, or if it still remains, it's no longer conscious. In this one, its soul flicks back to Tremere's/Saulot's body and wakes up, and basically every Tzimisce, Tremere, and anyone who has ever drank Tzimisce blood (which would be the entire Sabbat via Vaulderie) spontaneously frenzies. Godspeed. Cyscek, a Tzimisce methuselah, helps defeat the, uh, blob at the expense of his life, and warns with his last words, "The Dragon rises. You must stop it. Find Vykos. [They] know." (Okay yeah the text says 'it knows' but also fuck that.) Ooh, plot point!

Aaaand then they retreat from the battle, exhausted, only to find the whole damn thing broadcast on every TV screen, vampiric Disciplines and Cyscek dusting and all. W h o o p s.

Lots and lots of details of a major masquerade breach here. Hardestadt shows up and tells Jan he's proooobably gonna get Final Death for, you know, trying to save the world. Gonna share this bit because it's Very Satisfying.

Please refer to my tag #hardestadt has no rights ;D

Anyway! The characters now recruited, Jan leads them back to London for the Convention of Fire. He's working with Calebros and... like a bunch of others, probably anyone can end up here, so long as they want to actually help and not just fall apart like the remnants of the Camarilla (trying to diablerise their way into keeping power) and the Sabbat (...ditto tbh). Those definitely in attendance are Ambrogino Giovanni, Hesha Ruhadze, and Fatima! And lbr the Nod Squad are probably there too. As if Beckett would pass up the chance to NOT witness what's happening with Gehenna. And Anatole is literally a prophet of Gehenna! They found the Nephtali, led by a council of twelve, with Jan at the head. Name means 'the highest point' or 'no further' - as in, Gehenna goes no further than this.

Oh lmao here we go, the scene I mentioned earlier - Jan vs talk shows.

F to Jan.

Tremere's body (inhabited by Saulot) disappears from beneath the Vienna chantry. Tremere's body, with [Tzimisce] now well in control (having overtaken Saulot; Tremere, meanwhile, has taken over Goratrix's body, with Goratrix's mind stuck in a mirror... it's complicated), wipes out the Vienna chantry. RIP to the Vienna chantry, which doesn't survive in either timeline tbh. Hey, I wonder if that means that Saulot (in Tremere's body) is dead in v5? Etrius manages to escape and reports that the Eldest is now on the way to Ceoris, where it'll call all the remaining Tzimisce to it to become, uh, a part. Pleasant.

Everything between Krakow and Bucharest is straight fukk’d. Ceoris is the centre of all this - IIRC it's somewhere in the southern Carpathians, nearish Brasov. Either way, hell of a fight results with what can only be described as an eldritch abomination, finally both managing to destroy Kupala (the Eldest's goal) and reducing The Thing down to a human-looking body. This bit is interesting! Tremere (in Goratrix' body) and Etrius take one look at each other. "Master..." "I... I know. But where the hell is Saulot?!" Good question, because he sure ain't in Tremere's, uh, former body any more, which was in fact what was fighting them the whole time. Either way, Tremere-in-Goratrix'-body leaps at [Tzimisce]-in-Tremere's-body and diablerises his, um, former body, which must be weird as hell, then tries to turn on the characters and his powers fuckiNG FAIL. EAT SHIT TREMERE. And then the players kill him too and realise that over the course of one night they've destroyed the demon Kupala and two Antediluvians, Tremere and the Eldest. Not bad. This is the battle that causes that second lot of earthquakes I mentioned earlier.

Back to London! They find the mirror containing Goratrix amongst Tremere's belongings. Poor fucker sorry not sorry.

And now the players receive a summons to escort someone from Montreal to the Nephtali headquarters in London! Namely, a Tzimisce named Myca Vykos~ They've recently defected from the Sabbat and want to help take the Antediluvians tf down. (Note: the book here has reverted to using he/him pronouns since they're back in their original form, I'm going to keep using they/them because biological sex does not determine gender identity or pronouns goddammit. ...Anyway. I AM going to use the name Myca since that's the name they're using themself, mostly because, uh, 'Myca' is a bit less noticeable than 'Sascha Vykos', haha.)

So Gehenna has started. Myca's woken up in their original form and being like, "Hey you know what I am preTTY SURE I don't want to serve the Eldest" and promptly joins the Nephtali.

From New York to London to Romania to London to Montreal to London (...London is a hub world apparently), now off to Turkey, to Kaymakli! Which is actually a real place, my brother's been on a tour there. Anyway, this is the part of Kaymakli that they don't show the tourist and that's been sealed shut with lots of angry Cappadocians instead, so that was fun. Presumably Kapaneus hasn't been chilling out there in this one.

Also Colombia has completely been overtaken by the Sabbat so that sucks.

Into Kaymakli! Which usually doesn't let Cainites back out so it may be one-way. Don't worry, there's a ritual for that. At the bottom, they find Augustus Giovanni! Who is pissed off he never actually got to eat Cappadocius' soul and so wants to eat God instead.

As you do.

The book very strongly encourages the players to kill him. Just 'cause. Which is a mood, tbh. Killing him also reveals a beaten, bound Nosferatu, having been Giovanni's most recent food source. An F for Okulos. He's been there for four years, having managed to get a lost fragment of the Book of Nod for Beckett, who promised to come back for him and. Didn't. Which is just rude tbh and I can kind of understand why Okulos ends up betraying Beckett in the Gehenna novel but anyway. (Not canon as of v20, he's perfectly present and chill in BJD.)

End results - the fragment that Okulos went to retrieve shows how to restore the Second City, which holds a complete Book of Nod and may hold the key to stopping Gehenna. It's in Enochian so your player characters probably won't be able to read it (book suggests asking Sascha or Ambrogino). Next stop, Egypt, and a meeting with Hesha Ruhadze! Man this scenario has a lot of signature characters. It also suggests getting third parties in here too, so Beckett would actually be a really good choice. Either way, they find the probable site, and suddenly, a Second City.

Archeologists make grabby hands. Beckett, somewhere, is probably crying in joy. They find a vial with some very old blood in it that they definitely shouldn't drink because otherwise they'll explode (the book uses Sascha as the example here XD;; ). Along with some mystical enscriptions, they return to London and get to work on the prophecy - namely, it suggests that 'the gentle one' (likely Saulot) will die at the hands of another, but arise in a new form, and will stop Gehenna that way. Etrius, one of the only Tremere left and having joined the Nephtali, goes 'fuck it what do I have to lose?' and goes to find whatever new form Saulot is in (potentially can also involve Goratrix here).

Hm. Well. Saulot is apparently in a research centre outside Sydney. Apparently we're mostly chill with vampires, aside from Christians XD Go figure!

Apparently it's a cloning facility. One of the rooms had, past tense, a child, successfully cloned six-year-old, who was in perfect physical form but vegetative from birth. Religious characters will pick up that it's because the kid's body didn't have a soul. Now, it does - Saulot's. Having been thrown out of Tremere's body when the Eldest took over, his soul fled until it could find the most suitable vessel - a soulless cloned body. No actual soul to have to subdue. Saulot ends up reborn, albeit in the form of a six-year-old and without any memories. Turns out, the child was taken by a cult of Thinbloods, believing him to be the messiah.

Sydney's messy situation gets described here! Short version, Sydney's Prince is/was Sarrasine, who was a Toreador. Except he wasn't a Toreador, it was a fairly open secret he was only POSING as a Toreador - he was actually a Caitiff. (Except he's not actually a Caitiff. He's a sixth-gen Setite. Sydney is Like That, yes.) Given Sydney's independence from the sects and its apparent Caitiff Prince, it's become a major site of Caitiff and Thinbloods, which Sarrasine is just thrilled about but can't do anything about because he doesn't want to actually go 'lol I'm a Setite'. Anyway, either way, everyone is unaware of Saulot's return, so the players seek out the little boy, who's pretty spooked and confused. Asks the characters, "Who are you? What is this place? What do all these people want?" and his third eye opens. Tada! Salubri Antediluvian, and like the prophecy mentioned, he's 'unholy' and 'a mockery in the face of God' - a clone.

Back to London with kid!Saulot. The Nephtali have been trying to work out what tf is going on. A researcher tried drinking from the vial. It was messy. The characters might get some downtime. Sarrasine's followers may attack to try and get the kiddo back. Either way, everyone goes to bed, and wakes up to find a Darkness having overtaken the sun, which is generally not good for anyone, and Lasombra characters are just, feels bad man. The Veil of Darkness means vampires can be up 24/7, along with other things that don't like sunlight, and I imagine things like... plants not being thrilled. Also probably very confused animals. I'm not sure if it's like a dark atmosphere, or a physical body between the sun and Earth that just eclipses it whatever vantage point you look from, or what? Disciplines like Auspex, Obfuscate, and Obtenebration go a bit fucky. Then, a few days later, everyone feels a... Summons. For low-generation vampires with still-living Antediluvians, it's strongest. Higher gens with destroyed Antes, not so bad. So I'm sure you can guess what's summoning them.

Yep. Antediluvians. Banu Haqim are getting summoned to Alamut instead so Ur-Shulgi can turn them into an army against the Antediluvians, so godspeed resisting that, Elijah.

Off to the city of Gehenna (it's nearish Jerusalem). Elders of all stripes have been heading there to kill their childer in hope of being rewarded by their Antediluvians to get their powers restored, which is terribly rude. Indeed, the Antediluvians basically go, hey, can you not, and also can you start Embracing more childer for our armies, because they're not very nice either. Pretty much all the characters have been summoned for their crimes against the Antediluvians, and now they're gathered before them - Set, [Lasombra], Ennoia, Absimiliard, Malkav (as like... a cluster of identical little girls with glowing eyes because of course Malkav would use the Creepy Child trope), and [Toreador], who's so beautiful no one can tell if they're male or female. When the players and child!Saulot get there, they question him, but he's literally a six-year-old boy and is spooked. He also has the vial, somehow. Set takes it, and Kiddo says, "Don't drink it. You'll burn up." So Set makes Kiddo drink it instead, because he's a nice guy like that.

Kiddo's third eye opens. A giant black throne appears. The dozen small girls that are Malkav say, "Father's home." Kiddo!Saulot says, "No, Father's dead." Girls start screaming so loud people start bleeding thick black blood from their ears and doesn't stop until Set kills all twelve. A random stranger, now with their glowing eyes, steps forward and basically goes 'wow rude'.

Powerful beam of light appears. The Antes (aside from Kiddo!Saulot) writhe in pain. Angel appears, asks Saulot if he's willing to atone for all vampires. He agrees. Throne explodes, Antes fuckin' die, and everyone promptly frenzies and tries to eat each other, because vampires. In the aftermath of that, vampirism basically... ends. The player characters may be rewarded by becoming human again, as do a lot of Thinbloods, but most everyone older just, uh, dies. Vampirism ends, but the Earth has been saved.

That is... hmm, bittersweet, I think. It's a pretty compelling chronicle, very dramatic, but it's much less character-based and is more, 'the characters get dragged along to Do Shit'. I kind of like the idea of it being a story involving the characters we know, but for original characters, I think Wormwood is a much more compelling scenario so far.

Chapter 5 - The Crucible of God: Okay I'm tired now and this is the 'rocks fall everyone dies' scenario so gonna skim-read this one.

This is the chapter that introduces the level 10 power for all disciplines - Plot Device. The Antediluvians can do shit because they feel like it. Whew. Also, if an Ante spots anyone of their blood line, they can just make them... explode and their blood gushes into their mouth. Monch monch. Spot another clan mate? Roll to avoid frenzy. Just woke up? Roll to avoid frenzy. Good times!

And then the Tzimisce Antediluvian awoke as a mass of Vicissitude flesh fungal infestation with tentacles and lampray mouths and stuff and ate anything in reach until it ate, uh, every living thing in Manhattan. In one night. Bad day tbh. Eventually it burns when the sun rises, but what's left underground is still there and shit's still messed up. Like picking a leaf off a dandelion and it starts bleeding. Trees with faces, swarms of insects forming into eyes and watching. Nice and creepy. In the aftermath, it's basically infecting every life form on Earth with Vicissitude, which is distinctly uncool.

Absimliard has an animal army and currently looks like a giant humanoid jellyfish.

Oh boy here's the Banu Haqim part XD;; Interestingly, it's a lot better for them! Haqim doesn't eat his childer, they feel themselves strongly bonded to him but still maintain their own minds and wills. Downside, anyone who doesn't follow Haqim alone gets hunted down so he can eat them, so Ur-Shulgi's probably having a field day at being vindicated and poor Pyre/Elijah is hiding tf under the bed. Plus side, it only lasts a few months before something kills Haqim, so hey! And there's genuinely a way to become human again, especially for high-humanity, high-gen vampires, so that actually would be a genuinely good outcome for Pyre/Elijah.

Malkavians end up as a giant hive mind. Like, more than usual. [Lasombra] covers the world in darkness, then it stops. Ennoia merges with the entire planet and starts eating people. And vampires. And Methuselah. And other Antediluvians. She's kinda hangry at this point.

Tremere attempts to rule the entire world using the Human Genome Project as the true name of the entirety of humanity. It lasts about two minutes before [Tzimisce] turns him into a meat crime, along with, uh, the entire rest of the world, aside from the players, who were part of Tremere's ritual and thus immune from it.

Also Saulot, who they just met in the form of a little old man.

Turns out, he planned it all along. Lured Tremere to him, knowing that his body was tainted by using Tzimisce blood to become a vampire. Knew that when the Eldest returned, he'd be succeptable, and Saulot would be able to bounce out when the Eldest took over. Now, he can lead the characters in the only way to stop Planet Tzimisce, which is, uh, prayer and letting themselves get eaten. Could actually work! And you end up human again in the bargain!

End result - all vampires gone. Some of the more human ones do end up human again. Either way, world's still fucked. Open Antediluvian rule for several months has destroyed most of humanity. There are still remnants - former Malkavians who are still a bit weird, former Tzimisce who are a bit... Vicissitudey. Ennoia's still around! She's mostly chill except when she occasionally feels like rearranging landscapes. Otherwise, it's time to recover.

Alternate endings - that last one wasn't depressing enough, so here's a scenario where All Is Tzimisce, here's one where there's global extinction of literally everything except the player characters who gradually drop into torpor and never recover (or just flat out burn if they're outside), or there's one where the players are the only vampires left and start a new cycle with them as the new Antediluvians or something, oh and Caine's still kicking and is Very Displeased that God won't let him die already. Gooood times!

Rest is how to basically play it, and character sheets. Which go back to calling Sascha ‘it’ again *sigh* (And using the whole alien look despite explicitly mentioning that they look human again. Of course.)

So, final thoughts! Gehenna is... an interesting scenario. Lots of possibility for introspection. It’s very... apocalyptic, and that may bother a lot of people, since, well, for the most part, it’s going to be the end of playing your character as a vampire. Which I figure most people are playing Vampire the Masquerade for. So it’s basically either a hell of a finale, or you just don’t make use of it.

Favourite scenario did end up being Wormwood. I just really like the introspection and opportunity for hope. Did also enjoy Nightshade, but in a different way, I think? Like for Nightshade, I’d rather read it as existing characters working together, maybe as a novel, whereas for Wormwood I’d want to play it since it’s such an intensely personal kind of thing.

(I also still want a slumber party AU ngl.)

[sparklingichigo]

Drama Intensifies

Part 12

Meanwhile, Simeon and Luke help Ichigo and Barbatos up, luckily they're not that injured but they need to get them both to safety.

Mammon: Let's go! I think there's a safe room somewhere!

Simeon: Certainly. Can you stand, Ichigo?

Ichigo: Yeah, I can^^ Thanks for the help though.

Simeon: It's the least we can do.

Luke: There it is, let's go! Simeon, can we just fly there? It's faster!

Mammon: Yeah, just give her to me. I'm faster.

Ichigo: Can't you guys not- just get me there ffs-

Luke: Mammon, we're in the middle of an emergency! That's not important! JUST GET HER THERE RIGHT NOW!!

Simeon: [Sigh but gets her there any way via air]

Ichigo: Not expecting that much light but okay-

Luke: Angel things-

Mammon: Here have my shade- [gives Ichigo his shades]

Ichigo and Luke: It's not going to work!!

Simeon: Sorry about that, but we're here now^^ [puts Ichigo to the safe rooms' bed]

In the meantime, Haruka is still fighting against the enemies alone. Since it's too much she decides to take it to the air. The battle proceeds with her summoning more magic.

Haruka: Blizzara!

Yes, that's her first spell, summoning a big chunk of ice to fall against the enemies. Of course, this succeeds but there's more. More enemies are coming at her so she chants out another spell.

Haruka: Thundraga

The name goes without saying, it's a spell to summon thunder, to electrocute the enemies, specifically one of the generals from the shadow Kingdom, unfortunate for him, he got electrocuted. Rip.

Of course, everyone is impressed by this. One of them is a female general, she took interest in her powers.

Female general: This is quite interesting. Who is she again?

Random knight from the shadow kingdom: Oh she's a princess.

Female general: A princess? That's quite interesting. I'm dueling with her.

Random knight: Are you sure ma'am? She just electrocuted one of the generals

Female general: I'm sure she's not that strong against me.

With that, that female general teleports herself to be near Haruka. The two begin to duel, unfortunately, this female general has an illusion power confusing Haruka a bit. The other soldiers are also coming. The knights from Haruka's side are panicking, this includes Satan, he notices that Haruka is alone.

Satan: How is she not summoning me yet?! Where is Ichigo?! Why aren't they summoning either of us?!

Beel: I'm asking the same thing. Where's Ichigo? How is not summoning me yet?

Lucifer: Considering your rank, probably not any time soon.

Beel: What-

Satan: I- Okay-

At the same time, Haruka summons another spell as more enemies are attacking her.

Haruka: Inficio!

Instantly poisonous gas covers the whole area causing her enemies to cough because of the poison but not the female general since she's not even there. She uses her cloning powers to manipulate Haruka.

Haruka: ...not again-

Female general: Hahaha! Now you can't go anywhere! Now you're stuck here and can't even figure out where I was!

Female general: Attack her!

Haruka scoffs as she shows out her swings and flies out of the circle causing confusion in the female general. She battles all the clones in a circle, the sound of swords can be heard loudly.

Michael: Satan! Why aren't you helping her?! You're her main pact, aren't you?!

Satan: I can't! Even if I go there I'd get smack back here!

Back to Haruka, Haruka is thinking of bringing this higher but since she's human she probably can't breathe. Luckily her powers are back, she raises her swords up to the sky and summons one of her powerful spells.

Haruka: Tornado!

Female general: What?! Noooooooo!!!!

All the cloning instantly disappeared and she even got stabbed by Haruka's swords. She coughs blood, signaling her death.

Random knight: Allow me to say, I told you so-

Shadow King: [facepalms]

Michael: Wait I take that back! That's a really big tornado-

Satan: Indeed.

Ramiel: I agree.

Solomon: How the f-

Lucifer: She is once again, a princess. It's no surprise.

In the safe room, Mammon and Ichigo both witness the huge tornado from outside.

Mammon: Damn! That's one huge ass tornado!

Ichigo: I'm not surprised, she is indeed powerful.

Outside, Diavolo and Merlin are both impressed by the result.

Diavolo: As expected! I picked out the right person!

Merlin: That's amazing! Wait....where's my granddaughter?

Diavolo: Currently in the safe room, I believe.

Merlin: Oh, I'll be right back.

With that Merlin teleports to the safe room. In that room, Mammon and Ichigo are still talking about how awesome that tornado is until Mammon feels someone behind him.

Ichigo: Mammon! Behind you!

Mammon: What- [got stabbed]

Ichigo: Noo! Mammon?! Mammon?!

Because of that stabbing that Reika's clone did, Mammon turns back into his half-demon half-human form. His back is clearly injured and just in time, her grandfather appears to help them.

Merlin: Oh my goodness!

Ichigo: Grandpa! W-what do we do?!

Merlin: Of course, we're destroying the clone first. Then we'll heal Mammon.

In seconds, Merlin destroys the clone without any hesitation. The shards went everywhere but luckily disappear after. Mammon is of course still coughing blood causing Ichigo's anxiety to rise even more.

Ichigo: Is he going to be okay?

Merlin: Of course. The stab isn't that deep considering it's just some crystal shards on his back. We will remove this and heal him.

Mammon: I-is it- [coughs] gonna hurt?

Merlin: It might, but it'd be quick. [heals Mammon]

Mammon: Ouch ouch ouch ouch! Not what I expected-

Merlin: Oh wow... that's a lot of blood- well luckily my magic is strong enough to heal him. [heals Mammon yet again, this time to close the wounds and prevent blood loss]

Merlin: Alright then, good as new. I'll be here to guard him. You can go back to battle again [obviously to Ichigo]

Ichigo: Alright, grandpa. [gets out of the safe room]

Just as she gets out, more knights come her way. Ichigo is annoyed by this and just throws them away.

Ichigo: It's time to summon the one and only. Leviathan, I summon you!

Suddenly, a big tsunami came into the area. Just as Shadow King and Reika are talking suddenly the two of them are drenched by seawater with Levi passing by with Lotan.

Shadow King: You were saying about her?

Reika: I told you, it won't be easy!

Levi finally arrived in front of Ichigo riding Lotan.

Levi: I'm here, normie! What do you need?

Ichigo: Well... that tsunami does help. We gotta beat those two up. You up?

Levi: Sure! Lotan, bite them!

Lotan roars and charges again the knights as the knights run off in fear. Levi and Ichigo are of course cracking up. But as they were laughing one of the generals appears.

Ichigo: Oh someone is brave enough to come and attack us. Levi, shall we attack him?

Levi: With pleasure^^ [summons a water sword]

Ichigo: In the count of three! 1....2....3!

The two of them charge against that general. Of course Levi, unfortunately, has to physically fight that general with his sword but luckily Ichigo helps him with her reality-warping magic.

At the same time, Haruka is really tired because of the tornado. So she sits somewhere, summoning a shield. Of course, Shadow King sees it as an opportunity to attack her. His long sword reaches the shield and destroys it in just seconds shocking Haruka. Of course, she is shocked.

Haruka: Not again.... [groans in frustration]

Simeon: Oh no! Haruka!! [running towards her]

Haruka: Huh? [confused noises]

Simeon of course flies there instead to get to her faster. Luckily he gets there just in time to defend her against Shadow King's long sword and his underlings.

Haruka: Dang it, Simeon! You and your super bright light! [covers herself with her wings because she's about to go blind any second]

Simeon: Sorry.... about that [sweat drops]

Haruka: I'm too tired for this. SATAN!!!

Satan: Finally! [got teleported there] wait, why is he here?

Haruka: behind you!

Luckily Satan's tail is smarter than him so of course, that tail is in a battle with whoever is behind him. Haruka is just confusedly watching Satan's tail battling with the general's sword, Simeon is just as confused.

Satan: As I was saying, why is he here?!

Haruka: If he isn't here I'd be dead! I'm tired and I need rest!

Satan: You could've summoned me!

Simeon: Got no time for that, it's an emergency. Is your tail still...?

Satan: Yeah, sort of. [haha the tail is still battling whoever it is behind him]

Levi and Ichigo are watching this from far away and instantly cracks up

Levi: Oh man, gotta love that tail!

Ichigo: Indeed. Having a tail does has its perks.

In the meantime, Solomon and Noctis are still battling Reika. It was a very intense fight since it's just a physical fight between time. Unfortunately, Noctis is down.

Reika: Oh? The most powerful sorcerer can't even beat me?

Solomon: Perhaps I'm just letting you win, just being the gentleman I am.

Reika: Shut it!

Solomon: Time to go all out^^ ASMODEUS!!

Asmo: I've been summoned~ Oh, you're alive! Cool!

Solomon: Indeed I am. Wanna help me, babe?

Asmo: Of course~ Get up, hon.

Solomon: Might as well! [getting on top of him]

Asmo: Let's go~ You can also summon the others if you want to help us.

Solomon: Might as well. I summon you, the demon of knights, Beleth!

In seconds, Belet appears and is now the one battling with Reika.

Beleth: I've been summoned. Any more orders, your majesty?

Solomon: Do your best^^ I'll help from here.

Asmo: Ooh! This is fun! Oh sht.... she's summoning another one-

Solomon: I notice... Do you want me to summon another one?

Asmo: Hm... How about Zepar, he's cool.

Solomon: ....perhaps.

and he did, so Reika's clones are battling Zepar and Beleth while Asmo and Solomon are battling Reika.

Solomon: This is getting out of hand... Where's Ichigo when we actually need her!

Asmo: Battling with Levi? I don't know! I thought you're the most powerful sorcerer of them all!

Solomon: I am! Let me just go all out on this! Sanctus Flamma!

With that Solomon summons a fire sword to match Reika's fire sword.

Asmo: Could've summoned a water sword but here we are- [sigh]

Solomon: Holy flame usually can battle against hell's fire!

Reika: Heh, I doubt that-

Solomon: Wanna try? You can't even survive Michael's holy sword.

Reika: You! [going to charge at him]

Solomon: Nuh-uh uh ^^ Not so fast. Aqua Scutum!

With that, a water-like barrier appears causing Reika's fire to shut down instantly. Reika scoffs and instantly summons her sickle.

Asmo: This is a bad idea, Solomon...

Solomon: Indeed.... run?

Asmo: Run.

The two of them end up running with Reika chasing them with that sickle. Well unfortunately for them, she's a fast runner so here she is in front of you. Luckily someone appears with Levi in time.

Ichigo: Levi, if you may.

Levi: of course^^

Reika, unfortunately, got pushed away by Levi's tsunami. F in the chatroom for Reika. Of course, Reika being the brat that she is, she is throwing tantrum despite being in Levi's seawater.

Levi: So annoying! [gives more seawater at her]

Well...unfortunate for you Levi, she's on top of you.

Levi: Oh sht-

Solomon: Oh sht indeed. Levi move!

Ichigo instantly pulls Levi away as Reika gets down with that sickle of hers creating a big hole in the middle of them, causing a big earthquake.

Ichigo: Okay.... run! Right now! Haruka, do summon them as far as possible!

Luckily Haruka hears Ichigo's command and summons the demon brothers as far as possible causing Levi and Asmo to get summoned near Haruka. Now, this leaves Solomon and Ichigo.

Ichigo: Portal?

Solomon: Portal. Let's go!

Ichigo and Solomon both enter Solomon's portal leading them to a safe place. I know what you're thinking. Where are the angels? They're still battling with the shadow King's remaining knights. Unfortunately, someone has to die today, yes that person being Ramiel. He got stabbed quite deeply causing him to cough blood.

Michael: Ramiel! Noo!!

Rosaria: Ra-ramiel....

Ramiel: I-I'm okay [blood coughing]

Michael: ... you... [Sword turns brighter]

Rosaria: Michael...

Michael: I'm fine. I'll just avenge my best friend's death!

Rosaria: But Mi-

Too late, Rosaria. Michael has forced his sword against the ground causing a big earthquake with the holy light surrounding it. Despite injuring the Shadow King, he's not dead yet.

Meanwhile, Ichigo is summoning her dragon, Violet while Haruka is summoning her familiar, Fenrir the wolf. Solomon yet again, summons his biggest demon, Bune, a three-headed dragon, and Lucifer summons Cerberus. Even Diavolo let go of his two monsters, minotaur, and basilic. Pretty much everyone summons a familiar to help battle this monster. Of course, Reika underestimates them yet again.

Ichigo: O drakon, e male so ftengometta tesd'hup'anankes!

Solomon: What are you doing....?

Ichigo: Summoning my dragon-

Solomon: Oh- [looks up and sees a big purple dragon flying towards them]

Haruka: What was that?!

Ichigo: My dragon. Hello, honey~ [to Violet as soon as she lands]

Everyone is staring at Ichigo bewildered because that's a huge dragon and she still has the audacity to call it "honey"?!

Beel: That's a really big dragon!

Ichigo: It is^^ She's also really nice unless provoked-

Luke: Whoa! Can I ride it?!

Violet: [growls]

Ichigo: Probably not^^

Meanwhile, Fenrir comes running from a portal. Of course, this wolf is in panic because his owner is in trouble.

Fenrir: Oh my goodness! Are you okay, master?!

Haruka: I am... this guy is healing me...^^

Simeon: The guy in question has a name^^

Haruka: Yes, yes. He's Simeon.

Fenrir: Oooh! The white mage!

Haruka: He is^^ But in this world he's an angel. Beware of his bright wings.

Fenrir: Ooh! That's cool!

With that, the battle begins. luckily the monster is now destroyed once and for all. The battle is finished since most of the knights are injured, especially after Michael's light sword destroying most of the knights and injuring the shadow king. But Reika and Shadow King won't give up. They decide to join forces.

Reika: Bold of you to assume this is the end.

Shadow King: Indeed. Let's start our final ceremony.

Reika: Yes, let's do that.

The light side witnesses Shadow King and Reika joining their powers. It causes an earthquake everywhere and they're most definitely larger than earth.

Solomon: Everyone, any plans?

Michael: We haven't summoned the cherubim side.

Ichigo: It's not too late! Summon him!

Beel: For now, let's find somewhere to hide as Michael summons him.

Ichigo: W-wait! Where are we going?! Honeybear?! Beel?!

Belphie: Let's do that. I'm sleepy already. Can I just sleep in the safe house?

Ichigo: Safehouse... Mammon is in there and so is Barb!!

Mammon: you two looking for me?

Barbatos: Luckily your grandfather saved us. So I think it's a good idea to find a place to hide for now but in the air considering the land is going to crack any second.

Satan: ...I can't fly for sht-

Lucifer: Well, time to carry you.

Satan: What?! Wait! Lucifer! No!!

Lucifer: Do you want to die instead?!

Satan: ... not really...

Lucifer: Exactly!

Diavolo: Barbatos! Hold on to me!

Barbatos: Thank you, M'lord.

Mammon: Levi!

Levi: Fffs, I hate it when I have to rely on you- [holds onto Mammon]

Belphie: Man am I lucky to have a strong twin-

Beel: ^^ Well at least I get to protect both of you.

Ichigo: Violet!! Get in here!!

Violet of course flies near them so they can easily fly without needing to rely on anyone. So anyone who can't fly can ride on him. Luckily Fenrir has wings as well, so he can fly too.

Lucifer: Not to worry, Cerberus^^ You're safe now [pets Cerberus inside the safe bubble]

Somewhere the angels are flying causing everyone to reach the blind realm.

Lucifer: For the love of Lord Diavolo! Tone down the brightness!!

Michael and Rosaria: No^^

Simeon: Woops-

Haruka: Simeon! Tone down the light! OmG!!

Simeon: Sorry! I don't know how to;-;

Luke: ....Well, am I glad I'm a kid-

Haruka: Oh well, I'll help you.

Haruka uses her magic to help cover up their angel wings. Now, what's gonna happen? Probably Reika destroying the whole world, but that's it for now. Good luck to all. We'll see you in the next part!

[patriotsnet]

Did Republicans Riot After Obama Was Elected

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/did-republicans-riot-after-obama-was-elected/

Did Republicans Riot After Obama Was Elected

Undocumented Kids Are Saved By Obamas Executive Order Daca Which Would Put A Halt To Deportation For Those Whod Entered The Country Before Age 16 And Yet In A Bid To Get The Gop To Come Over To His Side On Immigration Reform The President Has Also Deported A Record 15 Million People In His First Term

A Family Caught in Immigration Limbo

When Belsy Garcia saw her mother’s number appear on her iPhone on the afternoon of June 15, she felt what she calls the “uncomfortable fluttering” sensation in her chest. She knew that daytime calls signaled an emergency. The worst one had come the previous year, when her sister told her ICE agents had placed their father in federal custody.

Garcia was attending Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, when her father was marched out of her childhood home. As an undocumented immigrant — like both of her parents, who are from Guatemala — she couldn’t qualify for loans. She financed her ­education through scholarships and a stipend she earned as a residential assistant. Now she wondered if her mother was calling to say her father had been deported, which might force her to leave school to become the family’s breadwinner.

But this call was different. “Go turn on the television,” Garcia’s mother said. “You’re going to be able to work, get a driver’s license.”

Onscreen, President Obama was announcing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Undocumented immigrants who had arrived in the United States as children could apply for Social Security numbers and work permits. Garcia qualified: Her parents had brought her to this country when she was 7 years old. DACA transformed her into a premed student who could actually become a doctor. “It was like this weight was lifted,” she says. “All of that hard work was going to pay off.”

In The Next Hundred Days Our Bipartisan Outreach Will Be So Successful That Even John Boehner Will Consider Becoming A Democrat After All We Have A Lot In Common He Is A Person Of Color Although Not A Color That Appears In The Natural World Whats Up John Barack Obama White House Correspondents Dinner

And Then There Were Three

The first woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court did so in 1880. It would take another 101 years for a woman to sit on that bench rather than stand before it. Even then, progress was fitful. Over the 12 years that Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg served together, their identities evidently merged; lawyers regularly addressed Ginsburg as “Justice O’Connor.” When O’Connor retired in 2006, she left the faux Justice O’Connor feeling lonely. Ruth Bader Ginsburg warned of something far more alarming: What the public saw on entering the court were “eight men of a certain size, and then this little woman sitting to the side.” They might well represent the most eminent legal minds in America. But there was something antiquated, practically mutton-choppy, about that portrait.

How many female justices would be sufficient? Nine, says Justice Ginsburg, noting that no one ever raised an eyebrow at the idea of nine men.

Seal Team Six Kills Osama Bin Ladenraiding His Secret Compound In Abbottabad Pakistan While Obama And His Top Advisers Watch A Live Feed Of The Mission From The White House Situation Room The Picture Of The Assembled Becomes The Last Supper Of The Obama Era

Poop Feminism

For me, it’s one moment. All the bridesmaids have come to the fancy bridal shop to see Maya Rudolph try on wedding dresses. This should be a familiar scene: The bride emerges from the changing room and … This is the dress! The friends clap. The mother cries. Everyone is a princess. Go ahead and twirl!

But when the bride emerges in Bridesmaids, almost all of her friends have started to feel sick. Sweat coats their skin. Red splotches creep over their faces. They try to “ooh” and “aah,” but it’s already too late. It starts with a gag from Melissa McCarthy, followed by another gag. Then a gag that comes simultaneously with a tiny wet fart. It’s the smallness of the fart that’s important here. It’s the kind of fart that slips out — a fart that could be excused away, a brief, incongruous accident. Women don’t fart in wedding movies, and women certainly don’t fart at the exact moment that the bride comes out in her dress. This can’t be happening. ­Melissa McCarthy blames the fart on the tightness of her dress. We breathe a sigh of relief.

Then sweet Ellie Kemper gags, and the sound effect is surprisingly nasty. Ellie’s face is gray. Melissa’s face is red. They look bad. They are embarrassed. How far is this going to go?

The camera cuts. We are above now. We look down from a safe perch as the release we have been anticipating and dreading begins. It is horribly, earth-­shatteringly gross. A woman has just pooped in a sink. The revolution has begun.

The Government Acquires A 61 Percent Stake In Gm And Loans The Company $50 Billion The Auto Bailout Will Eventually Be Heralded As A Great Success Adding More Than 250000 Manufacturing Jobs To The Economy

The Auto Industry Gets Rerouted

“The president was very clear with us that he only wanted to do stuff that would fundamentally change the way they did business. And that’s what we did. There were enormous changes. For example, General Motors had something like 300 different job classifications that the union had. If you were assigned to put the windshield wipers on, you couldn’t put tires on. And we wiped all that stuff out. We basically gave back management the freedom to manage, to hire, to fire. People stopped getting paid even when they were on layoff. We reduced the number of car plants so that there wasn’t so much overcapacity. So now, when you have 16 million cars sold , they’re making a fortune.”

Black Lives Matter Activists Are Arrested In Baton Rouge Louisianaprotesting The Murder Of Alton Sterling; More Than 100 People Are Detained In St Paul Minnesota Protesting The Murder Of Philando Castile

What Is the Point of a Quantified Self?

Melissa Dahl: The Fitbit was introduced at a tech conference eight years ago. It’s kind of incredible to realize that, before then, this idea of the “quantified self” didn’t really exist in the mainstream.

Jesse Singal: I feel like it’s the intersection of all these different trends: Everyone plays video games these days. You got smartphones everywhere. And people are realizing that solutions to the big problems that lead to sleeplessness and anxiety and bad eating — unemployment and income inequality and yada yada yada — aren’t gonna get solved anytime soon.

MD: That’s interesting, because all of this self-tracking is also, according to some physicians, giving people more anxiety! A Fitbit-induced stress vortex.

Cari Romm: It feels like productive stress, though. I’m talking as a recovered Fitbit obsessive, but it does make you look at Fitbit-less people like, “You mean you don’t care how many steps you took today?”

MD: Oh, God. I don’t care. Should I care? Sleep is the one thing I obsessed over for a while. Which does not really help one get to sleep.

JS: Do you think an actually good and not obsession-­inducing sleep app could help, though?

MD: There’s some aspect to the tracking idea that really does work. I mean, it’s just a higher-tech version of a food journal or sleep journal, right? Ben Franklin 300 years ago was tracking his 13 “personal virtues” in his diary.

JS: Would Ben Franklin have been an insufferable tech-bro?

Officer Darren Wilson Fatally Shoots Michael Brownin The St Louis Suburb Of Ferguson Sparking A National Protest Movement And Setting Off Unrest That Will Remain Unresolved Two Years Later

On the Triumph of Black Culture in the Age of Police Shootings

In the two years since Mike Brown was fatally shot by the police in Ferguson, and the video footage of his dead body in the street went viral, we have seen the emergence of a perverse dichotomy on our screens and in our public discourse: irrefutable evidence of grotesquely persistent racism, and irrefutable evidence of increasing black cultural and political power. This paradox is not entirely new, of course — America was built on a narrative of white supremacy, and black Americans have simultaneously continued to make vast and essential contributions to the country’s prominence—but it has become especially pronounced. And it’s not just because of the internet and social media, or the leftward shift of the culture, or black America’s being sick and tired of being sick and tired. In fact, it is all of these things, not least two terms with a black president. In the same way that black skin signals danger to the police , his black skin, to black people, signaled black cultural preservation. African-Americans didn’t see a black man as the most powerful leader in the free world; we saw the most powerful leader in the free world as black. This is what comedian Larry Wilmore was expressing at the 2016 White House Correspondents’ Dinner when he said, “Yo, Barry, you did it, my nigga.” It was a moment of unadulterated black pride.

Militants Attack American Compounds In Benghazi Libya Killing Us Ambassador Chris Stevens And Three Other Americans There Will Eventually Be Eight Congressional Probes Into The Incident

“I Know I Let Everybody Down”

“Before the debate, David Plouffe and I went in to talk to him and give him a pep talk and he said, ‘Let’s just get this over with and get out of here,’ which is not what you want to hear from your candidate right before the debate. We knew within ten minutes that it was going to be a ­debacle. We had armed him with a joke — it was his 20th anniversary, and he addressed Michelle — and it turns out Romney was expecting just such a line and had a really great comeback. And Romney was excellent — just free and easy and clearly well prepared and showed personality that people hadn’t seen before. Obama looked like he was at a press conference.

We had a meeting at the White House and he said, ‘I know I let everybody down and that’s on me, and I’m not going to let that happen again,’ and that was his attitude. We always had debate camps before, where we’d re-create in hotel ballrooms what the set would look like, and all of the conditions of the real debate. When we went down to Williamsburg, Virginia, for the next debate camp, he seemed really eager to engage in the prep. We had a decent first night. That was on Saturday. On Sunday night, Kerry, playing Romney, got a little more aggressive and Obama a little less so; it looked very much like what we had seen in Denver. It was like he’d taken a step back.

Scott Brown Is Elected Massachusetts Senatorturning Ted Kennedys Seat Republican For The First Time Since 1952 And Suddenly Throwing The Prospect Of Passing Obamacare Into Jeopardy

Plan B

“I’m talking to Rahm and Jim Messina and saying, ‘Okay, explain to me how this happened.’ It was at that point that I learned that our candidate, Martha Coakley, had asked rhetorically, ‘What should I do, stand in front of Fenway and shake hands with voters?’ And we figured that wasn’t a good bellwether of how things might go.

This might have been a day or two before the election, but the point is: There is no doubt that we did not stay on top of that the way we needed to. This underscored a failing in my first year, which was the sort of perverse faith in good policy leading to good politics. I’ll cut myself some slack — we had a lot to do, and every day we were thinking, Are the banks going to collapse? Is the auto industry going to collapse? Will layoffs accelerate? We just didn’t pay a lot of attention to politics that first year, and the loss in Massachusetts reminded me of what any good president or elected official needs to understand: You’ve got to pay attention to public opinion, and you have to be able to communicate your ideas. But it happened, and the question then was, ‘What’s next?’

Sheryl Sandbergs Lean In Hits Bookstores Making The Feminist Case That Women Should Be More Aggressive And Ambitious In Their Careers And Making Feminists Themselves Very Angry

The “Mommy Wars” Finally Flame Out

After decades of chilly backlash, we find ourselves, these past eight years, in an age of feminist resurgence, with feminist websites and publications and filmmakers and T-shirts and pop singers and male celebrities and best-selling authors and women’s soccer teams. Of course, as in every feminist golden age, there has also been dissent: furious clashes over the direction and quality of the discourse, especially as the movement has become increasingly trendy, shiny, and celebrity-backed.

Perhaps the most public feminist conflagration of the Obama years came at the nexus of policy and celebrity, of politics and pop power. It was the furor over Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who gave a viral 2010 TED Talk about women in the workplace who “leave before they leave” — who alter their professional strategy to accommodate a future they assume will be compromised by parenthood — which led to the publication of her 2013 feminist business manifesto, Lean In.

It’s a lesson of the Obama era: One approach to redressing inequality does not have to blot out the others. Sometimes, attacking from all angles is the most effective strategy.

Texas State Senator Wendy Davis Laces Up Her Pink Running Shoes And Spends Ten Long Hours Attempting To Filibuster A Billthat Wouldve Imposed Statewide Abortion Restrictions

“The Concept of Dignity Really Matters”

“I was given an enormous degree of latitude. I did communicate with the White House counsel on occasion about high-profile cases, but it was much more in the nature of just giving them a heads-up, to calm any nervous feelings they might have. There’s only one exception to that, and it was on marriage equality, in the Hollingsworth v. Perry case in 2013. We were contemplating coming in and arguing that it was unconstitutional for California to refuse to recognize the legal validity of same-sex marriages. But we didn’t have to do it . And because it was a discretionary judgment, and it was such a consequential step, that was the one matter where I really sought out the president’s personal guidance. I wanted to make sure the president had a chance to thoroughly consider what we should do before we did it. It was really one of the high points of my tenure. It was a wide-ranging conversation about doctrinal analysis, about where society was now, about social change and whether it should go through the courts or through the majoritarian process, about the pace of social change, about the significance of the right at stake. He was incredibly impressive.

A Golf Summit Between John Boehner And Barack Obama Stirs Hopethat Perhaps The Two Parties Will Come To A Budget Agreement And Forestall A True Crisis Secret And Semi

A Grand Bargain That Wasn’t, Remembered Three Ways

“The president of the United States and the Speaker of the House, the two most powerful elected officials in Washington, decided in a conversation that they both had to try to make something happen. Maybe it would be the way it worked in a West Wing episode in a world that doesn’t work like a West Wing episode. That’s how it started — two individuals saying we’re going to try. I think they both shared a belief in the art of the possible, and they both did not think compromise was a dirty word.

When our cover was blown — a Wall Street Journal editorial came out saying that Boehner and Obama were working on this and attacking the whole premise — that was devastating. It resulted in Cantor being a part of the talks. Cantor and Boehner came in, and I think it was a weekend private session with the president in the Oval Office, and they were talking about the numbers. At one point Cantor said, ‘Listen, it’s not just the numbers. There’s concern that this will help you politically. Paul Ryan said if we do this deal, it will guarantee your reelection. If we agree with Barack Obama on spending and taxes, that takes away one of our big weapons.’ There were so many obstacles, some of them substantive — how much revenue, and what about the entitlements? — but there was also this overlay of ‘This is going to help Obama.’

Illustrations by Lauren Tamaki

The Obama Administration Unveils Its Plan For Regulating Wall Streetwhich Is Then Introduced In Congress By Senator Chris Dodd And Representative Barney Frank

MJ=JC?

Lane Brown: Michael Jackson’s death was a big deal for lots of obvious reasons, including the surprising way it happened and the fact that he was arguably the most famous person on the planet.

Nate Jones: He was an A-lister with an indisputable body of work; he was 50 years old, his hits were the right age — old enough that every generation knew them, but not too old that they weren’t relevant anymore.

LB: But it was also the first huge celebrity death to happen in the age of social media, or at least the age of Twitter.

NJ: MJ’s death came alongside the protests in Iran, which was when Twitter went mainstream.

LB: It also meant that so much of the instant reaction was to make it all about us.

Frank Guan: In a lot of ways, the culture prefers the death of artists to their continuing to live. Once an artist gets launched into the stratosphere, there’s no way to come down, and that permanence becomes monotonous. They run out of timely or groundbreaking material and the audience starts tuning out. At some point, their fame eclipses their art, and then the only way to get the general audience to appreciate them anew is for them to die.

LB: People seem to like the grieving process so much that even lesser celebrities get the same treatment.

Congresswoman Gabby Giffords Returns To The House Floor For The First Time Since Being Shot In A Massacre In January Casting A Vote In Favor Of The Debt

A Rare Moment of Unity

“I was doing intensive rehabilitation in Houston at the time but was following the debate closely, and I was pretty disappointed at what was happening in Washington. I’d seen the debate grow so bitter and divisive and so full of partisan rancor. And I was worried our country was hurtling toward a disastrous, self-inflicted economic crisis. That morning, when it became clear the vote was going to be close, my husband, Mark, and I knew we needed to get to Washington quickly. I went straight from my rehabilitation appointment to the airport, and Mark was at our house in Houston packing our bags so he could meet us at the plane.

That night, I remember seeing the Capitol for the first time since I was injured and feeling so grateful to be at work. I will never forget the reception I received on the floor of the House from my colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats. And then, like I had so many times before, I voted.

I worked so hard to get my speech back, and honestly, talking to people who share my determination helped me find my words again. I’ve been to Alaska, Maine, and everywhere in between. Best of all, I got back on my bike. Riding my bike once seemed like such a huge challenge. It seemed impossible.”

Miley Cyrus Twerks At The Mtv Vmassetting Off A Controversy About Cultural Appropriation That Soon Ensnares Seemingly Every White Pop Star On The Planet

• Karlie Kloss wears a Native American headdress and fringed bra at the Victoria’s Secret fashion show.

• Justin Timberlake is accused of appropriating black music when he tells a black critic “We are the same” after praising Jesse Williams’s BET Humanitarian Award speech about race and police brutality.

• DJ Khaled gets lost on Jet Ski, snaps the whole time.

• Two UW-Madison students snap their meet-cute as the entire student body cheers them on.

• Playboy Playmate Dani Mathers films and mocks an anonymous woman in the gym shower.

• A Massachusetts teen records the sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl. The video is later seen by a friend of the victim.

Prior To Going To War In Iraq Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Optimistically Predicted The Iraq War Might Last Six Days Six Weeks I Doubt Six Months

What’s more, Vice-President Dick Cheney said we would be greeted as liberators by the Iraqi people after we overthrow Saddam.

They were both horribly wrong. Instead of six weeks or six months, the Iraq war lasted eight long and bloody years costing thousands of American lives. It led to an Iraqi civil war between the Sunnis and the Shiites that took hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives. Many Iraqi militia groups were formed to fight against the U.S. forces that occupied Iraq. What’s more, Al Qaeda, which did not exist in Iraq before the war, used the turmoil in Iraq to establish a new foothold in that country.

The Iraq war was arguably the most tragic foreign policy blunder in US history.

In 2012 Republicans Predicted That Failure To Approve The Keystone Pipeline Would Send The Price Of Gasoline Sky High And Kill Large Numbers Of Jobs

Despite the fact that the Keystone Pipeline was not approved, the price of gasoline continued to drop below $1.80 per gallon, millions of new jobs were created and unemployment dropped from 8% to 4.9% by early 2016. The most optimistic predictions say that the Keystone Pipeline would only create a few dozen long-term jobs and would do nothing to lower the price of gasoline.

Eric Cantors Stunning Primary Loss Suggests No Politician Is Safe From The Rage Of The Tea Party Not Even The Tea Partys Canniest Political Leader

From Party’s Future to Also-Ran in a Single Day

On the day his political career died, Eric Cantor was busy tending to what he still believed was its bright future. While his GOP-primary opponent, David Brat, visited polling places in and around Richmond, Virginia, Cantor spent his morning 90 miles away at a Capitol Hill Starbucks. He was there to host a fund-raiser for three of his congressional colleagues — something he did every month, just another part of the long game he was playing, which, he believed, would eventually culminate in his becoming Speaker of the House.

The preceding five years had brought Cantor tantalizingly closer to that goal. In the immediate aftermath of Obama’s election, he’d rallied waffling House Republicans to stand in lockstep opposition to the new president’s agenda. In 2010, he’d helped elect 87 new Republican members, giving the GOP a House majority and making Cantor the House majority leader. He became the champion of these freshmen members, stoking their radicalism during the debt-ceiling fight and working to undermine Obama and John Boehner’s attempt to strike a “grand bargain.” His alliance with the ascendant tea party was strategic — it gave him leverage not only over Obama but over other Republicans who might also have had aspirations of becoming Speaker. It never occurred to him that the wave he was trying to ride might crash on him instead.

In 1993 When Bill Clinton Raised Taxes On The Wealthiest 15% Republicans Predicted A Recession Increased Unemployment And A Growing Budget Deficit

They weren’t just wrong: The exact opposite of everything they predicted happened. The country experienced the seven best years of economic growth in history.

Twenty-two million new jobs were added.

Unemployment dropped below 4%.

The poverty rate dropped for seven straight years.

The budget deficit was eliminated.

There was a growing budget surplus that economists projected could pay off our national debt in 20 years.

Republicans Predicted That We Would Find Iraqs Weapons Of Mass Destruction Even Though Un Weapons Inspectors Said That Those Weapons Didn’t Exist

The Bush administration continued to insist that WMDs would be found, even when the CIA said some of the evidence was questionable. As we all know, the WMDs predicted by the Bush administration did not exist, and Saddam Hussein had not resumed his nuclear weapons program as they claimed. Ultimately, both President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to admit that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Republicans Predicted That President Obamas Tax Increase For The Top 1% In 2013 Would Kill Jobs Increase The Deficit And Cause Another Recession

You guessed it; just the opposite happened. In the four years following January 1, 2013, when that tax increase went into effect, through January 2017, unemployment dropped from 7.9% to 4.8%, an average of more than 200,000 new jobs were created per month, Wall Street set new record highs, and the budget deficit was cut in half.

Over 5.7 million new jobs were created in the first two years after that tax increase. That’s more jobs created in two years than were created during the combined 12 years of both Bush presidencies.

In 2001 When George W Bush Cut Taxes For The Wealthy Republicans Predicted Record Job Growth Increased Budget Surplus And Nationwide Prosperity

Once again, the exact opposite occurred. After the Bush tax cuts were enacted:

The budget surplus immediately disappeared.

The budget deficit eventually grew to $1.4 trillion by the time Bush left office.

Less than 3 million net jobs were added during Bush’s eight years.

The poverty rate began climbing again.

We experienced two recessions along with the greatest collapse of our financial system since the Great Depression.

In 1993, President Clinton signed the Brady Law mandating nationwide background checks and a waiting period to buy a gun.

Apple Announces That It Has Sold 100 Million Iphoneswithin A Few Months It Will Overtake Exxonmobil As The Most Valuable Company In The World

Earthlings Gain a New Appendage

What if we had the singularity and nobody noticed? In 2007, Barack Obama had been on the trail for weeks, using a BlackBerry like all the cool campaigners, when the new thing went on sale and throngs lined up for it. The new thing had a silly name: iPhone. The iPhone was a phone the way the Trojan horse was a horse.

Now it’s the gizmo without which a person feels incomplete. It’s a light in the darkness, a camera, geolocator, hidden mic, complete ­Shakespeare, stopwatch, sleep aid, heart monitor, podcaster, aircraft spotter, traffic tracker, all-around reality augmenter, and increasingly a pal. At the Rio Olympics you could see people, having flown thousands of miles to be in the arena with the athletes, watching the action through their smartphones. As though they needed the mediating lens to make it real.

This device, this gadget — a billion have been made and we scarcely know what to call it. For his 2010 novel of the near future, , Gary Shteyngart made up a word, “äppärät.” “My äppärät buzzing with contacts, data, pictures, projections, maps, incomes, sound, fury.” Future then, present now. His äppäräti were worn around the neck on pendants. Ours are in our pockets when they aren’t in our hands, but they also sprout earbuds, morph into wristwatches and eyeglasses. Contact lenses have been rumored; implants are only a matter of time.

Let’s face it, we’ve grown a new organ.

Republicans Said Waterboarding And Other Forms Of Enhanced Interrogation Are Not Torture And Are Necessary In Fighting Islamic Extremism

In reality, waterboarding and other forms of enhanced interrogation that inflict pain, suffering, or fear of death are outlawed by US law, the US Constitution, and international treaties. Japanese soldiers after World War II were prosecuted by the United States for war crimes because of their use of waterboarding on American POWs.

Professional interrogators have known for decades that torture is the most ineffective and unreliable method of getting accurate information. People being tortured say anything to get the torture to end but will not likely tell the truth.

An FBI interrogator named Ali Soufan was able to get al Qaeda terrorist Abu Zubaydah to reveal crucial information without the use of torture. When CIA interrogators started using waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation methods, Zubaydah stopped cooperating and gave his interrogators false information.

Far from being necessary in the fight against terrorism, torture is completely unreliable and counter-productive in obtaining useful information.

In 2008 Republicans Said That If We Elect A Democratic President We Would Be Hit By Al Qaeda Again Perhaps Worse Than The Attack On 9/11

Former Vice-President Dick Cheney stated that electing a Democrat as president would all but guarantee that there would be another major attack on America by Al Qaeda. Cheney and other Republicans were, thankfully, completely wrong. During Obama’s presidency, we had zero deaths on U.S. soil from Al Qaeda attacks and we succeeded in killing Bin Laden along with dozens of other high ranking Al Qaeda leaders.

Game Of Thrones Arrives On Televisionwith An Assemblage Of Dragons Torture Nudity Incest And Despair A Show The Whole Family Can Enjoy

Explaining Kale

ADAM PLATT: Many things in Foodlandia, these days, have a political element to them, and if you want to emblazon a flag to be carried into battle, you could do worse than a bristly, semi-digestible bunch of locally grown kale.

ALAN SYTSMA: To eat kale is to announce you’re a person who cares about the matters of the day.

AP: The idea of kale is much more powerful than kale itself. In short order it went from being discovered, to appreciated, to being something that was parodied. Frankly, I’m all for the parody.

AS: The same thing happened to pork. Remember bacon peanut brittle? Bacon-fat cocktails? There’s bacon dental floss.

AP: Ahhh, bacon versus kale. The two great, competing forces of our time.

AS: Do you think one gave way to the other?

AP: What we’re really talking about is artisanal bacon, and the more sophisticated-sounding pork belly, made from pigs that were lovingly reared at upstate farms and fed diets of pristine little acorns. Bacon is the great symbol in the comfort-food, farm-fresh-dining movement, a kind of merry, unbridled pulchritude. Kale is the righteous yin to pork’s fatty, non-vegan yang.

AS: But pork has an advantage: People like the way it tastes.

AP: That’s a huge advantage, one that will hopefully see it through to victory.