#''good job my son'' got me a 30 kill streak once...

[toastydumpster]

is this a safe space?

[ninak803]

Elitist Nightmares

Here it is! I promised you a new thing & here it finally is! Thank you @whataboutmyfries for working on this with me! It’s so much fun & I love the ideas you’re giving me! Can’t wait to see what the other chapters will bring us.

This is a wolfstar thing, but there are also @lumosinlove‘s lovely characters in here! Thank you for creating them, we all love them so much.

So enjoy y’all!

Chapter 1

Remus

Remus was standing in the small, overheated office. He had goosebumps nevertheless, but they didn't come from the room temperature or because he was feeling cold. 

They came because of his new mission, which he had just received. He knew it would come eventually, just the when was unclear. Until now. 

And he knew it had to be him, he was the best for this job.

He tucked the inconspicuous folder neatly under his arm and blinked against the darkness in the room to make out his boss’s silhouette

“Be done by the end of this month, Lupin.” a low voice said.

He turned around without another word and left his boss's office.

Remus was packing his backpack when his phone rang. He looked at the screen but didn’t recognize the number. That was weird. Just a few people had this phone number; and he knew all of their numbers by heart.

He picked it up.

“Hello?” Remus said.

There was a short moment of silence.

“Is there Remus Lupin?” a male voice said. It sounded young, with a southern accent.

“Who are you?” Remus asked, disgruntled.

“Oh yeah. I’m sorry. I’m Leo Knut. Dumbledore gave me your number. I’m sorry. I should have said that right away.”

Ah. So he called on Dumbledore's behalf. It must have something to do with his new mission.

“How can I help you?”

Remus looked at his watch. He didn’t have the time to make small talk right now, so this Leo Knut better hurried up a bit.

“I get the feeling that Dumbledore didn’t tell you the slightest thing about me, did he?” the caller sounded irritated.

“Well, I don’t know who you are or why you’re calling me, so obviously he didn’t. And hurry up a bit, could you? I don’t have time for this right now.”

Remus knew he sounded unfriendly and harsh, but he wanted to start this new job today and for that he still had a lot to prepare.

“I’m sorry, I know, but I’m your partner for this mission.”

“My what? My partner? I don’t work with partners. This must be a mistake.”

“Uh… No. Dumbledore told me himself.” Leo said.

“Okay, okay. We shouldn’t be talking about this on the phone. You know where I live, I guess? Be here in 10 minutes, we can talk then.” 

Remus didn’t wait for his answer and hung up.

He sighed.

A partner? Dumbledore knew pretty well that he was working alone. He didn’t need a partner, damn he didn’t want a partner!

Damn it.

Remus finished packing his backpack. He had put a water bottle, a pen and a notebook in there. He still needed some energy bars and apples just if he became hungry. Just in case.

The doorbell rang, and he went to the main door to open it.

Remus scanned his visitor quickly with an experienced look.

In front of him stood an approximately 1,85m to 1,90m tall, blonde boy. Remus guessed he wasn’t even 20 yet. His smile was bright and his blue eyes friendly. He had a grey streak of hair; he noticed. He wore simple blue jeans and a dark grey shirt, nothing remarkable. Good.

Remus stepped aside to let him in, then he closed the door behind them.

Leo held his hand up for Remus to take it, then shook it gently.

“Hi. I’m Leo Knut. Nice to meet you.”

Remus nodded.

“Nice to meet you. Here. Sit down, please. We have some talking to do.” 

Remus led him to the kitchen where Leo sat down on one of the chairs. Remus took two glasses out of the cupboard, filled them with water and handed him one of them, then sat down across from him.

“Merci.” Leo said as he took the glass.

“You’re from the South. Louisiana?” 

Leo nodded.

“New Orleans.”

Leo then filled him in. 

Dumbledore had forgotten to inform Remus that he will have a partner for this mission. It felt more like he didn’t tell him on purpose, because he knew Remus would protest. He didn’t need a partner and Dumbledore knew this damn well.

But Leo also said that he was new to this, and he needed a teacher and there wasn’t a better one than Remus.

He sighed.

“Okay, okay, you can work with me.” The younger ones' eyes lit up at that. “But we need rules. First you do as you're told. No acting on your own. Don’t question what I’m doing, I give you explanations when the time’s right. You have to be on time. And you’re staying in the background, don’t complain about it. Got it?”

Leo nodded.

“Okay. Good. So you know what we have to do next?”

“We’re observing Sirius Orion Black, heir of the Black Family, 25 years old, next one in power.”

“Right. This will take us some time. We need to figure out his habits, get to know the places where he goes. We simply need to get to know him but, and this is most important, he must not notice us. Never. And then…”

“Then?” Leo tilted his head.

“Then, when the opportunity arises, I'm going to kill him.”

---

Leo and Remus agreed to meet tomorrow morning at 5:30 am again, then start their investigation.

Remus sighed and sat down on his bed. This job just got a lot more complicated than he’d thought. There was a reason he usually worked alone: It wasn’t the safest job in the world and if something went wrong, which it usually doesn’t because he was careful but you never know, he was the only one to get hurt and no one else, only his life would be destroyed. But now there was Leo, and he seemed eager to learn, so Remus just had to be extra careful. Maybe it was good to have a second pair of eyes to watch for once. This was the most important mission Remus ever received. 

The Black family were the ones ruling the country, Orion Black to be more precise. Officially his wife Walburga didn’t have to say a thing in state affairs, but everyone knew she was holding the strings.

They had two sons: Sirius Orion Black, their oldest son and heir to the imperium, and Regulus Arcturus Black, the younger one.

This country had a democracy once, but it was long gone now. The Black family was in power now for the 6. generation and they didn’t plan on letting go, if anything they just made their position stronger and clearer over the years. And they weren’t good for the country, they weren’t good for the people. The only thing they were good at was making themselves richer and all the other poorer. There was a huge gap.

The plan was to finally end their reign with ending their descendents and then bring back democracy to this country.

Sirius

He woke up to a knock on his door. The sun was already shining through his bedroom window; the birds singing noisily and Sirius turned around, pulled his sheets over his head and closed his eyes again. He really didn’t want to get up. If he gets up, he has to deal with his family again and he just didn’t want to.

There was another knock on his door, more persistent this time, followed by a voice:

“Sirius, open the door. It’s me. I know you’re awake.”

Sirius sighed and got up. He unlocked the door, opened it and stepped aside so James could come inside.

James, a mess of black curls and blind without his glasses. His valet, his bodyguard and, most important, his best friend. His only reason he wasn’t completely insane by now.

Sirius walked back to his bed and sat down, still just in his underwear and a t-shirt, but he didn’t care, not in front of James. He had seen him worse, much worse.

“You’re here to bring me today's agenda, I assume?” Sirius said with a still hoarse voice from sleeping.

“You assume right my friend.” James answered and sat down next to him on the bed.

James smiled at him, a gentle and honest smile, not like the false and mean ones he received from his parents.

He told him what he had to do for the day. Being at this meeting, showing up at that meeting, having dinner with his family and some apparently important people. If he was lucky, he had some time to himself between meeting number two and dinner today, so that was a ray of hope at least.

“And now you should get up, take a shower, put some clean clothes on and get some breakfast. Your parents are already gone, don’t worry. Regulus is still waiting for you though, he told me to catch you.”

James got up and headed for the door.

“James?”

The other boy turned around and looked at Sirius, an eyebrow raised.

“Thanks. For sticking around.” 

“Of course.”

James smiled at him again and then left.

After showering, Sirius went into the dining room, where his brother was still sitting at his usual place. 

The table was filled with more food than any of them could eat: There were croissants, different kinds of fresh bread, pastries and fresh fruits.

Sirius sat down and reached for the coffee pot.

“It’s empty.” Regulus said without looking up from the newspaper he was reading.

Sirius wanted to say something, showing his brother his annoyance, but Regulus spoke again:

“I already ordered fresh coffee. Should be here any moment.”

Almost at the same moment one of the servants showed up and filled Sirius’ cup with fresh, steaming coffee.

“Thanks.” he said, not sure if he was talking to his brother or the servant.

He drank his coffee and had some fruits before he noticed Regulus eyes lingering on him.

“What’s up, brother dear?” he asked him.

“This dinner today is important.”

Sirius rolled his eyes.

“Shut up, Reggie.”

“Don’t call me that. You have to behave for once, don’t be… just don’t be you. Behave.”

The anger rose inside of Sirius. He should not be himself? Then who the fuck was he supposed to be?

“Didn’t Mom and Dad have time today to give me The Talk, or is that why you’re doing this?”

“Oh, I bet they will do it later. Just listen to me, it’s important. This dinner is important for the whole family, okay? You’re part of the family. You’re supposed to be the heir, act like it then.”

Sirius got up and left the room without another word.

He wasn’t hungry anymore.

[pidayforpi]

122,640 Days

How many days were there in 336 years?

A quick tap on the calculator, and our hero found out.

122,640 days. Neglecting leap years.

122,640 days. Would anything still remain after 122,640 days?

Daffy Duck stood inside his space ship, looking at the planet he called “home”. Were the stars too bright, or was his heart feeling sour?

Planet Earth in front of him seemed a bit cloudy through the wide windows. The reinforced glass was sparkly clean. Eager Young Space Cadet was always so diligent.

But what was cloudy was something the young pig would never imagine being cloudy.

Duck Dodgers, the national - no, universal - hero, always wore a boastful smile or a disappointed frown.

But the black-feathered duck in front of the panel of buttons was wearing an unreadable expression.

———————————————————————————————

“The breeze gently passes through the air, blowing towards the heart that should have been broken.

Enveloping those crossed, held hands in the everyday dusk, slowly disappearing.”

Somewhere on the blue-green planet, Daffy Duck could see a two-storey house. In that house, he could see a grey rabbit sitting on the sofa, caressing a brown “dog” on his lap. A brown mouse wearing a sombrero pushed opened the front door much taller than him, tired from a day’s work. The rabbit would greet him, and vice versa, before the mouse went inside his mouse hole.

Daffy knew there was a fourth occupant in the house: A black duck fast asleep in a messy bedroom. After all, the tenant always went to sleep strictly at 10:00 pm, only to wake up at 10:00 am the next day. The tenant was a heavy sleeper. No matter how noisy his housemates downstairs were, he would never wake up. No matter how noisy he snored, and how hard his housemates slapped him to wake him just to tell him to shut up, he would never wake up. 10:00 pm, and he’s a dead man for the next 12 hours. Even on New Year’s Eve, he would not give an exception. In fact, he would even sleep earlier at 8:30 pm, because he strongly believed that New Year was “a holiday invented by the media”, whatever that meant.

But if he was now given the chance to relive any New Year’s Eve, Daffy believed the black duck would be willing to stay up all night.

“Strange, isn’t it? Our smile never looked the same.

But now, it seems like I am looking at my own reflection.”

Daffy knew the duck was a moocher. He never worked to pay his rents, or anything for the house. Even the “dog” would win prize money from dog shows, and the mouse would use his hard-earned money to repay the house-owner: The rabbit. Not to mention the duck being a big spender, an irresponsible customer, often buying useless items at high prices. Heck, he even once used the rabbit’s money to buy and decorate his parade float, and a dozen of lobsters to fill the swimming pool for a barbecue. He even once stole the rabbit’s inventions, bought the house with the money earned, only to have the house destroyed when his (version of the rabbit’s) invention malfunctioned. Yet, the rabbit never kicked him out. Never sold the parade float, never got rid of all the lobsters. Instead, he built a time machine to save the house. Not only because it was his house in the first place, but it was also the abode of his best friend: The duck.

But if he was now given the chance to live in that house again, Daffy believed the black duck would take any job to repay the rabbit for his generosity.

“I won’t be sad. Because it’s nothing.

Hidden under those nonchalant greetings is my “thank you”.”

Daffy knew the duck was a terrible friend. He never kept his promises. He just took his friends for granted. Whenever he wanted something, he would ask his friends to pay for him. He wouldn’t even pay for a soda on the Grand Canyon himself. He stole the rabbit’s gloves when he needed to fix his parade float. He took his polite, innocent pig friend’s wallet to buy a ship, lying to his empathetic swine buddy that he needed a kidney transplant. The duck even forced him to be his butler to impress his girlfriend on a date, in the pig’s house no less! Not to mention the verbal and physical abuse the duck had inflicted on him during the dinner. He messed up his rooster friend’s film project for fun, his only excuse being that he wasn’t a professional actor. He was a terrible host at his own diner party, and a pathetic MC for a mystery game. Yet, they all attended his birthday party. Friendship and love were the only reasons they needed to forgive their duck-billed looney friend, not to mention him being fun to be with. The duck’s stupid grin and funny lisp were all they need to feel the power of friendship. Love really did defy common sense.

But if he was now given the chance to be at that birthday party again, Daffy believed the black duck would burst into tears of joy right then and there. Words couldn’t describe how grateful the duck was to his friends.

“Farewell. Bye bye. Please do take care.

Because this is a request I proposed first, please firmly catch it.”

He missed those days lounging around Pizzarriba with the rabbit and the pig, engaging in small talks when the mouse delivered two fresh, hot pizzas to their table with a wide smile.

He missed those days filling himself up with helium at the fun fair, just to win the title of “Mr Weiner” in front of his friends.

He missed those days playing bowling with the pig, a Martian and a puma, and helping them make overly long nicknames to insert into the leaderboard.

He missed those days at the Copy Place, where he made his first impression to his girlfriend as a weirdo ordering business cards stating himself as a wizard.

He missed those days being an outlaw chained to his rabbit friend, disguising themselves as yellow versions of themselves and somehow getting away with it.

He missed those days streaking (yes, streaking) with his pig friend in a remote village in Mexico, only to be put behind bars by the local sheriff.

He missed those days disguising as a university professor, and actually changing his name to “Professor”.

He missed those days sharing his house with his rude red-haired neighbour, and trying to scare him away with the rabbit when his misbehaviour were just too much.

He missed those days destroying an antique store owned by a pair of gophers in his fight with the rooster (and the fight between the rabbit and the red-haired neighbour). The shame when he cried for his mother in front of his friends!

He missed those days teaching his witch neighbour’s son how to defend himself against bullies. Even now, he didn’t think he had the power to push the red monster a mere centimetre away.

He missed those days ruining a whole dog show, nearly getting his rabbit friend arrested and his “dog” killed.

He missed those days training with the mouse, only to have the pig carry him throughout the marathon. The pig really was the local hero, as the papers said.

Yes, Daffy Duck really did miss those days. Those days, 122,640 days ago.

“Not long ago, we never talked about the future.

Although I am getting gentler, as wishes that cannot be granted accumulate.”

When he awoke from his 3.5 century slumber, just a glance around, and Daffy knew those days weren’t coming back.

He would rather be frozen forever, oblivious to the cruel reality.

In 122,640 days, everything changed.

No one remained, at least not as themselves.

Bugs Bunny, Speedy Gonzales, Tina Russo, Foghorn Leghorn, Pete Puma and Gossamer were nowhere to be found.

Porky Pig, “Poochie” the Tasmanian Devil, Marvin, Yosemite Sam, Mac and Tosh were there, technically. But they weren’t who they had been 122,640 days ago.

Especially good old Porky, the second best friend Daffy never admitted that he had. Without Bugs, Porky was the only one Daffy could count on.

But when the “Eager Young Space Cadet” looked at him with a confused, ignorant smile, Daffy knew that was not Porky. Not anymore.

The smile was the same, but not the owner of the smile.

Daffy was still surprised how he didn’t collapse and cry at that very moment.

“But now, for only a bit, please let me throw a little tantrum.”

And it didn’t help that Marvin, his high-school exchange classmate and friend, pointed his gun at him when they first met. Daffy really hoped Marvin had pulled the trigger at that time.

Poochie transformed into a real killing machine, Mac and Tosh reduced to vegetable-stealing mutants, while Yosemite Sam evolved from the local neighbourhood jerk to a galactic evil mastermind.

“I won’t be sad. It’s time for you to go.

Contradicting my cold salutations, I turned around.”

Yes. Porky would no longer jump at him for wasting his money for a ship. Marvin would no longer deliver pizzas with him via a tank. Sam would no longer be stupid enough to cut his own electricity supply, and ask for refuge at Daffy’s house.

He couldn’t tell Bugs how sorry and thankful he was for being his bestie. Couldn’t tell Speedy how delicious his frozen pizzas and 62 hot dogs were. Couldn’t tell Tina how good the name “Zachary” was. Couldn’t tell Gossamer how beautiful his voice was.

“Farewell. Bye bye. Please do take care.

If you write me a postcard or two every year, I will surely catch it tightly.”

Those meaningless, joyful, carefree days were never coming back.

———————————————————————————————

“Someday, we are going to meet again.

(It’s alright if you keep it. Whether it is the CD, or the harmonica...)”

If the buttons weren’t waterproof, the space ship would have crashed already.

Tears flowed out of Daffy’s eyes, dripping onto the metallic panel. He fell onto the cold, lifeless ground, wiping away tear after tear. The planet in front of him was no longer visible, leaving only a smear of blue and green.

“I won’t be sad. Please don’t be sad as well.

Don’t let me see that devastated expression, and cheer up.”

He told himself to keep quiet, to hold himself together. He was now Duck Dodgers, of the 24.5th century! Lest Space Cadet noticed his dear captain crying uncontrollably. But Daffy didn’t care. Right now, he was Daffy Duck, not some fictional hero in the future. Right now, he was back in the 21st century. He could cry all he wanted. He could be the pathetic loser he used to be.

No need for fame.

No need for power.

No need for disintegrating pistols or ultimatum dispatchers.

All he wanted were those 122,640 days back. Those scenes reflected on the photo frame on the control panel.

“Farewell. Bye bye. Please do take care.

I hope that when we congratulate each other, we can meet again.”

The photo frame he received on his birthday, made from pictures of himself. Many have dismissed it as a spoof of narcissism. But little did they know that photo frame meant the world to Daffy.

“I won’t be sad. Because it’s nothing.

Hidden under those nonchalant greetings is my “thank you”.”

Daffy took the old photo frame, and embraced it tightly. He couldn’t look at the pictures clearly anyway. But he could see his friends planning his birthday party at Pizzarriba, making his birthday presents, and decorating both the house and the restaurant...

“Farewell. Bye bye. Please do take care.

Because this is a request I proposed first, please firmly catch it.”

A pair of trembling arms hugged Daffy from behind. The creator of the photo frame. Eager Young Space Cadet must be so confused seeing his captain crying his eyes out with his self-portrait so late at night. He didn’t even know who made the photo frame, let alone what was making his brave captain so, so sad.

“Farewell. Bye bye. Please do take care.

If you write me a postcard or two every year, I will surely catch it tightly.”

Daffy didn’t have to look to see Porky’s puzzled expression. And yes, that was Porky. Not some random “Space Cadet”. That was his second best friend, the one who made him that old, dusty, rusty photo frame. He might not remember it, but Daffy would never forget.

“Farewell. Bye bye. Please do take care.

Because this is a request I proposed first, please firmly catch it.”

———————————————————————————————

Somewhere in the reflection of his overflowing tears, Daffy could see a pizza parlour in a busy city. The bell jingled when he opened the front door, people’s laughter filled his ears. Mouthwatering aroma of pizzas filled his nostrils as soon as he stepped into the restaurant. He didn’t request for a table - He was always the late one.

He sat down besides a grey rabbit and a pink pig at their usual seats, right before a brown mouse with a sombrero dashed towards them with a pencil, a notebook and a bright, friendly smile. Daffy didn’t need the menu. He always ordered the same dish. Every year. Every day.

“Two cheese pepperoni pizzas. The usual.”

(16-4-2020 ~ 20-4-2020)

——————————————————————————————

-(I originally wanted to post this story along with another Ducktales long story, but since it’s a long story, I still haven’t finished it, so...)

-(This is also the first fan-fic I have finished in my life.)

-This story is the result of my new found interest in The Looney Tunes Show and Duck Dodgers in April 2020. The background is a possible AU (?) in which (1) Duck Dodgers is Daffy Duck (is this canon?), and (2) is the Daffy Duck from the Looney Tunes Show, making The Looney Tunes Show a prequel and Duck Dodgers a sequel.

-The number of year “336” is the difference between year 2350 and 2014. Since the Duck Dodgers show doesn’t mention which year it is set specifically in, or how many years is Duck Dodgers frozen for, I am improvising here. Year 2350 is exactly 24.5th Century, while year 2014 is the end of The Looney Tunes Show (2011-2014). I picked 2014 (instead of 2011) because I presume the events in the show happen between 2011-2014, such that after the end of the show, Daffy Duck is frozen until year 2350.

-The song lyrics (in Italic and Bold) are from “Sayonara Byebye” (さよならbyebye) performed by Mawatari Matsuko (馬渡松子). It is best known (and is actually composed) for the anime version of Yu ☆ Yu ☆ Hakusho (幽☆遊☆白書) by the (in)famous Togashi Yoshihiro (冨樫義博) as the second ending theme. The translations are by me. The song is about parting ways, and is actually an inspiration for this story, as well as one of my personal favourite anime theme songs.

(It is a bit off to be in an action anime, especially when it’s played during an intense battle tournament arc (you know which one I mean if you watched the anime before), but the song is great nonetheless. In fact, the song fits the ending of the series. I would say it may be planned?)

-Most (if not all) of the flashback scenes (or references) in the story appear in various episodes of The Looney Tunes Show. The photo frame is the one given to Daffy by Porky as a birthday present in the episode “Muh-Muh-Muh-Murder” (S01E25), for instance.

-By chance, I wrote this story across Daffy’s birthday (screen debut), which is on April 17.

-And I also wrote this during my public exam preparation period. Yes I am pathetic.

-Also the Japanese dub is good in both DD and TLTS. (・∀・)

Duck Dodgers, The Looney Tunes Show and any character involved belong to Warner Bros.

“さよならbyebye” is written by リーシャウロン, composed and performed by 馬渡松子.

“幽☆遊☆白書” is created by the wonderful 冨樫義博-sensei.

[hsiao-kang]

Fiona Shaw by David Yeo for The Telegraph, ‘Killing Eve's secret weapon Fiona Shaw on finding new fame, and falling in love at almost 60’ by Jessamy Calkin (full article under the cut)

Fiona Shaw has found a new audience thanks to her scene-stealing turns in Killing Eve  and Fleabag. The Shakespearean actor turned small-screen sensation talks spies, celebrity, tragedy, and getting married later in life.

You look great, I tell Fiona Shaw. Must be the pig’s placenta. Shaw, 60, pretty and angular in a soft grey shirt, smiles enigmatically from the sofa of her north London home. Pig’s placenta is her MI6 officer Carolyn Martens’ beauty secret in the second series of Killing Eve, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s dark, wildly successful thriller about a psychopathic female assassin called Villanelle and Eve Polastri, the agent hunting her down.

But pig’s placenta aside, Shaw puts her youthful appearance down to ‘not being in the theatre every single night’. Which is where she’s been for pretty much the past 30 years. Formerly known for a huge body of iconic stage roles, including Hedda Gabler, Medea, Electra and Richard II, as well as for playing Aunt Petunia in the Harry Potter films, Shaw’s fame is now more attributable to her transition to television.

In Killing Eve, Waller-Bridge has taken a genre that’s a little worn out – the international-assassin thriller – and given it a completely different slant. The show won five awards at the Baftas earlier this month – including Outstanding Drama Series and Best Supporting Actress for Shaw, who in her acceptance speech referred to the ‘glass-shattering genius’ of Waller-Bridge.

Carolyn Martens, head of Russia at MI6, is a perfect example of Waller-Bridge’s wayward approach. Carolyn is very still. Arch, deadpan, erudite, severe. But she has a tipsy flirtatious side, and a hidden messy streak. She’s oblique – and the viewer doesn’t know how much she knows, or whether or not to trust her. Nor does Eve (played superbly by Sandra Oh). ‘I once saw a rat drink from a can of Coke there,’ Carolyn says earnestly to a bemused Eve when they’re in a rubbish-strewn alley. ‘Both hands. Extraordinary…’

‘Carolyn’s a joy to write,’ says Emerald Fennell – best known as an actor for Call the Midwife, and The Crown’s new Camilla – who took over from Waller-Bridge as lead writer on the second series (Waller-Bridge remains an executive producer). ‘Her blood runs very cool. She’s like a freediver who has trained herself to hold her breath and slow down her heartbeat – she’s done it for so long it’s now a permanent state. Her ability to steer an awkward conversation into blithely surreal territory is unparalleled and somehow seems very British.’

The character is entirely dependent on Shaw, adds Fennell. ‘She is unbelievably brilliant, funny, and scarily clever. In one of the episodes, another character mentions [11th-century saint] Anselm’s ontological argument [for the existence of God], and during the read-through it transpired that Fiona had written a literal thesis on it. Quite embarrassing for those of us who only had the most passing Wikipedia acquaintance with Anselm (me). Fiona’s cleverness and wit are built into the fabric of who Carolyn is.’

Shaw compares playing the part to keeping a secret at the same time as delivering a line. ‘It’s not easy to do. I have to say I do lose sleep over it – I’m playing somebody very different to what I normally play. Normally I have to expose the truth. When I’m in the theatre, where I would be swimming with the tide, it’s my job to lasso the audience and to make sure they understand the moral dilemma of the piece – that’s what leading players do. You are sort of the MC for the night…

In Killing Eve, most of my work is about knowing more than everybody else in the scene and hiding it. And it’s a terribly lonely thing to do. It feels all wrong – like rubbing my tummy and patting my head at the same time. I want to smile, I want to make jokes – but you are left with an ambiguity. You don’t know whether I know I’ve made a joke or not. It’s very good exercise for me.’

Even though they are friends, stepping into Waller-Bridge’s shoes must have been tricky for Fennell. ‘I think of Killing Eve as a beautiful, haunted doll’s house that Phoebe built,’ she says. ‘She’s already made this incredible world full of insanely compelling people, so the pleasure of writing it is to get to play in there, to put in a few of your own trapdoors and secret passageways, to move those characters around and occasionally push some of them down the stairs.’

Earlier this year, Shaw appeared in the second series of Waller-Bridge’s other seminal television show, Fleabag. Initially she had to turn it down because she was directing Cendrillon at Glyndebourne (directing opera is another of her talents). Then Fleabag overran, and she was able to join in after all.

Waller-Bridge is the definitive young auteur of our times, and it seems she can do no wrong. The stage production of Fleabag – coming to the West End in August – sold out in an hour. ‘I feel she’s nearest to Oscar Wilde,’ says Shaw now, ‘which is to say she’s greater than the sum of her parts.’ Comedy, in some ways, is quite a conservative thing, Shaw thinks, although it may not seem that way. ‘But it always has a frame; it stays within that frame but it kicks against it, like a child in a playpen.

‘Phoebe develops people so they turn into bigger people, and bigger people, and I think that’s 
a confidence that’s come with her previous work. She’s mastered one form, and she’s been able to take the gate off and let the characters run out into the field – and yet they’re still intact, and the audience follow them. It’s superb.’

For actors, she says, that approach couldn’t be better, which is why so many of them, including herself, Andrew Scott and Kristin Scott Thomas, are desperate to work with Waller-Bridge.

‘I could have played the boss of MI6 and pretty well come up with the same “ker-chings” every week,’ says Shaw, who also played an MI6 officer in BBC One’s recent Mrs Wilson, ‘but that isn’t what happens in Killing Eve.’

Waller-Bridge was always on set during the making of the first series, constructing and reconstructing her work like a Rubik’s Cube. When Sandra Oh pointed out that the actor Sean Delaney, who plays Kenny Stowton (a young ex-hacker recruited by MI6), looked like Shaw, Waller-Bridge decided to make his character her son in the story, and wrote it in, just like that.

Killing Eve, though it seems so British, is a BBC America production, having been initially overlooked here, according to executive producer Sally Woodward Gentle (this was before Fleabag became a TV hit). Woodward Gentle had read the Codename Villanelle novellas by Luke Jennings, on which Killing Eve is based, and approached Waller-Bridge. She had seen her one-woman play in Edinburgh, and thought she would bring a different energy to the show.

Shaw is taken aback by its popularity, and 
particularly by the wide demographic to which 
it appeals. ‘Fathers and sons watch it, mothers 
 and daughters, husbands and wives. I don’t think it bears much analysis. I suppose it has no politics, it’s fantasy really and that’s why I think the violence is nearly allowable – it’s cartoonish.’

It’s also stylish – the music is great; the costumes are superb; the graphics are slick – and clearly a high-budget project, shot in London, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam. Shaw is often recognised for playing Carolyn. She was amazed when, on a New York street recently, someone reacted so wildly on seeing her that she appeared to be having a fit.

Fiona Shaw grew up in Montenotte, Cork, with three brothers. Her father was an ophthalmic surgeon and her mother was a physicist. She always wanted to be a tennis player, she says, but instead studied philosophy at University College Cork and then went to Rada in London. She still remembers the audition: the teacher told her later that she smelled of libraries.

That’s because it was as if she was born into the 19th century, she says now, compared to the other applicants. She was not cool. Everyone was instructed to wear a black dress. Shaw had made her own and it was a bit wonky. She was terrified. ‘I remember some American guys at the audition were doing press-ups, and people were talking about the Royal Shakespeare Company – and I thought, I haven’t a hope in hell.’

Hearing she’d got in was, she says, ‘one of the nicest moments in my life’. She is still an advisor at Rada. She worked hard and went straight into the cast of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s play The Rivals at the National Theatre, alongside Michael Hordern and Tim Curry (‘I couldn’t have been in better company’). Her father had his reservations, ‘but I think he thought I would come to my senses’. A year later she joined the RSC. Her parents would come and watch her, and her obvious success calmed her father’s fears. ‘He got much more interested when he could read about me in the paper – in the end he was incredibly supportive but I had to go through the firewall of his disapproval for a while.’

Then her brother Peter was killed in a car crash. Shaw was 28 at the time. ‘That was such a blow to my family. Neither of my parents could really function for about a year after that. It was very hard for them.’

Two years after her brother died, she was offered the role of Electra (for which she won the first of two Olivier Awards), and in some strange way found herself channelling her grief. ‘I loved comedy – but then I was asked to do Electra. Deborah Warner was directing and I thought, oh well, I’ll give it a go. But I didn’t see the point of a tragedy and I couldn’t do it at all. And slowly I realised that it’s much more about yourself. And I discovered a new world through tragedy.

‘Electra has a brother who she thinks is dead – and I knew something about having a brother who was dead. I wouldn’t say in any way that I was mainlining my brother, but I suddenly realised that plays are about life, and domestic tragedies are heightened in the theatre – but they are the same as all our tragedies – and that is what the theatre is for. I don’t know why I hadn’t worked that out before.’

It was the first of many collaborations with Warner (with whom Shaw also had a relationship), which went on to include Hedda Gabler, a controversial Richard II at the National in 1995, and Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children.

Shaw’s first major film role was in My Left Foot with Daniel Day-Lewis (1989). Soon after came Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), and later the Harry Potter series. It is the former, she says, for which she is most recognised by the public. She has just finished filming Ammonite, an historical drama directed by Francis Lee, in which she plays Elizabeth Philpot, a palaeontologist, opposite Saoirse Ronan, and Kate Winslet as fossil hunter Mary Anning.

Was there a moment when she felt she had made it on her own terms? ‘I think I was very lucky. I didn’t do film on my own terms – you’re either a film star or you are not – because I was so obsessed with the theatre when I was young. Probably I would have had to go and sit in Hollywood – but I wouldn’t do that.

‘But I have done a lot of things on my terms, just being allowed to do those shows: Electra, Hedda Gabler – and Richard II, which seemed quite nerve-racking at the time, but that was part of the thrill of it. So I’ve always tried to do things which are hard to do – maybe even to a fault.’ She has never, she says, been trapped in a long run of a West End show she didn’t want to do. ‘There always had to be an element of experiment.’

And she loves taking theatrical risks. Like her rendition of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which premiered at Epidaurus in Greece in 2012, then went to the Old Vic Tunnels in London in 2013, and on to the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Or (with Warner) the dramatisation of TS Eliot’s The Waste Land she performed in locations including an old disco in Brussels and a former munitions factory in Dublin. Last month she revisited it in New York, reciting it against the backdrop of a sculpture exhibition in Madison Square Park – it wasn’t advertised but word spread and people came in their hundreds. ‘It was a huge pleasure, it happened almost by accident – “Will you turn this water into wine?” And I did. It was lovely.’

Shaw’s father, Denis, died in 2011, but her mother, Mary, is 93 and still lives in the house that Shaw grew up in. She drives, plays tennis. When Shaw goes back home she sleeps in her old bedroom. ‘Well, I try not to – it’s awful to sleep in the bedroom you had when you were 14. Some things are still exactly the same, the wardrobe and the poster of Narcissus – do you remember those terrible posters?’

Shaw lives between the house in north London and New York, where her wife Sonali Deraniyagala, a Sri Lankan economist, teaches at Columbia University. In 2004, Deraniyagala was on holiday in Sri Lanka with her family when they were caught in the tsunami. Her husband, parents and two young sons died. For years, Deraniyagala lived in a haze of madness and grief. In 2013, she wrote an extraordinary memoir, Wave, which won several awards and had some remarkable reviews.

Shaw was in New York performing in Colm Tóibín’s The Testament of Mary when somebody gave her Deraniyagala’s book. She read it in her dressing room. ‘I thought it was the best thing I’d read for a long time, on any level.’ She mentioned this in an interview. Then things came together in a felicitous way: Shaw was supposed to return home straight after the play closed, but she had a serious ear infection (due to having to disappear for several minutes in a plunge pool every night on stage), and was unable to fly. She stayed in New York and went to a Laurie Anderson concert, where she was invited to Anderson’s book club – they were reading Wave – to meet the writer.

‘I was so surprised that she was that person – not the person in the book. We spent half an hour chatting. When I left I thought, I have just met life.’

She pauses. ‘The play had been exhausting and so much about death, and I was feeling so miserable, and I thought, that person is life – even though she has had more death than you would wish on your worst enemy, there’s a force in her that is just life.’

When Deraniyagala came to London they met up again. ‘Very quickly I thought, I just want to live with this person, and it’s been one of the most marvellous things to happen – but it was also highly unlikely. But in my profound self, at my core, I thought, I want to live with this person. It was deeper than anything. And thankfully, she thought the same – it’s been a beautiful thing to happen at this stage of my life.’

They got married in Islington town hall in January of last year, and then had their wedding party on the day of the royal wedding. ‘It was fantastic. Half of Sri Lanka came and it was a very beautiful wedding – everyone was wearing saris and looking gorgeous. My mother played the piano and sang, which was quite hilarious, and we had a band and dancing, a very late party.’

Her mother sounds very enlightened, being 93 and coming from a small town in Ireland. Were there no raised eyebrows at the fact that Shaw was marrying a woman? (As well as Warner, she previously had a relationship with the actor Saffron Burrows.)

‘More than raised. But it’s fine – the world is changing fast. My mother was very good about it and also very impressed by who Sonali is.’

So she’s not religious? ‘Oh she is, but she’s also terribly funny about it. And she’s a sort of nouveau old person. I think being old is quite a shock for her – and a lot of friends are dead, and some of them have lost their minds. But she’s very well – and very happy for me.’

Deraniyagala and Shaw have been to Sri Lanka several times to visit Deraniyagala’s aunt, and love it there. Given what happened to Deraniyagala, recent events – the bombings at Easter – must have been completely destabilising. ‘Sri Lanka has been very much at peace for the last 10 years since the war, but the scale of what happened with those 250 people dead – it’s as big as 9/11 for them, because it’s such a small island. They were innocent people, and it’s the most depressing thing – and terribly hard for Sonali – because the mass funerals are very near to the mass funerals of her family; it’s terribly hard for her to revisit that time. It feels a bit like a natural disaster because it has no rhyme or reason. It’s a black hole of destruction.’

Shaw is about to start work on a film called Corvidae, a thriller co-written and directed by young film-maker Joe Marcantonio. Then Killing Eve series three is on the cards for next year. If she had to choose only one discipline to work in for the rest of her life – theatre, film, opera or television – which would she choose?

‘That’s a cruel question. I would find it very difficult, but I would probably say television because I’ve done 30 years of the theatre. I’ve worked morning, noon and night, sometimes rehearsing all day and performing every night for decades. That’s a lot. I don’t have any great need to do that again.

‘And I’m very interested in television now because one of the new pleasures it’s given me is the scope of the audience. We used to be thrilled when we had 500 people, or 1,000. Now we have millions and you think, oh God, this is so obvious. Especially when the material is of such great quality and so uncynical. A few years ago they were just churning television out, but they aren’t now – it has some of the best minds working in it. So I feel in a way like I’m in the same profession, it’s just the shape of the stage which has changed.’

In the end, she says, in any medium, it all comes down to the same things she has always aspired to, and which she is so excited about – that sense of infinite possibility in a role, and the thrill of making the heartbeat of the audience quicken.

Killing Eve returns to BBC One and iPlayer in June

[useless-slytherclaw]

Chapter 30: Snake

TW: Violence and Death

Regulus worked his way through the dense foliage as quickly as he could.  The density of leaves overhead turned the sunlight murky green and deepened the shadows to almost black in places.  The forest reminded him of Grimmauld place: old, green, and oppressive.  He was nearly to the clearing when he heard crashing in the forest to his left.  Regulus froze, slowly turning towards the source.  

“Stay where you are Greyback.”

“We’ve got you trapped.”  Regulus was pretty sure that was Sirius talking.

There was a harsh, rasping laugh.  “The little pup is all grown up. You’re not as pretty as you used to be, Remus.”

There was a growl that could have come from anyone.  Curiosity was rising in Regulus, but he didn’t have the time to sit and listen.  He moved away from the altercation as quietly as he could.

“Why are we even talking to him?”  That was Sirius.  

There was a flash of green light.  Regulus froze.  For a second he was terrified he was going to hear Sirius or Lupin cry out, that Greyback had gotten one of them.  But neither did.  So Regulus kept going.  The flash of green light had sent his heart into overdrive.  He had to force down a wave of anxiety as he moved.  He’d seen people killed.  He’d killed people.  This was nothing new.  He had a job to do.  He needed to focus on that. 

He came to the point where the trees started to thin and stopped. Voices could be heard ahead of him.  He needed to look into the clearing so he could locate the Dark Lord’s snake and kill it.  If he just walked up, he would certainly be seen.  It’s possible they would be distracted, but he didn’t want to gamble on that.   He looked up.  Climbing a tree would give him a good vantage point and some cover.  There were plenty of low hanging branches.  He reached for the closest one with more than a little trepidation.  He’d climbed a tree all of once in his entire life, and that had been when he was twelve; climbing trees wasn’t something his mother had considered an appropriate pastime for her sons.  Reminding himself that he had been much higher up while flying, he made his way up into a tree.  The ascent was half uncoordinated scramble and half overcautious climb.  Edging his way carefully down one branch and onto another, he moved closer to the clearing, tree by tree.  As soon as he had a view of the clearing he stopped.

Cloaked and hooded figures stood in a loose ring, hanging back to the edges of the clearing where the trees cast heavy shadows, despite the fact that the sun had yet to set.  In the center of the clearing the Dark Lord and Potter stood.  Regulus searched the surrounding area for signs of Dumbledore but found none.  Still, he suspected Dumbledore was capable of making himself unnoticeable.  

“I am a fair man, Harry Potter,” the Dark Lord’s voice was as horrible and cold as it had been in Narcissa’s memories.  “I will give you a chance to duel me since you have come here to face me.”

Laughter rippled through the ranks of Death Eaters, and Bella’s high pitched laugh echoed louder than the others.  Somehow, it sounded even more deranged and crueler than it had when Regulus had last heard it; it sent cold chills down his spine.  

Regulus tuned out the discussion at the center of the clearing; he needed to focus on finding the snake.  Potter was willing to sacrifice himself to allow for the Dark Lord’s demise, and Regulus would not let that be in vain because he couldn’t find a snake.  Every time Regulus had seen the snake, it had been close to the Dark Lord.  Surely, the Dark Lord would want to keep the snake close after losing his other Horcruxes?

“Where are you,” he muttered.  He moved his eyes systematically around the clearing.  Anxiety was beginning to claw its way up his throat.  What if the Dark Lord had left his snake somewhere else for safekeeping?  Then he remembered his wand and cursed himself for an idiot.

Focusing on the image of the snake in his mind he murmured, “Invenio.” Then, “Serpens,” for good measure.  Simple augmentations of spells were something his parents had insisted he learn.  What else was the purpose of that Latin and greek he had to learn?  His wand jerked in his hand, twisting to his right.  He looked where his wand was pointing, but still, he saw nothing.  He slackened his grip on his wand so that it could move freely.  

“Invenio Serpens,” he tried again, making sure to hold the image of the Dark Lord’s snake in his mind.  He had no doubt there were plenty of other snakes in the Forbidden Forest that his spell could find.  His wand moved in his hand, pointing up as well as to his right.  Regulus narrowed his eyes and looked in the trees where his wand was pointing.  For several moments there was nothing, and then he saw movement.  He couldn’t completely make out the shape of the green snake moving among the green leaves, but he saw the way branches and leaves shook.  

Regulus glanced from the snake to the ground where the Dark Lord and Potter were standing.  Flashes of light were coming out of their wands.  It seemed at first like any duel, but it was obvious to Regulus, who had seen the Dark Lord in action before, that he was playing with Potter.  Gritting his teeth Regulus glanced from the snake to the Dark Lord.  Killing the snake would likely distract the Dark Lord, and Regulus needed him to kill Potter.  The snake’s death could also anger the Dark Lord enough to make him stop the farce of a duel.  

Grimacing, Regulus pointed his wand at the snake.  Then he looked down; the ground was maybe six or seven feet below him.  He’d have to get down quickly after the spell.  He did not relish the idea of jumping down from here.  The jet of light from his wand could easily give away his position.  Hopefully, the Death Eaters wouldn’t be able to move much faster in the forest than he could.  Anxiety was beginning to squeeze him again.  Why had he gotten himself into this situation? Why couldn’t he just let the Order deal with it?

Regulus gritted his teeth, this wasn’t the time for panic.  Kneeling down on the branch, he took aim at the snake.  He waited for several heartbeats until it moved again and he could make sure his wand was pointed directly at the snake.  The snake had to die.

“Decrusto!”  Regulus watched as the spell streaked across to its target.  For a moment nothing happened.  Then the body of the snake exploded, disintegrating into fine ashes.  As soon as the ashes started to drift away, Regulus shoved his wand into his pocket, grabbed the branch below him, and dropped so he was hanging by his hands.  Then he let go. His heart jumped into his throat, but he landed.  He started moving away at an angle so that he was moving away from the snake and away from the clearing.  

“Nagini!” A horrible scream that barely sounded human came from the clearing.  Regulus pushed himself faster.  The Dark Lord had noticed.  

“Find them!” The Dark Lord’s voice was high and commanding.  “Hunt them down!  There are enemies around us, my friends.”

Adjusting his trajectory, Regulus pushed himself directly away from the clearing.  He fumbled with his pocket to pull out his wand without slowing down.  

“And you,” the Dark Lord’s voice cut through the woods.  “Potter.”

Regulus knew what was coming next, but it didn’t stop his heart from jumping into his throat.

“Avada Kadavra!”

Regulus felt sick.  He kept moving, but in his mind’s eye, he saw the muggle kid that Bella had forced him to kill.  It didn’t matter that Potter was older or that he had decided to sacrifice himself.  Regulus couldn’t stop imagining the way his body would fall slack and collapse.  But still, he kept running through the forest, jumping over roots, ducking under branches.  His breathing was getting heavy, heavier than the exertion warranted.  

He could hear people in the forest behind him now.  Options flew through Regulus’ mind.  Keep running? Slow down to be quieter?  Hide? Climb a tree again to get out of the way?  What was the best option?  He didn’t have much time.  He didn’t feel like getting trapped up a tree with a Death Eater below him, so that was out.  

Coming to a decision, Regulus slowed nearly to a stop. He began to climb more carefully over the roots and branches.  The light was getting lower too.  He kept his ears focused on the sound of pursuit, but his eyes roamed around, hunting for a place to hide.  His gaze caught on a large, half-dead tree.  The gnarled roots came up past Regulus’ waist and the tree was broken open.  Quietly, he moved towards it.  He was able to step into the gap in the tree, with his back to the wood, he ducked down so that the shadow of the roots hid him.  Read the next chapter on AO3

[lizzy-c807fanfics]

That Old Black Magic: Ch.12 - Tumblr exclusive Sneak Peek

image by @imagnifika

Killian Jones and Emma Swan didn’t meet under the usual circumstances but they had an immediate spark that ignited into a fiery relationship. Their complimentary life styles create the perfect partnership at both home and work. Can she and Killian keep up their lucky streak while navigating through the dangerous lives they lead? Find out in this Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire Mystery: That old black magic.

In this sequel two sorority girls have gone missing. Emma is on the case to try to track them down. Along the way she manages to piss off some of the wrong people adding complexity to her case.

FF    AO3

Read the first story Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire here! -

FF AO3

A/N: OK - It’s CS March Madness and its my day to post. I’ve been working on Chapter 12 for this event. My story was sitting on ice for a long time and I’ve got a lot of details to work through to get this right. I wanted to post the final for the event but I’m just not quite ready to finalize this so I’m giving you all a sneak peek until the final touches are on this. Thank you @csmarchmadness​ for letting me participate!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  

Ch. 12

Killian went into the bathroom to compose himself. He needed to have a cool head no matter how angry he was feeling. He turned on the cold water and splashed some on his face multiple times until he felt a numbness. He blindly felt to the right grabbing the soft white towel, the one that Emma insisted on having by the sink, from the tiny towel holder to dry off quickly. He held his face in the towel letting the soft fibers warm his cool skin. He hung it back in its place.  He smiled, when he thought about how Emma had affected his life. He looked up, noticing his wildly tousled hair in the mirror. He quickly ran his fingers through it pushing back the stray pieces that seemed to have a mind of their own. He stopped for a moment when he really noticed the man looking back at him in the mirror. He could see the anger in his eyes. He knew he had a temper and he had to be careful. The killing machine he was trained to be and the man that loves Emma are one person. If the trigger were flipped no one could stop him.  He breathed in deeply and exhaled once more before leaving to greet his friend.

 His mood quickly changed at the sight before him. Emma and Mary Margaret were in a deep hushed conversation. He turned to see Dave holding a sleeping baby on his shoulder pacing back and forth. Dave smiled as he continued to lightly pat his sons back. “Mary Margaret thought the car ride over would help get our little man to sleep.” Whispered Dave.

Killian peered at the sleeping baby’s face.  It seemed impossible to maintain such an angry mood after seeing that little angel. Seems to have worked.” He whispered.

David nodded. ”So far so good.” He whispered.

He noticed Mary Margaret and Emma had moved farther into the corner of the room. He moved closer to Dave to keep the volume of his voice in check. “What’s going on over there?” he asked.

Dave leaned closer. “Mary Margaret is trying to convince Emma to come to our place tonight.”

Killian grinned. “She’s quite stubborn as you know. It was one of the first thing’s I’d mentioned to her when we found the knife in the door.”

Dave raised his eyebrows. “Oh, I know how stubborn she can be. What did she say when you suggested it?”

Killian grabbed a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water. “I’m sure you can imagine simply by watching them. I see an awful lot of head shaking happening over there.”  He said before sipping his drink.

“Mary Margaret can be pretty persuasive when she wants to be.” Whispered Dave.

“Can I get you a drink?” asked Killian.

David shook his head. He could see the man was trying to remain as silent as possible. Poor Mary Margaret, even from this distance he could see she looked tired. He couldn’t help but think that maybe there was another reason the couple wanted them to stay the night.  

It wasn’t long before the ladies came over and joined them. “Hi Killian. Sorry to spring our visit on you.” Said Mary Margaret.

He smiled. ” You don’t need a reason to come. Dave filled me in. The lad looks very content now.”

Mary Margaret leaned over to see her sleeping son’s face. “You should have seen, well heard him, 30 minutes ago.” She whispered.

David seemed like he was beginning to stir awake. The look that passed between Dave and Mary Margaret was priceless. As if he knew what she was saying he began to walk around towards the darker corner of the apartment.

Mary Margaret let out a nervous breath. “If only we could get him to sleep for the night.” she explained.

“Hey, if you ever need a break you know you can call me, right?” said Emma.  

Mary Margaret put her hand on Emma’s shoulder. “I know. It’s just hard to admit defeat. We prayed for him for so long. I don’t want to seem ungrateful but wow, I am so tired.” She explained.

“It’s only natural for new parents to be tired, or at least so I’ve been told.” Said Killian. He noticed Dave sending him a signal which was likely to be interpreted as, don’t you dare tell my wife I’ve been sleeping at my desk. He quickly covered. “I mean, Robin used to talk about how tired he was when his son was born.”

Emma gave him a slight look as if she was trying to decipher what just transpired between the men. “Why don’t sit down, get off your feet?” asked Emma.

Mary Margaret nodded and moved towards their couch. “David, why don’t you give me the baby, so you can go talk in the bedroom? I’ll be ok with him out here.” she explained.

Dave came up slowly and handed their sleeping son to her gently, so he didn’t wake. He leaned over and pressed a kiss into his wife’s forehead. “Thank you.” He whispered.

She looked up and smiled. “He won’t last long.”

Dave nodded and turned to his friends. “Let’s go in the bedroom.” He whispered.

Killian slipped his arm around Emma’s waist. She looked up and smiled. “Shall we?” he asked in hushed tones. She nodded, and the pair followed closely behind their friend towards the bedroom.

Upon entering the bedroom Killian quickly grabbed the corner of the bedspread and yanked it hard over the bed to hide all the evidence of their quick session. Emma smiled and quickly sat on the edge bed.

Dave gave them a knowing look, pulled the wooden chair from the corner towards the bed and sat down. “Well, seems you pissed off the wrong gang.” Said Dave.

Emma pushed the strands of hair covering her eyes away and let out a soft breath. “I’ve done it before and I’m sure I’ll do it again.”

“Oh, I remember, but you had the backing of a Federal Law enforcement agency when it happened before.” Said Dave.

Emma glanced to her left. Killian was slowly rocking back and forth from foot to foot next to the bed. He looked extremely pensive and on edge. She chose the next words carefully. “Yes, I remember. I hadn’t intended to start a war with them. I should have done more research about the guy, but I got cocky and went for the tag. I didn’t realize he’d been in a den of roaches when I sprayed the raid.”

Dave looked to Killian and back to her. “I can understand that completely. We need a plan.”

“No, Dave I can’t ask you to step into this. You’ve got a new baby.” Said Emma.

Dave shook his head. “Emma, you have to stop thinking you are on your own. We are a family. There is no way you are going to stop me from helping you.”

Emma started to protest when Killian jumped in. “Thank you Dave. We will graciously accept your help. I’ve been going over this in my head and I don’t think we can do it without help.”

Emma looked up to Killian, she wanted to be angry at him for pulling her friend into this, but she saw the concern in his eyes, maybe even fear. She stopped her protest and thought about what Dave just said to her. She wasn’t alone. She held out her hand to Killian to invite him to join her on the bed. ” Please, sit with me.” Killian gently took her hand, squeezed, and allowed her to pull him next to her.

Dave let out a breath smiling softly. “I thought you were going to put up more of a fight.” He said.

She looked back and forth between the two men she cared about most in her life. “You’re right. I made a stupid move. I need to remember I’m not alone anymore. I need to be careful about what I’m doing, I’ve been reckless. I know my job is dangerous, but I don’t have to live dangerously. I’m better than that.”  

Killian shook his head. “Love, stop. This isn’t your fault. You are amazing at what you do. You brought that scum to justice and that’s important.”

She looked down and shook her head. “Yes, but at what cost? If I was on my own I would have moved on and not looked back after checking him off my list. This is my home now. I’ve got people who I care about here. I can’t put you in danger. I need to change my tactics. I see that now.”

Killian squeezed her hand. “Well, Dave and I are going to help you. He’s going to research the gang and see what information he can get on them. See if we can find the head of the snake so we can cut it off. I’m going to be your partner for as long as you need.”

She smiled. “You mean I don’t have to ride with Humbert anymore?”

Killian rolled his eyes. “No, you don’t have to ride with Sheriff Doofy anymore.”

Dave laughed. “Ok, I’ll check in with my contacts at the bureau tomorrow and let you know what I find. In the meantime, are you sure I can’t convince you to come stay with us?”

Emma shook her head. “I’m going to accept the help but I’m not going to bring danger to your home. Besides, those guys don’t know who they are messing with.”  She said bumping lightly into her partner.

“Too right.” Said Killian proudly.

Dave stood and pushed the chair back against the wall. “Alright dynamic duo. I better get my family home. If anything happens please call me.”

“Of course. Thank you again for coming over.” Said Emma.

Killian clapped Dave on the back. “Yes, please tell Mary Margaret thank you. I’d hate to wake the lad. Let the squad know I’ll be back a soon as I can.” Said Killian.

“I’m sure they will understand; besides it gives you a chance to chip away at that vacation time.” Said Dave as he began his steps back to his wife and sleeping son.

“Hey, I think you should let us walk you out. “ said Emma.

Dave was going to protest but the sight of his sleeping wife and son quickly changed his mind. ”Yeah, that would be a good idea. Can’t be too careful.” He whispered before laying a soft hand on his wife’s shoulder to wake her.

Mary Margaret opened her eyes and smiled. “Still sleeping.” she whispered.

Dave bent over and took their little bundle from his wife carefully and put him into his little car seat. He started to fuss but quickly went back to sleep. The new parents traded looks of amazement. “He must really like your apartment.” Joked Dave.

“Now I know where I’m bringing him next time he won’t settle.” whispered Mary Margaret.

Emma smiled. “We’d love to have him visit anytime, but maybe hold off until we get those Scottish thugs off my back.” Said Emma as she slipped on her jacket and felt her pocket, gun still present.

“We’re going to walk you out.” Said Killian.

Mary Margaret nodded in acknowledgement. “We’re just parked out front.”

Dave gently rocked the baby in his seat as they walked towards the elevator. Mary Margaret nestled in close to him on the other side. She loved seeing her two friends so happy.

She looked over to her right and noticed Killian looking at them with a soft smile. She slipped her hand into his and he happily took hold pulling her into his side.

It didn’t take long to get their friends tucked safely into their car and get back to their apartment. After everything she’d been through this day she couldn’t wait to have her head hit the pillow. Killian locked the door and set the chain. “Well Love, I think I’m ready to put this day to rest. How about you?” he asked.

“Oh yeah. I’ve had enough excitement for one day.” She exclaimed as she walked towards the bedroom.

He came into the bedroom not soon after; Just in time to catch her pulling on a night shirt. He was quick to put his arms around her. She purred with contentment against him as he hugged her tight. “Its so nice to hold you in my arms. What a great way to end the day.” He said.

“Never let me go.” She murmured against his chest.

He held her tighter. “Mmm, that’s the plan.”

“Good.” She said softly.

He lifted her into his arms and placed her gently on the bed before pulling the covers over her to tuck her in. “Safe and sound.”

She snuggled into her pillow. He quickly disrobed and climbed into bed to spoon her closely. She backed up into his warm, hard body so that he could slip his arm over her. He exhaled and pressed a kiss against her shoulder. “Goodnight Love.” He whispered.

“Goodnight.” She said before falling asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

Somewhere in a cool dark place

Tiana and Lottie did as they were told and huddled together in the corner of the room. Once they’d followed the instructions the lights went out and loud music began playing. They were unable to hear or see anything which was likely their abductors plan. Tiana could feel Lottie shaking against her. “It’s gonna be ok. Just like last time.” She whispered in her friends’ ear. Lottie whimpered against her. Tiana held her friend tightly. If only she could figure out who had them, maybe they could reason with them. They still didn’t know why they were being held or what would happen next. Tiana tried to focus on the shadowed movements, but it was too dark.

“Turn your heads to the right.” Shouted the loud grizzly voice.

She stretched her head forward and was shocked backward by the flash of a bright light.

“AAAAh! What was that!” screamed Lottie.

Tiana hugged her friend tightly. “Hush now, I think it was a camera flash.” She said loud enough for only her friend to hear.

“Ok” said Lottie.

Soon after the flash the music stopped, and the lights came back up. Tiana blinked to get her eyes to focus on the room. She and her friend eased up from the floor. Tiana felt her own legs shaking, perhaps it wasn’t just Lottie that she felt but maybe her own body had betrayed her as well.

Lottie had already begun to explore the room. She was quick to pick up the bag of take out that was left for them on the small table. “Ti, thank goodness. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.” Said Lottie.

Tiana frowned. “Same place, as last time?” she asked.

“Yep. Bo Peep’s Tavern. Looks like meatloaf sandwiches and fries again.” Said Lottie.

“I’d kill for a vegetable, a salad, something healthy.” Said Tiana as she touched her growling stomach. ”But beggars can’t be choosers and I’m starving.” She muttered. So, she quickly rushed to her friends side and grabbed a fry from the bag.  

Lottie took her share of the food and sat on her bed. “I never thought I’d love meatloaf but god this is so good.”

Tiana nodded. “This is a fine meatloaf. If we ever get out of here we are going to have to find this place. I need to know what is in this.” Said Tiana with a mouthful of food.  Normally she wouldn’t talk with food in her mouth, but it had been hours since they had anything to eat and she couldn’t help herself.

Their abductors hadn’t really provided any clues as to who they were or why they were taken. They were mostly left alone except for these strange but quick sessions.

Lottie placed her sandwich back into the foil wrap. “Ti, why do you think they took our picture? I mean do you think it’s a good sign? Maybe they are going to contact Big Daddy?” she asked hopeful.

Tiana finished the mouthful of food she’d been chewing to give herself a chance to come up with a thoughtful response before answering. “I think those are both possibilities. I guess we wait and see.” She’d been hopeful about the photographs too. She thought it could be a proof of life photo. God forbid its for a catalog or some weird scrap book of victims. She didn’t want to think about that though. She didn’t want to believe that it could be for something that awful.

It still seemed that there was only one way in and one way out of the room they were trapped in. The music was not playing in their room but the hum of it still existed on the other side of the door. She had to believe there was someone there with them, watching them, so they didn’t dare try to open that door. They would just wait, hope and pray that they would get to go home soon.

[hey-hey-chan]

Zombie Apocalypse!Chan Pt.2

“Highly requested pt.2 of zombie apocalypse Chan!! Sorry for the hella long wait,, I wasn’t feeling lots of inspo NOR did I have the time to write :|

Please enjoy and sorry if I’m rusty and i never edit my writing, why do yall read my shit oml 

“Y/n! Can you pass me the bowl of potatoes please?” An older chef had asked me. I quickly glanced around and saw the bowl.

“Uh sure, wait, do you want me to peel them first?” 

“That would be awesome, dear!” I heard in reply. I quickly took out the peeler and started raking away. 

Ah, the normal hustle and bustle of the kitchen.

I hated every moment of it. I had gone through hard and arduous training to become a chef in the kitchen, but even though I was still lacking, they couldn’t turn away any type of help, even the bad kind.

I quickly peeled the potatoes, in record time and handed them to the lady, “here.” She gave a small smile in response, but had no time to give her thanks as there were hundreds of people to feed. 

“I still can’t believe that you’re in here.” I heard suddenly, making me jump back out of surprise. I shook my head and gave the boy a crooked smile.

“Yedam, I told you, I like working in the kitchen.” Ha, I could almost laugh at the lie. The boy knew it too.

“Oh yeah? Since when, you’ve always hated cooking and anything relating to anything of the female stereotype. Really y/n, what are you doing?” I shoved a banana in his hand and sighed.

“I’m helping the community, maybe you should try it instead of sitting on your ass all day while playing games.” I said this as a joke of course, but the boy still pouted.

“Hey! I’m only 12!” I smiled at his whiny voice while trying to wash some vegetables. 

“Yeah yeah now take your 12 year old butt and walk out of here, this is for chefs only,” I said while pulling a knife out to chop the veggies. As I thought the boy was going to leave, I instead heard a loud sigh, which made me want to sigh as well, “now what?” 

“I just thought you would fight to be, uh, you know, a fighter? You love-” I saw the other women in the kitchen start to give us curious glances when the word “fighter” was mentioned. I set down my knife and crossed my arms at my brother. 

“I’ve settled for this job, I don’t mind it too much anymore. I get breaks and I get served first, what a privilege.” That wasn’t a lie; I did get breaks and I did get served first, but honestly, I would be rather be working my ass off fighting and bleeding than stirring around pots. I wasn’t look down upon the female chefs, yet I knew this wasn’t where I was supposed to be. 

But I had to be here if I wanted Yedam and I to stay safe, and I would do anything for my younger brother. 

I heard a deep sigh once more before sneakers started to squeak, “ok fine, whatever you say. But I don’t believe you, you’re just caught in some kind of funk.” I scoffed at the boys words. 

“I’m in a funk.” I asked although it sounded more like an accusation. He nodded and gave me one of his childish grins.

“Yes a-”

Suddenly, loud sirens sounded across the cafeteria, making everyone drop what was in their hands to cover their ears.

“Y/n-” I quickly grabbed Yedam and pulled him close to me. “What is that?” He whispered in my ear. I shook my head, telling him I had no idea either and that he should shut it. 

Shrieks of girls in the kitchen echoed throughout the kitchen, making me cringe at the volume. If there were zombies, they would have heard this already. 

Sirens, what a rookie mistake. Let’s hope the walls are soundproof. Unless they’re already in the-

“Everyone! This is Chan, your leader. Please stay calm.” As soon as I heard that son of a bitch���s voice, I stomped out of the kitchen and threw down my apron. 

There stood Chan, one of the leaders of the camp. He had saved my life and let me and Yedam into the camp, yet he wouldn’t let me fight, so I obviously hated him. 

“What is the situation? Are your walls soundproof-” 

“Please, calm down. I will answer individual questions later since I am needed on the battlefield, but don’t worry. There is only a small group of zombies trying to enter, nothing we haven’t had before and certainly nothing we can’t handle.” The boy leaned back on one foot and smiled at the crowd, already melting their hearts. 

I almost shook my head in disbelief at how easily the worried people became calm in the face of this guy. This idiot.

I stared at his facial features closer and instead of the calm and collected boy I usually saw, I saw his features scrunched and tense, like he was panicked.

“That’s bullshit. You look scared as hell, don’t lie to them. We deserve to know.” I growled next to him. His eyes turned angry, unusual to his usual self. 

He took a step closer to me and my first instinct was to take one back as well, yet I couldn’t lose this battle. 

“Please don’t start any rumors, Miss Y/n. I am well aware of our conditions and me and my men are doing fine.” Oh wow I’ve never wanted to rip someone’s throat out so badly. 

“I know that look, it’s the look that faces death, I know it very well. But I know you won’t face it if I was there to fight, so let me-” He interrupted me by snapping and waving someone over.

“Yeah, um, someone please escort Y/n to her room, I will not have people trying to change my rules and scaring my people.” Before he finished his speech, I felt arms pull me back and I immediately pulled myself out of their grasp. “And please don’t be rough with her, I think she’s just nervous ‘cause this is her first siren.” 

Nervous my ass, the only thing that makes me nervous is that I’ve left my life in the hands of these pricks who think they know everything about the outside world.

A man with tattoos lining his arms grabbed my upper arm which made me flinch, “do NOT touch me, got it?!” I yelled. As I got angrier, so did they making me, which caused a vicious cycle of fighting. 

“Hey don’t hurt my sister!” Yedam yelled. I saw their arms grab for him too which suddenly zapped me into reality again. I kicked them back and puled Yedam behind me.

“Do. Not. Lay. A. Hand. On. My. Brother. Got it?” I bent low, almost as if I was ready to pounce. 

One of the men scoffed, crossing his arms, “as if a woman could out fight a man.” 

Right as I was about to slap that bitch across his silly face, Chan’s walkie talkie went off. 

“Come out- need you.” And that’s all I heard before I heard Chan say “copy that” and stomped away. 

The two men looked at me before walking away as well. 

“Behave yourself, I trust yourself not to do anything stupid if you love your brother so much. It’d be a shame if you two got kicked out,” he said. The two cackled at his joke which made me want to break his next even more. 

“Follow him.” I snapped my head around to my younger brother who seemed to be picking up a rebellious streak. 

“What?” 

“Follow him, you know you want to. This might be your big chance to show Chan and the other guys you can fight.” He spoke quietly and softly, making me unable to get mad at him. 

“Yedam, I can’t-”

“You can and you will. I know we might get kicked out if you try any funny business, but I’d rather leave in fear than have you live unhappily-” I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair.

“I’m not unhappy, I’m safe here with you. That’s all I need to be happy.” I spoke truthfully, yes, I didn’t like the kitchen, but Yedam was happy here, so than I was happy as well.

Suddenly I see Chan entering the cafeteria again, making me confused. 

“Secure the doors please.” His voice boomed. I heard doors clicking the women’s cries being heard. Something was seriously going on.

As Chan was about to walk away, I grabbed his arm, something I would never do. 

“Hey! You need more men.” He stopped in his tracks, stared at his arm. I awkwardly released it. “Sorry, but you need help. I see it. Your men aren’t as good as you, I know, I’ve seen them. Let me help.” Chan stared at me for a moment and shook his head.

“You don’t get it do you, you can’t-” I laughed hysterically and took a step closer to him.

“No, Chan. You don’t get it. You would rather let a bunch of people here get hurt because you have to much of your man ego to let a girl fight. But look around you Chan, you don’t have the privilege of people who would sacrifice their life to say shit like that.” I spat. We were dangerously close as I could feel his anxiety and anger rolling off of him in waves.

Before he could respond, I heard loud thumping noises, as if bodies were falling against the walls. I met eyes with Chan, both of ours wide and bug eyed. 

“Shit!” He yelled. A saw a group of zombies break through the barriers. 

“Around 30 zombies, highly skilled and trained, probably ex-military! All men here now!” 

I saw a zombie head towards me and Chan grab it and slice his head off. I scoffed, like I needed the protection. 

“Yedam, go hide behind the counters, NOW! Yell if you are in danger.” The boy followed my instructions well and scurried out of sight. 

I felt the world slow down as a zombie ran full force at me, he was a big one and I could see the anger in his eyes. 

“Y/N!” I heard being yelled, oh well, I guess I was unconsciously walking towards it. “STOP! You don’t even have a wea-”

The zombie came an inch between me and I grabbed it’s throat and crushed it with my bare hands. I couldn’t fight the smile that popped onto my face.

“WHAT THE FUCK? DID THAT GIRL JUST KILL THAT THING WITH HER BARE ASS HANDS!?” 

I smirked at the screams of the other fighters and even felt my heart swell with pride as Chan gaped at me. 

I kicked started into fight mode as more came running at me, I must’ve killed their leader. I let out a howl as they ran at me, feeling the adrenaline fill me like a drug.

“Here.” I felt a dagger being shoved into my hand. Chan gave me a small nod and I nodded back. 

I then swung my feet to hit the head of a zombie, bringing them down to I could cut their head off. Another pounced at me as I was sitting on top of another and I cut their head off midair. 

One after the other kept running at me, my pride swelled when I was covered in blood and sweat. I kicked the last one down with my full might and saw it’s head break as I stumped into it. 

“You’re just a little boy, can’t fight a strong woman like me, boo hoo.” I looked to my right and saw 4 zombies flanking Chan.

“Yes, killing the leader, just like you killed ours, how... fitting!” I spent no time listening to their stupid drama and pulled the knife away from Chan’s neck, no hesitation at all which made her gasp. I kicked her down and trusted Chan to take the back of me. 

“You bit-” She never got to finish this words before her head went limp against the ground. I turned to my right and finish the other that was standing in shock at the loss of a friend. 

“Thanks.” I heard a strangled voice say. I chuckled and shrugged. 

“Well, next time maybe you would want me to fight sooner, so you don’t go through so many near death experiences.” I joked, setting my knives down. Oh fighting always put me in a better mood. Yedam was right, I was never truly happy just doing nothing here. 

“Hey I’m sorry, ok? I don’t know what I was being such an asshole to you. I think if any other girl asked, I would’ve let them on the team.” At these words, I swiveled around and crossed my arms.

“Wow, why so cruel to me?” I wondered. I saw the boy shrug and wipe his knives off with a towel. 

“Hm, it’s kind of embarrassing,” he muttered while rubbing the back of his neck. Oh well, now I was curious. 

“Oh do tell.” I smirked. 

The boy shrugged, a blush forming on his face, “honestly, I think I was intimidated by you. You were so much like a leader it was scary, I think I thought that if you joined the fighters, you would overpower me.” I stood in silence for a moment, letting his words soak into me. Then I smiled, teeth and all.

“Well, you aren’t wrong.” I smirked and left him standing there in confusion, but I turned around once more to say, “but hey, now that you let me fight, there’s no going back. I guess you’re going to have to get used to me taking charge.” I winked at him and saw his dimples pop back on his face. “Well, I guess-”

“Oh wait, before you go, I just wanted to say thank you for saving my life, I really was in a... pickle over there.” I held in a chuckle at his word choice and shook my head.

“No problem, you saved mine too, I guess we’re even. Meaning, you have no more leverage over me.” I wiggled my eyebrows and turned away from him, but I didn’t go far before he called my name.

“Oh wait y/n,” I turned to face the boy. He dug his hands into his pockets and gave me a boyish grin. “See you are practice tomorrow?” I felt my cheekbones stand high and proud as I let out a chuckle.

“For sure.”

[sorayahigashikata]

Chapter 30: "That's so sad. Alexa, play Jurassic Park."

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights: Critical Role Episode 111

Guests are Liam O’Brien and Matt Mercer. Full video on Project Alpha!

Brian: “Hello, welcome to Talks Machina. I am... dressed for success.” Liam: “You are very cute today.” Matt: “I call this look Saturday Darin De Paul.”

Matt is doing much better than he was on Thursday.

Digital copy of the Critical Role comic is out!

There’s now a Talks Machina shirt in the store.

Episode 111 is tied for the most natural ones in an episode.

The show has now surpassed 10,000 d20 rolls. Brian suggests buying @critrolestats​ a yacht for keeping track of all this.

The comic takes place before the game. At the first session, because it was meant to be a one-shot, Matt just had everyone assume they all knew each other and were used to working together as a party. The comic explores how they actually met and started working together as an adventuring party.

Moments they’d like to see from the pre-stream game if the comic continues: meeting Gilmore, finding Percy in Jorenn Village, going after Grog’s dad, the birth of Burt Reynolds, early interactions with the Clasp, the one time Pike and Vax had a solo adventure together. Brian: “Do you think we would have to get rights from Burt Reynolds’ estate to... oh, wait, he’s still alive.”

The pacing of this arc was always going to be different, since it’s epic-level stuff and many of the character-centric arcs have been closed; it’s a lot harder to draw in character backstory the way the previous arcs could. The time-crunch aspect of this particular plot (the villain is actively moving through his to-do list whether or not Vox Machina intervenes) is a careful balance to make sure the players don’t feel too rushed but can still maintain that sense of urgency. Liam: “I am consistently surprised and shocked by everything that’s happened, so no complaints from me.”

If it were just Liam’s decision, he’d want everyone to take a long rest before facing Vecna. He thinks losing Vasselheim might be the cost of actually having a slim chance of defeating Vecna.

Matt’s been slowly been building this last dungeon over the last six months. It’s right up there with Opash’s necromantic lair as his favorite dungeon he’s made. Liam wants to see the dungeon mapped out and described in PDF format at some point, and Matt mentions that, depending on what state it’s in at the end of this campaign, it might be a location in a future Issylra campaign guide.

Matt and Liam talk about how early adventuring in D&D is generally a selfish endeavor, and then later on there are considerably higher stakes. Matt mentions that even in high-level D&D, you want to include obstacles in a dungeon that characters can bypass easily as a reward for quick thinking or just being awesome at high levels. The dungeon is also fundamentally a power-sink where you have to prioritize where you put your resources before the final battle you know is coming.

GIF of the week. Matt: “It’s funny the effect painkillers have on running a D&D game...”

Once the oven had closed, once a round, everyone in the room would’ve taken 1d6 fire damage, then 2d6, then 3d6, and so on. Solving it was meant to be a little more high-stakes, but the party avoided getting trapped in the room themselves.

Matt had half a page of information, a voice, and a name prepared for the nothic that Vax just annihilated. Could’ve ended up being a small encounter or a temporary alliance with a Gollum-type character or an uneasy alliance that could’ve gone wrong. Matt:��“What you did was quintessential D&D, and I loved it.”

Liam recently ran a D&D game for his whole family in which his son rolled a d20 on opening a door he wasn’t supposed to go through, forcing him to improvise.

Matt’s been working with Travis to build his next character, and he keeps having to remind him that most characters only have a movement speed of 25 or 30 feet.

Brian: “Like Matt and I, you too can be not in terrible debt and situationally famous without going to college!” Matt: “I cannot support any of these statements at all.”

Vax would be willing to sacrifice even Emon or Whitestone if it meant stopping Vecna, because the alternative is Vecna reigning supreme over the Material Plane... or the Divine Gate coming down and armageddon ensuing.

Fanart of the week.

In-universe flashbulb memory of the campaign: Chroma Conclave attack. Liam: “The goldfish dive will be remembered for millennia.” Matt: “Young druids will be taught from a very young age...”

Matt gave the party the ring to give them a level of comfort in a near-impossible situation, but the risk of fucking it up is what makes it fun.

Liam: “Matthew Mercer is one of the sweetest men I’ve met in my life, but I know within the boundaries of this game that you have this really devilish streak, like an inclination to fuck with us... fucking rakshasa.”

Vax has made peace with everything, but he thinks about the Tomb all the time, especially since the Raven Queen is the goddess of fate. Liam: “As Liam, I loved every dumbfuck thing that I chose to do in this game, ‘cause I’m sitting with my best friends making each other laugh every week, we love each other, we get a fucking kick out of each other every week, and the mistakes are some of the greatest memories of all time.”

Liam’s top priority even way back in the home game has always been that Vax will do whatever it takes to keep Vex alive; Vax still thinks that the Raven Queen will only keep her side of the deal if he does as well. It’s made things extremely complicated, but that’s the fundamental backbone of his character and he isn’t going to mess with that.

Matt has never had players embrace the sibling aspect of their characters to the extent that Laura and Liam have. Matt: “It’s been a gift from a storyteller’s standpoint to play in that space.”

Matt thinks Sam did a fantastic job on his one-shot, and encourages other new DMs to just commit and jump in and see how well it turns out. Liam: “It’s not a religion and it’s not appellate court, it’s just the world’s best game. Just fuckin’ have fun with it.”

Matt was expecting the undead titan reveal to happen in early or mid-July, but it just worked out to happen at Gen Con. Stressful as it was, Matt was excited that he could have such a big reveal at the live show.

Liam wasn’t worried about Simon because he knew it would take more than fire to destroy a magical item.

If the game had continued as a home game, Matt probably would’ve truncated elements of the narrative because they got to play so seldom. Both he and Liam agree that getting to play weekly was the best part of starting to stream the game.

Vax’s "this could be the last time” moments this week had less to do with his imminent death and more to do with Liam processing that in the next few weeks they’re going to be ending this game that they’ve been playing together for four years.

Brian is very sad about the end of the game as a fan of the show; he remembers Ashley coming home after the home game and giving him multi-hour summaries of everything that had happened. The game started around the same time as he and Ashley started their relationship, and he’s really delighted by how close they’ve all gotten since then. Brian: “I mean, we’re practically... I plan on sleeping with both of you on After Dark.” Liam: “I’m open to it.”

Talks Machina After Dark: Liam hosts for the first time!

Liam: “The only reason I agreed to do this Dungeons and Dragons show is so I could sit here, now, and I have you both right where I want you. Undress.”

If Matt could forget everything he knew and join VM as one of his NPCs for the final fight, from a personality standpoint, he’d want to play as Allura or Gilmore, but from a functionally helpful standpoint, probably Kima.

Matt once LARPed World of Darkness and had a very stressful experience where he was thrown into the midst of an extremely political game with no knowledge of what was going on.

Matt’s never had to ban particular items or spells, but there are aspects of the game that require discussion. In a primarily good/neutral campaign, he won’t ban evil characters per se, but he’ll require a discussion to figure out how not to ruin the experience for the rest of the characters. Liam points out that Jayne (an evil character) could easily have killed Clothesline in Sam’s oneshot, but he decided against it because it’d make Ashly’s game less fun and would mess with Sam’s having established that they all survived. It turned out to be more fun having to come up with a reason for that.

Worst possible person for Vax to face as part of Vecna’s undead army: his mother. Liam: “That would fuck his shit up.” Or Vex, if she were killed and then immediately brought back by Vecna.

On the theoretical possibility of a new campaign starting in a post-apocalyptic Tal’Dorei if Vecna wins, Brian: “It would be hard to Transport via Plants.” Matt thinks it’s an exciting prospect, and he has things in his mind if it goes that direction, but he thinks it would be really sad to culminate a five-year campaign with a loss, although planting seeds for the next story could make it retroactively pretty hopeful. 

Liam: “Story-wise, I know that everything’s gonna hurt and everything’s gonna be amazing, and I also trust you to flip my expectations somehow. We just love discovering the story together.”

[musicalgeek24601]

Winchester`s in Stars Hallow

Summary: john and the Winchester brothers travels to stars hallow to help John`s sister. 

(if you like it comment and i will post the rest)

   Sam and dean were teens when they first ventured into the beautifully unique town, yet simple town of Stars Hallow. It was a small town in Connecticut, just outside of Hartford. The town had a vintage, almost cute look to it. Every inch of the town was clean and surrounded with people who all seemed to know one another and who seemed overly content with their town. The houses were big and the flowers were in bloom.

       “who the hell would want to live here? This place looks like it never came out of the 40s.” Dean commented. He was 19 at the time dressed in Metallica shirt and a leather jacket, jeans and worn out work boots. “this place makes me want to puke, we need to get in and out of here as soon as possible.”” Dean continued.

Sam was 16 at the time, his eyes had been focused on the book he was reading. He was dressed in a flannel shirt and jeans. As he looked out the window, he sighed and slumped in his chair. Great another case. He thought. More mindless killing, more monsters and another chance for dad to critique everything I do.

         “I don’t want to be here anymore then you guys do.” John spoke.  “But Annie said there was a case here, she said it seemed like vampires. 13 people were murdered within 3 weeks, the blood was drain from the victims’ bodies and all of them had weird markings on their necks. Annie and her daughter are scared they might be next.”

          “since when do you care about Aunt Annie?” Dean questioned. “the two of you haven’t spoken to each other in about 15 years and now were racing off to go save her and her kid.”

           “there still family, Dean. I may not get along with her, like I used to, but I’m not going to let them die if I can stop it.”

Sam looked at his brother and father with confusion.

          “who’s aunt Annie?” Sam asked. “and why have I never heard about her before?”

            “She is my younger sister.” John revealed. “after your mother died, Annie moved in with us for a few months and helped me to take care of the two of you. she was living in jersey at the time and she dropped everything to help me. But I started to research about demons and hunting them, I got the idea to try and eliminate the creature that killed your mother. I told Annie what I wanted to do and I asked her if she could take care of you guys on her own while went hunting….it didn’t go over well with her. We got into a huge fight. She was convinced that I was crazy, she said it wouldn’t work, and if it did I would get myself killed. She told me I was acting recklessly and selfishly…she claimed I was so focused on revenge that I was putting what I wanted before what the two of you need. When I refused to see things her way, she left town and never spoke to me again. Well that was, until last night when she called my cell phone.“

            “well she wasn’t wrong.” Sam mumbled.

            “I did what I had to in order to protect you boys!” john shouted.  “there are monsters in this world and they are merciless! They would kill you without even thinking about it! What kind of father would I be if I didn’t teach you how to defend yourself against them!?”

           “That’s not the point!” Sam argued. “You put us in danger every day! you make us travel across the country risk our lives to save people we don’t know! what kind of father forces his sons to hunt down these monsters!?  We never had a choice, it was this or nothing! We’re not even searching for the demon that killed mom anymore! we haven’t had a lead on that in years! So, what’s the point of all this? To kill all the monsters? To save all the people? It’s not going to happen! More and more of these creatures keep turning up and new demons are made. We keep going back to the same states even the same towns. Wouldn’t it have been better to have normal lives? To have a home, friends, a high school that we stay at for more than a year. ”

        “This is who we are, this is what we are meant to do. We are saving lives, we are helping people! I didn’t force you to join the hunt, I recall you begging to hunt with us. When I left you alone and dean and I would hunt. You were miserable! You had no friends, no hobbies. You were desperate for some kind of excitement.”

           “I was kid back then, I didn’t know what I was getting into!”

            “shut up! The two of you!” Dean shouted. “You guys are always at each other’s throats! For once I’d like us to just go on a hunt without you two arguing over the same shit!”

John parked the impala in front of Luke`s diner and gets out of the car, slamming the door behind him. Sam and dean follow after John. then the three sit at the counter. Luke, a man in a red flannel shirt and a blue baseball cap comes out of the kitchen. He had dirty blonde hair and brown eyes, he looked to be in his early 30s. he walked over to the Winchesters with a notepad in his hand.

          ”are you guys ready to order?” Luke asked.

           “yeah we`ll get two burgers and a salad. “ John replied.

Luke wrote down there order on his notepad.

            “alright. Anything else?” he asked.

            “yeah. What do you know about the deaths around here?” Dean asked.

Luke raised an eye brawl.

            “the deaths? People get really old and then they die. Not much else to tell.”

              “no, I’m talking about the 13 murders that happened in only 3 weeks.” Dean replied.

   Luke laughed.

               “look, kid. I don’t know where you think you are? But nobody in this town has enough of a mean streak to kill anyone, let alone 13 people. The only people that die in this town are the elderly and even they take their sweet time with it.”

    John goes into his coat pocket and takes out his fake FBI badge and shows it to Luke. The boys take out there badges as well.

               “we are federal agents we know for a fact that there has been strange murders here.” John exclaimed. “we aren’t some reporters looking for a story or curious customers. We are here to do a job. Were here to fix what is going on here and all we want is some answers. Your shop is in the center of town. You must have heard or seen something.”

               “there was no attack!” Luke yelled. “ trust me I would know! I live in this town, and people love to gossip here! So if there was an attack, it wouldn’t be a secret! Everyone would know! Also for your information there hasn’t even been any attack even remotely fitting your description anywhere in this state! If there was I’m sure it would have been cover on the news or in the paper, but there is nothing about any of that. Oh and I can tell those badges are fake. Look I don’t know if your insane or pulling some kind of prank but if you don’t want me to call the police, I would advise you to get out of my diner.”

              Meanwhile as john was speaking with Luke, Sam began to watch a beautiful girl as she entered the diner. She had straight long light brown hair and big blue eyes. her skin was pale and her name was Rory. He watched as she walked past him and sat next to a women in her 30s with dark brown hair and the same blue eyes. the two women chatted and eventually some local boy, who had previously tried flirting with the mother, tried the same tactic with the daughter. Which ended in wise cracks and the local boy’s extreme embarrassment. Sam smiled he could tell by just watching her that Rory was a funny and down to earth girl, he liked that.

          “Sam, Dean. Let’s go.” John spoke.

        Just then a women walked in. she had her thin blonde hair in a ponytail and had dark brown eyes. she was dressed in a blue sweater, a white denim jacket and black jeans. Around her neck she had a white scarf. Holding hands with the women was a little girl with short blonde hair, dressed in a purple shirt with a pink coat and jeans. The little girl had a smile on her face and chubby cheeks, she looked no older than eight. The women smiled as she spotted John and the boys.

         “john!” the women called out waving her free arm. The women and her daughter rushed over to the Winchesters. Her smile grew bigger as she came closer. She hugged John tightly. “I didn’t think you guys would actually come! This is so exciting!”

     “of course we`d come, you said-“ John began to say.

But Annie wasn’t listening, she was already hugging Sam and Dean. Both boys gave their father a look of discomfort and awkwardness.

          “it’s so good to see you boys! the last time I saw the two of you was when you were babies, and now look at the two of you are men! We have a lot to of catching up to do!”

She hugged them again.

         “come sit and we`ll all chat.” She said with a smile as she made her way to an empty table.

           “this girl is out of her mind.” Dean whispered to Sam.

Sam nodded.

            “I think that’s a requirement to live here.” John commented to Dean.

But the three Winchester men followed Annie and sat down with her.

          “Annie! Focus!” John shouted.

Annie turned her attention to her brother.

          “You said that you were in danger.” John told her. “Annie, what’s going on? “

         “oh…well I kind of…just said that to get you here.” Annie admitted. “I knew you wouldn’t come if I had just asked, I knew my only chance of getting you here was to lie. But I do need your help, it’s just not a monster thing.”

John rolled his eyes and looked at his sister with anger.

                “then what is it?” John asked, his voice stern.

          Annie began to sob.  

             “John, I know we haven’t been close in a really long time. But you used to be someone who I was always able to go to when things went wrong in my life. So, I’m asking for you to help me or tell me what to do…. I really need you now.”

       Annie and John were ten years apart. The two shared the same mother, but different fathers. But there mother raised the two children together on her own. As kids John and Annie had always been close. John was always there to protect his odd little sister, who constantly was getting picked on. She didn’t like to stick to what was expected by society, she liked to move to her own beat. She was loud and outgoing and always was drawn to the strangest people. But she was kind, she had one of the biggest hearts. Annie sometimes had relied on John to be her friend, sometimes he`d be someone to protect her, then other times they`d be foes who would argue over foolish things. But as he looked at her crying, he knew he needed to be there for her. So John hugged her, then looked at his sister with compassion.

            “whatever is going on, I’m here for you. I’ll do whatever I can to help you, Annie.”

        She smiled slightly and wiped the tears from her cheek.

              “my husband left me a few months ago. now it’s just me and Clare on our own. I had been able to work and get as much money as I can. But it is not enough and I can’t take on any more hours because I must take care of Clare. The bills have started piling up now and I’m behind in rent. I just can’t do this on my own…maybe you guys can stay in town for a while and help me out, maybe watch her for a couple hours while I take on more hours or even a second job.”

              “or I can just give you some money. Wouldn’t that be easier?”

Dean and Sam watched as the scene unfolded. It was odd for them to see their father be nice or encouraging to anyone, he was never that kind of person toward them.  But Dean knew how it felt to have a sibling to look out for and the need to protect them at all cost. Dean understood why his father was doing all this.

               “no! I know where you get your money and I don’t want to be a part of that.” She told him. “you have all those credit card schemes you pull, I’m not taking a chance with that.”

He sighed.

               “well I don’t want to see you work yourself to death. I know the kind of person you are, and you`ll regret It if you’re working so much that you don’t see your kid.” John spoke, he thought for a moment. “how about this....me and the boys will stay in town and work ordinary jobs and we`ll give you the money we earn.”

                “how about half, so then you can have some for you and your boys.”

                “you got yourself a deal.” He smiled and she smiled back.

                 “thank you.” she spoke.

      Annie leads the Winchesters back to her house. It was a big blue house on peach street with huge backyard. The home was two stories tall and as they walked in the home had a country style look to it.

      “home sweet home.” Annie spoke. “the guest room is down the hall, we only have one but we have a camp bed that I can move in there, obviously there is already a bed in there, and the couch pulls out into a bed so one of you can sleep there. Clare and I have rooms` upstairs.”

John nodded. Annie ran her figures through her hair, not knowing what to say next, a rare case for her. She looked at the boys and noticed Sam was the only one carrying a bag.

    “so do you have more bags in the car? I can help you bring them in if you`d like.” Annie offered.

John smirked.

       “we just have the one bag, we travel light.” John replied.

       “well I better get ready for work, I got to head out in a few hours. But if you`d like I’m sure Clare would be happy to show you guys around town. “

        “that would be good we can start looking for jobs anyways.”

         “I think Gypsy at the auto shop place is looking for full time workers, and there are a few places in town looking for part timers.”

       “sounds good.”

Annie walked toward the stairs then turns back towards her brother.

          “thanks again, John. It really means a lot to me.” She spoke. Then headed up stairs.

John gave her a slight smile.

[itsworn]

Gasser-Style 1967 Pontiac GTO Returns to its Day Two Attitude—and Altitude

It was the summer of 1967. Fourteen-year-old Larry Porteous and his twin brother, Lee, along with the rest of their family, were towing the family boat from their home in Berkeley to Lake Berryessa in Northern California. Then he saw it roar by them on the highway: a Tyrol Blue 1967 GTO. It was raised up gasser-style, looking mean and ready to rumble. He decided then and there that he had to have a GTO like that one.

Larry’s fascination with Pontiac GTOs did not go unnoticed by his dad. Larry and Lee were always talking about GTOs and constantly playing his 45-rpm record of Ronnie & the Daytonas’ “Little GTO.” One day their dad came home with a GTO’s Unlimited patch, which Larry sewed on the back of his Levi’s denim jacket. By now it was October 1969, just before his 16th birthday. He had the patch; now he and his twin brother resolved to get a real GTO.

At a teenager, Larry Porteous and his twin brother, Lee, spotted this gasser-style GTO while on a family vacation. Two years later they would buy the very same car. Larry drove it daily for years (minus the jacked up suspension) and then decided to return it to its day-two look on the eve of his 50th anniversary of ownership.

“1967 GTO, 4-speed, 8-track stereo, 17,000 miles, and many extras” is what the ad read in the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle classified Hot Rods For Sale section. “It was November 9, 1969,” remembers Larry. “My brother, my father, and I decided to take a look at the car in the ad. When we got there we were blown away! It was loaded with speed equipment!” Incredibly, it was the exact same car they had seen two summers before on the way to Lake Berryessa.

Tom Masini, the man selling the car, purchased the GTO new, optioning it with a four-speed, a console, reverb speakers, and the Rally gauge package, but without power steering or brakes. A regular customer of Al Arata from Arata Pontiac in South San Francisco, he had first bought a new red 1965 GTO with Tri-power, then the blue 1967 GTO. Masini got the itch for another new GTO, ordering a 1970 Pepper Green Judge with Ram Air IV. Arata offered Masini $2,100 trade-in value on his blue GTO. While waiting for the new car to be built and delivered, he thought he would try to get a little more money for it through a newspaper ad. He said he would sell it to the brothers for $2,200, a hundred bucks more than Arata would pay for it.

Here’s how Larry and the GTO looked back in the day. Other than a repaint and some interior work, it remains as it was in the 1960s.

The two brothers first had to figure out how to talk their father into buying it, and second, how to come up with some money. Larry and his brother prepared a detailed list of the speed equipment on the car, complete with the retail cost of each of those parts. They then pointed out to their father that the GTO had $1,200 worth of aftermarket speed equipment on it, making the sale price of $2,200 a really good deal.

As to paying for the GTO, Larry says, “My brother and I had been saving everything we could. We gathered up all our paper route money. Plus, I sold my trumpet and my bicycle. Together we came up with $600. Our mother took out a loan for $1,600 through her teacher’s credit union for the rest of the money. Dad thought it would be a fun car for the twins to share.”

Larry had put all the old suspension parts in storage, but reinstalling them “proved a more difficult task than I first imagined,” he said. “It was critical for the rearend setup to be precise with the welded traction bars, Panhard bar, and lift tubes under the coil springs to raise the rearend and maintain correct driveline angles. The first shop to help with this got it wrong, but I was able to have a second shop get it right. The raised gasser look isn’t something that’s done much these days. Not a lot of people know how to do that kind of work now. I know a raised car fights gravity in many ways, but nothing is cooler than a 1960s day-two street machine!”

The GTO’s gasser-style look had been done by Al’s Automotive across the bay in South San Francisco. Al’s lifted the rear and installed a set of massive traction bars, as well as a Panhard bar for stability. The front spindles were cut and reverse-welded to achieve the look of a straight-axle car, but with better drivability and giving it a level stance. Goodyear Blue Streak tires, thin in the front with super-wide cheater slicks in the back, were mounted on a set of 15-inch American Racing wheels.

Legendary Bay Area drag racing specialist Gotelli’s Speed Shop in South San Francisco warmed up the engine with a hot Isky cam, a Mallory dual-point ignition system, and an Edelbrock dual-quad intake topped with a pair of Carter AFB carbs. Other mods included a Hayes 3,200-pound three-finger clutch and an exhaust system with cutouts.

Tom Masini, the GTO’s original owner, had the legendary Gotelli’s Speed Shop in South San Francisco build up the GTO’s 400-inch V-8. Back in the day, Larry chained the hood closed to make sure thieves couldn’t get at it.

Upgraded interior items included a wood-rimmed three-spoke steering wheel, Stewart-Warner Motor Minder vacuum and temperature gauges, and an eight-track stereo tape player with Motorola Vibrasonic reverb and four speakers.

The brothers started having fun with the GTO as soon as they got it home, but the fun almost came to an abrupt end just a month later. Larry explains, “We were on our way to pick up my older brother at the San Francisco Airport. Just as we were merging onto Highway 80 near Berkeley, we hit a puddle. The 12-inch Goodyear cheater slicks hydroplaned, sending us into a violent spin in the middle of the four-lane highway. We finally came to a stop stalled perpendicular to traffic, pointing us towards the San Francisco Bay. I hit the key and it fired back up, and we continued to the airport. That was nearly the end of the car and me! I can’t believe we didn’t hit anyone, but the roads weren’t as crowded back then as they are now.”

Among the speed parts Gotelli’s put on the Pontiac mill was an Edelbrock dual-quad intake mounting two Carter AFBs and a Mallory dual-point ignition. An Isky cam keeps things lively.

Asked if he did much street racing, Larry replied, “I raced it just a few times, and I always won. I think most guys took one look at the car and how it was set up and didn’t even try to go up against it. It looked pretty intimidating! One guy threatened to steal the engine, so I got a chain and padlocked the hood. I also installed a hidden kill switch. That was the best thing I ever did. They tried to steal the car five times, but they could never find the kill switch.” The car never did get stolen, but Larry did lose three eight-track and two cassette stereos in the attempts.

A year later (and before the next California rainy season), all the race suspension and the huge Blue Streaks were removed and put into storage, returning the car to stock height. Although the GTO took on a slightly different personality with the stock suspension, the American Racing wheels were retained. Larry and his brother had some really good times with the GTO, driving it daily throughout high school and helping Larry get the prettiest girl at school. It also served as a tow vehicle from time to time for the family boat (a 1966 18-foot flat-bottom V-drive Hallet Hot Boat with a 392 Hemi that the family still owns). When the oil embargo hit in 1973, Larry’s brother began to worry about fuel costs and wanted to sell the car. Larry still loved the GTO and bought out his brother.

Other than new front-seat upholstery, the GTO’s interior is exactly as it was when Larry drove the car daily.

Now with full ownership, Larry used the car every day. He drove it while in college and through dental school. He drove it to Los Angeles and commuted in it to his hospital residency program. He continued to use it daily back in the San Francisco Bay Area after he started his own dental practice. From 1969 to 1992, Larry racked up around 200,000 miles on his beloved GTO.

In 1995, he decided to repaint the car after what he said was “much mental anguish over the pros and cons of disturbing the original patina.” Preservation of as much of the car as possible was the goal. Not happy with what PPG offered as Pontiac Tyrol Blue, he enlisted the services of master painter Bill Grey of Citrus Heights, California, to get the color right. Larry explains, “We were able to come up with a custom mixed Sikkens paint that was a fantastic match to the original. The underside of the trunk lid and the doorjambs still wear their original and non-faded paint that matches the new paint job.”

Thieves stole a total of five tape decks out of the GTO over the years, but it still has its Motorola Vibrasonic reverb.

Larry debuted the freshly painted GTO in 1996 at the Goodguys car show in Pleasanton, California. His son Lance, then 7 years of age, helped polish the American Racing wheels. The Blue Streak cheater slicks were remounted once again after being in storage since 1970. The car was a crowd favorite that day, and the local newspaper featured the GTO with a photo of Lance with the car.

Lance, now 30 and inspired by vintage photos of his dad’s GTO, had been urging his dad to return the car to the gasser-style suspension it had in 1969. Since all the original performance suspension parts have been saved, and with the 50th anniversary of ownership approaching, it was refitted with the old suspension. In the spring of 2018 it was sitting high again, just as it was back in the late 1960s when Larry first saw it thundering down the highway as a kid.

The Blue Streaks went into storage in 1970 when Larry removed the lifted suspension (after a scary freeway spinout). They rejoined the GTO when it was raised again.

At a Glance 1967 GTO Owned by: Larry Porteous Restored by: Owner; Bill Grey, Citrus Heights, CA (paint) Engine: 400ci V-8 Transmission: Muncie M22 close-ratio 4-speed manual Rearend: Chevrolet 12-bolt with 3.90 gears and Positraction Interior: Black vinyl bucket seats with console Wheels: 15-inch American Racing Tires: P225/70R15 Goodyear front, 8.00/8.20-15 Goodyear Blue Steak cheater slicks rear Special parts: Isky race camshaft, Edelbrock dual-quad aluminum intake manifold, twin Carter AFB carburetors, Mallory ignition, Hayes 3,200-pound three-finger clutch, Chevrolet 12-bolt rearend, rear traction bars with Panhard rod, cut and reverse welded front spindles

Just before Larry turned 16, his father gave him this GTO’s Unlimited patch, which he promptly sewed on his denim jacket. Given the careful way he’s kept the GTO over the years, it’s no surprise that he still has the jacket, too.

The post Gasser-Style 1967 Pontiac GTO Returns to its Day Two Attitude—and Altitude appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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[musicalgeek24601]

Winchesters in Stars Hallow

       Sam and dean were teens when they first ventured into the beautifully unique town, yet simple town of Stars Hallow. It was a small town in Connecticut, just outside of Hartford. The town had a vintage, almost cute look to it. Every inch of the town was clean and surrounded with people who all seemed to know one another and who seemed overly content with their town. The houses were big and the flowers were in bloom.

       “who the hell would want to live here? This place looks like it never came out of the 40s.” Dean commented. He was 19 at the time dressed in Metallica shirt and a leather jacket, jeans and worn out work boots. “this place makes me want to puke, we need to get in and out of here as soon as possible.”” Dean continued.

Sam was 16 at the time, his eyes had been focused on the book he was reading. He was dressed in a flannel shirt and jeans. As he looked out the window, he sighed and slumped in his chair. Great another case. He thought. More mindless killing, more monsters and another chance for dad to critique everything I do.

         “I don’t want to be here anymore then you guys do.” John spoke.  “But Annie said there was a case here, she said it seemed like vampires. 13 people were murdered within 3 weeks, the blood was drain from the victims’ bodies and all of them had weird markings on their necks. Annie and her daughter are scared they might be next.”

          “since when do you care about Aunt Annie?” Dean questioned. “the two of you haven’t spoken to each other in about 15 years and now were racing off to go save her and her kid.”

           “there still family, Dean. I may not get along with her, like I used to, but I’m not going to let them die if I can stop it.”

Sam looked at his brother and father with confusion.

          “who’s aunt Annie?” Sam asked. “and why have I never heard about her before?”

            “She is my younger sister.” John revealed. “after your mother died, Annie moved in with us for a few months and helped me to take care of the two of you. she was living in jersey at the time and she dropped everything to help me. But I started to research about demons and hunting them, I got the idea to try and eliminate the creature that killed your mother. I told Annie what I wanted to do and I asked her if she could take care of you guys on her own while went hunting….it didn’t go over well with her. We got into a huge fight. She was convinced that I was crazy, she said it wouldn’t work, and if it did I would get myself killed. She told me I was acting recklessly and selfishly…she claimed I was so focused on revenge that I was putting what I wanted before what the two of you need. When I refused to see things her way, she left town and never spoke to me again. Well that was, until last night when she called my cell phone.“

            “well she wasn’t wrong.” Sam mumbled.

            “I did what I had to in order to protect you boys!” john shouted.  “there are monsters in this world and they are merciless! They would kill you without even thinking about it! What kind of father would I be if I didn’t teach you how to defend yourself against them!?”

           “That’s not the point!” Sam argued. “You put us in danger every day! you make us travel across the country risk our lives to save people we don’t know! what kind of father forces his sons to hunt down these monsters!?  We never had a choice, it was this or nothing! We’re not even searching for the demon that killed mom anymore! we haven’t had a lead on that in years! So, what’s the point of all this? To kill all the monsters? To save all the people? It’s not going to happen! More and more of these creatures keep turning up and new demons are made. We keep going back to the same states even the same towns. Wouldn’t it have been better to have normal lives? To have a home, friends, a high school that we stay at for more than a year. ”

        “This is who we are, this is what we are meant to do. We are saving lives, we are helping people! I didn’t force you to join the hunt, I recall you begging to hunt with us. When I left you alone and dean and I would hunt. You were miserable! You had no friends, no hobbies. You were desperate for some kind of excitement.”

           “I was kid back then, I didn’t know what I was getting into!”

            “shut up! The two of you!” Dean shouted. “You guys are always at each other’s throats! For once I’d like us to just go on a hunt without you two arguing over the same shit!”

John parked the impala in front of Luke`s diner and gets out of the car, slamming the door behind him. Sam and dean follow after John. then the three sit at the counter. Luke, a man in a red flannel shirt and a blue baseball cap comes out of the kitchen. He had dirty blonde hair and brown eyes, he looked to be in his early 30s. he walked over to the Winchesters with a notepad in his hand.

          ”are you guys ready to order?” Luke asked.

           “yeah we`ll get two burgers and a salad. “ John replied.

Luke wrote down there order on his notepad.

            “alright. Anything else?” he asked.

            “yeah. What do you know about the deaths around here?” Dean asked.

Luke raised an eye brawl.

            “the deaths? People get really old and then they die. Not much else to tell.”

              “no, I’m talking about the 13 murders that happened in only 3 weeks.” Dean replied.

   Luke laughed.

               “look, kid. I don’t know where you think you are? But nobody in this town has enough of a mean streak to kill anyone, let alone 13 people. The only people that die in this town are the elderly and even they take their sweet time with it.”

    John goes into his coat pocket and takes out his fake FBI badge and shows it to Luke. The boys take out there badges as well.

               “we are federal agents we know for a fact that there has been strange murders here.” John exclaimed. “we aren’t some reporters looking for a story or curious customers. We are here to do a job. Were here to fix what is going on here and all we want is some answers. Your shop is in the center of town. You must have heard or seen something.”

               “there was no attack!” Luke yelled. “ trust me I would know! I live in this town, and people love to gossip here! So if there was an attack, it wouldn’t be a secret! Everyone would know! Also for your information there hasn’t even been any attack even remotely fitting your description anywhere in this state! If there was I’m sure it would have been cover on the news or in the paper, but there is nothing about any of that. Oh and I can tell those badges are fake. Look I don’t know if your insane or pulling some kind of prank but if you don’t want me to call the police, I would advise you to get out of my diner.”

              Meanwhile as john was speaking with Luke, Sam began to watch a beautiful girl as she entered the diner. She had straight long light brown hair and big blue eyes. her skin was pale and her name was Rory. He watched as she walked past him and sat next to a women in her 30s with dark brown hair and the same blue eyes. the two women chatted and eventually some local boy, who had previously tried flirting with the mother, tried the same tactic with the daughter. Which ended in wise cracks and the local boy’s extreme embarrassment. Sam smiled he could tell by just watching her that Rory was a funny and down to earth girl, he liked that.

          “Sam, Dean. Let’s go.” John spoke.

        Just then a women walked in. she had her thin blonde hair in a ponytail and had dark brown eyes. she was dressed in a blue sweater, a white denim jacket and black jeans. Around her neck she had a white scarf. Holding hands with the women was a little girl with short blonde hair, dressed in a purple shirt with a pink coat and jeans. The little girl had a smile on her face and chubby cheeks, she looked no older than eight. The women smiled as she spotted John and the boys.

         “john!” the women called out waving her free arm. The women and her daughter rushed over to the Winchesters. Her smile grew bigger as she came closer. She hugged John tightly. “I didn’t think you guys would actually come! This is so exciting!”

     “of course we`d come, you said-“ John began to say.

But Annie wasn’t listening, she was already hugging Sam and Dean. Both boys gave their father a look of discomfort and awkwardness.

          “it’s so good to see you boys! the last time I saw the two of you was when you were babies, and now look at the two of you are men! We have a lot to of catching up to do!”

She hugged them again.

         “come sit and we`ll all chat.” She said with a smile as she made her way to an empty table.

           “this girl is out of her mind.” Dean whispered to Sam.

Sam nodded.

            “I think that’s a requirement to live here.” John commented to Dean.

But the three Winchester men followed Annie and sat down with her.

          “Annie! Focus!” John shouted.

Annie turned her attention to her brother.

          “You said that you were in danger.” John told her. “Annie, what’s going on? “

         “oh…well I kind of…just said that to get you here.” Annie admitted. “I knew you wouldn’t come if I had just asked, I knew my only chance of getting you here was to lie. But I do need your help, it’s just not a monster thing.”

John rolled his eyes and looked at his sister with anger.

                “then what is it?” John asked, his voice stern.

          Annie began to sob.  

             “John, I know we haven’t been close in a really long time. But you used to be someone who I was always able to go to when things went wrong in my life. So, I’m asking for you to help me or tell me what to do…. I really need you now.”

       Annie and John were ten years apart. The two shared the same mother, but different fathers. But there mother raised the two children together on her own. As kids John and Annie had always been close. John was always there to protect his odd little sister, who constantly was getting picked on. She didn’t like to stick to what was expected by society, she liked to move to her own beat. She was loud and outgoing and always was drawn to the strangest people. But she was kind, she had one of the biggest hearts. Annie sometimes had relied on John to be her friend, sometimes he`d be someone to protect her, then other times they`d be foes who would argue over foolish things. But as he looked at her crying, he knew he needed to be there for her. So John hugged her, then looked at his sister with compassion.

            “whatever is going on, I’m here for you. I’ll do whatever I can to help you, Annie.”

        She smiled slightly and wiped the tears from her cheek.

              “my husband left me a few months ago. now it’s just me and Clare on our own. I had been able to work and get as much money as I can. But it is not enough and I can’t take on any more hours because I must take care of Clare. The bills have started piling up now and I’m behind in rent. I just can’t do this on my own…maybe you guys can stay in town for a while and help me out, maybe watch her for a couple hours while I take on more hours or even a second job.”

              “or I can just give you some money. Wouldn’t that be easier?”

Dean and Sam watched as the scene unfolded. It was odd for them to see their father be nice or encouraging to anyone, he was never that kind of person toward them.  But Dean knew how it felt to have a sibling to look out for and the need to protect them at all cost. Dean understood why his father was doing all this.

               “no! I know where you get your money and I don’t want to be a part of that.” She told him. “you have all those credit card schemes you pull, I’m not taking a chance with that.”

He sighed.

               “well I don’t want to see you work yourself to death. I know the kind of person you are, and you`ll regret It if you’re working so much that you don’t see your kid.” John spoke, he thought for a moment. “how about this....me and the boys will stay in town and work ordinary jobs and we`ll give you the money we earn.”

                “how about half, so then you can have some for you and your boys.”

                “you got yourself a deal.” He smiled and she smiled back.

                “thank you.” she spoke.

      Annie leads the Winchesters back to her house. It was a big blue house on peach street with huge backyard. The home was two stories tall and as they walked in the home had a country style look to it.

      “home sweet home.” Annie spoke. “the guest room is down the hall, we only have one but we have a camp bed that I can move in there, obviously there is already a bed in there, and the couch pulls out into a bed so one of you can sleep there. Clare and I have rooms` upstairs.”

John nodded. Annie ran her figures through her hair, not knowing what to say next, a rare case for her. She looked at the boys and noticed Sam was the only one carrying a bag.

    “so do you have more bags in the car? I can help you bring them in if you`d like.” Annie offered.

John smirked.

       “we just have the one bag, we travel light.” John replied.

       “well I better get ready for work, I got to head out in a few hours. But if you`d like I’m sure Clare would be happy to show you guys around town. “

        “that would be good we can start looking for jobs anyways.”

         “I think Gypsy at the auto shop place is looking for full time workers, and there are a few places in town looking for part timers.”

       “sounds good.”

Annie walked toward the stairs then turns back towards her brother.

          “thanks again, John. It really means a lot to me.” She spoke. Then headed up stairs.

John gave her a slight smile.

Clare lead John, Sam and Dean over to Gypsy`s shop. As they walked down the streets of the town people took notice of the outsiders.

         “what’s wrong with these people? Why are they all staring at us?” dean asked angrily. “it’s like they’ve never seen another person before.”

Clare chucked.

       “Stars Hallow doesn’t get many get many tourist, thought Taylor would say otherwise, the only people who come into town are those who live here or the typical relatives of towns members.” Claire explained. “but everyone is really nice here, once you get to know them. I spent my whole life here, eventually everyone becomes like family. everyone around here watches out for one another and befriends everyone.”

        “that’s pretty cool.” Sam replied.

they waited for Gypsy to come out with applications, Kirk, a skinny 30 year old age with blonde hair walked over to the family.

         “do you know where Gypsy went? My mother wanted me to pick up her car for tomorrow.” Kirk spoke.

          “she just went inside the garage to get applications for a job.” Sam spoke.

           “oh your looking for jobs! I can help you with that I have 32 jobs in town. There really easy to get around here and you really don’t need any experience. Although experience would be best, my mother once got a job at Miss Patty`s working as an assistant yoga instructor and as she tried to do this one move she got her legs stuck over her head for a week. I had to help bath her for a week.”

Sam, dean and Clare were trying very hard not to laugh.

          “that’s awful, kirk. How did they fix her?” Clare asked.

           “lots of medication and physical therapy.” Kirk replied. “The medication made her loopy though she was convinced that she was queen Elizabeth and began demanding things like crumpets and fine tea. She wouldn’t leave the house without a corset, do you know how hard it is to find a corset for 58 year old women.. very hard.”

Dean turned toward his father with a look of disgust and discomfort.

         “how long are planning on making us stay here?” Dean whispered to his father.

          “just until we can get her back on her feet.” John replied. “…so probably about a month at the least.”

            “a month?!” dean shouted with shock.  “Are you serious!? Come on! We’re wasting our time here! Do you know how many cases were gana miss by staying here? Everyone looks at us around, like they know we don’t belong. I feel like if a cat got stuck in tree that would be the most interesting thing that ever happened here. Its creepy everyone is so happy and friendly. It’s not normal.”

 Sam chuckled at the irony of that statement.

        Gypsy made her way out of the auto shop and began talking to John and Dean about a job. Clare suggested that Sam might be able to fight a part time job at Doose`s market. They two made their way to the town square where all the shops and stores were located. As they walked in Sam saw Rory again. She was chatting with her friend, Lane. Lane was a Korean girl with big glasses and always seemed to be dressed like a punk rocker. Sam hid behind a nearby shelf, wanting to observe the type of girl Rory was.

     “what are you doing?” Clare asked. Looking at Sam as if he were insane.

      “shh.” Sam whispered. “I don’t want her to see me.”

       “who? The Asian chick?” Clare whispered back. “you don’t have a chance with her, her mom doesn’t let her date anyone that isn’t Korean.”

Sam sighed.

       “no, the one that the Korean girl is talking to.”

 Clare smiled as if she heard the juiciest secret.

          “oooh you like Rory!” she shouted, with a devious grin on her face.

           “Clare. Shut up.” He whispered.

           “Sam and Rory sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” Clare sang aloud.

As Rory looked toward them, Sam quickly pulled Clare behind the shelf. Clare grinned, Sam rolled his eyes.

      “didn’t you say we had to find some guy named Taylor about the job? How about you go look for him.”

         “I`m not the one looking for the job.” Clare replied smugly.

         “I’ll give you a dollar, if you go look for him and leave me alone.”

            “make it five.” She demanded.

          “deal.” He replied as he reached into his wallet and handed her the five. she took his money and walked over to another part of the store. He watched Rory for a bit, trying to think of something clever to say to her. She was so smart and yet also odd, which liked about her. He noticed Rory struggling to get a can off one of the top shelves. He took a deep breath and decided to swoop in to help her. He walked over and took the item she was reaching for and held it out to her. She smiled and took the can from his can.

      “thank you.” she spoke.  “you know they really should put those on a lower shelf, they’re going to lose a lot of business this way.” she commented a bit awkwardly.

Sam chuckled.

          “I agree, it’s not every day that someone freakishly tall will come to the rescue.”

She smiled then laughed.

            “so, are you from around here?” Sam asked.

             “yeah I lived in Stars Hallow my whole life. My mom and I love this place, I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.” She replied. “so, are you visiting someone here or are you moving in?”

               “umm…. its undecided at this point.” He lied. “my family is visiting my aunt and were not sure if we are going to stay or not.”

                 “well I can show you around, if you want- “

                   “Rory!” a raspy voice shouted. they turned to see a short heavy set middle aged women with blonde curly hair and brown eyes coming their way.

                    “Rory!” the women called out again. “your never gana believe what happened. I let your mother watch my cat for 15 minutes while I went to get groceries. My husband just got home and he said the cat is acting all crazy now! I don’t understand it; your mother is like poison to animals. Now I got to get the cat its medicine while I’m out.”

                 “oh, I’m sorry to hear that, Babette.” Rory replied. Suddenly Rory`s phone began to ring.

                “it’s my mom, she is probably wondering where I am. I should head home.” She spoke. She turned to Sam. “it was nice talking with you.”

Babette looked Sam up and down.

                  “you must be one of Annie`s nephews.” Babette commented. “She was talking about trying to get her brother and his kids to come into town. Didn’t think it would actually happen, she has been talking about getting you guys here for years.”

                “really?” he questioned.

 Babette nodded.

                “oh yeah. She always talks about how much she missed her family, her and her brother used to be real close. She has a lot of wacky stories that she tells about the two of them, her and her brother got into all sorts of trouble as kids. Anyways tell me about you? what’s your name? Annie said she had two nephews, where is the other one? How long are you staying?”

He looked at Babette with a look of confusion. What was with all the questions? He thought. Where should he even start?

           “my name is Sam, my brother`s name is dean. My dad and my brother are looking for jobs at the auto shop. But I’m not I`m not sure how long were staying.”

Babette`s phone rang.

           “hold on, Dean.” She said to Sam, clearly having had mixed up the names.

           “oh, I’m not- “

             “I’m coming home right now! I promise!” Babette said into the phone. She looked over same “I`m sorry, got to go. My cats need me right away! I`ll see you soon, dean.”

As Babette leaves, Sam could hear snickering from behind him. He turned and saw Clare standing there.

                “well looks like your Dean now, unless you want to go around correcting the whole town.” Clare told him. “Babette is the town gossip, she talks to every single person she sees. Each person she will tell the latest news to, which today will be your family`s arrival. When she talks about how she met you, and most likely describes you, she`ll be calling you dean. This is a small town her gossip travels fast, it’s probably already too late to fix it.”

         “come on news can’t travel that fast.” Sam corrected.

Suddenly Miss Patty and Kirk enter the market and pass by Sam.

          “hi dean.” Kirk spoke while passing by Sam.

            “hi dean.” Miss patty called out, as she passed him too.

Clare chuckled.

            “I told you.” Clare said to Sam.

       A month later. Annie was starting to get back on her feet, she could get enough money to settle her debts. John and Dean were already sick of Stars Hallow and were eager to leave. But Sam was different. He liked the people of Stars hallow, he liked the kindness and quirkiness of the people. But most of all he had fallen in love for the first time. He had been dating Rory for the past month and he didn’t want to leave her. he was convinced she was perfect and that he was the love of his life.

            “I’m not leaving!” Sam yelled at his father, as the two men stood in the middle of the living room. “I`ll live on my own if I have to. I`ll get a job or even two, but you can’t make me go with you!”

              “I`m your father, I can do whatever I want!” john replied coldly.  “You wanted to be a part of this hunting life, now you have the responsibility to do your job and hunt with us!”

              “I`m sick of hunting!” Sam yelled. “I`m tired of all this crap! I`m done with monsters and spells…I don’t want this life anymore! I want to be normal! I want to go to school with the same kids for more than a semester! I want to live in a house and neighbors and friends! I want to have a real job where I can earn money!”

             “well you don’t have a choice! You’re a hunter and that’s what you will always be! There is no way out and no way around it! Once you’re in it you’re in for life! I don’t care that you hate this job, or even if you hate me. But you’re a hunter and that’s your life now.”

Sam rolled his eyes, then looked at his watch. He then grabbed his bag from the floor and quickly walked to the front door.

         “where are you going?” John shouted.

         “I have a group project with some kids in my class, so I’m meeting them at the school.” Sam murmured. Then exited the home and made his way toward the town.

              Sam waited at the bus stop for Rory to get home from school. He sat on the bench reading the latest novel that Rory had suggested. His father didn’t know about Rory, he made sure of it. He was consumed with the idea that if he told him, he would make them leave as soon as possible. John had always thought his sons that `you can’t make friends or start relationships in their line of work, because people will get hurt. ` but he couldn’t help how he felt, from the moment he saw Rory he knew he was in love with her.

    As she got off the bus, he couldn’t help but stare. She had gorgeous blue eyes, straight long brown hair and a face that always seemed to have a smile.

      “hey Dean.” She called out to him, as she waved her hand happily.  

Sam walked over to Rory and hugged her tightly, then kissed her lips. she smiled at him and looked into his eyes and passionately kissed him back. the two held hands as he walked her back to her house.

         “dean, can I ask you something?” Rory asked nervously.

         “sure, what is it?” he replied curiously.

         “well we have been going out for a long time now, it’s been almost a month. You have met my family…..but I haven’t met any of your family.”

        “Rory, we’ve talked about this,” he reminded her. “I just don’t think you meeting them would be a good idea right now. There is a lot going on with them right now.”

        “I know you keep saying that!” she replied irately. “But it makes me feel like you are embarrassed of me or something?”

        “no, that’s not it!” Sam assured her. “you’re the greatest thing that ever happened to me. But I just don’t want…. I don’t want you to think I’m some kind of freak or hate me because of my family.”

  She looked at him confused.

          “why would I think that?” she asked.  “My family is far from normal, and you don’t think any less of me.”

          “of course. but you don’t understand-“

          “just consider it, it really would mean a lot to me.” Rory plead.

   Sam sighed.

           “alright, I’ll ask them.”

to be continued....