#I have a dozen suit designs for Chris. A DOZEN.

[anxiousdreamcore]

Me and bestie after building an AU where Chris Kent is not evil and gets dropped down into Metropolis just like in the original story and adopted, but becomes Jon’s twin brother and gains a charming, sassy attitude and becomes besties with the batkids:

[randomshyperson]

Best (Girl)Friends - Wanda Maximoff x Rogers!Reader

Summary: Wanda sympathizes with your willpower. 70 years on ice is a long time to wait for an intimate touch. And being the good friend that she is, Wanda offers you some help.

Warnings: (+18), some vague plot, smut with virginity loss, Rogers!Reader following all Wanda’s wishes, power bottom!Wanda, kissing, friends to lovers, mutual pining, explicit consent but Wanda being a tease and a bit possessive. | Words: 4.893k

A/-N-> I’m pretty sure this was a request, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. 

General Masterlist | AO3 | Wattpad |

-&-

Shield acted as if they won the lottery.

In a way, it felt like that. Two Rogers siblings found on the same day would probably yield some promotions within the teams responsible, and a nice image bonus with the US government. 

But while Captain America was found in a negative temperature on the other side of the planet, his sister destroyed an entire building with her sudden appearance inside a blue explosion a few hours later.

In your defense, you had no idea what was about to happen. 

One minute, you were inside a Howard Stark-designed marine suit at the bottom of the ocean. But in Shield's defense, you were disobeying the orders of your director, that is, Margaret Carter on the phone, who five minutes earlier insisted that she would not risk losing another Rogers and that reaching the cube was not worth the risk to your safety, but you still put on the prototype underwater suit and dived in search of the item, which, to you, was the key to finding your brother.

You were right, in a way. Touching the cube with the determined idea that you would like to see Steve again really worked. The problem was how it happened. 

The explosion was all around you, and you saw nothing but the beam of blue light that forced you to close your eyes. One moment you were deep in the sea, and the next you were in the middle of one of the Shield Secret Bases, a thousand of bricks flying around with the force of the explosion.

Your presence in the secret room of Project PEGASUS caused Shield to be on high alert, and a dozen rifles to be pointed in your face.

But it was all cleared up in no time and ended with your figure handcuffed on the seat of a government Jet on its way to New York.

Unlike Steve, you were awake. And not the least bit in the mood to follow Nick Fury's theatrical demands.

"That's to avoid shock, Miss Rogers-"

"Absolutely not, Nicholas." You cut him off impatiently, your hands-free since Shield had clarified exactly who you were. "The first thing I'm saying to my brother won't be a lie."

Nick sighed. "I understand it's a delicate situation, Miss, but Captain Rogers has been frozen for too long. An innocent fantasy is meant to lessen the shock of the truth."

You skirted Nick without caring about the speech. "There's no way to lighten news like this one. We're both in the future, for Chris’s sake! That it's absurd enough. No more lies, and let me see my brother for once. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for that." 

Fury didn't have the heart to insist, not only because he had another supersoldier getting him out of the way, but because of the emotion in your voice. He waved in dismissal to any soldier more curious about your determined walk, and no one interfered as you made your way to the room where they placed your brother.

Shield had begun to create a scenario around him that made you chuckle in irony. You dismissed the agent posing as a nurse with a look, and Nick allowed you to be alone in the room, and without wasting any time, you made your way to the bed.

Steve looked the same as he did the day he disappeared, and you felt a sob break in your throat. Maybe the sound woke him up.

He opened confused eyes at you, and unlike him, you had aged a lot since the last time he had seen you when you were still a child. 

"Hey, Stevie." Your greeting came hoarsely, laden with emotion. Steve took a moment to recognize you.

"Y/N?" He asked, tense and startled. You could almost see the gears of his brain working, the way he tried to recognize his surroundings as well. "God, how long have I...?"

"Longer than you can imagine, big brother. Much longer." You replied before hugging him tightly. 

This must have been the last entirely friendly interaction you had with your brother, a reunion bittersweet for its peculiarities that was unable to conciliate years of differences between the two of you. Nor did the ice erase your hurt over Steve sending you away from the war when your parents passed away, or make you forget the years of training and working for Shield in search of him once you were back in Brooklyn. Nor did it change Steve's view of how he wanted to protect and keep out of trouble - which included superhero work - his younger sister who he had vowed to take care of.

But it was indeed an undeniable amusement to the rest of the team that the personalities of the Rogers siblings were so blatantly different, and it caused some apprehension every time Steve had to witness you leaving the tower in some sports car borrowed from Tony Stark while dressed in leather jackets borrowed from Natasha Romanoff.

The apex that you were entirely corrupted for all that he expected from a proper 1950s girl came in the addition of a certain angry witch to the team a while later.

Of course, the close age - if one ignores the years between the time jump and your arrival - you and Wanda had made your friendship an inevitability. But this doesn't mean that witnessing your clear crush on the new Avenger wasn't giving your older brother a headache.

Natasha thinks he deserved some credit. Considering he was a white man from the 1950s who was frozen before appearing in a new century, Steve was pretty open-minded. She was pretty sure this was due to the closet years of keeping a secret crush on his best friend, but she wouldn't be mean enough to torment Steve with that. 

And besides this, you were also getting used to the new century. And with the possibility of being able to have feelings for Wanda in an open and free way, so different from the world you lived in before.

The witch, on the other hand, had the greatest of fun tormenting you as much as she could while she waited for you to be ready.

And these teases came at every opportunity Wanda could take, from summer days at the tower pool where she had an excuse to wear bikinis around you and make a complete mess of you with the "friendly cuddling" which is how she came to justify the fact that your room was hers now and that there was nothing more platonical than sleeping cuddled up to your best friend.

With each passing moment, you grew comfortable and certain in your own feelings, parallel to which you became more confident in your powers and Wanda began to feel that the tables were turning on her every time a tickle war ended with you using your super-strength to pin her to the bed or you could effortlessly carry her away from a training session or conflict.

It didn't take long for the situation to become unbearable - Wanda was sure she would combust in the next cuddling session if she felt your body against hers again without that leading to what she really wanted, so now she had to take drastic action.

Communication was always the key to everything.

"Have you ever had sex?"

Your cell phone fell hard on your face. Wanda giggled at the mirror reflection: she was on her back brushing her hair and stealing glances at your figure lying on the bed, still learning to use the current technology but definitely loving the whole thing.

Snorting in embarrassment, you pushed the electronic device down onto the mattress and massaged your sore face. "I'm beginning to think you enjoy seeing me like this."

"What do you mean?" She asks innocently, turning her attention to the ring drawer. 

"Disconcerted."

Wanda chuckles mischievously, running her fingers through the options and trying to decide between the items as you stare at the ceiling. "I know you're like 100 years old, but won’t you tell me that it never happened? Not even when you became a hottie super soldier?"

You grunted in shame, covering your face with your arm. Wanda giggled again, this time putting on one of the silver rings. You were too far away to notice how her fingers were slightly trembling, giving away how she was equally affected by the conversation. But unlike you, Wanda knew how to keep it cool very well.

"Wandaaa." You grumbled, and she almost dropped the subject when you added. "No."

"No, what?"

With a sigh, you removed your arm from in front of your face but didn't risk looking at her. "Back then...I just, I didn't have the courage I guess. You know, girls were supposed to be virgins to marry, in theory. And well, I wasn't going to marry anyone because I was too busy working. And when I got into the army, the vast majority of the guys I knew started looking at me with contempt and indignation, and then came the serum I just...didn't know how to handle the attention."

Wanda spun the stool she was sitting on toward you, listening closely to your words. 

You sighed shyly. "I mean I had opportunities, but I just didn't feel comfortable following them. I wanted... to be with someone who liked me. Not the super serum, you know? Most people were only talking to me because of it. They hoped to gain some kind of benefit from meeting the American Soldier. I don't know, maybe it's just me trying not to sound so... cowardly."

Wanda stood up with a sigh, and you swallowed dryly, keeping your gaze on the ceiling until her face appear in your field of vision.

"Detka, you are literally the bravest person I know." Reminded the witch, bringing a small smile to you. "And there's nothing wrong with not being ready, or waiting for the right person. Sex is intimate, it makes sense that you want it to happen with someone you like and who likes you back."

"Thank you for being understanding." You muttered, swallowing dryly when instead of returning to her previous activities, Wanda sat down on the bed next to you. With a sigh and shifting your gaze to the ceiling again, you ventured, "Have you?"

Wanda's teasing giggle brought a deep color to your face. "Have I what?"

Snorting, you retorted, "Come on, you're the one who brought this up."

Wanda pinched you gently on the belly, smiling at your complaint. “A few times, actually.'"

It made no sense at all to feel jealous of a time you didn't even know her, and that you were somehow in the past, but still, a bitter burn filled your stomach. Wanda, the telepath that she was, seemed to know exactly what you were thinking, and without caring whether it would make your heart stop or not, approached you to use your torso as her personal pillow. With two legs on which side of your hips, she stared down at you.

"But it was nothing outstanding." She began, using her fingertips to wander all the exposed skin of your neck and shoulders through your pajamas and having the best time in the world in watching every single hair of you shiver. "I kept making the same mistake in settling down for mediocre sex. No real feelings, no passion, much less love. Always end up frustrated and having to finish the job alone."

You frowned in confusion. "Alone...?" But it only took one look from Wanda for you to understand what she meant and choke, your face pink again. The younger girl giggled, leaning her elbow on you to rest her chin on her own hand and take a closer look. 

"Eyes on me, baby." She asked, hoping you would overcome your own shyness to do so. When you follow her request, Wanda was ready to risk everything. "You know I love you, don't you?"

You sighed, nodding. "I love you too, Wanda." Your confession was huskier than hers, and she had to ignore the sincerity of what that really meant in order to stay focused on that afternoon's goal. "Kind of the essential thing on the best friend package, isn't it?"

Wanda chuckled, rolling her eyes. 

Of course, you would make a joke to lessen the intensity of the moment, if she was nervous in all her confident glory, she could have sympathy for you, who was literally having to deal with your long-time crush practicing lying over you.

"Friends help each other, don't they? Especially best friends." She retorted, and you frowned in confusion.

"Yeah, I guess… why, did something happen?" Before your confusion could turn to worry entirely and you could finish the movement of getting up, Wanda pressed her hands on your shoulders and pushed you back on the mattress.  "Hey." You chuckled puzzledly, but the laughter died into an affected sigh when Wanda simply shifted in your lap completely, in a very non-platonic way.  "Right, whatever makes you comfortable." You mutter, very aware of the heat radiating from the girl's body on top of you, who just chuckled mischievously at your shyness.

"Relax, dorogoya." Wanda reasserted in a low, dangerously seductive voice. Her hands were on your shoulders still, rubbing your loose pajamas and somehow pushing them down to the limits, exposing as much skin as Wanda could manage. "We don't have to do anything you don't want to...but I also need you to tell me exactly what you wanna do and how ready for me you are."

Your throat went dry, and Wanda's dilated pupils were not helping the words to form. She bit her lip, seeming to have the best time with your clumsiness.

"I-I... god, Wanda..." You gasped and she leaned in completely until her breath was hitting your cheek.

"How about a kiss? Don't tell me you never got one?" She mocked and you had to chuckle dryly.

"You can be quite an ass, Maximoff." You murmured with your eyes closed, risking moving your hands to her thighs around your hips, the action making you both hold your breaths for a second. "I've kissed before."

"Hmm, I see." She hits back, deviating from the original path and letting her mouth tease your jaw, feeling your hands squeeze her thighs gently with every kiss across your skin. What Wanda wouldn't do to see you lose control...

"I like kissing." You confess hoarsely, mostly because she’s making you so nervous that the words are simply spilling. You kept your eyes closed and your neck stretched to give her more room to don’t stop. Aware of your words, Wanda hums again as she keeps depositing chaste kisses on your collarbone. "I like...kissing girls."

It should be a heartfelt confession, one that Wanda theoretically knew about but that you've never put into words before. But suddenly, Wanda bit down on you, hard enough for you to grunt in pain, opening your eyes. She grabs your cheeks with one hand, a hot fury in her eyes that makes you shudder.

"Rule number one, don't talk about other girls when you have one on top of you."

You open your mouth like a fish, babbling nonsense for enough time for Wanda to make a motion of leaving. But that makes you react. "I didn't mean to upset you!" You try quickly, hands moving on an instinct to hold her by the waist on top of you. Wanda has to bite her lips hard to keep from letting out a much more submissive sound than she would like when you just squeeze her firmly to keep her there. "Wanda, please forgive me! I-you caught me off guard, alright? I’m nervous… We’re friends and suddenly… you’re so close and I’m talking nonsense! Please, just… tell me what you want to hear.”

She huffs impatiently, crossing her arms and turning her face away as you sigh in defeat. Wanda wants to be annoyed, but you're so lovely when you lean your face into her, trying to ease her anger with chaste kisses on her cheeks and neck until you manage to get from her a stubborn smile. She has no choice but to uncross her arms to slide her hands up your shoulders, wrapping herself around your body again. 

She feels you smile and relax completely, the kisses getting firmer on her neck until they tickle and elicit a husky giggle from her. Still, Wanda settles a hand in your hair, and the slight tug to bring your faces close together again draws a deep sigh from you.

"I don't want to hear about other girls, detka. This is your last warning." She says seriously with eyes glowing red for a moment. Wanda had hoped to have a direct effect, but to her surprise, a teasing smirk began to form on your lips.

"Wow, you're totally jealous." You accused and she grimaced, trying to pull away once more. But that only made you burst out into a teasing giggle, while your strong arms wrapped around her torso, bringing her back to you effortlessly while keeping her locked into you. Wanda was clearly aware of how shaky her legs were with the motion, and trying to walk away again would only result in her falling to the ground. "Wanda, darling, the girls I kissed must be a hundred years old by now."

Reluctantly and with a rosy tinge in her cheeks, she mutters, "Honestly, I was hoping to be your first."  Her confession makes you rise your eyebrows in surprise, only to smile fondly next. Your hands moved again, caressing her back in an attempt to relax her as well. 

"Hey, look at me." You call out gently, waiting for the girl's stubbornness to subside with the help of your caresses. Wanda has a stronger color on her face when she finally raises her eyes to you again. "I didn't imagine this was anything of relevance to you. But I haven't lied before, I've never been with someone intimately. If you still want to, you can be my first... everything else."

She twitches her nose softly. "You’re making it sound like it’s a favor for me. I only want to... if you do too." She retorts with a certain determination in her gaze, and though you feel your cheeks burn with the ultimatum, you nod foolishly before breaking the distance.

It catches Wanda by surprise, the sudden kiss, and you're despairing when she doesn't respond immediately, pulling away at the same speed you approached. "Sorry." You say mortified and breathless, your lips tingling. "I like you, Wan. I really do. I just thought you should know before..."

She places a finger over yours, shushing your nervous anticipation. Her free hand goes to your cheek and Wanda pulls you close again, her eyes darkening in a way that makes you shiver entirely.

"Like I said before, just relax, baby. Stop overthinking." She whispers before she firms her mouth over yours. It's a sensual, intense kiss unlike any you've ever received. Wanda seems determined to drive you to complete insanity. She kisses you unhurried, waiting for permission to slide her tongue into yours, and giving you no room to breathe properly, head spinning with those new yet so familiar needy feelings. She kisses and kisses you until you're restless beneath her, your body burning and your hands curious testing limits that she doesn’t impose, only encourages you to break. Her taste and smell intoxicate your every sense, the feel of her body molded to yours, teasing your reactions and almost making you lose control of your strength. The tight squeeze you give her when she sucks your tongue earns a whimper from her that sticks and echoes in your mind, making you dizzy with lust. When she finally breaks the kiss to breathe, her lips are swollen like yours, and her pupils are so dilated that there is no green left in them. Your face burns for the matching fire you find in her gaze.

You are unable to find any words to describe this moment, so you only stare at her, blushing over the smirk that starts to form on her lips once she catches the adoring look you’re giving her.

Licking your lips to try to gain some focus, you dare to ask: “Was it…good?” You would have added “Did you like” or “Was I enough” if Wanda didn't break into a giggle that shut you entirely, your cheeks burning. Before the shame could surface, she grabbed your cheeks again. “You’re too cute, darling.” She says, kissing you again more quickly than before. Her hands move to yours then, intertwining your fingers together to drag them on her thighs, down, and then back up, this time under her skirt. Your heart stopped, and Wanda turned her dark eyes back to yours, her voice so low you wouldn't have heard it if you weren't so close. “Don’t be shy, see for yourself how much I like kissing you.” She whispers darkly.

When she kisses you again, her hands guide you under her skirt until you're in her front. The mere contact of your fingers with the wet spot on her panties makes you groan and break the kiss, needing a moment to just take a breath and calm your nerves. Wanda doesn't wait long, releasing your hands to move hers to your shoulders, needing firm support now that you're so close to where she needs it so badly. She gasps in surprise when your hand gives a quick tug that rips her panties off at once, a wave of new wetness running down her thighs in the same second.

You don't say anything about it, just turns your face to kiss her again, the same way she did before, and somehow even dirtier and more sexual, drawing gasps with every flick of your tongue against hers.

Because Wanda's your best friend, she wants to taunt you - tease you about being better at this than you let on, but all the words fall away at once when your fingers fill her in one go. All Wanda can do is moan, choking on the kiss as she feels you slide into her with such ease. 

"Fuck, detka." She moans with her eyes tightly closed, just as she pulls away to breathe. Your response is to just continue your movements, in and out of her without haste, feeling every mention of her warm walls squeezing your fingers. Wanda is burning on top of you and the sound of her drenched pleasure echoes low. You hum contentedly, nipping at her neck as she can no longer match the kiss, so close to her own climax. Your hand adjusts, increasing its reach, and when your thumb gives her clit the attention it needs, Wanda lets out an affected squeal. "W-wanna cum, baby. Please!"

You bite back a smile, surprised and impressed by the question hidden in the statement. You adjust to face her and wait for Wanda to feel the change to look at you too. The dark, lust-filled pupils leave you breathless.

"You can cum, sweetheart, you don't even have to ask." You assure her softly, never stopping your movements inside her. "I'm here to please you." You whisper, and it's enough for Wanda to break into an affected moan, hips thrusting helplessly against your hand until she arches her back and lets out the longest, dirtiest moan you've ever heard. 

Her eyes flutter shut as she rides her high on your soaked hand, until she finally opens scarlet pupils for you, a long groan leaving her lips as the last sensations of the best orgasm she ever had fade away.

Wanda turns her full attention to you in the next second, stealing quick but intense kisses until a husky giggle leaves her lips and tickles yours.

"You're too good at this for your own good." She prompts, and the compliment takes a heartfelt giggle from you. You try to relax under her gaze but Wanda's dilated eyes have a different twinkle as she holds your cheeks more firmly. "I think I want to keep you all to myself. Without sharing with anybody else. What do you say, baby?"

You swallow dry, suddenly quite vulnerable "H-hm, like... dating?" You retort in a weak tone of voice because you need to confirm and well the idea that someone as unbelievably awesome as Wanda Maximoff is actually asking for exclusivity with you seems too freaking surreal not to confirm. As many times as necessary.

Wanda giggles mischievously, settling herself on top of your fingers that never left her and sighing as she feels you even deeper than before. "Yeah, just like that." She moans, and you're not sure if she's answering your question or guiding you through the motions, but you get the impression that the answer goes both ways. 

It's not like you will contradict your new girlfriend any further.

Before Wanda could indulge in the sensation again, however, she stopped you with a gentle grip on your wrist. Raising curious eyes to the breathless flushed girl on top of you, your first reaction was to check if you had done something wrong, and by god, hurt her. But Wanda bit back a smile, her other hand going down to your belt.

"We're overdressed, honey." She whispered against your lips, red sparkles playing with the edge of your shirts, teasing them upward. " Strip."

Moaning low against her mouth, Wanda almost didn't let you pull away. In record time, your clothes were off and so were hers, between stolen panting kisses you fell to the mattress again, curious hands urging together.

Wanda pinned you beneath her with no effort despite your super strength, and feeling her naked against your skin drove you to the brink of insanity. She swallowed each moan with her mouth, appreciating the increasingly needy sounds as she fit against your hips, and began to move hers.

Soon, the friction became unbearably arousing and you had to clutch at the sheet, and the headboard. A hot, tight knot at the tip of your stomach left you breathless, every movement of Wanda's hips into yours, the perfect fit between your cunts was enough to make you choke. 

You practically meowed when she got the rhythm right. "O-oh god Wanda! T-there's something... fuck, I can't-"

"I know baby, just let go for me." She panted, her hands clenching the sheet on either side of your head, her hips frantic against yours. "Fuck, you feel amazing" She moans a confession, smiling satisfied at your expression of pure bliss beneath her.

Suddenly the knot bursts, and you're blinded by the pleasure of your first orgasm for a full moment. The headboard snaps in your left hand and Wanda cums in a loud, animalistic moan, spilling herself down on you before collapsing heavily onto your torso, your panting breaths mingling like your juices.

You try to recover together from the intensity of the climax, your hand finding her back on instinct to stroke her as Wanda nestles closer against you, an exhausted, satisfied smile on her lips.

She barely had a chance to lift her face to kiss you when the bedroom door suddenly opened.

"Kid, is everything all right in here I heard something breaking-'" 

You nearly knocked Wanda off the bed in an attempt to cover the two of you with the comforter - and the mattress lost a few springs in the process.

The two Avengers who'd entered the room covered their faces with their hands, but unlike your brother, Natasha was holding back her laughter.

"I'm sorry. We... I... you-"

"Come on Captain, we're leaving." Natasha cut Steve off with a pat on the shoulder, leading the way backward. "Sorry girls, lock the door next time. And well, use protection!" She burst out laughing, ignoring the embarrassed grumbles from you and Wanda, and closing the door.

With the safety of a locked door, you hid your face in your pillow.

"Great, the best day of my life might be ruined because my brother is going to have a stroke."  You grumbled, getting a hearty laugh from the other.

Wanda adjusted herself, stroking your hair until you looked at her again. "Best day of your life, huh? I'm flattered." She teases, smiling at the red that appears on your cheeks.

"As if you weren't cocky enough." You retort in the same tone, adjusting to hold her by the waist and pull her to you, getting on top now. Wanda sighs softly, even warmer with the addition of the blanket now, she finds it kind of hard to concentrate, much more talk. "Thank you, Wands."

Your line surprises her. "For what?"

"For being my first time." You clarify with a shrug, though your gaze was intense. "I've always wanted it to be with someone special, someone I like and trust. And there's no one I love more than you."

Wanda kisses you because she doesn't want to be the type to cry during sex, and she's pretty sure she would. You don't mind, she transmits the feeling through action and well, there are other things you're dying to do other than talk.

There will be time for confessions later.

[muddyorbsblr]

one look and they'll know

See my full list of works here!

Summary: You go to work on the set of Thor Ragnarok one day and you're greeted with the sight of one Tom Hiddleston on his knees and your coworkers whispering about how he perfected his posture.

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x Reader

Word Count: 3.7k

Warning/s: implied smut (there's like 2 paragraphs that talks about it), mentions of BDSM terms, talks about throat grabbing, cussing, and a potentially Domme!Reader that doesn't know her power [if i missed anything let me know!]

Working as a set designer on a movie set meant that every day could either be agonizingly monotonous, or no two days would ever be the same. There was this one TV episode you worked on where majority of the project took place in an interrogation room, so there was next to nothing for you to do besides making sure that continuity errors were minimized or even completely avoided.

This project…was not agonizingly monotonous. By some stroke of luck, you'd landed a gig as a set designer for Thor: Ragnarok, and now you were working on sets that would be walked on by the likes of Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, and--fucking Christ on a crutch--Tom Hiddleston.

When you decided to leave your day job of weekly software patches and bug fixes and the ever droning minutiae of daily updates that really gave you nothing except migraines and a bad habit of stress-eating for a chance at a career in the entertainment industry, did you ever think it would lead you here? Absolutely not. Truthfully, you were content with the interrogation rooms, but this? This was a pipe dream.

"Ah. Morning, Y/N," you heard the moment you stepped on set from Taika, currently dressed in a skin-tight spandex gray CGI suit with a giant Korg head harnessed atop his shoulders. "We sourced enough sugar glass bottles for Tessa to throw in Tom's general direction today, yeah?" 

"Well I got five dozen so…we should be good," you shot back with a chuckle. You knew full well what the cast and crew got up to when sugar glass was involved. Mostly smashing it on each other's heads and making some great takes for the blooper reel.

"Awesome. I'll see you there." With a wave you started walking toward your fellow set designers, currently glancing and giggling at one of the Sakaar sets.

"Alright, what's got your panties wet this time?" you called out to your coworkers. 

Bryan, a lanky guy slightly taller than you motioned toward the set. "Look at Hiddlebum." 

"I'd really rather not, you know that I trip on air the second I even glance in his direction," you shot back. "I can't keep my dignity around that man, let alone my sanity. Don't tell me to look at him." 

"He's not gonna look back," Denise, a curvy redhead and one of your closer friends on set, commented in a sing song tone. "Trust me, boss, you're gonna wanna look." 

With a huff, you glanced toward the set and you could wear that your heart turned to solid lead and then jumped out of your chest and straight to the ground. Lord have mercy, you were not ready for the image of Tom in his dark blue-green leather getup, wrapped in gold chains, on his fucking knees, back perfectly straight, and head tilted down to the floor.

The sound that came out of your mouth did not sound ladylike. Hell, it didn't even sound human. 

"Do you think he's--?" Denise started.

"Ohh he definitely is, I mean look at that posture! You don't get there from looking up one picture, you get there from practice and meticulous correction. This man's a sub."

"Sorry, a what?" You were now officially, thoroughly, confused.

"Submissive," Bryan explained to you. "It's a whole thing that needs a 6-hour crash course and a 40+ slide Powerpoint presentation, but for your immediate knowledge, madam, it means he likes being ordered around in the bedroom." 

"So what? Like strip? Slowly? Walk over to me, come to momma type shit?” 

"I'm shocked how quickly you got the vibe, boss," Denise quipped. "Bry, what if she's a domme?"

"A what??" you nearly shrieked. "You think I'm the one who says 'strip slowly and sit down like a good boy and don't move a muscle while I ride you'?" You took a breath to calm yourself. "You're fucking insane, the lot of you."

"Again, you got the vibes, boss. The more you joke about it the more I'm convinced that it's in your DNA."

You let out a frustrated exhale. "Alright you two knuckleheads, look at me." Your voice dropped half an octave and became fuller as you said the last bit, using a tone you hadn't taken out ever since you resigned from the testosterone-laden world of software development. 

"Yes, goddess?" Your blood froze over as you heard the soft spoken words. There was no way it was…No. 

Right?

You looked at Bryan and Denise, both with matching expressions of wide-eyed scandalous amusement on their faces, as they shifted their gaze back and forth between you and Tom. Slowly you moved your gaze back to the set, your breath catching in your throat in an ugly inhuman sound as you saw the steel-blue eyes that haunted your filthiest, wettest, most vivid fantasies…staring straight at you. 

"I-I-I uhm…" you stammered, your voice returning to your normal tone, losing your footing despite being completely stationary. "I was talking to these knuckleheads, s-sorry Tom." You took a steadying breath. "As you were." You mentally smacked yourself as your 'programmer BossLady' voice came out again, your eyes widening in complete shock as he wordlessly followed your instructions and resumed to look down at the floor. 

"Confirmed," Bryan stage whispered to you and Denise. "He's a sub, and we've been silently submitting to Y/N all this time. I mean…Madam." You groaned at his words. 

"You two," you hissed at them. "Let me fucking tell you, I am the farthest thing from a madam. Or a goddess or whatever it was that he called me." You inwardly shuddered at the memory, although if you were being honest it wasn't from shock or disgust. It was from arousal. "My life is unbelievably, annoyingly, dreadfully…vanilla."

Denise giggled. "But you know the jargon? Uh huh. Sure, boss."

You rolled your eyes at her. "Bitch please, I read Fifty Shades. The smut. The toe-curling filth found in the wonder that is Kindle Unlimited. The fanfiction written about that fine-ass man on his knees over there," you whispered the last part in a hiss. "But I digress. The point is that my brain may be filthy, and it may be filled with very vivid fantasies of that very same man on his knees right now, but real life Y/N? Yeah. No."

"Maybe no man ever rose to the challenge," Bryan teased. "You think Hiddlebum would?" 

"That's not a direction my brain ever wants to go unless I'm already in bed, in my birthday suit, legs spread, with a toy in my hand," you shot back without missing a beat. "As for no man ever rising to the challenge?" You leaned in close to their ears. "I can't even get a guy to go down on me because every guy I ever dated or even just fucked said they never do it with anyone because it tastes weird. And don't get me started on the ones that practically bolt out of my hotel room naked when I ask them to put a hand on my throat."

"Maybe you're just talking to the wrong boys, Y/N." You turned around to see that Chris had joined your conversation with a smug look on his face. "You have to start talking to men. Perhaps then your luck will turn."

"Didn't your mother ever tell you it's rude to eavesdrop on conversations that don't have shit to do with you, Hemsy?" you shot back with an amused smile. You couldn't ever really be mad at the guy who resembled a walking talking 6'4 teddy bear. It was physically impossible. "Good morning."

"Good morning, indeed," he chuckled, turning his attention to the Sakaaran set. "Beautiful posture there, Tom! Absolutely exquisite," he hollered, causing the British man to let out several chuckles.

"Ehehehehe, sod off, Chris." He looked up from his position, most likely intending to glare at Chris, but instead his eyes met yours, and you felt this inexplicable pull towards him. No. Wait. Back up a bit. You felt as if there was this inexplicable force pulling him towards you. You tilted your head the slightest bit, as if questioning him and his tethering gaze, your eyes once again widening in total shock as he responded with turning his head towards the floor in a bow once again.

"Erm…what the fuck was that?" Chris asked, poking your shoulder repeatedly. "It's like you broke him, tiny terror." 

"Me?? Broke him??" you hissed as you turned around to glare at the towering Australian. "I'm the one who's fifty shades of fucking confused here!" 

"You may be, but I've never seen him fold for a woman like that in the entire time I've known him. With a tilt of your head, no less. No wonder your people call you 'madam'. Maybe I should call you that--"

"Don't even fucking think about it, Hemsworth." Your tone from earlier had returned, the one you tried to keep locked away since you gave your resignation letter to your final day job two years ago. A tone you'd once been confused as to why it could cause all those bravado-filled middle-aged men to fold and actually listen to you, well now you had an inkling. 

The tone was domineering. It allowed no room for counter-arguments; perhaps you were right about the words that you were uttering, but also perhaps you weren't, but your tone didn't demand their subservience, it just took. And while it worked in conference rooms and face offs with no less than senior management of the client companies you'd dealt with, never once did you think to use it in the bedroom.

You never realized it was an option.

"Where's Taika?" you asked after taking a few deep breaths to recenter your brain. This was gonna be one of those days, the type that you'd never forget even when you were an octogenarian and you'd  have trouble remembering if you've even eaten for the day. "I have to tell him we can't have the scene set up like this." 

"Why not, lil mayhem?" You turned and once again saw the ridiculous gray CGI spandex that Taika was decked out in, but thankfully now without the gigantic Korg head so at least you were no longer confused where you should be staring. 

"Because people are gonna take one look at him and they're gonna know," you explained, pointing towards the set at the kneeling Loki. 

The director looked at you, clearly confused. "Know what?" 

"Ohh this will be delicious," Denise all but moaned. "Watch this," she told Taika as she turned back to you. "Tell him to straighten his back." 

"This feels like I'm exploiting him somehow, you do it." 

"He's not gonna listen to me, I don't have the voice," she teased back, and then sighed. "The sooner you convince Taika, the sooner we can fix the scene." 

"Ugh, fine. Taika? Look at Tom." You took another breath, finding that voice once again in no time. "Straighten your back." Once again, your breath caught in your throat with a hideous sound as you watched him wordlessly follow your instructions. "That's what I mean," you addressed Taika once more. "People take one look at that scene, see his posture and--"

"Apologies, goddess." 

It felt like your spine had been replaced with pure ice as you watched Taika's jaw go slack, heard Chris choking on air in the background, and your two fellow set designers and friends start giggling once more as soon as the soft-spoken words were uttered from the mouth of one Thomas William Hiddleston.

"What did you call me??" 

"Ohh I think we know what he called you. Goddess," Taika taunted. "Right then, we need to get this man off his knees," he said, turning to the crew and giving them instructions to reset the scene.

"So what? We're gonna have him stand now?" one of the assistant producers sneered. "Way to take us out of the moment, Y/L/N. Fucking buzzkill," she muttered.

"I'm not telling you to make him stand, I'm just telling you to get him off his knees," you countered. "It's not my fault that your comprehension's lacking." 

The assistant started to make a motion towards you as if you bitch slap you, but the director stood in her way. "Don't even think about it. That's a one way ticket to Tom's shit list if you lay a hand on her," he threatened, and you watched as the AP looked over to the corner of the set with wide eyes. When you followed her gaze, your eyes widened as well at the sight of Tom with a borderline murderous look in his eyes. 

"Don't," he said simply. The AP backed off, muttering something about favoritism that you couldn't quite catch. 

"Alright then, lil mayhem, this is your idea. Run the show." You stared at Taika with incredulity. "You're the one who wants him off his knees? You get him off his knees. Call the shots."

You scrambled for ideas. "A chair?"

"Sorry, madam, we got nothing in props that could even look like it belongs in Sakaar. And I already know what you're gonna say, the Sakaaran standards are literally on the floor but still. A proper looking dining table chair will not fit the vibe." 

You glared at Bryan. "Then get me a cement block, a wooden platform. A fucking concrete slab. Anything, just get this man off his knees." You turned back to face Taika. "Legally, who can I yell at here without an HR violation?"

"Just those two." He pointed at your set designers. "You are their superior after all." 

You turned back to the dawdling set designers, staring at the scene laid out before them with amused looks on their faces. "Find me something." They kept staring. "NOW!!" They ran off to props like headless chickens, making both Chris and Taika break out in chuckles.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side, tiny terror," the giant Australian told you before proceeding to pat you on the head like a ferocious and yet annoyingly fluffy guard dog. "Hey Tom you can get off your knees now, you kinky little shit!" he hollered, chuckling. After a few moments he started again. "Ah, shit, Y/N be a dear? Seems he won't listen to anyone but you when he's like this." 

You groaned. "For fuck's sake," you murmured before taking another deep breath, slipping into your natural voice once more. "Stand up." The next moments felt like a sucker punch to your entire system as he once again followed your instructions, afterward stealing a glance at your direction with the softest look in his eyes and a sweet smile that left you completely breathless.

What was he up to? Why was he acting like this?

Fifteen minutes later, Bryan and Denise came rushing back in with a platform box painted a distressed teal setting it down on the ground near the now standing Tom.

The next 13 hours of the day were comparatively less eventful than the start of your day. Rearranging sets, reviewing shots for possible continuity errors that you were sure Twitter would crucify you all for if they caught wind of it, and the occasional bitchy stare down with that PA from earlier this morning who tried to smack you for daring to mock her comprehension skills.

"Let's call it for the day, everybody!" Taika hollered from his director chair, now thankfully wearing more normal clothes and not that spandex CGI suit. "I'll see you in twelve hours. Get some sleep, don't go out drinking because if you come to set tomorrow hung over I will have your head." Everyone murmured their assent as they moved about, wrapping up their tasks for the day, and he turned to you. "Lil mayhem, try to get some tonight. I'm saying this as a friend. You're wound up." 

"Honestly, T, it's just the whole 'she's a domme' thing from earlier. Really threw me in for a loop. I should be fine after some sleep," you reassured him, making sure to pick up a copy of tomorrow's call sheet to do some prep work before you eventually succumb to the sweet lonely embrace of solitary slumber in your hotel room. "Go, T. I can lock up tonight. FaceTime your kids, tell them you love them, read them a bedtime story. I'm sure they miss their dad." 

He took a few moments before giving you an exaggerated sigh and tossing you the keys. "You drive a hard bargain, Y/L/N." He walked over to you, ruffling your hair. "You're the best." 

"I know I know. Go. I'll do a quick sweep, make sure nobody gets locked in here for the night and we get here with someone banging on the door screaming 'let me out let me out'." You grabbed the clipboard containing a checklist of the areas you were to double check on before locking up and proceeded to glance over each area of the set. 

Just as you were wrapping up your check of the cast trailers, a voice in the relative darkness startled you. "Miss Y/L/N." You straightened your posture and started fumbling in your pocket for something, anything to defend yourself with. Then you remembered the keys, so you quickly started threading each key in between your fingers, when you felt two large hands gently grasp your shoulders. "Shh shh, it's alright. It's just me. You're safe."

You let out the heaving breath you were holding, recognizing the voice immediately. "Tom," you breathed out, the fear leaving your body, but the tension remaining. "Fucking hell I was about to stab you." You felt your spine go frigid as you felt him pressing tender kisses to the top of your head as his hand traveled down your arm to deftly remove the keys from between your fingers. 

"I didn't mean to startle you," he whispered into your hair, his hand once again traveling up your arm and resumed its place on your shoulder. "I simply wanted to ensure you were safe. I didn't see you come out of the studio." He moved his head to press a kiss to your temple. "I apologize, goddess."

There was that name again, stealing all the breath from your lungs and making you question so much about you. About him. But mostly it made you question…"Why do you keep calling me that?" 

His hand traveled up to lightly grasp your chin, urging you to turn your head and look up at him. "Because that's what I call you," he answered simply, bringing his face much closer to yours. Once he was close enough that you could feel his breath on your lips, he whispered, "When I dream of you." 

Instead of saying anything, you opted to bring your hand up to the back of his neck, threading your fingers through his short dark blond curls and gently pulling him down towards you, touching your lips to his briefly in a tentative, fleeting kiss. This led to him quickly turning you to face him, lifting you by the backs of your thighs, and backing you into the side of the nearest trailer. 

When he had you securely trapped between him and the trailer, he brought his hand up to cup your face, while the other roamed from your thigh and up the side of your body. Your breath hitched in your throat as you felt his thumb lightly graze the side of your breast. 

Just as he was about to lean in to kiss you, you breathed out, "Wait." He stopped immediately, his eyes quickly becoming apologetic. "I-I don't know…" you stammered, trying to find your words, but quickly realizing that the most honest words you had at the moment were, "I don't know how to be what you want. I don't know anything--" 

A smile of relief began to spread across his face. "It's alright." He pressed a quick kiss to your lips, as if to reassure you. "I simply want you, Y/N. As you are." A soft kiss to your cheek, then your jaw. "I want to make you happy." A kiss to the skin below your ear, before placing his hand lightly around your throat, sending a thrill throughout your entire body, and then whispering, "I want to satisfy you." 

"And what do you get out of this?" you breathed out. "Seems to me I'm the only one benefiting from this, that's not right." 

"Me? That's easy," he murmured against your skin as he rolled his hips into yours, causing you to let out an obscene moan that echoed through the dark empty halls of the studio. "I get you." 

This was an unusual morning. Unusual in the sense that this time, you were not woken up by the scandalous sound of your alarm, rather you'd awoken in this blissful, sated state. Your mind raced through the memories from last night, how you'd practically raced to your hotel room hand in hand with Tom after you'd locked up in the studio. 

The almost reverent way he stripped you of your clothing, pausing to press kisses to every new area of skin exposed to him, how he already had you a writhing mess before he even took off your panties. How he brought you and pushed you well past the point of complete ecstasy with his fingers and his mouth multiple times before he even made love to you.

Repeatedly.

You bit your lip as the memories came at you in vivid detail, pushing yourself off of your bed to get ready for the day ahead. Before you could even begin to inch yourself out of the bed, an arm tightened around your waist, pulling your naked body against a broad, toned, equally naked form. 

A smile found its way to your face with no effort at all as you placed your hand over the arm wrapped around you, your fingertips tracing the length of the forearm, causing him to stir and press his body even closer to yours. A hybrid between a giggle and a moan escaped your lips as he pressed a kiss to your shoulder, his hum of satisfaction vibrating throughout your body. 

He moved his kisses across your shoulder, pausing for a good few moments on the juncture of your shoulder and your neck before moving up to your ear and whispering in the most delicious sleep-laden voice, "Good morning, goddess." 

A/N: Please don't crucify me for the non-smutty implied smut, I am babie. But the idea refused to leave my head so I had to write it.

This insanity was based off of this post because I'm gonna be honest, my brain went places when I saw those pictures. AND THE GIF

Here's a bonus gif for those who read until the end:

Taglist: @lokisgoodgirl @lokischambermaid @imalovernotahater @mygfloki @lucylaufeyson3 @thomase1 @springdandelixn @fictive-sl0th @mochie85 @laliceee @xorpsbane @gigglingtigger @silverfire475 @cabingrlandrandomcrap @vickie5446 @salempoe @lokixryss @sinsandguilt @lokidbadguy @alexakeyloveloki @glitterylokislut @arch-venus25 @freefrommars @littlemortals @cakesandtom @girl-of-multi-fandoms @mischief2sarawr @thedistractedagglomeration @five-miles-over @goblingirlsarah @peaches1958 @huntress-artemiss @lilibet261 @iobsessoverfictionalmen @holymultiplefandomsbatman @lovingchoices14 @avoliax @devilsadvocactus @purplegrrl27 @lokiprompts @sititran @imherefortomhiddleston @ladyjames78 @stupidthoughtsinwriting

[jisungjuice]

fire has no shadow, but you have me

Leo is not hiding this personal moment with a mask of light-hearted comments or jokes. So Nico won't shy away from it, either.

"I'm glad you want to come back." He summons courage harder than it takes him to summon an army of skeletons, and he leans his head on Leo's shoulder.

They remain like that for a while, Leo's hand covering his and Nico's head resting on Leo, and Nico had never felt so safe outside of camp and he wonders if it can last.

It starts with a blinding flash of light. And at this point, Nico has seen enough of those to know that it can't be anything good.

And he couldn't be less prepared for it. He was just lying on the grass under the sun, getting more vitamin D on doctor's orders.

And of course, his doctor is right there next to him. Will insists Nico needs more sun, and Nico begrudgingly agrees because at least his skin color is returning to normal and he sleeps better at night. Not well, but better.

He feels warm and drowsy while Will's voice fills the silence by talking about music and bands. Nico hasn't really had time to listen to music in the last… decade. But he appreciates Will's suggestions, however disconcerting they may be.

And then he feels it. The sun's getting hotter, which doesn't make sense since it was supposed to be going down soon, and when he opens his eyes, it's there.

His senses heighten, every nerve suddenly into overdrive, and Will is already on his feet, hauling him up and dragging him away.

But it's too late, Nico thinks. It's coming way too fast.

He still runs, but not for long before the crash is heard. It's not as big as he imagined. It's not Armageddon, it's not the end of the world, but it is something.

Nico spins around, making Will stumble, but he's glad he did because he immediately recognizes something that makes his heart thud painfully.

A bronze wing.

He breaks free from Will's grip and runs back towards the mess of fire that's still burning in a big pile. Will yells out his name but then he and some others are right behind him, slow realization dawning on all the campers.

Even among the flames and smoke, Nico can see the broken-down body of Festus the dragon.

"Where's Leo?" Will asks and Nico was thinking the same thing but with each passing second his heart sinks more and more. Leo's fireproof, his mind supplies, and still the fear that he might have burnt to a crisp seems far more real.

Nico looks around wildly. "Can't anyone summon water?! Where's fucking Percy Jackson when you need him?!"

Everyone seems to click into motion, moving around to help. Nico focuses back on the fire. Perhaps he can make a hole on the earth below and pull Leo out?

He tries to feel the presence and a more sinister thought enters his mind. Maybe he was never alive. Maybe Festus just brought Leo's body here.

The fire is receding a bit, but it's still hard to see beyond the flames and reflective bronze. A moment later, three different people shout to make room. From the right, Chris Rodríguez and a bunch of dryads are bringing in buckets of water from the lake. From the left, Leo's siblings from the Hephaestus cabin are running with Harley at the front, all dressed up in a full metal welding suit that the others are still trying to attach to him.

And then, from very far away there's Paolo Montes waving a hose.

Harley gets there first, and he would have thrown himself on the fire if Nyssa Barrera hadn't stopped him.

"Wait! The suit is not sealed yet!"

And then it came. Nico gasps and almost stumbles backwards with the force of it and everyone looks at him, alarmed.

But Nico's eyes are fixed on the blazing heat.

The metal rumbles and pieces fall to the floor, and from the very center of Festus' belly, Leo Valdez's head pops up, his hair wild and moving along with the flames.

He looks around at the dozens of shocked faces and finally settles for a toothy grin.

"Hello. Bit hot today, no?"

This time Will had to stop Nico from jumping into the fire and slapping Leo in the face.

.

Nico had been spending some of his time hanging out in the infirmary since Will was there a lot, teaching healing practices to other campers because, in his words 'With the number of dangerous situations demigods get into, the Apollo cabin can't be the only ones who know basic first aid.'

And now he was there a lot because he was in charge of organising the queue to punch Leo and Leo was there getting patched up.

He had never been very close to Leo. At least not the way he was close to Hazel or even Percy at some point. But over their time aboard the Argo II, they had at least shared some kind of kinship a few times, especially when Nico realized how much of a seventh wheel Leo had been feeling, and how similar that was to how Nico himself felt in that ship. An eight wheel, to be precise.

And by Gods, did Nico want to hate him. He was insufferably obnoxious, always cracking stupid jokes, and with no shame whatsoever. Nico's worst nightmare.

Until Nico saw through all that for what it really was; Leo's way of keeping people at bay. Diametrically opposed to Nico's way, but a way nonetheless.

Plus, a few times Nico had walked in on Leo sleeping curled up next to the engine and it was hard to hate him after that.

"What happened to Calypso?" Nico asks one morning after the first shift of punchers. Leo had just finished explaining everything he went through, the physician's cure, the trip to Ogygia, rescuing the forgotten sorceress.

His face reddens somewhat. "I dropped her off inland in Europe. I think it was Croatia. She um… She wanted to see the world."

Nico doesn't want to push it if Leo's reluctant to discuss it but he had imagined that after all of that he and Calypso would be together.

Leo shrugs and then winces as his left shoulder is still injured from the fall. His skin was thankfully all untouched thanks to his abilities but his clothes all turned to ashes. That was the most awkward part of the rescue. "I get it. She was tied to that island for thousands of years, I can't blame her for wanting to be free and not tied to something or someone else now." He sounds sad, but also braver than Nico had ever seen him. "I promised to rescue her and I'm glad I did."

Nico nodded. He raised his hand, planning to pat Leo's shoulder but regretting it at the last second and landing awkwardly on the pillow next to him. "That's the demigod life."

Leo smiles one of his huge smiles and nudges Nico's hand with his shoulder. "That, and catapulting annoying augurs up in the sky. Tell me again how you launched Octavian up to meet me."

Nico rolls his eyes. "I didn't launch him."

.

Since communication was still down on all fronts, Leo couldn't let anyone at Camp Jupiter know that he hadn't actually died, so he decided to just make the journey.

Him and a few other campers sat at a table trying to figure out the best method to get him there.

"Festus would take at least a month to rebuild again," Leo sighs, genuinely depressed about the topic. "I can't let the others wait that long for Admiral Valdez's resurrection."

Everyone groans. Leo had been bragging for days about how he was basically the modern version of Jesus of Nazareth.

"What about a jetpack? My design is nearly ready!" Harley exclaims excitedly.

Leo ruffles Harley's hair. "Oh Harley, I'd rather let Zeus zoom me halfway across the globe again. I saw your designs and I think fuel tanks like those would send me on my way to an explosion even I couldn't survive."

"You could take a bus?" Kayla says. "Cheaper than an airplane."

"I will take you."

It almost takes Nico a second to realize the words came out of his mouth, especially when they all look at him like that.

"Nico, are you sure that's a good idea?" Will asks, his golden eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"I shadow-travelled from Europe with a ten-foot statue and two others. I think I can handle Leo from here to California."

"I feel like that was a jab at my stature," Leo says into the silence.

Nico smirks.

.

The Hephaestus cabin organized a congratulations-for-not-being-dead/going-away campfire for Leo. Nico usually didn't attend campfires, but Will had dragged him to a couple and this one seemed to be more up his alley, with less corny songs and more people making fun of Leo.

Plus, Pollux had appeared with a few bottles of homemade wine and the results were entertaining.

Will was, no surprise, a very touchy drunk, which made Nico uncomfortable but not as much as he would have thought. He lets Will rest his head on his shoulder when he says that the world is spinning.

Leo chugs more wine and tells another joke and people laugh harder even though it makes no sense, and that's when Sherman Yang decides they've all had too much.

"Okay, let's pack it up, people. Leo has a long day tomorrow and we all have target practice."

Some groan, a few giggle, most don't react and just let themselves be dragged away after patting Leo on the back and wishing him luck.

No one tells Leo to leave, perhaps because after helping defeat Gaia, coming back from the dead, rescuing an unrescuable ancient sorceress and then surviving yet another explosion, no one felt like they had much authority over him.

Will, held by Kayla on one side, turns around to look at Nico. "Are you coming?"

Nico looks over at Leo, who chooses that moment to fall backwards from his log. "I think I'll stay and make sure he doesn't die."

Will smiles crookedly. "Aw, you're taking care of someone. I've taught you well."

"Shut up."

Leo manages to sit up and realizes he and Nico are alone, the fire slowly dying between them. "Are you cold? I can make more fire."

He opens his palms towards the flames but Nico rushes over and stops him. "No no. Don't drink and summon fire. Didn't you see the safety video on your first day here? Dionysus had a whole section about wine safety."

Leo snorts a laugh. "No. When I arrived everything was very rushed. I never met Mr. D"

Nico nods. Leo must have heard that name from Percy. Nico wonders if Percy got the letter they sent telling him that Leo was alive. It was Will's idea to use regular mortal mail, but even being in the same estate as Percy wouldn't guarantee that he'll receive the letter. Strange things happened to demigods' correspondence in the postal service.

"You know, this is the first time I drink wine." Leo waves his plastic cup, stained burgundy.

"Really?" Nico asks. "Not even sips as a kid?"

Leo shakes his head and his curls move with it. "Mexican moms don't really believe in that."

Nico had been drinking wine since he was very young. "I always used to have dinner with my family."

"Maybe that's why you're not drunk."

"Or maybe because I'm not eighty pounds and had ten glasses"

"Hey!" Leo protests and then he is silent as he sizes Nico up with a look that makes Nico wish he could blend in with the shadows. "How are you already taller than me? It's not fair."

That makes Nico smile. "Get used to it, Valdez."

They stay in silence for a while longer, which must be a record coming from Leo. He pulls out a small device from his pocket and starts to tinker with it, not even looking at it. He seems thoughtful, as though he's trying to figure out a different device than the one in his hands.

"I heard something from Drew yesterday," Leo says, a little too quiet to be the start of a joke. Nico's heart starts racing. He knew people would talk, and he knew Leo and all his friends would find out eventually, but he never thought Leo would want to talk to him about it.

He presents Nico with his closed fist as if he wanted Nico to bump it and Nico can only frown.

"This is for telling Percy he isn't your type. What a boss move."

It takes a second, but Nico throws his head back and laughs. The first time he's properly laughed in a long time, but it just takes him completely by surprise that this is what Leo has to say on the subject.

He bumps Leo's fist as his laughter dies down and he shakes his head in disbelief.

Leo can't seem to stop smiling, but in this drunk, lazy way that makes him seem a bit more down to earth.

This isn't a mask, Nico thinks.

Leo sways and his shoulder grazes Nico's. "If it makes you feel any better, I get it. Like, who hasn't thought Percy's hot? Like, objectively, you know? They're tall and conventionally attractive and stupidly heroic-"

"They?" Nico asks, not really wanting to interrupt Leo's tirade but confused by his wording.

"Percy and Jason. Everyone has crushes on them, right? And you kind of want to hate them because like, shit man, you look like that and you fly, and you're ridiculously friendly and like noble and stuff? Just stop it. You know? But you can't hate them because they're really nice to you and they don't deserve it. But it's nothing to be ashamed of, you know?"

Nico blinks a few times, Leo's confession of basically having a crush on Jason in particular, hitting him like an electrical shock that left him short-circuited. If Leo was sober he probably wouldn't have said anything, so Nico wonders if he should feel bad for letting Leo say something so personal in this state of vulnerability.

But he doesn't. Because it's the first time someone tells him they understand him and actually give reasons and examples why, not just an empty attempt at empathy. He hopes Leo doesn't regret telling him this.

"They are so stupidly noble. I hate that," Nico says.

Leo stands up on wobbly legs. "Oh look at me I'm the son of a famous, powerful God and I can control the elements and I have light-colored eyes and a dreamy smile. Who am I?"

Nico has to laugh again because Leo is pulling a full-on performance pretending to fly like Jason or raise the sea like Percy and it makes Nico feel lighter than he has in probably years. He can laugh about it now. He can let it go.

Leo stumbles around the fire and even though he'd be fine if he falls in, it still doesn't seem right to let him, so Nico grabs his arm and pulls him away from the danger zone as they both keep laughing.

They sit back down and their knees knock together and Nico doesn't mind.

"Some of that could also describe you," Leo says breathlessly. "Son of a major God. Powerful."

Nico nudges Leo with his arm in acknowledgement. "And you. You can control the elements." He nods towards the fire.

Leo seems relaxed in a way he hadn't seemed to be since he came back.

They remain like that for a while longer, watching the flames get smaller and sitting in comfortable silence. Nico's favorite kind of silence.

"We should probably get some sleep." Nico hates to be the one to say it, but shadow-travelling really is easier when he's rested.

Damn Will. He got inside Nico's head.

Leo lets Nico help him up and then Nico does something that he only does when someone is injured in battle; he wraps one arm around Leo's waist and helps him walk. Leo throws his arm over Nico's shoulders.

As they walk away from the campfire, Leo sighs happily. "Have you ever noticed that fire doesn't have a shadow?"

.

Nico was right when he thought that travelling with Leo would be less tiring than the last shadow trip he had done.

That didn't mean it was easier.

"Y'all should've told me we'd be coming here." Leo digs into his plate of ribs, sauce all over his face. "I'd've made some reservations."

Nico sends him a death glare. He's good at those.

Leo had decided to adopt a heavy southern accent ever since they landed in Oklahoma instead of Kansas like Nico had been planning. Nico's ears were going to bleed from over-stimulation.

The food was good, though.

Leo inhales deeply and sighs contentedly. "We're so close to Texas, I can feel it."

"We're always close to Texas. That state is inescapable. I think its gravity drew us off course."

Leo pulls out two wet hand towels from his magic pouch- as Nico has started to call it much to Leo's annoyance- and then he warms them up by heating his hands. He has a much more sophisticated control on his fire abilities than Nico remembered.

Leo hands one to Nico while he himself wipes basically his entire face and arms. "Well, we're here now so let's find a spot to sleep tonight. I hope you like camping, Neeks!"

Nico frowns. "You should know I don't. Also, stop it with the Neeks."

Leo smiles. "You have barbecue on your nose."

Nico groans and wipes it off.

.

They end up finding a not-so-terrible spot to spend the night, but the heat in this Hades-forsaken place was so insufferable that they decided not to use sleeping bags and instead hang hammocks, of which Leo procured two from his magic pouch.

"Why in the world do you have hammocks on hand?" Nico asks as he unsuccessfully attempts to tie his to a tree.

"Hammocks are an incredible feat of engineering. You need fabric and weaving that are strong enough to hold you but not so tough that it's hard to sleep. It minimises your travelling load while maximising sleeping space, and it works on all surfaces because it precisely keeps you away from surfaces." Leo comes over and ties Nico's hammock for him. "It also keeps you away from snakes."

Nico blinks at him. "You have a lot of feelings about hammocks."

"They are perfect and need to be more appreciated."

"I've never actually slept in one."

Leo's eyes seem to light up with fire. "Oh I can't believe you're a hammock virgin!"

"Please don't call it that."

"This is going to be great. Shed all your preconceived notions right now and prepare for the best sleeping experience of your life."

Nico would hardly call swinging in the air the best sleeping experience of his life, but considering the things he's been through, it also could be far, far worse.

Leo is too delighted with the swinging and even pushes off against the tree with his foot to go even faster, his hands busy with a mechanical box he's been tinkering with since West Virginia. The movement is making Nico slightly dizzy so he lies as still as possible until the soft swaying actually feels nice, and it seems to be lulling him to sleep faster than anticipated.

He's almost gone when Leo speaks into the silence.

"Nico?"

"Mm?" He opens his eyes and turns to see Leo still swinging madly, almost nervously, under the orange light of the lantern he hung on a branch above. Thank the Gods they're on different trees or the movement would rock Nico's hammock as well. He also decided to remove his t-shirt, which is fine by Nico because then all the mosquitoes would get Leo instead of him.

"You're fifteen, right?" Leo asks.

"Last I checked."

Another pause. "How did you, um… how did you know?"

It takes Nico's sleepy brain a bit to process the question but it still doesn't make much sense. "How did I know what?"

Leo keeps his eyes on his box. "You know… how did you know you… liked boys?"

Suddenly Nico is as alert as the day Leo came crashing down above them.

Usually, Nico would say something snarky and then refuse to discuss the matter entirely, possibly adding about a day's worth of brooding and death glares.

But this question seemed to be a lot less about prying into Nico's business and a lot more about something else.

Nico looked away from Leo nonetheless and kept his eyes on the dark canopy above. "It's kind of hard to ignore when you, you know… when you like someone and that someone is, well, a boy."

Leo's swinging sounds less intense. "Sure. I suppose when it's the only kind of attraction that happens to you, you can't really miss it, can you?"

"Nope," Nico confirms. He could see where Leo's mind was at. "But I guess that if someone was attracted to a lot of different people… it'd be harder to recognize."

"I guess so."

Nico thinks of all the things he wished someone had said to him when he was driving himself mad with questions and confusion, and out of everything, the thing that would have meant the most was very simple.

"And it'd be okay. It'd be more than okay, actually, it'd be great."

Nico can't see it, but he can hear the soft exhale that Leo does when he smiles. The rustling and thudding of his magic pouch follow and then the light is turned off.

"Thank you, Neeks."

"I'm going to murder you."

.

This was the first time in Nico's life that he has managed to leave a camp for more than five minutes without encountering a single being that wanted to kill him. He had been prepared for attacks from the get-go, especially since Leo literally couldn't go two breaths without doing something demigod-like such as warming up their chilaquiles with his bare hands or making weird artefacts appear as if out of thin air.

But this had been the most peaceful trip of his life and it almost felt akin to a vacation. Camping, taking dips in rivers and lakes, eating something different every day (Leo even agreed to go to McDonald's once) and keeping the worrying to a minimum.

It was even nice to be around Leo most of the time. Ever since the other night, he seemed to be making fewer jokes and nervous tinkering than usual. He still did it, because it's part of him, but he seemed more relaxed about it. It wasn't a necessity but a choice.

"What are you going to do once we arrive?" Nico asks one afternoon as they sit on top of a hill and take in the view. They're most likely just a jump away from getting to their destination, and in all honesty, Nico's rested enough that he could manage it that same day.

But he decided to drag this out a bit longer. They stopped just outside of San Francisco at some unknown mountains with enough trees to make it the perfect spot to tie hammocks and, damn it, Nico loves them by now, and he just wants another opportunity to use them while he's still with company. His return trip will be a lot lonelier.

Leo shrugs. "I don't know what Pipes and Jason might be up to. Jason had his plan to make shrines for all the Gods, so I might help him with that. But honestly, I wish they'd come back to Camp Half-Blood."

Nico raises his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Sure. It's the camp me and Piper were meant to be in, all my siblings are there, plus there's the bunker and Festus… I don't want to give it all up."

Nico feels a spark of hope in his chest. Perhaps he won't have to return alone. It's still bittersweet, though, because once Leo rejoins Piper and Jason, things will be different. Piper and Jason are very nice and all, and Nico gets along very well with Jason in particular, but he has a feeling Leo won't be the same with them around.

"And you're there, also," Leo adds.

Nico feels some heat rise to his cheeks and he tries to push it down.

Thankfully, Leo doesn't press it. "What about you? How do you decide which Camp to be in? You were in Camp Jupiter for a while, you have Hazel there, but you're originally Half-Blood and you have Will over there…"

"Will?" Nico asks, surprised that Leo would put him on the same level of importance to Nico as Hazel.

"Well, yes. I assumed you two-"

"Oh, no." Nico must be properly blushing now. "I mean, I don't know. But we're not. He's very nice and I'm glad to have a close friend there but…"

"Well okay, so you'll have two close friends there, then." Leo puts his hand over Nico's and it's the first time they're so purposefully touching like that.

Leo is not hiding this personal moment with a mask of light-hearted comments or jokes. So Nico won't shy away from it, either.

"I'm glad you want to come back." He summons courage harder than it takes him to summon an army of skeletons, and he leans his head on Leo's shoulder.

They remain like that for a while, Leo's hand covering his and Nico's head resting on Leo, and Nico had never felt so safe outside of camp and he wonders if it can last.

.

It turns out it can last. They manage to make it to Camp Jupiter without a single unpleasant encounter. And just when Nico thought they may break Percy's rule about feeling safe, they cross the gates and they are actually safe. Hazel sees them first. She's in full uniform and looking tiny but powerful as always, and her eyes go wide and shiny like dark gemstones.

She drops everything, her spatha, shield, and a book she'd been carrying and she sprints at them. She crushes Leo in a hug and starts weeping immediately.

"You! How? I was- Jason and Piper- ugh!" Each word is punctuated by a sob and a slap on Leo's chest.

Then there's Frank, who is so surprised that he turns into a ferret by mistake but then seizes the opportunity to climb onto Leo's head and claw at his hair with tiny, shrill yelps.

"I missed you too, buddy," Leo says, only grimacing slightly.

When he's back in human form, the bear hug is so engulfing that Leo almost disappears from sight.

Apparently, Piper and Jason are around somewhere but Hazel and Frank are too busy with their new duties that they can't keep track of them. Hazel summons Arion and writes a note, tying it around his neck.

"If you find Piper or Jason, get them here as soon as possible."

And off he goes.

Hazel spends a while telling Leo how much they looked for him the days after the battle back in Camp-Half Blood, which Nico had already done, but not in so much detail. Especially about the extent to which Jason and Piper in particular had driven themselves mad trying to find him, to the point where after weeks of futile search, Percy and Annabeth had to drag them back to camp and eventually convince them to come to California and get their minds off it.

Of course Nico wanted Leo to know they didn't give up on him, that he was missed, but he didn't want him to feel as guilty as he looks right now.

Other people also greeted them, including Reyna who Nico was glad to see. She was looking healthier than before.

Just as they were about to go to the Fifth Cohort to see if anyone knew about Jason or Piper, a loud zoom fills Nico's ears and a blurry second later, Leo is on the ground, tackled by Piper.

Arion neighs and stomps his front legs down before taking off again.

It takes about two minutes of Piper holding onto Leo and crying "I hate you!" before they can stand up. Leo's eyes and face are red too and he can't stop sniffling.

"Explain. Now," Piper orders him, wiping tears off her face.

"I thought we'd wait for Jason," Leo tells her.

Piper sighs. "He's been so moody lately I can't even tell you when he'd be coming back. He's been hard to read."

"Jason? Moody? Are you sure you're not talking about yourself?"

Piper hits Leo.

And then, it happens again. This time is a whooshing sound that gets progressively louder and Nico barely has time to catch a glance of Jason flying at them at full speed before Leo is lifted off his feet and carried away.

Nico typically refrains from showing any emotion other than annoyance in front of others, but even he can't keep a straight face upon seeing Jason and Leo embracing up in the air, clearly crying and laughing at the same time as Jason slowly lowers them to the ground.

Everyone is at least tearing up by the time they make their way towards them, but Nico is okay with it. He's happy for Leo and he doesn't care who sees. Hazel grabs Nico's hand and he squeezes it.

"So," Leo says with a rough voice. "Ready to hear the Tales of Tio Leo?"

.

Nico hadn't realized how much he missed this camp, especially Hazel. He wishes he could be with her year-round or at least visit more often. There should be a faster way to get from one camp to the other.

Eventually, though, the time to return was drawing nearer and it was hard to acknowledge it. Nico still didn't know if Leo was coming back or not and he didn't want to ruin his reunion. He was still so happy to be around Piper and Jason.

Nico sits outside at a table after dinner. They all managed to squeeze in a dinner together before their respective duties took them in different directions. Of course, the only ones who didn't have anything to attend to were Nico and Leo, so it isn't a surprise when Leo returns to the table after saying goodbye to the others.

Leo plays with the candles there, lighting them on and then putting them out over and over. "I was wondering…" he begins and for some reason Nico's heart speeds up.

"Yeah?"

He lights the candles again. "Is Nico short for Nicholas? And if it is, can I call you Saint Nicholas?"

Nico kicks him under the table.

"Ow!"

"Is Leo short for Leonardo? And if so, can I call you Da Vinci?" Nico asks, trying to sound as stupid as Leo had.

"Definitely!" Leo answers, a big smile while still rubbing his leg. "Da Vinci works, though I think I look more like a Di Caprio."

"Who?"

"Nevermind."

Leo is still smiling even after a few seconds. "Da Vinci and Di Angelo. We should form a band."

"Over my dead body," Nico says, but he has to really bite back a smile.

Silence ensues and Nico thinks this would be the right moment to tell Leo that he plans to return the next day. He opens his mouth to speak but as it often happens with speaking, Leo beats him to it.

"So when do we leave, Hermano Hamaca?"

Nico is so confused by that last bit that he doesn't even process the first. "What?"

"Hammock Bro," Leo translates.

"Oh." Leo wants to go back with him? "I thought you'd want to stay with them a bit longer."

He shrugs. "Well, you're the shadow-travelling boss, but if it was up to me I could leave tomorrow. Piper and Jason are working on the shrines and they'll be at Camp Half-Blood soon. I can help from there. I'll miss Hazel and the big guy, but I'll see them again. Plus, it'd be nice to see Percy and Annabeth too, if they got the letter."

Nico nods. "Sure. We can leave tomorrow." He doesn't let it show how happy he is not to be travelling alone, but he still hopes Leo can see it a little bit.

"Hey," Leo puts out a candle with his right hand and lights up another with his left. "Thank you for bringing me here. I know it's a long road trip for something that could have been a phone call in normal circumstances. But even if I could have contacted them somehow, I think I needed to come. See them for myself. So, thank you."

Nico does smile then. "You're welcome. I know I would have liked to see you in person if you hadn't almost killed me on impact when you arrived."

"It's settled, then. We leave tomorrow. Maybe we can stop in Houston this time? I'll show you my mom's old repair garage and the best gorditas you'll ever have in your life."

"Sure," Nico agrees. It might take them a bit longer but it's not as if they have anything else to do. No prophecies to fulfill, no quests to carry out, no world-destruction to stop.

Leo puts his hand over Nico's again and this time Nico turns his hand over and laces their fingers together. Leo's hand is downright hot from playing with the candles so much, but Nico thinks it's nice.

As the candlelight dances in the wind along with Leo's hair, Nico realizes that even though he has always felt safest in the shadows, fire is not too bad either.

[herondaleholly31]

Disposable Camera-  Chris Evans X Reader

Overview: Going to a premiere together, you and Chris document the night with a disposable camera, keeping moments just for you. 

A/N: HELLO! I have been MIA for the past 2 months, I am aware of this and I’ve hated it. However its been a really big time for me, I’ve officially started University studying Creative writing and Publishing! I am loving it so far but its been so busy, with surprisingly little time to do my own writing. I am however powering through and have planned ahead a few more imagines so please stay with me I’m trying i SwEaR!

Thank you all for still supporting my work it means everything to me. Like and Comment! :) 

Word count: 2300 (ish) 

The room was a bustle of chaos. Makeup artists holding fistfuls of brushes, publicists talking tiny phone or typing away on computers, the smell of dozens of Starbucks coffees fuming the room. You had to pause for a moment, try to be the calm in the storm as everyone around you patted, and prodded and cooed. In the grand scheme of things you weren’t even the priority, but you were the date, the girlfriend, and that was just as important. Photographers and reporters will swarm to you like wasps to coke, and so how you looked meant everything. “How’s the dress, honey?” Sierra the seamstress asked. She was crouched by your feet, sewing the last of the details onto the hem. You turned to look in the mirror behind you. The soft teal material billowed around you so as. You moved the trail looked as if you were stood in water, the tulle then wrapped around your waist to rest just over your heart. The silver pendant and rings you wore shimmered in the light as the diamonds stood out against your skin. When this had started you had insisted that you wouldn’t be the centre of attention, it's not your night after all, but you allowed yourself this moment to awe at your reflection. Looking like this was a rare treat, one that not many people got to experience. You ran your hand gently over the material, smiling softly. “it's beautiful,” you whispered.

“You look, beautiful darling,” Gianna the designer’s voice boomed over the noise. With her platinum hair hairspray into a helmet of gravity, red lipstick and pointed green glasses, she looked oddly like Rita Skeeter. It was something that you found thoroughly amusing and had to keep pointedly saying her real name. “You’ve done such an amazing job, Gianna,” you smiled “It looks incredible.” Gianna smiled and reached out to grab your arm lightly “YOU look incredible Y/N. He’s not going to know what to do with himself. Now,” you both turned back around to look at your reflection. Gianna shifted the dress slightly and then put both her hands on your shoulders “remember, if anyone asked, you are wearing Me. Okay? ALRIGHT, WE’RE MOVING!” The room snapped to look at you, and suddenly hands were reaching out, a wave of painted nails and hairy knuckles, helping off the sand and starting to direct you towards the door. At one point you almost tripped over your dress and you heard Gianna yell “Someone hold onto her train for goodness sake!”

“oh wait!” You grabbed the disposable camera next to your purse, checking that there were enough photos. This past week you’d been using this to decorate your new office, and tonight you wanted to remember how you looked, unedited and honest. You then made your way out of the room and into the suite next door. If your room had been chaotic this suite was as if there was a national crisis. It was so busy it was almost impossible to move, and people had to yell to let you through. Most people are smiling or doting on how lovely you looked, but you saw a couple of people roll their eyes or pay no attention to you at all; you were only an accessory to them after all.

But all doubt shifted from your brain when the last people parted and you finally saw a glimpse of him. His back was to you, looking in a full-size mirror just like the one next door, but you didn’t need to see his face to already feel your heartbeat wildly.

"Um, Mr Evans?”

“Scott I told you,” Chris’s charming smile widened, a hand on the interns back,” call me Chris.” Scott’s cheeks flushed pink with delight, but was able to hold onto his professional facade as he continued “Your publisher is asking when you wanted the car to come around.”

“Whenever works best for the driver.”

“Of course Mr Ev-Chris” With one pat on the back Scotty scuttled out of the room, hurriedly muttering into his earpiece. Chris turned and stopped when he saw you. His face changed to one of childlike awe, his eyes looking you up and down as if this was the first time he was seeing you. He tried to find words to say, and when he couldn’t all he could do was clap a hand to his chest and take a step back. “Wow.” Everyone laughed. He walked forward and lightly kissed you on the cheek, wrapping you up in his arms. “you look beautiful,” he whispered into your ear. Hugging back you smiled “so do you.”

“Well that's just a given,” he joked. He squeezed you around the waist, and you could tell he didn’t want to be this restricted, by the way his hands moved slowly up and down your body. He pulled away for another moment to look you up and down, his eyes shining with sheer joy. For a second it was as if it was just the two of you, but that moment was fleeting as Chris’s usher coughed loudly. “the car is ready for you Mr Evans.”

“Thank you,” Chris reluctantly let you go, but only for a moment to turn back to the mirror once more. He went to reach out for your hand but a hoard of people had split the two of you apart. It was okay, you reminded yourself, you knew there would be moments of tonight where Chris would have to be just Chris, it was something you two had talked about before tonight. Instead, you clicked the dial on the disposable camera and snapped a couple of shots, Gianna insisting on getting a couple of you so she could have one for her records. Then you were gently pushed once more out into the corridor but this time were escorted to take the wide marble imperial staircase to the hotel's foyer. As you were at the top of the stairs Chris was halfway down the stairs, listening to his publicist. “Chris!’ You called. He looked up, his smile once again ad you waved the camera briefly. “Smile!’ The camera flashed and you both chuckled, You winding it up again and taking another one, although this time you’re sure you got the publicist’s scowl. “Come join me!” He called. The publicist tried to say something but Chris ignored him, making everyone wait whilst you awkwardly pushed past people on the stairs until you were by his side. This time he was able to reach out and intertwine your hand with his. “You ready?”

“Of course.” You both smiled, and then the procession continued, down the corridor outside into the cold February air. There was already flashes of cameras waiting outside but the pair of you quickly stepped into the car, which zoomed off down and joined the late traffic of London. You both were able to breathe a little easier, and this time he didn’t have to be restricted as he was before. Grabbing your hand once more he gently pulled you over so you were sat next to him, one of his arms looped around your shoulders, his fingertips gently drumming on your collarbone. He peppered a couple of kisses on your temple, then picked up the disposable camera. “Okay just stay where you are.”

“Why?” You laughed.

“because I want one photo of you now, one that only we will see. And no matter what photos of us are taken, we’ll have one each of us, and they’ll be the ones that we care about.”

“If that wasn’t you saying that I would have cringed so hard at that.”

“Just smile.”

So you did, the flash bright and blinding for that second. He took a couple more, including one of you laughing at a comment he said. Then it was your turn, so you took a couple of him. You already knew they were going to be your favourite photos him, and suddenly this plastic camera was the most important thing you owned.

“We’ve arrived Mr Evans,” the driver informed from the front, and the car crawled to a stop. You could already hear the screams of fans and the yells of photographers, and Chris turned once more to you. “You nervous?”

“No.” And it was true, now you were here you were surprised at how calm you were. “I’ll be here if you want me-“

“Well you are my date so I guess that’s a yes?”

“You’re hilarious. I’ll be there for photos and stuff if you want me, but If not then that’s fine.”

“I want you there. If you’re good I will be too.”

There was one more pause, one more moment of calm. “I wish I could kiss you right now,” he laughed “but If I smudge anything right now you’ll never leave this car.”

“There’s time for that after,” you winked cheekily.

“ah of course. And 5 Guys.”

“It is the tradition.”

Chris kissed your intertwined fingers “I love you.”

Hearing that still made your heart flutter “I love you too.” And together, you stepped out, into the chaos.

The green carpet winded through hoards of people, staining the usual grey of the London pavement. As the film was based in the 60s the lights were all vintage spotlights, brass and stained with age, and gorgeous jazz music crackled through speakers covered by fake vines and greenery. Behind the barriers, the crowd roared as first Chris stepped out and then opened your door for you, holding onto your purse with the camera stowed safety away as you gingerly shimmied out. As a couple, you started to walk by the wall of paparazzi, but yous stopped when you felt the dress tug underneath you. “ I think my shoe is stuck,” you called over the yells of “CHRIS! LOOK THIS WAY!”

“Hang on.” Without hesitation, Chris got down on his knee and carefully shifted your skirt until he found the tell caught around your heel. As he gently started to untangle it he jokingly tickled the soft skin by your ankle, causing you to laugh loudly.

“Stop it.”

“Stop what?” Her mocked innocence, but he did it again, you laughed harder, this time teetering a little on the other heel. Before you could even be scared to fall Chris was back on his feet, grabbing your arm and pulling you close, your arm naturally wrapping around his waist. “Honestly,” his sarcastic eye roll matching his teasing tone “I can't take you anyway.”

The cameras were loving this, flashes happening so much that your vision was blurred slightly by purple blotches. You could see enough to smack him lightly with your purse before kissing him lightly just bit the ear, where the shimmer lipstick wouldn’t be seen as much. You both then complied and stood for photos, looking at different angles, always close holding hands or arms around each other's waist. At one point Chris whispered the lyrics to the song playing in your ear, and once again you could feel your cheeks flush pink. He loved that too, so continued to whisper the words of Frank Sinatra and Paul Anka in your ear, meaning every word but enjoying the way you physically melted. He continued to do this to you throughout the night too, putting his hand high up on your thigh during the movie or commenting in interviews how gorgeous you were, dragging you over and telling everyone how amazing Gianna had been with your dress. At one point he accidentally called her Rita and you both burst out laughing, leaving the poor interviewer looking politely confused, before awkwardly avoiding the subject. It was a night of Champagne and compliments, the deposable camera documenting it all. Some photos were taken with fans too, including an amazing one of a fan so overcome with emotion with Chris posing for a photo she burst out sobbing just as the flash went. Many introductions and how did you meet conversations were exchanged, so by the time you both crawled back into the car 5 hours later, your throats were dry and feet sore from walking.

“I'm starving.” He didn’t even have to say and the car was already pulling back into the traffic, a call ensuring asking for food delivery to be delivered to the hotel. As you rested against Chris, you heard him humming some of the songs from the premiere. His voice buzzed gently through his body into yours, causing you to become almost warm. His shoulder was warm from where he’d worn a jacket all night, now off and on the seat beside him, the smell of his cologne lingering only slightly. To you it was one of those moments where everything seemed to be that little bit softer; the flashing light from the passing street lights, turning the back seat momentarily orange. The material of his shirt, the way his chin rubbed against your now dishevelled hair. The way he continued to hum his love songs, knowing that they were all for to you. Everything in that moment was real, a moment that only you would have. Knowing that you smiled into his chest, allowing his arms to wrap around you, your joint humming filling the car with its warmth.

[twiddlebirdlet]

https://www.wired.com/story/chris-evans-starting-point-politics/

Chris Evans Goes to Washington

The actor's new project, A Starting Point, aims to give all Americans the TL;DR on WTF is going on in politics. It's harder than punching Nazis on the big screen.

It’s a languid October afternoon in Los Angeles, sunny and clear.

Chris Evans, back home after a grueling production schedule, relaxes into his couch, feet propped up on the coffee table. Over the past year and a half, the actor has tried on one identity after another: the shaggy-haired Israeli spy, the clean-shaven playboy, and, in his Broadway debut, the Manhattan beat cop with a Burt Reynolds ’stache. Now, though, he just looks like Chris Evans—trim beard, monster biceps, angelic complexion. So it’s a surprise when he brings up the nightmares. “I sleep, like, an hour a night,” he says. “I’m in a panic.”

The panic began, as panics so often do these days, in Washington, DC. Early last February, Evans visited the capital to pitch lawmakers on a new civic engagement project. He arrived just hours before Donald Trump would deliver his second State of the Union address, in which he called on Congress to “bridge old divisions” and “reject the politics of revenge, resistance, and retribution.” (Earlier, at a private luncheon, Trump referred to Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, as a “nasty son of a bitch.”) Evans is no fan of the president, whom he has publicly called a “moron,” a “dunce,” and a “meatball.” But bridging divisions? Putting an end to the American body politic’s clammy night sweats? These were goals he could get behind.

Evans’ pitch went like this: He would build an online platform organized into tidy sections—immigration, health care, education, the economy—each with a series of questions of the kind most Americans can’t succinctly answer themselves. What, exactly, is a tariff? What’s the difference between Medicare and Medicaid? Evans would invite politicians to answer the questions in minute-long videos. He’d conduct the interviews himself, but always from behind the camera. The site would be a place to hear both sides of an issue, to get the TL;DR on WTF was happening in American politics. He called it A Starting Point—a name that sometimes rang with enthusiasm and sometimes sounded like an apology.

Evans doesn’t have much in the way of political capital, but he does have a reputation, perhaps unearned, for patriotism. Since 2011 he has appeared in no fewer than 10 Marvel movies as Captain America, the Nazi-slaying, homeland-­defending superhero wrapped in bipartisan red, white, and blue. It’s hard to imagine a better time to cash in on the character’s symbolism. Partisan animosity is at an all-time high; a recent survey by the Public Religion Research Institute and The Atlantic found that 35 percent of Republicans and 45 percent of Democrats would oppose their child marrying someone from the other party. (In 1960, only 4 percent of respondents felt this way.) At the same time, there’s a real crisis of faith in the country’s leaders. According to the Pew Research Center, 81 percent of Americans believe that members of Congress behave unethically at least some of the time. In Pew’s estimation, that makes them even less trusted than journalists and tech CEOs.

If Evans got it right, he believed, this wouldn’t be some small-fry website. He’d be helping “create informed, responsible, and empathetic citizens.” He would “reduce partisanship and promote respectful discourse.” At the very least, he would “get more people involved” in politics. And if the site stank like a rotten tomato? If Evans became a national laughingstock? Well, that’s where the nightmares began.

It took a special serum and a flash broil in a Vita-Ray chamber to transform Steve Rogers, a sickly kid from Brooklyn, into Captain America. For Chris Evans, savior of American democracy, the origin story is rather less Marvelous.

One day a few years ago, around the time he was filming Avengers: Infinity War, Evans was watching the news. The on-air discussion turned to an unfamiliar acronym—it might have been NAFTA, he says, but he thinks it was DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era immigration policy that granted amnesty to people who had been brought into the United States illegally as children. The Trump administration had just announced plans to phase out DACA, leaving more than half a million young immigrants in the lurch. (The Supreme Court will likely rule this year on whether terminating the program was lawful.)

On the other side of the television, Evans squinted. Wait a minute, he thought. What did that acronym stand for again? And was it a good thing or a bad thing? “It was just something I didn’t understand,” he says.

Evans considers himself a politico. Now 38, he grew up in a civic-minded family, the kind that revels in shouting about the news over dinner. His uncle Michael Capuano served 10 terms in Congress as a Democrat from Massachusetts, beginning right around the time Evans graduated from high school and moved to New York to pursue acting. During the 2016 presidential election, Evans campaigned for Hillary Clinton. In 2017 he became an outspoken critic of Trump—even after he was advised to zip it, for risk of alienating moviegoers. Evans could be a truck driver, Capuano says, and he’d still be involved in politics.

But watching TV that day, Evans was totally lost. He Googled the acronym and tripped over all the warring headlines. Then he tried Wikipedia, but, well, the entry was thousands of words long. “It’s this never-ending thing, and you’re just like, who is going to read 12 pages on something?” Evans says. “I just wanted a basic understanding, a basic history, and a basic grasp on what the two parties think.” He decided to build the resource he wanted for himself.

Evans brought the idea to his close friend Mark Kassen, an actor and director he’d met working on the 2011 indie film Puncture. Kassen signed on and recruited a third partner, Joe Kiani, the founder and CEO of a medical technology company called Masimo. The three met for lobster rolls in Boston. What the country needed, they decided, was a kind of Schoolhouse Rock for adults—a simple, memorable way to learn the ins and outs of civic life. Evans suggested working with politicians directly. Kiani, who had made some friends on Capitol Hill over the years, thought they’d go for it. Each partner agreed to put up money to get the thing off the ground. (They wouldn’t say how much.) They spent some time Googling similar outlets and figuring out where they fit in, Kassen says.

They began by establishing a few rules. First, A Starting Point would give politicians free rein to answer questions as they pleased—no editing, no moderation, no interjections. Second, they would hire fact-checkers to make sure they weren’t promoting misinformation. Third, they would design a site that privileged diversity of opinion, where you could watch a dozen different people answering the same question in different ways. Here, though, imbibing the information would feel more like watching YouTube than skimming Wikipedia—more like entertainment than homework.

The trio mocked up a list of questions to bring to Capitol Hill, starting with the ones that most baffled them. (Is the electoral college still necessary?) They talked, admiringly, about the way presidential debate moderators manage to make their language sound neutral. (Should the questions refer to a “climate crisis” or a “climate situation,” “illegal immigrants” or “undocumented immigrants”?) Then Evans recorded a video on his couch in LA. “Hi, I’m Chris Evans,” he began. “If you’re watching this, I hope you’ll consider contributing to my new civics engagement project called A Starting Point.” He emailed the file to every senator and representative in Congress.

Only a few replied.

In hindsight, Evans realizes, the video “looked so cheap” and either got caught in spam filters or was consciously deleted by congressional staffers. “The majority of people, on both sides of the aisle, dismissed it,” Evans says. Many “thought it was a joke.” Yet there are few doors in American life that a square jaw can’t open, particularly when it belongs to a man with many millions of dollars and nearly as many swooning Twitter fans. Soon enough, a handful of politicians had agreed to meet with the group.

On the morning of his first visit to Capitol Hill, as he donned a slick gray windowpane suit and a black polka-dot tie and combed his perfect hair back from his perfect forehead, Evans felt a wave of doubt. “This isn’t my lane,” he recalls thinking as he walked through the maze of the Russell Senate Office Building. Here, people were making real change, affecting the lives of millions of Americans. “And shit,” Evans said to himself, “I didn’t even go to college.”

“This isn’t my lane,” Evans thought as he walked through the maze of the Russell Senate Office Building.

The trio’s first stop was the office of Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware. “Which one is the senator?” Evans asked.

Coons, having never watched any of the Avengers movies, didn’t know who Evans was, either. But in short order, he says, he was won over by the actor’s charm and “very slight but still noticeable” Boston accent. The thing that got Coons the most, though—the thing that would lead him to pass out pocket cards on the Senate floor to recruit others, especially Republicans, to take part in the project—was how refreshing it was to be asked simple questions: Why should we support the United Nations? Why does foreign aid matter? Coons saw real value in trying to explain these things, simply and plainly, to his constituents.

“Look, I’m not naive,” Coons says. He is the first to admit that one-minute videos won’t fix what’s wrong with American politics. “But it’s important for there to be attempts at civic education and outreach,” he adds. “And, you know, his fictional character fought for our nation in a time of great difficulty.”

Evans stiffens slightly when people mention Captain America. The superhero comparison is, admittedly, a little obvious. But again and again on Capitol Hill, the shtick proved useful: Sometimes it’s better to be Captain America than a Holly­wood liberal elite who defends Roe v. Wade and wants to ban assault weapons. When Evans met Jim Risch, the Republican senator from Idaho joked about catching him up on NATO, “since he missed the 70 years after World War II.” When he met Representative Dan Crenshaw, a hard-line Texas Republican and former Navy SEAL who lost his right eye in Afghanistan, Crenshaw lifted up his eye patch to reveal a glass prosthetic painted to look like Captain America’s shield.

Eventually, Evans loosened up—at least he lost the tie. Since that first round of visits, he and Kassen have returned to Washington every six weeks or so, collecting more than 1,000 videos from more than 100 members of Congress, along with about half of the 2020 Democratic hopefuls. Evans has conducted every interview himself. Kassen, meanwhile, managed the acquisition of a video compression startup in Montreal. About a dozen of the company’s engineers are building a custom content management system for A Starting Point, which is slated to go live in February. They’re running bandwidth tests too—just in case, as Kassen worries, “everyone in Chris’ audience logs on that first day.”

“We have to do this now,” Evans says. “It’s out there. We have to finish this. Shit.”

Back in LA, Evans pulls up the site on his iPhone. He hesitates for a moment and covers the screen with his hand. It’s still a demo, he explains, in the same bashful tone he uses to tell me the guest bathroom is out of toilet paper.

On the homepage, there’s a clip of Evans explaining how to use the site and a carousel of “trending topics” (energy, charter schools, Hong Kong). You can enter your address to call up a list of your representatives and find their videos; you can also contact them directly through the site. The rest is organized by topic and question, with a matrix of one-­minute videos for each—Democrats in the left-hand column, Republicans on the right.

Early on in the development of the site, Evans and Kassen fought over fact-checking. Kassen, arguing against, was concerned about the optics: Who were they to arbitrate truth? Evans insisted that A Starting Point would only seem objective if visitors knew the answers had been vetted somehow. Ultimately he prevailed, and they agreed to hire a third-party fact-checker. They have yet to put their thousand-plus videos through the wringer, so for now I’m seeing first drafts. If they’re found to contain falsehoods, Evans says, they won’t appear on the site at all.

Kassen showed me a sampling of some of this raw material. Under “What is DACA?” I found dozens of videos, offering dozens of different starting points.

One representative, a Republican whose district lies near the Mexican border, describes the program’s recipients as “1.2 million men and women who have only known the United States as their home.” They go to school, he explains; they serve in the military; they’ve all passed background checks.

Sometimes it’s better to be Captain America than a Hollywood liberal elite who defends Roe v. Wade and wants to ban assault weapons.

Another Republican representative says, “So, DACA is a result of a really bad immigration system … We’re seeing record numbers of families crossing the border because a kid equals a token for presence in the US. All right? We have all of these people come over, we can’t process them, they’re claiming asylum. I just heard from the secretary of Homeland Security this week, about nine in 10 don’t have valid claims of asylum. Meaning they’re not political—there’s no political persecution going on. OK?”

These two responses (from politicians on the same side of the aisle, no less) illustrate some of the quandaries that Evans, Kassen, and their fact-checkers are likely to encounter. The first representative, for instance, says there are 1.2 million DACA recipients, when in fact only 660,000 immigrants are currently enrolled in the program. The higher number is based on an estimate of those who could be eligible published by the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington think tank. The “nine in 10” statistic, meanwhile, is a loose interpretation of data from 2018, which shows that only about 16 percent of immigrants who filed a “credible fear” claim were granted asylum. But this does not mean, as the representative implies, that the other claims weren’t “valid”—merely that they weren’t successful. Nearly half of all asylum claims from this time were dismissed for undisclosed reasons. These are fairly hair-splitting examples, but even the basic, definitional questions are drenched in opinion. What is Citizens United? “Horrible decision,” says a Democratic senator in his video response.

Evans doesn’t want to spend time refereeing politicians. To him, A Starting Point should act more like a database than a platform—rhetoric that rhymes with that of Facebook and Twitter, which have mostly sidestepped responsibility for their content. He’s just hosting the videos, he says; it’s up to politicians to decide how they answer the questions. There’s no comment section and no algorithmically generated list of recommended videos. “You need to decide what you need to watch next,” Kassen says.

One of the assumptions underlying Evans’ project—and it’s a very big assumption—is that the force of his fame will be enough to attract people who otherwise would have zero interest in watching a carousel of videos from their elected officials. This, by all accounts, is most people: Only a third of Americans can name their representatives in Congress, and those who can aren’t binge-watching C-Span. “Celebrities bring an extraordinary ability to get attention,” says Lauren Wright, a political researcher at Princeton and author of Star Power: American Democracy in the Age of the Celebrity Candidate. But Evans, she says, is “not taking the route that a lot of celebrities have, which is: The solution to American politics is me.” It would be one thing if Evans were guiding you through the inner workings of Congress like a chiseled Virgil. But why would someone watch a senator dryly explain NAFTA when they could watch, say, a YouTube video of Chris Evans on Jimmy Kimmel?

Without its leading man in the frame, A Starting Point begins to look uncomfortably similar to the many other platforms that have sought to fight partisanship online. A site called AllSides labels news sources as left, center, or right and encourages readers to create a balanced media diet with a little from each. A browser plug-in called Read Across the Aisle (“A Fitbit for your filter bubble”) measures the amount of time you spend on left-leaning, right-­leaning, or centrist websites. The Flip Side bills itself as a “one-stop shop for smart, concise summaries of political analysis from both conservative and liberal media.”

The underlying idea—that there would be a new birth of civic engagement if only we could wrest control of the information economy from the hands of self-serving ideologues and deliver the news to citizens unbiased and uncut—is an old one. In 1993, when the modern internet was just a gleam in Al Gore’s eye, Michael Crichton wrote in this magazine’s pages that he was sick and tired of the “polarized, junk-food journalism” propagated by traditional media outlets. (This was three years before Fox News and MSNBC came into being; he was talking about The New York Times.) What society needed, he argued, was something more like C-Span, something that encouraged people to draw their own conclusions.

But does any of it work? Not according to Wright. “We have many years of research on these questions, and the consensus among scholars is that the proliferation of media choices—including sites like Evans’—has not increased political knowledge or participation,” she says. “The problem isn’t the lack of information. It’s the lack of interest.” Jonathan Albright, director of the Digital Forensics Initiative at Columbia’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism, agrees. “All of these fact-­checking initiatives, all of this work that goes into trying to disambiguate issues or trying to reduce noise—people have no time,” he says. “Some people care about politics, but those are not the people you need to reach.”

Naturally, this sort of talk makes Evans a little nervous. But he takes refuge in what he sees as the core strengths of the concept. For one thing, he argues, snack-size videos are more accessible than text. Also, those other sites rely on a translator to interpret the issues, while A Starting Point goes straight to the source. It’s not for policy wonks. It’s for average Americans, centrists, extremists, swing voters—everyone!—who want to hear about policy straight from the horse’s mouth. (Never mind that most people hold horses in higher regard.)

Evans has all kinds of ideas for how to keep people coming back. He might add a section of the website where representatives can upload weekly videos for their constituents, or a place where policymakers from different parties can discuss bipartisan compromise. He talks about these ideas with an enthusiasm so pure and so believable that you almost forget he’s an actor. The whole point, he says, is giving Americans a cheap seat on the kinds of conversations that are happening on Capitol Hill. That’s a show that Evans is betting people actually want to see.

The worst thing that could happen isn’t that nobody watches the videos. That would suck, but Evans could deal with it. What gets him riled up most is thinking about what he might have failed to consider. What if the site ends up promoting some bizarre agenda that he never intended? What if people use the videos for some kind of twisted purpose? “One miscalculation,” he says, “and you may not get back on track.” (See: Facebook.)

Evans knows his idea to save democracy can come off a little Pollyannaish, and if it flops, it’ll be his reputation on the line. But he really, really believes in it. OK, so maybe it won’t save America, but it might piece together some of what’s been broken. A fresh start. A starting point.

“This does feel to me like everybody wins here. I don’t see how this becomes a problem,” he says, before a look of panic crosses his face, the anxiety setting in again.

[nanowrimo]

How I Turned My NaNoWriMo Novel into a Published Book

Maybe you’re at a point in your writing where you have an actual manuscript sitting on your desk. Congratulations! Now, how do you take that looming stack of finely turned phrases and well-placed plot points and convert them into a bound book? Today, author and NaNoWriMo participant Nikki Hyson delivers a step by step guide to support you on the journey to publication:

For the record, those two words still leave me in a state of dazed awe: Published Book. As a lover of words from a very early age, seeing my name on the cover of a book… just wow…

But you didn’t come here for the wow. I’m betting you came here for the facts. How did I turn a squalling, unwieldy, fledgling NaNo novel into something bright, shining, and ready to walk the stage with diploma in hand?

In November of 2012 I finished my third NaNo Novel. Like the first two, I loved every minute of it. The world building, the character developing, and the plot twists that came out of nowhere. In true pantser fashion, I even gave myself a cliffhanger ending that not even I saw coming. But that’s where it ended. It went on a shelf and I moved on. It’s what I did with all my stories (I have boxes of journals to prove it). Except, this novel, these characters, wouldn’t stay on the shelf. There was a quite decided “what if” hanging over it like a golden cloud.

I heard about the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest, so I spent all of 2013 second drafting, asking a few friends to beta read, and polishing it with the help of a story coach. In the meantime, I wrote the sequel during NaNo 2013. Well, I didn’t make it out of Round One of the Amazon Contest. Still, two novels deep in the series, I started thinking about traditional publishing.

Over the next four years, I redrafted it twice with EJ Runyon of www.bridgetostory.com  and wrote at least a dozen different query letters to over forty agents. Radio silence. Hmm. Give up? I nearly did. For a year, I stopped sending it out even though I’d written two more NaNo novels, rounding out the story arc and tying up the loose ends. 

That’s when I finally heard the question that’d been nudging for a while. “Why not publish it yourself?”

There’s an easy answer to that. It’s terrifying! Having the final say on every word can be extremely liberating to most, but it also had me shaking in my boots. What if I mess this up? Of course, I was watching Batman Begins for the eleventh time. Why do we fall? To learn how to pick ourselves up.

All right then. Time to learn. I spent nine months learning everything I could about self-publishing, marketing, what to outsource (cover design!), and where I could cut corners (not buying ISBN and using whatever KDP gives you—for now, anyway). It was a crash course (thank you Chris Fox, Writing Gals, and 20BooksTo50k), but I learned enough to move forward—to plot a course.

On March 16th, 2019 I hit publish on my first fantasy novel, Second Door to the Right. On May 8th I published the sequel, The Forsaken Corridor. Currently, I’m second drafting the third novel out of my messy NaNo 2014 first draft. I hope to have it out the end of July. I still set aside time every week to keep learning, watching podcasts, and scrolling group feeds on Facebook. There’s always something to learn, some new direction to grow, and the words… they won’t mine themselves either. So, like Dory, just keep swimming. Just keep writing. Have faith. Keep your joy. Hope to see you on the shelf beside me.

After spending her teens hopscotching around the country, Nikki settled in Alaska and found it suited her. When she isn’t weaving spells with her words, she can be found snuggling with one of her senior-aged Labradors, walking in the woods, cooking for friends, or lost in a good book. She believes chocolate was invented by wizards, a good cup of Matcha can cure anything, and every maiden is just waiting to rescue the fair prince in distress. If only he’d stop to ask for directions. Visit Nikki on Facebook, Pinterest, or check out her books.

Top photo by Michael D Beckwith on Unsplash.

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

Local Teen Unaware of how Weird Family is, Local Goth Decides To Go All In and Learn Magick, Exhausted Teens Do Fun Dumb Teen Stuff 

It was the day after they’d taken down Skulker, and Tucker had to collect up the armor.  Danny helped him, of course, and he flew home with some help from his favorite ghost boy.  They landed in Tucker’s room, and Tucker gave Danny a hug as soon as the suit was set down.  Danny returned to his warmer flesh and blood self and hugged him back before they got to work searching for a port to plug Tucker’s laptop into.  Thankfully even the dead respected the U in USB and they manage to connect. Before long, however, Tucker’s mind wanders from his code-breaking program that’s now hard at work with Skulker’s head and to his situation with Sam.  And considering what all he’d learned about Danny’s family so far, he might as well ask. “Danny do you have access to transparent solar panels?”

“Yeah, all the windows at Fenton Works are solar panels - I think they run at uh 50% efficiency.  Why?”

“Danny, that’s like, the exact last piece I need for my solar-powered car design.”  Tucker was tempted to inform Danny of how amazing that fact was, but he knew Danny wasn’t a fan of being extraordinary, so he’d let it slide for now.  “Now I just need some way of building it.”

“Well, you have the design itself saved right?”

“Yes…”  Tucker wasn’t sure where this was going, but he was hopeful that it’d be a place he liked.

“We can just print out the design at my house?”  Danny shrugged, as though that was obvious and the most simple thing in the world.  “We have like, a pretty big 3D printer, it’s uh modular, and we use scrapped metal from junkyards that we liquified as filament.  We can print a car pretty quickly.”

Danny was going to say something that made Tucker fall completely in love with him one of these days, the idiot.  “Danny I need you to take me to this 3D printer.  Now.” Skulker’s head was left where they’d put it on his desk, the rest of the suit stuffed in Tucker’s closet, and the pair flew off to Danny’s house.

When they arrived at Fentonworks, they turned to one of the other buildings on the block and set down there, Danny taking the time to unlock the door and everything.  “So this 3D printer you guys have…”

“Well, Dad calls it the Fenton Fabricator.   See, there's a theory that went around a while ago when 3D printers and fabricators first started, it was the Recursive Loop Theory. It goes like this. You buy a 3D printer. Mid-range, sorta useful, but with enough detail and strength that you like it. But then you need something a bit more detailed. So you look online and you find a set of 3D models for a second printer. This one you can build on your machine, and with only some minor parts you can make the more detailed printer for a tiny fraction of what it would cost.”  

Danny took them to a set of stairs and Tucker was so focused on his friend he nearly missed all the art Danny’s ever done hanging all over the walls.  

“So, you can make more detailed parts. And you find designs for a bigger printer. It's modular and sorta rough, but it needs those detailed parts. So you can then build massive somewhat detailed pieces… and so you do. And now, with your 3 printers, you find designs to a fourth. Bigger, better, more detailed, it's another generation, and you can print it off your current designs. Boom, bam, rinse and repeat.  Eventually, your diminishing returns drop till you can’t make a more detailed printer, but at that point, you have one hell of a machine, particularly if you have a couple of crazy hackers building your final design as a custom project. Course, it’s not quite that easy. We had to fabricate a lot of weird and unique bits for them in other ways - well, my folks and their friends in the Secret Scientists did anyway."

“So the Fenton Fabricator?”

“Is a massive, customized high detail 3D fabricator that can even print metal and glass, yes.”  Danny turned on the lights as they entered a large underground workspace. Tucker saw the fabricator and felt he might’ve gone to heaven.  It was a massive aquarium tank, easily twenty feet from corner to corner and at least eight feet tall. Above it, hanging like a mechanical spider on segmented green and red limbs with shiny metal joints and points, was a motorcycle sized 3D printing extruder. Tucker could see a set of lasers for dust printing, a pair of high-heat high-speed extruders for wires, several dozen smaller legs with colors and specific grades of wire, all of which fed up and around the room to spools of plastic and cylinders of dusted metal.

“There are hidden parts in the walls with directed gravity manipulators and some arms kept out of the way until needed for assembly-based stuff.  I think Mom and Dad built a car or something down here recently. The canisters are all refilled completely.” Danny shrugged, moving around the lab and grabbing up papers - notes about what feeds to use, hints for setting things up.  “I can help you connect up and plug in your stuff - though you’ll have to leave it here so that the thing can print. If you’re legit making a car here, it’ll take about 2 days to finish printing it out at all, let alone assemble.”

“Danny, after I finish with that, we are so using this place for other projects together, do you understand me?”  Tucker saw doors that likely lead off to other rooms in the lab and wondered just how Much of Fentonworks there was.  “This is too amazing.”

“If you say so, bro.  Here, let’s get started.  I can help with setting up the print file.”

Sam had to say, going through the bs of school was beyond irritating when both of her friends were barred from the school until they could get around the weapons the Fentons were installing.  Paulina’s gratingly loud personality was especially difficult to tune out that day, and Sam found herself feeling proud of her self control in not throwing something at the shallow cheerleading idiot when she started going on and on about the upcoming spirit week.

Once school was out, Sam grabbed the board that Danny apparently made for her after he finished Tucker’s, though she wasn’t sure how, and put on her helmet.  New, magnetic boots planted firmly on the board, Sam pulled out her phone, put in the address of the Skulk and Lurk, and activated the Nav AI that Tucker had managed to make an app for to download.  “One of these days Tucker is going to overwork himself into an early grave.” Shaking her head Sam took off into the sky, and no amount of gothic reputation could keep the smile off her face or prevent her from cheering.  “Woooohoooo!” Who could possibly blame her? She was flying .  There was nothing more awesome than this that she knew of.

When she arrived, Sam had her board hover itself up to the roof, where it was less likely to get snatched by someone who thought it’d be cool to snag a hoverboard.  Walking into the store, Sam took off her helmet and grinned. The Skulk n Lurk was one part book store, one part poetry reading area, and one part coffee shop. It had the gothic, occult theme down pat with black, blue, and shades of purple being the only colors to be found around the store.  Heading straight into the books section, Sam managed to flag down an employee and nudged him in the arm. “Nice mohawk, Chris, I see you’re branching out.”

Chris turned around, hair dyed a brilliant blue and his clothes all pastel shades of purple and grey with a bat-shaped nametag pinned on his chest.  He smiled and elbowed her right back. “Yeah, just got it done the other day. How’re you holdin up, Sam? Parents still trying to push you into being a prep?”

“Such is my curse.”  Sam sighed and leaned heavily on Chris while he laughed.  “But, that’s not what I’m here for today. Think you can help me find some books on magick?”

“Cursing people is wrong, and will always go wrong for you, I hope you know that.”

Sam rolled her eyes, standing up straight.  “It’s not for cursing anyone, Chris, it’s for something else.”

“Hitting that cheerleader with a love spell is not the way to go about getting over your crush on her.”  Chris smirked and turned away from her, walking steadily while Sam scoffed and scowled at him.

“That’s gross on two fronts.  A love spell sounds ridiculously creepy, and I don’t have a crush on Paulina of all people.”  Sam made a gagging noise and Chris laughed yet again.

Ludicrous notions about cheerleaders aside, Chris lead Sam to a section about magick and left to go help another customer while Sam browsed.  She held her hand up, letting her fingers brush over the spines of the books as she read their titles and stilled. There was a vibration, warm and far more humid than any bookstore should be and humming so much like Danny and Agatha and even that piece of trash Grovsner did when she was close.  It was a feeling that she hadn’t really noticed until now that all of the ghosts she’d encountered shared, however few of those there were. The tiny hairs all over her arms and the back of her neck stood on end and Sam grabbed the book.

Roots, stems, rain, warmth, leaves, petals, heat, crushing cold, withering emptiness, life granting rain and growth .  Sam dropped the book and just barely bit off a loud swear, staring at the cover.  Magick: The Life Blood of the Earth.  “Well.  Danny can see weird shit, I guess I can feel it.  Being that close to the portal must’ve done something to me.”  Picking up the book slowly, Sam waited for any weird feelings to hit her again.  When none did, she grinned slowly. “Let’s see what I can do with that.”

Danny takes some of the time after fighting Skulker to relax at home, get his schoolwork done that was emailed to him, and figure out a plan for working around the school's new anti-ghost security system.  It had been two days already and he was coming up blank. Of course, it's at dinner that Danny thinks to ask his parents. "Hey Mom, you said the Fenton Finder works by keeping track of a ghost's ectosignature, right?  What is that, exactly?" Jazz, as she standardly did when Danny instigated ghost-themed rants, looked as offended as one might have had their mother been described with every cuss word in the dictionary. She stabbed her chicken alfredo while holding this look for 5 continuous seconds without blinking.

Mom smiled wide and ecstatic.  "Well you see, Danny, an ectosignature is the frequency of electrical signals running throughout a ghost's body, shaping its form and directing its actions."

"Like brainwaves?"

“Exactly, hon!”  Mom reached into her pocket and pulled out a macaroon, which Danny devoured immediately.  “When a ghost manifests outside of the Ghost Zone, its ecto signature is a signal being broadcast from the Ghost Zone into our reality.  Since ghosts are 4-dimensional constructs made of exotic matter that of which exists beyond our standard perceptive abilities, a ghost can receive this ectosignature from just about anywhere on Earth or beyond.  Like the best cellular reception in the universe.”

“Like any signal though, an ectosignature can be tracked!  And that signal can be disrupted and blocked!” Dad only spoke in exclamation points Danny realized some time ago.  He waved his fork around in presentation at the blueprint that his mind had likely superimposed on the air next to him.  “The Fenton Thermos™ uses charged ectoplasm and what I’ve coined as Fentonite to isolate any ectoplasmic mass contained inside of it from its corresponding ectosignature by creating a four-dimensional enclosure!  The filthy ghost is still charged with the ectosignature though, there’s a centralized network of energy that allows the ghost to immediately take on its form after it’s released.”

“So the ghost is conscious within the thermos?”

Mom shrugged.  “As conscious as a ghost can be, sweety.  It’s not an actual person or anything, just a static imprint of what used to be a person’s thoughts.  Like an A.I.”

“The Fenton Finder™ used scanners specially made to detect ectosignatures that are on our satellites up in space!  It’s also how our security system works, though that works off of scanners here in the house!”

"So is there a way to track down ghosts by their specific ecto signatures?  If you can track the general signals maybe you can create a way to lock into a specific one."

"Mm, I suppose we could!  That'd be useful for tracking down that scum that attacked you and friends!  We've got the blueprints for the ecto signature scanner down in the lab somewhere if you wanna try the idea out, son!"

"Will do, Dad.  I'll tell ya how it goes."  Danny grinned around his chicken and pasta.  He had a game plan now. 

After dinner, Danny raced downstairs to print out the blueprint from the computer - his father stacked the blueprints in an infuriatingly chaotic way that Danny hadn't the patience to sort through - and then ran through the door on the left.  Behind it was a hallway into a tunnel, one that lead Danny to the alternative lab under the building right next to the house. Hopping into his wheely chair, Danny slid over the linoleum floor to his work table and laid down the blueprint.

"Alright, I can work with this.  A signal can be tracked, and it can be isolated.  Which means that My signal can be isolated and tracked specifically."  A smirk crossed his face. "Which means the scanners can be set to ignore my signal.  Perfect!"

Danny slid over to the laptop connected to a second Fenton Fabricator, glad that his parents were always thorough enough to make a back up of everything they did.  "This should be done in no time. Then Sam can help me test it and Tuck can- speak of the devil." Danny whipped out his phone and hummed, tilting his head at the simple message his best friend had sent him. 

FriarTuck: Hey Dan, almost fin breaking the security in Sklkr's suit.  Bout to crack this badboi open n make it mine. Muahahahaha! Hyd?

"Ugh, stars, I don't wanna think about that asshole."  Danny shot back a quick reply and set his phone down, finding a notebook he typically kept around.  Writing in a code only he, Tucker and Sam knew, Danny got everything down that he could. "Skulker has been a major set back in my plan to prove not all ghosts are evil to Mom and Dad, and a few other weird developments made themselves known.  I can now see everything in the lower intensity ultraviolet spectrum 24/7 instead of having to concentrate, as well as the electrical currents running through everything; I can somehow see my emotional connections with people I'm close with and use those connections to influence their emotions as well as read them clearer than other aurae."  He stopped, taking a breath and looking over what he'd just written. " Mierda , ain't that creepy?"  Danny pulled on his hair a bit while he wrote.

"Joining that on the list of creepy-ass things about Danny: I can reach across that link to everyone and pull on their love and affection and all that and use it to heal myself.  Stars, that's such a gross way to look at everyone's care for me. Just a fucking- a bandaid? A free trip to the nurse in a minute?"

Turning back to the parts being made, Danny huffed and dragged his nails against his scalp a touch too roughly.  "Physiological changes in my ghost occur when Tucker and Sam are in danger; Canines grow into fangs and according to Sam my voice starts to echo as though it's coming from everywhere.  Thankfully a check in Tucker's mirror proves that the changes are temporary. Reaction to my temperament? On that note: being a psychoreactive exotic material, the ectoplasm that makes up my ghostly body reasonably reacts instantaneously to my emotions, but it seems to be enhancing them as well.  It's either that or maybe puberty, but I have a feeling puberty doesn't make you violently angry at the slightest provocation and likely to turn any ghost you see into a splatter on the ground." Danny groaned, closing his notebook. "I fucking Executed Skulker. What the fuck? Why didn’t I just suck him into the thermos?"

A ding from his phone and Danny snorted.  

GardeningClaws: Hey Star boy, don't go angsting without us there to hug you.  We will know and you will pay the price.

"And what price is that, being buried in a pillow fort?"

GardeningClaws: do you know how many pillows I have in this house??  Do you think, like a fool, that I won't use them against you?

Danny laughed, sending a quick 'fair point' before heading to the door opposite the one into the house lab. Behind it was a room with rows of lockers, each holding three sets of suits.   Danny didn't need them though. At the far end, there was a large octagonal metal rim, blast doors sealed shut within.

Opening it up to just the right coordinates, Danny watched the doors pull back and felt the building charge of the portal's startup.  For a fraction of a second, Danny was filled with a bone-deep fear that gripped his entire body and held him stock still. With a thunderous crack, the fabric of space-time was folded around and torn, and Danny relaxed, staring out at an expanse of white and grey.  Opening the blast door, he let the void fill him up and spread outward to chill his bones and freeze his veins. Skin blue, eyes and freckles green and his fluffy hair snow-white, Danny flew past the event horizon and gasped silently at the sight before him.

The moon is so much more beautiful when you can look with your own eyes instead of through the lens of a helmet visor.

Sam, smartest of the group that she was, called Danny and Tucker both to head to her house for a horror movie marathon.  “After what we’ve been through, none of these B rate movies are gonna scare us.” It was so close to inarguably true that the boys both shrugged at their phones and headed on over.  Danny came down from the sky in that space where everything was heat and impossible colors, everything around him highlighted in a panorama view that almost made him dizzy. Landing in an alleyway, Danny checked to make sure he didn’t see anyone around him and took a deep breath.  He folded himself up, cold edges practically trapped within him tugged and bent until the brilliant moonlight that bled from his form retreated into the center of his chest, light and freezing cold as it hummed in an offbeat pulse next to his heart.

Pulling the hood of his jacket over his head, Danny jogged out of the alleyway and down the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets.  He looked around the neighborhood properly and hummed, wondering how he never put together that Sam was rich when the address she’d given them ages ago was very obviously in the rich part of town.  “Stars, we’re really just that oblivious aren’t we?” The stars in mind, Danny cast his gaze up and smiled at the full moon that greeted him, counting the tiny dots of the stars around it while he walked.  Thankfully, his odd kaleidoscopic vision seemed to extend to his human form a bit and his foot froze mid-step as a car drove past him at an intersection. “Sweet mother of the gods, why can rich people not drive right?”

When he got to the gates of Manson Manor, Tucker was there typing away at his phone.  When he looked up Danny waved and grinned, pointing a thumb at the huge mansion behind the gate.  “This is ridiculous.”

“It’s just so much .  Why does anyone need that much space?  How do they keep it clean?”

“If I meet some butler named Alfred I’m going to eat your hat.”

“Are you sure you wanna make that bet, Danny?  This is looking Batman-ish.”

The gate opened up before Danny could respond to that and instead, he nudged Tucker’s side before jogging toward the door.  Sam was there, opening it before Danny could trip on nothing and faceplant into the mahogany or whatever expensive wood the door was probably made from, and he instead landed on a soft carpet.  Tucker nudged his foot with his shoe and Danny groaned, resigned to simply laying there for the rest of his life. Two pairs of hands lifted him up from the ground however and Danny laughed, getting up properly.

“You can’t just let me wallow in my shame in peace, can you?”

“Of course not,” Sam scoffed.  “If you’re going to be ashamed, I have to be there to make sure it’s appropriate.  Now, c’mon!” Sam dragged Danny down a few halls, and up some stairs, followed closely by Tucker.

“I need to make a map of this place so we don’t get lost the next time we come to visit,” Tucker muttered, and Danny nodded.  When Sam opened the door she was headed for she let Danny go and grinned at them like a cat that’d eaten the canary. Walking in, Danny felt his jaw drop and took a moment to soak in what he was seeing.  “You have an entire movie theater in your house?”

“I know, it’s grossly excessive and we absolutely don’t need it, but-”

“Sam, what the heck are you talking about?”  Danny waved a hand in the goth’s face and snorted when she swatted at him.  “This is awesome! We can marathon every Dead Teacher movie here and it’ll be like when we went to see it in the actual theaters but better !”  Danny pulled down his hood and hopped over one of the chairs - of which there were two whole rows - and plopped himself into the soft cushioned seat with a laugh.  “The only thing that could make this room better would be if you had movie snacks.”

“Well, good thing I have a popcorn machine right back there full of fresh popcorn, a cotton candy machine, and ordered us pizzas.”  Sam grinned, sitting next to Danny with a bowl in hand full of greasy buttery popcorn, and Tucker sat on his right. “What should we watch first?”

Halfway into Dr. Sleep, the pizza arrived and three laughing teens had to pause the movie and pull themselves together from the heap of giggles that they’d become.  “Oh, oh stars, that hurt , laughing so much hurts!”  Danny leaned on Tucker while Sam leaned on him, the bowl of popcorn practically forgotten next to Tucker.  After a few minutes, Danny took a deep breath and patted his friends on the back. “I can grab the pizza - I can fly, so unlike you two I can actually go and be back before the things are cold.”  Before either friend could protest, Danny let the shimmering void of silvery dark cold spread out from the center of his chest to every hair on his body in a flash of light. He slipped through Sam and Tucker like water through the air and flew off toward the red aura of the pizza guy, diving to transform behind the front door when he appeared outside.  In just a moment he was back inside and setting three pizza boxes down on the snack table. “I see we got ourselves a meat-lovers for Tuck, a veggie everything for Sam, and-” Danny gasped. “A dragon’s tongue pizza for me! Aww, Sam~”

“Oh stuff it you goof,” Sam said as she and Tucker grabbed slices and plates.  “I just knew that you’d complain your pizza isn’t spicy enough unless it has ghost peppers, reaper peppers and every other kind of spice known to man and dolphin on it.”

Tucker rolled his eyes, already scarfing down his first slice.  “Dolphin? Really?”

“Dolphins are the closest animals to humans in behavior and observed intellect, Tucker.”  Danny took the time to go through three slices of pizza while Sam ranted about how dolphins might as well be classified as non-human people before pointing accusatorily at her.

“There is nothing wrong with my sense of taste, thank you.  Anyone with a strong enough tongue can handle this pizza, Sam.”  Danny took a bite to emphasize his point and smirked when he was flipped off.  “I’ve just got the strongest stomach here.”

“ Excuse you? ”

“Unlike you, I can eat veggies without my stomach declaring a mutiny.”

“Um, go fuck yourself?  That was the lowest of all low blows, I am utterly betrayed !”  Tucker covered his forehead with the back of his arm and half fell backward.  “Truly, my trust has been shattered by mine own brother, how could you? And I’ll have you know that the amount of capsaicin you consume is well beyond what any human being should have in their body.”

“Funny, I’m pretty sure I’m not human.”  Danny paused mid-chew, ignoring the look of disgust on Sam’s face over the two of them talking around their food.  “I wonder… what smaller changes like that might be going on because of my ghost? Like, regular puberty is already horrible enough but now I’ve got like, ghost puberty to deal with.”

“First of all, ghost wise, you’re baby.”  Danny pouted at Tucker, feeling mildly offended.  “You haven’t even been half-dead for a whole year yet, you’re baby.”

“Tucker, can you be reasonable for one moment?”  Danny nodded, gesturing to Sam, who was clearly the only one with her head on straight between them.  “Danny is always baby, not just because of his ghost.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Danny rose up in front of the movie screen, less crossed in the air as he frowned down at his friends.  “I am offended, I am revolted, I dedicate my life to our lord and savior Jesus Christ and this is the thanks I get?”

“I wonder,” Sam said loudly as she walked toward his pizza box.  “What it would taste like if I put cotton candy on your pizza?” Danny dove for his pizza box, nearly crashing into Sam as he grabbed it up and flew toward the ceiling.  He flipped upside down and stood with his feet to the ceiling, grinning down at his friends. Carefully opening his box he took out a slice and stopped.

“Sammy that is a wonderful question!”  Gravity shifted, reasserted itself in the correct direction, and Danny flipped with it, landing in front of the cotton candy machine.  He dipped his pizza slice into it and smirked at the despaired wail of his friend while he ran away from her, munching away at his unholy pizza slice.  “This is so sad, Alexa-”

“You don’t think I’d have Alexa in my home, do you?  First you defile my cotton candy, now you insult my common sense?  Do me a favor and parish.”

“Been there, done that.”

“As amazing as all that is, I was wondering something about you, Danny.”  Danny flew over to Tucker, landing on his shoulders with a snicker. “So like, can you do that thing from the movie?  Like, turn your head all the way around like an owl?”

A wide grin spread over Danny’s face and he set his food down on the table, before pulling the void up and out and around himself.  Bright silver light illuminated Tucker and cast odd shadows on his face. To think about later.   Danny turned his head slowly, cautious of being wrong, and almost stopped when he heard the pop of the joints in his neck.  Still, he kept going until he was looking at Sam’s gaping face right behind him.  He raised a hand to give her a thumbs up and winced at the sound of more popping joints - though, fascinatingly enough… “None of this hurts at all.”

“Well now I gotta see you spider-walk up the walls, that’s just the natural result of you showing off like this, Danno.”  Turning his head the rest of the way around, Danny saw Tucker’s phone pointed at him and snorted. “Dude this is wicked !”

“Oh my gods, we have to time you, hold on.”  And like that, Danny was doing laps around the walls and ceiling, reversed on all fours while Sam timed him and Tucker recorded.  When he dropped back down to the two rows of seats, Danny crossed his legs behind him with a hum.

“Anything else y’all wanna test?”  Tucker raised his hand and Danny let his gaze slide from Tucker himself to the brilliant yellow-gold-grek air around him.  “I’m going to regret hearing out this question, aren’t I?” Tucker nodded, his grin widening and the grek in his aura growing brighter.  Danny sighed and pointed at his brother.

“Can you possess people?  Cause that would be pretty fuckin cool.”  Tucker T posed as if that would help Danny with the wave of discomfort that crashed over him at the idea.  “How would you know? Go ahead, try me. See if you can like, take me over.”

Danny drew the darkness back into his chest, warmth and the beat of his heart and the weight of gravity tugging relentlessly against him like countless invisible chains made themselves known to him.  Digging in his pocket, Danny pulled out a coin, looking at Tucker with as much seriousness on his face as possible. “Heads I tell you to yeet your PDA into the cotton candy, tails I try to possess you.”  Danny flipped the quarter and caught it in his open palm. He took in a deep breath through his nose, and let it out the same way. “Shut.”

Slipping back into the void, Danny stared at his Tposing best friend and considered just how he was supposed to do what he had asked.  The only thing that made any sense, of course, was to slide even deeper into the void. Light and sound and even the air circulating through the room all faded away and the world shifted like a gradient scale from Xtreme Indigo to a deep dark blue sprinkled with green that lit up the empty world in bands, rivers, and threads that Danny could’ve stared at for the rest of his life and probably never grown tired of.  The only constants were the gold and green aurae at the ends of silver threads that shone like solid moonlight. Danny dove for the golden light and dipped a hand in where he guessed Tucker’s head was. The silver thread practically yanked him in, and Danny sank into a desert of yellow and glittering light.

In the next instant, he was blinking unfamiliar eyes, falling out of a dumb pose he hadn’t taken, stumbling on legs longer than he was used to and warmer than he’d been in months.  “Holy shit.” Danny held out his - Tucker’s hands and turning them over each other again and again. He took a few testing steps forward and back, turning and stretching every way he’d ever seen Tucker move, and felt a laugh bubble out of hi-Tuck’s mouth.  “Sam holy shit!”

Sam was staring at Tucker-Danny like he was the most out of this world thing she’d ever laid eyes on and she wasn’t sure how to react to him.  The cheer of figuring out yet another ability dimmed at the sight of her expression and what might’ve been horror was building itself up in his chest.  Then Sam schooled her expression and pointed at him. “You sound the way you do when the two of you are speaking in unison.”

“I feel like I’m wearing a costume that doesn’t fit right, I’ll be honest about that.  Stars, Tucker’s vision is horrible.”

“Alright, that voice thing is actually getting annoying, can you like, leave him now?”  A moment of silence passed, the room growing incredibly small and Sam stepped closer. “Danny, you can leave Tucker’s body now, right?”

“Gimme a second, Sam, I didn’t know I could go into him in the first place.”  Danny huffed and closed his eyes. He focused on what was different and wrong about being in Tucker’s body instead of his own, thought about floating upward to the surface of a large body of water, the moon coming to his mind’s eye and he reached for it.  There was a solid kick at the edge of his shadows, golden sands rising up and filling the empty space to push him up and out toward the moonlight and-

Danny flopped onto the ground face first, sensing a trend of him faceplanting on Sam’s floor, and Tucker let out a loud gasp.  “Holy balls, that was weird as fuck !”  Danny flipped around onto his back, letting his own familiar warmth and heartbeat fill his senses before he looked up at Tucker and found him wiggling his fingers and toes.  “It was like blacking out or something. I had the weirdest dream where I was like, I dunno, made of fire or something?”

“It was a lot of weird, hard to describe feelings on my end but mostly like a suit that doesn’t fit right.  Like, I know what my body feels like and that wasn’t mine, ya know?” Sam and Tucker nodded and while Danny knew they had absolutely no idea what he meant, it was relieving all the same.  Standing up, Danny reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the scanner he’d printed earlier. “By the way, I made something that’ll help me get back into school.”

Tucker, without missing a beat, said, “That sounds like a horrible evil device.”  Sam snorted and Danny nodded. “What does it do?”

Danny launched into an explanation of what he’d learned about ectosignatures and his idea for tricking the security system at school.  “Also,” Danny added when it came to mind, “the car should be done printing in my basement by now.”

“Wait, you not only finished designing it but also started making it?”  Sam looked between them with narrowed eyes. “What do you mean printing?”

“The Fenton Fabricator™ is a giant, modular, high detail 3D printer that can make complex metal technologies - like our hoverboards.  The first 3D printed car took a couple of days and it wasn’t as complicated as this so I guessed about 48 hours.” Danny shrugged. “Probably done by now.”

“Isn’t that cool?”  Tucker practically had stars in his eyes.  “We can build anything in there, Sam!”

“Before that, we gotta get this ecto signature of Danny’s recorded."  Sam held up the scanner and Danny nodded. Things had to happen in the right order or things would go wrong.

Danny reached inside of himself and pulled the dark, endless space between space that rested within him out to wrap around him like a cool, relaxing blanket.  The extreme indigo of the world rose to an even more brilliant blue and purple that blended together and unwove from each other and wrapped around everything. Tucker shone from within with gold that glittered like desert sands and Sam was wreathed in the viridian green of the forests.  The threads between them were silver and thick as though woven from many. "I never need to take drugs cause all I need to do to get a trip is go ghost. I swear."

"Yeah, well, I think I have the reading on you right here.  Tucker, can you make any sense of this?" Tucker rolled over and stared at the data on the Fenton Finder remake.   After a moment of silence, Tuck started tapping away at his PDA ferociously. "I'm gonna guess that means yes."

"I can record this signal and have a filter to keep the school's system from recognizing you as a threat by tonight.  Think we can break in and do it then?"

"Probably," Danny shrugged, flipping a few times in the air.   "Ishiyama probably had them set the security system to an activation button or lever or verbal input.  They wouldn't want them to make something automatic in case a ghost was too close to a student."

"Fair.  Tomorrow night then?"  Tucker grinned as Danny tucked that blanket of not so empty empty space back into the very center of his everything and flopped onto his seat.

"Sooner I can tell my family we beat Skulker the better.  I don't like worrying them like this." Ever since his Spirit Vision or whatever got turned permanently on, Danny could feel the undercurrent of anxiety that ran through his family.  It made his skin crawl with the itch to make them all feel better and left a bitter taste on his tongue.

"Agreed, I can only keep this info from my parents for so long."  Sam sighed, rolling her eyes. With a grin she handed the scanner fully over to Tucker and ran a hand through Danny's hair, messing it up as much as she could.

Danny swatted away Sam's hand after a moment and sank further into the soft cushiony seat.   "Your chair is eating me, Sammy."

"You've been getting a healthier amount of meat on you, so yeah it might be."  Tucker was steadily getting engrossed in his task and Danny knew they had precious few seconds before he was completely lost to them so he decided now was a good time to be a dick. 

“So like, when the first hoverboard exploded and I put up a forcefield on a reflex we completely skipped over that cause of hyper-focus but like.  Should we talk about that?"

"You have protective instincts," Tucker mumbled, "and ghost stuff reacts to the deeper parts of your mind right?   So it's just you defending someone you care about."

"Which reminds me."  Sam poked Danny in the sides until he was squirming and giggling to get away.   "You're keeping like, a journal of all the things you can do right?"

"Mostly notes on what I learned about ghosts in general, like a bullet point list of the stuff that happened with Agatha and Skulker, and stuff but yeah.  I need to add ‘owl neck’ and ‘possession’ to my list of Things I Can Do."

“And what, pray tell, is on that list?”

"I can turn intangible or invisible, defy- no, actually, with what happened at the zoo I guess I can influence gravity, I can see all the radiation in the world, which is a trip lemme tell ya, I can apparently make a wall of ectoplasm?"  Tucker and Sam were staring at him for a long beat of silence before both were tackling Danny and pulling him into a big group hug. “I know, I’m awesome, but so are you guys and you should celebrate it.”

“Yeah, I am pretty awesome,” Tucker said with a grin.  “You guys are lucky to know me. I feel I deserve a reward for the amazingness I bring to this group.”  Tucker was promptly dropped by Sam onto the floor and Danny laughed.

“Another cool thing you can do is heal yourself and other people.” Sam poked Danny in the side until he was squirming away from her in that unreal state of being, slipping through her fingers like the space between air and flopped onto Tucker’s lap before solidity came back to him.  “That’s probably one of the coolest powers you have.”

“One day, Tucker is going to copy everything I can do, but with technology.”  Danny poked Tucker a couple of times and got his hand swatted away for his trouble.  “He’s already copied my language-”

“Spanish doesn't belong to you just because your dad is Mexican, Danny, try again.”

“And now he’s tryna say what’s mine isn’t even mine, can you believe this guy?”  Danny didn’t even try to hold in his laughter now, waving a hand emphatically in Tucker’s face.  “Next he’ll say I’m not the greatest ghost fighter in the world-”

“Your Mom.”

“Or the first boy to step foot on the moon-”

“Neil Armstrong - also, did you just say you walked on the m-”

“Or the unthinkable, like I’m not the very first Fenton that’s gonna be built like a brick house.”

“No no, you can’t just talk your way out of this one, Danny, you were on the moon? ”  Ah, Danny loved riling up his friends.

[krumbine]

Explorers of the Unknown vs the Last Gift Shop on the Left

A mysterious gift shop appears overnight in a city known for weird, paranormal, and sometimes apocalyptic activities.

But it's probably no big deal.

It's just a gift shop.

Probably.

###

By all accounts, Greenville was a weird place.

For starters, the weather was always perfect. Mid-70s, optimistically sunny, and always a gentle breeze no matter how isolated you might have thought you were from the breeze. On its face, this might not seem very weird, but if you found yourself alone in a dark alley, a ray of that weirdly optimistic sun illuminating a sickly green hyper-intelligent blob of undulating goop the relative size of a commercial refrigerator, and all of your clothes suddenly decided to leap two feet to your left through a process of molecular destabilization and general telekinetic absurdity courtesy of the sickly green hyper-intelligent blob of undulating goop … trust me when I say that a gentle breeze across your exposed rear in the middle of an otherwise walled-off alley would be inarguably weird.

In the annals of Greenville weirdness, a Tyrannosaurus Rex rampaged through the suburbs, a morose zombie who couldn’t stand being undead was the key to undoing an apocalypse, a local library was infested with vampires, irrationally malevolent mole men from Mars chose a local office building basement as the teleportation entry point for an ill-advised invasion, and the local burger joint featured a talking trash can that got a binary gender greeting correct at least fifty-percent of the time.

By all accounts, Greenville was a very weird place.

One of the weirdest spots in this idyllic American city was a short strip—no more than a mile in length—of one of the main roads that cut straight through the city. The strip was densely packed with all flavors of tourist traps from the infamous never-escape-game room (really, you won’t), extreme putt-putt (you have to sign a waiver but you don’t have to pay extra for the hazard insurance), a Triassic Encounter (located adjacent the putt-putt course and you get a 10-percent discount if you buy tickets to both attractions at once; also, keep your fingers away from the cages), and everything along the strip was anchored by the Greenville Visitor Center, a small shanty manned by a crazy old man with a long white beard who did his best to convince visitors that the Never Escape Game was actually, absolutely escapable. It might have taken six years, but the crazy old man had escaped.

Or did he? Was the shanty and the strip just some kind of existential, cosmic extension of the escape game?

If you ever visit Greenville, try not to get into a philosophical discussion about reality, escapism, and ten-percent discounts with the crazy old man at the at the visitor center.

Aside from the world’s only Weirdatorium (“Uncle Al’s Weirdatorium Emporium: half-priced Tuesdays and complimentary wheat grass sno-cones for groups of eight or more!”) the really weird thing about the Greenville tourism district were the gift shops.

While most people are familiar with the exit-through-the-gift-shop trope, wherein the gift shop naturally grew from the local attraction and existed to support said attraction (example: Uncle Al’s Weirdatorium Harmonium, a Greenville exclusive) the weirdness of Greenville caused a new strain of gift shop to evolve. These new gift shops no longer required a host attraction and in some places, you could even find gift shops that were located at the exit of other gift shops.

There were only three total scientific experts who had spent any time studying the gift shop epidemic and two of three traced its roots to the Greenville tourism district. (The third scientific expert traced the epidemic to Orlando, but his research was later dismissed as thinly-veiled propaganda for a certain rodent-based entertainment empire.)

In short order, the Greenville gift shop epidemic escalated to the absolutely terrifying point where one of these weird, monstrous, free-standing garish gift shops mysteriously appeared on a lot that had been completely empty just the day before.

Greenville was a very weird place, indeed.

*

Doors slid open and a series of melodic notes played underneath a generic, cheery song that almost sounded poppy, but every third and seventh note seemed to be off. Three figures stood inside the entrance of the gift shop. The one in the middle wore brown slacks with a matching buttoned dress vest. He pushed a pair of black-framed glasses up his nose as he surveyed the first floor of the gift shop.

An overly cheery gift shop employee: “Hello, welcome!”

The employee drifted away leaving the three people to themselves.

“Let’s try and keep this clean, boys,” Jordan said. “Recon only. Assess the situation, establish any paranormal parameters, keep a low profile, and get out. It’s probably just a gift shop, but I see no reason we can’t collect our minimum fee on this.”

On Jordan’s right was his brother, Jason. Jeans, t-shirt, leather jacket. Strong features and a stronger chin. He wore his hair long and in a ponytail because manly men have pony tails.

“First of all, you literally just repeated everything you said in the parking lot, like, thirty seconds ago,” Jason said, eyeballing a display of Greenville, USA! shot glasses with custom names. “Secondly, it’s called standard operating procedure for a reason. You don’t have to treat us like children.”

Jordan was temporarily impressed with Jason’s grasp of ‘standard operating procedures’ not because his brother was particularly stupid (although it was well-established that Jordan was the brains and Jason was the brawn of this operation) but because Jason usually lacked the patience to grasp anything of substance. 

“I think it’s safe to say we know what we’re doing,” Jason said with a smirk. His eyes darted to one of the shot glasses. “Ooh! This one has my name but they spelled it wrong!”

Jason grabbed the glass that had ‘Jayson’ printed on it. The glass came from the lower end of the display and dozens of shot glasses promptly collapsed and shattered on the floor. Jason shifted awkwardly, looking up from his misspelled shot glass.

Jordan sighed.

To Jordan’s right: “My money’s on a government conspiracy,” Chris said while rubbing his chin, eyebrow arched. He was tall, lanky, and had short-cropped platinum blonde hair. Chris wore athletic shorts and a form-fitting t-shirt, an outfit designed to allow for a maximum range of flexibility.  “My guess is that the government probably setup the shop overnight as an economic stimulus.”

Jordan was confused. “An economic—”

Chris shrugged. “Hey, it’s not like everything we do has to involve the end of the world,” referring to the countless times the world had ended during one of their paranormal investigations. It was a trope.

Jason squinted, not unlike Clint Eastwood. “Sometime’s a gift shop is just that …” Jason paused dramatically.

The three paranormal investigators silently looked at each other as Jason squinted and wiggled his eyebrows in a fashion he no doubt assumed was suspenseful.

It wasn’t.

Another long moment passed and Jordan decided Jason was finished.

“Let’s spread out—”

“—a gift shop,” Jason finally said through gritted teeth. In his normal voice, and quickly: “Sometime’s a gift shop is just that, a gift shop.”

“You done now?”

“Yeah, that’ll do.” Jason tossed the misspelled shot glass in the air and caught it, placing it daintily on the shattered display. “So we’re clear, though, my money is on this being a waste of time.”

“Waste of time or not, Milton Cranstead is still paying our minimum fee.”

“I’m not sure I’d trust the crazy old man at the visitor center to pay for a free lunch, much less our fee,” Chris said.

“Also, serious question,” Jason said gravely before his tone shifted completely, face scrunched like he just sucked a lemon wedge. “Can’t we do something a little more fun?” he whined.

“Your idea of fun is punching things,” Jordan replied.

“Your point is?”

Jordan sighed and mentally reset. “Chris, see if you can’t poke around the second floor. Jason, you’re on perimeter. I’ll run the spectroscopic analysis for trace ectoplasmic particles and we’ll meet back here in ten. Easy money, fellas.”

“Can I say one thing?” Chris asked.

“No.” Jordan pulled a smartphone-sized gadget with a large antenna from his back pocket.

“Government conspiracy.”

“Guys?” Jason asked flatly. His attention had been pulled to the interior of the gift shop.

A new voice from behind the boys. It was deep and mesmerizing, not unlike Patrick Warburton. “I can categorically deny that this is not a government operation. Not even a secret one. Yeah. I would know.”

“Guys—”

Jordan and Chris spun on their heels (Jason still transfixed on something else). A tall man, broad shoulders, dressed in a black suit stood behind them at the entrance of the gift shop. The man’s appearance was not unlike Patrick Warburton.

“Agent Bob!” Chris exclaimed and promptly enveloped the man in a hug that was all arms and a little leg. “Holy popsicles, dude, the last time we saw you—”

Agent Bob attempted to extricate himself from Chris’ embrace. “Mongolian army. Viscous ooze. Some really bad female character development.”

Jordan shrugged. “We learn, we grow.”

Agent Bob eyeballed the three very male paranormal investigators. “Mmh.”

Chris unwound himself and grabbed Agent Bob’s shoulders. “Wait a sec––you’re saying this whole gift shop thing isn’t one of yours?”

“Nope. I’m here same as you,” Agent Bob said. “My guys need to know how this place just showed up overnight.”

Chris’ eyes went wide. “Well, this just got interesting!”

Jordan’s handheld ectoplasmic spectrometer pinged a worrisome note.

“Guys!” Jason yelled.

Two paranormal investigators and one secret government agent turned to look at what Jason was fixated on.

What appeared to be the entire staff of the gift shop had gathered at the front of the store. They looked normal enough, wearing a standard uniform of green slacks, white polo, and a green vest with a shiny white badge pinned to the breast that simple read ‘Hello!’.

“Hello.”

“Welcome.”

“Hi.”

“Hello.”

The greetings echoed eerily across the gathered staff and that was when Jordan noticed the first really weird thing about the people who worked at the gift shop.

Both their eyes and their grins were a little too wide.

Agent Bob squinted. Less Clint Eastwood and more distressed Patrick Warburton. “… I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Chris nodded. “Yeah. Maybe the crazy old guy at the visitor center isn’t so crazy after all.”

Jordan gulped. He had noticed the second really weird thing about the gift shop employees.

The didn’t have feet. It was hard to notice at first, as if something inside him was refusing to acknowledge the abnormality, blurring it out in the periphery of his vision. But when he focused, Jordan could look down and see that none of the employees had feet. Their legs tapered down into a single, sinuous, green and yellow-veined protrusion that rolled backwards to an unseen location.

“Welcome, hello.”

“Hi, welcome.”

“Hello.”

The gift shop staff shifted—nope, strike that, they straight up undulated—and Jordan noticed the final really weird thing: there was no individual gift shop employee—they were all tentacles of a much, much larger creature.

The handheld ectoplasmic spectrometer buzzed and then began issuing a series of alarm bells.

Chris pulled at his arm to stretch his shoulder. “So much for it not being the end of the world.”

“Hey now, we don’t know—”

“Jordan!”

“Okay, fine.”

Agent Bob reached into his inside coat pocket. “Definitely not government.”

“Hello, welcome, hi.”

Jason grinned. He was going to get to punch something after all.

###

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jordan Krumbine is a professional video editor, digital artist, and creative wizard currently quarantined in Kissimmee, Florida. When not producing content for the likes of Visit Orlando, Orlando Sentinel, or AAA National, Jordan is probably yelling at a stubbornly defective Macbook keyboard, tracking creative projects in Trello, and animating quirky videos with LEGO and other various toys.

Leave a dollar in the Tip Jar: https://ko-fi.com/krumbine

Short stories: https://bit.ly/2XY5D7I Books on Amazon Kindle: https://amzn.to/3bsqK5Y YouTube: https://bit.ly/2W41nSG Twitter: https://bit.ly/2VH0Vbu Facebook: https://bit.ly/2VpnylZ LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/2xnmk1e

http://www.krumbco.com

[chronicbatfictioner]

Exchanges and Compromises - Chapter 3

Crime Alley, Seven Years Ago

The instant 13-year-old Jason Todd saw the blood rushing out of the girl that his buddy had just shot, he knew it was wrong. The shopkeeper of the shop they were robbing was doing the right thing, pressing on the wound hard while screaming at the phone with EMTs. Hopefully the girl would make it - so Jason hoped as he chased after his buddy Chris. His 'buddy', air quotes included. Chris had promised that the gun would be empty. Instead it spat out a bullet right to the girl's chest.

They had ran, scared. But Chris was no match for Jason and he caught up easily. 

"You promised the gun would be empty, Chris! You said it was all about the money!" he growled as he punched Chris, again and again and again. "You lied!"

"Stop it, boy!" an adult voice barked, caught his arms, and bodily lifted him up.

"I'm just...!" he sputtered. "He-- he shot the girl and I'm... I'm... he shouldn't hurt anyone ever again!"

"Yeeeah..." the cop who hoisted Jason away drawled, "...doesn't look like he can hurt anybody now, does he? Dispatch, get me the medic to the alley a few blocks from the shop..." he added, calling into his walkies. "The girl will be okay, kid."

"It's not... he shouldn't..." Jason swallowed around the lump in his throat. "She's someone's daughter..."

"Ain't we all. So how about you come with me, now..." the cop was not threatening. But Jason knew better. Gotham City's cops are not to be friendly with, not especially for people like him. Not especially when he looked like he'd been beaten up on top of having beaten up someone else.

So he dodged the cop and hightailed it out of there, ignoring the yells and skipped left and right and up the fire stairs and into opened windows and door and get out the other side. He was still huffing and puffing, trying to catch his breath, when he realized that he'd made good gains on the cop - obviously too rotund and not designed or trained to do a little jogging.

It had been nearly three months since his mother died and left him alone to fend for himself. Yesterday, he had gone and actually helped someone - a pretty black-haired lady - from attackers. He had bricked one of the stealthier attackers that the lady did not see. She then taught him how to punch in a way that would not hurt his wrists - in case there are no bricks in the future where he would find himself in the same situation. 

He had not used the punch on Chris, largely because it was rather specific and Jason was rather frantically angry while he was punching Chris. The woman had said that the punch would eliminate evil from within someone. Or was it immortality? Regardless, he was pretty certain that Chris was not immortal - he seemed pretty shocked and in pain from Jason's punches.

He wondered what would happen if he'd punched Chris and it had been the 'evil' in him that got away. What would evil look like, Jason pondered inwardly. Would it look like an ugly monster, or a shiny pretty devil? Or is there no evil and just Chris himself? Would Jason have killed Chris if the 'evil' turned out to be his soul? What would that make Jason, then - evil, too?

Jason finally slumped down as he leaned on the walls, feeling the immense weight of his remorse. It was his fault. He shouldn't have agreed with Chris to rob the convenience store. But he needed money, and convenience stores would always have money. It was supposed to be empty, too, and it was his fault that he didn't check to see if the store was empty or not.

"You have seen the error of your ways, I presume."

He would have jumped in surprise if he had not recognized the voice. The lady again. The black-haired, pretty lady from yesterday who rode a really fancy motorcycle that she had left in an alley - unlocked and didn't even occur to her that someone could haul it away within seconds. It was until Jason saw her fighting a good dozen of people in ninja suits - the comical movie ninja uniforms in all black and head scarves and all; not actual stealth suits like the history books would describe - that he realized that this lady was not concerned for her bike. She probably could beat up whoever-stupid-enough-to-take-the-bike to pulp.

Much worse than what Jason did to Chris. 

"The girl... she shouldn't have gotten shot. Chris was just... He just did it for the sake of it..." Jason muttered. A drop of tear fell from his eyes, and he brushed it off brusquely. "I'm not... she didn't even do anything..."

The lady stood in front of him, bending a little to look at his face. She was still quite young - probably about her early 20s. Her eyes were green, Jason noted, looking rather crystalline even in the dim lighting of the alley. "You are pure at heart, boy, but your journey cannot begin here." she said. "Come! Let us clean you up and perhaps get some calories into you. Allow me to lead that good heart toward its righteous place."

A small voice in the back of his head warned him that there are bad people who would take young children like him - boys or girls - and sell them off to be prostitutes.

But then again, what difference would it make for him, anyway? He was already selling himself some. Maybe with this woman as his pimp, he would at least get some form of protection.

He was still worried, even after a week of lavish and luxurious hotel rooms across the Eastern Seaboard, in which the lady - Talia, that was her name - had set him up in while she "tends to business." He was not being sold, yet. Probably was still being groomed to be sold to the highest bidder or whatever.

Either way, Jason tried hard to mind his manners. This lady could be his meal ticket out of hell, --or the embodiment of Charon and would personally deliver him to Hades. Whatever. Things looked nicer than back in Gotham, anyway. There were plenty of books and internet and reading materials for him to spend his time with; and then food and nice clothes that looked simple, yet he knew each piece would have paid his old apartment's rent for a good several months. Plus the travel. Jason knew that he would need something called a 'passport' to get out of the country; but he never seen or know whether he has one or not. The travel used private jets, he and Talia would simply walk through a private airport, get into a private jet, and off they go. Jason only knew where they were because the pilot would call out the name of the airport and country they would land in before actually landing. 

When they finally arrived at where Talia claimed to be 'home', a small child of about three years of age toddled toward her gleefully just as they went past the massive front door that Jason tried so hard not to gawk on.

"This is my son, Damian," Talia introduced. "You shall teach him the ways of the world out there, yet under no circumstances will you take him in person out of these gates; am I clear?"

After the lavish and luxurious things he had seen in the past two weeks, Jason had come to a conclusion that Talia is a very, very rich woman. Her warning about not leaving the gated complex that is located somewhere in Africa sounded quite logical to Jason. Hell, even if this place is in the middle of Manhattan, Jason knew he still would not want to get out; not especially with a toddler. Not unless they're in a fully armored vehicle with about a dozen of armed guards, maybe. "I get it." he replied. "Where shall I start?"

Talia nodded. "First, we dine. And then you may rest for the remainder of the day. Tomorrow morning, you shall start your training. I would also prefer my son's caretaker to be adept, not just smart."

"Sounds good to me." Jason remarked. "Thank you, for everything. I mean... for trusting me and all..." he added, feeling a little embarrassed at his lack of manners.

Talia's glare at him seemed a little sad. "Once upon a time, Jason Todd, I had wished for someone to be the ultimate warrior; the strongest of them all... My Champion. Alas, he was not to be. And then you walked in to my life." she said. "You shall be the strongest of them all, and teach my son to be strong at all cost, yes?"

"Definitely." Jason nodded, looking at little Damian - black haired and green-eyed, just like his mother. "We're gonna be good buddies, aren't we, Damian?" he asked the little boy. Damian lifted an eyebrow in a near perfect imitation of Talia's haughty glare, changed the glare's direction toward his mother, and back at Jason.

"You shall be more than buddies, Jason," Talia gave him a wry smile. "For now, let us dine. Father might join us later for supper.”

[rainh2oman]

Jazz Potluck - Episode 01.

Like countless folks around the world, I LOVE music. Pretty much any and all genres. JAZZ however, is the music that seems to bring the most joy in my life. As a creative person, I always need to have music on in the background while I work, (well, all the time really) and jazz has always seemed to catalyze my creativity.

I dig this sentiment from the late writer Anaïs Nin:

>>>"Jazz is the music of the body. The breath comes through brass. It is the body’s breath, and the strings’ wails and moans are echoes of the body’s music. It is the body’s vibrations which ripple from the fingers. And the mystery of the withheld theme, known to jazz musicians alone, is like the mystery of our secret life. We give to others only peripheral improvisations."

This “Jazz Potluck” is something that I’ve been wanting to do for years and years, but I never quite got around to it... (I’ve got enough plates spinning already, not much room for another! Hehe.) Anyway, I’ll be sharing Spotify playlists here as often as I can... containing a rich mix of jazz that I love, and would love for YOU to love! I’m certainly no music critic, and I’ve no intention of “analyzing” the music I share, the way that a professional might. But, I will provide some brief personal notes about the songs in the playlists, and hopefully some jumping off points for further exploration, if you dig what you hear!

So without further ado, here’s the very first edition of my Jazz Potluck... Episode 01! There are 16 songs here, with no particular theme, other than that I DIG ‘em, and they get a lot of rotation in my headphones! Quite an eclectic mix!

Here’s the direct link to the playlist on Spotify - Jazz Potluck, Ep 01.

A preview of the tracks in the playlist, and some brief notes on the songs, below.

“Dirty Blonde” by The Bad Plus

“Giant Steps” by John Coltrane

“Chinoiserie” by Medeski, Martin and Wood

“This I Dig of You” by Hank Mobley

“The Windup” by Julian Lage

“3-in-1 Without The Oil” by Roland Kirk

“Gangsterism on the Rise” by Jason Moran

“II B.S.” by Charles Mingus

“It Might As Well Be Spring” by Brad Mehldau

“Gazzelloni” by Eric Dolphy

“Nu Nu” by Avishai Cohen

“Salmon Jump Suite” by Happy Apple

“Brother Mister” by Christian McBride & Inside Straight

“Tiffakonkae” by Kamasi Washington

“Greasy Granny” by the Charlie Hunter Trio

“Cease the Bombing” by Grant Green

Playlist - EP 01.

01. “Dirty Blonde” by the trio “The Bad Plus.” Starting this thing off with a BANG! From the moment I first heard this song back in 2004, I knew that I had stumbled on a Jazz Trio with something utterly unique in their music. A piano, bass and drum trio that has produced some delightful original material over the years, as well as a bunch of “cover” songs that in some ways, helped make them famous in the Jazz world.

For all of the critical acclaim the band has received over the years, one thing that has always stood out to me is the HUMOR in their music. They are often filed under “Avant Garde” Jazz... but they are really in a sub genre of their own. They play with real heart and soul, but they don’t take themselves too seriously, and they KNOW how to have a good time. When you hear all hell break loose at the 2:44 mark in “Dirty Blonde,” you’ll know that you came to the right party.

02. “Giant Steps” by John Coltrane. What can I say... I listen to this song pretty much EVERY MORNING when I wake up. If not immediately after I open my eyes, certainly by the time I’m making coffee. The fast paced tempo and saxophone wizardry of Coltrane and his crew in this Jazz standard always motivates me to get going.

If you’re not familiar with the song, here is a FANTASTIC video backgrounder on the piece, called “The Most Feared Song In Jazz, Explained.” I highly recommend watching it right before or after listening to the song. VERY enlightening!

03. “Chinoiserie” by the trio “Medeski, Martin and Wood.” What an amazingly funky cover of the Duke Ellington composition! I’ve been a fan of MMW since the early 90′s, and this album is probably my favorite, next to “Shack Man.” Medeski rocking the Hammond B3 Organ, Chris Wood’s bouncing bass, and Billy Martin’s frenetic drumming, make this tune just boogie right along. Be sure and listen to Duke’s original version of the song, to see how it sounds with a much larger band!

04. “This I Dig of You” by Hank Mobley. Uptempo, feel-good tune! (And I love Art Blakey’s drum solo around the 4:50 mark!) This is widely considered to be Mobley’s most popular original composition.

05. “The Windup” by Guitarist and Composer Julian Lage. This tune features his current Trio. I was a latecomer to the music of Julian Lage. I only really started listening to his music in 2019... but I’ve made up for lost time! (I think I have his entire catalogue now!) If you’re not familiar with Lage, he’s a prodigy  and was recognized as such by age 12. Now he’s in his early 30′s, and a career that’s going strong!

06. “3-in-1 Without The Oil” by Roland Kirk. If you’ve heard of Roland Kirk (who later went by Rahsaan Roland Kirk) you’re likely aware that he was famous for playing multiple instruments at once. I always found his crazy, loosy-goosey style to be sort of “optimistic” if that makes sense? Very unconventional, and devil may care! 

And speaking of his talent for playing multiple horns at the same time, here’s a passage from my FAVORITE novel, “Another Roadside Attraction.” Author Tom Robbins seems to really peg Roland Kirk in just one sentence.

>>>They are playing phonograph records, some wild new jazz. Straining my ears just now I heard Amanda ask, “John Paul, is it true that Roland Kirk is the entire Count Basie orchestra in drag?"

07. “Gangsterism on the Rise” by Jason Moran. I love the heavy left hand Moran utilizes on his piano in this tune. (Not unlike Pianist Ethan Inverson from “The Bad Plus” in “Dirty Blonde,” the first track in this playlist.) Boom boom boom! Here’s a quote from a music critic that pegs Moran’s style quite well: >>>“Moran is a spellbinding virtuoso who moves between boogie, avant-funk and Brahms as if he had never heard a good reason not to.”

He’s also a stylish sort of fellow....

08. “II B.S.” by Charles Mingus. I’ll have MUCH more to say about Mingus in future playlists... but I had to include at least one of his compositions in this 1st Episode! He is likely my all time favorite Jazz Composer. (He was an amazing bassist as well, but his compositions are what really knock my socks off.)

09. “It Might As Well Be Spring” by Brad Mehldau. This album was Mehldau’s major label debut, and was the first album of his that I purchased way back in 1995! What an AMAZING debut! I chose to include this cover of "It Might As Well Be Spring” because of it’s unusual and playful time signature. It’s a classic Rodgers and Hammerstein tune from the 1945 musical film “State Fair.” Mehldau does something really surprising with this classic tune, and it was such a breath of fresh air to me when I first heard it!

Here’s a passage I dig, from the great jazz book “Playing Changes,” by veteran Jazz Writer Nate Chinen. He zeroes in on what makes Mehldau’s rendition of the song unique.

>>>Introducing Brad Mehldau opens with a quick spray of staccato: tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap, like someone knocking impatiently at a door. It’s the preface to Mehldau’s arrangement of a show tune, “It Might As Well Be Spring,” from the Rodgers and Hammerstein film musical State Fair. The song had long been a verifiable jazz standard, with dozens of canonical recordings: by singers like Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Nina Simone, and by others ranging from the pianist Bill Evans to the trumpeter Clifford Brown.

>>>Mehldau’s version arrived in 1995, precisely half a century after the line “I am starry eyed and vaguely discontented” made its way into the popular lexicon. He and his trio had made a neat structural modification to the tune, tinkering with its pulse in a way that their syncopated prelude set in clear relief. Instead of the even 4/4 cadence known as common time, the track races along in 7/8, creating the impression of a rhythmic hiccup, or a sprint with a hitch in its stride.

>>>Jazz musicians have been dabbling in irregular meters since well before Dave Brubeck’s enormously popular 1959 album Time Out, which made them an exotic selling point. What’s striking about Mehldau’s performance is where he ventures after the opening vamp, phrasing the melody in a cool, flowing cadence even as his partners, the bassist Larry Grenadier and the drummer Jorge Rossy, busy themselves with percolating chatter behind him. In his articulation of the theme, and in a solo full of deft intricacies punctuated with breathlike pauses, Mehldau gives the song a sleek, appealing contour. His performance doesn’t feel herky-jerky or cerebral. It feels natural, even inevitable.

10. “Gazzelloni” by Eric Dolphy. "Out To Lunch” was the first album I ever bought in the “Avant-Garde Jazz” genre. I certainly wouldn't have been ready for this album in my teens or early 20′s, but I’m really happy that I developed a taste for the genre in later years. It’s some of the most expressive Jazz that I’ve ever heard, and I LOVE to have it on when I’m designing something, or working on a painting. Seems to connect the creative synapses in my brain somehow!

11. “Nu Nu” by Israeli Bassist and Composer Avishai Cohen. (Not to be confused with the Jazz Trumpeter of the same name.) This song is the opening track to Cohen’s album “Continuo” and really sets the tone for the rest of the album. I don’t know what time signatures Cohen uses in this tune, but they change up frequently over the course of 5 minutes. He’s a great composer, and a MONSTER on the bass. It’s said that he took up the bass in his early teens, because he was inspired by the legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius. (An inspiration that likely applies to MANY Jazz bassists since the 70′s.)

12. “Salmon Jump Suite” by the trio known as “Happy Apple.” This song is a smash-em crash-em DEMOLITION DERBY.... and I mean that in the most respectful and delightful way! Play it loud, and I think you’ll agree. Badass.

Oh, and the Drummer is Dave King, who’s main gig is as the Drummer for the aforementioned trio “The Bad Plus.” King is one of my favorite drummers, not just in Jazz, but it ALL genres of music. A real monster on the drums!

13. “Brother Mister” by Christian McBride and his band “Inside Straight” from the album “Kind of Brown.” McBride REALLY gets around as a bassist and composer... just scroll through his credits as a sideman on his Wikipedia page! One of the hardest working musicians in ALL of Jazz! His humor and playfulness comes across in both his playing, and his compositions, and "Brother Mister” is a great example of these. “Kind of Brown” is easily my favorite McBride album!

I should also note that McBride’s funny, extrovert personality has turned him into a popular Jazz radio host! You can catch him on Sirius X, NPR and other programs.

14. “Tiffakonkae” by Kamasi Washington. I simply cannot get enough of Kamasi’s music. I find him to be one of THE greatest talents to emerge in Jazz, in it’s entire history. I don’t think that is hyperbole. I was a couple of years late in discovering him, but since the day I heard his first album “The Epic,” he has been on my DAILY listening routine. No kidding.

If you like what you hear in this cut from his 2nd full length album, do yourself a favor and watch/listen to this special on NPR, that will show you some of what I’m talking about. It’s a 2 hour live performance and series of brief interviews with Kamasi and his collaborators, known as “The West Coast Get Down.” It might give you a buzz.

I’ll be featuring Kamasi and company on PLENTY of Jazz Potluck playlists going forward!!!

Here’s Nate Chinen again, from his book “Playing Changes,” talking about Kamasi bursting onto the scene. (Indeed, Chinen opens the first chapter of the book with Kamasi!)

>>>Kamasi Washington stood tall on a lot of big stages during his Year of Ascendance. Swaying in tempo, pushing heavy gusts through his tenor saxophone, he exuded the regal composure of a conquering hero: dauntless, doubtless, ablaze with rugged purpose. His sound on the horn—rangy and intemperate, or clipped and urgent—suggested an almost tactile force, a physical fact. He cut an equally imposing visual presence, in an unkempt Afro, a thick beard, and a dashiki, its patterned fabric loosely draped over his burly frame. And as his band raged around him, the music’s exultant sprawl enacted a ritual of transcendence. It was all rattling and ecstatic, maybe a little mystical. For many who bore witness, it was, brazenly, something to believe in.

15. “Greasy Granny” by the Charlie Hunter Trio. This album was my first introduction to this virtuosic Guitarist, back in 1995. (I seem to be including a number of albums from 1995 in this list... funny coincidence!) Anyway, as you listen to this tune, keep in mind that he is playing bass lines, chords AND melodies, ALL SIMULTANEOUSLY!!! I don’t know how in the hell he does it, but I’ve seen him performing live a few times over the years, and he makes it look effortless!

This song, “Greasy Granny” is as FUN as the name suggests.

16. “Cease the Bombing” by Guitarist Grant Green, from his 1970 album “Carryin’ On.” Figured I’d close out this 1st Episode of the Jazz Potluck with a long and smooth groove. Easy like Sunday morning.........

Stay well, people!

[genesisofsadness]

Farmyard, norwich: ‘for the maximum element, it works’ – restaurant overview

They do drop some catches here, but the commendable ambition makes all of it worthwhile

bistronomy in st benedicts avenue: chef andrew jones (left) at farmyard, norwich. Bistronomy in st benedicts road: chef andrew jones (left) at farmyard, norwich. Photo: chris ridley/the observer farmyard, 23 st benedicts street, norwich nr2 4pf (01603 733 188). Snacks £3. 50, starters £7-£nine, mains £thirteen-£26, cakes £7, wines from £19. 50

farmyard in norwich is the form of restaurant that brings out the maternal in me. Reading the menu makes me feel like one of those dad and mom status in the wings all through the auditions for britain’s got skills, watching my children, ant and dec’s palms lightly on my shoulders for moral guide. I am determined for the kitchen to prevail. I want to hug them all to my bosom and inform them the whole thing could be ok. I’m additionally terrified they’ll drop the capture. It's far for eating place goers who are glad to provide the kitchen permission to try only a little harder that is a grossly patronising issue to say to a team of skilled cooks. However the menu is so ambitiously everywhere in the area, is any such random, swooping series of dishes, i'm able to’t pretty help myself. It’s no longer a lot stressed as at the run. Say hello to cooking which attracts its thought from mexico or japan, north africa or spain, and a gaggle of locations in-among. It demands so many competencies, so much know-how of the way various techniques, spices and dishes sit inside a way of life, that misfires seem almost guaranteed. A number of it is actually down to the language used. On the menu they describe what they do as “bistronomy”, a venerable word first coined in paris inside the early 90s with the aid of professional chefs bored with the puckered and stiff atmosphere within the city’s grandest garlanded gastro palaces. They desired to retain being creative, adventurous cooks, however inside the body of a comfy bistro, with the encouraging pricing that suggests. This brilliant and secure area with its business ducted ceiling, strand board floors, and partly open white tiled kitchen, in reality can't be accused of pretension. For the proctologically challenged, be aware: there are padded banquettes.

‘the chips preserve plenty of their bite’: ham, egg and chips. Facebooktwitterpinterest ‘the chips keep lots in their chunk’: ham, egg and chips. Image: chris ridley/the observer the menu language is a little greater trying. A wonton as served here is really just a dumpling or folded piece of pasta by means of every other misused call? A beetroot “wine gum” is honestly a piece of partially dehydrated beetroot. You may determine to be profoundly irritated through this mangling of the lexicon, or you may decide the meals at the plate. I’m going with the latter due to the fact, for the most element, it works. There are misfires. The batter of salt and pepper squid, from the part of the menu headed “snacks”, doesn’t appear particularly interested by staying attached to its host. However it handiest costs £3. 50 so it’s hard to roll your eyes for lengthy. Those beetroot “wine gums”, candy and chewy, are served with a dollop of horseradish cream to drag them through. They depart strawberry-colored ribbons via the dulux whiteness, and are lots better. A few dish names are a gentle funny story constructed round understatement. Ham, egg and chips are lumps of smoky, salty, collapsing ham hock, with a cured egg yolk and a massive knot of deep-fried, spiralised potato. The latter seems at the beginning a touch difficult and underneath cooked, but there is a limpid hammy broth at the lowest of the bowl. The “chips” maintain a great deal in their bite as they shatter into it with a whack of the fork.

“highly spiced carrot wonton” are, as i recommended, simply any other word for folded-over ravioli, and not specifically highly spiced. However there's a thick celeriac purée here, and some roasted carrots to preserve the interest. It may not quite match as much as its billing, however it’s a solid and dependable little bit of cooking. As is a £sixteen important route of a roasted hen leg, with a boneless, breaded and deep-fried wing, on a thick truffle purée and fowl jus. 1/2 a roasted leek, singed in various places, slumps across it, languorously. It’s a roast fowl dinner that has polished its shoes and combed its hair. To head along we have a bowl of shredded brassicas, thru which both toasted almonds and a pokey salsa verde have been spooned. It’s a cheery act of interest to detail. A potato “terrine” is some other model of spuds sliced and pressed and cooked, then cut into rectangles and deep fried, which, at bubala some months back, were described erroneously as latkes. Regardless of the call, they may be usually welcome.

‘no longer particularly spicy’: spicy carrot wonton. A vegetable ramen is a dish i discover myself nodding at admiringly, in preference to adoring. There's a effective intensity to the broth, and the dozens of toasted barley buried in its steaming depths along a load of different veg, make certain no person will pass hungry. But the noodles are replaced through spiralised carrot. It’s an unusual call. That is partially due to the fact the usage of noodles could not have impacted the meat-unfastened nature of the dish. They could have introduced a little extra starch to the broth and might additionally have justified calling it a ramen. But more often than not it’s an bizarre name because it makes it appear as if proudly owning a spiralizer is an entirely affordable existence preference, when of path they're implements that deserve to be pointed and laughed at with such malice that they subsequently throw themselves into the bin out of embarrassment. Even bearing in mind the unevenness of that dish i ought to consider myself back here trying their version of a multi-layered mole poblano with bbq lamb and blue corn tacos, simply to look whether or not they may without a doubt pull it off, or the roast hake with paprika chickpea stew. This farmyard is decided to fatten up its residents. Cakes turn among the outrageous and the outrageously comforting. The former is defined as a “white chocolate bar”. It’s a sizable block of smooth, sticky white chocolate ganache. It would be teeth-achingly sweet were it no longer for the bold saltiness of the miso caramel slathered across the pinnacle, the scattering of peanuts and the intense dark chocolate sorbet. It’s a re-engineered snickers bar, possibly with the aid of a person who lately kicked a first-rate crystal meth addiction and is now searching out a socially suited manner by way of which to get off their face. With the aid of contrast a steamed ginger pudding, perched on earrings of gently spiced pineapple with a coconut sorbet is a gentle all-in-one hug and back rub.

‘re-engineered snickers’: white chocolate-miso bar. Facebooktwitterpinterest ‘re-engineered snickers’: white chocolate-miso bar. Photo: chris ridley/the observer right here at farmyard they may now not usually gain every one among their goals. Some of those catches really are dropped. However on foot lower back along the norwich lane it calls domestic, exceeded unremarkable pizzerias and dependable looking bistros and cocktail bars designed for a friday night time, the area of interest it fills became apparent. It's miles for restaurant goers who're happy to offer the kitchen permission to try just a little harder and strive only a little extra. And honestly, couldn’t we all do with a eating place like that? Information bites

proper now you may now not be thinking about travelling restaurants, but you may accomplish that once more. In the spirit of assist for the eating place quarter, this column will retain making tips. Simply over at the norfolk coast from farmyard isn't any 1 cromer, which belongs to chef galton blackiston of morston hall. Downstairs it’s a first-rate carpenter and ice cream bar. Upstairs, there’s a globe-trotting bistro which takes in the whole thing from fish tacos to hoisin duck pancakes, tandoori fowl naan and a massaman vegan curry. It’s bold but, usually it works (no1cromer. Com). Till the cease of april heston blumenthal’s three michelin celebrity fats duck in bray is reducing the price of its menu by using £seventy five. It’s nevertheless a stonking £250 with the cut price. At time of writing there are some lunchtime tables to be had within the moderately spaced eating room. This will be the instant to strive it (thefatduck. Co. Uk). Oisin rogers, who's the nearest factor london has to a celeb publican, is to take a second boozer underneath his wing, alongside the guinea grill in mayfair, famed for its beefy menu of steaks and claret. He’s revamping the close by windmill, and bringing in dishes together with pork cheek and oyster pie, and excellent fish and chips. Our journalism is open for all… … and could continue to be so. Now extra than ever, the father or mother is dedicated to delivering first-rate, responsible journalism each and every day. In those terrific instances, when anxiety and uncertainty abound, the guardian’s measured, authoritative reporting has never been so important. We will stay with you, turning in exceptional journalism so we can all make critical choices approximately our lives, health and protection – based on fact, no longer fiction. We believe every one folks deserves equal access to accurate news and calm clarification. So, not like many others, we made a specific choice: to keep father or mother journalism open for all, regardless of wherein they stay or what they can find the money for to pay. This would now not be viable with out the generosity of readers, who now assist our work from one hundred eighty nations around the sector. We have upheld our editorial independence inside the face of the disintegration of traditional media – with social systems giving rise to incorrect information, the seemingly unstoppable upward thrust of massive tech and independent voices being squashed by commercial possession. The mother or father’s independence method we are able to set our personal agenda and voice our personal evaluations. Our journalism is free from industrial and political bias – in no way inspired by using billionaire owners or shareholders. This makes us exceptional. It manner we will task the effective with out worry and provide a voice to the ones less heard. Your financial support has intended we can preserve investigating, disentangling and interrogating. It has covered our independence, which has by no means been so crucial. We're so grateful.

[autumnfanfiction]

13.

They were on a train on their way to Paris. Chris didn't want to go take a plane because he felt like a train ride was a little more romantic and fitting for both of them. He seemed to be right because Robyn was so happy looking out the window seeing the cities in a different view and perspective. He'd do anything to keep that smile on her face, luckily for him it was the same on her end. The City of Love was the perfect place for lovers and what couple better than them would Paris be suited for? Chris had multiple tricks up his sleeve for this trip, and his heart pounded just thinking about her reactions to them all. After all, she'd been through she deserved to have the world, the universe, the galaxy. If he could give it all to her, he would and if only him dying trying was only an expression.

"Chris, this was such a great idea. I'm glad we took a train, you can appreciate everything more like this. Everything is so beautiful, I'm glad I brought my Polaroid camera with me too."

She held the camera up. "Smile Pooh." He gave a soft smile, and she took the picture. "I think I'm going to make a photo album with all our pictures from this trip. I don't know where we're going, but I know you picked a good spot. It'll be something we'll show our kids someday." Chris felt his chest constrict hearing her say that. If only she knew the truth. It made him think about whether she would want kids after she found out they wouldn't live long enough. He would agree with whatever her decision would be, but he hoped she wouldn't hate him for feeding her lies all this time. "Yeah, definitely. Hopefully, your head will fit in the pictures though."

Robyn raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Are we starting this again? I will lay you out, Chris."

"Or you can let me lay you down." He wiggled his eyebrows and she smirked

"That was smooth."

"You'll be saying the same thing when I slide up in it."

Robyn frowned and he laughed. "You're nasty. Why are you so horny?"

"I'm always horny around you, I just do a good job hiding it because I have strong resolve and control. Besides, look at you. I'd be insane not to get hard at the sight of you."

She laughed. "Awww, that was oddly sweet."

Silence fell over them, and Robyn stared at him keenly. She didn't know what it was, but there was something different about him. Chris had been acting so mysterious and wasn't being himself. He made an effort to disguise it like he just did, but she knew better than to fall for it. She wouldn't question it right away because she didn't want the mood to switch especially when he wasn't actively giving her a reason to be concerned. She just couldn't put her finger on what caused him to change but decided to give it a rest for now before she drove herself crazy.

"Today is a pretty day."

"I see why you would think so considering it's wet outside."

"I really cannot with you right now."

"And it's thunder storming. You'll find comfort in that climate soon enough because it'll become familiar territory."

Robyn furrowed her eyebrows before gasping. "Christopher!" She threw a balled napkin at him, and he was just cheesing at her "I love the way you say my name, Buttercup."

"See this is why I don't talk to you long."

"It's because you haven't experienced things of that length quite enough. That'll change."

"I don't like you."

"I have to cap off my afternoon with a bang, you understand."

"It's not even nighttime yet!"

"You know better than anyone routine is boring, you're the spontaneous type." He winked at her and Robyn groaned. He was having so much fun annoying her. It was actually the highlight of his days because it spurred reactions in her he loved so much. Seeing the shine in her intoxicating eyes, the curve of her heart shaped lips and the sweet sound of her laughter.

"I'm on a legendary run."

"Start walking."

"You know all about pace, huh?"

"Chriiiiiiis."

"Yes, Buttercup?"

"Why do you like putting me in this position?"

"I can put you in different positions."

She shook her head at him but couldn't deny her heart filling with warmth that he was in true form. She stood up and went over to his side and just looked at him with a look in her eye. He pointed down. "Have a seat Gorgeous."

"I don't wanna sit on your lap."

"You can sit on my face."

Robyn sat down next to him and he pulled her close as she rested her head on his shoulder. She placed a kiss on his neck before sighing. "What am I gonna do with you?"

He shrugged and smiled down at her.

-

The train finally arrived at their destination, and it was night time when they got off. Chris held their bags, and once Robyn realized where they were she squealed before jumping up and down. "We're in Paris? I told you in one of my letters I planned to go someday."

"That's why I planned for us to come here. I didn't forget, I remember everything you tell me. Everything you say is important and holds weight."

She kissed his lips and smiled softly. "You're bringing out your romantic side for this, huh?"

"Buttercup you have no idea."

-

They found a taxi that drove them to where they would be staying for however long Chris planned the trip to be. The hotel he picked was the best, and the most expensive but nothing was too good for her in his book. The Shangri-La Hotel was a five star hotel––– luxurious and what made it special was that the Eiffel Tower wasn't far away. In fact, it was 0.4 miles away precisely, and he made sure their room could reflect that.

Robyn was overly excited to be in Paris that she couldn't keep her hands off Chris. She couldn't believe he did this for them and it was much needed after dealing with her Gran Gran's death. Part of her felt guilty for being so happy when she just lost somebody, but she knew this is what her Gran Gran would have preferred. She spent the week of her death two weeks before coming to Paris hidden away in Chris' bedroom in his penthouse. It finally hit her that Gran Gran Dolly was gone when her funeral happened. It was an intimate occasion with the pastor, her, and Chris. She was a mess seeing her name on the tombstone. After that night she faced the reality of things she took a week to get herself together, and that's when Chris told her to pack her bags so they could get away for a while. This trip was what she needed more than anything. All Dolly ever wanted was for Robyn to be happy and remain happy. To live her life without regrets so she would live during this trip with her love and have fun doing so.

When they entered their suite Robyn gasped at the display. There were about three dozen roses in the room, rose petals leading to the bedroom, but what caught her eye was the decor. It was red all over, except for the walls. The bed was covered in red velvet sheets with a heart encrusted in the middle. She ran her fingers over it and smiled, turning to see Chris setting their bags down to get them situated.

"Have I ever told you how lucky I feel to have you?"

"Hmm? Oh, this is nothing. I just did it because you've been through so much, so you deserve to get treated like the queen that you are."

She went over to hug him, and when she lifted her head, she noticed the Eiffel Tower. "POOH, WE'RE BY THE EIFFEL. IT'S LITERALLY RIGHT OUTSIDE."

He laughed before leading her outside. "That was by design. Out of all the hotels, this one is closer to the Eiffel, so I made sure to book it in advance. I remember how you mentioned you wanted to have dinner on the balcony with it behind close by. Waking up and seeing it within the distance, so I kept that in mind when looking for a hotel."

"You're so thoughtful, what did I do to deserve you?"

"By being you. Come, sit." He pushed her chair out then pushed it in before sitting in the chair next to her.

He had the staff cook her favorite pasta accompanied by fresh garlic bread, soup, chocolate cake, and red wine. They weren't supposed to drink, but it was a special occasion, and they wouldn't indulge much. She was beyond impressed with how he planned this without her knowing or suspecting anything because usually, she was able to foil his plans. She was just overwhelmed with joy that she was here and he was the one with her. They ate their food and made light conversation. Ultimately allowing silence to dictate the atmosphere.

Chris looked over at her and smiled. "Buttercup?"

"Reeses?"

"I want to propose——"

She felt her heart race. "Chris..."

"A toast."

"Chriiiiiis." Robyn pouted and he laughed.

"You fall for it every time."

"I don't like you. This is the second time, almost gave me a heart attack."

"It gets funnier every time."

"Whatever. Did you plan anything else for the night?"

"We could go to a club if you're down for it."

"Yes! It's been a while since I've been in a club. I can't wait to put my hips to good use." He gave her a big grin "Sounds like you're trying to get in trouble tonight."

"After everything you've done you deserve everything coming your way. I just hope you can handle it when I put it on you."

-

They were dressed casually for the club, and the way Robyn was looking had Chris feeling every kind of way. Her legs were out, and he's always had an affinity for them. Now that they were in the stage of their relationship where sex was the next step, neither of them had any problems vocalizing how much they wanted it. All that consumed his thoughts these days were wrapping her legs around him and doing what he told her he wanted to do; go inside of her raw. He wanted to please her in a physical sense now that he got the important aspect of their relationship established. He wanted her badly, and with the way she was looking tonight, they wouldn't make it out the club.

Robyn was no different. She always imagined what it would be like to be intimate with him, she often had wet dreams about it, about him. Some of them being so vivid and feeling so real. Chris was just so sexy; he oozed sexual confidence and with him looking the way he did it was hard to keep her thoughts pure when it came to him. He was as beautiful as dawn and as dominant as the sun. His hair as black as the wintry night and the silky feel of his curls––– what she would give to be tugging on them right now.

He was watching her as she put on a show, swaying her hips losing herself in the music. She seemed so in her element and seeing that caused an ache deep in his loins. The music changed to "Big Poppa" and she looked over her shoulder at him and smirked watching as he was walking towards her. They rocked together so in sync it was effortless. He wrapped his arm around her waist before reciting the lyrics in her ear while she smiled.

I just creep up from behind

And ask you what your interests are?

Who you be with?

Things to make you smile

What numbers to dial

You gon be here for a while?

I'm gon call my crew

You gon call your crew

We can rendezvous at the bar around two

The way she was rubbing against him had him unraveling right in front of her. She wanted it. He did too. And he would give her a little something to curb their sexual appetite for now. He took her hand and led them to the bathroom. Their hands were all over each other as they entered, frantically kissing. Robyn pushed him inside the stall and stepped in after him locking it while biting her lip. Chris wanted to taste her so bad, so he reached out, but Robyn pulled away waving her finger before unzipping his pants and pulling them down along with his boxers.

"I'm in charge right now," She kissed his lips before sucking on his lower lip. She gripped his dick and started stroking it and he groaned lowly. He was getting hard with every stroke and the confidence exuding from the woman in front of him was sending him over the edge. She tugged lightly on his lip before letting it go and pressing her lips to his jaw. "and I'm going to bring you to your knees, Mr. Brown."

"Baby," he breathed out. His eyes were tender and the thought of her actually getting down on her knees and sucking him off was enough to make him want to cum. Robyn sank down to her knees still stroking him. He was huge and she couldn't wait to have him in her mouth. "Fuck, is this really about to happen?" He was salivating at what was about to take place, but he didn't want her to think she had to. "Rob–––" She cut him off by flowing her lips over the head of his dick. She mouthed the head, sucking gently with no hands. The softness and wetness of her mouth made him groan. He touched her cheek as she fluttered her tongue across the underside, his eyes rolled in the back of his head, while he shot a burst of pre-cum into her mouth. "Shit."

Her head bobbed as she increased her rhythm, stroking him with one hand while she sucked and stroked the crest with her mouth. He kept growing thicker and longer, heavy veins coursing his length, and Robyn slid the flat of her tongue along them, caressing each one. "Fuck, Baby, you're making me cum." He gripped her head and started thrusting his hips. Her hand went towards his balls, rolling them gently. He threw his head back and moaned. "Robyn." The first squirt of cum was so thick, but she had no trouble swallowing. He kept thrusting and to him, it felt like he was hitting the back of her throat. A shudder ran through his body followed by a loud moan as he came. Robyn withdrew her mouth from him slowly, kissing his tip before standing to her feet smiling.

His breathing became steady and he brushed the curls from her face before kissing her. "I wanted to cum inside you."

"We have all night long for that."

[catalinda04]

Carried Away Chapter 34: Dinner and Dancing

Masterlist

Henry made reservations at the same restaurant where they’d shared their first dinner together. “I’m glad you brought me back here.” Lucy said. “I didn’t get to really appreciate it last time.”

“I just hope tonight ends a bit better than that night did.” Henry teased.

“Oh, I’m quite sure it will. Did I tell you, I bought some new undergarments to wear with this dress?” Lucy said, her voice going low and husky as she described, in detail, what she was wearing. Henry visibly swallowed. “I want you to think about that tonight at the party.” Lucy said raising her wine glass to her lips. “Unless of course, you want to skip the party all together, and just go straight home after dinner.” She teased, tracing designs on the palm of Henry’s hand.

“No idea has ever sounded better.” He groaned. “But we’re committed to attending the party. If for no other reason, than Victoria wants to meet you, and you do NOT disappoint Victoria Beckham. We’ll go for an hour, if you’re not enjoying yourself, we’ll leave and be back home by 11. How does that sound?”

“Mmmm, heavenly.” She whispered, gazing into Henry’s eyes.

Just then, their food arrived, breaking the spell between the two. It was then that Lucy finally realized what Henry had actually said.

“Victoria wants to meet me?” She asked taking a bite of her pasta.

“I’ve spoken about you, and yes, she wants to meet you, especially after she orchestrated most of the afternoon for you, or rather, had me orchestrate it for you.”

“Do you know who else might in attendance tonight?”

“I can’t be certain, but I would imagine that some of David’s football mates will be there, and Victoria’s fashion people as well.”

“Will there be anyone that I might recognize?”

“More than likely. And Chris and Alicia will be there, so you will know someone other than me.” He said reassuringly.

“I’m sure it will be fine, great even I can't imagine those two throwing a dull party.”

“You’ll have fun. I know it.”

Once they had finished their dinner and dessert, their car brought them to a posh hotel in central London.

“The party is at a hotel?” Lucy asked.

“You didn’t think it would be at their house did you?” Henry said, taking her hand.

“Well, the last party of theirs that I attended was on a boat in Nice, so honestly, I didn’t know what to think.” Lucy quipped. Henry led her inside, where they checked their coats, before walking to a short red carpet.

“You didn’t tell me about the red carpet.” Lucy whispered nervously.

“It’s all local paps. Inviting them inside for a set period of time, keeps them from hovering outside. It’s a necessary evil of the party scene. Now just follow my lead, keep smiling, and it will be over quickly.” He said, planting a brief kiss on her lips, before taking her hand.

Lucy was astounded at the number of flashes that assaulted her eyes. She didn’t think there had been that many photographers, but after the first dozen flashes had blinked, her eyes became numb to the bright light. Henry’s arm stayed around her waist the entire time, reminding her of his calm, safe presence.

When, finally, they entered the ballroom, Lucy noted that several different areas had been arranged for the evening. A dance floor had been constructed at one end of the large room, surrounded by high tables. On the other end of the room were a number of couches, perfect for conversations. In the middle, between the two areas was a bar with every liquor Lucy had ever heard of, and several she hadn’t. Waiters circulated carrying trays laden with glasses of champagne, and hors d'oeuvres.

They were greeted at once by their hosts. Henry escorted Lucy to meet them. First Henry and David shared a hug, before he embraced Victoria, accompanied by a kiss on each cheek. Then he introduced Lucy.

“David, Victoria, I’d like to introduce you to my girlfriend, Lucy Claussen. Lucy, David and Victoria, our hosts for the evening.”

“David, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Lucy said extending her hand to David, who took it and kissed her knuckles. Lucy blushed, before turning to Victoria who put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her in to kiss on both cheeks, in way of greeting.

“Lucy. It’s so great to finally meet you. Henry has told us so much about you. You look fantastic. That color suits you.”

“Thank you, and as I understand, I have you to thank for my afternoon at the spa as well.”

“Well, we women must stick together. I know how nerve-wracking it can be to attend one of these, and the hair, the make-up, the dress, it’s all armor. You really do look fabulous. I’m looking forward to talking with you later.”

“That would be lovely. Thank you for inviting me.”

Henry wrapped an arm around Lucy’s waist and led her further into the ballroom. “How did I do?” Lucy asked nervously.

“You were wonderful, my dear.’ Henry said, kissing her temple. “Would you like a drink?”

“Only as much as I want oxygen.” She laughed.

He caught a passing waiter and took two flutes of champagne. “Let’s make a round. Let me introduce you to a few people.”

The next 45 minutes were filled with new people; most Lucy recognized, by face if not by name. Everyone was charming and polite. At one point, Victoria, approached the two standing at one of the high tables. She and Lucy were engrossed in conversation, so Henry decided to find someone to talk to as well, Lucy barely registered his departure.

When Victoria left, Lucy found herself alone at the table. She scanned the room. She saw Henry talking to a group of be-suited men, laughing. She was about to join him when she spotted Alicia. She made eye contact with the other woman, who waved her over. Alicia introduced Lucy all around. All of the women seemed endlessly interested in Lucy, though she sensed a cooling of their interest when she told them she was a teacher. Lucy found she couldn’t add much to their conversation, which seemed to center around who was cheating on who, who was in or out of rehab, and any other gossip that happened to crop up. After 10 minutes, Alicia excused the both of them.

“Thank you.” Lucy sighed, leaning on Alicia.

“I couldn’t handle much more of them. They seem to think anyone who works for a living is beneath them.” Alicia commented, rolling her eyes.

“It’s ok. I’ve been dealing with girls like that my entire life. Why don’t we go find our men and make them dance with us.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea.” Alicia replied, weaving her arm through Lucy’s. They found Henry and Chris standing in a group of men, laughing riotously. Both men’s eyes lit up when they saw the women approach.

Henry wrapped his arm around Lucy, bringing her in for a kiss, before speaking. “I have someone I want to introduce you to.” He said, his eyes sparkling with mischief, and steered her back toward the group he had just vacated.

“Tom, this is Lucy.” Henry said by way of introduction. Lucy looked up into the blue-green eyes of the actor she had admired for years.

“Lucy, it’s lovely to meet you.” Tom Hiddleston said, wrapping her in a hug. Lucy was positive she was smiling like an idiot, but she couldn't make herself stop. Had this been a year ago, she would have been over the moon, with only eyes for the man now embracing her. As it was she felt a warm tingle at the casual embrace, but nothing more.

“Hello. Tom. Hiddleston.” Lucy covered her mouth to hide her fan girl smile, but was unable to stifle her nervous giggle.

“Would you care to dance, Lucy?” Tom asked extending his hand in her direction.

Lucy’s eyes went wide, she turned to look at Henry “Do you mind if I dance with Tom.”

Henry put his hand on her waist, and kissed her cheek. “Have a great time pumpkin.” He said with a grin and a wink.

Tom led Lucy to the dance floor as a new song started. It was a swing style song. Tom led Lucy expertly through the steps. It took a few beats for her to figure out her footing, but quickly she was able to follow his lead and hold a conversation.

“I knew you were a fantastic dancer, but I didn’t know you could swing.” Lucy complimented.

“Just something I picked up along the way.” Tom replied humbly “Henry tells me I’m his competition for your affections.” Lucy removed one of her hands from Tom’s to cover her face, all the while keeping up the steps.

“I can’t believe he told you that! That is kind of our running joke. I used to think you were the perfect man, and who knows you probably are, but I’m afraid my fire for you is down to a small ember. I love that man so much.”

“Are you sure?” Tom asked picking Lucy up to swing her around, setting her down and drawing her close as the song ended.

“Sorry, but I’m sure. But thank you for the dance.”

Tom kissed Lucy on the cheek, and whispered in her ear “Good answer.”

Henry met them at the edge of the dance floor, ready to sweep Lucy up into a slow dance that had just started.

“Tom, if you don’t mind, I’ll take my girlfriend back now.”

“She’s all yours. And I do mean ALL yours.” Tom said with a wink.

Henry pulled Lucy close, their bodies touching from chest to pelvis. Lucy laid her head on his chest.

“Was I just tested?” She asked him incredulously, not looking at him.

“Not really. I mentioned your affinity for Tom to him, and he made a joke about stealing you. Of course he’s much too gentlemanly to actually try to steal you, but I thought you might like that just a bit.”

“Oh, I did. He’s a phenomenal dancer. Don’t you dance?”

“We’re dancing right now.” He replied.

“You know what I mean.” She pulled away slightly to look in his eyes.

“I don’t dance like that if I can help it.” He laughed.

They held each other close through the song. Just before it ended, Henry lowered his lips to Lucy’s ear. “If I ask you go home with me tonight, are you going to run away?”

Lucy smiled. “Who would be so foolish as to do something like that?”

After several more dances, with Henry and other friends of his, including Chris, Lucy excused herself to use the bathroom. After washing her hands, Lucy fished in her small evening bag for her lipstick, which had been rubbed off through kisses and several glasses of champagne.

A blonde woman, who stood a couple of inches taller than Lucy stepped up to the mirror next to hers. Her wavy blonde hair was pulled into a sleek twist, and she wore a gold sequin mini-dress that hugged her body like a second skin. She looked over at Lucy and smiled. “Those earrings are to die for.” She said in a posh London accent.

“Thank you, they were a Christmas present from my boyfriend.”

“Is that Tom? I saw you dancing with him earlier.”

“No, Tom and I were just dancing together. My boyfriend isn’t big on dancing, so he suggested we dance together. How about you? Are you here with anyone?”

“I’m here with my husband, one of David’s football mates. Who IS your boyfriend, if not Tom?”

“Henry Cavill.”

“Oh, Henry. Well lucky you.”

“Yes, I do believe I am. I’m Lucy by the way.”

“Emily, pleasure to meet you.” Pleasantries exchanged, they both turned away from the mirror to exit the room.

“Pleasure meeting you too Emily.” Lucy said as they parted ways just outside the bathroom. Lucy hadn’t taken more than half a dozen steps before she was surrounded by the group of women she and Alicia had been talking to earlier.

“Oh, my god. What did she say to you?” One woman asked, her eyes shining at the possibility of some new gossip.

“Who?” Lucy replied dumbfounded.

“Emily.” Another woman replied.

“Nothing really, we just introduced ourselves.”

“Well you know who she is don’t you?”

“Emily…” Lucy supplied stupidly.

“Yes, Henry’s Emily. Henry’s ex-fiancé, Emily.” The first woman said with a malicious gleam in her eyes.

Chapter 33

Chapter 35

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Electrum Stratis Wallet

Stratis is one of the original regarding a range of blockchain advancement platforms. It seemed to be initially like platform wherein developers could very well easily produce their own exclusive blockchain. Stratis wanted his or her platform to be the most recognized blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) tailored to get use simply by organisations. On the other hand, since firing, Sratis possesses increased the scope regarding their project. They wish to build up out the larger blockchain development circle that will undertake often the likes of NEO in addition to Ethereum. Can Stratis truly compete in this highly competitive space and provide an attractive alternative to help these blockchains? In that Stratis review, we is going to attempt to answer of which question by taking the deep-dive on the project. We will look into the technology, team members and one of a kind advantages of its blockchain. I will also analyse often the STRAT token and whether you must think of that. Let�s bounce in. Precisely what is Stratis? Stratis started out as a project that wanted to assist business logistics with a BaaS model. However, as the particular demand for developer ecosystems provides grown, therefore way too have the ambitions involving Stratis. They are now trying to build up their personal developer blockchain. There are many other projects that are wanting to do this but typically the main variation between them all and Stratis is it is definitely using C# for Microsoft�s. NET structure as the developing words of the blockchain. Ethereum has one particular advantage around Stratis in that the idea was your 1st smart contract community, on the other hand the use of often the Solidity programming language may possibly be it is weakness. Stratis uses a far more acquainted programming language and may accomplish the same blockchain structures and include sidechains since well. Stratis is definitely gaining on Ethereum, releasing C# smart agreements while an alpha in May well, as well as alpha sidechain help in August. This brings Stratis with par along with leading sensible contract blockchains. In truth, for numerous companies Stratis is definitely the popular solution since blockchain knowledge isn�t all that popular at the older, more traditional tech companies. These kind of older technical companies perform have armies regarding software engineers familiar with C# as well as. NET framework and happen to be most likely to pass over programming a good blockchain along with Solidity whenever they can use the more familiar C#. Stratis offers this comfortable programming language, and often the ability to use just about all the same features in order to develop a feature-rich blockchain with the ability to include sidechains together with sensible contracts. This will allow often the old-guard tech firms to simply build their very own blockchain solutions on the particular Stratis main company, trying to keep their own projects split up and safe on sidechains. There are certainly promise, but it may need time to realize the eye-sight of Stratis. Let�s create a deeper search into the project and it is related STRAT lieu that powers the community. Understanding Stratis Stratis was made as its own blockchain the fact that also offers a new suite of development equipment in C# that allow companies to make use of the safety of its blockchain to construct their own chains. This specific saves assets for this companies who also don�t need to have to hire brand-new blockchain developers as well as edit all their legacy software to work alongside a new platform. In the core Stratis is usually an updated, enterprise warm and friendly version of Bitcoin. It is very more worldwide, it�s more rapidly, and it moves aside from the resource famished Proof-of-Work mining of Bitcoin. Then it adds the Stratis program that permits sidechains, sensible contracts and this addition involving decentralized software. Stratis deviates from various other blockchain projects by way of working with the C# programming dialect. With over 6 thousand C# developers the idea aims to mesh very easily with often the existing devices of standard technological companies across this globe. Electrum Stratis Wallet has established a new package of tools together with assets for builders in order to help them to build up their own blockchains, and even that also offers the use of its blockchain as a mainchain for you to secure included sidechains. nStratis Advancement Platform The nStratis blockchain developmnent platform developed for businesses Additionally , that offers consultancy services with regard to businesses that want to be able to use blockchain technology, nevertheless don�t understand where or maybe how to get started. For instance, they might advise a fintech company, featuring them how blockchain technologies can be used to verify funds usually are being transported to the proper people, to track transactions, and to validate consumer personal. Stratis Team This main managing company to get Stratis could be the Stratis Class Ltd that is based around the city of London. They are comprised involving some fairly experienced coders with expertise in company program and blockchain. Stratis was founded throughout 2016 simply by the current TOP DOG, Chris Trew. Chris possesses over 10 years regarding working experience in Enterprise IT. He or she is also a backend developer who has got constructed numerous applications around C# and ASP. INTERNET. They started to cut his teeth in the blockchain ecosystem within 2013 and functioned like a volunteer on typically the Blitz project. Stratis Team Members Some of this Stratis Team Members Chelsea is as well joined by Nicolas Dorier who designed NBitcoin basically as a learning exercise. NBitcoin is now one of this most comprehensive cross-platform bitcoin frameworks. They in addition has composed a good book on blockchain programming in C#. Nicolas has also done some work on Bitcoin�s primary job. The STRAT Token Often the Stratis blockchain employs Proof-of-Stake (PoS) as it is opinion modus operandi, and the particular STRAT token as the local token on the networking. Because Stratis uses PoS it means there�s simply no reference intensive mining required to protected the network, nor almost any expensive computer hardware required. It absolutely was developed while a low pumpiing cryptocurrency and holders have the ability to produce rewards by staking cash, if they have sufficient to run a node. Operating the masternode requires staking 250, 000 STRAT, which often has a value of $392, 500 at the $1. 57 price on The month of september 7, 2018. That�s definitely out of reach to get most, but there is converse of adding lower tier nodes that require significantly less gold coins. The primary aim of the STRAT expression is as gas for that network, or a way to pay money for network deals. Naturally you can also purchase it like a speculative investment, together with the coin is listed in well over a new dozen programs, including Binance, Bittrex and even HitBTC. Binance STRAT Register at Binance and Buy STRAT Tokens As of September seven, 2018 the STRAT lieu is #49 on Coinmarketcap. com with a marketplace limit of $155, 347, 489. That�s at a associated with $1. 57 with a moving supply connected with 99, 004, 672. Stratis hit an all-time great price of $21. twenty-one on January 8, 2018. Stratis was one regarding the first profitable ICO�s, raising 1, 1000 BTC back in June/July 2016. This success led these to start their own ICO software in May 2018 to help other people observe the same success. Is considered certainly the generous supplying, but could spell signs of trouble at the business. ICO Popularity in Diminish When Bitcoin rose around level of popularity most other cryptocurrencies struggled to find an market. So, that they turned to the ICO like a new way to gain industry acceptance, and to raise budget to continue advancement. That�s how Stratis obtained its begin in 2016. ICOs became much more popular inside 2017 any time Ethereum started hosting bridal party on its blockchain, permitting companies to help bypass the long together with expensive procedure for creating their particular own blockchain. That 12 months saw nearly one, 500 ICOs launched and even $5. 6 billion throughout funds raised. It was not all of good news though like over 50% of all those ICOs were failures. Possibly even worse was the particular nearly $1 billion lost by simply investors to fake ICOs. These losses came the attention, and ire, of presidency regulators. That put a damaging light on ICOs. Soon after major online mainly because networks like Google, Facebook or myspace plus Twitter banned advertisings for ICOs on their particular platforms. ICO prices fell across the field in addition to people started to be increasingly cautious projects releasing new coins via an ICO. Going down ICO Demand Amount connected with funds raised via ICO is usually declining. Source: ICO Info 2018 still recognizes the good volume of ICOs, just about all sees even more and more projects steering clear of the negative stigma regarding ICOs. A lot of have long gone to the airdrop in order to distribute tokens, and even so other people will be opting for you to hold private revenue, offering their coins in order to venture capital firms and large net-worth individuals rather than offering them to typically the public. This telephone calls straight into question the decision connected with Stratis to release a great ICO platform in May possibly 2018. In most respects that seems as if the particular management team is jammed in the past. Certain 2016 was initially just a pair of short years back, although in the cryptocurrency earth two years is like only two many years. A turnkey ICO remedy at this point seems to fly in the face of the negative view associated with ICOs and the improving authorities scrutiny. Stratis Remains to be an invaluable Blockchain Even even though the launch of ICO platform makes it look as if Stratis will be out of feel along with the rest of this cryptocurrency sector, it is always a robust and extraordinary blockchain task. And although the value of typically the STRAT coin has slipped all over 2018, that�s a great deal more a feature of the all round decline within cryptocurrency trading markets. A new $1. 57 price tag now is nevertheless the more than 22, 000% gain from the $0. 007 ICO price of the coin. That�s a new pretty hefty returning in just over 2 many years. Stratis has also lately already been listed in the Microsof company Azure Market, which was basically a big win with regard to Stratis founder and CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Chris Trew. Electrum Stratis Wallet isnt necessarily an recommendation of Stratis as a good assignment, but rather because the coin is prepared in C# for the. INTERNET framework. The. NET construction was developed by means of Microsoft, and because of Microsoft windows company usage the. ONLINE platform and C# developing words are equally set in every single industry. As typically the developer on the. NET framework Microsoft contains a huge stake in the endurance together with growth of the system and the C# dialect, producing acceptance of Stratis by simply Microsoft almost a new offered outcome. Microsoft Azure Statement by Stratis upon Microsof company Azure Company�s using legacy systems built along C# and. NET may find the transition to help a blockchain solution will probably be easiest and most cost effective when using the Stratis solution. Almost all of these businesses currently have C# developers which might be reassigned to a good blockchain project, and they�ll help to make quick progress thanks in order to their familiarity with C#. Unfortunately regarding Stratis typically the blockchain world advances extremely quickly. Their C# package was vaporware right up until May possibly 2018, meaning there were some sort of number of projects of which involved to and surpassed Stratis. And Electrum Stratis Wallet , which usually sounded and so progressive throughout summer of 2016, wasn�t all of that revolutionary any time it was release seeing that a beta mainnet product or service in Late 2017. It may be unfortunate, but the Stratis team appears to end up being operating on a much more slowly pace than new projects, in particular those coming from Japan. The early excitement over Stratis hasn�t translated to early adoption. In fact, additional than the acknowledgement into the Azure Current market, the largest partnership so that far is to use Earth String, an unknown international the fact that is looking to affect often the seafood logistics company having a blockchain remedy. A person optimistic development is typically the newest relationship with BRITAIN Meds, this fastest expanding online drug store in the particular UK, just announced upon September 5. BRITISH Medications plans on using this technology to be able to enhance person safety and to improve typically the UK Meds provide company. Conclusion Startis has got the difference of being the 1st successful ICO, and continues to be remarkable to this moment, nonetheless some state that needs to step up its game if it doesn�t desire the distinction of initial successful ICO to be the biggest differentiation the project at any time reaches. While it has strong technology and the solid alliance with 'microsoft', the idea isn�t seeing this type of adoption it requires. If it can leveraging it is strengths there can be still wish for expansion inside of the blockchain business because it offers a few worthwhile and helpful use-cases. This inclusion of the Stratis program in the 'microsoft' Azure industry is a big win, together with option traders have to be happy with often the 22, 000% return since ICO, even if the price connected with typically the coin has recently been sliding inside 2018. Entrepreneur sentiment could be going down, but there�s still a lot of good to become said for STRAT. Typically the establish of an ICO platform doesn�t seem to be the best move around in 2018 as government government bodies currently have been taking aim on ICOs, but fortunately Stratis has several other software trends and partnerships. Likely a enterprise blockchain option inside C# may not necessarily noise as technologically innovative or attractive as some other blockchain assignments, but it is just these kinds of nuts-and-bolts variety applications which have been frequently the particular most useful and profitable. In fact, the use of C# makes Stratis more attractive for you to conventional tech companies with older systems, since they wil have to start through scratch in order to move as well as integrate their very own programs along with blockchain technologies. The Stratis solution exhibits real guarantee, but we will need to wait and see if they can certainly truly deliver.

[thranehahn65-blog]

Electrum Stratis Wallet

Stratis is a person of the first connected with a range of blockchain development platforms. It seemed to be initially like platform whereby developers could very well easily develop their own exclusive blockchain. Stratis wanted their particular system to be the leading blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) tailored with regard to use simply by organisations. On the other hand, since launching, Sratis possesses increased the range regarding their project. They desire to build up out a new larger blockchain development circle that will carry out the particular likes of NEO in addition to Ethereum. Can Stratis really compete in this highly competitive place and supply an attractive alternative to these blockchains? In that Stratis assessment, we may attempt to answer that question by taking a new deep-dive on the venture. We will glance at the technological innovation, team members and exclusive advantages of its blockchain. We shall also analyse the particular STRAT token and whether or not you must think of that. Let�s leap in. What on earth is Stratis? Stratis commenced to be a project of which wanted to support venture logistics with a BaaS model. However, as the particular demand for developer environments features grown, hence as well have the ambitions associated with Stratis. They are now trying to build their very own developer blockchain. There are several other projects that are trying to do this but the particular main big difference between them and Stratis is it can be using C# for Microsoft�s. NET platform as typically the development vocabulary of the blockchain. Ethereum has 1 advantage above Stratis within that this was the first smart contract network, however it has the use of the Solidarity; unity programming language could very well be the weakness. Stratis uses a a lot more familiar programming language and will accomplish the same blockchain architecture and include sidechains as well. Stratis is surely gaining on Ethereum, introducing C# smart accords since an alpha in May well, accompanied by alpha sidechain assistance in July. This provides Stratis with par along with leading sensible contract blockchains. In reality, for a lot of companies Stratis will be the favorite solution since blockchain expertise isn�t all that typical at the older, more traditional tech companies. All these older technician companies accomplish have armies of coders familiar with C# plus the. NET framework and are almost certainly to pass over programming the blockchain with Solidity should they can employ the more familiar C#. Stratis offers this common programming language, and often the power to use all the same features to develop a feature-rich blockchain with the ability to be able to contain sidechains in addition to intelligent contracts. This will allow the particular old-guard tech organizations to easily build their individual blockchain options on the particular Stratis main company, maintaining their own projects split up and safe on sidechains. There is certainly promise, nevertheless it will need time to comprehend the vision of Stratis. Let�s take a deeper glimpse into the project plus their related STRAT lieu that powers the circle. Understanding Stratis Stratis is designed as its own blockchain the fact that also offers some sort of suite connected with development instruments in C# that permit companies to use the safety measures of its blockchain to build their own chains. That will save resources for typically the companies which don�t need to have to hire fresh blockchain developers or perhaps rewrite just about all their legacy software to work alongside a new platform. In their core Stratis will be an up-to-date, enterprise warm and friendly version involving Bitcoin. It may be more international, it�s quicker, and it actions apart from the resource starving Proof-of-Work mining of Bitcoin. It adds the Stratis podium that allows sidechains, intelligent contracts and this addition of decentralized apps. Stratis varies from various other blockchain projects simply by employing the C# programming language. With over 6 zillion C# developers the idea should mesh easily with the present methods of classic tech companies across the globe. The idea has built a new collection of equipment plus methods for designers for you to allow them to build their own blockchains, together with that also offers the use of its blockchain as a mainchain for you to secure included sidechains. nStratis Progress Program The nStratis blockchain developmnent platform produced for businesses In addition , it offers consultancy services intended for companies that want for you to use blockchain technology, nonetheless don�t recognize where as well as how to get started. As an example, they may possibly suggest some sort of fintech company, demonstrating them all how blockchain engineering may be used to verify funds will be being brought to the accurate people, to track purchases, and to validate customer personal. Stratis Team The main managing company to get Stratis is definitely the Stratis Team Ltd which can be based throughout the city of Birmingham. They are comprised connected with some quite experienced programmers with specialties in enterprise program together with blockchain. Stratis was founded throughout 2016 simply by the current TOP DOG, Chris Trew. Chris features over 10 years of knowledge in Enterprise THAT. He or she is also a backend developer who have created numerous applications throughout C# and ASP. INTERNET. He / she started to cut the teeth in the blockchain environment inside 2013 and functioned as being a volunteer on often the Blitz venture. Stratis Staff Members Some of this Stratis Team Members Chelsea is as well joined by Nicolas Dorier who formulated NBitcoin only as a learning exercise. NBitcoin can be now one of typically the most comprehensive cross-platform bitcoin frameworks. He has also composed a new book about blockchain programming in C#. Strat Electrum has also done a few work on Bitcoin�s core assignment. The STRAT Symbol Often the Stratis blockchain works by using Proof-of-Stake (PoS) as its agreement modus operandi, and typically the STRAT token as its local token on the community. Because Stratis uses Detr�s it means there�s virtually no learning resource intensive mining essential to secure the network, nor just about any expensive equipment required. It was developed because a low inflation cryptocurrency and holders can create rewards by staking cash, if they have enough to use a node. Functioning a good masternode requires staking two hundred fifty, 000 STRAT, which often has a associated with $392, 500 at the $1. 57 price on The month of september 7, 2018. That�s certainly out of reach regarding most, but there is converse of adding lower tier nodes that require less gold coins. The primary cause of the STRAT token is as gas for that network, or a approach to purchase network orders. Naturally you can also purchase it because a speculative investment decision, in addition to the coin is listed about well over a dozen deals, including Binance, Bittrex and HitBTC. Binance STRAT Save at Binance and Buy STRAT Bridal party As of September seven, 2018 the STRAT coin is #49 on Coinmarketcap. com with a industry cap of $155, 347, 489. That�s at a new associated with $1. 57 with a moving supply involving 99, 004, 672. Stratis hit an all-time elevated price of $21. 21 on January 8, 2018. Stratis Electrum Wallet was one regarding the first profitable ICO�s, raising 1, 500 BTC back in June/July 2016. This success led it to start their own ICO software in May 2018 to help other people find the same success. Is considered certainly a new generous offering, but could spell indications of trouble at the organization. ICO Popularity in Diminish Whenever Bitcoin rose around popularity most other cryptocurrencies struggled to find an target audience. So, that they turned for you to the ICO seeing that a new way to gain industry acceptance, and to elevate means to continue advancement. That�s just how Stratis became its start in 2016. ICOs became even more popular around 2017 as soon as Ethereum begun hosting tokens on its blockchain, allowing for companies to help bypass this long plus expensive technique of creating his or her own blockchain. Of which year saw nearly one, 000 ICOs launched plus $5. 6 billion in funds raised. It was not most good news though as over 50% of individuals ICOs were failures. Possibly even worse was the nearly $1 billion lost by simply investors to fake ICOs. These losses lured the attention, and ire, of presidency regulators. That put a poor light on ICOs. Shortly afterwards major online simply because marketing networks like Google, Myspace together with Twitter banned advertisements to get ICOs on their own platforms. ICO prices fell across the field and even people grew to become increasingly cautious about projects releasing new coins via an ICO. Falling ICO Demand Amount connected with funds raised via ICO is declining. Source: ICO Records 2018 still sees the good volume regarding ICOs, almost all sees a great deal more and more projects staying away from the negative judgment related to ICOs. Many have long gone back to the airdrop for you to spread tokens, and in spite of everything other folks are usually opting to help hold private product sales, providing their coins to be able to business capital firms and higher net-worth individuals rather as compared to retailing them to often the public. Electrum Stratis calls in question the decision involving Stratis to release a good ICO platform in May well 2018. In most respects the idea seems as if the particular management team is jammed in the past. Positive 2016 was initially just a pair of short yrs ago, although throughout the cryptocurrency entire world a couple of years is like a couple of ages. A turnkey ICO remedy at this level seems to fly when confronted with the negative view involving ICOs and the growing authorities scrutiny. Stratis Keeps an important Blockchain Even although the launch associated with an ICO platform makes it seem as if Stratis is out of feel using the rest of the particular cryptocurrency market, it remains a sturdy and outstanding blockchain assignment. And while the value of this STRAT coin has dropped during 2018, that�s even more an attribute of the overall decline within cryptocurrency areas. A new $1. 57 value now is even now a new more than 22, 000% gain from the $0. 007 ICO price associated with the endroit. That�s a pretty hefty go back throughout just over 2 several years. Stratis has also recently recently been listed in the Ms Azure Market, which was first a big win for Stratis founder and CEO Chris Trew. The real estate isnt necessarily an endorsement of Stratis as the assignment, but rather due to the fact the coin is published in C# for the. NET framework. The. NET framework was developed by way of 'microsoft', and because of Microsoft windows business usage the. WEB system and C# coding words are both equally embedded in most industry. As this developer with the. NET framework Microsoft contains a huge position in the your survival and even growth of the structure and the C# dialect, building acceptance of Stratis by Microsoft almost some sort of provided outcome. Microsoft Glowing blue Statement by Stratis on 'microsoft' Azure Company�s making use of legacy systems built about C# and. NET may find typically the transition to help a blockchain solution will likely be easiest and most cost-effective with all the00 Stratis solution. Almost all of these corporations already have C# developers that can be reassigned to a good blockchain project, and they�ll make quick progress thanks to be able to their own familiarity with C#.

Unfortunately with regard to Stratis the particular blockchain universe evolves incredibly quickly. Their C# set up was vaporware right until May possibly 2018, meaning there have been a new number of projects that will involved to and surpassed Stratis. And the Piece of cake budget, which in turn sounded therefore impressive throughout summer of 2016, wasn�t everything revolutionary any time it was launch while a beta mainnet product or service in Late 2017. It may be unfortunate, but the Stratis team would seem to always be working at a considerably slow pace than fresh plans, in particular those by Japan. The early enjoyment over Stratis hasn�t translated to early on adoption. In fact, other as opposed to endorsement into the Azure Market place, the largest partnership so far is to use Earth String, an unknown international of which is looking to disrupt typically the seafood logistics enterprise having a blockchain option. One particular confident development is typically the newest partnership with UNITED KINGDOM Meds, the particular quickest developing online drug-store in often the UK, just announced upon September 5. BRITISH Medicines plans on using this technology for you to boost individual safety and also to improve the UK Medicines supply chain. Conclusion Startis contains the variation of being the initial effective ICO, and remains to be impressive to this day time, but some say the idea needs to step upward it is game if that doesn�t would like the big difference of first successful ICO to be the largest variation the project actually reaches. While it has solid technology and a good sturdy relationship with Microsoft, the idea is not seeing the particular type of adoption it requires. If it can influence it is strengths there can be still wish for advancement within just the blockchain field because it offers a few viable and helpful use-cases. Typically the inclusion of the Stratis software in the Microsof company Azure industry is a big win, plus investors have to be happy with the 22, 000% return since the ICO, even if the price associated with the particular coin has been sliding in 2018. Entrepreneur sentiment may possibly be falling, but there are still loads of good to be reported for STRAT. Often the release of an ICO software doesn�t seem to become the best relocate 2018 as government regulators have been taking aim with ICOs, but fortunately Stratis has several other program advancements and partnerships. Potentially a good enterprise blockchain option inside C# may certainly not audio as technologically advanced or captivating as different blockchain jobs, but it�s just all these nuts-and-bolts style applications that are often the particular most useful plus money-making. In fact, the work with of C# makes Stratis more attractive to standard tech companies together with musical legacy systems, since they won�t have to start via scratch to help move or perhaps integrate their own devices together with blockchain technological innovation. The Stratis solution indicates real assure, but we must wait plus see if they can easily absolutely deliver.