#I just have a professional respect for real djs

[huynun]

For my au, I wanna make sure to have an episode about future planning n show everyone’s future plans, as well as how they aren’t all sure and how that’s fine

Marinette and Alya have very good ideas of what they want to do in the future (fashion and reporter respectively obvs), Nino has a few ideas but hasn’t truly settled on anything (dj, director, smth else?) Adrien has no idea whatsoever what he wants to do, he’s never gotten to make a choice like that so he never considered it until someone asks if he’d want to continue modeling and he doesn’t have anything to tell them, Chloe had a good idea of what she wanted to be and that was mayor just like her dad but then she slows down when she starts her redemption and begins to think about whether that’s actually what she wants

Other characters are also in various stages of future planning like Nathaniel wants to be a comic writer, kitty section wants to be a band but Ivan also wants to help run a charity and Juleka wants to be a model but she’d also settle for makeup artist, Rose doesn’t really know what she wants to do otherwise, Sabrina doesn’t know anymore now that she’s cut ties with Chloe though all she had then was be Chloe’s second in command, mylene likes acting but doesn’t think she can make a career out of it and otherwise wants to start a charity or otherwise work at one but doesn’t know what kind, Alix likes rollerblading but doesn’t know if she could go professional and also likes art but knows spray painting is looked down on, Kim wants to be a professional swimmer and won’t hear anything against that, max wants to be a programmer or a mathematician, Lila has given many different answers to the question and since she lies so often, there’s no way to know if one is real or which it is

[theselfshippingwitch]

Janine x Egon Wedding Questions

(This is for The Real Ghostbusters versions of the characters)

(also i'm gonna tag @ariel-seagull-wings bc they wanted to see my answers to this lol)

Imagine what music they would have? What food? Would it be outside? What kind of theme, if any, would they have?

I imagine Egon would want only classical music while Janine would be like PARTY!!! Lol she would still want the classic organ music as she’s walking down the aisle though, and at the reception they would have a combo, like they would start with classical and then go into more like dance music as the night went on. They would have their wedding in this amazing greenhouse venue in Brooklyn with this incredible ceiling. No theme, the venue is the centerpiece. 

The food would also tie in to the venue as they have a lot of fresh and light fruits and veggies (and mushrooms) for the cocktail hour and an amazing seasonally-appropriate salad before the main course.

Who would they invite?

Okay so Egon was definitely having like, a whole crisis about this bc his family is pressuring him to like, invite all these important figures from the scientific community and “uphold the reputation of the Spengler family within these prestigious circles” and whatever and Egon just wanted a small wedding but the guest list just keeps getting bigger and bigger and its so hard for him to ever say no to any of his family and it was like… 

It was Janine who encouraged him to advocate for himself and stand up for what he wants out of his big day bc she was not having all those stuffy scientific types at her party absolutely not

In the end, it was a celebration with extended family and close friends and louis who always ends up at janine and egon’s wedding no matter the circumstances of the occasion for some reason

jk louis is a close friend and we love and respect him is this house

Also Ray is Egon’s best man and Janine’s sister is the Maid of Honor

What season is it? Day or night? What colors do they wear?

It is a summer day (August 2nd, 1993), bright and sunny but luckily not too hot. The only other color beyond the natural green of the surroundings is the pink of the bridesmaid’s dresses and burgundy of the groomsmen’s ties.

Is it traditional or do they do something wild?

Traditional! It’s the wedding Janine has been dreaming of since she was a little girl (along with her Jewish wedding ceremony, which she had first). 

Did they write their own vows? Who is the person marrying them?

Because this is going to be the secular wedding (even though it has a lot of things based on Christian wedding traditions ik)  they wouldn’t have any religious figure marrying them. They would just get, like, a professional wedding officiant who just fits their vibe yk? And it was important to Janine that they write their wedding vows bc… she just needs to hear it, okay? She cannot just have Egon say “yeah, mmm-hmm” to whatever the officiant says, she needs to hear Egon say how much she means to him and we’re all gonna make him do it

Are they wearing suits? Dresses? Something else entirely?

Okay here’s the fun part FINALLY

Janine’s dress: 

Bridesmaid’s dresses:

Egon’s suit:

This means ray gets to wear his pea soup green suit that he already owns!!! Groomsmen’s suit:

What does their cake look like if they have one?

Does she throw the bouquet for someone to catch or does she pass out one flower to everyone to let everyone know they are worthy of love?

Janine definitely wants to throw her bouquet! Even though two of her bridesmaids are already married (her older sister, and her bff Violet who married Egon’s bff Ray last year)

Do they have a party afterwards? What music?

Yes!!! Yes they do!!! And the music is an eclectic mix of Egon’s classical music (with a live string quartet) and Janine’s playlist of party music with artists like Madonna and Cyndi Lauper (with a live DJ)

She also has a reception dress!:

Is it the wedding of their dreams or does something go awry?

Janine is too rich now for something to go awry

Also! How is the kiss!? Do they smooch softly? Sweetly? Passionately? Does he dip her into a deep smooch? Is it a soft sweet peck?

The kiss we’ve all been waiting for tbh

Very sweet and romantic. She puts a hand on the back of his neck while he holds her waist. He’s been mostly expressionless through the ceremony but he smiles as he kisses her, the softie

What is their honeymoon like? Is it a stay at home one? Do they go somewhere exciting? How long is the trip? Or stay at a hotel? Or maybe a cute little cottage somewhere?

They go to Cairo, Egypt! I feel like it’s the perfect mix of what they would both want out of a honeymoon. It’s an exciting city that’s got an ancient history and culture attached to it (egon is gonna study so many hieroglyphs you don’t even KNOW)

Does she take his last name or him hers? Do they keep or hyphenate their names? Or maybe they both take on a whole new last name together!

But they would have to change the name tags on the uniforms…

How many kids do they have? What are their names?

This is where it gets sketchy cuz fankids are a whole nother thing that I haven’t thought of yet for janegon but I DO know that they have a kid about one year apart from Violet and Ray’s oldest kid and they’re both boys and they’re besties who go on adventures together (the violet/ray kid is the timid one and the janegon kid is the bold one, you get where i’m going with this)

Where do they live?

In a penthouse apartment in Manhattan, where Janine can have space to write editorial articles for the magazine she created and runs, Egon can get to Ghostbusters HQ without too much trouble (even though he’s not part of the field team anymore he works on R&D with Ray out of there almost every day).

[everywherenyc]

#SATISFACTION -

Finding something you adore, becoming a real whiz at it, and seeing how it touches others in a good way—it's like discovering a treasure trove of feelings! Imagine when chefs whip up a dish they love or artists craft a masterpiece; it’s like they've hit the jackpot of joy.

As a promoter, it's like being the architect of an empty room's transformation. You conjure up this mental picture of decorations, music, and happy vibes, then bring together your talented crew to make it happen. The flyer you create? It's like a sneak peek for everyone to know what the night's gonna be like.

Picture this: a room full of folks, dancing away, smiles on their faces. That feeling of contentment and accomplishment? It’s like finding the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle—it’s hard to explain, but it’s there.

Paying everyone, from the cashier to the security and especially the DJ, may be tiring, but it’s also immensely satisfying. Why? Because everyone can see the impact they've had on each person in the crowd.

It’s like making a beautiful, accidental masterpiece where every tiny detail was your doing. Chefs feel it when you take that first delicious bite of their creation, or when a comedian hears that genuine laughter at a new joke.

When Busta Rhymes talked about it, it hit home so deeply that tears flowed. All those years of cracking jokes, offering sincere advice, and promoting things I genuinely believe in—those built you up. People know me, and more importantly, I know myself .. Integrity, professionalism, humor, business-minded and always, always spreading positive vibes and life lessons. My actions have spoken for me for so long that I dont need words and its a blessing. It's a blessing because I wasnt doing it for a reason.. I just love to make a positive impact on whatever project I am working on.

Yes, the feeling that one gets when he's good at something and it affects someone postively,

is the best feeling in the world. It's like, a sense of validation or affirmation. It's like a big warm hug of approval that tells you your hard work paid off and your efforts were appreciated.

It can make you feel acknowledged, respected, and encouraged to keep doing what you love.

E-MAN 2023. https://linktr.ee/EverywhereNYC

#talented #gifted #artists #promoters #singers #dancers #performers #reaction #bustarhymes #diaryofaceo #stevenbartlett

SEE THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRjzQuzX-tg&t=3353s

"LIKE" if you can understand "COMMENT" to educate u on your thoughts

[airevast2090-blog]

CANNIBAL OX: 'Live From The Aireport' April 1st - Peace & Blessings To The Real Fans! The ones that know all the hard work that we put in to create great music and performances. Can Ox moving forward is no longer a duo. It's been like this for over 10 years. While recording 'Blade of Ronin', the crew and I went through crazy issues dealing with Mega's Depression & Drug use. I expressed to Mega that our brand & band can't & won't be shown in that light. After he missed a huge festival in Africa. I decided with DJ Cip One that we move forward, and we did, no different from Black Moon or even a similar situation The Roots went through respectively. I have always had to be more than just a 'rapper' for this group. I protected our name legally and got us agents and managers as we started to build a name in the underground indy world. Nobody understands what we (Crimson Godz) went through to try and keep Vordul Mega motivated and healthy. He made his decision to step back, we understood he was under a lot of pressure. This was extremely stressful for all of us. We want the fans to enjoy what we did in the past and embrace the new movement. I've done in my ability to keep our fun dynamic, and we moved on over 8 years ago, as Shamar (V-Mega) entered councilng. This means Mega won't be touring or recording with us moving forward. This is fair to fans that want to come out to shows and see a great performance, without the worry of not showing up or being unprofessional on stage. If you love Vordul Mega like I do, celebrate his legacy, stream his music. We all want what's best for him. And if and when he wants to come back, we will receive him with open arms. As for right now, the band is moving on. And we will continue to do what we always have done! 🔥 🎤 CANNIBAL OX WILL BE TOURING W/ CRIMSON GODZ! IM DOING CLASSICS & NEW JOINTS! JUST LIKE I DID WHEN SHAMAR MISSED WOULD FLIGHTS. IVE ALWAYS BEEN THERE! DONT DISRESPECT ME. ALL SHOW PROMOTERS LEGALLY KNOW OUR CURRENT POSITION & THEY KNOW WHO ALWAYS SHOWED UP AS A PROFESSIONAL! RAIN, HAIL OR SNOW! WE MOVED ON. RESPECT 🦬 IGC RECORDS LLC VAST AIRE OF CANNIBAL OX- (at United States) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpZ82A-u_Tz/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[toitown]

Monster March!

Day 12: Species Swap

So like, the species swap prompt has really got me thinking. I’d honestly like to see Jackson and Holt in a species swap, like where Holt is the Jekyll side and Jackson is the Hyde side. Can you imagine??

Holt Jekyll is this human passing teen with canon Jackson’s pale skin and blue eyes, bright ginger hair with a blood red streak dyed in it that’s spiked up like flames, and he’s dressed in canon Holt’s signature outfit. He complains in his journal about his grandpa, Dr. Jekyll, who keeps trying to sit him down and force him to master the sciences because “you’re going to have to know all of this to be a respectable and well-rounded doctor one day, just like all of the other Jekyll men in this family”. But Holt doesn’t want to be a doctor, the sciences are too boring for him. His passion is music and he intends to be a professional DJ and guitarist, although his strict grandpa believes those are useless professions and is having absolutely none of it. So he’s just this rebellious trouble-maker trying to shove off years of expectations and prove to the whole world that Holt Jekyll is a total badass that can handle life on his own without any fancy papers, thank you very much.

Meanwhile, Jackson Hyde is an undoubtedly monster teen with canon Holt’s blue skin, orange eyes, and crescent birth mark, his naturally lemon yellow hair and black bangs nearly hanging in his eyes, and he’s dressed in canon Jackson’s signature outfit. He complains in his journal about his grandpa, Mr. Hyde, who keeps trying to make him join sports or run with a wilder and tougher crowd because “You’re a Hyde, you gotta man-up one of these days. I’m not gonna sit here and watch you be a wuss your whole life”. But Jackson has no interest in sports or shows of toughness, they’re empty and useless in his personal opinion. He wants to get his doctorate in biotechnology with a specialty in biochemical engineering, which his grandpa completely disregards as a phase since he thinks that it’s a bunch of crap and “frilly jobs like that aren’t real work”. So he’s just this soft-spoken nerd trying to shirk off a lifetime’s worth of expectations and prove to everyone around him that Jackson Hyde is a dignified young man who doesn’t need bruised knuckles to stand on his own two feet, for your information.

And of course there’s a lingering resentment between the two of them in their journals, not because they dislike what the other one stands for, but because “I wish I were you.” Each one has what the other wants, but there’s no way they can obtain it or swap because Dr. Jekyll would rather be caught dead than have his namesake ruined due to his duel nature’s grandson achieving more than his own, and there’s no way that Mr. Hyde is going to let his grandson get overshadowed by some goodie-2-shoes Jekyll kid. So they just sit in mutual frustration as they envy each other and try to build their own futures, eventually becoming friends and learning to work together on that last goal.

[studyonthehill]

The Top 3

Top Three Study Places

DJ Fleming 

10/8/22

Hello there again to all you well-focused, studious, and stressed-out College students out there! I hope everyone is getting their work done and studying hard, but also remember to take it easy and relax from time to time. I know I can sometimes overindulge when it comes to relaxing and putting off work, so be careful of that aswell. Anyway as excited as I am to be writing to you all I am also just as sad. Yes, this is a sad post because it is my last blog post (currently crying while typing). Indeed I have enjoyed sharing all my tips and thoughts about studying on the hill, but alas all great things, like this blog page :) must come to an end. Since it is in fact the last blog I wanted to hit you all up with my all-time top three places to get the work done when you just don’t feel like it. It is in my professional opinion, which I must remind you all, I am in no way a professional by any means but, I do believe that these top places will induce work and motivate you—bringing out the fire in your eyes and releasing the inner homework tiger thats ready to pounce and tear through all the work that brings you down.   

Now in order to properly slay at homework and enjoy it in any kind of way I believe that you must take advantage of all the great spaces that Mcdaniel has to offer and leave your dorm room behind if it is causing stress and feelings of entrapment. In the short semester and a half, I had on campus my freshman year I was able to discover the best places and now I want to just recap and give my top three pics. 

Starting up to bat is the infamous, the classic unbeatable, highly neglected but always respected ….. HARVEEEEEYYY STOOOOONNE!! 

This is a true oasis when it comes to getting lost in your work, I really cannot begin to tell you the countless times I have been unable to work because I would run into people and distract myself on campus. When it seemed that there was no escape from all the distractions on campus I would always find hope in this dead, forgotten, magical, and enchanting place to get work done. This ancient safe space is located just beyond the soccer and baseball fields right tucked up against the golf course, nestled in a swarm of magnificent trees creating an almost cavelike feel. Harvey Stone separates itself from campus and the business and worries creating a paradise for relaxation, reflection, and yes getting that shit done! Being surrounded by nature and feeling “off the grid” is a great way to take advantage of this area and center yourself while you burn through all the work. For me, the majesty of this place comes from the rustic feel and the feeling of absolute separation. All you can hear is the rustling of trees, birds flying and screeching, and the wild squirrels running ceaselessly chasing each other. All while you’re trying away, reading, and ever so often looking up at the clouds and the trees, and take time to relax while you work. Not to mention, along with doing homework by yourself it is a great place to have a little homework party with some friends if you prefer to do work together.  Harvey Stone is a comforting and cozy spot to set up shop to dump the backpack and cross things off your to-do list. I would say the things to watch out for are decaying wood and giant spiders. Again the place is not in its prime and far from its heyday but these small things aside I promise if you go you will fall in love and feel at ease. Resulting in the work getting done faster and easier by zoning in. I also should add that is a bit of a walk so I highly advise you to bring snacks and water and anything else to make you feel more comfortable. I tend to bring my hammock if I go there and need to do some readings. I can swing and read at Harvey which is the only way it seems I really can do homework some days. 

Next up to bat is a real heavy hitter,  winner-winner chicken dinner that I think is also taken for granted and slept on by students. This is a shame because it offers probably the best view on campus if not in the entirety of Westminster.  Right on the tippy top of the hill is the newly renovated and highly underrated outer back deck of the ROJ Student Center which is the second study spot I want to share. This is lorbbly exactly the opposite of the first share except for the fact that you are also outside. This is a modern, newly renovated area with surprisingly comfortable chairs equipped with outlets in them and desk table tops. So the atmosphere here is less of a rustic one and more of a rooftop lounge or apartment building. Just a rooftop loung that is filled with people on their computers or nose-diving into books instead of pouring drinks, dancing,  and taking shots. I highly recommend anyone to visit this location if they want to get the outdoor feeling but also be connected with campus and not go too far to feel comfortable and relaxed to do their work. I like to think this study location is for a nice early morning fresh start homework sesh. With the brisk air and sun shining on your face while you start the daily grind that we all dread. This place makes you dread it all the more. Plus after killing it with the work and feeling fulfilled you can conveniently walk right below the deck and get a  snack from The Pub. That’s another reason this place is so great. It is also important to note it can be a great place to just belt out a happy or angry scream from all the stress that might be inside. It’s important to get it out and what better place to scream out than on the place that looks like an actual cliff? 

The absolute best part of this study spot is is the wonderful view from atop McDaniel’s campus where you can see a great view of the hills that tower over Westminster and where the sun goes down at night. Creating a beautiful sunset which is like what else can you ask for in a view when you cramming for midterms. At least you can look up every once in a while and see such beauty.  Also from my perception, this place is still slightly undiscovered by many students so if you want to take advantage of the space and spread out and not be too distracted from others. 

Okay okay, this is the last one I want to share. Last but definitely not least when it comes to finding a place to study. This one is more of a simpler spot but I think that is in the beauty of it. The last go-to spot for me when I need a spot to do work that’s just for me is in the kitchen of my apartment in North Village. You read that right the kitchen.  Now I know that this may not apply to everyone who reads this because not everyone who reads this may not live in North Village or even have a kitchen on campus. Also, this is not a subliminal message inviting people to study in my kitchen on campus lol. But just to share that some really easy and ordinary places can be a great study spot for some. I like to take all my stuff outside my room to the kitchen, preferably while someone else is cleaning or cooking in there and I put on my headphones, spread all my stuff on the table, and open the blinds to let all the light in a get to working.  I shared this because I employ everyone to find their special simple spots where they can just easily power through work in a more casual but effective way. It helps sometimes to not be 100% in just to keep a level head and not fall into the pit of a serious homework grind. There is definitely a time and place for that. But it is nice to have a more relaxed study spot for the easy breezy work that can sometimes be enjoyable. The kitchen is just the perfect amount of chaos and calmness where I feel included in what’s going on around me but im also being productive and I like to think we all need that. Hence Starbucks and other cafes where people are doing work together. It is to feel connected but still get work done.  

After reading about my top three places and when you are done crying with sadness over my last blog entry  I really hope you can use these locations for studying and if not you can find your own study spots. Or create your dream work location with an atmosphere that reflects who you are. Remember studying and doing work is not the most fun thing to do in the world but a great location definitely helps. I’m happy to have shared my thoughts and tips with you all and I want to add it is probably a great idea to invest in a hammock if you want to maximize the McDaniel Colleg campus.

Till the next time, happy studying. 

P.S. Be sure to reward all your hard work with a trip to Plum Crazy Diner.  One of my favorite breakfast-for-dinner locations in Westminster. Which is less than 5 min from campus. It’s a diner that’s all I can say, so not amazing food but amazing because its a diner. It definitely puts a smile on my face. Also not the worst place to do work if you’re hungry and want cheap breakest food and alot of background noise. Especially if you have great company too. 

Anyway happy studying again!! :)

[dojae-huh]

I’m the anon who asked your unpopular opinion. Thank you for sharing! You and I share a lot of the same sentiment. I also have a dislike for fans putting an idol on a pedestal. It’s weird to me. I honestly don’t follow anyone who only sing praises of their bias and don’t recognize their faults. I find it annoying. Unfortunately it’s hard to find fans like that.

I also do find SM to be one of the better companies out there in Korea. Take H.O.T their members and group are household names in Korea and some of the members haven’t appeared in the public for a while. I also believe SM as a company grows and tries to better themselves. I do also like how they always try different approaches to make sure the company will last. Also I see Do as someone like Kangta or BoA in the future in SM as well. As for the other NEOs I’m kind of waiting to see how they progress. Other than Mark and Taeyong I’m not sure where the members confidence stand. They have their strengths, but are lacking. Like Taeil I love his voice and believe he’s a great singer, but you can tell he is not ready for a solo and to perform on his own to demand the stage.

There is one thing I don’t agree with you though about an SM artist who are interested in acting should leave. Yoona from SNSD is a successful actress under SM and she hasn’t released any music with a music video since Oh!GG Lil’ Touch. Same with Yuri I believe, but she’s not as successful as an actress as Yoona. (With Yoona and Yuri please correct me if I’m wrong on any of the info about last music releases). Though if a NEO just wishes to detach themself from the NCT brand I can see them leaving SM for that reason only and to pursue acting elsewhere. Like what FX Krystal did.

PS: I did want to answer your Feb prompt, but never chance got a chance to. I did want to share the Puff video where the members hug Jae was when I started to really think there was something between JaeDo for sure. I just found there hug so sentimental and sweet. Like when they hugged you could feel there was “love” in it.

The February hasn't finished yet, heh.

I didn't mean to say that if an artist stays in SM there is no way to make a good acting career. I used "it might be better to leave". Notice "might".

SM manages actors, comedians, fashion models. However, as I don't know the conditions, I can't compare with other acting agencies. Maybe those have better contracts and more experienced agents who find better deals and roles. It would make sense for foreign idols to leave to pursue an acting career back at home as well.

Music, on the other hand, I can compare. And it is universally known that SM takes care of vocals well, that it releases great songs. It has an indie label, it develops EDM label (the 3 DJs got their own poster for SMCU Express even), it cooperated with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, it organizes camps for compositors and connects Korean producers with producers from all over the world. LSM respects and supports the artists who contributed in the past. BoA is not interesting to the public anymore, she doesn't bring money nowadays, she is still the goddess of SMCU above the real current solo queen Taeyeon, BoA still can pick her songs and give "leftovers" to Shinee. SM makes sure to push the older groups. This project with S.E.S and H.O.T MV remastering in 2021. This SM family thing works. NCT and aespa fans know Kangta. Who knows other H.O.T members who are now in other agencies?

Take Kun. The boy is at the bottom of popularity polls but he is doing very well professionally (as a composer). He has a studio, he has teachers (SM staff) who evaluate his works, he accumulates friends among producers, he has credited songs, and he doesn't need to worry about money, he can spend them on helicopter piloting lessons. His main worry is his clothes hanger, lol. And it might be news for many, but Kun was in a pre-debut Taiwanese group "Change", which was disbanded before it even produced original songs.

I wholly agree with you about SM improving. And it's not easy to do, it's impossible in one night. That lady CEO who was hated by many for preferring boygroups over girlgroups is still somewhere in the company. She had to step down from her position, but LSM had to offer her something else instead. Idols are the face of the company, but there are wealthy people and shareholders to please. It's not easy to restructure the work of all departments as well. Some do better (NCT content team), some are lacking (the physical album team). There are managers who are like parents to the idols, there are managers who barely know what they are doing (I remember Do complained, heh). LSM is a genius but he is one man. He needs multiple capable people in his team who are hard to find. And it's even harder to find people with good character and morals, who will share his vision and care about the idols and not only their paycheck.

[iamnightduchess]

Queeeen! 😆 I live your HC to my ask about ReiKasa and if you don't mind, I'm sorry if I ask too many things but can you make HC of ReiKasa actor AU? Hehehe

Hello dearest, thank you for the interesting Ask! I hope this post fits into your envisioned universe 😉

Reiner x Mikasa (ReiKasa) Actor AU Universe (Gen) Headcanon #15

Acting Career

Both are very professional in their acting - they each have serious switch energies. They are both different off-screen and on-screen.

Reiner got his footing in acting as a rising action star. There had even been rumors of him being a stripper when he was in college, which he did not deny, saying that he needed to pay for his degree. In real life, he is the coolest, hilarious and dorky guy ever (He's a party animal!) But when the cams started rolling, he'll switch to the darkest mode needed for his character that it scares the producers at times. Same goes with Eren.

Before Reiner was cast as one of the recurring characters in the SnK series, he's also known as the face of Calvin Klein, Red Bull Energy Drink & Tag Heuer.

Meanwhile Mikasa is a multifaceted & talented actress who began her career as a child actress/commercial models. You could see her extensive filmography as she took on guest roles and recurring characters in older tv serials in the 90s & early 2000s. This woman also made a lot of cameos in the MV of famous rock & pop bands.

Mikasa is already a famous household name before her breakout role as the main actress for SnK The Series. She is the face of Dior, Simone Pérèle & Anna Sui.

After SnK The Series became a global phenomenon, both Reiner & Mikasa were appointed as Goodwill Ambassadors for UNICEF from the cast of the series.

SnK The Series (SnKTS)

When they were both cast into their respective characters, these two started out as acquaintances/ fellow castmates.

Mikasa was cast at the main three leads. Reiner was a recurring character until he gets a bump into the main roster for the final season.

These two barely have any direct lines with each other, but when they do have direct action/lines together, or just standing next to each other in a frame, fans can feel the intense vibe between these two.

Therefore, from S3 onwards, one can expect Reiner & Mikasa to be travelling together a lot for promos, fan panels & interviews.

Since they are the few actors on set that perform their own stunts, they spend a lot of time together with the stunt choreographer for most of their action scenes. Reiner and Mikasa have an amazing onscreen fight scene chemistry.

Any behind-the-scenes recording or media interviews would see these two playing pranks on each other or just tease each other mercilessly but one can see that they both have a soft spot for each other.

Dating Rumors

They both started noticing each other's endearing qualities since the first table reading for the series' season debut. They become fast, casual friends because they're both fitness enthusiasts & foodies.

These two would usually arrive on set 3 hours early & hit the gyms or do a quick run. After a while they'd usually do them together.

Reiner would be the one who's constantly checking if he might have accidentally hurt her in one of their fight scenes. Off-screen, their chemistry is very apparent amongst the production members but they insisted they're very comfortable friends.

There's a secret betting pool among the writers of the series that these two would end up married by the time the series wraps up.

One of the executive producers even said that if they end up married, he'll gift their firstborn child with his or her own education trust fund.

Reiner & Mikasa both have dating rumors but not with each other because they're so good in keeping things professional. Mikasa has fans speculating a lot, especially when a lot of musicians or sports stars shared that she is their dream date or big time crush. She's been linked to famous DJs & idols while Reiner has been linked to Victoria's Secret models & popstars. All of those were just rumors.

On red carpets of premiere, press tours, fan panels and after party, they're always photographed with a group of other cast members. Eagle-eyed fans would notice the subtle touches, secret whispers and longing looks from one to the other. Reiner would usually wear a tie that matches the color of Mikasa's dress. On-site fans would notice Reiner offering his hand for her to take when she wears heels or fixing her hair or her dress trains.

Levi and Hange, fellow married castmates who also had a secret relationship prior to their wedding, had been the one who's been Reiner & Mikasa's respective wingman/wingwoman. Armin and Annie, who are openly dating each other had been in cahoots in keeping their fellow castmates' relationship on the DL too. Annie had almost spilled the tea in an interview 🙈

These two are so private, they don't post anything about each other on their SM accounts. Reiner always posts about his fitness regime and hiking trips with Jean, Armin, Connie and occasionally Levi. Mikasa would post pictures of her, Hange, Annie, Sasha and Pieck on their vacations or her pictures of her cat, Primrose. But Annie's SM posts have almost exposed Reiner & Mikasa's relationship during one of their group's private getaways in Cabo.

Even the paparazzis were unable to spot them without non-family members or castmates around. But media was able to sniff their possible relationship when pictures of their secret vacation in Italy with their families were leaked online.

Their budding romance is comparable to Rose Leslie & Kit Harington from GOT or Ryan Reynolds & Blake Lively. Paps pictures of Mikasa sporting a huge diamond band on her finger has the rumor mills swirling. Some fans have been able to deduce the identity of her mysterious fiancé when she's seen with a fresh tattoo of the monogram letters R and B on the inside of her wrist, while Reiner has been spotted having the letters M and A tattooed on his.

Referencing to this post, prior to their wedding news, the moment Reiner appears on the cover of Men's Health Magazine with his nude pecs on full display, fans are finally able to confirm that he is Mikasa's mysterious husband-to-be based on the tattoos on his chest.

As soon as the news of their upcoming wedding was made official with the release of their official pre-wedding pictures, they legit broke the internet.

These two would spur fans to do a forensic on all past official promo, behind the scenes stills, making of & event images that would make people go, "Holy crap, the signs were all there!" If there's a mag cover caption best to describe the news, it'll be with "Married! When did it all even begin?"

Extremely Private Married Life

They had a closed, private wedding on a cruise ship in the summer. It was attended by fellow cast members and Mikasa & Reiner's other close celebrity friends.

Even after they're married, paps had a huge challenge trying to snap pictures of them together.

During the filming of the final season, Mikasa would be like Gal Gadot, filming her own stunts at 20 weeks of pregnancy. She was very persistent in not using a double. That even made Reiner sat restlessly on the sides whenever the cameras started rolling.

EDIT: The showrunners also decided to inject an indirect fan-service by featuring their characters right next to each other in the Final Season's official poster & key art for merchandise as they've been married & have given birth by the time the Final Season was ready to debut.

After her baby bump got too big and was getting a lot harder to cover, the production crew forced her to use a stunt double for long-shots.

When their twins were born, the new family had an exclusive feature with Harper's Bazaar. All proceeds from the rights purchase went straight to UNICEF.

The Executive Producer had setup the twins' college trust fund the moment the their names were officially announced by UNICEF on their website.

----------------

Thanks for the Ask, dear! ❤ I had loads of fun with this 😆

[mirkwoodshewolf]

The first sign; Jack Kline x reader

*Author’s note*

Hey guys well it’s been awhile since I updated my Rock angel series and for good reason too because here is where things get DARK!! As you’ll see in the taglist below I’ve started putting trigger warnings cause in this part it involves stalking, dog attacks (some people fear dogs so I wanted to be respectful). Now the next chapter after this will REALLY be insane so I hope you all buckle up cause you’re in for one hell of a ride.

Also face cast for Steve I put the gif for Joe Keery, and for the Rock Angel’s manager just look up actor James Woods (aka Hades from Hercules).

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@waddles03​

@psychosupernatural​

@ixchel-9275​

@simonedk​

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​

@queendeakyy​

@queen-paladin​

@queensdivas​

@wormzteef​

@geek-and-proud​

@starswin​

@onebigfangirlworld​

@dj-lowkey​

@naturalswifty89​

@isabella-bby​

@bohemiansweede​

@5sos-wdw​

@labessieisallama​

_______________________________________________________

Everyone thinks it won’t happen to me, that I’m immune to such evil.  No one thinks they’ll ever experience such a thing but you’d sadly be lying, or in complete denial.  At least everyone goes through this type of evil at one point in their lives.  And for celebrities, it’s a living hell because the world will only watch with a bucket of popcorn and enjoy your pain and suffering.

The only ones you can depend on are your family.  And don’t ever say they wouldn’t understand because they will.  Had I not told my family about what was going on—you know what fuck it they were forced into this.  But even so if they didn’t know what was going on, this part of my story would’ve ended very, very, very, very differently.

*2 months after the tribute concert*

I hadn’t slept in a week.  I was exhausted with trying to put the final touches on my tribute album for Freddie.  My manager James Woods was really putting the heat on me with trying to get this album up so that I could ring in the money for him.  Wait first let me backup just a tick and explain some things first.

When I first transferred out of EMI and went to Hollywood Records, my manager at the time was a man known as Desmond Roberts.  He was a generous, kind man who saw my potential as a female musician and like Miami, pushed me to do my best.  He was a family man as well; at the time he had become a grandfather for the first time at the age of 52.

But earlier this year he had to retire because it was by law of the company that all representatives must retire by the age of 65. With that my new manager was his young and vibrant VP James Woods.  James is—well let’s just say he’d make a better car salesman than a recording manager.

A man born and bred in the heart of Boston, he’s the kind of man who sees his own vision and wants other people to execute it for him. Hell he’s even been pressuring me to go more into Pop music as that is the rising fame of music now.  Artists like Madonna, Gwen Stefani, rising star Christina Aguilera, and Mariah Carey.  He wanted to push me to going in their direction.

But I reminded him of my original contract that I signed on between Miami and Desmond.  That my image was to never, ever, ever under any circumstances be changed. Yes he even tried to make me change my stage name into the Spicy Angel (yeah that didn’t sit right with me).

To put it frank—my current manager is a stubborn, two-headed, forked-tongue, snake in the grass.  Sleezy, and can make some vulgar comments either towards me or some of my roadies.

But the one step he took too far was when he hired his own nephew to be my PA (he claimed that he was trying to help out his sister). At first I was against it but with that pleading and begging persuasionistic tone of his, for some reason I ended up agreeing and his nephew Steve Harrison became my new PA.

Steve Harrison.  He was the same age as Jack, had deep brown eyes, a fairly handsome face, but his crown jewel was his hair.  He always bragged and fussed about his hair.  Brown and fluffed up beyond anything, like cotton candy.  Silky and moosed to no end.  Wow and I thought I was bad when it came to doing my air before a show.

Now Steve definitely knew his way around the recording station.  Made sure that every song I recorded sounded to perfection, always sought to my every need, ensured that for upcoming tours I was given updates on the schedule, and he even took my calls and wrote them down for me.  He kept his work profession throughout all of 1991.

But when the summer of 92 came around, things began to change.

As I said before, I hadn’t slept a week.  The Freddie Mercury tribute album was taking longer than the company expected.  That’s because I wanted to make sure every song, especially the cover ones that Fred had given me legal rights to do, were perfect.

I was at the controls listening to my version of Somebody to love when the door opened behind me.

“I would’ve thought her royal highness would’ve gone home?”

“Perfectionists never stop. I learned that from the best group of men I know.” He took the empty seat next to me and presented me with a cup of coffee.  I softly thanked him and went back to listening to my song.

When the last vibrato rang out on the word ‘love’, Steve sighed and said.

“It’s beautiful.”

“It’s shit!” I complained. “God why did he give me such responsibility to do these songs I-I-I—not I’m even worthy to do his songs. At least not without him.”

“This version is the best. Better than I’ve ever heard it been played. In fact……I think you’re better than Freddie Mercury.” I snapped my head towards him.

“Freddie Mercury was and will always be a genius. His voice is unlike any other performer’s and his style of writing will forever go down in music history as the best damn thing the world will ever know! So don’t you ever say that someone is better than him. Especially me!” I shot up from the chair, it rolled back and slammed against the wall and I turned towards the wall with my arms crossed over my chest, and breathed heavily trying to calm down.

“I—I’m sorry. I was just speaking my opinion. I—didn’t know how much you cared about him. He…..must’ve really meant something to you.” He spoke softly.

“More than you’ll ever know.” I muttered as I fingered the bracelet Fred gave me as a birthday gift. “And I’m sorry Steve I—I didn’t mean to shout. I’m……just exhausted and stressed. With your uncle—”

“Hey, I get it. Uncle James can be a real pain in the ass at times.” I turned towards him and saw him standing a few inches away from me. “Hell one time when I was 16, I had asked him if I could take his mustang for a test drive and he told me ‘kid you so much as even leave a fingerprint you’re as dead as a doornail and I don’t care if you’re my nephew’.” The two of us laughed at his uncle’s impersonation.

“And I thought I was the only one with a douche uncle.”

“Oh trust me, you think he’s demanding at work? You should see him round the holidays.” I softly laughed.  That’s when I felt his finger slightly graze against the back of my palm.

My heart stopped and that’s when I noticed that he had gotten a little closer to me.  Closer and closer his face came but I quickly got out of his way and said.

“Excuse me, I gotta sign off this track and ship it off by tomorrow morning.” I grabbed Steve’s chair and went straight back into my work.  As I was fiddling around with the switches and buttons, I could feel that he was standing right there beside me.  I tried to ignore him and focus on my work but his lingering presence grew too much.

Like a moth to the flame.  Silent but fluttering around too close.

I turned to say something to him, that’s when his lips suddenly crashed with mine.  My eyes widened and my body froze for a moment before my brain snapped back into reality.

I pushed him away and slapped him across the face. Standing up and my chest heaving in so many mixed emotions, but the one main emotion going out about me was anger.

“What the fuck Steve!? Why did you do that!? You know I’m happily married and have children!”

“I—I’m sorry I just…..I’ve always been a fan of yours and I just….I’m sorry. Please don’t tell my uncle. You know as well as I do what he’s like. He’ll beat me to a pulp if he finds out. Please Angel I beg of you, don’t tell him.” His eyes going fearful and tears shined at the corner of his eyes.

I wish I could say that I told him that I was going to rat him out, have him fired even but—I didn’t.  He’s right I did know what it was like to have an abusive uncle.  Now while my uncle never really touched my physical, he did have his temper and would throw things at me just barely missing me (that mostly happened when he was on the bottle).

“Only if you promise me you won’t do shit like that again. And never speak of this to anyone.”

“I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die.” He said as he crossed his heart with his finger.  I narrowed my eyes at him and grabbed my purse.

“Take the day off tomorrow. Then come back on Monday to work. Professionally.” I emphasized the last word and he nodded and I walked out without another word.

I wish I could take it all back.  That I had fired him right then and there, if I had then what would eventually come, wouldn’t have happened.  Or at least not gotten to the scale that it did get to.

*3 weeks after the kiss*

I was on the Late Show with David Letterman doing a television interview about the upcoming album as well as my tour coming later in the year.

“So Rock Angel your upcoming album ‘Fly High Mercury’ is said to be unlike your previous albums is that right? It also was the one that also took you the longest to make correct?”

“Yes it is.”

“Care to explain?”

“Well as you can tell by the title this is a tribute album to Freddie Mercury.” The audience applauded.  I nodded and swallowed a lump in my throat.  “Some of the songs are what I’ve written but another half of them are Queen songs that Freddie himself gave me legal rights to make a cover to. In fact they were some of my favorites.”

“Now how long did it take you to make this album?” David asked me.

“Well the songs I did, took roughly a couple of months but when—Freddie passed away I took a few months off to grieve and then as you all may have seen I was a part of the tribute concert so in total almost ten months.”

“Wow ten months.” I nodded. “And you said Freddie gave you the rights to some of Queen’s songs to cover?”

“Yes.”

“How did it feel to have that kind of pressure on you?”

“I’ll be honest it was tough. How-how do you compete with someone like Freddie Mercury? His voice and musical talents were unlike anything anyone’s ever seen or will ever see most likely. And when he asked me to do some of Queen’s works, particularly the songs he himself had written, I felt like I was going up against goliath and I was David. But—Fred has his reasons for why he does what he does, and—he must’ve felt like I could help embrace his memory further by introducing a new audience to some of Queen’s work, especially their earliest songs.” The crowd applauded.

“Well said, well said. Freddie will truly be forever missed. When we come back we have Kurt Russel joining us and then after that the Rock Angel will perform one of her hit songs from her recent album Fly High Mercury which is now available in stores. The Rock Angel (Y/n) Kline everybody!” the crowd applauded and David and I shook hands with each other as his theme song played us out on the commercial break.

I went backstage to change out from my black sequin interview dress and into some regular but dressy performance clothes.  A black leather jacket, a white blouse, tight jeans, and some high-heeled black boots.

“Oh angel.” I internally groaned.  Speak of the devil.  James Woods soon came into my dressing room without a single care in the world (he’s lucky I’ve learned to do quick changes otherwise we’d have a problem). “Now darling please remind me again why you’ve declined Donald Trump’s hotel gig? He’s offered plenty of money for your performance especially since it’s his son’s birthday that day.”

“When I went to talk to him he also made me an offer I simply had to refuse.” I shuddered. “He’s a pig and an upright asshole with no respect for anyone but himself and his precious hotel business. God help us if he ever becomes President.”

“Fine. Instead of adding to the profit we would’ve gotten from this, we’ll take it out of your next pay how bout that?” I glared at him.

“You really wanna go toe to toe with me regarding money? Go ahead. Just know I’ve got the best lawyers in all of London on my side and they’ve been good to me for 10 years. So you better pucker your lips and do some serious arse kissing to the judge because they’ve won every. Single. Case I’ve ever had to do. From false stories to paparazzi stalking.” I stared him down even though I only came up to his chest.

Even through those cold, greedy eyes of his, I saw that he was afraid.

“Ahh court cases are a waste of time and a waste of profit. Now go on out there and give them a show baby cakes.”

“Never call me baby cakes.” I trudged out of my dressing room with my red special in hand and headed back towards the stage to sing my song.

After the show ended, I was back in my hotel room in Manhattan.  I had just gotten done with my shower and soon coming into the room was Jack with some late night takeout.

“Chinatown special for the Rock Angel.” I smiled and splayed myself across the bed as he came toward me with the food.

“Mmm room service and a cute delivery boy. I am one lucky girl.”

“Well then Mrs. Kline, do I get a special tip for my services?” Jack played along with a grin.  I smirked and placed my hand on the back of his head and brought his lips towards mine.  His hands soon came to my waist as we separated but I kissed him again.  Jack hummed in surprise. “A double tip? Well then, guess I need to be the delivery boy more often.” I giggled and took my food out of the bag.

“But serious babe, thanks for getting the food.”

“Hey no problem, anything for my beautiful rock star. I know that with your schedule firing back up, you don’t have time for a normal meal like we did before.”

“Did you call your mom about the kids?”

“Yep. Kids are safe and healthy. Well Little Jack had a slight fever but he was better within a day thanks to mama’s secret chicken noodle soup. I know that thing saved my life as a kid.”

“Well then she better……” a knock was soon heard at the door. Jack and I looked at each other confused.  He stood up from the bed and answered the door.  I held my robe tighter around me and soon I heard the door slam shut and Jack soon came in with a bouquet of a dozen roses.  “Did you order those?”

“Nope. But I’ve got a feeling who did.” He turned as he glared to the room opposite of our suite.

Well of course I told Jack about the kiss.  I know what it’s like to have been cheated on so there was no way in fucking hell I was gonna keep this a secret from Jack.  As you can see he has not taken it well, in fact he’s grown very angry and jealous when Steve gets mentioned.

“Let me see the card.” He tossed the bouquet down on the bed. I sent him a glare and went to pick the card out and I opened it up.  And low and behold it was from Steve.  Even though it didn’t have his name on it, I recognized his handwriting anywhere.  He wrote.

Fabulous performance (as always).  A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Your secret admirer and #1 fan

“You should’ve fired him.”

“Oh so you’re saying this is my fault!?” I snapped.

“No that’s not what I’m saying!” Jack snapped back at me. “I just…..” he exhaled deeply trying to release his anger. “I don’t trust him anymore. Not after what he did. In fact ever since he’s kissed you he’s been sending you a lot of stuff. The flowers, your favorite German chocolates, he even gave a teddy bear to our daughter! I’m telling you something about him now is just……” I walked up to him and embraced him.

“I know love, I know. I don’t feel comfortable around him too. But—he is James’ nephew and unfortunately he wants his sister to get off his back with this favor.”

“That shouldn’t matter! If he makes you uncomfortable you should just fire him and not even worry about what that sales talker of a manager tells you.” He is right.  It shouldn’t have to go on like this but unfortunately the business world isn’t on my side when it comes to choosing my PA’s, I was thankful enough to keep my touring roadies and not get some rookies or 40 year old perverts who get high or drunk.

“The likes of a woman in a men’s workforce. I wish I could Jack but I can’t. Legally anyways. Look I’m exhausted right now can we please just go to bed?”

“Alright. But we will come back to this. (Y/n) I’m only stressed about this because I don’t want to lose you. What if—”

“Hey!” I put my finger of his lips. “Don’t you dare think like that. I know celebrities are always the first to die when it comes to crazed fans. But I swear to you Jack Kline, I will not be one of those singers to die at the hands of a so called ‘fan’. I’m your lioness.”

“And no one can break you down.” We pressed our forehead together and just stayed like that for a good long moment.  I then softly kissed him and went to change out of my robe into my nightdress.  Jack stripped down to his boxers and we put our takeout in the mini-fridge by the bed and turned off the lights before cuddling close together.

*September 8th, 1992*

It was Kelly’s first day of 1st grade.  Jack and I couldn’t believe that our little girl was on her way to 1st grade.  Of course to me it was the first day of primary school but still it was a big day for her.  So Jack and I were sure to be there to see her off but sadly both of us had a long day today so we couldn’t go pick her up.

I was busy prepping for my upcoming tour while Jack got backed up with the car dealership.  But thankfully Jack’s cousin Jared (who was working a case at the time) volunteered to go pick Kelly up after school.  Now this school was at the top with their security, only those who were approved by the Parent or Guardian could pick up the child (which was good with us).

So Jack and I made sure to list the family members down in order so we went from Kelly Kline, Misha Kline, Roger Taylor, Brian May, John Deacon, and Jared and Jensen Walker as the adults to pick Kelly Kline up from school should Jack and I not be available.

It was late in the afternoon, around 3:30ish and I was talking with my tour manager Phillipe about where each performance was gonna take place when the phone suddenly rang.  One of the assistants answered it and she said.

“Hollywood Records how may I help you?” there was a pause and suddenly her voice went frantic. “Whoa, whoa, whoa wait a minute slow down. Slow down who are you wanting to talk to?” I turned to her confused. “Okay hold on I’ll get her,” she turned to me and said as she held the phone close to her breast, “Mrs. Kline someone wants to speak to you. Says his name is Jared Walker.” I immediately shot up and took the phone and said frantically.

“Jared what’s happened?”

‘I-I-I-I went to pick Kelly up like I said I would, but when I got there they had said you had already sent approval of someone else to come get her!’

My heart stopped.  They say it’s every parent’s worse nightmare come true, but it’s never fully real until it happens to you.

I dropped the phone as Jared’s voice echoed through the speakers calling out my name.

“CALL THE POLICE! CALL JACK! CALL KELLY’S SCHOOL! CALL ANYONE!!” I screamed frantically.

The search for my daughter was—one of the worst things I ever had to go through.  Just who in the hell would know where exactly her school was? Not only that but who got my approval to sign off for her release?

I was frantic to the bone.  I kept pacing with anxiety as every fiber of my being was buzzing with all kinds of emotions.  Jack and Jared tried their best to calm me down but I wasn’t going to be calm till I had my baby in my arms.

After an hour and a half grueling search, the home phone suddenly rang.  I went up to the phone and answered it.

“Hello?!” there was silence at the end of it for awhile till finally his voice came up.

‘Lose your little cub?’ my eyes narrowed and now only rage filled my body.

“Where is she Steve?” I sneered.

‘Just meet me by the spot where the first action sequence of Terminator 2 was shot.’ Then the line went dead.  I hung up the phone, grabbed my keys and dragged Jared by the arm towards my car and we raced down the highway.

When we arrived at Bull Creek, I told Jared to stay in the car while I handled Steve.  I got out of the car and right there at the very track where the first action chase scene of the film took place at.

Just ahead of me was a blue Ferrari leaning against it was Steve Harrison.  And through the windows I could see Kelly playing with her favorite doll that she took with her to school, without a care in the world.

“So glad you finally made it Angel. Didn’t think I’d expect to see you to take my advice so quick.”

“Open the door.” I sneered.

“Gee not even a thank you?” he joked.

“I don’t have time for bullocks right now Harrison! Now open your bloody car door and give me back my baby!” he went over and opened the door and once Kelly saw me, her smile on her face grew wider.

“Mummy!” she cheered as she got out and raced towards me. I immediately knelt down and picked her up in my arms.

“Oh my baby girl. Oh thank god you’re safe! Are you okay? Look at me. We were all so worried about you.” I said as I kept kissing all over her face.  She groaned and tried to get me to stop.

“I’m fine mum! Mum stop it stop kissing me! Mr. Steve said you changed your mind about uncle Jared coming to pick me up.” I glared over to Steve and said.

“Honey go in mummy’s car and wait there with Uncle Jared.” I kissed her one last time and she did as I asked her to.  I walked closer to Steve as he kept talking.

“Lovely reunion. See I knew you’d appreciate what I’d done. After all as your personal—” I sucker punched him hard across the face sending him down to the ground.  Blood even dripped down his nose. “Wow. Wow!” he scoffed. “I-I-I-I know that girls could punch but that…..that was—”

“What the fuck is wrong with you!?” I snapped at him.

“You should be grateful. I did you a favor. I picked up your daughter from her first day of school.” He tried to reason with me.

“You had no legal right too! You kidnapped her!”

“Kidnapped?! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa wait time out!” he stood up and wiped his bloody nose. “Wow head rush. Okay hang on a minute. You were incredibly business with the tour manager so I knew you wouldn’t be able to pick her up. And of course Jack……” he sneered out Jack’s name with anger and jealousy. “He works now right? I mean about damn time too, can’t be the house husband forever right?” My glare deepened, “Anyways, so no one else was there to pick up sweet, little Kelly so I volunteered myself to pick her up. Didn’t want her staying at the school all by herself, now did we?”

“She wasn’t going to be alone we arranged for Jared to pick her up!” at that Steve’s face turned to shock as he said.

“Oh. Well—this is awkward.” Oh he was an incredible actor I’ll give him that.

“What is wrong with you Steve? What were you trying to accomplish here?” that’s when his eyes darkened and grew cold.  His voice even changed to a possessive tone as he walked closer to me.

“Jack doesn’t deserve you. A farm boy like that? No you need a real man at your side. Someone who gets the business, someone who is always by your side. I know who you are (Y/n) Kline.”

He tried to grab my chin but I clenched his hand in mine and dug my nails into his skin.  My hand shaking with rage as I stared him down.

“Is that what you think? You think by doing all this you actually believe I would leave Jack for you? You’re even more delusional than Jack painted you. Now I see it for myself.” I threw his hand down and backed away from him. “A wise man once said to another slime like yourself, ‘you just see what you want to see’. Next time you even touch or go near any of my kids, I swear to you there won’t be a courthouse that your uncle can bride with what I’ll charge you for.” I turned and walked back to the car and took Kelly home.

Of course I wish I could say that was the last time I ever saw Steve’s face again.  But due to lack of evidence in the fact that Steve had given a false document allowing him to take Kelly, he wasn’t charged with kidnapping.  

Plus his uncle got involved and swindled with his business talk saying that I was under a lot of pressure with the upcoming tour and that police action at the time of Kelly’s disappearance wasn’t necessary.  He also emphasized that Kelly wasn’t harmed in anyway so it’s not like his nephew was an evil person.  So the police believed James’ story and no charges were filed and Steve was a free man to do as he pleased.

Jack and I reinforced the school and even gave them Steve’s picture saying that if he ever came into the school again asking for Kelly again, they were to call the police because Steve Harrison does not have access to take Kelly out of school.

Little did I know that things were only going to get worse after that day.

*October 3rd, 1992. Jack’s POV*

It first began with the constant phone calls to the house. The phone was constantly ringing and everytime I picked it up, there was no one there.  Just heavy breathing and then they’d hang up.  It happened for hours on end, even at some odd hours in the night.

Soon enough I had had enough and decided to unplug all the house phones and I got me my first cellphone.  If anyone in the family wanted to reach me, I told them to call by my new cellphone and that’s where I was talking to my Angel at.

‘Have the phone calls kept coming?’

“Unfortunately yes they did. But I unplugged the house phone so hopefully whoever it is gets the point and drops these crank calls and finds someone else to torment.”

‘I don’t know Jack. Maybe I should just come back and forget this tour.’

“No, no. Look, you nearly missed out the Angel-Queen tour back when we first met, I won’t let you cancel this tour either. Besides the world needs their Angel right now.” I assured her.

‘Yeah but—’

“What would he say right now?” I interrupted her.  I heard her softly scoff and I knew she was smiling on the other end.

‘He’d tell me ‘Angel darling stop being so dramatic. There’s only room in this partnership for one hysterical Queen. Plus you’ll get early wrinkles’.’ We both laughed. ‘God I miss him so much. I can’t believe it’ll almost be a year come November.’

“I know. Have you talked to the guys at all since the concert?”

‘Not really. Figure I’d give them some space. They know my team’s number if they want to talk to me.’ I nodded and hummed in understandment so that she knew I was still listening.

“So you made it to Phoenix in one piece?”

‘Yeah thankfully. I’ll give you a call right after the show. Give the kids a kiss and cuddle for me.’

“Oh you know I will.” I said with a smile.

‘I love you Jack Kline; you know that right?’

“Of course I do. And I love you to the moon and back. Have a good show baby.”

‘I will. I love you.’

“I love you infinity times infinity there. Now you can’t say you love me more.” I heard her giggle. “Knock ‘em dead Angel.”

‘I will, bye.’

“Bye.” We both hung up and I deeply sighed.

“Daddy?” I looked up and there was Kelly in her nightdress holding her stuffed lion that her godfather gifted her.

“Hey baby girl, why are you awake?” I asked concerned. She walked up to me and sat down in my lap and said.

“I couldn’t sleep. Can you tell me a bedtime story? You know how like uncle Freddie used to tell me?” I stroked down her hair and said.

“Well, I’m not as extravagant or detailed as he used to make it but—I’ll do my best. C’mon I’ll make you some warm milk and tuck you back into bed, sound good?” she nodded.  I picked her up, set her on the kitchen counter and prepared her some warm milk.

After that I carried her back to her bed and tucked her back under her covers and she took a sip of her milk.

“Okay so, what shall it be tonight? Do you want a story about—fairies?” she shook her head. “Unicorns?” again she shook her head. “Oh how about the story of a beautiful princess who gets saved by a knight in shining armor?”

“No daddy. Do you know the story of the lioness Queen?”

“The lioness Queen?”

“Uncle Freddie once told me a story about the lioness Queen who was raised by evil wolves but soon came on top as Queen of her own pride. He was gonna finish the story of how she would find herself a king but then—” she trailed off and I could see the tears prickling in her eyes.  Oh that Freddie, of course he would tell our story like we were two lions.

“I think I know that story. Now again I may not be as good of a storyteller as Uncle Freddie was but I’ll do my best.” I sat down by her bedside and she cuddled up into her pillow, her stuffed lion in her arms. “Now let’s see……the Lioness Queen had reached the height of her reign. Everyone loved her because of her kindness and loyalty, but she was very much lonely. Sure she had the support of her new family but she still longed for someone she could love more than the family love she had from her new pride. So one day when she was out hunting, she was suddenly ambushed by the no good jackal. Now this jackal had particularly taken an interest in our brave Lioness Queen but she knew to not take any of his bullying. However he had brought his entire pack and they ganged up on the poor lioness.”

“Daddy don’t make it too scary.”

“Right, right, right I’m sorry angel. But the lioness Queen didn’t have to fear anymore. Because leaping from over the tall savannah grass was a dashing, handsome and powerful lion.  He beat the jackals away and told the head jackal to leave and never bother the lioness again. Soon the jackal tucked his tail in like a frightened dog and fled the savannah and was never seen again. The lioness Queen was in debt to the young lion that saved her so she asked him if they could go to the watering hole together to talk and get to know each other more.”

I continued on to tell her mine and (Y/n)’s story of the day we met and fell in love with each other.  Then about midway through the story I looked down and saw Kelly was finally back asleep.  I smiled and kissed her forehead.

“Sleep tight my little lioness cub.” I walked out of her room and shut her door and walked back downstairs.

I walked towards the kitchen and I saw Sammy lying asleep on his doggie bed and Bucky asleep on his.  But as soon as I came in, the two of them looked up at me.

“Hey Buck, Sammy.” Buck grunted as he sat up and came up towards me and sat down.  I ruffled the top of his head. “Okay so what do you say last quick trip outside then time for you guys to get in your pin?” Sammy’s tail wagged as he immediately went towards the backdoor.  I opened it up and he immediately went outside. “Alright Buck come on outside go out and go potty.”

But Bucky seemed tense.  He lowly growled before racing towards the front door.

“Bucky? Buck!” Bucky went over to the front door and suddenly began barking aggressively and very loudly. “Buck! Buck shh! Quiet!��� but he refused to listen to me.  He kept barking and barking and barking.  His fangs were out as he raced from the door to the windows.  Growls came out of him and I noticed that his fur was on end.

Okay maybe it’s another dog or a raccoon or something, he tends to do that and we’re trying to break him of that habit.  I grabbed his leash and when he was finally still I got it hooked to his collar and forced him towards his pin.

“Get in your pin now!” he snapped at him.  I got him in his pin and as soon as I shut the door he started whimpering frantically, pacing around his pin letting out bark after bark.  “Shhhh! You’re gonna wake the kids Buck now quiet!” I looked towards the front door and sighed heavily.  Might as well just see just what’s out there.

I grabbed a flashlight and quickly stepped outside. I shined the light in every corner of darkness but I didn’t see a thing.  No stray dog, nor a racoon, a cat not even a squirrel.

“That Buck is crazy sometimes.” It was then I noticed that our trashcan had somehow gone out to the side of the road.  “I thought I brought that in when I came in this afternoon? Damn pranksters.” I left the front gate that surrounded our house and walked out to the curb to grab our trashcan and bring it back towards the side of the garage.

That’s when a loud purr of an engine roared through the quiet streets and bright headlights flashed right towards me.  I heard the screeching of tires coming right towards me and without even thinking I ducked right up towards my driveway and I heard the sound of our garbage can being hit and tossed across the road.

The car’s lights soon turned off and sped off down the street. I panted heavily, my adrenaline now starting to collapse as I began to realize what could’ve happened just now.

Someone was trying to run me over and kill me.  I knew that couldn’t be a mechanical problem cause why would the headlights suddenly come on and then accelerate straight towards me before driving normally down the road?

Only one person came across my mind as to who would go so far as to get rid of me.  Steve.

I called up Jared and using his lawyer expertise he asked me various questions but unfortunately since I couldn’t identify the model of the car clear enough and couldn’t read the license plate in time there was no way for me to truly say it was him unless I could physically prove it.

But after that night I didn’t see Steve again, and I hoped that was the end of it.  Until Halloween came around.

*Halloween night, 1992. 8:30pm*

I had just brought the kids in from our night of trick or treating.  You know I’m glad we decided to allow the kids some time to know the American holidays cause I had to explain this to the guys as well as (Y/n) just what Halloween really was (since they don’t really celebrate it there in jolly old England).

I dressed the boys up as little lions while Kelly went as a witch this year.  We all came in carrying our bags of candy.

“Candy!” Georgie exclaimed.

“That’s right buddy. We got candy, lots and lots of candy.” I told him as I got them out of their little red wagon.

“Daddy, daddy can we eat all the candy tonight please?” Kelly begged.

“You know your mother will kill me if she finds out I let you eat sweets before bedtime.” She whined before giving me her mother’s puppy dog face.

“Please daddy. Not even one itty bitty, teeny tiny bite?” I playfully placed my hands over her face which made her exclaim and shoo away my hand.

“You can have just one. Piece. But that’s it okay?” she cheered and quickly went through her bag and got out a blueberry flavored lollipop.

“Hey daddy? How come we can’t do trick or treating back where uncle Brian, uncle Deacy and papa Roger live?”

“Well sweetie, sometimes other countries don’t do the things we do. And sadly Halloween is just another day for them.”

“They should. Maybe next year papa Roger and I can be Star wars characters together.” I chuckled.

“I think your uncle Brian would enjoy that more than papa Roger.”

“But I wanted papa Roger and I to be Han and Princess Leia. Uncle Brian can be Chewie.”

“And uhh—who-who did you have in mind to be Luke?” I said brushing my fingers through my hair.

“Mommy! Cause she’s brave and strong just like Luke is! Georgie and Jackson can be R2.”

“And just who will uncle Deacy and I be?”

“Well uncle Deacy can be Obi-Wan and you’re C3-PO.” Wow she gives me the nagging droid.

“Oh so you think I’m a mindless philosopher ehh!? Come here you!” I quickly grabbed her and began tickling her which made her shriek and squirm.  “Have me be Luke Skywalker or the tickling continues your highness!” I mimicked Darth Vader’s voice.

“Ne-nevheherererer!” she said through her laughter.  I proceeded with the tickling till I heard the sound of a car engine coming down the street.

My mind suddenly went back to that night when I nearly got ran over.  I set Kelly down on the floor and peeked through the curtains and could see someone standing right beside a familiar shape of a car that I knew well.

“Daddy? Is……everything okay?” I looked down at Kelly before quickly looking back towards the window.

“Kelly I need you to listen to me very carefully sweetheart. I want you to take your brothers and go to mommy and daddy’s room and hide in the closet. And no matter what happens do not come out till I come and get you, okay?”

“But why daddy? What’s going on?”

“Just!” I snapped but clenched my hand tightly and said as I knelt down to her height. “Please Kelly, do as your father tells you. Remember not a word or even let me see you till I tell you it’s safe, promise?”

“I promise.” I hugged her tightly and gave her a kiss and told her to go get her brothers and get upstairs.  I glared at the door and opened it up before closing it.  I walked towards the front gate and that’s when I heard his voice say.

“Well, well, well, Jack Kline I’ll be damned. Still around eh?”

“Yeah, yeah it’s me don’t cream your pants.” I sassed bluntly at him.

“Saw that you and the kiddies were doing a little trick or treating. That’s nice of you but umm…..what are you supposed to be? A new kid on the block?” I scoffed.

“What do you want Harrison?”

“What can’t a PA come up to check on his superstar?”

“I don’t know what world you live in but (Y/n) fired you last week.”

“Yeah, you see that-that-that’s…..that’s another reason why I came here. See, I personally am the best and most qualified PA that the Rock Angel could ever have. But while we were in Pittsburg, I get a notice saying that I’ve been fired. Now she never told me why so I thought who is more jealous of me and brainwashing the Rock Angel, than her own husband? So—care to explain?”

“Guess you were dropped as a child one too many times.” I walked closer to the front gate and said in Steve’s face. “She got tired of your advancements towards her.  My wife isn’t like all other rock stars cause she’s been on the end of the cheating stick. And she knows to not put me or our kids through something like that.”

“Really lives up to her angel name huh?” he smart mouthed me. “Let me tell you though buddy boy. We have fucked with each other, and boy is she a freak in the sheets.” Bullshit I know he’s lying.  “We’ve even fucked with each other here at your own house when you were away on business. I mean—who can say no to this?” he gestured to himself.

“You are even worse than we thought. Now do yourself a favor and fuck off Steve before I call the cops.”

“One problem with that amigo.”

“And what’s that? Amigo.” Suddenly I was grabbed by my shirt and a punch went straight through my stomach.  I collapsed to the ground and the gate opened up.  Steve stood over me and he sneered down.

“The cops are working for me.” I was then kicked in the ribs and I watched in horror as Steve kicked the door in and walked right on in the house.

*3rd Person POV*

As Steve entered the Kline residence, a place he had actually been inside a lot with his uncle on the meetings with (Y/n) to discuss further progress with her albums, brandings, etc.  He walked up the stairs and went straight for the master bedroom where Jack and (Y/n) slept.

He looked around as he slowly walked around the bedroom before seeing the closet at the corner of his eyes.  He turned towards it and walked right up to it before slowly reaching for the door.  With a quick flick, the door was opened but no one was there.  He then saw some of (Y/n)’s stuff like her hats and scarves.

He took a red scarf and inhaled it before pocketing it into his back pocket.  That’s when he suddenly heard a thump from the corner of the room.  That’s when his attention went to the wardrobe.  A smirk spread across his face and as he opened it there he saw Kelly, Georgie and Jackson all huddled together.

“Hey kids, whatcha doin in here?”

“Go away! Mommy and daddy don’t like you anymore and neither do we!” Steve laughed at Kelly’s empty demand.

“Kids today. Guess I’m gonna have to teach you some manners little missy.” Suddenly he was turned around and a hard punch sent him down to the ground.

“Daddy!” Kelly cheered.

“Daddy! Daddy!” the boys repeated.

*Jack’s POV*

Like hell I was gonna just sit there and allow Steve to take whatever the hell he wants or worse find the kids.  Spitting out some blood I staggered towards the house and walked up the stairs.  That’s when I heard Kelly’s voice cry out.

“Mommy and daddy don’t like you anymore and neither do we!”

“Kids today. Guess I’m gonna have to teach you some manners little missy.” Like hell you will! I raced as Steve was talking and immediately grabbed him by the shoulder of his jacket, turned him around and sucker punched him across the face.  My kids cried out for me while Steve staggered to stand up.

He soon began laughing before letting out a hoot.  His nose bleeding from the punch I just gave him as well as his mouth.

“Looks like I underestimated you farm boy! I took you for a pushover but now I see just what that bitch sees in you! Lion King Jack she likes to call you!”

“Get. Out.” I demanded.  Steve chuckled icily and said.

“And what if I don’t?” he spat blood in my face.  I then let out a whistle and said two commands.

“Sick. Em.” Soon running past my right leg Sammy attacked Steve at his ankles tripping him over.  Sammy maybe all sweet and innocent but when he needs to be (especially since Steve’s been around) he knows when someone needs to get bit.

Steve fell right onto his back as Sammy continued to bite and tear at his pants.

“YOU DAMN DOG!! LET GO!”

“You gonna surrender now?”

“FUCK. YOU!” I let out another whistle and soon barking in aggressively was Bucky.  And being a German shepherd he was not holding back.  Sammy released Steve’s leg for a moment and allowed his brother to take over.

Bucky bit Steve’s shoulder and tackled him to the ground and I knew he was biting down harder cause Steve’s screams got louder and more painful.

“Boys come!” the boys came back and stood guard of the wardrobe growling and protectively standing guard over my kids. “You wanna test me again or shall I give them a second chance at a new chew toy?”

Even with multiple dog bites, Steve managed to somehow stand up and he glared with pure hatred at me.

“I’ll—I’ll see to it……that those mutts are put down for attacking me. My uncle will hear about this! And I’ll be sure that you’re put away for a long, long time. I know you guys have no cameras in or outside of this house, so no cameras, no proof.” His sick twisting smirk widened across his face.

He staggered out of the bedroom but I heard the sound of him collapsing down to the ground.  The dogs immediately went towards him but I didn’t hear any snarling or growling, instead I heard happy whimpering.

“Stay here kids.” I told them as I quickly I came out and I was shocked to see standing before Steve with a baseball bat in her hand was my wife, (Y/n).  She panted softly as she dropped the bat and then took out one of our large kitchen knives.

Bucky and Sammy stood guard of the stairs to ensure that Steve didn’t even try to escape and that’s when (Y/n) sneered down at Steve.

“From now on you are no never come near me or my family again. I don’t care what kind of connections you have; we’ve got enough evidence with you in this house without consent and a struggle going on in my very bedroom.”

“Screw you…….bitch.” Steve murmured.  Then I witnessed with my own eyes as my wife took that large 7in knife and slam it right down to the floor, very close to Steve’s dick.  Any further up and she would’ve removed his very identity as a man.

“SAY YOU UNDERSTAND! Say it. SAY IT!!!” She roared down at him.

“I understand.” He muttered quietly.

“You what?!”

“I understand.” He said a bit louder.  Her eyes steaming with hatred and fierce mother instincts stared Steve down as she removed the knife and she looked up to me and simply told me. “Call the police.”

Within minutes the police arrived and Steve was finally arrested. The police took our testimonies and a trial date was set for the 1st of December.

Now as I’m sure my wife as explained I wish we could say that was the last time we’d ever see Steve Harrison in our lives but we underestimated just how fucked up the legal system was here in California.

Thanks to his smooth, fast talking Uncle in trying to bride the judges and the jury, Steve didn’t serve any jail time. Only that he would have a restraining order set against him.  By law he wasn’t to get anywhere within 50ft of (Y/n) or our family.

Steve Harrison was once again a free man.

By the start of 1993, my wife was once again trying to contact the judge, police, and any other law enforcement about taking Steve’s advances seriously.  But all the same they kept turning her down saying there’s nothing else they can do.

That the restraining order will protect her, and if Steve does violate that then and only then could they talk serious jail time for him.

“Well then I want you guys to do one thing for me, the next time you bastards come to this house will be when my body is dead on the ground with a message in blood saying I told you so!” she hung up the phone and sobbed into her hands.

I slowly walked towards her and hesitantly sat down beside her. God I hate seeing her like this, she’s been worrying herself sick over this while still going on with the tour which will resume after this week.

“I—I don’t know what else to do Jack. I……” I refused to allow her to speak again.  I embraced her as tightly as I could and she wept hysterically into my arms.  Bucky and Sammy whimpering at our feet with Sammy licking her feet and Bucky nuzzling his head into her lap.

[tcm]

“Much More to Movie Monsters Than Meets The Eye” By Raquel Stecher

With his latest book Fright Favorites: 31 Movies to Haunt Your Halloween and Beyond, author and horror expert David J. Skal provides readers with the perfect guide for watching spooky films throughout October and the year. The book takes a look at 31 different horror films from NOSFERATU (‘22) to GET OUT (2017). Skal offers insights into how German Expressionism and WWI influenced early horror classics, how Val Lewton threw out horror conventions with CAT PEOPLE (‘42), how DRACULA (‘31) was a financial gamble and how more recent films like HOCUS POCUS (‘93) achieved cult status. If you’re worried that 31 horror films are not enough, don’t despair, as each of these films is paired with a bonus recommendation on a similar theme. Fright Favorites is now available from Running Press and TCM.

Raquel Stecher: Can you tell us a bit about your background as a cultural historian and horror expert?

David J. Skal: I was one of the original “monster kids” of the 1950s and ‘60s, who discovered the old Universal horror classics when they were first released to television, and for a while I couldn’t get enough of them, or of the fan culture they set in motion. I was an avid reader of magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland, and when I came back as an adult to write about the history of horror entertainment from an adult perspective, it would never have happened without those photo-filled periodicals that engaged and obsessed me as a kid.

RS: In the book you discuss the connection between Hollywood and Halloween. Tell us a little about how that came about and how the two have become so intrinsically tied with one another.

DJS: In the golden age of American horror movies in the 1930s and 1940s, there was no supplemental merchandizing or other tie-ins to Halloween. It was still a pretty homespun holiday. The holiday’s potential wasn’t fully exploited by the film industry until after World War II, when we saw Universal franchising its monster characters as Halloween masks and costumes. In the ensuing decades, October became the major month for horror movie premieres, including studios other than Universal, and all the major theme parks got on the bandwagon, profitably extending their summer seasons with Halloween nights that are almost always tied in to some horror franchise or another, frequently of the slasher or chainsaw variety.

RS: What was the research process like for writing Fright Favorites?

DJS: Over the years I’ve done much more research for my books than I’ve been able to ever use, so Fright Favorites was an ideal opportunity to make use of information and anecdotes I’d never had room for in previous projects. As a result, it took about six months rather than the usual full year I most often devote to completing a book. Although the final selections were mine, the people at TCM are also—no surprise—very knowledgeable about movies with many favorites of their own that I was able to incorporate. There weren’t really any disagreements, just a bit of a juggling act to maintain a balance between the films included.

RS: In the book you wrote “Some early commentators on the medium worried that film might be nothing less than the arrival of living death. It is in horror movies that this pervading sense of the uncanny still speaks to us.” Were studios worried about making horror films? How did Universal's success with the genre affect the film industry as a whole?

DJS: In a way, the film medium itself is the very definition of the uncanny, bringing dead actors back to life, or its convincing simulacrum. This strange fact is always there, staring back at you. And remember, actors themselves have amounted to a species of shapeshifters, slipping in and out of identities in the manner of movie monsters. Film is a dream-like medium that has been irresistibly drawn to the fantastic and the bizarre from its very beginning, at least in Europe. American movies didn’t approach truly fantastic subjects until Universal took a chance with DRACULA in 1931. Previously, American films observed the tradition of explaining away any ghostly occurrence as a criminal conspiracy or ruse. But DRACULA, along with FRANKENSTEIN the same year, became two of the most influential and imitated films of all time.

RS: Stars like Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., Vincent Price, etc. became known for their horror roles. How did some of these horror stars embrace the genre or how did it typecast them?

DJS: By definition, any “horror star” is already typecast, although some deal with the pigeonholing better than others. I once had the privilege of sitting in on a classroom visit by Vincent Price with a group of acting students who asked him if he resented being considered a horror star and how they could avoid being typecast themselves. He told them in no uncertain terms that show business was already a difficult way to make a living and that being typecast would be the best thing that could ever happen to them professionally. Most horror stars I’ve met or interviewed are grateful for their fame and the attention of their fans.

RS: Many horror stories have been revisited in remakes, new adaptations and re-imaginings. Why has Hollywood been so keen to revisit horror classics?

DJS: Horror is a genre with financial profit baked in from the get-go—it’s almost impossible to lose money even on a poorly made scary movie, which is why so many prominent directors have gotten their start in the genre. It’s a fairly risk-free way to take a chance on new talent. In terms of remakes, if a formula has worked before, why not do it again? Fortunately, the remakes usually veer substantially away from the original stories in ways that keep the legacy of one monster or legend perpetually alive. Horror evolves the way anything evolves—through endless change and adaptation.

RS: What are some of your personal favorite horror films?

DJS: I don’t have a number one, or number two favorite. I admire many films for individual reasons: directors, scripts, actors. People most often ask me what my favorite version of Dracula is. I tell them that it doesn’t yet exist, but it would be a master version of the story edited together from all the major adaptations, with actors from different versions interacting with each other. It would be a huge job, but if done with the right flair would be hugely entertaining and probably bring out important aspects of each version that you wouldn’t notice watching them individually.

RS: Some of the films you feature in Fright Favorites are also considered science fiction classics. How do the two genres of science fiction and horror complement each other?

DJS: Literary horror and literary science fiction are fairly separate categories, but on screen the genres tend to blur together. For instance, ALIEN (‘79) is a haunted house story set in outer space. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (‘78) is an alien invasion story that’s also about zombies. Being a visual medium, movies tend to spotlight science fiction’s bizarre and grotesque imagery and end up emphasizing the horrific over the cerebral.

RS: How do horror films tap into the pervading anxieties and fears of their respective eras?

DJS: This is the through-line of most of my books: that horror entertainment amounts to a secret history of modern times, with each new cultural upheaval or trauma setting in motion identifiable kinds of stories and characters. The anxiety and fear need to be processed, but it’s always easier to deal with real-world horror if you don’t have to look at it too directly. WWI tore about human bodies like no previous war, and all through the 1920s and 1930s we looked at one disfigured face after another, even though the films weren’t about battlefield combat. Unprecedented numbers of mutilated men were returning to society, and they were being shunned. Nonetheless, they popped up in our cinematic dreams. During the AIDS epidemic, there was an explosion of books and films about another mysterious, blood-related scourge: vampirism. Repress awareness of an uncomfortable fact, and it will always rise somewhere else in a different form.

RS: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

DJS: So far, the book does seem to be engaging readers who have a general knowledge of horror entertainment but are curious to know more. The most important thing a reader might take away is the simple revelation that there’s much more to movie monsters than meets the eye.

[erigold13261]

What do the NSR Megastars think of the Mural Man?

Depends on which headcannon you go with.

If we go with the retired CEO then I can see the other NSRtists barely knowing about him except that he used to run NSR. They would have basically no connection to him other than Eve who would know him as someone who Tatiana sometimes hangs out with. Eve would have no real feelings to him other than he needs some more color in his wardrobe.

If we go with my headcannon that he controls the Festival Plaza, then it would go like this:

-DJSS: Couldn't care less about him. He barely comes to NSR meetings and isn't worth DJ's time. DJ might even look down on him a bit because Mural Man is a charter who doesn't make music (as far as DJ knows). However, if something does go wrong in Cast Tech and DJ needs an immediate response, they usually go to Mural Man instead of Tatiana because the distance between Festival Plaza and Cast Tech is much smaller than the distance between Cast Tech and NSR Tower.

-Sayu: Sayu and crew actually think he's pretty cool because he will let them infodump him and even talks with them about the ocean and the creatures in it. He probably gives tips to them about how to make cool water effects in their animations/drawings without making the effects too distracting. Mural Man really just tries to make sure these kids are on the right track and will do what he can to help them out or give advice when needed.

-Yinu and Mama: Yinu honestly forgets he exists at times because he isn't very present in her life. She doesn't mind him though, especially when he lets her wear his hat. Mama and him are actually old friends because he was a friend of her husband. She doesn't like to hang out with him anymore though because he reminds her too much of happier times. He understands and keeps his distance but wishes she will reach out again one day.

-Neon J and 1010: As Mural Man helps out running all of Vinyl City from the Festival Plaza, Neon J actually has a lot of respect for him. The two of them work together a lot of the time to make sure everything is going smoothly for the whole city, even though Neon is supposed to only care about Metro Division. Rin doesn't mind him. They haven't had many interaction other than a few meetings it's sat in with Neon J and Mural Man and even a few between Mural Man and Tatiana. Purl-hew is mostly indifferent, if a little negative to Mural Man. They aren't very keen on talking to someone they don't know or have to interact with, so there is no real relation between the two. Zimelu loves making fun of Purl and saying they stole their glasses/style from Mural Man which annoys Purl to no end. She does like to talk with him sometimes to learn more about what he does, but she is more interested in his stories than him as a potential friend. Haym is similar to Zimelu where he will talk with him for stories and to generally annoy him. Mural Man is very calm and really hard to upset, so Haym has made it his mission to see Mural Man annoyed or upset or even for him to raise his voice. Mural Man has fun keeping his cool and seeing Haym get upset. The two could be considered friends. Eloni is really too shy to go out of their way and talk with Mural Man whenever he is around. Eloni actually has never said a word to Mural Man, not even signed anything to him. Mural Man keeps his distance because he can tell Eloni isn't very talkative and doesn't want to upset her.

-Eve: She has a professional relationship with him. Out of all the NSRtists she is the one to talk with him the most since she is Tatiana's right hand woman. Eve, Tatiana and Mural Man have meetings about the organization of the city as a whole and then Eve and Tatiana will converse with each other and relay what they want to the other NSRtists in their monthly meetings. Eve still thinks that Mural Man can use more color in his life and offers to make him some clothes but he always declines.

-Tatiana: The two are professional colleagues during work and bar buddies afterwards. They will go out for some drinks every now and then. Both have a lot of respect for each other and how they both run the city, Tatiana as the main leader and Mural Man taking care of all the hidden intricacies that Tatiana is too busy for. They trust each other very much, so much that if Tatiana ever needs to step away from work for any reason, she puts Mural Man in charge while Eve is a figurehead until she can come back to work.

[myonechicagoworld]

CHICAGO FIRE – PROFESSIONAL COURTESY (S01E03)

TV: [applause] And now, for my next…

Christopher Herrmann: [chuckles]

                                              [door opens]

Mouch: What the hell just happened?

Christopher Herrmann: [sighs] [buttons on remote clicking]

                                         Ah, damn thing’s fried. 

Peter Mills: Two hours left in the shift and no calls yet. That happen 

                     very often?

Christopher Herrmann: He did not just say that. 

                                      [alarm blasts, PA buzzes]

(Over PA): Accident. Truck 81, Squad 3.

                                             [sirens wailing]

                                            [horns honking]

Matt Casey: Mills. Pitcher’s got a no-hitter going in the eight inning. 

                      Do you go up to him and say, “looks like you got a 

                      no-hitter going”?

Peter Mills: No, but…

Matt Casey: Don’t do it at the damn firehouse either.

Peter Mills: Yeah, I got it.

                                         [door slams shut]

Matt Casey: Stabilise the van!

Patrol Officer 1: It’s jammed.

                                          [metal creaking]

Christopher Herrmann: Anybody got ejected?

                                        Vargas, see if we got a pulse over there!

Jose Vargas: Got one here!

Justin Voight: I’m okay. I’m alright.

Matt Casey: Ugh! Field test this idiot. 

                      [sniffs] Open containers right there.

Patrol Officer 1: I’ll take care of it.

Firefighter: She’s going! She’s going!

                                           [sirens wailing]

Patrol Officer 1: What happened?

Kelly Severide: Stabilisers!

Matt Casey: Cribbing! 

Gabby Dawson: Let’s go.

Kelly Severide: Give us ten more seconds, boys.

Christopher Herrmann: [groans] You got eight.

Kelly Severide: Hey, sir, just sit tight there for me, all right? Don’t   

                          try and unbuckle yourself.

Victim 1/Dad: Is he all right? My son? He’s not saying anything.

Gabby Dawson: Yeah, he’s alive, sir.

Victim 1/Dad: Oh, thank God.

Leslie Shay: We’re gonna need a second ambo.

Matt Casey: Two more! 

                      Driver of the first car over there.

                      I need two backboards.

Kelly Severide: Where’s those jaws?

                           Unh! [groans]

                                              [jaws buzzing]

                                            [metal clashing]

Gabby Dawson: Too tight?

Victim 1/Dad: Yeah!

Kelly Severide: Ah, we’re gonna go through the windshield and get 

                          me a pick head.

Firefighter: Coming up.

Victim 2/Son: What happened?

Matt Casey: You’re gonna be okay, buddy. Hockey fan, huh?

Victim 1/Dad: We were headed to Evanston for his tournament.

                         Are you okay, Mikey?

Victim 2/Son (Mikey): [whimpers] Yeah, I think so.

                                     What happened?

                                          [glass smashing]

                                            [saw sputters] 

                               [sirens wailing in the distance]

Firefighter: Vehicle stabilised

Matt Casey: I’ll be right back

Kelly Severide: Sir, you’re coming out first, all right?

Victim 1/Dad: [groans]

                                            [sirens wailing]

Matt Casey: Where’s the driver?

Patrol Officer 1: Uh, some officers took him to the hospital.

Matt Casey: You’re kidding. 

Patrol Officer 1: No, he was complaining of leg pain, and you guys 

                            looked swamped over there, so…

Matt Casey: He should’ve been c-collared and transported properly.

Patrol Officer 1: My bad.

Matt Casey: Did you bag the beer cans?

Patrol Officer 1: [sighs] Look, Detective Voight…behind me, the  

                            guy in the jacket…that was his son driving this 

                            car.

                                  [siren wailing in the distance]

                                           [dramatic music]

                                            - Title Screen -

Leslie Shay: Hey, you want some coffee?

Kelly Severide: No, I’m gonna go hit the gym. I’ll see you at the 

                          firehouse.

Leslie Shay: Alright, how’s your arm?

Kelly Severide: It’s good. 

                          It’s fine.

Leslie Shay: Alright. Well, you should get it looked at, you know, 

                     Kelly? It could act up at the wrong time.

Kelly Severide: No, absolutely. I’m…I’m planning on doing that.

                           Alright, I’ll see you later.

Leslie Shay: Bye.

                                                  cutscene

Peter Mills: Here we go

Man 1: Dude, uh, I’m sorry, but I ordered crispy bacon and uh, this 

             [scoffs]…ain’t crispy.

Man 2: Where’s the hot waitress? 

            [stammers] Uh, I mean you’re cute and everything.

Man 1 & 2: [laughs]

Peter Mills: I’ll be right back with your bacon…sir.

                                      [plates clanking]

                                        [food sizzling]

Peter Mills: [sighs] E-Elise, I can’t wait for mom. I gotta go.

Elise Mills: Then go!

Peter Mills: Table eight.

                                       [door bell chime]

Ingrid Mills: Where you going?

Peter Mills: [sighs] To work, mom. My real job.

Ingrid Mills: Well, Samantha just called in sick.

Elise Mills: Mom, I’ll cover it. We’ll be fine.

Ingrid Mills: You can switch shifts with somebody at the firehouse.

Peter Mills: Mom! I’m a candidate. You know that they can bounce  

                    me like that. I…I have to go.

Ingrid Mills: Fine. Go.

                                                  cutscene

                                    [siren wailing, horn honking]

Mouch: You’re late.

                                             [hammering]

                                           [metal clinking]

Peter Mills: [panting]

Firefighters: Uh hoh.

Christopher Herrmann: Good afternoon, candidate.

Peter Mills: [panting] Sorry.

Otis Zvonecek: First, he blows a no-hitter, now he’s coming in five  

                           minutes late. So much for employee of the week.

Peter Mills: It won’t happen again, [breathless] I promise.

Matt Casey: Get changed out. Let’s go.

Joe Cruz: You know, you were the candidate up until two weeks  

                  ago. Why are you riding him so hard?

Otis Zvonecek: The abused abuse…Cruz.

Matt Casey: Good morning.

Leslie Shay: Uh, oh. We’re either in trouble or he wants something.

Gabby Dawson: [chuckles]

Matt Casey: You got a sec?

Leslie Shay: Later.

Gabby Dawson: What’s up?

Matt Casey: Is your brother still working in Vice?

Gabby Dawson: Yeah.

Matt Casey: Could you see if he can swing by here real quick?

Gabby Dawson: Sure.

                             All your hookers get locked up last night?

Matt Casey: Yeah, my whole stable.

Gabby Dawson: [giggles]

Matt Casey: I just got a question for him.

Gabby Dawson: Err, yeah, I’ll give him a call.

Matt Casey: Okay.

Gabby Dawson: Everything alright?

Matt Casey: Yeah, yeah.

Gabby Dawson: O…kay.

                                                  cutscene

                                         [locker door slams]

Jose Vargas: Hey Lieutenant. 

Kelly Severide: Hey.

Jose Vargas: Wanted to let you know that I just completed the last  

                        of my tech course and I reached my squad 

                        certification.

Kelly Severide: That’s great. Good job.

Jose Vargas: Yeah, three years busting my hump, but I got it done.  

                        So I’m putting in a transfer from truck and I wanted  

                        to get your blessing.

Kelly Severide: Why do you wanna come over to squad?

Jose Vargas: With where I wanna end up, squad’s the best place   

                       in terms of a stepping stone to getting promoted. 

Kelly Severide: Let me stop you right there, Vargas. If that’s your  

                           reason for coming over…

Jose Vargas: It ain’t! That…that…that came out wrong. 

                       The promotion stuff, that’s down the road.

Kelly Severide: It’s way down the road.

Jose Vargas: Absolutely.

                                                cutscene

Joe Cruz: That ain’t gonna cut it.

Mouch: Sign’s out front. Just a matter of time till a good Samaritan 

              steps up.

Peter Mills: We can do that?

Mouch: Oh yeah. It’s frowned upon, but it’s not illegal per   

              standards and procedures.

              Last year, we got the new…what was it?

Christopher Hermann: Microwave.

Mouch: Got the new microwave by doing this.

Joe Cruz: It took three months to get the new microwave. The  

                 Bears game is this Sunday.

Matt Casey: What we got in the treasury box?

Christopher Heremann: Dick. We spent it all on the elliptical  

                                         machine so Shay could keep her ass 

                                         toned.

Leslie Shay: Oh Herrmann, please. Everyone benefits from me  

                     having a toned ass.

Matt Casey: Mills, you’re in charge of a fundraiser for a new TV. 

Peter Mills: Instead of cooking?

Matt Casey: In conjunction with cooking. 

Otis Zvonecek: I believe it’s called multitasking. And get some 

                           ideas together ASAP.

Gabby Dawson: Casey.

                                                   cutscene

Kelly Severide: He in?

Nicki Rutkowski: On the phone. You can leave it with me, though.

                              Hey, um…tomorrow night, I don’t know if you  

                              have plans but uh, me and some girlfriends are  

                              going to see Kaskade at the Vic if you’re

                              interested?

Kelly Severide: What’s Kaskade?

Nicki Rutkowski: Oh, He’s a DJ…famous one.

Kelly Severide: Yeah, um…look, I’m not really known for my 

                           self-restraint… 

Nicki Rutkowski: [giggles]

Kelly Severide: So I’ll need you to meet me halfway here and  

                           respect Boden and your dad’s wishes.

                                                     cutscene

Matt Casey: Who wants to be known as the rat fireman who took 

                      down a cop’s kid?

Antonio Dawson: What’s the cop’s name?

Matt Casey: Detective Voight.

Antonio Dawson: Aye yi.

Gabby Dawson: What’s the problem?

Antonio Dawson: Voight’s been hip-deep in the Gang Unit for 15  

                               years. He’s been investigated for taking bribes 

                               and…Look, he’s a dirty cop – the kind of guy  

                               that gives the rest of us a bad name.

Matt Casey: Okay. Well I saw what I saw.

                      The question is…did anyone else see it?

Antonio Dawson: I’ll ask around, put some feelers out. Wait to   

                              hear from me. ‘Cause I’m telling you as a friend  

                              of my sister’s, you do not want to mess with this 

                              dude.

Nicki Rutkowski: Lieutenant Casey! Chief wants to see you in his 

                              office.

Matt Casey: Okay, whatever you can do, I’d appreciate it.

Antonio Dawson: How long you been dating this guy?

Gabby Dawson: What [chuckles]…Antonio, what are you…Where  

                            do you come up with this  stuff? You’re trippin’. 

                             I’m not…I’m…He’s taken.

Antonio Dawson: Ah.

Gabby Dawson: So…

Antonio Dawson: All right, well, I’ll be in touch.

Dawson siblings: [fistbump]

Gabby Dawson: Hey, you being straight with him?

Antonio Dawson: If anything, I downplayed it. Your boy’s messing  

                              with a stick of dynamite.

Gabby Dawson: Then do your job and help him out.

                                                cutscene

Chief Boden: Incident report from that t-bone last shift. I got 

                       Severide’s. Where’s yours?

Matt Casey: Right, I’ve been buried in paperwork, and…

Chief Boden: [raps on desk] On my desk by the end of this shift. 

                       That gonna be a problem?

Matt Casey: Not at all.

                                         [dramatic music]

                                              cutscene

Peter Mills: A neighbourhood hotdog eating contest.

Mouch: Ah, too tacky.

Leslie Shay: And putting a sign out front begging for a TV is what?

Peter Mills: Okay.

Otis Zvonecek: He’s got a point.

Peter Mills: How about a t-shirt booth in the driveway?

Joe Cruz: We already sell t-shirts. 

Peter Mills: Yeah but I mean no one can ever find the key to the  

                     cabinet, Herrmann never has change in the treasury 

                     box. 

                     It’s a pain in the ass, so…we put the shirts out front  

                     and display ‘em properly.

Mouch: I don’t know how that’s gonna generate enough 

Peter Mills: And!

Mouch: Money… 

Peter Mills: And we get Nicki to man the booth.

Christopher Herrmann: Ding. Done. 

Joe Cruz: That is called putting it over the goal line, Peter Mills. 

Joe Cruz & Peter Mills: [fistbump]

Leslie Shay: Why don’t you put her in a bikini while you’re at it?

Otis Zvonecek: Before I respond, are you joking or are you serious?

Leslie Shay: About as serious as putting you in a bikini.

Otis Zvonecek: That’s what I thought.

                           So yes, a bikini would be ridiculous, and we get  

                            the joke.

Joe Cruz: [laughs] Hey, what do you think, Casey, t-shirt stand? 

Otis Zvonecek: Or should we have Mills here run a few laps   

                           around the block, think about some 

                           alternatives?

Matt Casey: Everybody on the floor. Gonna do a drill.

                      Mills, listen up. This is a downed firefighter 

                      assessment. Fellow firefighter’s gonna be on the   

                      floor, full gear with his pass alarm going off. You crawl

                      in from 10 feet away, deactivate his alarm, check for    

                      air flow, call in a mayday on your radio, and drag the   

                      victim to the extraction point, which will be…

                      north gate.

Peter Mills: Okay [chuckles].

Matt Casey: But with a blacked-out face mask to simulate zero 

                      visibility.

Otis Zvonecek: [laughs]

Peter Mills: Okay.

Otis Zvonecek: No showing up late to this one, candidate. Ah? 

                           [laughs]

Matt Casey: I got two masks. 

                                              [laughter]

Matt Casey: Slowest time has to mop the apparatus floor.

                      Time him.

Jose Vargas: Let’s go, gentlemen. Gear up.

Matt Casey: Hey, Hal. What’s going on? 

Hallie Thomas: Lunch break. You eaten yet?

Matt Casey: No. Come on.

Hallie Thomas: Hey, Gabriela.

Gabby Dawson: Hey, Hallie. 

                            Good seeing you.

Hallie Thomas: You too.

Nicki Rutkowski: Hey, this came in for you earlier.

Kelly Severide: Thanks.

                                          cutscene

                                     [water running]

Gabby Dawson: You look pleased with yourself. 

Peter Mills: Uh, downed firefighter assessment. New house record.

Gabby Dawson: Oh yeah? How’s Otis taking it?

Peter Mills: I don’t know. But the floor was looking pretty dirty, so…

Gabby Dawson: Is that a little cockiness I sense there, Peter Mills?

Peter Mills: It ain’t being cocky if you can back it up.

Gabby Dawson: Oh really? Well a lot of candidates with skills get  

                            their day in the sun, but how they handle  

                            themselves the other 364…that’s what keeps 

                            them around.

Peter Mills: I will take that under advisement. 

                                                cutscene

Hallie Thomas: What happened to the passengers in the other car?

Matt Casey: I don’t know. They were alert when we got ‘em  

                      backboarded and into the ambos. It was a dad and 

                      his son.

Hallie Thomas: What was the last name?

Matt Casey: Duffy.

Hallie Thomas: The son’s 16? On his way to a hockey tournament? 

Matt Casey: Yeah. You heard something?

Hallie Thomas: Baby… 

Matt Casey: What? Just…tell me.

Hallie Thomas: It’s a complete L2 fracture. He’s paralysed…waist 

                          down. 

Mouch: We just got a TV donated. Flat screen, still in the box. Cop  

              over at the 35th precinct donated it. 

                                                    cutscene

Firefighter: Beautiful. 

                                                     [claps]

All: Yeah! 

All: Whoo!

                                         [cheering & applause]

Otis Zvonecek: Oh yeah, baby! 

All: Whoo! Beautiful! 

Mouch: Oh, ho, hoh! Yeah! [claps]

Matt Casey: Who’s it from?

Delivery guy: Detective Voight. He, uh, saw your sign.

Otis Zvonecek: Is that a 40-inch?

Delivery guy: A 43! 

Otis Zvonecek: [chuckling] Oh, ho, God damn. 

All: Whoo!

                                [murmuring & indistinct chatter]

Matt Casey: Take it back.

Delivery guy: Nah, nah, nah. Don’t worry, Voight went through all

                       the channels; said to donate it to the city, but  

                       specified it come here. So the bureau bitches aren’t 

                       gonna freak out.

Matt Casey: Send it back.

Delivery guy: Sure, you got it.

Chief Boden: Is there something you need to bring me in on?

Matt Casey: Yeah.

                                          [keypad beeping]

                                             [door shuts]

Nicki Rutkowski: E-vites are so impersonal.

                             Leave it on.

Kelly Severide: Girl, you are barking up the wrong tree.

Nicki Rutkowski: Yeah? Prove it.

                                [alarm whoops, PA buzzes]

(Over PA): Jumper. Squad 3, Truck 81, Ambulance 61.

                                              cutscene

                                         [sirens wailing]

Gabby Dawson: Still alive?

Patrol Officer 2: Yeah, but if he wanted to be dead before, I  

                             guarantee he wants it now.

Peter Mills: How high?

Patrol Officer 2: Fourth floor.

Leslie Shay: I’ll call ahead to St. Mary’s; Have ‘em prep for spinal 

                     trauma, multiple broken bones.

Patrol Officer 2: It’s not like that. Poor bastard impaled himself.

Victim 3: [breathing heavily] [breathing quivering]

Christopher Herrmann: Holy smokes.

                                [sirens wailing & horn honking]

                                             [door shuts]

                                       [indistinctive chatter]

Leslie Shay: We got a pulse.

Matt Casey: We need two ladders and a rope bag.

Gabby Dawson: You pull him off; he bleeds out right here, right 

                            now. 

Matt Casey: Chief?

Chief Boden: Get the k-12, we’re cutting him down.

                                          [k-12 buzzing]

Chief Boden: Pump some water on that steel so it doesn’t overheat!

Gabby Dawson: He’s gonna arrest.

Kelly Severide: Talk to the saw, not me.

                                         [water spraying]

Peter Mills: You’ll be alright, just try and stand still!

Leslie Shay: He can’t hear you! He’s in shock!

                                          [k-12 buzzing]

Kelly Severide: Hold that.

                                     [k-12 sputters to life]

Kelly Severide: Alright, get ready. He’s coming down.

Jose Vargas: Three, two, one. 

                       Everybody good?

All: Yeah. We’re good.

Leslie Shay: Watch this, watch this.

Firefighter: Got it, got it, got it. 

Leslie Shay: Hey, whoa. 

Gabby Dawson: He’s going into v-fib. We gotta pull the fence.

Christopher Herrmann: What happened to “we pull it he dies”?

Gabby Dawson: We gotta get his heart back on rhythm but there’s  

                             no way I’m shocking him till we get this iron out 

                             first.

Matt Casey: Severide.

Kelly Severide: Yo.

                           Unh! [grunts]

                                                [saw whirrs]

Matt Casey: Pull it away. 

                    Go.

Firefighter: Alright, hit it!

Leslie Shay: On me. 

                      Ready, pull!

                      One, two three! 

Gabby Dawson: Pull him out for me.

                            Okay, here we go.

                            Shocking at two, stand by.    

                            Clear.

                                           [electrical surge]

Gabby Dawson: Hitting him again at 360. Stand by.

                            Clear.

                                           [electrical surge]

Gabby Dawson: Rhythm. 

                            He’s got a pulse

Leslie Shay: Okay, get him in!

Gabby Dawson: 40 year old male, suicide attempt. Fell from four 

                            stories, impaled on a fence.

Doctor 1: You removed it on scene?

Gabby Dawson: He went into v-fib. I had to yank. Two shocks on  

                            the monitor brought him back.

Doctor 1: Let’s get him into one. 

Leslie Shay: I’ll be right back.

                     Kendra.

Dr. Kendra: Hey, you.

Leslie Shay: Hi.

Dr. Kendra: Missed you on Saturday.

Leslie Shay: Yeah, I was working. How was it?

Dr. Kendra: The food was good. But I don’t know why Kim’s still  

                     with Kristin. All they do is pick at each other. I mean,

                     enough already, you know?

Leslie Shay: Yeah. Believe me.

                      Listen [clears throat] I need a big favour.

                                                cutscene

Kelly Severide: You got any ibuprofen?

Otis Zvonecek: Yes, indeedy. How many you want? 

                                             [pills rattling] Kelly Severide: Five.

Otis Zvonecek: [chuckles] Here’s two [pills jiggling]

                           Seriously, too many can do serious damage to   

                           your kidneys, okay?

                           Don’t come running to me when you’re on dialysis  

                           in five years, okay?

Kelly Severide: Thanks.

Otis Zvonecek:  Seriously, look it up. Ibuprofen and kidneys.

                                       [locker door shuts]

Otis Zvonecek: Okay…

                                              cutscene

Antonio Dawson: Buddy of mine who works out of Voight’s   

                              precinct said nothing’s come up in witness 

                              statements.

Chief Boden: So you’re trying to tell me no one else saw his kid 

                       drunk?

Antonio Dawson: Hell yes other people saw his kid drunk. But   

                              they were other cops who aren’t about to go  

                               up against Voight.

Chief Boden: Well, I would rather my guy not be the only one with  

                        his head above the foxhole on this one. 

Antonio Dawson: I understand.

Matt Casey: Passenger in the other car isn’t gonna walk again.

Antonio Dawson: I know, I know. 

                              Look, give me till the end of this shift. But if I  

                              come up empty…

                              Voight’s been pulling his son out of things like   

                              this since the kid was 15. Lot of people had to   

                              turn the other way. And I’m just telling you, if it   

                              was Gabby who was in your shoes, and I’m not  

                              proud to admit this, but I’d tell her to stay out of 

                              it.

                                                      cutscene

                                                   [door opens]

Elise Mills: Those tomatoes are only good for another day or so.

Peter Mills: Elise, I’m done at the restaurant.

                    I mean I-I came in late at the beginning of a shift. That  

                    ain’t gonna happen again. Mom has just gotta deal with 

                    it.

Elise Mills: Then tell her.

Peter Mills: Well I’m going to.

                     But I-I need you to back me up, okay? 

Elise Mills: [scoffs] I mean, you know what’s going on here, right?

Peter Mills: Of course! Why do you think I’ve been there on every 

                     day off? You-you think I like slinging hash?

                     Hey.

                     Um, Lieutenant Severide, this is my sister, Elise.

Kelly Severide: Nice to meet you. 

Elise Mills: You too.

Peter Mills: Mom has just got to realise that dad loved being a  

                     firefighter. And I’m not gonna run from something I  

                     want to do with my life just to make her feel better.

Elise Mills: Then reassure her.

Peter Mills: Well, how?

Elise Mills: I don’t know. 

                   She’s scared. She doesn’t want to lose you too.

                                               cutscene

Joe Cruz: Hey. How the t-shirts going?

Nicki Rutkowski: Pretty good. Couple hundred bucks so far. I’m  

                              almost out of squad t-shirts though.

Otis Zvonecek: Whoa, what about truck shirts?

Nicki Rutkowski: Those are just kinda sitting there. I think it’s  

                              because of the goat emblem. It’s not a big 

                              seller. 

Otis Zvonecek: [sighs]

Nicki Rutkowski: Why a goat?

Otis Zvonecek: T-T-That’s what I’m saying. The goats are freakin’  

                           killing us, guys. 

Mouch: I wouldn’t mind an explanation from Casey on the flat 

             screen of it all.

Christopher Herrmann: Drop it.

                                                   cutscene

                                              [food sizzling]

Christopher Herrmann: I didn’t know your side job was the 

                                        restaurant business, Mills.

Peter Mills: For now. Phasing it out, though.

Christopher Herrmann: I think you’re the only food-related side 

                                        job we got in here. ‘Cause let’s see, we   

                                        got security guard, construction…

Peter Mills: What about you?

Christopher Herrmann: General entrepreneurship.

                                         I was doing pretty good as a day trader,   

                                         you know, until all the trolls jumped   

                                         onboard. And…you know, capsized it for 

                                         guys like me.

                                        You know, it’s…it’s funny that you bring it  

                                        up, Peter Mills, because I’m actually    

                                        circling an investment opportunity. It could  

                                        be massive, you know and I might…let you 

                                        guys get in on it. 

Joe Cruz: Well, what is it?

Christopher Herrmann: Nah, you guys are gonna have to wait,  

                                        ‘cause you know I...

                                        Okay, fine.

                                        Two words: Energy water.

                                        [snorts & laughters]

Jose Vargas: Are you kidding me?

Nicki Rutkowski: Greg Duffy? I guess he was in a car accident the  

                              other day that you guys responded to.

Matt Casey: Yeah, what about him?

Nicki Rutkowski: He’s outside.

Matt Casey: Sir.

Victim 1/father (Greg Duffy): Sorry to barge in on you like this, but  

                                                my wife made this for you guys. We  

                                                really appreciate what you did. And   

                                                we know damn well it could’ve been   

                                                worse if the car had tipped over, so…

                                                thank you.

All: Sure. 

       Yeah. 

         Absolutely

         No problem.

         Sure.

                                  [indistinctive murmurings]

Matt Casey: How’s your son?

Victim 1/father (Greg Duffy): Yeah, well…You know.

                                                 Mikey’s got a tough road ahead 

                                                 of him. But…we’re gonna make it. 

                                                 We’re gonna be alright.

                                                 The other reason I came here is…I 

                                                 don’t know if there’s anything you  

                                                 guys do in terms of what you saw, 

                                                 or piece together based on what the  

                                                 accident scene looked like, but the  

                                                 police report came back saying I ran

                                                 a red light, causing the accident.    

                                                 And, uh, that’s…that’s not what   

                                                 happened. And I’m…I’m kind of at a   

                                                 loss in terms of how to fight it.

                                                 cutscene

Matt Casey: Last paragraph. 

Chief Boden: Visibly drunk. Smelled alcohol on his breath. Saw  

                        open containers on the passenger seat.

                        Leaders lead from the front.

                                              [dramatic music]

                                                   cutscene

Al Rutkowski: Ah, there he is, that prick. 

Chief Boden: Oh, they will just let about anybody in this place.

Al Rutkowski: [chuckles] I got an urgent call from HQ saying you  

                         guys didn’t know your asses from a tripped horse.  

                         They wanted me to come down, show you how it’s 

                         done. 

Chief Boden: Well, come on, tell me about all that action you get  

                        out there in the suburbs.

Al Rutkowski: Ah, don’t start now.

Chief Boden & Al Rutkowski: [chuckles]

Al Rutkowski: Hey, uh, so how’s Nicki doing for you there?

Chief Boden: Well, she’s great help. She works hard, no drama,  

                       always got a positive attitude. She fits right in. 

                       Everybody loves her. 

Al Rutkowski: Ah, good, good.

                        Hey, I-I appreciate you doing this for me, buddy.

Chief Boden: Ain’t no thang. 

Al Rutkowski: Is she around? I told her I’d pick her up.

                                             cutscene

                             [kissing sounds & light moans]

Chief Boden: Our rig. It’s got a cylinder on it keeps on crackin’.  

                       13 years old. Can’t get us a new one.

Al Rutkowski: Come out to Naperville. We get a new rig every three 

                         years. 

Chief Boden: In the burbs.

Al Rutkowski: [chuckles]

Nicki Rutkowski: [heavy breathing] Leave it on.

Kelly Severide: [heavy breathing]

                             [kissing sounds & light moaning]

Chief Boden: Any of y’all seen Nicki?

Capp: I haven’t Chief, sorry.

Chief Boden: I’ll check the kitchen. Be right back.

Al Rutkowski: All right, boss.

                                          [door opens]

Nicki Rutkowski: [giggles] Hi, dad!

Al Rutkowski: Hey.

Nicki Rutkowski: You’re here early.

Al Rutkowski: Uh, zero traffic on the ike if you can believe it.

Nicki Rutkowski: Oh [giggles]

Al Rutkowski: [groans] Aw, you ready, kiddo?

Nicki Rutkowski: Yeah, yeah, eh, um…I’m just gonna go grab my 

                              stuff.

Al Rutkowski: All right, sweetheart. 

Nicki Rutkowski: Okay.

                                  [door opens & slams shut]

                                              cutscene

Leslie Shay: Hey.

Kelly Severide: Hey.

Leslie Shay: Need to talk to you.

Kelly Severide: That girl is in serious heat, and I’m not Ghandi.

Leslie Shay: What? No, about your arm.

Kelly Severide: Oh.

Leslie Shay: Here.

Kelly Severide: What’s this?

Leslie Shay: Friend of mine. I gave her a heads up.

Kelly Severide: Cool. Thanks.

Leslie Shay: Yeah, your appointment’s after shift.

                      You said you were gonna get your arm looked at.

Kelly Severide: I know. I am. I will. I’ll…I am.

Leslie Shay: Okay, so I basically feel like you’ve been lying to me   

                      in order to get painkillers, and that’s not really the  

                      quality I look for in a friend and a roommate. 

Kelly Severide: [sighs] Part of me doesn’t want to know.

Leslie Shay: I get it. Of course, but the consultation’s off the books. 

                     Just you and I will know and we’ll figure it out.

Kelly Severide: All right.

Leslie Shay: Okay.

                                                cutscene

Jose Vargas: Hey, Casey.

Matt Casey: What’s up?

Jose Vargas: Just wanted to let you know that I reached my squad 

                      certification.

Matt Casey: Okay.

Jose Vargas: And I put in for a transfer. So I just wanted you to  

                       know beforehand.

                       [sighs]

Matt Casey: Vargas, congratulations man. Seriously. Severide will  

                      be lucky to have you. 

Jose Vargas: I appreciate that. Thank you.

Hank Voight: You Casey?

Matt Casey: Yeah.

Hank Voight: I’m Hank Voight. 

                      Got time for a drink?

                                                  cutscene

Hank Voight: Lotta cops got dinosaur arms when it comes to   

                       pulling their gun. Not me. You know, I’ve always   

                       been aggressive. It’s the only way to get anything   

                       done in my line of work.

                       [sighs] The reason I’m telling you this is…I put a lot   

                       of time into my job. I mean, I cared a lot about   

                       protecting the city and the people in it. Maybe too 

                       much, ‘cause… I wasn’t at home a lot, and I took my 

                       eye off my son. That’s on me. But I am telling you   

                       right now I am gonna be up that kid’s ass until he  

                       gets his head on straight. I’m gonna get him in a   

                       program, the whole deal. You got my word on it.

Matt Casey: Good to hear.

Hank Voight: See, the thing is Justin…that’s my son…

                      [sighs] He’s got some priors. This thing that   

                      happened the other night, if there was alcohol  

                      involved, that’s a felony. He does time…real time.

                      You ever been to lockup? You been to Statesville?  

                      You been to these places? You don’t want your kid  

                      there, trust me.

Matt Casey: I’m sympathetic, but…that’s got nothing to do with me.

Hank Voight: Sure it does. You filed a report that said my son was  

                       drunk that night.

Matt Casey: He was.

Hank Voight: Well I need you to retract it.

                       Let me tell you…I will owe you. Big time. I’m a good  

                        guy to have a favour bank with. 

Matt Casey: The kid in the other car, did you know he’s paralysed?

Hank Voight: Yeah, and it breaks my heart. 

                        But there is no sense having two tragedies coming  

                        from that night. And putting ten years on my son  

                        would be a tragedy, ‘cause he’s a great guy.

Matt Casey: I’ve been to Statesville. You ever been to a spinal 

                      injury centre? 

                     Family watches their kid drag his feet while gripping  

                     some parallel bars, clinging to the fantasy that he’ll   

                     walk again one day. And the dad quits his job to help 

                     the mom care for him, and take a second mortgage   

                     out on their house to pay for it. And on top of that,  

                     they have to live with the shame that the police and   

                     fire department shoved a lie down their throat that   

                     they caused the accident? 

                     What you’re asking me to do…

Hank Voight: I’m not asking! [slams hands on table]

                       If you’re not the kind of man to do a cop a favour,   

                       then I can take this to the next level real easy.   

                       It was the end of your shift, you were tired, you got   

                       your paperwork mixed up, you got your calls mixed 

                       up. There’s a million excuses. Pick one. ‘Cause 

                       believe me…You are gonna retract that statement. 

                       ‘Cause if you don’t, I swear to God…

Chief Boden: Casey.

Matt Casey: Chief.

Hank Voight: Hey Chief, uh, can you give us a minute? This is kind

                       of a private conversation.

Chief Boden: Nah, I’m good.

                                        [chair scraping back]

Matt Casey: I’m not changing a word

                                               cutscene

Dr. Kendra: Honestly, I don’t know how you’re walking around

                     right now let alone working. What happened?

Kelly Severide: Job related. I figured it was just a pinched nerve.

Dr. Kendra: It is. ‘Caused by a fracture in your c5 vertebra. 

                    Right here.

Kelly Severide: Okay.

Dr. Kendra: You’re lucky that you can feel pain at all right now. 

                     But there’s a surgery, which can take pressure off

                     the nerve…

Kelly Severide: How long would I be off work?

Dr. Kendra: Full rehab, six months to a year.

Kelly Severide: How ‘bout without the surgery?

Dr. Kendra: We’re dealing with motor nerve damage, so there’s

                     no definitive timetable. But you can expect

                     weakness of the hands, you can expect muscle 

                      atrophy, and then if it deteriorates…fasciculation 

                      – twitching of the hands, of the knees. After that, 

                      you don’t want to  know. 

                                                cutscene

                                        [locker door shuts]

Gabby Dawson: My brother called. Asked if you were sure about  

                            what you were doing. I told him, “you don’t know 

                            Casey very well.”

                            [giggles]

                                            [bag zipping]

Gabby Dawson: You holding up all right? 

Matt Casey: Yeah, yeah. I’m good.

                      [sighs]

                      What would you have done?

Gabby Dawson: Pssh…

                            I…y-you know, I went back and forth on this  

                            [sharp intake of breath] Especially with Antonio  

                            in my ear, but…[sighs]

                            You want to know the honest answer?

Matt Casey: Yeah.

Gabby Dawson: If I held that information out of the report, I  

                            thought about how I’d feel looking people I  

                            respect in the eye. You know, and…I-I guess  

                            specifically, I thought about how I’d feel looking 

                            you in the eye. And that’s when I know I would’ve 

                            done the right thing.

                                                   cutscene

Mouch: 300, 320, 340…344 dollars.

Christopher Herrmann: We found a 32-inch over in Roscoe  

                                         Village; the guy says it’s barely been 

                                         used.

Matt Casey: I got a better idea.

                                                 cutscene

                                              [hammering]

Matt Casey: What’s that?

Otis Zvonecek: You asked for a level.

Matt Casey: That’s a t-square.

                      Just…

Otis Zvonecek: Oh…

Matt Casey: Go.

Otis Zvonecek: Okay.

                                                  cutscene

Kelly Severide: Hey.

Leslie Shay: Hey. So…how’d it go?

Kelly Severide: Good. Nice lady.

                           I’ve just gotta find a way to manage the pain.

Leslie Shay: Yeah, Kendra said you…you basically have a broken 

                      neck.

Kelly Severide: Well if the two of you already talked, then why are  

                           you asking me?

                           I get that surgery, there’s follow-up exams. There’s  

                           paperwork involved. The department doesn’t like  

                           how it looks, I go on long-term disability. 

Leslie Shay: That’s 75% pay.

Kelly Severide: And then do what, Shay? I fish off Navy pier for the  

                          next 20 years? 

Leslie Shay: [sighs]

Kelly Severide: Working Squad is all I wanted. It’s all I have. 

                           If I have to eat the pain, then I will. 

                                               [chopping]

                                         [rapping on door]

                                           [knife clanking]

Leslie Shay: Who’s that?

                                           [door opening]

Al Rutkowski: Hey. Remember me?

Kelly Severide: [clears throat] I do.

Al Rutkowski: Nicki is engaged. 

                         Besides, it, uh looks like you’re already having your 

                         fun there.

                         This conversation need to continue?

Kelly Severide: No, sir, it doesn’t.

Al Rutkowski: Right.

                                            [door shuts]

Kelly Severide: There you have it.

                                               cutscene

Mouch: Bears game starts in an hour. Is there a decent spot   

              around here to watch it? Not too crowded, not too loud,  

              and we can get seats?

Peter Mills: Yeah. Yeah, I know a place

                                               cutscene

Christopher Herrmann: Bring it down. We’re going inside some  

                                         place. Go easy guys.

Peter Mills: Mom, hey.

                                   [indistinctive chatter]

Christopher Herrmann: This looks like a mom. This looks like a  

                                         mom, am I right?

Ingrid Mills: You’re right.

                     Welcome, welcome.

Christopher Herrmann: Aw, you got a sweet kid.

Peter Mills: Herrmann, mom.

Ingrid Mills: Herrmann, nice to meet you.

Mouch: Hello, mother.

Ingrid Mills: Hello.

Peter Mills: Mouch.

Mouch: Mouch.

Ingrid Mills: Mouch. 

Mouch: Mouch. 

Ingrid Mills: Nice to meet you.

Mouch: You’ll get used to it.

Ingrid Mills: Otis, nice to meet you.

Otis Zvonecek: Hi, mom. Brian. It’s Brian.

Ingrid Mills: Brian.

Otis Zvonecek: Yes.

Ingrid Mills: Jose, it’s a pleasure.

                     Welcome.

Jose Vargas: Thanks for having us.

Ingrid Mills: Welcome.

Peter Mills: Um, this is my boss, ma. This is Lieutenant Casey.

Ingrid Mills: Lieutenant Casey, it’s so great to have you guys here. 

Matt Casey: Nice to meet you, ma’am.

Peter Mills: And hey, oh this is my sister Elise.

All: Hey, Elise! [cheering]

Elise Mills: Cheers.

Matt Casey: Really? Thank you.

Ingrid Mills: Can I talk to you a minute?

Matt Casey: Yeah.

Ingrid Mills: I don’t sleep at night when he’s on shift.

                                 [indistinctive chatter]

Matt Casey: I’ll look after him. I promise.

Otis Zvonecek: Mouch, c’mon, turn on the TV, let’s go.

                           All right, cheers, cheers!

Ingrid Mills: Okay you guys, make yourselves at home. 

Jose Vargas: All right!

Ingrid Mills: We’ll bring some food out.

Joe Cruz: And food!

                                [laughter & chattering]

Crowd: Oh, he knows, he knows.

             Shall we?

             Yes. 

              Let’s go.

Mouch: Just keeps getting better!

TV: Welcome to soldier field in Chicago…

Christopher Herrmann: I really want my honey bears back.

                                       That’s what I want. 

                                       25 years.

                                                  - end -

Definitions:

Elliptical machine = Stationary exercise machine used to stair climb, walk, or run without causing excessive pressure to the joins, hence decreasing the risk of impact injuries.

L2 fracture = Fracture in the second vertebrae in the lumbar spine. The L2 vertebra makes up the spinal column, which supports the upper half of the human body.

K-12 = Fire/Rescue saw. It can be used for forcible entry, ventilation, USAR (Urban Search and Rescue – technical rescue operation that involves the location, extrication, and initial medical stabilisation of victims trapped in an urban area, namely structural collapse due to natural disasters, mines and collapsed trenches), RIC (Rapid Intervention Crew - team of two or more firefighters dedicated solely to the search and rescue of other firefighters in distress), and vehicle extrication.

V-fib = Ventricular fibrillation is an abnormal heart rhythm (rapid, erratic electrical impulses) in which the ventricles of the heart quiver instead of pumping normally. It is due to disorganised electrical activity. V-fib results in cardiac arrest with loss of consciousness and no pulse.

Pinched nerve = Occurs when too much pressure is applied to a nerve by surrounding tissues, such as bones, cartilage, muscles or tendons. This pressure disrupts the nerve’s function, causing pain, tingling, numbness or weakness.

C5 vertebra = The C5 is one of seven vertebrae of the cervical spine. It is a significant landmark when determining the likely consequences of trauma to the neck and spinal column. If the spinal cord injury is at or above the C5, the person may be unable to breathe. Even if death by asphyxiation is avoided by emergency measures, the person will likely be left as quadriplegic (paralysis of all four limbs). If the injury is below the C5, the likely outcome is that the person will be a paraplegic (paralysis of the legs and lower body).

Muscle atrophy = Is when muscles waste away. It’s usually caused by a lack of physical activity. When a disease of injury makes it difficult or impossible for you to move an arm or leg, the lack of mobility can result in muscle wasting.

Fasciculation = Or also known as muscle twitch, is a spontaneous, involuntary muscle contraction and relaxation, involving fine muscle fibres. They are common, with as much as 70% of people experiencing them. They can be benign, or associated with more serious conditions.

[reaperalexiel]

Post Blue Sky Wheatley Headcanons

(For future writings.... if i ever get around to it.)

Thought I'd post for those who are interested.

Because of lack of human contact, he always twitches or jerks whenever someone touches him. However, he loves physical assurance and contact and always recovers from it.

Loves to cuddle or hug Chell.

Always initiates the hug, unwanted by recipient or not.

Has discovered the sight of blood makes him squeamish, especially his own, but not as bad as heights.

Never goes outside on a rainy day if he can help it, too much water.

Cold water? Forget it.

Because he is skinny as a rail, is always freezing. Hugs Chell a lot because she is like a living furnace.

Wears sweaters even in summer due to always being bloody freezing.

Wears business casual as his everyday attire, lots of sweaters though. The only things that really fit him without being too short in the arms or too loose. Vests for more formal occasions.

Sweater vests. End of discussion.

Has to wear velcro tennis shoes for a while due to being VERY bad at tying knots due to lack of experience at hands. Slip ons work too. Maybe gets tied shoes a couple of years down the road.

Endlessly fascinated with food. Eats a lot of bread and anything Chell makes regardless of how good it is. (Which 99% of the time is magnificent.)

Constantly has a fear of fitting in among Eaden residents for quite a while, but if he made more friends that might pass...

Ends up on Doc Victoria's table more than he would like. He is a walking accident. Always covered in bandages. She honestly doesn't mind. He doesn't know it, but she's a loner, but considers him one of her only friends.

Doc Vic is very stoic, even more than Chell, but seems to get a bit more open when Wheatley is around.

Wheatley is the only person who can make Victoria laugh. Everyone who sees him do this act as if he just gave a blind man sight after having his eyes pecked out.

Once Wheatley learns her name, he stops calling her "Dr. Eyebrows". Unfortunately for Victoria, EVERYONE ELSE starts calling her that. Especially Garret.

Wheatley is the only person who has accidentally made Victoria self-concious.

Speaking of impromptu nicknames, any nickname Wheatley calls someone will eventually be adopted by everyone else. He usually does this impulsively and doesn't even remember giving them this name. He'll hear someone call Garret "Cleverclogs" and ask who thought of that and reacts with bewilderment when told it was him.

He has this weird delusion thst being smart means you are happy and successful, probably brought on by limited interaction with scientists (and his own crippling anxiety)

Has mild anxiety that can lead to full-on panic attacks if he gets too lost to his fear.

Being exiled in space has made him a bit more self-aware, but learning the truth about his function and how he was programmed (rerouter) and what he had done have caused Wheatley to become more reflective in serious moments.

Is prone to hiding any crippling self- doubt or loathing so as to save face, but crumples like dry leaves and spills everything if prodded enough (especially Chell).

.....if he had friends who respected him, I honestly believe he would become extremely loyal. He's desperate for recognition and validation by peers and any kind action by someone means the world to him after the treatment he recieved in Aperture.

He may not be fearless, or the smartest (lol), or the strongest, or the quickest, or the most collected mental-wise. But he probably has the most genuine heart. Certainly the bravest, given his fear. But he faced Her and won, id call that brave.

He always HAS to try. Even if he KNOWS he's going to fail. He HAS to try. And even with all his failures, even with all the times he's run away, he ALWAYS comes back and tries again. In some way, he's almost as determined as she is (almost, no one is as determined as Chell).

He genuinely loves to help people.

He can empathize with most people because he's had a VERY eventful life.

Anxiety, self-loathing, guilt, depression, loneliness, paranoia, betrayal, abuse, worthlessness, etc... and a lot more.

His friends tend to open up to Wheatley more than other people. He comes off as naturally trustworthy (which he's gotten better at, being trustworthy i mean) and empathetic (which he is).

Wheatley loves to learn. The only problem is he has trouble differentiating if the knowledge he learns is USEFUL.

He learns a random set of skills with varying degrees of success.

Ex) -baking from Chell- not without supervision

-gets Victoria to teach him how to dress minor wounds (gets a lot of practice lol), she takes it a step further and teaches him how to do CPR (not very good at first) and how to splint (takes a long time, but he gets it)

He can't be taught other than one-on-one because of his focus issues. Anyone who teaches him has to have both patience and sole attention on him.

He often sucks at most things at first, but give him enough time and he'll become decent at it.

Wheatley's best skill is talking. He's had a lot of practice talking to himself in the facility. Also has a natural knack for it. Makes him an awesome radio DJ, which makes him somewhat locally famous. Some people give him the moniker, the "Voice of Eaden". Most people don't even know where Eaden is.

Aaron is somewhat always watching out for Wheatley, the unofficial mark of Eaden residency.

Garret loves to see what faces Wheatley makes when he's flustered.

Wheatley has the most expressive face.

He's also a total drama king.

Wheatley will only actively try to scorn or be mean to you if he feels you've belittled or threatened him in some way, rational or otherwise.

Wishes he didn't have to keep his real nature and past secret, but knows the consequences of Aperture knowledge falling into bad hands (plus Chell had a really long talk with him about not it being safer for everyone as a whole). Also people would think he was loony cause he's human now.

If someone DID find out about him and kept it to themselves, it would be a huge relief because now he doesnt have to worry about blowing it in front of this person anymore.

He sucks at lying, so he doesn't do it often. But is surprisingly good at keeping secrets, usually too scatterbrained to think about them anyway.

He's a good singer, but he's really shy about it and only sings to himself when no one is around. The scientists would tell him to shut up when he was a core when doing this. :(

If Wheatley got professional voice training, his voice would sound like BUTTAH. Mostly sings jazz.

Wheatley's favorite genre of music is jazz.

[talpup]

Erase the Shadow: 9

Please remember, this fic is rated explicit and has warnings of sex, violence, and other possible triggers.

***If you prefer reading off AO3 here’s the link for that: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22027552/chapters/54545182

I write for my own enjoyment, but edit and post for yours.  If you enjoyed reading this at all please comment and let me know.  It’s the only thing that encourages me to keep editing and posting.

Thank you to those who have left hearts.  And a VERY special thank you to those who have recently left comments or re-blogged. They really mean a lot.

As always, an extra special thank you to @inorganicone2230 for their encouragement and friendship.  This fic was my personal guilty pleasure, and without them never be getting posted. If it weren’t for our brainstorming sessions I probably wouldn’t be updating today.  Your help with Nemuri's backstory and encouraging my thoughts and plan with the Void have been a HUGE help.  Thank you!

9.1

Shouta’s class of 3-A dismissed, Teris turned to him.  “Can I ask you something?”

Shouta lifted his eyes from the paper he was grading and waited till the final student had exited.  “Of course.”

“Do you not trust me with your class?”

“What? Of course I do.”

“Then you doubt my teaching ability.”

“I do not.”  Shouta said, lowering the red pen.  “Why would you think that?”

“We’re in the third week of school and you’ve yet to leave the classroom when I come in to teach.”

Shouta's mouth suddenly felt dry.

She had noticed.  Of course she noticed, he thought.  You sit at your desk listening to her voice during the lecture segment of her strategics lesson.  How could she not notice?

“I don’t teach ethics on Friday’s.” Shouta said, lamely.

“And grading papers while I’m talking is preferable to the teachers lounge?”

“You’re not in here talking the entire time.”  Shouta remarked, glad when his voice didn’t sound as disappointed by that as he felt.  “In case you haven’t noticed the teachers lounge can get almost as rowdy as the cafeteria.

“Right. Sorry.”  Teris turned back to the podium.

Shouta could tell by the way she moved that she still didn’t fully believe him. “If I doubted your trustworthiness or ability as a teacher I would’ve mentioned something to Principle Nedzu.”

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye.  “Did you?”

“If I did he clearly didn’t listen.”  Shouta said, dryly.

Teris smirked.

Shouta got to his feet and moved around his desk.  “Look.  If I had any real concerns about you I would say something.  At the very least I would join you out in the training yard for the practical part of your lesson instead of staying in grading papers.”

“True.”

He saw the slight tension in her shoulders ease and was grateful that he had never given into the urge to go watch her put his class through their paces.

“You shouldn’t care so much what people think.”  Shouta said.

Teris looked back at him, scowling. “I don’t.”

“You cared what I thought.”

“You’re not people.”  Teris’ eyes widened.

Shouta’s heart did that funny little stutter step it did whenever he saw her. “I know most think me a grouch or a gremlin, Shadow, but that doesn’t mean I’m not a person.”

“People think that because you are a grouch and a gremlin, Eraser.”

The blushing heat in her cheeks only grew when he gave her a fraction of a smile, blinking slowly at her.

She turned back around, ducking her head till her hair shielded her face from view.

What she wouldn’t give for something like his capture weapon to hide behind.  The thought had her mind imagining what it would feel like wearing it.  Would it carry his warmth?  His scent?  Her thoughts took a less wholesome turn and she cleared her throat.

“I gotta admit I was a bit surprised at how many students you still had in your class.”  She said while needlessly shuffling papers.

“Those lacking potential are weeded out the first few weeks of their first year.  Anyone expelled after that is usually re-enroll the following day.”

“A sort of wake-up call.”

Shouta lifted a shoulder and nodded.

“You know that stays on their school record.”

“As it does on mine.”  He grinned.

“That’s how you have so many student expulsions yet still have a class to teach!”  She said, realization dawning.  “I wondered at those numbers.  Figured you were walking around expelling students from other classes.”

“You read my file?”  Shouta questioned.

He didn’t tell her that he had expelled students from other classes. As director of the hero course he had that ability.  Much to Kan’s annoyance.

“Well… Yeah.”  Why was she blushing again?  “I read the files of everyone I would be working with.”

“Hey, Babe.” Hizashi called, entering.

“Mic.” Teris answered, pointedly.

“Sorry. Shadow.”  Hizashi corrected himself.

Teris rolled her eyes.  School was over and it was Friday so the hallways were mostly empty.  Still, her boyfriend had to learn to keep it professional while at work.  Though after three weeks of school that seemed unlikely.

“I’m gonna go get ready.  You sure you’ll be fine getting there with Nemuri?”  Hizashi asked.

“I’m an adult, Yamada.  I’d be fine getting there without Kayama.”

Hizashi knew it was because they were still on campus, but he didn’t like Teris referring to him so formally.  “It’s a big city with lots of villains.”

“And I’m a pro hero.”  Teris countered.

It wasn’t as if she didn’t know her way around town.  Heck, she had begun taking patrols two weeks before school began.  Much to Hizashi's chagrin.

“Baby.”

“Mic.”

“Shadow.” Hizashi corrected.

Shouta watched the two mildly amused by their banter despite the usual hurt and annoyance he felt.

“Yes. Midnight and I will be going together.”  Teris relented.

“Awesome!” Hizashi stole a quick kiss.  “I’ll leave your names at the back door that way you won’t have’ta mess with the lines out front.”

He practically barreled through Nemuri on his way out.

Nemuri shook her head and entered.  “He’s so sweet, Ris.  I don’t know why you give him such a hard time.  He’s only looking out for you as any good boyfriend should.”

“You heard all that, huh.”

Nemuri slipped up beside Shouta a smile on her lips.

“Although,” Nemuri drew out, wrapping her arms around Shouta's, “the club is on a somewhat sketchy side of town.  It wouldn’t hurt to have a big, strong man there to protect us.”

“Kayama. You know Aizawa doesn’t like dance clubs.  We’ll be fine.”

“Who are you?  His girlfriend?  Let the man decide for himself.” Nemuri turned to Shouta and grinned.  “What do you say, Eraser? Wanna go out with two hot girls?  Make sure no one dances too close or touches things they shouldn’t?”

Shouta swallowed.

A possessive wave raced through him at the thought of someone touching and grinding up against Teris.  What had he planned to do tonight anyway?  Feed the stray cats that lived in the alley behind his apartment.  Grade more papers and work on lesson plans. Watching Teris dance sounded like a far better evening.

“I’ll go.”  Shouta mumbled.

Teris blinked in surprise. “Really?”

“I haven’t seen Mic DJ in a over a year.”  Shouta said with an easy shrug.

“Pick us up at my place in a couple hours.”  Nemuri said, stepping away from Shouta and pushing Teris out the door.  “Wear something other than the usual, Eraser.”

9.2

Shouta had never been one to fuss about what he wore.

His wardrobe consisted mostly of black with a few various items of grey.  There was the exception of the three pairs of pink track pants that he had purchased on-line late one night while running on too little sleep and far too much coffee. But given the clearance price he had paid for them, he was somewhat proud of the buy despite the unfortunate color.

Having everything pretty much one color made things easy on him.  He didn’t have to concern himself with trivial things such as matching stuff up.  The fact that he had several copies of the same top and pants meant that he didn’t have to fuss about what he was going to wear. Until now…

He knocked on Nemuri's door still annoyed that she had made him worry about what to wear.  He still was sure what she had meant by, something other than the usual.   A different fabric or cut of pants? A different color top?  Different shoes?

Just to be safe he had changed up all three, choosing to wear dark denim with a charcoal grey button up and a different set of black work boots.

Nemuri answered the door.  “We’re almost ready.”

“I didn’t expect you to be ready.”  Shouta drawled, entering the apartment.

“Hey! I would've been if Teris had been more agreeable.”

“You wanted me to dress like a slut!”  Teris’ voice sounded from Nemuri's bedroom.

“Slut! I wear that outfit all the time.”  Nemuri said, leaving Shouta to his own devices as she made her way back to the bedroom.

Shouta sat down and tried to calm his nerves.  He didn’t know why he was so nervous.  It wasn’t as if this were a date.  He wouldn’t even be alone with Teris.  Nemuri would be there.

But Hizashi wouldn’t, he thought. Well he would but he would be on stage doing his thing, Shouta's mind corrected.

The thought of being with Teris outside of work without Hizashi present excited him. Not that he was going to try anything.  He respected Teris and his friendship with Hizashi too much for that.

“We’re ready.”  Nemuri sang, exiting the bedroom several minutes latter.

Shouta turned.  At the sight of Teris he rose to his feet.

She looked...amazing.  An unpleasant wave of jealousy washed through him at the thought of other people seeing her like that.

“Tell us we look pretty, Shouta.” Nemuri prodded with a knowing smile.

“You look..”  Beautiful.  “Very pretty.”  Shouta said, dark eyes on Teris.

They were stopped at the clubs back door by a bored looking bouncer.

“Go around the front if you wanna get in.”

“Present Mic said he would leave you our names.”  Nemuri said, pushing forward.

The Bouncer reached into his back pocket and took out his phone. “Names.”

“It should be under Teris.”  Nemuri supplied.

The Bouncer’s eyes lifted from the phone.  “It say girlfriend: Teris, plus one.”

“Yeah, and?”

His eyes moved between Nemuri and Teris.  “Which one of you is the girlfriend?”

“I am.”  Teris said, raising her hand slightly.

“Look,” the Bouncer sighed, “I’m normally don’t care but your boyfriend draws a huge crowd.  Everyone loves Present Mic.  So when it says plus one, I’m gonna have ta hold it at that.  Pick one of your friends and send the other home.”

“Excuse me?”

Nemuri held a silencing hand up to Teris.  Chewing the guy out was unnecessary.

“Trust me.  If Mic had known that her boyfriend was getting in a day early he would’ve said plus two.”

“Her boyfriend?”  The Bouncer repeated, furrowing his brow at Nemuri before glancing back at Teris.

“What? You’ve never heard the term poly-ship before? You gonna judge Mic for being a confident guy who shares his girl?  Are you gonna hate on Mic’s girlfriend for having two boyfriends?”  Nemuri asked crossing her arms.

“N—n—no! Of course not!”  The Bouncer stepped out of the doorway.

Nemuri grabbed Teris by the hand and pulled her inside. “I know you miss Shouta, Ris, but try not to get yourself off dry humping him in the middle of the dance floor like last time.”

Shouta stepped passed the Bouncer, keenly aware of the man’s wide following gaze.

“Have a good night.”  The Bouncer called after them in a daze.

Nemuri turned back and smiled.  “I already am, Sweetie.  Thanks!”

“I can’t believe you did that!”  Teris squeaked, pulling her hand from Nemuri's as soon as they were out of sight.

“Yes you can.  You know me too well.”  Nemuri countered.  “What about you, Shou?”  She looked back at Shouta.  “Wanna scold me for getting you in without a fuss?”

“I wouldn’t say it was without a fuss.”  Shouta muttered rubbing the back of his neck.

He missed his capture weapon.  At least the lighting in here was dim enough that the blush he felt heating his face hopefully wasn’t too noticeable.

“Well the guy said the place would be packed so we better stake out some seats.” Nemuri said.

“You came to sit.”  Shouta remarked.

“No. But comfortable as these heels are I’m gonna have to take a break once or twice.  Plus, I know for a fact that you’re not gonna dance.”  She looked over her shoulder at him.  “You can look after my purse while you watch me and Teris from afar.  You’re good at that.”

“What? At watching your purse?”  Teris scoffed, as she was once again dragged behind Nemuri.

Shouta felt his ears heat along with his cheeks that time and was glad that he hadn’t tied up his hair.

It was both a relief and quite bothersome how oblivious Teris was.  But given that she was currently with Hizashi, Shouta was glad that she hadn’t picked up on Nemuri's none to subtle taunting.

He didn’t know what Nemuri wanted from him.  It wasn’t as if he could flirt or ask out his best friend's girlfriend.  Painful as all of this was, he wouldn’t even attempt to break Hizashi and Teris up. He had been friend's with Hizashi too long for that.

Besides, Teris was his soulmate.  If Hizashi didn’t ruin things himself, she would break things off with him eventually. She and Hizashi weren’t meant to be together.  Everything would work out.

At least that’s what Shouta kept telling himself.

9.3

The warm-up DJ was still going when Hizashi sent Teris a text.

Hizashi: Send me a pic of your beautiful self and tell me where you’re sitting.

A few minutes later his phone dinged.

Teris: Stage right, not too far from the bar.  Give you one guess whose idea that was.

Even if Teris hadn’t come with only Nemuri, Hizashi would’ve known who had made that decision.

Then his phone dinged again and he saw that it wasn’t just Teris and Nemuri.  The picture was a group shot of his smiling girlfriend and Nemuri with Shouta squished in between them.

His smiled tightened, a bolt of irritation striking through him.

Shouta hated dance clubs.  What was he doing here?  Scratch that.  He knew exactly what his best friend was doing here.

His fingers hit the touch pad a little harder as he typed.

Hizashi: I said a pic of your beautiful self.  Not you and two losers.  LOL.

His phone dinged, but the text was from Nemuri not a reply from Teris.

Nemuri: You’re just jealous that your hot gf is down here with your bff while you’re up there working.  Make that bank Baby.  Maybe then you can treat your girl to something special and hot, sexy Zawa won’t steal her away.

“Everything alright, Present Mic?”

Hizashi looked up from his phone.

“A-okay!” He said giving a thumbs up and one of his signature smiles to the clubs entertainment director.

“You’re on in two minutes.”  The Director said.

“Awesome!” Hizashi glanced back at his phone.

Nemuri: Come on Zashi. I was playing.  Say something.  Ris is mad at me. ;(

Hizashi: Something.

9.4

As the night wore on and he had consumed a few drinks on a relatively empty stomach, Teris and Nemuri were able to talk Shouta into going out on the dance floor with them.

It was kind of nice… Okay really nice.  Even if all he did was stand still while Teris and Nemuri dance around him.

He couldn’t take his eyes off the woman that he loved.  He was enthralled. Hypnotized by the way Teris moved.  The swing of her hips.  The sway of her hair.  The slight bounce of her breasts.

He practically lost it the first time her arms wrapped around his neck, her body moving to the music.  His own arms twitched, wanting to wrap around her waist.  But before he got up the nerve she had spun around and moved back to Nemuri.

She had returned to him a number of times after.  Smiling and breathless, her hands either running up his chest, over his shoulders, or down his back.  It was the most glorious feeling in the world.

For those few moments while her hands were on him as she danced, Shouta could pretend that they were together.  And during the few occasions when someone came up to her, he was able to stop them from touching her.

Sure he had to suffer through Hizashi touching her. But out here on the dance floor while Hizashi was on stage, he could stop any other guy from getting too close.

Nemuri thankfully didn’t say a thing during those times.  While Teris had merely thanked him for shooing off the unwanted attention.

Shouta was both bothered and grateful that Teris undoubtedly saw it as him protecting his best friend's girlfriend.  But there was little that he could do about that.  Just as there was little he could do about Teris leaving him at the end of the night to go back with Hizashi to the apartment they shared together.

9.5

Nemuri was in bed asleep but fully aware and conscious of the dream that she was having.  She hated it when the Void interrupted and visited her dreams.  And it had been such a good dream too.

Unfortunately the dark force’s visitations had been happening more frequently.

“Must I show you what will happen if you fail to bring Teris and Aizawa together?”  The Void questioned.

Nemuri stared at the black silhouette.  “No.  And it’s not as if I’m not trying.  These things take time.  After all, you were the one who told me to help get Yamada and her together.  I can’t just break them up and put her and Shouta together like a couple of puzzle pieces.  They’re people with their own thoughts and feelings.”

“It’s Teris’ lacking feelings for Yamada Hizashi that are the issue.  She needs to feel much more deeply if her quirk is to grow.”

“I still don’t understand what you mean.  Quirk training--”

“This has nothing to do with strengthening the so called muscle of her quirk.”  The Void said over her.

Knowing that he wouldn’t tell her even if she asked him to explain, Nemuri pleaded.  “Just give me time.  Please.  Teris likes Shouta.  She loves him. She’s had a thing for him since UA.  The two of them would probably be married high school sweethearts if you hadn’t had me ruin things between them.”

She was unable to keep the bitterness from her voice at that.

Though it had been years, she still felt guilty for letting Teris continue to talk about Shouta’s attempted kiss and cheesy tale about soulmates when she had known that Kan had been listening.

At least Kan had gossiped the story so she hadn’t had to.  She didn’t want to think about how much worse her guilt would’ve been if she had had to blatantly break her friend's trust by spreading the story herself.

“I had hoped to keep Aizawa well away from her.”  The Void said.

It was inconvenient that the only man who seemed capable of making Teris’ quirk grow was also capable of canceling out her quirk.

After all this time trying to keep Aizawa away from Teris, it appeared as if the boy who shared Teris’ dreams was now the only man capable of doing what he needed.  He needed Teris’ quirk to grow, not strengthen. And in order for that to happen he needed Teris to lose herself.  He needed someone to elicit a deep and powerful emotional reaction in her.  A reaction that was raw and primal.

“I will give you more time.  But I demand progress.  Remember, I saved you when your mother’s boyfriends turned their lecherous eyes to you.  I’m the one who put it in your head to become a hero.”

Only because you wanted me to get close to Teris, Nemuri thought.  She loved being a hero but given the lifestyle she had grown up in the idea to become one never would've crossed her mind if it wasn’t for the Void.

She hated that she owed being a pro hero to him and his prodding.  It was far from the greatest thing she hated about the Void, but it was the one that stuck with her and stung the most.

“If you fail me, I will leave you like I did those men who looked at you with lust when your mother wasn’t watching. Locked in a loop of your own personal hell while the world thinks you’re nothing but a poor brainless coma patient.”

Nemuri's voice trembled as she promised.  “I won’t fail you.”

“Good. And just in case you doubt me, I will leave you with a small taste of what awaits you should you do.”

9.6

It was the final weekend off before the second semester of school began and Nemuri had planned an evening out with three of her closest friends.

“I love that you’ve been joining us for more things, Shouta.” Nemuri beamed, bumping his shoulder playfully.

Shouta ignored her and tried to ignore the way Hizashi had just shoved his tongue into Teris’ mouth.

He honestly didn’t know why he started accepting his friend’s invitations.  Yes, he wanted to see and spend time more with Teris.  But Hizashi was always there with his hands all over her.

It was torture.  And since he didn’t have to be there, it was all self induced. But try as he might to stay away, he couldn’t.

“You wouldn’t happen to be hanging out with us more often because a certain someone rejoined our group, would you, Shou?” Nemuri teased quietly.

Shouta's eyes turned to Nemuri's sparkling blue.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Across the table from the two of them, Teris pulled away from Hizashi's kiss.

Try as she might not to glance in Shouta's direction, she couldn’t help herself. She wasn’t all that comfortable with PDA to begin with; but when Shouta was around, that discomfort rose exponentially.

It wasn’t that she didn’t love kissing Hizashi or having his hands on her, but there was a time and place.  And that place was most definitely not in front of Shouta.

“Zashi. Settle down.”  She chided.

“Just give us a kiss, Ris Wren.”

Teris turned her face when Hizashi tried to kiss her again.

Hizashi nuzzled her neck.

Teris’ fingers threaded through his loose hair and tugged.

Hizashi was close enough that she heard his needy whine.

“I need to behave for me, Sunshine.”

Teris leaned closer and Hizashi licked his lips.  For a second he thought that she was going to kiss him, but at the last moment she diverted.

Her hair brushed the side of his face as she spoke in his ear.  “It was your idea to accept Nemuri's offer of drinks.  I was fine with staying home.”

“But--”

She gave his hair another tug.  “So now you have to be good.”

Hizashi wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged at her. “But I need to touch you, Baby.”

“If you’re good and behave for me I’ll do that thing you wanted to try.”

Hizashi's eyes widened.  He had been wanting to roleplay but despite his attempts to talk her around, Teris had thus far remained against it.

“You mean it?”  He asked.

Teris gave his lips a quick peck. “You know I don’t say things unless I mean them.”

“Yeah!” Hizashi exclaimed.

Teris grimaced when people from nearby tables turned, having heard Hizashi's cheer despite the loud drone of conversation and music.

“I still can’t get over how cute you two are together!”  Nemuri gushed over Hizashi and Teris.  She elbowed Shouta who sat to her right.  “Aren’t they cute together, Shou?”

Shouta scowled at both Nemuri's treatment and words.

Cute was not the how he would describe Hizashi and Teris being together. Painful.  Grating.  Maddening. He had never wanted to punch his best friend in the face so badly till the day that he had learned Hizashi was dating the woman he loved. And that desire had only grown as their relationship continued.

He hated that Hizashi was with Teris.  Hated that his best friend seemed to make his soulmate happy.  Hated the way Hizashi looked at and talked about her.  He definitely hated when Hizashi touched her.

At least Teris didn’t talk about Hizashi much when he and her were alone.  The fact that they had found themselves alone together more and more of late made Shouta smile.

“Cats are cute.”  Shouta said, knowing it would annoy Hizashi.

“Cats.” Hizashi scoffed, rolling his eyes.

Shouta chuckled.

Teris lifted her glass to Shouta and took a sip.

“Don’t encourage him by toasting that.”  Hizashi chided.

“What? I agree.  Cats are cute.”  Teris said.

“Not as cute as you.  Not as cute as we are together.”  Hizashi argued.

“That’s debatable.”  Teris said, giving Shouta a playful wink.

“What?”

Hizashi's near squawked reaction was exactly what she was expecting.  Sometimes her boyfriend was too easy.

“Depends on the cat.”  Teris smirked with a shrug.

Shouta raised his glass and toasted her, downing his drink.

“You two stop teaming up to upset poor Zashi.”  Nemuri scolded lightly.

“But it’s so easy.”  Teris said, squishing her boyfriend’s cheeks.

“I’d drink to that but I need a refill.”  Shouta quipped.

Teris laughed and Shouta chuckled.

Hizashi smiled though he felt no joy behind it.

It wasn’t that he wanted his best friend and girlfriend to hate each other, but he could admit to himself that it was nicer when the two had been so uncertain around each other that they barely spoke.  Now it almost felt as if Shouta and Teris were having secret, unspoken conversations behind every look and thing they said to each other.

“Speaking of teaming up.”  Nemuri said, resting her elbows on the table. “You two really should.”

“What?” The three of them asked, Hizashi's voice by far the loudest.

“I mean you’re both underground heroes.”  Nemuri said, glancing from Shouta to Teris.  “I admit I don’t know all that much about being an underground pro, but I would figure that trying to find new CI’s would be rough when you’re new to town.”

Shouta's eyes panned to Teris, watching her nod at that.

He hadn’t considered it, but Nemuri was right.  Starting out in a new place would be rough.  Even more so now that the streets were on edge due to the whispers of a new dark force.

Though Shouta was certain that this new force people were talking about was somehow the Void, Teris wasn’t connected to him.  At least not in the way people would assume if and when they learned that her quirk allowed her to channel darkness.

“You go out on patrol too much as it is.”  Hizashi told Teris. Gathering himself he chose his words more carefully.  “The student’s will suffer if you take on another patrol.”

“What nights do you patrol?”  Shouta asked, despite already knowing.

“Monday, Thursday, Saturday, and every other Friday.” Teris answered.

“See! Too much!”  Hizashi put in.

Ignoring Hizashi's outburst, Shouta stated. “I patrol Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday, and every other Friday and Saturday.”

Teris was about to say that she knew that, but caught herself before she did.

“Fridays and Saturdays are the most hectic.  Working with someone else would be of benefit.”  Shouta slowly offered, knowing that she wouldn’t accept if she thought he was getting nothing out of it.

Teris turned to Hizashi.  “I wouldn’t be taking on another patrol.  And you wouldn’t worry so much.”

“Worry?” Nemuri questioned.

Teris rolled her eyes.  “It’s how he tries to guilt me into skipping out of Saturday patrols.  Says that even though I’m a capable hero, the weekends bring all the crazy's out and he worries.”

“Well problem solved.”  Nemuri smiled lifting her hands in victory.  “Shouta will go out with her and you won’t have to worry your pretty little head, Zashi.”

Hizashi quelled the urge to yell at Nemuri.

“Sure.” Hizashi smiled.  He pinned Shouta with a look that his best friend would be able to read with ease.  “You just better make sure that my girl’s returned to me untouched, you hear.”

Before Shouta could respond their waiter set a drink on the table.  “This is for you from the lady over by the patio entrance.”

“Tell her I’m happily taken.”  Hizashi said, slinging his arm over Teris’ shoulders.

“I’m sorry, Sir.”  The Waiter apologized, embarrassed on Hizashi’s behalf. “It’s not for you.  It’s for you.” He pushed the drink closer to Shouta.

“What!” Hizashi exclaimed.  “Him?”

“Go, Shouta!  I told you, you were a handsome devil.”  Nemuri grinned, elbowing him.

“I don’t want it.”  Shouta said, not even bothering to look in the direction the Waiter had gestured to.  “Take it back. Please.”

Teris had hated the jealousy that had sparked in her when the Waiter had first set the drink in front of Shouta stating it was from some woman.  But she hated more the swell of relief that had followed when Shouta denied the drink.

She was with Hizashi.  But try as she might to bury her feelings for Shouta, they wouldn’t stay covered.  It wasn’t that she didn’t love Hizashi.  Hizashi was wonderful.  Great. He made her happy.  Happier than she had been in a very long time.

But these feelings for Shouta…

She wondered if it would be easier if Shouta was with someone.  He definitely deserved to be happy.  She wanted him to be happy. But the thought of him being with someone made her anything but happy.

The two of them had slowly become closer again.  Almost like the way they had been before everything went wrong when they were at UA.  But as wonderful as the closeness was, given the way she felt, it was asking for all sorts of trouble.  Trouble she didn’t want and could easily be avoid if she kept her distance from Shouta.  Something she had promised herself she would do.

But now she had just agreed to do her Friday and Saturday patrols with him.  What had she been thinking?  She wondered if she could back out without drawing too many questions.

[c-is-for-circinate]

It occurs to me that I promised y’all I’d tell you stories from the D&D campaign I’m running, and it’s now been a week since the first session, so I should definitely do some of that!  I can already tell it’s going to be a fun-as-shit campaign.  If nothing else, my party and I are collectively five variably-queer ladies who met at knitting group and range in age from “haven’t played D&D since 2e at GenCon in the 90′s” to “too young to remember fandom before AO3 existed”.  We’re real fucking cool.  I am going to have to explain, in detail, so many textiles and other interesting crafts.

I am a WORDY-ASS MOTHERFUCKER, so the whole tale will probably get pretty long in the telling, but: welcome to the continent of Nokomoris, on a world that probably has its own name but I haven’t decided on it yet because naming things is hard, dude.

[here’s where I will probably link game session posts in the future once they exist]

Hark, a backstory!  (And, our four players)

IF YOU RECOGNIZE THIS CAMPAIGN INFO BECAUSE YOU ARE PLAYING IT, CONSIDER YOURSELF UNDER DM ORDERS TO BACK OFF AND STOP READING.  I KNOW YOU FUCKERS ARE ON TUMBLR TOO, THERE IS A REASON I DIDN’T GIVE YOU MY HANDLE.  (I love you all very much and yes, there are spoilers in here.  Go away and text me now.)

Eastern Nokomoris, where our story takes place (or at least begins) is in a prosperous age of thriving city-states and collapsed kingdoms.  Most trade, culture, and even centralized government is based among the Nine Cities, massive metropolises located around the Attiks Sea and nearby lands.  Nearly a million people live in the nine cities, which are connected to each other via well-established sea and land trade routes, and also by what many are calling the most important technological/magical development of the modern age: a network of massive permanent teleportation circles, thirty feet in diameter.

The circle network is big enough to carry large trade wagons, livestock, huge parties of people, and even troops and war machines.  Sea and land trade has dropped by half between the Nine Cities in the past fifteen years, and continues to decline.  The cities themselves are thriving and prosperous, and it’s easier than ever to get beef and leather from Karna Vi, wool from Yefira, pottery from Celkan or metalwork from Tiers no matter where you live.

Outside of the cities, it’s another story.  Dozens of once-prosperous kingdoms, and even the whole of the Trava Empire, have fallen in the past seventy years: first during the Church Wars, and then in the yeas of chaos and rebuilding once the Wars were over.  Small towns everywhere that once paid taxes to a crown, and were protected in turn by royal troops and much-needed aid in times of hardship, have been left entirely to stand or fall on their own.  Some have thrived, becoming local centers of trade for whole coalitions of abandoned towns nearby.  Others have disappeared, died out, or simply faded into the wilderness, forgotten.  The great open plains of Highnorth where the Trava Empire once ruled, the endless golden sea of the Southgrass, the peaks and valleys of the Thavine Mountains, the deep many-colored forest of the Iris Peninsula--who knows what’s out there any more?

And in the Midlands, where the worst of the Church Wars took place...well, precious few towns even survived to rebuild in the first place.  Land that once held the most fertile farms in all Nokomoris is desolate now, scarred and cursed.  Most of the battlefield has been picked over by intrepid adventurers and out-of-work soldiers in the six decades since the Wars ended, already raided for magic and treasure.  The ruins remain, and the valleys where nothing will ever grow again, and the eternal shadow over the once-Holy City, and who knows what sorts of twisted things living in places people no longer go?

But it’s been sixty years since the Church Wars ended, and for most people, life is good.  Small-town farmers may no longer have the protection of any crown, but small technological advancements in plow design and crop rotation mean that they can produce more food than they need and sell the extra in the nearest city for coin.  More and more young people, freed from heavy labor on their parents’ farms, have learned reading, writing, history, and some amount of arcane talent.  The Grand Universities in the nine cities are thriving, full of scholars of all ages eager to learn and advance the course of knowledge everywhere.

Of course, there are ten times more scholars in the Grand Universities than there are professorships or other high-ranking positions to hire them to...and that is where our story begins.

.

Our intrepid party thus far includes:

Marion, a human paladin of indeterminate gender, whose human family stands among the nobles of the great city of Karna Vi, where our story begins.  Marion is an acolyte of the Church of Lost Things, which concerns itself with every god that does not easily fit within the purview of the other seven Churches, and also with every god that has been erased or forgotten by time (for all gods deserve worship, and all gods are capable of smiting those that neglect them, sooner or later).  They’re also a math major, largely because computer science hasn’t been invented yet.

Marion’s really hoping to be able to build and program a simple computing machine, a la Babbage’s Difference Engine (or Arthur C. Clarke’s The Nine Billion Names of God), to tabulate and generate all the possible names of every god ever to exist, which seems much more efficient than just combing piecemeal broken historical records trying to find them.  It has not been going well.  In a Church system where paladins are often more concerned with protecting people from the gods than for the gods, cracking this problem will let Marion figure out who the gods even are like nobody ever before.  But there are variables missing, and theomathematical constants they can’t even identify yet, let alone calculate--and they’re not going to find here.

Three interesting facts about Marion, as per their player: 

They once spent an entire week holed up in a lab over a holiday break and were declared missing-presumed-dead.  Police searches were involved.  It was a little bit of a scandal.

They are by far the most unremarkable and constantly forgotten member of their entire family.  (This perhaps says more about their family than about them.)

Everyone on campus is fairly sure they interfered with the campus clock tower specifically to give students more time on finals last semester.  This is false.  They were trying to run a different experiment entirely, messed with the clock tower by accident, and didn’t actually notice it was finals week even after it was over.

Kevin, an elf barbarian sportsball champion, hero of the university’s sportsball team for the past ten years straight.  Kevin is a foot and a half taller than any self-respecting elf ought to be, not to mention twice as broad.  He’s finally starting to acknowledge the fact that there is, in fact, no NFElf, and you can’t be a “professional sportsballer” within the Elven Ascendancy, and his bemused parents would really like him to do something with his life beyond playing those little games with the ball and all of those...non-elf people.

Kevin is also an art history student, mostly out of desire for an easy major that’ll make his parents happy while he happily spends most of his time out on the sportsball field.  He’s got high strength, basic middle intelligence, and negative wisdom.  He’s sat through more history classes than the entire rest of the party put together.  He understands approximately none of it.  Still--he can’t do sports forever, and art history makes his parents happy, and he might as well go on a quest to uncover lost art and artifacts and maybe prove he’s an actual adult sooner than later, right?

Three interesting facts about Kevin, as per his player:

Back in his home city playing little league sportsball, there were definite (and accurate) rumors about this wild elf that could and would straight-up squish opposing players.  That’s how the college recruiters found him in the first place.  It’s definitely why they wanted him.

He has so many groupies.  So many.  They come in so many different species and genders and Kevin is on board with every single one.  (On board?  On bed?  On convenient flat surface?  Does it particularly matter?  Not to Kevin!)

Kevin is covered in tattoos, and there are all sorts of rumors about what sort of eldritch magic they hold--like, that panther is probably a real panther bound by elven magic, right?  A pretty persistent rumor suggests that the tattoos all commemorate individual opposing team members he’s...either hospitalized or fucked, or both, literally nobody is sure.  (In point of fact, none of the above are true, and Kevin just has terrible taste in tattoos and a pretty stunning lack of both impulse control and supervision--but why quash the stories?)

Kou, a halfling bard whose girlfriend just left three weeks ago on a research expedition of her own, taking with her approximately 85% of Kou’s impulse control.  In theory, Kou is an alchemy major, studying science to make her scholar parents happy.  In practice, she probably spends more time sneaking into music seminars and/or busking on the street for spare change than actually doing alchemy, but her girlfriend was a Good Responsible Influence who made sure Kou didn’t get kicked out of the department, and to be fair, alchemy can blow things up sometimes so that’s always good.

Kou doesn’t so much have plans for the future as vague, contradictory aspirations, but that doesn’t mean she’s not smart.  She’s learned enough magic to use a set of recording stones to play, loop, and modulate beats or bits of music, thereby making her Nokomoris’s very first DJ, and she really wants to be a professional musician someday.  She just hasn’t figured out how to reconcile her dreams with her parents’ wishes, the lives they’ve worked so hard to create, or a halfling cultural legacy that has more to do with riding around snowfields covered in furs waving spears than it does with brightly-colored house parties.

Three interesting facts about Kou, as per her player:

Kou very definitely once spent a full day dressed up in halfling traditional garb, furs and all, including a very fuzzy fur hat.  It wasn’t until that evening that somebody saw the hat move and everyone realized she’d been wearing a curled-up live fox the whole time.

She once managed to create an incredibly destructive compound in alchemy lab out of ingredients that should not have actually been able to react that way.  She found out it was corrosive when she accidentally spilled it on six months’ worth of a different professor’s lab notes.  (She got an A anyway, because her lab professor hated the other guy, but that has more to do with Professors Ayanova and M’tiersi than Kou, really.)

She absolutely goes down to counter-protest every damn time those Family First assholes try to rally downtown in favor of child-producing (read: heterosexual, single-species) families.  Rumor says she once broke her guitar over a protester’s head, which horrifies her--Kou’s guitar is the most expensive thing she owns!  She used their own protest sign, like a sensible person.

Reigenleif, a mostly-female-probably gnome rogue known around campus as “Beer Run” for her skills at somehow always having access to better and cheaper beer than anyone else, and her general willingness to deliver to parties (for a small additional fee).  Reigenleif’s parents are small-time forgers who ended up mostly working for a local crime organization after a series of bad luck and political upheavals brought them to Karna Vi a few decades ago.  They really want their kids to go clean, avoid all the uncertainties and occasional jail sentences/executions that accompany a life of crime, and maybe make a little something of themselves.  Reigenleif, who has zero interest in staying on the right side of the law, mostly does odd jobs for a different, not-technically-rival criminal organization, and carefully does not tell her parents about it, ever.

Technically she’s an engineering major, and she’s more than got the brains for it, plus the accompanying curiosity about metallurgy and arcane artificing.  Still, she spends most of her time helpfully involving herself in other peoples’ projects rather than running her own.  (Her own projects have a lot more to do with figuring out new forging techniques and criminal tricks, and don’t look very good in the end-of-year department report.)  Enjoys causing trouble, not being in it.

Three interesting facts about Reigenleif, as per her player:

She absolutely owns a copy of the provost’s signet ring, which she can and has used to create documents allowing herself access to all sorts of University resources.  Like most things, she’ll share the use of it, quietly, for a price.  (She also owns a copy of Marion’s family signet ring, which is a much longer story that I as the DM do not know yet--can’t wait for that.)

Once captured and maneuvered a live swan into somebody’s office to cause as much chaos as possible so Reigenleif could get up to something somewhere else.  Is a little bit of a legend for it.

Aside from her not-actually-that-impressive family legacy of crime, Reigenleif’s spread a quiet rumor around school that she’s descended from the famous marauding pirate, Thrand Slender-Leg.  It’s possible that Thrand Slender-Leg never actually existed.  It’s possible that nobody had ever heard of him before Reigenleif made him up.  She’s certainly not telling.

[graduationemmasep]

'I like the way MDMA gives you a deep sense of connection to your friends'

I'm no fiend. Most nights I'd rather share a bottle of wine with some friends than stay up till 6am getting sweaty and boggle-eyed on a bender. But while I associate alcohol with talking about past experiences, I associate drugs with making new ones. Party drugs can often make a stranger feel like a confidant; a simple trip to a town centre feel like an Enid Blyton escapade.

I probably take class-A party drugs such as MDMA or cocaine once a fortnight, and have done since I was 16 (I'm 27 now). I like the way cocaine gives you a new lease of life, like a mushroom in Super Mario, to carry on with a night out. I like the way MDMA softens the edges of reality and gives you a deep sense of connection to your friends that you can never get when you meet them for dinner and they moan about their jobs. I like how when you're coming down from a pill another person's touch has a comforting, almost electric capacity. If you're suffering from exhaustion, anxiety or stress, recreational drugs can give you a bit of a leg-up.

Drugs can also be a total pain. Ecstasy can make you feel like you're floating in a cloud, but just as often it's an admin nightmare: you come up at different times from your friends; only half the people in a group remembered to get sorted and there's endless hassle at a party trying to get more. Even when you're having a great time, there's a self-doubting internal monologue running through the whole process: Have I done enough? Am I coming up? Do I look like a prick?

I would just like to have that conversation about drugs being sometimes brilliant and occasionally annoying. Yet I feel like there is no one who is willing to talk about drugs in those terms.

When children ask their parents where babies come from, they get a white lie – a stork delivers them, you find them in a cabbage patch, you order them from Ocado. That's the closest thing I can think of to explain the difference between the perception and the reality of drug use by young people in the UK. There is a societal stork myth that is propagated by the media and popular culture to hide a basic reality. Even users themselves are entirely unwilling to talk about drug-taking honestly. Everything in the drugs world tries to stifle this conversation. Take nightclubs. It doesn't take a genius to work out that staying up till 6am listening to dance music at an ear-splitting volume would not only be unenjoyable without some kind of mind-altering stimulant, but a painful test of endurance. Most people in big nightclubs are on drugs. The clubs know that: that's why they charge so much for entry and, often, for bottles of water. They know that not many people will be buying drinks. Most of them have in-house dealers too, so they can sort out their DJs. Bigger DJs put requests for drugs on their rider. "We just put it on expenses as 'fruit and flowers'," a promoter at a major nightclub told me this year. But there's still a stork charade, with the venue covered in posters promising to eject drug users and bouncers searching punters – but not too thoroughly. The pretence is that this could all be above board.

I suppose the reason for this false picture of drug-taking is that most people don't take drugs. The statistics show that only a small fraction of the UK population are regular drugs users, and a smaller fraction still do anything harder than weed. But drug use is not spread evenly across the country, nor across age groups. In my demographic – under 30, living in London, job in the creative industries, disposable income – almost everyone is a recreational drugs user.

Where I grew up in south London, it was pretty uncommon to find someone who didn't at least smoke weed. The children of more middle-class parents were taking cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine and mephedrone almost every weekend. These were not reprobates ruining their lives: they were intelligent, bright people who got three As at A-level and went to good universities.

We would go to raves in places such as Camberwell and Hackney Wick, to warehouse venues where almost no one was over 18. White powders flowed as freely as the Fanta Fruit Twist and Malibu we were drinking. Festivals played a big part, too. Parents, even quite strict ones who wouldn't dream of letting their kids out past midnight, were happy to send their kids to music festivals, perhaps because of the reverent music-focused coverage in the media.

If you go to somewhere like Reading or Benicàssim, almost everyone is under 20. Half of them barely leave the campsite. Festivals are drugs playgrounds where teenagers experiment with copious amounts of uppers in presumably quite dangerous combinations. Some of the best moments of my life took place going to festivals as a teenager. I remember one muddy year at Glastonbury, racing down the hill arm-in-arm with a bunch of people, all off our faces on MDMA, feeling happier than I had ever felt. Another year, I remember taking mephedrone with a girl I fancied during Blur's headline set, both weeping with joy at a band we'd grown up with our whole lives.

Again, everyone knows this; no one thinks the thousands who watch the sunrise at the stone circle in Glastonbury every year are just on a high from seeing Mumford and Sons. But the festivals keep up the pretence that they are drug-free zones. Even a recent BBC3 show, Festivals, Sex and Suspicious Parents, which was supposed to show parents what their kids really got up to at festivals, ignored the fact that as the cameras panned around the festival, many revellers were plainly as high as a kite, their jaws swinging back and forth like pendulums, a side-effect of taking ecstasy. The voiceover just kept talking about people being "drunk".

I am also part of the first generation of people whose parents are likely to have been drug users. Of course, some adults would be outraged, like the parents on BBC3, to see what their kids got up to. But many more knew only too well – plenty of people I know would smoke weed or share dealers with their parents. In some families drug use had less stigma than smoking.

I thought all this was normal, but at university I met, for the first time, young people who totally abstained from drugs. They mostly came from outside major cities, or outside the UK, and many shivered in horror when they saw the rest of us dabbing our gums with mysterious white powders. I thought there would be a rift in social lives, an us-and-them situation, but it was around that time that mephedrone happened. Known by literally no young person ever as "meow meow", mephedrone was a legal high that changed attitudes towards drug-taking. Polite do-right kids who would never dream of taking illegal drugs were happy to chow down on bombs (self-made wontons of mephedrone powder wrapped in Rizla) like they were no more risqué than chocolate liqueurs.

Mephedrone was incredibly cheap – about a tenner a gram – and incredibly available. You could order it with next-day delivery to your university PO box. Mephedrone was a drugs phenomenon of which I have never seen the likes before or since. Everyone started doing it. I remember visiting a friend at Leeds University during this period. We went to a club and the queue for the men's bogs was at least 70 people long. When I finally got inside the place stunk of mephedrone, you could hear everyone loudly sniffing.

On nights out during this time, everyone would be raging – making out with one another, dancing with total abandon. But the comedowns were immediate and severe, far worse than ecstasy. By 4am people would be lying on the floor sharing the most intimate and personal shames and secrets, as if the drug was somehow compelling them to be honest. Some people called it a truth serum. Friendships were forged in the hot irons of that emotional exposition, as were the most horrendous hangovers.

Mephedrone was banned within two years of it taking off. People talk a lot about one legal high being banned only for another to take its place, but the real legacy of mephedrone was to numb the stigma of harder drugs. By the time I left university, many of the drug abstainers who had tried mephedrone became relaxed about most illegal drugs, too.

Ecstasy and mephedrone make it pretty hard to get much done in the days after taking them. You can't regularly use them and be a successful, functioning adult, so they become a rarer treat once you leave student life. In their 20s most people are overworked: they have second jobs and work incredibly long hours. If they're going to go out on a Friday night they need a pick-me-up. And that is why cocaine remains the young professional's drug of choice.

I see cocaine usage almost every weekend wherever I go: clubs, pubs, people's houses, dinner parties. At fancy celebrity parties, the sort you see on Mail Online, cocaine is so prevalent that it's almost boring. Everyone does it – butter-wouldn't-melt TV presenters, wholesome pop stars adored by your mum, people who would immediately lose their job if anyone found out. Those tabloid stings where they catch someone doing cocaine are kind of hilarious in that respect. If you followed any celebrity around with a secret camera on a Friday night you'd be almost guaranteed to find them doing coke. But cocaine users are like hipsters in the way they will vehemently deny they are one, and cast aspersions on others. "It was just full of self-aggrandising wankers doing coke and talking about themselves," someone will say about a party where they did cocaine and talked about themselves. Most of my friends are cocaine users, but I've never heard them say one nice thing about cocaine.

No doubt some people will have read this piece and think that I am just a monstrous twat, that this has all been little more than infantile boasting in a vain attempt to try to sound cool. But that, too, is part of the cover-up, that any open discussion of using drugs or enjoying them is necessarily a boast. We can talk about great food, great films, great sex, but if we talk about great drugs we immediately sound like we're engaging in some teenage bravado. That's why the biggest taboo surrounding drugs today isn't taking drugs, but saying that they're fun.

I'm not saying that people are lying about the negative effects. I have, of course, seen lives ruined by drugs. Rarely has this been because of an overdose or because someone has ruined themselves financially because of addiction (although I am only 27 – that may yet come). Far more often I have just seen people become dulled through regular drug use: their youthful spark extinguished by a never-ceasing quest to get on it; brains frazzled by overheated synapses. There are friends I want to slap every time I see them doing another line, but I can't because that would be hypocritical.

I also appreciate that's it's easy to be blasé about drug use when you're a well-adjusted middle-class white guy who has never been stopped by the police and has a distant non-social relationship with their drug dealer. For many people, drugs aren't something they can dip in and out of and separate from their lives. People entangled in the economic and legal realities of drugs – dealers, those convicted of possession, addicts – don't have the luxury of my relaxed attitude.

But until we stop pretending that getting high is inherently bad – that drugs can never be brilliant, can never enhance human experience for the better – how can we properly deal with people whose lives have been made worse by drugs? At some point, kids grow up and learn the facts of life. I think it's time we all had the talk.