#also you forced me to try and do an adult Juri and I have no idea what to do with her hair ahfdjdilhgdfjks herpes me

[neorukixart]

Been wondering for a while if you have any other headcanons for your adult Ruki 🤔🙏

Ah... well, since you asked for "headcanons" it means I can go wild and ignore some of the canon, right? :3c

She had her "gay" awakening when she was watching "Digimon Adventure" while she was baby (about the age she had in the Locomon movie flashback), specifically the ep with princess Mimi. She didn't realized it until she grew up (prob in her 20s). Thanks to that, Rumiko "misread" the mood and thought Ruki wanted cute dresses and be pretty.

She's an AiM fan (thanks to Mimi), which would explain her fixation with "Yuuhi no Yakusoku", that's her fav song and has a soft spot for "My Place" too. She also listens to RAISE A SUILEN (because you know, I'm a RAS oshi too hehe).

She became a morning person quite easily thinking on how she wanted to work hard so when she meets Renamon again, they won't laugh at her for being lazy.

She's very polite, having studied in an "Ojousama" school until highschool but she's very careful to whom she greets with "Gokigenyou", she will NEVER use it with the tamers group but she does knows how to keep up appearances when needed.

The modeling job her mom "forced" her to do was with genderless clothes and during her last months of working as a model, she did more sports and formal suits (skirts were forbbiden); this gave her quite the popularity among girls and women ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). She's thankful she has to use a helmet while riding her bike to hide her face.

Juri will always touch the "you were very ikemen as a model" topic from time to time ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

She used her model job money for her motocross gear and bikes.

Unfortunately for her, she became famous among the motor sports world and had to "become" a model again for magazines and interviews, the good thing is that she wears her gear and not "modeling" clothes. She's still popular among ladies ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

She tries to be a good example to the kids she teaches bouldering, unfortunately (again) there are moms who are very interested in her ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

She regrets very much accepting being a model at this point (but now I find it very funny XDDD help)

During summer, she does radio exercises with kids and her stamp is actually a kawaii fox instead of her last name; when older kids ask why the stamp is like that she just says "I like foxes, they are cool", younger kids don't question it as it is a cute fox.

Jian and Juri are the ones she constantly keeps in touch with; Juri is the one who almost has time to go and see her competitions everytime and she drags Hirokazu and Kenta with her, Ruki appreciates the gesture.

She developed quite the motherly instincts thanks to the kids she's been teaching in the park; then she realized that "oh, so kids are only cute and adorable when they aren't your own" but she is not so against the idea of being a mother herself (Let her adopt Miyuki and Renaharu uwu).

Once in a while, depression actually hits her so you will find her on long bike rides at night with not an specific destination. She decided she was not going to cry anymore so at the end of her rides, she might need to hit something.

She's bad at drinking and becomes a drunk terminator, at the end of her destruction, she cries so, she prefers to avoid drinking but she can do it in moderation.

Thanks to her motocross career, she moved out of her house and lives in a relatively big apartment (model money is convenient); she lives alone but Juri has often suggested to live together, Ruki is not really ready for it yet.

Living alone means taking care of yourself so she's actually a good cook and procures to stay healthy (and buffy), cooking is a hobby she didn't expect to develop but here she is.

She keeps a few plants that does not need much water as she's out most of the time, but surprinsingly she keeps her apartment tidy and clean.

One time she was on TV (thanks to her competition being aired) and got interviewed upon winning; later that week people connected the dots and said she was one of the kids who were fighting the D-reaper and had to ask Jian and Yamaki for help since it went viral (let's say that they did some things here and there that might or not be illegal).

From time to time, she takes Juri on her bike rides (when she doesn't has to do extra work for her school) and the one place she always takes Juri to, is the beach because it reminds her the ONE time she got trapped in Okinawa thanks to a certain Omegamon asking for her help to defeat Mephismon and how she was able to go back thanks to Kyuubimon that miraculously, knew how to swim. When Juri asked why she didn't asked for Jian and Takato's help (or Minami's), she said it was very embarrassing to owe money and favors; but she keeps in mind that if she ever finds this Omegamon again, she will have a few things to say.

I've already said this but, she collects the new Digica, overall Renamon evo line cards. She also collects Digimon plushies. V-mon and Tailmon being among her favs (me? pushing my biases? Noooooo of course noooooo).

Ryou will often try to get in touch and get her to compete in Digica tournaments; Ruki refuses saying she will only do it if the fate of the world and Digital World are at stake, never for fun; only in private and with friends (those friends being Hirokazu, Kenta and Ryou who are the only other nerds to get cards).

She's in good terms with Ryou to be honest; they have a good relationship and he already apologized for forgetting about her when they were kids. Ruki still doesn't knows why she can't hold that grudge anymore but she considers him a good friend so when Jian or Juri don't have time, she will chat with Ryou and share their problems. Their fav subject is sharing their adventures before meeting each other and new booster packs of the Digica or discussing the new Digis designs.

Speaking of new Digis, she likes Diarbbitmon and is gay for Cendrillmon.

Also speaking of Digica, there was one time when Shaochung was eager to learn but Jian ain't teaching her for whatever reason so she went to Ruki who, happily showed how to play. They are in very good terms, even Shaochung would often brag with her friends and classmates how she knows the Digimon Queen (and motocross pro) Makino Ruki. She keeps calling her "Ruki onee-chan" btw.

She would be on good terms with Takato if only he would have stuck around instead of disappearing xD so she holds a grudge towards him for "abandoning" Juri; this is the main reason Ruki will try to spend time with Juri the most she can. Who knows, maybe she can wooo her ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Speaking of Juri, I think Ruki realized she liked her when they were teens but out of respect for Takato she stayed quiet, for YEARS. Also Juri secretly collected Ruki's photos from her modeling days (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

I know that for the sake of the CD dramas, Ori-san had to do her usual "Ruki" voice, but I actually picture Ruki having a different Ori-san voice, something between Riza (FMA Brotherhood) and Manami (Digimon Ghost Game).

I think that's all I have for now XD I hope you have fun reading? Also, since I don't have anything new to post (still can't use Glaze and don't even talk about Nighshade) here have a blurry preview of your prompt hehe.

[lifewithchronicpain]

I have been watching the Curious Case of Natalia Grace, mainly for the second season where Natalia actually gets to speak for herself. It is so beyond upsetting, do not watch unless you're ready to rage.

There is a Lot to the story but I will sum it up as best I can. Natalia is a Ukrainian orphan with dwarfism, specifically Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita. Because of her disability she would need many surgeries for her feet, and money concerns related to this is considered one potential cause for what was to happen. After being passed around, a family called the Barnett's adopted her.

According them, Natalia was really an adult that was secretly trying to kill them. If it sounds familiar it's because it's the plot of the movie Orphan. This poor girl wound up with an incredibly abusive family that eventually decided they didn't want her but because the mother was so concerned with her image, she couldn't be seen as getting rid of a disabled child. So she tried to pass Natalia off as an adult pretending to be kid, and after lies and faked drama the Barnett's actually got Natalia legally re-aged to 22.

Natalia was actually about 8 years old. Dental records, DNA tests, doctor's records, her own biological mother, who gave her up because she couldn't care for a disabled child, all say she was born in 2003 and was a child at the time of these events.

So Natalia was put in an apt at age 8, and Mrs Barnett forced her to tell people she was 22. Ableism and ignorance of little people plays a huge part here, otherwise no one would have believed her age was 22 nor would it have been legally changed. Even though neighbors thought she was young, they went with the lie and proceeded to view entirely childish behavior as weird and annoying. Because she lacked the fucking boundaries and sense of stranger danger of a typical 8 year old!!!!! They also said she said a lot of sexually stuff, and I don't know why I should need to explain to you what 8 year olds do when they hear things!!! An 8 year old with no adult, looking to anyone for company and just help. It's beyond upsetting to think of what it must have been like for her during this time.

Natalia was evicted after a year and moved to another apartment. Not too long after being there she met a family that recognized she was a fucking child, took her in, and called the goddamn cops. First people in Natalia's poor life to do something for her. She is still with them to this day, with what looks like a beautiful loving family.

The Barnett's were charged, the husband was ables to get acquitted in part because the judge decided her Legal age would stand, and he could only be accused of abandoning a disabled person and not a minor. Meanwhile no one could let the jury know she was really a minor when this happened. Huge miscarriage of justice and the wife was never taken to trial.

It's a hard documentary to watch, especially when you get a lot of the Barnett's story first without much dissecting of the facts. But then you do get Natalia's side, and the Barnett's lies are laid to waste. One of them being that Natalia had pubic hair and a period. She never did, the wife made her say it to the husband. I mean, there's a lot of fucked up shit that happened to Natalia that I have not mentioned. I'm also not getting into the drama within the Barnett family except to say the husband tried to blame it all on the wife, claims he was abuse and avoids accountability, and is the most pathetic excuse for a human being, honestly. The wife is no better, she's just a monster.

The thing that pisses me off so much though are the attorneys, especially this one guy that Knows Natalia was a child and acts like she has to take accountability for being a troubled child. Of course he offers up all excuses for his client.

And that's the rub, Natalia had her childhood robbed from her, then and now. She's not ever granted the view of her behavior as mitigated by being a child. They even showed one of her neighbors refuses to accept she was 8 and not 22, and she knows for sure because she was hussy and just knows how to put on an act. It just amazes me how quick we are to jump to the most negative explanation for something and ignore any evidence to the contrary.

I'm just glad Natalia was able to have a voice in this drama, and that she finally has the family she had always wanted.

[silver-tangent]

“Staff at La Vernia ISD are legally armed and trained. We will use whatever force necessary to protect our students.”

In 2019 Four former La Vernia students (Alejandro Ibarra, Colton Weidner, Christian Roberts and Dustin Norman) were indicted by a grand jury in Wilson County on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity after previously being arrested in 2017.

This sparked an outcry of allegations dating back to 2014. It was stated that at least one coach knew.

The boys named never faced jail time. They got community service and probation. That’s it.

While the allegations were only dated back to 2014, I was also the victim of sexual harassment and “hazing” in this school between 2005 and 2011, when I was promptly pulled out.

I was touched, humped, and groped because boys thought I was gay and thought it was funny to harass me. One girl had her shirt pulled down against her will to “prove I was gay.”

My bullies learned I liked swords tried to encourage me to bring a sword to school and try to kill them.

They tried to instigate fights, tried to get me to punch my own ticket, and threatened to come to my house and harm me. They threatened to do sexual acts to me to “make me into a girl,” and to “beat me until I was straight.”

I was told that God made me for their entertainment…

In all this time, the staff of La Vernia were only ever worried about me shooting up the school. They called my parents in because they were scared by my outbursts… my outbursts because they did nothing. Because they never believed any of my proof was good enough, because they chose to ignore my bullying.

When my mother tried to force them to do something, they would tell her that it was “just boys being boys.”

“They’re just hazing him.”

“He’s bringing it on himself by acting out.”

At least one the vice principal (now gone) said that I SHOULD beat up my abusers my selves, and it would solve the issue… before promptly admitting he would send me to alternative school afterwards.

I was the problem to them. Their solution was that I needed to suck it up, act normal, and stop bothering people.

I was socially awkward. I’m possibly autistic. I have adhd, and I had no friends. I don’t endorse gun violence… but I was never the problem. Nothing I did could possibly justify being SA’d.

Since 2020… I have heard nothing. NOTHING about the civil lawsuits… they swept all of this under the rug.

And I can tell you first hand, their idea of a threat is me… the rape victim. They were afraid that I would take matters into my own hands.

Many of the adults in this town have openly admitted to wanting trouble. They WANT someone to pull a gun so they can put a bullet in someone.

They’ve openly fantasized about beating up trans women in bathrooms…

“We will use whatever force necessary to protect our students?”

They will use whatever force necessary to protect their small towns reputation.

They expect a school shooter to be someone like me, someone like the victims in those locker rooms…

And they would not hesitate to shoot them… but they will hesitate to protect SA victims.

These aren’t good guys with guns. These are violent right wing SA apologists looking for an excuse to shoot the weird kid, because that’s who they think active shooters are…

[gaymormonmike]

Harper Lee

She wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, from the perspective of Scout, the 6 to 8 year old who tells the story. But we also get the adult Scout's point of view at times. Harper Lee admits the story is based on her life (Scout), her older brother (Jem)  and her best friend who was based onTruman Capote, and her father (Atticus). The book makes an indelible record of the deep, rural south in early 1930's. As such, it is historial fiction and does, in detail, explain the people in rural Alabama in 1930's. I was in Florida at age 6 in 1950. Florida was similar to Alabama of 1935. I was a confused northern boy who could not understand segragation and why it was going on all around me. Thanks to the U.S. Air Force I was stationed in Montgomery, Alabama in 1961 for 6 months. Still not much difference from what Harper Lees descibes. I was angry, appalled and amazed at the open bigotry and what I would call apartheid that was happening. Protests were going on but the Air Force told us not to get involved.  I, like Atticus, want to understand these people. Lee Harper's people had family that told them about the civil war, reconstruction and their personal experience with slavery. Atticus loves these naeighbors and family members. Even when he defends an innocent black man, who the jury knows is innocent, but condemn him to death, Atticus tries to explain to his children that they are not bad people. The movie and the play were focused on this trial and make Atticus the hero of the story. The book is more focused on the people of rural Alabama and the 3 kids trying to navigate its' wonders. The "N" word is used liberally by the adults. That was what I heard in the deep south, just used as a common everyday word. I also heard it in my neighborhood in the north. I am glad to say it was not acceptable in my home. Like the study and stories I have read about Nazi Germany, I think it is important to understand these people and how they got  this way. The other unuusual aspect of the book, is that Scout is a tom boy to the point that she would be transgender today. Harper chose to keep her life private, but she never married, was a friend and collegue to Truman Capote, who was a totally out gay man. With the exception of her father and brother, everyone in the book is trying to turn her into a feminine  girl. So, the stoy has profound meaning for me as I grew up in an era when being gay or different in anyway was not acceptable Roles of boys and  girls were cast in stone and staying true to those models was imperative. You have these  3 children who are depicted as not being racists like everyone around them and that they each are different from anyone around them. Do they represent the new south that will eventually evolve? I did not see it in 1961. I saw small children being taught to hate for skin colors sake. I saw hatred for all Yankees. Since they liked me, they insisted I was a Southern boy and not the Yankee I kept telling them I was. To Kill a Mocking Bird is so amazing. It records the dress, speech, food, foibles, good and bad of a people that existed and still leave their mark on the world, as they influenced their children and grand children. I can only hope that the stories I leave my children and grand children make them better people who show love and acceptance to everyone, even if they do not understand or like their choices.

[project1939]

200 Films of 1952

Film number 168: The Sellout

Release date: January 25th, 1952 

Studio: MGM 

Genre: noir 

Director: Gerald Mayer 

Producer: Nicholas Nayfack, Matthew Raph 

Actors: Walter Pigeon, John Hodiak, Audrey Totter, Paula Raymond 

Plot Summary: Haven Allridge is a respected idealistic editor of a local paper, and after butting heads with the Sheriff, he knows he’s found a story of widespread corruption. He courageously uses his newspaper to call out the Sheriff, his cronies, the bookies... but suddenly Allridge leaves town, and it all stops. A state attorney named Chick Johnson takes up the case, trying to piece everything together. 

My Rating (out of five stars): ***¼  

Here we have another uncommon MGM crime noir. MGM was known for flashy splashy musicals, melodramas, adventures and family-fare. If any studio had the word “Glitz” attached to it, it was MGM. They didn’t attempt darker grittier films very often, and overall, this one was... somewhat successful. It had good performances, a great noir romance, a creative set up, and ominous intrigue. Its flaws appeared mostly when MGM gave it the “MGM treatment” near the end.  (some spoilers)

The Good: 

I liked the creativity of the opening credit sequence- it used pages of newspaper headlines to name those involved with the film. 

I liked Walter Pigeon- he was good as an older respectable figure who stands up for what he believes is right... until he is threatened. 

John Hodiak was effective as the State’s Attorney brought in to get indictments from a grand jury. We don’t learn a large amount about his character, but he does well with what is on the page. 

I loved Audrey Totter as Cleo, the femme fatale type. She was wise, hard-boiled, witty, and sexually empowered. 

I appreciated that the romance between Cleo and Johnson was adult and sophisticated. Their scenes were my favorite parts of the movie- they had great chemistry and sparkling banter. They communicated just as much without words as with them. I also liked that there was no traditional “happy ending" for the two of them. 

There was very little spoon-feeding of information to the audience. As a viewer you always had to stay on top of things to make it all make sense. 

I liked the shift in perspective from Allridge to Johnson. The first 20 minutes or so of the film could lead you to believe that Allridge is going to be the protagonist, but when he disappears, Johnson steps in. It was a more interesting way to start the film than to have Johnson’s perspective from the beginning. 

I kinda dig the MGM noir look- there's a slickness and cleanness to everything, even if it’s in a harsh and dark location. There’s always a mild gloss and some visually pretty aesthetics. It’s more noir as an artistic rendering than noir as documentary realism. 

The Bad: 

Even though I liked the look of the film, there were times I wished it could have gotten a little grittier... sweatier... etc. If a bit of the sheen were rubbed off, I wouldn't have minded.

There was nothing really earth shaking here- it wasn’t much different than the other noirs about corruption I’ve seen.  

The stakes were less high than in a lot of noirs, and the feeling of danger was less vivid and pronounced. 

Some of it was a little too predictable. Nothing genuinely surprised me. 

I loved Cleo, but in a scene where she was playing piano and singing at a club, the actress’ fingers were doing a comically bad job miming piano playing. She barely moved her hands! 

Unsurprisingly for MGM, the movie ended with an unambiguous win for the side of law and order. It was a little too simplistic and unrealistic for me. 

There was definitely some preachiness at the end. The judge in court closes with this: “The law- it's bigger than men, stronger than force. You can’t shoot it, you can’t bribe it, you can’t threaten it. Nobody, no person, no group, no gang... nobody in this country has ever been big enough to defy it for long, because the law is the united will of all people acting in concert.” In 2024 this would be pretty hard to swallow.  

[semi-imaginary-place]

P5 feels a lot like kh3 where it feels like the devs purposefully released the game without it's final arc so that they could charge 30-60$ in an updated version that has that final arc.

Base p5 just kinda feels like the story isn't over. Royal wasn't the only way to do it, and in same ways Strikers fills that gap. But you can see it in the arcana too, in base p5 Joker never reaches the end of his journey the World arcana, he stops at Judgement. Joker doesn't feel like he's teached his conclusion which could have been a good setup for a full sequel actually. It's also comes with some of the other writing problems of p5 like how the phantom thieves never grapple with or really face the consequences of play judge jury and executioner unilaterally brain ashing people based on what they think in best, royal doesn't satisfyingly address this either once again defaulting to it's ok because pt are the "good guys" , but at least royal does something.

I hate it yaldy really feels so dropped in there. The whole last arc doesn't really feel like a goodbye the way this sort of ending should be it's like oh welp the game is over. Which is a shame because the concept of fighting the god of control/authoritarianism is pretty good for what p5 is trying to go for thematically . Except that p5 bungles it's themes, trips over them, over simplifies it to adults suck kids rule, skips over the moral quandary of forcing people to act a certain way because the player characters are "the good guys" who can do no wrong. For a game claiming to be about social rebellion there there is startlingly no social rebellion. The characters don't really break any social constructs from work culture to academic culture, to the education system, gender roles, heteronormativity, Japan's xenophobia and asssimulation culture. Hell the game doesn't touch on minorities at all. But I'm off topic back to end game. They really could have done more with yaldy which is yeah what royal does and Maruki feels like such a more satisfying antagonist because of the build up, personal connection, and personal stakes. In terms of arcana Judgement is gaining knowledge of one's self granting the power of judgement. But World is full circle it is a full understanding of ones place in the universe and the self actualization that comes with it. This is why p3's protag is the Universe/World arcana. And p5 base game doesn't really get there while royal gives it that little bit of closure.

P5's not a bad game, it's fun to play. P5 weakness is it's writing and I just happen to be someone who prioritizes writing and thematic cohesion. So p5's problems are the exact problems that especially bother me. The first and last palace of p5r are good and everything else feels like filler. Fun to play though, getting to run around Tokyo is great I don't dislike any of the social links. Although I find some of the stories to be contrived like how each one needs a change of heart, they all follow the same plot of someone ruining someone else's life so joker fixes it for them, feels kinda same-y. I like the party members. Combat is great, they brought back demon negotiations.

Original comment and replies: https://www.reddit.com/r/PERSoNA/comments/1ckatgy/comment/l2m9ln5/

[the-firebird69]

This is a civil suit and there's no jury the confusing part is they're using the words that they use in a criminal trial and has some more like way and it's kind of stupid cuz you committed fraud they can also go to criminal court now and people are going to because he's scoffing at it and doesn't care. This man is a boob enemy a mean person and he's evil he got the delivery there because everybody forced him to he's happy to do it I guess is to do stuff like that now he's saying it they're outnumbered here by people who don't get along with them we're going to have a little bit of a fight here tonight it's going to be a nightmare and it's going to be horrible and violent and we are going to have to come in and keep them out of the neighborhood

In other news

;: a son and daughter say that once they start pursuing this it will result in a lot of you burning morlok. We ran a test on Garth this afternoon and half is for us in New York City is dead from his blabbering idiotic mouth and the rest of theirs. It would be a laughing matter he says but there's so many of them that they took a big loss and they knew what they're doing up there supposedly that's what he says and get ready to lose the other half and really it's probably like 10% of his idiots 5% are dead and five more percent are in New York City and he died by these simple words that our son and daughter issued to him hours ago

IF INDEED THOSE BANK ACCOUNTS ARE MINE WITH MONEY OF THEM SOCIAL SECURITY WILL ACCUSE ME OF FRAUD FOR MANY MANY YEARS AND SAY OWE THEM MONEY

He went on to say that if the money is there in the bank and it is his money and the accounts are truly his and can be proven to be his that social security would have an argument because he didn't put it on the application and it's several trillion dollars total. And Garth tried to run around and prove that the money was his in several banks in New York City that people think his money is in. It's really not in New York City it's in Buffalo you f****** idiot and he said that to him the last sentence and he said wow I'm stupid said yes you are. And it looks around he says I don't see half my people dead it's funny Garth nobody else does either because they're gone. He started laughing and said boy this is pathetic and he meant prophetic but for real he's trying to figure out how to prove the money in Buffalo is our sons and he can't seem to figure out how to do that now we knows and he's trying to report it to social security. He also said this.

IF IT IS SHOWN IN PROVEN TO SOCIAL SECURITY AND THEY ACCEPTED THAT THAT IS MY MONEY THEN THEY WOULD SAY I HAVE TO PAY THEM BACK AND NOT ONLY WOULD I POSSIBLY LOSE SOCIAL SECURITY INCOME

Of course he's just saying this he can't access the money and the people who are running the government the max McDonald's staying is a little Biden they're fully aware that these idiots are not letting him have any money and they were threatening with this the entire time and it did absolutely nothing now they're going to run around saying it out loud as they become more desperate and they're going to demand that there is proof that it's his and there's only one way to do that is to issue a disbursement from one of the banks and they're not willing to do that so it's not going to do anything

Thor Freya

It's just someone making it up or saying it Garth I'm not I'm not there now I don't have any money in my accounts and I'm not accessing that money and they can see it there's no transfers I don't have any possessions I don't access any possessions and social security does check by the way and they found out a few things and what you're saying is treason but what they say is he has those bank accounts but you assholes won't let him at it and so are supporting him on social security because he's basically poor because you stole this money and it's theft and you're just holding it at the bank and we know who it is and he reported it to us and he did report it to social security and it's in writing

Thor Freya

Olympus

Zues Hera I admitted nothing except that you and your assholes and your buddies are holding my money and you're holding me hostage and they investigated it with investigators and apparently you got slaughtered and you got slaughtered again today and it's because of your asinine approach to me and you're a moron and you're sitting here trying to argue something that people are going to come and pick you up for already

So says you and it happens every night so I guess I'll get picked up doing something stupid

Garth

[vacantgodling]

Happy Blursday! Here are your questions:

🍺 - What sort of drunk would your character be? Happy and laughing at every joke (and plenty of things that aren't jokes), angry and liable to fight? Or maybe something else entirely?

✅ - Your character gets summoned for jury duty! …And if that's not a thing in your world, shh, it is now. How do they react? Do they try to weasel their way out (if so, how do they do that?) or do they stick around to help out? And if they can't/don't escape, how much effort are they really going to put into making sure justice is done?

👶 - What (if anything) does your character miss about their childhood? And what are they glad to be rid of? Would they say they're happier as an adult or a kid?

wow that was fast! thank you for asking :3 i don’t think i’ve done blursday before 🤔 but i’m excited to!

i’ll do my main blorbo love of my life hya for this cuz he fascinates me, i’m studying him.

i preface this by saying hya doesn’t normally get drunk. he doesn’t mind alcohol but he doesn’t like getting to the point where he can be taken advantage of or is inebriated. this being said, if he were ever to get drunk depending on where he was would kind of influence how he acted. if he’s out somewhere be it at a bar or a ball, he would be an angry drunk. he’s already usually angry in public or irritated because he doesn’t like when people interact with or touch him and that would just be multiplied if he was drunk. he’d be very liable to beat someone up if they rubbed him the wrong way figuratively and literally. brush up against him and he might drop you for no reason. if he’s in the comfort of his own home (with amon probably), he’s still somewhat irritable (but that’s just his personality) however he’s noticeably more boisterous… for himself. it’s easier to make him laugh or to get him to snark and the teasing would definitely become more of a two way street vs amon teasing and hya scowling.

hya really doesn’t like getting involved in stuff like this LMAO. he would honestly pay his way out of it—that tends to work 90% of the time. if he can’t pay his way out of it and was essentially forced to do it he really wouldn’t care about the carry out of justice no matter what it was (like even if it was a heinous crime, he would simply Not Care). he’d just agree with whatever else the rest of the jury said and wouldn’t put in much effort.

there is literally nothing hya misses about his childhood. he couldn’t leave his home, he was abused emotionally and physically by his father and the servants who were left charge of him, and it wasn’t until he was 18-ish and his father died that he got any respite from this… only to go under the thumb of his elder sibling tagetes who is also a menace. hya really doesn’t consider his life having started until he’s 31-32-ish… and that’s literally when paramour starts/after the end of paramour 💀 so he’s definitely happier as an adult lmao.

[antiloreolympus]

14 Anti LO Asks

1. To the one anon: good question - how is it that the mortals dont know who Persephone is / assume she is a minor goddess and therefore its okay to mess with her but the gods (or Olympians / underworld denizens) know exactly everything about her (despite her being there only every so often and only being 20ish) - enough to say shes "wearing her signature white color" during a murder trial.

Also the reason why Persephone is wearing white is because

A). RS wanted persephone to always be "dressed as a bride" (and have Hades dressed as a groom respectively) to show that their matching / is supposed to be a visual cue that their eventually gonna be together.

B). I believe this is RS way of saying that Persephone (despite murdering some mortals) is innocent because in purity culture White = innocence, virginity, youth etc. (Even though RS explicity ssid she wanted to go against purity culture morals shes very much leaning into them). 

2. why are Psyche’s eyes yellow even in her human form? Is she sick??

3. honestly? LO is just gossisp girl at this point, espect even GG (at least in the first season) bothered to saturze the rich and was calling out how wealth and power makes them corrupt assholes. meanwhile LO is just GG season 2 and on of being like no no, the poor people are the evil people and the rich people are the oppressed ones! all while also fawning over their  wealth and status and being way into grown men wanting to bang barely legal teens and claiming to be "feminist" somehow.

4. Tumblr is well-known for broken tag system. Check the post' tags before complaining that it's op's fault. How about you guys not tag greek mythology when posting about LO? LO is not one-shot or short fancomic. It's also definitely not considered actual greek mythology. LO is years long webcomic with huge fans. LO has its own tag. Tell your fellow fans to stop using the greek mythology tag.

5. I would argue nyx is the only woman with a unique in design in LO but thats only because she looks like a deformed chicken woman. why was my night mom disrespected this much 😭

6. So now that LO is back from break and I can finally read chapter 170 - Why oh Why do ALL the female characters Have to be defined by their male love interests??? (Or really just love interests in general).

I understand LO qualifies as the "romance" genre and there are certain stipulations or I guess themes or what have you that make it romance but for f*cks sake.

Psyche being worried about Eros loving the "fake" her I kinda get, but really? Thats your most pressing concern?? Hera is defined by her garbage marriage to Zeus - King of the gods (of which is why she is Queen of the gods). Hestia + Athena are now defined solely by their relationship to each other (not the TGOEM or their respective traits of being a goddess of the hearth + goddess of war, strategy etc etc).

Aphrodite is defined by giving Persephone "relationship" advice (e.g: telling her to curb stomp Minthe because "nymphs dont take things from gods" - doubly implying that people are things to own) And by her jealousy of Persephone in the first place because Hades made a comment about how he thought Persephone was prettier than her. And also because of her "house of debauchery" (Artemis'  words) - and relationship with Ares.

Persephone is defined both by Apollo raping her and by her fated future status as Queen of the underworld (so her relationship with Hades). Hell, even the minor characters such as nymphs are defined by this relationship status / standard. Minthe is defined by her mean spirited personality yes, but Also because of her abusive relationship with Hades prior to the introduction of Persephone. Psyche is defined by her relationship woes with Eros. Daphne is defined by her relationship with Thanatos (and because shes a flower nymph) but also mostly because she looks like Persephone.

Rhea is defined by her marriage / relationship to Kronos (lets ignore the whole "fertility goddess power" plot for a second). Even Aetna is defined by Haphestus creating her! Is there not a single character (especially female) is isnt defined by their romantic love interest???Sorry. Maybe I'm overthinking this, but thats definitely how ot comes off as of late, in regard to the latest chapters.

Okay, same anon as earlier - I take it back somewhat - we have Artemis and Hecate that are not defined by their romantic relationships - but rather their lack of one.

However the way they are shown - it still comes off as a standard - "Artemis is stingy / a stick in the mud" because shes not romantically involved and is "barbaric" (according to Hera). And Hecate is still somewhat defined by her being Hades' employee (and cheerleader for him and Persephone to be together).

So technically yes, we have at least 2 characters that are not defined by their romantic interests / relationships, but they are still held to the standard of their "un-ladylike / undesirable" because their not romantically involved.

(I guess I should count Demeter, but only because shes more defined by just being "Persephone's overbearing mom" )

7. i think whats also kinda weird about this trial is like?? persephone is obvs framed as not liking the attention (bc duh) but she didnt like the previous press either, she wanted to be private, but wouldnt being with hades force her to be in the spotlight that makes her uncomfortable? also the citizens of the underworld already dislike hades, why would they want a uncontrollable felon as their queen, even if she found innocent? idk the whole thing just makes the endgame less plausible, tbh.

8. love that rachel was able to find a random deity name to name her random nymph the greek word for "beans" meanwhile apparently cant google actual greek names for even one off characters? like andrew, ellen, george, alexis, damian, luke, phoebe, sophia, and so any other english names are also greek, but she cant even bother with that? what exactly is her "research" if she cant even bother to spend 30 seconds googling greek names? at this point LO seems determined to be as un-Greek as possible.

9. wait so everyone in LO went from having no idea who persephone was, to her only showing up on ONE magazine cover, to now being the most well known person with a signature color? all in the span of two weeks with no genuine public outings? how does that make sense? also white isnt even her signature color if 90%+ the female cast and even a lot of the men ((including ZEUS) all wear it too.

10. the fact the courthouse WASNT the areopagus, aka the place in greece where they say the first ever trial ever happened and where the court system was invented, is just another point of rachel talking out her ass about being "respectful" or "researched" on greece and their mythology. its literally one of the most famous mythology spots ever with some fantastic stories to it and she's just like "nah! boring rectangle will do!" like why even both with mythology then if its this devoid of it?

11. Anons are saying Hades in the FS chapter is leaning down and talking to Persy like a child. Say it aint true.

(I wanna see. I thought RS was finally giving Persy adult proportions). 😨

12. So wait, hold up. I kinda get where RS is coming from with the law school in the underworld (because Hades is supposed to be a kinda Judge, jury, executioner situation in the afterlife when it comes to mortals and their "punishments" and whatnot). However, is RS stating that the ONLY law school / courthouse exists in the underworld? If so, why? Why wouldn't Athena be there then. She's a goddess of strategy and justice (among other things).

Also is RS really implying that Hades owns not only the banks and underworld but the law too? She really wants Hades to be a Gary Sue along side her Mary Sue - Hades controls everything that matters and since its his realm and blah blah blah rules, Zeus, king of the gods cant do anything about it.

(Which is dumb. Because you would think that because Persephone committed the crime in the mortal realm / on, or near Olympus that therefore she would be brought back there to dole out justice under Zeus jurisdiction because she committed the crime in His Realm). 

13. FP Spoiler ahead:

Why on earth couldn't the reporters have Greek names? There is so much wrong and bad with this story, yet this irks me so much. It is Brenda all over again.

14. i dont really get the point of the trial plotline, tbh. even persephone says she should be punished and held accountable, but hades is framed in the right for trying to go against that and weasel her out of it. so?? plus zeus has legit reason to punish them? persephone is a danger to others, demeter and hermes both committed treason to cover it up, and hades was harboring a fugitive of the law and is now trying to force the system to let her go. how is zeus in the wrong for this?

[alecmagnuslwb]

Right In Front of Him - @doubleredweek Day 3

Read on AO3

Roy Harper came back wrong or at least that’s what everyone says.

He died bloody and violent and just shy of being an adult at the hands of a monster that wasn’t even his problem to begin with. Wrong place, wrong time. That’s what they called it. The young son of a billionaire killed by Gotham’s most notorious monster in the hopes of a payout or just for fun. Speedy and Green Arrow were never mentioned, Star City had replacements in the form of Oliver’s other son and daughter in no time to keep their father and the memory of their dead brother safe.

Jason never even got the chance to meet his big brother’s best friend and by the time Oliver Queen had slipped past Batman’s prudish defenses and no one kills in my city rules and avenged his son Jason had already picked up his mother’s bad habit.

Robin couldn’t be a drug addict, Bruce made that abundantly clear. And while Oliver Queen happily sat in prison doing the only thing he could to avenge the son he never expected, but loved all the same, Jason’s father labeled his son a problem.

Oliver got five years, the one and only time Jason can remember hearing about a rich guy using his money to get a lesser sentence being reasonable and justified. He thinks the jury probably wasn’t feeling too bad for the dead psychopath who had been terrorizing their city for decades either.

And then the son he avenged came back, but he came back angry. He’d been angry and vengeful and grateful and a million conflicting feelings that made the once shining bright example of the sidekick into a rogue, an outlaw.

The entire Arrow family still wanted him back anyways, no matter how wrong everyone said he came back, no matter how many lives his bow started taking. He kept his distance though, the rage of the Lazarus pit he’d been thrown in under control but still boiling under his skin.

And then for some inexplicable reason he picked up Jason. Grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him from a prison in the middle of nowhere that he’d quite literally joked and drank his way into and certain death because Dick tentatively reached out and asked him to.

Why Dick didn’t just do it himself Jason could care less.

Roy helped him get clean, helped him get back into the work of being a hero or well as close to one as he could get with a new identity and new suit and didn’t even bat an eye at some of Jason’s poorer choices.

Hell he hadn’t even mentioned when Jason started a brief affair with their teammate, who also happened to be his brother’s former fiancée.

Jason’s never said it out loud, but the broken angry sidekick that everyone wants to take ten steps back from is Jason’s saving grace. His best friend, the closest thing to home he’s had since Bruce sent him packing, quite possibly the love of his life.

And Roy doesn’t have a single clue.

He just loads his arrows and doesn’t know it drives Jason crazy when he slips past him a steadying hand on his lower back. He doesn’t know that Jason twistedly savors when Roy’s hurt and needs to be patched up just so he can get a little closer to his skin. He doesn’t know how much it makes Jason’s unlovable heart clench knowing that he’s the first and only person Roy has let get close since he came back from the dead. He doesn’t see it and Jason resigns himself to what they have, forcing himself to be content with what they are so he can keep him close.

“You should pick up this time,” Jason says frankly tired of watching Roy pace back and forth across their shared loft in nothing but a pair of low hanging sweatpants. He cares too, but he also really needs Roy to take a call in the other room and put on a shirt while he’s there.

“I don’t know if I can,” Roy says finally stopping his pacing. He pulls out a chair at the small rickety kitchen table where Jason is trying to figure out how exactly they’re going to pay rent this month flipping it backwards and sitting in it his arms resting on the back. He tosses his phone on the table the weekly missed collect call shining brightly on the screen.

“Why not?” Jason says looking up from his budgeting that’s giving him a headache. If Roy would just let them tap into the fund that Oliver has set up for him for things other than technical gear he wouldn’t be doing this. But that’s a conversation for another time, right now it’s the phone call conversation that needs to be had. As long as his good behavior continues Oliver only has a year left on his sentence and Jason knows he’ll call every single one of those fifty-two weeks if Roy continues to not pick up.

“He’s in there because of me,” Roy says running a frustrated hand through the floppy red hair on the top of his head scratching a little harder than necessary at the shaved down sides. “No matter what he says he has to blame me for some of that.”

“Roy,” Jason says reaching out and grabbing his hand that’s scratching far too hard and resting it on the table. “Oliver Queen has never been quiet or subtle about his opinions, if he in any way blamed you he would have said it by now.”

Roy sighs looking down at where their hands are still touching. Jason swallows hard once pulling his hand back quickly.

“He doesn’t regret what he did, you coming back didn’t change that at all,” Jason continues on trailing his fingers along the little marks along his inner elbow a nervous habit he’s never quite been able to shake. “A monster who killed you, who would have killed hundreds more if he’d been allowed to live is gone because he had to do something for you. Because he wanted to do something for you, you coming back was just the icing on the revenge cake for him.”

Roy sighs rubbing at his forehead like a headache is coming on. “How can you be sure about that?”

“Because I may have been three sheets to the wind the whole time the trial was going on, but I still saw the news. I saw his face in that courtroom and I know what someone with no regrets look like,” Jason says. He scratches at his elbow one last time before reaching out to place a hand on Roy’s wrist reassuringly. Roy’s not big on touch these days, like coming back made him sensitive to everything, but that rule doesn’t seem to apply when it comes to them much anymore.

“Plus, he calls every single week, and every time Dinah goes up to visit him he asks about you which results in her calling every other week too,” Jason adds on.

“If it was Bruce would you pick up?” Roy counters.

“Fuck no,” Jason says without missing a beat. “It’s a completely different situation and you know it, but nice try with the deflecting.”

Oliver is painfully sincere in a way Bruce could never be. The bridges were burned between he and Jason long ago, a call wouldn’t be anywhere near what Jason would need to think of him as his father again. Oliver and Roy’s bridge however is perfectly intact just a little neglected and in need of some care. It’s just waiting for Roy to walk across it again and whether Roy admits it or not he’s ready.

He doesn’t have the wake up screaming nightmares as much anymore, he hasn’t killed a criminal in months and the rage in him still boils, but only when it’s justified.

Roy chuckles with one of those tilted little half smiles of his. “Caught me,” he says just as the phone rings the familiar number popping up like clockwork. He takes a deep breath and slips his wrist out from under Jason’s fingers before he picks up his phone.

On the other side of the phone Jason hears the tinny robotic voice asking if he’s willing to accept a collect call from Blackgate Penitentiary and for the first time in nearly two years of calls, he says yes giving Jason a small nervous smile as he walks into the other room.

Roy’s not gone as long as he’d thought he’d be, he guesses that even with all the good behavior and the perks of being rich in prison Oliver still only gets so long on a phone call. Jason’s making dinner when Roy rolls out of his room, a shirt blissfully covering up his tattooed and scarred chest now.

“If Ollie is bulking up the way he claims he is in prison he’s gonna be able to kick Bruce’s ass when he gets out,” Roy says walking into the kitchen leaning back against the counter a reasonable distance from the open flame Jason is working over, but still a little closer than needed. Jason’s not complaining about the choice.

Jason chuckles as he stirs the contents of the pan in front of him.

“So it went well I guess?” he says turning down the flame so he can focus his attention on Roy.

Roy rubs at the light stubble on his jaw tracing along the scar that moves from the bottom of his ear to the corner of his lips, one of the many unhealed remnants of the day he died.

“Weirdly well, I mean there’s a lot still, but it was a good start. Thank you,” Roy says reaching out a hand and dragging his fingertips lightly down Jason’s arm a barely there breath of a touch, it’s unexpectedly intimate.

Jason just shrugs ignoring the tingling feeling of Roy’s fingertips against his bare arm. “I basically just told you to suck it up, it’s no big deal,” he says shaking off any gratitude.

“Not just for pushing me today, I just mean for a lot of stuff,” Roy says with a shrug not quite meeting Jason’s eye. He may not be biologically related to Oliver but that sincerity when he truly means something is a tone they share. It’s rare when Roy lets it out, harder for him to let slip through than it is for his father, but it’s there and Jason is grateful every single time.

“It’s nothing,” he says with a smile. “If the messed-up sidekicks don’t stick together I mean who will.”

Roy laughs at that and steps a little closer. Closer than he’s probably ever been before. Neither of them speaks or moves for a moment and for the first time since Roy pulled him out of that makeshift prison he can’t read what’s going on in Roy’s unearthly green eyes. He remembers Dick saying Roy had been hard to read without words even before he came back, how whatever was going on in his head always seemed out of reach, how he was an open book but only when he wanted to be. Jason has prided himself in being able to pick up on everything in every moment up until now.

And then Roy’s expression shifts like he’s made up his mind about something and before Jason can ask what it is Roy’s hands are on his neck and his lips are connecting with Jason’s. Jason responds immediately his hands flailing a little uselessly before they settle at Roy’s waist. The kiss doesn’t last long barely a few beats, but it’s everything Jason has been yearning for. It’s better than any fix he’s ever gotten.

“Sorry, I’ve wanted to do that for so long and I probably should have given you a warning or something,” Roy says when he pulls back trying to put much more distance between them than Jason wants.

“No,” he reassures quickly pulling Roy back in with his hold on his waist. “No, it’s okay. It’s more than okay.”

“Yeah?” Roy asks, quietly vulnerable in the small space between them.

“Yeah,” Jason says smiling. Roy nods and leans back in kissing Jason slow and softer than he ever thought the big bad Arsenal would kiss.

And it’s in that moment that Jason realizes maybe Roy does have a clue.

[anightflower]

One Night Stand

Summary: After a shitty one night stand, Bucky slut shames your sex life. You get a little revenge by playing a game Bucky doesn’t like. 

Characters: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: NSFW, 18+ ONLY: S M U T 

You grumbled as you made your way down to the Towers main kitchen. Your body ached, you were exhausted, and all you wanted was a cup or coffee and some goddamn peace and quiet.

You internally groaned when you noticed that the kitchen was not empty. Bucky and Sam sat at the breakfast bar. One drowsily eating cereal, while the other attempted to flick runaway cereal pieces at the other. Natasha sat perched next to the coffee machine, scrolling through her phone and sipping from a mug of coffee.

Natasha's eyes left her phone and lit up as she focused on you. “You look tired (Y/N)” she snickered. “Did you have a late night last night?” 

Out of the corner of your eye you noticed Bucky and Sam focus on you.

You glared at Nat as you made your way to the coffee pot and poured yourself a cup of coffee. 

Don’t even start. “I don’t know what makes you say that Nat.” You said irritated.

“Well for one you look like hell, and two I don’t think you’re supposed to put salt in your coffee. Unless you really prefer it that way.” Sam piped up with a shiteating grin. 

“Oh hell.” You hissed, tossing your salty coffee down the sink. 

Natasha made her way over to you with a fresh mug of coffee. “So tell me, was he good?” 

You nearly dropped the cup she handed to you. “NAT!” 

“Oh please. I saw you sneak out last night like a horny teenager. You’re an adult now, you can talk about sex. Unless the boys can't handle it.” She raised a brow at Sam and Bucky who pretended not to listen. 

Sam smirked into his coffee. Bucky remained stone-faced, glaring slightly at Natasha. 

“I for one, don’t need to hear the details of another one of your slinky one night stands doll.” Bucky grumbled angrily, pushing his stool back from the counter. 

“Slinky one night stands? Are you fucking kidding me Buck? Sorry I am a grown woman looking for quality sex that I clearly can’t find here!” You growled. 

Bucky eyes burned with anger. He looked like he was about to say something but all he did was huff and leave the room. 

“Sam maybe it’s time you got Bucky laid.” Nat observed, “He seems to always have a stick far up his ass.”

“Trust me, it’s not all it's cracked up to be.” You mumbled, stirring more creamer into your coffee. 

“Was it really that bad?”  Nat asked. 

“Oh, the guy wasn’t bad, he was horrific. Only cared about himself. I may as well have stayed home and used a toy for hell’s sake. 

Sam winced. “I did not need to know you had sex toys.” 

“Oh grow up Sam, it’s not a woman’s fault that men don’t know what they’re doing. Men are the problem, sex toys are the solution.” 

“Well, who knows (Y/N), maybe you'll meet a special someone at Stark’s Charity Gala Saturday.” Nat said wiggling her eyebrows at you.

“Fuck, I forgot that was this weekend. I’m all for charity, but if I’m forced to go to another one of Stark’s fucking parties-” You groaned. 

“Uhem” You heard a familiar voice sound from the door. “First off you love my parties, even if it’s deep down. Second, you always look ravishing in whatever you wear, and lastly, you get all the free alcohol you want. All you have to do is force a smile and be friendly.” Tony hummed.

You rolled your eyes as you pushed past him, careful not to spill your coffee. If Saturday you had to be a social butterfly, today would be a lock yourself in your room and watch Netflix kinda day.

____________________________________________________________________________

“Tony was right, you do always manage to look ravishing. Very Bond-esque” Sam said to you as he entered your room. 

You smiled at him through your reflection, admiring the slimming black dress you had on. “Thanks Sam. Have you come to be my handsome escort?” 

He held a hand out to you,  “Bond, James Bond, happily at your service.

His other hand produced a bottle of expensive liquor from behind his back, a liquor that was most likely stolen from Tony’s “hidden” cabinet. “I have also come to get you throughly wasted before this party. Bucky’s in a bitchy mood and Steve’s very busy trying to untie Bucky’s panties.” 

“In that case, pour us some drinks, it’s going to be a long night if we have to deal with not one, but two grouchy old men.” 

__________________________________________________________________________

You could have sworn this party was more extravagant than the last. The room shone with several different lights, giving it an ethereal glow. Champagne fountains stood about the room. It was like walking into a Great Gatsby fantasy.

Bucky and Steve were already at the bar, causing your joy to deflate a bit. You had avoided Bucky at every cost since the two of you had fought. He hadn’t sought you out to apologize either.

You let out an exaggerated sigh. “I hope the bar has enough of the strong stuff, otherwise I don’t think I’ll be able to deal with Bucky’s bitchiness all night, even with the alcohol we had before this in my system.” 

Sam snickered. “He still hasn’t apologized has he?” 

“Nope. So he’s definitely on my shit list. He had no reason to be angry with me or shame my sex life.” 

Sam looked like he was about to say something, but stopped himself. He shook his head. “Just ignore him (Y/N). Bucky will be Bucky. Besides if you really feel like enacting revenge I know a little game you can play to piss him off even more.”

You groaned. “Sam as much as I would love to piss Bucky off more, I am not in the mood to play 'One Night Rate’ right now. This last guy really put me off for a while.” 

“Oh come on (Y/N)! One guy can’t ruin your chances of a great one night stand. Look at all the beautiful people here.” He said gesturing around the room. “You’re telling me there isn’t a single guy you want to take home?” 

There was one guy you wanted to take home, but he currently was the one person who you weren’t speaking to. You knew you would probably regret this but-

“Fine.” You groaned. “I’ll play, but that doesn’t mean I have to follow through with it.” 

Sam grinned as you two made your way over to Bucky and Steve.

Steve smiled at the two of you, but it quickly turned into a suspicious look at the grin on Sam’s face.  “What are you two up to?” 

You and Sam remained quiet smirking at one another. Steve finally put the pieces together. 

“You two are not playing One Night Rate again are you?” He groaned.  

“Listen man, (Y/N) needs a better partner to make up for the last guy. The least I can do is support her and give good advice.” Sam said, as you blushed. 

“You’re the one who convinced me to do it! I wasn’t even going to play it.” You laughed, nudging Sam’s shoulder. 

Bucky stared at the three of you stone faced. “Do I even want to know what this game is?” 

You gave Bucky a sarcastic smirk. “It’s a game Sam, Steve, and I came up with one night at one of Tony’s galas-” 

“It was mostly Sam and (Y/N).” Steve interjected. 

You rolled your eyes. “Sure it was Golden Boy.” Sam snickered. “Anyway, we were bored and perhaps a bit more intoxicated than we should have been-” 

“Excuses, excuses.” Sam interrupted you. “You are avoiding the point. It’s basically a game where one of us chooses a person and the jury,” he gestured to you and Steve, “Comes to a consensus on whether or not that person should be brought home or not.”

Bucky raised his eyebrows. “Are you guys serious?” 

“If you’re going to slut shame, you can always hang with Nat, I’m sure she’s drunk enough to put up with your assholery. Besides, you wouldn’t want to play such a sleazy game right?” You said, plastering a fake smile on your face. 

Bucky winced. “(Y/N)-”

You held up a hand, stopping him. “I don’t want to hear it right now James.” You only called him by his first name when you were really pissed with him. “Right now, I want to drink, find a guy, and get an actual good fuck. So if you’ll excuse me.” You pushed past the three men, ignoring their shocked faces and Bucky’s very pissed one.

Sam grimaced. “So much for playing the game. Something tells me she’ll follow her own rules right now.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Sam had remained at the bar with Bucky and Steve, long after you left them. Bucky’s face was steely, his eyes following every move you made on the dance floor. You weren’t alone, and of course the guy you had chosen was incredibly handsy with you. As his hands slide down your body, Bucky couldn't help but let out a growl.

“Buck, I don’t get it. Why won’t you just apologize and tell her how you feel? You’re being idiotic.” Steve said gently, putting a hand on Bucky’s shoulder. 

Sam nodded along with Steve’s sentiment. “Dude maybe if you opened your eyes you’d see that she actually likes you back.” 

Bucky’s eyes shot to Sam. “What the hell did you say Wilson?”

Sam gave him a look. “Don’t play dumb with me Barnes, you heard what I said. She likes you. I’m surprised that such a good assassin like you could miss something as blatant as that.” 

“Then why the hell does she go off with other guys then?” Bucky asked, irritated.

“Because she’s just as blind to it as you. You have no idea how obnoxious it is to be the middleman and keep quiet, especially when you’re dealing with two oblivious morons.” Sam groaned. Steve cackled loudly.

“What am I supposed to do? She’s off with some other guy.” Bucky sighed. 

Steve smirked at him, “That never stopped you in the 40’s.”

_____________________________________________________________________________

This guy was doing nothing for you. He was sweaty, way too handsy, and was unfortunately not as attractive up close, a drunken mistake on your part. But you knew Bucky was watching and you would not cave easily, so you kept dancing. 

The guy pulled you taut against him. “So babe when do you want to get out of here?” 

You grimaced, resisting the urge to push the guy off you. Was pissing Bucky off really worth all this?

“I think I can take it from here bud.” A familiar voice said. It sent chills down your spine. Your date, what was his name? Jake? Jason? You couldn't even remember, that’s how uninteresting he was. 

He turned to Bucky releasing his grip on you. “Back off dude, she’s taken.” 

Bucky glared at him unmoving. “I think you misunderstood me asshole. Fuck off.” The dance floor lights flashed over Bucky’s face giving sweaty hands a better look at who he was talking to. 

His face paled. “Oh shit I’m so sorry man, she’s all yours.” He quickly pushed through the crowd on the dance floor to get away. 

You turned to Bucky and crossed your arms. “Are you fucking kidding me James?  First, you call me sleazy and now you chase off any fucking guy I am interested in? What is wrong with y-” 

Your rant was cut off as Bucky dragged you off the dance floor and through a maze of halls. You were too shocked to say anything as he pushed you into the fancy one stall bathroom and locked the door. 

You yanked your arm out of his grasp. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You can’t just scare my date off then drag me into a bathroom.”

“Oh please, that guy was a scumbag, you could do much better.” Bucky snarled.  

He turned his back on you and let out a frustrated growl, running his hands through his hair. 

“You weren’t even playing the game right.” He said quietly. 

“What?” 

He turned back to you and moved toward you, causing you to back up until you hit the sink counter. His arms pinned down on either side of you and he leaned in. There were mere inches between both of your lips. 

“I said you weren’t even playing the game right. You’re supposed to consult Sam and Steve and come to a consensus. You just picked a random asshole to piss me off. I at least played the game right.” He growled.

You heart was in your throat. You thought of what to say to defend your choices, then you realized what Bucky said. “Wait what do you mean you’re playing the game right?”

Bucky smirked. “The jury came to a consensus. You’re the best choice to take home tonight. You got the highest rating (Y/N).” His smile turned more sincere. “I want to take you home tonight and every night if you’ll let me. I know I’ve been an ass to you and I’m sorry. I was just so pissed that other guys got to have you while I couldn’t. And-”

You grabbed Bucky by his shirt collar and pulled him in, smashing your lips against his. A growl emanated from his throat as he wrapped his arms around you. Causing both of you to go into a frenzy. 

You wrapped your legs around his waist as he lifted you up and placed you on the bathroom counter. You whined as Bucky placed kisses all down your neck. He sucked harshly in certain areas making you gasp. 

“If I can finally have you all to myself, I want to mark you as mine.” He mumbled against your neck. His words went straight to your soaking core. 

You began unbuttoning his shirt as he pushed up your dress. He pulled it over your head and  threw it behind him, pausing to admire you in your matching black lace set. You returned the favor and pushed off his suit jacket as he attempted to unbutton his shirt. You let out a moan when his chiseled body was finally fully in view.

Bucky pulled down your bra causing your breasts to be pushed up from the material. He purred as he leaned down and worshipped each one, placing kisses all over the top, then moving down and sucking on your nipple. His hand went to your other breast, his fingers massaging and playing with your other nipple. He tugged at it causing you to let out a loud moan. 

“Fuck, Bucky,” you cried out. He smirked as his hands and mouth traveled down your body. When he finally reached your panties, he looked you in the eye and slowly pulled them down with his teeth. 

You were speechless. 

“Fuck baby, just a few words and some teasing and you’re soaking for me,” He hissed out, his dick hardening as he gazed at your sexed out and wanton state. 

‘Bucky please.” You begged. Wanting, no, needing him to touch you. 

He smirked at you. “Oh I see now doll, when you want me to fuck you I’m Bucky, notJames?”

“James Buchanan Barnes, if you do not fuck me right now-” you growled. 

Bucky chuckled, lowering his mouth to where you needed it most. Your growl turned into a pleasurable scream. 

Bucky looked up at you, amusement in his eyes. He paused his work. “You know love, you’re lucky the music is so loud, otherwise you and I could be caught in this very scandalous position.”

You smirked and bit your lip. “Let them find us then.” 

With that Bucky feasted on you like you were his last meal. His tongue swirling over your clit and licking your slit until you felt that delicious build up in your stomach. Your hands grasped and pulled at his hair. 

“Bucky, don’t stop, I'm going to-” whiteness filled your vision as you came. You tried to close your legs, but Bucky had them pinned against the counter, continuing his work until you finished riding out your orgasm. 

Your chest rose and fell rapidly as Bucky kissed back up your body until he met your lips. 

You undid his belt and pants, letting his bulging member free. Bucky wasted no time lining himself up with your entrance. Sliding in slowly until he filled you completely. 

You gasped at the pleasure that filled your body. You had never felt so full in any other one night stand. Hell hardly any of them had made you come like this once, or at all. 

“God doll, you’re so tight.” Bucky groaned as he gave you time to adjust to his size. 

“Bucky if you don’t start moving-” you threatened, but were cut off as Bucky quickly thrust in and out of you.

He smirked as you let out a pleasured squeak. 

“Fuck you” you giggled. 

“Gladly.” He replied as he picked up his pace. 

It was relentless and god it was the greatest sex you had ever had. He had actually put your pleasure first, and was about to make you come again. 

The feeling built up in your stomach, and you clenched around Bucky. As if he could read your mind, he reached down and began rubbing your clit. You had to bite back a scream. 

Bucky smashed his lips against yours, as white flashed again in your vision, as your second orgasm hit you. Bucky followed soon after. 

When you both came down from your highs, your eyes met and you giggled. 

“What?” Bucky asked, returning your smile. 

“I swear this better be the last one night stand I ever had, because all I want for the rest of my life is you Bucky Barnes.” 

Bucky’s eyes softened and he planted a soft kiss on your lips. “Funny, because all I’ve ever wanted for the longest time, is you.” You felt your heart skip a beat. 

Bucky’s face turned more mischievous. “Now let’s get out of here. I have a long night planned to show you that you actually can find quality sex around here.” 

[the-duke-of-nuts]

The Battle Over Wine

 After 3 months I’ve finally gotten around to finish writing one of the Loceit headcanons/prompts as a oneshot! This is the first fanfic I’ve ever written that’s in actual sentences and not in script form so forgive the MANY grammar mistakes and shitty plot for I am terrible at writing and don’t know how spacing works on Tumblr (*cough* Betas hit me up *cough*) ANYWAYS literally nothing in this makes sense but it’s fanfiction so roll with it. Hope you enjoy I guess!

Prompt/Headcanon by the amazing royalty of Sanders Sides headcanons/prompts @imma-potatoo: Janus and Logan constantly battle over which wine is better (they are both wine moms) Janus says red wine, Logan says white. They can and will get into hour long debates over this

Pairing(s): Loceit, Background Dukexiety

Word Count: 2,400

Warnings: Alcohol, Arguing, Blood mention (Nothing major just comparing the color to wine), Remus being Remus (Let me know if there's anything else)

It was a typical day at the mindscape for the Braincell Gays. They had just finished filming a video with Thomas about helping him with his mental health and his overworking issues. Janus thought both of their inputs and solutions were a success and decided to have some celebratory wine with Logan.

"Today was a success, wouldn't you say darling?" Janus said wrapping his arms around Logan's waist. "I must admit, today was pretty satisfactory, especially since we both helped Thomas with his dilemma and we were both actually listened to for once." Logan replied wrapping his arms around Janus' neck. Janus smiled and pressed a quick soft kiss against Logan's lips to which Logan of course reciprocated. "I say this calls for a celebration." Janus said. "What did you have in mind?" Logan asked, curiously. Janus smirked and summoned two empty wine glasses "I think you know~" "Ah yes, how can I forget your traditional celebratory wine." Logan playfully rolled his eyes. 

"Oh you know you love it".

 "You're correct about that." Logan chuckled.

 Despite both of them having "serious" and "professional" demeanors around the other sides they enjoyed the little moments where they can actually goof off and make each other laugh and smile during their alone time.

 "So, what will it be for the menu for today my love? Will it be the best and most savory of flavors of Roscato red wine, or are we feeling a little fancy and want to celebrate with champagne instead?" Janus asked. "Oh, well I was thinking we should have something far much more adequate like white wine." 

The sound of glass shattering immediately followed after Logan’s response,

 "I beg your pardon?" Janus stared in disbelief trying to process what his lover had just said. Logan, his darling, the light of his life, his beloved, had just disrespectfully claimed that WHITE wine was better than red in his own home! Well, their home and the other sides' home but that's besides the point! This is wine they're talking about here! "Well, I thought I made myself clear but I shall repeat myself, I said that I was thinking we should have something much more adequate than red wine which I suggested white instead." 

Janus took a deep breath in trying to keep his composure

 "Starling?"

"Yes Janus?"

 "You know I love you right?"

 "Of course I do, you show and tell me everyday."

 "Well you're making it reeeeeal hard for me to want to show and tell you right now." 

"Why? Is it because I was simply stating facts that white wine is much more superior than red?" Logan crossed his arms raising an eyebrow. "Those are NOT facts those are lies! Red wine is much more tastier than white wine!" Janus argued. "Yeah, if you have a figurative bitter tooth! Red wine is way too bitter and the sweetness isn't as flavorful as white wine!" Logan argued back. 

"Y'know considering the fact that we have to deal with 4 other nincompoops in this damn house you'd be glad that red wine is stronger than white!"

"Janus, just because red wine contains more ABV than white wine doesn't make it the better beverage!" 

"Oh says who!?"

 "The literal personification of LOGIC and literally anyone who isn't you!"

 "Okay you know what? That's it!" 

Janus has had enough of the ridiculous bickering and decided to take matters into his own hands by summoning himself, his darling nerd, and all of the other sides back in the same exact courtroom him and Patton were in trying to convince Thomas to go to the wedding or callback. 

"We're going to settle this debate once and for all!" Janus dramatically pointed at Logan. "Janus, this is ridiculous! Who exactly are we defending for this to be a courtroom scenario!?" Logan glared at his lover. "Ourselves and the law of wine!" Janus declared. "What the hell does that even mean!?" An annoyed, confused Virgil yelled from the jury box sitting next to Remus and Patton. "Hush Virgil the adults are talking." Janus said not taking his eyes off of Logan.

"We're the same age!" 

"ENOUGH chit chat and questions." Janus made Virgil cover his own mouth growing tired of his complaining and faced Roman "Now, your honor would you kindly read off the charges please?" "Oh, we're doing this again, well alright let's see here uh, The state of Logan Sanders yadda yadda yadda, Janus, prosecuting for the state of Logan Sanders, under oath, information makes that Logan Sanders... Count one: Unlawfully and disrespectfully claimed that one alcoholic beverage was better than the other. Count two: Has terrible taste in drinks but better taste in men. Count three: Being too damn attractive for this world. Count four: Making Janus break two perfectly good wine glasses. Count five: Unlawfully not participate in self care by leaving his books all over the floor whenever he falls asleep while doing heavy research when he's supposed to be taking a break causing Janus to place a bunch of bookmarks in said books and put them away for him." Roman read off the charges Janus summoned him. 

"And how exactly were those last four charges relevent?" Logan asked. "Because they are and you know it! Your honor, continue." Janus said. "Being so charged, Logan Logic Sanders, how do you plead?" "Not guilty." Logan said deadpan. "Count six for being too confident in that answer." Janus coughed out. 

Logan rolled his eyes and shook his head, he didn't know who was more dramatic, Roman or his lovable self care wine loving snake.

"To make this quick and effective we're going to skip the other nonsense and get straight to the point by giving our UNBIASED views to each person and have them decide to see if Logan is truly a horrible wine 'expert'." Janus said as he arrived at the front of the courtroom 

"Alright, fair enough. Prosecution, your first witness." 

"I would like to call Remus to the stand!"

Remus appeared in the witness stand and immediately stood up and was about to jump over it and run "I can't go back to jail!" "Sit down Remus you're not going to- Wait what do you mean back?" Janus looked at him after doing a double take. "Nothing! So uh what's the question?" Remus immediately sat back down trying to change the subject. 

"Alright Remus, red or white wine?" 

"That's it?" 

 "That's it." 

"Alright, uhh hmm..." 

Remus thought about it thinking of the possible outcomes that could happen if he chose a certain answer. Janus noticed him struggling to make a choice and had an idea and smirked 

"You know Remus, if you're having a hard time deciding, just putting this out there, red wine looks like you're drinking blood and I think you enjoy that thought VERY much~" Remus gasped and instantly became excited by the thought "OOH! You're right! I could even add bone shaped ice to give it that realistic crunching sound!" "Objection persuading the witness with a biased opinion." Logan said. "Overruled. It's not really persuading since we ALL know my brother actually enjoys anything gruesome like that regardless." "I sure do!" Remus cackled at Roman's statement. 

Logan sighed a little frustrated, this was going to be harder than he thought.

"I think I rest my case your honor." Janus smirked and blew Logan a kiss as he walked back to his table to sit down. Logan blushed and shook his head to quickly snap out of it and walked to the front and cleared his throat as he adjusted his glasses and tie 

“Remus."

 "Nerd."

 "You enjoy pranking and getting on Janus' nerves is that correct?"

 "Yes that is VERY correct." Remus snickered. 

"And you despise when he forces you to partake in proper hygene as well as making you eat actual ingestible foods unlike deodorant and other non edible items?”

"Yeah."

 Remus crossed his arms hating remembering the times Janus would force him to take a bath and purposely safety locking the cleaning supplies cabinets just so he had no other choice BUT to eat regular food. 

"You also are not how they call a 'lightweight'?"

 "Nope!" 

That was a lie. Remus could drink three cups and he'd already become a drunk chaotic mess.

"Okay, so hear me out here." Logan started and Remus leaned forward becoming interested in what he was about to say. "Remus, white wine is clear therefore you can always "pretend" that you're drinking water so Janus doesn't question it for self care reasons nor harass you about it." 

Remus went wide eyed at the realization and wagged his finger at Logan. "You... I like you... Keep talking."

 Logan smirked, he got Remus right where he wanted him and continued. 

"Also if you were to spill it there would be no noticeable stain therefore making it impossible for Janus to become upset."

"Wow, you make some VERY compelling points Four Eyes."

 "Objection! I don't appreciate you persuading my son with your biased statements by using me as examples." Janus interjected. 

"Janus, Remus is not your son!" 

"You're right, my apologies. I don't appreciate you persuading OUR son with your biased statements by using me as examples."

 Logan rolled his eyes and shook his head not wanting to bother arguing with Janus about his logic. 

"I believe I've made my points your honor." Logan walked back to his table. "Alright, can I go now?" Remus asked. "Almost Remus. We just need to know your final answer, then you may leave and sit back down with the other two." Janus answered. "Okay umm on one hand I very much LOVED Jan's point about how red wine looks like you're drinking blood buuuut I would have to go with Nerdy Wolverine on this one and choose white wine because I enjoy pissing Janus off." 

"Yes!" Logan whispered victoriously to himself. 

"Oh you rat son of a bitch of course you would-"

 "Language!" Patton interrupted. 

"English."

 "Spanish! Now you!"

 "German. No! We're not doing a word association game!" Janus yelled frustrated. "Aw, what's the matter my charming smooth scaled serpent? Realizing you're losing against Logic?" Logan smirked. "NO and don't you dare flatter me using snake related petnames when you're looking like that in a suit!"

 Logan smirked at Janus' flustered expression, "Alright, then bring out your next witness then." "I will! Remus, you can leave now." Finally!" A relieved Remus announced as he summoned himself back at the jury box. Janus summoned Roman to the witness stand wanting to get straight to the point. 

"Roman?"

 "Yes Janaconda?"

 "You're the romantic one out of all of us correct?" 

"Oh my god you already know he is just get to the point!" Virgil yelled from the jury box slowly losing his patience even more. "Since you are an expert on the matter, would you mind sharing with the court which wine do you think is more romantic on a date?" "Oh that's easy, obviously red wine." "Interesting, care to elaborate?" Janus smirked and glanced at Logan. "Of course! Imagine having a romantic candle lit dinner under the stars or a picnic date watching the sunset, red wine gives those beautiful moments of being with your beloved partner a general relaxing and romantic atmosphere and it also tastes marvelous with various different foods. I'm actually quite surprised Specs didn't side with red wine considering it's good for digestion." Roman stated. "Wow, you really ARE a romantic expert! I don't think I have any further questions." Janus smirked and walked back to his table. 

Logan went wide eyed there's no way he can convince Roman, his answer was obviously clear but it's worth a shot. 

"Roman, have you ever considered white wine being just as “romantic” as red?" 

"Not really no."

 "Okay, well uh it can because-"

"Logan, I know you're trying here but trust me I know what I'm talking about. Don't get me wrong, white wine is just as delectable as red but I'm gonna have to side with Janus on this one." Roman interrupted and summoned himself back on the judge chair. Logan sighed and walked back to his table, he knew by the amount of confidence in Roman's answer there was no convincing him. "Fair enough..."

"Alright, Prosecution next witness?" Janus decided to summon Patton in the witness stand next and smiled innocently clasping his own hands together "Patton~" "Uh I know this is probably a really bad time to bring this up now but um I don't really drink wine so I don't really have an opinion..." Patton blushed a little embarrassed. Janus sighed frustrated and put his head down on the podium and summoned Patton back in the jury box "Of course you don't." 

There was only one person left and that person was Virgil, it was 2 out of 2 and his choice would be the one to officially break the tie and put an end to this illogical ridiculous debate trial. 

Janus summoned Virgil in the witness stand " Alright Virgil, what do you think cause I'm sure we all know you don't have an important input." 

"You wanna know what I think!?" 

Virgil was fed up and snapped his fingers causing him and the other sides to appear back at the house and summoned two glasses of wine, one red and the other white. He shoved the glass of red wine in Janus' hand and the white wine in Logan's

 "I think the two of you dorks-" 

"Dorks. Whale penises am I right guys?" Remus interupted snorting. 

"-Should actually ACT like you both have a braincell and never debate about something as stupid as this ever again!" Virgil continued angrily. "Maybe the reason why they both don't have a braincell anymore is because they both fu-" Virgil interrupted his boyfriend from finishing his inappropriate sentence by covering his mouth and dragged him out of the room. Roman and Patton followed them not knowing what else to do. 

The Braincell Gays stood in awkward silence holding their wine glasses realizing their silly little arguement was stupid after all. 

"Truce?" Janus asked raising his wine glass. 

"Truce." Logan smiled and raised his glass as well. 

They both clinked their wine glasses together and drank their wine happily enjoying each other's company and soon made it up to each other by agreeing to have a self care day together the next day.

[freddiesaysalright]

Just Like a Woman - Part 10

A Roger Taylor x Reader Story

Summary: You and Roger were once in love when you were young. Only, he went on to be a rock star, and you went on to be a lawyer. Now, quite against your will, you’re representing him in his divorce.

Word Count: 4.3k

Tag List:  @psychosupernatural, @someone-get-a-medic, @bensrhapsody, @deakyclicks, @crazylittlethingcalledobsession, @minigranger, @crazyweirdocalledfriday, @the-moving-finger-writes, @assembledherethevolunteers, @rose-writes-prose, @queenlover05, @26-7-49, @drowsebaby, @moon-stars-soul, @im-an-adult-ish, @ixchel-9275, @jennyggggrrr, @zyanmaik, @mypassionfortrash, @a19103, @madeinheavxn, @beepbeephardy, @rrogerchxrm, @qweenly, @blisshemmings, @seasidecrowbar, @internationalkpoplova, @ellystone, @takemetoneverland420, @coffeexcigarette, @lookuptotheskiesandsee, @thatpunkmaximoff, @angelkissys, @rocknroll-stolemyass, @simonedk, @anotheronewritesthedust1, @peterquillzblog, @mrfahrenhcit, @joseph-mozzerella, @theprettyandthereckless, @flick-ofthe-wrist, @johndeaconshands, @rogerandhiscar, @queenmaracasandlove, @sunflower-ben, @cubetriangle, @amy-brooklyn99, @scorpiogemini, @kiainspace, @itsabenthing, @bookandband, @makemeyourwife-loveofmylife, @grazessa, @borhapqueen92, @theonsasheart, @vektorivittu, @chanti-frn, @brianssixpence, @dancingcoolcat, @xviiarez, @irepookie, @lnnuend0, @rogerxmeddows If you’d like to be added, let me know!

A/N: Okay so I didn’t proofread the smutty part of this I’m sorry but I get lazy, y’know? I hope you still enjoy. Just ignore any typos lol

Warning(s): Smut in this chapter! It’s romantic and stuff ;)

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8  Part 9

Part 10 here we go!!!

Your jaw dropped as you watched Roger walk up to the stand and take his oath. When had he agreed to testify? And for the defense? Was he really so desperate to have his say that he would undermine the whole case? You shot daggers at him with your eyes.

“Mr. Taylor,” Glen began. “Can you tell us a bit about what your father was like?”

“Objection!” you interjected. “Relevance.”

Judge Walsh gave Glen an annoyed look.

“You’ll see what I’m getting at, your honor,” he said. 

“Speed it up,” Judge Walsh instructed. “Or I will hold that objection sustained.”

Glen looked back at Roger.

“Mr. Taylor, your father was an abusive man, was he not?” Glen asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t see what that has to do with Dominique’s case,” Roger returned, frowning.

“I think it could have everything to do with her case,” Glen retorted. “You and your ex-wife, did you ever fight?”

“Sure we did,” Roger said. “Like any other couple, we had our moments.”

“Ever get physical?” Glen asked.

“What?!” Roger cried.

At the same time you stood up and repeated, “Objection! Move to strike!”

“Overruled,” Judge Walsh said emphatically. “Counsel, you can’t object to questions only because you don’t like them!”

“Your honor, I want it on record that I object to this witness, I object to this line of questioning, and I object to opposing counsel’s being a complete and unmitigated ass!”

“Counsel!” he scolded, banging his gavel. “Sit down and let Mr. Harrington finish! If you raise one more objection today I will hold you in contempt, do you understand me?”

Cheeks red with anger and hatred, you scowled at him. Bill forced you back to your seat. You folded your arms across your chest and once again glared at Roger, hoping he could feel the heat of your rage.

“To answer your question,” Roger began again. “No, any disagreements between Dominique and myself have always been resolved with words.”

“Until you had to bring lawyers in,” Glen remarked.

“That’s not fair,” Roger said. “When it comes to issues of money -”

“And the cheating?” Glen pointed out.

“I cheated,” Roger admitted. “Dominique was faithful until that day she went on this date. But at that point, our marriage was effectively over.”

“You didn’t like that, did you?” Glen asked. “The fact that she had a date?”

“Who would?” Roger replied. “It was a pretty harsh reminder that my marriage was done.”

“Did it make you angry?” Glen pressed.

“Yeah, a bit,” Roger said, rolling his eyes.

You squeezed yours shut. If the jury didn’t think Roger was taking this seriously, it would look bad. You saw where this was going, and you knew it would only make him angrier.

“Angry enough to behave like the late Mr. Taylor?” Glen asked.

Roger stiffened. His jaw clenched. You could hardly look at him. You saw the hurt and fury slowly overtake his body. But he was remaining impressively calm. He took a deep breath and then looked icily at Glen.

“No,” he said.

You could tell how much will power it was taking for him not to spit at Glen in that moment. You felt the same. Angry as you were with Roger for doing this, you hated Glen right now more than his client. He turned and looked at you, a slimy smile on his face.

“Your witness,” he said.

Bill looked at  you questioningly. You composed yourself and nodded, letting him know you had this. You stood up.

“Mr. Taylor, have you ever once put your hands on your wife or any woman?”

“Never,” he said.

“No further questions.”

You sat back down. 

After Roger’s testimony, you were released for lunch. The trial would continue the following day. You and Bill stormed out of the courtroom, each on one side of Dominique. You didn’t bother to wait for Roger, but he jogged up to you anyway. You retreated into a chamber down the corridor.

“I can’t believe you!” you shouted at Roger as you slammed the door behind the group. “I told you yesterday that you aren’t a relevant witness! Why would you agree to testify for the opposing side?!”

“I wanted an opportunity to stand up for Dom, I didn’t know he was going to ask me all that!” Roger shot back.

“Do you realize what you’ve done?!” you cried. “All the jury needs is a little bit of doubt to find him not guilty, and you’ve just given it to them!”

“Oh, please, my alibi is totally secure,” he returned.

“We wouldn’t have to even worry about it if you didn’t get your dumbass on that stand in the first place!” you almost shrieked, completely exasperated. “You’ve hurt us, Roger, you could at least be sorry for it!”

“You’re the one who wouldn’t let me testify on our side!” he yelled. 

“Because I was doing my job, you daft -”

“HEEEEEEY!” Bill bellowed, banging his fist on the table.

You and Roger looked at him.

“Everybody calm the fuck down,” Bill said. “This was a setback, but we still have a strong case. What Glen did in there was a desperate, Hail Mary attempt to throw us off. We still have Dominique’s amazing testimony, Miss Thomas’s, and all the forensics. So both of you just relax, alright?”

You shot another harsh glare toward Roger and then took a seat. The shock of Roger’s testimony left you winded, but you were also terrified. If the jury now had a doubt that Nick was the culprit behind the attack on Dominique, you knew Roger would never forgive himself.

Just then, Glen burst into the room.

“What the fuck was with that witness?” he demanded. “Calling me ugly? Are you just trying to make me look stupid?”

“Hey, don’t you come in here making demands like that after what you did!” you retorted, jumping to your feet again. “You called Roger up just to try and frame him when you know that was rubbish!”

“God, you’re sexy when you’re angry,” he replied, tone softening. “Sure I can’t convince you to ditch blondie and grab a drink with me?”

“Alright!” Roger intervened, stepping closer.

“We are in the middle of a trial,” you said to Glen. “Could you act like a grown up?”

“Believe me, after seeing your legs in that skirt, my thoughts are entirely adult,” he said. “I actually started to get jealous of blondie since he gets to put his face between those gorgeous thighs every night.”

You opened your mouth to tell him that he’d gone too far, but Roger lunged past you, going for Glen. You and Bill each grabbed one of Roger’s arms, yanking him back. 

“Roger!” you cried, incredulous. 

“He crossed a line!” Roger bellowed. He glared fiercely at Glen. “Don’t you EVER talk about her like that!”

“HEY!” Bill interjected again. “Roger, settle down. Glen, get the fuck out.” 

“I still want to know about that witness,” Glen said. 

“She was the one who found Dominique, how could we not call her to the stand?” Bill argued. “Lucy Thomas is just a cold bitch by nature, we can’t help that.”

Roger was still glowering, breath heavy and chest heaving. 

“Alright, I’ll go,” Glen. “But I’m not going to take any more of that nonsense.”

“Oh, but you expect us to tolerate yours?” you retorted. 

“Y/N, that’s enough, we’re not doing this,” Bill said. 

“Bloody ridiculous,” Glen muttered as he swept out of the room. 

The door swung shut behind him. You rounded on Roger. 

“What’s got into you?” you cried. “Are you trying to make this worse?”

“I was defending you!” he argued. 

“OH MY GOD BOTH OF YOU SHUT IT!” Bill interrupted once again. 

All eyes were on him. 

“Emotions are running high right now,” he continued. “I’m going to get some lunch. Y/N, you’ve got the rest of the day off. Roger, do whatever the hell you want.” 

You blinked. “You’re sending me home?”

“Yes,” he said. “You’re riled up and snappish and frankly, I don’t want to talk to you for the rest of the day.”

You flared up, offended, but he stopped you from speaking with a look. Then he turned to Dominique. 

“Dom, can I get you some lunch?” he offered. 

“Throw in a drink, and I’m there,” she said.

She took his arm and they left together. The door snapped closed once again and you looked at Roger. 

“I appreciate you defending me, but after the argument he made in there, you can’t act like that, Rog,” you said, as calmly as you could. Inside, your emotions were swirling around like a hurricane. 

“What I did was human,” Roger replied, voice also steadying. “All I want to do is defend the people I love.”

“Well, don’t,” you said sharply. 

“Fine,” he snapped. “I won’t, then.”

From the look on his face, you knew you’d struck a nerve. Roger had never looked at you with so much disappointment and anger in his eyes. Not even during your worst fights. This was a new level. It made your heart sink. But when he went for the door, you didn’t try to stop him. You watched him go, feeling like a bad lawyer and an even worse girlfriend. 

You walked home from the courthouse. All your frustration was gone by the time you opened the door. You half hoped that Roger would be there and you could both apologize and make up. But he wasn’t. Your flat was as empty as you felt. With a heavy sigh, you set down your work things and went to go change. Only, when you got to your bedroom, you had no energy to do so. You kicked off your shoes, flopped face down on your bed, and let out a sob. You cried yourself into a deep sleep. 

You woke a couple hours later to a knock on your door. Brushing your fingers through your surely mussed up hair, you forced yourself from the bed and went to answer it. You knew who you hoped it was, but you couldn’t be sure Roger would be standing there. You left things so tense. 

To your shock and pleasure, it was him. He looked rather like a dog with his tail between his legs as you opened the door. You felt the same. You had behaved no better, in your opinion. 

“Hey,” he said awkwardly. 

“Hey,” you returned. 

A beat passed. 

“I’m so sorry,” you said in unison, and you both chuckled a little bit. 

“Come inside,” you offered. “We should talk.”

“Definitely,” he agreed. 

He came in and you went to the kitchen. You made some tea and handed it him a cup before sitting down across from him. 

“I’m sorry I testified for them,” he said. “Glen called me and asked me if I’d be willing to tell my side of the story. I had no idea he would go that direction.” 

“You can’t trust opposing counsel,” you said. “Especially the likes of him.”

“Believe me, I’ve learned my lesson,” he conceded. “The last thing I want to do is hurt Dominique’s case, I just…”

“I know you want to protect people, Rog,” you said, reaching over to take his hand. “That’s your natural instinct. And I admire that about you. Few people are as selfless as you are. But you can’t always be the one in the ring, okay?”

“I know,” he said. “And again, I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you,” you returned. “And I’m sorry too. I just got scared because Dom means a lot to me too and I don’t want her to go through all this only to lose.”

“I get it, I feel the same way,” he said. “I think we both forgot ourselves today because we care so much.”

“I told you having me might backfire,” you joked. 

He smiled. Another pause passed between you. 

“About Glen,” he said. “I’m also sorry I exploded like that. But I won’t apologize for defending you, he -”

“No, I agree he crossed a line today,” you cut across him. “That was way too far. Especially since we haven’t….y’know…”

“I know,” he said. “And when he said that today...just talking about you like that - even him thinking of touching you - it made me absolutely mad with rage. Because that connection we had...even back in the day...it was practically sacred to me, Y/N. To hear him say that, and make a mockery of it….I just couldn’t take it.”

You looked down to hide your blush. The sex was that meaningful to you as well, but you never thought he was so sentimental about it. 

“D’you remember when we used to?” he asked. “How you’d look me in the eyes?”

You shifted uncomfortably in your seat. The memory made heat stir in the pit of your belly. 

“Yeah,” you said, finding the courage at last to look at him. “Of course I do.”

“No one else has ever looked in my eyes, y’know, during,” he said. “I felt like I could….I dunno, see your soul or something. I’ve had sex with plenty of women. But I’ve only really made love to one.”

You were certain your cheeks were redder than cherries at this point.

“Roger, I….” you trailed off. “I don’t know what to say. I had no idea it all meant so much to you. Especially with the way you left.”

He hung his head. “I know. But I hope you believe me.”

“I do,” you assured him. “I just wonder what made you think of all that?”

“Glen’s comments today were a part of it,” he said. “But also, a few weeks ago, you said we couldn’t because my divorce wasn’t final. But, it’s final now, and I’ve been thinking about being with you ever since I signed that paper.”

Your blush impossibly deepened. 

“Plus, seeing you in that courtroom is incredibly sexy,” he added with a laugh. 

You laughed too, relaxing you a bit. 

“I’ve been thinking about it too,” you admitted. “I’m just nervous.”

“Why?” he wondered. “By my memory, we were very good.”

You smiled. “I think I’m just afraid that if we try, then what we had before might not be there. And then what?”

“Y/N, it’s gonna be there,” he said, squeezing your hand. “I love you and you love me. That passion is there. Which is especially clear after today.” He took a deep breath. “But if you’re not ready, we can wait.”

You didn’t reply right away. Honestly, seeing him leap to your defense the way he did had turned you on, though you didn’t want to admit it. And every time he kissed you, you remembered how good it felt to go further with him. But your fear was real. What if it wasn’t the same as it used to be? There was only one way to find out. 

“Roger?”

“Yes, love?”

“Kiss me.”

He almost jumped out of his chair to come around the table to take you up in his arms. He lifted you to your feet and claimed your lips in a tender embrace. He moved slowly, giving you the opportunity to stop him if you wanted. But you wanted the opposite. 

You opened your mouth against his, and he reacted immediately, slipping his tongue between your lips. The kiss was heavy with the pent up desire you had both been feeling. Your mind was fuzzy, like getting drunk, but you were acutely aware of his hands sliding up your sides. His thumbs brushed your ribcage, just barely touching the underside of your breasts. 

You whimpered into his mouth and reached for the buttons of your blazer. He helped you shrug it off your shoulders and it fell to the floor. Beneath, you had just your plain white tank top and pencil skirt. He stopped kissing you to look over your body in the form fitting clothes. You saw the hungry look in his eyes and bit your lip.

Your lips already itched to feel his again. All of your skin was tingling with the desire for his touch. You watched him observe you, chest rising and falling with your deep, desperate breaths. 

When he met your gaze again, you couldn’t contain it anymore. You crashed upon him. Pressing into him to be as close as possible. His arms snaked around your waist to hold you there, his eagerness to be close as evident as yours. Then his hands made their way south and he gripped handfuls of your ass. 

You gasped and let out a husky breath, pushing even further into him. He groaned and you felt his hardness pressing into your lower stomach. You stopped kissing him to catch your breath and reach for the buttons of his shirt. 

“Fuck that,” he panted, and he pulled it over his head while you giggled. 

When his shirt had joined your jacket, you had your turn to admire him. You ran your fingers delicately down his torso. His skin was warm. 

“I guess we should be matching,” you teased, and you tugged your tank top off as well. 

Roger’s eyes on you as you reached back and unclasped your bra had you reeling. That was what you missed about making love to him. No one else had ever desired you so passionately.

With your breasts free, he took direct action. He cupped one in each hand and squeezed gently, massaging them before tweaking each nipple between his fingers. Your head fell back with a groan as the sensation sent more heat straight to your core. He attached his lips to your neck, whispering into your skin.

“You’re so fucking gorgeous, love. God, I’ve missed you.”

You whined in returned, arching your back toward him. He pulled you close again. The heat of his body sent a chill up your spine.

“Wanna move to the bedroom, love?” he asked.

You nodded. He scooped you up and carried you in there as you giggled. You yelped with surprise when he tossed you on the bed and crawled up to join you. The next kisses were fervent and needy. You moaned again.

Roger’s fingers moved down your front and nimbly popped the buttons of your skirt before tugging the zipper down. You did not wear panty hose. You liked the way your legs looked without them, and you knew you could distract an opposing male lawyer if need be. You played dirty too sometimes.

You pushed your thong down your legs as Roger worked off his jeans. He groaned at the sight of you bare before him, sprawled out and breathless from his kisses. You smirked at him with cat like playfulness as you sat up. You gently pulled the waistband of his boxers down, slowly, watching his face as you went. Beads of sweat formed at his hairline from your torturous pace.

“Fuck, baby, I need you,” he sighed.

With a grin, you swiftly removed his boxers, and he kicked them off the bed. Then, you took hold of his hips, rubbing soft little circles into the slightly protruding bones. He hissed with anticipation.

Then, you gave him what he wanted. You licked a stripe up his cock. A loud groan came from his throat. You swirled your tongue around his tip before wrapping your lips around him and taking him down. He let out such a delicious moan your mouth watered around him.

You began with a slow pace. Dragging your mouth forward and back, teasing him. His short, eager breaths egged you on. You saw him trembling trying to maintain control, but after you hollowed out your cheeks and really sucked, his hips jerked forward. You almost gagged, but held back.

“Sorry,” he choked out. “God, it feels so good.”

He buried his fingers in your hair and pulled you off of him. That was typical. Roger preferred not to cum in your mouth, and he refused to finish before you had gotten one or two orgasms of your own. Usually more.

You licked your lips and looked expectantly at him. He took your shoulders and lay you back. Your legs fell open for him. He got onto his knees there, but didn’t settle on top of you. Instead, he kissed you again. He teased your lips with his tongue, and you opened up. He explored your mouth, getting you all hot again, before pulling away. 

He nipped and sucked along your jawbone and down the soft skin of your neck. He trailed across your collarbones, down your chest - briefly stopping to suck on each of your nipples - and then made his way down your stomach. He slowed down the closer he got to your pelvis. Roger was not an explorer trekking out into new territory. He was coming home. He recalled every sensitive spot on your body. What made you moan, sigh, and giggle. He exploited this knowledge to the full extent as he made his way down. It made your whole body light up with excitement and need. Finally, you whined impatiently and pushed your hips up. 

With a cocky chuckle, he took his tongue to your folds. You gasped sharply as your back arched. He wrapped his lips around your clit and sucked lightly, just how you liked it.

“Oh! Roger!” you cried, heels digging into the mattress.

He moaned into you, the vibrations sending an extra thrill all the way up your body. You’d almost forgotten how extraordinarily well he used his tongue and mouth. He was zeroed in on your clit, making you writhe around as you released pathetic whimpers and soft cries of his name.

The pressure was building inside you as he worked your core with his mouth. Your voice raised several octaves and your legs quivered as you hurtled toward the sweet release. When you were on the cusp, he sank a finger into you. You groaned so deeply you felt him smile against you. He curled his finger toward himself, pushing on your g-spot with expert precision. 

“Rog - oh fuck!” you nearly sobbed.

He added a second finger, stretching you just slightly. Your walls clamped down around him as he drove you further toward the edge.

“Please, please,” you begged, panting.

He sped up, knowing just what you needed. Between the flicks of his tongue and the thrusts of his fingers, you were there. Your legs stiffened, your back arched high off the bed, a scream tore from your throat as it hit you. The wave of pleasure crashed over you, and Roger did not relent as you began to come down, shaking with the sensation of it all.

He eased you down, slowing his pace before removing the contact. Your body quivered. He smiled, pleased with himself, and he crawled back over you again to help with the shivering. Hot as you were during, you were always cold after an orgasm, so he held you a moment.

You were panting too hard for him to kiss you properly, so he peppered your face and neck with pecks. When you giggled, he knew you were okay.

His hips settled between your thighs, and you gasped as his cock brushed your entrance. Then you moaned.

“Ready for more, sweetheart?” he asked, running his finger along your jaw.

You nodded. “Please, more.”

You didn’t even worry about sounding pathetic. You could be anything with Roger - strong, weak, pathetic, needy, vulnerable, bitchy, sweet, sexy - all of it. Any side of yourself was accepted and loved by him. 

He rested on his forearms, cupping your face between his hands, and he slid into you. It was like magic. He fit so perfectly inside you - with just enough stretch to make you whimper with need. You both took a moment to revel in being together again. Being completely united. 

You locked eyes. You understood what he meant earlier. Your souls met behind your irises. You had never felt more connected to him. And from the soft look in his eyes, you knew he felt the same.

“I love you so much,” he sighed.

“I love you too,” you returned.

You turned your face and took his finger into your mouth, a weakness of his. His eyes fell closed and his hips rutted forward, deeper into you. You squeaked with surprise and then chuckled, moving to match him.

You fell easily into a rhythm together. It flowed as naturally as the tides. Roger filled you with each thrust, and you climbed slowly together back up to the edge. His name escaped your lips as he rocked into you. Delicate declarations of his love and your beauty swept off his breath. You didn’t hear them, but you felt them.

He sped up and it was like coming out of a fog. Each snap of his hips shook you and you clutched onto his shoulders for dear life. Your moans rose in volume and octave as you found yourself clenching around him again. 

“Oh - Roger - Oh God -”

“I’m so close, baby,” he grunted. “Please, one more for me.”

He removed his hand from its proximity to your face and slid it between your bodies, finding your clit as if it were magnetized. He rubbed tight, fast circles on it, and your vision began to blur. 

The second one hit you harder and more suddenly. White exploded behind your eyes as your walls fluttered around his cock. Roger cried your name once more and spilled into you, slowing down his thrusts as you peaked together. You twitched against him as he guided you back down steadily. He slowed to a stop and watched you panting beneath him.

He inched himself out of you. You still winced at the feeling. Once he was able, he rolled off you and you crawled into his arms. You needed his warmth.

“Mmm, Rog,” you hummed, pulling him closer.

“Good?” he asked.

“Incredible,” you replied.

“I don’t wanna speak too soon, but I think we’ve still got it,” he teased.

You smiled lazily. “We do.”

“What do you need now, love?”

“Sleep,” you said through a yawn.

He chuckled. “Of course you do.”

He kissed your forehead and you both drifted off. All worries about your relationship and the trial were forgotten. For now, you could just be.

[thecrownnet]

Had you been searching for a way to be on “The Crown,” or had Peter been searching for a role that would make you consider it?

When I first heard about “The Crown,” I was in New York doing [“A Streetcar Named Desire”] and the girl who played my sister, Stella, was Vanessa Kirby, who played Margaret [in Seasons 1 and 2]. And she was talking to me about this thing that she had shot between when we did the play in London and when we did it in New York. I had no idea, anything about it. And the thought of it didn’t really appeal to me. I didn’t think: “Oh, let me look into that, it sounds like something I want to do.”

Not that long after was when Peter and I got together, so I was exposed to it on a very intimate level and watching how it was produced and going to visit set and seeing how the feel of the set was very different than I had experienced on the majority of things that I’ve ever worked on — it really felt very adult, very well run. Not that other things I’ve done haven’t been, but it just felt there were a lot of grown-up people in charge and it had a really loving feel to it. But I never investigated, I never searched out ... and so when it came up as an idea, and Pete asked if I thought that I could potentially do Thatcher, and I thought about it seriously, there were two sides for that. One was, would I want to work on “The Crown,” period? By that point, it was a no-brainer, having seen how beautifully the series was shot and written. And then the other was, did I think she could live somewhere inside me; did I get how to interpret her? Both of those were resounding yeses.

You were born in the U.S. but grew up in the U.K. What do you remember about the Thatcher era?

I grew up in the U.K., but we left in ’79. So we left the year she was coming in. I have no memory whatsoever of being aware of much political anything. I don’t remember dinner conversations about it, I don’t remember anything. Once moving to the States, so much of my world — even though, again, I would have been hearing about Reagan and Carter — I’m not even sure whether she came into my radar at all until, perhaps, I was in high school. I really came at this, certainly, with preconceptions of other people’s opinions and beliefs and strong feelings about her, but nothing from my own experience.

She was such a polarizing political figure. How was it trying to find a compassionate journey in this role?

Ultimately, the Thatcher that I’m playing is the Thatcher as per Peter Morgan scripts in “The Crown.” There’s a lot of humanity in his scripts, period. No matter who the character is. And that’s no different for Thatcher. And so you get to see more than we’re used to seeing of her as a wife, as a mother. You see as much of those aspects of her as you do of her as a politician. Between playing those scenes and understanding from the research that I did, just the challenges that she had specific to class, specific to the fact that she was a woman, and by the nature of the role that she was stepping into ... completely surrounded by men. And she perpetuated that because she enjoyed the company of men and there was only one woman that she hired in the Cabinet in the 10, 11 years that she was in office. She perpetuated that. But at the same time, as you see in the series, it was a different kind of support that she surrounded herself with when she re-cast the Cabinet and continued to reshuffle as she went on. Some of that is about coming up against disagreement time and time and time again or people who patronize her, or felt that she was never going to be as effective as a male leader. And some, by the end of it certainly, was because they just weren’t doing what she wanted them to be doing.

I think that you get a good sense of all aspects of her in the series, seeing a much more three-dimensional characterization of Thatcher than one might in a political documentary or one might have thought about her historically. I think that, if it’s not compassion — because there’s a lot of people who, regardless, will never find compassion for her — at least there’s a sense of a human being there that was more than just the rhetoric and the policy.

I assume you studied a lot of videos. Did you pick up on any of her tics or mannerisms beyond her voice that helped you sink into the role?

You can’t really see her in image and moving form without noticing the tilt of her head or the slightly buck teeth or how she holds her hand and the fact that she has a condition where her two outside fingers curl inward a little bit. You can see that when she’s gesticulating — those kind of things that you can pick up from video. And then there’s her walk, which is only her walk. She’s barreling ahead of every other world leader or whatever it is. So picking up on some of it but at the same time trying to not to make too much of it so that it’s not a mime. That was something that Peter said really early on ... he didn’t want me to disappear so much that we didn’t see Gillian in there.

What was the process of putting a voice like hers together, to capture the nuance of her vocal pattern? Thatcher worked with a vocal coach.

She was born in the north, she was born in Lincolnshire, so she would have had a much different voice when she was a child. She received elocution lessons when she was in school. And so she’d already made steps in that direction. And then when her PR person came in, who kind of took her under his wing, he suggested she start to work on her voice. That was still while she was in opposition. You can see the change that happens if you listen to the old footage.

You don’t get to really see, in this decade of “The Crown,” her at the podium or a party conference where you get the full weight of her oration and what happens to her voice in those situations. Just for the sake of the continuity of the show over the decade, it was important to find a voice that was a little bit grounded in my own sense so that it didn’t sound too forced. Before I started working with a voice coach, I had her in my ears and speakers and stuff, just to try and get a sense of her rhythms and the breaths that she took. It’s a very breathy voice and so, therefore, I have to start quite far down in the diaphragm.

You said that you didn’t watch other notable portrayals of Thatcher, including Meryl Streep’s, while preparing for the role but that you might rewatch when you were done. Have you gotten around to that?

No. I think I’m going to wait until it comes out. I’m too close. The jury is still out. But I’d like to. I think it would be fun. And also to go, like, “Oh, that’s interesting.”

Thatcher is very measured and focused on making her points. Jean on “Sex Education” is much more alive and unafraid to raise her voice when needed. Was it nice to go back to that?

Last week was my first week back, and I feel like it’s been so long since I’ve acted; it’s been so long since I’ve been around other people. I feel like last week was as much about me reminding myself that I am an actor, that I’m not entirely sure that I’ve leapt into all the fabulous aspects of getting to play Jean. I feel like, OK, I’ve done my first week. Now I can kind of relax and dig into it. I am looking forward to that moment because she can be an absolute joy to play.[...]

[thelastofgala]

I started The Last of Us, Pt. 2 last night, and here are my first impressions, musings on parallelism, Naturalism, Ellie’s characterization, Joel’s characterization, the “presence” of Riley, gameplay, story development, and more:

***SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT***

Starting with Joel. I always imagined The Last of Us 2 would begin at the end of Joel’s journey, though I will say that I did not expect to pick up so close to the end of the first game. I thought they would start us somewhere COMPLETELY out of context. Like I was prepared for much deeper flashback. In this way, I really felt like I was playing a sequel, which is not a bad thing. I just had no idea how they were going to frame this. The compelling thing about starting with Joel is that it immediately sets up parallels between Joel and Sarah, the character we start with in The Last of Us. There’s no way this was not a pointed decision. Just like it was with Sarah, Joel is our point of reference in a new, strange world. His point of view in this new world is all that we know. We don’t know what the new special world contains, and we don’t know grown-up Ellie at all. Plus, old fans will have missed him. It is a comfort to be Joel, and like a daughter protected by her father, a false and short-lived comfort. We are also now thinking of Joel as, like Sarah, someone who is in danger, whose agency is compromised, who, for whatever reason, is weakened this time around, and who may not survive the story. 

I will say, too, that I really loved that after the 4-years-later cut, Joel is held off-screen. He and Tommy are out on a patrol. They are out there, in danger, and that sort of restraint is really effective. We are ALWAYS looking for Joel, just like we were in the run-up to the release, because he is the only person we truly know in this strange, new world. ND knows and takes advantage of this.

There are many parallels between Joel and Riley. Both Joel and Riley sneak up on Ellie during their first interaction. They’re even wearing similar colors. Both Joel and Riley lied to Ellie in the previous story, and both betrayed her as an act of self-preservation. In Left Behind, Ellie is somewhat chilly toward Riley in the beginning, even as her younger, more optimistic self, just as Ellie is chilly toward Joel in the beginning of The Last of Us 2. Still, you can tell through Ellie’s dialogue with Dina that she and Joel are knitted together—he defended her against the bigoted bartender, and she appreciates this even if she doesn’t outright say it. They share taste in movies and have plans to watch a movie together soon. I haven’t interacted with Joel in the current timeline, but I do know that in Left Behind, Riley has to earn back Ellie’s trust and take measures to reenter her good graces, and that this is a large part of their relationship arc. I also know that, by the time they reconcile, it proves to be too late. The world will not let them have what they want, and nothing is simple. All of these parallels worry me a lot, as Left Behind, while still driven by a strong undercurrent of love (it is a love story, interwoven with Ellie’s desperate search for medical supplies in a bid to save Joel’s life), is a much bleaker, sadder story than The Last of Us, and it has a tragic ending.

Joel's conversation with Tommy feels important. I was very glad to hear Tommy say that he would have made the same choice, in terms of saving Ellie or letting her die for the possibility of a cure. It shows that Tommy is more like Joel than perhaps we knew. Plus, Maria will have taught him something about love and commitment, as the notion of saving the one you love above all else should make more sense to him now that he has foregone the youthful idealism of the Fireflies in order to focus on the practical wisdom of family. As a parent, I understand Joel’s decision to save Ellie at the end of The Last of Us and know I would have done the same. I also understand why Joel lied, even though I think it was the wrong choice. Hearing him confide all of this in Tommy was cathartic. It was also very characteristic of Joel to respond that Ellie “didn’t say nothing otherwise” when Tommy asks if she believed him. In all of his denial, Joel chooses to believe what is conveniently in front of him, even if he knows it’s untrue. Also, I couldn’t tell, but was that a Firefly logo on that guitar he’s shining up? Maybe I hallucinated that. But if it is, I do wonder where he got it.

Ellie’s character is much more deadpan and ruminative in young adulthood. She seems tired, and a little lacking in self-esteem and sort of immediately defeated by what happened during the experience with Joel. When Joel sang, we could see her return to that place, just a glimmer, and her response—that it “didn’t suck”—shows how she still shields her heart with sarcasm, something Dina points out to her later on (“Did I ruin your punchline?”). Joel has been broken down by the events of The Last of Us and now bears his soul to her with his music, unabashed and dedicated to her, and Ellie is now the stoic one, unshakable, sealed inside a heavy, protective armor that seems impossible to pierce. I look forward to getting to know Ellie as a young adult and, ultimately, crying a lot. She is artistic and honest and still a little soft underneath. You can tell by her early interactions with Dina especially that she can still blush, and she can still come undone.

I love the snowball fight lol. I am always so frustrated when these big environment games, like Red Dead 2, Dragon Age, etc., don’t have any kids running around. Why don’t these stories pay attention to kids? Kids exist. They are an important part of almost any open world or quasi open world environment. I love the presence of kids in The Last of Us 2, because the loss of childhood innocence is an important theme for Ellie as a character. It’s also clear we’re trying to set up the edenic innocence of Jackson. It is childhood, in a way, and just like childhood, it will come to inevitable corruption. The scene, too, reminded me of Ellie and Riley on their teen dream adventure, romping through the Halloween store at the mall, trying on masks and talking to the magic eight ball.

I’m really pleased by all the parallels with Left Behind and Ellie’s portion of the journey in The Last of Us. Winter was her season, and that’s where we’re starting now. The horseback riding, the blizzard, and all the blood in the snow bring flashbacks of Ellie hunting on the woods, Ellie alone in the frozen mall, David, and the Lakeside Resort, all of which layer the current moment with a lot of emotional tension for the player.

The opening is, I think, sprawling. I’m having fun but there’s this sense that I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of the story. Like Joel in the first game, Ellie is also big-timing me a little and I feel far away from her. I know this will change soon, and I’ll warm up to her, but for now, like Joel, we’re all being held at arm’s length. I actually like the POV shifts we’ve gotten so far and the multiple POVs is something I predicted a while ago, based on ND’s tendencies in the first game. Ppl are going to give The Last of Us 2 shit for being too cinematic but tbh it sometimes feels more like a playable novel than a traditional video game. We’re on a cable car headed straight into disaster and there’s nothing we can do. In this way the game is using the medium itself to perpetuate its Naturalistic themes. We play and we play, and we fight and we fight, but the environment entertains no interest in our struggle and the outcome will always be the same. There is no free will in The Last of Us.

On that note, the gameplay so far is, I think, pretty fun. I have played a lot of stealth games and am always looking for ways the genre is reinventing itself. Like Sekiro and Tomb Raider, The Last of Us 2 is increasing the verticality of the map with rope climbing and scaling up obstacles (though I do miss using Joel’s immense upper body strength to move those dumpsters around lol). In a stealth game I want creativity and problem solving to be central to the gameplay. I don’t want to be magically handed tools and weapons on a constant basis, to meet every individual need. I want to be forced into resourcefulness, and I don’t want to enter a shoot-out unless I absolutely have to. That said, I’m nearly to the tower checkpoint with Dina, and I’ve only fired my gun twice. The dodge/melee mechanic is neat, but more than anything, having real, actionable help from an AI enables stealth kills even in zones crawling with enemies. On that note, I am playing with a headset, and I’m glad I am, because I find the sounds of the goddam clickers to be all-encompassing this time around and a LOT bigger and scarier than they were in The Last of Us. Holy shit. They’re absolutely terrifying. I can only imagine the horror to come lol.

Now, finally, Abby: I don’t have much to offer on this yet. Abby is not who I thought she’d be. I’ll just say it. Still, the melee battle with her and the runners in the woods was AWESOME. For me, the most fun I’ve had yet, because it was completely different than anything from The Last of Us. Playing her, however, I will say, filled me with foreboding. I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to help her. She seems beyond desperate and while deeply sympathetic, she is a new character and her loyalties are not mine...so far. I could be very wrong, and please don’t correct me if I am, but I get the sense she might be a Firefly, or somehow associated with Marlene, and she is looking for Joel, in vengeance. Her group was small and rogue, and they seemed new to the area. All I know is that ND is creating a moral dilemma here, and as to what will become of this, the jury is still out completely.

One small personal criticism, take it or leave it: I don’t personally love that the kiss with Dina and scene with Joel defending Ellie was kept off-stage in the game and left to the trailer. We could have started at the dance. That would have taught us everything we need to know about Ellie, Dina, Jesse, and Joel and Ellie’s relationship state. This is my only criticism of the story so far. From a writer’s perspective, it’s just inefficient and clumsy to try and cover all that in expositional dialogue, taking into consideration that many casual players will not have seen all the trailers. Even still, it’s not hurting my experience in any way. Just an observation and maybe a bit of personal opinion on the fact that perhaps the choice to reveal so much scene in pre-release trailers might be a great way to build hype but might not be the most efficient choice in telling the actual story. My two cents!

In the end, I’m overall super excited and can’t wait to keep playing. These are just my own personal thoughts, and I’ll be back with more thoughts soon!! PLEASE NO SPOILERS OR SPOILERY SUGGESTIONS IN THE REPLIES!! I am NOT privy to the leaks and I do NOT want to know what’s coming. Thank you!! ^_^ 

[optimistic-dinosaur-nacho]

Chapter XII

Warnings: Violence, Murder, Mentions of Murder, Language, Mentions of Rape, Mentions of Suicide Summary: Y/N is Andy and Laurie Barber’s 14-year-old daughter who is a high-grade student in Archer Middle School. Her best friend, Alice Miller had been gone for a while. They search for the lost student and find out that Alice Miller’s body has the prints of Andy and Laurie Barber’s daughter, Y/N.

Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII Chapter IX Chapter X Chapter XI Chapter XII Chapter XIII

—DEFENDING JACOB SPOILERS—

Your Full Name Initials - F/N/I

Also some sad dog scene. Very sad. Not abuse no that would’ve been a warning but it’s not that. No gore either

~~~

“You’ve been with the state’s crime lab how long?” Neal asked. The woman at the witness stand sighs, “Eleven years, almost 12,” She replied. Neal nods, “Ms. Carlson, could you describe the blood evidence at the point of attack?”

“There were a few small spatters less than an inch in diameter,” She says. Neal looks over to the jury, “Yesterday, we heard defense contend that there should have been blood on the clothing of an attacker in a stabbing like this.” 

Andy shuffles in his chair. “Do you have an opinion on that?” Neal asks.

“Yes. That’s not necessarily true, since no spatter seemed to cast off with force. It’s also possible the assailant stood behind the victim when she stabbed him which would have meant she was out of the trajectory of any spray or spatter.”

Laurie gotten a flashback when she first caught Y/N almost hurting another girl at the bowling alley. Y/N went to attack from behind. She shook her head. “What can you tell us about the murder weapon?” Neal asks.

“We were looking for a knife with a four- to six-inch blade and a serrated-edge.” Neal walks over and pulls out a box from under his table, “I see.” Andy leans forward to right somethings down. “So, a knife like this one?” Neal asked.

Andy turns to the recent call from Neal, lifting up his head, his blood ran cold when Neal held up a familiar blade. “Objection,” Joanna says. “Commonwealth moves to enter into evidence--”

“Objection!” Joanna calls, everyone seem to whisper and gasp at the slightest. Neal looks at French, “Your Honor, the jury will soon hear testimony from the defendant’s best friend that the defendant owned a knife exactly like this one: a Schnell Tactical.” Neal was holding it up towards the jury.

“Your Honor, this is a cheap stunt. The Commonwealth had yet to link any such knife to the defendant, and to wave it around in here now is irresponsible. It’s inflammatory,” Joanna states.

“Agreed. Objection sustained. Put away the knife, Mr. Logiudice,” Judge French says lowly. Neal nods and turns away, “In that case, no more questions, Your Honor.”

“Cross,” French said. Joanna nods, “Absolutely, Your Honor.” Joann stands up and walks over, “Ms. Carlson, we were just on the subject of blood. Was there any blood evidence recovered from the defendant?” She asks.

“No,” Ms. Carlson said. “Genetic evidence?” Joanna asks, “DNA? Hairs? Fibers?” Ms. Carlson shook her head, “No, just the fingerprint.”

Joanna stood by the jury, “May I propose a hypothetical?” She asked. Ms.Carlson nods at the slightest, “Okay.” Y/N looked over to the old woman, “Let’s suppose the defendant Y/N, was walking on her way back home after the party when she was left behind by Alice and came across the victim lying on the ground. And suppose Y/N lifted the victim by the collar to see if she was okay. Might that create a fingerprint consistent with the one you found?” Joanna asks.

“Yes, that is possible.”

“Now the knife-” Joanna says to the court, “-that the Commonwealth attempted to enter into evidence had you ever seen it before?” Neal leans forward, “Objection. Relevance.” The judge looks over to him, “Overruled. You opened the door, counselor.” Neal sat there in silence.

“Yes,” Ms. Carlson says, “The DA’s office asked me to determine if that particular model of knife was consistent with the victim’s wounds.” Joanna nods, “Ah. And I assume they gave you other models to compare as well?”

“No.”

“No?” Joanna turns to the jury, “Did they at least ask you to determine how many other knives might have made those wounds?” Ms. Carlon’s brows go inward and she shook her head, “No.”

“Well, how many would you think?” 

“I-- I don’t know. That-- That would be speculating,” Ms. Carlson replies. Joanna grins, “A thousand?” Ms. Carlson slowly shook her head to think, “Uh... A large number?” She sounded too unsure.

“Seven hundred? Five hundred?” Joanna counts. Ms. Carlson nods, very confused, “Somewhere... somewhere in that range.” Joanna had them now, “In other words, the chances of it being the actual knife are one in 500. Correct?” Andy tried not to grin, holding his hands near his face to hide the small grin.

“Objection. Calls for speculation,” Neal nearly growled. The Judge turns, “Sustained.” Joanna grins and turns to the jury, shaking her head, “No further questions, Your Honor.” Y/N looked over to the jury and saw one of them smiled. And just that, Y/N felt her heart jolt with slight happiness.

.

Laurie had began to leave the restrooms and head over back to her family in that small room. The halls were crowded with people in nice suits. She heard faint distress from a familiar voice.

“This is all going to shit. She’s gonna walk. Can’t you see that? She’s gonna get away with killing our daughter because of that asshole and his goddamn theatrics.” Laurie spotted Eric and his wife Marla standing off to the side.

“Please, I can’t take this,” Marla says. Eric turns back to her, “Yeah, well, I can’t take it either.” The man turns and walks away. “Eric. Eric,” Marla called, her husband did not look back.

Marla sat down on the bench, pulling a hand up to her face as Laurie looked back. But there was nothing she could do. After Marla had done to Laurie at the mall that morning, Laurie was sure she’d do it again. And Laurie didn’t want someone to drag her out or try to help the mom. Laurie continued on and walked in the room.

“How he didn’t know that that stunt would backfire is beyond me,” Joanna says. Andy nods, “Because he’s reckless.” Laurie sits down and rubs Y/N’s back, “You doing all right?” She asked. Y/N nods, “Yeah.” Y/N remembered the guy who smile.

Y/N turned to the adults, “One of them smiled.” Andy and Joanna look up to the girl. “One of the juror, the guy with the goatee.” Andy sounded shock to hear that, “He smiled? Really?” Andy grins at Joanna. 

Y/N smiles, “Yeah, when she admitted it was a one in 500 chance, he smiled.” Andy grins at her while Joanna’s phone dinged. The woman looked at her phone and cleared her throat, causing Andy to turn. “Something wrong?”

Joanna shook her head, “No. No, it’s nothing. We’ll talk later.” 

.

“You and Mr. Barber have worked together on many cases. Is that right?” Neal asks, looking towards the next witness at the stand. Pam Duffy. She nodded at him, “We go back, yes,” Her monotone voice was loud and clear. “Would you describe him as diligent when it came to his work?” Neal asks.

“More than that. He was relentless,” She said.

“Was that relentlessness on display when you were attempting to cut through the school’s red tape?” He asked. “He didn’t feel the classmates were a priority,” Pam answered, “We’d already interviewed Alice’s close friends.”

Neal turns, “Once you did interview the students, finally, was there anything useful that came out of that?” He asks. Pam remembered the day they did, none of them kids spoke much, “After the initial meetings, nothing much. But with some follow-up, we came to learn that there was an ongoing beef between the victim and the defendant.”

“Meaning Alice had been bullying the defendant,” Neal states. “For some time, yes,” Pam replied.

“Was this around the time that you started to view the defendant as a suspect?” Neal asks. Pam looks over to him, “It was.”

“Even as her father was still running the investigation?” Neal asks. Pam blinks at him, “Certain aspects of the investigation had to be carried out without Mr. Barber’s knowledge.” Pam looks over to Andy who sat next to Y/N, he seem to shuffle in his seat as he looked upon her. 

“What did that reveal?” Neal asked.

Pam looked away, “That the defendant supposedly had a knife consistent with the wounds, that she had sufficient motive, and she had opportunity in that her movements the night of the attack placed her near or at the scene.”

“Did you arrest her at this time?” He asked. “Not until the fingerprint came back,” She says, “We then obtained a warrant and searched the house, trying to find the knife, which we did not.”

Neal looks down at the notes in his hand, “Did you seize the defendant’s computer?” Pam nods, “We did, but we found nothing directly incriminating.” Neal looks down at the ground, “Detective, are you aware of a program called Disk Scraper?”

“I am. It’s a program that wipes hard drives, deletes files, that kind of thing.”

“Was that program on the defendant’s laptop?” Neal asks. Pam took a while to answer, “It was.” Laurie furrows her brows and Andy looked over to Y/N. He noticed her swallow and stare blankly away from him. “Is it possible that there was incriminating evidence on the laptop, and it was removed by the defendant?”

“Objection. Calls for speculation,” Joanna called. Neal thought of a different question, “What about pornography?”

“Objection. Relevance.”

“Sustained,” French says. Neal shrugs, “Let me be more specific. Did you find any violent pornography on the defendant’s laptop?” Y/N slightly turned her head to the sound of that. Pam looks up, “I think all pornography is violent.”

Neal nods, “Of course. I mean, specifically, images glorifying abuse or torture.”

“Objection. Relevance,” Joanna calls again. The Judge furrowed his brows, “Overruled. The witness will answer.” Pam turned her head to the judge and nodded at Neal, “Some, yeah.”

The spectators began to mutter and Laurie raised her hand up to her face.  Andy looks over to Y/N as she tried not to look at him. Neal nodded, “No further questions.”

Once Neal went back to his desk, Joanna stood up, “Detective, I assume you have executed countless search warrants in your career, yes?” She asked. “Sure,” Pam said. 

“Seized a lot of laptops.”

“Yes,” Pam says. Joanna continues, “Have you ever found one that didn’t have some pornography on it?” The whole court chuckle while Pam grins, “I don’t think so.”

“Detective, is it true that you were the first to identify Leonard Patz as a person of interest, and not Mr. Barber?” Pam nods, “Yes. I brought Patz to Andy’s attention, and we agreed that he was someone we should be looking at.” Joanna points, “One last question.” Joanna looks over to Y/N and Andy before going back to Pam. 

“At any point in the investigation, did Andy Barber behave in any way to suggest that he suspected his own daughter?” Pam shook her head, “No, not in the slightest.”

Joanna nods, “No further questions, Your Honor.” French looks down at his desk. “Mr. Logiudice, redirect?” For a second, Neal looks over to Andy, waiting to find the moment to admit the event to everyone. Andy looked over as well and so Neal turns away. “Detective...” Neal stood, fixing his suit, “...have you ever known Mr. Barber to be violent?”

Andy turns his head to Pam with his brows creasing inward. Pam furrowed hers, “No.”

“Are you sure? Never seen him grab somebody by the jacket? Push them into a wall?” Andy rolls his eyes and drops his pen on the table, leaning back. “Objection. Relevance,” Joanna calls. French looked upon Neal and he felt curious, “Overruled.”

Pam licked her lips and slowly sighed, “Once. You,” She answers, “After your provoked him with that crack about his father doing time for--” Pam cuts herself off knowing that “Bloody” Billy Barber was close to mentioning. It was too late.

“Doing time for murder?” Neal asked.

“Objection! Your Honor!” Joanna shouts, slamming her hand on the table. The jury began to look over with grimace. “Sustained,” French says, “I’ll see counsel at sidebar, right now.” Joanna and Neal both walked over to the sidebar with Judge French.

“I’m appalled at what I just saw. We went over this in pretrial,” Judge says. “Your Honor, it was the defense counsel who first raised the issue of whether the defendant’s father had reason to suspect his own daughter. I am simply trying to make that argument.”

Joanna rolls her eyes, “You have got to be kidding me. Your Honor, the defense moves for a mistrial-”

“Oh, come on,” Neal says.

“-He was given specific instructions.” French glares at Neal, “You are on extraordinarily thin ice, Mr. Logiudice, you understand me?” He asks, “Now you wrap it up with this witness right now. And if I hear even a whispers about the defendant’s grandfather going forward, Ms. Klein will get her mistrial. Am I clear?”

“Yes,” Neal says, a bit too harshly, his eyes drew away, “Your Honor.” After that, Neal goes back to his table, looking over to Andy who shook his head at him. Everyone in the court seem to calm down after the recent question about “Bloody” Billy Barber.

“Ladies and gentlemen, there’s a saying in the law, ‘You cannot unring the bell’...” Andy turns to Laurie and he shook his head, mouthing towards her. Laurie turns her head and shook it. “...but I’m going to insist that you do just that with regard to the last question.” Andy turned back to the front and shook his head.

.

Before the next trial, Andy had visited Joanna during nights. Looking over their next witness who would be going up at the stand. Derek Yoo. Andy tried to find pulls and connections between Leonard Patz and Derek, find strategies to keep this going.

So, the day of the trial. The usual thing was sitting and waiting. Laurie looked over to the Yoo family who sat on the other side. But that wasn’t the only problem. Joanna received a text and stood up, walking over to Andy. Her hand gently goes on Andy’s back. “We’ve got a problem.” Andy turns to her. “Madelyn McGrath. I can’t find her.”

“What?” Andy asks.

“Ellen’s been trying to call her cell all week, and she finally got in touch with her mother this morning. And she said that she and Madelyn had a fight three days ago, and that she took off. And her girlfriend just posted online from Florida, and the mom thinks that she’s down there with her.”

“What are we supposed to do? She’s supposed to take the stand tomorrow,” Andy says, gesturing to the stand. “Don’t worry. We’re gonna think of something. Okay.” Joanna taps his shoulder and walks back to her seat, leaving Andy in thought.

Madelyn needed to take the stand tomorrow. She was the one who could end the trial from there. Now it made it look like they didn’t have enough evidence that Leonard Patz is not the suspect here. 

Andy turns to look over to the laughter and chatter by Neal and his assistant. The two laughing as if they were best friends. Even when Andy helped Neal through his time being the commonwealth. Taught him everything he knew. Like a friend would.

Neal felt Andy’s eyes and looked over, his smile slowly dropped and he turned away without any other expressions to continue his conversation with his assistant. Andy turned back to the front again, Laurie behind him was stressing more as she rubbed her face in her hand.

Turning around, Andy made eye contact with her. All he could do was give her a gentle smile. Laurie nodded to indicate him that she was doing okay and that he didn’t need to worry much about her.

But then someone brought his attention. Walking into the courtroom, Lynn looked around the room and her eyes landed on Andy’s. The two shared a long gaze and he was the first to turn away from her and stare at his own notes that were written either from last night or today.

“Court, all rise!” The woman shouts. The whole court rose in silence. And their witness was put up to the stand.

.

“I was like, ‘That’s the same way you go to school. Did you see anything?’ And Y/N said no,” Derek says.

“Nothing about seeing Alice on the ground or trying to help him?” Neal asks. Derek fidgets in his seat, “No. Uh, and she made a joke. Said something like, ‘Couldn’t happen to a nicer girl’,” Derek’s eyes seem to look only at his hands or the wooden surface, eyes locking with Y/N’s he saw the cold stare from her. He looked away immediately.

“And this is within a week after learning about Alice’s murder?”

“I guess, yeah. We were at Y/N’s house, playing video games during the break,” Derek said. Neal nods, “When you said that Alice used to pick on Y/N, what did you mean by that?”

“Alice always kinda had it in for Y/N. She was always calling her ‘bitch’. Like a nickname. Like she’d ask Y/N questions about different sex things lesbians do, but in front of everyone, to embarrass her. Or she’d fake soccer kick at Y/N if she passed her in the hall. Stuff like that.”

“And all of this bullying, it upset Y/N,” Neal said.

“Yeah, of course,” Derek replies. “Did it make her angry?” Neal asked. Derek shook his head slowly, “Not so much in front of Alice, but... privately, she’d go off on how much she hated Alice’s guts. Which I got. I mean, Alice would be a jerk to me too sometimes.”

Neal licks his lips, “At what point after Alice’s murder did you begin to consider your friend Y/N’s role in it?” Andy didn’t like that. “Objection. Leading the witness,” He called out. 

The Judge turns to him, completely not phased by his objection. “Overruled.” Joanna looked over to Andy who did as well, he didn’t say anything to her. As if he gave her a silent ‘sorry’. “You can go ahead and answer young man,” French says.

Derek nods, “I guess it was three days later.”

“Was there anything other than her temper that began to make you suspicious?” Neal asks. Derek stutters, “Well, yeah. The knife. Y/N had this scary combat knife she’d bought in town. She used to bring it to school sometimes.”

“To show it off or-- or what?”

“Not really. I mean, she showed it to me and our friend Dylan but it was more like she liked having it on her, walking around with it. Like... it was this secret thing she had,” The boy says.

“I see,” Neal replied, “So the bullying and the knife... But you knew about these things, and still, you didn’t suspect Y/N immediately?” Derek stammers, “I don’t know. Maybe part of me did, a little. But it wasn’t until I read what she wrote online.”

“Online?”

Andy peered up to the boy. Was he talking about the photo Y/N posted? Or that Cut Up Room?

“This messed up site Y/N was into called The Cut Up Room,” Derek says. “By ‘messed up,’ I’m assuming you mean pornographic.” Derek nods, “Yeah, but, it’s not really so much about sex. More violence. Like, really graphic stuff.”

Joanna writes three question marks and shows it towards Andy who just moves his brows. “Are there stories on this site?” Neal asked. “Yeah, people post all kinds of stuff. Photos, videos, stories.”

“And do you know if Y/N posted any stories?” Derek looks up and shuffled a bit, hands fidgeting with each other. “She did. Yeah. She called them F/N/I stories.”

“F/N/I stories?” Neal asked.

“Yeah, you know, like her initials, F-M-B?” Andy looks over to Y/N, her leg began to bounce on the floor again. “That was her screen name on there.” Joanna leans in towards Andy, “What do you know about this?” She asks.

“Not enough. You got to shut it down,” Andy whispers back. “And did F/N/I post a story about the murder of Alice Miller?”

Derek took a while to answer before he spoke, “Yes.” The answer made the spectators murmur all around the court. Andy froze in his seat. “Commonwealth moves to enter into evidence--”

“Objection,” Joanna calls, she stood up, “Your Honor, may we approach?”

“Settle down, please,” French raps the gavel onto his desk. Joanna sighs, “Respectfully, Your Honor, we ask to approach.” The judge nods and Joanna walks up to his desk. “Your Honor, this is an ambush. None of this was disclosed in discovery.”

Neal comes in, “Your Honor, this story was authored by the defendant. If she chose to hide it from his attorney, that’s hardly the Commonwealth’s fault.” Andy turns to his daughter who hung her head low. 

“What’s this about, Y/N?” He whispers to her. She never answered. “Y/N?” Her hands began to twist in each other as her legs bounce anxiously. Laurie stared at the back of Y/N’s head. The courtroom goes silent when Joanna began to read the story about Alice’s murder. Seeing every single detail of it.

Turning back to the judge, “Your Honor, I need to confer with my client.” French nods, “All right, go ahead.” Neal and Joanna separate from the Judge to their own tables. Neal took a good look at Y/N who sat in her chair fidgeting. Not once did he show empathy. Not guilt.

“I’m gonna ask your patience while I allow defense counselor a moment to confer with her client.” Andy leans on the table once Joanna sat down to talk to them.

“He’s going to allow it unless our position is that Y/N didn’t write that story.”

“Then that’s our plan--”

“They know that she wrote it, Andy. They’ve got an IP address,” The two look over to Y/N who didn’t budge to look up at them. Joanna looks at her closely, “Y/N.” Lifting up her head, she looked at Joanna and just nodded. Joanna turns back to Andy, “If we push back now, we’re only going to shine a brighter light on it.”

“How bad is it?” Andy asks. Joanna didn’t even have to tell him on how bad it was. He didn’t bother to have her answer. 

.

“Emma stood there on the path as Kate kept walking toward her, grinning. If Kate knew the real Emma, she would have been scared shitless. ‘Don’t fuck with me,’ Emma warned him, ‘I mean it.’ But Kate just laughed and grabbed her by the arm, twisting it back like she’d down so many times before. ‘Stop. You’re hurting me,’ Emma said. But it didn’t hurt that much. She just wanted Kate to think that, so she would let go.”

Andy was leaned to the side, holding a hand up to his face. Anxious to see this come together from what the man from last trial had said. “Kate laughed again, the way she always did, a fake laugh. Emma’s hand slipped into her sweatshirt pocket. There it was, her trusted friend. She curled her fingers around the grip and felt a surge of power through her arm, up into her shoulder. She knew there was no turning back now. The park seemed to know it too. She could hear the breeze in the leaves and birds chirping.”

Everyone was still silent throughout the reading. Laurie began to stare at the boy who slightly shook the paper in hand, afraid.

“Kate saw the knife coming for her, but it was too late to do anything but stare. It slipped in so easily Emma thought she was stabbing air. That surprised her. She did it twice more, telling her brain to remember the feeling for later. Other than feeling hands on my arms during that party at Hannah’s.” Andy knew that sentence was referring to his daughter in the bedroom. 

Did Alice do it? Derek continued the story, flipping the page.

“Kate fell backward and rolled down the slope, until she stopped down below. Emma knew she should go, but she couldn’t help herself. She went down to Kate’s body to make sure she was dead. The smell of blood in the air made her feel dizzy. She found a small stream nearby and washed the knife off, and her hand too. She could see her reflection in the water, but her face looked different to her now. ‘It’ll be our secret,’ it seemed to say.”

Y/N felt a tear fall down her cheek as she lightly twitched her fingers. Derek puts the packet in front of him, “The End.” The silence was ended when Marla choked a sob, covering her face in her hands. 

Neal sighs, “This story was posted three days after Alice Miller’s body was found?”

“Yeah.” Laurie could hear her own heartbeat, knowing this wasn’t right to her. Y/N had done enough. And Laurie was doubting.

.

The day, the trial had ended. Laurie, Andy and Y/N began to head to the car in the garage. The three were silent throughout the whole walk there. What were they supposed to say? Whatever was said during that trial, no one could say anything about it.

They were distraught. Laurie and Y/N jumped in the car and buckled their seat belts. Laurie already reaching for her face to rethink on what just happened. Andy got in last and kept his eyes low. Staring at the ground as the family sat in silence.

Y/N only looked out the window. “It was just a story,” She says softly. Andy closes his eyes. “I didn’t know it would be a big deal,” She sounded heart broken. Scared. Everything coming to his head, he didn’t want to say it. But he had to. This is what’s happening right now. And they needed answers from this teenage girl.

He took it out. “Did you do it?” He asked, lowly. Y/N looks over to the front and Andy turns to face her. “Just tell me. Did you kill her?” The hurt in his eyes and the look of doubt. Y/N looked broken. Scared. It took a while for her to answer and they stared at each other.

“No,” She muttered, his stare made her look away and her eyes began to tear up, “No.” Laurie didn’t even say a word. Not even took a breath. After what happened today. She couldn’t trust Y/N’s innocence.

.

That night, the family and Joanna sat in the kitchen. Trying to go over things for the next trial, knowing that this next one is going to be difficult. Madelyn wasn’t there for the witness stand. They were in trouble.

“I could ask the judge to issue a bench warrant for Madelyn McGrath,” Joanna states. Andy sat in the chair, leg on the other as he held his head, “He won’t. Not for some secondary witness holed up in Florida. We don’t have a choice. We gotta go straight at Patz,” He says.

“Yeah, his subpoena was served this morning. I’ll call him as a hostile witness and see what we can get out of him,” Joanna says back. Andy uncrosses his legs and leans on his knees, “We gotta run every play we have. Not just on the Patz front, Derek too.” He scratches the back of his neck.

“You don’t think we covered Derek on cross?” She asked. Andy stands up, “You did your best,” He sat at the table, “You were distracted.” Andy looked over to Y/N, “Everyone was.”

Andy flips open the file while Laurie began to head over to the table. “We need to backstop Patz. I say we go harder on Derek, subpoena Sarah.” Y/N turns to Sarah’s name that came out. Y/N didn’t like that. Not to bring in her friend into her case and her problem.

“Andy, we discussed this,” Joanna said. “That was before. We need Sarah to hammer home Derek’s obsessing. We need to have her repeat his words on the stand,” Andy looks up to the old woman.

“Yeah, you’re right. That could be powerful,” Joanna says. “Show the jury the selfie again-”

“No.” 

The three look over to Y/N’s word. “I don’t wanna bring her or Matt into this. It’s my trial. I’m saying no.” Laurie looks over to Andy. He looked at his hands, “Sorry, but you don’t get a say in this anymore. Not after today.” Y/N sat there in silence, staring at Andy with a cold look.

What was colder was the food that was untouched by her. She stood up and walked away. Milo peering up while laying down as Y/N stormed up the stairs. Joanna sighs, “I’ll get into it first thing tomorrow.”

.

Later that night after Andy organized the things in his office, he headed into the kitchen and saw Laurie at the sink. Leaning in the walkway he watched her. Laurie felt his presence and stopped cleaning the cup in hand.

“You haven’t said one word all night,” Andy says.

Laurie thought about that story. Feeling hands on my arms during that party at Hannah’s. The story about the murder and that sentence stuck in her mind. Andy didn’t tell her. “Did you know?” She asked, “About the story?”

“No,” Andy answered, his forehead creasing. “Just tell me the truth,” Laurie says.

“I am-” Laurie turns around, “The truth. I need to know,” She insists. Andy steps in, “Laurie, I swear I’m telling you the truth.”

“What about the website? The Cut Up Room?” She asks. Andy comes to the edge of the table and leans on it, lowering his head, “I only kept it from you ‘cause I knew it would--”

“Don’t. Don’t,” Laurie cuts him off. Andy lifts his head up confused, “Don’t what?” Laurie shook her head, “Explain it away like you do everything. Excuse it away.”

“I knew it would set you off,” He says, “You were already half convinced that Y/N was guilty. I didn’t want to add--” Laurie shook her head. “Not anymore.” Andy’s eyes were hurtful at the start. But when she said that, he fixed his posture, “What’d you just say?”

“I don’t believe her. Not after what I heard today.”

“Not listening to the fact that our daughter had been raped, Laurie. So you’re gonna let this one thing change--”

“It’s always one thing,” Laurie cuts him off, Andy sighs, “Don’t you see?” She asked. “We’re guilty too. If we protect her, we’re as guilty as she is.” Andy hisses and lifts up his hand, “All right. Just keep your voice down. You’re gonna freak out the dog.”

“I’m not even saying I know what to do about it, I don’t. But I know what I heard, and I know what it means,” She said. Andy held his hand up still, “Laurie, I’m begging you. Don’t talk yourself into something ‘cause of some made-up story.”

“It’s not a story,” She shook her head.

“Yes, it is!” Andy turns, “This is a girl that bullied her. Maybe did rape her. She probably fantasized about hurting her a thousand times. So she let her imagination run wild, and she wrote it down,” He tried not to yell as everything came out as a low whisper, “Maybe...” He sighs.

“Maybe she got some sick thrill imagining it. And is that horrible? Yes. It’s terrible, and it was wrong, and it was stupid, but it was a story,” He lowly says, he walks towards her. “Joanna vetted every single line from it. There wasn’t one detail that hadn’t already been reported by the news. She was fantasizing.”

“She was confessing,” Laurie said, Andy sighed and leaned on the counter, “To call it anything else is just lawyer spin, and you know it.” Andy turns around and walks back to where he originally was. His back was turned to her. “What if you knew?” Laurie asked, “What if you knew in your heart that our daughter did this unforgivable thing? Took the like of another child? Would it even matter?”

“I’d still love her, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“No, it’s not. I’d still love her too,” Laurie held her hand to her heart, “I will always love her, no matter what.” Andy turns back to her. “You don’t know how badly I wanted to hold her tonight and tell her it’s all going to be okay. But I can’t play this game anymore, letting her pretend she didn’t do it, pretending to each other.”

“She’s not pretending. She didn’t do this. I know she didn’t do it,” Andy snaps.

“No, you don’t!” Milo peered up at the couple, “No one can sustain that level of deception-”

“Of course she could. You of all people should know that,” Laurie says. Andy leans back and lets out a scoff, seeing Laurie tear up, he shook his head, “Yeah. Yeah, of course. She learned it from me,” He shrugs.

“Maybe she learned it from both of us,” Laurie says. Andy looks over to her, seeing her look for an answer, “What do you want me to say Laurie? You’re right. Our marriage is a lie. Our whole fucking family is based on a fairy tale, built on nothing. And our daughter’s a murderer. Is that what you want to hear?” He asks.

Laurie shook her head, “No. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.” Andy stared at her before turning away and walked up the stairs without another word. Leaving Laurie in the kitchen sobbing.

That night, he was gonna take the couch. He made sure not to see Laurie the rest of the night. Not speak to her. Once he settled the things on the couch, he looked over to Milo who sat on the couch. Andy stared at him, “Down.” Milo jumps off and follows Andy to the backdoor. 

Andy let Milo outside. The large dog spins to look at his boss who just stared and closed the door on him. Leaving Milo out in the cold. The dog sniffed the door and slightly scratched it. Snorting once, the hound turns and walks into the dog house that sat in the corner.

.

The next morning, the house was silent throughout the next hours. The sun shining through the home. Andy had slept on the couch. After the big argument, he wasn’t sure if Laurie wanted him in bed that night.

So he gave her space.

His phone began to buzz on the stand. His eyes fluttered open and he began to rub his eyes. Looking over the armrest, he sees his phone. Shuffling on the couch, he leans up to grab his phone. Squinting at it, he answers. “Yeah. Hey, Joanna. No, it’s okay.” Andy began to stretch on the couch, “What’s going on?” He grunts. 

Sitting up with a sigh, he froze when Joanna gave the news. “What? When?” 

After talking with Joanna, he knew he had to tell Laurie about it. He wasn’t sure to think it was good news or bad news. Either way it was messed up. He stepped into the bedroom and reaches for Laurie, “Laurie.” He sits down. “Honey.” His hand rubs her back.

“What?” She asks.

“It’s over,” He says. Laurie looks at him, “What?” Andy looked heartbroken, “He confessed. Patz.” Laurie was confused on what he was talking about, “I-- I don’t...”

“Joanna just called. Leonard Patz hung himself last night. He left a note for the Rifkins. It’s a full confession,” He says, Laurie began to sit up, “The cops just confirmed his handwriting.”

Laurie stares at him with the same look, “Are you sure?” Andy nods, “Yeah,” He sobs, “I know it doesn’t feel real, but it is. Joanna’s moving for a dismissal first thing this morning.”

“Oh, my...” Laurie whispers, “I was so... I thought--”

“Don’t,” Andy says, “Doesn’t matter now. It’s over.” 

Though the suicide was unbelievable and very despairing. Andy and Laurie had to tell their 15-year-old daughter about her dismissal. So, they walked into her room. Seeing her laying on her bed asleep. Laurie was the first to hold her, “Y/N,” She whispers.

“Wake up, sweetheart,” Andy says, Y/N inhales sharply and turns, “We got something to tell you.”

.

“Court, all rise. Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. The Honorable Judge French presiding. This court’s now open. Please be seated,” With a small grin, Y/N and the rest of the courtroom sits down.

French raps the gavel, “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, at 8:00 am, this morning, the Commonwealth filed a nolle prosequi announcing its decision to drop the charges against the defendant, Y/N Barber.” Joanna looks over to the distraught Neal Logiudice who failed his mission to prosecute an old friend’s kid.

“This is a response to recent development in the case you, no doubt, will be learning of shortly. The defendant will please rise,” French says. Y/N stands up for the Judge.

“Young lady, I’m sure you’re anxious to get out of here. So let me be the first to say to you the words you and your family are, no doubt longing to hear. Y/N Barber,” He states.

“You are now a free woman,”With the hit of the gavel, the spectators began to all clap causing Laurie and Andy to smile with glee. Y/N couldn’t help but smile as well, “Y/N M/N Barber in the matter of indictment 08-44-07, it is ordered by the court that you be discharged of this indictment and go without day. Bail posted shall be returned to the surety. Case dismissed.”

With more of the claps, Laurie stands up along with Andy, the two pull Y/N into a huge hug. And after that, they were free to go. But, of course, they would answer a few questions by the reporters that have been sitting outside.

The clicking sounds of their cameras and people holding their mics towards the woman. “Obviously, we are thrilled with this outcome. But as you can imagine, this family has been through a lot. So we’re gonna ask that you respect their privacy and allow them to process this ordeal. Thank you very much.”

“Y/N, how do you feel?” A woman calls out, Joanna looks over to her, letting her do her thing with the question. Y/N grins, “Uh, great.” The short pause was then interrupted by the clamoring of the reporters once the family began to step down. Police holding them back as Andy held Y/N by her shoulder to keep her close.

The four stepped out of the elevator and began to head toward their cars. Andy pulls out his keys and sighed, “Joanna, I don’t even have the words.”

“Oh, please,” Joanna grins. “Andy’s right,” Laurie says, “We couldn’t have gotten through any of this without you.” Joanna chuckles softly, “The best I could’ve done was a verdict of not guilty. This is a thousand times better. This is proof of innocence.” Andy grins.

Joanna held out her hand and Y/N took it with a smile, “Congratulations, young lady.”

“Thank you, Joanna,” Y/N says. Joanna nods, “I know that this has been rough for you. But I think that someday you’re gonna realize...” Y/N’s eyes look away to the figure who came from the stairs. Eric Miller. Alice’s dad. He began to storm up to the family and Y/N tensed up.

Then a bald man came up behind Eric. “Dad?” Y/N asks. Andy follows Y/N’s gaze and he sees Eric. “I know it was you,” Eric points, Laurie instantly pulls Y/N close to her while Andy jumps in front, “Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!” Andy shouts. Andy holds Eric back as he points at her. “I know it was you! I know it! I know it!” 

Eric gets grabbed by the bald man in the blue Lincoln, “Whoa! Whoa!” Andy says as Eric gets pulled back and slammed onto the back of the car. “Let me go!” Eric sobs.

Andy turns to his girls, “Are you okay?” He looks back to the sobbing Eric. The bald man turns, “What do you want me to do with this guy? Want me to hold him for the cops or what?” He asked.

“No!” Eric shouts. Laurie knew the family was in much pain than they were. They went through enough, “No,” She says. “Let him go,” She nods. Eric sobs on the hood of the car while being pushed into it. “Please,” Laurie says.

The man pulls Eric up and pushes him back, “Come on. Get outta here.” Eric turns back to the family with Andy standing guard in front of his family. “She didn’t do it, Eric.”

And with that, Eric took that and walked away, wiping the tears off his cheeks as he headed back for the stairs. The man turns, “You okay, kid?” Andy looks over to him, “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m an old friend of your pop’s. He asked me to look out for you. Congratulations, by the way. I guess it was your lucky day, huh, kid?” Laurie held Y/N close. “Get in the car,” Joanna insists, helping the two girls over to Andy’s car.

Joanna looks up to Andy, “I’ll call you later.” Andy nods at her. With the man standing there, Laurie looks up to him and nods, “Thank you.” The man swats his hand, “Anything for old Billy.” Laurie jumped in the car while Andy was the last to get in.

“Make sure you give your old man my best, okay?” He asked. Andy slightly glares at the man one last time, before getting in his car without another word said to him.

They returned home to a street filled with new reporters and journalists. People taking photos as Andy drives up the driveway. The family stepped out and gave their grins towards the people while they headed back inside their home.

.

Ever since Y/N was freed by the charges, Andy knew there was no normal to go back to. There was a before. Then after. No one couldn’t get it out of their minds. Not even Laurie.

After their meal outside, Laurie thought to go through her daughter’s photo book. Seeing her as a baby. Growing up in every picture they had. She quietly cried as she flipped through every page.

“Hey, honey. I’m gonna make some coffee. You want some?” Andy comes in and looks around to see Laurie on the couch, crying. His face falters in worry, “Hey. What’s going on?” He comes near and sits next to her, instantly bringing his hand to her back.

“That day in court, when Derek read the story, I was so sure. In some crazy way, I was almost relieved. I thought ‘At least now I know’,” She sniffles. Laurie turned to look at him, “What kind of mother would think that about her child?”

Andy inhales softly, “You were under a ton of stress. We both were. That story shook me up too. More than I let on,” He says. Laurie felt his hand stroke her hair and looked up at him. He shook his head, “You just gotta let it go.”

Laurie nods, “I’m trying.” Andy grins sadly and takes the book out of her hands to place it behind him before he brought her into a hug.

~~~

The story is close to its end guys.

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