#and if Maria just decides she's just not into Michael while Michael is all in? Yikes

[treedaddymcpuffpuff]

Beneath Miles of Stone - Part Twenty - John Wick x Plus Size Fem Reader

Summary: John has been in prison for nine months. He’s content to stay if it means appeasing the high table and keeping peace between the owners of each continental. However, he meets someone who erases that willingness. Peace be dammed.

TW: kind of kidnapping if you squint ; mentions of death ; violence ; angst ; nsfw kudos to @scarlettspectra and @lilspookymeh for being music gurus and basically inspiring my entire writing playlist ❤️

“John, I can’t stay here - I have work, Michael.”

“It’s not up for debate.” 

She scowls at the way he talks to her like a petulant child, looks over at Winston for help and finds none.

“You can’t make me stay here,” she grits.

He fixes her with a dark, mean look, clears the distance between them in one stride, and grabs her before she can think about running. “I can make you stay, but I don’t want to have to do that.”

He’s really just springing this on her. Because the death of Maria puts a target on his back and therefore a smaller one on hers, John thinks the best solution is keeping her locked in the safe house that is Winston’s massive hotel. No consulting her, no talking about options. Just cut and dry. Do as I say. She’s offered alternative solutions, even - “I’ll walk around with Victor’s - sorry, Viggo’s - bodyguards at my side!” - because, of course, her having a private little secret service of her own is now unnegotiable, too. Imagine that.

“You don’t have to do anything,” she retorts, voice quiet despite her lionhearted words. 

“I’m not speaking in metaphors,” John says, “you’re staying here. Either way. I need you safe.”

She tries to tear her arm from his grip, but it’s like attempting to wrestle with a gorilla. “So what? I’m just supposed to stay locked up in your gilded cage and forget I have a life?”

He loosens his hold a little bit, lets her puffy flesh spring back from bruising, and softens, hard rock eyes turning molten. Still, there is fire involved. “You can hate me if you want. You don’t have to look at me or speak to me, but I’m responsible for your safety, now. I need you unharmed.”

Ah, there it is again, that fucking pang in her heart that leaves her whole being bloodless and aching when he reminds her why she’s ultimately here - pity. 

Sure, he’s told her otherwise a thousand times now, and his actions are testament to how much he wants her, but that admittance is all she needs to start thinking she’s a charity case again. 

Tears swell her eyes. 

She can’t believe they’ve gone from bliss to this in such a short amount of time. And now what? She’s trapped here and humiliated? Pitied? 

“No, I didn’t-“ 

“Yeah you did,” she whispers, looking down at the shiny dark floor, watching little tear droplets accumulate on its surface.

He lets her pull away and gathers every ounce of his willpower to avoid following as she walks out of the room and into the bustling hotel. 

“That went well,” Winston comments, flipping through the manila envelope of witness statements.

His knuckles ache to punch something. Marcus isright here, downing scotch like it’s his last day on earth - maybe he thinks it is - one little punch wouldn’t hurt him. 

More willpower used up to not hit Marcus. He decides to leave the room instead. 

Marcus thinks he did it. Winston might as well think so, too. The eight witnesses that put him at the location say he did. 

The only person that knows he didn’t do it - because he was instead with her when he supposedly took a round trip flight to El Paso and fixed a bullet into Maria’s skull - wants nothing to do with him when the only thing he wants is to curl up beside her and lament. 

He needs an outlet. 

———————————

“You need to call the police,” Michael tells her. His voice fades away for a minute while she hears rummaging in the background. 

“I don’t want to get anyone in trouble Michael. It’s not like I’m being tortured or something.” 

“And?” 

“It wouldn’t matter.” 

“I don’t know, they could probably come get you out of there?” 

“I don’t think cops come here, Michael. I don’t think they’re allowed to be here.”

He pauses for dramatic effect, probably. She’s glad she called him. His usual antics calm her. “They’re not allowed to tear gas peaceful protesters either, but….. ”

“No, I think they kill them here.” 

“Sneak out,” Michael concludes. 

“That’s my next bid.” 

“Damn, your pussy must be god tier if this man is kidnapping you, though.” 

She rolls her eyes. 

“What?! I’m just saying!” She hears the no good grin and it puts a smile on her face. 

“I don’t know how I’m gonna pay rent, Michael. I told work, but they’re probably going to fire me - if they even believe me - and then I won’t have income to pay my share-“

“ Are you serious?” Michael sighs. “You’ve just been kidnapped and you’re worried about me ? Babe, stop.”

“We made a deal Michael, and all I’ve done is fuck it up.” 

“Worry about getting out of there, and we’ll sort it out once you’re free of crazy boyfriend.”

“He’s not crazy,” she tries, “he’s just… worried.” 

“Uh-huh.” Michael takes another pause.  “Anyway, what is this place called?”

“You are not coming here, Michael. You’ll get hurt.” 

“Why? I’m not a cop.”

“Michael.”

“Right, right. You’re living the mystery novel life. Is it wrong that I’m a little jealous?” 

“No, I guess not. He just kind of makes it seem like he has to keep me here. I feel like a burden.”

“ You ? Feeling like a burden ?” The sharp sarcasm in his voice cuts. “Have you tried telling him that?”

“Well, no, but I’m scared.” 

Michael sighs. “Jesus, hun, I’m not sure what to tell you here. Sounds like he’s a little bit dysfunctional. Maybe he’s just not ready for a relationship. I mean, he has to know that holding you against your will isn’t okay.” 

She sighs back. It’s like their own little angsty language. “It’s not like I’m normal.” 

“Ah, so maybe the darkness in you calls to the darkness in him?” Michael sounds like he’s reciting breathy Shakespeare.

She laughs. 

——————-

The Continental is massive, shimmering, crystal chandeliers and intricate, antique carpets. 

Spotless, open, airy, a few delicate plants dotted about. Every room or hallway or lobby she enters feels too big - like she’s a kid again, tiny in proportion to everything else. Even the elevators gold and glimmer and loom.

Private clubs with massive polished oak doors to guard against entry, workers in perfectly tailored suits everywhere; one around each corner, in the bars and shops, diligent and watching. 

If she had any hope before of getting out of here, now she definitely doesn’t. Seems like every exit has an individual posted on it who would put Benny’s hulking mass to shame. 

She sees a woman who is taller than John, in a sleeveless tuxedo dress, muscles rippling over her shoulders and neck. She doesn’t think she has ever envied or admired someone so much. Despite the bodybuilder physique, this towering lady moves like flowing water. She just stares at her for a few minutes, entranced by the otherworldly beauty. How can he even think of liking her when women like this live and breathe? 

It’s easy to forget the outside world exists, here. But, she stills feels trapped - heralded off to some magical realm where everyone has a gun tucked under their shirt instead of a magic wand. 

She gets lost in the place, always expecting John to be waiting for her around corners or down a hallway. He’s not, though, instead leaving her alone like he said he would. That pisses her off and disappoints her a little bit; she wants him to follow her, fight for her, extinguish her flame of independence, which must mean there’s seriously something wrong here. He can’t just lock her up and then leave. 

Ignoring the empty John shaped space in her gut, she walks until she finds the library. Wall to wall shelves, rolling ladders carved in intricate, braided designs, a few cozy reading nooks. Librarian fantasy says hello. 

She scowls at the thought, goes to the fairytale section, lying to herself about thinking of John in this instance, too.

As chance would have it, someone she recognizes is here. The older woman from the bookstore in the mall, still sans reading glasses, squinting at the cover of a worn yellow hardback. 

“Do you need some help with that?” 

“Oh, my dear, nice to see you again.” There is an air of poise about this woman even in her shortcomings. She hands the book delicately to her rescuer, smiling softly. “Would you mind?” 

“Oh,” she thumbs the cover, feels the carved gold letters on the front. “This is Alice in Wonderland.” 

“Lewis Carroll?” 

“Yeah, I can tell you about this without even reading it.” She grins, cheeks puffing, pleased to have someone familiar here. 

The woman takes the book from her hands and sticks it back. “As interesting as Alice in Wonderland is, I’d much rather talk to you. You don’t belong here, do you? In a place like this?” 

She looks down at her feet. “Ah, no.” Really, she could pose the same question, but she finds herself unsurprised that nice stranger books in this hotel. Maybe it was the men in suits at her side. Maybe it’s because she’s used to this by now - fitting in nicely, snug as a bug in a rug. Meant for the underground. 

“So why are you here, dear?” 

They end up sitting in one of the lounges. She offers to go grab them both tea, paying for it and tipping despite hospitality, and then settles in to talk. This woman reminds of her of Winston, or like one of the kind, witty grandmothers from sparse foster homes. No matter how mean the rest of the family was, usually the elders were double kind to make up for it. 

She ends up telling her small things. Not too much, but more than she can Michael. This woman is already involved in the ancient crime world, so she feels like she can divulge more info. Plus, she’s confident that anyone here could just type her name into some imaginary database and bring up every detail about her, anyway. 

“Ah, John Wick, Boogeyman.” 

“People keep calling him that. I don’t think he’s that scary.” 

The woman laughs. “I don’t know, I’ve only heard. Never met.”

“Well, he’s actually nice,” she supplies, sipping her hibiscus tea. “Stubborn, but nice.”

“And he’s keeping you here to protect you, so he can’t be all bad.” 

“Yeah… we’ll go with that.” 

The woman laughs. “Oh, there is a fire in you. Misplaced, but a fire all the same.” 

“Misplaced?”

“You desire hardness, outer armor, to be strong, but you don’t realize that your true power comes from your softness.”

“I’m tougher than I look.” 

“I’ve no doubt.” Her contemplative eyes assess the cementing posture. 

“Sorry, I’m just. I’m irritated that I have to stay here.” She drops her shoulders, relaxes her jaw. 

“You’ve got a free spirit. You remind me of someone I once knew.”

“Was it you?” She smiles again. 

“Indeed. Unfortunately, this old bird had her wings clipped long ago.” 

“Your wings are massive and amazing, still.” 

The elder beams at her. “You know, my children think I’m out of my mind.”

“Huh? But you’re not.”

She shrugs. “They want my empire. I suppose I am getting older - should probably relinquish it sooner rather than later.” 

Just like with John, she feels that deep dive questions would be too forthcoming and intrusive here. “So, they’re making up stuff to get it? Sounds like your kids aren’t that great.” 

“Ah, but isn’t that my fault if they are not great, then?” She sighs and leans back into cushions that swallow her small frame. 

This is a hard question. She’s spent a lifetime blaming foster parents for fucking her up so much. 

“See? You can’t argue with that.” Her crinkled smile widens. 

“Mistakes are mistakes. The past doesn’t define the future. You do seem lovely now, regardless of what happened when they were kids.” 

“What do you do for work, my darling?”

“I’m a nurse.” 

——————————-

After talking for a long time with Ella, her mystery bookstore friend, she goes to knock on Winston’s study door, surprised she can even find it again. It takes a while, and she gets completely lost in the process. 

“Won’t find him in there. I think he’s downstairs. Do you need something?” She turns to find a tall, tattooed, beautiful woman folding linens onto a silver cart. 

“Oh, I just wanted to talk to him. Sorry.”

“You’re John’s girl?” She holds out a hand, gives a soft smile. “I’m a good friend of his.”

Why in the hell can’t she repress the jealousy raging inside her as she takes this absolutely gorgeous woman’s hand in her own? “Uh, yeah.” She resists asking how everyone seems to know what she looks like and who she belongs to. Maybe it’s just that distinguishable? John Wick with a fat girlfriend. 

Ouch . Back to hurting her own feelings again. 

“Oh, it’s really nice to meet you. A friend of John’s is a friend of mine. I’m a bell hop, trying to work my way up into bartender. They make more money.” She fixes her pile of cloth and then looks up as if forgetting something. “I’m Addie.” 

She’s at a loss for words, feels incredibly sheepish around this girl for no reason - exposed and open, ready for final judgement. Harrowing.

She introduces herself back despite trepidation and tries to give a warmer smile than she’s capable of right now. “Oh, that’s cool. You like bartending?” 

Addie laughs at some inside joke. “Oh, God no. Not in this city. But in the hotel, it’s great. Not many other bar owners will let you punch their customers for getting too handsy.”

She laughs. “Serves them right.” 

“I don’t mean to pry,” Addie smooths over a crisp sheet. “But how did you meet John?” 

Oh, the million dollar embarrassing question. “The prison. I was his nurse.” 

“Oh, that’s cute as hell.” Addie’s melodic giggle helps lower her raised haunches. “He hasn’t gone steady in a minute. I’m glad he’s happy. I’ve known him since we were kids, I mean, and he hasn’t been this sunshiny in a long time.”

Ah, another one of John Wick’s long time friends. “He’s a pretty good guy.” 

Addie nods. “Ah, we’re not passing the bechdel test.”

She chuckles. “You’re right.” 

“We will next time, promise. I gotta get back to work.” Addie gives her a wink and then she’s off. She calls back over her shoulder, “I’ll tell Winston you’re looking for him.”

“Thanks, but you don’t-“

“It’s fine.” Addie grins back. “He’s not busy.” 

—————————

She gets lost a few more times, maybe just maybe hoping for a tall, dark hero to come swoop her up and apologize. She’s more disappointed than she should be when that doesn’t happen. 

But, she does run into Charon again when she finds the front entrance. 

He gives her a small smile. “I trust you are finding the provisions here adequate, Miss?” 

She leans on his counter, emboldened by the lack of patrons in the lobby. “Could I ask you something?”

“Anything.” 

“I was in the library, and I saw the book with you in it. Behind the big glass display case, you know? You were in an orchestra in the pictures. Do you play… cello, right?”

“That’s correct. Well, was correct. I haven’t played in several years. Do you play?” 

“Ah, no.” She shrugs. “I just saw you in there and you looked amazing. Like really in your element.”

“Do I look.. out of my element now?” His head tilts, smile broadening.

“No, no, not at all.” Her eyebrows furrow. “Sorry, I just meant - you really looked like you loved it.”

“I did. It was exhilarating.” 

“Why don’t you do it anymore?” 

“I suppose I just got busy with other duties. I enjoy working at the hotel. The light of the stage was wonderful for a while, but I realized I was meant for a quieter fate. One with less excitement.”

“This is less excitement?” She gestures around. 

“Continental ground is sacred. We rarely have to take action against our guests for violence.” He pauses. “I know your experience has indicated otherwise.” 

She shakes her head. “Sorry, I didn’t-“

“There is nothing to be sorry for.” His pleasant smile still lingers as testament to that. “It’s alright to be curious. Ask me anything you want.”

She does. She asks who can stay here, who is not allowed to stay here, how long it’s been around, who built it. She asks him about the cello, if his hands got scarred, if he would play again at some point so she could come to his concert. 

Charon is infinitely interesting, sports the same dark humor that John does, and she chats with him until he gets customers. 

—————————

John stays gone. All day, all night. The more time goes by, the more anxious she gets. She should be angry, seething, but instead she just wants him to be okay, to come back to her. She’s grown so miserably attached to this elusive man, and the insanity that goes with that attachment is eating at her like swarms of locusts on fresh fields of grain.

—————————

He’s all bruised knuckles and blood flecked, sinew and tendon and vein. The smell of diesel and sweet liquor and heavy iron. She can’t help but peak at him from under the comforter while he undresses. 

“Good morning.” 

Of course he knows. He’s got sonic radar. She flushes, and doesn’t answer him. 

“I’d ask if you want to join me in the shower, but that would make me a bigger asshole.” 

“I don’t remember even saying you could stay in the same room as me anymore,” she grumbles, shifting under the blanket so a few of her toes peak from the end.

He resists tickling her. 

“You’re right. Let me take this shower, and I’ll book another one.”

“Are you rich?” She asks. 

“I have money.”

“Like, rich money?” 

He raises a dark eyebrow and looks far too good standing nude and bruised on the cold hardwood. 

“Does it matter?”

“I feel like you’re trying to buy me off.” 

He snorts, rubs a flexing hand down his abdomen and yawns. God, he’s fucking delectable. “Would it work?”

“Fuck you, John.” She tries to make her words hurt, but they’re half assed and weak.

He’s got a smile that makes her seethe and clench at once. Infuriating bastard. 

“Want me to fix that attitude with my tongue?” He offers, watches her toes curl up as she turns the other way and becomes a smaller mound under the covers. 

“I want you to go away.” 

He gives her credit for the control in her thickened voice. Saliva, always giving her away. 

“You got it.”

When the bathroom door shuts, she flings the blanket off and goes to get breakfast. For herself. 

Winston catches her in the dining room. “Do the clothes I sent up fit?” He asks. 

“Yeah, they do. Thank you. I appreciate it.” She looks distraught, out of element.

He hums and threads her arm with his, walking with her to the serving bar. “I’m sure he’ll take you to get your clothes and toiletries soon,” Winston promises. “I offered to have Charon escort you, but Johnathan seems to have faith in your ability to weasel away.” 

She huffs a laugh. “I’m not promising I wouldn’t try to escape.” 

“Are you angry with me?”

“No, I get it, he’s a bully.” 

“Ah, can’t say it’s entirely his fault. I’m concerned for your safety, too.” Winston sits with her as she orders cheesy eggs and toast and orange juice. 

“If he would have just explained it better, maybe I would have compromised.”

“Unless you know how to kill someone, I’m afraid there’s little compromise for you here.” Winston pauses, rubbing at the slick surface of the bar top. 

“I’m still mad at him.” She’s not sure why she feels so comfortable talking to Winston about her relationship problems, but the man is more than happy to chat and advise. 

“I can understand that. What can I do to make you feel better?” 

“Oh, no, Mr. Scott, you’ve already done so much. I’m sorry for being like this.” 

He smiles warmly, amusement cresting the crinkles of his face. 

Normally, she’s wary of being touched, but there is nothing except reassurance in Winston’s hand rested over hers. “My dear, you are human. Flesh and bone. Your feelings and emotions are your power, no matter how overwhelming they may become. Never forget that.” 

She feels a little like she has stepped from the mortal realm into fae territory. Everything shines and dazzles, wise figures give her hopeful advice, and there is a beautiful, inhuman man terrorizing her with a small grin from across the room.

She quickly looks away from John, and Winston of course notices the pick up in nerves. 

“Do you want me to kick him out?” He asks her. 

She giggles. “Will he leave?” 

“It’s worth a try.” 

Avoiding John Wick is kind of like being a moth who hates light. 

When he looks at her, she’s looking at him. And vice versa. She tries to eat, but feels too nervous to finish with coal eyes burning the endless fire in her belly, asks for a to go box and gulps the rest of her orange juice down. 

He watches her while she walks out, sipping his black coffee, unabashedly staring directly at her beautiful bottom. 

“I’ve thought about it,” Winston tells him, taking the seat across the table. “And I believe you.” 

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” John asks. 

Winston ignores his sour mood. “Someone is trying to frame you, Johnathan. Someone wants you dead. With eight witnesses, the high table will come for you. Especially concerning the public knowledge that Maria put a bounty on your head. This is a war that ends one way.” 

“I know.” 

“So, do something.”

————————-

“I’m sorry.” 

She turns around to find him leaning into the door jam.

“I told you I wasn’t good at this.” He motions between them. “But that’s no excuse to be an asshole.”

“I’m not good at it either, in case you didn’t notice,” she replies dryly. 

“If you get hurt, I’m not sure what I’ll do,” he admits. 

“But I can’t live like a clipped bird, John. And you’re just so forceful about it. I can’t get a word in when your mind is set. Michael has been nothing but good to me, and now I’m bailing on him. I like my job. It makes me feel like I have a purpose.”

“It’s not forever, just until I can figure this out.”

“Is it really that dangerous? If it is why did we start this in the first place?” That kind of sounds like she regrets the relationship, so she doubles back. “Sorry, that’s a stupid question. I would gladly meet you again and again, even if it meant more hardship, John, but I can’t just leave my old life.” 

He gives a deep, baritone sigh, running hands through his damp hair. 

She gets a little waft of the delicious shampoo he used, and itches to go to him. 

“Just give me a day. One day. I’m going to fix this, and I need you to trust me.”

She eyes him, makes him feel vulnerable - raw - with the power of her stare.

“Tell me what you’re thinking.” It sounds more like a plead than a demand, so she provides.

“Are you just doing this because you feel like you have to? Am I inconveniencing your life even more?” 

He looks at her for a very long time.

Then, pads over and tips her chin up with his fingers. “I live in a dangerous world. I’m scared to lose you in its chaos.” 

“But is it out of obligation or-“

“It’s because I need you.”

“You need me?”

He presses his forehead against her own. “Yes.” There is frustration in his voice.

She cradles the back of his head, inhaling spice and salt, quiet and still. Some kind of storm will rage and destroy her later, but for now she can keep it at bay while he is folding her up and pressing her into the bed. 

“This doesn’t solve anything,” she says, trying not to lose her resolve in the delicious wet of his mouth. 

“Tell me to stop,” he murmurs, lips trailing the sensitive bridge of her ear. 

She doesn’t. Lets him gather her hair back and lick behind her lobe, turn her into a quivering little mess of a human clinging to his sweatshirt. 

He can’t get enough of her in his mouth at once, uses his hands to make up for the loss, cups her tummy and groans at how soft she is. God, he could just sink right into her and never come out. 

“This is all I wanna do,” he says. “Every time I look at you, you just get more tempting. That cute little smile, pretty skin, soft little body. Who sent you here to destroy me?” 

“Th-the FBI.” She’s smiling that sunshine smile, animosity an afterthought, pulling at her new fixation which happens to be his velvet hair, rubbing her fingers into his scalp. 

His cock gives a little jump against her thigh, and he vibrates for her again. Ah, of course it’s the hair. 

“You like it when I play with your hair?” She asks, voice hitched high and tight as he sucks down her neck. 

“Yeah,” he admits. 

“I uh, yeah, l-like your hair, Johnny.” She sloppily threads a strand around her fingers, tugging just a little. 

And to think he was contemplating getting another buzz cut because of this mess always being in his face. Not now. Now he would never cut it again. Now it was his pride and fucking joy. 

He snakes his hands under her shirt, rubs at her bare tummy, pulls and feels and groans about how fucking pillowy she is - about how a bullet would probably just bounce right off of her. 

“Fuck, I love this,” he says, making her giggle and grab his fingers. 

“Tickles,” she tells him.

Immune to bullets, but not to soft fingers digging into her plump. He can’t help the hells grin while he indulges himself and makes her a giggly, frantic mess. “Where you going? Huh?” Chasing her up the bed, pressing her against the pillows, making her scream and curse his name. 

Only a little bit of fun, and then he’s kissing her ribs, pulling her bra up to let these beautiful tits flop in his face so he can nuzzle between them. Giggles into moans, the chant of her hips matching the rhythm of mewling sounds. 

“You’re so fuckin sweet.” 

Her hands make their way back to his hair.

Big cock pressing and grinding into her giving thigh, fingers running circles around her areolas to tease, mouth nipping at the tips of her breasts. 

He gets her begging, whining, needs her to ask him for it. 

“Pretty girl wants to cum on my tongue again, huh?”

“Yeah.” Little shimmering tears in her lashes, lips all puffy and big just like her nipples. 

“Tell me. Tell me, babydoll.” 

Flooding with hot embarrassment, biting her lip, trying not to crumble and break, she does her best for him, tries her hardest to make him happy. “John, make me cum. Please.”

It’s not good enough. “Ah, ah,” he scolds. “Make you cum on what?” 

“Y-your tongue. Want your tongue. Please, fuck.” 

“There you go.” And how could he ever fucking say no? 

How could he not spend a decade between these comfy thighs eating her sweet puffy cunt nice and slow. 

Fucking her on his fingers, tickling her little clit with his tongue and making her her hips spark up off the bed, giving her rug burn on top of rug burn while she pulls his hair and curses his wicked mouth. Sometimes it hurts, especially like now when she’s too drunk on his mouth to be careful or sweet - and he fucking loves it. 

He may never be able to convince her that he’s sorry with words, but he can still use his mouth to accomplish the same goal.

By the sounds of it, she, at least for now, forgives him.

[eusuntgratie]

wip wednesday on thursday bc i do what i want 😘

haven't shared in a while bc i haven't had time to write but i appreciate all the tags so i'm gonna share a few little snippets of a few things i'm working on. tags below the cut!

guess who tripped and fell into a new fandom? oops. y'all gotta scroll past some 🏳️‍🌈👽 before you get to any rwrb-adjacent words 😏

malex bartender au (roswell new mexico) - hopefully posting soon!

Alex is covering the bar for Maria when he gets stuck, bottle of tequila hovering in between the bar and the glass he’s supposed to be pouring it in. He works hard not to notice people, notice men, but the most beautiful man he’s ever seen is walking into the bar and it's impossible to look away.

malexa 2x06 canon divergence, starting with maria waking up the next morning

Maria wakes up with a crick in her neck. One of her arms is asleep and she’s got a pleasant ache in her thighs.  She's warm, and the bone-deep fear that's been trying to suffocate her for weeks has abated. She takes a deep breath and keeps her eyes squeezed shut when she remembers why.

me? already writing rpf from my new fandom? GASP! please pretend to be shocked - vlamburn + a third i can't decide if i want to keep mysterious or not bc everyone who reads them would know who she is anyway i think?

“Kiss him,” she tells Michael, who finally tears his gaze from Tyler’s face to ask, “why?”.  “Because I wanna see.”  She nods and smiles when Tyler searches her face, looking a little panicked. But then Michael is leaning in close, wrapping his big hand around Tyler’s pretty neck and pulling him in and kissing him like he’s starving for it. Tyler moans and she’s so fucking wet she could shove Tyler out of the way and sit on Michael’s dick right here in front of him, but she keeps still, and watches. The way Michael pulls him closer, the way Tyler’s fingers twitch near his waist.

a little cuck fic update (sensing a pattern? don't worry about it) - taynick, disaster verse

Nick catches himself leaning forward, trying to chase Taylor’s mouth and his touch. He hears a sharp, “stay,” that rocks all the way through him and he slams himself back in the chair. He gets a barely perceptible nod for his efforts. He tries not to think about what he could do to elicit a bigger reaction. He drags in a breath and refocuses on Taylor. At a small gesture Nick barely notices, Taylor bends over the bed again. He is so fucking beautiful. Nick’s not sure he’s ever had the chance to just take him in like this. He’s always so desperate to get his hands on him when they’re alone.

alright that's enough snippets... hopefully i'll be able to get some things finished in the next few months! i miss writing! let me know what you think; i need all the motivation i can get.

thank you for the tags sunday and wednesday!

@catdadacd @firstprincehornyramblings @thesleepyskipper @basil-bird @sparklepocalypse

@thinkof-england @taste-thewaste

tagging @lostcol @bigassbowlingballhead @onward--upward for alien reasons 😘🛸

[lostbetweenvampiresandmusic]

Changes chapter 37

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Series masterlist

Michael parked his bike just outside the boardwalk gates, taking the key out of the engine. The first time he had gone to the boardwalk at night, he had been surprised. The place was so lively, so bright - so different from the day. He had to get used to it for a moment or so, but now he found himself loving it.

Sam jumped off the back of his bike, grinning madly as he pointed to the beach where a stage had been set up.

"Come on, Mike! They're about to start!"

Michael nodded, a lazy grin on his face as he followed his brother. It had been a while since Sam had been so carefree. It was good to see him like that again. As he made his way through the crowd, he had trouble keeping his brother in sight. Luckily, it didn't take him long to pick Sam out of the crowd, what with him wearing the latest magazine fashion.

"Took you long enough!"

Michael was about to respond but quickly shut up as the drummer entered the stage, starting a rhythm. Quickly, he was joined by a basist, a guitarist following shortly after. And then, a silence swept over the crowd in anticipation of the man they'd been wanting to see. It took a moment or two, a stage hand lighting barrels at each end of the stage, and then he appeared, saxophone in hand and ready to play.

Michael grinned and cheered along with the crowd, but as much as he enjoyed himself, he couldn't bring himself to dance. It felt awkward, he reasoned with himself. Instead he looked at the other people in the crowd, some dancing, some making out, some-

His eyes fell on a girl with long, dark curly hair. The bracelets around her wrists shimmered in the lights of the concert, her smooth dance moves causing them to hit the light. Michael kept looking at her, something about the woman being mesmerising. He kept his eyes on her, not worrying about Sam, only to blink - and see her looking back at him.

She gave him a small smile, almost shy, before turning around and hurrying away. Michael didn't need to think twice. He dragged Sam along as he followed her, quickly making his way through the crowds, scared to lose her. He ignored his brothers complaints and ignored him when he said he'd explore the comicbook store. All that mattered was that girl.

"Why are you following me?" She suddenly stood in front of him, looking even more mesmerising than before.

"I- eh- I saw you at the concert?" Michael stammered, not knowing what to say.

"So you decide to follow me?" She raised an eyebrow. "You could have at least asked my name."

Michael nodded. Yes, that made sense. "So, what is your name?"

The woman smiled an almost sorrowful smile, turning around as she heard four bikes approaching. "Ask me again if you'll find me tomorrow."

With those words, she left him standing there, moving to step on the bike of a tough looking guy. All of them looked dangerous, Michael realised as they drove off.

Maybe, he thought, if he were to stand a chance with the girl, he had to look tough as well.

"This is not a lie?" Shelly asked quietly as she looked at Julie. The vampire shook her head.

"I think if you'd stayed there longer, they might have tried to turn you as well."

Shelly paled, nodding. "I'm glad we got out."

Maria nodded as well, having heard the story for the second time now. "You know, if there'd anything we can do to help you find your family again, Jules, we'd be happy to help."

"Thanks," Julie smiled, looking up when she heard the door open downstairs. "Hold up, I'm going to see who it is."

"That's freaky, though," she heard Shelly mumble, not listening to what Maria was saying in return. Instead, she was more focused on the visitor downstairs.

She quickly walked out of her room, walking down the stairs to find Dwayne standing in the kitchen. Julie's expression turned ice cold. Dwayne hadn't been here since David's outburst, and where Paul and Marko had both shown her that they didn't agree with David, she had no idea where he stood in all this.

"What are you doing here?"

"It's been a while since we spoke."

"We both know why." Julie was about to turn, to head back up the stairs when Dwayne spoke up again.

"Star is refusing to feed."

"So? She knew what she was getting into."

"It's this attitude that caused David to snap."

Julie scoffed. "As if he's all warm and cuddly. I tolerate her presence, I haven't threatened her lately - what more do you want from me?"

"He misses you."

"Sure," Julie shrugged,not believing it. "If he does, he should apologise for what he said, not send you. Don't play his games. Please." She looked at him, shaking her head slightly. Dwayne didn't say anything, instead he just looked at her.

They stood there for a moment, before Julie spoke up again.

"It's best that you leave. I've friends over."

With those words, Julie left him downstairs, a hint of surprise on his face.

Friends?

Shelly had gone home around two in the morning, not really knowing how she should feel. She now knew the truth. She knew why she was taken, or at least, what the facility had been planning to do. She knew what kind of horrors there were in this world.

And she knew that Greg had been right.

As she closed the door to Maria's apartment, she dropped her bag on the ground, going straight to the phone. She dialed the number, having it memorised since day one.

"Yeah?" A tired voice sounded from the otherside of the line.

"Greg? It's me. You were right, about everything. I'm sorry I didn't believe you."

"Babe?" He sounded slightly confused. "Are you alright? It's three in the morning."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but I needed you to know. You were right. And-" she took a breath. "And I fucking love you, and would really like it if we hang out tomorrow."

It was quiet for a moment, and Shelly felt her heart pounding in her throat. What if she had completely fucked it up now? What if he said no, what if he didn't want to be with her anymore?

"I'll pick you up at two."

With that, the line went dead. Shelly nodded to herself, a small uncertain smile on her face. Maybe things would turn out alright this time.

"It is nice to have the flat for myself again," Maria told Max as she put some tapes away, "but I honestly do miss her presence. It was nice to have someone to talk to."

"I've heard that cats are great listeners."

Maria laughed, shaking her head. "I'm not quite ready to become the catlady of Santa Carla, thank you very much! But if I'm still single in a couple of years, I'd be happy to get a cat from you."

Max grinned, flipping through that days newspaper, a cup of coffee in his hand. Besides the usual articles of politicians campaigning and businesses growing and failing, there was a small, quarter page article about missing people. Max frowned, letting his eyes land on the text.

Missing children are sadly a reality that we have to face here in America. Not everyone has your child's best interest in mind. We've all seen the cases, of John and Jane Does found after being missing for years. Some cases are solved, with families happily reunited. Most end up with the lost child being dead.

But for three years, this reporter has gotten reports of children disappearing, taken in broad daylight, often in the presence of a single parent. It does raise the question of why no one is investigating these specific circumstances. After all, there are many families still waiting for answers. For instance, maybe the most infamous case of all, of the young Julie E-

Before Max could read further, Maria accidentally bumped into him, causing him to spill his coffee on the page. He sighed in frustration, trying to salvage what he could, but it was of no use. The rest of the article was impossible to read.

Next chapter >

[komaedamizuki]

Playlist for Dawn and May in my AU. (Song list under the cut)

🌷 Backstory 🎀

The two first met at a Champion's summit, where May reaches out to newly crowned Champion Dawn, as May also knows what it's like to be a young Champion. Dawn develops a crush on her, but at the time, May wouldn't see her as anything other than a mentee or a good friend.

Post-Legends Arceus: After returning to the present, Dawn decides to travel through Hoenn to get away from Sinnoh for a while. While there, she and May spend a lot of time together. Eventually they end up confessing their feelings for each other while having a sleepover at May's secret base.

🌸🌷Song List 🎀🏵️

She // dodie

She Likes a Boy // Nxdia

Jenny (feat. Kim Petras) // Studio Killers

i wanna be your girlfriend // girl in red

Would You Be So Kind // dodie

Vanilla Twilight // Owl City

fineshrine // Purity Ring

I Wanna Get Better // Bleachers & Tinashe

Dear Maria, Count Me In // All Time Low

Tangled Up In Me // Skye Sweetnam

Raincoat // Studio Killers

Breaking Ground // Hyd

Symphony (feat. Zara Larsson) // Clean Bandit

She Looks So Perfect // 5 Seconds of Summer

2002 // Anne-Marie

Nonsense // Sabrina Carpenter

Root Beer Float (feat. blackbear) // Olivia O'Brien

Gladiator // The Girl and The Dreamcatcher

Issues // Julia Michaels

Something Just Like This // The Chainsmokers & Coldplay

Light The Sky // Grace VanderWaal

[theaddictedwatcher]

Hello everyone!

The series I'm going to introduce to you today is very close to my heart, and I'm delighted to have the opportunity to tell you all about it. A science fiction series produced by Graeme Manson and John Fawcett for BBC America, its first season was released in 2013. It consists of five seasons of 10 episodes each, and last year saw the birth of its spin-off. Today, I'm going to talk to you about the Orphan Black series!

As always, let's start with a synopsis that's a little longer than usual: Sarah Manning, a young thief in her twenties, orphaned and penniless, witnesses the suicide of Detective Beth Childs, who looks exactly like her. She decides to assume her identity while erasing her own existence by pretending to have taken her own life. Sarah is also the mother of a little girl, Kira, who is being looked after by Sarah's adoptive mother, Mrs. S. The latter agrees to give her back to her on condition that Sarah can prove that she can be a worthy mother, by bringing in a sum of money to support them. Through Beth's investigations, Sarah learns that they are not just twins and that there are a number of them in North America and Europe. She meets Cosima Niehaus, a scientist specializing in genetics, and Alison Hendrix, a stay-at-home mom living in a comfortable suburb, whom she assists in learning more about their origins. In the course of her investigation, Sarah finds herself in the crossfire between two entities: the Dyad Institute, a powerful biotech consortium; and the Proletians, a sectarian movement convinced that they are abominations and which is behind the hunt for them. The two entities step up their hunt when they learn that Sarah, who has escaped their supervision, has a baby daughter - theoretically impossible since they are supposed to be sterile. Sarah, and those she now considers her sisters, are sometimes on the run from these organisms, sometimes fooled by their manipulations, all the while searching for their origins. And now, a short technical presentation: - Created by: Graeme Mason and John Fawcett - Music by: Trevor Yuile - Main cast: Tatiana Maslany, Jordan Gavaris, Dylan Bruce, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Kevin Hanchard, Michael Mando, Evelyne Brochu, Kristian Bruun, Ari Millen, Josh Vokey.

PRESENTATION

It's going to be pretty difficult to talk about the series without spoiling anything, so I apologize in advance for the slight spoilers present in this article. I'll try as far as possible to limit them or point them out if they're unavoidable, but the main spoiler I can't avoid is the main subject of the series.

As you'll have gathered from the summary, one of the main subjects of the series is human cloning. Indeed, Sarah, Beth, Cosima, Alison, and all the others - all played by Tatiana Maslany (She-Hulk, Chronicle of the Living Dead, The Listener)- are not mere twins, but clones. That's why the Dyad Institute and the Proletians are looking for them, although they don't have the same intentions for them if they find them.

SPOILER + In the final episode of season 1, Cosima discovers that each clone has a different DNA tag based on ASCII-coded base pairs. In addition to the identification code, there is the text "This organism and its derived genetic material are restricted intellectual property." followed by a series of patent numbers. Sarah receives a photograph whose caption suggests that the cloning project that produced it was called "Project Leda". SPOILER END

But that's enough spoilers for now, we can finally start the analysis!

CASTING

At the end of the first season, ten clones of different nationalities and social backgrounds are revealed. Other clones gradually emerge in subsequent seasons. In episode 8 of season 2, Tony, a transgender clone, is introduced. All are played by Tatiana Maslany, who alone plays a good third of the show's characters. Often praised by the press for her acting and the complexity of her roles, it was several years before she received any awards for the series, much to the dismay of fans and the press who couldn't understand why.

In Tatiana Maslany's portrayal of the eight main clones, she was aided by Kathryn Alexandre (Darknet, Saving Hope, Designated Survivor), who acted as her understudy and acted in scenes where several clones interacted. Although she was not credited in the first season's episodes, she was present throughout the series. She doesn't appear on screen as the clones in any of the broadcast episodes, but motion capture and post-production compositing were used to replace her on-screen with Tatiana Maslany's performance. I'll come back a little later in the SPECIAL EFFECTS AND SHOOTING ANECDOTES section to explain how the footage was prepared to facilitate the work of the actresses and the editors. Tatiana Maslany said of Kathryn Alexandre's performance: "She's so incredible. She memorizes all the lines, all my blocks, all her blocks, my mannerisms, my impulses; she somehow memorizes it all and gives it back to me in a performance that I can build on." Kathryn Alexandre had worked as an actor's reader during the casting auditions for the initial production of Orphan Black. She then auditioned for the role of Tatiana Maslany's understudy and won the spot because the producers were looking for, in Kathryn Alexandre's words, "an actor rather than just an understudy".

KNOWN CLONES (SPOILER)

Throughout the series, each Project Leda clone has its own existence and therefore its own relationships. Early on in the series, we meet Alison Hendrix, mother of two and housewife, and her husband Donnie, as well as Cosima Niehaus, a scientist specializing in genetics. Both of them - played by Tatiana Maslany - and the relationships they develop over the series are key elements of the story.

We also encounter other cloning projects with Project Castor. It's revealed that the original samples from the Castor and Leda projects were brother and sister, making all clones genetic siblings. But there's an even stronger link between the two genomes: a single woman, Kendall Malone - played by Alison Steadman (The King's Man: First Mission)-, is in fact the original of both clone lines, as she is a human chimera. We later learn that, in addition to being the donor of the genomes' DNA, she is also the biological mother of Siobhan Sadler - played by Maria Doyle Kennedy (Conjuring 2: The Enfield Case, Outlander, The Tudors)- Sarah and Felix's adoptive mother and Kira's guardian.

Unlike the Project Leda clones, all Project Castor clones are aware of their cloned nature and have been raised together by Dr. Virginia Coady -played by Kyra Harper (Warehouse 13, The Dresden Files)- in a military setting.

As with Tatiana Maslany, Ari Millen (My Life with John F. Donovan, The Expanse), who plays the Project Castor clones, was supported by Nick Abraham as his understudy when necessary.

Other key clones in the story are also introduced in the course of the series, whether allied or not, but I've already told you a lot and wouldn't want to spoil the whole story for those of you who want to watch the series. I'll just end this part by pointing out that the final episode of the series gives us a glimpse of a worldwide count of 274 Leda clones…

OVERVIEW

I'd like to pay tribute to the titanic efforts of the production team, Tatiana Maslany, Ari Millen, and their understudies to achieve such fluidity in the transitions between the various shots and the many (very many!) roles played by the actors. On a personal note, I have to admit that, over and above the story and the investigative aspect, it was Tatiana Maslany's acting that won me over so quickly to the series. What a performance, to know how to nuance her acting to interpret seventeen characters and make them all different and identifiable. Of course, she didn't do it alone: the writing of the story, the artistic team, and the technical team all contributed to this success.

I'd also like to salute the work of Evelyne Brochu (Tom à la ferme, Café de Flore, Paris Police 1900), Jordan Gavaris (Degrassi: Nouvelle Génération, Take Two), and Kevin Hanchard (Suicide Squad, The Expanse, Hudson & Rex), who were great discoveries or rediscoveries for me, giving this series a warm, familiar feel.

The role played by Matt Frewer (Watchmen, Supernatural, Hercules) is also very important, bringing an extra shade of toxicity to this morally dubious universe.

THEMATICS

While we're on the subject of this series' morals, and in particular those of its characters, I'd like to take a moment to focus on certain themes that I feel the series highlights, to open up a dialogue in the viewer's mind about these subjects.

One of the first themes to emerge in the first few episodes is the questioning of patriarchy. Between Sarah's toxic relationship with her drug-dealing ex-partner Victor, and Beth's relationship with Paul, who not only is her partner but also spies on her for the Dyad Institute, the depictions of couple relationships in the very first episodes of the series are very much in favor of patriarchy. These are situations in which the man in the relationship tries to control his partner's every move, but also to control her mentally by exerting moral pressure. What's interesting for me, beyond this faithful depiction of toxic relationships, is that not only did they not stop at showing this pattern in couple relationships, they extended this possibility to professional and family relationships as well, and, throughout the series, deconstructed these patterns by allowing the female characters to free themselves from these holdings, albeit sometimes with very heavy blows, to regain their independence and find themselves again and not the version altered by the male figures in their environment.

What's more, the very existence of clones means that the series tackles the subject of the exploitation of the body, particularly the female body. SPOILER Between the fact that the stem DNA used to create the two clone families comes from one and the same woman, Kendall Malone, and the fact that they're looking for Sarah and Helena because they're the only two clones with the ability to give life (ndlr. Alison and Donnie's children are adopted), something that until now was not possible in experiments, the female body is used as a tool to satisfy unhealthy research carried out by scientists who have no respect for human existence as we know it. END SPOILER

The series is full of strong female characters, from the clones played by Tatiana Maslany to Mrs. S -Sarah and Felix's adoptive mother and Kira's caretaker played by Maria Doyle Kennedy - and Dr. Delphine Cormier - played by Evelyne Brochu - and it's a great way, in my opinion, of popularizing in viewers' minds that deconstructing patriarchy isn't a bad thing and won't lead to the end of the world, as some people seem to think… An evolution, be it moral, sociological, scientific, or other, is not necessarily a bad thing, but we must welcome it and try to understand it before directly considering it as a danger to be eradicated.

But beyond this aspect, for me, there's a real questioning of the capitalist world, which is ready to tolerate or even encourage any experiment as long as it's profitable. Long before Elon Musk and his Neuralink launched in 2016, the series had already understood and set out to denounce the potential excesses of technological developments in the medical field. I'm not saying that there aren't advantages to such advances, particularly if they help to improve or save lives, as long as they are governed by strict rules, particularly concerning experimentation, whether animal or human, as was the case with Project Dolly in Scotland in the late 90s, to which the very theme of the series refers.

For those of you who don't know, Project Dolly is a sheep famous for being the first mammal clone in history, obtained from the nucleus of the mammary gland of an adult sheep. The nucleus of this cell, containing the entire genetic make-up, is injected into the egg cell of another ewe, from which the original nucleus has been removed. In this way, the nuclear DNA of the first ewe replaces that of the second in the latter's egg cell. 277 egg cells are created, giving rise to around 30 embryos. Only one of these develops into an adult. For the first time, a viable being resulting from this cloning technique survives. Scottish scientists named the sheep "Dolly" after the American singer Dolly Parton, renowned for the generosity of her breasts because the cloning was carried out using mammary gland cells.

The media hype surrounding this project has given rise to the misconception that a clone is a carbon copy of another individual. The identity is that of the nuclear DNA, which implies that the clone is neither genetically identical to another individual, since the genetic heritage is made up of the nuclear DNA contained in the nucleus of the organism's cells and the mitochondrial DNA contained in the cytoplasm of the ovum (and therefore also in the enucleated ovum); nor an identical physiognomy as a result of the role of the environment in which the DNA is expressed, and even if a great resemblance exists, it is ultimately less than that which exists between homozygous twins.

Cloning from differentiated cells of an adult organism represents a major breakthrough in the scientific world. It proves that the regulation of gene expression is reversible, and opens the door to the production of transgenic animals (with extra genes, such as those encoding human proteins used for medical purposes) or animals with special qualities. This could be an interesting technique for safeguarding endangered species.

The same Scottish team cloned 13 ewes, including 4 in 2007 (Debbie, Denise, Diana and Daisy) from the mammary gland cell line that gave birth to Dolly 10 years earlier. Unlike Dolly, these ewes show no signs of accelerated aging. While less than 3% of cloned embryos were born healthy in 1996, this proportion has risen to over 20% for the cohort of ewes in 2016.

To my mind, the potential scientific aberrations of such discoveries are one of the things the series wants to warn us against, and it's all to its credit when we see in the media today all the madness that laboratories are capable of producing under cover of private funding… All progress is good to take as long as it's useful for improving the comfort of life for everyone, but also as long as it's accessible to all and not reserved for a privileged class who has the financial means to afford it. Here's a link to an article that goes into more depth about the biomedical criminality present in Orphan Black.

Finally, I'd also like to talk about representation in this series. With a predominantly female cast thanks to the various clones played by Tatiana Maslany, the series offers a very diverse range of female characters, but not only. It also offers a fine representation of LGBT characters that I won't name to keep you surprised. Whether it's several lesbian couples, gay encounters, or even a transgender character, the series gives pride of place to this community which, for once in a time, is represented outside the clichés. Indeed, they are portrayed as any heterosexual or cisgender person (cisgender: a person in agreement with his or her birth gender, the opposite of transgender) and it's refreshing not to find the scenarist facilities too often used or to have characters portrayed as excessive, "freaks". Whatever your sexual orientation or gender identity, everyone is entitled to self-respect, and it was a real balm for me at the time to see such characters on my screen.

PRODUCTION

Casting for the lead role was announced on September 17, 2012. Although Canadian actor Elliot Page was considered for the lead role, Susan and Sharon Forrest, in charge of casting the series, chose to give the role to another Canadian, Tatiana Maslany. The rest of the main cast was announced at the end of October 2012 as filming for the first season began in Toronto.

In March 2014, BBC Worldwide North America signed an agreement with Amazon for exclusive broadcast rights to the series on Amazon Prime Instant Video. The quality of the series, which is worth watching in one sitting, was cited as one of the main reasons for Amazon's interest. In April 2014, the airing of the first episode of the series' second season recorded a 91% audience increase in the 18-49 age group in cumulative TV broadcast audiences plus Amazon Prime Instant Video. In fact, this increase can be explained by the possibility of viewing the episode after it has been broadcast, which makes it easier for viewers to watch. This is the biggest increase for any first-run drama series on cable this season.

In April 2014, writer Stephen Hendricks sued the BBC and Temple Street for $5 million, alleging that they had stolen the idea for Orphan Black from him. He had submitted a script written in the late 1990s, entitled Double Double to Temple Street in 2004, who then considered and ultimately rejected it.

SPECIAL EFFECTS AND FILMING ANECDOTES

Scenes in which Tatiana Maslany has several simultaneous roles were filmed several times using carriage-mounted motion control cameras that reproduce the movement between each take. This device, the Technodolly, is referred to as the "Time Vampire" on the Orphan Black set because of the length of time several clone scenes take in the production schedule. In these scenes, Tatiana Maslany first plays the scene with her understudy Kathryn Alexandre in the alternate clone role, then alone in the same clone role, then alone in the alternate clone, then a fourth time with the scene filmed with just the camera movement for a background plate. Suspended tennis balls help the actress maintain appropriate sight lines. In post-production, Kathryn Alexandre and the tennis balls are replaced by Tatiana Maslany's footage from alternative shots, allowing for more action in the scenes where she interacts with herself. In the season 2 finale, when one scene required the presence of four different clones, two days of shooting and several additional body doubles were used to create the effect, and the post-production work of Geoff Scott and his team at Intelligent Creatures VFX would have taken hundreds of hours to complete.

Tatiana Maslany created different music playlists to help her distinguish the many clone personalities she embodies. She also used dance to develop the physicality of the characters, including their postures, gestures, and movements and drew on her experience in improvisation to develop the characters more fully.

The character of Cosima is named after science historian Cosima Herter, a friend of showrunner Graeme Manson, and a scientific consultant on the series. Cosima Herter works with the writers to ensure the plausibility of cloning and other scientific aspects of the series, as well as the complexity of the philosophical and ethical concerns it raises.

Make-up artist Stephen Lynch, hairstylist Sandy Sokolowski, and wardrobe supervisor Debra Hanson are instrumental in creating the visual differences needed to distinguish each clone. Indeed, their work is often used to develop the characters' personalities before lines of dialogue are even written. The screenwriters use the character of each personality as reflected in their physical appearances and clothing to refine the moods and nuances of the characters.

The drawings of Sarah's daughter Kira in the series are created by Sash Kosovic, a member of the art department.

In season 4, a reference to the scientific cloning of Dolly the sheep is made through a sheep's head mask worn by a character to keep his identity secret.

SHOOTING LOCATIONS

Orphan Black was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, but it's not specified whether the series was set in Canada. Graeme Manson said in 2014 that the setting was deliberately ambiguous: "It's supposed to be Generica. It's part of the price you pay for this kind of co-production.". John Fawcett agreed, saying "to be honest, we don't want to say we're American and alienate Canadians, or say we're Canadian and alienate Americans. The fact is, we're one big happy family. We're just a little further north than you are. Grantland's Tara Ariano argued that this ambiguity is "a bold new way for a producer to work within the restrictions of CanadaCon: place your show in Canada (technically), employ a Canadian crew, air it on a Canadian channel… and make room for recurring guest stars like Maria Doyle Kennedy… by casting a Canadian in nearly a dozen roles.".

But beyond that, the Canadian location was apparent through details such as Ontario license plates, Beth and Mrs. S.'s Ontario driver's licenses, the currency used, scripted references to the Ontario suburb of Scarborough and Toronto's Parkdale, and a plane ticket in the pilot episode identifying Toronto's Pearson International Airport. Bridgepoint Health and Toronto's Don Jail are stand-ins for the exterior of the Dyad Institute. Scenes set in the Scarborough suburb where Alison lives are actually shot in Markham, Ontario, a suburb immediately north of Scarborough. However, details are often deliberately obscured; American pronunciations of words like "lieutenant" are used.

The co-production also influenced another important aspect of the series: Sarah's British accent and origins. John Fawcett explained that BBC America had asked them to make the main character British, which she wasn't originally, to better match the BBC brand. John Fawcett, however, saw this directive as an advantage, as it made it easy to differentiate Sarah from the other clones and broaden the geographical scope of the series' plot.

OTHER MEDIA

COMICS

In July 2014, a comic book series published by IDW Publishing was announced. The series, whose first issue was released in February 2015, is co-written by series creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson. A new issue was published monthly until July 2015, when the last of the five contracted issues was published. The issues in order feature Sarah, Helena, Alison, Cosima, and Rachel.

The comic book miniseries was conceived as a way of conveying information about the clones' past and childhood without interrupting the fast-paced TV series. It is presented as an extended universe featuring off-screen events not shown in the episodes. The comics are directly linked to the events of the first season of the series, to anchor the comics in the already established universe. The mini-series offers audiences the opportunity to better understand the emotions, thoughts, and feelings underlying the characters in the TV series.

In August 2015, the comic's conclusion revealed another self-aware clone: Veera Suominen. She was thought to be one of the clones executed in Helsinki, but she survived. The next comic, Orphan Black: Helsinki, published in November 2015, expanded on her character.

AUDIO SERIES

In June 2019, a 10-episode audio series entitled Orphan Black: The Next Chapter was announced, with Tatiana Maslany reprising her role. Serving as an official continuation of the series, it takes place eight years after the series finale. Malka Older is the showrunner with Mishell Baker, Lindsay Smith, Heli Kennedy, Madeline Ashby, and E.C. Myers as writers.

The series is broadcast via the Serial Box platform and the first episode was made available on September 12, 2019. Since then it can be found on YouTube via the link above, or on Spotify and Audible.

A second season aired in October 2021, co-produced by Realm and AMC Networks, adding original cast members Jordan Gavaris, Kristian Bruun, and Evelyne Brochu to the cast.

MUSIC

In May 2015, two compilations of the series' soundtrack were released by Varèse Sarabande Records. These two compilations include music from seasons 1 and 2 with compositions made by Trevor Yuile for the series but also music made by other artists such as Tears For Fears and featured in Orphan Black.

The series' main theme, Theme From Orphan Black, is composed and performed by Two Fingers, a Brazilian musician-composer and producer of electronic music, and features on both compilations.

As usual, I'm also attaching the link to listen to the entire series soundtrack. Just as Tatiana Maslany has done to immerse herself in her characters, I find that the soundtrack not only perfectly reflects the different personalities of the clones, but also underlines every aspect of the plot's stakes.

SPIN-OFF

In March 2019, it was announced that a new series set in the Orphan Black universe was in development at AMC, to be produced by Temple Street Productions just as Orphan Black had been. In February 2022, it was announced that Anna Fishko would be the writer of this new story set thirty-seven years after the end of the original series.

Entitled Orphan Black: Echoes, the series follows Kira Manning -played by Keeley Hawes-, now an adult turned doctor, and her wife Eleanor -played by Rya Kihlstedt, as they try to help a woman named Lucy -played by Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones, Don't Trust the B*tch in Apartment 23)- who has become amnesiac following a surgery she underwent.

A ten-episode first season began its run in June 2024 and, so far, we don't know if the series will be renewed for a second season as Season 1 airs until the end of August in the US. Series creator Anna Fishko has revealed, however, that she has the entire storyline already planned and is ready to continue the project if the series' ratings allow. Only time will tell, then, whether we'll get the rest of this adventure... 

Returning from the original series are Jordan Gavaris who played Felix, Sarah's adoptive brother and therefore Kira's uncle, and Evelyne Brochu who played Dr. Delphine Cormier, Cosima's partner and genetic researcher. The original series theme composed by Two Fingers is also used as the closing credits for the spin-off.

CONCLUSION

And that's it for this series! Sorry again for the delay, it was a big piece for me to write. I hope you've enjoyed reading it all, and that I've succeeded in making you want to watch the series.

I'm aware that some of the scenes in the series may be difficult for some people to watch, because the subjects it tackles are very real, and I find it easy as a viewer to identify with some of the characters, or at least to sympathize with the ordeals they go through.

I really enjoyed discovering it when it first came out, and I hope I'll have the opportunity to watch it again with more experienced eyes, given the themes it tackles.

As for the comics, the spin-off, and the audio series, I haven't yet had the chance to delve into them, and although I'd like to, I'm afraid it would spoil my fond memories of the series. But never say never, so why not maybe one day...

On that note, I'll leave you after this far-too-long article!

As always, I wish you a wonderful week and good viewing, and I'll see you next time!

Eli

[grindy-cog]

How can you ship Malex or like Maria after what she and Michael did to Alex? It's disgusting! Didn't know you were into non-con, just filter them.

Hi Anon,

Well, I’m sorry to see that something is obviously triggering you but there’s a simple solution to that - unfollow me, block me, forget this blog exists. I’m not going to filter them in any way but you certainly can on your Tumblr - you know, your safe space?

But well, since you actually came to my blog and made it my problem, I’ll bite. What non-con are you talking about? The infamous threesome? Well, guess what? I didn’t like it either! Not the way the writers decided to deliver it, anyway. But to say that Alex was actually forced to participate by either Michael or Maria… Have we even watched the same scene? Don’t get me wrong, I wish I had known it was coming, I wish I could unsee it somehow but wtf, Anon?

Why some of you are acting as if Alex was some fragile little boy with no way to protect himself? News flash, out of the three of them, he was the trained killer there! And like it or not, it’s canon that he always had power over Michael. I fear to know what it had to be like in the RNM fandom when that scene was first aired, if this is how some of you are still acting 4-5 years later.

The reason why I personally hate that writing choice, is because of how unhealthy it was for each and every single one of them, yet it hadn’t been talked about by them later on. They were all in a really bad mental state that night, Maria included! You lot like to forget about the fact that she was losing her mum and learning upsetting things about herself and her family. Michael was the worst of them three at that point and Alex, while being hurt that night, was in fact in the best mental condition, though that doesn’t say much, given how he did let his demons and insecurity do a number on him. It had been shown the morning after, when he was the only one to say that - feeling loved or not - maybe they shouldn’t have done that.

So yeah, Anon. It was unhealthy, maybe even disgusting in some ways; born out of deep self loathing, pain, loneliness and desperation of each party involved, but was sure as hell FULLY consensual. Cause if you want to see it as non-con on Alex, then you must see that he did just the same to Michael and Maria.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

[melis-writes]

one of vic’s ribs gets cracked during her pregnancy so michael dotes on her 🥺🥺

Omg all the Michael and Victoria fluff, love, and Michael taking care of her while she recovers. 🥺😭 I love this!! Michael being so tender, soft and gentle with his wife. 😌❤️

“I’m eager to meet them,” Michael murmured, gently rubbing over your almost nine-month old baby bump. “It won’t be long now.”

Blushing, you smiled down at your baby bump and placed your hands over top of Michael’s. “We’ll get to see this little one in just a week from now. Do you think it’ll be a boy or a girl?”

“Mm,” Michael’s eyes met yours. “I have a feeling it’s another boy.”

“Verona wants a baby sister so badly,” you chuckled quietly. “I can’t blame her.”

“Neither can I,” Michael kissed your cheek softly, lacing both of his hands with yours. “I’m no different. If it’s a girl, what would you like to name her?”

“I have so many name ideas for a baby girl, but…” You exhaled softly, resting your head against Michael’s shoulder. “I love the name ‘Maria’ so much. It’s stuck with me.”

“Maria,” Michael repeated, nodding. “A beautiful name. I agree.”

“And if it’s a boy, we’ve decided on James, haven’t we?” You smiled up at your husband shyly.

“That’s right, darling,” Michael murmured against your cheek before giving it another kiss. “A week from now and we’ll find out. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

On your fourth planned pregnancy, you and Michael both didn’t anticipated it would be filled with heavy nausea, consistent morning sickness and dizziness based on your pregnancy experience with Vincent a year and a half ago.

While the full term of your pregnancy went well with Vincent and with less fatigue and sickness that you felt pregnant with the twins, giving birth was almost twice as much more painful due to the knife injury in your side Kay caused.

Fully recovered from that with barely a mark to remember it by now almost two years later, you certainly didn’t expect to cut your work and regular duties and hobbies short with your fourth pregnancy now.

Michael has always been cautious, extra protective and caring towards you from the first day of all of your pregnancies all the way up until you’ve recovered from the aftermath of birth, but the two of you never limited your daily activities or intimacy until the six-month mark.

This time around with your fourth pregnancy, you took a break from work and spent most of your day resting and with the children due to the restless and nausea four months in.

Reassured it’s no health complications with you nor the baby by Doctor Katherine and Mama Corleone, the same couldn’t be said for Michael.

Michael wanted you checked up on by the doctor and a specialist in childbirth and pregnancy several times a week. Any pains, discomfort or concerns would be resolved with instantly, even if it was in the middle of the night.

When your pregnancy cravings settled in wanting apple slices smothered in peanut butter or fried pickles, Michael made sure you never waited long just as he made sure you took on no burden of a task or strained yourself in any way.

Grateful and appreciative for your husband’s relentless support and gentle care, you knew unfortunately neither Sandra nor Theresa had the same type of care when they were pregnant from Sonny or Tom.

The timing and your contractions lined up well throughout your last pregnancies spent in the hospital, but your water had broke and time was not on your side when it was time to give birth to your baby.

“AH!” You shrieked out in pain and clutched onto your baby bump as Doctor Katherine and the two nurses Michael hired for your aid surrounded you—quick to carefully lay you down against spare pillows and cushions.

Michael rushed into the living room, panicked and alarmed by the sight of you being consoled at home rather than being immediately brought to the hospital.

“Victoria?! What’s going on here?” Michael narrowed his eyes, storming in. “She’s giving birth—why isn’t she being taken to—”

“There’s no time, Mr. Corleone!” Doctor Katherine frowned, snatching a pair of towels one of the nurses handed her. “The baby is coming, it’s far too late.”

“M-Michael!” You cried and reached your hand out to your husband for support.

Michael had been all but too used to waiting in hospital lobbies for hours as you were in labour; sitting, wondering in anxiety and curiosity, worrying about you and taking the doctor’s words with a grain of salt.

If Michael couldn’t be there with you at your hour of need, especially when you were giving birth to his child, pained and stressed for hours, nothing else would satisfy him. Mere observations weren’t enough for him, but having you give birth at home and in front of Michael was something else altogether.

By your side and accompanied by Mama Corleone, Connie, Sandra and Theresa for all the support and care you could need, Michael held your hand and was with you from the first set of contractions onward.

“It’s alright, darling. Breathe, just breathe,” Michael would whisper in your ear, wiping away your tears and the sweat forming on your forehead. “You can do this, baby. I’m here. I’m with you.”

Although the bleeding was controlled well and the nurses administered some painkillers under Doctor Katherine’s discretion, a home birth was truly not much different from that at the hospital.

Going through agonizing contractions again and again, the pain of pushing your body to the limit as your baby is ready to be born was and is the same anywhere.

The sheer difference lies in the fact that Michael was there to witness you give birth and keep you comfortable and calm like nobody else could.

With each wave of contractions or doctor’s commands, Michael understood all the more that his role as your husband and by your side during birth could only be for love and support no matter how much pain you were going through.

Michael had never witnessed a live birth of any kind before nor did he truly understand the complications and complexities of childbirth but he felt in his core he was witnessing a beautiful, sacred moment; the moment baby James was finally born.

Instead of rejoicing instantly with tears of joy at the birth of your fourth child, all you could do was succumb to the stinging, numbing pain in your ribs the moment James was born.

Michael was the first to realize something was gravely wrong when you screamed out in pain and weakly clutched your side.

One of your ribs had cracked during birth and Doctor Katherine immediately came to tend for it and get you in a comfortable position away from the blood and fluids of birth.

The nurses cut the umbilical cord in front of Michael and wrapped your newborn, crying baby in a towel—wasting no time.

Groaning out in pain and barely able to keep your eyes open, you succumbed to losing consciousness but you did so in your husband’s arms—held and cared for by Michael.

When you awoke, you did so again next to Michael who had waited for you to regain consciousness for two hours—holding your baby son in his arms.

Cleaning up after birth and snuggling up with your baby continuously under care, you felt weakened from your injury and could barely sit up or make any sudden moves which only amplified Michael’s protectiveness over you.

“Oh my God…” You groan softly, writhing against your pillow. “It feels so tender.”

“I know, darling, I know,” Michael gently presses an icepack over your fractured rib, watching for your reactions. “This will ease off some of the pain until the medication begins to take over.”

“How’s the bruising?” You weakly gaze back at Michael. “I can’t even explain to you how sore it feels, baby. Urgh…”

“It’s getting better,” Michael notes, applying a little bit more pressure with the icepack. “You’re recovering, sweetheart, but it’s going to take a lot more time for your rib to heal.”

“Mm…” You nod back at Michael, lacing a hand with his free one. “Rest and lots of rest… Doctor’s orders.”

“Four more weeks,” Michael leans in, planting a soft kiss over your forehead. “I don’t want you to put any sort of stress or strain on your body whatsoever. You’re already recovering from birth.”

“I’m telling you—” You crack a smile, looking up at Michael. “The moment I can move like normal again, I’m gonna run around the entire compound just because I can.”

Michael chuckles quietly, raising your hand up to his lips. “That is your right. I won’t stop you. How do you feel, sweetheart?”

“Very sore and tender all over,” you groan softly. “Like the weight of the world is on my side.”

“Here,” Michael carefully adjusts the pillows underneath you for full support, keeping the icepack pressed to your side. “I want you completely comfortable. I’ll be keeping the ice pack here to rest against your side and prevent against swelling.”

“T-thank you, baby.” You breathe out shakily, “all of this back to back has been a ‘surprise’, hasn’t it?”

Michael shakes his head, “the important thing is that you’re relaxed, comfortable and continue to recover. Everything else can wait for all I care.”

You let go of Michael’s hand, lazily caressing the side of his face. “The last thing I want to do is simply be helpless and lay here—”

“You’re not helpless,” Michael kisses your knuckles, rubbing over the back of your hand. “But I am grateful. You gave birth to our fourth child. The amount of stress and strain over your body must be overwhelming. It wasn’t easy for you and I won’t pretend it was. Not now, and certainly not for the past nine months.”

“You’re a good man, Michael.” You whisper back, unable to hold back your smile. “I love you, baby, but I’m the grateful one here. You’re taking all the time out of your day that you can to take care of me.”

“And I will continue to,” Michael insists, “for however long it takes.” Michael kisses over the back of your hand again and again, keeping his eyes on you. “I love you. I want nothing but the best care for you.”

Extra gentle and caring with you, Michael’s refused to sit at the dining table with everyone only to face your empty seat.

Continuing to go on about his day and leave you alone in bed isn’t an option Michael would ever choose to take.

Resting against his back in the warm bath and letting the water gently soothe and wash over the bruise upon your ribcage, you peek back at your husband whose fingers stroke through your hair lathered in shampoo—refusing to do anything else but take care of you.

After all, you are the woman of Michael’s dreams, the love of his life, his best friend, his wife, and the mother to his now four children. Michael knows you deserve the world and nothing less, and he insistent on giving it to you himself.

[winterstarfall]

anya/dmitry arranged marriage au i'm not finishing

Anastasia is not entirely sure how she ended up in this position. Her knee will not cease bouncing on its own no matter how many times she forces it to stop, even though there is no one else outside in the gardens with her. Jimmy sits at her feet, mournful eyes gazing up at her with his head resting on his front paws.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Anastasia’s murmurs, giving up on her embroidery. “You would have done the same.” She pauses. “Well, perhaps if you were human, too.”

Jimmy whines.

They had been under house arrest for over a year, her sisters and her own hair only just reaching their shoulders again after their bout with measles last winter. Russia is transformed, soldiers are in their home and a government has the power her father once did. There had been hints from Colonel Kobylinsky for a long while that they would be moved elsewhere, possibly out of the country. Those hints had stopped quickly when the White army began to descend on the new Provisional Government.

So they have not moved, and her father no longer has any power despite still retaining the title of Emperor. They have been trapped in limbo in Tsarskoye Selo since the revolution because no one knows what to do with them. Until now.

Tatiana looked confused when their parents had gravely sat them down to explain. Her father looks as if he has aged twenty years and her mother’s hair is greying. “A show of unity?”

Anastasia’s head swam with outrage. Olga echoed the same thoughts. “Unity? After they have held us hostage, taken all our friends away and killed half our family?!”

“Olya, quiet,” their mother hissed, although her hands shook.

It is incomprehensible, the grief they have been feeling. Uncle Michael and Aunt Elizabeth deaths mere months ago, a dozen more since then.

“What unity, Mama?” Maria asked, seemingly realising at the same time as her sisters that perhaps this could finally end the last year of bloodshed and anxiety.

Nicholas and Alexandra glanced at one another. Dread spread in Anastasia’s stomach.

“If we are to remain here, even as - figureheads,” Nicholas almost spat the word out, “in order to keep the throne…one of you are to wed a man of the new governments choosing.”

The cries of protest went up immediately. Anastaisa leapt to her feet, Olga began shouting shrilly, Tatiana stuttered and Maria’s hands slapped over her mouth, horrified.

“Girls, please -” their mother begged, tears in her eyes.

“You want us to marry one of them?” Anastasia shrieked.

“You would not be taking his name! He will take ours, and the children -”

“Children?” Olga looked as though she was about to faint. “Papa, you can’t be serious -”

“Who did you choose?” Tatiana suddenly cut in. “You’ve decided already, haven't you?”

Nicholas bowed his head. Anastasia sank back into her chair. “Who, Papa?” She whispered.

When his gaze turned to Maria - sweet, innocent, daydreaming Mashka - the girl's eyes widened in horror.

“No,” Maria whispered.

“Mashka,” their mother started gently, reaching over to take her young daughter's hand. “It will not be so bad. You children will be the heirs -”

“Mama, no,” Maria began to cry, as did Olga and Tatiana.

It shamed Anastasia to think that it made sense. Her parents would never allow Olga, their eldest child to be married off to a Bolshevik, and Tatiana has always resisted her duties in favour of nursing. Maria was the next obvious choice to produce an heir, as it was now clear Alexei would never ascend to be Emperor.

All Maria used to speak off was marriage and children, playing with her little dolls pretending they were babies, gushing about the soldier she would someday marry and the houseful of children they would have. Anastasia’s heart pounded, thinking of her sister forced to marry a man who will show her no love or care, forced to bear his children, made to be a humiliation by the new government.

She couldn’t allow it. Not to Maria.

“No,” Anastasia said loudly, ending the argument that had broken out over Maria’s sobbing. “No.”

“Nastya -” her father warned.

“I will do it.” She straightened, determined. “I will marry the Bolshevik’s choosing.”

They all stared at her, stunned.

“Anastasia, you can’t -” Maria begged.

“I am the youngest,” Aanastasia declares, “I am - the one who has been difficult, unladylike, the shvibzik. If they must humiliate one of us, it will be me, not Mashka. I won’t allow it.” Clearing her throat, she levels with her fathers surprised gaze. “I am of age, father. Let it be me.”

And goodness knows, she would not give the man they chose a second of peace. If anyone could fight and claw her way through a betrothal, it would be her.

So here Anastasia is, a sacrificial lamb for her family, waiting in the gardens while her parents and some politicians iron out the details for the rest of her life.

The late September breeze chills her, but she still refuses to go back inside, unable to stand Maria’s tearful guilty eyes, Olga and Tatiana’s sorrowful looks. She can’t show doubt in front of them, not after she had offered herself up in exchange so quickly.

Jimmy leaps to his feet, tail wagging when Anastasia stands up. Huddled in her coat, she starts to walk briskly towards the flower patch, embroidery abandoned behind her. There are soldiers scattered around, some openly watching her with disdain and others not even acknowledging her passing. Anastasia holds her chin high, refusing to cower for men who don’t know her at all.

The vegetable garden they had planted in the spring is starting to freeze over now. She hopes they are still here to replant it when it has thawed.

Turning at a dying bush, Jimmy weaving between her legs, Anastasia suddenly stops dead.

There is a boy, standing in front of the aster flower bush. His hands trail down a stem before he snaps one off, fingertips tracing its purple petals.

Anastasia frowns. “Might I ask why you are stealing from our garden?” She says loudly in Russian, feeling an odd thrill when the boy startles. He whips around, flower hastily hidden behind his back.

His dark eyes are wide with surprise and guilt, but for half a heartbeat he seems dazzled by her. He is skinny and wearing clothes that are clearly not his own based on the awkward way he moves in them, save for the worn brown coat. He looks gaunt, ill fed and poor, but he doesn’t look like the other soldiers, either. He doesn’t even have a gun.

“Um,” he tries.

Anastasia almost smiles as she approaches. “You needn’t hide it. They’re beautiful flowers - my sisters like to press them in books.”

The boy blinks, watching her pick one of her own. “Thank you, ma’am.” Anastasia raises her eyebrows but doesn’t correct his address. He’s much taller than her, with curling brown hair hidden under a cap. She’s never seen him before.

Jimmy bounds back towards the house. Anastasia lets him go.

“What is your name?”

He clears his throat. “Dmitry Constantinovich. You’re the Tsar’s daughter.”

Anastasia looks up at him. Perhaps he’s a servant she’s never seen before? It seems unlikely, given the close quarters they have all been living in with the sentries. “Do you work for my father, Dmitry Constantinovich?”

Dmitry’s jaw tenses, enhancing the small scar on his cheek where a dimple would be. He does not want to be having this conversation with her. “No, I don’t.”

“But you’re not a soldier either.” She is not asking him now.

They stare at one another for a long moment when he doesn't answer. He is handsome, she observes, perhaps not much older than her. His mouth seems to be set in a permanent line, hardening features that could otherwise be good looking if someone took the care to notice.

Dmitry is the first to look away, the flower he was hiding behind him reappearing. Anastasia holds her own up. “They will be out of season soon, when winter comes. We won’t see them again until spring.”

“You haven’t told me your name,” Dmitry says, sounding slightly less annoyed.

“And you already know I’m the Tsar’s daughter,” she goads him, then scowls. “Though I doubt anyone will think of me as that once I’m married off to some abȃtari soldier.”

Dmitry stares at her. “What?”

Anastasia isn’t sure if he’s confused by the statement or the French insult. “This - new government wants a show of unity from us, and have declared I am to marry one of theirs so my family can survive.” Temper flaring, she presses the pad of her thumb into the spiny edges of the aster’s stem until it bleeds. Angry red blossoms over her skin, running over the side of nail. She licks it off, absently wiping it on her coat. “They wanted Mashka, but I wouldn’t let them. Not to her. She is too good to be sold off to some cruel man for the sake of the throne .”

“But you’re not?” Dmitry is confused, frowning.

Anastasia shrugs. “She is my sister. I would do anything for her.”

“Even marry a bastard soldier,” Dmitry repeats, recognition suddenly changing his tone. “You’re Anastasia Nikolaevna, not Maria.”

She tilts her head. “Why, were you expecting someone else?”

“Apparently not.” He looks away. “You’re certainly not what I expected.”

Anastasia frowns. “Who exactly are you? You’re not a servant or a soldier, so what are you doing here?”

“Anastasia! What are you doing out here?!”

She jumps, dropping her aster and trying to mask the burst of guilt she’s feeling. Though she’s not sure what she’s done wrong.

Count Popov hurries towards them, straightening his waistcoat. Anastasia resists the urge to giggle - Vlad has always resembled a flustered bear to her, always blundering and rushing with something. She’s glad he’s still with them. “Is there a problem, Vlad? I just wanted -“

“Why, child, you mustn’t be out here without a chaperone!” He barely acknowledges Dmitry, who is now looking extremely uncomfortable.

“Chaperone?” Anastasia almost scoffs. “I’m only talking to -“

“You mustn’t be alone with your betrothed, Your Grace.”

Betrothed?

Anastasia’s eyes whip back to Dmitry, who at least has the good graces to look guilty. Of course he knew. Of course she is the last to know.

It’s only her future they’re deciding.

“You were expecting Maria,” she manages.

He has no response to that, except now he can’t meet her eyes.

“Be that as it may,” Vlad hastily interjects, “child, you parents insist on seeing you.” He pauses to glance at Dmitry. “Both of you.”

Anastasia fights to compose herself. “Vlad, would you please tell my parents we will join them shortly?”

Vlad casts a look between her and Dmitry, but he is her fathers man before anything, and will do as he’s told. He bows slightly to Anastasia, before heading back to the palace.

Left alone once more, Anastasia looks at Dmitry - really looks at him this time. He is handsome, she can admit that much, in a rugged way. He’s clearly anxious but trying to hide it. Something they both have in common, at least. She can’t help noticing his nose is crooked from a previous break, and he self-consciously rubs it when he sees her staring.

Anastasia clears her throat. “So,” she starts, “you are who I am to be pawned off to.”

Dmitry flinches. “Anya -”

“It is Anastasia,” she snaps heatedly, fury flaring in her chest. She digs her fingernails into her palms, forcing herself to tamper it down. She approaches him boldly, not breaking eye contact even when she has to tilt her head up to meet them. He doesn’t move, letting her stand toe to toe with him.

There are inches between them now, and Anastasia feels something beneath her anger that she refuses to think about for another second.

“I am marrying you to save my family,” she reminds him, “and I would imagine you agreed to this - arrangement for you own reasons, too. So I want you to understand, Dmitry Constantinovich - I will be your wife, and I will do what is expected of me for the benefit of my family, but you and I will never be friends. Do I make myself clear?”

Dmitry’s jaw is clenched, shoulders tense. Anastasia refuses to look away until he answers. Eventually, his head bows slightly. “Yes - Anastasia.”

The air between them is taunt. Anastasia takes a step back, fighting an urge to shiver. She nods, straightening up. “Then I trust you will be able to make yourself back inside.”

Not waiting for an answer, Anastasia turns on her heel and marches back through the gardens, fists clenched the entire time.

-

Dmitry sleeps on the floor.

They have given him a room with a bed, but the mattress is too soft - Dmitry feels he might sink straight through and drown in it. He’s never slept on anything softer than bags of wood chips before.

Lying on the floor with a too-soft pillow and a blanket probably worth more rubles than the sum of his life, Dmitry stares at the ceiling. It’s too quiet here - he’s spent nineteen years of his life being lulled to sleep by Saint Petersburg's chatter, it’s blistering cold and noisy cobblestones. The silence here is too loud, too alien, grating in his ears. He had tried to remember familiar sounds, the distant wail of a train, the clatter of horse hooves, muffled conversations of evening workers and late-night revellers - he could almost smell the distinct blend of coal smoke and damp stone. But the more he tried to immerse himself in the memory, the more it slipped away.

Dmitry breathes loud and deliberately, just for something to hear. Glancing at the window, he briefly considers escaping through it, to run back to his place in the shadows, go back to his life of lying and scheming.

He’d probably be killed before even reaching the ground.

He wonders if he will ever feel at home here, amongst grandeur he has only ever heard about and once dreamed of.

If father could see me now, he thinks bitterly.

Constantine Sudayev was a man hardened by a life of struggle, whose lessons were often as harsh as the Russian winters. His father had always preached resilience, the necessity to adapt and survive no matter the circumstances. Yet, here Dmitry is, struggling to adapt to comfort.

It would be easy to blame his father for this, for keeping the company he did that handed him death in a labour camp and saw Dmitry forced to marry a Romanov, the very people Constantine and the Bolsheviks had schemed to overthrow.

Dmitry isn’t sure if his father would be proud or horrified. He’s not sure he wants to know.

[sparkykitsune]

Lackadaisy X Persona 3 AU

Been thinking about doing an AU with this idea since I think my P3 cat designs can pass off as Lackadaisy designs for the most part

little premise of this AU: SEES is a speakeasy set during the Roaring 20s (haven't figured an abbreviation for this SEES), and they have to compete with the Marigolds and the eponymous Lackadaisy (canon Lackadaisy cat cameo perhaps)

Notable character name changes (I haven't decided on new surnames yet): Makoto -> Michael Yukari -> Yvonne Junpei -> Juniper Mittens (Mitsuru) -> Maria (but she's still called Mittens; I can't call her Mitzi for obvious reasons) Akihiko -> Andrew Fuuka -> Flora Aigis -> Angela (but called Aigis as a play on "I guess") Koromaru -> Shiro Ken -> Kenneth (but called Ken for short) Shinjiro -> Shane

Some other tidbits (contains some canon stuff from Persona 3 but altered to fit the Lackadaisy world):

All characters are aged up to adults to fit the Lackadaisy theme (Ken is the youngest, he's 18)

Michael's parents died when he was young, so he lived with his extended family before leaving home at age 18 and somehow managing to land himself in the position as a rum runner

Yvonne's father was killed by a drunk driver when she was little, and she didn't think she'd end up as a rum runner many years later much to her dismay (as she detests alcohol combined with her father's death)

Juniper works as the bartender for the speakeasy, and he does consider it as an "escape" from his insecurities and such while talking with patrons at the bar. He seems to have a crush on one of the bar's regulars

Maria's family runs SEES (Ikutsuki isn't here in this AU), but she's the sole heir of the speakeasy as her father passed away

Andrew's backstory is the same as canon (him, his sister and Shane were living in an orphanage but his sister died), he doesn't dare tell his foster parents that he's working as a rum runner

Flora's parents are doctors in this universe but Flora ran away from home because of pressure and wound up working at the speakeasy (her medical knowledge does come in handy, and she has some mechanic skills as well that she learned in her spare time growing up)

Angela suffered from a brain injury and damaged her amygdala, so she's rather "robotic" and emotionless, she's most certainly "enigmatic" as she's rather shut in about her past (she's just a regular of the bar that ended up as part of the speakeasy staff)

Shiro and his owner came from Japan* but his owner was killed on the job as a rum runner. Shiro is currently a stray dog that's looked after by SEES and Shane (dogs do exist as pets in Lackadaisy)

Kenneth's mom was killed (as a bystander) when Shane shot her, and he joins the speakeasy as a ploy for revenge. Kenneth is also 18 in this AU (but much like Freckle, he's short and has a babyface)

Shane left the speakeasy and lives on the streets homeless out of guilt on what happened

A lot of character dynamics are mostly the same as in the actual game (like Juniper and Yvonne bantering etc)

Strega doesn't exist in this AU but the three members of Strega still appear as characters (homeless trio)

*I'm aware that shiba inus didn't come to America until the 1950s but like, Lackadaisy itself does contain a few minor anachronisms so it probably won't affect anything

[notsowrites]

i'll save you a seat

Summary: Alex has something important to tell Maria about Michael.

A/N: more from my "in a sky built before us" verse, which is basically my re-imagined S3/S4 and everything going forward.

[Read on AO3]

----------

“What was so important we needed to meet up here?” Maria asks as she approaches where he's sitting on the steps of the gazebo in the middle of town.

Alex doesn't reply right away, just pats the space next to him, and waits for her to sit.

“Alex-” she whines, glancing around before finally relenting, and falling into the spot next to him.

“I asked Michael to marry me.”

He knows he's dropping a bombshell on her, because they've technically only just started dating officially and publicly for the first time ever. No one really knows about the years of back and forth between them, and how hard they'd been trying to get to a place to be together. And Alex knows that part of that is his own fault, for keeping Michael his own closely guarded secret.

But he's never going to regret the things he's done to keep Michael safe.

He doesn't know what to expect in regards to a reaction from her, so the initial shock that crosses her face isn't a surprise.But as the words sink in, she hits him on the arm, her shock quickly morphing into something else.

“When?”

“While I was stuck in that alternate dimension.”

Her eyes narrow ever so slightly, and he immediately wonders if she's doing the math.

“That was weeks ago!”

And she's right, it was weeks ago. During that fit of desperation where for a moment Alex believed he wasn't going to survive whatever health issues the alternate dimension was causing him. It had been a dying wish at the time, to make sure he got to at least ask Michael to marry him before he died.

But as the black fractals burns receded, eventually disappearing completely, Alex had understood what an emotional and rash decision it had been. It wasn't that he wanted to take it back - he refused to see a downside in being engaged to Michael - but at least now they had time.

Time to date, properly. Time to do all the things they'd never gotten a chance before.

“It wasn't important with all that other stuff going on-”

“Yes it was!”

“-but I wanted you to know because I have a favor to ask.”

“I don't know,” Maria immediately replies, turning away from him. “I'm kinda mad at you right now.”

He knows she's lying.

“We want to get married here,” he continues, motioning around to the gazebo and the town square, “and have the reception at the Pony.”

She finally looks back at him, as if considering. “Did you talk to Isobel? She's the one with all the town events planning background.”

“Michael's telling her.”

Alex can't remember what made them decide today, of all days, was the one they were going to start telling people about the engagement and their plans for the wedding. There's been weeks now of dates to the Crashdown, and Planet 7, and even to the Pony. They've taken walks around town together, holding hands and letting everyone see. He's even pushed Michael against the bricks on the side of the Crashdown to kiss him when he's been overcome with the urge to feel his lips.

And then there's been watching Michael slowly move into the house. The way it was clear that he'd been trying in those days Alex had been trapped in the alternate dimension, but clearly still had trouble with moving completely out of the junkyard. It'd been slow - some clothes first, Alex making space in the closet and letting Michael choose which side he wanted. The slow appearance of Michael's textbooks and research materials from his trailer had Alex reconsidering the set up in the study. Quiet mornings waking up together, having breakfast on the terrace together or long showers after a round of slow morning sex. 

But in the end, Michael agreed to break the news to Isobel, and Max. And Alex got Maria, Liz, and Kyle. 

He knew Isobel would be the tougher work, because Michael would have to reel in her attempts at planning some big fancy event. Neither of them wanted it, they'd talked a bit about it already - Michael agreeing that small and simple was enough for them. He'd even made a comment that if Isobel wants to plan a big wedding, she can do it for Liz, or Maria - or even her own.

“I'm so happy for you,” Maria finally replies, leaning forward and wrapping him in her arms. Alex immediately relaxes into her embrace, feeling the tension that has settled into his shoulders earlier melt away. He can't explain why he was nervous to tell her, only that he worried she'd say it was too soon. 

A fear that he knows is mostly unfounded - Maria has always been, and still is, one of his biggest supporters in life.

When she pulls back, he watches as she glances around, as if taking the gazebo in with a new perspective, turning back to look at him. “You really meant it, didn't you? That you wanted to get married here.”

Of course she remembered that day between them, Alex doesn't know why he's surprised. 

“You know I didn't like to dream too hard about things,” he replies, knowing she understands his old good enough dreams, “but everything feels different now.”

She nods along as he speaks, taking hold of his hands, her attention turning to his fingers.

“No ring?”

Alex laughs at that, because it hadn't really crossed his mind that they'd need any sort of engagement rings. It's such a normative tradition - but then again, there is something that perhaps could mean the same thing.

Freeing one of his hands, Alex reaches up and pulls out the alien glass pendant necklace from where it's tucked beneath his shirt, holding it out for Maria to see.

“Michael gave me this, right before I left on the trip with Forrest,” he explains, holding the pendant in between his fingers. “I almost lost it in that other dimension, but Michael found it.”

Maria smiles, rolling her eyes just a bit. “Guerin really just became a jewelry maker overnight, didn't he?”

The question makes him realize she's not wearing her bracelet, which means the injections of the cure that Liz developed seem to be holding. He's heard Kyle talk about how there's been some small changes to her brain scans, perhaps an effect of the protein being reintroduced into her system.

But it means that he's not going to have to watch her slip away. That she's not going to become lost, like Mimi has. 

“No more bracelet?” He asks, sliding his hand down to her wrist.

She shakes her head in response. “Doesn't seem to be a point now.”

He supposes that's true as well.

“So,” Maria says after a moment, smiling back at him. “Are we going to be strong arming Arturo to cook for this thing?”

Alex smiles back, because that's the next order of business today. But telling her, making sure she was the first one to find out, that mattered most to him.

[sea-owl]

Someone asked me about the story of how Michael and Sophie ended up in jail in the Spouses Friend Group Au. I don’t got the brain power right now for a full scene but have a look into the group chat. Side note this would happen before Gareth and Lucy joined the group. 

Here’s for those that need a reference this is the post and here’s the first post that started this au. 

Lady of Secrets: Hey Simon, we might need some bail money, and a lawyer.

Lily Mama: BAIL MONEY?! 

Lily Mama: LAWYER?! 

Lily Mama: WHOSE IN JAIL?!?!?!?!

Lady of Secrets: Sophie and Michael, they got charged with disturbing the peace

Duke of Uncledom: 🙄😓...how much?

Plant Nerd: I understand Michael but how did Sophie end up in jail?

Lady of Secrets: Drunk Sophie apparently likes to pickpocket. 

Lily Mama: Shit 😳

Lily Mama: I thought she stopped that

Duke of Uncledom: No, Phillip and I have just redirected her to pickpocket one of us. Penelope how much money do you need? 

Lady of Secrets: 🤔

Lady of Secrets: Now that you say Simon that guy was about your height and build

Lady of Secrets: But anyway when the dude realized Sophie had his stuff he got in her face demanding it back. Michael saw that and immediately swung on him. After that it was a free for all. 

Duke of Uncledom: I’m surprised they just got charged with disturbing the peace.

Lady of Secrets: Guy was too embarrassed to admit Sophie pickpocketed him and because Michael only hit him in Sophie’s defense they gave them lesser charges. 

Plant Nerd: Pen you were supposed to keep an eye on Michael tonight, where were you?

Lady of Secrets: . . .

Plant Nerd: Penelope. . .🤨

Lady of Secrets: . . .

Lily Mama: Penelope Anne Featherington 😡

Lady of Secrets: 😳

Lady of Secrets: I may or may not have gotten into a verbal disagreement with a different guy across the bar

Plant Nerd: You cussed somebody out again? 

Plant Nerd: Did he deserve it? 👀

Lady of Secrets: Yes 😤

Plant Nerd: You’re off the hook

Lady of Secrets: 😮‍💨

Duke of Uncledom: I’m leaving the office now. Pen, I’ll be down there soon. 

Lady of Secrets: 👍

Lady of Secrets: You might want to hurry, Michael looks close to seducing the officer.

Plant Nerd: Of course he is . . .😑

Lily Mama: 😑

Duke of Uncledom: 😑

Lily Mama: Give them their phones back asap Simon. I have a few choice words to share with them. 😡

Duke of Uncledom: 🫡

“Is everything okay?” Anthony asked as Simon began to pack up his stuff. 

Simon sighed. “You know how you call your siblings your group of lovable dumbasses?”

“Yes,” Anthony said slowly, wondering where Simon was going with this. 

“Well two of my own lovable idiots apparently decided to start a bar fight last night and are currently sitting in a cell. The third is with them, how she didn’t get  arrested too I don’t know. All I know is I have to go get them now.”

Anthony looked startled. Simon mentioned his rag tag group of friends before, but he never thought Simon would actually do something like this for them. “Are they going to be okay?”

“Depends if Phillip can calm down Kate at all.” 

Duke of Uncledom: Okay Kate, I gave them back their phones

Lily Mama: SOPHIA MARIA BECKETT

Lily Mama: MICHAEL STUART STIRLING

Silver Lady: 😳

Casanova: 😱

Lily Mama: WHAT WERE YOU TWO THINKING?!?! A BAR FIGHT? OF ALL THE IDIOTIC THINGS YOU TWO COULD HAVE DONE YOU DO SOMETHING THAT COULD PUT BOTH YOUR BUSINESSES AT RISK?! THAT FORCED SIMON TO LEAVE WORK EARLY TO COME SAVE YOUR ASSES?!

Duke of Uncledom: I see Kate is still mad as hell

Plant Nerd: I tried

Casanova: I’m not sorry for hitting him! He did not need to get in Sophie’s face like that. 

Silver Lady: Also how come Penelope isn’t getting yelled at? She was there!

Lady of Secrets: Kate already yelled at me while Simon was doing your paperwork, and you two were thanking him. 

Lily Mama: Good, at least you thanked Simon

Lily Mama: Also Penelope didn’t start the fight, nor did she get arrested. You two on the other hand sobered up in jail. 

Lily Mama: Well, what do you two have to say for yourselves? 

Silver Lady: I’m sorry for drunk pickpocketing and starting a bar fight

Lily Mama: Michael 🤨

Casanova: I’m sorry for worrying you all, but I’m not sorry for hitting him.

Lily Mama: Good enough

Silve Lady: 🤨

Lady of Secrets: 🤨

Casanova: 🤨

Plant Nerd: 🤨

Duke of Uncledom: That was pretty tame Kate

Lily Mama: I figured I go easy since Mary saw what happened last night on the news and saw our idiots getting arrested in the background. Now she’s demanding we all come over for dinner. 

Duke of Uncledom: Oh, I was wondering why Auntie was commanding me to meet her at Marry’s house this evening. 

Silver Lady: Shit

Lady of Secrets: Shit

Casanova: Shit

Plant Nerd: Good luck, and don’t die. I don’t want to get new roommates. 

[nellie-elizabeth]

Writing Patterns

Rules: Share the opening of your last ten published works or as many as you are able to see if there are any patterns!

I was tagged by @ajna-eye-cogitations, thank you!!

[A note that when I picked the last 10 published, I skipped over all my short one-shot collection fics that I've been posting for years now, since those are cases where each chapter is its own individual story. So I just stuck to stuff outside of that!]

where the real road lies

Grief doesn’t feel like anything. Or— well, it feels like a lot of things, but nothing you can pin down. Maybe it’s one of those human experiences that can only be talked about in metaphor. Like, it feels as if my heart’s being ripped out of my chest, or it feels as if someone’s scooped me out, left me hollow, plunged my very soul into darkness. It feels as if, as if, as if.

(can't) get back again

It’s not a decision either of them is actually making. That’s what Michael tells himself when it happens for the first time, that he didn’t decide and Alex didn’t decide and in fact fighting the inevitability of it would only be adding more pain into a world already saturated with suffering.

small town halloween night

Maria gets home before Rosa, on Halloween night. They’d both picked up shifts for their parents, Maria at the bar and Rosa at the diner. It’s not the worst shift Maria’s ever worked, but she can’t help but feel a little melancholy on her drive home. A whole night of watching people her age, people she went to school with, cluster together with their friends, doing cheap shots... A year ago, that had been her. A year ago, dressed up with her skin out, doing shots in her friends’ kitchen, laughing at the movies and getting rice in her hair.

tell me that we belong together

September 2011 Michael always gets a little nostalgic about Roswell right before leaving it behind for a while. School’s starting in just a couple days, and that means saying a temporary goodbye to mornings like this one, lounging in their favorite booth at the Crashdown, the sounds of Arturo making their breakfasts carrying through from the kitchen, jukebox playing some song Michael only recognizes because he’s heard it playing in this very diner countless times over the years. They have their local haunts in Albuquerque by now, but he’ll always be a hometown boy at heart, and for better or worse, this is his hometown.

a work of fine art

Quentin Coldwater has fuzzy arms. It’s one of the first things Eliot notices about him as his volunteer life model settles down on the couch, crossing said arms across his chest in a nervous, nearly defensive move. It’s like he’s trying to fold his body into an origami box so all the outside parts will be on the inside, safe from Eliot’s eyes. But looking at the man in front of him is rather the point, so Eliot looks his fill, careful to catalogue every detail, despite how he can practically feel the waves of energy coming off of Quentin’s body, the frozen full-body cringe as he attempts to deflect the attention. Eliot indulges in it, keeping his face carefully neutral instead of giving in to the smile building up inside of him at the rather lovely display. Squirmy, awkward, cute naked boy, and Eliot gets to stare at him for a full uninterrupted evening. It must be his birthday.

tales from a bookshop

The bookshop has always been something of a sacred space for Crowley. Scratch that— not sacred, certainly not sacred, who the hell said sacred, honestly. And no more is it Hell’s cosmic opposite, profane, it’s only that— well, blast it, it’s only that A.Z. Fell & Co. booksellers has always been an important place for Crowley. Significant. Precious, maybe, though even the taste of such a word makes him want to scream profanities at someone who doesn’t deserve it, just to get the tickle out the back of his throat.

Shelter

The first thing Quentin did most mornings was locate the most excitable, energy-filled dog he could find in the kennels, and take the little terror out for a brisk, damp jog. Damp, because the Seattle air always seemed to be damp no matter the temperature. Brisk, because Quentin was not a jogger and a solid twenty minutes was usually as much as the lucky canine in question was likely to get out of him. He did this because he was usually the first person to arrive at work and he didn’t feel like making awkward chit chat with the night shift people, and also because it seemed a kindness: by the time his bosses Margo and Fen had shown up after their leisurely morning coffee routine, the most excitable of their furry residents had already had some of their energy burned away by Quentin’s efforts.

under the desert sky

Beyond basic necessities, the items Alex brings with him on their trek to the Grand Canyon are a fully stocked iPod, car charger, and a stitch-bound notebook slipped into the front pocket of his backpack. Michael brings his restored Nikon FM 35mm and six rolls of film.

the lengths that i would go to

Summer 2010 It’s early, so early that the sun isn’t up, the air around him still and quiet. Alex is awake, and for a second he doesn’t quite know why. His body is conditioned to wake early each morning, but this is something different. There’s a strange awareness, where paranoia meets familiarity. Alex knows, as consciousness filters into his brain, that there’s someone else in the room with him. He also knows, without having to open his eyes, that there is no threat, because it’s Michael. The bed shifts, and Alex blinks into the dim light, looking down to see Michael crawling up the bed towards him.

it might change my memory

June 2022 It’s Bonnie, of all people, who calms everybody down. Not Isobel with her power to mentally soothe, or Dallas with his preacher training and inviting sensibility. Not Liz with her practical, scientific mindset, or Michael, the one person in this room who theoretically has all the pieces of the puzzle and actually has a chance of knowing what the fuck is going on. It’s Bonnie who cuts through the excited, confused, unintelligible babble and says, quite loudly for such a small woman: “Okay! Seems like we have a situation! Everyone should sit down. I’ll make tea.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow, okay, this was really interesting to see! It looks like a very common approach for me is "short, catchy sentence" followed by longer paragraph expounding on it. Like -- "Grief doesn’t feel like anything." or "The bookshop has always been something of a sacred space for Crowley." or "Quentin Coldwater has fuzzy arms." This is true across all the fandoms I write in!

It's crazy that only one of these ten examples has any dialogue in it at all, because I tend to think my dialogue skills are really sharp! I should start more stories off with it lol.

Tagging whoever writes and wants to participate! @portraitofemmy, @prettyboysdontlookatexplosions, @awildwickedslip, @spiders-hth-is-an-outlier, @r-dtoblack

[positivelybeastly]

*rolls into your inbox with some tea and makes herself comfortable*

I need more context about this pretty please.

So, I kinda generally hate Brian Michael Bendis' tenure on the X-Men, but I still find these two pages funny mostly because they went out of their way to draw Hank looking the most Dr. Eggman they possibly could, and because Maria Hill in the comics is just as much of a fascist asshole as Ben Percy's Beast (seriously, look up Pleasant Hill), so the idea that her words mean fucking jack just makes me laugh.

It's also just funny because Hank hasn't . . . even . . . really . . . done, that much, here. Yes, he brought the Original X-Men out of the timestream for an afternoon while he was in the midst of a protracted cardiac arrest, but he fully intended on putting them back ASAP, and the only reason they weren't was because Brian Michael Bendis looked out at all the X-Men in 2013, and decided that aside from Kitty Pryde, he wasn't really interested in writing most of them.

Just like how people in Bendis' run act like Cyclops milquetoast revolution is going to upend the social order (he's just doing run of the mill X-Men shit, really), people in Bendis' run act like Beast was running around poking his big blue fingers in the holes of the universe and trying to yank them wide open, when that's, not, really, his Modus Operandi.

Seriously, if you go back and read what Hank was actually doing prior to Bendis, he mostly just kinda stays in his lane and tries to fix shit that other people broke (looks over at the Decimation). Did he have moral slips? Yeah, a few. But none that many people knew about, and none that would affect the universe on such a scale that Maria Hill should be having paroxysms about it.

These pages are also extra funny because that's not Dazzler, that's Mystique pretending to be Dazzler, and she's just having to sit there and listen to Hill lose her fucking mind over Beast, probably thinking, damn, why don't I have that kind of reputation?

That being said.

Hank can be very dangerous.

When a multiversal envoy of death recognises you on sight and says, oh yeah, you're important and you play the Great Game of Worlds almost every time, that says something.

Oops. It's almost like Hank's smarter than you, Cap. Scary smarter.

Oops. Get played, boys.

"Hey, Hank, can you cook me up a doomsday weapon?"

"I'll need a box of Twinkies and maybe a day?"

Oddly enough, he was actually a lot scarier before he went supervillain. Go figure.

[samkat10423]

Monty Llama Ranch

In danjaley's Veronaville, she recreated the Monty Llama ranch on a 40x40 lot. I wasn't sure what to do with it, but then inspiration struck.

As I mentioned before, I downloaded an empty version of Riverview from Mod the Sims. BIG mistake. HUGE mistake! When I went into MasterController to set up family relationships, I discovered that all the old Riverview residents were listed - along with my new families. So, I went over to Nraas and read a few posts. Then I deleted the Mod the Sims town file, and reopened my game to a new Riverview. Then - with the help of MasterController - I nuked all the sims in town. Only that insane Heather Rhodes-Carpenter (or whatever her name is) was left. Brought back memories of when I played SimCity. And best part - none of the previous residents showed up in the town resident panel when I clicked on the tab to set up relationships. THANK YOU, Twallan - wherever you currently are!

After replacing all my new lots, I had the afore-mentioned Llama Ranch lot to place. When I nuked the town, the game placed all those lots that come with Ambitions. And since I didn't want a junkyard smack dab in the middle of a residential area, I nuked it and thought, "samkat, you could use that ranch as a junkyard!" But where? Then a light went on inside my tiny brain and I stuck danjaley's lot out where that crazy bunker sim lived. It was a 60x60 lot, but that was okay with me. Anyway, here it is:

Danjaley's lot was just an empty shell, with minimal landscaping. Also, it was clean, clean, clean - unlike my grungy-looking version. So, the first thing I did was grunge the place up, then placed all sorts of weeds and flowers all over the place. I also used Sandy's 'Trashes' sets from over on @aroundthesims to make the place look like a proper dump. In my town history, the other sims in town have been using the old ranch to get rid of their junk - usually in the dead of night, since they don't want to get on the bad side of the Montys.

Local homeless sims have been camping out here, to get out of the rain and cold. I used stuff from Sandy, the bed from WOE, and that medieval stove from TSR. That KFC box on the cement block is a toilet. I got it a long time ago - along with the trashcan outside that works as a frig - as part of a hobo set. That straw bale acts as a sofa.

Then, in the other room, I placed that time machine and the inventor's bench. Plus some more of Sandy's stuff - this time her pets bed sets. After placing spawners all around the place, I was done. Go, me!

Then I went over to that Hidden Cove road and moved in my Mafia family. While I was in Monte Vista, I read that one family's bio about, "We are the sims to fear!" So, I figured I'd move them here. I know over on Wiki, some players have made the Capps into a mob family, but I don't see them that way. They just hate the Montys. The rest of the sims in town, they could care less about. Anyway, this house belongs to that Moretti sim from Monte Vista. (I used a lot of houses from that world, just reworked them to fit into this town.)

Anyway, in my town history, he was drafted here, and decided to move with his single mother - the late, great Heather whatshername. I did change her name to Maria Moretti and his first name to Michael. Then, with MC, I gave him a father - the former head of the local mob! And then I killed her! Yes, I did!

This is the inside of his house. He really hasn't gotten around to decorating it yet, since the first thing he had to deal with when he got here was to learn he was related to the most feared family in Veronaville, and then his mother's death. He did get some stuff for his mother's cat - named appropriately, Jinx. But not much else.

[channelrat]

Here, while I still have the motivation, take this little snippet of world building/writing.

For context, twice every year, the Guardians, the Oracles and the three elder Descendants have something called a Law Meeting. This is a meeting where, in short, they’d review laws, give their thoughts, bring in citizens for their opinions (only on the year’s first meeting), and then decide whether or not it’s needed/worth enforcing.

Basically, they debate for hours on end. How it will go is Michael, the Guardian of Perseverance, will read out a law and everyone will discuss. It can go three ways; could be rejected and removed, be approved and continue to be enforced, or they could go into a secondary debate that would usually last an hour on its own. For simpler laws, it's usually the first or second. For more complex ones, the third is (unfortunately) common.

How a secondary debate happens is if a Guardian expresses an opinion on the law, but another Guardian disagrees to the point the two begin to debate on their own, the Guardian of Perseverance can choose to resume the first debate or begin a second one and then finish up that one before continuing.

Each Guardian has a separate title of some kind, so instead of saying something like ‘we will now debate this’ or whatever what’ll happen is Perseverance will say *Guardian’s title* versus *other Guardian’s title* and then everyone else will pick a side or remain neutral and then they debate.

I’ll give a little information on titles, participants and roles below:

(Akulreas is Kris, just in case you don't remember)

Guardians - the only party available that can begin a secondary debate

Name - Trait/Title

Dan - Determination/Resolution

Jaiden - Bravery/Valor

Yu - Justice/Order

Casey - Kindness/Mercy

Valorie (Val) - Integrity/Truth

Yuka - Patience/Tranquillity

Maria - Hope/Aspiration

Michael - Perseverance/Durability

Ash - Loyalty/Devotion

Akulreas - Purity/Morality (Or, Hatred/Abhorrence)

(Perseverance never participates in debates and Purity is meant to be a second deciding factor in case Perseverance is unable, Loyalty’s representative is actually its Champion, but there is no chosen or possible Guardian in place.)

Descendants - unable to start a secondary debate but can participate in one

Avalon

Martin

Oliver

(Only they are allowed to participate in these meetings due to their experience and wisdom, all others are banned. (Descendants were never truly included as they were never alive to participate (besides the chosen three), and even then, it would be too chaotic and the already extended meetings would only get longer))

Oracles - on certain circumstances (such as major laws), they can start a secondary debate, but only with proper reasoning on why

Featherlight - Spring

Soleria - Summer

Valor - Autumn

Akulreas - Winter

(A party that Akulreas (Purity and Hatred) is also a part of, Soleria rarely attends as she is usually busy with other matters.)

A little note: the most common Guardians to disagree and start a secondary debate are Order (Yu) and Tranquility (Yuka).

Most of this is based off of my 7th grade debate class. One time, we debated on whether or not Santa Claus should be declared an enemy of the state. The ‘yes he should’ side won. It was a proud victory.

-

“Ah, she told you about that, didn’t he?” Soleria asked, although she didn’t seem to be expecting him to answer, “Well, I, thankfully, wasn’t present for that meeting. I was working on some war plans with my cousins, but I do have all the footage for any meeting I miss saved, just to keep up with the others.”

She opened a file labeled Law Meeting 6, 2022, and selected ‘play’ once it came up.

It was long footage, going from 11AM to 2 in the damn morning. Most of it, Soleria either sped through or skipped entirely, especially when it turned to… darker subjects and laws. While he was very slightly offended as they were seventeen, not twelve like Michael first thought, thank you very much, they still appreciated it as they were very much not in the mood to have to listen to in-depth talks of that.

But despite how they skipped or sped through, it was still rather long and… well, chaotic was one word. Painful was another, because, Heavens, it was horrible. They remained thankful that only Avalon, Martin and Oliver were allowed in there because he would’ve lost his mind had he been forced to sit through such things for hours on end.

The amount of times the phrase ‘Tranquility versus Order’ was said was unbelievable. They hadn’t hated a phrase so much in a while. It was said 37 separate times (because apparently Soleria had a damn field day counting every single time it came up), some secondary debates were short, others not so much. At one point, the 12 AM mark, the participants had become so tired, mentally and physically, that they all were surely losing their minds.

Midway through, Valerie moved away from the group, hid away in a corner and just- just cried. He stayed there until the end. Yu threw a chair across the table. Dan, Maria and Casey hid under the table and played cards for the rest of the meeting. Akulreas screamed. Ash put his head down on the table and didn’t move again until an hour later, Avalon put his head on his hands, Oliver just stared ahead for the remainder of the time, and Valor fell asleep at one point despite all the chaos and yelling because apparently they could just do that, damn the noise.

Once they finished, Soleria looked as if she wanted to say something but didn’t know what exactly. Eventually, she spoke, “At least this was not live streamed.”

“It wasn’t?”

“Definitely not. Everyone was so tired of dealing with this, so no one felt like starting a stream or anything. It was only recorded because I couldn’t make it.”

Hunter looked at the screen. Then back to her. Then to the screen and back again .“... maybe they shouldn’t be live streamed at all.”

“Good idea, I’ll talk about it to the Council.”

-

I just realized the explanation is longer than the actual story snippet. Sorry about that. And, if it was confusing, sorry.

im in love with the "maybe they shouldn't be streamed at all" "good idea" i love these little guys (gender neutral)

hearing about other oc worlds and characters is always so so so delightful i thank you once again for allowing me to witness what goes on in your brain 💚 I love how detailed everything is and how you explain the facts and characters and roles so i can keep up easily and enjoy the story

[sopolicegardener]

15 Up-and-Coming Trends About 69VN

Celebrities are not like everyday people. They have busy schedules, drive expensive cars, and wear jewelry that others can only dream of owning. Maybe it is because celebrities are so far removed from normal life that they often give their babies unusual names.

Some names are just a little different. John Travolta and Kelly Preston have two beautiful children. Their daughter’s name is Ella Bleu. Their son’s name is Jett. Jett is different, but anyone who knows anything about John Travolta knows he has a love for flying. Gwyneth Paltrow, pregnant again, came under scrutiny for naming her first child Apple. While Vpay88 it is unusual, it is somewhat cute, like in the “apple of their eye.” Chris Martin, her husband, tired of the controversy over the name Apple, has jokingly stated their second child, whether male or female, will be named Banana. Another cute name is Dandelion, the name of Keith Richards’ daughter. Julie Roberts recently gave birth to twins – a boy and a girl – and received flack over the names she chose. She received Royvin almost as much grief over the choice for her daughter’s name, Hazel, as she did the more eccentric choice of Phinnaeus for her son.

Many people speculated what Madonna would name her HUNO first child. Lourdes Maria seems a fitting name for child who’s mother’s name is Madonna, but she often goes by Lola. Her son is named Rocco, which sounds a bit like a cartoon character, but at least it is a tough sounding name. Actor Casey Affleck and fianc Summer Phoenix recently had a son named Indiana August, which leads one to wonder what state and month their son was conceived in. Toni Braxton has two sons, Denim and Diezel. While both useful products, they make somewhat strange names for children. Rob Marrow decided it would be cute if he named his daughter Tu Simone Ayer, calling her Tu Morrow. Wonder if she will think it is cute 20 years from now? Actor Jason Lee named his son Pilot Inspektor, but magician Penn Jillette may have topped them all. He named his daughter, Moxie Crimefighter, saying “because when xoso66 she’s pulled over for speeding she can say, `But officer, we’re on the same side, my middle name is CrimeFighter.”‘

If you think it is a new trend, think again. Back in 1971, David Bowie and his then wife Angela decided to name their son Duncan Zowie Heywood Jones. He soon became known as Zowie Bowie. Cher named her children Chastity Sun and Elijah Blue.

The Phoenix family is well known for their unusual choice of baby names. Summer Phoenix’s siblings are the late actor River Phoenix, actresses Rain and Liberty Phoenix and actor Joaquin Phoenix. Joaquin felt his name was so out of place with his siblings, that when he was four, he decided to change his name to Leaf. By the early 1990’s, he had reverted back to using his birth name. Another family infamous for their choices of baby names is the Zappa family. Frank’s children are Dweezil, Moon Unit, Ahmed Emuukha Rodan and Diva Muffin. While many people think that Dweezil is his given name, his birth name was originally Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa because the hospital refused to register the name Dweezil. Always called Dweezil, when he was a child, he wanted to make the name official and his parents took him to have it changed legally. Paula Yates, former wife of Sir Bob Geldof and girlfriend of late rocker Michael Hutchence, also had a knack for giving her children unusual names. Among her brood are Fifi Trixibelle, Peaches Honeyblossom Michelle Charlotte Angel Vanessa, Heavenly Hiraani Tigerlily, and Little Pixie.

Some celebrity baby names make sense if you know the story behind them. Eurythmic’s Dave Stewart named his son Django after jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Stevie Wonder named his son Mandla Kadjaly Carl Stevland, however Mandla means “powerful” in Zulu and Kadjaly means “born from God” in Swahili. Helen Hunt just gave birth to a baby girl she named Makena’lei Gordon. The name Makena’lei is from a friend’s dream and means “many flowers of heaven.” Gordon, an unlikely girl’s name, was to honor of Helen’s father, television director Gordon Hunt. Nicolas Cage just named his new baby boy Kal-el. Because Nicolas took his stage name of Cage from comic book character Luke Cage, he decided to name his son Kal-el after one of his favorite comic book heroes. Kal-el is Superman’s kryptonian name.

So, do the children like these unconventional names given them by their parents? In some cases, they do. The Phoenix’s seem to love their nature-inspired names and the Zappa children seem to have had no ill effects from their eccentric names. However, some children tire of the peculiar names quickly. Zowie Bowie had had enough of his moniker by the time he was 12 and asked to be referred to as “Joey.” Although Dandelion Richards does not seem too bad, she has since started referring to herself as Angela. Recently, Peaches Honeyblossom Michelle Charlotte Angel Vanessa Geldof has been the most outspoken about the odd choice her parents made in naming her. She has been quoted as saying, “I hate ridiculous names. My weird name has haunted me all my life.”

While having an unusual name might be difficult for any child, the celebrity of a child’s parents may enhance it even further. Thankfully, celebrity children who decide they don’t like their given names can switch to a nickname or even eventually have their names legally changed.