#and richard by no means Had to maul him she could have just. not. and its not like she felt bad abt it either.

[arolesbianism]

Richard vc damn I'm doing such a good job at committing to this bit rn I'm so good at acting scared (<- is scared (<- doesn't realize that she feels emotions))

[rjhpandapaws]

Maybe some cottage/farm living between mutually nonverbal Nines and Gavin? (Meaning they're both nonverbal). Congrats on 160 followers! You totally deserve it! ^^

//Ooh! I love this! Also thank you <33 //Best read when listening to Marbles by the Amazing Devil

Life was easy like this, they lived quietly in a literal sense as much as the metaphorical; and looking back after all these years it was still a warm feeling for Gavin. It hadn’t always been that way of course. What they had was a combination of patience from Richard, and Gavin being too stubborn for his own good a majority of the time, paired of course with the years that had passed them by. When Gavin had moved to Lovelock he hadn’t been used to quiet, Detroit was always alive and loud. There was always something happening. Gavin resembled that well, he was raucous and persistent. Lovelock was the opposite, there was a McDonalds, Dairy Queen, Library, public school with a high school to match, a public pool, and a single stoplight. It was quiet, and so was his neighbor Richard. If you could consider someone who lived six miles away from you as your neighbor anyway. They didn’t get along at first. Which again, was mostly on Gavin. Richard was friendly and didn’t seem to want anything in return, which in Detroit meant trouble. So reasonably, in his own opinion, Gavin pushed back. He was harsher than was probably needed, and at times when so far as to actively ignore Richard’s advice. Which turned out was not a good idea when you knew fuck all about running a farm.

Richard didn’t talk to him. It was infuriating for a reason that Gavin couldn’t place. All this effort to be neighborly, but never a word, and Gavin talked a lot. There were a lot of things to talk about, Lovelock was wildly different from Detroit. Largely because usually the biggest thing going on at all was football season in the fall and going to church on Sundays. Nothing ever happened here and it was driving Gavin up a wall. Every time he had said this to Richard he would smile and roll his eyes. There were things of course that he liked about Lovelock, like how he could see the stars at night, that people minded their own business, and in the morning he was almost guaranteed a hand written note from Richard explaining how to fix something Gavin had complained about, or talking about something that had reminded him of Gavin. While Richard’s lack of conversation skills annoyed Gavin to no end, his constant presence was nice. Knowing that if he ever needed anything, there was someone down the road that could help him. He never would have thought that the tables would turn. That there would be a time when Richard needed him. The thing about quiet neighbors was there was no indicator of something being wrong, not that Gavin would have been able to tell from six miles away anyhow. It took three days for him to notice something was up, well wasn’t actually; for three days the red flag on his mailbox had been down. Richard hadn’t sent him anything in three days. The letters had been the one near constant thing since Gavin had moved to this town in the middle of who fucking knew where. So on day three he got in his car and made his way to Richard’s house to investigate.

His neighbor wasn’t outside, which was unusual. Richard was always working on something, it was the one thing that ever made noise. So like an absolute creep Gavin checked the windows of the farm house. It was empty for the most part until he got to the bedroom, there was a person shaped lump under the blankets. Under a lot of blankets, which was concerning considering as it was hot as all fuck out. He had his answer, Richard was sick, he could leave. Instead he walked back around to the front of the house. It was cliché, but while he was looking for the spare key he did look under the welcome mat. It wasn’t there, Richard had cleverly hidden it in a realistic looking beehive. Which Gavin only learned was the home of the key as well as fake by accidentally knocking it over. While he was waiting to get viscously mauled by bees he realized that the hive had jingled on its way down, beehives didn’t do that. So like the genius he was known to be, he picked up the hive and shook it just to be safe. It was plastic and there was definitely something in it. He reached inside and came away with a key. He set the beehive back where he had knocked it over from and made his way inside. The house was still and quiet in a way that he had come to associate with Richard. His Australian Shepard Micky left the room to investigate and her tail started wagging at the sight of Gavin. Normally she would have been outside running around, so Gavin let her outside before he continued on his way to Richard. 

He made his way back to the room Micky had come out of assuming that if she had been in there than Richard probably was as well. Sure enough, his guess lead him to the person shaped lump on the bed. He peeked in from the doorway trying to gage if Richard was awake or asleep. He didn’t want to intrude if Richard was asleep, that was where he drew the line. Which was probably a few steps too far considering as he had more or less just broken into Richard’s house, well he used the spare key but still, it wasn’t exactly like he had permission to be there. “Richard?” He called into the room because apparently he felt like being all kinds of asshole today, “Are you okay?” He got either a groan or a hum in response and the lump on the bed moved. It took a long moment before blue eyes stared at him from the cocoon of blankets. He was awake at the very least so Gavin stepped into the room. “I haven’t heard from you in a while and I was getting worried.” He explained. Blue eyes narrowed and the cocoon shuffled around a bit more until Richards hands were visible and he started signing, ‘Only Sick. You Not Have Worry.’ “Do you need help around here? While you recover?” He pressed. Richard paused for a moment before he replied, ‘If It Not Trouble.’ “I wouldn’t be here if it was.” He said with a smile.

After that week things between them were different. With the knowledge that Gavin at the very least understood Sign Language Richard became more talkative. They became friends and when he told Tina she and Chris put money down on how long it would last. She didn’t believe Richard would keep him around for long, he was loud and different after all. The thing was he wasn’t as loud anymore, he was signing a lot more now. It allowed for easier conversations with Richard which was nice. Three years went by until Gavin gathered enough courage to be honest with himself, and another six months for him to be honest with Richard. They became an item after that, which wasn’t as much of an issue as he thought it would be in such a small town. It was two years before Gavin sold his property and moved in with Richard. Time rolled by after that, and somewhere in the years Gavin stopped talking all together. There was no need for it when everything that needed to be expressed could be said in a look or a gesture. It was easy, natural by now. Even when enough time had rolled by that the deep brown of Richard’s hair that Gavin had loved had gone white and neither of them could do the hard work they once had, Gavin found he loved Richard just as much still. Even now, when neither of them had much of a mind left and it was like meeting him all over again everyday. With everything still unspoken, by the end of the day they were in love all over again.

@rk-frog

(Prompt from this list)

[tabloidtoc]

Globe, June 8

Cover: O.J. Simpson Murder Trial Juror Tracy Kennedy Was Bribed��

Page 2: Up Front & Personal (to the best of my knowledge none of these photos are from Instagram) Jude Law goes grocery shopping in London, Shia LaBeouf and his dog, Helena Bonham Carter sports an ugly-looking scratch on her face while walking in London 

Page 3: Joshua Jackson has flabby man boobs, Golnesa “GG” Gharachedaghi cleans up after her dog in L.A., Linda Perry has her hands full 

Page 4: Fed up with being humiliated Caitlyn Jenner has issued a blistering ultimatum to young galpal and fellow sex-swapper Sophia Hutchins: stop bringing your lovers to my home or we’re done, singer Noah Cyrus the little sister of Miley Cyrus says during her childhood she was targeted by trolls who ragged on her looks and made her so sad

Page 5: Ryan Seacrest’s shocking appearance on American Idol has friends fearing the workaholic media mogul is pushing himself into an early grave 

Page 6: Meghan Markle is trashing her popular sister-in-law Duchess Kate Middleton with a series of humiliating public insults and behind-the-scenes barbs branding the future queen an uptight backbiting insincere cold fish who refuses to share the limelight 

Page 7: Renegade royals Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have gotten another soft deal -- they get 11 years to repay the $2.9 million British taxpayers used to fix up their Frogmore Cottage home in England 

Page 8: Valerie Bertinelli was just 19 when she had a hot-and-heavy fling with filmmaker Steven Spielberg who was nearly twice her age

Page 9: Angelina Jolie is cheering the current media mauling of Ellen DeGeneres because it feeds her craving for revenge against the backstabbing talk queen -- Angie has long held a grudge against Ellen for the way she took Jennifer Aniston’s side when Angie first hooked up with Brad Pitt in 2005, Married at First Sight stars Jamie Otis and Doug Hehner changed their minds about their newborn son’s name right after the little guy’s arrival -- the couple welcomed a baby boy May 13 and decided to call him Hendrix instead of their original choice of Hayes 

Page 10: Pregnant Katy Perry strips down to her birthday suit and shows off her growing baby bump in her newest music video for Daisies, Lester Holt was horrified to realize he was broadcasting barefoot while working at home even though he was wearing a suit and tie with pants, George Stephanopoulos is plotting to take over Jeopardy! from ailing host Alex Trebek

Page 11: Ian Anderson the 72-year-old singer of Jethro Tull’s epic hit Aqualung says his days are numbered because of a deadly pulmonary condition and thinks on-stage smoke machines are to blame

Page 12: Celebrity Buzz -- Brooke Shields dons a face mask while out in New York City (picture), Robert Pattinson proved he should stay out of the kitchen as his new wacky biz plan for selling fast-food pasta literally went up in smoke, Denise Richards who is married to Aaron Phypers who runs an alternative healing center in Malibu uses a $59 Lovetuner whistle to keep love pitch perfect and she finds it calming and grounding -- she also scatters $110 grounding bags filled with pink crystals believing they help repel EMF frequencies from cellphones and computers, Rosie O’Donnell who is quarantining at a $6 million weekend estate in New Jersey’s she’s been trying to unload admits she’s bingeing on sweet treats at an alarming rate, Reese Witherspoon asked co-star and pal Laura Dern to reenact ‘80s soap Dynasty with her as a birthday present

Page 13: Newlywed Chandler Powell shops for flowers (picture), Jamie Lee Curtis goes barefoot for a stroll outside her L.A. home (picture), Jussie Smollett out and about in L.A. (picture), it’s no horror being likened to now-svelte stunner Adele according to her look-alike Sarah Paulson but she wishes she was as talented as Adele 

Page 14: Bored Hollywood celebs have been offering their own road-rageous accounts of star sightings -- Jane Lynch almost ran over Diane Keaton and Kevin McHale says Roseanne Barr almost ran him over when he was a child and Loni Love claims she watched Samuel L. Jackson get hit by a car, Joshua Jackson’s wife Jodie Turner-Smith had postpartum acne after their baby daughter was born in April so she put breast milk on them and her skin looked much better, Fashion Verdict -- Emily Blunt 9/10, Suki Waterhouse 2/10, Lourdes Leon 3/10, Kristin Scott Thomas 1/10, Claire Danes 8/10 

Page 16: True Crime 

Page 19: 10 Things You Don’t Know About Savannah Guthrie, Kurt Cobain’s daughter Frances Bean Cobain and widow Courtney Love have apparently lost their ferocious battle over Kurt’s famed guitar, Judi Dench has hit the highest levels of her profession including winning an Oscar but she has one huge regret: not doing enough love scenes

Page 20: Alicia Keys’ father abandoned her and her mother when she was just 2 and she’s shared a heartbreaking divorce paper she sent him at 14, Cynthia Bailey of RHOA has likened lockdown love to sex in the slammer

Page 22: Johnny Depp scored a big win in his court fight with ex-wife Amber Heard when a judge allowed evidence the actress forged their dogs’ medical documents and guzzled wine and also admitted former lovers’ testimony that Johnny was never violent, Joan Collins became notorious for her nude scenes in the 1978 film The Stud but she insists the action was tame compared to Hollywood’s current offerings

Page 23: Funny Photo Quiz -- Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves in the new Bill and Ted movie 

Page 24: Cover Story -- Juror took bribe during the O.J. Simpson murder trial -- Juror No. 602 Tracy Kennedy was booted from the panel after just nine weeks for taking money to write a book about the trial of the century in 1995 but in a chilling twist Kennedy and his wife Judith were found shot dead lying next to each other with two handguns nearby in 2008

Page 26: Health Report -- your nonstick pans could be harming you, zap your migraines with yoga 

Page 29: Racing legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. is speeding toward a NASCAR comeback but insiders fear his history of head injuries may mean he’s risking his life and endangering his fellow drivers, Kendall Jenner has revealed a lifetime of massive panic attacks 

Page 30: For fear of his father’s contracting coronavirus Jack Osbourne is monitoring dad Ozzy Osbourne’s diet, Daniel Craig’s final outing as James Bond is the franchise’s most expensive -- No Time to Die cost a whopping $242 million to shoot 

Page 32: Rival talent show judges Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Lopez’s racy battle of the boobs has triggered a backlash from fans and plopped them in hot water with government bigwigs -- the divas strutted their stuff to grab watchers and ratings with Christina on The Voice and J.Lo on American Idol so much in the 2015-16 seasons that shocked viewers wrote complaints to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which can boot a show off the air for obscene content, Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez’s arrogant airs and ravenous publicity grabbing has led them to lose friends fast -- they give off the impression that nobody is really in their league and it’s backfired in a big way and left them feeling socially isolated 

Page 38: Real Life

Page 44: Straight Talk -- Kylie Jenner is no nip/tuck novice 

Page 45: Ben Stiller said his ailing father Jerry Stiller was dealing with a lot of issues but he died peacefully and with a sense of humor, Fred Willard went to his grave haunted and humiliated by an X-rated sex bust in 2012 when cops claimed they caught him with his pants down at the sleazy Tiki Theater in Hollywood but he was so deeply in love with his wife Mary that he was devastated she had to suffer through that embarrassment 

Page 47: Hollywood Flashback -- Porky’s, Bizarre But True

[unexpectedreylo]

Vanity Fair Summer Issue:  Let’s Break It On Down

reOkay, first off, I can’t think of the last time I was really happy to be wrong about something.  I didn’t believe for one second they’d play the Reylo card this early in the game.  I didn’t think they’d play it AT ALL before the movie’s release.

Instead, they hopped on a big Reylo semi-truck and crashed it through the front windows of all doubt.  Sure VF Senior Writer Joanna Robinson is an admitted Reylo but it’s not like she ordered writer Lev Grossman and photographer Annie Leibovitz to pull a gun on the cast so that they’ll give us all the Reylo we want or else.  If you can’t figure out by now that Reylo is central to this trilogy and the answer to life, the universe, and everything, I can’t help you.  

The cover photos are of course, stunning.  Robinson said there is a hidden meaning in the covers that she wonders if anyone will figure out before the film is released.  (I know, LOL, these are Reylos were talking about here.)

They are obviously in the same environment (this new desert planet) and Kylo looks all Lawrence of Arabia/princely/dashing, exactly how you want your villain to appear, am I right?  She looks emotional.  Maybe they are looking at each other.  Notice how light and shadows, twilight and sunrise play across both images.  

There’s a lot of debate about this image going on right now.  Some are saying they are NOT fighting each other but this looks like it might be the same “duel” portrayed on the Art of TROS cover (notice she’s in the desert, he’s in water) AND on the Loungefly pin art .  The difference is in the latter two, Kylo is in a helmet.  In this photo, Kylo is not wearing a helmet. 

Let me just say this...the above photo is NOT a movie still.  Annie Leibovitz always stages her Star Wars photos.  It’s not to say this scene won’t happen in the film but it may play out/look differently.  For example, look at this photo from the TPM spread in 1999:

Yes, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul fought in the movie but not on Tatooine and defintely not with Obi-Wan leaping about while still wearing his cloak.  

Anakin and Padme wore those costumes in a scene together in AOTC and they were standing on that Naboo balcony but they didn’t cuddle in that scene like they do in this photo.

I could point to other VF SW photos that weren’t literal depictions of anything that goes on the movies but are truthful about the character, relationships, and so forth.

What’s really interesting is what the actors and the VF people had to say about Reylo:

“The most important relationship in the new trilogy”

"Their relationship is the closest thing the new trilogy has to a star-crossed love story on the order of Han and Leia: a source close to the movie says that their Force-connection will turn out to run even deeper than we thought.”

“I think there’s a part of Rey that’s like, dude, you fucking had it all, you had it all,” Ridley says. “That was always a big question during filming: you had it all and you let it go.”

"They’re uniquely suited to understand each other, but at the same time they are in every way each other’s inverse, down to Kylo’s perverse rejection of his family, which is the one thing Rey craves most."

"And then he had been forging this maybe-bond with Rey,” Driver says, “and it kind of ends with the question in the air: is he going to pursue that relationship, or when the door of her ship goes up, does that also close that camaraderie that they were maybe forming?"

"By the emotional logic that governs the Star Wars universe—and also our own—Kylo Ren is going to have to confront the past, and his fears, whatever they are, or be destroyed by them."

"If Kylo Ren can’t be redeemed it will almost certainly fall to Rey to put him down, in spite of their maybe-bond.”  (Okay, none of that Jonerys stuff better happen but Rey failed twice to take him out when she could’ve.  So that’s something.)

“Will Kylo Ren and Rey reforge their own connection?  And if they do, will it be love or simply friendship that unites them?  The answer, Driver says, is incredibly complicated:  ‘I don’t think it’s any one thing.  The strength in what Rian (Johnson) wrote and J.J. (Abrams) wrote is it’s never all one thing.”

From Grossman’s Reddit AMA chat:

“I got a strong sense that this movie goes deeper into the Kylo/Rey dyad but that’s about all I can say.”

From Grossman’s answer to Twitter user Riri:

“I have no spoilery knowledge but I would be surprised if they didn’t take that further.  There’s so much powerful feeling and tension there.”  Plus a hope that this doesn’t end up like Jon and Dany and being unsure about what Jedi can do with romantic feelings.

Other interesting related tidbits.  VF.com first claimed that it can confirm Kylo was fighting the now-revealed Knights of Ren in the TROS teaser but then it claimed it was an error.  Riiiight.  An error in giving out a spoiler.  Driver talks some more about having a clear ending in mind, likely for his arc.  Rey finds kind of a quasi family with her pals but is separated somewhat from them because of her Force abilities.  Keri Russell was confirmed to be playing Zorii Bliss, who is so obviously a bounty hunter and Richard E. Grant will unsurprisingly play a FO bigwig named Pryde.  Fifty bucks says he and Hux will conspire to oust Supreme Leader Kylo.  Mysterious omissions:  Rose and Palpatine.  I think the Luke shot reveals perhaps a full retelling of what happened on the night of Murdergate.  Either that or Luke is in hell.  Billie Lourd insisted on having scenes with her late mother.

The mag hits the stands on Jun. 4 (May 30 in L.A., NYC, and London) and there’s a crapload of video to pour through over the weekend.

Hat tip to @sleemo, Johnamarie Macias, Riri, klaudia, and benscalligraphy for transcribing, screenshotting, and so forth.

[one-of-us-blog]

Licence to Kill (1989)

Today Drew is forced to watch and recap 1989’s Licence to Kill, the sixteenth James Bond adventure. Bond’s goin’ rogue, baby! When a drug lord almost kills his good friend Felix Leiter, Bond takes it personally and sets out to get revenge. Will Bond need to dig two graves before setting off on this quest for vengeance?

Keep reading to find out…

Eli, it was so great to hear how much you enjoyed both parts of “Seems Like Old Times”! I agree that it was wonderful to see Dorothy again, and I’m really glad this was a positive experience for you. I’m also glad that we had some real talk about James Bond Jr., because you really saved me from falling into a rabbit hole. I had some big ambitions about tackling the whole series, but after watching those first ten episode I had the wind taken out of my sails in a major way. I love some cheesy cartoons as much as the next guy, but the idea of covering all 60 or so episodes of that show made me dread making a new post every time I thought about it. I feel like a bit of a failure for not being able to power through the whole series, but you giving me permission to abandon that little side project took a lot of weight off my shoulders. Now I’m ready to finish off the rest of the Bond movies, so let’s get to it!

Buttocks tight!

Screenplay by Michael G. Wilson & Richard Maibaum, film directed by John Glen

Bond and his good friend Felix Leiter (David Hedison) (I can’t believe we’re getting two movies in a row with Leiter in it, and this Leiter even looks a bit familiar!) are on their way to Leiter’s wedding (I wonder how Gordo will feel about his new stepmom?) when they’re snatched up by some dorks from the DEA. Turns out Leiter has moved on from the CIA and taken up a post at the DEA, and now his new friends want his help in rounding up a drug lord and all around loony Frank Sanchez (Robert Davi). Leiter only lets Bond come along as an observer, but this is Bond so naturally he’s got to get involved and also make the moves on Sanchez’s shaken and abused girlfriend Lupe (Talisa Soto). We get a brief aerial chase and we see Bond grapple down to hook Sanchez’s plane to the DEA helicopter, and with the drug lord successfully snagged Leiter and Bond are both able to parachute down to the wedding. We get a genuinely funny sight gag of some kids lifting up Leiter and Bond’s parachutes like they’re trains on wedding dresses and then we jump right into this movie’s title sequence.

Miss Gladys Knight herself belts out “Licence to Kill”, which is a solid bop, as we get some shots letting us know that a casino is going to be involved in this plot somehow. Were you worried that we wouldn’t get some silhouettes of naked ladies dancing around? Well rest easy, because the ladies are back and the same as ever.

To just about everyone’s shock, the bit we saw before the title sequence wasn’t inconsequential to the actual plot of the movie and we rejoin Sanchez as he’s being interrogated by DEA officers. Sanchez tries to bribe his way to freedom, but it seems Officer Killifer (Everett McGill), who shares a name with my sexy teen serial killer OC, can’t be bought. We jump back to that whole wedding thing, and Bond and Della (Priscilla Barnes), Leiter’s new bride, share several kisses because that’s the kind of friend to Leiter that Bond is. Bond goes to Leiter’s office and finds him talking shop with Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell). Bond chides Leiter for working while there’s a part going outside, but Leiter’s a real dweeb and would rather talk about Sanchez than get wasted at his own reception. Killifer shows up because I guess this is more important than cracking Sanchez, and that reminds me that I really need to get to work on finishing the ending for Killifer Krisch and the Case of Maul Madness (in which Killifer visits her local mall and gets into a competition with her rival Tuffany to see who can kill the most people before closing time). Killifer leaves immediately because everything he came to tell Leiter could have been said via a telephone call and Leiter goes out to finally cut the cake.

Killifer teleports back to the DEA so he can help transport Sanchez to jail or wherever, only it seems our beloved Killifer was not as innocent as he seemed (a similarly shocking revelation took place in Killifer Krisch and the Christmas Eve-il, in which Killifer reveals to her friends Tanja and Briff that it was, in fact, she who mutilated that Salvation Army Santa) as he immediately crashes Sanchez’s transport into the ocean and has a team of scuba diving friends of his scoop the drug lord up and doggy paddle him to safety. Bond is finally leaving Leiter and Della so they can get on with their honeymoon, and Della inadvertently stirs up some bad memories by tossing Bond her garter and pointing out the gross belief that a man who catches a bride’s garter will be the next one to be married. After Bond leaves Leiter lets Della in on the whole Tracy situation which I’d honestly kind of forgotten about at this point.

Leiter and Della prepare to leave, but they’re ambushed by Sanchez’s men. Sanchez’s henchman Milton Krest (Anthony Zerbe) wants to kill Killifer and make a break for it (a similar almost-double cross took place in Killifer Krisch and the Game of Truth or Die, in which Killifer’s friend Clairna attempts to sell Killifer out in order to survive the deadly sleepover they find themselves trapped at), but Sanchez is a man of his word and won’t leave without paying Killifer the money he’s owed. Sanchez’s personal henchman Dario (Benicio del Toro in the roll no one saw coming) lets him know Leiter has arrived and Sanchez goes to greet his friend from the DEA. Della is nowhere to be seen, and Dario implies that she’s been raped and killed. Sanchez arranges for Leiter to be eaten by a shark, and we see his leg ripped off. These movies sure are fun!

Bond’s at the airport and about to leave when he finds out about Sanchez’s escape. He arrives at Leiter’s bungalow and finds Della’s dead body waiting for him. He finds Leiter horribly mangled and barely alive. Leiter’s friend Sharkey calls and Bond tells him to get help for Leiter. Leiter’s in the hospital and Sharkey’s spirit bond with his namesake lets him know that it was a shark that got Leiter. A DEA agent arrives and says their case on Sanchez is somehow caput since Sanchez had all of Leiter’s notes destroyed, but Bond says he and Sharkey will take care of this themselves. Sharkey takes Bond to Krest’s aquarium and Bond knows Killifer is lurking around. That night Bond and Sharkey (by which I mean just Bond) break into the aquarium after almost getting attacked by an inflatable shark pool toy.

Bond finds drugs hidden in some maggots that were being fed to fish, then locks a guard in the maggot pit so he can be eaten alive (a similarly gruesome death took place in Killifer Krisch and the MRSA-cre of St. Joseph Hospital, which won both a Bram Stoker Award and a Hugo). Another guard starts shooting at Bond, which results in some tanks getting smashed and some fish who ain’t never done nothin’ to nobody dying. Bond kills the guard by yanking him into a tank with an electric eel and electrocuting him, because why not get goofy from time to time? Killifer arrives and holds Bond at gunpoint and prepares to feed him to the shark that bit off most of Leiter. Sharkey manages to pop up like a whack-a-mole and knock Killifer off balance, and Bond seals the deal by tossing Bond into the tank where he’s chowed down on by the shark. I haven’t been this shocked by a character’s early death since Tuffany got killed off in Killifer Krisch and the Battle for the Gore-eria! The DEA is unhappy about Bond taking matters into his own hands, and Bond is taken to see M and his army of cats.

M tells Bond to drop the Leiter vendetta, so Bond quits. As we all know, Bond absolutely loves revenge and doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with it at all. M revokes Bond’s license to kill and demands him to turn over his weapon, but instead he beats up M’s goons and flees. Aw, shit, y’all, Bond’s gone rogue! We get a disgusting scene with Krest gearing up to rape Lupe on a boat when he’s interrupted by some goon telling him their sonar is picking up something moving toward them. Krest says it’s just a manta ray, but it’s actually Bond in a manta ray fursuit. Bond manages to infiltrate Krest’s ship and finds more drogas stashed onboard. He holds a knife to Lupe’s throat and makes her lie to Krest when he comes to ask her if she saw anyone sneak aboard. Bond sees that Sharkey’s been killed by Krest’s men, and now he’s feeling like going roguer than rogue. He kills the guy that killed Sharkey with a harpoon and steals the man’s scuba gear as Krest tries to get a drug deal over with. Bond foils the deal by tearing open the bags of drugs underwater before they can get back to Krest (and presumably gets a bunch of fish high af in the process) and then after some waterskiing antics manages to get onto the plane that delivered the drugs, kill the two men onboard and fly away with about five mil.

Bond heads back to Leiter’s house and finds a disk that Sanchez’s men missed. It holds a list of informants, and the only one on the list who isn’t dead is Pam Bouvier. Bouvier had a meeting scheduled with Leiter, and Bond goes in his place. Bond barely has time to sit down before Dario arrives and joins them at their table. Bouvier plans ahead and has had a shotgun in her lap this whole time, which makes Bond’s pistol look a little inadequate. How’d she get into the bar carrying a shotgun, one might ask? Who cares! A barfight breaks out and Bouvier shoots a hole in the wall so Bond can shimmy out into a speedboat. Dario shoots Bouvier in the back as she joins Bond, but she’s wearing a bullet proof vest under her tank top. Bond condescends to Bouvier about almost getting herself killed, and she correctly points out that she saved his life back there. If there’s one thing Bong hates it’s a capable woman who doesn’t need him to save her, so he’s pretty miffed. The boat runs out of gas and Bond tells Bouvier that he’s going after Sanchez. Bouvier was an Army pilot, so he hires her to fly him into Sanchez’s compound. The two haggle over money and then have sex for no damn reason (a similarly unnecessary sex scene took place in Killifer Krisch’s Fifty Shades of Gray Matter, but in my defense the whole Fifty Shades thing was in full swing at the time and my publisher was really breathing down my dick to get something hot on the market).

Back in MI6, M chides Moneypenny for making typos or something and Moneypenny puts in a call to Q Branch. Bond and Bouvier arrive in Isthmus. Bond wants Bouvier to split now that she’s flown him in, but she insists on staying and getting revenge on Sanchez. Bond deposits the stolen drug money in a bank owned by Sanchez, and later he and Bouvier visit a casino also owned by Sanchez. I knew a casino was going to turn up sooner or later, but then again casinos have been on my mind ever since I finished Killifer Krisch and the Game of Texas Stab’em, in which Killifer, Briff and Tanja visit Las Vegas only to find themselves playing for their lives as the stakes get higher and higher. Anyway, Sanchez is busy being creepy with Lupe and smooching his pet iguana when he’s informed that Bond is betting a ton of money in the casino.

Sanchez sends Lupe in to take over as Bond’s dealer. Lupe recognizes Bond, and she tells him it would be best for him if he left. Bond demands that Lupe take him to Sanchez, and he ignores her protests and drags her into an elevator while Bouvier gets drunk at the bar. Bond is allowed to meet with Sanchez and tries to get himself hired as an assassin. Bond is sent away and he and Bouvier return to the hotel, where Bond is informed that his uncle is waiting for him. Turns out his uncle is none other than Q, who tells him he’s here at Moneypenny’s request. Q has all sorts of gadgets, including a Polaroid which fires a laser and takes X-ray images of both people and pictures of people.

Q poses as Bond’s chauffer and Bond leaves Bouvier at the bar once again as he poses as a waiter to get close to Sanchez. Sanchez is meeting with an international conglomerate of drug dealers, and one of them, Kwang (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), insists on being shown to Sanchez’s drug production facility. Bond plans to use some Q Branch explosive toothpaste to break Sanchez’s bulletproof office windows. Bond tells Q to get lost prepares to snipe Sanchez after blowing the windows. He spots Bouvier seemingly making a deal with one of Sanchez’s men and panics. He blows the windows, but before he can take the shot he’s ambushed by two masked martial artists who knock him out and drag him to a cabin in the woods. Turns out they work for Kwang, who’s a member of the Hong Kong Police here to infiltrate Sanchez’s business. They’re joined by Fallon, an MI6 agent sent to arrest Bond.

Fallon and Kwang prepare to knock out Bond so he can be taken back to London, but Sanchez’s men have followed them and fire on the shack with a gotdamn tank. Kwang, his sidekicks and Fallon are all killed while just trying to do their jobs, but Bond survives. Bond wakes up in the heart of Sanchez’s base, and Bond says Kwang and Fallon were trying to arrest him for being an assassin or whatever. Sanchez assumes they were responsible for his windows being exploded last night, and he sends Bond and Lupe off for a tour. Lupe tells Bond he should stay put, but then she helps him escape by distracting some guards long enough for him to sneak onto a speedboat. Q and Bouvier are just chilling at the hotel when Bond bursts in, tosses Bouvier onto the bed, climbs on top of her and shoves a gun in her face while asking if she’s working for Sanchez. Bouvier explains she was trying to set up a sting in Sanchez’s office, and Bond blew all that to hell by being the big dummy he is.

Bond makes a plan involving Bouvier, Lupe and Q. He withdraws all of his money from bank and then his crack team infiltrates Krest’s ship and frames Krest for the theft of the drug money by planting the money on the ship. The money is found and Sanchez kills Krest by locking him in a decompression chamber and ramping up the pressure. Bond tells Bouvier and Q to get lost for the hundredth time and goes off on his own to get back to Sanchez’s compound before Sanchez notices he’s missing. Now that Krest is gone there’s an opening in Sanchez’s inner circle, so he invites Bond in. After Sanchez leaves Lupe lets herself in and she and Bond have sex. The next day Lupe goes to Bouvier and Q and tells them Bond needs to get the heck out of there, which is surprising to Bouvier as she assumed Bond had left the country. Lupe lets slip that she and Bond banged one out last night, and I haven’t seen a character feel so betrayed since Killifer discovered the truth behind Briff’s parentage in Killifer Krisch and the Die-NA Test of Doom.

Bouvier is pissed that Bond slept with another woman, because she’s a normal human being and that’s how you feel about that sort of thing. Q tells her that’s just how it is on this bitch of an Earth, and they plan to help Bond. Bond is taken to Sanchez drug lab, and Bond barely escapes being recognized by Dario. Bouvier plane is being worked on, so she has to hitchhike to the religious compound façade located over Sanchez’s lab. Bouvier tricks the fake cult leader working as Sanchez’s middleman into letting her tour the facility, while in the lab the process of smuggling cocaine out by dissolving it in gasoline is explained. I have seen science this faulty since Killifer went on vacation to Transylvania and wound up in a game of cat-and-mouse with a mad scientist in Killifer Krisch and the Clones of Dr. Funkenstein!

Bouvier pulls a gun on the fake cult leader and locks him up. Dario recognizes Bond, so Bond causes a distraction by lighting the lab on fire and making a break for it. He gets caught by Dario and Dario tells Sanchez Bond is an informant and Bond gets strapped to a conveyer belt headed for an in industrial shredder. Bouvier manages to sneak into the facility as it’s headed toward meltdown and shoots Dario before he can knock Bond down into the shredder. Bond tugs Dario down into the shredder instead, and we get a shot of Dario’s legs being torn apart that would make the biggest Killifer Krisch fan blush. Bouvier saves Bond for the hundredth time and the two barely escape the facility before it bows. Bouvier steals a golf cart so she and Bond can pursue Sanchez at break-neck speed. They make it to a plane Bouvier stole earlier and Bond hijacks Sanchez’s tanker full of cocaína-flavored gasoline.

Bond uses his tanker to crash a different tanker, which then gets accidentally blown up by one of Sanchez’s men with a rocket launcher. I haven’t come across vehicular mayhem like this since Killifer snuck into a monster truck derby in Killifer Krisch: Fury Road! Bond’s tanker gets its tires blown out, but luckily Bouvier arrives to spray Sanchez’s men with a cloud of Roundup. Bond’s tanker falls off a cliff, crashing into a bunch of other tankers and causing them all to blow up. Sanchez drives off in the last remaining tanker with Bond in hot pursuit. Bond puts his truck on cruise control and manages to climb onto Sanchez’s tanker. Bond turns on the tanker’s spout, causing all of the cocaine gas to spill out. Sanchez blows a hole in Bouvier’s plane’s tail with a rocket launcher, and she has to make an emergency landing. I haven’t experienced aerial drama like this since Killifer had to fight for her life against a talking bear while visiting the seaside town of Cape Suzette in Killifer Krisch: TaleSpin!

Bond and Sanchez fight while the tanker drives off a cliff. Both men are badly injured, but Sanchez gets to his feet and prepares to kill Bond with a machete. Bond stalls long enough to get a lighter that Leiter and Della gave him after their wedding (that’s right, the married couple gave this dude a gift at their wedding!) and uses it set the gasoline-soaked Sanchez ablaze. We watch a man roast alive for a minute or so while Bond scurries away and the burning Sanchez causes the last tanker to explode. Bouvier arrives in yet another truck and she drives Bond to safety.

Bond calls the one-legged Leiter, who’s conscious now I guess, and Leiter seems to be completely done grieving for his one-day bride. Bond and Leiter both presumably bond over both having wives who didn’t survive long enough for them to reach their honeymoons, then Leiter lets Bond know M has a job for him. Bond’s not interested and hangs up on his mutilated friend. There’s a big party at Sanchez’s house and Lupe puts the moves on Bond. Bond tells her to go jump off a cliff and jumps into a pool near Bouvier. He pulls Bouvier into the pool, ruining her gown, while Lupe, Lupe���s new man who’s the president or something and Q look on. Bond and Bouvier screw in the pool while an apparently sentient fish statue watches them.

The End

~~~~~

Phew, that was exhausting! Jumping from people getting limbs ripped off by sharks, torn to pieces by a shredder or roasting alive to goofy truck stunts practically gave me whiplash! I really liked Bouvier, but I wish Bond hadn’t been such a dick to her. It was fun to see so much of Q in this movie, but I wish he’d actually had a reason for being there. I know Bond going rogue is a pretty common thing nowadays, but I think this was the first time that happened so that was fun. I think this movie took itself way too seriously most of the time, and it made up for its own lack of dramatic tension with an excess of explosions and goofy stunts. Giving Bond a personal motive for going after a villain is an interesting idea, but making Sanchez a glorified drug dealer makes him seem kind of lame compared to villains who wanted to start a nuclear war or flood the planet. The treatment of Della was completely disgusting and unnecessary, and it set a pretty gross tone that never quite went away.

Overall, I give Licence to Kill QQ½ on the Five Q Scale.

Up next Eli will be covering the next two episodes of The Golden Palace, “Just a Gigolo” and “Marriage on the Rocks, with a Twist”, and after that I’ll check back in with my recap of the next James Bond romp, GoldenEye.

Until then, as always, thank you for reading, thank you for exploding and thank you for being One of Us!

[ramajmedia]

Rise of Skywalker: 10 Theories About Rey's Parents | ScreenRant

It would be no understatement to say there are various mysteries that are currently unanswered in the Star Wars universe. How did Maz Kanata acquire Luke Skywalker’s old lightsaber? How was Supreme Leader Snoke able to turn Kylo Ren to do the dark side? Was Anakin Skywalker’s father actually Sheev Palpatine this whole time?

RELATED: Star Wars: Kylo Ren's 10 Best Moments (So Far)

We’re expecting answers to many of our burning questions when The Rise of Skywalker releases later this year. And top of the list of things we want to be answered is Rey’s parentage. Neither The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi shed much light on their identities, leaving fans to theorize more than ever before. Here are 10 theories about Rey’s parents and who they might be.

10 They Might Be Nobody

The Last Jedi was a controversial Star Wars movie, one that split the fan base due to director Rian Johnson’s determination to subvert all our expectations. And one of the issues many people had was when Kylo Ren announced to Rey that her parents were mere nobodies, Jakku drunkards who sold her for drinking money when she was young.

Many believe this won’t be the case. Kylo could have been lying just to manipulate Rey into joining the First Order and turning her back on the resistance. But it would certainly be a surprise if Rey were to have no special origins given how powerful she is. Whether Disney stick or twist for the final chapter of the Skywalker saga is something only time will tell.

9 They Could Be Gone

Kylo Ren also claimed that Rey’s parents were buried in an unmarked grave in the Jakku desert. And, even if they turn out to be nobody, there’s a chance that they may no longer be alive - for a variety of reasons other than the fact they could have drank themselves to death.

What if Rey was so powerful growing up she accidentally killed them? We’ve seen her tempted by the dark side of the force in both sequel trilogy installments so far and it’s not entirely out of the question that she could lose control of her actions and do something she regrets. Similarly, the First Order could have murdered them and she was hidden for her own sake or they could have been people who fought up against them and were slain for their actions.

8 They Could Be Han Solo and Qi’ra

Solo: A Star Wars story was a solid, if unspectacular, installment of the series. One of its high points was, however, the relationship between Han Solo and Qi’ra. Separated lovers when younger, the movie spends much time playing on their chemistry, with the duo joining forces to take down villains Dryden Vos and Tobias Beckett before going their separate ways at the end of the blockbuster.

RELATED: Star Wars: 6 Best Sequel Trilogy Characters (& 4 Worst)

And the fact both Han and Qi’ra are rebellious, capable fighters has led to talk that Rey could be their child. Qi’ra mysteriously disappeared to work under Darth Maul at the end of the movie and it’s likely her and Han crossed paths again at some point in time. They could have abandoned Rey on Jakku due to the rising threat of the First Order or even to avoid Leia Organa from finding out. It’s a theory that would, at the very least, place greater importance on Solo within the franchise.

7 They Could Be Han Solo and Leia Organa

Han Solo always seemed to know more about Rey than he let on. A notoriously stubborn and individualistic person, it was rather out of character when he allowed the young Jakku scavenger to stay with him after they meet on the Millennium Falcon. He seemed paternal towards her, dishing out words of wisdom and acting as the father figure she never had while growing up.

Leia has always seemed warm to Daisy Ridley’s character as well, embracing her at the end of The Force Awakens shortly after Han’s death. They sensed darkness within Ben Solo at an early age - did they sense the same within Rey? It seems unlikely that they’re her parents given they’d of surely said something by now but, given how Star Wars loves to surprise its fans, it’s still something that can’t be ruled out.

6 Keri Russell May Play One Of Them

Keri Russell is joining Star Wars for The Rise of Skywalker and there’s plenty of rumours that she’ll be playing a bounty hunter named Zori Bliss. And there’s another rumour that Zori will actually turn out to be Rey’s mother and had a key reason for leaving her marooned on the planet of Jakku while as a young child.

RELATED: Star Wars: 10 Things We Wish The Sequel Trilogy Had Done (So Far)

The theory is that the First Order went around rounding up force-sensitive individuals in order to avoid any threats against both Supreme Leader Snoke and Kylo Ren. Bliss then could have hidden her away in order to avoid her becoming the latest casualty of the organization’s villainous reign. There’s even whispers Lando knows about Rey due to the fact he rubbed shoulders with some dodgy people back in the day and this would be an interesting route for Disney to go down.

5 Luke Skywalker Could Be One Of Them

Every Star Wars fan was excited to see Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi, particularly how Disney had decided to hold the character back throughout much of The Force Awakens. However, he ended up being a bit of the damp squib, cutting a miserable and gloomy figure and doing barely anything of note. By the end of the movie, hopes that he was related to Rey were extinguished.

But there’s still plenty we don’t know about Luke. What if he found time to hook up with somebody while also trying to train a new generation of Jedi? Luke seemed to know Rey before even knowing her name and his decision to train her, having previously been against the idea, seemed a little too spontaneous. What if Luke, after all, is actually the father?

4 Obi-Wan Kenobi Could Be One Of Them

This was a theory that did the rounds immediately after the release of The Force Awakens in 2015. What if Obi-Wan Kenobi was Rey’s father? After all, Ewan McGregor remains keen to reprise his role as the Jedi and he did spend many years on Tatooine keeping an eye on Luke Skywalker. That, coupled with the fact his voice can be heard during Rey’s flashback scene, has certainly got people theorizing.

The maths doesn’t really add up - Rey must have been born well after Kenobi’s death - but nothing can be ruled out. Obi-Wan Kenobi could even have created her as a force ghost. If Yoda can use lightning despite being dead then why not, right? Again, it’s unlikely, but definitely possible.

3 They’re Two Jedi We Don’t Know Yet

We know that the First Order, like the Empire before them, want to rule the galaxy with an iron fist. And that means no force-sensitive individuals to threaten their positions of power using the old magic arts. Therefore, it’s possible that Rey was birthed by two Jedi in hiding who abandoned her in order to protect themselves.

RELATED: Rise Of Skywalker: 10 Star Wars Mysteries We've Never Had Answered

Jedi aren’t perfect - they make plenty of mistakes - and it is definitely plausible that two in hiding would not want a third to bring them to harm or danger. Rey definitely was dumped on Jakku, rather than born there, and with Supreme Leader Snoke and Kylo Ren bringing much fear to the galaxy it would make sense placing your force-sensitive loved one somewhere they’d never think to look.

2 They Were Involved With The First Order

While Rey’s parents could be Jedi on the run who wanted to protect both themselves and her from harm, what if she was actually birthed by members of the First Order who were actually so scared of her being discovered they sent her away in fear of both her, and themselves, being punished?

Rogue One went a bit down this route with Galen Erso and Jyn Erso. She was hidden from the Empire to keep her safe while her father continued working for the enemy, trying to sabotage them from within. Richard E. Grant has signed on for The Rise of Skywalker as Admiral Pryde - so what if he was her father who hid her to avoid Kylo Ren and Supreme Leader Snoke from hunting her from within? He could be Galen Erso Round 2.

1 They Don’t Exist

Rey may actually not have any parents at all. Because it’s possible that she was actually created by Emperor Palpatine - or by somebody else - this theory exists due to the scene in The Last Jedi where she is tempted by the dark side and, when hunting for the identity of her parents, she comes across a mirror that shows multiple versions of herself.

This suggests that she’s a clone and, given how Palpatine went about cloning himself during the Star Wars: Legends material, that could be her origins. Palpatine may even have created her using the medichlorians, with many believing him to have done the same to Anakin during the prequel trilogy. One thing is for sure, though: we’ll know the truth about Rey’s parents when the Rise of Skywalker comes out later this year.

NEXT: Star Wars: 10 Kylo Ren Predictions For Rise Of Skywalker

source https://screenrant.com/rise-skywalker-theories-reys-parents/

[toevenexist]

The Darkening Pt. 1

SO! Here is this. I received an Anon prompt for an Apocalypse fic, which really sparked some inspiration because I, like many I’m sure, do have a good think about that sort of thing, due to current events!!

I’m not going to share the prompt because it will reveal spoilers! This might not be everyone’s cup of tea but what the hey, I’m loving writing it!! This will have multiple chapters. If you want anything in particular to go down let me know and I’ll see if I can fit it in :)

 Enjoy x

“Will somebody turn that down?” Amelia called over to the main desk, where a group of people were gathered around a television which boomed loudly. She gripped the door frame tightly as no one took notice of her request. Glancing into the patient room with a soft smile she spoke “Do you have any further questions?” 

The patient, a young man she had been treating for some time, shook his head, smiling, although distracted by the sound of screaming overlapped by the monotone voice of a news broadcaster. Amelia nodded, glancing back out into the hall. She excused herself from the room, walking slowly across to join the crowd gathered around the television.

She quickly gave up trying to see the screen, not wanting to be crowded amidst the group, she stood at the back and listened. An odd sort of screaming was the most prevalent sound. She crossed her arms and looked down at her shoes, trying to filter out the sound in order to hear the drawling words of the newsreader. Before she could make anything out hands wrapped around her elbows. She looked up to see her husband stooping to her height. “Owen…?” she said, trying to read his expression. She could see fear, which confused her.

“Amelia… We…” he was guiding her down the hall.

“Owen… whats going on?”

“I think… I think we have to go… I don’t.” Amelia was shaking her head, but still let him lead her. He was doing so in such a domineering way that it was hard not to. “Owen… What do you mean?… Where… what?” she said, as he stopped and sped to stand directly in front of her. He pulled out his phone and showed her a video, placing his phone in her hands and cupping his around hers. “Wha…” she gasped. “Owen… OWEN” she screamed, trying hand him his phone back, but he held it in her grasp, the video showed a flock of people mauling  a person like dogs.

Amelia looked up at Owen with teary eyes. She swallowed hard, feeling nausea wash over her. He pulled the phone away slightly to change the page and she pressed a hand to her chest. “Owen that’s… that’s just…” he moved the screen back so she could see it. It was the vice president. He was sweating, eyes wide in frantic panic. “This is an Emergency Alert. A worldwide pandemic has occurred. If you, or someone close to you expresses the symptoms of a fever, bloodshot eyes, pins and needles and/or numbness in regions of the body, along with nausea, sickness, dizziness, and headaches, then please secure yourself away from others. The disease is transmitted by transfer of fluids, so take necessary precautions to protect yourself. This is a matter of urgency. If you are at home, stay there.  If you are not somewhere secure, then get somewhere secure. Limit your contact with other people. Do not try to get to hospitals…” Both Amelia and Owens focus was pulled from the screen by a ruckus behind them.

Amelia turned quickly at the sound of screaming. She had stepped sharply towards it when Owen grabbed her arm. She looked back at him, gasping. The screams echoing down the hall turned turned wiry and grotesque and Amelia backed up, unsteadily, against Owen, who too began to back up. “Let’s go” He said, tugging her towards the stairwell.

“They’re going to lock down the hospital… to contain the disease, the ER is the last exit open” he said, panting as they sped down the stairwell. 

“What!?” Amelia screamed, skipping steps to keep up with Owen.

“I got Megan ready, she’s in a side room by the ER” He said, shoving Amelia through a door.

“But… our stuff, we need…”

“I bust your locker door open…” he said, looking down to meet Amelia’s frightened gaze. “Your stuff is with Megan, and I’ve got some supplies together.” Amelia sped alongside him, head down, an arm wrapped across her body, hand tightly gripping his.

“Amelia…” she heard her name being called. Meredith was sprinting up behind them, Ellis, red faced and wailing, in her arms. Webber and Riggs, followed. None of them stopped. All moving with purpose towards the ER Exit.

“It’s okay Megan, we’ll be out of this soon… It’s okay” Amelia could hear Owens soft assurances as she led everyone through the ER. There were people crowding at the exit, out the door. They all made a chain as the pushed past people, heads down. Moving free of the doors, the cool air hit them. Outside soldiers were lined around the exit, shouting sternly to go back inside. She felt Owen and Megan press into her back as she stopped, unsure of where to go. Ellis could be heard screeching behind her too.

The group took in the scene, much as they’d been trained to do. Solders were bellowing, pointing weapons at the crowd, who were crying, tears shining in the light of the evening sun. The sound of the desperate shrieks washed into one like a chorus. The distant crack of gunfire rang in the air.

Amelia pulled her white coat tight around her stomach, inhaling with a calmness she had no right to posses. “Amelia…” she heard, and she turned sharply. Arizona was pressed against the wall at the very edge of the line of soldiers, people were filtering out beside her. Amelia gasped, moving quickly to her and pulling the others behind her. Arizona pulled her through. Amelia turned and pulled Megan and Owen through, Webber following closely behind.

Meredith was so set of moving through that she failed to notice the eyes of a soldier on her. His steps became low as he quickly moved, his large chest blocking her way like a solid wall. She looked up at him, eyes pleading. “Please…” she said, as quiet as a whisper. She could only see the shadow of his eyes, the rest of his face was covered. Meredith felt a sinking feeling. She looked to Ellis, she was crying still, but the sound was awash amongst all the others. She was crying so much that her eyes were squeezed closed, head flung back, mouth open wide. Meredith pressed a soft kiss against her hot cheek and inhaled her scent, “this isn’t my Baby.”

Amelia screamed at Owen to wait, and he ceased the tugging of her arm. “Please… this is her baby…” Meredith nodded to Amelia. “Please let her take her baby… It’s not mine, she’s not mine” Meredith was crying, struggling to form the words, her voice shredded with sadness. “Please…”

“Please…” Amelia said, tugging on the soldier’s arm, eyes locked with Meredith’s. There was a pregnant pause, before he reached for Ellis, large hands enveloping her and pulling her from Meredith’s arms. Meredith kissed her swift as she went, whispering goodbye. The soldier, half turned, handing the child to Amelia, who held her close against her aching chest. Meredith backed up against Riggs as the soldiers swarmed in and raised their weapons, ordering everyone back inside.

Meredith held herself, eyes heavy with tears. She nodded to Amelia… Amelia nodded back, and then she was gone. Lost amongst the crowd moving back into the hospital.

“Amelia…” Owen turned her, and pulled her towards an ambulance. She held Ellis tightly, eyes down, letting Owen move her around, up into the vehicle, into a seat. The doors slammed powerfully behind them with a gust of wind that swept Ellis’ hair up and against Amelia’s cheek.

Ellis dropped her head into the crook of Amelia’s neck. She stared down at her hand resting against Ellis’ back, at her wedding ring glinting in the light of the ambulance. A seat belt was wrapped around her, she didn’t look up to see who by.

“Amelia…” the voice sounded distant. “Amelia.” The van started to move, she felt the force of the exceleration pushing her to the right. Owen’s hand came into her view, his ring ticking against hers. She looked up, meeting his sad blue eyes. His hand came up to caress her cheek. He smiled tightly. “You’re okay” he said. She inhaled sharply and then let out a steady breath. She looked around, seeing all the bags at her feet. Megan sat in the corner, eyes closed, forehead pressed to the wall. Richard sat at Amelia’s side, head tilted back, eyes to the ceiling, his hands were splayed on his knees. She looked to the front of the truck, seeing flashes of Arizona’s blonde hair. “Who…” Amelia began to speak without even realising. “Alex is driving…” Owen said, rocking with the motion of the van.

Owen observed Amelia, sitting stiffly, an expression of shock contorting her face. She held Ellis firmly.  Her eyes were flitting around the place, finally settling on the window. “Guy’s…” Arizona called from the front. She was leaning from her chair, hair swinging back and forth as the van sped through the city. “We’re going to turn off the lights back there, to save the battery” as she spoke the van bounced over speed bumps, they fell into darkness then. Natural light softly poured in through the back windows in columns.

Owen followed Amelia’s gaze, looking to the sky. In his periphery he could see people running about the place. He looked to the sky. The sun was setting, light turning from orange to pink. Amelia’s eyes took on the most beautiful colour, a sort of sad turquoise. She moved her feet forward towards him, sitting them between his, feeling the warmth of his ankles against her legs.  She sighed, meeting his eyes. The street lights came on, his hair flashed bright in their orange fluorescence. Amelia smiled sadly, dropping her head so her cheek rest against Ellis’s head.

The light of the street lamps rolled across the interior of the van as they passed them, their rhythm lulling everyone into a calmness, but nobody slept. They all rest in a state of thoughtfulness, eyes fixed on the darkening sky.   

Link to Part 2

Reviews very welcome.

[bluboothalassophile]

A Weekend We’ll Never Remember!

Off to a Forgettable Start!

Richard ‘Dick’ Grayson was not one to make many stupid decisions. He would cop to making dumb choices, well that was before this happened. This… Well this… This was unexplainable. Even to him.

Now, this, it had to be the stupidest decision of his life as he slowly cracked his eyes open to the evil glare of the Vegas sun and groaned as it felt like a jack hammer in his head. Rolling over slowly he winced feeling like he’d been ran over by an eighteen wheeler. Wincing a bit he looked around the room and frowned, he didn’t think…

There was a soft feminine moan beside him which had his aching head snapping over to the source faster than his aching head could care to handle and groaned at the reaction of his hangover and sun and waking and found himself looking at the other occupant of the bed.

The world stilled as his eyes zeroed in on the flaming red hair and he felt his heart drop as he moved his left hand to touch her and saw the gold band on his finger.

Oh fuck!

He fell out of the bed then and heard muffled, foreign curse.

This was…

He didn’t know what this was! That was problem.

Dick nervously peeked up at the bed as he winced and walked to the bathroom, he found his diddybag and pulled out the meds as he popped them back and took a swig of water. Slowly he released a shuddering breath. This was bad!

Very bad!

Sitting on the lid of the toilet he tried to remember what had happened the last seventy-two hours and bit his lip.

See, he remembered coming here, undercover, with Koriand’r after kissing Shawn goodbye and heading to Las Vegas, for work. wincing he slowly made his way to the other room where he saw his partner sprawled out in all her naked glory and he just blinked.

What the fuck had happened. Stealthily as he could he slipped to her left side, there was a good size diamond rock on her ring finger. Which had his heart sinking as he stared at Kori. Seriously!? What the hell had happened!?

Quietly he slipped around the room and found a recite, for a ring, and he grimaced at the price. Well fuck, he’d gone all out on this! Looking around he found a pair of pants and found the discarded dress of Kori’s, which had him bending over with a wince as he lifted it and noted the tears.

Either she’d been mauled by a wild animal, or he’d jumped her.

Dropping the material, he groaned as he rubbed his brow and flopped into a seat where his laptop was open with an image. The image felt like a stab to his head and gut as he slammed it shut and rubbed his brow, Kori made a noise and shifted on the bed.

Well… fuck.

There was no other way to describe the shit storm he’d found himself in now. Reluctantly Dick pulled out his phone.

~~~*~*~*~~~

80 Hours Earlier…

“I don’t like this,” his blue haired girlfriend stated as he packed for the trip. It was a simple mission, Jason had stumbled onto some information about Zuko, and the family dealings and was going to Vegas to deal with it. Raven and Kori were going on vacation and he’d actually come up with the brilliant plan of going in a group, the Zuccos wouldn’t be looking for a group, and wouldn’t expect it. With great reluctance Raven and Jason agreed to do this as a group and both had snapped something about needing a vacation from this vacation. Dick and Kori had just been happy to get them to agree to this.

Dick and Kori had been over for years now, but she was still a dear friend, he just didn’t understand why Shawn couldn’t just see he and Kori were friends. It wasn’t like he had a conniption fit whenever she hung out with her guy friends. However, Shawn had issues with Kori, and this lead to a lot of fights between them. Hell, he’d even helped one of her buddies who was framed for murder.

“It’s only for the weekend, and I need to see this through,” he shrugged.

“But with her?” Shawn whined.

“Kori is friends with Jason, Jason was paying for Kori and Raven to have a girl’s weekend, and this popped up, I need to see this through Shawn,” he said pointedly as he continued packing.

“You shouldn’t go, not with them,” she cooed.

“Kori and Raven are my friends, Shawn, and Raven’s been a friend to me since I was a kid, and Kori’s… Kori,” he shrugged. He truly had no words to describe what Kori was to him anymore. They were friends for sure, but to Dick, in his secret heart of hearts, Kori was his greatest ‘What If’.

Ending their engagement had broken his heart, and shattered hers, however, it was the right call, and they both knew it. There was no way he could rule Tamaran by her side, and there was no way she’s stay on earth for just him. No, it was a good thing they’d ended, even if they didn’t want to. Then she’d teamed up with Jason and Roy and off she went, he hadn’t seen her since, and just heard about her through Jason, Raven, Roy, and the news.

Kori was Dick’s biggest ‘what if’ especially since he accidentally stumbled to Earth-22 and met Mar'i Grayson, not that he was telling Shawn or anyone about that trip. No, that was one of those things he was keeping to himself because he had wanted it so badly, he had wanted that with Kori, and she was the only one to inspire it for him.

“I know you have feelings for her still Dick!” Shawn snapped.

“The only woman I have eyes for is you,” he assured her as he bent over and kissed her lightly as he hefted his bag up and left.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Dick finally scrounged up the energy to walk over to Kori and gingerly shake her shoulder. Brilliant green eyes snapped open as she tensed and slowly looked at him.

“Ow,” she moaned and moved away from him. “What do you want Dick,” she mumbled in the pillow.

“Do you remember last night?” he asked.

“We had shots because someone sent you pictures of Shawn with another guy,” she answered in her pillow.

“Uh… I think that was two days ago,” Dick admitted. He’d just seen the image, and the date on it, it was taken maybe twelve hours after he’d left his apartment in Blüdhaven and started working in Vegas.

“Mmm… Where Jay, he know,” Kori slurred.

“Honestly, I have no clue, and; where are we?” he asked as he staggered to the window and looked down to see the Bellagio fountain; alright so he was still on the strip, he was pretty sure he was up in the Bellagio according to this view.

“Jay wouldn’t leave me behind,” Kori yawned and he turned to blink at all the marks on her chest, all those hickeys, he wanted to escape before she noticed it, however he also had no fucking clue what was going on.

“Uh… you sure?” Dick asked as he forced himself to look up from the glorious naked view of Kori and look out the window and not think about… well, a heated romp in the sheets with Kori; again apparently, until he knew just what the fuck was going on!

“Jason may not like you, but he adores me… WHAT THE HELL!?” Kori shrieked and he looked back over to the bathroom to see Kori standing there, all her glory, her hair all but aflame as she stared at herself in the mirror.

“GRAYSON!” she roared as she spun on him. “No One Would Dare To Leave This Many Hickeys On My Person Beside You!” she started in on him.

“Now Kori…” he stepped back from the pissed off Tamaranian carefully.

“What the…” she stopped mid punch when she noticed her left hand and she floated there, naked, gorgeous, and stared at her hand before she turned her brilliant green glare onto him.

“What is the meaning of this, Dick?” she hissed as she shoved the giant emerald rock at him, not removing it from her finger.

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you! I have no clue!” he finally sputtered and she blinked slowly before she landed her feet on the ground.

“I will call Raven,” Kori decided as she marched purposely for some of the shredded clothing and started looking through it.

“Not Jason?” he asked.

“Your brother has your family paranoia and refuses to carry a communication device unless it be an Ouija board,” kori sighed.

“I don’t get that…” Dick omitted.

“Neither do we, Raven thinks it’s funny thought,” Kori pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number.

~~~*~*~*~~~

72 Hours Earlier…

“Las Wages!” Dick announced gleefully walking off the plane. Kori smiled.

“Jason! Raven! We must participate in the drinking of shots! Gambling! Poker! Slap Jack! And the many touristy things at Las Vegas!” Kori giggled.

“Black Jack,” Raven and Jason corrected in unison.

“Next vacation I want to not be in a hundred and twenty degree heat,” Raven muttered.

“Come on Rae, it’ll be fun!” Dick slung an arm around her shoulders as they walked into the airport for the car rentals. He was so excited, not just for finally shutting down the Zucco crime family, but for also getting this opportunity to hang out with two of his oldest friends, and finally get to know Jason who was ever elusive in the matter of family.

“This will be most glorious! We must take many photos for Roy, Jay,” Kori grinned.

“Uh-huh, no flashing your boobs though Kori,” he said.

“Is that not an earth custom in Vegas?”

“New Orleans on Mardi Gras,” Jason answered.

“Very well,” Kori smiled. “Oh! Raven, we must do the spa day before we leave!”

“Excellent you girls have a nice relaxing time and Dickhead and I will do the mission,” Jason announced.

“Who died and made you team leader?” Dick demanded.

“This is a team, I thought I was on vacation with Kori for girl talk,” Raven flatly stated.

“That’s the spirit, come on little bird, we’ll get the car,” Jason said as he and Raven left him and Kori there.

Now it was awkward as Dick shoved his hands in his pockets and Kori looked anywhere but him.

“I heard you have a girlfriend,” Kori said uncomfortably.

“Yeah, Shawn, she’s great,” he managed.

“This is not weird right, we’re still friends,” Kori said and his head snapped over to her.

“Yeah, best friends,” he smiled. Kori had been his best friend as a teen and young adult, they used to talk about everything, and nothing for hours! There were still times he turned to say something to her and she wasn’t there, even after all these years since their broken engagement. He also looked at her now and remembered how Mar'i looked and he wondered if a child between them here, on this earth, would look like Mar'i had.

“Good, I expect you to help me with poker,” she stated.

“Kori! That requires keeping a straight face!” he laughed.

“Oh, I will leave it to Raven and Jason,” she decided then as she smiled.

“How about you and I hit the crabs tables, I’ll be the coolest guy there with you on my arm,” he mused.

“Do you not have a girlfriend?” she mused.

“Well, I do, but we’re friends, it’s not cheating with friends,” he smiled.

“Very well, I will be your arm candy, perhaps we should ask Raven to be Jason’s arm candy,” Kori said thoughtfully. Dick snorted, Raven and Jason were liable to murder each other if they had to play roles of being a couple or something.

“Let’s not have Vegas blown up,” Dick decided as Raven and Jason pulled up with the sleek black rental.

“Alright, all crap in the car, and let’s hit the Strip!” Jason shouted as he hopped out.

“I’m driving,” Raven deadpanned.

“Kay, no awkward ex-lover shit on work or vacation,” Jason deadpanned.

“Raven, we must get our hair done while we are here,” Kori announced as she walked over to the car and Dick watched her go as Jason collected her bags.

“You’re an idiot, that’s all I’m going to say on the matter, now help me get her fucking bags!” Jason snapped. Dick chuckled as he leaned over to comply.

“What do you mean I’m an idiot?” Dick asked.

“Think with the head above the shoulders, dickhead, it’ll come to you why you’re an idiot then,” Jason shouted as he loaded up the car. Jason and he ended up crammed in the backseat as Raven drove them to their hotel, which was none of the fancy hotels, no, Jason wanted a low profile. Dick Grayson was high profile, but unless he was advertising it few ever noticed he was Dick Grayson. Which was why he was going to stay low for this.

“So Jay, what’s the plan?” Dick asked.

“Raven and Kori do… whatever the hell it is girls do in Vegas, while tailing Sonia Zucco, you and I will be setting up surveillance equipment in her hotel room,” Jason yawned.

“How do you know which hotel she’s in and which room?” Dick asked.

“I have ways,” Jason smirked.

“Dangling a guy off a building is not a method, Jay,” Kori chided.

“It is, and it worked!” Jason snapped back.

“You’re little brother is impossible Dick,” Kori sighed.

“Beats dealing with Damian and Tim,” Raven countered.

“How are the Titans?” Kori asked. And the girls launched into a rant about the Titans which Dick smirked at as he looked at Vegas.

“Oh! In-N-Out! Quick little bird next exit!” Jason shouted.

“Sounds good!” Raven shouted.

“Do you two ever think with anything but the stomachs?” Kori demanded.

“No,” they deadpanned in unison which had Dick laughing as he smiled and enjoyed the light feeling of the SUV. Oh this trip was going to be good for them, of that he was certain as he looked at his phone when it buzzed with a text from Shawn demanding to know if he was there.

He answered with annoyance as he shoved the phone in his pocket.

“Dick, what are you ordering?” Raven asked.

“Animal style, double, animal fries, and a coke,” he called out.

“Same,” Jason chimed. “Dr. Pepper though.”

“Jason!” Kori cried out desperately.

“Go with the same for Kori,” Jason called out.

“Alright, four doubles, animal style, four animals fries, two Dr. Peppers, a Diet Coke, and a Coke,” Raven ordered.

“You do that for Kori often?” Dick asked.

“When we eat out, otherwise I make her weird food,” Jason shrugged.

“It is delicious,” Kori defended.

“No it isn’t,” they all informed her.

~~~*~*~*~~~

“Answer your phone Raven!” Kori ordered as she hung up and looked at him.

“What happened?”

“Uh… I think we had sex,” Dick mused looking at the all but destroyed room and Kori spun around to give him a startled look.

“We did not do this damage, is that a body print on the ceiling!?” she gasped.

“Well, we always were acrobatic with sex,” he chuckled.

“You… you…” she sputtered and then they were laughing at old memories as he sat on the bed, there was a piece of paper on the floor, tucked under the bed which caught his attention and he pulled it out.

Marriage Certificate!

“Uh… Kori?” he called out and she appeared wearing what remained of one of his shirts as she plucked the paper from his hands and her green eyes went wide.

“What did you do!?” she gasped.

“Me!? This is an US!” he countered.

“Nonsense, I would not marry you,” she said.

“Hey!”

“You broke my heart, Dick Grayson, I would not marry a man who could break my heart!” she snapped as she shoved the paper at him.

���Well I broke my heart,” he snapped at her as she walked away, and she turned, her eyes narrowing on him.

“You ended our engagement,” she snorted.

“Not cause I wanted to,” he spat back.

“You did not want to marry an alien, and you made your points, very clear,” she hissed.

“Jesus Kori! We were kids!” he shouted.

“And what are we now?” she countered as she folded her arms to glare at him.

“I… I don’t know,” he omitted.

“You would not marry an alien, and I refuse to marry a human, Roy is calling me, so go in another room so I may speak to my friend and not worry about you,” she ordered and Dick groaned as he walked out of the room and rubbed his face, blinking at seeing his bag in the living room of the suite, same with Kori’s bags.

“Hello Roy,” Kori sounded happy talking to her and Dick gently shut the door on the conversation.

Kori was his friend, she was his dearest friend, but he’d royally fucked up breaking up with her. He still had the original ring he’d bought with Raven’s help tucked safely in his safety deposit box of important things.

He looked at the paper he had in his hand and leaned on the wall. This was… Weird.

He was pretty sure he’d remember getting married, but apparently he couldn’t even remember the weekend. Yet, there was his signature: Richard Grayson, scrawled confidently, and proudly on the paper, as was Kori’s.

There was a knock on the door.

“Room service,” a chipper voice called out.

“Coming,” he got the door and smiled at the employee as she walked in.

“Here you are, compliments of the Bellagio, Mr. Grayson, and the hotel owner will be ready to speak with you and your new bride this afternoon, one o’clock still good?”

“Yeah,” he lied. He had no fucking clue what she was talking about.

“Excellent, as always we hope you enjoy your stay in Las Vegas Mr. Grayson,” the employee left and he lifted the covers off the food to look at all of Kori’s odd foods.

Alright, what was going on here?