#and the other employee was on the phone as it happened & saw the scene after the fact when she picked up the first employee

[orcelito]

Also the fact that it's 4/20. The holiday I "observe" (typically by making jokes) despite not being a weed smoker. And I spent all of today filled with dread, actively miserable, actively distraught, and then vaguely dissatisfied/depressed

😊✌😋 happy 4/20 to a certain dead bastard in particular

[skamenglishsubs]

Subtext and Culture, Young Royals, Season 3, Episode 2

Episode 2 starts days or maybe a week after episode 1. The curfews and phone ban is in place, so Wilhelm and Simon make the most of their one hour of phone sex talking.

Blink and you miss it: Wilhelm snapped a quick instant picture of himself and Simon at the palace in the last episode, using the camera we saw on his desk. The heart is still on his hand, so maybe it's the next day, or maybe he's been filling it in every day.

Cinematography: Intense red light typically symbolizes their mutual love, and this scene is overflowing with it.

Lost in translation: They both finish the phone call with "puss", which means kiss, but not exactly. It's more platonic, something you can say and do with your parents, or your kids, or end phone calls with. The other word for kiss, "kyss", is more romantic/sexual, and would be super weird to end a phone call with. Simon is using that word when he says he would kiss Wilhelm's collar bone birth mark.

Subtext: Of course Vincent doesn't believe anyone was bullied. He's the biggest bully, but what he does is just a joke, or the other guy deserved it. This is gonna be a recurring theme™ in this episode, how various characters look back on and remember, or choose not to remember, what happened to them.

Subtext: If you didn't pick up this meaningful glance, you're blind. The initiation porno was totally real, and Nils and August clearly remember it, and weren't as flippant about it as Vincent.

Culture: In Sweden, inner city schools are typically better and have richer students than the poorer schools out in the suburbs. This is the exact opposite of the typical US school demographical pattern.

Subtext: Wilhelm avoids Farima's question by evading it. Note that it does make sense that she doesn't know what's going on at these schools since she's an employee, she's not upper-class herself. Wilhelm's parents know though since they attended Hillerska, but they would of course never admit it either.

Culture: Ironically, this is exactly how the real-world Danish royal family handled the Herlufsholm scandal in 2022 involving prince Christian. Only when the media storm in Denmark got too intense did they pull him out of the school, while furiously denying knowledge of the abuse or that he was involved in any way.

Cinematography: We're in the cursed music room, but the light is soft and golden, and the scene is just cute. No fight this time.

Subtext: We're touching the theme™ again, but from Simon's perspective. He has the same outsider perspective we have; speaking up about abuse is always good, and if the school's closing because of it, that's an obviously good thing. There's plenty of scenes in this episode showing that most Hillerska students don't share this perspective, they really love their school, as fucked up as it is.

Subtext: Although it sounds like a rehearsed PR line and Felice is thinking about her girl group here, it's gonna come true for her and Sara.

Subtext: Yuck. No further comment.

Cinematography: The immediate cut to Felice getting her aggressions out in gym class shows us exactly what she thought of what the principal said and how much it pissed her off.

Blink and you miss it: Simon audibly sniffs Wilhelm's hair.

Blink and you miss it: Micke made dinner for both of them, but in her depression, Sara ignores the cooked food (Pyttipanna, btw), and makes herself a cucumber sandwich instead.

Subtext: Micke is a man on a mission, and he is constantly steering the conversation towards helping Sara get her driver's license. For him, it's a way to make up for having been a shitty parent.

Culture: Sweden has long been a holdout of stick-shift cars, and if you don't do your practical test in a stick-shift, you'll get a restricted license, so it's not out of the ordinary for Micke to be teaching Sara how to drive one. However, automatics have seen a sharp rise in the last decade, and in 2024 automatics will finally overtake them.

Culture: The green ÖVNINGSKÖRNING sign is compulsory in Sweden if a car is being driven by someone on a learner's permit, with a parent or friend as the instructor. There's also a red version of the sign, which indicates it's a student driver with a professional instructor in a dual control car.

Cinematography: The room is filled to the brim with things to do, there's a bazillion board games, they have books, magazines, fidget thingies, they're drowning in stuff, and yet the girls are still soooooo boooored just because they don't have their phones. Except Madison, who is knitting.

Subtext: Here comes the theme™ again, and Fredrika is firmly in camp denial. Everyone else is just lying and exaggerating! The wheels are starting to turn in Felice's head though.

Subtext: Nils and August are finally talking about the initiation without Vincent being present, and they can finally be honest about what they actually thought about it. It happened, they didn't like.

Subtext: Their idea of fixing it however is not to go out publicly and talk about it, but to just quietly stop the tradition, hoping they'll be the last ones. (Since there are no second-year students in the show, we have no idea what happened to them, so we're just gonna ignore that.)

Subtext: And here comes the reason that August wanted to put a stop to it. He was completely humiliated by it, and he doesn't want anyone else to know that he was humiliated, because that just makes it worse. This is also the reason that traditions like this keep on going, no-one wants to blow the whistle on it, because everyone was abused, everyone was a victim, it's hard for abuse victims to speak up.

Cinematography: The talk with Nils triggered an anxiety attack for August, and being inside his small room doesn't exactly help. Him going so close to the camera that he almost bumps into it really shows how he feels like the walls are closing in on him.

Culture: This, kids, is a standard Swedish landline telephone jack. For the longest time I thought phone jacks looked like this everywhere, but it turns out that this particular design was only used in Sweden and Iceland(!?!). You won't find these in newer buildings because landlines are pretty much dying out, and if there are phone jacks they'll probably be using the much more common RJ-11 standard.

Culture: This, kids, is an Ericsson Diavox phone. The former government phone monopoly in Sweden, Televerket, only allowed certified and approved phones to be used on the network, and they only approved a very small set of phones, so everyone had pretty much the same phones in their homes. However, in the 1980's the market started getting flooded with "illegal" phones from other countries, so the monopoly simply stopped enforcing the rule, and you could finally, finally, plug in that novelty Garfield phone that you always wanted.

Blink and you miss it: Sara is studying for her driving test, and she's reading about driving in the dark.

Subtext: We're gearing up for the main plotline of the season, dropping more hints that maybe Wilhelm's image of Erik wasn't complete, and what August says sows some seeds of doubt in him.

Subtext: This song is objectively not very good, please don't kill me, but it is very sixteen-year-old-boy-just-singing-from-his-heart, not thinking about the text.

Subtext: Simon isn't wearing anything purple, but just after he posts his song video, he picks up a purple shirt, drops it immediately, and then the camera lingers on it. Colour theory goes brrrrrrrr. He thought about Wilhelm, and then stopped because his music is more important to him or something?

Subtext: Unlike Simon, Wilhelm immediately understands how problematic the text is for him, and how people will interpret it...

Subtext: ...but since he doesn't want to hurt Simon's feelings, he lies about why he thinks the song was a very, very bad idea. And he cushions it by telling Simon that he thinks the song is jätte-jätte-bra. Giant-giant-good.

Subtext: Yes, but also no, and someone from the court really should have given Simon some media training and explained to him why he has to be very careful about what he posts. But it's drama fuel, which is why this disaster is allowed to happen.

Subtext: A nice little throwback to season 1, this is exactly what Erik told Wilhelm in the first episode, about making sure that their public image is carefully curated.

Subtext: That's some on-the-nose foreshadowing there, since Felice is one of the main causes for the school ultimately closing.

Subtext: We're back to the theme™, Fredrika is saying pretty much the same thing as Vincent. It didn't happen, and if it did, it wasn't that bad.

Subtext: However, Felice isn't playing along this time, she's starting to speak up about the issues, and the result is a long, awkward silence, because her friends are not willing to do the same.

Subtext: Wilhelm and the rest of the rich kids are of course all wearing pretty expensive high-end hiking gear, in contrast with Simon who is simply wearing one of his usual hoodies and his usual winter jacket that we've seen before. That's a damn fine jacket from Fjällräven, btw, the same company that makes the weirdly globally popular Kånken backpacks.

Blink and you miss it: Henry is getting dragged for his actually quite reasonable objection to the tent groupings.

Subtext: Felice physically distances herself from her friends, and joins Simon and Wilhelm, in a nice little foreshadowing of the show's ending.

Blink and you miss it: Did you miss the line in last episode where Ayub said they were also gonna go camping at Talludden with their classmates from Marieberg? Well, here they are, because they pitched their tents nearby, and decided to go check out the Hillerska camp. It's not just Rosh and Ayub randomly walking through the woods.

Subtext: In season 2, we learned that Stella has a crush on Fredrika that she thinks is one-sided, but Fredrika sure has some kind of reaction to seeing Stella being close with Rosh. Jealousy, perhaps? Not clear at this point in time.

Subtext: Read the room Fredrika, for fuck's sake. At least Wilhelm has started learning to recognize privilege. The other rich kids probably recognize their privilege, but they're mostly just enjoying how much better they are than the poor regular kids.

Subtext: But Wilhelm's still got a lot more to learn. Yes, technically he is forced to spend his summer studying, and technically it is a kind of work, but the underlying reasons are completely different. If he skips it or fails, nothing bad will happen to him, unlike the Marieberg kids who rely on their summer jobs to have any sort of spending money.

Lost in translation: Wilhelm's dad says that the queen is going to be "sjukskriven", which is more serious than someone deciding on their own to take some time off or to use some sick days. It means that a doctor has evaluated you and decided that you are not fit to work, and that if you're a regular person, you are eligible for sick pay for the foreseeable future.

Cinematography: Yeah, mommy is really sick and Wilhelm is feeling the weight of responsibility, but take a look at that sunrise! It's so pretty! Wilhelm is completely in shadow because trouble whatever, but look at how that light just pops, with the sky and the water and the sun on the trees! Beautiful!

[perotovar]

bloody kisses — part two: i don't wanna be me

pairing: shane morrissey/tim rockford rating: E (18+) mdni word count: 6.6k content: vaguely takes place in the 00s, age gap (shane is 23, tim is 40), internalized homophobia, descriptions of a crime scene/injury (bullet wound and head trauma)(not shane or tim), heavy petting, oral (male receiving), protected p in a, discussions of dom/sub and top/bottom, tiny bit of misogyny (shane is ignorant af and it's like 2002 lol), first time bottoming, shane's internal battles, tim being a really fucking good partner, f e e l i n g s, seriously this is sappy y'all, if i missed anything lmk! dividers: @saradika-graphics beta: @chronically-ghosted (seriously i can't explain how much taylor has helped with this story, go give her some love!)

series summary: shane has been in denial about himself for a while. newly single and with the help of one of his favorite singers, he opens his eyes to a new venture he could possibly take: the cop he sees on a semi-regular basis, detective tim rockford.

series masterlist

for updates, follow @oakslibrary and turn on notifications ♥

Shane locked himself in his bedroom for three days after the disaster at Tim’s apartment. He’s never felt so stupid in his life. How could he just… kiss him like that? 

Why did he do that?

He thought about that moment constantly, for hours at a time. Tim’s lips, for how briefly they’d touched his own, felt so… correct. They were soft, a little chapped, but warm. It was like things clicked into place for him. He doesn’t remember any kisses with Raven ever feeling like that. Or any girl he’d been with, for that matter. 

He hated himself for how good it felt. Especially because Tim ended it before it ever really began.

Shane wasn’t sure if there was anyone else he could go to about any of this. Legally, he still lived with his mom and her husband in their downtown apartment, but they never saw each other. He basically had his own area of the apartment to himself. His mom and her husband made enough that they didn’t really notice or care what Shane did with his life. He didn’t have any goals, and he guessed that’s why he did petty crimes like he did. He was just so fucking bored.

And now he was dealing with… this. 

He stared at Tim’s business card, his thumb rubbing over the older man’s name. He was curled up on his bed, holding one of his pillows close. He looked at the clock on his bedside table. The bright green text read 2:18am. He sighed to himself and rolled over onto his back.

He wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight.

Nobody noticed a change in Tim at work. If they did, they were professional enough not to bring it up. He felt fucking awful for how things went down with Shane. He wanted to reciprocate so badly, but Shane was vulnerable and Tim didn’t want to take advantage of him like that.

“Boss, I got those files you needed.”

Tim looked up from his desk, pen still in hand while he filled out the paperwork for a robbery he’d taken care of the day before. He’d thought about Shane and his magazine the entire time. “Thank you,” he grunted, pointing at an empty spot on his desk. “Can just set it there, please.”

The agent set it down and took off, getting back to work.

Tim looked back down at the file he was working on and sighed, losing his focus. He looked over at the phone on his desk and frowned. He didn’t have Shane’s number so he couldn’t call him. He wanted to tell Shane that what happened wasn’t wrong, or even unwanted.

The sound of heavy footsteps brought him out of his thoughts. Matthews, his partner, slammed Tim’s office door open.

“There’s been a shooting!”

Tim furrowed his brows, pushing his thoughts of Shane away for now, and focusing on the task at hand. “Where? Do we know anything else?” He asked, opening the drawer in his desk to put his gun holster on over his shoulders.

“Yeah, it was at a liquor store downtown. We have an idea of who the victim is based on descriptions from the employee working at the time, but not of the shooter,” Matthews answered, handing Tim’s trenchcoat to him. 

The two detectives made their way to Tim’s car and sped off to the crime scene.

“His name is Howard Xavier, and he’s twenty-eight,” Watson, the cop who was in the area, explained. “He’s on his way to the hospital now, but he looks to be in decent condition.”

Tim nodded, eyes looking over the crime scene. Flashes of photos being taken filled the peripheries of his vision. There were bottles of wine and hard liquor crashed everywhere. “Looks like Xavier tried to run from the shooter,” he mumbled, crouching down to look at the dirty boot prints on the linoleum floor.

“Do you think they knew each other?” Matthews asked.

Tim sighed, looking up at his partner before standing again. “Who’s to say?” He shrugged. “Maybe. Do we have any information on any relatives or associates?”

“No family, but we’ve found a couple of friends on file,” Matthews replied. “I think we’ve got them back at the station.”

Tim nodded. “Let’s head back and see what we can find.”

“Yes, sir.”

Tim couldn’t believe his fucking eyes. 

Known Associates: Tracy Wynanski and Shane Morrissey.

This had to have been the coincidence to end all coincidences or Tim had an insane amount of luck. There was a phone number for Tracy, but no address. He stepped out of his office and approached his secretary, an older woman by the name of Dolores.

“Can you get me Shane Morrissey’s file, please?” He asked, voice a little more gruff than he’d intended.

“Of course, sweetie, give me one moment,” Dolores smiled, rolling her chair to the file cabinets. 

Shane’s file in hand, he sat back at his desk and started looking through the files for Howard Xavier again. A bullet wound to the thigh, and blunt force trauma to the head.

He figured it’d be easy to get the professional parts out of the way first and called Tracy, asking if she knew anything about the shooting. She said she didn’t, since her and Howard hadn’t seen each other in a couple of months. She’d gone back home to Philadelphia after a breakup. 

“Thank you, Tracy,” he said. “Do you happen to know Shane Morrissey? He’s one of Howard’s other known associates and I’d like to ask if he knows anything.”

Tracy let out a bitter laugh and said, “Oh, I know Shane. He can kiss my ass for all I care.”

“Ms. Wynanski, please–”

“I don’t have a number for him, but I can tell you where he lives. Not saying he’ll be there, though,” she paused. “Likes to frequent this one house full of his ‘friends’ when he’s not at home moping.”

Tim felt his entire body relax, shutting his eyes as he took a deep breath. “That will be very helpful. Thank you, Ms. Wynanski. Do you have the address for the other house?”

“Yeah. I wouldn’t go in there like you’re looking for him, though. They’ll all run off.”

“I can handle it. Thank you, Ms Wynanski.”

After confirming that the address Tracy had matched the one they had on file, and wrote down the other address, he called Matthews, who decided to check on Xavier at the hospital.

“He’s stable. He’ll probably stay here for a couple of days,” his partner said through the phone.

“Alright. I’ve got a lead on one of his associates. It’s fucking Morrissey, John,” Tim chuckled.

“You’re shitting me. Employee at the liquor store said Xavier looked like he walked out of the Satanic Temple so I guess I’m not too surprised.”

Tim rolled his eyes and snorted, making one last note on Howard’s file. “I’m gonna head out and look for him. Could you go to one of these addresses for me?”

“Sure thing, Tim. Don’t get trapped in some ritual sacrifice.”

“Fuck off,” Tim laughed.

Tim decided to go to the second house full of Shane’s “friends”. He figured it was more likely that he was there, and he was right. It looked like it was a gathering of about ten or fifteen other kids around Shane’s age, all dressed in similar clothing.

The house was filled with smoke and had music playing, so he decided it was better if he stayed in his car until Shane came outside. He didn’t want to embarrass the kid.

It didn’t take too long, Shane stumbling out of the house and laughing loudly. Tim turned the key, the engine for his Caprice coming to life. Shane startled and looked over, eyes locking with Tim’s behind the wheel.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Shane barked, stomping over to the passenger window and glaring at the older man.

“I need your help,” Tim said softly.

Shane rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “Did you fucking stalk me here? You can’t be here– They can’t see me with you.”

“Then get in. They won’t know.” Tim looked up at him, eyes softening when he saw the clear hurt on Shane’s face. He wasn’t very angry by the looks of it. Just upset.

Shane scoffed, looked back at the house, and raised his arms in defeat. “Fine,” he grumbled, opening the passenger side door and sitting down.

“Seatbelt.”

“Eat me, old man,” Shane rolled his eyes. He lifted a leg and rested his chunky boot on the car’s dashboard. 

Tim sighed heavily and didn’t argue. He’ll just clean his car later. “You wanna talk at the station or at my apartment?”

Shane bit his lip, picking at a rip in his jeans and making it worse. “I don’t wanna go to the station.”

“Figured as much,” Tim exhaled, looking behind the car for any oncoming traffic and pulling out of the neighborhood towards his apartment.

Shane stared at Tim’s arms underneath the tight white dress shirt, the fabric pulling at the thick muscle. He wondered what Tim looked like on top of him, those strong arms pinning him to a mattress and–

“You know a Howard Xavier, right?” Tim asked, eyes squinting at the file in his hands. 

The two of them were seated at the table in Tim’s dining room, the surface in front of them covered in documents and files. 

“Yeah, that’s X,” Shane mumbled, picking at his nails so he could hide the pink in his cheeks.

Tim raised a brow but didn’t comment, nodding. “Do you know if he had any enemies, Shane?” He asked, digging his glasses out of his front pocket and putting them on. “That’s better,” he said to himself, the text on the files clearing up.

Shane blinked a couple times, the sight of Tim wearing glasses doing more for him than he thought possible. His breathing picked up a little, heart pounding in his chest when Tim made eye contact with him, waiting for Shane to answer. “U-um, I don’t think so? X was always pretty chill,” he mumbled.

Tim nodded and took notes on a sticky pad. Tim’s phone started ringing, making the older man get up and answer it. “Rockford,” he grunted into the receiver.

Shane stayed seated and kept to himself, listening to the one sided conversation.

“You’re shitting me. He did? Thanks, John. Yeah. You too. Have a good night.”

Tim exhaled and hung up the phone, clicking his pen. “Good news,” he smiled, taking his seat at the table across from Shane. “Xavier woke up and described the shooter. My partner found him.”

Shane nodded, tapping his fingers against the surface of the table. “‘S good,” he mumbled.

Tim watched Shane’s face closely, eyes trailing over the piercings and the messy hair. “I’m sorry I took you away from your party,” he said softly.

“‘S okay. Don’t like those guys very much,” Shane shrugged. Now that he was here, he was having a hard time not curling in on himself again. He couldn’t even look Tim in the eye without thinking about what his lips felt and tasted like.

Tim furrowed his brows. “Why do you hang out with them, then?” He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn’t want to pry, but it was sort of his job to find information. Shane wasn’t a job, though. He was much more than that.

Shane sighed and angrily looked at Tim for a second before looking away again. “Why do you care?”

Tim bit his lip, fiddling with his tie. “You really wanna know, kid?”

“Wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t,” he rolled his eyes.

“Because I see a lot of myself in you, Shane,” Tim admitted gently, crossing one leg over the other.

Shane furrowed his brows and looked at Tim incredulously.

“It’s true. Would you believe me if I said I got arrested? Was about your age, too.” Tim chuckled as he remembered what caused his arrest.

A small smile grew on Shane’s face. “What’d you do?”

“Public Indecency.”

Shane’s eyes grew three times in size. “Did you get caught having sex? Were you streaking?” He giggled, the tips of his ears turning red.

“Uh, well,” Tim chuckled. “I was in my car at the time and having sex.”

Shane laughed, face as red as a tomato. His thoughts flooded with images of what Tim having sex looked like. What sort of faces did he make? What kind of sounds did he make? Was he more dominant or submissive?

“Were you going down on her or…?”

“Him,” Tim answered easily. “And no, we were uh… I was found on top of him.”

Shane froze, eyes wide. He looked away, his heart pounding in his chest. He looked back at Tim briefly before settling his eyes on Tim’s tie. “You’re…?” He asked shakily. 

“Yeah, kid,” Tim chuckled. Shane looked terrified and it broke Tim’s heart. “I said I was here for you if you needed me. I still am.”

Shane squeezed his eyes shut and let out a heavy, shaky breath. He rubbed his sweaty palms against his jeans and looked at Tim with wet, glossy eyes. “I don’t– I don’t understand,” he shook his head in disbelief. “You don’t seem–”

“Not every gay person is really flamboyant, Shane.”

Shane blushed in embarrassment. “Why did you turn away from me, then? Why didn’t you kiss me back?” He frowned, voice shaky and hurt.

Tim’s eyes rounded, his whole face becoming softer. “I wanted to,” he admitted, looking down at Shane’s ring-clad hands. “But it wasn’t fair to you. I didn’t… I didn’t want to take advantage of you like that.”

“Take advantage–! I kissed you!” Shane roared.

“You were vulnerable and confused. And,” Tim gulped. “And I’m a lot older than you, it’s… It’s not appropriate.” He shook his head, closing his eyes briefly at how much it hurt to say out loud.

“Tim,” Shane whimpered, biting his lip. He felt a thick lump in his throat. He couldn’t believe he was having this conversation right now. He couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. It felt like he was having an out of body experience. “I don’t care about that, I’m– I’m more worried about you being a cop than being older than me. I’m an adult,” he scoffed, his bottom lip trembling.

Tim couldn’t hold in the chuckle that bubbled out of him. “I know you are. I just don’t– I don’t know how this could continue–”

“Please, shut up,” Shane begged, getting out of his chair and making his way over to Tim. He looked down at the older man, face burning, and slowly crawled into Tim’s lap, wrapping his arms around Tim’s neck. “I don’t wanna talk anymore,” he whispered. “I don’t wanna think anymore. Please.”

Tim’s hands instinctively found their place on Shane’s hips. His eyes moved from Shane’s to the younger man’s lips, then back up. “Are you sure?” He asked softly, rubbing his thumbs into Shane’s hip bones.

“No,” Shane mumbled. “Well, yes, but… No.”

Tim raised a brow and smirked. “How about we take things slow.”

Shane nodded, biting his lip. “Okay.”

Tim smiled and softly connected their lips, caressing Shane’s head, thumb rubbing at his jaw. Shane whimpered quietly as he tentatively kissed back. His lips trembled against Tim’s, soft huffs of air expelling out from between them. He’d kissed before but this was so… different. The feeling of Tim’s facial hair against his lips was weird. Good, but weird. 

Shane experimentally ran his tongue along Tim’s bottom lip. Tim took the hint and softly caressed Shane’s tongue with his own, making the younger man gasp into his mouth. Tim squeezed Shane’s narrow hips, trying to ground him, and sighed into the kiss. It built a little over time, but eventually, they found a rhythm. The soft clinking of metal from Shane’s earrings filled the otherwise silent apartment. They learned each other over the course of their kissing. Tim learned that Shane liked to nibble and bite, and Shane learned that Tim liked to encompass him entirely, like he could devour Shane’s mouth if given the chance.

When Tim pulled away for some much needed air, Shane whined in protest, his face leaning toward Tim’s to keep going. “Slow your roll, kid,” Tim chuckled, pressing his forehead to Shane’s and panting quietly. Shane blushed, and chewed his swollen bottom lip while he waited. “C’mere,” Tim grunted, tugging Shane’s leather duster off his shoulders. Shane went along with it, pulling his arms free before the sound of squeaky leather fell into a heap on the floor. 

Large hands ran over Shane’s hips and waist, but never ventured lower. Shane shivered when Tim’s blunt nails lightly scratched at the exposed skin of his lower back as his t-shirt rode up. Shane’s cock twitched in interest, making him blush high on his cheeks.

“‘s okay, sweetheart,” Tim hummed. He rolled his hips a little, his own half-hard cock rubbing against Shane’s.

Shane’s eyes grew twice their size at the feeling and looked down at the bulge in Tim’s slacks. He squeezed his eyes shut and turned his face away. His imagination was a lot easier to handle than the real thing pressing into his inner thigh. 

Tim furrowed his brows in concern and rubbed Shane’s skin underneath his t-shirt comfortingly. “What are you thinking about?” He asked softly.

Shane inhaled heavily, and slowly let out a deep breath before turning his head back toward Tim. He opened his eyes, but didn’t make contact. “Just… weird. Feeling your…”

Tim hummed in acknowledgement. “Do you want to stop?”

Shane shook his head, eyes still burning holes into Tim’s slowly rising and falling tummy. 

“Need to hear you say it, sweetheart.”

“N-no, I don’t want to stop,” Shane whispered.

“Do you want to lie down? There’s no expectation for anything,” Tim said, sitting up a little more in the dining room chair. 

The stretch in Shane’s thighs suddenly overtook any doubts he had, making him shakily get up from Tim’s lap. He was used to having someone sit on his lap like that and being in that position made his stomach hurt.

Tim laced his fingers through Shane’s and gently guided him to his bedroom. He kept the lights low and rubbed his thumb over Shane’s knuckles. “You okay?”

Shane stared at Tim’s bed and swallowed a lump in his throat. “Y-yeah,” he croaked.

Tim chewed on his lip in thought and let go of Shane’s smaller hand. He gave Shane some space as he took off his glasses and removed the tie he was wearing. He toed off his dress shoes and put them in his closet. When he turned around after unbuttoning his dress shirt, Shane was sitting on his bed, hands curled up into fists on his ripped jean-covered thighs.

Tim sighed softly and sat next to him on the bed. “What’s goin’ through that pretty head of yours?” He asked, tugging on pieces of Shane’s hair that were sticking straight out.

Shane shut his eyes and took another deep breath. “I’m just… I’m having a hard time being… like, the female part.” He curled in on himself, his shoulders hiding his ears.

Tim blinked a couple times. “Sweetheart, we’re both men.”

“I-I know that! I just,” he swallowed a lump in his throat. “Usually, I’m in your position. Taking charge.”

“I see,” Tim sighed, getting more comfortable and turning toward him. Shane did the same, but didn’t make eye contact with him. “Can you look at me, sweetheart?”

Shane blushed, those big brown eyes of his lifting up to meet Tim’s. 

“Alright, firstly, who told you there were ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles?” Tim raised a brow.

“W-well, uh–”

“It’s alright, I already know who. Lesson number one,” Tim smiled reassuringly. “Just because you’re sitting on my lap, letting me ‘take charge’, doesn’t mean you’re weak, honey.”

Shane gulped and nodded, taking all of this in. Tim felt like a professor. Probably the first one Shane would ever listen to.

“And women aren’t weak, so get that out of your head, too.”

Shane let out a heavy breath. This was a lot to take in.

“Did you feel good?” Tim asked, picking up one of Shane’s hands and rubbing his thumb over the scabbed knuckles. When Shane nodded jerkily, Tim grinned, his chest feeling warm at the admission. “That’s all that matters. Think of it this way,” he paused. Shane hung onto every word. “Everything we do? It’s with your say-so. You’re driving the car here.”

Shane blinked as he thought about it. He could work with that. “Oh,” he said quietly.

“You want me to make you feel good again?” Tim smiled, eyes crinkling in the corners. Shane’s heart thundered at the sight.

“Y-yes.”

“Go ahead and lay back for me, alright?”

Shane nodded and got comfy, head cradled by Tim’s fluffy pillows. His entire body was buzzing and tense. He kept his eyes on Tim’s popcorn ceiling, the sounds of Tim’s belt jingling filling the room. When the bed dipped with Tim’s weight, Shane’s heart stuttered a little. One of Tim’s big hands cupped his cheek and gently turned his face so he could look at Tim again. Shane wasn’t expecting the softness in Tim’s features, or the heat in his eyes.

Tim rubbed Shane’s cheek with his thumb. “We don’t have to go far tonight. There’s no rush.”

Shane nodded, letting out a shaky breath. “Okay.”

This time, when their lips connected, Shane eased into it a lot sooner, kissing the older man with renewed fervor. He sighed into it, the warmth radiating off of Tim being an endless source of comfort. He gripped onto Tim’s opened dress shirt and tugged it down his shoulders. Tim released Shane’s lips briefly while he shrugged the shirt off and tossed it on the floor. Shane moaned weakly when Tim surged forward and sucked his bottom lip between his own.

Shane’s head was fuzzy, all the blood there rushing down between his legs. He gasped when Tim rolled him over and hovered over him, pressing his hips between Shane’s thighs. Tim took his time with him, kissing him languidly while he unbuckled Shane’s jeans.

“Can I touch you?” Tim breathed between kisses.

Shane nodded quickly, holding the sides of Tim’s head and tangling his fingers in the short, thick locks of Tim’s hair. Tim smiled against the younger man’s lips and pulled Shane’s baggy, ripped jeans off. Shane toed off his own socks before wrapping his legs around Tim’s thick waist. Tim was so much larger than Shane was and it made his head spin.

Tim’s hands played with the bottom of Shane’s t-shirt and slowly lifted it up, bunching under his armpits. He pulled away to look at Shane’s torso and grinned when he saw the small tattoos there. Both hands holding Shane’s sides, he gently rubbed at the younger man’s nipples, making Shane gasp. Goosebumps and flushed skin covered his entire body in seconds, making Shane lightly smack Tim’s shoulder. Tim laughed lightly and softly kissed his way down Shane’s torso until he was eye level with the tent in the younger man’s boxers.

Shane blushed hard, eyes wide. “W-what are you doing?”

Tim raised a brow and tilted his head slightly, tugging on the elastic of Shane’s boxers. “Said I’d make you feel good, sweetheart.”

Shane blinked. “B-but isn’t that…”

“There are no roles. But if you don’t want me to, then–”

“I do!” Shane smacked his hand over his own mouth and shut his eyes, hoping the bed would swallow him whole. 

A wolfish smirk crossed Tim’s features as he lowered his head, kissing along Shane’s pelvis. Shane whimpered at the feeling of Tim’s facial hair across his skin, his body shuddering. “Breathe, sweetheart,” Tim whispered, shutting his eyes to suck gently at Shane’s hip and leaving a mark. 

Shane forced himself to take a deep breath, shutting his eyes to center himself. When he opened his eyes, Tim quirked a brow up at him as he tugged on Shane’s boxers again. Shane nodded his consent and almost groaned at the cool air in the apartment hitting his throbbing cock. Tim hummed appreciatively and didn’t waste a second, kissing the tip, then making his way down the shaft.

Shane moaned openly gripping the sheets of the bed into tight fists. “T-Tim, what–”

“Shh…” Tim whispered, engulfing the head of Shane’s cock in his mouth. He moaned at the taste and watched Shane’s face as he slowly bobbed his head up and down. Shane’s eyes rolled back and arched his back off the bed. 

Shane felt his cheeks throb and the blood rushing in his ears, doing everything in his power to keep his hips down. When his hips bucked up on their own, he moaned weakly, looking at Tim’s face to make sure he didn’t choke him. What he found instead made his cock twitch.

This was one of Tim’s favorite things to do. Making his partner feel good with his mouth was something he always got pleasure out of and Shane was no different. In fact, this was probably one of the more rewarding times, because this was the first time a man had done this for him. He felt good knowing he got to be the first, and a little possessive side of him liked the idea even more.

Eyes shut, Tim moaned around Shane’s length, losing himself in it. He gripped Shane’s hips and rubbed the bones there to soothe him. Shane’s chest rose and fell quickly as he watched. He felt a little embarrassed to admit that this was probably the best head he’d ever received.

Tim opened his eyes, keeping an eye on any changes in Shane’s face. 

Shane felt his balls drawing up, making him moan weakly. “I-I’m gonna–” He cut himself off, gripping the sheets tighter. Tim doubled his efforts, bobbing his head a little faster. “Oh, fuck,” Shane whined, his thighs trembling on either side of Tim’s head.

Tim moved his hands up Shane’s torso and rubbed at the younger man’s nipples again, urging him on.

“W-wait, wait–” Shane gasped, smacking his hand against Tim’s shoulder as the pressure built and built. Tim watched closely and if he could, he’d grin to himself as he watched Shane’s eyes roll back. Shane’s entire body stilled and he came hard, thick ropes of cum shooting down Tim’s throat. Shane’s moans went up three octaves as he shook with pleasure, his toes curling.

Tim swallowed everything and slowly, gently, raised his head. He licked Shane clean, kissing back up his torso. Once he was hovering over Shane again, Tim smiled at the blissed out expression on his face. He chuckled lightly and kissed Shane’s cheek.

“Still with me?”

Shane shivered at the gravelly tone of Tim’s voice. It must be an octave or two lower than normal given what he’d just done. He slowly blinked his eyes open and didn’t have the energy to hold back the smile when he saw Tim’s handsome face. “Yeah, ‘m here,” he mumbled, his body feeling heavy and sated.

“Good. You should get some rest, sweetheart.” Tim’s laugh rumbled in his chest.

Shane pouted, big brown eyes glazed over, but determined. “What about you?”

“I’ll be okay. Get some rest,” Tim said, kissing Shane’s forehead. “Can I take your shirt off?” He asked, pulling the material down from where it was bunched up under his armpits.

Shane nodded, watching in awe as Tim took care of him. It was at this moment that Shane realized Tim was completely serious with him. He wouldn’t make fun of him, or use him. Shane felt tears prickling behind his eyes, but quickly blinked them away.

“Be right back, okay? Gonna get you some water,” Tim grunted quietly, crawling off the bed. Shane didn’t have the energy to argue, and just watched Tim’s broad back leave the bedroom.

When Tim returned with the glass of water, he was greeted with the sight of Shane’s sleeping form. He smiled at him, and set the water on the nightstand closest to Shane. 

He got himself undressed, making sure to be careful of his own half-hard cock. Once he was down to his boxer briefs, he crawled into bed behind Shane and held the younger man close. The day caught up with him as he laid there, eyes trailing over the messy curls and multiple piercings in Shane’s ears.

He drifted off quickly, and had a dreamless sleep.

Twitch. Twitch.

Shane groaned in his sleep.

What was that?

He slowly opened his eyes, blinking as he adjusted to the light. He tried to turn and feel what was poking against his back, but he was held firmly in place by… Were those arms?

Shane’s eyes snapped open as the memories from the night before came flooding back. His cheeks burned as he looked down and saw the strong, very male, hands holding him close to a broad chest. Tim huffed in his sleep, making Shane smile shyly. He couldn’t deny it, being held by Tim felt really good. It was so warm.

He tried rotating in Tim’s arms, silently exhaling in relief when he didn’t seem to wake the older man. He felt the twitching again and looked down between their bodies.

Oh.

Shane smiled at the sight of Tim’s morning wood through his boxer briefs. He looked back up at Tim’s sleeping face and decided against doing anything until he’d woken up. For now, he ran his fingers through the thin layer of chest hair on Tim’s skin. It seemed obvious when he thought about it, but it was so different than when he was with a woman. He didn’t feel like he had to hide with Tim. Tim wouldn’t judge him.

Tim made him feel safe. 

“Whatcha thinkin’ about, sweetheart?”

Shane startled and looked up, Tim’s soft smirk and sleepy eyes greeting him. He shook his head in lieu of an answer.

When Tim grumbled in response, it reminded Shane of a bear. 

“Do you want… You need help with that?” Shane asked timidly, pointing between their bodies. Their legs were tangled together and they were touching everywhere. The proximity and the feeling of warmth radiating from between Tim’s legs had Shane throbbing in no time.

Tim snorted and leaned forward, kissing Shane sleepily. Shane moaned into it, grinding his own cock against Tim’s. Tim pulled back and panted a little against Shane’s lips.

“We don’t have to. I’ll be okay–”

Shane cut him off by gripping Tim’s ass and squeezing. When Tim made a small noise of surprise, Shane smirked, attempting to pull Tim onto his own lap. “I want to,” he said, voice determined, but shaky. “I want… I wanna know what it feels like. I have to make sure.”

Tim blinked at him, a little shocked by the sudden change in Shane’s behavior. One of his legs was draped over Shane’s waist as he cupped the younger man’s face. Shane seemed to melt at the gesture, making Tim smirk. “Are you sure?” He asked, brows pinched in concern. He didn’t want Shane to rush into anything. 

“Yes,” Shane nodded.

There was more conviction in that one word than a lot of things Shane had ever said to him, so Tim smiled softly at him. He held onto Shane’s thighs and rolled them over so he was hovering over Shane again, and rubbed the smooth skin comfortingly. “Alright. Lube and condoms are in the top drawer,” he nodded his head toward the nightstand. 

With pink cheeks and a determined expression on his face, Shane reached over and dug out the necessary equipment. Everything really settled in his gut when he was holding everything. This was really going to happen. This wasn’t some dream he’d come up with while he was alone in his bedroom, looking at the cracks and fist-sized holes in his walls.

“C’mere,” Tim grunted, gently taking the items from him and holding Shane’s hip. “Gotta get you prepared, okay? Don’t want it to hurt for you.”

Shane nodded appreciatively and watched as Tim discarded his own underwear, kneeling on the bed between Shane’s thighs. He looked the older man over, eyes raking over the messy, gray curls and pillow creases on Tim’s cheeks. His eyes traveled down over the broad shoulders and chest, and down to the swell of Tim’s stomach. That was probably one of Shane’s favorite parts. His eyes landed on the thick cock between muscled thighs and Shane bit his lip. He had to remind himself not to pinch his arm, because this was real. 

Tim carefully got the condom secured around his cock and drizzled some lube on his fingers. “You ready?” He smiled down at Shane, chest warm at the sight of him. Shane nodded, smiling shyly up at him.

Tim curled his fingers around Shane’s cock and pumped slowly. Shane sighed and shut his eyes, lips parting. Tim couldn’t help himself and surged forward, kissing the younger man deeply. He kept his hand on him, keeping up a decent pace as he teased a finger against Shane’s hole.

Shane’s body jerked at the intrusion, making Tim soothe him gently. “Shh, it’s okay,” he whispered. “I’ll be gentle.”

Shane let out a weak noise and nodded, holding on tight to Tim’s shoulders. He spread his legs a little more and wrapped them around Tim’s waist. 

The first press of one of Tim’s thick fingers inside him already had Shane seeing stars. He panted as he looked down between his legs, trying to see what was happening. Tim cupped his face and forced him to look there instead. “Eyes on me, sweetheart,” he smiled.

Shane bit his lip and nodded, but gasped soon after as a second finger joined the first. His face twisted into an almost pained expression. Tim watched closely, eyes locked onto him. Tim pumped his fingers in a steady rhythm, searching for that sweet spot inside him. Shane was panting heavily, eyes glossed over, but staying on Tim’s face.

When Shane rolled his eyes back and he gasped, Tim knew he found it. Shane moaned, his cock twitching violently against his lower tummy. “H-hurry up, old man,” he groaned, toes curling on either side of Tim’s hips. “P-please,” he breathed.

Tim snorted, but didn’t argue, removing his fingers gently. Shane groaned at the loss and braced himself for the intrusion, eyes squeezed shut.

“Sweetheart, I need you to breathe first.” Tim leaned over him and kissed him tenderly. He watched as Shane let out one last deep breath and nodded up at him. “Atta boy,” Tim grinned.

Shane scoffed and rolled his eyes, but smiled all the same. As Tim lined himself up, Shane’s heart thundered in his chest, watching the focus on Tim’s face mellow out. He had that same facial expression whenever he was interrogating Shane back at the station, or reading through files, or taking notes. But here, with Shane, he seemed to deflate a little. He relaxed. 

The first push in knocked the wind out of Shane. He moaned, digging his nails into Tim’s broad shoulders. Tim hid his face in Shane’s neck and kissed along the younger man’s sleep-soft skin. “Doin’ so good, sweetheart,” he breathed, hips slowly pushing forward.

Shane trembled in Tim’s arms until Tim’s hips were flush against him. Time stopped as Tim settled, letting Shane adjust. Shane had to blink a few times, swallowing around a lump in his throat. All thought left Shane’s head and the only thing left was the sweet stretch of Tim’s cock inside him. Every wall he’d built up was successfully crumbling at his trembling form. 

Tim petted Shane’s sweaty hair out of his face, kissing him on every available patch of skin he could find.

“M-move,” Shane panted, eyes half lidded and glazed over. “Please.”

So Tim did.

He built up a slow, steady rhythm. Before either of them knew it, their bodies rocked together in perfect harmony. Tim hugged Shane closer, his hips being the driving force while his arms kept Shane grounded.

The sounds leaving Shane’s mouth were so unfamiliar to his own ears, he couldn’t even tell where he was for a moment. The only thing he could feel or think about was the stretch of Tim’s cock, Tim’s heavy breathing against his neck, and Tim’s big hands holding his hips. It was all Tim, Tim, Tim.

He didn’t even feel the tear slowly falling down the side of his face until Tim gently wiped it away. He nearly sobbed when Tim kissed him, chest hitching with every powerful thrust. 

Tim grunted every time Shane clenched around him. He was so tight, which he expected, but he was having a hard time keeping a steady rhythm. He was still tired and his body was trying to catch up. He watched the younger man’s face twist in pleasure and sped up a little, moaning down at him.

Shane wailed, one fist curling up tight and weakly hitting against Tim’s chest. “I-I’m close,” he panted, his cock dripping pre-cum onto his stomach. “T-Tim, I’m–”

“‘s okay, I’m here,” Tim groaned, curling his fingers around the younger man’s cock. He started pumping his fist in time with his thrusts, eyes glued to Shane’s face.

Shane nodded furiously, scratching his nails down Tim’s chest. Not long after that, his entire body shook like a leaf and he clenched hard around Tim’s cock, coming in waves. He moaned out loud, his back arching off the bed, and gasping for air.

Tim’s own eyes rolled back as Shane squeezed around him. Shane’s face was turned into the pillow as he breathed heavily, coming down from such a high peak. Tim slowed down some, letting Shane have a moment.

When Shane made eye contact with him again, Tim’s heart stopped. He didn’t think Shane had looked more beautiful than he had right in that moment. His hair was a mess, his face was blotchy and red, there were tear tracks down his cheeks, and his lips were swollen from all the biting. Tim was pulled out of the fantasy when Shane clenched around him again, making a moan bubble out of him.

“C’mon, old man,” Shane smirked, voice tired.

Tim huffed a laugh and hugged Shane close, hips snapping quicker now. Chasing his own release, he hid his face in Shane’s neck, sucking a dark mark against the younger man’s collarbone.

In just a few short, quick thrusts, Tim was following Shane over that ledge with a deep groan, emptying inside the condom.

Shane exhaled deeply, arms wrapped around him. Then, he giggled quietly. He was elated, he was on cloud nine.

Tim lifted his head, hair sticking up every which way. He raised a brow at the younger man and smirked. “You alright?” He chuckled.

Shane nodded, a wide grin on his face. “Yeah. I’m good.”

“Good,” Tim grunted, slowly moving out from between Shane’s legs to dispose of the condom. He crawled back into bed and cuddled close, kissing Shane lazily. They both sighed into it. Eventually, they had to come up for air, and when they did, Tim breathed, “You hungry? I’m hungry.”

“God, yes. I’m fucking starving,” Shane groaned.

Tim laughed and rolled his eyes and pressed a light kiss to Shane’s lips. “You like pancakes? I make some really good pancakes.”

Shane giggled, feeling lighter than he had in years.

[chaifootsteps]

once again begging HB fandom to please, please rewatch season 1, especially murder family & loo loo land

I saw a post claiming that Stolas made the full moon deal for Blitz's benefit, because asking for compensation with the only thing Blitz has shown interest in (sex) was apparently nicer on Stolas' part than just like... asking Blitz to rent the book from him with money or something

and I'm just like what??? this kind of take can only come from a headcanon because there's nothing in the show to support it apart from Stolas' own self-delusion (which doesn't excuse him given all the evidence to the contrary he should have noticed).

After their one night stand Blitz never shows an interest in having sex with Stolas. At the point they were at in murder family Stolas had no reason to assume Blitz still wanted sex from him, there isn't much more Blitz could have done to make it clear he wasn't interested!

Blitz ghosts him after their one night stand (by Stolas' admission on the phone call in full moon, it's 'never a good time', suggesting Blitz dodges Stolas' calls constantly and Stolas never gets a hint), tries multiple times to get him off the phone/get to the point in murder family & spends basically all his lines with Stolas in Loo Loo Land shutting it down whenever Stolas tries to flirt/make a move on him (one of which results in Stolas interrupting him mid-protest to condescend to him by saying he's 'cute when he's serious', ignoring totally the thing Blitz just told him not to do)

even later in the series when Blitz is supposedly developing feelings for Stolas and (according to stol/tz logic, not mine) enjoying being forced to sleep with Stolas he still sends him text replies of one or two word answers. it doesn't help that this interest Blitz supposedly shows is never onscreen. Even the two scenes that are the best 'evidence' of why Stolas would get mixed signals are still a reach - Blitz doesn't exactly seem super enthusiastic about sleeping with Stolas in The Circus and he's disinterested and annoyed by Stolas the whole time during their "date" (Stolas' phrase, not Blitz's) in Ozzies. when it comes to being expected to sleep with Stolas at the end of the latter episode he turns it down flat and Stolas' texts show he still doesn't get what the problem is.

Stolas' level of self delusion is his own problem. Not Blitz's. If he couldn't notice that Blitz isn't smiling in a single photo on his own then there's no reason to make Blitz responsible for not screaming in Stolas' ear to get through to him because it clearly wouldn't have worked. Stolas did not want to hear it. Going by what I suspect their convo in full moon will be like, he still doesn't and probably won't take in any criticisms Blitz is allowed to make (and goodness knows the show loves to make characters criticize Stolas in the flimsiest way possible so he can easily talk around them or rebut them)

Also saw the take repeated yet again (as many others have) that Blitz "never once explicitly tells Stolas no".

Besides the fact it's blatantly wrong & just a rewrite of what actually happened in the show - he says no in Ozzie's, he repeatedly tells Stolas to knock it off and voices his discomfort several times in Loo Loo Land - it's frankly disturbing to see this repeated so often.

Like part of the entire problem is that Stolas has put Blitz in a situation where he cannot say no. That is why this is sexual extortion: Blitz needs the book to keep his business running so Stolas has forced him into treating him with kid gloves to avoid making him angry and bankrupting his company (and putting his employees and daughter out onto the street if he can't pay them) as a result.

Even if Blitz was far less vocal about telling Stolas off when he annoys him, that wouldn't make the full moon deal or Stolas' rationalization of it OK. The fact that he does say no multiple times and indicates how he doesn't want Stolas coming onto him outside of their deal (again, the panic button for Stolas in his office & the way he has to go out of his way to clarify to Stolas that he had better not try and come onto him in the theme park - only to be interrupted and demeaned - suggests Stolas' understanding of boundaries is poor and that Blitz does not nor should not feel safe around him) should indicate well enough that Blitz is not interest in sex with Stolas and would have cut him out of his life in early s1 if he'd had the choice. But he didn't and it's disturbing to see the fandom apply revisionist history to suggest that isn't the case.

And what's worse is it's obvious Vivzie agrees with them, or wants to make it seem like she does because she can't be bothered to write actual character development for Stolas to make him a love interest that wouldn't be a total horror show for Blitz to be with. Instead Stolas achieving the bare minimum of saying Blitz's name right (and being nice to him on the phone offscreen) is enough, apparently

I remember you or someone else made a compilation of Blitz saying no or pushing back on Stolas as a video. It feels like we're at a 'don't make me tap the sign' type of point where that series of clips should just be the reply to anyone still pushing this claim.

That was indeed me, and here it is. Also, thank you for this ask, because every word is 100% correct.

[pawnshopbleus]

Put Me in a Movie - Chapter Six

Miguel O’Hara x Fem!Reader

Summary - You’re a famous actress and he’s one of the greatest directors of all time. What happens when you get cast in his new movie?

Chapter Five

The next day on set was kind of like the first. This time, there wasn’t a disrespectful nepotism baby running around and terrorizing the poor people that were working on the film. It felt like a new beginning. Not just for you, but for everyone.

With Tasia and all that drama in the past, you finally felt free to explore your acting abilities. This role was not only a very physically demanding role, but it was also emotionally demanding.

To be completely honest, you haven’t had a lot of experience in the dating field. Compared to other women your age you were basically new to it. You’ve had your first kiss and your first time, but you’ve never really experienced what love felt like. Being able to play a role that loves and is loved was something so beautiful about playing Polina/Linda.

Today was the first day that you were going to start filming with Jessica Drew. Yes, Miguel’s ex-wife. It was incredibly ironic that he just so happened to still have his ex-wife’s phone number on speed dial after they divorced. That wasn’t any of your business though.

Reshooting meant that you had to review the lines for scenes that you filmed weeks ago. It was a bit time-consuming but you managed to cram them in while you were getting your hair and makeup done.

You’ve seen pictures of Jessica online. She is a beautiful black woman with a huge afro. There have been articles about how mathematically beautiful Jessica is. Also, from what you’ve heard, she’s incredibly nice and sweet to everyone she works with. You know all of this stuff because you’ve researched her a bit before you came to set. You wanted to make sure the two of you got along so that you wouldn’t have to deal with another Tasia.

When you got to the sound stage where you would be filming for the rest of the day, you saw her. She was even more beautiful in person. It was as if a goddess graced the very Earth you were on. The way she smiled when someone said something stupid or the way she would laugh when someone said something funny made you want to be her. There was no way that she was real.

She was talking to Miguel. The two of them seemed to be in a very deep conversation. She was maybe an inch shorter than he was so she had to look up at him slightly. Jessica was nodding along with what Miguel was saying. Then, he must have said something hilarious because Jessica threw her head back in laughter and patted Miguel’s shoulder.

As soon as Jessica’s hand grazed Miguel’s shoulder you felt like you were going to throw up. What was wrong with you? The sound stage was at the perfect temperature, you weren’t feeling nauseous before, and you ate a pretty decent breakfast. So what in the world could have possibly made you react that way?

Envy.

That’s what you felt when you saw Jessica touch Miguel. You don’t know what came over you. You didn’t act like this when Tasia or any other woman talked to Miguel so why did it matter now? Was it their past that haunted you? What if they wanted to get back together?

Why should you care? You are basically an employee and Miguel is your boss. He is above you so his business does not involve you.

You pushed the burning green monster inside of you away and put on your game face. There was a lot you needed to get done today and you wouldn’t let this thing get in the way of your job.

Jessica was a great actress. She delivered her lines perfectly and was open to constructive criticism. The way that she can switch through emotions at the snap of a finger really impressed you. Her approach to the character was something new and fresh. Overall, you couldn’t hate her. She was just too good.

During lunch, you and Peter were sitting at a table in the corner. Peter liked talking to you one-on-one considering that he didn’t want anyone else to hear the stories about his wife and daughter. Right now, he was telling you the story of when May took her first steps. Peter and Mary Jane were dozing off on the couch after a long night of watching May when she suddenly got up from the floor of their living room and began walking around. Peter described it as the second-best day of his life, the first being the day he married MJ.

Jessica basically waltzed her way over to where you and Peter were sitting. She flashed her set of perfect teeth and asked if she could sit with the two of you. You just sat there with a stupid look on your face as this literal goddess asked if she could sit with you. Peter, being the gentleman he is, said yes and she pulled up a chair and sat down.

“You are such a great actress by the way,” Jessica said as she opened up her can of Coke.

You blinked a few times in order to register the fact that she was talking to you, “Me? Oh, thank you. You too by the way. I mean you are amazing. The way that you tapped into your character after getting this job on such short notice is insane.”

Your nerves were gone once you found out that Jessica was just a regular human being. You, Peter, and Jessica spent almost the entirety of your lunch break talking about random things. You found out a lot of information about Jessica that you didn’t know before. Her parents wanted her to be an astronaut, she had five cats growing up, she likes mint chocolate chip ice cream, and she hates the color orange. She had a way of capturing you with her words. Each syllable that fell from her lips felt magnetic.

“Anyways, what are the two of you doing tonight?” Jessica asked.

“Nothing super important. I think I might just go home and memorize more of my lines,” you answered truthfully. Even though you were one of the hottest actresses in Hollywood right now, it felt like people were afraid to invite you places.

“Well, May is at MJ’s parent's house tonight so I was hoping MJ and I could go on a date. God knows we need one,” Peter sighed.

Jessica’s eyes lit up at the sight of a distressed Peter. Here she comes to save the day, “There’s this event at a club tonight if you want to come. It’s super exclusive but I can get the two of you on the list, plus MJ. Couldn’t forget about her.”  

A night out did sound fun and it was better than your plan to study your boring old lines. You accepted the offer and so did Peter, but he would have to talk to Mary Jane first. Speaking of, Mary Jane called Peter on his phone and he stepped away for a bit in order to talk to his wife in private. That left you and Jessica as the sole survivors at the table.

With all of your nerves gone, you felt bold enough to ask the burning question you had, “If you don’t mind me asking, are things with you and Miguel awkward? Is it not hard to see him after the divorce?”

Jessica just smiled at you and shook her head, “No, things are okay with Miguel and me. The divorce was a sort of mutual thing. He was kind of relieved when he found out I had an affair. I guess feelings just sort of fizzled out. We're still great friends though.”

You felt relieved at the news of this. It also made you feel a bit guilty. Jessica was an incredible human being and you sort of felt like you were taking advantage of her.

Lunch ended and then the two of you went to your respective trailers to get ready for the next bunch of scenes that needed to be filmed.

You gave the rest of the day your best performance. Screaming, crying, and yelling. Whatever the scene called for, you did it. Your throat would definitely be sore by tomorrow.

Now, you’re driving down the road with your windows down as you watch the sunset. Today was a good day and you can’t wait to see what the night has in store.

Chapter Seven

[lyranix1201]

(part 1)Here are some of the plot summary of the nevermore fanfic that I have been writing or that I will write in the future:

(before I start, I am very sorry about all of the spelling mistakes on this post. my computer doesn't have a autocorrect feature, for some reason or I just can’t figure out why it doesn’t work. two of the summarys of the fanfic that I was writing, are on this post. that I Luckily had placed on one of my draft before my phone broke. so they are here. I have somehow saved them from being lost for eternity :)

(Mafia/ cleaning service AU)

Who's there?! Nevermore Cleaning service.(Current name for this fanfic. all of them might change in the future.)

Having a job as a cleaner is quite boring, but knowing that your life is on the line if you don't do your job properly—is terrifying. The well-known company known as Nevermore Cleaning Service, also known as N.C.S for short, never puts on their job description that it is associated with the mafia. Being a cleaner for the mob has its ups and downs and Lenore knows that better than anyone. She has experience it all, the bad and the worst. She learned very quickly in her career, that being an employee of this company, means that you have to do the dirty work, that no one wants to do.

Cleaning away the blood, disposing of the bodies well listening to jazz or classical music is oddly satisfying, to say the least. Sometimes if you’re lucky you don't have to do your job alone, but that also means that there are more bodies in your disposal. When there is too much work, they will grouped you up with three other people. Like in the case of Lenore, that's how she met three of her best friend, Duke, Pluto and Berenice.

On one of those boring days of cleaning, Lenore became acquaintances with someone new. She met the daughter of one of the most well-known mafia leaders in town, Annabelle Lee withlock. She met this girl at one of the most unpredictable location, a crime scene, of all places. Annabelle lee stated that “she didn't do it” but Lenore wasn't convinced in the slightest. Especially after meeting her more frequently, because of some random body that is laying on the floor.

Or

Lenore cleanse up crime scene's for a living, with her three friends (Pluto, Duke, Berenice). One day, she meets Annabelle lee on one of those crime scene. In Lenore's words she was acting weird (sus), they ended up fall in love. The end.

(I can literally imagine Annabelle lee killing some random person, just so that she can spend time with Lenore.)

[this fanfic is inspired by a video game called "Crime Scene Cleaner". that you can find on steam. but the full game is not yet available and I Don't know when it will released in the making of this post. I saw someone play the demo of this game (Jay from the kubz scouts) and I immediately got inspired to write a fanfic with the same theme. I'm currently still writing the first chapter and it has now at least over 1600 words and I have been trying to make the 2 and 3 chapter, even though I’m not even finished with the first one. There is a small problem that I forgot to mention, all of my fanfics are on my phone and my phone decided to die on me. so I lost everything that I have, allllll of it is goneeeeeeeeeeeee and I don’t know if a can remember all of the things that I wrote, to recreate it. So............yeah, that happened.]

Here is the link of the video that I watched and the game:

Video:https://youtu.be/obeqUaozSWg?si=1kvs9fBAlQ38VsD7

Game:https://store.steampowered.com/app/1040200/Crime_Scene_Cleaner/

(Train conductor Au)

The Everlasting train ride(Current name for this fanfic)

Lenore and her friends are stuck on a moving train that has been inhabited by people for centuries. They don't know how long the citizens have been on board this train, but one thing that the close friends do know for certain. Is that they have been occupying this train ever since they were children.

After the strange disappearance of the two Vandernaghts conductors, Lucille and Thaddeus, their two children were now destined to becoming the next train conductors after them. Lenore and her brother Theo are now in charge of the train and the passengers well-being.

The two siblings were investigating their parents weird disappearance to understand, how and why they disappear. The passengers assume that they are death, but Lenore is not convinced. Before their parents disappearance, no one was ever allowed to enter into the front wing of the train, also known as the control room. but now that they were gone, she and her brother are now allowed to venture throughout the area, until their hearts content. No one has ever been on this side of the train beside of their parents, so it is a big mystery of what lays upon those depths. Apparently this is where all of their parents belonging are kept and the belonging of the train conductors before them. This is great start in figuring out anything about their parents and the nature of this train.

With the help of her friends, Lenore starting solve more mystery around the train and discovered the real origin of its creation. she found out many things, one thing that stood out from the rest of course, is the fact that her enter family, has been stuck on this train for centuries.

After finding out the so called truth. she had enough of this place and made the decision to stop at the next train station that appeared. In all of the train history there were no written down instances of the train having new passengers, beside the ones that were already occupying it. But this time it was different, they acquired not one, but five new passengers, that weren't originally from this godforsaken train.

Where do they come from? what is it like outside? Why do they even want to be on-board, this devils train? What made them want to leave there homes, in the first place?

Those were all questions that the passengers and Lenore wanted to know. She didn't have enough time to asked the strangers any questions, they had to make a run for it ...... something went wrong. Now that there are five strangers in the train, can she trust them to not hurt the passengers?

The number one rule placed on the train conductors is that, the safety of the people is their number one priority. But what happens if she doesn’t comply to this rule?

(Your soul will be capt, in dark depths of the abyss, untill the devil's train presist)

or

Lenore and her friends are stuck on a moving train, she meets Annabel lee and her gang, and Theo and Lenore are basically orphans now.

[ like all of the other fanfic, I lost everything about it and I am really pissed. because one of the most important part of the fic, that I wrote is now gone.]

fun fact: when I started writing this fanfic, I wrote the summary, the plot, the things that were going to happen in the story and the 3 chapter (were the most important thing that Lenore is going to find out in the story) on a random Thursday. After I saw a random picture of a broken down train on Pinterest . Not even a week after, I went to my Portuguese school library and found this English book, with almost the exact same plot. It is so random, I never saw that book before in my life and that book was also never touched by anyone. I’m not even mad that I found it, because it gave me some extra ideas for this fic. after reading it, I found out that the only thing that the fanfic and the book have in common is that the main character father figures disappears and that there are trains is both of them.

The book is called: the railway children. ( It is a children's book and it was a great read.)

(pirate/fortune-teller(princesses) fantasy AU

The last gambit (current name of this fanfic)

[ this was my first ever fanfic that I started writing about the nevermore characters. I had already written a part of the first chapter with at least more than 1200 words. and now I don't have it. I don't have the summery, I don't have the chapter and I don't have the important things about the plot. JUST GREAT, JUST MY FUCKING LUCK :( . I remember that I wrote a short kind of poem in the first chapter, that I was really prude off, because I never wrote a poem in my life. And now it is gone forever.

This is what I remember about it, their are some things that are wrong, because I don't clearly remember what I wrote and I absolutely change some things in the end:

“pirates filled with greed, whom travel at sea, passe through the kafra will be on seen.

When you passe through the depths of the sea, You will perceive your pendant of hearts, in part of three.

Persist onward and venture through the lands of dreams, that is engulfed by dreams, Travel until enternity.

Your time can passe forward, my time can be kept, to be enternily yours in the depth of my neck.

My soul will life on, until your favourite word never, will be no more. Until I say there is no more. Until my dear friend says nevermore…..”

The last few paragraph don't make any sense, but anyways.... (This poem is important to the plot, I promise.)

here is a quick summery of the fanfic, that I managed to make with the last bit of my memories, that i have about it:

“She's a well-known pirate, who is known by many and every merchant who travels on the seven seas. in other words, she is a well-known thief who is hated by all."

“A pirate and a thief.” Annabell lee thought to herself well, observing the black haired woman a crossed the street. “What an intriguing combination, indeed.” A little smile appeared on her face, when she realized that the woman that she was a waiting for. for all of those years, was now stedely approaching her. her definition didn’t predict this, but it certainly did predict the presence of a: "pure embodiment of chaos" appearing on her front door step.

The only thing that she has to do now, is to play her cards wright. she didn't expect this to happen, but she is very glad that it did. with the help of this so called pirate, she will be able to get her ticket straight to freedom. (There is nothing straight about this, you know, because she gay..... Let me stop)

or

Lenore is a well known pirate and Annabell lee is a fortune-teller/princesses. Lenore is practically forced by Annabell Lee to help her escape her responsibility.

This fanfic is a fantasy au, so this is going to be all of the character roles in the story:

Morrella is either going to be a mermaid or a fairy in this fic. or maybe i should make her an hybrid, because i can't choose and because I can.

Lenore is going to be a pirate/ lost princesses

Annabell lee is going to be a princesses/ fortune-teller who can see the future.

Prospero and Annabell are going to be stepsiblings, because I said so.

duke is a pirate and wizard ( I don’t know okay, leave me alone)

will is going to be a shape shifter or an genie

Ada is going to be a siren in disguise, who is also a maid.

Pluto is going to be furry, I mean a shape shifting cat.

Eulalie is going to be a witch who owns a orphanage.

Berenice is going to be a vampire who owns her own bar.

Theo is probably going to be dead in this fic.

And last but not least Monty is going to be a asshole to everyone. He is also a thief and a pirate.

Puppet is going to be Annabelle's, teacher who helps her with her ability.

Dolly is practically going to be a nurse ( I don't know what to do with her yet.)

The dean's, Merry and mourn are going to be the antagonist, who likes to play games with Lenore and Annabelle.

[ i will post more of those in the future, but now i have to try to get my shit together and start slaving away and start writing. i am praing to god that the fanfic curse (ao3 curse) doesnt kill me (literally and figuratively. my luck is horoundes and im 70% sure that i am some how related to lenore, in some way or form. also i will use this post as some kind of safe in case something happens, so that i may be able to use it in the future to write my fanfic).]

Future me here. I won't be able to get my digital art and my fanfic from my old phone :(. I hope that I be able to get my phone repair, but knowing my luck it's not going to happen. I got everything placed on my grandmother old phone except my pictures, my fanfic and digital art that I have been making for YEARS and MONTHS.

WHY DOES GOD HATE ME

Also here is a picture of my phone now.

What happened to it?

I threw it at someone's head.

I'm just joking, My dumb ass dropped it on the floor. I tried to get the protection off, but apparently it is glued with the strongest glue in the word. some kind of fucking super glue was used on this shit, because it didn't even want to get off. I tried to get rid off it, but it didn't work and I accidentally hurt my self. basically i cut my self with the glass bits of the protection, so in the end, I gave up. Yes, my finger did bleed, but It was nothing to fatal. My phone is now unresponsive, so I can practically throw it in the trash now.

I have lost all of my picture, more than 300 song that I had download on this phone, digital art and fanfic. atleast I still have my Gmail account, I guess.

I'm not that mad about lossing all of the fanfic, yes I did lose all my progress but I can always make everything again. But my art in the other hand, I'm never going to get it back and now I'm sad.

WHY DOES GOD HATE MEEEEE.

My dumb ass didn't save anything on my cloud or drive, so I lost all of it forever. I hope you guys can learn something from me.

"NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, ALWAYS SAVE YOUR STUFF ON CLOUD OR DRIVE AND ALWAYS SYNCHRONIZE YOUR STUFF WITH OTHER DEVICES."

PLEASE DON'T BE STUPID LIKE ME.

[conradscrime]

3 Missing Person's Cases from Canada

September 15, 2024

Troy Cook (Nova Scotia)

Troy Cook was born on July 16, 1978 and was 20 years old at the time of his disappearance. On June 11, 1998 around 10 am, Troy's father dropped Troy off near his apartment at 1 Victoria Street, Truro, Nova Scotia.

Around 10:30 am, a Superstore employee Sharon Tucker received a phone call from someone who claimed to be Troy. Sharon said she was certain it was Troy, but that he sounded different. The person on the phone let Sharon know he would not be in to work his evening shift that night.

Other sources state that Troy's father last saw him on June 12, 1998. It is believed that Troy made a phone call from a payphone near the Tim Horton's in Bible Hill, Truro. Troy has never been seen or heard from since.

There have also been no confirmed sightings of Troy. Troy had never mentioned leaving, and both his ID and wallet were found in his apartment. There have not been any transactions made from his bank account. Troy is not known to have had an mental illnesses or engaged in impulsive behaviour.

Troy is described as having brown eyes and black hair, standing at 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 120 lbs. The government of Nova Scotia is offering a reward of $150,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the disappearance of Troy Cook.

2. Shelly-Anne Bacsu (Alberta)

Shelly-Anne Bacsu was born on April 7, 1967 and was 16 years old when she went missing on May 3, 1983. On that day, Shelly-Anne had been at her boyfriend's house at Sunset Trailer Court in Hinton, Alberta after school.

Shelly-Anne called her mother at 8pm and told her she would be coming home soon. Her mother also stated that her daughter told her she would be home in 15 minutes, her friend was going to pick her up and bring her home, and asked if she could make her a pasta dish that she loved.

Around 9pm, when Shelly-Anne still hadn't arrived home, her boyfriend called her mother and asked if he could speak to Shelly-Anne. Her mother told her boyfriend that wasn't funny, but in that moment said she had a terrible feeling that something had happened.

The boyfriend told Shelly-Anne's mom that her friend ended up not being able to drive her home, so Shelly-Anne began to walk home. She was walking down Highway 16 towards her house off Highway 40.

Shelly-Anne's mother called the police, and her father and brother searched the area for her. Her mother decided to look for her by foot despite it being dark and windy out.

A witness had claimed to see Shelly-Anne walking down the highway earlier in the evening, stating she had been carrying her school books and showed no interest in hitch hiking. Muriel, Shelly-Anne's mother, stated the distance between her boyfriend's house and her house was 4 miles, but her daughter would not have tried to make that.

A few days later some of Shelly-Anne's belongings were found about 3 miles from her house. A jacket, bra, pantyhose, a student union card and a library book that had been checked out that day were found along Highway 40 near the Athabasca River.

Despite interviews, police have never arrested anyone.

The Bacsu family moved from Hinton in 1991, but continued to the search for Shelly. Muriel was frustrated and stated that after the 10 year anniversary of her daughter's disappearance, the police had not contacted her at all for 15 years.

In 2010, authorities looked at Shelly-Anne's case in relation to the Highway of Tears investigation. This investigation involves multiple women going missing along a large stretch of highway in Canada. Shelly is the only Alberta woman on the list.

Authorities have been looking at Shelly's case over the years, following up on new tips, interviews, and testing DNA samples. DNA was found at the scene that belongs to an unknown person who is considered a "person of interest" to police.

It has been 41 years since Shelly-Anne disappeared that night, and her mother, Muriel, is still hopeful for answers to her daughter's whereabouts. Shelly's father died in 2014 from cancer, and her mother would be 80 years old (the last interview I found was in 2020 when her mother was 76 years old).

Shellly-Anne was 4 feet 11 inches and weighed between 80-90 pounds at the time of her disappearance. She was reported to be wearing a burgundy velour sweater, a burgundy and grey jacket, grey sneakers, blue jeans with a stripe down the legs, a green emerald ring and opal earrings. Shelly would be 57 years old today if still alive.

Anyone with information about Shelley’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Hinton RCMP Detachment at (780) 865-2455 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. You can also submit your tip online at www.p3tips.com.

3. Andre Ernest Gauthier (New Brunswick)

Andre Gauthier was last seen around 10:15 pm near Simms Corner on the west side of Saint John, New Brunswick on September 23, 1984. He was only 17 years old. There is not much information on the case.

In 2015, a case manager for Fulton County Doe was contacted about a potential match to Andre Gauthier. The John Doe had jumped to his death from a building in Atlanta, Georgia in 1993. There was no further information on this.

If alive today, Andre would be 57-58 years old. He was described as a white male with hazel eyes, brown hair, 5 feet 8 inches tall, and 139 lbs.

Andre was last seen wearing a black and orange vest, a white and blue Alpine t-shirt, blue faded jeans/pants, brown leather jacket (oversized), a silver, aluminum, stainless steel, lighter with "Andre" engraved on the front, and "July 10, 1984, Irene + Paul" on the back, with a keychain that said "I love NY."

If you have information on Andre's case, contact one of the following:

Saint John Police Force: (506)-648-3333 Reference Case #: 84-08488

Crime Stoppers: 1-800-222-TIPS(8477) or online at https://www.canadiancrimestoppers.org/tips (you can stay anonymous)

Send an email to the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains at: canadamissing-disparuscanada@rcmp-grc.gc.ca Case reference: 2014001900

[hoodoo12]

Dec 16th show

This show was the last I'll see till closing night, which I am lucky enough to be able to go to. Is lucky the right word? Shouldn't it be heart-breaking or something? idk

It has been nice to be able to have seen the show a few times, because I pick up new things each time. I don't mean that a lot in the show has changed, but because I familiar with it I'm not hyper-focused on the "action" of the scene and can watch the secondary actors on the stage. I feel like I saw a lot more of the individual clones during TBS, and of course I watched Elliott a little more. (Okay, a lot more, lol)

Dana Steingold was Lydia. She did an excellent job of navigating all of Lydia's emotions, instead of having just one overwhelm the nuance of the character.

Notes from show:

Alex wore a plain white shirt for several of the numbers. But not all of them (TBS, for example). I don't understand why.

Alex mocked my laughter at one point (after 'gay republican'), copying it before going to the next line.

The kid he picked for sad puppet show was right behind us (over our left shoulder). We overheard the family talking before it the show and the kid had never seen it before. His mom had to answer for him because he Alex terrified him mute (the kid was 10, for christ's sake). Alex could def see how uncomfortable the kid was because he crouched down to stare him directly in the eye and shouted, "YOUR PARENTS HAVE MADE A HUGE MISTAKE BRINGING YOU HERE", which only scared the kid more.

During his Katherine Hepburn speech, he pretended to be her down on all fours like they were going to screw doggy style.

During FoTL when David suggests, "act like a baby" Alex says, "What the shit is wrong with you?" and now that's my new favorite line.

Alex fumbled for "Brigadoon". He said, "I know my name is on the marquis, but you'll have to watch a new show. The Maitlands," and then stood there for a moment too long, gestured to them again for more time/effect before finally coming up with the line. The person with me thought since he couldn't remember the word he'd just finish with, " . . . the Maitlands. I'm out of here" and then "Yeah, I'm out of here. Fuck me, I guess" instead of "fuck Brigadoon."

Alex screwed up his mic during SMN. He went a little extra (more on that later) when he pulled back his wig to showcase the maggot brain, which messed it up. He repeatedly had to tap it/adjust it during the song to get it working correctly again. This is the second time I've seen that happen to him; it was pointed out that maybe I'm the common denominator when it stops working correctly . . .

Adam Dannheisser almost lost it when Leslie said "prostitution?" responding to his, "you're my employee and my lover" line. He had to take several moments to compose himself to not laugh. He did it though! Good job!

The guy Alex picked on as "that guy" was wearing a suit. The last time he addressed him, he added, "You got all dressed up tonight and got ROASTED." Pause for laughter. "Thanks for coming."

The guy sitting by me was INTO the show. Like leaning forward to laugh and shaking enough during it he rocked the seats.

The two kids (mid-teens) next to us were NOT into it. I don't know why their mom paid for front row seats for kids who didn't give a shit and who, during "Home", pulled out their phones to check their IG or Tiktok or whatever.

Maybe this is something everyone else was aware of, but the knees on his red suit are completely patched. Like his overcoat and the striped suit, they have these big stitches which I had never seen before. That whole suit looked a little more ratty to me than I remember it.

During COG when he and David swing each other over to stage right, Alex got some serious air. He was literally parallel to the ground (my companion pointed out after the show that I gasped, lol) so David must be gdamn strong to lift Alex like that.

Alex also made not one, not two, but three attempts to kiss David at stage right + made a grab at his crotch. Two of those things David was either not expecting or he's just a really excellent actor. It could be both.

Juno's leg skittered across the floor and almost fell into the pit, which I would have paid extra money to see because what the heck would they do??

Going back to "Alex being extra" . . . during intermission the person I was with was like, "What the hell? Why is he exhausting himself? Did you see? His make up is sliding off his face he's so sweaty and I've never seen him go so ham. This is Beetlejuice, not Alex."

She was genuinely concerned for him. Honestly, me too. He exuded more of a frenetic energy which, while appropriate for the character, was so much for so long the miasma of it hung in the air. Maybe he's just giving his all because the show is closing in 3 weeks. idk But with flu, COVID, and RSV also floating around, I hope he doesn't overstress his immune system so he can close the show out.

[addictedtostorytelling]

Hello! I love to read everything you write, I think you have a lot of talent!

A few days ago I watched episode 2 of the third season of CSI again, the last time I saw this episode I was a kid and honestly I didn't remember it very well nor did I pay much attention to it, but as an adult I was surprised by the way in which Haviland's lawyer humiliated Sara implying that she was nothing more than a climber who is where she is because between her and Grissom there is something sexual maybe and she does what he asks to accommodate the cases, that is, they didn't even attack her with Some mistake she made in the case or another case, it was a very low blow.

And then when Grissom goes up, the lawyer doesn't mention any of this to him! Basically it is implied that Sara is the slut because she is the woman, Grissom the boss does not receive any comment about this alleged manipulation of evidence that Sabra does in favor of Grissom, I would like to know your opinion about this. I also have another question, do you think that at some point Grissom knew what they told Sara on the stand? Because if one day he knew it, I imagine that mortified him and contributed to his decisions later, justifying himself that he did not want Sara to be treated like that just because she was in a relationship with him and people would stop respecting her maybe?

English is not my first language so , sorry for any mistake !

hi, anon!

thank you for your kind words! i'm so glad you enjoy my writing! and no need to apologize—your english is great!

so i will say up front, i've always quibbled with this particular story beat, not on account of the line of questioning itself—which, as i will discuss below, i believe is unfortunately fairly realistic, and especially for the early 2000s—but rather with the notion the defense lawyer even has all that dirt on sara to begin with.

i mean, looking at the scene in episode 02x05 “scuba doobie-doo,” there is literally no one around to see grissom and sara down by the building’s entryway, let alone to see them from a close enough vantage point to realize she is touching his cheek “in a romantic gesture.”

neither clifford renteria’s apartment nor the property manager’s apartment has windows facing the entryway area—just check out where the main door to the apartment complex is located compared to the position of the two units in the hallway when we’re shown grissom and sara entering the building earlier in the episode—so it’s unlikely warrick, brass, the police detail assigned to the scene, or even the suspect property manager (i.e., all of the people who even know who grissom and sara are and/or might give a damn about how they touch each other) would have been able to glimpse grissom and sara while they were all still inside and grissom and sara out.

and even if there were a police officer or some other lvpd or lab employee standing in the parking lot taking a smoke break or talking on their phone or something and they happened to witness the interaction from afar, why would they initially hold onto that information only to then later share it with an unscrupulous defense attorney in an extremely high-profile case much later on? how would the defense attorney even find them (or they find her)?

after all, the events of episode 02x05 “scuba doobie-doo” take place within the universe of the show on 10.02.01, while the events of episode 03x02 “the accused is entitled” take place on 09.21.02, meaning nearly a full year passes between the time when grissom and sara are supposedly seen touching and the first time that information comes publicly to light.

are we to believe what this hypothetical unseen lvpd employee witnesses bothers them so badly they remember it almost a full year later but somehow have never done anything about it in the interim?

after all, there is never any kind of investigation into grissom and sara’s conduct during the renteria case, much less disciplinary action initiated against them, throughout the remainder of s2, so obviously if someone in the department witnessed the interaction, they never formally reported it.

i mean, that’s part of why it’s such a shock to people in the department when six years later it comes out that grissom and sara have been carrying on this secret romantic relationship, right? because prior to grissom’s confession during sara’s kidnapping (see episode 07x24 “living doll”), there has never been any kind of definitive proof of anything ~unprofessional~ going on between them previously. departmental gossip concerning their weird, flirty vibes aside, no cut and dried evidence (much less a paper trail) confirming they either have been or are romantically involved exists. that revelation just seemingly comes out of nowhere, at least as far as the department administration is concerned.

why would this hypothetical lvpd employee decline to file a report and then turn around and “talk out of school” to a lawyer in an off-the-record capacity? why would they hamstring the department’s case that way?

the whole idea doesn’t make sense.

and the possibility of a “civilian witness” being the one to provide the information is likewise implausible.

i mean, sure, maybe one of the apartment-dwellers on the entryway side of the building or some rando standing in the parking lot might be able to look out their window or across the way and notice grissom and sara’s positioning, but if so, would they even know who grissom and sara are? and would they even realize sara touching grissom’s face was inappropriate? and even if they did, would they even care enough to go through all of the trouble to report it? and would they even be able to accurately identify grissom (with his baseball cap concealing his hair color) and sara, both of them under cover of darkness, to lvpd hr if they did?

doubtful.

and especially not given grissom and sara are at the time dressed like maintenance workers. i mean, how many people would get up in arms at two plumbers or movers sharing a tender caress outside of their apartment building? might strike someone as a bit weird but not necessarily as “forbidden” and “actionable.”

of course, even if said hypothetical random witness did somehow recognize grissom and sara’s inappropriate actions, take the initiative to contact department hr about the issue, and accurately describe them to the point where they could be positively identified, again, how would tom haviland’s defense attorney end up with that information almost one full year later?

this hypothetical witness would have had to report what they had seen to the crime lab hr department back in october ‘01, filing some kind of formal complaint, for there to have been any kind of record of grissom and sara’s behavior available in september ‘02.

the attorney then would have had to somehow gain access to this formal complaint during the events of the haviland case.

and, as discussed above, said hypothetical witness obviously didn't file any complaint, as no record of it is ever mentioned on the show and it never comes up during the proceedings of the case.

in the absence of such a report, haviland’s lawyers would have to interview basically every coworker, suspect, person-of-interest, witness, bystander, etc. in every case grissom and sara have ever worked together in sara’s (by that time) two years at the lab, asking leading questions to see if they could turn up evidence of anything ~untoward~ ever having happened between them, until somehow they struck pay-dirt with this unlikely hypothetical witness from the renteria case, who could then confirm to them, “oh, yeah, she did totally touch his cheek in a private moment outside the building.”

there's just no way this whole thing went down like that.

finding that person with that specific information would be like finding a single, specific grain of sand on a beach.

even if, based on grissom’s heart-struck reaction to finding out about sara’s relationship with hank, phillip gerard inferred his former pupil’s feelings for his young subordinate—and also perhaps her feelings in return for him, given how panicked she seems when the revelation is made—and went on a “fact-finding” mission, again, how did he turn up this information when no kind of formal record of it seems to exist?

while it’s somewhat plausible that, if properly plied, maybe someone at the lab might blab about how “oh, yeah, grissom and sara have always kind of had a ~thing~ for each other”—a la the comments the day trace tech, dorsey, makes to nick in episode 04x11 “eleven angry jurors”—how does said blabbing lead gerard and the rest of the defense team to the information regarding the events of episode 02x05 “scuba doobie-doo”?

if they were solely working off of department gossip, the lawyers probably wouldn’t have been able to pinpoint one particular occasion when grissom and sara had crossed a line.

instead, their tack should have just more generally been to throw sara off by confronting her point-blank on the stand with the question, “are you in love with your boss?” forcing her to answer under oath.

but even then, that’s a really long-shot possibility, contingent on both gerard’s ability to accurately diagnose sara’s feelings for grissom, even without having known her previously, and him and the defense team again finding this hypothetical anonymous witness who is willing to provide intel to them (even though they are presumably on the opposite side of the case).

i mean, it’s not like they would have had time to subpoena anyone or depose them under oath, so this person would have had to speak out of their own volition. and why would they, if they were a lab employee? even if they thought grissom and sara’s dynamic was inappropriate, why would they go to the haviland team with that information rather than to hr, right in the middle of the case?

so.

all of the above is to say that, by and large, for as fun and dramatic as it is to have haviland’s lawyer blindside sara with that allegation regarding her feelings for grissom while she is up on the stand, it isn’t particularly realistic.

it just doesn’t really make sense for the lawyer to have that information—not when it’s so implausible that she could ever even know about the infamous episode 02x05 “scuba doobie-doo” chalk touch interaction to begin with.

but i digress.

suspending our disbelief and ignoring the gaping plot hole for the moment, as stated above, unfortunately, i do think the defense lawyer’s line of questioning to sara—and lack of a similar line of questioning to grissom—is otherwise very true to life.

more discussion after the "keep reading," if you're interested.

__

to me, if we ignore the issue of informational provenance, it rings very true that tom haviland's lawyer would, in the absence of actual professional errors on sara’s part, attempt to undermine sara’s credibility by making allegations regarding sara's romantic relationships with hank and grissom.

that she would frame the "hank moved the bra" thing in terms of sara and hank's sexual dynamic tracks.

that she would choose to make a personal attack against sara’s behavior around men tracks.

that she would try to paint sara as some kind of pathetic, lovestruck loser hung up on her much-older boss and willing to manipulate evidence to impress him tracks.

that she wouldn’t level any kind of similar claims against grissom (who isn't vulnerable to those types of offensives in the same way sara is, just by virtue of him being a man) tracks.

—and especially given the episode’s temporal setting in the early 2000s.

we need only look to the bill clinton affair for a real-life analog.

in 1999, just three years prior to when this episode takes place within the universe of the show, sitting american president bill clinton was discovered to have had a sexual affair with a white house intern by the name of monica lewinsky. the affair had begun in 1995, when clinton was forty-nine years old and lewinsky twenty-two. he was in a position of extreme power over her at the time, not only as her boss but also as the leader of the nation, widely considered the most powerful man in the world.

while clinton did face some political repercussions for his actions—most significantly, impeachment for lying about the affair under oath before a grand jury—in the court of public opinion, lewinsky was treated far more harshly than he.

at that time, the affair was known as “the lewinsky scandal”—not the clinton scandal.

for years afterward, lewinsky struggled to find work, despite having an excellent education and credentials otherwise.

she was the butt of meanspirited jokes disparaging her sexuality and treating her as a naïve bimbo at best and an opportunistic whore at worst on every late night and variety television show in the country.

vernacularly, “lewinsky’d” became a crude slang term to refer to a particular sex act.

people questioned why she would seduce such a powerful man. identified her as a gold-digging, hypersexual homewrecker whose libido all but brought down both a power marriage and a presidential administration.

even supposedly highbrow news organizations such as the wall street journal and new york times referred to her in print as “a little tart” and a “ditzy, predatory white house intern.”

—and this they did largely without smearing clinton to the same degree or on similar grounds.

the public attitude toward him was far less hostile, with the prevailing national sentiment seeming to be, “well, he shouldn’t have jeopardized his own career or embarrassed his political office that way, but of course he had sex with her! faced with that sweet, young thing flat-out begging for it, can you really blame him?”

he remained in office to the end of his second term. did not ultimately end up losing his marriage. maintained a prominent position with the clinton foundation. by the time of his wife’s 2016 presidential run, had had his image almost completely rehabilitated, to the point where the affair was (and still is) almost a footnote alongside his other mainline biographical details.

lewinsky has since talked about her treatment throughout the scandal, highlighting the inappropriate power differential between herself and clinton (“[he was] the most powerful man, my boss, forty-nine years old. i was twenty-two, literally just out of college. and i think that the power differentials there are something that i couldn’t ever fathom consequences at twenty-two that i understand obviously so differently at forty-eight”) as well as the unevenness of how they were, as the two primary figures in the scandal, treated by the media and the public.

in the wake of #metoo, lewinsky has finally opened up about how devastating the effects of this nationalized character assassination on her were, admitting she suffered from “strong suicidal temptations several times during the investigation and one or two periods after.”

and while of course the two situations are ultimately very different, not only in scope but also in the nature of the relationships themselves, one can easily see how sara’s experience in episode 03x02 “the accused is entitled” bears resemblance to “the lewinsky treatment.”

particularly in that pre-#metoo era, it was unfortunately very common for the women involved in public sexual scandals to bear the brunt of the judgment and consequences more so than their male counterparts—even when the men in question were older and in positions of power over them.

the tendency was to question why the actress would “willingly” lie down on that casting couch, not how come the male director even had said casting couch in his office to begin with.

it was the woman’s morals and motives that were questioned, not the man’s.

so from that perspective, i think what sara endures in this episode—in all its unfair, sexist ugliness—is, unfortunately, realistic.

she—as the young, attractive woman who supposedly has something to gain from seducing her much-older boss—is the obvious target for that particular line of questioning, whereas grissom—as the older man, whose response to said “seduction” would be viewed as “only natural”—is not.

as for the second part of your question, it’s hard to say whether or not grissom knows the exact nature of what is said to sara in court.

i don’t think sara herself would ever tell him the nature of the cross-examination, not only because she would be too scared/humiliated but also because, at the time, she is probably trying to avoid him as much as possible (given their recent awkward “you deserve to have a life” run-in).

and, obviously, grissom also isn’t present to witness that line of questioning play out in person himself.

however, even without sara fessing up or him being privy to what happens in person, he might still potentially hear tell of the debacle from someone else later on.

in the episode, nick, warrick, and catherine are all present at the courthouse prior to the scene where sara provides her testimony. though none of them is shown on camera while sara is on the stand, one or more of them could nonetheless be sitting in the courtroom gallery.

since the scene where catherine is on the stand takes place immediately after sara’s testimony is shown, she might be the most likely candidate to “witness the carnage.”

if she is present, of course, she doesn’t immediately relay what she hears to grissom when she returns to the lab.

still.

it’s not outside the realm of possibility she could at some point later on fill him in (even after the case has been wrapped).

and of course the same goes for nick or warrick if they are present for sara’s cross, as well.

likewise, grissom could also potentially learn that information retroactively for himself if he ever reads the court transcripts from the trial after the fact.

and if he does learn it, either way?

then i'm sure he’s mortified.

for as selfish as many of grissom’s reasons for maintaining his distance from sara during her early years in las vegas are, he has always had some awareness his reputation is not the only one on the line where them potentially having a relationship might be concerned.

he knows very well if they were to commence a sexual relationship and it were to become public knowledge around the department—either because they came forward with it of their own volitions or because someone found them out—then there would likely be fallout for her, too.

she could be fired and blackballed from the field just as easily as he could—if not more so, considering his reputation is already firmly established, whereas she is still an “up-and-comer.”

and even if she kept her job, her reputation still might be ruined.

people might question: did she come by her position and professional accolades on merit or did she get them by “sleeping her way to the top”?

grissom hates to think of how such a revelation might negatively affect her—that she, like monica lewinsky, might get branded as some kind of opportunistic strumpet or naïve bimbo, all for his sake.

honestly, even if grissom never learns of what happens during sara’s cross-examination in the haviland case, i’m sure these concerns are still never too far from his mind anyhow—he probably can’t help but think about how damaging being with him could prove to sara’s career every time they work a case like the one in episode 04x12 “butterflied,” where a younger woman having a relationship with an older male coworker gets painted with a certain unsavory reputation in their shared workspace.

certainly, these concerns might play a role in his repeated rebuffs of sara during s1-s4 and, in particular, figure into why he—subconsciously—is so averse to granting sara the key position promotion in s4.

and especially if he does learn about her experience on the stand. it’s easy for him to keep telling himself, “it’s better for both of us if we don’t risk it,” even though, in his heart of hearts, he knows that line of thinking isn’t true.

anyway, i've gone on for a while now.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

[bengiyo]

Bed Friend Ep 1 Stray Thoughts

Bestie is sick today, and I've already seen reactions from others, so I'm going into this first episode warmer than normal. This is my first time with Net and James, and I'm curious to see why everyone finds them so appealing. Hoping Domundi does a good job with a workplace show.

I know this intro is a lot of tell mixed with show, but, after coming off of Chains of Heart yesterday, I appreciate setting up the initial layout of the world through our protagonist's internal voice.

Happy to see Yim, and happy to see a femme described positively.

While the credits are playing, let me just say how bullshit it is that iQIYI offers a tier for 4K streams and yet doesn't deploy that to its tv apps.

Domundi is developing a distinct visual look with their editing, and I actually like it. There's a softness that almost reminds me of Nadao.

I think a big part of the Cherry Magic appeal for me was that Adachi and Kurosawa were fairly equal at work. I'm not always keen on the boss-employee dynamic.

Starting on a loss for Uea, directly into a traumatic flashback. I think the young actor played the boy who drowned in Between Us?

I'm very curious what happens with the BL children in the next 4-8 years.

So Uea's Mon is abusive and homophobic. Call the people, because locking a child in the dark in the bathroom is fucked.

I'm sorry, Uea, but the nice apartment can't erase everything your mom did to you (and seemingly still does, given his reaction to her phone call). Hate that I've watched homophobic mom's hit their sons twice today.

King seems like he's been flirting with Uea for a while now.

I see Jade has entered the competition for the NAMGOONG BEST BOY AWARD 2023. It will be tough to beat Tiwson, but I applaud the effort.

I don't think employers should play with their team's emotions like this.

I'm having a lot of fun with Jade. It's nice to see Yim in a different role.

Oh, I don't like Uea getting this drunk. Hate how his mom expects him to financially support them after everything, and not a fan of Pock either.

I wonder why they chose to put them both in blue.

King really should not have this encounter with Uea. Net and James are clearly comfortable with each other, but I doubt Uea will be thrilled in the morning.

I think I'm glad Uea remembers what happened. Still, not a great starting line.

That sculpture and that pillow are doing a lot of work in this scene to obscure how nude King may be.

I think I saw some analysis that Uea's feelings around promiscuity are influenced by the mom, so he's in a state of self-loathing for "being a slut" likely in conjunction with King perhaps taking advantage of his intoxicated state.

I get King wanting to reassure himself about the encounter, but it's not like Uea talked to him much prior to that.

Oh no, the Toyota Camry!! Will the problems never cease??

Okay, a difficult starting line all around, but I'm intrigued. I'll be back next week to sneer at Uea's mom.

[iamvegorott]

Happy Family Pt. 1 of 8

This was a commission by @rainymae523, thank you again and I'm so glad you enjoy it!!!

Summary: Google went from being on his own to being a single father to his niece when his brother passes away in a car accident. It's not long before his daycare coworker Bing notices his struggles and steps in to help. After some time their friend Chase ends up having sudden full custody of his own children and the three grow close as they care for their children

The Beginning

Chapter 1: The Beginning 

“She is currently with her grandmother,” Google spoke into the phone, sitting in the front seat of his car. He was hunched over and pressing his forehead to the steering wheel. 

The car’s motor was still running as it waited in front of the large building where he worked. Google never cared to look into the aspects of the business outside of what he handled. He spent his days organizing paperwork, finances, and the overall functionality of the daycare service provided to the other employees. While his place was behind the scenes, looking at the numbers, he often spent some time in the daycare itself for a few reasons. One was that the kids were sweet, and another was a worker he enjoyed being around.  

But right now, none of that mattered. Google’s brain couldn’t think of anything positive while speaking to the woman on his phone. A stranger who gave him heart-breaking news. Irreversible news. What got told to him would affect him for the rest of his life.

His brother had died. 

A car accident. 

Some asshole who didn’t know how to put his phone away and how to resist texting someone for five minutes while driving killed his brother by t-boning his car. 

Thank God Etta wasn’t feeling well and had stayed with her grandmother. She would have been in that car with him, and if a grown man didn’t survive the hit, there was no way that a little girl who was four years old would have. 

The woman had called due to Google being Oliver’s emergency contact, the one to call in case something happened.

He wasn’t just Etta’s uncle. 

He was also Etta’s godfather.

He was the one to take her in.

He never thought that would ever happen.

He was nowhere near ready for her.  

But he would do everything and anything that he could for her. 

“I will be there as soon as possible. Thank you for…calling…” Google cringed at himself as he hung up. He lowered his arm and stayed where he was, just feeling the fake leather of the steering wheel pressing against his skin. Emotions flooded and overwhelmed him to the point of making him painfully numb. An urge to cry scratched at his eyes, but nothing came. He wanted to scream, curse, punch something, hit the petal of his car, and drive until he was lost. 

He couldn’t move. 

He was stuck. 

“Get over yourself,” Google grunted at himself, finally sitting up and sniffing. “We need to get ready for Etta.” He turned his car off and got out of it. “For Etta.” A deep sigh evened out his head, enough for him to go into the building. He will need to speak to his boss and explain his need to be out for the day. 

Dark would understand. He had to. He needed to. 

“The doctors said there’s a chance he’ll grow out of it,” Dark said to Bim. Bim was one of the lead daycare teachers. Anti, Dark’s son, was clinging to his leg and pouting. “It’s for emergencies. Let me know if you ever need to use it.” Dark handed Bim an inhaler. “I’ll speak to Google about filling the proper paperwork for it and-speaking of the devil.” He changed mid-sentence when he saw Google heading into the room. 

“You look sad,” Anti stated as he stared at Google. 

“Go play with JJ and Robbie, buddy.” Dark gently nudged Anti towards the twins who were stacking blocks. 

“Okay!” Anti perked up when he saw the blocks and ran over to join the other boys his age. 

“Everything okay?” Dark asked, noticing that Anti was correct in his comment. 

“I…um...” Google glanced over at Bim. Bim took the hint and stepped away to check on the infants. “There’s been an emergency, and I’ll need to take some time off.” He felt a tightness in his chest. “It’s Oli.” 

“Go.” Dark nodded his understanding. He didn’t know it all but could catch enough from that alone. “We’ll figure out everything here later. Do what you need.”  

“Thanks. I’ll try not to be off too long. I’ll email you-” 

“Don’t worry about it.” Dark waved his hand and cut Google off. “Go on.”

“Thank you again,” Google said and turned around and out of the building, ignoring anyone who saw him. 

He had a little girl to help

x~x~x

Weeks went on as news of Oliver’s passing traveled around the building and city. His funeral got filled with coworkers, family, and friends. He was a very loved man and would always be in everyone’s memories.

Etta was moved to Google’s home and was struggling to adjust. An overly talkative and blunt relative had flat-out told her that her father was dead. While she didn’t really understand what that meant, she knew it meant she would no longer be seeing him. 

Google also struggled to adjust, staying up with Etta and barely getting any sleep or even eating. He lost weight and had bags under his eyes but never showed his pain to Etta or anyone else. He had to handle this on his own. He had to do it. He had to. 

x~x~x

Bing was currently working on the newsletters for the month. Google handled most of the paperwork, but Bing helped get everything needed to go out to the parents since he was more social than the other man. He did a lot of the tidying, cleaning, packing, etc. Bing was in charge of the older kids in the daycare, and there was almost a third of them compared to the infants and toddlers that Bim handled. There were other workers, but they were part-time or handled aspects outside of the children or only watched the kids when Bing or Bim was busy working on something else.

He had noticed that Google had been off since Oliver’s death. Bing was the coworker Google spent the most time with due to needing to work together to ensure everything was correct, so the little changes stood out bright to Bing. He didn’t have the bravery yet to ask what was wrong and hoped that maybe Google would come to him. They were close, right? 

“Wait?” Bing noticed that the letter for Etta’s guardians had Google’s name and address. 

No one spoke of who was caring for Etta now. They only got told it got taken care of and to not worry. It made sense that Google took her in, but was he getting any help? It was a lot to handle a sudden child alone, no matter how good of a kid Etta was. That might be the reason Google looked so tired. 

“Googs.” Bing said softly to himself before stepping out of the room he and Bim used as their shared ‘office’ “Hey, Bim?” Bing waved. Bim was sitting in one of the rocking chairs with a giggling toddler in his lap, a handful of older kids playing on the rug in front of him. 

“Yeah?” Bim looked over at him. 

“I need to talk to Google for a second. Will you be good for a bit?” Bing gestured with his thumb. 

“I got this. Have fun with your boyfriend~,” Bim sang. 

“He’s not my-” Bing stopped and sighed when the kids on the rug giggled. “I’ll be back.” He said and left the daycare. Google’s office was right across the hall. Close enough to come over if needed yet far enough to be able to focus on his work. 

“Come in.” Google’s voice said from behind the door when Bing knocked on it. 

“Hey, Googs.” Bing’s greeting had Google knowing right away that it was him. Google would have someone’s head if they tried calling him that. But Bing was the only one allowed to use that nickname. 

“How can I help you?” Google finished typing a sentence on his keyboard before turning his head and giving Bing his full attention. 

“I was working on the newsletters. And I have Etta’s.” Bing closed the door behind him. “Why didn’t you tell anyone you took her in?” 

“It wasn’t anyone’s business,” Google stated, the bags under his eyes looking extra dark today. 

“When was the last time you slept?” Bing asked. 

“Last night, like everyone else.” Google was now unable to look at Bing. He could lie without a second thought to others, but for some reason, he hated doing it to Bing. 

“Like hell you did.” Bing went over to Google’s desk and sat on the edge of it, another thing that only he was allowed to do. “You look like shit.” 

“Thanks.” Google clicked his tongue. 

“Googs, where’s your lunch?” Bing knew Google kept his lunch in a red lunchbox, and after eating, it was always sitting on the little shelf behind him. That shelf was empty. 

“It’s…” Google’s voice trailed off, and he sighed. “I’m not hungry today, that’s all.”

“This shirt used to be fairly tight on you,” Bing commented, tugging on the sleeve of Google’s shirt. “Now it fits like any other shirt.” There was a pause, Google not knowing what to say to that and even having a tint of red on his cheeks. “You need help.” 

“I’m fine.”

“You went from living alone to having a young child out of nowhere. I know how you are, and you aren’t getting help from anyone, are you? You’re doing everything on your own, and you’re going to get sick or worse if you don’t get some extra hands.” 

“I…I don’t want to burden anyone.” Google rubbed his face with his hands. “My mother is too old to help, and the other relatives either live too far away or are complete messes and…just-” 

“Let me help.” 

“What?”

“Let me help you, Googs. Let me be a babysitter or something. Let me chill with her while you shop so you can take it easy.” 

“But you already-”

“Nope, you’re not talking your way out of this, Googs.” Bing giggled. “You’re stuck with me now.” 

“How much-”

“Don’t you even mention money. Just get me dinner or some beer every now and again, and we’ll call it even. You’re my friend. I want you to be okay.” Bing gave Google a smile that caused a warm flutter in Google’s chest. 

“You’re the best.” Google smiled back at Bing. 

“I know.” 

----------

Next: Link

[whitepolaris]

Hapless Hospital Hares

On January 5, 1955, Mr. J. B. Heroman of Our Lady of the Lake Hospital phoned the East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's office with a report that something terrible had happened to eight of the nine rabbits that he kept in wire cages on hospital grounds. "Mysterious midnight monster marauders," he said, ripped wide holes through the heavy-duty mesh enclosures and massacred the captive hares.

When Lt. Tom Henderson and Deputy Jack Cullen arrived to investigate, they interviewed lam employees Frank Clack Jr., who had managed to catch a glimpse of two of the attackers as they ran from the scene toward nearby Capitol Lake. He described the assailants as covered "with black fur and [having] long tails." The officers soon discovered two pairs of mysterious footprints each with four distinct toes or claws on their front paws or hands. According to an article in the Baton Rouge Advocate, the "Deputies said they would patrol the lake shore in an attempt to find the 'monsters' and establish their identity," but it is not known if they were successfully apprehended the beasts.

Some people think that there could be some connection between the Our Lady of the Lake Bunny Killers and a creature that Troy Science and two friends observed one night in October 2003 while walking along Brown's Bend Road in Alexandria. The trio described seeing a ratlike humanoid that somewhat resembled "a gnome," according to Stence. "It was about four feet tall and had red eyes," he said, "but it wasn't a rat or a possum or anything like that. It looked like it had human arms and legs. It just ran off."

After they encountered it, Stence and his friends also ran-but in the other direction. To this day, nobody really knows what it was they thought they saw.

[jimmycarterghostland]

I love the film The Master by Paul Thomas Anderson, but the thing I highly hate about it was the ambiguity of the last section of it being a dream or not.

Some background:

At some point in the movie, the main character Freddie is in a movie cinema. An employee there hands him a phone, and it's Freddie's distant best friend, Dodd. He tells Freddie he misses him and that he's in England now. There's some other stuff said. Then the scene shows Freddie waking up in the cinema.

???

Does that mean the rest of the movie from that point onwards never happened? I wish Anderson had never included that part. Because I desperately want the last section of the movie to be real in-universe. It was so good, and it was important for the plot and the characters.

A few years ago, I read the Wikipedia article about the movie, and then eventually saw the movie. I never interpreted the cinema scene and then the scenes afterward as a dream. I figured Freddie had went to sleep after the phone call ended, but that he woke up. I considered the part with the phone to be real, not one of Freddie's dreams. At the same time, that scene did have a dream-like quality. Like, how could Dodd track Freddie down in a movie theatre? And how would an employee there be able to hand Freddie the phone, as if the place was a proper residence and that the phone was Freddie's personal one? It makes zero sense.

I hate the ambiguity of it. It doesn't help that I hate fiction set in dreams, like Inception.

The Master was a great movie. It is one of those movies that wish I were directing and writing my own movies too, like Anderson. Unfortunately, the possibility the last section of the film might be a dream ruins everything for me. It bothers me. Why does every great film, book, etc I end up loving have to have at least one major flaw in it?

[gsmattingly]

Review "Fallen Leaves"

Last night I went to see "Fallen Leaves" directed by Aki Kaurismäki. It stars Alma Pöysti as Ansa, Martti Suosalo as Raunio, Jussi Vatanen as Holappa,, Alina Tomnikov as Tonja, Janne Hyytiäinen as Huotari and numerous others. Gee, IMDb doesn't list the dog Chaplin in their credits. Ah, TMDB lists Chaplin, the dog, as Alma-koira. I quite enjoyed this film. It is melancholy, with a chance encounter and a sad and happy love story. From IMDb, "In modern-day Helsinki, two lonely souls in search of love meet by chance in a karaoke bar. However, their path to happiness is beset by obstacles - from lost phone numbers to mistaken addresses, alcoholism, and a charming stray dog. ". (Hm, don't remember a mistaken address scene) I liked the rather dark and moody settings, the cinematography, the distinct lack of laughing and smiling throughout about 95+% of the film, the mostly quiet and calm acting and reactions to the sad things that happened in these people's lives, the entertaining karaoke bar and the singing and songs presented, the music and the dog Chaplin. This film had a very dry sense of humor where it existed. At one point I thought this really reminds me of the films by another director. Then in the credits I see the name Jim Jarmusch. Ah yes, right. Parts of this film made me think of certain moments in "Strange Than Paradise" by Jarmusch. After the film I heard a conversation between a theater employee and someone attending the film that Jarmusch and Kaurismäki had met and become friends.

I've seen "Le Havre" by Kaurismäki and have four or five more by him that I really should get around to watching. In the New York times review of this film by Manohla Dargis, she writes "Since the early 1980s, he has honed his minimalist visual style and quietly ironic sensibility in more than 20 narrative features that tend to be classed as comedy dramas, tragicomedies or some other hyphenated admixture; the movies are sometimes described as bittersweet, though, for me, their long aftertaste tends to be more sweet than bitter. Yet even these descriptors are too confining." Yes. I've seen many films by Jarmusch but still have a number to watch. I saw this film at the Little Roxie which is a few doors down from the Big Roxie. I hadn't been there before but it was nice but a little small.

[brightjimini]

Drenched in Darkness: prologue

Bruce wayne x f!waterbender!reader

A/N: Well… its been a while, sorry. Its my bday tomorrow so here is a little present: my new series. (that i will finish unlike some others that still need to be finished) Ill try to upload every week. i think every saturday. enough bs. let me know what you thought because i dont know if i can write anymore and i promise the next chapters will be longer.

Warnings: child abandonment, no bruce.. yet, o yeah and murder

-

I had lived in Gotham my whole life, at least as long as I could remember. Like most people here my life wasn’t so easy. But that is normal, especially for 80 percent of Gotham. My mother abandoned a younger me at the orphanage, the people working there had told me that my dad wasn’t with her. She had left her contact information with them.

But when I was old enough to try and look for her I found out that she had lied about almost everything on the filled in survey. So much for a happy family reunion.

I hated living at the orphanage. I had not hated it my whole life. I only started hating it when weird accidents started to happen and all the kids around me started pointing at me when one of the caretakers would ask what had happened. Water pipes would suddenly burst, the water in a glass next to a bed would splash on the wall at the other side of the room, rain would turn into little ice shards.

By chance all those things happened when I was angry. Throwing my little arms around and screaming or shouting. Nine year old kids had not gone through as much stuff as adults. But they could make the connection between my anger and the accidents. Before the Waynes donated money to the orphanage regularly, it was short staffed. So hardly any of the adults saw what was happening. Except for that one time.

An elderly  woman who had worked there since I could remember had seen “something weird” happen twice. After the second time she took me to her little office. I was eleven years old. I already knew that I wasn’t like the other kids. So I tried to avoid confrontations and kept mostly to myself. Kids can be awful but kids without supervision are cruel. The bullying went on and on. Sometimes I snapped. But the longer it went on the longer the periods became between each outburst.

The elderly woman was named Elsie. Everyone called her Miss Elly. She taught me to stay calm when I was afraid or angry. I followed her around while she was doing her chores. The other employees didn’t say anything about it. I loved her like a child loves her mother. At least I think so. She called the things I could do to water a little gift, and tried to help me practice with little plastic cups filled with water. (Glass was too dangerous, because I had let the glass explode when I was frustrated.)  And that I shouldn’t share this secret with everyone unless I was old enough to know the consequences.  

She died from a heart attack when I was seventeen. At least that is what all the other caretakers had told us. But I saw the crime scene tape. I was one of the oldest there and not everyone could read. And the way the caretakers said it without looking us in the eyes was weird.

So I decided to find out what really happened. When I snuck in Miss Elly’s room I immediately smelled the iron and decay in the room. When I turned on my flashlight everything was red. The bedsheets were covered in blood. Bloodsplatters were on the wall next to the bed and there were smudges of blood coming from the bed leading to her tiny desk in the corner. I always assumed she had tried to call someone while she was bleeding out. Because she kept the landline phone there in the corner on top of her desk.

I hurried back to my bed. The police came back the next day at the end of the same day the tape was gone and the room was cleaned.

I lasted a week there without Miss Elly before I ran away from the orphanage. I would be sent to a women’s shelter if I still wasn’t adopted before I turned eighteen. My chances of being adopted were slim to none. The only thing that kept me there for seven more days was to come up with a plan. I was hired at a restaurant as a dishwasher, on the rainy days I would stay at shelters and on days where it didn’t I would sleep on rooftops in wealthier neighborhoods. I still went to Gotham City High Public Highschool. The orphanage didn’t try to contact me; they rather spent Thomas Wayne’s money on other kids.

I didn’t blame them. I could take care of myself.

I only used my gift if it was absolutely necessary, mostly against creepy men. At seventeen I had underestimated the real world. Because it was even worse than the orphanage. Thankfully there were hardly any rumors about that.

Now I am in my twenties, I got my own place, I hardly used them at all.

Until I got fired as a chef because of the flooding. Now I rob wealthy families with corrupt ties to their wealth.

[frostedfaves]

Naive (1)

Masterlist

Pairing: demon!Wanda Maximoff x fem!reader

Summary: Of all the humans Wanda has met, you’re suddenly her favorite.

Warnings: 18+ ONLY, dark!fic, demon things™️ (be warned that this shit will get much darker in the future), subtle hand kink (don’t @ me)

A/N: special shoutout to the anon that inspired this fic series, I hope you enjoy this weird combo of AOU x IW Wanda. also if you have any previous knowledge of demons, throw it out the window before you read this because I guarantee that things will not add up here lmao

-

Wanda’s favorite thing about interacting with humans is her effect on them.

Walking through a crowd is fine. She’ll brush a few shoulders and rattle a few unsuspecting adults, flash solid black eyes at kids that either stare or scream. It’s temporary and brings a bit of fun to an otherwise dull day.

The real joy comes from direct contact. Wanda travels miles away from her apartment building, choosing different stores, restaurants and cafés just to keep things interesting. A new cashier each time. She’ll have an air of friendliness about her that isn’t exactly fake; she finds most humans to be charming, despite their fragile minds.

“Will that be all?” Roy--according to his name tag--asks with a grin and Wanda nods in response. “Okay, your total is $21.14. You can just swipe or insert your card in the machine there.”

Wanda inserts her card carefully, complimenting the decor as she waits for the transaction to be completed. After returning it to her wallet, she flashes a soft smile at Roy as he hands her the receipt, purposefully brushing her fingers with his. As his skin makes contact with one of her rings, she notices the goosebumps rising along his arm and hears his breathing pattern change.

“Roy? Everything alright?”

She hears the concerned voice of a coworker as she makes her way to a table to wait for her meal, already seated by the time Roy coughs in an effort to collect himself.

“Yeah, just feeling off I guess. I’ll be fine.”

A chuckle falls from her lips as she watches the poor cashier attempt to return to his previous state of mind, finding the urge to smile and wave when his eyes cut over to her. His voice trembles when he calls her name and he stands as far away as possible when she approaches the counter to grab her order.

“Thanks for everything, Roy.”

Sensing that he’s startled enough without it, she keeps her other tricks hidden in her sleeves and simply walks away, holding her laughter until the doors close behind her. A good meal with a side of human interaction, her absolute favorite.

-

The next day brings Wanda to a bookstore around lunchtime. She takes a minute to browse the aisles, taking an exceptionally long time lingering in the section harboring books on angels and demons. The stereotypes amuse more than upset her like they used to in the beginning.

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

Wanda turns to make eye contact with the employee behind her, about to ask a question for the fun of it when a laugh catches her attention. Her gaze redirects to the café counter straight ahead, and a warm feeling washes over her when she hears the laugh again.

You’re genuinely entertained by the elderly woman purchasing a bagel with exact change, and Wanda manages to catch the end of the conversation as she draws near.

“Safe to say, I haven’t worn the blouse since that day.” She bids you farewell with her bagel and receipt in hand, eyes twinkling as she observes Wanda on her way past. “You have such bright and beautiful hair, dear.”

“Thank you,” Wanda responds with sincerity, attention locked on you while approaching the counter. “Hi.”

“Hey,” you greet her with a voice much calmer than the one you use with most of your other customers. “What can I get you today?”

You watch the orange haired woman turn her head to study the items behind the glass, taking the time to do your own inspection. You admire the dark red jacket that covers most of her torso, gaze lingering on the multiple rings hugging her fingers that seem to be smoothing nonexistent wrinkles in her dress, almost in a nervous fashion. It brought you a bit of comfort, assuming that she was affected in the same way.

“What do you recommend?”

“Oh, well…” You walk over to open the glass case from your side of the counter, naming each item as you grab it. “I usually have this pretzel that’s stuffed with spinach and cheese and this brownie. I can heat both of them for you, if you’d like.”

“I would love that,” Wanda responds in a grateful tone, placing a bottle of water on the counter after taking it from the fridge. “And I’ll also have one of these incredibly overpriced waters.”

You begin her order with a laugh, and she watches you ring everything up with the speed and expertise of a seasoned employee, wondering how she’d gone this long without running into you. The total price is brought to the digital screen just before her card is inserted, and she takes the time to quickly slip her rings into her pockets while you’re taking the pretzel and brownie over to the miniature oven. The last thing she wants to do is scramble your brain before she even gets the chance to explore it.

“Here’s your receipt,” you announce while giving Wanda the slip of paper, your eyes lingering on her hand for a moment before looking at her again. “Your food should be ready soon.”

“Okay, thank you…” Her sentence trails off as she searches for your name, the letters rolling off her tongue with ease when she finally locates it on the apron covering your chest.

“You’re welcome…” You trail off in the same fashion and she catches on quickly.

“Wanda.”

“You’re welcome, Wanda,” you repeat as you hand her the water bottle before she can walk away.

Less than two minutes later, you approach the table she’s taken over with two small ceramic plates and a sheepish grin.

“I should’ve asked if you were going to stay a while, but I can grab some bags if you need to go.”

Wanda shakes her head with a laugh as she takes them from you, startling you when she doesn’t react to the excessive heat radiating from the dishes.

“This is perfect.”

She takes her time with eating, and your attention is drawn to her between customers, grateful that she’s too busy with her phone to notice your stares. On the other hand, Wanda’s mind is filled with thoughts of you. What you look like when you think she can’t see you glancing over, what you smelled like when you were close. The nerves, the kindness, the desire to learn her name despite her being just another customer to you. She knows that you noticed her missing rings, but she’s already prepared with a cover story. A two minute conversation has her dying to pick your brain more, learn your habits and become more familiar with your body, beyond a simple brush of your fingertips. She already wants you to herself, just the way you came, without her interference for now; that’ll come later.

A good meal with a side of human interaction, her absolute favorite.

-

Despite Wanda leaving an hour before your shift ended, she lingers in your thoughts on the bus ride and walk home. You find yourself recalling her kind smile, fidgeting fingers and the scent of her perfume when she passed you on her way out, and you’re so deep in your memories that you end up colliding with your apartment door.

“That’s not going to get you inside any faster, dear.”

Your cheeks burn as you face Ruth for the second time today, the first time being earlier when you sold her a bagel.

“I know, Ruthie,” you respond sheepishly as you pull your keys from your pocket. “Is everything okay? You’re usually in bed watching a cowboy show by now.”

“I’ve been waiting for you to come home so I could talk to you.” She checks to see if the hallway is empty before opening her door and waving you over. “Come on, quickly.”

You scurry into the apartment behind her, taking in the scene before you while she locks the door. Having visited her before, you know she keeps the television at a higher volume, but it seems louder than normal.

“I know I might seem like I’ve lost my marbles, but I wanted to warn you about that woman you saw today....The one with the bright hair.”

“You mean Wanda?” you question, eyes widening when she nods. “Warn me about what?”

“There’s something off about that Wanda, if that even is her real name.” She snatches her arm out of her robe and brings it closer for you to see. “I’ve had these chills since I brushed against her earlier. Something’s not right with her. How do you even know her name? I’ve never seen her before.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” you assure her as you help her slip her arm back in the sleeve. “I only know her name because we were having a friendly conversation and she used mine. I was just being polite to someone I’ll probably never even see again.”

“Just be careful,” she pleads as you head toward her door again, and you offer your best attempt at a relaxed smile.

“I’ll be fine, Ruthie. Get some rest, okay?”

You hear her lock the door behind you as you make your way back to your own apartment, rushing through the process of unlocking the door and securing it once you’re inside. As much as you don’t want to let Ruth get you worked up over a stranger, you can’t help thinking about the odd little things you noticed earlier. 

It isn’t unusual for someone to linger after buying food or drinks from your counter, whether they have homework or even just a phone to keep them busy. Wanda seemed to be waiting for someone the entire time, and you remember hoping that she wasn’t on a date, despite not wanting her to be stood up. But she simply slid her phone in her pocket and departed with a friendly wave as if nothing had happened.

You especially remember her waving at you with those ringless fingers, and wondering silently where the intricate jewelry had disappeared to. Obviously you just assumed that the rings were tucked away on her person and not dumped in the trash, but she doesn’t seem like the type of person to give up on her accessories in the middle of the day. Part of you--a part that you didn’t dare to address--wondered if she’d emptied her hands to send you a subtle sign. No, that can’t possibly be it.

Sleeping proves to be difficult with so many unanswered questions floating about, but you eventually give into the act. A few hours later, you peel open your eyes when you think you hear something in the room. The digital clock that sits on your bedside and serves as an alarm and occasional radio reads 3:34am, and you’re just about to close your eyes again when you hear another sound. You raise your head to turn toward your closet, and a scream is trapped in your throat as you catch sight of a figure in the shadows.

The next time you wake, the sun is out and your alarm is blaring on the nightstand beside you. Your gaze flickers over to the closet as you reach out to silence it, your heartbeat dropping slightly when you don’t see anything other than clothes. Deciding that you must’ve been dreaming, you shake away the fearful thoughts and head to the bathroom to start getting ready for another day of work.

The only thing you haven’t decided on yet is whether you want to see Wanda again.