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shadowbunnydragon · 2 years ago

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Found: Side-Story: Growlentine’s Day Special

Heyo, readers! So happy to have gotten this special side-story done in time for the intended holiday! Yay! This was a lot of fun to imagine, and I hope you all like it!

UPDATE!!! For those who enjoy my story, The Door and its sequel The Keyhole, I have BIG news to share! A friend, and an amazing artist, by the names sunnysanjo over on SoFurry and artbysanjo over on Tumblr, is making a fancomic of The Door & Keyhole! The early sketches they have been showing me look great, and if you'd like to get a look at the cover they made, you can find it here on SoFurry!

h t t p s : / / www . sofurry . com / view / 1953902

(Gunna need to remove the spaces!)

They have plenty of more awesome art to give a look, which I totally recommend!

And with that, I hope that you all enjoy the latest Found: Side-Story!

Dawn was sitting at her desk, typing away on her laptop. Nearby, Princess Callibrie was curled up and snoozing on her little bed. All of a sudden, the Prench Kowmodo Dragon's eyes popped open, and she leapt up from her bed, scurrying downstairs. Dawn giggled and hit save on her open document.

"Looks like Puppy Love and the lambs are home," Dawn said to herself, heading down the steps. She made it to the bottom of the stairs just as the door swung open. Princess Callibire was sitting at attention, waiting and watching. Lily came walking in, holding an armload of paw and hoof-made construction-paper hearts, store bought cards, and a few small bags of candy and a box of chocolates in the shape of a heart.

"Hi, Mommy," Lily said, jumping up and down in excitement.

"Hi there, sweetie," Dawn said, spying Alice coming in next, blushing, as she seemed to be holding even more cards and candies and even a white teddy bear with a pink bowtie. The young she-wolf looked away, embarrassed. Dawn caught sight of Alice's hidden smile and grinned. "It looks like you two had a very busy Growlentine's Day."

"Uh-huh!" Lily said, still jumping. Spotting some chocolate at the sides of her second youngest lamb's mouth, Dawn guessed that all that extra bouncy energy may partially be due to her getting into her candy. The ewe giggled.

"Uhm... it's okay," Alice said, trying to sound aloof and cool, but her wagging tail revealed her true feelings. In came Trevor, with a white paper bag and a large red heart on it in his arms, clearly stuffed with his Growlentine's Day haul.

"Hey, Mom," Travor said as he ran up to her, excitement in his eyes. "All those hoof-crafted ARG Growlentine's cards I made were a huge hit! Everyone in my class loved working out the puzzles!"

"That's wonderful, honey," Dawn said, kissing her little ram on the forehead. He let out a happy bleat just as Vernon entered, with the excited and babbling little Paige in a puppy bjorn, which looked extra tiny on his massive frame, strapped to his chest. He closed the door behind him, his tail wagging at the sight of his mate. Dawn noticed that he had a paw behind his back. Scratching the back of his neck with his free paw, Vernon pulled out a bouquet of roses, twelve total, six white and six red. Dawn took them, her heart fluttering.

"Oh, Puppy Love, you didn't need to get me anything," she said, holding the roses up to her nose and smelling them. Vernon's tail started quickly wagging.

"I wanted to, Lambchop. Happy Growlentine's Day, darlin'," he said, scooping his smaller mate into his arms, making her let out a surprised and happy squeak, the two sharing a deep kiss. The two break apart, gazing into each other's eyes, their moment of bliss interrupted by the sudden simultaneous buzzing of their phones. Settling his mate on his shoulder, Vern fished his phone out as Dawn did the same for hers. After some screen tapping, they both saw that they had gotten a video from Zach, followed by several messages.

Please, ignore that video! Just delete it! This message was followed by a couple more texts from Zach imploring no one to look at the video, and then Wade and Yuri chiming in.

Really? Still spyin' on yer pup? Yuri's message read.

Come ON Zach, how many times do you have to get in trouble with Vanna before y'all stop? Said Wade's.

I DID stop!!! This was just an accident!!! Also, my Kitten knows that I've been workin' through my... slight overprotectiveness! Zach insisted.

WE WILL TALK ABOUT THIS WHEN I GET HOME, GOOFBALL!!! Came Vanna's reply. This was summarily followed by a laughing wolf emoji from Yuri, and a rolling eyes wolf emoji from Wade, and Trent adding in a rolled up newspaper.

OMG!!! They're sooooooo CYOOOTE!!! Qali chimed in, including some heart emojis.

Dawn and Vernon looked at one another, and simultaneously tapped on the video. After a few seconds of buffering, it started to play.

Earlier that Day in the Northern Meadowlands...

"Thanks again for helping out, guys!" Lizzy said. The young female grizzly bear was wearing an apron and a headfur-net as she lightly dusted the heart-shaped sugar cookies, freshly coated in pink icing, before her with red and white sprinkles. She and the rest of the friend group of young mammals were all dressed similarly and working in the back of Lizzy's family's bakery. Prowldilock's Family Bakery was painted in bright red calligraphy on the big shop window out front. Mina and Travis were alternating between making more cookie dough and preparing the baking sheets.

"Hey, it's no problem, Lizzy," Travis said, the beer buck smiling at the bear.

"Yeah! This is a lot of fun!" Mina quipped, the goat girl looking proudly at the fresh batch of cookies she had cut out of the dough using the heart-shaped cookie cutter.

Marcus would swap out a finished batch in the ovens with the new trays of fresh cookies and, while waiting for the latest batch to finish baking, would help Aiko and Lizzy apply the icing and then sprinkles on the ones that had cooled enough. Finally, Ty was assisting Lizzy's mother, an even bigger and very motherly mama bear named Molly, with transferring the cookies to the prepared packages, sealing and stamping the boxes. Lizzy's father was overseeing things, his left arm in a sling and his right foot wrapped in a bandage while he had a crutch tucked under his right arm.

"Well, we really appreciate it, kids," Lizzy's dad, Dexter, said with a lopsided grin, and a slight wince as he tried to test the strength on his sprained ankle. After getting a massive order for some kind of Growlentine's Day singles' mixer for several large rabbit families at the community center, at the last minute no less, Lizzy and her parents had scrambled to keep up with their current orders as well as this new one. All in addition to having prepared some other sweets and treats for other mammals that had apparently waited until the eleventh hour to think of what to get for their mates.

During the scramble, while taking the trash out in a rush, Dexter had slipped on some black ice. A malfunction from the Tundratown environmental freezers had caused a surprise cold front to slam into the Southern Meadowlands, and trickle up a little north. While Molly had to take her mate to the hospital, Lizzy had worriedly kept her friends updated on what was going on. The other young mammals had all volunteered, one after the other, to come down and assist any way they could. Lizzy's parents had been shocked to return to find their back kitchen fully staffed by Lizzy and her friends.

"We're happy to help, Mr. Ursa," Marcus drawled.

"Plus, the free cookies don't hurt," Ty said with a snicker while Mina flashed him a look.

"Well, you kids deserve it," Molly said, ruffling the young raccoon's headfur. He blushed and pretended to sulk while she quickly washed her paws.

"I think we might be nearing the end of the order," Aiko said, looking at the stacks of boxes.

"I think so, and then I think we'll be able to take it from here," Lizzy said, hearing a jingle and moved out front to work the register.

"And while I may have sprained my ankle, I can still drive our delivery truck just fine," Dexter proudly said.

"Oh no, honey-bear," Molly swatted him lightly on his uninjured shoulder, "you are gunna sit by the register and let me handle the deliveries, while you ice that foot, which you should be doing right now. So scoot!" Dexter grumbled and limped away.

"If you'd like, Mrs. Ursa, I don't have any plans until four, so I might be able to help with at least dropping off these cookies?" Travis offered.

"That would make it go so much faster, thank you Travis, deer," Molly said, beaming at the smiling buck.

"Ooooh, I think someone's got plans to spend Growlentine's Afternoon with Caaaaaaleb!" Mina giggled, making Travis blush a little.

"Well... we may have agreed to see a movie together," he said, his tail making little flicks of excitement as he swapped out the trays in the ovens.

"Not like you aren't excited to go see Geoff when we're all done here," Ty shot to his sister, earning him a quick hoof to flick one of his ears, Mina then rushing off to wash her hooves.

"Do you have any plans for today, Ty?" Lizzy asked, walking back in, a grin on her muzzle. The raccoon boy just looked away.

"Well... Growlentine's day is really just a holiday that exists because the corporate overlords decided it... but maybe..."

"OOOOOH! Who with?!" Lizzy asked, quickly bounding over in excitement and picking the shocked raccoon boy up in her paw.

"Lizzy, if Ty isn't comfortable talking about it, then you shouldn't pressure him," Molly lightly scolded her daughter as she took Ty from her paw and shooed her to go wash again. She gave the blushing raccoon boy a hug before setting him down.

"Oh, sorry, Ty," Lizzy said, looking abashed.

"I-it's fine... I'm... just gunna spend it with a... friend, that's all," Ty said, composing himself while trying to look aloof, yet a small smile at the corners of his muzzle was visible to any who looked. There were several shared knowing smiles.

"Hmm... what about you, Marcus and Aiko? Any special Growlentine's Day plans?" Mina asked with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Marcus and Aiko, who had been giggling at their friends' antics, suddenly stopped, made eye contact, and quickly looked away, red tinting their cheeks and stammered for an answer.

"I... uh... I'm just gunna go walkin' in the woods with Bruno later," Marcus said.

"And I have to... uh... watch my little sister, Arika, later!" Aiko said. The red panda girl looked back up at Marcus, before looking down at the cookies she was working on again. There were more shared knowing smiles to be had. It wasn't much longer before the last of the cookies were baked, decorated, packaged, and loaded up into the delivery truck. It was just after noon with the kids, aside from Lizzy, could head on out and get to their various plans. It was then that Marcus and Aiko found themselves walking together up one of the worn paths towards the forest. Both were wearing coats, Marcus's being his much loved tiger striped-coat, and scarves. Marcus, who had left the house hoping that he and his friends could have found time to get in some more practice for their band, had brought his violin in its case with him. The human boy had been pleasantly surprised to find that Aiko had done the same with her smaller violin in its case.

"Uh... s-so... Aiko," Marcus said, rubbing the back of his neck like he'd seen his Uncle Vernon do on many occasions.

"Yes?"

"I was wonderin' if... maybe you'd like ta go ta our usual meet-up spot fer a little... duet?" Marcus blushed deeply, internally cringing and thinking he had just sounded so weird for suggesting such a thing.

"Oh," Aiko said, also blushing, but while hiding a smile and trying to smooth her headfur and not look disheveled. "That sounds like fun!"

"A-alright then," Marcus said, internally excited, but hoping that externally he was coming across as aloof and cool. Taking a left, the two pre-teens walked through the chilly forest, chatting amicably. Soon, they were in the clearing that Marcus had first met Aiko, and the rest of their friend group. He sighed, feeling a sense of happiness and calm wash over him.

"So... did you have a song in mind?" Aiko asked, walking over to the nearest tree stump to set her violin case down on and open it. Marcus set his down next to hers and started popping the latches.

"Uh... w-well, we do a lot of... experimentin'... with songs I mean! Ahem... that I thought we could try an... improvised one?" Marcus felt awkward suggesting it, having not thought ahead about what kind of duet they would play, and mentally chastising himself for being such a dork. The red panda girl thought about it, feeling excited at the prospect.

"Oooh! That could be a lot of fun!" She double-checked the strings on his instrument, and a surprised and happy Marcus quickly started doing the same. Soon enough, they were facing one another, unaware of the hidden spy camera disguised as a bird's nest, facing right at them. "Uh... how do we start?"

"I guess... I'll start with a tune that we try to maintain and... go from there?"

"Okay!"

Marcus cleared his throat, and began, He started with a light melody, it being something that made him think of a pair of snowflakes dancing on the breeze. Aiko followed along, the two quickly playing in harmonious sync. Then, without thinking, Marcus opened his mouth and began to sing.

"Twilight nears, and out come the stars," he sang, his eyes meeting Aiko's, and with a smile, she followed suit.

"This special time between the day and night is all ours." And like that, as they played, they alternated who would sing a verse while their violins continued the melody.

"In the growing dusk, two hearts will beat as one,"

"Together they will shine so bright that they won't need the sun."

"Just when it seems the dark will swallow you whole,"

"All it takes is just one spark to light up the soul!"

The pace of the melody picked up a bit, and just as in sync as their instruments were, the two sang harmoniously together.

"There's enchantment when you're near,

Everything becomes so clear.

When I'm together with you, it's like I can feel,

Magic has become real!"

Now the music coming from their violins was more lively and filled with excitement, as the two went back to trading verses, starting again with Marcus, with Aiko singing the alternate ones.

"The moon is out, and shining bright,"

"The time has come for our hearts to dance together in the moonlight."

"With you beside me, I feel I can fly,"

"You make all the bad times feel like just a lie."

"Together our hearts can sail and explore,"

"Together our hearts will spark and soar!"

Now their bows were dancing across the strings, Aiko giving a little spin for a flourish, the two pouring their hearts into the song. After a little more of playing the melody, together they harmonized one last time.

"There's enchantment when you're near,

Everything becomes so clear.

When I'm together with you, it's like I can feel,

Magic has become real!"

Slowly the music came to an end, Marcus having moved closer while Aiko had absentmindedly hopped onto a stump without missing a single note. The two pre-teens looked deeply into each others' eyes in the sudden quiet, the song they had just improved still playing in their minds. They smiled as they both leaned in, their lips brushing one another, almost as if in a trance. The moment that their lips brushed one anothers', the spell was broken, and they both quickly turned away, blushing so deeply as to turn both their faces crimson. Taking a minute to compose themselves, and back away from each other a little, Aiko cleared her throat.

"W-well... that was so much fun!" She meant it, and glossed over the not-at-all-kiss.

"Y-yeah... maybe we could... try that again... sometime?" Marcus offered, praying he didn't sound like a weirdo and make Aiko not want to be his friend anymore and--

"I'd like that," she said, hugging her big bushy ringed tail to her chest and partially hiding her face in it, trying to figure out if she'd read too much into the offer or... other things.

"... Me too!" Marcus composed himself and quickly put his violin away, with Aiko putting hers away. Picking his case back up, he shivered a little from a sudden breeze. "I-if you'd like... maybe I could... walk you home?"

"Sure," Aiko said, grateful for her fur, and smiling up at Marcus. As the two walked back the way they had come, the hidden camera in the nest vibrated a little. And back at Marcus' house, Zach got a notification on his phone while he was giving Rose a bath. Curious, the law wolf saw it was some kind of a video. Tapping it, he suddenly remembered the hidden camera he had snuck away and set up, that he had swiped from Ulric when he hadn't been looking, and forgotten about. This was before he had sworn to Vanna he would stop spying on Marcus and his friends.

"Oh no... oh by Oldwin's beard, no," Zach said, panicking and setting the phone down while he quickly rinsed off the giggling and babbling Rose, and drained the tub. As he picked her up and dried her with a towel, he started muttering to himself.

"Okay, okay, so far no one knows about the video... I just gotta erase it and then go and get the camera, and no one will ever know about any of this!" His tail wagging, he looked at where he had set his phone down, only to find that it wasn't there. There was a sudden DING that drew his attention down to little Rose, who was smiling up at him, playing with his phone. He gently took it from the little wolf/tiger hybrid and looked at the screen, his blood running cold. Somehow, in the few seconds of playing with his phone, Rose had sent the video out in a group text to all of his contacts.

"Oh... no... oh... I'm in trouble," he said simply as Rose toppled over to her side, squealing in delight at the funny face her daddy was making. As Zach was tapping the screen, trying to find some kind of mass delete function that didn't exist, that's when he started getting notifications from his brothers, his sisters-in-laws, Vanna's parents... Judy and Nick as well as their parents... he briefly wondered why they were included in his contacts... as well as Gazelle...

"Oh... Rose... I may have ta use you as some kind of cute little shield... can you do that for Daddy?" he asked the baby in a whimper, receiving only giggles and coos as she reached out with her little orange and black striped paws to touch his muzzle, while her long tail that ended in a fluffy tuft swish-wagged in excitement.

Back at Dawn and Vernon's House...

"Lamb sakes, Zach," Vernon said with a chuckle. On his phone, he saw more of the family chiming in, as well as Vanna's mother, father, and sister.

"Oh, goodness, he even sent it to Judy and Nick, oh! Mom and Cameron apparently got it too," Dawn said, unable to prevent a snicker.

"Huh, looks like Gus and Mel got a copy too."

"Joel and Megumi as well... wait, do you think this got sent to Marcus' phone?!" Dawn wondered, trying to see if his number was included.

"Oof, it doesn't look like it, Honey Lamb, but Joel and Megumi did... and isn't Megumi l'il Aiko's aunt?" Vernon asked.

"Ooooh, no one can tell those two that we all saw a video of their... cute little moment!"

"Agreed," Vernon said, quickly typing as much and adding it to the cascade of texts. After a few moments, others started readily agreeing, with Xavier pointing out that it was a special moment for the two and should remain as such. Just then, the doorbell rang, making Vernon and Dawn look at it in surprise. Walking over, Vernon opened it to reveal a trio of wolf boys, all looking around nine or ten-ish, if the older and much larger wolf had to hazard a guess. The boys' tails were all wagging as they looked up at him.

"Is Alice home?" the one in the middle piped up with a happy yip. Vernon noticed that all three were holding identical red gift boxes with pink hearts printed on them. He kept a cool and passive exterior, while internally, he felt the burgeoning of what would, in time as his girls grew and became teenagers, become his protective wolf dad instincts.

"Who should I say is askin'?" Vernon asked, the three pups starting to look a little unsure of themselves, before the one on the right spoke.

"Gary, Barry, and Larry Waggersons... uh... Mr. Hunter-Bellwether."

Vernon sighed. "Alright, wait here." He closed the door and called out for Alice.

"Remember to be nice, Puppy," Dawn said, rubbing in between her mate's splayed ears.

"I am, Lambchop, I am," he grumbled a little, before composing himself as his oldest pup ran up to him.

"Hey, princess, there's three pups outside lookin' like they wanted to give ya a gift." Vernon quickly noticed the pup's eyes roll.

"Oh geeze, is it Gary, Barry, and Larry?" Alice asked, sounding a bit annoyed. Vernon and Dawn nodded, watching in curiosity.

"They been hasslin' ya, sweetheart?" Vernon asked.

"No, they're just kinda dumb and I think are trying to compete over who can give me the best gift, since I'm the only she-wolf in our class," Alice said, matter-of-factly. Dawn clamped her hooves to her muzzle to keep from giggling at the situation, since Alice didn't appear to be particularly perturbed, and instead annoyed.

"Want me ta get rid of 'em?" Vernon offered, his voice tinged with a little hopefulness. But the pup just shook her head.

"No, I got this," she said, walking to the door. She flung it open, a single eyebrow raised, to the sight of the three brothers wrestling with each other in a pile right there in front of the door.

"She likes me best!"

"Nu-uh, butt-sniffer! She likes me best!"

"You're both wrong and both butt-sniffers! I'm the one she likes the most!"

Seeing Alice standing there, her paws on her hips, looking unamusedly at them, the trio froze mid-wrestle, suddenly scrambling to untangle themselves and present their gifts. Before any of them could say a word, Alice's face morphed into a terrifying Glare, a perfect imitation of her Grandmaw Audrey's.

"I told all three of you that I wasn't interested and to leave me alone! BUZZ OFF!!!" she snarled. Tails immediately tucking themselves between their legs, the three yipped and ran off, barrelling over each other as they did so. Vernon had to stop himself from chuckling, but couldn't stop the smile or his wagging tail. Alice smiled and shut the door.

"That's my girl," Vernon said, ruffling her headfur.

"Oh, sweetie, if they were giving you trouble in school, you can always tell us," Dawn said, sliding down her mate to pull her lamb into a hug. The black wolf pup blushed and her tail started to wag.

"L-like I said, they're just kinda dumb and annoying, that's all." Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Alice turned again to open it. "I thought I told you to buzz-- oh! H-hi, Jake." Now standing on the top step was a gray fox kit around Alice's age. He flinched a little from her angry tone, but relaxed when she did. He was holding in his paws a box wrapped in white wrapping paper with red hearts on it.

"Uh... h-hi, Alice," Jake said, looking up at Vernon and gulping, his big bushy tail tucking itself a little, but the kit continued. "I... uh... I wanted to give this to you in class... b-but, with L-Larry, Gary, and Barry all fighting each other... around your desk..."

"I-I know," Alice said, blushing again, paws behind her back as she kicked at some imaginary dirt. Dawn wanted to coo, while Vernon almost chuckled again. He spotted a pair of gray foxes standing out on the sidewalk, figuring them to be the kit's parents. He recognized them as the family that lived a few houses down.

"Would you like to come in and visit Alice fer a little while while us and yer folks chat fer a bit?" Vernon offered, making sure his voice was loud enough for Jake's parents to hear, deciding that the kit was alright. Alice blushed more as she looked up at her dad, but Jake smiled and looked back at his parents hopefully, seeing them approach.

"That sounds like a great idea to me," the male fox, who was wearing jeans and a pink t-shirt. His mate was wearing a white one with the words Foxy Mama written on it in red.

"O-okay..." Jake said.

"I'm Jason Uroc," Jake's father said, holding out a paw for Vernon to shake.

"And I'm Leslie," said Jason's mom. Dawn and Vern introduced themselves, while Alice and Jake continued to smile and blush at one another. Upstairs, Trevor was on his computer, quickly uploading a video to his ZooTube account, making it private so that those who figured out the puzzles on their Growlentine's Day cards from him could go to the link.

"This is gunna be so much fun!" Trevor bleated again, really hoping that Cassie, the cheetah girl in his class, would be the first to figure it all out. The two having been making and exchanging puzzles they had made for each other for a while now. Only recently, had the two started getting into analog horror, and had started mixing that in with their puzzles. Currently, Trevor had made a video using some editing tools to give it the old fashioned VHS video feel. The little black ram had thought up a story that he thought would be cool and fun.

"Hey, Trevor, whatcha doin'?" Lily asked, making her big brother bleat in surprise and jump. The young ram turned to see Lily standing there, now holding a giggling Paige.

He sighed and smiled at his baby sisters. "I'm just uploading this video as part of the Growlentine's puzzle I gave out to ZooTube," he said, showing tLily the muted video playing before him.

"Ooooh! What's it about?" Lily asked and held Paige away from the keyboard, the little baby sholf babbling and reaching out for it with her little paws.

"It's about this extra-dimensional place I'm calling... The Legrooms!" Trvor puffed out his chest proudly as he said it. Lily looked at the video, with repeating halls, fluorescent lighting, and mustard-yellow walls.

"Wow! Do ya think folks'll get inta it?" She asked, looking up at her big brother, eyes shining in amazement, little Paige imitating her big sister. Trevor then rubbed the back of his neck like Vernon did.

"Well, I hope so. But it probably won't get that much attention. Still, it's a fun project to work on!" It was then that Trevor noticed a multicolored bracelet made of beads on Lily's wrist.

"What's that?" he asked.

Lily smiled wide and held up her wrist, the beads spelling out BFF. "Paul made me a friendship bracelet! Which was a real surprise, 'specially since I made him one in secret! I made it to look just like the ones Mommy and Daddy wear, and I guess he got the same idea!" Trevor smiled, taking a second to finish uploading his video, before taking Paige from Lily, and starting playing with both of them.

And there you have it folks! I hope that you liked reading this as much as I did thinking it up and writing it! Also, Happy Growlentine's Day everyone!

To read Found from the beginning, you can find chapter 1 in these links!

SoFurry: https://www.sofurry.com/view/1388796 FanFiction.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13128859/1/Found

Archive of Our Own: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16721262/chapters/39218835 ScribbleHub: https://www.scribblehub.com/read/190364-found/chapter/190368/

#found #zootopia #cutefluff

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sybilius · 3 years ago

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SYB i think the Disk Hoard is basically a director's cut anyway but publicly calling you in. ⭐⭐⭐

I am literally always ready to ramble at my fic at the drop of a hat. Three stars??? three <3 ?? Okay I'll give you snippets from the drafts of jerk the curtain back that didn't make the final cut

This was the working title of the outline for a long time. I banged out the basic shape of the fic in mid October. I was bouncing around other projects and then we had Jon Moxley going off to rehab which put me off of writing it for a little bit (seemed a heavy time to be thinking about silly sexy comedy even if it is nonsense fiction).

I came up with AJ Lee as narrator I think around the same time I decided that takes teeth to run a mouth like yours would be Punk POV. I remember rolling into Dan's DMs and then realizing that writing that story (which was then just the "makeup going to war fic") as Punk POV would be very feasible and interesting. I think at the time I had the shape of it as "Allin talks about his sister Paige" and "Makeup drama", and seeing the MJF/Darby promos I thought "I can make this my full Gear fic". Punk feuding with Eddie was like, gasoline poured on the fire of my inspiration though, since that feud got so incredibly personal. So it was a great place to develop my character voice for him.

The original AJ Lee characterization I envisioned was a lot more flinty bisexual lady ready to Peg You at any given time. A few things changed that. First, I let the men's characterization be informed by a study of their kayfabe, so I figured I should do her Art justice and engage with some WWE matches and promos before deciding what to do with her*. Then second, opening up with being in a character's POV gives you a certain leeway of vulnerabilty with them. I don't think anyone is 100% certain in their own head-- I might just think that because I consider myself pretty self-confident but I've also got my own human thoughts in there. So by nature of deciding to write the story from her POV, I ended up softening her from the very VERY rough sketch characterization I imagined for her :)

*Note: this is entirely my choice for having fun, I don't think any fic writer needs to adhere to canon or do whatever-- the world is your oyster, have fun.

#about my fic #kayfabe rpf #fic commentary asks #asks #thank you!#darpunk #punklee

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phoebehalliwell · 4 years ago

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Asking the important question about Bianca x Chris In the change!future : who fall in love first ? And who say i love you first ?

Because we got Chris, who believe in soulmates and destiny but also who probably think no one will love him like that because, insecurity. And Bianca, who simple does not believe in love. A great match, full angst / unrequited love potentiel

i’m gonna like. link my entire chris/bianca anthology just because i love talking about them

chris + love a, b, & c

bianca + general phoenix lore a, b, c, & d

chris & bianca: a, b, & c

it’s under a cut 🥰💞💕

i mean like short answer is i think they both say i love you about a million different times a million different ways before either of them kinda drops those words like. like i think for chris i love you is a really common phrase for him like growing up it's just like all around his household he has about constant exposure to three health marriages everyone in his family like they all like each other for the most part. well like um. they all love each other, that's guaranteed. the like can sometimes fluctuate. so it’s not like he’s uncomfortable with the phrase it’s just like. it’s big. real big. and you know i don’t know but you grow up around wyatt and you grow up around cupids and all these really grandiose ideas of love and love is all around us it’s the air we breathe it’s the crucial tether of human existence love is epic love is iconic love can stop the rotation of the earth like that shit. like i mean he looks at his parents (and at the versions of paige/henry and phoebe/coop that live in my head) and like. love was a fight. it was this epic pull that caused them to go to the ends of the earth for each other you know hell they were ready to risk death to get married you know that must be like this epic heartstring tugging feeling in your just red string of fate yanked so hard it almost hurts and like. that’s just not what chris has. it doesn’t feel at all like that. it’s just comfort. nothing more, nothing less, really. he just feels 100% wholly comfortable and safe around bianca it’s not like. it’s like he thinks in order to be In Love in love it has to hurt a bit you know nothing comes for free and being with bianca just isn’t. it doesn’t hurt. just spending lazy slow time with her it doesn’t feel much like anything it’s just nice. it doesn’t like. move stars rip a hole in the earths crust. he doesn’t feel this burning ache. it’s just. being with her. it feels safe it feels normal it’s just like it’s normal!! this is what normal feels like not the constant nagging voices in his head own insecurities playing on a loop not you know the constant ever-present knowledge of the next demon battle there’s always gonna be another one not who is he as the son of a charmed one what will he do what will he be. like none of that’s there with bianca. it’s just normal.

and of course all the cousins draw straws on who gets the honor of whacking chris on the head with a hollow tube saying that is love dingus because like. again he’s probably aired out his thoughts to like wyatt or somebody maybe melinda if she pried maybe henry if he pried where like. because obviously they’d be interrogating on hey what the fuck’s going on over there because like. soulmatism all that everyone’s watching like you get it right you’re in love and chris gives his whole stance on like blah blah blah it’s gotta hurt i don’t feel that i just like bianca. and whoever they’re talking to. maybe kat? if just thinking about all chris and bianca have been through together all the times they like nearly died in each other’s arms like are we not counting that?? is that not enough for epic love right there? this is a really long yarn to basically say i think chris would be in love with bianca for a really long time and just genuinely never have the word for it you know just like stupid but are we not all fools in love?

i think bianca would say it first because she definitely picks apart their relationship in her head a lot more that him because like that’s just the person she is because like phoenix are not supposed to fall in love. you’re loyal to your family. you respect your family. and by extension, they are who you love. because you have no one else to love. no one else knows the true you, and no one else would be capable of knowing and loving the true you like your family. everyone else would rather see you dead. so i think she picks apart the concept of love and what it means to her a hell of a lot more than chris ever does. because i think from the start. you know it’s kind of an enemies to lovers situation.

okay so here’s my current sketch of what i’m doing with them in the light timeline because like. let’s face it. killing a charmed one is impractical. it’s an immense risk, one i think the phoenix would never take. also like. if bianca was sent to kill chris i really think she could do it respectfully chris is powerful he’s talented he’s smart i still think bianca could kill him. and then, of course, if you kill a charmed one, then you have the rest of the family after you and at this point it’s a really big family. and yes you could plant evidence throw them off the scent but again you’re dealing with like. 10 whole ass experienced trained powerful witches? how long does that last? and for what. what price could that ever possibly be worth? i get wanting to kill a halliwell on your own your own personal business risk v reward, but the phoenix are a neutral power they do not care. the only skin they have in the game would be the price on chris’s head an i literally can not think of a single thing that would be worth the wrath of the warren line, a family that presently does not give a shit about you, you know?

okay i’ve aired out that opinion. so that being said. what do? so you remember the evil cult from prince charmed and they thought wyatt was their leader and they wanna flip his morality but they failed? yeah and they didn’t all die right. like some of them escaped. the Point is: concept is they’re going for round two, but they don’t wanna make it obvious because if they flip the morality then everyone kinda knows who did it and how because it’s happened before. so hear me out they are casting or they are contracting the phoenix to cast that basically wipes any memory of them ever existing off the face of the earth. phoenix, of course, will be immune, as will their library collection on them because fuck you that’s why and then the members of the cult will be immune tho gotta say. would be hilarious if they forgot that part and then everyone just went home in their funny lil robes like huh wonder where that came from. the issue is chris. cuz he was there. but he’s not him. you know? i don’t think the cult fully knows what’s going on right but like. that’s definitely chris who definitely like single-handedly thwarted their plans. except he wasn’t even alive yet. so they need chris’s memories resurfaced so they can wipe them, otherwise they run the risk of the memories resurfacing at a Very inconvenient time. so that’s bianca’s job. the how they do not know or care about they just need him to have memories of season 6 so the can promptly wipe them. no murder necessary.

but still has weird shit magical invasion of privacy happening and probably a witch fight. blah blah blah i have ideas that i shan’t expand on right now bianca doesn’t lose but chris doesn’t win. no i will expand on actually. i think lynn bianca’s mother knows kinda what’s going on here with the cult’s scheme to create evil!wyatt and the phoenix have done their research and then know that they can survive perfectly fine in a evil wyatt regime and the cult has promised them immunity + powers in their new world order or whatever. so on paper, fine. but lynn’s way overprotective overbearing mother knows best types you know like she will do about anything for her daughter so when future bianca came she definitely used a scrying bowl kinda like what we see the stillman sisters use filled with kid bianca’s blood because that’s really the only way she has to see where bianca’s going what she’s doing and she gets to see evil wyatt kill bianca. so lynn’s actually very much not game for this actually. and i think she if not explicitly tells bianca what’s up at the very least plants seeds implying that she should not go through with this plan.

so when chris proposes instead her teaming up with him to take down the cult, in exchange offering the protection of the charmed ones (which is really the best thing he’s got to offer besides like. a punch card for a free sandwich at ike’s that only needs two more punches.) and bianca takes the bet. and they already have one fist fight under their belt between the two of them that ended in a terse treaty and not they gotta go complete a mission together. and i think that’s kind of like the jumping off point for their relationship is assorted missions together but before things can get Too Chummy chris has an innocent or something to protect and who is trying to kill them well um bianca. zoinks.

basically i think every time bianca aligns herself with chris, in doing so, she aligns herself against the orders of the phoenix. and every time she has to ask herself: is it worth it? and usually like in the case of Murder, the answer is yes. honestly, she’d rather not take an innocent’s life for some rich asshole. but in the case of the initial cult, that was a selfish move. she doesn’t want to die. is that so wrong? and there’s kind of this repeated team chris or team phoenix motif going on where the actual answer does not lie with either of them again the phoenix are on contract that’s not their motive you know they don’t personally care about what happens and then. she’s never picking chris per se it’s not like she’s choosing him she’s choosing and innocent or she’s choosing herself but that just always happens to be the side where chris is.

and also like. they work well together. they just do. so once bianca kinda like. needs to do something dangerous and her first thought is call chris then she kinda has to take a step back and go hmmm. because chris knows who she is right he knows she’s a murder cold blooded killer phoenix (chris, actually, has not seen her murder any innocents in cold blood in fact he has only seen her opt Not to do that but like. bianca has her own vision of herself) and she’s just not. friends with anyone who knows. again not that she would consider her n chris friends but he is like literally the only one who Knows her outside of the phoenix. and that’s weird. Even Further Step Back when she has to do something dangerous and at this point that’s all she does with chris but she Doesn’t want to call him because hey that’s dangerous and i don’t want him to die. which she justifies under the same Death of a Halliwell rule in that the charmed ones might go after her but even she kinda knows that’s bullshit but like. does she really wanna face the music on this one?

so basically while chris’s relationship is very in the moment he’s goin with the flow here he doesn’t know what’s going on where this is going he only has what he feels Right Now. bianca on the other hand is like how does this tie into the past what does this spell out for the future and it keeps circling back to the question is he worth it and bianca kinda hates but the answer every time is yes. she would rather spend time with him be with him fight alongside him than any other option. but to her, that’s still a long way out from love because like. it’s alliance it’s strategic they work well together they care for each other which is more than she can say about like most other people she’d bring to a fight and at a certain point yeah they hang out because they enjoy each other’s company but like. they like spending time together. is that a crime? you can enjoy spending time with a person. but then it’s like more n more time and now yeah look at it you’re in a relationship this is a relationship but like. love?? idk. i mean it’s not like...... you know like in... hmm.... so like... okay so if i Were in love....... okay. okay hm. okay. alright. okay might actually be in love.

i also think bianca would be the one to have the notion of like the finite resource of “i love yous” and even after she’s accepted that okay she can say that she doesn’t wanna waste it she does want to save it for a moment when it means something a dramatic reveal i mean they are in a lot of life or death situations surely she can just like. drop it then. but then like idk she accidently just ends up saying it at like the grocery store. chris on the other hand says i love you all the time like once the floodgates open They Are Open and it’s like. you leave the house okay bye i love you i’m going to bed goodnight i love you i made you dinner i love you like. constant.

#i mean like these really aren't set in stone in my mind #in fact if y'all have opinions on the matter i'd love 2 hear em #but like. i think bianca really breaks down everything because not paying attention gets u killed #whereas chris i really don't think does any emotional introspection because he doesn't want to know what's going on in there #charmed #chris x bianca #chris halliwell #bianca bishop #next gen #charmed next generation

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solesurvivorpaigeargot · 4 years ago

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Artist Commentary: Yankee Doodle Burned It Down, Pages 1-3

Popping a read-more on this cause MAN I had a lot to say about these fuckers.

HOLY HELLO friends and followers, this project took from July 19th to September 4th of 2020, and with that much time spent I, of course, wanted to do an artist’s comments on it where I scream about everything that went into these pages... buuuut it was also more picture than Tumblr would let me put into a single post. Granted, I could have gotten clever in a number of ways, but I decided my specific flavor of clever would be with gifs! So now we have transforming pictures that go from rough sketch, to refined, to linework, to flat colors, to finals.

As mentioned on previous occasions, this entire comic happened because of some goofing around on discord.

And after making a dumb joke about Hancock whistling Yankee Doodle Dandy, my brain decided to go Picard on my ass and said make it so.

Rough sketches came easily enough; first two in a single night, the third a couple days after. It was at that point that I realized if I really wanted to do this right [and I’m a perfectionist, of course I want to do it right] I was gonna need like... all the screenshots of the various guns. Not just some of the screen shots. All of the screenshots. Thankfully my buddy @lunafermosa runs Fo4 on their PC and was able to grab upwards of 25 screencaps of every gun in both Paige and Hancock’s regular loadout for me, at various angles, because she’s amazing.

Refined sketches is where things started getting... fun. Namely that I spent multiple days on the bottom left panel of page 2, figuring out the guts of that flamer. That one panel saw many hours of work, as did the bottom right panel with the front view. And then? Refining the third page, oh hey, I can just sketch this from memory now! Funny how that works.

Linework was easily the biggest hump in this project. It’s where all the mistakes from the refined sketches come to light, it’s where everything has to be fixed into it’s final positions... it’s also where my brain suddenly decided to go MAXIMUM DETAIL on John’s face, as well as the fence around the raider compound in the third page... despite the fact that all the wood structures in the third page are on fire and you can barely see all the detail work I did [sob].

Flat colors presented a number of challenges, specifically in getting everything structured for optimal shading. Generally one wants to structure their layers so that objects in the foreground can save you work on the background, and so that background objects can be shaded broadly without to much fussing about fine detailing in the foreground. Deciding which objects ended up in which folder was a... thing. Paige in her little hiding spot at the top of page 2 is actually shaded with the background... and I still wonder how many people actually noticed her on that page XD Or the fact that the barrel of her rifle is in the bottom right corner of page 1 XD

Getting into final effects, shading was done in steps for each page. First thing was deciding my bright and shadow tones, which in general was a near white yellow and an almost fully saturated navy blue, respectively. This changes when we get into the reveal of the flamer, and the scenes that are on fire, where we adopt an orange tone for bright and a dark-ass red for shadow, as well as a bright white-yellow for where things are really shiny. This introduces some contrast in the last page, reinforcing Paige’s position as being at a remove despite still being very much part of the action, taking out distant raiders that aren’t engaging with John directly on the ground [you can actually see the guy in her crosshairs on the third page getting popped in the BG of the next panel, beyond the smoke].

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVED making this comic, and it was a great little test run for what’s going to be my production pipeline as I continue making stuff like this. I’d like to regularly produce comics from Paige’s story, as well as memories that are mentioned in the fic but don’t factor into the plot enough to warrant full flashbacks. And everyone’s response has been SO FUCKING FANTASTIC I can’t even.

Thanks everyone, see you on the next one.

It’s uh... there might be feels. XD

-The Artist

#artist notes #my art #Yankee Doodle Burned It Down

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cathygeha · 4 years ago

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REVIEW

Watch Her Sleep by L.T. Vargus & Tim McBain

Detective Charlotte Winters #3

Fast-paced and intense from beginning to end – this book captured my interest immediately and did not kept me focused till the bitter end. Great addition to the series!

What I liked:

* Charlie: complicated, conflicted, intelligent, focused, has conversations with her deceased twin, strong, lethal when necessary.

* Easy to read.

* Pacing

* That it seemed possible.

* The suspense building.

* Wondering about Will Crawford and what his role will be in the series

* That it was case-oriented with only a snippet about romance.

* References to people in previous stories and wanting to see more of them: Zoe, Paige, Frank, Will

* That the baddie was eventually dealt with.

What I didn’t like

* The baddie – someone it was easy to dislike and wish dealt with.

* Knowing that such things do happen in real life.

* A comment – not a dislike – this is a series better read in order as some characters that are major players in Charlie’s life just appear in this book without much reference to their pasts and how they are important to her.

Did I enjoy this book? Yes

Would I read more in this series? I believe I would.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC - This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars

BLURB

Nestled in the autumn leaves, her hair tangled in thick brambles, the girl looks like she could be sleeping amongst the wild roses. But the trail of red across her delicate throat means this is a slumber she will never wake from…

When a search party trawling Salem Island find a girl’s body curled on the damp earth, the hunt for missing waitress Emma Jacobis grinds to a devastating halt. The day before, Emma had come to Detective Charlie Winters convinced someone was watching her. In her trembling hand she held a sketch of herself sleeping peacefully with the stuffed rabbit she’d had since she was a child. On the back, scrawled in black ink: You will be mine… A box containing handwritten letters found under Emma’s bed is Charlie’s first lead. But the handwriting isn’t a match to the note left for Emma. With the help of her new assistant, a troubled girl eager to learn the ropes, Charlie’s only hope is to canvas the bar where Emma worked. There, she finds a woman with fear in her eyes and a terrifying story to tell about an encounter with a dangerous stranger. Is someone in this small town targeting vulnerable girls as prey? Certain she’s found a twisted killer’s hunting ground, and with time running out before he strikes again, Charlie has no choice but to use her new assistant as bait to lure him out into the open. But when a scream pierces through the night, will Charlie survive the consequences? She has to, or there’s no knowing how many more innocent girls will die … An absolutely nail-biting and completely jaw-dropping crime thriller. Fans of Kendra Elliot, Robert Dugoni and Lisa Regan will be left reeling after reading in one sitting!

L.T. Vargus

Tim McBain

AUTHOR BIO

L.T. Vargus and Tim McBain are the authors of the Violet Darger series and The Scattered and the Dead series among others, which have collectively tallied over a million downloads. Their book, Dead End Girl, peaked at #3 in the US Kindle charts and has remained in the top 10 in multiple sub-categories since it was published in 2017.

https://ltvargus.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ltvargusbooks/

https://twitter.com/ltvargus

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://bit.ly/3rxDyji

Apple: https://apple.co/2MuautC

Kobo: https://bit.ly/3plHm62

Google: https://bit.ly/3c8i2Nj

#L.T. Vargus #Tim McBain #Detective Charlotte Winters 3 #NetGalley #Bookouture #Murder #Serial Killer #Small Town Fiction #Crime #Who Done It #PI #suspen #Thriller

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rllymilerlly · 4 years ago

Note

Hey! Just found your Paige and wanted to say that your art is really great! I love all your Taang post! I wanted to ask if you had some tips for someone would want to get better at drawing sketches like yours or just in general?

Thank you so much! I’m glad you like my stuff!!

As for tips strap in because this going to be a long one because I ramble a lot:

Practice. Practice. Practice. I know that’s what everyone says but it’s true. You will not magically get better overnight. You have to put in the work to get there and that means making mistakes and making some not great pieces. The amount of artwork that I have that is pooey is astronomical BUT it’s all still very important to the process and to me growing as an artist. You gotta get out of your comfort zone too. I avoided backgrounds for the longest time and I still do sometimes, but now I’m pushing myself to do more. They aren’t great, but I’m learning and experimenting and that’s what’s really important.

Also LOOKING AT REFERENCES. That is a complete game changer. It helps so much to look at how that pose you want looks. I use references for almost everything. Poses, backgrounds, colors, etc. My IPad is filled with images that I look at to help create the vision I want. I also look at other artists I like a lot as inspiration and try to mimic what I like about their stuff (NOT stealing it, but as practice and expiermentation. I’ll try to draw something that mimics how I think they would approach drawing it. It gets me to try something new and pick up techniques I probably wouldn’t think of. Again do not steal people’s artwork or anything like that. That no bueno. But referencing styles you like and trying it out in your own way that’s the way to go 😎). But seriously look at references it helps so much. I’ve even taken a lot of my own pictures before as references when I couldn’t find a pose or angle I wanted. It’s that big of a game changer.

I also do warm ups. I’ll sketch squiggles and circles just to loosen up my hand and wrist. This one is more of a personal preference. Sometimes I feel my wrist getting tight. So drawing circles and swirls helps to loosen it up and preps me for drawing again. Also speaking of which (and I have bad trouble with this) it’s okay to take breaks! Depending on how long you’re working on a piece, you will hit a wall eventually, everyone does. And it’s better to take a step back and give yourself time to recharge. Drawing is work, it’s super fun, but it can also be super exhausting and strenuous. So to keep it fun and fresh, take a break.

I’m not quite sure what you mean by ‘Sketches like mine’ because I literally got 30 types of sketches. But I’m going to assume you mean more of the simple ones I have that aren’t colored that I use to answer asks sometimes. So here’s how I do those:

I look at posing references (not a lot for those sketches bc I keep it simple usually with those). Then very quickly and loosely scribble the idea of what I want. I barely have any defining characteristics with it. I just want the idea of the pose I want to go for or emotion conveyed. I try to spend no more than a minute or 2 on this. I then start a new layer and clean it up. I’ll add the characters features and clothing and you can tell who’s supposed to be now. After that I’ll have another layer and clean it up again, you can hopefully clearly see what’s happening now. Sometimes I’ll even have another one after that. It depends on how clean I want the sketch to look like when I’m done. This is more of a personal preference. I’m just a layer person when I draw because I can be quicker with the look and I can build it up easily. I also flip the canvas as I draw because it helps point out my mistakes and what’s not that great proportionally. That’s also a game changer, that I honestly need to do more.

But have fun with drawing and get expiermental. Push yourself outta your comfort zone and see where it goes. I hope this made sense and I hope it helps you on your artist journey. If you or anyone else has questions about art and/ or how I personally do my stuff I’ll try my best to answer it. 💖

#i apologize i talk a lot #i hope this made sense #if u want more specifics on my stuff i can share #but i went more general #i dont mind sharing stuff and the brushes and programs i use #if thats also what you want #im an open book #brit rambles #my asks #art tips

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kestrel-of-herran · 6 years ago

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Lady Midnight Deleted Scene

via Cassandra Clare’s email newsletter

Emma discovered the sea caves when she was eleven years old. She’d been at the beach with her parents when she found them — great fingers of gray rock reaching into the ocean, and boring through them, like tunnels in the stone, were the caves. They were open to the ocean on both ends, and they smelled delightful, like sea water and wet rock and dark, secret things. She was thirteen years old when she and Julian declared the sea caves their official meeting place. If anything ever happened at or to the Institute — and they both had nightmares about it, ever since the attack during the Dark War — they would meet at the caves. She was fourteen years old when she first showed the sea caves to Cameron Ashdown. The Ashdowns had come to Los Angeles after the Dark War, easily situating themselves among the small Conclave of Shadowhunters who lived in the city. Although all Conclaves were small now, since the deaths in the war. The Clave was doing everything it could to track down every wayward mundane who might have a drop of Nephilim blood, even if their family had left the Shadowhunters generations ago. Still, it would be decades before they were the strength they once had been. Cameron, his parents, and his younger sister, Paige, moved into a house in Santa Monica and, as soon as they could, arranged to visit the Institute to decide if Paige and Cameron were going to have lessons with the Blackthorns or hire their own tutor. Diana was there to greet them and show them the training rooms, the library, and the classroom. Emma was in the training room, practicing fencing with Livvy. She was taller and stronger than Livvy, but Livvy was lightning-fast on her feet, which gave her the advantage with a saber. Ty and Julian were watching: Ty was cheering for Livvy, and Jules for Emma, as if it were a real match. The door opened, and Cameron and his sister came in with Diana. Emma stopped in her tracks, which allowed Livvy to score with the side of her blade across Emma’s shoulder. “Emma!” she complained. “You’re not paying attention.” But Emma was already pushing her mask back, letting her hair spill down. Cameron Ashdown might have grown up in Idris, but he looked like the perfect California boy, with fiery red hair, tanned skin, broad shoulders, and hazel eyes. His nose looked as if it had been broken before, but it lent his face a charming asymmetry. His sister Paige was a small copy of him, with short red hair and a pointed chin. She regarded Emma with dislike, perhaps because Emma was staring at her brother. Emma had been thinking lately, rather scientifically, about the fact that she was fourteen years old and hadn’t kissed anyone yet. Nor, she thought, growing up in the Blackthorn house, was it likely. They rarely saw other children their age; the Conclave simply wasn’t that big, and now that the Academy in Idris had re-opened, most younger Shadowhunters were being trained there. She thought of Julian, the way that when he smiled at her, he seemed to put his whole self into the smile. The way it lit up the room and made her heart catch. Cameron Ashdown was looking at her curiously as Diana made the introductions; Livvy was tugging off her helmet. Lowering her blade, Emma smiled at Cameron, putting all of herself into it. When he smiled back, he looked dazzled. Later, after the Ashdowns had gone, Ty said, “I didn’t like them.” Julian ruffled his hair. Instead of saying what Emma had expected — something about how Ty had to give them a chance — he said, “I didn’t like them either.” “Why not?” she asked, curious. He shrugged. “I just didn’t.” “Well, too bad,” said Diana. “You kids need to spend time with some people who aren’t Blackthorns.” She eyed Emma. “Or Carstairs.” The Ashdowns came back, the next weekend, and the next weekend after that. It was the summer, and the group spent their time at the beach, getting sunburned, swimming in the water — all except Emma — and building sandcastles with the younger children. Ty built meticulous sandcastles, carefully sculpted, while Livvy’s were shapeless and towering, collapsing under their own weight as they climbed toward the sky. They buried Tavvy in sand, and Drusilla sat cross-legged and lost in a book — Paige was nearly the same age as her, but the girls ignored each other. Later, Emma thought that should have been a warning to her. Later she blamed herself for everything. She was fourteen when she brought Cameron to see the caves. He had been teasing her about never going into the water; she laughed, but didn’t tell him why. Instead she drew him away from the group and brought him into her favorite of the caves: not the biggest, but the longest and most winding. It was possible to find a bend in the tunnel where the ocean couldn’t be seen from either side. She drew Cameron in after her and faced him, her heart pounding. She studied the hazel color of his eyes in the shadows, their mixture of blue and brown and green. She held out her hands, not knowing how to be anything but direct. “Do you want to kiss me?” she said. He swallowed hard and nodded. He was shaking as he pulled her toward him and kissed her gently, her head tipping back, her hands finding purchase on his shoulders. She stroked his arms, lightly, timidly; his mouth was warm and soft, and he tasted like strawberry ice cream. Kissing was everything she’d hoped it would be. It was like a good kind of drowning, filling her ears and eyes with forgetfulness, blocking out the crashing sound of the waves against the shore. Cameron’s touch became more urgent, sliding up from her waist, and she leaned harder against him, and that was when she heard someone scream.

It sounded like a scream of anger rather than pain or fear, but Emma had heard screams at a distance before and she tore away from Cameron without a thought and burst into a run. He followed her. When they reached the beach where they’d left the others, they both stared: Ty was sitting on the sand, and Julian was holding Paige by the collar of her t-shirt, his face white with rage. Later, Emma found out what had happened. Livvy and Dru had gone to collect seashells; Julian was sketching up by the dunes, and Ty had been making a sandcastle with Paige half-heartedly helping him. He’d picked up a piece of sea glass and become fascinated with it. Ty became fascinated with things sometimes: the way an ink blot spread across a page, or the way dye feathered into water. He would sit and look at them, lost in contemplation. If he was especially distracted, it would take a gentle hand on his shoulder, or his name spoken softly, to rouse him. But Paige had done neither of those things. When she’d asked him what he was doing and he hadn’t reacted, she’d thrown a handful of sand into his face. Ty had come back to himself choking and blinded and gasping. He’d started rocking, his hands fluttering, his butterflies frantic. “Freak,” Paige had snapped. “Stop doing that, you freak.” And then Julian had been there, hauling Paige bodily to her feet. As Emma ran up, Cameron beside her, they heard him hiss. “If you ever,” he said, “ever, call my brother names again, I’ll kill you. I don’t care if you’re a girl. I’ll kill you.” “Stop it! Stop!” Cameron darted ahead of Emma and yanked his sister away from Julian; she promptly started crying. Julian looked at him in a daze. In the distance, Emma could see Livvy and Dru running toward them across the sand. “Get her away,” he said. “Both of you get away, and don’t come back.” Cameron turned to Emma, his face open, puzzled. “We could talk about this,” he said. “We — we should talk about this.” Emma looked from him, to Julian, who was crouching down by Ty now, saying his name, softly, his voice full of love and panic. And she turned to Cameron, who was holding his red-faced sister and looking at her with a look that said that he expected her to take his side. That their kiss in the caves had been a signal that her allegiance had changed. That she would be loyal to him now, and not Julian. “Go away,” she said. “Like Julian said. And don’t ever bring her back.” A few weeks later, she and Julian left for Idris, for their parabatai ceremony. When they came back, Paige had been sent to the Academy. A month after that, Emma began dating Cameron for the first time.

#blackstairs #lady midnight #lord of shadows #queen of air and darkness #qoaad #los #cassandra clare #julian blackthorn #emma carstairs #ty blackthorn #livvy blackthorn #cameron ashdown #the blackthorns

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letterboxd · 5 years ago

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Demented Suburbia.

Greener Grass writer-director-stars Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe share their favorite films while pontificating on extreme politeness, John Waters and The Swimmer.

New indie comedy Greener Grass is not the Netflix marijuana documentary Grass is Greener, but you could be forgiven for making that mistake after the directors of the former gave out free marijuana at a recent outdoor screening, according to their friend Jim Cummings (who makes a cameo in the film, and lurks on Letterboxd).

It’s been a case of watch-and-learn for other up-and-coming filmmakers, as Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe have stormed the 2019 festival scene with their utterly weird and wonderfully bonkers debut feature. Nobody is doing red carpet lewks like them, nobody else is handing out free weed (that we know of), and nobody else has made a film quite like theirs. Attracting comparisons to the films of David Lynch, Anna Biller and Tim Burton, but utterly at home in its own creepily perfect world, Greener Grass is the WTF-is-up-with-white-people film America deserves right now.

And it’s the culmination of years of creative growth for DeBoer and Luebbe, friends and Upright Citizens Brigade veterans, whose suburban moms Jill and Lisa first appeared in the Paul Briganti-directed short of the same name (for which they won the 2016 SXSW Special Jury Award for Recognition for Writing). DeBoer and Luebbe stepped into the directing chairs for The Arrival, another short exploring demented suburbia, while developing Greener Grass for television.

When a series failed to eventuate, they spun Jill and Lisa’s world into the feature film, landing on the unforgettable location of Peachtree City, Alabama, a real town built for the golf-cart lifestyle. Greener Grass hit the spot for many Letterboxd members at its Sundance premiere: “Just what I needed after seeing so many dark films!” was Alicia Malone’s reaction. “Unlike anything I've ever seen but … tackles ideas I have never been more familiar with,” wrote Karsten.

The story kicks off when Lisa compliments Jill on her newest baby and Jill, following suburban rules of politeness, hands the baby over to Lisa to raise. This is far from the strangest thing that will happen to a child in Greener Grass.

We needed to know where this wild duo get their filmmaking inspiration from. When we spoke with DeBoer and Luebbe they were in “high heaven”, having just held the LA premiere of Greener Grass.

Lisa, Dennis, their son Bob, their adopted daughter Madison (now Paige), and their newborn soccer ball, in a family portrait from ‘Greener Grass’.

What were some of the real-life ‘greener grass’ moments that inspired your film? Dawn Luebbe: There’s one story which Jocelyn tells about her aunt who was at a dinner party one night. She was in the kitchen talking to the host and complimented them on her apron—“that’s a cute apron!”—and the host took it off and said it “you must have it, take my apron.” At once she was like, “oh no, I just like it, I don’t need it,” and the host insisted and wouldn’t drop it. So that night Jocelyn’s aunt left with that apron. Of course, that’s just a very small example of politeness taken to the extreme. We took that general vibe and added to it and really blew it out.

Jocelyn DeBoer: I feel like we experience this at restaurants too. Dawn and I are from the Midwest, so we have a problem where no-one ever really wants to eat the last bite of something that’s shared. I do remember one experience where I was on a double-date with some acquaintances I didn’t know so well and we were eating sushi. Someone had those crispy rice things that have some spicy tuna on top and when the waiter brought it out, one of them fell to the floor. Our friend just picked it up and said “10 second rule!”. The waiter felt bad and offered to bring new ones and we were saying, “Yes, get the new sushi. Don’t eat that one off the floor!” But the person didn’t want to make the waiter feel bad and ate it right in front of them. I thought, ‘this is a Greener Grass moment for sure!’.

You’ve said elsewhere that you tried to avoid referencing other films in the development of yours, but can you tell us some films that you love, that peddle in the same story area of ‘demented suburbia’? JD: We always admit that we were watching Twin Peaks together at the time we were making our short, so there’s no denying that David Lynch is an inspiration to us. Mulholland Drive, of course. Blue Velvet, too. The two of us just love John Waters, he rocks.

DL: We love how John Waters satirizes suburbia but he also clearly has such love and adoration for it too. It’s our dream to strike the same balance.

JD: Yeah, we’re laughing with the people we grew up with, not just at them.

DL: I would say also Edward Scissorhands was another movie that was a point of reference in terms of the bright pastel color-block world, with this element of darkness filtering in.

JD: We love satires like Brazil, the visual comedy especially. We both loved that surreal world. Luis Buñuel, of course, with The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, has the sketch-like aspects in a narrative film we wanted to do. We could just go on!

Jill (Jocelyn DeBoer) and Marriott (Janicza Bravoin) in a scene from ‘Greener Grass’.

Greener Grass technically has a lot in common with great horror films—one of our members, Sara, writes: “This reminded me so much of Halloween with the use of voyeurism and the John Carpenter-esque score… Suburban moms are ten times scarier than Michael Myers”. So since it’s Hallowe’en, tell us your favorite, go-to horror films. JD: I don’t know if this counts as a Hallowe’en movie but I love Rosemary’s Baby. That and The Shining come to mind first.

DL: Those two very much for me too. You know, I have to admit that maybe until about five years ago, I thought I was not a fan of horror. I feel a little not in the best position to speak to that. I tried very much to cram in what I can and then I discovered I actually love horror movies.

JD: The funny thing is that no-one loves true crime more than Dawn!

DL: Yes, true crime is my greatest passion.

Which film turned you onto horror, Dawn? DL: I actually think it was Rosemary’s Baby. I saw that and thought ‘this is very scary and I love it’. This is more recent, but Get Out, too. I found the marriage of comedy and horror to just be incredible and the visuals in that movie, to have such a sense of cinematic comedy-horror, just blew my mind.

You gave some of the best lines to the child actors in Greener Grass. What was your approach to working with them to capture the absurd spirit of the film? DL: That’s so nice! We absolutely love Julian Hilliard, who plays Julian, and Asher Miles Fallica, who plays Bob. From the second we saw their audition tape, they so got the tone, the characters, and they just jumped off the screen for us. They’re so mature in a way. They understood the comedy and the tone in a way we did not anticipate.

JD: They took their roles so seriously. One story we love about Julian is how he had to fall in the pool and we shot that very early on. We told him we want him to fall just like a plank and we’re showing him YouTube videos of planking so he was practising it in the hotel pool. We went on the day to shoot that scene, and the take that’s in the movie is our first and only take. He just nailed it perfectly. A couple weeks later, we went to shoot the first scene of the movie, which is when he falls in the soccer field. We go to shoot it and Julian starts to fall in a hard plank, just like he did in the pool but on the grass. We were like, “wait, no no no, you don’t have to fall like that!” and he just looked at us and went, “but that’s how Julian falls!”

What streaming platform is Kids with Knives on? Seriously: we’re fans of films that build a complete world within, including the fake shows and commercials you see playing on television sets. Can you tell us some inside stories of developing those? JD: Those were so much fun for us to work on.

DL: These kids were just so incredibly enthusiastic and Jocelyn had them circle round and asked them what kind of gymnastics can you do, let’s see what you got. And then one after the other they were doing the splits, back-handstands… We thought, ‘this is great—Gymnastics and Knives!’ We should have been filming that.

We’ve really enjoyed showing your trailer to people for that ‘what-the-fuck’ reaction. What’s a bizarre film that you love to recommend to people? (We asked this same question to Daniel Scheinert who directed Swiss Army Man and The Death of Dick Long and he said Greener Grass.) JD: Wait, are you kidding?! That’s so nice, oh my gosh! The first film that came to mind is Dogtooth. I’m always curious to talk to people about that one. Dawn, what about The Swimmer? Have you seen The Swimmer? You have to. It’s the Burt Lancaster vehicle.

DL: It’s about a man who crosses his county by swimming across every swimming pool. I’ll just say: what you think the movie is in the beginning turns out to be very different to what the movie is. The protagonist changes quite a bit.

JD: One of the coolest things about how we’re travelling the world promoting Greener Grass is how we get to talk to people afterwards and they go, “Oh the movie reminds me of this, it reminds me of that.” It was the director of Fantastic Fest who told us we have to watch The Swimmer. We watched it on the plane and there is a scene where a man is kind of obsessed with the filtration system in his pool. Everyone is talking about how great their pools are the whole movie, so yes, this is like our movie, thank you.

DL: There’s also a passionate monologue about a hot-dog wagon that’s the best thing that ever happened in cinema.

JD: It’s fantastic!

What are your go-to comfort movies? How many times do you think you’ve seen them? DL: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory I’ve probably seen 500 times.

JD: I really love Dumb & Dumber. I’m also a big comfort watcher of the Sex and the City TV show but I don’t recommend the movies!

What’s a film you wish you had made? JD: I want to say Roma, but that movie couldn’t be more different from Greener Grass. I loved it.

DL: For me, I’ll say Waiting for Guffman. It has such a special place in my heart. I just remember when I was probably fifteen or sixteen seeing that movie in Nebraska and laughing so hard my stomach hurt and thinking, ‘wow, movies can be like this?’

What’s a beloved movie you couldn’t get into? JD: Now I just feel bad talking about other films in a bad way. I’m really glad this film exists—but personally I had trouble getting into the Wonder Woman movie. I think there’s a lot of cool things about it. Maybe I’m just over superhero movies.

Dennis and Jill share an extra-marital kiss in ‘Greener Grass’.

You told a journalist at Sundance that you “did have one storyline that you pulled late in the game in fear that it might be taking something too far. We still fight about that decision and Dawn is wrong”. Are you prepared to tell us that twist now?! JD: I don’t know why I said that because we just set ourselves up to be asked that all the time. We are not going to tell you what it is, but we can tell you one storyline that Dawn and I actually loved that we ended up cutting before going into production. In a previous draft of ours, Buck, Kim Ann’s husband, who she divorces and he starts to become a cowboy, shows up at a kid’s birthday party with a new girlfriend and all the women are gossiping about, “Oh no, did you hear Buck has a new girlfriend, her name is Pamela,” and, well, she’s just hair. It turns out when we meet Pamela, she is just a very large, floating blowout. At this time Buck was also trying to sell a jet-ski because Pamela can’t do wind. It was a favorite bit of ours.

We did a few script readings with our comedy writer friends and paid attention to what people laughed at and what people talked about afterwards. No-one ever mentioned Pamela. They didn’t say she was confusing, they didn’t say they liked her nor that they didn’t like her. And we were, like, for just a character who’s all hair to not be spoken about at all, it’s not a good sign and we should lose her. Since then, we had people who read those scripts and [said]: “Why is Pamela not in the movie?!” and we’re now “Well, damn. We don’t know!”

DL: Maybe we’ll make a movie about Pamela one day.

You were working with such a great cast of improvisers. How did you strike a balance between what you had on the page, and what they could bring on set; in what ways did they surprise and delight you? Not only your actors, but for the artists on set such as your costume and production designers. DL: We were just so blessed to work with these incredible improvisers; Mary Holland (Kim Ann), D’Arcy Carden (the school-teacher, Miss Human), Neil Casey (Lisa’s husband, Dennis) and Beck Bennett (Jill’s husband, Nick). It was such a gift. I would say the movie is probably 95% scripted, so it was pretty close to the script. There were a number of improv moments in the final cut that we absolutely loved. One of my favorite lines in the movie is when Kim Ann is sitting on her porch and Jill arrives and hands her a taco dip and Kim Ann asks “is it seven layers?” and Jill admits it’s only five and Kim Ann says “put it on the floor!” That line is totally improv’d by Mary in the moment. She’s just a dream.

JD: It’s true, our designers added so many things. It was something that we talked about from the very beginning, that we want there to be comedy in every frame of the movie. We love having Easter eggs. We found one after the SXSW screening. Dennis tells a joke at the soccer field and everyone laughs way too hard and he fancies himself a comedian. In the scene in Lisa’s living room when the kids are watching Kids with Knives and Dennis is sleeping, we found that the production designer Leigh Poindexter added a VHS tape that’s sitting on the coffee table that’s just labeled ‘Comedy’, as if Dennis has been studying comedy for his joke, which we thought was so funny.

Our costume designer Lauren Oppelt added so many little touches, but one we really loved: Nick is always wearing our family’s color, pink, and a very gender-normative blue. After Nick and Jill get divorced, he shows up in all beige to go get more pool water, but for the little logo on his polo Lauren embroidered a sad face. It was so funny. We loved that touch.

Finally, a question we’ve been asking filmmakers all year: which film made you want to become filmmakers? JD: It’s so, so long ago but I think for me it was Memento. I saw that when it first came out in the theater, with my Dad. I was just a child then but it blew my mind.

DL: Welcome to the Dollhouse. That was the first true dark comedy I saw where I was deeply disturbed by how much I was laughing. I want to make something like that too.

Related Letterboxd Lists

Sinister Suburbia: what’s really going on in that neighborhood?

Creepy Teenage Suburbia: “settings not limited to but including: high school hallways, proms, corn fields, religious dictatorships, convenience stores, football pitches, family compounds, back gardens.”

Films Directed by Women: Vanessa’s comprehensive—and growing—list of films directed by women.

‘Greener Grass’ is an IFC Midnight release. The film is out now in selected US cinemas and on streaming platforms. All production stills courtesy IFC Films.

#greener grass #ucb #upright citizens brigade #dawn luebbe #jocelyn deboer #jim cummings #indie comedy #indie film #directed by women #female directors #improv #peachtree city #letterboxd

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mbakusthrone · 6 years ago

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Work For Me [M’Baku x Reader] Chapter 1: Worst Day Ever

To survive one morning, just one morning, as M’Baku’s assistant, there were a couple of very crucial things that need to happen.

First, you must wake up at a crisp 4:00 in the morning. M’Baku wakes up at 5, so you already have to be on the ball before his eyes open.

Second, you must be out the door at exactly 4:28. Specifically, the first 30 seconds of 4:28, otherwise traffic becomes jam packed and you aren’t going anywhere faster than 6 mph.

Third, you must sprint to the Pine Hills Bakery and order three ‘Everything Bagels’ with extra cream cheese and six fruit cups. Six. They yell at you every morning, but it doesn’t matter because you would rather have a short, angry mustached baker yell at you than M’Baku. You’d take Bagel Mario any day before you angered M’Baku. You musn’t forget to pick every single sesame seed off of each bagel or M’Baku will season and roast you alive. You can do this while driving, because who needs safety if M’Baku would kill you anyway for making him eat a sesame seed?

Fourth, you had BETTER be on time to Starbucks to order M’Baku’s TWO Venti Mocha Frappuccinos with a quadruple shot of espresso, two scoops of protein powder, 3 pumps of vanilla, triple blended with extra whip cream with coffee grounds and chocolate flakes sprinkled on top. And yes, the baristas glare at you every time. Order yourself a tea and a breakfast sandwich because you WILL be starving and you WILL not have time to make yourself breakfast.

Fifth, you need to be in the office by exactly 5:15 to go over any reports, answer all of M’Baku’s morning emails. DO NOT let him answer any of his own morning emails. M’Baku hates emails.

And finally, as soon as you hear M’Baku’s thundering steps nearing the top of the stairs, he always takes the stairs, you need to be by the door, holding his coffee ready for him (his other coffee is on his desk, transferred to a mug, sitting on a warmer sitting right next to his fruit that has been transferred to a giant bowl with a golden fork waiting for him) in one hand, a daily report for him in the other hand. His bagels needed to be artistically plated on his desk.

This morning...none of these extremely crucial details went right.

First...your eyes flew open at 4:26. Your boyfriend, Ry, was snuggly wrapped against you. You leaped out of bed, shrieking like a banshee.

“WHY didn’t you wake me up!!” You wailed, shrugging on a work blouse and skirt.

“You seemed so peaceful babe, I didn’t want to wake you!” You stared poison daggers into his soul. It almost seemed like Ry was trying to sabotage your career. Before you had gotten this job, you and Ry had all the time in the world for each other. You were both artists, and had met in college. You both had worked odd jobs to afford a measly apartment and art supplies, and you both loved it. There wasn’t a night where you both weren’t spending hours painting and sketching. But now, things had changed. After an eviction notice and the lights getting turned off, you knew you needed stability. You needed a paycheck you could depend on. You needed this job, and you needed M’Baku. As much as you hated your boss with all your heart, the man paid well. Still...you were trying to make it up to Ry. You had a big evening planned tonight, just for the two of you.

“I’ve got to go! There is a HUGE client meeting today, if I’m not there I am FIRED.” You shoved your feet into some heels and sprinted out the door.

Second...Because of slow traffic, you reached the Pine Hills Bakery too late. There were no more Everything Bagels, and only two fruit cups left. You bought the remaining fruit cups and all the Pretzel Bagels they had. Your heart thudded in your throat as you thought of the possible scenarios of what could happen when M’Baku took a bite into the Pretzel Bagel. You wondered how long the fall would be from M’baku’s office window to the ground.

Third….The Starbucks line had filed out the door and out into the street. There was no way you would be able to get his drinks in time. Tears filled your eyes and a familiar anxiety set in your chest. Before you could break down, you closed your eyes, took a breath, and willed the tears to disappear. There was no time for crying when your job was on the line. You sprinted to the small coffee shop down the street and ordered TWO large mocha frapuccinos with a quadruple shot of espresso, two scoops of protein powder, 3 pumps of vanilla, triple blended with extra whip cream and coffee grounds and chocolate flakes sprinkled on top. You ordered yourself a hot lemon water. There was no time to order food for yourself. They didn’t have any chocolate flakes. You told them it was fine. It was fine for them anyway. You would be spit roasting above a fire in less than an hour.

Fourth...By the time you had rode the elevator up 100 floors, transferred M’Baku’s coffee and spooned his fruit into his bowl, he was already walking up the steps. You scurried to the door and held out his drink, report hand empty.

The door opened and in walked M’Baku. His massive frame took up the whole doorway. He was wearing an expertly tailored dark purple pinstripe suit with a lilac tie. His muscles rippled even from under his layers. His polished shoes took a step towards you, his deep breaths tickling the top of your head. He must have just gotten a fresh cut, his beard was shaved sharply around his lush cheeks. The smell of his cologne was so familiar it gave you anxiety. There was a harsh, unforgiving look on his face as he stared down at you.

“Good morning, sir.” You said confidently, as if you hadn’t been through World War II to get to work today. M’Baku continued to stare down at you, his eyebrow arching to a judgemental peak.

“You look ridiculous.”

You looked up at him questioningly.

“Sir?”

“Did you choose your shoes with your eyes closed today, Y/N?” M’Baku said, his deep voice vibrating through your bones. You slowly looked down to see that your left foot was sporting a sleek, black heel. The right? A navy blue sandal wedge. No wonder you were walking weird all morning. Shame and embarrassment rushed down your body as you tried to find the words to explain yourself. Giving you no time to respond, M’Baku roughly grabbed his drink and turned, taking a big sip out of the cup. “BAH!!” M’Baku yelped as he suddenly spat the drink out, right onto the carpeted floor.

“SIR!? Are you alright!?”

M’Baku turned to you, wide eyed fury painting his expression. He took the top off he drink and poured it on the ground. It was hot lemon water. You heart sank into your stomach. “Oh...Oh my goodness sir I am so sorry, that wasn’t meant for y-”

“CLEARLY!” M’Baku barked. “Clean this up!” He threw the cup on the ground, turned and walked away. “And where the hell are my reports!!”

Your desk was right outside M’Baku’s office. You smoothly slid into your seat and turned on your computer. A bright blue screen flashed at you, with unidentifiable code scrolling across the screen. This was not normal. Suddenly a bar popped up at the bottom. It read: DELETING HARD DRIVE - 6%. O-Oh. Oh. Oh no. You frantically pressed any and every button, desperate to reverse WHATEVER it is that you had done. The bar suddenly sped up. DELETING HARD DRIVE - 30%.

“No!!!” You squealed.

“NO!!” M’Baku suddenly roared from his desk. A pretzel bagel flew out of his door and bounced on the ground beside you. It had one bite taken out of it. Two more bagels flew out after it. “Y/N!! wHY dO I sEE EMAILS!!!”

“Uh...just a second sir!!”

Picking up your office phone, you frantically dialed.

“Hello, thank you for calling the IT departm-”

“Imani!! Thank God you picked up…” You said breathlessly.

“Y/N? Girl that’s you? Why didn’t you say so you had me using my white lady voice and everything…”

“Imani, I don’t have any time, my computer is deleting it’s hard drive for SOME reason and I need it! I am having a code red right now.”

“Code red? M’Baku having a M’melt down right now? If I was you I would use all that passion he got and-”

“IMANI!!”

“I’m just playing girl hold on…” Through the phone, you could hear your best friend click-clacking away on her computer. Suddenly, your computer screen went white and your username appeared. “Is that better?”

“Imani you are an ANGEL, girl I owe you lunch!”

“Y/N you owe me like seven lunches right now, I haven’t had one of em.”

“Shut up, okay, I love you bye!” You hung up on her. She’d forgive you once you brought her a case of Popeye’s biscuits...whenever you got the chance.

M’Baku’s office was designed perfectly for him. It was a large room painted with dark and light greys, with a dark colored wood as the base for most of the furniture. It was Jabari wood, from his country. You laid your late reports on the Jabari wooden desk as M’Baku ignored you, his eyes plastered to his computer screen.

“Sir?” You questioned, he grunted in response. “I just wanted to apologize for my behavior this morning…” M’Baku froze, an unreadable expression on his face, you continued. “I have never been late in the four months that I’ve worked here and I just didn’t want you to think that this will be a reoccurring mistake-”

“Y/N.” His voice cut you off. He turned to you, his eyes cutting into yours. You felt your skin go numb, and your throat felt dry, but you didn’t know why.

“Sir?”

“I’m not interested in your excuses. Get ready for the client meeting. Do NOT be late.”

“Yes sir.” You said curtly. You turned on your heels and headed for the door.

You hated that man.

Work For Me Taglist

@turn-thy-paige @maliadestiny @madamslayyy @mysticbrownie @killizumakii @muse-of-mbaku @blackpantherreblogs

@great-neckpectations @bidibidibombaclaat @theunsweetenedtruth @queennanayaa @thadelightfulone @iamrheaspeaks

@mareethequeen @inlovewithmakeupcomicsanimelove

@blackpinup22 @hidden-treasures21

@chaneajoyyy @zuzuspanda @rose-bliss

@halonahoney @equine-lover1992

@tripping-into-the-sun @ambthegamer

@sugarbby99

#m’baku #black panther #m’baku imagine #m’baku x reader #black panther fanfiction #fanfiction #m’baku fic #black reader #m’baku imagines #work for me

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julianspancakes · 6 years ago

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Lady Midnight Deleted Scene

She was thirteen years old when she and Julian declared the sea caves their official meeting place. If anything ever happened at or to the Institute — and they both had nightmares about it, ever since the attack during the Dark War — they would meet at the caves.

She was fourteen years old when she first showed the sea caves to Cameron Ashdown.

The Ashdowns had come to Los Angeles after the Dark War, easily situating themselves among the small Conclave of Shadowhunters who lived in the city. Although all Conclaves were small now, since the deaths in the war. The Clave was doing everything it could to track down every wayward mundane who might have a drop of Nephilim blood, even if their family had left the Shadowhunters generations ago. Still, it would be decades before they were the strength they once had been.

Cameron, his parents, and his younger sister, Paige, moved into a house in Santa Monica and, as soon as they could, arranged to visit the Institute to decide if Paige and Cameron were going to have lessons with the Blackthorns or hire their own tutor.

Diana was there to greet them and show them the training rooms, the library, and the classroom. Emma was in the training room, practicing fencing with Livvy. She was taller and stronger than Livvy, but Livvy was lightning-fast on her feet, which gave her the advantage with a saber. Ty and Julian were watching: Ty was cheering for Livvy, and Jules for Emma, as if it were a real match.

The door opened, and Cameron and his sister came in with Diana.

Emma stopped in her tracks, which allowed Livvy to score with the side of her blade across Emma’s shoulder. “Emma!” she complained. “You’re not paying attention.”

But Emma was already pushing her mask back, letting her hair spill down. Cameron Ashdown might have grown up in Idris, but he looked like the perfect California boy, with fiery red hair, tanned skin, broad shoulders, and hazel eyes. His nose looked as if it had been broken before, but it lent his face a charming asymmetry.

His sister Paige was a small copy of him, with short red hair and a pointed chin. She regarded Emma with dislike, perhaps because Emma was staring at her brother.

Emma had been thinking lately, rather scientifically, about the fact that she was fourteen years old and hadn’t kissed anyone yet. Nor, she thought, growing up in the Blackthorn house, was it likely. They rarely saw other children their age; the Conclave simply wasn’t that big, and now that the Academy in Idris had re-opened, most younger Shadowhunters were being trained there.

She thought of Julian, the way that when he smiled at her, he seemed to put his whole self into the smile. The way it lit up the room and made her heart catch. Cameron Ashdown was looking at her curiously as Diana made the introductions; Livvy was tugging off her helmet. Lowering her blade, Emma smiled at Cameron, putting all of herself into it.

When he smiled back, he looked dazzled.

Later, after the Ashdowns had gone, Ty said, “I didn’t like them.”

Julian ruffled his hair. Instead of saying what Emma had expected — something about how Ty had to give them a chance — he said, “I didn’t like them either.”

“Why not?” she asked, curious.

He shrugged. “I just didn’t.”

“Well, too bad,” said Diana. “You kids need to spend time with some people who aren’t Blackthorns.” She eyed Emma. “Or Carstairs.”

The Ashdowns came back, the next weekend, and the next weekend after that. It was the summer, and the group spent their time at the beach, getting sunburned, swimming in the water — all except Emma — and building sandcastles with the younger children. Ty built meticulous sandcastles, carefully sculpted, while Livvy’s were shapeless and towering, collapsing under their own weight as they climbed toward the sky. They buried Tavvy in sand, and Drusilla sat cross-legged and lost in a book — Paige was nearly the same age as her, but the girls ignored each other.

Later, Emma thought that should have been a warning to her. Later she blamed herself for everything.

She was fourteen when she brought Cameron to see the caves. He had been teasing her about never going into the water; she laughed, but didn’t tell him why. Instead she drew him away from the group and brought him into her favorite of the caves: not the biggest, but the longest and most winding. It was possible to find a bend in the tunnel where the ocean couldn’t be seen from either side.

She drew Cameron in after her and faced him, her heart pounding. She studied the hazel color of his eyes in the shadows, their mixture of blue and brown and green. She held out her hands, not knowing how to be anything but direct. “Do you want to kiss me?” she said.

He swallowed hard and nodded. He was shaking as he pulled her toward him and kissed her gently, her head tipping back, her hands finding purchase on his shoulders. She stroked his arms, lightly, timidly; his mouth was warm and soft, and he tasted like strawberry ice cream.

Kissing was everything she’d hoped it would be. It was like a good kind of drowning, filling her ears and eyes with forgetfulness, blocking out the crashing sound of the waves against the shore. Cameron’s touch became more urgent, sliding up from her waist, and she leaned harder against him, and that was when she heard someone scream.

Later, Emma found out what had happened. Livvy and Dru had gone to collect seashells; Julian was sketching up by the dunes, and Ty had been making a sandcastle with Paige half-heartedly helping him.

He’d picked up a piece of sea glass and become fascinated with it. Ty became fascinated with things sometimes: the way an ink blot spread across a page, or the way dye feathered into water. He would sit and look at them, lost in contemplation. If he was especially distracted, it would take a gentle hand on his shoulder, or his name spoken softly, to rouse him.

But Paige had done neither of those things. When she’d asked him what he was doing and he hadn’t reacted, she’d thrown a handful of sand into his face. Ty had come back to himself choking and blinded and gasping. He’d started rocking, his hands fluttering, his butterflies frantic.

“Freak,” Paige had snapped. “Stop doing that, you freak.”

And then Julian had been there, hauling Paige bodily to her feet. As Emma ran up, Cameron beside her, they heard him hiss.

“If you ever,” he said, “ever, call my brother names again, I’ll kill you. I don’t care if you’re a girl. I’ll kill you.”

“Stop it! Stop!” Cameron darted ahead of Emma and yanked his sister away from Julian; she promptly started crying. Julian looked at him in a daze. In the distance, Emma could see Livvy and Dru running toward them across the sand.

“Get her away,” he said. “Both of you get away, and don’t come back.”

Cameron turned to Emma, his face open, puzzled. “We could talk about this,” he said. “We — we should talk about this.”

Emma looked from him, to Julian, who was crouching down by Ty now, saying his name, softly, his voice full of love and panic. And she turned to Cameron, who was holding his red-faced sister and looking at her with a look that said that he expected her to take his side. That their kiss in the caves had been a signal that her allegiance had changed. That she would be loyal to him now, and not Julian.

“Go away,” she said. “Like Julian said. And don’t ever bring her back.”

A few weeks later, she and Julian left for Idris, for their parabatai ceremony. When they came back, Paige had been sent to the Academy. A month after that, Emma began dating Cameron for the first time.

#the dark artifices #tda #the shadowhunter chronicles #lord of shadows #tsc #cassandra clare #lady midnight #los #queen of air and darkness #lm #qoaad #emma carstairs #cameron ashdown #julian blackthorn

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black-stairs · 6 years ago

Text

You guys, a deleted scene from Lady Midnight (from Cassie’s newsletter)

She was fourteen years old when she first showed the sea caves to Cameron Ashdown.

The door opened, and Cameron and his sister came in with Diana.

Emma stopped in her tracks, which allowed Livvy to score with the side of her blade across Emma’s shoulder. “Emma!” she complained. “You’re not paying attention.”

His sister Paige was a small copy of him, with short red hair and a pointed chin. She regarded Emma with dislike, perhaps because Emma was staring at her brother.

When he smiled back, he looked dazzled.

Later, after the Ashdowns had gone, Ty said, “I didn’t like them.”

Julian ruffled his hair. Instead of saying what Emma had expected — something about how Ty had to give them a chance — he said, “I didn’t like them either.”

“Why not?” she asked, curious.

He shrugged. “I just didn’t.”

“Well, too bad,” said Diana. “You kids need to spend time with some people who aren’t Blackthorns.” She eyed Emma. “Or Carstairs.”

Later, Emma thought that should have been a warning to her. Later she blamed herself for everything.

Later, Emma found out what had happened. Livvy and Dru had gone to collect seashells; Julian was sketching up by the dunes, and Ty had been making a sandcastle with Paige half-heartedly helping him.

“Freak,” Paige had snapped. “Stop doing that, you freak.”

And then Julian had been there, hauling Paige bodily to her feet. As Emma ran up, Cameron beside her, they heard him hiss.

“If you ever,” he said, “ever, call my brother names again, I’ll kill you. I don’t care if you’re a girl. I’ll kill you.”

“Get her away,” he said. “Both of you get away, and don’t come back.”

Cameron turned to Emma, his face open, puzzled. “We could talk about this,” he said. “We — we should talk about this.”

“Go away,” she said. “Like Julian said. And don’t ever bring her back.”

#julian blackthorn #emma carstairs #the dark artifices #lady midnight #cameron ashdown #deleted scene #ty ty #livvy #dru blackthorn

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tysshadow · 6 years ago

Text

Lady Midnight Deleted Scene - Cassies newsletter

She was fourteen years old when she first showed the sea caves to Cameron Ashdown.

The door opened, and Cameron and his sister came in with Diana.

Emma stopped in her tracks, which allowed Livvy to score with the side of her blade across Emma’s shoulder. “Emma!” she complained. “You’re not paying attention.”

His sister Paige was a small copy of him, with short red hair and a pointed chin. She regarded Emma with dislike, perhaps because Emma was staring at her brother.

When he smiled back, he looked dazzled.

Later, after the Ashdowns had gone, Ty said, “I didn’t like them.”

Julian ruffled his hair. Instead of saying what Emma had expected — something about how Ty had to give them a chance — he said, “I didn’t like them either.”

“Why not?” she asked, curious.

He shrugged. “I just didn’t.”

“Well, too bad,” said Diana. “You kids need to spend time with some people who aren’t Blackthorns.” She eyed Emma. “Or Carstairs.”

Later, Emma thought that should have been a warning to her. Later she blamed herself for everything.

Later, Emma found out what had happened. Livvy and Dru had gone to collect seashells; Julian was sketching up by the dunes, and Ty had been making a sandcastle with Paige half-heartedly helping him.

“Freak,” Paige had snapped. “Stop doing that, you freak.”

And then Julian had been there, hauling Paige bodily to her feet. As Emma ran up, Cameron beside her, they heard him hiss.

“If you ever,” he said, “ever, call my brother names again, I’ll kill you. I don’t care if you’re a girl. I’ll kill you.”

“Get her away,” he said. “Both of you get away, and don’t come back.”

Cameron turned to Emma, his face open, puzzled. “We could talk about this,” he said. “We — we should talk about this.”

“Go away,” she said. “Like Julian said. And don’t ever bring her back.”

#the shadowhunter chronicles #tsc #the dark artifices #tda #cassandra clare #qoaad #los #lm #lady midnight

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