#can we acknowledge that part of the reason DC was so insistent that they were familial was because they've been historically terrified

[heather-chandlers-weirder-cousin]

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[myhockeyworld87]

Not So Dangerous Liaison - Sidney Crosby - Part 25

Word Count: 2,751

POV:  Reader

Warngings: Language, NSFW, Smut

Notes: Thank you anon for holding me accountable on getting this out. Sorry I didn’t get a chance to do this last night, but here it is. When last we saw these two, (Y/N) had gotten called into a meeting with GM from the Capitals. Wonder what he wants? Let’s find out. As always love your feedback and Happy Reading! Let me know what you guys think.

Not So Dangerous Liaison Masterlist

You sat at your desk across from the Capitals General Manager, wondering if he was going to pull the rug out from underneath your relationship with Sidney. He said that your name had kept coming up in conversation and you knew that couldn’t be a good thing. Though why the league had chosen him to be the bearer of bad news to you, you weren’t sure.

Your stomach churned as thoughts of having to make a choice between Sidney and your job crept in. If MacLellan asked you point blank to make a decision right then you didn’t know what you’d say. “Don’t look so distraught, Ms. (Y/LN). I’ve only heard good things about you.” Well, at least that was something, though it didn’t make you feel any better at the moment. “It’s actually the reason why I’m here. I want you to come work for us.”

You couldn’t have heard him right. Was he actually offering you a job? “I’ve heard the players and staff talk about how much you’re making their life easier. I need that in the Capitals organization. If we’re going to make a run for the cup, I want our players to have the best of everything, and that includes you, Ms. (Y/LN).”

“I’m flattered, truly, but…”

The GM didn’t let you finish. “I realize I’m asking a lot. Name your price. I’m sure Mario is paying you well. We can offer you more.”

“It’s not about that.” For it really wasn’t.

“I understand Ms. (Y/LN), you don’t want to give any numbers away.” Again, he didn’t let you finish talking. He grabbed a piece of paper and a pen off your desk and you knew he was writing down a salary figure for you; one you weren’t sure you wanted to look at. “Let’s start here and you tell me if I need to go higher.” He slid the paper across to you. “Go ahead take a look,” he insisted when you didn’t open it right away.

The amount was generous, more than generous really. It wasn’t that you weren’t being paid well by the Pens organization, you were, but this, well this was an amount that would buy you a Chanel bag every month along with matching shoes and still have plenty left over for anything else you wanted to buy. “It’s…well…”

“Say no more.” He wrote down another number and you knew it was more.

“Mr. MacLellan, this is a generous offer, but I’m going to…”

“I get it, I get it.” He said waving his hand to stave off anything more you wanted to say. “You need time to think about.” He stood up then. “Go home, take a couple nights to mull it over. I think you’d be an excellent addition to the Capitals organization Ms. (Y/LN). I’ll be in touch.” He reached over and you shook his hand.

You stood there speechless, as the GM was leaving your office. He turned though right before he exited. “I look forward to working with you Ms. (Y/LN).”

Stunned, that’s what you were when he finally left your office. What had actually just happened? The man did not let you get a word in at all, and now he was going to be calling you in a few days. You felt completely dumbfounded, both by the man and his offer. There was no time to think about that now though, you had a job to do.

What you didn’t know was that as you stood there collecting your thoughts, Sid was standing outside your office. Dana had mentioned that MacLellan was waiting for you in your office and he was curious what the GM wanted with you. Unfortunately for you, he’d only heard the last part of the conversation, the part where MacLellan said that you’d be a great part of the Caps organization and that he looked forward to working with you. Those words echoed in his ears. Were you really going to take a job with one of the Penguins' most hated rivalries? Better yet, were you going to be leaving him? That last part didn’t sit well with Sid at all. His stomach was in knots.

He walked back to the locker room dazed, going through his pregame rituals without any thought. Sid had done them so many times they were almost like a mechanical reflex. It was easy for him to avoid you, as you tended to give him space before a game, though he was having trouble getting you off his mind.

Sid put every effort into the game, ignoring that pit in his gut that said you were going to leave him. The game was high scoring and saw the Pens and Caps going into overtime, but the Pens were victorious. When you found Sid after the game, he was in a lousy mood despite the victory. You chalked it up to not winning in regulation and just remained silent as the two of you made your way to the car. The only thing that bothered you was that he didn’t try to hold your hand or give you a kiss as he did after every game, no matter if they won or lost. “Everything alright?” you finally asked once you were ensconced inside the vehicle. Sid didn’t answer right away. “I know it sucks giving up that point, but at least Shears was able to get the goal in OT to give us the extra one.”

Sid simply grunted in acknowledgment. You knew then that there was definitely something more than the game going on with him, but decided to wait until you were home to talk about it. The minute you pulled in the drive you couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “Sid, is something wrong? Are you upset with me?” You were both out of the car by then, and Sid definitely slammed the door with more force than necessary. “Sidney,” you yelled chasing after him as he entered the house through the garage. He was halfway in the kitchen before you got a chance to speak again. “Sidney Patrick Crosby, what the hell is wrong with you?”

“Me! There’s nothing wrong with me!” His voice was raised and you could practically see the anger radiating off him. He dropped his bag in the kitchen not even turning around to look at you.

“Sidney!” you shouted, in hopes that he would at least stop. When he didn’t you turned on your heel and headed back towards the garage. “When you’re ready to talk to me, I think you know where you can find me.” This was the exact reason that you hadn’t given up your place yet, because you knew there would be a time just like this that he would shut you out.

“Do I?” Sid yelled back, finally stopping when he’d almost crossed the threshold of the kitchen. “Maybe I’ll check for you in DC.” His anger was rising more with each passing second and it took every ounce of willpower he had not to just throw something

“What did you say?” You didn’t turn around as you tried to absorb Sid’s words.

“You heard me, (Y/N). I know you’re going to work for the Capitals.” He stomped back into the kitchen, while your hand remained on the doorknob to the garage. “How could you (Y/N)? How can you take a job with one of our rivals? How could you turn on our team like that? Or the organization?” It was then that you turned around and look at Sid. The anger that was once written all over his face gradually fading away to hurt. “How could you leave me?”

You were trying to keep up with all his questions, but that last one broke your heart. It was at that moment, that you realized that had the Capitals GM been there to make you choose between Sid and your job, you’d choose Sid every time. Sure, MacLellan had offered you a job, one that you knew the moment it was made, you’d turn down, but you weren’t turning it down because for any other reason than the man standing right in front of you. “Sid, I’m not leaving.”

He shook his head as if he didn’t believe you. You weren’t sure what he’d heard, or how he’d heard it, but he needed to know that you weren’t walking away from him. “I’m not taking the job with the Capitals.”

“But I heard him, (Y/N). I heard him say that he looked forward to working with you.”

It took exactly three steps for you to erase the distance between yourself and Sid, and though you took your hand and raised it to his cheek, to be even just a bit closer; he still distanced himself from you emotionally. “Yes, he said that, and if he would’ve let me say a word, I would’ve told him that there was nothing that could make me leave this team or you.” The dead look that had taken over his usual smiling hazel eyes finally lifted at your words. “I love you, Sid, and yes this job is important to me, but I realized tonight, that you’re more important than all of it.” That earned you a smile, as his hands finally came up to rest on your waist. “When I came to Mario with this idea, I had no idea if it would work or even be needed. He and I agreed we’d try it out for a year. I don’t even know if come March, he’ll want to keep me around.” Sid gave you that look, the one that said that the great Mario Lemieux would be a fool to let you go. He even made an attempt to tell you that, but you stopped him. “But what I do know, is that I want to stay here with you. If that means that in a couple months I’m out of work and job hunting, so be it; because the only thing that matters is that I get to be with you.”

Sid’s lips came down on yours in a bruising kiss. One that stole not only your breath but your senses away as well. It was minutes before either of you were coming up for air. “God, I love you,” Sid breathed out as his hazel eyes locked with yours. “I never should’ve believed for a second that you would take a job with the Capitals. It’s just when I heard MacLellan, my mind went into overdrive.”

“Your mind is always in that mode.” He laughed but it was true. Sid processed things so fast from years of playing hockey that when it came to your relationship, he forgot that there were two of you in it.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, his puppy dog eyes making you melt. “I need to learn to stop doubting you.”

“Yes, you do, but you’re forgiven. Just don’t shut down on me again.”

He hauled you in closer so that not even a centimeter separated the two of you. “I’ll try not to.” Sid dropped his forehead to yours as he continued to hold you in his arms.

“That’s all I can ask. Though if you have any tips on how to deal with the Caps GM, I’ll take it. The man literally would not let me get a word in.”

“I’ll call him right now and tell him your answer’s no.”

He started to walk away, but it was your turn to pull him into you. “Don’t you dare. I can tell him that myself when he calls.”

“Fine,” Sid reluctantly agreed. “I know you can handle him, but if he tries to steal my girl again, I make no promises.”

You sweetly pecked his lips, for it was adorable of him to stand up for you. “Deal. Now that that’s settled let’s call it a night. It’s been a long day.”

Sid had other ideas though as his hands slid down your waist and he grabbed your ass. “Mmm, not just yet.” His hands were gathering your skirt and hiking it up. “I feel like I should make a proper apology.” He dropped to his knees then, taking your panties with him. Once you stepped out of them, he glided his hands up your inner thighs, parting them to give himself better access to your core. Taking his index finger, Sid slowly dragged it through your folds. “Fuck baby, I’ve barely touched you and you’re wet.”

Sid just had that effect on you and you knew he loved it. “I thought you were apologizing,” you teased, while he just grinned up at you.

“Oh, baby it’s on now.” There was a wicked glint in his eye right before he spread your pussy lips and took his tongue licking a stripe up to your clit. You were able to suppress the shiver that wracked your body but not the moan that came from your lips. When Sid put his mind to something there was no stopping him and you had a feeling you were in for it, as his tongue flicked over your little nub. It was exquisite torture and had you leaning back against the kitchen island for support.

Sid lifted your one leg, placing it easily over his shoulder to give him greater access to you. His tongue found its way inside your pussy, pushing you close to the brink, as his nose nudged at your clit. He took his time, building you up and backing off when he felt you nearing that point of no return. You groaned in frustration every time. “Sid!” You growled, sifting your fingers through his locks, in hopes to get him to tip you over the edge.

You felt him smirk against you but he still didn’t relent. Your hips pushed against his face seeking the release he wasn’t ready to give. They only stopped when his hands gripped them, keeping you still while practically lifting you in the air. It was only then that he decided to be merciful. Giving it his all, as he ate your pussy with renewed vigor. When you finally hit that high, it felt as if you were flying and you screamed out his name as your body shook with pleasure.

Sid set you back on the ground but still held on to your hips. Knowing that you’d be a bit wobbly after the earth shattering orgasm he gave you. “You are definitely forgiven,” you breathed out when he finally stood up. He kissed your lips and you could taste your essence on him. You pushed his pants and boxers down, while your tongues entwined. It was only once his cock was free that you turned and bent over the island.

“Fuck (Y/N),” Sid hissed as you presented yourself to him. He entered you in one swift motion, both of you groaning as he filled you. There wouldn’t be a day that you would tire of this; feeling his cock inside you was like your piece of heaven on earth. One hand gripped your hip, while Sid’s other came around and played with your still clothed breasts. “So fucking good,” he moaned, thrusting just a bit so he was buried balls deep in you.

When he didn’t move, you did; fucking yourself on his cock. “Jesus (Y/N).” You felt his cock twitch inside you and you sped up the pace. The sound of your ass slapping against him and your moans were the only things filling the kitchen air. As you pushed back against him this time, you felt him snap. His grip on your hip tightening as he took control, slamming into your pussy. The hand on your breasts snuck down to your clit to rub it furiously. Sid was an unselfish lover, just as he was an unselfish player on the ice. Always wanting you to reach that pinnacle of release before he did, even when you’d already reached it once. It didn’t take much for the climax to hit you, as your pussy quivered around his cock, and with a few erratic thrusts, he came with you.

Both of you were breathing harshly, as Sid brought your body up flush against his chest. He dropped a few kisses to your neck, then tilted your head so that your mouths could meet. “I love you, (Y/N) and I really am sorry for doubting you.”

You twisted in his embrace so that you were face to face. “I love you too, Sid.”

[bigskydreaming]

What are the best standalone dc comics you can recommend to someone who just knows the main few jla heroes, the existence of multiple robins, and only a few of their actual names? The less grimdark the better, I've already got Li'l Gotham, Kami Garcia's Raven, Superman's pal Jimmy Olsen in my list. Anything with Dick?

With the ironic exception of the 90′s Nightwing solo series, which I will never recommend as it contains all of my least favorite staples of his character lol, from cop Dick to ‘let’s systematically destroy his life because that builds character’ which uh, is NOT the point of angst or conflict IMO, lol.....

Ahem, anyway, except for the 90′s Nightwing solo series, I personally would recommend going back to the 90′s comics for fun stuff. First off, back then the titles were a lot less interconnected, it was a lot easier to read just one book and not inevitably need to rush over to another one to get any context for what was happening, and like....I think the 90′s (at least for DC) gets an undeserved rep. It was dark at times, definitely, but not the unending grimdark of some of the more recent years, and there was a definite focus on younger heroes - for instance, a lot of the names I bring up in my posts about the lineup I’d use for Jason’s Titans, those come straight out of the 90′s versions of those characters. Like The Ray, Damage, Anima, etc.

So the 90′s Young Justice book, Superboy, etc. The Flash, because Wally and Linda Park are a hugely underrated DC couple and were so great together, and the Rogues were at their best in the 90s, I think. The JSA title from back then was a TON of fun at times, with a lot of characters you’ll rarely see anywhere else, unfortunately, but definitely deserve all the love. 

And the 90′s Robin book! Maybe unexpected given my posts about Tim and his fandom these days, but a huge part of my issue there is that fanon Tim and Red Robin Tim are just....the ANTITHESIS of everything Tim was originally, and why I loved him. In the beginning, 90′s Tim was the Robin Who Shouldn’t Have Been. What I mean by that is he wasn’t this exceptional prodigy whose rise to heroism was inevitable - his discovery of Batman and Robin’s identity was as much a matter of luck and fanboyism than anything, certainly not Tim being this child-sized Batman who was every bit as competent as his older counterparts with none of the training. 

Tim was the Robin who made no sense, and that was the point - he didn’t have Dick’s lifetime of dedicated athletics or Jason’s street-smarts or self-preservation instincts (Jason died because he followed his understandable desire for family rather than his instincts, it was never because he was this reckless kid with no sense of danger, he KNEW how to protect himself and keep himself safe and alive...the tragedy of his death was it happened because he didn’t CARE in his desire to believe the best of Sheila and try and save her).

The point of Tim, originally, was he became the hero he was for one reason only - sheer stubborn determination to live up to the example of the Robins before him and be the partner he believed with all his heart that Batman needed. Tim, ironically given how he’s portrayed today and viewed by fans - was the everyman. 

Yeah, he was wealthy, but that wealth wasn’t portrayed like he was Bruce Wayne Jr., but rather just that he was a well-off kid who skateboarded and played video games and had the luxury of going off and doing what he wanted. It wasn’t emphasized the way it is now. And yeah he was something of a loner, but that was by choice - because he was this kid who was obsessed with his hobbies that by their very nature required secrecy. But he had friends, he was just selective about them, and his only hurtle to making friends later with his teammates was the secrecy demanded by Batman. And he was never this socially awkward, maladjusted loner who was a lonely outsider constantly looking in - Tim has probably had more casual girlfriends than any of his brothers, he was awkward but never exceptionally so, and his social issues or problems fitting in at times at school were always portrayed as like....teenage growing pains, rather than any kind of true outsider status.

Tim Drake, originally, was just your average kid who became a hero because he loved heroes and believed in them, and he saw a void that nobody else was filling, and said well if nobody else is going to do it, might as well be me. 

And he was the Robin who had everything set against him and no reason to expect he’d actually work out....because he wasn’t an innately exceptional athlete or genius, he HAD lived a relatively sheltered and privileged life (at that point, though they emphasized and upped the tragedy and neglect of his family circumstances more and more in later years)....but initially, the point was....he had no reason to have the skills or the drive of either of the two previous Robins....AND YET HE SUCCEEDED ANYWAY.

For one simple reason:

He was determined to. He refused to give up. He powered through despite all odds. THAT was the point of Tim Drake.

He was the underdog. That was why we rooted for him!

And that’s why the modern version and the fanon versions of him are so dissatisfying to me personally, because they’ve taken ALL of that away from him and made him into this entitled, inevitable HEIR to all the talents and instincts and toils of everyone who came before him. He doesn’t have to work for any of it, it all just comes naturally to him. From his first appearance in most stories, he’s already the equal of all of his predecessors, able to play cat and mouse with Bruce and Dick and Jason without any of them gleaning on to the fact that he knows more than them, and he’s like....the puppet master secretly helping them all from behind the scenes because they apparently need his help and were incompetent until he came along and that’s not Tim Drake to me and completely the opposite of why he was so great! Now in fanon he’s as wealthy as Bruce and as tragic as Jason and as athletic as Dick and as smart as Babs and I know I’m always saying the Batfamily is a family of Mary Sues and that’s their entire concept, but there’s this insistence on Tim being the MOST Mary Sue of them all and THAT’S his niche, like if he isn’t the most special or talented or smart then what’s even the point of him and its like......STUBBORN TEENAGE HERO IDEALIZATION! THAT’S THE POINT OF TIM!

Modern and fanon Tim Drake is this dark, brooding, cynical pragmatist, when 90′s Tim was the kid who was so hopeful and optimistic he brought a smile back to even Dick Grayson’s face when Dick Grayson had stopped smiling!

Ahem.

Anyway.

Yeah, 90s Robin is a good series. So is the original Batgirl series. I’m a sucker for Kyle Rayner of course, so I’d recommend his solo Green Lantern title, but even though his debut happened in Green Lantern vol 3 issue #50, I’d start around #60 to be honest, because the early issues are when women in refrigerators was coined with the utterly gratuitous murder of his girlfriend Alex deWitt, and its truly an albatross around that book’s neck that never needed to happen and IMO added absolutely NOTHING to his character or the title, so skip it and don’t do that mess the courtesy of even reading or acknowledging it. 

Hmm, what else....the Captain Marvel/Shazam stuff from back then was excellent of course, as was Wonder Woman and her supporting cast. The Titans were honestly not at their best in the 90s though there were some good minis here and there. 

After the 90s, my recs are sporadic - I’d read the Ryan Choi as Atom series, Jaime Reyes’ Blue Beetle books, the Jason Rusch Firestorm, etc. I really have very little modern or current DC recommendations as IMO the entire New 52 was an unnecessary miss and Rebirth has done very little to course correct, though I do think the early Rebirth Nightwing title was pretty good and had some fun stuff.

Anyone else got anymore/other recs for anon?

[heauxplesslydevoted]

Healing Part 2

Previous part here. It’ll probably help to read that one first.

Tags: @canknot @lapisreviewsstuff @akacalliope @senseofduties @badchoicesposts @x-kyne-x @paulfwesley @ramseyandrys @choicesobsessedd @a-i-n-a-a-s-h @sparklinglilac  @cream-ray @perriewinklenerdie @barricades-of-freedom @dr-brianna-casey-valentine @doroshi-desu @aworldoffandoms @dr-nancy-house @goldenbirdcrystalcage @referencees @mightyfangirlofthefandoms @cxld-play @thefangirl-2001 @akacalliope

~~

“Tie or no tie?”

“What?”

“Tie or no tie?” Ethan repeats, a bit louder this time. He’s standing in front of the full length mirror in their bedroom, a tan tie dangling from his fingertips.

“No tie,” Naomi replies from the closet. 

“Are you sure?”

“Don’t ask for my opinion if you’re just going to second guess it, Ramsey.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Ethan sighs and shakes his arms, hoping to somehow get rid of all of the anxious energy. He hasn’t felt this nervous since he asked Naomi out. “It’s just dinner with my parents, why am I overthinking this?”

“It’s perfectly fine to be nervous.” Naomi steps out of their closet and gives Ethan a once over. “Just so you know, you look handsome as always.” She spins around dramatically. “Now onto more important things: how do I look?”

Ethan’s eyes sweep over Naomi, taking in her outfit. She’s wearing one of his white button downs, the top two buttons undone, tucked into a tight black leather skirt. Her curls are pulled into a sleek bun, and Ethan has to resist the urge to undo it so he can tangle his fingers in them.

“I’m...perplexed,” Ethan admits.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

Ethan walks over to Naomi. He runs his thumb across her cheek. “I don’t know how you do it, but you somehow get more and more beautiful.”

Naomi melts slightly at his words. “You’re so suave.” She kisses him, and Ethan quickly responds, his hand moving to the small of her  back to hold her closer. Eventually, she breaks away, smiling and a bit breathless.

“Why don’t we just stay here and do more of that?” Ethan asks rhetorically. “And I can rip my shirt off of you.”

“Come on, you wanted to see your parents. I think we can spare an hour.”

“I know, I know.”

Naomi’s hands move to Ethan’s shirt, smoothing it out. “If you truly don’t want to do it–”

“I do,” Ethan insists. “I want to see them, I’m just...anxious. It’s been so long, and I’m sure it’ll be awkward.”

“Maybe it won’t be. Whatever the case, we won’t find out by just staying here.”

Ethan wishes he had her optimism. He kisses her one more time, for luck. “Let’s go find out.”

~V~

The restaurant is quiet when they get there, not too many patrons milling about. After saying he’s there for a reservation under “Ramsey” Ethan and Naomi are led to a private dining room in the back of the restaurant.

Ethan’s breath catches in his throat at the sight of his parents. His mother isn’t wearing the casual clothes she was sporting earlier, instead opting for a simple green dress. His father’s presence is still stifling and intimidating.

Margaret’s face lights up as she sees the younger couple enter the room. “Oh, you guys made it!”

“Hello, mom,” Ethan greets politely. 

“Ethan. Naomi dear, you look gorgeous.”

“Thank you, Margaret.”

Ethan turns his attention to his father, who stood up to greet them. His usually larger than life father is hunched over, using a cane to support his weight. And he’s a lot skinnier than Ethan remembers. 

“Ethan.”

“Hello, dad.”

“What, your old man doesn’t get a hug?”

Ethan stammers a bit, but he hugs his father nonetheless, careful to not put too much pressure on his back.

“Dad, this is my girlfriend, Dr. Naomi Valentine. Naomi, meet my father, William Ramsey.”

Naomi smiles. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you.”

“You too, Naomi.”

Ethan pulls out Naomi’s chair for her and she sits down. “Thank you, baby.”

“You’re welcome.”

Ethan and Naomi settle into their seats across from his parents. After their server pours everyone a glass of wine, they all bury their heads in their menus, thankful that they have a reason to not speak. No one knows how to start a topic.

“So, Naomi where are you from?” William asks. “Based on your accent, I want to guess...Baltimore?”

“Close. DC girl, born and raised,” Naomi answers. “Baltimore for school though.”

Ethan slightly nudges her in a teasing manner, “I told you that you have an accent.”

Naomi rolls her eyes. “I don’t hear it.”

“Well it’s there.”

“So where’d you go to school?” William presses. He’s never met one of his son’s girlfriends before and he’s curious.

“Johns Hopkins for undergrad and med school.”

“Impressive. You must be smart as a whip.”

Naomi lowers her head to hide her blush. “I wouldn’t say–”

“She’s too modest,” Ethan says, cutting in. He can spend his entire life bragging about Naomi. “She’s one of the most brilliant people I know.”

“If you’re from DC, is your family big in the political scene?”

“There are no politicians in my family, no,” Naomi replies. “My dad is a lawyer, my mom runs a nonprofit for underprivileged youth in DC. They know politicians and have rubbed elbows with them, but no one in my family has a desire.”

“Interesting. How long have you been at the hospital?” William asks. “Hiddenbrook, is it?”

Naomi can feel Ethan tense up next to her. Yikes. His dad doesn’t know the name of the hospital he works at. “Edenbrook,” she corrects smoothly. “I’ve been here for three years now, fresh out of med school.”

“What about you and Ethan? How long have you two been together?”

“It’s been about a year and a half. He asked me out a few months after I joined the diagnostics team.”

Margaret smiles. “Oh how sweet. Ethan was always so...serious and fussy when he was young, I’m glad he found someone.”

Naomi smirks at Ethan. “He’s still serious and fussy. Probably even more so.”

Ethan feigns hurt. “I resent that, Rookie.”

“I only speak the truth.”

“So what is this diagnostics team?” Margaret asks. “Sounds interesting.”

“It’s just a group of doctors who specialize in really tough medical cases,” Ethan briefly explains.

“Now he’s the one being modest,” Naomi says proudly, rubbing her boyfriend’s arm. “It’s not just a group, it’s a team of highly skilled, highly intelligent internists and family medicine doctors solving some of the most challenging and complex mysteries in medicine. It’s one of the best in the country, and Ethan here is the leader.”

“We actually just got back from Amsterdam for a conference a few weeks ago. A fellow doctor and mentor of ours was dying and we didn’t know how to help him. It was tough, but we figured it out, and Ethan delivered very risky phage therapy and saved his life. We published our research and gave speeches until we couldn’t talk anymore.”

“She’s giving me way too much credit. She figured it out, I just followed her lead.”

Margaret watches the young couple with a slight smile on her face. It’s cute how much they talk each other up, so much so that they bicker. “How about we strike a compromise and call it even? You’re both brilliant!”

“I can live with that,” Naomi concedes.

“So this diagnostics team is successful?” William asks rhetorically. “I must say I’m impressed, Ethan. I always figured you’d make something of yourself.”

Ethan’s eyes widen at the statement. “Excuse me?”

“You’re doing well, you have a lovely girlfriend, you have great career successes. I always had great hope for you.”

“That’s a lie,” Ethan says with a snort. “You had preconceived expectations for me, and when I refused to conform, you all but disowned me.”

Margaret reaches across the table in an attempt to hold her son’s hand, but he recoils. “Ethan, must we do this now? We’re having such a nice dinner.”

“Yes. I haven’t seen you guys in years because of the lack of support I received, so forgive me if I have no interest in a revisionist history. I worked my ass off to get where I am, you don’t get to insert yourself in my life at the peak and pretend that you were along for the entire time, because it’s simply not the truth. I’m not going to sit here and pretend that we’re a happy family. You threw me to the wolves.”

“You always were one for dramatics and petulance,” Williams quips with an eyeroll.

“I apologize for not having stoicism so stifling, it borders on sociopathy. It’s been over 20 years since I left home and you still refuse to acknowledge your shortcomings as a father.”

“Enlighten me on these so-called shortcomings,” William goads. “Were the fancy vacations and top notch private schools not to your standards? Did the housekeeper not fluff your pillows enough?”

“I suppose I could thank you for supporting me financially supporting me for the first 18 years of my life, but that’s literally the bare minimum of parenting. I can care less about how much money you spent on me, but that’s your clutch. It’s what you use to keep everyone in your life around. You were cold, and callous, and manipulative. I spent most of my childhood afraid of disappointing you because you don’t know the meaning of true, unconditional love, and one false move could cause the next Cold War. And the minute I stood up for myself, you tossed me aside. I can count on one hand how many times you’ve reached out. I went to college in a different state and my own father couldn’t be bothered to at least call and see if I was still alive, my mother either. You’ve never shown interest in my job, hell, you don’t even know the name of the hospital I’ve been at for 13 years.”

Ethan abruptly stands, starling Naomi. “I need some air.”

“Ethan, wait!” Naomi calls, but he’s already dashing out of their dining room, leaving her in a very awkward situation with his parents.

Margaret wrings her hands together anxiously. “I apologize, Naomi.”

“There’s no need to apologize to me,” Naomi says. 

William takes a sip of his wine. “You must think we’re crazy.”

“No.” Naomi sighs heavily. “Can I say something?”

“Of course.”

“With all due respect, Mister and Missus Ramsey, you guys hurt Ethan,” Naomi starts. “It doesn’t matter if it was intentional or not, he’s hurt and upset. And I think at least validating that would mean a lot to him. You guys have a truly amazing, smart, compassionate son, and you’re missing out on just how wonderful he truly is. It would be a shame to continue missing out over foolish pride.”

She stands up and grabs her purse. “I guess I should go find him. Thank you so much for inviting us out tonight.” Feeling like she should say something else, Naomi points to the bottle of wine sitting on the table. “And you picked out a lovely bottle of Pinot Noir.”

After excusing herself from the dining room, Naomi leaves and finds Ethan outside of the restaurant. He’s crouched over, hands on his knees, shoulders hunched.

“Ethan? Are you okay?”

Ethan’s head snaps up upon hearing his girlfriend’s voice. “I’m sorry for leaving you in there, it was dumb of me.”

“I’m a big girl, I can handle it.”

“I just...I couldn’t sit in there any longer and listen to him talk anymore. Or watch my mother say or do absolutely nothing.”

“We can leave if you’re ready to go,” Naomi suggests.

Leaving sounded great. Pushing himself off of the wall, Ethan nods. “You know what? I am ready to go.”

“Where’s your coat?” Naomi asks, noticing that he was missing it.

“I left it in the dining room.”

“We can always pick it up tomorrow if you don’t want to go back in there.”

“No, it’s fine,” Ethan insists. “It’ll just take a quick second.”

“Okay. But I’m coming with you.”

They walk back into the restaurant and head straight back to the dining room, ignoring the rest of the patrons. Margaret and William are talking in hushed tones, but that all stops when they see Ethan and Naomi re-enter the room.

“I’m just grabbing my jacket, and then we’re leaving,” Ethan says.

“Ethan, wait!” William exclaims. “Can we talk?”

“I don’t have anything else to say.”

“Ethan, please,” William pleads. “I really don’t want to end things on bad terms.”

Ethan hesitates for a moment before giving in. “You wanted to talk? Talk.”

“I’m sorry,” William says. He shares a glance with his wife. “We both are. We invited you guys here tonight to start fresh, but things obviously needed to be said and not swept under the rug. But I apologize for hurting you. You deserve more than we gave you, and I’ve always hated myself for alienating you and letting you leave. You were always so headstrong and stubborn, and I was envious of that. I’m not saying I have any regrets about my career, because I don’t, but my life was set out for me, and I guess I was a bit resentful of the fact that you chose to buck tradition and live freely.”

That’s news to Ethan. He never bothered wondering why his dad was always so hard on him.

“Obviously, we can’t make up for 21 years of tension and strife,” Margaret continues. “But we can make the most of our time now. Life is short, and we love you.”

“I love you guys, too,” Ethan confesses after a moment of silence. And he was at a place in his life where he didn’t want to be bitter and angry, especially at a man who is potentially dying.

“And we’ll be staying out here for a while, with my hospital and cancer treatments being based at Mass Kenmore.” Ethan cringes at the mention of that hospital, but he stays quiet. “Can we at least try to make some time for each other?”

Ethan bites the inside of his cheek in contemplation. He didn’t know if he was ready to assimilate his parents back into his life. Naomi squeezes his hand affectionately, a silent show of support.

“I’m not making any promises, but we can try,” Ethan concedes.

Margaret smiles. “You know what? That's good enough for us. We’ll take it.”

~~V~~

Ethan and Naomi don’t stay at the hospital long after that, opting to go back to the comfort of their apartment. It had been a long day and they no longer had the energy.

Now they were sitting in the large bathtub in their en-suite, overlooking the gorgeous Boston skyline.

“So…how are you feeling?” Naomi asks. “Today was a lot to deal with.”

“I’m tired.”

“I figured. How are you feeling about your parents though?”

Ethan doesn’t respond. Instead he buries his face in the crook of his girlfriend’s neck, ignoring the berry scented bubbles that tickle his nose.

“I don’t know,” he answers truthfully. “Vindicated, I guess. I never thought I’d see the day William Ramsey issues an apology. Granted, it was over 20 years late.”

“I think it was sincere though.”

“I do too. But when we have kids someday, I want them to have to wait until they’re 39 years old for closure. I want them to know that I’ll never let my pride come before them. I want them to know that they can do whatever they want, and I’ll love them regardless. I’ll always love them, and support their decisions, and they’ll always have me in their corner.” 

Naomi’s throat tightens. Ethan didn’t say if they had kids, but when.

Of course she knew they were in a serious relationship — they lived together for goodness sake — but he never really spoke definitively of their future.

“Oh, so we’re having kids?” Naomi teases. She cranes her neck so she can get a good look at him.

It dawns on Ethan that he slipped up and started talking about their hypothetical future together. His cheeks turn a deep shade of red and Naomi can’t recall a time she’s ever seen him so flustered.

“Yes,” Ethan answers, matter of factly. “And they’ll be beautiful like their mother.”

Naomi turns around so she can face Ethan, ignoring the soapy water that sloshes out of the bathtub and onto the floor.

“And as lovely as these hypothetical children sound, I don’t think they’ll be here anytime soon. Not until we talk more about our future, marriage, and all of that good stuff.”

Ethan bites down on his tongue. Tucked away in his safe is a 4-carat cushion-cut diamond ring with Naomi’s name on it. But she doesn’t need to know that...yet.

“I love you,” He says.

“I love you too.”

“Thank you for having my back tonight.”

“Of course.” Naomi leans down and kisses Ethan, a kiss that’s over far too quickly for his liking. “There’s nowhere else I’ll ever be.”

[secretlystephaniebrown]

More Robin 80th Thoughts

Overall on the Robin 80th, I’ll say that Dick and Jason had the best stories, with Steph in the middle, and Tim and Damian tied for the worst ones.

“A Little Nudge” by Marv Wolvman: a solid story with nice art by Tom Grummet. A good look at the character, his growth, and some lovely insight into the difference between himself and Bruce.

“Aftershocks” by Chuck Dixon: I didn’t want to like this as much as I did, but I really, really did enjoy it. For all of his political conspiracy right-wing bullshit, Dixon can still write well, and the ending was legitimately sweet.

“Team Building” by Devin Grayson: a fun, lighthearted Titans romp with emphasis on Dick as a great leader, and the Titans as a strong team and friendship.

“The Lesson Plan” by Tom King: *deep sighs*. I never was really into Agent 37/Agent Grayson stuff. I don’t like Tom King’s writing. And this one was easily the weakest of the Dick Grayson stories. It doesn't make sense why it’s here, to be honest, except that Tom King continues to be DC’s golden boy even after he tanked Batman. Also, Dick just ending up in a weird sexy costume halfway through the story was just. random as fuck.

“More Time” by Judd Winnick: Winnick can be really hit or miss for me, but I was always going to be hype to see Dustin Nguyen art, and holy shit did this one hit me hard. I love the sweetness to this Jason characterization: showing Jason as a child as a sweet, intelligent, thoughtful kid, rather than as the rebellious, angry kid who lead to his own downfall that we see a lot of. It had the strongest emotional core for me of any story in this collection, and it’s easily the one I’d buy as a solo issue, if they were being released that way.

“Extra Credit” by Adam Beechen: do you hear me sighing again? Because I am. I don’t like this characterization of Tim as some sort of hyper-competent student when in his past he was a class-a “ace the test, never hand in homework” kind of student, the art was meh, and really all it did was lay out that... Tim is Robin. Literally all of them did those things, except I guess Steph didn’t get to tick the leadership box, and that’s because DC sucks.

“Boy Wonders” by James Tynion: *deepest sigh*. Well. Here we are again, aren’t we Tynion? I have so carefully avoided you since I dropped Detective Comics. So, what do you have for me? Ah. That. Well, that was a shallow, surface level interpretation of all of the male robins and their characters, continuing your weird insistence that they all have no overlap at all, and you left Steph out for some reason, even if you do get a pinch of credit for including the only Cass cameo in this entire book. I don’t agree with the fans who think Tim is as-badly-done-by Tynion as Steph and Cass were, but I really do think his characterization is shallow as all hell, and I just don’t enjoy his style. Sorry James. I think you mean well.

“Fitting In” by Amy Wolfram: already covered it, but I’ll reiterate it again: an okay book with brilliant art, good characterization marred by a weird need to remind us that Steph is the girl Robin who can’t just wear someone else’s costume.

Sidenote though, this weird blurb of Steph in the history part of the back of the book fills me with rage.

Really? Not even bothering to show her in costume, instead showing her kissing Tim, and characterizing it as a dark period in Tim’s life instead of a high point in hers? Oh, fuck you DC.

Some generally good pinup art and group shots throughout the issue though. I guess I’ll take the bright side here.

“My Best Friend” by Peter Tomasi: Have I mentioned sighing? Super Sons is cute, but really, I find myself really pulled out of things by some weird things in this issue: Lois Lane, notorious mis-speller acting like she’s qualified to edit a paper is the mildest of them. This story just really reminds me that Tomasi is kind of... bad, about acknowledging adoptive families? The art by Jorge Jimenez was cute enough though, so I’ll give it that.

“Bat and Mouse” by Robbie Thompson: yeah so I have no fucking idea what was happening in this issue. It’s a tie-in to something that I haven’t read, the art is so goddamn hideous I honestly thought we were doing some sort of weird flashforward to an old Bruce bc his face looked so lumpy, and it honestly was just so-off-putting I didn’t want to finish it. TBH I’d probably rather they had skipped forward to seeing Damian as a grown up, because I strongly dislike this idea of tying this story into a different comic. Most of the others, even when they were referencing other events--Cataclysm for Dick, the launch of Rebirth ‘Tec for Tim--felt self-contained, like you could just pop in them without having read the other books or events to understand them. This one really felt bogged down, and didn’t flow, and the art really didn’t help. I can’t emphasize enough how much I didn’t like that art lol.

All in all, a book with some serious highs and lows, but one that I enjoyed in concept, and am glad ended up published, at the very least.

[itsclydebitches]

What determines canon? The witcher games are not canon according to the author. the books are and he has given approval of the show. Now people love the games and their stories, but aren't canon to the books. Another example is the old Star Wars AU. Disney made those non canon. Or RWBY with the DC comics/manga. How do we handle canon when different adaptations exist by different directors and teams all using the same IP?

That’s a question we’ve been trying to answer for a long time now. In this digital age storytelling simply isn’t as straightforward as it once was and as franchises expand, are sold to new authors, and revisions are made, what’s “canonical” continually changes. It changes for each individual too because everyone has their own sense of threshold, what is or is not canonical enough for them. For some, canon still comes down to the original author, but it’s getting harder and harder to determine what they’ve created or what they’ve agreed to. That’s why people here on tumblr flood Neil Gaiman’s inbox with questions about the Good Omens adaptation. Did you sign off on this change? Did you create this detail? If you didn’t come up with it do you at least agree with it? Fans are still eager to know whether or not the original author either crafted or at least signed off on something so that they can make the claim that such-and-such is now canonical.

 We can ask the same things of Witcher. Did Sapkowski explicitly agree to changes like the ones we see to Geralt and Jaskier’s relationship? What does “explicitly agree” even mean in this day and age? If he agreed because yay Netflix is paying me money to let them adapt my work however they please, many fans wouldn’t consider that a good enough reason to make something canonical. Because the change is stemming from monetary needs rather than creativity. Fans are likely to discard it. That’s not real canonical authority... even though the author still very much said, “Yes. This is now a thing.” On the other hand, if Sapkowski came up with this change himself, or thought it was the best idea ever, or all around just signed off on it from a creative standpoint, we still have the issue of two canons conflicting. If Sapkowski applies equal authenticity to both relationships, in the books and in the adaptation, we’re nevertheless left with at least a certain level of conflict. Did Geralt love Jaskier when they first met or did he punch them? Both canons exist. 

For me personally, relying on the author’s express (whatever that means) creation/agreement to a story is far too limiting a requirement. Because, as said, it’s getting harder to find out what influence authors had in a collaborative project, because they might have a variety of “bad” reasons for making the change (Holmes’ resurrection is canonical not because Doyle wanted that for the series but because he needed money), and because that means everything post their death is automatically not canonical (insert arguments over what Monty wanted for RWBY here). So, in contrast, I prefer to stick to the opposite end of things: It’s ALL canonical. If there’s even the smallest connection back to the author---any indication that some level of agreement to this creation exists---then for me it’s canon. 

Witcher books? Canon. Sapkowski wrote them. 

Witcher games? Canon. Sapkowski willingly gave CD Projekt Red the rights to create them whether he agrees with their choices or not. 

Witcher comics? Canon. Sapkowski signed off on Dark Horse writing their own stories. 

Witcher Neflix adaptation? Canon. 

Sapkowski passes a bunch of notes down to a family member/friend and asks them to keep writing after he’s gone? Canon. 

Sapkowski (heaven forbid) sells the Witcher rights to Disney? Canon. 

Now obviously, as said, this means that numerous canons conflict. But I think that’s okay. It just means that fans need to acknowledge WHICH canon they’re talking about and keep in mind that others might be thinking about a different one. “Man, I’m so glad Geralt and Triss are a couple.” “They’re... not? He’s canonically with Yen.” “Oh, I mean in the game. My play-through.” “Got it, got it. Yeah, I romanced her one time too.” That’s actually at least part of the disconnect between my readings of Yen and those who have messaged me insisting that I’ll love her in [insert specific novel here]. I hated her in The Last Wish. I then hated her in the comics run. I hate the time I’ve spent with her in Witcher 3. I felt sympathy for her in the Netflix series and then quickly grew to dislike her again. At this point, from my perspective, multiple canons are giving me a characterization that I just don’t jive with, so I don’t like her period. For others the “real” canon is not just limited to Sapkowski’s books, but also where a character ultimately ends up. That characterization on the last page is “more” canonical than the characterization we get over the course of their run. Here we see fans interpreting canon in different ways which, inevitably, has them interpreting the plot and characters in different ways too. Those who apparently read Willow in the comics interpreted her differently than those who just watched “Cordially Invited” and I get that because I read Yen in the comics and thus interpreted her differently in Witcher 3. Plenty will turn around and go, “Well, the comics aren’t canon so you’re wrong.” But... the comics exist. They were advertised as “tie-ins.” They’re not fanworks. They’re also not solely Sapkowski’s work. They exist in that middle ground. 

For me, the middle ground is canon. Anything else just results in squabbling over trying to prove how much influence an author had, why that influence exists, and usually ends with fans claiming that something can’t be canon because they don’t like it (example: Cursed Child and Fantastic Beasts are canon whether we want them to be or not). Considering that our media landscape is just going to get more complicated, I’d much rather broaden the definition of canon than narrow it. 

[burr-ell]

Babe pls go off about TTG vs TT I would love it

caps is referring to this post i made a week ago; i made sure bc i’m kind of an illiterate dumdum who’s bad at math. @zitkaplushie and @aaawunder have also decided to endorse my absolute worst impulses on the matter of cartoons vs comics SO

what’s been on my mind lately is…not really a Big Discourse, it’s mostly just a pet peeve. and as a disclaimer i’d like to say that i firmly believe in interacting with fandom any way you want. i’m not the fandom police; that job sounds heinous.

but i gotta tell ya, it can get pretty frustrating trying to find good teen titans animated content that actually feels like it’s about teen titans animated. and so much of that comes down to people who insist on shoehorning comics canon into the show—especially the people who don’t like it that none of the characters refer to each other by “real name”, and think it’s a problem that they need to fix in their fanworks.

i vaguely referenced this type of thing briefly here, but people not treating the animated series as a completely different ‘verse with a completely different structure and continuity from any comics or previous animated shows is…baffling, to me. it takes me out of the enjoyment of a lot of fan content that people produce and then file under the animated show in the archives. and i wish it didn’t because i like enjoying things, surprisingly! but it does, and i think i know why.

uninhibited gushing about teen titans under the cut:

the cartoon makes for an excellent gateway series to the lesser-known aspects of the dc universe, but it also stands really well on its own. and part of the reason for that is that you don’t need to know any comics canon to enjoy the show—you don’t even need to be familiar with batman at all in order to understand and empathize with robin as a character. and i think one element of that is the fact that nobody refers to anyone by their “real names”, because as far as the show is concerned, their superhero names are their real names. being a superhero is their full-time job, and their hero lives and personal lives are one and the same.

so it kinda grinds my gears to read fanfic tagged specifically under the animated series where characters frequently refer to each other as ‘dick’, ‘gar’, ‘vic,’ and ‘kory’—and in some cases ‘rachel’ too—and consistently reference their backstories as a part of the expanded dc universe. do they do that in the comics and the animated movies and the live-action show? sure! and there’s nothing inherently wrong with it. but i’ve always liked the fact that they make a point of avoiding that in the cartoon, and to me it’s one of the things that sets the show apart. no one has a civilian identity—they’re teenagers, they look and talk and act like teenagers, but they fight villains full-time. that’s all. and it’s great!

while the cartoon is primarily focused on action, it still manages to communicate a lot of the mature aspects of the comics’ stories and characters without having to give them civilian identities. our understanding of cyborg, for example, isn’t made better by knowing that his birth name is ‘victor stone’. his struggle to accept himself for who he is, both the human and the machine, is still core to his character arc, and it shines through whether you know the backstory or not.

disabled kids watch cyborg and they don’t need to know about silas stone and STAR Labs; they’re looking at his cybernetics as prosthetic limbs and saying “hey! he’s just like me!”. that’s the kind of thing that really matters, and that’s part of what makes the show so special to me.

on a practical level, there’s a reason starfire and raven don’t go by their “real names”—because starfire and raven are their real names. in kory’s pre-crisis comics debut, “starfire” was a code name originally born out of the effects of her energy bolts (she didn’t actually do the language kiss until about a week after they rescued her from the gordanians, so they needed to call her something). but in the cartoon, starfire is to koriand’r as john is to giovanni—it’s the english translation of her name. and raven is a half demon raised in an alternate dimension populated by monks; “rachel roth” has only ever been a pseudonym she uses to get around when she has to. it’s only robin, cyborg, and beast boy that even have secret identities to begin with in the cartoon, and it’s not that much of a reach to argue that they’re choosing to eschew those old names to better reflect who they’ve chosen to be.

and i think that last bit especially is why it bugs me that people have argued that “they’re supposed to be friends but they don’t trust each other enough to tell each other their backstories!”. because to me, it’s a lot more compelling that they trust each other enough to not need to know that information. “she’s our friend,” robin says about raven. “what more do we need to know?”. what they’re acknowledging there, to me, is that it doesn’t really matter where you’ve been or what you were born to do; it’s about who you choose to be now. and i love that, the respect of choice. having the characters refer to each other by birth name just because it’s their birth name, as if a birth name is inherently more valid and intimate, kind of undermines that to me.

teen titans works as well as it does, and still holds up almost two decades later, because it is, at its core, a show about teenage superheroes as found family that just happens to be a dc property. i’m so much more interested in fan content that plays by those rules—treating the comics canon as isolated wink-and-nudge kind of stuff, because it’s more interested in how the characters have chosen to present themselves than in making them abide by Comics Rules. again, i’m not out to be the Content Police to tell you how to enjoy a kids’ show, but it would be nice if content tagged under the animated show was actually about the animated show instead of cramming in comics canon when there are already communities and tags for comics canon. just let the cartoon be the cartoon.

[lizzybeth1986]

Quick Thoughts on TRH Book 1 Chapter 5

• Now that we are five chapters into this story, now seems like a good time to get the masterlist of this series out! 😁 Which I will be doing shortly after this QT is up. If you've missed the other chapters, you'll be more easily able to find them all there! I'll also be reblogging my TRR series masterlist sometime this week, since my TRR Book 1 Chapter 5 chapter is close to getting finished as well.

• I'm hoping to get this one out early, it's an extremely light chapter for the most part. It's practically filler, filled with little vignettes between the characters here and there and mostly diamond scenes. The heavy stuff inevitably seems to be left for the actual Walker Ranch (sigh).

• Here are the tags to block if you don't want my QTs to clog up your dash: #long post, #trh quick thoughts, #trh qts, #trh qt reblogs. For now a friend of mine is helping get the read-mores on the main posts, until Tumblr actually does something to make them work on a phone again.

• TW: Brief mentions of the Dr Ramirez scene in Hana's playthrough, and infertility.

• Screenshot Credits:

Hana - @pixieferry

Maxwell - Abhirio's YouTube channel

Drake - @thefirstcourtesan

Liam - Well, me

• Besides being mostly filler stuff, this chapter had a lot of diamond scenes. Two outfit changes (one OOTD and one lingerie for the LI), a group scene and the book's first character scene (Liam).

• A few people I know have been asking me about the differences between "character scenes" and "LI scenes" (and indeed a lot of people were confused by my use of these terms in my Book 3 QTs). So once I get to my general thoughts section, I'll elaborate on those.

• Title: The Open Road

Alternative Title: Enjoy The Fillers, Dear Fans, Coz You Got A Walker-Storm Comin'!

• We're now on our way to the States, barely days after we got back to our own estate. The Council is looking after stuff in exactly the way they have since we left for our honeymoon, except that now it's lost all its core group members besides Olivia. Her, Hana and Kiara must probably share whatever few brain cells exist in that Council between each other.

• If you've unlocked the "casual clothing" scenes for the LIs in Book 2 (Liam's t-shirt, Hana's crop top, Drake's Henley and Maxwell's muscle shirt and Bubbles necklace), that's what they'll be wearing on their journey this chapter.

• Maxwell is now the self-appointed Royal Entertainment Committee.

• Bertrand WOULD be freaking out about spoons.

• Our OOTD today is an off-shoulder crop top with floral designs, and ripped shorts - paired with a blue and pink statement necklace and a few bracelets. Esther DuPont and literally every other MC is more confident about pulling this outfit off than I will ever be.

• Maxwell suggests the outfit in the Liam, Drake and Hana playthroughs, and Hana suggests it in Maxwell's.

• First Stop: Our old workplace in NY! Our manager is no longer around (probably got fired lol) but Daniel is! Or as I still like to call him, Not-Henney 😂

• Hana is so cutely excited about visiting the place where it all begin, a place she must have till now only heard about in the other LIs' stories. Sigh. Wish we'd brought her here earlier.

• Not-Henney has issues with how little attention Maxwell gave to the MC's origins. @callmetippytumbles points out that there's not much you can expect from an author who put his face on the cover of a book about you. Cmon, Not-Henney.

• Told you "Things are Great" would become a meme.

• He now asks what the experience of being an actual Queen/Duchess is like. You can go for the funny route (glam parties that'll make Beyonce jealous. Oh idk, does Beyonce like an overabundance of apples?), the realistic route (speaking about everyone's expectations weighing on you), and the romantic route, which brings out some cute responses in both Not-Henney and the LIs, ranging from delight to awkwardness.

• Oh snap. The paps are here.

• We make a run for it (in two options, with Daniel's help), and keep driving. Somewhere in the middle of the conversation, the MC mentions a motorcycle when speaking about Drake, which makes me wonder in we will end up having a motorcycle scene in Texas itself. I mean, the writers did mention being excited about a scene featuring one in their livestream.

• Maxwell picks the next stop, and it's that engagement barn we built for Liam, apparently. Or the house of Robert, Steve Tennyson's (PM) dad. Where he has found the "biggest ball of string". Only Joy and Hope, my corgis, seem even remotely happy about this.

•

...Okay Maxwell.

Hana needs to roast people more. Roast EVERYONE in that friend group and EVERYONE in that court!

• Fun Fact: This chapter was released on the 50th anniversary of the historic 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing 😁

• As proven from this scene, the few brain cells this group collectively has, all belong to Hana.

• It's now time to check out what the group brought as provisions:

MC: Nothing, she's only here to ask what everyone else brought

Drake: Jerky

Maxwell: Tequila (!!)

Liam: IDK Esther I thought a four-course meal would just fall upon our laps from the heavens

Hana: ME! Bring cookies that I've NOT warmed by the fires wrought from the bowels of the deepest hells??? BLASPHEMY.

As always Hana saves everyone's ass this fine day. I actually quite like this bit with Hana, because it veers a tiny bit more towards "perfectionist" than just simply "perfect". Hana would be the kind of person to worry excessively over being a good hostess, since that's something she's been learning since she was a little girl (remember the tea scene in the flashback).

• We now stop by at Washington DC - Hana's suggestion - because she wanted to look at the cherry blossoms. I was quite chuffed about this when I found out coz I always used to have her down as more of a "plum blossom" girl, and this is pretty close 😁

• That little bit in DC where speaks of the area as "a marvel of both nature and civic engineering" is a nice touch, since Liam has always been associated with monuments and national legends.

• THE PAPS?? AGAIN????

• ...If my spouse and I have to spend ALL our time answering questions about babymaking, where are we going to find the time to babymake, mediapeople? Ever thought of that? Huh? Huh??

• This option is hands down the best fucking option in this chapter lol:

YOU'RE ALL SUCH DORKS ISTG

• We're now in a small town where Liam wants to mingle and be one with the locals. He's not been very successful in doing this in Cordonia (where people can literally look at his face and figure out who he is), but because it's the US and not many people might recognize him here, his chances of not being caught are better.

• This is the first character scene in the new series. It's pretty alright, not a lot of insights or anything, just a simple scene where Liam gets to not worry about acting like a royal, occasionally acknowledge his privilege, be charmingly naive, order milkshakes, and listen to the MC's insights on how she will bring up her/their kid. He does mention it opens some new perspectives on understanding his people, but I'm not sure we'll get to see much of what learnings he will put into action because, yknow, Cordonian commoners are practically invisible.

• This scene is also proof that you can take Liam out of the court but you can't take the court out of Liam.

• It begins with what the MC calls "a sidewalk hello", where she can either guide or massively troll him. The first two options are awkward as hell (I did like the bowing one though lolol coz she tells him he's probably made someone's day with his "courtly manners"), and the third is for Liam to simply ignore the other person and stare at his phone.

• Next scene involves getting Liam to buy groceries...coz he's never brought groceries. Why would he Esther he has a staff.

• They have a choice between fruit, nachos with everything on them (and they weren't kidding about "everything") and chocolates. I chose fruit.

• You also get some cute tidbits about Liam's life growing up in the palace. Here are the important ones:

- Constantine and Eleanor agreed they wanted Liam to be self-sufficient but "disagreed on how far to take that principle" (given what Liam says about her in one of the other options, I'm guessing Eleanor wanted to take it a lot more further).

- Liam can make spaghetti carbonara!!!

- Laundry: So there was this one time Leo and Liam played tag close to a champagne tower at an event, and it fell down. Eleanor insisted they "clean up the mess [they] made. A reasonable lesson in decorum and consequences". I kinda like this little crumb of info considering there is so little we know about her.

- Eating leftovers: Liam used to have sleepovers at Jackson and Bianca's quarters, and he tells us he was "proud to help Drake's mother microwave the leftovers" coz to his little mind he thought that was cooking 😁 I know, I know, I believed my mom when she put a tiny bit of coffee powder in my milk and told me it was actual coffee haha.

- Doesn't know how to do dishes. He knows soap and water is involved lol.

• The final part of the scene involves Liam treating himself at a diner with (what else!) a milkshake, while casually chatting with the MC about how she feels about the simplicity of her past life, and the way she plans to bring up her (or their) own child.

• Liam not immediately understanding that utensils are self-serve reminds me of Hana's confusion at the idea of a McDermots not having wait-staff.

• The MC has options for how to respond to Liam's question about bringing up a child - 1. I'd like my child to be practical and aware of their role, they don't need to learn how to fold a bed sheet or do dishes. 2. I want my child to have a bit of both worlds so that they're more flexible in their approach. 3. My child should be acutely aware of what the common person in Cordonia goes through if they're going to have to rule fairly over them. These three options in some way allow you to imagine what the MC would be like as a mother, and what upbringing this 'heir' might have.

•

I've never actually seen YOU make much of an effort to find out in Cordonia.

• There's also a tiny bit about Regina that follows this optional dialogue if you're married to him, which I really like: Liam states to Esther that those are "wise words from the wisest queen I know", following which she points out that he's lucky Regina hasn't heard it. Liam's response to that is: "after all this time, I think she'd agree with me". Regina's kinda grown on me over the series, and I do hope we see her again!

• Overall the scene's alright. It's there, it's cute, it's filler like the rest of the chapter. Only time will tell if it will actually result in anything in the future, which kind of leads me to wonder what Character Scenes are going to look like going forward (now that the LI scenes mostly perform the function for both characterization and romance). But the biggest takeaway right now for me is what Liam has to say about his parents, and optionally about his mother. I think that may point towards something later on.

• LMAO @ the random stranger in the diner optionally thinking Liam's brother might be Thor. Leo would be pleased 😂 Also a nice touch to see her recognize us again at the lingerie store if we buy both scenes!

• We now have a scene featuring the couples in their hotel bedroom, where the LI and MC have either had a bit of a wild night, or where the MC has just finished her at-home fertilization procedure (if the LI is Hana). There's a little chit-chat here and there about the moments they have now and about privacy, but it's different in the case of Hana.

• You finally get the chance to ask about how she feels, and this is the response:

• That's it then, I guess 😒 I'm honestly not surprised, given how much in a hurry they were to have Hana concentrate on the MC in the doctor's office itself. I'll expand more on this later.

LIAM. YOU FOOL. I'M WEARING IT RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU.

• Honestly I don't see the point in having the MC suggest the lingerie in Liam's playthrough (the others basically make the suggestion instead, and they say "well, you're wearing that", instead, implying that they're talking about what she has on already) if they're not going to code it properly.

• The actual lingerie scenes are pretty cute! And fun! And comes with cool dialogues options, and this:

• NOW I know why Hana's lingerie was head and shoulders above the rest. SHE WAS THE ONE WHO CHOSE IT.

• So here's a rundown of all four LI scenes:

- Liam: The clerk from the store (who was also the girl who noticed Liam in the Incognito Scene if you bought that) recognizes Liam and the MC, freaks out and closes the store so they can shop in full privacy. The rest of it is cute playful banter, like expressing surprise at this being Liam's first time at a lingerie store. She then chooses black silk boxers with a golden baroque design. LMAO trust the MC to get him a Versace. 😂

- Drake - Tells the MC he likes it when she takes the lead. The MC then gets to ask him whether he would be down to wearing handcuffs or pink feathers. To the second option, Drake claims that he would "wear a tutu and crown if you told me you had a thing for the sugar fairy". LMAO they really are desperate to show us how much they learned from the "pink cake" fiasco. Pity how they couldn't teach themselves to treat their one female LI with respect. Anyway, the MC chooses red silk boxers with polka dots (!!)

- Maxwell - This scene is a fever dream from start to finish. Maxwell is happy and excited and SUPER SUPER enthusiastic, asking the MC to drop a beat so he can break into a dance at the store. The MC chooses blue silk boxers with squid designs on them. EVEN MAXWELL CANNOT CONTAIN HIS SHOCK. (PS: This scene marks the third appearance of "release the kraken!" 😄).

- Hana - Hana has apparently seen shops like these from the outside but has never been to one (same sis same). She speaks of how she never had anyone to do it for, which is why she is so happy about it now coz she can do it for the MC. A sweet, simple conversation. The difference here is that Hana knows what she wants, and chooses the lingerie herself: a beautiful lace and fishnet number with garter belt and stockings. She looks amazing and part of that is because unlike her friends, she realizes that her wife has deplorable fashion sense.

• It's now the next day, and Drake tries really hard to hoodwink everyone into making his "next stop" the Walker ranch, but the Royal Entertainment Committee threatens him with an "intimidating interpretive dance performed by me" (is he going to jump out the car and sing Kiki Do You Love Me too?). It's enough to scare Drake into picking a nicer stop.

• It's now time to listen to some tunes!! Everyone squabbles a little over what music to choose and the MC gets to pick either of them:

- Hana's Choice: A piano concerto that Liam loves, makes Drake cry and Maxwell go all happy-sleepy.

- Liam's Choice: Chartbusters. "Top 40s". Drake is surprised coz the last time they drove together, Liam made him listen to 52 versions of a single Bach sonata, to which Liam cheekily responds that doing so made him figure out which one was Drake's favourite.

- Maxwell's Choice: Some song that Maxwell did a deejay mix to, and apparently Liam (and presumably Drake) lent backing vocals to. Going by Liam's advance apology it must be pretty fucking terrible.

- Drake's Choice: Classic rock tunes that he can do air-guitar to. Liam concedes it has rhythm, Drake responds that it has rhythm and attitude. He tries to do air guitar in the car but Hana, panicking, reminds him that he's the one driving.

- What Would Have Been Bertrand's Choice/We Shall Drive In Silence!: Apparently when the MC says this, Maxwell says that she channeled Bertrand so hard "he flashed before my eyes". The MC reasons that if no one wants to listen to anyone else's music they might as well be quiet. Maxwell tries to bring up other alternatives such as playing his kazoo-tar, at which point EVERYONE agrees that silence is golden.

• This bit is one of my favourites in the chapter. Probably the second after "say cheese" haha.

• It's Hana's turn to drive and Maxwell is helping her by asking she carve that path from her heart. Which she does, even though she has mentally memorized the next twelve steps she needs to take.

• Liam drives, explaining when the MC asks that Drake was his first driving instructor (Drake had his licence already and they may have used a royal golf course or two for practice runs).

• Maxwell finds a new waypoint: Thrilltown. His reasoning is quite poignant (everything is changing, the MC and LI - in some cases him - will be having a child soon and everyone will be busy in their respective roles, when will everyone be together like this again?). The rest of the group comfort and reassure him, stating that they will probably see more of each other now. In any case...perhaps to Maxwell this is like a last hurrah to the carefree life he used to have.

• We start with choosing rides. Maxwell and Drake choose The Accelerator, which Maxwell describes as "fast. furious. and it uses gravity at speeds that Thrilltown can't legally release to the public!". Hana and Liam choose the "gentler" option - the carousel - which has you ride unicorns, griffins, dragons and other fantastical beings.

• I'm surprised the writers don't have him react even a little to the carousel, considering one of his scariest experiences took place on one (Book 1 Chapter 16). Just show him say "yeah...I'll pass" or show some emotion or other. It's like that armoury scene in his playthrough of Book 3 Chapter 11 where Madeleine could mock Liam about his feelings for the MC and Maxwell is pretty much sitting there not reacting. It's so lazy. I can't.

• Carousel with Liam and Hana: I loved this one, very cute. The carousel has fantasy elements and mythical animals, things that both Liam and Hana love. The MC gets to sit on a phoenix (like her optional Valtoria sigil!), Liam on a dragon (like the royal family's old crest! Dom would be proud) and Hana on a unicorn (which suits her particular style of whimsy). It's cute and fun and sounds exactly like the kind of thing Liam and Hana would enjoy.

The Accelerator with Maxwell and Drake: They call it EXTREME, and it lives up to its name. Maxwell is ecstatic obviously because he's a thrill-seeker and a ride like this is completely in his wheelhouse. Drake gets caught red-handed handed actually enjoying the ride.

• We try out something called The Vortex of Terror, where Liam challenges his friends to not scream up until the end of the ride. Ironically he's the first one to cave 🤣🤣

• "I accept your terms, Liam...as long as you're prepared to lose". Badass enough to challenge the king of the country xD (considering the way that ride goes, I think she was right haha).

• I need more Competitive, Sarcastic Hana outside of cute group scenes.

• One of two people can win this challenge: either the MC or Hana. If the MC wins, she gets to hoist herself on the LI's shoulders towards the next ride. If Hana wins, she perches herself on top of Drake's because he's pretty damn tall.

• Our last ride is called "Lover's Leap" and it's pretty much the romantic portion of the group scene, really.

At the end of it, the LI brings you a green candy drink, and then lets you know how this trip to Thrilltown is representative of their journey together and the change the MC has brought to their lives.

• Both Hana and I have no freaking clue what Liam means when he says "I call shotgun" before they head out.

• Lol @ Cordonia having its own version of "Ninety Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall". And of course it's going to feature Cordonian Rubies 🤣

• We now reach the ranch, where those of us who didn't marry Drake meet his mother Bianca for the very first time (in every other playthrough she is called "The Rider" and in Drake's her sprite is addressed by name).

• There ends the chapter, on a 'suspicious' note, the kind that seems to sound like things are suspicious but they're probably not. Bertrand's head must be exploding from the lack of spoons.

General Thoughts:

• It's a good thing this filler chapter exists, even if it's mostly inconsequential fluff, because at least that's one chapter less to deal with BertVannah and Drake and his family.

• It's also pretty expensive because the writers knew their crowd by now and know that that crowd is willing to spend.

• The scenes were in keeping with the mood of the chapter - light and fluffy, lots of friendship and some amount of romance. I ended up liking the free short scenes more than any of the diamond ones this chapter honestly.

• So...on the outset, it seems good that the MC is able to check on Hana, post the visit to Dr Ramirez. Hearing Hana's answer, however, brought back every issue I've ever had with the way they've written Hana.

I mean, sure, not everyone reacts the same way to such painful news. I understand that. But here the writers are basically using Hana to minimize what she's going through. They use her to dismiss her own pain with "oh that's okay, I'm just happy that at least you can carry that baby". All that proves is that the female LIs' experiences and pain mean nothing in front the MC's needs.

I've spoken before about the numerous times Hana's pain had been brushed aside or her space eaten into, to favour particular characters, and this just happens to be a repeat of the same formula. This is especially bad because it proves that the only reason they put Hana through this kind of hell in the first place is so that only the MC can carry the child. Her condition isn't allowed to be anything else other than a plot convenience: not an opportunity to open a conversation on this, nor to help develop her as a character. It's merely a narrative device meant to make coding easier. It's dismissive, lazy and reeks of a deplorable lack of care. And again I have to ask, why put her through this if you're so desperate to ignore it afterwards??

• The other big problem is that considering the gravity of that situation, why is checking on her an option rather than actual default dialogue?? If you choose the option to continue talking about playlists instead, the topic just never emerges again. Again I have to ask, what the hell kind of wife is the MC? I mean even before they got the news, the MC was pretty much doing nothing. She wasn't planning for Hana, she wasn't thinking much in terms of what to do for her, everything seems to just revolve around her even in a scenario where either one could have been a mother.

• The lingerie scene seems to me to have elements of a type of diamond scene in the flagship series - the ones where we could buy new casual clothing for our LIs in NY. The LI requires a new look, the MC suggests for a change and often picks out something that she thinks would work (some of her choices - like Liam's pants or Drake's sunglasses are...questionable 😅), and from then on this would be their option for ultra-casual occasions. The one casualwear scene that is different from all these is Maxwell's: he gets his sleeveless shirt and Bubbles necklace at a shop in Coney Island, during the group scene (I think part of this was that they were attempting a step-by-step LI-upgrade because they were a new couple at that point...which was why his first 30 diamond scene was during the Gala, after they'd been together for a little while. Still doesn't excuse all the ways they ignored his background and history though).

The main difference between the casualwear scenes and the lingerie ones is that the first dealt put the MC and LI in different situations and dealt with different issues (therefore was a scene of its own) and the second really just revolved around the lingerie. Perhaps the lingerie scene would be what you'd call an 'extended outfit option'? As opposed to something that's a scene all on its own?

• I was actually quite surprised we got a character scene in this series. Given how much they'd drastically cut down on them in favour of beefing up their LI scenes more, I was fully expecting not to see them. I do prefer them to the LI scenes sometimes, because my LI is not the only one I want to be keeping tabs on, and I do want to know what's happening in their lives.

• What is the difference between the two? I hear some of you ask. Well, good question because I'm about to launch into one of my long-winded explanations again.

• Diamond Scenes in TRR/H: I've been holding off on writing about these, since I believed that the series probably had done away with character scenes and preferred to use LI scenes for both romance and development. With this chapter, I now understand that's not the case.

• So...simply put, the difference between an Character Scene and an LI scene, is that the first focuses on the same character in all playthroughs (eg. no matter who you are romancing, if you buy these scenes it's Hana who will play Snow Angels with you, or Drake who will go fishing with you), and the second focuses on who you are engaged/married to (eg. If I'm romancing Hana, I will not be going to the movies with Liam. If I'm romancing Maxwell, I will not be having a cake testing session with Drake).

During Books 1 and 2, when the MC wasn't altogether exclusive with any LI as such, each character would have their own specific scene which expanded further on their characterization and gave the MC a chance to learn more about them. Most of the romance in these scenes were by choice, with the exception of a few lines here and there. The writers tried to continue this way of formatting diamond scenes even beyond Liam's proposal, but the amount of backlash from the portions of the scenes that involved the MC cheating on her confirmed LI...kind of made them backtrack on this plan quite a bit.

Book 3 switched the format up a little. It was similarish in a lot of ways to RoE, except that unlike that book (where the other two would disappear once you got engaged to one), we were also friends with the other LIs. Besides outfits and plot development scenes (such as the one in the Nevrakis replica armory with Olivia and Gladys) and group scenes, the book also offered two types of scenes for the reader to connect with the characters they liked:

1. LI Scenes: These scenes are meant for the LI the MC is marrying, and are coded differently based on that. This kind of scene was first used in the series in the first chapter of Book 3, where the MC and LI could comfort each other in the safe house. The initial chapters had a similar approach to the scenes as RoE Book 3 (where Mr Sloan, Leo and Dean all ended up sounding like each other), in that the dialogues sounded pretty cut-and-paste, with little to no actual variations beyond a few things (an example of this was how - in the Book 3 Chapter 6 Spa Scene in Applewood - all the LIs spoke of being "dumb in love" with the MC - which suited certain LIs, but sounded extremely jarring on others.

During Book 3, a high number of complaints about the series revolved around this copy-paste routine for the LIs, mostly because the characters were so different from each other, and wouldn't speak the same or even have the same experiences. Around Book 3 Chapter 8, major shifts began to happen in the way these scenes were written, starting with the Movie-going Scene in Castelserraillian. Post that chapter, and the hiatus, there was a significant decrease in the number of individual character scenes, and an increase in both number and quality of the LI scenes. It is very possible that they found juggling both stressful and dialed back on one to personalize the other further.

2. Character Development Scenes: These were scenes with the LI that you got regardless of whether you were marrying them or not. This scene would be viewed over all playthroughs, with differences based on whether you were marrying them or not. If you were not marrying them, these scenes would appear neutral and the romantic options would simply not be there, or be replaced by more neutral ones. Examples of such scenes include Drake's Cordonian Waltz Scene in Fydelia (Book 3 Chapter 3), Liam's Gastrodiplomacy Scene in Castelserraillian (Book 3 Chapter 7), Hana's Polo Scene in Portavira (Book 3 Chapter 5) and Maxwell's Armoury Scene in Lythikos (Book 3 Chapter 11).

The most important thing to remember is that these scenes are expected to be coded differently (according to your relationship with said LI), not only by adding romantic options for the MC to choose, but also in the actions of the characters by default. For instance, the Fydelia Cordonian Waltz scene in Drake's playthrough incorporates - by default - all the sensuality you should be finding in this waltz, while his friendly playthrough is merely the MC teaching him the basics so they have an edge over Neville. By default, if you buy the Gastrodiplomacy scene as Liam's fiancée, the chocolate souffle you sampled with him would feature at your wedding reception.

I say the scenes were expected to be coded differently, because very often they were not. In a lot of cases the only proof you'd have in those scenes that the LI and MC were even together were from the MC's actions. For instance, even though Hana was going to be a duchess on marriage to the MC, the same as Drake - only Drake got to speak in detail about it. This opportunity came for Hana very briefly only by Chapter 14, well past the midpoint of Book 3.

• So when Book 3 began the formula was mostly "leave the character scenes for developing the LI's issues or getting them to teach something, and concentrate on nothing else but the romance for your LI scenes". However this wasn't exactly workable given how different each LI was and therefore how odd some of their dialogue sounded. The dial back is understandable (though, as someone who has looked through various playthroughs in this book, I can tell you the imbalances found across character scenes were on a whole different level).

• Why I've elaborated on this is to give context to a question I now have about the narrative: what are the Character Scenes going to look like from here on out? Post the hiatus, they would vary - they could be mostly plot-driven, or fun and light but not much depth or variation, or fun and light, and also opening up diverging conversations based on your relationship. Now that they seemed to have locked down some format in this book at least, what's it going to sound like?

The Liam Character Scene today was fun, light, had default differences based on whether you were marrying him or not, but ultimately had very little to give to the story other than a few facts about Liam's home life and (in a way that expands on what we already know about her and her dynamic with Constantine) his mother. What exactly does he learn? What new insights is he getting as a King who self-admittedly exists and operates in a "statesman's bubble"?

It also remains to be seen whether buying this scene will have any effect of future events - like Liam's Applewood Tour Scene, where his retelling of King Fabian's story had an impact on our conversation with Kiara's mother Joelle. I'm probably going to keep track on how these character scenes are being written in this series, considering that we already have a pretty good idea of how their LI scenes are done.

• Twice I've seen Eleanor associated with pasta. In Book 1 Liam mentions simple tomato pasta as a childhood dish that reminded of his mother, and here shortly after he speaks about his parents he mentions knowing to cook spaghetti carbonara. IDK what that's supposed to mean but I'm bringing it up anyway. I'm mean, what if it's a part of Auvernese cuisine 😂

• I guess that's it for this week! Time for me to scram and finish my Book 1 Chapter 5 QT too before the next chapter drops!

[emeraldnebula]

Thoughts on the comic book industry, Part 7

You can’t really talk about the state of the current comic book industry without addressing one of the most infamous, long-standing problems it’s had for a long time. And it’s a problem that’s only gotten worse as the convention scene has taken on more prominence.

I, of course, am referring to the remaining fandom’s steadfast determination to hoard what’s left of the comics industry to themselves at all costs, actively opposing the very idea of new fans or even older fans whose tastes and opinions don’t fit with the groupthink of the moment.

This is nothing new, obviously. I’ve talked about this at varying times before. Comic book pros and older fans who do want new blood brought into the fandom have discussed this. Cosplayers talk about this quite often, especially as they’re among those who get persecuted by self-styled purists and SJW-leaning fans. And anyone who’s on social media can attest to the fact that newcomers and older fans who don’t conform to the hive mind can and will be bullied nonstop. (Rabid fanbrats harassing and insulting other fandoms is a popular Tumblr pastime in and of itself.) But what doesn’t get talked about so much is how destructive this mentality is, and how it would be self-defeating beyond belief.

As it stands, the comic book industry's business practices of the last 26 years or so have resulted in atrophy, outdated and incoherent storytelling choices, mean-spirited and destructive creative decisions, and the alienation of everybody but a tiny, aging, selfish minority of whiny idiots. Many, many times, it’s been pointed out that unless new fans, new blood, and new perspectives are brought in and accepted, the American comic book industry is going to die. And every single time, that same tiny minority of morons that’s become DC and Marvel’s target audience of choice is venomously opposed to the notion that anybody but them should be allowed in the fandom, much less have a say in it. “New readers be damned, we were here first!” “I’m not giving up what I like for anybody!” “You’re betraying the existing fans by chasing after new ones!” “Changing comics to get new fans is too much of a risk!” “There’s no reason why ‘new’ fans can’t enjoy things the exact same way that we do!” “Who cares about people who think the industry is becoming outdated?” And some go the extra mile by openly admitting they’d rather see comics die altogether before letting new blood in, on the grounds that “at least I’ll have gotten to enjoy what I like!”

I’ve seen all these comments in various places over the last 17 years alone, and I’m never not surprised by the inherent greed of these statements. Given the choice between staying a self-destructive course towards oblivion and allowing the industry to change and accommodate new fans, these regressive fanbrats will choose the former every single time. They feel so entitled to essentially ownership of the industry that they’ll kill it with their selfishness. All because they don’t want to lose their perceived control over it. This is even sicker when – again – this whiny, tiny minority of idiots were all newcomers themselves at one time. The industry predated them by decades. But for some godforsaken reason, these regressives want to be the only people reading comics and view any new blood, any new ideas, or even older fans who don’t share their exact tastes and beliefs as a threat to their dominance.

Mind you, this sort of close-minded, “keep everything the same as when I first saw it or else” mentality is not unique to the comic book industry. What is unique is that the industry has largely caved in to this clutch of entitled morons. Most other properties know better than to kowtow to regressives like these. For all the squawking the lunatic fringe Star Trek fans do about “continuity” and “prime universes,” CBS/Paramount is smart enough to ignore them. They have every reason to: the Rick Berman era of Trek may have pleased the fanbrats, but it stagnated the franchise severely and led to a prolonged hiatus that only ended with the reboot trilogy movies and Discovery. And while the merits of those newer projects can and should be debated, CBS/Paramount undeniably did the right thing by striving to update Trek and keep it relevant to modern sensibilities. Mattel and Hasbro have wisely ignored regressive fans who want He-Man and Transformers to stay permanently locked in their ‘80s iterations, updating and reworking those properties as necessary. Looney Tunes undergoes periodic revamps and updates on the regular, and aside from Loonatics Unleashed has been very successful at that. Hell, even Mickey Mouse, a character nobody usually cares about, has made a comeback in the last decade with a retro-styled makeover in both the Epic Mickey games and the recent Toon Disney shows. (And this was in spite of absolute idiots refusing to acknowledge his first appearance in “Plane Crazy” and insisting that his 1940 Fantasia redesign was the “original” Mickey.)

Anywhere but comic books, the entities in question know not to stagnate their properties and cater exclusively to a tiny group of selfish banshees. They know it would be suicidal to do so. But because the major comics publishers have bent over backwards to service the very vocal minority at the expense of the industry’s well-being, said minority feels entitled to be gatekeepers and to shut out anyone who doesn’t buy into their Landru-meets-the-Buddy-Bears mentality or who might pose a danger to their sense of control. I’m just going to say it right now: the major publishers are half the reason comics have such low readership. The lunatic fringe that makes up what’s left of comics fandom is the other half of the reason.  If you go out of your way to make newcomers feel unwelcome and you run off longtime fans who don’t agree with whatever your chosen dogma is, you’re part of the problem. Nobody wants to associate with a fandom composed of greedy, unreasonable nuts. And the end result is, again, a shrinking, aging readership that can’t sustain the industry in the long term.

Nor can this shrinking, aging minority of jackasses keep the convention scene alive, either. The comic book industry has hobbled itself so much that a purely comic-centric convention isn’t financially feasible. There’s not enough of an audience for it. Conventions are pop culture-oriented for a reason. And it’s because modern conventions are so all-encompassing that it’s allowed the rise of American cosplay as a force in fandom. Whether the lunatic fringe likes it or not, conventions have become the gateway for new fans, as well as an opportunity for older fans left behind by the industry and the lunatic fringe to come together with like-minded people and commission stuff that’s more to their liking. In short, conventions by their very nature are inclusive and open-minded...the very antithesis of both the current comic book industry and what’s left of the active fandom.

So naturally, the lunatic fringe fans don’t like this. They’ll scream and yell about how conventions are disregarding and insulting comic book culture by including mass media in their lineups, never mind that comics and mass media have been interlinked at least since Buster Crabbe’s Flash Gordon movies of the 1930s. They’ll spew bile and venom at newcomers for daring to “take away convention tickets from real fans” and not being already being well-versed in comics lore, ignoring the fact that they themselves were once total newbies who came in cold. Many times cosplayers will have their fan credentials – or in some cases even their mental health – questioned or outright denied by these people (Jessica “Maid of Might” Chancellor has been on record about her own experiences). These same fans can and have gone the extra mile to champion banning cosplay entirely, or discouraging it by giving cosplayers heavily restricted access to the convention floor. And if they overhear older fans voice disapproval of whatever is the current fans’ sacred cows of choice, the insults and shaming will be instantaneous, because how dare anyone voice opinions contrary to the lunatic fringe’s party line? (Been there, experienced it, couldn’t reason with them worth a damn.) And many times, these same fans will decry the size and popularity of modern conventions, demanding a return to comic cons being tiny, comics-only affairs held at hotels.

Keep in mind, what these crazy gatekeepers want would kill conventions outright. Shut out movies/TV, video games, and sci-fi/fantasy/horror from comic cons? You’d lose the mass appeal these events have, and thus lose out of paying customers attending. Ban or discourage/restrict cosplay? Instant plunge in attendance and major loss of money. Make anyone and everyone but the insane lunatic fringe fans DC and Marvel so cherish feel unwelcome and unwanted? Again, major plunge in attendance and profits. Force conventions to go back to being tiny, hotel-based events? You risk the venue either losing money on an event with piss-poor attendance or being swamped with far too much attendance for them to handle, thus creating a safety hazard. Every stupid, egotistical demand these nuts make is an automatic guarantee of failure. And over and over again, what’s the party line? “The real fans will keep comics and conventions alive!” These people are so deluded that they think they and they alone will and should be sufficient to keep the convention scene going. Never mind that comic book readership is drying up due to the industry’s unwillingness to change with the times, never mind that the lunatic fringe fans are an extreme minority that can’t keep the industry going forever, never mind that DC and Marvel’s pet demographics are college campus nutjobs and aging fanbrats in their mid-to-late 30s at absolute least (and in some cases even older). They’re convinced that they and they alone are the anointed who will keep comics and related events alive and well, and that anyone else is a heretic who should be run out of town.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that if these dopes ever got what they want, it would be the death knell of comic cons altogether.

Turning conventions into a members-only club with a secret handshake (which is exactly what some of these people openly advocate) would not yield any successful results. Like DC and Marvel, the lunatic fans are hopelessly stuck at least 26 years in the past. They’re still living under the delusion that the big 1990s comic book boom never ended, that “pure” comic cons care still money in the bank, that their pet creators are the comics equivalent of rock stars, and that they and they alone are plentiful enough to support the whole shebang without any filthy newcomers or normal folks tainting the industry’s purity. Absolutely none of this is the case. The days of comic book creators being celebrities are long over, and the few whose names are known (Frank Miller, Geoff Johns, Mark Waid, Joe Quesada) have deservedly bad reputations. The people the Big 2 keep peddling as “superstars,” regardless of actual talent, are people most folks would shrug their shoulders and say “Who?” at. The press that the comic book industry used to get in the 1990s doesn’t exist anymore, either, and it’s not like the industry even tries to get the word out about itself. So how the hell would “pure” comic cons made by and for the remaining, gatekeeping idiots ever be successful?

There’s just a complete lack of perspective altogether. And it’s all driven by greed, self-entitlement, and shortsightedness. The comic book industry, by choosing to cater to a regressive, selfish minority with a largely aging membership, has set itself on a collision course with extinction. It’s already doomed. Conventions, as they are now, are what’s keeping comics culture alive. Whether anybody likes it or not, pop culture conventions where comics are one of many puzzle pieces are the future. To protest or fight this is pure stupidity. At yet this is the hill DC and Marvel’s pet demographic wants to die on, shutting out any possibility of new blood or even old blood with dissenting opinions being allowed in.

It also doesn’t help that their “we’d rather the industry die than share it with anyone” mindset is completely counterproductive. For all their crying about “continuity” (which is purely subjective to their tastes) and “history” (which they’ll deny and ignore as they see fit), they never once acknowledge that if they get what they want and comics culture dies out completely on their account, nobody’s going to remember it. It’s going to be just as forgotten as vaudeville. At least with movie serials and old-school radio dramas, they’re still readily available for anyone who wants to go back and check them out. They may be dead genres, but they certainly haven’t been forgotten. Hell, even soap operas, another dying genre on its last legs, will have more staying power due to the massive backlog of episodes they recorded. Even horse-and-buggy manufacturers have the benefit of historical interest and reenactments to keep them going, even if it’s as a specialty. Comic books in their present state? If the fanbrats get their wish, it’ll be a completely forgotten medium altogether. There won’t be any nostalgia for it, no warm memories. Historians will flat-out admit that the industry destroyed itself by being regressive, ignorant and dismissive of its overall audience, and pandering only to the worst minority possible at the expense of anything resembling competent business.

And yet none of this even occurs to the fanbrats. All they care about is getting what they want right this instant and shutting out anyone who isn’t part of the clique. They never once stop to think that what they want and how they want it will be left in the dust once the industry is no more, and that all their efforts to stagnate the culture for themselves will ultimately be for nothing. Crappy, malicious funny books that suck on purpose and deliberately cling to tactics and trends at least two decades out of date are not worth fighting for, nor will they be worth remembering. And they won’t be remembered. You can’t even call the current fandom’s goals a Pyrrhic victory because it won’t be a victory at all, just a self-indulgent failure. And it’s a failure that will lead to the vast majority of people  who would or even do truly love the medium completely in the lurch.

But then again, the current comic book fandom is terrible in general when it comes to picking and choosing their battles. In addition to fighting any kind of beneficial change and gatekeeping at all costs, they take up causes that are meaningless at best, and utterly selfish and regressive at worst. Bill Willingham’s hateful attitude toward Batman fans over Stephanie Brown’s apparent death in “War Games”? That should have been the trigger for fans to take DC to task for their arrogance toward the readership, and to demand accountability for disrespecting the people who keep the company in business. Instead, Girl Wonder.org decided to campaign for Stephanie Brown to get a trophy case in the Batcave. Not only was that a meaningless goal to begin with, but it didn’t even begin to address the real problem at hand. A common talking point among the remaining fandom is wanting comics to abandon computer coloring and glossy paper and go back to flat colors on newsprint...a move that would be absolute suicide in a day and age where glossy paper is the standard and digital coloring can be done by anyone at home on their personal computers. Not only that, but such a move would do nothing to drive down the cost of comics or change how inaccessible they now are. (And yet when called out on on how regressive and impractical this demand is, these same fans will go thru contortions to claim what they want isn’t a selfish bid for nostalgia.) Smallville’s infamous “no tights, no flights” rule that convinced Tom Welling to sign up for the show? A very vocal, very stupid clutch of comic book fans started championing at the time for superhero costumes to be abolished across the board, even throwing a fit when Sam Raimi kept Spider-Man in his classic suit for the 2002 movie.  Cross-title, event-driven storylines where readers are forced to buy multiple books just to follow one story that doesn’t even have an ending in sight? Fanbrats have resisted attempts to move away from that model for years, citing the ‘90s comic book boom as proof that it’s an everlasting sales boon and that “real” fans will buy all the books regardless of whether or not they like them (which flies in the face of consumer choice or anything resembling reality). And so on.

When you consider how inept the remaining fandom is over what they think is important and what isn’t, their absolute refusal to allow new blood, new fans, and differences of opinion is par for the course. They only care about what they want, to hell with anything and everything else. They don’t even care if their wants are completely self-defeating, so long as they get their fix in the short term. But what does this mean for the comic book industry as a whole? Between the selfishness and stupidity of the major publishers and the sheer awfulness of the fandom they’ve cultivated, there’s nowhere to go but down. And we’ve been seeing that downfall play out in slow motion right before our eyes.

It’s a very sad ending to a legacy of more than 80 years, but that’s to be expected when you refuse to change with the times. More on that in my closing thoughts.

[undertheinfluencerd]

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J #

Powder Keg, originally titled Krudttønden, is a biographical drama that explores the events leading up to the 2015 Copenhagen shootings in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shooting in France a month prior. The film revolves around four people who would find their lives rocked by the event, including an aging police officer, a struggling-to-find-work security guard, a filmmaker, and a recently released criminal who finds himself increasingly influenced by more radical Islamist groups.

Related: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Movies & TV Shows: Where You Know The Game Of Thrones Star

Game of Thrones alum Nikolaj Coster-Waldau spoke with Screen Rant to discuss the docudrama, its efforts to remain honest to the tragic events and people involved, and what he took away from the project.

Screen Rant: This was a really powerful movie, it’s a really interesting exploration of the tragic events. How familiar were you with those events prior to signing on for the film?

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: I was very familiar with that day. I was home, I live just north of Copenhagen and it’s a small country. It was a national trauma that had happened because we in Denmark felt we were isolated from that kind of event. Just before this thing happened, there [were] these horrific attacks in Paris at the Charlie Hebdo paper that we obviously followed with horror, but then when it happened in Copenhagen, it really was just a wave of shock. So I was very familiar. and it was a big reason why I wanted to be part of this movie.

So your character, is he based on one specific person, or is he sort of a composite of multiple real people involved?

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: Rico, the cop that I play who is the anti-terror squad leader, is not a specific cop, because, you know, you just can’t give those names out and they wouldn’t want us to. But we talked with — myself, the writer, director — with all the researchers and had discussions with those people, so he’s not a real person, but he is based on reality.

What were some of the biggest lessons that you took away from the research and from talking with these real people to help sort of inform your performance?

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: There’s the basic, as with any part, of how much work they do, how much training, [chuckles] how hard it is, which obviously I could use for Rico. My character feels like he’s at the peak of his career, but his body is telling him, “No, you are at the end of it, my friend.” He wants life to go on as it always has and this is his whole identity, so I could use that directly, that knowledge. But also, I think what I loved about the story, about the script, was how they chose to follow these four characters that day and insist on the humanity that they all share. I think with this story, what was so shocking was that with some terrorist attacks around the world — 9/11 is of course the defining moment of the last 20 years in the Western world — these were people that came from somewhere else, it was like a foreign attack if you will.

Here it was a Danish citizen who chose to do this, who decided that discussion is no longer an option, the only way forward is by killing the people I don’t agree with and I think that is so tragic and so disturbing and so sad that we got to that point. It’s also why I think it’s important that we all have to acknowledge that, as much as we might not want to, we are also part of the problem of division. We see it all over the world, this whole weird time we live in where politics becomes Mortal Kombat sometimes and that it’s no longer okay to disagree, that if you disagree with me, you’re a bad person. We need to change our ways because it leads to destruction and fear and it undermines what we kind of all want to achieve and that is what I love about this movie. In this story is that it insists on the fact that we are all in this together.

Whether it’s Omar who commits the killings — obviously this is his choice, he’s a grown man, he is responsible, but how did this 20-year-old end up doing this? Are there any moments before this where you go, “Well, maybe if we as a society had done something differently? Is there something different [we should do] differently,” but to at least have the discussion, I think, is very important.

Looking at all of those elements coming into the film, what would you say was one of your biggest creative challenges throughout the production?

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: I think the biggest challenge was, “Is making this movie too soon?” When something really traumatic happens, how much time does it need before you can actually look at it with a healthy perspective, if you will. I think that, obviously, we came to the conclusion that it was important. Even when I got the script, I was like, “Oh, yeah, when was that?” And I thought it was further back in time. Sometimes when traumatic things happen, we get through them, and then we want to forget about it, especially with this one as it did not fit the self-image we had as a country.

That feeling almost made it more important for me, because I was shocked by that I myself was like, “Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, that happened. And was that 15 years ago? No, it was four years ago. Oh, s***.” Because the problem hasn’t gone away. We see that on a small scale in neighborhoods where people fight like crazy or you see it on a global scale, now you have the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Then you go, “Well, we tried to solve an issue by brute force 20 years ago and it did not really turn out the way we want it. Not because we didn’t have all the best intentions and all the goodwill, it just didn’t work. So how can we deal with these things in a better way?” Sometimes it can be very painful to talk about it, obviously, but it’s I do think it’s important to insist on.

I couldn’t agree more. This film also marks an interesting sort of trend for you lately in which we’re getting to see you return to more Denmark-based productions. What’s that been like for you, getting to speak in your native tongue more often on camera in comparison to, obviously, Game of Thrones and such?

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: Yeah, it’s funny because it wasn’t really a plan to do three Danish movies, but I just loved these very different scripts and it just felt like, “Yeah, I’ll do that.” I got to see my family a bit more, which was also a wonderful bonus, but I love the stories and that’s always what I allow to dictate the choices I make. Since then, I just came back from Mexico, where I did this very American movie, so now I’m back to the Anglo world.

You got to have a good balance of both, right? So you mentioned the physicality of your character and how that connects to his story and though there’s not a whole lot of action scenes in the film, there are a few involving your character. How was the physicality for you from the actor’s perspective as much as the character?

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: It was interesting, I mean with this movie there was some specifics that were, I wouldn’t say challenging, but challenging production-wise and also in terms of just being very careful of the subject matter, because it’s a real story and we wanted to be as close to what happened on that night. It’s very sensitive because three men were killed and we were shooting in neighborhoods where that happened where there is still a lot of tension, so I think the challenge was more about being truthful, but also be very, very careful not to make it seem as if we’re trying to take advantage of a tragedy. I’m obviously, because I was part of the creative team behind the movie, I’m proud of the movie and I feel we’ve managed that balance, but that was, I think, the biggest challenge.

I think it was a very special movie to make [for everyone involved] because every one of us had a relationship to that story and knew that story and it was such an emotional day [when it happened]. At the end of the movie, you see this huge march of light that happened the following day after the attack in Copenhagen where people came out, just walked very peacefully with torches, insisting on reacting in a peaceful, loving way to something so horrific. I’m answering your question in a very, very, very long answer [laughs], but I think the biggest challenge was the fact that this was a real story that happened recently and it affected everyone, both us making it but also, I would argue, most people in Denmark.

Given how personal it was for you, how does it feel to finally have it coming to the States after initially coming out last year?

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: It’s wonderful that it’s coming out. When it came out in Denmark, like so many other movies we came out on Friday after the Tuesday the country was shut down. [Laughs] It was, you know, it was disappointing in that way. A pandemic affects everyone, of course, but I’m very happy that it has a life because I also think that it’s a universal story. I think whether you’re American or Danish, you can relate to the horror of terrorism and – obviously, in the US you have had more attacks – but the way it affects you is the same I think.

More: 10 Best Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Roles Before He Played Jaime Lannister

Powder Keg is now available on digital platforms and VOD.

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[massielandnetwork]

Thriving in an Economic Bubble during Anarchy

5. The Christian Succession – Are the DM Wheels Beginning to Wobble?

Most Americans across our country celebrated Independence Day last weekend. We traveled to Florida for a family event and returned by car on Sunday afternoon. Thinking traffic would be bad we had planned to break the return trip into two legs. But on Sunday traffic was light so we drove all the way through. It was interesting that every time I stopped for gas, when the pump was supposed to print my receipt, all of them were out of paper. America had been on the road.

The Demented Marxists (DM) had a bad week. It was interesting to watch. Here are four questions:

1. The New York City (NYC) Mayor election saw 1 Million voters cast their ballots but the DM’s ended up with more than 1.1M ballots. Oops. The DM’s had to publicly acknowledge that they do not know who won the first round and it will be a few weeks before they can figure it out. Election fraud? Can the DMs get the Republican Senate in Arizona to audit the NYC Mayor election?

2. I have lost count, is the non-infrastructure Infrastructure Deal on or off. Neither Biden knows, but for different reasons. Perhaps Obama has not told them yet. More stimulus into an economy already operating at capacity will simply increase the rate of inflation from high to rampant. Is rampant inflation the DM economic plan?

3. The Momma Bears have the CRT idiots on the run including some of the founders of the CRT movement. As that culture war continues, the DMs have sent in their reserves, the National Education Association (NEA), which voted to (1) resist going back to the classrooms until all students are vaccinated despite the lack of an approval of the vaccines for anyone under the age of 18, and (2) insist on teaching CRT in every public classroom in America. Are we witnessing the end of public education?

4. Remember the Democrats running around yelling about the Republicans’ War on Women? Since Democrats support transgenders winning women’s athletic events and women’s beauty contests – does that qualify as a war on women?

Give our Lord and Savior the credit for the great awakening that is happening as Christians stand firm when Satan is being exposed. Hallelujah. Amen. Here are just a few recent examples:

1. Trump held his second rally, this time in Sarasota, Florida. Another sellout crowd. Biden’s July 4th message received views equal to 25% of the attendees at Trump’s rally. Yet we are supposed to believe that Biden got the most votes in the history of the USA.

2. More governors are sending either police or troops to the USA southern border. My guess is it is a different group of states than sent troops to DC in January – March. Both events highlight failure on the part of the DM’s and displays that states are increasingly acting independent of the Federal government.

3. One of Arizona’s State Senators has called for a national movement to audit all elections in all states. Every nonprofit organization has an annual audit, publicly traded companies get audited, how come it is not standard procedure to audit our elections? Virginia’s Republicans must be hiding under their blankies because they are not discussing an audit.

I highly recommend that you read the book “Unsettled” by Steven E. Koonin. It is the most thorough analysis of Climate Change I have found. Pure FACTS not opinions wrapped in spin. Mr. Koonin is candid in his disdain for the media’s distortion of the facts that have been and are issued on the topic of Climate Change. It is easy to see that the media types are either clueless about science or severely slanted in their view (or both) because they never let the facts stand in the way of making up a good story.

Speaking of Climate Change, watch for rolling electrical brownouts in California and Texas. Is Virginia next to experience a highest cost and lowest reliability electric grid dependent on solar panels and bird slicers called windmills. Perhaps the DM’s think brownouts are a way of fighting their imagined climate change. To me, brownouts mean a lousy government.

Melissa MacKenzie, the Publisher of American Spectator, wrote a personal blog article last week and described her movement away from the “dying social media platforms” to the new ones – Rumble, Signal, Telegram, Speakeasy, Gab, and Parler. She has marked a trend. Join it.

In the economy, here are some critical data points:

1. Two homebuilders have now shared with me that their sales pace has declined each month for the last three months in a row. If you have been reading this blog, you know that in February we forecasted that trend would occur and explained the reason why it is happening – higher mortgage rates.

2. Thanks to the Biden the USA is no longer energy independent but again subject to the whims of OPEC which has raised the price of oil to more than $75 per barrel and headed to $100 a barrel. Get ready for $4 gas. That adds a higher cost of energy into the DMs economic toxic mix. Higher interest rates, higher energy prices, higher inflation, capped off with higher taxes … anyone one of them equals a recession.

3. The report of 850,000 jobs in June reflects the states that stopped paying folks not to work so they found jobs. While that is significant, the real significance is its impact on The Fed. The Fed meets the end of this month and then the end of September. By the end of September, the pressure on the Fed to reduce stimulus will be so high they will at least announce when they will begin to taper their Quantitative Easing (QE), the term for The Fed buying 10-year Treasuries and mortgages to reduce mortgage interest rates to stimulate the real estate market. When The Fed announces that they will begin to taper QE, the 10-year Treasuries and therefore mortgage interest rates will both increase and burst the real estate bubble.

4. Biden fired the CEO of FNMA, the quasi-government mortgage entity. Biden stated that he will appoint someone who will lower the standards for mortgage loans so that more folks can buy homes. If making bad loans on houses sounds familiar, Billy Clinton did the same in 1998 and the result was the financial crisis that created The Great Recession. Why do the DM’s want another financial crisis?

The Fed now owns such a large percentage of the Treasury market that it causes mixed signals in those markets. Do not be fooled. As The Fed tapers QE, interest rates will rise and the economy will slow. The higher interest rates will impact a matrix of forces but the result is simple to forecast - the ripple effects cause a brutal recession.

Counting the one that is coming in 2022, during my career I will have been through seven recessions caused by one of the following – (1) increased energy prices, (2) interest rates being raised to combat inflation, and (3) increased taxes. The recession coming next year will be the result of a combination of all three of those forces in combination with stagflation. Ugly.

177 days into the DM’s Coup, eventually, we will know all the facts. Pray for the patriot attorney in Antrim County, Michigan who called for the Secretary of State to resign or be impeached and the election to be De-Certified. Another county in Michigan has voted to audit its election. Interesting that the Michigan GOP is reported to have issued a statement that no fraud occurred in the election. The data suggest the opposite is correct, so one has to wonder who is owned by whom.

Keep watching the Arizona Audit. The Secretary of State in Georgia decided to investigate the chain of custody of some of the mail in ballots to CYA. As the election audits spread and the terabytes of information from Mr. Dong bubble, you can smell the fear of the DMs.

A great piece of land remains The Best investment long term. Capitalism builds wealth, Marxism/Socialism consumes it in self destruction. Pray for a return to honest and audited elections in the USA. God is in control. Men make plans, but God ALWAYS wins.

“And not only that, but we boast of our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

(Romans 5:3-5) New Revised Standard Version, Oxford University Press)

Stay healthy,

Ned

July 8, 2021

Copyright Massie Land Network. All rights Reserved.

[renaroo]

Day 25 Sweaters: What I Miss

Disclaimer: Batman and associated characters are the creative property of DC Comics. Warnings: Canon-typical violence & language, One sided pining Pairings: ReneexDaria Rating: T Synopsis: Renee runs into Daria. Or, rather, Renee shows up at Daria’s restaurant and hopes beyond hope she can pull off being surprised after so much time it took for her to come back where she really belonged. ReneexDaria. Sapphic September: Sweaters.

A/N: I don’t think I’ve ever written for Daria and Renee’s romance? Even though I adore them so much and they’re up there in my mind with Holly & Karon and Kate & Maggie for iconic couples of Gotham. So it’s time to fix that.

Renee was a smart detective. She should have known better. It wasn’t exactly like it took much more than common sense to know that showing up, unannounced, without a plan, to the one place in the world you would be wanted least was ever something desirable to do to an ex. She knew it was stupid long before she stepped through the door.

She knew a lot of things. But Renee had always been more stubborn than she was smart at the end of the day and that was going to always have been her downfall.

It was a trait she inherited from her family all too strongly.

So despite all signs, despite all common sense, Renee sat down by herself at a table for two, checked the clock to know what shifts were about to change, then gave a simple order to the teenage waiter who came to serve her.

“Non-sweet tea,” Renee answered before he could get a word out. “And a water with lemon. Poblano pepper with extra brown rice, taquitos mexicanos with papas and a Dos Equis.” She waited for the shock to drop from his face and gave him time to write down what he could remember. She paid attention so that she knew for sure that the important parts were written down, then she tilted her hat up. “And, please, tell the chef I send my highest regards.”

The last part was enough to make even the nervous young man take pause and look at Renee questioningly. But it didn’t last for long. He slowly nodded and then cleared his throat as he left to immediately tell anyone in the back about the strangeness.

There was no telling if he would go to management or to the kitchens first to describe his encounter, but Renee took the gamble because she knew that either way she was going to get what she wanted. And that, in itself, was a pretty sickening thought. Since what she wanted was fairly self-destructive and selfish if nothing else. And it was going to uproot the foundations of whatever life her ex had built for herself since leaving Renee at its least.

No one came out with her drinks, Renee studied the clock and figured that she wasn’t even going to get her customary chips and salsa for the meal due to the calamity she had no doubt unfolded in the back of the restaurant.

Then, finally, there was the stomping of feet and, as Renee looked dup, she was met by someone who probably thought Renee would never darken her doorsteps again.

“Renee!” Daria all but bellowed. She’d grown a bit thinner since the breakup. Her eyes had more of a wrinkle, she let her hair grow long enough to be tucked behind her ears. Ironic, as Renee had cut off most of her own hair in recent months.

It was amazing how exhausted from a full shift, older and sharper on all her edges, Daria still managed to be the most beautiful woman Renee had ever had the pleasure of knowing.

“Daria,” Renee answered in turn. She waved to the adjacent seat. “I’ve got room for one more if—“

“Grab your coat, we’re taking this outside,” Daria ordered.

Not getting up quite yet, Renee remained calm. Cool. It was the key to maintaining control of the chaos that she always seemed to drag into her own life. At least, that’s what Tot kept telling her.

She should’ve probably listened to more of his advice before getting into the situation to begin with.

“So my money’s not good here? I can’t order our favorite meals and eat peacefully?” she pressed smoothly instead.

Daria looked immediately frazzled. “Our favorite— Renee. Get your coat. We’re taking this outside before it’s more of a scene,” she ordered.

Renee let out a small breath and tilted her hat back down before following orders. “As you insist, ma’am.”

There was a vein in Daria’s jaw that pulsed at the comment but she wasn’t going to say another word until they were out the door. It was the sort of restraint that made Renee feel restraint.

Once they were out the door, Gotham hit them both with a blast of wind. Snow was supposed to fall later that night, and the gushing air of the not-so-distant Gotham Bay seemed intent on reminding the whole city of it. Especially Renee and Daria as the latter led the former straight for the nearest street corner, far enough from her restaurant that yelling was less likely to be heard or acknowledged by patrons.

Responsibility, patience, an understanding of how to act in public. Renee was remembering all over again how many things Daria was capable of that completed her.

“What the hell, Renee?” Daria asked, wearing nothing more than her work clothes and a completely bewildered expression that battled valiantly with her confusion and anger.

“I’m back in Gotham,” Renee answered. “It felt like a night to eat at my favorite place.”

“Oh my god,” Daria hissed, hugging her arms in the wind and looking off. “I haven’t… You haven’t said a single word to me in three years. That’s almost as long as we were living together. Jesus Christ.”

“I could argue that it goes both ways but… you’re right. I haven’t reached out to you in three years. After you broke up with me,” Renee acknowledged sharply. “You can see why I might assume that there’s good reason for not being the one to initiate it.”

“Until tonight,” Daria laughed darkly. “Of course you should’ve reached out to me. No one has known how to get a hold of you since you went off the grid. Your mother has talked to me more than the entire time we were together simply because she sometimes hopes I can tell her you’re alive. And those are the worst because I can’t.”

“I’m sorry,” Renee said truthfully. “I didn’t ever want to put that on you.”

Daria glared at her angrily. “But you put the onus on me to fix things if there was a chance to,” Daria said lowly. “Right? Because I broke things off. But you… You were the one who refused to fight for us. Even when we were still together for those last months… you couldn’t gather the fucks to give us a fighting chance. You drained me. You took my heart and returned it without an ounce of love left.”

Though she had been quiet for most of the outburst, Renee let out a breathy sigh and looked back at Daria. “So I take it you haven’t been dating since the breakup.”

Shocked at first, Daria’s mouth opened before her thin lips pulled back as she gritted teeth, her hand pulling back but not before Renee was already grabbing it at the wrist, stopping any forward momentum.

“Don’t,” Renee warned. “Don’t assault an officer.”

“You’re not a police officer anymore, Renee,” Daria reminded her. “You’re… I don’t even know. What are you now?”

Despite herself, Renee allowed a coy smile to tug at her face. “That’s the question, isn’t it?” she asked back.

“Don’t play games with me,” Daria warned. “Dammit, Renee, don’t… don’t you…”

“No games,” Renee assured her. “I’m still a detective. My hours and payroll are just a little different.”

“Never-ending, is more like it,” Daria muttered, rubbing her arms for warmth.

Without hesitation, Renee slipped her coat off and began to reach to wrap it around Daria instead, only hesitating when the other woman pulled back, a suspicious look in her eyes.

“I’m fine, thank you,” Daria assured her.

“You’re freezing,” Renee countered. “And I have more layers. And more coats if this ends with you saying pretty definitively that you never want to see me again.”

“It might,” Daria answered defensively .Still she didn’t flinch away as Renee helped drape the coat over her shoulders. She even shuffled her arms a bit to help the coat more fully fall into place. Then she looked around and back to Renee. “Why did you come here, Renee? What do you want?”

“I miss things,” Renee answered simply. “Even if they’re things I know I can never get back — or even if they’re things I don’t deserve back — I miss them. And I was hoping to see more of them. Try to earn them back.”

“I’m one of those things?” Daria asked, unimpressed.

“You’re not a thing to be missed,” Renee answered. “You’re the part of my whole. You’re that thing that I don’t deserve because I’ve just proved to be all the reasons you left me for in the first place. Haven’t I?”

Daria didn’t rise to the bait, but she seemed more comfortable and calm. Her eyes shifted over Renee’s body carefully. “If I’m not something you miss, what do you miss?”

“Silly things, insignificant things,” Renee answered with a shrug. “Gotham air. The Batsignal annoying the shit out of me at two in the morning. The sweaters my mom would make and send me every Christmas.”

The last bit got a genuine laugh out of Daria. And, in turn, Renee smiled. “You always looked cute in those sweaters.”

“You only say that because you never had to wear them,” Renee answered. “Listen, believe it or not, I did order food and beer because I’m hungry. And if you just got off work… well, I’m betting you wouldn’t mind a free meal at a restaurant where you don’t serve the desserts, right?”

Daria took a breath. “You can’t just walk back into people’s lives like this, Renee.”

“I know, I’m not pretty enough to get away with it,” Renee joked.

“I’m trying to be serious here. I loved you with everything in me and you… The person you were just gave up in front of my own eyes and left me with someone I don’t recognize even today,” Daria warned. “I don’t think my heart can take you at only your word alone anymore. I can’t make crazy moves just for old memories.”

“Is dinner a crazy move? Because that’s all I’m asking for right now, I swear,” Renee assured her. “Plus I have plenty of questions for you. Questions I’d love to hear you answer.”

Daria shook her head, a small smirk on her face. “You’re incorrigible, aren’t you?”

“I’m just an enigma, as complex and as simple as that may mean,” Renee answered, holding out her hand. “Dinner? For real?”

With a long sigh, Daria took Renee’s hand, answering the first of many questions for the night.

And the possibilities, endless as they were, began only then.

[blackbatpurplecat]

My Thoughts on “Batman and Harley Quinn”

Alright, the latest DC animated movie dropped a few days ago and I finally had the chance to watch it.

I had high hopes for this one. It looked very pretty; seeing the Batman: The Animated Series style make a glorious return immediately made me go SOLD! And while I’m aware that this movie only exists because Harley is extremely popular at the moment (and considering the characters’ screen times, the movie should be called ‘Harley Quinn and Batman’), it was a refreshing change to see her original design again! FINALLY the character that was named after a harlequin actually LOOKS like a harlequin again, not a slutty Hot Topic victim. I’ve missed red/black Harley so much, I can’t even tell you.

So is it any good???

Ehm... kinda.

Well. 

It’s okay.

So what’s the story?

Poison Ivy and Jason Woodrue a.k.a. Floronic Man, kind of an evil Swamp Thing dude, plan to turn everything and everyone on earth into plant-like creatures. They need a scientist’s formula for that so they go on a rampage to hunt him down. Batman and Nightwing recruit Harley Quinn to help them track down Ivy in turn.

Harley, who’s working in a superheroine themed Hooters, has apparently gone straight and refuses to get mixed up in another costumes&tights drama. However, she’s thirsty for Dick - literally - so after almost raping Nightwing (he’s into it so they... dodged a bullet there?), she agrees to stop Ivy.

After several scenes of inconsequential padding because the movie wasn’t long enough I guess, they find Ivy and Woodrue at the scientist’s house. The man, under Ivy’s control, had already given the greenies his formula and told them they’d need water from the swamp Swamp Thing was created in to complete the process. So they head off to Louisiana after leaving Batsy, Nightwing, Harley, and the scientist to die in the burning lab. Of course, only Professor Red Shirt bites it but is able to tell the heroes where to go before he is gone.

Harley insists on going with the capes because she doesn’t want to become a plant and is convinced that she’ll make Ivy change her mind. So both parties eventually meet and fight in the swamp.

Ivy has a change of heart thanks to the Power of Love© but Woodrue knocks them all out. What follows is a pointless cameo by Swamp Thing who basically goes “bla bla bla, Mr. Freeman”, and to stop Woodrue from destroying the planet, Harley suggests setting him on fire. Batsy and Nightwing are cool with that because fire surely won’t kill a guy made out of leaves, right? And in a post-credits scene we see that Harley is now the host of a Takeshi’s Castle-like TV show... all of the sudden... 

The end.

I’m still confused over who the target audience for this movie is. Is it adults because of the sexualized female characters and unfunny sex jokes (plus a weird gay joke and some almost-foul language) or toddlers who still laugh at farts and pointless song numbers? The movie’s constant shifts in tone threw me off a bit. I mean you see a guy being torn to shreds and blood splattering everywhere and later you get a scene of Harley farting in the Batmobile and Batman saying “smells like discipline.” WHAT THE FUCK?!

As mentioned above, yes, Bruce Timm makes it very clear that he REALLY wants to fuck Harley Quinn. Upskirt shots, Harley in underwear, Harley’s detailed ass when she bends over, Harley with spread legs humping the air in front of an audience. Classy. Have you ever wanted to see Harley and Nightwing have sex? No? Too bad, it’s what you’re getting. Thanks, Timm. There aren’t many female characters in this movie (2 have lines and the rest are just boobs on legs) and the only one that’s always being treated with respect is Ivy.

People who say ‘why don’t you call the Justice League for help’ will be treated to a dialogue between Batsy and intercome Booster Gold in which Booster says most of the League are busy. And the ones that are available are too annoying in Nightwing’s opinion. Yes, the entire world is in mortal danger but don’t you call JL members to save it because they talk too much... Man, what gReAt team members the Bats and Birds are.

And again, what’s with all the padding?! As if the sometimes too slow pacing wasn’t enough, was ‘we need to stretch the runtime to 75 min’ really the reason for that pointless chase scene that ended in nothing or those TWO songs that needed to be sung? Hell, the Harley eats Dick scene could have been cut as well since it served no purpose! Same goes for giant Swamp Thing. NO PURPOSE! The movie even acknowledges that his appearance was a whole bucket of nothing - SO WHY WAS IT IN THERE?!

How about you write enough STORY into the film to fill 75 minutes, how about that?! Good dialogues, character development, characters bonding, take your pick!

Thankfully, there were some nice moments too. The opening credits were adorable. The purple Catwoman costume at the beginning was lovely! 1966 Catwoman henchman dancing the Batusi and getting a fist in the face was funny. Harley’s tears being Ivy’s weakness was corny but also cute. Batman holding his finger up to silence Harley made me giggle as well as him tapping his hand to the music and stopping when Dick notices it.

I’ve already said the animation is gorgeous! Apart from Nightwing’s creepy white pupils, the movie looks awesome and had some smooth animation. It takes you right back to those glorious BTAS days.

When it comes to the voice-acting however... they apparently gave their entire budget to get Kevin Conroy. While Ivy did a great job, Nightwing sounded slightly bored, and that Harley Quinn didn’t convince me. She put way too much effort into the accent and... I don’t know, she didn’t sound like fun to me. It’s hard to describe. You felt that it was a part the actress was playing, it didn’t sound natural enough. At least to me.

All in all, I gotta say I had expected MUCH more from this. It had moments here and there but also bullshit that made me cringe. I’m still waiting for the DC animated movie that will pull the animated universe out of its current low. It’s been years since the last good animated film and that’s a shame since DC had been such a pro at those in the past. Today, their live-action movies, their animated movies, AND TV shows suck. No saving grace for DC anymore.

I can’t say that I wouldn’t recommend Batman and Harley Quinn but I also won’t tell you that you should really watch it. You can give it a try, at least for the good ol’ animation’s sake.

And one last note: Animators, Harley is wearing a mask! That black is NOT makeup! Do your research!

[icharchivist]

who you think is an worst father ging or sliva?

Heyo!

Oh Silva, without a doubt.

Ging refused to accept himself as a father to start with. He spent two years raising Gon before going back to Whale Island and have Mito argue that his lifestyle wouldn’t be good to raise Gon, which Ging conceeded and he left him with her. Ging accepted that his lifestyle was unhealthy to raise a child, and as far as he was concerned, he never asked Gon to find him. Gon believed Ging was dead until Kite showed up, and the only real message from Ging to Gon was the Greed Island invitation, which was very clear on Ging’s attention to set bondaries, and was still only accessible to him if Gon became a Hunter on his own.

Ging never asked for Gon to do any of the things he had done. Refusing to see him, distancing himself from him, were sort of shitty for your child, the fact he felt uncomfortable meeting Gon and went as far as to plan this “bring him to Kite” back up, were kinda shitty, but understandable as, first and foremost, Ging rejected his role as a father and insisted on keeping this distance.

It’s terrible for Gon’s development and abandon issues, and for the fact Kite encouraged him to meet Ging in such a way that was maybe not adequate, but as far as I’m concerned, Ging realized he would not be great at raising Gon and didn’t do much to encourage Gon to find him. 

Meanwhile once Gon found him, Ging did try to connect with him, and while it doesn’t redeem him, he still was decent with Gon, actually acted when Gon talked about how he would have rather died, shared a lot with Gon, and by the time of the DC arc, he kept contact with Gon and replies to Gon’s phonecalls and concerns, while still doing his own thing. While it doesn’t make him a good dad, he at least acts like a correct human being. 

Silva, however, is some other level of asshole.

Gon’s issues coming from Ging were rarely Ging’s direct impact. Killua’s issues coming from his father? Were directly from Silva.

Silva loves his kids, in his own way. To him, all the abuse he put his children through was normal. But he still tortured his kids, he still poisoned his kids, he still forced his kids to kill, he still argued for the kids to stay isolated. He took the decision to leave those life-lasting impact on his kids.

Illumi is the result of that abuse once brought to term and once achieved. Can’t say it’s a healthy way to raise a kid.

Meanwhile, Killua had a terrible and lonely childhood. Not to mention how Silva left him to Heaven Arena as a kid and forbid him to come back until he reached level 200, all while also refusing him the agency of the likes of, passing the hunter exam. 

Same as Illumi say, it’s not the children’s decision to make, if it’s not helping for their jobs, they have to stay in line.

Also there is this story about the dog Killua raised in the novel, which I think is considered canon? But therefore, which brights light to the only “Good” Silva moment to make it terrible. Wait let me quote from this post

when killua was REALLY little he once rescued an injured puppy by the side of the road that had been abandoned by its mother. silva encouraged him to raise it as a pet. killua named the dog “wolf” and this dog was his pet for like a year. he was really really really happy with this dog. one day wolf goes missing and killuas looking everywhere for him. silva has him, and he tells killua that wolf has rabies and needs to be put down [it’s heavily implied that he’s lying and killua doesnt know any better because he’s a small child]. killua starts crying but silva keeps telling him that its what he has to do or wolf will keep suffering and die in pain. eventually killua kills the dog and silva congratulates him on being so brave and strongit’s also stated that the above story is part of the reason why killua believes that he’ll eventually ruin any good thing that happens to him

Anyway the parallelism I want to talk about is when then Silva asks Killua to “never betray his friends” before then smiling that he’ll come back “because he’s his son”. I suppose he expects Killua to kill them, just like he had to kill that dog once. 

Regardless, Silva’s abuse had left a very long lasting impact on Killua, who has serious mental health issues coming from the way he was raised.

Also don’t forget Silva was aware of Illumi’s needle that was paralyzing Killua and was completely okay with that. If Illumi’s abuse is recognized by everyone it has to be acknowledged that Silva agrees and encourages that attitude from Illumi.

Also just so we’re clear, Kykio is just as much to blame and it can be blurry how much is Silva’s abuse and how much is Kykio’s and how much is both. However for now I think I mostly mentioned very Silva centric moments already.

Meanwhile, Killua isn’t the only kid suffering from the abuse. Milluki seems to be the one suffering the least of all of it, but we all know how Alluka was treated like a monster by her whole family except Killua, that Silva isolated her, agreed with Illumi’s experiments to test her powers, and seemed all okay with the possibility to control her if they could. Also they keep misgendering her, which is also abusive, as it refuses to acknowledge the personhood of your child. But they do also objectify her, so they’re trash on that matter. (again, except Killua - and maybe Kalluto since he’s the only one we don’t know the thoughts on Alluka of, except from the fact he’s jealous/envious of her).

And there could be arguement as if Kalluto joining the Troupe could be his own “Heaven Arena” training (like, don’t come back until you killed some of them), which is a theory, but let’s not give fuel to it here.

tl;dr: Ging realized he wouldn’t be a good father and he stepped out from being a father, allowing Gon a more healthy upbringing with Mito. Although his abandon had lasting impacts on Gon, he didn’t actively abuse Gon either. He took his distances, was honest, never let Gon hanging by promising him that “if you do that i’ll be your dad” (that’s what others people told Gon, and most of the Ging centric problems Gon have are linked to Kite), and was actually decent with him once they met.

Silva, however, acted like a dad for his kids and he abused all of them, isolated them, actively encouraged unhealthy stuff for them, tortured them, forced them into the lifestyle of the family - and worse even, all while still loving all of them, except for Alluka that he kept deshuminizing, misgendering, isolating, and not caring to do anything when Illumi was ready to kill her (because you can’t kill your family, ie, how Alluka isn’t considered as such).

ye nah. Ging isn’t a good dad, but it’s not like he claimed to be a dad to start with. Silva did. From that Point, every decision Silva did are much more questionable than Ging’s.

Silva is winning the asshole cup there. 

Thanks for the question and take care nonny :D

[stillgeekingout]

I mean the name is still the ultimate aaron milverton crossover fic no matter what but this is a straight up zoe and rachel chapter (it’s really long. as usual.)

previous:  1 here, 2 here, 3 here, 4 here, 5 here, 6 here, 7 here, 8 here, 9 here, 10 here

------

They got back to St. Augustine in the late afternoon. Luckily, Rachel and Aaron’s cars hadn’t been towed. Aaron thanked all of them profusely for helping him. He hugged Zoe, shook hands with Alex, and even bowed to Blair a few times. He had insisted on exchanging contact information with Rachel. (“I don’t have enough friends in Orlando! We should totally chill,” he’d said, and she hadn’t hated the thought of it.) And then next thing Rachel knew, Blair and Alex had mysteriously walked away and she found herself suddenly alone with Zoe for the first time since the road trip began.

“Hey, I guess I--” she started to say, just as Zoe started to say, “So, I wanted to--”

“Go ahead,” said Rachel.

“I just wanted to ask you… I mean… I’m sure you want to spend Thanksgiving with your family, but I’m in town until Sunday and if there’s any way you could maybe come back so we could… I don’t know, I just feel like we didn’t really get to hang out as much as I-- I mean, we did just spend like a full day in a car together but you know what I mean…”

She could have cut Zoe off as soon as she figured out what she was trying to say, but it was frustratingly cute to watch her trip over her words. Zoe really wasn’t helping her confusion about her feelings.

“I’d love to come back to hang out,” she finally said. “Saturday?”

“Saturday sounds great!” Zoe said, looking grateful to be able to stop talking. “Um. Can I get your number?”

------

“Alex, I need your advice,” Zoe said, hovering over the last of the apple pie. The guests had all gone home. Her mom and Blair were having a conversation in the other room-- which made her slightly nervous, but she didn’t think she wanted to be there for it.

“Eat it,” Alex said. “Blair has had enough already.” That was true. It was a wonder there was any left.

“Oh I will,” she said, “but I wasn’t asking about the pie. I mean about Rachel.”

“Oh… what about her?”

“Did I do the right thing in telling her to come back? I barely know her and she lives like seven states away. I probably shouldn’t be trying to hang out with her at this point, right?”

“Why did you ask her to come back?” Alex said, coming to get some pie themself.

“Because I like her,” Zoe admitted, splitting the remaining pie and putting half of it on a plate for Alex. “She’s cute and funny and really smart and clearly down for adventure…”

“Then it sounds like you’re doing the right thing to me.”

“But the distance thing.” She pulled herself up to sit on the kitchen counter and dug into her pie, not bothering to take it out of the dish. “It just doesn’t seem like there’s a point in getting attached to something that’s destined to end.”

“Everything ends though, doesn’t it?” Alex asked, leaning on the counter next to her. “Maybe you should just enjoy it for what it is while it lasts. Should I avoid befriending humans because I know their existence is temporary?”

Zoe stared at them. It wasn’t like she hadn’t thought about it before, the fact that Blair and Alex would outlive her and she would eventually just be a blip in their unending histories, but Alex had a way of putting things so bluntly sometimes.

“Is that what I am, Alex? A weekend fling in the grand scheme of your eternal life?” The look on their face made her immediately regret saying it-- of course she knew they hadn’t meant it like that. “Wow, I see how it is,” she said, hoping sarcasm would save her, but Alex’s face was still serious.

“Of course not,” they said, giving her an intense look. “Zoe, you are so important to me.”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

“I would never forget about you, I promise.”

“I mean, how could you,” she joked, flipping her hair. Alex laughed. She went back to her pie, realizing she hadn’t really gotten an answer to her Rachel dilemma.

Alex must’ve thought the same, because after a minute they said, “You know, I’ve met quite a few humans in the past few years and I don’t think very many of them would get in a car overnight with a bunch of strangers just for the sake of it. I don’t think I’ll be forgetting about her anytime soon either.”

Zoe looked at them, trying to decide how to respond.

“I should go check on Blair.” And with that, they walked away, leaving Zoe alone with her thoughts.

------

Rachel’s parents walked a delicate line between wanting to give her space and wanting to make sure she was safe. They’d never really been worriers, but something about all of her friends dying within the span of a month made them just a little more protective than before. Rachel didn’t usually go anywhere or do anything worthy of worrying about, though, so when she told them she was going to St. Augustine for the day, she had a feeling they were more relieved about her getting out of the house than anything else.

When the road trip began, she had texted them to say she’d run into one of her old friends (“No connection to Ham. You don’t know her”) and wanted to stay the night at her house. She didn’t mention the Miami part-- which, in retrospect, could’ve been very bad, considering that at the beginning of the trip, none of the people she was traveling with knew her real name.

So when her parents asked how it went, she felt guilty lying to them, but how would she tell them the truth? “Hey, so, I actually only met this girl once before, I just had a good feeling about her that I haven’t had about anyone in a long time so I got in the back of her van without asking questions”? Obviously not. She essentially said, “it was fun! I’m going back to see her again this weekend before she leaves” and left it at that. Honestly, they seemed happy to see her socializing for once.

She drove to St. Augustine early Saturday afternoon, nervous but excited to see Zoe again.

“You wore the jacket!” Zoe exclaimed upon seeing her. “It looks great.”

“Thank you, thank you,” Rachel said, grabbing the corners of her pink ladies jacket and twirling around. “It’s not going to last long, though, because I’m probably going to get too hot right away.”

“One thing I do not miss about Florida,” Zoe said, pulling a little cooler out of her car. “So, ready for a picnic?”

They had agreed to meet at Anastasia State Park, which was just south of historic St. Augustine. It had been Zoe’s idea. “Normally my idea of hanging out is just like driving around listening to music, but I think we’ve done enough driving this week,” she’d said.

They walked down to the beach and set up a blanket. “I always thought this beach was cooler than other Floridian beaches,” Rachel said. “Because you can like climb on the rocks and stuff.”

“I mean plus it has the same name as the greatest animated film of all time,” Zoe said, opening the cooler and pulling out some PB&Js. “I hope you’re not allergic to peanut butter.”

“Nope,” Rachel said, reaching for a sandwich. “And I didn’t know you liked Anastasia! I love that movie.”

“Listen, that was my absolute favorite movie growing up. I have a plastic ‘together in Paris’ necklace from when I was little and went to see Anastasia On Ice with my mom. The only reason I don’t own her music box is it’s like 75 dollars and the necklace doesn’t even open it so what’s the point?”

Rachel laughed. “Did you ever see the stage musical?”

“No, but I heard it was disappointing. No matter what, I can’t forgive them for cutting Rasputin.” Zoe bit into her sandwich.

“I had a crush on Anya as a kid,” Rachel said. “She was spunky.”

“I had a crush on both of them,” Zoe said. “Her and Dimitri. But it took me a while to realize that. Yay heteronormativity.”

“The best,” Rachel said, rolling her eyes. So there was that-- undeniable confirmation that Zoe liked girls. (Not that Zoe hadn’t been flirting with her all along, but that still fell under the possibility that she was just really friendly and really oblivious.) Suddenly, she felt a lot more like they were on a date. Was it a date? She still didn’t know if their trip to the Castillo had been a date. Did she want it to be?

She lives in DC, she told herself again and again as their conversation continued. She lives in DC she lives in DC she--

“Do you want to go for a walk?” Zoe asked. Rachel had zoned out so much that she didn’t notice Zoe stand up.

“Sure!” Rachel said. Zoe held out her hand. Rachel looked at it, swallowed, and took it, letting Zoe help her up. Then she stooped down to grab her jacket, awkwardly turning away to brush off the sand.

As they walked along the beach, she stood just far enough from Zoe that their hands had no chance of accidentally hitting each other. She still couldn’t decide if she wanted to acknowledge the date-ish-ness of it all.

“The beach is probably what I miss the most about Florida, besides my mom,” Zoe said. “The bay is fine, but it’s not the same, you know?”

“Zoe, is this a date?”

“What?” Zoe stopped walking.

Rachel regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth, but there was no backpedaling now. “I just… are we hanging out, or is this a date?”

“Do you… want it to be a date?”

“I don’t know! Sort of? I mean, I live in Orlando and you--”

“Yeah,” Zoe said. “I would absolutely want it to be a date if not for that whole distance thing. I really like you, Rachel.”

“Full disclosure, I’m kind of in a weird place when it comes to relationships,” Rachel said. “That’s why I was so weird the first time we hung out. But I like you too.” The last time she had told someone her romantic feelings had been Hamlet, right as she was dying. Which was a really fun mental image to deal with in the middle of this conversation. Look at the water, she told herself. Think about the ocean, and the pretty girl you’re maybe on a date with.

“So… what do we do? I mean I’m not saying we should start a relationship or something, I barely know you,” Zoe said.

“Yeah, I don’t know,” Rachel agreed. “It’s all weird.”

“Ok, hear me out,” Zoe said, walking again. Rachel skipped to catch up. “What if we call it a date, but like, with no obligation to turn into anything else? Like we just… hold hands and go on a date and then at the end of the weekend I go home and we either keep in touch or don’t but we’ll always have the memory of how we dated a cute girl for a weekend? I mean, we’re already here.”

“So like, just do it for the sake of the story?”

“Why not?” Zoe asked. “All the fun with none of the pressure. No relationship stuff, no long distance, just a nice afternoon.” Rachel had to admit it sounded nice. She could push all her baggage to the back of her brain to enjoy one date, right?

She stopped walking and grabbed Zoe’s hand. “Zoe, will you go on a date with me?”

“I’d love to,” Zoe said.

------

“Do you want to go haunt some ghost tours?”

They had been hanging out all day. After the beach, they walked around the outskirts of the touristy part of town, looking at weird houses and making up stories about the kinds of people who lived in them. Then they had gotten pizza and gelato at a little Italian place in the historic district and walked around the shops. Pretty much an ideal date, in Zoe’s opinion. But night came, and she didn’t want Rachel to go home yet, so she suggested an activity she used to do with her friends.

“What do you mean?” Rachel asked.

“Well if you actually go on the tour, you have to pay for it, but if you camp out in locations you know they’re going to stop by and try to scare them when they come up, it’s free and a lot more fun. If you want to.”

“As long as we don’t actually see any ghosts,” Rachel joked.

“If I were a ghost, I don’t think I’d hang out in places I knew tourists would hit up every night,” Zoe said.

“Very true,” said Rachel. “So where to?”

They hid in some bushes for a while, making eerie noises at tour groups that passed by. It was fun, but Zoe had an ulterior motive-- the hiding put them in close quarters to each other. If Rachel minded, she didn’t say anything.

“Have you ever been on one of the tours for real?” Rachel whispered.

“Yeah, a while ago. The one I did was no good. You couldn’t actually go in anywhere. We did a lot of looking into the cemetery from outside the fence, trying to ‘detect’ something with the little devices they gave us.”

“I think I like your version better,” said Rachel, then she jerked back. “Incoming!”

“Whooooooooo,” Zoe said ominously, just loud enough for the passing group to hear.

“I think I hear something!” someone in the group said. “Over there!” The person started approaching with one of the little devices Zoe had just mentioned. She could hear the tour guide trying to rein the person back into the group, but they had wrangled some friends to investigate. Zoe fell silent as the group crept toward her and Rachel’s hiding place. Her plan was to make another noise as they walked away. She tried not to move, not wanting to be discovered. The group moved closer… closer…

“BOO!” Rachel yelled, popping out of the bush. The tourists screamed, running back towards their tour group. Zoe leapt up, grabbing Rachel’s hand.

“Run!” she yelled, picking a direction and dragging Rachel behind her. They ran until they were far away from any groups, then leaned on a wall, panting.

“That… was… amazing,” Zoe said, looking at Rachel. So much for not getting attached, she thought.

------

Rachel was having the most fun, relaxing day she’d had since-- well, since a few days before, the last time she hung out with Zoe. She almost regretted the temporary agreement they had struck on the beach, if only because it was temporary. Why did Zoe have to live so far away? Why couldn’t anything ever be simple?

They were back at the beach, lying on Zoe’s picnic blanket. It was dark enough that they could actually see stars. Zoe was pointing out some constellations that she knew. Most of them were Greek mythology related, which was fine. Rachel had always been interested in mythology.

It was a little bit too perfect. Rachel felt a nagging thought at the back of her brain-- if she wanted whatever this was to go beyond this one bubble of a week, she would eventually have to tell Zoe about her past. Zoe seemed the type to look her up on the internet, and she didn’t want her finding out through the videos. She’d never look at Rachel the same way again.

“I still can’t believe the look on those people’s faces,” Zoe said. “That was amazing. Blair would’ve loved it, she loves pranks.” She turned to Rachel, still smiling. Even in the dark, Rachel was struck by how pretty she was. Her face must’ve been strange, because Zoe noticed. “What’s wrong?”

“Um, I have to tell you something,” Rachel said. “About myself and um… there’s just a big thing you don’t know about me.” Zoe’s face totally changed. She turned away.

“Honestly, me too,” she said. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to bring it up, because it’s kind of a big deal, but I feel like you should know.”

“Oh,” Rachel said, thinking whatever Zoe had to say couldn’t possibly top her thing, “um, you first, I guess.”

“You brought it up,” Zoe said.

“No, it’s ok. I want to know.”

“You have to promise not to laugh,” Zoe said. “You’re going to think I’m crazy.”

“I’m sure I won’t.”

“Ok, um, you remember Blair and Alex?”

“Of course.” Rachel wasn’t sure where she was going.

“They’re… gods.”

“What?”

“Like, they are actual gods. From Olympus. Greek mythology is real, and Blair’s dad is Zeus, and Alex’s dad is Apollo.”

Rachel blinked. “What?”

“Sorry, I probably shouldn’t have started with that…” Rachel wanted to laugh, but Zoe looked so serious, and she had promised she wouldn’t. “I didn’t believe it at first either,” Zoe went on. “I met them because Blair hired me to promote her so she could get worshippers… it’s a long story… anyway, you probably think I’m crazy now.”

Rachel thought back to Blair and Alex’s odd behavior, and the way Aaron and Chad seemed to literally worship Blair. And how she called them all “humans”. Zoe seemed pretty stable. After everything that had happened in the past few days, Rachel couldn’t help but believe her. After all, she already knew ghosts were real. Gods weren’t that much more of a leap. (It still didn’t explain Blair’s uncanny resemblance to Laura O’Ness, but she’d have to put a pin in that one.)

“I believe you,” Rachel said.

“Wait, you do? Really?”

“Yeah. And you know, I think I might’ve heard something about her, now that you say that.” She vaguely remembered a meme that had gone around a couple years ago about “#saveblair” and wondered if it had been Zoe’s doing. “That’s not at all what I was expecting you to say,” she said, and they both laughed. “But it does explain a lot.”

Zoe explained how Blair had been banished. “I think Zeus was tired of her being such a brat. Which is totally hypocritical, if you ask me, but I’m glad he did it.”

“Sounds very Rick Riordan,” Rachel said.

“Don’t bring him up around Blair, she hates him,” Zoe said. “She thinks he believes the things he’s writing and is purposefully painting a false picture of the gods in order to make humans seem cooler than we are.” She laughed. “Maybe I could get him to throw Blair into some of his books at some point and then she’d shut up about it. I’ve never actually read them.”

“You should, they’re cute.” She had been reading them since she was a kid, and was thrilled when he started adding more diversity. “Though wildly inaccurate, I’m sure,” she added, grinning.

Zoe went on to explain how Chad had started B4B, and how Blair couldn’t stand the members. “I think they’re growing on her, though,” she said. “She’s grown a lot. Anyway, that’s why we were in Orlando the first time. Aaron was hosting B4B con.”

“So what happened with Chad and Aaron?”

Zoe explained how Alex always changed forms, and the trick they had played on the con-goers. “I feel a little bad about it now,” she said. “But it all worked out in the end.”

“Wait, so was that Alex with you the first time you came to my store?”

“Yep. I was lucky I got them to stay in one human form throughout the whole roadtrip.”

“So Blair was banished, but why is Alex here? They just love humans?”

“Well, that’s why they’re still here, but they were originally banished too,” she said. “Way before Blair.”

“Were they a brat, too?”

“No, um.” She paused. Rachel realized she had hit a sore spot.

“You don’t have to tell me,” she said. “You’ve already told me a lot.” More than you’ve told her, said the voice in the back of her head.

“No, it’s ok,” Zoe said. She explained how Alex and Blair had accidentally started the Great Fire of London, and how Blair had let Alex take all the blame.

“Wow,” said Rachel.

“I know,” Zoe said. “I almost couldn’t face her again after I found that out. I mean, it sounds weird, but I basically can forgive her for the people who died, you know? I know it wasn’t really her fault and everything spun out of control. But how she treated Alex was really shitty.”

Rachel blinked. That sounded… familiar. She didn’t know what to say.

“It’s ok though,” Zoe went on. “She’s since apologized, and she doesn’t kill people anymore. And I made her bring back the ones she vaporized when she first got here.”

Rachel had forgotten about her own stuff for a few minutes, but now she couldn’t snap out of it. But she definitely couldn’t follow Zoe’s “my friends are immortal” with “my friends are all dead”. It was too morbid.

“Oh, you were going to say something before!” Zoe said. It must have shown on her face again.

“It’s not important,” she said.

“Come on,” Zoe said. “You dealt with my super weird thing really well. I can handle it.”

Rachel knew it wasn’t the time. “Um, I believe in ghosts,” she said. “Real ones. I saw one once in a parking garage.”

“Oooh, really? What did it look like?”

“Well for one thing, you didn’t need one of those little devices to see it.” Rachel used the opportunity to steer the conversation quickly back to the ghost tour, hoping Zoe wouldn’t question it. As the night got later, they held hands again, ignoring the dew that was rapidly making their clothes and blanket wet. And when they ran out of things to talk about, they fell asleep next to each other. The last thing Rachel saw was the stars, and she didn’t have a single dream.

------

Zoe woke up just as the sun peeked over the water. Her clothes were ridiculously damp. She wished she had brought a jacket, but she knew it would be wet too. She looked out at the sun coming over the horizon. Her mom was always trying to get her to come see it, but she had never been enough of a morning person to make it to the beach before sunrise. She wondered if she’d see any dolphins-- she had heard they were active early in the morning.

She looked over at Rachel, who was still asleep, wondering if this whole temporary date idea had been a mistake. How could she think she wouldn’t get attached? She’d never been in a serious relationship before, but she was pretty sure starting one with someone in a totally different city was a definitively bad idea, even if her friends were gods who could transport her back and forth. She was glad Rachel was asleep, because she was definitely staring. She was just so pretty, and Zoe didn’t have a lot of time left to see her in person. (After a minute she felt a little creepy, so she looked back out at the sunrise.)

Eventually the colors got so pretty that she felt it would be a crime to let Rachel sleep through it, so she nudged her gently on the shoulder. “Rachel,” she whispered. “Look at the sunrise.”

Rachel opened her eyes, then closed them again, groaning. “It’s too bright,” she said, putting an arm over her face. It was ridiculously cute, and Zoe couldn’t help but think that if they were dating she could witness it more often. Stop that, she scolded herself.

“Al amanecer,” Rachel said.

“What?”

“Sunrise. Like In the Heights. Al amaaaanecer.” She still had the crook of her arm over her eyes.

“Oh yeah! Sunriiiise,” Zoe sang. She couldn’t help but think how romantic that song was. Promise me you’ll stay beyond the sunrise. She shook the thoughts from her head.

“So, breakfast?” she asked, and Rachel groaned again, reaching over to pull her jacket over her face.

-----

As Rachel drove home that afternoon, all she could think about was Zoe. Her face, her laugh, her singing voice, the feeling of holding her hand… the fact that they might never see each other again…

What have I done? she thought.

[dragonydreams]

Priorities, We Have Them - Rogue Canary

Title: Priorities, We Have Them Fandom: DC's Legends of Tomorrow Rating: Teen Pairings/Characters: Sara Lance/Mick Rory/Leonard Snart Summary: Mick gets hurt while out in the field and all Sara and Leonard want to do is take care of him the best way they know how. Timeline: Ambiguous season two after they get Rip back and Leonard never died at the Oculus. Word Count: 1,878 Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over these characters. I am merely borrowing them from Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg and Phil Klemmer. Betas: Thank you to angelskuuipo and shanachie_quill for looking this over for me. Author's Note: Combination of prompts. @freyreh requested: rogue canary, fluffy prompt call: one is hurt during mission and the other two dotes on them, despite protests! Anonymous requested: As a prompt would you consider a fluffy mick centric rogue canary fic??? Maybe they're comforting him or something??? Possibly smutty idk whatever u feel

  The battle raged throughout the dockyard. Firestorm and Atom were firing on goons from the sky while Leonard, Mick, and Rip attacked with guns and Sara, Amaya, and Nate fought with hand-to-hand combat.

"Where's Darhk?" Sara shouted after having knocked out her latest opponent. She looked around to see Leonard shooting ice at a cluster of men and Mick wasn't far away lighting up some other men with fire. But neither was fighting Darhk. "I don't see him."

"The speedster got him away as soon as the gunfire started," Ray reported over the din of fight.

Sara took her rage out on having lost out on the chance to kill Darhk, again, on the first goon foolish enough to come at her.

She was so consumed by her own fight that she didn't hear the warning signs until the explosion happened.

"Mick," Leonard's voice cried out, finishing off his opponents.

Sara's head jerked up as one of her lovers cried the other's name with an anguished voice. She dropped her opponent and followed Leonard to where she could now see Mick lying on the ground.

"No!" she cried, running towards the fire that was creeping closer to her lovers. "Is he...?" She couldn't say it.

"Alive," Leonard quickly assured her, his voice thick with emotion - that he would later claim was from the smoke. "Just unconscious."

"Thank God," Sara sighed. Into the comms, she said, "Mick's down and Darhk's gone. Retreat."

As Leonard and Sara managed to lift Mick between them, Ray dropped down. "Let me take him," he offered, reaching for Mick's limp form.

"We've got him," Leonard snarled, tightening his grip on Mick.

"I can carry him much easier, and faster, thanks to the suit," Ray insisted.

"We want to do this," Sara said, meeting his eyes, "but thanks for the offer."

 Ray instantly backed off.

The team knew that the Rogues and the Assassin were close, but Sara wasn't sure if they knew exactly how close they were to each other. Frankly, it was none of their business.

Heading straight for the medbay once on board the Waverider, they managed to get Mick onto one of the exam chairs and secured the medical cuff around his wrist.

"How is he?" Sara asked as a blue light scanned Mick's body.

"Aside from being unconscious, Mr. Rory is fine," Gideon reported. "I have already reduced the minor swelling of his brain."

Leonard let out the breath that he had been holding. "Are you sure? When will he wake up?"

"I'm sure," Gideon said. "The force of hitting his head on the ground merely rendered Mr. Rory unconscious. It is no more severe than any of the blows that you have delivered to him over the past year."

"When will he wake up?" Sara asked, since the AI had not answered Leonard's second question.

"I am not sure how long it will take him to regain consciousness," Gideon reported. "Anytime between now and several hours from now."

"Does he need to stay here?" Leonard asked.

"There is no medical reason for him to remain in this room," Gideon said.

"Great." Leonard removed the cuff and began to lift Mick off the medical chair. "We'll be in my quarters."

Sara helped Leonard carry Mick to his room and they managed to get him stretched out on Leonard's bed. Leonard immediately started to remove Mick's boots.

"I'm gonna go check in with Rip and then I'll be back," Sara said. "If he wakes up while I'm gone, tell him I'll be right back."

"I will," Leonard said. Before she could go, he caught her hand and pulled her close for a quick kiss; an assurance that they were both okay after the fight.

Sara smiled at him as they parted and gave his hand a squeeze before she moved quickly towards the bridge.

Sara found Rip in his study.

"How is Mr. Rory?" he asked upon seeing Sara.

"Gideon said he's fine, just knocked out," Sara said. "Leonard and I moved him to Leonard's room and we'll wait for him to wake up there. What happened with the goons?"

"The fight pretty much broke up after the explosion. Those that weren't caught by it were so few in number that they ran off," Rip informed her.

"Sorry we just ran off," Sara said. "I know my job is as a fighter, and its bad form for the co-captain to just disappear mid-fight."

Rip's expression softened. "A good captain looks out for their crew; which is exactly what you did."

"Mick's more than just crew," Sara uncomfortably admitted.

"I know," Rip said. Upon Sara's surprised look, he added, "Did you really think that I don't know about the various affairs that are happening on board my own ship?"

"We thought we were playing it pretty cool," Sara said.

"Oh, you were," Rip readily agreed. "I'm not sure that your teammates know the fullness of your - friendship - with the former thief and arsonist, but it is my job to track all movements on this ship. Including who is sleeping in which bedrooms."

Sara blushed slightly. "Thank you for not saying anything."

"It's not my place," Rip said. "Had Mr. Rory not been injured today, I still would not have acted any wiser."

"I better get back to them," Sara said. "How long before we jump?"

"We'll wait until Mr. Rory is sufficiently recovered. With the so called Legion of Doom in the wind once again, we are in no rush to be off."

"Thanks, Rip," Sara said, turning to head back to Leonard's room.

Leonard was sitting on his bed beside Mick's prone form, a book open in front of him. He'd maneuvered Mick's head against his side and his arm was looped around his shoulders, his hand resting over Mick's heart.

Sara slipped off her boots and crawled onto the bed with them, fitting herself between Leonard's outstretched legs.

"About time you got here, I've been stuck on the same page for minutes," Leonard said as she settled back against his chest.

"How very boring for you," Sara commented as she dutifully turned the page in his book. "What are we reading?" She let the hand closest to Mick rest on his thigh.

"Frankenstein," Leonard said.

"You feeling some sympathy for our misunderstood monster?" Sara asked affectionately.

"Don't let him hear you say that," Leonard said softly.

"Oh, you know what I mean," Sara said lightly. "Most people don't get him like we do."

"I do know what you mean," Leonard concurred.

"Leonard, I don't much feel like reading," Sara said, twisting around until she was kneeling between his legs. She trailed one hand up his chest until it rested behind his neck while the other remained on Mick.

Leonard closed the book and tossed it towards the end of the bed, his now free hand going to her hip. "What did you have in mind?"

Sara leaned in to kiss him. Her lips brushed against his lightly, teasingly, until Leonard pulled her firmly against his body and parted his lips, deepening the kiss. Sara moaned her encouragement, pressing her body against his, her nails digging into Mick's chest.

"Who said you could start without me?" Mick asked groggily from beside them.

Sara and Leonard's heads whipped towards Mick to see him sitting up against the wall, hungrily watching them.

"Don't stop on my account," Mick said.

"You're awake," Sara exclaimed, leaning over to hug Mick.

"Obvious--" Mick's response was cut off by Leonard's lips on his.

"I'm happy to see you guys, too," Mick said when they released him. "What was that for?"

"You've been unconscious," Leonard said.

"How long?" Mick asked, frowning in confusion.

"Just a couple of hours," Sara answered. "That explosion knocked you out."

"Don't remember any explosion. Did I cause it?" he asked hopefully.

"Sorry, buddy, but someone fired a gun into one of the oil cans," Leonard said. "What were you doing fighting over by them anyway?"

"Thought I could blow them up if I needed to," Mick answered. "Guess that idea backfired."

"Be more careful," Sara admonished him, moving from her place between Leonard's legs until she was straddling Mick. She took his face in her hands and kissed him somewhat desperately.

"Mr. Rory should refrain from any physical exertion for the next forty-eight hours," Gideon's voice interrupted.

Sara whimpered as her forehead dropped to Mick's shoulder.

"How'd you know what we were doin'?" Mick grumbled.

"I have been continuing to monitor your heart rate for any residual effects from you being rendered unconscious," Gideon informed them.

"Why didn't you say anything when we asked if he was going to be okay?" Leonard asked, just as frustrated as his partners.

"I expected you to use more common sense than this," Gideon responded. "No physical exertion for Mr. Rory for the next two days or I will have to inform Captain Hunter."

Not wanting that lecture, Mick grumpily acknowledged, "Understood."

Sara gave Mick one last quick kiss before turning and settling herself in his lap, her legs stretched out over Leonard, Mick's arm automatically coming to wrap around her waist. "So now what?" she pouted.

"Movie?" Leonard suggested.

"Can we watch Blade Trinity?" Mick asked. "I like the guy that plays Drake."

"Anything you want," Sara said.

"And popcorn," Mick added.

Sara giggled at Leonard's groan as he got up. "Be right back," he said, dropping a quick kiss to Mick's lips.

Sara snuggled closer into Mick's warmth, causing the big man to chuckle.

"What's got you so clingy?" he asked, running his hand up and down her back.

"You scared me today," Sara admitted. "I don't like being scared in the field. I'm supposed to be in charge out there and as soon as I saw you were down, I left my position and ran to you."

"You know I'd do the same for you or Len," Mick said, tilting her face up to meet his eyes.

"Not the same," Sara insisted.

"Was Rip mad?" Mick asked.

"No, he understood," Sara said. "He already knew about us all being together."

"Captain's job to know what's going on on his ship," Mick said, nodding. "Not surprised."

"Well, I was," Sara admitted. "Do you think Leonard will be mad that he knows?"

"That who knows what?" Leonard asked, carrying a large bowl of popcorn and three bottles of beer. He handed the popcorn to Sara along with one of the beers, giving the other to Mick, before resuming his place on the bed. "Gideon said you only get one beer," Leonard informed Mick, who grunted his acknowledgement.

"Rip knows about the three of us being together," Sara told him.

"He say we need to stop?" Leonard asked. "Because that's not happening."

"No, he didn't seem to care, as long as it doesn't interfere with the mission," Sara said.

"Nothing to worry about, then," Leonard said. He adjusted his position so that he was leaning against Mick, facing the screen in the wall over the bed.

"Gideon, play Blade Trinity on the screen in my room and dim the lights," Leonard called out.

The lights dimmed as the screen came to life.

Sara relaxed against Mick, grateful that they were all going to be okay.

The End