#dani’s henry takes today are. something else

[aemiron-main]

good to see dani making things up about henry and edward with no actual sources or evidence as usual. nature is as it should be. sky is blue, grass is green, dani has god’s most rancid and stupid takes. 🫡🫡🫡

[tinylilemrys]

Lonely In London

Relationship:

Trent Crimm/Ted Lasso

Additional Tags:

Angst and Romance | Romcommunism | Friends to Lovers | Romantic Comedy | Alternate Universe – Canon Divergence

Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Summary:

Henry, worried about how lonely his dad seems to be in London, writes into an advice podcast for some help. A podcast run by an ex-colleague of Trent's – one that he listens to religiously. If Trent falls a little for 'Lonely In London' because he reminds him of Ted, well that's just coincidence. An homage to romcommunism, largely based on 'Sleepless In Seattle' with a few others thrown in for good measure.

Previous Chapter | Final Chapter

CHAPTER 4

Trent is in a car park in front of Heathrow.

He's trying very hard not to think about the fact that he anonymously told the man who he's absolutely gone for that he'll be waiting for him here in just under four months. It's a dizzying thought.

Right now, he's just waiting for Ted who's making sure Henry safely boards his flight back to Kansas.

He probably shouldn't have offered but he knows firsthand how shitty handovers are and Ted was just going to take an Uber otherwise. Better to save him the money and the bother, offer him the lift, comfort him about Henry, and maybe even come to some sort of understanding about where they're at. The month since the kiss has been fraught with tension and it's getting to the point where the team and staff are noticing. They need to get on some kind of page about it at the very least.

A text from Ted breaks his gloomy train of thought.

Henry's through check-in. It's still a while before he flies and I have to stay here until he's airborne. Let's do lunch? Or at least a drink. Don't think my nerves could take a meal right now.

Trent doesn't need telling twice.

It doesn't take him long to spot Ted. He thinks at this point he'd be able to immediately spot him in the densest of crowds, like the world's easiest and most specific Where's Wally. He smiles privately at how if Ted could hear his thoughts, he would insist on only being compared to Where's Waldo.

He's immensely glad that telepathy is beyond Ted's many talents.

"Well as I live and breathe, if it isn't Trent Crimm, future bestseller." Ted's smile is as wide as ever, but it doesn't crinkle the corners of his eyes the way it usually does. He's heartbroken, as Trent fully expected.

"How are you holding up, Ted?" he asks and Ted's smile settles into something far more tired, heartbroken, and real.

"Ah, well, you know," says Ted, his eyes looking rather misty, "it never gets easier."

His thumb is worrying over a keyring – a little LEGO minifigure that Trent suspects might be made to look like Ted. Likely a gift from Henry. Trent wants to throw his arms around him. To just hold him until it hurts a bit less.

He knows he can't. Not after July.

"Shall we get this drink you threatened me with?" says Trent gently and Ted nods, taking a deep breath.

After they're settled at a booth in a chain coffee shop with their respective hot drinks – Ted with an extremely apt Americano, Trent with an equally on-the-nose Earl Grey tea – Trent finds himself clearing his throat.

"So, do you want to talk about how you're feeling about Henry flying back?" he braves. "Or would you prefer anything else?"

"Anything else," says Ted. "Please, anything else. At least for a while."

"Great," says Trent, clenching a serviette for emotional support. "Perhaps then I could apologise for what happened at the Christmas party?"

"Oh, uh, sure?" says Ted, taken aback. "I didn't think we were actually ever going to talk about that again."

"We don't need to after today," says Trent.

Unless you want to, he doesn't add.

"It shouldn't have happened," he continues. "I think I must have accidentally been drinking from Dani's 'cheekied' punchbowl instead of the polite one. In any case, I forgot myself and I fear I've made things awkward between us."

Ted seems to be working through conflicting emotions. The lines between his brows deepen for a moment. His moustache twitches. He stares down at his coffee like it holds his response, then looks up at Trent.

"Not a worry, Bill Murray," says Ted, his face fixing itself into that same sad smile from earlier. "That night was pretty crazy, huh? Lot of emotions running wild. You don't have to apologise for anything. It was me too. I was like a helium balloon out of the hands of a careless child – just caught up in the atmosphere."

It might just be Ted trying to match Trent's lie, but it doesn’t mean it stings any less. Trent takes a sip of too-hot tea to cover his gloom and instead suddenly has to pretend that he hasn't just scalded his mouth.

"But, Trent, I will say this," says Ted in the most serious tone he's ever had directed at him, as Trent tries to play off the way he definitely just took off a layer of skin from his tongue. "I really like talking to you. As much as I think you like talking to me. I would hate for this to be something that gets in the way of that. Think we can at least promise to try our hand at being friends?"

"I think we could manage that," says Trent. He's almost able to ignore the agony he's in at the earnestness in Ted's voice. "After all, you know how I love our chats."

Ted smiles another real smile at that.

"Good, that's settled then." He lifts his drink. "To friendship moving forward."

"To friendship moving forward," Trent agrees, clinking his paper cup against Ted's, tears now forming in his eyes at the pain.

"Now, one friend to another, did you burn your mouth on that cup of Satan's swill just then?" asks Ted, to his credit, looking like he's trying his level best not to laugh. Trent can only nod. "Yeah, thought so. I'll go get you some ice."

It's still one of the better coffees he's ever gotten with someone.

Trent's mouth heals, as do things between Ted and him. Richmond has had an eventful start to the season with the arrival of Zava who even Trent finds himself moderately starstruck by. There's no denying the man is a football god and as a lifelong Richmond supporter, he can't help but be pleased with the string of victories that come with his place on the team. He does, however, note the way that Jamie seems to withdraw into himself and wonders that Ted hasn't seemed to notice. He thinks Roy does, though. Trent has realised that not much Jamie-related gets past Roy.

Ted's head seems to be elsewhere.

He considers it a moment of immense growth in his commitment to friendship with Ted when, at the opening of Sam's restaurant, Ted leaves with Rebecca's friend and he only stews on it for half an hour.

Sassy? Really? The woman Trent berated for making a mistake in turning Ted down is called Sassy?

Deciding jealousy isn't a good look on him, he decides to go home, and has all thoughts of Ted's romantic exploits pushed from his mind by the sight of Colin kissing someone outside of Sam's restaurant. Not just someone, though. A man.

Now there's a scoop. A scoop Trent would never share, not even in his days as a journalist. Hell, if the fucking Wonder Kid hadn't lost him his job, this would be the next thing that would. He would never out anyone. It was a hard line he'd drawn himself early in his career. After what he saw happen to Justin Fashanu growing up, he simply wouldn't do it. He wouldn't be part of that. 

The idea of that happening to someone from Richmond, this group of people he's come to think of as family, is unthinkable. He hopes and prays he gets a chance to talk to Colin before something happens and the secret gets out. Colin wasn't exactly subtle with his choice of makeout spot.

He thanks the gay gods of football when he gets his chance in Amsterdam.

At first, there's part of him that really wants to find out what Ted's plans are for the evening. It's Museumnacht, of all nights, and all he wants to do is stay out late exploring every single one with Ted, who he imagines would be a great companion on a museum trip. Sure, he'd likely make a joke about every single painting, but Trent knows he would be genuinely curious about them too.

It really would be too much like a date, however, and so he resigns himself to the fact that the right thing to do is to spend the night seeing what the rest of the team gets up to. He watches, with amusement, the heated debate about what the plan for the evening should be. He even tries to unsuccessfully sell them on the idea of Museumnacht. But so far it seems like they're not going to make it much farther than the lobby of the hotel. It's only when Colin slips away from the rest of the pack that Trent realises what his evening in Amsterdam will be.

There's only one reason he could imagine Colin, usually in the thick of things, would want to separate himself from the pack. He's going somewhere he can be himself. And Trent knows that this is his chance to speak to and encourage him.

He realises, unfortunately too late, that following him to the club might not have been the best option. Colin looks genuinely terrified at seeing him there and Trent can't blame him. He doubts he could ever fully understand the level of paranoia Colin's daily life entails.

When he finally manages to calm the kid down enough to get him to sit down and talk over a couple of beers, the last thing he's expecting is for the conversation to be exactly what he needs to hear too. But Colin turns out to have quite the way with words.

"All I want," Colin explains, eyes filled with longing and wistfulness, "is for when we win a match, to be able to kiss my fella the same way the guys get to kiss their girls."

Trent smiles at that, thinking about a particular fella that he'd like to kiss after a big Richmond win.

"And I know we can't fix every ache inside of us," Colin continues. "But I shouldn't have to pretend it's not there either."

This, more than anything, shakes Trent to his core. His longing for Ted is an ache. One that he doesn't know if it's possible to fix, but he's given himself one Hail Mary in the form of a prearranged grand romantic gesture and by god if this kid hasn't just given him the courage to just go for it.

He could never regret this conversation with Colin, but after a somewhat failed attempt at sharing an historical titbit about Anne Frank, he can't help but wonder what a night in Amsterdam with Ted might have been like after all.

Some of the confidence regarding his new resolve to do the big ill-advised romantic gesture wanes a bit in the week after Amsterdam. Ted is so busy trying to find a team strategy that will work, that Trent is sure the last thing on his mind is his love life.

But then Trent sees it. In their match against Arsenal, he can see the pieces connecting. The team are doing it. They're doing total football. A week ago, they weren't doing anything close to it, but this week, here, at this match, they're doing it. They trust Ted that much that they were willing to try it. And not only try it – actually do it with their whole hearts.

It's the Lasso Effect at its full power. And they're going to fucking win the Premier League. He knows it now.

He has to tell Ted after the match. He can't contain his excitement. Ted's going to do it. He's going to fucking do it. And not because he's an amazing football manager. Not because he's a tactical genius.

No, it's because he's Ted Lasso, and he genuinely cares about what he's doing and the people who are doing it with him.

Christmas Eve, now only a week away, cannot come quickly enough.

***

Ted spends all of August trying to fend off questions about whether or not he's going to meet Isolated in Islington. But he wouldn't trade it for the world, because every time is a reminder that Henry is right there, at arm's reach. With him.

Ted's heart is heavy.

The handover at the end of the summer is the hardest one yet. But it's also somehow one of the better ones because of Trent.

He was nervous when Trent offered them a ride to the airport, but Henry was so excited about the idea and Ted was so worried about being alone afterwards that he agreed. And he's glad he did because it ends up being a great time, all things considered. In any case they manage to patch up things between them, and for Ted, that's monumental. He's willing to pretend that what happened between them was a mistake, as much as it hurts, if it means holding onto Trent as a friend.

Zava turns out to be both as impressive as advertised and a huge disappointment in the long run. It's wonderful to have a winning streak to their name – he knows after the disappointment of the Chelsea game, it's a relief for Rebecca. He can, unfortunately, see that it's getting to Jamie, but there's not much he can do about it. As far as team strategy goes, they've got a good thing going, and he can't shake it up for one player. Not without having to field interrogation from all sides including his fellow coaches, the press, Rebecca, and even Trent.

But then, he starts noticing the rest of his team slipping further and further back. He sees how their victories start paling next to their feeling of boredom out on the pitch. By the time they reach the West Ham game, his team is in dire straits, but Ted can't bring himself to focus enough to deal with it, because at the same time, he's accidentally spoken to Dr Jacob for the first time since his last marriage counselling session.

The West Ham match is a blur to Ted. Only three things stick out in his memory of it:

One, the generally sick feeling that came over him every time he thought about how Dr Jacob used to give him marriage advice, only to swoop in the minute his marriage was over.

Two, the anger he felt at Roy and Beard showing the team the footage of Nate tearing up the sign that's come to mean so much to them. It was the last thing the team needed and it made them play the worst match Ted's ever seen them play.

Three, the feeling of helplessness he felt, both at the way his team was playing, and at the way that this awful, unethical psychologist was now around his son far more than he was. That he was the one giving his son rides to soccer practice and helping him with his math homework.

His call with Michelle after the match offers some catharsis, but is ultimately not that helpful. He's exhausted, drawn, and all he wants to do is go to bed. Just as he's about to, however, he gets a call from Trent.

"Hey, Trent," he says, not really in the mood for any of his usual affectations.

"Hi, Ted," says Trent. "I've just managed to get Squish to bed, so I thought I would call and see how you're doing after the match today. We were watching. It looked brutal."

"Yeah, well, they saw your footage," says Ted, a little more biting than he means to be.

"Oh," says Trent. "Yes, I was wondering why they looked like they were out for blood. That explains it."

"Yeah," says Ted, voice still strained with the effort of not completely losing it. He's so angry and hurt and tired he could explode, but he doesn't want it to be at Trent. "Listen, Trent, I appreciate that you might still be trying to work the journalism out of your system, but the next time you find a big scoop that might affect the mental state of my players, I'd appreciate if you ran it by me first."

There's silence on the other end for a moment before Trent's voice comes back, smaller than Ted's ever heard it.

"I'm so sorry, Ted. I really am. And look, I know this doesn't excuse anything by any means, but by way of explanation, let me just say that I think I was trying to get you to feel as angry about the Nate situation as I am. I just… he cost me my career, you know? I liked being a journalist. It wasn't necessarily what I imagined I'd be doing with the rest of my life, but I was good at it. I was a bloody good sports journalist and all it took was one story for it all to fucking collapse."

"That wasn't entirely Nate's fault," says Ted, closing his eyes as though trying to prevent every thought he's currently having from leaving his head. "You didn't have to share that with me. I mean, I appreciate that you did. But you could direct a little of that anger my way."

Trent sighs deeply.

"You know that I can't."

Ted knows that that might be true. He rubs his eyes with his free hand.

"Look, Trent, I have to believe that people are able to be forgiven. I just have to. Because otherwise, when I get back to Henry, when I have to explain to him why I was out of his life for so long… I have to…"

It's the tipping point. He collapses onto the armchair behind him as huge undignified sobs wrack his body. He hates that he's crying like this. He hates that he's crying like this while Trent can hear it. It doesn't matter. There's nothing he can do to stop it at this point.

"Ted, Ted, listen to me," says Trent. "Your son loves you, okay? Whenever that boy isn't at your side looking up at you like you personally hung the sun, he's telling anyone who will hear that you're the coolest dad in the world. Whatever happens, I know that that child knows how much you love him, okay?"

Ted nods, but realises Trent can't hear him.

"I'm gonna hang up now," Ted says. "But it's not because you aren't making a great point. I just think half the battle is that I haven't had a decent night's sleep in over a week and I need to crash. I'll see you at work tomorrow."

"See you at work, Ted," says Trent. He sounds concerned.

Ted pulls himself together enough to put together two packs of shortbread, writing a short note in Trent's one.

Trent – thank you for your kindness last night. I needed to hear that. But I hope that you'll eventually find it in your heart to forgive too. It'll help you feel better too.

He ties it all together with a bit of ribbon he has left from his Christmas in July wrapping and the sunflower hair clasp that he still hasn't returned and leaves it on Trent's desk the next morning for when he comes in.

When Trent opens it and reads the note, he turns in his chair to make eye contact with Ted, smiles, and nods, and Ted feels one of the weights on his heart fall away.

Of course, with Zava leaving and the team having played backup the whole season so far, there's a lot of catch up to do. But it's a challenge that keeps Ted's mind on the game and not everywhere else. For a while, he finds himself able to disappear into managing the headspace of his team, Roy's ideas for stamina and speed training, Beard's best stabs at strategies for them to try.

The only exception to his new workflow is a fairly big scare in the form of reports of Henry bullying another classmate. And Ted doesn't quite know how to feel about the fact that it seems to resolve itself. By the time they talk, Henry seems to have the scope of what he's done wrong and has even apologised the kid for it. Did Michelle talk to Henry about it? Did Dr Jake? There's no way for Ted to know but there's not much more for Ted to add. The thought breaks his heart.

With difficulty, he decides to take it for what it is: a sign that his kid, for the time being, seems to be okay without him. Another weight drops from his heart.

He continues to ignore Henry's nagging about meeting Isolated in Islington. He doesn't have time to think about that. Instead, he decides to focus on the promise he's made to Henry, to the team, to himself: winning the whole thing.

It's in Amsterdam that everything starts coming together.

The so-called friendly match is a disaster and the only thing Ted can do for himself and the rest of the team to make it okay is to give them all a night to let loose.

Somehow, to Beard, this gets translated as "get Ted high", but Ted is so out of ideas at this point that he's willing to try anything. He almost doesn't try it when it's presented to him as a tea, even if it does bring back a fond memory of Trent trying and failing to play it cool after burning his mouth on the foul stuff. Eventually though, Ted decides if he's going to give himself half a chance at anything new, he needs to try something new, so he downs the tea and heads to the front desk to ask about the nearby museums.

He ends up at the Van Gogh museum, specifically in front of the famous "Sunflowers" painting, just staring. He's seen it plenty before, in prints and in digital pictures. He didn't realise, seeing it up close, that it would be possible to see the individual brush strokes. He alternates between being pulled so closely into the details that all he sees is paint in various shades of yellow, green, and blue, to looking at the whole thing and feeling himself trembling at a brand new thought.

He's grown up with sunflowers his whole life. Adorned on any bit of kitsch to do with Kansas. The great big fields he'd drive past on road trips. The ones his mother grew in the backyard and always had in a vase in the kitchen. The ones on his father's grave. The one or two in Michelle's wedding bouquet. It was his state flower, part of growing up in Kansas.

So why, in his mind, do sunflowers only belong to Trent now?

His thoughts are interrupted by a museum guide who shares a Van Gogh quote with him. And, as beautiful as it is, it's his next statement that really sends Ted reeling.

"When you find beauty, you find inspiration. When you know you're doing what you're meant to do, you have to try."

Of course, he realises this applies to his team, and absolutely tonight is about figuring out what the next step there is, but…

But Trent had looked like a sunflower earlier, with his bright yellow shirt and peppery dark hair. So beautiful. And Ted knows he could keep pretending that he doesn’t want him with his whole heart. It would kill him, but he knows he could do it. But there's a part of him, a far bigger part, that wants to give it one more try. That kiss hadn't been nothing. And he owes it to himself to see what could be. To take his own medicine and believe for once.

He accepts the notebook from the guide and decides to make his way to the glimmer of home he's hoping to find in the Yankee-Doodle Burger Barn. As looming as it all is, he can think about Trent in a bit. Right now he has to fix his team.

Eight hours and one placebo-induced drug trip later, Ted has it. At least, he thinks he does. He doesn’t know if it will work – Beard will know more about that than he does – but it's something. And another weight drops from his heart.

He loses the final one a week later.

Total football turns out to be a lot trickier to implement than Ted initially thought it would be. He knew it would be a lot of work to some extent, but he thought that because it was designed to get the team looser it wouldn't be the monumental challenge it's turning out to be. But here they are, playing against Arsenal, still struggling to work together the way he imagined.

But Jamie – proving once again to Ted that his football career will be long and storied – comes to the rescue at half time, explaining where the team is going wrong in the simplest way possible. Ted could absolutely smother him in a hug right now, but he thinks he'll leave that to Roy. He's noticed that he and Jamie seem to be even cosier since Amsterdam and lord help the poor soul that interferes with something Roy Kent cares about.

They still lose, but the second half is absolutely beautiful to watch. The team play off of each other seamlessly. They still seem to be finding their feet, but Ted can see that they finally get it. And that they're having fun. And crowd is having fun watching them have fun.

He's never been prouder to be their manager.

The absolute cherry on top of his success sundae is when Trent quite literally tears into the corridor after the match, looking for him specifically.

"Ted!" he says as he barges through the doors. "It's going to work."

"Great," says Ted, confused as to what could get the cool and catlike Trent Crimm all riled up like a jackrabbit in spring. "What is?"

"Total football." Ted is still confused. "And I'll tell you why. The Lasso Way."

This causes even more confusion. He's only ever heard The Lasso Way used derisively. Used in a biting tone when he does things a little differently or something he tries doesn't work out. He's never heard it said so excitedly with such optimism and hope.

"You haven't switched tactics in a week," Trent continues.

He definitely has. This whole week has been nothing but a new tactic.

"I haven't?" Ted asks, still baffled.

"No! You've done this over three seasons."

Oh. Maybe it was meant to be a little bit derisive then.

"I have?"

"Yes," Trent explains, "by slowly building a club-wide culture of trust and support through thousands of imperceptible moments, all leading to their inevitable conclusion – total football."

Ted tries to believe himself a humble man, one not prone to basking in praise, but something about the way Trent is talking about him, about his achievements, about the achievements of the team, makes Ted want to live in this moment forever.

Trent, Ted realises, is proud of him. Is truly, one hundred percent rooting for him. And Ted feels the final weight on his heart drop as he soars away with it.

"Well how about that," he says, mostly responding to Trent's excited babble, but also to this new feeling of weightlessness and just… happiness that he hasn't felt in months.

And then Trent does the absolute cutest little giddy gesture and Ted knows beyond a shadow of any doubt, he could never be more in love with anyone than he is with Trent right now.

Trent exits the corridor, leaving behind two coaches bemused and one absolutely besotted.

"What a fucking dork," says Roy, not without his own brand of affection.

"Yeah," shrugs Ted, aware of how his feelings are probably plastered across his face, "but he's our dork."

He doesn't miss the knowing look the other two coaches give each other.

Henry calls him later that night to discuss the match.

"It was so cool, dad!" he says. "Do you think Jamie and Roy will teach me how it works the next time I'm there?"

"I'm sure they'd love to, Bud," says Ted, heart so full it could burst.

"Awesome!" says Henry. "Are you still sure you can't come here for Christmas?"

"I'm sure," says Ted, a little pang marring his happiness for a moment. "I have the big Boxing Day match. But that's what Christmas in July was for, remember?"

"Yeah," says Henry, the disappointment in his voice palpable, but as soon as he looks glum, he perks up again. "Hey, that means you can go meet Isolated in Islington!"

"Oh, Bud, no," says Ted. "I can't do that."

He can't do that because it doesn't matter who this Isolated in Islington is, he's got his heart set on Trent. He can't imagine anyone else holding a candle to him, no matter how convinced his son is that this mystery person is his soulmate. He's not ready to tell Henry everything about Trent though, and therein lies the pickle.

"Why not?" says Henry. "Dad, you only get a chance like this once. This person sounds so perfect for you. Can't you just go and see?"

"Look, Kiddo, I really want to be with you on this one," says Ted with a sigh, "but it wouldn't be fair to whoever I'm meeting. I couldn't give them what they're looking for. I'm not saying no because I don't think it's a beautiful idea. I need you to trust that I'm saying no for a good reason, okay? One that you might not understand right now, but I hope you will soon."

Henry doesn't respond. He looks sad, then angry and when Michelle takes the phone from him after a few minutes of pained silence, she also looks concerned.

"He'll come around, Ted," she says. "There's a lot going on at the moment and I think it's just a lot for him to process. Give him a day to cool off and I'm sure he'll be back to his normal self."

But the next day and the day after that when Ted calls, he just gets an apologetic Michelle.

Ted feels some of the weights return.

They all return a few days later, on December 23rd, when Michelle calls him in tears.

"Ted," she says. "Ted, I'm so sorry. Jake took him to the airport and signed him in. He says he got a message from me, but it seems like Henry sent it. Apparently he's safe and I'm on the flight right behind him but oh god."

Ted is about to throw up. He's never heard Michelle this panicked. Ever.

"Hey, it's alright, I'm here," he says, trying to reassure her. "What's going on?"

"Henry's booked himself onto a flight to the UK. Jake helped sign him in."

And then Ted does throw up.

Final Chapter

[kcrabb88]

Goodnight Boss

I wrote this little Ted Lasso piece as a gift for @librarianladyx, since today marks 11 years since we first met in library school, and she rescued me from a weird guy who was trying to flirt with me. This is her preferred genre of “nice people being nice to each other.” :D

This takes place in season 1 of Ted Lasso, in the wake of Ted’s panic attack and the return from the away game. 

Ted sits and he sits and he sits. He sits long after everyone else has gone, the locker room eerily silent. He should go home, but he can't, not yet, when going home means being alone. He’s alone here too, technically, but not in the same way. Here, he can think of the game, and how no one thought they could win but they did, and in his apartment, he’d only be thinking about how empty it feels. Here, he can see moving images of the team in his mind's eye, and hear sounds, too. Sam's infectious smile. Roy's grunts of approval (or disapproval). Dani's laughter. 

Beard left a while ago, tired from their trip and the long bus ride and giving Ted that look that wouldn’t be a look to anyone who didn’t know him, a look of concern, a look of what are you doing? But it is not in Beard’s nature to press, so he didn’t. Ted’s not even sure what he would say if Beard did press, both grateful and mortified as he was at Rebecca’s kindness after he came dashing out of the karaoke bar, sure of two things—that he was going to vomit and that he couldn’t breathe, though he did not vomit, and he could breathe. He was not mortified that she was kind to him, only that what happened happened so fast he could not name it, a soon-to-be divorced man reduced to that at the sound of a Disney song. Still, it wasn’t so ridiculous was it? The song was overplayed, but damn if it isn’t a banger.

You’re not quitting, you’re just letting me go.

The mental smoke of his now ex-wife’s words vanish at the sound of footsteps coming into the locker room. Particular, high-heeled footsteps.

Ted jumps out of his skin, nearly upsetting his chair and shouting in surprise. The person, who he realizes belatedly is Rebecca, shouts too.

“Sorry boss,” he says in apology. “I thought I was the only one here. Thought you might have been a ghost.”

That familiar smirkish smile curls at the edge of Rebecca’s mouth. “A ghost in high heels? I thought you took care of this club’s spirits already.”

“Well…” Ted leans back in his chair, gesturing at her to sit down. “First, I don’t know much about ghost footwear, and two, we sure did, but whose to say there aren’t more ghosts doing their haunting outside the treatment room? Don’t tell anyone I said that, though.”

Rebecca laughs softly, and something about the gentleness of nighttime brings out her kindness, he thinks, like she’s less fearful of being judged when the stars are out. She shifts in her chair, and he wonders if she’s uncomfortable. She was so at ease, so natural when she helped him outside the bar, her voice, her hand the only thing that turned off the screeching alarm bells telling his body to run. The fact that they’re both still here remains unspoken, but Rebecca speaks first. Ted can’t say he isn’t usually the one speaking first, but if she came down here, he wants to make sure he listens.

“I just…” Rebecca twists her fingers in her lap. “I wanted to make sure you were all right. After the other night.”

“Oh I’m all right,” Ted says softly, and Rebecca peers at him like she doesn’t believe it. No one is all right when they’re getting divorced. “You know, I looked up panic attacks on WebMD, and I would not recommend doing that, you type in one symptom and then next thing you know, it’s telling you you’re dying in six weeks. Thank you though, again, for helping me through it.”

Rebecca laughs again, but it’s sadder this time. “I’ve had…friends with them, so I noticed it in you.”

Ted wonders if when Rebecca says friends she means herself, but he doesn’t push her. She’ll tell him if she wants to.

“I was sorry to miss the rest of your song,” Ted continues, fiddling with the top button on his polo. “What a voice! Keeping secrets from us boss.”

A fluorescent light buzzes as Rebecca shakes her head. “My goddaughter Nora was obsessed with Frozen—I wake up in the middle of the night with those lyrics in my head sometimes.”

Ted nods sagely. “Henry went through an Elsa phase.”

“He did?” Rebecca asks, one well-defined eyebrow shooting up toward her hairline. “I thought Frozen was the kingdom of little girls.”

“Oh it is mostly.” Ted smiles, some of the weight lifting off his chest at the mention of his son. “But he kept Frozen on repeat there for a while in the DVD player. Drove Michelle nutty.”

His wife’s name rests between them. He’s so often referred to her as my wife, since coming here, and not usually Michelle, that the familiar name tastes odd on his tongue. She is not his wife anymore. Just Michelle. And he is not a husband, and he grieves that role that he did not want to leave behind.

“Rupert never would have let a son watch a Disney princess movie, if we’d had a child.”

Bitterness, anger, shoots through Rebecca’s voice at the mention of her ex-husband, and Ted can’t blame her, much as he wants to think the best of everyone—the auction showed him that Rupert Mannion was a piece of work.

“You and Michelle are good parents, whatever happened between the two of you. I think that counts for something.”

Ted nods, another smile sliding across his face. “It does boss. It does.”

“Well.” Rebecca stands up, an awkward look passing across her face. “I’m going to get home. Don’t stay too long. It’s late.”

“I won’t.” Ted gives her a wave. “Goodnight boss.”

Rebecca looks at him one last time, and there’s something in her eyes, and he doesn’t know what it is. Something sad. Something…strange. But then, he’s in a strange mood, tonight. Maybe he’s imagining things. It’s gone in an instant, replaced not by the maternal friend with her arm around his shoulder in a dark alley in Liverpool, but by the woman he sees almost every day—sharp-edged and secretive, who doesn’t know how kind she truly is.

“Good night, Ted.”

[litniche]

Love Will Find a Way

Ch. 12 on ao3

 It took Dani approximately three minutes.

 The small town of Troyes, located just a little Southeast of Paris, was still covered in darkness as Dani began to stir. Before the sun could peek through the curtains, she padded her way to the bathroom, her eyes still half-lidded with sleep. As was her habit in the rare event that she woke up before Jamie, she simply returned to bed, sidling up behind the gardener and pulling them close together. She adjusted her arm beneath Jamie’s pillow and let her head rest against it, closing her eyes once more.

 Then, at last, she realized what day it was.

 The au pair’s eyes flew open - wide as saucers - and she clutched Jamie with a jolt.

 “Mmph?” Jamie asked. “Poppins? All right?”

 Her heart hammered against her ribs and she forced herself to take even breaths. “Jay…”

 The gardener shifted and turned so she could face the au pair - though her eyes remained closed - and Dani was struck anew. This beautiful, complex, miracle of a woman had said ‘yes’ all those months ago.

 And today, she would…

 “Jamie,” she said in not more than a whisper. She reached for a brown curl, tucking it behind the gardener’s ear in awed reverence. “Jamie, baby,” she called her from sleep softly.

 “Hmmm?”

 She stroked Jamie’s shoulder, tracing a trail that left goosebumps. She picked up the hand that followed the arm and brought it to her lips, kissing Jamie’s garden-tough knuckles before turning them over to kiss the muscle of her thumb tenderly. “We’re getting married today.”

 Dani watched as a slow smile crept across Jamie’s features until she was wearing that smirk that usually made the au pair’s knees feel weak and her stomach flip. It was quiet in the room, so the only sound was her own sharp intake of a breath that she stilled by biting her lip.

 Her eyes still closed, Jamie asked, “Are we now?”

 Dani nodded though the gardener couldn’t see it. She pressed forward to lay a gentle kiss on the other’s lips, unable to wait any longer. To her relief, Jamie pulled her in, dragging the au pair to lay on top of her as their kiss deepened. Dani’s head was a pleasant fog as Jamie’s hands traveled to rest on her hips and pull her weight down while thrusting up to meet them.

 The morning air was chilled, but the heat they were currently building became too much for Dani. She tossed the blankets and the sheets off of them. When Jamie made a soft noise of protest, she grinned on her lips. “I’ll make you warm.” She pressed her length against Jamie, sliding against her. Jamie was so soft, so smooth. She reached to weave their fingers together and raised their arms toward the head of the bed as she rocked into the gardener, effectively pinning the all-too-willing gardener down.

 The pleasant tension between Dani’s legs climbed until she at last brought one of Jamie’s hands to her center. The gardener moaned her approval into Dani’s mouth and began a practiced rhythm. Even now, Dani still found herself wondering how the gardener could do this to her - touch her like she knew Dani better than the au pair knew herself.

 She traced a light but sure touch down Jamie’s throat, along her collar, one of her breasts and her ribs, before she finally wove it between Jamie’s legs to match the gardener’s rhythm. Jamie split their kiss to throw her head back on the pillow, arching into Dani. At the sight, Dani forgot what it was to be anything but right here and right now with Jamie, and she thought that was perfect. She could never want anything else. Her lips found purchase on Jamie’s raised chest, and she grazed them across soft skin until they found a pink tip to take in. Gently, between her teeth, she pulled a nipple and sealed her lips around it to tease it with her tongue and suck. This caused Jamie to curse which didn’t at all help to slow Dani’s inevitable climb. She could feel Jamie getting closer and closer to the edge as well. When Jamie gripped the hair at the nape of Dani’s neck and said her name in a devout whisper, the au pair leaned forward to take an earlobe between her lips and then whispered “Come for me.”

 As if a switch had been flipped, Jamie’s body collapsed and convulsed. Her grip on the au pair’s hair tightened and when Dani heard her name escape Jamie’s perfect lips in a cry of ecstasy, she came undone herself. Wave after wave of pleasure coursed through her as she begged Jamie not to stop. All the while, she felt Jamie grinding against her hand as her own waves crashed down upon her.

 The au pair found her lover’s lips and let their tongues tangle themselves together as they each rode the other’s hand through aftershocks. At last, she fell to the bed next to Jamie, wrapping a leg around one of the gardener’s and letting her arm encircle Jamie’s waist as she laid her head on the gardener’s chest.

 The gardener traced a finger up and down Dani’s spine, making her shiver. She kissed Dani’s shoulder in sympathy before pulling the covers back over them. “That’s one hell of a way to start a wedding day,” she said with a soft laugh.

 “Yeah,” Dani managed. “I’ll say.”

 ***

 “Wow...James, you’re gorgeous.”

 “Clean up well enough when I have to,” Jamie said with a chuckle. “Hand me that, will you?”

 Owen handed Jamie an elegant, gold-leaf bridal comb - the finishing touch - that had been sitting on the bed in a hotel room about a block away from the cathedral. Dani and she had decided to part for a few hours to make themselves ready, leaving some things to surprise for each other.

 Owen still stood back, eyes wide and mouth gaping for a moment.

 “You all right, mate?”

 He shook his head. “Did I mention you’re gorgeous?” he said with an aghast laugh. “Poor Dani’s not going to know what to do with herself.”

 With a roll of her eyes, Jamie tapped his shoulder with a playful punch. “Easy, Sharma.”

 Owen grinned. “Price of being a bride, I’m afraid. People get to tell you how beautiful you look. Anyway, you ready for this?” he asked. He sat on the bed and patted the spot next to him.

 Jamie nodded and sat beside him as her gaze became glazed in thought. In truth, a part of her couldn’t believe that she was here- that Dani was about to promise she’d spend her life with her. “‘Course I’m ready. Feel a bit legless, if I’m honest.”

 “Already been in the drink?”

 “No, mate,” she sighed out a laugh. “Just really fucking happy.”

“Ah,” he said with a teasing tone. “So you’re drunk in love.”

 Jamie couldn’t even be annoyed at his lame attempt at a joke. “Guess so. Right, on to a little business. Flowers?”

 “Check.”

 “Seriously, flowers?”

 “Seriously, check. Moonflowers in the bouquets and all.”

 “Everything good at the restaurant?”

 “Check.”

 “Dani’s mom? Judy?”

 “Check. Check. They were with Dani earlier, but Hannah’s with her now.”

 “Good. The gremlins?”

 “Henry’s got them squared away.”

 “Henry?”

 “Hannah’s got him squared away.”

 “The rings?”

 Owen tapped his breast pocket. “Got Dani’s here. Hannah has yours. We’ll keep them safe until Miles is about to walk down the aisle.”

 “The priest?”

 “He’s ready.”

 “Photographer?”

 “Fine. Everything is fine, Jamie. Aisle be damned if anything goes wrong today.”

 “Damn right, you will be,” Jamie laughed.

 “Well,” he said, pushing off the bed. “I better go get Hannah so that she can escort you down the aisle to wedded bliss. I’ll be needing to find Dani, but I wanted to check in first.”

 Jamie felt her heart squeeze with fondness for the man. “Thanks, Owen. Really.”

 Owen grinned at her. “Do I get a hug?”

 She narrowed her eyes, but nodded. “You’ve earned it, I reckon.”

 They held each other, squeezing tight in a silent testament of how much they meant to each other. Before stepping back, Owen placed a light kiss atop Jamie’s head. “Love you, James. Marry the heck out of that woman.”

 “Plan to,” Jamie grinned.

 ***

 “Breathe, Dani.”

 Dani tried for a subtle nod, not wanting to move too much as Hannah finished helping her with some make-up. “Right. Sorry.”

 “Nothing to be sorry for, dear. I just don’t want to have to see Owen carry you down the aisle,” Hannah said with a soft chuckle. “There.” She dotted one last bit of powder on Dani’s cheek. “How’s that?”

 “Perfect. Thank you, Hannah.”

 “‘Course, dear. Now, I have been asked to purvey a request. If you are not in the mood, we can carry on as planned, but if you’re feeling indulgent, there are a few Wingraves that want to see you before the big event.”

 A bright smile spread across Dani’s features. “They’re here?”

 “Waiting in their room, yes.”

 “I’d love to see them,” Dani said, and she meant it. The children had a calming effect on her. With other adults, she often found herself saying or doing the wrong thing, but with children - particularly children she was close to - she was more sure of herself.

 Hannah texted Henry and two minutes later there was a soft rapping on the door.

 “Come in!” Dani called.

 The door opened, revealing Henry smiling. “Miss Clayton, we’ve come to give our best wishes.”

 Flora and Miles sped past him to meet Dani’s outstretched arms.

 “Oof!” Dani said upon impact. “Oh my goodness,” she said, drawing back so she could see them better. “Look at you! You both look so sophisticated and dashing !” She said the last bit with an oafish accent, making the children giggle.

 “You look wonderful, Ms. Clayton,” Miles said as Dani straightened his little bow tie that matched his suspenders.

 “Yes, perfectly wonderful!” Flora agreed. “Are you excited? I’m terribly excited.”

 “I’m terribly excited, too,” Dani agreed. “Can I tell you a secret, though? I can’t wait to see Jamie.”

 “That’s not a secret,”  Flora said all too seriously, making Dani grin all the more. “I’m sure she can’t wait to see you either. You do look so lovely.”

 “Thank you,” Dani said, “and thank you for coming to see me.”

 “Yes, well, children, we’ve wished Ms. Clayton well. Now we best be off to the church,” Henry said, beckoning them to the door.

 Dani walked them forward, and Henry stood still, his eyes scanning Dani as if he wanted to say something. He reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, “Good luck, Miss Clayton. Though, you and Jamie are just so god damned lucky already, aren’t you? You’ve found each other: each other’s better halves, through and through. You deserve every happiness. ”

 “Thanks,” she said again and hugged him. “I’ll see you all there.”

 Dani felt a tightening in her chest at the sight of the three of them leaving. So very soon, she would no longer get to see them every day. She wouldn’t see Flora’s curiosity blooming or Mile’s becoming more and more like his uncle. With whom would she debate politics and philosophy without Henry over breakfast? She shook her head, feeling a bit dramatic. After all, they could still call and video conference and visit. True, they were all growing past the need for each other, but that was okay. It was more than okay. It was wonderful.

 Hannah seemed to sense the bittersweet scintilla in the air. She wrapped Dani’s shoulders in her arms in a sideways hug. “Right, what say we go get you married?” NOTES: Thanks so much for reading! Reblogs super appreciated!

[stereogeekspodcast]

[Transcript] Season 1, Episode 3. What’s New – The New Mutants

We had thoughts about The New Mutants, few of them good. There were some enjoyable moments, which we discuss, along with sharing our thoughts on what could have been better. 

Spoiler alert: we will be talking about the entire film.

Content warning: some of the content in the film can be triggering, please proceed with caution.

Listen to the episode on Anchor.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Ron:  Hello and welcome to Episode Three of Stereo Geeks. Today we'll be talking about what’s new in pop culture.

Mon: I’m Mon.

Ron: I'm Ron.

Mon: And this week we’re talking about The New Mutants.

Ron: This is a spoiler alert because we’ll be talking about the entire film, including the ending, so if you haven’t watched it yet, please watch the whole thing and then come back and listen to our podcast.

Please note, we will be discussing some triggering topics as contained within the film so, proceed with caution.

Ron: This film was initially intended for release in 2018, having been filmed in 2017, but it languished in production hell till 2020.

Mon: This year, it finally hit theaters, but because it was in the middle of the pandemic, most of us didn't go and watch it. Now that it's out on digital, we have some thoughts.

The film begins with Danielle Moonstar, played by Blu Hunt escaping the decimation of her village. She wakes up in a rehabilitation center, which is for mutants.

She is one of five students being supervised by Dr Cecilia Reyes, played by Alice Braga. The other students are Illyana Rasputin, played by Anya Taylor Joy; Rahne Sinclair by, played by Maisie Williams, Roberto Da Costa, played by Henry Zaga, and Sam Guthrie, played by Charlie Heaton. Let's talk about plot!

The film follows Dani as she gets to know these other mutants around her, tries to figure out what her power is, and tries to survive Dr Reyes’ experiments. Ron: There isn't much plot to speak of. It's very much a setup film, though there isn't any reason for us to believe that there's going to be a New Mutants 2. The majority of the film is spent with Danielle getting to know her fellow mutants and exploring their relationships. Though I would say that even there, the film doesn't really do a great job.

Mon: Yeah, there's a huge focus on the central relationship between Dani and Rahne. But the other characters, they're more antagonistic or just in the background. So it doesn't really develop her relation with them.

Ron: Yes, it comes across very much like the new girl being bullied, especially by Illyana though, that really doesn't do justice to the character as she appears in the comics. So, that was a bit of a surprise. Speaking of the backstories of these characters, we would say that really Rahne is the only one who has a similar backstory to the one that she has in the comics.

Mon: In the comics, Rahne comes from a small, very rigid, very religious community, and they freak out when she turns into a werewolf, because of her mutation. That backstory remains the same in the film, except now she’s been branded as a witch.

Ron: I didn't mind that particular inclusion. I think that made sense within the scope of the story. The other characters, there is no similarity between their stories in the film, and how we got to know them in the comic books.

Mon: Let's start with Dani herself. Why is there no mother in the picture? Ron: In the ‘Demon Bear’ storyline, which this movie is based on, Dani loses both her parents, and that actually does play a very large part in the conclusion. But the film only focuses on her father in the very opening scene, which was not edited very well, and we see him later on as well. Mon: Let's talk about Roberto.

Ron: I have to say I was so, so disappointed in Roberto Da Costa in this film. Sunspot was my favorite new mutant and the character in the film doesn't resemble the comic book character at all. Especially not his backstory which plays such an important part in not only his mutant powers, but the way he engages with the world.

Mon: I think the first warning that they wouldn't be doing ‘Berto correctly was the casting of Henry Zaga.

Ron: I'm sure Zaga is a very good actor. I haven't seen him in anything else, but I'm sure he's very talented. Unfortunately, he doesn't look anything like Sunspot in the comics. There is one integral part of his character arc that is completely missing from this film because Zaga has been cast in it.

Let me explain. In the comics, Roberto Da Costa belongs to a very rich family. He doesn't really understand his privilege. But he is also very dark skinned. Because of this, despite his privilege, he is bullied. It is while being bullied by fellow classmates that his powers activate.

Mon: ‘Berto in the comics is Afro-Latino, but they refused to cast character an actor who reflected the same heritage in the film, and that really does him a great disservice. Because race is an important part of ‘Berto’s characterization in the comics, but it's completely forgotten and the backstory that Berto is given in the film is boring. It is staid and it is another example of fridging.

Ron: In the film, Sunspot’s powers activate when he is having a romantic moment with his girlfriend, thus killing her in the most awful way possible. So, not only do they erase an extremely important part of his characterization, but they fridge his girlfriend who is then used as horror movie-material later on. Mon: Let's move on to Sam Guthrie. So, Sam is kind of the pseudo-leader in the comics. He's conveniently the leader because, I feel like the writers, at the time, weren't sure who they could give it to so they gave it to the southern white guy.

In the comics, he's very happy, he's a very positive guy. He's had hardships in his life, but he never lets it bring him down. He struggles with his powers, he's a cannonball, quite literally, and it's a difficult power to master. The film touches on the fact that Sam still struggles with mastering his power, but he's given this broody, overly dark backstory, which doesn't do the character any justice. Sam's storyline in the film really should have come with some kind of warning. Because Sam is essentially self-harming throughout. He's in a cast constantly, he is seen punching himself. Basically, it's quite disturbing to watch what happens. And it comes without context, and we'll come to the fact that a lot of what happens in the film is without context.

What we learn is that Sam was working in the mines with his father and several other men, and his powers accidentally activated and he killed, not only the other men, but also his father, and he's obviously struggling with what happened. And, and he's taking it out on himself. He's not able to grow, learn, or attach himself to anybody. So, this was a huge departure, again, from the comics.

Ron: And then finally we come to Illyana, whose backstory is also extremely different from the comics. When we first meet her, she is a very small child, who ends up in limbo and spends her formative years in that hellhole. But when she's rescued which is a few seconds after her disappearance, she's a teenager.

None of that, obviously made it into this film, understandably, because the budgets would not have allowed for it, though we do get glimpses of limbo. However, Illyana’s backstory appears to be about her being trapped somewhere and being abused. What did you think about her backstory?

Mon: I didn't feel like it was necessary to have that kind of backstory. What I will say is that this is the subtlest way of suggesting any kind of assault or abuse on any kind of character. They really worked hard to be sensitive to the topic, but at the same time I have to ask, why did Illyana need that backstory in the first place? Why can’t she just come from a poor Russian home? Why couldn't it be like a Dostoyevsky story? She didn't need that kind of background.

And I also felt like there were maybe one too many hints about what happened to her. I understand the need to pare down Illyana’s rather complicated, fantastical comic book origins, but they went the other extreme by making it a little too realistic.

Ron: They tried to marry some of the realistic elements of childhood abuse that we see in real life with the fantastical elements of her childish imagination of what these monsters were. I think that worked for them. But to keep coming back and for us to keep seeing small Illyana in that room, there were one too many moments that would have been triggering for anybody who has been in that situation in their life. So, basically there are two instances in this film where they should have added content warnings, and they had three years to do that, but they didn't.

Mon: And that's not the only thing they didn't fix in the three years. The CGI is terrible! When you're talking about a comic book adaptation, especially with the New Mutants, who are more fantastical, and have more imaginative powers, that requires a lot of special effects. I was disappointed with what we saw. We didn't actually see their powers in action as much as we saw some of the horror elements, and I'm sorry but that is the worst CGI I've seen.

After people have been shouting about how hard they've been working to make this product the best that they can, it honestly feels like this movie was made and somebody forgot about what to do with it. And then they just kept playing hot potato with it. They didn't embellish it, nothing. It's not like they tried very hard to make it the best story possible.

Ron: And I think the other problem is that from the very first previews, people had strong reactions to Zaga, to Heaton. There were a lot of people who were upset that an Afro-Latino character had been replaced by somebody who was lighter skinned. This is colorism and 2020 may have put colorism in the spotlight, but, in 2017, this was definitely something that people knew about.

There were also a lot of concern about Heaton’s casting. He was hot off the success of Stranger Things; it made sense to cast him in a movie like this. But he doesn't fit Sam Guthrie at all! I was extremely disappointed in Zaga and Heaton in this film. Not only did they not look like the characters, they had so little to do. 

The burden of carrying this film really fell on Blu Hunt and Maisie Williams. They did a good job. But there were also a lot of problematic elements around them. So, whatever they were doing was undone. For instance, Illyana is unnecessarily antagonistic towards Dani. She's also racist. She keeps calling her Pocahontas!

They did a good job. But there were also a lot of problematic elements around them. So, whatever they were doing was undone. For instance, Illyana is unnecessarily antagonistic towards Dani. She's also racist. She keeps calling her Pocahontas!

Mon: Yeah, I found that very disturbing and I didn't see any need for that.

Ron: Absolutely not. And 2017 was one year after Trump was elected. He made a lot of Pocahontas comments soon after coming into power. And a lot of people were very, very upset about that, and they were very vocal about that. Why would they put this into the film?

Mon: I think the whole ‘Pocahontas’ thing in the film is kind of reflective of how the director seems quite blinkered in his view? We have the Zaga issue. We have the racist comments against Dani Moonstar, as well. But there's a character missing in this film from the comics and she's integral!

Xi’an Coy Manh, who is the mutant Karma, is a Vietnamese immigrant who becomes the leader of the group. She is conspicuously missing from this film. Why is the Asian mutant, who was such an important part of the comics missing from the film?

Ron: I understand that for the majority of the ‘Demon Bear’ storyline, Xi’an was not there. But if you're making a film which introduces this particular group, you've got to have her.

Mon: I completely agree with you on that. It makes no sense. We were talking about how Heaton and Zaga really don't do much in film. I have to say, this is probably the first time I've seen a genre film where the two boys spend most of the time cleaning dishes and washing clothes, whereas the girls seem to be driving the story forward. It's hinted at that ‘Berto and Sam are becoming close friends, but you don't really see much of the relationship; it's just one montage where they're having a little bit of fun, but the three girls, there's a lot more to their relationship, especially between Blue Hunt’s Dani Moonstar and Maisie Williams’ Rahne Sinclair.

Ron: I was pleasantly surprised that from nowhere, we got this queer relationship. And it comes off the fact that Blu and Maisie obviously have a lot of chemistry. So, the film just went with it. From the very first time that Dani and Rahne see each other, there's this connection. And it just grows throughout the film, and they become a couple.

Mon: I couldn't believe it because, in the books, they're pretty much written as straight. Romance isn't a huge part of their storylines. But in this film, it's there from the very beginning. There's a scene soon after Danny wakes up, and she's struggling to cope with the death of her father, the death of her entire village, and Rahne really talks her down. It's really sweet, this interaction between two young people who are struggling to find themselves in a world that doesn't make sense. And it’s also a little bit funny.

Ron: In any other film, one of the characters would have been a man. But here, it's two girls. And it's one of the nicest moments in the entire film. Once again, a trigger warning is required. But it's a great moment. Because we have seen so many superhero films, and we're still waiting for those queer characters. And it didn't feel forced at all.

Mon: It definitely because, as you mentioned, the actors had so much chemistry between them. It's a friendly chemistry, and the story doesn't try too hard. It makes sure that they come together because they understand each other. Because Rahne is such a kindly character and Dani needs that at that point, she needs somebody who can just understand. And she also needs to know that other people are also suffering in some way, they have their own pain, so that she can open up herself.

Ron: I also liked was there were no salacious comments, no maliciousness towards that relationship.

Mon: They were no gratuitous scenes.

Ron: Exactly, especially when the characters are young, you know, it would have been very disturbing to watch that. We anyway had the whole thing with Illyana’s backstory. One of the things that we really get to see in genre cinema, that even if you have queer characters, if everybody around them is like, ‘oh, you're queer, or gay or trans’, that ruins the moment, because that is again singling out the marginalized character. We also need to talk about how them being a couple isn't the only driving force behind their characterizations. It is a part of what makes them grow and brings them closer. But it also plays a part in resolving some of the issues in the plot.

Mon: So, here's the problem. While this beautiful little love story is fleshed out throughout the film, everything else got left behind. There isn't really anything else. Even if this was supposed to be a character driven story, or a relationship building story, those are also left by the wayside. Because Illyana is antagonistic, when she comes to Dani aide, it's supposed to be seen as she's coming to help Dani out of a newfound-love for Dani, but it's not true. And I couldn't actually read it that way.

Mon: When I was watching the film, I couldn't understand why Illyana suddenly had this change of heart. She'd managed to fight the monsters from her childhood that had come to come to life. But why did that make her feel like she had to fight for Dani? It seemed more like all the other characters, barring Rahne, were fighting for survival. Ron: I agree. Even Sunspot. When he's in the church, it doesn't seem like he's trying to save Dani, or he's trying to help the others. He's just trying to protect himself. And Sam seems to have so little control over his powers that whatever he does do is always by accident.

What I also feel is that we've been skirting around the issue of the plot. And the problem is that there isn't much plot here. The structure of the story goes something like this. Dani meets her fellow mutants. They try to get to know each other. Mysterious things seem to be happening, and they all seem to be related to everybody's worst fears. As the film continues, we realized that those manifestations have a connection with Dani. And then we finally learn that Dani’s greatest fear is the demon bear.

Mon: The final arc of the film is the demon bear attacking the facility and Dani is incapacitated, which leaves the rest of the team to fight off the demon bear and protect her at the same time. This brings the team together, but it brings them together more for their own survival than for the protection of Dani or for any emotional connection that they have to her.

Ron: Also, the stakes in some ways aren't very high. We are used to seeing the very formulaic superhero ending on this huge battleground, so many faceless people in danger having to be protected. And this is much smaller. The new mutants are fighting their own inner demons. And that works in some ways, but it's also not earned. Mon: I think the lack of payoff in this film comes from the fact that there is no context to what we've seen. The context always comes after the fact. We see Sam self-harming but why? We don't find out until several scenes later. We see Illyana being haunted by these scary creatures. But who are they? Why do they look like that? We don't get an answer to that. Most of the other manifestations, they do become more realistic. Whereas with Illyana’s, for some reason, it remains these otherworldly creatures.

Ron: I kept thinking that at some point, especially in the third act, that the monsters would transform into people we would see that the people who were harming her were actually real men.

Mon: Either that, or it was all in limbo, and that’s why they looked like that. But we don't know because limbo is just hinted at during the last section of the film. We get glimpses of a lot of hellfire but not much else.

Ron: The only remaining aspect of limbo in the real world is Lockheed. For the longest time, he’s just a stuffed toy and then randomly in one scene, he turns into a real dragon.

Mon: As real as bad CGI can make it, anyway.

Ron: It’s sad honestly. We love Lockheed in the comics, but also Lockheed belongs to Kitty. So, why is Lockheed here with Illyana? I don't know.

Mon: I'd argue that that was an Easter egg that didn't belong.

Ron: Yes, and seeing Lockheed look like that was super disappointing. They had three years to get this film on our screens, they couldn't fix Lockheed? They didn't actually do anything once it was filmed once it was packaged, once that first preview came out. They just put it on a shelf and waited for it to be released in theaters.

Mon: Disappointing indeed. What are the other comic book elements that you spotted in the film?

Ron: Well, when we saw Dr Reyes’ screen, we could see Essex Corp. It took me a second before I realized that Essex Corp meant Nathaniel Essex, aka Mr. Sinister.

Mon: And throughout, Dr Reyes kept hinting at how her supervisor was in charge and we knew that she was basically following his orders. Since this mysterious character is such a fan-favourite and a huge part of the X-Men comics, we were expecting, at the end, perhaps a little glimpse of the man himself?

Ron: There have been X-Men stories where Nathaniel Essex has been part of the background and then right in the very last panel, there he is standing there in all his glory. We were kind of hoping for that to happen and we waited till the end of the credits. Nothing.

Mon: The film is connected to the main X-Men film universe. There are glimpses of where these young mutants are going to be taken, and these are scenes from Logan. The corporation from which Logan rescues X-23. They were obviously hoping for a larger universe which would include the new mutants, but it never came to fruition.

Ron: Which is again making me wonder, what was the point of this film? It doesn't really give us an hoped for New Mutants 2. In fact, once they have defeated the demon bear, and they've managed to get rid of Dr Reyes, they're leaving the facility, but they have no idea where they're going. As far as they know, there's nothing around them for miles. So, what is the point?

Mon: My biggest struggle with this film is that the new mutants do not lend themselves to a film or a film trilogy. The new mutants should be a TV series.

Ron: Especially since it has a large cast of characters. And if you had added the other characters, you would have had a good number of people to follow. That'll make for great television. I'm thinking about The Gifted, which was an X-Men spinoff. Unfortunately, it was canceled after two seasons but I enjoyed it. Not everybody else did, but I did. And that showed how an X-Men story in television form could work.

Mon: The thing with the X-Men universe is that it's an expansive universe and new characters are constantly being added to it. So, you can't reproduce that universe in just a few films. While the X-Men films, some of them have been very successful, but several of the characters were underserved. Cyclops is the leader in the comics; he got short shrift in the films. Jean Grey is a very powerful character in the comics, and she spends most of her time standing and waving her arms.

While the main X-Men series can still be carried by a handful of actors, with The New Mutants, they are a group, they're a band of youngsters who spend a lot of time getting to know each other and build their friendships together. The whole point of these characters is not just that they have to explore their powers, they also have to explore their own youth. They are young people that are growing up; they need to find out who they are as people. For these characters, the film being a one off, or even if it was supposed to be a trilogy, it doesn't work. The new mutants need to have episodic stories, which were the central theme of the comics.

Ron: It shouldn't be a horror story. I understand where they were going with that. Even within the comic books, the ‘Demon Bear’ storyline does lend itself to suspense but it's also very tragic. I think we need to move away from instilling fear in the viewer, and more about instilling some hope.

Mon: I also feel like the final product didn't quite live up to the anticipation of the original previews. The first trailer that we saw, it really made it look like the classic horror stories that we are so used to seeing. They're stuck in an asylum and scary creatures are coming at them. That's not what we got.

Ron: This was ‘Jumpscares: The Mutant Movie’. Especially that Sunspot scene in the swimming pool, with him and Illyana, which never happens in the comics, and it came off as super gross.

Mon: I still can't figure out whether that was Illyana or that was his imagination.

Ron: That's what I'm saying! ;Jumpscares: The Mutant Movie’. Look, in a horror film, you can have your own kind of logic, but that logic needs to follow a certain pattern. That scene didn't follow any pattern. It seemed like just an excuse for Henry Zaga to take his clothes off, which is not necessary in this film at all. And to put him and Illyana together as a potential couple, which also didn't work because the two characters had no chemistry. And there was no reason for them to want to be together. Mon: Yes, it is just one of the many, many missteps. Surprisingly, I don't feel like this film was the worst film ever made. I would say that it was a poor choice of subject matter and poor execution.

Ron: It's not a bad film. It's just boring. It doesn't try to push any boundaries. The only area where they did something different was with the relationship between Dani and Rahne and but aside from that, the story is very limited in its scope. And for that reason, having just seen The New Mutants, we are struggling to remember parts of it. Mon: So, let us know, what did you think about the New Mutants?

Ron: You can find us on Twitter @Stereo_Geeks. Or send us an email stereogeekspodcast@gmail.com

Ron: We hope you enjoyed this episode. And see you next week!

Mon: The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva. The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audionautix.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Transcription by Otter.ai and Ron.

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E61 (May 7, 2019)

Hi, everyone! @eponymous-rose​ is out from a pain in the butt situation, so I’m stepping in to bring that average quality down a solid five or six points. Tonight’s preroll: guess who! No, literally, Guess Who:

Tonight’s guests: Travis Willingham & Marisha Ray.

Tonight’s announcements: earlier today, Ashley joined Taliesin for a Gail Force 5-themed action game episode of Mame Drop. VOD available now! On Saturday, May 18, Marisha will be DMing a live event for D&D Live’s Stream of Descent. Cool!

And now, Episode 61: Agreements

CR Stats! It’s been one week since Beau saw Dairon. Only one week, huh. Uk’otoa has threatened Fjord twice in the last week. It’s been 35 days since Fjord broke the second seal. Everyone marvels it’s been simultaneously that long & that little time, and Marisha & Travis both have a loooong drink. Brian has an electronic mug that keeps his drink warm. It has an app. It tells him when it’s at its desired temperature. Travis calls him Douche McClure, but holy smokes I want one. 

Brian tells a story about how he thought Travis was falling asleep one episode, but he was pondering the mysteries of the universe “a la Liam O’Brien.” Marisha empathizes with the trap of being told by the internet to READ YOUR SPELLS, only to try to do that & miss the last round of combat, then to be told PAY ATTENTION.

There’s no difference between Fjord & Travis’s reaction to his depowerment (sheer terror). Marisha talks about how he missed a solid twenty minutes of gameplay afterwards from being so distracted. Travis says he was “movie breathing” too, so hard it was audible on the mics. (Laura has to tell him to stop breathing so loud in movies a lot.) Brian, who’s been with Travis in haunted houses & knows when he’s genuinely scared, realized how terrified he was in the moment even through the laptop screen. 

Dani: “Uk’otoa is exactly the IRS.” Brian: “How about the IRIS?” Ugh.

Everyone points out Travis is cosplaying Steve Jobs tonight. It’s uncanny.

On Beau’s relationship with deities: she’s the only non-magic person in the party, and a lot of the other party members get their magic from very powerful beings telling them they’re special. Even Caleb was pulled to a school as a labeled prodigy. Now Beau is questioning why she’s “the average person in a group of extraordinary people.” Brian wonders if part of it might be her feeling like she gets her own strength without the need of powers granted by gods. Marisha’s exploring the powers Beau now has (that people saw in her earlier as a flaw, especially given her criminal past), possibly as something she might be remarkable for after all. She wonders if she should be talking to Ioun the way everyone else is talking to their gods.

Fjord fears his powers’ loss because of both his inability to hold his own with his friends and as his last tangible bond with Vandren. He desperately wants to reconnect with him (”You’re okay? Are you okay? I’m okay, if you’re...wondering...”). He also recognizes he’s a half-orc with a strength of 11 if he doesn’t have any powers. Brian: “Do you regret picking your class?” Travis: “I REGRET ALL OF IT!” Marisha: “I felt really bad, because as soon as the cameras went off I could see Travis was freaking out, and the first thing I said was, ‘This is why I never fuck with warlocks!’“ Travis: “I can do what you do! Stunning strike! Pap-pap! I got no nothin’!” He imagines his sword just flopping out at his feet in the middle of a tense ambush and having to wish everyone else well.

How does the Krynn dynasty recognition, the house, & the growing acclaim of the M9 affect the relationship Beau has with Dairon? She has no idea. It depends on how well Beau explains her perspective of it all being all knowledge. Marisha tells us that when Nott first exclaimed that blue cloth they found was Dairon’s, she secretly 100% thought it was as well, even when she verbally denied it.

Travis remembers none of this under the loud heartbeat in his ears at the time.

Travis, as a fan, loves the “Thunderlord’s” style of worship. Marisha likes the seamless relationship Caduceus has with the Wildmother. Brian has a hard pass on both “Travis’s thing” & the Traveler “obviously evil,” but also likes the Wildmother. Marisha wonders if Travis will lose his powers if they free & then kill Uk’otoa. Travis, almost crying: “I don’t know!!”

Holy smokes, guys, there are so many quick references and jokes in this one I can’t get them all. Seriously, this is so entertaining! Catch a VOD if you can.

Travis actually had no intention of talking to Wursh in the last episode. He only went there because Yasha came after him. He would have just wandered around if she hadn’t forced the issue. Marisha: “That’s a healthy way of coping.” Travis: “You’re saying that to Fjord, right? Travis is a very responsible person and a good friend.” He and Marisha are being SO SILLY TONIGHT, g’dang.

Reminder, GIF of the Week has been suspended; the replacement will be announced next week.

Beau’s generally forgotten about the precarious nature of their humanity in the Dynasty until Waccoh’s reminder. She’s generally headstrong, and it was a good hint she might need to rein it in a bit.

Fanart of the Week: @thealeksdemon with a gorgeous portrait of Fjord that is apparently nowhere else on the internet. 

They’re doing another Space Jam??????? Whattttt??????

Beau thought the super-fried talking goblin corpse was a bit weird. It was also a little odd he carried the goblin for several hours on his back.

Marisha & Travis both miss a question because they were posing artfully. These two are so goofy. 

Fjord keeps himself close to himself; he’s not comfortable with the recent leadership, as well as all the new powers. Beau is still thinking about Dairon’s instructions to avoid getting close to people.

Travis confirms Fjord shouts “Eldritch Blast” out loud every time. He’s dead certain the group will think less of him if he can’t pull his own weight. “They’d hold auditions! For the Mighty Eight!” He also mentions that he can’t take care of anyone without his powers. Marisha says they’d have offered to help him quest to get his powers back: you know, toss him in some salt water, let him get a little briny, leave him in there “not beyond the threshold of a revivify...” Travis: “Oh, wow, you’re trying to reset the hard drive!” Marisha: “Fuck, you guys, he’s BSODed.” She admits the plan might need a little R&D.

Is it worse when the check engine light turns on or off?

Beau is conflicted about participating in the military industrial complex. She’s aware it’s going to be used to kill families.

There’s an extended, hilarious aside where Beau tries to say the M9 have become the bad guys, but basically implies that Beau alone is just straight-up evil. It’s tear-jerkingly hilarious.

Fjord’s hesitant to tell everyone because he’s fallen in love a bit with his new self. He has no idea what his agreement (if there even was one) with Uk’otoa was/is. For Fjord, going back to being “normal” would be awful. “He still has work to do, too.”

Beau likes tweaking the noses of powerful people, she’s just trying to be more judicious about it.

Travis straight up quotes Jurassic Park over Liam guest-star-cuddling Henry. This episode is seriously amazing.

Travis says he “doesn’t know anything about an accent drop” as far as the breakdown last episode. Unclear if serious! He’s fascinated by the connection to Vandren as a past Chosen of Uk’otoa.

Yasha’s past reveal was an “oh shit” moment for Beau. When asked if this changes how Beau feels about Yasha, Marisha delicately says, “I don’t want people to overestimate Beau’s intentions towards Yasha,” but that she also doesn’t want to hurt people’s internal canons. Travis very directly tells her that she’s played it how’s she’s played it, and what people infer from that is on them. Marisha nods and decides she doesn’t want to add anything else.

Fjord doesn’t care that Beau’s wearing Avantika’s coat.

Being denied access to the library makes it 100% more enticing for Beau.

Fjord feels....goooood about having a new house/family as long as things stay the way they are (in re: his warlock abilities). Marisha recalls Fjord telling Beau to take care of her family because it was the only one she had...but now she has this new family that she likes as well. Only a few people know about her little brother, so it’s a weird family dynamic. Travis: “There’s the family you have and the family you choose.”

This is Fjord’s third family, since his first found family (Vandren) got ripped away.

We out! Is it Thursday yet?

[catalinda04]

Carried Away Chapter 47: Darkness and Light

Masterlist 

Lucy was packing her bag to go home after spending the weekend with her family for Easter, when her mother knocked lightly and entered the room.

“Hey, mom.” Lucy said, not looking up from arranging her suitcase.

“Luce, we need to talk.” She said, sitting on the bed, and patting the spot next to her, indicating Lucy should sit too. “We’re worried about you. We don’t like seeing you like this. You’ve been short with everyone this weekend, and we tried to be understanding, but the kids don’t understand why auntie isn’t playing with them.”

“I’m fine mom.” Lucy defended. Her mother gave her a raised eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. “I am. I just...I just feel so stupid. At first I was hurt by Henry’s words, but now I just feel stupid. I actually thought a guy like that would love someone like me. I was living in a fantasy land.”

“Honey, I have no doubt that Henry loved you. The way he looked at you when you weren’t looking, the way he looked after you. You’d make an off-hand comment about something, and he’d make it a reality. But sometimes love isn’t enough. What’s that line from that movie you watched over and over in high school; the Cinderella one?”

“A bird may love a fish, but where would they live?” Lucy recited, and gave a small smile.

“Exactly. So please don’t think that Henry didn’t love you. But relationships don’t always work out, no matter how much we’d like them to.”

“Thanks mom. I’m sorry I’ve worried you guys.”

“Honey, that’s what family is for.” Marie smiled, embracing her daughter tightly.

Over the next weeks, Lucy employed a “fake it til you make it” attitude. She projected a happier demeanor, and in turn started to feel better, by infinitesimal degrees, but better nonetheless. She wasn’t sleeping well, when she slept she dreamt of Henry, but she slowly began to re-enter her life as an active participant.

Luckily for Lucy, April was a hectic month. Prom planning was in full swing, and the kids were driving her nuts with details. They kept her so busy that she could fall into an exhausted sleep so deep that she didn’t dream. By the time prom week actually rolled around, Lucy was thinking she might actually survive the school year intact.

While Lucy was finding her way to the light, Henry was sinking deeper into the dark. After finding Lucy’s letter, he started to withdraw from everyone. Before finding the letter he had himself convinced he was doing what was best for Lucy. She could forget about him, and eventually find someone else to fall in love with and marry. But now he wanted nothing more than to lock himself away where he couldn’t hurt anyone anymore.

Unfortunately, his life would not allow him to become the hermit he so desired to be. He was a successful actor with a movie to be released soon. Dany had, after discovering his schedule suddenly wide open, scheduled him to several entertainment magazine interviews, radio interviews, and entertainment blog interviews. Normally Henry actually enjoyed doing press for his films, it gave him a chance to show his personality, but he couldn’t seem to find the energy to be charming.

After the third in what was to be a string of interviews, Dany came to the hotel suite he was living in.

“Henry, what’s wrong?” She asked, brushing past him into the room.

“Hello to you too Dany.” Henry said to the air.

“Henry, I’ve gotten complaints from the editors of both the interviews you’ve given that you’re not answering questions, you’re uninterested, and I caught that radio interview this morning. I’ve never known you to mumble, but I could barely make out a word you said. So I ask you, what is wrong with you? Is this some sort of delayed reaction from your break-up with the teacher? You were fine a month ago.”

“I’m just not feeling the interview circuit right now.” Henry replied, looking out the window.

“Well, you better start feeling it. Someone from the studio caught your radio interview today, and they’re not pleased. You need to put more effort into being your regular charming self, or the studio is going to take action.” She threatened.

Henry did eventually start to “play nice” at the interviews, but refused to “play the game” as Dany called it. He didn’t go out and “be seen,” he had no desire to go to the clubs and parties and make small talk with people he barely knew.

He kept Lucy’s letter in his wallet. He read it every night before laying down to stare at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep. Images of Lucy crying kept him awake. He turned to whiskey and beer to dull the pain of knowing what he’d thrown away.

Dany Garcia stared at the glass doors in front of her. If she wasn’t positive that this would help, she wouldn’t have flown and driven herself across the country to this middle of nowhere town. Now here she was, staring at a small school with students streaming out the front door. The littlest ones wearing backpacks bigger than themselves. The oldest carrying maybe a book and a jacket. It was late April and 55 degrees, she was freezing, and these kids weren’t even wearing coats. “Minnesota is such an odd place,” she thought to herself.

She was happy to see she’d timed it right to arrive at the end of the school day. It would give her time to talk to Lucy without many interruptions. She entered the building, checked in at the office, and was directed to Ms. Claussen’s room.

She followed the directions and found the room easily. The door was open. Dany looked in and saw Lucy sitting at her desk. She was surprised at the changes she noticed. This was not the same happy, smiley woman she’d met in January. This woman had dark circles under her eyes, and a frown on her face. Even her hair seemed duller than before. Dany knocked on the door, as she walked in.

“Un minuto.” Lucy said without looking up, continuing to type at speed on her keyboard. When she finished, she looked up expectantly “What’cha need…” she trailed off seeing Dany standing in the room. “What are you doing here?” She asked coldly.

“I’m here on behalf of my client.” Dany said, slowly walking toward Lucy’s desk.

“What? Does he want the earrings back that he gave me, or the necklace? He can have them, it’s costing me a fortune to insure the damn things. It’ll take me a day or so, I don’t have my safe deposit box key with me.” Lucy said, her anger starting to build.

“No. I’m not here to get back any presents.” Dany said confused. “I came to see how you’re doing.”

“I’m fine. Tell your client,” she practically spat the word, “that if he wants to know how I’m doing, my phone number hasn’t changed.” Dany was confused by Lucy’s tone. She seemed angry simply hearing about Henry. Something wasn’t adding up.

“He doesn't know that I’m here. I came because he’s hurting. He’s been in a very bad place since you two split. He’s been fulfilling all of his contractual obligations, but people are noticing that he’s phoning in his appearances. I think you’re the solution to his current ennui. I came to see if you would be willing to take our boy back. He hasn’t been the same since the split. He’s in Los Angeles right now, Can I book you a ticket for this weekend?”

“Are you shitting me?” Lucy asked incredulously, standing to look the woman in the eye. “Now, Ms. Garcia. I understand that your loyalty is to your client, but honestly, what kind of woman not only suggests that another woman get back together with a man who broke her heart, but suggests that I chase after him to beg him to take me back. I may not be some millionaire Hollywood starlet, but I do at least have my pride.”

Dany’s head spun. It was all starting to come together now. “He broke your heart? Are you telling me that he broke off the relationship?”

“Yes. He told me one day out of the blue that our ‘lives were too different, that this couldn’t work’ then he picked-up his bags and left. I haven't heard from him since.”

“That’s very enlightening. So the break-up was not your idea.”

“Isn’t that what I’ve said?” Lucy asked caustically, losing what little patience she had remaining.

“But you still love him. Would you consider taking him back?”

Dany watched as the woman in front of her deflated, losing all of the fire that, just a second ago, had been directed at her. Lucy leaned forward, bracing her hands on her desk, her head dropping.

“Dany, yes I loved him. But as I said, he broke my heart. I’m not sure I’m willing to put myself through that pain again. The whispers are just starting to die down, I’m sure they’ll pick back up when the next round of interviews and TV appearances start. My life hasn’t changed, and it isn’t going to. I’m a highschool teacher. I live in Minnesota, and I’m very close to my family. What I had with Henry was great, but I don’t know if my heart could survive if he decided that we weren’t compatible again. Now, I’m sorry you came all this way for nothing, but I don’t think I have anything else to say to you.”

“Well, thank you for even speaking to me. Good luck with everything Lucy.” Dany turned to leave. She had just reached the door when Lucy asked quietly.

“How is he?”

“He’s miserable.” Dany said plainly.

“Well, that makes me feel a little better.” Lucy smiled tremulously.

Dany’s head swam with the new information she’d acquired. It would seem Henry had not been honest with her. On her way out of the building, a flyer caught her eye. She took one, forming an idea she hoped would work.

Dany stayed in Minnesota that night, before flying back to Los Angeles the following morning. When she arrived, her first stop was Henry’s hotel room. She knocked, and received no reply. She knocked again, and still got no response. She decided she’d try one more time, before getting management to let her in. Just as she was about to turn from the door, it swung open. Henry stood glaring at her through bloodshot eyes from under a three day growth of stubble. “What?” Was all he said.

“Good morning to you too.” She said cheerfully, pushing past him into the room. It was dark, and stank of stale beer and staler man. He followed her into the room and shrank back as she opened the curtains to the bright California sun. He sat on one of the couches holding his head.

“Why don’t you tell me why the hell you’re here, so I can go back to bed.”

“Henry, it’s 2:00 in the afternoon. You don’t need to go back to sleep.” She crossed the room to him and raising her hand, smacked him in the back of the head.

“What the bloody hell was that for?”

“You’ve been lying to me. I don’t like being lied to.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, you’ve been moping around this hotel room for 2 weeks, only coming out to grumble your way through an interview. The studio is breathing down my neck to get you to shape-up. I needed to do something. I’ve spent the last 24 hours flying and driving, hoping maybe your teacher could cure this funk you’ve fallen into.”

“You saw Lucy? How is she?” Henry interrupted her.

“Yes, I saw her She told me to tell you she’s fine. Though she’s obviously not. I don’t think she’s sleeping much. But I was less interested in her appearance, than what she told me. She told me that you broke up with her. Now how can this be? If you were the one to break off this relationship, why the hell are you so miserable?”

“I love her. Loved her.” He corrected himself. “I’m not allowed to mourn the loss of a love.”

“Of course you are, but you told me that she was the one who instigated the break. If you still love her, why the hell did you break-up?”

Henry wasn’t in the right mindset to argue, so he told her the truth. “Dany, you should have seen her in the classroom. She’s a natural. She was in her element. The kids love her, and she genuinely cares about them. And with her family. They’re so close, and she loves them so much. She told me her niece and nephew are her world. How could I take her away from all of that, because if we got married, I’d expect that she’d move to London with me, it’s where I’m based. So I gave her some line about our lives not being compatible, which is really the truth, and I left her.” Dany watched his face fall even more as he recounted the whole situation. She smacked his head again.

“Henry, Henry, Henry. You stupid man. Did you ask her what she wanted? No of course you didn’t. You just unilaterally decided that this was the way it had to be, and that was that. Tell me, have they done away with all of the schools in England? Do phones no longer do video chat? Do phone lines not reach across the ocean? Have you fallen into some sort of financial distress that I’m unaware of that would make flying from London to Minnesota impossible?” Dany berated him, making his entire decision seem insane.

“I just want her to be happy.”

“Well, she’s not. And neither are you. You need to talk to her. Tell her what you just told me. If you both decide then that you’re not meant to be, then so be it, but give the girl a chance. She’s a strong modern woman. You could do a lot worse.”

Henry leaned back on the couch, his hands running over his face. “Dany, don’t you think I know that? She’s amazing and I let her go.” He picked up Lucy’s letter from the bedside table  and handed in to Dany. “I found this in my suitcase when I was home for Easter” Henry stood to look out over downtown Los Angeles, his eyes staring unseeing into the distance while his agent read the words Lucy had written.

“What conversation is she talking about?” Dany asked.

“I asked her to marry me.” He said quietly.

“Say again. You what?!” Dany asked, sure she’d heard him wrong.

He turned from the window to address her. “Christmas Eve, I asked her to marry me. She said no. Her reasoning was sound, she thought we didn’t know each other well enough, but it still hurt me. The longer I stayed with her in Minnesota, the deeper I felt myself falling. I started to actually think about what being married would mean. And what if I asked her again, and she turned me down again. I don’t know if my heart could handle that.” he explained, his voice strained with emotion as he sank onto the sofa.

“Henry, that’s what love is. You’re giving someone else the power to hurt you, and then trusting them enough not to. Do you still love her?”

“Of course I do.”

“More importantly, do you want to be with her?” Dany asked, sitting down next to Henry.

Henry met Dany’s eyes, “more than anything.”

“Then you’re going to have to do something. She still loves you.”

“What time is it? I’ll call her.” He said, hope entering his eyes. Dany smacked his head again.

“Would you stop hitting me?!” He exclaimed, rubbing his head.

“When you’re done being stupid, I will. But you’re being stupid again. This isn’t a conversation you have over the phone. You have to have this one face to face. And honestly, with the way you’ve acted, you’re probably going to need to do some groveling in order to get her to even talk to you.”

“My schedule is booked for the next week at least.”

“I have an idea about that.” She said producing the flyer she took from the school. Henry’s face split into a grin which Dany hadn’t seen in far too long.

Four days after her unexpected visit from Henry’s agent, Lucy was up to her ears in hairspray, tulle, and glitter. The culmination of her students’ entire year of planning had arrived,  prom.

“Emma, thank you so much for being my date for the night. We need all the chaperones we can get.” Lucy said, straightening a young man’s bowtie.

“Of course, you know I love the kids, and it’s fun to see them outside of school. How are you holding up?”

“I’m exhausted. We decorated all day here yesterday, then last night at the hotel. But after tonight it’s all over.”

“No, I meant how are you doing?”

“I know you did, I’m fine.”

“It’s been almost 8 weeks, honey. I’m worried about you.”

“I was actually doing fine, if you remember, then that woman had to show up. But worry about me tomorrow. Tonight, we need to keep this herd of animals off the booze and off each other.”

The students all gathered at the school to participate in Grand March; a chance for the community to see the students in all of their finery. Just before the event was set to begin, Lucy changed into her Starry Night dress, slipped the opal earrings Henry had given her into her ears, and fastened the necklace around her neck. She couldn’t help but recall the last time she’d worn these jewels, and how happy she’d been. She had debated whether or not to wear Henry’s gifts, but Emma had insisted she wear them. How many opportunities would she have to wear something so extravagant, and while the jewelry was a bit over the top for prom, it made her look sparkly on the outside, even if she didn’t quite feel sparkly on the inside.

Lucy took her place behind the podium on the stage in the gym, the spotlight all but blinding her. She cued the student sound tech backstage to start the music that had been chosen to announce the couples. The students walked to the center of the stage, meeting in the middle, then descending the stairs to the gym floor together. They paraded in front of the crowd stopping frequently for photos.

After the Grand March concluded and pictures had been taken, the students boarded busses for the 20 minute ride to the local hotel whose ballroom was serving as venue for the dinner and dancing portion of the evening. Lucy ensured that all the students had exited the busses before mounting the stairs to the second floor ballroom. She found all of the attendees standing on the stairs.

“Why are we just standing here? Let’s get this party started.” Lucy cheered with false excitement in her voice.

“Ummm…Ms. C? There’s someone here that wants to talk to you.” One of the students called from the front.

What now, was all Lucy could think. Was the hotel mad they’d taped decorations to the walls? What could possibly need her attention right now?

She worked her way through the throng of kids to the top of the stairs, and froze. There stood Henry, in a suit, holding a bouquet of tulips. Lucy was speechless for a moment before she felt a hand on her shoulder. Ryan gave it a quick squeeze. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and collected herself. She turned to the students standing expectantly behind her.

“Ok, so you all, go into the Ballroom. Mr. Williams, would you please take care of...whatever needs to be taken care of. I’ll be in when I can.”

“You do what you need to do, we’ve got this.” He gave her shoulder another reassuring squeeze before leading the kids into the ballroom. Henry waved at a few of the kids that acknowledged him, while her drama students gave him an exaggerated cold shoulder. Lucy noticed more than one phone pointed in Henry’s direction, this was going to be all over Instagram in under 3 minutes. Emma came to stand beside her.

“What do you think he wants?” Lucy asked, panic starting to build in her voice.

“I don’t know. But he’s got your favorite flowers, that’s always a good sign. Hear him out though. Men are stupid, and sometimes it takes them a while to realize they've been stupid.”

“Whose side are you on?”

“I’m on your side, and you’ve been miserable for 2 months. You owe it to yourself to hear what he has to say. Then if you’re not satisfied, you can kick him to the curb, and at least get some closure on this relationship.”

Once the lobby area had cleared, Emma entered the ballroom shooting icicles at Henry the entire way, and Lucy finally approached him. She crossed her arms over her chest to keep her hands from shaking.

“What are you doing here?” Lucy asked expressionless.

“I came to see you. You look amazing. You’re wearing my earrings.” He said, reaching out to touch her. She evaded his hand, he pulled it back as though he had been burned.

“What do you want, Henry? I’m working.”

“Is there someplace we can talk?” He looked around.

“I don’t particularly want to talk to you right now, or ever really.” She said turning to walk to the ballroom.

“Please, hear me out. Will you just listen to me?” He asked grabbing her arm.

She looked down at his hand, then back to his face with a look that could freeze boiling tea. He let go. “If I let you talk, will you leave? Leave me to work.”

“Yes, if that’s what you want, I will go, but please will you listen to me?”

“Fine.” She stalked in the direction of the hospitality room the school had reserved to store decorations and prizes. She opened the door and entered, not waiting to see if he was following.

She stood in the middle of the room, and looked at him expectantly. “Well.” She said in the teacher voice she’d used the first day they met. Despite his nerves, Henry couldn’t stop the small smile from crossing his face. The ice that entered her eyes froze his smile before it could grow.

“I love you.”

“You love me?” Lucy asked incredulously. “You have a funny way of showing it.”

“Would you let me talk? Lucy. I love you. I know what I said, that our lives weren’t compatible. And really they’re not, but I was only thinking of myself. I started thinking about a real future with you, then I saw how you were with your students, and your family, and...I just couldn’t live with taking you away from all of that. I love you too much, and want you to be happy.”

“So you broke-up with me? How exactly was that supposed to make me happy?” Her words were angry, but she could feel her heart starting to melt infinitesimally.

“In the short term, it wouldn’t. But I thought you would find someone whose life is more like yours. Who you could be with and stay with your family, and your students.”

“Henry, yes, I love my family, and I love teaching, but none of that would change if I didn’t live here. There’s video chats, and phone calls, and airplanes.” Whose side was she on? Lucy asked herself. She was supposed to be angry, not explaining how they could be together.

“Dany, said all of that and more. She called me stupid, and she hit me.” He gave a short laugh at the memory.

“Well, you deserve it.” Lucy replied, a small smile cracking the icy mask of her face. That small crack gave Henry’s spirit the lift he needed.

“Lucy. I love you. Please can you give me another chance? I can promise to love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone or anything else.”

“Are you going to talk to me? Or are you going to make decisions that affect both of us?”

“We’ll talk. I’ll never leave you out of any decision making process that would affect both of us,” he promised. “But you’d take me back?” He asked, hope shining across his face.

In response she opened her arms, leaned into him, and sighed. He wrapped his arms around her in a lovingly crushing embrace that Lucy felt gluing the pieces of her broken heart back together. She pulled away slightly to look up at his face. He brought his hands up to cup her face and brought his lips down to hers. God he had missed her. Her lips were warm and welcoming, it was like coming home. He felt he could stand there forever, just drinking her in. When he pulled away, to rest his forehead against hers, they were both breathing heavily. He lowered his head to kiss her again, when she put her finger to his lips.

“Don’t think this means all is forgiven. You’re on probation.”

“Of course.” He agreed, trying to kiss her again and she evaded.

“You need to answer a question for me.” She demanded very seriously.

“Anything.” He replied getting worried.

“Did you sleep with that actress you were dating?”

Henry’s relief was so complete he released the breath he’d been holding on a laugh.

“That wasn’t real. That was set-up by our respective publicists. We spent maybe three days together, nothing more than holding hands for the paparazzi. She needed some good press, and we thought it would do me some good to be in the papers as well.”

“I was so hurt when I saw those pictures. I was trying to avoid any sort of entertainment news, but it’s everywhere. I felt like I didn’t really mean anything to you, that you could jump into a new relationship so quickly.”

“I’m sorry it hurt you. If it makes you feel better, I was hurting on the inside just as much. I’ve missed you terribly.” This time when he leaned down for a kiss, she met him halfway, running her hands up his chest to loop around his neck and bring him closer. He lowered his hands to her hips, tugging her closer to fit against him. Henry broke free from the kiss, only to begin raining kisses along Lucy’s jaw and neck. Her head lolled back on a moan.

There was a brief knock on the door, before it swung open. Emma entered. Lucy and Henry jumped apart like guilty teenagers. Lucy blushed adorably. “I take it this means you’re taking him back?” Emma asked sardonically looking from one to the other then back again. “I should be upset that my date is making out with somebody else, but I think I’ll get over it. Are you going to come chaperone this event, miss class adviser?”

“Oh god! What are the kids going to think?” Lucy asked covering her face with her hands.

“Well, I’ll tell you, you’re definitely the talk of dinner. It’s almost time for our table to be served, if you want to eat.”   

“We really should get out there.” Lucy said starting for the door, when Emma stopped her.

“You’re going to want to put yourself back together. You’ve been in here for almost 20 minutes. You can’t go out there looking rumpled. Take a minute. I’ll be outside.” And she exited.

Lucy turned to Henry and laughed. She walked over to him, swiping her thumb across his lips, and coming up with a sample of her lipstick. “You straighten yourself, and think cold thoughts. I’ll put myself to rights in the bathroom.” Lucy gazed at her reflection in the mirror. Her makeup was smudged, and her hair had come half down from it’s pins. She righted it, and her face before exiting.

“Come on, honey, let’s get going.” She said extending her hand to him.

“You want me to stay?” Henry asked.

“Oh honey, of course you’re staying. First of all because I want you here, but second this is part of dating a teacher; attending events like this. Consider this part of your probation. And by the way, you’re going to dance with me. And if any of my girls ask, you’ll dance with them too. You’ll take as many selfies as the kids want. This is their night. Prepare to be a chaperone.” She laughed, taking his hand and leading him to the ballroom.

Chapter 46             Chapter 48

[yewordered]

🍼 // helena pls show dani ur baby

Send “🍼” for a drabble/starter where my muse introduces their newborn baby or child to yours!

--

     YEARS AFTER THE WAR ended , life seemed to calm down for everyone. Jake and Dani had officially began courting , families had been reunited , and some families were only now getting started.

     One such family was the Stone-Duval family , as they had gotten married not long after the war ended , but they didn’t have children. Not for a good while after the war , both wanting to ensure the world was truly safe.

     And when Helena finally fell pregnant , it didn’t take long for people to take notice. The first , besides her and her husband , to take notice was her own brother , Henry , who had mixed reactions to the realization. A month would pass before she told everyone else was to find out.

     By four months , Helena was told to take a break from work and stay rested --- she’d need that rest seeing as how shapeshifters always had more than one kid when they fell pregnant. Thankfully leopards tended to have two or three.

     After she had her children --- a boy and two girls --- she stayed in recovery for a month or so before anyone (aside from husband and brother) could go around her. It was to make sure she didn’t over-exert herself and mess up her healing. 

     ( Pregnancy for the Victorian woman wasn’t as smooth as it is today , that’s for sure. )

     When people were allowed to visit , it was usually one person at a time ; first her eldest student Isabelle , and then Dani. 

     When Dani comes into the room , Helena sits up a little bit , all three of her young ones were wide awake and active -- more so than mother , that was the downside of having children -- and trying to crawl on her. She’s got them each lying on her , holding them close. 

     When the little ones look up at Dani , a daughter and the son share Helena’s green-yellow eyes , while the other daughter share Derek’s more plain green eyes. 

     Helena smiles at Dani , yawning before a , “ Good morning - or whatever time it is. ” grinning at her student. How the young rookery girl had grown ; Helena was proud of her , that was something anyone could see. She saw Dani and Isabelle as her own children , deep down. 

     “ Here to meet the little ones ?? ” she asks happily , adjusting her sitting position and her children as well , now with them in her lap. “ Meet Eloise , Joseph , and Alice. ” she says , chewing her lip to keep from grinning her head off. She certainly was happy with her children , with how life had turned out.

[dangerousdanii-blog1]

SOMETHING BROKE || SELF PARA

WHO: Dani Harper, Nikki Decosta (NPC), and various NPC

WHEN: Saturday 6/23, late afternoon

WHERE: Nikki and Henry’s Wedding Reception

WARNINGS: drug tw, mental illness tw, alcohol tw....lots of emotions man.

WORD COUNT: 1,157 words

To be fair, the wedding was absolutely stunning.

In fact, even the ceremony was beautiful beyond anything she could ever imagine. The vows, the way Henry looked when he saw Nikki walking down the isle, it was a night full of beautiful moments and strong emotions. Hell, even Dani teared up during the I Do’s. She wasn’t even sure what it was, whether it was seeing someone she cared about so happy with the man she loved, or maybe it was the fact that Dani wished she could have something like this. Something pure, something that made people tear up like everyone else was seeming to do, but she was worried deep in the depths of her mind that she’d never obtained it.

Which led her straight to the bar as soon as she entered the reception hall.

After dancing for a while with Jasmine, several drinks in for good measure, she told her friend she had to go find Nikki before it was too late and she was already whisked away by all the other people who wanted to see her. Excusing herself, and leaving her friend with a very handsome groomsman, she scurried off down the hall to find the dressing room Nikki had told her she would be in.

No grooms allowed, the sign was easy enough to locate.

“Excuse me, is there a married bitch in here?!” She said in a song-song voice, pushing the door open to squeals all around from friends and the blushing bride herself. “Oh my god, you look so beautiful!” Dani said with a laugh, rushing over and wrapping her arms around her old friend, hugging her tightly and swaying every which way because she was far more tipsy than she cared to admit.

“Look who’s talking mama, you look fucking hot. Look at you!!” Nikki said back through laughter, squeezing Dani’s red material clad waist, giving her ass a little smack for good measure. It was tradition, the many shifts at Hooters where they would ambush one another and smack the hell out of each other’s ass when they weren’t expecting it. The feeling was almost comforting in a way, and Dani let out a loud laugh.

“Yeah, yeah, but today is about you. How’s it feel, tying the knot?!” The raven haired girl asked the fellow blonde, who had changed into a beautiful two piece set that seemed far easier to move in compared to the stunning dress from earlier tonight. “By the way, that dress earlier, god damn girl you looked straight out a magazine!”

“Right? The minute I put it on, I was sold....” The bride admitted, before swiping away at the air, “But, it feels fucking crazy. I’ve been stressed all day, I could hardly eat, but.....luckily my friend snow white here never disappoints.” And before Dani could process, the blonde was showing a little baggy. A baggy that was far too familiar and sent her heart hammering in her drunken chest. Back when they’d first met, it was a common to have it around, in fact Dani had a pretty nasty habit when she worked at Hooters because of all the partying and late nights. But she’d tried to stay away, minus a few small slip ups.....but now? God it was so tempting, she could feel the way her palms practically itched.

Cocaine.

It was a nasty habit, she knew that, and she’d pretty much sworn off it because of all the trouble it caused her. But with the stress, her job and wanting to stay on top, her flip flop feelings towards certain coworkers, and the arrival of her sister? It was almost as if her body was yelling at her to partake. Noticing that she was zoning out a bit, Nikki soon realized and shook the bag once more.

“You down? If not it’s totally cool but, maybe like for old days? Lord knows i need it after this long ass day.”  Nikki tempted, tapping the bag out onto the counter and grabbing a credit card to start splitting lines. Other girls began to folk around, but Nikki shooed them away, “Eh, eh, back up. This is for me and my Dee.” She scolded, shooting Dani a smile, and she nodded her head.

“Right, right, back up bitches!” Dani said with a laugh, making Nikki practically beam. Why not? It wasn’t like she was buying anymore or constantly using? A few lines wouldn’t hurt, at least, that’s what her brain told her as it coaxed her closer.

Palms sweating, Nikki handed the rolled hundred dollar bill over to her old friend, and Dani took it between her index and thumb. “You first....and thanks for coming, really, seeing you out there when I walked down the isle meant a lot. To new beginnings!” She giggled and nudged Dani, and Dani couldn’t help but nod and nudge her back.

“Right, new beginnings.” The small female echoed as she leaned forward, bill pressed to nose as she inhaled, the feeling familiar yet distant. Standing back up, she squeezed her nose and snorted a little more, tasting the bitter drip down the back of her throat. “Fuck, sorry, it’s been a little while.”

“Luckily, I made four lines, two for you, two for me!” Nikki chirped, that grin not faltering, and already Dani felt the familiar rush through her veins as she leaned forward and easily did the second line. Rubbing her nose, she handed over the bill to Nikki and leaned against the wall.

“Lucky me.” Dani said with a small laugh, almost hollow, not that Nikki would’ve noticed as she leaned forward to take her two lines.

Guess it was true, old habits never really went away. Especially not when Nikki looked at her with a devilish grin. “You didn’t think that was it, right? I got all my old Olds a little thing.” The blonde said, skipping over to the goodie bags she’d set up, giving it to Dani with excitement in her eyes.

Glancing down at the bag, she peaked inside, and she pursed her lips together. Why did she want to smile? She shouldn’t want to smile, but there was this switch in her brain when she saw the small baggy with a heart sticker on it, white powder filling it more than half way. And even if she knew deep down to refuse it, her body wouldn’t allow it, “Thank you.” Dani finally said, giggling as she shook her head, “Thanks.” And the second one was more the dark half of her brain, thanking her for the slip up.

Toxic thoughts led to toxic habits, and she slipped the powdered filled baggy into the cup of her bra and leaving the rest of the little goodies in the bag.

Here we go again, her brain said. But her body was too busy buzzing with the sweet sensations and comfort that the drug brought her for her to care.

[aion-rsa]

The New Mutants and Its Nightmare on Elm Street Influences

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This article contains mild The New Mutants spoilers.

The New Mutants is an odd duck. The writing was on the wall back in 2017 when 20th Century Fox first pushed the film off its original 2018 release window. Apparently the delay was the result of the studio wanting to make it more of a horror movie via  reshoots… reshoots that then never happened.

Even so, those horror elements are still on bonkers display in Josh Boone’s final cut of the film, now available on  Blu-ray and VOD. Even without knowing Boone was vocal that the  Nightmare on Elm Street movies were cornerstone influences, it’s clear his mutant mayhem wants to live on the same block.

To be sure, these aspects are more muted than they should be, which is the result of the film’s biggest problem: tonal inconsistency. New Mutants veers wildly between young adult drama, youthful hijinks, and a nigh ‘80s slasher sensibility where very few characters actually get slashed. If reshoots had actually upped the horror quotient, this could fit nicely as a continuation of the Elm Street Kids’ travails. But even in its bizarre current form, there is something there to appreciate, particularly for fans of Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.

Nearly 40 years after Robert Englund first growled his way through a Freddy Krueger movie, many fans still think of the first Wes Craven-directed A Nightmare on Elm Street when they look back on that series. But for horror fans of a certain age, 1987’s Dream Warriors was the only Nightmare on Elm Street movie that mattered. It’s the one where Heather Langenkamp’s Nancy Thompson returned, and a gang of street-wise ‘80s teen movie archetypes found themselves locked in a mental hospital with Freddy picking them off one pun at a time. And as these victims found ways to fight back in their nightmares, they became the “Dream Warriors,” just as their film turned into a superhero movie with a body count.

The high concept of a monster fighting the Breakfast Club inside of Nurse Ratched’s hospital is still incredibly appealing today. And it’s emulated from top to bottom in The New Mutants. Not that Boone and his stars have exactly been coy about this fact; Dream Warriors has been name dropped by the filmmakers ever since the first trailer introduced us to the movie’s versions of Rhane Sinclair (Maisie Williams), Illyana Rasputin (Anya Taylor-Joy), Sam Guthrie (Charlie Heaton), Roberto da Costa (Henry Zaga), and Danielle Moonstar (Blu Hunt).

Even way back in 2017, Boone told Collider that Dream Warriors was one of New Mutants’ big influences. “I do love Dream Warriors,” Boone said at the time. “I loved the first [movie] as well, but this is very much a rubber reality horror movie for the first about 75% of the movie and then it becomes something else.” 

And unlike many X-Men adjacent films, the characters from early New Mutants comics are more or less recognizable in their live-action forms here. Nevertheless, how they’re introduced is pure Dream Warriors.

After a dubious opening sequence in which Hunt’s Dani Moonstar survives a “tornado,” the young girl is committed to an isolated sanitarium along with other teenage mutants. Their chaperone Dr. Reyes (Alice Braga) swears they’re being groomed by an unseen benefactor who we’re led to believe is Charles Xavier… but her evasiveness about the details suggests something more sinister.

All the while, each of the kids is plagued by nightmares, both when they’re asleep and awake. And the waking terrors are of their worst fears come to life. So, yes, this is basically a Freddy movie without Freddy. That in itself could be viewed as damning, both to horror fanatics who want more thrills and superhero fans who like their popcorn buttered the same way every time, but even with its (many) foibles, there is charm in New Mutants’ rough edges. Here is a movie decidedly not a product of the all-too-familiar blockbuster assembly line.

For instance, Boone takes his Dream Warriors aesthetic and runs with it via multiple visual references and plotting echoes, all of which feel unnatural for its superpowered fantasy. In one early scene, a  character briefly entertains suicide while standing atop a menacing Gothic tower, not unlike how Freddy forced Phillip (Bradley Gregg) to throw himself from one in Dream Warriors, earning the label of “suicide” by other characters; in a more overt fashion, New Mutants’ Roberto sits in a wheelchair in another scene, just like the one Will (Ira Heiden) used in Dream Warriors; and the character is later seduced into a watery illusion by a dream girl who is not what she seems, a la Joey’s haphazard “wet dream,” as Freddy coins it, in the direct Dream Warriors sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988).

All of these knowing nudges from Boone and his co-screenwriter Knate Lee are there for Freddy’s Children to catch. Yet they can also both improve and hinder New Mutants. In the plus column, they feel unusual and original for a movie about comic book characters; on the other side of the ledger, few of these “scares” actually go far enough to be frightening. Thus the movie feels strangely unfinished, even after spending years on a shelf. In fact, there are several scene transitions where you know something is missing from pickups that were never filmed.

And yet, that low-fi messy quality may add to its rough hewn, uneven charm for a certain set. Like all of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, this isn’t high art. But the fact it goes for these horror moments with complete sincerity is kind of refreshing. Like Dream Warriors, New Mutants and its cast take their plight seriously, probably too much so. But after a decade of most superhero movies relying on a smug self-deprecation—a persistent invisible smirk at the camera which promises we know it’s nonsense—New Mutants’ emotional earnestness will appeal to a smaller cult audience.

In this vein, the strongest aspect of the film is likely any scene involving Williams’ Rahne and Hunt’s Dani. The former has the benefit of being played by the lone actor to nail her thick accent, as well as the rich horror trope of being a hard-believing Catholic. Like many a teenager from a religious home, Rahne fears Hell, which Bone and Lee’s screenplay embrace in the thematic sense with Rahne also being a glorified werewolf who fears her “evil” mutation.

In the more literal sense, Rahne also struggles with her attraction to Dani. It’s  a romance that doesn’t feel tacked on by a studio note or an afterthought for social media; like Boone’s earlier work, it’s presented as a sincere puppy love story. But even that has echoes in the Nightmare on Elm Street saga, with the second film, Freddy’s Revenge (1985) attempting to tell a subtextual gay love story–one full of shame and literal self-mutilation where the main character transforms into Freddy when he’s attracted to his buddy.

New Mutants does this element better by removing the “sub” in “subtext,” and the shame. Rather it commits to a sweet romance just as earnestly as it commits to a sequence where Rahne’s dead priest returns to haunt her with a demonic voice that sounds a lot like Freddy’s warble. Yet this, too, mirrors a locker room attack in Freddy’s Revenge. 

Despite the tonal dissonance between these two elements both aspects embrace the LGBTQ+ undertones in X-Men comics better than most actual X-Men comics, and in their own way are reminiscent of how goofy ‘80s slasher movies could become comforting outlets for marginalized groups.

Read more

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Is New Mutants an Ending for the Fox X-Men Universe?

By Gavin Jasper

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New Mutants: A Horror Version of The Breakfast Club

By Don Kaye

That New Mutants tackles these delicate aspects as brazenly (or some might say as tastelessly) as those ‘80s slashers is kind of wild. It also ensures that New Mutants will eventually find an audience. Perhaps not the audience who superhero movies are so methodically engineered for in the 21st century, nor in the mainstream commercial audience Fox almost quaintly thought this approach would appeal to. It certainly isn’t critics with the movie’s ungainly, batshit tendencies.

But as with Dream Warriors before it, here’s a film in which young people use superpowers to fight the man and topple authority while seeing each other in a way they, nor any superhero movie, has before. It gives this bloody mess teeth… and claws.

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[black-wolf066]

Well, You Do Have My Chin

Update: OMG!!! MY TIRED 36 HOUR LACK OF SLEEP BRAIN ACCIDENTLY DELETED THE STORY I POSTED THIS MORNING!!! I meant to hit edit, and apparently I hit delete and when it gave me the prompt to hit yes or no, my tired brain that it said “would you like to edit: yes or no”.... so here goes round two... so sorry guys. I wanted to add that i have this on Fanfiction.net now too (under my account Wolf-shadow666) but I just curfunkled everything... ANYWAY underneath is pretty much the post that got deleted... thankfully i save everything on document...

First off, let me just say. I’M ALIVE!!! It is now 8am in the morning, I’ve been working on the better part of this little shit that wouldn’t leave me alone i mean piece since 9pm last night…. i have TO GO TO WORK IN AN HOUR!!! HELP ME!!!!! *flails all over the place* I swear i can adult right sometimes… just not today apparently…. keep this in mind as you’re reading cause even though I’ve proof read this thrice, I’m sure some (or many) things have escaped my brain’s notice.

anyway….

Here is the comment that inspired me to write this one-shot:

@timetravelingpotatoast said:

All I really want from this season is for Killian and Henry to become good friends and talk about Lucy’s “conspiracy” only for Killian to ask who she thinks he is. However, somewhere in the translation it’s lost that Killian is his step-dad, so Henry just says his dad, leading to a “well you do have my chin,” commentary from Killian.

When the curse breaks they just squint at each other for a really long time.

Now, for the sake of the prompt, this is gonna be very heavily AU from season 7. This is by no means a “fix-it fic” because I really am enjoying season 7; I’m only writing this because I really wanted to see something like this be a thing after reading the comment. I absolutely love father/son bonding fics between Killian and Henry and I need more of it in my life… (Seriously there aren’t enough Captain Cobra centered fics to satisfy my craving for it). And I know that I said “I wish I was creative enough to contribute to the fandom of Once Upon a Time”, but after posting my last little snippet; I figured “what the hell I’m gonna do it anyway” because that’s what fandom is (I still feel like I suck terribly but *shrug* if you’re having fun doing it than screw being good at it, right?). (((Also something that should have been maybe 2000 words or less, ended up running away from me toward 4000 (my brain projecting my need for more Captain Cobra moments I guess)… I realize a lot of it is probably considered filler and I could have done away with it, but I kinda wanted to build that relationship between cursed Killian and Henry much like the relationship between Snow White and Emma in season 1)))).

Anyway, here’s a bit of backstory that I came up with for the AU universe of this fic…. If you don’t care and simply just want to read the story, than you can simply scroll down to the Continue reading link:

So in this AU, I’ve pretty much figured that Rumple, Killian, Regina and Emma came to save the day for Henry (Henry may have asked for Killian, Regina and Emma, but the three probably went to Rumple for help or something and Belle urged him to go). I’m thinking the timeline in the realm Henry is in moves faster than the timeline that is Storybrooke, so Henry might be 25 and not 18, but to the rest of his family only 1 year has passed since Henry left in search of his own story((((wondering if this is actually canon considering how shocked they were at seeing him so grown and I don’t believe for a single second that it took Emma and Killian that long to have a baby)))). Emma wasn’t pregnant at the time but eventually as they all stay and help the resistance against Tremaine and Drizella (after finding a way to send word back home that everything and everyone is alright and that they’re staying to help… maybe Rumple being pushed by Belle to stay and help them too), she and Killian end up having twins, and barely a year later Henry has his own kid with Ella. When the curse comes and separates them all, the curse spans the whole state of Washington (Tremaine or Drizella wanting to separate as many of them as they could and not keep them all in the same place… especially the true love couples. But they didn’t bank on Lucy remembering or Rumple finding a loop hole so he didn’t get cursed along with everyone else), so HH is the main hive so to speak but the fairy-tale characters are scattered across other cities and towns. Emma is off in one city (maybe Walla Walla), their twin daughters are in a group home in another city, Henry lived somewhere in Olympia (which is close enough to Seattle and HH), Robin (because I need Regina to be happy damn it! And I figure maybe they found that his soul wasn’t destroyed but simply stuck in the crystal, even across all alternate versions of said crystal in any realm, so he ends up getting freed) is also scattered somewhere, and Rumple, Killian, Regina, Ella and Lucy remained in HH where Tremaine and/or Drizella could keep an eye on them and make their lives a living hell. When Lucy finds Henry, and Jacinda steals his car (much like in the show and what not), he decides to stay at a motel for a week, finding the place interesting (and spurring a bit of creativity that he hadn’t felt since his failed first book) and eventually that week turns into him finding an actual place to stay once he gets to know the people in the neighborhood (made hard by the outrageous prices being asked). When Detective Rogers hears about his search, he offers to turn his den/office into a spare room (the only reason Regina/Roni didn’t offer is because she lives in a small studio apartment above the bar with the only closed room being a bathroom)…. Eventually Rumple as Weaver manages to get everyone back into the neighborhood (((he was the one to give Lucy the book. He was the one to find and bring back the cursed versions of Robin—Kevin Adams, who is a struggling lawyer that ends up helping Jacinda, by Rumple/Weaver’s prompting, get custody of Lucy back—and Emma—Danielle “Dani” Stevens, who was a sketch artist for Walla Walla police department. He was also the one to find which group home the twins were staying in and try to adopt them, since he wasn’t sure how long it would take to break the curse, and he didn’t want them staying there… Rumple and Killian might be civil borderline grey area friends, but he likes the twins and it’ll get them back to their family that much quicker once the curse is broken if he does it like this…)))) and the curse gets broken the same as in season 1 with Henry and Lucy (cause I’m unoriginal and my brain can’t think of anything else right now) ((((That should be enough of a background right? I don’t know… I’m terrible at this… don’t question the plot holes too much okay? You might get sucked into its black hole…))))

(((I looked at apartment averages in Seattle as a guideline (got rid of link since it wasn’t working)… and even though almost 3000 is very high for a one-bedroom apartment that Henry was looking for; I figured that Tremaine and Drizella were trying to weed out the people in the neighborhood slowly so they could bulldoze and improve and bring forth a ‘richer’ environment and a “richer” culture of people to surround themselves with, therefore causing more suffering and separation for those cursed and gaining something else for themselves….))))

((also when it comes to ages, I’m probably way off from canon, but these are my head canon ages for them here so… Emma was 28 at the start of season 1; Killian was 29, Regina 32. Adding 9 years considering Henry left at 18 and only a year passed in Storybrooke whereas 7 years passed where Henry was, that would make them 37, 38, and 41. With another 11ish to 12ish years they are now 48, 49, and 52 with Henry being 37ish.

tagging @superchocovian since she kindly asked me to (hope you enjoy it!!!)

Anyway, without farther ado, i give you this Captain Cobra one-shot in all it’s (step)father/son bonding glory!

Well, You do have my chin

Word count: 4203

Rating: pg-13 for my potty mouth

The din of Roni’s bar was oddly relaxing to Henry as he searched on his laptop for available apartments to move into, but after another site herald the same results, he sighed, closed the screen, and dropped his head into the crook of his arm. Was it too much to ask for a place within his price range? Hell, he was sure he could find something cheaper in the heart of Seattle than he could here.

But no, he stubbornly wanted to stay in this part of the neighborhood. There was something about Hyperion Heights, something that spoke to him, and not just Lucy’s crazy theory that his book was real and they were all fairytale characters scattered across the state (never mind the even crazier theory that he was her father—there was no way he could ever forget meeting a beautiful girl like Jacinda or be stupid enough not to fight for more than a one night stand with said woman).

The scraping of a chair across from him brought Henry’s attention up to that of the arrival of Detective Logan Rogers. The cop’s eyebrow was raised at him in silent question and concern as he sat down and nabbed the untouched bear claw from his plate.

“Bad day?” he asked finally with a tilt of his head as Roni approached with his usual beer.

When Henry still didn’t move to answer, simply groaning and hiding his face back in the crook of his arm, Roni supplied. “He’s looking for places to stay… and failing by the looks of it.”

“The asking prices are outrageous! How do you guys survive here?” he griped into his arm.

Roni snorted and Henry peeked up at her with a perturbed eyebrow raised. “You’ve seen the state of the neighborhood and the state of my bar before I decided to fight back. Isn’t that answer enough for you?”

“What’s your budget?” Logan cut in with his query before Henry could snark back and start an argument with the ornery bartender.

“Well,” Henry’s eyes shifted to him just as the older man took a bite out of the pilfered pastry. “With Seattle, I kind of figured I’d be lucky to find something for twenty-two hundred, but there is no way I’m paying almost three thousand for a place that’s barely in the city’s limits.”

“Welcome to the land of Belfrey greed.” chimed Roni as she walked back to tend the bar and the new arrival of customers.

Henry scowled un-amusedly at her back as she went.

“I have space,”

Startled, Henry gazed, wide eyed, back at the Detective. “What?”

“Well, it’s not really a ‘room’, but the den can easily be turned into one.” Logan continued, his good hand going up to scratch nervously behind his ear.

“Wha—Why?” Tilting his head and narrowing his eyes, Henry pressed on. “I know the three of us are ‘kinda’ working together, but we barely know each other. Hell, for all you know I could be a serial killer.” at Logan’s snort and raised brow, Henry rolled his eyes and said defensively. “Shut up, you know what I mean.”

“I trust you.” Logan relented simply with a shrug of his shoulders. “Besides, I have a gun I’m not afraid to use, and you look to be out of options, mate.”

Still eyeing the older man with suspicion, not used to blatantly kind gestures from others, he asked. “Can I swing by to look at your place before I decide?”

“Of course.” taking a swig of his beer, Logan gestured with his head to the closed laptop. “Now, what was it you wanted to show me?”

(***)

Walking into the apartment after Logan, Henry took in the sparsely decorated living space with a familiar pang beating against his chest. It was neat and orderly, everything he considered the detective to be, even after a week of working covertly with him and Roni. But seeing it so bare, devoid of… well, devoid of life and personality; it all just resonated with him. There wasn’t even a single picture or photo on the walls or table tops (Henry knows there are photos of Logan out there. He’s seen the pictures Roni hangs proudly on the walls of her establishment, knows that the picture of Logan and Roni—two best friends, he’s come to learn, that grew up together in the neighborhood—has a special place right behind the bar where she works). There was nothing, other than the books neatly tucked into a shelf, to give Henry a glimpse into what made this man Logan Rogers.

Walking through the 900 square foot space, he knew it wasn’t just the home of a bachelor; it was the home of someone who was just as lost as Henry himself felt. A space made entirely out of necessity rather than be made to feel like an actual home. It reminded him of his years after the foster system, before he had met his late wife, where he had had nothing of that old life worth keeping. Anything he had gained afterwards had been destroyed by the fire that took his wife and daughter three years ago, and after that he had just never bothered to start over (it wouldn’t bring them back and honestly they were all Henry wanted, not materialistic things).

As Logan led him through the kitchen toward the open den, Henry wondered what kind of past the man must have had, wondered if he too was an orphan looking for a place to belong.

“Here it is.” Logan stated with a flourish of his hand and ultimately cutting Henry out of his thoughts.

His eyes roved over the small space, at the neat and tidy desk underneath the window and the wall lined with more bookshelves and books and a single three-drawer filing cabinet.

“Sorry, I know it’s not much… doesn’t even have a door.”

Henry’s eyes cut to the older man just as he saw his good hand go to scratch behind his ear (a nervous tick he’d come to realize early on in the week). “No, it’s perfect,” He reassured as he walked around the opened room; envisioning where his stuff would fit. “I don’t really need that much space anyway.” he moved back to the opened archway and gave the man a small smile. “And privacy can be fixed with a curtain,”

“Does that mean you accept my offer?”

“If you don’t mind me for a roommate, than yeah, I’ll take it.”

(***)

A little over one month since his move into the neighborhood, and not once did Henry regret his decision (well, maybe a little; after all, Victoria Belfrey and her daughter are a force to be reckoned with… and good god did those two give him a headache sometimes). He genuinely liked it here; he liked most of the quirky people and he could clearly see why the neighborhood was worth trying to save. He also found rooming with Logan to be better than he originally expected. Sure they had their moments (like the kitchen incident that nearly gave the detective an aneurysm, or how scarily grumpy Logan could get when he’s had a bad day at the station), but their camaraderie was easy going between them, and for once after three years, Henry felt like he had a true friend again.

It was because of this easy camaraderie that Henry and Logan, one Saturday morning, found themselves planning a Star Wars marathon and arguing over the order in which to watch it (“They’re my movies, Rogers!” “And it’s my TV, Mills.”).

Somehow Henry won the argument, which found Logan sitting on the couch with the large popcorn bowl settled on the middle cushion and a beer in his hand, while Henry squatted down in front of their combined movie collection to find the first disk.

As he skimmed the neatly ordered DVDs for the one he wanted, his finger froze on a particular title and could barely contain the Cheshire cat grin as he pulled it out and pivoted to face the detective.

“The Princess Bride: Special Edition.”

Logan scowled and pointed his finger at him as he defended. “Shove off, mate, it’s a good book and a good movie; leave it alone.”

The grin on Henry’s face turned impish as he pivoted back and added as he went, “As you wish.”

The couch pillow thrown at his back did nothing to curb his mirth.

(***)

It was almost three months after his move to Hyperion Heights, that Henry managed to work the nerve enough (more like getting the quadrant that was Roni, Logan, Sabine and Lucy to shut up, and to stop hounding him to try and move on and be happy) to ask Jacinda on a date.

Glancing at himself in the hallway mirror, and trying to ignore the grinning idiot leaning against the wall a few paces behind him; he felt the bubbling of nerves roiling in his stomach as he finally turned to face his roommate.

“You’ll be fine,” Logan soothed with the utmost confidence. “You didn’t have any problems when you were flirting with her, one date isn’t going to kill you, mate. Just be yourself.”

“Yeah, be myself.” Henry snorted and rubbed his sweating palms against his jean clad thighs. “Cause any girl would swoon at a failed writer, a widowed husband, and a nerd for all things 80’s, Star Wars, Harry Potter, or Tolkien related.”

“Henry,” Logan stepped forward than, placing his hand and prosthetic firmly on his shoulders as he earnestly stated. “You’ve told Jacinda all of this already and yet she still accepted to go to this concert with you. So cut yourself a little slack, give her a little more credit than that, and go out tonight and have fun.”

(***)

It was almost six months after his move, and during one of their covert meet ups at the bar, when Henry felt a little friendly revenge against Roni and Logan was in order (because dear god, if they didn’t stop and take their own damn advice, he was going to go crazy… or take Roni’s bat and beat himself or them with it… really, he wasn’t picky).

It hadn’t been long after his and Jacinda’s first—or even their second— date that Jacinda decided enough was enough and it was time to try and win custody of her daughter back from her step mother. Detective Weaver had recommended a Lawyer from Spokane, and ever since Kevin Adams stepped foot into Roni’s bar, the two had done nothing but snark at each other.

Within the same month, a missing person’s case had popped up that apparently Weaver thought required the work of a sketch artist from Walla Walla… or so Logan kept griping to him to no freaking end. Honestly, Henry thought Danielle (or Dani as she asked to be called) a rather nice woman, maybe a little too bubbly and Chatty Cathy at times, but if Logan was to be believed than she was the worst woman he had ever had the displeasure to work with.

Yeah… right…

Denial, she is a river, and both of them are currently drowning at the bottom of it.

“So,” He began innocently around a mouthful of pizza. “When are you both going to stop pussy-footing around and ask Dani and Kevin out?”

The soda Logan was drinking and the pizza Roni was currently chewing, both ended up spat out on the table and floor, and the word vomit that followed as they tried to deny it had Henry rolling his eyes so hard he was surprised that they didn’t just roll right out of his head.

“Uh-huh,” putting his slice back down on his plate, he folded his arms across his chest and stared them both down, feeling for all the world like the no nonsense father he should have been to the daughter that would have been thirteen now. “Guys, I’m not stupid… and the last I checked my vision was perfect, so not blind either.” He cut them off before they could rush to deny it any farther. “If I have to sit here and watch you two continue with this charade a moment longer, I will either be checking myself in somewhere or Detective Weaver will have not one but three missing person’s cases to contend with.”

They didn’t try to feed him any more bullshit after that, which he was grateful for, because seriously there was only so much a person can take.

And if he caught his roommate dressed (rather nicely) in a blue button up shirt, black iron pressed slacks, and trying to rush past him and out the door before Henry could say a word with a bouquet of pink and yellow roses in hand.

Well… he could only thank whatever deity listening for small miracles.

(***)

It’s at elven months since his move, that Henry felt for all the world a content man. Jacinda had won her battle against her step-mother, and Lucy had become a constant presence in the apartment, especially since he had offered to watch her after school while Jacinda worked. He loved Lucy and her precocious nature, found her imagination beyond incredible for an elven year old and even began to look forward to hearing her crazy theories about them being cursed.

Sometimes they would be alone, with him helping her with her homework and other times Logan would be there, smiling and humoring her and her theories like they all had agreed to do.

It was during one of these nights, after Jacinda and Lucy had eaten dinner with them and left, that Logan’s curiosity had gotten the better of him. They were in the kitchen, Henry washing the dishes while his roommate dried them, that Logan broke the comfortable silence.

“Who does she think I am?”

“Huh?” Henry glanced over with a brow raised.

“Lucy,” he elaborated. “With her theories, who does she think I am? She never tells me when I ask.”

Henry snorted out a chuckle as he handed over the plate and proceeded washing the next one while answering. “Captain Hook.”

“You’re kidding.” The dry look Henry gave him caused him to roll his eyes. “It’s the hand isn’t it?”

“Probably,” Henry shrugged. “Or it could be the fact that she thinks you’re my dad.”

“What?” Logan froze mid swipe with the towel and Henry could practically feel the man’s eyes burning his profile.

“Yeah, crazy, I know.”

“Mate, if she is to be believed and you are my son; I would have had you when I was 11…”

They both chuckled at that.

“Again, crazy, I know.”

They went back to the comfortable silence as they worked, but the occasional contemplative side eye he would catch Logan giving him in his peripheral as they cleaned up the rest of the kitchen, eventually had Henry turning to stare blatantly at the man’s profile with an eyebrow raised in question.

“Do I have barbeque sauce on my face or something?”

Startled, Logan shifted his attention away from the stove top he was wiping down, and met his eyes with that contemplative expression still in place.

“No, you’re fine.” He distractedly answered.

“Than what’s on your mind? And don’t tell me nothing; you’ve been staring at me off and on for the past five minutes?”

“I was just thinking.”

The other brow rose to meet its twin as he deadpanned. “Clearly,”

Logan rolled his eyes and elaborated. “I was thinking about what you said, about who Lucy thinks I am.”

“Logan, none of that is real.”

“No, I know that… but—now that it’s been said, I can’t help but see it. Hell, Henry you can’t tell me that you can’t see it, not even a little bit.”

Henry tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at him; his eyebrows practically at his hairline now.

“We do look a little alike, mate; long lost cousins or brothers or something. I mean you do kinda have my chin, our noses are almost similar and the brow structure too…” he trailed off.

With a snort, Henry joked. “You’ve been hanging out with Dani too much, you’re even starting to sound like a sketch artist.”

“Shut up,”

He dodged and caught the wet rag thrown at him, before tossing it back; both chuckling at the ridiculousness of it all as they finished up and moved to the couch to see what was on TV.

Expect, as the days and weeks progressed (and Weaver shockingly adopted two pre-teen girls from Aberdeen that looked eerily like Dani and Logan), Henry found that he couldn’t stop thinking about it too (no matter how hard he tried to shake the insane notion from his head each and every time it sprung back into the forefront of his thoughts).

He’d often catch himself staring at Logan when the older man was distracted and—illogically enough as it was—could practically see what the other man was talking about.

It was crazy.

It wasn’t conceivable.

But damn it all if Logan wasn’t right.

They did share the same freaking chin, and though his nose was a bit larger than Logan’s, it was the same freaking shape.

Maybe he needed to check himself in somewhere after all…

(***)

Sixteen months after moving to Hyperion Heights, the curse was broken.

It had been an emotionally exhausting week beforehand, with Lucy suddenly falling into a coma that the doctors couldn’t medically explain. Jacinda had rightfully been beside herself with worry, and all Henry could feel was the crushing feeling of losing another loved one… another child. It had been the very reason why he didn’t like opening up, didn’t like taking these leaps of faith when it came to his heart and feelings. Yet he had stupidly allowed himself to get close to all these people, and stupidly thought he could have a second chance at a family, but those dreams had gone up in flames the first time and now plummeted back down from the stars a second time with the flat lining of the heart monitor as Jacinda brokenly wailed her heartache.

He didn’t feel the hand of his roommate trying to console him as he numbly watched Jacinda break down in the waiting room they had been forcibly moved too when the doctors came swarming into the room. Didn’t hear the words being spoken as Jacinda fought and then bonelessly collapsed in Sabine and Roni’s arms; her wails gut wrenching and shredding his already scarred heart to pieces. The flood of his emotions and his own tears didn’t come until after the doctor told them that their precious, precocious little Lucy was truly and utterly gone, that the defibrillator failed to restart her heart.  

It was Logan who caught him when his legs refused to hold his weight any longer, when the world suddenly came crushing down around him and nothing felt right anymore. And it was Logan who helped him into the chair; the warm presence of his roommates hand at the back of his neck guiding his head to lean on his broad shoulder. And he took the comfort and sobbed for all he was worth. Sobbed for the loss of the wife and daughter he had had to bare losing and moving on from all on his own, sobbed for Jacinda and how much she didn’t deserve to know the gut wrenching pain that losing a child brought, sobbed for Lucy who had been robbed of her own dreams, who had been robbed the chance to live and grow.

His heart hurt as he followed Jacinda into the room to say goodbye, the tears blurring his vision at seeing the white sheet lying over Lucy’s little body; so final in its position that it made him want to collapse all over again. But he couldn’t, he had to be strong for Jacinda as he was the one to hold her upright as they moved toward the bed.

Her sobs as she pulled back the sheet to view her daughters pale face tore at him even more, her words a broken, jumbled mess as she climbed onto the bed and wept onto her daughters unmoving chest.

Running on autopilot, Henry’s feet moved of their own accord; one hand going to Jacinda’s shaking back and the other to card the bangs off of Lucy’s forehead.

“I’m sorry Lucy, I’m so, so sorry.” He whispered as he leaned down and pressed his lips to her crown.

The whoosh of wind startled him and before he could right himself to wonder where it came from, the overwhelming flood of memories came next; slamming everything back into place and causing the air to deflate right out of his lungs. The watery, startled gasp from Ella (his wife, his true love) told him she remembered too, but it was the choked rush of life from his daughter, his daughter (his beautiful and very much alive little girl, his other true love), that was bloody music to his ears and heart.

“Papa? Mama?” she wheezed out as her eyes foggily and confusedly took them and her surroundings in.

“Baby!”

Everything was alright.

Everything in the world was right again.

(***)

The moment Lucy was cleared to leave; the overdue reunion of their family came afterwards. The battle was far from over; not with Tremaine and Drizella currently in hiding and no one knowing where they had run off too, but they were together again, and at the moment that was enough for them all as they celebrated at the bar that had been his adoptive mother’s home for the last eighteen months.

Henry had his wife and daughter back, his half-sisters, both his mothers, both his step-fathers and his grandfather. To say he was over the moon would have been an understatement as the din of fairytale characters and his family filled the industrial styled establishment.

It was all so overwhelming still that he had to take a seat at one of the tables; simply content to watch as he sipped at his beer. Killian soon joined him with his own glass, rum he was sure now that the man remembered who he was, and the thought of step-fathers in general had his mind venturing to their conversation once again.

It must have been on Killian’s mind as well because before either knew what they were truly doing, they were starting at one another, eyes narrowed and the rim of their drinks to their lips as they tried to see what apparently their cursed selves had been able to see.

“Man, I hope this is the last curse we ever have to face. I’ve lost count at how many cursed memories we’ve had forced into our heads at this point.” Emma groaned, yet her arrival didn’t completely break their staring contest as she dropped into the chair next to Killian; her eyes not yet looking at either of them but at her daughters who were laughing along with Lucy near the corner of the bar. She blindly but efficiently snatched her husband’s glass out of his hand and downed the last shot of the dark amber that was left as she continued. “Seriously though, can you imagine the identity crisis we’ll have in our old age if we get Alzheimer’s?” Finally glancing over at them, and realizing she had neither her son nor her husband’s attention, she raised an eyebrow and asked with trepidation. “What’s up with you two? Is everything alright?”

“Yeah love,” Killian briefly met Emma’s eyes, before he was squinting back at Henry as he continued. “Apparently while cursed, and thanks to our lovely granddaughter, the two of us got it into our heads that we were blood related; something about seeing similarities in our features and what have you.”

Blinking once than twice, Emma’s eyes bounced from one to the other, before she was tilting her head and squinting at them as well. Satisfied with what she saw, she nodded to herself, shrugged, and stated. “I can see it, especially when you wear your hair like this and stop shaving.” She grinned and chuckled and leaned forward to ruffle her son’s gel slicked hair, which Henry swatted away with a scowl as he tried to fix it back into place.

However her statement only proceeded to have them squint even harder at each other, and Emma could do nothing more than laugh at her first two goofy true loves.

As the celebrations began to die down and people started heading home, Henry and Killian simply shrugged and let it go as they hugged each other goodbye for the night (each having every intention of spending this night with their loved ones).

“Well,” Killian began softly. “Blood related or not, you’re still my son Henry; always have been, my boy.”

The smile that stretched Henry’s face, nearly threatened to split his skin from ear to ear as he replied just as softly but no less sincerely. “Thanks, dad.”

And if they hugged each other just a little tighter and their eyes shone just a little brighter with emotion, no one that witnessed the moment commented on it.

[abloodycrow]

The Gala

Danielle takes Ben as her plus one to an annual Gala that she’s expected to attend with her mother. However, once at the event, everyone expects Ben to be more than he is. 

including these four writing prompts:

25. “When you love someone, you don’t just stop. Ever. Even when people roll their eyes or call you crazy… even then. Especially then!” 84. “I can’t believe you talked me into this.” 93. “It’s a real shame nobody asked for your opinion.” 99. “I don’t care what they said, it doesn’t mean shit!”

Ben looked around the large hall, nervous as he examined all the people, they were all clearly far better off than he was. By their laughter alone he could tell they were people he didn’t belong with. People who probably had cars as birthday presents before they could drive, people who could probably go through five phones in a month. Similar to Sean and Danielle, sure, but they all seemed less genuine. Danielle passed Ben a glass and then linked her arm into his.

“Champagne?”

“Yes,” Danielle smiled up to him, “smart boy.”

“I’m a genius. So… These people all seem very... Unlike me, you know?”

“Not all of them,” Danielle tutted, she pointed across the hall, “Kaylee and Noah are here!”

“They’re performing,” Ben replied in a miserable tone, “everyone else here is-”

“Sean and Skye,” Danielle hissed and turned to Ben suddenly, “they’re here, why are they here?”

“Because Sean’s also rich, like everyone here.”

Danielle frowned and began to play around with Ben’s fingers as she spoke, “I just have to prove to everyone here that you are far better than Sean, that I’ve moved onto better things, you know?”

“Yeah,” Ben answered in an unsure tone.

“Danielle!” A shrill voice called out, Danielle seemed to let out a small groan as a girl in a long black dress approached them. Her blonde hair was held up in a bun and she wore jewellery that Ben knew he’d never be able to afford.

“Safiya,” Danielle put on a fake happy voice and rushed forward the greet the girl with a kiss to each cheek, “it’s been so long.”

“And who’s this?” She nodded over to Ben and then ushered Danielle to meet him, “upgrade or downgrade?”

“Upgrade,” Danielle hissed quickly, she linked her arm with Ben’s again and smiled proudly, “this is Ben.”

“Ben,” Safiya repeated the name with an odd facial expression, “short for Benedict?”

“No, Benjamin,” Ben shrugged, he curiously cocked his head when the girl seemed to react to his full name, he leaned down to Danielle, “why is my name gross to her?”

“Don’t worry,” Danielle set her hand on Ben’s chest and then looked to Safiya, “so, are you still with Julian?”

“Oh God no, Julian left me after stating he had strong sexual feelings for Penelope, even though she’s been in a five year relationship with Henry. It turns out the three of them became sexually intimate with each other, which is odd considering Julian was never sexual with me.”

“Oh, wow.”

“But Gertrude’s older brother Frederick is here and I plan on making a move, do you think it’s a wise choice?”

“Uh, sure,” Danielle answered quickly.

“Great,” Safiya looked to Ben again, “so, Benjamin, let me guess, you father must own some business, right?”

“No, he works at a local shop.”

“Oh, so your mother must be the one who’s involved in business.”

Ben shook his head slowly, “no, she works at the same shop.”

“Right,” Safiya pulled a face, “and you?”

“He works at a lodge,” Sean entered the conversation, patting Ben on the back, “that my girlfriend happens to own.”

Danielle rolled her eyes, “oh great.”

Safiya greeted Sean as she had greeted Danielle, and then embrace Skye in a hug, “hello, I’m Safiya, and you must be…”

“Skye.”

“That is a lovely name.”

“Ben’s a lovely name too,” Danielle mumbled, Ben looked to her and shook his head.

Ben managed to get Danielle away from the conversation. Not wanting to be around the irritating girl who seemed to view him so lowly, he kept a hold of her hand and led her over to the stage where Kaylee and Noah were stood by the side waiting to go on.

“Power couple alert,” Noah called as he set eyes on them, “you two look amazing.”

“Thanks,” Ben laughed as he high-fived Noah as a greeting, “although I’ve already taken a disliking to some of the company,” he glanced around.

“Ben, they’re nice people, it just takes a while to get used to it.”

“Safiya literally looked like she wanted to throw up because my name is Benjamin and not Benedict!”

“They just have strong tastes.”

Ben looked over his shoulder and saw that the same girl was getting along well with Skye and Sean, “yeah, and I’m not good enough for those tastes, am I?”

“You’re good enough for Danielle,” Kaylee answered as she looked him up and down, “shouldn’t that be enough for you?”

Ben nodded and began to smile, “yeah, it is. It’s just, hearing someone think so lowly of me and my family really hurts.”

Danielle pressed up against Ben, “okay, we’ll do our best to avoid that kind of talk for the rest of the night, okay?”

“Thank you Dani,” Ben grinned, he leaned down and gently pulled her into a kiss.

* * * * *

It was later in the night, Kaylee and Noah were performing and that Safiya girl had managed to find her way back to Ben and Danielle. Ben had done his best to ignore her appearance but when some guy had managed to get Danielle into a separate conversation, Safiya practically corner Ben.

“So, Benjamin, your mother and your father are both... Shop workers, and you work at a lodge, so…”

“So?”

“Well, what on earth made Danielle want you?”

Ben hesitated and glanced over to Danielle as though she could notice and help him out, “well… I… I don’t have to have money for her to like me.”

“Right, because Danielle doesn’t care about money at all,” she spoke sarcastically, “listen, I hate to be the one to break it to you but I’m pretty sure you’re just the rebound from Sean - everybody knows when you pick a rebound, it’s a downgrade,”

Ben stared at the girl and crossed his arms, “oh, so that’s why you’ve chosen to chase after that Frederick guy, huh? Downgrade of Julian?”

“No!”

“I’m not a rebound,” Ben hissed, he glanced over to Danielle, “Danielle really likes me, and I like her.”

“Right,” Safiya snorted, “I know Danielle, and I know that you aren’t her type at all. I mean come on, it’s clearly the first time you’ve even worn a tie.”

“No it isn’t.”

Safiya grabbed the tie and tightened it, “Danielle would never date a scruffy boy like you.”

Ben rolled his eyes and snatched the tie back from the girl, “it’s a real shame nobody asked for your opinion! Danielle can make her own decisions on who she wants to be with! We don’t all have to be uptight, I don’t need to look down on people who have less than me.”

“Because those people don’t exist.”

“Oh my God, what is your problem?” Ben snapped, “I didn’t even want to be here today, I came because I adore Danielle and I’ll do anything for her, I didn’t come here to be constantly shot down by some girl who doesn’t work and instead only lives off of mummy and daddy!”

Safiya glared up at Ben in silence, and Ben began to smile when he realised he was successful, Danielle stopped by Ben’s side and leaned up against him, “oh Ben, I was just telling Callum about your mountain biking!”

Safiya made a disgusted noise and Ben continued to glare at her.

“Ben is competing in the Regionals,” Danielle boasted to Safiya, “he’s really good at it, and he even beat Sean,” Danielle chuckled as she looked over to Sean who had walked into the conversation with Skye, “he’s always winning over Sean anyway.”

“Yeah,” Sean responded as he wrapped his arm around Skye, “he’s… Always winning.”

“Really?” Ben whispered to Sean, his friend winked to him playfully.

“It’s not the only thing Ben’s better than Sean at-”

“Oh my God,” Ben turned back to Danielle, “you know what, I can’t believe you talked me into this! I didn’t want to be here tonight, and I’ve never been so uncomfortable anywhere! I’m fed up of being compared to everyone else here, I don’t want to be your trophy, Danielle! I want to be your boyfriend! I love you, I want to be the boy that you love for me,” he paused and looked around the group that had gathered, he let out a sigh and stormed away, leaving Danielle in the middle of the huddle looking absolutely stunned.

* * * * *

Not too long after Ben’s moment, Danielle walked outside of the venue to find Ben sat down on a bench, he was holding his tie, wrapping his around his hands and tugging it. She approached him and he eventually looked up, recognising the clicking of her heels.

“That was… Quite the scene.”

“I’m sorry,” Ben instantly admitted, “that was… It must have been really embarrassing.”

Danielle shrugged, “you raised some good points, I shouldn’t be trying to prove you’re better than the rest of them. You mean so much to me, and those people - I don’t care what they say, it doesn’t mean shit. You are my boyfriend, my big bad Benjamin. You don’t need to be able to afford everything in the world, you are perfect as you are.”

Ben smiled slightly, “I uh… I called my mum, she’s coming to pick me up.”

“Oh,” Danielle pressed her lips together, she sat down next to Ben and reached for his hand, “well, I’ll come home with you then, if you’re mum is okay with that?”

“My mum loves you,” Ben laughed softly, “of course you can come to ours.”

“Awesome,” Danielle grinned and then looked back to the venue, “hey, how long have we got?”

“She’ll be here in like… Fifteen minutes?”

“That’s long enough,” she jumped onto her feet again and pulled Ben up with her, “I’ve got something in mind.”

She tugged him back inside the venue, several people who had been close for Ben’s moment watched him as Danielle led him over to the stage where Kaylee and Noah had just finished a song. Danielle waved for Kaylee and the girl rushed to the edge of the stage.

“Question, would I be allowed just one performance? One of your songs of course.”

Kaylee looked around to Noah and then back to Danielle, “uh, it depends if Noah’s got the track on his laptop.”

“Something About Me,” Danielle smiled, “you know it’s one of my favourites.”

“Danielle,” Ben whispered from her side, “what are you planning?”

“A dramatic exit.”

Ben laughed and looked up to Kaylee, “tell me you have the track.”

“We do,” Noah nodded, “well then, come on Danielle, make your grand exit.”

Kaylee pulled Danielle onto the stage and passed her a microphone, Noah then started the track and Danielle sang along with ease.

“Sometimes I can’t see all that I can be Feel like a heartbeat not keeping time But then the back beat brings me to my feet And what I can be I’m leaving behind

Oh, because there’s something about me Oh, because there’s something about me You know you can’t live without me You’re gonna stop in your tracks Now it’s pulling you back like that Because there’s something about me

What you see is just the tip of the iceberg If it’s the last word it’s gonna be mine You can try but you can’t pain my by numbers All of the colours out of the lines

Oh, because there’s something about me Oh, because there’s something about me You know you can’t live without me You’re gonna stop in your tracks Now it’s pulling you back like that Because there’s something about me”

Throughout the performance, Danielle had stepped down from the stage and onto the dance floor area, several of the guests were watching her. She made sure to make eye contact with Safiya, the girl who had made sure to make Ben uncomfortable. During the second verse, Kaylee and Noah had joined her on the dance floor, Kaylee singing backing vocals whilst she and Noah danced. Ben had then rushed in for the second chorus, standing by Danielle and dancing playfully with her. Skye and Sean then decided to rush in to join their friends in what felt like a moment of rebellion. Ben lifted Danielle onto his shoulder for her to sing the next section of the song.

“It’s undefined what makes a diamond shine But I know what makes me glow So let’s go

Because there’s something about me You know you can’t live without me You’re gonna stop in your tracks Now it’s pulling you back like that Because there’s something about me Oh yeah, there’s something about me”

Danielle ended up against Ben, he was grinning down at her with a look of pride, she wasn’t done though. She held the microphone close to her mouth and began speaking.

“When you love someone, you don’t just stop. Ever. Even when people roll their eyes or call you crazy… even then. Especially then!” She smiled up at Ben, “and I love Ben Evans with all my heart, I’m proud of him no matter what everyone in here thinks! He doesn’t need to have all the money in the world, or seven cars, or five bathrooms. He’s an amazing boyfriend, and he has a massive-”

“Danielle,” Ben laughed awkwardly.

“Heart,” Danielle looked up at Ben with her eyebrows furrowed, she patted his chest and looked out, “a bigger heart than any of the men in here, I mean, maybe Noah is good competition, but none of you lot are. Also, he’s great in bed and he something else that’s big too, and I’m sure it’s once again bigger than most of the men in here, I know for definite it’s bigger than Sean’s so-”

“Okay!” Ben laughed and grabbed the microphone from Danielle, “we’ve made our point, I’d drop the mic, but I know for a fact it belongs to Noah, so Noah!”

Noah rushed over and crouched down in front of Ben, he looked up and whispered, “drop it, I’ll catch it.”

Ben shrugged, “we out,” he dropped the microphone into Noah’s grip and then ran out of the venue with Danielle, when she began to struggle running in the heels he stopped to pick her up. They laughed as he set her onto her own two feet again outside the venue, “I can’t believe you said that, Dani.”

“Yeah, maybe it was a bit much - but I mean it wa-”

“I mean you said you love me,” Ben placed his hand on her waist, “I didn’t know when I’d hear you say it back. I love you so much Danielle.”

“Oh, right, I knew you meant that,” she chuckled and stretched up to kiss him on the lips.

“So, when we get back to mine-”

“Actually, would your mum be able to take us to mine? My mum will be staying at the gala all night, until early morning, so we’d have the house to ourselves…”

“That’s an offer I can’t refuse.”

[losille2000]

A Saving Grace, Chapter 1

TITLE: A Saving Grace CHAPTER NUMBER: 1/? + Prologue AUTHOR: Losille2000 WHICH Henry/CHARACTER: Actor!Henry GENRE: Drama/Romance FIC SUMMARY: All press is good press, right? Not if you ask Henry Cavill. After recordings from a disastrous interview go viral, Henry’s life begins to crumble around him. He has no idea how to stop it from happening. Fortunately, he has a new assistant who could be his saving Grace. RATING: M (sex, language) WARNINGS: Um, nothing yet. Maybe there’s more language in this than I usually use. And I think Henry will be a little dominant. But other than that... none. AUTHORS NOTES: Enjoy!

Previous Chapter. Also on AO3!

A Saving Grace Chapter 1

 Grace slammed her fist on the desk, rattling the computer monitor and other office supplies sitting on it.  She pushed away from her computer and leaned back in her chair, groaning at the ceiling. That was the sixth boyfriend in two years who sent a breakup email instead of having the decency to say it to her face. And that didn’t even include the endless parade of first dates that never turned into seconds, or some that didn’t even last past the first hellos.

 She was done with Internet dating. And Tinder. And all the other horrible websites out there claiming they were going to find her the perfect husband with their scientifically tested matching algorithms and stupidly sweet commercials. None of this shit worked for women who weren’t the idealized version of the feminine form.

 “What’s your problem?” asked the voice beside her.

Grace turned to the thin man sitting at the desk beside her in the open floorplan office.  He pulled off his large headphones and set them on his neck as she frowned. “Do I look like a cave troll, Eli?”

 Eli pursed his pillowy lips and tossed back the dark hair that had fallen in his amber colored eyes. He tried looking like a tortured hipster with frayed skinny jeans, plaid button downs with rolled up sleeves, and that ridiculous floppy hair, but there was no hiding that he was just another pretty boy underneath it all. “Only when Aunt Flo visits, baby.”

 “Ugh!” She kicked the leg of the table harder than she intended, crunching her toes in her bargain brand heels. “I’m so fucking done with this bullshit. Why’s it so hard to find a man in this godforsaken town?”

 Eli looked at her and shook his head. Of course, he didn’t need to answer. She already knew why. That’s what happens to people who live in the most vapid and self-centered place in the world.

 He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and lifted it so she could see, pointing a finger at the screen. “Do I need to call Ty and tell him we’re taking our wifey out drinking tonight?”

 “No,” Grace said. “I’m just going to hang out with Ben and Jerry tonight.”

 “Don’t do that, Graciela!” he cried. “We’ve been doing so good on the food plan!”

 Grace huffed. Yeah, well, she started the blasted food plan because her now ex-boyfriend suggested she do it. She didn’t even know why she agreed; she should have known he wasn’t worth it. All her life she’d been rounder, but she’d never really cared about it, even enjoyed having the extra shapeliness. Until him. Until she began realizing all the men she had any interest in wanted an extremely specific body type in their women. Now, however, she knew it was simply due to her choice in men and nothing to do with her. So that meant she either had to lower her expectations in men or live the rest of her life content with vibrators and fantasies.

 At least Eli and his husband had agreed to do the diet with her, though neither of them had any weight to lose and simply wanted to sculpt their muscles further. And of course, they’d been spectacularly successful, because they were men. Why did they always get it so easy?

 “I’m done with this shit,” she said. “I’m eating all the elotes and frijoles I want, starting this weekend at my mom’s birthday.”

 “Now don’t be drastic,” Eli urged, wheeling closer to her. “You’ve put in so much work.”

 She suffered the disgusting green smoothies and tasteless boiled chicken breasts for months only to lose two pounds. Grace shook her head. “Nope. I like enjoying food more, thank you very much.”

 They were disturbed by Eli’s office phone extension ringing. Grace looked back at her computer screen and the constantly updating Twitter stream scrolling across it. She should get back to work monitoring her accounts, but she just couldn’t make herself do it. Not today. Fuck all these people trying to be something they most certainly were not to impress others. Why had she ever gotten into public relations, anyway?

 She groaned and wheeled forward with another grumble under her breath, reaching for the computer mouse, but froze when she heard, “Navarro! Get in my office!”

 “Now doesn’t that make my fucking day,” she muttered under her breath. Being called to the boss’s office in that tone of voice did not bode well for her, even though she always made sure her work was impeccable. What was he planning to yell at her for now?

 Her boss, Dave, always found reasons to pick at her work or created traps to trip her up. In the beginning, she ignored it because public relations was hard in Hollywood—one of the most difficult fields in the entertainment industry. Emotions ran high and everyone was expected to be on their A-game every single minute of every single hour they were on the clock… and honestly, even when they were off the clock. Their clients’ careers depended on it, after all. She understood his picking in the beginning. As time marched on, though, with men promoted before her and hired after with less education and skill, plus the shit always seeming to land on her head when something went south, she was at a breaking point. And that didn’t even include the number of times he sent her on coffee runs or asked her to make copies when his male assistant was perfectly capable. Dave was nothing more than a sexist pig.

 Grace stood up from her desk and smoothed the sheer blouse over her stomach, making sure it was still tucked into the waist of her pencil skirt.  She bent to look in the little mirror she and Eli kept between them and breathed in a sigh. At least she wasn’t crying after the email, or it would have destroyed her makeup. She refused to give Dave the pleasure of seeing evidence of her emotions smeared all over her face.

 She quickly moved across the office floor and stopped in front of Dave’s door, knocking lightly and letting herself inside the room. Dave sat at the round meeting table inside with another man who was probably in his late forties, good looking with graying hair. She’d never seen him before. He smiled brightly and stood up to greet her.

 “Fred Wellington, Grace Navarro,” Dave introduced with a curt nod between them. “Sit down, Navarro.”

 She shot him a pointed frown and pulled a seat out. “What’s wrong?”

 Dave sat forward and folded his hands over a thick file. “Fred is Henry Cavill’s agent, here on behalf of Henry’s manager, Dany Garcia.”

 “Ooookay,” Grace said, dragging out the word.

 She knew about Henry Cavill. Everyone knew about Henry Cavill and what had happened to the once Golden Boy of the DC movies universe. He had an appalling interview with an unscrupulous journalist who published audio for a very large pay day. The things that were said in the interview were career and character suicide, whether the audio was heavily edited or not, and whether the journalist purposely backed Cavill into a corner to get the incriminating answers she wanted. In PR terms, he was dead in the water and needed resuscitation.

 His previous PR agency dropped him, which led them to her company, Elite Solutions PR, in the hope of recovering his image. Being such a high-profile person, Dave placed the account with his senior staff, not with her, a lowly social media specialist. She hadn’t heard much about the plans to bring his career back to life after the initial intake.

 “Ms. Navarro, nice to meet you.” Fred smiled kindly and stretched his hand out to shake hers. At least Fred seemed like a decent guy.

 Dave blustered and patted his tie down a slightly protruding beer gut.

 Grace smiled back. “You, too.”

 “Fred and I have been talking about the targeted campaign we’ve put together for his client’s reintroduction to the public,” Dave explained. “Since Warner Brothers decided to keep him on as Superman, they want to use the Justice League promo tour to help springboard a new image.”

 She nodded, trying not to hope this was Dave offering her a promotion. As much as she could use the boost in pay and an office of her own—with windows—she didn’t want this one because Dave would micromanage the shit out of her. “Why don’t you just send him to rehab like everyone else who needs an image reboot? People love comeback stories.”

 Fred sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’ve floated that to him, but he refuses.”

 “It worked with Affleck—”

 “Right, but it works in Ben’s favor because he plays Bruce Wayne. Superman is a golden hearted country boy and a stint in rehab doesn’t suit the image, which WB then agreed with. And his business manager didn’t like it either. It’s why we’re here and signing with Elite. Our previous PR fired him because he wouldn’t accept that media plan.”

 So on top of being a chauvinistic idiot stuck in the 50s, he’s stubborn as fuck. Great.

 “I’m not understanding why you need me, Dave. I’m just a social media specialist,” Grace said.

 Dave cleared his throat. “We’re getting there, Navarro.”

 She flattened her lips into a line. Double great, she thought. From his tone of voice alone, she knew she wasn’t going to like what he had to say.

 “Henry has, however, agreed to play the long game. To be better in interviews and follow the guidance of his PR assistant in future interactions with the public,” Fred explained.

 “We’re planning to get him in at several charity functions along the publicity tour to bolster the positive side of his image,” Dave explained. “That’s in addition to a few puff pieces we’ve hand selected to give him the best coverage. When it comes to film-specific interactions, we will yield to WB’s publicist, but our firm will always be represented.”

 Grace understood. “So you’re sending him a babysitter.”

 Dave’s beady shit brown eyes narrowed. “Precisely, Navarro. And you’re the babysitter.”

“Excuse me?” she asked.

 Fred gave her a tight smile. “He doesn’t have a personal assistant at the moment, either, so I thought whoever Dave selected for the position might take on a few of those tasks for the promo tour to cut cost. It’ll keep him out of trouble—away from clubs, women and alcohol. At least until this all blows over.”

 Grace puffed up her cheeks and blew out a long stream of air. “With all due respect, the man practically lives in a club. How do you think you’re going to keep him out of one?”

 “That’s your job,” Dave said.

 “And I am also a woman,” she replied. And I fucking love tequila.

 Dave glanced over at her, his eyes slithering down her body and back up to her face. He made his point without having to say anything, just like Miranda Priestly did to Andi Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada. She needed a scalding shower to clean off the slime now on her skin.

 “If I refuse?” Grace asked.

 “I’ll expect your resignation on my desk in the morning, then,” Dave replied.

 She rolled her eyes. What choice did she have anyway? It was fucking impossible to get your foot in the door at an agency like this anywhere in Los Angeles. She didn’t have the funds to move elsewhere in the world to a location with a high demand for publicists, and she certainly needed the funds she did have to pay her bills here. And then there was the matter of starting all over again, from the ground up, with no family or friends to help in a distant location. She sure as hell wasn’t about to do that with another boss who could be worse than Dave.

 Grace sank back into her seat and glanced across the table at Fred, who still looked apologetic about Dave’s behavior. At least there was someone with a little heart in this industry.

 “What about my other accounts?” she asked. She had no other suitable objections to the work but those.

 “We’ll split them between Elijah and Lachlan,” Dave said. “Your soul responsibility for the next two months is Cavill—make sure he stays on the straight and narrow and don’t let other people goad him into spouting off again.”

 She locked her jaw and gave him a swift, curt nod. She could do it; what could possibly be so hard about shepherding a wayward movie star? She just wished that someone else had been assigned the task. PR assistant was one thing, but they also wanted her to be part personal assistant. Knowing that Dave thought so little of her contribution to the office that he was willing to assign her a task rife with picking up dry cleaning and grocery shopping set her teeth on edge. Or maybe he had the greatest amount of trust in her that she’d do the job so well, that he felt comfortable giving her the responsibility?

 Grace looked at the balding man again. No, he didn’t trust her. Couldn’t possibly. She didn’t have the necessary appendage. But she was a woman, so he must have figured she’d be good at getting coffee and cleaning up after an arrogant actor.

 “When do I start?” she asked.

 Fred smiled. “Tomorrow morning. Say… ten? You can dress casually, though. No need for business attire…”

 …when you’re running around doing errands.

 Yeah, she knew what he meant.

 “Great,” she replied and turned to Dave. “If you’ll excuse me, I have some work to finish off if I’m handing my accounts over before I leave.”

 Dave waved her off without another thought.  She nodded at Fred and beat a hasty retreat out of his office. She went directly for Eli’s desk and held her hand out, wiggling her fingers. “I need a cigarette.”

 “Okay, I’m definitely not letting you have one of those,” he said, looking up at her. “You told me never to let you have another one when you quit last year.”

 “But I need one,” she groaned. “My life has just turned to shit in a half hour and I need something. Anything.”

 Eli squinted. “That bad, huh?”

 Grace groaned and raked a hand through her long black-brown hair. Her fingers snagged on a tangle deep in the voluminous tresses. She winced. “Please.”

 He reluctantly pulled out his latest pack and stuck one in her hand with the rainbow-colored lighter. Eli was never one for subtlety. “Don’t come crying to me because you’re hooked again.”

 She rolled her eyes and darted through the office for the exit leading to the outdoor smoking area. Even before she flicked the wheel on the butane lighter, she felt the tingle and burn of smoke filling her lungs, the eventual long pull relaxing her frayed nerves. God, she needed one of these.

 Grace sucked in another mouthful, resting her back against the brick façade of their first-floor office. The heat of the sun had baked the red bricks throughout the day, which in turn heated her back and scratched against her body like a five-hundred-dollar hot stone massage, which she definitely didn’t have the money for, so it was nice to lean there and enjoy the sensation. Small pleasures and all that.

 She turned her face up to the clear blue sky and hot sun. Sometimes living in SoCal had a lot of negatives like superficiality and traffic, but warmth in October was definitely a positive. It wouldn’t be this warm in the other places she would be traveling in the coming months; she figured it was worth it now to soak it all up. Why she even considered leaving LA a few minutes ago confused her. Between the sunny days and her family, she couldn’t imagine living any other place in the world.

 A clearing throat made her turn her head.  She blinked away the sun, allowing her pupils time to adjust to the shadow on her left. Fred was standing just outside the door, his hands in his pockets. He was taller than her, not by much, but he still gave her a feeling that he was powerful. Except he was also soft spoken and one of those men who didn’t need to raise his voice to be heard.

 “I’m sorry for intruding,” he said. “I wanted to talk with you a little more.”

 “About?” she asked, raising a brow at him. Her objective with their mutual client was simple: mollycoddle the hell out of him and don’t let him talk to anyone.

 He smiled. “About your new charge.”

 Grace dropped her shoulders and pushed away from the wall. She snuffed out her cigarette in the ashtray to her right and stepped into the shade. Dark skin or not, she wasn’t in the mood to deal with skin cancer.

 “He’s a decent guy. I know what you must have heard about the story and it doesn’t paint that type of picture,” Fred said, “but I’ve never known him to be like that—with me or with women. Sometimes, though, he has word vomit. He’s almost… socially awkward, you know?”

 She nodded. Even though she’d worked in this business for five years and met a lot of famous people who always seemed to have it all, there was always something that they were desperate to overcome or hide. It’s why they hired publicists—to hide or minimize their brokenness or their problems. The public wanted perfection. They wanted to live their lives in dream worlds and fantasies based on these people who supposedly had it all. Unfortunately, the public usually didn’t get to see just how fucked up their idols’ lives were because of people like her.

 “He’s been my client for ten years now. He’s good people and I want to see him succeed, not just because he’s my star right now,” Fred said.

 She heard his earnestness. Fred was a good guy, whether he was a cutthroat in the industry or not. “I understand.”

 He coughed into his hand and stepped forward. “And I want to make sure that you’ll do your best. Dave can be—”

 “Yeah, I know,” she said. “But he’s the best fixer in this industry.”

 “Definitely.”

 Grace sighed. “Mr. Wellington—”

 “Fred,” he corrected.

“Fred.” She really did like him. He didn’t give off the air of sleaziness that so many in this town did. “I plan to do my job to the best of my abilities. Believe me.”

 And it was the truth. Even though she despised the reason for being placed in this role, she never shirked her responsibilities. She worked hard and took pleasure in hard work. Life was hard, too, but it could have been harder if she didn’t have such a strong ethic. Sometimes, though, it was a lot to handle all at once. By tomorrow morning, after having some time to cool down and re-center herself, she had little doubt she would perform admirably.

 Fred smiled again, looking her over, from feet to head, but it wasn’t in the smarmy way Dave had done in the office. This appraisal was one of measurement—measuring everything about her that wasn’t physical, if he could do such a thing by judging her exterior. “Have you had a chance to meet Dany Garcia, yet? She’s Henry’s business manager.”

 “Unfortunately, no,” she said.

 “But you have heard of her before today?”

 “Oh, yeah,” Grace replied with a nod. Dany was Dwayne Johnson’s ex and his wildly successful business partner with her own powerful management firm. “Who hasn’t? She’s created an empire.”

 “That she has,” Fred said. “You remind me of her. You have the same chutzpah. I think when you meet her and the team, you’ll hit it off. She didn’t come today because she can’t stand Dave, so she asked me to do the dirty work.”

 Grace laughed at his explanation. “I’m sorry you had to deal with it, too.”

 The man shrugged and stepped closer to her as though they were conspiring on some great plot. “Play your cards right, and I’ll make sure Dany finds a position for you on her team after the tour.”

 “Are you serious?”

 “As a heart attack.” He grinned and reached into his suit coat for a business card. Then he offered it to her. “If you need anything at all, please call my direct line. They have the dossier and all your information inside, but someone from Dany’s office will meet you at Henry’s tomorrow morning.”

 Grace looked at the card and ran her finger over the raised lettering and expensive linen cardstock. She looked up and offered her hand again. “Thank you, Fred.”

 “No problem, Grace,” he said and stepped away from her, toward the sidewalk that would lead him to the parking lot. “Remember, I’ll be watching you.”

 She saluted him as he strode away. He drove off in a shiny Mercedes. Finally, she sighed and looked at the watch on her wrist. “I guess break’s over.”

 At least, she thought as she opened the door into her office, the afternoon wasn’t a total waste. It was enough to get her back to her computer to close shop for the foreseeable future. The only problem left was breaking it to Eli that she wasn’t going to be around as much.

[wildgrave]

what do u love about ur friends

idk which one of ya sneaky bastards sent this but i’m not gonna complain b/c i will take any possible opportunity to gush about my friends.

update: this got entirely out of hand and i just wrote about like... everyone i talk to. if u talk just ctrl + f ur name (but don’t feel bad if you’re not in here b/c i’m doing this off the top of my head and can’t remember everyone!! also a lot of these are hs friends who don’t have tumblrs but u asked anon so)

i honestly love them all for different reasons tho!! i’m not going to tag everyone but: thanh is great for a straightforward answer & we have the same awful sense of humor which is basically 8 years of memes to reference (also she says no romo a lot which i find rly funny for some reason??). hannah is super loving and supportive and always looking out for me. jessie is wry and clever and honestly has every reason to get annoyed at me 24/7 but somehow doesn’t. whitten i talk to every day and is super rational about my problems which is helpful when i need solutions (also dank memes). gaby is great b/c we both have a lot of the same interests (feminism, art, fashion, shit-talking ppl, etc) and gets riled up about my problems which is great when i need someone to get angry with. colette also gets angry, usually angrier than me, about my problems and is the best person to offer to beat boys up (b/c i know if she gets drunk enough she will fight anyone). kathleen is great b/c we always end up doing something ridiculous and it’s fun and makes a good story. brooke is the fucking funniest person i have ever met and thinks she’s punk rock but is secretly boujee as fuck. amber also thinks she’s punk rock, but has the softest, purest heart of gold of anyone i’ve ever met (also she comes up with the most ridiculously hilarious ways to proposition me). claire and i can talk about absolutely anything and send each other close ups of pimples but also take nudes of eachother and honestly if thats not true friendship then what is?? sofie is honestly brilliant and always has clever comments to make and i’m lowkey in love with her to this day and i mean, if you’re not a little in love with your friends wyd?? mila is so sweet and i can have fun with her doing anything, like we don’t even need to go anywhere we can just have philosophical talks on my bed and it’s chill. sammy and i have only chilled irl once but she’s really quiet and nice but occasionally makes rly snarky comments about straight ppl which are hilarious. lucy is never on skype but when she is we have a fuckin field day and she’s so petty but like... in a funny way? i’ve only hung out with andie once (which i’m trying to change before she goes back to vegas) but she’s so into musical theatre and i love reading her tweets about it b/c i love how passionate she is! dylan makes awful decisions on the daily like... blowjob competition? rly dyn? and it’s so funny to hear about and he gives ridiculous but funny advice and is super australian and always says “bruv” which is super funny to me. jenna i’m p sure is going to be running the world in two years (also holy shit she’s graduating college?? my bb girl is growing up :’)). adja is so funny b/c i thought she was super by the rules in hs but now she’s a wild child. aidan (as in the senior in hs, not the one my age) sends me #relatable memes and even tho we don’t talk often it gets deep as shit when we do (but i lowkey don’t trust him b/c of his opinions of iron fist smh). allie is in my race & ethnicity class and is just nice all around and we DM eachother on twitter sometimes like ‘what was that awful presentation in class’). nick from polisci is so knowledgeable about politics but makes the issues funny w/o being offensive and shannon (also from polisci) dresses rly cute and we have fun conversations & the three of us have a funny group chat for our presentation. quinn is such a wannabe edgelord but is honestly so pure and a good friend. asmaa is the sweetest possible person and we always tease quinn together. ricky continously gives me a hard time about everything but in a funny way and patiently explains WoW lore to me. JT is also fun to play WoW with and makes me feel like a baby b/c he’s and old man. rebecca’s steadfast belief in drarry makes me smile and i love her writing. harri is one of my many wives and her snapchats are amazing (as are her boobs). kinzie i rarely talk to but i can still hit up sometimes like whats up bitch today i had sex while listening to wtnv. cassie, becca, and eleanor are all rly cool and super pretty and nice to chill with and i love their art and photography and general personalities. georgie gave me the sweetest poem and letter last summer when i was feeling down and we have similar aspirations and i’d love to work with her in my career sometime! marko and henry are married istg but anyway marko is such a genuine, honest person and henry is an amazing writer and i loved english with him and it’d make me happy if we were closer. lena is my protege and i am an awful mentor b/c i never see her since i graduated but she is my child. layla is the baddest bitch i have ever met, her nails are always amazing and we can be catty together and blast nicki minaj. sarah is so funny b/c everyone thinks she’s reserved and studious and stuff (and she kinda is) but once you get to know her she is the sassiest person you will ever meet. my sister and i fight sometimes over me stealing her clothes constantly but we bond over how our parents drive us up the wall and also she cooks a lot which means i can steal food. the entire volstovic cycle fandom (dani, scarlett, anna, crystal, etc) are all amazing creators of things and honestly an inspiration. rimsha is the hardest working person i have ever met and i love hearing about her succeed. brady is my fellow gay (tho tbh 90% of the ppl on this list are gay b/c we flock together) and i love him for his snarkiness. all the boys i sat at lunch with in high school (garrison, rex, arun, etc) are such memes but i didn’t realize how cool they were until we graduated and now i’m like, damn i should’ve paid them more attention even tho i saw them every day. my boyfriend is my friend and he’s the most politically active person i have ever met, and he’s such a dweeb, and he makes me smile whenever we’re together (even when i’m trying to be angry at him). feihong acts like a fuckboy but is pretty dang cool if i’m being honest; he’s rly dedicated to what he does. carly and i don’t talk but i appreciate her paintings and selfies and funny tweets from afar. morgan and i were at a fidlar concert once together and we both couldn’t survive the mosh pit (also her instagram captions are fuckin hilarious am i right or am i right?). kelly is a goddamn klepto but we always have fun together drinking coffee and talking about pens and i love and support her art and she does the same for mine. charlotte is chill and i miss just hanging out in her basement b/c she’s such a gemini but in a good way. the ppl i sit with on campus (sumaiya, alex, zuri, etc) are always having interesting convos and share food and it’s a good time. my cousin and her husband (nat and ron) are the most punk ppl in their 30s and they introduced me to the punk scene and i miss them b/c they moved back to kansas. shakey’s photography on insta makes me feel pensive and i want to go to philly just to meet her. miki i’m not super tight with but her writing is a+ and makes me cry and i love rping with her. rina is such a cool mutual and her art is dope. lea is also a cool chic and i love her hair and want her to bake my wedding cake. mousse is so nice to everyone. ellie and i only talk like twice a year at family parties but we can always dive back in and pick up where we left off. the ppl i party w (other aidan, jakob, justin, etc) are dumbasses (i use that term endearingly) but i’m 98% sure they’ve all carried me to the toilet when i’ve been puking my guts out at a party. marley was that friend that ended up going to yale and no one was surprised so i admire her success but also she was always kind to me and always asked how i was doing with my mental illnesses. renee and maria and i bonded over ib art and sga and generally being over-worked by our sponsor. alanna was another one of my proteges who i need to keep up with better b/c she’s badass and funny and has the best eyebrows ever. i don’t talk to sidney anymore but we went thru so much together and supported eachother a lot a few years ago and i still love em for that. eddie is such a dweeb, everytime i see him (which is a surprising amount considering he lives in miami) we act like nothing has changed and go at eachothers throats. rachel m & galen have both grown so so much since i met them and i’m proud of them. rachel s is so fun to talk about hoe things with and laugh at eachother. marco has the best finsta of anyone ever. danny and i talk over snapchat every so often (like every month or so) and we have the weirdest convos like?? let’s name your imaginary lizard. zamzam (from my creative writing class last semester) was super fun to hang out with when she came over and actually everyone in that class (xander, leah, olivia, will, etc) were excellent writers and hilarious and we all bonded. victor is such a bro honestly he’s funny and is very attentive (actually listens) and is fun sober or not. sandra i’ve known since i was a baby and never really talked to until recently but she’s so nice to talk to about small things. alyssa i stalk obsessively on goodreads b/c who else can read that much, istg girl you’re a cyborg (but like a pretty one). rp buds that i haven’t mentioned so far (mario, mackenzie, etc) i value a lot for their companionship and writing. there are tons of ppl from hs that i wish i had gotten to know better when i was there (julia, drea, tina, both erins, bridget, etc). 

and yeah there are more ppl but those are mostly ppl i talk to at parties or dm occasionally or wish i was friends with but admire from afar. anyway. this got long. I JUST LOVE PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!

[miraculouspaon]

Where Have All The Heroes Gone And Where Are All The Gods?

Chapter Thirty-Three: Emma

AO3

After the last school day before winter break, as they were beginning to walk home, Dani sidled up to Emma. “Henri’s upset about something,” she said quietly.

Emma scanned the crowd of departing students, and a few seconds later her eyes locked onto the boy. “He looks fine to me,” Emma said, which earned her an eyeroll from Dani. “Anyway, I’m not sure you should be-”

“Look, I can’t help telling he’s upset, and he’s clearly closer to you than me, so I thought you might like to know,” Dani said. “If you don’t like it, pretend I didn’t say anything and I’ll never do it again, okay? But if you actually care about him, maybe go check on him.”

After a brief internal struggle, Emma let out an aggravated sigh and made her way over to Henri. “Hey,” she said as she approached.

“Oh, hi Emma,” he said. He seemed about as pleased as he usually did to see her, and Emma honestly couldn’t tell anything was different about him. “How are you?” he asked.

“Good. How, um, how are you?”

“Good.”

Emma stared at him awkwardly for a few seconds. “Look,” she finally said, “Dani said you were upset about something. But honestly, it drives me up the wall when she pulls her empath stuff on me, so I totally get it if you’d rather I just pretend she didn’t say anything, and I’ll tell her never to do it again, okay?”

Henri blinked. “Oh.” He let out an awkward chuckle. “No, that’s fine,” he said. “Dani can keep, uh, pulling her ‘empath stuff’ on me if she wants.”

“Oh. Okay. So, um… something wrong?”

“Nah,” he said. “It’s nothing, I’ll get over it. You have way bigger things to worry about.”

Emma raised an eyebrow. “Right now my biggest thing to worry about is one of my friends thinks he can’t talk to me when he’s upset about something,” she said. “I know I'm not exactly… I'm not usually a great shoulder to cry on or anything, but I can listen. And I don't want you to think you can't talk to me just because I have… other stuff going on. It would really bother me, if that other stuff pushed you away, you know?”

“Oh, jeez,” Henri said, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking of it like-of course I don’t want to push you away. It’s really not a big thing, though, I promise. It’s just, um… we were supposed to leave for our family trip to Vietnam today, that’s all. Vi was really looking forward to seeing where we came from.”

“Oh,” Emma said, suddenly painfully aware that this wasn’t something she could personally relate to at all. “That sucks, I’m sorry.”

Henri shrugged. “It’s fine,” he said. “We’ll go next year.”

Emma looked up at him. “You think?”

“Totally.” Henri lowered his voice to a near whisper. “You know, once you’ve wiped every Order member off the face of the continent.”

Emma laughed. “Yeah, I’ll get right on that.” They continued walking in silence for a few moments.

“Do you,” Henri glanced down at Emma nervously, “I don’t know, do you want to take a walk or something?”

“Oh. Um.” Emma glanced at the time displayed on her phone. “Sorry, I, uh… wasn’t joking when I said I’d get right on that, actually. We’ve got… stuff tonight.”

“Right, right, of course,” Henri said quickly, turning red. “Um. Some other time, though?”

Emma nodded emphatically. “Yeah, I’d love to.”

Henri smiled. “Great,” he said. “Looking forward to it. I, um, I’m in this direction, so…” He waved as he turned the corner, and Emma waved back for a few seconds before running back to her siblings.

“Jesus Christ,” Dani said as Emma caught up, “you two are the most awkward things on the planet around each other, I bet I’d be able to feel it from the other side of the city.” Emma punched Dani’s arm on reflex, and Louis laughed as Dani made a face.

“Um… thanks, actually,” Emma said. “For the tip.”

Dani grinned. “No problem.”

~~~

Emma’s grandmother handed her a note. “Alya called with the address earlier,” she said. “That’s the rendezvous point.”

“Okay,” Emma said, reading the address and recognizing it immediately. She'd been there many times over the past few months. It was one of Alya’s more commonly-used safe places. The home of a friend of hers, a woman who’d been trapped outside the barrier on an international business trip. It was out of the way, and there was a back alley entrance that made it easy to enter without being observed. Emma looked back at her siblings, both transformed. “I’ll check in and come back for you two if everyone’s ready to go, okay?” They nodded, and a second later Emma was gone.

Normally, Emma’s teleportations were near-instantaneous. This one took almost a full two seconds, which felt like an eternity as far as Emma was concerned, and there was a yanking feeling in the pit of her stomach the entire time.

When she rematerialized, it was pitch black. Emma didn’t know where she was, but she was certain it was nowhere near where she’d been trying to go. Emma instinctively tried to teleport back to the mansion. Nothing. She tried again. Still nothing.

Stay calm, she told herself. She took a deep breath. First things first, figure out where you are. Emma figured her best bet was to cautiously make her way forward until she found a wall, then make her way around the perimeter of the room until she found a door. She put a hand up-

-and immediately banged it against a metal wall. She jumped back in surprise, and crashed against another wall.

Fuck.

Sighing, Emma slowly raised her hands on either side and quickly encountered walls there, too. Well… not so much walls as the sides of a box. Maybe a meter by a meter, if that. Emma reached up and knocked the ceiling lightly with her knuckles. Yep. Completely shut in. How the hell had she wound up here?

A memory popped into Emma’s head suddenly, something Uncle Jonathan had said a few weeks ago, when he and her grandparents were talking about the old days.

What about that teleportation trap that warlock set up in ‘98, remember? Gabriel was stuck in that thing for like five hours before I found a book and talked him through escaping.

Teleportation trap, he’d said. Emma had actually heard her uncle utter the words “teleportation trap” and she hadn’t asked a single follow-up question.

Jesus Christ, she was supposed to be the smart one, wasn’t she?

Emma took another breath, then pressed her ear against the side of the metal box. It felt thick, but she could just  barely make out what sounded like two Order guards talking.

“… looks like she’s still alive. The agent should have taken her down by now.”

“Be patient. We still don’t know a lot about their invulnerability, but we know it’s not inexhaustible. She can’t get out, that’s the thing to remember. Eventually she’ll breathe enough of it to-”

Emma pulled away, horrified. The smell inside the box, which Emma had not noticed until now, was wrong. Emma suddenly regretted all those deep, calming breaths she’d just taken. Hands shaking slightly, she grabbed a fan off her hip, activated its phone function, and called Louis.

“Emma?” she heard him say a few seconds later. God, just hearing his voice was a relief. “Is everything okay at the safe-”

“I’m not there,” Emma interrupted. “I’m stuck somewhere.”

“Huh? What are you-”

“I’m stuck, Louis, I’m stuck in some weird metal box and I can’t teleport out of it and I can hear Order guards outside of it talking about how I should be dead by now from some gas and I’m guessing this is one of those teleportation traps Grandfather and Uncle Jonathan were talking about last month and I don’t know how to get out of it so if you could get one of them before I drop dead in here, that would be really fucking nice, okay?” Emma’s voice had gotten slightly hysterical at the end, and again she tried to calm herself down, this time without the accompanying deep breath.

“Fuck,” Louis muttered, and Emma heard him take off running as fast as he could. Emma tried to slow her heartbeat through sheer force of will as she hear Louis shout a frantic explanation of what was going on, and a second later she heard her uncle’s voice.

“Emma?” Jonathan said. “Emma, I’m going to talk you through getting out of there, okay?” His tone was roughly a thousand times more calm and soothing than Emma had ever heard it before.

“I don’t have five hours,” she said. “I don’t know if I have five minutes.”

“It’s not going to take five hours, Emma, I promise. That’s just how long the research took the first time, but once I had it I had Gabe out in no time, didn’t I?”

“He was very helpful,” Emma heard her grandfather say. “You’re in good hands.”

“Hear that, Emma?”

“Mm hmm.” Emma did feel a lot calmer now. Until, that is, the cynical part of her brain pointed out that if her uncle was calling her grandfather “Gabe”, and her grandfather was actually willing to say something nice about her uncle, the two of them must have been terrified out of their goddamn minds.

“Okay, Emma,” her uncle kept saying her name, “what I need you to do is see if you can teleport-”

“If I could teleport, do you think I’d be calling?” Emma interrupted angrily.

“-inside the box, Emma, tell me if you can teleport inside the trap. From one corner to the other, say.”

“There’s barely enough room to stand in here!”

“Just a centimeter, Emma, it doesn’t matter how small the distance is, okay? I really need to know.”

Emma sighed, then pressed herself against one side of the box and willed herself forward a few centimeters. “It worked,” she said.

“Okay, that’s a really good sign, Emma, okay? That means the teleportation block is physically manifesting in the walls of the trap and nowhere else. If you can interrupt it, you can get out. Do you think you could punch a hole through one of the walls? Or even just pry two of them apart, just a sliver?”

Emma punched the wall with all her might. The bang echoed loudly, but she didn’t even make a dent. “No,” she said.

“That’s okay, Emma,” her uncle replied smoothly. “What I need for you to do for me now is run your hand all around the sides of the trap and tell me if you feel any raised sections. A long, thin, raised line running down the side, okay?”

Emma felt along in the dark. “Yeah, there’s something like that here.”

Jonathan exhaled in obvious relief. “Okay, great. That’s what’s generating the anti-teleportation property of the trap. All you have to do is break that and you should be able to get out.”

It felt fragile enough. Emma pressed her thumbnail against it as hard as she could and felt it crack. She tried to teleport again.

“It didn’t work,” Emma said, somewhat frantically. “I broke it and it didn’t work, I’m still stuck.”

“Are you sure it’s broken?

“Yes! I felt it-wait.” Emma ran her finger over it. “It’s not broken but it was, I know it was, I don’t know how-”

“That means it’s self-repairing, Emma,” her uncle said, his voice still steady. “That’s not ideal, but it’s okay, because the repair isn’t instantaneous and your powers are, Emma. That means all you have to do is time it right, okay? Try teleporting the instant you break it.”

Emma tried again. “It’s still not working.”

“It’s gotta be timed exactly right, Emma. It might take you a few more tries to get it, and I know that’s frustrating, but I promise-”

“I’m dizzy,” Emma said quietly.

There was a brief moment of pained silence. “Emma,” her uncle said, “you have to keep trying. I know it’s hard, I know it’s scary, but I promise this will work if you get it right, okay? Do you want me to count for you? I’ll just… I’ll just keep counting to three over and over until you’re back, okay?”

“Okay,” Emma whispered. As her uncle started counting, Emma held her thumb over the line again, and as Jonathan said ‘three’ she cracked it again, doing her best to teleport the moment it gave way under her nail. Nothing. Shaking off her disappointment, she tried again on the next ‘three’. Still nothing. Emma impatiently brushed a tear aside and tried again, doing her best to adjust for a response time she knew was woefully inadequate.

One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three.

Emma had stopped expecting it to work when, quite suddenly, she was back in the mansion’s panic room. Her uncle was holding Louis’ miraculous, talking into it, and the rest of her family was gathered anxiously around, her grandparents holding each other tightly.

“Emma!” her grandmother exclaimed. “Oh, sweetheart, are you-”

“Don’t detransform,” her uncle interrupted, somewhat urgently. “We don’t know what you were breathing in or how much of it is still in your system, you should hang onto your invulnerability until we’re sure-” He was cut off, quite suddenly, by Emma throwing her arms around him and clinging to him, shaking slightly. After a moment of hesitation, he hugged her back.

“You’re okay,” Jonathan said softly, and Emma wasn’t sure who he was reassuring, exactly.

“Why the hell am I the one who keeps almost dying?” Emma shouted angrily, not loosening her grip.

“Well, technically speaking, of your three power sets, teleportation is the easiest one to target via conventional-” Jonathan must have caught a glare from Emma’s grandmother, because he fell silent mid-explanation. “Just dumb luck, kid,” he said instead.

“You got me out. You saved me.”

“Oh,” Jonathan said. “Yeah, sure, anytime. Don’t mention it.”

[networkingdefinition]

Leo Quotes

Official Website: Leo Quotes

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Every drama requires a cast. The cast may be so huge, as in Leo Tolstoy’s ‘Anna Karenina,’ that the author or editor provides a list of characters to keep them straight. Or it may be an intimate cast of two. – Nancy Kress

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Give like the sun, and the whole world grows tall. – Atticus

Funny People is my favorite performance of myself to date. Even though it’s a comedy and there are serious moments, I really felt like Leo felt like a real person. It didn’t feel like I was playing myself. Whether it’s a comedy or drama, I just try to make it as realistic as possible. – Jonah Hill

Here comes the sun. – The Beatles, Here Comes The Sun

I am a Leo, and I love to be active and creative. – Howie Dorough

I carry around this little lion named Leo, which I’ve had for as long as I can remember. – Shawn Mendes

I did imitations of anyone who came to my parents’ house, and that was my identity at school – if there were ten minutes to lunch, and the teacher was done with the lesson, he’d say, ‘Okay, Leo, get up there and do something.’ – Leonardo DiCaprio

I do wish everyone would call me Leo. It’s not that I don’t like Melissa. But the more I hear it called out, the worse it sounds. – Melissa Leo

I don’t believe that my first name is Leo or that my last name is Tolstoy. I’m a storyteller. – Robert Ludlum

I had a bulletin board in my bedroom with every picture of Leo ever taken – keep in mind, this was pre-‘Titanic’ and pre-Us Weekly, practically pre-Internet. I had to buy ‘The Leonardo DiCaprio Album’ and cut out my favorite pics. – Jenny Han

I have such an ego ’cause I’m a double Leo. I can’t let go of me, you know, so it’s very difficult for me to be somebody else and not me. I’m so into me. – Paul Mooney

I like art history and art criticism. Leo Steinberg has always been my favorite. He’s very original, very accurate and acute. – Helen Vendler

I listened to the veteran wrestlers that had tons of experience, like Leo Burke. I was never really alone. – Robert Maillet

I met Leo Fender, who is the guru of all amplifiers, and he gave me a Stratocaster. He became a second father to me. – Dick Dale

I read a book called ‘Transatlantic’, which is a history of the great shipping lines. Also, of course, I had read about the Titanic and saw Leo drowning at the end of the ‘Titanic’ movie and all that stuff. – Erik Larson

I really do not care that Messi isn’t scoring every match. Leo always produces match-changing moments. – Gerardo Martino

I thought back to my middle-school experience of having slumber parties and watching Romeo + Juliet and staring at Leo and thinking about my first kiss and what I wanted it to be like. And when you have your first real love, it’s an epiphany, you know? It’s like a whole new world. – Bonnie McKee

I would like to have an assortment of words, but what can I say about Leo? He is breaking all the records, and those he will still beat. He makes the public always expect something special from him, and he delivers it. – Ernesto Valverde

If Leo is at his level, it’s going to be very difficult to find a solution to stop him. – Luis Enrique

I’m a huge fan of Don Leo Jonathan. I love that era of wrestling. – Cesaro

I’m a leo, and damn proud of it. – Unknown

I’m a middle child, so I have middle-child syndrome. With a middle child, you always have to take in everything and adjust and maybe compromise a little bit so you’re able to see both sides of an issue. I’m also a Leo – I love astrology – so that affected me, just being a lion. – Jessica Williams

I’m Pisces with Leo rising. The Pisces part is the dreamer. The Leo says, ‘Let’s execute.’ – Quincy Jones

In the summer of 1866, as Leo Tolstoy prepared for his serialized novel ‘War and Peace’ to be published as a single volume, he wrote to illustrator Mikhail Bashilov, hoping to commission drawings for the new edition of the novel, which he referred to by its original title,1805.- Alexander Chee

It is a pleasure to see Leo, an Argentine, as the top scorer in the Champions League. – Gerardo Martino

It is an honour and a pleasure to be able to play with Leo Messi. I want to learn. He is the best player in the world and in history. I am delighted to be able to share costumes. I want to learn a lot from him on and off the field. – Ousmane Dembele

It is best to be born in April or August when the life-giving Sun is in its exaltation sign Aries or Leo, its home, for then we enter the sea of life on the crest-wave and are backed in the battle of existence by an abundant fund of vim and energy. – Max Heindel

It would not be honest if I did a review, because I’ve worked with Leo Messi, whom I consider the best player I’ve seen. I cannot comment or compare with Cristiano Ronaldo because I have not worked with him. That is not to say that I do not have as much respect for Cristiano as a footballer. – Frank Rijkaard

It’s an incredible feeling when you look across the dressing room and see Andres, Leo, Luis and Sergio Busquets, and everyone else. They are players I used to watch on TV or play with on PlayStation, and now I am sharing the same dressing room. It’s incredible for me. – Philippe Coutinho

I’ve always heard Leo saying he is happy at Barcelona. I’ll take the message that he is very comfortable here. – Luis Enrique

I’ve never met a player like Leo Messi. Julen Lopetegui

Lauv comes from the Latvian word for lion, and my mom’s side of the family is from Latvia – it’s a place I’ve been probably 15 times or more. I’m also a Leo, and my real name, Ari, means lion. – Lauv

Leo admires and is admired, loves and is loved. – Linda Goodman

Leo Burke was an unbelievable trainer. Him and Tom Prichard. Tom Prichard was not a big guy. And I learned a lot from him. – Mark Henry

Leo couldn’t deliver Mr. Martin Scorsese his Oscar with ‘The Aviator’, but I will go on record to say I will do so in ‘The Departed’. – Anthony Anderson

Leo Durocher was our manager and he brought Willie up to me and said, ‘This is Willie Mays and he’s your new roommate.’ You could see right away that this young man was a natural. He had those real big hands, great power and speed and would catch everything hit in his direction. He’s the best center fielder that ever lived, no question. – Monte Irvin

Leo Hurwicz is the father of mechanism design theory and has inspired much of my work, and Roger Myerson is an old friend and collaborator and a tremendous economist. – Eric Maskin

Leo is the best player in the world; that is very clear. – Thiago Alcantara

Leo Messi is a little football God. I love playing alongside him. We understand each other without needing to talk. – Dani Alves

Leo would also be unstoppable if I played him at full-back. Messi is simply the best there is. – Luis Enrique

Leo, sadly, has Parkinson’s, but he used to cook all sorts of dazzling things. – Jilly Cooper

My father, Leo Henry Brown, really was talented – he could write. He had a gift, and he had a great, sly humor. – Angie Dickinson

My kids and I make pasta three days a week now. It’s not even so much about the eating of it; they just like the process. Benno is the stuffer, and Leo is the catcher. They’ve got their jobs down. – Mario Batali

My life as Mrs. Leo Durocher and baseball come first. – Laraine Day

My sign is Leo. A Leo has to walk with pride. When he takes a step, he has to put his foot down. You walk into a room and you want people to know your presence, without you doing anything. – Wesley Snipes

Norbert Leo Butz is a master class in energy. – Lauren Ambrose

Of course there is ‘Messidependence.’ It would exist in any team in the world, but when he is not there, we also have to play and try to win. Leo is fundamental for us and marks the style; it is well known that he is the best in the world for something. – Ernesto Valverde

One might say Leos possess a kind of instant passion. – Linda Goodman

Ronaldo leaving would seem to have ended the competition between Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo because people rarely mention one without mentioning the other. A lot of people are interested – me, too – to see how it will affect Real Madrid’s football and what they might do in the transfer market. – Ernesto Valverde

So I think it was a good thing It was a little surreal watching Leo scream ‘I’m not going to die today!’ with our music playing – that was the last thing on my mind when I wrote the song. – Jon Crosby

The first time I met Leo Messi, I didn’t know who he was, only that I couldn’t believe the boots he was wearing. But he is like a brother to me. It was at the start of 2005, when I was with the Argentine under-17 squad and I saw him chatting with Ezequiel Garay and some other players about the boots he’d brought back from the U.S.A. – Sergio Aguero

The Kate Winslet thing has been a shocker. I was like, that is the most ridiculous claim. Amazing, obviously. She’s been my idol since I re-enacted ‘Titanic’ and fell in love with Leo. And it’s a privilege to be called the next anything. But I suppose to be the next you is all you can do. – Florence Pugh

The Leo contains the essence of royalty. – Linda Goodman

The vibration of Leo, ruled by the Sun itself, is almost tangible, a thing you can actually feel throughout your whole being in the presence of a Lion or Lioness. — Linda Goodman

There are no words to describe Leo. He continues to break records every time one is put in front of him. – Gerardo Martino

There is something fundamental about Leo in terms of what he transmits to the supporters and what he transmits to the opposition when he starts to run at you. And I speak from experience. – Ernesto Valverde

There’s no really signature Leo DiCaprio role, like Jack Nicholson is Jack Nicholson no matter what movie he’s in. – Dennis Christopher

What I’d most highlight about Leo Messi is his huge sense of responsibility for the team. It shows in every game in every competition. – Ernesto Valverde

When I played Leonardo DiCaprio’s mother, they liked that Leo had very hooded eyes and a rounded nose with a ball. They said, They look like they could be mother and son. – Ellen Barkin

When Leo takes the record from me, it will hurt a little. But it’s not just anyone taking it away. It’s not a normal person. A Martian is taking it from me. That makes me feel a little better. – Gabriel Batistuta

You know, I am a Leo. Lion is a giant part of me. – Patrick Swayze

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