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runrundoyourstuff · 4 years ago

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Seasons

(A Steven Universe Fic, 2632 words)

Written with love for a holiday exchange with the wonderful @mimik-u !

Prompt: Steven teaches one of the Diamonds about something beautifully mundane (a la Peridot learning about rain.)

It’s almost comical how the Dondai pales in size when compared to the Arm Ship—and the magnitude of the difference only grows as Steven descends the ridge. There are some items, both of human and Gem origin, that seemed larger when he was smaller—when he was younger—when everything mysterious in the world, every new thing he learned about himself, filled him with wonder. The Diamond ships, however, are not among these items. They’re as large now as they always seemed to him, if not quite as foreboding. As are the Diamonds themselves, and he is reminded of this, as Yellow disembarks from her spacecraft.

She doesn’t see him right away. Or if she does notice the car, she doesn’t have the frame of reference to recognize it as his, and even after he parks it beside the ship and gets out, it’s several moments before she turns around and acknowledges him standing there.

“Steven!”

“Hey, Yellow.”

“When I called, I hadn’t realized…” She sputters. “Your...your family returned my message to inform me that you were leaving on a conquest—”

“A conquest?”

“Yes, they said that you were going to travel—”

“Yeah, but not on a conquest!”

“Of course, of course, a scouting mission, then—”

“No! Nothing like that! Just a trip! I just...needed to hit the road for a while. Figure out what’s next.”

“I...right, of course. Your—I mean, the Pearl said that you would be taking a hiatus from your Diamond duties…”

At this, Steven chuckles. “Pearl wants me to.” But then he becomes serious. “I shouldn’t laugh. She’s trying to make sure that I take care of myself. She—all of them really, want to make sure I know that I don’t have to be involved in any Gem stuff if I don’t want to. That it’s my choice. And ya know, it’s true that I don’t want it to be my whole life, not like it was when I was a kid. And because there’s no hierarchy anymore, I do want to give other Gems a chance to manage things on Earth if they want to—to show them it doesn’t always have to be a Diamond, and I’m not a Diamond anyway—but I do want to be involved, ya know? Or at least know what’s going on! I put so much work into everything, and not all of it was bad. I was really proud of a lot of what we did, and the Gems are my family…” A pause. “Anyway, that’s all to say that I routed some of the messages from the Base to my phone.”

“I see. I…” She pauses. “I didn’t intend...You did not need to come. I merely called because I didn’t want to catch you off guard. Give your...our...Given my history, I thought if I showed up on your planet unannounced—”

“It’s not my planet.”

“No, of course not. I meant the planet on which you reside. I’ve already...I did not intend to make you feel that…that you needed to come fix—”

Steven raises a hand. “I know. I just happened to be in the area, so I thought I’d stop by. Say hi.”

“Ah. Alright.” The silence resounds. Yellow’s eyes flit away.

“So,” Steven says after a moment—looking for something, anything, to cut through the quiet. “Why Zona?”

“Is that what this place is called?” Yellow glances around. “I needed an area of the Earth where I would cause the least disruptions, where I could dig a sufficiently large hole such that I could access the Cluster. I initially planned on going to one of the Kindergartens, as we’d already irrevocably destroyed all hope of organic life thriving there—I thought I could minimize the destruction. But each already has a fairly extensive subterranean framework that makes it impossible for me to dig deep enough.” She sighs. “I realize this place isn’t perfect. My digging will certainly disrupt some of the plant life. But it appeared at least that there were few humans in the vicinity…”

“Mm.” Steven leads against the hood of his car. “I’m surprised you brought your ship out here and didn’t just Warp. We’re not that far from the Beta Kindergarten, and there’s a Warp there...”

“Those Warps weren’t built for us. We’re much too large.”

“I guess that’s true, but you could always shapeshift.”

“Hmm. I suppose. But there was also the equipment to bring.”

“Equipment?”

“Yes, I...There are...billions of shards in the Cluster. I figured...if I am going to dismantle it and reconstruct each of the Gems whose shards it conatiend, it would likely be easier for me to do it on Earth, rather than bringing all the Shards back to Homeworld. I don’t want to risk losing any of them or damaging any of them even further in transit…And while I may need to ultimately to transport some of them back to Homeworld to locate all the pieces, and though it may be disconcerting for the other Gems to reform on Earth...I…” She leaves the syllable hanging in the air, turns her head away. Steven can just barely make out her tense jaw as though she is gritting her teeth. Sparks radiate from her skin.

“Yellow? Are you...okay?”

“I’m fine!” But then she bows her head, inhales and releases, murmurs: “I apologize, Steven. I am not angry with you. I simply…It has been difficult enough for me to face each of the Gems I have reconstructed on Homeworld. Once they recover from the shock and the terror, they have each looked at me with such disdain. And those Fusion experiments, while they were certainly terrible, pale in comparison to the Cluster. I can only imagine what each of the Gem’s contained within it will feel. And I will deserve it. I hurt so many Gems in the service of the Empire.”

Steven opens his mouth to respond, but before he can, Yellow continues, speaking ever rapidly, ever louder, as though desperate to expel the words. “Do not try to assuage my guilty conscience! That...is not your responsibility. I shouldn’t have just put you in a position to think that it was.”

Another tentative backpedaling, Steven thinks. A walking on eggshells moment, like he’s witnessed with the Gems and Dad over the past several months. And difficult though it is for him to sometimes believe, it’s not as though Yellow is wrong, at least not if he trusts his therapist. But there is a distant look in her eye, a panicked tension in her cheeks, which, when coupled with the fact that this is the first time he’s seen her since his breakdown, makes Steven wonder if she is remembering that day on the beach.

His own memories of it are fuzzy-to-nonexistant; he remembers the pain, and the panic, and the anger he’d held despite knowing that he shouldn't. Then, he has a vague impression of multiple embraces, of Connie kissing his forehead, of crying hot, cathartic tears...And then he’d woken up in the Cluster’s hand, with the eyes of most of the people he loved and almost everyone he’d ever fought all on him.

Despite his own lack of recollection, however, Connie assures him that she’d given everyone—the Diamonds included—something of a blunt talking to that day, a rallying speech, but she won’t elaborate on the specifics of what exactly she’d said. Might that—whatever its contents— be behind Yellow’s hasty assurances now?

“Okay,” Steven responds finally. “I won’t try to make you feel less guilty. But can I show you something?”

Yellow furrows her eyebrows. “Very well.”

“It’s just on the top of the canyon.”

They deliberate for a few moments on the details. Yellow offers to carry him, but even if she’s not White, Steven declines being held in a Diamond’s hand, and while she could shapeshift to fit in the passenger seat of the Dondai, she ultimately elects to simply follow behind the car as Steven slowly drives it up the cliff.

They reach the plateau just as the sun begins to dip in the horizon, casting a golden glow over the grass, over the Autumn leaves, just starting to paint themselves with the vibrant shades that return year after year.

Steven opens the door and steps out. “You never spent much time on Earth, did you?”

Yellow considers. “No.”

“Do you know what I think my mom fell in love with about this planet?”

“Organic life, of course. Humans.” She gestures to Steven. “Obviously.”

“Well, yeah, but not just them. Us. I think it was this stuff too.”

Yellow squints. “These weeds?! These...dying outgrowths?!”

“With things that change. Things that grow. There’s so much of it here.”

“Hm.”

Steven paces over to the grass, then sinks down onto it so that it brushes against his bare calves. It’s mostly soft on his skin but there are dryer patches too, scratchier places on the ground as some of the longer areas start to dry out for the season. The sun dips lower in the sky, and it leaks hues of pink and orange onto the daytime canvas of darkening blue. Yellow looms behind him.

“Feel this.” He pats the ground next to him, and tries not to wince as Yellow’s gargantuan hand settles down on the grass. “You might not be able to tell, but it’s growing. Even right now. By the time the snow—frozen water that falls from the sky—starts to cover it in a few months, it’ll probably be a few inches taller than it is right now. And then it’ll take a break for a while, but when Spring comes next year—when the weather gets warmer again—it’ll start again.

“The trees too. Look out there—they grow taller every year, and every year the leaves change into those beautiful colors you can see. And the shades are similar every year, but never exactly the same. Then the leaves fall off, and then bud again and come back. And the trees keep getting taller. And every time the leaves return, the whole tree is a little bit different too.”

Yellow hesitates. “These are familiar to me. Someone, I believe a Peridot—your Peridot—”

“She’s not my Peridot, but I know who you mean.”

“Yes...Well, she brought some of these...trees...from Earth to Homeworld, and determined how best to make them grow there. I’ve been gazing at them through the windows of the palace ever since, but I hadn’t realized how elaborate, how ever-present, their growth cycles were…”

“I’ve lived on Earth my whole life, and I only just started thinking about it recently. It’s easy to take for granted, but it’s really incredible when you stop to think about it.” He angles his head upward. “And it’s not just the plants. Look at the sky. It changes like this every day.” A pause. “Well, it’s really not the sky that’s changing—Connie told me that it’s an effect of how the planet moves around our sun. But from down here on Earth, it looks like it’s always changing. In a different way every day. I don’t think it’s like that on Homeworld.”

Yellow settles next to him at last, squatting, and then kneeling. “It isn’t. Things are constructed on Homeworld—not grown. We have a sun, but our sky does not transform like this.”

“Exactly. And I think that’s why my mom fell in love with the Earth so much. She was so in awe of how everything naturally grew and changed here.” Steven sighs, clenches him gemstone beneath his hand. “I’m still angry at her a lot of the time, but, like, I get it. She saw herself as this monster.” Here Steven pauses, glances away for a moment before finally letting the words return. “And she didn’t think that she was capable of growth or change. All she thought she could do was pretend to be someone else. And then she found herself on this planet where all anything did was grow for real, and she wanted to be a part of that even in some small way, so she made me.”

“Steven…”

“But the point is, she was wrong. She could have grown as herself. I think she did, even if she couldn’t see it. And she and I aren't the only Gems that grew. All of my friends and family have. None of us is the same as we were when I was a kid. Maybe it just took coming to Earth to see that, ya know? Gems can grow and change, just like the trees can, and the grass, and the sky.

“So yeah,” Steven continues. “White hurt you, and you hurt Mom, and Mom hurt Pearl and Garnet and Amethyst and Spinel and you, and everyone she hurt hurt me, and I hurt Jasper and Dad and a lot of people and could have hurt a lot more, and you hurt all the Gems who were corrupted, and who became the Fusion experiments and the Cluster...and that’s all true, and we all have to deal with that and make the things we did wrong right the best that we can. And it’s hard, and it sucks. But the ways we’ve been hurt and hurt other people aren’t all we are. We can grow and change too. As ourselves. I think the Earth is just one big reminder of that.”

Yellow’s brows are once again furrowed, her jaw agape. “I…”

“So, yeah, it’s going to be hard to face all the Gems in the Cluster as you put them all back together. But it’s the right thing to do. And if it ever becomes too much, you can always come up here, and watch the world change and grow to remind yourself that you’re growing too. You’re better than you were, and if you keep working at it, you’ll keep getting better.”

Then, without waiting for Yellow to respond, Steven stands, walks back over to the Dondai. “Now, I gotta hit the road. I want to get to Vegas by tomorrow. It was nice to see you, Yellow.”

“You as well, Steven.” Yellow rises to her feet.

“Good luck,” he calls out the window as he pulls away, and glancing in the rearview mirror, he sees Yellow’s arm raised in farewell, something like a small, apprehensive smile on her lips.

Six months later, after a sojourn up and down the West Coast, Steven returns to the ridge en route back to Beach City for a visit. He pulls up just as the sun is rising over the canyon, glinting off Yellow’s arm ship, and off of the chest and arms and backs of the little gaggle of Gems gathered next to the ship and the adjacent hole. Yellow is not among them, though. She stands on the crest of the cliff, gazing at the trees, at the little buds beginning to spring into being on each branch.

“Steven.” She turns to him in greeting as he gets out of the car.

“You’ve been busy!”

“Yes, we’re progressing nicely.”

“We?”

Yellow nods. “Some of the Gems I reconstructed from the Cluster decided to remain here to help. Then others in Little Homeworld—and even a few on Homeworld itself—learned about what we were doing, and traveled here to volunteer.” She pauses. “They’re here for the sake of the Gems inside the Cluster, not for me. Still, it is nice not to be alone.”

“Mm.”

Yellow turns from the trees to the canyon, in the direction of the rising sun. The growing orange light catches her Gemstone too, and it glimmers in it. “It’s a beautiful morning.”

“Yeah,” Steven says. “It is.”

[ao3]

#my fic #su #yellow diamond #steven universe #the cluster

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jacksons-goddess-gaia · 4 years ago

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Ramen and Hobbits~ Monsta X Imagine

❖ Monsta X, Jooheon x reader

❖ Imagine, fluff lots of fluff, hint at smut

❖ wc: 1391

❖ Tag List: @atiny-piratequeen @queen-of-himbos @gettin-a-lil-hanse @kimnamshiks @atiny-dazzlinglight

❖ Masterlist ❖

. ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Let me know what you think!

. ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Jooheon sighed, if this was one of his favorite animes, he was certain there would be a large tick mark right on his forehead. Tired, just getting over his cold, and behind in work, this "Ramen cafe" was the last place he wanted to be. Slurping noodles while laughing over the video games, or perusing seemingly endless lines of books.

This cafe at one point must have been a book cafe, or library, mused the young rapper, fingers tracing down the weathered leather spine of an early translation for J.R.R Tolkiens Silmarillion.

"Do you like Tolkien? If you like his works you should check out Christopher Paolini's Eragon. It's written in a more modern style since the author is from this century but still an impressive work." Turning Jooheon blinked at the shorter figure beside him.

Surprised to find anyone in this remote dusty corner of forgotten shelves, and slightly irritated that his piece and quiet had been disturbed by this unknown intruder. Their obviously foreign accent making him brace, ready to have to interpret for them to the best of his ability, Idol smile spreading onto his lips with a forced tightness. However, the minute your sparkling eyes met his, Jooheon found himself merely staring dumbly, all words and tension gone.

You were dazzling, earth-shatteringly beautiful as you placed a heavy bound book in his hands, explaining about the young female dragon and boy within its pages. How your eyes sparkled, the way your teeth winked at him as you spoke, the cute way you got more excited when he nodded numbly to what you were saying, pushing hair behind your ear as you practically bounced on the balls of your feet.

By god, you were so cute. Jooheon couldn't resist the goofy little smile as you beamed up at him, his heart skipping a beat as a small giggle left your curved lips. When you suddenly stopped speaking and just looked up at him expectantly for a few moments, Jooheon realized he had not truly heard what you were saying. Blinking rapidly to clear his fogged Jooheon laughed nervously, a blush coming to grace his dimpled cheeks and ears.

"Uh I-I'm sorry what was your name again?" He asked rubbing the back of his head as he stalled for time, glancing down to discern the title on the book you had handed him. The way your cheeks flushed however nearly had him blanking out a second time. As you told him your name Jooheons smile only grew.

"Thank you, I appreciate your recommendation, but to be honest I've never read Tolkien either. Could you tell me a bit about it?" Jooheon could have listened to you talk all day, the way your eyes lit up, how excited you were as you explained who J.R.R. Tolkien was, the way he had built these worlds and how he had influenced today's fantasy novels, and on; his arms slowly becoming laden down with the books you recommended. It was such a magical moment as your hand brushed his offering to help hold the heavy texts, heart skipping a beat, skin tingling where you had touched him. But he shook his head beaming, how your small form would fare under the pile of heavy tomes he didn't know.

"I got it, I'm big and strong see?" He winked at you flexing to make you laugh and instantly, losing control of the stack in his hands. Luckily your hands were as skilled as his rapping, for you quickly snatched the book out of the air and helped him prevent more from tumbling out of his arms.

"Why don't we go set these on the counter for you?" You laughed, shaking your hair from your eyes. It was only at that moment that Jooheon noticed the worker's badge on your dress, the words store manager emblazoned above it in gold English lettering.

"Thank you." He said in English eyes crinkling as he smiles.

"Hmmm actually perhaps we should take these to a table instead, less chance of someone recognizing you." Surprised at your open acknowledgment of who he was, Jooheon let you guide him to a table half-hidden behind a bookshelf, yet with a nice view of the computer area, where the rowdy voices of his members echoed out into the air between slurps of ramen and noisy chewing of tteokbokki.

"You know who I am?" He asked surprised, though, in all honesty, he knew he shouldn't have been.

"Am I not supposed to?" You asked surprised, eyebrows raising. "Monsta x is well known, plus your members have talked about you a lot when they visit."

For some reason knowing you were close to his members enough to have spoken about him thoroughly with them made him grumpy rather than happy. The odd feeling was wiped away though as you offered to bring over some snacks.

"I'm technically on break, but if you'd prefer I leave you alone to read-"

"NO!" Jooheon caught himself as he blurted out the words. "I mean no, I'm pretty hungry. What would you recommend?"

Jooheon was double startled when he pulled out his card you refused to take it, laughing and saying not to worry about it, before disappearing with his order into the kitchen area by the front desk.

"It's on the house don't worry about it." You giggled setting down two trays of the best ramen and ramune, once again pushing his card back. A small smile slipping across his face once more as you both ate, your fingers holding the chopsticks worked hard not to make a mess were so adorable to him.

"Here like this." Chuckling after you let a slice of chashu fall once more into the bowl, Jooheon scooted closer arms wrapping around you with ease, adjusting your fingers upon the two long sticks. Neither of you aware of the suddenly extra loud yelp from the members as Minhyuk spotted him at just that moment, smacking Kihyun repeatedly and pointing.

"Oh thank you!" Your blush was adorable and Jooheon made sure to tell you so, poking your cheek and serving up his best aegyo.

Unaware of his member's incredulous stares, Jooheon spent the next few hours leaning in and discussing books he'd never before had any interest in before now.

"It was really nice getting to meet you finally!" Your words eased his sadness at parting, as you locked up the store behind them.

"I'll make sure to read these so next time I visit you can tell me about the next part! Ramens on me too." Your beaming grin warmed his heart, waving to you as he left, books stacked in his other arm.

"I didn't think we were allowed to take books out of the cafe?" Wonho eyed the stack of books in his arms curious.

"She said I could since no one had taken interest in them in years. They're her favorite-" "Please tell me you got her number." Chuckled Changkyun, however as Jooheon stopped in his spot the others burst into laughter.

"It's fine one of us can give you-"

"No! I'll get it from her next time!" I'll woo her on my own thanks." Despite many offers, Jooheon was insistent, though later on when his schedule kept him from visiting and his members teasingly bragged about talking to you he did regret it...just a bit. However the beaming smile on your face when he eventually walked into the cafe proudly carrying the finished novels. The boys thought that your meeting, at last, was a wondrous thing, your personalities blended so beautifully, as well the mutual support and mutual adoration was adorable. That was until the only thing they became able to do when they went out was your cafe, where Jooheon spent hours following you around or huddled in a corner going over books or whatever else caught your fancies that week. But for you and Jooheon, your budding relationship was perfect. Even the secret after hour ramen and chill sessions that went from innocent snuggling and video game playing or reading to uh...well the intended Korean innuendo of ramen and chilling. "Can you be the elf princess to my ranger king?" He asked holding you close as you wandered down the streets together towards home.

"Cheesey!" You teased him, but of course, in the end, you agreed.

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revengeoftheantichrist · 3 years ago

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Seven Devils

Warnings: Fire, Alter sex, Priests gone wild, gore, stabbing

AO3 <<<Previous

Day 6

You had been in the room when Sister Ruth had to give Claire’s family the news. Her mother’s scream of anguish briefly broke you out of your daze, the pain in her voice made you start crying again. You felt responsible somehow. You still couldn’t understand what tempted your friend to the fruit. You would be leaving on Monday, along with your friend’s corpse. Finally rid of this horrible place, but you could never forget it now, no matter how much you tried. You had tired yourself out from all the crying, choosing to take a nap and hoping that your sleep would be dreamless.

////

You hoped for too much. You woke from another nightmare; this one was the most troubling one you had. Maybe finally talking to someone about it would help. This led you to look for Sister Ruth, hoping she would be willing to lend an ear. You found her with the Mother Superior, who refused to leave the room when you asked to talk to Ruth in private. “You are my responsibility also, anything that can be shared with Sister Ruth must also be shared with me,” she said. You had never felt more violent in your life, but decided to hold it in. Sister Ruth gently took your hand, “Please Y/N, what is it I can help you with? Is there anything you’d like to share?” she asked kindly.

You swallowed before answering. “I’ve been having strange dreams, and they’re troubling me. I’m scared Sister,” you managed to whimper out. The mother superior rolled her eyes. Old Hag.

Sister Ruth brought your attention back to herself, “it’s okay, you can continue.” “I keep on dreaming about the convent being on fire. It is as if the structure was purposely built to be unstable and crumble in on all of us. I can smell the flesh burning. None of us get out of it alive. I feel like somethings going to happen during the feast day tomorrow and I think we all need to get out of here,” you explained. Sister Ruth didn’t say a word, just giving you a blank stare. The Mother superior on the other hand, began to laugh as you ended your story. “Child do not come here with dreams of false prophecies and mock our patron Saint. Clearly the stories you are hearing are giving you the wrong sort of divine inspiration.” You wanted to reply, to tell her she was wrong and that she would regret ignoring you, but Sister Ruth spoke before you could. “Y/N, you’ve been through a lot this week. I know it must be difficult to lose a friend so unexpectedly too. I think your brain is trying to cope with this all by spinning dreams with threads of stories you’ve heard during the week.” You looked at her with more tears in your eyes. You didn’t expect this from her at least. No one believed you and now you would be called crazy by everyone. You didn’t want to die by fire. You, nor your classmates deserved it. You had to warn them yourself. Without a word you ran out of the room, looking for your other friends and trying to find a way out.

////

You burst through the dorm room; all eyes were on you. “Guys I’m not trying to scare you, but we all have to leave right now. There’s going to be a fire here tomorrow and the Sisters are just going to let us all burn!” you shouted, hoping that they would listen and believe you. “What the fuck are you on about,” one of the girls spoke up, “I actually think you’ve gone insane.” “NO no no no I promise I’m telling the truth, I had, I had a dream and were all going to be burned to death and then the priest is going to take over the world” you explained. “What priest? Is this a joke?” “The priest Michael. The one that tried to get me last time!” You weren’t listening to what you were saying. You couldn’t see the crazed look in your eyes, you were heaving from running here, the way you were just so dishevelled. Before you could speak again, some of the staff came through behind you, wrapping their arms around you and dragging you out of the room. You kicked, screamed and even bit but they did not let you go. Eventually you reached a room far from the dorms and were unceremoniously thrown in. The door being locked just as you tried to get up. “LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! YOU’RE GOING TO REGRET NOT LISTENING! LET ME OUT!” You continued to hit and kick the door, hoping that they would show some mercy. You realised your efforts were fruitless when your knuckles had almost been pulverised from hitting the heavy wooden door.

You decided to look around the room, reluctantly accepting the fact you wouldn’t be let out anytime soon. It seemed so familiar, you knew you had been here before. There wasn’t much in here, just a bed and a dusty set of drawers that hadn’t been opened in centuries. There didn’t even seem to be any electricity running to this room. You found some old candles and set them aside, preparing them for when you would need them. You wondered why there was only one set of belongings. The room was clearly big enough for two. Your eyes drifted to the drawers again. If they didn’t want you prying, they shouldn’t have put you in here.

The drawers were caked in dust, you cringed as you hand touched it. It took you a few pulls to get the drawer open, it had gone stiff from the years of neglect. You were pleasantly surprised to find something in there. A rosary made of precious gems. A decaying bible. Some other old books. And something wrapped tightly in some cloth. The rosary was heavy, and you could tell it was barely used. A strand of hair seemed to be caught on it, just like yours, same colour, same texture. The bible was almost illegible, the ink had smeared and bled. Some of it was singed away. The only section that you could make out was revelations. Only the worlds of destruction and death had survived the years it seemed. The other books were interesting. They had not decayed in the same way the bible had. The parchment was old, and it was all handwritten, but it had stood the test of time. It all seemed to be text on herbal medicine, smiling a little at the notes your mother had written you. The final item was the one that stood out to you the most. Mainly because you had no idea what it was. The item was heavy, the fabric seemed to be some sort of leather. You slowly unwrapped it, letting the fabric fall away from the item. It was an ornate dagger. Beautifully carved out of material you couldn’t quite put you finger on, but you knew whatever it was, it was precious and expensive. The blade was sharp enough to cut through flesh and bone you were sure of it. You decided to spend the night figuring out these books. You had nothing else to do anyway.

////

Sister Y/N had spent days going though her books. Her conclusion? Drastic times call for drastic measures. For some reason, regularly attending prayer and meals helped ease her mind temporarily. It also kept Langdon off her trail. He was busy with one of his ‘personally’ led study classes, the ones she was still barred from. For her this was the perfect time to speak to the Mother Superior. Floor plans in hand, she marched down to her office. //// She sat in silence for a while, waiting for her to finish her tobacco, she didn’t like to be disturbed in that time. She made the gesture for Y/N to speak. “Mother, you may think that I have gone insane, but I’ve been having strange dreams and I feel compelled to tell you and warn you.” She raised her brow, sitting up straight, “Continue.” “I’m sure one of the sisters must have informed you of the dreams that I had about the new structure of the convent, I’ve spent hours meticulously drawing up the plans revealed to me,” she began, pushing the said plans towards her mentor. Mother superior picked them up and began inspecting the details. Sister Y/N began to speak again, “For a long time, I did not know why an entirely new convent was shown to me. Most of our buildings are sound and functional…. But I have had another dream recently.” “And what did that dream tell you Y/N?” “A terrible fire will sweep the convent. It will destroy everything and everyone. I fear the dream may come true,” she explained. Mother Superior seemed to be lost in thought, mulling over the information. “Was there a date? And indication of when?” “The feast of our lady’s ascension.” The woman looked well and truly worried now, an expression that seemed so alien on this relaxed woman. The feast was two days away. Y/Ns voice began to crack, “I came to you to beg you to do something and to hand you these plans… I fear that I will not leave the inferno alive.” Mother superior finally spoke, “I believe you were given these visions for a reason child. God would not just choose anyone, out of this entire convent I would believe you the most.” Despite the differences the women had over the years, Mother Superior was the closest thing Y/N had to mother. If Y/N could save one person in here, it would be her. “That man must not get wind of this, understand? The men in the church seem to be praying for our downfall. Letting him know would foil any plans to get the sisters out, understood?” Mother superior asked. Y/n nodded, choosing her words carefully to not expose her other plan, “I think I could distract him on the evening you all need to leave. God has already decided I will not leave here alive so I will make sure you all get out safe.” Mother Superior did not question it, nodding in response. Both women stood to go to the door, a sombre blanket enveloping the room. The women hesitated a little, before hugging each other tightly. Y/N trying to remember the smell of the tobacco and roses. Both knew that this would be the last time they would see each other, the last time they could embrace one another. Tears stained both of their uniforms, but still not a word was said. A verbal admission of the finality of their meeting would break the women. They eventually broke away from the hug, Mother superior giving Y/Ns cheek one final kiss before letting her out. They both wished they had embraced for just a while longer.

////

The night had come where everything would be set into motion. The first of the sisters began to shuffle out of the convent, but sister Y/N was heading in the opposite direction. She made her way to the small chapel in her night gown, she shivered at the unusually cold summer air. She took something of her mother’s for luck, she was going to need it. She drifted down the increasingly empty hallways like a ghost. Silent but a vision nonetheless, hair and night gown blowing in the breeze. //// She said a final prayer as she opened the door. The incense was strong, and the candles were burning. All preparation for the morning mass that was meant to take place in a few hours. Father Langdon stood at the alter in all his glory. The candlelight gave him a halo-like glow. A light in the darkness. Sister Y/N slowly walked towards him, he watched with curious eyes, truly not expecting this tonight. Y/N looked into his eyes, before kneeling before him. She looked at him like he was her only god. The crazed devotion he longed to see. She reached forward and took his hand, kissing his palm and then his ring, the way one would for a king, holding his hand against her forehead before letting go. He just smiled at her, not saying a word, waiting to see what she would do next. She leaned forward and kissed his shoes, a reminder of the night she washed his feet. Michael groaned at the thought of it. He wished he had made her stay that night, that he had made her kiss his feet, that he had made her watch him stroke himself at the sight of her. Michael liked to play the long game and was willing to wait for her to come to him. Now he could reap his rewards. “Have you come to seek salvation?” he taunted. She only nodded, not finding the words she needed. His ringed fingers stroked her cheeks, wondering what to do with her next. “Do you have a God?” She shook her head ‘no’. He slapped her in response, the sound echoing off the stone. He lightly stroked her tender cheek again, repeating the question, “Do you have a God?” She looked up at him with her teary eyes, nodding ‘yes’ this time, “You. You are my God.” Father Langdon smiled at her answer, it was just the one he was looking for. His thumb moved towards her lips, feeling the softness before forcing entry into her mouth. His unoccupied hand drifted toward his trousers, palming himself before beginning to undo the garment. “Well then, you must learn how to worship your new God then. You don’t want to disappoint me now do you?” She sook her head.

Michael stroked himself in front of her. Y/N trembled at the sinful sight. Michael tapped the tip on her lips, “go on then, show me your devotion.” Y/N hesitated before opening her mouth. She slowly licked him, from the base to the tip. His groan seemed to shake the room, the candles getting just a little bit brighter. She took him into her mouth, going slowly and trying not to choke. The pace was far too slow for Michael, he took a hold of her hair and took over, setting a faster pace, not caring about the choking. The wet sound and the spit spurred him on even further. Y/N eyes were watering her throat already beginning to ache from the assault. She felt him twitch, but he pulled out with a ‘pop’. “Keep your tongue out,” he said between pumps. With one final stroke, he spilled all over her face, relishing in the sight of her covered in his seed. His fingers made a symbol on her forehead, much like one would on Ash Wednesday, but she couldn’t figure out what it was, lost in the daze of what had just happened.

He pulled her up by her shoulders, walking towards the alter, “Come, let me show you the true light,” he whispered. He pushed away the crucifix and the chalice, both cracking upon impact with the stone floor. He sat tall and proud on the alter, Y/N standing in front of him. He undid the front of her dress, holding her wrists in one hand to prevent her from covering herself up. Her nipples pebbled from the exposure to the cold air. Michael hummed in satisfaction. How he had longed to see her bare in front of him. His free hand groped and grabbed all around, not being gentle in the slightest. He was not a gentle man, and he would not be a kind God. His fingers reached between her thighs, she whimpered at the unfamiliar contact. She had only felt her own hands before. Michael grinned at the wetness. “Hmm? Well, would you look at that. A witch parading as a woman of god dripping for me,” he taunted. She tried to look away in embarrassment, but his gaze was far too powerful. She gasped as his fingers finally entered her, far bigger than her own. He stroked himself back up as he continued to thrust inside her. She began to twitch around him, just as her toes began to curl, he pulled out. “Not yet, come here.” He pulled her onto his lap, licking the fingers that were wet with her slick. He gripped Sister Y/Ns hips tightly, slowly impaling her onto his cock. Letting her feel all of him. Her hands gripped his shoulders as she got used to the unfamiliar stretch. Michael had waited too long to be inside her, burying his face in her bosom, drinking in her scent. “Go on then, show me your devotion, worship me.”

Y/N hesitated a little, and Michael’s patience was wearing thin. He thrust up into her to encourage her to ride him. She took the hint and picked up the pace. Closing her eyes to chase her own pleasure. The room echoed with the sound of skin on skin. Sister Y/N had never been so intimate with anyone before, the connection felt almost holy. She wondered if the incense in the room was clouding her head or if the devil had cast a spell on her. She opened her eyes and looked into his, the room around them seemed to be set ablaze. The candle flames reaching a height she never thought possible. She felt his hand around her neck, squeezing slightly, bringing her pleasure to new heights. He was close, he wouldn’t be able to hold it in. His breathing became laboured, sweat dripping down his forehead. He threw his head back in pleasure, eyes closed and giving in. This is what Sister Y/N had been waiting for. She held her hand out and a blade sprang into her hand. The ornate dagger was heavy. She didn’t hesitate, slicing the man’s throat before he could cum. He let out a gargled gasp, but she paid no mind as she chased her own high, covered in his warm blood that was spraying from the wound. This was the closest she would be to God and she knew it. She removed herself from his corpse, trying not to dwell too much on what she had done. She put her night gown back on and made her way back to the limp corpse on the alter. She took the knife again, bringing it to his chest. It sliced though fabric and flash so easily, making her job so much simpler. When the incision was big enough, she reached into the cavity and pulled out his heart. She heard the cracking of beams and finally realised where she was. The building was burning and about to cave around her. She ran to the door, not looking back as the body behind her was crushed by the burning ceiling. //// She had run to the courtyard; the adrenaline was beginning to wear away now. She was in so much pain from the burns she had from the inferno. She had to push through the weakness, just for a little longer. She had buried her mother’s box underneath the apple tree. She knew no one but her would be able to open it. Letting the heart burn allowed the possibility of reincarnation and rebirth. Keeping it sealed prevented him from ever taking a physical form again. Forced into an eternal limbo. She gently placed the heart into the box. Her fingers were charred and painful. She made sure the box was sealed shut for one final time, muttering a prayer for forgiveness if the God above was still listening. She placed the box back into the hole, quickly burying it and hoping that no one would ever find it. She leaned back against the tree, looking up to the smoke-filled sky. She was not given the privilege of seeing the stars she loved so much. She could feel the heart beating behind her, trying to make its way out of its new prison. The pain had gotten worse now and the fatigue was catching up to her. She closed her eyes for the last time, accepting her fate finally. She no longer needed to run.

Neither God nor the Devil seemed to be done with her yet, hungry crows had begun to eat away at her flesh, going for her eyes first. Some of the sisters returned in the morning, only to find their friends charred corpse beneath the apple tree, where strange blossoms had begun to bloom.

Next>>>

#my writing #michael langdon #michael langdon x reader #SD6

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galvanizedfriend · 4 years ago

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Klaroline Fic Rec

The Tale of a Hybrid and a Vampire, by @idiot--wind

Summary: A Klaroline-centric rewrite of the last two episodes of the Originals. Rated M, just to be safe.

_______________________

Why you should read it: The way The Originals ended is the reason why I started writing and reading KC fanfiction. I literally had never felt the urge until the day I watched the last episode. I had been watching TVD/some-of-TO for years just WAITING for the moment when canon would give me that which I desired, and I believed that I was safe because a CW teenage drama show would NEVER not give its audience what its audience wanted. It's not like it was PRIME television with this whole ~~the story is more important than viewer satisfaction~~ kind of BS that unfortunately Game of Thrones has made so popular in the last few years. OH, HOW WRONG I WAS.

But I digress. The thing is, in many ways, if TO had had a satisfying ending and Klaus and Caroline had gone off to see the world together, I probably wouldn't be here now. Whether that's a silver lining or not, I'll let you folks be the judge of that. What I can tell you all for sure is that if TO finale had been THIS, I would've NEVER, EVER started writing fanfiction. Because THIS. IS. PERFECT.

@idiot--wind's fix-it doesn't argue with the TVDu's canon. It simply takes what we already know into account and build it into something beautiful. It's a simple solution, yet such a wonderfully written and fleshed-out one. She even takes some of the dialogues of different scenes and mesh them into others, thus crafting something that feels so organic, so POSSIBLE. In fact, this is so IC and well-written within the show's lore and its final episodes that it makes me ANGRY that this wasn't it. I wish you had been in the writer's room!

Caroline plays a much bigger part in the resolution of the story, which SHOULD'VE been the case. She had reasons to be a part of the story at that stage, and the whole romance thing would've felt so much more fluid if she'd been more present. I mean, I'm not complaining about the fan service I got, but it made me wish for MORE, you know? Which is exactly what @idiot--wind gave me here! Starting with the scene at the town square, where Klaus asks Caroline for a dance (I mean!!!) and she confesses she always thought she'd end up finding her way to him at some point, while he shares his own never-to-be-fulfilled fantasies, now that he was about to die.

It's such a touching, poignant moment for the two of them, especially for Klaus, and it sets the tone perfectly for what the rest of the story is like. I don't want to get into too much detail because, even though she stays close to canon, the point where the story diverges from canon makes all the difference. But you guys! It hits right in the feels!

Elijah here just BROKE MY HEART COMPLETELY. I was WEEPING so many times!

The way he talks to Caroline, in every scene, had me screaming. He's so insightful and so IC. I loved the way you wrote him, I loved the family's final moments together, I loved how he made peace with Hope. Also, Hope! HOPE! I hated S5!Hope with a passion because she was directly responsible for everything that happened - her mother's and her father's deaths. I never felt any empathy for her because, honestly, she got her part. But you managed to humanize her here in such a wonderful way. And her connecting to Caroline was uuuugh! That's something I've ALWAYS wanted to see, tbh. I think she would love to be able to talk to someone who didn't hate her father. She sounds so bitter when she says that every book in her school treats her father like a villain, felt such a huge separation between how she felt for him and how everyone else did, and I think knowing that Klaus had been more than that from someone who had warm feelings for him would've made her so happy. I don't understand why they didn't go there with her and Caroline, since it was RIGHT THERE. But you fixed it beautifully here. Klaus trusted Hope to the school because he trusted Caroline to take care of her, and I think she would've meant a lot to all the parties involved.

And then the KC bits... OMG!!! I was SCREAMING with some of their scenes. Particularly a certain scene at the balcony in New Orleans, I was just HDUKASGDASGDSGUHDBADHA. It was beautiful, the way they reconnected, how Caroline was there for him, how they were so hesitant, but ultimately finding comfort in each other. Those were such delicate, nuanced moments. Even the way you finished the story was brilliant. It offered an alternative to what we saw, that honestly, I don't know how they didn't think of that. Klaus' uncertainty regarding Caroline broke my heart, but the way she reassures him, then tying up with what we see on Legacies was *chef's kiss*. But all that came after I CRIED MY SOUL OUT with the goodbye scene. JESUS. I didn't cry watching the show, but I cried here. ARE YOU SEEING THIS, JULIE PLEC? IT WAS RIGHT THERE AND YOU MESSED IT ALL UP!!!

Oh! I also want to 💖💖💖 the way you added the other characters! I've already mentioned Hope and Elijah, but also Alaric (his talk with Klaus!!! passive-aggressive sharing a drink!!), Rebekah, Marcel, Kol and even the ones that had passed away. You wrote Hayley, Camille and Stefan into the story in such a thoughtful and heartfelt manner, with none of the petty revenge that we usually see, just acknowledging that they played important parts. I LOVED Caroline's whole speech about how Klaus made her see things differently when it came to the whole dichotomy of good vs evil and how that tie in with Hayley. It was beautiful.

Honestly, this story is amazing, it's beautiful and it's so well written and well built. This would've been a finale I could've 100% gotten behind, even with all the previous issues I had with the show, even during that fifth season. This would've put my shipping heart at peace forever. So even though I didn't get it from canon, I'm glad I got it from @idiot--wind!

This is an incredibly mature, emotional and reasonable take on the show's finale, and probably the best TO rewriting I've read to this day. Thank you so much for writing!

#klaroline #klaroline fic rec #klaroline fanfiction #idiot--wind

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the-cookie-of-doom · 4 years ago

Note

Good morning! Whats your favorite show/movie? Who are your favorite characters? Why do you like them so much? Also!! Did you have a good sleep?

Okay so I was a film major for a while, and I have opinions.

Penny Dreadful

I love this show. Like, so much. I adore it. I can not get enough of that show. Just all of the imagery, and the fantastic writing and acting. The episode intro alone is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Eva Green is a goddess and I love everything she’s been in. The take on classic horror stories is So Good, and it actually became the inspiration for my Gay Frankenstein story! (Started as a stitch AU, and then went completely OC after I had Ideas) but the show itself is so intimate? I think it’s largely that the period they’re in, everything was so repressed and restricted. So when the characters break out of those moments, it’s more meaningful. And the love-hate relationship between Ms. Ives and Malcolm in season one? Exquisite. I could literally write essay’s about this show, but I’ll restrain myself and just say: it’s the best ensemble show I’ve ever seen. The characters come together, but they also each have their own distinct lives that sometimes intersect, but in s2 especially, are quite separate. They are constant with one another like ensemble shows usually portray. Also gothic horror and romance? My absolute favorite.

Anything by Guillermo del Toro

This man Owns My Entire Soul. I’m not even joking, everything he writes and directs is perfection. Crimson Peak is probably my favorite (I have a stitch AU for this too ;) ) because again, Gothic horror and romance. I’m a slut for that shit. Also Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain? Delightful casting. I think it’s obvious by now that I love tragic relationships, so their dynamic is *chef’s kiss* amazing. they’re so damaged. And this quote right here is one of the BEST things I’ve ever read:

“But the horror... The horror was for love. The things we do for love like this are ugly, mad, full of sweat and regret. This love burns you and maims you and twists you inside out. It is a monstrous love and it makes monsters of us all.”

Engrave that on my headstone, please?? I’ve got a sort-of Dorian Gray AU (it’s delightful) that’s basically built on this entire premise. Mitch makes the mistake of falling in love with Stiles, and does many terrible things because of it. Mostly to himself, at least.

I think my love of Crimson Peak is very closely tied with The Shape of Water. another beautiful movie, I could wax poetic about this forever. it was beautifully written, and such an artistic movie. I love the way it was filmed, and the set design, and all of the subtle imagery. Such as Elisa’s apartment being cast in cooler tones, it always felt very damp and had evidence of water damage, compared to Giles’, a mirror image of her own, in more warm tones. This is another one I could (and have) write essays about. There is so much packed into this movie, from the themes on toxic masculinity and entitlement, to the conversation on queerness and race and disability, and how all the various relationships are portrayed. Like. there is so much to pick apart in this movie.

Aside from that, ofc Hell Boy deserves an honorable mention because i grew up on those movies. I’m pretty sure the Golden Army especially is responsible for who I am today, given all the lore on the fae in that universe. Wow, that explains so much about me... Also one of my first WoW characters was an elf named Nuala xD I still have her, too, and it’s been like 12 years lol

Near-Future Sci-Fi

Sci-fi is one of my favorite genres, I am a huge nerd for theoretical and astrophysics. But my favorite kind of sci-fi is the stuff that still takes place on Earth, rather than epic battles in space. Ex Machina and Annihilation are at the top of that list. Alex Garland is another writer/director that I love. He has the same kind of approach as del Toro, where he puts a lot of fine details into his work. And I love that it’s very cerebral; there are so many layers to Ex Machina. My English 101 prof actually refused to analyze it in class when I suggested it to him, because he didn’t think my class could. Basically handle? Dissecting that movie? Because a lot of it comes across as very surface level, but in some cases when you look deeper, it’s actually suggesting the opposite of what you might think at first glance. (And he was right, my fellow students were awful. I miss that class though, it was one of my favorites T_T Mr. Ryder was an awesome dude and super chill.)

Morgan is another good example. As you can see, I fucking love androids lol. Which brings me to another of my all time favorite movies: Cloud Atlas. I could literally watch this movie endlessly, I love it so much. The acting, the writing, the filming, all of it is top notch. And one thing they did in the movie that didn’t come across in the book, was reusing the same actors through the different eras in the book. That was just so neat, because it really encapsulates how connected these souls are, as we follow the threads of their story throughout time. If you haven’t seen the movie, I can’t recommend it enough.

Another one I always think of alongside Cloud Atlas, even though they aren’t related at all, is Predestination. It’s a great movie that explores the idea of fate and free will in a really clever way, utilizes time travel in a very organized way that I think was neat (think Umbrella Academy. They even use briefcases! As you can see, I love sci-fi bureaucracy, it’s fun. In fact The Bureau is another movie I enjoyed) and the main character is actually, explicitly trans, which was cool. You basically get to see the entire story of their life, and I don’t want to spoil anything, but it’s just. So good. Mindfuckery galore.

Shoot, and I almost forgot! Arrival! That is one of the best movies, and another one I could watch nonstop. It focuses on mathematics and linguistics and I swear to god, I almost altered my entire college course because of this movie. Amy Addams is brilliant, Jeremy Renner is so soft and nerdy, and again, it has an amazing take on time travel. I am very particular about how time is handled in Sci-fi, and this portrayal was one of my favorite. (Most of my physics studies have been dedicated to the theory of time, so like. Strong Opinions.)

Fantasy

Stardust! It wasn’t until Good Omens can out that I realized Neil Gaiman is responsible for most of the stories I loved as a kid lol, and I had no idea he wrote stardust! But that is such a beautiful movie (I have a Stardust AU lol) and it’s definitely one of my comfort movies. Captain Shakespeare is one of the best characters ever, bless Robert de Niro. I would die for him. Fun fact, i had no idea Ipswitch was a real place until like. 2019. I 100% thought it was made up for the movie 😂

Alongside Stardust, I’ve always loved The Golden Compass. It’s fantasy, but also with that old-timey steampunk science feel, which is so fun and surprisingly difficult to find!

Mortal Engines also has the same kind of feel, and it was such an epic movie in every sense of the word. I’m a little sad that after all the work that went into it, it didn’t get a dedicated following or fan base, because I feel there’s so much potential in it. But at the same time, fandom tends to gather around media that has plenty of flaws for us to repair with gold, and there wasn’t much room for that in Mortal Engines.

I’m going to put Jupiter Ascending here even though it technically fits with the sci-fi, because that section is long as fuck and also this movie has such a fantastic feel. Mila Kunis? beautiful. The CGI? beautiful. Eddy Redmayne? One of the best villain portrayals i’ve ever seen. The whole oedipal vibe he had was immaculate, as was their portrayal of reincarnation, and just. The world building. GOD. I get so weak for through world building. Also the fkn intergalactic bureaucracy when they’re basically at the space DMV? One of my all time favorite scenes in movie history.

Horror

I have very little room in my life for horror. As I said, I have strong movie opinions, especially when it comes to horror movies. I don’t like how most of them rely on cheap jump scares and overused gore and gratuitous rape scenes, instead of, y'know, actual good writing.

Which is EXACTLY why I adore It: Chapter 1 & 2. It has none of those things, but still manages to be so terrifying. They are my favorite horror movies, and I’m saying this as someone who has genuine childhood trauma bc of the novel. Like. I couldn’t shower/take baths alone until I was almost 10 T_T When I was 6-7 and saw kids play by storm drains, I would run over screaming about how Pennywise was going to get them. Like, I had issues man. I was terrified to see the first one, and wouldn’t go until I could go with my best friend after she had already seen it, so she could warn me when something scary was about to happen 😂

And, one of my favorite aspects of the movie, and the thing that gave me Mad Respect for Any Muschietti? The way he filmed Bev and her father. They have a character who is literally being molested, but they never once have to show it. And yet their interactions are still so viscerally upsetting to watch. Sexploitation puts me off of most horror, and the fact that Muschietti doesn’t use it here, even when it would be actually somewhat justified? *chef’s kiss*. I love him.

I love horror as a concept, I’m just really picky about it because I expect the writing to be good. I don’t like short cuts. But in a lot of cases, even if I don’t enjoy the movie itself, I love to watch analysis videos on youtube! I love to see the philosophy and symbolism in different horror movies, even if i don’t like to watch the movies themselves. It’s a fun hobby.

Misc.

Then in general, some other stuff I love in no particular order:

The Internship (Bless Dylan, Stuart is such a bitch and I love him)

American Assassin (ofc. The writing itself is eh, but Mitch is my man)

Dylan’s episode of Weird City. (I actually have a lot of feelings about this one. Jordan Peele is another amazing writer/director, I really need to catch up on his works.)

Dorian Gray (*chef’s kiss*)

Rogue One (Makes me cry every time)

WARCRAFT (Obviously this is a fav. It made me so happy, words cannot express.)

Coraline and most other stop motion animation. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for that.

Literally anything associated with Tim Burton. Fun fact, when I was 12 and in middle school, I planned to decorate my future house inspired by tim burton. Like, i had Plans.

Most adaptations of Alice in Wonderland!

So! this got long as fuck! But you said you like that kind of thing lol 😂 I had kinda Eh sleep since I was up so late lmao, and I kept waking up (as usual, rip). And I’m so mad I go up for nothing! The dude I was supposed to show my listing to never showed, and is refusing to answer my calls >_> It’s been 2 hours now, and I still haven’t heard from him. But whatever, I already have a full price cash offer on the house so who cares. And that means I can play WoW all day, now!

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samsexualdeancurious · 4 years ago

Text

Late Night Visit

Pairing: Sam x Reader

Words: 2,299

Summary: The reader gets an unexpected visit from her boyfriend and his brother.

Warnings: Hurt!Sam, brief description of injuries, this did not go the way I thought it would but I'm actually really happy with it.

Written for Susan for her November 2019 Angel request.

Betaed by @saxxxology

---

“I’m coming, keep your pants on,” you grumble as you hurry down the steps. “Who the hell bangs on someone’s door at midnight anyway?”

When you open the door, you get your answer.

“Oh my god,” you gasp, staring at the sight of your boyfriend being held up by his brother. “Sam!”

“He’s gonna be okay,” Dean assures you, more dragging than guiding Sam past you into the house. “I just need to patch him up and you were the closest.”

“In here.” You direct Dean to the kitchen, where he lowers Sam onto one of your dining chairs. You hover nervously close by, unsure of what to do. When Dean steps back and you see the blood on Sam’s shirt, your hands fly to your mouth. “Oh my god.”

“He’s gonna be okay,” Dean repeats, patting Sam’s cheek lightly to get him to perk up. “Right, Sammy? Gonna be just fine. Sit tight, okay? I gotta get the first aid kit from the car.”

“Right,” Sam mumbles, blinking sleepily around him until his eyes land on you. “Y/N?”

“Hey, baby,” you say, somehow managing to keep your voice calm as you drag another chair over to sit beside him. “Hi.”

He smiles, a little sleepy, and you don’t need medical experience to know he’s probably got a mild concussion. “There’s a nice view.”

Your cheeks warm at his words. Even injured and concussed, he’s still as charming as ever.

“Don’t worry,” he says, patting your cheek with his cleaner hand. “Dean’s gonna take care of me.”

“Damn right I am,” Dean responds as he reenters the kitchen, bag in hand. He sets it on the table and begins pulling out supplies. “Hope you’re not too attached to this shirt, little brother, cos it’s gonna have to come off.”

“Need new ones anyway,” Sam says with a small shrug that makes him wince.

Dean quickly unbuttons Sam’s flannel and eases it off his shoulders, taking care to not jostle his left one too much.

“Oh,” you breathe when Sam’s injuries, previously hidden by the folds of his flannel and the dark splotch of blood, become clear to you - four distinct claw marks across his ribs and sternum.

“Just need stitches,” Dean assures you as he pulls out scissors and begins deftly cutting away Sam’s undershirt. “How’s the shoulder feeling?”

“It’s fine.” Sam rolls it a little and winces. “Sore.”

“Dislocated,” Dean explains. “Grab me a bowl of water? And we’re gonna need some towels.”

You jump into action, eager to have something to do. You get the bowl first, filling it with lukewarm water so. hopefully, the temperature isn’t too shocking for Sam, and then fetch some raggedy towels from the upstairs hall closet.

“Put a couple of towels on Sam’s lap,” Dean instructs, pulling a clean rag from his bag and dunking it in the water. “I don’t want to make a huge mess of your floor.”

You nod as you spread two towels, folded in half, over Sam's thighs and bunch them a little around his waist. As soon as they're in place, Dean begins squeezing water over the wounds. The water, colored a ruddy pink with Sam's blood, runs down his abs to begin staining the towel.

"Oh no," Sam says, blinking down at the sight. "That's gonna be ruined."

"It's okay," you assure him, reclaiming your sit by his side and taking his hand. "They're old towels anyways."

He nods and then winces, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Stop moving," Dean grumbles, now carefully picking any remaining debris out with tweezers and a surprisingly steady hand. Once he's satisfied, he cleans the edges with an alcohol wipe.

"Stings," Sam mumbles.

Dean ignores his brother as he sets the wipe aside and tears open a little sterile package to reveal a needle, already threaded with a fine black thread you recognize. Sam's come home to you many times with bandages covering carefully stitched wounds, perfect black lines that always heal beautifully. It's now that you realize who exactly stitched those wounds.

"Gonna be fine," Sam promises. "Dean's good at th's part."

"I know," you respond, meeting Dean's mildly stunned expression with a watery smile. "I've seen his handiwork before, remember?"

"Oh, yeah." You scoot your chair closer and Sam leans against you with a happy sound. "'S nice havin' you here - ow."

Dean shrugs, drawing the thread through and continuing his stitches. “Sorry. Gotta get a move on.”

“That hurt,” Sam whines.

“You’ll live.”

Dean works quickly, deft hands flying. You have to tear your eyes away, the sight of black thread pulling the edges of the wound together a little too much for you. You focus on keeping Sam’s focus, speaking softly to him and smiling at his slightly slurred responses. It feels like no time and yet too much time passes before Dean snips the final thread and sits back.

“Good as new,” he declares, wiping the wounds clean with the clean end of the damp rag and digging a roll of gauze from the bag. You catch a glimpse of the stitches before he covers them - neat little black lines, perfectly spaced - and something inside you relaxes. Dean knows what he’s doing. Sam’s going to be fine.

Dean tapes the gauze down and sits back. “How’s the head?” he asks, wiping his hands clean with a new rag.

“Hurts,” Sam replies.

“Yeah, probably does. Want some ice?”

Sam gives a tiny shake of his head, wincing as he does. “No. Just Tylenol and sleep.”

Dean’s already pulling a little red and white bottle from the bag. You jump up to grab a glass from the cupboard, filling it from the spout in the fridge door, and then help Sam take the two pills Dean shakes into your palm.

“Bedtime?” you suggest.

“Yes, please,” he answers, smiling up at you.

You press a kiss to his hair and then make a face. “Maybe a shower first?”

Sam hums. “That sounds nice.”

“We’ve got some waterproof bandages,” Dean offers, already digging through the bag for the items in question. “Lemme put these on real quick.”

Sam holds still while Dean applies the clear cover, carefully smoothing down the edges so no water will get in.

“There ya go.” Dean straightens up with a nod. “Need help getting to the shower?”

“Probably,” you admit.

Thankfully your house is single-story so there’s no need to try and navigate Sam up a set of stairs. Dean helps you get him down the hall to the bathroom. You had your shower built with a bench opposite the showerhead just because you like the convenience - not to mention how much easier it makes shower sex. You’re especially glad for it now, though, because Sam has somewhere to sit.

Dean steps back. “I’ll clean up the kitchen,” he says. “And then get a room for the night.”

You’re already shaking your head. “You don’t have to do that. The couch is a pullout. Sam, will you be okay for a minute while I show Dean the sheets and get an extra towel?”

“Yup,” Sam says, leaning back against the shower wall and toeing off his shoes.

You lead Dean to the hall closet to get him some bedding and one of the extra pillows from the top shelf. Once he’s on his way, carrying more than enough blankets to stay warm, you snag a clean towel and return to the bathroom.

Sam’s exactly where you left him, except now he’s naked. He’s kicked all his clothes - boxers, jeans, socks, and shoes - out of the shower. You pause to set his boots where they won’t get in the way and to dump everything else into the hamper for later before turning your attention to your boyfriend.

“Shower time,” you announce, pointing the showerhead straight down while the water warms up. You quickly shed your own clothes, dropping them in the hamper as well. By the time you’re naked, the water has reached an ideal temperature. You redirect the showerhead to spray at an angle across the stall. Sam hums when it reaches him, stretching his legs out.

“Feel good?” you ask, stepping under the water.

“Uh-huh.”

You get to work washing him, grateful for the detachable showerhead when you realize there’s no way you can hold him up and wash his hair. Sam’s more than content to just sit there, eyes closed as you clean him up. Then you dry him and guide him to the bedroom, where you fetch a pair of clean boxers from the dresser. Thankfully he’s bought things to leave at your place for when he spends the night.

Sam’s asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow. You dress in your own pajamas and then stand there a moment, just looking at your sleeping lover, and that’s when the reality of the situation sets in.

“Oh my god,” you whisper, one hand coming up to cover your mouth as you take a step back.

You know what Sam does - you’ve known from the beginning. Your mother runs a shop that caters to hunters who know the right questions to ask. Despite that knowledge, tonight is the first night you’ve seen the aftermath of Sam’s job - the gory, gritty part that happens before Dean patches him up - and that knowledge is like a weight on your chest.

You decide to head down to the kitchen again, hoping a cup of tea will ease your racing mind and heart. When you pass through the living room, though, you’re surprised to find Dean sitting upright on the edge of the pullout bed. He’s cleaned up, changed into blue pajama pants and a loose grey t-shirt, and he looks exhausted in the light of the lamp in the corner.

“Dean,” you say softly, determined to be a good hostess even if you really want to cry - or throw up, you can’t decide which. “Is everything alright?”

He startles, head jerking up, and then relaxes. “Yeah,” he answers, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Everything’s fine. Why are you still up? Figured you’d be with Sam.”

You shrug, looking back toward the bedroom. “I’m just… I don’t know.”

“It never gets easier.”

Your head snaps around. “How’d you know…?”

“I know that look.” Dean pats the bed beside him. “Worn it myself more times than I could ever count.”

You tentatively sit. It feels a little weird, sitting on your pullout couch in your dimly lit living room with your boyfriend’s older brother, who you hardly know, but you’re coming to realize that Dean is the only person who, at this moment, might have even an inkling of what you’re feeling.

“Tonight…” Dean pauses, sighs, and then tries again. “Tonight was your first time seeing him like that, huh?”

“Yeah,” you murmur, staring down at your hands in your lap.

“My first time was when he was sixteen,” Dean continues. “It wasn’t even that bad - he got pushed down a flight of stairs by a ghost. Minor cuts and bruises but he broke his ankle and I had to carry him out of there. Thankfully, he didn’t reach giant status until a year later and I could still carry him.”

You can’t help a small smile at that.

“Dad was furious, of course.” Dean picks at a stray thread on the knee of his pants. “It’s my job, ya know? Looking out for my pain-in-the-ass little brother.”

“Yeah,” you whisper. “I know.”

“It’s scary and that’s never going to change.” He looks over at you, green eyes soft. “Not as long as you love him and maybe even when you stop loving him.”

“I’m not planning on stopping any time soon.”

Dean smiles. “Figured that out the first time I saw you two together. Never thought Sam would find someone after Jess but you?” He nudges your arm with his elbow. “I like you. You’re good for him - someone normal, stable, who knows what he does and doesn’t try to stop him.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t want to,” you admit. “Especially after tonight.”

“Tonight was rough,” Dean agrees. “But we got through it, we’ll learn from it, we’ll do better next time. That’s how it is. I’m just glad Sam’s okay and that seeing all of this hasn’t changed your mind.”

You shake your head. “Not one bit. I do still want a cup of tea, though. Would you like one?”

“Nah. I’m not really a tea guy.”

“Suit yourself. See you in the morning, Dean.”

He gives a little wave as you resume your journey to the kitchen again.

You fill the kettle with water and let it boil, careful to catch it before it starts whistling and waking the whole neighborhood. Once your tea is ready, you sit at the bar and drink it, letting your thoughts settle before you head back to your room. Dean’s turned the light off and the living room is dark when you tip-toe past.

Sam is sleeping soundly, covers pulled up to his nose, and you smile at the sight of him - a little battered but safe and warm in your bed. You flick the light off and round the bed to crawl under the covers on your side. You’d planned to snuggle against his back but even sleeping Sam senses your presence and rolls to face you. You’re more than happy to worm your way into his arms, pressing your nose to the soft skin of his collarbone and inhaling what your brain will always recognize as Sam, no matter how long it’s been.

The gauze covering Sam’s wounds brushes against your arm, a stark reminder of just how bad tonight really could have gone, but you don’t allow yourself to linger on that thought. Sam’s here and that’s all that matters.

---

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hippychick006 · 5 years ago

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15.13: Destiny’s Child - Episode Review/Recap

[Image of episode missing, because out of 15 photos of the promo, only 1 photo was of Sam and Dean and it wasn’t that good. Other 14 photos were a combination of Ruby, Jo, Castiel and Jack - I shit you not]

I think this episode highlights beautifully many of the issues I and I know a lot of other people are having with the show.

The highlights of the episode are undoubtedly the scenes where AU Sam and Dean interact with our Sam and Dean. This is why I make a big deal of how much they are being paid per episode. Look at what happens when you write for the people earning the quarter of a million dollars in the episode. Look what happens when you have it just be them, with no “fan favourite” side characters to pander to. Chemistry happens, and watering that down or separating it entirely, adding someone into it or trying to force it between characters who just don’t have it, is one of the shows biggest issues in recent seasons and largest contributor to people not watching live or choosing not to watch at all because without that chemistry that made the show special, what are you left with?

Drabbernatural my friends, that’s what you’re left with.

The lowlights of the episode are all the scenes that have been written to pander to a small percentage of the watching audience, so pretty much the rest of the episode in all honesty.

Under a cut because some people are in denial.

THEN

Flashback to Castiel watching porn about a pizza man. All that’s in my head from this is Meg! I think we’re getting Meg (let’s be real, I know we’re getting Meg as it’s already been on my dash, but I would have still thought this regardless of spoilers). There it is, there’s the canon Megstiel kiss 😍. I’m amazed Dabb managed to keep his big mouth shut on this spoiler. Anyway, skip this in the entirety to move onto...

NOW

Loved, loved, loved this opening scene. 🥰. Loved everything about it from start to finish. No complaints whatsoever.

We start with Sam and Dean. Just Sam and Dean like the good old days 😍. I can’t believe how happy that makes me and they haven’t done anything yet.

Sam’s going through the books, Dean’s on the laptop, barely any space between them and they appear to be trying to find where Chuck is. They seem to be having no luck.

Sam: Any sign of him? Dean: Nah, nothing yet. Chucks probably trashing a few dozen universes outside of CNN’s range.

They hear a noise and rush to investigate. They see a bright light filtering through the bottom of the door of one the rooms. As they look at it, the light (as well as the noise) disappears. Instantly in hunter mode, Dean indicates for Sam to open the door and they see…

A tiny car that I thought was a mini but have been reliably informed by someone much more knowledgeable than me (which isn’t too difficult tbh) is a Fiat 500. Thank you @alexa-alcantara. It’s a cute little car, and a beautiful colour but my own experience of owning a Fiat is not a good memory. My garage telling me they call them the “Fix It Again Tony” of cars did not help me look any more favourably at them, but on the plus side, I built up a good relationship with my garage from the many hours I spent there. The car is in front of a portal so it’s clear it’s just come through from one of the other worlds.

Emerging from that cute little car is 12’ 6” of muscle in the form of AU Winchesters. The car practically groans in relief (I do see it lift up slightly) as they get out to the tune of “I want you” by Savage Garden.” Thank you once again Shazam as I’m as shit on music as I am at identifying cars.

Did I say I love this scene? I just…love this entire scene. AU Dean’s in the driving seat (of course), We see AU Sam’s foot emerge and he has no socks on – which I’m wondering is a shoutout to that photo shoot they had with no socks. Possibly it’s the fashion right now which I know even less about than cars or music. The entire scene, it’s just… perfection. It’s just so well shot, I love that AU Sam and Dean could not be more different from our Sam and Dean from their clothes to the hair. I’ve fallen in love with both these new characters within a 10 second timeframe and they haven’t even spoken yet! That is the genius of Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles on screen, together, without extras, supported by the entire crew from special effects through to wardrobe. They can all bring their A game which makes it all the more disappointing in the scenes and episodes where they don’t bother.

AU Dean looks back at the portal they came through.

AU SAM: Bro…We did it

AU Sam and Dean fist bump at their success and I’m in danger of losing it. 😂 Side note to size kinkers; that is not Jared and Jensen’s hands there 😂. Hey, no judging from this blog, but I personally don’t consider Jared “huge” and Jensen “tiny”, but you do you.

AU Sam and Dean are too flushed with their own success of getting through the portal to notice our Sam and Dean yet. Meanwhile, our Sam and Dean are looking at the new arrivals with increasing horror.

AU Dean finally notices our Dean and we get the “Sam” “Dean” “Dean” “Sam” exchange between the four of them.

AU Sam and Dean: What the heck? Our Sam and Dean: What the hell?

Somewhere, I’m hoping that there’s an AU world where they say, “What the fuck?” because I think that would really please Jared.

Each look horrified at the other – I think AU!Sam may be on the point of tears seeing his doppelgänger dressed in plaid.

The portal starts making a loud ominous noise, AU Dean says “aw nuts” and AU Sam and Dean look at each other before the portal goes haywire, exploding in a bright white light, causing our versions to shield their eyes. When they look back up, AU Winchesters, the car and the portal have all disappeared and the room is back to normal.

What the Heck? You bring them back right now show! Don’t be bringing in waste of space or “fan favourite” characters when all I want is these two.

Sadly, the show does not listen, and we’re forced against our will onto the next scene.

Sam and Dean are explaining to waste of space that a rift opened in the armoury (is that right? I didn’t see any weapons in that room, but it sounded like he said armoury). Sam says two guys stepped out that looked just like them. Dean: except not, and don’t even get me started about the car. Waste of space does not understand which is his standard operating procedure since his first episode tbh. I’m not sure if this is still supposed to be funny; it’s been 11 years since season 4. 😴.

Dean says welcome to the club.

What? The dumbass club? Sam and Dean are such dumbasses that they need Billie to suddenly appear to confirm they’ve met an AU version of themselves running from their reality. Seriously? 😡. They know other worlds are being destroyed, they rescued Kaia from one in the process of being destroyed and that was only last week! They don’t think that other Sam and Deans in other universes are going to be figuring out what’s happening and trying to do something to stop it? It doesn’t make sense. Sam and Dean do reckless things, but they aren’t dumb. 😡

As an aside, what I loved about the AU Sam and Dean we just met, is that they didn’t try to save their world, they were only interested in saving their own pretty asses by trying to jump worlds and I love how different they are from our Sam and Dean who would, and have, sacrificed themselves in a heartbeat to save their world.

I used to like Billie but all the monologuing over the last couple of episodes is 😴 which is not the actresses fault, but there are also some issues with delivery of the lines (because it’s boring). Key point from this entire boring scene is:

Billie: He’s almost done, wrapping up all those other worlds and when he is…Sam: it’s our turn

Billie agrees and says they need to be prepared. She has the next step… for Jack.

Jack appears on cue, eating a sandwich. He says he’s ready and feeling good about it. I’m feeling I’m missing a scene somewhere. Did he already have a chat with Billie, so he knows what she’s about to say? I’m not sure but don’t care enough to spend any time on it.

Billy monologues that the first quest (eating the hearts) was to strengthen Jack’s body. Step 2 is more spiritual in nature.

Waste of space: can you be more specific? Me: you’re that asshole that asks questions during presentations, aren’t you? Give her a chance to monologue ffs. She was just about to tell us before your unnecessary interruption. I don’t even have a clue what your contribution to this scene is, other than pre-emptory meltdown avoidance of 200 accounts on twitter. Death: Jack needs to find the occultum Sam: the occultum? Occultum, that’s Latin for… hidden. Where do we find it? Me: you’re so smart 😍 Death (sarcastic): I don’t know… It’s hidden

Ah yes, a side character making the Winchesters look stupid never gets old. 🙄

Anyway, more boring monologuing later, it’s been hidden for centuries, it’s sacred and potent. It’s not a weapon per se but it’s powerful.

Dean(sarcastically): Okay, thanks, big help.

She asks Jack if he’s ready and he says he is. She says that’s good, that they have to be ready and vigilant and not stupid (looks at the Winchesters). Dean’s eyeroll matches mine almost exactly. Sick, fed up of the Winchesters being called stupid by side characters. Oh, I said that already. Well I am!

Avoiding this scene in future and moving on.

Sam and Dean are researching the occultum. Or at least Sam’s researching and ranting about the occultum, but Deans playing with an elastic band and barely listening. Sam gets his attention and asks what he’s doing. Dean’s thinking about things and how if Jack kills god, that still leaves “you know who”. Sam says: Amara. Dean thinks that if Jack kills god, he’ll have to kill her too, because if you take Chuck off the board, that throws things out of balance and the world ends. If there’s no God or Darkness, nothing is out of balance.

Sam: Okay, Yeah, but who takes over, Jack?

Dean contemplates that and is about to answer when Jack walks in, blowing a bubblegum bubble and announcing he just learned how to do that.

Dean turns back to Sam: Probably not

I love little scenes like this, zero pandering, just classic Supernatural and classic Dean. 😍

Overall, it was another good brother scene (taking aside the boring plot which we can’t do anything about).

Parents Sam and Dean speak to Jack about how he’s going to take down Chuck because Billie hasn’t been clear on the plan.

Dean: Yeah, when you go up against Chuck, you’re gonna what? (makes boxing moves), duck and weave, or just go in for the full smite? 😂

My Dean is back with the one liners in this episode and I love him.

Jack: Yeah, you know, something like that

Dean’s face. 😂

Unsurprisingly Sam and Dean are not reassured, they’re about to ask more questions when waste of space walks in and good news guys! Unbelievably, He has information from fellow waste of space/plot device Sergei (does waste of space only have one contact?). The show aren’t even trying anymore with this shit. Istg. 🙄 Ah what would we do without waste of space? Definitely have a much more decent episode if I’m going to be perfectly honest.

Anyway, when waste of space announces who he has information from:

Dean: Him? Are we that desperate? 😂

Of course, Sergei knows about the occultum 🙄. He would have been extremely useful to have had around in the early seasons. Each episode would have been tied up in 30 seconds with one phonecall to the font of all knowledge. I hate characters like this and the laziness of the writing to continue to fallback on him.

Supernatural writer: Hey boss, I’m stuck a little on the occultum storyline Dabb: Have you tried using waste of space and Sergei? Supernatural writer: I didn’t think of that! Great idea, thanks! I guess that’s why you’re the boss! Me: 🙄 you lazy 🤬

Waste of space monologues about the occultum and what happened to it, he starts off that its divine in origin and was housed in a temple for hundreds of years before…

Dean: it was plundered by pirates! Waste of space: No Dean: it was dug up by tomb raiders! Waste of space: No Dean: it was seized by the king of the dead and his war lords. Am I close? Waste of space: looted by invading mongol hoardes for trade on the black market Dean: on the black market (looks at Sam) That’s what I thought. I was going to say that next, that was the next one.

Sam indulges his hunter husband. Oh wait, this is our Sam and Dean, not the AU version. Rewinds to check. No, Sam is indulging his hunter husband. He asks waste of space where it is now.

Long explanation later, the object was given to a faith healer in return for saving the owners life.

Faith healer? How convenient. Now, who do we know that’s a faith healer? 🙄

Waste of space doesn’t have a name – are you kidding me? He must have had a name to go to the faith healer. He at least has a description. She was attractive 🙄 and had glowing hands while healing.

It’s your wife, Jensen! Erm I mean, Sister Jo.

Imagine that entire scene with waste of space and Sergei plot device removed, Sam found the information from research and that entire conversation was between him and Dean. Infinitely better and rewatchable.

Sam and Dean go off to visit Jensen’s wife Sister Jo who at this point of the show’s run has somehow been cast in 4 previous episodes and every single appearance has been completely forgettable. This one is no different.

I’m going to rant for a second. This stunt casting, bringing back of “fan favourites”, nepotism, lazy writing crap is really dragging the quality of the show down. We’ve had so many shit, boring, waste of time episodes this season. You could have replaced a couple of them with the Winchesters trying to track down this elusive but needed item. Make it hard for them, get rid of Sergei and Jensen’s wife Sister Jo and make the finding of this artefact interesting and more believable by introducing new characters for them to interact with. This is just… really bleh.

Anyway, Sam and Dean go to see one of the most boring characters ever created, and that includes waste of space who was badass in season 4-5, a dick yes, but a badass none the less so he gets a pass. This is not a good scene, it’s worth fast forwarding and forgetting it ever existed, not least because of bad dialogue and questionable acting. I am really, really not a wife hater, but neither will I give someone a free pass because of who they are married to. You come on the show, you get judged on your own merits, same as any other guest actor. Long story short, they want the thingamajig I’ve forgotten the name of because I had a 6 hour watching break to work up to watching this scene and that was not nearly long enough. Jo doesn’t want to give it to them, and Sam and Dean pull angel blades on her. She says she didn’t have it, Ruby does.

Where’s that gif. Where the fuck is that gif? Oh, found it…

This next scene, I just 😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬. Okay, I can do this, woman’s up and presses play, weeping for what once was the entire time I’m watching.

We get a pointless scene which as predicted, is nothing less than a gimmick, written only to have “the wives” on the show in the same episode and in the same scene. I think this is the angriest I’ve ever been watching a show and we haven’t reached the point in the episode where Sam is reduced to a doorstopper. Oh yes, that gem has still to come. 🤬😡🤬!!!

Somehow, even though Ruby is terrified of angels and Jo wasn’t on earth at the same time as Ruby, they somehow not only met, but worked together. Jo says the vessel suits Ruby better than the blond. Not in this household missy. We stan the infinitely better Katie Cassidy (fine there might have been a childhood crush on watching reruns of her father that sways the debate in her favour slightly but that’s neither here nor there!).

Okay, no sorry. I thought I could take one for the team, but I can’t. This entire scene would not ever have been made if the show was in the hands of a competent showrunner. It’s just complete nonsense with absolutely no attempt by the writer to respect the audience or canon and not worth even documenting what happens as it’s all a crock of 💩. Do yourselves a favour and ignore it. All you need to know is Ruby has the thingamajig they need. It was stashed somewhere in hell.

Back at the bunker, Jack has take out, lots and lots of take out; pizza (no pineapple), fried chicken, hot dogs, nachos, Chinese food… Waste of space joins him. They talk about Jack not having a soul. Jack says he understands why Sam and Dean were angered by what happened to Mary

Castiel: by what you did to Mary

He gets a pass for this line (and his name back briefly) because it needed to be said so he wasn’t a waste of space for once.

Jack sees things have changed, especially with Dean.

I see a bit of chatter on this one. I don’t understand the chatter. Sam forgives people, this goes way back that he’s able to forgive people and not hold a grudge. He’s had a darkness inside him his entire life, he’s had to fight against his nature to be who he is, so of course he’s going to be more forgiving, more understanding of someone he sees as being similar to him. Add to the fact that Sam did not build a strong relationship with Mary - he’s sad she’s gone - but I think he’s more accepting of it than Dean. All of this has been shown in episodes, so when Jack asks, “Will he ever forgive me?” He’s not asking about Sam because he knows through Sam’s words and actions that Sam has forgiven him, but he knows Dean hasn’t. I don’t have an issue with this, and you know I’m a bitter Sam fan, I’ll reserve my anger for later in the episode.

So, for me, waste of space only talks about Dean for the same reason (and shockingly not because he’s gay for the human). He says, “Dean, he feels things more acutely than any human I’ve ever known, so it’s possible he can work through this. One day he may explode, let it all out and breath deeply and move on.”

Jack asks how long that will take. waste of space says he doesn’t know.

I understand the point of the scene, it’s not the worst. I’d prefer if my boys were saving people, hunting things obviously, but this was an okay scene. I do like Alex and what he brings to the table – though don’t like when too much focus is put on him or Sam’s relationship with him is sidelined.

Sam and Dean return to the bunker. Dean asks if Sam’s sure they can swing this again. Sam says they still have Rowena’s notes from the spell. Dean: Okay, Samwitch, lets do this.” I love how Dean hates witches, he was still wary of Rowena though could see her uses, but the minute Sam is a witch, Dean’s all aboard the witch train. 😂

Waste of space appears, Dean tells him that they sorta know where the occultum is. Waste of space looks worried and they know something is wrong. They follow him through the bunker to one of the rooms. Their AU selves are projected on the wall. I just… Why was the entire episode not their doppelgängers? I love them. AU Dean screams (but we can’t hear him). AU Sam seems far more relaxed about the situation. They can’t see or hear our Sam or Dean. Sam asks waste of space where they are.

Waste of space thinks the blast trapped them between dimensions as the rift and their world was destroyed. AU Dean tapping on the wall, and trying to get a cell phone signal, I just can’t… 😂

Dean: Are they in pain? Waste of space doesn’t think so. Dean says “Good” goes to leave. Sam tries to stop him. Dean says they’ll deal with them, but first they have to go to hell. Waste of space: woah, you do?

Sam explains that’s where Jo said Ruby stashed the occultum

Waste of space: Ruby? The demon you were sexually intimate with? Dean: Sexually intimate? Sam (strongly): Yes!

I’ve seen a lot of chatter on this one as well. Some claiming that Dean is questioning the choice of wording by waste of space. I don’t see that. I see this as another fail, that they are somehow trying to claim Dean doesn’t know Sam and Ruby had a sexual relationship, even though Sam went into it in explicit detail in “I know what you did last summer”, to the point Dean asked him to stop. If they were going for the choice of wording, they failed in both facial expressions and dialogue.

They have a discussion, not worth repeating, too much focus on waste of space. Upshot is Sam and Dean are going to Hell.

Sam and Dean arrive on the Charmed set in Hell. I’m expecting them to meet Julian McMahon striding down the corridor. They meet a demon who informs them that Rowena is hosting a reception for newly condemned souls. The demon doesn’t seem happy about that. He starts taking them to Rowena. This is a pretty pointless scene tbh.

Back in the bunker, waste of space says to Jack that he doesn’t trust Jo’s story, he wants to speak to Ruby who apparently is in the empty. I’m losing it with where entities end up these days. I’m guessing if demons are exorcised, like Meg was, then they go back to Hell. If they are killed permanently, like Alastair was by Sam, they end up in the Empty? I guess it makes sense.

Anyway, waste of space needs Jack’s assistance to get to the empty. He needs Jack to kill him…

Damn, false alarm, it’s only an “almost kill”. Yeah, I would probably be too thorough. Okay Jack, carry on, you’re up.

I don’t understand how he’ll be able to do anything in the empty, won’t he be kept in a state of nothing?

Jack reminds waste of space that the empty doesn’t like him. Waste of space says he’s far from happy so he should be okay.

Jack: Cass, I, I may not have a soul, but I know killing you is wrong, what if I screw up? Waste of space: well then, I’ll be lost forever… but I think you’ll do fine.

Jack has to draw out most of waste of space’s life force into a flask, and keep an eye on him so he doesn’t die for real. He also has to tend the spell to ensure Sam and Dean are not lost in Hell forever either (but to me it seems really easy to get in and out of, not like the early days so don’t see them being stuck there as a problem). Remember back in season 2 when hell was this...

Sam: Hell is like, um ... (punches Dean)... well, it's like hell, even for demons. (punches Dean again)... It's a prison, made of bone and flesh and blood and fear.

Good times. Now we have Barbie!Hell and anyone can just walk in and it isn’t scary. But yeah, tell me again that I should stop being critical and the show hasn’t deteriorated beyond all recognition

Sam and Dean follow the lackey they met in Hell to where Rowena is hosting a meet and greet for the new arrivals to Hell. Or at least that’s where they were supposed to be taken, turns out it’s a trap. Of course, it is, because dumchesters 🙄, but at least we get a decent fight out of it as they are set upon by three demons carrying angel blades. Dean kills two, Sam holds the third hostage so they can find out who betrayed them. Unsurprisingly it was Jo 🙄 Sam then kills the demon (after Dean gives a nod to do so).

Dean: that bitch set us up!

We switch to sister Jo and see her packing up and leaving, so she must know her plan failed, and Sam and Dean will soon be after her.

We’re now in The Empty with waste of space and for sure as shit, this scene changing whiplash, disregard of canon, lack of continuity between other episodes, focus on side characters has to mean this is a suck-lemons episode. He’s shouting for Ruby. He doesn’t get her, we hear, “Hello Clarence”

Waste of space spins around and it’s Meg! He’s so happy to see her and disappointed that it’s the empty. No offence to Rachel, love her, she does great in the episode and Megstiel will always be canon, but just not interested in any of this.

Next scene is waste of space and Ruby. Fast forwarding other than to say no sweetie, Sam didn’t kill you, but I don’t blame you, I blame the writers who are too lazy to do any research. Sam should have killed you, but it was Dean that did it.

Another scene between Ruby and Jo, as forgettable as the first. Lucifer and Michael weren’t circling their vessels when you were still breathing you morons. Lucifer hadn’t yet been released, but what is canon on this show when you can blast it aside and have the wives in a scene together and isn’t it wonderful? Eh, I’m gonna say hard no on that one.

Another scene between Ruby and waste of space. In true Ruby style, she’ll help him if he gets her out of the empty. Oh, and the occultum is a place, not a thing, that’s all we need to know.

Fast forwarding all of this as it’s pandering trite, not worthy of my time, besides the dumbchesters are back from Hell and I think Jack might be in trouble with them.

Jack (guilty): Guys… you’re back Dean (looking between Jack and waste of space’s body): Jack? What the hell?

Severe whiplash alert! We’re back with Ruby and waste of space. Ruby monologues that the Empty is a place where all you do is dream about your regrets over and over for eternity. Well then, just as well I have no regrets in life, other than watching seasons 12-14 of Supernatural. Wait, imagine that on repeat for eternity. NOOOOOOOOOOO!

Waste of space says he knows. In fairness to waste of space, at least he will have a vast range of playbacks on the amount of regrets he should have over the years, so he won’t get bored anytime soon.

Whiplash alert! We’ve left the corned beef actors and are back with the porterhouse steak. They advance on Jack.

Jack: He’s dead, kind of… for now Sam: What?!

Whiplash! Get me back to the porterhouse damn it! Waste of space agrees to try to get Ruby out, she whispers in waste of space’s ear, “the occultum, it’s…”

Whiplash! I’m suing at this point in the episode tbh.

Jack: Cass went to the empty, hopefully to find Ruby, hopefully to find out where this occultum thing is located, hopefully (puppy eyes)

Whiplash! Ruby steps away and disappears. Waste of space’s face is interesting, and I’m intrigued where it is.

Whiplash!

Sam and Dean’s faces. 😂

Sam: that’s way too many hopefullys! Dean: Bring him back, now!

Okay Hellers, here’s a test. If Sam had said that line, would you have interpreted it as Sam speaking as a parent or Sam concerned about waste of space because he’s secretly in love with him? Dean is obviously concerned, but he’s speaking to Jack as a parent.

Jack opens the flask to release waste of space’s grace. But The Empty (still in Meg’s form) is reluctant to let him go. Turns out as she’s torturing waste of space that The Empty has a deal with Death, she helps Death and she can go back to sleep when Death’s plan works. We alternate between waste of space being tortured and Jack trying to revive him.

Dean: come on, wake up pal. Dean: Come on Cass, come on Dean: Cass!

Pandering!

Waste of space wakes up. The Empty says, “see you soon”

I hope she does because yes, I love watching a show where my leads are made out to be dumbasses and the waste of space that should have been killed off years ago is the hero. I’m losing count of how many episodes that’s happened this season. Sick of it. 🤬

Waste of space (looks at Dean): you made it back Dean: Yeah, and so did you! You’re an idiot by the way! Sam chimes in: What if this hadn’t worked?

Waste of space says it did [work]. The occultum was never in Hell. The occultum is the safest place in the world. Jo was never going to give that up. Waste of space knows where it is and asks, “Am I still an idiot?”

I’m actually so angry right now. Who does this? What shitty writer makes their lead cast look like idiots in order to big up a side character. What does he have on someone because I’m at a loss for any other logical explanation at this point for them willingly ruining the show.

Anyway, Dean says “well yeah”. Me: hell to the fuck yeah, you’re still an idiot and I hate you even more after this episode than I did before.

Sam wants to go to the place.

Jack reminds them if Chuck checks in on them and sees what they’re doing, they’ll lose.

Dean’s plan involves using their doppelgängers to pretend to be them. They’ll open up a rift and he thinks waste of space’s grace will be enough to pull them through. Sam thinks it might also blast them to another world.

AU Sam and Dean are playing rock, paper, scissors. AU Sam throws scissors and wins. AU Dean’s reaction. 😂

Sam mixes up the spell for the portal and they place it at the wall where AU Sam and Dean are trapped. Bright light later and…

… it obviously works because AU Sam and AU Dean are now sitting at the map table with a beer in front of each of them. Our Sam and Dean are currently standing. And I cannot do any justice to this scene. It is perfect from start to finish. Go watch the genius of Jared and Jensen at play with no one else cluttering up the scene.

Upshot of this scene is that AU John is (or was) alive, they got separated coming through the portal. He spoils them, (Dean: he spoils you?!) John has set up a very successful business called Huntercorp. They get paid (Dean: you get paid?!) for hunting monsters all over the world and have a private jet. I would ask what they’re doing driving around in a Fiat 500 instead of a luxury car, but I’m having too much fun, so it gets a free pass and I won’t nitpick. Let’s headcanon it’s all they could get a hold of to get through the rift and leave it at that. They keep toasting their beers to their dad, “the best guy ever” but they don’t seem too cut up that he and their world have gone splody. I love these versions, they seem to be fine they made it through and they have each other. I’d like to see one without the other as I think they’d give our brothers a run for their money in the codependency stakes.

AU Sam’s pinkie is raised while he drinks, and I can’t with the silent genius that is Jared Padalecki when he inhabits a character.

Our Sam and Dean during all of this. 😂.

Dean explains to the AU’s that they need them to pose as them for a while. In order to do that, Sam tells his AU self he has to lose the man bun. AU Sam’s reaction 😂. He is not happy. AU Dean closes his eyes and sits back, putting a hand over his mouth. I thought at first he wasn’t happy at our Sam, but no, the reaction is because he knows how his Sam reacts about his hair (*whispers* I suspect AU Dean has suggested many times that AU Sam let his hair down… for reasons and AU Sam has refused, so its an old argument). Sure enough, AU Sam says he will not. Our boys ignore that and also tactfully suggest they will need to change their clothes.

Next, we see the impala at night, driving towards a church. All TFW 2.0 are in the car. 🙄

They walk up to the church doors and Jack says he knows he hasn’t been doing this as long as them, but doesn’t it seem too easy.

They agree and at that moment hear a growling.

Jack: is that a bear?

Dean starts trying to get the church doors open by picking the lock

Sam: No, it’s more like uh… Waste of space: hellhounds Sam (as the hellhounds are approaching): Dean… Dean, you wanna hurry a little bit?

Dean gets the door open and they all get inside just in time. Sam and Dean get the door closed and Dean asks Sam if he’s got it. I’ve seen a lot of chatter on this one. This scene alone highlights one of the many, many things wrong with the show and why it’s no longer enjoyable. I think they were trying for ha ha comedy. Sam trying to keep the door closed while they are all standing around like idiots, but it isn’t funny and reduces Sam down to muscle rather than what he actually brings to the show, and both waste of space and Jack are stronger.

Waste of space should have been holding the door (or not been there at all, which is preferable) and the scene should have been Sam, Dean and Jack. No excuses for why it wasn’t done this way (other than pandering). A line of pandering is annoying but acceptable, sidelining Jared to cater an entire scene to them is completely unncceptable. You’ve pissed off the Jared/Sam fans which are many more than Misha/Castiel (despite what they try to tell themselves), and you’ve pissed off the brother fans which are the majority of the audience.

Waste of space says the top of the cross points the way and they all look up at the cross high on the church wall.

As a side note, the Hellers are so cute, counting Sam and Dean standing in a church with their “son” as their wedding. Refrains from slapping 8.23 down in front of them where Dean actually said some vows along the lines of “don’t you ever dare think there is anything past or present that I would put in front of you!” 😍

Sam (being paid $250k for this): Guys! Can you maybe move it along?

That’s not the cross they are looking for, because at that point, clouds miraculously clear outside, allowing moonlight to shine through a window and highlights an area on the church floor. I mean I like that x marks the spot but I’m not sure about time of day/year and position in the sky etc. to know if this is realistic, like will it still be the exact same spot at 6pm in December as it is midnight in summer?

Jack points it out to them and Dean bends down to open the floorboard.

Sam: Guys, I can’t hold them forever!

Dean lifts the floorboard which contains a velvet bag. He opens the bag and pulls out a golden snitch. He hands it to waste of space and asks if it’s a map. Jack suggests it might be a key. Waste of space reads the enochian passage on the golden snitch (which if he hadn’t been written into this scene, Sam could have done that).

Golden Snitch: in order to be in the occultum, the occultum must be in you. Me (immediately): swallow it!

There’s a reason Sam’s holding the doors closed as he’d have got that within a second. The others are just looking around dumbly. 🙄

Back with AU Winchesters and AU Sam, wearing plaid, man bun still in place, is watching “powderpuff princess and friends” channel on the laptop, which seems to be about kittens. 😂 AU Dean appears carrying two beers

Au!Dean: they said lose the man bun, Samuel (love that he goes by Samuel) Me: Wow, AU Dean really wants Sam to let his hair down…for reasons AU Sam: look, hillbilly clothes are bad enough, I have to draw the line somewhere and my hair… is sacred (Jared added this 😂)

AU!Dean rolls his eyes, denied once again.

AU Sam asks what they do now. AU Dean says, drink beer and sit in front of a computer screen

AU Sam: that’s their lives? He’s still drinking the beer with the pinkie out. 😂. Chuck would know straight away this wasn’t Sam and Dean. Sam’s face drinking the beer. 😂 He’s high maintenance for sure. AU Dean is much less fussy and I think would adapt quite well to the new world.

AU!Dean has found our Dean’s bustyasianbeauty.com internet history. 😂

AU Sam: Can you imagine if dad caught us with that kind of stuff? Goodbye trust funds.

AU!Sam’s not interested in the ladies and I don’t think he’s happy that AU Dean is either.

AU!Dean: I gotta tell you Sammy, this Sam and Dean, you know, sure they’re simple, but they’ve got this place of their own, there’s no quarterly reports, there’s no investor calls, there’s nothing to do but hunt monsters, drink beer and watch porn. AU!Sam: Yeah AU!Dean: they’ve got it made

Switch to our Sam and he’s really struggling with keeping the hellhounds out, while waste of space and Dean are arguing is another pandering scene (which has already had at least four in the episode). It’s been written solely to please the 1%ers who no doubt will create thousands of tweets from their 200 accounts with “old married couple and their son.”

These people are incapable of looking at characters and continuity, they don’t care if it’s likely a character will do something just as long as they get content for their ship. But I care, the majority of the audience care. The Dean we know and love would just not under any circumstances abandon Sam at the door on his own. This is where the writing is failing. If they are incapable of writing a scene that makes sense in the bigger scheme of things, that doesn’t change the standard operating procedure of one of the two leads, then it has no place in the show. I could have written a scene between waste of space and Dean that would have given the 1%ers more than enough fodder (they get excited over lamps, it wouldn’t be that hard to do), while at the same time, not ruining Dean’s core character or sidelining Sam to be a doorstopper for an entire fucking scene. Besides, all the old married couples I know are old and still married because they never argue, they finish each other sentences and smile fondly at their idiot other half when they do something idiotic, because it’s their idiot. Kind of like… Sam and Dean.

Jack ignores them as much as I do, he turns away while they are still arguing. When he turns back, Dean looks at him,

Dean: “Where’s the thing?” Jack: I ate it Dean: You What?! Jack: well, he said it had to be in me… so… Dean (internally) Sammy’s going to fucking kill me. (Externally) No! spit it out! Jack (laughing): it’s fine, nothings happening

Something’s definitely happening as Jack doubles over in pain. Sam can only watch helplessly from the door as a bright light erupts from within Jack and then he disappears.

Again, that scene would have been infinitely more watchable if waste of space hadn’t been shoved into the space Sam should have been, but no, he’s still holding a fucking door closed. I shit you not. 😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬🤬😡🤬😡🤬🤬🤬!

Jack wakes up in what we find out is the garden of Eden. The creepy little girl from Angel approaches him. “You must not be human, humans may not enter here, are you an angel?” Jack says it’s complicated but asks why humans can’t be here. She says they were banished, and god hid the garden away from them. Jack says he was told the place might change him somehow. She responds that it might if he’s the chosen one. He’ll know soon enough. She leaves him alone. I’m speculating at this point that Jack isn’t the right person, but Sam is.

We whiplash briefly back to the church. Yes, my fellow Sam fans, Sam is still a $250k doorstopper while waste of space and Dean continue to argue. This isn’t good drama for anyone. Dean is completely ooc in not helping Sam.

Harry Potter Jack meets the garden of Eden snake. Luckily Jack can understand parcel-tongue as the snake talks to him. Who are you really? Who are you meant to be?

We get various flashbacks, none of which show Sam all that much, and I think that’s deliberate, though badly done. The one person Jack has never had to question until the malac box was Sam. I still maintain that Jack knows Sam forgives him and loves him unconditionally, but he knows Dean doesn’t, which is why the focus was on Dean. The annoyance would have been much less if Sam hadn’t been a doorstopper in place of a significantly lesser character.

Anyway, Jack collapses on the ground and he’s crying by the end of it. Same Jack, same tbh.

Back at the church, a bright ball of light comes through the cross window and floats down towards the church floor, right in front of Sam before moving to hover between Sam and Dean (again if waste of space hadn’t been there, this would have been a much better scene).

Sam’s thrown away from the doors and lands on the floor. Dean rushes forward to stand in front of his brother… oh wait, no, that’s in my version, the suck-lemons version has Dean actually take a step back, while the hellhounds advance on Sam who is closest to them. Like he literally doesn’t move a fucking inch, and people are asking why we are unhappy? Who the fuck was that, because it wasn’t Dean Winchester. 😡

The bright light gets brighter, I think it kills the hellhounds, rather than just repels them. When the light clears, Sam sees Jack lying on the floor in front of him. He says “Jack” which draws the attention of Dean who shouts “Jack”. Oh, that gets Dean’s feet moving 🙄. They watch as Jack sits up and Dean asks him if he’s okay. Jack doesn’t answer.

Back with Dean and AU!Winchesters. Dean’s trying to herd them out the bunker, thanking them for their help. AU!Dean suggests they could all live in the bunker together.

AU!Sam: like a club (AU!Dean points at Sam in agreement).

Our Dean doesn’t share his toys very well and thinks that would just be weird.

AU!Dean (he definitely wants our Sam, with the whole hair down thing he’s got going on): it wouldn’t be so weird

Dean knows what AU!Dean wants and tells them to go to Brazil

AU Dean asks if they can keep the flannel shirts, Dean says no, and tries to hurry them along.

AU Sam and Dean turn to go, but AU!Dean turns back and says that when they were looking around, they saw it

Dean: It? AU!Dean: the car Dean: You didn’t…. touch it AU!Sam: We “drove” in it 😉 Dean: You What?!

Awkward looks all around until AU!Dean says, “And we’re leaving…” smacking AU!Sam on the shoulder and pushing him up the bunker stairs.

AU!sam: oww, my arm, you’re hurting me!” AU!Dean: Sam! AU!Sam: Dean… Dean (angry): Have fun in Rio!

I like the scene so I’m trying not to nitpick the fact the car was with our Sam and Dean and the AU versions couldn’t possibly have found it, much less “drove” in it.

Dean goes to find Sam who is leaning on the wall outside I’m guessing Jack’s room. He asks if the kid is okay. Sam says he doesn’t know. Waste of space comes out and says Jack seems to have recovered but there’s something different about him. No one’s been to the garden since the exile, until Jack.

They all go in, yes, even waste of space, and it turns out it wasn’t Jack’s room, but the kitchen and I have to seriously question why Sam - who is unquestionably Jack’s main parent - was outside and not with him. *whispers Jared has obviously done something or not done something to bring the petty wrath of Dabb down upon his beautiful head, no other explanation at this point. Roll on Walker and Jared ensuring that show doesn’t get stolen out from under him by a backstabbing co-worker and petty showrunner.

They approach Jack and he says he is so sorry. He is crying and says it was his fault.

Waste of space says Jack’s soul is back.

Jack looks up at Sam and Dean and asks them to forgive him but the camera focuses in only on Dean. Pats my fellow Sam fans consolingly on their heartbroken backs.

#spn spoilers #15.13 #destiny's child #episode review #episode recap #spn critical #very critical #anti dabb #anti castiel #anti everyone involved in this show right now #tbh

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daydreamindollie · 4 years ago

Text

𝟛𝟘.𝟘𝟝.𝟚𝟘 ⏤𝙙𝙪𝙠𝙚 𝙟𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙞

❥ ALRIGHT! it’s final! i’m making this a reincarnation au!

❥ at first i was really hesitant about that since the ‘Seven Accursed Princes’ multi-chapter fic I’m planning right now is sort-a the same concept - it is the same concept -no?

❥ BUT! IF YOU LIKE SOMETHING THEN THERE’S NO ESCAPING IT!

❥ let’s move on, shall we?

❥ after much deliberation and brainstorming with this pink mush inside my head, here’s the part 2 of duke jin!

❥ P.S! many thanks to these people for their suggestions and ideas! It’s helped a lot in my brainstorming and thought process for this potential series/book/story: Anya (ao3) LinLong (wattpad)

❥ ANYWAY!

❥ YOU, the reader, are a modern day entrepreneur, who successfully built her business from the ground up.

❥ I don’t know exactly what particular business it is but I have something in mind already so don’t worry

❥ You could have developed your own skincare line after having such horrible acne as a teenager and studying clinical dermatology in university or something - you’ve even started making your own cosmetics line!

❥ you’re hardworking, determined and optimistic, you’re a great boss to your employees, especially because you started as your own boss before hiring employees as your business grew in scale and popularity!

❥ in your life, you’re doing well for yourself! After all your hard work, you’re finally reaching for your dreams! All that’s left for you to do is develop it a little bit more - perhaps for another three years - and you can start on finding yourself a good man to settle down with

❥ however! your dreams are, unfortunately, crushed because of some jealous, backstabbing twats decided to go and murder you!

❥ you will be dearly missed

❥ at least, you already had your will written and entrusted to a reliable lawyer so those douchebags aren’t getting any of your hard earned money!

❥ sucks to be them~

❥ anywho~ you were given a second chance and got reincarnated into an alternate universe that’s sort of set in Elizabethan England where magic existed and so did magically beautiful men

❥ one of those men was your supposed fiancé

❥ he was handsome and all but he was psychopathic and has his head stuck so far down the sand of patriarchy, he comes across as arrogant whenever he opens his mouth to speak, especially to women.

❥ you weren’t going to spend your life with someone like that, especially because you wanted to continue living your dream of being a successful business woman in this world

❥ if you weren’t going to be able to live your dream entrepreneur-ing in the modern world of your previous life, you’ll do so here!

❥ First thing you need to do is get out of this engagement!

❥ how do you do that?

❥ You get a better candidate to be your husband, it would be quite difficult because you were the daughter of an Earl and your soon to be ex-fiancee was a Marquess who was a level above you in society

❥ meaning, his only competitor is a Duke

❥ The singular person most suitable of this position would be Duke Kim Seokjin.

❥ The most well established duke of the land (out of the other three), the most eligible bachelor and the one most capable of giving you what you want - a business opportunity

❥ also, he was the name you blurted out when you argued with your fiancee about annulling your current engagement so…it had to be him, no matter how much his two faced personality irked you and had your mind racing with conflict

❥ so, at a ball, when you spot the duke in question, you’re quick to pounce him - not literally - more like…follow him outside when you heard he was in need of fresh air

❥ Jin : I must say, gentle lady of the Earl Choi house, it is most unbecoming for an engaged woman such as yourself to follow this unmarried duke out to the palace gardens, alone

❥ You : I am fully aware of that but I am no longer in favour of my engagement and, from a slip of the tongue, am in need of your help…i can assure you that, that need for assistance is reciprocal

❥ Jin: and what, pray tell, can you offer me that I don’t already have?

❥ You : protection from your lovestruck fan club and a solution to your collapsing fife

❥ first of all…what’s a fan club?

❥ and second of all, this strange yet beautiful lady is far more interesting than any of the other women who were so willing to throw themselves at him - quite literally, he might add

❥ You have yet to jump into his arms in an attempt to seduce him so he supposes he’d give you an ear to listen and, at least, entertain your offer

❥ Indeed, you were worth listening too and soon enough, he was seen escorting you out of the ball scene with your ex-fiancee looking on with his mouth falling to the floor

❥ the Duke willingly engaging with a lady was unheard of, especially to one that had just recently annulled her engagement with the Marquess

❥ time passes and the engagement between you and Seokjin is made official, in turn, setting your contract engagement with Seokjin into motion as well

❥ You elegantly and beautifully execute your role of a shield to Seokjin’s stubborn fan club. It was very entertaining to see their jealous expressions as you smile smugly at them.

❥ unbeknownst to you, your complacent look was something that Jin found very amusing

❥ in return, you help him manage his fife, monopolising on the cocoa beans that were harvested there. Apparently, chocolate didn’t exist in this world but thanks to you, it was being produced and sold in an exclusive store for nobles in Seokjin’s fife.

❥ You also quickly take advantage of other produce that was once deemed unworthy in the fife to restart your skin care line again.

❥ Things were going well, really well

❥ Even Jin could acknowledge that you were making a difference and making his life much easier. Seeing as he didn’t have to worry about his collapsing fife and was assured that the lives of those people were in your good hands, he could go about submitting reforms to further better the lives of those people

❥ soon, both of you start realising that the other isn’t so bad working with

❥ Jin starts looking all the more appealing…more appealing than usual, which would be impossible but love is love -of course you’re stubborn and denied it at the time so yeah

❥ You weren’t the only stubborn one though

❥ Despite his compatibility and attraction towards you, Jin was in as much denial of his affections as you were

❥ This leaves the two of you to dance around each other continuously and everywhere you went, everyone could just see the sexual tension between the two of you

❥ Many times, you’d be teasing each other and gradually lean closer and closer to the point you’d almost be touching lips had the people in the room you had forgotten about not coughed and redirected your attention to them

❥ it was embarrassing but…yeah it was embarrassing, no buts…

❥ you’d have a period of timidity for a day or two before you’re back to flirting with each other again

❥ IT’S UNBEARABLE! especially for the staff at the Duke mansion

❥ Hoseok, the butler, actively pushes you and Jin together.

❥ If you have plans to go to town and need someone to accompany you, Hoseok says he’s busy with work and says Jin can go with her instead

❥ At first, you’re worried because Jin’s always busier than Hosoek but he reassures you and you have no choice but to give in with a smile

❥ Of course the two of you have a lovely little date in town

❥ Unfortunately for Hoseok, he had to deal with Seokjin’s paperwork for that day - he knows it was worth it, though, because the two of you return home smiling at each other and it’s so CUUUUTTEEEE!!!!

❥ Jimin, Yoongi and Jungkook the knights have mixed reactions…

❥ Jimin is silently cheering the two of you on whilst Yoongi can’t bring himself to care.

❥ Jungkook can never seem to witness you and Jin being indirectly lovey-dovey with each other

❥ this is because Yoongi always makes sure to cover Jungkook’s eyes and lead him away when you and Jin have been together for more than five minutes and the time for your flirting to subconsciously start is set.

❥ Namjoon taught Jin simple but effective spells such as turning the letters he wrote into birds so that sending letters were more efficient - jin used this exact method to talk about you to Namjoon

❥ The expectations Namjoon had of your first meeting was certainly set because of these letters.

❥ He can definitely understand why you and Jin seem to be the perfect match and is kinda frustrated that you and Jin are too stubborn to admit to your sprouting feelings for one another

❥ No matter how frustrating it may be to watch you two teasing and flirting with each other, it’s entertaining to watch unfold and he’s eager to see how things will turn out

❥ Just to add into that mix, Taehyung - the crown prince and Jin’s step brother - enters the scene

❥ He’s a bit of a ladies man without intending to be - the handsome genes run too deep in the family so he really can’t be at fault for his perfection…

❥ Anyway, he pays Jin a visit, excited to see his fiancee (you) but is disappointed to find out that it’s all contractual

❥ He’s even more upset because the attraction between you and Jin is just so obvious that there’s something going on between you- at least there’s potential for it

❥ So…as a good step brother, Taehyung starts scheme and plot and devise a plan to push you two together with the help of the others too, of course since he won’t be able to handle Jin’s anger and lectures alone.

❥ Someone else needs to take the blame for his plots sometimes too!

❥ It’ll only be a matter of time before the results of his expenditures for fostering your relationship comes into fruition…

❥ That’s all I have for now! I hope you like it - if you have any more ideas please tell meeee!

❥ also…this is unedited so please excuse any grammatical or spelling mistakes!!!

#.diary entry #duke jin #Seokjin x reader #reincarnation au #BTS x reader

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kinsbin · 5 years ago

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Self Care and Sunsets [Xena/James]

Title: Self Care and Sunsets Ship: Xena/James [Self Insert/OC] Word Count: 4,096

Summary: Xena asks James to stay home with her for a day and spend some time working on self care for the both of them. James agrees and the two learn just what they find wonderful about the home they built together.

A/N: I REMEMBERED MY INTENSE AND UNDYING LOVE FOR @nadineselfships‘s oc James Sinclair and I accidentally went a bit ham writing a fic for me and him. I just want the man to hold me and love me and make it so its only us okay....

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It was warm at The Ranch. Undeniably a result of the oncoming summer weather that settled itself within the rolling hills of Montana in the oncoming months. It brought with it a slight stickiness with humidity and the beginnings of thunderstorms brewing far in the distance that always made the horses uneasy when they caught a whiff of the scent of its waters. Sometimes, even in his bedroom, James could hear the soft and uneasy whinnies of the steeds somewhere far in the corral, prompting him to stand and check on the beasts in hopes that he could calm then down with oats and a few extra blankets within their stables for the nights. Right now though? All was quiet and safe, a comforting warmth simply edging its way into the old wood of the home as he breathed in the scent of pen ink and paper as he continued his letter to Mother on the recent acquisitions of land from the Seed’s rebellion forces along his territory. He wrote away on his bed, papers across his lap and books at his side with maps of Hope County open in scribbled notes of highlights. It was a comfortable way to work, though it did a number on his back, and he was almost finished enough for him not to bother with moving to his desk.

That was when the door swung open.

It was rare for Xena not to knock. He had always insisted that, if she really needed something, knocking wasn’t necessary and she could simply come into his room whenever she wanted. She rarely allowed herself that pleasure though, preferring a polite tap onto his door and a call of his name as she waited for the permission of his voice to let her inside. James paused and looked up from his work, realizing that whatever had happened must have somehow been enough to get Xena to forego that rule in favor of simply entering in an effort to garner his attention.

With the look on her face, he realized, it probably wasn’t good.

No sooner had he thought it before she had flung herself across him. James had barely any time to move the papers he was working on and, even then, some still managed to crumple themselves under her as she lay her chest across his legs and simply sat there, face in the sheets and piles of books he had out, hanging half off the bed as a deep sigh echoed from between her lips. James blinked once. Twice. The slow process of his mind began to click into gears together as he reached out and ruffled his smaller girlfriend’s hair with a slow gentility. His large hands wove between the short ruby strands with tender, loving care as he leaned forward and kissed the back of her head, making her shiver.

“Something wrong, sweetheart?”

The nickname flowed from his lips naturally and it made Xena’s heart flutter to hear it from his lips as she shut her eyes tighter for a moment and then rolled her body over so that she was looking up at James rather than down on the sheets. James let himself smile slightly at the sight of her glasses, crooked on her face as she pouted upwards with something between boredom and anxiety written in her expression. His hand continued to pet at her hair, twirling each strand as she reached up with one of her hands and found his free one, entwining her fingers with his as she took a long, deep breath and bit her lip.

He waited for her to speak as he always did. Sometimes Xena simply took a long time to form words with her mouth, a process she was better at putting on paper than vocally as everyone seemed to want her to do. Her letters to Nadine and The Mother were always so eloquent and carefully put together, masterpieces of words strung in coherent tapestries who painted themselves into near moving pictures with the fluidity of her statements. Xena had told him one, offhandedly, that she had been studying in University to be an author before settling down in Hope County with him. He could believe it.

“I...” Xena’s voice was soft as she spoke, “I want to... I want to be selfish today, James.”

“Selfish?” His eyebrow raised in a questioning look at her, “How so?”

“I...” Xena groaned and covered her face with one hand, the other that still held his own squeezing nervously, “I don’t know it’s just that! Everything going on out there... The world and the Seeds an the fighting and the choosing sides I... It’s too much today. It’s just too much and I don’t want to listen to it or handle any of it! And I just-! It’s too much!”

She paused in her ranting to look up at him, her heart tightening at his face as tears welled in her eyes and the beginnings of a pout formed on her lips. Frowning, James reached out and slowly wiped away the tears from under her glasses, the calloused texture of his hands bringing nothing but comfort to the girl beneath him as she nuzzled into his touch and side up, gaze bright like a does as she continued to pout despite herself. The movement of her lips combined with the red flush of her cheeks as she stressed painted her in such a beautifully cute picture that James could feel his heart tighten in adoration even before her next request:

“So I-I want to be selfish today... Don’t go out today, okay? Can you just... stay in here... with me?”

The phrase and the face that added to it all but winded James as he let his breath exhale in a shaky sound of awe. His hand gripped on hers tighter for a moment as he considered her request, well, as he pretended to consider it. In reality his mind was made up. From the moment that red faced, near teary pout perched itself on her gaze he knew that she would get him to agree to whatever the selfish request was. This was no exception as he finally leaned forward and capture her lips in a long, languid kiss.

“I can do that,” James agreed with a smile breaking on his mouth, making one form on hers as she gazed up at him in excitement, “Let me finish this last letter and I’m all yours for the day, okay doll?”

“O-Okay!”

Xena sat up quickly, pausing in her movements to shuffle around and then throw herself at him into a hug, embracing around his neck and nuzzling herself into the side of his face as she sighed with relief, the ghosting of her breath sending a shiver down James’ spine as he smiled and hugged her back. His hand rested nicely in the small of her spine as she tightened her grip on him, as though afraid that he might slip from her arms like sand. He placed a kiss on her forehead in return, smiling into it and listening to her laugh at how the stubble of his jaw tickled her forehead. Their bodies pressing so close together only helped to remind James even more of why he loved her.

Once Xena had left the room and the letter to Mother was completely finished, sealed and signed off in accordance to their system, James exited his room and searched around for his girlfriend.

Sure enough he found her in the kitchen, sitting on one of the counters as she idly flipped through a cook book that he had gotten her for a present. The holiday escaped him (christmas or her birthday, he assumed) but his heart still swelled to see her so attentively reading something he had gotten for her. Her love of cooking shone in every dish she made out of the book, an unforgettable and enjoyable taste testing always open for him when she decided to experiment with her food.

He approached her and kissed her again, hugging her close as he tilted his head down at her. Xena smiled and pushed the book away in favor of wrapping her legs around James’ waist and hugging him close, inhaling the scent of his cologne and natural musk as she exhaled out with a comforting noise. He was a perfect combination of both scents. He was a perfect scent of home.

“Well,” He smiled down, “You have me for the day, don’t you? What did you want to do?”

Xena bit her lip, her hands twirling the hair on the back of his neck as she spoke out her desires:

“I... wanted you to shave my head.”

“I- really?”

James blinked, looking up at the strands of ruby red that decorated Xena’s head and touching at them curiously.

“Like down to the scalp?”

“Nah, maybe with like... an inch of hair or something?” Xena bit her lip and smiled, “I’ve wanted to do it for a while and, I figured, us being inside all day together maybe It’d be a good chance to have someone do it for me and... we can see how we like it?”

Her eyes glowed with worry. Worry that he would say no. Worry that he would scoff at her and tell her just how bad it would look if they did so. All the fear of rejection painted itself so vulnerably on Xena’s face all at once that James’ heart hurt just looking at the expression. Reaching out, he took one of her hands and planted a kiss in its palm, smiling into it as he gave a nod and squeezed her tightly against him in a reaffirming gesture of togetherness.

“Alright,” He agreed with little hesitation, “I’ll do it.”

Xena’s eyes shone with excitement and disbelief. He would? Her heart leapt at the thought and her scalp itched in itself to be free. Xena moved to unwrap herself eagerly from her boyfriend and make her way to the bathroom, but James’ hands kept her on his hips and steady as her legs were forced to wrap tighter around his waist. Blinking, the confusion only lasted for a split second before James moved and Xena was heaved upwards with him, making her yell through a laugh as her arms flung themselves around his neck for balance. James’ grinned with a mischievous laugh before kissing her again and walking with her, carefully, to the master bathroom.

The wide marble space smelled of delicious soaps and tea tree oil, surrounding the two in a warmth they loved as Xena was set on the counter again, her back to the mirror as James unwound her from his form in favor of searching for the clippers that he used on his own hair and beard whenever he felt they grew too unkempt.

“Are you sure?” James asked again, not about shaving her head but about him doing it as he swallowed, “I’ve only ever done my own hair... I tried to do Nadine’s once but they weren’t exactly happy with how short I cut it and-”

“I trust you.” Xena’s words were final as she nodded, taking off her glasses and putting them to the side as she smiled, her lips parted so perfectly that James’ felt his breath catch as he nodded. Taking a deep and shaky breath, the man flipped the clippers on. The sound of their whirring echoed as the only noise in the otherwise quiet bathroom and, with careful hands, he brought them down to Xena’s head.

Her locks fell like red snow against the bright tiled floor. Pieces of her locks tickled at his fingertips as he ran the edge of the clippers carefully along the shape of her scalp, feeling the softness that replaced the tangle of hair atop her head as she lost it inch by inch. She was pliable in his arms though, easily moving when he needed her to tilt her head or look a certain direction. The entire time her eyes were closed, her lips parted into a near purr of enjoyment as the feeling of the machine running against her scalp gave her a sense of comfort through the anxiety and exhaustion she had been feeling for nearly a week.

He spent a few moments more cleaning up edges and feeling her hair to make sure it was even before turning the clippers off, looking on at the expanse of her smooth head and the thin layer of hair that now covered it, short and neat as he reached a hand out to gently pat the scalp. It felt like a dog with a short coat, he mused with a smile.

“There,” James finally declared, “What do you think?”

Xena took a moment to shake her head free of any extra small hairs before putting her glasses back on and turning her head to the mirror with a slow movement.

Her breath hitched and her eyes widened, her face flushing in awe as she reached up to touch at the soft buzzcut she now sported. Gaping at it for so long, it began to make James slightly nervous as he furrowed his brow.

“It’ll grow back, I mean, if you don’t like it and-”

“No!” Xena interrupted him with a gasp, “No, James, I... I love it! I wanted this for so long and now I just-” She grinned, all teeth and excitement as she held his hand, “It’s perfect, thank-you!”

She looked so... happy. Over something so small... He couldn’t help but smile back and laugh as he touched the smoothness of her cut again in awe.

“It suits you,” James declared appreciatively, “You look cute~.”

“Stop it,” Xena blushed and nudged him lightly with a foot, “We’re covered in my hair now though... We should probably take a bath or something.”

“Right,” James laughed, “If you want to go first I can-”

“No.”

“Huh?”

“I wanted to... I mean we could just-” Xena blushed as she gestured between them, “Take one together?”

James felt his ears go red as the two of them stared at one another for the longest of moments, the echoes of nothingness heavy between them as slowly, surely, James found himself nodding dumbly at the thought. His heart beat faster with every second they didn’t say anything and Xena’s smile was so shy and soft in its shape that he had to stop himself from punching a wall in order to regain some semblance of his composure. Instead he watched her move to the large porcelain tub that sat itself neatly on the side of the bathroom and turn the golden lacquered handles on, listening as the straining pipes fed steaming water into the container.

It wasn’t until Xena tested the halfway filled tub and began taking off her clothes that James jumped into action, his own movements twisting and fumbling as he scrambled for his own shirt, making Xena laugh somewhere in front of him as she searched around the bathroom, now shirtless, for some bath salts to slip into their shared experience.

Soon enough she found some and the water shortly smelled of lavender and eucalyptus, a heady and rich scent that made James reel in its presence as the fog of the hot water began to condense along the mirror. Both stripped of their clothing, James got in first and Xena followed shortly after, her back pressing to his front as the two of them leaned together in the warmth of the tub.

Xena exhaled as the warm water soothed her aching, tense bones. She felt her back slowly relax, the knots that had formed in it fading with ever second the salts soaked into her body. Small strips of hair from the shave washed themselves down their forms as they soaked together, James’ hands finding her hips and rubbing gently on the bare skin there as his head rested atop her own. Xena smiled, feeling the beating of her lover’s heart as she leaned into him and pet at one of his knees, admiring his form for a long moment as they sat in comfortable silence, letting the echo of the faucet dripping fill the void.

James let his hands ghost across his lover, finding spots on the back of her neck and shoulders to place slow, loving kisses in patterns he didn’t pay attention to. She tasted like the bath salts and the feeling of his mouth made her shiver against him, making James smile into her skin as he let his hands roam up and down her body with a gentility that made Xena melt into his touch. He always touched her like this, she half realized as she shut her eyes, like she was something precious. Like she was a delicate being made to be worshipped and admired before anything else. It made her feel... loved. Accepted. Needed.

Something she hadn’t experienced before.

The thought made her wince and she looked down at the visible parts of her bare body, noting the various scars that dribbled themselves across her tanned skin like unwelcome flecks of snow. Bright white scars from picking at her skin in an aimless compulsion shone all along her arms and stomach, matching alongside the deep gashes of cuts from times in the past that she didn’t feel as loved as she was now. Decorated callouses of her hands along with childhood scars of accidentally stapling fingers and slamming thumbs into car doors. Of burning herself with hot oil and getting scratched by a cat, all labeled so precisely on her body that it made her frown tighten on her lips the more she thought about it. Could he really love someone like that? Did he really kiss her like she was made to be worshipped if she had all of these scars.

“Hey.”

James spoke as though he could sense her worry, her head tilting upwards to make eye contact with the man behind her. He looked down at her, his brows furrowed with a serious look she had only ever seen when he was concentrating on something important. It made her blush under its scrutiny as his hands touched at her collar bone and his lips found hers in a slow, awkward kiss that tasted like soap and mint and oils but was full of such a passion that she couldn’t help but shiver.

“You’re beautiful,” He whispered with his lips still against her own, “I won’t ever let you forget that.”

“Hah,” She smiled weakly, “You sure about something like that? I’m not.”

James leaned down to kiss her again, trailing his lips to her cheek and down her neck, kissing spots on her shoulder and down her arms, paying attention to spots that were particularly marked up with her habitual scarification. Xena shivered with each and ever scraggly kiss pressed into herself, her body leaning further into James as he continued to worship her with every movement.

Each kiss was fire on Xena’s body, sending shockwaves up her torso and into her stomach as she whimpered and twisted both with worry and enjoyment all at once, feeling his mouth so far against her made her feel so vulnerable... It was beautiful and warm and scary all at once. Eventually James made it to her ear, his breath hot in the shell of it as he kissed there as well and smiled so wide she could feel it against her skin.

“You’re beautiful to me, that’s something isn’t it?”

Xena laughed and could only nod.

“I suppose so.”

The bath ended and the two of them climbed out, helping one another dry off and remove the stray pieces of hair that still vaguely lingered against their skin before returning to the bedroom to slip on some clothes. Xena had made it a point to steal one of James’ large sweaters, slipping it on alongside a pair of his boxers in the defense that her clothes were always so uncomfortable and, when she was trying to relax, his scent and his softer articles had always helped her in one way or another. He couldn’t find enough refusal to protest, of course, as seeing his girlfriend in nothing but a sweater far too big for her and a pair of hiked up boxers was a delightful treat to his eyes and ego.

He couldn’t stop watching as the collar of the large sweater slid off of her shoulder, revealing the expanse of skin to him in all of its glory and James had the indescribably urge to kiss it yet again as he leaned forward and did just that, his warm breath ghosting as Xena laughed and gently ruffled at his hair.

“You’re worse than the dog,” Xena laughed as she raised an eyebrow.

“At least I don’t smell like him, yeah?” James teased.

“Well SOMETIMES-”

“Hey!”

They nuzzled one another through their laughs, James pressing another kiss to her lips before they stood up and looked out one of the windows, Xena’s eyes widening with delight.

“Oh wow,” She whispered, “Sunset already... Can we go watch it?”

James smiled and nodded, allowing her to grab him by the hand and gently lead him towards the front porch of their home, facing the way of the sun as it slowly sunk in the skyline in the distance.

Xena sat on the porch, her legs dangling lightly on the wood as she watched the sky paint itself hues of brilliant blues and pinks and yellows and oranges all at once. The clouds turned a rich flamingo pink as they moved across the lazy skyline of the mountainside, some peaking behind the shadows of dense trees and the others overcoming them completely. James found himself at her side, an arm around Xena’s shoulder as he pulled her close to him. Xena complied, leaning on his shoulder and sighing with awe as the two of them gazed out at the expanse of wilderness they owned. That they lived in.

Xena vaguely remembered the hustle of the city life she had once lead. The business of traffic and the running for busses she might not even catch. Everything in her life had always moved so fast and for so long that she could never remember how to stop moving. How to slow herself down enough to enjoy even the smallest thing. That was one of the reasons that brought her out on a road trip to Montanna. It was something that lead her here, to James and the Sinclairs and all the beauty that Hope County had to offer as the sun continued to fade in the distance, bit by bit, and James’ arms became more of a home than the city ever was.

“Enjoy your day?” James wondered as he kissed her forehead. Xena purred and nuzzled into him, a leg flying around one of his as she tangled herself as close as possible to her boyfriend.

“I did,” She admitted as she kissed his jaw, feeling the stubble on her lips and the way he tensed with surprise at the contact, only to melt into it when she pressed another one a little higher up on his jawline, “Everything was... perfect, James I... Thanks for staying with me. I appreciate it and... I’m sorry if I took you away from anything important or-”

“You didn’t,” James interrupted before she could fumble out more sorries, “Sweetheart, any time I get to spend with you is better than any work I have to do, bar none. Trust me when I say I’d rather be here with you any day.”

“Sounds a bit much.”

“Well it’s the truth,” James nuzzled her again, “I can prove it to you if you want.”

“Oh you can?”

Her smile was playful. As was his. The two came together again in a long, languid kiss that engulfed them both as much as the sunset seemed to.

And it was in that moment she felt loved. She felt wanted by all the forces of nature that surrounded her. By the lips that consumed her own in the most vehement of ways as they, too, showed their appreciation for her existence. It was as though all the stars in the sky aligned to point her there, in the direction of a sunset atop a beautiful ranch with a handsome man on a patio made of redwood and warmth beyond all else.

Yes. Beyond all else, Xena decided as she kissed James deeper, this was where she belonged.

This was home.

#self insert #self ship #self shipping #oc self ship #kinley writes #war and peace #james #i LOVE HIM OK A Y #s/o to nadine for making amazing ocs like honestly #id kill for this man

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leverage-commentary · 5 years ago

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Leverage Season 1, Episode 13, The Second David Job, Audio Commentary Transcript

Chris: I’m Chris Downey, Executive Producer.

John: And Writer of this episode.

Chris: And Writer.

John: John Rodgers, Executive Producer and Oo-Writer. On my 13th Guiness for the DVD series.

[All Laugh]

Chris: For those of you keeping score.

John: Keeping score at home.

Dean: And I’m Dean Devlin the- one of the Executive producers and Director of this episode.

John: Alright what was our problem with this episode? We had broken up the team and done just about the best season finale you can imagine in episode 12. We did not know if we were getting a second season and we all hate cliffhanger endings.

Dean: Right.

John: So we really wanted to get the crew back together and my god how do you do that? And, you know, and this really killed us this- we hammered this first act- we had the back half of this written for ages.

Chris: Yeah.

John: And really just hammered the first act of this to hell.

Chris: It helped having a little time between the two episodes.

John: Yes.

Chris: On the show three months have passed, so that kinda gave you a chance to reset.

John: Yeah.

Dean: One of the things that I loved in this opening, guys, talk about how you guys came up with this. This idea that we’re seeing all of them break in, and of course as the audience I'm assuming they're doing this together, only to discover that none of them knew the other guy’s were doing this. How did that idea come about?

John: It was originally written that they were- it was originally written that they were all practicing a break in together.

Chris: Right.

John: And the idea was that he would go and have his meeting with them to tell them screw you I'm coming. ‘Fill your hands, you son of a bitch!’ And they would be practicing the break in and they would fail miserably and it would be we’ve just basically written a check we can't cash. Our mouth has written a check we can't cash. And then it was- it was weirdly static because the group was- why were they back together again? We felt like we hadn't gone anywhere off the previous episode.

Chris: The dry run didn't really- in a neutral location didn't really give you anything and you had the idea to bring it to where...

John: Why don’t we- basically, first off, like we’re gonna steal the gallery anyways, so let’s see it. We haven't really seen where we’re gonna be doing the crime, yet, and we should establish that as early as possible. I like very aggressive first acts, which is why often they're intercut between two or three, like, pipe and execution or two or three different storylines, and then it was just one of those things in the room where it was like, ‘what if they don't know each other’s there?’ and that just opened it up. The idea that- cause that was it, the question was, ‘alright when did they get back together after they've broke up?’ And that became, ‘what if they didn't?’

Chris: What if they didn't?

John: And that gave us this really, a ton of fun opening.

Dean: I tell you, I still laugh every time I watch this when Sophie turns around and goes, [whispers] ‘what are you doing here?’

[All Laugh]

John: Yeah. And Parker says the same thing back to her. And at that point the characters were so well established, it was really here's the setting just throw the actors in. You know what the responses are gonna be.

Dean: Right.

John: I think it was Lawrence Block who said, ‘you really know your characters when you know if they walk across a dark room and bang their shin on the coffee table what they're gonna say.’

[All Laugh]

John: And that's a quick reminder that she knows Nate’s wife Maggie; that she would recognize her to establish the stakes down there. And this is great, by the way, that's a green screen behind them. This is shot in the upstairs of the-

Dean: Of the same airport.

Chris: Same airport.

John: Yeah, this is the second floor.

[All Laugh]

John: And that's really the crux in shooting TV is, we've got a lot of locations for, you know, a TV show. Which we have to because you can't con people in your office. I mean we’re not a hospital show or lawyer show - we can't just go to the courtroom, so really the location managers job is to find someplace we can do four or five different looks at. And finding locations that do that...

Dean: So difficult.

John: Yeah, it's incredibly difficult.

Dean: Now you know we talked in the first part of this two part season finale about how we worked a little bit backwards, that we saw the location first and then kinda said alright well let's rejigger the script to match this. Well one of the things that I liked very much was these four stories.

John: Yeah.

Dean: Of the main museum. So quite dutifully, you guys wrote action on three different floors simultaneously.

John: Screw you Devlin!

Chris: Dutifully? I remember being there at the time going ‘John we already worked this out!’ ‘Shut up, shut up. He wants it this way! Figure it out!’

John: I will say, this is because we’re all very good friends and you often- the whole idea is that you're allowed to argue with your friends when you’re making television. Dean had brought us to this location we had really planned out the perfect crime and then we show up he's like, ‘it's got four stories, it's completely open, and I want rappelling.’ And we walk into the room and he was like, ‘what do you think?’ ‘I’m sorry Dean, it's gonna take me more than 30 seconds to come up with another perfect crime!’ And we lived there. We literally lived there for two days just walking around looking at it and pulling out notes of other con stuff we hadn't done.

Chris: God bless you, figured it out a way to work in the rappelling and all we lost was the hazmat suits.

John: Yeah, all we lost was the hazmat suits. We’ll use the hazmat suits in season 2.

Dean: Well this sequence not only is it on three different floors, but they all have to see each other at some point and I remember-

John: That was our vengeance, by the way, ‘like okay you want four floors? Here's four floors Devlin! Shoot this!’

Dean: Well at the end of the shooting day, I was in a pancic because I didn't know if what I had done was actually gonna cut together. And I remember coming here that night-

John: You cut a rough draft of this version that night after we wrapped like a 14 hour day.

Dean: We came here cause I was so nervous that I didn't have the coverage and our- Sunny Baskin cut this episode and he's a brilliant editor, and he'd already roughed in something by the end-

Chris: Terrific.

John: Oh that's great, knowing that you'd be freaking out.

Dean: And it was amazing.

John: That's the glass by the way. That's the glass from the first season finale.

Dean: First part.

John: Yeah, it’s basically in that episode.

Chris: 12 Step, too.

John: Yeah.

Dean: Yeah they keep passing it back and forth.

John: In the first episode it's Sterling to Nate and the challenge is to you sir, and in this one it’s Nate to Sterling and the challenge is to you sir. And the idea is that in their friendship the glass became like this sort of-

Dean: It's the glove.

John: Yeah, exactly.

Chris: Maybe talk a little bit about this location. This is not actually a museum this is a-

John: This is the campus building where we see briefly in the first half. And yeah, utterly abandoned and- the fact that he just gets a cheap shot in there is lovely.

Dean: I always love how these guys always try to get a- and again that's a call back to the pilot, when in the reverse situation, Aldis bangs Eliot's head against the car door putting him inside.

John: Just to give him a little something back. Yeah, you can really watch like the pilot and then the two part season finale and match a lot of them shot to shot.

Chris: One of them’s coming up.

John: Yeah.

Chris: One of the iconic shots.

John: Oh yeah the pull up. The car, that’s right.

Chris: Yeah the car, yeah.

John: And yeah, so we had a basically had the place- the run of the place and then we built this entire- this is Lauren Crasco she built the entire lobby to a museum. I've been in museums that don't look this good.

Chris: Look at that.

Dean: Here's a classic comedy beat.

John: Which we rarely do.

Dean: That I've just always wanted to do.

[All Laugh]

John: Oh and by the way that's Gina just realizing she needs to take off the shoes, that’s not written at all. And timing them to come out, Aldis is still handcuffed.

Chris: This is it. I love this, I love this so much.

Dean: This is to match the pilot, when they come out of the the first heist.

John: That matches the first heist, except the first one they're in control, in this one they're almost about to get caught. It's almost like the directors thought about this. This location I love. This is up the hill from the college.

Dean: Right.

John: This was on the campus.

Chris: And this was the president of the college lived there?

John: I don’t know, but this was a night- this was built by like a steel magnate in the 20s, right?

Dean: That's right.

John: And it had a swimming pool, an abandoned swimming pool in the basement.

Dean: Indoor, underground swimming pool and a strange bar area downstairs. It was very-

Chris: Right out of Raymond Chandler.

Dean: Totally.

John: It was! You totally expected to find the like a dead flapper on the concrete down there. It was very- it was really great house. And this became our favorite headquarters. As much as I love the offices we had, there was something about just the looseness of the- well, the space was lit beautifully, I mean, it really was gorgeous.

Dean: Again, hats off to Dave Connell, our DP.

John: It was really gorgeous.

Chris: If we ever get to do the Leverage tour, come to LA we'll take you walking around this.

John: We’re thinking about doing that just to make a little money for second season.

Dean: This is- this scene is a scene that I think is particularly well written, and fun for the actors to play because it's driving home why this team is apart, and watching how Nate pulls them back together again.

John: It's interesting that- it's an interesting arc over the course of the season, where he doesn't want to lead them, they talk him into it, and by the end of it he realizes whether he wants to or not, he has to pull them back together in order for everyone to get the closure that they need, including him.

Dean: And you do get a sense that he really does love these people.

John: Yes; in in his own broken way, you know, he understands that they need each other.

Dean: There's a very subtle thing he'll do in a minute when he does this whistle, and everyone makes their way over to look at the plans, and of course being who they are they cant help but wanna solve the crime. But if you just watch Tim Hutton's face as he's slowly backing away, watching them look at the plans, it tells you more about how his character feels about the other characters than really anything else he says .

John: ‘Oh look at that, aren’t you hooked?’

Dean: It's such a daddy looking at his kids discovering a toy.

Chris: Yeah.

John: Oh there you go, you're absolutely hooked. And that's the whole psychology; he chased them, he knows them, and to a great degree they're all as broken as he is. They have to solve the problem; they just don't have the same skills he does, you know, which gives us the later the hitter, hacker, grifter, thief.

Dean: And it shows, again, his profiling skills. His ability to kinda be two steps ahead in the chess game.

John: I love- And then he does the kind of lay down the law scene and talks them through it. It’s a lovely little scene.

Dean: This is a little inside baseball...

John: Well that’s what we’re here for.

Dean: When we shot this scene, I thought he did a terrific performance and we cut it together - everyone thought it was, but Tim listened to the way he did the lines as he walks forward and says this thing about ‘I already told them’ and he said, “I wanna redo that.”

John: Wanted ADR it?

Dean: Yeah. There was no reason to on a technical level, he just felt he could do something special with it, so he came in here and lo and behold, he did elevate it just a subtle amount, but it was absolutely worth doing. And one of those things that really only someone who really knew their character inside and out, could tell.

John: Yeah and a guy who’s directed. You know, the director part of his brain was like, ‘yeah you could have got a little more out of that’. And this is, again, with the food there, this is the kind of recurring theme. This is their snacks, this is their home, this is their living room, this is what they do for fun.

Dean: Yeah. They enjoy this stuff.

John: ‘Biblical’

Dean: This was the level little twist on, you know, we do a lot of scenes where everybody walks out of the room and we linger on Nate thinking. Here's, like, the opposite.

John: Yeah, because he knows he's in control at this point; he absolutely knows what he's gonna do. He's got an agenda, he's walking in with purpose every time. It’s- by the way, it's interesting, when you got a five hander - trying to get people in and out of these goddamn rooms.

Dean: Oh boy.

John: And the blocking and in writing you know we try to help- the writers try to help the directors, trying to split it up and make sure they're not all there at any given point, but then you have to cook up, you know, there's a lot of times Nate walks into the room with purpose and you have no idea what purpose. It just- obviously he's got stuff to do, and it starts the scene.

Chris: There's just something about the lighting and the way this whole-

John: This became our favorite location.

Chris: It's a really warm and I don't know what it was about it.

John: Yeah, and this is the low tech scene the plans and stuff. This kinda really brought home our love of process, because here's the thing, we spend a lot of time in the writers room trying to figure out how to do these crimes. That's our process scene. So we’re bored with that then we just write the heist. And this was really because the character beats were coming across in the process. When we went back to it, you know like, season 2, you can do a lot more stuff than just them hanging out, figuring out crimes. I like watching them do it. I genuinely enjoy watching them do it.

Chris: We kept wanting to make better screens. ‘We need screens where its like Minority Report where they touch the screen and they move the pictures’ and here they've got planes, and there’s paper.

Dean: Drawings and strings.

John: And the emotional agenda .

Dean: Yeah.

John: They're all basically- It's a Sophie/Eliot and Hardison/Parker scene, happening at the same time Nate is trying to get them to plan the con.

Dean: I love the reminder here, you know, of how angry Eliot is at Sophie for having betrayed-

John: Yeah, he does not forgive her; he will not forgive her until, you know.

Dean: Until he gets an apology.

John: And to me there was always- we played around with a scene we never wrote, where Hardison basically talks him into it, and it was a Hardison/Eliot scene that kind of focused on their relationship, but honestly this things jammed, we just didn't have time. There's a lot going on.

Dean: Yeah. Well in fact, there's some lovely scenes that were cut from this episode that will come back, you know, which is when Parker steals the pills-

John: Oh yeah!

Dean: -and Aldis does the woman who's overdosing.

John: The dying grandma! The dying grandma.

Chris: Oh, that was great.

John: That's right we shot that, too. Can we put that on the extras?

Dean: That'll definitely be on the deleted scenes on this DVD.

John: Theres an entire separate con, to set up the museum con, that we never see and then we just cover it in a line. And it works, it works fine.

Dean: But it's a fun scene to see.

John: Who is that? Who is that gentleman sneezing?

Dean: This would be- we call him the king of hold, affectionately. I first worked with Erick Avari in Stargate where he played Kasuf, the leader of the other planet. He did a small part for me in Independence Day, and then the second Librarian movie, he played main villain and we brought him all the way to Africa. And he worked for 2 days and be off for a week, he’d work for a day, be off for a week, so we called him the king of hold.

John: Digital shutters there.

Dean: Digital shutters, but mirroring the actual shutters that were actually there.

John: There were real shutters there - that was one of the attractions of it. And then I love, however, when they say, ‘okay we can turn them on for you’ and we’re all ready, we’re all gathered to get test footage and everything-

Chris: ‘Better put your earplugs in, these are gonna be pretty loud.’

John: We turn the thing and the alarm starts going off and they come down at about an inch an hour.

Dean: Right. [Laughs]

John: [sound effects] Like, okay, that was somewhat less dramatic than we had hoped for. And so we wound up building- we wound up shooting it actually then speeding it up.

Dean: And then mixing it with some digital ones, that's right.

John: I love, by the way, the opening of this - if young actors, if you go back to the beginning of the scene, you can watch Mark Sheppard subtly upstage everyone. It's not super subtle, but it's just a nice stage technique.

Dean: And Kari, in her recognizing the man who was flirting with her at the party, just gives such a great little performance.

John: ‘Oh, yeah.’ That's also an interesting look that kind of really established that Kari and Sheppard knew each other from when he was Nate’s friend. And there was a softness in that relationship I wasn’t expecting. This is great. And this is something we almost never play.

Chris: Yeah.

John: This is Nate and Eliot bickering, which we almost never do. And Chris by the way-

Dean: And Eliot having the upper hand.

John: Yes. And Chris, by the way, plainly using the voice he uses when he seduces women. This is not Eliot by any stretch- plainly Chris Kane putting on the phone voice.

Dean: And this end here was all improv. And it was just great.

John: Well the hot coffee bit, cause it's really, it’s funny, ‘cause I-

Dean: The ‘you're putting your hair up?’ ‘I’m being the-’

John: ‘-the professor dude!’ I love that. That's all improvised. She probably just wants some hot coffee was great. Chris came up to me right before they shot this like, ‘how dirty?’ And I was like, ‘medium dirty.’

[All Laugh]

John: This is shot in the front yard of one of the university buildings that looks like a frickin cafe. We just, you know.

Dean: Yeah it was such a great location, we just lived there.

Chris: And this was on the stage.

John: Yeah. Inside in the van. And this is great because, again, Nate’s not comfortable. Nate not in control is not good, and this is kind of where we gave Kari all the complaints the other characters had about Nate for her to vocalize, so they could kind of- it was cathartic to the group to here someone else say this.

Dean: And then the kick on the ground to say he was terrible in bed.

John: Just a little- I love the reactions everyone did there - how uncomfortable he plays knowing that Nate is watching.

Dean: Watching everything.

John: Yeah, exactly. Kari really takes a ridiculous amount of delight in here. I often wonder what Tim was like as a director for Kari to launch in to this quite so [mumbles]. She really dug in on that bit.

Dean: Tim gets to play such a reversal here, given that he's always in control, he's always the one whos withholding, and now he's trying to explain-

John: Oh, I love parkers ‘Ooh, there's no save from that’. Yeah, he’s trying to explain- Tell you what, again, the joy of a television show is that the characters change, the actors- you have 12 hours to find what these actors can do. Nate being somewhat annoyed and out of his depth is definitely becoming the kind of the season 2 vibe.

Chris: Yeah

Dean: Oh yeah.

John: He's just- its a bit more they need him in the life more than he needs to be.

Chris: I love her eating gummy bears, too. Sitting there and...

John: Yeah, ‘I feel used’. And it was interesting, cause the originally that was done with them offstage, and seeing them sort of framed there really opens up the space and, you know. ‘Going great. Going great.’ And that’s, again, the old friends vibe that's kind of everyone's locked into at this point.

Dean: Now this is an interesting bit, because it starts off with a bit of humor and it becomes literally the most dramatic scene of the entire series. And the pay off to everything that we set up about the son in the pilot.

John: Now we shot the death of the son full on. We shot the entire sequence when we did the pilot, right? So that we could use that footage- we never used the footage in the pilot.

Dean: Well we used just the beginning part where he's looking at this son, but we never used the part where he ran in and picks his son up.

John: And you had argued, correctly, you had argued that this is really dramatic, it would throw off the tone, the pilots supposed to be light, and I was like, ‘ahh you don't really see what happens’ and I will admit the first time I saw this cut together, I cried. I was like, ‘You’re right, this was devastating.’ Not only for the performance in the flashback, but what Tim is doing live.

Chris: Well, I mean, his- to me he carries the whole thing.

John: Yeah.

Chris: Not even that scene.

John: You don't even need the flashback, but the flashback plus this is devastating.

Dean: And we parsed it out over the course of the season. We saw a little bit more every time we did the flash, it was a little bit longer than the last time. And here we played it out and then of course, we got to bring Kari into the flashback which is really the coda of that.

Chris: And Dean, what went into setting it here? I mean, did you think about other places indoors?

John: For example, one without a fountain 8 feet from the actors?

Chris: No, no but I’m just saying, it would have been...

John: I'm giving him shit.

Chris: You know was- what went into that?

Dean: I thought it was actually trying to go against the cliche of it being night and dark and gloomy. That if it's a beautiful setting, its outdoors, it's a little bit, you know, the thing where if you're gonna break up with your girlfriend, you wanna be in a public place.

Chris: Right, right.

Dean: Well, he’s about to tell her the most painful, private thing in the world, so he's doing that someplace where its gonna be easy to escape if this goes horribly wrong.

John: And thats whats- there’s an interesting there's an interesting moment here where he says,’if you looked at me the way I look at myself, I'd blow my head off’. Nate is fully capable of deal with his own self-loathing. He could not deal with the idea, the concept, that she would stop loving him or hate him. And that's why he kept the secret and that's what destroyed their marriage.

Dean: And look at how he brings it here, this is such a wonderful performance.

John: Yeah. And by the way, we shot this pretty much continuously; he falls apart during the course of the performance in one long take, really. You could watch that take and just watch the entire thing.

Dean: And after the second take, I thought, you know, he must be spent, and I wanted him to get one more moment and I said, “Do you have another one in you?” And he looked at me like ‘Oh yeah, keep- I could go all day.’

Chris: Do you remember what take this was?

Dean: I don't. But I would imagine it was fairly early cause he really- he nailed it right off the bat.

John: Every now and then it’s like, ‘Oh that’s right: Oscar. This is the-

Dean: This is the part of the flashback you didn't see in the pilot, but it was all shot at the same time.

John: And just, yeah. And man, even the day we shot it it was heartbreaking.

Dean: It absolutely was.

John: And actually, Tim has a son about this age, and just flailing. And there's Kari just- And I will fully admit, I am occasionally overly poetic when writing, but there's absolutely some stuff that was written - which is when she steps in the doorway, Maggie realizes she's lost her son, but Nate has lost his mind. And that’s- His sanity, his sense of self worth, everything was destroyed. She had a tragedy, he was destroyed. He will never be the same human being again. And the actors- really great. That's the good thing about writing - you just write something really pretty and let other people do the heavy lifting. [Laughs] ‘Okay, turn this into something that makes people cry. I'm breaking for lunch.’

Dean: And then just so we didn’t end on too heavy a beat, we remind- we bring the plot back in.

John: Oh you hate him so much here. By the way, I love the fact every time we have a ‘Oh, I love my characters.’ ‘Oh, I hate him.’ You really juxtapose Mark Sheppard - Sterling - coming in. It's like, ‘Oh, they've just made up and now you're gonna be mean to Kari? Oh you bastard.’

Chris: There we go! String!

Dean: String!

John: This is the biggest cheat ever! And that's how the plot will work.

[All Laugh]

Chris: Oh come on, that goes back to the Greeks!

John: That does.

Chris: Who was the first person that came up with the-

John: In media res, that’s what it is.

Chris: And thats how its gonna go. Any questions?

John: It was one of those things where - how do we do pipe that doesn't blow how the con’s gonna work, but shows that we’re planning? Don't. Just come in. Oh. Oh my God, this-

Dean: My favorite Parker moment of the entire series.

John: Why does Parker sniff her? I don't understand.

Dean: It's the weirdest little moment.

John: And yet it completely makes sense.

Dean: And it’s fabulous.

John: You know what it is? It’s like, ‘is this our new mommy?’ Its like it’s- really, really a weird moment.

Dean: And by the way, not a direction I gave her. It just happened because she knows this character so well and it was just fabulous.

John: And that's the nice little look between Hardison and Nate, that Hardison is indeed reading her mail. Just to be on the safe side. And this is where we launch into - when he says we need that large object moved - we launch into our tribute to Never Send a Boy King to Do a Man's Job, the-

Chris: Sure. The touchstone.

John: The Rockford Files episode. The greatest

Chris: From which all things spring.

John: From which all things spring. And this is great. She just- it’s not like you can just make people do what you want. The fact that everyone's kinda laughing at her - no, we do impossible shit every week.

Dean: You haven't been watching this show, have you? She goes, ‘You're adorable’. And pets her head.

John: Which is, by the way, one of the things I say to someone when they've annoyed me or cut short, so they appropriated it for the moment. The actors actually - it's weird how the actors pick up the writer mannerisms, cause we’re on the set all the time, so there an awful lot of actor writer in-jokes.

Dean: And also sometimes there's second generation. For instance-

John: Seriously.

Dean: Seriously. Started as a thing you would do, it became a thing Amy did, and then the actors pulled it from Amy.

Chris: Yeah.

John: So this- this is great, by the way, again, one of the fact that Nate’s not in control, he's emotionally kind of spun out, and the fact they're telling him, ‘You know what? You were kind of a dick season 1. There are times we like when Sophie- Sophie a little better than you.’

Dean: That's right.

Chris: It's great, too, when you get to add another person to the team. It's not something that we did - we only really did it at the end of the year, and it just kind of mixes things up, changes the dynamics.

John: Opens up the dynamics a lot, yeah. And the idea that Sophie has genuinely come to like Maggie at this point, you just can't not.

Chris: Didn't we-? We lost a little bit of them bonding.

John: Yeah, it was just cut for time. There is a bit where they are having kind of shorthand conversation-

Chris: ‘Oh, and I hate when he-’ ‘Oh this is the worst thing that he does.’ ‘It's terrible.’

John: It kinda went by the wayside, but yeah, they're pretty good friends by this point. See you learn and you con.

Dean: One of my favorite lines.

John: See Nate? Sometimes you know what? You don't have to be so imperious all the time man. And yes and this is- a lot of the little bits here are from Apollo dropping us all those, sort of, loose notes he gave us about cons; like little ways to make people believe you that we worked in.

Dean: Persuasion techniques.

John: Persuasion techniques, and letting him finish it, and never give him the information. Let them completely the information in their heads. And the- you know glasses switch. What was i gonna say the- so yes, so it's a this episode this segment is based on a famous Rockford files episode written by Juanita Rosenberg?

Chris: Juanita Rodriguez. Juanita Bartlett.

John: Bartlett. Which is their big con episode and both Chris and I had watched when we were kids, and really set the standard for big con episodes on television. So we were literally stuck thinking, ‘Alright, Dean has shown us this location, we have now come up with a way to hide everything-’

Chris: ‘Things we could use in a museum. Mummies?’

John: It became what large object could we use to hide the door? And we literally said, ‘Well, I mean, if we're writing Rockford Files, it'd be a mummy. But there's no way we can do that here…’ Well who's stopping us?

Dean: By the way, Gina doing the fantastic, very specific Iranian accent.

Chris: Yes, yes.

Dean: And you probably- most people in America won't even recognize it, with the exception of thinking, ‘Gosh she sounds like Christiane Amanpour.’

[All Laugh]

John: No that was- she was actually- the great thing is, Gina originally- when she’d come back and forth from London, sometimes she'd stay at this hotel, and so when we'd give her an accent she would go down to the bar and just try to find if any of the guests were from there, and then she would hit them up.

Chris: Oh that's great.

John: So yeah, for some of the promos and stuff when she was speaking different languages and stuff, that’s where she got the phrases from.

Dean: She's great in this scene.

John: Just a little distant, a little- just carrying the pipe, not try to sell anything. I like her hair that way, actually. She cut her hair.

Chris: Very 40’s. She had a very 40’s kind of-

John: Very 40’s vibe.

Dean: This was a fun bit you guys came up with.

John: Well again, the idea that we believe the information that's put directly in front of our face. There's so much information on the web, and something happened the week before - one of those things you read and you believe turns out to be fake, just an internet joke that everyone bought into, is we trust the web, we trust Wikipedia, we trust everything on the web, and it doesn't occur to us to think that someone would put a path of lies directly-

Dean: -in front of us.

Chris: Right, right.

John:- in front of us.

Dean: By the way, that's one of our writers, Amy Berg, as one of the professors.

John: Amy Berg, writer of-

Chris: And our prop guy, Eric Bates.

John: Our prop guy, Bates, is one of our other dead archeologists. And the guys just having fun here. Really it's just point the camera at this point. Just kinda slide back and forth and assume they're gonna do something amusing. And then she brings her in for the close out. Lauren Crasco, great job this is the- where is this?

Dean: This is a little auditorium in that same compound that we did the museum and everything else and decorated to be a presentation room for an Egyptian exhibit.

John: Also, you'll notice, by the way, that it's a small writing thing, but it's somewhat satisfying. First off, the virus she describes exists and is real. Because we originally when we were pitching out the mummy's curse. ‘Okay, no one's gonna believe the mummy's curse, he's just an idiot if he believes in the curse.’ Well where did the curse come from? And that led us to this infection, the spore infection-

Dean: -the infection.

Chris: -the spores, yeah.

John: But the thing she uses to distract him, which is ‘you came to my office to talk about the benches, now you sign the purchase orders for the benches.’ The benches are the key to the entire final heist. Shes using his state here, the rest of the con, to set up the final con. And now putting the deadly, deadly mummy away as one would.

Chris: Please get that away from me.

John: And we know they're up to something. And this was actually, Amy Berg wrote this scene. We realized that we were going into the back part of the finale without resolving the Eliot/Sophie bit. And we were kinda stacked and Amy was hanging out for free, honestly she was just really just-

Chris: We were very tired.

John: We were very tired.

Dean: But the thing she brought to this scene that I think is so interesting, is it's the apology without ever having the ability to say you're sorry.

John: Well that's a lot of the writers room. We’re really very emotionally shut down in there.

Dean: So this is, as an actor, that's a very interesting thing to play. She needs to convey that she's sorry, but her character would never ever say she's sorry.

John: Actually the other great thing Amy came up with here, is the idea that we’re seeing the last one, not the first one.

Dean: Right.

John: And how that would annoy him. There's a lot of great little dynamics in this scene.

Chris: It's really nice.

John: I gotta say its a nice piece of work

Chris: Within a very, you know, fast paced episode, it's also nice to take minute.

John: Stop.

Chris: Kinda do some character stuff.

John: Close it out. We feel that we’ve resolved the emotional issue from the first half. By the way, the little thing that Chris spins, everything you notice he does it in almost every episode. I’m always… ‘Do you practice? Do you go home and practice?’

Chris: He did it with the beer, too.

John: Yeah! And he's like, ‘Of course I go home and practice. I would never do something if I don't practice.’ It’s like, damn. Yes the idea that he's genuinely annoyed he wasn't apologized to first, it's a complicated little scene for-

Dean: It is. And for me the thing that really makes the whole thing work, is the thing that brings them together, is the painting from the Homecoming episode.

John: Which is metaphorically their home.

Dean: Their home. And it's such a weird painting.

John : It really is. My own attachment to it has grown quite unnatural. Yeah a little left. That house was insane. I can't believe we had this.

Chris: Yeah, it was great.

Dean: What an amazing location.

John: And that little look he gives him like, ‘Okay. We're done here, we’re okay.’

Dean: Now in the lexicon of music that we use, this is probably the most over the top ‘dun dun dun.’

John: Well of course he's evil, look at him! Oh look, oh she's so nice, oh now she's worried, I hate him so much!

Dean: I love it.

John: Yeah. When we were screening this, I actually couldn't help but-

Chris: Well he gets amped up to make the act break pop.

John: A little bit.

Dean: This is a fun bit. And talk about how you guys came up with this idea that he's talking about each character, not realizing that those character are right in front of him. How did that bit come about?

Chris: Oh yeah. I think I remember I wrote this a 2 o'clock in the morning and then-

John: Yeah, and then I put a shine on it for the choreography because I had been in the location a little bit more than you had.

Chris: Yeah, I think it was just- the purpose of it was basically to set the jeopardy - that this guy was going- that Mark Sheppard’s character, Sterling, was gonna-

John: That's what it was. We had originally done the montage to see everybody going into place because we wanted the audience to know geographically where they were, because geography in a heist is crucial. You must establish where everyone is so the audience isn't wondering. And you had done the great thing of like, what horrible things he had planned to reset the jeopardy, and it was literally page count wise, the act was long and it was once one of those things where - would it work if we jammed it together? And we jammed it together and it absolutely worked.

Dean: Well the lovely byproduct became this hide-in-plain-sight.

Chris: Yeah.

Dean: That the last place you'd look is right in front of your nose.

John: Exactly. And the little look of amusement to Sophie, that, ‘You're good Shepherd, you're not that good.’

Chris: Yeah, yeah.

John : And Nate Ford ending on the arrival of Nate.

Chris: Nate Ford. And I love the idea that he shows up - he bought a ticket.

John: Bought a ticket. Yeah. Nate Ford's superpower is finding the easiest, simplest way to do things. That's when everybody else overthinks it. Because, you know, the rest of this act is so simple.

Chris: Oh yeah.

John: Oh my god. Wow, nice shot.

Dean: Yes. This is, again, one of our 360 shots, but only taken to one revolution to end right on the, ‘we're gonna get him and we're gonna throw him into jail.’

John: This is also nice because we've established, and again, it’s because Mark does an excellent job, we've established that Sterling is very, very scared. He's beaten the team in the previous episode. So by showing Sterling start to get a little worried here, you're actually both empowering your own character and letting the audience know they should be getting anxious.

Dean: And this was nice, him going back and reviewing the tapes.

John: Cause he saw it. He saw it earlier, and now he's like, ‘this is not right.’

Chris: I love that little look - the turn of the head.

John: The little turn of the head, yeah.

Chris: Just disgusted by it.

Dean: Erick is so terrific.

John: Good sneeze; that was an improv too. The tissues here. It was a prop to do it.

Dean: And I love Tim’s look during this. The whole thing is evolving around and he's sitting there eating popcorn.

John: I don't even know how you get popcorn in a museum. It's just great. Look how great that lobby looks. That absolutely looks like the lobby of a New York museum I’ve been in. That's really fantastic that we built that- Lauren built that, so you can shoot 360 in there.

Dean: And again, almost everything we’re looking at in this act is steadicam, you know what I mean? Poor Gary Camp was lugging that thing around nonstop.

John: Well that's your rule, right? That's your rule - once we go to the action, if the con is going smoothly, we go to steadicam.

Dean: Exactly.

John: And we’re in. And the entire act’s the con.

Dean: Right. So poor Gary was lugging that thing the whole time.

John: And we’re shooting the RED which is a little lighter at least.

Dean: At least.

John: At least. How much does the RED weigh?

Dean: Well with all the bells and whistles, probably around 45 pounds.

John: So he's got 45 pounds on his shoulder.

Dean: And the rig.

Chris: Here's comedy, folks.

John: And that's a mummy. That is big sitcom writing right there, ladies and gentlemen.

Chris: And, you know, if you're gonna use a sarcophagus like that, the thing you're gonna assume is somebody's in it.

John: Right. And that's- originally, at one point, we played with that and then said well no, we wouldn't be in there.

Chris: [Mumbles unintelligibly.]

John : That’s Chekhov's rule, actually. If you put a mummy in the first act, it has to go off in the third act.

Chris: Right here's our magic box.

John: Here's our magic box, where we had to- man the set designers just killed themselves designing this thing, because it's actually functioning.

Chris: That's actually- that's functioning.

Dean: Right. And I love this little bit, that they're all just- cause really nothing's going on there except they're synchronizing watches, but it’s such a nice visual, and it's such a nice thing seeing the team is now together and the plan is now afoot.

John: And for the audience it is 3, 2, 1, GO, and it's really a reset that now is when enormous amounts of fun will start. And by the way, it runs roughly real time.

Chris: Oh there it is.

John: I love that look. I love when she does the ‘I'm about to have fun’ look. And by the way, we discovered later, this smoke is real. Tell them about the fogger.

Chris: Oh, the fogger. There is a state of the art security equipment. There now is a fogger, which if you break into a vault-

Dean: Oh and by the way, that’s our first A.D.’s wife Sherri.

John: Yeah. Doing a great job. ‘It's a robbery!’

Dean: So go ahead.

Chris: No, no. At any rate, tt does exist - an impenetrable fog that will be emitted if you break into certain high tech vaults, but this-

John: This was our special effects guys.

Chris: So I’m so happy this came out.

John: But we had to build an actual functioning case that worked with the security.

Dean: Well this next bit here, how did this idea come about?

John: This is absolutely an homage to Thomas Crown, which I wrote the sequel to. This is- this is like, how much absolute blinding chaos can we create? And it's great because we went to Eric in props and were like, ‘It'd be great if- because the entire first act of the show, The First David Job, rests on the fact they are identical. It would be great if we were able to do the same visual reference in the second half. But there's no way you can give us like 40 David statues could you?’ And Eric went, ‘Well I'll figure out a way.’ And on budget and on time, he went out and got us 40 identical-

Dean: He's so remarkable.

Chris: Right. And again, it was to play into what-

Dean: By the way, on the technical level, that is such a difficult steadicam shot. He just did a steadicam shot through a crowd of people. That is so hard.

John: Smoothly. I thought that was the crane. That wasn't the jib?

Chris: That wasn't a crane?

Dean: Nope, that’s Gary on the steadicam, and then he continues it all the way to the door.

John: Oh that’s right, cause he just cut away.

Dean: On a pure technical level, that is a remarkable shot.

John: He's a great operator. There's a lot of stuff we did, that if we didn't have Gary, we'd be in serious trouble.

Dean: And now I get my rappelling scene.

John: Sure, fine.

Chris: There we go folks. Folks, do you know where this came from?

Dean: But the fun of it is it’s Tim doing the rappelling. The last guy we’d expect on the show to do the rappelling.

Chris: There it is.

John: There it is. Boom. And by the way-

Dean: Great stunt.

John: Great stunt. And the happiness, if you actually go back and freeze frame that shot as he lands, you get three entirely different attitudes from the actors. And then he pulls it down and through. And yes, we desperately worked very hard not to kill any of our actors. What was I gonna say? But it is interesting because- how we approached the problem. The original con was that Tim’s the mastermind, and we want to make him the bait. The idea that Sterling’s blind spot is he's afraid of Nate, secretly. And so he would obsess about him and they could use that to drive everyone off. And when it was single rooms and multiple floors that was easier. When it became the big chamber and rappelling, like, well how do we do that? The only place to draw people off is we need to get them out of this chamber, and that birthed a lot of this stuff. And where would you follow Nate? Well it's like Nate would need to get them up on the roof, to get them away to a place where he could get away from them, and they couldn’t follow.

Dean: And they get locked in the box.

John: And that brought us to the rappelling - it brought us to a very cool sequence.

Chris: So when you say here, when Dean says, ‘I want rappelling,’ it can be an interesting sequence. Now I love this shot.

Dean: All kudos to Tim in this scene for just pulling this off.

John: Yeah. Cause this is a guy standing in front of 2 maquettes.

Chris: No its not.

John: By the way, this is beautifully lit.

Chris: It’s beautifully lit, look at this.

John: Yeah, cause are we doing this at night? Is that how we got it so dark? And then we lit it, or-?

Dean: Yeah.

Chris: I think it was night, yeah.

John: Yeah, so the outside’s blown out-

Dean: Yes, that's right. The outside is lit- its night for day.

John: That’s done all the time.

Dean: Sure.

John: Sure! Mad.

Dean: Tim is just brilliant in this scene. I love his sense of accomplishment of revenge.

John: Yup on both guys. And then the big reveal that all the paintings that they’ve stolen, everything but the thing they said they were gonna steal.

Chris: I think that was you Dean, too, wasn’t that? Like we should turn on the lights and all the paintings except the Davids-

Dean: And everything's gone except the Davids. And there's a lovely, again, acting moment between Kari and Tim as Kari is explaining what has just been stolen. And it says miles about their relationship. Right there.

John: Yeah, and she's also calling back to something that [unintelligible]’s character said earlier. Look, there you go, there's a little bit of forgiveness, a little bit of accomplishment, because she is now fully invested in screwing the people who let her son die, you know. Which I kinda feel bad about cause he’s co-opted her in his emotional immaturity. I don't know how I feel about that now that we're looking at it a second time. Kevin’s meltdown here is spectacular, thank you.

Dean: Yeah, it’s a tour de force bad guy meltdown.

John: And then Sterling realizing, checkmate, you know, really- and again, Mark really modulated that character.

Dean: Mark does a great turn here where he realizes- he goes from ‘I’m screwed’, to ‘I win.’

John: Yeah. Mark Sheppard will not let me rest unless I do note in the DVD commentary that at no point does Sterling lose in season 1. He never loses - at worst, it's a tie. And that's what makes him a great nemesis. And this is, of course, an echo from part 1. You know, and that’s why, we start it with- both parts start with each one of those guys holding a gun on the other. It's one of those little filming things. I'm listening. And again you great to see Sterling- what's the strategy here? What's the out? You know he's always trying to salvage something. And also Tim’s choice to ignore the guy with the gun.

Dean: Yeah, the gun is the least threatening thing to him in the world.

Chris: Right.

Dean: You're doing him a favor if you pull that trigger.

John: Yeah and also that the game’s over. You know, in his head he's so far ahead at this point it, you know, it's all gone right that if he dies at this point, it's okay.

Dean: Right. Cause he knows he already won.

John: And it was, again, it was an interesting choice. The flashback, the classic zhoom zhoom, there's really a lot of zhoom.

Chris: The flashback. The this is very much a classic, ‘here’s how I got you.’

John: Yup. It's not the other version, which is: you didn't see part of this scene, it's the oh, you didn't understand the context.

Chris: You didn't realize the significance of it. Which is actually more-

John: -more interesting.

Dean: Well when you watch this, you always think, well for me, it was always why would he tell them in advance he's doing it? And it's all here you go, ahh, that’s why he tells them in advance.

John: You set up, and again, if you kill me now, I can die a happy man, because regardless I have destroyed you. And at this point Sterling’s- I love that little- he realizes.

Dean: This is when he starts to realize, ‘Wait a minute, I’m gonna come out on top,’ and then he loves it. Sterling-

John: Because he's a perfectly amoral bastard. He really is.

Dean: He is. And I love that he switches the gun. He goes from pointing at Nate, to pointing at his own man.

John: Look at him. He's not scared either. It's really we have- we’re definitely working on the Sterling/Nate team up episode for season 2, because Mark really made the character so interesting. It's: ‘Alright, I wanna see what it was like when these two guy actually did it together.’

Chris: Kids, actually be afraid of firearms, not like our characters.

Dean: The way he- the way Tim delivers the line here about, ‘I lost my only son, do you honestly think that you can frighten me?’ It just tells you everything about Nate for this whole season. It's why nothing bothers him anymore. He's already faced the worst thing a human being can ever face.

John: Yeah. And that's part of the challenge is now, is how do we rebuild him? You know, knowing there's a season 2, as opposed to, really, when we did this, we didn't know. And a parallel punch to the first half.

Dean: Right.

Chris: And it's the payoff.

John: It's the payoff punch. And it's the exact same- that Nate did in the first half.

Dean: Except in this one, it knocks him down. Her punch is even harder.

John: We really wanted to give Kari the win there.

Chris: She's very fiery, I buy it.

John: Yeah, I like the smile there, he's kinda proud of her.

Dean: And I love this line here, that ‘this whole plan counted on me being an utter bastard.’

John: Yeah, not just a bastard, and he's perfectly willing to accept that. What was I gonna say? This- it’s really fascinating this location, considering we lived in it, it looks like a million different things. It's really just the same looks back and forth: door to gallery, door to gallery, door to gallery. Different sizes and different people. You know, cause we decorated the entire other half, we dressed, and we never shot that side.

Dean: Not really.

John: We never needed to.

Dean: Just in one passing walk by.

John: Yes, where he goes up to the alarm room. That’s it.

Dean: That's the only time we ever saw that. And this is a nice, connecting the two rooms and realizing how they got all the paintings out of this.

John: Yeah. And the whole idea that down they shot down earlier. And we had to build these benches, and the original con was they were hiding in the benches and then we realized that Hardison - Aldis - is very big and cramming him in this bench would be cruel.

Chris: Yeah that was just-

John: And we wanted to steal all the art, not just some of the art.

Dean: And it was a great gateway to the room below.

Chris: And I love this shot down here, too.

John: This was a 360 in a tiny basement room.

Chris: Tiny.

Dean: With a very very wide-angle lens, which is a tough lens to put on a steadicam.

Chris: And look at that, it ends on this perfectly composed shot right here, I love this.

Dean: Yeah. We've got terrific camera people.

John: And this is the- I think this is the last thing we shot.

Chris: I think it was.

Dean: It was. It was the last day of shooting.

John: -the last day of shooting, and it's weird because I think everyone's playing kind of a weird beat here because it's the last shot.

Chris: Cause we don't know nobody knows- at this point the actors dont know we’re coming back.

Dean: Well it's also because this next scene that's about to play was shot earlier, but the thing I had said - John was standing next to me at the moment I said it.

John: It was very cruel.

Dean: But we were just about to shoot the set, and I wanted to get the right emotions from everyone, so I gathered the actors together and I said, ‘Guys, remember we don't know if we're gonna get a second season. This might be the end of all of it. This might be the finale of the entire series.’ And then I walked off the set.

[All Laugh]

John: And they were wrecked, they were just-

Dean: And you could see it in their performances. It's all there emotionally and they all- everyone of them brought their a-game for this scene.

John: They were genuinely crying. I mean really, they- you worked them up pretty badly. I'm glad we didn't have to shoot anything else after this.

Dean: No, they just nailed it. And frankly, for me, this is my favorite ending of anything I've ever done in my whole career. I love the way this season ended. Because if we didn't get a second season, I would have been fulfilled that I had gotten a complete story.

Chris: We took people on a trip.

Dean: And of course, the- for our listeners here, the hilarity for all of us was when we found out we were picked up for second season, and suddenly John and Chris said, ‘now how the hell do we put these people back together again?’

John: There are times when you’re a little too smart for your own good. And it really was, ‘You know what? Not like those other punk shows that do a cliffhanger. we’re breaking up the team-’

Dean: -and blowing up the offices.

John: -’and blowing up the offices. We have utterly destroyed all vestiges of the template from the first season. Okay we've got a second season. So you've broken up. Huh.’

Dean: Now what do we do?

John: Offices are blown up.

Chris: Oh come on, the audience see they're back. They're back together. Come on.

John: I know, but you know, we- and there's the-

Dean: And there's our callback to the walk away shot.

Chris: It’s beautiful.

John: But this one’s sad. It's a sad walk away. And we did different reactions here, too. Everyone - oh that's nice, Parker crying - we did different reactions here. Everyone had different reactions; we tried different styles and cut together the ones that-

Dean: Gina here is, for me, priceless.

John: Oh that’s an RSC trained actor right there my friends.

Dean: And I love just falling off the cliff here. That there's no resolution whatsoever, we just literally fall off the cliff.

Chris: Ohh.

Dean: Guys, thank you for such an amazing script.

Chris: Dean, thank you.

Dean: And an amazing year.

John: That was a great year.

Dean: I think this was my favorite year, professionally. And It’s all because of you guys, so thank you so much.

Chris: You too, man.

John: I will say thank you, man. It was so great to actually just make the TV show you thought you were gonna make for once.

Chris: Yeah, it is. We did.

Dean: For once, the thing that you wanted to do. Uncompromised.

John: And that’s all of us. All of us got to TNT let us run, and this is what you get. Thank you.

Chris: Thank you very much, Dean.

Dean: Thank you.

#Leverage #Leverage TNT #Leverage Audio Commentary Transcripts #Audio Commentary #Transcripts #Parker #Alec Hardison #Elliot Spencer #Nate Ford #Sophie Deveraux #Season 1 #Episode 13 #Season 1 Episode 13 #The Second David Job

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darkmindsthinktwistedthoughts · 6 years ago

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Hi!! Can I get a fluffy Masamune fic where he tries to surprise mc for her birthday please? I love your work 😍😍😍

Masa planning something... I feel I can virtually sense Ieyasu rolling his eyes somewhere at the thought. I shall see what I can come up with. @xathia-89 Thank you very much for the compliment my dear ^^.

---

Azuchi Castle town market was lively as usual. The familiar sight of a certain warlord moving from stall to stall checking out the fresh ingredients was one that had the traders smiling and a fair few of the townswomen swooning.

Masamune Date was aware of the glances his way he wasn’t blind, well not completely. He ignored them as best he could, a few people did speak to him directly and he replied in his typical friendly fashion but as far as lustful looks go he only had an eye for one girl.

Mc... He smiled to himself as he picked up a ripe watermelon remembering the last time he brought one back to his manor and how she took a deep bite of it only to get the juice of it trickling out of her delicious mouth. He felt his blood start to boil a little at the memory.

The fun they had getting cleaned up together. The failed protest from Mc about how she couldn’t get clean if he was determined to get in the way and spill more on her. How she had blushed and purred in his ear.

“You seem to be in a happy mood today my Lord.” The old seller smiled at him as he spoke.

“I am always in a happy mood on the market day. I’ll take this watermelon, 3 of those radishes and that bunch of carrots you have tied up there.” Masamune handed over some gold in payment as he received the items he requested and put them in a woven basket to carry them back to the manor. It was one of those gifts Mc had given him after seeing him practically juggling ingredients one day when he was preparing a meal for the Mitsus.

“Of course. It is always a pleasure to be visited by such a valued customer. Thank you for your patronage, my Lord.” The trader gave a polite bow as Masamune left the stall and made his way home.

“I dare say it isn’t the fresh ingredients that has such a smile plastered on your face.” A chuckling voice called out from the shadows of a building. No need to ask who it was.

“Mitsuhide. It is unlike you to be in the marketplace around the food stalls. What brings you here?” Masamune smiled happily at the resident kitsune of Azuchi.

It was true the guy was a mystery but Masa had never felt anything seriously negative from him and believed in trusting his gut on these things so unlike Hideyoshi he was happy to pass the time of day with the man.

“I was just on my way back when I noticed one of my favourite sights. Well, at least half of it. Mc not with you today?” Mitsuhide made a pantomime out of looking around for the Princess.

“Nah, she had some work to deliver so I won’t see her until later.”

“Letting your pet run free... how very like you.” Mitsuhide’s smile appeared to grow as he teased.

“So are you going to tell me why you decided to talk to me or were you really just passing by?” Masa asked deciding it was better to ignore the last comment, if for no other reason than to avoid being the punchline in a more direct joke.

“Observant as always I see. No, I was just passing by on my way to give a report.” Mitsuhide fell into step beside Masa as they walked the last of the length of the market towards the castle and the manors. “Oh, a little bird told me someone has a rather special day coming soon.”

“Someone? Special day? I don’t suppose you can cut out the cryptic riddles for two minutes and just tell me what you are talking about?” Masa tilted his head giving a searching look at Mitsuhide. He didn’t know why he really bothered it wasn’t as if he could read the man anyway. he might as well be a book written in one of those foreign languages for all the sense he made at times.

“Oh, I dare say you’ll figure it out sooner or later. Bye now.” Mitshide increased his pace and pulled away from Masa waving over his shoulder as he turned towards the castles gates. Leaving Masa standing at the crossroads.

“I swear that guy just gets weirder.”

---

Back in the manor, Masamune made his way to his own kitchen. He had plans tonight to turn this into a meal for two. a break in work had finally come for both of them and he would get to spend some time with Mc. He couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he imagined the look on her face as she enjoyed the meal. Gods how he loved how she looked when she was eating his food.

He was part way through prepping the vegetables when a knock on the door interrupted him.

“Lord Masamune? Lord Ieyasu is here to see you.” A maid called out meekly from the doorway

“Ok, I’ll be right there.” Masa shouted back, taking the chopped vegetables he had and plunging them into a bowl of water to keep them from turning bad.

---

“Ieyasu? What is it?” Masa came into the main corridor wiping his hands on a towel.

“Nothing. I was just sent on an errand. seriously I didn’t think that girl could have become even more trouble but she never fails to surpass my expectations.” Ieyasu muttered unhappily as he answered.

“What’s this got to do with Mc?”

“Nobunaga wants to know what you wish to do about the banquet.” Ieyasu spoke flatly as if it was the dullest thing he had ever been asked to do.

“Banquet?” Masa asked even more confused.

“Yeah, the one for Mc.” Ieyasu nodded.

“Why would we be having one for her?” Masa’s mind was now running as fast as his horse. Had he missed something? He was almost certain he hadn’t.

“W-... Hang on she is your woman and you don’t even know it’s her birthday?” Ieyasu’s mouth hung open in mild shock.

“BIRTHDAY!?” Masa practically screeched.

“I suppose that answers my question. God, you are both insufferable.” Ieyasu rolled his eyes and huffed.

“When is it?” Masa asked grabbing Ieyasu by his shoulders looking him directly now almost nose to nose.

“Tomorrow.” Ieyasu sounded a little flustered now at the sudden closeness. “You really didn’t know?”

“It never came up.” Masa withdrew taking a step back.

“Oh? well, I dare say it was the last thing on your mind to ask about.” Ieyasu’s sarcastic tone was not lost on him. Masa could hear the jibe aimed at him.

“Yeah yeah go ahead call me a wolf all you like. I still have time though so thanks.” Without waiting for anything further Masa wedged on his shoes and ran out of his manor. Ieyasu’s voice growing more and more distant.

“Hey hang on! You still haven’t... and he’s gone.”

---

Tomorrow... tomorrow... ok I still have time. I have to get something perfect for her. Gods why in the seven hells didn’t I think to ask her when her birthday was? She knows mine. In fact, I think she knows more about me than I do about her... what do I know about her? I know she is the cutest girl I’ve ever met. I know she blushes when I whisper in her ear. I know I love her. Hang on what am I panicking about?

Slowing his pace he realised he had returned to the marketplace except this time it was not where all the food was. Stall after stall of different items lined the street around him and he remembered each one as a place she would often stop at.

A familiar fabric trader came into sight and Masa walked right over to the stall.

“Welco- Oh! Lord Date. A pleasure to see you again. Is the young Princess with you today?”

“No, no not today. Today I am on a personal errand. Can you tell me if the Princess had mentioned to you anything about something she might be looking for?”

“Mmm, I remember her saying she would have killed for a sewing machine but I have no idea what one of those is I am afraid my lord.”

“I see.” No doubt it was one of those future things. Honestly though what do you get the girl who wants for nothing?

He was just about to leave when something caught his eye. “What is that?”

“Oh, That my Lord is something of a novelty. Recently I found I had to diversify a little in order to make a little extra coin and a carpenter friend of mine built that for me as a trial piece.”

“How much?”

---

The banquet was lavish as always. Mc to her credit had managed to charm and delight everyone resulting in he receiving a number of gifts.

Mitsunari had located some books, Ieyasu had made some tea to keep her from becoming too tired, Hideyoshi had found a new haori for her, Nobu had given her some of his precious candy and Mitsuhide had given her a bottle of sake with a note on it “do remember to share” Yeah... right.

Masa fidgetted as he watched her receive each one by one a smile on her face.

“Are you ok?” Mc asked softly as she looked at him. What he wouldn't give to have her only look at him right now.

“Yes, fine Kitten. I think you need some fresh air though.”

“Do I?” She chuckled.

“Yes, you do.” Masa smiled and in one swooping movement stood up and carried her out of the room. Ignoring the laughter and name calling as he left.

---

“Masa that was rude you know?” Mc attempted to tell him off but failed as she crumbled into the sweetest laughter he had ever heard.

“I’ll apologise if I have to tomorrow. Right now I want you all to myself.” Masa buried his face in Mc’s nape enjoying the feel of her warmth.

“Oh, you do?” Her voice lowered and her hands started to tease at his sleeve.

“Haha, hang on a second Kitten. That can come later I still have to give you your gift.” Masa took her hand and pulled her towards her room.

“Gift!? you got me a gift too?”

“Of course I did. I’d be a sorry excuse for a, what did you call it, Boyfriend? If I didn’t.” He smirked as he slid the door back revealing what looked to be half of the market. “All for you.”

“All for me seriously? Oh but Masa its too much.” Mc’s eyes were wide as she tried to take in all of the different fabrics, the art supplies, her eyes didn’t stop darting until they fell on the one thing he wished her to see.

It was a beautifully carved puzzle box. He had seen one before at the docks that a trader had from China but this one was special. It had a carved dragon chasing a tiger around in a circle they were painted n beautiful coloured lacquers. It was the jewel in the sea of gifts. She ran her hand over the box looking at it in awe.

“Not at all. I mean I didn’t exactly have a long time to prepare anything but this is nothing compared to what I have planned for you next year.”

“You plan to do more next year?” She spun around in shock.

“And the Year after that and the Year after that... every year Kitten.” He advanced on her each word from his mouth taking on a more sensual tone.

“Hahaha, I think we might need a bigger home in that case.” Mc laughed trying to mask her embarrassment. All it did was ignite his desire even more.

“Kitten you shall have a whole Castle. Trust me.” He purred pining her between his arms.

“I always do.”

---

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