#i might share the one i filled out for foxtrot

[kissmel0ser]

Free to use relationship charts for ships and oc stuff! :D!!

[amjustagirl]

Hogwarts AU (Haikyuu!!)

Previously: Miya Atsumu. Miya Osamu. Kita Shinsuke. Kuroo Tetsuro. Tsukkishima Kei.  Bokuto Koutaro

Masterlist link

Wordcount: 2.5k

Warnings: Tooth-rotting fluff

Genre / Pairings: Fluff, Hogwarts AU, Sakusa / Reader

Summary: You’re invited to Kiyoko’s seventeenth birthday party, which turns out to be a ball for the glittering elite of the magical world, where you meet one very surly, very sulky Sakusa Kiyoomi.

A/N: Comments as always, are much welcomed. Feel free to shout at me anytime!

Requests closed for the time being!

Though if you toss a suggestion my way that I like, I may...reconsider ;)

Requested by Yeon baobei @moondaius​ I hope you like it, darling <3

-------------------------------------------

You feel out of place in this party filled with the glittering elite of magical society. Your sleeves do not quite reach down to your wrists, and the ruffles on the neckline of your dress robes are a little limp, but you’ve had to make do with the rejected pile of clothes from your more affluent cousins. It’s not often you get invited to formal dinner parties anyway. Your home is a tiny attic flat on the cross junction between Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley, and your mother is just a humble cleaning lady, so this soiree is just an exception - your classmate Kiyoko being exceptionally kind and inviting you to her seventeenth birthday party. 

“Look! Isn’t that Sakusa Kiyoomi? Isn’t he handsome?” You can hear the girls around you sigh dreamily to their friends as said boy enters the ballroom with his cousin Komori in tow. 

The Ravenclaw seeker elicits this sort of reaction even in school - or especially in school, but you’ve never joined his legion of fans, his overall grumpiness acting as a deterrent to you ever speaking to him despite sharing multiple classes together. Still, he is handsome, you admit to yourself. Towering over most of the party guests, Sakusa Kiyoomi has artfully tousled black curls, cheekbones sharp enough to cut glass and the most adorable pair of moles above his right eyebrow. 

“Komori!” You wave, grinning with affection as the affable Ravenclaw keeper bounds over towards you like an overgrown puppy. 

“It’s so nice to see you here!” He greets you with his usual cheer. “These parties can be a drag if you don’t know anyone.”

“It is a little overwhelming”, you admit, side-eyeing the chandeliers hanging from the arched ceiling, dripping in crystals and wrought with gold. You’re sure that if you managed to sneak just one chandelier in your pocket, it’d be enough to feed you and your mother for an entire year. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you have fun tonight!” Komori promises with a chuckle. Then he snaps his head back, realising he’s left his cousin stranded in a crowd of fawning women - a fate that Sakusa Kiyoomi obviously deems worse than death judging from the way he glowers down at his shoes as if they’ve offended him in some way. 

“You better rescue him”, you add, internally amused as Yuna-san from Slytherin slides her talons up Sakusa’s arms. “Five minutes in, and he already seems like a damsel in distress.”

Komori answers you with a lopsided grin as he swims through the crowd to reach his cousin drowning in his worst nightmare. You snort to yourself, helping yourself to a generous amount of punch, watching as Komori manages to extract Sakusa while charming the ladies into not sulking too much at the loss of their prey. Sakusa promptly disappears once he’s free from the quicksand of social interaction, while Komori himself gets claimed for the first dance of the night. 

You have fun too - well, somewhat. You stand along the sides of the ballroom like an overgrown wallflower, watching as your peers in brightly coloured dresses get asked for dances while you’re passed over with a glance at your ill-fitting dress. But Komori does swing by and dances a foxtrot with you - both of you trip over the other at one point, causing a small commotion in the corner of the ballroom, but it’s all in good fun. Even Kiyoko takes the time to pop by and say hi, even though she’s swamped with well-wishers and familial obligations.  

You don’t regret coming to the party at all. 

“Omi, be social for once.” It’s only because your ears are sharp that you overhear Komori urge his cousin out from his hiding spot behind the dessert table. “You’ve been hiding from everyone the entire night, and you haven’t even danced once!” 

“I don’t like people.” Sakusa grounds out through clenched teeth. “And I don’t dance”. 

“Don’t be a grump. There are perfectly nice people here - look, I have a friend here who’d be perfect for a dance”. 

You look up, meeting his eyes as he grins apologetically at you. You’re about to mouth ‘hell no’ at the irrepressible Komori, but Sakusa beats you to it in his characteristically blunt fashion. 

“She’s tolerable enough I suppose, but I’m not inclined to be a knight in shining armour and dance with someone just because no one else will”. 

Your eyebrows shoot up to your hairline. 

Komori looks like he’s about to push Sakusa into the birthday cake, but thinks the better of it. “Omi”, he hisses in warning. 

Sakusa glances up, guilt flooding his eyes when he meets your gaze, but you don’t give him a chance to redeem himself, flouncing away in a swirl of faded satin. You brazenly seek out dance partners for yourself - Kuroo from Slytherin might seem smarmy, but he smirks at you in recognition and twirls you around in a merry square dance and Akaashi from Ravenclaw looks like he’d much rather bury his nose in a book but he’s gentlemanly enough to let you take his hand for a stately waltz. 

You’re in the middle of another waltz, this time with sunny Bokuto from Hufflepuff when you spot Sakusa squirming from the corner of your eye. Yuna (Slytherin, seventh year, pureblooded of course) has him cornered, back against the wall, and there’s no Komori in sight to save him – nor anyone really, almost everyone else is enjoying themselves on the dance floor. 

You sigh inwardly. Sakusa might be cold and cranky but even he deserves to be rescued from Yuna’s clutches, so you maneuver Bokuto towards in their direction. Bokuto, to his credit, catches on immediately, and with a spark of mischief in his eyes, he grabs a glass of punch and tips it over both Sakusa and Yuna. 

“You idiot!?!” Yuna shrieks, horrified as the bright red liquid stains the front of her robes. “These robes were specially tailored for me in Paris you know?”

You didn’t know that, and frankly – you couldn’t care less about the cost of her fancy robes, and with a murmured – I’ll help Sakusa clean up, you grab said boy by his sleeve and manhandle him out of the ballroom. Thankfully she’s so distracted that she doesn’t pick up on the fact that you’re both seventh years now, so there’s really no need for you to rush to the washroom since it’s completely legal for you to be using magic to clean Sakusa up. You leave Bokuto in your wake to deal with an irate Yuna, but he’s grinning nonetheless, telling her that his cleaning charms are awesome, does she want him to try fixing her dress? Akaashi and Kuroo join the commotion, and in the diversion they cause, no one notices your escape.

You tug him down a deserted hallway, relinquishing your grip on him only when you find an appropriate hiding place – an open air balcony, where no one is likely to stumble on you. ‘Turgeo’, you whisper, whipping out your wand, nodding in satisfaction as the charm siphons punch off Sakusa’s robes. 

“You can catch your breath here for a bit”, you tell him, hopping up to take a precarious seat on the balcony railing. His brows pinch together, and you watch, bemused as he tries to make sense of what just transpired.

“Tha-“ 

Taking pity on him, you interrupt him. “You don’t have to thank me. I came to your rescue cos you’re tolerable, even though you’re always grumpy. Plus, I’m a Gryffindor, so being a knight in shining armour comes naturally to me”. 

Your amusement grows as he splutters at having his ill mannered words quoted back at him, embarrassment burning into his cheeks. It’s fun to throw calm, collected Sakusa Kiyoomi off balance sometimes, you think – and perhaps given his privileged, pureblood background, he probably needs it every once in a while. But then you’re surprised when he gathers himself and inclines his head ever so slightly. 

“That was…inexcusable of me to speak of you that way. I apologise.” 

 “It’s fine”, you reply easily, but he doesn’t allow you to shrug his apology off. 

“It’s not. I was rude and unkind.” 

This is the most you’ve ever heard Sakusa Kiyoomi say, and you want to capitalise on it. 

“I know how you can remedy that”, you interject with a smile. 

He quirks his eyebrows in confusion, watching you warily. You’re tempted to drag out the suspense to watch him squirm, but you don’t want to torture the poor boy any further. 

“You can pay me back by giving me the dance you so cruelly refused me”, you tell him, jumping down onto your feet. Then with the most unladylike laugh, you sweep into an exaggerated bow, holding your hand out to him - 

“My good sir, if you please?” 

He stares down at your proffered hand. “Here? Now?” 

“You have another time in mind?” You ask sarcastically, back still bent in a bow. “Come on, your mother probably brought you up better than this, don’t keep a girl waiting forever.”

“Fine, fine”, he mumbles. So as the string orchestra in the ballroom strikes up another tune yet again, he takes your hand, and wrapping his arm around your waist, he leads you in a waltz. 

Step step twirl. 

One two three. 

Step step twirl. 

He’s the ideal dance partner, expertly steering you through the one-two-three of the melody, never once making a misstep – though he does wince when you tread on his toes once too many times. 

“You’re surprisingly good at dancing, for a misanthrope”, you comment.

“My mother made me learn”, he replies, ignoring the hidden barb in your remark. “It’s a waste of time, but I guess now that I keep getting invites for balls, it’s useful knowledge so I don’t make a fool of myself when I get forced to dance.”

“Like now?” You chuckle self-deprecatingly. 

He doesn’t reply for a few beats and you assume the conversation is over when he replies – 

“Not like now. It - this is nice.” 

It’s summer, and while the cool night still nips at your skin, warmth inexplicably suffuses your cheeks. You thought you were just having a laugh, it’s only now that you realise that the situation you’ve put yourself in with Sakusa is practically lifted out of a fairytale – a boy and a girl, hiding in a balcony, waltzing under the stars? The only thing missing is maybe a shooting star falling from the skies, or a lost glass slipper or two. 

Your train of thought is interrupted when the song ends, and he surprises you yet again when he does not drop your hand. 

“Would my lady wish to dance with me again”, he asks, though there’s a glimmer of playfulness in his eyes that belies his formal tone. 

You ignore every fiber of your being screaming at you that dancing with him again is going to be terrible for your heart, dropping into a low curtsy. 

“Why, I thought you’d never ask”, you simper in a poor imitation of Yuna and her toadies, and he only snorts, sweeping you into his arms, intent on dancing the night away. 

----------------------------------------------

“The two of you have been gone the entire night”, Komori comments, a faint accusatory tone colouring his words. “I was about to organise a search party.”

“I was just helping Sakusa clean up after a mishap with a glass of punch”, you reply, though your lie is punctured by the wince you give when your shoes pinch your feet – a sign that you’ve danced far, far too much on this magical night. 

“Is that so?” Komori directs his question to his stoic cousin. 

Sakusa doesn’t even bother to reply, palm warm against the small of your back as he ushers you off to his flying carriage, intent on sending you safely home. 

Your mother’s jaw drops when she wakes up to Sakusa’s carriage thunder down your street, a fleet of winged white horses dragging an enchanted golden carriage. You feel like Cinderella as he escorts you to the front door, pressing a courtly kiss to the back of your hand when he wishes you goodnight. That is, if Cinderella snagged her Prince Charming on the first night they met -  by accident, no less. 

Your jaw drops when you wake up the next morning to a delivery from an imperial looking snow owl, and when you tear open the parcel, your hands shake so much you have to sit down. That ridiculous boy sent you dress robes of pearl white tulle, along with an invitation to his seventeenth birthday party, to be held in two weeks. 

And the most staggering of all – the parcel also includes your dance card, Sakusa’s name neatly written in it to claim ayour dances for the night. 

Every single dance of the night. 

“Impertinent fellow”, you mutter to yourself, though you can’t help but fall back onto your bed, giggling like a loon. 

Sakusa Kiyoomi is an enigma, a boy shielding his true self from the world by cocooning himself in layers of unfriendliness and grumpiness. But in the short amount of time you’ve spent with him, you’ve discovered that he isn’t as cold or unfeeling as he makes himself out to be. You unearthed his sharp sense of humour when he started dropping barbs about preening party guests, telling you the dirty secrets of each pureblooded family gathered here tonight. 

“She did what?” you gasped. “No way.”

‘Believe it”, he smirked. “She later tried marrying her daughter off to me, but my parents refused”. 

And over the course of the night, you start to see shades of his softer side. He surprised you when he apologised over and over again for not dancing with you the first time, saying he hadn’t realised that you were being overlooked because almost everyone in attendance were snobs. 

“It’s the dress”, you told him cheekily, tugging at the cheap fabric. “Otherwise everyone around here would be falling for my sparkling personality”. 

He couldn’t help but snort at that. 

Then he started to tell you about himself. You learn that he wants to go pro not because he has a burning passion for Quidditch, but rather because it’s something he’s put so much effort into that he might as well continue doing it into adulthood. You learn that despite his complaints about the Ravenclaw team - seemingly sweet Suga and the troublesome beaters Makki and Mattsun in particular driving him insane with their relentless ribbing and puns and jokes, he’s grown fond of them. 

He’s funny and witty and sentimental and smart. You truly enjoyed his company last night. 

You can’t wait to see him again. 

Neither can Sakusa, so it seems. He’s on your doorstep before noon, a bouquet of roses and a bashful expression on his face. 

“A gentleman caller”, you pretend to swoon as you open the door. “Happy day!” 

“I hope I’m the only one”, he retorts, all shyness evaporating immediately, a glint of amusement in his dark eyes. 

“So far you are”, you tease, nose buried in rosebuds. “Fair warning before you sweep me off my feet though - I’m not going to be one of your typical, pureblooded heiresses who’ll titter at every word you say, just cos you’re Sakusa Kiyoomi”. 

He actually chuckles at that. “I’m counting on that”, he says, taking your hand. 

You both share a shy smile.  

[stargazingthenightaway]

See Something You Like? Epilogue

Pairing: Rebels Rex x Reader

Word Count: 2K

Warning: Yearning, teasing

A/N: 😚 😚 For all my lovely readers 💕

Making your way through the mess hall, you see you’ve beaten the lunch rush and quickly bee-line towards the caff station, filling up two mugs and putting them on a tray. Ria had commed you about meeting up on your break, and knowing how busy she was that morning, you decided to have a fresh cup waiting for her. You grab a couple hot plates, thanking the cook, and find a spot not too far from the entrance. As you sit down you keep an eye on the entrance so you can wave Ria over when she gets there. Taking a sip of caff, you settle in your seat and your mind drifts back to last night, and earlier this morning.

Rex had been a most thorough lover, and true to his word, hadn’t finished with you until the early hours of the morning, leaving you both exhausted and satisfied. You feel your face heat up when you think about all the sounds he coaxed out of you, the praises that dripped from his lips as he brought you to orgasm and the tender way he took care of you afterwards, making sure you were alright. What you most enjoyed was how he held you when you both drifted off, arms holding you close as your head rested on his chest, whispering how you were his sweet girl.

You can’t help the giddy smile that covers your face when you recall how grumpy Rex was earlier that morning. He had done his absolute best to persuade you to spend a few more hours with him in bed, but you had a meeting you couldn’t miss, and you had reluctantly left him pouting in the sheets as you got ready. Eventually, he too started getting ready for the day, though not without hinting at all the things he could be doing instead, with you and a mirror, brushing up against you and sneaking kisses when you weren’t paying attention. Needless to say you left your room a blushing mess, with Rex following not far behind, smirk plastered on his face.  

You’re so caught up in your thoughts that you don’t see Ria enter the mess hall and make her way over to the table. "Hello there, sunshine!” She calls out as she sits down, bringing you out of your daydreaming. 

“Ria, hey!” You say, passing her a cup and watching her clutch it to her chest, breathing the scent it in as if the steam alone would give her energy. “Long meeting?”

“You have no idea,” she groans after taking a sip “nerf herders can’t tell the difference between a gear shift and brake pedal.” 

You wince. “Ouch. Well, hopefully your afternoon will get better.” You perk up “Isn’t that new transfer set to arrive today?”

She looks at you suspiciously. “Where did this cheeriness come from?” She eyes you from over the rim of her cup “usually you’re right up there asking what other problems they’ve caused, and if I need help hiding a body.”

“No reason,” you say, laughing “just having a good morning, that’s all.”

Ria takes a moment to give you a look over while you sip your caff, before her eyes widen. “Omg! You got down and did the dirty dance!”

“Ria!” You groan “Do you have to say it like that?”

“What?” She says without remorse, “would you rather I call it the frisky foxtrot? Mattress mambo? Tantric tango?”

“Shhh! Someone will hear you!” You hiss, cheeks heating up as you look fervently around you, “where do you even come up with these things?”

“You’re not denying it,” she gives a little shriek of laughter, wiggling in place “you, my friend, got some good lovin’ and I need all the deets!” She gives you a look, “especially after all the stunts you pulled me into to avoid a certain someone.”

“I do not have to confirm or deny anything” you say, hiding behind your caff.

“You may not confirm anything, but your neck is certainly making a statement.” She leans over to pull the edge of your collar down “that’s quite the necklace you’re wearing there sunshine.”

You can feel your face turning three shades of red as you slap her hand away, hastily pulling the collar of your shirt up. “Ok! Ok, so maybe I had a bit of fun the other night, there’s no need to let the whole base know.”

Ria grins triumphantly “That’s more than just a bit of fun” she says, making the little air quotes “that’s a full on romp with the promise of a repeat” She wiggles her eyebrows comically and you can’t help but laugh, hearing her join in.

“Alright, yes, I did indeed do the dirty dance, as you said” you say once your laughter has died down. 

Ria makes the motion to continue, attention on you. “And? That can’t be all it was or else you wouldn’t be like this.” She motions to all of you “All glowy and really happy.” 

You give her a sly look “Let’s just say that he certainly has the moves to keep you coming back for more.”

Ria squeals and looks about ready to combust with all the questions you can see buzzing around her head. “So are you going to see him again? Or is it fated to be a one-night of lusty wonder?”

While you want to tell her all about Rex, you want to keep him to yourself for a bit longer so you keep your answer simple. “We’ve already planned to meet up again.” You duck your head shyly, smiling. “He makes me happy Ria, really happy.” You fiddle with your cup, looking back up at her “I didn’t think he’d feel the same way, but he does.” Your smile softens as you think of Rex and how he looked when you told him you wanted him by your side for a lifetime. The look of adoration is one you’ll treasure for years to come.

Ria looks at you in wonder, “Wow, he’s the real deal huh?” Watching you nod she squeals again, doing a little happy dance in her seat. “Best. News. Ever!”

A booming voice calls out close by “What’s the best news ladies?”

You and Ria both look over and see Gregor striding to you table, standing next to your seat. “Got yourself more excited than a restless Joopa.”

“No reason,” you say “just girl stuff.”

“But you’re more than welcome to join us.” Ria chimes in, gesturing to the seat. “We’re ‘bout to start venting about the doofs in engineering.” 

You know Ria and Gregor share shifts on the occasion, overseeing repairs and helping out with different teams, so it wasn’t out of the ordinary for Gregor to join you sometimes for meals. 

"Don’t mind if I do.” He sits down, big grin on his face, as he turns to face you. “I was actually looking for ya, figured I’d find ya here with this one.” He jerks his thumb towards Ria.

You point to yourself “Me?”

He nods “Mhmm. Was curious if ya’d seen Rex this morning. He missed training with Wolffe and I, and I thought ya might’ve seen’im”

You sputter and can see Ria giving you a calculated look, so you hurry to give an answer. “I’m not sure, but I thought I saw him when I was heading to the office. It looked like he was making his way towards the training room.” 

Gregor looks at you, a strange look in his eyes, and you try not to fidget in place. That, paired with the look Ria is giving you is making you antsy, and you wonder if you should just make up some excuse about paper work and dash away. Before you can say anything Gregor grins, giving you a thumbs up.

“Glad to hear it, thought he might have gone MIA for a moment there.” He lowers his voice, as if sharing a secret. “Wolffe can sometimes get pretty intense, especially during training. Likes to bring out the chompers if he hasn’t had a good meal.” He laughs at the looks you and Ria give him. “By the way, Rex said he wanted to talk to ya yesterday. Did he find ya?"

“Yes, down at the shooting range.” You huff, “we actually ended up having a bit of a competition, see who could hit the most targets without looking.”

Gregor looks intrigued “Oh? How’d that go for ya?” 

“l ate blaster dust.” You grin wryly “Let’s just say I won’t be challenging Rex to a shoot out anytime soon. Didn’t even stand a chance.”

“Was it the C-501 sim?” He asks. When you nod, he laughs “Ha! of course he’d win that one.”

“Oh?” You say confused, “Why’s that? It's only recently been added.”

“That’s because it was designed for us clones, way back on Kamino.” He leans in conspiratorially, “What the Kaminii didn’t realize was that it was too easy, so we ended up getting a little creative with it.”

“Creative how?” Ria leaned forward eagerly, soaking up this new information. You have to admit you’re intrigued as well. 

Gregor was really getting into in now. Checking to see there were no other eavesdroppers, he huddles the two of you closer. “Well, there were the usual things like spinning in place before firing, making noise before a shot,” he counts them off on his fingers “shooting from someones back, doing a handstand.” 

You and Ria just stare at him as he continues on his list. “But the best was hitting the targets without looking.” Here Gregor starts to grin, as if he was watching it himself “and no one was better then good’ol Rex." 

“Really!?” Ria jumps in before you can comment, “How did he do it? Blindfolded? Eyes closed?” She’s practically climbing out of her seat to get to him, not that she’s noticed. 

Gregor pushes his chair back to give himself some more room. “Well,” he says as he starts miming the actions. “He’d start off by facing the range, then he’d turn to his opponent. He’d make sure to look them straight in the eyes, something about establishing dominance, and then BLAM! Start firing each target.” He gives a hearty laugh “I’m not surprised ya didn’t win, he’s the reigning champ. No one has beaten him.”

Ria’s babbling on excitedly to Gregor, wanting to know all his secrets of the sims and training, but your mind has zoned out.

Reigning Champ? Never beaten? He already knew he was going to win, even before you had set the bet. You give a small huff of laughter, thinking back on his confidence, how easily he set you up in his trap. Well, well, you think to yourself looks like I got played for keeps. 

Your musing are interrupted when you hear Gregor call out a greeting to a couple rebels who walked into the room.

“Wolffe! Rex! Come over’ere!” He waves his arm wildly, as they make their way over.

You can’t help but stare as he makes his way over, a slight swagger in his steps. One could presume it’s just how he carries himself, with his military upbringing, but you know better. That’s the walk of a man who finally has what he wants, and is not afraid to show it. His eyes linger on you neck before meeting yours, a smirk pulling on his lips.

You smile back, mind already working out your next challenge. You were your town’s best racer for five seasons, before you joined the rebellion, and the base did have a couple racers lying around. Why not even the odds? Winner takes all.

Rex sits across from you, and you tilt your head to the side, just enough that he can see the marks on your neck, the others engaged in their own conversation. The look you give him sends his heart beating faster, the calculated look in your eyes promising an enticing reward. Knowing his attention is on you, you quickly mouth best two out of three? While he doesn’t respond, his eyes tell you his answer, sending a thrill to your core.

Challenge accepted.

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[starstruck-thirst]

Crimson Dance Card

Illumi Zoldyck: Part 3 ‘Insidious Quickstep’

Previous- Part 2 ‘Dangerous Foxtrot’

Next- Part 4 TBA

Warnings: Slow manipulation, slow building story

~~~~~~ 

“The wedding is canceled,” he had said, voice as stern as it had always been. But there was an exhaustion under that familiar layer. Something that made the flesh on the back of your neck stand up. So many questions poured into your mind all at once that you couldn’t focus on any one to actually put a voice to it. But your father was looking directly into your eyes, awaiting your response.

“What happened? Was it something I did?” you finally asked, voice steady but uncertain in confusion. You couldn’t help but to think of all the times you denied Tibor. Had he finally decided your refusing his advances was enough to call everything off? “Will this harm the company?”

A pause. Then he took a deep breath that did nothing to relax his posture. “It doesn’t seem that the Tibor family will be pulling out of our contract, so nothing will change going forward with the partnership. As previously decided tomorrow we will be pairing with the Tibor company for the assigned supplies at a reduced cost.”

That was too neat. Why would they continue to partner with your family with so little gain? Sure, the pharmaceutical company your family ran would still generate a good revenue for the Tibor family, but originally they had been getting a partial share of the company when their son married you. So this was still a loss for them comparatively. “But what-” you were cut off as your father’s phone ringtone pierced the still air.

With a quick look at the phone screen he stood, putting a hand up to you indicating for you to wait for his return as he left for his office. “Yes? ...I’m taking care of it right now.” That was all you caught before the office door shut.

It had all happened so quickly and yet also in slow motion. Your father had stayed in his room so long that the morning passed in an anxious haze. You showered- though it wasn’t satisfying-, helped your younger siblings get ready for school, and even after all of that he still had not left his office again.

The only thing you could think to do with all of the anxious energy you felt welling up inside of your stomach was the obvious. Wedding preparations would have to be canceled, and it was only proper to do so in person. Anything to save face that ahead of time, since you weren’t sure just how much of it you were set to lose.

In the car it plagued you, and you ran the day before through your head again and again. Yes you had shied away from his kiss, but you had done so a million times before. Truth be told you figured Tibor didn’t really have much love for you, but was ready to have the business end and a pretty wife.

So what had changed?

By lunchtime you still weren’t certain. But you were hungry and your father hadn’t made any attempt to contact you just yet.

You had previously arranged a lunch at a nice cafe for you and Tibor, and it did seem a shame to waste it now. Especially a high end cafe on the pier. To be able to get in you had to have connections, and a place like that called for a certain level of social decorum. Including not canceling unless the reason was something very serious.

The inside was cool, both in temperature and color. Tasteful cool, gray wallpaper helped the seating area feel comfortable even on the most warm of days. Large windows looked out into the water, giving just a little taste at the life of comfort and lazing about that one could have when you had enough money. It was one of the few perks that your social standing had that you didn’t hate. A little slice of quiet and clean that not just anyone could touch.

“Are you here for your reservation, Miss. [last name]?” the host had asked when you arrived. Was there an air of judgement? Were you being paranoid?

“Yes. I’ll be alone today. I am sure that won’t be too much of a problem?”

He gave the briefest shake of his head and bowed, putting his arm out towards the dining room in a universal sign of granted entry. With a slight bow you left the desk to find your table with the help of a waiter that appeared immediately to usher you to your waiting table.

It felt so normal, and with how you had been feeling all day normal wasn’t good or comforting. It was just strange. Like you were watching from another body as you daintily navigated the tables covered in fine white cloth, full of your colleagues and their loved ones. The polite smile on your lips that you didn’t even have to think about any more was plastered on and it felt like a scab wanting to be scraped off.

By the time the waiter pushed you into your seat you almost felt a touch feint from how strangely you were feeling. Both alive and not.

“Would you like today’s chef’s special miss?” the waiter asked, filling your water glass, almost startling you.

Not feeling enough like yourself to even look over a menu, you nodded. “That would be, lovely. Thank you.”

The waiter dipped his head once and collected the spare place setting before going. It was somehow more odd when you were sitting at a table that had been previously set for two. When had you last eaten alone? Had you ever?

This was a lot of internal reflection that you hadn’t been prepared for.

Quietly you slipped your phone from your pocket to check your messages again, but disappointingly you had none.

Fortunately you had reserved a seat by the windows that looked out over the nearby bay. Previously it had been by design to have something to look at while Tibor prattled on about whatever it was he wanted to drone about today. Now it served as your only company as you waited with your hands in your lap, feeling like a child lost at sea.

“What fortune.”

It took a moment to realize the voice was directed at you since you were so lost in your own loneliness. But something in the familiarity is what finally commanded your attention, and to say you were completely shocked would have been an understatement. Illumi stood next to your table, just a few steps away in fact, looking right at you. The small smile you had come to look for any time the assassin graced your presence was detectable, but almost impossible to see if one wasn’t looking for it.

But you were.

“Oh! Mr. Z-.... Illumi,” you corrected. While it seemed more polite to use his last name, it was a rare occasion that it felt more proper to not use it. No one in the world had that last name that wasn’t part of a notorious assassin family. You hadn’t felt encumbered with it before, since you had been privately wandering the gardens, but now it seemed a sin.

“Illumi is fine,” he assured you. “Did you say… what fortune?” You tried to keep the girlish excitement out of your voice that welled up so quickly upon seeing him

“Yes. I was hoping to run into you again. I didn’t think it would be so soon. I admit the timing isn’t preferable.”

“Oh!” You looked around the room that you could see without moving your head, wondering if he was here on a job. “Are you… here for business?”

A very soft chuckle responded, “In a sense.” “Would… would joining me be of assistance or just a distraction? I do have this whole table to myself after all. Though I am sure you have a table already…”

Illumi looked to consider this. “Are you sure?”

“Of course!” you exclaimed a bit too loudly. You realized immediately and gave a bashful, apologetic look. “I apologize for my energy, I was just thinking some company might be nice is all.”

He raised a hand, making a waiter appear immediately. “I would like my meal sent to this table instead. That will be all.” Promptly he waved the man away who left with haste as Illumi sat down. “Simple enough to arrange.”

Your previously fake smile was genuine now. The excitement you felt bubbling inside of your stomach at seeing Illumi again was hard to repress and pretend to not exist.

“I’m glad you seem to be better today,” Illumi said, resting one arm on the table top. You must have seemed confused so he continued, “When I saw you yesterday afternoon you looked quite pale.”

“Oh that. Thank you I’m fine now. I guess it must have been warmer than I thought, though I can’t recall the last time the sun made me feel quite that faint.”

“I am surprised you are eating alone. No fiancé today it seems.”

You frowned. The feeling of the day you had been living creeping back into your emotions at the edges. Blurry and cold it felt, encroaching on the fresh and clear feelings you had just gotten back. “No. No fiancé at all. The arrangement was broken off.”

“Are you displeased?”

Even though you liked looking at Illumi, your eyes were drawn to the view outside once more for a moment before looking back to his face. His eyes were striking and it felt like they saw entirely through you. “No.” It was the first time you had thought so plainly of it. The worries about what had happened and what would happen going forward were entirely washed away in that moment and only the truth was laid bare inside of you. “He wasn’t worthy of my attention.”

Illumi seemed surprised by your brazien statement and you almost worried you had over stepped. “No. I don’t think he was.”

The waiter brought salad and for a time you two ate in silence. Mostly you didn’t want to bother Illumi when he was possibly working, watching a potential target. Yet it would be a lie that you also didn’t want to annoy him into leaving as you were enjoying his company so very much.

You didn’t turn your head to look about the room- even though it was very tempting- when Illumi’s eyes strayed from the table.

Some part of you wondered what it would be like to watch him actually kill someone.

“Do you have plans already this weekend, Miss. [last name]?”

Illumi’s question brought you back to immediate reality, salad fork half raised to your mouth. “I don’t believe so. A lot of my plans for this weekend are probably going to be very suddenly canceled,” you confessed. So much of your life was about being a socialite that now with all the calls and appearances on Tibor’s arm stricken from your planner you were temporarily left with ample time. “Why do you ask?”

Silently he put the fork on the salad plate to symbolize he was finished with it. “I have to attend another party and I would like to have a dance partner that knows how to move around the floor.”

You swallowed and put the fork down as quietly as you could, a mixture of excitement and nervousness washing over you like a tidal wave. “Of course. It would be my pleasure.”

“I believe that is supposed to be my line,” Illumi replied with a smile as he leaned on his arm. The movement was so casual, like some icy wall of formality was dripping a bit and you could see through it to the man on the other side for a moment.

Illumi’s eyes were so dark that it almost seemed as if no light could hope to warm them, and yet they themselves held a certain heat. They were focused on you and only you and it was exhilarating.

“I suppose there is no rule written that it cannot be both.”

He chuckled at your response. “Don’t let your food grow cold,” he said sitting back up with perfect posture once more. As his eyes lowered away from your face it felt as if you could breathe again.

Without your notice the salad plate had been taken and a fresh plate of warm food had taken its place. How had you missed that?

Lunch passed pleasantly. He asked about your siblings again- their ages and hobbies- and allowed a question about his own family in exchange. Revealing that essentially everyone in the family was part of the business. You tried to imagine what it must have been like to be a trained assassin from birth. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t easily pictured.

The check came all too soon for your liking, and surprisingly it was set in front of Illumi. “Let me pay. I asked you to sit here after all and I took up so much of your time. I worry you didn’t even have time to work properly.”

But Illumi hadn’t even listened to your entire plea before pulling cash out and placing it with the bill and handing it back to a waiter. “I got plenty done.”

Even if it was customary that the gentleman pay, it still made that girlish rush come back again. Now it felt a bit like a date. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure. May I walk you out to your car again?”

You nodded and started to move to stand but he motioned for you to remain where you were. Doing as you were instructed you waited as Illumi came around the table and pulled your chair out for you making it easier to stand gracefully.

He was so natural in everything he did. It was a marvel to watch as he offered his arm out again for you to take. This time you didn’t have a sun hat to hide the pink that spread across your cheeks, and all you could do was hope that Illumi wouldn’t think little of you for it.

Walking back out of the cafe was nothing like going in. You felt so very much a part of your body that you were overly aware of it. All the natural grace that had been bred into you didn’t seem enough as you walked next to someone so gorgeous.

“I enjoyed lunch today,” he said as the two of you waited for your car to come around and pick you up.

A hot, foaming warmth filled your entire body, and finally you figured out what that bubbly feeling was. It was hope. Hope that just maybe this handsome killer found you interesting and attractive. And it was scary. “I did also. I’m glad we ran into each other,” you admitted, hand still on his forearm.

“I will send along details about the party this weekend to your home.” The black car slid up, stopping right in front of the two of you. Illumi opened the door and guided you into it easily. “I look forward to dancing with you again, Miss. [last name].” As a parting gesture he took your hand into his and laid the softest kiss upon your knuckles.

“I look forward to it as well,” you whispered, placing your hand reluctantly into your lap before Illumi shut the car door and your driver pulled away from the cafe. You were grateful for the darkened car windows, knowing Illumi wouldn’t be able to see as you turned around to look at him one last time while he watched your car go, touching the knuckles he had kissed with your fingertips as you did so.

The entire thing was too good to be true. And for the first time the process of canceling all the wedding plans wasn’t painful, blurry, and distant. Now it was enjoyable. That was until a few hours later when a horrible feeling of sickness came over you again.

You had to return home early due to the feeling, a cold sweat starting to come over you once more. The possibility that you were sick occurred to you as you passed your father’s closed office door.

And for the next several days you were home bound, tossing in your sleep from whatever illness had taken you and praying that it would alleviate by the weekend.

Each day you lived just for the hope of the weekend and the handsome assassin that waited for you.

[harttohartforever-blog]

The Red Strokes

"Many of you were here last year when I sang a song to Jonathan for our anniversary. Well, he insisted on a song this year as well. Last year his gift to me was a very special painting. Darling, here is my painting for you." Jennifer nodded at the orchestra and took a deep breath.

 "Moonlight on canvas, midnight and wine

two shadows starting to softly combine

The picture they're painting is one of the heart

And to those who have seen it

it's a true work of art

Oh, the red strokes, passions uncaged

thundering moments of tenderness rage

Oh the red strokes, tempered and strong

burning the night like the dawn

Steam on the window, salt in a kiss

two hearts have never pounded like this

Inspired by a vision

that they can't command

erasing the borders

with each brush of a hand

Oh, the red strokes, passions uncaged

Thundering moments of tenderness rage

Oh, the red strokes, fearlessly drawn

burning the night like the dawn

The blues will be blue and the jealousies green

but when love picks its shade

it demands to be seen

Oh, the red strokes, passions uncaged

Thundering moments of tenderness rage

Oh, the red strokes, fearlessly drawn

burning the night like the dawn

Steam on a window, salt in a kiss

two hearts have never pounded like this

 Happy anniversary, Darling."

 The applause was loud in the ballroom Jonathan had reserved for the anniversary party this year. Jennifer wouldn't tell him what she planned to sing but he pulled out all the stops, booking the Legacy Ballroom and an orchestra to accompany her and provide music for dancing.

 The room was filled with men in either black tie or Naval uniforms, the ladies in elegant ballgowns. Jennifer's peach-colored chiffon stood out among the sea of mostly black dresses, its strapless bodice thickly paved with crystals. Around her neck, she wore his gift to her this year, a necklace of perfectly matched, cultured pearls with a large, antique, cushion-cut diamond enhancer lying against her sternum, its banked fire flashing and throwing sparks as she moved.

 The orchestra had played during the cocktail hour, and then, once Jennifer's song was through, they played unobtrusively throughout the dinner service as the waiters passed grilled duck breast and shrimp skewers. At nine the orchestra played the intro to their final song, the Sweetheart's Dance, just for the Harts alone. Jonathan led her onto the dance floor to the first strains of Once Upon A Dream. After he had waltzed her around and around for about two minutes alone the deejay called for all the married couples to join them on the dance floor. When the last notes faded the deejay took over to provide plenty of dance music. They danced the evening away, Jennifer was twirled around the floor with seemingly every man at the party while Jonathan was much in demand as a competent partner, he knew how to make even the most amateur dancer feel like the belle of the ball.

 "I need to be alone with you." He told Jennifer when they finally had the chance to dance together again to a recording of the Glenn Miller Orchestra's performance of Sunrise Serenade. "That was quite a song you chose. I felt like I was making love to you through the whole thing."

 "That was the idea." She smiled radiantly as he waltzed her into a dip and then kissed her soundly on the way back up.

 "I think every man in here had the same thought."

 "Then maybe some of their wives will get as lucky as I'm going to get tonight."

 "What makes you so sure you are going to get lucky tonight?" His voice was a sensual growl that traveled from her ears straight to all the pleasure centers in her brain and she shivered delicately in his arms.

 "Experience," she answered tartly. "I can see it in your eyes. Right now you are wondering if we can slip away quietly like we did at our wedding reception. It's only too bad we have such a long ride home. I don't think Max is going to want to leave his poker game with the waitstaff quite so early."

 "It might be the best thing for him, before he loses all his money to them. Besides, it's not early Darling, it's past midnight. It's time for the carriage to turn back into a pumpkin."

 "That's Cinderella. Once Upon A Dream is from Sleeping Beauty."

 "Well, it's time I got my Beauty home and into bed."

 "That was the general idea."

 They cuddled in the backseat as Max piloted the big car across the 101 and then South on the 405. They could never drive the 405 without remembering the day they had found Freeway on the ramp. He was just a filthy bundle of fur but Jennifer had insisted they stop and rescue the little pup. Tonight, she had her arms around Jonathan's neck, her fingers in his hair and she had drunk enough champagne toasts that she was feeling no pain.

 The sticky August heat inland became cooler and they could smell the salt air coming off the ocean as Max turned onto Sunset Boulevard then up into the canyon. At this hour of the morning, there was almost no traffic and they made it home in about 35 minutes. Jonathan went to bring up a couple of brandies for a nightcap while Jennifer slipped upstairs to change into something more comfortable.

 "Why, Mr. Hart, are you trying to take advantage of me?" She asked when he walked into the bedroom with two crystal snifters of Remy Martin XO.

"I rather thought it was the other way around." He told her, clinking his balloon glass to hers. "After that song choice tonight I suspect you have designs on my virtue."

 "I don't want your virtue Darling, it's your vice I'm interested in," Jennifer looked delicious in a long, black silk nightgown that swirled around her ankles much the same as her ballgown had earlier. For him, dancing with her was always like an extension of their foreplay. After an evening of holding her close, or even watching her dance with others, seeing the way her dancer's body moved, he could hardly wait to be alone with her. She considered herself lucky that she had married a man who loved to dance, but before her, he hadn't cared about dancing at all.

 Jennifer had studied ballet and modern dance right up through college, and still took classes occasionally. The night they met he had taken her to the various night clubs of London and they danced the night away then too. He could waltz and foxtrot passably thanks to Max's insistence that he learn the skills expected of a gentleman, but he had never loved it until he danced with Jennifer. During their very brief engagement, he had taken a crash course in dancing, practicing every evening in order to keep up with her.

 Holding her tonight, feeling the heat from her skin radiating through the thin silk of her negligee and remembering how beautiful she looked singing just for him as though the ballroom full of people didn't exist, he felt again the enormity of his love for her. Jennifer had improved his life in every way, he would give her the sun and stars if she asked, dancing was such a simple request.

 "What was that you sang, about salt in a kiss?" He asked her, kissing that spot on her throat that always made her crazy. She threw her head back, encouraging his exploration of her soft skin before leading him to their big bed. She had her favorite sheets on the bed, the royal blue ones that flattered her pale, freckled skin, made of pure mulberry silk that was just as smooth and soft as satin but breathed so much better.

 On these hot, sticky summer nights the lightweight silk made sleeping bearable. They could leave the air conditioning turned off and throw the big windows open to the evening breezes. The smells of night-blooming jasmine and moonflowers drifted in with the sounds of the coyotes calling to each other in the canyon. Very rarely, they would hear the distant echo of a wolf howling, the eerie sound always filling Jennifer with a kind of beautiful sadness she could never put into words.

 Jonathan paused a split second from entering her, her legs wrapped around his hips, her body slick and aching for him, he saw her again like it was the first time. He was looking into her eyes as he moved in her with exquisite, agonizing slowness. Her pupils dilated and her breath stopped for a heartbeat when he, at last, filled her completely. His name on her lips was a plea as he moved back out with the same slow control until her body responded to him from that place beyond words, Her nails clawed at his back, her heels a drumbeat on his thighs, her muscles holding him tightly within her until he let go as well, filling her with everything that words could never convey.

 When he collapsed beside her, both of them breathing hard, she turned with him to hold him inside her a little longer. He was caught in her eyes just as surely as within her body. She was the center of his universe, the sun that kept everything spinning in rhythm. It sounded so corny even in his own mind to say that she completed him but that was exactly what she did. She complimented him, her strengths balancing his weaknesses, as he did for her. They fit together so perfectly that nothing could ever come between them or break them apart.

  Chapter Two

 "Jennifer? Can you come right away? I need your help." Beth sounded frantic and Jennifer looked blearily across Jonathan's body at the clock. 9:15. It had been nearly one-thirty when she and Jonathan had gotten in last night. And after three when they, at last, fell asleep in each other's arms. Between the many, many champagne toasts and the brandy they had shared at home, it felt like the party was still going on inside her head.

 "Of course, Beth. What's wrong?"

 "It's Gianna. I think she's been kidnapped."

 "We'll be there in an hour." Jennifer hung up the phone and shook Jonathan awake. They both dressed quickly and told Max they would be back later. The drive to Sherman Oaks took thirty minutes and then they were pulling through Beth and Cary's gate, parking behind Beth's sporty red SUV.

 "All right Beth. Why do you think something has happened to Gianna?" Jonathan asked when they had been shown into the Aldridge's living room.

 "We got a phone call. It was from her phone, but it was a man. He said they have Gianna. Not to call the police, and they want five million dollars transferred to a numbered account at Fidelity Bank of the Bahamas by four p.m. or they will kill her." Cary answered for his wife. He was much calmer than Beth. "What do you think, Jonathan? Should I pay it?"

 "We're not there yet. Let's start with the obvious. Did you call the school to see if Gianna is there? Maybe it's just a really bad prank." Jonathan spoke seriously, his mind racing. He and Cary had been friends since college. Jonathan had been the best man at his wedding, and he had a photo in his study of Jennifer dancing with a two-year-old Gianna at their own anniversary party five years later.

 "I called the school," Beth spoke up although her voice shook. "They said she never arrived."

 "Was she driving?" Jennifer asked suddenly. "OnStar should be able to track her car." Gianna had been so excited to get her license just a few months ago, Beth and Cary had given her a little Chevy Volt as a birthday gift.

 "No, she rode in with her friend Molly. I've already checked, she didn't make it to school either and her car wasn't equipped with a tracking device. Her parents are on their way over." Beth broke down in tears, Jennifer moving swiftly to hold the sobbing woman. She couldn't imagine what Beth must be going through. The Aldridges had married older, much as she and Jonathan had, but unlike the Harts, Beth and Cary had been blessed with a child. Gianna was the light of their lives.

 Just then there was another knock at the door and the housekeeper ushered in a younger couple. Chris and Maggie Malone were in their early thirties and despite living in Sherman Oaks they clearly were not as well off as the Aldridges. Unfortunately, they knew as well as Jonathan did what that likely meant if Gianna had truly been kidnapped. Molly was collateral damage, she had no value as a hostage, therefore a kidnapper would have little reason to keep her alive.

 "Why not check Gianna's GPS history? It might tell us something about where she has been recently." Jonathan suggested. The other two men followed him out to the garage where Gianna's little blue convertible was plugged in. Cary activated the touchscreen display and called up her GPS history. It showed her most frequently visiting the Westfield Mall with school in a distant second place.

 Chris Malone suggested driving over to the mall to see if anyone remembered the girls or saw anything suspicious recently but Jonathan took him aside and asked him to stay and help Cary see to the women. Privately he thought that canvassing the mall might be a good idea but he didn't want to risk Chris accidentally finding his own daughter's body. He and Jennifer could investigate the mall on their own.

 "Cary, you stay by the phone and call me immediately if you hear anything, anything at all. And Chris, why don't you and the ladies call around to the girl's friends and see if they know anything. Jennifer and I will check the mall and around the high school." Gianna and Molly attended Campbell Hall in Laurel Canyon where they were both starting their junior year.

 The mall had only been open for an hour or so when he and Jennifer started asking around, showing pictures of both girls. Several employees recalled seeing the girls around at various times, especially in the food court but no one could really identify when they had last seen them with any certainty. Jonathan and Jennifer were in the security office trying to convince the on-duty Captain to let them review security footage to see if there had been anyone following the girls recently when Jonathan's cell phone chirped.

 "Abe ... What? When? We're on our way now. I'll call you when we find out anything." He pocketed his phone and turned to the security officer. "Where is 2bella?"

 "That's in the east wing, on the first floor, it's that way." He pointed down the left side of the huge space and Jonathan took off at a run, Jennifer hot on his heels. "Gianna's credit card was just used at a store called 2bella a few minutes ago. I had Abe flag her card when I asked him to track her cell phone. Whoever has her card might still be in the area if we can get there fast enough." He panted, threading his way past early shoppers and small clots of track-suit-clad mall walkers.

 The clerk in the boutique remembered a group of high school aged girls who all seemed to be together but couldn't specify if Gianna or Molly had been part of the group. She did recall that they were talking about going to Sephora next setting Jonathan and Jennifer off running again. Sure enough, Sephora was filled with teens, one of whom was very familiar.

 "Uncle Jonathan, what are you doing here?" Gianna asked him as he tried to catch his breath. Jennifer was already dialing her phone as soon as she spotted Molly Malone in the crowd as well.

 "Cary, we've got them. They are safe. Yes, both of them. We don't have any information yet. We'll be headed back to you in a few minutes." She hung up the phone and turned her attention back to the girls.

 "We just decided to skip today, we didn't have any important classes, it's just review from last year. And I lost my phone somewhere. What's the big deal? I can't believe my dad sent you after me." Gianna looked embarrassed being singled out and Jennifer felt bad for her but Jonathan took the two girls aside for a quiet conversation after which both girls looked worried and quickly gathered their bags and sprinted towards the exit.

 "They are heading straight back to Cary's house. I told Molly her parents are waiting there as well. I'd better call and let them know the girls are safe ..."

 "I already did," Jennifer interrupted him. "But what happened?"

 "Thank you, Darling." They both began to move towards the exit as well. "It seems the whole pep squad decided to ditch their morning classes and meet here for some retail team building. They all met up in the food court and it was half an hour before Gianna noticed her phone was missing."

 "Just this once I wish she was a normal teenager obsessed with her phone, it might have saved a lot of worry if she had noticed it sooner."

Jennifer commented.

 "I don't think so, Darling. And I don't think Gianna lost her phone. It's too coincidental to think that a random stranger finds her phone and decides to stage a fake kidnapping AND just happens to call the wealthiest parents in the school. Someone knew what the girls were planning and took advantage of the circumstances. Will you drive back to Cary and Beth's, please? I need to speak to Abe again." Jonathan's brow was furrowed as he scrolled through his contacts.

 She was horrified by the idea that someone would be so cruel as to play a prank of this magnitude on her friends. The drive back to the Aldridge estate was a quiet one as Jonathan had a cryptic conversation with Hart Industries head of cybersecurity, Abe Solomon. She was very happy to see the girls climbing out of Molly's white Jeep in front of the Aldridge's house when she pulled up to the gate. All four parents came spilling through the front door crying happier tears now and hugging the girls.

 The Malones, in particular, couldn't seem to let go of their daughter, standing in a close huddle, rocking back and forth and crying on each other. Jennifer could empathize with the special fear they must have been grappling with. Cary and Beth had known that their daughter was most likely alive and unharmed, the Malone's didn't even have that comfort. Jonathan asked that all of the adults meet him in the living room when they were ready and led Jennifer inside.

 She would not normally presume to make requests of someone else's staff but today she sought out Beth's housekeeper, Ingrid, and asked her to make some strong coffee and sandwiches for everyone. She couldn't help but notice that Ingrid's eyes were red too. She had been the Aldridge's housekeeper since before Gianna was born and she had been praying for The Virgin to intercede and bring the girls home safe. Now she promised to have lunch on the table in half an hour and Jennifer returned to find the adults clustered in the living room listening to Jonathan explain his theory.

 "I don't think any of this was a coincidence. I believe someone knew that the girls were planning to skip school and followed them to the mall. I think they used the bustle of the group as cover to steal Gianna's phone and make that call to Beth."

 "But Jonathan, if that were true then whoever it was would have to know what I am worth. Why ask for so little?" Carrington Kendrick Aldridge had taken a modest hundred million dollar inheritance and turned it into a multi-billion dollar conglomerate of air and sea shipping companies.

 "Because their plan depended on you paying quickly. They needed to ask for an amount you could put together within a couple of hours. The longer it took the more chance there was that you would discover they didn't actually have Gianna, just her phone. The whole scheme would fall apart if she simply borrowed a friend's phone and called home for any reason.

 I have asked my corporate investigator to find me the location of Gianna's phone. The supposed kidnapper probably doesn't know Gianna is home. I'd like to play this out. Let him think that you are going to pay, that you are sick with worry over her safety. Drag it out as long as you can, give Abe time to do what he does."

 "Look, Jonathan, I'd like to catch the guy too, frankly I'd like to pummel his face into the pavement, but Gianna is home safe and the phone is easily replaceable. Why not just leave it at that?" Cary asked him.

 "Because if he is desperate enough to try a stunt like this he may not give up so easily. And next time he might not be bluffing. I don't think Gianna will really be out of danger until we figure out who it is and stop them for good."

 "You're right of course. I hadn't thought about that. All right, Jonathan. We'll play this your way. Tell us what you need us to do." Cary spoke but the others nodded their agreement.

 "For now just keep on as you have been. Call Gianna's phone and just keep them talking as long as you can. Ask to talk to Gianna, but don't push too hard when he refuses. Maybe talk about how distraught her mother is. Anything to keep the line open while Abe does what he needs to."

 "Jonathan, why not just use one of those 'find your friends' apps? Gianna must have one, all the kids do." Jennifer asked him. "It will tell you where the phone is in just a few seconds."

 "Abe will be able to get a much more precise location, he only needs to phone to be active for a minute or so and he can pinpoint the location to within a few feet." He nodded at Cary who dialed his daughter's phone number and performed as Jonathan suggested. He wasn't able to keep the faux kidnapper on the line for more than a minute but it was enough. Jonathan's phone chirped again and Abe was able to provide him with an address.

 Jonathan tried to convince Cary and Chris Malone to remain behind but they would not hear of it so he had to settle for asking the police to meet them there. Abe's information led them to a house about fifteen minutes from the Aldridge home in another upscale neighborhood. Unlike the homes surrounding it however, this house appeared to have fallen on hard times. The lawn was overgrown and turning brown in patches, and there were cobwebs accumulating in the corners of the wide porch. When Jonathan rang the bell they heard the sound of footsteps and then the door was opened by a teenage girl in a Campbell Hall school uniform with the inevitable Airpods in her ears. Cary introduced himself and asked if her parents were home.

 "Da-ad, it's some guy for you. I'll be in the kitchen if you ever get ready to take me to school." Just as she bounced out of the room a man came downstairs, preoccupied with shuffling through a stack of letters in his hand. When he glanced up and spotted the three men in his foyer he looked panicked and tried to bolt past them for the door. The crunching sound of his nose breaking seemed very loud when Cary punched him just as Jonathan launched himself into a flying tackle at his midsection. The man went down in a tangle of arms and legs and made no attempt to get up again.

 "Why did you do it?" Cary shouted at him.

 "I-I don't know what you're talking about. How did you get in here?" The fear in his eyes gave him away and Cary took out his phone. He punched the redial button and the unmistakable bubblegum sound of Taylor Swift came from the man's pocket. Chris grabbed him roughly and pulled a bedazzled blue cellphone from his pocket just as the police knocked at the front door.

 David Standish became very chatty once the handcuffs were on. He had made some bad stock investments recently and was being foreclosed on by his creditors. His daughter Alecia was on the cheerleading team with Gianna and Molly. When he overheard the plan to ditch school he saw an opportunity to get back on his feet. This morning he pretended to 'catch' Alecia and grounded her so she couldn't reveal him then it was a simple matter of getting close to the oblivious group of girls at the food court and stealing Gianna's phone when she put it down. He figured that since he asked for so little Cary would just pay him quickly and quietly rather than risk Gianna's safety.

 He claimed it wasn't really a crime since he didn't actually kidnap Gianna and was surprised when Officer Benton informed him that he did, in fact, commit attempted felony extortion as well as theft of the cell phone. Cary gave a disgusted snort when David started pleading for mercy on behalf of his family and begged him not to press charges. Chris coldly informed him that he was pressing charges even if Cary didn't and he should be grateful they weren't suing him for intentional infliction of emotional distress. That was the last they heard from Mr. Standish as the cops led him away. They returned to the Aldridge estate where Jonathan and Chris collected their respective women and left, the ladies promising to make plans to meet for lunch next week.

  At home, Jennifer suggested a soak in the hot tub since they left in such a hurry this morning. The spa was a fairly new addition. After fire destroyed the house in '94 they had made a few upgrades to the rebuild that it had been needing, including enlarging the small balcony off of the master bedroom and which now sported the jacuzzi set into the deck and a couple of comfortable chaises for sitting outside and enjoying the balmy southern California weather. With fifty acres of empty canyon wrapped around the house, they were free to forego swimwear, as they were doing now.

 "To anniversaries." Jonathan raised his wine glass, "May they never get boring."

 "That's what I love about you, Darling. I meet such interesting people. I think my next husband will be a nice, boring banker. Or an accountant."

 "Your next husband? Darling, you could never leave me, you love me. You can't live without me. You will never have this much fun with anyone else."

 "Jonathan?"

 "Yes, Darling."

 "Move your foot."

 "You love me. You know you love me. I know you know you love me."

 "All right, Darling. I love you. Now, would you rub my back for a minute please." She turned to rest her arms on the deck as Jonathan crossed the small space between them and positioned himself behind her. Her sleek blowout was completely undone in the steam and the tendrils that escaped her hair tie clung to her neck in damp curls that reminded him of how sweetly tousled she looked when they made love.

 She knew what he was thinking by the way his hands felt on her back, one minute kneading the knots from her neck and the next lightly running his fingers down her spine. She shifted slightly, moving closer to him and wedging him firmly against her butt, smiling as she felt the sudden jump in his attention. His gentle stroking continued along her sides, tracing an hourglass under the water, making her sigh and lay her head back onto his shoulder.

 "What were we talking about?" Her voice was already husky and sexy sounding and he could feel her moving against him. The bubbles added a new dimension to their playful banter.

 "How much you love me, how you could never, ever leave me." He reminded her, nudging even closer against her.

 "I could leave you if I wanted to." She insisted, even as she pressed back against him, her voice becoming ever more ragged in the flow of bubbles from the jets. It was an old routine between them. He could talk her into anything because she was helpless when he turned the full wattage of his seduction on her. But there was always a moment of apogee, when he became helpless in the face of her touch. If she was powerless to resist his words, he was just as paralyzed by her caress.

 The bathrobes draped over the nearest chaise were still warm from the late afternoon sun when Jonathan rose out of the jacuzzi and held the thick white terry out for her to step into. And when she went into her dressing room to select a negligee she found one already laid out on the blue velvet upholstery of her slipper chair.

 "How does he do that?" She mused under her breath. Jonathan had been with her all afternoon and yet here was one of her favorite negligees all ready for her to slip into. She was certain this was one task he would not entrust to Max, and yet how else could he have accomplished it?

 "Magic." She had been so deep in thought she hadn't noticed him approach and she jumped at his voice.

 "I'm sorry, what?"

 "I said 'magic'. You were wondering how I got your gown laid out without you noticing." He smirked at her look of confusion and held the garment in question out for her slip on. He was already wearing a pair of soft pajama pants in white silk with black piping trim. His favorite gold chain glinting at her from its nest in his chest hair. She was so glad he had never gone in for the current fad of waxing his chest. Smooth, hairless chests might be trendy but she had always found his hair to be sexy. She loved the rough feel of it under her fingers when they made love, the way he responded so quickly when she toyed with it through his open collars, and especially how the gold coin he wore on a chain looked resting in the thick brown nest.

 The coin had been a gift from her on their first Christmas together, after he had commented about having a lucky penny growing up in the orphanage. He had immediately taken the coin to the jewelers and had it strung on a chain so he could always have it close to his heart. In all the years they had been married he had never taken it off and seeing it there still moved her.

 The gown he had chosen for tonight matched his pants, of course, he frequently chose his own clothing to complement hers. She was wearing the same white silk but hers was styled like a traditional cheongsam, the formal high neck Chinese dress slit high up both sides. It was inked in black with watercolor peonies and a vertical line of calligraphy that translated to 'When I met you the sky burned, and so did I'. He had commissioned an artist to paint it especially for her the year she turned 50. That had been a difficult birthday for her since menopause had her questioning her sexuality and whether she was still desirable to him. The gown made her feel beautiful and sexy and very, very cherished.

 "It's not the gown," she had told him that night with happy tears in her eyes. "It's how you see me." It still remained one of her favorite gifts. The fabric hugged her slender body and whispered against her skin.

 "I want to give you all of the beautiful love words you deserve but your eyes steal all of my words away." He told her now.

 "Jonathan, you always say the sweetest things. I wish that I had taken the time to write down all of the beautiful things you tell me. If I had put them all in a book it would be a runaway bestseller. Finally, a definitive primer on how to understand the heart of a woman. But I never wrote them down and my only excuse is that I was too busy being in love with you."

 The big California king was an island unto itself when they met in the middle of it. Jonathan fingered the satin frogs that closed her gown from shoulder to hip, slipping them free one by one. Jennifer could feel the heat from his hands searing her skin. Tiny blooms of heat in every brush of his fingertips that spread like ripples on the water. The covers moved slightly and he glanced down to see Freeway squirming out from the blankets beside her.

 "Freeway, out. Scat now." He shooed the little dog off the bed and put him out. "Go find Max now, run along." His tone was loving but firm. He sounded like he was speaking to a naughty child and Freeway obeyed much like a child who knows there is no point in protesting any further.

 "Now, where were we?" He asked as soon as he returned to the big bed. "Oh yes, I remember. I believe I was right about here." His hands returned to the last couple of knots that held the fabric closed against her skin. "I love this negligee, Darling but it hides something I desperately need to get to." Her laughter was sweet and musical as he finally opened the last frog and the nightgown fell open. "Your neck." He added with a grin, kissing the hollow spot he revealed.

 "Darling, you're like a vampire. I should call you Count Dracula the way you are always biting my neck."

 "You love it. It's no use denying it now. It's far too late for that." He wasn't wrong. His lips on her throat never failed to excite her. "I'm trying to make up for all the years I should have been kissing you but I just hadn't met you yet."

 "I just want to feel your touch, your love. In your arms I am home." Jennifer wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing him right up against her body. After his slow seduction in the hot tub, she was ready for him. She didn't want to wait any longer to have him inside her and she wrapped her long legs around his thighs to urge him forward.

 "I want to be as close to you as I can be. It's not just the way you touch me, I love the way you say my name, the way you make me believe in forevers. I never wanted to be helpless until you. Every day I willingly hand you the ability to destroy me and every day you show me why I am right to trust you. My life has changed for the better because I love you" Jennifer spoke simply but her words were all the more eloquent for her quiet delivery.

 "You have quite the way with beautiful words as well, Mrs. Hart. Being with you is special because I don't have to censor myself. I can say all of the ridiculously over the top things in my heart and know you won't think less of me."

 "We really are completely over the top, aren't we? But I wouldn't want it any other way"

 "We are. I love these times with you, when the whole world just fades away and all my walls come down. You speak directly to my heart." He kissed her again, long and slow and he was rewarded when he felt her tongue probing delicately, reaching out to sweep across his lower lip. He could taste the rich wine they had shared in the spa as well as a hint of her peppermint toothpaste. The setting sun cast red lines in the quiet room as their shadows merged into one.

 They moved together again like thousands of times before. Jennifer loved the way his five o'clock shadow rasped across her skin. Jonathan loved the sound of his name, spoken like a prayer, on her lips. And the way her kisses tasted like sunshine.

 "E poi, poi ci son io che in te vorrei semplicemente." Jonathan loved the way her voice sounded, low and sexy when she spoke love words in Italian. Or French, or Spanish, or any of the half-dozen languages she spoke. He waited now, knowing she would translate for him. "And then, then there is me who would simply lose myself in you."

 "Sometimes I look at you and wonder how I got to be so damn lucky." He told her. His hands were everywhere on her body, moving over her breasts, through her hair, stroking her arms. His weight on her as familiar to her as her own skin. She tugged lightly on his chest hair, fastening her lips around each of his nipples in turn, making him cry out her name as he spilled himself inside her.

 The late sun painted her body in wide strokes of red and dark shadowed places. Now it was his mouth that hovered over her breast and she arched her back up to him but he remained frustratingly out of reach.

 "Don't tease me, Jonathan, I need you."

 "Tell me." He demanded, his breath a torment on her skin, and a rush of heat flooding her body.

 "Kiss me." She pleaded. "Touch me, make my world go black." His hand drifted lower, finding the secret heart of her and stroking softly. He kissed her hard cinnamon-colored nipples, first one then the other, until her breath grew harsh and ragged.

 "Not yet." He whispered against her ear. Her body was primed and ready for him and it took only a slight shift to slip inside her again. Her heat was overwhelming as she trembled beneath him and he held himself up with one arm, keeping the other seated firmly between them, pressing against her in time with his movement inside her.

 "Not yet," he whispered again. Her body shook with need and he could see that she was nearly at the end of her control. He withdrew almost all the way from her. "Now." He growled in her ear, driving deeply into her and quickly lowering his head to feast again on her swollen nipples. Her screams echoed in the room and a small covey of songbirds in the garden took flight. As her body convulsed she gripped him tightly and he poured himself into her for a second time.

 He held her close as her quakes gradually subsided and her racing heart calmed. Thick tears leaked from the corners of her eyes as she breathed great gulping sobs in his arms. Her head was thrown back, his arm holding her close, comforting and soothing her as only he could. He kissed her gently. It was perfect, delightful, as she tangled her tongue with his. It was so soft and gentle and he calmed her soul as he quieted her body. Tenderly, with the softest of touches.

 "I love you, Darling."

[citizenscreen]

This tradition began four years ago when I thought of no better way to share the joy of the season on this blog than to spread the magic of movies. In a Christmassy sort of way. ‘Tis the season, after all and paying movies forward in hopes that these memorable distractions take your minds off negative goings on is now my December lot in life. I’m asking that you join me, recommend your favorites and #PayClassicsForward on your blogs and across social media.

Give the gift of movies

I realize I am publishing this post much later in December than I have in the past, which leaves you little time to play with it if you are up for the challenge. However, if you are interested here’s the challenge…pick movie recommendations to the “12 Days of Christmas” theme as I’ve done below. Keep in mind that movie choices should be those you think would appeal to non classics fans and there can be no repeats. Let’s grow our community and #PayClassicsForward

Have fun!

On the first day of Christmas, etc., etc., etc��

One dream

Excluding the mother of all dream sequences, that is when Dorothy befriends a Tin Man, a Scarecrow, and a lion in a magical land, then I must go with a telling of Charles Dickens’ 1843 classics, A Christmas Carol. I didn’t set out to choose a Christmas story for this, but perused several lists of dream sequences in movies and was shocked that Ebenezer Scrooge’s legendary journey was not even mentioned. I correct that oversight with this entry as it is a dream to fill the heart.

Of all the adaptations of Dickens’ story about morality, human frailty, and redemption the best is Brian Desmond-Hurst’s 1951 movie starring Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge. This version of A Christmas Carol is good enough to watch all the year with Sim’s nuanced, affecting performance a standout. If you are a rotten person you might want to dream as Scrooge does in this movie and if you are a kind-hearted sort you might want to be reminded of why that matters.

Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge

  Two islands

I could have gone with fun times and music for this category, but decided on gloom and doom instead. Take a look and you won’t forget Earle C. Kenton’s Island of Lost Souls (1932), which features a terrifically creepy performance by Charles Laughton. Next I suggest you gather with seven guests who are picked off one by one in Rene Clair’s And Then There Were None (1945) based on one of Agatha Christie’s most famous whodunnits.

Island of Lost Souls

Before there were none in And Then There Were None

  Three gentlemen

No surprise here. See everything they’ve ever done.

  Four speeches

From Chaplin’s The Great Dictator (1940)

Hynkel/A Jewish Barber:

“I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way…”

  From Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972)

Don Vito Corleone:

“But I’m a superstitious man, and if some unlucky accident should befall him… if he should be shot in the head by a police officer, or if he should hang himself in his jail cell, or if he’s struck by a bolt of lightning, then I’m going to blame some of the people in this room, and that I do not forgive.”

  From Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Jefferson Smith:

“Liberty’s too precious a thing to be buried in books, Miss Saunders. Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say: I’m free to think and to speak. My ancestors couldn’t, I can, and my children will. Boys ought to grow up remembering that.”

  From Robert Mulligan’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Atticus Finch:

“Now, gentlemen, in this country, our courts are the great levelers. In our courts, all men are created equal. I’m no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and of our jury system – that’s no ideal to me. That is a living, working reality! Now I am confident that you gentlemen will review, without passion, the evidence that you have heard, come to a decision and restore this man to his family. In the name of GOD, do your duty. In the name of God, believe… Tom Robinson.”

  Five golden rings

Not that kind of ring! This kind…

Mark Robson’s The Harder They Fall (1956)

  Robert Rossen’s Body and Soul (1947)

  Reuben Mamoulian’s Golden Boy (1939)

  Michael Curtiz’s Kid Galahad (1937)

Edward G. Robinson and Bette Davis in Kid Galahad

  Eddie Buzzell’s The Big Timer (1932)

Ben Lyon and Constance Cummings in The Big Timer

  There are quite a few great boxing movies that most have seen like the ones with that Balboa guy. I chose a few that you may not have and should. By the way, I want extra points with Santa for not listing Elvis’ Kid Galahad (1962).

  Six Acting-related Stories

Assuming everyone has seen Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, Joseph Mankiewicz’s All About Eve, and the Donen/Kelly vehicle with dignity, always dignity, Singin’ in the Rain then I suggest the following glittering stories…

Victor Fleming’s Bombshell 1933)

George Cukor’s A Double Life (1947)

Robert Florey’s Hollywood Boulevard (1936)

Joseph Pevney’s Man of a Thousand Faces (1957)

Graeme Clifford’s Frances (1982)

Stuart Heisler’s The Star (1952)

The Star

Bombshell

Man of a Thousand Faces

Frances

Hollywood Boulevard

A Double Life

  Seven drinks

I thought it’d be fun to spread the joy with ideas for classic imbibing. Here are just seven of the many drinks had throughout yesteryear in the movies.

The Thin Man Martini

“…a Manhattan you shake to a Foxtrot, a Bronx to a two-step, but a Dry martini you should always shake to waltz time.”

1 1/2 oz Dry Gin

3/4 oz Dry Vermouth

Instructions:

Pour into a cocktail shaker, shake and strain into a chilled martini glass.

  The Casablanca Champagne Cocktail

Victor Laszlo’s drink.

Champagne Cocktail 1 bitters-soaked sugar cube 1 oz brandy or cognac Brut champagne Twist of lemon, for garnish

Place your sugar cube on top of the bitters bottle. While holding it in place with your finger, flip the bottle upside down until the sugar cube is saturated. Drop the sugar cube into a champagne flute and add your cognac or brandy. Top with Brut champagne, garnish with lemon and enjoy.

  Margo Channing and the “bumpy night” Gibson

This cocktail is also notable for making a cameo in the train car in North by Northwest, but Margot gets the official shout out today.

Gibson Classic Cocktail

4 parts gin 1 part dry vermouth pearl cocktail onion Combine the gin and vermouth in a shaker over ice. Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a pearl onion.

  The Some Like it Hot Manhattan

This whiskey cocktail is popular in Wilder’s film and best served after stirring/mixing with a drumstick, cymbal, and hot water bottle on a trail with Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopaters.

Ingredients:

2 oz bourbon 1 ox Italian sweet vermouth 2 dashes Angostura bitters

Recipe: 

Combine all the ingredients in a shaker. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and enjoy.

  Blue Hawaii Mai Tai

1 oz white rum

½ oz Orgeat syrup

½ oz Cointreau

2 oz pineapple juice

1 oz orange juice

Dark Rum float (such as Koloa dark rum)

Pineapple spear and lime (for garnish)

Mix white rum, Orgeat, Cointreau, pineapple and orange juices in a shaker filled with ice. Pour drink into a glass with the ice, and float the dark rum on top. Top with pineapple spear and lime wedge.

Made by Angela Lansbury this is sure to be a hit at any party.

  The Breakfast at Tiffany’s Mississippi Punch

2 oz / 50 ml cognac 1 oz / 25 ml bourbon 1⁄2 oz / 12.5 ml lemon juice 1⁄2 oz / 12.5 ml sugar syrup 1 oz / 25 ml dark rum

Shake all the ingredients except the rum with crushed ice and pour into a Collins glass, unstrained. Top the glass with more crushed ice, gently pour over the rum and garnish with an orange slice and a cherry.

  The Scotch Mist from The Big Sleep

It’s important to offer a darker choice so I went for the kind of drink a femme fatale would order when sitting next to Humphrey Bogart.

Ingredients :

2 oz. whiskey (whiskey, bourbon)

2 oz. crushed ice

1 twist lemon peel

Pack a collins glass with crushed ice. Pour in scotch. Add the twist of lemon peel and serve with a straw. No garnish because garnish doesn’t fit in a dirty little world.

  Eight silents

I know many classic film fans that have not taken the journey into silent film. That was me when I started this blog, but since I’ve made a concerted effort to watch a silent film when time allows. There’s no doubt I would recommend some of the popular greats to the silent movie novice, or films made by the three comedy megastars and the likes of Metropolis or Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, to name just two. This past year I saw most of the following lesser-known gems for the first time and recommend them without hesitation.

Victor Sjöström’s The Wind (1928)

Erich von Stroheim’s Foolish Wives (1922)

Per Lindberg’s Norrtullsligan (The Nortull Gang ) (1923)

Leo McCarey’s Mighty Like a Moose (1926)

Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle’s The Cook (1918)

Lois Weber’s Suspense (1913)

Paul Leni’s The Cat and the Canary (1927)

Fred Guiol’s Duck Soup (1927)

Duck Soup

Foolish Wives

Mighty Like a Moose

Norrtullsligan

Suspense

The Cat and the Canary

The Cook

The Wind

  Nine Child Performances

No explanation needed for this lot of talented young ‘uns.

Roddy McDowall in John Ford’s How Green Was My Valley (1941)

Patty McCormack as Rhoda in Mervyn LeRoy’s The Bad Seed (1956)

Salvatore Cascio as Toto in Giuseppe Tornatore‘s Cinema Paradiso (1988)

Jackie Coogan in Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid (1921)

George Winslow in anything, but for now I’ll go for his performance in Howard Hawks’ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Enzo Staiola as Bruno in Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (1948)

Virginia Weidler as Dinah Lord in George Cukor’s The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Patty Duke as Helen Keller in Arthur Penn’s The Miracle Worker (1962)

Eva Lee Kuney as Trina in George Stevens’ Penny Serenade (1941)

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  Ten Stars and their Dogs

I recently read a startling statistic. It turns out that dogs given to children for Christmas often end up in pounds. Having a pet is a huge responsibility and it should be a choice for life, rather than looked at as a toy. So, if you are inclined to purchase a puppy or kitten for Christmas and haven’t thought about it carefully, spend your time looking at these images instead…

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Cat lovers can feast their eyes on this gallery of Cats and Movie Stars.

  Eleven heist movies

Jules Dassin’s Rififi (1955)

Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing (1956)

Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

Joseph Sargent’s The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

Norman Jewison’s The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

Raoul Walsh’s High Sierra (1941)

Jean-Pierre Melville‘s Bob Le Flambeur (1956)

Robert Siodmak’s Criss Cross (1949)

Mario Monicelli‘s Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958)

Fabián Bielinsky‘s Nueve Reinas (Nice Queens) (2000) – I was introduced to this Argentine gem during a course I took on heist films. It immediately became a favorite. Although it’s a contemporary movie, I know all classics fans would love it. It’s a twisty, well-acted labyrinth that’s well worth your time.

  Twelve Days

I would have included Dog Day Afternoon and The Taking of Pelham… here, but no repeats allowed. These are movies with stories that take place in one day.

Fred Zinnemann’s High Noon (1952)

George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope (1958)

Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men (1957)

Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979)

Frank Capra’s Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon (1950)

Mike Nichols’ Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe? (1966)

Sidney Lumet’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1962)

Walter Hill’s The Warriors (1979)

Carl Th. Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

Fleming, Cukor et al…The Wizard of Oz (1939)

◊

Till next year, my friends.

#PayClassicsForward

Aurora

  #PayClassicsForward for Christmas This tradition began four years ago when I thought of no better way to share the joy of the season on this blog than to spread the magic of movies.

[eichy815]

Fall Fusion 2021 (Fox)

The Coronavirus pandemic undoubtedly altered the landscape of primetime TV throughout the 2020-21 season.  Studio audiences were universally eliminated, due to safety precautions.  Some series had to have their production delayed altogether.  But with vaccinations ramping up, old slivers of normalcy should incrementally return to our screens across the course of next season.

Tentatively, NBC and Fox are set to unveil their “upfronts” on May 17; and, twenty-four hours later, ABC will follow suit on May 18.  The final reveal of that week will occur on May 19, when CBS introduces its Fall 2021 slate to the world.  The CW will wait until May 25 to hold its “upfronts.”

As always, a host of network programs are considered “on-the-bubble” – meaning their chances of getting renewed or canceled might be about as predictable as a coin-flip.  The shows still waiting to hear if they’ve been renewed include:  Kenan, Young Rock, Zoe’s Extraordinary Playlist, Manifest, Debris, Law & Order: Organized Crime, and Good Girls on NBC; American Housewife, The Goldbergs, Mixedish, Call Your Mother, For Life, Station 19, A Million Little Things, Big Sky, Rebel, and The Rookie on ABC; The Unicorn, B Positive, United States of Al, SEAL Team, All Rise, and Clarice on CBS; and Call Me Kat, Bless the Harts, 911, 911: Lone Star, The Resident, and Prodigal Son on Fox.

Although the fall/winter/spring divide will probably be a lot smoother than it was this past season, I wouldn’t be surprised if the networks decide to “chunk” their series into 8-, 9-, or 10-episode strings of uninterrupted airings. These would be strategically placed as “pods” intermittent between the fall, winter, spring, and summer.

In addition, “time-sharing” different programs within the same slot across the networks’ schedules would be a more efficient way of getting mileage out of successful programming – especially how it would bake in natural “backup programming” to leave fewer gaps in the event of unexpected Coronavirus-related interruptions in production.  At a certain point, hopefully Coronavirus will become so contained that it no longer forces temporary shutdowns of specific productions with any regularity.

(All times are Eastern/Pacific; subtract one hour for the Central/Mountain time zones)

(New shows highlighted in bold)

Featured network for today’s column…

FOX

Sunday

7:00 – NFL on Fox (fall) / Encore Programming (winter/spring)

7:30 – NFL on Fox (fall) / Duncanville (winter/spring)

8:00 – The Simpsons

8:30 – Bless The Hearts (fall) / The Great North (winter/spring)

9:00 – Bob’s Burgers

9:30 – Family Guy

Fox’s traditional Sunday night “Animation Domination” lineup will probably remain as is, with some series rotated in at specific times during the season.

Monday

8:00 – 911 (fall/spring) / Name That Tune (winter)

9:00 – 911: Lone Star (fall/spring) / America’s Most Wanted (winter)

Ryan Murphy’s duo of 911 franchise entries pair well together, so they’ll probably still be scheduled as twins for two separate “pods” during the year.  During the “off-season” (outside of fall and spring), unscripted programming such as Name That Tune and America’s Most Wanted can pick up the slack here.

Tuesday

8:00 – The Resident (fall/spring) / Game of Talents (winter)

9:00 – Our Kind of People (fall) / Masquerade Ball (winter)  / Back-Nine Drama (spring)

With The Resident somewhat on the bubble, I suspect it will return to the schedule in the fall due to its familiarity and syndication potential.  It could serve as a lead-in for Our Kind of People – a Black family drama co-produced by Lee Daniels and Karin Gist.  Then, midseason would bring the return of Game of Talents, along with the new reality entry Masquerade Ball.  The 9pm slot in the spring could go to whatever new series (Our Kind of People or Blood Relative) ends up receiving a Back-Nine Order.

Wednesday

8:00 – The Masked Singer (fall/spring) / The Masked Dancer (winter)

9:00 – Blood Relative (fall) / The Big Leap (winter) / Back-Nine Drama (spring)

The Masked Singer will be a reliable player for the fall and spring.  This wildly-popular reality entry could provide a good lead-in for Blood Relative, an investigative crime drama starring Melissa Leo (Homicide: Life on the Street).  

Midseason, The Masked Dancer will foxtrot its way back in-between fall and spring editions of the show it spun off from; it should be used as a lead-in to launch musical dramedy The Big Leap (an ensemble led by Scott Foley and Teri Polo).  In the spring, that 9pm time slot can be turned back over to Blood Relative…or to hour-long filler programming.

Thursday

8:00 – Thursday Night Football (fall) / Prodigal Son (winter/spring)

9:00 – Thursday Night Football (fall) / Pivoting (winter) / This Country (spring)

9:30 – Thursday Night Football (fall) / Call Me Kat (winter/spring)

After football has completed its autumn run, Prodigal Son could return in December or January to lead into a new comedy bloc:  Mayim Bialik’s Call Me Kat would be paired with the single-cam Pivoting (which stars Ginnifer Goodwin, Eliza Coupe, and Maggie Q).  Half-hour mockumentary This Country could slide into Pivoting’s time slot in April or May.

Friday

8:00 – WWE Smackdown

WWE Smackdown is the only game in town on Fridays.  No other series need apply.  The only exception to this would be if filler programming was needed to fill any weeks where the televised wrestling was, for whatever reason, unavailable.  Options in this mold could include Mental Samurai, Hell’s Kitchen, MasterChef, MasterChef Junior, and I Can See Your Voice.

The pandemic has definitely forced networks to get creative with their programming.  The higher turnaround time for production of scripted series may necessitate that programs split up their seasons into “chunks,” essentially “time-sharing” the same slot with other shows that get rotated in at other points during the season. As social-distancing restrictions gradually become more relaxed, unscripted programming with live studio audiences can be slowly integrated back into the studio itineraries.  

Despite the year-plus lockdowns we’ve endured, primetime television has proved to be resilient and resourceful.  There’s no reason to believe that won’t be the case as we head into 2022.

[thesimplyluxuriouslife]

291: 6 Ways To Dance with Life (and Have An Amazing Experience)

“Your inner purpose is to awaken.” —Eckhart Tolle, from A New Earth

To observe the seamless fluidity of a dancing pair with years of professional dancing experience float across the floor no matter what type of dance is asked of them is to observe a deep awareness and skill of their craft. Foxtrot. No problem. Viennese Waltz. Got it. Tango. Oh my, yes. Swing. Yep!

In 2017, in episode #143, the skill of self-awareness was explored in-depth here on the podcast/blog. For a quick refresher, to be self-aware is to be able to observe ourselves, accept and recognize what we discover and be honest about how we feel, why we act certain ways in particular situations, and the change that we may need to take. It is being able to pay attention and be honest about our strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivations, and emotions. 

When we are fully self-aware, we gain the instructions of how to live well even though we do not know what the next minute will reveal, the next week, month, year, and so on, will reveal.

When we become self-aware, we are awake and capable of noticing when we need to grow and in what way will help us navigate through whatever life may present.

I chose today's topic because no matter where you find yourself in the mix of stress, loss, pain, and confusion regarding our current situation, many readers have shared with me they are presented with new situations of questions, confusion, doubt, [fill-in-the-blank of an unwanted and somewhat or significantly new emotion] from time to time in a manner that perhaps was not present pre-pandemic.

"Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment." —Eckhart Tolle, from A New Earth

Borrowing Tolle's advice from the quote above, seize these unanticipated and initially unwanted moments and feelings and let them be your guide to deeper self-awareness and an improved everyday life. Assuage any grief, quandary, angst, by reassuring yourself that you have been presented with this moment for a reason. Don't toss it. Don't avoid it. Explore it.

Today I would like to look at six unwanted examples that may be happening in your life and how to step forward and do the latter to each in order to improve the quality of your life moving forward and through our current situation

1.You wake up in the middle of the night, your mind reeling, doubt swirling, fear temporarily winning

Course of action: As a matter of fact, take a pre-action prior to going to bed or whenever you feel most confident - write yourself a note and remind yourself of the truth of how capable you are, words of truth and strength. Place this note by your bed. Okay, back to the moment you wake up.

Take a drink of water, hydrate and wake your mind up so that it is in your control and not the other way around. Read your pre-written note. Read it again. Journal if you need to - what is causing you worry, what are you fearful about. Don't necessarily answer anything. Save the answering and analyzing for a time during the day when you are fully awake so that you can be a good judge of whether or not what you wrote is valid as well as to accurately determine if what you are worried about is within your control. Hint, if it is not, let it go. Turn the lights off, count your breath in a steady beat - in and out. Let yourself fall back to sleep. Whatever you do, do not pick up your technology.

2. You are exhausted from work stress and trying to balance all that you think you have to do

Martyrs die. On the other hand, workers with awareness of the larger picture of why they work, live well. While putting and acknowledging work as important, the latter do not make work the top priority. I have worked with both types of people in the handful of school districts I have worked in over my 19 years. Martyrs tend to be different people in the classroom than they are away from their students or staff (if they are administrators). People who live to live well are the same in the moment of teaching as they are in their everyday life. People who live well are more content, more enjoyable to be around and know how to put work in its place and do so with clarity and a love for not only their own life but for the people who look up to them - in this case their students.

Course of action: Be honest with yourself. What are you aching for? Nobody needs to know your honest answer but you, but be honest with yourself. Do you crave at the most fundamental, sleep? Do you crave a social life? Do you crave to be more comfortable in your body but do not have the time to exercise consistently nor prepare and enjoy healthy, satiating meals? Write it down. This is when your life begins to change for the better.

Whether when given the opportunity or simply taking it, try out living the life you want to live - the schedule you'd like to have - even if temporarily. Stick to it long enough to experience potential benefits - one month, a quarter, etc.. Don't ask for approval from anyone else as to whether what you crave is valid. Honor your own feelings, and give the new temporary schedule a try. You will come back with some answers, maybe not all of the answers, but enough, if you are being honest with yourself, to know whether what you thought what you needed was actually indeed what was lacking.

Upon choosing to make permanent changes to your schedule, if the changes involve others or require others to be involved, communicate clearly and refrain from complaining. While it is okay to vent to a friend or your partner or your journal, doing so is a means to release stress, iradicating faulty thinking if it exists due to past grievances being triggered and to ensure you move forward with a rational mind. Sometimes what we are venting about has more to do with built up stress from a variety of sectors in our lives and not just the one thing we are "cursing" at the moment.

Let me end by saying, be honest with yourself. If you are overwhelmed and exhausted, how could you have prevented the situation if at all possible? Could you have raised your voice when decisions were being made? Could you have made the smarter decision, not the easier decision? Be honest and improvement can be made.

3. Tension in relationships - personal or professional

Course of action: Answer this question for yourself (not for the people in the relationship that is in a state of tension) - what behaviors and feelings are unwanted or undesired, but seem to be a default or at the very least, unhelpful? Use your answers as a guide to what skills you need to explore and better understand. Seek out an expert (i.g. a counselor) or a book from a respected source on the subject.

4. Financial Stress not related to job loss

Course of action: Turn off the advertisements, stop or significantly reduce your scrolling on social media and start living in the present with the world, the real-world, not the virtual world, that surrounds you. If the influences for buying more, or "keeping up" are not coming unconsciously from media (and I know, you might be saying - if they are unconscious, how will you know where they are coming from? But take this moment to take a closer examination of what you feel you 'need' and where that idea is being presented or shown), look to your social circle - chosen or not - and start to tailor who you spend time with and if you can't eradicate entirely unhelpful influences, reduce or limit your time with them.

5. State of the world

Course of action: Choose to educate yourself on topics that are grabbing your attention. Choose to look to experts, credible in the field you are exploring, that you may not have looked to before to deepen your clarity on an issue before you jump to conclusion. However, do not overwhelm your mind. Seek out bits of information and then go about your life, adjusting your choices, actions in which you do have control that will make a difference, no matter how seemingly small. The words you choose, letting go of assumptions and fixations, keeping an open-mind and refraining from group-think, but rather practicing critical thinking regularly so that eventually it becomes your default.

6. A feeling of agitation or lack of purpose

Course of action: find something, no matter how seemingly small which allows you to see an immediate finished, improved, completed outcome. The act of productivity need not be anything to do with your job or career, but simply needs to be something in which you can see a "finished" outcome.

For me, my garden has provided many moments of productivity - weeding, pruning, dead-heading - as soon as I tend to it, I see results. Ahhhh. It sounds silly but as Sue Stuart-Smith shares in The Well-Gardened Mind, "Two essential sources of grounding and balance . . . proximity to nature and fulfilling work" (the author is referring to the lack of nourishment to the psyche prompted by the industrialization in the 19th and early 20th century).

Each one of these life moments of challenge offers an opportunity to course correct, to grow, to evolve as Eckhart Tolle expresses in his quote above. It has been my experience that if I choose to not acknowledge that something within me needs to change - to communicate better, to ground myself in self-confidence, to be brave, the same stress, the same worry, the same event perhaps in a different form, keeps rearing its head.

The pandemic is presenting each one of us with unique opportunities to evolve forward and live a better life. Choose to find the growth opportunity that exists inside of you, and your life will change for the better.

Petit Plaisir

—Borgen, on Netflix

Tune into the audio version of today's episode to find out more about this Danish Government television drama series, what Borgen means in English and why I am thoroughly enjoying it and highly recommend it.

https://youtu.be/Nw41sTh2mds

Tune in to the latest episode of The Simple Sophisticate podcast

[shannaraisles]

Set In Darkness

Chapter: 49 Author name: ShannaraIsles Rating: M Warnings: Tooth rotting fluff Summary: She’s a Modern Girl in Thedas, but it isn’t what she wanted. There’s a scary dose of reality as soon as she arrives. It isn’t her story. People get hurt here; people die here, and there’s no option to reload if you make a bad decision. So what’s stopping her from plunging head first into the Void at the drop of a hat?

Communicate

Loving comfort and easy quiet combined to fill the tower with the sort of gentle stillness only a close pairing can cultivate. Rory lay on her back, nestled against the sheets, her fingers stroking through Cullen's hair where his head rested against her breast. His eyes were watching the play of his fingers over the expanse of her waist where a tiny bulge was discernible - nowhere near big enough to be seen when she was standing, but as she lay on her back, just big enough to be noticed if you knew what you were looking for. Our baby.

"She will be loved," she heard him murmur against her skin, his head tilting to press a kiss just above her navel.

"She?" Rory asked in soft amusement. "Do you know something I don't?"

He smiled faintly, raising himself onto his elbow to lean over her. "With your permission, I intend to hope for a daughter," he informed her tenderly, dipping his head to brush his lips to hers even as he drew the blanket back over her bare skin, protecting her from the chill of the night.

She couldn't help smiling into that kiss. Cullen with a daughter was only too easy to imagine; a little girl would be the apple of his eye, and he would be totally wrapped around one small, pudgy finger from the first moment. But a small part of her rebelled a little, suggesting that it would also be nice to have a son. She didn't have a huge amount of faith in her own ability to raise a little girl in this society; she had a feeling feminist attitudes, however mild, would probably get both her and her daughter into a fair amount of trouble.

"Tell me the truth, sweeting," he murmured then, drawing back to look into her eyes with such solemn sincerity that her breath stuttered in her throat. "Are you truly happy with this news?"

Oh, you had to ask that, didn't you? Rory's smile faded just a little, knowing she couldn't lie to him about this. Even if he was panicking on the inside, they'd already proved that keeping things to themselves did no good at all. They might have to panic together.

"I don't know," she admitted softly, tangling her fingers with his absently, needing something to focus on other than his face. "I'm ... I think I'm more overwhelmed, right now. I don't know anything about pregnancy or babies, and now there's a little life inside me that will need so much help and support. For years. I, um ... I'm a little panicked, really. But in a good way, if that makes any sense."

Cullen's expression softened with understanding, his hidden smile sharing her concerns. "It would be nice to be able to say with absolute truth that I feel nothing but happiness," he agreed in a quiet tone, propping his head on his hand as he settled in beside her. "But I must confess that I, too, am ... uncertain of quite how to do this. My own father was a good man; he raised me and my siblings well, but the real shaping of who I became was done by my mentors in the Templar Order. I want to be a good father, but ... how do I do that? It seems a question that cannot be answered."

"Cullen ..." Lips curved in a tender smile, she raised her hand to stroke his cheek, drawing his eyes to hers. "You are a good man. That's all you need to be a good father."

"But there are darknesses in my past I have not told you," he said fretfully. "Things that would damage your good opinion of me, I am certain. How can I raise a child when I have committed such sins?"

One of these days, you're going to have to tell me about Kinloch and Kirkwall, love. But she couldn't say that aloud. He had to tell her freely, when he was ready, or she might easily damage the trust he had in her.

"For a start, you know that, whatever these sins were, they were wrong," she pointed out softly. "The man you are now would not act the way the man you were did. It's the man you are now who will raise our children. Not a shadow from your past."

"Yet those shadows are still with me." He sighed sadly, looking down at their tangled hands. "My nightmares, the lyrium cravings ... they will never fully cease. I may lose my mind as the time goes by. It pains me to think of a child having to witness such things from their father."

"There is nothing wrong with a child learning that even their parents have nightmares sometimes," she told him in a firm tone. "Nor is there anything wrong with a child knowing that their father is human, and has some weaknesses, like everyone else. And you will not lose your mind. You haven't had any hallucinations for months; today was the first severe headache you've had since we first talked about your withdrawal in Haven. It's improving, love. You are stronger now than you were when we met, and even if you occasionally relapse, you will come out of it more easily now. I'll help you."

A half-hearted smile touched his eyes, just barely tightening the scar that adorned his lip as he lifted his gaze to meet hers once more. "You have such faith in me," he murmured wonderingly. "I can't help but wonder why."

"Because I love you, you ridiculous man," she answered with an easy smile, glad to see his smile flicker fully into being at her fond insult. "Because I know you. Neither of us knows what to expect from being parents. We'll learn together, mistakes and all."

"And you do want this child?" he asked, circling back to his former question with tentative concern. "I have no wish to force motherhood on you, sweeting, if you do not feel ready for it."

Rory huffed a soft laugh, shaking her head. "I don't think anyone ever feels ready to have a baby," she admitted. "But yes, I do want our child. I get giggly when I think about you holding our baby; I feel excited about it. I might be scared of getting things wrong, and the whole ... birthing thing, but I am happy about it."

The relief on his face was mirrored in the way his shoulders relaxed, the way he inched just that little bit closer to her, lips dancing a tender foxtrot over the curve of her temple. "As am I," he agreed affectionately. "Afraid, but excited to meet the child born of our love."

"And if we manage to get married before the birth, no one will be able to make their life difficult because of an accident no one could really foresee," she pointed out with a rueful smile.

"About that ..." Cullen raised his head to look down at her once again, a contemplative look in his eyes. "Are you content to be wed by the Chantry's laws? You don't believe in the Maker."

"But you do," she reminded him. "Most of the world does. Our children will, most likely. I won't ever try to interfere with your faith, Cullen, or to willfully teach our children not to believe in Andraste and the Maker. I'd like them to have that faith; it's something I don't have, another layer of comfort that does more good than harm. But I won't force them to believe, either. I'd like us to be able to teach them, but let them make their own minds up when they're old enough to understand. Is ... is that something you can live with?"

He frowned thoughtfully. "I don't deny that I would like to share my faith with our children," he confessed in a pensive tone. "But unless the Chantry improves, I would not want them to slavishly follow the edicts of an institution that is poisoning the faithful with prejudice and ignorance. I ... I rather like your suggestion. To teach and let them learn, but instill good morals that will guide them when their faith fails."

Rory's nose crinkled as she smiled, her freckles seeming to dance in the candlelight. "I think we just made our first parenting compromise."

Cullen laughed, thumping down onto his back to pull her close, reaching to tuck the blankets warm about her shoulders. Snow was drifting in through the hole in the roof, glittering crystals frolicking in the light cast by the moons overhead to settle against the chilled boards. He frowned thoughtfully at the sight.

"This tower is not suitable for an expectant mother, much less a newborn babe," he mused, stroking his fingers through the copper fall of her unbound hair. "Nor is your daily routine. We will have to fix both."

"Your routine is hardly perfect either," she pointed out, nestled close against his chest in the crook beneath his arm. Her nose felt cold, but thanks to Cullen's internal heating system, the rest of her was toasty warm. Apart from her toes, but her toes were always cold when she settled into bed.

"I am not the one carrying an unborn child," he attempted to argue, grunting as she poked his diaphragm.

"No, you're just the father looking after the one carrying your unborn child," she informed him pointedly. "There's no point in smoothing my way, if you are going to collapse with overwork."

He frowned down at her, but eventually sighed. "A clearer routine, then," he agreed. "If you will make sure you do not over-extend yourself, then neither shall I."

Oh, that's cheating, Rory thought to herself, impressed. They were both a little self-destructive when it came to looking after themselves, but by putting it in those terms, he was making looking after herself all about looking after him.

"I'll have to enlist Evy to help me with that," she admitted prudently. "She has a better eye for what is too much in a single day than I do."

Cullen's eyes narrowed. Apparently he hadn't been expecting her to agree, or to suggest a workable solution to her problem with working too hard. "I'll have to promote a few people," he said finally. "Delegation means nothing if the ones taking the duties have no authority. Rylen and I shall have to create a few new captains."

She smiled to herself, quietly delighted that she'd managed to back him into taking at least some of the weight off his own shoulders. He was still going to obsessively oversee as much as he could, of course - there was no way to prevent that - but at least he'd be able to tell people to talk to someone else on occasion.

He let out a resigned sigh then, adjusting the wrap of his arms about her as he considered the hole in the roof once again. "We may have to go back to sleeping in a tent for a week or so," he said mildly. "That hole needs to be fixed, and a decent stairway created. I'm not having you traversing a ladder up and down twice a day when you're pregnant."

Rory snorted with laughter at his phrasing. "I, um ... may I make a suggestion?" she ventured, knowing that filling that hole was something he likely wasn't too happy with. She hadn't seen it much in the cabin, but he was claustrophobic on occasion, and this tower wasn't the wide space he really needed.

"That depends on the suggestion," Cullen murmured, sounding amused by her timidity.

"Is it possible to put another window in?" she asked softly. "A big one? Over there?" She pointed to the dense wall directly across from them.

"Big windows weaken the defensibility of a structure, Rory," he pointed out with a frown, lifting his head to consider the wall himself. She could see it was an attractive idea, though - there were two windows on the side walls, but they were small, not letting in much light. Once the roof was fixed, it would be dreadfully gloomy up here. "Would you be happy with two smaller windows?" he suggested. "They'll be fully shuttered in case of attack, but ... yes, a little more light in here wouldn't go amiss."

She grinned happily, inching up to kiss his jaw. "That would be lovely," she assured him, glad she'd been able to give him an excuse to open up their space without having to admit to his own discomfort at being enclosed.

"Windows need glass," he muttered, working it through in his mind. "We will have to speak with Josephine about having an artisan come to deal with it."

"Doesn't she have someone already on their way to fix and set the stained glass windows in the hall and the Inquisitor's tower?" Rory asked curiously.

Cullen blinked, his expression clearing. "You're right, she does," he agreed. "I will see if he can be prevailed upon to do a little more work for a generous fee."

"Thank you." She hugged her arm about his chest, burrowing back into the warm nest of blankets and his embrace, ridiculously pleased with herself for managing to get the structural necessities agreed on with the minimum of fuss.

She felt him smile against her hair as he settled back himself, breathing in the scent of the applewood oil she used to keep it tamed. "Sweeting ... may I ask you something?"

Rory opened her eyes, forcing herself back from the brink of sleep. "Anything, love."

His chest expanded and contracted beneath her cheek as he took a slow breath. "My ... initial proposal," he said carefully, as though afraid to broach the subject at all in case she blew up at him again. "I think I know what I said to upset you, but ... I should like to hear it from you. Dorian simply stood there and made me repeat word for word everything that was said. He didn't even tell me if I was right when I worked it out."

A faint quirk of a smile tilted the corner of her mouth. It was rather sweet to hear that; to know that Cullen hadn't had the mistake pointed out to him, but had discovered it with just a little guidance. "It wasn't so much what you said," she admitted softly. "It was what you didn't say. We hadn't even mentioned marriage before I told you about the baby, and suddenly you assumed we would be getting married. It hurt, to think that the only reason anyone would want to marry me is because I was pregnant with their child. As though I have nothing to offer anyone except my ability to have children."

She felt him wince, felt his arms wrap tighter about her. "Why didn't you say that? I knew I had said something wrong, but you left so quickly ... I felt sure you would never forgive me for whatever it was I'd said."

She grimaced, shaking her head against his chest. "I didn't want to shout at you, or say anything I would regret," she said quietly. "I'm not very good at conflict, and when I'm upset, I resort to name-calling and insults, and I didn't want to do that to you. I-I thought it was better to be away from you until I calmed down."

"Don't do that again." His mouth pressed a warm kiss to her hair. "Shout at me, insult me. Don't run away from me and leave me thinking I've broken everything with one careless word. Don't cry in corners thinking I don't love you."

"How did you know -"

"Bull," he answered simply. Of course. No wonder he frogmarched me up here. "I would rather we scream at one another and say everything wrong, than abandon one another to dark thoughts that have no purpose but to cause pain."

Rory hesitated. She'd never fully engaged in a true argument all her life; even with her parents, she had always run away before things got truly heated. But avoiding the conflict didn't solve anything. He was right. Far better to have it all out at once, even if it ripped them raw, and be there for each other in the aftermath.

"I'll try," she promised softly. "Running away is what I naturally do, but ... I will try to stay when we fight."

"And I will endeavor to think things through before I open my mouth," he offered in answer. "I was careless, and you were hurt. I do not want to hurt you again."

"To be fair, I had been sitting on this news for a day and half," she pointed out in a quiet voice. "I'd built it up to ludicrous proportions. I was anxious and upset and not thinking clearly, and I threw all of that at you with very little reason. That was an overreaction to something that really didn't deserve it."

"Sweeting ... I don't blame you for your anger," he murmured. "I do blame you for the fact that Dorian locked me in this tower with him for the remainder of the day, filling my attempts to work out a solution with terrible innuendos about my ability to father a red-headed child."

She snorted, the sound dissolving into soft giggles as she imagined that. At least she had been left alone to work through her emotions. She should consider herself lucky that Dorian hadn't come after her, too. "I'm happy to take responsibility for that," she assured Cullen in answer. "I'm just ... happy. You know?"

She felt his chuckle as he replied. "I know," he agreed tenderly. "I have never had a future before. Thank the Maker you found me."

If the Maker truly did exist, there was only one wish in her heart as she nestled into Cullen's arms, the upsets and comforts of the day lulling her into soft sleep. Please, if you really are there ... don't take this away from him. Let me stay.

The boring chapter title is a lot less boring if you say it like a Dalek. Just throwing that out there. :)

[secretlystephaniebrown]

Time’s Running Out: Foxtrot

I’M BACK FROM THE WARS, AND IT’S TIME FOR THE CHAPTER I’VE BEEN WAITING TO SHARE WITH YOU GUYS FOR ALMOST A YEAR NOW!

Summary: The Reds and Blues; and their respective Freelancers, find themselves stranded on a strange planet named Chorus. Secrets, lies, and the unexpected seem to lie around every corner, and there might be even larger threats looming over the horizon.

They’re possibly even less ready for Chorus than Chorus is for them.

Pairings: Lots of friendships, Suckington, Yorkalina, Chex, eventual Yorkimbalina, possible others.

Start

Previous

Next

Ao3

The others were in danger.

Carolina’s heart hadn’t stopped racing since they’d intercepted the message. It was a simple message, text-based instead of radios.

Idiots on the move. Be ready.

All the messages from Control pounded in her head in time with her heart.

“If the Reds and Blues manage to reunite... Kill them.”

Epsilon wasn’t much better, filling her brain with a panicky static that made it hard to concentrate. She’d reprimand him, but she didn’t have to right now, with Texas behind the wheel. The two of them were racing, hoping to beat the others—York, Tucker, Grif, Simmons, Caboose, to the Federal Base.

“We should have gone to them,” Carolina whispered, gripping the warthog door hard enough that she heard the metal creak. The strange grenades they’d found had brought them close, but Epsilon’s calculations were off—he was calibrated for the previous generation—and they were still kilometers away from their final destination.

Tex didn’t say anything. She hadn’t said anything at all since she’d grabbed Carolina and thrown her into the passenger seat before she started driving.

“We’re not far,” Church said, finally projecting.

“Are we in time?” Tex demanded, not taking her eyes off the road. There was a single-minded lethality to her, coiled tightly like a spring, ready to lash out at a moment’s notice. If Carolina wasn’t similarly inclined, she might feel sorry for the pirates.

“Yeah,” Church said, and it was like a sigh of relief. Three sets of shoulders—two physical, one digital—slumped with relief. It was like a weight had been lifted from Carolina’s chest, and the fuzziness of Epsilon’s concern faded with a guilty tinge, indicating that he hadn’t realized he was doing it.

“Now what?” He asked.

“We kill them, that’s what,” Tex snarled, and for a moment, Carolina entertained that. Going in, guns blazing. Just… ending this. Killing the mercenaries, the pirates, destroying everything they could get their hands on. She played it out in her head—she’d go for Felix, he was fast might be able to hit Tex, while Tex would take Locus. The guys and Kai could take care of the others. It would be messy, but effective, she thought. They had the element of surprise; four Freelancers, a handful of Sim Troopers… surely they could handle anything Felix and Locus might have in store.

And then they’d have to wait for Control’s retaliation and reinforcements. Without a hint of more information than they already had.

“We can’t kill them yet,” Carolina said, her own voice far away to her ears. “We need a plan.”

Tex scoffed. “You always want to let them live, don’t you?”

Carolina swiveled her head. “Don’t you bring that up,” she snapped. “Not now!”

Tex slammed down on the brakes, bringing the warthog to a screeching halt. Carolina’s body fell forward slightly at the sudden change in momentum, and she spun to face Tex completely, snarling. “Then what’s your plan, Carolina? Tell me!” Tex’s helmet was close to hers, and Carolina shoved her back.

“We cloak. We infiltrate. We get answers. And when they try to kill the others, that’s when we make our move. After we figure out what’s going on, so that way we know how to stop it.”

Texas stared at her for a long, long time. Then she reached down, and switched gears.

“If any of them get hurt…” Texas said. She didn’t vocalize the threat, but it was there. It was rare for Texas to be like this, Carolina realized. But they were there now, and she didn’t like it one bit.  

“I care about them too, Texas,” Carolina snapped. “But there’s more than that at stake! We need to know what Control is planning!”

Texas said nothing more, just kept driving.

Once they arrived at the base, it didn’t take long to find a stragler pirate and jump him so that she could take his place. And if Texas snapped his neck with more force than necessary, Carolina didn’t say anything.

She kept to the back of the pirates, who were mostly just waiting around for Locus’s signal, while Texas scouted ahead, looking for the others.

Locus appeared suddenly, decloaking in a way that Carolina should be used to by now, having seen Texas do the same thing countless times. But she wasn’t used to it with an enemy. And it had been a long time now, she realized, glancing at the corner of her HUD dedicated to keeping track of Tex’s location, since Tex had registered as the enemy.

“Get ready to move,” Locus ordered, and Carolina had to stop herself from staring. He was one of the tallest men she’d ever seen; taller than anyone besides Maine, she thought, and broad. He was built for power, for intimidation. He radiated danger; from the strange Locus helmet, to the weapons he carried, to the manner in which he walked, each one deliberately chosen. She understood all the pirates’ chatter now.

<Are you seriously thinking about wanting to spar with him?> Church shrieked in her mind. <He’s the enemy Cee! Jesus you’re an adrenaline junkie.>

Carolina said nothing, but she couldn’t deny him that.

She stood on the platform above the others. Her laser sight was set on York, who was holding his rifle, staring right at Locus. Next to him, Wash tried to step between Locus and Kai and Tucker, but Tucker wasn’t having any of that, and pushing against him. Grif was on Kai’s other side, also trying to stay between her and the threat, but there was a red laser sight in the center of Kai’s helmet.

As far as they could tell, they were totally trapped.

“I told you, Agent Washington,” Locus said, and Carolina sighed, hoping they’d get actual information instead of just melodrama. “I am a professional. I complete my missions at all costs. But you, and your comrades have put a blemish on my record. This… is unacceptable.”

Wash snarled, not moving from his position in front of Tucker and Kai. “What are you talking about? You just killed the men you're working for!”

Locus let out a sigh. Carolina tilted her head to herself, wondering what this was about. Had Locus and Wash been talking before this? “It appears you don’t understand after all. Unfortunate. You were such a fascinating soldier, Agent Washington.”

He raised his sniper rifle, and for a moment, Carolina panicked, thinking she’d miscalculated, that she wasn’t going to get answers, and Wash was going to die. The glimmer that was Tex shifted too, preparing to leap into action. But it all proved unnecessary, as Felix appeared, and his shield appeared in a flash of light, blocking the bullet.

“Tucker, grenade!” Felix shouted, and Carolina went cold, watching as Felix went through the motions of betrayal. He was twisted, she realized. He was enjoying this, all of this. Locus was a professional mercenary. But Felix? Felix was having fun, playing these games, taunting the others with the way he’d betrayed them, with how he’d earned their trust.

“Stop boasting and let me kill them,” Locus interrupted, his voice tight with anger. “We have a job to do.”

“Oooh,” Felix said with a laugh, “that’s right, he doesn’t like you guys.” He paused to snort. “He actually thinks there might be a few fighters among you. Ha! Told you he’s crazy.”

<Good to know who’s the brains in the operation,> Church whispered to her. Carolina couldn’t help the smile that played at the corner of her mouth.

“But why?” Wash demanded. “Why the capture, why make us part of this war?”

<Thank you, Washington.>

“Well, you see—” Felix began, and Carolina had to force herself to not stand up straighter. Answers.

“Felix!”

“No!” Felix snapped, spinning back to face Locus. “I've had to put up with these morons every day, so you let me have this.” Then he relaxed again, turning to face Wash and the others. “You see, someone, somewhere, out in our galaxy, has their eye set on this planet. The only problem, is the inhabitants.” Carolina couldn’t stop her breath from hitching. This was bigger than they’d thought. Below, Felix continued talking, unaware that he was so close to Tex. “Now, if it were up to me, I’d just nuke this place from orbit. But our employer… has other ideas. We have to play this thing carefully, you understand? If an entire planet dies overnight, well, people ask questions. But if you stumble onto this rock and find that the settlers killed each other, well, that's just a tragedy!”

“Fuck,” Tex breathed in Carolina’s ear via the radio.

“It was you. You started this war!” Tucker said, incredulous.

Felix laughed and made a loud, obnoxious noise. “Wroooooong! These people hated each other way before our operation ever showed up, we just had to keep the hate train a-goin’. And let me tell you, you guys have helped so much.”

There was a moment where all of them soaked that in.

“Does it hurt? Knowing just how much death you've brought to this planet?” Felix mocked. And okay, Carolina could see the appeal of Tex’s argument of “just killing him”.

Suddenly, York let out a load groan, his head falling back to face the sky. “Seriously?” Carolina froze, fingering the pin on the grenade. What’s he doing? “That’s how you two decided to spend your time after retiring? Genocide? Jesus, I told India you two were headcases.”

“What?” Tex whispered.

He knew them? What was going on?

“Stop whining because you didn’t see it coming, Foxtrot,” Felix said, the smirk in his voice obvious. Carolina drew to a halt. She knew that name, York had told her it once, long ago, told him it was the only name he had besides York worth mentioning—but how did Felix know that name.

“Foxtrot? York, are they talking about you?” Donut asked.

The shock that Carolina and Tex were feeling right now was suddenly transferred to Locus and Felix, judging by the body language. York—the worst liar she had ever met—had managed to hide the fact that he was a Freelancer from them. A surge of warmth hit her chest for a moment, overpowering her confusion and fear temporarily.

“York?” Felix asked, voice dangerously low.

“As in New York,” York said, spreading his hands out wide “As in Agent New York. As in, formerly of Project Freelancer.”

Felix and Locus exchanged a dark, dangerous look.

“Oh that’s it,” Felix snarled. “You die last.”

“Not likely,” York said. “You remember Captain India, right?”

“Enough talk,” Locus said. “On my mark—”

“She always said I had one gift,” York said loudly. “Remember what it was?”

“Being an idiot who won’t shut up?”

“I know you are but what am I—no, it was find the most dangerous women in the room and get them to like me.” Suddenly, he was looking right at her, tilting his helmet to one side. “Hey Carolina. Hey Tex.”

Everything fell apart after that, and Carolina threw the grenade, spinning into action, ignoring the thundering question in her head as the fight ensued.

How did York know them?

They had escaped.

The two mysterious soldiers, the Reds and Blues, Agent Washington…

And Foxtrot Twelve.

“An Agent?” Felix snarled. “Him? That idiot?”

“You said he was under control,” Locus snarled.

“He was! I had him eating out of my hand! The old war buddies thing was working!” Felix snapped.

Locus paused, considering. “Could they be lying?” A little subterfuge to buy them time would make sense. Made more sense than a coward like Foxtrot as a Freelancer. The Freelancers were elite soldiers. And they were almost completely dead.

“Foxtrot can’t lie,” Felix snapped.

“We thought he was dead. Then we thought he’d been posing as a simulation trooper to escape the war,” Locus said. “And now he’s a Freelancer. It might be time to re-evaluate him.”

Felix scoffed again. “He’s still not a threat.”

Felix never had taken Foxtrot seriously. But Locus did, for one simple reason.

Foxtrot was many things, but forgetful was not one of them. And in his mind he held one vital piece of information. One that could potential destroy himself and Felix.

It had been a long time since Locus had used any name other than that of his armor.

But Foxtrot—or Agent York, or Private Harris, or whichever other names he was using—knew it. And for that, before anything else, he would die.

The reunion celebrations could only last so long, York knew. So he stood to the edge, watching fondly as Tex pressed her helmet against Church’s, as Kai tried to tackle Carolina in a hug, as Tucker and Wash clung to each other, like they were planning on never letting go.

York watched, and waited.

<York,> Delta said softly.

“I have this coming, Dee,” York said.

Carolina tilted her helmet at him. “Why did Felix know your old nickname?”

“Codename,” Tex corrected, and oh shit, that’s right, she’d know that. He’d told Tex that, back when it had just been the two of them. Carolina only knew the name, but Tex had a few more clues.

York raised and lowered his shoulders in a shrug. “Because that’s what I was going by when I met him.”

“Wait,” Tucker said. “You knew him?”

Tucker wasn’t going to forgive this, York realized. He’d think that York had known… that’d he’d known what Felix was. What he was capable of.

And maybe he was right. Maybe York should have known.

“I didn’t know he’d kill a planet!” York defended himself. “He—look he was fucked up, but it was the “have way too much fun killing aliens” kind of fucked up, not genocide!”

“Why did you have a codename?” Donut said. Then he let out a gasp. “Wait, were you a secret agent? Like Double-Oh-Donut?”

York laughed, tiredly. “Hardly.” He shook his head, trying to figure out how to explain this. “I was always good with locks, right? So one day I get dragged into this room and they tell me that humanity needs me, I have potential, all that normal stuff. I sign on the dotted line, they fake my death, business as usual.”

Tex tilted her head. “Just how many times have you faked your death, York?” York thought he detected a note of humor there. Maybe he wasn’t a dead man after all.  

“Five,” Delta said. “Counting the time with your assistance.”

“My best one, I’d say,” York said, going for a joke.

“Keep. Talking,” Carolina ordered. There was no humor there.

“I was the twelfth infiltration specialist. The twelfth Foxtrot,” York said. He grinned, wryly. “Longest lived one, too. Doubled the last girl’s record. It was black ops,” he added. “It was dirty, it was nasty, it was necessary. We… I did things I wasn’t proud of. And at some point we were shorthanded, and Sierra said he knew a couple of guys who were the best at what they did.”

“Only one guess for the names,” Sarge grunted.

“They’d been on the bounty hunter circuit after their tour ended,” York said. “Already had code-names and everything. India hired them, let them keep the names because they were new positions. We needed more people than we’d ever needed before. Things were… rough, those years. The Insurrection—the real one—was getting out of hand. People were dying in the colonies, and there were sympathizers high up in the government. It… it wasn’t what I signed up for.”

Coward, Sierra’s voice whispered in his ear.

“I asked for an out. I got one. Project Freelancer. No more moral greys. The good guys.” York laughed. “Faked my death again. As far as Felix and Locus were concerned, I came back from the dead when they found me in that ship.”

“And you didn’t tell them you were a Freelancer?” Simmons asked.

“Are you kidding?” York snorted. “Even before, he would have sold out Delta and me for a couple of quarters and a bottlecap. And he said that Locus had jumped off the deep end after I died. I didn’t realize they were still in touch.”

He should have. God, he should have. He’d seen the way that they’d been, back then. He’d bought it. He’d bought it hook, line, and sinker. Sure, he hadn’t given them everything, but he hadn’t… he hadn’t…

“And you didn’t tell Kimball?” Tucker yelled.

“She was signing his paychecks!” York yelled back. “Felix doesn’t turn on his employer! Not—not unless there’s a bigger one.” York’s shoulders slumped at that. “I didn’t realize he was double dealing.”

Tucker didn’t say anything else. York was pretty sure he just wanted to punch him again.

York couldn’t exactly argue with that.

<You could not have known,> Delta said, trying to comfort him.

Tex walked up to him and nudged him with her shoulder. “Anything else?”

“Not unless you want me to tell you the way Felix used to gut Sanghelli kids,” York muttered, carefully not looking at Tucker.

“Let’s skip that,” Tex said. She nudged him again, and this time, York let himself nudge back. “I��m glad you’re okay, dumbass,” she muttered.

York forced himself to smile. “Tucker said you guys went looking for me.”

“Yeah,” Tex said. “I told you. I’ve put way too much effort into keeping you alive to let you just go and get killed now.”

York rubbed his visor tiredly. “I got lucky,” he said. “I’m pretty sure if I hadn’t literally ran into Palomo, I’d have had a bullet through my head before Felix and Locus even realized who I was.”

Tex gripped his shoulder tight enough to hurt.

“They killed the others, Tex,” York said. “I—there were sixteen of us. Only three of us made it.”

Tex punched him suddenly, and York went sprawling. “Hey!”

“Stop that,” Tex ordered. It was only then that York realized the others were gone. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself.”

“I—”

“You know there’s nothing you could have done,” Tex said. “You didn’t know they were genocidal fuckers, you didn’t know that Locus would kill those people, and you didn’t know about Freelancer.”

“Didn’t I?” York said quietly. “Tex. I know what I did.”

Tex’s helmeted gaze was unwavering. “You judging me too, York? I’m the one who blew up that building, remember?”

“You act like that was my first time,” York said, pulling himself up so that he was at least sitting.

“Don’t joke about this, York, I’m not in the mood—”

“I’m not a good person, Tex,” York snapped. “I want to be—fuck, I want to be, but I’m not. Freelancer was supposed to be that chance. To make up for what I did. And look at where that landed me!”

Tex let out a loud sigh, and held out her hand.

“On a planet, where your former teammates are trying to kill everyone, and you’ve got a chance to stop them,” she said. Her voice was braided steel. “There’s your chance, York. So stop feeling sorry for yourself and fight.”

There was a long moment where York looked up at her.

Then he took her hand, and let her pull him to his feet.

[laceyeb]

DWTS Season 24 - Cast Announcement

For anyone new around here/to me... 

Years ago when I went off to college, my mom and I would send facebook messages back and forth as we continued to watch DWTS now without each other. It has evolved today into very long recaps at the end of each week plus my thoughts about the cast at the beginning of each season. Then I always post it all to tumblr because I like to share! Just keep in mind that my intended audience is her, so if something is weird or confusing, ask and I’ll clarify. :)

------------

OMG! I just realized I never typed up anything for you after the cast announcement! I was so excited about Bonner and Sharna that I completely forgot!

What do you think?! I think it’s going to be a really good season! The problem is that there is already so much talent on the female celeb side and it’s not going to easy for anyone to beat that.

Here’s what I think so far! I’m just going in alphabetical order from the wikipedia list…

Simone and Sasha - I’m sooooo happy she has Sasha, but that was just because I hoped it would lessen her popularity a little bit. I don’t think it’s going to make a difference though. I’m sure people are going to love her. I am happy for Sasha! He had such a good season last time and it’ll be nice to see him with someone as good as Simone. Do you think people are really going to want gymnasts winning twice in a row? I don’t know… Obviously they’ll make it very far, but I don’t think they’ll beat Val and his fan base. I’m curious to see if Simone is as popular as Laurie.

Bonner and Sharna - This is the most excited I’ve ever been for a couple after the cast announcement!!!!! OMG!!!!!!! I CAN’T WAIT!!!!! I’ve been looking at every picture and watching every little video they’ve been posting and I love them so much! Obviously I had never heard of him before I saw his name rumored and I looked him up. I’m worried about all the other more well known celebs, but people are just going to fall in love with him and I can’t wait!!! They’re definitely going to be the showmance of the season (but there aren’t really any other good options so it makes sense) and I have no problem with that if it brings in more votes! I think he’s going to be good, too! But at long as he can move even just a little, he’s going to stick around for quite a while. I hope they dance to some good music, too! Looks like it could be Luke first thing in week 1! It seems a little early for them to already know that though. But maybe a cha cha? That’s a typical week 1 dance. I was hoping for him to start with a foxtrot, but we’ve still got over 2 weeks to go. Things could still change. Could this finally be Sharna’s chance?! I hope so!!! I feel like I’ve been saying that for about 5 seasons now! Again, it’s not going to be easy to beat Normani and Val. Aside from maybe Rashad Jennings, Bonner is the only male celeb that has any chance at all.

Charo and Keo - I forgot that Keo wasn’t on last season. Jodie was his last partner and that already feels like it was so long ago. Poor Keo. The only thing I know about Charo is that she’s definitely going to overstay her welcome…

Erika and Gleb - No idea who she is. Never even heard her name before. Apparently she’s a singer?! But wikipedia says “dance-pop diva” which I guess is why I’ve never heard of her! I don’t expect her to last too long more because of lack of popularity than anything. That’s a shame because Gleb had such a good season with Jana! But maybe Erika will surprise me…

Rashad and Emma - OMG!!! I’m almost as excited for Emma as I am for Sharna! A FOOTBALL PLAYER FOR EMMA?! It’s a miracle!!! FINALLY Emma gets a real contender! FINALLY!!!! From the little I’ve seen of him, he seems excited to be there and I’ll sure he’ll do pretty well, especially compared to most of the other male celebs. I don’t see them winning I don’t think, but this is going to be such a good season for Emma and I can’t wait to watch! I love switch up week, but I hope there’s not one this season! If there is, I want him with Sharna! I’ve already decided! And he probably would be. Or maybe Nick since he’s with Peta.

Chris and Witney - I don’t know this guy by name, but he looks familiar. He should be somewhat entertaining and Witney seems awfully excited about this season, so that’s good I guess! I’m sure she knows they’re not winning so she’s just ready to have fun. I don’t really have much interest in them. Much more important things to worry about!

Nancy and Artem - Back in the day, she probably would have had a real shot at winning a season. Not anymore. But she’ll be nice to watch and I think Artem will be perfect for her. They’ll probably stick around for a little while, but I expect she’ll be eliminated earlier than she should just compared to some of the other big personalities and more popular pros.

Normani and Val - This is going to be Bonner and Sharna’s biggest problem! They are going to be good. And with his fans and her fans, they’re guaranteed at least final 3. In fact, I fully expect them to win and I’m already bitter about it. I don’t really know much about her except that she’s in Fifth Harmony and apparently they’re way more popular than I realized. Like you were saying, they’re on a world tour right now. So Val’s going to be flying around with them all over the world and they’ll be going back and forth to do the show. (We’ll be hearing about that all season…) The one thing they have against them is that Val just won, so maybe more casual fans will be looking for someone else to win this season. Plus with both Maks and Peta back, maybe some of the votes will end up split between the three of them. Nick and Peta might not last to the end for the votes to matter, but Maks and Heather might. Votes could end up split between Val and Maks. We’ll just have to wait and see. I also don’t see Normani gaining a lot of new fans throughout the season like someone like Bonner will. But I still don’t think any of that will really matter. They’ll do very well.

Heather and Maks - I think I’ve already said everything I can about them. Plenty of people come into this show with some sort of advantage and experience in performing and different forms of dancing. It would be impossible to fill a season without anyone having some sort of advantage. But that’s people like the ice skaters and gymnasts and singers who have experience with dancing, but aren’t actually dancers. It’s just part of what they do. But Heather is a dancer. That’s literally her job. She has been paid to be a dancer. It’s what she does. I just don’t understand!!!! And they’re going to spend all season saying that she’s never done this type of dancing and that’s true. But I don’t care! She’s a DANCER! It’s that simple. The one good thing about all this is that most people seem to feel the same way. But that worries me about Normani and Val. Because if people don’t like Heather and Maks, they’ll be voting for Normani and Val. Ok. I figured it out! I need a Maks, Val, Sharna, Peta final 4! Can you imagine?! Normani and Val can be the shocking 4th place elimination. Then Heather and Maks can be third because who wants a professional dancer to win this thing. I think Val fans would sooner vote for Sharna over Peta. Maks fans will vote for Peta, but no one likes Nick the Bachelor anyways so it won’t make a difference. Then Bonner and Sharna win! I’ve got it all figured out!

David and Lindsay - I hadn’t heard of him, but that’s just because I don’t watch much baseball. I can’t believe he’s the first MLB player to ever be on the show! That’s crazy! Lindsay seems pretty excited about this season and so does he from the little I’ve seen of him. So he was with the Cubs when they won? I think that’s what I read. Wikipedia tells me he played 11 games for the Padres in 2005 so that’s interesting I guess…

Mr. T and Kym - I don’t even care that Kym is with someone who doesn’t have a chance. I don’t need her to win. I’m so happy with how her last season went, so I’m fine with her on to just have fun. Obviously she’s not going to top last time! But I actually think he��s going to really try and work hard, even if he’s not going to be that good. The best part of all this is that I’m sure Robert will be at the show all the time! I can’t wait for that!

Nick and Peta - I would be more excited about them if I didn’t care about Sharna and I didn’t miss Jenna so much. (I almost forgot about Jenna not being there and now I’m sad all over again!) I expect him to be about as good as all the other Bachelors (Jake Pavelka (I think that was way back in season 10), Sean Lowe, Chris Soules), which isn’t saying a whole lot. But they’ll be around a while just because of Peta. Those other three placed 7th, 6th, and 5th place (in that order) and I won’t be surprised if Nick and Peta actually end up 4th! I’m definitely excited to see Peta back! It’ll be fun to see her again.

Long story short, all I really care about is Bonner and Sharna. The rest can just stay home.

[literarybex]

Last year I listened to the audiobook of The Taliban Shuffle by Kim Barker, the foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune from 2004-2009 and I absolutely loved the book.  It was funny, informative, heartbreaking, very interesting, and very well told.  This past week I watched the Tina Fey movie Whiskey Tango Foxtrot based heavily on Baker’s book - even to the point of Fey’s character being called ‘Kim Baker’.

The movie is a watered-down version of a very rich, and interesting book, but it dealt with one particular theme very well: addiction.  Not drugs or alcohol, but being addicted to a lifestyle.  Baker, in her book, talks about her own addiction with the exciting, fast-paced, frat party style of living that goes on amongst reporters in war zones (apparently) and highlights the intense draw in the stories of her friends in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.  She speaks of the reporters and photographers being so enmeshed in their lives there that they have become incapable of returning to life in their respective homes.  Some with families, wives, children, husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends.  Repeatedly Baker shows relationships suffering while working abroad, even relationships that formed in Kabul and Delhi.

Watching the movie, which, like I said, deals with this theme very prominently, reminded me of my own situation, and that of many people I know.  I was not a war correspondent, nor have I lived in a place nearly as dangerous as Kim Baker, but I did live and work in a fair amount of isolation for many years - longer than she was in Afghanistan.

For over eight years I worked as a seasonal outdoor educator where I lived at the facility where I worked.  I worked fourteen hour days Monday through Thursday, Friday usually finishing the work day around 2 or 3pm.  Then we’d spend the weekends, often, all of us together, eating, drinking, running errands, going to the bar or clubs - socializing, but really only with each other.  We ate meals together, we went to the movies together, we went grocery shopping together.  We might see people outside our group, but often they were other people who worked for our company at another site.  So, really, still insulated.  Sometimes it would be family members who lived nearby.

At the end of the season we either returned to our hometowns to see family and try to score a part time job, or we’d look for seasonal work to fill the void between outdoor ed seasons.  This often results in working at the same ski hill and renting a house with other outdoor ed people, or working at a summer camp, the same environment as outdoor ed, only your coworkers average age is lower.  You never quite break free of the isolation.

Personally I often found my “off-seasons” as isolated as my “on-seasons” only I was able to notice because I wasn’t spending time with as many people.  I would be unemployed in my hometown where I no longer know anyone, or working and living on a ski mountain, or at a summer camp, or unemployed over the summer living in my family’s beach house, the only other tenants arriving late Friday night and leaving  a whirlwind of a weekend later on Sunday.  I found myself in multiple short-lived relationships during this time out of sheer boredom.  Not that any of them weren’t lovely and interesting men, but my motivation for dating them was very much wrong.

I’m now a year out of that lifestyle and I’m still incredibly isolated.  Mostly of my own making: my apparent amnesia for how to talk to people - something I’m actually very good at - and my overwhelming sense of drifting.  My closest friends are far-flung across this planet and none of them are just around the corner.  It’s actually a chore to try to carve out a time to see the ones who live nearby, and I cannot tell if it’s because it’s actually hard, or if it’s because I can’t walk to the next cabin and shout their names.

Most people who worked for the company I worked for only spend a few years there, tops.  Then there are the strange outliers like me, and a handful of others.  We all share similar concerns about not feeling equipped to live a “normal” lifestyle, and not really feeling confident in our abilities outside of outdoor ed.  I left not because I didn’t still love the job -- and we were well past it feeling ‘normal’ (see: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot) -- but because it was time I focused on my writing.  I want to be a writer, then I needed more time to work on it than outdoor ed allowed for.  But even a year later, I am feeling the withdrawal of that outdoor life.  Every day I spend at my crappy part time warehouse job - a day spend entirely indoors doing mundane, repetitive tasks, and hardly speaking to another person - part of me longs for even the most irascible twelve 6th graders who need to be taken on a nature hike.  Even though that lifestyle was leaving me exhausted body and soul and left me zero time to write, I wish I could be doing something similar to that instead of opening boxes, tagging tee shirts, and refolding them for shipment.

It was a straight up addiction.  One that I am having a hell of a time going cold-turkey from.  It was fun and rewarding and silly and ridiculous and interesting and dramatic and I fucking excelled at it.  I fucking shone.  Seriously?  Who needed drugs after the high you get from equal parts performance, education, spectacle, information, and silliness?  I don’t feel the need for drugs now, but all my recent health issues started after I didn’t go back to outdoor ed for the first time.  Which, naturally, makes me wonder if they’re related?  Here I am completely changing my lifestyle to a less active, indoor existence and it’s been a year and I feel as though I have gone nowhere.  Then you start to wonder: am I depressed?

You’re probably not depressed.  I am not depressed, at any rate, but I do think my health problems are related to a major decrease in physical activity this past year and a serious lack of salt air (I used to live on the coast - literally).  And I do think I was addicted to a certain lifestyle.  You would be to.  It’s like living in a dorm, or at a summer camp, or, apparently, being a foreign correspondent in a war zone.  I would never say don’t do any of those things.  But I would recommend taking Kim Baker’s advice: Get out before it feels normal.  Before being kidnapped by the Taliban feels like your typical Tuesday.  Before everyone you know is scattered across the globe.

I don’t know why I wrote this.  Because it’s been on my mind, I guess.

[archi-anime]

Just about all the premiere’s have started. And I figured I would give an update about how I feel about the ones I’ve had on the list and some of those that I picked up out of curiosity. Now, most of you know that I usually finish the anime’s that I start regardless if they’re amazing or intolerably bad. It’s possible a lot of these may end up going “on-hold” but I’ll try not to do that.  Also, I’ve found that I’m bad with doing the whole weekly/episodic review, so while I MAY attempt it, it’s most likely I’ll end up with a mid-season and a final thoughts type post.

I’ve noticed there are quite a few short form anime’s this season, and I have to say, this format is really growing on me! Anyways, this is going to be a pretty long post since I ended up watching a lot of premieres so please feel free to use the following page jumps to navigate to the ones you’re interested in. With that being said, let’s get to it!

Welcome to the Ballroom (Ballroom e Youkoso Katsugeki/ Touken Ranbu Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun Dive!! Love & Lies (Koi to Uso) Netsuzuo TRap Fate Apocrypha Saiyuki Reload Blast Elegant Yokai Apartment Life Tsurezure Children Vatican Miracle Examiner Restaurant to Another World Konbini Kareshi Aho Girl

Welcome to the Ballroom (Ballroom e Youkoso)

From the moment I heard about this anime, I had been looking forward to this one the most. When I turned 18, I had a cotillion, a debut. I along with my court of 18 total practiced the entire summer leading up to the big day. We did a lot of ballroom type dances, and boy did I love every single second of those practices! We did the waltz, the foxtrot, the cha-cha and the tango just to name several of the dances we did that night. I enjoyed learning all of these dances so much so that I heavily considered pursuing ballroom dancing at a competitive level. I felt pretty good about my ability in learning and picking it up and I loved the way it made me feel.

What I love about ballroom dancing specifically is the gracefulness of dance. There is a specific emphasis on the posture and frame; straightened backs and a particular way to hold your body in relation to your partner. The fact that the upper half is stationary while your lower body moves in counted steps across the floor in a fluid motion is really beautiful and actually quite difficult to maintain. Especially when you’re not really supposed to look down to watch what you’re feet are doing.

Posture was a key element in this premiere episode. The protagonist Fujita Tatara, is a bit down on himself in the premiere as he isn’t quite sure what to do with his future. He slouches and often looks down which is an indicator a lack of self-esteem and confidence. The first thing Sengoku does upon meeting Fujita is straighten out his posture, and in the mirror we see how much that makes a difference to Fujita. So far this has been my favorite scene of the first episode. Although, Sengoku was a little dramatic in straightening him up.

With that being said, I’m really looking forward to this one. The premiere episode was exciting enough to keep me locked in and wanting more.  It’s lived up to the hype so far!

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Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu

The only thing I know about Touken Ranbu is that it’s a web browser game in which you bring famous historical swords to life to defeat evil forces trying to change the course of history. I’m a bit of a history buff and love the fact the swords have been anthropomorphised. So I started doing research the moment Hanamaru was about to premiere. I knew there were two anime’s coming and I was anxiously awaiting Ufotable‘s  anime to come. Hanamaru was a good introduction, but there were way too many characters being introduced and not too much action happening. If you’re looking to see a slice of life about the daily life at the citadel then it might just be for you.

While my favorite Touken Danshi (or Toudan = sword men) has yet to appear, I am completely in love with the animation of this. I knew Ufotable would not disappoint when it came to action scenes and character designs.  This was a far cry from winter 2016’s Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru. This season’s Touken Ranbu will hopefully adhere to some plot and a better look at why and how things came to be. This one is definitely at the top of my list right now; I’m just holding my breath till Mikazuki Munechika appears.

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Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun

Sports anime (obviously I’m drawn into that). The first episode had me laughing at how ridiculous Aoyama-kun was in terms of being a clean-freak. Someone on twitter nailed it in the following description: “it’s a cross between Sakamoto (Sakamoto desu ga?), Tanaka-kun (Tanaka-kun is Always Listless) and a really good soccer player.”

The only problem I can see stemming from this show is how the clean-freak gimmick can grow old if it becomes to predictable. But hopefully I don’t lose interest as I found this to be a great comedy to kick off the summer season.

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Dive!!

I have mixed feelings about the start of this anime. This particular premiere wasn’t filled with a TON of excitement compared to the top two, and I was really hyped about this one as well. However, I’m not completely let down by the show just yet. I thought the animation was done well, and that there is an emphasis on the sport of diving. From watching diving competitions via the Olympics, I know how important it is to not have that splash back upon the entry of the water as they submerge in.  I was in awe by how the characters were able to achieve it; especially Tomo when he finally opens his eyes upon diving. He might have a natural talent that rivals Youichi – but only if he were really to hone his skill.

But I felt that something was missing from this premiere. The characters seemed to fall a little flat. Youichi (the blonde sugawara) is a talented diver that’s won countless competitions, I wonder if it’s just his character lacking a rival or something to push him to be better. He seems to be the best diver in the competitions he’s in so maybe no one comes close-which is why he just seems so bored. It’s like he feels obligated to compete because of his family history in the sport.  Tomo is another story. He dives on a whim, and although he has the rigor needed for practices, and he seems to be completely obsessed with the sport! It’s all he thinks about and values – but is that because of the sport or an obsession with Youichi? I’m not sure what his drive is for diving. Youichi had asked him and Tomo said that he just didn’t want to get left behind on the lower platforms. That to me is a weak response. Anyways, hopefully the story will gain its’ footing in the next couple of episodes!

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Love and Lies (Koi to Uso)

So far this premiere has succeeded in getting me to really want to see the second episode (that wasn’t in my most anticipated list). I had written that the premise alone was what really got me interested and so far so good. The dilemma that the main character faces is intriguing. I’m curious to see what he will do with the fact that he has his dream girl within his reach while also having to deal with the assigned marriage partner that is about to impede into his life. I also couldn’t help but notice the body language of the girl he’s been in love with; something about her doesn’t sit well with me. It appears she’s hiding something, does she also have an assigned marriage partner that she hasn’t announced? Even though their feelings are mutual, why did she run away when he got his marriage assignment; she could’ve talked about it with him. Ah, I’m trying to assign logic to her, but I’m hoping these kinds of questions eventually get sorted.

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Netsuzou TRap

I’m new to this genre; a complete n00b. I’m used to reading and watching more BL titles, so I figured I should really try to give Yuri a shot. The premise is a little twisted, but that’s precisely why i was so interested in it. I like these kinds of stories.

The feeling I got from watching this short was really interesting to say the least. It was disturbing yet enthralling to watch as Hotaru seduces her best friend into doing things with her that should be reserved for her boyfriend. The fact they’re carrying on a little tryst has me intrigued how this will affect everyone’s relationships.

Hotaru is definitely a cunning individual and Yuma is a bit of a pushover to allow her best friend to do these kinds of things. But the moment she started comparing her first kiss with her boyfriend Takeda to the shared kiss with Hotaru is already forging complicated relationships. How long before the boys notice something’s amiss? What will their reactions be? Would they even care?

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 Fate/Apocrypha

As most of you know, I am a fan of the Fate series.  I haven’t watched many of the spin-offs outside of Fate/Stay Night series, so this is my first.

At first I thought this was going to be completely different, but it seems to be set parallel to the events to the story of Fate/Stay Night. So it was nice to see some familiar elements, especially the Clock Tower, which is where UBW ended – Rin and Shirou had enrolled to be students here. It appears that there are a few saber’s in the setting (I may be wrong) so I’m looking forward to seeing what servants will be coming out. If Lancer shows up again here, I might fangirl a little. If Gilgamesh and Archer show up – even better. But I’m doubtful I’ll see such familiar faces.

Either way, I’m looking forward to this anime. I don’t know that I’ll love it at much as the Fate/Stay Night series, since I usually stay away from spin-off’s. I often feel that I get overloaded with the lore of it all, it took such effort to understand Fate/Stay Night as it is, I don’t know that I’m willing to invest much more past that with spin-off’s.

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Saiyuki Reload Blast

Saiyuki has several seasons before this, so I debated if it was truly something I wanted to invest my time in. But after reading up on the synopis it appeared that this was a new adventure for this group, I figured that I could maybe jump in and see what happens.

By and far action has always been one of my favorite genres in anime and in films. It was the main driver for me to pick up this show as I was interested in fighting scenes since a lot of the anime I chose this season wasn’t as action-oriented outside of Touken Ranbu.

Upon watching the premiere of this show, I didn’t feel like I missed anything. Sure the Sanzou party is still a mysterious group, but hopefully they’ll reveal more about themselves. I didn’t expect them to be some kind of religious group fighting demons. But hey, what the heck. I enjoyed what I wanted because I mean who doesn’t like seeing blood splatter across their screen like that?

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Elegant Yokai Apartment Life

You know what’s funny about this particular anime? I was browsing the manga application Manga Rock and started bookmarking a ton of manga to read. When I saw this anime, I kept telling myself man this show really looks familiar, that main character really really looks familiar. So I went to check my bookmark list and well what do you know, I had planned to read this at some point…but anyways, I digress. Did any of you guys happen to watch Summer 2016’s Morose Mononokean? Because, it’s got that kind of vibe to it. While this show appears to be interesting and has the potential of being something good it seemed a bit average and lackluster in really grabbing my attention and making me fall in love with it. The pretty boys alone in this one can’t fully save it, but I’ll keep watching and keep you updated!

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Tsurezure Children

I was surprised to see that this one was more of a short form anime; although it does make sense since this is based on a 4-koma manga. There’s a focus on several relationships with varying degrees of humor and cuteness. Ah, young love. That’s what I think of when I was watching this. The young puppy love we all experience in middle school with crushes on our senpai’s, being attracted to the delinquent and even possibly coming to terms that you’ve fallen in love with your best friend and don’t know how to tell them. So far this cute little anime has gotten me interested. I thought I had already found my favorite short form anime of the year, but with this summer’s line-up they may prove me wrong.

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Vatican Miracle Examiner (Vatican Kiseki Chousakan)

As someone that grew up Catholic, I was immediately intrigued by the premise of this show. A group of people investigating the validity of miracles via religion and science is an interesting combination. You have Robert Nicholas who specializes in the scripture and then you have Joseph Kou Hiraga (Why his name is so long I have no clue) who is a genius scientist.

So far the beginning of this show has me drawn in. But the downside is, I fell asleep the first time I tried to watch it, and the second time I had to re-watch several scenes. This show is so dense with information that the dialogue is too fast for me to catch up. I get it, these characters are smart – but do they have to speak at a lightning fast speed? Overall, I’m still interested in the show because the Catholic in me likes to see these references to the religion and to see how the story is going to play out. I’ve already made note of some buildings to include in my Ani-Reality series in watching the first episode! 🙂 I’m hoping to get more architecture out of this at the very least.

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Restaurant to Another World (Isekai Shokudou)

I guess I’m still new to the Isekai type shows. I don’t know I have a bit of a hard time with though I’m a huge fantasy lover. Maybe because Re:Zero didn’t sit well with me? But, I decided to give this one a shot because: food. Food show’s are always a draw-in for me.

So far this episode introduces us to a few characters, but the explanation of how these characters find this random restaurant and floating door is a mystery. We just know that the door changes locations and the door is magical. There’s a dragon that’s able to transform into a human form that loves beef stew, and a demon that’s now a part-time waitress.

Best thing about his show: The food looks delicious. But outside of that this show was unfortunately nothing special. While the show is It was entertaining, but I’m left with more questions than a need to continue.

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Konbini Kareshi

I picked this up out of curiousity after seeing someone else write their first impression of it. It’s another romance genre type with interwoven stories of different characters. I feel like it’s a bit like Tsurezure Children but this particular show didn’t give me the same fluffy feels that the previous did. The story is pretty flat, and so were the characters, nothing really progressed in this first episode and sometimes I felt that the dialogue was a little slow and drawn out and that there was a bit of dead air.

However, towards the end there was some progression between a few of the characters – that kinda got me revved up but not quite as much. The main storyline seems to be about childhood friends that probably have mutual feelings for one another but don’t know how to tell each other out of fear of rejection or changing the things that are already between them. But whatever happens, I’ll still be keeping my eye on this one. After all, I don’t drop things.

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Aho Girl

Literally a short form anime about an idiot girl and her responsible guy bff. There were about 4 chapters within this first episode. This is pretty much slapstick comedy that I just picked up to watch out of boredom. It’s good filler time for the other shows, but other than that, there’s not much else to really say about this particular one. It’s not exactly thought provoking.

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Well that wraps up all my first impressions. They all varied in length depending on how I really felt stood about about them. So, if some felt really short that’s because it was probably pretty average with nothing else to say.

My post is probably the last first impressions as most of the ani-bloggers are now on week 2 of their reviews. But hey, better late than never.  Anyways, did you guys catch any of these shows? Which shows are still on your radar?

[Summer 2017] First Impressions Just about all the premiere's have started. And I figured I would give an update about how I feel about the ones I've had on the list and some of those that I picked up out of curiosity.