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porcelain-soupspoon4 · 4 years

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You’re Not So Bad (Isaac Foster x Reader)

A/N: I finished Angels of Death a few weeks back, and it was so good! I just had to write a short story about it. I’m not the best writer, but hopefully my first writing of this anime is somewhat close to Zack’s character.

Warnings: Cussing, Blood Mention (it’s Zack)

You never expected to meet someone like Zack until he arrived on Floor B2. You assisted Reverend Gray, acting as another guardian of B2 after he took you in when he found you as a homeless teen, sleeping on the outside steps of his building. He wasn’t the best father figure you could’ve had, but he still treated you better than the streets did. When hearing the elevator on your floor ding, you wanted to see who was there, but Reverend Gray stopped you, warning you to be careful of the people you may meet. When you asked why, he described the people that held the names Isaac Foster and Rachel Gardner. In all honesty, you didn’t think they were actually as bad as he made them sound, considering that he over exaggerates his descriptions of people to you to keep you safe. Also considering the other psychotic people he had as guardians on the other floors, you could trust your own gut when you met the duo. You stayed hidden in the background while you watched Reverend Gray journey with Rachel to Dr. Danny’s floor. Watching them leave from the end of the hall, you saw a man in a dark brown hoodie and a scythe laying on the ground. That must be Isaac Foster. You could tell that he was bleeding out badly, a pang of guilt and empathy coursing through you. You were hesitant to approach him, remembering that the Reverend said he was dangerous to meddle with and there was a high chance he could react violently to you if you dared to try and talk. But seeing him looking on the verge of death, you couldn’t help but walk slowly toward him. It may seem unreasonable to walk right into danger, but you knew you could take care of yourself. Reverend Gray provided you with a weapon of your own, a basket-hilted sword. He helped you to perfect every swing and stab. Not only that, but you weren’t too bad at fighting hand-to-hand either. Luckily, Isaac Foster appears to be too injured to try and fight back anyway. I honestly don’t think my sword would be able to block his scythe well, I hope he doesn’t use it on me, you thought. As you got closer and closer to the strange man, he fidgeted a bit. You paused your movements, clutching the handle of your sword in its scabbard. He weakly turned his head towards you, his eyes opening slowly.

“Who the fuck are you? You gonna try and kill me?” he questioned, a sharp tone in his voice. You noticed he made no effort to reach for his scythe, so you let go of your sword’s handle.

“No.....I wouldn’t try to kill someone if they’re already dying,” you responded. He let out a dry laugh.

“I hate to break it to ya sweetheart, but I’m not dying any time soon. Monsters are hard to kill. Besides, good ‘ol Rachel’s gonna fix me up. But enough of the chitter chatter, you didn’t answer my first question. Who the fuck ARE you? I thought there’s only one guardian on each floor, unless Reverend Shithead cheated,” he spat. You let out a small chuckle, finding his way of talking a throwback to when you were a teen. Although, he seemed to be around the same age as you, twenty or twenty-two years old. His bandaged face looked confused to your lighthearted reaction. He scowled, “Hey, what’s all that laughing for? I didn’t even say anything funny.”

“Oh nothing, just thinking of my teenage days. But to answer your first question, I am another guardian of this floor. My job is assisting Reverend Gray on this floor, though I’m not really allowed to interact with the people who come here. But I uh, couldn’t help feeling a bit bad for you, seeing you bleed out like that,” you finally confessed. Letting out another dry laugh, he looked at you with a smirk.

“Feeling bad for me, huh? Not the best decision. Don’t know if you can already tell, but I’m a cold-blooded serial killer. If I wasn’t feeling shitty at the moment, I’d cut that pretty head of yours off. Seeing you this calm around someone like me really pisses me off,” he said. You only let out another small chuckle, which irked him even more.

“I’m sure you would, Isaac Foster. Although, I don’t think a fight between the two of us would end so quick. My weapon may be smaller than yours, but I can hold my own very well. If I could survive majority of my childhood and teen years being alone in the streets, I think I could survive you,” you calmly said. His temper apparently sky-rocketed because the next moment, he was yelling.

“The name’s Zack, you bitch! Don’t go being so confident in yourself, it’s sickening to watch. I bet my ass could ruin all that confidence with just one land of my scythe. I’ll have you begging for your life, just you wait ‘til I’m in a better state to kill ya. Ugh, now I have two bitches to kill!” he groaned, then coughed loudly, more blood oozing out of his wound. You felt guilty again, wanting to at least stop the bleeding for a little while.

“I carry some bandages and patches with me in case there’s a time I ever need to fix myself. If you need some I can-”

“Just leave it alone, will ya? I already got Rachel getting shit for me back on the other floor, I don’t need your damn help! Why the hell does everyone wanna help me?”

“M’kay, but you’re bleeding pretty badly, by the time she comes back, you’ll most likely be passed out-”

“I said leave it alone! Stop tryna play nurse, your stuff probably won’t even do shit.”

“But it’s better to stop the bleeding as soon as-”

“Will you shut up? You’re gonna make me go into shock.”

“I just wanna help-”

“I said I don’t want any damn help!”

“Well you won’t be much of a monster by bleeding out all over this damn floor! If you wanna at least live long enough to kill that girl Rachel, you could at least be somewhat decent and let me patch you up before you go all out, getting your own self killed instead! Now shut the fuck up and let me help! Geez! How does that blonde girl deal with you?” you shouted. Your yelling got him to close his mouth and shut up, surprised that he got someone as calm as you to get angry. How can I get her angry, but not scared shitless? It’s like she wasn’t even phased by my damn appearance, he thought. There was a short silence in the hallway, until Zack finally spoke up. “Didn’t know you had all that anger in ya. Heh, to be honest you even got my crazy self startled. I have no clue how Rachel deals with me, but all I know is her messed up head wants me to kill her. So I’ll do it. If I want to keep my promise to her.....I guess you should do what ya want. But don’t be a pervert about it.”

A small smile formed on your face as you took out your supplies in the small medical bag you carried around.

“How the hell are you smiling after all that? Sheesh, I’m starting to think you’re even weirder than Rachel is,” Zack let out noises of disgust. You scoffed, rolling your eyes at his childlike behavior.

“Tell me something.....,” he began to say, “why haven’t ya mentioned anything about my appearance? I’m literally covered in bandages and burnt underneath. Don’t I freak you out at all? Why aren’t ya scared?”

“Well, I’ve seen crazier. I also don’t like to make a judgement about someone based on only their appearance. Sure you’re not ordinary looking, but I know there’s more about you than what I see on the outside,” you replied. Everything that you needed to help him was taken out. You didn’t have any type of alcohol or a sewing needle and thread to fully cover what you believed to be a deep gash in his abdomen, but it was all that could be done for now until Rachel got back. You reached over towards his wound, but hesitated. You looked him in the eyes, as if you were silently asking for permission. He nodded slightly, his breathing hitching a bit when he saw the look your eyes held. You looked so genuine, not one hint of fear in you. Was that.....kindness? No, it couldn’t be. Why would anyone show kindness to him? You unzipped his hoodie, a faint blush on your face. Sure he was an asshole, but it still felt.....somewhat intimate? Not in an inappropriate way, just in a trustworthy way. The fact he had so much trust in one stranger to help him like this.....it was odd. You undid the bandages already on him that were worn out. His wound was revealed, and so was his skin. Wow....is all of him burned? You shook your thoughts away. You grabbed a bunch of gauze sponges you had and grouped them together, beginning to apply pressure to his wound. Zack hissed at the pain, saying almost every curse word you think is in the dictionary. You let out a soft “Sorry” as you continued to clean up the big amount of blood on his body. Once you began to bandage him up tightly, Zack started up another conversation.

“You’re different from the other guardians.....why aren’t ya trying to kill me? Isn’t that what you guardians do?” he asked curiously. You showed him another small smile. That damn smile, why does she smile so easily at me? It’s not like Rachel’s forced ass smile. What’s up with this bitch? Why is her smile so.....familiar?

“Well, like I said before, I just assist Reverend Gray on this floor. He’s the main guardian. I’m just someone he happened to take in after he found me sleeping on the steps of this building. Heh, teenager me. Homeless after my parents abandoned me as a toddler. I’m not sure what made Reverend Gray want to keep me. Sometimes he acts like a father, but then I remember how self praising he is,” you sighed, “I know the people on the other floors kill so you expect me to be the same, but I don’t want to kill someone if they aren’t totally out of their mind.”

“So is that why you didn’t try to kill me? Cause ya think I’m not totally out of my mind? Heh, well I’m pretty sure me killing people for fun isn’t sane either. I hate seeing people happy, sooooo I kill ‘em. What’s not psycho about that?” Zack stated.

“Well for starters, I didn’t try to kill you because you were already injured, so it wouldn’t have been fair. And you can’t be totally out of your mind if you let me help you with your injury.” Zack scowled at your reply, knowing you were right. Even as a serial killer, he had morals. He hated lying, and he himself would never tell a lie.

“You remind me of him too much,” he grumbled. Your head perked up.

“Did you say something?”

“I said you talk too much.”

“No, you definitely said something else.”

“No I said you talk too much.”

“Doubt it, tell me what ya really said.”

“That is what I really said.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Zack.”

“Ugh, I said you remind me of him too much,” he said softly.

“Him?” you questioned. Zack sighed. “There was this man I met when I was younger, a blind man. He let me stay at his place for a couple days. Even after I told him I killed a guy, he still had that dumb smile on his face. He always had that smile on his face around me. It was annoying, him being so calm around someone like me. Pissed me off, but I didn’t kill him. He fed me and everything. I mean he already died cause of something else, but it doesn’t matter anyway. Are ya done with my bandages yet? It feels like it’s been hours!”

You rolled your eyes at his commentary. “Well, whoever that man is, he had quite the patience with you.”

“Hey! I was giving you a compliment! Geez, way to be rude!” Zack crossed his arms, turning away from you. You only chuckled once more. You finally finished wrapping enough bandages as you could, making sure it was snug enough.

“Happy now, angry boy? I’m done. They’ll still get bloody, but at least the bandages are fresh and not worn out,” you said, giving him another smile just to annoy him.

“Thanks,” he mumbled. “I never caught your name. Since I told ya mine, it’s only fair you tell me yours.”

“It’s (Y/N),” you said.

“Well (Y/N),” Zack rubbed the back of his head. “You’re not so bad.....maybe I’ll keep ya alive.”

#angels of death #angels of death zack #isaac foster #zack foster #isaac foster x reader #isaac x reader #zack x reader #angels of death x reader #zack foster x reader #angels of death imagines #isaac foster imagines #isaac foster fluff #anime #isaac foster fanfic #angels of death fanfic #aod #aod x reader #satsuriku no tenshi

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egcdeath · 4 years

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a date with destiny

pairing: ransom drysdale x reader

word count: 1.9k

summary: fate brings you to a... questionable man more than a few times.

warnings: lots of fluff, enemies/strangers to lovers, kind of cringe

a/n: i swear my new thing is poorly writing every played out fanfic trope on the planet, i'm so sorry guys. maybe hallmark can hire me to write a few movies for them

You definitely could’ve avoided this situation if you didn’t wait for the weekend before Christmas to go shopping for your family’s presents.

You had no idea why your time management had to be so bad, but in the midst of working way too many hours in an effort to get promoted, you had completely forgotten about the fact that Christmas was literally right around the corner. And to make it worse, you had a flight tomorrow that you’d also forgotten about.

You sulked to yourself while walking around Nordstrom, waiting for inspiration to strike you for a semi-decent gift for your mother. The whole world seemed to be out that day, and you watched a plethora of shoppers pass you by, with their sour faces and unruly children. After eventually deciding on a black winter sweater for your mom, you went on your way to the candle section, knowing exactly the brand and scent that your sister would love.

This candle was the definition of a non-negotiable for you, and had been the reason you came to a Nordstrom in the first place, and when you found it sitting on a shelf by itself in all of its glory, you had simply become transfixed.

As you walked toward the candle, you didn’t notice that another customer was going for it as well, leading both of your hands to land on the candle, the absurdity of the situation making you blush. This was just your luck.

“Oh, this is awkward,” you played off the encounter, then attempted to subtly pull the candle your way, and away from the man.

“Yeah, it kinda is.” The man whose hand was also placed on the candle said shortly, before attempting to pull the candle his way.

“Hey man, I’m kinda on a tight schedule, and I really need to get this like… right now. I have a flight in like.. An hour,” you exaggerated.

“That’s too bad, ‘cause I really need this candle too.”

You took a deep breath, only you would find yourself in this kind of situation. “To be fair, I definitely saw this candle first. I’m its rightful buyer,” You attempted.

“Mmm, I definitely had my eyes on it first, so with your logic, I deserve this candle.” The man narrowed his baby blue eyes, and put a hand on his hip.

“Oh my god,” you groaned, hoping that maybe if you acted dramatic enough, he’d leave you and your candle alone.

“Sweetheart, can you even afford this kind of thing? I’m sure your friends or family, or whoever the fuck you’re getting this for, would rather you not go into debt over a candle. Just let me have it,” he responded cooly, as if he hadn’t just called you poor to your face.

You looked at him with an open-mouthed expression, completely shocked at the nerve this man had. “Fuck you, you asshole!” You attempted to yank the candle out from his grip, and you could begin to tell that the man’s resolve was beginning to fall.

“Fine. Take the damn candle. But maybe you could give me a little gift in exchange, and go out with me sometime,” he offered, slipping his now free hand into the pocket of his tan peacoat.

You were honestly shocked by this whole exchange. How did he go from insulting you and calling you poor, to asking you on a date? Men are so weird, you thought to yourself. He really isn’t that bad looking, you also considered. “Eat shit, guy,” you told him before flipping him off, and walking away.

-----

Imagine your surprise when you saw the same man from the store sitting in a local Massachusetts restaurant, with whom you assumed were his family. With your sister sitting across from you, you couldn’t help but be gossipy and point him out.

You scoffed and leaned over to your sister once you saw him, “See that guy over there?” You whispered to her, gesturing your head in his general direction.

“Which one?” she asked. “There are like five guys. Are you talking about the dude with the goatee? That old dude with the grey hair? Y/N! I didn’t know you were a grave robber!” she giggled and poked your side while you rolled your eyes, “Or, are you talking about that sexy beast in the white sweater?”

“The se- the dude in the sweater-”

“Oh yeah, he’s pretty hot. You should go talk to him,” she began to scoot out of her seat.

“No, you idiot!” You whisper shouted to her. “That guy basically attacked me in the store the other day. And then, he had the nerve to ask me out on a date!”

He must’ve felt the two of you’s stare, as he turned around and gave you a brief surprised look, then a twisted smirk.

“Oh my god, Bea, act natural,” You whispered before turning your head so fast that you nearly gave yourself whiplash.

You brought a hand up to your face and rubbed your browline in a fit of embarrassment. You looked down, then began to shovel pasta into your mouth at an ungodly fast rate.

“Oh come on, Y/N, he’s cute. What did he say to you that was so bad that you turned down his hot ass?” She asked, glancing back over at the man who was still occasionally looking over at your table.

“It’s kinda a long story. I’ll tell you later,” you mumbled, trying to ignore the heat steadily growing on your cheeks.

Beatrice shrugged, and a waiter approached your table.

“Ma’am, the man over there wanted me to give this to you,” he said before awkwardly placing a glass of white wine in front of you, along with a ripped napkin with a note and number.

We started off on the wrong foot, give me a call sometime?

Ransom

XXX-XXX-XXXX

-----

You looked at the note for so long, that it would’ve been better off being tattooed on the back of your eyelids.

“Just text him, Y/N,” your sister told you, her sentence a bit muffled by the toothbrush dangling from her mouth.

“He really seems like a dick,” you groaned, before rolling onto your back and throwing an arm over your eyes. Your sister rinsed out her mouth in the ensuite before returning with some advice.

“Well, he’s hot. Maybe you can bring him as a date to the Holiday party or something,” she stated before sitting down on the foot of your bed. “What’s the worst that could happen, Y/N? If he hurts your feelings, you can throw a hot drink at him and walk away. At best, you get a hot piece of ass to be your boyfriend.” she squeezed your calf reassuringly.

“Ugh, fine,” you huffed. “I’ll text him tomorrow.”

“That’s my girl!” Beatrice cheered, then placed a kiss on your forehead. “‘Night, Y/N,”

“Goodnight,” you mumbled before attempting to fall asleep.

-----

The funny thing about you, is that you were a master procrastinator. So after a day and a half, you’d put Ransom’s number into your phone, but had contemplated so many different opening texts, that you’d just completely given up. Besides, you had your parents’ holiday party to be attending and to be caring about.

You did some final touch ups of your makeup, before heading downstairs, and watching guests arrive from a safe spot in the kitchen.

Sometime after talking to about seven of your childhood friends, you felt a large hand press against the satin material of your short, red, tie-waisted dress.

“No way, girl I see everywhere?” The man who you know knew was Ransom, asked.

“It’s Y/N. Hi, Ransom,” you bit the inside of your cheek to hold back your laugh at the absurdity of it all, the fact that he was standing in your parents’ home, the fact that he was literally everywhere you went, and because you’d never in your life been called ‘The girl I see everywhere.’

“Why didn’t you ever call me? I mean, not even a text? Also, why are you following me everywhere?” He inquired, moving to stand in front of you.

“Well, I uh.. I forgot. Sorry, I’m a super busy woman. And I also live here... sometimes.. so if anyone is following anyone else, it’s you following me,” you tried to say this confidently, but something about Ransom really threw you off your game.

“You live here? No way. Is this like your family home?” He asked, and you nodded. “So our parents have been friends this whole time, and we had no idea.” He gestured to a doorway, where your mother and his were talking with flutes of champagne in hand.

“This just keeps getting weirder and weirder,” you said quietly, mostly to yourself.

“Maybe, this is just fate. We’re meant to be together, and that’s why we keep seeing each other everywhere,” you raised an eyebrow and tilted your head when he said that to you, genuinely confused at why those words would come out of his mouth. “Oh, lighten up. I’m just kidding,” he said with a bemused smile.

“You have a weird sense of humor, Ransom.” You told him plainly, trying to act disinterested, though you were rather endeared. He definitely saw right through you, as he gave you a little grin before he began to speak again.

“So tell me about yourself.”

-----

After a few too many drinks, you were walking down the sidewalk, hand and hand with Ransom as you searched for any sort of restaurant that could be open at that hour.

Finally, you found a quaint and rather empty 24-hour diner with its lights on. The two of you sat down in a booth, and struggled to contain giggles as you sipped from mugs of stale, lukewarm coffee. Why you were giggling, you weren’t completely sure.

“You know what, Ransom, once you get over the asshole-ness, you’re not that bad,” you reached out a hand, and set it on top of Ransom’s, that was idly sitting on the table.

“Wow, thanks,” he chuckled, a dark pink dusting his cheeks.

“Why did we even come here?” You groaned, “No offense, but this coffee tastes like ass,” you whined,

“And how do you know what ass tastes like?” Ransom burst out giggling at this.

“Shut up. Are you twelve?” You pretended to be annoyed with him, before giving in and laughing along with him. “Can you take me home?” You asked with puppy dog eyes.

Apparently, one for the dramatics, Ransom tossed a $50 bill onto the table, then stood up from his seat at the booth to swoop you up in a bridal style.

“Ohhh my god,” you slurred as he carried you out the door, then eventually set you back down on the pavement once he became tired.

-----

While you walked up to your doorstep, Ransom stood on the sidewalk, watching you contentedly. As you got to your door and turned around, he gave you a big, goofy smile and a wave.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Come in with me,” you invited. It was safe to say, Ransom happily obliged.

#ransom drysdale x reader #ransom drysdale x you #ransom thrombey x you #ransom thrombey x reader #chris evans x reader #chris evans fic #knives out fanfic #fluff #hey i wrote that lol

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enigma-im · 4 years

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Like a Virgin

Rating: Mature Relationship: Incubus x Female!human Warning: betraying of trust, broken friendship, incubus are cum brains, comfort, fluff, no sex

Word Count: 7797

Can an Incubus and a virgin be friends?

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"Tatiana, or Tina. I know it starts with a T. Either way she was crazy, even for my standards! I couldn’t bring myself to say no to her though, her energy was intoxicating," Silas rants. I pay attention for the most part but he caught me in the middle of something. He just kind of started talking. Honestly, I don’t mind his stories, they are funny or interesting most of the time. I secretly think I'm the only one he talks to about this cause I'm the only one who listens. Add comments here and there. Everyone else is too busy trying to get his attention just to get an excuse to look at him.

"Your appetite is going to get you into trouble if you find yourself struggling to say no," I pass him a sly grin. Out the corner of my eye, I see him rest his crossed arms on the table. I feel him staring at me, probably thinking of some stupid joke. I fiddle with my tablet as I finish my document.

"What about you, I can't be the only one having weird sexual adventures. Even someone as quiet as you must have some really kinky shit to tell," Silas rest his head against the table. Just in the corner of my vision. I ignore him for a second as I write my last sentence.

I look over at him," what's that?"

"What's the weirdest sexual encounter you have had," he repeats. I cock an eyebrow, eyeing him for a second.

I turn back to my tablet," I've never had sex." I don’t notice him recoil from me. I open up my email and send over the file to another coworker. Once I finish I turn off my tablet and give Silas my full attention. He looks shocked. His mouth is slightly open and his eyes wide.

"what," I ask.

"You never had sex," he tilts his head. His eyebrows furrowing in concern.

"Nope, never have," I shrug. It's not a big deal, I know if I really wanted to then I can find some stranger. Still, that has never been alluring. I would rather be in a committed relationship before I do anything like that.

"How old are you, aren't you like 24? How can anyone live that long and not at some point had sex," he asks.

"I just haven't, it isn't a big deal," I begin to get embarrassed. When I was a teenager I thought about sex often. As I got older it has lost its appeal. I never dated in college because I was busy with work or school. Then finding a job I didn’t really bother with dating. After 21 I just didn’t care anymore.

Silas doesn’t share my sentiment.

"Is it a religious thing? Are you waiting till marriage or..," he sits down next to me," like you are pretty, I can't imagine you haven't had offers. Then its got to be a personal choice. So spill it, what's up." I begin to fold into myself, his questions making me nervous.

"I just haven't. there haven’t been any situations where I've had the choice. Not that I've put myself into those situations either way. So let's just drop it," I cross my arms and turn away from him. He grabs my chair and turns me back to face him. His face is serious, I've never seen him serious before.

"Are you interested in it? Are you asexual," he keeps questioning. Wanting to get away from his scrutiny I get up, knocking his arm from the chair. I walk around the seat, keeping it between us. "its ok if you are, I'm just trying to wrap my head around this," he tries to clarify.

"I rather not talk about this, if you don’t mind. My break is over so I'm going to go back to my office now," I try to be calm. I'm not going to hold this against him. He is an incubus, so I understand his interest in the topic. It doesn’t mean I have to answer him.

He drops it," alright, sorry. Didn’t mean to pry. Have a nice day, Chloe." with that we part ways.

I don’t see him again till the next day. What a weird day that was too.

"Hey, Chloe," someone stops me in the hall.

"Hey," I look the man over. He is a tall lanky fellow, short black hair and glasses. I remember seeing him around but his name evades me. I think it starts with an R.

"So I heard you are into local bands. You mentioned visiting Ricardo's on Saturdays. I was thinking, my brother's band is playing this weekend and I was curious if you would like to come see him," he asks. The entire time he is talking I'm trying to think of his names. Robert, Richie, Rhett? It takes a second for me to realize he asked a question.

"Oh, this Saturday? I'm going to visit my mother, my cousins are coming in for the weekend so I wanted to stop by and say hi," I answer honestly. I'm curious about his brother's band though. It's nice of him to promote his sibling like this.

He drops his shoulders," right, maybe another weekend then?"

"Yea, just let me know when he plays again. I'll stop by and check him out," I smiled curtly," but I really got to go, see you around?"

"Yea, sure. Later, Chloe," he waves. He looks a little dejected but I can't find myself to care.

The day gets a little weirder when I'm visited by another coworker.

"Chloe, working hard as usual," I look over my desk to Derek. He is a short stout fellow with brown hair. Derek is a funny guy but I found his personality to be too overpowering.

"Of course, hard work promotes better values," I curtly smile. I believe that is the end of the conversation until he steps closer to my desk. He rests his elbows on it, leaning beside me.

"Working hard all the time, when do you ever take a break. Perhaps we can grab lunch later? Get out of the building. I know a nice little pizza joint down the way," he offers.

"No thanks, I'm lactose intolerant so pizza doesn’t agree with me. Also, pizza without cheese is an awful idea. I may not be able to eat it much anymore but I know cheese makes a pizza," I try to joke. I know Derek is being friendly like usual but I can't bring myself to tolerate him today.

"Then how about the Chinese place on by the bank, they ha-,"

"Derek, stop bothering Chloe and get your ass back here," someone calls from out the door. Derek jerks his head over, glaring at the woman down the hall.

He turns back to me with a grin," Guess I have to pester you for a date later, till next time." with that he gets up and leaves. I watch him go with a confused look.

"He was asking me out?"

The time till lunch is filled with men, and a few women, coming up to me. For the most part, I think they were all asking me out. Some stumbled over their words so I didn’t understand. The ones I do know for sure I politely decline. I don’t wanna date, especially not someone from work. Most of them take it nicely, a small few are rude. Like Jose.

"Why not," Jose glares," it will be fun."

"I'm just not in the market for a boyfriend right now," I try to inch around him so I can head to the cafeteria. He slams his palm into the wall beside me.

"Not in the market? Silas told me otherwise," he leans in with a smirk.

"Silas told you," I stare confused. Pushing myself into the wall to get away.

"Yea, he said you were interested. Mentioned you would be an easy thing too," he tries to lean in closer. I dart underneath his arm, not bothering with him anymore. "Hey, we aren't done," he calls down the hall. I stop and glare at him over my shoulder.

"You ever talk to me again, I'm calling HR," I sneer. He rolls his eyes but walks off.

That dick! Not Jose, but Silas. What he doing telling everyone I'm interested? Telling people I'm an easy lay or something.

I change my course from the lunchroom to Silas' office. I stomp up the step, clenching my tablet in a tight grip. I slam open the door and march inside. I find him sitting in his chair, bent over his desk writing. When the door bangs against the wall he looks up. He starts with a smile but drops it when he sees my glare.

I slam my hands on his desk," Don’t you ever butt in my love life again. If I find out you are telling people that I'm 'easy' again I will cut your damn balls off. Do you understand me?" he sits back in his chair a little worried. Perhaps a little scared. My words take a second to sink in for him. Once they do he sits up.

"I never told anyone you were 'easy'. I said you they should try asking you out. Who said you were easy," he furrows his brow.

I slam my hands on the desk again," You shouldn’t be telling anyone anything about my interest. I never asked for your help, I never wanted your help. I've been asked out all day and you know damn well I don’t want that kind of attention."

He stands," What do you mean you don’t want that attention? You need that kind of attention. It isn't healthy to sit alone all day every day in your apartment. I want you to be happy, and I think this will do that. Excuse me for trying to be a good friend." I glare up at him, he glares back.

"If this is your idea of being a good friend then I rather you weren't," I sneer.

"What are you saying," he crosses his arms.

"I don’t want to be your friend. Friends I want around are ones who respect my privacy, not someone who makes people treat me like a thanksgiving meal. If I don’t want a relationship that is my fucking choice, Silas. Don’t talk to me or talk to anyone else about me. We are done," I push away from his desk. Moving it a little in the process. Then before he can say a word I stomp out his office. Running the conversation through my head till I'm gritting my teeth.

Who does he think he is telling people to proposition me. Does everyone in the office know I'm a virgin now? Everyone is going to look at me like a challenge. See who can get into my pants first. Fucking pigs. Silas the piece of shit.

The entire day is ruined until I get home. I put on some PJs and watch my favorite show. I don’t need Silas, the asshole. If I wanted help I would have asked him.

The rest of the week I avoid Silas. Which is harder than I thought. He seems to be everywhere I go. I head to the copying room, he is in there. I walk down for lunch, he is there. I go to a coworkers desk and he is talking with them. I can't tell if he is doing it on purpose or it’s a coincidence. Hardly matters, ill just sit in my office like a hermit.

Friday, just before quitting time I get a visitor. There is a knock on my door. I look up and my polite smile drops.

I look back down at my work," get out."

"I was going to ask if you are done throwing your tantrum but I see you aren't," Silas says walking in the room. I try my hardest not to look up. If I have to act like a child for him to leave then I will. I hear a chair squeak against the tile floor. I accidentally glanced up at him. He is sitting with his arms folded over his broad chest. He is staring straight at me, waiting for me to answer. I won't.

"Come on, do you want me to apologize? I don’t know what I did wrong but ill say sorry anyway. I'll be the bigger person here, I'm sorry Chloe. Is that better," he asks. I barely notice my grip tightening on the pen till my paper rips. The pen digging too hard into the page.

"You honestly don’t know what you did wrong," I grit my teeth," you selfish dick head." I glare up at him. He doesn’t seem phased. Knowing him he probably never been in a fight with a woman. Use to them falling at his feet because of his sexual prowess. Ain't going to work here.

"I tried to do something nice for you and you ignore me like a child. So excuse me for being a little confused," he snaps.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now? You have everyone in the office looking at me like I'm some kind of challenge. I get asked every day by people to go out with them to bars. Knowing they are only hoping to get in my pants. Trying to get me wasted enough to sleep with them so they can come here and brag they got me first. I never asked for your help. If I wanted to get laid I would have done it by now," I cross my arms. Glaring over at him, daring him to downplay my feelings on this.

"If you could have gotten laid then why haven't you done it. I've been trying to wrap my brain around this all week. You are an attractive young woman and you have never gone out to get someone. I know you are interested in it, you listen to my stories with such open wonder. I thought for the longest time you have, you hold your own in a conversation about it so well. Why are you a virgin," he asks. I don’t need to answer him. I don’t have to justify my choices. Yet, I feel like I do.

"Because I never found the one. I don’t trust anyone enough to not hurt me after. Most of the guys I might have had sex with I knew they would either leave before I woke the next day or brag about it to friends. I was always the pretty one, nothing more. Hell I know I got my job because I was attractive. I don’t want a one night stand or a simple night of pleasure. I want a relationship, I want to trust them not to leave me once they had their fill. I'm not just a body to be used, I'm a person," I finally answer. It's true, I haven't trusted anyone. Everyone makes sex into a simple thing. Just shared pleasure that doesn’t have to mean anything. But to me it does, I want the connection. To please someone while they want to please me.

He sits there for a second. Eyeing me as he thinks.

"What makes you think that those people aren't in it for a serious thing? Who has made you believe that people are just there to use you," he asks calmer.

"Because you talk about doing that every day," I scowl," answer me honestly. Have you ever stayed the night at one of your partner's home? Made them breakfast the next morning as thanks for the night before." he tries to glare at me but I know the truth. I may not trust people to fuck me but he doesn’t trust people to want him after. I've known Silas for almost a year and this is a fact I gathered early on. No one wants a relationship with an Incubus. They are known for being unfaithful so why risk it?

"No," he drops his head, " I'm sorry Chloe." this is more sincere. I wasn’t ready for that. I know our relationship isn't much. We are friends because of the circumstances. If we didn’t work together then we would have never even spoken to each other. I never expected him to actually apologize.

"thank you," I mumble. He lifts his head and looks at me through his lashes.

"Are we still friends," he asks. It comes out soft, to my surprise. I think about it. I don’t think I can trust him after this. The little faith I had in him was gone once he told everyone I needed to be fucked.

"No," I answer. I find I can't look him in the eye when I said it. I do notice his shoulders dropping.

Without another word he stands, nods, then leaves. After that, I don’t see him as much.

The weekend comes and goes. I get to see my cousins and forget about the situation for a while. The week goes smoothly. I don’t see Silas at all that week. Come to hear it, most people haven't seen him. He comes into work and doesn’t socialize like he used to. I want to feel responsible for that but I know it isn't me. We weren't that close. He is a social butterfly, talks to everyone. I was just the only one who didn’t actively flirt with him. I listened to what he had to say, I was polite.

After about two weeks I forget about him. I don’t worry about his whereabouts or comings and goings. Some coworkers still try to get me to date them but more are asking me about Silas. I don’t care.

Its Saturday and I'm sitting on my couch. I flip through Netflix for anything new to watch. Shoving handfuls of chips into my mouth. The oil getting on the remote as well as my pants.

There is a knock at the door. I jump at the harsh noise of a fist against wood. It echoes through my apartment. I stare at the entrance, waiting for the sound of footsteps down the brick stairs. Instead, I get another knock and a voice.

"Chloe, I need to talk to you," the voice is muffled. It’s a man for sure, but unless I get up and check I don’t know who it is. I place my bowl on the table then walk over to the door. Knowing the dangers of opening up to anyone I grab the bat near my fridge. I step over and peak through the eyehole. I see a fisheye view of Silas. His hair is sticking to his forehead and his clothes look wet.

"Chloe, please," he drops his head to the door. Part of me wants to open it just so he can trip forward. But another part wants him to leave now.

"Go away," I yell. Still looking through the hole I see his head pop up. He looks directly at the peephole now.

"Chloe, please. Just five minutes, that’s all I ask," he holds out his hands. I can see he is dripping wet.

"Why should I," I yell back.

"Because I want to apologize. I've had time to think and I really need to talk with you," he is practically begging. I have never heard him beg. Even in his stories, he is never the one to be a sub, to beg for anything. He is probably used to people throwing themselves at his feet just to get a taste of him.

I try to fight my goodwill. I shouldn’t let him in. but it's raining out and he is standing here soaking wet just to talk to me. Yet I don’t owe him anything, just let him get sick. Still, I'm curious.

With a sigh, I grabbed the doorknob. Pulling it open with a reluctant grimace. This better not be a mistake.

I look up at a soaked Silas. His white button-up is taunt to his torso. I can see his undershirt easily now. His black slacks are dripping over his shoes and onto the doormat. He looks tired. Black rings under his eyes along with his cheeks being hollow. He doesn’t look healthy.

"You look like shit," I deadpan. I didn’t want to be the first one to talk but I couldn’t resist the jab.

He chuckles," yea, I've noticed. Can I come in?" I look him over again. He isn't coming in here dripping all over the place.

"You are soaked, ill grab a towel," I turn and walk to the linen closet. I grab a towel and walk back over. I nearly trip when I see him taking off his shirt. Kicking his shoes off beside the mat. He balls up his shirt then reaches back and grabs the undershirt. I get to see his flat stomach, then his toned pecs. Silas isn't buff by any standards. He has definition but not great mass. He doesn’t have abs but his stomach is flat and toned. His chest is broad but it isn't strong. Only his arms hold any girth. His biceps and shoulders being the only things with muscle.

He looks up at me," Sorry. Thought it would be easier if I had less to dry." I come back to myself.

"It's alright, here," I walk over and hand him the towel. Not looking at him anymore. I turn away from him and go to my couch. Sitting on the farthest end. I watch as he dries himself before stepping in. he wraps the towel around his waist then removes his pants from underneath. I look away as he does.

"You can look, I'm not showing anything," he laughs. I still don’t look. It's hard to be mad at someone when they are half-naked in your living room. Cant give a proper glare if I'm blushing. He is the first man I've seen to this level of disrobe.

"What do you want," I decide to get to the point. I don’t want him here longer than he has to be. After a second of him not answering I look over at him. He is staring down at the ground, his hair blocking his eyes.

"I miss you," he starts. I look at him confused and skeptical. I don’t trust him. He looks over when I don’t answer, " I wanted to respect your choice of not wanting to see me but…" he sighs.

He takes a moment to collect himself," I've been a mess without you. I couldn’t understand why either. I know I liked talking with you but this feeling is a lot. I think about you constantly, I catch myself walking to your office often. It hasn’t been just my thoughts you are ruining too." he looks up at me, in the light, his face looks terrible. The low light makes his face look almost skeletal. I can see the shadow of his ribs under his pecs. Has he not been eating? Then it clicks, he hasn’t been feeding.

"What did you do," I find myself asking," are you feeding?"

He shakes his head," I haven't since we stopped talking. I can't bring myself to go out. For the first week, I was confused. I forced myself out the second week but I did something I haven't done ever. I said no to someone. I didn’t want to fuck them, the idea of it was sickening at the time. I had to ask my brother what was happening. Maybe I was sick and needed some help. My brother told me differently." I watch him, worried about him but not wanting to show it. I've known the guy for a year, we got a little close. The time I've known him I never heard him having this issue. He has never not fed. He is a man whore to the max! this is so out of character.

"What did he tell you," I ask. He opens his mouth to answer but shuts it. He tries again but nothing comes out. He drops his head to his shoulder, wincing. Running his fingers through his wet hair and adjusting his towel too much.

"Why is it so hard to tell you," he groans," I just want you to know that I'm honestly sorry about telling everyone. At the time I thought I was helping but it isn't till later that I realized you never wanted my help. Also that it isn't the help I wanted to give you. I want you to be happy, truly I do. In my dumb cum brain way of thinking I thought that my way of helping would be what makes you happy. I'm sorry. I still want to help but now it's more complicated. If not selfish now."

I sit up," what do you mean?" I'm worried. If his way of helping before was to make me a living target for people at work, I hate to see what it is now.

"I have to tell you something, and I need you to work with me on this. I don’t know if I can say it if I'm being honest," he runs his fingers through his hair again," you know I care about you. We have been friends for a while. I cherish our conversation, you were the only one who listened. Not even the sex stuff but everything. Like when I told you about my insecurities, I knew I could trust you with them. I know you are someone I can trust, and I want you to trust me." he walks over to the couch. Flopping on the other end. He leans over and looks me in the eyes. The action sends a tingle down my spine. His eyes are searching, I can feel him searching.

"What are you doing," I lean hard against the arm of the couch. He scoots a little closer. Still looking at me, in me. It feels invasive. After a second he smiles.

"You know one of my powers is emotions. On the account I feed off them it should seem self-explanatory. Either way, I can see a person's feelings. Strong ones radiate from someone like a beacon, do you know what I see when I look at you," he cocks a brow. I shake my head," I see loneliness. When we first met it was like being slapped. You were pouring with it. So I was drawn to you, wanting to fix that in some way. My intention was pure, I wanted to see you smile. Make your day less alone. When you stormed into my office I could feel the rage boiling off you. It was suffocating. But now, now I can see fear, worry, and affection. Fear for what I'm saying, worry for me, and affection for me. So, Chloe, I will tell you what I came here for." he scoots close enough for our legs to touch. He grabs my hands away from my chest, resting them in my lap. Then he just stares at me, a smile gracing his lips.

"What," I mumble, "What did you come to say?"

"That I'm in love with you," he finally answers. His words are like a jolt down my spine. It's of both joy and rage. I rip my hands from his hold. He frowns.

"Fuck you," I hop over the arm of the couch. Putting as much distance between us as I can. He watches me as I pace the room. He looks sad but I couldn’t give a damn at the moment.

"You don’t get to fucking say that," I snap at him," you don’t get to be an asshole then decide you did it out of affection. That isn't how this works, Silas." he jumps from the couch. Walking over to me but I hold my arm out to stop him.

"Please, Chloe," he tries to talk.

"No, don’t 'please Chloe' me. This isn't fair, this isn't ok! You don’t get to ruin my work-life then march in here two weeks later saying you love me. You lying piece of shit," I point at him. As he hears my last words he sneers. Grabbing my hand he pulls me close. I fight in his hold, not giving him the satisfaction.

"Chloe," he shouts, "Stop." he wraps his arms around me, pinning my arms to my sides. We glare at each other, "I may have been less than savory but I will never lie about my feelings to you. You can kick me, punch me, spit on me, but know that I tell the truth. I care about you, I want you, I love you. Do you understand me?"

"I don’t believe you," I squint up at him. I fight in his hold again, he lets me go with a sigh. I back up far enough away that I feel he cant grab me. He still looks dejected. His fist clenching at his sides for a second before he wipes them on the towel.

"Chloe," he looks up between his lashes, " after I last saw you I was sad. I missed our conversations. I talk to everyone at work but you are the one I looked forward to seeing. I always knew I had feelings for you. I never pushed anything cause I didn’t want to lose you because of who I am. See, no one wants to be friends with an incubus, think we are a bunch of silver-tongued sluts. My last close friend stopped talking to me when he got a girlfriend. He thought I would steal his girl away, how ridiculous.

"But after that day I starved. I couldn’t bring myself to feed off anyone. The idea of touching someone was disgusting. I thought I was sick. Not once did I think it could be any other reason. So I called my brother after the first week. I was- I am- in pain. I'm starving like you wouldn’t understand. When I called him and told him he asked if I was in love with anyone. I laughed at him, of course not. Then he asked again, then before I could actually think on it your name popped up. Suddenly it all made sense. My brother said that I'm bonded to you now. I didn’t know what that meant, sounded a little cliché. It seems that I have made a connection with you, I cannot bring myself to feed on anyone else. I won't even if I had a choice because all I want is you. All I need is you. All I can think about is you." I try to glare at him. I really try to be mad but I look at his body. He looks so weak, so malnourished that it hurts me.

"bonded," I ask," what does that mean for me?" I still don’t trust his words. I know how convincing he can be. Yet I know there is truth there. He would never starve himself for anyone.

He takes a step closer but stops when I take one back," nothing. Not unless we… it means nothing to you."

"Not unless we what," I ask. He looks at me, glancing between my eyes as he thinks. He doesn’t answer me, instead, he turns to the couch and sits. His leg spread and his hands on his face. He sighs. I take a step closer," Silas." he sighs again. Dropping his hands to his lap he looks me over.

"Can you do that again," he mumbles.

"Do what," I ask wearily. He runs his hands over his thighs.

"Can you say my name, its intoxicating to hear my name come from your lips," he grips the towel.

I fold my arms," just answer the question." he rolls his eyes before dropping his head back to the couch.

"It doesn’t matter, just give me a second and ill leave," he grumbles.

"No, I let you inside so you can answer my question," I snap. He lifts his head a bit to look at me. Giving me a once over before dropping against the couch again.

"I will answer if you answer one question of mine," he offers.

"No, I don’t owe you anything," I sneer.

"Humor me," he tilts his head," Please."

I glare at him for a second but give in," fine."

Silas watches me for a moment," Do you like me? Before all this. Before I fucked up royally. Did you even for a second think of me as an option?"

I ponder lying for a second. Of course, I've thought of him. He is literally sex personified. Even besides that he was funny, I liked talking with him. I knew there wouldn’t be a chance, he was too interested in partying and sleeping around. It wasn’t my taste. I rather not date a man whore. But he made a good friend, I got along with him well enough.

"For a second. But I had no interest in dating someone who has a body count in the triple digits," I jab. He doesn’t acknowledge that part. He looks hopeful for a moment.

"Was it because I was an incubus or because I was me," he sits up.

"Nope, I answered your one question, now answer mine," I chide.

He ignores me," Did you like me or what I could do? When you had that thought did you think because of the pleasure I could give you or because you enjoyed me?"

I balance on my other foot, looking away from him," Not unless what, Silas?"

He stands," Chloe, did you like me. Answer the question." I try to speak but he talks over me," Chloe, how did you want me?" I try again but he interrupts," Chloe!"

"Fine, I liked you! You were funny and silly. You liked stupid memes and hate tomatoes in your salad even though you always buy them with tomatoes. You stop talking anytime you saw a cute dog, it was adorable, and you actually listen to teen pop music. I couldn’t have cared less that you are an incubus, that didn’t matter. I liked you and all your silly quirks," I snap. He stares at me shocked. I turn away, I cant look at him.

"Chloe," he whispers. He sounds closer. I still don’t look. "Chloe," he mumbles near my ear. I feel his hand grab my arm. Unfolding them and bringing them around his waist. I let him, not having the fight anymore. I hold him lazily while he wraps his arms around my back. Pressing my head to his chest.

"You hurt me," I mumble against him," I trusted you not to tell everyone. It wasn’t really a secret but I didn’t want everyone only talking to me because of that."

He pets my back," I know. I'm sorry. I will do anything to make it up to you. It was a terrible thing to do and I will do whatever I can for you to trust me again. All I ask is you give me a chance." I can't answer but I nod against him. I feel his chest deflate as he sighs in relief. Holding me just a little tighter, kissing my hair.

We stand there in silence for a moment. I hear his heartbeat slowly against my ear. It sounds weak. I can feel his spine along my fingers. He really is starving.

"Silas," he sighs again," you need to eat." he nods against my head.

"I can't," he whimpers," the thought of eating from anyone but you make me sick." I lean back in his hold, looking at his gaunt face.

"Is there another way for you to feed," I ask," I know you can get like snacks from other emotions."

He presses my head back against his chest," Don’t worry about me, alright. Just let me hold you and that will be enough." I don’t push it.

"Then, can you tell me about being bonded?"

He stops breathing, "Do I have to?"

"Yes," I answer. He huffs.

"If we ever make love then I cannot feed from anyone else. You wouldn’t grow weak from me, and you could read me like I read others. It’s a very deep thing, it cant be broken after that," he finally explains. I gasp into his chest.

"Read you," I ask. I run my fingers over his spine. I can feel the hairs rise and his body shiver.

"Right now you are sad, and emotionally drained. I can read that from you," he explains," you would be able to do that with me." I nod. There isn't much I can say to that. He is right, I'm so drained. I want to be mad at him but seeing him as this hurts. Seeing him so weak and starving. I don’t want to believe he cant feed from others. That the idea of being with anyone else makes him sick but the evidence is there. I'm tired of thinking, I know this feels right.

I lean back and look up at him. He stares right back. I reach up and grab his jaw with one hand. Pulling him down to me. He doesn’t resist, probably too scared to. I stop him when our noses touch. His eyes are beginning to close and his lips are slightly parted.

"You will never do what you did again, do you understand me," he nods," if you hurt me even a little we are done. I never want to see you again or hear from you. Is that clear?" he nods again. I guess that finishes it. I lean in and take his lips for mine. When we meet it feels like fire. Like my body slowly began to engulf in flames. Starting at my lips then working over my body. Silas groans into my mouth, pulling me closer. My legs sit between his, his knee hitting my thigh. His crotch sits flush against my stomach. I can feel his cock from under the towel. I wouldn’t say he is hard but he is getting there.

I reach up and cup both sides of his face. Pulling him just a bit closer as he sucks on my bottom lip. Nibbling and licking as his hands pet along my back. He is a great kisser, I find myself thinking. I meet his tongue with my own, I feel his chest rumble against mine. I lure his tongue into my mouth where I suck on it. Feeling a familiar tingle in my stomach as I do.

Without warning, he pulls from me. Spit hanging between us that he catches with his tongue. He stands straighter, still petting my back. His eyes are black like I've never seen before. His mouth is parted showing off his teeth, his fangs.

"Chloe, you are more potent than anyone I have ever tasted," he growls as he drops his head to my neck," But I cannot bring myself to take from you anymore right now. I still need to earn your trust." he kisses my neck with a few lazy pecks before licking me. He growls, his teeth pressing against my throat. I don’t notice my heavy breathing, but I do notice his.

"Silas," I sigh. I'm not sure what I was going to say but knew I should talk. He groans, bucking his hips against me after he hears his name.

"Do it again," he licks my neck.

"Silas," I peck his cheek. He bites my neck, it feels like electricity coming from his teeth.

"You are too divine," he whispers against my skin. He quickly leans back, tilting his head to his shoulders. He looks a little dazed, his cheeks are less taunt but he still has bags under his eyes. Licking his lips he gropes my hips. "I'm sorry love, I seem to be a bit drunk off you already," he laughs," I may need to sit down." he lets go of me and nearly falls as he turns to the couch. I grab his arm and help him to the seat.

He falls against the loveseat, making it hit against the wall. His head drops against the cushion, his hands spread wide on the sofa. Silas lazily drops his head to the side, looking up at me. He pats the seat next to him.

"We aren't doing anything else but please sit. I need to touch you," he slurs. I can't help but chuckle at his drunk state. I take the seat beside him. He quickly grabs me and pulls me close. Our sides flush, he rests his hand on my thigh.

"Little drunk? Does this happen often," I ask with a smirk.

He eyes me with a weak grin," not at all. Not since I was young. I have built a tolerance but yours is very strong. Like the hardest of liquors but I rather compare you to a glass of fine wine." I find myself rolling my eyes at him. The flirt.

We sit in silence for a while. Just enjoying each other's company for the time being. I get a moment to think about him, about what he said. It's strange to figure that he of all people could be in love. Let alone in love with me. I try to doubt it but I can't bring myself to. He seemed so distraught when I called him a liar. Like I hit him or something. It's hard to think he could ever be interested in me, actually enjoy our conversations. He talked with everyone at work, the social butterfly compared to me. He was just a friendly guy, it kind of came with the territory.

"I should be getting out of your hair now," he mumbles. I look up and see he is falling asleep. His head tilted back and eyes closed. He doesn’t make an attempt to move just yet.

"Sleep on the couch, you can leave in the morning," I sit up. I stretch my arms above me, groaning with the exertion. I jump when his fingers glide along my side. He chuckles. I glance over and his eyes are just barely open, a soft grin on his face. He drops the grin and pets along my hip.

"I can't believe I never saw it before this," he stares," it was always there."

"What was always there," I ask as I sit back on the sofa. He adjusts his hand so it's wrapped around my middle. He leans on his side so we are face to face.

"You are so beautiful. Funny, charming, smart, kind, and best of all, you like me," he grins. I find myself grinning along with him." but it has always been there. I've liked you for a while but I knew you wouldn’t go out with someone like me. Hell, I couldn’t promise you that id actually stick around too long. But recently, even before my dumb move, I think I've always loved you. It's easy to see it now. Looking at you makes my heart feel at home. I can say for certain that I will never leave you. Unless you tell me, ill be right by your side." I look at his eyes for lies. Any indicator that he wasn’t being honest. I found nothing, just genuine care. This is what I've wanted for a while. Just open tenderness with another person. I think I can forgive him for being an idiot.

"kiss me," I look down at his lips.

He leans back a little," don’t be asking for things you don’t understand now. I'm just coming down from being drunk if we kiss I can't stop this time."

"Good, I don’t want you to," I smile up at him.

He sits up," no, I got to take you out on a date. Actually, try to woo you. I owe you that much, if not more." I crawl over and straddle his lap. He instinctually reaches up to hold me but thinks better of it at the last second. His hand hovering over my thighs. I run my hand up to his bare chest, feeling his warmth. I look up at his conflicted face. He looks down at me but then looks away.

"Take you out to a nice restaurant, shower you with compliments and bring you flowers. Then-oh," he groans as I kiss his chest. I'm not really sure what I'm doing, having never gotten this far before. But touching him feels right. I brush my arms over his sides, noticing his ribs aren't as prominent. I kiss down his sternum then over to his nipple. I lick over it, smiling when he gasps. Before I could continue he grabs my hair and pulls me back. His eyes are black again and he looks dazed.

"Dinner, Movie, Flowers, gifts. I will do those things you understand," he growls. I nod," Good." in a second his lips are on mine. His grip on my hair is used to tilt my head. Diving his tongue into my mouth quickly. Licking along my teeth and tongue. I feel him under his towel, poking between my legs. I want to grind on him but I think better of it.

Just as quick as he kissed me he pulls away. Hissing with his eyes clenched.

"Chloe, I'm not that strong. I've never had to use control before. I'm certain I will not be having sex with you tonight, I cant. Even if you have forgiven me I still owe you something better for your first time," he opens his black eyes," I will treat you to a lovely night out. Then I'm going to take you to my place where I will worship you. But till then I beg you to have pity on my control." I'm a bit shocked at what he said. He will take me to his place? From all the stories he has told I've never once heard him taking someone back to his place. It's almost a rule for him to not take anyone to his home.

"To your place," I asked still shocked.

He grins," of course. Be hard to leave the next morning if I'm at my house," he tries to joke.

"You have never taken someone to your house," I clarify.

"Well you aren't just anyone, are you," he cocks a brow," you are way more important than anyone before." I reach forward and kiss him again. He startles for a second before getting into it. I pull back after a short moment.

"Dinner next weekend," I ask.

"I'll pick you up around seven," he grins.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scarping the bottom of the barrel for past stories because I am in a rut right now in writing. I have this cute orc story but fuck, I cant write! so here is a work in progress I edited so I don’t have to write an actual ending.

Also this character is totally me, like I was not subtle at all. I reread this like a month after I wrote it and I'm like ‘oh this is me, that's rude’.

also, also. If you aren’t interested in sex, there is nothing wrong with you. sometimes you don’t find it appealing and that’s ok, don't let anyone make you feel bad for that.

Check out my Archive| Masterlist| Main Blog

#incubus #monster lover #monster boyfriend #Enigma-IM #fluff #comfort #exophilia #starving #Silas

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 4 years

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Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt.43 prt.1

Keith slept like a log. When Lance had left so suddenly it’d taken Matt to make him realise what was happening. Forced into conversation, it’d been nearly an hour before he headed upstairs to check on Lance. Finding his boyfriend asleep and the sweet smell lingering in the room, he grabbed a blanket off the bed and stuffed it along the bottom of the door to keep the scent in. Shooting Shiro a quick text to let him know Lance was “sick”, Keith hoped that Shiro got his implied message. Stripping off to his underwear, Keith slid under the blankets where Lance immediately moved to cuddle him, mumbling his name as he wrapped an arm around Keith’s waist. Why couldn’t Shiro see this side of Lance? Sure, he might be a vampire, but he really was stupidly sweet. Not used to sleeping with someone like this, Keith had expected to spend the night tossing and turning, or even to be plagued with nightmares as usual, instead he woke to find himself spooned up with Lance curled around him.

Letting Lance sleep a little longer, Keith wasn’t looking forward to crawling out of bed. He would have stayed with his boyfriend but his bladder had other ideas, Lance stirring as he lifted his arm from around his waist

“Keith?”

“Bathroom”

“Mmm... ‘kay”

Using Lance’s bathroom felt like a privilege. Keith making sure he hadn’t made a mess before stumbling back to bed. Lance had woken up properly, but that didn’t mean he’d gotten out of bed. Crawling back onto the bed, Lance automatically reached for him, Keith too uncaffinated to feel embarrassed or protest as he climbed into Lance’s hold. Kissing his cheek, Lance sighed as he leaned against Keith

“Good morning”

“Mmm...”

“I know. You haven’t had your coffee yet. Do you have enough energy for me to cuddle?”

“Mhmm”

Lance kissed his cheek again

“Thanks for being here when I woke up. I know you’re not used to it and I’m not used to it, but I really needed a hug”

Turning his head, Keith pressed a kiss to Lance’s lips. Lance blushing slightly as he did

“It’s okay... are you okay?”

“Yeah... I slept like the dead”

Keith groaned at Lance. It was too early for his shenanigans

“Didn’t like that one? I’ll keep it in mind. Let’s get you your coffee. Everyone else is already up”

Lance laughed at him as Keith struggled into a pair of the vampire’s jeans and a shirt. Though he would have been fine wearing the clothes he’d had on the day before. Keith glaring the best glare he could manage, mind firmly on his coffee, as Lance went about getting dressed, Keith made to not peak as he changed underwear. Not that he was going to peak. Lance had nothing to be ashamed of down there, but there was a fresh wave sweetness that lasted a few seconds, making them both blush for no damn reason. Keith wasn’t a natural born blusher, yet it seemed to just happen around Lance. Managing to look far more presentable than Keith did, his boyfriend was annoying like that.

Yawning as they entered the kitchen, Keith ignored everyone as he made a beeline for the coffee machine, only to be irritated that his normal cup wasn’t where it was supposed to be. Sharing a house was already proving annoying. He didn’t like it. That wasn’t to say he didn’t like Matt and Rieva... he just liked things better when people didn’t interrupt his coffee routine. Glancing back to Lance, he found he’d already ducked out, leaving him with no support over his stolen cup

“How’d you sleep, kiddo?”

Keith grunted at Shiro. He didn’t deserve words until Keith got his damn cup of coffee

“It’s like watching Pidge in the morning”

“Keith isn’t functional until he’s had his coffee”

“Pidge is like a demon. She’d literally bite ankles if she could get away with it”

“Keith is too. He bit me once for moving his coffee”

“Oh, man. That’s just too good”

Matt and Shiro both seemed in excellent moods as they talked about him. That was something. Yesterday had been draining and he didn’t want a repeat.

“What are we talking about?”

Keith felt himself blushing as Lance walked in. His boyfriend didn’t need to know he was being teased

“Keith is acting like Pidge”

“Pidge is worse. Keith isn’t as snarky as she gets. You guys eat?”

Lance seemed happy enough replying to Matt. Hopefully that was a good sign

“Yeah. We helped ourselves. Is that okay?”

“Yeah. I meant it’s your house too now. If there anything in particular you don’t eat or we need, let me know. I promise I don’t bite”

Matt laughed, even his laugh sounded like Pidge’s. Keith now wondering if she was on her second cup with her laptop in front of her. It seemed highly likely

“Honestly, there’s not a lot we don’t eat. What about you?”

“Blood three times a day and I eat. I think there’s a conversation we need to have too over what happened last night”

Keith froze. He felt like Lance was pushing himself when it came to the subject he thought his boyfriend had in mind. It meant confiding in strangers, which he wasn’t good at. He didn’t dare turn around as he watched his coffee finally coming out the machine and into the inferior cup he’d taken off the hook

“Did we do something wrong?”

“No. It’s just... It might make things complicated and hearing you react last night really drove home how awkward this might be”

“Man, you’re scaring me now”

There was the scraping of a chair, meaning Lance had sat. Keith felt like he should do something, but he didn’t know what

“It’s not you, it’s me... Wow, I didn’t think I’d be using that line so early in the morning... so... um... I’m not a normal vampire”

“You can’t turn into a bat or hypnotise humans to do your will?”

Lance snorted

“I can turn into a bat... not a very good bat... No, it’s, um... I’m a vampire, but... um... I get flushes like a werewolf... in heat. It’s from drinking human blood. Well, from drinking Keith’s blood. You know what it’s like when you turn, so I’ve been trying to live as humanly as possible... I didn’t go out of my way to find out much about that side of things. I thought I had a handle on it... but Keith was the first human I ever drank from... and his blood changed my body. You caught my scent last night... and fuck this is embarrassing. I’m a breeder...”

Lance’s words hung in the air, Keith finally able to move again. Turning, he found himself walking to Lance’s side, and placing his hand on his shoulder to let him know he wasn’t alone

“... and I’m kind of dating Keith”

Matt gaped at the pair of them. Shiro didn’t say anything, which Keith was grateful for

“Pidge never told me that”

“Pidge doesn’t know. That I’m a vampire or that I’m dating Keith. I don’t want to make a big fuss out it. But I really wanted to explain so there wasn’t a misunderstanding on why I left the room the way I did”

“So you go into heat?”

“Basically... My body is still adjusting to it. I didn’t think I could get any weirder but here we are. That’s why Curtis is here. In case I get sick again, or turn into a bat again. It’s not something I can control”

Matt snorted. Keith felt like punching him until he shook his head, he must have been glaring at the man

“Lance, dude, that’s not that weird. You’re in a room with two werewolves, and a cursed guy. We get it. We don’t really talk about heats outside of with our mates, but now things make sense. It’s cool, dude. We’ll show you a good time if you ever...”

Rieva slapped the back of her boyfriend’s head

“Ignore him. He doesn’t get it. If you need help managing your heats, we can talk”

Keith felt like he was invisible. He was the one trying to help Lance with that

“Hey, does that mean you’re boning Shiro’s little brother?”

“We’re not having sex... and that’s fine. My body isn’t stable”

“Damn Keith, you’ve got some balls being with a vampire. Make sure you keep his fangs away from your junk. Shiro, you didn’t let me know about this. You must be freaking out”

Shiro sighed

“Keith and I talked, then Lance I talked. They both know I don’t want either of them going through something like what happened to Adam”

“What happened to Adam was messed up, but Lance seems to have his shit together better than any of us. Plus, he can cook, so Keith isn’t gonna starve, and he’s got a house and job. At least he’s not doing crack in some back alley”

“This is true...”

Matt pulled a face at Shiro

“You’re a right royal arsehole when you travel. You should have seen him in Platt. Zero patience. I thought that orange haired dude was gonna have a coronary”

“I wasn’t that bad”

“You punched the elevator wall because you tripped into it”

That sounded like Shiro was stressed rather than just being cranky from a long flight

“It had it coming”

“Basically you were a dick and now you’re embarrassed. I can smell it on you”

“Fuck off. He’s my brother. I’m allowed to be worried”

“As long as you’re not dooming things. Patience yields focus... so focus on having some patience and not bringing the vibe down”

Keith had to hide his smile behind his hand. Shiro was being put in his place by Matt the same way Adam would have. It was easy to see the absolute worst in people after the shit they’d seen. One time they’d been on a hunt and the vampire caught wind of them. It left its human pets behind, Keith taking months to get over that. There was something even more fucked up about it feeding on children. The memory still made him queasy and his nightmares had been out of control over it. Back in their old apartment there’d been a bullet hole left in wardrobe thanks to him leaving his gun beside his bed before falling asleep. Adam had been pissed for days over it. Keith then forbidden from having his gun in his room, instead it went in to the safe in the hallway.

“You’re making me feel old here”

“Don’t start with that. We’re the same again”

“Technically I’m the older here, so you’ve got nothing to worry about, Shiro. There’s hope for you left”

With how negative Shiro had been, Keith expected him to snap at Lance. Instead his brother shook his head, looking like he’d been ganged up on. It wasn’t so funny when the teasing was happening to him

“I don’t know if that makes me feel better?”

Lance shrugged as he undid the cap on his bag of blood

“Whelp. I tried. Keith, your coffee’s going to get cold. Now, Matt, please tell me I don’t have to lie to Pidge for much longer. She always comes by on the weekends, she’s actually past due for a visit this week. I want to let Hunk know ahead of time, so he can be here too”

Keith went back to his coffee, some one had been at his milk. He had enough for two coffees left despite the fact they’d been shopping with Curtis. He wasn’t happy as he rationed his milk carefully, before carrying the cup over to the table to sit by Lance. His boyfriend was still on guard but Keith could tell he was feeling better now that he’s confused his secret. Keith quietly proud of him

“Tomorrow morning. Call Hunk and let him know. I probably need your number too while I’m at it”

“Sure. So what are you planning on doing today?”

“Shiro insisting on training to better protect ourselves. Maybe we can answer that age old question?”

“Which is?”

“Are vampires really that strong?”

Lance rolled his eyes

“Remember you said that when I’ve wiped the floor with you, Fido”

“Hey, Keith why don’t you stick your hand up his arse and count to ten. This over stretched muppet’s got no clue”

Lance groaned at Matt

“Dude... don’t bring the muppets into this. Though Curtis would be the Chef. No idea what he’s doing in the kitchen and I’m sure he’s make copious amounts of spaghetti if he could”

Curtis sighed, not wanting to be dragged into this

“You kill one toaster and they never let you forget it”

“Nope”

Keith wasn’t sure about this. Curtis warned Lance not to push himself, Lance simply declaring this to be “his weeks worth of physical activity”, before starting to stretch. Sitting in the backyard, Shiro and Rieva sat by him. Curtis would be the referee and Rieva would jump in if Matt got too carried away. Keith was quietly trying not to interfere, telling himself that this was Lance accepting how Matt wanted to bond. Catching his eye, Lance winked at him. Keith realising Lance hadn’t taken his glasses off. The idiot was on his way to breaking another pair

“Lance, glasses!”

Practically smacking himself in the face, his boyfriend pulled his glasses off, jogging over to Keith

“Good call. Look after them for me”

“Don’t make me regret this”

“Look at as a chance to make you fall for my fine Cuban arse all over again”

Keith wasn’t having it

“You hate combat”

“Yeah... but it’s an ego thing... Besides, we’ve got rules. No breaking anything and no going for the throat. Oh, you better take my jacket too”

“Fine. But don’t come crying to me when it hurts later”

“I will”

Lance looked like a video game character as he bounced on the ball of his feet. Curtis didn’t seem pleased to be between two supernatural creatures

“Ready?”

Lance nodded, Matt adopting his own pose. Keith waited for the video game announcer voice to come from no where... unfortunately it didn’t

“Yep”

“Bring it Dracula”

“No changing shape, wolf boy”

“I won’t need to”

“Remember that when Rieva’s patching you back up”

“That’s some pretty feisty talk from a virgin”

“What can I say? I believe in true love... and kicking your arse”

“I’ll believe it when I see it”

“Oh, it is so on”

Curtis retreated half a dozen steps backwards

“Okay. Don’t kill each other. Fight!”

Both males circled as they sized each other up. Matt growling at Lance, Lance’s fang emerging as his facial expression changed. His eyes changing from their brilliant blue to something darker, almost completely black as pupils dilated. Keith felt a stab of fear. Lance looked as if he’d let his ego go completely, Matt baring his teeth at the threat

“All bark and no bite?”

“You’re not going to beat me”

“No. You’d have to throw a punch first. If you wanna tuck your tail between your legs and run along, I won’t tell”

“Arsehole!”

Matt let Lance provoke him into the first swing. Lance blocking as he leapt back

“You’re going to lose if you can’t hit me”

Starting to circle again, it felt like a weird dance between the two of them. Lance could be a pain in the arse, practically an expert at avoiding physically attacking. Keith was worried that his boyfriend wouldn’t know what to do. Lance’s fighting experience of late had been fighting him

“Fine. I won’t hold back. You don’t hold back either”

Not holding back put everyone in danger. Matt and Lance going for each other too fast for Keith to catch up. One stage Matt was on the defence and the next he was throwing Lance across the yard... which Lance didn’t take too kindly too. His whole feel changed. His teeth bared as he smiled, nails elongated, and he seemed taller than Keith remembered. He was cold. And he was distant. This was the side himself that Lance feared. The two were back at it again, Keith had a mind to stop this. Lance hated senseless violence and this couldn’t be good for his mental health. Catching Matt as he lunged, Lance wrapped his legs around the man, head butting him hard. Matt grabbing Lance by the waist to slam him down, only for Lance’s legs to end up wrapped around Matt’s neck, hands pulling on the werewolf’s hair. Matt’s hands found their way to Lance’s throat, dropping to his knees as smashing Lance’s head against the ground. Beneath him, Lance went limp as Keith went cold. They weren’t supposed to do serious harm to each other. Matt immediately releasing Lance’s neck, only for Lance to draw himself backwards, kneeing Matt in the chin as he did. Keith hadn’t even seen how Lance managed it. The Cuban joked about being flexible, but this was something else. Snarling, Matt’s internal chain on his wolf snapped. The man changing shape and lunging at Lance. Rieva was tackling him down before Keith could shout in warning.

Laying on the grass, propped nip on his elbows, Lance watched as Rieva changed into her wolf, pining Matt down and snarling at him. Changing back to his human form, Matt looked a little sheepish as he cranes his neck to see Lance

“You good man?”

“Yep. You?”

“Yep. Tie?”

“Yep”

“Okay. Babe, you can get off me now”

Rieva turned back, Keith looking away from where she and Matt were. Both too naked and too casual about the whole thing

“Idiot. What have I told you about you wolf?!”

Matt whined pathetically

“I didn’t mean too”

“I don’t care. You need to control yourself”

“I was having fun. We were having fun, right, Lance?”

Lance flopped back, hand coming up to shield his eyes

“Sorry, you’re own your own with this one. I don’t like fighting at the best of times. Between you and Keith I’ve learned so many new moves I don’t think I wanted to learn. I like peace and not exercising... ugh... I think I’m dead”

“Dude, you’re already dead”

“Fair... I’m going to take a bath”

Keith watched Lance climb to his feet. His boyfriend swaying a little before limping over to him. Something inside Keith coiled away in fear of never having seen Lance like this. His heart was racing from raw power of the fight

“I won’t touch you, there’s blood and that’s dangerous. Can I have my glasses and my jacket?”

“Oh... sure... do you need help getting to the house?”

“Nah. You say and enjoy the sun”

Keith didn’t know if Lance had seen the fear in him, but he hoped he hadn’t. The fight had stirred up other emotions in him, other than his fear over Lance’s mental health. Taking a deep breath, he couldn’t quite catch it. Emotions over Adam too strong to stomp down. The fight has been so fast. The grass torn up from the force behind each twist and move. Adam never would have stood a chance... but if Adam had survived the turn why couldn’t he fight back? How had Shiro survived with simply getting scarred?

“Keith?”

Shiro’s voice was gentle, his brother asking if he was okay in just the use of his name

“I’m heading back up to the house”

Keith could hear Blue yowling as the sat himself down on the stairs. Burying his face in his hands, he fought to control his breathing. He hasn’t pushed Shiro on the death of Adam. He hadn’t pushed him and now all these questions wouldn’t shut up. Blue sounded worried, her cries getting louder and louder, Keith feeling he needed to find her, even if it was just to make himself feel better for doing something. Heading upstairs, Keith followed Blue’s unhappy cries to Lance’s bathroom door. Scratching on the wood, the feline was begging her human master to be let in, Keith crouching down to scoop her up where she immediately bit his hand

“You don’t want to go in there. There’s water in there”

Blue protested hard, Keith opening the door and the cat immediately jumping from his arms to the tiled floor

“Keith?”

“Sorry, Blue wanted in”

“I heard... Hey, can you come in here for a moment?”

It wasn’t like he had anywhere else to be.

Slipping into the bathroom, Keith closed the door behind him. Blue was standing with her paws on the edge of the bath, Lance buried in a mound of bubbles. Keith wasn’t sure if he was supposed to look at his boyfriend or not

“What’s up?”

“Can we talk?”

“Aren’t we already?”

Lance huffed, turning his head towards him. The vampire sporting a rather impressive black eye, Keith’s breath catching at the sight

“It doesn’t hurt. Just... I need to... I need to talk to you and I’m worried”

Keith swallowed, nodding before heading over to sit on the toilet on lid

“What is it?”

“I... I want to apologise for upsetting you”

“You...”

“I did. I did and I know I did. You’ve been worried about me since this morning, but I still went ahead and fought with Matt, like I didn’t respect your feelings. I kind of want... I want to explain things to you”

Keith shook his head

“You don’t have to”

“I do. I do because you’re important to me. What you saw today, that was ego. Matt losing control, me losing control. That was ego. Last night I was pretty upset at the situation. About everything. Me. Us. This body. While you were getting dressed I was gathering up my bravery to tell him. You know that drive. How you train yourself until you feel satisfied and you hurt in a good way... feeding my ego is kind of like that need. It’s not but it is. My ego and his would kept clashing, so I told myself that if he suggested it, I’d agree. What I didn’t think about was you... and I feel like a douche for it. I know I scared you... I scared me when I saw my face... and I’m... I’m sorry”

Keith blinked half a dozen times. Feeling mad at Lance for not talking to him ahead of time. He had scared him. And he’d been scared for him. He’d thought his heart was going to stop when Matt changed shape. Lance was prepared for it, and he wasn’t

“Why couldn’t you talk to me?”

“We kind of...”

“You didn’t make the effort before deciding everything yourself”

“Keith...”

“No. You let yourself be hurt knowing it’d hurt you more than physically!”

Fuck. Fuck. He didn’t want to snap, but he couldn’t get the right words out

“I’m sorry”

“I was worried about you and now you have other friends here to talk to instead”

That’s not what he wanted to say. He wanted to question why there couldn’t have been another way. Lance didn’t need to train with other people when he had him

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aion-rsa · 5 years

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Avengers: Endgame - The History of Captain America's Climactic Moment

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Remember in Avengers: Endgame when Captain America picked up Thor's hammer? We sure do! Here are other times he did that!

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This article consists of nothing but massive Avengers: Endgame spoilers. You’ve been warned. We have a completely spoiler free review right here.

Ever since Thanos showed up in the mid-credits of the first Avengers movie, there was one scenario that most comic book fans knew was going to one day happen: Captain America was going to at one point lift Thor’s hammer Mjolnir and bash Thanos’ stupid face with it. Until Hela broke Mjolnir in Thor: Ragnarok. Then we all went, “Oh, never mind, I guess,” and thought about what could have been.

Well, time travel is funny like that. It gives you a mulligan. Avengers: Endgame gives us one of the most triumphant moments in superhero movie history, when Captain America is able to lift Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, and use it to beat the ever-lovin' crap out of Thanos for a few minutes. Not only can Captain America lift Thor's hammer, he's able to call down the lightning just as Thor would. It's a huge, cathartic, and historic moment in the history of the MCU, but it's something long familiar to Marvel Comics fans.

How Can Captain America Lift Thor's Hammer?

Simple: Steve Rogers is worthy. The inscription on Mjolnir reads "Whosoever holds this hammer, if they be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor." It doesn't matter how strong you are, if you aren't worthy, you can't lift Thor's hammer, no matter how hard you try. It's why Thor, at a low point in his life, is so relieved to find that he can still call and hold Mjolnir when he travels back to the events of Thor: The Dark World.

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, we got the slightest hint of what was to come when Cap was able to slightly budge the hammer when trying to pick it up. Thor's reaction shot there was priceless, and teases the moment in Endgame when Steve finally gets to call down the lightning. Of course, the big payoff in Age of Ultron was that Vision (not Cap) was able to wield it near the end of the movie as a way of proving his fidelity, but many of us knew that there was more to it, including Thor, who exclaims "I knew it!" when Cap gets his big moment with the hammer.

read more - Which Avengers: Endgame Deaths are Permanent?

There is comic book precedent to Cap picking up Mjolnir. While not the first non-Thor character to pull that off in Marvel canon (that would be the delightful Beta Ray Bill), he’s had a couple moments where he’s been able to prove his worthy worth and cracked some heads with the uru metal.

Here’s some American history with a mix of Asgardian shop class.

THE ORIGINAL

The Mighty Thor #390 (1988)

Around this time, Steve Rogers had lost the right to be Captain America and just fought crime as "The Captain." This meant dressing exactly as Captain America, but in a black costume with red and white stripes on the front. Thor stopped by Avengers HQ, saw this guy with head wings and a shield and went, “I never saw you before in my life! Who are you?!” Then he threw Mjolnir at him in mid-sentence before realizing that it had to be Steve Rogers because of how fast he could dodge the attack.

I swear, Thor must scream, “STRANGER DANGER!” whenever Jane Foster gets a haircut.

Cap later explained his whole status quo, as well as his current feud with Iron Man (that happens a lot). So the government considered him an enemy and he was at odds with Iron Man for ideological reasons. Same as it ever was. While Thor mused over all this, one of his villains, the god Seth, sent an army after him. Cap, of course, helped out his stupid, stupid friend.

read more: Avengers: Endgame - Complete Marvel Universe Easter Eggs and MCU Reference Guide

Thor dropped his hammer after being tackled by generic grunt Grog. Grog tried to lift Mjolnir, but couldn’t budge it. Instead, he started torturing Thor with a laser. Cap didn’t quite understand the whole “worthy” gimmick at the time and figured it was just really heavy. Even though Grog, a brick shithouse of a miniboss, couldn’t do it, Cap decided it was worth trying.

Wouldn’t you know it, The Captain picked it up and wiped the floor with the dogpiling goon squad. He tossed it back to Thor, who proceeded to finish off the bad guys.

Afterwards, Thor admitted that while he had no idea what was really going on with Steve and Tony’s current argument, he sided with Steve due to his ability to pick up the hammer. Cap nodded, rushed into a Quinjet, and flew off to go break Tony Stark's nose several times over.

2099 PROBLEMS

2099: Manifest Destiny (1998)

Even though it's been brought back a few times since, 2099 was one of Marvel's big fixtures in the 90s. It was how 90s comics felt the future would be like. The story was that the heroes had long gone missing and there were no surviving records of what happened. Either way, Thor was worshipped as a religious figure and many awaited his return.

When serial-pointer Miguel O'Hara got powers and became the new Spider-Man of the era, someone pointed out that he was the first of many who would take up the mantle of a long-forgotten hero. This would continue until the coming of Thor 2099, who would deliver them all. Sure enough, we got Ghost Rider 2099, Hulk 2099, Punisher 2099, X-Men 2099, etc. After a few years, the line of comics lost its luster and they wrote it off with this one-shot where they found Captain America's frozen body.

read more - Avengers: Endgame Sidelines the Captain America/Bucky Relationship

As Steve got accustomed to this new world, Miguel gave him Donald Blake's walking stick. With a little reluctance, Steve accepted the gift and struck it to the ground, transforming it into Mjolnir and transforming himself into a gaudy Cap/Thor hybrid. He and Miguel started a new Avengers team, but on a space mission, things went haywire and it looked like Captain America was going to be knocked into deep space. His last act was to throw Mjolnir to Miguel, who caught the weapon and turned out to be just as worthy.

Yes, in a wonderful twist, Spider-Man 2099 wasn't just the herald of Thor 2099. He WAS Thor 2099!

With this power and the slow aging that came with it, Miguel turned the galaxy into a utopia. By the time he was done with his duty in 3099, they discovered Captain America's frozen body yet again. The poor guy just couldn't catch a break, but at least he got the hammer back.

THE HELLSCAPE OF APOCALYPSE

What If? Featuring X-Men: Age of Apocalypse (2007)

Age of Apocalypse was a pretty big deal in the '90s and the world it depicted was a nasty one. At least it had Magneto’s X-Men to make some kind of difference to offset Apocalypse’s evil. Naturally, Marvel’s What If series had a couple of takes on the big event. One had its continuity move forward and show how that Earth would have handled the coming of Galactus. One had Legion succeed in killing Magneto in the past, showing a world where Charles Xavier could better fight for a world where mutants were accepted.

Then there was this ridiculous one-shot where Rick Remender came up with the idea of Legion accidentally killing both Magneto and Xavier. The event had terrible repercussions, leading to governments to discover the existence of mutants earlier and going straight for the persecution. Apocalypse made his big appearance and the world got weirder than in normal Age of Apocalypse continuity. For one, Apocalypse’s army included a nest of Peter Parker clones connected by a big Venom symbiote blob.

read more - Avengers: Endgame Ending Explained

The resistance team included the likes of Nate Grey, Molecule Man, Wolverine, Colossus, Thing (with robot arm), Doctor Voodoo (introduced a year or so before Brother Voodoo was the Sorcerer Supreme in canon), Captain Britain in Mach I Iron Man armor, and the leader Captain America. With no real context given, he wielded Mjolnir throughout the story and constantly fought maskless.

The whole issue was mainly these Defenders jumping from one spot to another, facing different threats and gradually losing members. Towards the end, Nate Grey killed Apocalypse, stole his armor, killed Molecule Man, and opened up a portal to the past so they could prevent the deaths of Xavier and Magneto. Fearing that Grey would become a tyrant as bad as Apocalypse himself, Cap killed him via Mjolnir and allowed the portal to close.

He and Wolverine were the only survivors of the adventure.

WAR OF THE WORTHY

Fear Itself (2011)

Fear Itself was a Captain America/Thor crossover idea that Marvel decided to turn into a full-on event. It was...there. The tie-ins were better than the main plot, honestly.

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The Red Skull’s daughter Sin came across a mystical hammer that transformed her into the deity Skadi. She helped unleash forgotten Asgardian god The Serpent, who in turn created seven hammers that would possess and empower those worthy of unleashing fear. They were Hulk, Juggernaut, Thing, Titania, Absorbing Man, Grey Gargoyle, and Attuma. Then Nazis in mechs started swarming Washington DC and the whole thing was a big mess.

read more: What's Next for the Marvel Cinematic Universe in MCU Phase 4?

Around this time, Bucky Barnes was Captain America and the story partly existed to have Bucky fake his death and move the Cap identity back to Steve Rogers (and you thought Endgame treated the Bucky/Steve relationship poorly?). A lot of good it did for him, as The Serpent was able to shatter the shield with his bare hands.

To turn the tide, Tony Stark and Odin made some special weapons for the superheroes to wield. As for Cap, he simply found Mjolnir lying around on the battlefield and used it to go to town on Skadi. They hyped all this magic weapon stuff up like crazy in the adverts, but the whole thing was really background noise. The fight just kind of ended after Odin pulled away all the hammers and Skadi went back to being Sin.

THE MIRROR MATCH

Secret Empire (2017)

And then there’s this load. Nick Spencer did a lengthy story about Steve Rogers revealing he was really an agent of Hydra all along. Marvel was really adamant that it was really Steve Rogers and that he wasn’t being mind-controlled. Also, the company insisted that Captain America wasn’t a Nazi because Hydra weren’t Nazis. TOTALLY DIFFERENT THING. Because, you see...look over there!

Hydra Cap then turned out to be a version of Steve Rogers created by a little girl with reality-warping powers (sure), who was manipulated by Red Skull. Cap ended up taking over the US and shockingly beat up opposing superheroes via wielding Mjolnir. That too seemed to be a product of the reality-warping as the inscription/rules of the hammer were different and you had to be a bulky Hydra asshole to pick it up.

read more: Full MCU Marvel Movie Release Calendar

By the end of the event, the little girl conjured the original version of Captain America to beat up his please-don’t-call-the-Nazi-a-Nazi doppelganger. When Hydra Cap went for the hammer out of desperation, it had already reverted back to normal and he wasn’t worthy enough to pick it up. Regular Cap picked it up and walloped his douchebag counterpart.

"Your ass will never be America's ass." (not actual dialogue)

Yeah, everyone knew that the status quo would return in the end, but the whole Hydra Cap business was as well-timed and tactful as showing off your chainsaw and hockey mask to your son, in the middle of the night, when Sideshow Bob is trying to kill him. It also killed the end of Gerry Duggan’s otherwise legendary Deadpool run, which I can never forgive.

HONORABLE MENTION

There’s only been five comic scenarios where we’ve seen Captain America wielding Mjolnir, so let’s just move those goalposts a little and talk about times when superheroes have kicked ass with the shield AND the hammer at the same time.

First up is Crusader from an issue of What If based on the original Secret Wars that showed what would have happened had all the heroes and villains been stranded on Battleworld for 25 years. While some died in that time, others got busy and we got a new generation of heroes and villains. One of which was Sarah Rogers, daughter of Cap and Rogue.

read more: Marvel Movies Watch Order - An MCU Timeline Guide

No, the comic doesn’t answer the question of how that conception worked.

Even though her boyfriend Bravado was the son of Thor and Enchantress, it was Crusader who ended up being able to pick up the hammer and turn the tide against Vincent Von Doom. She also had stolen her dad’s shield from his closet when he wasn't looking, but that’s less impressive.

Then there’s Superman. The miniseries JLA/Avengers was the final crossover between Marvel and DC and it finished with a bang. Leading both hero teams into battle, Superman was entrusted with Captain America’s shield. During a pivotal moment, in order to break into the villain Krona’s stronghold, Thor threw Mjolnir to Superman. Superman caught it and smashed his way in.

read more: Does Steve Rogers Still Have a Place in the MCU?

Later on, after the dust had cleared, Superman found himself no longer able to lift it. As Thor put it, Odin may be strict, but he knows when to cut you slack when times are desperate.

I have to imagine we’ll be seeing more Cap/Mjolnir moments going forward. Marvel really seems to enjoy having comics imitate movies that imitate comics. God, remember when Spider-Man 3 came out and comic Spider-Man just happened to start wearing black again?

Gavin Jasper writes for Den of Geek and when Captain America throws his mighty hammer, all those who attempt to...stammer that hammer must clamor...? Read his other articles here and follow him on Twitter @Gavin4L

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Gavin Jasper

Nov 25, 2019

Marvel

Avengers: Endgame

Captain America

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from Books https://ift.tt/2Dbqjxl

#aion-rsa #Books

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bleusarcellewrites · 7 years

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Thinking 'Bout You

Guess who gota chance to write a collab with one of her fave WRITERS

@queerklancing THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS FIC SO MUCH FUN, IT WAS AMAZING AND WE MADE SMITTEN BOYS FALL DEEPER IN LOVE <3

Soulmate AU with smitten boys, get ready all!! <3

Enjoy!

Keith wakes up to singing.

His mind can’t really wrap itself around the fact, still heavy with sleep, and it only makes him more annoyed when the singing grows louder. It’s probably around the fifth verse when he finally snaps.

‘Ugh, you’ve got to be kidding me,’ he thinks, face still pressed against his pillow in a weak attempt to block the singing echoing around him, ‘Imma murder someone, I swear.’

The singing stops abruptly, making him wince at the sudden sharp tug it took inside his mind at the action.

Silence is back around his light dimmed room and Keith honestly couldn’t care less about the weird experience. Weirder things have happened before in life than annoying singing stopping out of nowhere, honestly.

Keith’s just glad it’s gone, and he’s able to go back to sleep –

‘Um, hello?’

Keith pauses, his limbs tensing and his breath hitching when a sudden unfamiliar voice makes itself present. He takes two seconds before he leaps out of bed, the knife he keeps under his pillow held up high in front of him in defense.

He stands tall and firm, trying to look intimidating and dangerous even though he’s missing a sock and his boxers are hanging a little too low around his hips.

Wide dark blue eyes narrow themselves as they search every corner of his room for any kind of intruder. His room is not that big, barely able to hold a bed, a dresser and a small desk next to the window, basically bare and transparent.

Keith lowers his knife slowly, eyebrows furrowed together in confusion when nothing looks out of the ordinary.

“Fair enough, that was weird,” Keith hums out loud, easing his shoulders and relaxing his stand as he takes one last look around him and drops his knife on his bed.

‘Maybe I’m going crazy.’

A shiver runs down his spine when the voice appears once again, but this time, Keith can easily pinpoint the place it's coming from, or more like, where it shouldn’t come from.

He takes a pause, hands up in the air as if he was trying to calm himself down, before he takes a deep breath.

‘That was not my thought,’ he thinks, panic and confusion filling his chest, ‘That was not my thought, what the fu –‘

‘Dude,’ the unfamiliar voice cuts him off sharply, but Keith can hear the edge of fear lingering on its tone, ‘Dude, what the fuck –‘

‘No, no, you what the fuck.’ Keith thinks angrily, scowling as his eyes go up, as if he could meet the stranger’s face in the ceiling.

‘Me? You what the fuck.’ The voice replies, panic and fear still on the back but being covered by annoyance, ‘Get out.’

‘It’s my head, you get out.’

‘No, it’s mine.’

Keith purses his lips and pokes his temple and then his cheek, nodding once he confirms what he was looking for.

‘No, pretty sure it’s my body, my mind, and you’re a weird thing invading it.’

‘Maybe I’m your conscious?’

‘What the fuck is a conscious? Did you mean ‘conscience’ ?’

‘No, no. Conscious.’

‘Well, then, whatever. Fuck off, Conscious.’

‘Are you my conscious?’

‘You just said that you were mine?’

‘But I know I’m me, how can I be your conscious?’

‘I don’t kno– Get out.’

‘How the fuck –‘

“Hey, Keith, you awake?”

The extra voice puts Keith in alert. He dives for his knife, pointing it high to the person behind him only to meet his brother’s arched eyebrow.

“I thought you had grown over your necessity of sleeping with your knife.” Shiro deadpans before frowning in confusion when he notices the tense shoulders and worried frown in his brother’s features. “Uh...you okay?”

“Uh, yeah,” Keith replies quickly.

Shiro only spares him another concern glance before he shrugs. “If you say so, bro. Get ready, though, because we leave in ten and the pancakes I made may disappear by that time.”

“Oh, God, let’s hope so,” Keith mutters quietly, throwing his knife back to his bed and ignoring the way Shiro flips him off with a mocking glare.

The door closes behind his brother and Keith waits exactly three seconds before he comes to a decision.

‘Hello? Weird voice in my head?’ He thinks, trying to be careful on how to form his words, ‘Alo? No? Nothing?’

Five seconds pass, maybe ten just to be sure, and it’s then when Keith sighs, relief dripping from his shoulders like water.

‘This never happened,’ he tells himself inside his head.

He ignores the uneasy feeling inside of him when he can’t even convince himself.

Lance takes a long sip from his iced coffee as he watches the crowd pass by.

He’s taking a well-deserved break after a long day of shopping at the mall. Hunk was supposed to accompany him, but canceled last minute because he had to fill in at his part-time job.

Lance sighs. It’s been a few days since the weird encounter he had under the shower. At first, he played it off as a hallucination, or blamed it on his tiredness. But then Lance had a thought. What if ... that was his soulmate link.

He knows almost everything there is to know about soulmates. Lance has been obsessed with it ever since he was a child. But there are so many different kind of soul links that it’s hard to get a grasp of all the possibilities. There’s the classic red string of fate that connects people. That’s how his mom and dad met. There are some soulmates who can share whatever they paint on their skin; some share their injuries, others see some kind of trail in the air leading them to their soulmate.

Some of these are obvious others are more… unique. Like that one woman who had the same song stuck in her head for years until she met her soulmate who heard the same song. And then there are these unfortunate souls who don’t have a soulmate.

Lance is one of them.

At least that’s what he thought until now. Ever since he heard that voice in his head, he had the tiny spark of hope that maybe … maybe there is someone out there for him after all.

Lance sighs as he puckers his lips to take another sip from his straw. Well, he didn’t hear the voice again so maybe it was just his imagination.

‘Shit, he’s hot.’

Lance chokes and sputters as he spits out his coffee. “What the fuck?!” he wheezes and rubs his mouth with his sleeve. The girls on the table next to him raise their eyebrows in question and giggle when he smiles awkwardly.

Okay, alright, okay. That was definitely in his head.

‘Test. Test. Hello?’ he thinks, trying not to feel stupid.

‘What the shit?!’

Lance probably shouldn’t be so thrilled to hear a stranger’s voice in his head, but his heart jumps nervously in his chest.

‘That’s what I wanted to say as well.’

‘Oh nonononono, this is not happening again!’

‘Um. Sorry to disappoint you buddy, but it is.’

‘Who are you? How do you do that?!’

Lance leans back and frowns.

‘Wait hold up, I’m not the one doing this!’

‘Well neither am I!’

‘So we both don’t have a clue what’s going on,’ Lance concludes and crosses his arms. It should be weird to talk to someone in his head, but he’s getting the hang of this pretty quickly. Maybe it is his soulmate after all.

‘This is so fucked up,’ the voice groans and Lance can hear the distress radiating from him. Well, it seems like the guy on the other hand isn’t as excited as Lance about this.

‘I’m Lance.’

‘Huh?’

‘My name is Lance.’

‘Why are you telling me this?!’

‘I don’t know. I thought maybe you’d feel better if the voice in your head wasn’t a complete stranger.’

There’s silence in his head. Lance unfolds his arms and panic bubbles in his chest when he doesn’t get an answer. He’s about to voice his concerns when his thoughts get interrupted.

‘I’m Keith.’

A relieved smile spreads on Lance’s lips, and he can’t help the chuckle leaving him.

‘Well, hello Keith. Nice to meet you.’

‘Yeah,’ the stranger - Keith - scoffs.

Lance snorts and grimaces when the girls at the table next to him send him another funny look.

‘So,’ he starts. ‘Who is hot?’

‘Huh?’

‘You thought about someone - a guy - being hot earlier,’ Lance adds, and he hides the grin behind his hands as he leans forward.

‘Fuck,’ Keith curses. ‘There goes my privacy.’

READ THE REST IN AO3

#bleu writes #bleu collabs #queerklancing #klance #laith #klance fic #laith fic #vld lance #vld keith #vld #vld fic #soulmate klance #lance mcclain #keith kogane #klance fluff

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landoftheoutsiders · 7 years

Text

Day 4: The End of a Chapter

Today was my last day at treatment going to groups. It was so fucking bittersweet. I think I finally went to sleep at like, 5 in the morning. I was just so lost in looking at old pictures and thinking about everything I went through over the past 5-6 months while there. How much my life has changed, how much I had learned, how many people I met--thinking about how well those people are hopefully doing. Going to my last day of treatment was honestly, weirder than the first day of going in. All of a sudden I was going to never really see these people again, all of a sudden I wouldn’t have my mindful smokes with Tree on Thursday nights (let alone the late nights of sitting in the parking lot smoking God only knows how many cigarettes), I wouldn’t be seeing Dr. B or Wednesday or Gillie for groups. I’d have so much time. So much time to do nothing, to do something, to avoid, to create, to hate myself, to attempt self care, to fall into a rabbit hole of nothingness. Honestly, at this point, I was going to treatment mainly for the sense of community moreso than because I still wanted help. Now I don’t really have that anymore. I don’t know where I can really place my safe place anymore. The treatment center became my safe place. Which, I mean, its supposed to be a safe place, but I really attached myself to that place because I’m not really familiar with anywhere else. Maybe it was because I felt wanted there that I felt so comfortable? I knew who would be there, I knew I’d see Sass’s smiling face every time I walked in the door, and I knew that I could crack jokes with several staff members. I need to find that sense of security in a different place. It honestly almost reminds me of graduating high school. You spend four years of your life with the same people and you get so accustomed to how things are and the people you see. Your high school is never off limits to you, but its a little weird if you visit. Only, I spent 5-6 months with these people, but its still weird to think that I won’t be in groups anymore, and again, never really seeing anyone anymore. So. Fucking. Bittersweet. Pink would ask me at this point what was bitter? Well... honestly, a lot of it was bitter. I didn’t want to go to treatment, I had to learn what a real meal looked like, I have to follow a meal plan (which I still don’t follow), I had to be *shudders* vulnerable, and I had to walk into a building where I was supposed to face my eating disorder head on to better my health. I feel like he would have a ton of questions at this point, but he’d continue instead with asking: what was sweet? Again... honestly, a lot of it was sweet as well. I made several new friends and met many people that will always hold a special place in my heart--whether I keep in touch with them or not. I learned more about myself in 5 months of treatment than I had in 5 years of therapy, and the person underneath all of the rubble of her mental illnesses is actually pretty damn cool and hella funny. I’m more self aware, and I know how I’m going to end my book I’m writing, and lastly, I’ll always remember all of the really fucked up eating disorder humour that happened in the four walls of that building (i.e. Gillie yelling that sriracha is an anorexic sauce, and laughing at gemelli noodles every time I see them because they remind me of Gemelli)--and also in the corner where Tree and I would smoke. I don’t know. It’s all just really strange. Leaving treatment tonight felt strange. Leaving Tree tonight felt even stranger. Aside from Saturday night, I don’t know when the next time I’ll see her is, and frankly, that makes me even more upset. I always looked forward to Thursdays because I knew I’d see her smiling face and that we would smoke before and after group, I’d go grab dinner at chick-fil-a, and when she finished her last group, we’d smoke and talk for hours in the parking lot (even though we weren’t supposed to). Gillie called it our self care routine--especially when we sang Rent together. God damn it, this is getting more emotional for me than I anticipated. It wouldn’t be a “last day” post without talking about the shell outs. Come to find out, another girl was shelling out today, so there were three patients leaving on the same day. Listening to three shell outs was honestly one of the nicest things I’ve ever experienced. Listening to how three different people affected other patients, how the other patients feel about those people, and what the other patients wish for those people--it was a little humbling, actually. I mean, you don’t really think about any of this [how your actions affect others] until its time to say good bye. I barely knew anyone in that group because my rotation of people that I started with were all basically gone, and I was only there for two groups, so I didn’t really get to know the new people as they came in. I was always nice though, and I always tried to just be positive with sprinkles of morbid humor. Apparently a lot of people found my personality and vibe contagious and they really enjoyed having me in group simply because of my personality. I’m not really one to think that I have a personality that is anything special, but its nice to know that even though they didn’t really know me, they enjoyed having me around. So, to my treatment center, here is to roughly 16,500 minutes of living my hell on earth, to laughter, to crying of frustration, to yelling at staff during dinner because my disorder thought it knew better, to begging to see my weight, to giving away my scale, to making new friends, to #subgroupingtothemax, to food rituals, to being on a restorative meal plan...and having everyone remind me about it, to finding out I was not in fact on a restorative meal plan, to visiting friends in res, to 7.5 hour manic conversations, and to discovering who I am underneath the mess. Thank you for helping me find her. Fuck my eating disorder, granted I do miss the way I looked back then. I’m going to keep trying to kill the thing that tried to kill me. Or not. I’m still living that pathologically ambivalent life. That I don’t know how to fix. Someone help lol. Sappy post over, guys. I’ll continue being dead inside tomorrow. Now I’m going to go furiously smoke outside because I can’t handle the amount of emotion that is going through my head.

-- Rian Dianna

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podcake · 7 years

Text

Podcast Teatime: Boston Tea Party

Hello again, readers! To cap off this fine interview month, I scored big with pulling aside the creators of Greater Boston Alexander Danner and Jeff Van Dreason for some talk and tea.

(The following is a direct copy-and-paste from the email)

Question One: I’ve always liked the semi-documentary style of your show. The way it often starts off with an interview that somewhat reflects the central topic of the episode is a nifty framing device. Is there any reason why you chose to do this? JVD: For one thing, our show is set in a real place, albeit a skewed, alt universe real place. Since we mention factual events and history, there’s already some bleeding between fact and fiction, past and present. Further, the show is about a community - a geographical area larger than a city. We have a large cast, but our thought process was the more individual voices that we hear from in the show, the larger our community feels, the more similar to a city and its surrounding areas it sounds.

The answers we select from our interviews match the tone of what we’re going for, both for the show as a whole and the individual episodes. Some of them are funny, strange, sad, or a mixture of all of the above. It’s a nice, refreshing way to start, I think - hearing something real and authentic straight from someone’s mouth. It’s not written, it’s not rehearsed, it just is. Finally, it was a good way to make the show more diverse, which was a huge concern for us giving that most of our cast members in Season 1 were white.

It’s a city. Cities are diverse, so it should have a diverse feeling.

Question Two: What is it about Boston that drives you write an audio drama based around it? Are you from that city or do you just personally find it interesting enough to write about?

AD: We’ve both lived in Boston for a long time, but neither of us is originally from here. We’re actually both from different parts of New York. For me, Boston very quickly felt like “home.” I love living in a city that you can reasonably cross from end to end on foot, and pass through such very different places. Boston’s one of the oldest cities in the US, so for good and bad, there’s a lot of history here, and Boston loves wearing its history openly. So it’s easy to find inspiration, both for quirky moments and dramatic.

JVD: Boston is such a weird city! So much of it makes very little sense. There’s this huge sense of working class ethos mixed with higher ed academia, it’s seriously progressive while also being incredibly old fashioned. There’s so much history and it surrounds us everywhere, but then there’s also a ton of development, so you have these old buildings next a bank-sponsored skyrise, the old Trinity Church is dwarfed by the John Hancock tower, but it’s also reflected in its windows.

That’s Boston in a nutshell; this tiny, old little church directly next to and reflected in an imposing glass tower, Boston’s tallest skyscraper. In the Greater Boston universe, much of what’s happened in the past remains in the present somehow; the sticky streets from the molasses flood in the North End, the fact that Wonderland is still an amusement park, the trash fire on Spectacle Island – and those are conscious decisions rooted in the fact that our history still surrounds us everywhere we look, whether we’re aware of it or not.

There’s even some antiquated laws that are technically still on the books in Boston. I remember hearing you can challenge someone to a legal duel on the Boston Common because that law has yet to have been thrown out or redacted. And part of that weirdness to me is urban alienation. Every time I take the Red Line, I think of how weird it is that all these strangers are crammed together in this underground moving box, and everyone acts like they’re completely alone, ignoring the humanity, the community all around them.

And that’s really a city in a nutshell. We’re all literally in the same situation, we have so much in common, but people sit seats apart from each other. They’re afraid of even their clothing getting too close to another human being. And I get it, because people are afraid of standing out and looking weird, or encouraging weird behavior from strangers. But I feel like the harder we try not to connect with other people? The weirder we all look!

Question Three: Greater Boston is often described to be a sort of slice of life meets magic realism show…with a subway. Was this the genre you were aiming for or do you deem Greater Boston to be something else entirely?

AD: I think that description captures us pretty well. I worry more about the humor/drama balance than about nailing down a specific genre descriptions. That said, magic realism has certainly been a major influence on my my writing for many years, as have contemporary slipstream authors like Kelly Link. JVD: I appreciate the fact that our genre and tone are difficult to pin down. We wanted to create something complex, something that felt more like a novel in audio form, something that defied classification. It can be a tricky thing to balance, honestly, and we’re both very conscious about making sure some episodes are funny, some are more serious, while all of them sound a little…off, weird, strange, different. That’s the Greater Boston blend we’ve always been going for.

Question Four: Your cast of characters are colorful, to say the least. Is there anyone in particular that’s the most fun to write for?

AD: Well, they’re all fun to write for in different ways, especially because we’ve really tried hard to give them all unique voices. But I don’t think anyone will be surprised to hear that there’s a particular pleasure in writing Mallory. She was only ever meant to appear once, giving her recounting of Leon’s death, back in episode four, but she was just too much fun to write not to revisit her. And now she’s an important part of the full ensemble.

JVD: Mallory is a blast, but she’s also very difficult to write because you constantly have to come up with new and creative ways to swear! I’m not sure I can pick a favorite, honestly, but I love writing scenes with Gemma and Charlotte. They just have such an interesting and complex relationship. I really like Nica too and I use her to express a lot of my personal frustrations and demons. And Leon. Leon’s character is so finite that it’s easy to slip right into that voice.

Question Five: You’ve gotten to collaborate with quite a few people including those behind Ars Paradoxica as well as cameos by Lauren Shippen, Rick Coste, and Ryan Estrada. What was it like getting to work with them and what do you think it’s done for the show?

AD: Oh, it’s so much fun! We’re very lucky to have so many wonderful people who’ve been kind to our show. Getting Beth Eyre in for a recurring part through Season 2 was especially exciting, and she was wonderful! But one of my favorite aspects of this community is how gamely people step into help out on each other’s shows. So many of us have appeared on each other’s shows at this point! (I’m especially proud of my turn on The Infinite Now, in the episode “The Martian Thirst Trap.”)

Of course, that we were allowed to actually *write* a piece of arsParadoxica was a particular honor. They allowed us to write something thoroughly ridiculous for their characters, which was generous and a delight to be a part of. And “Curses” won’t be the last bit we guest write for other shows–but I think we’ll have some announcements to make about that closer to 2018.

Question Six: One of my personal favorite things about Greater Boston has always been the music selection. How exactly did you manage to get a soundtrack that screamed, “This an alternative version of Boston!”

AD: The music began with Dirk and Emily, who are old friends of mine. I actually know Dirk from my days in making comics, and we long talked about collaborating on a project. We *meant* a comic, but Greater Boston became the first project we actually worked on together. He and Emily happened to be talented musicians, playing primarily Irish folk and maritime traditionals, which is perfect for representing Boston.

They then brought in Adrienne, who introduced the hurdy gurdy to our sound, which was a brilliant addition. Jim, who brings in the drums, is someone we both know through our teaching jobs. We kind of pull talent from all over our lives. Dave Lewis, whose original piano music appeared in season 2, is someone I hadn’t spoken to since middle school, but the show brought us back in touch!

BONUS: I’m sure many people want to know what pushes you to keep writing and creating your work. In something as rickety as the podcast scene, you never know what audience you’ll attract and what success may come your way, so what is it that keeps you determined in such a broad and still growing art field? JVD: A lot of what initially pushed us into the genre of audio drama was our frustration with trying to publish our fiction and produce theatrical work. It’s really difficult to do either of those things and what I love about podcasting is that you can just do something independently.

It takes time, it takes work, it takes hours scheduling and recording and producing, but you’re able to make something complex and beautiful on your own and with the help of your friends. It’s more collaborative and hands-on than writing a story, and there’s more evolution in story than a produced play. And in either case, you have time to build an audience.

Neither of us had dreams of producing the next podcast smash when we made Season 1. We just wanted to get our writing and stories into as many heads as possible. We’re actually blown away with how much Greater Boston has taken off. That’s not to say we’re some kind of runaway podcast smash, but it thrills us so much to know we have an audience. A small audience, but a dedicated one. That’s so huge to us. It’s a tremendous responsibility, in some ways. We don’t want to disappoint people.

We don’t want to let anyone down. But it’s also thrilling and pushes us into wanting to make our show even better, with each new episode and season we write and produce. We also have to credit how nurturing and supportive the entire audio drama community is. It’s one of the best artistic communities I’ve ever encountered and it feels incredibly exciting to be a part of it, right now especially. I think in many ways, we feel really lucky that the show came out when it did, because we were among a lot of other fantastic audio dramas being released shortly before or after we kicked off. I think we’ve both longed to be in a community like this, where we can pop into each others shows or help record something for each other or even write something for another show.

There’s something so rewarding about that to me. It’s the type of creative situation I’ve looked for my whole life.

AD: And the fact that audio drama is still a growing, developing field only makes being a part of it more exciting. Right now, it’s possible to jump in, and right away have your voice heard, and even feel like you’re influencing the direction the form is heading. The whole experience has been creatively invigorating.

It’s always these creative duos that give me some of the best answers. Hopefully you feel as warm and fuzzy as I do after that interview and are eager to check out Greater Boston for yourself. Thank you all for joining me for tea…now get the fuck off my Red Line.

#greater boston #alexander danner #jeff van dreason #the greatest boston there is #q&a #podcast teatime #the infinite now #ars paradoxica

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bardqueenofgallifrey · 7 years

Note

prompt: Rosa goes to a classy hotel bar in London to get over a slump and hooks up with a lady (quill? ;)) except she accidentally calls out Ginas name whoops ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Of all the prompts, this one got the most out of hand, lmao, but it’s probably because we’ve discussed it before, Michelle (nice try with the anon, though, you’re fooling no one), and I had Ideas.

Behold, Rosa trying to get over Gina by sleeping with a hot weirdo, only for said hot weirdo to prod her into going back to win her girl.

You can also read it on AO3!

I’ve never written for B99 before so I’m pretty nervous, so please let me know how I did!!

It really sucks, having feelings.

After the whole “jail” fiasco, that she does her hardest to forget everything about, things should really have gone back to normal. But they don’t. She breaks up with Adrian, because even though there’s a part of her that he’ll always get in a way no one else will, she’s not sure it’s a part of herself she wants emphasised.

Really, it all comes down to Gina. And being really fucking mad at herself when it comes to everything about Gina. Gina being with someone else, Gina being happy with someone else.

Rosa possibly having once had the power to avoid all of that, if she hadn’t denied her own feelings for so long. For too long.

She’s missed her shot. And it really fucking sucks.

She tells everyone she needs a vacation to clear her head after the Hawkins thing. Really, she just needs a break from everyone and everything familiar to her. A chance to forget. A chance to go somewhere she doesn’t know, and drink until things feel less shit.

She buys a ticket to London, and there’s two Nancy Myers movies on the plane. On one hand, they make her feel better, but they also remind her of Adrian and how much she fucked that up (he had not taken the break up particularly well, but given his disposition, it could have been a lot worse). Also, thinking about romance isn’t ideal at all. She puts on action movies for the rest of it, but avoids Die Hard because it makes her think of the Nine Nine too much.

London, it turns out, is comforting in the sense that it’s big and busy like New York, but also totally unlike New York in its own way too. Best of both - different, but not enough to disorientate.

She checks into her hotel and then heads out to find a bar after dressing up a bit. After playing it rough for so long, she hasn’t had a chance to wear a nice dress in a while, so she tries to find a place that’s a bit classier.

The place she ends up in has nice booths and well dressed patrons that don’t look too boring, so Rosa is counting it all as a plus. She sits at the bar, orders three shots of tequila to start, and downs them instantly. Then she orders a glass of whiskey and nurses it more slowly.

It’s a couple of minutes before another glass of the same is put in front of her.

“I didn’t ask for this,” Rosa says to the bartender.

He just nods towards one of only two corners of the room visible from where Rosa is sitting, and she follows his gaze to the blonde woman sitting in the corner booth and watching her intently.

Rosa eyes for her a moment, finishes her first whiskey without breaking eye contact, and takes the gifted whiskey with her to the stranger’s booth.

“Hey,” Rosa says, nodding before sitting down.

“Hey yourself,” comes the reply, as the really very attractive stranger sips at her extremely colourful drink. She’s got a blonde bob and bangs - or do British people call it a ‘fringe’? - and it’s not a hairstyle Rosa’s particularly cared for before, but somehow this woman makes it look different.

“Thanks for the drink.”

“I’ve got to admit, I wasn’t sure it was going to work,” the woman says, making a face. “This is my first time trying any of this stuff, I don’t really understand all of the social cues.”

“Solid half of all social cues are dumb as hell anyway, don’t worry about it,” Rosa says, shrugging. “Besides, you did it just fine.”

“Did I really?” She looks rather impressed with herself. “Huh.”

They fall into a long, awkward silence. Rosa realises that she is going to have to be the one to advance the conversation by way of personal inquiries. It’s a fairly horrific thought.

“… what’s your name?” she asks, resisting the urge to make a face just from having to get the question out.

“Quill. You?”

“… Rosa.” She’s not sure if Quill has given her first name or her surname, but realistically, she doesn’t really need to know.

“I’ve not met many Americans,” Quill says after a brief silence, voice thoughtful. “I work with one, but she’s overly short and rather irritating. Scared of me, though, which is nice.”

Rosa smirks. “All of my colleagues are scared of me. Even though they’re my friends, too. Still terrified. It’s pretty awesome.”

“Impressive,” Quill replies, lifting an eyebrow. “What’s your occupation?”

“I’m a cop, NYPD. You?”

“Schoolteacher,” Quill says, making a face of extreme distaste. “Unfortunately. Physics. I teach physics. To a bunch of idiotic, obnoxious teenagers.”

“Yeah, teenagers are the worst,” Rosa agrees. “I could never do that.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty shit.” Quill takes a large gulp of her drink. “So, what brings you to this side of the earth, then? I’m assuming the NY is for New York.”

“Duh,” Rosa says, trying to act like she hasn’t tensed up at the thought of what - or rather, who - has driven her here. “And, I dunno. Dumb stuff. Needed a change of scenery. And to not see anyone I know for a while.”

For some reason, Quill finds that strangely amusing, and snorts into her drink. Rosa narrows her eyes at her.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Quill says. “You’re just not a very good liar.”

“Excuse you, I’m an amazing liar,” Rosa growls.

“Prove it.”

Rosa lifts an eyebrow. “Okay. Two truths, one lie. You played before?” Quill shakes her head, but her eyes are intent, serious, and interested. She’s game. Rose normally despises this game, despises telling other people anything about herself. However, she also never backs down from a challenge. “Exactly what it sounds like. I say two truths and a lie. You try to work out which one is the lie.”

Quill quirks an eyebrow, and her lips twitch too. “Alright.”

“Okay.” Rosa takes a moment to consider what she’s going to say. “I was once an accomplished ballerina, and I’m still pretty good at it. I have seven brothers. And my favourite movies are romantic comedies directed by Nancy Myers.”

“Hmm.” Quill sips her drink, regarding Rosa intently. She’s so strangely attractive that Rosa is just enjoying being under her scrutiny, being the object of her attention, which is super weird. Finally, Quill smiles, just a little. “You don’t have seven brothers. I doubt you have any.”

Rosa’s eyebrows lift. “Wow. That's… impressive.”

Quill shrugs. “I’m good at picking liars. Well, with the exception of this one teenager, but that’s a whole different thing, it was one time and I’m still impressed he pulled it off. Also, you’re far too impressive to have grown up surrounded by men.”

Rosa lets out a bark of laughter at that. “Okay. Your turn.”

“Me?” Quill looks surprised. “Oh. Alright.” She thinks it over, and her frown deepens, a strange frustration tinting it. Finally, she smiles, the devious kind of smile that would make a lesser person nervous. “Despite being a physics teacher, I don’t have a teaching or physics degree, or any degree at all. I live with three teenagers that I have no blood relation to. And the school I work at has such a high rate of staff and student mortality that we have a memorial board that takes up an entire wall.”

“How the hell can two of those be true?” Rosa asks, incredulously, narrowing her eyes.

Quill shrugs, still smirking, but the action is almost coy, and she looks very pleased with herself.

Rosa considers her options. The teenager thing, as with the memorial board, is a weird thing to pull out of nowhere for a lie. She’s not sure how Quill could have a job without a degree in this economy, but weirder things have happened.

Quill definitely hates teenagers. But does she purely hate them because of her job, or because she has to live with some? Why would she be living with three teenagers she isn’t related to? She hardly seems the foster mother type.

“Memorial board,” Rosa say, “that’s way too weird.”

“Wrong,” Quill says, smirking. “There are only two teenagers, that I live with.”

Rosa narrows her eyes. A half lie. She isn’t sure why she didn’t consider that technique herself (actually, probably because it involves telling more truth about herself, which is never going to be what she does voluntarily). She lets the annoyance about her defeat go, and instead processes the new information.

“Why the hell do you live with any teenagers?”

“It’s not by choice,” Quill says, a scowl darkening her features. Rosa, luckily, is an expert at knowing when to change the subject when an unfortunate one has come up, and doesn’t waste any time.

“So the school you work at is really that messed up?” Rosa asks, and Quill just nods. “Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“Why do you even work there, then?”

“Again, don’t have a choice.” There’s a strange finality, and distinct lack of hope, in the way she says it. It stops Rosa from inquiring further.

“You’re weird,” Rosa says, and Quill doesn’t seem offended at the words - possibly having heard them many times before - but does look pleasantly surprised a moment later when she looks up and sees the faint smile curling Rosa’s lips.

There’s another stretch of silence between them - comfortable, this time, as they hold each other’s gaze. Quill’s eyes move to the scar on Rosa’s eyebrow.

“How did you get that scar?”

“Tripped over a thing of Lego when I was a kid,” Rosa says honestly, instead of spinning her usual tale of bullshit about something extreme happening to her.

“Damn, I was hoping you got it in battle,” Quill sighs, and Rosa gives her a funny look.

“In battle? Who says that?”

“I do,” Quill says defensively, before looking glumly at her drink. “I used to have scars. They were good scars. I miss them.”

“What, did they fade, or something?”

“Yeah.” Another sigh.

“Did you get yours 'in battle’?” Rosa asks, half mocking, half not.

“Yes. I was a soldier.”

“Oh shit, really? Where?” Rosa is sitting up straighter now, regretting her joking. She has a lot of respect for soldiers, obviously, even if most of the wars being waged right now are beyond pointless.

Quill shakes her head and finishes her drink. “Doesn’t matter. It’s all gone now.” She laughs morosely. “And here I was thinking that going out might make me feel better.”

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to bum you out,” Rosa says. She feels pretty uncomfortable. This is far too close to feelings stuff for a conversation with someone she’s just met. This lady clearly has issues.

“Don’t be sorry, it wasn’t you, not really.” Quill waves her hand dismissively. “On the contrary, you’re the best thing to happen to me all day. I mean, seriously, look at you. You’re gorgeous. You’re a prime example of the fact that this planet actually gets some things right.”

Rosa lifts an eyebrow. “Thanks. You’re not too bad yourself.” Normally she would leave it there, but something prompts her to express herself further. Probably the desire to potentially get laid. “By which I mean, like, you’re insanely beautiful.”

Quill smiles, properly, for the first time. It’s small, but genuine. “Thank you.” There might even be a faint blush to her cheeks.

They stare at each other for a moment, eyes running over each other, seizing each other up. Rosa is even more aware of how attractive Quill is now, almost uncomfortably so. Quill’s eyes are darker now too, as they linger on Rosa’s face and arms and neck.

Naturally, as is the way of the world, this is when they are interrupted by some obnoxious white man in a suit.

“Hello, ladies,” he says, with a large grin and an accent that isn’t nearly as nice as Quill’s or the fancy kind you hear on shows like Downton Abbey. (Which, yes, Rosa has watched a fair bit of, but no one knows about that and they never will.) “Couldn’t help but notice you two looking a bit lonely over here.”

“Not lonely, not interested, get lost,” Rosa tells him, glowering.

“You’ve deeply misread the situation,” Quill agrees, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Come on, let me buy you both a drink. Me and my friend over there have been admiring you from afar, it only seems fair.”

“Nope, only seems creepy,” Rosa replies. “Told you, not interested.”

“Just one drink-”

“She has rejected you twice now, you idiotic man, are you being deliberately obtuse at this point or are you really actually as stupid as you’re coming across?” Quill asks him, eyes flashing.

“Hey, fuck you-”

“You wish,” Quill retorts, standing up and planting her palms on the table. “Now. I’m going to ask you one more time. Turn around, leave, or I will smash your forehead into this table until it splits open. Are we clear?”

Her voice is hard, aggressive, eyes deadly serious, and the guy finally takes a step back, and gulps.

To ring the point home, Rosa takes out her pocket knife, flicks it open, and twirls it around in her hand, all while keeping eye contact with him and not blinking. She knows for a fact that it’s the fastest way to disconcert someone completely.

“You heard her,” she says. “Scram.”

He turns tail and hurries back to his table.

Quill takes a deep breath to steady herself and looks at Rosa, who is still twirling her knife, just absently, now. Her focus is instead on Quill and how she had just gone from beautiful to insanely hot in the space of ten seconds. Rosa is sure that Quill’s aggression would translate well in… other areas.

Quill’s gaze is intense as it rests on Rosa, and Rosa simply tilts her head and lifts an eyebrow at her, curious to see if she’ll make a move or if she herself will need to do it.

“Do you want to have sex?” Quill asks.

Well, that’s that, then. Anyone who isn’t Rosa might find that far too forward, or at least hesitate, but this is exactly how Rosa wishes everyone would act about this sort of thing. Short. To the point. No bullshit.

Rosa grins a little and finishes her drink in one go. “Hell yes. My hotel is a few blocks away.”

“Perfect,” Quill says, sliding out of the booth, only to look back at Rosa, who hasn’t yet moved. “Well, come on then.”

Rosa, vaguely impressed, chuckles and hurries after her. They leave the bar and head off down the street, walking side by side and not seeming to know quite how they should be behaving with each other now.

They come into the hotel lobby, and stride purposefully towards the elevator. Once inside and once Rosa has punched the number in, she finds herself being pressed against the elevator wall by Quill with a forceful kiss.

It’s fucking fantastic. It’s been too long since she had sex with a woman, or even kissed a woman like this, and usually it’s at least a little bit soft. Which is fine, usually, but right now not what Rosa wants or needs. This is a woman who seems eager to give exactly what Rosa needs more than anything else in the world.

Rosa kisses Quill back, grasping the leather jacket so similar to her own and meeting her lips with equal force until the elevator doors ping open.

“This way,” Rosa says, grabbing Quill by the wrist and dragging her along.

They get into Rosa’s room and Quill tries to pin Rosa to the door the moment that it’s shut, but Rosa pushes her backward into the room, and shoves her onto the bed. Quill blinks at her with surprise. A moment later, a grin curls her lips, hungry and fierce.

Rosa meanwhile slips off her shoes and dress with expert speed until she’s standing there in her underwear. “Your stuff too,” she says to Quill, “or else I’m going to rip it, and I’m not lending you any of my clothes to leave in.”

“God, I knew I liked you,” Quill says, before stripping completely.

Rosa climbs on top of her, kissing her roughly, biting her lip and pushing her tongue against her lips. Quill’s legs wrap around her waist and next thing Rosa knows she’s been flipped, and Quill is on top of her.

“My god, you’re beautiful,” Quill says, before leaning down to kiss and suck along Rosa’s neck, making Rosa arch gladly into her touch.

Of course, Rosa isn’t about letting people get the better of her in the bedroom. In the bedroom, as with most aspects of her life, Rosa is in charge. That’s just how it works. Even someone like Quill is going to have to get with that programme.

Rosa flips them back over at first opportunity, and relishes the look of surprise on Quill’s face. Rosa just smirks and pins Quill’s hands above her head as she kisses her again. She lets her knee press between Quill’s legs, and Quill moans, and it’s one of the best sounds Rosa has ever heard.

Quill makes a few more attempts to switch the power dynamic again, but Rosa doesn’t allow it, and soon enough Quill gives up. Quill might be an obvious badass, but it seems she doesn’t necessarily have a problem with following someone else’s lead.

Besides, Rosa can’t see why she’d have much reason to complain when Rosa’s head is busy finding its way between her legs.

The sex is… fucking amazing. Quill doesn’t take long to tire of Rosa being in charge, and the power struggle that ensues is violent and glorious. Quill also has the most incredible stamina, more than even Rosa could dream of having. Rosa hasn’t enjoyed sex this much in years.

Finally, Rosa collapses into the pillows, spent and satisfied and trying to catch her breath.

“Wow.”

Quill, also with her face half in a pillow, offers her a smirk. “Good?”

“Good would be a huge understatement.”

“For me as well. Can I… sleep here, or do you want me to go?”

Normally, Rosa wouldn’t be comfortable with a stranger sleeping beside her. With being vulnerable like that. But there’s this feeling in her gut, something totally nonsensical, that tells her that it’s Quill that’s vulnerable in this scenario, somehow. And not just because Rosa has a knife under her pillow.

“You can stay, I don’t care,” Rosa says, shrugging.

Quill nods, turns over, and Rosa follows her lead. Time to sleep.

It’s weird, waking up with a soft, feminine body shadowing hers and not Adrian’s hard, masculine form. It’s familiar, though, faintly. She’s been here before, with women, just not in a while.

“Gina?” Rosa mumbles.

“Who’s Gina?”

The question, as well as Quill’s English accent, snaps Rosa out of what she had thought was just another fanciful dream. She feels a pang in her heart as she turns over to see Quill eyeing her curiously.

“Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“Why are you apologising?” Quill asks, arching an eyebrow.

Rosa stops, frowns, gives a single shrug. “I dunno. Saying someone else’s name in bed is pretty uncool, I guess.” Of course, Quill really doesn’t seem remotely bothered, which admittedly should probably have been easy to predict.

Sure enough, Quill just shrugs back. “It hardly makes a difference to me. But it makes me wonder who this Gina person is. Let me guess, ex-girlfriend?”

“No,” Rosa replies, sitting up in the bed, holding the covers to her chest. “She’s just…” Rosa swallows her words. She hates talking about herself. About her feelings. Why is she considering this for even a moment?

Quill studies her face. “Oh, I see. Someone you want.”

Rosa sighs. “Yeah. I guess.”

“So what’s stopping you from being with her?” Quill asks.

“I dunno. I guess for ages now I’ve just been-” Rosa swallows, hating herself. Hating talking about the thing she has refused to admit even to herself for so long. “Scared. I was a coward about this for so long and now it’s too late.”

“Why scared?”

“Because it was different to how I’d felt about anyone before,” Rosa says. “It was… stronger. It… it freaked me out, I guess.” Something ugly curls in her gut. “And now she’s with someone else, and she’s happy, she’s so happy it makes me want to be sick!”

She’s thrown a pillow across the room with rage and knocked a lamp off the table. Quill doesn’t so much as blink at the crashing noise it makes when it hits the floor, she just keeps regarding Rosa with interest.

“And?”

Rosa doesn’t know how Quill knows there is more, but she’s riled up enough now that she adds, “And all I can think is that if I’d just acted on this sooner, she wouldn’t be with him, and things would suck so much less.”

“Do you know if she feels the same way about you?”

Rosa wants to say no. But deep down, she knows that Gina loves her too, or at least, she used to. Rosa might be one for denial, but she isn’t blind, and she’s had to very specifically not notice the way Gina would look at her with quiet longing, the way Gina would talk about Adrian with disdain and barely disguised jealousy.

“She did. Dunno if she still does.”

“Then go to her,” Quill says simply, sitting up. “Go to her, and tell her how you feel. She has to know that you’re an option, or she won’t pick you.”

Rosa has a vivid flash of memory of once telling Jake something very similar when he had been pining over Amy. Damn. She’s been foiled by logic again. Why does Quill have to think so much like her?

Her heart hammers in her chest. Can it be this simple?

Of course it can. She’s never been one for making this kind of thing complicated before, why start now? She loves Gina. And that has been terrifying, which is why she had discouraged all of Gina’s tiny advances, but now Rosa realises just how stupid she’s been.

“I’m such an idiot,” Rosa says, shaking her head. “I need to get back to New York.”

“Yes, good, go and get your girl,” Quill says, nodding with approval, before an odd look crosses her face. “I don’t suppose you want to have sex again, before you leave?”

Rosa snorts. “Not gonna lie, I’d feel pretty weird about it, now.”

Quill sighs. “I was worried you might say that.”

“You’re weird.”

“It’s been noted before, yes.”

Rosa shakes her head and heads for the shower, leaving Quill in the bed, and washes quickly before heading back into the bedroom and getting dressed while Quill just watches from where she’s stretched out on the bed like a cat.

“If I’m leaving, you need to leave too, I need to check out, you can’t still be here,” Rosa tells her.

“Urgh,” Quill says, but she gets out of bed and pulls her clothes back on with an admirable efficiency. By the time she’s done that, Rosa is all packed up and they head downstairs.

Once Rosa has checked out, they linger outside Quill’s hotel while Rosa uses her phone to book herself onto the first flight home. Once she’s done that, she puts her phone away and looks at Quill.

“Well, thanks, I guess. For the advice. Not the sex.” Rose makes a face, and then smirks. “Actually, thanks for the sex too. That was dope.”

“Is ‘dope’…. good?” Quill asks, looking completely confused.

Rosa laughs. “Yeah. Super good. Hence the thank you. That and the advice.”

“God, that’s weird to hear,” Quill says, shaking her head. “I can’t remember the last time anyone thanked me for anything.” Her eyes are on the pavement, the toe of her high heel digging into the pavement absently.

“You don’t really have any friends, do you?” Rosa asks, frowning.

Quill laughs a little, rather humorlessly. “What gave it away?”

“Kinda obvious.” Rosa considers what she’s about to do, before deciding to hell with it. “Give me your phone.”

“Why?”

“Just give it to me,” Rosa says, and Quill does. “I’m giving you my email. If you ever want someone to-” She pauses to shudder at what she’s about to say. “-talk to, just message me. Don’t expect me to get sappy or anything lame like that, but you’re pretty cool, and I owe you one.”

Quill stares at her with surprise, that strange vulnerability flashing across her face for a moment. “I - thanks. I'll… think about it,” she mutters, with an offhandedness that isn’t quite convincing.

“Seriously,” Rosa says, holding her gaze. “Thank you.”

Quill swallows. “You’re welcome, Rosa.”

“I don’t know why, but it feels super weird when you call me that. Probably because I still don’t know you that well. Call me Diaz,” Rosa replies, with a small smile, holding out her hand. To her surprise, Quill smiles too, and clasps her arm.

“Best of luck to you, Diaz.”

“Rosa! Where have have you been, girl? Jake said something about you going to London? Why are you already back?”

Rosa’s heart lurches the moment she hears Gina’s voice after arriving back at the 99th Precinct. Other than Holt, whose greeting had been brief, everyone else seems to be out working on cases, or at least not in the bullpen.

“Gina, hey,” Rosa says.

“Hey yourself.”

“Everyone seems to be like, out, or something,” Rosa says, uncomfortably. “Why don’t you tell me what I missed while I was gone?”

“You were gone, like, two days.”

“So? Loads of stuff can happen in two days. And we haven’t talked properly in ages.”

Gina eyes her curiously, before shrugging. “True that. And, of course, we all know that keeping everyone up to date on office gossip is my real job here, the secretary thing is such a drag.”

They head into the break room and sit at the table once Rosa has made coffee. Gina talks all the while, about Jake and Amy being sickening cute, Scully and Hitchcock being gross as per usual, Charles being… Charles. She spends a good minute or two talking about Terry’s new workout routine.

“What about you?” Rosa asks reluctantly. “How’s things with Milton? And the baby?”

Gina gets a strange look on her face. “I haven’t worked out how to tell anyone about that yet.”

“About what?”

Gina shrugs. “I mean, it’s not that big a deal, I guess, I just don’t know how Amy and the others are going to get about it. Especially Charles.”

“About what?”

“Milton and I are just friends, now,” Gina says eventually. “It was fun and stuff, but we decided it worked better. We’re awesome co-parents anyway, like the dad, mom, and kid emoji. I’m happy, like weirdly happy with things now, but I don’t think Charles is gonna get it.”

“Oh,” Rosa says, because she isn’t sure what else to say. “That’s-”

“Surprising? Disappointing?” Gina asks. “Maybe to you guys, but-”

Rosa shakes her head, trying to make sure her face doesn’t get any weird ideas about smiling idiotically with the news she has just received, because suddenly she has proper hope. “Not disappointing. Not to me, anyway. As long as you’re happy, who cares what anyone else thinks? People are stupid.”

“Right,” Gina says, nodding, but there’s a tiny hint of suspicion in her gaze. “Okay, Rosa, your turn. Why’d you go to London?”

“Needed a break.”

Gina narrows her eyes, does that dangerous little head tilt. “Not good enough. Why’d you really go?”

Rosa lets out a long sigh, and gathers up all the courage she’s failed to have so far. “Because,” she says, through gritted teeth. “I was being a coward.”

“About what?”

“About… my feelings.” Rosa says the word like it’s poisonous, making a disgusted face.

Gina’s expression is reserved as she watches Rosa with a rare solemnity. “Feelings about what?”

Rosa holds her gaze. “I think you know what.”

“I want you to say it.”

“I really don’t want to.”

“Then you’re still being a coward, Rosa,” Gina says, getting up from the table emphatically, looking at her with disappointment and shaking her head. “And I am done waiting or hoping for you to get over this whole thing you have going here! I have better things to do, like tweeting my way into a threesome with at least two of Rihanna’s hot male backup dancers.”

“Wait, Gina,” Rosa protests.

“What?” Gina asks, with exasperation, pain flashing through her eyes. She looks tired. So tired. “This is it, Rosa, okay? You either say something, right now, or that’s it. Because if I’ve become sure of anything by being with Milton, it’s that I am an exquisite creature of indefinable worth, like Ariana Grande. And I deserve better than this.”

“I know,” Rosa says, voice thick. “I’m sorry.”

They stand there, staring at each other, and Rosa can’t do it, and Gina just sighs and turns to leave, and Rosa’s heart pounds because her last chance is about to walk out of the door.

So she does the only thing she can.

She grabs Gina, pulls her in, and kisses her, hard.

Gina lets out a little noise of surprise, but then a tiny moan escapes her as she starts kissing Rosa back. Rosa clutches at Gina as tightly as she can, because finally she’s kissing Gina, like she’s imagined doing so many times. She feels warm and complete and like she isn’t a failure anymore. And Gina is so eager, pressing herself against Rosa’s body as her hands hold Rosa’s face and her lips seek out Rosa’s greedily.

“Oh!”

The voice makes them both jump apart, only to see Holt standing in the doorway of the breakroom, with an astounded Jake and Amy just behind him.

“Whaaaaaaaat?!” Jake exclaims, a look of confused delight on his face.

“Gina and Rosa, kissing,” Amy says, sounding rather dazed, the expression on her face the kind that anyone that isn’t her would wear while trying to work out a particularly difficult math problem. “Rosa… and Gina…”

Holt, meanwhile, has an odd little smirk on the corner of his lips. Of course - his gaydar must be pretty decent, he might have picked up on all of this ages ago. Or else, he and Gina are close enough that she might have just confided in him.

“So, I guess we have some explaining to do, huh,” Rosa says, glancing at Gina, who gives the others a sheepish grin.

“Man, I wish I could express the shrug emoji in real life, right now,” Gina complains, making several of the others look at her with utter disbelief.

“You can, it’s called shrugging,” Amy says, bewildered.

“It’s not the same, Ames, god, why are you so beneath me when it comes to any kind of basic understanding?” Gina asks, shaking her head.

Rosa can only roll her eyes with reluctant fondness.

“So, what was it about London that made you come running back here?”

Rosa and Gina are stretched out on Gina’s bed, having stopped for breath after having been kissing and getting extremely handsy with one another for at least half an hour. (It’s been awesome.)

Rosa takes another deep breath, knowing she can’t get out of this. And that sex is almost definitely out of the question until she owns her dumb feelings and gives Gina the confirmation she’d denied her when she’d chickened out and gone for the more direct, physical approach.

“Honestly?” Rosa asks.

“No, I want you to lie to me some more,” Gina says, giving her a weird look. “Yes, honestly.”

“Went to London to try and forget about you. And how I felt about you. You know. Drink my feelings, all of that crap,” Rosa says, shrugging. “Then I met someone. A woman.” She smirks. “A weird, hot woman.”

Gina lifts an eyebrow. “Okaaay. And?”

“And we had sex,” Rosa says bluntly. “Like, seriously amazing sex. She was crazy strong, and weird, and honestly one of the hottest women I’ve ever met.”

“Wow, super romantic story, Rosa, you telling me about having sex with some crazy English Amazon,” Gina replies dryly.

“Shut up, there’s a point, okay?” Rosa says, rolling her eyes. “Point is, I kinda maybe said your name in my sleep. As I woke up. She wanted to know who 'Gina’ was, and I guess I told her. Not sure why. She was just a lot like me, so it didn’t feel too gross. And then she told me that I had to come back here and tell you how I felt. Her logic felt like my logic. So that’s exactly what I did.”

“Okay, so, you went to the other side of the world, hooked up with some super hot weirdo who helped you realise you couldn’t run from your feelings for me, and came back here to confess your love?”

Rosa shrugs. “Pretty much, yeah.”

Gina considers this, and then grins. “Well, damn, that’s a pretty awesome story. Nice one.” She holds up her hand for a hi five, and Rosa grins back at her before slapping their hands together. Rosa uses the connection to yank Gina in by her hand, and Gina happily kisses her, moving to straddle her hips.

“Does this mean we can have sex now?” Rosa asks.

“Obviously,” Gina replies, smirking. “But first, I want to hear more about the hot weirdo. Because you, and a hot Amazon lady who acts like you? That is a sweet, sweet mental image that I need more of.”

Rosa laughs.

Rosa receives an email two days later from a [email protected]. It’s brief and to the point, with zero introduction, just like Quill in person.

How did things go with your girl?

Rosa smirks and types out a quick reply.

I now have a ridiculous, awesome girlfriend. Thanks.

The reply that comes makes Rosa snort a little. You’re very welcome. Now, please, tell me some interesting stories about your work so that I can resist the urge to break an obnoxious teenager’s hand and fingers.

And so begins a strange, fruitful, long distance friendship.

#b99 #bbc class #rosa diaz #miss quill #dianetti #gina linetti #prompt fills #my oneshots #my fanfics #anon asks #how does anyone write Gina well it's so hard

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stevenuniversallyreviews · 7 years

Text

Episode 55*: Shirt Club

“This sounds like a very abstract problem.”

For fear of echoing Buck Dewey’s condescending assessment of Steven’s drawing, there’s just something endearing about a cartoon about making art. Animation as a medium is remarkable for how many types of artists are involved: for instance, Steven Universe exists as a collaboration between visual artists, writers, songwriters, actors, singers, composers, and instrumental musicians. It’s a crew that by necessity has a passion for art in many forms, and episodes like Shirt Club let this passion shine. (See also: James Baxter the Horse from Steven Universe’s big brother Adventure Time.)

Many of the artists behind Steven Universe have multiple roles: most famously, its storyboarders are also its scriptwriters. Some boarders even pull triple duty, like guitarist Jeff Liu and voice actor Lamar Abrams, who brings Buck to life. It’s fitting, then, that Shirt Club revolves around guitars and Buck as Steven navigates his way through the perils of publishing his art.

As sincere as this episode is, it’s also ridiculous. The final sequence of Steven as a faux assassin straight up shooting Mayor Dewey in the chest is absurd both as a situation within the show and as something that was allowed to be on the show itself, but sure enough, Steven Universe manages to give a lone gunman sniping spree an emotionally fulfilling resolution.

This scene proves a core lesson of the episode: just because something’s silly doesn’t mean it’s not art. Buck hits the nail on the head when praising Steven’s drawing for its sincerity and naïveté, even if he’s being a wad about it: the Guitar Dad shirt is awesome because it’s a pure expression of a kid looking up to a parent, even if that expression won’t win any medals for aesthetics (and because it won’t). Steven Universe doesn’t need to prove its artistic merits, and the episode is wise to avoid this path and devolving into meta defensiveness, but I appreciate how its structure demonstrates its message.

That Buck recognizes Guitar Dad’s merits but sees its meaning in a negative light speaks volumes about his own relationship with his father, as well as the general adolescent obsession with irony. And let’s face it, Buck is mean in this episode. The other teenagers laugh at the shirt, but don’t necessarily laugh at the subject: Sour Cream is a bit of a jerk to Greg, but Jenny seems to honestly appreciate him even if she thinks he’s funny. Lars is easily swayed, having no opinion on the shirt but seeing the value in at least pretending to appreciate it (which certainly lumps him in with real-life folks who feign an appreciation for art for impress people, if you’ll allow me an overanalysis). But Buck is cruel in a way that’s uncomfortable, but not totally out of character.

In Lars and the Cool Kids, Buck is the most enigmatic of the Cool Kids, as per his mirroring of Garnet. As he repeatedly pulls the rug out from under Lars with a straight face, it’s hard to tell how much he’s intentionally messing with the guy. The same goes for his ordering salad at the Big Donut after examining its salad-free displays. He plays it so cool in both situations (and in general) that some of it has to be an act, and he’s perceptive enough that he has to notice Lars’s barefaced need to please, but he’s such a closed book that we can’t get a read on what’s in his head.

We see more of him in Shirt Club than ever before, and while he’s always been friendly to Steven, we really don’t know him all that well. His father’s an obvious sore spot, and seems to be the only thing that can make him completely crack, whether from embarrassment or being genuinely touched (or feeling remorse or feeling more embarrassed, a tear from this guy could mean anything). It makes for a fascinating “villain” when compared to our emotionally open hero, and he’s really the only kind of antagonist an episode like Shirt Club can have.

Regardless, the fact that Buck is still somewhat out of character (he’s utterly kind to Steven everywhere else in the series) is worth noting, because this is one of the last collaborations between storyboarders Lamar Abrams and Hellen Jo before the latter left Steven Universe. While this team is responsible for some terrific episodes and my all-time favorite scene of the series (the ending of Winter Forecast), they’re also behind House Guest and Fusion Cuisine, which are essentially about evil twins pretending to be Greg and Connie.

For whatever reason, the Abrams/Jo team seems to enjoy bringing out the worst in beloved characters (or inventing negative traits out of nowhere) in ways that wildly diverge from their typical depictions. It allows for drama within a contained story, but in a way that clashes with the consistency of the series; with the exception of Island Adventure and its lesson that emotional and physical abuse is okay sometimes, these kinds of character-nuke episodes are my least favorite. Shirt Club is the best of these divergences by far, in that I can actually deduce Buck’s rationale and because he’s a mysterious character by design, but it’s still an unfortunate trend that happily gets ironed out as the show continues.

(Bear in mind that beyond letting us watch the snow fall, Abrams co-boarded The Answer and Chille Tid and When It Rains, and while it may be a coincidence that each contains a breathtaking scene of a character coming to grips with a scary new environment, I tend to think that he’s really good at framing them. He’s also the only boarder to work on every Onion episode; even if Onion Gang is a dud, Onion as a character certainly isn’t, and I get the feeling we mostly have Abrams to thank for that. I want to give no impressions that this isn’t a brilliant animator.)

Mayor Dewey and the Crystal Gems are here for comic relief, and oh boy do they deliver. Jo and Abrams are brilliant at giving the Gems incongruous background tasks: in Watermelon Steven it’s reading the paper, and here it seems to be assembling IKEA furniture. Their criticisms of Steven’s art and unwillingness to help his strange problem highlight Shirt Club’s casual tone, and they get little moments of self-parody without dipping too deep into meta humor: Garnet’s twinkling shades during a pregnant pause certainly counts, but Amethyst and Pearl’s escalating concerns about Steven’s shirt problem takes the cake.

Mayor Dewey is incredibly, but not unbelievably, lame. Between his outdated slang and his blatant desire to connect with youths (without putting in any actual effort) it’s easy to see Buck’s disdain. Bill’s speech about losing his speech is overshadowed by Steven setting up his sniping position, but is worth paying attention to for Joel Hodgson’s masterful meandering.

And despite his selfish and thoughtless intentions, actually seeing Buck and Steven making shirts is a bunch of fun. It evokes Steven and Greg’s adventures in rocket science from Space Race, but with the wrinkle of Buck demonstrating actual knowledge of the craft to contrast with Steven’s silliness. While the distribution and interpretation of art once it’s complete makes up the episode’s conflict, the creation process itself is joyful and pure, as it should be for a kid making art.

Buck comes around at the end, of course, apologizing to Steven and offering to take guitar lessons. But honestly, the nicer he is to Steven, the weirder his behavior here seems, whether or not he’s a mysterious guy. The best thing I can say about Abrams/Jo character-nuke episodes is that there’s only three of them, and finishing Shirt Club, from that lens, is a huge sigh of relief.

Future Vision!

The Good Lars not only shows Buck wearing the Guitar Dad shirt, but showing off what he’s learned! And he’ll continue to play guitar as one of Sadie Killer’s Suspects, a band that will eventually be managed by Greg himself.

I guess you could read it that way…

On the one hand, watching this after Joy Ride makes Buck’s cruelty even stranger. But on the other, getting to know him better there, and Bill better in Political Power, makes an examination of their relationship a nice coda.

Tonally, Shirt Club simply doesn’t fit where it’s intended to go. Open Book and Story for Steven at least have their dramatic moments that fit the simmering tension of post-Marble Madness Season 1, but Shirt Club’s lightness thoroughly deflates the momentum. The Gems casually building furniture makes no sense in this time period, and Pearl and Amethyst’s list of fears don’t even hint at them worrying about Homeworld.

Still, the reordering leaves us with pre-Jailbreak Garnet, which is a little confusing without context. (I certainly prioritize this minor continuity error lower than harming dramatic tension.)

Regardless of your opinions about the order shift, I’m happy to say that Shirt Club is the last of it! No more asterisks!

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

Buck’s strange meanness doesn’t tank Shirt Club down to the bottom, but it does make me less inclined to rewatch what’s an otherwise wonderful episode about art. It’s a shame, but there’s still a lot to love when you get shirt!

Top Fifteen

Steven and the Stevens

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

The Return

Jailbreak

Rose’s Scabbard

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Winter Forecast

On the Run

Warp Tour

Maximum Capacity

The Test

Ocean Gem

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Future Vision

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

No Thanks!

4. Horror Club 3. Fusion Cuisine 2. House Guest 1. Island Adventure

#shirt club #steven universe #su #steven universally #review

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sleepymarmot · 8 years

Text

DS9 season 2 liveblog

[Season index: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 PS]

The Homecoming

They're opening the season with a three-parter about Bajoran-Cardassian problems, and Dukat will show up right in the first episode? The writers are not wasting time...

Sisko's unusually cheerful.

Again, I'm amazed at this new heroic O'Brien who is so unlike the background character I've watched press buttons for years.

One does not simply walk into a Cardassian camp! Unless you're these two.

This is completely crazy! What'll stop the Cardassians from destroying their ship?

Just as I was going to say "Why not beam the wounded right from the runabout?", they actually do so -- but just after exiting it. Is there any in-universe reason behind it, or just the ease of fiming?

Why is Dukat being so friendly? Maybe he has spies among the freed Bajorans? If so, it better not be Li Nalas himself...

Bashir you're embarrassing yourself -_-

Quark, why are you always such an ass to your brother? Is that really necessary?

Poor guy.

Oooookay?? The previous scene made me completely trust him, but now my suspicions are stronger than ever. He's replacing Kira? Seriously? That has got to be someone's plan.

Well, this episode was meaty. And it really seems like the show is finding its feet -- unlike Duet, this episode didn't remind me of the other series and feels uniquely DS9.

The Circle

Aw, Odo's being a good friend! I don't remember him ever becoming so agitated before.

Vedek Winn as guest star? *grinds teeth in advance*

what a mess... I don't know if it's funny or sad. What a contrast to Data's friendly, nice and organized goodbye party :D

"These are my... these are my friends"

Do the Prophets really need to show her this sexy crap? Also, I'm too faceblind, is the guy in the vision the freedom fighter or the priest?

Odo and Quark!

I don't understand, which of these two is trying to convince the other to support them? And I don't like how blatantly evil they act.

AUGHHHH NOT A STUPID STARFLEET ADMIRAL AND THE PRIME DIRECTIVE!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!! GET THIS CRAP AWAY FROM ME!

(Seriously though, you say "Prime Directive", I hear "stupid bureaucratic crap that gets in the way of doing the obviously right thing". Either retire it or write it better, dammit!)

The Siege

Okay, I might change my mind by the end of the episode, but this might be the strongest of the multi-episode stories so far.

Aww Nog

"The Cardies" haha

Ugh, don't do the "wife asks husband not to be a hero" thing

The freedom fighter becomes a leader for real!

Sisko and Bashir turn and walk away in sync lol

"Is that a spider or a dog?"

Please stop ruining your engaging story with scenes about cartoonish villains...

I've... actually completely forgotten that O'Brien had been in the Cardassian war until this very moment. That's probably why he has been so opinionated, not just because of Picard.

That's it? Kinda underwhelming.

Ugh, killing Li Nalas? I didn't expect this show to cling so hard to status quo...

The first episode was the most impactful, but the entire story is still very impressive, epic and engaging!

Invasive Procedures

End of previous episode: Everyone happily returns after evacuation! Beginning of this episode: The station has been evacuated

Quark and Odo: *bicker* O'Brien: Ughhhh get a room already

Previous episodes: main characters defeat the forces of the entire Bajor This episode: DS9 is easily hijiacked by a handful of mercs & amateurs

That's an impressive "As you know" speech, Dax

When will poor Jadzia get an episode that's not about her being victimized and quietly accepting death?

Yes, I get it, the entire thing is just a plot device to show us Dax without Jadzia (and hopefully, Jadzia without Dax, if she'll be awake for it?), get on with it please

I hope the second half of the episode is about Dax working against the antagonist literally from the inside

Well, it's pretty disappointing that Dax by themself has so little personality and moral compass. I guess Sisko was all this time really friends with just Curzon and Jadzia, not Dax. Honestly, it's easier to forgive Quark (who sort of redeemed himself with an amusing scene) than Dax after this episode.

I was planning to go to bed after this one, but hell, I need to wash down this nonsense

Cardassians

I see Bashir has gained a lot of confidence since Past Prologue

"I am no more a spy than you are--" "A doctor"

I guess not everyone is fine with strangers touching them haha

"To us, he isn't even one of them any more" uh.....

"They won't hurt you. They're humans, they're not Cardassians" jfc...

"Don't apologize. It's been the high point of my day. DON'T DO IT AGAIN."

(Sisko seems to chew out Bashir more often than others. Is Bashir just the most undisciplined?)

Oh, here we go, O'Brien's anti-Cardassian racism again, makes sense for it to be in this episode

Poor Keiko, she's trying so hard

Miles is getting over himself! I'm proud of him

Bashir is learning to yell at people! Two episodes in a row now.

Um, Miles, I don't think it's a great idea to tell these things to the boy's father...

Dukat's neck scared me. is that normal

GOD IT'S EVEN WEIRDER FROM THE FRONT why am I so bothered by this lmao. honestly was their casting requirement "not only be able to look ominous without actually doing anything, but to have an extremely long neck so we could sculpt interesting things around it"? i'm sorry i'm gonna shut up about this now

Garak if you hold that satisfied smile for some time more you're going to turn into a child-drawn picture of a sun

I love that Dukat doesn't even bother to finish the conversation, he just turns around and leaves without a word the moment it becomes clear that he lost

Ugh, poor boy... What a choice. Abusive family he loves and considers his own or the planet of strangers from an unfamiliar culture he hates, both claiming to love him and expecting him to identify with them? Even if they didn't tell who took him in the end -- he gets a bad deal either way.

it's much more easier to take Garak seriously when he's not dressed like a grandma who stopped giving a fuck 20 years ago. that's probably why he does dress like this, though... but shouldn't that hurt his reputation as a tailor?

This episode was awesome! Exploration of social issues, family drama, political intrigue -- all tightly wound together and making perfect sense. So far the Cardassian stories are the highlight of the show, I hope it's going to stay this way.

It's really weird how Bashir changed between seasons. He hasn't gotten a lot of screentime apart from this episode, but he seems less naive, awkward and bouncy, he's grown more confident, and the crush on Jadzia has disappeared without a trace. Tbh I'm kind of disappointed -- I was expecting a smoother character arc that would let him grow before our eyes and phase out his immature traits one by one. Same goes for his relationship with Garak -- we've only seen their meeting and now they act like besties, how did they get here?

No, wait, let me get back to the plot of the episode. So Dukat had a politician's child kindapped just in case that politician becomes his opponent at some indefinite point in the future, so that he could go through another complicated scheme to humiliate him? Had he absolutely nothing better to do?!! Did he arrange something like this for everyone who could ever possibly cross him?

Melora

Um, Julian, that sounded a bit too much like Geordi's style of creepy almost-stalking...

Wait, Melora is Grace Holloway? :D I didn't recognize her until the familiar name appeared on screen.

She complains about being treated differently and about following the same rules as everyone else in the same breath. Did the writers make her hypocritical on purpose?

Why is he doing this? Is he actually interested in her as a woman? Does he want to help her acclimatize? Or to put her in her place?

Okay, the low gravity scene is pretty cute even if it doesn't make much sense

Daphne Ashbrook in all your fandoms, kissing all of your pretty Doctors

so far it seems like in season 2 the good episodes are better than in season 1, but the mediocre ones are worse

god, the writing and design are so bad, I don't want to list everything that doesn't make sense to me, let's just move on

Rules of Acquisition

I was tired but the plot twist woke me up!!

Dax is so sweet

Poor Pel :( Shitty Ferengi values win again I guess

Well, I'm glad he took a stand after all. And that they kissed. HELP I'M HAVING FEELINGS ABOUT FERENGI ROMANCE

Necessary Evil

Aw, Sisko called Rom "a family friend"

...so do Odo and Sisko perform the bad cop-good cop routine often?

yoo a flashback! I was wondering how Dukat was going to fit into this

"Cardassian neck trick" I... think I've already said enough on the subject lol

First meetings!

First meetingS!

I was distracted for some reason and didn't appreciate this episode enough :/ But it was very good!

Second Sight

Yikes Sisko don't embarrass yourself

"She's a married woman" "That would have never stopped Curzon" ew

ah I've missed the starship uniforms

what a boring episode. can we stop with the love interests of the week, please? I don't understand why the writers are suddenly forcing them so hard this season, and watching three of these in one day has turned my brain into soup. okay, Rules of Acquisition worked, but Melora and this episode were terrible!

(only pros: gorgeous woman, gorgeous dress)

Sanctuary

What was even the point of the universal translator not working for a while? This had nothing to do with the story, and the only thing it did was to remind the viewer how implausible the entire concept is.

Second mention of the Dominion -- I guess we'll meet them in the season finale?

Yep, I'd be surprised if the promised land didn't turn out to be Bajor

Bajoran Leia!

Wait, why is famine a problem? Why can't the Federation just provide Bajor with replicators? Prime Directive again? I mean, they almost seem to want me to ask this question by cutting right to refugees in front of a food replicator.

Why are they so attached to the idea it MUST be Bajor? Ugh, I hate these stories.

Rivals

Are you implying that El-Aurians have supernatural abilities and all this time people confided in Guinan not because she's charming and wise but because she mind-controlled them?

Julian is a NERD and Miles is regretting all of his life choices that led to this point

(Gosh, I didn't realize how much I've missed scenes where the main characters just hang out together off-duty)

8 minutes into the episode and I still have no idea what it's about

Are you saying that O'Brien and Bashir's tennis rivalry is legitimately the B-plot because I'm really into it

"Not in this space-time continuum you won't"

oh my goooood

wait a sec, the listener is only figuring it out NOW?! h o w

finally, a really fun silly episode!

The Alternate

Wait, so when Odo is in humanoid form, does he see and hear like us, or "percieve" like in liquid form? Does he have 360 degree vision?

Put it back! This is either a defense mechanism or the environment needs this column to function for some reason; beam it back down

So Bashir's crush on Dax isn't dead? We haven't seen it for so long, I thought it was over. But why is he monologuing? that's just bad writing.

plot twist! D:

god, this doctor is so creepy with his Measure of the Man reenaction

poor Odo is literally having a meltdown :(

Armageddon Game

Another O'Brien and Bashir episode, nice!

Poor Keiko

Bashir's speech about wife and children at home is weirdly sexist, especially since the previous episode re-established his interest in Dax, and his previous romantic involvement this season was a fellow Stafleet officer too -- he should have the opposite problem (which was already discussed in "Melora")!

aw Quark, you don't have to hide behind the Rules of Acquisition to admit you care

Whispers

Everyone around seemed to be acting like he smells bad, does this mean that's actually true?

"It's not doctors I have a problem with, it's--" "You, Julian"

jfc Miles, she's your wife, you should try to talk at least to her

Quark can't name a rule of acquisition by number? alright, for the first time in the episode I believe someone is fake

O'Brien is a badass

Are they absolutely sure the dead one is the clone and the real one takes his place, not the other way around? That was an awfully convenient excuse to shoot a Starfleet officer point blank without anyone asking questions...

Poor communication kills. At first it seems like something is wrong with O'Brien, but since people refuse to talk to him about it, he becomes convinced literally everyone else is conspiring against him -- and turns out, no, the problem was with him after all! And then they kill him off for no reason just to maintain status quo and avoid the Thomas Riker situation. They could have told him at literally any point instead of being so stupidly vague, but no, gotta keep the plot moving for 45 minutes! Before they found the real O'Brien they could have arrested the clone and told him everything, I'm sure O'Brien would understand; and after they rescued the real one, they could have just transmitted the image, if they're so averse to words. And after acting so stupid, as a final insult the other characters keep talking over their poor dying friend in third person like complete jerks. The episode is great... until that ending. Which just doubles my frustration, because it's one thing when a story is mediocre to begin with, but it really sucks when a wonderful episode is ruined by shitty conclusion.

Paradise

Yes, yes, I get it, this woman would do anything to keep this way of life and probably sabotaged the technology in the first place

What's wrong with replicated food? I hate this stupid trope

did she send the runabout away too?

what the FUCK

look, it might be useful social commentary to depict these rhetoric and tactics, but watching it is still torturous

it adds another level of creepiness that all this shit is done to a black protagonist -- was it intentional?

she's a more proficient torturer than the guy from Chain of Command

this woman is one of the most horrifying antagonists in all Star Trek. she actually believes all this shit

the engineer is supporting her? they all want to stay? for fuck's sake. she made them all see five lights

well. if the writers wanted to upset me, they succeeded

Shadowplay

"How fascinating" :D

"Women don't react to me in that manner" What about Lwaxana, then?

"After seven lifetimes, the impersonal questions aren't much fun anymore"

Yeah, why does a 15 year old need a job?!

The local guy is surprised at Odo beaming up and back down, like he's never seen anything like this before, and two minutes later says he has scanned for transporter activity

I like how the Prime Directive isn't even mentioned :D Or is it a human colony? But isn't this the Gamma Quadrant?

"You want me to spy on Quark for you?" so excited, bless him :D

backstory for that one time Miles played cello on TNG!

I'm glad these villagers are not as conservative and stubborn as people from the previous episode

I am reminded how much more modern DS9's storytelling is than TNG's every time they namedrop the Dominion -- like Doctor Who did ten years later with Bad Wolf, Torchwood etc

I knew he'd transform for the little girl eventually :') Odo reminded me of Data more than usual this time because of the friendship with a child and the episode's general similarity to Thine Own Self. But while Data gets along with kids partially thanks to his own childish (in a good way) qualities, Odo is more like a grumpy but caring grandpa -- I'd even say there's some First Doctor vibe.

(I'm a bit disappointed the episode didn't follow up on that promise of "Bashir practicing his purely theoretical spying skillz on Quark for Kira", because that sounds absolutely hilarious)

Playing God

Fun-loving cool senpai Jadzia is amazing

Interesting that Jadzia doesn't identify with Curzon at all in this case, despite presumably remembering their interaction from his point of view too

I didn't really understand how they solved the problem but I don't care

This is my favourite Jadzia episode so far. She finally got to show agency, have some fun, show off her professional skills, and explore her own identity (instead of standing around silently while other people explore it). And I love how other characters' scenes are vivid despite shortness: Quark playing tongo with Jadzia and giving well-intentioned if unhelpful advice to the initiate; Bashir's friendship with Jadzia and O'Brien; O'Brien calling across the border about his pest problem; Odo, Kira and Sisko's different approaches to the ethical dilemma.

Profit and Loss

Yesss! Cardassians!

Ooh Quark has romantic history with the pretty Cardassian woman?! This is getting better and better

A scene between Garak and Quark! is it my birthday?

"Personally, I find this style to be a bit too radical. But your friend seems the sort who appreciates that kind of thing" Does he know everything and everyone?! Though come to think of it, this shouldn't have surprised me at all -- even regardless of special channels Garak may use, these dissidents might be well-known to the point that their info is freely available on something like stateenemies.gov.car/wanted

I love how he casually rips an expensive dress to make his point

Passionate lover Quark is so strange to see

Odo's good at playing hard to get

lmao I've waited so long for someone to finally to hug Odo and... :D I do also love his relationship with Quark but I never expected these two things to intersect :D

so, did Garak change his mind on the fly or was he just stalling until that guy comes and can be disposed of?

alright, I amend my previous statement about one-episode love interests: Quark is allowed to have them, if all women who fall for him continue to be this awesome

Blood Oath

What, the holosuites have no sound isolation?! If so, who would ever use them for anything more... private than a recreation of a famous battle?

These Klingons have strange hair

It's so nice to see a young, human-looking woman as an equal to three old Klingons

ah bat'leth fighting, I didn't realize how I've missed it

-- and that young, human-looking woman is more of an old-fashioned honorable Klingon than the rest of them

what an outfit

I'm glad the Klingon interpreted her hesitation so favorably

*reads TVTropes* Wait, all these three are from TOS?! Damn... I could barely tell them apart. I really liked the episode, but turns out I didn't appreciate it nearly enough. Time for a little TOS rewatch?

The Maquis 1

What does the word Nor mean? Terok Nor, Bok'Nor...

The Vulcan woman looks great; nice dress.

"Jake-o" aww

Do Cardassians have a thing for showing up right in your quarters unexpectedly?

"We'll need one of your runabouts" "Where are we going?" Nice one, Sisko

"So you turn off my controls so I don't have enough light to take my photograph?" :D

"Education is power. Joy is vulnerability" Dukat is being very quotable today?

"Of all the humans I've met you strike me as the most joyless and the least vulnerable" "I am when I'm with you"

Honestly it's as if they are writing Sisko and Dukat's interactions for me personally

I like how the Vulcan is taking Quark's courtship at face value

Wait, is Gul Evek that reasonable guy from Journey's End?

I'm starting to understand Preemptive Strike better -- so it all took place in the demilitarized zone? That makes sense. (How did I miss that?)

"I was looking forward to showing you more ways to mix business with pleasure" "Perhaps in the future. I do find you... intriguing, Quark" im screaming hooly shit I'd never have guessed that Quark of all people would be the chick magnet #1 on this station?? how did he manage to meet a woman this line would actually work on

good shit good shit

The Maquis 2

Sisko gives a show-defining speech!

"Vulcans are a species that appreciate good ears"

something tells me Dukat wasn't the one supplying weapons and the Central Command is trying to kill two birds with one stone -- oh look, this lie was so obvious that for once the characters saw through it right away too

"The Central Command wants him dead. That's reason enough for us to want him alive"

Interesting, Dukat suddenly started acting in a theatrical manner I've only seen in Garak before. Some Cardassian cultural thing?

Haha, I didn't even realize where Sisko was leading the conversation! He's excellent in this story

"With that kind of firepower, the Bajorans could have launched a full-scale assault on Cardassia" "And lost"

Damn, Dukat really has his Intimidate skill maxed out! Sisko fails the Paragon check, Dukat passes the Renegade check.

Finally we see someone explain to a Vulcan why they're being illogical instead of making some bullshit reference to emotion. I love you Quark

the only bad thing about this two-parter is that it kinda made me like the Totalitarian Lizard Man a bit too much??? how dare you. let me go back to my wholesome crushes on Bashir and Jadzia before I start stanning or something

oh, and also I hoped this episode would make the Maquis more sympathetic so I could feel better about Ro Laren leaving Stafleet for them... nnnot much.

The Wire

What a great episode!! I wasn't liveblogging at all because it was too intense. I don't even feel the need to comment on drama or character development -- the story and acting speak for themselves.

Alright, how the hell did Bashir reach Tain? How does one get the home address of the former head of secret service of a foreign empire?! And how did Bashir manage to convince Sisko to authorize this stunt and give him the runabout -- or did he steal it?

The "Elim" reveal isn't really a surprise after you've spent some time near a fandom where people tag characters by full name...

What interests me now: is Garak going to act differently now that he's not keeping himself drugged? Will he go through withdrawal? In the final scene he pretends everything is Back To Normal, but... Or was the table-flipping scene the extent of his withdrawal symptoms?

Another disjointed thought: this is a wonderful example of a satisfying hurt/comfort story

Star Trek has some amazingly intense dramas for two actors. The Most Toys, Chain of Command, Duet... This one is different because in order to bring the two characters together and at the same time isolate them from the rest of the world, instead of captivity it uses doctor-patient relationship. Oh, another story from a different fandom it reminds me of, now that I think of it: Scherzo.

Crossover

Lmao it's nice that even after leveling up at unstoppable determination and compassionate badassery in the previous episode, Bashir still can be a ridiculous dork

...though it is pretty jarring that right after a high drama where he shows his capacity for patience and caring, and greatly deepens his relationship with someone, the next episode opens with the awkwardest attempt at befriending (and flirting?)

I didn't expect Garak to appear in two episodes in a row!

Why is Mirror Kira walking like this...

I started laughing at "I don't have a designation, sir" because my mind immediately went to "There's no need to call me sir, professor"

Female Cardassian guard! And Kira called herself attractive, heh.

Mirror Quark is dressed so poorly...

Okay, Mirror Kira definitely wants to fuck herself -- wait, that's actually canon? Do all evil Kiras hit on women? I wish they'd let our Kira do that too. I know it was written in the nineties, but I really don't appreciate the "evil=bi" trope

Well this was pretty weak. The only mirror character who works well, i.e. exposes the real character's darker side, is Odo. Kira looks just weak and hysterical. (Remember how I complained about her acting in the pilot?) Mirror Garak is actually less intimidating than our Garak.

The Collaborator

Can't say I'm very excited to see Vedek Bareil again. I liked him in his first episode for ideological reasons, but this romance...

Oh no, the Sydney Opera Hat is on the Promenade again? Is she planning another assassination?

"Welcome back. You're under arrest"

The episode was not engaging to watch, but I enjoyed the Grey Morality (tm).

Tribunal

These Cardassians have lost all shame, what do they think they're doing

Evek again, and I think another familiar face?

Yiiikes

Here comes the good cop

I'm glad they're not spending an entire episode on a Chain of Command remake.

Not telling the accused what they're charged with: a deliberate ploy to mess with their mind, or do the Cardassians not even bother to think about these things anymore?

Huh, Odo had a Cardassian rank that's still valid? That's useful.

Alright, but wasn't O'Brien still declared guilty? So the scheme to discredit the Federation worked?

Also, a missing molar isn't good evidence. Maybe it means that man was just captured and processed by the Cardassians, like O'Brien. And why would a spy alter his appearance but forget about this? You'd think humans and Cardassians have different enough teeth that he'd have to get dental implants anyway.

I found one good thing about the Cardassian "court"! The judge has fabulous hair.

The Jem'Hadar

Jake!

"I bet we'll have a great time!" "I know we will" Please don't say things like this in the opening scene of a season finale...

Aw poor Sisko :D

"Guess" "He said yes" "Guess again"

Aw Quark needs a hug

Aww kids

Aww Odo cares about Quark

"If the Dominion comes through the wormhole, the first battle will be fought here, and I intend to be ready for them." Well. That's a chilling line to end the season on.

As much as I like it when the Federation arrogance is called out, Quark's speech just doesn't work. "The way I see it, humans used to be a lot like Ferengi. Greedy, acquisitive, interested only in profit. We're a constant reminder of a part of your past you'd like to forget." Well, yeah! That was basically the original concept for their species! "Humans used to be a lot worse than the Ferengi" -- so what? 24th century humans are disgusted by the atrocities of their ancestors, so why can't they also be disgusted by the exact same things perpetuated by their contemporaries? Domestic abuse and sexism are wrong, no matter who does it. Note how this entire speech sidesteps the violent misogyny, aka the Ferengi's most obvious appaling trait. This is like saying "Don't judge the Cardassian state for being totalitarian! That's just their culture, you don't understand!"

General impressions

Bashir and Jadzia finally got some character development!

I live for Cardassian episodes. It's fascinating to see a dystopia in the universe that started as a utopia, and see how characters from both sides deal with each other.

(Random thought: I want an AU episode like "Crossover" where another universe/timeline's Cardassia is a free state, and for a Cardassian viewpoint character our world is a nightmare scenario just like the Mirror Universe is for our heroes.)

I don't loathe Winn as much as I did in the first season finale. That makes her kind of underwhelming as a recurring antagonist. On the other hand, that might be a good thing, because getting so angry repeatedly couldn't have been good for my health. But because they're represented mainly by the hateful-but-not-enough Winn and the bland Bareil, the Bajoran affairs are usually not as gripping as the Cardassian. I hope to see more of their secular politics next season.

First season was very even; second has two irredeemably clumsy stories (Melora and Second Sight), but a growing number of outstanding ones, too.

First season was already an improvement over TNG in terms of serialization, and this one is better. Both multi-part stories are brilliant, too. I hope this trend continues.

A noticeable weakness in the first season was the mundanity of the Gamma Quadrant. No sense of wonder, no noticeably stranger aliens. The introduction of the Dominion and their overwhelming threat partially rectified that problem, bringing back some of the feeling from "Q Who". Yes, setting foot in a far corner of the galaxy should be awesome in both senses of the word, and lead the previously unimaginable dangers right back to your home.

The costume design has visibly improved in this season!

#star trek #ds9 #blah blah blah #if read more doesn't work for you i'm really really sorry #actually i just finished s3 so rereading this liveblog was amusing

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