#lot only for sale near clark

[catacombbee]

welcome home (i missed you dearly)

tyden tattoo shop au; crossposted on ao3:

INSPIRED BY A POST @the-killies MADE

just mentioning beforehand they are older in this bc they are adults bc tyler has a tattoo shop BUT the way tylers thinking abt aiden isnt meant to be sexy hes just thinking aiden is very very pretty boy okay this isnt supposed to be horny okay pls dont make it horny 🔫

sometimes theres just the desperation to touch someone to feel someone to be near someone. so im totally projecting

also i dont know exactly how tattoo shops work if anything is inaccurate SHHHH dangles gay in front of you to distract. does the distraction dance

It had been two years since Tyler had seen Aiden.

Sure, they kept in touch. The group chat was more alive than ever even after they all graduated. Life drew them in their own different directions, but they'd always be friends.

And yet it had been two years since all six of them met up in the same place. They had gotten together to celebrate most of their respective college graduations. Taylor had been working at a mechanic shop for over a year at this point, and her boss loved her friends so much that he ordered pizzas for them to celebrate. Of course they ended up back in the graveyard, sitting together in that bus as they ate and laughed and fell asleep on each other.

Tyler had made friends in art school that filled the gap that was left when he didn't see his five best friends every day. No, they'd never replace the others, but he felt less alone. By the time he graduated, he and two of his new friends really wanted to open their own tattoo shop together.

Taylor pointed out that the building beside her shop had been empty for sale for years. Tyler thought it was pretty funny that even into his career he couldn't get away from his sister. It was great, by all means. He got a discount on car maintenance, and they got a discount on their tattoos. It also meant he got the honors of giving Taylor her first tattoo himself. TH + AB inside a heart was pretty sappy, but he didn't tell her that when he did it. He was happy she was happy.

And he was happy. He was thriving. Ever since he gave up baseball, accepting that it wasn't making him happy like it used to, and let himself embrace his creativity, he felt so much more comfortable in himself. Who knew that art scholarships were a thing?? Why had no one told him??

But now he was living on his own and making enough money to not only support himself but pay for his mom's therapy. She was doing better, too; Taylor hadn't moved out when Tyler did, opting to stay living at home to take care of her. Now all three of them were moving uphill. Tyler was happy, he was secure, the tattoo shop was busier than ever. Everything was great.

And then Aiden Clark walked through the door.

Tyler wouldn't say he was disappointed to see him. No, far from it. In fact, he was far happier to see the blond than he would let himself admit. While most of the group was in college, Aiden had taken his parents money and gone who the hell knows where. Italy, France, Germany, Japan, other countries that Tyler couldn't remember, he saw it all. Along the way, he'd posted almost every bit of his journey online for people to live vicariously through him. At least, that's what Ashlyn called it. People loved watching him not only traverse beautiful landscapes, but also explore other cultures and share stories from people he'd met.

That meant that, as Aiden built an online following large enough to support himself without his parents' help (which in hindsight was probably his goal), Tyler got to watch through a screen as he did all sorts of impressive or death defying feats. Because of course he did. He's Aiden.

It's one thing to watch someone in full scuba gear get locked in a shark tank. It's another to watch him set up a camera and jump off of a cliff into water shirtless.

There were a lot of videos where he ended up shirtless, actually. A byproduct of his love for being in the water. Surfing, swimming, snorkeling- why did so many of those words start with an S anyway? Aiden did it all. And he did half of it wearing nothing from the waist up.

Seeing Aiden shirtless made Tyler's heart flutter every time-

"Tyler!" Aiden broke him from his thoughts. Fortunately. Instead of thinking about how nice he looked in his videos, Tyler could focus on how nice he looked standing right in front of him.

"Aiden," he responded, the second half of the name coming out like a bark as Aiden slammed into him with a bear hug. "It's so great to see you!" He said, squeezing Tyler not tightly enough to take his breath away as much as he did. "How have you been?"

He had been absolutely horrible before he saw Aiden. What the hell was he doing that would dare compare to this man wrapping himself around Tyler like he was never as overjoyed as he was now seeing him again?

"I've been great."

Aiden let go and stepped back. Unfortunately. He grinned up at Tyler, who was still proudly taller. "You look great. I mean, I saw you in some of the pictures posted on your place's Insta, but you look even better in person, yknow? Your tattoos are so cool woah-"

Tyler was much too distracted by the sound of his heart thudding in his ears to pay much mind to Aiden poking and prodding at his arms excitedly. He was blabbering something about how he couldn't wait to have a tattoo of his own- wait, what?

Shaking himself back to reality, Tyler pulled his arm back. It was the only way he'd focus: without Aiden's hands on his skin. "Are you here to get a tattoo?" He'd thought Aiden was just visiting. Why wouldn't he just visit? Ben came by to visit and didn't get a tattoo. Logan came by to visit and didn't get a tattoo. Ashlyn-

"Yeah! I already know kind what I want, too." Of course he did. "Oh, is it okay if I record some of it?" Of course it was. "I don't know if you follow my channel that much, I just wanted to show them the process." Of course. "Plus! I can say HEY here's this cool place! So if you're in the area and you want a tattoo, come see my buddy Tyler!" Of course.

And he wanted Tyler to give him the tattoo. And he wanted it on his back. Wings. Of course. Of course Aiden wanted a large tattoo on his back. Of course Aiden wanted Tyler to sit for hours and look down at his naked torso and have to focus on not screwing up the ink just because his client is pretty. He had tattooed pretty men before! This did NOT have to be any different.

But they weren't Aiden.

Aiden came with some reference photos. He and Tyler came up with a design Aiden liked. It wasn't that elaborate, but it was still going to be time consuming. Unfortunately.

Aiden was lying on his stomach, humming contentedly to himself as he scrolled through his phone, his arm dangling off of the table. Beside him stood Tyler, who was focusing so hard on his art.

Frankly, this was the longest he'd ever seen Aiden sit still. Even when he was asleep, he was such a wiggle worm. Sure, he remembered Taylor said once that she saw Aiden sleep completely still once, but he didn't want to think about that night.

On second thought, maybe that would be better. Maybe if he thought about the night Aiden died he wouldn't think about all the perfectly toned muscle that was right there. How many nights had he laid awake in bed, only his phone lighting the room, watching those videos of Aiden and imagining how it'd feel to wrap his arms around him? How many nights had he rolled over, his arms snug tightly around the middle of a pillow, so that when he closed his eyes he could imagine it was Aiden's waist instead?

How much longer could he deny that he wanted more than anything to be close to him?

After what felt like a year or maybe two minutes, they were halfway done. He'd told Aiden upfront that he'd need to come back again to finish it, which was fine. He had an opening the next day. Aiden was too eager to return. His smile was burned in Tyler's vision much like spots swimming in one's eyes after looking at a bright light.

Taylor came over to see him after work. Tyler was busy scrolling through his phone and definitely not thinking about a certain blond. "Aiden stopped by to say hi today."

"Mhm."

"He showed me his half-finished tattoo."

"Mm."

"You need to tell him you love him."

"Mhm."

Taylor punched him in the arm. Ow. She was fucking strong. "Tyler, c'mon." He finally made himself look up at her from where he was sitting. "We all knew it years ago, and here you are still acting like you don't care."

Tyler rolled his eyes. "Don't care what, that he's back? Of course I care that he's back, he's my friend."

She looked at him unamused. "You sure don't look at each other like you're friends," Taylor argued.

Well, what the hell did she know?

Tyler grumbled to himself the entire drive home. He sulked about it as he sat down to watch tv. He moped as he laid in bed, trying to sleep. He dreamed about it, Aiden's laugh echoing throughout his subconscious. He grumbled yet again as he trudged into into work the next day.

Aiden was back late that afternoon.

Surely he must have noticed the way Tyler was avoiding eye contact. The way he practically mumbled in response to Aiden trying to spark a conversation. The way his hand shook as it pressed against his back for the first time that day.

"Don't fuck up my tattoo, halfwit," Aiden grumbled playfully, turning his head to try and look up at Tyler.

He just smiled in response. "It's been a while since you called me that."

Aiden shrugged, earning a scolding from Tyler who was about to put the needle back to his skin. "Well, it's been a while since we've seen each other. I missed you."

Tyler's hands paused. Only for a second.

"I missed you too," he admitted. He really, really had. Far more than he would admit. He missed that manically brilliant grin, knowing something mischievous was soon to follow. He missed the way he laughed, the way he always knew what to say to get on everyone's last nerve, the way he masterfully turned the attention onto himself to distract from whatever was going on around them.

He missed how close they were when they saw each other every day; it gave him more chances to get close to Aiden.

"Why wings?" He blurted out, desperate to change the mental subject to something that did not include wishing he could wrap his arms around Aiden and ask him never to leave again, or worse, to beg him to let Tyler come too.

Aiden hummed, wiggling, despite however many times Tyler had told him off. He was either really lucky that he never made Tyler mess up or he was really good at moving only when he couldn't mess Tyler up. It was impossible to tell.

But of course, he stilled when Tyler leaned back in to continue his work. "Wings are a symbol of freedom, right?" He said, leaving it at that.

Tyler could feel the smile through his words, but he knew there were layers to this sort of symbolism. Freedom from the phantom dimension. Freedom from his parents, to whatever extent it hurt. Freedom from this little town. Freedom to explore the world to his heart's content.

Aiden wanted the world, and Tyler wanted to be his world. But he knew he'd never be enough to satisfy such a deep-rooted wanderlust.

Maybe Aiden was more like his parents than he'd like to admit. They, too, could never stay in one place for too long. They stayed in the house Aiden was living in through high school just long enough for him to leave the house, and then they were gone again. Ashlyn liked to tease that she preferred her new neighbors because they kept to themselves.

How deeply rooted was the Clarks' need to stay on the move? In fleeing the country to both satisfy his own desires and to escape association with his parents, how much was Aiden solidifying how alike they really were? How much did it bother him, or did it at all?

Tyler wondered so many things, and voiced none of them.

But perhaps he wasted too much time thinking and didn't spend enough of it actually talking. The tattoo was finally finished. It was late afternoon, and Tyler had no other appointments that day. Aiden was paying. He was leaving. He was about to leave, and Tyler was about to not see him again for another two years.

Tyler couldn't let that happen.

"Hey," he said suddenly, as Aiden was digging his wallet out of his pocket. "How much longer are you going to be in town?" Because if you aren't busy, we can meet up. Because if you're still here, we can go out somewhere together. Because if you're not leaving, I still have time.

Aiden shrugged. "I was gonna stay for a few more days originally, but my hotel didn't have any vacancy past tonight. I'm gonna sleep in my car and head out tomorrow morning."

Tyler's heart dropped into his stomach. Aiden was leaving tomorrow. Aiden was going to walk out that door and be gone and Tyler wouldn't know how long it would be until he saw him on the same side of the screen again.

That's why he blurted out: "Stay at my place."

Both men stared at each other, dumbfounded, neither really expecting Tyler to suggest such a thing. Aiden's eyes were wide, his tanned cheeks ever so slightly rosy. Tyler wondered if he was imagining it.

"Okay," Aiden said, his grin impossibly wider.

That's how Tyler ended up driving home with Aiden reclining in his passenger side seat. Did he insist that Aiden could just follow him home in his own car? Yes. Did Aiden somehow convince him to just let him throw all his stuff in his backseat and hitch a ride and leave his car parked outside the tattoo shop? Yes. Unfortunately.

The radio was on low; nothing that interesting was playing. Tyler could hear his own voice randomly stopping and starting from Aiden's phone. Sometimes while he was still working on the tattoo, Aiden would hold his phone up, video already rolling, saying "cheese!" and earning a glare from Tyler. Probably for the "I got a tattoo" video. A few times he even got Tyler to stop and take a quick shot of the progress, which was preferable as it kept Aiden from moving as much.

Why did Tyler suggest this. Why did Tyler suggest this. Tyler lived in a one bedroom home, all by himself, and the couch was probably fine but not comfortable enough to SLEEP on WHY did Tyler suggest this. Why did Tyler bring Aiden home. Why was Tyler helping Aiden bring his things inside and showing him around the place.

"So you live by yourself now?" Aiden asked cheerfully as he helped himself to a formerly unopened bag of chips. "That's cool. I thought you and Taylor would've still been living together but this is also cool. I guess since you work next door you need time apart, right? I wish I was still this close to Ben. He doesn't like moving around a lot, I'm happy he found a place he's comfortable." Aiden never stopped talking, and Tyler didn't want to stop him.

"Taylor's still living with Mom," Tyler said, shrugging. "We aren't really living apart cus we needed more space, I just..." How could he put into words that he couldn't stand the vacant look in his mother's eyes anymore? Even as she was doing better, how could he admit he couldn't handle the aching emptiness of that old home?

But Aiden nodded even despite the lack of an explanation, and Tyler understood that it wasn't actually needed.

That was another thing he loved-

That was another thing he enjoyed about Aiden. For all the nonstop chatter that came from him, he was actually a remarkable listener. Sometimes Tyler really struggled to put things into words, but Aiden didn't need him to. He was good at reading between the lines, and Tyler was grateful for that.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Aiden's stomach rumbling so loudly he wondered if he'd eaten at all that day. It was so stupid, he couldn't help but laugh.

The deer-in-headlights wide-eyed look on Aiden's face made Tyler laugh even harder. "I'm just going to cook some spaghetti. Think you can wait that long? And stop with the chips, you need real food."

Aiden threw the clip from the chips at Tyler; he caught it. "Shut up, I forgot lunch."

"That's not my fault," he shot back, gesturing at him with the box of spaghetti noodles. The now open box of spaghetti noodles. A small clump of uncooked noodles flew out, falling at Aiden's feet. "But that was!" He responded, picking them up and taking a bite of one. Tyler cringed.

Aiden was quiet as Tyler started cooking. Fortunately. He did chime in when Tyler was putting the pasta in the pot, shrieking until he agreed to not snap the spaghetti. Because what was he, a fucking barbarian? No, only heathens snap their spaghetti. Tyler was eager to point out to Aiden that he did the same until he visited Italy.

"It's a JOKE!" Aiden insisted through a mouthful of pasta, since Tyler had yet to drop the matter even now that they were eating. "It's a silly thing like, 'oh no! My Nonna is rolling over in her grave because you're breaking your pasta!' I don't think people actually care that much."

Tyler raised an eyebrow at him as he noisily slurped up yet another mouthful of spaghetti. He snickered, wiping his mouth. At least he had the decency to use a napkin. "Well, I like it long. It's more fun. So I guess I care."

Never again would Tyler Hernandez break pasta. At least not when he was cooking for Aiden.

Dinner wasn't very eventful, unless you counted the fact that Tyler was sitting across from Aiden Clark and talking to him and having dinner with him alone sitting in his house for the entire night. But no, no big deal. Just two guys being friends, hanging out. Two bros sitting at a table, five feet apart-

Aiden was right next to Tyler, wrapping an arm around his shoulders in a quick side hug. "Thanks for dinner!" Tyler just stared at him, because oh, now he's very close and smiling down at him. And now he was walking away with his and Tyler's plates in hand. "I'll clean up since you cooked."

That brought Tyler back to reality. "You're my guest, you don't need to do that. And don't thank me for feeding you, that's literally the bare minimum."

He was ignored; the clinking of plates being washed began as the tap came on in the kitchen sink. Tyler just sighed and allowed it. If Aiden insisted on cleaning dinner up, Tyler could busy himself with finding something for them to do afterwards, at least. After all, it wasn't that late at night; they needed something to do.

There was a dusty box of video game cases. Tyler hadn't played Mario Kart in ages.

That turned out to be the best idea he'd had all day. He could barely begin suggesting the idea to Aiden before the controller was snatched from his hands and a certain blond planted himself on the sofa, staring intensely at the screen, waiting for Tyler to start the game.

There were too many characters to pick from; Tyler always tried a different one every time. This time he picked Rosalina, earning a curious glance from Aiden. On the complete other side of the character selection spectrum, Aiden IMMEDIATELY beelined for Waluigi. His entire cart was built and ready before Tyler even decided which character he wanted.

It'd been a long time since they played together, but Tyler knew how Aiden played. Normally selecting the Mii character to play as someone like Sans, but settling for Waluigi because he knew Tyler wouldn't have his weird characters saved. All speed, not great handling. As for Tyler, he preferred putting more into acceleration than speed. What's the use in being fast if it takes you too long to speed up when you crash into shit?

And his performance proved him right. Or it proved that Aiden's Mario Kart skills were rusty and he had circled right back to noob status. Tyler won time and time again, all his time playing with Taylor when she came over for sleepovers paying off.

He let Aiden end on a high note, though. There was no way he was going to go easy on him, of course; he figured Aiden must've finally got the hang of the game again when he won the last round. "YES!" He yelled, pointing a finger right in Tyler's face. "I finally got you!"

Tyler let him have it, considering how miserably he did in the very first races. "Alright, you got me."

Aiden giggled. He giggled. And he smiled right at Tyler. Unfortunately.

"It's late," Tyler said, looking away. They'd been playing for a couple of hours at this point. It felt like they'd just sat down. "I'm not letting you stay up all night before driving for hours."

Confusion growing on his face, Aiden watched as Tyler set up a pillow and blanket on the couch. "Am I sleeping out here?"

"No, of course not. You're sleeping in my room." Did Aiden really expect to be left on the couch??

Aiden just grinned at him. "You don't have to sleep on the sofa, Ty."

It was hard to ignore the way his heart fluttered. This man was going to be the death of him. He just had to survive one more night. Surely. "I'm sure as hell not making you sleep on the sofa. Especially with a healing tattoo, you need to rest on something comfortable, dude."

But Tyler had misunderstood exactly what Aiden was getting at. "Tyler, I don't care if we share the bed, yknow."

Oh. Tyler hoped that the way his face burned wasn't visible. He never would have expected Aiden to suggest such a thing. Why would Aiden suggest such a thing? Why wouldn't Aiden suggest such a thing, actually? Why did it matter? It shouldn't matter. They were friends. Friends could share a bed. Surely.

That's how Tyler found himself laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, as Aiden scrolled on his phone to his right. He had tucked a pillow securely under his chest to prop himself up, whatever app he was using casting a soft glow on his face. Tyler couldn't help but look a few times. Just a few.

This was all made worse by the fact that Aiden was laying there on his stomach shirtless. It took Tyler dragging him back to the bathroom after they both showered and forcing him to sit down for him to remember that, yes, his tattoo needed proper attention of its own. And now there he was, lying on his stomach so as to not irritate his back, and his phone was lighting up the sleepy grin on his face. Unfortunately.

"Go to sleep," Tyler grumbled, as if the light was bothering him. It wasn't the light itself keeping him up, though. How could he sleep with this man lying a foot away from him?

Aiden grumbled back, putting his phone on the nightstand. "You don't have enough pillows. I need, like... three."

"What the fuck do you need three pillows for." Tyler only had two! The only person that slept over was Taylor, and she brought a sleeping bag and pillows for herself; she, too, didn't want Tyler giving up his bed just for her.

The response was punctuated by a scoff, as if Aiden was offended that Tyler wouldn't know why Aiden needed three damn pillows. "I need something under my stomach and my head to be comfortable on my stomach."

Then he should have brought his own. "You can't have my pillow."

"Can I just lay on you instead?"

Once again, Aiden said something that left Tyler stunned and defenseless. The room went silent as he couldn't come up with an answer that didn't sound as desperate or excited as the thought made him feel inside.

Aiden took his silence for rejection. "I was, joking, uh-"

"Yes. Uh, yeah you can. If you want to."

Silence again. This time much less uncomfortable. Slowly, tentatively, Aiden shifted closer. Placed an arm on Tyler's other side, holding himself up. Lowered himself to settle against Tyler's chest, tucking into his shoulder.

They both let out a long breath as they fell into place together. It was as if whatever anxious walls they'd put up crumbled and vanished as their bodies moved on their own, suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to be closer. Aiden's leg looped under Tyler's. Tyler's arms settled around Aiden, Aiden's latched together under Tyler's back.

Aiden's head tilted back, his gaze meeting Tyler's. They were close, too close. Unfortunately.

Or maybe it wasn't a bad thing. Aiden was searching his face, a calm smile adorning his face. Tyler stared right back, unable to stop himself from glancing at that pretty smile, wondering what it'd feel like pressed against his own lips.

Aiden noticed; he smiled a little brighter. It suited him, that natural smile. That smile for Tyler. How could he deny any longer his own feelings when Aiden was smiling like that? Smiling like that just for him? How could he deny his own feelings when it was so clear suddenly that Aiden felt the same?

"Aiden?" He said softly, eyes unable to focus on just Aiden's eyes or just Aiden's lips, bouncing between the two. He just hummed in response, staring back with a level of focus that was surprising for him.

"I- I want to kiss you," Tyler blurted out.

Aiden giggled, his eyes nearly closing as laughter took over his body. Tyler's face burned, and he scowled even despite knowing that he was just being teased. "Aiden."

"Can I tell you a secret?" He responded, managing to cease his snickering. Tyler just stared, waiting.

Aiden leaned close, suddenly serious. Tyler couldn't keep up with the mad facade for much longer, given that he could feel Aiden's breath on his face. This was the closest they'd ever been, at least that Tyler could remember. He'd lean in and end his suffering if he weren't waiting on Aiden to go on with what he wanted to say.

"I lied about the hotel," Aiden whispered, "so you'd invite me over."

Then Aiden kissed him. And Tyler was too blissfully reduced to mush to even get mad at the realization that this entire situation only happened because Aiden was banking on Tyler suggesting he stay over instead of sleeping in his car.

Now Aiden was gripping Tyler's shirt like he'd disappear if he opened his eyes, Tyler was running his hand through Aiden's hair and pulling him ever closer, and neither of them wanted it to end. Finally, finally, Aiden was his.

Who cared what would happen tomorrow, or a week from now? Who cared what they'd do when Aiden had to leave again? Tyler was firmly rooted at home, and Aiden was endlessly roaming without a constant one. But that was tomorrow's problem.

Tonight Aiden was his. And he wasn't letting go.

[thevindicativevordan]

Comics this week, especially Wonder Woman's relaunch under Tom King ?

Wonder Woman #1 -

Wondersisters we're fucking back! Fantastic first issue from King and Sampere. It's a very tight compressed read, King wants to make the reader feel as blindsided by how quick everything goes to hell as Diana no doubt does. Sovereign looks like the King Washington from AC3, and I love his design. Connecting him to WW through the lasso mythology is a great concept. Despite the lasso being her iconic weapon, we really don't know a lot about it. King wants to write Superman so bad he gave Wonder Woman her own bald evil genius/mastermind to fight. Seeing Sarge Steel kill an Amazon in front of her own wife and child is a hell of a way to set the stakes. Some people were upset about that, but WW has needed to increase the feeling of danger in her books for a while now, and this accomplished that. Themsyacria itself isn't in danger, but Wonder Woman's mission in Man's World is, and that's a set up that works for me.

Love how Diana casts a huge shadow despite it being a while before she actually appears on page. We see King have her do all the actions you'd expect and then King shoots them all down as ineffective. God I love that scene where she sends her sword back to Nubia because she doesn't want to be tempted, sells the hell out of her being furious. And her dressing down of Sarge Steel? Peak Wonder Woman right there.

Steve is in a potentially very interesting place. Usually he's just Diana's wholesome and supportive boyfriend, this is a chance to put the screws to him and find out what makes him tick. He swore an oath and is technically committing treason by helping Diana, which he points out, but he still helps her all the same. Now I get we don't want to focus too much on a man in a WW book, but as her most important male supporting character, I argue that Steve needs fleshing out to bring him up to the level Lois and Selina are at.

My only qualm is I wish we get a page dedicated to the reaction of the other Wondy Rogues at this new player making moves. What does Circe or Cheetah or Cale make of this? Grail is going to show up, what's her angle? Definitely could see Psycho jumping for joy. While I doubt Sovereign can actually be Wondy's arch, I do like him as this new major player who upends Wondy's status quo, and I want to see where the other Wondy Rogues fit into his plans.

Superman #6 - Quick read but at least next issue is the oversized one. Livewire remains an ass despite working at the Daily Planet and that makes me deliriously happy. Having her as the anti-Superman voice at the Planet is a great gag, hell you could even have her livestream her fights with Supes to boost the DP's sales as a way to profit from being a villain even when she loses. AI Lex insisting on calling Superman "son" remains hilarious, Clark is clearly fed up with Lex's bullshit. The Chained seems to be a powerful telekinetic, was hoping for a more creative powerset, but at least he has hair. Saw that reference to Master Jailer helping Lex build the prison that held Chained, please let that be a tease for Jailer to make his return soon.

World's Finest #19 - Meh. Far as first meetings between Superman and Batman go, this one is down near the bottom. Jax is every bit as boring as I thought he would be, and Waid just pays lip service at the end towards the idea of Batman not trusting Superman. More fuel for the speculation that Waid is taking over Action with "Aethyr" showing up. What a boring look and design, not at all the Lovecraftian god in the vein of Gerber that PKJ had been building up. If Waid is really taking Action I have zero hope he delivers a satisfying conclusion to whatever plot threads PKJ himself doesn't wrap up. Waid is simply too stuck in the Silver Age. Let's hope Kingdom Come gives this book the shot in the arm it needs.

Nightwing #106 - Without Redondo the book's paper thin nature is front and center. Still, far as continuity goes, this does use the Ric era in a good way. Taylor of all people being the one to do something interesting with that time period surprises me.

Green Lantern: War Journal #1 - My grandma has dementia and I teared up at that scene where John makes a construct of his sister for his mother who has it. Caring for relatives with dementia is just trying to keep them happy even when it breaks your heart. If PKJ is really losing Action, at least here he can continue the United Planets plot threads with Thaaros. John put that fraud GL in his place and it was badass. If the Radiant Queen can body hop, maybe the people who speculated she's an alternate version of Katma are right and the body she's been in isn't her original.

Vigil #5 - It's good! Castle is more than a little shit.

Loki #4 - Damn good mini that I can only assume is being totally ignored by Ewing given the ending has Loki seemingly embracing his status as the God of Lies again. Or is that actually setting up Ewing Loki, who is openly apologetic about how he's going to fuck over Thor if it makes for a good tale in Immortal Thor? Watters needs to get more work.

Captain America #1 - Solid character beats and interactions, but it lacks a big "hook" as it were to keep me reading. I am amused to see JMS' big return to Marvel monthlies involves someone trying to make a deal with the devil.

[shop-korea]

TENT - NOT - POP UP - JUST - TOSS - THEN - FOLD - INTO

ROUND - BALL - ITS - AUTO - SIGNS - MIAMI - SANITIZING

EVERY - WEEK - OVER - 7 YRS - TORTURE - ABUSE - SO

I - TRIED - YESTERDAY - 2 - DO - THAT - BUT - WHEN - ME

DID - AGAIN - FASTER - BUT - AUTO - TENT - SLICED YES

ABOVE - MY - R THIGH - NEAR - SHORTS - AREA - WAS

RED - CREATING - TENT - SLICED - MY - 2ND - FINGER

DIDN’T - KNOW - BLEEDING - WAS - FIXING - MY - UNIT

GIRL - MET - LONG - AGO - AT - BAYFRONT - PARK

MOM - 4 KIDS - SAW - NEXT - DAY - AT - LIBRARY

SHE - HAS ABOVE - STORAGE - STAIRS - NEEDED

SAW - ME - AFTER - 5A - WITH - HER - MALE - YES

FRIEND - GAVE - HER - MY - CHRISTMAS - GIFT AS

I - SHARED - SHOPIFY - ONLINE - STORE - HOW 2

DO - THAT - HER - MALE - FRIEND

AFTER - SAID - TRY VIRTUAL VAULT.com

2 ITEMS - GIVEN - VIDEOS - PHOTOS SO

MOST - LIKELY - ALI EXPRESS.com - HE

ASKED - HOW - MANY - ITEMS - I - SAID

‘2′ - WAS - GOING - 2 - ASK - ANOTHER

I SAID - I - NEED - 2 - TALK - 2 - HER XO

SO - CONTINUED - I - WAS - ABLE - TO

SET - TENT - BUT - I - WAS - BROOMING

HAD - 2 - CLEAN - SO - WENT - BACK IT

WAS - AFTER - 6A - INSIDE - SO - YES

BEAUTIFUL - NIGHT - AND - DAY - HAI

PARKING - PER - APP - I - LEFT - 1 CAR

NEAR - BOX VAULT - SELF - STORAGE

BLDG - ON - SW 2ND ST - FR - TRULY

123 SW NORTH RIVER DR

2 WAY - AS - IT - GOES - 2 - SW 2 AV

BLUE - TENT - COMING - OUT - I SEE

CHICA - 35 LBS - LARGE - BROWN DOG

LISA - AT - LITTLE - STRANGE - LIKE I’M

TAKING - HER - THUNDER - SAYING - I

WOKE - UP - CHICA - SHE - DOESN’T

WANT - ANYONE - 2 - GIVE - DRINK

NO - WATER - NO - WEE WEE

ILLEGAL - LAW - STATE - CONTAINER

HAS - 2 - HAVE - RUBBER - UNDERNEATH

NO - SPILL - WATER - MUST - B - SEEN AT

ALL - TIMES - I - GAVE - MY - IT - LOOKS

LIKE - REVERSE - GALLON - OF WATER

LOCK - THEN - JUST - CLICK - WATER

THEN - POURS - SHE - DRINKS ONLY

LIKES - ZEPHENYRL - FR - MEMORY

PUBLIX - 6 ST - NW 2ND AVE - $0.51

ALWAYS - COLD - THEIR - SALE SHE

DRANK - THAT - NATURAL - SPRING

WATER - SO - WILL - GIVE - THAT - 2

LISA - WAS - YELLING - AT - ME - SO

REMINDED - GAVE - U - MY - TENT 2

SHE - CUT - IT - SO - SHE - CAN SEE

PERSON - IT’s - SLIGHTLY - DESTROYED

BETTER - THAN - WHAT - SHE - WAS YES

USING - MINE - QUITE - BEAUTIFUL TRUE

INSIDE - THE - SIGN - MUST - TAKE - ALL

PERSONAL - BELONGINGS - WITH - YOU

EVERY - WEEK - SANITIZING - BUT - NOT

EVEN - AT - GOOGLE - SEARCH - WHAT

THEY - DO - EXCEPT - IT’s - TORTURE

ABUSE - HARRASSMENT - FELONIES

TRIED - 2 - OBEY - BUT - JUST - PUTTING

TENT - TOGETHER - WITH - POWDER XO

FREE - GLOVES - SLICED - MY - FINGER

AND - TODAY - FR - NOWHERE - GLASS

WENT - 2 - MY - R HAND - PALM - AND WAS

LIKE - SPLINTER - WAS - PAINFUL - I TRIED

2 - REMOVE - HOLY GHOST - HELPED - ME

REMOVE - THAT - GLASS - ON - MY HAND

I - HAVE - 2 - LEAVE - TENT - THERE - AS

I - START - MY - MEMBERSHIP - LA FITNESS

$49.99 - ONLINE - PRICE - TOMORROW YES

29TH - MY - SSI - $914 - SHOPIFY - HAVE - AN

OVER - $100 - DEBT - GLAD - 2-  PAY - BUT - I

AM GETTING - (.com) - DOMAIN - TOMORROW

NOT - RENEW - CAILEY.STORE - NEW ZOHO

EMAIL - ADDRESS - TECHNICAL - SUPPORT

HOW - 2 - DO - THIS - MAYBE - ANOTHER $7

$67 - MONTHLY - JORDAN WELCH

CAN’T - WAIT - THE - 2 - ITEMS TOO

HE - DOES - GIVE - TRIAL - PERIOD

THEN - THERE’s - FORM - SAMI CLARKE

WHAT - I’LL - B - DOING - $22 - SINCE - I

DID - 7 DAYS - B 4 - MAYBE - IMMEDIATE

MEMBERSHIP - WHICH - IS - OK - ALSO

SO - LOTS - OF - EXPENSE - WON’T - PANIC

TENT - GORGEOUS - INSIDE - IT’s - LIKE - A

BLUE - AND - WHITE - NICE - INSIDE - JUST

RIGHT - NOT - BRIGHT - UNLIKE - BEFORE

WARM - INSIDE - BUT - NOT - THAT - BAD

ALL - FREEZING - OUTSIDE - BUT - I’M XO

WEARING - SMALL - SHORTS - SO - GOOD

DOES - SHOW - A - CAMEL - AND - LOGO 2

BUT - IT’s - MISTAKE - DOESN’T - EMPHASIZE

I - NEED - 2 - PUT - ON - FARTHEST - HOLE

NOT - MIDDLE - HOLE - HAD - SUCH A HARD

TIME - THE - CHINESE - DIDN’T - DO - SIZE

RIGHT - MISSING - HALF - AN - INCH - YES

WAS - HARD - BUT - COULD - HAVE - BEEN

EASY - 4 FT - HEIGHT - SHOULD - B - 5 FEET

LENGTH - 7 FT - CAN - B - JUST - 4 FT - I’M

NOT - FAT - 5 FT - ONLY - 4 - WIDER - FOR

FATTER - HOW - TO - MAKE - THIS - FASTER

PUT - LIKE - SLICE - OF - BRED - POLES SO

INSERT - BUT - HAS - OPENINGS - SO - TO

MAKE - EASIER - THEY - SHOULD - HAVE

JUST - B - USE - BUTTONS - AND - BUTTON

ON - THE - POLE - THE - EDGE - SHOULD B

U - CAN - BRING - UP - AND - DOWN - LIKE

BECOMES - SHORTER - LONGER - U CAN

ADJUST - SIZE - SO - GOES - UP - DOWN

SO - CAN - PUT - INSIDE - HOLE - FASTER

OTHER - TENTS - THERE’s - CLAMPS BUT

THIS - ONE - NONE - BUTTONING - WITH

BUTTONS - IS - SOLUTION - SO - FASTER

INSTEAD - OF - RIBBON - ON - TOP JUST

VELCRO - SO - STRONGER - 2 - PUT YES

ABOVE - THEN - SMALL - RECTANGULAR

2 - PUT - ABOVE - LOUSY - DESIGN - ITS

SHOULD - B - SAME - JUST - LIKE - BUTTONS

JUST - CLICK - CLICK - CLICK - SO - FAST - 2

WILL - B - DESIGNING - TENTS - IN - FUTURE

BLUE - BECAUSE - DOGS - SEE - SHADES OF

THAT - AND - GREEN - ADD - YELLOW - BUT

CATS - SEE - SHADES - OF - BLUE - GREEN

SO - CHICA - CAN - SEE - MY - BLUE TENT

THUS - LEAVING - THERE - SO - I - CAN XO

GO - THERE - FR - LIBRARY - AND - TAKE A

NAP - ANYTIME - FELL - ASLEEP - TWICE 2

IT - WAS - LIKE - GRAVITY - PULLING - ME 2

SLEEP - STRONG - BUT - I’M - AWAKE NOW

AS - I - TYPE - LEAVING - AFTER - 4:30P FOR

WOMEN’s - RESTROOM - FINAL - CLEANING

4P - 4:30P - SO - CALCULATING - WHAT - ME

NEEDS - MAYBE - JUST - STARTING - THIS

ON - JANUARY - INSTEAD - BECAUSE - OF

MY - EXPENSES - BUT - THINKING - OF XO

JUST - DOING - NOTHING - EITHER - IT’s

WASTING - MY - TIME - NOT - DOING YES

ANYTHING - MOST - LIKELY - WILL - DO IT

I’M - 2 - CURIOUS - ABOUT - JORDAN YES

WELCH - PROGRAM - SO - I - DON’T - HAVE

2 - GO - 2 - THIS - LIBRARY - EVER - AGAIN

WANT - 2 - HAVE - APT - I - CAN - GO - TO

AND - SLEEP - SLEEP - SLEEP - TRULY 2

I - WANT - 2 - TACKLE - TIK TOK BUSINESS

WAS - EASY - B 4 - BUT - SANITIZING - YES

MY - FINGER - WAS - SLICED - TWICED AND

BEING - PARTLY - QUADRAPLEGIC - I - CAN

SAY - DIDN’T - KNOW - MY - FINGERS WERE

SLICED - AND - GLASS - LITTLE - JUST - YES

DIGGED - IN - BRINGING - MY - TENT - 2 HAI

FOLD - DAILY - WILL - DAMAGE - MY - HAND

DAMAGE - MY - TENT - SO - HAVE - 2 LEAVE

THERE - MY - SCHEDULE - LEAVING - 4:45A

WEEKDAYS - 2 - SHOWER - AT - 5:05A - WILL

BE - BEST - SCHEDULE - 4 - ME - NO - TRUE

LONGER - THERE - 2 - HARRASS - 2 - HURT

2 - ABUSE - GLAD - WE - HAVE - A - GOD - 2

PROTECT - US - BUT - ALWAYS - LEAVING

WITH - TENT - SLICED - MY - FINGERS SO

SANITIZING - AT - MIAIMI - 2 - KILL - THE

HOMELESS - ILLEGAL - MISOGYNY - THE

HARM - AND - ABUSE - OF - WOMEN FOR

MY - FINGERS - SLICED - IS - NOT FUNNY

BACK - AT - SW 2ND ST - BACK - 2 FOOD

GIVEN - 2 - US - I - SHARED - THANKSGIVING

AT - 12P - INSTEAD - OF - 5P - AND - LISA SHE

SCREAMED - THAT - THEY - POISON - PEOPLE

WALA - WALA - WALA - BIG - FATSO - ‘SARGE’

WAS - GOING - 2 - DOCUMENT - AND - FILM 4

YOUTUBE - 2 - GET - DONATION - AS - HE - IS

HOMELESS - BUT - THEY’RE - DOING - TAX

EVASION - NEVER - DECLARES - TAXES AS

EX - ARMY - 4 YRS - REQUIRED - VETERAN

BUT - POLICE - LOCKED - LOT - BECAUSE

HE - WAS - STARTING - EAT - EAT - EAT ITS

FREE - LIKE - THESE - PEOPLE - WILL YES

ALWAYS - B - ABLE - 2 - FEED - THESE HAI

LOOSERS - WHO - DON’T - WANT 2 WORK

SO - THEY - JUST - SET - TABLE - SAME AS

MY - NEW - ADDRESS - AFTER - TENT WAS

DELIVERED - SUNDAY - SW 2 ST - BUT - AS

McDONALD’s - CHEESEBURGERS - GOT 3

THE - MOST - 2 WATERS - ANOTHER - ASKED

ME - WENT - 2 - LOT 37 - PLATE - OF - QUITE

DELICIOUS - CHICKEN - WITH - SODA - COLD

THAT - WAS - GOOD - SO - WAS - NOT - VERY

HUNGRY - WHEN - FOOD - CAME - FOUND XO

OUT - GIRL - BLK - CLOTHES - WAS - PINAY - 2

THEY - MUST - HAVE - PUT - LEMON - FRESH

ON - ONE - FOOD - ITEM - MADE - ME - LOAD

OFF - LOTS - OF - DIAHRREA - HAD - 2 - YES

DISPOSE - OF - JEANS - PANTY - BUT PANTY

LOST - 2 - GLAD - HAD - HUGE - LAVENDER

TRASHBAG - PUBLIX - $3.99 - SO - I’M GOING

2 - ENJOY - DR JERRY SAVELLE - AS - 2 - YES

WHAT - 2 - DO - DECEMBER - MONEY - TRUE

TOMORROW - 2024 - YEAR - OF - GIVEN - US

PROGRESSION - ACHIEVEMENT - OR - YES

ACHIEVING - AND - HIGHEST - LEVEL - FINALLY

ATTAINED - LOVE - HIM - WITH - THE - UPS YES

STORE - $117 - CAN - GET - MY - VOTERS

INFORMATION - CARD - JOEL OSTEEN &

JOSEPH PRINCE - DR JERRY - SAVELLE

MAIL - 24/7 - ACCESS - NEAR - BRICKELL

STATION - 25 PACKAGES - EA - MONTH 2

TAX - DEDUCTIBLE - ALSO - I’M - EXCITED

BUT - HOPE - I - CAN - AFFORD - THIS DEC

DECEMBER - 2 - START - SHOPIFY - AGAIN

4 - OVER - $200 - I - NEED - 4 - AMAZON - 2

JESUS - IS - LORD

I - WILL - NOT - FEAR - BUT - ALWAYS - YES

AWAKEN - I - HAVEN’T - SLEPT - AGAIN FOR

24 HRS - BUT - 24 HRS - ACCESS - I - JUST

FINISHED - CLEANING - AND - FIXING - YES

EVERYTHING - BECAUSE - WALMART - TRUE

CLOTHES - HANGED - WAS - GOING - SIDEWAYS

LIKE - THE - STUPID - PLASTIC - BLK - THING - XO

WAS - GOING - SIDEWAYS - ONE - EDGE - WAS XO

DESTROYED - REPLACED - SO - CAN’T - WAIT - TO

THROW - I - WILL - PRAY - SING - PRAY - TONGUES

TONIGHT - SLEEP - PRAY - PRAY - SING - TONGUES

BACK - 2 B - ABLE - TO - HEAR - YOUTUBE - FAITH

AGAIN - FR - DR JERRY SAVELLE - CARS - YES ITS

STRONG - AS - IT - BRINGS - FR - MY - R - 2 - LEFT

SHAKES - STRONG - AS - CARS - SPEED - BY - SO

LIKE - HURRICANE - WINDS - 1 DOOR - GREATEST

BECAUSE - IF - FLOODING - THE - WATER - JUST

GOES - 2 - DUMP - ON - TENT - SIDES - SO - ONE

DOOR - FACING - FORWARD - BETTER - IDEA XO

LOVE - LOVE - INSIDE - REALLY - BEAUTIFUL - SO

GETTING - OVER - $60 - COT - AND - 14 INCH - YES

ELEVATION - AND - FOLDABLE - 15 LBS - BUT - I’M

BUYING - 500 LBS - CARRIER - SO - HERE’s - THE

SCENARIO - I’M - NO - LONGER - GOING - EVER 2

BAYFRONT - PARK - WILL - NEVER - GO - ANY YES

MORE - BUT - JUST - BAYSIDE - MARKETPLACE

VICTORIA’s - SECRET

FIVE - GUYS

(BURGERS - SHAKES - FRIES)

BEN’s - PIZZA - 2 - PLACES - 2

LOBSTER - SANDWICHES

SO - WEALTH - MEANS - EAT - EAT - EAT

AVENTURA - MALL

FOOD - COURT - WILL - GO - THERE - OFTEN

VILLAGE - PIZZA - ...

SPAGHETTI - HUGE - MEATBALLS

GARLIC - BREAD

CHICKEN - PARMIGIANA

PIZZA

OTHER - DIMSUM - THAI - MILK - BOOBA - YES

AFFORDABLE - FOOD - AND - DRINKS - YUMMY

GOING - 2 - AVENTURA - MALL - OFTEN - BUSES

OR - TRAIN - AND - BUSES - I - FORGOT - 2 - YES

MOOVIT + - OVER - $10 - PER - YEAR - WILL - DO

THAT - INSTEAD - OF - $1.99 - MONTHLY - LOVE

LOVE - DID - I - SPELL - THAT - RIGHT - 4 - THEY

SHOWED - STREET - NAMES - GOOGLE - MAPS

DIDN’T - SO - HAD - NO - IDEA - HOW - 2 ENJOY

CRATE - AND - BARREL - AGAIN - WHEN - JUST

SO - NEAR - WANTED - 2 - CRY - CRY AND - CRY

WILL - PRAY - SING - PRAY - AS - 2 - WHAT - 2 DO

SHOPIFY - NEXT - MONTH - OR - JUST - 2024 - AS

JANUARY - WILL - PRAY - SING - PRAY

NOT - DOING - THE - 2 YRS - OF - MIAMI - DADE

COLLEGE - FLOODED - MY - EMAILS - WITH XO

TRANSCRIPT - TRANSCRIPT - TRANSCRIPT

NOW - TELLING - ME - 2 - APPLY - 4 - FINANCIAL

AID - STRUMPETS - I’M - NOT - FULL - TIME - YES

THEY’RE - TREATING - ME - LIKE - REGULAR

STUDENT - INSTEAD - OF - KICKSTART SCHOLAR

SHIP - 4 - THE - UNEMPLOYED - NOT - MANY - YES

CHOICES - MINE - CHEF - APPRENTICE

OVER - $8,000 - 6 MONTHS - TUES - THURS

8 HRS - EACH - WHY - ARE - THEY - FLOODING

MY - EMAILS - WITH - WHAT - POOR - PEOPLE

COLLEGE - STUDENTS - NEED - 2 - DO - AND

CULINARY - ARTS - MANAGEMENT - 2 YRS IS

OVER - $7,000

LAB - OVER - $18,000

BETTER - OFF - IN - PARIS - LE - CORDON BLEU

AS - CHEF - BECAUSE - LEARNING - 2 - JUST BE

APPRENTICE - OF - A - CHEF - BUT - IN - PARIS

LEARNING - 2 B - CHEF - I’M - LEARNING FRENCH

LIVING - ALSO - IN - PARIS - FRANCE - BRITTANY

CHATEAU - INSTEAD - SMALL - PLANE - 2 PARIS

WEEKDAYS - BUT - LEARNING - HOW - 2 - CUT

HAIR - OF - KIDS - MYSELF - BEAUTY - PERMS

COLOR - MAKE OVERS - HOW - 2 - DO - 4 - NOT

IN - MIAMI - LIKE - ALEXANDRA OLSEN - AND

HER - SISTER - WHO - I - WILL - MEET - SEOUL

SCALP - TREATMENT - NOT - AVAILABLE - HERE

IN - MIAMI - THEY - JUST - DO - BLOW - JOBS AND

BEND - 2 - SHOW - ASS - AND - BREASTS - VERY

IMMORAL - I’M - LEARNING - IN - PARIS - ALSO

SKIN - CARE - HOW - 2 - CREATE - MY - OWN

SOUTH - KOREA’s - NUMBUXIN - EXCELLENCE

AND - KANE - REAL - GOD - IS - GOOD - ITEMS

YES STYLE - COMMISSION - IS - REAL - GOOD

PARIS - FRANCE - TEACHING - ME - 2 - MAKE

SKIN CARE - PERFUME - BACK - 2 - BALLET AS

I - LEARN - SPLITS - IN - AIR - FIGURE SKATING

GYMNASTICS - WILL - B - JOINING - LOTS - OF

PARIS - AND - TOKYO - WORLD - SPORTS

GETTING - BLOND - BLUE - EYES - MALE 2

B - PERSONAL - TRAINER - BUT - I’VE - DECIDED

2 - STUDY - IN - PARIS - FRANCE - THEN BECOME

ARCHITECT - SHARED - WITH - AMAZON - MALE

DRIVER - PRIME - THAT - FRANCE - HAS - WORLD

LONGEST - STANDING - BUILDING - THEREFORE

ARCHITECTURE - SHOULD - B - LEARNT - THERE

PARIS - OVER - 2,000 - YEARS - OLD - FINALLY

GIVEN - BACK - BY - ENGLAND - 2 - FRANCE FR

SO - STUDYING - FRENCH - AND - KOREAN YES

NO - LONGER - DOING - MIAMI - DADE - COLLEGE

2 YRS - JUST - 6 MONTHS - SOMETHING - 2 - DO

THEN - OXFORD - UNIVERSITY - ENGLAND FOR

PHOTOGRAPHY - JOURNALISM - LITERATURE 2

HOW - 2 - RUN - CORPORATIONS

BUSINESS - ADMINISTRATION

IN - PARIS - HOW - 2 - RUN - HOTELS AND CAFES

BEST - SCHOOLS - FOR - THAT - COUTURE - YES

FASHION - DESIGN - DRESSMAKING

ONLINE - UNIVERSITY - OF - FASHION

FASHION - ART - DRAWING - PEOPLE - CLOTHES

PATTERN - MAKING - SEWING - AND - MORE TOO

$19.99 - ONLY - UNLIKE - WEIRDO - MIAMI - DADE

COLLEGE - LARGEST - COLLEGE - IN - THE - USA

SO - DECIDED - 2 APTS - HERE

SOMA - AT - BRICKELL - 2 PETS

SW 13 ST

IN - FRONT - OF - LARGE - PUBLIX - SELF SERVICE

BEAUTIFUL - KITCHEN

OVER - $3,000 - 2 BED - 2 BATH

MIDTOWN - MIAMI

NEAR - TARGET - WANT - AMAZON - GROCERY - TO

REPLACE - THAT - NEAR - CITI FURNITURE - 2ND APT

2 PETS - MY - CAT - WILL - BE - HERE - INSTEAD

28 FLOORS - 347 UNITS

SWIMMING - POOLS - GREAT - 24/7 - GYM - YES

HONG KONG - MALES - MY - HOUSEHOLD STAFF

SINCE - KIDS - FRESH - NOODLES - FR SCRATCH

PEKING - DUCK - MARTIAL - ARTS - WEAPONS SO

GOOD - IN - 6′2 FT - TALL - THIN - BABES - THEY

WILL - B - MY - DRIVERS - GETTING - RV - YES

RECREATIONAL - VEHICLE - 2 - BRING - 3 PETS

2 - TEA CUP - ENGLISH  YORKSHIRE - TERRIERS

OVER - $6,000 - EACH - ONE - SMALLER - THAN

THE - OTHER - BRINGING - US - 2 - MOST - YES

BEAUTIFUL - TREES - NORTH - CAROLINA

BLUERIDGE - MOUNTAINS - ESTATE - STABLES

40 DEGREES - SNOW - ONLY - UNLIKE - MIAMI

20 DEGREES - YEARLY - DEADLY - HURRICANES

JULY - 2 - NOVEMBER

NO - MORE - THAT - 2

ASHEVILLE - 2016 - HAPPIEST - CITY - SAFEST 4

WOMEN - ONE - OF - TOP 10 - BEST - CITIES - TO

LIVE - IN - ROOTS - OF - PEOPLE - JOLLY ENGLAND

WHITES - OVER - 80% - BLKS - 11% - HISPANICS 2%

ASIANS - INDIANS - NOT - MUCH

ASHEVILLE - MEANS - CHEROKEES - PLAYING - IN

THE - WIND - SOMETHING - LIKE - THAT

MORE - THAN - 300 FOODS - SELECTION - THAN

RALEIGH - NC - AND - 50 MIN - BY - CAR - IS THE

CITY - FORGOT - NAME - LOVE VILLE - ONLY -

HORSES - NO - CARS - 2 - TRAVEL - TEXAS -

HATS - ASHEVILLE - VANDERBILT - CASTLE -

MEMBERSHIP - OVER - $200 - YEARLY - 2 - SEE

CASTLE - MY - HORSE - 10% - DISCOUNT - THE

HOTELS - SHOPS - MORE - THAT - THEIR - MAIN

ACTIVITY - CAN’T - WAIT - CAN’T - WAIT - THUS

SHOPIFY - $10,000 - EACH - MONTH - YES WILL

START - TOMORROW - JESUS - IS - LORD - YES

BUT - STARTING - TENT - SLICED - 2ND - FINGER

TODAY - STARTING - TENT - AGAIN - GLASS YES

LANDED - ON - MY - PALM - THUS - SAFER - FOR

ME - 2 - LEAVE - TENT - THERE - SLICED - THIGH

FIRST - DAY - POLICE - ARRIVED - AT - WHERE I

WAS - BECAUSE - BLK - GIRLS - BUMS - REFUSED

2 - LEAVE - 4 - CLEANING - SARG - ASKED - ME XO

WHAT - POLICE - SAID - WHEN - I - ALWAYS - LEAVE

EARLY - ARMY - ARMY - WILL - NEVER - B - FRONT

LINES - WHAT - A - STUPID - ABOUT - LAND - AS 2

US - ARMY - WHO - GUARDS - DEFENDS - LANDS

MARINES - FRONT - LINES - IN - BATTLE - WHO - I

WILL - ALWAYS - B - PARIS - WILL - HEAL - ME YES

PARIS - LOVES - FEMALES - GIRLS - BABIES - YOU

CAN’T - B - FIRED - 4 - WORK - MY - RELATIVES

MORE - THAN - 1,000 - YEARS - THERE - QUITE

BEAUTIFUL - MALES - SO - PARIS - WILL - HEAL

HEAL - ME - AGAIN - LIKE - WHEN - I - LIVED THERE

IN - CHATEAU - FACING - EIFFEL - TOWER - PARIS

WILL - HEAL - HEAL - HEAL - ME - LIKE - TOKYO JP

ONLY - DOCTORS - AND - NURSES - DRIVE DAILY

TOTALLY - COOL - AS - MILITARY - SURGEON - ME

JOIN - THEM - DRIVING - DAILY - IN - PARIS FRANCE

MY - DECISION - PARIS - PARIS - PARIS - ALSO  4 ME

JESUS - IS - LORD

HAPPY - THANKSGIVING - TUMBLR - MY FOLLOWERS

[remaxbeyondphilippines]

1,000 sqm Commercial Land for Sale in Angeles City, Adjacent to MARQUEE MALL

Lot Angeles City

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Clark’s infrastructure has been upgraded to service large industrial complexes and BPOs such as Yokohama, Texas Instruments, Chip manufacturers for Samsung, and Casinos. The Philippine government is migrating key government departments to Clark and has in fact already moved the Department of Transportation. Angeles city is where everyone lives and the entertainment capital of the Philippines.

As much as Clark is a special economic zone, it is also a party zone. Angeles city is the location of the walking street of the Philippines which has tons of bars and entertainment clubs. It has the highest concentration of entertainment establishments in the Philippines. There is even a Korean town with an endless stretch of restaurants, bars, and entertainment establishments.

Clark has several large casinos, the largest water park in the Philippines, and 5 star hotels such as the Marriot which was completed recently, 2018.

Commercial Land for Sale in Angeles City, Adjacent to MARQUEE MALL and Angeles City NLEX toll exit, accessed via the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and is near Clark Freeport Zone and a gateway to other major cities in the region.

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LOT AREA: 1,000 sq.m.

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DIRECT BUYERS ONLY PLEASE!

For interested brokers/agents kindly give your PRC Registration Number when you send an inquiry.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Portrait of a Dangerous Man🎨2

Warnings: (series) non-consent sex and rape; slow creep; cucking; (this chapter) nothing as yet.

This is dark!mob!Clark Kent x reader and explicit. 18+ only.  Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Synopsis: Your dream of having your work hung in an art show comes true but your first buyer is not all he seems to be.

Note: Thank you for your positive response to this one! I hope you enjoy what I have in store.

Thanks to everyone for reading and thanks in advance for all your feedback. :)

I really hope you enjoy. 💋

<3 As usual, I’d appreciate if you let me know what you think with a like or reblog or reply or an ask! Love ya!

Your Spotify list of redundant tracks flowed through the apartment as you sat typing at your small desk in the corner of the front room. The boxy space was as oppressive as any office space, another reason for your voluntary work at the gallery. Vanessa let you in the studio to paint. Without the privilege, you wouldn’t have the space for your easel.

You stretched your fingers and rubbed your eyes. You felt dizzy from staring at the screen, even with night mode on. The work was monotonous and made you restless. You wanted a pencil or brush in hand, a canvas before you, not this blaring laptop. You yawned and took a sip of your lukewarm water.

Your phone vibrated from across the room and you checked the time. Your lunch started soon but no one was really keeping track. As long as you got your assignments done, it didn’t matter when you chewed on toast and disassociated.

You got up and grabbed your phone from the corner table and leaned against the arm of the couch. You remembered how Marcus woke up there and grumbled as he lifted his head in pain. You couldn’t really feel bad for him going into work hungover. He embarrassed you and it didn’t quite sink in until after Clark left you to stare down at your drunk boyfriend.

An unknown number showed on your screen and you answered tentatively, ready to hang up at the first sales pitch. Your name came from the speaker and you recognized the deep voice in an instant. It took you back to the night before and the canvas hung on the wall.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you,” Clark said, “I only just had the paintings hung and I thought… well, I thought you might like to come see them in their new home.”

“Um��” you chewed your thumb, uncertain how to respond.

“Sorry, I know I can be a bit… to the point,” he laughed at himself, “how are you?”

“I’m good, just… taking a break.”

“You working?”

“Yeah, but I work from home,” you said as you touched the side of your neck, “I could… I could come see them but it might be a while before--”

“When are you finished work?” he asked bluntly.

“Four but I… maybe another day.”

“I don’t mean to be pushy but I did have something else to speak with you about,” he said, “a commission, like I mentioned.”

“Oh?”

“I kinda wanna get it started sooner than later, it will probably be pretty time-consuming,” he explained and you heard a clink and a soft sip, “I don’t wanna get into details on the phone but I promise, you will be compensated nicely.”

“You can’t wait until tomorrow?” you wondered.

“I suppose I can but it’d have to be during the day,” he responded, “why don’t you take some time to figure it out and get back to me by two? You can text me through this number.”

“Erm, sure,” you said uneasily, “I’m sorry, it’s just… very sudden, I don’t--”

“You can bring the boyfriend,” he said casually, “if you like.”

“He won’t be… home,” you said carefully, “I’ll let you know. Thank you.”

“I look forward to hearing from you,” he replied, “have a good day.”

“You, too,” you said and the line died.

You put your phone down and took a moment. Good things rarely happened to you. You struggled so long it was hard to think that might change. The skeptic in you told you there was something behind it all. That it couldn’t possibly be your art.

You went back to your computer and sighed as you waved away the screensaver with your mouse. The blinking cursor made you want to believe it was your big break.

🎨

You texted Clark at one and at four, you were in an Uber. Marcus drove his car to work and you stuck to buses and the underground when you could. The address was at least an hour out, the house among those estates on the edge of the city reserved for the upper echelon. You’d only ever seen the sprawling yards on your way to the next town.

When the car finally turned up the drive and you passed beyond a low brick wall, you felt entirely out of your depth. You tipped the Uber but didn’t feel too bad with the check from Vanessa sitting soundly in your account. You clutched the strap of your bag and walked along the curve of the brick work towards the stairs.

“Hey,” you stopped as Clark called to you, your ankle still tender from the night before.

You glanced over as he came out of the large garage and peeled off a pair of leather gloves. He smiled as he tucked them into his jacket pocket. You watched him and played with the clasp on your bag.

“Just got back from a drive,” he said, “I almost got carried away. I’m glad you made it.”

“Yeah, no problem,” you replied.

“Well, come on, let me show you around,” he waved behind you towards the front doors, “we’ll go on a tour and then we can talk details.”

“Wow,” you uttered mindlessly as you climbed the stairs to the door but kept the weight on your uninjured ankle, “this place is huge.”

“My contractor went a little crazy,” he scoffed, “but I can’t complain.”

He led you through the doors and directed you to the left. In the front room, your work was hung along the opposite wall, arranged in a way that drew the eye to them. You stepped closer and peered up at your work with a hint of awe. They looked even better in a place like that.

“I had my interior designer make the final call on where to hang them,” he explained, “I hope you don’t mind, I gave her your details. She said she had clients who might be interested in your work.”

“Really?” you breathed, “that’s… too nice.”

“Oh yeah? One day, you’ll be sick of rich pricks like me,” he grinned, “I’ll show you the pool, that’s usually the main attraction.”

“Sounds good,” you said as you followed but he paused and watched your stunted gait.

“I forgot, we can go slow,” he offered, “how’s the ankle?”

“I’ll make do,” you affirmed as you neared him, “just need to get my steps in.”

🎨

As you finished the tour of the second floor, you slowed along the long hall and admired the work of artists you only ever saw in museums. You couldn’t help but be enamoured by the historic blots of paint. You almost forgot where you were as you leaned in to read the initials beneath the pastel flowers.

“So,” Clark’s voice brought you back, you almost blanked him out entirely in your mind, “I think you might have noticed the empty space above the fireplace in the front room. I was hoping you could fill it.”

“Oh?” you looked at him and smiled nervously, “did you have something in mind? A landscape or--”

“Well, your portraits are great. I like the old world style. I was hoping you might do one of… me,” he suggested, “I know, it’s vain but why not?”

“I mean, yeah, I could do that,” you said.

“I’ll pay hourly plus materials,” he continued, “three hundred an hour.”

You almost choked at the number. You blinked and swallowed through your surprise.

“Even a small portrait would take at least twelve hours,” you warned, “are you sure?”

“I know it’s a lot of time for you, so… I was thinking, if you have to miss work, I’ll factor it into your rate. I would really like to get the project started as soon as we can,” he put his hand on his hip as he looked down at you, “the only thing I need from you is a list of materials. I’ll have them waiting for you here.”

“Here?”

“Well, yeah, I figure it makes most sense,” he turned his palm out.

“Hmm, sure, I prefer my own brushes but… you know I can just buy the stuff myself--”

“Ah, no, I want it to be perfect. You send me a list and I’ll have my assistant go out and get it all ready,” he assured, “How does Sunday sound?”

“Sunday?” you blanched. That was two days away.

“Like I said, Marcus is more than welcome to come with you,” he offered, “I’d hate to keep you from him too long.”

“I guess Sunday works,” you squeaked, “I’ll talk to Marcus.”

“Great,” he said coolly, “well, that’s business. How about a drink to seal the deal?”

“I don’t know, I should probably get back,” you fiddled with your bag against your hip.

“One drink won’t hurt,” he said, “go on, call the boyfriend and let him know you won’t be much longer.”

“I… thanks,” you murmured.

“You’re humble for an artist,” he joked as he sidled by you, “once you grow an ego, you’ll be unstoppable.” He neared the stairs as you turned to watch him, “I’ll be at the bar, waiting. You like gin?”

“Sure,” you answered as you pulled out your phone, “I’ll see you down there.”

🎨

When you told Marcus about your new side gig, he was even more excited than you. You were anxious and slightly hesitant. You hated to jump in feet first and risk losing more than a few tubes of paint. What if the work wasn’t good enough?

Marcus was more than willing to come with you when you told him about the size of the place. He knew by the area that it was extravagant. You sat in the passenger seat with the most expensive bottle of wine you’d ever bought cradled between your legs. You hated to show up empty handed after all of Clark’s generosity.

Marcus got lost and went down the wrong driveway before you righted your course. As you drove up, you were once more overcome from the rich rosebuds and sparkling fountain at the centre of the mosaic. You gripped the neck of the bottle and got out as Marcus whistled in awe.

“You weren’t kidding. This place is fucking nuts,” he swore, “I should’ve worn the tux from my brother’s wedding.”

“Please, Marcus,” you rolled your eyes, “let’s both try not to break anything.”

“You’re the clumsy one,” he chirped, “shit, you’re so lucky. You get to hang out here and paint all day? God, I wish I had an ounce of artistic talent. I’d trade it for code in a minute.”

You climbed the steps and clanged the large knocker on the right door. You waited a moment before an answer came and Clark appeared on the other side and beckoned you inside. He smiled as he shook Marcus’ hand.

“Thanks for joining us,” he said, “I would’ve felt awful stealing your girlfriend on the weekend like this.”

“Are you kidding me? She said you had a pool and I snuck the swim shorts into the backseat,” Marcus chuckled and you nudged him with your elbow.

“See?” Clark arched a brow, “the pool is always the seller.”

“Here,” you said as you held out the bottle of red, “for everything you’ve done and welcoming us into your home.”

“Ohhh,” he took the bottle and looked over the label, “I got a spot for this right behind the bar. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, I brought my brushes,” you patted the canvas bag on your shoulder.

“Mmm, yeah, well, I’ll just put this away and we’ll give Marcus the grand tour. Then I’ll get you situated,” he assured and rushed off.

He returned and pointed Marcus through to the front room, “you’ll see, just over here,” he directed him to your paintings.

“Oh, wow, babe,” Marcus marveled at the hung portraits, “you really did it.”

You smiled bashfully and Clark peeked over at you and winked. You squirmed as your cheeks burned and you turned away as he beckoned Marcus past the mantle.

“It’s a big place,” Clark said, “I’d like to get you started before noon.”

Clark led you along the same path as days before and slowed as you came back to the top of the stairs. He turned back and clapped his hands together.

“Marcus, if you wanna hop in the pool, we’re gonna start just in there,” he pointed to the one door you hadn’t looked through, “that’s the studio.”

“What about you?” Marcus asked.

“Well, I’ll be a part of the process so I’m afraid I will be just as busy but if you need anything, Nina, she has a crooked nose and mean mouth but don’t let her fool you, she’ll get you whatever you need,” he said, “just don’t track in water from the pool or she’ll string you up.”

“Oh, well, that doesn’t sound too bad. Some alone time in the sun and a pool,” Marcus grinned, “I really couldn’t ask for anything else… except you, babe.”

“Sure,” you scoffed, “go, have fun.”

Marcus kissed you quickly and thanked Clark again before he excitedly barreled down the steps. You scratched your neck as you looked back to your host, and you guessed, your new boss.

“I’m sorry about him. He can be such a kid sometimes,” you said.

“Nah, it’s fine,” he waved it off, “so, you ready to see your workspace? I kinda wanted it to be a surprise. Also, a bit last minute so it’s not perfect… yet.”

“Uh, yeah,” you answered, “can’t wait.”

He motioned you over to the tall dusty rose doors and hooked his fingers in the slotted handles. He slid them open and revealed an airy room with a tall ceiling and long windows. An easel stood facing the sun streaked glass, an immense canvas bigger than yourself, bigger than him, propped up on it. There was a ladder nearby and the table was set with a rainbow of paints and a large pallet.

Your lips parted as you neared the easel and stared up at the canvas, “you were right, it’s gonna be a lot of work.”

“I hope it’s not too much,” he said, “but you name your price. We’ll make it work.”

“No, no, I think for what you’re paying, I’ll do just fine,” you put your bag down daintily on the table, “so, uh, a portrait, I guess that means…”

Your voice trailed off as he went to the upholstered chair across the room, at an angle so you could see him from your vantage. Behind it, hung a velvet curtain to add to the scene and a bust on a pedestal. It felt surreal, like a dream.

You turned and pulled out the brushes, “I think you’ll get more tired than me, just sitting there.”

“I’ll make it through,” he assured as he sat, “is there anyway you’d like me to sit? Chin up, or…”

“Hmmm,” you turned to look at him, “I think… if you just put your shoulders back and… did you want a profile or--”

“I was thinking front-facing,” he stared at you steadily, unflinching as his eyes stuck to you, “just like this.”

“Perfect,” you said nervously and looked back to the table. 

There was water to rinse your brushes, rags, pencils, blending sticks; everything you needed and more. You took a pencil from the bunch and pulled over the ladder. You climbed up and looked over at Clark as he sat stoic and still. He looked picturesque in real life, you expected paint would only lend to his figure.

His eyes met yours and you turned to start tracing the basic shapes onto the canvas. You had to stop and steady your hand as you did. His gaze made it hard not to tremble.

[bqstqnbruin]

Always be my plus one - part 2

Ok I know that I should use a different gif for each part but I'm not going to. But here's part 2! It's longer than the first part so have fun.

People to thank who are amazing and I owe my whole life to even though I'm probably forgetting someone because I'm the worst: @zinka8 (I CAN FINALLY TAG YOU) @hockeywocs @calgarycanuck @chara-hugs @justjosty anyone who sent in an anon and again I'm forgetting someone so if you helped me with this and I forgot, yell at me.

But here we go! This is about 9k words, and, fun fact, this is also my 5,000th post on this blog, so that's exciting!

Hope you like it!

Read part 1 here!

Series masterlist --------------------------------

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day

New Year’s Eve is the last day of the Georgian calendar year, marked with celebrations that last well into the next day. Huge parties take place around the world, one of the most notable being the ball dropping in Times Square in New York City, marking the new year for the eastern coast of the United States, televised with Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve hosted by Ryan Seacrest. This special each year includes a packed Times Square, performances, interviews, and general excitement to put whatever happened in the past year behind them. Likewise, in Canada, the CBC has hosted a similar countdown special since 2017, including live music and coverage of festivities in each of the provinces and timezones the country spans.

New Year’s Day is the first day of the Georgian calendar year, again marked with celebrations. In the United States, various parades take place, including the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, or the Mummers Parade in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In addition, various sporting events take place as well, including the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida, the Outback Bowl in Tampa Bay, Florida, the Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena, California, and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana, all post-season college football games, and the National Hockey League's outdoor game, the Winter Classic, typical showcasing a major regional rivalry. The day typically includes people already failing at keeping up with their New Year’s resolutions, whatever it was they promised to do every day of the year (such as working out, flossing, getting more sleep) already not going well.

=============

December 27, 2021

Lucy had insisted Anne go with her to the mall to go shopping when she found out that she was going to a New Year’s Eve party with Tyson’s teammates. Once her older sister found out that Anne’s ‘mystery man’ was a professional hockey player, she went practically bat shit trying to figure out more information about the two of them since Anne had yet to tell her anything.

If only she knew there was nothing to tell.

“Come on, what about this?” Lucy asks, holding up a dress. Anne wasn't sure that it would go past her butt, not to mention the open back and the plunging neckline. Lucy had to know that Anne would never, on any occasion, wear a dress like that. It would look good on Lucy, and Lucy would be comfortable in it, but not Anne.

“No,” Anne tells her, continuing to look through the rack for anything that had more fabric to it than what Lucy was offering her. There was nothing wrong with the dresses, really, and Lucy was normally pretty good about picking things out that Anne would actually like, but something about this being a dress for what sort of was, sort of wasn’t a date with a guy she spilled her coffee all over was making her more nervous than she needed to me.

“But it’s for your man. On New Year’s Eve. It doesn’t hurt to look a little sexy,” Lucy begs, making sure to add a little shoulder shimmy at the word ‘sexy’ for emphasis.

‘He’s not my man,’ Anne wanted to say. But she wasn’t about to spill that secret before Lucy even met him. It would be easier to just tell them they broke up by Valentine’s Day. “Tyson wouldn’t want me to wear anything that would make me uncomfortable,” she lets out instead.

Lucy sighs, pulling out dress after dress to show to Anne. “Ok, how about this: what color do you want to wear and how long do you want it to be?” Anne shrugs, not having thought about it in the slightest. “Well what’s Tyson wearing? Are you matching with him?”

“I don’t think so?”

“Annie!” Lucy practically screams the nickname her family decided they were going to call her, a few of the other store patrons turning to glare at Lucy’s outburst. “How do you not know what your boyfriend is wearing to a Colorado Avalanche New Year’s Eve party?”

'Not my boyfriend' she thought. “I don’t dress him. Do you know what Jason is going to wear for every party?”

Rolling her eyes, she holds up another dress that Anne turns down. “Well, since I’ve known my man since we were in diapers, I know his style, and therefore, know what he could potentially wear before I tell him what he’s going to wear.”

Anne lets out a sigh, wandering away from her sister while she continues to go through what seemed to be endless rows of dresses. Part of Anne wished she was like her sister: lucky enough to find a man that she would love forever when she was young, never having to worry about anything. The other part of Anne wished her family wasn’t so annoying about her finding a man, wishing that Sebby didn’t steal her phone and see Tyson’s name, and that their mom hadn’t come down and jumped to conclusions before she had a chance to defend herself.

“Hey,” Lucy comes up to Anne, “Why don’t we grab some food and then try a different store.” Anne nods, Lucy linking her arm in her sisters before taking her out of the store. “Have you met any of Tyson’s teammates before? I mean, you have to mean a lot to him if he’s bringing around the guys he spends the most time with.”

“He’s told me a little bit about all of them, but I haven’t met them yet.”

“You know this is big, then, right?” Lucy says, finding a line at the food court for them to order from.

Even if Lucy hadn’t picked a place that Anne wasn’t too fond of, her words made Anne lose her appetite. As far as she knew, Anne’s family thought they were dating, which they weren’t, while Tyson’s teammates thought they were friends, which they were. That’s what they had agreed to. They just needed to make it to New Year’s Day and then this would all be over.

Lucy keeps talking, rattling off information about Tyson’s teammates that Anne was sure she had found on their Wikipedia pages, Lucy’s ‘top of her class,’ ‘photographic memory’ coming out while Anne stayed silent.

“Look, Anne,” Lucy says once she gets the food she ordered for both of them, “if he likes you enough to bring you around his teammates, that’s a good thing. Think of it like Jason asking me to go to his soccer games when we were freshmen. He wants you to be at something important for him.”

“I’m not worried about that,” Anne shrugs, “I’m worried about bringing him into the belly of the beast the next afternoon.”

“Why, because you’ll be hungover and Ma and Dad haven’t seen you that way yet?” Lucy asks, smiling with her fork between her teeth.

Throwing her head back and groaning, Anne starts, “No. Ideally, we’ll still be drunk and calling you or Matthew to come to pick us up. Remember what Mom was like when I introduced you all to Andy?”

“Well, yeah, it was hate at first sight. And she was right to feel that way, obviously. If you think Tyson is the ‘one,’ then you’ll be fine.”

Anne chokes on the fries she was picking at when Lucy says that. “The ‘one’? Please. I wouldn’t know if he was the ‘one’ at this point. Right now, he’s my ‘plus one' at best.”

Lucy shrugs, a sly smile on her face as the two of them continue to eat in silence.

The two of them venture to another store, Anne not having high hopes in finding a dress, knowing that she was going to have to resort to wearing something old that probably wouldn’t be very ‘New Year’s Eve’ themed, or borrow something from Lucy, who, albeit having great style, definitely didn’t have anything that she would want to wear. Maybe she could call Stephanie or her cousin Lauren and see if they could pity her enough to let her borrow something.

Lucy went to the dress rack, Anne just wandered around the store. At this point, she didn’t even care if she found a dress; a long shirt would be just fine. She was nowhere near her sister or the dresses, but she saw something out of place, a skirt and sleeves peeking out in the middle of pant legs. She picked up the dress, solid black, which would probably fit her like a glove, off the shoulder. A black choker, which she had, and a nice pair of heels would make the dress perfect. And it was even on sale. Someone had probably put it there in order to hide it, but Anne didn’t know that for a fact, so could she really feel bad about wearing it?

She practically ran through the store to find her sister, grabbing her by the arm to the dressing room despite the stack of dresses on Lucy’s arm that were probably going to end up back on the rack or in Lucy’s own closet.

Anne looked at herself in the mirror, excited for the first time for Tyson to see her on New Year’s Eve wearing something like that. The two had been talking nonstop, but Anne had made it clear they were friends and that she wasn’t looking for anything. If something came along, she would know it, and honestly, she didn’t know it with Tyson.

But picturing him seeing her in the dress gave her a glimmer of hope that it was Tyson, even if he wasn’t the ‘one’ like Lucy had been badgering her about earlier.

“Hey, Annie, come on!” Lucy snaps Anne out of her fantasy, banging on the door to show her, “Jason texted me that he and the girls are going to be home in an hour with dinner so you can’t take all day.”

“You really think putting on this dress is going to take an hour?” Anne huffs, opening the door from the dressing room stall.

“Well, it depends on how many dresses you try,” Lucy starts, cutting herself off when she sees her sister in the dress. “Oh, Anne.”

“You like it?” she asks, feeling the heat rush to her cheeks. It was a simple dress, knit and insignificant. She had no idea why she was so excited about it.

“I do,” Lucy says, coming up behind Anne and resting her chin on her sister’s shoulder as the two of them admire Anne in the mirror. “And you know who else is going to love it? Tyson.”

Anne took in a deep breath, Lucy rubbing her back between her shoulders before she let her get changed back into her clothes. ‘Tyson was going to love it.’ Anne hoped so.

=============

December 31, 2021

Tyson said he was going to be at Anne’s place at 9:15 to pick her up and drop off stuff at her place to stay over. Since they were going to be together all night, it was easier if Tyson stayed with Anne after the party before needing to drive to Anne’s uncle’s house the next afternoon.

But it was 9:30, and Anne was sitting on her couch, waiting for the boy who was supposed to fake being her boyfriend tomorrow to show up to take her to a party with a bunch of people who had no idea who she was or that this scenario was going to be happening the next day.

How did Anne end up like this? What if he didn’t show up? Why did she let her mom and siblings take over the conversation about her life and let them believe that Tyson was her boyfriend? And why did he agree to it?

Anne gets snapped out of her downward spiral of thoughts by her phone ringing, Tyson calling to hopefully tell her that he was waiting to be let in. “You said you were going to be here at 9:15,” she answers, not letting Tyson say anything.

“Well, traffic,” he explains, “It’s New Year’s Eve and I didn’t want to speed, either, and end up getting pulled over for that. Can you come let me in? It’s cold.”

Anne gets up from her couch, venturing downstairs in the slippers she was keeping on until the last minute. The heels Lucy had let her borrow weren’t uncomfortable, but she wasn’t about to wear them around her apartment building if she didn’t have to. She spots Tyson sitting on the couches in the lobby, going up to him. He was looking down at his phone, but seeing him made her heart race. He had on a white button-down with the top two buttons undone, a black jacket, and black pants on. She goes up to him, resting her hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

Tyson looks up, unable to find the words when he sees Anne. He stands up, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. Anne sees this and lets out a small laugh. “Are you ok?” she asks, her nerves of seeing him dissipate while he acts like this.

“You’re,” he starts, letting out a breath as he looks her up and down. He shakes his head, a lazy smile on his face. “You’re beautiful.”

Anne laughs, grabbing his bag for him and leading him back upstairs to her apartment. “You’re not too bad yourself.”

“You know,” Tyson starts when the two of them get to her door, “pretending to be your boyfriend really isn’t going to be that difficult.”

“Yeah,” Anne scoffs, putting down Tyson’s bag with a thud by the couch, “and if you keep flirting with me like you mean it, then they’ll really believe you.” Anne’s back was turned to Tyson, so she didn’t see the look on his face, him biting his lip at her words that she thought he was just pretending. “You’re staying over for a night, what the hell could you have brought with you?” she asks him.

Tyson clears his throat, still not over Anne’s little dig about him pretending to flirt with her. He’s been flirting with her since they met, has she really not noticed? “Uh, you didn’t tell me how formal or casual this is at your uncle’s so I just packed a few options.”

“Huh, I never pegged you for a fashionista,” Anne teases, putting on her shoes and coat as Tyson orders the Uber to take them to the venue.

“Apparently you’re never going to peg me at all,” Tyson mumbles, not loud enough for Anne to hear.

“Sorry?”

“Uh, the Uber will be here in a few minutes so we should get downstairs,” he tries to save himself.

“But,” Anne says, locking her door and following Tyson back down to the lobby, “You can pretty much wear anything to Uncle Vince’s house as long as it isn’t a Juventus shirt.”

“Juventus?”

“That’s Napoli’s biggest rival. It would be like me wearing, I don’t know,” Anne says as they both get into the car that had pulled up, “a Red Wings or a Wild shirt to something for you guys.”

Tyson can’t help but smile, even though he knows it’s probably meaningless. Anne had made it clear that the two of them were just friends. But what if, “you like hockey?”

Anne shrugs, looking out the window as they drove into the city. “I don’t hate it, but I couldn’t tell you much about it. I’m more of a basketball girl, honestly.” Tyson scoffs, Anne turning to him. She had a smile on her face, trying to hide the slight insult she felt by the noise he made. “What?”

“Hockey is clearly better.”

“You’re just biased.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong,” he teases her, reaching over and nudging her arm. His hand lingers on her arm for a little bit, not really thinking about Anne’s noticeable settling into his touch. “Um,” he clears his throat, taking his arm back and praying that it was dark enough that Anne couldn’t see the red on his face, “What are your teams?”

“Men’s are the Nuggets, of course, women are the Seattle Storm, and college I go for UConn.”

“Did you go there?”

Anne shakes her head, Tyson admiring the way her hair framed her face, thankful that she was looking out the window instead of at him. “Nope, I went to CU Denver. My dad’s other brother, Johnny, went to UConn, and when I was born, that was around the start of the women’s dynasty that they have. When my dad was away on trips and mom was working, he and Aunt Lisa would watch the four of us and always have the UConn games on. I fell in love with Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Maya Moore, Stephanie Dolson. I grew up wanting to play basketball and be like them, so I played basketball.”

“Did you in college?”

“No,” Anne laughs, looking at the building they were pulling up to. “I played until high school, and was definitely not good enough to play in college. I still love it, though.”

Tyson smiles at her, getting out of the car and rushing to the other side to help her out, linking his arm in hers to escort her in. “I love that,” he whispers to her, walking in and thankful that he had Anne on his arm that night.

The guys weren’t necessarily on his case about finding someone the way it seemed like Anne’s parents were, but that didn’t stop the chirping about him never having a girlfriend for as long as he was on the team. They knew she was his friend, but, hey, it was better than nothing.

Anne had no idea where Tyson took her, not recognizing the building they had walked into, but she was speechless at the sight of the grand ballroom, the lighting just dim enough that she couldn’t help but feel at peace, the noise from Tyson’s teammates and their families taking that away and leaving her overwhelmed. Tyson had slipped away to hang up their coats and grab drinks, leaving Anne to fend for herself for the time being.

She knew they weren’t late by any means but based on the sobriety, or lack thereof, that everyone was displaying, an outsider would think that Tyson and Anne had shown up hours late, everyone seemingly on at least their third drink of the night, if not more. Anne worked her way to the side of the room, giving herself a good view of the bar where Tyson was, hoping that he could find her after he was done chatting with whoever it was that had his attention.

“You look almost too comfortable for someone just watching everyone on the side. Who are you here with?” someone interrupts her thoughts. She snaps her attention to the mystery man standing next to her, leaning against the wall and looking out at the crowd as they danced and sang, drank and had fun. He was the same height as Tyson, just about, probably not that much younger but the rosiness on his cheeks made him look years younger than both her and Tyson.

“I’m here with Tyson,” she tells him, waving to the guy who was supposed to be by her side that night.

“You’re the girl who spilled her coffee on him when we went to the hospital for the charity event,” Rosy Boy laughs.

Anne scoffs, “I wish that wasn’t my legacy, but here we are.”

The two of them stand and watch everyone, laughing as some of the kids pretend to chase around the adults, one of them catching someone by the leg as the man pretended to fall down. “That’s our captain, Gabe,” Rosy Boy tells her, “being chased by Naylah, Nazem’s daughter.”

“So, Gabe, Nazem, Tyson,” Anne says, pointing at the only three men of the Avalanche that she knew, “You?”

“Cale Makar.”

“Anne DeFormicola.”

Cale smiles at her, turning his body so he was facing her directly. “A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” Anne could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks, thankful that her hair was down to cover the red that she knew had appeared on her ears. “Uh, are you and Tyson together?” Cale asks, his voice shaking as he prayed he didn’t make the mistake of flirting with one of his teammate’s girls.

“No,” Anne tells him, “We’re just friends.”

Cale lets out a sigh of relief. “Good, I, uh,” he stammers, Anne’s confused look making him nervous despite the smile that was on her face, “I mean, good, good for me. You? Us? I don’t know what I’m saying.”

The two of them laugh together, Anne seeing Tyson out of the corner of her eye. He didn’t look particularly thrilled as he watched her and Cale talking, the distance between them shrinking as the conversation proceeded.

Before she knew it, Tyson was by her side, a glass of wine in hand for her that he practically thrust in her hand. “So, how’s Cale treating you?” Tyson asks, not hiding the discontent he felt seeing Anne and Cale so obviously flirting.

Anne watches Tyson down his drink, a little too fast for her liking, especially considering Cale was obviously uncomfortable by what his teammate was doing in that moment. “Very well, we were having a good conversation.” Anne sips her wine, Cale mumbling something and slipping away. “What was that about?”

“I want you to be careful?” Tyson says as if it were obvious, even though he was lying. He didn’t want to have to see Anne flirting with his teammate all night.

“Of who, Cale? Didn’t you tell me he was the human equivalent of a puppy?” Tyson rolls his eyes, looking over to the bar and already wishing he had more to drink before having this conversation. “What’s the worst he’s going to do? Bite my ankles? Bark when he wants to go play outside?”

“Ok, you’re being mean.”

“And you’re being ridiculous.” Anne studies his face, the way he bit his lip as he tried to find his words. “You remind me of Sebby.”

“Your little brother?” Tyson asks, not really wanting to be compared to him.

“He’s really protective of me. We’re all protective of each other, but he’s especially protective of me. You’re probably the same way with Kacey, right?”

Tyson swallows hard, nodding. “Yeah.” He wasn’t even just friend-zoned: he was sibling-zoned.

“You just don’t want me to get hurt,” Anne reasons, already finishing her wine. It’s not like it was that much in the glass. “I think if anyone was going to hurt me, it wouldn’t be Cale.”

The two of them stand there, watching Tyson’s teammates dancing as the music changed to something more upbeat. On the nearest table, Tyson put down his and Anne’s empty glasses, extending his hand out to Anne in a bid to lead her to the dance floor. Anne hesitates, not really too fond of dancing, but then Tyson smiled at her, raising his eyebrows, and for whatever reason, she felt like she had to go with him.

His hand found the small of her back, holding her close enough that they could still talk over the blaring from the music, his other hand in hers as he tried to get her to move to the rhythm of the song. It’s not that Anne was uncoordinated, but she just wasn’t that great with dancing. “I would have thought you were better at this,” Tyson teases her, looking down at their feet as Anne steps on for what he thought was the fourth time.

“I will gladly go back to my place against the wall and watch you make a fool out of yourself by yourself instead,” she jokes, rolling her eyes as Tyson spins her around.

He pulls her in closer than before, the music changing to a slower song. “I don’t think you want to do that,” Tyson tells her, his forehead pressed against hers. He could kiss her right now if she let him. This was technically their second date, if they considered the coffee place their first. And Tyson did. He didn’t know why he wanted this girl in front of him so badly so fast, but there was just something about her that he had to be with her.

Before Anne could say anything, she feels someone tapping on her shoulder. Pulling away from Tyson, she sees Cale standing there, his hands in his pockets, looking down at his feet. His entire face was red, clearly nervous, as he started, “Uh, sorry, but I was wondering if I could dance with Anne?”

Anne smiles at him, looking over at Tyson to signal that she wanted to. Cale was adorable, and something about him left Anne unable to say no to him. Tyson gives a sad smile, releasing Anne from his grasp. “I’m going to go get another drink,” he says, leaving his date and teammate alone to be closer than they were before. He couldn’t be with a girl that didn’t want to be with him, he thought, downing the drink he got probably too fast. At least tomorrow he could pretend that the two of them were together, pretending that he was hers and she was his.

But for now, he had to watch Anne smiling and staring at Cale, his teammate holding her so close that Tyson wanted nothing more than to be Cale.

Tyson had his back against the bar, watching Cale and Anne dance and have fun when JT came up to him. “Didn’t you bring a date?” JT was the only one Tyson had told about the fake dating plan between him and Anne.

“Yep.”

“She in the bathroom?”

“She’s dancing with Cale,” Tyson says, raising what he thinks was his third drink in their direction. He was praying that they couldn’t get any closer than they were now, but the way Anne was smiling, he knew that was what she wanted.

JT looks between Anne and Cale together and Tyson’s near angry expression as he took another sip of his drink. “Oh, I get it,” JT realizes, Tyson side-eyeing his friend. “You like her, and now you’re seeing her with Cale and you’re jealous.”

Tyson could feel himself start to panic. He did like her, but he wasn’t about to let everyone know that. “No,” he lies, JT scoffing at him. He hated that he knew him so well. “Maybe.”

“Well, then why aren’t you the one dancing with her?” JT asks, Tyson watching Anne throw her head back laughing, Cale burying his head in her shoulder, a smile just as big as hers on his face.

“She wanted to dance with him. What was I going to do, say ‘no?’

“Yes.”

“No,” he rebuts, signaling the bartender for yet another drink. “At least I can pretend to date her around her family,” he shrugs.

“Yeah, until she pretends to dump you because she’s really dating Cale.”

“Maybe in the new year you should try to be more helpful instead of whatever you are now,” Tyson snaps. “Sorry,” he mumbles into the fresh drink he was bringing to his lips, planning on downing it as fast as he got it. If he had to watch Anne dancing with Cale, he might as well be drunk so he can’t remember it in the morning.

“It’s almost midnight,” Cale whispers to Anne.

“Yeah,” she smirks, having a feeling she knew where this was going, especially judging by the way his grip tightened around her waist.

“Uh,” he clears his throat, getting nervous about what he wanted to ask her. “Who are you kissing at midnight?"

Anne can’t help but smile, his innocence endearing to her. Tyson and JT were still watching the two of them dance even though Anne and Cale were too focused on each other to notice. “I think it depends on your answer,” she flirts.

“I was kind of hoping it would be you,” he tells her.

Anne laughs, “Yeah, I got that,” she tells him, running her hand through his hair at the nape of his neck, sending a chill down his spine. “I was hoping it would be you, too,” she tells him, closing her eyes with their foreheads pressed against each other. She almost wished she had spilled her coffee on Cale instead of Tyson, not needing to pretend to date him tomorrow and instead just date Cale and date him for real. It might have been the alcohol or the night that was making her feel this way, but Cale was not a hard guy to like.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” Tyson mumbles, not wanting to see Anne and Cale anymore, setting his drink down and leaving the room before JT could protest.

Soon after, everyone began their countdown to midnight, chanting while Anne and Cale stayed silent.

Anne knew Cale wanted to kiss her before the countdown was over. He was hovering against her lips as soon as someone yelled ‘ten!’ She didn’t know what it was about him, but she was ready to kiss him, not waiting for everyone to get past ‘five’ before she connected with him for a second, already wanting more as soon as they started.

Cale pulled away fast, smiling, moving his hands from her waist to cup her face, kissing her as soon as everyone around them was screaming ‘Happy New Year!’ When they finally pulled away, Cale’s entire face was red, and Anne knew that there was some color on her cheeks, too. Kissing Cale was something else, but something was missing. She just couldn’t put her finger on it.

=============

January 1, 2022

Anne and Cale danced a little longer, some of the guys and their families starting to leave.

“I think I have to go find Tyson,” Anne tells Cale, realizing she hadn’t seen the boy she came with for the better part of an hour.

“Uh, wait,” Cale says as Anne starts to pull away, Anne stopping as Cale smiles at her. He puts on her jaw, tilting her head up to kiss her again. “Can I see you again?”

Anne smiles, biting her lip. “I’d like that. But I really have to find Tyson.”

The two of them start walking around, trying to locate their lost boy. “Are you coming back with us?”

“Us?”

“Tys and I live in the same building,” Cale explains, part of him wanting to ask Anne to go home with him.

Before he can, Anne starts, “No, Tyson is staying at my place tonight. We have something tomorrow. Today,” she corrects herself.

“Oh, ok. Well, then, can I get your number?”

“When we find Tyson because he has the ticket for our coats and my phone is in my coat,” she explains, regretting giving everything to Tyson.

“Anne!” they hear someone yell, turning around to see Tyson stumbling over despite JT trying to help him up. Anne hadn’t told him not to get very drunk out of caution for having to deal with her family in a few hours, but now she was regretting forgetting.

“How much did he drink?” Anne panics, slinging Tyson's free arm around her shoulder.

“When I got to him he was already on four and I think he had at least three more while I was with him. I couldn’t tell you what he had on his own,” JT explains, the four of them getting their stuff and trying to get out while Tyson could barely walk.

Tyson mumbles something, trying to lean his head against Anne’s shoulder while they walked, despite the three-inch height difference that would have been bigger had Anne not been wearing heels. JT asks him to repeat it while he orders and Uber to get Tyson and Anne home. “Anne’s so pretty,” Tyson says, practically screaming it in Anne’s ear.

“Thank you, Tyson,” she says, trying to be as sweet as she could despite her anger she felt for him getting this drunk.

Tyson keeps babbling incoherently, none of them wanting to try to figure out what he was saying while they were waiting in their Ubers.

“Hey, Anne, hand me your phone,” JT asks, trying to reach out to her with his free hand while also making sure Tyson didn’t fall over or fall on Anne. She does as he asks, Cale standing there wondering why he didn’t just do that in the first place. “Text me when you two get back to your place and let me know how he is before you leave for your Uncle’s.”

“Yeah, of course,” Anne says, not even thinking about how he would have known where the two of you were going later.

Before Cale can ask for Anne’s phone, the Uber for her and Tyson pulls up. “Are you sure you’re good to get him back?” Cale asks her while JT gets Tyson in the car safely.

Anne nods, putting her hand on Cale’s bicep to reassure him. “Yeah, he should sober up enough to walk with just me during the drive back. Thank you, though,” she says, giving him a quick kiss before climbing into the car.

“I wish it was me,” Tyson slurs, his head on Anne’s shoulder as the Uber pulls away.

“What’s that, Tyson?” Anne asks.

“I wish it was me that was kissing you.”

Anne looks at him, his eyes closed as he fidgeted with the hem of his shirt. “When?”

“At midnight. I wanted to kiss you at midnight. I just hope you didn’t kiss Cale. That would make me sad,” he says, letting out a yawn.

Before Anne could say anything to respond, Tyson was asleep, leaving her alone with her thoughts, and the Uber driver probably hoping they remembered this to tell their friends in the morning. Why would he have wanted to kiss her? They were just friends. They had both made it very clear that everything they were doing was just out of friendship because they both needed someone to be there for the other and just pretend they were something they were not.

This wasn’t going to be like one of those ‘fake dating’ tropes that Anne had read in books when she was a teenager or in rom coms. Those weren’t real life. That didn’t happen.

Anne gets Tyson up to her apartment, surprised that she was able to drag him out of the Uber and balance him long enough that he didn’t fall over and take her with him to the ground. She practically threw him onto her bed, getting him in position so no matter what happened he would be fine. He was asleep almost immediately, a soft snore coming from his lips.

Anne pulls out her phone to text JT that his teammate was asleep, getting herself ready to go sleep on the couch.

The next morning, Anne woke up to Tyson sitting at her kitchen table, already having helped himself to a cup of coffee. “You look like you’re feeling great,” Anne commented, Tyson clearly hungover from the night before.

“Why did I wake up in your bed and not your couch?” Tyson asked.

Anne shrugs, fixing herself a cup of coffee to join him. “You’re my guest and the couch isn’t the most comfortable thing to fall asleep on if you aren’t used to it.”

“You are?”

“I’ve fallen asleep plenty of times while I was reading on that couch,” Anne tells him, wishing she had something to offer him to eat. “Uh, when we get to my uncle’s house, there’s going to be a ton of food so if we didn’t eat now, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.”

Tyson nods, looking down at his coffee. He wished that he didn’t have to pretend to be Anne’s boyfriend. He already wanted to be more, but Cale was already closer to that in one night than Tyson was in how many weeks. “What do I need to know about your family before I meet them?”

Anne starts rambling about her family: her grandparents moved back to New York which was where they grew up so she hasn’t seen them in a while because they’re too old to make the trip out here and she hasn’t had time to make the trip to see them. They were going to her Uncle Vince’s house, her dad’s older brother. He has three kids, Michael, Emily, and Spencer, all of them dating someone. Then there’s Uncle Johnny, her dad’s younger brother, who has two kids, Lauren and Landon, and three grandkids from Lauren: Christopher, Lydia, and Henry.

Tyson didn’t even know if he was going to remember everything she was saying; from the food that Johnny brings just for Landon because of allergies, or the food that was designated as ‘the kid's food’ which was absolutely off-limits unless you were under the age of five years old. The Sam Adams’ beer is only meant for Aunt Lisa and Aunt Laura unless they offer it to you, but the wine is a free for all because it’s guaranteed that everyone of age brought their own bottle anyway, including Anne.

“Wait, but I don’t have a bottle,” Tyson asks, both of them getting up to get ready.

Anne smiles at him, going into one of her cabinets. “You want white or red?” she asks, holding up two bottles. “Because, as you know, I’m partial to red.”

Tyson laughs, taking the bottle of white wine from her, not even sure if he should be drinking anything given the night before. He was just lucky he somehow didn't feel worse despite how much he had. “I knew you were my kind of girl.”

They stand there for a second, neither of them sure how to react or what to do. “We should go get ready,” Anne says, bringing the bottles over to where she kept her keys so she wouldn’t forget them.

She retreats to her room, leaving Tyson to get ready out in the open of the rest of her apartment. That wasn’t a moment they just had in her kitchen, she tells herself. She puts on a pair of jeans, trying to find a shirt suitable enough for her mom to not nag her about, finally settling on a sweater that she was almost sure was Lucy’s that she stole a few months ago.

“Hey, Anne,” she hears Tyson calling her. “Someone’s calling you.”

An unknown number flashed on her screen in Tyson's hand, her forgetting she left the phone by the couch. Normally an unsaved contact was something that she wouldn’t answer, but the Calgary area code, for no reason whatsoever, told her that she had to answer it. “Hello?”

“Anne? It’s Cale. Sorry, I got your number from JT.”

Anne smiles, looking at Tyson who could hear his teammate's voice just loud enough that it made him upset. Tyson’s words from the night before rang through Anne’s mind as she finally answered him back, “Hey, no, it’s fine. What’s up?” Anne goes back into her room to finish getting ready, putting Cale on speaker as she does.

“I just wanted to check on you. And Tyson, I mean, that you were ok with him last night.”

Anne laughs at his nerves, the same ones that came through when they were first talking last night that she was thankful had faded as time went on. “Yeah, we’re fine. We’re getting ready to head out, though.”

“Any idea what time you would be done? I was wondering if you wanted to grab dinner tonight?”

She could hear his voice shaking, wishing that she could say yes. “I can’t tonight, but maybe another time?”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” he says, both of them saying goodbye as Anne grabs what she needs to head out.

“You ready?” she asks Tyson. He looked good, a simple black button-down he had paired with jeans. Why did he have to look good? Tyson nods, grabbing the wine while Anne grabbed her keys.

The two of them drive in silence, her phone plugged into her car with Cale and JT’s contacts popping up on the screen on her center console as they were texting her. “I’m glad you got along with some of the guys last night,” Tyson tells her, finally breaking the silence between them.

“Yeah, me too. Especially since someone seemed to enjoy the bar more than anything else,” she teases.

“Hey, the bartender was attractive, and giving free drinks, what was I supposed to do?”

Anne laughs, knowing that wasn’t the real reason he was there the entire night. She didn’t know what that reason was, but it wasn’t because of the looks of the person giving Tyson drinks. “What do you remember from last night?”

Tyson hesitates, really not sure what to answer. “I remember the drinks and you were dancing with Cale at some point.”

“You remember none of the Uber drive back?”

He almost did. He knew he had fallen on Anne’s shoulder, but he didn’t remember getting into the car with her. He wasn’t even sure that Anne was the one that got him in the car. “Not really, no.”

“Ok,” Anne says, partially thankful for that. She wasn’t sure she would want to relive the part of the night, nor did she think Tyson would either.

She pulls up to her uncle’s house, already seeing Lucy’s car and her cousin Spencer's sitting in the driveway. “Ready to enter the belly of the beast?” she asks him, patting his thigh as a sign of encouragement.

Tyson looks out to the house, seeing someone standing in the doorway waiting for them to get out of the car. “We’ve gotta start acting like a couple, now, don’t we?” he says, leaning closer to her across the center console.

Anne rolls her eyes, knowing that he wanted a kiss or something, anything to show Aunt Laura that Tyson was actually her boyfriend. She does kiss him, sweet and slow. Tyson was sure if they weren’t being watched, he would have gone for more, but knowing he couldn’t was killing him. He had to make the most of the time he had with Anne’s family.

When Anne pulled away, she reached up to Tysons face, grazing her thumb along his beard as his hand connected with hers. She didn’t know why, but she kissed him again, their foreheads pressed together as they sat there in her car. It was different kissing him compared to Cale. A good different, and like last night, she couldn't put her finger on why. She almost forgot where they were, startled by Aunt Laura knocking on her window.

Anne’s face had to be bright red, embarrassed that her aunt saw whatever moment, real or fake or whatever that was, while sitting in the driveway of her house. She greets her aunt as she gets out of the car, handing her the two bottles of wine.

“You must be Tyson!” she says, more excited than Anne thought she would be. “Teresa’s told us so much about you, come in, come in,” she gestures. Anne was sure that she would have dragged him in by the collar of his shirt if she didn’t have the wine in her hands already.

Tyson looks at Anne, confused. “I have no idea what my mom could have said to her,” Anne says. Tyson shrugs, grabbing Anne’s hand as she leads him into the house.

Lucy comes running up as soon as Anne steps through the door, a baby that couldn’t be more than a year old in her arms. “Hey there, Hazel,” Anne coos, taking her goddaughter from her sister. Hazel reaches out, grabbing Anne’s hair as Anne winces at the slight pain from the baby’s pull. “This is Tyson.”

“Hi, pretty girl,” Tyson says, Hazel reaching out, squirming to get away from Anne and into Tyson’s arms. “Is it ok if I hold her?” he asks Lucy, waiting for her to nod before Anne passes her off to him.

Lucy pulls her sister aside, a silly grin on her face. “He’s perfect,” she gushes, “Look at him!” Tyson was bouncing Hazel up and down, Hazel shrieking with glee with him.

“He’s not perfect,” Anne says, “but he might be close.” The sisters laugh, Lucy hugging Anne from behind while they continue to watch Anne’s ‘boyfriend’ interact with Lucy’s youngest daughter. Anne wasn’t even sure if she was really pretending as the rest of her family came into her uncle’s house.

Teresa was practically attached to Tyson the entire time, as were Skylar and Harper once Tyson started playing with them. Literally, Tyson was walking around Uncle Vince’s house with Skylar and Harper clinging to each of his legs. Tyson was the center of attention, Anne wishing that it wasn’t because everyone was just finally excited that Anne found a man.

“What do you think of him?” Anne asks Sebby, the two of them watching Tyson and Matthew talking as if there was no one else was in the room. She had heard ‘touchdown’ and ‘linebacker’ come up in conversation, meaning Matthew was going on a rant about the Broncos, something that he did way too often.

Sebby looks him up and down, pursing his lips while he thought about it. “I’m not sure I trust him.”

“Oh, come on,” Anne whines.

“He’s an athlete. And a professional one, at that,” Sebby throws his hands up in defense. Growing up, Sebby was the only one who didn’t really like sports, feeling they were a waste of time when he could be doing something like reading or studying. Sports were only relevant when his siblings were involved, otherwise, he hated them.

“Give him a chance. Please?” Anne begs, not even sure if it were necessary. “He’s not Andy.”

Sebby narrows his eyes at his sister, jumping slightly as Tyson and Matthew start laughing. “Why didn’t you mention him before Christmas?”

“If you remember, I didn’t mention him at Christmas, you did,” Anne scolds him, trying to figure out what story to tell her brother. “And, it was still new. I didn’t want to say anything if it wasn’t going to be something.”

“Is it?”

“Maybe. I think so,” Anne lies. At least, she thought she was lying.

Tyson comes over to Anne while she was talking with Sebby about his upcoming semester, his last one before he graduated from college and hopefully entered law school. He wraps his arms around her, kissing her cheek before resting his chin on her shoulder. “You think I could steal her for a second?” he asks.

Sebby narrows his eyes, Tyson a little thrown off by her brother’s reaction. “Sure.”

Tyson brings Anne into another room, praying that no one would walk in on them. “We didn’t talk about anything we could say to your family about how we met,” he brings up.

“I was planning on deferring that to you since I normally can’t get a word in otherwise,” she admits, even though she hadn’t thought about it before.

“That’s not fair,” Tyson says, looking over Anne’s shoulder to see someone in her family looking at the two of them. “Your family is watching.”

Anne follows Tyson’s gaze, turning and waving at Landon and Lauren. She reaches up and puts her hand on Tyson’s cheek, Tyson taking it with his own and kissing the palm of her hand. “When you see how I get pushed aside at dinner, you’ll understand why it’s fair.”

The two of them continue talking about how they were going to go on with the rest of the day, Anne telling Tyson she was fine with everything he had done so far and really didn’t care if he kept doing it. Anne, not wanting to tell Tyson, liked what he was doing. It felt right for some reason. Was Tyson right that it should have been the two of them kissing at midnight and not her and Cale?

Tyson’s drunken confession from the night before was still ringing in her mind when everyone got called to sit down for dinner. Tyson was still, unsurprisingly, the center of attention. His hand was on Anne’s thigh for most of dinner, Lucy’s eyes never leaving as Anne rested her’s in his. The usual rounds of conversation started, asking Lucy about her medical practice, Jason about Andersen’s, his restaurant that bore his family’s name, Matthew and Steph about work at United, Sebby about how he was feeling going into this last semester of college.

Then the conversation was supposed to turn to Anne, normally swamped with questions about Anne’s lack of love life. Instead, of course, the conversation turned to Tyson.

“How did you two meet?” Teresa asks, giving a smug look to her daughter, “Anne hasn’t told us anything about you.”

Tyson hesitates, figuring Anne wouldn’t want her family knowing they met when she spilled her coffee on him. “I was out with some of my teammates after practice one day,” he starts, hoping that whatever was about to come out of his mouth was good enough. “We were at a coffee shop, and I saw Anne there grabbing something before her shift at the hospital. I saw her smile at the barista when she thanked him for taking her order and,” he looks at her, taking Anne and putting it on the table for her family to see. “Something about that smile of hers I just knew I had to talk to her. I needed her in my life and I’m happy she’s in it.”

He kisses the side of her head, whispering, “we have to remember that story now,” against her skin. When he pulls away, Anne smiles at him, signaling that she would. There was no way she could forget that honestly. Why was pretending to like him so easy?

The conversation stays on him for a little longer, Anne never being asked anything. Finally, Emily stands up with Jimmy, saying they had an announcement. “We’re engaged!” she squeals, holding up her left hand with the ring that she either just put on, or no one noticed as the family congratulated her. Jimmy had proposed at midnight, down on one knee right as whoever they were with said ‘Happy New Year!’

“Another wedding!” Teresa yells, Tony rolling his eyes next to her. He didn’t hate weddings, he hated his wife’s need to spend an extravagant amount of money on a new dress and presents for the couple every time. “And then maybe we’ll have one for Anne in the next year, too, oh Tony we’ll get to plan another wedding.”

“Mom!” Anne scolds, Tyson’s face getting bright red. “That ringing in your ears is not wedding bells.”

The rest of the dinner goes on fine, Anne and her siblings off in one of the rooms while their spouses and Tyson were nowhere to be found.

“I think Tyson’s scared of me,” Lucy says, examining her nails.

“He might just be intimidated by you, Signoria Perfezione,” Anne teases her with the nickname Lucy got when she was little, her need for order prevalent from a young age.

“Yeah, he said that Anne told him how smart you were and he didn’t want to feel stupid around you,” Matthew points out.

“Well, shouldn’t he be intimidated by Anne?” Sebby asks.

“I know you’re trying to compliment me, but your tone says otherwise,” Anne says. “Why don’t you like him?”

The three of them look at their youngest siblings. “There’s something off,” he starts, Anne feeling her heart start to race. “He’s like borderline pretending to be with you.”

“Come on, man, you’re paranoid,” Matthew scoffs, Lucy agreeing.

“I mean,” Sebby explains, “He looks at Anne like he wants to be with her, not like he actually is with her.”

“You’re just over analyzing. We’re together. Probably more together than you and Collins are,” Anne fires back, part of her hating that she was lying to her siblings, the other part of her wondering how much of it was a lie.

Sebby shrugs, “Well yeah, because we broke up.” Anne’s jaw drops, Matthew raises his eyebrows in shock, Lucy the only one to scream and actually make a verbal acknowledgment of what he just said. “Yeah, the other night. She finally blew up over the whole, ‘I don’t want to move to Boston or California,’ thing and said if I wasn’t willing to move to be with her then I wasn’t good enough for her.”

“Oh, I don’t like that,” Anne says.

"Why didn't you tell us," Lucy asks.

"I see how they act about Anne never being with someone," he says, Anne glaring at him. "I'll just find someone in law school and not say anything unless they ask. Plus, I don’t want to be that far away from you guys. Why would I stay with someone who wants me to do that?” he admits.

“Aw, you do like us!” Lucy teases him, her and Matthew tackling him in a hug while Sebby yells for them to get off, yelling louder when Anne joins in.

“Hey, um,” Tyson interrupts, “Sorry, you’re having a moment.”

“No, no, what’s up?” Anne breaks off, going over to him.

“Your aunt said dessert is out,” he tells them, or, rather, tells Anne with her siblings in earshot.

“See, you’re delusional,” Lucy tells Sebby as they walk past Anne and Tyson into the next room.

Tyson looks at her confused, waiting for an explanation. “I think Sebby’s catching on to us pretending,” she shrugs, really not that worried. She and Tyson could talk later about how long this would go on, and if anyone in the family were to find out that it was fake, Sebby would be the one to keep it quiet.

She goes into the next room, leaving Tyson there by himself. “Yeah, pretending,” he says to himself.

[harrin-king]

a continuation of this post/head canon from a few months ago. i might write a part 2 to this, we’ll see. 

It wasn’t their best thought out plan. Nancy Wheeler wasn’t the first person in Hawkins to sigh out a “You’re an idiot, Steve Harrington” and she certainly wouldn’t be the last. Not when the idiot in question never seemed to think that there was any plan too reckless or too foolish or too downright ridiculous to enact in order to see someone he liked. 

Or loved. Or whatever. 

But maybe Billy was an idiot too because he didn’t say no when Steve proposed it. Rolled his eyes, yes. Scoffed, sure. But he didn’t say no. And it’s worked for them thus far- reckless, foolish, downright ridiculous thing that it was. 

When Billy steps out of the shower, it’s into a small bathroom spilling over with steam. Practice was strenuous this afternoon, Coach working them far past exhaustion in preparation for the semi finals game on Friday. And the showers at school are lukewarm at best, not to mention that using them means having to avoid so much as glancing at Steve so. Billy opted to shower at home. It’s not like Max or Susan shower at this time of day anyway.  

It’s almost time for dinner by the time he’s toweled off and put on sweatpants, laid his hair meticulously so it’ll dry right. He walks into the kitchen, smelling a stew or a roast or whatever the hell Susan made and he’s almost smiling.

But then Billy sees his father’s car keys hanging on the hook by the door and he turns his head to the living room where Neil is toeing off his boots- neither him nor Billy have quite adjusted to Susan’s request that they take off their shoes by the front door- and smiling tightly at Max while she halfheartedly tells him about school. Both of them look like they’d rather be anywhere else, but Neil is firm in his belief that they act like a family. Who they’re performing for, none of them know.

Susan, frazzled from the stress of cooking, calls from the kitchen then. “Dinner will be in five minutes! Billy, Maxine, did we get any messages today?”

Max looks to Billy, who only shrugs. He’s been in the shower almost the entire time he’s been home. Max huffs and walks to the telephone and it’s attached answering machine. “I’ll check, mom.”

“...Mother.” She corrects, after a pointed looked from Neil. Max rewinds the tape and hits play, then goes back to the homework she was working on before Neil got home.

There’s a brief message from Mrs. Henderson for Susan, requesting that she come over for coffee one afternoon, insisting that “Us mothers gotta stick together!”

Billy doesn’t have to look at his father to see the scowl on his face. Neil doesn’t like a lot of things. Not Max being friends with boys and certainly not his wife being friends with those boy’s mothers.

The next message begins to play, the speaker’s voice initially sending warmth through Billy’s chest, and then panic that he tries to mask with indifference.

“Hello, this is Kent Clarke from Bradley’s Big Buy. I’m calling the residents of the fine town of Hawkins to remind everyone about our super savers 15% off sale this weekend,” the call begins.

Max, no longer focusing on her work, narrows her eyes up at Billy, who’s doing everything to avoid her gaze. If he meets her eyes, the alarm on his face will be too clear. Or worse, he’ll be unable to keep from laughing at the caller’s pitiful attempt to sound like an adult.

“- If you have questions about opening a super savers card, give us a call at 260-867-5309. Thank you, and have Bradley’s Big Day!”

Billy exhales, chances flitting his eyes Neil’s way to see his reaction. He only grits his teeth, mutters. “Another one of those damn calls. How do these people keep getting our number?”

Even though the question was rhetorical more than anything, Billy says, “Must be a small town thing. This never happened in California.”

Neil’s been tamer recently. Less vile. So instead of insisting his son tack a “sir” onto the end of his sentence, or glaring at him for speaking in the first place, he only nods. Says, “Must be,” and heads to the table for dinner, Max and Billy trailing behind him.

But not without having their own silent conversation behind his back, which translates roughly to a What the ever living fuck? on Max’s end and a faux innocent No idea. on Billy’s.

Because it is not a small town thing. If Neil or Susan were to ask any of their neighbors if they received calls from Bradley’s Big Buy or Family Video or The Hawk promoting sales, they’d be given a confused expression and a shake of the head.

No, it was not their best thought out plan. But Steve was distraught over Billy’s insistence that he not call the house. He wanted the ability to request Billy’s attention when he forgot to ask for it at school, when a lack of time or too many listening ears prevented him from planning something with Billy in advance.

It was bad enough, he said, that Billy refused to let him sneak in through his window, or even come near Cherry Lane.

So one afternoon, high and half joking, Steve had said he could call the Hargrove house pretending to be someone else. If Billy answered and said it was safe, then they could talk normally. If Neil answered or the call got sent to the answering machine, Steve could change his voice and impersonate different businesses or people. They could have a code so that Billy would know what he was trying to say.

The High School’s “Event Coordinator” (a nonexistent title for a nonexistent position) calling to inform families about a dance or a new club meant that Steve would be parked down the road later, tucked into an alley and waiting for Billy to come kiss him or fuck him in the car for a few minutes, an hour.

Neighborhood Watch giving a warning about suspicious activity in the area meant that Steve was having one of his days. That he was feeling heavy, that he couldn’t get out of bed, that maybe he hadn’t slept in a few nights because of nightmares that Billy still didn’t know the contents of.

Billy has only gotten that call once and had left his house as soon as he could, not even waiting for nightfall and the convenience of leaving without questions from Neil. He’d made an excuse about a group project he’d forgotten to meet at the library for and hightailed it to Steve’s, holding him and stroking his hair until sleep finally came.

That was the last time Steve had called this late, at a time when he’d know Neil would be home from work. He generally doesn’t risk it otherwise. The code was to protect them from the off chance of Billy’s father answering. Calling at 6:00pm on a weekday was for emergencies.

A call about a store’s sale meant that Steve missed him, that he wanted to see him. That he wanted Billy to sneak out and meet him at their usual spot at the junkyard.

Which was very much not an emergency. Very much did not warrant a 6:00pm call. Still, Billy couldn’t help but grin despite himself. There was something about Neil listening to the voice of the boy who fucked and kissed and held and loved the son Neil couldn’t beat the queer out of, and not even knowing it.

Dinner dragged on. Helping Max with the rest of her homework lasted an eternity, maybe an eternity plus one with all of the withering looks Max was giving him.

Of course Max recognized Steve Harrington’s voice. Because Steve Harrington was an idiot and this plan wasn’t well thought out and they were reckless and foolish and downright ridiculous.

But when 10:00pm rolled around and the light leaching out from under Neil and Susan’s bedroom door switched off, Billy snuck out of his window.

To go see about this Super Savers Sale at Bradley’s Big Buy.

[imaginethebeautifulworld]

Hi! I was wondering what your current reading list is like? Like books, fanfics, comics? Sorry if this a weird ask, but I'm just really curious (and kind of bored lol). You don't have to answer, but I just thought it might be cool. Hope you and your family are well!

Oh goodness, Lovely; that's a tall order~ ^_^;

Not a weird question at all, though, but it may take a bit for me to sort through all my current literary pursuits.

Books:

I'm currently working on six different books, all of them at greatly different speeds.

The first, and most pressing to finish, is Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947 by Christopher Clark. The only reason for my rush in reading this 776 page monster is because I'm currently borrowing it on an inter-library loan through a university, and it needs to be returned before their classes resume in the fall semester. I'm currently on page 285, so I think the odds of me breezing through the remainder of her in the next three weeks are highly in my favor. I actually tried to read this one back when I was still enrolled at Susquehanna, but was soon too swamped between assignments and extracurriculars that I just lacked the time to actually finish it. I do recommend it as good reference material, with pages upon pages of the sources used by the author, in addition to Clark's straightforward and well-organized presentation of the hundreds of years of history he's providing.

Recently, my local library held a book sale, and I managed to obtain a hardcover edition of Great German Short Novels And Stories, edited by Victor Lange, for only 75¢. There are some really great tales in there, including von Goethe's "The Sorrows of Young Werther" and Bretana's "The Story of the Just Casper and Fair Annie." Granted, those two love stories are essentially tragedies, but... ^_^; Reading this concurrently to Iron Kingdom has helped a lot of the information regarding the ever-changing social structures of the time kind of settle more firmly in my memory, and may have perhaps sparked a few potential fics that I'm kind of eager to explore in the coming months.

The other books I'm currently working on, but not as devoutly, include The Sea Beast Takes a Lover by Michael Andreason, a short story compilation falling somewhere between the supernatural and science fiction. This one I obtained at Dollar Tree, as well as a copy of Tyler Knott Gregson's Miracle in the Mundane, a collection of poems and prompts to help spark creativity, encourage mindfulness, and possibly instill a sense of joy. I've been keeping a journal to address each prompt, so it is a bit of a slow read.

I have also been tackling The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, though I've stepped away from this Victorian mystery due to my irritations with one particularly religious, socially inept narrator. While I know she won't remain the narrator for much longer (the tale is presented from different POVs, intentionally meant to seem as if you are reading witness testimonies), it doesn't limit my annoyance with her.

Finally, I am also reading Van Gogh: A Self-Portrait, which is a collection of letters written by Vincent primarily to his brother Theo throughout the later years of his life, edited by W.H. Auden. The book focuses on Vincent's journey into art, revealing so, so much about his passions, his dislikes, his love of the world, and has shown me just how badly I would love to sit with him in a cafe sometime, discussing our different approaches to our art forms. He was an avid reader and spends quite a bit of time highly praising writers for also being artists, and is constantly recommending books in his letters which I hope to one day read for myself. I am sadly getting quite near the end of this one, and I know I will miss him when I do.

Fanfics:

I'm currently only following three fanfics, one of which I need to catch up on in the next day or so.

Said story would be by @rosewrites Stephen Stranger Reader Insert series: Cardiac Arrest. Set before The Avengers, Stephen is still a practicing neurosurgeon and Reader is a pediatric surgeon. So far, she has 52 chapters, and in addition to the slow, slow burn, the snark, and some perfectly mature shenanigans, there is also a healthy dose of one Anthony Edward Stark to keep my broken post-Endgame heart happy. I truly recommend her stuff; she's amazing!

Another Marvel series I'm following is featured on AO3 entitled From The Void, With Love, a Loki readerfic by pilotisms that more or less follows the timeline of the

Disney+ series. Alas, it has been a while since there has been an update to this one, but with 24 chapters already post, there is still plenty of content to enjoy.

Finally, and most enthusiastically, I'd like to talk about @the-scribe-and-her-scribbles series it will come back, featuring fae!prussia. I- I truthfully lack the words to describe just how deeply I've fallen for this series. From the settings to the characterizations and concept, not to mention scribe's clear passion for the story itself- It all flows together into such a gripping story that I am desperate to read more of it. There's a delightful, overarching touch of darkness, magic, and of course our favourite disaster man. While she's only posted six chapters thus far (next update scheduled for August!), there is already quite the adventure in motion, and I am absolutely enraptured.

This ended up being far longer than expected, but hopefully I answered your question?

I honestly had forgotten up until recently just how much I love reading, and now that I am free to fall back into it- It has been quite the interesting journey.

If you're at all curious about more of my literary ventures, you could always check out my bookshelves on Goodreads. I haven't added every book I've met just yet, but I do try to update it with each one I can remember.

Thank you so very much for the ask, Lovely! Hope some of these help alleviate your boredom~

[toughguywithbossygirlfriend]

Dark Nights :Death Metal #1

After DC Comics Amazing event “Dark Nights : Metal” centered on Batman, we get a sequel called “Dark Nights : Death Metal” centered on Wonder Woman (with even more Batmen everywhere...).

Written by Scott Snyder and Penciled by Capullo the new event looks even more nuts then the first one and I have to say .. I love it ... one of the first pages presents what is left of the DCU after the fight against the evil all powerful Perpetua and the Dark Universe’s “Batman Who Laughs” ... Obviously our Heroes lost the fight and survive as best they can in what’s left of the DC Multiverse

(Edited from DC Comics “Dark Nights: Death Metal” Issue 1)

What’s left of their Universe’s Earth is a world looking like a Bat, with a head, a body, and two wings. Is it even useful to add that the main Lands are related to :

-The “Head” of the Bat... the Brain ... Batman (at least the one who laughs)

-The “Body” of the Bat... Themiscyra ... Wonder Woman..

For the first time for as long as I remember a Crisis level Event seems centered around Wonder Woman, and of course Batman. Usually it would have been about Superman and Batman or eventually about the Trinity... but since the start of Rebirth I have the feeling the wheels are turning for Diana, slowly but surely she climbs up to and mabe one day will take over Superman’s position ... and unlike Clark Kent she has the potential and the history to be paired up with the real undisputed King of DC Comics : Batman.

 (Edited from DC Comics “Dark Nights: Death Metal” Issue 1)

While the “Batman who laughs” is the King of this World ... Diana exchanged her tiara for a crown and is the “Queen of the Underworld” ... giving us a little taste of the DCAU where her “father” wasn’t Zeus but Hades (Lord of the Underworld) ... She rules over Themyscira and Guards the gate to Tartarus ... Obviously she agreed to that role because the Batman Who Laughs uses others lives as leverage (including her Amazon sisters).. In this first Issue She is summoned by her Evil Master to his Castle-Bat ... One thing is very clear she doesn’t consider any of those numerous “Dark Universes Batmen” as “Batman” ... there is only one she calls “Batman”, her Bruce ... the others are just “monsters”, “demons”,...

(Edited from DC Comics “Dark Nights: Death Metal” Issue 1)

Once she arrived at Castle Bat and faces the Batman Who Laughs and his countless Batmen variants (some are really weird but its really a lot of fun)... in the middle of the meeting, she suddenly gets a telepathic message !?!.. from the one and only Batman, her Batman. Of course she is stunned there is no J’onn J’ozz to establish such a Link ... it reminded me of Diana’s statement in DC Comics “Superman : Heroes #1″ when she told Bruce that he can do everything Superman does, some even better then him...

Obviously he can copy the Martian Manhunter as well.

Once the shock is over, Diana’s first reaction is to worry for his safety ... “Just PLEASE tell me you’re far from here.”. Yes ! Diana can panic ! we’ll get proof of that later ;)...The answer he gives her is of course meant to reassure her : “Across the Universe”... Little test, who believes that ? ... Yeah, figured as much XD... Then we learn that he knows that she started to melt down her Invisible jet but he couldn’t detect its magic moving !?!! ... copying Zatanna or Constantine here ? ...

Who needs a Justice League if you have a Batman ! XD... Diana, my Dear, catch that guy then you can start a full Justice League with just the two of you  ;)

Batman and Magic ??  This may seem surprising but in reality it has already been addressed in Liam Sharp’s “The Brave and the Bold : Batman and Wonder Woman” Issue #2. In it you can see Bruce suggesting Alfred they should build something able to detect magic... (second picture below - we’ll talk about the first later)

(Edit from “The Brave and the Bold : Batman and Wonder Woman” Issue #2)

Lets not forget Batman was the one who searched, hired and befriended Madame Xanadu (the Sorceress Nimue from the Arthurian mythology) recently in “Justice League” and already knows a bunch of Magic users that he can gather knowledge from. He knows, if Wondy is involved, most of the time it is about magic and if he cares for her (quite obvious in Justice League Dark(2018) #12)... he’s got to get a better knowledge of Magic.. plus If you wanted to make a longer series of comics based on Wonder Woman and Batman (a sibling to Batman-Superman) you would need the Dark Knight to understand better what he would have to face ... Maybe that’s what DC wants to do in the near future... Superman’s power are useless against Magic, but Intelligence is always accurate no matter if its about Science, Magic or anything else. And Batman’s main power is his genius level IQ... 

But lets return to our comic.

(Edited from DC Comics “Dark Nights: Death Metal” Issue 1)

After mentioning it in “Dark Nights : Metal #5″, the “Batman Who Laughs” can’t help but to tell Diana again that there are Worlds where the “Dianas and the Bruces” are Lovers and Parents, ... Just in case she forgot ...XD ... (considering what Scott Snyder said about the sales of this comics, as well as his previous Event, we may assume that most of the comic readers are now used to the fact that those too can be a committed pair).

The “Batman who laughs” knows Diana really well and understood that she was hiding something from him. No doubt he hunts his alter-ego with the greatest attention ... he knows how dangerous he can be. So he threatens Diana to kill whats left of he parliament of Trees, leaving her with no choice... and threatening Diana is something the real “Batman” obviously can’t allow ... Bruce shoots a non-lethal crossbow bolt on the BMWL, revealing himself, to distract the BMWL from Diana ... it worked.

(Edited from DC Comics “Dark Nights: Death Metal” Issue 1)

"BRUCE... NO.” ... Like I said Diana can panic if it is about Him ... XD

I Wonder if the BMWL threatened Diana on purpose knowing very well this would be enough for his Alter-ego to reveal himself if he was near enough. The “Batman who laughs” explored enough worlds to know how much those two care for each other... Lovers ... Parents ... you get the drift...

(Edited from DC Comics “Dark Nights: Death Metal” Issue 1)

While Diana was a rather obedient servant to her “Master” because she knew her sisters lives as well as her friends lives where at stakes, she gives up every care and opposes the evil Batmen to give Bruce the opportunity to flee. Much like in the “Blackest Night : WW”, Diana puts Bruce over everything else, Bruce’s safety trumps the safety of every one that the BMWL keeps as leverage against her ... she has to know there’s gonna be a cost.

But Bruce/Batman doesn’t flee, ... not immediately ... because if he did she would be punished for her action ... instead he stays, awaiting the Horde of Evil Batmen to kill him... something that distracts the “Batman Who Laughs” from Diana enough to forget or excuse what she did. But Bruce is always prepared, and this isn’t different ...  God knows how but he found a Black Lantern Ring and uses it to raise a little army of undead warriors in the mood to rip some evil Batmen into pieces.

(Edited from DC Comics “Dark Nights: Death Metal” Issue 1)

While Diana has been easily “frozen” by the Bat-Mage, and once the Fight between Bruce’s undead soldiers and the evils Batmen is started, Batman knows his Enemy is distracted enough to forget about Diana’s rebellion., .. plus the BMWL would keep her alive just because she is the best way to lure Batman out of his hiding as just proven ... She will be safe, so he leaves.

This Event is fantastic and I can’t wait to see how it unfolds.

I guess Scott Snyder loves the Idea of Bruce as some sort of “God of Death” even if he is mortal. see my previous post :

https://toughguywithbossygirlfriend.tumblr.com/post/190316770026/diana-goddess-of-war-bruce-god-of

A mortal “God of Death” ? It is a concept already explored by Fritz Lieber in his Collection “Sword and Sorcery” about the Heroes “Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser”. Basically if the “God of Death” gets killed (a hard feat) he re-incarnates a little later in another body because without a “God of death” nothing dies.

(Edited from DC Comics Wonder Woman (1942) Issue 202 back in 1972)

Who would have thought that Diana (with Selina) already had an encounter with the Heroes of that World ... so the concept of the “God of Death” being a “mortal” shouldn't be new to her ... ;) ...

In "Death Metal”, Diana is the leading Character and she obviously has not the same goal as Bruce: Diana wants to kill the BMWL and restore a Rich and Infinite Multiverse while Bruce wants to play it small, very small.

(Edited from DC Comics “Dark Nights: Death Metal” Issue 1)

Bruce’s behavior seems a bit OOC but we will surely get some explanations later in the event as to why. Diana seems to take over the “Dreamy Positiveness” of Superman while Batman holds his “Pragmatic Strategic” line of thinking.

Of course Diana is fiercely independent, and even if she highly values Bruce’s POV she follows her own ... I guess the “Batman Who Laughs” knew her better than she thought, because he first repeated her Bruce’s plan ...

(Edited from DC Comics “Dark Nights: Death Metal” Issue 1)

Then teases her about her own  ... and I am sure everyone reading the comic was ecstatic the moment Diana ripped the BMWL into pieces with her Chainsaw of truth ...

A move, we will learn later, that her own Bruce tried to avoid with reason ... a move the BMWL planed and expected, if not provoked, because it enabled him to ... upgrade to something infinitely more Powerful... Bruce was right ... again...

Even if Diana leads she will still need Bruce if she wants to win because it is true, ... it seems she can’t out plan the BMWL... only her Batman could do that ...

(Edited from DC Comics “Dark Nights: Death Metal” Issue 1)

I think these re-incarnation in new Bodies is a way for DC Comics to make Bruce Wayne Immortal while keeping him a weak and mortal human (or not as for the BMWL). This has been explored for quite some time : starting with the “Dyonesium” and the “Final Invention”, Batman Last Knight on Earth, and now the BMWL’s death and return as ... “Final Bruce Wayne” ;)

With this there would be no need to reboot the universes to keep Bruce “Batman” Wayne young ... “every generation will have its Batman” ... If Bruce gets Killed ... you just re-incarnate him in a new younger Body ...

(Edited from DC Comics “Batman : Last Knight on Earth” Issue 1)

Diana is already immortal, Bruce would be as well but “re-incarnation” based, and if needed you just give Superman one more power to his already very long list (lets say “Solar re-rejuvenation” or something) ... For Bruce and Diana this would provide more reason to pair them up ... Without the need for more reboots their usual partners (Steve Trevor, Selina Kyle, ...) will now grow older and pass away... Public persona “Bruce Wayne” being with the Amazon could help cover up his weird immortality as gifts from her Gods... All the kids could grow older and new kids could be added more and more without loosing the 3 Big players.

But that’s speculation and we will have to wait and see what DC Comics is going to do and there are still open questions, but I would enjoy something like that.

(Edited from DC Comics “Dark Nights: Death Metal” Issue 1)

The complementarity of both Heroes is expressed here again : Bruce is the “shield” while Diana is the “Sword”... so basically Bruce is the “defensive” while Diana is the “offensive” ... over writers use the reverse : “Wonder Woman was made to protect the innocent while Batman was made to punish the guilty” .. Wonder Woman is the “defensive” and Batman the “offensive” ... Depending on who writes them they will be one or the other but they are just naturally always the Yin and the Yang to each other.

[thecanadianowl]

Batman: Death in the Family Review (SPOILERS)

 This is going to be long.

I originally had no interest in watching this mainly because it's based off a story where its only significance is Jason's death. The thing that won me over was the "choose your adventure" type which is an interesting style to do for this particular event. The three main selections are Jason cheats death, Robin dies and Batman saves Robin. Of those 3, only 1 of them was the most interesting. But before I do that, let me go over why the other 2 were disappointing.

 Robin dies choice is basically a rehash of the Under the Red Hood animated movie only its shortened and narrated by Bruce as he is speaking to Clark Kent at a diner. All it is a repeat of shit we knew. Bruce blames himself for the path he set Jason on and Clark giving a hopeful message of finding Jason. All this choice does is add an extended ending.

Robin cheats death one puts Jason having gone through surgery, having his skin grafted and stitched up from the explosion. The trauma and pain has Jason resent Bruce for the life he been put into and basically becomes Hush. He goes after criminals (btw decapitating Nygma, waay too much) which gets the attention of of Talia Al Ghul where she proposes an alliance with Jason while also taking in baby Damian under his tutelage. The problem isnt the story itself bit that it had so much potential. Seriously it could have been Batman:Hush as well as seeing where this conflict between Bruce and Jason will end now that Talia and Damian are in the equation. Btw Talia fans, this is probably the only ending with the character you are gonna like.

Batman saves Robin okay this is the one with multiple choices involved and goes down interesting paths for some of them. So Batman saves Robin but in doing so, he dies and Robin lives, and Nightwing becomes Batman (cool I guess, too bad they never gave him any dialogue). The first choice given is whether Jason chases/arrests the Joker or Kills him.

Kill Joker option where Jason is at a Diner and talks with this stranger who is revealed to be Joker who is now given up being the Joker because “his” Batman is gone. He recites the ‘2 inmates escape an asylum’ joke that he said in the Killing Joke allowing for Jason to put it together and kill him right there in front of 2 cops who are also in the diner.Immediately after you are given the choice to turn yourself in or run. The run option is the one that matters because Jason becomes Red Robin and begins his killing spree. Which Btw is just recycled footage they used in the Robin cheats death option just with the Red Robin edited over Hush. Really? Was budget that low? But what makes this ending good is that RR is later pinned down by Two Face and given the clean/scratched coin option, Jason is saved by Tim Drake (with a taser) and is reminded of Batman’s code and its importance not only to himself but to the people of Gotham. In doing so Jason stops killing and takes Tim in as a sidekick: BatKid. Seriously, that is the name you chose? Why not have Jason be Nightwing (which he was for short while, albeit to ruin Dick’s reputation) and Tim be Robin? Batkid :Great name for a kid’s Make-A -Wish dream, not so great if you want to use it in more serious context . This is one of the better endings as Jason becomes a better person in the end and the type of hero Bruce would have wanted but at the same time shows that Jason’s past habits were hard to get rid of especially with his father gone.

Arrest Joker has Jason become Redhood to lure Joker out in public. When he does that and unveils his true identity to him, the Joker brags about how he created him and how his rage has lead him down a murderous path, reinforcing the jokers belief of "one bad day". The next decision to be made is whether Jason should kill Joker or not. This decision ultimately has no impact as both decision lead to the same concluding decision set. I chose to kill him because let's be honestly this the path set by Jason really compliments the 2 choice options you have to make in the final one. Where Jason is confronted by Talia with a resurrected Batman who only says “Zur-en-arrh” trying to get Jason to join them but later results in a fight.

Okay there is a lot to unpack here. First: Did Grant Morrison write this? I’m asking because of how he has written Talia during his run on Batman (and how it upsets a lot of fans). You would think Talia knowing first hand what the effects of the Lazarus pit are, would she actually risk it turning the man she loves into a husk of his former self? Yes she would want Bruce to join her on their crusade against the corruption of the modern world but not if it meant Bruce wasn’t in a rational state of mind. Secondly, of all the possible Batman personas/iterations why this one?

I know they give some sort of reason near the end, but it just seemed so out of nowhere. Maybe I am looking too much into this, but if they were going to go this route, I feel like it would have been cooler to see Bruce in the Knightfall suit or have him wear a similar Batsuit that Damian wore in Batman 666.

And thirdly, you would think a fight between Jason and Bruce (where the roles are reversed, sorta) would be the most epic shit ever, but it doesn’t even last a minute it ends with either Bruce getting stabbed or knocked out (depending on which you choose). Before I go with why I think letting Bruce live is the better ending, I would like to say that when Jason kills him, Bruce sets off a bomb killing all three of them and the final shot  of Jason’s corpse is very reminiscence of that comic cover of Jason caught in the explosion. I thought it was cool.

Now the reason why, I liked the save ending (and find it to be the definitive ending for this movie)   is that Jason gives up being Redhood and works with Babs, Dick and Alfred in helping Bruce gain back his sanity.  This  ending encompasses all that was needed for Jason’s arc from becoming Redhood, to killing Joker, to his realization how wrong his methods were to being part of the Batfamily again and finally to save his father. It encompasses the idea that being Batman is more than just pain and suffering, its about hope and being able to become a better person, that your pain/anger doesn’t define who you are/can be.

Overall, I feel that this movie is a disappointing as both a prequel/sequel to Under the Red Hood. Unless you are a huge fan of Jason Todd, wait for a sale or when they release this in a collection with their other movies. The letdown for me is that certain choices have better writing than others and supporting characters aren’t used to their full potential. That being said, the idea of having different choices and giving the audience the chance to explore each of them. I hope they do this with other pivotal moments in DC’s history.

Also do the writers hate Black Mask? I get he isn’t the most popular Bat-villain but damn Sionis gets the short end of the stick in every timeline especially in the first ending of Robin Cheating death, it was so ridiculous that it is borderline hilarious

[howaminotinthestrokesyet]

They Didn’t F’ing Make It: The Breakup of Guns N’ Roses

Musical Direction… After Use Your Illusion, the band did try to get together to start work on a new album, but nothing ever came of it. The two driving musical forces in the band Axl Rose and Slash simply could not agree on anything. Rose wanted to take things into electronica music and industrial rock, while Slash was more interested in hard rock. At one point, Slash offered up a number of songs to the other members of the group, but Rose and Duff McKagan quickly rejected them.

Paul Tobias… Slash would leave the group in 1996, but problems had already begun to surface near the completion of the Use Your Illusion Tour in 1993. Axl had made the decision to replace Gilby Clark with his friend Paul Tobias without consulting anyone else. Tobias was not without musical talent because he had co-written four songs that ended up on Use Your Illusion originally written in the early days of the band. Yet, Rose’s decision to add a new member without asking any of the others did not sit well at all with the guitarist. He finally reached the conclusion by 1996 that he could no longer work with Axl in any capacity.

Egos… The creative leadership of the group had always been dominated by Axl and Slash, while the others merely existed in the group to a slightly lesser extent. Izzy Stradlin could have been another dominating figure, but that was just not in his personality. One can look at Axl Rose and Slash really existing as two alphas, which is inevitably going to lead to confrontation. If you want proof as to their stubbornness and inability to compromise, then simply look to work on other albums after the original lineup’s breakup. Axl used a number of guitarists in the making of Chinese Democracy. After Scott Weiland left Velvet Revolver, Slash pretty much refused to continue over his belief that they were bringing in an inadequate lead singer.

Financial Control ...Not only did the band fight over creative control of the group, but there was a lot of money to be made from the brand that represented Guns N’ Roses. At one point, their manager at the time talked to the other members of the group to sign their rights to the name over to Axl Rose. Everything changed after that, and the reason the other members did it was probably because they did not want to fight him anymore. Their drug problems also had a lot to do with it. Looking back, those same band members had left within a year or two of that decision. They no longer would be splitting anything equally, which is ironic because that is why Izzy Stradlin left. Duff and Slash essentially became employees of Rose. The singer would later deny that he forced the band to do so by threat of refusing to perform anymore. He correctly said that there is no way that such a move would have held up in court, but to have his manager do so emerged as a totally different scenario.

Izzy Left...Duff McKagan would say in 2011 in is autobiography that the driving force behind the band originally was the songwriting of Izzy Stradlin. His departure affected the band completely as one of the most talented musicians in the group had decided that he would no longer put up with Axl Rose. He also acted as a peacemaker whenever things got a bit out of control between Slash and Rose. The thing that had made Appetite For Destruction so good was the classic rock infused songwriting by Stradlin. You can see the difference between Appetite For Destruction and Use Your Illusion as Stradlin‘s musical influence was all over the former and very rare in the latter. Take a look at the song “14 Years,” which is one of the few songs that he wrote completely Use Your Illusion. If you listen to that track, then the entire rest of the album, you will see a huge difference between the sound. Stradlin had also been very good at creating songs that followed more traditional song structure, but as Axl took control of the recording sessions you can see where the bloated criticism came about. Many fans and rock writers alike have noted that when Izzy left the band, the heart and soul of Guns N’ Roses disappeared. They ceased to be GNR, but now became merely Axl Rose and Company.

Michael Jackson… One conspiracy theory that has never been confirmed by any of the band members had to do with the origin of Slash and Axl not getting along. Slash had collaborated with Michael Jackson multiple times including playing guitar on the song “Black and White” and appearing with him in concert. One concert appearance as the theory goes supposedly wrangled Axl Rose so much that he never for gave Slash. The reason being was that in Rose’s eyes Michael Jackson had been without a doubt guilty of child abuse and sexual abuse, which he had suffered growing up as a child. Their rift began when the guitarist agreed to perform at a benefit show for Jackson. The singer got even more angry when he found out that payment for Slash’s appearance was a big screen TV and nothing else.

Perla Hudson… Another unconfirmed break up conspiracy theory has been the presence of Perla Hudson, Slash’s ex-wife. Some have said that she had a large amount of control over her husband, and willingly drove a wedge between him and Axl. They had met in 1992 when Perla was a 17 year old groupie, who had charmed her way backstage during a show. Some have said that she was not the greatest fan of their music either. Behind the scenes they had started to call the couple Sid and Nancy, but this was never meant as a compliment. She was known to have had a negative effect on the guitarist as an enabler for his abuse of drugs and alcohol. During the day, Perla ran an escort service for extra money. They would marry in 2001, but a few years ago the two did eventually divorce. Soon after this split, Axl and Slash reconciled to form the current reunion tour.

Doug Goldstein… The band has had multiple managers over the years, who were either fired or quit. One manager that probably sped up the breakup of the original lineup was Doug Goldstein. The former manager made it clear to the group that he was more interested in being loyal to Axl Rose rather than what was best for the group. He saw the group as more of a Rose production. Goldstein was the one that went to the other band members to persuade them to sign over legal rights to the name Guns N’ Roses. Axl has denied that he ever took any part in this, but then again the singer could have stopped it at any time. Goldstein became someone to do Axl’s bidding when it came to doing certain unsavory things about the future of the group.

Drugs… Alan Nevin, the first manager for Guns N’ Roses once said what made the job so difficult was that most of the band had been addicted to smack. Drugs played a big role in the band's rise, but as Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones can attest to, you cannot simply continue on that path. They were forced to fire original drummer Steven Adler because he could not function at his job anymore. The last live show before his termination was at Farm Aid in Indiana, where he did a faceplant on his drum riser. This had embarrassed Axl Rose because he was from Indiana, and had hoped to put on a great show. The other members of the group excluding Izzy Stradlin always promised to get clean, but that never seemed to happen. This became a two edged sword as the rest of the members simply tolerated Rose’s control because they wanted to keep the Guns N’ Roses train moving. By this I mean, they needed money to maintain their very expensive drug habits. The drug lifestyle had been so tempting to Izzy Stradlin that he had to travel separately from the band in his last year in order to stay sober. Duff McKagan did not officially decide to quit drugs and alcohol until his pancreas exploded due to his two bottle a day drinking habit. For his part, Axl Rose never used drugs and always supported anyone in the band that tried to move away from them. Yet, that sympathy still did not stop him from taking over the group knowing full well that the drugs were affecting the other’s ability to actively participate in the band. You had four heroin junkies and a lead singer addicted to power. Things will probably not end well, if you rise to become the number one band in the world.

Their Success… One final factor that must be considered was that the release of Appetite For Destruction became the best selling debut album of all time. They had been a band that competed with a multitude of other groups trying to make it out of Los Angeles. They went from a relatively unknown group making modest sales on the charts to the biggest band in the world in a year. With this, there existed monumental expectations for anything that they would produce after that. This probably plagued the perfectionist Axl Rose the most. In his mind, he agonized over the legacy of the group and what they produced making all his dictatorial decisions fine in his own mind. Take a look at Izzy Stradlin because he left the group so abruptly. He could do this partially because the royalties from that album would take care of him for the rest of his life. Stradlin still made music, but those royalties did not compare with Appetite For Destruction. They had been known as a very hard working band in their early days in Los Angeles in the clubs, but a bit of that went away with the seemingly instant money and fame.

[legaljeffschnick]

Buddhist group buys land near Las Vegas Strip to build temple

During a cold afternoon in Budapest in 2014, Buddhism’s purported world leader walked up a hillside with his entourage. The air was chilly and smelly.

“It is so stinky!” the followers said. But the Buddha trudged on, and near the mountaintop, a toddler tried to bow before him.

The World Buddhism Association Headquarters recounted this story in a post on a religious website. The same group plans to build a temple near the Las Vegas Strip.

The Southern California-based organization bought 12.2 acres of mostly vacant property at Sahara Avenue and Paradise Road, next to the SLS Las Vegas, for $17.5 million. The sale closed July 24, Clark County records show.

The Buddhist group paid cash, according to a broker on the deal.

The buyers don’t have the money to start construction. But if they land the funds, they would build an unexpected – if not “deeply ironic,” as one observer put it – project near Las Vegas’ rowdy casino corridor.

World Buddhism Association Headquarters attorney Steven Meyers initially said the Buddha “has no relation whatsoever” to the buyers. But federal tax and California state records show links between them — and, according to one news report, the supposed holy man was once wanted for arrest by Interpol.

No construction anytime soon

Meyers said in an email that the “main purpose” of buying the land was “to build a Buddhist temple” that will be used for “philanthropic purposes to benefit the public.”

“Precisely because the Las Vegas Strip is a place known for excessive drinking, eating, gambling, and other behavior,” he said, the buyers want to spread the teachings of Buddhism so that people “who do not understand the meaning of life can learn to … help others, benefit society, and contribute to making our country better and stronger.”

Despite the cash purchase, Meyers said the Pasadena, California-based organization “has very limited funds,” and “there is no possibility of quickly beginning” construction.

Raymond Chen, listed in California records as its CEO, could not be reached for comment.

His Holiness Dorje Chang Buddha III

Efforts to learn about the group’s day-to-day operations were unsuccessful, though it is mentioned, among other places, on the Xuanfa Institute’s website, where the story of the smelly trek appeared.

The website seems devoted to the man who led the hike: His Holiness Dorje Chang Buddha III, an artist and Chinese native also known as Wan Ko Yee.

According to Meyers, Yee is “the highest leader of Buddhism in the entire world.” A U.S. House resolution in 2008 sought to recognize him “as the true incarnation of the primordial Buddha.”

Professor Robert Buswell, director of UCLA’s Center for Buddhist Studies, said in an email that he has “heard periodically over the years about this Dorje Chang Buddha III,” but added, “I have no idea how he would have received this title, and presume it is a self-investiture.”

In 2015, the Pasadena Star-News reported that Yee was wanted for allegedly stealing more than $7 million in China. Interpol sought his arrest but eventually backed off, the paper reported.

According to Meyers, China asked Interpol in 2009 to withdraw the warrant, and Interpol notified its member countries that they were “not permitted to detain” Yee.

Interpol’s press office told the Review-Journal that arrest warrants are always issued by police in member countries, and it referred questions to relevant national authorities. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.

Federal tax records show that Yee is a former chairman of the International Art Museum of America, which was “first conceived as a permanent museum solely dedicated” to the Buddha’s artwork, its website says. The museum’s corporate secretary and the World Buddhism Association Headquarters’ chief executive have the same mailing address — a house in Monterey Park, California — and the groups have the same chief financial officer, according to California state records.

Loretta Huang, director of museum operations, said in an email that she has not had any “dealings” with the World Buddhism Association Headquarters since she joined the San Francisco museum in 2013 and that she learned from a Review-Journal reporter that they share a finance chief.

Yee resigned from the museum’s board in 2011, according to Meyers, who also said it’s “very common for one person to hold an office or position in multiple entities,” in reference to the CFO.

He did not provide information about the officials with the shared mailing address in Monterey Park, saying he has “no right to inquire into the private matters of others.”

‘Questionable extreme’

In Las Vegas, the World Buddhism Association Headquarters acquired a parking lot just east of the Strip with a Monorail station along the perimeter.

Avison Young broker Ben Millis, who represented the sellers, said his group targeted hotel operators, condo developers and other possible buyers. He couldn’t recall how the Buddhist group even learned about the site.

“This was a surprise,” he said.

Las Vegas Monorail spokeswoman Ingrid Reisman said the sale will not affect its operations.

The site was owned by the Bennett family, whose patriarch, the late Bill Bennett, bought or developed several casinos on the Strip, including the Sahara, as the SLS was formerly known.

Paragon Gaming co-founder Diana Bennett, Bill Bennett’s daughter, said she had no comment on the transaction because the land was held by a family trust “of which I’m only a part.” The sale was handled by an outside trust company, and Bennett said she was “not really directly involved” in the deal.

Michael Parks of CBRE Group, a former listing broker for the site, noted the resort corridor is not devoid of religion. A 1960s-era Catholic church is near the Encore and a 1990s-era Catholic church is near the Tropicana.

Still, professor Dale Wright, who teaches Asian religions at Occidental College in Los Angeles, said a Buddhist temple near Las Vegas’ alcohol-soaked and gambling-packed tourist scene would be viewed as “deeply ironic.”

“The most authentic temples are built in contemplative contexts,” Wright said in an email. “Although being in public and serving the people would be admirable qualities, the Vegas Strip is pushing this to a questionable extreme.”

[wordsworthjohnston]

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[drneilfox]

Scarlet's Swords: Music Films Book Blog 10 (July 2021)

A rollercoaster of a month emotionally with ‘the book’. So many moments of insecurity and anxiety washed away by a series of related and tangential moments and experiences. I went on annual leave finally, to await the arrival of our new baby and to spend a few weeks as a family with little to no responsibility or expectation beyond that. It was freeing to put on my out of office at work and simultaneously put a quasi-OOO on the book for the foreseeable. It might have been foolish given how far behind where I wanted to be I am currently, but it was liberating.

It caused me to rethink my approach, or at least know I need to (I haven’t done it yet because I’m stepping back a tad). In the downtime away from writing I have been tinkering and moving forward at a snail’s pace. One thing I did was to map out all the films I still need to see or see again, or at least have told myself I need to see or see again. It’s up near the 300. Obviously I can’t watch that many and write and read and edit and submit my first draft in February 2022. So I stopped worrying that I had to. I have been prioritising viewing and making peace with the fact that I can’t see everything. It’s weird how pervasive that sense is when writing about cinema and how hard it is to escape. The feeling that I am writing about something I love and want to share with people is subsumed beneath the fear of being ‘tested’ on my knowledge and the facts of it all (even though I’m not presenting fact) and what ‘gaps’ might tell people about me. This is sometimes stronger than the feeling that I am just a terrible writer writing a book no one has any interest in ever reading. I wonder if that’s my age, or the social media age, the fact that it’s taken me so long to get to this point or some wretched combination of all three.

The writing of the list certainly helped put the next few months into focus and my sketch of a new plan, once I am back in earnest at the desk, looks ok. I’m excited to work through the final films and get the book into even better shape. Other events in July certainly helped. One was finishing a draft of the fifth chapter on my list, on films about making music. It was a slog time wise, because of so many interruptions, but I got there on the final day of ‘work’ before annual leave. So it felt momentous and a good way to sign off for a bit.

There was also the arrival of some films from the U.S. I took advantage of the Barnes and Noble 50% off Criterion Collection sale and the fact that I have a dear, dear friend in New York (thank you JC!) to post stuff to me that would mean avoiding import tax, to get my hands on some classic films. I mainly wanted them for the extras but also because I love them. I picked up A Hard Day’s Night, Gimme Shelter (a July rewatch), Transes and one I’ve never seen, Murray Lerner’s Festival. I also picked up maybe my favourite ever music doc, Les Blank’s A Poem Is A Naked Person, and a box set of Blank’s work which includes a ton of music, music-centric, or music related works that I can’t wait to get stuck into. Blank is fast becoming one of my favourite filmmakers.

July’s watchlist was heavy hitters galore as I was watching and rewatching for my Milestones chapter so films and filmmakers included The Last Waltz and other Scorsese works (is Rolling Thunder Revue his best music film maybe?), Jonathan Demme, Julien Temple and films about the Beatles, Stones and Bob Dylan. Big. One such film was Demme’s beautiful concert film Heart of Gold, focusing on Neil Young not long after surgery for a brain aneurysm. It’s a warm and soulful film and one I saw on DVD, in New York, on a lazy afternoon before heading home, while staying with my friend John Carlin (the JC who sent posted me some DVDs this month). I was tired, I was all New York-ed out, and John put it on and we loved it. It meant a lot, maybe more, than it would normally had because a couple of years earlier I had written a play called How It Plays Out, that John travelled to Luton to perform in as the lead, and in the play he performed a Neil Young song, Only Love Can Break Your Heart. John Carlin is a brilliant songwriter in his own right. Check out his work here and buy Songs From The Black House, it’s one of the best records ever made, Fact. I love him.

I also read the first book that will feature in my book since I started writing back last year (nearly 12 months ago!), Thomas F. Cohen’s Playing to the Camera: Musicians and Musical Performance in Documentary Cinema. It was invigorating. Not only is it a great book, but it reminded me why I am working on mine. I want to be in dialogue with these other works that exist, reach out to and pull from them and survey the land of ideas that is music documentary and the writing on it. I loved Cohen’s style and confidence too. It gave me strength to be more confident about my own writing. It was also nice to see so much time dedicated to Shirley Clarke’s Ornette: Made in America, a truly magnificent doc I loved writing about.

So over the next few months I shall be reading more and more for the book. I am excited. That trip to the BFI library (where I learned of Cohen’s book), really galvanised me, in ways I’m becoming more aware of as I think more and write less.

Don’t forget, you can track what I’m watching (and maybe try and work out which films I’m referring to above and in the note fragments below) via my Letterboxd list, here.

Don’t forget you can listen in to my book themed playlist here.

Here’s what I was listening to while writing in July:

Finally, a bit of fun. Here are my favourite notes from this month’s viewing sessions:

Demme knows

“I just wanna play well and share the stage with my friends”

“He had a lot of ukeleles in the trunk”

Imagine booing one of the greatest live shows ever by one of, if not the, greatest rock n roll backing bands of all time.

Joan Baez’s Dylan impression is bang on.

“I don’t even wanna get in tune”

People lying around everywhere.

Need a shower after watching this.

Babies, planes and Nick Cave

Bob Marley tats and flags

Coke in the nose

Clapton - boring

Bob looks amazing!

“you booed!”

Keroauc’s grave

“I don’t want this shit to work. I hate it”

Bawdy

Ludicrous outfit Mick

Chilly at the heliport

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[style-beat-webzine]

How to style a bold print skirt 6 ways

I bought this skirt at the beginning of quarantine (March 2020), which is probably a likely story for most of us, for me I find comfort in new purchases. The real reason we’re buying so much shit in quarantine is because we need some control in our lives, and that’s okay at least we got some cute things, right?! I bought this skirt on sale so I didn’t feel too guilty about the purchase and knew I had a few ways in which I would style it once it was mine. If you’re like me the bolder the print the better, but if you’re not like me and want to venture out with trying to wear something out of your comfort zone, I’ve got you covered. I think a bold skirt would be the perfect item to start with if you’ve been wanting to try something new with your style. Skirts are easy to style with pieces you probably already own. A bold pattern on any article of clothing makes that piece the “stand out” item of the outfit, the showstopper if you will. Here are a few of my favorite ways to wear a bold print skirt and why I think the outfit works so seamlessly, so here we go!!

1. Band tee styling

I think a band tee is super universal on how you can wear it, styled up or styled down it’s definitely a wardrobe staple. That's why it makes pairing it with a bold print skirt such an easy-breezy combo, it’s simple but fancy. Depending on how you accessorize you can wear it to a party with heeled boots, or honestly anything platform would be cool,( but that’s my humble opinion.)  In the photograph, I styled it like I would if I was wearing it to a day of school, or somewhere casual. My one suggestion for causal dressing is to wear comfortable shoes, NO HIGH HEELS!! Or wear them if you dare I’d make sure it’s something easy to walk in, but that’s just me. As you can see I’m wearing my dirty checkered slip-on Vans because they are comfortable to walk in. I guess that’s the point I’m trying to get at, is just make sure it’s something you’re ok to spend the whole day in. If you're like me you’ll get super lucky that the only classes you need will be across campus from one another and be back to back haha, but for your sake I hope that’s not the case!!

    2. Mixing prints in a sneaky stylish striped kind of way

If you love mixing prints then I hope you find some inspo from this outfit, but if you’re not familiar with mixing prints and feel the urge to try it out then this combo is an easy one to pull off. It’ll make you feel funky too, in a good way!! For me a black and white striped shirt is an essential item in my wardrobe because it’s so versatile. A stripe shirt is also easy to pair with a bold print making the outfit look effortless, but fashionable. Throw on a solid color blazer or cardigan and you’re good to go. For the shoes I chose to go with a pair of mint faux crocodile skin square toed boots. When stying this outfit I wanted to mix colors as well as prints, but if you’re not feeling like that’s your cup of tea that is quite alright, just put on a neutral color cardigan as well as neutral color shoes. If you’re like my mom and have to have things matching you can match your cardigan with your shoes to make sure at least something is matching. This look will be the perfect school or work outfit that doesn’t feel to restricting, or over the top.

    3. Solid shirt styling

This type of styling is simplistic, but looks very put together and requires minimal effort, doesn’t that sound fantastic?! You can wear this combination to a casual gathering or for a day of classes. Just throw on some flat shoes such as tennis shoes, mules, ballet flats, and you catch my drift. Then after a day of classes or if you just want to spruce it up for a night out you can toss on a pair of fun shoes!! For the picture I decided to pair olive green platform sandals with a fuzzy vest, and a bold statement necklace. If you know me you know how much I love playing with colors especially in my outfits. This look satisfies that love of playful color mixing with the pastel pink of the skirt, the faded blue t-shirt and olive green shoes, eeeekkkk I’m in love!! Have fun with your outfits, play around with mixing different things and see how you feel after you’ve tried it all on together, remember your clothes should make YOU feel fabulous :)

     4. Bridgerton meets Gossip Girl styling

Do you ever buy an item of clothing because you fall in love with it at the store then later realize it was because you binged half of a series on netflix the night before? Yup, hello it’s me, I subconsciously bought this burnt orange (in some lighting a deep red) blazer because of the Duke of Hastings :)

heart eye emoji, amiright? After not only lusting over Simon, but his blazer I knew I wanted something of the sort in my wardrobe. To my lucky stars I found one that resembled his on the clearance rack at my local Target. I’m so smitten with those puff sleeves :) and the frickin’ color, come on, it’s a perfect design!! This outfit gives me Gossip Girl in the 70s feels, and I’m so here for it. This outfit works because the main focus will be on the bold print skirt. The other articles of clothing are just to accentuate the skirt. I don’t know why but I love the color combo of pinks and reds or in this case an orangish-red color together!! The darker hue of the blazer makes the lighter pink stand out. I just put a cream color blouse with fishnet tights and some chunky boots to complete this look. This could be an outfit for work or a nice dinner out with the girls :)  

    5. Andy Warhol’s Factory Girl styling

(Sorry the photo is such shit, I’m currently using an iPhone 8 and the quality sucks, broke girl problems. Although, I do love the blurriness of the image, but know others are probably hating it haha oh well.) Moving on, I just had to put an over the top outfit onto this list. This outfit was inspired by my daydreams of being one of Andy Warhol's fashionable friends at his famous Factory (his art studio) in New York City. It’s definitely the silver boots that’s giving off those Factory vibes, isn’t?! To be honest this outfit would’ve been something I would’ve worn to a day of classes, just because I’m extra af. Remember earlier in the post when I said to play around with mixing your clothes to get fun funky ensembles? This outfit was a result of playing around with clashing prints because I knew I wanted to mix some  bold prints for this post haha. I mean would it have been a fashion post from me without prints clashing?  To quote some lyrics by Gary Clark Jr, this outfit “got me feelin’ like a million bucks.” There’s something powerful and transforming when you wear bold prints together. For me it feels like I can take on the world :) never underestimate the way your clothes make you feel. 

     6. Sweatshirt styling

You’ve gotta rep the biggest city near you, especially if it’s Chicago!! I was a kid in the 90s so I remember the later years of the Chicago Bulls victories. I randomly got the idea to put this Bulls sweatshirt with this skirt while laying in bed one morning. And let me tell you, I’m so happy I did because I’m in love with red and pink together as I mentioned earlier. Of course I had to throw on a faux fur leopard coat for good measure and to get my little fix of mixing prints. Color me in love :) Not to mention how warm this outfit is which is perfect for these Chicago winters that visit us every year and always seem to over stay their welcome. For bragging rights, I thrifted that Bulls sweatshirt and got that baby for $2, what a deal!! This is another easy outfit you can put together for a cold winter day. Just add any sweatshirt you’d like to a skirt. I tucked mine in, but if you left it untucked the outfit would still work. I felt this outfit needed a pair of shoes that weren’t loud and in your face, so I went with a solid color that was also a neutral.  

That’s all I’ve got for this post, I hope you enjoyed it. I plan to make some more of these in the future. I had a lot of fun styling one piece from my wardrobe to make 6 different outfits, I’d say that’s a bang for your buck. It also makes the purchase worth every penny!! Until next time you little rockers, enjoy your moment and have fun creating your story.

Sincerely,

Michelle