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consumedkings-archive · 4 years ago

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WITCHING HOUR, a john seed/deputy fic.

chapter eleven: after you've gone

word count: ~12.6k

rating: m

warnings: canon-typical religious blasphemy, though it's in full-force here with joseph so i wanted it to be noted in the warnings. there are mentions of self-harm, both past and implied presently, and they're not treated very lightly. elliot is having a hard time.

notes: there's a lot of moving parts in this so i apologize in advance if it feels a bit slow, but everything felt really important to include and i wanted to make sure nothing got left out. thank you so much to my beta @starcrier who literally proofed this beast with all of the love in the world.

i won't ramble on too much, but i did want to say that the reception for the last two chapters really made my whole heart just explode and i wanted to thank you all! what an incredible experience it is getting to write these two gigantic idiots. <3

“I saw her. Our mor.”

Helmi cradled the phone between her shoulder and ear, scribbling absently on the side of the file she’d continued nosing through once she’d gotten back to the bunker. Like this, she felt far from Kajsa—farther than she had in the longest time. Maybe since they had welcomed her into the Family.

“Did you?” She stretched back against the truck’s seat, feet kicked up on the dash as she scanned the page, going over her own notes. Starvation, classical condition. On animals and people? In the back seat of the truck, Peaches rumbled her discontent at lack of attention; Helmi reached back and scratched her ears until the rumble turned into what she recognized as a more contented purr.

“Yes. She is doing well. Her color is just as Ase said, you know. Perfectly balanced. Poor John—I can see his suffering.”

Helmi hmm’d, the thoughtfulness matching the patient rumble Peaches had rewarded her affection with.

“Is Deputy Pratt behaving?”

“I should hope so. He has no reason to have any loyalty to the Seeds, outside of fear.”

There was a pause on the other end of the phone. Helmi was sure, in the very marrow of her bones, that Kajsa was smiling.

“And what did you give him, Helmi? To make him loyal?”

She considered. “A more impressive fear.” And then: “Also, I said I wouldn’t kill him.”

“That is just a more impressive fear bundled up pretty, my heart.”

“Mm,” Helmi replied in agreement. Whatever the case, she thought that Pratt had more to gain from fucking the Seeds over than he did by fucking them over—and that’s why Kajsa entrusted this sort of thing to her and didn’t do it herself, after all. If it had been Kajsa here, eyeing Pratt like a piece of lunchmeat, she’d have him drugged to the gills and barely aware of what was going on. Not being of use.

It’s why we make a perfect pair, something inside of her said, joy shared, joy doubled.

“Don’t rest on your laurels.”

Sorrow shared, sorrow halved.

Helmi sighed. “I’m not.”

“Keep putting pressure. I want them squirming, hjärtat.”

“I will.” She paused, sitting up in the truck and glancing out at the remaining members of the Family. Those that hadn’t given themselves a swift, clean death. After Kian’s face was crushed in, Kajsa had gathered them all and said, It’s going to be harder, from here. If you feel you cannot do it, if you think that you do not have the strength to answer our calling, then it is your time. We love you.

It had been the time for many. Morale had been—and still was—low. Ase’s death first, gut-wrenching and tragic, and then Kian’s; worse than the last. Worse, because while he had been grieving, while he had been suffering, he had still been their second-in-command. Meant to be infallible, even more so than Ase. He had been meant to carry them into their next life, after It was appeased. Contented. After It had turned the world to winter.

Now, more than ever, with only a handful of them left to huddle around their fires and sleep in the backs of cars, and kiss and laugh and hug each other in the inky black night, they felt like a ship adrift at sea.

Kajsa’s voice hummed in her ear, plastic and metal vibrating where it lay trapped between her head and shoulder. Helmi’s gaze swept away from the remaining Family members and turned her gaze back to the file. The Seeds were deeply rooted in this place—the tendrils of a tree that might be dead at the trunk but stayed for many decades after, if it wasn’t ripped out at the base.

“Did you hear me, Helmi?”

“No,” she replied truthfully. “I was distracted.”

“I am coming back,” Kajsa reiterated patiently.

“The others will be happy.”

“And what about you? Will you be happy?”

Helmi paused. She closed the file, dropped it back onto the dashboard and cranked the seat back so that she could stretch a little, her eyes tracing the tinny, ancient ceiling of the truck she’d lifted from Eden’s Gate. She exhaled, once, and then held her breath; closed her eyes, felt the ache of it between her ribs.

“I sense before me a lost lamb.”

“Not lost,” Helmi replied, her lungs tight. “Just—thinking.”

“Must I divine the dark cloud over your soul myself?”

She allowed her body to take air back in. “I wonder,” she murmured, “if it will be enough to appease the Father.”

“Do you wonder,” Kajsa hummed, “or do you worry?”

A moment of silence stretched. And then, the rich, melodic timbre of the Hierophant’s voice came through again, idle and pulled snug against her ear, like Kajsa was really right there again to say the words against her skin: “What will you do, if Staci Pratt defects despite your Machiavellian threats of harm so great he should never consider to incur it?”

“I don’t know,” Helmi replied uneasily. “It would depend on if he brought mor and the interloper, or if he just—”

“The answer, hjärtat, is that you do not know, because it has not been revealed to you yet.” Despite the interruption, Kajsa’s voice was pleasant and serene. Ever since Ase’s death, she’d been more tempered—like she was playing a role, filling a void. Helmi almost missed her cruelty. Like it was a creature comfort. “There is no use in wondering, because we will never know before it is our time to. We want for much. Whether or not we are given it remains to be seen. Our Father is a most...”

Her voice trailed off. Helmi tried to think of what words Kajsa might use; stringent, perhaps, ambitious, or even enigmatic—

“Wretched god,” Kajsa finished, a grin in her voice. “It does so love to watch us toil, does It not?”

“Yes,” she answered after a moment, because wretched resonated somewhere in her soul, somewhere in the marrow of her bones, reminding her why this had felt like home ever in the first place. Wretched, to watch them suffer, to give them so little information and let them suffer wreck after wreck.

In front of her, the dark of the forest swelled, breathed, reminded her: failure was not an option. Theirs was not a benevolent, forgiving God, the kind who would forgive sin if one only asked—the Father was wrathful, was vengeful, and would make them suffer their insolence and their ineptitude.

“I should get going. I imagine our mor will not be far behind, thanks to your ingenuity, and I want to be in Hope County to welcome her.”

“I am,” Helmi blurted out after a second of hesitation, “happy, that you’re coming back.”

There was a pause on the other end; and then, a soft breath, where Helmi thought maybe Kajsa was smiling again.

“Ingenting under solen är beständigt, my heart.”

The call clicked. Only empty air and static, then, buzzing faintly in the ear, the words dead in her mouth before she’d had the chance to say them back.

Nothing under the sun is lasting.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Elliot was going to be sick. Nevermind the morning-after-dread of realizing she had caved in on her most basest animal desires—What, the man who’s perhaps lied to you the most tells you he’s never thought you’re crazy, and you let him fuck you? Come on, Elliot,—but listening to Pratt ramble nervously into the phone about how he didn’t realize everyone was gone, nobody stopped to look for him, nobody tried to call, he thought she had left too and she had, where was she? Was she okay?

“I’m fine,” she managed out. Guilt ripped through her sternum, burning hot and shameful. I’m fine, Pratt, don’t worry about me. Got well and truly railed last night, it’s fine. Oh, also, I’m going to have a baby. And I’m married. Don’t worry, you found out about the same time as me, just off a few weeks. “I’m at my mom’s.”

“In Georgia?”

“Yeah.” Elliot swallowed thickly. “Are you okay? You sound like shit.”

Pratt laughed uneasily on the other end of the line. “I’m with, uh—I’m with them.” He paused. “The Seeds. And their—the lawyer lady.”

“That doesn’t tell me if you’re okay,” she reiterated, more firmly.

He laughed again. “I’m on the phone with you, aren’t I?”

Frustrating. They might all be looming around him, waiting to hear what she was going to say. It was a trap, of course. Jacob or Joseph had done enough digging around in her past to find out they’d gone to school together, had gone to school dances, had basically dated—and they knew she’d evacuated the entirety of the Resistance otherwise. They were clearly laying a trap to get her to come back. But for what?

“Hey, um—” Staci cleared his throat. “Ell, there’s—a lot of bad stuff going on. There’s these people, and they’re—they’re just killing people, left and right, gutting them and sticking them up and—Jesus, they fucking split Miss Mabel open like a fish, and I’m—”

Oh, there it was; the sickness, the violent urge to throw up. The Family was supposed to be dead. They had been killing themselves off in pairs after Kian’s death, weren’t they? Elliot blinked rapidly, trying to calm the furious beating of her heart, the way it slammed against her rib cage and demanded penance.

Calloused fingers swept her hair to the side and squeezed at the juncture between her neck and shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. She closed her eyes tight, willing herself to accept it for what it was—John, comforting her, because even now he knew her well enough to see she was spiraling.

I can’t, is what she needed to say. I can’t come back, Staci, I can’t, not me and not my baby, my hands are already covered in blood I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry—

“—I’m so fucking scared, Ell.” Pratt’s voice wobbled on the other end, hitting straight at the fresh welt of guilt in her chest, ripping and tearing at it.

I can’t—

“I don’t want to be alone—”

I’m sorry I can’t I’m sorry—

“—I’m sorry—”

“I’ll come,” she blurted out, her voice hoarse, the burn behind her eyes and in her nose a threat of oncoming tears. She couldn’t stand it—couldn’t bear to hear him like this, when this whole time he was supposed to have been safe. She’d let him down, and while she had a responsibility to herself, the responsibility to the others had always come first.

And, better still, was the tiny, tiny fragment of hope that the dark-haired woman with a mouth like broken glass would be left behind, too. The dog with the man’s face and the strands of her hair glinting between Its bloody teeth would stay here, in Weyfield. It would wait for her, but perhaps there would be some peace there, too.

It waits for you, It waits for us all, It will have you. As It gives, so too does It take.

“Tell them I’m coming back.” Elliot bit the words out through her teeth. “And tell them if I come back and you’re hurt, or dead, or—if there’s anything wrong with you, I’m going to fucking kill them. Okay?”

“No need,” came Jacob’s voice over the phone. “You’re on speaker, Deputy Honeysett. We’re well acquainted with your particular brand of mania.”

“Great,” she snapped, feeling a vicious flush spread through her cheeks despite the fact that she didn’t feel bad at all for what she’d said. “You thought I was fucking manic before? I had nothing to lose, then. Imagine how much worse I’ll make your life now—”

John’s hand squeezed again. This time, she shot him a venomous look over her shoulder and shrugged him off. Elliot knotted her fingers in Boomer’s fur and prompted again, “Is that clear?”

The eldest Seed sounded like he was smiling when he said, “Crystal, Deputy.”

“Good.” She paused. “And don’t fucking call me that. I’m not a deputy, anymore.”

“Sure thing, hellcat.”

“Pratt—”

Jacob’s voice came again: “Have a safe trip.”

The phone call beeped once, twice, three times, and then ended. The hard knot of dread in the pit of her stomach did not lessen; she hit the redial button, and it went straight to voicemail. Again, and again, and again, her hands shaking as she thought wait, I didn’t get to say goodbye, I didn’t get to promise I’d be there, I’m coming Pratt, I’m coming please don’t be worried, before she shoved the phone into John’s grip.

“Call him back,” she demanded, “make him pick up the phone—”

“Elliot,” he began, “if he turned the phone off, I can’t—”

“Fuck you!” she snapped, coming to a stand and raking her fingers through her hair. “You fucking knew they had Pratt, didn’t you? You knew that he was still trapped there and he didn’t get out, and you fucking left him there, so that you could pull me back if it didn’t go the way you wanted—”

John stood too, setting the phone on the bedside table and lifting his hands. The gesture was meant to calm and soothe, see my hands? Here they are, no threat here, but all it did was make her angrier, stoke a fire inside of her that had apparently lain dormant since she’d left Hope County.

Elliot smacked his hands down. “Don’t treat me like some fucking animal, John.”

“I’m not,” he defended quickly, dropping his hands all the way back to his sides when Boomer barked twice, sharp and accusatory, hackles lifting. “I didn’t know Pratt was still there. I thought the Resistance had got him out, and I didn’t bother asking.”

“You should have bothered—”

“I’m just as displeased as you are,” John interjected dryly, the dark coloring of his tone implying that he was—but for perhaps a different reason. It struck her that he might, in fact, be so displeased because he was aware of their history, on some level. It did feel a little gratifying to know that he was squirming for such an insignificant reason.

“You fuckhead,” she spit. “You put a fucking baby in me and you still have the insecurity of a middle school boy.”

“We both know,” he replied tartly, “that our baby is not in any way binding you to me, Elliot. And is it so shocking, considering that the thing that I want most in the world is for you to come home, and you fight me at every turn—”

“Hope County isn’t my home anymore—”

“—but Staci Pratt calls you and cries a little into the phone, and you’re jumping at the bit to go back?”

“Fuck. Off,” Elliot bit out between her teeth, face flushing. “Pratt is my friend, which is more than I can say for you.”

“Right,” John agreed, “because you let the person you hate fuck you.”

Her mouth clamped shut, biting and swallowing back a wad of venom she thought might make her sick if she let it out. There was too much of it, the things that she wanted to say—fuckyoufuckyoufuckyou, I fucking hate you, you make me sick, if anything is wrong with Pratt I’ll kill your brothers and then I’ll fucking kill you too—but she didn’t say any of it.

Instead, she said, “Get out. I’m getting changed and we’re leaving.”

John sighed, passing a hand over his face for a moment like maybe he regretted what he’d said. “We can’t.”

She felt her voice spike, near incredulous hysteria: “Pardon?”

“Old Father Time of the Job Ineptitude mentioned he had Federal agents showing up out of nowhere,” he snapped. The words had her stomach twisting; her first thought was a tiny spike of happiness at the idea of Cameron Burke, and then it was quickly doused by the sharp reminder that she’d stolen his gun and ran with it. Because he thought she was crazy. Because he was going to put her behind bars.

John continued, “He seemed to be implying it was somehow related to me showing up, and by proxy you, and if we up and leave—”

“It’ll make it look more suspicious,” she finished, feeling a little numb. “Okay, so—what? How long do we have to wait?”

He scratched his cheek, his eyes flickering absently over the duvet on the bed, like he was trying to map it out in his own head. No doubt, he was trying to operate on multiple timelines—the timeline of Not Raising Suspicion, and whatever timeline Joseph had given him.

Some things really did never change.

“After your mother’s Christmas party,” he ventured finally. “It’s not quite Christmas—could look enough like we’re sticking around for enough holiday cheer to be passable before leaving again. Pritchard’s clearly not unfamiliar with your mother’s...”

His voice trailed off. He looked to her as though asking for permission to say something critical; when Elliot remained stonefaced and immovable, he finished, “...temperament.”

“Nice save.”

“Well,” he replied, humble as ever. “Anyway, that probably wouldn’t rouse suspicion. If it is Burke, and your house isn’t getting stormed right now, I have to think he’s here on unofficial business. Otherwise, why wouldn’t they just come and bust the door down and grab you?”

Elliot hoped that was the case. She hoped this meant that Burke was just trying to find her, and was not hunting her down at the behest of the government. If there was one thing that Joseph had been right about amidst all his doomsday-saying and whatnot, it was that according to the news, there was a big chance the government had bigger things on their hands. Bigger concerns than a tiny town in Montana and its cult inhabitants.

“Get out,” she said again. “So I can change.”

“You—” John sucked in a little breath, stopping himself from what was inevitably going to be stirring another argument; he lifted his hands again, this time in surrender. “Alright, Ell. I said you’d get anything you want, I’ll give it to you.”

“Chop-chop.”

“I’m going. Mind if I pull some clothes on before I walk out into the house owned by your mother, where she has almost assuredly been sipping her vodka martini since four AM?”

She felt her eyes narrow. “Fine.”

Turning, she crossed the bedroom into the master bath and shut the door behind her, pressing the heels of her palms to her eyes until fine webbing scattered across the dark of her eyelids. This was the last thing she needed—and it felt, surely, traitorous and awful to think it, to think, this is the last thing I need, Pratt needing rescuing, when the only reason she’d felt comfortable leaving Hope County in the first place was because she thought the only people who were left were cultists.

Elliot dropped her hands from her eyes, blinking a few times until her vision cleared. In the mirror—much as it had been since coming back from Hope County—stood a girl that she thought looked like a stranger. Blushed cheeks and kiss-reddened lips, her neck littered with love marks, the healthy glow blooming up from beneath the WRATH scar on her chest, exposed by her loosely cinched robe.

That’s not me, she thought, pulling absently on a strand of red hair and swallowing thickly. I’m not that girl.

Her face was softer than before, more lively color rising up around her eyes and cheeks and mouth. More of her freckles had come out. There was a tiny, tiny—almost imperceptible—slope to her tummy, now, too.

Not me, came the thought again, more distressed this time, her brows pulling together at the center of her forehead. That’s not me. I’m not that girl. Who are you, pretty girl? Not me.

The woman and her dark hair—dark dark dark, like an oil slick, looming in the corner of her mind. Her mouth red as pomegranate and stretched like broken glass.

I hear stress is bad for the baby.

A knock came at the door. Elliot blinked, feeling unwell and unsure of how long she’d been standing there, her hand having dropped to cup the slope of her stomach experimentally. Women did that, right? When they were pregnant? Did it make them feel closer to the baby? Did it make them feel more protected?

Did she feel safer?

“Ell,” John said, nudging the door open, “your mother is...”

Pulling away from the door, she cinched the robe tight and busied herself at the sink, turning the water on. As he stepped into the bathroom, she could see John was now fully-dressed, freshly-showered. She’d been standing in front of the mirror trying to recognize the person staring back at her long enough for him to do that, it seemed.

“That was a quick shower,” she said briskly, splashing her face and rubbing absently at her cheek. She could feel John’s eyes on her through the mirror, even though she refused to meet them.

“I’ve always preferred it that way,” he replied casually. And then: “Get distracted?”

Yes, she thought, but didn’t say, because then the things he’d said last night that had made her feel sane and normal wouldn’t mean anything anymore. John would have said I don’t think you’re crazy and he’d have to take it back, because if she told him there was a stranger standing in her mirror, he would think she was crazy.

“It’s weird,” is what Elliot offered after a moment, trying to find a way to be honest and redirect, “to see a baby bump. Even if it’s small.” She cleared her throat and fished her toothbrush out of the holder. Continuing briskly, she added, “And the scar. I spent a lot of time avoiding it.”

John’s expression had done that funny thing that she supposed was softening at her words. He stepped forward; the ghost of his fingers trailing her ribs over the robe made her skin prickle with goosebumps.

“I’m not done being mad at you,” she warned him, eyes flickering to meet his gaze through the mirror.

“I know,” he replied, tone agreeable. “I just—”

The brunette paused then, waiting for her to stop him before he smoothed the warmth of his palm over her hip, across the expanse of her abdomen. It was painfully intimate in a way that didn’t imply sex—intimate, in the way that she felt seen, that she could see the relief coloring the edges of his expression.

John pressed his mouth to the back of her shoulder. “Just missed you,” he murmured after a moment. “Getting to touch you. Even just like this. Especially just like this—”

Something panged sharp and unforgiving in her chest. “Well, don’t get used to it,” she replied tightly, brushing his hand away from the baby bump after letting it linger for a moment. “And I don’t remember inviting you in.”

“Your mother was asking after you,” John said, by way of explanation, looking pleased from their little moment. Fucker. “She wanted to know if you’d be drinking coffee this morning. I think her exact words were, ‘Mr. Seed, would you ask my daughter if she’s going to take the risk of drinking coffee this morning? I know she shouldn’t be, with her condition—’”

“Ugh.”

“‘—but since we’re going to be picking out her dress for the Christmas party today, I could make an exception—’”

“Fuck me,” she muttered, wetting her toothbrush and putting the toothpaste on it. “Ask her if she can make it extra strong.”

“I’m actually enjoying being out of your mother’s ire for a minute.”

Elliot rolled her eyes. “No coffee for me.”

“Got it.” John headed for the bathroom door, and then paused again, turning to look at her. “Ell,” he began, “I really didn’t know—you know, about Pratt.”

That pesky little flutter of something agonizingly sweet—softness—in her chest flared again.

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” is what she said, before she turned the toothbrush on and started scrubbing her teeth. That seemed enough of an answer for John, for once, because he left and closed the door quietly behind him after deliberating.

The minutes, and hours, and days—well, day or two—until they got back to Hope County were going to be something close to agony. She could only hope they had taken her seriously when she told them that she’d better come back to a Pratt in one piece.

I don’t want to be alone. Pratt’s voice echoed hauntingly in her head. She thought she could remember the sound of voices in the background—a woman’s, at least. Faith? Or John’s friend, Isolde? Surely Jacob and Joseph were there listening to him call her, too. She’d been so fucking stupid to let them get to her.

No, not stupid. Not stupid to want Pratt to feel safe, and like someone was coming back for him.

I’m sorry, she thought tiredly, as though the words could somehow get to him. I’m sorry, that it’s me you have to wait for.

I’m sorry that I won’t be the person you remembered.

I’m sorry.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“You did so well, Staci.”

Faith’s voice jarred him out of the weird pause in time he’d been marinating in. It had been just a few seconds, maybe—Jacob and Joseph were talking in low voices, the dark-haired woman standing at the point of their little triangle with her arms crossed and her brows furrowed—that his brain had shut off, the distress in Elliot’s voice echoing eerily in his head. She’d sounded so upset. He wouldn’t have called, wouldn’t have started to ask her to come back, if he’d known how much she didn’t want to.

But that wasn’t true, either. He would have called, because Helmi had said, Either the Seeds are going to drag her back by her hair kicking and screaming, and eventually kill her, or she comes back and we keep her safe.

‘Safe’ had been the keyword there. He didn’t know how much he could take the woman at her word, but considering everything—well, it was better than trying to take the Seeds at their word.

Faith’s hand touched the back of his, startling him into a tiny jump. He cleared his throat. “Um—I wasn’t...Acting.”

“Still,” she replied sweetly, “I know it must have been hard.”

She was so polished—skin all dusted silver and moonlike, flushed with a little high color in her cheeks, her blonde hair tumbling around her face loosely. In the chapel, the air was tepid at best, and frigid at worst, keeping a little pink in everyone’s faces.

It was strange to look at her now. Her hands were soft; her skin unblemished. Just hours ago, he’d been sitting in the car, noticing the same kinds of details about Helmi—about how human she looked, hand slung over a steering wheel, her cracked phone plugged into the truck’s stereo and her chipped nail polish and the scars and bruises littering her knuckles. The way she’d shot him a toothy, wolfish grin as she cranked the volume up and said, What, Staci Pratt, you don’t like Blue Öyster Cult either?

In comparison, Faith didn’t feel human at all. She felt like a dream.

“Can—” Pratt came to a stand, rubbing his palms on the tops of his thighs. “Can I go? Lay down, or something?”

Three pairs of eyes snapped to him. The dark-haired woman, who Jacob kept referring to as Sol, completely ignored his question and looked at the redhead to say, “Has someone checked him for head trauma?”

“I’m not—concussed!” Pratt snapped, his voice wobbling. “I’m just tired.”

Jacob’s eyes narrowed. He looked like maybe he wanted to say something, and then reconsidered, saying, “Dr. Hale will take a look at you and then sure, Peaches, you can rest.”

It took every ounce of his self-control to not tell Jacob to stop calling him that. He had to remember that as far as they were concerned, he hadn’t been taken in by the “other side”, he’d been sitting scared and meek like a good boy at the compound.

Pratt’s eyes darted, catching sight of the woman that Jacob gestured to with a free hand. Right. The Fall’s End vet. She’d been here for what—a little over a year? He couldn’t tell if she was being held captive by Eden’s Gate or if she was there by her own volition, though the few times he’d run into her before she’d seemed like a pretty even-keel person. Didn’t she have like, two degrees or something? What was she doing here?

He made his way to the back of the church, meeting the curly-haired blonde halfway. Definitely looked too clean to be a cultist. “You’re not a people doctor, right?” he asked uneasily, watching as her head cocked to the side and her mouth quirked in a bit of amusement.

“No, Mr. Pratt, I am not a people doctor.” She fell into step beside him, opening the chapel door for him. “But I do have first aid training, which I think is about as good as you’re going to get around these parts.”

“I didn’t get a concussion.”

“That’s good. When was the last time you ate?”

His mouth twisted in a frown, trailing after through the snow as the cold began to sink into his bones. She seemed awfully confident moving around the compound, if she wasn’t part of the cult. But if she was, what was she doing here? How did—?

Pain bloomed behind his eyes, a fresh headache sinking into his nerves. Too much. It was too much confusion, about Elliot (pregnant? And John Seed was with her?) and about the Family and about all of these—these people that he didn’t really recognize hanging around the Seeds. And the compound was so quiet. Where was everyone? Had the Family really taken that many of Eden’s Gate out?

“Mr. Pratt?”

The woman opened a door into a bunkhouse that glowed with golden light from within and radiated heat. Two long-haired shepherds lay on the floor at the foot of the bed, lifting long faces and peering at him with dark eyes. He stepped inside and cleared his throat.

“Uh, a day, maybe,” he replied after a minute. Taking a seat when she gestured for him to, he shifted uncomfortably as she set a first aid kid on the cushion beside him and pulled one of the wooden chairs up in front of him.

“And slept?” She blew a curl out of her face and opened the kit, fishing around to find some alcohol wipes and Neosporin. He guessed he was a bit worse for wear than he’d thought, initially; not that he’d been taking great care of himself, even when it had just been him and Dani. She’d encouraged him to stay high, not stay better.

Fuck, I’m such an idiot.

He let out a little hiss when she pressed one of the alcohol wipes to a cut on his cheek.

“The same,” he replied, reaching up and brushing her hand away. “What—what are you doing here, doctor?”

“Arden is fine.” She sat back, regarding him curiously. “I’m cleaning that cut, Mr. Pratt. It looks agitated.”

“No, I—” Pratt let out a little breath. “I mean here. In the compound.”

Arden stared at him for a moment, like she didn’t understand why he was asking her that question. She lifted her hand and arched a brow inquisitively; when he nodded shortly, she leaned forward again, balancing her free hand on his shoulder and using the other to gently dab at the cut.

“I’ve spent the last month or so holed up in my house,” she explained to him. “Me, and the dogs, I mean.”

A little smile ghosted over her lips, and despite himself, Pratt felt a wry smile tugging at his own. It was difficult not to feel relaxed, when Arden moved with so much surety. In the glow of the radiators ticking away and the warm yellow light, especially.

“Mostly reading. They had assigned one of the boys to me—Santiago. I think he’s John’s man. He doesn’t strike me as one of Joseph or Faith’s.”

Pratt made a little noise of agreement, because he knew exactly what she was talking about. She dropped the alcohol wipes to the side and reached over for the Neosporin, dabbing some onto her finger and then reaching back up to resume her work.

“Sorry,” he said after a moment. “That you got—stuck, I mean. Here.”

“Oh, you don’t need to apologize, Mr. Pratt.”

“I feel partially responsible,” he admitted, feeling some of the tension flee his shoulders. “You know, being law enforcement and all—”

“Hold still, please.”

“Sorry,” he said again. “I guess what I mean is—sometimes it feels like a real failing on our part. All of those people, I...”

He paused, and Arden leaned back, giving him a pat on the knee. “That’s alright, Mr. Pratt,” and her voice bloomed with comfort. “Where was I?”

“Up at your house, with the dogs and maybe one of John’s men.”

“Right. I wasn’t allowed to leave, you know, on account of the—” She gestured with an elegant hand. “Cult running amok.”

He nodded. “Cult number two.”

Arden smiled, and continued, “And then just a few days ago, after one of them started killing those folks in Fall’s End, Jacob came up to get me.”

The way she said it made him feel, a little uneasily, that maybe he was misreading it. Jacob came up to get me did not sound like Jacob came to pick me up because I’m his prisoner.

And then she said, “He was worried, you know. Only having a radio up there. I know how to use a gun, but I’d prefer not to, if I don’t have to, and—”

“Sorry,” he blurted out, “but are you—”

She blinked light eyes at him, almost owlishly, like she didn’t understand the question. “Am I...?”

“With? Them?” Pratt gestured towards where the chapel lay, beyond the bunkhouse walls. “The—Eden’s Gate?”

“Oh!” Arden laughed, almost sheepishly; he felt a nervous little laugh bubbling out of him too, almost hoping for the relief of her assuring him that she was, in fact, not in league with the Darwinian psycho that had spent the last few months mindfucking every resident he could get his hands on.

She came to a stand and pulled a bottle of ibuprofen and a granola bar out of the kit, dropping them in his hand.

“Eat the bar before you take the ibuprofen,” she told him, “or it’ll—well, I’m sure you know. Upset stomach, and all that. Do you want to take a shower?”

Pratt’s fingers curled around the ibuprofen bottle. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“I’m sorry,” Arden replied, not sounding very sorry at all, “I guess I just thought it a bit silly. Who else would I be “with”?”

His stomach somersaulted, sinking viciously. Suddenly, the granola bar—which had certainly been sitting in the kit for who knew how long—looked even less appetizing than before. While his vision swam for a second, the woman carried on conversationally, as though she had not just revealed herself to—

Well, to be in league with the Darwinian psycho that had spent the last few months mindfucking every resident he could get his hands on.

“But—they think the world is ending,” Pratt blurted out, lifting his eyes to look at her finally. “And—doctor, all the people they killed, and—”

“Don’t strain yourself, Mr. Pratt. You’ve been under quite a bit of duress as of late, I think, and it would be best to try and keep those stress levels down.” She moved to the small pantry beside the bathroom, shuffling around and producing a few towels, leaning into the bathroom to set them on the counter. “Though, you do bring up a funny point—have you been listening to the news? I suppose you haven’t. I remember listening to the news before all of this business went down and thinking that the world had ended a long time ago. We were just a bit behind, all the way out here. Do you want to take a shower?”

Blinking furiously, Pratt searched his brain for the answer; he muddled through the disappointment raking down his spine, the delicate little hope that had been fostered at the prospect of finding someone who was kind and not under the Seeds’ thumb being crushed beneath the weight of the reality of his situation.

“Yes please,” he managed out, his voice hoarse.

“Alright. Eat that bar first, so you don’t pass out in the hot water. And Mr. Pratt?”

“Y—” He had clumsily ripped open the granola bar and shoved half into his mouth, the fear of being seen as disobedient when Jacob Seed was within radius flickering like a wildfire through his body. He swallowed thickly, the dry food feeling like it was sticking to the inside of his mouth. “Um, yes?”

Her expression colored sympathetic, Arden reached down and fished a water bottle out of the case, dropping it in his hand.

“The honorific isn’t necessary,” she told him. “Remember, Arden is just fine.”

“Yes ma’am,” he mumbled. “I mean—Arden.”

She smiled, this time with teeth. “Good. You holler if you need me.”

I won’t, he thought, even though she was probably preferable to anyone else coming to his rescue.

Maybe he really would rather be dead.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Scarlet insisted that John stay at the house while they went to the boutique. It was all a big show of his mother-in-law attempting, he thought, to be polite, though she failed miserably at it; and as much as John wanted to argue that it would probably be best if he came along—considering their late-night visitor—he could tell when a battle was a lost one, and when it wasn’t.

“Do you think you can do that, Mr. Seed?” she asked, pulling the objectively ostentatious fur coat around her shoulders and buttoning it. “Remain in my home for a few hours, without causing me any problems?”

He said, “I think I can certainly give it a shot,” to which the blonde rolled her eyes.

“Please do more than that.”

“Rest assured, I am fully capable of behaving myself, Mrs. Honeysett.”

He couldn’t wait to be rid of her. Every second he spent in her presence, being reminded of how little she liked him given how much she didn’t know about him—or care to get to know about him, anyway—he thought, I cannot fucking wait to get back to Hope County and the resurgence of the Family. I cannot wait until that is my only fucking problem. Anyone else and she would have been thoroughly cleansed; clearly, Wrath ran in the family. Just the thought of it made his fingers itch.

Elliot had looked tired already, standing at the door and letting her mother go first. As soon as Scarlet was out the door, carefully picking her way down the front steps, John’s hand went to Ell’s hip; her lashes fluttered at the contact, but she didn’t jerk away; only tensed, considering the act of balking and pulling away from him but not yet committing. So there had been progress.

Her free hand came to his shoulder, resting there uncertainly. “Please don’t do anything to my mother’s house.”

“As much as I would love to, I will refrain from my wretched impulses. I am a man of God, after all.” He grimaced. “Do you think she’ll like me more if things are immaculate?”

“Ha-ha. She certainly will not.” She paused, letting out a little breath. “Okay. Back in an hour.”

He felt a smile tug at his mouth. “Ambitious.” His hand drifted to the small of her back, and he said, “Ell, before you go—”

“John, I don’t—”

Elliot turned to look at him at the same time that he stepped forward, closing what little distance there was and rapidly; she blinked, and her eyes flickered to his mouth instinctively, like she was expecting it—like she’d gotten used to the affection when he closed in on her like that. The gesture sent a little thrill through his stomach.

Mine.

“Don’t let her stress you out,” John murmured, keeping his voice low between just the two of them. “You’ll look good in whatever you pick.”

She turned her face away, cheeks going pink. “What’s this, huh? Still trying to make up for being a complete fuckhead this morning?”

He grinned. “You really have gotten brattier.”

“Goodbye, John,” she said, and then he leaned in and kissed her; the connection made every part of him sigh, collectively, as though he’d just been waiting for it.

Waiting for her.

Yes yes yes, it all said when she didn’t pull away, his fingers curling into the fabric of her sweater at the small of her back as her hand slipped from his shoulder to his chest, yes, mine all mine.

Elliot did pull back after a moment, putting a bit of space between them—though it seemed more to catch her breath than anything else. She only pulled back enough for their eyes to meet; John’s gaze darted downward, watching pearly teeth as they tugged at her lower lip, worrying it there for a moment.

“To answer your question,” he continued as casually as he could, “that’s not how I intend on making that up to you.”

“So you agree?” Elliot asked. Her voice came out evenly, despite the color blooming underneath the freckles on her cheeks. “You were being a complete fuckhead this morning?”

“I did so miss our banter.”

“Bunny,” Scarlet called impatiently from the driveway, “the boutique is going to get crowded if we don’t get there when it opens.”

“I’m coming!” Her gaze darted back to him. “The best way to make it up to me would be to say the words out loud,” Elliot informed him as she inched toward the door. “So that baby can hear them, too. At least you’ll have been more honest around our child than with me, if we’re keeping a running tally, and we should—”

He tugged her back from the doorway again, lighter, more playful as he went in to kiss her a second time; but she pulled back, just out of his reach, hand planted firmly on his chest.

Elliot said, “I told you not to get used to it.”

“I’m not,” he answered lightly, “just taking what I can get.”

“Elliot.”

“Coming!” Elliot cinched her coat up more snug, closer to her throat and where the scar lay expertly over her sternum, and snagged the keys off of the counter to the beat-up Honda Civic John had lifted from Eden’s Gate. Right. He couldn’t wait to hear Scarlet’s input on that car ride.

The redhead made it down two steps before she paused, turning and looking at John and going, “Um, bye,” in a tone that was more sheepish than he anticipated; it was almost shy, and it caught him so off-guard that he didn’t even get the chance to muster a response before she was making her way across the snowy driveway.

“Drive safe,” John called, once he’d gathered his senses a bit more. Elliot glanced at him over her shoulder and then ducked into the car, closing the door and beginning to pull her way down the drive. He waited until they’d turned onto the freshly plowed road before he turned back into the house and closed the front door behind him.

Boomer had seated himself in front of the window, letting out a little whine as his tail swept along the floor.

“C’mon, furry sentinel,” he sighed, not risking putting his hand within biting reach. “Just you and me today.”

The Heeler whined again, apparently thoroughly displeased at this news, and stayed rooted at the window to watch for his girl to come home.

Fishing his phone out of his pocket, he hit the redial button on the number they’d gotten a call from that morning and waited as the phone rang, pacing around the polished living room. It rang enough times as he idly adjusted glasses on a bar cart that he thought for certain no one would pick up—and then the phone clicked, and a warm voice came through.

“Hi, John.”

He blinked in surprise. “Hello, Faith. How’d you get this phone?”

“Isolde passed it to me when she saw your call. She wanted me to tell you that she’s too busy to talk to you.”

A wry smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Sounds like everything’s operating as normal, then.”

“I suppose.” Faith paused. “Are you coming home soon?”

“I am.”

“With Elliot?”

“Yes, she—” John cleared his throat and made an effort to sound as unbothered as possible. “She’s very concerned about Deputy Pratt’s well-being.”

“We’re taking good care of him. Will you tell her that? Better than he’d be getting out there, anyway,” and she said the word out there with such a surprising amount of venom that John realized he’d nearly forgotten about the Family’s reappearance. Well, there couldn’t be that many of them left, could there?

And then Faith said, “A lot of us are dead, John.”

His hand went to the mantle for a little support as he leaned against it. There was a bit of a bite to Faith’s voice—almost accusatory. A lot of us are dead, she said, as he stood in the plush home of his mother-in-law while they went dress shopping for a Christmas party. It occurred to him that none of his siblings—nor Isolde—were aware of what they’d been dealing with the last couple of days; they must have felt like he was getting off easy.

“The Father says we only have a little while longer,” she continued, “and that if we can’t fix this in time, we won’t wait for you. He’s been alone, a lot. Talking to God. Praying for more time, for you.”

The words made his stomach wrench, a little. He would have felt worse if he didn’t know already that there was an exit plan in place, one that Elliot was already on board for. “We’re only here for another day, and then we’re leaving” John replied. “The sheriff mentioned some—Federal agents. I don’t want to rouse suspicion and bring them down on us again.”

“Do you think it’s Burke?”

“Maybe.” He pressed his forehead against the stone mantle. “Probably. No one’s come storming in yet.”

“I hope it’s him. I hope he follows you all the way back here.” And then, darker: “He has a lot to apologize for.”

John made a low noise of agreement. It felt good to have a conversation with someone who seemed to be on the same side as him, for once—no bickering with Scarlet, no bickering with Elliot, and no bickering with Isolde. As of late, it seemed he was only capable of incurring arguments; though that did seem to be changing quickly with his wife.

“We’re having a service soon. Did you want me to tell Joseph anything?”

“Ah, no, that’s alright. I just wanted to let you know we had a plan.”

“Do you want to talk to him?”

“No,” John said again, more quickly and with a bout of unease sprinting up his spine. “No, that’s alright. I’ll let you go. We’ll be home soon, okay?”

“Alright.” Faith’s voice lightened when she added, “Tell Elliot I said hello.”

Bad idea, he thought, but said, “Of course,” and hit the end call button. It wasn’t until his entire body relaxed that he realized he’d been fully tensed, waiting for some kind of verbal blow—and though there had been a few, he felt...

Fine.

I feel fine.

It was fine. Everything was fine. Joseph was praying for more time for them. They’d make it back without a hitch. And then, when the world ended, and took the remainder of the Family with them—

Well, that would be all the better.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“My children.”

The heaters rattled, clicking in the lukewarm air in a steady, mechanical heartbeat. Candles lit throughout the chapel drenched the members of Eden’s Gate in a strange, golden glow, and as Joseph’s voice carried all the way to the back where Staci sat between Jacob and Arden. He could see in the front row sat Faith and the dark-haired woman—who he’d come to understand was Isolde Khan, John’s old business partner—and there was a moment where Joseph’s eyes fixed on her before they lifted back to the congregation.

“God has truly been testing us,” the man continued, pacing away from the altar the front, hands folded behind him. “As you know, I have spent a lot of time in silence and solitude so that I might be the most open to receiving from Him. For the longest time, I thought—had we done something wrong? Had I led us astray? Were we being punished?”

An uneasy murmur rippled throughout the crowd. In the front, Pratt could see Isolde writing something down in a notebook; he wished he was closer, so he could see what it was—what was so interesting that she was taking notes now, of all times? What could she possibly be doing?

Preparing for the worst-case scenario, he thought idly, shifting in his seat. Jacob’s eyes cut over to him and he cleared his throat. The shower had done nothing to ease his nerves.

“But I’ll tell you—devout, and loyal, we have not been left to the wayside.” Joseph stopped, pressing a hand onto a woman’s shoulder, squeezing. “I have heard His voice. I have received His word. We are not only followers of God’s word—we are His soldiers.”

The noise that passed through the congregation this time was brighter, agreements—it must have felt good. Not just passive sheep, to be shepherded; soldiers. Capable of violence. And they were.

“We are His warriors.”

The woman Joseph’s hand was on was getting teary-eyed, and when he departed from her to sidle his way down the aisle, she all but collapsed in on herself, folding in half to bury her face in her hands. Another attestation of acknowledgment rippled around him, louder.

“This world is a wretched, vile machine, taking in and spitting out sin, flooding our garden with locusts,” the Prophet continued, his voice lifting in volume. “We are, my children, the only people who have the great fortune of seeing this—of knowing what no one else in the world seems capable of understanding. God has told me—”

Sick, Pratt thought dizzily, I’m going to be sick.

“—that a life of bliss awaits us, if we can only...”

Joseph paused, as though he needed to look for the words, as though he hadn’t been reciting this all day in preparation for the sermon; Pratt knew that he must, the assured cadence of his voice coming so firmly that there was no way it wasn’t rehearsed.

“...look past the dread, and the fear,” he continued earnestly, allowing his hand to be taken by another member, “because fear is the language of the Devil—if we can look past it, and dedicate ourselves fully to His cause, there is only happiness and serenity waiting for us on the other side of this.”

“How do we do it, Father?” a man to the other side of Jacob cried out, his voice a panicked fever-pitch. “How do we show Him we’re devoted?”

Joseph’s head turned. His gaze landed on Pratt, lingering before lifting to the congregant. “We’ve got to stop the machine.”

Optimism flooded the crowd. An easy solution. Stop the machine, like it was nothing. Like they weren’t dealing with a group of people who killed as easily as they did.

“Throw your bodies upon the gears, upon the wheels, upon all the apparatus,” Joseph intoned dutifully, pacing back toward the front. “Whatever it takes to bring the machine to a grinding halt. We can no longer passively take part in the End—we are warriors of God, and our divine right is not instinctively endowed. It is earned. And we will show that we have earned it by exterminating these interlopers invading our garden.”

Pratt’s mouth pressed into a thin line. Eden’s Gate members came to a stand around him; loomed in his vision; eclipsed what little murky light reached him. Cheers and applause rolling around in his head. He thought for sure he’d heard this all somewhere, before—

Oh, yes. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all! The irony of Joseph lifting lines from an activist’s speech was not lost on him.

A heavy hand gripped the collar of his shirt, hauling him to his feet. “Stand up,” Jacob muttered. “Good posture’s important.”

He steadied himself on the pew ahead of him. Amidst the chatter of the congregation, eventually quieted down by Joseph’s patience at the front of the chapel, he could hear renewed excitement. More life had been breathed into the peggies than he’d seen in a long time—well, considering that he’d only been here roughly a day, and the whole place felt like a ghost town even now, that was saying something.

“Please,” Joseph called lightly, “join me in prayer.”

Heads bowed. Pratt let his chin drop to his chest, but his eyes didn’t close; his gaze darted to his right, where Arden stood, hands clasped politely in front of her. Her head did not bow for prayer.

He was only vaguely aware of the words coming out of Joseph’s mouth, redirecting his eyes back to the floorboards beneath his worn shoes. Lord, we pray that you might show us guidance and wisdom in these uncertain times; show us how to be most like you, for only you are perfect...

Elliot was going to come back to this. She was going to come back to this, and he was going to have to figure out how to get her out of here without any of the Seeds noticing. Helmi had said, meet me out back, by the river, in three nights, but he couldn’t keep track. Had it been one night? Two? Less than one?

“I am your Father,” Joseph was saying. “You are my Children. Together, and only together, will we march through the Gates of Eden.”

A rousing amen echoed around him. They milled about, chatting excitedly—perhaps delighted to have a focus for their ire, for their agitation. The members of Eden’s Gate looked worse than Pratt remembered. Dirtier. Thinner. More exhausted. He thought that it must be nice to have a purpose—

Fuck me, not that shit again.

He filed out of the row behind Arden, and with Jacob behind him, following her to the front where Isolde and Joseph stood. They were speaking in low tones, bundled close together; she tapped her ten against the front of her notepad in what looked like an agitated tick, but he couldn’t hear what it was she was saying. By the time they were close that he might have heard, Joseph lifted his head from where he’d bent a little to speak closely and looked at him, smiling.

“It was nice to see your face in the crowd this day, Deputy Pratt,” he said, his voice warm. “Did you enjoy the sermon?”

Pratt opened his mouth, and then closed it. He didn’t want to play this game.

“Go on, Peaches,” Jacob prompted, clapping his shoulder.

The nickname sparked something angry inside of him, like dragging a match against the sandpaper side of the box. If there’s anything wrong with you, I’m going to kill them, Elliot had said.

Pratt turned his gaze to Joseph. “I thought the Mario Savio part was a bit much.”

A surprised, abrupt laugh barked out of Jacob. Joseph’s expression remained flat and serene. In fact, the only person who seemed to have any negative opinion about his words was Isolde, narrowing her eyes as she turned to look at him fully.

“We’re not exactly looking to hit notes with the intellectuals in the crowd, Deputy Pratt,” she informed him coolly. “They don’t care who said it first. They care who said it better.”

“Y—” Pratt swallowed. “Okay, well—”

“‘Okay, well’ shut the fuck up,” she snapped. “Or I’ll have Jacob take you out back and put you down like Old Yeller.”

“You can’t,” he protested quickly, “Elliot said—”

“Do you think I care in the least what some woman five states away said?” Isolde cut over him quickly, the elegant, soft roll of her accent a strange and unsettling juxtaposition to her words. “I’m getting this ship in fit fucking order, and that means I don’t need you inspiring dissent. Anyone with an opinion that is less than glowing, radiant, gorgeous—they get taken care of, whatever that means. Got it?”

Pratt closed his mouth tightly, until the pressure was beginning to build between his molars. I just have to make it until Elliot gets here, and then—and then I’ll—then I can get—

He took in a little breath. “Yes.”

“Peachy.” Isolde flashed a smile that was all-too-saccharine, and then turned to Joseph. “Let’s sit.”

“Of course.”

They departed to a pew just to the left of them. Jacob was grinning at him, wolfish.

“Thought about telling you she wrote it,” he said, “but that was much more entertaining.”

“You look pale, Staci,” added Arden, her voice light as it redirected from Jacob’s apparent joy at his suffering. “Maybe you should go lay down. I don’t want you straining any of those injuries.”

Okay, he thought, and maybe the words came out of him but he couldn’t tell; he couldn’t tell anymore, but he did want to go lay down. Lay down, and close his eyes, and sleep until Elliot got back.

He’d never been happier at the prospect of seeing an ex-girlfriend.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

When they arrived at the boutique, Sylvia was standing outside, bouncing on the balls of her feet in what Elliot could only assume was an attempt to get warm. It was difficult, to focus on something as inane and arbitrary as dress shopping when she knew that Pratt was back in Hope County, dealing with God-knew-what the Seeds were throwing at him.

Well, the Seeds. And more. The Family, who were supposed to be dead, and—

I hear stress is bad for the baby. A familiar accent, wasn’t it?

“Well, are you just gonna sit in there all day or what?” her mother asked, having stepped out of the passenger side.

“Did you invite Sylvia?”

Scarlet sighed. “I thought it might be nice, for you.”

It was an unexpectedly sincere gesture on her mother’s part. She swallowed a thick emotion down, clearing her throat and managing out, “It—is, mama, thank you,” before she got out of the car and took the keys with her, heading towards the front doors of the main street store.

“Howdy, Freckles!” Sylvia greeted her warmly, throwing her arms around her in a tight hug. “Been a few. Wyatt’s still got your Jeep, he’s been runnin’ it a few minutes a day to make sure the battery doesn’t go bad.” She smiled brightly, turning to Elliot’s mother. “Mrs. Honeysett, you look mighty lovely.”

“Thank you, dear.”

Sylvia tugged the door to the boutique open, ushering them inside so that she could trail in after. The inside of the store was toasty warm, making Elliot regret having worn a scarf, but it was too late now—the coat and scarf combination were doing the work to keep her scar covered.

“I just love this place,” Scarlet sighed, shrugging out of her coat and hanging it on the rack by the door. “What do you think, Elliot? Maybe something blue. I’d put you in green, but with that red hair, you’d look like a Christmas ornament. Blue’s a nice winter color—very fashionable.”

“Sure, mama,” Elliot replied, brushing her fingers along the silk of one of the dresses. The last time she’d been in anything that blue and nice had been back in Hope County. At her “baptism”. The same one Burke had been dragged to, the same one that John had held her under for just a little too long for, maybe distracted by the Marshal’s arrival back then.

“Psst.” The sound of Via’s voice caught her attention, pulling her from the waking memory. The blonde had pulled what appeared to be the most atrocious Christmas gown that could have been looked at off of the rack, holding it up and lifting her eyebrows as Scarlet chatted enthusiastically with the store’s saleswoman.

“Stop it,” Elliot said, fighting back a smile. “You’re not serious.”

“Oh, dead serious, Freckles.”

“It has mistletoe on it, Via.”

“How else am I supposed to fetch a husband, if not by readily-accessible entrapment?”

Well, she thought a little dryly, that is how John got a wife.

It was odd, to think of the moment with anything less than hostility—to have come to a point where there were things more pressing than a marriage that, in the end, might not matter anyway. John had said that he knew the baby didn’t mean she’d take him back; had acknowledged there was no guarantee. For once, he’d shown up in her life with every intention laid bare for her to see.

Maybe not every intention. But she’d root them all out, eventually, and pretend like it hadn’t become something of a game, to catch John in a lie and watch him squirm.

She let the boutique’s owner show her around, clearly making quite a show for her mother, and politely turned down any suggestions for a deep v or off-the-shoulder type of garment. Sylvia had picked out a few; most blue, some blush, a few red, and then loaded some into Elliot’s arms.

“Try ‘em on!” she chirped. “Yes, even the green ones. Maybe your mama doesn’t want an Elliot Christmas ornament, but I do.”

Elliot heaved a sigh, though it was only half-sincere—anything delivered with Sylvia’s bright, cheery smile, she was hard-pressed to feel anything less than good about. Maybe that was dangerous, to be so comfortable with someone.

Or maybe, she thought, closing the dressing room door behind her, that’s just how having friends are. You remember what that was like.

She did. As she undressed and zipped the back of one of the red dresses Sylvia had selected—thoughtfully aware of the fact that she’d want most of her chest covered—she regarded herself in the mirror. There was that stranger again, flushed cheeks and bright eyes staring back at her. A familiar nose shape, a familiar slope of her cheekbones—but the rest of her. Where had she gone?

With one hand she pushed the door open, the other one lifting the back train of the dress as little as she walked out. A grimace had planted itself on her face, even despite Sylvia’s elaborate applause at her appearance.

“Oh, bunny, you look darling,” her mother sighed, having turned to take a look. “What’s the matter? You don’t like it?”

“Not big on the sparkles,” she admitted.

“I like them. You’ve always looked good in red, though. That fair complexion of your father’s.”

Sylvia grinned. “Try on a green one. I wanna imagine how you’ll look on my tree!”

Elliot stuck her tongue out at the blonde, turning around and scurrying back into the changing room. There were a few more dresses—even a green one—that were in the running, but eventually, she’d settled on a floor-length piece, dark blue velvet and halter-topped to get the most sternum coverage. When she’d redressed and rejoined the group outside, her mother was beaming as she gossiped with the boutique owner.

“Elliot’s quite modest,” her mother said conversationally, “and she’s already married, you know.”

“Thank you, mother,” Elliot sighed, a little smile fighting its way onto her face.

“Whatever are you still wearing your coat for? Your face is all red.”

“I’m—” She paused, swallowing. “Still cold.”

Her mother’s eyes narrowed. “Cold? It’s eighty degrees in here. And your face is all red.”

Sylvia had glanced up from across the store, neck-deep in dresses of a warmer shade. Elliot could feel the eyes on her—her friend, her mother, the boutique owner—and she cleared her throat and tugged absently at the tag on the dress.

“It’s fine,” she said after a minute.

“Well, at least take your scarf off.”

“I think it’s a lovely scarf,” the owner tried, a little helplessly.

“Mother, it’s—I’m fine—”

But her mother moved too quickly for her to realize what was happening; her mother’s hand unwound the scarf with expert ease, and then froze, her eyes fixed on what Elliot thought assuredly was the little of her WRATH scar, revealed.

Her stomach rolled. Heat flooded her body, worse than before—it was the kind of sticky-wet heat that came with the threat of throwing up, the kind that crept up the spine and gripped by the nape of the neck. Elliot felt her lashes flutter; she dropped the dress abruptly and yanked the scarf out of her mother’s hands to wind it securely around her neck again. The boutique owner had quickly turned to the clothing rack, as though something very emergent had occurred on the inanimate objects.

Stupid. She was so stupid. She should have just worn a sweater. She shouldn’t have looked at her scar that morning and thought, maybe it is something to love, she shouldn’t have ever risked the chance that her mother would see it, stupidstupidstupid—

“My God,” Scarlet said tightly, the tone of her voice washing Elliot with shame. “What did you do?”

I’m sorry, she wanted to say, automatically. Mama, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m not good anymore, I’m not—

“Phew, I sure am dressed-out,” Sylvia announced, having come over. “I’ll have to go home and weigh my options. Ell, you wanna head outside for some air?”

“I think that’s best,” her mother replied curtly, before Elliot could even think to formulate a sentence. “I’ll finish up in here.”

She thought about trying to say something—trying to explain, maybe, what it was that had happened. But how could she? Her mother had suffered through the years she’d inflicted pain on herself, after daddy and after Mason, and she had told her mother she was better, now. Healed. Good. What could she say, to make it alright?

Because there was no world where she could say, I didn’t want it, and mean it.

Via’s hand fit snugly in hers, tugging her lightly out through the front door of the boutique onto the street. It wasn’t until she took in a lungful of cold, dry air that she realized she’d been holding her breath; her lungs ached, her head swimming, and she was gripping Via’s hand too tightly.

“Hey,” Sylvia said softly, “s’okay.”

It’s not, she thought miserably, it’s not okay, I’m not okay, I want to go—

Where? Where could she go?

I want—

Nowhere? Anywhere?

—to go—

“Home,” she managed out unsteadily, “I should go home—”

Sylvia gave her hand a squeeze. “You want I should give your mama a ride back to the house?”

“Yes.” She swallowed, sniffing. “Yes, please.”

“Okay, Freckles. Sure. You just—maybe you just take a little drive for yourself, collect your thoughts.” Via paused, and then leaned a little to catch Elliot’s eyes; though her vision blurred from the threat of tears, the blonde still smiled a little. “You gonna be okay all by yourself?”

It was a strange question to ask, but Elliot knew what she meant. Are you safe? Alone?

“Yeah,” Ell replied in a thick, watery mumble. “I am.”

“Okay. Can you give me a call when you get home?”

She nodded weakly. Via pulled her into a hug, tight and gentle all at once, enough to make the dam break; just for a little, just for a minute, the tears streaked down her cheeks and caught up in the fabric of the scarf where it wadded against her jaw.

My God, what did you do?

“I’m sorry,” she blurted out, pulling back and sucking in a sharp little breath. “Um, I’m really—s-sorry—”

But Via shook her head firmly and brushed some of the hair back from Elliot’s face, wet from her tears. “Don’t apologize. Go get a little breather.”

She fished the keys out of Elliot’s pocket for her, putting them in her hand and hesitating.

“Promise you’ll call,” she reiterated.

Elliot nodded. “I—I promise.”

“Okay. No take-backs.”

“No take-backs.”

Via gave her another hug before ushering her towards the car. As she climbed in and turned the key, her hands shaking, she thought about the way her mother had looked at the scar—with disgust. Horror. Shame. Via hadn’t looked at her like that, when she’d seen it. She’d seemed embarrassed, at having put Elliot in such a position; but not like that. She hadn’t looked horrified.

John didn’t look at it like that. He’d spent a lot of time last night, tracing the shape of the scar with his eyes, with his mouth, reverent and adoring. Makes you hungry, doesn’t it?

At least leaving would be that much easier.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

They came back separately.

When John heard the front door open, he’d been starting a pot of coffee in the kitchen. He poked his head around the archway to look out in the foyer, only to find Scarlet standing there, furiously unbuttoning her coat and dropping her gloves into the drawer. Two dress bags hung on the coat rack.

“Ell outside?” he asked casually, coming around.

“Certainly not,” Scarlet replied tartly. “She’s—”

And then the woman let out a sigh, closing her eyes for a moment—for the first time, Scarlet Honeysett looked to be composing herself, which he thought she was nearly incapable of losing sight of. It seemed even the impenetrable armor of the Honeysett matriarch had its own weaknesses after all.

His tiny little thrill at the sight of Scarlet looking troubled was short-lived, however, because she said, “My daughter walked into the boutique sporting this—wretched scar—”

Oh, he thought, suddenly.

“—never been so humiliated in my whole life—”

Oh, no, because he knew exactly what she was talking about and Elliot would be—

“—have no doubt, Mr. Seed,” Scarlet bit out viciously, “that scar is new and you have certainly not influenced her away from such activities.”

He needed to find Elliot. She would be distraught; why hadn’t she come home with her mother? And why wasn’t Scarlet more pressed concerning her daughter’s well-being?

“And where is she?” John asked, ignoring the stinging anger bubbling in his chest. Wretched scar, she’d said. Like it wasn’t beautiful. Like it wasn’t gorgeous. Like he hadn’t spent a whole night looking at it, running his hands and mouth over it, knowing that Elliot had looked at him and wanted it and trusted him and if there was something more devoted, it was carrying someone’s child. “Elliot? Where is she?”

“Taking a moment to regain her senses,” the blonde replied sharply. “She has vowed to be home soon. Mr. Seed—”

He had gone to reach for his coat, pausing at her words and looking at her expectantly.

Scarlet twisted the gloves in her hands for a moment, her brows pulling together.

“I just think,” she finally said, “that as her husband, you are responsible for her as much as I am. You have to be taking care of her when I’m not around.”

“I do,” he replied.

“Evidence says contrary,” Scarlet snapped. “She has come back to me with more—damage—”

The sound of a car pulling up outside snapped John’s attention elsewhere. He knew that if he stayed much longer in the conversation, they would be leaving sooner than what they had planned, if only because Scarlet wouldn’t tolerate him in the house for the things that he wanted to say to her. Damage, he wanted to say, that is only as bad as it is because it’s compounding on your incessant need to brush aside her problems like they’re nothing, like she didn’t need help then.

“Excuse me,” he muttered, pulling his coat on and opening the door. The rush of cold air bit at his face and hands; Boomer came rushing out around his legs, springing down the steps and hurrying to the driver’s side of the Honda. John was only vaguely aware of the door closing behind him—and it didn’t matter, anyway.

She didn’t open the door when Boomer got there, scrabbling at it for her eagerly. She kept her hands on the top of the steering wheel and pressed her forehead into it, the engine ticking as it cooled. When John got there, he reached for the door handle to tug it open. Elliot hit the lock button.

“Ell,” John said, “open the door.”

She lifted her head tiredly from the steering wheel. Where her hand sat over the lock button, her fingers trembled a little, and her face was flushed—not with health, but with the sickly red of feverish, panicked crying.

“Baby,” he tried again, a little more urgently, putting his hand on the glass of the window, “Boomer wants to see you.”

Elliot’s eyes were fixed on his jacket. “Would you—” She stopped, her voice muffled by the glass, and then she took a deep breath and said, “Would you even be here if I wasn’t pregnant?”

“What?” John blinked at her.

“If I didn’t have the baby,” she tried again, her voice thick and watery with unshed tears, that pouty lower lip trembling, “would you have even come for me?”

He stared at her. It had never occurred to him, that there might be a world in her head where he didn’t come for her, where he didn’t find her, where he didn’t try and bring her back.

“Of course I would,” John said, drawing her eyes to him. “I love you, Elliot.” And then, more urgently: “I love you, with or without the baby.”

She looked away from him, then, staring out the other side of the window, fingers curling uselessly against the steering wheel even as the keys lay in the passenger seat—like she wanted to run. Like she wanted to floor it, and go somewhere, anywhere.

“Open the door, Ell.” He swallowed thickly. “Won’t you?”

The door lock clicked. He tugged at the handle and it opened with ease, Boomer instantly shoving his face into Elliot’s side and whining, tail wagging so furiously his whole body moved with it. John pushed the door open the rest of the way and reached for her, and her hand caught his wrist and pulled, and she buried her face into his chest and trembled like a leaf in a breeze.

“I’m so tired,” she moaned miserably into his chest, hiccupping with grief, “I want to go home.”

John wrapped his arms around her, one hand cradling the back of her head and keeping her tugged close.

“I know,” he said. “We’ll go. We will, I promise, Ell, okay?”

“Please—” The redhead pulled back to look at him. “I can’t—you can’t—lie to me, anymore—”

“I know,” John said again, a little helplessly, brushing his thumb across her cheekbone. She was clutching him so tightly he was sure her nails would leave marks on his skin, even through the fabric of his clothes.

“I won’t.”

#far cry 5 fic #fc5 fic #ch: elliot honeysett #ch: john seed #john seed/female deputy #fic: witching hour #john seed x female deputy #my writing #otp: death keep off; i am your enemy #this chapter is about as long as the last one but also feels so much: bigger #thank u to everyone who reached out to me for the last two chapters it literally !!!!!#makes my whole fucking day #when i get feedback or even just to chat with some of y'all #*smooches u*

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nataliedanovelist · 4 years ago

Text

C-137 Vs. 46'\

C-137 Vs. 46'\ = A Gravity Falls & Rick and Morty crossover fic for @stephreynaart! I meant to finish this, like, forever ago, but I did my best and decided this has stayed hidden in my files long enough. I hope y’all enjoy it!

Stanchez for life!!!

~~~~~~~~~~

Episode Placement: GF = after the finale (season 3) R&M = Between S1E10 and E11 (In S2E2, Rick dates 1/12/2015 on the drop-off papers for Jerry. Though Alex hates dating cartoons, it can be estimated that GF took place during 2013 thanks to Sev'ral Timez, so the next summer would be 2014. So… yeah. I put way too much thought into this.)

The vast galaxy in front of them was an endless sea of stars and space-clouds of many different colors. Some were green, some were blue, some were magenta, it honestly looked like a generic Hot Topic galaxy t-shirt.

But Rick didn’t give a shit about some fucking space-clouds or some fucking shop for teenagers who were trying too hard to be goth. Rick didn’t give a shit about the fact that Morty barely knew how to drive the fucking spaceship. Rick only have a shit about getting away from the other fucking spaceships that were after the humans, but he couldn’t drive because Rick had to repair the fucking weapon to kill those fucking bastards. Fuck.

“Aw, geez, Rick, hurry it up!” Morty yelled.

“Don’t tell me how to do my job, Morty!” Rick snapped back as he tinkered with the huge ray-gun that laid by his feet.

The spacecraft jolted to the side as a beam just barely missed it. Rick caught his screwdriver as it flew in the air for a second and he finished the final turn. Rick grinned maliciously and aimed the newest invention out at the enemy. He pulled the trigger and rather than a beam of light or a bullet escaping the gun, it appeared that nothing happened, until each spaceship seemed to be covered with blood and guts from the inside, covering the windows and halting the enemies’ spaceships.

“Oh my God, Rick, what the hell?!” Morty screamed.

“Relax, Morty, you’ve seen worse. It’s just a gun that released microscopic ninjas that slice people up from the inside until they’re nothing b-b-but guts.” Rick burped through the alcohol and leaned on the big gun proudly with a monotone voice and facial expression.

“No, Rick, what the hell IS THAT?!”

Rick looked ahead to see a wormhole of pink, blues, and whites glowing brightly in front of them. Morty was trying to turn the spaceship away, but they were being pulled in by gravity.

“Well, fuck.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Mabel was bouncing like she had springs on the bottoms of her shoes as she held her Grunkle Ford’s hand. They were both wearing ponchos and on their way to the magical part of the forest. Mabel, Dipper, Stan, and Ford had only been back in Gravity Falls for two days and Ford wanted to start off this summer right by bonding with his favorite grandniece in the Multiverse.

Ford felt guilty of the little time they had spent together the previous summer. True, he had arrived home a little late in the season, but he had spent plenty of time bonding with Dipper, leaving not nearly enough for Mabel. Ford loved her very much, but with Dipper things were more predictable. The boy was a lot like him, so Ford knew what to expect and how to bond with him, like playing Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons or working or investigating an anomaly together. Ford had no clue what twelve… thirteen-year-old girls liked and Mabel’s overwhelming flood of love and affection had startled Ford like an old alley-cat.

Still, he admired her positivity and loved to do arts-and-crafts with her. They had captured time last summer for her to make a beautiful hand-turkey on Ford’s six-fingered hand; she had said that the extra feather made it special. The old scientist had no idea what he had done to deserve Mabel… no, he didn’t deserve Mabel, but she seemed to like him, so he owed her some alone-time. Mabel seemed to like the supernatural almost as much as Dipper (Dipper took a more serious approach to it while Mabel seemed to accept everything with loving arms), so Ford offered to take her out to the magical part of the forest over breakfast and Mabel nearly choked on her Stan-cake out of pure joy.

Now, as the morning sun rose and was nearly above their heads, after about an hour of traveling and quietly talking, they were starting to reach the magical part of the forest.

“So, why do we need ponchos, Grunkle Ford?” Mabel asked as she used her free-hand to play with the yellow hood that was over her beautiful brown hair.

“Because the fairies we’re going to investigate are… rather messy.” Ford landed on. The Barf Fairies used to turn his stomach, but after traveling through dimensions for over thirty years, Ford’s stomach had hardened and since Mabel also seemed to have a strong gag-reflex, he decided that he would try to learn more about the less-than-pleasant type of fairies. “I would hate for them to ruin a Mabel Pines original.” Ford added with a smile down at the young teenager.

Mabel grinned braces-free (she had them removed back in February) up at the old scientist, loving it when he called one of her sweaters a Mabel Pines original, and her eyes twinkled when she saw the blue sweater through Ford’s poncho, the one she had made for him with a golden six-fingered hand on the front, like his old journals. “So, these are…”

“Barf Fairies.”

“Right. What do you already know about them?”

“Only that we should avoid whatever they eat.”

Mabel laughed along with him and said, “Okay. Well… I’ve actually never talked to or met a fairy before, so looks like we’re both starting from square-one. Did you meet any fairies out in the Multiverse?”

“Yes, but they were very different than the one here in Gravity Falls. I once landed in a dimension where the seasons changing was caused by the fairies, and in another dimension I met a giant fairy-queen that looked more like a slug with wings covered in glitter.”

Mabel opened her mouth to contribute to the conversation, but they both heard a noise and stopped walking in the woods. The sound had made them think of clanking metal and yells. They looked up and around at the trees, but a little puff of smoke confirmed that they had heard some sort of machine.

“What was that?” Mabel asked quietly.

“I’m not sure.” Ford said honestly and started to walk them to a clearing.

The two Pines left the cluster of pinetrees so they could look around the skies more clearly. It was a beautiful cloudless early-summer day. As they looked up at the heavens above, a flying-disk of a spaceship was whizzing over their heads, having trouble staying up in the air. Ford held Mabel close in fear of it crashing down near them, but the spaceship staggered over the woods and crashed landed from a safe distance.

“Aliens!” Mabel gasped. “Dipper told me about the one under the town! Do you think this is like that one?”

Ford, whose mind was racing, shook his head to try to think straight, and he said, “No, I… I think I know what it is, but… Mabel, I’m afraid the Barf Fairies are going to have to wait.”

Mabel peeled off her poncho and shook her hair free, revealing her purple sweater with a heart and sunglasses on it that matched her red skirt and headband. Ford also took off his poncho, pocketed both of the big yellow articles of clothing in his trenchcoat, but then pulled out his gun. He opened his mouth to tell Mabel to stay close, but she already pulled out her grappling hook and was standing behind Ford, waiting for him to lead the way.

Ford crept back into the woods with Mabel behind him. He had a good idea of what had crashed into Gravity Falls, but he had hoped that he was wrong. He didn’t want Mabel to meet him. Ford was hoping he would never show up in this dimension, but if he was still traveling around the Multiverse…

A low hissing noise from a busted engine told Ford and Mabel where to go. They only had to walk a minute before the spaceship came into view, landing in between two trees and leaving a trail of up-turned dirt in its path before coming to a halt. Ford and Mabel slowly moved towards the ship with their weapons in hand, but they found it unnecessary as a boy stumbled out and coughed into a fist, on his hands and knees and ruffled from the crash.

“Oh geez, oh man, we’re dead. We’re dead. We survived, but we’re dead.” The boy moaned as he slowly stood up. He looked about Mabel’s age, had short brown hair, and wore jeans and a yellow t-shirt with white sneakers.

Mabel pocketed her grappling hook while Ford let his arms fall to his side, but he kept the weapon in hand, just in case. “Huh. That was… not what I was expecting.” Ford said, more to himself than to Mabel.

Mabel stepped forward with her hands up kindly and she cleared her throat, gaining the boy’s attention. He blinked at the two humans and Mabel said in a soft voice, “Uh, hi, I’m Mabel. Are you hurt?”

“What?” The boy asked. He seemed jittery from the crash, his eyes darting and his forehead glistening with sweat. “Uh, n-no. No, I’m fine. I’m…”

“MORTY!”

The boy groaned and squeezed his eyes shut as he tilted his head upward. “Yup, that’s my name. Morty.”

An older man in a white lab-coat with blue-white hair stumbled out of the spaceship, and not out of drunkenness for a change. “Morty, you little…”

“Sanchez.” Ford growled and covered Mable’s ears. He knew this guy had a foul tongue, and while Ford and his brother might have sailors’ mouths, at least he and Stan knew to censor themselves around the kids. Ford’s old friend didn’t.

The old man in the lab-coat looked at Ford and his eyes widened in shock before he grinned. “Oh, no way! Good to see you again, Fordsie!” He laughed, amused by the scenario in front of him. “Great, another genius. Mind giving me a hand with this piece of… erm, crap?”

Ford groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine, the sooner I can get you out of my home dimension, the better.”

The man Grunkle Ford had called Sanchez appeared shocked again and he dug around his coat. “Wait, wait, wait. Your home dimension?” Sanchez pulled out a white flat gun with a green bulb on top and he seemed to be reading off a tiny screen. “Huh. Dimension 46’\. This one’s way out of the loop. There’s no way I could’ve gotten you home with this thing. How did you manage to pull that off?”

“Long story.” Ford said and pocketed his hand in his trenchcoat.

“Grunkle Ford,” Mabel piped and smiled up at the visitor. “Who’s this?”

Ford looked down at his niece and decided to share this piece of his thirty-year-long journey in the Multiverse with her. “Sweetie, this is my old acquaintance, Rick Sanchez. Rick, this is my great-niece, my brother Sherman’s granddaughter, Mabel.”

“Oh, hey, nice to meet you, little lady.” Rick said with a small smile and then jabbed a thumb back at Morty. “That little screw-up is my grandson, Morty.”

“Oh, yeah, like you could do any better, Rick.” Morty huffed with crossed-arms over his thin chest.

“I could do better, Morty,” Rick said and rounded on his grandson. “You know what else I can do? I can also leave you behind on Asteroid 3924987, but I won’t. I can also feed you to a five-headed mega-bird from Bird-Person’s homeworld, but I won’t. I can also send you to the citadel and trade you in for a new Morty, but I won’t, as long as you quit being a pain in the ass.”

“Rick, please!” Ford hissed.

“It’s okay, Grunkle Ford, I heard worse when I went to get a snack and Stan was watching football.” Mabel giggled, remembering the other night when Stan’s team was losing and he let out a long stream of colorful swears that made him turn red when he realized Mabel had heard him.

“Of course you have.” Ford groaned and shook his head. “Well, let’s see what the damage is, Sanchez. What caused the crash? Did your micro-verse battery finally start a rebellion?”

“No, because they know if they do, I’ll get a new battery, Genius. When we came to this dimension through a wormhole we hit a mountain side and a part broke off here…”

The two old men examined the spacecraft and were discussing ways to fix it, meanwhile Morty walked up to Mabel and rubbed an arm nervously. “So, uh… I guess they met out in the Multiverse, huh?”

Mabel nodded; she didn’t know how these two old men knew each other or why these two humans were in a spaceship, but based on context clues, Morty’s guess made the most sense. “Wait, so you two are from another dimension?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Morty said with a shrug. “This is 46'\, right? My dimension is C-137.”

“Wow, cool!” Mabel said with shining eyes that threw Morty for a loop. “So, what’s different over there? Was Benjamin Franklin a man and never accomplished anything? Are dinosaurs still alive? Oo! I bet your sky is lavender-purple all the time, right?!”

Morty laughed a little and rubbed his arm again. “Uh, no. It’s, I think, pretty much the same as yours. My Grandpa Rick says there’s an infinite number of realities that are just slightly different from one another. M-M-Maybe the difference between C-137 and 46'\ is so small and unimportant it’s not obvious.”

“Oh, okay,” Mabel peered over to watch Rick and Ford work together for a little bit and then she smiled back at Morty. “So, do you always go on adventures with your Grandpa Rick?”

Morty sighed in a shaky puberty-voice and nodded. “Yeah, he’s always making me go on these stupid adventures with him.”

“What?” Mabel gasped with a smile. “They’re not stupid! I’d love to go to a different dimension with my Grunkle Ford! I’ve already been on one with him and Grunkle Stan when they had to rescue me from Dimension Mab3L. The other mes were a little self-centered, but it was a lot of fun to punch myself in the face and rescue my great-uncles.”

“Yeah, but from the sounds of it, your - what did you say, Grunkle Ford? - is nice to you.” Morty pointed out. “My Grandpa Rick treats me like garbage all the time, but then again he treats everyone like garbage, so at least he’s only signaling me out to stay hidden from the Federation or whatever.”

“Oh.” Mabel said quietly and held her hands behind her back bashfully, unsure of how to respond, but she decided to try to make Morty feel better. “Well, my other great-uncle, Grunkle Stan, is a little tough sometimes, but that’s only because he cares about his family and is toughening us up for a tougher world. He’s my hero!”

“That sounds nice.” Morty said with a small smile. He didn’t think Rick cared about his family like this Stan guy, but Morty wasn’t in the mood to kill Mabel’s optimism. “I like your sweater, by the way.”

“Thanks!” Mabel grinned proudly. “I made it!”

Morty’s eyes widened. “Wow, really?” Mabel held out her arm so Morty could feel her sleeve. “Oh my God, that’s amazing! You’re really talented.”

“Hey, thanks! If you want, I can make you one!”

“R-R-Really? You’d do that for me?”

“Sure! What’s your favorite color?”

“Uh… y-yellow.”

“Got it!”

Ford and Rick walked up to the teenagers and the six-fingered researcher said, “Well, I’m afraid the ship lost a part we need, but luckily I have the materials we need to build one in the lab back home.”

“Great!” Mabel said and grinned. “Let’s go! So, how did you two meet, anyway?”

Ford and Mabel led the way with Rick and Morty closely behind. “We met about twenty years ago in a high-security prison. I remember feeling relieved to see another human. I had been without human contact for a little under two years at the time since I had been stranded on some desert planet.”

“Yeah, this nerd got into big trouble for the extinction of a few million species on Planet 8824816.”

“What?!” Mabel gasped and looked up at her great-uncle, unable to believe that he would cause such mass genocide. “Grunkle Ford, you didn’t?!”

“Of course I didn’t, Mabel.” Ford quickly reassured his niece. “That was the planet I thought was a sandwich. Anyway, at least I didn’t do what Rick was in for…”

“What did he do?”

“I purposely caused mass genocide on Sector 56, Dimension “”113.” Rick said in a scaringly monotone voice.

“What?!”

“Rick!” Ford and Morty both scolded at the same time.

“Hey, it was either me or the Valakawns!” Rick snapped back. “Those bloodsucking leeches didn’t see what hit them, until the Federation caught me hanging from a tree upside-down, passed out and drunk.”

“Alright, enough!” Ford said firmly. “Let’s just build the part we need so we can get you two back to your home dimension. And, Mabel, once they’re gone we’re going to patch the wormhole with alien adhesive.”

“Okay. Last thing we want is for Dipper to get stuck in Dimension Dipp-3R or something.”

“Who’s Dipper?” Morty asked quietly.

“My twin brother!”

“Oh, cool! I don’t have a twin, but I have met multiple versions of myself.”

“Hey, me too! I’ve met Table-Mabel, Explainble, Threebel, Military-Expert-Mabel, Brainbel, T-Rex-Mabel, Fire-Mabel, and even Anti-Mabel!”

“I’ve met an Evil-Morty with one eye-patch who worked for the worst Rick in the Multiverse. I’ve also… Well, let’s just say I’ve met a lot of mes.”

The two teenagers talked while the two old men chatted on ways to fix the ship as they got closer to the Mystery Shack. Rick looked up and down the place and then snorted, amused. “Huh. Not the kind of place I’d expect from Mr. Stick-In-The-Mud over here.”

“My brother had to make some… changes in order to pay off the mortgage.” Ford explained and led the way to the back door. He opened it and said, “My lab is downstairs behind the vending machine in the gift shop. I believe Soos is giving a tour, so it should be safe to enter.”

“Gift shop?” Rick laughed and poked Ford’s shoulder. “When did you get so soft?”

“I am not< soft.” Ford said dignified.

“You’re wearing a blue sweater with a gold six-fingered hand.”

“My niece made it for me!” Ford said proudly and puffed out his chest.

Mabel rolled her eyes with blushing chubby cheeks and a smile and decided to let the old guys fight. She took Morty’s hand and said, “Come on! I’ll show you my room! I have a huge sticker collection you’ll love!”

“Oh, okay!” Morty said and allowed her to drag her up to the attic; it was nice being dragged to something nice and safe rather than some new monster of a different dimension.

“But hey, you turned your lab into a gift shop.” Rick was saying while the teenagers did their own thing. “Least you’re making a profit.” Ford wasn’t sure if Rick was being sincere or not.

“Actually, it’s all my brother’s.” Ford said and waved the subject away. “We’re getting off track. Let's just get you and your grandson out of my dimension.”

“Geez, you used to be way more fun.” Rick said with sagged shoulders. “What happened to the guy who ranked up million on Lottocron Nine and got tattoos with octopus-armed piglets? What happened to the interdimensional criminal who once shot fifty Bureaucrats to save a fellow scientist’s ass?”

“He discovered what was most important, Sanchez.” Ford growled with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Oh, HO!” A voice laughed as he shook his head and left the kitchen. “I know this guy isn’t talking about Mr. Goody-Nerds-Shoes!”

Ford pinched the bridge of his nose. The last thing he wanted was for his twin and his old friend to meet, but it seemed like some greater being(s) really wanted this to happen, so here we go.

Rick grinned at the sight of a conman in his suit and fez, with a can in his hand, instantly giving Rick the vibe that this guy couldn’t be trusted but would be a hit at parties and wasn’t a total snitch. “Now THIS is what I’m talking about! Name’s Rick, Ford Two.”

Stan barked a laugh and shook his hand. “The name’s Stan, Genius. And please for the love of Moses you weren’t just talking about my brother?”

“Are you kidding, this guy was a total badass!” Rick jabbed a thumb back at the fuming scientist. “He was a total idiot, had no clue how the Multiverse worked, but he was always willing to barrel into whatever crap was out there and destroy some shit!”

“Okay, you and I need to talk.” Stan tossed him the can of soda and went into the kitchen to get some snacks. “I wanna hear more about what kind of crazy violent nomad Ford was back in the day!”

“You got it! Just tell me how the hell he ended up with a cool twin? What, did you inherit all the fun traits leaving him with hobbies like collecting alien stamps?”

Stan barked a laugh and was back, looping an arm around his skinny neck. “I love this guy! Now, please tell me you were there when he got his stupid tattoo.”

“Stanley,” Ford scolded. “We’re supposed to be working on building the part he needs so he can go home. Rick and his grandson are stranded here…”

“Please, I can make that piece of shit from scratch in my sleep.” Rick said. “And Morty’s fine. That niece of yours will keep his small brain entertained for hours.” He turned to Stan and asked, “You got any booze, we had a rough crash here and I need a drink.”

“I got a secret stash in my room,” Stan muttered. “I don’t like drinking with the kids here, but I guess you can have a shot of whisky to relax. Want some soda?”

“Sure, why not. There’s a bit in my flask to last.”

And the old men walked away for the ‘Employees Only’ part of the house, leaving Ford to grit his teeth in annoyance and then bite his lip in discomfort. This could only end one way and he was not looking forward to it.

To be continued...

#gravity falls #rick and morty #stanchez #gift #fanfiction

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anistarrose · 6 years ago

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So, after rewatching Dreamscaperers for the billionth time, I finally noticed a certain detail, and I have... a theory? A headcanon? You can be the judge of how seriously you want to take this.

There’s something a little bit off about the memory in which Soos sees Stan inputting the vending machine code. Specifically, there’s something off about the code Stan enters.

In every other episode of the series, from Tourist Trapped to Not What He Seems, the code is shown as A 1 B C 3. But for some reason, in this memory shown in Dreamscaperers, there are only four buttons used, which appear to be A B 2 C.

Now, there’s obviously a solid chance that this could’ve just been a continuity error. (I know that was definitely my first thought when I noticed the discrepancy.)

But if we were to think about an in-universe explanation, regardless of whether or not it was intended by Hirsch and company... Stan seems to have a lot of control over his mindscape, doesn’t he?

Ford conveniently not showing up in Stan’s memories outside of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it background cameos is already suspicious enough (although there is a pretty clear Doylist reason for why that had to happen). Equally interesting is Stan already knowing how anything you imagine in the mindscape becomes real, and of course, we can’t forget how well he’s able to disguise his mind in the finale to trick Bill — a dream demon who really should be an expert on seeing through these kinds of things!

So with all that in mind, I like to believe Stan is able to create false, illusory memories and scatter them through his mind like red herrings, especially with regards to memories about codes and passwords.

Think about it: the memory in which Soos sees the incorrect vending machine code isn’t hidden away at all. It’s just another door in a long hallway of unimportant, unguarded information — because it’s a decoy, not a real secret that Stan needs to keep hidden at all costs. (Had Soos not closed the door, who knows what made-up bullshit the Stan from that memory might have said about what he’s hiding behind the vending machine?)

And speaking of memories with fake passwords — who’s to say the memory Bill found of the code to the safe wasn’t another decoy? No one ever got a chance to use it, because Mabel knocked the memory’s door into the Bottomless Pit before Bill could tell Gideon the whole thing, but it might not have even worked to open the safe in the first place.

Again, I wouldn’t say this is a super-serious theory because there’s that aforementioned solid chance of an animation/continuity error, but I’m definitely adopting it as a headcanon. Mostly just because I like to see Bill get wrecked.

(Stan’s mindscape as a whole has always intrigued me because there’s a lot of things about it that could be completely normal or extremely suspicious, just because we don’t see enough of other characters’ mindscapes to make a good comparison. We don’t have much of a reference point for how much control over one’s mindscape is normal — for example, we don’t know if other people’s memories are self-aware that they’re memories and knowledgeable about how the mindscape works — so we’re have no idea just how significant Stan’s proficiency in manipulating his mind really is. I like to think that very few people are able to disguise their mindscapes the way he did in the finale, since Bill was so completely caught off guard by it, but with the current amount of canon evidence, it’s still really up to interpretation.)

#gravity falls #stanley pines #bill cipher #gravity falls meta #gravity falls theory #rosalia writes meta #long post

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rhodochrosite-love · 5 years ago

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WOW everyone who commented on my Wirt birthday post are amazing!

Here’s the au I’ve been working on where it started off as just a Ford Pines self insert, but turned into very interesting idea!

Stanley is kicked out and Ford goes to Backupsmore, while Penny stays in Jersey to help pay off her childhood home’s mortgage. All in the early 1970s.

Ford is awarded a doctorate 3 years ahead of schedule, and prepares to move to Gravity Falls, Oregon in 1973.

In the same instant, Ford gets a call from his parents and after he tells them he’s moving to the northwest, they inform him of Penny living with them. Shocked, Ford is conflicted. Should he go to his sweetheart? He couldn’t imagine what could’ve happened that made her stay in his parents home… After consulting with Fiddleford, he quickly travelled back to Jersey to confront Penny.

Penny explains that she couldn’t take care of the house like she thought she could, what with her book-keeping job as well as her secretary position AND the pressure from it all really weighing her down. She couldn’t help her home anymore so she turned to the only people she knew left in Glass Shard-- Filbrick and Caryn Pines. She had been pulling her weight with buying food, despite Caryn’s pleas to rest whenever she could and her job offers.

Ford listened and took her side. He said he was moving out West to Oregon and had wanted her to come with him. He missed her dearly and could clearly see she needed to get away-- Jersey is no place for a princess.

She accepts in a heartbeat at the thought of living out there, alone with her sweetheart amongst the wood.

1972-1979 Penny and Ford start a life of adventure in Gravity Falls up in their cabin in the woods, catalouging new anomalies every day! After such a hard time, Penny adores the relaxing atmosphere and spending time with her boyfriend after 3(ish) years.

C. 1976 Penny can’t help but begin to think about the future with Ford, and tries to decide whether or not they should marry. In her heart she knows she wants to, but in her mind she feels as though Ford wouldn’t be as on board for whatever reason. After speaking with Susan (Lazy Susan) and Lana (Wendy’s mom), her newfound friends, she decides she has to speak with Ford!

After being avoided most of the day by her beloved (due to him being very distracted by the mystery of the Hide-Behind, and eventually their unavoidable run-in with it. emotional scenes with Penny’s annoyed tone) At the end of the day, Ford admits over dinner that he was avoiding her for the whole day due to his nervousness. After being asked why, he tells her that… “I’ve been fascinated by anomalies my whole life-- the Hide-Behind, the Gnomes, the Eyebats, that UFO theory I’ve still got stuck in my head--” “Stanford, please.” “--Even I, as normal as I may seem, my six fingers made me who I am today! … But… “ Ford reaches in his coat’s pocket, and pulls something from it and places it on the dinner table. “You, Penelope Wright, have been the one thing that’s done both for me-- Fascinated me, baffled me, cherished me, twirled me ‘round and ‘round again ‘til I was dizzy with delight.” “Ford, what’re ya sayin’?” “Penny, dearest... “ He reveals the item, it being a ring with the sweetest red gem in its center shaped like a rounded heart. Penny sniffled, “The apple… Stanford, you’re such a prince!” Before he could utter those four simple words, Penny kissed him breathless. When she pulled away, he was flushed from his ears to his nose and asked her then, whispered against her lips. She said yes, and then many times that night.

C. 1977 Bill realizes his plan is being challenged by this engagment! He had never thought of Penny to be a true problem until now, what with the now foretold probability of the wedding and children as a distraction! Bill makes a deal with Lana to guide Ford to the cave in which Bill was scribed by the natives in exchange for a long life. Ford summons Bill and to no avail, nothing happens until Ford falls asleep.

It was then Ford dreams about Bill and begins to work with him to open his dimension to study the weirdness of Gravity Falls and beyond.

With the new development in the mysteries, the wedding is delayed and Ford and Penny become very busy in their new findings with Bill’s help.

C. 1978 Fiddleford McGucket is employed as the head engineer in building the Portal to the other dimension. Upon hearing the news of Stanford’s engagment, he hoorah’d and congradulated his old roommate.

C. 1978-1979 The portal has been built, as well as the bunker and the second level of the basement. Fiddleford begins to despise his creation and begs Ford not to follow through with his plans and instead publish his findings and settle down properly with Penny. Ford declines and they move to test the portal the next day, Jan 18th 1979.

Jan 19th 1979. Fiddleford gets sucked into the portal, but then gets rescued by Penny and quits the whole she-bang.

Jan 20th, 1979. Bill sees that he has to manipulate Penny, too. She’d been taking Fidds’ side, and since she’s very close with Ford, it’s necessary. He enters her dreams and states that if she make a deal with him, he can make him see reality again. To Penny’s knowledge, Ford’s been driven to madness with his paranoia and struggles to see the light. Bill says that he can fix everything. If he ensconced a baby in Penny’s womb, one that’s both her’s and Ford’s completely, he will see the light again. In return, she has to take a hike. She makes the deal, and he ultimately sends her away. Confused, she cries. But when Bill explains that he basically makes her pregnant with a baby of a man that ‘doesn’t love her anymore’, and literally told her to ‘take a hike’. Embarrassed and humiliated, she flees into town and stays there, leaving Bill to torment Ford to his isoceles heart’s delight.

Sometime in October, before the 22nd, 1979. Penny gives birth to little Walter in Sacred Hirsch Community Hospital. At this point in time, Ford has been thrown into the portal by accident and Stanley has taken his place, in the process of making money for the new Murder Hut.

1980. Penny interrogates this new so-called Mr. Mystery, thinking he’s Ford. She rips at him, accusing him of neglecting her and hurting her. A lot of anger comes out, as well as sadness and despair and raw misery when she says that he no longer cared about her, and she doubted he ever had in the first place. When Stan pulls her to the side and finally looks her in the face clearly (before he was frantically looking around the room, his hut full of customers), he recognizes her faintly as Penelope Wright, the girl Sixer was in kahoots with back in Jersey. He sees her and the now crying baby she’s holding and connects the dots, and is flabbergasted that he’s an uncle! Well, he was already an uncle but that was for Shermie! Penny argues that it was a mistake. Little Walter was the making of a demon named Bill Cipher, and she never should have trusted him. Stan then takes her down to the basement and shows her what he’s done.

1981. Penny gets a job as a waitress at Greasy’s Diner with a little help from Lazy Susan.

1982. Penny needs to start fresh. Despite the fact that she’s got a job and is living with Stanley with a 3 year old Wirt (despite being named Walter, his first word was an attempt at ‘squirt’, which was a nickname given to him by Stanley. Everyone simply calls him Wirt now), she misses all the adventure from when she had Ford. Realizing she’s missing Ford, that son of a bitch that fell into a hole so deep he couldn’t climb out, she needs to get away. She saves up money from her Greasy’s job and now the Mystery Shack (unofficially hired. Stan just says that she’s always rearranging and flipping stuff over and it happens to look nice so he gives her some funds. She’s tried to refuse the money before, but he intensly insisted that she take it.) and moves to Arizona. Teary goodbyes are made and she hugs Stan the tightest of all, telling him to keep in touch.

1983-1994. Walter “Wirt” Wright is living in Arizona with his mother, Penelope Wright.

C. 1985. Greg Universe visits town and performs a live gig and seduces Penny. After a couple of succesful dates, they end up having unprotected sex. Not long after, he leaves town for another gig in Delmarva, doing gigs along the way. She ends up falling pregnant and struggles to comprehend the consequences.

C. 1986. Gregory Wright is born.

C. 1994. Halloween night, Wirt and Greg experience an adventure in The Unknown.

1999. Mason and Mabel Pines are born from Randy Pines and Kathy Pines

(2003. Steven Universe is born from Gregory “Universe” DeMayo and Pink “Rose Quartz” Diamond. Everything that happens with Steven is seperate from Dipper, Mabel, Wirt, and Greg.)

Update - Summer 2012. Penny takes a vacation to Gravity Falls and visits the Mystery Shack. She marvels at Dipper and Mabel and exclaims their cuteness. Mabel likes her when she’s given a butterscotch, but Dipper can’t help but question her motives. She seems awfully close with Stan and gets along well with everyone! Is she hiding something?

All is well until Dipper catches Penny trying to steal Journal #3, and he fights with her over it in his bedroom. Penny falls down and cracks something, making her scream. Stan rushes upstairs and takes Penny away, giving Dipper a nasty stinkeye. He tries to argue that she was trying to take his Journal, and Stan reacts by taking it himself.

Stan and Penny argue in the basement, saying that Dipper should have the Journal back. Stan tries to argue that he shouldn’t, but gives in. After making photocopies, Penny gives it back to Dipper. At first Dipper is skeptical, but awes when she tears up in front of him about it.

“Wow… You really care about the author, don’t you?” “Yeah, we were close…” She sits down beside him, opening the Journal to the Gnomes. “I remember the first time we saw the gnomes together… They tried to take me as queen!” “No way! They took Mabel as queen two weeks ago!” DIpper interjected, to which Penny laughed. “That explains this, then!” She pointed her crooked finger to the words; “Weakness: LEAFBLOWERS!” They both laughed.

At the end of it all, Dipper trusted Penny infineitly more. He was also more curious, as she knew the author. She wouldn’t give him a straight answer, however. Just saying he reminded her of her own son, Walter.

Penny stays in Gravity Falls until the Twins’ Birthday is over and they’re heading off to California.

August 22-25 2012. Weirdmageddon takes place. Penny serves as a scavenger and is found by McGucket and taken back to the Mystery Shack to be protected. She joins in the fight to defeat Bill Cipher, and when everyone’s in the Fearamid, it’s the first time Penny’s seen Stanford in nearly 33 years. He begins by saying hello, and saying he missed her. Before he can say anything further, she hugs him tightly, saying that he can apologize later. He prepares to retort, but when seeing Fidds’ face in response, he quietly hushes and hugs her back.

August 28 2012. Ford apologizes for how he acted and what he had done to her, like he always should have. She tells him about their son Wirt and he’s shocked. She tells him the deal she made and how she moved out of the state. After that conversation he hugs her tight and says she never should have gone through that. If he were a better man back then, she wouldn’t have had to make a deal to have a baby.

The same day, Mabel secretly arranges a wedding for her Grunkle Ford and new ‘Grauntie Penny’. Stan is on the sidelines for the whole occassion, but finally takes his brothers side as the Best Man. Mabel is the flower girl and Dipper bares the rings, while Susan is her maid of honor. Stanford promises to protect and cherish her for as long as he lives. Penny promises to care for him and heal him when the times arise. They smooch after some crazy heartfelt vows, thus they are married.

October 15 2012. Penny and Ford celebrate Wirt’s 33rd birthday. Wirt still isn’t used to his dad but comes around when he sees just how quizzical he is. They’re so alike it’s crazy!

November 2012. Penny joins Stan and Ford on the Stan ‘O War II.

(just to keep track-- in 2020 Wirt is 41, Dip and Mabs are 21, Greg is 34, and Steven is 17)

Mans that’s what I have! I’d love to hear anything from y’all about this!

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silhouettesetawayfromtimeforever · 6 years ago

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Common Audition Roles [List 1 (3/28/19)] Part I

Phantom of the Opera

Christine Daae:

(High Soprano, G#3-E6 (only goes up to C#6 live in most productions, including broadway)

A singer must be free (Nightingale)*, Children of the wind (Rags), yes my heart (Carnival), Seeing is believing [female solo cut] (Aspects of Love), The Finer Things (Jane Eyre), Inside Out (GGLAM)

Raoul:

(Legit baritone, G2-Ab4)

Asking for you (Do re mi), Her face (Carnival)*, I like you (Fanny), If I loved you* (Carousel), I do not know a day I did not love you (Two by two), People will say we’re in love (Oklahoma), Love to me (Light in the Piazza)

Phantom (Erik):

If I can’t love her (BATB), Lilly’s Eyes [or just about anything Neville or Archie sing] (Secret Garden)*, If I loved you (Carousel), look at Frank Wildhorn’s shows (Jekyll & Hyde, Dracula, Scarlet Pimpernel), Martin Guerre

Firmin/André/Buquet/Male Ensemble:

It must be so (Candide), C’est Moi (Camelot)*, War is a Science (Pippin)*, Any Gilbert & Sullivan patter Song (a la Modern Major General from Pirates of Penzance)*

Carlotta:

Art is calling me (The Enchantress)*, They Won’t let you in the Opera, The Finer Things (Jane Eyre), Glitter and be Gay (Candide), By Strauss (Gershwins), The Glamourous Life [As a solo for Desiree, look at version on Renée Fleming’s Broadway album] (A little night music), Any big comic high soprano aria like Quando m’en Vo (La Boheme) or The Doll Song (Les Contes de Hoffman)*

Piangi/Male Ensemble:

It must be so (Candide), C’est Moi (Camelot), any big high comic tenor aria like ale Donna e Mobile (Rigoletto), La Fille du Regiment,

Meg Giry/Female Ensemble:

The beauty is (Light in the Piazza), Dear Friend (She loves me), Why not me (Carrie), hold on, the girl I mean to be or Come to my garden* (Secret Garden), some things are meant to be (Little Women), yes my heart (Carnival), The glamorous life [Frederika solo-movie] (a little night music)

Mme Giry/Female Ensemble:

When there’s no one (Carrie), I read* or Loving you (Passion), will you* (Grey Gardens), Dividing day or Let’s walk (Light in the Piazza)

Les Miserables:

Jean Val Jean:

At the fountain*-SSOS, Soliloquy* (Carousel), Something was missing-Annie, if I can't love her-BATB, close every door-Joseph, now there is no choice-Jekyll & Hyde, I’m Martin Guerre*– Martin Guerre, no other way (Tarzan), the impossible dream, where in the world (Secret Garden), This Is The Moment (Jekyll&Hyde) , Being Alive (Company) , Finishing the Hat (Sunday in the Park)

Javert:

Falcon in the dive (Scarlet Pimpernel), soliloquy* (carousel) molasses to rum (1776) Kim’s nightmare (miss Saigon), nowhere left to run (amazing grace), anthem* (chess), look at Jekyll&Hyde

Bishop:

Pilate’s dream (JCS), Sweeney Todd/Turpin’s stuff, molasses to rum* (1776), Rains of Castamere* (Game of Thrones), Ol’ Man River (Show boat)

Marius:

il Mundo era vuoto, On the Street Where You Live” from My Fair Lady, Into the Fire *– Scarlet Pimpernel, Lily’s Eyes- Secret Garden, This is the Moment – Jekyll and Hyde, Why God* from Miss Saigon

Enjolras & students:

Private Conversation*, You Should Be Loved, The Devil You Know from Side Show, Why God” ** from Miss Saigon, I’ve Heard It All Before from Shenandoah, Guido’s Song* from Nine, I, Don Quixote from Man of La Mancha

Thenardier:

Guido’s Song (Nine), Reviewing the Situation* or pick a pocket or two– Oliver!, The American Dream (miss Saigon), molasses to rum* (1776)

Mme Thenardier:

Naughty Baby – Crazy For You, Deep Down Inside from Little Me, Loud from Matilda, Leave You *– Follies, Little Girls from Annie, Wherever He Ain’t from Mack and Mabel, Whatever Happened to My Part from Spamalot, Fine Life* from Oliver

Fantine:

Where is it written from Yentl, Heaven Help My Heart– Chess, Someone Like You– Jekyll and Hyde, Could We Start Again Please - J.C. Superstar, Aldonza* – Man La Mancha, Unusual Way - Nine, The Movie in the Mind- Miss Saigon, Your Daddy’s Son or Back to Before* - Ragtime, Forgiveness- Jane Eyre, Loving you (Passion)

Eponine:

A New Life* from J&H,What Kind of Fool Am I from Stop The World I Want to Get Off, Why Can’t I Speak? from Zorba, I Don’t Know How to Love Him - J.C Superstar, They Say It’s Wonderful - Annie Get Your Gun, As Long as He Needs Me - Oliver!, Hold On - The Secret Garden, With One Look— Sunset Boulevard, Back to Before - Ragtime, Stranger to the rain (Children of Eden), Loving you (Passion), unexpected Song or tell me on a Sunday (Song & dance)*

Cosette:

Happiness (Passion), Light in the Piazza — The Light in the Piazza, Come to My Garden – The Secret Garden, Embraceable You – Crazy for You, Falling In Love with Love – The Boys from Syracuse, Finer Things – Jane Eyre, Unusual Way* - Nine, My White Knight – The Music Man, Children of the wind (Rags), yes my heart* (Carnival), unexpected song* (Song & dance), tell me why (amazing grace), A TON of stuff from My Life with Albertine

Lil Cosette:

There’s more to life from Ruthless, The girl I mean to be* from Secret Garden, my lord and master (the king and I)

Gavroche:

Consider yourself or where is love from Oliver, Wick* from Secret Garden, Edgar’s stuff in Ragtime, Not while I'm around (Sweeney)

Urinetown:

Bobby:

Sit Down You’re Rockin’ The Boat*, Married” from Cabaret, Any of the prince’s songs from Once Upon A Mattress., Something From a Dream from Bridges of Madison County “My Unfortunate Erection” from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and If You Were Gay from Avenue Q, My Bobby when I did it sang Out there from Hunchback & What do I need with Love* (TMM)

Cladwell:

The Legacy** from On The Twentieth Century}, Married from Cabaret, molasses to rum* (1776), dance with me, darling-Bat Boy,

Lockstock:

The Legacy and I've got it all from On The Twentieth Century, all I care about is love (Chicago), molasses to rum* (1776), me (BATB), You deserve a better life or private conversation from Side Show, The Way it ought to be (Tale of 2 cities), as good as you (Jane Eyre), dance with me darling* (Bat boy)

Hope:

Make Believe-Show Boat*, A home for you-Bat boy, Daddy's Girl (Grey Gardens), Goodbye little dream goodbye (Cole Porter), Goodnight My Someone – Music Man, Ribbons Down My Back – Hello Dolly, When I Marry Mr. Snow – Carousel, A Change In Me – Beauty and the Beast , A New Life – Jekyll & Hyde, It Might As Well Be Spring – State Fair, They Say It’s Wonderful – Annie Get Your Gun, Delishious - Nice Work If You Can Get It**

Pennywise:

What Ever Happened to my Part*- Spamalot(my Penny sang this), Anything that Ms. Strict* from Zombie Prom sings, Little Girls from Annie but that’s kinda overdone, A New Argentina - Evita , Morning Person- Shrek, Mr. Right from Triumph of Love, Down in the Depths on the 90th Floor-Cole Porter,

Little Sally:

My Party Dress from Henry and Mudge, “Disneyland*” from Smile, What It Means to be A Friend from 13 the Musical, “My Friend The Dictionary” or “The I Love You Song” from Spelling Bee, “It’s a Perfect Relationship*” from Bells Are Ringing, A Home for You from Bat Boy, “Where In The World Is My Prince” from Miss Spectacular, “Change” from A New Brain, Calm (Ordinary Days), Little known facts (You're a good man, Charlie Brown)

Other female featured/Ensemble (Ma Strong, Becky, etc):

Disneyland” from Smile, A Home for You or Inside your heart from Bat Boy, A Change In Me – Beauty and the Beast, It’s a perfect relationship (Bells are ringing), Change* (A new brain), Life upon the wicked stage (show boat), Feelings (The Apple Tree), unexpected song (song and dance), They won’t let you in the Opera, A lot of jazz songs (Cole Porter in particular), a TON of Judy’s stuff* and Penthouse apartment from Ruthless!

Other male featured/Ensemble (Harry, McQueen, etc):

Any of the prince’s songs from Once Upon A Mattress., Dance with me darling** or let me walk among you (Bat boy), Rooster’s song* (Annie), look at comedy songs from Kurt Weill*, Cole Porter, Gershwins

Rent:

Mark:

I’m Not That Guy*, Public Life, or The Saddest Song from Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Amazing Journey, Sensation, or I’m Free from The Who’s Tommy, I’m One or Is It In My Head from Quadrophenia, I’m Alive from Next to Normal, I who have nothing (Lieber & Stoller), Freedom 90 (George Michael), Can't get enough of your love Babe or my first my last my everything (Barry White), 6th Ave heartache (The Wallflowers), Know your enemy* or favorite son (Green Day)

Roger:

Don’t do Sadness* from Spring Awakening, Louder than words” or “See Her Smile" from Tick, Tick…Boom}, Iris (Goo goo dolls)

Collins:

Can't get enough of your love Babe* (Barry White), Can't make you live me (Bonnie Rait), real life** (Tick tick boom), old man river, bui doi (miss Saigon), Empty chairs

Angel:

Wig in a box* (Hedwig), stuff from Jersey Boys, Don't let me go (Shrek), Great balls of fire, a bunch of Bowie & Queen* songs, look at Kinky boots

Benny:

Favorite son* (Green day), I'll be here (Wild Party), let it sing** (Violet)

Mimi:

Saturday Night in the City from The Wedding Singer, Bring the Future Faster** from Rooms, Safe in the City from Taboo, It Won’t Be Long Now from In The Heights, Come To Your Senses* from Tick Tick …. Boom (May be overdone at Rent, but great for her)

Joanne:

Easy to be hard (Hair), Come to your senses, safe in the City, when you're good to mama (Chicago), My Strongest Suit (Aida)},,you had me (Joss Stone), something bad or i'm breaking down** [the end reminds me of we’re ok!](Falsettos), random black girl* (homemade fusion)

Maureen:

Easy To Be Hard from Hair, The Life of the Party** from The Wild Party, My Strongest Suit from Aida, Special from Avenue Q, My friend got the role with Ireland* from Legally Blonde (and play it up like Over the Moon), Acid Queen from Tommy, Touch-A-Touch-A-Touch Me from Rocky Horror, need a lover (Pat Benatar), let me come home* (Wedding Singer)

Male Ensemble:

I who have nothing (Lieber & Stoller), Freedom 90* (George Michael), Can't get enough of your love Babe or my first my last my everything (Barry White), 6th Ave heartache (The Wallflowers), Know your enemy or favorite son* (Green Day)

Female Ensemble:

Call from the Vatican (Nine), Saturday Night in the City from The Wedding Singer, “Come to Your Senses” from Tick tick boom (probably will be suuuppper overdone at a rent audition, Safe In the City” from Taboo, Look at The Who’s Tommy, I Will Prevail from Wonderland, Forever from Shrek the Musical, Anything Natalie sings in Next to Normal… or just any female song in that show, My Strongest Suit from Aida (only really good for Maureen), The Dark I know Well is overdone but good

Grease:

Sandy:

How Lovely to be a woman (Bye bye birdie), Anything Toffee sings in Zombie Prom**, happy to keep his dinner warm, love me tender or there's always me (all shook up)}, Lonely pew (Reefer Madness) Someday (Wedding Singer), you don't have to say you love me (Dusty Springfield), Inside you heart* from Bat Boy

Danny:

how can I say goodbye* (Zombie Prom), Mary Jane/Mary Lane (Reefer Madness), I don’t want to (all shook up), it takes two (hairspray), One last kiss (bye bye birdie), serve yourself (pump boys and dinettes), Edgar’s part *of Comfort and Joy [i have kind of a weird solo cut that could do the trick] (Bat Boy), look at Crybaby

Rizzo:

Spanish rose, I don't know how to love him, big spender (sweet charity), one night with you *(All shook up), nobody's side (Chess), you don't have to say you love me** (Dusty Springfield)

Marty/Female Ensemble:

A teenager in love* (Return from the forbidden planet), fools fall in love (all shook up), change (a new brain), an English teacher (Bye bye birdie)}, whatever Lola wants (damn Yankees), stuff from Bonnie&Clyde, you don't have to say you love me, wishing and hoping*, or Son of a Preacher Man (or anything she's done, really (Dusty Springfield), a tonnn of female stuff from Bat Boy, look at Shout! A Mod Musical, a lot of pop songs of the 50s and 60s.

Kenickie/Male Ensemble:

Stuff from catch me of you can, All shook up, me (BATB), a tonnn of Male stuff from Bat Boy, Jersey Boys, Footloose, a lot of pop songs of the 50s and 60s. Earth angels (crew cuts)

Legally blonde:

Elle:

Fly, Fly, Away” - Catch Me If You Can , “Fly Into the Future**” - Vanities, “On My Way” - Violet, “How to Return Home” - Tales from the Bad Years}*

Emmet:

Freeze Your Brain” - Heathers, Wouldn't it be nice or I'll be here (Wild Party), Purpose (Ave Q), Marry me a little * Company), my next story (Glory days), They say it's wonderful (Annie Get Your Gun)}, let me walk among you (Bat boy), it took me awhile (John & Jen)

Warren:

Freeze Your Brain” - Heathers}

Wouldn't it be nice (Wild Party), The Green (Wedding Singer), Bye Room (John & Jen)

Vivienne/Brooke:

Candy Store” or “Beautiful” - Heathers, Pop!”- The Wedding Singer, Miss Byrd” -Closer Than Ever}

Margot, Pilar & Serena:

You’ve Got Possibilities”, “Getting Ready” - 13}

Pr. Callahan:

The pinstripes are all they see (Catch Me if you can), all I care about is love (Chicago), Sweet Charity,

Paulette:

Shy” - Once Upon a Mattress, “What Ever Happened to My Part” - Spamalot, “A Little Brains A Little Talent” - Damn Yankees , “As We Stumble Along” - The Drowsy Chaperone, The same old music** (Vanities), I ain't got time (Zanna don't), plain Jane fast ass (bare), Get out and stay out, change* (a new brain)

Kate & Female Ensemble:

Someday*- The Wedding Singer, Let’s Hear it for the Boy- Footloose, Mixtape- Avenue Q, Once Upon a Time- Brooklyn: The Musical, Cute Boys With Short Haircuts* or The Same Old Music or Fly Into the Future from Vanities

Grandmaster & Male Ensemble:

it takes two (hairspray), look at bring it on, Charlie’s stuff* kinky boots

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barinacraft · 6 years ago

Text

The Affinity Cocktail - Scotch Whisky And Vermouth Find True Love

The Affinity Cocktail Pairs Scotch Affection For Vermouth

The Affinity Cocktail is one of only a few truly classic drinks mixed with Scotch whisky which shows the difficulty of pairing it in the perfect marriage. At least in spirit.

Modern versions of the Affinity Cocktail have sort of settled on a sip similar to a perfect Scotch Manhattan with orange or aromatic bitters, although the original drink recipe was hardly perfect (equal parts French and Italian vermouth). Back then it was closer to a sweetened Scottish Rory O'More or a Robert Burns with sugar instead of absinthe.

Either way, like most Scotch whisky cocktails, the character of this drink is greatly effected by how manly the mixture is. Blended may be best to begin with.

History Of The Affinity Cocktail

First Appeared In Print

The New York Sun initially reported on Monday, October 28, 1907 that,*

There's another new cocktail on Broadway. They call it the Affinity. After drinking one, surviving experimenters declare, the horizon takes on a roseate hue; the second brings Wall Street to the front and center proffering to you a quantity of glistening lamb shearings; when you’ve put away the third the green grass grows up all around, birds sing in the fig trees and your affinity appears.

The new ambrosia contains these ingredients...

Original Affinity Cocktail Recipe:

1 jigger (1 ½ oz) Scotch whisky

½ jigger (¾ oz) Italian vermouth

1 (medium) tsp powdered sugar

1 dash orange bitters

Shake in cracked ice, cocktail fashion, until thoroughly blended and cooled, then strain and quickly serve. ( Note: would recommend using superfine sugar though instead of powdered to avoid the corn starch and other anticaking agents which adds cloudiness and can affect the flavor. )

During this time period, many cocktails were created to commemorate the opening of a Broadway play and the reference to Wall Street is in relation to the financial crisis known as the 1907 Banker's Panic which was triggered by a failed attempt to corner the market on United Copper Company stock in October 1907.

Which Broadway play inspired the name for the Affinity cocktail though?

Keep reading below.

Syndication

Syndicated newspaper columns including The Washington Post and others ran the story the following day. The Hartford Courant embellished the details with their own verse which also provided some more clues to the source, writing,†

Well, then the pianola sounds as good as the symphony orchestra. The second one convinces you that trust companies and savings banks are solvent and you want to put your money back. If you take three it seems like Summer, otherwise you’ll buy your wife, or the affinity, a new fur coat. Then it’s time to stop.

“It moved the poet to the following:

In its glistening depth is the light of her eyes,

In its taste is her honey kiss.

There’s a victor’s crown for the man who tries

To build me another like this.

If you put another bright red cherry in the last one you will feel like a Belmont as you ride home in the subway.

Divorcons or Let's Get A Divorce

James Slevin announces on November 8, 1907 a sketch he adopted for vaudeville based on the 1885 book Divorcons! by Emile de Najac and Victorien Sardou may be named Affinity.‡ This does not appear to have happened, although the original title was turned into a play1 which opened at the Playhouse Theatre April 1, 1913 running through May 19, 1913 and was later released as a 40 minute short silent black and white film2 as a comedy drama on December 15, 1915.

His Affinity Is A Miss

His Affinity is released as a black and white short silent film on November 9, 1907.3 This comedy details the adventures of a mild mannered husband, who after deciding to leave his overbearing wife, finds romance with a single girl he meets in the park. Drama ensues.

Good Golly Miss Molly, McGinnity

Good Golly is right when it comes to all the affinity references in popular culture in 1907 and shortly afterwards. Not to be confused with the rock and roll song by Little Richard in 1958, “Molly McGinnity, You're My Affinity” by composer John W. Bratton was released November 23, 1907. However, this humorous Irish folk song, lyrics below, was not featured on Broadway.4

The Billowy Ecstasy Of Neptunian Soul Kisses

The year 1907's affinity for affinity has come to a close and the source for the “newest drink on Broadway” as proclaimed by The New York Sun at the end of October does not seem to exist. Unless an advanced preview of an upcoming show served as inspiration for the Affinity Cocktail.

Enter The Soul Kiss, a Broadway musical created by Florenz Ziegfeld all about the subject, which included the song My Affinity, sung by the sculptor in the show sixth on the song list during Act I. It opened January 28, 1908 at the New York Theater and ran for 122 performances until May 23, 1908.5

The play had a behind the scenes production cast that included many of the same players responsible for The Ziegfeld Follies. Familiar names included producers A.L. Erlanger and Marcus Klaw, music by Maurice Levi (and others) and script / lyrics written by Harry B. Smith, who also wrote the Rob Roy operetta which has a drink named after it.

The soul kiss, a tongue in cheek [sic] expression for a French kiss elevated to exaggerated proportions, was supposedly invented by a romance instructor who was quoted in a newspaper interview as saying, “When I exchange soul kisses with my affinity in the planet Neptune, I close the doors, throw myself on a couch, my soul goes out from my body to meet him and I experience a billowy ecstasy.” By the way, at the time, personal lessons could be purchased for $300.

Her description inspired Smith6 to develop the plot for the play which had J. Lucifer Mephisto (Ralph C. Herz) betting one million dollars that sculptor Ketcham Short (Cecil Lean) would not remain faithful to his fiance, model Suzette (Florence Holbrook), under the temptation of a soul kiss from dancer (Adeline Genee). As a follow up, The Ziegfeld Follies of 1908, which debuted on June 15th of that year, contained a comedy spoof mocking the November elections called The Political Soul Kiss where Miss Columbia (female Uncle Sam) tries to find her affinity among the presidential candidates including William Jennings Bryan, Charles Evans Hughes, William Howard Taft and then 2nd term incumbent president Theodore Roosevelt who was not seeking a third.

The Affinity (Play)

Its probably folly to keep searching for the stimulus behind this sip's sobriquet since The Soul Kiss seems to seal the deal, but there actually was a Broadway play named The Affinity.7 However, in 1907 it was still known as Les Hannetons.

Les Hannetons, which translates to cockchafers (the beetles known as June Bugs), by French playwright Eugene Brieux, was a three act bitter comedy first produced at the Theatre de la Renaissance in Paris, France on February 3, 1906. The controversial play dealt with matrimony and mistresses, treating marriage as a battleground, and gained some infamous notoriety after being banned by censors in both France and England. British stage actor Laurence Irving, who translated Les Hannetons8 into English, performed the play with his wife Mabel Hackney in the United States, first renamed as The Incubus in 1909 and then later renamed again in January 1910 as The Affinity. There were no bureaucratic black outs on Broadway, but the crowds were not amused and the play lasted for only 24 performances at the Comedy Theater on west 41st street.

Behind Your Bar - How To Make An Affinity Cocktail At Home

First Published In A Cocktail Book

Minus the powdered sugar, the Express Cocktail with equal parts Scotch whisky and Italian vermouth plus a dash of orange bitters via Straub's Manual of Mixed Drinks (1913) appears to be the earliest recipe printed in a cocktail book which comes closest to the original 1907 Affinity Cocktail. However, the first one named the Affinity Cocktail published in a bartending book is the one in The Reminder by Jacob A Didier (1909) and it is a different formulation.9

Its this ‘perfect’ combination of Scotch whisky with French and Italian vermouths along with aromatic or orange bitters that has become the modern classic so to speak.10

Affinity Cocktail Drink Recipe (modern classic):

1 oz Scotch whisky (blended)

1 oz French (dry) vermouth

1 oz Italian (sweet) vermouth

2 dashes aromatic or orange bitters

Measure all the ingredients into a mixing glass with ice and stir well. Strain and serve with a twist of lemon peel (or orange rind to match the bitters if chosen). Adjust the manliness to suit.

David Embury, the author of The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks (1948) ratchets up the proportions to a 4:1:1 ratio. When it comes to Scotch though, that's probably too manly for most.

Similar Mixed Drinks

Automobile Cocktail - gin, scotch, sweet vermouth and orange bitters.

Beadlestone Cocktail - equal parts Scotch and dry vermouth.

Borden Chase - an original Affinity Cocktail with pastis instead of powdered sugar.

Emerald Cocktail - half-n-half Irish whiskey and Italian vermouth with a dash of orange bitters.

Highland Cocktail - equal parts Scotch and sweet vermouth.

Thistle Cocktail - Scotch whisky, Italian vermouth and Angostura bitters.

Trilby Variation - a Borden Chase with parfait amour.

York Cocktail - Scotch whisky, French vermouth and orange bitters.

References

* - "Live Topics About Town." New York Sun 28 Oct. 1907: 4. Print.

† - Hartford Courant 29 Oct. 1907: 14. Print.

‡ - "An 'Affinity' Sketch." Variety Magazine Nov. 1907: 6. Print.

1 - Divorcons (the play).

2 - Divorcons (the movie).

3 - His Affinity (the movie).

4 - Molly McGinnity, You're My Affinity song lyrics:

I've been a single man all my life.

I've never wanted to own a wife.

No Wedding Bells was the song for me.

Money my own, and my evenings free.

Now all that's over, those days are through;

You've done the trick with your eyes of blue.

Molly McGinnity don't you see?

You're the affinity meant for me.

Molly McGinnity, You're my affinity, Say that you love me, do.

In this vicinity, No femininity, Is half so sweet as you.

Molly McGinnity, Down at old Trinity, If you will not decline.

There's a doctor of divinity, The Reverend Finnerty, A waiting to make you mine.

“Hold on a minute,” says Molly dear,

“What's this affinity word I hear?

Is it some kind of a breakfast food?

May be its meaning is not so good.”

“Whisper,” says I, “‘tis a brand new word,

‘Tis from the French, and it means a bird.”

“Oh, if that's so” says my Molly dear,

“Say it again, for I like to hear.”

Molly McGinnity, You're my affinity, Say that you love me, do.

In this vicinity, No femininity, Is half so sweet as you.

Molly McGinnity, Down at old Trinity, If you will not decline.

There's a doctor of divinity, The Reverend Finnerty, A waiting to make you mine.

5 - The Soul Kiss (Broadway musical extravaganza).

6 - Harry Bache Smith, First Nights and First Editions - An Autobiography (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1931). Print.

7 - The Affinity (the play).

8 - Michael Holroyd, A Strange Eventful History: The Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, Henry Irving, and Their Remarkable Families (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008). Print.

9 - That's not really true, but since the first "Affinity cocktail" published in a bartending book was actually a completely separate recipe altogether, we decided to remove it from the main article content. This drink, which later became known to some as the Violet Affinity cocktail was originally listed with instructions to frappe 2/5 French vermouth with 2/5 Italian vermouth and 1/5 crème de violette; serving in a chilled stemmed glasses via William T. (Cocktail) Boothby, The World's Drinks And How To Mix Them (San Francisco: Pacific Buffet, 1908), 143. Print.

10 - Other Affinity cocktail variations have appeared along the way including one with equal measures of whiskey, French and Italian vermouths along with 3 drops of Peychaud bitters and a twist of orange peel on top via Ernest P. Rawling, Rawling's Book of Mixed Drinks - An Up to Date Guide for Mixing and Serving All Kinds of Beverages and Written Expressly for the Man Who Entertains at Home (San Francisco: Guild Press, 1914), 14. Print.

#Cocktails #drinks #scotch #vermouth #bitters #classic #broadway

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pinesofthemind · 7 years ago

Text

Beauty [4]

As the twins slowly begin to realise their feelings for each other, it only creates more havoc and turmoil. The attempts of trying to keep it a secret make them question if it’s even worth it in the end.

Chapters: [1] [2] [3] [5] [6] [7]

Dipper knocked on the door hastily shouting ‘Mabel mum said she to give you your clothes so I’m leaving them out here!’ he hurriedly sped off into his room to investigate his snatched treasure. Mabel came out of her bedroom expecting Dipper in her face but he seemed to be nowhere she bent over to take her clothes in reluctantly, wondering where he was.

Dipper shut the door and slowly walked over to his bed, prized possession dangling in front of his eyes. He positioned himself on the bed and pulled down his trousers down. He knew exactly where the panties of his sister were going.

Meanwhile, Mabel was sifting through the laundry that Dipper decided to drop off at her doorstep. She placed them all at the front of her bed organised for tomorrow. However, as she was recounting them it seemed that something was missing. She had her tops and skirts with her. Her trousers and socks, there had to be something missing. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Perhaps Dipper would know, maybe he dropped one on the way up. She decided to check the stairs first to make sure.

Dipper circled the panties around his cock, throbbing with excitement he squeezed slightly at the tip. It deliberately went from squeezing to rubbing, the fabric of his sister's panties rubbing against the skin of his dick, he wanted to fuck her. He wanted to fuck her tight pussy and make her cum all over his cock. He’d thrust in and out of her, grabbing at the sides of her waist and pulling her in just to push further into her wet cunt.

His pace grew faster as his thoughts came buzzing through at a million miles a second. Mabel in all sorts of positions, telling him to go harder, rough her up and make sure she was pleased right. It came and all went away immediately. It was over. Dipper had shot his cum all throughout his sister’s panties, staining them immediately.

His mind became intoxicated with waves of joyful and ecstatic thoughts. It flooded his brain full of pleasure, the kind of which he would enjoy pushing his sister into. A pool of it, she would swim, paddle and kick around in it. He’d be the person providing the water to keep her staying afloat.

He heard a couple of footsteps from the stairs that were dragging themselves closer to his room. They thudded against the wooden landing and nervously pounded the weak and old flooring with every step. It cried out in small squeaking shrieks that begged to stop the pain, it had to cease immediately.

Dipper eyes locked onto the door and his hands went into a mangled mess of patterns and repetition of old sequences. He threw the prized possession under his bed and tossed himself over to the other side to avoid eye contact with whoever would enter the room. Hopefully, this would give the illusion that he was sleeping.

A knock echoed off his door, there was a space of silence in between before a voice called out. ‘Dipper, it’s Mabel, did you leave any uh...c-clothes out by any chance?’ He chose not to answer, choosing to stay with this ‘sleep’ excuse maybe she’d leave and go back to her room.

‘Dipper? Umm...i’m coming in okay?’ Okay, she wasn’t gonna leave, that’s alright just stick with sleeping and she’ll just give up. He heard her open the door and begged her to see his lifeless body there on the bed, it would hopefully be enough to persuade her to ask later or maybe let it go altogether.

She noticed that dipper was asleep and he hoped that this will assure his survival from this ordeal. However, Mabel who likes to think highly of her brother knows that he might have hidden them somewhere. She hopes this isn’t the case.

Dipper is alarmed and wonders why she hasn’t left the room yet and then he realises that she’s actually moving around the room. He slowly tries to act like he’s just waking up. Mabel notices and tries to hide behind something but there’s not an object thick enough to hide her. Eventually, Dipper knows he has to glare around the room, otherwise it’ll look suspicious to her. He takes his glance and attempts to act surprised spotting Mabel by the door.

He shows a fake jump of fright, accidentally slamming his head into the back of the bed stand. He grabbed his head in agony sprawling his fingers across his scalp. Trying to calm down the pain spiking all around it. Mabel walked over to help him, she tried to grab his head and massage it slowly.

‘Dipper I’m so sorry are you okay?’ he continued to groan and push against his temple, trying to ease away the pain.

‘I’m sorry, l-look I’ll leave you alone I’ll come back later’

Dipper grunted to himself ‘nah it’s okay you can tell me now if you want, I know it was an accident’. He was hoping, wishing that she wouldn’t say it. His teeth biting down on his bottom lip, scraping away at the pink skin.

‘I was just wondering, did you forget any of my….’

There was a long pause before she mentioned it.

‘Any of your what Mabel?’

‘My...c-clothes’

Dipper felt her hands twitching, sporadically dancing around the hairs of his head.

‘Mabel, I-I definitely left them at your door.’ he scratched the top of his chest nervously, this conversation only made his headache worse.

Mabel slowly slipped her hands away from Dipper’s head, they returned behind her. ‘Well, i-if you do find them, let me know okay?’ he turned around to look at her but couldn’t make eye contact. Not after what he had just done. He couldn’t tell if she was looking him in the eye.

‘I’ll go ask mom...maybe she knows where it is’ Mabel stepped back and found her way out of Dipper’s bedroom. When he was absolutely sure that she had left, he grabbed the stained panties and ran into the bathroom. Attempting to clean them quickly and hand them back to her. He threw open the door and exited out to the bathroom sink, grabbing the hand gel and spilling it all over the main spot. He scrubbed it in with his bare hands, pushing it into the cotton hoping it would clean the spot and the smell.

His incessant rubbing helped clear both of his gripes, he was home free! Except for the realisation that slowly came to him. He couldn’t just give these to Mabel, they were wet, soaking wet. He had to dry them, wait for a while then give them to her. ‘Wait, if I find them where would I put them? Near the stairs? But that wouldn’t make any sense she’s already looked there, she’d question me even more. Oh shit, I need to give them to her now. If she goes to mom about this I am screwed. How the hell am I going to explain myself?’

#pinecest #pinecestfanfiction #fanfiction

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be-side-my-self · 6 months ago

Text

Rewatch of Only Murders In The Building to prepare for season 4 (II)

<Part I> Block #OMITBRewatch if you don’t want to read notes that will have spoilers up to seasons 3. Just to make it clear, while quoting, I use M, O, C for the main characters.

S1 E5

C: "You're a simpleton." O: "Damn it! I didn't get that! Can you call me a simpleton again?" C: "You're a simpleton." O: "Thank you!"

Oscar and Mabel meeting again! ... but certainly there could have been better ways than creepily following her in a bright hoodie. Well, at least it wasn't a black hoodie.

It is so cute how Charles wants to believe in Mabel. He is right though, but it certainly does not look like Mabel is innocent that moment. She is after all driving away with Tie-dye Guy.

New York traffic looks like hell.

Again, it's great that Charles wants to believe in Mable and Oliver is like "it has to be her!"

Oscar: "I saw you once with those guys that look like retired cops. Was one of them that Brazzos guy?"

O: "Search 'Charles-Haden Savage fat.' Ooh! Look at the ass on papa."

The car is really beautiful though.

So, why did the first call go on voicemail and the second one not? Didn't Mabel had reception? But why did Charles? ... shouldn't they all use the newest iphones?

O: "It's tough... to believe that she could be... this duplicitous, I know. Tougher because you're a closed-off person. And Mabel made you... open up and trust people for the first time. So now, the thought that she might not be who she seems has you questioning it all." O: "Okay, I gotta try that again. That was very fake sounding." C: "You fucker!"

Yeah well how could you have missed that, Mabel? You were sitting on the floor, surrounded by jewelry.

Charles and Oliver really are besties.

Lucius: "Sure I follow people all the time." - ... it surely will be fine...

Honestly though I celebrated Roy Wood Jr. having a small role.

Love how the two black guys show off to the two white guys.

Also I respect Oscar's dream of starting a Yoga-studio.

The scene in the tattoo shop is great... confusing and everything is happening at the same time.

S1 E6

Detective Williams... got it.

"Herman's Head" sounds like "Inside Out" ... I never saw " Inside Out."

The scene of the Detective and her wife is really good. Because the detective is a great character. She gets so many plus points later on. She might be one of my favorite characters.

Whoop Dee Doo, Mabels Mom

Mabels Mom: "Have you ever felt that there was something you screwed up so bad, you will never fogive yourself." C & O: "... well...." Mablels Mom: "For me it was letting her spend time at the damn apartment. Please let her be. Let her move forward. Not back."

Okay but maybe Mabel needs that as a closure?

M: "Don't do Tik Tok." <- Good advise for anyone!!

C: "You know it's a law of nature. Nothing good ever happens on Long Island."

You might not know each other a lot but you are still best friends, Charles and Oliver.

Mable had a crush on Stabler from CSI: SVU... i've watched a few episodes but I don't remember much.

M "Why was Tim after the ring that Zoe had on the night she died?"

Now I remember what happened. Sometimes it just takes some time.

Gotta say that the romance between Oscar and Mabel is cute... even if tragic. They liked each other before the whole awful thing happened.

Really... Jimmy Fallon shout out for the podcast. Everyone will go listen to it.

Teddy is hardcore... good character but holy shit.

O: "You know my phone settings... I am not a rando!"

They are besties!

Food is really the best peace offering.

M: "But you guys... Are you really gonna make me say it?" C: "I kinda like to hear the words, yes." O: "Also rank us. I'm dying to know who your favorite is."

It's Charles, Oliver. Mabel likes Charles more.

It's Tim Kono's phone!

C: "That is right, our prime sponsor is now our prime suspect."

S1 E7

Gosh, it's so sad and weird that Bobby tries to make Theo listen to music.

Because I was curious I looked up "Carousel" and it's a musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein.

"My boy Bill, I'll see that he is named after me!"

"And you won't see nobody dare to try-- to boss him or toss him around. No pot-bellied, baggy-eyed bully will boss him around--"

The moment Bobby realises that he did exactly that to his son that moment.

And continues to do so.

I actually love the different perspectives... from Theo's point of view everything is muffled... and then he talks with the watchers. XD I'm just glad they translate the important parts of the ASL.

The whole episode is great because almost nothing or nothing is said?

Teddy is still bullying his son.

Teddy: "If there is a problem, I'll fix it."

I guess Zoe really was a troubled child...

"Scary" - "Sexy" - "Hard" - "Wet" - "Woody" - "Yum"

How to flirt with scrabble?

"Teddy is a Gray Roger!" - "Are you having a stroke?" - "Grave Robber! Teddy is a Graverobber!"

It was all an accident.

O. PUTNAM & MABEL - 78 Messages O. PUTNAM - 11 Missed Calls

I love that Charles has Oliver as O. PUTNAM in his address book.

Uh Oh.

S1 E8

Love that Jabouki Young-White is also having a part.

O: "Do you know that I was the first director to use areal cadaver on stage? In Tuesdays At Bernie's. It was my dual adaptation of Tuesdays With Morrie and Weekend at Bernie's." M: "What?"

Yeah, Teddy. I'm sure the deaf son was more responsible for the failing of your marriage than all the whores.

Lmao, Jen is a freak.

Jen: "Brazzos was our safe word." M: "And what's the safe word for me to get out of this conversation?"

LMAO... Detective Williams is so cool.

Incredible that Jen and Oscar get added to the roaster and then the fans too.

... it was not the Dimas'ses

I think I now remember who it was... though I though she was the one who did it in season 2? I got it all confused... that is why I need the rewatch. xD

#OMITBRewatch #only murders in the building #Only Murders in the Building Rewatch #Only Murders in the Building Season 1

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gaymusicchart · 5 years ago

Video

youtube

Gay Music Chart - 2020 week 29

Welcome to the Gay Music Chart, the LGBTQA related music videos TOP 50 actuality and most request.

Vote for your favourite LGBTQA related music videos by leaving a comment for this post on :

YOUTUBE (in the comment section of the video of the week) : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz7yfp-xq-b08tD6mAWwclA

BLOGGER : http://gaymusicchart.blogspot.fr

FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/GayMusicChart/

TWITTER : https://twitter.com/GayMusicChart with #GayMusicChart

TUMBLR : http://gaymusicchart.tumblr.com

Watch all the music videos presented in our weekly playlist : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuIOHxXXNws2s3yjKtG2sa38e7yk4xqEs

OUT : Todrick Hall - "Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels"

OUT : טליסמאן (Talisman) & הראל סקעת (Harel Skaat) - "רוצה לחזור" ("Rotze lahzor")

OUT : Mabel Matiz - "Comme un animal"

OUT : Manila Luzon featuring Latrice Royale - "ROBBED"

OUT : SNG - "Corner Store"

OUT : Elias - "Neon Lights"

OUT : ไบร์ท วชิรวิชญ์ (Bright Wachirawit) - "คั่นกู" ("khạ̀n kū")

OUT : Smallpools & morgxn - "Slowdown"

OUT : Nguyễn Trần Trung Quân x Triple D - "Canh Ba" ("Tự Tâm" 2)

OUT : АНГЕЛ (ANGEL) - "Давай замутим" (Davai Zamutim)

OUT : The Chain Gang of 1974 feat. TWINKIDS - "Bends"

01 (=) : Yuma X - "Secret Lover"

LW: 01 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 01 (x2)

Australia - April 2020

The music videos shows a secret relation between two men who have both a girlfriend.

02 (+ 16) : Ben Platt - "Rain"

LW: 18 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 02

USA - September 2019 - from the album "Sing To Me Instead" (Deluxe)

03 (+ 4) : PJ Brennan - "Bones"

LW: 07 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 03

USA - September 2019

04 (=) : Melanie C - "Who I Am"

LW: 04 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 04

UK - March 2020

The ex-Spice Girls member make a queer come back with several songs and music videos with LGBT themes. This one is about self-esteem.

05 (=) : Javiera Mena - "Corazón Astral"

LW: 05 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 05

Chile - June 2020

06 (- 3) : Макс Барских (Max Barskih) - "Лей, не жалей" (Ley, ne zhaley)

LW: 03 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 03

Ukraine - February 2020

07 (+ 1) : Eurovision Song-Along (Official) - Iconic Contestants Join The Party

LW: 08 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 07

USA / international - June 2020 - from the Netflix movie "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga" OST

08 (+ 6) : Scott Free - "The Last Revolution"

LW: 14 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 08

USA - June 2020 - from the album "The Last Revolution"

09 (- 7) : Christopher Sorensen - "Way. Way. Back"

LW: 02 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 02

USA - November 2019

A sweet music video about two childhood friends at three different moments of their lives, who faced the opposition of the father of one of them when he discovered they were lovers.

10 (+ 33) : Netta - "Cuckoo"

LW: 43 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 10

Israel - June 2020

11 (+ 11) : Hoshi - "Amour censure"

LW: 22 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 11

France - December 2019 - from the album "Sommeil levant"

A song for tolerance and gay love, and a music video against "La manif pour tous", a collective against LGBT rights in France.

12 (NEW) : Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande - "Rain On Me"

LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 12

USA – May 2020 – from the album "Chromatica"

13 (+ 2) : Will Young - "All The Songs"

LW: 15 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 12

UK - March 2019 - from the album "Lexicon"

The British singer dares to strip naked in this music video.

14 (+ 7) : LP - "Shaken"

LW: 21 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 14

USA - June 2019 - from the album "Heart to Mouth"

15 (- 4) : Сергей Лазарев (Sergey Lazarev) - "Я не боюсь" ("Ya ne boyus")

LW: 11 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 11

Russia - November 2019 - from the EP "Я не боюсь"

With this song called "I'm not afraid", Sergey Lazarev shows subtly that you don't have to be afraid to love who you want.

16 (- 6) : Kim Petras - "Icy"

LW: 10 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 10

Germany - October 2019 - from the album "Clarity"

17 (+ 27) : Greyson Chance - "Dancing Next To Me"

LW: 44 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 17

USA - February 2020

18 (NEW) : CRIMER - "Eyes Off Me"

LW: - / WO: 01 / PEAK: 18

Switzerland - July 2020

19 (+ 1) : Bright Light Bright Light - "I Used To Be Cool"

LW: 20 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 19

USA - June 2020 - from the album "Fun City"

20 (+ 10) : Jessie Ware - "Spotlight"

LW: 30 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 20

UK - February 2020

21 (NEW) : Guy Sebastian - "Standing With You"

LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 21

Australia - June 2020

22 (- 10) : MIKA - "Sanremo"

LW: 12 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 08

UK / Lebanon - October 2019 - from the album "My Name Is Michael Holbrook"

The music video shows the difficulties to be gay in Italy in the 50's, with a married man cruising in the streets and clandestin bars while avoiding police patrols.

23 (- 14) : Pierre Lapointe - "Le monarque des Indes"

LW: 09 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 06

Canada - November 2019 - from the album "Pour déjouer l'ennui"

24 (+ 5) : Stefan Alexander - "Skeleton"

LW: 29 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 24

USA - September 2019 - from the EP "Thunderclap"

25 (+ 10) : Beverly -「尊い」(tōtoi)

LW: 35 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 25

Japan - November 2019 - from the album「INFINITY」

26 (- 20) : Sam Smith - "How Do You Sleep?"

LW: 06 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 05

UK - July 2019

27 (- 10) : Romy, Tanishk Bagchi & Yo Yo Honey Singh - "Pyaar Tenu Karda Gabru"

LW: 17 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 14

India - January 2020 - from the OST "Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan"

This song is taken from the first Bollywood gay movie "Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan" which tells the story of a gay couple who must face the opposition of the father of one of them.

28 (+ 3) : Esteman - "Hasta Que Tú Me Quieras"

LW: 33 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 28

Colombia - March 2020

29 (- 5) : Lu Xue-Rui (盧學叡) - "Who I Am" /《我是誰》

LW: 24 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 07

Taiwan - October 2019

This music video shows the struggles to assume your sexual orientation.

30 (NEW) : Marshmello & Halsey - "Be Kind"

LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 30

USA - June 2020

31 (NEW) : Vini Uehara - "4NTENA"

LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 31

Brazil - June 2020

32 (- 7) : Yanni Burton - "A Part Of Me"

LW: 25 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 25

Australia - July 2020

33 (+ 7) : Wils - "Open up Babe"

LW: 40 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 33

Singapore / USA - April 2019

34 (+ 11) : Kim Petras - "Malibu"

LW: 45 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 34

Germany - May 2020

35 (NEW) : Danna Paola - "TQ Y YA"

LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 35

Mexico - June 2020

36 (- 2) : Apolo - "Otro Nivel"

LW: 34 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 34

Spain - June 2020

37 (- 11) : Kyan Palmer - "Quarantini"

LW: 26 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 26

USA - April 2020

38 (+ 9) : Azis - "Who Cares"

LW: 47 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 38

Bulgaria - February 2020

39 (NEW) : Doug Locke - "Why?" (Lyric Video)

LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 39

USA - July 2020 - from the EP “Why? (Lunar II)”

40 (- 12) : Lesley Roy - "Story Of My Life"

LW: 28 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 28

Ireland - March 2020 - from the compilation "Eurovision Song Contest 2020"

41 (- 22) : The Irrepressibles feat. Jon Campbell - "Let Go (Everybody Move Your Body Listen to Your Heart)"

LW: 19 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 19

UK - March 2020

42 (- 6) : Goldnation feat. Sir Ari Gold - "Soundtrack to Freedom"

LW: 36 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 24

USA - June 2019 - from the album "Soundtrack to Freedom"

43 (- 27) : Thibaut Pez - "Que tu meures"

LW: 16 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 16

France - June 2019 - from the EP "Garçon formidable"

44 (- 31) : Hatari feat. Bashar Murad - "Klefi" / "Samed" (صامد)

LW: 13 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 13

Iceland / Palestine - May 2019 - from the album "Neyslutrans"

45 (NEW) : Tom Goss - "Regretting"

LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 45

USA - June 2020 - from the album "Territories"

46 (- 14) : Benjamin Scheuer - "I Am Samantha"

LW: 32 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 10

USA - March 2020

This is a powerful transgender anthem.

47 (- 14) : Nguyễn Trần Trung Quân - "Tự Tâm"

LW: 23 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 01 (x1)

Vietnam - October 2019

In this first part of probable trilogy, a king falls in love of a man found in a lotus lake. Don't miss this awesome music video, with several twists.

48 (NEW) : Duncan Laurence - "Someone Else" (Lyric Video)

LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 48

The Netherlands - May 2020

49 (NEW) : Debris - "UNI"

LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 49

USA - July 2020

50 (NEW) : Monét X Change - "March"

LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 50

USA - June 2020

ALSO NEW THIS WEEK

Troye Sivan - "Easy"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

Australia - July 2020 - from the EP "In A Dream"

Bilal Hassani - "Fais le vide"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

France - July 2020

鍾明軒 (Mitchell) - 『當我說真話的時候我感到自由 I feel free when I’m saying the truth』

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

Taiwan - May 2020

For his first song, the 20 years old Taiwanese YouTuber releases a LGBTQ+ self-esteem song.

Tuure Boelius - "Hengitä"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

Finland - May 2020

Holland (홀랜드) - "Loved You Better"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

South Korea - December 2019

Pol Granch - "Chocolatito"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

Spain - June 2020

Declan McKenna - "The Key to Life on Earth"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

UK - April 2020 - from the album "Zeros"

alextbh - "The Chase"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

Malaysia - July 2020 - from the EP "The Chase"

Pantherist (แพนเตอร์) – "กี่เหตุผลที่ทำให้รัก" (How Many Reasons to Make Love)

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

Thailand - February 2020 - from the OST "WHY R U The Series"

Agoney - "Más"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

Spain - June 2020

Isaac Dunbar - "Makeup drawer"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

USA - April 2020 - from the EP "Isaac's insects"

Nuri Harun Ateş - "Ay"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

Turkey - June 2020

Static (סטטיק) and Ben El Tavori (בן אל תבורי) & Nasrin Kadri (נסרין קדרי) - "חביב אלבי " ("Habib Albi")

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

Israel - June 2020

This is the official song for Tel Aviv Pride 2020.

Val - "Da Vidna"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

Belarus - March 2020 – Taken from the album "Eurovision Song Contest 2020"

Betty BBQ feat. PARTYTIER - "Zick Zack Zwiebel"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

Germany - November 2019

청하 (CHUNG HA) - "Stay Tonight"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

South Korea - April 2020

GFRIEND (여자친구) - "Apple"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

South Korea - July 2020

Myylo - "Kissing on Your Dad"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

USA - July 2020

A fun song about a man who tells to a kid he's dating his father.

Armstrong feat. Sur Ellz - "Truth Machine"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

USA - May 2020

#1 on Weekly Top 40 LGBT Urban Chart (2020 week 28).

Davis Mallory - "Greatest Work of Art"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

USA - May 2020

#1 on The Gay 100 Chart (2020 week 28).

Jason Mraz - "Look For The Good"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

USA - April 2020 - from the album "Look For The Good"

#1 on Tad's LGBT Top 50 (2020 week 28).

The Shapeshifters Featuring Billy Porter - 'Finally Ready'

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

UK / USA - June 2020

#1 on Gaydio Dance Chart (5th July 2020).

KEiiNO - "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

Norway - June 2020

This Whitney Houston's cover is the official song for Global Pride 2020 in Oslo.

#1 on LGBTQ Music Chart (2020 week 29).

annsofi me - "Beauticool"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

Norway - June 2020

This is the official theme song for Oslo Pride 2020.

JUHA - "Lucifer in Love"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

USA - May 2020 - from the album "The Borders of the Mind"

Neptune - "Tropical Storm"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

Chile - April 2019

Wrabel with Kesha - "Since I Was Young"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

USA - July 2020

VINCINT - "Save Myself "

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

USA - July 2020

Anne-Marie feat. Doja Cat - "To Be Young"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

UK / USA - July 2020

Shamir - "I Wonder"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

USA - July 2020

Patrick Starrr - "Go Off"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

USA - July 2020

✨ spot TV 2020 Disneyland Paris - La magie n'existe pas sans vous (version française)

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

France - June 2020

While Disney parks in the world are reopening after several months of closure due to the Covid-19 health crisis, Disneyland Paris has produced a TV commercial featuring the song "Un jour mon prince viendra" / "Someday My prince Will Come" from the classic Disney movie "Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs", but sung by a man for Pride Month.

✨ spot TV 2020 Disneyland Paris - La magie n'existe pas sans vous (english version)

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

France - June 2020

Thomas Sanders feat. Jon Cozart - "A Gay Disney Prince"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

USA - August 2019

Both Youtubers dreams about a gay Disney Prince, which finally be a first LGBTQ+ model for LGBTQ+ children.

Mike Zubi / Mark Scarnander - "Part of Your World"

LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -

Argentina / Brazil - April 2020

A gay version of the famous song from classic Disney movie "The Little Mermaid", sung by Mike Zubi and illustrated by Mark Scarnander.

See you next week !

#GayMusicChart #gay #LGBT #lesbian #transgender #bisexual #music

0 notes

randomwoohoo · 7 years ago

Link

Howdy! Here comes the fanfic series of Zootopia Tokusatsu AU!

Tokusatsu = a genre of Japanese live action audio-visual entertainment usually, but not always, involving super heroes/heroines comabtting evil monsters. For example, super sentai (Power rangers), masked riders and metal heroes.

Hope you enjoy it~

Fanfiction.net link

Synopsis: 3 years after Nick and Judy started working together as police partners, Zootopia was encountering a threat, the monsters called Savages. ZPD (Zootopia Police Department) and DIB (Defense Intelligence Bureau) co-founded SCU (Savage Control Unit), the special task force with sole purpose to exterminate Savages. Nick and Judy were senior police officers but they tended to tackle the monsters a lot by becoming one, an armored hero mixed between fox and rabbit, Hybrid. The new cases, chaos and henshin heroes arrived!

A fleeing sports car came to a screeching halt. Officer Judy Hopps and Officer Nick Wilde exited their patrol cruiser then approached a street racer. “Sir, you were going 115 miles per hour. I hope you have a good explanation.” Judy informed.

However, when the driver’s window moved down, the lawbreaker was revealed to be… “Flash? Flash? Hundred yard dash!?” Nick took off his shades to get a good look at the driver. It was Flash the sloth.

“. . . N i c k” Flash called out the brand new cop’s name at a seriously slow pace.

That was the first assignment of Nick and Judy as partners. It felt like yesterday although it had already been three year since back then. In the morning at the Zootopia Police Department headquarters, there were some minor changes here and there, new faces, transferred employees, some… had gone...

“All right. Everybody! Sit! Today, I have an important announcement.” A mammal standing at the podium was no one other than Chief Bogo, a male Cape buffalo and the chief of the Zootopia Police Department or ZPD for short.

“Sir, aren’t you tired from being a chief for many years? Consider settling down?” The fox senior police officer teased his supervisor.

“It’s too early to get rid of me, Wilde.” Chief quipped as a response to the first and still the only one fox cop in the department, Nick Wilde, which got a laugh out of others in the bullpen. This playful behaviour had become a routine at work. It lightened up the mood and helped reinforcing a positive impression towards the fox.

Bogo put on glasses to read the report in his hoof. “Ahem. Y’all might have already known. Just to remind you, the missing mammal cases that occurred these recent years in the Canals, the Meadowlands, the Nocturnal District, Outback Island, Sherwood and Bunnyburrow-” He paused to glance at one officer after he mentioned her hometown. Senior Officer Judy Hopps, who shared a front roll seat with her partner Nick, was listening attentively. Moreover, she seemed tense. It was understandable for Bogo. He breathed in and resumed. “Just now, there is progress in those cases. Police from other precincts found clues that lead to Zootopia. A few of you are needed to work on them. Treat ’em as your priority. Assignments!” The buffalo was about to give assignments but he felt the urge to emphasize current situation. “Oh by the way, if anybody encounters Savage , escort citizens in the area, contact SCU and stay away from Savage. Understand?”

“Yes’sir” Every police in the bullpen burst out in reply, not exactly every single one.

Bogo inspected Judy being quiet. She averted her eyes when they met with Bogo’s. He knew immediately what was on her mind. “Officer Hopps. Parking duty.”

The bunny cop went all alert. “What!? Chief-” She wanted to argue. However, Bogo interrupted. “Now… do you understand?” He repeated intimidatingly.

.--. .- .-. - -. . .-. ...

“This is ridiculous! Can’t believe after all these years, I got assigned a parking duty again!” Judy grunted. At Downtown street, she and her partner, Nick Wilde, were standing next to a patrol car that Chief let them drive instead of meter maid cart because of current city situation… It would be dangerous, not fast enough to escape...

“Chill, Fluff. Besides, if either of us is supposed to complain. I should be the one since I tag along with you.” Wearing sunglasses, Nick swirled a cup of coffee in his paw.

“You don’t have to say that. I’ve felt bad already.” Judy sighed, feeling blameworthy that she was a reason the fox was punished as well… He would not let her go through hard time alone. That sort of made her happy, yet also built up a guilt.

“Hey, we are duo through thick ’n thin no matter what, Carrots. And where is your positivity? Couple of years ago, you still found a way to challenge ourselves doing this kind of tasks. Aren’t ya gonna write hundreds of tickets or something?” This was not the first time they were assigned a parking duty together but as Nick stated, Judy used to bring out a spirit to any assignments.

“I will if it’s possible! Look! There are scarcely few cars on street!” The bunny pointed out their surroundings. Road was clear, not many cars running or parking, which was probably what they expected when Bogo intended to keep them far from the battleground. Therefore, he gave them this disciplinary penalty for acting stubborn.

“Consider this taking things slow then.” The tod sip his coffee. “Snarlbucks blueberry coffee is delish.”

Judy put on a half-smile. She loved her partner’s blueberry obsession but the smile turned to frown. “How can I slow down? The city is-”

“Go ahead, patrol, Judy, my dear.” Old lady voice attracted the doe’s attention, causing rabbit ears to flick. Judy turned around to greet. “Officer Mabel!” An elderly female goat meter maid, walking with a cane, waved the hand to greet back. “Don’t be worried. I can cover for you two. It has been a light work since nobody dares to roam the streets anyway.” said Mabel.

Judy grinned and ran to open the driver door of police car. “Thank you, Officer Mabel! Call us if anything happens! Nick! Get in a car!” The bunny ordered, yet Nick tarried. “Hang on~ I wanna appreciate some peaceful moments more-” He was going to take another sip. A door of passenger seat was opened from the inside, a bunny paw reached out and grabbed his tie. “Hurry!” Judy crawled from driver seat to passenger seat and opened the door to get her partner who struck a pose outside the cruiser. She dragged him in. The fox staggered into a car. “Mah coffee!” almost dropped his cup. They closed the doors in unison then the doe started the engine.

“Good luck” Mabel wished two officers luck as they departed.

- .... .. -.-. -.- / .- -. -.. / - .... .. -.

After hours of patrolling around Downtown and Rainforest district, both arrived at Cliffside Asylum. There were a group of mammals yelling at a guard. Bunny cop turned off the engine to take a look.

“You folks ain’t allowed to come in here!” A wolf guard stopped teenage camera crew at the gate. The crew was consisted of bear, fox, rabbit, raccoon and skunk.

“C’mon! We’re not messing around!” A bear, holding a camera, shouted. A skunk flipped a script and assisted protesting. “We’re here to film a documentary.” Juveniles clamored. A rabbit buck brought out a phone to record a video. “This building is wicked! It was involved in former-mayor Lionheart mammal abduction and Savage-”

“No video!” The guard swatted buck’s phone away, standing ground to say no to the youngsters.

Judy monitored the fuss, speaking nonspecifically. “Ever since then, this place has been forbidden. Suspicious-”

“Hold your horses! Forget about investigation. Even the high ranked police strenuously get a warrant.” Removing his shades, Nick interjected. The mentioned fact distressed the doe. She moaned while staring out the window. Shortly afterwards, Judy jerked, making Nick flinched. He shifted his focus to the same direction as his partner, spotting other raccoon going through the gate when wolf guard was busy dealing with camera crew.

“The thing is, you don’t need a warrant if you have probable cause-” Judy stated then Nick added promptly. “And you saw a potential criminal sneaking in.”

“Bingo~” The doe exclaimed. “Sly bunny~” Tod commented.

“Let’s go. And don’t forget your driver!” She said.

“How can you carry it with you all the time?” He questioned. “I have my own method.” Bunny responded. Nick and Judy got off the car and used this chance while the guard being distracted to sneak into the complex.

Inside the asylum, which had dramatically changed, wrecked and abandoned, demolished walls, ceilings and floors, equipments and stuff scattering all over the place, blood stain…, the raccoon intruder held a flashlight in his mouth as he rummaged through a crumbled laboratory. “Where is it? Geez...” Raccoon expressed annoyance. He kept searching though his jaw felt sore from holding the flashlight. But he turned down the light and ducked under a table when he heard some noise, peeping who or what was coming. Two police officers, fox and rabbit, more than enough to identify who they are, scouted about. Nick pointed at one direction and moved his paw in and out, suggesting he should go that way. Judy shook her head to reject Nick’s suggestion. She pointed at Nick, drew her paw in and tapped her chest with index finger, advising him not to separate but stick together.

Shoot! Cops!! At least, it’s mammal. I can grab it quickly and get out of here before- Speaking of the devil, the most terrifying thing Raccoon wished he did not encounter emerged.

The partner’s ears captured a scream. They rushed to the source of sound, surprisingly bumping against the intruder. Apparently, he was fleeing from something and there was no need to guess because it followed the raccoon not far behind. Its pupils were glowing in the dark. The duo instantly perceived what it was.

“RunRunRunRunRun!!” Judy commanded incessantly. They raced down the hallway, avoiding tripping concrete wreckage.

“Still some left in here? Good grief~” Nick grumbled.

“Savage ...” Judy called a monster that was after them, the mammal-like purple creatures which had threatened Zootopia since one year ago, their behavior resembled the fierce feral animals. Therefore, they were named Savage. This one looked similar to a jaguar. However, it had the exoskeleton covering its body and a strip of long fur lined down its spine. Its saliva dripped everywhere while it was chasing police and civilian on all four.

“Bunny! Aren’t you a cop? Shoot it!” Raccoon bawled.

“I have only tranq gun and it doesn’t work on them!” Judy’s lethal weapon was confiscated when she received an assignment that those types of weapons are not necessary.

“Use mine.” Nick gave Judy a pistol. “H-How?” Puzzled, the doe inquired. Subsequently, tod riposted. “I’m not the one getting punished. remember?” Both beamed at each other. Judy grasped Nick’s pistol. It is a bit too big for her paws but she could work on it. Nick offered his firearm since Judy is a better shooter than him. She started firing on Savage which was pursuing them.

“For the last time, no means no! You can’t go in-” The wolf guard addressed the final warning to the teenagers before ears perked up to catch the roar from the asylum. Wolf rotated to get a glimpse, three mammals running away from Jaguar Savage . “Okay, you kids do whatever you please. I gonna call SCU.” Guard and camera crew split.

“You! That way!” Judy told the raccoon, pointing different direction. They made it out of building, still Savage kept hunting them.

“Don’t leave me, Coppah!” He whined. Nick swiftly corrected raccoon’s thought. “We will decoy that monster. Now, go!” Fox stressed. The raccoon hesitated. He eventually escaped to hide around the corner of the asylum.

“Finally, we’re left alone.” The doe heaved a sigh of relief. “Ready, partner?” She stopped abruptly, so did the tod. They about-faced the monster and brought out the devices. “Here we go again” Nick was mentally prepared. Both put them over the front middle of waist.

The devices are identical, arm-sized black machine with purple 1.25 inch diameter flat circle at the center, maroon motorcycle handlebar on the right half and silver syringe having a 45 degree tilt. The devices extended the belt to wrap around the wearer's waist.

Nick pulled the syringe which has spring mechanism. It was drawn back automatically after he let it go. “ DRAW BLOOD ” Nick’s device spoke robotically. Blood filled in Nick’s syringe then it teleported into the syringe of Judy’s device. Judy pressed the syringe which sprang out on its own. “ INJECT ” Judy’s device spoke robotically as well. Fox’s blood was injected into rabbit. He fell asleep standing up, lying unconsciously on the ground.

Savage was charging at the duo. Rabbit uttered. “Transform!” Then she twisted the device’s handle anticlockwise with her right paw. “ IGNITE ” Judy’s device spoke. The handle was twisted back by the spring mechanism. It released purple steam, followed by the hot purple mist explosion. Savage halted, viewing the mist swallowing the bunny whole. In the thick fog, device core illuminated, two amethyst headlamps shone up where Judy eyes are. The mist was fading, revealing a flamingo red full suit head-to-toe bio armoured Hybrid between a fox and a rabbit, obvious Judy’s body type, soft metal long rabbit ears, red long fluffy fox tail made of spikes instead of fur, light green torso with blue stripe on front dividing left and right, grayish-tan lower body except flamingo red feet, stylish headlights for eyes and fangs with a pair of buck teeth pattern on muzzle.

Savage ’s instinct commanded it to assault the new threat. The monster stormed towards the armoured figure. Hybrid sprinted off, dodging to the right side, landing a right hook on Jaguar Savage ’s shoulder, knee bashing its throat. Savage angled its head upward. Hybrid palm struck monster’s chin.

“You punch like a bunny.” Judy jestingly criticized Nick who chuckled at a pun. How can he help it? He was literally in the bunny body…

The monster bounced back, trying to attack the fox-mixed rabbit once again. Judy protracted the right paw claw, pivoting 360 degree, lacerating Savage’s face. It bellowed in agony. “And you are ferocious.” Tod remarked. “Like a fox~” Doe added. “Oy! That’s all you. Tenderness runs in my blood.” He protested.

Savage veered off, hurtling toward a defenseless sleeping fox. Nick gasped “It’s going after my body!” He panicked. Judy pushed the syringe. “ ACTIVATE ” The belt voiced. Hybrid zoomed at an incredible pace, breaking through the wind, each step sent the dust flying everywhere, catching up with the monster in a trice. Hybrid hopped, trampling on Savage ’s back. It paused due to a severe blow, giving an opportunity for Hybrid to retrieve Nick’s body. Judy was carrying the fox to the side of building. She laid him down where it must be safe from harm. “Dang! I look good even when I’m napping.~” Nick complimented his presence. He rubbed his chin but Judy intervened. “Cut it out already! We’re far from done with that Savage.”

When Hybrid returned, the monster had disappeared. “See! We’ve lost it!” The doe blamed the tod. “Relax, Carrots.” Nick pushed the syringe. “ ACTIVATE ” Hybrid’s ears perked up, harking the sounds of environment, tracing its location. “That way!” Duo shouted.

- .-. .- -. ... ..-. --- .-. --

Jaguar Savage escaped from Cliffside Asylum and reached South Canyon. However, a trope of armed mammals were blocking a road. They were wearing tactical gears, bulletproof uniforms and face shield helmets, SCU logos are embroidered on back and right chest.

“Ready!” A white stallion signaled. SCU agents rifles properly. He continued. “Aim!” They target Savage . “Fire!” Horse bawled. The agents opened fire on the monster. It stood sideways to avoid the probable damages. Its shell deflected the bullets yet it began to fracture after the several hits. SCU team is specialized in exterminating Savage. They hastened to track down and eliminate the target as soon as they were contacted by a wolf. The jaguar was about to withdraw. “Quick! If it climbs up that hill, we won’t be able to follow it!” Stallion warned.

“Mine Mine Mine Mine~” The repeated yelling earned agents’ attention. It was as loud as or even louder than the gunshot noise. They stopped shooting to take a gaze. A weird rabbit knight was heading towards their way. Actually, it was the running bio armoured bunny fox hybrid. “Don’t ya steal my kill!” said Nick. Judy twisted the device’s handle anticlockwise again. “ CRITICAL BREAK ” Hybrid accelerated to the point of becoming a red blur with amethyst light lines alongside from the eyes. Hybrid leaped when getting close enough to Savage and roll front flip in mid-air. The partners double kicked the monster’s flank. The impact shattered its exoskeleton. The protracted bunny feet claws were inserted through the shell cracks, digging in Savage ’s flesh. Hybrid shoved the monster away, landing backflip on a ground. Every part of Savage was evaporating as it was dying.

SCU gaped at an armoured mammal. “Applause~ Applause~ No need to thank me~ Just doing my job.” Nick babbled. “Freeze, Hybrid !” They did not get a round of applause. Instead, the agents were pointing the rifles at Hybrid . “I would love to stay but… Gotta dash!” Nick waved a paw. Judy, giggling at a fox’s frisky nature, took control of the body, skedaddling. Horse directed. “Fire tranq dart! Fire!” They shot nonstop at Hybrid, who pressed the syringe, “ACTIVATE” vanishing into thin air. “We lost them again!” White horse neighed after Hybrid evaded the special force once again without any traces.

“Let’s meet at the car.” Judy advised, holing up over the hill despite being on the road below merely second ago. “Roger~ See ya, Carrots~” Nick agreed. She pulled the syringe. Blood was drawn and teleported to other syringe as Judy detransformed. The suit let out purple steam then disappeared. Her body and clothes were back to the state before Nick and she fought the monster together.

.- --. .- .. -.

“Hello, this is Jim Tuck.” Just invading the prohibited area, saved by police and hiding behind the side of asylum from the monster, the raccoon made a phone call. “No, I haven’t got a thing yet-” He jerked away from his phone because his interlocutor brawled aggressively. “What was I supposed to do!? Savage almost killed me! Look! Just give me more time, okay?” He stayed silent for seconds, hearing the answer. “Good! Deal! Bye!” He hung up and sighed.

“Tough luck huh?” The voice startled Jim. He turned to find the fox officer. Jim tried to bolt but the tod could seize raccoon’s wrist first. “Chill out~ I’m not here to arrest you. In fact, I think I can lend you a paw...” Nick apprised.

- --- / -... . / -.-. --- -. - .. -. ..- . -..

#zootopia #zootopia tokusatsu au #zootopia fanfiction #zoomorphia #As a wildehopps shipper The moment will come This story gonna long and wild #100th post

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