#might steal my lil sisters switch again

[navysealt4t]

RAHHHH THINKING ABOUT UNPACKING. ALL THE LOVE PUT INTO THE GAME ALL THE LOVE IN THE GAME!!!!!!!!!!!

[sometimes-i-write-4-you]

I would love if you could write 36 from random with 12 from kisses for a Steven hyde x reader! ❤❤❤❤

Everything is turning gold - Steven Hyde x reader

a\n: i had to do so much research for this. lowkey stan The Rolling Stones now? idk had to listen to some of their songs for this and they were highkey bops.

trigger warnings: cursing

word count: 1155

"hey" I called, entering the Forman basement. As a Forman, I could do that without being sort-of rude. I mean, am I the only one who thinks that coming into my basement to find Kelso and Jackie making out while Steven is at work and Eric is at Donna's is rude?

"you guys have no shame" I sigh. "oh, hi lil' Forman" Kelso smiles. 'it's 5 minutes!" I remind him. "yeah, but 5 second into the next day" Jackie agrees with Kelso. "BURN!" he says, the usual excitement in his voice. "whatever just get out. And stop using my basement as a make out spot" I point at the door. "buzz killer" Jackie says, cold, but her tone switches to ask if we are still on for tomorrow. "sure thing Jackfruit" I reply. "stop calling me that" Jackie whines, but I just laugh. "what? it's a sweet fruit, it's a compliment" I say. "But it's ugly" Jackie says. "it's a fruit!" I reply as I sit down on the chair. "whatever, let's just go Michael" she says, dragging him outside. I turn the TV, and Steven comes down the stairs.

"Hey (y\n)" he says, jumping over the couch to sit. "I wouldn't sit there if I were you, Hyde, Jackie and Kelso were making out on the couch a second ago" I say. He gets up and move to the other chair across from me. "you know what we should do?" he asks, "we should detox the couch by making out there". I laugh as I get up, "Hyde, you are practically my brother" I roll my eyes, "do you want popcorn?". "yes please" he says.

I went upstairs to get popcorn and found Jackie and Kelso making put on the table. "guys, I eat there. Please, do you not have your own furniture to make out on?" I sigh as I take the bag and spill the popcorn into two different bowls. "sorry" Jackie sighs, "ohhh, is that popcorn?". "yeah, and it's not for you" I say as Kelso tries to steal some. "now get the hell out".

I went downstairs to find Hyde was sitting on the chair. I leaned behind him to rest the bowl in his lap, kissing his cheek on the way back up. we were always close like that – hugs, cuddles and the occasional forehead or cheek kiss. We grew up together, him being my brother's best friend, now that he lives with us. He was always protective over me, getting onto fights Eric couldn't win – meaning, physical ones – on my behalf. "that was kind of hot" he admits, and I laugh. "horny teen, that's what you are. A fucking horny teen".

We watch the TV, finishing our popcorn. "oh!" he suddenly remembered something, "I got a the new Rolling Stones single". "and you just let me sit here and watch re-runs?" I say, getting up to go to his room and he follows.

He follows me and gets the album. I lean by his door as he sets the record in the photophone. "and… play" he smiled as the music filled the room. He looked down at the packaging, "it's called Shattered" he said. "quite a danceable beat" I say as the song plays, and push myself off the wall to move around. I offer Steven my hand. "if you tell anyone-" "common, it's the rolling stones, not disco" I said, laughing as he took my hand. We dance along, and when the air guitar comes along Hyde pulls the best Air-guitar I've ever seen.

He takes my hand to spin me around, and our hands stay held for an "outside partner step", meaning my feet went forward and his opposite feet went back. "you're surprisingly good" I laugh, and he spins me around once again. "and I see I'm not the only one your mom thought well" he returns the compliment. We dance, and then the music cuts. "hold on, I think it has a B-side" he says, walking over and flipping the record. Music starts. "yes!" he smiles, and goes back to me, taking my hand.

I don't care if your love grows cold \ Found love in someone else's home \ Don't like standin' in the snow

He was so sweet, dancing with me even though it's not really his thing. I wonder why he agreed, but I will never ask. When I looked at him, I noticed he seemed very focused on the lyrics, so I decide to listen carefully too.

Everything's turning to gold \ Everything's turning to gold \ Everything's turning to gold

Nothing deep there, I see.

You used to know me long ago \ Was so lost and way down low. \ Now that the love juice starts to flow, \ Now that the love juice starts to flow,

Oh.

Everything's turning to gold \ Everything's turning to gold\ Everything's turning, everything's turning \ Everything's turning, everything's turning to gold

I didn't even realize I was cornered to the wall as we moved around until Hyde got a little closer and leaned his hand on the wall. "what are you doing?" I laugh awkwardly. He was close, really close. I could feel his breath and smell the popcorn we ate earlier. The thing is, I talked to Donna about it – how close we are, but she kept insisting he sees me as a sister.

"he's always protecting me" I said. "So does Eric. Remember he punched a guy who whistled at you? Kelso had to jump in and help cause Eric was getting his ass kicked". "well, he always sits next to me with his hand around my shoulder" I insist on believing he might see me as more. "so does Eric. And Kelso. And Fez. Do you think Kelso or Fez have a crush on you?". "no, ew, I hope no. Hyde sometimes kisses my forehead" I remind her, sure I won the argument. "hey sis" Eric says, walking inside Donna's room. He hugs me and kisses my forehead. "hey, so you think you can over for me? I'm spending the night at Donna's".

I'm tired, I'm tired of doing what I'm told. \ Things are moving way too slow.

The music brings me back to reality. "I don't know" Hyde finally says, "but I really want to kiss you". "what's stopping you?" I ask, and with that, he makes the decision to lean in.

The music keeps blasting as my hands travel to his neck to pull him closer. My back is completely leaned on the wall, and Steven hand find my checks to hold.

I got no problems, I got no problems, child. \ It ain't my business, it ain't my business, ain't my style.

"who's a Horney teenager now?" Steven laughs into the kiss. "shut up" I whisper, kissing him.

Now that the love juice starts to flow,

Now that the love juice starts to flow.

taglist: @sadhappywhatever​

[unironicduncanstan]

[UNI’S LPS LORE DROP BITCH]

so ,,, i used to collect littlest pet shop (mostly the 1st and 2nd gen ones bc yall i am old) and theyre long gone now but. these are some of the lps i remember playing with and giving distinct personalities growing up. most of them didnt have names at all so im just referring to them with numbers and pictures. also warning it gets pretty Dark bc weird kid culture but here we go;;;

the first is #11 and #86. they were my absolute FAVORITES, a mother and daughter duo, a lot of their stories revolved around the kitten getting lost and the mom having to get to her, or the kitten dying and the mom having a mental breakdown. 11 mostly acted as a single mom but sometimes id cycle out different potential dads, usually the dog lps bc i did Not care abt the actual scientific lack of interspecial breeding possibilities

#25. a basic white picket fence ass dude, really common choice as the ‘dad’ in the above situation, he also was not immune to being ‘killed off’ for angst. was also cheated on a couple times by 11 (THOSE WERE AUS THO,,, DONT CANCEL HER ITS OK TO KEEP STANNING)

#200. she was #11s best friend, I think her name might have been hannah??? anyways if the mom and dad were killed off sometimes she’d “adopt” #86. but usually only after #86 fell into the custody of a terribly neglectful parent for a while and had to be rescued bc again, in my gay neurodivergent little brain peace was never an option

#487. another love interest for #11, usually competed with #25 in an almost edward vs jacob type battle of cool brooding boy and average mcfamily man. he was a big fav

#672. number #487s sister! usually either helped him get #11 like a wingman, or i’d flip the cards and make her manipulative and sabotage 11 bc she didnt think she was good enough for her brother. the personality switches id give characters were rly like. getting the bad ending in a video game,

#44. YET ANOTHER,, LOVE INTEREST FOR THAT ONE CAT,,,, but it was one sided and he always lost. poor friend zone ass simp im sorry man idk why you deserved that 😔 i think sometimes though id pair him with #200/hannah at the end. cant get the girl date her best friend idk i was 8 my morals were not always applicable to the adult situations i created

#14. SO I,,,, i ended up with three of these. and in the end i made them triplets that performed for the circus and were unhappy in their life of exploitation. i think sometimes they would. form a sui pact to escape their torment.

#137. HIS NAME WAS FUCKEN CHEESE

Groovy goat / unnumbered. I remember she was spanish to me but spoke mostly english, this decision was made bc i was an extremely white american child, and she was almost always involved somehow in a story bc she was my favorite design ever. anyways she usually was a model that would give a struggling lps a ‘makeover’ like that one scene in any dramatic disney live action film ever made

#464. another fav bc of her design omg. she was like a little sweetheart and would often play the role of ‘baby’ for any species i didnt already have designated ‘babies’ for. BUT, when i’d play with the other hamsters (we’ll get 2 them in a sec), i made them all the same age and theyd all crush on her at the same time lmao the DRAMA

#34, #35, #36. they were brothers and in order from left to right;;; biggest brother and a leader+positive role model, then the punkish middle brother that didnt like to listen and would often get them all in trouble, then the youngest nerdy brother that was naive and soft and did w/e he was told. they stuck together thru all their antics, except when #464 was involved, then theyd have a classic ‘fighting over a girl then realizing thats ridiculous’ arc. rly loved these guys cuz i always wanted a hamster so id pretend they were real animals sometimes too loL

#693. i got thsi in a mcdonalds happy meal but anyways she was a princess/queen/whatever and was very spoiled royalty. probably tried to behead some of the other lps idk. all she wanted was drama and money

#112. punk boy,,, usually paired with one of the ‘popular’ girls,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, oh my god did i government assign this dog duncan kin b4 td even existed yet

#48, #79 #42. !! HUGE FUCKEN BITCH ALERT !! (popular girls trio lol), i think a couple times i like, aged down #11 and got rid of the kitten for a ~highschool au~ where these girls bullied her but she ofc ended up stealing the middle ones man. and then other times i just paired the middle girl with #112 in a genuine ‘opposites attract’ ship . where were u guys when i was making duncney lps a thing tbh

#59. i love this guy but he was just an eccentric dork and mostly used for comedic effect

#43. love interest for #59 that he goofily fawned over till he eventually got the girl at the end of every story bc i loved cliches

#673. usually a mysterious adventurous girl from out of town that meets the mains in my story and befriends them/helps them out. also a close friend of the groovy goat character

“Paws off diary” Bull Terrier. ok this ones weird but he came in this lil electronic diary right (you can google how it looks to see what i mean) and there was this like, plastic bubble on top that he came in and you could stick him or any other lps in there and shut it securely cuz it was a diary so i. used it as like. a prison almost where id trap lps and the other characters had to ‘save’ them like they were rescuing a princess from a tower or smth. but it was usually just this lil guy. also he was given a name but i was kinda cheating skjdfsdf it was, “Max” bc that was always his name in the commercials for the diary--

#646 and #647, twin orphans separated at birth. did a lot of princess and the pauper esque ‘long lost siblings from different worlds’ reunion stories with these two

#94. so this one came with a head bandage and a little medical looking case to carry them in. i used the carry case as like an ‘ambulance’ or med helicopter to put ‘sick’ pets in and carry them to the hospital, and this pet had chronic illness so they were always the roommate patient at the lps hospital.

#10 and #142, the goldfish couldnt be taken out of the bowl if i remember correctly so. he felt sad and isolated but the seahorse was his best friend who was able to go anywhere so id stick him in the bowl with him a lot to hang out n make him feel better. solidarity

#463. i LOVED her design, so i used her a lot as just a friend to whoever i was playing with. she was also one of the bigger birds so shes the only one i remember really utilizing as a ‘this character can literally fly’ plot device. she also might have been magic i dont remember. ik whenever i did the circus story she was always in it

#37, #38 and #39. i lost the ‘girl’ one early on, like completely lost it and never found it again so idk what happened to it. so the story was the other two were brothers in a constant search for their long lost sister. sometimes id either have another lps be their sister or make a ‘found family’ trope out of somebody

#331. i had two of these and they come with little hats but i lost one of the hats so. evil twin story babey the regular one was a nice old pirate guy but the one with the hat was evil and nobody could ever tell the difference

#641, IM THE TRASH MAN! I START EATIN GARBAGE,

[cohentm]

✮     ∷     ╰  𝖚𝖕𝖉𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖗𝖔𝖉𝖚𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 .

             I FEEL LIKE i just ran away from home and then realized i’m five and, unfortunately, cannot survive without my parents. LMDFLKDFGM i missed u all and had to return… we hate to see it. anyway! whew. i figured i’d post a refreshed lil intro for cohen to make sure i hit on some key changes before i hop back into the game! the most important / group-related part is right at the top, so if u read nothing else, read that! ily all and i’m excited to jump back in like i never left. i’ll be sliding in dms and makin’ starters asap, so if u wanna make some connection changes my door’s always open! x

✮     ∷     ╰  𝖈𝖔𝖍𝖊𝖓 𝖘𝖊𝖌𝖚𝖗𝖆 : 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 .

cohen currently lives in a glorified, raggedy frat-esque house ( he is NOT a fratboy but he might as well be huh ) of his own right off campus, about a five minute drive / ten minute walk from the stadium ( it’s about four bedrooms large with three bathrooms, all on one floor. think david dobrik’s house–click here to see–except much uglier and CHEAP MVDFLG ). 

he’s fiscally very protective of his savings. he’s been working since he was 12 with his dad, and never ever spent his money, despite some repetitive near-misses where his parents tried ( and failed, bc cohen’s slick ) to steal money from him. basically he now pays for his share of the house using the money he saves/has always saved working for factories, farms, & fixing people’s junk cars. 

his only current roommate is foster, meaning he has two spare rooms he’s not really doing anything with. beer pong table’s outside, the kitchen is the alcohol hot spot, there’s a pool table instead of a dining room table, u know how it goes. 

regardless, he throws open invite house parties literally every weekend. they take place every friday night up until the sun rises on sunday morning–whether he’s around the house for all of five seconds or all night doesn’t matter, because they’re always a-go. 

you’re all 100% free to use his house entirely at your leisure for character fun / development / a place for ur thread to take place / etc! you don’t even need to get my okay beforehand! just do it! think of it as a known dillon fact that cohen’s having a house party every weekend NFKDFNDFKJG. 

no matter who you are, whether cohen likes you or not, he will not care if you show up with some randos or familiar faces and party it out. he’s socially bored 24/7 and full of apathy and alcohol at all times so mans probably will be plastered drunk out doing donuts in the parking lot and fighting someone he doesn’t have beef with anyway. ur muse probably won’t even see him there. LMKGDFLG if you’ve ever seen burlesque? literally him showing up to his OWN house for a visit / to get plastered and then wander off during the weekend party is…. real. so yeah! use his house like it’s ur own. just be out by sunday afternoon bc he likes to pretend none of it ever happened as soon as he wakes up and has to be sober for school. x KMVFBLFG love u all.

✮     ∷     ╰  𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬  &  𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 .

tw: eating disorder mentions ( food & lifestyle ), drug addiction / recovery, alcoholism, & mentions of past steroid use.

full name.    cohen anthony segura.

aka.    co, jet.

character inspiration.    adam parrish ( the raven cycle ), vince howard & tim riggins lovechild ( if y’all watched fnl…. let’s cry together ), a much more problematic  &  asshole-ish david dobrik ( the vlog squad ), nathan scott ( oth ), steven hyde ( that ‘70s show ), emily prentiss & aaron hotchner lovechild ( criminal minds ), & noel miller ( tmg ).

age & d.o.b.    twenty-two. birthdate tbd.

zodiac.    virgo sun, aries moon, & aquarius rising.

pronouns.    he / him.

orientation.    openly bisexual.

this has never presented as too large of an issue for cohen, despite living in dillon. he isn’t afraid of being talked about, and has a history of making sure people know he can hold his own if anyone has anything to say about his personal life.

university major.    architecture  &  architectural technology.

after living in a trailer for the duration of his life, the idea that he would be invested in architecture is astounding. however, here he is. his passion for home creation stemmed from growing up and envisioning a real home to live in. his parents are both into self-taught carpentry, and his dad was shoving tools and measuring tape into his hands from the time he was young in an effort to instill in him a firm “get it done yourself” mindset. he spends his time studying structure  &  building planning, and secretly has a journal full of dream house mark-ups.

occupation.    wide receiver for the dillon panthers, full time student, & prospective architect / carpenter post-college.

tattoos.    many riddled throughout his body. brandon arreaga’s tattoos are cohen’s.

face claim.    brandon arreaga.

alignment.    neutral evil.

hogwarts.    slytherin.

positive & negative traits.    ( if u’ve already read this do not read it again i promise u nothing here changed LSMFLD )

hardworking–he works himself to the bone and is entirely unapologetic about it. you’ll rarely catch him slipping, but if he does, he’s the first to get ear-splittingly angry with himself over it. he’s way too hard on himself & he knows it, but he’ll never admit it. 

he nitpicks at the flaws of others in an effort to feel superior, and always acts unaffected when he’s called out for bringing the team down when he’s not taking care of himself ( cue vince howard from fnl or nathan scott from oth scenes where they’re bragging about how good they are on the field even though he’s apt to get himself hurt because of how desperate he is for some kind of validation–cohen had a huge issue with restricting and abusing stimulants / testing steroids throughout high school and college in an attempt to boost his football persona. he was always incredibly fast and beat literal ODDS to maintain his wide receiver position, but especially thanks to his small build he’s used to being underestimated / downplayed, which puts a really heavy weight on his shoulders. today, he’s eating healthily, he’s off drugs, and he’s taking care of himself better than he ever has before, but it’s still incredibly hard and he still reaches out for ways to overcompensate, which is where alcohol usually comes into play ). 

transparent–sure, he can turn into a stressed out & irritable jerk within a fraction of a second, but at least he’s upfront about when he switches lanes. LDFGLMKFG

he’s incredibly focused, which means he’s never going to linger in uncertainty for too long before he admits that he’s just not down to be around you / to be there / to talk / etc. he’s no bullshitter by any means. he’d rather hurt your feelings and keep his environment stable and tactile than stick around and put his easily shaken emotions at risk just to make you comfy. 

he’s also accountable. he knows when he’s causing shit to fuck up & hit the fan, and he’s always quick to right wrongs when things are on him. ofc he’s bred from a family full of blame-givers, so he unhealthily picked up a bad habit of being really good at sounding like he’s apologizing sincerely when he’s really just trying to end a fight because he’s annoyed. LDCLDKMFDFG. 

he’s blunt, temperamental, & incredibly selfish when it comes to his own lifelines / vices, but wholeheartedly selfless when it comes to doing anything to protect or lift up the people he loves.

mental diagnoses.    anorexia nervosa ( in recovery ), alcoholism ( ongoing ), an addiction to various stimulants ( in recovery ), & frequent past attempts at steroid use.

physical diagnoses.    n / a.

phobias.    has an irrational fear of accidentally burning down his house. will get immensely stressed–to the point where he’s absolutely annoying and intolerable to put up with / be around–if someone’s cooking or baking “irresponsibly.” will probably yell at you and hover-cook until you let him take over so he can make sure nothing goes wrong. LMSDFKLFG

scars.   an appendix scar on his lower left side.

drug use.    frequently.

alcohol use.    frequently.

diet.    very decently rounded. he loves to cook, despite being self-taught. growing up the way he did, he settles for making simple dishes very well. he’s not the type to go all out for dinner. he meal preps like it’s his job. he usually just settles with some kind of pan-friend chicken and pasta dish at home.

birth place.    dillon, texas.

parents.    "jude" judith & anthony segura. 

two lower class parents with deep-rooted anger issues. they currently live in the same trailer park together, in separate trailers, and fight with each other constantly. they claim they’re divorced, and are seeing other people, but they’ve never actually filed for anything, since anthony segura thinks it’s just a ploy for judith to take “half [his] shit.” cohen visits them often, and acts as a middle ground child who hates but loves both of them equally. his dad enjoys / tolerates his son’s presence more than his mother does, but only marginally. his mother’s much less concerned with the fact that she has children, since, in her mind, her relationship issues are the most important things in her life. cohen spent many nights as a kid with his drugged up mom in his lap while she cried about not being loved by anyone. his dad, even though he’s rough with cohen, at least spends time with him every now and again. as a kid, his dad was handing him beers to drink and tools to learn to use to prove he was a man ( despite being a ten y/o child bfkjgk oh well! ). regardless, today cohen lives on his own but is still the financial backbone for his parents–since his mom is unemployed and his dad is a seasonal construction worker–and has been since he was fifteen. they ask him for money every chance they get, and cohen never says no.

siblings.    a younger sister ( by two years ). loves her to death. would protect her with his life.

pets.    he’s notorious for letting a certain set of strays run amuck in his house. he feeds the neighborhood cat, is a-okay with people bringing their animals to his parties, etc. but he’s too scared of permanence and obsessed with independence to ever follow through with getting his own animal.

education.    current senior at dillon university. 

he has always been a decent student. he got into architectural honors college his sophomore year of college. however, he’s still not by any means incredibly intelligent. he’s decent grade-wise, but only because he tries really hard and puts in the effort it takes to keep up in a field like architecture. he’s also a chronic cheater, but c’est la vie! lmfgdflkg he spends the vast majority of his time either studying or practicing, and gets very irritable very quick doing either activity because he doesn’t know how to manage stress, so he drinks in the evenings in an attempt to make up for his tense demeanor, but he’s an angry drunk so… whomst are we really kidding here. LMDFKLG

languages.    english & american sign language.

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Leviathan Rising (But like, not THAT Leviathan Rising)

Fandom: Supergirl Rating: K+/T Summary: Someone’s after Supergirl! ...Oh, no, wait. They’re after...Kara Danvers? And Kara decides to play along. A/N: I have blatantly ripped off the plot of Bendis’ recent Leviathan Rising Superman Special to write a lil’ season five ‘what if’ fic. So uh. Spoilers, kinda? For the comic, and some season four stuff.

...

Kara was several blocks away from her apartment when she noticed that something was...off.

She paused, and made a show of fumbling for her phone, all the while listening intently to the group of...five? six? armed people currently gathered in her apartment.

“Maintain positions. Intel says she should be back within the hour.”

She frowned and took a deep breath, trying not to betray the sudden panic rising in her chest. Thoughts of Lex Luthor—specifically, his knowledge of her secret identity—flashed through her mind. She continued to stare at her lock screen while she focused her hearing on Alex's apartment, J'onn's office, L-Corp...

Nothing nefarious. Alex and Kelly were helping J'onn reorganize his bookshelves, and Lena was working late (again) but otherwise...no heavy boot falls. No hushed whispering of orders to 'maintain positions.'

She breathed a small sigh of relief, and listened back in on her own apartment, to see if she could learn anything more.

They weren't making much noise, and no one else in the building seemed to know they were there. So...professionals, probably. She glanced up from her phone and squinted in the direction of her building—to anyone else on the street, it would look like she was merely staring off into empty space.

X-ray and telescopic vision revealed light body armor—

She blinked. ...Light body armor?

She squinted again. They had weapons, but...they all looked fairly...standard. No power-dampening rods. No kryptonite...nothing that could subdue a Kryptonian.

And then it dawned on her.

She hastily returned her focus to her phone, and actually dialed this time, bringing the device up to her ear.

Alex answered on the second ring.

“Yeah?” Her sister's greeting was short, and it sounded as though Kara had caught her mid-laugh. She could hear J'onn and Kelly chuckling in the background as well.

“Hey. Uh...got a sec?” Kara asked, but she didn't wait to hear Alex's answer as she resumed walking down the street. “I think...I'm about to be kidnapped.”

Alex's laughter tapered off right quick.

“...What?”

“Or, abducted, I guess?” She came to a stop at the intersection, and waited patiently for the 'Walk' signal.  “There's like...six guys in my apartment right now. And I don't think they're there to steal my Ikea furniture.”

“Well...well do you need backup? Should I have J'onn—” Alex started to ask.

“No! No—I don't think...” Kara dropped her voice. “I don't think they know I'm Supergirl.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Oh.” Alex said, sounding a little...underwhelmed? “That's...different.”

“Right?”

“So...they're after...Kara Danvers?”

“I think so���they don't really seem...equipped, to handle a Kryptonian.” Kara couldn't keep the amusement from her voice as she said it—it was something of an understatement, really.

“So you're saying it's going to be a short fight.”

Kara hummed as she approached the entrance of her building.

“I dunno...I'm thinking I might go along with it?” She could hear her sister start to protest. “Think about it, Alex! If I just...knock them out, then we never learn why they were after me in the first place!” She had a few ideas; her “Aliens of National City” series had garnered quite a bit of praise, and even a few awards, but it had also earned her more than a few enemies. There were still plenty of Children of Liberty sympathizers out there, not at all deterred by the fact that the entire movement had been orchestrated by a genocidal psychopath.

“That's why we interrogate them, Kara.”

“I don't think NCPD is going to let us do that, Alex,” Kara reminded her. Alex huffed on the other end of the line.

“So I get the DEO to intervene.”

“And make Haley suspicious all over again? Alex, no.” Kara said it perhaps a bit more firmly than was strictly necessary, but Alex's sigh was understanding, as opposed to annoyed; neither of them wanted wanted to tempt fate, and risk a repeat of the memory wipe. Haley was much more agreeable now, certainly, and they would both just as soon keep it that way. “This is actually...much safer, if you think about it.”

“I am thinking about it, and it's a bad idea, Kara.”

“How is it a bad idea?” Kara demanded, “it's not like they can hurt me! And—look. I'll even put in my comm. They won't be looking for it—that way, we can keep in touch, and! Worst case scenario, you can track me. But there won't even be a worst case scenario,” she argued, already reaching into her coat pocket for the small, DEO-issued earpiece. “Okay, see? Comm is on. And in my ear.”

Alex grunted.

“I don't like this.”

“It will be fine.”

“...Whatever. You hail me on the comm the minute things go south, alright?”

“Things won't go south.”

“Kara.”

“Okay! Okay,” Kara agreed. “I gotta go. I don't see any bugs, but I'd rather play it safe. See! I'm being careful.”

“Honestly? I'm not worried about you not being careful. It's your terrible acting that has me concerned—”

Kara scoffed.

“My acting is great. Just ask Franklin.”

“Ten bucks says they see through it in under a minute.”

“I'm hanging up now.”

“What's—oh, J'onn says thirty seconds, and Kelly—”

“You guys are hilarious. Bye!” Kara hit the 'end call' button before any further snide comments could be made about her acting ability. She silently debated whether she should put her phone in her pocket, or her purse. She didn't really want these guys going through her coat, but then, they'd probably check it regardless.

She climbed the stairs to her apartment, all the while going over the specifics of her entrance. How fast was too fast, in terms of turning the key in the lock? Should she put her purse on the side table before, or after turning on the light? Should she turn the light on at all? Oh, maybe they'd cut the power...that's how it usually went. ...In movies, anyway.

Once she reached her floor, she cast a quick glance at her apartment. Her earlier estimate of six was correct—two huddled in the kitchen, two in the living room, and two in the bedroom. All more or less hiding...well, she was sure they'd all consider it really effective hiding. And it probably was, if they'd been dealing with someone who didn't have x-ray vision.

She dug through her purse for her keys, and dropped them for good measure. They clattered loudly against the concrete flooring in the hall—she complained equally loudly about dropping them.

“Gosh darn it!” she said.

“Get ready,” she heard the nearest abductor command. She smiled to herself, before replacing it with an annoyed frown as she jiggled the keys in the lock.

“Gosh darn keys, gosh darn door,” she muttered, making sure it was under her breath and directed at herself. She couldn't let on that she knew anyone was actually in the apartment.

The door swung open; a rectangle of orange light spilled into the darkened dining area. She set her purse aside, and went to turn on the lights.

The switch clicked on, but the apartment remained dark.

Knew it, she thought, somewhat smugly.

She flicked the switch a few times, and sighed in exasperation.

“I just replaced these bulbs,” she could hear them behind her. She shook her head, and started to turn. “That's what I get for buying off brand—oh, God!” She yelled, loud, but not too loud—she didn't want to endanger any of her neighbors by drawing them with necessary, over-dramatic screams.

Her abductors seemed to have the same idea. The one closest to her surged forward, and clamped a gloved hand on her mouth. A taser dug into her side. It was...uncomfortable, but very clearly calibrated for a human.

“It's not working!”

“What??”

Kara mentally cringed. She'd been so caught up in putting on a convincing performance, she'd forgotten to let the taser ‘knock her out.’

“Well, increase the voltage then!”

“No, no! Not that high, you idiot, we want her ali—”

The second round was definitely stronger. She yelped, and made a show of slumping to her knees, before pitching forward on the floor. A slight buzzing sounded in her right ear.

...Odd... she thought. She was fine, so why—

“Check her pockets. And her pulse,” one of them ordered. She bit back an annoyed huff as one of them pawed at her coat (and her neck, in that order)—just as unpleasant as she'd imagined.

The buzzing was really starting to concern her. What was that?

“Alright, get the zip ties and hood, and let's move out.” Her hands were roughly wrenched behind her, and a coarse, dark hood was thrown over her face. Her glasses were knocked askew, but remained on her nose, if somewhat precariously. That was good.

What was less good, was the realization as to what that buzzing sound was.

The comm.

The taser had been dialed up, and had fried the electronics.

As the mysterious abductors dragged her from her apartment (“Aw, geez, she's...she's really heavy? What is she, all muscle or something?”) all she could think about...was how pissed Alex was going to be.

Pretending to be dead weight was much harder than Kara anticipated.

“Would you quit—you're gonna drop her—!”

“I told you, she's really—”

“Just let me do it—oh. Uh. She is...wow, she is like. Solid.”

“That's what I said!”

“Where does a nationally-recognized journalist find the time to get jacked—”

“Enough. Set her down on the chair already!”

Kara had to fight against the reflexive urge to tense as they maneuvered her into an upright position on a flimsy, but most definitely uncomfortable folding chair. As she slumped forward, straining against the zip ties, she listened for any other clues as to her location.

...Lots of...rushing water? In pipes, it sounds like. That wasn't a problem, necessarily, but the constant sound of water would make it hard to pick up other sounds, if she wasn't actively searching for them.

Still. Not a big deal.

Someone roughly yanked the hood off her head. She was bent forward, so she hoped no one would see as she scrunched her nose, in an attempt to keep her glasses in place. Then again, if anyone noticed, or commented, she could pretend to be coming around. The place certainly smelled like it was somewhere wet—the damp, dank scent of mildew permeated her sinuses. Her reaction was, in a way, almost genuine.

“Should we wake her up?”

“Nah, let the boss handle that.”

Kara listened as the sound of their footsteps over wet concrete gradually faded. She remained bent forward, 'unconscious', and wondered how long she'd have to hold her position. Her muscles wouldn't fatigue and strain, the way a human's might—but it would potentially seem strange to her captors, if this went on for too long. She'd have to...maybe slump in the other direction, or...?

Fortunately, she didn't have to internally deliberate on that topic any further, as a new pair of footsteps drew closer. And closer still, until the new stranger was standing directly in front of her.

Another set of footsteps followed, but whoever that was hung back a bit. Something snapped...like a clasp on a...case?

“Alright, give that to me. We're going to wake her up.”

Or like a clasp on a holster, Kara thought, and started to fidget. She didn't want to have to explain why the gun shattered when they tried to pistol whip her.

“Uh...wha...huh?” she blinked and shook her head. There was that snap sound again—they'd holstered the gun. “Wha...where...?” She looked around and sat up. Slowly, of course. “Oh. Oh God—”

“Now now, Miss Danvers, there's no need to panic.” Kara stared at the woman she had to assume was 'the boss.' Tall, tan, and...was that...was that an eye patch? “You're safe. For now.”

No. Upon closer inspection—Kara threw in some exaggerated wincing and squinting—it looked more like a kind of...metal plate, fitted close to the woman's skin.

“Where am I?” Kara asked. That was...that was a good first question, for this kind of situation, right?

“Still in America,” the woman answered. “I'm afraid I can't be any more specific.”

“How...how do I know...you aren't lying?” Kara countered, adding a slight tremor to her words.

“You don't,” the woman said with a shrug. “But I will say this: I'm not really interested in you, Miss Danvers. So I don't see the point in lying. Much less effort to simply be a bit...vague.”

“They just arrived with the package, Miss Bordeaux,” the woman's associate spoke up. Kara looked over at him for the first time, and was shocked to see just who it was.

“Floyd Lawton?” Kara exclaimed, with genuine surprise.

“Ah. I see you're...familiar, with my friend, here.” The woman—or, Bordeaux, as Floyd had called her—didn't seem too concerned. But Floyd certainly didn't look happy. He scowled at Kara.

“It’s Deadshot,” he snarled.

Kara was going to press for more information, starting with how Floyd—Deadshot—escaped from prison, seemingly unnoticed,  but at that point, a trio of...guards, maybe? arrived with a large metal case.

“I'm going to apologize in advance, Kara. May I call you Kara?”

No. “I don't—”

“You weren't exactly our first choice of hostage. In fact, you weren't even on the list,” Bordeaux explained as she nodded to the guards. One of them lifted the metal case, while the other moved to open it. Kara eyed it with her x-ray vision, and was dismayed to discover that it was lined with lead. That was never a good sign. “Lena Luthor. James Olsen. Your sister. They were on the list. You? You were. A last minute suggestion. Provided by a mutual acquaintance, actually. Snapper Carr.”

Kara, who, up until this very point, had been making sure to appear out of sorts, suddenly found herself sitting bolt upright, her heart hammering in her chest.

“What?”

Bordeaux ignored her question. “You've seen the headlines lately, right? Of course you have; you’re a reporter. ‘Mysterious 'Leviathan' Strikes Again’.”

Kara was still stuck on Snapper. Snapper? What...had they kidnapped Snapper too? Or...or...oh Rao. Was Snapper...working for them?

Whoever this 'them' was?

“I...I've...yes,” Kara said, though in all honesty, it wasn't exactly something on her radar. Neither hers, nor Supergirl's. All the reports seemed to indicate that 'Leviathan' was just...a criminal organization. Like Intergang, minus the stolen alien tech.

Leviathan was on her to-do list, sure.

...But it was. Low on her to-do list.

“I want Leviathan,” Bordeaux said as a guard pulled the lid from the case. Kara nearly groaned out loud as a green glow shined from within. “And Leviathan wants Supergirl. You see where I'm going with this, right?”

Not really. “So, you...?” Kara could feel her stomach start to churn, and that terrible, terrible burn. “You...you want...”

“Snapper said you know the Girl of Steel. That you have some way of contacting her, to get interviews.” The guard withdrew what looked like a fairly standard flak jacket. But situated in the center was a large chunk of—what else!—kryptonite. “But even if you didn't, I'm willing to be she'd bet the first person your network of associates would call in the event of your capture.”

“She...she won't come. She'll...know it's a trap,” Kara argued feebly. She no longer had to pretend to be weak and worried. She was now both.

“...How unfortunate for you,” Bordeaux shrugged as she nodded to the guards. They cut the zip ties from her wrists, and wrangled her into the flak jacket, before cuffing her again.

Kara was frantically going over her options, even as a cold sweat broke out on her forehead. She'd fought through kryptonite poisoning before. She...she could get out of this, but she'd have to wait. Wait until they left her alone.

But...wait. Why... why had she said...’unfortunate?’

The sound of rushing water grew louder.

Kara's shoulders drooped. Oh.

That was why.

“We'll make sure to drain the room once Supergirl arrives,” Bordeaux assured her as water began to bubble up from the grates in the floor. “It was nice meeting you, Kara. Oh! And if you could do me a small favor...”

Kara swallowed audibly as Bordeaux leaned close, and smiled.

“Tell Supergirl...Checkmate.”

With that, Bordeaux and her men left the room, slamming the door shut with a resounding THUD. Kara could both hear and see the metal locks sliding into place.

Not a problem. Not a problem.

She repeated that to herself, over and over, as the water level continued to rise, and as the kryptonite sat heavy and hot on her chest. She'd broken out of chains. Taken a bullet to the shoulder! All while exposed to kryptonite. This...this was nothing!

She experimentally tugged at her restraints. Standard metal cuffs. Okay. Okay! She...she could do this.

She gritted her teeth as she felt the water pool around her ankles. Focus. Focus.

She grunted and pulled her arms apart, as far as her strength would allow.

...Nothing.

She huffed angrily, blowing a stray bit of hair out of her face. The kryptonite continued to make her entire body throb in pain. Rao damn it, she hated this stuff.

Again, she told herself, mustering strength and yanking at the cuffs.

Nothing.

Again!

Nothing.

Again!

*Clink*

Kara grinned. The water was up to her knees, but she felt the metal start to give. She took a deep breath. One more time.

She pulled against the cuffs. The metal piece holding them together snapped. She nearly laughed in relief. She was free!

...Kind of.

She fumbled with the straps on the vest, her movements clumsy and slow, but she eventually managed to tug it off.

She looked around, trying to find a place to throw it. Or...maybe put it back in the lead lined case? Yeah, that would probably be best place for it...

She looked around the small room, which was still rapidly filling with water. It was now above her waist. The guards...they had left the case, right?

She took a deep breath and plunged under the cold water, and forced her eyes open. The water was murky, and the room wasn't exactly well lit...but a quick, cursory glance revealed that...the case was nowhere to be found.

Kara surfaced, and sputtered.

“Great,” she hissed. “Just. Perfect.”

She threw the vest as far away from her as she could manage. It wasn't a large room; it did not go far. She could still feel the rock's effects.

Ignore it. Push it down. Fight through it. She told herself. She needed to find a way out of this room. The door, obviously, seemed like the obvious choice.

But she could hear guards. She squinted at the door. Maybe, if she could time it right, when the hallway was clear...

Her x-ray vision flickered. She saw...maybe two or three guards before that particular power gave out completely.

Okay, so. That option was probably a no. She didn't feel like explaining how Kara Danvers managed to escape from handcuffs and knock down a solid metal door.

She shook her head. If only there was a convenient window to jump out of.

...Or. Maybe. Out wasn't the operative word, but rather, up.

She eyed the ceiling. That...would be messy. But these guys were counting on Supergirl to show up, right? So...a little hole in the ceiling would be easy to explain away. Expected, even.

It would take a lot of her reserves of strength, though. It would kinda be...a 'one shot' situation.

She balled her fists, and made up her mind.

Here we go.

She jumped, rather than flew, hoping to retain just enough strength to remain mostly invulnerable as she tore through the concrete above.

She braced for the hit, but whatever she'd been expecting—Rebar, metal pipes, electrical wires—it was not what slammed into her at full, icy force, sending her tumbling back down in a watery spiral.

As she floundered and winced and struggled to surface, she realized that the 'rushing water' sound had not been coming from pipes.

The facility itself...was completely submerged.

ELSEWHERE, EARLIER

Alex wasn't worried.

Alex wasn't worried, because these past several months had taught her something: she could trust that her loved ones could take care of themselves. She didn't have to...have to constantly concern herself with their safety.

So she wasn't worried.

...Definitely, totally not worried.

“You're worried,” Kelly said, in an accusing tone.

“...Only a little,” Alex countered, and took a sip of wine. J'onn chuckled.

“That's progress,” he said, admiring his newly reorganized bookshelves. “I'm sure Kara's fine, Alex.”

“I know,” Alex said, and when Kelly raised an incredulous eyebrow, she insisted, “I do! I know she's probably fine! Logically. Emotionally, I'm still. Not quite. ...There yet. But I will. Get there. Promise.” Both J'onn and Kelly shared a knowing look, but didn't question Alex's assurance. “...I shouldn't check her comm, right? No. Of course not. Because she’s fine.”

“Check her comm, Alex. If only so you see how ridiculous you're being,” J'onn said as he sat down at his desk. Alex rolled her eyes, and grabbed her phone.

She was in the process of pulling up her secured DEO connection when the screen lit up with an incoming call.

LENA LUTHOR

Alex frowned. Lena?

She hit the green 'answer' button and greeted her friend. “Hi...Lena? What—”

“Someone's using kryptonite,” came the flat, quick reply. Alex blinked, caught entirely off guard.

“What are you—kryptonite? What—”

“Given the nature of...some of my research...I thought it best to install something similar to the DEO's K-radiation detection system—a far more advanced, precise detection system, obviously. And that system picked up trace amounts of K-radiation, within a hundred miles of the coast. So I thought...I should let you know.”

“Oh, that's...okay. Thanks, I...” it took Alex a moment to process the information, especially considering she hadn't really be expecting a call like this. But she found herself less interested in the revelation of k-radiation usage...and far more concerned with Lena's...almost apathetic? tone. “I'll...I'll have the DEO look into it. But, Lena...are you...alright? You sound...weird...”

“I'm fine,” Lena said sharply, “...I have to go.”

The call ended before Alex could say goodbye.

“...That...was definitely weird,” Alex muttered. J'onn leaned forward.

“What are you going to have the DEO look into, Alex?” he asked. Alex shook her head.

“K-radiation. Somewhere off the coast. I...oh, great, I didn't think to ask—” Alex didn't finish her thought; a text message with coordinates popped up on her phone. “...Never mind.”

“K-radiation? Should you warn Kara?” Both Kelly and J'onn were standing.

“...Yeah. Yes. Yes,” Alex told herself she could deal with Lena’s weird behavior later, and focused instead on the current problem. “Here, I'll pull up her comm, and—”

The secured DEO connection was up and running, displaying a list of active communication devices.

Kara's wasn't on it.

“...Oh, you've got to be kidding me,” Alex grumbled. J'onn, who was by now looking over her shoulder at her phone screen, and shook his head.

“Well. I guess you were right to worry.”

SOMEWHERE UNDER WATER, NOW

So. That had gone...badly.

Water was now coming up from below, and spilling in from above.

And there was kryptonite floating around...somewhere. It was too dark to see, and Kara was too busy treading water to look for it. Treading water, and trying to decide the best course of action.

She could just...risk her secret identity, and break down the door...but that wouldn't change the fact that the facility would continue to flood, due to the, ah...leak that she’d caused, AND she'd have to deal with guards. Many, many guards.

The other option was...attempt to swim up and out. Deceptively simple. No guards, no risk of exposing her secret identity...

But it would be swimming. Which meant holding her breath, and working against the crushing force of the incoming water AND the increased pressure that came with being this far below sea level.

She was already at half strength. And while she might have retained some of her invulnerability...Kryptonians still had to breathe, for all of their other impressive, super-human abilities.

So. Door, or swim?

Precious seconds were ticking by. She was already basically out of time, with just inches of space left above water.

Well, the more distance I put between me and the kryptonite, the greater chance I have of...not dying...Kara reasoned, taking one last gulp of air before she was really out of time.

The cold water closed in, and now she could see, at least a bit more clearly, the menacing glow of the kryptonite below.

Which cinched it.

She pushed up against the crushing pressure, kicking as hard as her remaining strength would allow.

This is fine, this is fine...just a quick swim, she told herself, even as she felt the acute crush against her rib cage. And that intense press on her lungs drew her entire focus—she couldn't think about how far underwater she was, or where in the world the facility was located. 'Still in America,' if Bordeaux was to be believed. So. Not international waters.

Doesn't matter...if you can't make it...to the surface...Kara thought desperately. Her muscles ached, and her body was telling her, hey...oxygen would be great.

Could Kryptonians get the bends? No, no—Clark kept a spare Fortress in the Bermuda Triangle...but then. He probably never traveled there during a bout of kryptonite poisoning.

Her vision was starting to go grey at the edges. She kept kicking, kept pushing against water. Her body's polite request for oxygen had become an insistent  demand. Oxygen. NOW.

She paddled, and kicked. The water seemed endless. The grey at the edge of her vision was now pulsing black spots, and there was a troubling pounding behind her eyes.

She didn't know what was more distressing; the threat of imminent, inevitable death, or the fact that Alex had been right about how this plan was going to go—which was to say, south.

She was barely kicking now, and her arms felt heavy—she wasn't moving forward so much as floating. She struggled, willing her body to keep going, just a bit farther...

One final kick. One desperate flail upwards.

Her hand broke the surface.

Adrenaline gave her a spurt of energy to surge upwards. She broke the surface and at last, at last, took a deep, grateful breath of air. And Rao, it felt good.

But.

She didn't have enough strength to keep treading water. She felt herself slipping back under. She clamped her mouth shut, but not before swallowing enough water to make her throat seize.

No, no! Don't...don't open your mouth! She struggled not to gag, and to get back up to the surface. She was so close!

In something of a panic, she reached out, almost like...if she could just get her hand above water, she could...she could grab onto something...!

Which was crazy. 

But, to her complete and utter shock, that was exactly what happened.

“Oh my God, Kara.”

“Hrk—cough—nnnrg. I know.”

“Oh my God, Kara!”

“I know,” Kara repeated, lying flat on her back on land. Glorious land. “Li—cough,cough—sten. Listen. It's not—not like I  could've known they ha—cough. Krypto—cough—nite cough.” She was still in the process of trying to expel salt water from her lungs. “They didn’t--they didn’t even know--that kryptonite would affect me! It was a trap for Supergirl! Cough.”

“This...this is not helping. With the anxiety,” Alex tilted her head back and sighed. Loudly. “It's doing the opposite, Kara. The exact opposite.”

“I can't sense anyone down there,” J'onn interrupted, walking up the beach. He was still in his Martian form, having rescued the floundering Kryptonian about a mile or two out from the shore. “My guess is that they evacuated the facility after you punched a hole in it.”

“So, what. Supergirl was supposed to use the front door?” Kara joked weakly. Alex shot her an unimpressed look. “Alex, come on. This...this was a fluke.”

“A pretty dangerous fluke,” Alex argued.

“Admittedly, yeah,” Kara sat up with an audible groan. “But. I...did learn something. I think,” she said. “Something about that Leviathan group.”

Alex and J'onn looked at her in surprise. “You got information on Leviathan?”

“Not much,” Kara shrugged. “But. I know they're making some pretty powerful enemies...and they're definitely not fans of Supergirl. So I think...this just took top priority, on my to-do list.” She punctuated her point by standing—or, trying to. She needed Alex's assistance.

“You owe me ten bucks,” Alex said, slipping an arm around Kara’s shoulders.

“Uh, no I don't,” Kara said.

“Uh, yeah you do. I said it'd go south. It went south.”

“You said they'd see through my acting.”

“Same thing.”

“No! J'onn, tell her it's not the same thing.”

“I'm not getting involved,” J'onn said, though he did move to Kara's other side as they continued up the beach, helping her walk on the uneven terrain.

“My acting was great.”

“You had kryptonite poisoning.”

“It's called method acting.”

“Are you two...going to bicker the entire way back?” J'onn asked. Alex and Kara glanced at each other, and, in near perfect unison, answered.

“Yes.”

FIN

Notes:

Leviathan and Checkmate are both secret organizations within the DC comics universe. Currently, a new Leviathan is running around in the Super books, potentially unrelated to Talia al Ghul’s Leviathan.

Clark’s new Fortress in the comics is located in the Bermuda Triangle. And! In the New 52, Kara had an underwater Fortress of sorts.

Snapper Carr and Deadshot were, in fact, both members of Checkmate.

I was originally going to use Valentina Vostok as 'the boss' but apparently she's already appeared on Legends of Tomorrow. So we get Sasha Bordeaux instead. (Amanda Waller is technically the 'Queen' of Checkmate, but again. Didn't want to use a character that had appeared elsewhere in the Arrowverse.)

I am aware of the similarities to some stuff that happens in the season 2 episode “Alex” but this fic was more inspired by the kryptonite drowning scene from Superman (the movie).

This fic operates under the assumption that Kelly knows Kara's secret.

All grammar/spelling mistakes are mine.

This makes the second longer-fic in a row where I’ve put poor Kara through the wringer. I will be kinder in the next one. ...Maybe.

[birchtreedemon]

The Truth

Dale came to on a cold stone floor. Sort of. With the paralysis spell still lingering on him, and the zip-ties around his wrists and ankles, it was a little hard to move.

Sawyer was there, kneeling just to the side of the triangular statue. His eyes hung open, staring blankly at nothing as though he were in a trance. It seemed to break as soon as he saw Dale. “I’m sorry,” he cried, crawling toward his friend. “I’m sorry, Dale, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—“

He suddenly shuddered and slumped over, and when he opened his eyes again they were gold.

YOU ACTUALLY THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO PULL OFF STEALING FROM ME! the demon cackled. Sawyer’s mouth didn’t move—Bill spoke directly into Dale’s mind. WOW! MAN, I HAVE TO GIVE YOU PROPS ON THAT ONE, FRANKENSTEIN! YOU’VE GOT THE GUTS TO GO WITH YOUR BRAINS! WELL, CONGRATULATIONS, GENIUS, YOU FAILED, AND NOW YOU’VE DOOMED YOURSELF ON TOP OF THE IDIOT KID YOU WERE TRYING TO SAVE!

The monstrous glee in the stolen eyes and smile didn’t mask the terror in Sawyer’s trembling body. Tears streamed down his face even as the evil spirit inside him gloated.  SO LET ME GUESS, Bill went on. YOU KNEW YOU COULD COUNT ON OLD MORPHO TO GET GREEDY ENOUGH TO TURN ON ME, AND THAT’S HOW YOU GOT THEIR HELP WITH THIS LITTLE ATTEMPTED ROBBERY. DID YOU TELL THEM THEY COULD HAVE A CUT OF THE PRIZE AFTERWARD? He pinched Sawyer’s arm. EH, HEARTWOOD? WAS YOUR BEST PAL DALE GONNA SELL YOU TO ONE OF HIS FRIENDS? DID YOU EVEN KNOW HE HAD OTHER FRIENDS?

Dale tilted his head down, pushing his jaw forward as his face darkened. Bill’s accusations stung, but even if he protested that it wasn’t his intent, Bill probably wouldn’t really even let Sawyer ‘hear’ it. “I wasn’t selling him to anyone. Amorphous Shape stabbed me in the fucking back.” Real anger bubbled out of him. “And promised me we could pull this off—instead they dump me the second you show up. Once a hench, always a hench, right?” He closed his eyes, partially to block out the unsettling sight of Bill grinning and Sawyer weeping simultaneously. “I’m the one that got sold out.”

It was obvious that Bill didn’t believe Dale in the slightest. RIGHT! AND I’LL BE SURE TO TAKE A GOOD LONG TIME TO TEACH THE LITTLE TRAITOR EXACTLY THAT WHEN I CATCH UP WITH THEM, RIGHT AFTER THEY SPILL ALL THE DETAILS OF THE PLOT YOU TWO COOKED UP! I’M REAL CURIOUS WHAT EXACTLY YOU WERE GOING TO DO WITH MY PROPERTY ONCE YOU HAD IT!

Bill-in-Sawyer’s-body leaned forward and hauled Dale to eye level with him. BY THE WAY, DID YOU EVER WORK OUT MY MASTER PLAN? NO? WELL, HERE’S A HINT: SAWYER HERE IS READY AND WAITING TO END THE WORLD, ONCE WE GET AHOLD OF HIS KID SISTER. JUST AS SOON AS WE’RE DONE DESTROYING YOU.

“Yeah, yeah,” Dale dismissed. “Come on and fucking kill me already, Bill. Just get it over with.”

Independent of Bill’s control, Sawyer’s body jerked. A muffled cry escaped him before Bill clamped him back down. WHAT?

“I’m sick of listening to you. You won. Do it.”

Bill snarled and lunged forward to attack, both physically and mentally, throwing his stolen body on top of Dale to grapple him down. Writhing psychic roots twisted into Dale, enough to make Sawyer whimper in pain. Were they coming from him?

WHAT—ARE—YOU! the demon roared as he ripped deeper into the oracle’s consciousness, grasping for his buried memories.

Dale fought back with every inch of his training—he stood up under Bill’s immense pressure, grinned inside his head, and launched a torrent of blatant mockery. Oh, poor Bill, the oracle taunted, the triangle nobody really likes. Can’t keep friends without paying them. Couldn’t hold Stanford Pines.  Couldn’t even stop a couple kids from ruining his plans!

It didn’t even matter that not all of these jabs actually applied to this particular Bill’s history; he was a still a Cipher, and it was enough to work him into an incandescent rage. Dale’s gambit was working, but unfortunately not quite well enough—even in his fury, he was still trying to burn his way past Dale’s defenses. SHUT UP, DAMN YOU! YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME! JUST SHUT UP!

Oh, and that tree thing, Dale went on. What, you're so desperate to stand out from the rest of the Ciphers that you're basically pulling the equivalent of a psychic emo hoodie? ‘I swear I'm not like the other Bills, Dad!’ What happened, Bill? Are you too weak to look like the others, or are you just too scared?

I SWEAR I’LL END YOU, the demon seethed.

Dale pushed back against the roots, twisting away from them, and there was a general shape within the pattern of his thoughts that implied he was maneuvering to divert Bill from ... something. Something obvious by its absence. Almost like he wanted to make Bill mad ...

It didn’t take long for Bill to realize it. OHHH. I GET IT. THE OLD BAIT AND SWITCH. NICE TRY, he hissed. THERE SOMETHING IN THERE YOU DON’T WANT ME TO FIND? LET’S HAVE A LOOK, THEN!

Dale could feel Bill moving toward the empty space he’d tried to carve out of his thoughts, and the oracle redoubled his intensity — no mockery now, he didn’t have the energy for it. He pulled himself tight against Bill and gritted his teeth and tried like hell to wall him out. He was sweating bullets. Throwing up a wall was blatantly admitting there was something to hide, but if he just kept resisting long enough, it might break Bill’s patience ... Things had already gone so wrong, and he needed to keep Bill angry, off-center, willing to lash out... It would truly be better for everyone if he could get Bill to kill him before he found out...

Dale was clearly experienced, and it was almost all Bill could do to keep his teeth and claws sunk in. But the demon was still far older, stronger, and craftier. As he grasped Dale's intentions, even as he continued to shove and strain against Dale’s desperate wall, he cooled down and fell back onto his most tried and true weapon: words.

WELL HEY, WHILE WE'RE PLAYING ARMCHAIR PSYCHIATRY HERE... YOU’RE REALLY SHOWING WHERE YOUR PRIORITIES ARE RIGHT NOW, YOU KNOW THAT? he snickered. WORKING SO MUCH HARDER TO PROTECT YOURSELF THAN YOU EVER DID TO PROTECT YOUR FRIENDS—LEAST OF ALL THE NAÏVE, PARANOID KID YOU PRACTICALLY GIFT WRAPPED FOR ME! YOU KNOW, YOU’RE SO MUCH MORE LIKE ME THAN YOU WERE EVER LIKE STUPID YOUNG SAWYER.

Dale grimaced. Every burst of Bill's speech was followed by pressure - sharp, unceasing, clawing pressure. Bill pushed along the wall, trying to sniff out the smallest crack. Hands upon hands dragged at the barrier. He tapped, raked claws, creating mental noises that screeched like nails on a blackboard. Discordant, painful.

I'm not like you!

Bill grinned. OF COURSE YOU ARE. HECK, THIS IS ALL YOUR DOING. IF HE HADN’T MET YOU, HE WOULDN’T BE THE PERFECTLY SCREWED UP SOUL HE IS TODAY. AND YOU KNOW IT, DON'T YOU? Two of Bill’s branch-like hands were cat’s-cradling strings of sickly red thread, and every time his claws plucked and scraped, Sawyer could be heard sobbing an endless stream of apologies. I’VE SAID IT BEFORE AND I’LL SAY IT AGAIN, FRANKENSTEIN—YOU AND I CREATED A MONSTER LIKE THIS DIMENSION’S NEVER SEEN! COULDN’T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU!

Bill’s hundreds of fingers squirmed at any soft points they could find in the wall. He was feeling a softening. Slow, but sure. The wall was starting to give. Dale was breathing hard, eyes flashing with angry tears.

MOST PEOPLE WOULD’VE GIVEN IN LONG AGO. BUT YOU’RE NOT REALLY A PERSON ANYMORE, ARE YOU?

Bill's fingers caught and clicked against an abrupt crack...

Then came a horrendous tearing sound from behind Bill, like a great tree splintering apart. A misshapen crimson thing came leaping out of the dark, trailing pale roots. In a half frenzy, it tried to tackle the demon from behind and get between him and Dale, clawing and screaming in Sawyer’s voice. Let him go let him go right now, you already have me, so YOU’RE NOT GETTING HIM—

DID LITERALLY ANYONE ASK YOU? Bill laughed, slamming the empath to the ground and grinding him under the heel of his palm. YOU JUST KEEP FORGETTING YOUR PLACE AROUND HERE, KID! THIS IS MY TOWN NOW, EVER SINCE YOU GAVE IT TO ME!

He pressed down harder and harder, crushing whatever was left of Sawyer’s form.

Bill was relentless with his goading chatter. GET A LOAD OF THIS IDIOT, he crowed, holding Sawyer’s shapeless but still moving remains aloft. HE KNOWS YOU RUINED HIS LIFE AND HE’S SO DENSE THAT HE’S STILL STICKING UP FOR YOU!

He forced Sawyer to meet his eye. OR MAYBE IT’S JUST THAT DEEP, DEEP DOWN, YOU KNOW YOU’RE BECOMING A MONSTER TOO, HUH, HEARTWOOD? IT JUST WASN’T ENOUGH FOR YOUR BESTEST BUD TO TRY AND STEAL YOUR SOUL; HE HAD TO START TAKING YOUR HUMANITY AWAY FROM YOU, TOO. WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN SINCE YOU MET HIM, HM? YOUR FREE WILL, MAYBE? DAMN, FRANKENSTEIN, HOW DID YOU DO IT? HOW DID YOU GET HIM SO MINDLESSLY LOYAL? WILL YOU TEACH ME?

Dale made a sound like his soul was splintering, a wordless and chaotic cry of grief and despair. Bill turned back to Dale, boring into him with his great golden eye, grinning snidely. YOU KNOW WHERE THIS ENDS, he said, half bluff, covering for the glee he felt as he got his hands in, started pulling and tearing at the wall, feeling it break apart under his pressure. He saw Dale behind it, small, angry and frantic - curled around the thing that he'd been trying so hard to hide. Bill couldn't see its full shape yet, but he was starting to get the gist of it.

LET'S MAKE IT REAL SIMPLE. WHATEVER YOU WERE TRYING TO PULL, YOU LOST, KID. I GET IT NOW, THAT LITTLE SECRET OF YOURS. IF IT'S NOT YOU - AND LET'S FACE IT, IT WAS ALWAYS GOING TO BE YOU - IT'S GONNA BE SOMEONE ELSE. YOU RATHER I GO COMPLETE THE RIFT REACTION CHAIN WITH SAWYER’S LIL’ SIS? COME ON, IT'S OVER. A FOR EFFORT, THOUGH.

Dale glared from within his broken defenses and winced at the suggestion that Bill would go after Lottie instead, if he didn't comply. Bill was right: he'd lost. He ceased to struggle then, and Bill pushed through and grabbed the thought that Dale was hiding, ripping it right out of his grasp. Victorious, he saw clearly. OH, Bill murmured hungrily. OH, YOU’RE REALLY SOMETHING ELSE, DALE ARMITAGE. YOU KNOW, YOU COULD HAVE SAVED A LOT OF PEOPLE A LOT OF TROUBLE IF YOU'D JUST MADE THAT CLEAR TO ME FROM THE BEGINNING?

Bill smiled horribly with his eye, and just like that, the three of them had melted back into the waking world. THE END'S STILL THE SAME, THOUGH. HAHHA, WOW, I MEAN, REALLY, ALL THAT, AND YOU'RE STILL GETTING THE APOCALYPSE IN THE FACE, AND ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE GONNA DIE EITHER WAY! ALL YOU DID WAS PROLONG THEIR SUFFERING EXPONENTIALLY!

He pulled himself up off the floor, and Dale with him. CHANGE OF PLANS, GUYS! LOOKS LIKE I DON'T NEED FALLING STAR AFTER ALL! FRANKENSTEIN HERE WILL DO JUST FINE!

[niamsuggitt]

The Ides Of May 2017

Hi guys! It’s that time of the month again, time for me to write a ‘lil bit about all of the various media I’ve stuffed into my gaping eye and ear-holes over the past 30 days. I would have included mouth-holes there too, but Nintendo deliberately made Switch cartridges taste horrible so unfortunately I haven’t been able to eat one. Oh well.

This month includes the return of some Sitcom favourites, more of me slowly, ever-so-slowly playing Zelda, a Booker Prize winner and a nice heap of Marvel Cinematic Universe fun.

Let’s do it!

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Movies

Once again there’s only 2 movies this month, and whilst they are both very different, both provide quite a bit to think and talk about. Up first is Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson 2015). This may be surprising given the types of films I normally like, but before watching Anomalisa I have to admit to not liking Charlie Kaufman as a writer. I’ve seen Eternal Sunshine, Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, and none of them resonated with me like they do for so many others. I just find him a bit… pretentious? Like he tries too hard to do different things and in the end it just obscures what he’s actually trying to say? I dunno. But much to my surprise and pleasure, I really enjoyed Anomalisa, which is different from Kaufman’s other work in that it’s animated. This stop-motion story follows a man (voiced by David Thewlis) who is on a business trip to Cincinnati. This man, Michael, sees everyone else in the world, including his wife, a former girlfriend, as the same person. They have the same face, and the same voice (Tom Noonan). That is until he stumbles across one other person who looks different, Lisa, (Jennifer Jason Leigh). It’s a complicated, dare I say, pretentious set-up, but for me it works. The animation is fantastic, incredibly detailed, and it’s used to go to places other animated films wouldn’t. This is a truly adult film, so if after Team America you wanted to see more puppet nudity and sex… I’ve got you covered. The way the technique of having everyone except Michael and Lisa be the same person works is incredibly effective and disorientating. It took about 10 minutes for me to twig it, the unease sort of snuck up on me. I said earlier that I think Kaufman’s gimmickry gets in the way of what he is actually trying to say, but that is not the case here, I think I pretty much got what the film was saying about solipsism, and how so many other films feature a ‘manic pixie dream girl’ who shakes a depressed male protagonist out of their funk. Anomalisa flips your expectations here. Lisa is not Michael’s soulmate, she’s just a blip in his mental illness. If it even is that, he might just be an asshole. That’s not to say that Lisa isn’t a well-drawn character, because she is, and Leigh’s voice acting makes her come to life. Then again, maybe this isn’t what Kaufman and Johnson are saying at all and I’m an idiot. Either way, Anomalisa is a fascinating film that has been rotating in my head since I watched it. It’s unlike anything else I’ve seen lately, and has me reconsidering my position on Charlie Kaufman. I certainly plan on watching the other film he directed, rather than just wrote, Synecdoche New York, and maybe I’ll go back to those other, older films.

Up next, I took a step away from the esoteric puppet show towards the mainstream blockbuster and into the cinema, as I went to see Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (James Gunn 2017) which is of course (of course) the third film in the third phase of the monolithic Marvel Cinematic Universe. As is par for the course when writing about these films (and some, most, of the TV projects) I feel like I have to fully lay out a bit of bias. I love these films and just seeing these characters on screen and being done justice like this takes away a lot of my critical faculties. Problems I have with other, similar movies, I can brush aside because, hey, it’s the MCU, I trust these people. But that aside, I thoroughly enjoyed Guardians 2, and whilst I don’t think it’s quite as good as the first one, I really appreciate it’s weirdness and how much crazy Marvel Universe lore it puts out there, if only just to hint at. The film of course sees all of our favourites from the first film, Star-Lord, Gamara, Drax, Rocket and Groot return for another adventure, but this time, the stakes are far more personal, as Star-Lord meets his father, Ego, who is brilliantly portrayed by Kurt Russell. Firstly, it was just awesome to be back with these characters again, they are just so much fun. The Guardians are perhaps the MCU versions that are the most different from the originals (of course, the comics have in turn, begun to reflect the movies far more) and as such I have a different emotional attachment to them. I’m not constantly comparing Gamora to the 500 Gamora comics I’ve read in my life, I’m just invested in her relationship with Nebula, and with Star-Lord. As I mentioned, the main plot here is Peter and his father, but the script makes sure that every Guardian (except maybe Baby Groot, but he’s adorable enough that you don’t mind) has their own story. Drax forms a bond with the newcomer Mantis (who is great!), Gamora fights her sister again, but even more personally, and Rocket deals with his anger driving people away. I found myself invested in all of these storylines, and it mean that, whilst the overall plot did sag a bit in the middle of the film, I didn’t mind. I will say that I am a bit sick of people dismissing Star-Lord’s story as ‘just more daddy issues’ or something like that. I think that’s reductive, and to me, the real plotline is how much Peter Quill still cares about his mother. His love for her is what snaps him out of cosmic brainwashing, and let’s not forget that, as awesome as the classic soundtracks are, they do serve an emotional purpose, as they are his only link to Earth, and to his mum. Maybe it’s just because my mother died of cancer as well (although hers wasn’t put there by an evil Celestial, at least I don’t think it was), but if anything, this is far more of a ‘mommy issues’ movie than a daddy issues one. I mentioned the soundtrack earlier, and I will say that this particular ‘awesome mix’ was a bit of step down, with the songs either being too mainstream (Fleetwood Mac, ELO) or way too obscure. Maybe I’m asking too much, but the first movie’s track selection was just perfect, hard for lightning to strike twice I suppose. The other character I want to specially highlight is Michael Rooker as Yondu, who is just amazing here. He has real pathos behind him and makes a character I never really knew into an absolute favourite. His storyline also sees the film do something I really didn’t expect and bring in more of the ‘original’ Guardians, the ones who, in the comics, were in the future. This movie has Sylvester Goddamn Stallone in it as Starhawk and I went in without knowing! I love that Gunn hasn’t forgotten the likes of Charlie-27 and Martinex, and that a major movie can feature characters as weird as them. That’s what sets this film apart from me, it’s not afraid to get a bit odd, and to use weird elements from the source material to their full potential. A few years ago, Ego The Living Planet would be considered way too goofy for a film, but not here, here he’s Kurt Russell! Some of this is pure fan-service, but as mentioned, when it comes to these films, I don’t mind that at all. The Stan Lee cameo was amazing, the teaser in the credits for Adam Warlock blew my mind (it took me an embarrassingly long time to connect Ayesha and her golden skin to that classic cosmic character). This film’s links to the wider universe are like that, more hints. I did expect some big Thanos developments, but ultimately, I don’t mind spending 2 hours just inside these goofball’s messed-up heads. I can’t wait for Vol.3, and I hope that, when the Guardians appear in Avengers: Infinity War, they don’t lose what makes them special. This film was just a blast, it delivers more of what you want, as well as surprising you with where it goes, the best kind of sequel.

Television

There’s one new TV show for me to talk about this time out, in the form of American Gods (Starz), the long-awaited adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s 2001 novel. This is an interesting series for me adaptation-wise because, whilst I have read the book, it was a long time ago and I don’t really remember a lot of what happened. Just the basic gist really. This isn’t like Game Of Thrones or The Expanse where the source material is fresh as a daisy in my mind and I’m constantly comparing the show to what I already know. Here, I’m kind of hazy on the details and it’s a lot of fun being surprised both by what I didn’t know, and what I forgot I knew! The basic plot has barely begun, but basically, Gods are real, they live in America, they are at war, and a man named Shadow Moon (as far as I can call this dumb-ass name does have a good explanation) is drawn into their world after the death of his wife and his release from prison (on the same day). Not only is that, to me, a great intriguing premise, but it’s really elevated by some fantastic performances and amazing visual flair. One of the show’s main producers is Bryan Fuller, from Hannibal, and the opening 2 episodes where directed by David Slade, who directed a fair few episodes of that show too, so you can really tell that there’s a link in how the series looks and feels. The dream sequences and trippier moments are straight out of Hannibal, they are brilliant. There’s a sex montage in Episode 2 with Bilquis that is just insane. The performances so far have been great as well, Ian Fucking McShane is of course stealing the show as Mr Wednesday, but Ricky Whittle is really doing well as Shadow, which must be a hard role to play as he’s kind of intentionally inscrutable and a bit blank. And, if you watch nothing else, watch Orlando Jones’ monologue as Anansi that opens Episode 2. It is one of the best single scene performances I’ve ever seen, it knocked me for a loop. It’s only been 2 episodes, but this is already a fantastic, ambitious series that’s unlike anything else on TV. I can’t wait to see where it goes, and what else I can remember.

This month also saw the return of 2 of my favourite US Comedies. Silicon Valley (HBO) is back for a 4th season of tech-based misadventures. So far this season has managed to somehow feel like more of the same, but also change things up in a lot of interesting ways, as the characters move about into new situations. At the end of Season 3 it felt like we were right back to the beginning, but that wasn’t the case, as we’ve seen multiple characters leave companies, join new ones, sell companies, and all sorts of other manoeuvring. The prospect of Richard actually working with Gavin Belson is very exciting. In amongst all of these shake-ups, the characters have continued to be as funny as ever. I love how Big Head continues to fail upwards, he’s now a Professor at Stanford! And seeing Dinesh get a girlfriend is something we haven’t seen before. I’m also enjoying the increased role for Jian-Yang. Jimmy O. Yang has always been very funny in his brief scenes, but now he’s getting actual stories, which is cool. And man, Zach Woods is still killing it as Jared. He had one moment of madness in Episode 4 that had me wetting itself. At times it does feel like Silicon Valley is in a groove, but it’s such an enjoyable groove!

One series that hasn’t been afraid to get out of it’s groove is Veep (HBO), which is now in Season 6, and is a very different show this season. Of course it changed when Armando Iannucci left, but now that Selina Meyer is out of office, it’s even more different. With the character scattered all over the place, I did feel like the first one or two episodes were a bit lacking, but after that, it’s really found it’s feet and become just as funny and scathing as ever. In the wake of Trump it was going to be difficult for Veep to be the same show as it was before, so wisely it’s pivoted, it still has a lot to say about America and politics, but really, it’s become more about seeing who these characters are in new situations. I’m particularly enjoying Dan working as a TV News Anchor and Jonah as a Congressman has just been brutally brilliant, especially with Mary Holland joining the cast as his new ‘girlfriend’. It’s also interesting that the series has started to delve deeper into Selina as a character, and her backstory. She may be a bit ridiculous, but in the world of the show, she is the first ever female Vice President and the President, she is interesting. So yes, Veep has changed, but it’s still intelligent and funny and well worth watching. When real politics is as scary as it is these days, we need this magnificent bastards to laugh at.

Now for quick hits! We’ll start with comedies. LOL! LOL indeed.

The final episode ever of Girls (HBO) was a bit of an odd one, it jumped ahead to the birth of Hannah’s baby (the horrifically named Grover, and that’s a ‘Niam’ saying that) and only featured Hannah and Marnie from the main cast, out in the middle of nowhere. In a lot of ways, it was a typical Girls way for the series to end, Lena Dunham has never really done the conventional thing. I enjoyed it, particularly Becky Ann Baker’s performance. She’s always been excellent and underrated as Hannah’s mother. I will miss Girls, it was funny, different and always provoked debate, and I can’t wait to see what projects Dunham does next. As infuriating as she can be, she is very talented. How about a Dunham/Max Landis collaboration? That could destroy the internet.

I reached the end of BoJack Horseman (Netflix) Season 3, and holy shit, that was brutal. What happened to Sarah-Lynn just fucked me up. And then it’s followed up by the sublime ridiculousness of Mr. Peanutbutter’s spaghetti strainers actually being useful! That sums up BoJack for me, it can be gloriously silly and funny, but at it’s core it’s a dark series about depression and the sadness at the core of humanity (or animality, whatever). It’s one of my favourite shows ever at this point, and I am very excited for Season 4, and just where BoJack is going to go now. It’ll be bad… but also so, so good.

The Last Man On Earth (FOX) also wrapped up its 3rd season very well. Jasper has been a fun addition to the cast, and the 2-part finale in particular was a great, as the series once again upended it’s cast. Erica gave birth to her baby, but then Nuclear Reactors started going off and they had to flee. This series continues to be brilliant at balancing comedy and real dark drama, as the consequences of a post-apocalyptic world are actually thought out. The very last moment also brought Kristen Wiig in contact with the main cast, and what a way to do it.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX) has continued to be very funny and strong, and one episode in particular really surprised me, as ‘Moo Moo’ became a serious examination of racial profiling in the Police Force. It’s rare that Brooklyn Nine-Nine addresses real issues, but it did it very well here, I think it should actually do more, especially in this era where the Police, in America especially, are not so popular. I don’t want it to become propaganda for the cops, but it can certainly shine a light on some real issues. As well as being dumb and funny with great actors of course.

The ‘Dreamland’ arc of Archer (FXX) is still going strong. It’s just a lot of fun to see these characters in this setting, and the storyline by itself has actually been rather arresting, with a lot of fun twists and turns. I’ve particularly liked Eugene Mirman’s performance as Cheryl’s brother. He’s delightfully creepy. Also, is Pam just a man in dreamland? Her character isn’t meant to be a woman in drag, here, she’s just a man? I kind of love that.

Oh, and I watched one more episode of Inside No. 9 (BBC Two), ‘Tom & Gerri’. It was very good, and actually managed to surprised me with the twist at the end. It was fun to see Lord Varys himself, Conleth Hill play an actually nice person, and Gemma Arterton was good too. That’s the strength of an anthology show, they can bring in really big names for just one episode.

Bridging the gap from comedy to drama is Better Call Saul (AMC) which is having an excellent third season, as it gets closer and closer to Breaking Bad territory. Not only has Gus finally appeared (with Giancarlo Esposito just as good as ever) but the whole tone of those scenes is straight out of the parent show. Episode 4, ‘Sabrosito’ barely seemed to feature Odenkirk at all. But that doesn’t mean that the series has just become Breaking Bad-lite, as the following episode ‘Chicanery’ was all courtroom stuff, and really did a fascinating job at delving into the central Jimmy/Chuck relationship. It really needs to be said again, but both Odenkirk and Michael McKean are amazing in this show, tour-de-force performances. This stretch of episodes has been a great microcosm of what makes Better Call Saul so good and basically the perfect prequel. It has plenty of links to what came before, including themes and cameos (Huell!) and camera work, but it’s also very capable of being it’s own, separate thing. So good.

The Season 2 finale of The Expanse (Sy Fy) was another strong episode in an exceptionally strong season. It was an incredibly tense episode that brought a lot of things to a head. The central plot of the Protomolecule monster being on the Rocinante tied everything together and, perhaps most importantly, brought the central crew of characters onto the same page. It’s interesting that the show isn’t precisely following a ‘1 season = 1 book’ model, and I like that, it’s allowing for things to unfold at a different pace.

The Americans (FX) is having an… interesting season. It’s still very good and all of the performances and episodes have been good, but, maybe it’s just me, but it doesn’t seem as focused as it used to, which is odd, because the writers know they only have this and next year to wrap things up. Maybe that’s actually the reason, they know they have a guaranteed 26 episodes, so can pace things differently? Either way, there doesn’t seem to be any particular driving plot, missions and side characters come and go, and whilst each individual hour has been strong, it’s not a satisfying whole. Yet. I think maybe something big is going to happen (Pacha’s suicide? Something with Pastor Tim?) that will lead to a major event in the finale. Or at least I hope so. This is a fantastic series so maybe I just have too high expectations.

Now it’s time for everybody’s favourite corner… superhero corner!

So far in iZombie (The CW) Season 3, the biggest pleasure for me has been the classic thing, seeing Rose McIver play Liv on various different types of brain. Hippie Yoga Liv, gossipy bitch Liv, Dominatrix Liv and Hot Mess Liv have all been hilarious. I really think McIver is underrated by how she manages to play so many different shades of the same person. Some of the individual cases of the week have been a bit weak, but her performance, along with the new development of Clive knowing she’s a Zombie have made it work. As for the over-arching plots, I liked the way the show revealed that Blaine had been faking his memory loss, and what that means for Major and Liv going forward. The Fillmore Graves plot has been on the back burner a bit, but you just know it’s going to explode later.

Gotham (FOX) has returned with some really great episodes and has become a show that really embraces it’s ridiculousness, and is all the better for it. Corey Michael Smith in full on Riddler mode, green suit and all, is so much fun, as is Penguin and Poison Ivy gathering an ‘Army Of Freaks’ and a goddamn clone of Bruce Wayne. I’m also really enjoying this take on the Court Of Owls, I’ve said this before, but I get an extra kick out of seeing more recent concepts like this used in other media, and so it’s awesome to see something Scott Snyder invented on TV. Gotham is dumb, but it’s the good dumb.

The Flash (The CW) revealed who Savitar was, and it was… actually satisfying. The fact that Barry (or at least a Time Remnant of him) becomes his own worst enemy is interesting, and it’s a perfect expression of the consequences of too much time-travel meddling. What I found cool was that the show followed this big, tragic reveal with a somewhat broad comedy episode where Barry lost his memories. Not only was this funny, but it showed why the show needs a bit more levity. When Barry gets too Emo, things get bad (as shown by the trip to the future, where Barry literally was Emo). I’m also really enjoying Anne Dudek’s guest role as Tracy Brand. Her chemistry with Tom Cavanaugh is a lot of fun. 2 episodes left, and I hope they continue to get the balance between drama and fun right. The Flash is one of those characters who needs to stay optimistic.

Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.LD. (ABC) has continued it’s hot-streak with more really fantastic episodes. This Hydra alternate reality arc really has been excellent. It’s allowed us to learn more about the characters, had a real impact, and also allowed the show to comment somewhat on real world political elements. It was cheap, but referring to Hydra’s ‘alternative facts’ and ‘fake news’ was great. The performances have also gone up a gear, Henry Simmons choosing to stay in the Framework was a great, although I do think that somehow they’ll use that machine to bring his daughter into the ‘real world’. Although they might be saving that for Face Turn Grant Ward. I also want to praise Iain De Caestecker, who has taken Fitz from somewhat of a comic relief character into probably the most complex person on the show. He played the ‘evil’ Fitz so well I almost feared he would still be bad once he was back. Mallory Jansen has also been very good, whether as Aida, Agnes or now Ophelia, she has played the same person in 3 very interesting ways. I can’t wait to see how this finale ends things, and to see what Season 4 brings. It feels weird to say this after the slow start, but Agents Of SHIELD is one of the better adventure shows on the air.

And finally, I finished watching Marvel’s Iron Fist (Netflix), and whilst it does have it’s share of problems and is probably the least of the ‘Defenders’ shows, I still very much enjoyed it and am excited to see more of this version of Danny Rand, particularly alongside Luke Cage. Heroes For Hire! I’m not going to re-tread the race conversation as we discussed that last time, so instead I’ll say that, as is customary, some of the episodes did drag a bit in the middle before an exciting ending, and I do think the show’s budget was a bit too low. I think that really hurt things as we never go to actually see K’un Lun or the Dragon Shou-Lou. I wanted a goddamn dragon getting it’s heart ripped out of it, is that too much to ask? I don’t think so. I also think it took way too long for Danny to realise that Howard Meachum was a bad dude, but that naïveté is intentional, and a great character bit. The performances only improved as it went on. Finn Jones is actually very convincing, and both Jessica Henwick and Tom Pelphrey were brilliant. I actually think Pelphrey’s Ward Meachum might be one of the best performances in the MCU, as he manages to make some pretty dumb plot developments work just through his performance. I did like how, by the end, things had been twisted and it was Ward who was working alongside Danny, and Joy who had become his enemy. That was unexpected and fun. Her working alongside Gao and Davos should be interesting in a second season. I did like Davos’ role later on too, Sacha Dhawan was very good, although why does someone from K’un Lun sound so Mancunian? I admit it, I am an MCU mark, but Iron Fist really isn’t that bad, if you give it a chance, it is well worth it, and can only improve. Look, it took Agents Of SHIELD 3 years to get good, I think sometimes we need to appreciate that.

Music

There’s only one album this time out, but it’s kind of a big deal, as Gorillaz are back with their first album in 7 years, Humanz (Parlophone/Warner Bros. 2017). Now the Gorillaz are pretty significant band for me, their eponymous debut was one of the first CDs I bought from myself and I must have played that and Demon Days hundreds of times. Plastic Beach had less of an impact, and I don’t think I’ve actually listened to The Fall. So I’m kind of a lapsed fan, however this particular hype train, and the idea that this was some kind of politically vital and contemporary record brought me back in, and I bought the album, hell, I got the deluxe edition! After listening to it a few times, it’s pretty good, but a lot of that hype is way over-blown. There’s nothing here that’s particularly timely, it’s just the usual Gorillaz mix of interesting backing beats, fantastic guest contributors and Damon Albarn getting to experiment. That’s not a bad thing, but I think I went into it expecting something truly game-changing. That’s probably more on me than Gorillaz though. As I said, the guest stars on here are fantastic, I particularly like Vince Staples on ‘Ascension’, Grace Jones on ‘Charger’ and Benjamin Clementine on ‘Hallelujah Money’, those are great tracks. It’s also a lot of fun to try and spot Noel Gallagher on ‘We Got The Power’. How crazy is it that Albarn and Gallagher are on the same song? Britpop Hell has frozen over. So yeah, this album is decent, but as is probably par for the course with Gorillaz, the ideas and concepts around it are more interesting. The idea of all of these artists reacting to Trump (or not Trump, an un-specified huge event) is great, but the end result isn’t that amazing. I say par for the course, because what’s always appealed most about Gorillaz isn’t just the music, but the whole package, the artwork from Jamie Hewlett, which is fantastic. I think I like the artwork in the leaflet more than the album! Gorillaz are a unique project, and I’ll always appreciate them, but I think I want more than just cool artwork and weird samples from my music at this stage.

Books

2 books this month. I think my reading pace has slowed down a bit, not sure why. Hmm, anyway, I started the month with the last 100 pages or so of Jonathan Wilson’s Angels With Dirty Faces (2016). The history of Argentinian Football got pretty much up to date, as Wilson gets up to the current era of Messi, Aguero, Tevez, Higuain etc. It was pretty much I thought it would be, as the Argentinian domestic game has been basically ruined by all of the best players moving to Europe. What I didn’t know was the state of hooliganism and fan violence in Argentina, which was surprising, and also the continued political links in the game. The fact that the Argentinian government owns the broadcasting rights to league football and uses it for propaganda purposes is very unique, and I would have liked more exploration of that. Imagine if Theresa May was on Match Of The Day or something, At least we know Corbyn is an Arsenal fan. Overall, the end of the book lived up to the rest of it, this was a very readable, informative history of a fascinating subject and culture. Argentina’s national identity is inextricably linked with it’s football, and now, I feel like i understand that country so much more.

After this, I got my fancy literature on, as I read the winner of the 2016 Man Booker Prize, The Sellout (2015) by Paul Beatty. Only this isn’t the kind of novel you’d really expect to win such a lofty, some would say wanky, prize. It’s an incredibly dark satire of American Race relations, and it’s actually very funny. The plot sees an unnamed African-American man (he’s only referred to as ‘Me’, which I think is his surname (So his name is like ‘Dave Me’ or ‘Tom Me’ or something) who somewhat accidentally brings back both segregation and slavery to the LA suburb he lives in. It’s an insane premise, but it works, and Beatty’s witty writing carries it through even the largest logic leaps. Much like with last month and ‘Get Out’, I don’t feel like I can fully parse a lot of the more caustic racial elements, being a white non-American, but it was shocking at times, and certainly made me look at certain things differently. I would be interested in reading some of Beatty’s other books, he has a unique sense of humour. I will say that I didn’t really laugh out loud at reading this, like many of the blurbs did, but then I’m struggling to think of many books that did make me LOL. I just don’t do it, even with comics. I think seeing something written down elicits a different reaction in me. More of a wry smile, or an ‘oh, that’s funny, I get that’ than actually laughing. The Sellout comes close though! Maybe literary prizes aren’t so bad…

Games

As mentioned in the intro, I’m still making my way rather slowly through The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild (Nintendo Switch 2017). I need to carve more time out to play it, but video games, even ones as good as this, are still bottom of my entertainment list. I only really play it when  I have nothing else to watch, read or listen to. As of now, I’ve finally got off the Great Plateau and am in the wider world of Hyrule, and man, it is intimidatingly big. That sense of freedom to do what you want can be both very freeing, but also kind of freezing. I can’t decide where to go, so in the end I don’t really go anywhere. Does that make sense? I’ve just been wandering around and not really advancing the plot. But still, this is an incredibly good game, the look of it is so beautiful, and it’s even more so after the Plateau. I think that is what’s holding me back from playing more, because it looks so good on the big TV, I’m not putting the Switch’s handheld mode to use to play when someone else is using it. The controls are just that level of intuitive that, for me, only Nintendo can reach. The Joycons on the Switch are bit flimsy, but after while, I’m used to it. I’m of two minds on what to do next video-game wise. I really want to pick up Mario Kart 8, especially because my girlfriend wants to do multiplayer,  but can I justify it when I’ve barely scratched the surface of Zelda?

—

That’s it! Just an addendum for you, after writing that last bit about the Switch and whether I should by Mario Kart… I went and ordered it on Amazon. So expect something about that next week. I also bought La La Land, so you’ll get to read my lukewarm take on that film on or near June 15th. I’ll probably be lame and quite like it, that’s the kind of person I am, I can never bring myself to truly hate things like the rest of the internet. Anyway, I’ll see you then! Hopefully we’ll be living under a Labour Government by then.

[fyeahjamesandlily]

Remembering the Beginning

Gift for: @estrangedlestrange

A/N: Happy Christmas!! Hope you enjoy :)

Rating: Teen and +

Word count: 3555

-

               Saint-Mungo’s was nothing like the Muggle hospitals she’d been to before. And she had seen her fair share of them, what with dad being sick all the time, her own adventurousness that had ended up in broken bones more than once, and that time Petunia had received a mild concussion from a branch that had conveniently fallen on the older girl’s head while she was spying on Lily and Sev.

               Lily hadn’t spoken to her best friend for weeks after that, until he apologised to Petunia and she threw a boiling teapot at him – he was able to dodge the teapot, but not quite the boiling water.

               It wasn’t the only reason, but Lily hadn’t really spoken to her sister for years after that.

               Her blurry eyes rose to the pretty, Christmas-lit ceiling, and she followed the trail of glittery lights that made it seem like all was well and merry.

               It wasn’t.

               Her gaze fell to the bed beside her, where someone who looked disturbingly like James Potter laid, silent and unmoving. There were no bandages, no beeping machines, just his silhouette like a fallen angel on the mattress.

               Stop that, she admonished herself. James Potter was nothing like an angel, and if he’d fallen from somewhere, it was probably off a broom. She tried to sit up, but as soon as she moved, an acute pain she hadn’t been aware of erupted in the base of her skull. She fell back on the pillow with a moan.

               “Easy,” said a masculine voice by her side, softly. “Don’t move yet. You got a nasty blow.”

               She realised he was holding her hand when he squeezed the fingers comfortingly. She tried to turn her head to the side, slowly, to see who it was, but even the smallest movements seemed out of the question for now. Plus, her sight was invaded with flashes of bright light, so who knew if she could have been able to recognise him anyway.

               “Sev?” she tried to guess.

               The man grunted.

               “Oh, come on. No insults, please.”

               His voice was nothing like Sev’s anyway. And why would he be there? She tried to put some order in her thoughts.

               “Gus,” she guessed again.

               The man wiggled in his seat. “We, um, didn’t call him. Order’s business, and all that… But we could make up a lie if –“

               “Black!” she said victoriously. It had been hard to place his voice, especially since it was so low – he must have caught a cold, or something. Not unpleasant at all – may he stay sick for a while.

               “Bingo! Took you a while,” the young man joked. It sounded almost genuine, but there was something like a question mark hanging in the air.

               She pushed his hand away. “What are you doing?”

               “Not trying to steal you away from James, don’t worry.”

               She blinked a few times and there it was, his long dark mane falling on his shoulders. Nothing was much in focus, but she could see he looked tired. Or worried. Or – something. Something was off.

               “I’m not your mate’s property,” she retorted with a slight delay.

               “But you are his wife,” he observed.

               (Pause. Rewind.

               She was in a hospital. Not the Nursery.

With James Potter.

A boy.

In the same room.

(What?)

Sev wasn’t there (of course he wasn’t there).

Gus wasn’t there.

Or Beth.

Or Emma.

Instead, there was Black, and he wasn’t holding his best-mate-for-life’s hand, he was holding hers.

               (What?)

               And he’d just called her James’s wife. Potter’s. Whatever.

               (What?))

Lily blinked.

“Either you’re delusional,” she said calmly, “or this is some kind of elaborate prank.”

“Are you okay?” Black asked, furrowing his brow, and there it was, this time, she caught it – concern. Real concern. It sounded weird, coming from him.

“I’m leaning more towards ‘elaborate prank’ – Transfiguration and a few Charms for the room, couldn’t be too hard to make for your little band of psychopaths… though I can’t imagine even you would injure me just for the purpose of making me think I was in a hospital…”

“Lily!” Black said, sounding shocked.

He’d perfected that tone over the years. Did he really think it would fool her? But she changed the subject – it was true, they wouldn’t do that. Not to her, anyway.

“If this is real,” she added, “why aren’t you over there holding your best mate’s hand?”

“I switch every thirty minutes,” he said, sounding serious. (Ha.)

“Why?”

“Well, Pete’s shift started three hours ago, and Remus – you know. He couldn’t be reached. Apparently. I’ve been told Fenwick would come by today, but only after I–“

“Who?”

“Lil…”

He took her hand again and she didn’t stop him. It felt less like an elaborate prank now that her vision was returning to normal and she could see he looked… older. Although a few drops of Aging Potion…

It had really better be Aging Potion, and Transfiguration, and Charms and – and whatever else.

“Tell me what’s wrong, Lily-flower,” he said, low, almost tender. (Ew.)

“Why do you call me that?” she asked faintly.

“I call you that when I want to make it clear that I’m not joking,” he said. “And you call me…”

He waited for her to answer, but she had never had such a long conversation with Black, not any that sounded like that anyway – and she’d never called him anything but his family name.

“Paddy,” her mouth said anyway.

The man’s shoulders sagged in relief.

“You had me worried for a second here,” he exclaimed, pushing her shoulder gently.

“Ouch!”

“Sorry.”

“Paddy,” she said again, trying the word and finding that, oddly though it felt, it fit.

“What is it, Lily-flower?”

“Why are you so worried about me?”

“Come on. You’re basically my sister-in-law, now, right?” he smiled. “I love you almost as much as your husband does. Platonically, of course. Unless you want some non-platonic love, in which case I can’t imagine James would mind sharing –“

Ew!

“Black! Paddy, I mean.”

“Yes, Lily-flower.”

“I’m not your sister-in-law.”

“Well, not by blood, but –“

“I’m not Potter’s wife.”

Tears threatened to overwhelm her when she saw Black’s shoulders tense again even though his face stayed calm, just like he always did when he was trying not to show his anxiety – because when had she picked up on that? When had she spent enough time looking at this arrogant prick to pick up on that? (How much time looking at him and talking to him that she didn’t remember?)

“Something’s wrong, Paddy,” she whispered, trying not to let her voice crack. “Why am I here? Why do you look so old? What – what happened to Potter? Why isn’t he waking up?”

His shoulders sagged again – not with relief, this time, but with defeat.

“The Mediwizard said you might be amnesiac for a bit,” he said, rubbing his face. “It will come back of course, but I didn’t think it would be so…”

“So what?”

“Well… how old do you think you are, exactly?”

“Sixteen,” she said, faintly. “How old am I?”

Another sigh.

“Nineteen,” he said. “You and James are nineteen, Lily-flower. You got married in June.”

*

They got to the apartment not by Apparating but through the Floo network. Sirius – Black – Sirius – whatever – could say what he wanted about how her body would ‘remember how to cast the spell’, there was no way she was going to risk Splitting – especially while trying to hold James Potter’s groggy, long figure upright. She had to tighten all her muscles to prevent them from falling down when the chimney spat them out, and helped her useless package to the sofa before crumbling down next to him. Her injuries were mostly healed, but the exercise still made her head ache enough for bright spots to appear before her eyes. She closed them for a minute, delaying the moment where she would have to look at the place where, apparently, she had moved into with her – with Potter – two years prior.

“You okay?” he mumbled, and a warm hand landed on her neck, massaging it softly. Her headache eased at once, but she withdrew anyway, uncomfortable.

“Sorry,” they said in chorus.

She opened her eyes and huffed, repressing a smile. She had to admit, three years had done wonders for the boy – his lanky figure had filled up, and that jaw…

She looked away suddenly. “It’s okay,” she said quickly. “I just – I’ll take care of dinner, okay?”

“No!”

James tried to sit up, comical in his weakness and fake panic (it had better be fake).

“Please,” he added. “Peter will be here before 8. He can cook.”

“I’m not that bad!” she pretended to snap.

“Lil,” he pleaded – and that almost sounded too genuine. “I can wait.”

“What if I can’t wait?”

She crossed her arms.

“And who said I was making you dinner, anyway? I’m not your Elf.”

A real, toothy grin brightened James’s face and she breathed a relieved sigh. He was pretending.

“You still bicker,” he said.

“We always bicker,” she retorted. “When we even speak. You’ve got a way of getting on my nerves…”

He shrugged. “It’s part of my charm.”

Obnoxious prick.

“The bird-nest you call hair as well, I suppose?”

“Nah. You made me use Sleek-Easy on our wedding day – said it was the most handsome I’d ever looked.”

He smiled nostalgically, but his face turned pale and his head fell back, eyes closed, as a grimace contracted his traits for second. She sat back next to him immediately, hesitating for a second but choosing not to take his hand. Not yet.

“Are you in pain?” she whispered.

He kept his eyes closed and waved the question away.

“Don’t try to be macho, you idiot. I’m asking because they gave me a Potion in case you needed one, so just ask.”

“Well,” he conceded, “breathing might hurt a little.”

She sighed and gave him one of the flasks that piled up in her pocket ever since she’d stolen them from the supply closet on their floor. They were for her initially, but she couldn’t very well let him suffer, could she?

“Black wouldn’t tell me what happened to you,” she said. “Or me, for that matter.”

“Top secret,” James mumbled, before taking a big gulp. “Bloody – is that troll’s puke?”

Another – smaller – gulp.

“I don’t understand,” Lily said, brow furrowed.

“If you can’t remember how to protect the information,” the young man explained, “it’s best not to remember the information at all.”

She pried the potion off his hands before he could finish it.

“Evans!” he protested.

“I want to know what happened.”

“So you’re going to torture me?”

“Don’t tempt me.”

His lips twitched, but his voice was grave when he spoke again.

“It would be dangerous, Lil. Not only for you or me. A lot of people are involved…”

“Who? Is Fenwick one of them?”

He pushed on his arms to sit upright and held her gaze, graver than before.

“Do you remember Benjy,” he asked slowly, “or did you just hear his name and decided to throw it around to see how I’d react?”

She blinked. Found out. “Second option.”

“Well, don’t,” he said harshly. “It’s immature, and selfish. If people find out he’s involved, there might never even be a body to be buried, do you understand? Do you want that on your conscience?”

She stood up abruptly, ignoring the sudden pain in her skull – her ego was hurt much more than her head – as she threw daggers at him.

“You’re sleeping on the couch tonight!” she spat over her shoulder, striding towards what she hoped was the bedroom.

“I wasn’t going to sleep in the same bed as the amnesiac woman who thinks she’s still thirteen!” he retorted furiously.

“Sixteen!” she yelled back, and shut the door violently.

               “That’s the bathroom!” she heard, muffled through the wood.

               Damnit.

               She only got out of there in the morning, dark circles under her eyes, but finally ready to make peace. James – Potter – oh, fuck it – James was already up, and making breakfast. No surprise there – if he could get up at dawn after allegedly breaking three bones simultaneously on the Quidditch field at fourteen, he certainly wasn’t going to sleep in after spending a few days in the hospital – whatever had sent him there in the first place. Curiously enough, she didn’t think it was Quidditch anymore.

               “Sleep well?” she mumbled as a white flag.

               He didn’t look up, focused on what looked like it might be scrambled eggs but could also be eggplant. Either way, she wasn’t eating it.

“You?”

“Nah.”

Her pain Potions had come in handy this morning, after a night spent on the hard floor. James’s lips twitched.

“I can’t believe how stubborn you are sometimes.”

She took a seat and glanced at what was in the pan – yeah, eggplant, definitely. For breakfast. What the hell.

“I’m not eating that,” she warned.

“Who said I was making it for you?” he mocked. “I’m not your Elf.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“Part of my charm.”

They exchanged a smile, and Lily sighed.

“I remember our first date,” she said. “It just came to me this morning.”

James’ face brightened up. “That’s great!”

“It was awful. I can’t believe I gave you a second chance.”

He passed her a glass of orange juice and retorted: “Hey, I was a pure gentleman! Followed Remus’ directions and everything. I don’t know why you got so angry at me – I’d really tried for everything to go smoothly.”

“That it did!” she exclaimed. “It was bland, is what it was. You took me to the most vomit-inducing place in Hogsmeade for the most vomit-inducing holiday in the year, were all lovey-dovey and kept telling me ‘let’s talk about you instead’ every time I tried to ask something about you.”

“I thought you hated it when I was being self-centred! And I was trying to be romantic…”

“Please,” she scoffed. “It was like going on a blind date. You were anything but yourself, and completely ignored everything you knew about me.”

“But Remus said…”

“Well, I didn’t agree to go on a date with Remus, did I?”

She swallowed the rest of her juice and got up.

“Fair enough,” James said suddenly. “You’re right. It was a disaster.”

She eyed him suspiciously before sitting back down, pacified.

“How well did you do on our second date, then?” she asked.

“Much better,” he grinned. “Probably because you organised it. As a surprise. So Remus couldn’t tell me what to do.”

“Ha! I would.”

He served her a plate of eggplant and whatever else he’d been adding to the mix – lots of spices, apparently – and her stomach groaned. It smelt quite delicious, even if it seemed more appropriate for dinner than for breakfast, but she really was hungry, so she relented.

She surveyed the flat while eating. It was small, but cosy. Exuberant Gryffindor colours brightened up the quiet, sandy walls here and there, a statue of Ganesh kept watch by the door, a broom was waiting in the corner for someone to fly it and a few Quidditch magazines claiming what must be the latest news were scattered on the living-room table; but she could also see traces of herself in the pressed, dry plants on the walls, the smell of burnt sage in the kitchen, the collection of muggle records by the couch… hey, there must be some of them that she didn’t know yet! She pushed away the urge to check right now and kept looking around. Some things she couldn’t tell whether they were hers or his: the books lining on the shelves of seemingly every subject available, the Charmed origamis flying in a circle around the living-room, the artistic, yet still pictures of Diagon-Alley that were hanging on the door…

“What do you think?” James asked, watching her like she had been watching the room.

“It’s very us,” she answered honestly. “I never thought we would combine like that. It’s almost harmonious.”

“Almost,” he joked.

“Well, it wouldn’t be us without a little chaos,” she said with a side-smile.

He nodded solemnly.

“May I hug you?” he asked.

She hesitated, then nodded herself.

“May I hug you on the couch?” he added. “I’m feeling a little dizzy still.”

“Oh!”

She grabbed a new flask and gave it to him before helping him to the sofa.

“I like being sick,” he said appreciatively. Then after swallowing the potion: “I just changed my mind.”

“When don’t you,” she said, nonplussed, before taking the flask from his hand and putting it down near the latest edition from Snitched!

James made himself comfortable and opened his arms; she snuggled to his side and breathed out in his warmth. A few tears started prickling her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he asked gently, patting her head like he did his cat in the common room all the time.

“My dad is dead, isn’t he?”

The young man stayed silent, but pulled her closer until she was resting her cheek on his chest.

“I don’t remember it,” she whispered. “Not yet. I just – I remember Professor McGonagall asking me to come out of Charms class and I had – this terrible feeling…”

“You went to see him,” James said quietly. “He had been in the clinic for two months at that point. You told me later it was stage four of cancer, so you knew…”

His voice cracked. That was a first: James Potter crying with her. But she didn’t say a word, because the memories were unfolding in her head, as vivid as if they’d happened yesterday.

“You said your sister and you didn’t even fight. You took one hand each and told him you loved him, then left him with your mom so she could say goodbye. Petunia – she even took you in her arms and said it would be alright…”

“I thought it would be the end of our feud,” Lily whispered. “We even met with her boyfriend and her that summer, didn’t we?”

“I’m sorry,” he said, because he and the arsehole her sister was da

“You said something like that, once. About – about how me and the lads behaved ting had blown up their tentative reconciliation.

“It wasn’t just your fault,” she said. “But I don’t think I can ever really forgive you for that.”

But she still buried her face in his shirt and watered it like a plant. towards Snape.”

“I did?”

“You said I was a different man. A good man. Someone who would not do it again, if given the chance – you said ‘that, and the way you atone for what you did, that makes me able to forgive you as a person. But I can never forgive your actions, James Potter, as long as I live, and what they led to.’”

He was looking away from her as he spoke.

“And you manage to live with that?” Lily asked, carefully.

“We all have to live with some pretty dark shit,” he said. “I manage.”

*

Boring days went by. James’s friends came to visit – not hers, ever. She figured they weren’t “involved” in whatever her husband and she were. Some kind of resistance against the Death-Eaters, without a doubt. She could believe that of Gus – his lack of involvement in politics was exactly why she’d broken up with him, and while they’d cautiously made up after a year, she knew he would never take as big a part in the war as she was always going to. The twins though – no, she didn’t dare ask about them. Shy Emma and wild Beth… what had happened to them?

It was only a matter of time until she got the answers, anyway. Her memories were coming back in a thin yet steady flow, week after week of her last year at Hogwarts and the summer that followed.

Her eyes drifted down to James’s head on her lap. He looked almost exactly like her latest memory now, features relaxed in his sleep, young and unscarred by the war she now knew for sure was raging out of the quiet bubble they’d been locked into for almost a week.

A few strands of her hair tickled his cheek and James’s eyes flickered open, his dilated pupils quickly adjusting to the brightness before dilating again, drinking her in like they seemingly always did. In the light of the fire, his hazel eyes almost looked golden, with chocolate dots spattered across the iris, and Lily found herself breathless for a second.

“Hey,” he said sleepily.

“Hey…”

She hesitated another fraction of second, and…

“You wanna kiss me, don’t you,” James said matter-of-factly.

And the moment passed.

“You’re insufferable!” she exclaimed.

She pushed him off but he clang to her arm.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just – we shouldn’t. Not until you’ve fully recovered. I’d feel like I was taking advantage.”

“I’m of age mentally and otherwise, not under any sort of influence, and remember what your junk looks like, James Potter. So how about letting me be the judge of that?”

She defied his gaze until he dropped his gaze (and her arm).

“Are you sure?” he whispered.

She pulled him in and finally kissed these irritatingly plump lips – before they let anything stupid slip again.