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rachaelswrites · 4 years ago

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Nicknames

A/N: I didn’t include all actors/characters but if you want one just send it in and I’ll do it. I’ll start including these in my writing

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Here are some nicknames that each of the reader’s have been given

Sebastian Stan “prinţesă”

-Obviously, its Romanian

-There were a few he tried out with you when you were younger but this one stuck for multiple reasons:

-You were a major daddy’s girl (still are) and you pretty much got anything you wanted. You were almost on the verge of spoiled brat

-It also didn’t help that you had a very huge liking for Disney and it’s princesses

-Those dresses with the matching shoes? You had almost all of them

-He called you that until you grew out of your princess obsession, saving it for certain times

-The first time you ended a long term friendship was the first time he used it in years. He’d either call you by your name or something more generic like “Sweetheart”

-You came home visibly upset and ran right into your dad’s arms

-You’d never been this upset before so he said it, hoping in some way it would calm you down

��It’s alright Prinţesă, I’ve got you”

-When it worked that time, he did it again after your first break up.

-You were more angry than sad this time

-He had to hold you down on the couch so you couldn’t hurt anyone

“Prinţesă, calm down. He’s not worth a criminal record

-He used it on days when you were sick or were feeling down

-Maybe even if you were in trouble

-You and him both thought by the age of sixteen, you would hate the nickname but surprisingly, you liked it even more

Chris Evans “peanut”

-Another case of daddy’s girl

-This one comes from several trips to Red Sox’s games

-Chris wanted to get you into sports when you were young (just to watch, not necessarily to play)

-He took you and Scott to one of the first games of the season and he bought peanuts, in his true American way

-You were seated in between him and Scott

-Both of them were sharing the bag while you had ice cream

-Peanuts were a new food for you and you wanted to try them. You grabbed a handful of them and copied your dad’s movements to crack open the shells

-You ate like twenty in less than a minute

-You loved them so much and that’s how that name happened

-Unlike the others, Chris uses this name pretty regularly

-You didn’t mind how often he used it until he started using it on front of your friends

“Hey peanut, do you guys need anything?”

“Dad! That’s embarrassing”

-Your face went bright red and for the rest of the day, your friends teased you (in a loving, joking way)

-Chris realized his small mistake and was a little more careful about when he used it

-Scott called you it once and you swear, you never saw your dad move so quickly

“She’s my peanut, not yours. Find your own nickname”

-Anytime he posts a picture of you on Twitter/Instagram, he used that name instead of your own

Matthew Gray Gubler “munchkin”

-Three words

-Wizard. Of. Oz.

-You had a very weird obsession with this movie. It’s almost embarrassing looking back at it now

-By the time you were three, you knew all the words (as best as you could) to all the songs

-Matthew was about to lose his mind because he had the songs in his head as well, twenty-four-seven.

-You would talk and talk about how much you wanted to go to Munchkin land and be a Munchkin

-It also didn’t help that at the time, you were probably close to the same height

-Sadly, as you got older, you and your dad learned you didn’t develop his height

-You were a whopping 5’2 at the age of fifteen

-And the name stuck

-He knew you weren’t super fond of the name but somehow, it always cheered you up

-If you had a tough day at school, he’d sit on the couch and let you vent

“Let it all out Munchkin”

-You secretly did like the name (even though the origins were embarrassing)

-Matthew never let you live down that obsession

-When you were on set and he called you that, everyone asked why.

“Matthew, why do you call her Munchkin?”

“Dad, don’t do it”

“She was obsessed with The Wizard of Oz”

-He also very rarely referred to you as “Y/n” on social media, opting for Munchkin instead

-Trying to get back at him, you tried to come up with some ridiculous name for him

“I’m going to call you dancer. Cause that’s how you broke your knee”

-That one didn’t last long but Munchkin sure did

Tom Holland “bubs or darling”

-Tom gets two because I can’t pick

-Bubs is because you are the baby out of all of the brothers

-It was also because before you could say any brother’s name, you just called them bubs

-Sam, Harry, and Paddy also called you Bubs. They still call you that sometimes so Tom wanted to try something new

-When you were about five or six, he accidentally called you darling

-It wasn’t a typical brother/sister name but it suited you

-You were such a kind person and your favorite movie to watch with Tom was Peter Pan

-And the last name of Wendy was Darling, so he thought it fitted

-When he called you darling, it was mostly after he came home from filming

“I missed you so much Darling”

-You liked the meaning behind your nickname

-Tom used Bubs if you weren’t feeling like yourself

-Whether it was a bad day or if you were sick

“Take some medicine Bubs” or “Bubs, tell me what’s going on”

-He hated the others calling him Tommy but for you, he’d let you do it anytime you wanted

-Literally, you were the only person he let you call him Tommy

-But he was the only person who could call you Darling

Bucky Barnes “doll”

-Classic

-This one is pretty self explanatory

-It was common during your childhood but once you were in the 21st century, Bucky couldn’t part with it

-It reminded him of the past (in a good way) and he always wanted to relive those memories

-You were eight when HYDRA took him and then you

-The name reminded him of when you were little, and it reminded you too

-While Bucky was in Wakanda, he’d send you letters once he woke up

“Hey Doll, I miss you so much. Hopefully we can see each other soon”

-You kept them all with you

-And when The Snap happened, you’d read those letters back to yourself everyday

“The sunset was really pretty today Doll, it reminded me of the ones from when you were little”

-After those five years, that was the first thing he said to you

“I’m glad you’re safe Doll”

-It only took one time for Sam to tease you about it before you threatened to hurt him

“You make fun of it one more time and I swear it’ll be the last”

-Sam didn’t really understand why that name meant so much to you

-Bucky had to explain it to him

-It was really one of the only things you had left of your childhood

-And it was the one thing you could hold onto for the rest of your life

Ransom Drysdale “princess”

-Again, I think this one is self explanatory and obvious

-You’re spoiled, no doubt about it

-The name actually came from Meg

-She was a few years older than you and she was so used to being the only girl in the family

-And now she had to deal with you

-The reason she called you that was pretty stupid in the first place but as an eight year old, it didn’t matter to her

-You had spilled your drink on her by accident and onto her new shoes

-She went red in the face and started screaming in your face. You burst into tears

-You were only four and Ransom had never raised his voice at you. It was a new experience for you

-All the adults came into the room and walked into the scene of Meg screaming and you crying

-Ransom scooped you up and told Meg off

-Of course Joni took her daughter’s side but no one else did, making her mad

“She never gets in trouble. She’s such a princess”

-After that incident, your dad only used that name just to piss everyone off

-Like there was no need for him to but he just did it

“Princess, come here”

-In general, Ransom liked to show you off and the nickname Princess was the best way to do that

-As you got older, he felt weird using it. Meg had finally gotten over herself and everyone accepted the fact that your dad was spoiling you rotten

-You didn’t need a name to show that

-But as you got older, the issues in the family and all the problems started to weigh down on you

-There was so much drama that happened at family dinners, you were completely drained and exhausted once you got home

-Ransom could tell something was up so he reached into his bag of good parenting skills (which he definitely had, which shocked everyone) and called you Princess for the first time in ten years

“Princess, please tell me what’s wrong”

-For some reason, that one name made everything better for you

-Ransom noticed the small improvement in your mood so he kept calling you that on the daily

“How was school today Princess?”

-And in front of the family again

“Princess, it’s time to go”

-This name was literally just used to show the other Thrombey’s that you and your dad were better than them

-Of course though, you didn’t need a nickname to see that

Spencer Reid “squirt”

-Another name based on an obsession

-But this one can be blamed on Garcia

-While Spencer was on a case one time, she was in charge of watching you

-To keep you entertained while at the BAU, she put on Finding Nemo

-That was a mistake

-From that point on, you had a weird fascination with sea turtles, because of Squirt

-Once Spencer got back, you would not shut up about turtles

“Daddy, look what I just read”

-He was glad you found something you were interested in. He sort of hoped you would find something closer to a more “normal” topic but he would never stop you from learning

-Spencer wasn’t sure how the name fell onto you but once it did, he didn’t stop using it

-He generally used it in the apartment with just you and him

“Squirt, can you pick your toys up for me?” or as you were older “Squirt, can you grab those books for me?”

-He used it a lot when you felt stressed and you weren’t telling him

-So whenever he called you that, you knew you might as well tell him

“Tell me what’s going on Squirt”

-It was such a small gesture but it really did help you

-He tried to explain why it probably made you feel better but you weren’t too interested in the science behind it

-The only time he used it in front of the team is when he got back from a case

-You always met him at the BAU (he made sure you were there to greet him)

-You would stand in front of the elevator and wait for the doors to open

-And when they did, you ran into his arms and he wrapped them around your body

“I missed you Squirt”

-The team absolutely adored that nickname but knew to never call you that, unless they wanted an angry Reid on their hands

Emily Prentiss “love”

-To me, Emily just has European vibes and so does this nickname

-Probably because Emily grew up in Europe, she developed this habit of calling you Love

-The parents of her friends growing up used that name

-She sort of just picked up on it, starting when she first held you in the hospital

“Hi Love, I’m your momma”

-It’s such a simple but meaningful name to her

-You were truly the one person she loved the most (even her mom and even Sergio)

-Speaking of, once she brought Sergio home you started calling him that as well

-You were only four and didn’t understand the concept but Emily didn’t stop you

“Hi Wove”

-Emily never used this in front of people unless something was wrong

-As you got older, it was used more as a reassurance for you

-Her “death” was really hard on you and every case, she would check in

-Lots of the time, the phone calls were short and around the other members of the team

“Hi Love, I miss you. The team says hi”

“I miss you too momma”

-Very rarely would she use it in normal, everyday conversation

-If you were visiting the office, sometimes it would slip out

“Hey Love, are you doing your homework?”

-In front of the team, she used names like “baby” or “honey”

-Love was strictly reserved for just you and her

Jennifer Jareau “bug”

-First thing to know

-If anyone besides JJ called you Bug, even Will, she would literally rip their heads off

-This name was super personal to her and she didn’t want the meaning to be ruined

-You had taken after her love and fascination with butterflies

-Except you hadn’t learned the word butterfly so you just called them bugs, hence the nickname

-JJ only called you two things “Y/n” and “Bug”

-Nothing else

-At one point, Will was convinced that she might’ve forgotten your first name because she called you Bug so much

“JJ, she has a first name you know”

“I know, I think Bug fits her better”

-She did attempt to get your name changed, but to be fair, she was drunk when that happened

-She didn’t care that as you got older, the name was a little embarrassing, especially around your friends

“I’ll pick you up at seven Bug”

“Mom! Really? In front of my friends?”

-Your brothers for awhile thought your name was Bug, because she really only called you that at home

“Do you need help with your homework Bug?” or “Bug, can you set the table?”

-You didn’t realize the meaning behind the nickname until she explained it to you

-And once you did, the name meant so much more to you

-Will helped you pick out a matching necklace set of two butterflies

-You gave it to her after a case and she cried, knowing exactly what it’s meaning was

“Thank you Bug, I love it”

-She never took that necklace off, ever

Taglist

@ssebstann @peachyprincessss @emmy-writes-sometimes @dudele @kerrswriting @laura-naruto-fan1998 @multifamdomfan12 @aquariuslavenderhoney @rafehogwarts

#x daughter!reader #x teen!reader #x child reader #x sister!reader #sebastian stan #chris evans #mgg #tom holland #bucky barnes #ransom drysdale #spencer reid #emily prentiss #jennifer jareau

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anbudrky2021 · 4 years ago

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The 𝔇𝔢𝔩𝔦𝔠𝔞𝔱𝔢 Sound of 𝒯𝒽𝓊𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇 │ 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕣 𝕆𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕤𝕠𝕟

Smut warning. Please click here for series description and TWs. 💕

Ch 4: Projecting

“Thor?” I was confused why he is was there.

“Who made you cry, y/n??” He asked again.

“Nobody,” I lied.

“You can’t tell me a lie without me noticing.” Thor stood, patiently waiting. “Was it Buck?” he had a look of concern, but not anger or malice toward Bucky, which surprised me. When I had come back from Wakanda and told him what had happened, he was so angry. I had never seen Thor so...enraged. So to see him calm was...weird.

“Just leave it alone. Please.” I softly spoke, hoping he would listen.

“I will leave it alone. You are not my responsibility. But please...” he looked genuinely into my eyes, “please let me know if I need to squash him.” He smirked for a moment.

“What are you doing here?” My last tear had dried up and I was now breathing like normal.

“Tony sent me. And Peter.” His eyes rolled slightly. “As much as this...man of spiders bothers me...he does care for you. And I can respect that. Also Tony wanted me to do some recon.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

”Recon? On what?” I whispered now, urging him to do the same. “Not King T’Ch-” he cut me off with a hearty laugh.

“No!!” He boomed. “Not T’Challa. He’s great. Tony trust that Black Leopard. Cheetah. No, that’s not it...Cougar. Capybara.” He looked up at the ceiling quizzically.

“Wow, Thor that’s not even a cat...” I laughed out loud. “Panther, hon. It’s black panther. And if you aren’t...spying on him who-”

“That’s why I was actually hoping on running into you...it’s Bucky. Tony wants to make sure he’s ready to come to the-”

“No. He’s not. He’s not coming back with us. He’s not ready. There. Now go home and tell Tony I already did the recon.” I started walking past Thor but he grabbed my arm lightly.

“This is why he sent me..the four of you are biased. He’s Steve’s best friend. Wanda is your best friend. You...have a history. And Nat, well she’s great but we didn’t want to make her be a double-agent. Not again...” he sighed. “So here I am.”

“Tony didn’t think you’d be biased in my favor? Or against it?” I retorted.

“Nah. He knows I can separate a mission from a woman. I do still care for you, y/n.” He paused for a moment. “I really do...I know it’s hard for you to be here with him around. Don’t forget to ask for help when you need it. You’re almost as stubborn as an asguardian woman and that is a feat.”

We both laughed. He’d told me that many times. He always said that was one of the reasons he liked me so much. I had reminded him of the head-strong women from his Home, in which he respected and loved so much.

We parted ways after saying goodbye. I was confused now. Thor made me feel so comfortable. So cared for. But so did Peter. I had destroyed my chances with Thor..but not Peter. Not yet. But being here with Bucky made my heart wrench out of my chest. I felt dirty. Like I had been a cleat chaser for a baseball team or something. Which is fine. I have done my share of sleeping around. But this group...this team I am a part of...it feels wrong sometimes. Nat hasn’t slept with any of them. Wanda only has eyes for Vis. Hope and Scott are basically married. I mean...I just...

“You’re projecting!!” Thor yelled from down the hallway.

“Jesus...” I whispered, now jogging away. How much had I projected?! And to whom?!

My mind started to dizzy. My fingers and toes felt like they were buzzing. My heart raced and my breathing was completely irregular. I propped myself up against the wall and slid down slowly. I took deep breaths, tried to think of something to distract me but my head was spinning.

“Y/n?” Nat’s voice was like music. She helped me up and walked me to my room. By the time we got there, I felt like I could at least stand. “Nat I am so sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

She looked around the room. “What happened here?” She asked, pointing at the broken vase I had thrown at Bucky earlier. I didn’t even know what it was until now. Guilt sprang through me. T’Challa was so kind to let us stay here. And I broke his vase.

“Hey, you know you’re projecting right?” She asked, looking alarmed.

“Oh...no. I didn’t know that. That just happened with Thor, too...”

“Thor is here?” Now she was more alarmed.

“I Guess he hasn’t made that known yet...” I shrugged my shoulders.

“I think we need to see Shuri sooner than later, friend..” Nat motioned toward the door. I followed obediently. I was scared to think anything now. Not that I didn’t trust Natasha, but I didn’t know when or why I was projecting...

We reached the familiar medical and science bay, knocking quickly on the door. “Shuri!!!” Nat yelled through the door. “Hey we’re coming in!”

Natasha opened the door and saw Shuri speaking with T’Challa.

“My friends, welcome,” He gestured toward a seating area.

“This is my laboratory. I get to say welcome!!” Shuri almost whined. They both laughed. Their relationship is so sweet. It makes me want a brother. I would kind of have some if I would just keep it in my pants. I rolled my eyes at myself and then realized everyone was staring at me.

“Hey” Shuri said, chipper, trying to lighten the mood as always, “my bro can be yours, too! He’s taken. So he won‘t be trying any of that pants stuff!” She laughed. Everyone else looked horrified by the whole situation.

“So I assume I projected that thought as well, then...” I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes. How about now? Can someone let me know if you’re hearing this? I thought, trying to purposefully project.

Nobody spoke. I sighed.

“So when I try to project, it hasn’t been working and apparently now when I am not, I’m just doing it?” I asked, and stated. I didn’t know.

Shuri nodded. “Did you just try?”

“Yes...”

“Then yeah...that’s what happening. But why?” She asked herself. She waved me and Nat over to follow her. “See you later, brother.” She kissed his cheek and he left.

“How long have I been doing this?” I asked, somewhat to myself but also to Natasha.

“Well, to be honest, on and off for a while. We just all thought you were...” she bit her lip. “remember when you were drunk and-”

“Yes, what about it?” I was exhausted now.

“We thought maybe you had a drinking problem you were hiding...after you and Thor ended things. And that’s why you were randomly projecting. But then Peter said during a meeting-”

“What meeting?” I asked, kind of hurt.

“We had a meeting...a few weeks after you and Pete started...anyway, um. In the meeting, nobody knew at that time that you had been seeing Peter. But he spoke up for you. He said you’d been spending time together-he said it was because he noticed you were sad-and that you hadn’t had a drop of alcohol. So then we all decided that something was up. We stopped sending you on bigger missions...” her tears pricked. “That’s when Steve talked to Bucky and Bucky talked to Shuri. And now we’re here...”

Tears escaped her eyes. Why is she crying? Nat doesn’t cry...

“Because Natasha cares about you. We all do, Y/N. And this isn’t normal for someone with you powers.” Shuri answered my projection.

I took a deep breath. “Ok, so now what?” I asked, concerned.

“Testing. Experimental activities. Anything to figure out what’s going on.” She patted the lab bed and Handed me some electromagnetic stickers with wires attached. “Head and heart please.” She motioned for me to take off my shirt.

I did as I was asked. My scars showed. The one thing I hated most about what happened. The scars. Shuri looked for a moment and then away from me, she shot me a nervous smile.

Nat rubbed my back as I sat, applying the stickers.

I feel like a child. And an alien. I hate this.

“This won’t take too long, y/n” Shuri reassured me. “I promise. And then you can sleep.”

“You’re not an alien. Or a child. We just want you better.” Natasha said softly. She’d be such a good mom; she’s so gentle and kind when she’s not kicking ass.

Both Natasha and Shuri laughed. “Very true. Nat is pretty awesome.” She winked at Nat. Nat’s smile faded and she sat in the chair Beside my bed.

Shit. I forgot. I’m sorry, Nat... I tried to project but it didn’t work.

When Shuri left for a moment I turned to Natasha. “I’m sorry, I forgot...and it was meant to be my own thought...” I looked at Nat with a pained look in my own eyes.

“It’s ok. I took it as a complement.” She smiled genuinely. “Plus, I feel like a mom 99% of the time with you all.” We laughed and then sat in silence.

After Shuri’s tests were done, Nat escorted me back to my room. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” She insisted.

“No, I am ok. Just tired. Plus I don’t know if I will project my dreams and they can be pretty crazy..” I raised my eyebrows.

“Uh, I don’t know if you mean nightmares or sex dreams but I do NOT want to see you having sex with Peter. Or Thor. Or Bucky. Or-”

“I GET IT!” I tossed a small pillow at her and she laughed.

“Alright, get some sleep. I will see in the morning. I will meet you and Wanda at breakfast. Steve is going to spend some time with Bucky.”

I nodded and got undressed when she left the room. I laid out my pajamas and went to the bathroom to shower off and get ready for bed. As I walked out in my towel, Thor was sitting on the same chair Bucky had been in earlier.

“Can I help you” I acted like I wasn’t phased.

“Yeah I have a question.” Thor said, standing up, walking toward me.

What the fuck. “Ok?” I asked.

“What’s a cleat chaser?”

I just stood, hair dripping, confused as ever.

“When you projected in the hallway. You compared yourself to a cleat chaser. What is that?” He asked again.

“Oh, it’s like...people who sleep with baseball players. Like, typically a lot on one team, I guess.” Really, he’s going to come here and ask that?

“That isn’t the only reason I came.” He responded, lightly.

“Y/N...you didn’t ‘destroy’ your chance with me.” He acknowledged my projection from earlier, again. “I just want you to be happy. You can’t be happy with anyone until you get better. And I’m not talking about your powers. I’m talking about your heart. Your soul. Your emotions.” he spoke with such power and authenticity. “You think I ended things because I thought you were selfish. And I did say that. I said you were selfish and cruel. I have pondered on this for months.”

I listened. Trying to to think.

“I am Thor. I am the literal god of thunder. Son of Odin. And I am the selfish one. I did not bother to see how you’re cruelty toward me, or what I saw as cruelty was hurt. It was pain and suffering. It still is. And when I restated what you’d said to me, the night we first hooked up. You’d said it was to numb the pain. And as we progressed in our...relationship or whatever you want to call it. I couldn’t let it go. I was angry. And I brought it back up, after we went to your mother’s house; Odin bless her soul...I brought it up and spat it back out to you. That I was sleeping around to numb my own pain.”

He was very close to me now. I could feel the heat from his large body vibrating onto mine. His voice was soft but somehow still booming. I gripped my towel and swallowed the knot in my throat.

“I was in pain...I’m still in pain. And I understand now. You weren’t being selfish or cruel. You were feeling guilty, hurt, grieving, angry, sad, and alone. And instead of letting you feel those ways, I took them as you not wanting me. Not caring. Not putting me first.”

Thor was still talking but all I wanted to do was hug him.

“I thought I was supposed to be your priority. And I did up until last night..” He laid his hand gently on my cheek, rubbing it with his thumb. “Y/N. I know now, your priority cannot be someone else when you’re hurting. I know that because no matter how many women I lay with, no matter how many ales I drink, my mind goes back to you. I can’t make anyone else my priority when my pain, it‘s you. I love you.”

I burst into tears and just fell into his arms. He patted my head and then held me close to him. I sobbed and sobbed for what felt like hours but he just held me.

“Thor..” I sniffled. “Thor, I can’t express how much that means to me. All I wanted from you was that. To understand I don’t have the capacity to love someone right now. I don’t, even after two years, have the willpower to prioritize someone else. When I do... they hurt me or they fucking DIE.” I sobbed again. This time, doubled over. My knees hit the floor. Thor got on the floor with me for a moment and picked me up. He brought me to the bed and laid me down gently, under the covers.

“Thor, my pajamas...” I cried, holding my towel against me.

“One second...” he grabbed them and helped me put them on. I tried to cover up but it didn’t work.

“Oh stop. I‘ve seen it all before.” He smiled, looking away respectfully. “Yeah, not lately though.” I finished putting them on.

“True...” he smirked. We looked at one another for a moment. I broke the silence. “Thor, will you stay?”

He looked at me solemnly for just a second. “You know I can’t do that...” he tucked me in.

“But-”

“Y/N. I can’t do that,” he insisted.

“Why?” I nearly pouted.

“Because any time I am in the same bed as you.” he trailed off. “And I respect Peter now.”

I blushed. I forgot about Peter. Maybe I am just as cruel as Thor thought I was before. Maybe he’s wrong. I’m not hurting. I’m just mean.

“You’re not mean, Y/N.” He soothed. “You’re lost.”

He was right...but all I wanted was his mouth on mine. My mind went to the day we decided to walk to the creek near the compound.

We had made it to the creek, just in time for Thor to roughly push me up against a tree. I had worn a sundress in hopes he would take advantage of it. His hands roughly ripped down the straps, releasing my chest from its confines. His right hand massaged one as his his mouth attached to the other. My hands immediately latched to his hair, pulling lightly. I could hear his soft moans from the sensation. The vibration against my nipple made me moan myself. My head rested against the tree for a moment before he popped up and reached his hands up my dress.

He yanked my panties down and I stepped out of them. He picked them up and pocketed them.

I pulled his pants down about to his knees and then his boxer-briefs. His cock was at full attention and ready for me. Although my pussy was literally throbbing for him in that moment, my mouth was also drooling.

I pumped his shaft with my hand for a moment before taking him in my mouth. He had one hand on the tree, bracing himself, and one on the back of my head. He was encouraging me to let him go deeper. I allowed it, prompting a gag from myself. He moaned and thrusted again. As he started to take control, fucking my mouth, my hands busied themselves with his balls and one on his thigh to steady my own self.

“Just like that...you’re doing such a good job. Fuck your mouth is amazing.” His thrusts became unrhythmic. I knew that meant he was close to cumming so I shoved him out of my mouth.

“Hey!” He said.

I turned to face the tree, stood on my tippy toes and lifted up my sundress for him to see how much sucking his cock turned me on.

“Oh, damn...“ he groaned, lowly. I felt his tip against my slit, gathering the glistening slickness, preparing to enter me. I used my hands to prop myself against the tree. He entered me slowly, both of us sighing in pleasure.

He started thrusting immediately, not really giving me time to adjust. Although it was painful for a moment, my body gave way and I let out a loud, shaking moan. “Do you like that?” he cooed in my ear softly. “Be quiet or we’re going to be caught...” he thrusted harder, eliciting a louder moan from me.

He reached down for A moment and before I could figure out what he was doing, he shoved my panties in my mouth.

“Shut it,” he warned. His hands now gripped my hips and he railed into my cunt over and over again. My stomach tightened and my moans were snuffed out by my panties. My eyes started to roll backwards as he reached around, stroking my clit just how I liked.

“I am going to cum,” he warned me. As he spoke, his voice was like grit and it was low.

I came, my cunt spasming around him. He came quickly after that, filling me up, leaking down my thigh. He pulled out of me, and spun me around to kiss my lips. I had already pulled the panties out of my mouth. We shared a moment of making out and then he readjusted my straps. He pulled his pants up and used my panties to clean up my thighs and cunt, placing them back into his pocket.

“I still have those panties,” Thor said, interrupting my thoughts. “They’re washed. But I still have them...” his voice was low, just like it gets when he’s horny. I could see his pants were tighter. We locked eyes for a moment and then he turned around. And he left.

#Thor #Peter Parker #Bucky Barnes #Smut #Smut Warning #Thor Smut #Marvel Smut #Avengers Smut #Angst #Fluff #canon divergent au #Present day AU #Lemon

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kidslovecudi · 4 years ago

Text

Man On The Moon III: The Chosen - Album Review By “kidslovecudi“

Before I say anything about this album, let me say that I am so excited that Cudi is finally releasing new music! Speaking for all Cudi fans, we have all been waiting for new solo material from the moon man for the longest time and the few teasers he’s been releasing over the last year, with “Leader Of The Delinquents” and his collaborations with Travis Scott, (“The Scotts”) and Eminem (“The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim Shady”) have not been enough to fully satisfy us. With Man on The Moon III: The Chosen, Cudi fulfills on a promise to his fans he made years ago and gives us quite a lot to digest. However despite how fulfilling this record is, Cudi still manages to leave you on the edge of your seat wanting more and I personally can’t wait to see what he’s going to do next!

1. Beautiful Trip (Intro)

Produced by Kid Cudi, FINNEAS, Plain Pat, Emile Haynie & Dot Da Genius

And it starts...

2. Tequila Shots ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Produced by Kid Cudi, Dot Da Genius & Take a Daytrip

On this first track Cudi brings us back into the dark world of the moon man but this time with a new outlook. Referencing his previous works, Cudi aims to prove that he’s “not just some sad dude” and feels that despite his mental well being still occasionally being unstable he’s ready for whatever he has to face. What I loved most about this record was Cudi’s consistency. Throughout the years Cudi has mastered the art of having his own unique galactic sound that transcends through all of his music, despite the genre, and that sound is very present here. Along with his classic hums and hypnotic melodies, this track, known as the fan favorite, has the potential to be a classic.

3. Another Day ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Produced by Dot Da Genius, Nosaj Thing & Take a Daytrip

When I first heard this song, I absolutely lost my shit. Cudi started this album off swinging and I was not prepared for him to go so hard. I’ve had this song on repeat quite a few times since I first heard it and along with the beat being absolutely sick, Cudi is rapping his ass off! My favorite part is when the beat breaks down in the second chorus, and I get hype as fuck every single time.

4. She Knows This ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Produced by J Gramm, FnZ & Dot Da Genius

This song on first listen reminded me of a song by another of my favorite artists, called “The Let Out” by Jidenna but Cudi took it to a whole other level and isn’t as repetitive. Once the track speeds up Cudi goes even harder with even trippier sounds that will make you feel like you’re driving through space. One of my favorite things about this album is that a lot of the songs change in the middle keeping you that much more engaged in the whole song than to quickly digest it, like a lot of records on mainstream radio. On top of that his bars are on complete fire and it’s always great to see Cudi flex his rapping skill that a lot of people don’t give him credit for.

5. Dive ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Produced by Dot Da Genius, Anthony Kilhoffer, Aaron Bow & Teddy Walton

Dive ends the first act of the album and serves as Cudi’s goodbye to his fantasy high. The guitar riffs at the beginning of the song is my favorite part and I wish they were made a bigger part of the song. However this song is classic Cudi, I initially thought it was missing something but after listening to it on it’s own a few more times, I feel like this song is absolutely perfect. It’s groovy as fuck and I think because it kind of ends so abruptly that it leaves a lot to be desired, but that also might have been Cudi’s intent, allowing it to serve as interlude of sorts. I loved the transitional elements through out the song, like when the bass comes in, his adlibs throughout the song and especially the echoing adlibs like, “MOVE, MOVE” “towards the end. It takes a few really good listens to fully enjoy the song as a whole, like it did for me but the more I played the album the more and more I fell in love with it.

6. Damaged ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Produced by MIKE DEAN, Dot Da Genius & Take a Daytrip

I loved the words to this song and the overall message that Cudi was trying to convey throughout the song, but the song itself didn’t do a whole lot for me until I actually found myself in a similar dark place. It’s one of those classic Cudi records that really makes you sit and reflect on your life and everything you’ve gone through, which was exactly what the song did for me. This song is where the album starts to slow down a bit and Cudi sings and raps about his trials and tribulations of being a damaged man and that sometimes his demons still come back and he has to deal with them. A common struggle most of us who’ve ever dealt with feelings of anxiety and depression all know too well.

7. Heaven on Earth⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Produced by Dot Da Genius, Anthony Kilhoffer & DST The Danger

This song really didn’t do a whole lot for me but what I loved the most about it again, were it’s adlibs. Cudi really showed out with the adlibs on this album and that’s what made this song enjoyable for me. The song for me just sounded too typical to me but even despite that, it’s still a great track to vibe to, just not something I’d put on my favorites.

8. Show Out (feat. Skepta & Pop Smoke) ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Produced by Dot Da Genius, Anthony Kilhoffer & DST The Danger

Easily one of my favorite tracks on the album, when I first heard this, I completely lost my my shit and it was almost impossible not to turn my entire bedroom upside down. For one beat is absolutely sick and picks the tempo right back up. Cudi, Skepta and Pop Smoke’s voices are infectious together and everyone shines on this song without any one of them over shadowing the other’s performance. Definite a track to rage the fuck out to.

9. Mr. Solo Dolo III ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Produced by Kid Cudi, Audio Anthem, Dot Da Genius & Plain Pat

This song is trippy as fuck. From beginning to end this song takes you on an absolutely journey from the chords and the keys and there are no words to describe it. I remember playing this song while I was driving home from work on my scooter at night and man oh man, the vibes this song had was incredible. It made me feel like I was traveling to another galaxy. As a loner, this song really spoke to me and it made me feel like someone else understood exactly how I felt. My favorite part was his scream after the second verse. It made me feel free and liberated and that my feelings in that moment had been validated.

10. Sad People ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Produced by Dot Da Genius & Take a Daytrip

This song is an absolute vibe. Cudi’s in his bag, back in his zone, as he said and my favorite thing about this song is the chorus. Cudi’s harmonies are absolutely incredible and my favorite part is towards the end of the chorus when the song takes on an eerie west coast like synth and it’s absolutely infectious.It’s like a dark B side to “Cudi Zone” from the first album which is one of my favorite songs by Cudi to this day. It’s songs like this that made Cudi the legendary moon man that he his, in the first place.

11. Elsie’s Baby Boy (flashback) ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Produced by E*Vax, Kid Cudi, Heavy Mellow & Dot Da Genius

This song sounded like a leftover track from “Speedin’ Bullet To Heaven” and despite how much negative criticism that album got, I absolutely love when Cudi dives into his alternative roots and I really hope he decides to dive deeper into it even further at some point. In this song Cudi sings about his relationship with his mother Elsie and his childhood upbringings. By this it in turn gave me flashbacks to my relationship with my grandmother and my childhood memories which all brought back happy and sad moments for me.

12. Sept. 16 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Produced by Emile Haynie, FINNEAS, Plain Pat & Dot Da Genius

What I loved the most about this record was Cudi’s vulnerability. Cudi has a few rare moments on his albums where he actually sings about love and being in love and it’s always great to hear. Cudi’s such a hopeless romantic and I love when he let’s his guard down and expresses his feelings. This song takes me back to “Kitchen” on “Passion, Pain, & Demon Slayin’“ and though I love that song more, this song was definitely cooked in the same pot.

13. The Void ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Produced by Dot Da Genius, Kid Cudi & MIKE DEAN

The most uplifting song from the album, this song takes me back to some of the vibes from the first album, like his song “Up, Up, and Away”. That was one of the songs in my high school days that made me fully accept myself for who I was, regardless of what people said and this song is just as motivating and uplifting. On the same wave of “Reborn”, Cudi sings about avoiding all negativity on this record and only focusing on the positive. I almost cried towards the end when he thanked us, his fans, for staying with him and never leaving him. It’s a very beautiful song, but I just personally feel like this song should have been the one to end the album or close to end because to me this track is a hard one to follow behind.

14. Lovin’ Me (feat. Phoebe Bridgers) ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Produced by William J. Sullivan, Charlie Handsome, Rami Beatz & Dot Da Genius

It took a little while for this song to set in for me but after it did, it made me want to cry. If you ever struggled with self-love or self-acceptance then this song is for you. What I loved most about this song was the message because it really hit home for me. It’s a beautiful anthem about finding happiness within yourself that I feel a lot of people will relate to.

15. The Pale Moonlight ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Produced by E*Vax, Rami Beatz & Dot Da Genius

Wasn’t feeling this one all too much, but what I loved about it most again, were the adlibs. I loved Cudi’s multiple layering of his vocals throughout the song, especially the “la-la-la-la” parts. The sounds very remiscent to some of Cudi’s earlier music and if you didn’t know any better you’d swear this was a leftover track from “The End Of Day”.

16. Rockstar Knights (feat. Trippie Redd) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Produced by Jenius, WondaGurl, MIKE DEAN, Dot Da Genius & Take a Daytrip

I’m not a big fan of Trippie Redd but I really fuck with his contributions on this song. This is another song where I really loved the chorus and I also love Cudi’s flow once his verse comes in. Cudi’s wordplay is out of this world on this record and it’s hard not to beat your head as Cudi delivers bar for bar for bar throughout his entire verse. Cudi really shines on this record with his skills as a MC and if Cudi ever felt he had anything to prove as a rapper, he definitely did that here. As the song ends it feels like Cudi just turned the spaceship on hyperdrive and took us along for the ride as he drifted further and further into space- Totally sick.

17. 4 da Kidz ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Produced by WondaGurl, MIKE DEAN, Dot Da Genius, 18YOMAN & Take a Daytrip

A song dedicated to the “kidz” reminding us that we are not alone and this song is another song to vibe out to. With instructions from Cudi, to turn it loud if we need to, this song, on the same frequency as “love.” is another song where Cudi is speaking to us as our big brother and giving us a well needed pep talk. What I loved most about it was Cudi’s vocals on the chorus, especially the way he pronounced the “oo” vowel sounds. It was very reminiscent of a Baltimore accent which I always found comical in the best way which is one of things I love the most about Cudi. He’s not afraid to try different things or pull different things from his various influences despite the genre and on this record, he ties them up beautifully.

18. Lord I Know ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Produced by MIKE DEAN, Dot Da Genius, 18YOMAN & Take a Daytrip

Serving as the closer to the album and the man on the moon trilogy, this song is a classic Cudi hym that tells us that we’re not alone regardless of what we face in life. What I liked most about this song was the message, and that’s why I rate it so highly. In this song Cudi expresses being content with the path he’s on at life and after everything he’s gone through, it makes me happy to finally hear that he’s found peace within himself. The song/album ends with his daughter Vada saying, “To be continued” and I can’t wait to see what Cudi has in store for us next. I just have a strong feeling that all of us Cudi fans are about to eat REAL GOOD.

There’s been a lot said about this album, good and bad but I feel this album is merely a taste of what’s to come. Is this record my favorite? No, but what I can say is that it’s an ALBUM, meaning it’s not a group of songs that you can easily separate like many others. This is the kind of album where you have to play the whole thing all the way through time in and time again to really get what Cudi was trying to convey. It’s not a record that you can just play a few times and be done with, no, it’s a grower. There were a lot of songs on this record that I did not like at first, but after having some time to let them marinate, they became some of my favorites and it made me truly appreciate Kid Cudi as an artist because people don’t make albums like this anymore. There’s rare artists that are this detailed with the way the songs transitions, the interludes, and how copacetic the album is in it’s entirety. This album was truly a gift and I can’t wait to see what else Cudi has left up his sleeve.

Top Favorite Songs

Another Day

Dive

Tequila Shots

Rockstar Knights

The Void

Mr. Solo Dolo III

Listen For Yourself Here!

#kid cudi #man on the moon 3 #man on the moon iii #motm3 #album review #2020 #motmiii

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ddixons-angel · 4 years ago

Text

Fated: Season 6

Summary: Gloria Rhee narrowly escapes Atlanta with her brother as the outbreak reaches the city. Luckily, they find a camp outside the city and together, they fend through encounters with the living and undead.

Starts a little before Season 1 and then follows the main storyline of the show.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Glenn Sister!OC

Warnings: major TWD spoilers, language, violence (the typical TWD stuff)

A/N: Here we are again, another Monday means another chapter! Hehe I’m not late this time, yay~~!

Chapter 5

It was just supposed to be a dry run, the plan wasn’t supposed to be set in motion until a few days later, but Michonne had come back with Heath and Jacob bearing bad news and an injured Scott. Aaron helped carry him to the infirmary where Gloria patched up his leg, she then left Denise with Jacob to look after him as Gloria went back out to find out what exactly happened on what was supposed to be a dry run.

“The walkers broke through the quarry, we had to go with the plan.” Michonne tells Maggie, Aaron, and Gloria, “Daryl went with Sasha and Abraham to lead the herd away and everything was going as planned until we heard the horn coming from home. What was that anyway?”

“A group of people somehow got inside the walls, killed a bunch of people, and I guess one of them crashed a truck into the wall making the horn go off.” Gloria tells her.

Michonne frowns at this, “dammit...”

“What about Rick and Glenn?” Maggie asks, worried.

“Rick went to get the RV to redirect the herd, he told us to come back here to figure out what was going on. I was with Glenn and Nicholas when we got to a town that was overrun. He split off with Nicholas, he had this idea that if he lit a fire, it would stop the walkers from coming here.” Michonne explains.

Gloria furrows her brows as she remembers what Rick had done before, “because that’s how we distracted the walkers at the farm...”

“I tried to go instead...” Michonne sighs, her voice full of remorse, “I wanted to... but the fire never got lit. We had to keep going, I’m sorry. He said if he got stuck, he’d find a way to send us a signal.”

“They’ll be okay, they’ll make it back, they will.” Gloria says, although she wasn’t sure if she was trying to reassure Maggie or convince herself.

Maggie tearfully nods, worried for her husband’s safety. Just then, a familiar voice could be heard from outside the gates, calling out to whoever could hear him.

“Open the gates!”

Gloria and Michonne rush over to the main gates and push them open, revealing Rick with a large herd of walkers following him. Once they let Rick inside, they hurriedly shut the gates in time to keep the walkers out. The commotion from the walkers snarling and Rick yelling had attracted attention from the other residents of Alexandria. They were trapped within the walls of their own home with an army of walkers just outside.

“Come on.” Michonne says quietly to Gloria.

The two of them shut the clothed inner gate, blocking the view of walkers trying to claw their way into the community. As most of the residents had never even stepped outside the walls before, many of them were panicking and not knowing what to say or do.

“I know, and I understand that you’re all scared because you’ve never seen or been through anything like this.” Rick starts his speech to try and boost morale for the scared people of Alexandria, “the others who aren’t back yet, will be. Glenn will be back with Nicholas.”

Rick looks over to Maggie and he nods then looks over to Gloria, “Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha, they will all come back together.”

“What exactly do you expect us to do?” Tobin asks, his face full of skepticism.

“We keep the sound to an absolute minimum, hopefully the herd will pass when it’s quiet.” Rick suggests.

“It’s going to be a graveyard...” Francine sighs, her words cause the others to worry even more.

The feeling of doubt in Rick and fear is evident between the people of Alexandria. It was clear that they all blamed Rick for bringing the herd back and for coming up with the plan to lead the herd away.

“The quarry broke through sooner than we thought it would and that entire herd of walkers would have made their way back here. But Rick stopped that from happening, instead of having the entire herd tear this place apart, we only have half of that now and that is because of Rick.” Aaron steps up in his defense.

He then closes his eyes for a moment and takes a deep breath, “the group that attacked us... I lead them back here. When I was out there with Daryl, he wanted to recruit more people but I... I wanted to scavenge a warehouse. We did what I wanted and we got caught in a trap set by those people. I left my bag behind and that’s how they found this place. I lead them straight here, that’s on me.”

It’s silent save for the groans and moans of the walkers outside the walls. Rick looks at Aaron in gratitude, he knew that he was trying to turn the mood to blame him for things that have happened instead. He pats the other man’s shoulder and nods at him. The crowd begins to disperse, keeping quiet as they all retreat back to their own homes.

“Gloria,” she hears Jacob call out to her as he walks towards her, “listen, I’m sorry about Glenn, I wanted to go with them but they wouldn’t have me.”

“Are you wondering why?” Gloria raises her eyebrow.

He sighs and shakes his head, “no, no I’m not... I am wondering though... why are there bodies inside the walls, did roamers get in?”

“No, people did,” Gloria tells him, “they got in here somehow and started slaughtering people...”

“What? Are Mindy and Gena okay?” he asks, frantically.

“They’re fine, at least they should be. I told them to stay inside, keep the doors locked until someone comes to get them,” Gloria tells him, “we should go check on them, let Mindy know you’re okay before she passes out.”

Jacob nods at that and the two make their way to Gena’s house. Gloria makes sure to knock on the door and call out to Gena to let her know it’s them. Shortly after, the door opens and Jacob rushes inside to make sure his sister is alright. Gloria walks into the house and closes the door behind her.

Mindy frowns as she sees the cuts and scrapes on his face, “Gloria, are the dangerous men outside gone?”

“Yeah, they’re gone.” Gloria nods.

“Okay, we’re going to the infirmary,” Mindy says, looking at Jacob, “the last thing we want is for the cuts on your face to get infected, and I’m not taking no for an answer.”

Jacob sighs and nods, complying with his sister’s words. They make their way to the infirmary, leaving Gena and Gloria alone.

“Gena,” Gloria calls out to her older sister to catch her attention, “Michonne said that Glenn’s still out there with Nicholas in some town, he wanted to light a fire to distract the herd from coming here.” Gloria says, her jaw tight as she tries to hold herself together.

Gena furrows her brow at her words as she sees right through Gloria, knowing she’s putting up a strong front, she pulls her in for a comforting hug, “Glenn will be fine, and Daryl will be too.”

Gloria smiles tearfully at her as she pulls back from the hug, nodding, “and so will we, we’ll keep this place up so they have a home to come back to.”

Gena nods then opens the container of cookies on the island counter, “cookie?” she asks, offering one to the younger.

“I thought you said you weren’t going to eat them because of all the sugar,” Gloria chuckles as she takes a cookie for herself.

“I might not have long left so I might as well have all the sugar I want.” Gena says, then takes a bite of her cookie, her words make Gloria frown.

“Don’t talk like that,” she scolds then groans when Gena shrugs, “you are so contradictory. One minute you’re telling me that things will be okay, the next you’re talking about not having any time left. What the hell do you actually think?!”

“I think that I’m not gonna make it!” Gena snaps, “I’m surprised I even made it this far. You can fight, Glenn’s fast, of course both of you are gonna make it, but me? I can only fight with my words, that’s why I became a lawyer but what good is that gonna do for me now? What, am I going to just yell at the undead to stop coming at me?!”

Gloria puts down the cookie on the island counter and holds Gena by her shoulders, “look at me. You will make it, okay? It doesn’t matter that you can’t fight or you’re not as fast as Glenn, you’ll make it because we will all make it. You’re not alone in this, we got your back. You said I can fight, right? I’ll protect you.”

Gena chuckles softly at her words, “who’s supposed to be the older sister?”

“It doesn’t matter who’s older or younger, we’re family, and family protect each other no matter what.” Gloria says with a warm smile.

Gena’s eyes well up with tears and she caresses Gloria’s cheeks, breaking into a sob, “what did I do to you? You always had to fend for yourself... I’m so sorry...”

“It’s okay,” Gloria says, pulling Gena in for a hug as the older cries in her arms, “if it weren’t for you, I probably wouldn’t have lasted this long anyway.”

As Gena tries to stifle her sobs, Gloria’s eyes land on a photo album on the island counter near the container of cookies. She reaches out to slide it towards her and opens it, her movement making Gena pull away from the hug to see what Gloria was doing. She flips to a page in the album with childhood photos of the three siblings. She chuckles when she sees the three of them as children.

“You brought photo albums with you?” Gloria teases.

“Of course, I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to see my baby brother and sister again so the least I had were these.” Gena admits, looking at the photos.

A sad smile pulls at Gloria’s lips then Gena clears her throat, trying not to break down and cry again. She flips to a specific page in the album and points to a photo.

“That’s my favorite picture of us.” Gena informs her.

It was a photo of them all in formal clothing. Glenn was in a black suit, Gloria in a dark blue dress, and Gena in a red dress. The photo was taken at one of their cousin’s weddings.

“It’s my favorite because we all look so grown up and happy. I’m also pretty sure it’s the only photo of us all smiling.” Gena explains.

Gloria laughs and nods, “yeah, if you look at all of these it’s either me pouting and crying or Glenn making a weird face at the camera.”

The sisters go through more photo albums for hours, reminiscing over past events captured in the photos. After Mindy and Jacob had returned to the house, Gloria went back to her own to rest as it was getting quite late. She had tried to sleep but no matter how exhausted her body felt, her mind was not allowing her to fall asleep. She’d been tossing and turning in her bed for hours when she decided to get up. Gloria walks into the kitchen and pours herself a glass of water before sitting on a stool at the kitchen island counter. She places the glass in front of her as she props her elbows up on the counter, clasping her hands together to keep herself from fidgeting anxiously.

Gloria couldn’t help but be worried about Glenn and Daryl, no matter what anyone else told her. It was the fact that she had no idea where they were that worried her the most. A big part of her wished that she went against Daryl’s wishes and gone out with them, at least then she would be with either of them and know what the heck was going on. Now, she was just sitting in the kitchen helplessly, not knowing what else to do. The door opening pulls Gloria out of her thoughts and she forces a smile at Maggie who walks into the house.

“Hey, why aren’t you sleeping?” Maggie asks, stepping towards her, a worried look on her face.

“I don’t think any of us are gonna get any sleep tonight,” Gloria chuckles softly and then she sighs, “how are you holding up?”

“Not great,” Maggie tells her honestly, joining her on one of the other stools at the kitchen island counter, “I almost went out there to find him.”

“Alone?” Gloria furrows her brow in concern.

“I was about to, but Aaron insisted on coming with me,” Maggie tells her, “showed me a way out from the sewers, we were almost out, but I changed my mind...”

“It’s good that you did, Glenn wouldn’t want you out there, not in the middle of this,” Gloria says, holding her hand in reassurance.

Maggie lets out a shaky breath, “I’m pregnant.”

Gloria’s eyes widen at the news then she smiles at her, “congratulations.”

“For what?” Maggie snaps, tears brimming in her eyes, “having a baby who’s father might already be dead?”

“Maggie, you can’t think like that,” Gloria says sternly, “Glenn’s going to be back, I know he will.”

“How can you be so sure?” Maggie asks as she tries to keep herself from crying.

“It’s Glenn. He’s not going to let you go through this alone, he’ll be back and he’ll take care of you. I know him, he’s going to do everything he can to get back to you and your baby,” Gloria gives her hand a light squeeze to comfort her.

A small smile tugs at Maggie’s lips and she smiles tearfully at Gloria, nodding, “you’re right, that’s how Glenn is...”

“Yeah,” Gloria smiles in agreement, then she lets out a breath.

“Hey,” Maggie calls out, making the other look at her, “Daryl’s gonna be back too.”

Gloria nods at that, “our boys will be back, they will be.”

---

In the morning, Gloria goes out to check on the others. She mainly wanted to see if Glenn or Daryl had come back, but unfortunately they were still outside the walls. Her first stop was the infirmary to check up on Scott.

“How’s it going?” Gloria asks, she glances at Scott who’s still asleep on the patient bed.

“He had an infection and was burning up last night.” Denise informs.

Gloria looks at her and frowns, “why didn’t you come find me?”

“I know I should have, but I wanted to try first... I wanted to try and figure it out on my own in case I couldn’t find you. I couldn’t let what happened to Holly stop me from trying.” Denise says.

Her words make Gloria smile proudly and she nods, “since his heart rate is normal, I’m gonna take an educated guess that you managed to figure it out?”

“Yep, I did,” Denise grins, “I injected his wound with saline and extracted the pus from it. Once I did, his heart rate stabilized.”

Gloria pats Denise’s shoulder, “you’ve officially been promoted to a doctor.”

Denise giggles then bites her lip, blush creeping on her face, “I um...”

“Yes?” she raises an eyebrow in question.

“I... kinda kissed Tara yesterday after figuring things out.” Denise admits shyly.

“And you kept on denying that you didn’t like her.” Gloria calls her out, laughing.

Denise rolls her eyes jokingly at her teasing but laughs with her anyway. A knock on the infirmary door interrupts their chat as they both turn and see Morgan. The two women greet the man who in turn smiles at them.

“I uh... I was hoping to speak with Denise alone. I heard she was a psychiatrist before and I have uh... some issues I wanted to work out.” Morgan says sheepishly.

Gloria smiles understanding and nods, “he’s all yours, Dr. Cloyd.”

Denise beams at her new title, grinning shyly as she bids farewell to Gloria who leaves the two in the infirmary. She goes on to find Maggie who was on the platform keeping watch. She climbs up to meet her sister-in-law and stands beside her, looking out into the herd of walkers just outside the walls.

“Have you seen any signs?” Gloria asks her.

Maggie shakes her head, “no... just walkers.”

Gloria nods and sighs. They were both worried for Glenn, it wasn’t that they didn’t think he could handle himself, it was more so of the fact that he was out there with Nicholas. What if he hadn’t changed and tried to kill Glenn again, they would never know. Emotion overcomes Maggie as her eyes well up in tears, she looks down and sniffles, doing her best to stop herself from crying. Gloria looks at her sympathetically and holds her shoulder firm for reassurance.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you yesterday...” Maggie sighs deeply, “I shouldn’t have said what I said about Glenn being dead...”

“It’s okay...” Gloria pauses then chuckles, “are you gonna snap at me if I say that I blamed your hormones?”

Maggie eyes her playfully then finally breaks into a smile, “no, I’ll just push you off this ledge.”

The two of them laugh lightly as they look out into the distance. Both of their expressions change as something in the distance catches their eyes. A bundle of green balloons were floating up into the sky. It dawns on both of them that this was the sign they were waiting for, Glenn was alive and this was his signal.

“We gotta tell Rick.” Maggie says, rushing down the ladder.

“Hey, be careful.” Gloria calls out as she quickly follows her down.

“Rick! Rick!” Maggie calls out as she runs towards the sheriff, “that’s Glenn.”

He was also looking up at the sky, his eyes on the bundle of bright green balloons. Rick glances at her and nods with a small smile. His smile is short lived though as they all hear a thundering crack of wood along the wall. The watchtower begins to sway just before it leans into the wall and crashes down, taking the metal walls with it.

---

Next Chapter

Sorry for not having any Daryl in this one but it’s worth it, I swear! I’d say this is kinda like the calm before the storm? The next one gets pretty intense so look forward to that! Please let me know what you guys thought of this chapter, it was a rather emotional one in my opinion ^^

Taglist (please let me know if you’d like to be added/removed!):

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revchainsaw · 4 years ago

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Buffy: the Vampire Slayer (1997)

Season 1

Hello and Welcome back my creepy congregation! We will be taking todays service from the Big Screen into your living room for our first Personal Devotional. That's Right! We're reviewing full seasons of television series now and what better way to bring the spirit of the genre film to the idiots lantern that with the 90s Television sensation and all around love letter to the horror genre, Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

The Message

Regardless of how one may feel about Mr. Whedon we can't deny how much we love Buffy Summers and the Kids who live and die in Sunnydale! Season one of Buffy was a spin off/reboot of the earlier film and an attempt by Whedon to course correct the franchise by breathing a little charm and attention into the subject matter.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 1) focuses on Buffy Summers, a not so typical California high school student who, due to the events of the movie, has been relocated to Sunnydale High. Buffy is not just a cute, athletic, teenage girl looking to enjoy the prime of her life, though she is those things, she is also the Slayer, an anointed warrior who has been reincarnated throughout the generations to protect our vulnerable weak human world from the forces of evil; particularly Vampires. Buffy is a sort of supernatural Captain America, that is a peak human being, but instead of Nazi Science she was born with her powers.

Joining Buffy are; High School outcasts Willow and Xander (a nerd and a nice guy respectively), The ridiculously sexy librarian Rupert Giles (her mentor, guardian, high school librarian, and all around precious papa bear), Jenny Calendar (a technopagan computer teacher armed with all the mystery an ignorant 90s boomer could attribute to the internet), Angel (Spoiler: He's a Vampire, but he's a good guy. A hunky, broody, good guy vampire love interest), and her loving but entirely oblivious mother. The Scoobies as they have come to be called aid Buffy in her quest to protect Sunnydale from Dark Forces.

And Speaking of those Dark Forces, they are primarily vampires, led by the Master; an ancient vampire who resembles to some degree Nosferatu and a Bat, a look that Guillermo Del Toro would later perfect in his own series the Strain. The Master seeks to fulfill an ancient prophecy that would open the Hellmouth (a portal to hell, exactly what it sounds like) and free him in order that he and his kind should conquer the world.

The first season is fairly short consisting of the following adventures.

1. Welcome to the Hellmouth - Buffy moves to Sunnydale seeking to leave her Vampire ways behind, but the vampires just won't let her catch a break.

2. The Harvest - Vampire Shenanigans continues. Buffy learns of the Master.

3. Witch - A fellow Cheerleader is possessed by her witchy mom.

4. Teachers Pet - Buffy vs Giant Mantis

5. Never Kill a Boy on the First Date - Buffy vs the Anointed One (Not Really)

6. The Pack - Buffy vs Hyena Possessed High School Bullies

7. Angel - Buffy vs Angel but actually Darla

8. I, Robot ... you, Jane - Buffy vs Internet Demon

9. The Puppet Show - Buffy and Sid the Dummy vs Organ Harvesting Demon

10. Nightmares - Buffy has bad dreams

11. Out of Mind, Out of Sight - Buffy vs Invisible Nerd

12. Prophecy Girl - Buffy vs The Master (also Buffy Dies)

Overall the short season, while not allowing for too much world building, kept the show to a format that allowed very little filler. So although we mostly only get vampires as villains, we don't have enough time to really be bored of it. Some of the shows dynamics and cultural concerns definitely date the series but overall Season 1 of Buffy is definitely not a difficult watch, and can be enjoyed over and over again.

Let's get to the Benediction:

Best Character: Slay Girl, Slay!

As far as season one goes the titular Buffy Summers is the best character. Sarah Michelle Gellar is absolutely charismatic in the lead role and though at times she may seem selfish or reckless it makes perfect sense for the character. The character is allowed to be weak, to be selfish, and to be unlikeable. She avoids the foibles of a Luke Skywalker or a Harry Potter. She joins the ranks of primary protagonists who are not constantly outshined by their supporting cast. I believe when Buffy is sad, I believe when she throws a punch, I believe she struggles with her destiny. The only thing I don't believe is how ditsy she let's on.

Best Actor: Head's Up!

Anthony Stewart Head. Head as Giles is just fantastic. His balance of frustration with Buffy and genuinely parental concern is heartwarming and absolutely makes Giles one of the warmest father figures in television history.

Best Episode: A 'Master'ful Finale

It all builds up to Prophecy Girl and for good reason. Television shows often have mini-finale's at the end of their first seasons because the teams behind the series are not sure they will have a chance to tell more of their story. For that reason you can see just the first season of most television series and feel like you've heard the whole deal. I wish this habit was kept up in other seasons as we wouldn't still be wondering what the hell happened to Joel at the end of the Santa Clarita Diet. Buffy is no exception to this phenomenon and therefor attempted to tie up much of it's narrative in Prophecy Girl. While that often means big bads will be dispatched, I think it's a small price to pay for not winding up in a cliff hanger. Buffy and Giles just shine in this episode, Angel is given a more heroic role, Willow finally values herself as she should and Xander stops being a fucking horrible human being for once. This episode really satisfies in all areas.

Best Villain: Sweet, Sweetheart Killer

It's such a shame that Darla was killed so early on in the franchise. She is such a great presence on the screen that she overshadows all the villains that play alongside her, even the Master. I would have loved to have seen an alternate season where she offs the old coot and assumes the role of big bad much like Spike does in Season 2. Lucky for everyone that Darla is featured throughout the show in flashbacks and I hear she is even resurrected in Angel. Also, for Scott Pilgrim fans I feel like she and Envy Adams are very much sympatico. Maybe if they reboot Buffy all my dreams will come true.

I'd also like to take this time to recommend the song Angels and Darlas by Say Hi! It's pretty good.

Best Monster Design: Internet Troll!

While I can't speak for where the money in Season 1 of Buffy went, I can say that at least some decent cash was spent on both the forms of Moloch the Corruptor from the Episode "I, Robot ... You, Jane". Moloch was pretty wicked looking as a machine toward the end of the episode, he looked like a Mortal Kombat villain, but it's the green scales and ram horns the actor is sporting at the beginning of the episode that really catches the eye. In fact, I'm feeling compelled to hunt down any Moloch the Corruptor merch that may be out there on the internet. It's certainly no mystery why the demon's face is featured prominently in the theme song. It just looks great! Good job to the make up department there.

Most WTF moment: "Pack"s a Punch on Principle

While not the greatest episode in season one "the Pack" is certainly worth the watch if for no other reason than the horror is kicked up when a group of high school students under the influence of a malevolent Hyena God, decide that the School Mascot is not enough to satisfy their bloodlust turn on the principal, and yes, THEY EAT HIM. I remember being completely caught of guard the first time I saw that scene, and it kickstarted the running gag of Sunnydale high principles meeting their demise in horrific ways.

Worst Character: No More Mr. Nice Guy

When I was in college I often felt bad for Xander. The funny guy who just had no luck with women. He was sarcastic but had a big heart, and used a horny gimmick to mask his loneliness, or so I thought. But now I am older, I am wiser, I have known the touch of another human being and I have to say that Xander Harris is a really scummy fellow. I don't remember thinking so poorly and I wonder if the character develops a more nuanced view of women as the show goes on. As it stands there's barely a point in the series that Xander does not view the female cast as objects for him to enjoy or be embittered towards for one reason or another. It's not charming, it's foul. Xander Harris of season one is absolutely a terrorist attack waiting to happen, if Buffy had happened today it would be much more concerning to see someone so embittered, horny, and entitled to womens time and energy as Xander Harris. Dude is one step away from pulling an Elliot Rogers. Calm down buddy and maybe actually listen to a woman and you may find you aren't as much of a 'nice guy' as you think.

Worst Episode(s): If you're not first ...

It's a toss up on this one. Season One of Buffy is actually so short and concise that the 'Monster of the Week' episodes will have to be up for grabs as the worst episode by default, but even they are pretty watchable and don't warrant the vitriol a "worst" dub usually entails. I'd say there is not a worst episode of season one, just some episodes that aren't as good as the rest. In that vain, take your pick from "Witch", "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", or "The Puppet Show". However, I'd be doing a disservice to those episodes not to mention that each one of them takes what could just be a basic Buffy Vs (insert Villain), and does something unique and interesting with the idea. The villain of "Witch" actually turns out to be a has been cheerleader actually possessing the body of her innocent daughter to relive her glory years, The Invisible Girl is actually the victim of social cruelty, her peers disinterest in her manifesting in her condition becoming quite literal and she is picked up by the military in the end, then the Puppet show, well, it's just about the stupidest most absurd thing that could possibly happen and it's completely unafraid of that fact.

Summary:

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Season 1) is not the most groundbreaking TV, but it is absolutely evident why the show was such a phenomenon. Season 1 is particularly rewatchable. It does not demand too much investment or attention, but it will get it from you, especially on a first viewing. It's not afraid to take itself absolutely seriously or to plant it's tongue firmly in it's cheeks. It is to a degree a product of it's time, but in many other aspects feels timeless.

Overall Grade: B

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need-a-fugue · 5 years ago

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We Grow Together - Chapter 1

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x OFC

Summary: Relationships can be tough, especially when one person is a recovering-from-being-brainwashed-and-tortured former assassin and the other is an overworked mutant scientist. But hey, every couple has their struggles. Right?

Warning(s): some angst, some emotional and mental turmoil… some bad language words... much fluff

Author’s Note: It’s Christmas in July! This is the second in the Supernova Series -- an AU wherein Bucky Barnes gets the girl, and a chance at a new life after finding Steve post-Winter Soldier. -- and it all begins with their first Christmas together.

“Yeah, I know,” he hears her say, voice muffled behind the door. Then, “I know. I didn’t forget,” after a long pause. She must be on the phone, he realizes when no other voice sounds in response. He knocks lightly before letting himself in.

“I will,” she says in an exasperated tone as she turns to face him, showing him a one minute finger. “I promise.”

He sets the grocery bags down on the counter and starts to unpack them while she finishes her call.

“Yes. I love you too,” she intones with a slight laugh. “Okay. Merry Christmas.” And she hangs up the phone. “What is all this?” she says with forced cheer as she turns back to face him.

“I’m making you dinner,” he mumbles, as he twists around, looking for somewhere on the cluttered countertops to set things down. “This place is a disaster.”

She pulls up a stool at the breakfast bar, rests her chin on her hand, and watches him work. His brow furrows in either confusion or disgust, or maybe both, as he shifts piles of papers and empty cans and bottles to make room.

He looks up at her and notices a melancholy, far off look in her eyes as she follows his movements. “Who do you love?” he asks simply.

She startles a bit. “What?”

“On the phone,” he states, pulling out a garbage bag from the cabinet. “You said, I love you too.”

He starts to toss the bottles and cans into the bag. “I’m recycling those,” she says, pointing to the trash in his hands. “Don’t throw them in with the trash.”

“Recycling,” he utters under his breath. It’s still a new concept to him. Of course so is all of the plastic people use nowadays. “You shouldn’t drink this crap anyway,” he says, holding up a few empty energy drink cans. “It’s poison.”

She rolls her eyes. “You sound like Natasha.”

He ties up the now full trash bag and stops everything else to gaze at her. She looks down, has for days. The holidays can have that effect on people, he’s no stranger to it himself. But he misses her smile. “So, who do you love?” he asks again, an impish quality to his voice.

“Just a friend,” she singsongs. “No need to worry.”

“I wasn’t worried. I just thought you might be talking to your family.”

She sighs, long and drawn out. “Yep. My family.”

“Or is it just a friend?”

“Same thing, I guess,” she says before propping herself up on the stool and leaning over the bar to look at the food he’s unpacked. “What are you making me?” she asks, clearly eager to change the subject.

“Christmas dinner,” he says with a nod. He turns around to flip on the oven and begins rummaging through the cabinets of the small galley kitchen. He comes up with a couple of small pots and a large roasting pan that she honestly didn’t know were even in there. Pepper had made sure that everyone’s apartment was fully stocked before they moved in. But she’d been here for more than two years now and had never come across those items before. Of course, she didn’t often go looking for cooking utensils. What would be the point in that when there was a perfectly good cafeteria downstairs and a common area upstairs that was always stocked with food?

“Christmas is tomorrow. And I think Tony’s expecting everyone in the grand hall,” she says, referring to the small ballroom just below the penthouse where their parties were typically held.

“Well,” he says turning to face her, leaning his hip against the oven, “tonight is our Christmas.” He shoots her a sly but genuine smile and she can’t help but return the expression.

“And you can do that?” she asks, leaning so far over the bar that she’s practically crawled on top of it. She’s looking through the piles of fresh vegetables and herbs that he’s laid out on the counter beneath the bar. “You know how to cook all of this?”

He walks over and lightly slaps her hands away. “Yeah, Tess. I can cook carrots and potatoes.” He side-eyes her as he gathers the produce and takes it to the sink. “You really have no idea how to cook anything, do you?”

She shrugs. “Never really came up.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I never really had to learn.”

She never talked about her family or where she came from or how she grew up. And other than a few questions here and there – because he was genuinely curious – he never pushed. It was obvious that her past was a bit of a sore subject, and no one understood that concept better than him.

She leaves her perch and comes to stand beside him at the sink. “You wanna wash these?” he asks, handing her some carrots. She takes them and runs them under the water. “You know how to peel?” he inquires, holding a potato in front of her.

“I can probably figure it out.”

He sets her up at the sink with a vegetable peeler – which she’d never seen either, oddly enough – and moves to the opposite corner to start prepping the chicken.

“Your mom taught you how to cook?” she asks quietly.

He nods, “She did. She said that she’d feed me ‘til I was 18, then I was on my own. And since she didn’t expect that I’d find a good woman to take care of me for a long time, I’d better learn how to fend for myself.”

Tessa laughed lightly. “Sounds like she knew you well.”

Bucky smiles to himself as he thinks back, remembering his mother’s words, her coy, crooked smile as she said them. “Yeah, she did.”

“I never knew my mom,” she says so softly, he almost doesn’t hear her. “Or at least I don’t remember her.”

Bucky looks over his shoulder at her and sees that she’s still bent over her potatoes, hyperfocused on peeling them just so. She makes no move to look at him, and he’s pretty sure that’s by design. It’s almost a test – seem too eager to know more and she’ll shut down completely, say nothing at all and she might never bring up her family again. He plays this game himself sometimes, not on purpose of course, but he’s noticed himself doing it just the same. Over the last year, since being brought into the fold here, he’s become more aware of how his struggles with his past affect those around him.

“Who raised you?” he asks, turning back to the chicken. It seemed safer to ask something like his than to push her on what happened to her mother.

“My grandfather for a while. Then Scott and Alex took us in.”

“Us?” he asks. He hears the peeler hit the side of the sink as soon as he says it, and he shuts his eyes, mentally kicking himself. She was talking and now he’s gone and ruined it. Is this how people feel around me? he wonders briefly.

She’s silent for a long moment as she retrieves the peeler and rinses it off. “Me and my sister,” she says finally, the words clipped short.

He lets out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. Maybe we come back to that later, he thinks to himself before asking, “Who are Scott and Alex?”

“My brothers,” she volunteers, this information coming out a little easier. “Well, adoptive. Sort of. After my grandfather died… no one wanted us. We didn’t have any other family. And no one would adopt a mutant.” She stops for a moment and he thinks that she might be done talking altogether. He’s just about to ask something else, anything else, just to keep her going, when she starts up again. “Most mutants don’t see their powers develop until puberty. I was four when it started. My grandfather never told anyone. But… I don’t know… I was just a kid… I don’t know how people found out. But Scott found us, or we found him. We met in a children’s home outside of Chicago. He was an orphan too. And Alex.” Bucky turns around to see her, watch her as she slowly, carefully peels each potato while talking about her brothers. “Scott was 15 at the time and he was just trying to find Alex, who’d aged out of the system.” She sets the peeler down and looks up at the cabinet in front of her, clearly gazing at nothing as she recalls, “He took care of us. He became our big brother. And when Alex found him and said he was taking him away to some school in upstate New York, Scott said that we needed to go with them.” She braces herself on the counter and shakes her head at the memory. “It was more… complicated than that, of course. But eventually Alex was able to become our legal guardian – after the Professor pulled a ton of strings. And then… well, I grew up at that school.” She turns around to face him, not at all surprised to see him watching her from across the small kitchen. “Hence not knowing how to cook.”

“So it was like a boarding school?” She nods. “I always thought you’d have to be crazy to go somewhere like that. I always figured they were like the Army, like basic training, only with more books and tests.”

She laughs a bit and leans back on the counter before saying, “Sometimes, maybe.” Then, shaking her head slightly, “It was a good place. With good people.”

He considers only briefly whether or not to ask the question begging to be asked. “So why are you here then? At Christmas… why aren’t you with your family?”

She looks at him long and hard before saying in a measured tone, “Same reason you aren’t with your family. They’re all dead.”

He sees the pain in her eyes when she says it, but he can also see the resolute tilt of her chin, the firm line of her lips. She’s doing all she can to make it seem okay, to fight off the sadness. That’s a trick he knows all too well. He looks away, knowing he can’t do anything to take away her pain breaks his heart. “I’m sorry,” he says simply.

She merely nods in response. “So,” she breathes out after a moment, “am I supposed to cut these up now or something?” She indicates the peeled potatoes on the counter.

He pushes off of the counter and goes to fill a large pot with water. “Nope,” he says, placing the pot on the stove and holding his hand out for them. “Now we boil them.”

She wrinkles her nose while handing over the potatoes. “Boil them?” she asks with a face. “That sounds gross. Are you sure we aren’t supposed to fry them or something?”

He chuckles. “Don’t you know how mashed potatoes are made?”

She thinks for a moment, making a totally new, completely adorable face. “From a box?”

“You’ve got a lot to learn, doll,” he laughs, shaking his head.

She scoots a bit closer to him and leans her head on his shoulder. “So you boil them and then you mash them?”

“Basically. Add butter and cream,” he replies, leaning his head onto hers.

“We’re not boiling the chicken, are we?”

He smiles wide. “No room in the pot.”

She steps back suddenly, cocking her head at him in an assessing way. “This isn’t my Christmas present, is it? A sarcastic cooking lesson?”

“You were expecting a present?” he asks, unable to hide the coy smirk on his face.

She rolls her eyes at him rather dramatically and he steps away from the stove to stand directly in front of her. His hands fall to her hips as he presses his forehead into hers. “Presents are for later,” he says softly. “It isn’t Christmas yet, remember?” He pulls back a bit and places a kiss on her crown. “And I’m not giving you a lesson. I’m making dinner.” He gives her a little shove with his left hand as he turns her toward the kitchen doorway. “You are going to take a bath,” he says, all but forcing her out of the room.

“Why? Do I stink?” she tosses over her shoulder with a wink.

“I don’t trust you in here. Go relax.”

She leans back over the breakfast bar on her way to the bathroom and says, “It’s been a long day. You might want to check on me to make sure I don’t fall asleep in there.”

He glances back at her and notices just how tired she looks. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he says before throwing his chin in the direction of the bathroom in a shooing manner.

000

An hour later, she’s back in the kitchen, this time cutting up apples for a pie. “Can’t you buy this stuff in a can?” she asks before letting out a long drawn-out yawn.

“That’s disgusting.” He absently scoots a little closer to her, unconsciously drawn to the clean honeysuckle scent clinging to her damp hair. “I don’t ever want to hear you say that again.”

She snorts out a laugh. “Just because it’s harder doesn’t mean it’s better. I’ve eaten ready-made pie filling before. And it was delicious.”

He stops pressing the dough into the pan and turns to face her, a look of utter horror on his face. “You ate pie filling?” he asks. She nods without glancing up. “As in, just the filling?”

“It was college. I was poor. Those cans were cheap.” She tosses the last pieces of apple into the bowl between and them and cocks her head in his direction. “I had a can opener. I had a spoon. And I have to tell you, that shit is de-licious.”

He shakes his head as though he might be able to fling the thought of her eating that crap out of a can like a deranged homeless person right out of his head. “We’re never speaking of this again.”

They work in silence as she tosses the apples with the melted butter and sugar he set out and he checks the potatoes. It’s nice. He can’t remember the last time he cooked a big meal like this. And while he and Steve sometimes have to dodge each other in their kitchen while putting together meals, he hasn’t really cooked with anyone in a long, long time. Actually, this whole evening reminds him of cooking with his sister. Being so much younger, she was always at a bit of a loss for what to do. Like Tessa, she turned her nose up at raw chicken, couldn’t fathom how myriad ingredients came together to make food, and spent a good deal of time pilfering anything mixed with sugar.

“If you keep eating them, there won’t be anything to fill the pie with,” he says softly, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

She holds her hands up in mock surrender and takes a step back from the counter. He hears the apple crunch in her full mouth and can’t help but snicker as she attempts to choke down the evidence. “I’m hungry,” she whines then. “I can smell the food, but I can’t eat the food. It’s terrible.”

He dumps the apples into the pie pan before she can go back for more, sets the pie aside and washes his hands. “It’s almost ready,” he says, reaching for her. “You’re being very patient.”

She snuggles into his chest as his arms wrap around her. “Thank you for noticing,” she says with a smirk.

It’s actually more than hour before they can eat, but that isn’t entirely his fault. Yeah, the chicken took a little longer than he thought, but she’s the one who got a call and ducked out for “just a second” to check on something happening in the lab.

“Helluva second,” he says to her as she stomps back into the apartment almost an hour late. He has the table set and is sitting there with a beer in his hand and a smug smile on his face.

“I’m starving,” she drawls out, dragging herself dramatically over to the table.

“Why is anyone even up there?” he asks, referring to the research lab upstairs. “It’s Christmas Eve.”

She slumps into the seat across from him, rests her elbows on the table and drops her head into her hands. “It’s Stark Industries. Places like this are built on people who work holidays. Well, people who work all days, really. Every. Single. Day.”

“I remember having Christmas dinner with Howard,” he says, a far-off look gleaming in his eye for just a moment as he grasps at the old memory. “I think.” The memory is fuzzy, like so many others. But he’s sure that Howard was there, sure that he bought in turkey and roast potatoes and red wine – damn the rationing. He’s sure that he stood and gave a speech that lasted at least 10 minutes, even if he can’t recall a word that was said.

“Are these my plates?” she asks, pulling him from his reverie.

He looks up to find her examining the china closely, confused look on her face. He reaches over and plucks the plate from her hands. “They were in the top cupboard,” he says. “You’re probably too short to ever been able to find them.” He picks up his dish too and goes into the kitchen to prepare their plates. When she makes a move to get up to follow him, he turns and throws up his left hand in a stop gesture, waggling his index finger as a directive for her to sit back down.

“I’m not short,” she mumbles, resuming her head-in-hands position at the table. “I’m above average height for a woman.”

“Well then maybe you were too busy eating out of cans like a hobo to notice that you had fine china,” he intones from the kitchen.

“No one says hobo anymore.” She’s raises her head to look at the table in front of her, see if the silverware is at least the same that she normally uses. It is. The wine glass in front of her is a utensil she is more than familiar with. She perks up a bit, noticing the light liquid inside. “What’s this?” she asks, picking up the glass and taking a large inhale. Oaky. And… peachy?

“I don’t know,” he replies, returning and setting a full plate in front of her. “But the lady at the store said it was good.”

“It is,” she declares, as the just-dry-enough chardonnay slips down her throat.

The corner of Bucky’s mouth turns up in a small, crooked smile as he takes his seat across from her. “Good.” He looks over at her and watches her eyes close as she takes another sip. He can tell that she’s enjoying the wine, and he’s pleased about that, but he can also see the exhaustion on her face, the dark circles under her eyes, the puffiness of her lids. “Eat,” he directs, more than a little upset with himself for telling her it was fine to go check in at the lab.

She sets down her wine glass and picks up her fork with an excited, almost beaming expression on her face. They eat in silence for several minutes, Bucky eating like a normal person and Tessa shoveling mashed potatoes into her mouth like a starving toddler.

“You’re gonna choke,” he says finally, laughing.

Her mouth is full when she replies. “No.” Then, following the massive gulp, “I didn’t know this was what mashed potatoes were,” she says with a big, dumb smile. “And the chicken too…” He looks down as the food in front of him, averting his eyes as an unwelcome blush takes over his face. “It’s soooo good.”

“It’s really not that hard,” he says, shyly shuffling the vegetables on his plate with his fork.

He feels the top of her bare foot slowly creep up his leg as she says, “I’ve never had a guy make dinner for me before.”

“Really?” he asks incredulously. Her foot continues to slowly stroke his calf, which only adds to the redness in his cheeks.

“Well, Steve made me pizza once. And chicken soup. Oh and we experimented with sushi one night,” she recalls, waving her fork in the air. “But I guess that doesn’t really count.”

He looks up at her pointedly. “It better not.”

“Does that mean that pizza and sushi don’t count as dinner or that Steve doesn’t count as a guy?”

“Yes,” he says simply, feeling his cheeks cool as the sound of her laughter fills his ears.

Her foot has made the move from his calf to his inner thigh, and while the blush of embarrassment may no longer be on him, another awkward-for-dinner-time feeling is starting to take over. “You have no idea,” she starts in a low, seductive voice, “how much I’m looking forward to filling my mouth,” she continues, leaning forward, her toes creeping along the inseam of his pants, “with that apple pie.”

Her foot drops suddenly as she leans back in her chair, popping another bite of chicken into her mouth with a smug, satisfied smirk. He rolls his eyes as a deep chuckle emits from his chest. “You are…”

“Amazing?” she tries, mouth still full. He shakes his head and purses his lips like he’s trying to come up with the right word. “Perfect?” she asks with a swallow.

“Definitely not.”

“Beautiful?”

“Not quite what I was thinking.”

She sighs long and deep. “Brilliant? Sexy? Smart? Loyal? Coquettish?”

“I don’t even know what that means.”

“Honestly, I just keep coming back to amazing,” she says with a shake of the head.

He gazes at her from across the table, crooked smile slowly widening as she takes another bite and lets out a tiny blissful moan. “I was going to say a real jerk. But I like amazing,” he says with a nod. “It fits.”

“Yeah, it does,” she says with a smirk.

They finish the meal without words, just enjoying the food and enjoying knowing that the other is sitting right across the table. As soon as Bucky leans back in his chair, plate clean in front of him, Tessa gets up to collect the dishes. His hand comes up and takes hold of her wrist when she reaches in front of him. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I don’t mind,” she says, flipping her hair over her shoulder and easily slipping his grasp. “Need another beer?” she asks, grabbing the empty bottle along with the plate. He nods happily and settles back in his chair.

His gaze drifts towards the window as she heads into the kitchen. “It’s snowing,” he says, almost to himself. He hears the clatter of dishes hitting the sink and cringes. “You okay in there?”

She appears suddenly around the corner, beer in hand, bright smile on her face. “It isn’t Christmas without snow,” she says, completely ignoring his question. She offers him the bottle and he grabs her wrist instead and pulls her into his lap.

“So what was Christmas like at mutant military school?” he asks as she settles herself in.

“I don’t know,” she shrugs. “Quiet. Quieter anyway. A lot of the kids would go home for the holidays.” She takes a quick swig of his beer and lays her head on his shoulder. “I don’t know,” she repeats before going silent.

He brings up his right hand up to her head and runs his fingers through her hair. “I remember snowball fights,” he says. “And my mom yelling at me about catching pneumonia after coming home with wet mittens.” He chuckles a bit at the memory, but feels a surge of sadness at the same time. Because it’s one of just a handful of memories he still has of his mother, and of his childhood in general.

“Will you cook me Christmas dinner every year?” she asks softly.

He can hear the hesitation in her voice and it makes his chest constrict a bit. They don’t talk about the future. He’s still not entirely sure that someone like him can even really have a future. And sometimes he thinks she feels the same way about herself. But there’s not a doubt in his mind that if he gets a real chance at a future at all, she’ll be in it. “Every year,” he says, placing a gentle kiss on her head.

She turns in his lap to face him. “We could go have a snowball fight, if you want,” she says with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “Work up an appetite for pie?”

He laughs heartily and she takes that as a yes, jumping up from his lap and running into the bedroom to find her boots. “It just started snowing,” he calls after her.

“I don’t care,” she yells back. Then, stumbling out of the bedroom as she struggles to get her boots on, “We can just take a walk until it builds up.”

He stands up and moves over to her, wraps his arms around her middle and pulls her in close. She hugs him tightly back, burying her face in his neck. He breathes in the honeysuckle scent of her shampoo, feels her fingertips grasp his shoulder. “I love you,” he says into her hair.

Without missing a beat, without even acknowledging that this was something new, something neither of them had ever said before, she grips him a little tighter and utters in return, “I love you too.”

#bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky x oc #x-men fanfiction #bucky barnes imagine #marvel fanfic #marvelau #x-men au #bucky barnes au #bucky barnes series #bucky barnes x original #Bucky x original female character

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blackswaneuroparedux · 5 years ago

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Anonymous asked: I always think of you as Kristin Scott Thomas’ character Fiona in Four Weddings and a Funeral as a beautiful woman who is scarily clever and classy. So with my upcoming wedding (next year!) and especially wedding music I thought of you. I really would appreciate your advice on Mendelssohn or Wagner as they seem to be the traditional choices of music to play at a traditional church wedding. My fiancé isn’t bothered what music we play but I can’t decide. Please do help as I value your unvarnished truth.

Thank you for the flattering words which while well intentioned are nevertheless entirely misplaced.

Swiftly moving on, a sincere congratulations on your forthcoming wedding. I can only imagine how stressful it must be running around like a headless chicken trying to desperately organise everything. And desperate you certainly must be - perhaps even certifiably insane - if you’re turning to me on Tumblr for advice!

I’m not married....yet ( oops! better get that caveat in before I am chastised by those who really know me) but I am a wedding veteran - some would even say, a jaded one (thank you, mummy).

Every season there is a string of wedding invitations that I can’t turn down and I feel obligated to attend. While great fun, one wedding starts to blur into another especially when the champagne starts to copiously flow. I have my own thoughts on the good, the bad, and the tacky about wedding etiquette but I don’t want to disappear down that rabbit hole. Instead let’s talk about Mendelssohn and Wagner.

Both music pieces have traditionally struck a chord (pardon the pun) and have become a staple of traditional weddings since time immemorial.

Mendelssohn's ‘Wedding March’ was originally composed in 1842. He got there first.

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Wagner's ‘Bridal Chorus’ came later in 1848. The ‘Bridal Chorus’ became a popularised piece to play at weddings around Europe after it was most memorably used as the processional at the wedding of Victoria, the Princess Royal to Prince Frederick William of Prussia in 1858. Nowadays - certainly in Britain and the US - it is generally known as "Here Comes the Bride”.

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I suppose the straight forward answer is that it doesn’t have to be Wagner vs. Mendelssohn. Why not both? Wagner’s ‘Bridal Chorus’ can be used for the entrance processional of the bride walking down the aisle and the Mendelssohn ‘Wedding March’ for the recessional walk out of the church.

But you did say you wanted my ‘unvarnished truth’ so allow me the small luxury of an arm chair rant from the Coronavirus self-isolation of my Paris apartment.

Of the two I would definitely ditch the Wagner piece. Please don’t misunderstood me. I am a huge fan of Wagner’s music - like any true Wagnerian I have taken more than one pilgrimage to Beyreuth - but in this case playing Wagner’s music would show a frightful ignorance of the meaning behind the ‘Bridal Chorus’ piece.

I don’t know why more people haven’t picked up on this but I’ve always found it a terribly odd piece to play at a wedding especially as it originates from Wagner’s masterful opera, Lohengrin.

Wagner came upon the opera's inspiration around 1845 when he took interest in the legend of the Holy Grail through the poems of Wolfram von Eschenbach and the anonymous epic of Lohengrin. Composed by 1848, Lohengrin features "Bridal Chorus" as the prelude to a very short-lived, doomed marriage between Elsa and Lohengrin.

The famous ‘Bridal Chorus’ is lustily sung by women of the bridal party serenading Elsa to the bridal suite after the wedding in Act III. Elsa is not allowed to know her true knight’s true name and identity. But this is a romantic German opera and so of course Lohengrin is found out with dire consequences for all. A sad Lohengrin ends up revealing that he is in fact a knight of the Grail and son of King Parsifal, sent to protect an unjustly accused woman. The laws of the Holy Grail say that Knights of the Grail must remain anonymous. If their identity is revealed, they must return home. Lohengrin is lead back to the castle of the Holy Grail. Elsa is grief stricken at being left behind. Poor Elsa (naturally) collapses and dies with a broken heart.

Charming.

To say it’s not the happiest of allusions of looking forward to a long life of wedded bliss would be an understatement.

However my objections against Wagner’s ‘Bridal Chorus’ goes beyond this. For one thing I find it rather too sombre - Oh dear God! Is marriage really like this?!

My main ire is that it overly used and therefore boring to listen to. And when one is bored the mind wanders.

In my case, without sounding malicious, my mind just drifts to whispering mischievous lyrics under my breath that go like, “here comes the bride, big fat and wide, here comes the groom, skinny as a broom.” Try as I might I can never get those words out of my silly mind whenever I hear the organ music playing “Here come’s the bride.” Not my finest hour.

Now Mendelssohn’s ‘Wedding March’ is different beast entirely. Beast being the operative word as we are dealing with Pagan deities.

Typically used in church wedding recessionals, the ‘Wedding March’ piece has sparked controversy due to its literary origins. The Prussian monarch Friedrich Wilhelm IV commissioned Mendelssohn to compose incidental music for many pieces that were based upon Greek mythology and tragedy in order to revive the genre of literature and performance. Among his commissions, in 1843 Mendelssohn composed a setting for William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream; the setting comprises twelve musical numbers and a finale. The plot of Shakespeare's play focuses on a pagan god and goddess and is filled with fairies, magic, and fantasy. Due to the piece's pagan, fantastic inspirations, some puritanical leaders and musicians - particularly in Roman Catholic churches - have found the piece to be inappropriate for a Christian religious ceremony. In its defence at least Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream was a comedy with a happy ending.

If you’re feeling traditional rather than puritanical then the joyous Mendelssohn ‘Wedding March’ might still be a great option either as a processional or recessional.

If you’re looking for options outside of either Wagner and Mendelssohn then it’s really a matter of exercising good taste alongside what suits the personal tone of your wedding.

Off the top of my head I keep coming back to Johann Sebastian Bach.

Bach’s many cantatas and fugues seem to tick all the boxes. In particular there is Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (derived from the cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, "Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life”). There is also the Toccata and Fugue in D minor ‘Dorian’ BWV 538 and the Toccata and Fugue in F Major, BWV 540. Arioso in A flat for solo piano from Cantata No. 156 "Ich steh`mit einem Fuss im Grabe is softly elegant. A particular favourite piece of mine is Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten, BWV 202, the ‘Wedding Cantata’. Of course many would point out that Bach’s Ave Maria would be perfect for a processional but I would think twice about that. As beautiful as the piece is it is about the Virgin Mary after all and you may invite unwanted speculation from your guests if you are (cough) chaste.

Trumpet Tune in D by Jeremiah Clarke is a little more festive. Or consider his more famous Trumpet Voluntary ‘The Prince of Denmark's March’.

Charles-Marie Widor was a fine composer and his Toccata (from Symphony for Organ No. 5) is spiritually intense for traditional organ music.

Eugène Gigout's famous Grand Chœur Dialogué might appeal to you as well.

G.F. Handel’s Water Music Suite - Air has a graceful and calming tone. The Arrival of The Queen of Sheba (Solomon) HWV 67 is upbeat and was made for a processional.

Beethoven’s Für Elise is perfect to calm last minute panic attacks before you go up the aisle.

And how can one forget Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?

The Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major, K. 525 or more commonly known as Eine kleine Nachtmusik KV. 525 - II. Romanze: Andante is a beautiful melody familiar to many and sets a soothing tone. Ave verum corpus, K.618 is profoundly spiritual and lifts your hearts up to the angels. ‘Alleluia’ from ‘Exsultate, jubilate’ is wonderful if you can get your hands on a competent soprano. If you are feeling more adventurous then the Spanish Wedding March from The Marriage of Figaro which might be to your taste.

Elgar’s Salut d'Amour, Op. 12 is soft, inviting and makes one feel you’re in some 19th Century romance novel set at court.

Elgar finished the piece in July 1888, when he was romantically involved with Caroline Alice Roberts, and he called it Liebesgruss ('Love's Greeting') because of Miss Roberts' fluency in German. When he returned home to London on 22 September from a holiday at the house of his friend Dr. Charles Buck, in Settle, he presented it to her as an engagement present. The dedication was in French: à Carice. 'Carice' was a combination of his wife's names Caroline Alice, and was the name to be given to their daughter born two years later.

Edvard Grieg’s Wedding Day at Troldhauen, Op. 65, no. 6 is magnificently playful.

Jean-Joseph Mouret’s Rondeau from Sinfonie de Fanfares is a beautiful Baroque piece. What’s a wedding without trumpets that could be heard all the way into the heavens?

Gluck’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits from his Orfeo et Euridice can be an elegant choice to do a recessional. Perfect for sensitive souls.

Gabriel Fauré’s Pavane, Op. 50 is sublime. I can never get tired of listening to it. Would make a worthy piece as a processional.

I would also throw into the mix Gaetano Donizetti’s ‘Una furtiva lagrima’ (A furtive tear) is the romanza from Act II of his delightful opera L'elisir d'amore.

It is sung by Nemorino (a tenor) when it appears that the love potion he bought to win the heart of his dream lady, Adina, works. Nemorino is in love with Adina, but she is not interested in a relationship with an innocent, rustic man. To win her heart, Nemorino buys a love potion with all the money he has in his pocket. That love potion is actually a cheap red wine sold by a traveling quack doctor, but when he sees Adina weeping, he knows that she has fallen in love with him, and he is sure that the "elixir" has worked. It may not fit your idea of a processional but I would try and use it some where in your wedding - perhaps at the reception.

I feel guilty about trashing on Wagner and Mendelssohn so I will leave you with two final thoughts. Reconsider Wagner’s opera Lohengrin. Forget the Bridal Chorus but instead listen to the chorus ‘Gesegnet soll sie schreiten’ in Act II. The various horns give this chorus a dreamlike quality and you feel like you are floating on air. Mendelssohn’s On Wings of Song is a powerful and poignant piano piece and quite suitable to play as your guests away your arrival in church.

I am sure there are other great classical music pieces that I have neglected to mention but others reading this might give their thoughts in the comments below.

If knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, then wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. So give careful and considered thought to what music you throw together into the mix as your church wedding processional and recessional.

Congratulations again and I hope it’s a special day for both of you and your families and friends.

Thanks for your question.

#question #wedding #music #wedding music #classical #tradition #church wedding #processional #recessional #personal #bio

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halorocks1214 · 5 years ago

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the law of equivalent exchange

AO3 Link

Word Count: 4182

Just like all my other plot bunnies, this got three times longer than I estimated. Whoopsies. At least I’m fairly proud of this. Another title for this fic could be ‘something that I would love to see happen in the finale but know it won’t so I’ll just write it myself instead.’ I was probably going to write this fic regardless, but @gumnut-logic‘s #FabFiveFeb just gave me one heck of a push to do so sooner than later. Hope you enjoy!

Warnings for The Hood being the creep he is and no-no words. There’s one F-bomb because I can’t seem to not have at least one.

“No! You can’t!”

Alan should probably be focusing on whatever the heck John was yelling at Scott for over the comms (let’s face it, Scooter, you haven’t been making the rashest decisions as of late), but he barely heard his older brother to begin with. With the blood rushing to his ears and his heart reverberating ten times faster than healthy throughout his entire body, all Alan could really focus on was trying not to pass out.

When his body decided to properly function, he tried reaching to turn his comms on as quickly as possible, but the figure he was praying to God to be a hallucination started talking, freezing Alan’s movements completely.

“Now then, Alan, let’s not be rash. I just want to talk. Is that so bad?”

Hand hovering over the button, Alan gulped down any fear he was wearing on his face to glare at The Hood directly in his eyes. If this was the stupid way he was going to go out, then he won’t be going out like a coward.

Against all of his training and judgment, Alan took his hand away from his comm and brought them calmly down to his sides. His whole stance was taut, and he at least hoped he looked more threatening than a lion cub play fighting with its siblings, “I don’t know, I would say it is considering who you are.”

The Hood chuckled, turning Alan’s stomach inside out. Alan just couldn’t understand this man. Ever. The way he slyly grinned as if he were some suave bachelor and not a creepy murderer. Alan tried desperately to cool the nausea in the pit of his gut as his family’s sworn enemy continued to speak, “As an honorable man even I have to admit defeat from time to time. You Tracys beat me fair and square, and the only way I caught up involved cheating. I was surprised I could sneak onto the ship as I did. Very well, Jeff Tracy is yours once again.”

Wait, what?

Alan blinked in shock before his brain caught up to him, making him bring back his glare, “There’s a catch here.”

The Hood raised his eyebrows at the way the boy spoke his words. It was not a question, no, the youngest Tracy stated them as if it were a matter of fact. The Hood’s smile grew wide, “You’re always quick on the uptake, Alan. Even if I lost this race, I did come out all this way. I can’t leave with nothing, not after all the time and effort I gave up. Surely, you understand that?”

Chills fled down Alan’s spine at the speed of the Zero-X. The gleam in The Hood’s eyes slowly morphed into hunger, like a starving lion about to make a move on an ill and weak zebra. Alan was pretty damn sure he wasn’t weak nor ill, and he didn’t feel like growing black and white stripes at the moment.

The Hood stood to his full height, “Have you ever heard of the saying “An Eye for an Eye”?”

Alan’s glare dropped off his face and went right back to the wide-eyed fear he had at the start, making him look a few years younger than he was. Screw looking fierce, he needed help. He needed his brothers.

Once again, he reached to get to his comms. Even if it were only one word, one second, one yelp of pain or fear, his brothers would realize something was wrong and come running. He hated it, occasionally, how he would always be seen as the baby, but if it meant getting home and away from this freak, then Alan was willing to be swaddled and rocked to sleep as much as his older brothers wanted.

However, that familiar cold voice spoke out once again, somehow stopping time itself in the process.

“Ah ah ah, Tracy, I thought I told you to be careful with that thing.”

Alan was breathing heavy, minute trembles beginning to show, “G-Give me one good reason I shouldn’t, you m-monster.”

The Hood’s grin turned playful as if what Alan wasn’t getting was supposed to be obvious, “Have you been listening to your brothers’ predicament at all?”

What did that mean?! Shaking his head, Alan, much to his displeasure, started to completely ignore The Hood so he could turn up his comms to listen. Crap, he forgot about why they were even out here! Why haven’t they finished the mission? Why haven’t they been able to find Dad? From the way The Hood was talking, Alan figured the older man was going to let the teenager writhe in agony as he listened to whatever he’d been missing.

Suddenly, a new, semi-unfamiliar voice boomed through Scott’s side of the comms.

“--head that way. If Johnny’s calculations are correct, it should be the path of least resistance.”

That was followed by a louder Scott responding with, “Yes, Father.”

Continued and ended with Virgil stating, “Lead the way, Dad.”

Alan blinked a few times again, the hand he was holding up over the comms suddenly very heavy and stuck in place. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t find it in himself to contact his brothers for help. That was-- it was--

The Hood gleamed with anticipation at the recognition in Alan’s eyes, “If I can’t leave with anything, no one is. I’m positive you don’t want to be the one to ruin this for the rest of your family, do you?”

Ask Alan and he could very easily explain to you that his life could be broken into two parts. The parts had very simple descriptors too: With Dad and Without.

The Zero-X went up in flames before Alan was even ten-years-old, leaving a broken family and a confused child. A child that reacted like any other kid to losing a parent so young. He was sad and scared and for a while he just wanted his Dad to come back, even though his little mind knew it wasn’t possible.

But as the years went on, Alan got used to growing up without his dad in his life. Of course, the blonde missed him, and of course, he would do anything to get him back, but the sad fact of life was that Alan didn’t grow up with Jeff.

He grew up with his four older brothers and his grandma and Kayo and Brains and even Penny and Parker--

You catch what he was saying?

They tried to fill in the gap of a missing father with their own stab at being mock parents for the youngest Tracy. Alan suspected later in life that they did it in an attempt to fill their own gaps and heartbreak.

He would later start to think they failed at that latter objective as well.

That’s where the second part of his life came in to view. His brothers had many, many more years with their dad that they had to realize they would never have again. Scott was trained by Jeff with tips and tricks that nobody else in the Air Force knew. Jeff personally recommended John to the best of the best at NASA. Jeff took Virgil to meet one of the best mechanics in the world at the age of 12. Jeff was at every single one of Gordon’s swim meets to cheer him on.

Alan remembered being tucked into bed and pictures being hung up on the fridge and gold stars for eating his vegetables, and he was going to love getting that back, but he remembered Scott giving him piggybacks even more. John proofreading his papers even more. Virgil letting him sit on the piano bench while the older brother practiced more. Gordon teaching him how to dive into the deep end even more.

He also remembered Scott hiding a bottle of “adult juice” from Alan’s wandering eyes more than once, too many grey hairs for someone in their mid-twenties. He remembered how John was gone more and more, flinching at more and more hugs, only to be swallowed whole by the endless void that is space and Thunderbird 5, barely even being planetside for more than a fourth of the year.

Alan remembered how Virgil got quieter and quieter. Alan remembered the tap shoes, the musical scripts: they were currently collecting dust in the back of a random closet, shoved behind weight lifting gear and medical textbooks instead. And Gordon, his immediate older brother, his partner in crime... Alan wasn’t stupid. He knew Gordon dropped out of college and even the Olympics (after getting a freaking gold medal too!) to join WASP where he was nearly put in a goddamn chair.

Alan has been slowly watching his family barely try to hold it together, and it all started with dark laughter and a ball of fire over the ocean.

His brothers needed their father back, and no doubt Jeff wanted his sons back. Alan would hope he would want all of them too, but...

... After everything his brothers (and even Kayo and Brains and Grandma) have given up, surely Alan could give back, even if it’s just this one thing? Besides, Alan would hate himself forever if he was the reason they couldn’t complete their mission. He tends to feel that way on a failed missions anyway.

Yeah, right, the mission objective: get Dad back. Think of the mission, think of the mission. If that mantra was the only thing that was going to keep him convinced he was doing the right thing, then only he and The Hood would know.

Alan’s voice was breathy. It felt like if he spoke too loud the blood in his ears would make one final rush to try and bring him to la-la land, “... Do you promise?”

The Hood blinked and raised one eyebrow in a motion that spoke, ‘What did you just say? I wasn’t listening that hard in the first place.’

Alan’s trembling was more than minute, yet he forced his voice to be firm and steady this time. His glare was back to being fierce, and the fire in his eyes was redder than his ‘Bird. He enunciated just about every other consonant in his words, “If I go with you, do you promise to never go after them again? Because I know there’s no point in going with you if you just keep chasing them.”

The Hood stared blankly for a moment before his typical, creepy demeanor came back. With a few chuckles that brought physical bile up Alan’s throat, The Hood threw his arms out to his sides to make his point more clear, “Dear Alan, if you come with me there’s no point in doing so. There’s nothing I could do that could be worse.”

Jeez, way to kick a guy while he’s down. Alan flinched but continued to hold his head high, “I want your word.”

The Hood thinned his lips in disappointment. He still complied with Alan in the end, “Once you agree to come with me, I’ll take away what’s disrupting your unique vessel, leave your family alone for the rest of their lives, and then we’ll ‘get the heck out of dodge’ as you all say.”

Ew, that one was bad. He bet The Hood made it bad on purpose, the prick. Alan inhaled before exhaling the longest breath of his life, “Fine. Then you have a deal.” Like a true gentleman (Penny would be proud, right?), Alan held his hand out, initiating a handshake to seal the deal.

Then, suddenly, his watch started ringing. On the hand he was holding out. Alan found himself hating that noise for the first time in his life. Panicking, Alan made sure the hologram that appeared was himself and himself only, “H-Hey, brother! Did you find Dad yet?”

A familiar mop of ginger hair floated in between him and The Hood. Raising an eyebrow, John playfully rolled his eyes at his younger brother’s antics. Yes, let Alan play a little bit. They did just do the impossible, after all, “Actually, Alan, we did. Scotty and Virg are almost back with him. I was calling to let you know.”

That smile... the way John was sarcastically bantering with him... the nicknames... it was all because they were getting Dad back, wasn’t it? Alan felt tears mist his eyes. Their family really would be better off...

“Uh, Allie, you good?” Gordon’s voice rang out a few feet away from John

Crap crap crap. Bring it back, Alan, bring it back! “Uh-- yeah! Don't worry, I’m as cool as a cucumber in the middle of July! Hah...”

John’s eyebrow raise was no longer playful. In fact, it was filled to the brim with concern, “Are you sure? If you’re having trouble finishing up, Gordon could easily come up to help you out.”

Alan registered the strawberry blonde’s mmhhm with growing dread.

Dangit, guys, stop being such moms for once in your lives! “No! Wait--” Alan coughed into his hand to clear his throat. He looked away while doing so and then looked back at John with one of his familiar sly grins, “John, Godrz, I swear I’m good. It just took a little bit more to stabilize this part of the rocket. Just give me a few minutes to finish up and then I will be right there to celebrate with you all, got it?"

John contemplated his brother’s words before conceding. Alan was a trained member of IR. His judgment could even be better than theirs sometimes, “Okay.” John leaned his head out of the hologram for a moment before leaning back in with a cheeky grin, “Hey, don’t let Scott know I told you this, but if you want to rush your diagnostics, go ahead. I won’t blame you.”

Alan felt himself snickering along with Gordon. Yeah, this was the right thing to do, “FAB, Johnny, my lips are sealed.”

With a wave, John cut his video feed, leaving Alan in utter silence. Letting out a sigh of relief, Alan let his arms fall to his sides. Everything was going to be okay. Dad was back and could pilot the Zero-X in his place, his brothers would get back a vital part of their childhoods, The Hood would leave his family alone (Kayo would thank him for that one if she could), and things would go back to what it once was.

... He felt really dirty. He abused John’s trust for a reason his older brothers were going to hate themselves for. Alan was allowed to feel regret, right? Because--

Suddenly, Alan felt an arm around his shoulders bringing his tiny body to be closer to someone else. Okay, Alan wants to take it back, this is awful! God, he might genuinely throw up-- John wait--

“Aw, don’t be like that,” The Hood stated coyly, “After all, it appears we will have plenty of time to get to know one another. Better sooner than later, right?” The laughter that rung out in the room sounded like it came from an 80s sitcom dad.

Sweating bullets, Alan grinned in a way even a literal brick wall would know it was forced. So this is what it's like to walk into the pits of hell, good to know.

---

Scott couldn’t really describe what he was feeling at the moment.

The best word he could come up with was elation because holy fuck:

Dad was finally back.

When he stepped into the cockpit with the rest of his family, the world turned upside down, and in a good way. The first to leap out of his seat was Gordon, of course, but also with tears streaming down his face as he flung himself into his father’s arms for the first time in nearly a decade. Scott couldn’t remember for the life of him the last time Gordon genuinely cried. And he meant genuine, I can’t believe this is happening tears, not Gordon, it’s a fictional movie-- But they’re still puppies, Scott! tears.

Slowly stepping back, Gordon moved out of the way for John, who finally initiated a hug himself with no need for bribery, no need for Scott to promise there’s no ulterior motive behind a goddamn hug. John started talking about what he could add to his room back on the island now that I’ll be down more often and Scott thought himself would burst into tears.

Then there was Virgil. Oh, Virgil, who had the best teddy bear hugs in the entire galaxy, was holding back when it came to his dad as if the middle Tracy squeezed too hard the image in front of him would shatter into itty bitty little pieces that he couldn’t put back together again.

And Scott? Scott felt like he could finally breathe again. His dad being back meant he didn’t have to shoulder, well, everything in their lives anymore. At least, not like before. No more needing to be at every Tracy Industries conference, no more needing to be the constant head of IR relations. Sure, Scott wasn’t going to just drop it all, he’s not an asshole, but one day it’ll be a co-piloted effort, in a sense.

It was also going to be nice to just have an extra head around the house, for more than one reason. Chores won’t be so abundant, Grandma might not cook as often, Scott also needed help getting Alan a geography tutor of some kind, and their dad was always incredible at--

Oh, shit. Wait, where was Alan?

Scott bounded toward his four family members who were currently laughing as if nothing were wrong anymore, “Guys, where’s Alan?”

Both Virgil and Jeff jumped, the beginnings of guilt filling their bodies. Shit, of course, that should’ve been the first thing they asked! Before the self-hate train could leave the station, John waved them off in an attempt to calm them down, “Alan’s down in room C6, remember? We sent him down there to keep the ship stable while you two went out to find Dad’s signal.”

Gordon was wiping away his remaining tears as he grinned his biggest grin ever. He started walking out of the room to where his younger brother was waiting, “Y-Yeah, considering he piloted the rocket, we figured he would be better staying inside to keep it in one piece for the flight home.”

Jeff blinked. Alan did?...

A grin spread across his face at the news, a sharp bark of laughter exiting his chest before he could stop it, “Man, I knew he would be just as you guys one day. I’m just surprised it came so soon!”

Scott blinked at his father before his shoulders relaxed, “Yeah, no kidding. I can’t wait for him to tell you all his stories. Some of them are really killer.”

Jeff directed his grin towards Scott, ruffling the brunette's hair like all those years ago, “Me neither! Lead the way, boys.”

They all mindlessly chatted as they made their way to the youngest’s location, unaware of what was about to befall the family. They got to the place Alan stated he would be at and gave each other one last look. Their expressions were giddy: it felt like they were about to jump out and say Surprise! like one of Alan’s birthday parties.

Scratch ‘like’, it pretty much was that.

The door shhed open to a dark room, sending shivers down the family’s spine and killing the mood instantaneously. “Uh, Allie?” Virgil yelled out into the chillier-than-normal room. Suddenly the lights came on, blinding them for just a second. When they reopened their eyes, everyone’s heart dropped to the floor. Gordon would swear he heard five different, distinct thunks in the future.

Because Alan was very much not in the room, which meant he wasn’t keeping everything 'stable' like he said he would. The older Tracys wouldn’t be freaking out so much (maybe Alan just went to get air somewhere else? Heh) if it weren’t for the fact that Alan’s IR sash was laid on top of the control panel. It would’ve been more reassuring if it wasn’t so neatly folded either, to be honest.

The four brothers didn’t even think as they sprinted over to the scene.

Gordon and Virgil mindlessly grabbed the sash and unfolded it, as if their youngest brother were somehow hiding inside the object that was five times smaller than he was. Scott and John rushed over to the control panel and ran a quick but effective diagnostics to figure out what the hell just happened. Meanwhile, Jeff blinked a few times before gaining a serious look (John would later call it the good old fashion Jeff Tracy rage) as he went to join his two eldest sons in their scramble to figure out the why.

With a few beeps signaling the end of the diagnostic, John flinched before shakily bringing his hand to his chin, “This has been stable for the past 20 minutes...”

Scott bristled in anger, not at John, never at his brothers, but at the implications of those words, “What the hell does that mean?!”

John sharply inhaled before looking his older brother dead in the eyes, an emotion between fear and anger stirring within, “It means, Scott, that Alan was a dirty liar.”

Before Scott could question even further, Gordon piped up from his search of the red sash. His tan seemed much paler all of a sudden, “We... we called Alan right before you guys brought Dad back. He said he had to stay here to make sure everything continued smoothly as he just got it stabilized.”

Jeff could feel the self-loathing rolling off of his sons in waves. He wasn’t sure how to comfort them, though, as he wasn’t exactly sure how to anymore. He was sure he could have, but that idea flew right out the window when Virgil mentioned John didn’t really like surprise hugs nowadays (apparently, he "barely liked hugs longer than 5 seconds in the first place"). His second-born loved nothing more than to be swept off his feet from behind back when, well...

Plus, he has always tried his best to never be a hypocrite. He couldn’t help but feel responsible, just a little bit, “Boys, I can’t help but apologize for everything that appears to be happening. I--”

Before Jeff could continue, or any of his sons could argue with his apparent apology, Virgil finally got sick of the tension and aggressively shook Alan’s sash once more, causing a tiny roll of paper to fall out of the pocket. The one Alan specifically requested Grandma to sew on for him when the senior Tracy got the time.

Every family member present jumped as they felt their stomach rip in half. They all looked around at each other with anxiety clear in their eyes... but Jeff noticed that none of his sons looked at him. Clearly, they weren’t used to him being there just yet. Well, he might as well make up for lost time.

He took a step forward and bent over so he could grab the slip. Before he could blink, Scott snapped out of his funk and grabbed it much faster. Jeff didn’t even have a second to reassure his eldest it was okay before Scott rolled open the slip of paper and read it to himself.

Chaos reigned when his only response was to fall to his knees and drop the horrifying message.

“Scott?!” Virgil cried out. Both he and Gordon ran to their oldest brother’s side to find some way to measly comfort him. Meanwhile, John felt something akin to a panic attack coming on. What could Scott have read that made him react like that? John couldn’t move, so Jeff bit the bullet and finally picked up the note himself.

John was abruptly brought out of his head when he heard his father whimper. Yes, whimper, as if he were a baby deer that just got hit by a speeding car. Moving on autopilot, John walked over to his father’s side as the older man covered his hand with his mouth.

Jeff registered movement at his side. Not looking up, he shoved the note to whoever wanted to read it. More guilt filled the back of his head. He shouldn’t be subjecting his sons to this, he should try and protect them, but he would be lying if he said that didn’t feel pointless.

No, not Alan, not their baby.

Shaking slightly, John gripped the note to the point of wrinkles without looking at it. Inhaling once more, John ripped the bandaid off and read what was tearing his family apart one by one.

John was suddenly thankful he didn’t eat his bagel that morning. The last thing he wanted to do was throw up over all of his remaining family.

Do you remember what the alchemists in the olden days based their theories off of, Jeff?

Don’t worry if you can’t remember, I can just tell you.

It was a little something called The Law of Equivalent Exchange.

I win, Tracy. I always do.

#fabfivefeb #fabfivefeb2020 #thunderbirds #thunderbirds are go #alan tracy #jeff tracy #john tracy #scott tracy #gordon tracy #virgil tracy #thunderbirds spoilers #(i mean i guESS)#series: rules of alchemy #fanfiction #fanfic #my post #my fic #(i only feel slightly bad for this)#(in other news guess whos thunderbird three figURE CAME YEAAAAH)

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the-gonegirl · 4 years ago

Text

Here it is guys, the first few pages of my PoF Fanfiction.

Gazing out at the night sky, she took in the flashes of light. The bolts of lightning forking across the sky were nothing new, the thunderstorms had increased just lately and this newest spectacle was just the latest in a long line of natural phenomena to crash over Britain. What was new, however. Was the lack of thunder to this thunderstorm.

It was like an old ritual to her, to count the seconds between the lightning and thunder. Calculate how far away the lightning was and thank god it wasn’t above her head.

But this storm was lacking one element. The lightning wasn’t accompanied by its usual companion. This time there was no crack of thunder, no partner to this dance. The lightning was a lone wolf, howling soundlessly through the sky.

Picking up her phone, she dialed the long since familiar number of her best friend. Carmen.

After three rings the usual click of the receiver sounded and Carmen’s bright voice trickled through the receiver.

‘I was just about to phone you, are you watching it too?’ Carmen asked, wistful as ever.

‘Where’s the thunder’ she asked, her voice lacking Carmen’s brightness. She sounded sad, almost resigned.

It was a miracle the phone lines still worked, or the internet for that matter. The national grid hadn’t been knocked out. Not yet.

Between the war in the far north, the tsunami that hit Australia, the famine and drought in the south, there wasn’t a corner of the world that hadn’t been touched by them. By the Old Ones.

But of course, no one knew it was the Old Ones. At least almost no one.

‘Gigi?’ Carmen’s voice brought her crashing back to reality.

Gigi sighed, ‘Yeah I’m here. It’s them, I know it is’

Carmen sighed now, ‘The bad ones?’

‘The Old Ones’ Gigi corrected her.

‘Gigi, I don’t think… look’ a pause ‘are you taking your medication?’

Gigi bristled. ‘Yes.’

Carmen saw right through the lie, ‘No you’re not, look. Do I need to come stay with you for a bit again?’

Gigi thought it over, she enjoyed the company. But the work she was doing was too important to have eyes prying.

‘Hmm’ she said ‘No its okay, I’m okay. Really’.

Against her cheek, her phone vibrated. Glancing down at it for a second. She registered that it was a message on her blog. That was unusual, she thought. She hardly ever got messages on her blog and when she did it was the usual torrent of abuse.

She sighed again.

‘Carmen I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later, alright. I’m fine, really’.

She clicked the end button to the sounds of Carmen’s protests.

Opening the message, she read it with some interest.

Hi,

How do you know about the Old Ones?

Her heart skipped a beat as she eyed the message for a minute before sitting down to pen a response, mulling over what to put.

Why would I tell you that, I don’t know you?

The response came quickly.

Fair enough,

My name’s Scott.

What’s yours?

Gigi.

How do YOU know about the Old Ones?

I asked first.

Okay…

You’ll probably think I’m crazy… but I read about them in a book.

What book?

A monk’s diary.

Gigi waited and waited, but no response ever came back.

She sighed again, putting down her phone.

Turning to the laptop, open in front of her. She pulled it closer and she sat down to pen a new article on her blog. Trying and failing to come up with anything worthwhile to write that she hadn’t before, she stopped and started for a good half hour before she resigned herself to the fact it just wasn’t going to happen that day.

As she pulled on her headphones; music trickled through the speakers straight into her mind. She danced along as she minimized the blog and opened her writing, cautiously typing away on the keys. Her mind drifted, the words seemingly coming out on their own. Flowing across the page with ease. As she wrote, a bird flapped down to the open window. Gigi looked up and smiled at it, holding a hand out to the creature; she cooed to it. But it just flew away.

She looked back to her laptop, smiling sadly to herself and closed the lid.

Scott pushed his chair back from the desk.

Reading and rereading the last message.

Picking up the laptop, he left the room.

Finding the others in the outside sitting area. He put it in front of them,

‘Read this’

Jamie leaned forward. Struggling the make out the words on the screen.

The others leaned in too.

Silence weaved its way through the group like a disease.

Turning to Scott, Matt asked. ‘Where did you find her?’

‘She’s got this... Blog. At first, I thought it was your typical conspiracy theory, end of the world, nutcase type thing. But get this, she talks about the Old Ones. A lot.’.

He sat down heavily.

‘Ask her how she got hold of the diary’ Richard piped up. ‘Try and get as much information out of her as you can’.

‘Me?’ Scott asked, confused. He glanced at Jamie, who nodded eagerly at him.

‘You’ve already contacted her; we don’t want to scare her off’. Jamie said, he lowered his voice. ‘You’ve got this, I know you can do it’.

Scott smiled at him. Pulling the laptop closer again and cautiously typing away.

PING

A new message came through on her blog, Gigi yawned and looked down at her phone. The time: 3.30am flashed back at her through the dim.

Are you open to meeting?

Gigi blinked then read the message again, No, was her first thought. But then again… maybe it was crazy. No, she wouldn’t meet him… but she could always Skype him, the thought occurred to her.

We could Skype?

Skype could work.

When?

As soon as possible?

How about now?

Gigi laughed.

You’re not in the UK, are you? Its 3.30 in the morning right now.

His fingers hovered over the keys for a second.

Oh sorry, no I’m not. I’m actually in Peru right now

It’s 9.30pm here.

How about in the morning?

Gigi?

But Gigi had fallen asleep, her phone pressed against her chest.

Sorry! I fell asleep

I imagine its not morning for you, for a while. Shall we say at 10 am for you?

Gigi looked down at her hands, rubbing them together.

He was probably asleep, she thought to herself.

Wondering what to do, she cast around the room. Eyeing the guitar in the corner and the rows of books, laying unread.

I could write for a bit. The thought came to her suddenly.

Gigi enjoyed writing stories. Well, she had until she had found the diary.

She sighed, sitting down to pen out more on her story anyway. There wasn’t much better to do till she heard back from him.

She spent the whole day worrying about the skype call. But when it finally came through at 4 o’clock exactly, she was relieved.

Gigi turned to the sound trickling from her laptop. The distinctive ring of an incoming call.

Wringing her hands together, she sat down in front of the screen. Nervousness clawing its way down in her stomach. With a deep breathe, she clicked answer.

The figure on the screen looked about as nervous as she felt, she mused to herself. Her anxiety levels lowering briefly.

‘Hi’ he said.

A little shyly, she thought to herself.

‘Hi’ she said.

He smiled at her.

She smiled back.

Scott looked down. He was nervous, really nervous. He wasn’t sure why one of the others hadn’t done this, he didn’t really feel like he was the right person for the job.

But here she was, blinking in front of him in HD.

He cast around for something, anything to say. He hadn’t prepared for this, though now he wished he had.

She was beautiful, he thought to himself. In a strange kind of way. Short dark blue hair, down to her chin stuck out at all angles.

Neither of them spoke for a moment.

Then they both tried to talk at the same time.

They laughed.

‘Go on’ she said, her eyes twinkling.

‘What’s the weather like there?’ he asked, it sounded stupid. He knew it full well, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say.

With a laugh, she turned the laptop to the window. Showing him the rain falling heavily outside.

‘What about you?’ she asked,

He did the same, the screen illuminated by the bright sunlight.

She sighed, ‘I’ll trade you’

That got a smile out of him, she thought.

She looked down, taking the opportunity to remind herself to breathe.

He was attractive, she couldn’t deny it. She would have guessed about the same age as her. His dark hair was falling in his face. It was long, down to his shoulders.

‘So, the Old Ones’

She looked up at him, head tilted to the side.

‘The Old Ones’ she said, grimacing.

‘How’d you come across the Monks diary, Gigi?’ he said, getting straight to the point.

‘I can’t tell you that, Scott’ she said, sighing.

‘Why not?’ he was slightly annoyed, he didn’t particularly want to be doing this. But he’d promised Jamie he would do it, so here he was.

‘I don’t know anything about you, tell me why you want to know and maybe I’ll tell you’

‘You know more about me then you think’ he said, suddenly thinking of something.

‘Do I? how?’

‘Hang on’. He leaned forward, typing on the laptop for a minute.

A link buzzed in the chat box.

She clicked it open and was faced with her own article, taken straight from her blog.

The Five and why we need them. The title screamed at her in black and white.

Minimizing the screen, she watched him for a minute.

‘What exactly are you saying?’ she asked. Watching him wearily.

‘I’m one of the five’ he said, holding her gaze through the screen.

She blinked at him, raising an eyebrow ‘I’m sorry, what?’

‘We all are’ he said.

‘Who’s we?’ she asked alarmed.

Scott sighed. ‘There’s four of us so far. Hang on, Jamie. Come here’ he said. Waving someone off screen over to him.

A second face appeared on screen.

Gigi blinked at them. Once, Twice.

‘Jamie’s my brother’ Scott explained, smiling.

‘Yes, I can see that’ Gigi remarked, eyeing the twins. They were perfectly identical. Down to every last hair on their head.

‘and you’re both… one of the five?’

‘There’s Matt and Pedro too’ Jamie explained, sitting down next to Scott.

‘Tell me something only the five would know’ she said. ‘So, I know you are who you say you are’. She desperately wanted to believe them. But she had to know, had to made sure. She needed to be positive if she was going to tell them about the diary.

Exchanging a look with Jamie, Scott turned to the screen and sighed.

‘We know about the doors.’

‘Anyone could know about the doors’ Gigi pointed out, trying and failing to sound certain.

‘There’s one In Lake Tahoe, Nevada. We went through it and ended up at Cuzco, Peru.’

‘You went … through the doors?’ she asked, taken aback for a second.

Okay, she thought to herself This changed things.

She shimmied closer to the screen.

Scott was eyeing Gigi as she looked back at them with something like awe.

‘You really are, aren’t you? You’re one of the Five’ she said, gazing across at them.

She smiled then, a genuine smile. It opened up her face in a way he hadn’t noticed before.

He smiled back at her.

‘Do you have powers? The diary talked about powers….’ She trailed off.

Jamie laughed, ‘Yes we have powers, we’re telepathic, Matt can move things with his mind and Pedro’s a healer’.

She was speechless.

‘Show me.’ She said finally.

Jamie Laughed again. ‘It’s not going to work with you so far away, Gigi’.

Frowning, Gigi got up from her chair and paced back and forth in front of the screen.

‘We want to meet you, in person. To talk about the diary, the Old Ones, all of it really’ Jamie said,

Scott had frozen up. This happened an awful lot and it worried Jamie every time.

Glancing at his brother, he continued.

‘We think the last of the five is in the UK, we’re going to fly over soon and meet with her. Can we meet with you too?’

‘Meet with me? Why would you want to do that?’ she asked, alarmed. Thinking hard to herself, she tried to come up with a way out of it. Panic crept into her heart.

Because the truth was, Gigi hadn’t left her house in months, she was too scared to. She seemed to permanently live, camped out in her Living Room. With the curtains drawn, the dim light of her laptop the only thing illuminating her. Gigi’s family and friends had long since given up trying to help her out of the dark hole she lived in. Everybody that was, except Carmen.

Jamie was taken aback. ‘I thought you would want to meet us’ he said, his hurt obvious in his voice.

‘YES! sorry no, that’s not what I meant. It’s just… I do want to meet you, that would be... so good’ her voice faltered in the end. She cursed herself for being so anxious.

‘How soon, is soon?’ she asked, cautiously.

‘In about two weeks’ Jamie replied, smiling at her again.

Gigi stopped pacing, that was soon. Sooner then she had expected.

She wasn’t sure she could do this. A Skype call was one thing. But meeting up meant leaving the house, leaving the safety of this makeshift sanctuary she had made for herself. The situation, it had slowly crept up on her, till she felt she couldn’t leave the house at all.

‘Two weeks’ she repeated.

‘Is that okay?’ Jamie asked,

‘Yeah, sure. Two weeks’.

Two weeks could work, she thought to herself. That gave her time to prepare.

Jamie smiled at her again.

‘So, how did you come across the monk’s diary?’ he asked.

Gigi blew out a breath. ‘Oh, I don’t know. How long do you have? It’s a long story’

Jamie checked his watch, ‘we’ve got time’.

Gigi sat down in front of the screen once more.

‘Ages ago I worked in this little, old book shop. We would get donations of books all the time and I was the one that would sort through them all, well as you probably guessed we got given the diary. It was just dumped on us with a load of other books one day. I was bored, so I decided to read it. With some difficulty, its mainly in Spanish. But I like a challenge. So I pulled out my dictionary and started translating and let me tell you, its really something. Demons, witches, Old Ones. End of the world. The Five.’ She looked at them wistfully for a few minutes.

‘How come you believed it?’ Scott asked, finally getting the words out.

‘Well, I didn’t at first. But then…’.

‘Something happened?’ he guessed, ‘What happened?’ he asked,

She sighed.

‘You wouldn’t believe me’ she said, quietly.

‘I think we would believe almost anything’ Jamie said with a laugh.

‘What if it’s the almost, though’ she asked, suddenly sounding very anxious.

The twins exchanged a look.

‘What happened?’ Scott asked again.

‘It’d be easier to show you, but... could I do it when we meet?’

‘Sure…’ Jamie said. ‘We should get going’ he glanced at Scott again, ‘It was nice to meet you Gigi’

‘Yeah’ she smiled ‘It was nice to meet you too’

‘Can we call you again? Maybe tomorrow?’

Gigi raised an eyebrow, ‘Okay’ she said simply.

‘Bye Gigi’.

‘Bye.’ She said. Leaning forward and clicking the end button.

Gigi stared at the blank screen for a minute, then smiled to herself. That had been…interesting.

#Power of Five #Po5 #Pof

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surveysonfleek · 5 years ago

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1533.

[Family]

My brother’s name starts with D. Neither of my grandfathers are alive. I look more like my mother than my father. Both my parents are in a serious relationship. I am the youngest of three children. I am the only girl. My mom’s mom is NOT your typical grandmother. I don’t really like my cousins. I have less than five cousins. I’ve shown up at a family party while under the influence.

[Religion & Politics]

I was raised Christian. But I’m no longer a Christian. I believe in God. But I think the Bible is bullshit. My beliefs aren’t influenced by people around me. My dad is religious. My mom tries to be, but who is she trying to fool? I hate church. I wouldn’t have voted in the last election even if I was old enough. I hate politics more than anything.

[Food]

I honestly never stop eating. Chocolate + peanut butter = orgasmic. I only eat Cains mayonnaise. I’ve never eaten a fruit I didn’t like. I love cooked broccoli but not raw broccoli. I love raw peppers but not cooked peppers. I’ve gone a day or more without eating. I crave chocolate on my period. Pizza Hut has the best pizza around. Cookies & Cream ice cream is one of my favorites.

[Sex, Love & Relationships]

I’ve been told that I was a nine out of ten at giving head. A guy has cheated on his girlfriend with me. I’ve never been cheated on. I had my first kiss when I was fifteen. I lost my virginity in the woods. My best friend lost her virginity a week after me. In the same place I did. I’ve been in the same room as someone having sex. I would rather be on the bottom.

[Music]

I download my music from LimeWire. I love country. I love old school rap. I love alternative. I have All Time Low’s new CD Nothing Personal. And I love it. I love to sing, but I suck horribly at it. I cannot play a musical instrument. I want to learn to play the drums. I used to take piano lessons.

[School]

My GPA is between 2.0 and 3.0. I took Algebra 1 in 8th grade, and again in 9th. I’ve passed a class with a D-. I don’t do my homework at home. I prefer mechanical pencils. I always do projects the night before they’re due. I’m really smart but don’t always apply myself. I text in school. I’ve gotten my phone taken away in school.

[Beauty & Hygiene]

I straighten my hair often. On lazy days, I scrunch my hair to go out. My only make-up necessity is mascara. I like to wing my eyeliner. I’d rather take a shower than a bath. I’d rather use body wash than a bar of soap. I’d rather use a bath scrunchie than a washcloth. My solution for make-up on lazy days: sunglasses. I use the same routine every day in the shower.

[Smoking, Drinking & Drugs]

I smoke cigarettes. I’ve gotten drunk within the past month. I’ve smoked weed when by myself. The first time I got high was on a holiday. Marijuana should be legalized. I have never and would never drink and drive. I hate light beer. My lighter is purple. My favorite cigarettes are Turkish Silver or Camel Crush. I’ve quit smoking but started again.

[Random]

My nails are pink right now. Going to bed at midnight is very early for me. I could never date a guy that didn’t make me laugh. I have a jar of peanut butter in my room right now. I wear sunglasses a lot. Gogurt is really good in the freezer. I’ve been in Hollister, but I don’t own anything from there. Purple is my favorite color. There is no such thing as an ugly color. I need more pens. ______________________________________________________________

I like where I’m at right now. My feet are freezing. I hate feeling awkward. I love driving on country roads. I love driving fast, too. I currently have a cold. I have a crush. No, it’s more than a crush. I always wondered what it’d be like to start over, where no one knew me. I go on Yahoo Answers. I get nostalgic every once in awhile. I really don’t like my father. My mother is one of my best friends though. I don’t mind when people stare at me. No, it’s annoying as fuck. I can’t stand people who are extremely selfish. A Change Of Pace is a good band. I have gotten a new phone within the past month. I want to go to Florida soon. Peach snapple iced tea is theee best. I wrote books when I was younger. I’m really creative, especially when I apply myself. I use Facebook a lot more than I used to. I’m constantly told I’m beautiful, but I still sometimes don’t believe it. One of my friends came out as gay this year. I feel like I’m the only one who doesn’t have someone. I’m way too quiet, and I wish I could change. I need to party. Music and books are my favorite. I love everything about the fall. I always smell really good. My hair looks nice today. I have long fingernails. I’ve kissed a Ryan, Mike, or Justin. I’ve been in love with a Josh, Christian, or Scott. I envy no one. I’m going to an amusement park soon. For a halloween-related thing. I don’t like beer. I don’t like soda. I’ve worn a turtle neck in the past year. I wear them often. Outspoken is something I’m not. I express myself through quotes and lyrics. Photography is beautiful. There’s beauty in everything, you just gotta find it. I ordered a pizza recently. Tonight, actually. I wish I could have a whole new batch of friends. Even though I do love the ones I have now. My nose is stuffy. I like orange juice. And sandwich wraps. I love cozy nights at home. I like playing Hebi. Apples to Apples is fun. I have to start applying for jobs. I really need one. Ahhh life is changing fast. I tend to drive a little bit over the speed limit.

My razor only has two blades. My keyboard is black. I use my friends as arm rests and pillows. My favorite number is odd. My favorite number is a single digit. I love having butterflies in my stomach. The last make up I wore was eyeliner. I’d love to have a winter wedding. I’m really ticklish. I have a facial piercing. I’d only get a tattoo that has significant meaning to me. My boyfriend is taller than I am. My school has a shitty football team. I play Pet Society on Facebook. All politicians are the same, in my opinion. I can’t eat sushi with a fork or else it feels awkward. I’ve never been to New Mexico. I’d definitely consider adoption if I couldn’t have my own children. I like plain-colored t-shirts. Horror movies don’t really scare me. I have a decent vocabulary. Lord of the Rings doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t play any sports. I prefer orange juice to apple juice. I like my toast with butter and jelly. I love cream cheese. I have a celebrity crush. I get frequent headaches. I can play a little piano. My boyfriend drives an Asian car. And so do I. I WANT MORE PIERCINGS. My favorite fruit is a type of berry. I miss somebody right now. Some of my friends live far away. I can burp out the alphabet. I love breadsticks. I can count to ten in at least two languages. I’d love to have a pet owl. I prefer dogs to cats. I only wear actual perfume on special occasions. But I wear body spray on a daily basis. I have pictures of my sibling/s on my phone. ______________________________________________________________

What I have…

#survey #surveys #quiz #bored #questions

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thorne93 · 6 years ago

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12 Days of Christmas (Cuddling For Warmth - Remy Lebeau)

Prompt: December 22 - Cuddling for Warmth - Remy Lebeau

Word Count: 2725

Warnings: language… angst

Notes: For the Marvelous Christmas Challenge @until-theend-oftheline @like-a-bag-of-potatoes…. Beta’d by @like-a-bag-of-potatoes and @carryonmyswansong (thank you both, very much).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The mansion was alive with wonder, excitement, and children’s excited cries. As a student teacher at the mansion, you promised Professor X to stay during the holidays to help keep a handle on the kids who couldn’t go home. So far though, they were only having fun. Chasing each other around the grounds, ice skating on the pond, decorating each room. Storm had a class earlier this week for everyone to create their own ornaments or garland.

With only two days to go until Christmas, you were rather excited yourself. All the teachers had put their names in for Secret Santa. The students would get each get one gift. Charles put some back from each tuition to cover a gift of decent size. And each year, the children were asked to give a Christmas list. From that list, the teachers picked one gift.

This way, it ensured everyone got something under the tree, and it was usually a pretty magical time. This year, you’d pulled Scott’s name for Secret Santa. All you had to do was ask Jean to tell you what he really wanted. It was a piece of cake. He wanted a new bike helmet.

As for your secret Santa, you had no idea who was getting your gift. That was the whole point, but typically, every year, you had a hunch. This year, not so much. Which was absolutely okay.

It was getting a little late, around 10:00 pm. You could hear the kids screaming and running in the halls. Charles usually wouldn’t allow this behavior, but classes were out for the holidays, and it was only two days to Christmas, so he let the kids do as they please so long as no one got hurt. As for you, you were in pajamas in your bed, reading. In fact, you were about to go to sleep shortly, until a knock came at your door, then it cracked open.

“Y/N? You awake?” The drawl was unmistakable.

“Yeah, what’s up?” you asked, sitting up in the bed. You tried your best to look extra presentable for the charming Cajun. To say you had a soft spot for Remy would be putting it lightly. Being a southern belle yourself, you had instantly fallen for Mr. LeBeau, his accent, his charm, his mutation, and his ultimate compassion.

Remy was an instructor, but he didn’t teach classes. He was almost like a tutor. He was more there as a stand in for kids needing to understand their power or working on how to control it. He didn’t lecture, or teach History or English or Literature. He didn’t have a study plan. He was just a hands on instructor, who wanted to help the kids when they needed it. He was available before classes, during lunch, and after classes. His ability and extent of patience had made you swoon long ago.

“Saw your light was still on. Didn’t know if you might be up for gettin’ hot chocolate downstairs or maybe goin’ down to watch a Christmas movie with me and the kids?”

Just as you were about to contemplate the offers, the lights suddenly went out. Shrieks and cries went all throughout the mansion. Suddenly, Charles voice invaded everyone’s mind.

“Everyone remain calm, the storm must’ve knocked the power out. Please stay in the room you are in right now while Hank and I look at the fuse box.”

Remy and you peered at each other for a moment. “Well, you heard the man,” he stated as he stepped into your room, a cheeky grin on his face before he shut the door.

“And just what gives you the right to look yourself inside a lady’s bedroom at night?” you demanded jokingly.

“Professor said so. He does not want us out roamin’ the halls.” With that, he grabbed the chair from your desk and pulled it to sit at the end of your bed. “So who did you get for secret santa?”

“I am not tellin’ you that,” you chastised.

“Why? Is it moi?” he asked, teasing you. “That’s the only reason you wouldn’t tell me.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but no, it isn’t. The word ‘secret’ is in the name, Remy. I’m not gonna tell you who I got.”

“You take things too seriously,” he accused with a grin.

You raised an eyebrow at him. “Maybe you don’t take things seriously enough.”

“Now that’s just mean,” he feigned, putting his hand over his chest.

You scoffed, rolling your eyes and letting out a laugh. “Oh please, I couldn’t insult you if I tried. Your ego is impenetrable.”

With that, he smiled and straightened in his chair. “Why, thank you for noticin’. I work on it a lot.”

“Speaking of egos,” you began, “how is Reggie?”

Reggie was a young mutant, fifteen, who had a peculiar mutation that was a little hard to get ahold of. Rather close to that of Storm’s, Remy’s, or even Scott or Alex’s powers. Yet, for the last five years he kept assuring his parents he had it under control -- that was, until he took out a neighbor’s house one day. Thankfully, the neighbors weren’t home and no one was hurt. Reggie’s parents were loving, supportive, and concerned about they ordeal. They didn’t get mad, but they did put their foot down about him coming to the school. They trusted Reggie with his powers until this summer when they came by with him. They said they wanted him to learn how to properly handle them, because they were worried he might hurt himself or someone else and not mean it.

Remy, was his tutor. He saw him twice a week after his daily classes. Being a teenager, and rebellious, he hated the idea of needing any special attention.

“Ah, he’s still a little spitfire, but I think I’m gettin’ through to him. When I started to show him that having the ultimate, precision and control over his powers was pretty cool, he started to receive my message better. How’s your classes goin’?” he wondered, putting his boot on the foot of your bed, his hands behind his head, and leaning back.

“Rather splendid,” you commented. You did have a study plan though, one that Jean and Charles oversaw. They reviewed your itinerary every week and it had to be approved, and it always was. Your area lied in defense against mutation attacks and computer information systems. It was two separate classes, but you taught every day of the week. “Yeah, yeah. Julie has finally picked up a lot better combat. Aaron helped Jason fix a hard drive this week, so I was very proud of them.”

“That’s great to hear,” he complimented genuinely. “How come you didn’t go home for the holidays?”

“The kids need me here… Well, Charles and Hank need me here,” you corrected with a smile and slight laugh. “My family understands that this is important to me, and encouraged me to be here for the kids, and Charles.”

“Very kind of you, and your family.”

“What about you, cajun? Why aren’t you down South?” you wondered.

He huffed out some air. “Oh, same as you, I s’pose. Thought the staff might need a little help with some of the youngins stickin’ around.”

“Always a noble cause, eh, Remy?” you slightly teased with a coy smile. You peered at him with a sad smile. “You never have found your parents, have you?”

He shook his head, a pensive, but sorrow filled smile on his face. You could tell he was trying to hide the pain, disguise it as charm and wit, but not all that deep down you knew Remy was missing a family. He knew some thieves and friends down in New Orleans, certainly someone he could spend a holiday with. Somehow, you felt, that he’d found a new family though, here, and maybe that’s why he stayed during the holidays.

“Nah, but I figure maybe it’s all for the best. They don’t want me... Been too long, and I am… me.”

You frowned. “Remy, how could they not want you? You’re spectacular.”

“I grew up with thieves and cheats, Y/N,” he retorted with disdain. “I’m not exactly a model citizen.”

“You can’t help what the LeBeau clan did to you…”

“No, but I got these eyes.. That’s why they abandon me, mon cher,” he informed with a slight sadness in his voice.

“Then they are the most stupid people in this world,” you stated with confidence. “Anyone willing to give you up has to be the biggest fool I’ve ever met.”

A gentle smile tugged at his handsome lips before he let himself fall from leaning back in the chair. “It’s gettin’ cold as hell out here. Move over, I’m comin’ in,” he said before he stood up and took his boots off.

It was clear he was changing the subject, but for the past thirty minutes, the temperature had dropped to icy due to the lack of power and heat. You scooted over to the left on your bed and before you knew it, Remy had burrowed himself in the blankets beside you. This, wasn’t unusual. He was your closest friend at the mansion and sometimes you two wound up sleeping on the couch together, or snuggling up to watch a movie in your room on Sunday afternoons, usually slipping into a nap.

“Better?” you inquired once you settled down beside him.

“At least I ain’t g’ttn frostbite,” he retorted, putting his hands on his face and rubbing them backwards. “When is the damn power g’n be back on?”

Shaking your head, you answered, “No idea.”

The two of you lied in comfortable silence for a few minutes before he spoke again, curiosity in his voice. “Did ah eva tell you that I was engaged once b’fore?”

You frowned, turning just your head to face him. “What? No? When? How?” You couldn’t help the little green eyed monster that creeped up inside you.

He kept his face aimed at your high, dark ceiling, sighing. “Long… long ago. It was to a girl named Bella Donna. It was actually an arranged marriage.”

“Wow. Really? What was the gain?”

“Settlin’ a feud between two of the bands of criminals.” He let out a huff of air. “But her brother was against it, and he challenged me to a duel.”

A gasped escaped without your permission. The thought of Remy doing something so… dangerous, made your heart still in your chest.

“Well, so what happened?” you urged when he didn’t continue, your face turned back towards the ceiling.

“After the wedding…when Julien had challenged me, I agreed. Bein’ raised as ah was, it wasn’t taken lightly. So I agreed to his terms. Only when we got there, the bastard was such a terrible shot…” He stopped, trying to collect his thoughts, you supposed. “His shot breezed past my shoulder and by pure reflex, I shot back, hit him square in the chest.”

You frowned. You knew Gambit had a terribly sad upbringing, another thing that had made you fall easily in love with him. Someone born from so much sorrow brought so much joy into the world. He was so… good, and pure, his dark past was in no way a reflection of him now.

“That’s so sad… How… how did your wife take it?”

“Uh, actually, I didn’t really know. They banished me from N’awlins for a long time. Til Bella Donna needed my help with somethin’. Professor let me take the X-Men back down to help her, but when we all got to an astral plane… I don’ know, somethan happened and Bella Donna died... “

A full second passed before you grabbed his hand under the blankets. All you wanted to do with the action was comfort him, show your support.

“I’m so sorry that happened. Do you miss her?”

“I did. But it turns out she’s alive, livin’ down in N’awlins.”

This took you aback. Gambit had a wife, but he didn’t… miss her? Sure it was arranged but…

“So… you don’t miss her?”

He let out a breath. “Well… I did, at first. We sort of grew up together. She was my first love. But after her family banished me, and I sort of got out on my own, well, there wasn’t much to miss. Then when I found out she was alive, I just wanted her to be happy. I got no desire to be with her.”

“Are you still married to her?”

“No, no. We took care of that years ago. Cut ties. Now, we don’t talk, but it’s alright. She’s got her life, I got mine.”

A blip of silence fell over you two. “I’m so sorry all of that happened to you, Remy,” you suddenly offered, your voice sad, laced with sincerity. You wanted nothing more than to hug him and make any pain or guilt go away.

“Did you really mean what you said, about the… uh... about my parents not wantin’ me?” he asked, not seeming to want to address his past directly.

You turned your head to face him, keeping your head settled on the pillow. “Of course. Remy, I think you’re wonderful. It’s a privilege to know you.”

“You’re not just sayin’ that, are you?”

“No, no. There’s a reason you’re my best friend. I like you. You’re a good person. In fact, I’m rather jealous of this Bella Donna lady. Anyone who gets to be your wife is one hell of a lucky woman.”

Now, it was his turn to face you.

“You really mean that? You think… you think it’s lucky to be my betrothed?”

“I think she hit the jackpot if she got you. Arranged or otherwise.”

He stared at you for just a few moments more, making your cheeks heat to a million degrees.

“Uh, Remy, what’re you staring at?” you wondered.

“Does it bother you?”

“Only because I don’t know what you’re thinking.”

“I’m thinkin’ you are the sweetest, most kind, most compassionate, most powerful, person I’ve ever met. I’m thinkin’ you make me laugh when I don’t wanna. You never let my past represent me. You look past all my flaws. I’m thinkin’ you’re just about damned perfect, Y/N and I’d like nothin’ more than to kiss you right now.”

“Then what are you waitin’ for?” you asked in a soft voice and before you could blink, he let go of your hand to wrap you in a tight embrace. Fingers danced through your hair with skill, making you shiver from his touch. His face slowly got closer to yours, as you helped close the gap from your side as well. Before you knew it, you two finally connected, igniting your body like a Christmas tree. His lips were surprisingly softer than you expected, but firm and plump. Surprising you, his hand slid down your side, around your waist, where he pulled you closer to him, pressing you against his body. The sensation made you yearn to run your hands into his long hair, hold him close, stay in his arms forever.

Suddenly, the power came back on, lights flooded your room, your bedside clock turned on, your TV regained power, and the mystique that had bewitched the room, was now slowly receding.

The two of you broke apart and stared at each other, unsure what to say. His arm was still around your waist, and your arm was still on his back, but neither of you spoke.

“Wow… That was…” You breathed, slightly laughing.

“Yeah… That… uh… was….” he agreed.

The next thing was Charles back in everyone’s head. “Alright everyone, it’s late. Go to bed. You’re free to leave the rooms you’re in.”

The two of you came back out of the informative thought, peering at one another.

“Do… you wanna leave?” you tentatively asked him, wondering where you two stood now.

“Not at all, unless you want me to go?” he questioned, slightly worried about another rejection.

You brought your hand up, your fingertips stroking his face. “I never want you to go anywhere, Remy. I want you right here, in my arms. So long as you’ll have me.”

An adoring smile touched his face as he pulled you closer again. “I’ll never want anything, or anyone but you, Y/F/N.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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#cuddling for warmth with remy lebeau #remy lebeau x reader #remy lebeau fic #gambit x reader #gambit fic #gambit #remy lebeau

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tagsecretsanta · 6 years ago

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From Marsmckie

To @tuupang

Secret Santa does not own this piece, full credit goes to the creator mentioned above!

It was a small family tradition- it became standard over the years that on a quiet night sometime in December the Tracy Family would all grab some old blankets and make their way down to the beach. This festive season was particularly quiet for them, giving the recent incarceration of their nemesis the Hood into GDF custody, and they indented to take full advantage of it.

Sadly, Grandma Tracy was away shopping with Lady Penelope, though this did mean the food was prepared instead by Virgil and Scott. Virgil provided the barbequed turkey and Scott brought the apple pie dessert. MAX rolled around on the sand handing out dishes while the family lounged out on blankets or camp chairs under the stars.

“John,” EOS whispered. The space monitor had constructed a portable device so that the AI was able to join them for what was her first Christmas. She had coordinated her LED lights so that they alternated flashing between festive green and red as she spoke. “I’m not sure I understand. Campfires and barbeques do not fit in with what my research suggests would be a typical seasonal celebration.”

“That’s because with someone somewhere around the world who always needs to be rescued around this time of year, the idea of us having a ‘normal’ Christmas Day is laughable,” John responded with a smile, pleased with his AI’s development to be comfortable asking questions.

“We take our holiday breaks as they come,” Alan explained. Having crammed down his large helpings of turkey, barbequed vegetables and pie he had moved on to toasting marshmallows over the campfire. As he moved his stick away from the flame, Gordon made a move as he snatched the marshmallow off the end of the stick and shoved it in his mouth. “Hey! Get your own!”

“You’re hogging the bag!” Gordon said through a mouth full of marshmallow.

“Everyone has their own different ways of celebrating Christmas,” Kayo said, continuing talking to EOS as Gordon and Alan squabbled.

“Y-yes!” Brains said. “For example, at m-my University we had a C-Christmas tradition for Secret Santa that whoever could make the b-best seasonal invention didn’t have to clean the lab for a whole month!”

“Is that where your snow machines originated?” Virgil asked. Brains nodded with a smile. “I’d say the year that Brains made it snow on the island will always have a special place in our hearts!”

“We did a Secret Santa at my school too!” Gordon said. “One year I bought Bethany in my year a chocolate snowman!”

“Didn’t you leave it near the radiator and it melted?” Scott grinned.

“Heh, yeah, it looked more like a chocolate thingy!” Alan laughed.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that. She was so annoyed when she unwrapped it and I never fessed up,” Gordon grimaced.

“I don’t think we’ve had what you would call a traditional Christmas since we were young,” John said. “When we were still living at the Gran Roca Ranch with mom and dad...”

“Oh, right...” Alan mumbled. His memories from the ranch were few and far between.

“Mom was always the one to organise decorating. I remember her voice as she taught me how to play Christmas songs on the piano and she’d sing along...” Virgil said sadly.

“You and Gordon might be too young to remember,” Scott said to Alan. “But I remember the first Christmas after Mom passed away. Dad hadn’t done anything to prepare or celebrate at all, but then when we woke up on Christmas morning we all went down the stairs together and there were all these twinkling lights we could see under the door. We went in and the whole room had been decorated top to bottom, and Dad told us that Santa had been overnight...”

“And Dad scooped us up into his lap one at a time to give us the presents that Santa had left!” Virgil said excitedly.

“Of course it was Dad getting up early to decorate while we were still asleep,” John explained.

“Well, yeah, we know that now,” Virgil murmured, looking put down by the revelation.

“I do remember that!” Gordon gasped. “There were all these golden twinkling fairy lights; it was like magic!”

Scott sighed. “We were all so surprised. Dad was so determined to make it the best Christmas ever, and it was like we finally had him back after Mom died...”

A sad silence settled over the group as they all watched the crackling of the campfire.

“What about you, Kayo?” Alan asked, determined to fill the silence. “Did you have any family traditions?”

Kayo snorted. “Try anytime we had a family Christmas. By that I mean ~the whole family~”

It took a moment for the group to realise what she meant, before the revelation from earlier that year resurfaced in their minds.

“Oh my god, yeah!” Alan gasped.

“Wow, what would Christmas be like with the Hood as your uncle?” Virgil wondered.

“Please tell me he was one of those uncles who would get drunk and sing rude versions of Jingle Bells?” Gordon laughed.

“I’m pretty sure that was just Uncle Lee!” Scott grinned.

Kayo made a face halfway between a smirk and a grimace as she remembered the last time her uncle had last shown up at the family home at Christmas.

~~~

Tanusha punched her way across the living room floor, shadowboxing inexpertly as she was determined to show off her new Karate uniform (to go with her Christmas present of Karate lessons- something which she had been begging for weeks to get). Her father smiled fondly at his growing girl while her mother prepared a delicious Christmas dinner. They were late to eat together as her father had spent most of the day at work (Tanusha was always dying to know more about her father’s job as Mr Tracy’s security, but he kept annoyingly tight-lipped about it).

As her mother was about to plate the food, there was a knock at the front door. Her mother and father shared an anxious look before her father moved to open the door.

“Uncle Belah!” Tanusha cried, running around her father and into her uncle’s waiting arms.

“Tanusha!” Uncle Belah beaming, sweeping her into a big hug. “My, how you have grown!”

Tanusha had been besotted with her Uncle Belah for many years now- while her father had the strength to lift her over his head and throw her in the air, Uncle Belah would regale her with the most fascinating tales of daredevilry and espionage that kept her hooked all evening. She had relentlessly questioned her Uncle as to what his job was and he would spin many a tall tale as to what he had been up to between visits, but Tanusha -being his favourite niece after all- was quickly able to pull the truth from him-

Uncle Belah was a top secret spy in the Global Defence Force.

Tanusha had gone along with the story when she had been little, thinking it to be another one of his imaginary jobs (he had previously claimed to be a caterer and an airline pilot among other things), but every so often Uncle Belah would produce an item which would tie into his story- a computer tablet, some solar batteries, on one occasion even the metal wings that he had worn while jumping out of a skyscraper. At the appearance of each item Tanusha’s eyes would go wide with wonder.

Such items were for Tanusha’s eyes only, and they (along with the stories) were hers and her uncle’s little secret together from her father and mother.

Uncle Belah stood from hugging Tanusha and the atmosphere froze as he locked eyes with Tanusha’s father again.

“Gaat,” her father said coldly.

“Kyrano,” her Uncle greeted with a small grin.

“And what brings you here?”

“Christmas is a time to spend with family,” Uncle Belah said, spreading his arms wide. “Or am I not welcome here anymore?”

Her father pursed his lips and Tanusha looked up hesitantly. “Daddy?” she asked.

“So long as you bring no ill will against my family,” her father said quietly, stepping back from the door to allow their visitor to enter.

“Much obliged,” Uncle Belah hummed as he stepped inside and took off his wool coat, revealing a black tuxedo jacket, white shirt and black trousers beneath. “It is cold outside.”

“Uncle Belah!” Tanusha cried again, latching onto his hand and pulling him into the living room. “I got you a present!”

From under the tree, Tanusha extracted a small lone present and pressed it into his hands.

“That’s very thoughtful of you!” Uncle Belah gave a genuine smile as he accepted the present.

“I didn’t know if I would see you or not, as you’re always so busy with your job,” Tanusha said. Behind them in the kitchen, her mother and father conversed in hushed tones but her attention was solely for her favourite uncle. “I got it for you anyway, just in case we saw you.”

“May I open it now?” Uncle Belah asked, shaking the box in an attempt to discern the contents.

Tanusha giggled. “Of course!”

Uncle Belah carefully ripped open the red wrapping paper to reveal a black box containing a red tie covered with silver dots. He ran the tie through his fingers, feeling the silk material before tying it around his neck.

“Thank you Tanusha,” he said, smiling. “I shall wear it always to remind me of you.”

Tanusha beamed brightly and pulled her Uncle through to the dining room as her mother announced, “Dinner is ready!”

Tanusha made sure that Uncle Belah was sat next to her at the circular table and throughout dinner they shared secret mischievous looks as they ate. The looks her mother and father shared were filled with concern.

“Uncle Belah?” Tanusha asked loudly as her mother refilled the adult’s wine glasses again. “When are you going to marry?”

Uncle Belah nearly choked on his wine and Tanusha noticed a glint of amusement in her father’s eye at his brother being caught off guard by her question. “I’m not the type to marry, my dear. After all, I am fully committed to my job.”

The look on her father’s face soured again.

“Aww,” Tanusha murmured. “I wanted to have cousins.”

Uncle Belah laughed good-naturedly and the meal concluded with several rounds of Christmas pudding with custard. Tanusha wanted to stay up and talk for longer, but her parents made the decision that it was her bedtime. She sadly said her farewells to Uncle Belah, clinging to him and begging him to say she could stay up late, but he agreed saying the adults needed to talk.

Her mother chivvied her upstairs, but while she was distracted Tanusha slipped back down to listen to their conversation.

“Listen to me, Gaat.” Tanusha heard her father’s voice and paused on the stairs. “If the Hood continues to cause problems for Mr Tracy’s company then I shall be forced to take extreme measures.”

“I assume you have already alerted the GDF to my location?” Her father said nothing in response. “Then I shall be on my way. I will say farewell to Tanusha before I go.”

Tanusha’s heart leapt into her throat at the mention of her name, but her father cut in coldly, “That won’t be necessary.”

There was a pause in the conversation and Tanusha thought her uncle had left, until he said, “You are choosing the wrong side, Kyrano.”

As her Uncle closed the front door behind him, Tanusha rushed back up the stairs to her mother. That night, Tanusha quizzed her father about why her uncle had to leave so suddenly and he replied “Uncle Belah is in trouble with his work.” From this, Tanusha was able to discern that he was in trouble with the GDF and that somehow Mr Tracy’s company was involved. She guessed that she also would not be getting a Birthday present from him for a while.

That was the first time Kayo would hear of the Hood, though it would be several years before she learned who that was.

#thunderbirds are go #kayo kyrano #the hood #family christmas #back story #thunderbirds 2015 #thunderbirds season 1 #thunderbirds season 2 #thunderbirds season 3 #marsmckie #fanfic #secret santa 2018 #tag team secret santa

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joyofcrime-elinorhigh · 6 years ago

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Teen Titans Go To The Movies REVIEW:

Ahem

"I DON'T KNOW WHO CREATED...TEEN TITANS GO!....BUT I'D TRIED TO FIGURE OUT HOW WE GET THEM TO HAVE TEEN TITANS _GO. TO. THE. POLLS." _ *Beat*

"I'm with her!"

** **Hello everybody, my name is JoyofCrimeArt, and it's time to finally put this to rest. I've already gave my very...very...very extensive thoughts on Teen Titans Go! in my last two reviews.

Oh my gosh, why didn't I call those reviews "Teen Titans Go! is Garbage and Here's Why?!" It was probably long enough and would of gotten way more views!

But back on topic. To summarize my thoughts though I think Teen Titans Go!, while I do think that there are some good elements and even good episodes of the series, I didn't end up finding it to be a very good series on the whole. However, it is a series that I do enjoy watching in a weird, ironic kinda way. It's a very love hate relationship. It's a bad show, but I will be sad when it ends, cause it has impacted my life that much. So when word of a movie came to be, it immediately grabbed my interest as well as my curiosity. What could a show like Teen Titans Go! possibly do with a movie? Teen Titans Go's! whole "thing" is that it DOESN'T do big superhero stories. Wouldn't making a film kinda go against what the whole show was about? And the show typically had trouble stretching there plots out for eleven minutes, let alone ninety. But as more trailers came out, I started seeing a lot of people genuinely getting excited for the film. Even I had to admit I was kinda getting a little bit hyped by the trailers. And when the film finally did get released it actually succeeded in getting over a ninety percent on rotten tomatoes! Yes, you heard right, CRITICS WERE LIKING TEEN TITANS GO! Could this movie actually be....good? Or would it end up being as obnoxious as the series that it was based on? Well, it's time to find out. Consider this your **SPOILER WARNING, **as we dive right to Teen Titans Go To The Movies.

I both love and hate that title.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9WhJyyTtqo

The film begins with a giant balloon monster attack Jump City. And right off the back, I wanna praise the animation of this film. I admit, compared to other tv to film adaptations, it's nothing that _fantastic. However, there is a definite improvement from the series. The backgrounds are very fleshed out and detailed, chock full of little references and Easter eggs here and there. And the animation on the actions scenes (Yes, this film has those) is actually really good and surprisingly fluid. I admit though, this may just be slight bias because I'd pretty much praise any form of theatrical 2D animation now of days because COME ON, HOLLYWOOD! WHY WON'T YOU MAKE MORE 2D FILMS ALREADY!!!

_ We get a scene that manages to, in a very quick and effective manor, establish the films tone as well as show off all five of our main characters and establish there powers. Really impressive stuff. Is what I would say, If it didn't also includes an overly long fart joke, and a rap. Wow, six minutes. Is that a record for "kids film?" Guinness..can we verify?

When the Titans, in typical Titans fashion, fail to stop the villain. This results in the Justice League to show up and stop the villain for them. And NICHOLAS CAGE plays Superman! YES! Okay movie, you get points for that. I'm fair here. That's also another thing this movie has over the series. Not all the side characters are played by Scott Menville or Tara Strong! They have like, MORE than five voice actors to pull from. Amazing, I know. The Justice League chastise the Titans for there general incompetents at everything, and bring up the fact that if they were real heroes they would have there on movie by now.

As I mentioned in my previous reviews, Teen Titans Go! is at it's best when it's meta. And with so many superhero movies now of days, the Teen Titans Go! movie not only acknowledging this trend, and incorporating it in it's plot feels like a natural progression from the type of plots featured in the show. So I think this was a good direction for the film to take. There are a ton of jokes bashing not just DC films, but Marvel and Fox movies as well. And these jokes tend to be the highlights. When I first saw the trailer I was worried that these jokes would quickly get old, seeing how many of them are in the trailer. But in the film proper, they mix it up and spread them out enough to keep them enjoyable. So kudos on that.

The Justice League fly off to go to the world premiere of Batman's newest film and the Titans decide to sneak into the red carpet premiere themselves. As they show up the films director, Jade Wilson (played by Kristen Bell), get's up on stage and starts revealing the slate for the next several DC movies. And just like in real life, there all Batman spin-off properties! Robin sits there in anticipation, hoping that a movie will be announced. But we get this, instead.

See, the thing about this that is funny is that THERE ACTUALLY DOING THIS. I doubt the people making this movie knew that at the time. But neither the less, it's happening, and I have proof.

After a few more trailers Robin ends up jumping on stage thinking that his movie is going to be next only to discover that there is no plans for a Robin movie. All the other heroes laugh him off stage until all the Titans run out of the theater. The other Titans try to consul Robin, but Robin is adamant that if he doesn't get his own superhero movie he'll never be seen as a real hero. Raven suggest that if he wants a movie, first he'll need an arch nemesis. And just as she says that a crime occurs and the Titans go to investigate.

The crime is being committed by none other than Slade, now voiced by Will Arrnet instead of Ron Perlman. And he is there to steal some kind of "mind gem." I like Slade in this movie. Sure, he's absolutely NOTHING like Slade from the original series, but that's okay cause he is his own unique take that fits the tone that the movie is going for. Also Will Arrnet is great casting for a more comedic take on Slade. I mean the creators of the original Teen Titans show said in interviews that they wrote Slade to be an evil Batman. So who'd be better to voice him than Lego Batman himself. My only gripe, and it is a minor one, is that while the film makes a big deal about Slade being a "serious villain" that only a "serious superhero" would have as an arch enemy. But he's only _slightly _less silly than the Titans. And while this isn't that big of a deal since Slade is funny here, it does seem to kinda go against the narrative that Slade is suppose to representing.

Also, when Slade and the Titans meet, and neither seem to know who each other are, with the Titans believing that he is Deadpool. Even though in the series the Titans have acknowledged Slade in the series before, and even battled him before. (off screen, but still.) How does this all fit-

Slade easily defeats the Titans, and mocks them for there incompetence. The Titans go back to there tower where Robin begins to feel sorry for himself, believing that he will never be a real hero. What? _Character conflict?! _The next morning the Titans get Robin and bring him to a "world premiere" of a Robin movie they made for him, complete with a cardboard limo and everything. _What? Something touching...no, that's not right. WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE REAL TITANS!?

_ I do wanna touch on this. In this movie the Titans act very out of character from how they do in the show. But that is actually a good thing, cause the Titans in the series...are awful. In my previous Teen Titans Go! review I talk about how the original series Titans felt like a family, while it felt like the Go! versions just hated each other. But in this movie all the characters are way more likable. (Mostly, we'll get to that later.) And there feels like a real sense of connection between the characters. Sure there still goofy, and they make fun of each other, but they really do feel like a family. And this goes a LONG way with making me feel invested and actually rooting for our heroes to succeed in there goals.

Robin watches the film, but turns it off when the movie makes fun of his "baby hands" (A running "joke" from the series.) The other Titans try to get him to finish the film but he's uninterested. _Man, I'm sure that won't be brought up again. In the films climax when the characters are at their lowest point! _Robin is hard set on believing that he'll never be seen seriously as a hero, but the other Titans encourage him to buck up and head down to Warner Bros. and DEMAND that they make a movie about him. And they do so in song.

This seems like a good of a time as any to bring up that this movie is a musical. Possibly the first superhero musical? The song themselves, while nothing THAT amazing, are a step up from most of the songs in the series. i.e) They actually seem like they were written. (And that's not me being hyperbolic. A lot of the songs in Teen Titans Go! are made up on the spot! Look it up!) But what I really appreciate is how for several of the songs there is an art style shift, and that's really neat to see. Especially with a theatrical budget.

The Titans go down to Warner Bros and go up to Jade Wilson and demand for a film. But she turns them down, saying that she would only make a movie about them if they were the last heroes on Earth. And that's exactly what the Titans decide to do! They decide to use time travel to go back in time and undo all the other superheroes origin stories so they'll be the only superheros.

Yeah, this is the direction we're going. It's Spongebob: Sponge Out of Water all over again.

And they can't use there time machine from the series cause it's "broken." So Raven just magic ups some time tricycles. WHATS THE POINT OF THE TIME MACHINE EVEN BEING BROKEN THEN IF RAVEN CAN GET MAKE NEW ONES NO PROBLEM? They could of made some joke where they like, steal Booster Gold's time machine at least. You just wanted a dumb "Back to the Future" reference didn't you? DIDN'T YOU! And while playing "Take on Me" makes me forgive you A LITTLE BIT, this whole situation is still stupid.

In fact this whole "bit" is still stupid. And I say "bit" cause this whole time traveling section contributes nothing to the plot, and is only like, ten minutes long. The Titans go back in time to undo all the superhero's origins. (And end up murdering Aquaman as a child.) They come back to the present to see that villains have taken over the world. And then they go back and undo everything they already undid. (Including blowing up Krypton and frickin shoving Bruce Wayne's parents into Crime Alley as young Bruce watches!)

_That's his adoptive grandma he's watching get shot down... _ And I know you can say "Oh, it's comedy" or whatever, but this movie was actually doing a good job making me like the Titans. And maybe it's just because I've always had issues with the "main characters nonchalantly murder people" trope. But considering that this whole time travel thing literally adds nothing outside of stretching the film up _just _enough to reach ninety minuets, I can say it does nothing but hurt the film.

Also, Baby Superman gyrate his infant crotch while pointing at it, in this film aimed at children.

As someone who's defended the Powerpuff Girl reboot's twerking scene numerous time I suppose it be hypocritical to complain. So instead, I'm just going to list movies that have a lower rotten tomato score than Teen Titans Go to the Movies. For...unrelated reasons. Ahem

_Lilo and Stitch. The Kung-Fu Panda Trilogy. Princess and the Frog. Tangled. Frozen. Coraline. The Lego Batman Movie.... _

Anyway after all that, the Titans go off to try to stop Slade from committing another robbery. And this time the Titans are sure they'll beat him. We get an actually good fight scene and some Raven-Beast Boy ship tease that comes out of nowhere and contributes nothing. I know it's a thing from the show, but nothing in this movie setting it up. And it doesn't lead to anything. The Titans are able to get the "Mind Gem" that Slade stole earlier away from him and they put it in the Titans tower vault, but Slade still escapes.

But the next day, the Titans are suddenly seen as real heroes for stopping Slade's plan. They head back to the film set and are greeted with a much warmer welcome. Jade decides that she does want to make a Teen Titans movie after all, and Robin is ecstatic. However, the other Titans don't take the gig as seriously and all go goof off, getting Robin into hot water with Jade.

It all comes to a head when the other Titans see the Justice League building some kind of doomsday device, and assume that Jade is up to no good. Which is dumb because they have no reason to assume that it isn't just a prop for the film. But whatever. However, Jade reveals that this doomsday device is actually just a machine to launch there new streaming service. The device would broadcast DC films across all screens all over the word, with the Teen Titans movie being the first film they would release for the service.

You're telling me that Jades launching a DC superhero based streaming service, and the only thing it will have at launch is Teen Titans? Pfft! _That's totally ridiculous, and completely unrealistic..._DC Universe didn't have Titans at launch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJF7k5cFQEQ

Jade gets angry and decides to fire the Titans. But says that she would be willing to make a solo Robin movie, since he didn't do anything wrong. Robin chooses to go with Jade and leave his friends behind. I admit, this is where the movie does start to become a bit predictable. You've seen this story arc before, the friends vs fame thing, and it goes exactly where you think it's gonna go. But I do like how there isn't a huge fight like you'd see in other movies. Both sides are upset that it's come to this, but clearly don't wanna hurt the other. Again, outside the earlier genocide of an entire planet, the Titans are pretty likable in this film.

Robin and Jade begin working on the film, and it ends up being everything Robin wanted. But he's still beginning to feel some regret. However, Jade convinces him to buckle through it and film the last scene. A reenactment of Robin putting Slade's mind gem in the Titans vault. But right as he's about to enter the code a stage light knocks him out. He awakens and decides to finish the scene anyway. Jade telling him to make the scene look authentic. And again, it's pretty obvious where this is going.

Robin puts in the code and the safe opens. Jade took Robin to the real tower while he was knocked out and reveals herself to be Slade in a Lupin III style latex mask! Okay, maybe that last part wasn't too predictable. But even ignoring the name JADE WILSON, It was telegraphed pretty obviously that Jade was evil since the scene where she made Robin chose fame over his friends.

But hey, it's still a better twist villain than Frozen.

Slade steals the mind gem and plans on using it in tandem with Robins film and the streaming service to mind control the entire planet to do his bidding. He handcuffs Robin to the tower walls and activates a series of bombs, leaves him to die. But Robin escapes thanks to his baby hands. A twist that is just as unexpected as it is stupid. The tower is destroyed but Robin survives, and realizes the error of his ways. He calls the other Titans and all is forgiven because they are a team.

The Titans now head to the film studio to stops Slade's plan, but they are unable to stop him before he uses Robin's movie to mind control the entire Justice League. Robin goes after Slade while the rest of the Titans have to face down the Justice League. There's a short action scene that could of been longer in my personal opinion. Then Raven just uses her OP magic powers to trap the entire Justice League in a portal.

**NOW YOUR THINKING WITH PORTALS! **That's..that's the meme, right? I-I haven't ever played_ Portal._

Robin confronts Slade, but Slade surrounds Robin with monitors all playing his movie. Robin becomes tempted to view his movie and gets mind controlled. In a nice (though juries still out of if it was intentional) callback to the original series, Slade commands Robin to attack his friends and he complies. But wait, remember that obvious Chekhov's gun from earlier in the film? It's time to pull the trigger! The Titans play the movie they made for Robin, but this time they get to the end where they all talk about how much Robin means to them as a leader. The power of friendship frees Robin from Slade's mind control.

But Slade has a mech now! This was not set up at all, but who cares at this point. _Mechs are cool damn it! _Slade once again mocks the Titans, asking how a team as goofy as them could possibly stop him now. But Robin and the rest of the team realize that they don't need to be "legitimized" or seen as "real heroes." They just need to stop the bad guy in there own way. We get a reprise of the rap song from the beginning as the Titans defeat Slade in their own silly way. They destroy the mind control device and the Justice League go back to normal. The movie ends with the Titans realizing that they truly are heroes and...wait a minute...something is off here. It's 2018...and this movie doesn't end with a dance party! Teen Titans Go!, the show that is known for random dance sequences, is actually one of the few modern films not to end with a dance party ending?! What the hell?

But we do get our post credits scene!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F06HJTyB17c

Is this it? Is this the preview for Teen Titans Season 6?!

Not quite! Rather it's just setting up an upcoming "Teen Titans Go! vs Teen Titans" crossover, that's rumored to be heading direct to DVD with a new crew working behind it. You what that means right? It isn't over. My job isn't done yet. There's still more to talk about! THE RIDE NEVER ENDS, BABY! I'M GONNA KEEP TALKING ABOUT TEEN TITANS GO! UNTIL THE DAY I DIE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwDIZT3XbjQ

While Teen Titans Go To The Movies didn't do that great at the box office, the film had a low enough budget to end up making a pretty substantial profit. Which is more than most DCEU films can say. I doubt we'll see the Titans on the big screen anytime soon, but it wasn't a bomb critically or financial. But what is my final verdict here?

The film in a lot of ways solves a lot of problems I had with the series. For one, the Titans are all a lot more likable, which goes a long way in helping me get invested. And while the show seems to conflate "conflict" with "serious" this film manages to have a plot and story while still keeping it's comedic tone the entire way through. More technical issues the show had like animation and reusing voice actors are near non-existent here. And the film manages to do what I think episodes like "The Return of Slade" tried and failed to do. It celebrates it's own silliness and imperfections, but does it in a way that isn't just "attacking the haters." Like I said, Teen Titans Go! is best when it's meta. But the film has it's problems too. The plot points at times can be kinda predictable. There are a lot of scenes that really don't add anything to the story beyond stalling for time. And there are a lot of points where the humor falls back into the same loud, juvenile, mean spirited jokes that the series is known for. Also, while Robin is my favorite of the Titans, I would of liked the other characters to have a larger role. For a film that's whole climax is hinged on the idea of a Robin solo film being a bad idea, but that's what the film can kinda feel like at time.

Overall, the film is about what I thought it would be. It's okay. It's up there with the best of the episodes of the show, but not really going that far beyond it. (In fact, I'd say their are a few episodes from the main series that are better than this film.) It's good, but I wouldn't call it 91% on rotten tomatoes good. If you like Teen Titans Go! you'll like this movie if you're willing to put up with a little more drama. If you hate Teen Titans Go! you'll like the movie if you are able to just turn your brain off and put up with some more childish jokes here and there. And if you can't do either of those things...watch Lego Batman. It's better than this film anyway, regardless of what rotten tomato says, and has a similar vibe about it.

And with that, I can finally put Teen Titans Go! to rest**. For now! **What did you think of the movie? Was it "You're new favorite film?" or was it just as bad as the many people said it would be? I'd love to hear your thought in the comments down bellow. Fav, follow, or comment if you liked my review or have a suggestion on what I should talk about next. And tune in next week as deviantcember continues! Have a great day.

(I do not own any of the images or videos in this review all credit goes to there original owners.)

https://www.deviantart.com/joyofcrimeart/journal/Teen-Titans-Go-To-The-Movies-REVIEW-774742614 DA Link

#Teen Titans Go To The Movies #DC Universe #Teen Titans #Teen Titans Go #review

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eddycurrents · 6 years ago

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For the week of 19 November 2018

Quick Bits:

Aquaman #42 is a tie-in to the “Drowned Earth” event, following on his skewering at the hands of Poseidon in Justice League #11. Navigating his way through a dead realm is kind of a weird way for Dan Abnett to close out his run on the series, but it’s still a satisfying issue. Great art from Lan Medina, Vicente Cifuentes, and Gabe Eltaeb.

| Published by DC Comics

Batman #59 continues the “Tyrant Wing” arc with Batman acting a little unhinged on Penguin’s tip that Bane is running Arkham from the shadows, continuing his criminal empire to kill throughout Gotham. It’s interesting to see Batman alienate his allies again in his pursuit for vengeance.

| Published by DC Comics

Bettie Page #1 begins a new volume setting up an alien adventure in Britain, building upon the previous series but not requiring it as reading, from David Avallone, Julius Ohta, Ellie Wright, and Taylor Esposito. Bettie Page, paranormal investigator, is still a weird but entertaining remit and this opening issue does a good job of continuing in that vein as Bettie travels to England to investigate the Queen having been abducted by aliens. Ohta’s art also just keeps getting better and better.

| Published by Dynamite

Black Badge #4 employs a unique approach to flashbacks, with a solid spot colour in otherwise black and white image from Tyler and Hilary Jenkins. It’s a neat technique that really makes the scenes stand out.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Bloodborne #7 continues to question the realities and relationship of religion and science, even as the city’s fate becomes bleaker and the disease threatens more and more citizens. While I think I preferred the existential terror of the first arc more, this is still highly enjoyable.

| Published by Titan

Cold Spots #4 delivers a little bit of explanation as to what Grace has been brought to the island to do. I say a little bit, since there’s still a lot left unanswered in this penultimate issue. Gorgeous artwork from Mark Torres. You can almost feel the coldness coming off the pages.

| Published by Image

Cover #3 is some amazing storytelling. Somehow Brian Michael Bendis, David Mack, Zu Orzu, and Carlos M. Mangual are layering more and more into the narrative with each subsequent issue in such a brilliant way that you barely notice how many disparate pieces are being presented. It’s like an intricate tapestry being woven before us. This issue even has a special sequence illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz of a fantasy story I desperately want to read the rest of.

| Published by DC Comics / Jinxworld

Crimson Lotus #1 begins a new series from John Arcudi, Mindy Lee, Michelle Madsen, and Clem Robins giving an origin story to Yumiko Daimio, one of Lobster Johnson’s enemies and grandmother to the BPRD’s favourite jaguar. It’s good, and an appearance early on from Rasputin just further shows some of the intricacies of the Hellboy universe.

| Published by Dark Horse

Devil Within #2 keeps the creepy factor up as Samantha and Michelle try to get help for Michelle’s possible possession. Excellent moody atmosphere provided by the art from Maan House and Dee Cunniffe.

| Published by Black Mask

Doctor Strange #8 begins “The Price” but it’s really just a continuation of the “Two Doctors” arc, building off the corruption of Strange’s former student. Mark Waid gives us some very interesting developments here regarding who is targeting him, along with Kamma finding out something Stephen wishes she wouldn’t, and the revelation of the location of one of the other gems from Cyttorak that were revealed to exist in X-Men Black.

| Published by Marvel

Evolution #12 ends the second arc with some lies, half-truths, and compelling confessions. The theme of change and mutation that has been evident since the first issue really comes to the fore this issue as some huge changes occur for the cast.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Exorsisters #2 gives more background to how the sisters came about through a deal with infernal powers by their mother. The art from Gisèle Lagacé and Pete Pantazis really is a huge draw.

| Published by Image

High Heaven #3 spends some time with Heather as she deals, kind of, with the loss of both David and Ben. Very weird things continue to go on in heaven with the usual great art from Greg Scott and Andy Troy. The Hashtag: Danger back-up remains funny with the lengths that the team goes to in order to save one of their own, only to have her kill herself again. And the prose pieces nicely round out the entire package.

| Published by Ahoy

Hot Lunch Special #4 delivers the penultimate chapter to not just one of the best crime stories I’ve read in years, but also just one of the best stories I’ve read in years period. Eliot Rahal, Jorge Fornés, and Taylor Esposito have really got something special here, with intriguing characters, an ever twisting plot, and some incredible visual. The layouts for this issue, breaking down the pacing, are just wonderful.

| Published by AfterShock

Immortal Hulk #9 is another staggeringly good issue, with a change for the Absorbing Man as he’s tapped to go up against the Hulk. While I am a little sad he didn’t stay legitimate following his redemption arc in Black Bolt, his development here from Al Ewing is pretty intriguing. Also love the art as the regular team of Joe Bennett, Ruy José, and Paul Mounts trade off pages with guest artist Martin Simmonds. The former illustrating the Hulk and the latter Creel before alternating in the battle between the two.

| Published by Marvel

Infinity 8 #7 begins the third loop “The Gospel According to Emma” from Lewis Trondheim, Fabien Vehlmann, and Olivier Balez. This reboot of the timeline starts off incredibly wrong as the Marshal approached to assist this time turns on the crew and effectively strands them in this timeline. There’s some interesting bits of grave robbers stealing treasure and overtones of the Marshal’s religion.

| Published by Lion Forge / Magnetic Collection

Infinity Wars: Ghost Panther #1 begins the final of these two-issue “Infinity Warps” mash-ups. Like the rest, it is incredibly well done. Jed MacKay, Jefte Palo, Jim Campbell, and Joe Sabino craft a tale merging Ghost Rider and Black Panther, seamlessly blending the two into something magical. The art from Palo and Campbell may well be the best of any of these minis and the art on all of them has been very impressive. Love the design for Zarathos.

| Published by Marvel

Judge Dredd: Toxic #2 has the violence and toxicity spillover as the explosion at one of the waste facilities causes increased fear and tension amongst the scrubbers hired to keep Mega-City One functioning. Paul Jenkins is crafting a tale full of the problems that come with xenophobia and the art from Marco Castiello, Vincenzo Acunzo, and Jason Millet just makes it visceral.

| Published by IDW

Justice League #12 has some really nice art from Frazer Irving for this penultimate chapter of the “Drowned Earth” event. Also, a very interesting revelation from Poseidon when it comes to the invading sea gods.

| Published by DC Comics

Justice League Dark #5 kicks off a new arc dealing with the ramifications of the first one, “The Witching Hour” crossover, and previous unrevealed tales of what happened with Detective Chimp after inheriting the Oblivion Bar. James Tynion IV gives some nice nods to the original Shadowpact series aided by beautiful art from Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, and Adriano Lucas.

| Published by DC Comics

The Last Space Race #2 introduces us to another member of the team, giving us a bit of his backstory, and largely making us want to drop him into a deep dark hole and forget that he’s there. Peter Calloway does a wonderful job of making Roger Freeman thoroughly unlikable, it’s kind of astonishing.

| Published by AfterShock

Lightstep #1 is a very different kind of sci-fi tale, mixing almost the feel of the decadence of Rome under Nero or Caligula and the high concept science fiction of a society that measures the class of its citizens by genetic similarity to their progenitor, and thereby assigns how “fast” they live. As I say, different from Miloš Slavković, Mirko Topalski, and Andrej Bunjac. Slavković’s art reminds me a bit Pasqual Ferry mixed with John Watkiss. The story itself somewhat reminds me of Watkiss’ work on John Jakes’ Mulkon Empire. On top of that, it’s part of a broader video game/media franchise from Eipix Entertainment, of which this looks like only the first volley (a novel and video game are forthcoming).

| Published by Dark Horse

The Lollipop Kids #2 continues to be a fantastic and fabulous comic from Adam & Aidan Glass, Diego Yapur, DC Alonso, and Sal Cipriano. The art alone from Yapur and Alonso would be worth the price of admission, but the characters, setting, and overall plot just elevate this beyond a typical kids fantasy type deal.

| Published by AfterShock

Low Road West #3 gets significantly stranger and much more surreal as reality seems to be growing thinner. We’re still not any closer to really understanding what’s truly going on, but it doesn’t really matter. Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Flaviano, Miquel Muerto, and Jim Campbell are telling one hell of a compelling story.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Mae #10 has Mae deal with some stuff in our world before stocking up and returning back to Cimrterén to resume her search for her father. Gorgeous artwork as always from Gene Ha and Wes Hartman.

| Published by Lion Forge / Roar

Marvel Knights #2 sees Matthew Rosenberg and Nico Henrichon join Donny Cates for this chapter, giving a bit of back story on how Banner roped in Castle into searching out the various heroes and leads to a confrontation with Elektra. Still no closer to understanding what happened here, but it does get weirder with a hallucinatory Karen Page. Henrichon’s art is just perfect for telling this story.

| Published by Marvel

Middlewest #1 is a magical debut of this new series from Skottie Young, Jorge Corona, Jean-Francois Beaulieu, and Nate Piekos. It’s a fantasy grounded in the reality of growing up hard in Middle America, with Abel dealing with an abusive father, while just trying to be a kid. But there’s a talking fox and devastating sentient storms. Rather inventive stuff all around. I’m also getting the impression that Jorge Corona should really be a household name. Between No. 1 with a Bullet, Old Man Jack, and now this, he’s been killing it recently.

| Published by Image

Night Moves #1 is a pretty great debut from VJ Boyd, Jordan Boyd, Clay McCormack, Mike Spicer, and Shawn DePasquale. It’s a gritty crime drama with occult overtones, but most of the weirdness is just simmering under the surface so far as the protagonists work to find out what kind of mess they’re in. McCormack and Spicer’s art really capture the feel of the seediness of the story well.

| Published by IDW

Optimus Prime #25 brings it all to a close, with a flashback through Optimus’ life and little vignettes of the various Transformers from John Barber, Kei Zama, Josh Burcham, and Tom B. Long. I’m really going to miss this world.

| Published by IDW

Pearl #4 is probably the most stereotypical Bendis issue to date, but the dialogue doesn’t tip over into the ridiculous territory. Most of this issue is a conversation between Pearl and tattoo boy, but at least it’s interesting conversation and not random pop culture references repeated as questions.

| Published by DC Comics / Jinxworld

Pestilence: A Story of Satan #5 gives a bittersweet end to this story, filled with loss and sacrifice. It’s kind of fitting considering how bleak both this and the first series have been. Wonderful art from Oleg Okunev, Guy Major, Michael Garland, and Marko Lesko.

| Published by AfterShock

The Punisher #4 may well be one of the bloodiest, most violent mainline 616 Marvel Universe Punisher issues yet as Jigsaw and an assortment of Hydra goons attempt to kidnap Frank from prison. Matthew Rosenberg and Szymon Kudranski are continuing to keep this book moving at a breakneck pace, like an action movie that barely takes any moments to breathe.

| Published by Marvel

Quantum & Woody! #12 brings this volume to a close, with an interesting character study of the brothers at the hands of GATE and X-O Manowar.

| Published by Valiant

Rumble #9 brings “Things Remote” to an end with an epic battle between the Esu and Rathraq’s friends, leading to an interesting realization for Rathraq and what he wants out of life. Stunningly beautiful art from David Rubín and Dave Stewart.

| Published by Image

Shadowman #9 continues the “Rag and Bone” arc as Alyssa and Jack confront Sandria Darque. Gorgeous artwork from Renato Guedes, Eric Battle, and Ulises Arreola.

| Published by Valiant

Shuri #2 continues the search for Black Panther, while back on Earth the women of Wakanda form a council to figure out how to maintain and administer the nation while he’s missing. Definitely some interesting concepts and character points from Nnedi Okorafor. Phenomenal artwork and layouts from Leonardo Romero and Jordie Bellaire.

| Published by Marvel

Spider-Force #2 is probably one of the bleakest, mean-spirited stories I’ve read in a while. This isn’t a bad thing, but the story’s a bit of a downer as the nature of an irradiated world without hope seems to permeate everything, including characters like Jessica Drew who are normally at least a bit more level-headed. Priest is writing a very dark story, with some complicated characters like Peter’s granddaughter who grew up in the Old Man Logan universe and a Peter Parker who looks like he was abused by Uncle Ben.

| Published by Marvel

Spider-Geddon #4 kind of spoils the need to read Spider-Force #3 out in three weeks, which just kind of adds to the downer feel of that series. This issue turns darker itself with a bevy of betrayals. Christos Gage has kind of stacked the deck against the spiders, I wonder how they’re going to get out of it in the finale.

| Published by Marvel

Stellar #6 concludes the series and it is incredibly messed up. The conflict between Zenith and Stellar is bizarre and perverse, but I don’t really want to go into it more because spoilers would ruin its impact. Joe Keatinge, Bret Blevins, and Rus Wooton have done an amazing job with this series. Highly recommended.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Sukeban Turbo #1 is another series originally published by Glénat Editions in France, translated into English for North American markets. It’s a mix of teenage rebellion, crime, and following a boy band from Sylvain Runberg, Victor Santos, and Shawn Lee. The art from Santos is worth it on its own, very impressive layouts and storytelling.

| Published by IDW

Summit #10 kicks off the third arc for the series and like most of the Catalyst Prime series recently it undergoes a bit of a change in status quo. Val finds out that she hasn’t been hallucinating, but hearing the voice of another of her team that was essentially vaporized during the event, before having her life turned upside down as the government starts hunting her. Amy Chu continues writing the series, while she’s joined by Marika Cresta fully for the art here.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

Tony Stark: Iron Man #6 begins “Stark Realities” and the launch of Tony’s eScape virtual reality game. Dan Slott, with a script assist from Jeremy Whitley, does a great job of making it feel chaotic at launch, with some ordinary and extraordinary problems occurring. The pissed off griefer is hilarious.

| Published by Marvel

Web of Venom: Carnage Born #1 is an interesting reinterpretation of Carnage’s origin to fit within the new mythology being crafted in the current Venom series, also building off the recent two-part arc there with the Maker, from Donny Cates, Danilo S. Beyruth, Cris Peter, and Clayton Cowles. This is more very entertaining outgrowth of the Marvel Universe from Cates and gives us a quite possibly deadlier Carnage.

| Published by Marvel

West Coast Avengers #4 concludes the first arc in fairly straightforward fashion as the team deals with BRODOK and the women transformed into giant monsters. Some nice little character moments from Kelly Thompson and great art from Stefano Caselli and Tríona Farrell.

| Published by Marvel

The Whispering Dark #2 continues its existential and moral crisis as the squad commits war crimes as they struggle to survive. There’s something off about how everything is happening, in how Christofer Emgård is writing the narration, but I’m not sure if it’s just the in-story reason of the go-pills. It feels like the squad is already in Hell and being judged.

| Published by Dark Horse

Other Highlights: American Carnage #1, Archie #700, Black AF: Widows & Orphans #4, Black Hammer: Age of Doom #7, Burnouts #3, Days of Hate #10, Dejah Thoris #10, Dick Tracy: Dead or Alive #2, East of West #40, Encounter #8, GI Joe: A Real American Hero - Silent Option #2, Go-Bots #1, Jughead: The Hunger #10, The Long Con #5, Love & Rockets #6, Lucifer #2, Lumberjanes #56, Mars Attacks #2, The New World #5, Olivia Twist #3, Project Superpowers #4, Rick & Morty Presents Pickle Rick #1, Smooth Criminals #1, Star Wars #57, Star Wars: Solo #2, TMNT: Urban Legends #7, Underwinter: Queen of Spirits, Xena: Warrior Princess #10

Recommended Collections: 24 Panels, Accell - Volume 3: Turf Battles, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows - Volume 4: Are You Okay, Annie?, Crude - Volume 1, Dark Souls Omnibus, Delta 13, Dungeons & Dragons: Evil at Baldur’s Gate, Flavor, Immortal Hulk - Volume 1: Or is he Both?, Justice League - Volume 1: The Totality, Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man - Volume 4: Coming Home, Resident Alien - Volume 5: An Alien in New York, Spidey: School’s Out, Stray Bullets: Sunshine & Roses - Volume 3, Unnatural - Volume 1: Awakening, Venom - Volume 1: Rex, The X-Files: Case Files - Volume 1

d. emerson eddy wonders if there’s going to be any light in our real darkest hour.

#This Week in Comics

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abunchofbadchoices · 7 years ago

Text

Michael's Song

HSS Michael x MC (Jordan) in Midnight Sun AU

*Disclaimer: Most of the lines I got from the actual movie the Midnight Sun and all the rights belongs to the creators and writers. This is merely a converted fan fiction*

Part Two

"Maria Flores." The principal announced.

The audience erupted into cheers and applause, the principal shaking hands with the Student Council President/Valedictorian as he presents her diploma and Maria Flores bowed proudly to the crowd.

His name is to be called next on stage. Michael stepped forward, not knowing exactly what to feel and to be honest, he just wants this whole thing to be over and get the hell out of Cedar Cove.

He looks behind him and sees a timid blonde girl whose name he barely remember from the classes they shared. Emily Hawkins? Emma? Going farther, he caught some of his teammates' eyes from the line and they raised their fist.

"Go Tigers!" Caleb cheered. Michael smirks.

"Michael Reginald Harrison." Principal Hughs called from the stage.

A ruckus of cheers and hollers came from both the Varsity team and the cheerleading squad. Even some of his 'outcast' friends-- Morgan, Koh and Wes-- joined in on the noise.

"Yeah, Michael!" They yelled.

"Congratulations, Michael." The principal told him with her usual fond smile.

Michael shakes her hand and takes the ribboned diploma from her then raised it in the air, seeing both his parents sitting on the bleachers along with the other, proud smiles on their faces for once. Not the constant disappointment he sees from them all the time.

The graduation continued, unaware of another student, a certain girl named Jordan, has been watching the whole thing live on their local city news.

Jordan smiles on the screen. There he is. He must be famous, she thought, seeing as a lot of students cheered for his name.

▪️▪️▪️

Jordan wakes up around nine in the evening. Her room shrouded in darkness with only a glimpse of the light down the streets.

There is a noisy honking sound coming from the outside and she gets up quickly to check what it was. Down outside, the streets is littered with teenagers walking in groups, chatting excitedly among themselves as they passed.

"I can't believe this is happening!" The driver of an SUV yelled at the others, honking the car.

They must be the students that graduated earlier that day, just like her. Only the difference, they appear to be heading somewhere fun and exciting.

With a sigh, Jordan showered and gets dress before walking down the stairs. The house appears to be empty at first, then she goes down the hall and into a dark room where her father had been setting up a set of photographs.

"Ooh. That's a good one!" She said, watching her dad hung a grayscale stolen shot of herself to a cable.

"Something weird's going on right here." Scott pointed on a spot where her face is.

She punched his arm, pouting, then looks around the dark photography room. Since waking up, Jordan had an idea of going somewhere other than her room, but she wasn't sure her dad will be up for it considering he rarely let her go anywhere by herself.

"Hey, Dad, uh..." She bites her lip nervously. "I was wondering if I could go play with my new beautiful present at the train station tonight..." Earlier, her Dad gave her a present...the same guitar her mom used to play for her years ago.

Scott turns on the light, looking down his watch with a frown. "It's 10:00. Why can't Maria just come over? You could play here for us."

Jordan groans. "Maria's busy with her family. And, Dad, I love playing for you-- I really do, but I also need to get used to playing in front of other people. Please, please, please! Fred will be there. He'll watch out for me-- And I graduated today! Yay!" She wrings her hands in a faux festive way. "Isn't that the American tradition, to extend my curfew?"

Her father looks up the ceiling, trying hard not to grin. "Okay, I'll extend your curfew one hour--"

She squeals in delight, wrapping her father in a hug as she jumps up and down her feet.

"-- which means midnight, okay? Hey, and text me right when you get there, or I'm not just gonna call Fred, I'm gonna come down there. It will be so embarrassing it will become urban legend on why kids should stick to their curfew!"

"I love you!" Jordan shoots finger guns at her dad before disappearing out the door.

▪️▪️▪️

Michael managed to get himself his own bonfire.

The rest of the party has been in full swing at the distance, their classmates dancing, playing and laughing on different bonfires surrounding the beach.

He takes a swig of his beer. Michael had been watching Caleb, Julian and Wes having fun with Payton and the other girls from cheer squad.

To be honest, being here is as much fun as waiting for the graduation ceremony to end. Michael didn't want to be there, but unfortunately, he has a group of athletic friends who practically hauled him out of his house a couple hours ago.

"Dude, is this place--"

Michael shoots the guy a serious stare, then watch with a satisfied smirk as the guy rush as far away from him as he can.

He takes another swig.

From their bonfire, Michael noticed Wes heading his way. Julian and Caleb jostling behind him.

"Hey, don't do that thing." Wes pointed out when they reached his spot.

"What thing?" He sighs.

"That." Julian shrugged.

Wes pats his back. "I mean, you look all sad and it makes me sad."

The three guys chuckle, obviously had drunk too much already.

Julian offered him another can of beer. "Please, just chug this beer and come hang out!"

"Dude, you dodged a bullet, man." Caleb grins. He was probably talking about his failed application to Berkeley, where Michael had been hoping to go after high school and escape from this town. "You were gonna be up at the ass crack of dawn every morning, taking tests, nowhere near the beach. And now, we get to do this..." The guy gestures around them. "Our whole lives!"

Oh, for the love of God, please no. Michael says inside his head. He stands to face the others with sarcastic snorts. "I forgot, doing this our whole lives, it's way better than a full ride to Berkeley."

Julian turns to whisper conspiratorially. "Giselle, on three o'clock."

As expected, the girl indeed went to join them, her gold hoop earrings swing on the side of her face. Giselle gave her a dazzling smile. "Michael..." She says his name in a sing-song way. "You're in trouble."

"What did I do this time?" He played along.

"You didn't get me a drink."

"I didn't know you were thirsty."

"Now you do!" Giselle suddenly pushed him on the left shoulder, making him wince, and her mouth dropped open in surprised at what she did. "I'm sorry!"

"It's okay." Michael grumbled.

"Is that the bad one?" The girl lifts the sleeves of his black shirt, revealing the long jagged scar on his shoulder. "Well, now that you're not playing, maybe you'll have a little extra time for me."

Ah, there it is.

Michael and Giselle grew up close in the small town of Cedar Cove, since Kindergarten actually. For a long time, they were best of friends. Going all over town, recording epic videos together. That was them.

Yeah, typical high school story... The jock and the cheerleading captain getting cozy all the time. But at some point, Michael got tired of everything. He started missing out on parties, spending lunch breks away from everyone. The injury was only the last straw.

"I also have some extra time for you." Wes quipped. "And I'm not playing ball."

Caleb nudged him on the ribs. "You were never playing ball, dude."

"Giselle! Get over here, bitch!" Her friends called out.

"Hold on!" Giselle touchs Michael's arm, her voice turns soft. "You're coming to my graduation party, right?"

Michael nods his head, reluctantly. "Yeah, I think so."

"Good."

And with that, the cheerleader walks away, her hips swinging along with the music.

The guys watch her before turning back to him, goofy smiles on their dumb faces.

He reached down on the bench, picking up his dark-green bomber jacket and puts it on quickly.

"What...what are you doing?" Caleb asked, confused.

"Dodging another bullet."

Wes stepped forward, alarmed. "Come on, Dude! It's our graduation night."

Michael backs away from them, arms up. "I'm not feeling it, boys. I'll see you later."

▪️▪️▪️

The knock she did on the glass window made the man look up from his desk.

"Hey, yo, Fred." Jordan greets.

The middle-aged train station officer smiles in delight at the sight of her. "I was wondering if you were gonna show up tonight."

"What, and disappoint all my fans?" She asked, pointing on the empty lot surrounding the ticket booth.

The man let out a hearty laugh, then she waves over and walked to the small bench on the corner where she always sits to play.

Jordan pulled out the guitar from the case then sets her journal on the space beside her. She knows exactly what to play, and it had been the only song she wanted to play first on her new guitar.

She played a few warm-up notes first, then smoothly gliding her fingers through the strings as the first few notes of the songs plays out. It was a song she had been writing lately.

"While you're fast asleep, counting your sheep,

I'm breathing...

I'll be up all night, playing through this twilight dream

Cause all my life I have been patiently waiting,

For lights to dim to fulfill my destiny...

I'll keep reachin'... As far as I can till break of day

I'll keep reaching..."

Jordan didn't even noticed but the last trip for the night just stopped in front of her and passengers steps off one by one.

"The light of my life will find its way

I know if I reach too far I may not ever recover..."

People passed her by, dropping coins and bills on the open guitar case, but the smiles on their faces was enough for Jordan to keep the music on.

"But I know the stars, Ain't all I'm meant to discover,

So I'll keep reaching..."

It was a rather chilly night. Michael shoves his hands into the pocket of his jacket and strolls briskly down the streets, passing by the train station which is still open for the late night commuters. He was almost around the corner when he sees it. A girl. She was sitting in front of the ticket booth as she plays guitar, the movement of her mouth indicates singing but from the distance, he couldn't hear what she was singing.

To be continued...

▪️▪️▪️

Note: the song title is Reaching by Bella Thorne.

#playchoices #choices #hss #hss book 1 #hss book 2 #hss book 3 #maria flores #michael harrison #michael x mc #caleb mitchell #wes porter #julian castillo #giselle

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