#she is someone who is obviously fake and obviously hiding something dark actively choosing to be light when the dark feels so inherent

[seancekitsch]

Barefoot

warnings: angst, communication issues, talking about relapsing, addiction, drugs and alc, not overtly mentioned but like these characters are like this bc of trauma and repression, spoilers for the movie the graduate which i severely misunderstood as a kid, dirty fuckin smut

When you wake up, Klaus isn’t there. Just like yesterday. Just like the day before yesterday.  Or the day before that. The bed is cold even with you in the sheets. Light streams into the window but it does nothing to help. The studio is drafty and it will only get colder in the winter months, and those socks are already coming in handy. Rent is due soon and while you’d be surprised if Klaus left you alone with the lease, you’d couldn’t be sure. People had left you before, but Klaus is the one you wouldn't know how to cope without. His tea from four days ago is still sitting on the bistro table, cold and settling, surely disgusting but you’re afraid that if you touch it, if you clean it up, well then. Klaus wouldn’t return. Klaus would be gone from this apartment . Vanishing himself from this studio and this life like one of his ghosts. The tea would evaporate eventually or grow mold but it was all you had to hold onto for him to come back. Maybe it all wasn’t real. Maybe it was a trick of your imagination. Maybe you’re the ghost. Maybe you’re just a trick of his imagination that he got tired of playing with and-

Fuck. That’s when you realize you’re in a bad way. 

What do normal people do when they feel things getting bad again? Do other people feel the backslide and just somersault into it by refusing to clean or get out of bed? By dealing with the pitiful look from their boss by buying absinthe on the way home from work? God, the look Margie gave you. It killed you. By convincing themselves that all of this good they just had was just a Belle Reve and you were Blanche about to be taken right back to the clinic? You actively gag as you sip from the bottle starting around noon, the sweetness at first being a fun distraction, now actively grossing you out as you continued to drain it. Absinthe wasn't actually the plan, it was just there, it was just strong. Now you regret it and wish you got something you even liked. At least this is the worst of it, though. Before you would have fully slid back into your old ways and not thought twice. 

You wonder if there was something about your role in what transpired, if there was something you could have done or not done to change the outcome. Could you have kissed him and shut him up so he never would have said ‘I love you’? Could you have done something other than shake your head ‘no’ out of panic and start to cry? Could you have just said it fucking back because you mean it too? Could you have not continued to panic and said something along the lines of “I’m not a replacement for Dave” when Klaus tried to say it again? Could you have said or done anything just to stop him from hastily dressing himself and leaving in the middle of the night, leaving you there silently crying on the bed? If he were anyone else, you would have said it back immediately, because if it were anyone but him, words would be something you just threw around aimlessly. They're just words. You'd said it a million times to your ex-fiance. If this were anyone else, you would have said it back immediately, and probably relapsed the next morning in panic. But it isn't anyone else. Its Klaus fucking Hargreeves. It's the guy from across the hall at the clinic. It's the guy who helped you steal socks, then a table to eat dinner at. It's the guy you literally have traveled across time and space for. And you did love him. It wasn't just a phrase. You knew that for a while now, but part of you would have liked to keep it hidden forever. Because once you say it, the bubble bursts. It's out there and you can't take it back. It's real and tangible and it's not the fantasy of Klaus, it's Klaus himself. In order to say it you'd have to kill the fantasy Klaus. You’d have to murder him and all of the mythology around him and live in the real world with him, which might have even been stranger than any fantasy you could come up with. He deserved better than this. He deserves more than me, you think, than someone who would hurt him to protect herself. Selfish bitch. Gotta do better. By the time you finish half the bottle, eat your cold lo mein take out from two days ago, and decide to take a nap, you've made a decision. If you ever see Klaus Hargreeves again (which is doubtful because you don't plan on leaving this bed unless it's for work and even that feels like not a good enough reason) you'll kill the fantasy Klaus and commit to loving the real Klaus.

But sleep doesn't come. The cold leftovers sit like a rock in your stomach, not at all mixing well with the green liquorice liquor you've downed, so you lay there eyes-closed begging for the pain to subside. It's a familiar feeling, much like the week and a half in the bed before Klaus inserted himself into your life. The ache and the want for more than you have but the inability to give it to yourself. So you lay there. You just lay there, for hours. Thank god Margie gave you a few days off. You lose all track of time just laying there, actively trying not to think, trying to ignore how you feel both physically and mentally, curling into the sheets until you can feel yourself melt into them.  

It’s dark when you hear the keys rattle in the lock, and then the door opens. You keep your eyes shut, because if you do you can pretend it’s an intruder, coming to rob you of your mismatched dishes and beat up old record player before killing you. Which is a reasonable and comforting fantasy that you rather hide in than face Klaus. Klaus was real and Klaus loved you and Klaus got in your head. The intruder is a fantasy and the intruder is horror and the intruder might not even let you beg for your life. You can gladly imagine the intruder using keys that maybe he stole off of Klaus to come in here and steal all of your monetarily worthless shit and then just stab you or something anticlimactic. You know exactly what you want to say to Klaus and how to say it but you don’t know if it’ll come out of your mouth when the time comes, so you cling to this stupid horrible thought to take your mind off of the sound of footsteps entering the apartment. So you keep your eyes shut when you hear the sound of boots being taken off, when you hear the deflating sigh, the pattering around the room slowly before you hear the sounds of ruffling, probably his coat being taken off. You keep your eyes shut as there's a distinct silence in the room besides your best fake-asleep deep breathing. Like he's holding his breath and waiting for something.

You lay still, keeping up the fake sleeping, as the mattress creaks and dips next to you and Klaus sighs again. He emanates the warmth that had all but been stoked from the apartment and left you shivering. You can feel yourself pulling towards him, wanting to wrap your arms around him and hold him and never let go again, but you don't. There's always the off chance this is just a very strong hallucination brought on by the bottle of green fairy on the floor next to the bed. But fuck, if you dont wanna just pull him close. 

“I know you're awake,” he says lowly, so close to you. His face is centimeters from yours, if you had to guess, nose just almost touching your own.

“You know, I used to watch you sleep all the time. You- you do this… this cute twitchy thing when you're out cold,” he continues. He sighs, realizing you're either much more stubborn than he thought or much more avoidant of anything vulnerable than he is. It took him a day of sitting on Diego’s floor while being lectured for his drinking habits for him to realize that he couldn't give up with you. He made peace with the fact that he couldn't save Dave. He couldn't change history, but he could change the future he could have with you if only he didn't let this go. But it was his conversation with your boss that had him worried. It wasn't like you not to show up for work, even if things were tough.

 “You know you’re actually terrible at faking it, right?” he asks, for clarification. You want to open your eyes, to laugh, but you keep them shut and a tear escapes down your cheek.

“Can you— can you just look at me? Please?”

It hurts, it fucking hurts but you shake your head no.

“Oh don’t do that shit again. C’mon, doc, look at me!”

You can’t.

“Your tea went cold. I-I’m sorry,” is barely a whisper. But you say it. And he hears it.

“Hey! Hey hey hey, don’t worry about that. Don’t worry.”

He chooses his next words very carefully. If you were to open your eyes, you’d see him yearning to touch you, a worried and pained expression all over his handsome features. You’d see his hair just as unkempt as yours and the tee shirt he’s wearing is also obviously yours. You’d see those beautiful green eyes doing their best impression of bambi right after the hunting scene.

“What have you... what’s been going on? You haven’t been by the shop.”

“You went there?” you whisper again. Still kind of afraid this all isn’t real. You know it is because you feel his breath fanning out against your face and you feel the bed becoming the warm welcoming thing it once was.

“Yeah. Yeah, I did. Margie said you weren’t coming in for a week.”

“She spoke to you?” you wince. Knowing that was probably highly unpleasant for the both of them. Half the time when he showed up at the end of your shift she made him wait outside of the shop and refused to look at him.

“Yeah Margie, christ that woman loves you.”

Your eyes shoot open, startling him a little, but he relaxes by the time your eyes adjust to the dark. You see him and only him. Everything is Klaus.

“Listen, I-“ You start a little too loudly, scaring yourself.

“No, no. Don’t say something you don’t mean. Don’t say it back because I said it.”

Fuck. Fuck is he even going to believe it when I say it? If not what’s the fucking point? You feel more tears pricking at your eyes and you crumble a little. The burst of confidence is gone as you curl farther in on yourself, feeling your legs brush his as you let out just the tiniest choked sob. He’s frozen, and your hand is searching, blindly grabbing against the sheet until it comes in contact with his. Hurriedly, as if he would sift through your fingers like sand, you entangle your fingers with his and squeeze as hard as you can. Like if you let go he goes too. You can’t lose him again but it sounds like a break up. It sounds like what you remember a break up sounding like.

“Please,” fuck you sound pathetic.

“It’s okay. I’ll be fine. It’s okay if you don’t love me back. I can go stay at Diego’s or Vanya’s or something and we can figure out how to get out of the lease early. Anything you want. I just wanted to let you know I meant what I said. You’re not a replacement for anyone. You’re who I want. But you don’t have to want me back. I’ll... live.” he finishes flatly, devoid. 

Your heart is officially breaking. Into a million tiny fucking pieces. A memory comes to the forefront of your mind in that moment. The first time you choked him. The way he looked up at you. The way you realized at that second just how many people probably took advantage of him in the past. The way he probably thinks you’ve done to him now too.

“No, Klaus please listen to me,” your voice doesn’t sound like your own, doesn’t feel like your own. You feel far away from him even though his hand is clasped in your own. You feel like that scene in the graduate where Dustin Hoffman is interrupting Elaine Robinson’s wedding. Screaming and slamming fists against the glass trying to change your fate. Trying to get him to see.

“I was scared. Fuckin terrified. I- I- I- I’ve never said those words and meant it before,” you gasp between sobs now much more eager to spill out of your mouth, “It wasn’t you, I got in my own head about it. I got surprised. I love you, Klaus. I love you so fucking much I  didn’t touch a fucking thing in this apartment because I was afraid somehow that meant you wouldn’t come back. I know I’m not replacing Dave. I know. I don’t know why I said that. I've wanted to take it back since the second I said it. I've hurt so  many people and I hurt the one person I didn’t wanna hurt. I never wanna hurt you again. I love you. fuck. I don’t want to stop saying that. I love you.”

Klaus... is surprisingly quiet through your little speech. Maybe it’s because you can’t control what your voice is doing, and you’re crying. He’s staring at you so hard it feels as if he's trying to look through you, see the transparencies, see the truth in what you're saying. You want to shrink under his gaze, knowing he's trying to sus out if you mean it, feeling vulnerable each passing ticking second.

But then his hand squeezes yours back just as hard. If he squeezed hard enough he could easily crush a few of your bones, and you'd let him if it meant he understood.

“You do,” more a confirmation than a question.

“I do.”

“Say it.”

“I love you.”

“Say it again.”

“I love you,” with more force, more conviction.

“Once more, with feeling!” a smile is beginning to grace his lips.

“I fucking love you, Klaus!” you shout pretty much directly into his face. He doesn't mind a damn bit. He presses forward eagerly; releasing your hand only to roughly cup the back of your neck, fingers digging into your skin. It hurts, but in the most satisfying way. Your hands reach and grip for his face, greedily moving your palms over his jawbone as you lock him into place. Klaus is dizzying in his fervor, barely letting you keep up as his teeth clatter against yours, bite at your lips, his tongue darting between your tasting lips and tickling the roof of your mouth. there’s no letting up to the onslaught even as his hands travel, one hand trailing trimmed nails down your back, sure to leave a mark even with the barrier of your shirt, the other groping at your chest, seeking out a nipple to harshly pinch, making you squeak into his mouth in shock at his actions. As possessive and kinky as he could be at times, he has never been this rough with you. And you like it. He takes the time to bite down on your bottom lip, pull away, shake his head a little before mercifully releasing it and putting his forehead to yours.

“Oh you, you—“ he draws out, scoffs, “you wicked thing. You had me worried.”

“I’m sorry,” you gasp.

His grip on you softens, relaxes. His eyes shut just so, full of contentment. His nose nuzzles forward until you're cheek to cheek, and you can feel your cheek isn't the only one that's a little damp.

“Stop apologizing. I have you back now,” he whispers, sounding the most at peace you've ever heard him. He presses a kiss to the skin right at the place where your jawbone and ear meet, making you shiver at the sound of contact. He pulls you flush with his body, a tight hug, just holding you there before maneuvering your body so you were laying flat, your chest and shoulders pressed to the bed while he presses kisses to your face.

“Trust me,” he says, and you do. He lays himself back down, on top of you, and fuck, you love this. You love when he lays on you, when you feel his weight resting on you. Earlier today you thought you'd never feel this again, and the fact that thought was false has you grinning from ear to ear and reaching back to play with his curls as his arms find their way under you to hug you as you chant your love for him like a mantra. And then you feel it. Klaus is hard as a rock. Poor thing, it's been almost a week for him, when the two of you were so used to going at it basically anytime you had a spare half hour. Playfully, you grind back into him a little bit. Nothing that means business, but just a little brush of your ass against his cock to have him squirm a little. He reacts immediately with a growl and buries his face in the side of your neck to kiss and bite your neck and shoulder, while one hand removes itself from the hug to slide up your shirt again and blindly grope at your chest. Two can play at this game. You grind back again, a little harder, a little more deliberate in your movements this time. You're both chuckling as he starts to grind back, both feeling extremely free and confident in your control over each other's bodies. He knows he could have your sweatpants off and be inside you in under a minute, and you know you could easily have him blow his load in his pants if you keep it up teasing him like this. But how long can you really keep it up without wanting to give in to your own desires? You're painfully aware that it's been days you've had to survive without Klaus’ touch, too.

“You wanna end kiddie hour here?” he asks, and he couldn't have asked soon enough, because you're shimmying your sweatpants down with clumsy help from your hand that's somewhat trapped under him and laughing as he just as blunderingly removes his. Neither of you bother to fully remove them because the second his cock makes contact with your skin you're sighing and reminding him you love him. He lines himself up with you without using his hands like this is something he just instinctively knows how to do. 

When he pushes into you, you whimper. Full on whimper like it's too much even though this is something you've done hundreds of times with him, but somehow it's new. Maybe making love isn't just a sentimental name for fucking. Maybe you're making love for the first time. Maybe now you know the difference. He brings the arm that was under your shirt back up and trails it down your arm until it gets to your hand, where he rubs his palm against your knuckles, almost inquisitively before tangling your fingers together and squeezing. Holding it in place. His other arm reaches just a little further, hugging you from behind and giving your waist a little squeeze as a ‘get ready’ signal. You tilt your ass back up at him a little as he pulls out, thrusts back in again. Only this time his thrust is punctuated with an “I love you”.

And so is the next one. 

And the next one. 

Until he works up a rhythm that leaves the both of you moaning and stuttering. You hike up one leg, changing the angle so slightly that his hips snap up into you in a way guaranteed to bruise. You’d happily have it hurt to sit for the next week if he kept fucking into you like he would break you. Klaus puts his full strength into fucking you, legs pinning you to the mattress as he uses the arm that’s holding your hand for extra leverage. Sweat dripping off of his chest as he kisses your back and moans and laughs into your skin. It’s times like this you remember your partner is fully trained in combat. For someone so lean, he’s strong, and he has strong control over the muscles in his body. It’s like a kind of clairvoyance he has to know exactly what parts of your body to touch, what to do to have you losing it around him all the time. Is Klaus Clairvoyant? You think as the angle of his thrusts changes ever so slightly, but still at that rough pace, now making your clit grind into the sheets beneath you making you scream out.

“That’s right, baby. You feel good?” he groans. Little shit.

“Yeah,” you whine, looking back to make eye contact.

“Who’s making you feel good?” Oh, he’s working for an ego stroke as well as a cock stroke. You’ll give it to him. Klaus deserves it.

“Oh, fuck— y-you, Klaus”

“And who do you love?”

“Fuck. You, Klaus! I love you so much,” words leak from your mouth like a sieve. “I love how- how you fuck me so good.”

“That’s right, and now I'm gonna make you come. Trust me.”

That's the second time tonight he’s asked you to trust him. You do, unwaveringly.He gives you no time to react before he speeds up his thrusts and the hand around your waist dips lower. He leans off of you a little, giving you a little more space, but plunges his hand between your legs. instead of stopping at your clit, he goes as far as to push a finger, his middle finger, up into you as well. And then the bastard curls his finger just slightly. The action has you turning into the pillow to scream. It's too much. It's too much. You've never been this full in your life and now it feels almost sinful how easily you are coming apart for him. You're shaking and with the added pressure of his finger you can feel just how hard your body is squeezing his cock. You can feel tears leaving your eyes for the second time tonight as you babble about how much you love him and your body jolts for his touch. He finishes too, inside you and happily pushed into the hilt. The whine that leaves your throat when he pulls out finally is unfair and needy. Already missing being so full of him. He rolls back over so that he's not on top of you, and pulls you in tight.

“I don't want to stop saying it,” he mutters into your hair, and you wait for him to continue patiently. 

“I don't want to stop saying I love you.”

“Then don't.”

“I won't. But I will throw away this take out. This lo mein is old. It smells.”

You laugh loud and hearty, and he gets up from the bed, fully kicking his pants off as he does so, and there's no fear that he won't come back to bed with you this time.

[marvelsuperfangirl]

Welcome To Brakebills (Avengers x Reader)

A/N: 🎃👻Happy Halloween!!!!👻🎃

I honestly don’t know what happened to the costumes, I tried to imagine each of them in the perfect costume. Originially Pietro was going to be a clown but I wanted him to be sexy and I wanted to bring a small agrument between Sam and Bucky. This is an Avengers / The Magicians cross-over. I’m not really proud of the end because I had trouble writing it and the writing became worse as I wrote.

Words: 2449

Trees, trees and still trees. The team has been wandering  in the woods during a good hour now and they lost track of Y/N. Actually it’s a funny story, she left the tower with a big backpack and with the excuse of having a really important meeting  to intend. But none of the Avengers believed it; it was Halloween, she loved Halloween and she was the one who brought up the idea of the horror movie night. With only one look to one another, they all bolted up and ran up to the elevator.  Something was up and they needed to know what  is was. They all entered the elevator, even through they were packed like sardines; that’s how the Avengers�� Halloween night started. When they reached the lobby of the tower and hurried toward the door they got stopped.

-“ Mr Stark!”

Tony stopped while some continued on their way out and some others stopped to wait for him.

-“ Excuse me, to interrupt your night activities but Mrs Y/L/N let something for you.” said the receptionist while fiddling with something under her desk.

Tony and the remaining of the team approached her and she finally pull out the backpack that Y/N had when she left. Tony took it and open it.

-“ What’s inside?” Natasha asked looking over Tony’s shoulder

Tony took hold of the content of the bag and took it out. It was a dress; a typically witch dress. The bag was full of costumes.

-“ She left us costumes, why is she doing? If she wanted to dress up she could have just asked!” Sam grumbled.

Someone cleared their throat.

-“ She said that you had to look at the bottom of the bag” the receptionist add.

-“ Move, we don’t have any time to waste if we want to know what Lady Y/N want us to know” Thor said pushing Tony out of the way. He grabbed the back and turned it upside down, it’s content hit the floor and a paper fell among all the costumes.

Bruce, took it from the floor and adjust his glasses before reading what was written on the piece of paper.

-“ She want us to put the costumes on and to find her”

They all groaned at Bruce statement and looked over at the pile on the floor.

-“ Okay, but I certainly won’t be the one wearing  this buny costume!” Tony said

-“ Well, she also made a list of wich costumes we should wear.” Bruce continued “ And you’re the bunny.

The billionaire let his head fall back and let out a dramatic sigh.

-” Which one is mine ?“ Natasha asked, walking to Bruce to have a look at the note.

-” Sexy Spider" Bruce said blushing a little.

The red head smiled

-“ At least I’m not a bunny” she smirked at Tony before going back to the pile to pick her costume.

-“ Oh which is mine? Which is mine?” Thor aksed cheerily bouncing slightly in excitement.

-“ Hmm you’re the bear” Bruce said

-“ I will have to thank Lady Y/N. A bear is a very good choice, symbol of strength and fearlessness; just like me”

The little group start to rummage through the pile to find their dedicated costumes when the sliding glass door of the tower opened, revealing the rest of the team.

-“What the fuck are you doing !?” Clint screamed panting .

The others entered the lobby just behind him and looked at the five avengers bend over a pile of clothes.

-“ Guys, we lost Y/N” Steve said

-“ No shit, sherlock, she want us to find her, so she obviously won’t stand in front of us, where’s the fun in that!” he scoffed

-“ What’s going on here?” Wanda ask going out of behind the Captain and walking toward Natasha who held her costume proudly.

-“ Y/N let us costume to wear” she said.

-“ And she choosed to make me wear a fucking bunny costume!”

Steve chuckled

-“ Come on guys, let’s put on these and find Y/N”

Once all of the Avengers were dressed in their costumes they all head out of the tower, earning giggles from the receptionist on their way.

-“ We look ridiculous” Sam whined

He has been one of the unlucky of the team to have a lame costume.

-“ Let’s be real, you’re nothing but a clown, she made a good choice, in my opinion” Bucky said, obviously mocking the poor falcon.

-“ Well, nobody asked for your opinion. And she choose to make you a ghost, it’s not better. At least we don’t have to see your ugly face”

-“ If you don’t shut up I will make you eat your fake nose, idiot!”

-“ Will you guys stop. We really need to find Y/N. I honestly don’t understand why she wanted us to wear costumes.” Wanda interrupted.

She, on the other side was wearing a beautiful witch dress with a hat to match. Natasha was also under Y/N good grace because her sexy spider outfit was fitting her perfectly.

Steve was a werewolf, he had a tored off shirt stained wit hfake blood, fake werewolf hands and a mask. Pietro was a devil, he had a jacket and pants in red leather and black shirt and black shoes; he was also wearing  red devil horns on top of his head. Thor was rather happy with his bear onesie, hiding him completely except for his face and some of his golden which escaped all round his face. Bruce was a doctor, nothing too different from his usual outfit, his had a white blouse and a stetoscope, Y/N knew he wasn’t the type to show off and he was grateful for her choice. Clint was wearing a bird onesie, with a beak and eyes on the hood and little wings on the back, his grumpy face described perfectly what he thought about this costume. Tony was cursing and grumbling since he put his costume on. And finally, Peter was wearing a unicorn onesie, the girls had assured him that he was super cute but he was walking with his head down with the hood falling over his face showing the unicorn face that was on the hood and he already tripped over his tail multiple times and decided to put it in the pocket of the costume.

As they walked through the city to find their teammate they got looks and even compliments on their costumes, some of them were sarcastic but the heroes ignored it.

They walked for a good quarter of an hour before they reached a small park with almost dead trees and flowers everywhere. They entered and as they went deeper into the park they found out that it turned into woods.

-“ Hey look!” Pietro exclaimed before zooming over the entrance of the woods and coming back in less than a second. He was holding a piece of paper, similar to the one Y/N placed in the backpack.

-“ Give me that!” Tony snatched the paper out of Pietro’s hand

-“ I’ve had enough of that. My reputation will be tarnished forever because of this thing” he said gesturing to his costume before resuming to reading the paper.

-“ Go in the woods and count fifty steps. Don’t give up yet, we’ll have fun soon XX” Tony read.

A collective sigh was heard before they all start walking again, making the dead leaves and sticks , that covered the ground, crack in their trail. The woods became darker as the time passed and as they reached the deeper side of the forest.

-“ Fifty” Bucky said

They all around, but there was nothing but trees, trees and still trees. Did Y/N made them go all the way through the city in those garments just to make fun of them?

-“ It’s a trick, I should have know it ” Tony screamed and yanked his hood down.

-“ Let’s go home” Steve said and they turned back to where they went.

-“ Hey guys!!!” a voice from nowhere said

The team all jumped and turned back again to see where the voice came from.

Then they saw it.

On the background of trees, suspended in the air, white glowing lines and geometrical figures appeared and the trees became blurry and finally a totally different place. And in the middle of the new background was Y/N, she was wearing a Harry Potter’s wizard gown  and was waving at her friends.

-“ Y/N?!” they called

-“ Come on guys” she said and gestured with her hand for them to join her.

They all looked to the trees around them and to the place Y/N was in and carefully step the magic line that separated the both different places. When the last of them passed on the other side the dark forest disappeared .

They were left to admire the new background. A grassy court was extending before them, leading to  a cluster of late Gothic buildings with contemporary architecture elements. The one in front of them was made in redish brown bricks with a clock at the top. Near this building was a stone panel which in majuscule letters was carved “ Brakebills”. Trees were scattered in the court as well as many people dressed in costumes, drinking, chatting and laughing.

Y/N walked to her friends with a big smile on her face.

-“ Welcome to Brakebills, guys!”

You extended your arms, like you were showing what was around you.

-“ What the hell is this place?” Sam asked

You chuckled

-“ It’s my university ”

-“ An hidden unversity? In the middle of the forest and invisible to outsiders? What kind of school it is?” Natasha asked

- You know, if it wasn’t hidden we would have been discovered and probably arrested or something"

-“ You didn’t answer our questions, Lady Y/N” said Thor.

Your smile got wider

-“ Come on, I’m gonna show you” you said, gesturing for them to follow you.

You start walking in the opposite direction of the building that was facing your little group, in the same direction as the other people were going.

The Avengers walked behind you, still on their defensive mode in case something weird would come out.

-“ Here at Brakebills, we learn how to become magicians, so we learn magic, pretty logical. But not the magicians that you can see at kids birthday’s parties; the kind who can do real magic.”

-“ Like in Hogwarts?” Peter asked in an excited tone with a big smile.

-“ Hum…yeah technically it’s like Hogwarts, we just don’t have wands.”

You continue to lead your teammates to god knows where when out of the crowd of people someone called out your name.

-“ Y/N! I’ve been looking for you, the ceremony is about to start!”

A young woman with tanned skin, brown hair and equally brown eyes was walking toward you. She was dressed as a witch, a kind of sexy witch; her cleavage was showing off her boobs and the dress was short, but it suited her very well.

When she stopped next to you, she put her hand on her hips, waiting impatiently for your excuse.

-“ I’m sorry Margo, but my guests were a bit late” you said pointing to the team.

Margo turned briefly to your friends and then back to you.

-“ Well, that’s interesting but we have a ceremony to attend; so let’s go!” she said clapping at the end and starting to walk back to where she came from.

You rolled your eyes but still obliged and followed her.

-“ Let’s go guys” you said to the team.

Margo led you further from the building where all the student walked earlier. They were forming a circle around something that the avengers couldn’t see yet.

-“ Come on, they’re waiting for us” Margo said and grabbed your hand to lead you through the crowd.

You gave an apologetic smile to your friends

-“  Don’t miss the show guys!” you screamed to them before disappearing between all the other students.

-“This is becoming too weird, even for me” Tony said.

The group walked to the circle to see what was happening in the middle and when they reached the front row of the crowd, they were meet by another circle. You, Margo and some other students formed a circle while holding each other’s hands. Around the heroes the laughter, chatting, and drinking stopped to let a complete silence take over.

The inner circle’s students separated  their hands from each other’s and placed them in front of them. They started moving their fingers, forming shapes in the air  and approximatives movements. A small light was emitting from the tip of their fingers  and the more they were moving, the more the light was becoming brighter. Then, they all stopped and raised their hands above their heads; the crowd mirrored their actions.

All the light from every fingers started elevating in the air and joining each other to form balls of light that floated above the inner circle’s students head. The balls flew high, so high that they became small points, ressembling stars and when they threatened to disappear, they blew up.

The dark, night sky was now illuminated by fireworks, thousands of colorful fireworks. Everyone was watching, their eyes reflecting the lights as they started cheering. When the fireworks had died down, bringing the obscurity back to the place, fairy lights that were previously placed in the trees, magically lighten the place as the crowd cheered again.

Then music started blasting from nowhere and the students started dancing as the avengers looked around with similar smiles as the other people there.

-“ This is beautiful” Wanda said and the other agreed.

They all started to laugh and enjoy the moment along with the students around them.

-“ Did you enjoy the show?”

They all turn to the voice and saw you, standing there.

- “ So…all those magical things were true?” Pietro asked

-“ I’m surprised that you doubted it. Our team has an asgardian god, an android and people with superpowers. ; me being a magician is pretty average.” you said, letting out a laugh.

-“ Now come on, the night is still young and the party’s waiting for us.” you add

Your teammates and yourself joined the other students to drink, dance and chat, for your friends it was mostly asking questions about how the kind of magic we learned at Brakebills worked. This Halloween was special, very special but who would complain, everybody needs a little magic in their life.

[not-another-imagine-blog]

Lifeline (Connor McDavid)

Anonymous said:

Can u do a Connor mcdavid imagine where he finds out the reader cut herself??? And can u make it really angsty and fluffy??

Word count: 1481

Author’s note: I struggled for a while when I got this request. On one hand, I want everyone to get the imagine that they’ve so patiently waited for. On another hand, however, this is a very difficult topic for me. As someone with a mental illness who is still battling suicidal thoughts, I was worried that it would be too difficult for me to write. In a way, though, it was cathartic for me to be able to pour my feelings into this imagine. I just want you readers who might be going through a similar situation to know that you are not alone. There is a light. Recovery is not linear, however much we want it to be. Please, if you are experiencing these things, reach out to someone, even if it’s to me. I’m always here. 

WARNINGS: SELF-HARM, DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, SUICIDAL THOUGHTS (THESE WILL ALL BE UNDER THE READ MORE).

Depression and anxiety were not new for you. You had been dealing with mental illness since your early teens, which meant that you had a lot of time to learn how to hide it. No one, not even Connor, knew about your secret. You were lucky, though; ‘it’ hadn’t been nearly as prevalent as it had during high school. With medication and therapy, you’ve been able to live your life without your demons clawing at your mind.

The thing about mental illness is that, just like any other chronic illness, it can strike at a moment’s notice. Your bad days started to become more and more frequent. You knew the signs, but you still chose to ignore that you were getting worse. The oversleeping, the lack of appetite and interest in doing things, the panic attacks and the nervous leg jiggling and the overthinking every single little thing. Talking to someone is the first step to getting the help that you need, but you’re too ashamed of the fact that you can’t handle it on your own to tell someone. Instead of seeking someone who you trust or using your coping skills, you choose to cope with something that you never thought you would do again.

You drag the razor blade across your skin, sighing in relief as the dark red blood wells onto the surface. You’ve been cutting yourself everyday for the past week, finding no better way to channel the pain that you’re feeling than by ruining your beautiful skin.

The last time you had done this, you were a junior in high school. You had forgotten to lock the bathroom door when you got home from school, in a hurry to release your feelings. Your younger sister had burst in, needing to grab a tampon before she headed out with her friends. You remembered that day like it was yesterday: The razor clattering into the tub, droplets of blood staining the floor as she shrieked at the top of her lungs. Your widened eyes, your mother’s sobs, the days of medication consults, psychoanalysis’ and therapist appointments…

You shake the thoughts from your head, making sure to dab the blood away with a tissue so as not to stain any towels. The scars from all those years ago were completely gone, leaving a new canvas for you to do with what you pleased.

Your phone rings, startling you. You don’t even need to look at the screen to know that it’s Connor, since he’s the only one who ever calls you.

“Hey.” You answer, tucking the phone in between your shoulder and ear so you can continue with your activity.

“Hey babe! Practice got done early. Do you want to take a walk with me today? It’s a gorgeous day out.” Connor knew that you hadn’t been feeling well, but he assumed that you were just sick.

“I don’t know Con. I kind of just want to take a nap, y’know?” You can almost hear Connor’s sigh before he even takes a breath.

“I’m worried about you, (Y/N). Are you sure everything’s okay?”

“Everything’s fine! I’ve just been tired lately!” You let out a fake laugh. “Fine, I’ll go on a walk with you.”

“That’s good, because I’m already at your apartment.” A smile slips onto your face.

“I’ll be down in a minute. I love you.” You hang up the phone and hastily make your last few cuts until you feel ready to go downstairs and face the world. You pull a light blue cardigan on over your t-shirt, rushing out the door to go and meet Connor.

Connor, even though he doesn’t know exactly what is going on with you, sure knows how to make you feel better. You enjoy walking through the streets of Edmonton with him, taking in the fresh air and feeling peace for the first time in a while. You’re enjoying yourself so much that, when Connor asks if he can come up to your apartment, you don’t hesitate to lead him up.

Your apartment is dark and dusty, the result of being too drained to do any cleaning and not wanting to see any sunlight. You rush in ahead of Connor, throwing open the curtains and trying to make it look like you’ve actually ventured out of your bedroom in the past 72 hours. Connor wrinkles his nose upon stepping through the threshold, obviously wondering which tornado recently swept through.

“I’ve been working crazy hours lately, I’ve been too tired to clean.” You explain lamely, praying that he buys it. Connor bites his lip before slowly nodding, your way of knowing that he’s not going to let this go.

“I’m gonna use your bathroom real quick, wanna get a movie started?” You nod, sitting down on the couch to scroll through Netflix.

When the bathroom door bangs open, you’re sure that Connor saw something on his phone that he wants to show you; this sort of expression only happens when he’s excited or really angry, and he doesn’t exactly have anything to be angry about. You look up, your face immediately paling as you stare at the bloodied tissues and razor blade that, in your haste, you forgot to clean up.

“What the hell is this, (Y/N)?” Connor asks through clenched teeth. He’s so angry that he’s calm, which terrifies you.

“Oh, I, um, I was trying to shave and I cut myself, so I was cleaning out the razor when you called.” It’s a dumb excuse and you both know it as you slowly stand, advancing towards Connor.

“Let me see your wrists.”

“No! I’m not doing anything wrong!”

“If you weren’t doing anything wrong then you would show me. Let me see your wrists, god dammit!” Connor never swears at you. You slowly roll up your sleeves, trying to stall. Connor snatches your wrist and rolls your sleeve up for you, repeating the action on your other arm. You hiss in pain as the rough fabric scrapes over the fresh cuts. Connor holds your wrists in his hands, staring down at the myriad of scars riddling your arms, all in varying stages of healing.

“It’s not what it looks like…” You say quietly. Connor drops to his knees, absolutely speechless, your wrists hanging loosely in his grasp.

“Why, (Y/N)? Why would you do this?” You go onto your knees too, stroking Connor’s face.

“It’s so difficult to explain.” You start.

“Well you better fucking try.” You both sit in silence for what feels like hours.

“I’ve had depression and anxiety for almost six years.” You start. “When I was in high school, I refused to seek help. I was scared and didn’t know why I was feeling the way that I was feeling. So, as a way to cope with all of this pain, I started cutting. Soon enough it became my lifeline. I would look forward to the moment when I could lock myself in the bathroom and grab my razor blade from out of my makeup bag.

“After six months, I still didn’t have any clue what was wrong with me. When you’re mentally ill, you start to think terrible, horrible things. I was in so much pain that I eventually became suicidal, trying to come up with this way out. One day, my sister caught me in the act and I got help. I went to a therapist and I got put on medication. I started feeling better and figured that, as long as I kept up with this regimen, I wouldn’t go into that place again?”

“Are you not on medication anymore?” Connor asks quietly.

“I still am, and I see my therapist every other week, which makes this whole situation worse. As I started going into this hole again, I wanted to know why I was suddenly worse again even though I’m doing everything right.”

“You mentioned that you were suicidal before you got diagnosed. Are you suicidal again?” You avoid eye contact and stay silent, giving Connor the answer that he needs. He shoots up and turns away, angrily running his hands through his hair. “Jesus Christ, (Y/N). Why? Is it...Have I...?” His voice is thick with tears as you push yourself onto your feet, shaking your head furiously.

“Don’t you ever think that you’re the reason that I’m like this, Connor. It is nothing that you’ve done. You’re fantastic to me, okay? It’s my brain. There is something wrong with my wiring, and I don’t know what, and I’m scared. I’m so, so scared.” You confess, tears rolling down your cheeks as Connor envelops you in his arms.

“Shhh. We’re gonna figure this out. I’m not gonna let this steal you from me.” You and Connor stand embraced in the middle of your living room, both crying openly as you both realize that you, eventually, will be okay.

[traxxhfic]

hold my hands once (my heart forever) // a xiumin x reader fic pt 2

hold my hands once (my heart forever) pairing: xiumin / reader rating: pg

scenario: you’ve been requested to appear as one-half of a couple on we got married, appearing alongside your exo bias xiumin of all people. while this excited you at first, xiumin the performer and minseok the man don’t really seem to match up, from what you’ve seen so far. people often say the show makes the couples fall in love IRL but you’re pretty sure it’s not gonna happen between the two of you…yet.

PART 2

You chuckled slightly as your grip on the wheel never lessened, your eyes occasionally glancing at the three Go-Pro cameras the production team had sneakily installed on the dash of your car. You could hardly believe this was happening. Your manager had apparently been notified of the situation prior and had already packed some of your clothes to bring over the new house you’d be staying with your new husband, and your coordi eonni had even helped.

You still couldn’t get over it. A husband.

You chatted gamely with the PD eonni who was sitting at the back.

“Eonni, Hongdae is my hood - I literally know every nook and cranny of this place. We’re about to reach in 10 minutes so when do I get to do the next mission? I wanna know who my husband is, I don’t like secrets!” you nearly screeched jokingly. You’d always been known as the loud one in your trio.

The PD eonni instructed you to pull over and explained the next mission in the car. Ten minutes later… you’d lost. Honestly, how were you supposed to get those questions right - she’d quizzed you about the husband you didn’t even know about! Some cruel game of bokbulbok (game of chance) this was.

“Eonni, at the rate I’m going, I’m going to be known as the unlucky one in my group. Let’s stop with the games,” you laughed. The entire team piled into the car again and your curiosity was honestly getting to the best of you as you peeled off the streets and headed straight to Hongdae Park, all the while bugging the PD eonni to let you know the identity of your husband.

Heading to the actual park was harder than it looked.

“She said Hongdae Park but made me park the car a block away and lug this stupid luggage across this stupid hill. Who invented these hills? Why is the park on top of a hill? More importantly, why was I not allowed to drive up here? PD-nim!” you exasperatedly muttered. Your steps never faltered but you could feel your energy draining as you got nearer to the location.

Hongdae truly was your hood and you were kind of glad you’d be meeting your husband here. This meant there was a possibility that the place you’d both live in would be around here, near to your apartment with the boys. White puffs coloured your vision as you panted harder going up the hill, but finally getting to the Park. You walked over slowly, looking around. The park itself wasn’t big - it had a playground (for the kids to play during the day and for the teens to drink and smoke at during the night), some general seating areas, a quaint performance space  and a few random push-carts that sold handmade jewelry and toys.

You walked further in. It didn’t escape you that you seemed to be the only one there, with nothing else around. You whipped behind, demanding an explanation from the PD, who simply smiled and asked you to explore.

“What? Explore? Eonni, what’s there to explore? I can literally see that I’m…” you trailed off as your eye caught something moving right behind the playground. You approached it, leaving your luggage behind and the next thing you knew, you were faced with a life-sized teddy bear, who was very obviously being carried by someone who wanted to hide their appearance.

“Oh? Annyeonghaseyo gomiya (bear)! It’s very nice to meet you but I’m more concerned about the person behind you, if they could reveal themselves?”

The person behind the bear shook it sideways to indicate that as a no.

“Does the person behind not have a voice?”

“Isseo! (I do!)” the person chirped in a very bad attempt to mask their voice. Even so, you couldn’t help but feel that you’d heard it somewhere before.

“Then why do they not want to show themselves?” you questioned as you took a few steps forward, coming up with a plan to steal the bear away, but the person behind it hastily took some steps back as well, easily avoiding your approach. You could feel the camera team behind you, filming your every interaction. You couldn’t help but feel silly but if your new husband wanted to play…

“Alright then, since your minder isn’t keen on showing his true self yet, how about I try and guess who it is? Give me a couple of hints, and if I guess correctly, you’ll have to reveal yourself to confirm it. If I fail, I’ll still chase you around this park to reveal yourself anyway,” you quipped as you heard laughter around you, even from your new husband.

“Kol! (OK!)” the bear seemingly chirped again.

In a very fake voice, you got your first hint: your husband was from a boy group. You immediately had two guesses in your head - EXO or BTS. You stanned these two groups hard and couldn’t help but get excited at the idea that your husband could be from one of them. You realistically knew that there wasn’t a high chance, but you decided to give it a shot anyway. Besides, Namjoon had replied your text earlier saying that the Bangtan boys were in Anaheim, prepping for the next leg of their tour.

“EXO?” you cheekily replied.

The person behind the bear tensed, the bear immediately stopped swaying side to side.

“Did I get it right?! Omo! You’re from EXO?” you laughed out loud, hearing your husband giggle as well.

“Ok, so that’s one hint, give me one last one so I know who to choose from EXO. Your group is so big you could probably rule a small country together,” you replied.

The next hint you got was a little tougher: that he liked to be clean.

This was a perculiar fact but you feel like you’d heard it on a show before that one particular member in the group especially liked to be clean to the point of OCD, but couldn’t for the life of you remember who it was.

“I’ve heard this before but I can’t seem to put my finger on it…at least it rules out Suho-ssi, eh?” you joked.

You ran through the list of members in your head, cursing at yourself for not remembering who it could be: Suho was out because he was known to be the messiest, followed by Baekhyun. D.O. would never agree to something like this, he valued his privacy too much. Kai was still seeing Krystal so he was out. That left Yixing (who wouldn’t have time since he was juggling activities in Korea and China), Chanyeol (he was filming Missing 9 still), Sehun, Chen and Xiumin. And judging by the height, your husband seemed to be either of the final two, the latter of whom is your bias. 

You took a stab in the dark, hoping against hope.

“Xiumin?”

A beat of silence followed, before the the bear was slowly lowered and revealed the beaming face of your new husband… Xiumin.

“Mannaseo bangapseubnida (nice to meet you), Y/N-ssi. Choneun EXO-eui Xiumin-ibnida (I am EXO’s Xiumin). Yeolshimi ilhagessebnida, chal butakteribnida (I’ll work hard, please take care of me).”

--

[metawitches]

Emergence is my favorite of the four new dramas I watched this week (also Prodigal Son, Stumptown and Evil). It has a compelling mystery with its own twist, characters I already care about who aren’t dark and cynical and a diverse, gender-balanced cast.

I really like the philosophy the show exhibited in the pilot. It’s not overly sweet or dark, but there’s a certain warmth and optimism. I get the sense that Piper is the main clue to a larger mystery, not a unique magical child who’s meant to save the world by herself. Hopefully the characters and mystery plot will stay in the forefront, while shoot outs and gore will be kept to a minimum.

And I love this new mother-daughter team of soft-hearted, unlikely bad*sses, who are part of a family of flawed but caring people. Real moms with good judgement for the win. I was so proud of Jo for being the one with the gun who could protect her family when an intruder broke into their beachhouse, but also for getting the family out without firing a shot. She put the safety of her family and solving crimes and mysteries first, as she should.

Recap

Emergence begins late at night in the sleepy Long Island, NY town of Southold, when there’s a town-wide power outage at the same time that a plane crashes on the beach. Police chief Jo Evans (Allison Tolman) is awakened by the outage. She and her family go outside to see what’s going on and notice an ionized glow, similar to the Aurora Borealis, rising from the site of the plane crash. Jo gets a call about the crash and says she’ll be right there. She tells her young teen daughter, Mia (Ashley Aufderheide), and her father, Ed Sawyer (Clancy Brown), that she’s leaving and sends them back to bed.

The beach surrounding the plane is crowded with first responders. Jo is met by Officer Chris Minetto (Robert Bailey Jr.), who explains that it was a mid size private jet that held about ten people. So far they haven’t been able to identify the flight or the source of the power and cell phone outage. Jo tells Chris to set up a perimeter and canvas for witnesses.

With the situation under control, she walks back toward her car, but sees someone duck down behind a small sand dune out of the way of action on the beach. Jo uses a flashlight to check behind the dune and finds a young girl (Alexa Swinton) hiding. The girl won’t talk to Jo, so she tries to connect to her through the Toy Story t-shirt the girl is wearing, explaining that she’s a sheriff, like Woody. Officer Chris comes over to check on the situation and the girl jumps into Jo’s arms. Jo gives the girl her police jacket to keep her warm on the windy beach.

Jo asks for paramedics to check on the girl, but she won’t let go of Jo. Chris agrees to continue to handle the crash site and the NTSB, who have just arrived and want the site cleared out, while Jo deals with the mysterious girl.

Once the girl has been examined at the hospital, Jo’s friend Dr Abby Frasier (Zabryna Guevara) explains that she’s fine physically but doesn’t remember anything. Abby thinks the girl has dissociative amnesia, caused by the brain’s need to protect itself after trauma. Abby doesn’t think the girl was in the plane crash, since she doesn’t have any injuries, but she doesn’t know what the trauma might have been. She hopes the girl’s memory will return in a day or two.

The girl is feeling fine now and wants to go home with Jo. Abby suggests that Jo stay in the hospital with her until she falls asleep instead. Jo shares a box of candy and a guessing game with her first.

Jo goes into the hall to investigate when they hear Abby having a loud argument. Three men who say they’re from the NTSB have arrived to take the girl and her files. They jumped to making threats as soon as Abby hesitated. Jo points out that they don’t have the authority to arrest anyone, but she does.

Abby discovers that during the argument the girl has done missing from her room, so Jo sends out everyone she can spare to search everywhere the girl could be. Then Chris calls to tell her that the real NTSB has arrived at the crash site. The other guys were impersonating the government agency.

It begins pouring rain outside. Jo sees a black SUV drive away from the hospital, so she rushes out to her police truck to follow them. For a moment, her car won’t start, then the rain runs sideways across her windshield. There’s a flash and crackle in the truck, and it starts running on its own. Also, the girl is now in the truck. She says, “Don’t be mad.”

Did she just transport into the truck or did we not notice her there in the dark?

Ed is still up when Jo and the girl get back to the house. When Jo tells him he shouldn’t have waited up, Ed says that he doesn’t sleep. She gets her visitor settled into bed, then fills her dad in on her night. Ed pushes Jo to report the girl to Family Services, but Jo thinks it’s too big a risk with the fake NTSB looking for her. He tells her she did the right thing by keeping the girl safe tonight and they can figure out the rest in the morning.

Yay for supportive dads.

In the morning, Jo comes down to the kitchen to find that Mia and the girl are already fast friends. Mia is trying to decide on a name for their visitor, since she can’t remember her real name. Jo suggests Piper, which was her second choice for Mia, so that’s what they choose.

Jo needs to drive Mia to school and check on the crash site, so she asks Ed and Piper if they’ll be okay together at home for a while. Jo and Piper are already having silent mother-daughter conversations and Piper is still wearing Jo’s police chief jacket from the night before. She looks scared for a second, but decides to be brave for her new mom.

Ed is fine with watching the kid, but Jo is worried about his health. He reminds her that the doctor said he should resume normal activities, so he should be able to handle a few chores and babysitting a ten year old. Jo asks him to keep Piper in the house for their own safety.

On the way out the door, Jo thanks Mia for being so good with Piper. Mia says she wants Piper to be her little sister. Now that her parents aren’t together, she thinks it’s the only way she’ll get a sibling.

A sinister black truck drives by the house and slows down to get a good look. They’re already being watched.

Ed counts out his medications for the week into daily pill boxes while Piper watches. He explains that the medications are to treat the cancer he developed due to toxins he was exposed to as a firefighter. He tells Piper that the meds are making him better. She says that they aren’t. He asks if she knows how to install a garbage disposal and they move on to their chores.

  One of Piper’s powers must be some kind of scanning ability, maybe something similar to an MRI, since she has electromagnetic abilities.

When Ed goes to the basement for a tool, the TV turns itself on and shows a lined pattern in the center of the screen. Piper walks to the TV and is about to touch it when Ed returns. The pattern disappears and he turns the TV off. He asks Piper to come back to the kitchen. She’s pocketed a boxcutter from his tool box.

Was that an incoming communication from someone else like her? A sign that someone was using the TV to search for her?

The evidence of the plane crash has been completely cleared from the beach and that section has been reopened to the public. Jo is surprised when she arrives, because an investigation into a plane crash would normally take much longer.

The only one on the beach is a reporter named Benny Gallagher (Owain Yeoman) who’s taking photographs. Jo tries to get rid of him. He tries to convince her that they should work together, because he’s seen cases like this before. He predicts that the report will say that the vehicle that crashed was an unmanned drone that was involved in a routine activity like monitoring pollution or mapping forrests.

He tells Jo that he has sources that she doesn’t, so they should share information. For instance, he knows that the plane took off from Plum Island, three miles to the north, which is a Homeland Security research facility.

They say those last four words in unison. They’re obviously meant to do great things together.

He doesn’t have proof for anything he’s told her, so Jo decides to ignore him for now, Benny tells her that law enforcement officers usually really like him. She’ll be back.

Jo gets home a little late that evening. Her ex-husband, Alex (Donald Faison), is already there waiting for her. It’s his weekend with Mia, but she’s decided that it would be too traumatic for Piper if she left now. Mia reminds her parents that all children need security and consistency, and they’ve failed dismally at giving it to her lately, but she’s not going to fail her new little sister. And she brings her therapist’s advice into it.

Alex decides to cooperate, even though he’s a bit miffed because they’ve only had this schedule for two months. They work out an alternative plan, and Mia assumes that Piper will be visiting Alex with her from now on. Ed invites him to stay for dinner, but that’s one step too far. He doesn’t want to rejoin the family. He also disapproves of the way Jo’s unofficially taken in Piper, but there are still sparks between the exes.

Maybe once he finds out he’s got competition from Benny he’ll be more willing to work on their issues. Or maybe Jo needs someone like Benny, who’s more flexible about life.

Later, Piper plays with Mia and Jo’s old dollhouse before bed. They talk about how generous Mia is being with Piper. When Jo asks if Piper has remembered anything about her life, Piper changes the subject. Jo brings it back up and asks if Piper might be afraid of remembering. Piper doesn’t know, but she suggests that she might not ever remember her previous life.

Jo tells Piper about how scary it was when her mom left home forever when Jo was young. Jo held all of her feelings about it inside for a long time, but it didn’t help. She thinks that it helps to talk about scary and sad things because then you know you’re not alone. Piper asks if she can stay with Jo even if she remembers who she is. Jo says Piper won’t get rid of them that easily.

Just as Jo is telling Piper that it’s time to go to sleep, Chris calls to inform her that a couple are at the station who say they’re her parents. Jo goes alone to check them out. Chris says their names are Freddie and Caitlyn Martin. They claim that their daughter Olivia wandered away from their campsite last night.

Jo has Chris bring the Martins each a cup of coffee while she looks over their IDs and listens to their story. She notes that they were camping on a school night. They claim that they didn’t report Olivia missing earlier because they didn’t have cell service.

Mind, it’s been about 18-20 hours. They could have been at the police station by dawn from any campsite on Long Island, so what did they do all day while their ten year old daughter was missing?

Freddie shows Jo his phone to prove that it still doesn’t have reception. Jo asks about the phone’s camera and if she can see their pictures of Olivia. They refuse to show her photos and demand to see their daughter. Jo says something conciliatory and takes their coffee cups to get refills.

She hands the cups to Chris and tells him to run the fingerprints. While she’s talking to him, the lights dim and the Martins escape. Jo calls Alex to ask him to get her dad and the girls and bring them to a secret location. She says to take them to the place where they set the kitchen on fire, to leave his cell phone behind and not to say anything else. He agrees.

They meet up at a beach cabin. Jo brings Alex a burner phone so they can talk without being traced. She tells the family what happened and promises Piper that she’ll keep her safe. Piper promises to try harder to remember, so they can figure out why people are hunting her.

They decide they’ll all sleep in the living room rather than separating. Alex pulls Jo aside to tell her that he’s worried she’s either gotten herself in over her head or she’s paranoid and losing her mind.

Wow, he can leave now. Or as soon as they find somewhere else to sleep tonight. He came through for her when she needed him, but this kind of undermining isn’t worth the trouble.

She gives him a little more information about Piper and the case and he decides he can keep helping her. It seems like the fact that she’s the chief of police ought to be enough for him.

Loud banging sounds indicate they’ve been found. Jo pulls out her gun and searches for the intruder. Whoever it is enters the house upstairs while the family escapes through a basement window. Once they break the window the intruder tries to follow them into the basement by breaking down a locked door. Piper gets scared, causing the electrical and metal tools in the basement go haywire. They shake, fly and operate on their own.

The inanimate objects settle down as soon as the escape route is clear and Piper settles down a little. Outside, she gets separated from the others and grabbed by the intruders. By the time Jo gets outside, the black truck from earlier is driving away with Piper in it. Jo jumps in her own police truck and follows in pursuit. She calls for backup as she drives.

Just as she catches up to the other car, it suddenly flips up into the air as if it hit some obstacle at high speed, then crashes down to the pavement, upside down and with pieces breaking off. It’s kind of a Stranger Things moment. Jo is stunned.

She gets out and slowly approaches the other vehicle, where the driver appears to be dead, but Piper is okay. She crawls out and goes over to Jo, who hugs her and asks how this is possible. Piper says she doesn’t know.

In the morning, Chris tells her that the Martins’ IDs were fake and their fingerprints didn’t match any on file. He offers to run their DNA, but he figures that will also be a dead end.

OMG, it will show they’re aliens though!

He hands Jo a strange card that’s looks like a passkey made out of metal and paper. There’s no circuitry and nothing magnetic on it. He says no one can figure out what it is or what it’s for. The driver was carrying it.

The NTSB checked in to say the plane was an unmanned drone mapping forest coverage for the National Science Foundation. Chris confirms with Jo that they both actually saw a plane on the beach and the NTSB is lying. He asks what she thinks is going on. Jo tells him she thinks it has something to do with Piper, so she’s going to keep the girl with her and out of the system. She asks Chris if he’ll go along with it, even though it’s not legal. He agrees, without hesitation.

Jo meets Benny at a local restaurant. She knew where to find him because she’s been having him followed since they met. She tells him that she wouldn’t normally consider working with him, because she doesn’t know if she can trust him, but right now she doesn’t know who she can trust.

He thinks she’s smart to be cautious about trusting people, and offers up some new information. The fake NTSB agents recovered the black box and human remains from the plane. Jo wonders why he hasn’t published this information. He says he’s waiting until he has the whole story. She gives him the card that was found on the driver who kidnapped Piper and asks him to find out what he can about it. He says he’ll get back to her.

Jo gets home late and finds both girls in her bed. Piper is still wearing her police jacket and still scared. Jo promises that the people who tried to take her are gone. Piper asks if Jo thinks she caused the plane crash. Jo tells her no, she doesn’t think it was Piper’s fault.

Piper totally crashed the plane, but she was forced into it by circumstances, so it’s not her fault.

Jo sends her to the bathroom to brush her teeth with her brand new toothbrush. Piper turns on the water and looks in the mirror, then strange things happen. Reality alters in some way and Piper isn’t quite the same human girl we’ve been watching throughout the episode. She goes through a few filters of different looks before she snaps out of her trance.

There’s a new awareness in her eyes as she feels her skin behind her ear, then reaches for the box cutter she pocketed earlier. She clicks the blade into place, pulls the skin behind her ear taut, then makes a small slice. She gasps in surprise at the sensation when she cuts herself, then gets back to business. She feels inside the cut until she finds a small button sized object that’s lit up with the same pattern that was on the TV that morning. She pulls it out, looks at it, then puts it down the sink drain. Once it’s gone, Piper cleans up the mess she’s made and covers the cut with her long hair, as if nothing happened.

She smiles at herself in the mirror.

It was definitely a tracker. But what else was in that button? Was getting rid of it the equivalent of running away from home or was it part of the plan?

Commentary

Emergence begins with a series of TV tropes and events we’ve seen before. A plane crashes on a beach, a magical child appears, a family of good people who have drifted apart take her in, and mysterious, relentless pursuers put the magical child and her new family in danger. We’ve seen variations on this theme in shows such as Manifest, The Crossing, Lost, Once Upon a Time, Extant- the list seems endless. It’s a fairy tale scenario that’s deeply embedded in our culture.

Emergence works because it has a talented, charming cast who have effortless chemistry together, the way families in the most emotionally believable shows do. They find the magic in the script and bring it out in their characters, without forcing anything. Most especially, the relationship between the two leads, Police Chief Jo Evans, played by Alison Tolman, and mystery child Piper, played by Alexa Swinton, is warm and heartfelt from the moment the two first meet. In some ways, it doesn’t really matter how the rest of the mystery is solved, as long as Piper is adopted in Jo’s family forever and the two keep working together to solve it.

The success of the family aspect of the show, outside of the mystery aspect, might help save it when it comes to renewal time. At least so far, this show has that sense of kismet between the characters that makes you want to visit with them every week and catch up on their lives, separate from the mystery plot. So far, none of the many one or two and done canceled supernatural shows have managed that.

The pilot barely scratches the surface of Alexa’s real story, so we’ll have to give it a few more episodes before judging whether the scifi aspect is equal to the character aspect of the show.

But Terry O’Quinn shows up in episode 2, and that’s always a good sign.

The two shows this reminds me of the most are Manifest and Extant, both scifi with happy, warm, if slightly broken, families that you want to spend time with even without the science fiction aspect of the shows. Extant had a robot child, an alien pregnancy, an astronaut mom and a robotics scientist dad. I think its issue was that it tried to do too much at once, but it was fun while it lasted. Manifest has a missing and returned plane, and pasengers who manifest supernatural abilities. The magical child has the strongest abilities and is the key to the mystery. It’s not quite as visually interesting and well done as Emergence is and Extant was, but it does have its share of pseudoscience.

(Pause to grieve the dearly departed The Crossing, 2018’s version of this concept. Emergence feels better executed already, if only because it didn’t begin with hundreds of dead bodies on the beach. And it doesn’t start with a wildly traumatized family, the way Manifest did. I’m all for avoiding excessive death and trauma.)

Southold is the kind of picturesque little town that has a lighthouse, where every house could be on a postcard. You know nothing really bad has ever happened there before. It’s just asking for trouble. If it wasn’t an alien child, it would have been great white sharks, or, worse, a Sharknado, so Piper’s actually doing them a favor.

Just before the lights go out in the beginning of the episode, a safety pin on Jo’s nightstand flies over to the wall and the LEDs in her bedside clock make a strange pattern. Was Piper nearby? Did she ride to the crash site with Jo? The big question is, who are the people chasing her? Others of her kind, or people from the Homeland Security research facility who were experimenting on her? Both? Is she powerful enough to take out the lights and cell phones in the entire town by herself?

  Images courtesy of ABC.

Emergence Season 1 Episode 1: Pilot Recap-I love this new mother-daughter team of soft-hearted, unlikely bad*sses, who are part of a flawed but caring family. Real moms & police chiefs with good judgement for the win. #Emergence Emergence is my favorite of the four new dramas I watched this week (also Prodigal Son…