#so throwing diana at him instead

[baronessblixen]

Prompt: 13. "Come with me, hurry."

Fluff-ish, season 6: Diana throws Mulder a surprise birthday party. Chaos ensues. (wc: 1,461)

Tagging @today-in-fic @xffictober2023

Fictober Day 13: Don't Forget The Cake

“So,” Mulder asks her, his hand rummaging in his pocket, looking for his keys, “what are you in the mood for? Pizza? Chinese?”

“It’s your birthday,” she replies, her stomach grumbling. At this point, any food will do. “You decide.” Mulder finds his key and grins at her. He’s been in a good mood all day and it’s infectious.

“I think I’m in the mood for-”

“SURPRISE!” A group of people yells as soon as Mulder opens the door. He tenses up next to her, standing stock still. She puts a hand on his back, just to remind him that she’s there, but she’s not sure he even notices it.

“There you are,” Diana says. Of course, it’s Diana. Who else would plan a surprise party for Mulder? “I was just about to call and ask where you are. It’s late. We’ve been waiting for you.”

“I- I didn’t know,” Mulder stammers.

“It was supposed to be a surprise,” she says with a big grin that showcases her way too white teeth. Scully’s eyes narrow. Either Diana hasn’t seen her yet, or she’s ignoring her. After all, she didn’t even invite Scully to this surprise party.

“Well,” Mulder says, clearing his throat. “I’m definitely surprised.”

“Happy birthday, Fox.” Diana practically purrs his name before she grabs him by his shoulders to draw him closer. The lingering kiss she puts on his cheek grazes the corner of his mouth and Scully finds herself inexplicably seething. She doesn’t count the seconds (though she almost does), but the kiss doesn’t end. Just when she’s about to interfere, and save Mulder from Diana’s grasp, she lets go of him, pulling him further inside – and away from Scully.

She’s never seen so many people in Mulder’s apartment. And so many of them strangers. She’s looking for familiar faces among them. Clearly, Diana must have invited someone they know. She sees Colton lurk in a corner with a beer in his hand, smirking. There are a few agents she’s seen walking the halls, but she doesn’t know their names. She doubts Mulder does. Even if, none of these people are his friends. Scully can’t find Chuck or even Skinner. Then, right when she’s about to give up, she sees the Gunmen.

“Agent Scully,” Frohike says with a dreamy smile, toasting her with a glass of champagne.

“We weren’t sure Diana would invite you.” Langly doesn’t beat around the bush.

“She didn’t,” Scully says, grabbing one of the champagne flutes from the table. There’s a small buffet, too, but the hunger she felt a moment ago has vanished.

“Then how did you know?” Byers asks her.

“We were going to watch a movie together.” It sounds lame, but it’s the truth. The smile Mulder gave her earlier when she asked him what his plans for tonight were – he didn’t have any – and whether he wanted to spend the evening together, is chiseled on her mind. He hasn’t stopped smiling since. Well, he has now. She watches him with Diana, nipping at her cheap-tasting champagne. Across the apartment, Mulder’s body language is wooden. He keeps trying to smile whenever someone wishes him a happy birthday, but every attempt falls flat.

“I think you better go save him,” Frohike mumbles, making Scully wonder how much he’s had to drink.

“Excuse me?”

“That woman,” Frohike says, pointing at Diana, who only has eyes for Mulder. “Is bad. I think, and you cannot tell anyone this, Scully. Promise.” Scully bites her lip, nodding. She’s sure now that the shortest Gunman is indeed drunk.

“I think she’s actually evil.”

“Okay, I think maybe you had too much to drink.” He shakes his head, turning away from her, and guarding his champagne flute like a treasure.

“She’s evil, Scully. She is. I like you so much better than I ever liked her. You can’t let her take Mulder.”

“She’s not going to-” but she stops herself. She doesn’t want to believe that Frohike is right and that Diana is evil. However, she can’t deny that she doesn’t trust that woman one bit. Mulder, however, does. It’s clear that he wants to please Diana by going along with her surprise party, even though he hates it. How can Diana know him so little? His eyes find hers from across the room. They’re pleading with her.

“What can we do?” Scully asks Frohike, her eyes still on Mulder.

“Leave it to me,” he says and she can only watch as Frohike twirls once and then throws himself across the buffet table. The resulting chaos frees Mulder from Diana’s tight grip who clamors and complains as she tries to fix it.

“Come with me,” Mulder breathes into her ear, making her shiver all over. “Hurry.” He reaches for her hand, pulling her with him. No one stops them. Scully can’t help but wonder how many people even know what Mulder looks like.

“Wait,” Mulder says before they’re out the door. He grabs the small, untouched birthday cake from the kitchen table, throwing Scully a mischievous grin, and then they’re gone. Mulder’s gurgling laugh as she pounds her palm against the elevator button, makes her giggle like a schoolgirl.

“Where can we go?” Scully asks. She’s out of breath, feeling exhilarated.

“Your apartment.” His answer surprises her. “There’s no way Diana will show up there.” She nods, though she isn't sure what Diana will or won't do. All of this will have an aftermath. She is sure of that much.

In the car, Scully is holding the cake that reads “Happy birthday, Fox”. She can only imagine how pissed Diana will be when she finds out that not only the guest of honor disappeared, but his cake, too.

“I’m sorry, Scully,” Mulder says out of the blue.

“For what? It was a surprise party. You couldn’t have known about that.”

“No, but I know Diana. A few days ago she said something about a surprise later this week and I completely forgot.”

Scully glances at the cake and considers Mulder’s words. What if she’s getting this all wrong?

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“It’s personal.”

“Ask away.” Mulder’s voice is soft.

“It’s none of my business, but are you- you and Diana, is there… did you- ever since she came back, have you two…” she can’t say the words. She doesn’t even want to think them. She knows how alluring an ex can be, no matter how much time has passed. In hindsight, everything looks rosier, easier.

“Have we? No. No, we haven’t. I mean she tried and I- I did kiss her once. I could tell she wanted more and Scully, I can’t lie, I thought about it. But I couldn’t go through with it.”

“Why not?” she blurts.

“I think you know why.” His words are simple, but his answer is anything but.

“You don’t owe me anything.”

“Hm, I owe you a lot and I’m glad you asked, Scully. I should have told you, but how do you let your partner know that you didn’t sleep with your ex without it sounding strange?”

“You know, Frohike told me to save you. He said he thinks Diana is evil. I think he was drunk.”

“Oh, I’m sure he was. But I’m also sure he believes it.” Mulder gives her another one of those bright smiles he’s been throwing her way all day.

“You’re not all worried about your apartment?”

“No. The Gunmen will make sure everyone leaves.”

“What about Diana?”

“She too. I think it’s time I change the locks. I have no idea how she got into my apartment.”

“She doesn’t have a key?”

“Why would I give her a key?” Mulder sounds genuinely surprised. “We’re here.” He parks the car in front of her building and neither makes a move to get out. “Diana is going to be so angry that we stole that cake and ate it ourselves.” He’s grinning from ear to ear.

“You don’t think she poisoned it, do you?”

“Let’s find out.” He uses his finger to dig into the cake and Scully watches as he licks the dough off of it. “Not bad. You want some?”

“I prefer to eat with a fork.”

“Let me just give you a little taste.” She doesn’t know what to expect, but it’s not Mulder leaning over and pressing his mouth to hers. She tastes lemon, dark chocolate, and Mulder. Her favorite taste of all, she decides.

“Happy birthday to me,” Mulder whispers as he leans back into his seat. “Still want to spend the rest of the day with me?”

The rest of my life, she thinks.

“Yes,” is what she instead. “Let’s go have some cake.”

“And more?” he asks, his hand on her back leading her inside.

“We’ll see.”

[rite-the-wrongs]

*chugs a full half and half Monster Rehab*

So, you know how Darkseid is looking for the Anti-Life Equation? Well, Danny and the other Halfas are kinda Anti-Alive. Idk, my mind is going to how Thanos is trying to impress Lady Death in the weirdest ways possible (like killing half the universe or making her side piece immortal), and changing the names to Darkseid and Danny.

Darkseid attacking the earth was far from a rare occurrence. Usually his attacks were centered on the Justice League, but around every 1 out of 5 times he would just show up on a regular Tuesday with his army pouring through various Boom Tubes in every major city.

This wasn’t even the first time Darkseid had attacked like this since Danny had joined the League. The only difference was that instead of flying to Fawcett City to help Captain Marvel fight the invaders there, Danny had been in Gotham helping Bats and Diana with an artifact smuggling ring. The two of them immediately got in the Bat-Plane and headed towards Metropolis as fast as they could and Danny had been dragged along.

Darkseid was already holding Superman by the neck when they flew overhead. Diana jumped out to help Supergirl fight some messed up guy in a pink robe while the two Superboys were beating up an old lady. Batman gained Darkseid’s attention by firing missiles at the space tyrant which froze him to the ground and knocked the struggling Superman from his grip.

Darkseid’s glare followed the plane as it flew overhead. Then it started actually following as his Omega Beams burst forward.

“Hang on!” Phantom yelled, grabbing ahold of Batman and turning them both intangible just as the beams destroyed the plane around them.

He gently flew Bats on the ground. Bats did his customary grunt of approval he gave out if you saved him from certain death and ran to help the two heroines take out cloak man as Danny flew over to help take down the grandma. A few other heroes were focusing on keeping the Parademons flooding through the portal contained. Danny recognized a few, mainly Steel, Booster Gold, and Black Lightning, but there were even more that he didn’t.

He turned back to his own fight just in time to avoid getting hit by the old lady’s baton.

“Sorry, Grandma!” Phantom smirked, phasing through the attack. “Any chance I can let you pinch my cheeks and we call it a day?”

“Temping, porkchop, but an old lady needs her hobbies. And conquering planets is one of Granny’s favorites,” the old lady laughed swinging at him a few more times, only for each blow to pass through him like the last.

“Well, next time we’ll just invite you to bingo night,” Danny remarked, grabbing her wrist on the last blow and twisting it behind her back. The older Superboy tackled her through the Halfa as the younger one flew up high and plummeted feet first into her head, knocking Granny out.

The fighting seemed to be winding down. Diana had the guy in the pink robe tied up in her lasso while Batman ran over to help the Atom close the Boom Tube and Supergirl flew over to help her cousin fight Darkseid.

The only fight that was still going strong was Superman and Darkseid. Neither Titan was willing to bow to the other. Supergirl flew in between them, snapping Darkseid’s head to the side with a well placed kick. The space tyrant staggered for a moment before grabbing her leg and throwing her at Superman. The two Kryptonians fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs as Darkseid charged up his Omega Beams.

Danny didn’t even think. One second he was floating next to Jon and the next he had teleported in between the ruler of Apokolips and the two Kryptonians. He barely managed to throw up a shield in time. The Omega Beams shook the shield and kicked up dust around it, but Phantom gritted his teeth and managed to keep it steady. He only let the shield finally fall once the dust had settled.

“Impressive, child. Not even a Lantern Ring can shield from my Omega Beams. What are you?”

“You know, just a dead guy who doesn’t really know how to stay dead,” Danny chatted, keeping Darkseid’s attention on him. The portal was directly behind the tyrant. Wonder Woman and the Superboys threw their respective bad guys back through the portal.

“How can you be both dead and alive?” Darkseid asked. If he was confused, he didn’t let it show. Batman gestured at the two Supers behind Danny. They gave him a small nod and looked at the tyrant. Danny raised a hand to stop them.

“Back everyone up and cover your ears,” Danny whispered under his breath at a level only the four supers could hear. The Superboys quickly got everyone away from the portal while Superman and Supergirl gave him looks of confusion, but eventually relented. The entire time Darkseid’s attention was on Danny and Danny alone.

“Guess I’m just that stubborn,” Danny chuckled at the dictator. “I died, it didn’t fully stick, now here I am as a ghost.”

“Breathtaking.”

“You know what else is breathtaking?” Danny sucked in as much air as he could, not that he really needed it, and released a wail.

At once, all windows on the street shattered. Everyone covered their ears and the heart breaking cry sweep through the area. The Supers all collapsed to their knees, the sound even worse for those with super hearing. Tears threatened to spill from everyone’s eyes. Everyone but Darkseid.

The Dictator of Apokolips seemed almost stunned. Blood streamed from his nose and probably his ears, though those were hidden in his helmet. The sound waves slammed into him and he did nothing to fight back as the waves set him careening head over heels back towards the portal.

Darkseid barely managed to grab the edge of the portal and the wail stopped and Danny fell to his knees. White rings flickered around him and started to change him back into Fenton, but he managed to stop them before anyone could who wasn’t already looking could see. And the only one looking was Darkseid.

“Someone close the portal!” Batman yelled. All of the heroes staggered to their feet and tried to run to the Mother Box as Darkseid just stares at Phantom.

“Such beautiful cries of pain,” Darkseid muttered. His gaze never left the exhausted Phantom. He realized almost too late that the heroes were going for the Mother Box. He charged up his Omega Beams and shot them at the closest hero, Wonder Woman. She managed to ricochet them off her bracelets, but the beams kept coming back for her. The other heroes had to back up in fear of getting hit or getting in the Amazonian’s way.

Suddenly, a yellow blur swept through the area, knocking Diana out of the way are replacing her with an unconscious Parademon. A figure, this one white and red, landed on the Mother Box, destroying the device. Finally, a red blur ran in and punched Darkseid in the face, sending the tyrant careening through the closing portal.

“Sorry we’re late.” Flash chuckled, as a frustrated Kid Flash and Impulse stopped behind him. “What’d we miss?”

A series of groans ripped through the heroes as they just sat down and waited for the Javelin to get there for med evac.

—————————————————————————

You’d think Danny’s first time fighting Darkseid would be a bigger deal, but it was honestly not as big of a deal as everyone made it out to be. Danny had been fighting genocidal inter-dimensional tyrants since he was 14. What was one genocidal space tyrant making the list?

Batman apparently didn’t think it no big deal, though, if the worried version of the patented Bat-glare and Bat-grunt were anything to go off of. It had been a few days since the fight and the Bat had finally managed to wrangle everyone who had been involved in the Metropolis fight to the Watchtower for a debrief.

The meeting was supposed to start five minutes ago, but only the Flash was still missing. Danny, Conner, and Kara had been making jokes about it to a groaning Kid Flash and a pouting Impulse when the Boom Tube opened.

Everyone jumped to the ready. Batman pulled out a Batarang. Wonder Woman readied her lasso. Superman, Super girl, and the younger Superboy all started floating while their eyes glowed red. The older Superboy got into a fighting stance that Booster Gold quickly copied. The Atom shrank. Black Lightning’s hands sparked with electricity while Danny’s hands glowed with ectoplasm. The two speedsters vibrated in place.

They were ready for anything to come through. Except for a box of chocolates, a bouquet of roses, and a severed head of a yellow, bald alien. As quickly as it opened, the portal closed again. Kid Flashes summed it up best.

“What the fuck?” The yellow speedster yelled.

“Is that-“ Diana piped up, only for Superman to interrupt.

“It’s Mongul,” the Man of Steel growled.

“Who would send a severed warlord’s head with a bunch of romantic gifts?” The Atom piped up from where he stood on Booster’s shoulder.

“Well if it’s not poisoned, dibs on the chocolate,” Impulse gave a nervous laugh.

Batman and Black Lightning approached the table. Batman took a device of his belt and scanned the head then chocolate, each one coming back clean. Lightning picked up the bouquet and found a note.

“To Phantom,” he read out loud. “Your screams of agony resonated through my very being. You are the answer to my billion year search for the Anti-Life Equation. Join me and together we can enslave the universe to our will. Darkseid.”

The room fell into silence. Everyone had various looks of disgust on their face. The silence was eventually broken by Danny groaning and rubbing his eyes with his palms.

“Why do I only attract fruitloops?” He yelled up to the ceiling.

“GUYS!” A red blur yelled as he burst into the room. Flash had finally arrived. “I saw Desaad buying flowers in central city! And then Granny Goodness showed up with a box of chocolates and they Boom Tubed away! Hey, they actually looked a bit like these. Holy shit! Is that Mongul?”

Black Lightning just handed the Scarlet Speedster the note. Flash summed it up the best.

“What the fuck?”

Idk, let me know if I got to continue.

[warmilikeit]

Yandere Batfam x Camp half-blood (Neglected reader)

Dc x Pjo

Part 9

______________________________

It was now morning, the air was humid and the chariots were lined up, everyone on the sidelines was packed with food, every second you wish you were in those benches

"One... Two.... Three... GO!" Tantalus yelled and the campers roared

The Ares chariot was quick, but the Hermes chariot led by the not twins Travis and Connor Stoll, Connor was shooting rocks in between the wheels of chariots

Leading first is the Hephaestus chariot led by Charles Beckendorf and his brother, second is Poseidon Chariot led by Percy Jackson and Tyson the cyclops

No way you were going to let them win

Your sister Yvonne Bailey Daughter of a multi-million fashion designer grabbed some arrows, her step mother (Aphrodite approved) was an Olympic archer, she taught Yvonne everything she knows

Which is lucky because in this race your opponents either throw arrows or bombs, even luckier cause someone on the Aphrodite cabin knows how to make arrow bombs (you duh)

And you may or may have not taken green arrows design but it's not like he can sue you, I mean come on you're dead

"No hard feelings (Name)" Annabeth smiles as her chariots bumps yours

Yvonne recovering from the shock stood up again quickly "You did not just do that", she prepared an arrow and shot at their left wheel, tried to shoot at least

The arrow instead hit the Hermes chariot and it crashed onto the Hephaestus chariot

Well they say it's better to destroy two chariots with one arrow

Now it was just You and Yvonne, Annabeth and her brother, Percy and Tyson

AND CLARISSE LA RUE????

For some reason, even if they were stuck at the back of the track trying to get he ricks out of their wheels, they managed to bypass the other burning down chariots in their way

It was fine, you liked a challenge, Then Stymphalian birds (flesh eating demon birds) started raining down from the sky and started pecking at the campers

A flock of these birds started to attack your chariot, without thinking you grabben an arrow and shit at them...

... without proper space distance, making the explosion close to you chariot

Yvonne grabbed you and ducked down and the horses who were carrying your chariot went feral trying to avoid the demon birds themselves

Percy who slipped out of the race, managed to grab a boom box and played this awful music that made the birds screech, but stopped them from attacking

The Apollo kids took this as a chance to shoot them down

And when you thought it was over, Clarisse came running through with her chariot and won the race

Despite the injuries of the racers and the non racers, they cheered

______________________________

Jason grumbled at the sight of his family, gloomy, "Hey, Breakfast has been ready for hours now, Duke is waiting!"

"I know but I found new information, according to here, Empousa only drink the blood of their victims, not eat them, that would mean there is still a body-" Tim has been researching every Greek monster ever since, trying to find a clue on how to see them properly

Diana had explained this most that covers the mortal eye from the divine world, with the announcement that the gods are real...

People have been starting to get stressed, since the most is still in effect, people are accusing each other of being monsters in disguise

"I don't get why you're doing so much for a fake" Jason glared, true he was shocked at the death, but... It's not like this was the first time (Name) died

The little replacement to protect dad's sanity was dead, so?

______________________________

According to Tantalus, we should be punished, because according to him the stymphalian birds were just minding their business and only attacked because they were bothered by Percy's horrible chariot driving

"go chase a donut!" Percy stomped off as Tantalus continues to yell at him and Tyson scurries behind behind Percy

I grabbed a piece of fruit from a table that managed to survive the attack and waved it around so Tantalus could see

And I ate it in front of him.

"Okay you too! Both you and Percy and the monster will be washing the dishes tonight" he yelled

"what, that's bull, everyone eats" said a brother of yours

"leave my sister alone, you're just mad you can't eat" said another brother

"how are you cursed to never eat and still be fat, that doesn't make sense" said one of your sisters

Annabeth's brows furrowed "That's not fair! (Name) Just ate! You can't punish her for eating!"

"alright smarty you're punished as well! Everyone cleans this mess! And make dinner for Clarisse if you want, a banquet or something, but stay the fuck away from my sight" now it was Tantalus's turn to stomp away

______________________________

(Name): eats*

Tantalus who was cursed to never eat: I'm offended

______________________________

@delias-stuff @sadslasher13 @ellaprime7 @wpdarlingpan @mountvesuvu @chinxinsomnia @nathaly36 @vanessa-boo @bat1212 @ceramic-raven @sweetconnoisseurgardener @dhanyasri @bella-wolf100 @shortnsweetsposts @roseapov @d3sperate-enuf @d3kstar

[moonlightcycle571]

Absolute Captain Marvel

I was thinking about the Absolute universe that’s coming, an au where heroes are still heroes despite not having one of their core aspects. Where Batman isn’t rich and Martha is alive, Superman was raised on Krypton so was an adult when landing on Earth, and Diana wasn’t raised by Amazons, but by Circe in Hell.

So I’m here thinking what would be the twist on Captain Marvel. And I got suggestions.

1) Instead of being a child in an adults body, he doesn’t get an adult form. He also doesn’t get to age. So it’s eternally being underestimated because of his small form despite being much older than most heroes (having started in the 80s). It would bring a nice contrast to child being told to grow up and adult being told to stand down.

2) Billy and Mary die, so Captain Marvel and Lieutenant or Mary it Miss Marvel is actually C.C and Marilyn Batson grieving their children. Motivation: making sure no goes through the pain of loosing children like they did.

3) Billy gets no family. A lot of Billy’s character is that he finds and makes his own family (Mary, Freddy, the Vasquez’s, the Bromfields … Ect). What if he just, decided to skip all of that. He’ll still be the same, but instead of having the power of friendship, he’ll just have the power of litteral divin wrath. Maybe he got trauma from relying on adults that should have cared for him (I’m looking at you Ebenezer). Maybe he’ll have a “learn to rely on adults” arc with the Absolute Justice League.

4) I know I’ve talked about this before, but what about a Marvel that cares more about Magic than Humans. Instead of being more aligned to “Earths Mightiest Mortal” title, he’s close to “The Champion of Magic”. It would be such a cool concept to have a more magically inclined Cap. Especially when we are getting a Wonder Woman who will be raised by the OG witch herself (Circe). Let them throw magic spell combos.

5) More side effects of the Time Bubble au. War veteran Billy. A city that’s extremely displaced. Norms being now illegal, a whole city of people who need to deal with the fact that any friend, relative or even life outside of Fawcette is just out of time. Have a Cap who struggles with heroics and, well, people outside of Fawcette and the overwhelming guilt. Also, give me a Fawcette city that evolved differently from the rest of the world. They maybe be lacking in technology in some departments, they are extremely advanced in other departments. And maybe sprinkle in some Magic City Fawcette. Or maybe some time shenanigans Fawcette. You get the gist.

Anyways, a lot of these are just some thoughts and durables I’ve taken inspiration from. Let me know if you have any Absolute Marvel Ideas that don’t take away from him being a hero.

[fxckadoodledoomunson]

A Heart Divided -2-

Previous

|2| Finding a new sanctuary…

Summary: You try your best to focus on your studies and training for the upcoming swimming competition, but with Eddie and your sister making it difficult for you, you’re left with no choice but to turn to Steve for help.

Warnings: swearing, Eddie and your sister being arseholes.

Tagged: @somethingvicked @ali-r3n

As soon as you heard your parents were home, you immediately went back to your place so you could ask permission to stay over at Chrissy’s.

When you stepped inside, you heard your sister ask your father in a babyish voice, “Daddy…”

“No!” Your father sternly interrupted.

“But you don’t know what I was going to say,” your sister whinged, as she followed him to the kitchen, where your mother was unpacking the groceries.

“Well whatever it is, the answer’s still no,” your father retorted.

“Come on, honey,” your mother said to your father. “Just hear what she’s got to say.”

Your father sighed, before asking your sister, “Well, what is it?”

“I need to borrow fifty bucks,” your sister replied.

You rolled your eyes at the word borrow. You knew that what she meant was, “I need fifty dollars from you for my selfish gain and will not have any intention of returning it.”

Thankfully, your father wasn’t stupid to fall for whatever your sister says. After he declined to give her any money, she started to throw a tantrum, “But Daddy, it’s not fair. I’m supposed to go out with Roxy and Diana to this new club tonight. How am I supposed to go without money?”

“Simple, get a job like the rest of us, and not lounge around all day,” your father sternly told her. “Or better yet, not drop out of college in the first place.”

Your parents started to argue about your sister. After a year at college, your sister had decided to drop out as she felt it was more tiresome to study than go out and partying all night. While your father had always gave discipline, your mother on the other hand, coddled her. As your shoes squeaked against the kitchen floor, everyone stopped arguing, noticing you.

Your father quickly smiled, as he greeted you, “Hey pumpkin, where have you been hiding?”

“I was over at the Cunningham’s,” you replied.

Your mother approached you, as she asked, “Darling, why’s your face red? Have you been crying?”

“Let me guess, over a boy?” Your sister snidely asked.

“Enough from you,” your father scolded her.

You wanted nothing more than to snitch on her for being with Eddie, knowing how your parents felt about him, despite him always being polite to them when he used to come over for the tutoring. However, you didn’t have the energy to do it. So instead, when your father asked if it really was over a boy, you lied to him, “No Dad, it’s not. I guess I’m just a little overwhelmed, with finals coming up and the final two swimming competitions…”

You deeply sighed, when your father put his arm around you, comforting you, as he said, “You just do your best. Even if you get third place in the competitions, I would still be proud of you.”

You gave him a small smile, as you thanked him, before hugging him, ignoring your sister’s sour faced expression.

As your father let go of you, you began to ask him, “Actually Dad. I was wondering if I could stay over at Chrissy’s tonight? She’s asked me to help her with her homework.”

You figured that your father would say no, but instead he replied, “Sure pumpkin.”

“Well, are you still having dinner with us?” Your mother asked. “I’m making vegetable lasagna.”

You politely shook your head, before telling her, “Chrissy said that I can have dinner with her and her family.”

You then excused yourself from the conversation, so you can gather your overnight stuff and your sleeping bag. You were about to go upstairs when you stopped and told your father, “Oh by the way, I had to leave work early today, so I need to work an extra couple of hours to make up for it.”

“Of course, pumpkin. Do what you need to do, just don’t overdo it, okay?”

You nodded, before rushing up the stairs, overhearing your sister complaining about you, “That’s not fair, why does she always get what she wants, but I can’t?”

You got the guy I wanted, you thought. Isn’t that enough for you?

Meanwhile at Gareth’s place, Eddie and the rest of Corroded Coffin were rehearsing for the next night. While everyone was in the zone, Eddie found himself distracted. He thought about Chrissy’s sudden change in her demeanour when he saw her.

After noticing that Eddie was messing up the chords, Jeff raised his hand, prompting everyone else to stop.

“Eddie,” Jeff called out, making Eddie stop and turn to him. “What’s going on with you man?”

Eddie huffed, as he took off his guitar strap, placing his guitar in its case.

“It’s Chrissy,” Eddie spoke, as he scratched his head.

“What about her?” Grant asked.

Before Eddie could answer, Gareth exclaimed as he pointed at him with his drumstick, “I knew it! You’re secretly dating her, aren’t you?”

“What?! No! Of course I’m not!” Eddie denied.

Suddenly, the other two boys chuckled when Jeff mentioned, “Well, you’ve been really friendly with each other since the end of the semester.”

No longer tolerating their teasing, Eddie stomped towards them, as he angrily said whilst showing his index finger, “First of all, we’re not dating! She’s a client and a friend. And secondly…” He showed his index and middle finger, as he blurted, “I’m already seeing a woman.”

The rest of the boys’ faces fell, hearing Eddie’s confession, which led them to ask so many questions…

“Wait what?”

“You’re seeing someone? Since when?”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Is she hot?”

“Who is it?”

“How far did you get with her?”

Having enough of them bombarding him with questions, Eddie bellowed, “SHUT UP!”

The boys became silent, not wanting to piss off their leader.

Eddie took a deep sigh, before answering them, “I’ve been seeing her since spring break, and yes, she’s like super hot…”

“Super hot like Phoebe Cates?” Gareth asked.

“Way hotter than her,” Eddie pointed out.

The boys excitedly exclaimed, before Jeff asked, “So, who is it?”

Eddie smirked, as he crossed his arms, before revealing it was your sister.

The three of them stood still, as their jaws dropped, before repeating your sister’s name.

Eddie nodded gleefully.

“No way, she was like the hottest girl in the school,” Jeff commented.

“Not to mention rich,” Grant said, before asking if your sister and you were neighbours with Chrissy.

Eddie nodded, before revealing that after he went to see your sister, he went to see Chrissy and asked if she wanted to watch the band rehearse. “It’s weird,” Eddie told them. “Today at school, she was friendly with me, but when I went to visit her, she gave me the cold shoulder.”

“Did you say something that might have pissed her off earlier?” Grant asked.

“Of course I didn’t, I don’t think so anyway. Although…” Eddie then mentioned that Chrissy glared at him from her window earlier after saying goodbye to your sister.

The boys glanced at him in confusion, wondering why Chrissy changed her attitude towards their leader when Gareth exclaimed as he banged his cymbal, “Aha!”

“What?” Eddie asked.

Gareth scoffed, before asking him, “Dude! Isn’t it obvious?”

Before his confused bandmates could ask, Gareth told them, “She’s jealous.”

Jeff and Grant disagreed while an astonished Eddie furrowed his eyebrows.

“There’s no way she’s jealous,” Jeff told Gareth.

“Plus, she’s with Carver,” Grant mentioned.

“So?!” Gareth retorted. “Just because she’s with that douchebag, it’s doesn’t mean that she still wants to be in a relationship with him. Maybe,” he raised his drumstick, as he continued. “Just maybe…she’s finally come to her senses and wants to leave the dark side.”

Eddie raised one of his eyebrows at the drummer, thinking about his theory. He couldn’t lie, he did once have a small crush on Chrissy when they met at the middle school talent show, but that faded over time. Even when they reconnected during the first deal, he didn’t feel that way again about her, especially as he actually liked…

“I’ve just realised something,” Grant spoke up as he interrupted Eddie’s thoughts.

“What?” Jeff asked.

Eddie shifted his attention to the bass player, as Grant asked Eddie about you.

Eddie huffed, crossing his arms, as he asked “What about her?”

“Well, weren’t you like into her?”

Jeff and Gareth faced each other in realisation, before commenting that they remembered that Eddie did once comment how amazing you were for helping him get his grades up and how happy he was to see you watch the band at the Hideout.

“So?” Eddie retorted, as he glared at them.

“So what’s changed?” Grant asked. “I mean, you gave me a hard time earlier for acknowledging her. How did you go from her to her sister?”

Eddie rolled his eyes, as he exhaled in frustration, before telling his bandmates, “You wouldn’t believe me even if I tell you.”

“Try us,” Jeff replied.

Eddie shifted his attention between the three boys before revealing why he chose your sister over you.

Staying over at Chrissy’s house was something you definitely needed. Although you were still upset about Eddie and your sister, Chrissy did her best to cheer you up after you helped her with her homework, as you both watched both Grease movies and listening to your favourite songs to lift your spirits up.

When the next morning came, you were dreading, not only potentially bumping into your sister as she would go out to see her friends for morning coffee, but also going to school and seeing Eddie.

You clutched your backpack, feeling nauseous when Chrissy placed her hand on your shoulder, as she assured you, “It’s going to be okay.”

You nodded at her, thanking her before heading to your front yard to grab your bike when you heard a vehicle horn honking. You turned around, worried that it was Eddie’s van. Instead, you sighed with relief as you saw Jason’s jeep parked.

You heard him call out Chrissy’s name, as he greeted her, before asking her if she was ready.

Instead of answering him, Chrissy turned to you and suggested, “Come to school with us.”

“Well…” you hesitated. “I don’t-“

“Please?” Chrissy begged.

Unable to resist her puppy eyes, you accepted Chrissy’s offer, which made her smile.

As you headed to the jeep, Jason raised his hand, stopping you getting in. “Woah!” He exclaimed. “What do you think you’re doing? After what you treated my girlfriend-“

“It’s okay, Jason,” Chrissy interjected. “We’ve talked things over and we’ve made up.”

Jason turned to his girlfriend, before shifting his attention to you, as he huffed, whilst signalling you to get in.

You thanked him, as you and Chrissy got in the vehicle.

Throughout the day, you avoided any form of contact with Eddie. You even reluctantly acknowledged the rest of the Hellfire club, as you didn’t want to aggravate him any further. Whilst you avoided him and the others, you were unaware of the cold expressions on the older boys’ faces as they watched you walk past without acknowledging them.

As you headed into one of the classrooms, Jeff commented to Eddie, “You were right about her. She doesn’t even have the guts to look at us.”

Meanwhile, Jason gave Chrissy a peck on the cheek, before heading to his next class, leaving Chrissy to walk alone to the next class she shared with you.

As she walked through the hallway, Eddie called out to her, as he waved at her.

Instead of waving back, she silently glared at him, before stomping to the classroom.

“Dude, she is definitely playing hard to get with you,” Gareth told Eddie, as he patted his shoulder, while Eddie glanced at the door, wondering if Chrissy is really jealous and wanted him or if she just genuinely dislike him.

Later on before your shift ended, you were packing up and getting changed in the staff room when you heard the door bell ring.

You then heard Steve say, “Welcome to Family…Oh, hey Chrissy.”

You popped your head out of the door, seeing Chrissy dressed up in a baby pink dress with matching sneakers. You smiled, as you greeted her, “I’ll be right out.”

You went back to the staff room, to collect everything as you were listening to Steve and Robin talking to Chrissy.

After sorting yourself out, you rushed out in your black jeans and your Iron Maiden shirt, as you told Chrissy, “I’m ready. How are we getting there?”

“Well, Aimee said that she and her brother Tony can drop us off,” Chrissy replied. “But I’m not sure how we’re getting back.”

Before you could respond, Steve interjected, “I can take you two home. Robin and I going later anyway, so we can all go home together.”

Chrissy beamed, as she thanked him, earning a wink from him, which made her giggle. Suddenly, you heard a car beep from outside. You and Chrissy turned to see her fellow cheerleader, waving outside the car window. “Oh, that’s Aimee,” she exclaimed, as she grabbed your hand, and pulled you. “We better get going.”

After you said goodbye to Robin and Steve, you and Chrissy started walking out when you overheard Robin and Steve bantering.

“What?” You heard Steve ask.

“You’re gonna tell me why you winked at the head cheerleader?” Robin retorted.

“It was just a wink. You know, a friendly wink.”

“That was so not a friendly wink.”

You stifled your laughter, as you caught up with Chrissy.

A few moments later, you and Chrissy got out of Tony’s car, as you thanked him for the ride.

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” Aimee called out.

You and Chrissy waved as Tony drove off, before you turned around and faced the entrance. In that moments, your body froze.

“I don’t know if I can do this, Chris,” you mumbled, wanting to turn away. However, Chrissy stopped you, and held your hand, as she said, “You’ll be fine. If Eddie says or does something, we’ll just leave, okay?”

You nodded, and started walking into the building, as she placed her other hand on your back.

As always, the Hideout was filled with a crowd of five drunks. You looked over at the stage, finding Corroded Coffin performing, before swiftly turning away, trying to avoid being noticed.

You and Chrissy headed to the bar to order your drinks, as your fight-or-flight kicked in. You clutched your chest, as your breathing began to increase. Chrissy noticed this, and placed her hand on your back, as she said, “Deep breaths.”

She inhaled and then exhaled with you until you felt better.

“Thanks Chris,” you replied, as the barmaid placed your drinks on the counter. After Chrissy paid, you both grabbed your drinks and headed to one of booths, further away from the stage. As soon you two found the booth, you heard feedback from the microphone, before Eddie announced, “Are you ready to rock again, Hawkins?!”

After a few claps from a couple of drunks, Eddie announced, “The next song we’re gonna play is Fire Shroud.”

As the band started to play, you couldn’t help but bop your head to the music, realising how much you missed hearing them play.

However, you stopped enjoying yourself when you noticed your sister’s friends, Roxy and Diana, were sitting at a table close to the stage.

If they’re here, then that means… you thought when you noticed your sister coming out of the bathroom.

“I should’ve known,” you grumbled.

“What?” Chrissy asked, not hearing what you said.

You swiftly turned away, avoiding your sister and her friends. Chrissy turned to you, before shifting her attention back to the stage, realising that your sister and one of her friends were heading towards stage to dance together. Chrissy gave you a sympathetic gaze and squeezed your hand , as she asked, “Do you want to go?”

Before you could respond, the last voice you wanted to hear shouted over the music, “Well well well.”

You turned to find your sister towering over you two , as she leaned against the table, continuing to snidely ask, “What do we have here? Shouldn’t you two be at home playing My Little Pony or something like good little girls?”

You took a sip of your drink, trying to ignore her, whilst Chrissy glared at her.

However, your sister kept trying to push your buttons, as she asked you, “Why are you even here? No one wants you here.”

Before you could answer back, you realised that the band stopped playing, as you watched Eddie and the rest of the band heading towards your booth. “Hey, what’s going on, princess?” Eddie asked your sister, as he wrapped his arm around her.

“Well, I was just saying to my baby sister that no one wants her here,” your sister smugly replied.

“It’s a public place,” Chrissy retorted. “You can’t ban someone because you don’t like them.”

“True,” Eddie replied. “But like she said…”

He then glared at you, before finishing his sentence, “No one wants you here.”

You quickly stood up, as you angrily retorted, “That’s bullshit! It’s you two that don’t want me here-“

“Actually,” Gareth coldly spoke up, which caused you to turn to look at him. “Neither of us want you here.”

You gazed at him with confusion, as Jeff told you, “Eddie told us, so don’t try to deny it.”

“What are you talking about?” You asked Jeff, before asking Eddie, “What have you told them?”

“Figure it out,” Eddie coldly told you.

You shifted your gaze at everyone, before turning to Grant, who avoided eye contact with you when you asked, “So, you don’t want me here either Grant?”

Grant continued to avoid you, as you turned your attention to Eddie and your sister, with tears brimming in your eyes. Without saying another word, you grabbed your belongings and stormed out, ignoring Chrissy calling out to you.

Chrissy turned to Eddie, and angrily told him, “I don’t know what’s going on with you Eddie, but you’re being a real asshole, and as for you…”

She then turned to your sister, and scolded her, “How could you be like this to your own sister? What did she ever do to you?”

Your sister blankly looked at Chrissy, before retorting, “Exist, that’s what.”

The next thing that no one anticipated was Chrissy slapping your sister across the face. Before your sister could retaliate, Chrissy grabbed both drinks and threw it at both Eddie and your sister, which made her gasp, before whinging that her outfit was ruined.

“You two deserve each other,” Chrissy spat, before running off to find you.

While your sister ran to the bathroom with her friends following her, Eddie grabbed his handkerchief from his pocket and dried his face off, as Gareth blurted out, “I guess Chrissy’s not into you after all.”

Eddie turned to silently glare at the drummer before heading for the door, giving you and Chrissy a piece of his mind.

Meanwhile, you and Chrissy were sitting on the ground, as you sobbed while Chrissy comforted you.

“I don’t understand it, Chrissy,” you sniffled, unaware that Eddie was eavesdropping. “I mean, I’m sure that I would get over their relationship one day.”

Eddie rolled his eyes, thinking that you were pulling the poor me act when he heard you ask Chrissy. “But what did I do to make Eddie hate me so much?”

Eddie furrowed his eyebrows, confused by your question. At first, he thought it was just an act, but then he wondered if you were being genuine. But then, he shook his head, as he thought, No, I’ve seen enough to know how she actually thinks about me and everyone else.

Before he could step out, he noticed Steve’s car parking near the building.

Not long after, Robin and Steve came out and rushed over to you and Chrissy, checking if you were okay.

After Chrissy explained what happened, Steve immediately said, “We’ll take you guys home.”

As Robin and Chrissy put you in the car, Steve noticed Eddie lurking by the doorway of the bar, and shook his head at him, before getting in the car and drove off.

You silently sat in the backseat with Robin and Chrissy, as both girls comforted you.

“Everything will be okay,” Chrissy quietly told you, as she squeezed your hand.

Everything will be okay.

That was easier said than done. Although you’ve managed to avoid the Hellfire club at school, you couldn’t avoid Eddie and your sister at home. Every time you tried to do your homework, they always had loud music playing from her bedroom, drowning whatever they were doing. You wanted to go over to Chrissy’s place as it was a sanctuary to you. However, thanks to your sister snitching on you both to your parents and Chrissy’s mother, you were no longer allowed to go over, which drove you to go to the basement just so you can finish your studies in peace.

But what aggravated you the most was that you had a swimming semifinal competition coming up soon, and you needed to practice. However, you couldn’t even practice properly as Eddie and your sister decided to make out whilst lounging by the pool.

But the final straw was when the two of them decided to jump into the pool, preventing you from practicing all together.

Having enough of them splashing around, you aggressively splashed the water towards them, as you growled, “That’s it!”

You swam to the ladder and climbed up, as you heard your sister mock, “Aww, can’t handle a little competition?”

Without thinking, you grabbed your sister’s radio and threw it across the yard, smashing it to the ground.

As you stomped back inside, you heard your sister call you a bitch, which made you flip both of them off, no longer caring being called that.

As you were getting changed in your room, you were trying to decide how to practice without interruptions. You couldn’t go to Chrissy’s as you were banned from going over. And you weren’t allowed to go to the school swimming pool after hours without a teacher supervising you. Also, the community pool wasn’t great for practice if it’s crowded. The only solution was…

“Harrington,” you muttered, as you finished getting changed, you packed your spare swimsuit and goggles, before calling Steve at work, asking him if you could stay at his place for a while so you could practice.

“Sure, you know where the spare key is,” Steve immediately told you. You thanked him, before hanging up, so you could call your father to let him know that you were going to Steve’s to practice.

You thought that he would say no. But knowing that how much the competition meant to you, as well as getting the scholarship, he decided to let you go, before telling you, “But don’t stay out too late.”

As soon as you got to Steve’s house, you found the spare key under the flowerpot and let yourself in. You had managed to get a good half an hour of practice when you heard the door slide open.

You turned to find Steve coming through the door, as he greeted you. “Not interrupting you, am I?”

“No, I managed to do thirty minutes so far,” you replied, before continuing to swim up and down the pool, checking your lap time on your stopwatch.

Suddenly, Steve walked towards your stopwatch and picked it up, as he said, “I’ll time you.”

“Okay. Thanks,” you replied as you swam to one end of the pool, while Steve sat one of the lounge chairs.

After Steve started the countdown, he shouted, “Go!”

At once, you swam as fast as you could, back and forth for about five minutes, until Steve called out to you to stop, as he pressed the button on the stopwatch to stop.

You swam towards the ladder and got out of the pool, before grabbing your towel, as you asked, “How did I do?”

As you wrapped your towel around you, you sat in front of him when he showed you the lap times. You grabbed the stopwatch and sighed with relief, as you managed to break your record.

You looked up at him, as you said, “Thanks Steve. I wouldn’t have been able to practice today if it wasn’t for you.”

Steve smiled, before asking, “So, why did you ask me if you could practice here? Is because of your sister and Munson?”

You lowered your head down, facing the ground, not wanting to cry as you thought about them ruining your week.

You heard the chair creak, as Steve moved to sit to you. “I’m sorry,” Steve apologised. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

You shook your head, telling him, “Don’t worry about it.”

You lifted your head, and sighed before telling him, “I wouldn’t have minded them being together if they weren’t such arseholes. But…I don’t know what I’ve done to Eddie to make him despise me.”

“Hey, I’m sure that you’ve done nothing wrong, okay?” Steve wrapped his arm around your shoulder, as he said, “Whatever his problem is, that’s on him. The same goes with your sister.”

You leaned against his shoulder, as you said, “If only I wasn’t born in the same family as her. It would’ve made things less complicated.”

Steve had a sympathetic expression on his face, as he lightly ruffled your dampened hair, which made you smile a little bit. Suddenly, you both heard the phone ring.

“I better get that,” Steve said as he moved away from you, getting up on his feet, before heading inside to answer the phone, leaving you alone to pack your stopwatch in your bag, before taking out your diary and started writing…

No longer tolerating with the so called valour bard being seduced by the succubus, and being banished by the acrobat’s wicked mother from seeing her friend again, the mermaid swam to the other side of the island to find a new sanctuary where she found the young fallen king. Despite his former status, she got on well with the king, and he was willing to help her any way possible, even if it was to talk about her problems. There were times that the mermaid wished she was a part of the king’s family and not have a sibling like…

You stopped mid-sentence when you heard Steve call your name.

You looked up, as you closed your diary.

“It’s your dad,” Steve informed you. “He wants you home right away.”

You felt deflated, hearing the word home. With the way things were at the moment, it didn’t feel like home.

You sighed as you shoved your diary back in your bag, before grabbing your dry clothes and ran inside to get changed.

Shortly getting changed, you immediately ran for the door, as you shouted, “Thanks Steve. I’ll see you later.”

“Bye,” Steve called out, as he raided his fridge when he turned to find you left your bag behind on the lounge chair. He rushed to pick it up and ran out of the house, as he shouted, “Hey, you forgot-“

By then, you had already gone. Steve shook his head, before going back inside to get his car key.

Next

[xf-cases-solved]

mulder vs. scully and her period

-first off, he 1000% keeps track of her cycle - it's vital to his survival - but he would never ever ever ever tell scully that

-he learned to start keeping track after too many blunders during their first year working together. like, he'd had girlfriends in the past, obviously, but he didn't travel the country constantly with them day in and day out. even diana was rly reserved about her period, preferring to keep that sort of thing to herself. but scully is a medical doctor. while she may take issue with any emotional aspect, and be uncomfortable and embarrassed about that part, she is completely nonplussed by the physical aspect, and talks about it very bluntly and openly, and that took mulder by surprise at first. he wasn't used to being around a woman who wasn't bashful about it, and it made him uncomfortable at first, but eventually he was like "ok, this is going to be part of working with her, i need to get over myself and up my game"

-in their entire time working together, mulder has made one (1) "are you on your period or something?" joke. it was about six months into their partnership, and scully was (rightfully) irritated at him about something and he had tried for some levity. let's just say that he, ah... he has never made that mistake again

-he always has a tampon on hand. like, always. it is more reliable to ask mulder if he has a tampon than it would be to ask another woman in the bathroom if she has one. he started keeping them on him when she got her period on a three hour long flight that had an hour delay on the tarmac, and she'd accidentally forgotten to take a couple tampons out of her checked luggage, so he'd watched her shift around uncomfortably with a makeshift pad made of thin, coarse airplane bathroom toilet paper, and he felt really bad that he couldn't do anything about it, so on the flight back, he bought a travel pack pack of like, six tampons when he went to get sunflower seeds, just in case. then at some point he was like "mb i should keep a couple in my overnight bag for her," and that led to, "she's in my apartment a lot, i should throw a couple under the sink," until eventually he was King of the Tampons

-(he even has different absorbency levels, okay? like, he is on top of his shit)

-he used to buy chocolate for her on long drives when he knew she was on the rag, always saying something like, "it was two for one, don't worry about it," even when it wasn't, until he started to pay closer attention, and he realized she actually tended to crave salty foods instead of sweet ones, so he switched from chocolate to potato chips and pretzels. (he would play it off as though he got them for himself and then would keep offering her some, bc he knew that would help her not sit there and (completely needlessly) dwell over eating junk food)

-she gets really bad cramps the first day and a half or so, and he haaaates it, bc even tho she waves it off, he can see the way she clenches her jaw, and is hunched over whenever she thinks he's not paying attention. if she's over at his place when they're happening - even if they're working - he makes her sit with a heating pad and encourages her to drink the whole glass of water when she takes her midol. he has massaged her lower back on more than one occasion

-she stopped getting her periods regularly when she was going through cancer treatment, her body too sick and weak. about two months after going into remission, she bled through her slacks on some rural highway in arkansas, and although mulder listened to her complain and validated her frustration, he was secretly so relieved, bc he knew it meant that her body was really and truly starting to heal

-her periods become kind of a taboo subject in a way they hadn't ever been before once she learns of her infertility. she doesn't talk as openly about them anymore, but he's still always prepared and after four/five plus years together he doesn't need her to tell him how to make her feel better. he can intuit it. she doesn't say it, but he knows that she's grateful

-her periods become a dark topic when the ivf fails. the period that confirmed it didn't take was hard on both of them, and she spent every night of it at mulder's apartment letting him hold her and allowing him the privilege of caring for her, which she usually resisted

-he actually noticed that she missed a period before he was taken in oregon, but he had no reason to suspect it was anything but just a fluke, so he didn't say anything. when he glanced at his calendar and saw what week it was, though, he did have a fleeting moment where he was like "what if?" not in a serious capacity, but in a wistful way. i mean, they'd been going at it like rabbits and had never once even considered using a condom. like, why would they, right? but in his brief fantasy, he thinks about how she would react seeing a plus sign on a pregnancy test. it would be familiar - that look of disbelief and awe she got whenever they witnessed something unexplainable - and he would be the cause of it, and how amazing would it feel to be able to give that to her? to give that to both of them? but he knows it'll never be anything more than a pipe dream (bitch, you thought!)

-we won't get into sad later stuff, but i'll just say that he really, really resents the fact that he wasn't there to take care of her during her pregnancy. and he would have been fantastic at it. he would have toed the line between supportive but not overbearing perfectly. she would have had a beautiful nine months, like she had more than earned. he'll never totally forgive the universe for taking that from them

-and to conclude, let me just say for the record, mulder is all about period sex. orgasms help cramps, right? he's just being altruistic. ("YOUR orgasm doesn't help my cramps, mulder" "hey, we'll never know for sure unless we try")

-lay down a towel, lay down your woman, and get to it. bro eats crime scene evidence. there's no way he'd let a period stop him from fucking. god bless and amen

-the end

[toxictigertonic]

Could we get a Franco Only headcannon list? I love how you make him so adorable and so sad. He needs the spotlight. He deserves it. (And then coil. Because you write him laugh out loud hilarious. But baby goes first)

You can't ask for Franco headcanons from me and not expect me to bring about the cringe,,, I apologize in advance.

FRANCO ONLY HEADCANONS

- He has a little bit of a tummy and he's a little self conscious about it I'm not taking this one back.

- If he gets crying hard enough he'll start hiccuping, and it's almost impossible for him to stop once he starts. He hates it so much, it makes him feel stupid.

- His vision is kinda shit but he always assumed it was bc of the head trauma. He has an astigmatism. Get him a pair of fucking glasses please.

- His pokemon team would be Tentacruel (bc poison and water), Kangaskhan (he wishes he was the baby), Vullaby (baby should have a mean looking baby pokemon), Salazzle (poison and... i think you understand), Garbador (he's so stinky), and Weezing (poison gas).

- His top three animal crossing villagers would be Vivian, Diana, and Hazel. He likes the pretty villagers and the big sister ones :)

- He'd love a happy meal from McDonald's, but he'd want extra fries instead of apple slices and when he didn't get them he'd throw it back through the window.

- Would benefit from a weighted blanket. I think he likes to be smooshed flat, not just in the freaky way, but in the pressure stim way too. It's comforting, it helps him calm down, and it's warm and toasty.

- If he lost his pacifier he'd throw and entire fit until he found it again. Screaming, throwing shit, turning furniture over, fighting others, he needs it back and he needs it back NOW. Sucking his thumb will not tide him over, either, the lack of it hanging against his chest makes him anxious.

- If not allowed to suck his own thumb, he will resort to sucking someone else's thumb instead. Yes, this is as horrifying as you think it is. Not as horrifying as him with the big grunt, but still, enough to make most reagents want to crawl under the docks for the rest of the trial.

- He's taking hangover naps in the middle of trials. He had one too many Wolf's Milks the night before and now he's groggy as shit. Catch him taking a nap curled up in a corner. A nice reagent throws a blanket/coat over him and he secretly gets emotional about it when waking up.

- If you make kissy sounds at him after he's made them at you, you better be ready to either run or kiss him. That's an invitation, this man is starved for every sort of attention, and he needs SMOOCHES.

Get this imp out of my head (I'm lying I love him being in my skull at all times)

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

First of all, I love your blog. Thank you so much for your in-depth and well researched replies. Anyway, I always read about Meghan wanting William for herself and I've seen videos of her making googly eyes/trying to flirt with him. Does Meghan really want William or is she just like that with all men. Some say she is now behaving like a woman scorned towards William. What is your take on this? Thanks a lot!

An anon asked me something very similar in a DM when I had asks closed so I’m just going to put in what I said to her since my answer is still the same.

Meghan is the kind of woman who sexualizes her relationships to all men, especially when she wants something, and she definitely wanted things from William - he was the one refuting her and Harry’s claims that she was just like Diana, she wanted him to walk her down the aisle at the wedding, and she wanted Diana’s jewelry, for starters.

So because Meghan sexualizes every transaction and interaction with men, she’s very flirty and over-attentive to every/any man she meets - just look at how flirty she was with the Colombia VP’s husband in the one video, or look at the way she draped herself all over the tour guide when she was like 14 or 15. It’s learned behavior, and (I suspect) from Doria, because she’s not a natural flirt. You can see her calculating what she needs to do to “win” someone’s attention - it’s her choices to wear short or skin-bearing outfits (or to alter her outfits to show more skin, like she did at Trooping 2018), to invade people’s personal spaces with the claws or her overly-touchy hugs, and how she always laser-focuses her attention on one specific person instead of the whole group around her. That’s not natural flirty behavior; it’s calculative. (The most telltale sign of a natural flirt is that they’re flirty, playful, and attentive with everyone around them, not just one specific person or one specific gender.)

And specific to the way she’s treating William — she sees him as the one blocking Harry’s (and therefore her) path back to the BRF. It doesn’t read scorned woman to me; it reads desperate. She’s literally throwing everything and the kitchen sink at William to get him to speak to her or at least acknowledge her. She tried flattery. She tried compassion. She tried using Kate. She tried to provoke him with anger. She tried silence/grey rock William. She tried using William’s kids. She tried using her own kids. She tried using Harry.

[denaliwrites]

Dreams See Us Through

Tenth Doctor x GN!Reader

Part 1: Don't Blink Part 2: Don't Turn Your Back Part 3: Don't Look Away

Catch and Release Prompt: "Solo"

Summary: Without the Doctor by your side, it's up to you to save yourself.

Soundtrack: If We Hold On Together by Diana Ross

Requests: Open!

Tag List: @nyxiethesimp, @awesome-badass-cafeteria-sauce -- If I could tag literally everyone who asked for a part 4, I would.

Warnings: Canon-Typical Peril.

"Doctor," the tinny voice of Jack Harkness piped up from the TARDIS intercom, sounding winded, "I found something I think you're gonna want to see."

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

When you opened your eyes, the Doctor was gone. In his place, a seemingly infinite field of flowers sprawled before you, with the sun shining brightly overhead. At first, you thought maybe you'd died and gone to Heaven, but as you looked around you saw that, to your right, nestled among some rolling hills, sat a pretty average-looking castle. You would've thought that, were this Heaven, the castle would've been grand and made of gold or something.

And, as you made your way through the meadow, you realized you recognized the flowers you brushed past.

So the angel hadn't killed you. And not only had it instead displaced you in time, it had also displaced you in space.

You were back on Earth.

Your next step was to find out when and where you were. Based on the castle overhead, your guess for location was a very broad "somewhere in Europe." That didn't help you much -- you needed more exact details.

You needed coordinates and a date.

You paused to look around, realizing that you never bothered to look behind you. Unfortunately, it didn't help much -- the castle was still your best bet for civilization. And from this distance, you couldn't tell what state it was in. If it was brand new or hundreds of years old.

Only time -- and a very long trek -- would tell.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"Doctor," Jack greeted as the Time Lord swept into the room. His arms were held open as if for a hug.

The Doctor ignored the gesture and opted to instead stare at Jack from a distance, arms crossed over his chest. "Why am I here, Jack?" he asked, already tired of the man's antics.

"To look at this," Jack answered with an easy grin as he whipped out something from his coat pocket.

The Doctor stared at it in confusion.

"You called me all the way here for an Agatha Christie novel?"

"Really, Doctor. You think I'd resort to making up excuses to get you to come see me? Look at the cover," Jack told him, throwing the book over.

The Doctor caught it easily and did as Jack had told him. Up close, he could see the details and read the finer print. And a realization struck him.

"What's a hundred-year-old Vipiteran edition of the Mysterious Affair at Styles doing in a dingy apartment in 2008 London?" Jack asked aloud the question that had been forming in the Doctor's mind.

He didn't have an answer, so he shrugged and began flipping through the pages.

He was near the end when he stopped short, staring at something wedged between the pages. The Doctor pulled it out, staring dumbfoundedly at the old photograph he held between his fingers.

"Doctor, look at the back."

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

The biggest problem was avoiding the creation of a paradox -- difficult, but not impossible.

Luckily, you'd found a town on the other side of the castle, and with it your date and location. May 16, 1922 in Tureborg, Sweden. That definitely made things easier, though there was still the challenge of getting the Doctor's attention without creating a paradox. Or... at least, not a world-ending one. Hopefully.

You unfortunately had very little on you -- really, only the book you'd bought on Vipitera that you'd kept on you in case you found time to read (so much for that), and a credits chip that was virtually useless now.

You also couldn't speak Swedish. That was a bit of a problem.

You were there only a few days when your problems seemed to resolve themselves. An English artist had stumbled upon the town on his way through the country and had stopped to take in the sights and paint a pretty picture.

More importantly, though, he had a camera with him, and that was enough to spark an idea in your mind.

Befriending the artist was easy -- he was desperate for the companionship of someone who could understand him and you were desperate to get back to the Doctor.

You used each other, as God intended.

Fast friends that you were, it wasn't long before the artist offered to take your picture, and it was an offer you couldn't refuse. In fact, it was an offer you'd been banking on.

And that was how you got a Vipiteran copy of the Mysterious Affair at Styles, with a picture of you tucked into the back and a date a few days into the future and current coordinates scrawled on the back, to London.

Now all you could do was wait, and hope.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

The Doctor decided, as he set the TARDIS on course for the day and location you'd written on the back of that photograph, that the moment he saw you, he was going to tell you he loved you.

He was lucky, ultimately, that you'd found a way to leave breadcrumbs that were too small to upset the delicate balance of reality -- yet noticeable enough for him to pick up the trail.

He was lucky that you were smart, and bold, and courageous, and determined as hell. He was lucky that you wouldn't take death lying down. That you'd find some way to make it back to him.

He was lucky, he realized as he threw the switch that'd send him back to you, that you loved him enough to fight to get back to him.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Right on time, the sound of the TARDIS materializing filled the air. You moved to stand, waiting with bated breath and vibrating nerves as the blue box faded into view, and only a moment later the Doctor came bounding out, eyes scanning the scene for you.

He barely had a second to process the you-shaped missile heading his way before you were on him, arms thrown around his neck and holding on so tightly that he had to remind you that he needed to breathe.

"Shut up," you murmured into his neck, even as your arms loosened, "and fucking hug me back."

He obeyed without hesitation, his lips pressing to the top of your head as he pulled you tighter against him.

"I thought I lost you," he said into your hair. "I love you -- I promise I will never let anything happen to you again."

You believed him.

This experience had been enough to scare you both into being more careful. And even so, it wasn't over.

You pulled away from the Doctor, staring up at him with a determined gaze.

"Take me home. There's a Weeping Angel I need to take care of."

[dysfunctionalmaki]

Say My Name

Wanda Maximoff x Fem!Reader

Chapter 04/? Summary: You work all around at the local country club, to your advantage you flirted and used your beauty to get what you want, though with this certain woman your own way can't seem to work. Warning: This work contains smut and foul language, minors DNI!!

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ.───

She can't get you off her head, every second and every minute she had you in her mind, the way your lips moved perfectly against hers, how you leaned into her when you craved more of her kiss, she loved how you practically became a mess for her. Though the moment she received a message from her house help that her husband was home unexpectedly from his flight frustrated her more than any words can ever describe… she knew to herself that she's got you wrapped around her fingers, it's just that her no good husband has just decided to go home, talk about perfect timing.

Wanda felt bad she truly did when she saw how needy you were when she told you that she has to go, she watched how you practically pouted the moment she dropped the bomb, even left some cash so you can get home safely, she can't even take you back to your apartment since she's heading the opposite way. Arriving at the driveway of her shared house with Jarvis, she can't help but roll her eyes seeing his car parked there, walking inside the house she saw her husband passed out on the couch. Probably had too many to drink on his way home, she didn't even bother to check on him, instead she headed into the bedroom so she could get ready for bed. 

Taking her phone from her handbag she went to check on you by calling your cell, it was ringing a couple of times before you answered. “Hey… so, you left my dear friend unsatisfied and I'm currently taking care of that.” Wanda’s brow instantly raised when your phone was answered by another woman, clenching her jaw when she thought of how quick you are to find a replacement. “Oh, are you? Just so you know… I'm sure Y/N wishes that it's me on the bed with her instead of whoever you are.” Right after Wanda said that she ended the phone call. Unbeknownst to you, Diana hid the fact that Wanda called while you're in the restroom. “Were you talking to someone?” you asked her when you thought you heard her talking. “No, you must be hearing things.” the latter replied, biting the inside of her cheek not liking the attitude she has received from who's on the other end of the call.

Just as you exited the bathroom, you made your way towards the bed, crawling your way to Diana the moment you got on the mattress, as beautiful and attractive this woman right in front of you, Wanda was right with what she said, you really were wishing it was her with you instead of Prince. You spent almost the whole of the night with your head buried in between her thighs, allowing your imagination to run free as you thought about the redhead who's with you hours ago. 

Wanda hears the doorknob turn while she's laying on the bed. “Hey there, wife.” Vis greeted the redhead so casually as he took off his work clothes, sitting on her side of the mattress… placing a hand on her waist, gently caressing his wife's side trying to see if he has the chance to score tonight. “Get your hands off from me, Jarvis.” Maximoff says while she pushed his hand off from her body. “You’re a total bitch you know that?” The man says which made Wanda sit up. “And you're a fucker who can't keep his dick in his pants.” She retorted which instantly made him mad. Well, Wanda did hope he's going to sleep on the couch, but if she's going to share the same bed with this man? She'd rather get hit by a meteor. 

Taking her phone, she left the room and decided to sleep in the guest room knowing that her husband would possibly throw a tantrum, one might ask why she hasn't divorced him yet? Well, Jarvis or The Vision as he calls himself is the next to Tony Stark’s throne, she was the picture perfect trophy wife any man could ever ask for, she's got the looks, the body, and the charm. They did have an agreement that they can easily break the marriage the moment he’s got his position at Stark Industries.

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Diana watched how you peacefully slept next to her, biting her lower lip when the thought came to her, you are one of a kind… you're a friend with benefits that didn't ask for much, in fact you even kindly turned down almost everything she attempted to gift you, she hasn't caught feelings for you but now knowing she's got a match for your attention she knew she had to level up her game. There's no way she'll let some woman take you away, she likes how much of a good fuck you are, eventually she fell asleep since you did tire her out.

When the morning came you are alone on the bed once again, though you hear the water running so you know that Diana's still there, reaching for your phone you went to check if you've got any messages or missed calls, and you raise a brow when you saw in your call history that Wanda called you. “Did you answer my phone last night?” You ask her loud enough so she could hear you even if she's in the shower. “I did, isn't she the one who let you down last night?” The latter answered right back, turning off the shower and stepping out of the bathroom with only a towel covering her body. “Well, yes, but it doesn't mean you answer phone calls that clearly isn’t yours.” Diana raised a brow at your response and she knew she had to distract you so she could get Wanda out of the conversation.

Dropping the towel the moment she was right in front of you, your face facing her breasts and she took your phone away from your hands then she pressed a kiss on jaw the moment she leaned into you. “There’s a year-end party at Wayne's Enterprises, be my plus one.” she purred right next to your ear, nipping on your earlobe. Honestly, you're no better than a man, the moment she discarded the towel in front of you, you're instantly dumbfounded by the sight of breasts as if you don't have those. “Yeah… yeah, sure.” you say before gently backing up. 

“I really have to get home though, I have a shift in a couple of hours.” you reasoned as you picked up the towel that she dropped. “I promise you, I'll be there for the party… any clue on what I should wear?” you ask her as you make a beeline towards the bathroom. “I’ll have it delivered to your apartment, don't worry about it.” Diana answered while she started getting ready for the day as well, after all she has to take you home and get to work too.

Later on, Diana dropped you off and Yelena happened to catch sight of you since she was heading back from her morning walk with Fanny. “I thought you're with Wanda?” she asked and you simply shrugged. “She had to get home, something about her husband coming home.” you replied as you unlocked the door for the three of you. “I’ll get some more sleep, wake me up when you start getting ready.” you kindly ask your best friend, and before entering your room you make sure to give Fanny the petting she requires you to do.

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ᗢ ── ⋅ ⋅ ─

You're lacking sleep, that's for sure, you are standing at your station checking every customer or club member walking in the restaurant, trying to see if you can spot Wanda. Bucky had to snap you out of your daydreaming or wake you up while you're practically dozing off as you stand next to the bar. “Hell’s wrong with you?” Barnes asked and you can't help but take a deep breath then let out a long sigh after. “Lack of sleep, too much sex.” you say casually which made the man next to you chuckle. “Didn’t know there could be such a thing.” he answered. 

Your shift always felt long whenever you're looking forward to something, from the very moment you clocked in and clocking out, you always stuck your neck out trying to see if Wanda came in today, sadly she didn't. This went on for a couple of days and you didn't know what to tell her after what Diana pulled.

As Yelena unlocks the front door, she calls out to you that you have a package next to the door, making your way next to her then you pick up the box. There's a small card attached to it and you went ahead to turn it around so you can read what's written on it. 

“For you to wear, I'll pick you up don't worry.”

“Prince has been working hard to impress you, huh?” Yelena teased while the both of you headed inside the apartment. “You think so? She asked me to come with her to this party and this is just what she wanted me to wear.” you simply answered then your best friend raised a brow. “Are you sure? It's not because she finally found a competition?” She went on to push this topic further and you can't help but laugh at what Yelena was trying to imply. “No, Diana and I are simply good friends who happen to…” “Have sex” “Yes, have sex.” Your friend smirked with how innocent you seem. “Of course, you two are just good friends.” she retorted before heading into her room. 

You also did return to your room the moment Yelena left you in the living room, placing the box on your bed then you decided to open it, it was a designer brand that's for sure. Diana made sure that she'd get you a dress that fits you perfectly, styled in a way that you'd love, and she executed that flawlessly. Prince gifted you a long black dress, revealing enough to turn heads but classy enough for everyone to do a double take, and just under the dress there's another small box. Placing the clothing carefully on your bed, you went to check what's in the mystery package… your eyes widened at the sight of this jewelry set. You're sure this was expensive, most probably above your pay grade. 

Taking your phone in your back pocket, you went on to call Diana. “Hey, darling.” the older woman greeted. “Hey… so, are you sure that you didn't accidentally place these jewels under the dress?” you hear a small laugh from her and you raise a brow. “No, I didn't accidentally place them. It's all yours for you to wear at the party.” she simply answered. “I was just calling to check… I mean it's beautiful and the dress is just perfect.” Diana couldn't help knowing she did a great job picking the dress for you. “Whatever's in the box, it's yours, you don't have to worry about it. I have to go, okay? I'll text you the details of the party.” Diana ended the phone call shortly after that and what followed was the details of the year-end party.

You took note of the date, time, and where the party is, and you're just hoping you don't make a fool of yourself in front of those millionaires. 

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ᗢ ── ⋅ ⋅ ─

You and Diana are welcomed into the building the moment you two stepped out of the limousine she picked you up with, her driver opened the door for the two of you, she went first and you followed right after her. It is a fancy party that's for sure, everyone was wearing the usual suit and tie while the ladies wore their formal dresses, the latter went on to hold on to your arm so she could keep you close for most of the time. When she went on to mingle with her colleagues you made sure to be a good sport, riding along the conversation so you weren't going to be the awkward plus one.

Your dress served its purpose as you noticed that you've received countless compliments from whoever Diana spoke with, whenever you'd walk past someone their heads would turn at the sight of you, Prince and you took great pride in that. You were busy chatting with whomever you can chat with until everyone heard someone tapping a spoon against a wine glass to get attention. It was none other Bruce Wayne, he went on to make a speech about how it's been a wonderful year for Wayne's Enterprises, your eyes suddenly scan around the room until you've locked eyes with someone you weren't expecting to be there and it's Wanda.

Just as Wayne went on with his speech you excused yourself to Diana that you're going to use the restroom, when in fact you're going to approach a certain redhead. Wanda sees you walking towards her way, she turns to look at Jarvis who's listening to what Wayne had to say and she easily slips away from him. “Hey.” You awkwardly greet and the redhead reaches for another champagne when a waiter walks past the both of you. “Prince brought you here?” she asks while the both of you walk away from the crowd. “Yeah, she did.” you answer her and she raises a brow. “I’m sorry.” “For what?” Maximoff sips a small amount of her drink while looking forward to what you're about to say.

“Well, you know the whole motel thing.” You say and Wanda was completely unsatisfied with what you're telling her. “Are you sure that's all?” she asked. “I’m sorry that she answered the phone or for whatever she said, I was in the restroom when you called.” you say as you nervously took a drink as well from the champagne glass you're holding. You can't help but take in how beautiful Wanda looks at the moment, how her hair was beautifully styled, wearing a fitted dress that accentuated her perfect curves, and her makeup that shows off her emerald eyes.

“I thought I was being clear when I told you that I don't like sharing.” she says while looking directly into your eyes, god, she can't help but replay everything that happened with you. As much as she wanted to take you away from the party, she knew better than to seem so desperate. “You are, trust me, you are.” you say then Wanda noticed how you're all awkward and a mess once again. “I'm heading to the restroom in a moment.” she simply says when she noticed that her husband was coming towards the both of you. 

You took that as a signal so you walked away and this time you really did head into the restroom, you instantly looked at yourself in the mirror making sure you look your best tonight. Checking every stall if there's someone inside of them, with luck being on your side tonight, it's empty… Well, not that you're looking forward to something happening with you and Wanda– it's not bad to hope at all, right? 

You sprayed a bit of your perfume on your neck, placing it back in your handbag… Wanda walked in the restroom, locking the door and she made sure you heard it. “Tell me exactly why you're sorry.” she demanded, you can tell she looks pissed with what you did now that she recalls it once again. “I’m sorry I didn't book a ride home when you made it perfectly clear that I should.” Oh, you're nervous, Wanda’s making your heart race and all she did was to ask you a simple question. “What else?” she asked and she was cornering you against the sink, placing her purse next to yours. “I’m sorry that I slept with someone else even if you made it clear that you don't like sharing.” she placed a finger on your chin and basically made you look up to her. “Who are you thinking of while she satisfied you?” she asked once more. “You, Wanda, it's all you.” you answer her and finally, she smirks. 

“Good.” she whispered before crashing her lips against yours, Wanda took her time as she kissed you hungrily, she went to run her tongue over your lips before pushing the wet muscle into your mouth, she went to roll hers against yours and you can't help but groan with how good it feels to make out with her once again. You moved your arms just around her neck while she practically dominated you once again, you didn't care if your lipstick would smear all over your face, god, you didn't know how desperate you are for Wanda until you've gotten the taste of her. The both of you paused with your lips barely touching just as you two had to catch your breaths. “Don’t leave me hanging like the last time…” you begged with your lips lightly brushing against hers. 

The redhead looked into your dilated eyes, she honestly loved that you're somehow pleading for her, Wanda placed a hand on your cheek then she smiled at you. “We both know that you and I have to head home with our respective partners for the night, sweetheart.” she whispered as she leaned towards your neck, sucking on your skin just enough to leave a faint mark on it. “Don’t sleep with Prince tonight.” she breathed against your skin and as you enjoyed how her lips felt against your neck, you can't help but nod your head. Maximoff looked at you once again, she took note of how beautiful you looked tonight. 

This time it's you who initiated a heated session of making out, Wanda enjoyed how you easily gave into her, how the lips of the both of you moved into a perfect rhythm. The older woman sucked on your tongue, she could taste the champagne that you've been drinking the moment you arrived at the party. You were hot and intoxicated of the redhead, who knew that one can drown in pleasure when all they've done is to simply exchange kisses, you can feel her hands roaming your body… something she didn't do during your night with her at the hotel. 

Her fingers lightly brushed against your clothed nipple, you moaned softly against her mouth. “You’re turned on aren't you, malysh?” her heavy Sokovian accent came out once again and that's enough to make you even lust for her even more. “I bet these are so sensitive right now.” she purred against your lips, her thumb focusing on moving in a circular motion against your sensitive nub. You could hear your phone vibrating in your handbag but you're way too occupied with Wanda to even pay your mind to it, the older woman moved her other hand to slide the strap of your dress off your shoulder. When she caught sight of your breasts, Wanda looked at you and pressed a chaste kiss on your lips.

Her lips moved lower, you could feel her kisses against your collarbone feeling her teeth sink on your skin, just biting down hard enough to leave a little bruising, and finally, she's right where you want her to be. Wanda fondled your breast for a moment until she proceeded to take you into her mouth, you could feel her tongue just rolling against your nipple, placing a hand over your mouth you went to moan softly against your palm. You don't know how thick or thin the walls are in here, your safest option was to keep yourself quiet, the redhead was sucking on your nipples and when she had let it go it made a little ‘pop’ sound. Maximoff went on to leave another mark on your skin and this one's more evident than the others, after all it's hidden so no one but her should see it. 

“What did I ask of you earlier?” she asks while she fixes your dress once again, taking a makeup wipe in her purse then she fixes the lipstick stains she left all over your skin. “Don't sleep with Prince tonight.” you answer her and she nodded her head. “Good, disobey me and you won't even get the chance to touch me in the slightest way.” she made clear and you nodded your head. “You best be on your way, your date must be looking for you.” Wanda says as she asks for your lipstick, she was kind enough to apply them once again on your lips and as she was satisfied with it, she pressed a peck on your lips. Maximoff fixed herself this time, fixing the smeared lipstick all over her lips and you take your time to compose yourself. “I- I should go.” You stuttered and Wanda nodded her head. “Sure, sweetheart, enjoy the party.” she spoke in the sweetest voice you've heard and as you unlocked the door, Diana was approaching the restroom. She was probably looking for you, after all you didn't get to keep up how much time you spent with Wanda in the restroom.

“Are you okay?” Diana asked and she went to check on you. “I'm okay, the champagne just hit harder when I thought it wouldn't affect me in the slightest bit.” you lied your way through it and Prince was somehow convinced, you did look a little woozy after all. “Do you want to go home?” she asks once more. “What? No, let's enjoy the party.” you say confidently as you lead her away from the restroom so Wanda can make her exit in the said room. “Ms. Prince? Is that you?” you hear someone call out to Diana and you turn to see who it was. “Mr. Stark! I'm glad you could make it!” Diana happily says as she greeted Tony Stark, you saw that Stark looked at you when he somehow recognized you but he can't pinpoint where he has seen you. 

While Diana went on to chat with Stark, you can see Wanda making her way back to her husband, you see how her mood instantly dropped when Jarvis went on to speak with her, but when she caught you looking at her she put on a smile for you. Wanda wasn't even paying attention to what her husband had to say, he went on about how she should be at his side at all times, she was keeping her eyes on you. She watched how you interacted easily with the guests or how easily you can let yourself into the conversation, she liked that confidence that you held. 

“Isn’t that Tony?” Wanda distracted Jarvis just so he'd get off from her, being the people pleaser that he is, he made a beeline towards his boss and went to join in the conversation. “Ms. Prince, Mr. Wayne sure does know how to throw a party.” Jarvis joined in and Diana had let him into the conversation, you see Wanda standing on his side and you bit your lower lip. It all suddenly became talks about the company and all that, and you know that it isn't in your area of expertise. Putting yourself aside, you approached Wanda once more just striking a small conversation as if she didn't have her lips all over your body earlier.

Prince looked at you for a moment and suddenly she put pieces together, she didn't like the way you're all too friendly with Wanda, and she had the feeling that she's the woman who called you last night. With luck being on your side, Wanda has her contact saved as ‘W’, and instantly she knows why you took so long in the restroom. Excusing herself from the conversation with the men, Diana instinctively placed an arm around your waist, which made Maximoff clench her jaw for a moment. “Wanda, I'm so glad you and Jarvis could make it.” Prince greeted the redhead. “You know how he is with social events.” Wanda had put on the fakest smile she can have, obviously not liking the way the other woman held you.

“I see that you've met Y/N.” Diana says and Wanda nodded her head. “I actually met her before, she's my favorite sight to see whenever I'm at the country club.” it was awkward for you honestly but you're just in luck when Jarvis was done speaking with Tony, and practically stole Wanda out of the conversation. “That’s a low blow, Y/N.” Diana muttered and you looked at her. “What?” “So, it's Maximoff?” she asked and you didn't answer her. “I didn't know she was going to be here.” you defended yourself and Prince rolled her eyes. 

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ᗢ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

The ride home was quiet, Diana didn't like what you did, even if you attempted to apologize she wasn't having any of it. “You know that I'm fine if you're sleeping around with other people, but to do it when you're with me?” she brought it up once again. “It was the heat of the moment, alright? Things happen and one thing leads to another.” you say and Prince bit her lower lip. “She’s the one you went with at the motel?” she asked and you nodded.  “Must’ve been that good?” she asked once more and the vehicle stopped in front of the apartment. “Let’s not talk about it.” you replied and Diana scoffed. “Thank you for this, I mean it. I had fun.” You say and the latter nodded her head. 

You leave the car and as you walk to your front door, you can't help but put on the brightest smile you could ever have, making your way in the apartment you can hear Fanny barking and when you got in, you instantly got on her level so you could pet her. Taking your phone out, taking a picture of Fanny then sending it to Wanda so she's aware that you didn't go home with Prince. The latter replied after a while with some heart emojis, then you bite your lower lip thinking whether you should send a text.

I bet you do.

Miss you already.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ.───

Taglist: @esposadejoyhuerta @reginassweetheart @lvinhs @alexawynters @mfd-101 @dorabledewdroop

[spider-jaysart]

Bruce and Clark bringing both baby Damian and Jon to a JL meeting for the first time:

The Justice League members: Talking to eachother about something important

Clark and Bruce: Walk into the place

The Justice League Members: Stop their conversation and turn around to see who it was that came in, seeing that it's just Clark and Bruce carrying their two new babies in a baby carrier on their chest

Also the Justice League members: Quickly light up in excitement and joy as they all immediately go to greet the two heroes adorable babies for the first time

Diana, happily: Are these your new babies?

Clark, with a smile on his face: Yep! This is Jon!

Bruce: This is Damian

Dinah: So that's who Damian and Jon are. Hello, cuties! (happily waves at the little two as they both giggle and try to wave back to her in response)

Hawkgirl: Cutie pies!

Diana: Ohhh and just look at their cute little cheeks (goes to lightly pinch their cheeks)

Baby!Damian: slaps her hand away

Diana: Awww and he's a little fighter too! How adorable!

Dinah: Maybe they can have playdates with our son Conner sometime

Clark: Sure! That sounds like it could be fun for them

Hal: They're both little cuties! They look just like you guys!

Clark, playfully ruffling Jon's hair: Thanks! He really does, doesn't he?

Bruce: Damian may be cute but... he can also be very feral

Barry, getting a closer look at Damian: Aww but he doesn't seem so scary to be around, he's adorable!

Baby!Damian: Some how jumps out of his baby carrier and jumps at Hal's face

Hal, falling back: Ahhhhhhh! Help! I'm being attacked by an angry baby!!!!

Barry, immediately while Bruce just has a blank expression: I'll save you, Hal!

Oliver, to baby Jon: Awww, do you want to see me be cool and shoot some arrows? Oh, yes, I bet you do!

Baby!Jon: Happily giggling and clapping his hands in response

Arthur: Oooor maybe he would perfer to see me do some really cool tricks with my triton instead

Oliver: No, he obviously wants to see me be cool, which is something you definitely aren't, Aquaman

Arthur, offended: You take your cruel word's back!

Oliver, glaring at Arthur:..... No

Bruce, annoyed: Shouldn't you all be focusing on more important things? Like League work?

Diana, playing patty cake with Jon: Oh, c'mon, Bruce. We're just trying to get to know the little two

Bruce, grabbing Damian off of Hal's face since Barry failed to do it himself: And you already did, so it's time to get back to work

Baby!Damian: Begins to cry

Bruce, pinching his nose due to being able to smell Damian's diaper: Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go change Damian's diaper and when I get back, I want to see you all getting busy with your work

The League members watching Bruce as he walks away: .....

Also the League once Bruce is gone: Immediately go straight to interacting with Clark and Baby!Jon again

Later, after changing Damian's diaper:

Bruce, comes back with a clean diaper hanging on his head that Damian threw at him as he sees the League still cooing over Baby!Jon: Ahem!

The League: Turns to look at him

Hal, as if he and the rest of the group are being interrupted: What?

Bruce, annoyed, as he throws the wasted diaper off of his head: Can we get back to focusing on our work already? We have important things to do

Soon, Bruce and Clark put both baby Damian and Jon in their baby gate so that they can play with eachother while they work

Baby!Jon, as Bruce and Clark go to have their League meeting at the nearby table: Tries to grab a toy from Damian's side

Baby!Damian: Hits Jon's hand to say no, sadding the little half Kryptonian after he does

Meanwhile, with Clark and Bruce:

Clark, after Bruce hit his hand: Hey! Rude!

Bruce: That's my pen and whenever I let someone around here use my pen, they never give it back to me, so don't even think about touching it

Clark: Okay, jeez, Grumpy

Baby!Damian, after standing up: Does a literal flip that he learned from Talia to get out of the baby gate

Also Baby!Damian as he's walking away from his baby gate: Quickly waves over at Baby!Jon to follow him

Baby!Jon: Tries to his best to jump outside of the baby gate a couple of times but fails and begins to float in the air instead to escape with his best friend

Damian and Jon both then runaway together to go have some fun in the League base

Meanwhile:

Diana, with shopping bags on her arms as she's holding two fluffy teddy bears in her hands: Hey, can I give these to Damian and Jon? I just bought them

Clark, confused: Wait- huh? You just went out shopping in the middle of the meeting? How did I not see you leave-

Diana, cutting him off: Can I give this to them, yes or no?

Bruce: Only after it's passed inspection

Diana: What?

Bruce, grabbing the teddy bear that's meant for Damian as Clark simply takes the one that's meant for Jon: You never know what crazy villains may be disguised as some Toy shop keeper and could be selling you things that you don't even know are secretly dangerous

Diana: .... They're just teddybears

Bruce, about to cut open the teddy bear to make sure it's safe: Not to me, until I know that for sure

Diana, seeing this: Hey! I paid for those!

Clark: (Quickly grabs the teddy bear away from Bruce, earning a glare from him) Uh, hey, you don't have to do that, Bruce. You could just put it through the X-ray scanner here and see it, you know?

Bruce, still glaring at him: Right, cause you just know everything, don't you?

Clark, as him Bruce both walk past Damian and Jon's baby gate to go scan both bears (to calm Bruce's paranoia): (Gasp!) Bruce! The babies! They're gone!!! We have to go find them!

Bruce: (Drops Damian's teddy bear) We need to go search for them! Now! (Runs to go look for them with Clark following him from behind)

Back to Damian and Jon in the weapons room:

Baby!Damian: Happily playing with one of Diana's old swords

Baby!Jon: Giggling while throwing one of Oliver's extra arrows at the wall

They soon see a hole being created in one of the walls there

It is soon revealed to be the Joker who's breaking into the room through the walls as he's covered in armor and has some Kryptonite tucked away in his belt as well. He was planning to steal some of the Leagues weapons and use it against them

The Joker, bending down to Damian and Jon's very small height to get a better look at them: Ooooh, and who are these two little beans just sitting around?

Baby!Jon: Begins to cry after seeing the Joker's terrifying face very close in front of him

Baby!Damian: Gets mad that his best friend is crying and stands up in front of Jon, glaring at Joker

The Joker, amused by his young bravery: Oh, what are you going to do? Fight me?

Baby!Damian: Angrily pulls his nose

The Joker, in pain: Ahhhh!

The Joker, as he angrily grabs Baby!Damian and glares at him: Why youuu little-

Baby!Jon, in defense, Lasers the Joker's shoes, burning his feet with hot heat (but not enough to lit them on fire or laser them off)

The Joker: (Drops Baby!Damian and immediately grabs his feet in pain as he begins to hop around the room) Arrrggggh!!!

Baby!Jon catches Baby!Damian and helps him stand up

They both each grab a weapon from the room

Baby!Damian grabs one of Diana's old swords and swings it at the Joker, making him quickly move back

Baby!Jon, with one of Diana's old shields, throws it at the Joker's direction, knocking him down to the ground

The Joker then tries standing up, about to pull out the Kryptonite from his belt

Baby!Damian: Turns on a switch on one of the rockets that Cyborg created, making it quickly turn on and and fly in Joker's direction, knocking him out

They both then throw a random net on top of him and happily high five eachother and crawl out of the room through one of the vents there

Back to Bruce and Clark and the rest of the League who are looking for Damian and Jon:

Superman, using his x-ray vision everwhere: I can't see them anywhere!

Bruce: Keep looking!

Clark: Wait! I can hear something!

Bruce and the rest of the League listen with him in silence

Bruce, taking out a Batarang: In the vents! (Throws it at the vent, slicing it open as Damian falls out of it and falls safely into his arms giggling)

Clark then lasers through the vent, letting Baby!Jon also fall safely into his arms with a smile on his face as he joyfully claps his hands

The League members quickly surround them both, happy that Damian and Jon are okay

Hal, behind them: Hey guy's, you won't believe this! But... The Joker is knocked out in the weapons room!

Minutes later:

Diana: How did he get knocked out when no one was around to fight him?

Barry: What an idiot, he must've gotten himself knocked out while walking around in this room

Oliver: What do we do with him now?

Bruce, with a smile as he hugs baby!Damian who's in his arms, as Clark is also hugging Baby!Jon: We send him back to Arkham, but the most important thing here though is that these two are safe

Jon and Damian both happily giggle at the warm hugs from their Father's and soon fall asleep in their arms after the fun day they had together as the young Supersons

(I just wanted to do something silly and cute :) )

[fountainpenguin]

Liveblog remarks from my FOP: A New Wish re-binge (Up to "Lost and Founder's Day" since that's the last one on Netflix right now).

Liveblog opinions under the cut. If you don't want to see personal opinions or spoiler-filled references to later episodes, this post may not be for you.

- Not a liveblog technically, but I was shocked and delighted to glimpse ChalkZone as I was navigating to watch this show. Also, apparently all the FOP seasons (including Season 0) are on Paramount, which surprises me because I thought they only had up to Season 3.

- Forgot one of Hazel's early lines is describing herself as "New car smell." That's so funny...

- I really like Hazel doubling down (to Cosmo and Wanda) about how hard she worked to not complain when her parents uprooted her life and moved her to Dimmadelphia. I'd love to explore more of her pre-Dimmadelphia life.

- ?? Why did it take me this long to realize when Hazel told Tony the ant that they were the second "ant tony" she knew, she was referring to Antony? <- Because of how she pauses, I've always thought she had an Aunt Tony.

- The wish punch cards puzzle me so much. Why is it a big deal that one wish is "on Cosmo and Wanda" instead of Hazel? It's not like they charge her money for wishes, so what's the implication?

- Why are there so many kids playing VR games in the cafeteria?

- "You can't make us test prep during lunch! Isn't that illegal or something?" - Crying...

- Principal Krentz is so funny. Just in general.

- Extremely concerned about Angela and Marcus knowing (I presume) that Hazel was hosting a sleepover, but never coming down to check on her.

Do... do they NOT know Hazel is having a sleepover? HAZEL??

- I think I said this on my first watch, but Hazel acting confident during her Broadway show and then turning shy when everyone claps for her is adorable.

- Stuart / Hannibal replying "Yes" to Hazel's question of whether their mom often throws away trash inside a giant rug... ???

- I love Jasmine's backpack design (It has a cute flower on it).

- Dev licking the fan blades of his au pair drone brings me so much concern. Why did he do that.

- Marcus putting hours of research into how to do his daughter's hair is my everything...

- Wanda and Cosmo sitting in the corner when Diana is talking to Hazel... Wanda's just reading a book... Girl, your godchild is getting harassed by talking hair.

I think Wanda's reading the same book Cosmo later pulls out during "Weird Science."

- Why did Marcus pin bows to his eyes.

- I think I said this in my first liveblog, but it cracks me up that Hazel's response to losing her hair was to admire her bald head and how low-maintenance it was.

- Ah, maybe "Trial & Hair-or" is supposed to be the 'Episode 13 when Cosmo is a horse,' which he references in "Battle of the Dimmsonian." I did go looking a while back, but I must have missed this one.

- Trev and Bev are so funny... The puppy squeaks they make when Diana is yelling at Hazel... Nerds.

- Shout-out to Cosmo in this series and the many books he has on him at any one time. Specifically, I'm referring to his physics book in "Weird Science" because I am a "Cosmo loves physics books" truther ("77 Secrets of the Fairly OddParents Revealed").

- How did I miss Kennueth blushing and acting evasive every time he mentions the fairy that visited him when he was inside the whale? Okay...

- At one point, I drafted a post about Prime Meridian and the parallels to Dev and Hazel... I might go dig that up. I have opinions about it...

- Does Dale know Dev owns a sword?

Alternatively, if it's not Dev's, do I dare ask what childcare service the au pairs are supposed to provide with that sword?

^ Face of a man who has some questions.

- I would love to know what's inside Hazel's closet considering she owns a wardrobe where she actually keeps her clothes. Be honest... Did your dad put a machine in there to protect you?

- I remembered Hazel owned copies of her same sweater and jeans, but somehow I missed that she has like 3 dozen of the same pair of shoes. Girl knows what she likes.

- I still think maybe Cosmo shouldn't be putting on a 10-year-old girl's clothes, but I respect the presumed innocence that led him to explore new fashion options.

- I don't think Dale can drive and that's why he lets the helicopters crash to the ground.

- Dale's "buy one-time use items from me to save the planet' presentation is horrific. How on earth did he sway people into buying from him? Fascianting.

- Do Tina Churner and Mayor Teddy Bear share a voice actor?

They do not :(

- ???? The Pe-Az voices are changed in the Netflix version from the one I first watched. Major whiplash.

There were minor details in the early episodes I didn't remember on my original watch, and I wonder if anything else changed. Probably not because that would be a lot of work, but who knows.

- I still think it's clever that most kids show off the Dimmadome logo on their phones, but Hazel has a ladybug phone case that hides hers. She doesn't care to flaunt the branding.

- I say this knowing full-well that taking over Fairy World and removing pizza from the universe are different levels of life endangerment, but something something, Guzman announcing that Dev "doing the right thing in the end" counted as kindness in "Peace of Pizza" vs. Wanda in the finale making a point to emphasize how little "goodness" Dev has in him despite him doing the right thing in the end.

Something something, Wanda turning on Dev for endangering her bio son, but she was happy to let Timmy spend seasons romantically pursuing a girl who blatantly tried to murder him and cut him into pieces... Hey, Wanda, can I ask about that?

I'm glad the danger senses are tingling, and I support that, but these really are two different-tone shows, huh? Certain aspects are so wild to compare...

It's interesting to rewatch some episodes and remember all the foreshadowing I thought I saw (Ex: Hazel telling Kennueth he should "rewrite his story" and "make things right" with Duckworth [Dev]) and how "hard left" the finale shifts tones from what I thought we were being set up for. Fingers crossed for a Season 2... I really want to know where they wanted to go with that Kennueth & Duckworth forgiveness moment, because apparently it wasn't the finale.

- I'd love to learn more about Duckworth as a character, because it's very clear Dev relates to him on a deep level (even tearing up when Kennueth tells him that he forgives him for what he's done, and Dev whispering "Duckworth would have loved to hear that").

Including a scene like that in the finale would've been a cool callback to this moment, and I was totally expecting it given the other parallels between Dev, Hazel, and Prime Meridian, so I hope we get that in Season 2.

- So funny Dev's the only one in the know to truly recognize Kennueth, but he also, like... doesn't question why a manga character is in the real world. So curious. Did he think he was a cosplayer? Did his mind get hit with magic so he can recognize Kennueth, but not make the connection that says "Hey, this makes no sense" ?

Why didn't they cut the Project H plot from the final script if it drops off immediately after its reveal... It makes me so sad. It totally sets you up for expecting Dale to do villain stuff, but he doesn't :c I need that man to get told off for stalking a 10-year-old girl. Please Dale, I want you to screw around in Season 2... I need to see you face consequences. Dev is a minor, but you know better than that!!

My mind is brimming 24/7 with a montage of Dale trying to sneak close to Hazel and inviting her parents over for dinner or following her to restaurants and bake sales. I cannot express how much I want to do an animatic full of Dale hiding under tables like a weasel.

- I really hope I get to see the Pixies in Season 2, especially with how much set-up they did regarding Hazel's love for dull paperwork, plus Irep's model having a square head. I'd love to know how Hazel and H.P. interact. Yet another man I do not want around children! - It drives me wild how much set-up there was in one plot direction, including the original takeover plot intended to involve the Pixies - whose thing IS taking over Fairy World when the Anti-Fairies have never really been into that - and !! I didn't !! get !! to see it !! The finale's hard turn plot-wise drives me bananas, and I really want to see if a Season 2 makes me fall in love with it. - I wonder if the OG finale plan got to the script-writing phrase or if the Pixies' appearance was scrapped before it was written? I would LOVE to know how Dev behaves in that Pixie-themed finale (where Dale was supposed to be the big bad) and if that finale still would have felt out of place to me... H.P., my beloved... Save me, H.P. I want to love the finale, but if feels weird on so many levels... I think I'll like it someday in retrospect, but please let Season 2 offer me that chance. I don't wanna write the post-episode life myself- I want to know what THEIR plans were.

- Shout-out to Guzman assigning homework partners in a way that breaks up couples who went to the Under the Sea dance.

- Why does Cookie keep feeding Furry stuff he shouldn't eat, like cameras? Girl...

Alternatively, why does Furry keep eating her stuff? Boy...

- Cosmo showing up in the conference room with no shoes...

- Very sweet that Hazel refers to Puppet Hazel as "old friend" and greets it warmly.

- Honorable mention to Puppet Hazel's consistent it/its pronoun usage in all its episodes.

- Watching Hazel overly enthuse about Dev in "Lost and Founder's Day" hits harder after "Stuck In My Head" where she was overly paranoid about losing her friends... Tell us how you really feel.

- Dale and his magical invisible earpiece... I see why I didn't pick up on the fact that his "Eat a lizard" comment was directed to his phone on my first watch.

- The way Dev talks big about his dad vs. the way he deliberately un-machos his dad when we see his thoughts, my beloved... I had a whole post drafted about this, but I must have deleted it because I can't find it now.

- I like how when Dale walks offscreen, you can still hear the jingle of his spurs. I looked it up at one point and I'm pretty sure he shouldn't be wearing those in public if he's not riding a horse.

- Does Dale re-sell Vicky's bear toys?? I'm pretty sure the designs match, in which case it is INCREDIBLY funny that the au pairs - presumably programmed by Dale - make a special effort to call them out on as poorly constructed toys. I'm not sure they've done that for any other object.

Is Dale keeping tabs on Vicky even though we know Vicky wasn't keeping tabs on him? Horrifying! :)

- When the scene cuts to Dev inside Dale's command tent, he has popcorn, implying he wandered the festival before looping back to see his dad.

- I like how a Founder's Day booth is selling wolfish hats that look like the one worn by a Dimmadome ancestor.

- Dale being incredibly high in the air and still managing to set off a smoke bomb by hurling it down as hard as he could - near a crowd of people - fills me with terror.

- Lol, the shadow of Hazel's hat glows gold because it's covered in lights.

- Oh geez, the Dimmadome house isn't just shaped like Doug's hat, but it's also shaped like his face...... Dale, c'mon, man.

- So curious about the decorative pillows on Dev's bed. I assume the au pairs make it for him, but it's an interesting detail.

- This is already something I took into account for my Dev character study, but I can't stop thinking about how the only time we see Dev's room in a state less than perfect cleanliness and perfection, it's when there's books and of toys at the end of his bed he was trying to distract himself with before giving in to misery at the end of "Lost and Founder's Day..." It haunts me...

That is all.

[bomberqueen17]

Liveblogging the Aubreyad: Post Captain Part Three

I promise, this book really is that long. It's not that I'm rambling. I mean I am a little, but.

OK installment one was fly honeys and financial ruin, installment two was Bear Fursona and How Many Indiamen Has Tom Pullings Been In Please Read The Footnotes On This One, and we left off with Jack Finally Gets A Ship And Asks For One Big Favor. So now we are going to find out about this Disaster Boat and the Big Favor.

But first I can't resist this exchange between Stephen and Sophia, Jack's would-be wife prospect. Stephen and Sophie have hit it off as platonic friends and confide in one another a great deal, and Stephen is trying to convince Sophie that if she would just tell Jack she's into him then Jack would do what he had to do to make it happen. She refuses, she couldn't possibly, but meanwhile she is trying to explain to Stephen that Diana treats him like shit because she's trying to figure out if Stephen is into her or not, so if he would just fucking tell her he's into her she would stop being such a raging bitch to him, and Stephen, completely devoid of any self-analysis of this situation, breaks off his contemplation of how very wrong Sophie is to ignore his advice to explain to her that of course he must ignore her advice.

So while Jack is in his interview with Lord Melville, Stephen and Sophie are walking in a nearby park, and have this exchange.

'If you had seen him last night at Lady Keith's, you would not have worried. To be sure, he lost the rest of his ear in the Indiaman - but that was nothing.' 'His ear!' cried Sophia, turning white and coming to a dead halt in the middle of the Parade. 'You are standing in a puddle, my dear. Let me lead you to dry land. Yes, his ear, his right ear, or what there was left of it. But it was nothing. I sewed it on again; and as I say, if you had seen him last night, you would have been easy in your mind.' [...]'What a good friend you are to him, Dr Maturin. His other friends are so grateful to you.’ ‘I sew his ears on from time to time, sure.'

Anyway: The Big Favor, below.

So Jack repairs aboard HMS Disaster Polychrest to fit her out, she never having sailed anywhere before and for good reason, and Stephen turns up shortly in Portsmouth and sends Jack a note to let him know he's arrived. Jack responds, not having shipped any paper or pens aboard, by sending a messenger by way of reply. Brace yourself for the absolute onslaught of human sunshine that is about to follow:

A thundering on the stairs, as though someone had released a bull; the door burst inwards, trembling, and Pullings appeared, lighting up the room with his happiness and his new blue coat. 'I'm made, sir,' he cried, seizing Stephen's hand. 'Made at last! My commission came down with the mail. Oh, wish me joy!' 'Why, so I do,' said Stephen, wincing in that iron grip, 'if more joy you can contain - if more felicity will not make your cup overflow. Have you been drinking, Lieutenant Pullings? Pray sit in a chair like a rational being, and do not spring about the room.' 'Oh say it again, sir,' said the lieutenant, sitting and gazing at Stephen with pure love beaming from his face. 'Not a drop.' [...] 'Lieutenant, will you drink a glass of wine, a glass of sherry-wine?' 'You've said it again, sir,' cried Pullings, with another burst of effulgence. ('You would swear that light actually emanated from that face,' observed Stephen privately.) 'I take it very kind. Just a drop, if you please. I am not going to get drunk until tomorrow night - my feast.'

Pullings does indeed throw a party, to which both Jack and Stephen are invited. But first, the situation-- Pullings is the junior lieutenant, and Jack's first lieutenant is a Mr. Parker, who has been a lieutenant 35 years and never been given a command of his own, for reasons that become obvious: he is not good at his job. He doesn't totally understand how ships work, and focuses instead on cosmetic issues, and to motivate the men he constantly yells at them and beats them and generally is a terror to them. But he has influential friends-- not influential enough to get him his step, but influential enough that Jack is stuck with him.

The staffing of the ship is not ideal either, as they're very short-handed and of the men they have, most are Not Sailors. Pullings goes out to press men out of an incoming Indiaman ("won't she already be stripped?" asks Stephen, and Tom laughs at him.

“Love you, sir, I made two voyages in her. There are hidey-holes under her half-deck you would never dream of, without you helped to stow men into 'em. I'll have half a dozen men out of her, or you may say, black's the white of your eye, Tom Pullings. Lieutenant Tom Pullings,' he added, secretly.

I already included this one in the Indiaman Body Count Tally)

As a bit of a consolation, though, somehow Barret Bonden and his cousin Joe Plaice show up, bold as brass, rowing straight through that harbor openly to report aboard, so Jack has his coxswain back.

(We find out, alas, that Bonden's nephew George Lucock, who Jack had rated midshipman in the Sophie, couldn't get a Navy ship as a mid and wound up pressed as a foremast jack out of a merchantman and into HMS York, which recently went down with all hands in a blow-- built by the same corrupt dockyard as the Polychrest, so she probably came apart at the seams in the heavy storm-swell. Jack is sorely grieved, having valued the young man highly.)

So Barret Bonden takes the captain ashore in his barge to attend TOM PULLINGS's celebratory feast, at an inn near the shore in Gosport-- his parents have come, and his sweetheart.

The young man was standing there with his parents and an astonishingly pretty girl, a sweet little pink creature in lace mittens with immense blue eyes and an expression of grave alarm. 'I should like to take her home and keep her as a pet,' thought Jack, looking down at her with great benevolence.

The party goes well (Stephen bonds delightedly with Mrs. Pullings over their mutual love of mushrooms) but then the bailiffs show up, having been tipped off that Jack is there. Jack gets out the window but there are more waiting for him outside the inn and he can't jump down. So he hollers "Polychrest!" down to the end of the lane where his barge is moored, and up the street come running his barge crew, led by the loyal and extremely capable Barret Bonden, who knocks the head cop flat out with a wooden stave. "Pullings," Jack says once the bailiffs have fled, leaving several of their number stretched unconscious in the mud, "press those men," and so they go back to the ship with several additional hands.

By sea law this is perfectly legal. They have out-copped the fucking cops, and are very pleased with themselves.

So the next day they go out to sea and immediately find out that however little they expected out of the Polychrest, she is in fact much worse. She has so much leeway-- meaning, the wind pushes her bodily across the surface of the water no matter which direction she is meant to be sailing in or how closely she is steered-- that she is manageable only in wide vast open empty stretches of water, but her construction means she has no hold for supplies to be stored in, so she cannot make long voyages over vast open empty stretches of water. She must be used for duties that put her close in to the shore, but she cannot be steered well enough to be close in to the shore.

As a bonus they find out that she is actually slightly better at going backwards than forwards, which is. Well, embarrassing, and unexpected. But Jack can sail anything, and does, so on they go to rendezvous with the blockading Channel fleet.

Additional supporting characters revealed at this time include my son William Babbington, he of the venereal diseases, and a new tiny baby named Parslow, who mostly exists for Babbington to play wicked pranks upon.

HMS Failboat reaches the Channel fleet, whose job it is to keep the French from invading. This is a very real danger, there are hundreds of thousands of French troops sitting on the other side of the channel quite openly in a state of high preparedness and Napoleon around this time said "Let us be masters of the Channel for six hours and we are masters of the world."

But the commander of this patrolling squadron at this time is our old enemy Admiral Harte, yon blue-faced son of an old French fart whom we have known and loathed these years, and he really, really sucks.

Meanwhile in shipboard life, Stephen has fallen afoul of the incompetent Parker, who he catches gratutiously torturing the men out of his misguided ideas of how discipline works. This obliges Jack to openly interfere; he had been trying to be diplomatic with Parker, but he cannot overlook this. He handles it very competently, making Stephen and Parker apologize formally to one another and dismiss the incident, and then berating Parker in private. Stephen is coldly furious and offers to quit on the spot, but is talked down. He does however take a short leave and go ashore, where he visits Sophie and tells her among other things that Jack isn't eating very much because he's too poor to lay in his own private supplies, which is customary for ship captains.

And so Killick comes aboard, bearing extravagant amounts of food sent as gifts by Sophie. Jack actually almost cries, it's such a kind and also necessary thing for her to have done. And it's good timing, because Canning comes to dine. (He is Jewish and there is a funny sidebar as Jack tries to find out from the Bible [Stephen is astonished that he owns a copy] whether Jews can eat venison. The answer, as far as the unfussy Canning is concerned, is yes.)

So the dinner is a success, but then they immediately put to sea again. But not far out to sea. And Jack goes repeatedly ashore to visit-- Diana, not Sophie. Diana, who is in Dover, which is easy for the squadron to get to. (Sophie is farther away and also he cannot see her because her mother would not allow it, and she has refused to tell him openly that she wants this, though one would think the food she sent would have been a clue. And yet.) But Jack goes to visit Diana even in peril of being arrested, to the detriment of his duty, to the damage of his reputation, delaying the sailing of convoys he's meant to escort, imperiling his career. Which is what she wants. It's easy for men to say they care about her, but in her state she demands sacrifices to prove it, which Stephen provides as well but in his case she wants declarations, which he won't make.

Back aboard, Jack is trying to fix the ship's rigging to make her sail forwards more often, and Stephen is bonding with the new Marine captain over the various martial arts. The Marine asks if he should like to do some fencing practice. "Would that be quite regular?" Stephen asks, apparently without a hint of irony continuing "I have a horror of the least appearance of eccentricity."

Really. Do you now.

Anyhow they do practice fencing and pistol-shooting, and Jack is astonished to realize that his mildly bumbling friend is actually an incredible shot and a very skilled fencer. Stephen's university days had involved rather an extreme amount of dueling and he is extremely well-practiced and skilled at these arts.

HMS Failboat meets the Bellone, their old frienemy. They could chase her off and simply take the prizes she was escorting, but Jack knows that she does too much damage to English commercial traffic to be allowed to continue, so he doggedly chases her, leaving the prizes behind. He cannot take her, but drives her onto the rocks of the Spanish coast, and watches the surf break her back.

Admiral Harte doesn't give a fuck about this, he's just mad Jack didn't take the prizes.

Stephen is called away to do intelligence work, which Jack still knows nothing about really-- he has some inklings that there are depths to Stephen, but has no idea what those depths really are. Stephen visits Diana and Sophie on the way again, and again, Diana tries to get him to show concrete interest and he won't; he then tells Sophie she absolutely must show Jack some concrete interest but she says she can't and then counter-insists that he absolutely must be more direct with Diana, and he refuses. (I begin to see why this book is so long...)

Stephen is landed by the dark of the moon on the Spanish coast, and some undefinable time later he returns, deeply tanned, and tells everyone he's been in Ireland seeing to tedious family business.

He meets Heneage Dundas, who begs him to tell Jack that everyone has noticed him going ashore so much, it is entirely obvious to everyone what he is doing and it does not look good to anyone. He begs Stephen to tell Jack, lest Jack imperil what few chances he has to advance his career. Dundas is himself a notorious womanizer, so coming from him, this is really, really saying something.

Back aboard, Stephen finds the ship thoroughly unhappy, badgered by Parker's hard-horse willy-nilly torture, unbolstered by any real help from a despondent Jack, after a boring and unproductive convoy escort to the Baltic. But, Jack brought Stephen a souvenir-- a narwhal horn-- and Stephen is delighted.

So delighted he resolves to try to convey Dundas's message. Jack, already sensitive because he knows he's behaving badly, takes it amiss, answers him sharply, carelessly uses the word bastard to which Stephen, being one, is extremely sensitive. Stephen cannot abide it, demands Jack withdraw, and Jack, too angry, doubles down instead, pointing out that Stephen coming back deeply suntanned from a trip to Ireland is beyond believing and makes one question whether Stephen is telling the truth about anything-- which is of course entirely the wrong thing to ever say to someone who has fought as many duels as Stephen, and so of course Stephen goes to ask Dundas to second him in a duel.

Jack belatedly withdraws the word bastard but nothing else, which isn't going to cut it. But the scheduling is prohibitive, so the whole thing drags on unresolved.

Jack goes ashore once more to see Diana, but her servant says she isn't at home; he sneaks around back and discovers that indeed she is there, entertaining Canning in her bedroom.

Admiral Harte now orders the Failboat to go and traverse a very dangerous set of inshore channels to look in upon a French harbor. Now, either Harte is trying to get him killed, or is genuinely ignorant enough not to realize that the Polychrest is fatally unsuited to this mission, but Jack is so dispirited that he merely registers a dull formal protest about it (Failboat's hull has indeed started to come apart and it needs refitting already), then goes away shrugging on what amounts to a suicide mission.

Stephen meanwhile has been noticing that the men are increasingly sullen, but attributes it to the falling-out he has had with Jack-- most of the crew has been treating him poorly now that he is clearly no longer the Captain's Favorite. But in the sick bay he hears the men talking about their plans for mutiny. So he goes, dutifully, to tell Jack: the men will mutiny once they are close to France, and plan to carry the ship to a French harbor once the officers are dead. He will not name names, he is no informer, but he felt it his duty to report the fact of the matter.

Jack knew this was coming, they had been rolling shot in the night and he is not unaware of the state of the ship. He has a solution.

'Men,' said Jack, 'I know damned well what's going on. I know damned well what's going on; and I won't have it. What simple fellows you are, to listen to a parcel of makee-clever sea-lawyers and politicians, glib, quick-talking coves. Some of you have put your necks into the noose. I say your necks into the noose. You see the Ville de Paris over there?' Every head turned to the line-of-battle ship on the horizon. 'I have only to signal her, or half a dozen other cruisers, and run you up to the yardarm with the Rogue's March playing. Damned fools, to listen to such talk. But I am not going to signal to the Ville de Paris nor to any other king's ship. Why not? Because the Polychrest is going into action this very night, that's why. I am not going to have it said in the fleet that any Polychrest is afraid of hard knocks.”

No punishment, the incident will not be logged, but they are going to go on this possible suicide mission here and now and either fucking do the impossible or fucking die trying.

Everyone is pleased by this, except Parker, so off they go, making it to their target in shockingly good time. The navigation is incredibly tricky, and Jack does not know the waters, so he is relying entirely on his master, who is a Channel pilot. He double and triple-checks everything with the master, but the master is absolutely confident, despite the fog that has rolled in, despite how tricky this harbor in specific is. No, they are in the right place, the master is perfectly confident, this is going exactly as planned, and so they are definitely going to--

They run hard aground on a sandbar, midsentence. They were in the wrong place, the master having confused one distinctive headland with another identical distinctive headland. They are now hard aground under the overlapping fire of two heavy, well-staffed land batteries, the fog is lifting, and the gunboats from the harbor are coming out to destroy them.

The only way off the sandbar is to carry an anchor out some distance and then winch themselves off with it, but none of the smaller boats they possess are strong enough to carry the anchor. They will have to go steal one from the harbor. Having decided this within the first three seconds of realizing the situation, Jack then realizes that it would be faster, better, to go cut out a large enough vessel from that harbor to simply directly tow the Polychrest off. And there is in fact a 20-gun corvette there, the Fanciulla, anchored under the batteries, but so close under them that their guns could not bear on her. She is the ship they were meant to locate, and there she is. And why not cut her out? It's suicidal but then this whole thing was anyway.

So he calls for volunteers for this absolutely madcap, reckless plan, and is stunned when most of the men onboard follow him with zero hesitation; he has to order some to stay behind to keep the ship, having already ordered some others off on a distraction gambit to draw the gunboats off.

They reach the corvette; Babbington gets shot and Jack saves him, it's only his arm that is broken, he tucks it into his shirt and fights on, desperately. Pullings cuts the cables with his bloody axe, the Fanciulla is theirs-- the battery has not realized the ship is taken and does not fire on them as they make their way back out to the Polychrest, only belatedly opening fire when they're most of the way there. They pass a cable, set the sails, get on the capstan bars, and are working to tow the Polychrest off-- it has started to move-- they're nearly there-- and then the cable is cut by shot from the batteries, and there is no surviving boat to carry another cable.

So Jack, already wounded but determined, swims over to the Fanciulla to get another cable. He is wounded again in the water, and comes aboard exhausted and bleeding heavily. No one else can swim, and the Fanciulla cannot come any closer without grounding herself as well. So he takes the heavy cable and sets off back to the Polychrest, nearly drowns, but gets there, seeing double. Bonden has to haul him out of the water, he cannot stand, but finally heaves to his feet to take a place at the capstan in the final desperate effort to get the Polychrest unstuck.

She floats. But she has been hulled upwards of 200 times by the batteries' heavy shot, and above all, her poorly-built hull is coming apart at the seams. She cannot swim long.

They tow her out. A large number of transport ships had fled the harbor when the fighting started, meaning to get clear of whatever happened, and they are all out in the shipping lane, milling about and completely confused. The Polychrest and Fanciulla sink several, take one that blunders into them and gets stuck, and leave flaming chaos behind them. Which was, after all, the substance of Jack's orders.

They get everything they can off the Polychrest, and then, finally, she sinks. And so does Jack, massively short on blood.

But the book is not over, no. There's more, but this is another suitable place for an intermission.

Stay tuned for: Gibbon crimes, sixty thousand bees, romantic heartbreak and separate resolution (not the same romance), and somebody gets a promotion. Two somebodies! ... one of them is really not who you would expect.

[l00rem]

Gibeon & Amethio are related, but they are not father and son.

So, ep45 had me applying my clown makeup as I was a firm Gibeon is related to Amethio denier and that has uh clearly been proven true by that final scene… but I still don’t think they’re father and son like most people seem to be saying. First, let’s start with Gibeon’s physical condition.

It seems clear by his position in the reveal that he suffers with functioning properly, this is further demonstrated with Hamber’s ‘Gibeon is awake’ comment. Considering he’s at least over 100, this is probably him abusing his mortality coming to bite him in the ass or some injury he sustained when Lucius kicked him out of the Rakua gc. And while pokemon never acknowledges topics like sex for obvious reasons, I doubt the writers would ignore the fact that Gibeon is clearly not in any condition to be breeding (dude only holds like 3 min meetings before going back to bed, he could never last that long in a physical activity such as that)

Now, this brings me to another theory i’ve been seeing: Amethio is some sort of clone/ artificial human being. I can see why some people think this, but i don’t think it’s going to happen. I just think it goes against the themes horizons has been setting up about generations (ex: ep34 where Hamber and Diana both pass things down to Liko and Amethio) i think it would be weird to have all this stuff about ancestry and then just throw in ‘oh and amethio’s not human btw’. It’s also just a really dark existential topic for pokemon, i know they can go dark and have done artificial creation before but that’s always been strictly for pokemon at least to my knowledge. I think people who believe in clone theory are getting too caught up in their Amethio and Hunter from ToH comparisons- ofc your free to theorise what you want but I just don’t see this happening.

To give some more solid proof that Amethio isn’t Gibeon’s son, let’s look at Liko’s ancestry.

As we can see, hair does seem to matter when it comes to being directly descended from someone. All three have the same hair pattern, even if we can’t see the brighter blue for Lucca’s. Compare this to Lucius’s hair:

It’s been made very clear that Liko is a descendant of his somehow, but this isn’t as direct as a great grandfather because then Diana could’ve literally just asked her mom who the man in the photo was to learn they’re related. Lucius resembles them somewhat but there are very clear differences.

Likewise, this seems to be the case with Gibeon and Amethio’s hair differences. They have the same colour scheme of white and black, but the way the two colours are separated are completely different. Just as Lucius and Liko’s family both have that sticky outy bit of their hair, Amethio and Gibeon both share that little white antenna although Gibeon’s is positioned differently.

So here’s my proposition: Amethio is related to Gibeon the same way Liko is related to Lucius.

Perhaps then Amethio is some distant relative to Gibeon who he located at some point- likely he didn’t have any family and so when Gibeon pulls up with his ‘oh hey we’re related’ spiel Amethio jumps at the chance for any form of connection. It’s not clear how much Amethio knows regarding Gibeon (he didn’t even know why he wanted the pendant after all) but perhaps Gibeon uses his condition as a further way of manipulating Amethio: not only does Amethio work for explorers to get Gibeon’s approval but also to find whatever he needs to not die so he won’t lose his last chance at family?

I also believe this is supported by all the Amethio-Liko parallels the show has been building up. It’s likely that Amethio’s backstory could be a dark mirror of Liko’s where the Explorers are to him what RVT is to Liko. Although, Amethio’s situation takes the ‘found family’ part more literally and instead of experiencing happiness he gets moulded into a child soldier…. yaaaay…

So then why does Gibeon actually need Amethio? Aside from the obvious meta reason, it’s likely Gibeon speculated someone with his blood could function as a Lucius detector (the pendant only stopped being dormant after amethio came into close contact) and this is also one of the reasons Amethio gets booted off the mission as he’d already performed his purpose of confirming the pendant was related to Lucius. Perhaps there’s something about Amethio’s ancestry which doesn’t apply to Gibeon that’s important? Or maybe Gibeon just put an easily exploitable child to good use.

Either way, there really isn’t a happy explanation for Amethio’s circumstances. Poor guy :(

I’ll potentially be eating my own words in a few months when we learn more about Gibeon and Amethio’s relationship but hey it never hurts to theorise. Hopefully we learn more stuff soon and that Amethio doesn’t get locked into off screen jail for another 11 weeks 💀💀

[daklin2777]

Ok for those who says he loves Grace. Yeah he does love Grace and in one sense it was a kind gesture that she was killed  off .I mean what do you expexct Peaky Blinders was doing illegal business, do you expect her to make an honest man out of him?  then the series would have ended waaaay much earlier into a boring nothingness. Tommy had enemies he could not simply get out of and sooner or later the nature of him not being around at home for business, or knowing her husband has killed someone would have burn Grace out.And instead of Lizzie who later ask for divorce it would have been Grace should they have decided to keep her alive .Grace would have crack under pressure at the end. So it was gracious for the writers to write her off so that her bazillions of fans cherish her temporary  rom com with Tommy.5 seconds of blissgood but it ended. DONE.why the heck are people angry with Lizzie, her character is created to bare the brute of the Peaky Fuckin  Blinders world had Grace was alive.Lizzie was already in that world, her clients were gangsters, politician, she knows how to survive and YET still be kind.And for those whinners saying no she's not , may I remind youGrace son is calling her mom even though HE knows she is not.Do I  think Tommy love Lizzie more than Grace ? No I don't , but do I think he loves her , yes I do and its not from this scene alone .and then it has been burning up slowly from season 5.Then why is he sleeping with Diana, the bitch is a manipulator along with Mosley and the other guy,Tommy , in some  way his family ( yes that include Lizzie too)  is his weakness, he  either difuse them by showing them he doesn't care  and showing them he is taking Lizzie out  off the equation in one way to protect he as well.Why was he being cruel to her ? The man  has PTSD from France, he lost his love, he lost John, he lost Aunt Polly , he lost Ruby  his PTSD is getting worse I don't  see anyone being lovey dovey through this even if Grace was alive she could not  help him.but somehow Lizzie seems like a drug to him because Lizzie is from that world,he knows that he can be harsh with her and she will not wilther, no matter his mood she will be there , she can read him ( those kind of vulnerability scares him hence why in season 6 he hurt her more to protect himself and to push her away from his enemy)and she knows what he feel,his anger,his frustration, his fear but what frustrate her is he is not opening up to her ( can you blame the women). This sort of person you don't throw away. He is building up a wall so thick , whatever affection he showed  Lizzie in Season 5 is fragile and Lizzie knows that , he is not going to open up to her in this state.So bear this in mind Grace fans it was RUBY , Tommy's and Lizzie's child that saved him from suicide not Charlie , Tommy and Grace's child , so this symbolically also reflected that theres something bright in the toxic relationship  of Tommy and Lizzie.So Grace is DEAD  enough already. Was it the greatest love in the series? perhaps for a short while  it last. BUT it would not have survive in the world of Peaky fuckin Blinders.All I hope in the movie, ALL the remaining Shelby ( yes Lizzie too even thgh she is divorce) are alive.Whether happy ending or not, love or not ...get back together or not...there will be closure and peace for all of them and yes even Lizzie..

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[natalie-goodmn]

Next to Normal round 3 thoughts:

there’s a lot of things I noticed this time that I didn’t before but that’s just bc as a Natalie stan I must be looking at her the whole time

- I never noticed Gabe throwing Dan’s keys in Just Another Day before that’s SO funny

- I also finally saw Diana kiss Henry, she really WENT FOR IT

- is it just me or does the Wyndhams need to turn up their mics?? Maybe it’s just that I need it In My Ear Canal but I’ve noticed the singing is a bit quiet (I also didn’t notice this in Oklahoma)

- I love Gabe holding the microphones to Natalie and Dan during their I’m Alive dialogue. He might be a demon with the spirit of a dead two year old but he’s sooo silly :D

(this is getting long so more under the cut)

- something something Natalie playing her fake keyboard with the band’s piano behind her, something acting and pretending like she’s a normal person with a normal family

- I just realised that Gabe AND Natalie licks up Diana’s leg. Diversity win

- the parallels of Gabe and Diana reaching out to each other in Im Alive vs Natalie reaching down to her in Wish I Were Here (and maybe Catch Me I’m Falling) i feel sick,,,

- Gabe holding Diana in I Am the One like Henry’s holding Natalie, welcome back Freudian Gabe

- also the head kiss parallel with Gabe in Just Another Day and before he’s about to leave in I Dreamed a Dance

- the blood is so visceral but a part of me misses the bway staging too where they just walk off slowly and as dr madden talks abt Diana’s attempt. It’s basically the same thing but the reveal felt slower idk

- also man every time I miss the donmar staging of the one tiny bit where Dan’s going “Is this helping or? Di?” as Diana just walks off and back to the therapy chair. Idk it just felt like dissociation better to me, but I do like Ominous Circle Of Thinking

- I also love love love how they play the “I love you as much as I can” in this. They play it like a failed charm roll, and you really get everyone’s frustration and that she’s trying hard

- and then in Maybe when you see that Diana actually knows Natalie deeply bc she’s like her,,, hold on. Similarly, I love how the first person Natalie hugs in act two (I think?) is Diana instead of Henry. Me when the real story is between a mother and daughter (mamma Mia who)

- Diana rolling her eyes and mouthing ‘oh my fucking-‘ to Dan going “can you tell me what it is you’re afraid of” is maybe the best representation of anxiety and I’m not even kidding, MOOD Diana

- god I know it’s been in all the productions but I love how much agency Diana has, you rarely see it with mentally ill characters but she’s so funny and knows what she wants and I love her

- everyone’s said it, everyone knows it but JACK WOLFE god he’s amazing every time

- I’ve thought this both times, is it just me or when Gabe is silhouetted (I think with the music box) is his neck like inhumanly thin??? Like genuinely asking, I don’t think that’s Jack’s neck?? Is it?? Am I just misunderstanding human anatomy when someone wears a hoodie

- I’ve said it before but I Am the One reprise is one of the best scenes in musical theatre and it should end there. I’m a Light hater SORRY, I like the message a lot but it’s always felt like a studio note or something where they’ve been told that it has to be uplifting at the end or it’ll do badly and make everyone sad

- natalie,,, covering her ears and her big headphones. Autism. Also really love Eleanor’s portrayal of her anxiety. Instead of Jen’s anger, she has a hamster like anxiety quality to her (complimentary)

- also I swear I see no one talk about it WHEN GABE TOUCHED NATALIE’S HAND??? AND SHE NOTICES SOMETHING??? That’s new for this production right?? Theories???

- Natalie starting to tidy up Gabe’s toys,,, she’s breaking the cycle,, she’s the hope. And playing with them with Henry and showing him the bunny toy 😭

- I’ll say it. The “you’re like number one on my list of problems” doesn’t work that well if you don’t have Jen and Adam’s sarcasm. Too earnest. Banned.

- I’ve said a lot abt this Henry but I actually like this act 2! He plays him v desperate and anxious which I don’t think Adam does, it shows the stakes for act two. Also his arc UGH. From being a Dan parallel where he’s saying he’ll be perfect for her and that he wants who he knew and that he’ll stay anyway because he made a promise to,,, the dance and saying that he’ll stay bc he loves her and he doesn’t care if she goes crazy

- Also I think Natalie mouths ‘help me’ as she stops Henry from walking off in A Promise owwww

- also Henry apologising to the pianist after the recital (I think?) and picking up Natalie’s bag from the club 😭