#teasing him re porter

[italicized-oh]

zara edging jace when

[t4tozier]

Hi! Sorry if this is kinda a strange question lol! But I absolutely love how you write smut and I’m god awful at it. So I wanted to know if you have any tips on writing a masc character topping from their pov instead receiving? I have no clue if that makes any sense at all

this is so sad i fully started writing an answer to this but it didn’t save. anyway i’m flattered! i don’t have too many top POV fics but you can (re)read rich boys, fine wine, right for us, or the howlin for you series for an idea of how i write tops. i’ve also only written full fics w cis male tops so that’ll be what i focus on here, but in general, anyone who feels like they have a better grasp on this feel free to jump in bc i’m honestly not super confident!!

i think the main thing is just to make sure that you’re not switching povs, particularly if that isn’t your style! it throws the reader off to be like okay we’re focusing on porter’s internal monologue—but wait there’s a random sentence about how jace feels full with porter inside of him, where did that come from? you want to focus on how it feels for the top to be topping, yk?

i think it’s also important to think about past experience, maybe more so than when it comes to writing bottoms. for example, if your top is a virgin, they likely won’t last as long, which means you either have to increase the foreplay to accommodate or have them stop/slow down so they don’t come too quickly. or maybe you want to show that they’re nervous/inexperienced, and it is over quickly!

if you’re writing mlm specifically, have they slept with men before, or is this their first time? are they confident? do they like going deep and slow, rough and fast, teasing and shallow? how does their partner react to that?

i hope this gives you a couple of things to think about! some of these will be more easily answered than others, especially if you’re writing fanfiction rather than an original work—but if it is an original work, then these questions might help guide you in creating your character/giving them more depth as well!

[studentville-struggles]

A Double Life

Chapter 5!!

A self-indulgent Daniel Ricciardo fic.

Summary: Returning to old passions results in the start of chaos and living a double life. We say we hate chaos, but the thrill is unlike anything else.

Words: 1,941

Masterlist // Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

F1 was no joke.  

PhD’s were no joke.

You were exhausted. Exhausted didn’t even begin to cover how you felt. Were you dying? Who even knew at this point.  

One monday your legs finally gave out as you were walking into university, collapsing from the exhaustion you were fighting. Thankfully you had just made it into your building, the porters quick to call a medic. You actually ended up having to take a couple of days off of lab work and go home and just spend some time sleeping and spending time with your parents. Your supervisors were so worried for your health and the stress you had been putting yourself under they pretty much banned you from the lab for a week.  

You still did the workouts you needed to and prepped for races from home. You just did everything on more than five hours sleep. The luxury. It was so damn needed.

Speaking on the phone to Lando one night, the two of you becoming closer friends since being team mates and him checking in more frequently since finding out about you collapsing, you had been joking about how nice sleep was. 

“I used to think that being ordinary was boring. Now I’d do anything for a 10 hour nap and a chippy.”

Your little exhaustion moment had scared you a little bit. You’d always managed to do everything. You could have two intense lives and work it. You had felt that for the last three years you mastered juggling a double life. Was it finally coming to crumble around you? Was this it, was the dream over?  

You wouldn’t allow it. You couldn’t. Youd fought so hard for this, to have your cake and eat it. It was never meant to be easy and you knew that, this was just one more thing to overcome. Once you had your PhD you would be able to live any life you wanted. You might even be able to sleep seven hours a night on the regular.  

You would make this double life work for a little longer, you had to.

Having re-evaluated routines and switching things up so that you could make the most of both lives whilst still being healthy, you were feeling confident, comfortable and it was growing with each race that passed. Sure, not all of the results were what you dreamed off; after all you were yet to tip Lewis off his pedestal, but you were getting there. Getting the car to do your bidding was the first half of the challenge. Now you just needed to do that, but better than every one else on the track.

The other thing to come out of your health scare; especially after some of the drivers have commented on your less deathly appearance was an interesting change in your friendship with a certain Australian.  

Sure, you had the big change from thinking he was rude to being caught smiling at his texts, to hanging out in Australia at the start of the season. That you had kind of seen coming; but this? This was unexpected, and you weren’t quite sure what to make of it currently.

After finding out about your little incident, Daniels’ entire energy changed. He was visibly concerned about you, whether you were better now, how you were doing getting everything under control for good. His reaction to discovering the in-depth extremeness of your routine having binged watched your show – he claimed it was a curious interest to occupy his flight but you knew it was to be nosey and you didn’t mind that – was even stranger He had effectively cornered you at the paddock in China with a written out list and spluttering of expletives with the general message of “what the fuck, no wonder you're exhausted.’.  

The frequency at which you two texted and chatted was steadily rising as your friendship bloomed but after his discovery of ‘the incident’, it had sky rocketed. Both in general conversation, but also in his concern for you overdoing things. He’s started to make a point, like Lewis often does, to ensure you take a bit of time for you and to relax; so movie and game nights are now a little thing you get when you meet up for a face to face catch up.

The vibes between the two of you were shifting ever so slightly and you weren’t entirely sure where there were setting themselves.

---

You were very lucky in that your family would often come to support you, especially your mum and dad. Albeit your mum couldn’t watch half of the races due to her fear that her little girl was going to be hurt, but she was there every chance she had.  

As the season progressed and you were getting some races closer to home, you felt it was about time to invite the main group of people who were yet to see this side of you. Given the intense patience and grace they had given to you, supporting you though everything and allowing your camera crew all access; it was time to invite your boss. Well your other boss. Your supervisor.

Getting back into the swing of things at work in the lab after the Spanish Grand Prix, you felt it was finally time to give back to your lab family.

“I’d like to take you to work next week, and maybe a few others once I check numbers.” Your supervisor knew what ‘work’ meant for you but with more and more people questioning your regular three day weeks, you were starting to feel like letting your two worlds collide a little more.  

“Where is work next week? Monaco?”  

“Yup. I’ll give my media team a ring and see how many we can take including hotels and go from there”  

“Including?!”  

“Full VIP, would be rude of me not to.”  

A short phone call later, with some rough numbers figured out, you had five full VIP passes at your disposal. Given you rarely have guests at Grand Prix’ they allowed a few extra tickets this time. As one would imagine with a free weekend in Monaco, the academic staff in your research group snapped up those tickets in no time. Of course, with the amount of time spent in your offices and labs, you were safely assuming three of the five had no idea what your job was, though were very curious as to how and why it was taking you to Monaco.  

Academic life was no joke. Everyone was busy, everyone had very little free time. Watching sports was only done by super fans really. There weren’t any motorsport super fans in your office and somehow both your show and driving career had still remained unquestioned. How that was true with the camera crew still following you around, you had no idea.  

You had sent out a rough, and very vague itinerary, reminding them to be ready to leave work at 6 pm on Wednesday, heading straight to the airport. You had also sent strict dress code instructions- the smarter end of smart casual, knowing that they would likely, if not definitely, be appearing on camera.  

With some of your team meeting you at the airport, ready to get your race weekend media started, the confusion of your university colleagues was growing. It peaked as they had you film a short clip to start the weekends media off, it was only a short Instagram story, post hair touch up, to say hi to fans.  

“Hey guys, just me taking over the Instagram stories! We’ve just arrived at the airport to head over to Monaco! Can’t wait to see you guys this weekend and I’ve even brought a few colleagues from the university so you’ll be seeing my two worlds collide as well! See you soon!” Waving at the camera, you cut the video. With all thumbs up from your team, you uploaded it to your team Instagram, views piling in almost immediately.  

“Rachel what the hell do you do?!”

“Oh you’ll see soon enough, I don’t want to ruin the surprise now.” You teased, surprisingly enjoying the suspense.  

Walking up to the private jet having gone through security with ease, the shock was only increasing, though you everyone was feeling very excited for the flight now they saw the plane. Things were fairly calm after this, the journey quick, smooth and you avoided giving too much away.  

Arriving at the hotel you sent everyone off to their rooms, giving timings for meeting the next morning. You would be leaving before them to start greeting the media and doing some press conferences before your track walks, and so had arranged for a few cars to be sent for transferring the rest over to the main hub. Once they were all happy with the plans, not that you’d given many details, merely timings, you could head to your room where Daniel had snuck over waiting to reunite.  

He had many complaints about spending the evening having your catch up in a hotel when he had a perfectly good home a few minutes away. At some point during the evening, after the food had been demolished, the words said and a crappy Netflix original on the tv, the two of you had fallen asleep. When you woke a couple of hours later, you were awkwardly hunched on the sofa still, somehow having entangled yourself with Daniels body.  

Realising that it was far too late to send Daniel home, you both needed sleep if you were to survive the media day, and you couldn’t send him on his way in the small hours of the morning. Trying not to wake him too harshly, you start untangling yourself from the mess of legs. With Daniel starting to stir, you grab his hand, wordlessly pulling him from the sofa, over to the hotel bed.  

Still in the silence the middle of the night brings, Daniel shed the majority of his clothing, slipping under the covers in only his underwear, with you following soon after as you quickly change into your sleepwear.  

For something so foreign in your friendship, the ease and comfort at which you snuggled together, falling asleep again under the covers, was almost unnerving. Almost. In your sleepy state, you couldn’t recognise that, only time would reveal that.  

--

Having snuck off to begin your media day trackside, you were eager to see your lab colleague's reaction to where they were. It was as you were heading back into McLarens hospitality that you, as well as the whole group, could see the full magnitude of this job and how it differed to the Rachel they were used to seeing in the office.  

“You’re a driver?”  Shock? Disbelief? You couldn’t quite tell but the reaction was  

“Yes”

“What the fuck? But you’re in the lab like 10 hours a day”

“Now you know why I don’t have time to get things done otherwise in my three-day weeks.”

Once the shock wore off, the excitement and initial questions had settled, you set the group up with timings for the day and let them wander round the paddock freely as you headed back to your meetings, promising to see them during the lunch break.  

Having your worlds united felt good. It felt as though some of the pressure you hadn’t realised was there from keeping them separate, was melting away.  Although the feeling that was beginning to bubble away every time you bumped into Daniel was very close to being a distraction.

You needed to drive; just get in the car and block everything else out. 

[yourcoolfriendwithallthecandy]

Why So Jaded Chapter 8

FFN AO3 

Enjoy. 

Chapter 8

Violet was all too happy to get Buddy out of SEB and even let him drive her SUV to where they needed to go on her first official "Raid Day". Where all the "spiders" would be "sleeping" and it would give Buddy and Violet some breathing room.

"Oh my God, may the heavens themselves bless you, I almost forgot how nice it is to drive and not be driven around everywhere." Buddy thanked her gratefully as he drove her very nice SUV around Metroville, surprisingly remembering his way around here as he marveled at how the city had grown and developed since he drove around in it last.

"So are we clear?" Buddy breathed.

"Yes, all the "spiders" are sleeping. They're not gone but they're sleeping. And I've been practicing turning some that Phillip doesn't control and isn't keeping track of off and on again along with every other one I can get my hands on so I can turn them on and off on my own." Violet divulged.

"You do realize that you are officially the coolest person I know right? Like that is mind blowing cool." Buddy told her which got her to giggle as he drove them to their first destination because Buddy had surprised Violet with breakfast in his apartment. 

"Thanks, I try, I just needed to witness them being put to sleep in order to figure out how to do it. Because all I've been able to do before is just know that they're on and where they are. But that's it, I mean there have been a few that I've purposefully overpowered and fried. Like turning a burner on its highest setting. But I hadn't been able to figure out how to turn it down." Violet continued.

"That's a really good metaphor." Buddy realized.

"Thanks." Violet grinned and Buddy looked over to see her hand resting on her arm rest and resisted the urge to just reach over and hold her hand before they went to a butcher shop to get their main course as Buddy was all too happy to give her some pointers and how to pick out a great steak or chop, and then it was onto a Merry Cherry to order a good cake for dessert that Violet would be picking up Saturday morning and then to a big box store to get all kinds of things, from a playpen and toys for the kids to other ingredients and then they stopped for lunch at one of Violet's favorite places to get lunch on her days off when she wasn't in a suit, which was a 'FUBU' Mexican place which she explained was a "For Us, By Us" Mexican place and Buddy was impressed when she spoke flawless Spanish in ordering for them.

"How many languages do you speak?" Buddy asked.

"A lot." Violet answered.

"How many is 'a lot'." Buddy posed curiously.

"Take a guess." Violet prompted.

"Obviously, at least two." Buddy guessed as he dug into the chips and salsa.

"Higher." Violet gestured for him to up his guess as she helped him decimate the delicious chips and salsa because both were super fresh and delicious.

"Five?" Buddy blinked and his eyebrows rose in surprise when she gestured to go higher.

"Ten?" Buddy pressed.

"Close, 12, complete fluent languages."

"What are they? Can you tell me?" Buddy prodded.

"English, Latin- and it's the Latin that made learning Italian and Spanish a breeze but I learned Mexican Spanish first and then Spain Spanish second. Let's see- I know French, Turkish, Arabic, Chinese Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Russian and lastly Portuguese, I know bits and pieces of Swedish, German, Hindi and Greek. So technically more like 16. But I have to because Phillip is a world traveler and businessman and wants to make sure that he understands what everyone around him is saying, because again, paranoid." Violet explained.

"That and I already knew most of those before I ever worked for him because of my other work." Violet shrugged nonchalantly.

"And that's why you're the best at what you do." Buddy realized.

"It's one of the things, yes." Violet agreed before their tacos and other ingredients were brought out.

"Ok, these tacos are already amazing but to make them better, squeeze the lime to cut the fat, a spoonful of rice, a scoop of refried beans, a dash of mole, cover in queso, and just a dab of the green salsa unless you love really spicy then add the red and viola, the perfect taco." Violet urged as she did what she preferred to her own tacos as Buddy copied her pattern as they lifted their tacos and bumped them together.

"Cheers," they both smiled at each other before they each took their first bites before Buddy outright moaned and Violet giggled again and hummed in agreement.

"Oh, oh this is amazing." Buddy praised between mouthfuls.

"Now you see why I like to come here. FUBU anything is always better than the "mainstream" version and these are handmade, hand pressed corn tortillas that were being made as we were ordering and you always double up on the tortillas." Violet appraised.

"How many other little gems like this have you found in the city?" Buddy asked.

"Oh, dozens. Any and every kind of ethnic food you can think of, all of them 'FUBU's' . A year ago, in an effort to get a break from all the spiders, I would take myself out to lunch all on my own, I'd leave all the electronics in the car and park it like down the street and sometimes over a street from where I was really going and take like an hour and a half lunches, trying to find all these little hole in the wall places where there wasn't so many watching eyes and listening ears. And along the way, I found some amazing food and then I never showed any of them to him. Because I didn't want him to invade what little spaces of freedom and breathing room I had found. Not that he would be caught dead in any eatery that didn't have a five star rating and at least one Michelin star."

"So why are you bringing me to a place like this?" Buddy asked.

"Because I have a very good feeling you won't invade them. That you'll appreciate sharing them with me, and if anything happens and I disappear, it'll be one of the few places I'll reappear in." Violet answered softly.

"Well, count me honored and privileged then and if I'm ever in a position that I think I'm being tailed, I won't come anywhere near here or anywhere else you would take me, cause I would hate for an invasion, much less an infestation to take place." Buddy vowed.

"Good." Violet smiled appreciatively.

Once they finished lunch, which ended up taking a few hours because they got lost in conversation, they went to Violet's favorite wine and liquor store that was huge because they had everything under the sun where Buddy felt like a kid in a candy store as Violet showed him all her favorites and made suggestions based on his chosen menu and Buddy noticed that the more the day progressed, the closer to him she came, to the point that she was always taking his arm when they were walking side by side or simply standing looking at wines and other spirits and he was all too happy to get her doors for her and did his best to be a perfect gentleman which Violet appreciated and it was there in the cold room of the liquor store where Violet and Buddy were staring at one of many walls of floor to ceiling craft beer before none other than Keith and Greg showed up since they just got off of work and stopped in their tracks and stared when they saw Buddy in there with Violet as they huddled together in the cold room, trying to pick out beers but Violet didn't really drink beer and Buddy didn't either so they weren't sure what exactly they were looking at.

"Bud?" They called out before Buddy turned his head.

"Hey guys." Buddy greeted happily as Violet put on a friendly smile since she had already been running background checks on them and recognized them from meeting them in Vegas when Buddy had introduced them to her formally at the casino.

"Are you out on a walk?" They teased Buddy.

"He is, I figured if I held his hand, he wouldn't have to be on a leash." Violet answered with a shit eating grin which got them all to laugh as she slipped her hand into Buddy's and held it for emphasis but wouldn't let it go and Buddy was unbelievably pleased about that and gently squeezed it a little in appreciation.

"It would look a little strange." Greg allowed.

"Especially when he has to wear a shock collar to go with it." Violet clicked her teeth with a wink that got all of them to erupt into further laughter as Buddy's cheeks were beet red along with his ears and suddenly the cold room wasn't so cold anymore.

"So you're into that kind of thing?" Keith teased Violet.

"No, it was just a dig." Violet answered with a shake of her head.

"Damn." Buddy sarcastically snapped his fingers in his other hand in mock disappointment as Violet raised a challenging brow at him.

"I mean, whew, am I glad you're not." Buddy re-answered with a cheesy grin which earned some snickers from his friends as Violet just chuckled and shook her head.

"I'm gonna go back out and check out the cordials with the cart and warm back up, you guys can stay and pick out beer, help him pick out something you guys will like and enjoy on Saturday." Violet offered sweetly before she excused herself and Buddy immediately missed her by his side.

"Dude!" Keith quietly congratulated as he came and did the handshake hug with Buddy.

"Bud, be careful, you're playing with fire." Greg warned as he did the same.

"I know there's a risk for both of us, that's why we're just friends." Buddy reassured Greg.

"You didn't look "just friends" when we came in, you guys looked like 'cute couple' and even 'wow what's a dime like her doing with a nickel like him'." Keith murmured as he got to work getting some really good beers for Buddy to take to Violet which earned a humph from Buddy.

"Really? I'm a five." Buddy deadpanned.

"Four, five was generous." Greg added with a playful punch to the shoulder as Buddy gave him an unimpressed look.

"Sad part is I agree. So what beers should we get?" Buddy asked.

"Oh Dragon's Milk for sure. We need to cover the bases, we need to get a good stout or two, perhaps a porter, maybe a couple of lagers and pilsners and IPA's to round it out." Keith urged as he started pulling out what looked good.

"You and craft beers." Greg just shook his head at Keith who started handing him six packs and four packs before he handed the others to Buddy to hold.

"Yeah, but I'm grateful because anything other than whiskey or vodka and I'm lost." Buddy shrugged.

"Speaking of how are you doing with that?" Greg asked.

"Doing good, surprisingly." Buddy answered honestly.

"Well with a tall glass of water like the one you're with. I'd think you'd want to stay sober so you don't miss a second of her." Keith answered before he snagged two dessert beers himself.

"This is true." Buddy agreed with a fond grin.

"You know, even though she's kind of off limits. She did look pretty happy with you and vice versa. Whenever I see her with Phillip, she looks so serious and looks like she's just always on and always working and can't relax. With you it's like she's just hanging out and it's a lot more casual." Keith appraised.

"And you would be absolutely right and that's why she likes hanging out with me more than him." Buddy grinned victoriously.

"Just don't screw the pooch by screwing the boss' pet." Greg warned.

"Like I said, just friends...so far." Buddy admitted as he tried to keep his smile in check because the thought of anything more was too much to hope for yet strangely well within reach.

"So you've thought about it." Greg prodded.

"Yeah, I mean I'm still alive and have a pulse don't I?" Buddy returned as his friends hummed and murmured their agreement to that sentiment.

"Yeah I thought I saw your smile grow a little brighter when she held your hand and teased you like a proper girlfriend." Keith grinned.

"Ok, I don't know about you guys but I'm freezing my ass off in here, can we be done? Please?" Buddy requested before Keith grabbed one more.

"Yes, now we're done." Keith assured him as the three managed to get out and look through the store for Violet who was perusing the cheeses because the liquor store had a couture snack market to go with all the wine and spirits and had a really good selection and was putting some cheeses and crackers together and was getting hit on by some guy who was trying to lean into her personal space while he spit his best game at her and judging by her own body language, she was doing what she could to ignore him.

"Here's your chance, play her boyfriend and scare off the creeper, do it, do it, do it!" Keith urged in an excited whisper to Buddy who was already picking up his steps to come to her rescue.

"Honey? You pick out the cheeses you wanted?" Buddy took a chance and asked as he slipped the beer into the cart next to her and the smile Violet gave him was pure magic.

"Almost, I can't decide between the brie and the camembert. Did you guys get enough beer?" Violet giggled as Keith and Greg unloaded their beers into the cart too as she held up the cheeses in question to Buddy.

"I think we should get both." Buddy decided.

"Very smart decision Dear. I knew there was a reason I married you." Violet cooed as she stole into his side after she slipped them into the basket of the cart with the others.

"Oh, I..I didn't see a…" the guy tried to say as he started backing up at the sight of Buddy and his friends around him and knew he was outmanned and outgunned.

"Oh it's at the jewelers, one of the accent diamonds was coming loose." Violet waived off. "You ready to check out Handsome?" Violet urged Buddy as she practically moved Buddy into place pushing the cart so she could still wrap her hand around the crook of his elbow as he pushed it.

"If you are Darlin." Buddy answered as he followed her lead.

"Then let's go." Violet agreed as they walked to the check out as Violet let her head fall on Buddy's shoulder as they waited in line before she kissed his shoulder.

"Thanks for the save." Violet thanked him as she let her lips linger there and the utter delight in her eyes had Buddy hoping and praying and wishing on every lucky star he had that one day he'd make that a reality.

"You're welcome." Buddy answered before he took a chance and kissed her forehead sweetly which practically made her beam a happy smile at him as Keith and Greg knew then, that there were serious sparks there and were torn between being happy for their friend yet terrified for them both.

"You guys are gonna help us load all this up right?" Violet put to Keith and Greg who were buying their own packs of beer as they stood in line behind Violet and Buddy.

"Yeah, of course." They agreed from their place behind them and once through the line, the guys did their best "Tetris" it all into the back of Violet's SUV with everything else they had bought.

"Guys, it would be appreciated if not a word is breathed about what happened in there." Buddy reminded his friends as Violet was happy and relieved that he said something instead of her having to.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Greg answered.

"I didn't even know anything even happened." Keith shrugged.

"Thanks guys." Violet answered appreciatively as Buddy smiled proudly.

"Well, say hi to the missus' from us. See you Saturday guys." Buddy bid them before he opened the door for Violet to get in the SUV before going around and getting in it himself and was pleasantly surprised when Violet laced her fingers in his after he got the SUV in gear.

"Thank you for saying something to them, it meant that I didn't have to slip back into Ms. Parr and could just stay Violet." Violet thanked him in a soft murmur but her adoring smile was utterly divine.

"I didn't want that to happen either, if there's anything I can say or do to keep you as Violet, doesn't matter who I'm with, just let me know." Buddy returned as he chanced a gentle squeeze to her hand and was happy when she squeezed back but made no move to remove her hand from his.

"So where did you want to go out to dinner?" Buddy asked.

"Ok, I know another really good place." Violet answered as he gave him directions on where to go where she brought him to a dim sum/tapas place that was run by a couple where the wife was Chinese and her husband was from Spain and it worked beautifully as Violet once again ordered off both menus in both languages since their server was the couple's daughter and was herself trilingual, flipping from one to the other flawlessly to get all her favorites and Buddy was utterly enchanted to see her smile so excitedly and once all the food came out and soon covered every surface of the table and the dim sum had to be triple stacked because the tapas couldn't be, Buddy just beamed a proud smile to see her do a happy dance as she uncovered everything before she went around and identified everything that she ordered before she got her own plate and began getting one of everything, using her chopsticks like a pro before going for the soup dumplings first and walked Buddy through trying to eat them without burning his mouth before they alternated between the tapas and dim sum, slowly but surely getting through most of it, and making sure to at least try one of everything and Buddy felt he would have to loosen his belt and ate until he was just about stuffed.

"Ok, we have to get one more, it's a dessert dumpling." Violet said as she waived down the waitress and ordered what she wanted before she nodded and left again.

"I don't know if I could eat much more Vi." Buddy admitted as he took a breath, and tried not to belch too loudly.

"Just one more bite, find that extra pocket everyone keeps for dessert and get it ready to receive amazingness." Violet urged as she organized what they would be taking home in leftovers in the to-go boxes and in a few moments one last steamer box was brought out and Buddy could smell chocolate.

"Behold, chocolate soup dumplings, with chocolate, Nutella and bananas." Violet revealed as she took the top off as Buddy oohed. Then he carefully got the little pillow of mochi dough surrounding the gooey center and Buddy melted in his seat when he bit into it.

"See? Best last bite." Violet urged as she began to bire into one of her own.

"Do you know how to make this?" Buddy asked.

"Yes I do. The mochi dough is hard but the filling is easy." Violet answered as she finished hers just about the same time Buddy did.

"Do you want another or are you good?" Violet asked.

"I'm good, now if I take another bite, I'll pop." Buddy admitted.

"Wouldn't want that to happen." Violet replied with a fond smile before she checked the time.

"Well, we have two hours before our 12 hours of freedom is up. How do you want to spend it?" Violet asked.

"I don't care. However you want to spend it." Buddy returned.

"Could you do me a favor?" Violet asked thoughtfully as she tilted her head curiously.

"Name it." Buddy furthered.

"As sad and shallow as this is going to sound, I have not hung out socially with anyone except for other "gifted" individuals. In...well in years and being from a "gifted" family, all they know are other "gifted" people too and with other gifted people, you don't worry about hiding your gifts cause everyone has them and we always play and try to one up each other. So to try to be "normal" yet feel comfortable is going to be especially hard for me. It's going to be a challenge for me to stay Violet especially when I'm around anyone and everyone, but you, as Ms. Parr or simply "Vi" with my family. So...would you help me pick something to wear? Like set the tone, something actually casual but nice but not...intimidating. Because Ms. Parr is always commanding and intimidating wherever she goes and I don't want to be like that with your friends cause they'll never feel comfortable around me and if they're not comfortable, it's going to ruin it and this is your first social visit and I want it to go well and I don't want to ruin it for you. And I would ask Jack but he would see to it that I come in head to toe designer labels." Violet confessed lowly as they once again leaned across the table so they could drop their voices and have a private conversation despite the very busy restaurant.

"Of course." Buddy agreed.

"Awesome, then let me pay for dinner and we'll go." Violet offered and once they got their things, Violet directed Buddy to one of the high rise apartment buildings in town. Not the most luxurious, but close.

"Ok, now go to the tenth floor of the parking garage and park in parking space 10245." Violet directed as Buddy did as she asked, still not letting go of her hand as he drove his way up the parking garage. Not surprised when he saw a sea of Mercedes Benz, BMW's, Land Rovers and even some classic cars and sports cars before he found the right spot and parked her SUV into it before they got out and walked into the building where a doorman let them in from behind tinted glass of the entry way.

"Good evening Ms. Parr."

"Good evening James, how's Linda faring today?" Violet returned politely.

"She's doing better, thanks for asking." He answered before he looked questioningly from Violet to Buddy.

"Awesome, this is my guest Mr. Bartholomew Pine, This is Mr. James Conner. " Violet introduced before the two shook hands inside the entryway.

"Welcome to Sky Way, Mr. Pine." James said as he opened the door both of them as Violet came into the building and into the lobby of the floor.

"Good evening Ms. Parr." The receptionist greeted cheerfully.

"Good evening Samantha, how are you this evening?" Violet politely greeted.

"I'm doing great, thanks for asking, you have three packages today. Let me go get those for you from cold storage." She said as she quickly left and went into the office behind the desk and promptly returned with three packages, which were chilled before Buddy offered to carry them for Violet which Violet was grateful for before Buddy went with Violet to her apartment where she opened the door for him so he could get in and Violet blew out a breath of relief when she could tell that the "spiders" were still sleeping in her apartment.

"You can put them on the island." Violet directed as she got her actual mail that had been scattered on the floor since it overflowed the little mail basket and threw a small forcefield around all of it and pulled it back to her hand.

"That's a neat trick." Buddy commented as he passed her in the little hallway.

"Thanks, Jack calls it my 'yo-yo' powers. It comes in pretty handy so I don't have to bend over and pick anything up off the floor." Violet murmured a little distractedly as she looked over her mail and sighed as she began to look through it and started to organize it according to what it was before she used her powers to yo-yo two letter openers into her hand once they both came to stand at her kitchen island.

"You get the packages, I get the mail." Violet offered as she handed him one of them.

"Ok." Buddy agreed and took it and started opening her boxes which were all meal kits, which was why they were in cold storage to keep the contents fresh before he put all the food away for her as Violet opened her mail as she opened her bills first and looked those over before she opened all her other mail, ignoring the junk mail and going straight to the checks and opened those before she got a pen from a drawer in the island and signed the checks then got her phone out and took pictures of her checks to deposit them into her accounts directly before she put the checks into an envelope with the date written on the envelope to signify which checks she got which days before she put the envelope into a filing cabinet under the month folder.

Buddy couldn't help but notice that her income was far exceeding her expenses but kept his observations to herself as he realized her apartment was just as nice, if not nicer than his own apartment space. Quite luxurious and modern actually.

"You have a nice apartment." Buddy praised.

"Thanks, I'm never here enough to enjoy it, I only sleep here and eat about two meals a week here. Phillip insisted that I stay at a "safe, protected and respectable" place, so that left either here or a place at Green Gardens or Garden Square where he owns the penthouse there and that was way too close to comfort for me. Besides it has a spider and a mole problem and in two years when I'm not working for Phillip, I'll very happily be walking away from it." Violet answered as she took off her jacket and put it into the closet.

"I can take your jacket." Violet offered before Buddy took off his jacket and handed it to her.

"A mole problem?" Buddy repeated.

"Yeah not only does this place have thirty something "spiders" but the door men at both the ground level and this floor and half the reception staff and every single one of my neighbors on all sides are on Phillip's payroll to keep tabs on me and if I had to guess Phillip just got either two calls or texts or whatever saying that I've taken you to my place and so the spiders are about to wake up here, any minute." Violet predicted as she closed her eyes and focused on them around the place.

"Jeeze. Yeah, gilded cage." Buddy realized as he looked around and suddenly frowned at all of it, wondering where the spiders had their webs.

"Yup. So, let's go to my closet." Violet urged as Buddy followed her to her frankly gorgeous bedroom before she opened up a door that led to the most amazing walk in closet that was practically full of gorgeous dressy business clothes, handbags and heels before Buddy noticed that Violet stopped and stared at a little sliver of regular looking clothes before she took them all off the rack and then laid them over the bed before she decided to try to pull just a few of her more flattering blouses.

"Too much?" Violet asked as she held them out for Buddy as she held them in front of herself.

"No, like if you were to pair that with a pair of jeans it would be just fine. Granted Tammy, Lisa and Beth are probably going to dress up just a little bit too. You don't have to compete with them and you don't have to be the most beautiful woman in the room, I mean you will be no matter what, but that's just my opinion, but this isn't a competition. Just be Violet. Wear what you would if you were hosting a get together at your place with people you're comfortable with. Wear what you would be comfortable in. Remember almost all of them have kids and kids are messy so don't wear anything that won't be the end of the world if Beth's baby throws up on you or the kids decide to finger paint you with ketchup or something." Buddy explained as Violet just smiled appreciatively at him.

"Well, these are dry clean only, so something washable." Violet decided as she put them back and went through her other blouses before she came across one of her favorites that would 1. Make her look beautiful. 2. Was machine washable. 3. Not too dressy and it would go with the necklace Buddy had gotten for her that she had yet to take off.

"This." Violet decided before she held it up to her jeans before she found a nice pair of jeans to go with it.

"Perfect." Buddy nodded in approval.

"Are you sure it's not too dressy?" Violet questioned.

"You'll be fine. Honestly you could show up in just a plain t shirt and jeans and be fine." Buddy reassured her.

"Well, ok, well how about I pack, this and...this. Just in case Beth's baby practically leaks out of every orifice." Violet decided as she gathered what she wanted and put them into a small duffle bag before throwing in some unmentionables quickly from her dresser as Buddy simply sat on the bench at the foot of her bed and contentedly watched as she got what she wanted from around the room as he fantasized about how she would pack if they were actually together and he had told her that he was taking them away on vacation as he thought of all the places he would like to take her as he started to fidget with the skin around his left ring finger, wondering what kind of wedding ring she would get him if they ever did or could get married. He remembered fantasizing the same thing with Tali. But part of him was grateful that she had turned him down, because if she hadn't he would have never grown out of his obsession. And would have she been truly happy with him? Especially the person he was back then? Or would she have felt the way Violet felt about Phillip? Grin and bear it and then bolt at the first opportunity as he realized what had been Tali's breaking point. When he had shot down the plane that had them all on it. He had been so hell bent on revenge on Mr. Incredible that he hadn't even felt the slightest bit of guilt or shame in ordering to kill kids. He had no respect for the sanctity of life, especially young and innocent life and how much he deserved what he had gotten. He had earned it. That was for sure.

"You ok?" Violet asked as she noticed Buddy get withdrawn as he seemed to stare off into space before she settled next to him and reached out and held his hand again and brought him out of it.

"Yeah." Buddy took a deep breath and tried to clear his head of his accusing thoughts.

"Just deep in thought." Buddy tried to brush off.

"About what?" Violet asked curiously.

"The spiders are still sleeping." Violet whispered as she decided to rest her chin on his shoulder again and give him a curious look.

"Just wondering how close the parallels are between Tali and I and you and Phillip." Buddy confessed and Violet took a deep breath through her nose.

"Would you be surprised to learn not a lot?" Violet returned.

"I was an asshole, how could she stand me?" Buddy questioned, almost rhetorically before Violet lifted her head and just shook her head with a fond grin of her lips.

"Because of who she was at the time herself. You were strong and powerful and knew how to throw your weight around and she felt that you were simply misunderstood and she was genuinely attracted to all of that, especially when you treated her like a goddess and catered to her every need, want and whim and she was bound and determined to turn the two of you into a powerhouse couple. Be the next Beyoncé and Jay-Z but of the tech world. She appreciated your genius and knew it would just be a matter of time before the rest of the world recognized and appreciated it too and she was in it for the long haul. And if you hadn't tried to blow me and my family up and then when we survived how you treated us when you captured us, even as kids. Those were the steps too far and really bothered her conscience as they should have anyone. Otherwise she would have stayed. But messing with kids was her line in the sand as is mine. And when you stomped on it, that shook her hard enough to really see you for who you really were in that moment and it made her question if her genuine attraction was to you or to everything around you and question if it was worth it and she decided it wasn't. So she acted accordingly." Violet explained, not sugar coating it but telling him the truth, but still trying to be tactful.

"She made the right choice." Buddy concluded.

"She did." Violet nodded, proud of him for seeing that too.

"But the biggest difference is, her relationship with you was built on genuine, mutual respect that grew from there. Phil's relationship with me isn't. It's built off of power and control and manipulation and secrets and lies on both sides and Phillip adores Invisigirl and Ms. Parr -which is what his own fantasy of who I am is- that I have to live up to whether it's real or not and it doesn't matter how much I like it or hate it, it's part of the performance and he's happy with the act and buys the performance over and over again and he's never bothered to get to know Violet, the real Violet anyway. But you have, so our relationship is built off of um, let's see…." Violet took a deep breath and sighed as she brought his hand into her lap to consider how nicely their fingers interlaced together as she once again was drawn to all the scars on his hand as she couldn't help but trace them as she searched her thoughts and feelings for a moment.

"I feel ours is built on genuine mutual respect, honesty, understanding, sympathy and empathy and kindness. Which all good relationships should have and be built on to begin with, no matter what kind of relationship it is. And it's why it works as well as it does. Even with our shared history." Violet honestly appraised as Buddy carefully considered her words and was elated that it was even that much.

"What do you think?" Violet posed as she turned to him and looked at him curiously.

"I agree. Even though I'm not all that respectable, I'm a…"

"Don't. Don't start down that self deprecating pity party of a path. You're better than that and it's not fair to the guy you are now. In the past you were misguided and self righteous and vengeful. And then Karma handed you your ass and you humbly took the beating. And it's what you did after and since- that's mattered and it's what you're doing now that matters the most and who you are in this moment that matters too. Especially to me. Forgive yourself for the rest. I know I have." Violet appraised as the two shared a meaningful look and just as Violet gave his lips a glance as Buddy did the same and was seriously considering kissing her, her eyes went wide and she withdrew and bolted a few steps from him.

"Spiders are waking up." Violet whispered as she did her best to look and act "natural" again but even Buddy could see, the Violet he adored, shrunk back and Ms. Parr stepped back into the fore, he saw it in her posture and body language and Buddy was once again filled with anger and resentment towards Phillip, for doing such a thing to her. She deserved better than to live in fear, even in her own private space. Which should be sacred.

"Well, it's about that time Mr. Pine, we should be heading back, thanks for all your help." Violet thanked him as she put the bag over her shoulder and held onto it tightly as Buddy got up and left with her again and even in her SUV, Violet stayed withdrawn and eerily quiet as Buddy drove them back to SEB and the whole way over Buddy just got more and more angry and resentful to Phillip.

Violet stowed her bag of clothes in Buddy's room, in the closet before she helped Buddy unload everything else from her SUV and it was almost enjoyable to see and feel them slipping back into such domestic tasks in an effortless tandem. Even as mundane as putting away groceries was. But even Buddy could tell that Violet stayed withdrawn as Ms. Parr had taken over fully again because there was a surgical precision to her movements. She was trying to get things done as quickly and thoroughly as she could. Just a step below rushing before Buddy simply stopped and held her hands.

"The spiders won't always be around." Buddy breathed.

"I know. It's hard to know when they'll go to sleep again." Violet answered, her words barely a whisper before she reluctantly pulled her hands from his with an apologetic look as she finished what she needed to.

"Thanks for today though, I'll see you in the morning Mr. Pine." Violet said as she put her shoes back on before she left and drove home and finished putting her mail away and broke down her boxes and put them in a closet where she kept spare boxes to ship things out and was grateful that the "spiders" in her own apartment had been put back to sleep before she got ready for bed, brushing her hair and braiding it so it wouldn't tangle in her sleep and when she went to bed, she thought over all the events of the day in her head and actually smiled softly in the darkness. Buddy had been amazing, all day, and for him to slip into 'boyfriend/husband' at the liquor store had been so natural for both of them. Had her wishing maybe someday...because she couldn't deny or dismiss the feelings she had started to develop for him. It had started off as just two birds in side by side cages, sharing a toy or two. And it developed and bloomed from there. Natalia had even said that she had always been surprised when her attachment to Buddy had seemingly grown overnight and how one day she was his employee, and the next, she was his everything in all things. And how that seemed for her to be the same. One day, he was an an enemy, the next- an obligation and objective, the day after, an acquaintance, the next day he was a friend, and the day after that it felt like he was so much more but she was so scared of putting any names or labels on any of it because she didn't want to try to force it into anything or cut it into shape before it could fully sprout. She was genuinely curious to see how much more this would develop and bloom, like a growing vine despite the concrete around it.

But there was the issue of his name. Buddy wasn't exactly the most romantic name to call out during the throws of passion, Bud was informal but not quite right, although all his friends called him Bud. Buddy was a little infantilizing. Buddy is what you called other little boys on the playground when you didn't know their names. Bart was too old. Barret could possibly work before she got her phone and looked up common nicknames for Bartholomew. Barty was ridiculous. Tolly was too much like Tali. So that left...Barly, possible, but maybe too similar to barley, the grain, Barret, kind of like the gun, but it was the only good alternative she could like. But she needed something other than dead give away pet names, like Honey, Darling, Baby, Sweetie, Handsome that kind of thing that Phillip would immediately flag and get jealous and suspicious over, but still something a little more intimate than 'Bud' . Something she could use that was special but not something that would make others look at her strangely if she started to use it. It would be good on Raid days to call him something to go with Violet or Vi. Violet still came to the conclusion that Barret was as good as it was going to get because Barret and Violet did go together. Maybe he had something he preferred? Maybe something to do with his middle name. Maybe. But for now, she just needed sleep.

Violet found herself walking through another very luxurious home like space, normally, such a thing would make her a little nervous but she wasn't because Buddy was with her and held her hand as he excitedly showed her everything and explained what was what. And she was dressed casually and happily walked around barefoot as the windows were open and there was a warm breeze and bright sunshine coming in from all the windows, most of which were open and she could almost hear the ocean and to see him so animated and excited as she showed it off made her happy that he was happy. And that's all that mattered.

"And this is the bedroom, it has the best views." Buddy insisted as he opened the double doors for her before he brought her into the space as Violet softly gasped. It was even prettier than any bedroom she had ever seen in any magazine.

"We need to check out the bed." Buddy immediately hopped up on the bed, his own bare feet sinking into the softness of the mattress and the covers as he held out his hand to beckon her before she stood up on it with him before he started to bounce which got her to laugh as she started bouncing too before the two of them were outright jumping and bouncing all over the bed, laughing their asses off before they happily fell down and crashed into the bed on their backs next to each other as their laughter eventually died down.

"So what do you think of the house?" Buddy asked as they rolled to face each other.

"I love it. Even if you had not designed and practically built it yourself, and even if we had just bought it, I would still love it." Violet insisted as the two scooted closer to each other until they were chest to chest with Buddy's hand softly stroking down her back and her side as Violet reached around him and scratched his back, dipping her hands under his shirt to scratch at his bare skin, which earned her an appreciative keen from him as he rolled over her slightly to one- pin her to the bed, two- give her more access to his back.

"Really? You're not just saying that?" Buddy asked.

"I mean every word of it. Honest. It's perfect, you did so good, I'm so proud of you." Violet cooed before he dipped her head and kissed her happily as she kissed him back with all she was worth as the two of them seemed to follow a familiar pattern and chain of events as they pulled down the covers down as they tried to bare the other before they were finally rejoined.

"I'm not hurting you or the baby am I?" Buddy asked as he palmed her belly which had barely bulged as he positioned himself over her and began stroking himself into her.

"No, you're not, you're fine, I'm just happy the house is done before they come." Violet reassured him as she pulled him to herself so she could feel more of his body weight anchoring her in all the ways she needed it to before he continued.

"Me too." Buddy cooed in her ear before he playfully bit it before blazing a trail from her ear down her neck to her shoulder as Violet keened and sighed happily, letting him do as he pleased as she was all too happy to receive his affections as he poured all the love he possessed into her as she did the same.

[taronfanfic]

Fast Forward

Chapter 11

You’d taken half the day off work so you could get up to the hospital and see your Dad as soon as you could. With the week ahead booked off as well it only left you with 2 days holiday for the rest of the year and you’d scheduled those in early, grabbing the days around Christmas so you could have plenty of time to spend with Taron and his family. It was something you were really looking forward to and knowing it was on the horizon would get you through the 5 day working weeks you’d have to endure. It wasn’t anyone’s fault that your Dad was ill, but you were thankful you still had the time left to take off work. Some of it would be spent relaxing on the sofa watching films, you were sure you could grab a lie-in or three and you didn’t have to spend a single minute thinking about work so it was still close enough to getting away somewhere for a proper holiday. You even thought you might get chance to do a bit of research towards a foreign holiday for you and Taron next year to make up for it.

The daydreams of sunnier weather were put on hold once you’d arrived at the hospital. That sickening smell brought back all the fear and nerves and made you want to leave immediately but you forced your feet to continue down the corridor so you could join your mum in the small room she’d been waiting in all day. Your Dad was due out of theatre roughly when your train had arrived, but he’d still not been brought back to his room from the recovery ward. Instead there was a bleak gap between the chairs where his bed should have been.

“Hey.” You greeted your Mum softly.

“I got my hopes up then when the door opened,” she sighed, “No one’s been in to tell me anything since they took him off at 8am!”

“Do you want me to go and find someone to ask what’s happening?”

“No, no. They’re all busy doing proper work and don’t need us slowing them down. I’m sure they’ll bring him back soon.” She tried to smile but you could see the fear in her eyes from thinking something must have gone wrong. “I will go and stretch my legs and get a coffee now you’re here. Do you want one?”

“Yes, thanks.”

As your Mum left the room you spotted her book on the side table, the pages well thumbed through and corners still bent over to mark her places. It was the same title that Julie had mentioned in the tea-room last weekend, so you picked it up with intrigue and read the back cover. It was a psychological thriller set between a mother, daughter and son-in-law-to-be and you rolled your eyes imagining how she must be picturing the same dynamic in the mirror of her own life. Perhaps she’d projected some of the negativity from the book onto Taron without realising it? You didn’t get a chance to read through any of the chapters before the doors were being held back by two nurses and a porter wheeled your Dad in his bed back into the centre of the room. He was quickly hooked up to a drip and a monitor, and then the room emptied out of hospital staff before you’d had chance to ask them anything. His hand felt chilly as you placed yours over the top and watched closely as he started to wake up.

“Jane?” He croaked out quietly.

“No, it’s Y/N.” You replied before picking up the glass of water on the tray at the end of his bed and moving the straw into place so he could take a sip.

“Y/N.” He smiled softly. “Even better. Thanks, love.”

“How are you doing?”

“Where’s Taron?” He frowned as he slowly looked to the empty chair on the other side of the bed.

“He’s at work, he’s staying in London this time so you’ve only got me this week.”

“Oh no. I knew Jane would upset him. I told her!”

“Dad, it’s fine, he’s alright about it. You don’t need to worry about us anyway, focus on you!”

“Oh I’m fine.” He shook his head before coughing slightly and then wincing in pain. “Well I will be.” You placed a kiss to the back of his hand before giving him another drink just as your Mum got back with two coffees in hand. She was quick to place them down and take your Dad into a long but gentle hug as she placed a kiss to his forehead.

“I was getting worried.”

“Not you as well.” He rolled his eyes. “Making me wonder what’s happened to this family with all the worrying and sympathy and time spent together in the same room!”

“I can go.” You joked as you pointed to the door and went to stand up.

“Don’t you dare!” You Mum snapped back before apologising just as quickly. “Sorry, stress.”

The conversation tiptoed across eggshells, often landing in spots of lengthy silence as you did your best not to wind each other up. Before long you needed a break so offered to go and buy some food, taking in some fresh air as you walked down the road towards the nearest takeaway shop. It was only then that you checked your phone and switched it off silent, opening up a serious of messages from Taron who seemed to have had an entirely one-sided conversation with himself since he left work.

“You’re easily amused.” You teased him as he answered your call almost immediately.

“What happened to having your phone on you at all times?”

“I will when I’m not sat in the hospital!”

“Good. So you’re back at home now?”

“Not yet, just walking up to the chippy. Visiting ends at about half 8 tonight I think.”

“Have they said how long they’re keeping him in for?”

“Not yet, I guess it depends how he is over night. Hopefully they’ll let him out at some point tomorrow. He’s making a few jokes though so he’s getting there already.”

“That’s brilliant.”

“Hold on 2 minutes while I order.” You paused your conversation and held your phone by your side as you ordered a selection of bits for your Dad to pick at, knowing you’d eat anything that was left over, and then paid. “Right, I’m back.”

“What are you having?”

“Guess? I’d give you 3 guesses, but I know you’ll only need one.”

“If you’re not having cheesy chips then you’re no longer my girlfriend.” He replied nonchalantly.

“Brutal!”

“But I’m not a single man, so I’m right, aren’t I?”  

“The world is still turning, I am still your girlfriend, and when I hang up I will be sending you a photo to make you jealous.”

“God I hate and love you so much at the same time.”

“The feeling’s mutual.” You laughed. “So what are you up to?”

“Re-heating last night’s leftovers and then I was thinking of meeting the boys in the pub, that’s if you’re okay though.”

“I’m fine, it’s all good here so you should definitely go and see them.”

“Sure? I can stay in so we can facetime later if you want.”

“No, you go. I was planning on having a bath and an early night so we’ll facetime tomorrow night.”

“Facetime me from the bath anyway?” He asked cheekily.

“No! You’ll be in the middle of the pub!” You hissed back, suddenly conscious of the people around you who were also waiting for their orders.

“Mean. But it was worth a shot. We’ll save that for when we really really miss each other.”

“Tomorrow then.” You laughed. “Ah my chips are ready so I’ve got to go, I’ll text you later.”

“Enjoy!” Taron ended the call cheerily and you couldn’t hold back the smile on your face as you made your way back to the hospital. It didn’t budge an inch as you sat eating your cheesy chips, thinking back to that rainy night where Taron first offered you one, and then his hoodie and sofa for the night. Things would be so different now if you’d not forgotten your keys.

You were snatched away from that happy place when a doctor entered the room, initially smiling down at the array of unhealthy food you’d snuck in to the hospital before he composed himself and looked deadly serious.

“Sorry to break up this delicious smelling feast, but I wanted to come and see you as soon as I could. The operation this morning went well, and we removed the tumour without too much of a struggle, so Michael will heal up as expected. The one thing we hadn’t expected, based off the initial biopsy, was the full range of cells contained within the tumour. We inspect everything closely, more for research than anything else, but it has meant that we have had to reverse our initial observations on the tumour being benign.”

“What do you mean?” Your Mum asked quickly.

“There are traces of cancer cells within the tumour that we’ve removed.”

“But they’re out, so it’s ok?” Your Dad tried to clarify.

“Yes, for the most part. Obviously we can’t be 100% certain that we’ve managed to remove all the traces, and based on the size of the tumour there’s a fair chance the cancer could have started to spread before we got to it.”

“How will we know?”

“I have put an urgent referral through to oncology for you and you’ll be taken for more scans and reassessed. It could be that, in time, you are set on a course of chemotherapy to essentially lower the risk of anything else developing but oncology will be able to explain all of that in more detail for you. I’m sorry it’s not better news, but I’m confident we’ve removed everything we needed to and that’s the best starting place with this.”

Starting place. You sighed as you continued to stare at the speckled blue and grey floor between your feet. Just as you thought the worst part was over the next, bigger, hurdle is there to be jumped and the weight has descended straight back onto your shoulders.

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[enbouton]

Better Call Saul Rewatch, Part 1/30: They Called Him Slippin’ Jimmy

Late last month, I decided to rewatch all of BCS and post about it, one episode at a time, every day during the 30 days leading up to the premiere. The elements of this plan that proved problematic were “post” and “one episode at a time”, but we’ve still got three weeks, so let’s do this. I’m not much of a critic; this is going to be mostly just a bundle of thoughts and observations. There will also be a key to references in the dialogue, notes on locations and the timeline, and probably a lot of gushing over beautiful frames, because there are many (see above! look at that! look at it!!!). The tag will be #bcs rewatch, for your following/blocking needs.

Uno (Season 1, Episode 1)

Written by Vince Gilligan & Peter Gould / Directed by Vince Gilligan

If the Cinnabon sequence constitutes fanservice, I don’t care, because it’s brilliant. 

BCS uses a lot of intense chiaroscuro, and it starts in the scene at Gene’s apartment. Details— the ice in the glass, the white label on the bottle of Scotch— are highlighted, the rest of the picture is subdued. There’s also a gorgeous softness to the black-and-white images. Overheard on the TV as Gene pours: a woman cheerily saying “Well, from time to time, people make mistakes, that’s okay!”

There’s a bit of Breaking Bad-style handheld camera here, which stands out because it’s mostly absent from the rest of the show. In Gene’s living room we have the first appearance of glass block windows, about which blogger Marc Valdez wrote an excellent piece (Streamline Moderne and Jimmy McGill).

“No charge is too big for me!” says Saul, on the tape that Gene is watching in hiding with his blinds closed. :(

(In this episode, Jimmy’s personae are introduced in reverse chronological order: first Gene, then Saul Goodman, then James M. McGill Esquire, then Slippin’ Jimmy.)

It’s May 13, 2002, and the courtroom scene— beautifully paced, by the way— is one of the most distinctly Vince Gilligan scenes that ever Vince Gilliganed. The stenographer loudly slurping on her Big Gulp, the attorney using her legal pad to draw a shirtless man on a unicorn, the prosecutor silently wheeling in the TV in response to Jimmy’s argument, and most of all, the horrifying punchline.

When we first encounter Jimmy— as opposed to Gene or Saul— he’s pacing in the men’s room, muttering about how people shouldn’t be punished for whatever stupid things they did when they were young. Hmm. The three defendants sit there, chastened and nervous in ill-fitting ties, as Jimmy does an excellent job of talking around what it is they actually did. No one got hurt! It wasn’t trespassing, the business was open day and night! “I don’t think they deserve to have their bright futures ruined by a momentary, minute, never-to-be-repeated lapse in judgment,�� he tells the jury.

I’m jumping ahead here, but where do you think Jimmy would have ended up if the whole Chicago sunroof incident never happened? I mean, he wouldn’t have gone to Albuquerque, he wouldn’t have become a lawyer… do you think he was happy just running small-time cons and smoking weed at age c. 30?

Anyway, as soon as we see the boys in the mortuary, let alone hear the sawing, we know the case is unwinnable. Jimmy collects his meagre paycheck and stalks out to his car. The show teases us a bit by putting a white pearlescent Cadillac front and centre in the frame before panning across to a battered 1998 Suzuki Esteem (aside: that car is awfully beat up for being only four years old). I love the car, by the way. The colour and the mismatched door are perfect.

The Kettlemans, who could have stepped straight out of an episode of Fargo (as Julie Ann Emery in fact did!), introduce the theme of denial of reality. They’re the innocent victims of a misunderstanding, you see. Craig’s business practices are “beyond reproach”. The missing money is a “discrepancy”. While Craig is amenable to hiring Jimmy, Betsy won’t have it; needing a lawyer would imply guilt, after all. Bob Odenkirk plays Jimmy’s barely-hidden desperation very well. He looks literally and figuratively hungry as Craig prepares to sign.

I want to take a moment to comment on Dave Porter’s score, which helps set Better Call Saul apart from Breaking Bad. The two scores are similar enough to provide continuity, but where Breaking Bad’s music is full of mechanical sounds, drones, saws and reverberations, the music of Better Call Saul has a much warmer timbre, more traditional instrumentation and a more naturalistic sound. (The best side-by-side comparison I can think of is “Dead Freight” versus “Border Crossing”— similar themes, similar rhythm and tempo, completely different feels.) The use of flute and harp stands out in particular— you’d never hear those instruments used in the same way in an episode of Breaking Bad.

One of this episode’s most effective individual beats is Cal coming out of nowhere and hitting Jimmy’s windshield, which manages to be startling even when you know it’s coming. It’s the distraction factor: preoccupy the audience with new information (Jimmy’s card was declined) and then fling a skateboarder into the frame. Jimmy, his windshield broken (can we call that a Breaking Bad reference?), limps home.

The lighting in Jimmy’s office is just gorgeous. This show unreasonably romanticises broke lawyers living in salon backrooms. We learn that Jimmy has a host of “past due” bills— wireless, Visa, library, Diner’s Club, phone— and then get a brilliant hook in the form of a check for $26,000 (dated May 9, 2002, for those of us tracking this stuff) that he promptly rips up, scowling.

Everything about the offices of Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill is so composed, right down to the five-note elevator chime. Blue and wood panelling predominate. I’ll have more to say about colours later on.

The boardroom scene is a beautiful piece of exposition, establishing characters and relationships bit by bit without spelling anything out. Chuck is someone close to Jimmy, and Hamlin, a senior partner at HHM, is giving Chuck money. He’s paying it into Jimmy’s account because Chuck isn’t capable of going to the bank, for some reason. Chuck helped build the firm, but he doesn’t work there any more and Jimmy thinks he never will again. Hamlin, on the other hand, believes Chuck can overcome his situation, and Jimmy dodges the question when asked whether Chuck really wants to be cashed out. The words “brother” and “illness” aren’t even used.

“If Chuck can call this an extended sabbatical, so can we”, Hamlin says— it’s not just Betsy Kettleman who’s engaging in a degree of denial (though the whole situation with Hamlin and Chuck’s illness becomes much more shaded and more complicated later on).

Let’s take another look at this incredible frame:

Kim and Jimmy share a cigarette. Seven words are spoken. Thus, their relationship is sketched out. See above re: exposition. We also see Kim literally clearing up after Jimmy after he takes his frustration out on the trash can, illustrating how they respectively deal with unfairness; he lashes out, she sets things straight.

Again in darkness, Jimmy arrives at Chuck’s house, stashes his phone and keys in the mailbox, and grounds himself on a piece of metal. (The air in Albuquerque is so dry that it’s very easy to build up a static charge. I was constantly getting zapped by door handles.) Chuck, noticing Jimmy’s discontent, instinctively asks him if he’s “in trouble”, which must sting.

Good Lord the lighting is beautiful.

Chuck does have a point about what would happen if he were to cash out of HHM. Jimmy doesn’t seem to see past the initial payout. What they’re really arguing about, beyond money, is whether or not Chuck is ever going to recover from his unspecified illness. The way his voice breaks on “I’m going to get better!” is rough. 

“Your friend Kim— a promising career, over and done with.” Not to read too much into this phrasing, but it sounds almost like Chuck thinks that if Kim lost her job at HHM it would be the end of her entire career. As if the firm is only keeping her there out of charity.

“But Jimmy, wouldn’t you rather build your own identity?” Oh, Chuck, if you only knew.

The next scene plunges us into sunlight. Jimmy has tracked down the skateboarders and we get a foundational piece of his backstory: he used to make money running slip-and-fall scams on the icy sidewalks of his hometown, and now he wants the boys to take a hit from Betsy Kettleman so that he can parachute into her good graces. Jimmy, apparently, has been observing Betsy closely enough that he knows where her kids go to school, what time she leaves to pick them up, and what route she takes. I mean, okay.

The hit-and-run happens at 7th Street and Tijeras Avenue, very close to the school where Jimmy & crew film the flag in season 2, and a short distance west of the courthouse district and the Civic Plaza. This whole sequence is such a glorious comedy of errors, and it showcases perfectly Jimmy’s ability to think on his feet. I mean, it’s also true that if he’d aborted the plan when “Betsy Kettleman” had driven off, he never would have ended up hog-tied in the desert pleading for his life, but those are unknown unknowns, I suppose.

“You felonied my brother!" is possibly one of my favourite lines of the season.

Who among us saw Tuco coming? None. None of us. I gasped. It was very considerate of the show to release the next episode immediately.

Miscellaneous

While most of the addresses shown on screen in BCS are fictionalised, the address shown on Jimmy’s mail—160 Juan Tabo Boulevard NE— is the actual IRL location of the nail salon.

Items in Gene’s shoebox: the videotape, an old Band-Aid container, various photos including one of a man standing in front of a 1940s-style car, and a photo packet from a film lab in Portland, Maine

Broken windshields: 2

New Mexico Statutes violated: 3— § 30-28-2, conspiracy to commit felony fraud (Jimmy, Cal and Lars); § 66-7-202, failing to stop after an accident causing damage to a vehicle (Mrs. Salamanca); § 30-3-2, aggravated assault (Tuco)

Timeframe: May 13 to May 25, 2002 (see next post)

Music

“Address Unknown” by the Ink Spots (1939), during the Cinnabon sequence

“Milestones” by Shook (2014), as the twins attempt to scam Betsy

References

Network: a 1976 film about a news anchor who begins ranting about the state of the world during a broadcast. The character whom Jimmy quotes (”You have meddled with the primal forces of nature...!”) is a man who berates the protagonist for speaking out against his network’s corporate owners. Bryan Cranston starred in the 2017 stage adaptation.

Peter Minuit: a Dutch trader who purchased the island of Manhattan from the Lenape people for a sum equalling about $1,000 in today’s money

“Ergo, a falsis principiis proficisci”: “therefore, you proceed from false principles"

Trichinosis: a parasitic disease most often spread via undercooked pork

Starlight Express: an Andrew Lloyd Webber rock musical performed on rollerskates 

> NEXT EPISODE: MIJO

[simplyshelbs16xoxo]

‘Center Will Not Hold (Or Will It?)’ Chapter 8: In Progress

Hello lovely readers! This chapter is probably a bit boring, but it’s setting things up for some shit hitting the fan next chapter lol! p.s. I gave Kim my bday lol!

“Happy Birthday, KP!” Ron greeted her the morning of October sixteenth.

“Hey, Ron,” she smiled. “Is that cupcake for me?”

“Mm, yeah, I kinda forgot yours,” he teased, handing it over to her.

“You ate yours already didn’t you?” she asked.

“Guilty,” he replied.

They walked in silence towards the building their classes were held, fingers laced together.

“So, uh, KP, you busy Friday night?” Ron asked.

“Yeah, I have plans with my boyfriend,” Kim told him. “What’d you have in mind?”

“You’re looking at a guy who just so happened to score concert tickets for that night,” he said proudly.

“Who are we seeing?” she questioned.

“Blink-182,” he answered.

“No way! Those tickets sell out so quick! How did you even do it?” She was noticeably excited.

“Wade is good at what he does,” was all he said. “But, tonight, how’s pizza and a movie sound?”

“That sounds perfect,” she smiled. “I’ll see you after class.” After giving him a quick kiss, she headed off to English class.

Kim sat at the student café with her laptop, working on her paper. She had covered the important aspects of their friendship’s growth all the way through freshman year. Of course, every moment was important to her, but for the sake of brevity, she had to narrow it down.

Currently, she was working on a particular mission that triggered the first real thoughts she had of becoming more than friends. It had been their sophomore year when they helped Vivian Porter reclaim her rightful career position. The project required using at least one physical resource of their personal history with whomever they picked. Kim went to her journal for that.

Ron was always so convinced that there were unspoken ‘rules’ about dating. In the end, he kept thinking that every girl was out of his league. I talked about this in one of the many journal entries I made that year. It read, ‘I had a chance outside of the movie theater to tell him how I felt, but I was too much in denial. I wasn’t ready yet. I will say this, though: if I ever get lucky enough to have my best friend as a boyfriend, I know I’d never want him to feel like he’s not good enough.’

Across campus, Ron was working on writing about the same mission, focusing on a different moment.

I remember explaining to her why I couldn’t risk having Zita see us come out of a date movie together. Kim had questioned the possibility of her and I being on a date, to which I had told her it could happen. There was a moment after that where she had said she was going to tell me something she never told me before. Naturally, I thought this was it; the moment everything changes between us. For a second, I thought she was gonna tell me she wanted to be more than friends. And she might have been considering saying that, but all she said was that I was thinking too much.

It’s funny how looking back on your memories makes you realize the point where everything changed isn’t the result of one single moment. Instead, it’s truly a built-up collection of many. At the time one of these moments happen, you don’t notice it until further along in the future when you look back on your life thus far. It’s no wonder that our friends and family knew how we’d end up.

He re-read his newest addition to his paper, satisfied with the wording. Ron prided himself on having actually worked hard on this project so far. Kim had always called him ‘potential boy,’ so maybe this was the moment things changed for him in school. Either way, Ron found himself wanting to try harder. The amount of effort he had been putting into this project made him realize how good it felt to be productive.  

“Stop ringing,” Shego groaned, before picking up the phone. “What!? No, not now!”

Drakken’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“It’s not really a good time,” she continued. In a hushed tone, she added, “I can’t talk right now, Hego.” Hanging up the phone, Shego sighed.

“What exactly is it that you’re not telling me?” Drakken asked.

“What do you mean?” she asked in return.

“You know what I mean, Shego,” he replied. “The secret phone calls, the sudden jumpiness…that’s not you. Since when are you jumpy?”

“Look, I’m kinda sorta back with the team,” Shego explained.

“With your brothers?” he questioned, curiously.

“Yes, with my brothers. Look, the only reason I wasn’t ‘officially’ back is because I thought you still wanted to be evil,” she confessed. “Granted, every now and then, I still wanna blast idiots, but being evil is just exhausting…especially when all we ever did was fail.”

“Are you kidding me? You thought I wanted to still be evil? They used to tell me I’d never amount to anything, and for a long time, I failed continuously,” Drakken rambled on. “The only time I succeeded was when I chose to help save the world, ironically. I don’t want to be evil; not anymore. I thought you still wanted that.”

“Then maybe you can help,” she told him. “Know anything about Gemini?”

fanfiction.net | ao3 | buy me a coffee?

[aion-rsa]

Infinite Frontier and the Infinite Possibilities of the DC Universe

https://ift.tt/2ZqaA8u

Joshua Williamson has had his hands in just about every big DC story for the last five years. One of the longest-tenured Flash writers ever, Williamson has by necessity been in the middle of every time the DC multiverse tried to burst back into canon over the last five years. After all, you can’t have a Crisis without a Flash beat or three.

But now, Williamson is getting the keys to the bus. Infinite Frontier #0 kicks off the post-Metal, post-Future State new status quo for the DC Universe in March. That status quo builds off of DC’s new multiversal mantra: everything happened and anything is possible. We had a chance to talk with him about what that means on both ends – what the new DCU is growing out of, and what’s coming in the future.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Den of Geek: Give me an elevator pitch Infinite Frontier coming out of Future State.

Joshua Williamson: What we’re doing is we’re taking all of these things that we love about the DCU and everything that happened through Death Metal and everything that’s happening with Future State. And we’re just taking everything that we love with the DCU. We’re just moving it forward, with the Infinite Frontier Special, Wonder Woman and The Spectre go on this journey where they explore this new DCU [and what] the DCU looks like after things like Death Metal and Future State. One of the themes of Infinite Frontier is anything is possible. 

You’re getting to play with all the toys now. What are your touchstone DC runs? When you think about the DC multiverse and all of the enormous, insane glory, what are the first stories that you think of? What are the trades that you give to people?

Oh man, that’s a tough question. I feel like I would definitely give them Grant [Morrison]’s JLA, I think the stuff that they did on that series was really powerful. And especially once you get to “Rock of Ages” or Mark Waid’s “Tower of Babel” from that same era. [Morrison and Howard Porter’s] JLA #1 is a really important comic for the DC Universe. I think it’s a moment where things started to turn a little into a new era.

I definitely would give people Mark Waid’s Flash stuff. I think you can’t go wrong with Dark Knight Returns or Batman: Year One. [Darwyn Cooke’s] New Frontier is one of the best examples of what DC can be….I think you could also give them Long Halloween. There’s so much stuff you can give them.

I’m always partial to giving things like Knightfall, Death of Superman, just because of how old I am, I think. Those stories were so big when I was coming into the DCU. Kingdom Come is really good and obviously, you get around to things like Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis. I think that build up to Infinite Crisis, when you get to Countdown To Infinite Crisis, plus all the minis and 52 that’s one of my favorite eras of DC, is that block of time.

That Death & Return of Superman era was nuts with how many talented creators were working at the top of their games.

And they were doing that triangle number thing where Superman was a weekly book for a long time and all that stuff was really strong. I still think about that stuff. I actually got to work with Dan Jurgens recently on a few different things. I was originally one of the creators working on Generations. And…he did the cover for Infinite Frontier #0.

So when he was working on that cover, I sent him a bunch of different ideas of what I was looking for and thinking a lot about.  We were talking a lot about New Frontier and…the positivity and the fun of DC…and it’s like, well, this is the next step of the DCU, right? We’re definitely moving forward. It’s a new era in many different ways and so we wanted to find ways of showcasing that. There are new characters, so there’s new characters on that cover. Dan had questions about them and he was texting me and then he just called me and we started just talking about Infinite Frontier and history stuff about DC and his time working on Justice League and his time doing Superman. 

And in the back of his office, he has a piece of art from Reign of the Supermen from the later issues. I think it’s Superman #81, it might be a little bit later, but you know that one that has the green floral cover and it has Superman in the black costume, he’s charging forward [editor’s note: it is Superman #81 and Williamson pulled this from memory]. He has that in his office. It’s so cool to see it, and just to be able to talk to him about it. 

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When it comes to DC there’s so many different great eras. I look at it as these big blocks. You can break them up by decades. I think part of the motivation behind Infinite Frontier is we saw an opportunity to draw a line in the sand and be like, this is the new era. This is the step moving forward and everything before this mattered, everything counted, all those things you love happened and mattered. So now we want to be able to move forward and just take all that stuff, take all those things we love, all those stories we love and say they happened and now let’s go, let’s get the ground running and go with it.

I’m a continuity junkie. And sometimes I’ve had editors call me out and they’ll be like, “Why are you referencing? What is this you’re referencing?” And I’m like, “Oh, that’s from this comic book from 1997.” And they’re like, “Oh, well, did that happen? Did that happen?” This would come up sometimes during Rebirth where they’ll be like, “Well, did that happen post Flashpoint?” And I’m like, “It did now. Let’s figure out how to make it work.” I think that’s part of the approach now. I think there’s a freedom to reference what you want.

But at the same time, it can’t be all about all these things that happened in the past and just trying to relive it or try to re-glorify it or whatever, you have to tell new stuff. I think one of the most exciting parts about Future State has been seeing its progress, seeing where it started and where it is now, but seeing the response to it. It was really awesome to watch how people are excited about new characters, new looks, new stories, just new stuff. I think right now the DCU is becoming an unpredictable place…not just in terms of the characters, but I think in terms of readers, I think there’s things that you’re going to see that you’re you’re going to be surprised by.

Don’t get me wrong, we’re definitely going to reference the past. I think if somebody is reading Infinite Frontier or the other books that I’m working on for DC in the next year, I’m definitely going to pull things from the past, especially things that I think we’re still missing that I want to bring back in. But that all being said, it’s taking those things and saying, “Okay, how do I tell a new story with it? how do I move those things forward?” 

Future State Justice League is explicitly about legacy heroes in a way that the DC Universe hasn’t really been since the mid 2000s…I assume that we can take that as a hint about what’s to come from you from Infinite Frontier and from your future in the DCU.

When I started reading comics as a kid, I was a casual reader. But when I was able to get on my bike and ride to the comic store and grab the books, the DCU was a different place. I started reading Green Lantern at issue 45 because it crossed over to Superman. 46 is a Green Lantern/Green Arrow crossover and then those issues, like 48, 49 and 50 are Emerald Twilight with Hal going crazy and then issue 51, introduces Kyle Rayner.

So you have Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern and Wally West as Flash and Bart Allen was introduced and there’s a new Robin with Tim Drake and Jean-Paul Valley was Batman for a hot second. And there were four Supermen. All of these big changes, all these new elements were introduced.

I think for readers, it’s important to introduce those new things, because then you can take ownership over it. [As a reader]I have a Green Lantern that was introduced and I got to see the world of Green Lantern through his eyes..

You use that new stuff as a vehicle to reintroduce all this huge mythology that’s out there. So I was very excited about that idea of introducing new things. And so that’s why when we started talking about my particular involvement with Justice League and Future State, I wanted it to be just all new characters.

Jon [Kent] was a no-brainer as Superman.  I was so excited to get Jo [Mullein, the Green Lantern from one of the best GL books ever, Far Sector]. I wasn’t sure I was going to get Jo for a minute. I kept asking about it and we kept talking about it, but that was one of the ones I really wanted, was Jo and then they gave me Jo. 

I’ve written a lot of Flash, so it was important to me to do a Flash I had never written before. And so they presented options to me and one of them was Jess [Chambers, the Earth-11 Flash who is part of the Future State Justice League that Williamson wrote]. And we started talking about how Jess was from the multiverse and what character they were. You can look at how Future State Justice League is and how it is very much about the new, but I’m also using elements of the past and using these classic elements or things that I personally love like the Hyperclan or little hints of things through the Hall of Justice.

And, I like teasing stuff. I love teasing things. I love putting little hints of stories to come throughout books because … When I was younger, I would reread stuff a lot. I would reread Death of Superman and there were times I would find things that I hadn’t picked up on before. If you go and you look at something like so much of Geoff Johns’ stuff in The Flash or JSA and how much he was able to take things that were older, these little seeds of story.

Grant Morrison loves to put ideas on the table that someone else can pick up. I also want to do that. [Now that] both issues of Future State Justice League are out, you can see a couple more seeds of things that are coming. 

There is a moment where the Spectre and Wonder Woman, they do talk about Future State at the beginning of Infinite Frontier #0. They talk about what she saw, because she sees Future State. And so it’s this idea of what does she actually see and does all that mean it’s just coming to pass and the Spectre, he is like, “It depends.” You’ll see when we get there.

But there is a conversation about what those futures are. I think once you read Infinite Frontier #0, you’re going to see a lot of elements of things that I personally like and wanted to bring in and then there’s some stuff about moving the ball forward. I think that’s what’s really exciting about all the other chapters in Infinite Frontier, because it’s like a lot of what I’m doing is overall the structure in Infinite Frontier, trying to get these balls to move forward but also put things on the table for the next year for the DCU. There are a lot of other chapters in there that are written by other creators that really are a lot about the new, like Tim Sheridan has story about Teen Titans that’s about the new kids coming into Teen Titans Academy. You have Geoffrey Thorne and Dexter Soy doing a story about the Green Lanterns that is awesome. It’s really exciting to see some of this stuff. 

I think people always want all the answers laid out on the table immediately.

When Death Metal was over, I think people really wanted us to release a spreadsheet of, well, here are the rules, this is the thing, this is what happened but I think the characters don’t even know that. They’re still figuring stuff out. That’s part of why the Totality was created at the end of Death Metal. It’s infinite possibilities and now we have to explore what this means. And that’s part of what we’re going to be doing with DCU…What does infinite possibilities in an infinite multiverse? What does that even mean? How does that impact it?

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And then, at the end of Death Metal, The Presence, The Hands on the other side of the wall, they told Wonder Woman there was a cost there, there was a cost of doing what they were doing and she thought that that was her death, but it was like, no, you’re ascending. There’s something else and, if you get infinite possibilities, that sounds terrific. Right? But there’s a part where Spectre and Wonder Woman are talking about it and he’s like, “Yeah, infinite wonder.” And she’s like, “Yeah but infinite terror. That means there could be something bad out there too.” And she’s aware of this cost and she’s trying to find out what that cost is in Infinite Frontier #0, she’s trying to figure out what it was.

We’re putting all these questions on the table and we’re going to let those answers come or organically again. I think you’ll see when you get to Infinite Frontier #0, is we’re going to answer some questions. But then we’re also going to put some new ones on the table that are going to take a little bit to answer. 

It’s almost more fun when you hear the writer asking the question at the same time that you are, right?

Yeah.

Like, this is something we’re supposed to be concerned about, this is something that we’ve got to watch further, right?

Yeah. We’re all in this together. Just have fun with it.

You’re working with John Timms and John Romita Jr. on the bookend chapters.

Yeah. I’m also working with Howard Porter and Alex Maleev. So I have four chapters, it’s John Timms, Alex Maleev, Howard Porter and then yeah, John Romita.

Those are four very different styles and I know you’ve worked with Porter a bunch on Flash. He’s a Flash legend, Justice League legend. But what’s it like switching gears in your head, especially in the same book, going between those four dramatically different styles, are you bringing anything back and forth between the four different artists like, “Oh, JR Jr. did this or Timms did this and it was cool as hell.” Or are you just throwing up your hands and saying, “You guys are pros, do your thing.”

No, no. I wrote for them.For Alex Maleev I was very specific about which scene I want him to do, which characters I want him to draw and so I wrote it for him, I’m a big fan of his Daredevil run with [Brian Michael] Bendis and so I wrote it for him. I very much wrote a scene that I thought would lean into him, that I knew he would excel at, with a character but I think, I just knew, like you know that guy is going to draw that character. It’s going to be cool. 

Howard draws the Flash part. I definitely in the script was like, “Howard you know what’s up. I don’t have to get deep into who these characters are, you know what’s going on.” But it’s a big moment for the Flash family and I wanted Howard to be the one to draw it and he was very excited about that and he totally knocked it out of the park. 

John Timms and I have talked about working with each other for years. We knew each other back when he had just started working at DC, on Harley Quinn, we were talking. So I’ve known him and I’ve seen him grow as this artist and I think that the stuff he’s doing on Infinite Frontier is his best work to date. It looks amazing and he draws some of the bigger moments in the issue. There’s some really cool, big stuff that he does in it. 

And then with John Romita Jr. I mean, come on that dude is a legend. I mean, that guy, he and I have had conversations over the last five years and he’s definitely been on the bucket list of creators I wanted to work with and so he became the option. I was like, “Oh, he has to do the epilogue.” And what was crazy, I found out as we were getting it ready and I was writing the script for him. One of the big characters that’s in the epilogue, he had never drawn before and I was surprised by that. I couldn’t find it anywhere. And so he actually called me when he was working on it so we could talk out some stuff on it, but I wrote it for him. I knew what he wants as an artist, what he looks for, when he was doing Daredevil: Man Without Fear [with Frank Miller], that was a five page script and he turned it into six issues.

He is a legend and he’s a great story teller. For him, I wrote it in a style that I knew he liked. And when those pages came in, he really nails it and he gets what we wanted from that ending. 

It was awesome working with all these different artists [with] everything else coming through. It was just so great. Jorge Jimenez did the Batman pages with James [Tynion IV]. Those are so cool. And then, James also did a story about Alan Scott, he did the Alan Scott chapter and that was drawn by Stephen Byrne and every time the pages came in, you were just like, “Oh this is so cool.” A lot of it looks really good. Bendis’ pages [with David] Marquez look really great.

Todd Nauck is a friend of mine and I really liked when he was doing Young Justice back in the day. He hasn’t really worked at DC in a long time and so he comes in doing this four-pager with Geoff Johns for Stargirl and it just looks so cool. It’s an interesting book full of a lot of really creative, talented people and I’m excited to share it with people. 

Now that everything counts again, what piece of continuity are you most excited to put back into the puzzle?

Oh, I can’t tell you that. [laughs] There’s a bunch. I’m sneaking them all in. 

Everything? Is there a piece of continuity that you thought of initially and you said, “No, I can’t possibly do that.”

Not yet. Everything could be used as a tool. I mean, listen, there are elements of stories that I personally would not be a fan of that I might not go for but that isn’t to say that they are bad. There’s just not things that I’m personally interested in, but there’s so much stuff that I am interested in, that’s where I focus. All of the stuff that I want to bring in, characters that are missing, things like that, that haven’t been used in a while. I am a greedy person when it comes to that, I am trying to grab all of them and it’s important to me to bring all this cool stuff back in. Yeah.

Now I know [an ongoing Robin series with art by Gleb Melinkov] is what’s immediately next coming out of this but is there something else coming out of Infinite Frontier #0, in the DC Universe that you can share yet? Or not yet?

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Not yet. I think once Infinite Frontier #0 comes out, it’ll be really obvious.

Infinite Frontier #0 hits on March 2.

The post Infinite Frontier and the Infinite Possibilities of the DC Universe appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[nellygwyn]

Liv’s Titillating Treasury of Tarts: A Foxy Lady

By her own admission, Elizabeth Armistead was born Elizabeth Cane on July 11, 1750 in humble conditions. Other than that, the details of early life are vague. Various publications said she was the daughter of a herb-vendor in Greenwich, whereas others claimed she was actually born to a shoemaker, a Methodist preacher, or market porter. She most certainly moved to the centre of London as a model for a hairdresser. She may briefly have worked as a dresser and maid to several of London’s finest actresses at Drury Lane Theatre, too. And at some point, Elizabeth’s charms caught the eye of one of London’s leading madams. According to a notation in Sir Joshua Reynolds notebook from 1771, he visited one Mrs Armistead (the name Elizabeth Cane had now started using for herself) at the brothel of Elizabeth Mitchell. Along with Charlotte Hayes and Jane Goadby, Elizabeth Mitchell was one of the most infamous of her trade.

Elizabeth Armistead was charming and pretty (and, for those wondering, apparently possessing a fairly substantial pair of breasts). Her laid-back, cheery nature made her popular with men, particularly important and elite men from society’s uppermost echelons. Her first real keeper was Viscount Bolingbroke. Bolingbroke’s friends teased him about his affection for “the Armistead,” especially following several of them bursting in on an intimate moment between Elizabeth and Bolingbroke. This match cemented Elizabeth as a leading light in London’s bawdy firmament. At one point, Bolingbroke arranged for Elizabeth to try her hand at acting. Critics weren’t that impressed with her ability but they did praise her beauty, her singing voice, the way her figure filled her costume and her smile. Every cloud has a silver lining in the mind of an 18th century man!

After a string of Dukes, rakes and new money, Elizabeth attracted the interest of George, Prince of Wales (latterly, the Prince Regent and King George IV). He made arrangements with his page to pay his addresses to beautiful Elizabeth and their first meeting was in an inn near Bushy Park. According to a humorous anecdote circulated amongst the Devonshire set, the royal affair was discovered, quite accidentally, one night by the Duke of Devonshire’s brother, Lord George Cavendish, one of Elizabeth’s lovers. Lord George, after being refused entry to Elizabeth’s lodgings, drunkenly barged in anyway, went straight to Elizabeth’s rooms and found Elizabeth wrapped in her bed clothes and the Prince of Wales hiding, semi-clothed, behind the door, who proceeded to greet Cavendish and asked him whether it was raining. Lord George reportedly laughed heartily, bowed and made his way home to tell the world.  The newspapers were in their element after learning of this affair: the Prince had just broken off a passionate affair with the actress, Mary Robinson, and since both she and Elizabeth Armistead were celebrities, the press revelled in pitting the two women against each other in a bitter rivalry for the Prince’s affections. Mary Robinson was in luck, however, as newspaper rumours suggesting Elizabeth Armistead was a “mattress-vote” (a.k.a. trying to influence the Prince with her deep Whig sympathies) lead to the Prince leaving Elizabeth for his new flame, Grace Dalrymple. Elizabeth attempted to re-kindle the affair but to no avail. To avoid offending the future king, she arranged to take a Continental Tour with several of her noble lovers, but not before purchasing a small country estate in Surrey with the help of the Duke of Marlborough’s brother.

When she returned from the continent, something had changed for Elizabeth. She had always been a staunch Whig and many of her friends and lovers were members or supporters of the party. One of her long-time friends was the unkempt, uncouth Whig leader and firebrand, Charles James Fox. Their relationship had never been romantic, nor even sexual but by 1783, the pair had settled down into a monogamous, loving relationship. In 1795, Fox and Armistead secretly married and spent their time most of their time either entertaining or gardening, which contrasts greatly with the chaos of their earlier lives. Fox came clean about his marriage in 1802 when he wished Elizabeth to be by his side, as his wife, when he was honoured by Napoleon. In 1806, Fox died of dropsy; reportedly, his last words were “Dearest Liz.” Elizabeth outlived Fox by almost four decades. She continued to live out her live as a respected politician’s widow, being paid a yearly stipend of £500 by King George IV for her earlier services to him (a payment that was later continued by George’s brother, William IV, and his niece, Queen Victoria). Elizabeth died at the age of 91/92 in 1842, very old but not miserable.

Her lasting epitaph perhaps comes from Charles James Fox himself who wrote to his nephew following their secret wedding: I think my affection for her increases every day. She is a comfort to me in every misfortune and makes me enjoy doubly every pleasant circumstance of life. There is to me a charm and delight in her society which time does not in the least wear off and a real goodness of heart. If she ever had an equal, she certainly never had a superior.

[serahne]

So I’m back from watching Thor : Ragnarok

It was actually pretty nice. The best Thor, by far, I think. The more ambitious. The funniest, too. Thor was never that funny in my opinion, but Marvel is shit at making anything else than comedies, so I guess it’s for the best.

This is probably the first Marvel movie with two ( 2 ) main female characters, right ? Mm, maybe Age of Ultron did it first. Please let’s appreciate how terrible the MCU is when it comes to women. But this movie wasn’t that bad on this regard. There was a feminist joke at some point. It wasn’t super fun but it wasn’t to cringy either so eh, whatever.

No real romantic subplot, by the way. Which means that Valkyrie is actually well-written, can you believe it ? Which also means that she has more chemistry with Thor than Jane Porter ever had. Please let her stick around.

Krog is amazing. Every line that comes out of his mouth is hilarious. I blame his accent, to be honest.

The villain was great ! The MCU cruelly lacks good villains, and Hela was really nice to watch. She is still super-cartoonish but I expected it.

The fact that she is Thor’s ( and Loki, in a way, though they aren’t blood and they didn’t grow up together so ? ) sister is clumsy, but it’s better than a random evil being like in the second movie. Also it allows her to spit on Odin’s memory, and while it’s still way too nice (Odin can eat shit) and that they really tiptoe around his flaws, that’s something.

The Loki/Odin/Thor situation was kinda swept under the rug ? I get it, the whole Thor franchise can’t be about Loki dealing with his trauma. And I also get that he was written way too well for the MCU. But still.

The Immigrant Song was used TWICE. Some people might thing it’s lazy, but The Immigrant Song is the best song in the world ( after Bohemian Rhapsody, but this song is stained for a thousand year thanks to Suicide Squad )

I’m torn on the Thor/ki situation. The thing is that the writer knows how to write this time, so we don’t have these scenes where Loki is fighting Thor, tears in his eyes, screaming ‘this woman changed you I’m going to kill her’. The movie even made fun of the scene where Loki dies in Thor’s arms in the second movie by re-enacting it in all its drama. I’m missing these over-the-top scenes, tbh. That’s what Thor/ki is all about for me.

It was still okay, though. The scene in the elevator, the ‘get help’ one, it was nice though as always it’s Loki who is very in love and in awe and dyng from inside while Thor is not. Such unfairness.

I just can’t believe we didn’t get a hug ? Like, what a tease ? ‘If you were here, I would give you a hug’, ‘I’m here’. Hum yes ? Where is the hug ?

I don’t hate Banner/Hulk, but why did this movie had to remind me that Brucenat is a thing. Kill it with fire, no one like this ship ffs.

Pretty good as a whole, but suffers from the usual Marvel flaws ( the plot is a little stupid, and so are the characters, it ends in a CGI’s explosion ). I enjoyed it a lot.

Tom Hiddleston is so beautiful, I could look at him for hours without getting bored, tbh. Yes, it deserved a subpart.

[bestdjkit]

10 Albums We Still Have To Look Forward To In 2020

Yesterday, we shared our top 10 albums of the year so far. While it is a great list, it’s by no means what will end up on our year-end list with the amount of incredible albums still to come.

The Prototypes

This is one of those rare cases in which I’ve already been sent the album and it’s also been announced, so I can still talk about it (albeit, reservedly). And I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt it’s the duo’s best work yet and possibly the strongest Drum & Bass album of 2020. You’re definitely going to be surprised in the best way by some of the tracks, and the rest carry a polish and shine that is absolutely mindblowing.

Porter Robinson

Porter first revealed he had a new album coming toward the end of January,Nurture. Since then, we’ve gotten two singles released, “Get Your Wish” and “Something Comforting,” with a third, “Look at the Sky,” teased during his Second Sky live stream set.

Apart from that, we don’t know much else about this album, not the tracklist nor the release date. And seeing as COVID-19 will likely have long-reaching ramifications, we don’t know if the album will be pushed back for desire to pair it with a tour or not. Either way, we’re eagle-eyed for new info.

Wuki

Wuki first teased a debut album back in February, but it wasn’t May that the first single came out, “Chicken Wang,” coming out with a bang with Diplo and Snappy Jit on the track. Coming out on HARD Recs, the same home as JOYRYDE’s debut album out earlier this year, we can expect a lot from this project.

Stay tuned for the next single and more info!

ZHU

ZHU announced he has a new album coming this year back at Winter On The Rocks in February. Since then, we’ve gotten “ONLY” with Tinashe, and he just announced more new music coming this month. As with everything else about ZHU, the album is wrapped in secrecy and questions.

But again, like anything else about him, we’re expecting greatness nevertheless.

Dimension

One of the few new superstars coming out of drum & bass in the last five or so years, Dimension’s debut album is sure to be at the top of anyone’s list come December. We got the first single from the project last month, but like all of the aforementioned albums in this list, we don’t know much else.

All the same, we’re looking forward to it immensely.

Tchami

Of all the albums on this list, Tchami has dropped the most singles from his project and will probably be out the soonest. We’ve already gotten “Ghosts,” “Proud,” “Born Again,” and “Buenos Aires,” and they’re all classic Tchami and sound fantastic.

As far as forward thinking house albums, Tchami is the one to watch.

Zedd

One of the two sort of, kind of, maybe confirmed albums on this list, this is mostly just an album we’d love to have. Zedd seemingly confirmed he had an album coming this year back in December 2019, but backtracked a bit in March saying, “Just to be clear: my album isn’t coming out ‘soon’. It’s coming out when it’s done and perfect.”

Then, in May, he teased a new classic/EDM hybrid piece on social media that he said would be coming on his new album. So is it coming out this year? Honestly, who knows. We’ve still got six months left in the year and there’s enough time if the first single came out this year to get the ball rolling. But for now, we wait and see.

MUZZ

Along with Dimension and The Prototypes, MUZZ is helping to make 2020 a phenomenal year for the DnB album. With three powerful singles, “Nemesis,” “Start Again,” and “Out There,” already released since the album was announced in mid-May, we can probably expect this album soonest along with Tchami. Not to mention, this is the Pendulum-esque fix we’ve been craving, in a MUZZ-centric style.

We love to see it.

Boombox Cartel

Boombox Cartel released his first album single, “Máquina,” back in March, but hasn’t said much about the album since. Even that single was delayed a week due to COVID-19, so it’s not outside the realm of possibilities that the album has been delayed, as well.

That being said, we just don’t know for sure.

Skrillex

No “albums to look forward to article” would be complete without Skrillex. It’s almost a requirement and a meme at this point to anticipate an album from Sonny, but all signs point to this being the year. Then again… we’ve heard that before.

There’s been no announcement, no single, no teaser… but he dyed his hair red and scrubbed his Instagram? So that has to mean something, right!?!

This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: 10 Albums We Still Have To Look Forward To In 2020

from Best DJ Kit https://www.youredm.com/2020/07/02/10-albums-we-still-have-to-look-forward-to-in-2020/

[insomaniacrave-blog]

I just went to McKinnon for the third time. oh my god three time within a month... I going to be broke.

Also I just seem not doing any Macbethian route.... Just look at who I followed.

word from last loop: “I thought I would recap my SH SNM experience here, as clearly I’m prone to forget things. I barely remember much details of TDM, and I would forever bare my regrets of not seeing it again while I got the chance.”

OK here we go, while the memories fresh.

This could be very much out of chronological order and inserted with a lots of personal opinion.

(viewer discretion is advised, entirely made of spoilers.)

Thu. 28 Mar. 674

cast list:

I got the 7:45 ticket. Could have get the first or second slot. Didn’t anyway. Was very annoyed by the crowd when queueing for collecting ticket and checking coat as a large group (about 20 people) ended up jumping the queue just because one of their friend is near the front of the queue. So they jumped the collecting went straight to queueing outside the coat check while one of their’s friend is collecting. Then about five of them came later while I was queueing to get coat check and just walked in front as if they can’t see people queueing. Urrrgh...

Got the Q card (which seemingly is the last card in the order). Woman in bar introduce herself as Dafney. How many female host is in the rotation? I been three times now and there been three different female host. And seemingly Hecate usually rotate with Woman in bar. So that should be 4 already. God I keep forgetting these shows have so many swings (this might be the wrong word). Man in Bar didn’t show until after show. He introduce himself as Ed. Pianist is refer to as The golden fingers.

Ed did the pre-show intro. Seemingly he have very strong accent that I can’t say I familiar with. But he speak fluent Chinese (shrug, hey i’m trying to not spare any details :P). I was one of the two that was last trying to enter the elevator when Ed stopped us and the elevator left. He say keep the secret so I’m not going to say what happen but basically I didn’t take the elevator.

The first character I encounter is Duncan, he walk through the hallway outside Macbeth’s bedroom. Put on his black coat and hat, took the suitcase and enter the dinning room and sat down in the corner seat, just waiting. He sat there so still for so long until porter finally enter and pour him tea. 

And here’s where the memory failed on me. There’s people come and go with following porter and honestly they’re all segment of those people’s plotline, not easy on recalling which happen first. I followed Porter for almost a whole loop. Porter was uncovering a cloth covering a large glass tank with a lots of tree brunch inside. Boy Witch is on the other side and they had a “wanting to touch through the glass” moment. Boy Witch proceed to the desk near the piano and joined by other two witches having a dance. Porter arrange the Stand mic after three witches dance to the other side of the room. Something Something. Boy Witch standing in front of the counter and letting Porter smearing something glossy from a tiny compact box under his eye (I thought he was touching up eyeliners haha) Porter put some under his eye (is this suppose to symbolise their tears?) Boy Witch sing “my funny valentine” (not sure why they use a female voiced version tho) and porter is smilingly watch him behind the counter. At one point Porter made a phone call (I kind of suspect to Agnes) Boy Witch end the song crying on the stage. He return teasing Porter to wipe his tear and ending up picking an audience member. Porter entered the dinner and Danvers whip his tears.

Danvers is mixing blue liquid into the class of milk. She tried a little from the string spoon and dropping it onto the floor. Lady Macduff shows up with a furr coat and a suitcase at the counter, Porter wasn’t there. Danvers took the luggage and put them aside, furr coat on the counter. She feed Lady Macduff milk. Porter appear and trying to stop her. Lady Macduff became eager to having more. Porter took the empty (nearly?) class and tried a little behind the counter.

Agnes came into the lobby and seems to looking for something. Porter tease her with the phone (she tried calling and ending up ringing the phone booth), a key and maybe something else can’t remember. Porter showed a lots of playfulness and ending up writing a note and gave Agnes. She seems satisfied and left.

Happy Dance! At one point I thought I standing safely outside Porter’s dancing zone but he suddenly did a side step and step on my toe (one of my toe is bleeding now hahaha not because of this but i just thought it’s kind of funny).

There’s a lots of segment of Porter appears sad while no one else in the lobby. there’s even a dance of him imagining him holding someone and having a dance, the (imaginary) person hold his head and have his arm around his waist.

Porter’s book, the latest guest is Duncan, dating the year 1963 (maybe 36?)

Porter covered up furniture with white sheet.

Porter putting up the phone booth curtain.

Porter took out something (a letter probably, but seems quite a lot of pages inside) from the ceiling of the phone booth and hide behind the curtain which his head popping out. Exchange an envelop with Danvers.

Porter waiting at the counter with a envelop. Sexy Witch enter with Banquo following. Sexy Witch hand Banquo the envelop, he open it. containing some dirt, a burned king card and a letter. 

the group proceed to phone booth and Sexy and Boy dance, Sexy drag in an audience, Boy and Porter dance, Porter got throw onto the floor. Both witches left (maybe there was a bit of laughing at Porter before they exit)

Agnes came back, rang the bell couple of times. Porter standing straight behind her with tray in hand (I didn’t notice this at all before. I thought Porter appear quite abruptly, which now thinking of it seems impossible with audience following him) At some point Porter picked up a throw pillow, closing in on Agnes from behind. Seems like he kind of want her dead, or at least it crossed his mind. Oooh this should be before happy dance I think cause when Agnes left the phone booth Porter was doing a tiny teasing happy dance.

Lady Macduff re-enter the lobby, shaking, with a bear on her hand. The bear was left on the counter. Porter picked it up and stared at it. He seems to be getting angry and start mushing the bear into a ball. Found a small opening at the back of the bear. there’s a necklace with red string inside. He walked to the room with a lots of hanging bird and start writing a letter to Malcolm (It’s really dim in there and he’s using a pencil. I could only make out that it’s for Malcolm.) An audience deliver him a letter (do as I said or i’ll... seems threatening. almost impossible to read cause he put it away so quickly. I went back to it after he left) He fold the letter into a small boat, weeping, and drop the red string necklace onto the boat and gave it to the said audience member.

Banquo and Macbeth enter behind the counter with loads of luggage. Three witches is dancing next to them in the lobby (god just think of how many thing that is not seen that is just so close to you) they’re washing face and Banquo shared a drink with Macbeth. Banquo left and drag in an audience with him (so there is a room behind that door)

It’s the third loop and I suddenly don’t know who to follow... So I went up to the Infirmary. almost got lost cause the stairs near the lobby stop at third floor. The other one (now I can’t remember where the other one is near... maybe outside Macbeth’s room if it’s even on this floor?) stops at fourth floor, near the entrance to the high street bar (don’t know if the bar even have a name in english. also, can’t remember where I read it, the bar resemble the Manderley bar we enter from the start) Hecate is eating something seemingly bloody with three white-mask sitting on the table. went through the back and hello fifth floor!

Still super curious about that back room but as I have a late ticket this time I didn’t linger too much on it. Going through the room, still loving the smell. One of the nurse walked by and stopped outside the padded room, looking through each windows. At the last window there’s a small dead chicken/duck/bird. She pad it and looked at it for a moment and went into the bedroom. At some point she looked into the closet and reveal the birds, just like those one downstairs (hmm didn’t see that last time) and she start tidying the bed just like I saw last time. I was hoping to now doing repeat this time so I left the room.

The third (I think) nurse is doing a dance around the table with the table centered room.

Wonder through two large room and found an opened door I didn’t notice in the room with beds. It lead into a shelved cupboard, with a lots of bottle on it which I presume is drug (interesting new finding when I was reading the SNM fandom, the label on the alcohol bottle suggest the branding “Christian & Shaw”, the fandom page have all the character listed and one of the character in infirmary is called Christian Shaw, tho that’s seems to focus on the NYC ver.) The cupboard lead out into the bamboo forest.

I saw an audience rushingly ran out of the office like she’s fear for her life :P

The red string hanging, enter Husband and Bride. Husband is so full of joy and even laugh out with happiness when presented cup with presumably alcohol. Bride seems very calm. The smile from the last visit was not presented but there were a bit of eye contact between Bride and one of Nurse. Somehow this casting seems like Husband is more in love with Bride than Bride is with Him. The Red string dance ended with Bride taking away the string in his mouth and ended the ceremony. Husband was hesitated and seems a little confused. They left.

Two nurses went back into the hut and covered the inside wall with black cloth (saw from outside, door locked) they walked away. One of them stopped and picked up the red string left behind from the couple and put them in the pocket. I was picked then and she whisper in my ear “you seems lost” and guide me into the hut. It was kind of loud inside so I didn’t hear a lots of the story clearly. Something about a boy. when she trace through my arm to my palm, she linger around my wrist tattoo for a while. Wonder if she recognized the word “Bedlam”. When she place my mask back on, one of the string came loose and the mask is not staying properly. I found out the string and she fixed it and tide a tie for me.

Two nurse at the bathtub room. layer down sheet into a cross and put a bucket in the center. they standing in front of a tub and one of them push the other in. she picked up a knife from the table and the one in the tub backing off. they did this while seemingly all calm. there is no sign that they’re doing anything dangerous and someone trying to hurt others or fear of getting hurt.

bell rang, they both stand and walked into the room with bed, locking the door behind them (not actively blocking people tho, me and two others went through). locking up all three other doors. One of them placing the key on the center of a tray on the doctor’s table. Three of us got guided out. Door locked and one of the nurse stay guarding. Letting the doctor in. Husband came in with Bride, Husband got stopped to fill a chart and ended up locked out. Door banging, other door banging. Husband walked out to the front desk looking for something. turning the light facing upward to all the paper pieces hanging and got out a note, seem like a map. He walk through the infirmary, stopping a lot, seems injured. Down the stair and saw the rave, this time I actually looking at him during the strobe. There’s eye watered, shaking, nervously moving back and forth, speechless. He turned back upstairs and finally found a key in a box on the wall in bathtub room. Door opened. Bride mouth full of black liquid seem roaring up looking mad. Husband fall and die. Bride left the room. Doctor examine Husband and looking for something in Husband’s suit jacket pocket. Ending finding small piece of paper and put inside his own pocket. Wheelchair in and Husband was rolled into the bedroom. And the doctor picked a guy this time! well there is still hope :)

thing I notice, The nurse doing the 1:1 with me have an ear piercing with a stud in. Doctor have a half ring earring as well. Coincident? It even have matching colour.

Bride following the thick branches on the wall and down the stairs. on the first landing tho she found her shoes (who put it there? Urrrrgh I so curious!) and proceed into a curtained room with rope ceiling. Dance, found the one, dance. Walked into the light and left. Down another floor and in the Mirrored living room, she stopped and looked into the mirror, hand on the mirror touching her own reflection. picked me and guiding me to the ballroom (so no saving Husband in the last loop? what is it with my luck seeing Husband got saved?)

she stand next to me during the scene and moved behind me when Macbeth is on the rope. Squeezing my shoulder as Macbeth getting closer to get hang and finally release when he’s hanged. 

Walk out.

She said “Thanks for coming to play”

Dafney say hang around, someone from the cast will sing a song for us. It’s Simon, did not see his speakeasy this time. He sings “The Frim Fram Sauce”, gosh I was hungry and all he can sing about is not wanting all these amazing-sounding food. jk but great voice, I really enjoyed it. Dafney rolling the music box, did the monologue from Agnes’s 1:1 and sang a song about a boy. I almost thought she’s doing the english version of the Nurse 1:1. Turns out she’s singing “Nature Boy”.

“Remember, this is not a dream.”

[socialattractionuk]

People share tales of having sex in cinemas

Oh. You’ve got naked. Cool. (Picture: Dave Anderson for Metro.co.uk)

‘When my friend remarked that the couple behind us were shagging, I thought she was joking. Then I glanced over my shoulder and saw them going full cowgirl in this cinema in Leicester Square.’

Ed, who was watching Natural Born Killers. tells Metro.co.uk: ‘it was jaw-dropping – definitely better than the film. It took the usher ages to notice.

‘She went for backup, but by the time she found someone, the couple had finished, so then these two ushers stationed themselves near the couple in case they were tempted to resume.’

According to Ed, the couple seemed sober, ‘and there was no sign of drugs either – they were clearly just adventurous.’

Adventurous or… horny.

Talking to people who’ve been saucy in the cinema, a severe case of The Horn tends to be the trigger for risqué behaviour in the back row.

Kasia says: ‘I remember when my boyfriend lived with his parents and so did I – it was the beginning of our relationship and we were constantly horny. We went to the cinema and sat at the back – where I got totally naked and went for it reverse cowgirl style.

‘It was an old cinema in Poland, so the seats were wooden, and connected in a row – which meant the whole row bounced with us.

‘Luckily, the only other people were at the front, but afterwards we realised the projector guy would definitely have seen us.’

Simon and his girlfriend of eight months couldn’t hold back when the film they were watching reached the fruity bits. He tells us: ‘it was the 80s and we decided it would be a bit of sleazy fun to watch Last Tango in Paris at a dirty film cinema in Soho.

‘A lunchtime drink had us feeling frisky, so we were pleased to see the cinema was virtually empty, and we had the back row to ourselves.

‘Then at the last minute, a well-dressed, middle-aged city type came in and sat next to us. He kept looking at us. We were pissed off, as it foiled our plans for a fumble and as the film went on, we felt more frustrated.

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

‘We’d pretty much given up on any action when he leaned over and said politely, “I don’t mind if you don’t!”

‘It was obvious what he meant and we both laughed because it was so bloody brazen! Initially we ignored him, but as the film got fruitier, we got hotter under the collar, and fuelled by the vodka we’d sneaked in, we started kissing.

‘Then my girlfriend’s hand started wandering to my crotch – that’s when we noticed he was staring. My girlfriend stared back, then went for my zip and pulled my cock out.

‘She whispered, “is this what you wanted to see?” He looked absolutely thrilled, and sat there watching as she wanked me off.

‘He looked like he was playing with himself under his coat, but we’d gone beyond bothering now and when I orgasmed, he looked even more thrilled – then he stood up and left. We couldn’t believe what we’d done and sat there sniggering for the rest of the film.’

Tom was at a busy screening of Heathers at the BFI, when his date put her foot in it.

‘It was my fourth date with a 50 year old mum of four, and I’d booked the back row because it was a film from when we were teenagers, and we were re-enacting our teenage years,’ he says. ‘She said she’d come dressed for back row action and I was confused by this, as she was wearing trousers, but she turned out to be quite accessible.

‘We’d had sex the date before, so I knew she was noisy, but the real problem was that she kept pushing the seats in front of her with her feet while I fingered her.

‘I was quite embarrassed, and the people in front of us walked out ten minutes before the end.

‘As we left, one of the audience was at the ticket desk talking to a member of staff and they were looking at me. I haven’t been back since.’

Emma cooled down quickly after other cinema-goers rained on her parade. She explains: ‘I was 21 and watching Beauty and the Beast with my boyfriend in Margate. We were sat at the back holding hands when he put his arm round me – then it escalated.

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

‘We were making out and he had his hands in my bra and my hand was on the crotch of his jeans. Then out of nowhere, it felt like rain and we realised the people nearby were flicking slushies at us.

‘We were so embarrassed, I wouldn’t even let him hold my hand after that.’

Ian wasn’t impressed when he was left with a reminder of his cinema servicing. ‘I was watching Disclosure with my girlfriend of three months,’ he tells us.

‘We were about 19 or 20 and heavy into each other. It wasn’t a great film, but there was a hot office sex scene that got my girlfriend really horny. She started snogging me, then gave me a hand job.

‘I don’t think anyone noticed – the couple nearest us were all over each other. I don’t know if we set them off or vice versa, but they can’t have seen much of the film.

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‘Anyway, the ending was a bit messy and I remember weeks later being pissed off because I couldn’t get the stain out of my favourite top.’

The cinema was Nigel’s go-to place for back row raunch – until he lost his stride. He says: ‘When I was late teens and early twenties, my girlfriend and I both lived with our parents, so we’d pop to the cinema in the early afternoon and buy a ticket to the crappiest film, so there wouldn’t be many people around.

‘We’d normally start by getting handsy, then I’d get a blow job. No one ever said anything, but sometimes people moved away.

‘One day it was a Jamie Lee Curtis film and I remember looking up and seeing her undressing. It was well past her True Lies days and it put me right off. It ruined my blowjob for me so we left.’

Tom met his match with a scientist who quickly worked out how he was wired. He says: ‘It was my first date with a girl I’d met on Match and she said she wanted to watch some highbrow Woody Allen nonsense. I booked a sofa, and told her if it was crap I’d expect a back row snog.

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

‘The texting became flirtier, and selfies followed. On the day of the date, she sent me a photo of her outfit for that evening. I told her I might not manage to leave her alone, and she said that was the point.

‘When I got to the cinema, she was already outside. I walked up behind her, took her hand and kissed her. We snogged for ages before we broke off to say hello. Inside the cinema, we carried on snogging.

‘She worked out how to flick my switch by kissing my ears, and I loosened her bra and played with her boobs. We had to pause when they delivered our snacks, then she slid her hand inside my boxers, and kept edging me for the rest of the film.

‘Afterwards we “went for a drive” and ended up back at mine.’

Trevor’s girlfriend accepted her mission and then some, at a cinema in the O2. He says: ‘we’d been sexting all day. It had built up, and we got hornier over dinner when we talked about having sex in pubic. We had tickets for Mission Impossible, and as we went into the cinema, I said how hot it would be if she gave me a hand job.

‘Initially she said no, but she was caressing my crotch, so I undid my jeans and pulled my cock out. She teased me a bit before giving me a blowjob – and carried on until I came.

‘The cinema was quite empty so I don’t think anyone noticed when my girlfriend took off her g-string and I fingered her, up her skirt.’

Psychologist Jo Hemmings tells Metro.co.uk that people have been getting saucy in cinemas since they opened.

Are you allowed to have sex in cinemas?

In the UK, sexual acts in public and the public exposure of genitals is considered an offence.

A cinema qualifies as a public place, so if you get caught doing it in the back row, you could get in serious trouble.

Usually to establish if an offence has been committed, the audience affected by the sexual act or exposure will be assessed to prove that the act is considered indecency. If the audience feel harassed, alarmed, or distressed, charges may proceed.

If there are children in the audience, it’s a more serious offence.

Even if criminal charges aren’t pursued, getting caught boning in a cinema will likely get you kicked out of the film and possibly banned from returning.

At the very least, you’ll have to deal with the embarrassment of cinema staff gently asking you to stop stroking each other’s genitals.

‘It’s a traditional early dating place because the darkened environment makes it easier for those who are anxious about making the first move,’ she explains. ‘Cinema seats make it easy to slip an arm around somebody, or to put your hand on their knee.

‘If you get a welcome response, it might build up from a bit of touching and a snog to something else.

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‘And because you’re looking at the screen, rather than the person next to you, there’s a disconnect that makes it easier, particularly if you’re quite young or in an early dating space. And if the approach isn’t welcome, a knock-back in the dark doesn’t seem so bad.’

Jo adds: ‘he cinema provides privacy for people who can’t get that elsewhere, and there’s a clandestine, naughty thrill from doing what you’re not supposed to – as well as the thrill of getting away with it.

‘It can also be a way for couples to recreate the naughtiness of when they first met, and for older people to reminisce about their younger years.

‘The cinema is also very immersive – you’re both in the moment, without the distractions you’d get watching a film at home. So seeing something sexy on a huge screen can put you in the mood even if you hadn’t intended to get intimate with each other.’

MORE: Self-driving cars will ‘lead to more car sex’ – what are the rules around car sex?

MORE: Getting Freaky: Are ‘blue balls’ real?

MORE: What the BDSM community can teach us about consent

[bestessayserviceus-blog]

Biography o fWilliam Sydney Porter (O\'Henry )

'William Sydney Porter was natural in 1862 on a plantation called Worth moor shape up expert Greensboro, coupling Carolina. His p bents were Algernon Sydney Porter and bloody shame Jane Virginia Swain Porter. When William was three, his nonplus died. He and his com manpowerce whence move into Greensboro to the home of his parental grandm opposite.\nWilliam was an eager proofreader and graduated from his auntie Evalina Maria Porters unproblematic school in 1876. He then enrolled at the Linsey course High School. His aunt continued to educate him until he was 15. In 1879, he started working(a) as a bookkeeper in his Uncles drugstore. In 1881, at the age of nineteen, he was licenced as a pharmacist.\nPorters writing started in 1902, when he locomote to new-made York urban center to be near his publishers. He wrote 381 presently stories living there. He wrote a write up a hebdomad for a course of instruction for the New York dry land Sunday Magazine. His perso nation and plot twists were love by his readers.\nO heat content stories are illustrious for there ramp endings. He was called the American Guy De Maupassant. both(prenominal) authors wrote twist endings, merely O heat content stories were lots more teasing and optimistic.\nMost of O Henry stories are spate in his avouch time, the early historic period of the 20th century. many a(prenominal) take postal service in New York City, and deal for the close to part with run-of-the-mine people: clerks, hoboes, policeman, and waitresses. His stories are also know for funny narration.\nIn the story The bounty of the Magi concerns a younker couple who are short of coin but urgently want to sully each other Christmas gifts. extraterrestrial to Jim, Della sells her most blue-chip possession, her handsome hair, in localize to buy a platinum pull a fast one on chain for Jims watch. Unknown to Della, Jim sells his most valuable possession, his watch, to buy buttony combs for Dellas hair. This story had been re-told non-finite times in the century it was written.\nIn the story The redeem of Red headsman concerns two men who kidnap a male child at the age of ten. The boy turns out to be ... '

[thenerdytomboynewb96]

Samantha Allan Park Ch. #17

Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.

Chapter #17

*Sunday June 22nd* *Theme: Porter Robinson and Madeon-Shelter*

“Whoaaa!” the turtles said as they watched Optimus prove his strength to Grimlock. Sam knew that the movie theater they were at closed early on Sundays, so she showed the guys how she usually snuck in and now for the first time the four brothers were watching a Hollywood movie up close on the big screen, and they couldn’t have asked for a more perfect first film: Transformers Age of Extinction. Out of her peripheral vision, Sam could see all the guys jaws drop when the Dinobots came charging in, literally crushing all the man-made Decepticons that crossed their path. 

It was 10:00 when the movie ended and the entire mall was now closed, so Sam thought it would be a fun idea to go on a walk with the guys, who obviously had never been to the mall before. 

Sam was currently with Leo in another antique store. He liked to look for antiques that represented Japanese culture, but him being the only ‘mature’ one, no one else wanted to look around the store (or any of the others he had chosen) so she joined him once again so that he wouldn’t be alone. At the moment he was looking at a tea set with Japanese Cherry Blossoms on them, but after so long he couldn’t stand Sam constantly staring at him. “Why don’t you just take a picture?” he said sarcastically. “Sorry I know it’s not funny, but you totally look like a grandpa who’s trying to pick out a traditional gift for his wife” she said with a smirk. “Is that why you keep following me around in these stores?” he asked as he placed the tea cups down and continued walking throughout the store. “Well I was trying to be nice and not have you shop alone, but I see that I’m not wanted” she pouted. Leo rolled his eyes. “Ahh, so you’re not trying to be annoying on purpose.” “You enjoy my company, don’t deny it!” she said as she pointed at him with a smile. Leo shrugged, but they both knew that this was very true. He had a feeling that his younger brothers would either complain or joke around too much in a store like this, so it was nice to have Sam around. She was someone who knew when to be serious and when to crack a joke, someone you could actually talk to without them teasing you when you share your thoughts.   He looked over and saw her laughing while holding a wooden umbrella with a paper top. “What am I missing that’s so funny?” he asked as he picked one up and looked at the stripped design when it opened up. “I was thinking of my older brother Brian. Everyone teased me about being Asian at heart since I’ve always been interested in Asian cultures. My other blood siblings were interested some, but never as much as I was. Before he even became my brother he would take me to places like this all the time, it kind of became this tradition between the two of us. I was thinking of this one time where he was holding umbrellas like this over his head and making the dorkiest faces” she said as she laughed. “Oh my god I’m literally laughing at things only I know about, I’ve become that person” she said with an embarrassed expression. Leo smiled at her as he thought back to what Donnie had said the other night. It might have just been a coincidence, but she said that Brian ‘would take me to places’ rather than saying ‘Brian takes me to places like this.’ Now that he had been looking out for this, he noticed that she definitely talked like this a lot. He decided to test this out. “Does Jay bring you to places like this?” “Sometimes. He never used to though. I think he saw that it was a fun little tradition between me and Brian, so I don’t think he wanted to interfere, but I don’t see Brian as much now, so I think that’s why every once in a while he’ll bring me to places like this.” “Ahh, I see.” She did it again. She said ‘it was’ and ‘he wanted’ as if this was all something of the past, rather than saying ‘he sees that it’s a fun tradition’ and ‘he doesn’t want to interfere.’ He wondered what all this meant, or if it meant anything at all. He wondered if it was something they all should be concerned about, but Sam seemed happy and content, so he decided that it was best to leave the subject alone until Sam brought this info to light on her own.

They walked around the store for another ten minutes and then headed out. They passed by a few stores and found Donatello in yet another electronics shop. “What did you find this time dorkatello?” Sam teased. He playfully glared at her. “I found donated phones. I’m looking at which ones are damaged really badly and which ones can be saved. I read online that the donated phones that can be saved are sent to U.S. troops overseas, so I don’t want to take those, I’m not that selfish. However, I will take the ones that are smashed up and can be re-wired so that I can use them for various things.” “Look at you. Not only looking out for the state, but also for the country” she said as she saluted to him. “That’s actually a cool idea” Leo said as he looked at some of the phones throughout the bin. “Find anything for Sensei?” Donnie asked as he looked up at his eldest brother. “Nah, nothing that he doesn’t already have.” “Gotcha. Well, I think I’m done with this store. I’m ready whenever you guys are.” The three then walked out of the store and found the remaining two brother’s at a cologne shop on the other side of the mall. They walked in and saw Mikey and Raph looking at various glass bottles. “Pfft.” Sam covered her mouth and tried not to laugh out loud. She thought it was hilarious seeing these two who usually acted so macho now testing all these colognes on the sample strips and discussing which scents they liked best. These two trying on cologne was the equivalent of two feminine sisters testing scents at Bath and Body works. The two boys looked over and glared at her, that’s when she turned towards Donnie. “Donatello! Don’t laugh at your brothers!” she said as she shoved his arm. “You know I’m taller and stronger than you, right?” he said as he took a step so that he now towered over her. “Is that a threat?” she said as she as pretended to be taken aback, though they both knew she was joking. He nodded and said “yeah” with a sincere smile, joining in on her joke. “Well, this is how I respond to threats!” she said as she leaped onto his back. Leo just stared at the two of them as they backed out of the store as they goofed off. “You’d never know that she was just looking through an antique store, or that she’s older than us.” Mikey laughed and Raph smiled, both at seeing Sam continue to show her true colors, and also at their nerdy brother let loose and have fun. Leo began looking at some of the bottles that lined the shelves. He had absolutely no idea what the scent of each liquid was since, well, no scent was stated on the front of the bottle. Curious, he picked up a bottle with light blue liquid inside, shrugged his shoulders, and sprayed a small amount in front of him. He took a sniff and then made a face of disgust. “Oh god, this stinks as bad as when Mikey found that Axe body spray pack and tried on each one at the exact same moment” Leo said, waving his hand in front of his face. Just then, Sam and Donnie had walked back in. Donnie began looking at bottles on the opposite wall and Sam had meant to walk past Leo to see what the other two had picked up, but she also stopped and made a face of disgust. “What did you do?” she asked, facing him with wide eyes. “Sprayed whatever this is” he said as he held up the bottle. Raph inspected the bottle in his brother’s hand. “You guys don’t like this? This is brand new!” “Well tell them to take it back” Sam said as she coughed. “You’re a girl, right? Aren’t you supposed to like when guys wear stuff like this?” Raph asked. “Sexist much?” He paused and then turned his head. “Donnie?” “Totally sexist dude” he said as he continued to look at bottles on the opposite wall. “Oh, heh, my bad” he said with an apologetic smile. “No problem” she chuckled with a smile. “Well I’m going anywhere that’s not here” she said with a wide smile. “I second that” Leo said as he followed behind. “Tch, they don’t get it” Mikey said as he nudged Raph, who nodded in agreement as they pulled on Donnie’s shoulder so that he would walk with them as they all followed Sam. They passed a few stores until Sam stopped, waiting for the guys reactions. “Ohhhhh!” “Whoaaaa!” each of them said as they all ran inside GameStop. “You’re welcome?” she said as she stared at the jaw dropped brothers. They all quickly turned towards her, said “thanks Sam!” and then continued looking throughout the store. Donnie was the closest, so she walked over and looked at the game he was looking at. “Awwwww I can’t wait until I get a copy of this” she said as she looked at the case for Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark with a huge smile. “Only two more days and then I can start hacking systems to access this game” Donnie said, a huge smile also displayed on his face. “I’m still pissed Bumblebee doesn’t have a voice in the movies though. They should just leave the job to Johnny Bosch, for the games and the films. Like, he’s incredible when it comes to voice acting, and I’m not just saying that because he voices characters from some of my most favorite anime.”   “I wouldn’t mind that, his voice actually had a nice fit. Plus that would be a huge opportunity for him which he totally deserves.” Sam then turned around and saw Leo looking at a demo screen in the front of the store which was currently advertising a trailer for Titanfall. Leo’s eyes were glued to the screen as he watched a pilot battle his way through the Frontier and then begin commanding a Titan. “Gee Leo, sucks that you can’t take the game home, doesn’t it?” Sam smirked. “Right…I can’t take the game…because that would be stealing…yeah” Leo said as he slowly started backing away, but then was pulled back towards the screen. “Look what that Titan can do” he said in a calming voice as he smiled and started walking back towards the screen. That’s when Sam knew she had to interrupt his line of sight. “Okay, why don’t you go look over there?” she said as she fought to literally turn him around.  “I’m gonna look over there now” he said calmly as he also fought himself to finally turn away from the screen. He walked over to Raph and looked over his shoulder at the game in his hand. “Daylight?” Leo asked. “Yeah. It’s a survival horror game where you have to find object’s that explain the history behind the haunted hospital that you wake up in. I heard it got some negative reviews, but it sounds interesting.” “I didn’t know you were interested in horror games” Leo said. Raph shrugged. “I’m not interested in them, but this one sounded interesting. What do you have Mikey?” “BAM! Look at this beaut!” he said as he held out a copy of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. “Oooh!” Sam said as she ran over. “I remember seeing the trailers for this! I can’t wait to get a copy.” “Let me know as soon as you do!” “Well duh, I can’t play multiplayer by myself” she said, receiving a playful shove from her friend. “Well, I’m done looking at games, time to go play” she said as she walked out of the store. The guys watched her as she walked across the walkway to the other side of the mall, down some stairs, and then walk back over to the store that was below them. Mikey was the first to act as he walked over and jumped over the railing and from the second floor down to the first (for them this jump was nothing serious.) The remaining brothers decided that he must have enjoyed wherever it was that they went since he never came back, so they did the same thing and landed in front of the shop below the gaming store. Instantly they knew why Mikey hadn’t come back to signal them to come down, he was already running around throughout the arcade in front of them. All four brothers looked around at all the different games inside the rather large space. It seemed small from the outside, but once inside, spectators could see that the room continued to travel further and further back with more and more games. In order to prevent a lot of loud noise, the five decided to only turn on whatever game it was that they wanted to play at that time.

Donnie ventured out to find some speed games. He first found a game called Pop the Locks where a dial spins around and you have to press a button when the dial stops on the lock, and if you press the button after it’s moved past or before it hits the lock then you’re out. Sam and Mikey first moved to a game called The Shocker where you have to hold onto two handles as the vibration becomes stronger and stronger, and you lose if you let go. These two played this game until they momentarily couldn’t feel their hands, and then they convinced Donnie to play, and then they convinced all of them to play until everyone momentarily lost feeling in their hands. Sam and Mikey then freaked out when they saw Transformers and Walking Dead themed shooting games and both rushed over and immediately started playing, and while they played this, the other three brother’s found some pinball machines to play. Once the shooters completed their missions, Leo, Raph, and Mikey moved on to play more of the sporty games where they took shots on goal, threw basketballs through hoops, bowled to knock down pins, or threw baseballs and footballs in their hole. Sam didn’t care for games like these as much, so she stuck around with Donnie for a bit who went back to speed related games. The two played the electronic jump rope game, had to stack 3-D towers, (both by pressing buttons or by moving a square controller from side to side) had to use their fingers to maneuver through mazes, and had to land lights on the right spot to get wheels to spin. When the group came back together as a whole, they decided to play all the games that were based on apps. They pressed buttons to avoid green pipes when playing Flappy Bird, rolled a sphere controller when playing Temple Run, launched back their controllers to launch birds in the latest Angry Birds game, and swiped their hands across the screen when playing Fruit Ninja. They continued to split up and play various games, but the last two hours were spent with each other as a group of five. They found as many games as they could where they could all compete against each other in tournaments: air hockey, skeeball, racing games, back to sporty games, and even multiple rounds of DDR.

Most would see this as such a simple night of watching a movie at the theater, going shopping, and playing some games at the arcade, but for their own reasons, this was one of the best night of all five of their lives.

 *Wednesday June 25th, Madison Square Garden’s Arena, the Jumbo Tron* *Turtles POV*

The final buzzard went off and the game was over. The four turtles were cheering for the Knicks who had just won another game that season. “You know what a victory means?” Mikey asked. “Gee, what could that mean?” Donnie asked sarcastically, knowing exactly what his younger brother was about to say. “MORE PIZZA!!!” he shouted. “Ugh, how can you eat anymore? We ordered so many to begin with, and you even had some earlier before we left” Leo said as he held his stomach. He was full and wouldn’t be hungry again until sometime tomorrow afternoon, so how Mikey could still want food he would never understand. “I told you, his stomach is a black hole” Raph teased. “That or he’s an alien or something.” “Then Sam must be one to! Seriously, sometimes she can eat as much as I can!” “Doubt it.” “As scary as it is to admit, it’s true. I’ve seen it happen” Donnie said with a shudder. “Guys” Leo said as he nodded his head over towards Sam. The whole time they had been talking, Sam had been looking at something down below. Leo tried to follow what she was looking at without making it obvious, but he couldn’t figure out what her attention was focused on. She hadn’t moved, she hadn’t even blinked, she just stared down at something without any movement, like it had shocked her so much that she was now paralyzed. Without saying anything, she turned and swung herself back up to the walkways above their spot in the Jumbo Tron and she took off. “Sam, wait!” Mikey called. “Do we chase her?” Raph asked, concern and fear in his tone. He had no idea where she was going and if whatever she was about to do would risk either hers or their lives. “Don’t worry I can track her” Donnie said as he pulled out a small handheld GPS system from one of the pockets on the straps running down his chest. His fingers went to work and within seconds he knew where Sam was. “I tracked her by her cell phone, but…this shows that she’s still in the building…” “Mikey? Any idea what’s going on?” Leo asked as he faced his youngest brother. Mikey shook his head with a grave and somber look on his face. “I wish I knew.” “She’s on the move, and so are we” Donnie said as he started climbing back up to the walkways above them. “Where we goin?” Raph asked as he trailed behind Donnie. “She’s heading back outside, if we get to the roof then we might be able to spot her.” The four turtles rushed back up and through the walkways and then back up to the roof where they were walking along the sides of the top of the building. “Arghhh, there’s people everywhere! How are we supposed to find her?” Raph asked in frustration. “It says…she should be this way” Donnie said as he pointed towards the front of the building. There were crowds of people all over the place, both because of the game letting out, and also because this was New York during the summer. “FOUND HER!” Mikey shouted and pointed at a girl who had just run across to the other side of the street. They saw her run over to a group of six guys and then pull on the arm of a young Asian male within the group. “Mikey-” “I don’t know, she’s never really mentioned any guys outside from her soccer team. I mean, there were a few from dance and different clubs, but he doesn’t match any of the faces from any of the pictures. There were five main Asian guys she told me about and he’s not one of them.” “Is he the brother?” Donnie asked. “She said she had another Asian brother who was younger than Jay.” “That’s true, she said that he was far away and that’s why she could never see him” Mikey responded. “Unless that’s what she wants us to think. That or someone doesn’t want her to know the truth herself and those were the lies she was fed” Leo stated. “I don’t like this, feels like she’s still hiding things from us” Raph said in a bitter tone. He knew there were things she hadn’t told them yet about her family, and she had her right to her privacy, but this sneaky act worried him. If that was her brother, couldn’t she have just said that before she ran off? They watched Sam hug the man, and the group of guys walked off in one direction while she walked off in the other direction. She walked off towards a street that was oddly silent and vacant compared to the hustle and bustle outside the stadium. “Now where’s she going?!” Raph yelled. “Something’s wrong, we need to get to the sewers and get over there” Mikey said. Leo let his brother lead the way. Whenever Donnie or Raph knew more information about a criminal they were all chasing, or whatever the situation may be, he would let that brother take control and lead if it meant better chances of them completing their mission, but this was the first time Mikey had EVER taken the lead in a chase. This proved to Leo how serious this was and he followed Mikey in whatever directions he gave.

It took about twenty minutes for them to travel underground after tracking Sam’s movements. Once they caught up to her location, Mikey didn’t hesitate to climb up, toss of the manhole cover above him, and rush over to Sam. “Sam!” he shouted as he ran over to where Sam was walking. She didn’t respond. He quickened his pace and as he was about to lightly grab her arm and talk to her, Raph had already caught up to him. “HEY SAM. Remember us?!” Now that there was a 6 ft. turtle in front of her, Sam stopped walking. Raph’s expression softened as he stared at the girl in front of him. Her eyes looked so frail and glassy, and her hands were shaking like he had never seen before. “…I came to the game with you guys…right…my bad” she said with the fakest smile. Usually only Mikey could tell when her smiles were sincere or fake, but her acting was so off point that all the brothers knew something was wrong. “Did that guy do something?” Raph asked. “No” “…that’s it?” “…what?” The boy’s worry continued to grow. Even though she was standing right in front of them, it was like Sam couldn’t hear a thing. Something was obviously on her mind, but getting her to explain what exactly that something was would be the hard part.   Right as Leo was about to ask if the guy she chased after was her brother, Sam cut him off. “It’s late, so I’m gonna head home, alone.” At this point she spoke without using her fake smile, and she went back to displaying her glassy eyed and twitchy expression. She had already started walking off before the guys could speak, and they weren’t really sure what to do in this situation.

“So, do we ignore this as a girl thing? Or do we look into it and assume it’s a Sam thing?” Raph asked. “We call April. She’s the only other female we know, and one of the three humans we know, plus she’s a reporter and is trained to read people’s expressions. Hopefully she can help us figure out what to do. We’ll go back underground while we call her.” Leo said. Donnie and Raph started heading back towards the sewer hole, but Leo had to go over and wake Mikey up from his daze. “Mikey? You alright?” “No” he replied bluntly. Leo put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’re going to figure this out, okay?” Mikey paused for a moment. “Should I have gone after her? Should any of us have gone after her?” he said as he continued to face forward. “I wish I knew. I’m just as new to girls and humans in general as you are bro. But if she needs someone to go after her, then you’ll be the one” Leo said with a small smile. This also lead to a small smile forming on Michelangelo’s face as well, and the two turtles then walked back towards the sewer hole to hear what Donnie and Raph had been discussing with April.

*Sam POV* *Themes: Linkin Park-Nobody Can Save Me Linkin Park-One More Light Trading Yesterday-Shattered Skilet-Would It Matter

She happened to catch a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye, but now she lost him. The guys continued to cheer as the game continued on, but Sam and her thoughts were long gone. She saw him, she knew for a fact that she just saw Brian. It had to be him, the boy she saw looked exactly like him at the age of 17. THERE. She found him and continued to keep her eyes on him. “Bzzzzzzz,” that was the final buzzard. No, it couldn’t be the end of the game now, not yet, not when she had finally found her brother. He left four years ago and finally she had found him. She watched him head to the exit on her right and without hesitation she darted out and up through the walkway they used to enter the Jumbo Tron. She sprinted to a point along the walkways that led to a ladder that lead to the top floor where the highest seats in the arena were. She climbed down the ladder and then ran through crowds of people to the right side of the building where she had seen the boy exiting the arena. She had seen him in the upper level seats, but now he was nowhere to be found, so she ran to the staircase and sprinted down the steps. She made her way to the lobby and walked as quickly as she could all over the place. Her heart felt like it was about to burst out of her chest because of everything that she was feeling and thinking. Emotions that she had finally pushed and shoved under the rug were now forcing their way back out and flying up and hitting her like a brick. Her hands were shaking like crazy and for the first time she heard how loud she was breathing. She felt like she was running around in circles and she didn’t know what to do.  After what felt like years of searching, she caught another glimpse of him and his five other friends. Once again she was on the move as she chased after the boy. She thought of nothing but catching up to Brian and asking him questions, so many questions. Why did he leave her? Why did he do what he did? Why had it taken him four years to visit her? Her heart beats increased as her breathing grew louder and louder. She ran out of the building and saw him head for the cross walk. “Brian!” she called out. A few heads turned since it was a common name, but not the head that she wanted to. “Brian! BRIAN!” She slowly got closer and closer to where he was walking, but he never turned towards her. She couldn’t understand why he was ignoring her, but now was the time to find out. She finally caught up to the boy and yanked on his arm, forcing him to turn around and look at her. “Whoa! What the hell is your problem?” the boy said as he and his friends turned around. “My problem? I’ve been calling you for the longest time! You didn’t hear me calling your name?” she asked in an enraged tone. “All I heard was some girl calling after some guy named Brian, so sorry if I couldn’t hear you over that.” She paused and gave him a confused expression. “So you did hear me? Why were you ignoring me then? Explain yourself!” “Explain what?” the boy asked, looking both nervous and confused. “Why did you risk your life for me that night? And I’ve been waiting for a sign from you, from all of you! Why did it take you so long to contact me?!” “Look crazy lady you need to back up! I don’t know who Brian is but he’s not me” he said as he put his hands up in defense and as his friends began to lightly laugh at the strange girl standing in front of them. “What are you talking…about…?” And that’s when she realized, it wasn’t him. Everything made sense and reality slapped her in the face harder than the forced out emotions she had just experienced mere minutes to seconds ago had. She realized that this man had blue eyes instead of brown. She realized that this man seemed as tall as Jay, whereas Brian was about a foot or so shorter. She realized that this man had visible muscle, whereas Brian had natural muscle that could only be seen when he flexed. She realized that, when seen up close, this man had a light brown tint to his hair, and Brian had never made any changes to his natural black hair. She realized that their hairstyles were different, she realized she had never seen this group of friends, she realized his clothes stated he was rooting for the wrong team. Sam realized that this couldn’t be Brian, because Brian was dead.

Her jaw slowly dropped and she felt so stupid and embarrassed. “Oh my god…I’m…I’m so sorry. Um, can I explain myself before you all continue to think I’m crazy?” she asked. “Uh sure, go for it.” “I have a few adopted siblings, one of them being an Asian male obviously named Brian, and um…he passed away about four years ago. So from afar, you really, really, look like him. Up close I can now see the differences, but from afar you looked like his twin. I just…I haven’t seen him in so long” she said as a choked sob slipped out as she spoke. “I’m so sorry for chasing you like this-” “Stop” the boy said. He walked up to her and gave her a sincere smile. “For one, I’m honored that I look like your brother, I’m sure he was a handsome man.” This got Sam to give a small smile as she sensed that he was trying to lighten the mood and lessen the awkward tension from before. “And two, I’m so sorry that you lost him, and the next time someone comes running up to me the way you just did, I’ll be a lot more considerate as to why they’re doing it. Sorry for calling you crazy.” She shook her head. “You don’t have to apologize, I’m sure I would have been weirded out if a stranger came running up to me like that as well. That’s the first time that’s ever happened actually.” “I wish I could answer all your questions. What did he do anyway, did he save you in a car accident or something?” the boy asked. “Yeah, something like that.” It wasn’t exactly like that, but he did risk his life to save hers, they all did. Jay just got lucky and so did she, unlike the others. “If it means anything,” the boy continued, “the fact that you saw someone who looks so much like your brother might still be a sign from him. Maybe there’s something he wanted to you think about when seeing me, well him, you know? Or maybe he’s trying to test you somehow.” “Yeah, maybe so.” Her small smile grew a bit more on her face. That actually sounded like Brian who was always testing her and finding ways to playfully trick her. “Thanks for this, I’ll leave you guys be.” “Wait” he said as he reached his arms out. “I know I’m not your brother, but I can hug you like I’m him, unless that’s weird.” She gave a small laugh and hugged the boy. “Is there anything we can do to help you? Even a ride home or anything?” some of the other guys started asking with sincerity in their tones. Sam pulled back from the hug. “No thanks, besides I need to go catch up with my oldest brother.” “Hope you find your brother’s meaning” the boy said with a smile, and Sam and the group of boys parted ways.

As soon as she knew she was alone, her smile quickly faded back to her cold frown. She noticed that her hands were shaking again, and now that she was by herself, dark thoughts started racing through her mind. The memories she had been fighting for so long to forget were all coming back. She had to get home, she wanted no one other than Jay who knew and understood what she was feeling because he was there the night that everything happened. She couldn’t tell anyone about the Foot attack that night. It was too hard to talk about and it was too personal, and she had to truly 110% trust someone with her life in order to tell the full truth about this. She also just wanted to be alone. The world had cast her out after what happened. When she needed people most, they all vanished. Her closest childhood friends separated themselves from her and left her all alone. She was alone, and that’s how she had taught herself to deal with her problems. She would bottle things up within herself and she wouldn’t talk to anyone, since no one wanted to hear about it anyway, and knowing that no one wanted to hear about it, this was why she could only tell someone that she trusted her life with, and that person was Jay. He was never around though, so that lead her back to keeping everything to herself, back to her being alone. Friends were gone, and since Jay was basically always working, her whole family was gone. Everyone was gone and she was alone. Always alone, and that’s how it would always be. “HEY SAM. Remember us?!” Sam stopped once she realized that there was a 6ft. turtle yelling at her as he stood in her path. She wondered how they knew where she was when she remembered that she was with them at the game before everything happened. “…I came to the game with you guys…right…my bad” she said as she fought her hardest to fake a smile without crying, but she could tell they all knew just how fake her expression was. “Did that guy do something?” Raph asked. “No.” “Leave me alone” she thought. “…that’s it?” “…what?” “I want to be alone. Just let me leave” she thought to herself. Ever since that night, she was always alone, especially when she was upset. When people ditched her because she was broken, she learned to handle anything that upset her on her own. She didn’t want to be around anybody but her brother, and as much as she loved these guys, they weren’t her actual brothers. They didn’t know the things that Jay knew and she wasn’t ready to tell them. She knew they would want to ask her questions about what just happened and she didn’t want to answer those questions, so she bailed before anyone else could speak.

“It’s late, so I’m gonna head home, alone” she said bluntly. She couldn’t fight any longer and she felt the tears in her eyes, so she walked away and prayed that they would leave her alone. She rounded a corner and she didn’t hear anything behind her, so she knew she was okay. She felt guilty for keeping secrets from them, especially from Mikey, but…she just wasn’t ready. She loved that she wasn’t trapped inside her room anymore and that she actually had somewhere to go with people that cared about her, but it was still so soon. She had dropped some hints about her past with her siblings, which was huge for her to do even that, like how she told Raph that the sais belonged to Chuck. Jesus talking about Chuck at all was a huge deal for her. And that was the thing, her four green friends, April, Splinter, without knowing it, they were all pulling her out of a deep well that she had fallen into and had been trapped in for years. Within each of them she had found pieces of a puzzle that she had lost for so long, but seeing Brian like that was the equivalent of knocking that puzzle to the floor and shattering it into a million little pieces. She felt herself falling back into that well that she had taken so long to climb out of.

She felt that no matter who came along, no matter what changes or gains came into her life, she would never be able to escape from the horrors of the past. She could see clones of Brian every day, but that didn’t change the fact that he was gone. It didn’t matter that she taught Leo and Raph to cook the way Brian taught her, it didn’t matter that Leo liked antiques like Brian or that Donnie quizzed her the way Brian did, or that Mikey played videogames with her the same way Brian did, he was and always would be gone. It was the same for all of them. No matter what qualities her new friends had that reminded her of her family members, they were all gone. And as she thought of this, their final breaths played over and over again in her head. She saw all of them, remembered where they were and what they were doing before the events that lead to their deaths. She could hear their conversations and could see their smiling faces before they turned into teary eyed expressions that screamed in terror. She remembered everything, including how they died. The sequence of events stayed on replay. Over and over she mentally watched the horrors of that night.

Sam collapsed against the side of the wall and slid down until she was sitting on the ground. She couldn’t do anything about it. No matter how happy she had become, one small moment had broken and destroyed her, and now she would have to start back over from scratch. She was scared, and alone. At this point she didn’t care if a criminal came and attacked her in any way. She was lost in the darkness of her thoughts and nothing could pull her out, at least that’s what she thought.

“Sam?” she heard a gentle voice ask. She thought she was imagining things and sat still, until she felt someone hold her shaking hands. “I’ve never seen your hands shake like this before” the voice said as it took her hands into his. She slowly turned her glassy eyes towards the voice and saw none other than her best friend kneeling down next to her. “I told you I wanted to be alone” she mumbled, choking out her words in her sobs. She hadn’t even realized she was crying with tears streaming down her face because she had been so lost in her thoughts. In fact, she didn’t even know where it was she had been walking. These thoughts halted once she realized Mikey was there, and she could now tell that her cheeks were soaked from her tears. “I know, but I really wanted to go after you, though I wasn’t sure if it was a girl reason or a Sam reason that you were acting the way you were. But regardless I didn’t like that you were heading towards a lone street by yourself at this hour. Anyway, we called April and she said that when girls say they want to be left alone, then usually they want to be chased after by someone they care about. She also said that in general that someone should at least watch over you to make sure you were safe, so that’s what I’m doing. I’m sorry if I’m making you more upset by being here…but I couldn’t leave you alone.” Sam stared at him, just straight up stared at him for the longest time. She had a hard time processing that someone actually gave a shit. Not because she asked them to and not because they needed something, but because they truly and genuinely just gave a shit about her. She wanted to be alone because everyone had left her that way and she believed that that was how she handled these situations best, but…was that what she really wanted? Or had she forced that thought into her mind because everyone had left her by herself for so long? She thought that she would hate it if someone followed her and that she needed to handle this alone, but she was wrong about herself. She was happy, and for the first time ever, she had begun to cry happy tears along with the sad ones. “Thank you” she said as tears streamed down her face. Mikey gave her a light smile and gently pulled her over. He sat cross legged as Sam now sat in his lap, the back of her head against his chest as he lightly rested his chin on the top of her head. He wrapped his arms around his friend and hugged her, and she held onto the hands wrapped around her even tighter. “I understand if you don’t want to talk about it. It’s your life and your business, so you talk whenever you’re ready. If that’s never, then so be it.” For the first time ever, Sam wanted to talk. She wanted to tell him everything, but she was also very scared. She had never talked about these things with anyone without being forced to do so. She decided that she would reveal some of the truth, and that gradually she would start revealing things to Mikey when the time was right. No one had ever cared until he came along. She felt like her presence was wanted when he was around and that he truly cared about what was wrong with her. “I thought I saw my brother tonight, but it turned out to be someone else. From afar that guy really looked like my brother Brian.” “So you chased after him thinking he came home without telling you?” “Yeah, but it wasn’t him…I just miss him so much” she said through sobs. “I understand. If Leo had disappeared for such a long period of time and then I caught him casually hanging around town, I know I’d lose my cool. I’d have so many questions to ask him, so many things I would just want to scream at him.” Sam smiled a bit and turned her head some towards him. “Can you take me to my house?” “Of course” he replied with a smile. “Can you spend the night?” she asked. “Sorry, I don’t sleep over on the first date” he teased. “Asshole,” she said as she rolled her eyes and chuckled, something she never thought she’d be able to do in this situation. But that was the power of Michelangelo. Whether she was hurt, hyper, confused, scared, angry, or even hungry, no matter what her attitude was and where her thoughts were sending her, he always brought her back down to earth. It was like he attached a bungee cord to her back and made sure she bounced back up after falling into her well of emotions. Whenever her puzzle pieces broke, he just glued them back together again. Even now at her lowest and weakest moment, he was there. She thought he wouldn’t be, and yet here he was, proving her wrong. Now that she realized just how much she wanted and needed to have him by her side, and as she jumped onto his back so that he could carry her home, she mentally vowed that she would never let go of their friendship and that she would keep him as close as possible until she finally felt ready to tell him the complete and honest truth. Not only because of her feeling comfortable enough to do so, but because at that point she would feel safe enough to know he wouldn’t leave her alone ever again, not even after hearing of the horrors she had experienced in the past.

 *Monday June 30th, Donnie’s Lab* *Theme: Skrux-Escapade*

Donnie couldn’t believe all the equipment Sam had helped him get his hands on. She had asked Jay if he could help her get her hands on any and all old medical equipment that any of his friends could give away because it had broken or had malfunctioned, and her reasoning was that it was for her friends older brother who needed it for some projects because he wanted to become a future medical student himself (which in certain senses was true). Because of this, Donnie had received tons of different equipment that he could only dream of getting his hands on. He now had various medical monitors that could monitor a person’s vital signs, lab equipment to analyze things like blood, genes, dissolved gases, etc. He had diagnostic medical equipment, therapeutic devices, the list of devices he had and their uses went on and on. That night Donnie had asked Sam if she wanted to help him set up the med lab now that he had enough equipment to actually get a work station set up, and of course she agreed to join him. As they set devices up around the room, the two talked about multiple different things that Donnie was never able to talk to his brothers about. The two discussed a variety of topics: physics, chemistry, biochemistry, mathematics, biology, psychology, astronomy, microbiology, statistics, sociology, neuroscience, economics, philosophy, history, the list went on and on. Donnie was able to discuss many of these topics amongst his brothers and April, but he had never talked about them quite as in depth as he was now. It had been made obvious numerous times that Sam wasn’t as intelligent as Donnie, but she was definitely close and overall very open-minded. After hours had flown by, the topics switched away from math and sciences to social studies, and then to religion, and then to literature, and then to music, which then lead them to start talking about more media related topics like modern music, movies, games, etc. They went from talking about video games to then talking about their favorite You Tube gamers. “See what I love most about Vanoss is that he’s comical like the rest of the guys in the group, but he’s also the most strategic. For example, whenever he plays Gmod Hide and Seek or Gmod Prop Hunt, he always finds the best hiding spots that people would never think of, but then he messes with their heads when he does things like ‘operation bigfoot’” Sam stated as she worked on the wiring of an infusion pump. “It’s hilarious when he does that. Oh, I love when he literally hides in the walls. He takes advantage of every glitch he can find” Donnie said as he closed a drawer filled with carefully cleaned and maintained surgical instruments. “After Vanoss, I’d have to say that Nogla and Delirious are my favorites. I love that they get picked on by their friends in literally every video, but they just roll with it. They can take a joke, and because of that their friends are able to tease the heck out of the two of them, and honestly that just makes the videos even funnier. Do you actually plan on using those tools?” she asked curiously as she glanced at a table with some tools used when performing serious surgeries. “God I hope not! I’ve watched a ridiculous amount of videos on what they’re used for and how to use them, and I’ve had some minor experience-” “When did you have experience using surgical tools?” Sam cut in, her eyes wide. “Ummm, you have to keep it between us, okay?” “Got it! Your secret is safe with me!” “For the past…I want to say the past 6 years, if I ever found some really beat up strays on the streets, I would do my best to save them. I mean, no one else was going to try and help them, so I thought my help was better than just leaving them to rot in the streets, and I actually helped save each animal that I found.” Sam titled her head to the side. “Why do I have to keep that a secret?” “Because stray animals could have diseases or could be rabid, that and where I found them wasn’t always exactly in the shadows. Those two things equal danger, and because of that I knew my brothers and Sensei would never have allowed me to do what I had been doing, so I’ve been hiding this from them for 6 years now. Yup.” Sam dramatically held her hand to her chest. “Why Donatello! You, you have a secret that you keep from your family? You’re not the innocent nerd that everyone thinks you are?” “Ha ha” he said dryly, “I’m still a person. Everyone has secrets, even the good kids” he said as he held his hands when quoting ‘the good kids.’

Joking aside, he was happy to see Sam cracking jokes again. It had been 5 days since Sam’s emotional episode after the basketball game and none of them were sure how to handle the situation. They all wanted to know what had happened, but they knew that coming straight out and asking her questions would get them nowhere. April had told them that letting her talk when she was ready and just acting like everything was normal was the best way to react to the situation, so that’s what they did. For two days Sam stayed away from the lair and only left her home when she needed to. The only person she talked to outside of her home was Mikey, and that was only to respond to his occasional updates to make sure she was okay. On day three Sam had asked Mikey to come over to her apartment to hangout that night, and by the next morning she had tried visiting the lair. The boys followed April’s advice and acted normally and successfully hid their worry. Because of this, Sam was quickly able to return to her regular routines and habits when hanging out with the guys, including now where she was making sarcastic comments and teasing Donnie.

As the two continued to work and set things up throughout the med wing, Donatello’s attention was pulled away from the machine he was working on and was drawn to the small television he had set up in the room (in case anyone were ever so badly injured that they might have to spend a few nights in the room) as the screen displayed a commercial about the latest exhibits at the Natural History Museum. Sam noticed that Donnie had stopped working, and as she looked over at him to make sure that he was alright, she could see in his expression how badly he wanted to visit the museum. “What’s wrong E.T.? Troubles phoning home?” she moved on to fixing a smaller x-ray device. “*sigh* I would love to go there” Donnie replied. “Well you’ve imprinted, so go” she replied, still working on the device. He turned towards her and gave her an odd look. “To the museum?” “Your precious” she said as she faced him with wide eyes as she ran her fingers against each other. “I volunteer you as tribute.” She then turned back towards the device. “Pfft, not possible” he said as he pouted and flopped down in his swivel chair. “What? You lost your invisibility cloak?” “Heh, no. I just wish we there was a way where I could buy tickets even as a 6’8 turtle” he chuckled. “I find your lack of faith disturbing” she said with a serious tone as she looked at him with a disappointed and dull expression. “And I think you watch to many movies” he replied with a smile. “That is extremely true, but not the point! If you want to go to the museum, then let’s just go” she said as she started walking towards the exit. “You know a way to sneak in?” he asked. “Do you know me?” she asked sarcastically. “Do you know breaking and entering is illegal?” “Do you know how annoying you are?” “That’s my line.” “Well I beat you to it which means I win! So FIELD TRIP! C’mon Erudite! Let’s escape this maze and find your cure!” she exclaimed as she practically skipped out of the lab. “You have way too much time on your hands if you’ve watched every major movie series” Donnie announced with a laugh (which earned him a playfully shove) as he followed the girl. He liked that there was never a dull moment with his new friend and was interested in how their ‘field trip’ would play out tonight.

Everyone else was in their rooms at the time, so the two just walked out of the lair and up to the rooftops of the buildings above. Of course, since Donnie was one of the more mature of the group, he made sure that he had his shell cell with him in case there was an emergency and his brothers needed to contact him, though he’d be a liar if he said that checking his phone periodically was on his mind once he got to the museum. After they had completed all their needed hacking so that they could sneak into the building, Sam had exposed an entrance from a vent on the roof that lead to the attic storage of the building, and once they had cleared this part of the break in, they were free to explore all the current exhibits that the museum had to offer.

Donnie wasn’t sure where to start. They had exhibits on dinosaurs, the latest studies on health and the human body, missions from Earth to other planets, looking through the eyes of Einstein, and so many more. Donnie wasn’t sure where to begin, but his choice was determined by the teen who was mentally a five year when she wanted to be. “Dinosaurs. Let’s go to see the dinosaurs. I want to see dinosaurs” Sam said over and over again until finally her friend agreed, and within seconds Sam was rushing over to see the exhibits about the dinosaurs with Donnie following behind her. They learned about how studies have shown that some current bird species may have come from dinosaurs that changed and evolved over tens of millions of years (and of course Sam had to take pictures in the giant modeled nests because Sam was Sam). The two then moved to the interactive exhibits that discussed the microbiome-where bacteria is living in and on us, how the bacteria’s are obtained and how they can offer new perspectives on how to deal with health problems like allergies, asthma, and obesity. Afterwards, they moved on to the next exhibit about foods from around the world. The two learned about how various foods were grown, traded, prepared, etc. They read through some of the first made cook books throughout history and even got to prepare their own virtual meals at the interactive cooking table, and of course the two had fun coming up with the weirdest dishes they could think of.

The two moved on from exhibit to exhibit, looking at everything and participating in every interactive activity they could find. Since they were the only two there, they moved through each exhibit rather quickly, and after a few hours they were ready to leave the museum. Since the two had been talking about scientific research for the past few hours, they decided to talk more casually on their walk home, and while doing so, Donnie noticed Sam staring at his left shoulder. “Why don’t you take a picture?” “…what?” Sam asked with a smile. Donnie rolled his eyes. “What are you staring at anyway?” “I’m trying to find your tattoo, and I’m failing at doing so.” His eyes widened a bit. “You know about that?” “Yup!” “Let me guess, Mikey?” “Yup again!” “Tch, you tell each other everything, don’t you?” “Well, yes and no. We talk about a lot of things, and I think it’s safe to say that he knows more about me than anyone else, but we both have our boundaries. He told me there’s certain stories about all four of you that will forever stay only between you four. He’s made that very clear.” Donnie laughed. “Well it’s good to know he’s still the best at keeping secrets and people’s private lives private.” He then looked over and squinted his eyes at his friend when he heard her try to hide a small laugh. “What’s so funny?” “Nothing” she said as she quickly shook her head and smiled, “just, of course I’m curious as to what happened to you guys that you’ve all sworn to secrecy that you won’t ever tell anyone about it…oh but that could also mean moments where your lives were in danger and that’s why you’re keeping it secret. Just kidding it’s not funny anymore” she said as she made a serious face. “Honestly it’s a mix of both, but more so things you would find funny, so you’re good.” “Oh? Are you going to be the one to spill the details?” she teased as she nudged him in the side. “Heck no! Especially since they’re not all about me. All three of my brother’s would kill me if I gave away even the smallest amount of information.” “I guess tattoos aren’t part of those secrets then, since they’re all extremely visible on all of you, well except for you, but you get the point.” “Oh, I can show you mine, if you want.” “Yes. I need proof, especially since you don’t seem like someone who would let anything pierce and possibly damage your body.” “Oh no I hated getting this thing with a burning passion, but I liked that this was a symbol that linked our family together, so I agreed to let Raph make a small print on my shoulder.” As he talked, he took off his brown shoulder pad on his left shoulder, revealing a black inked tattoo of a turtle shell that looked to be about the size of his hand. Sam chuckled. “Yup, yours is definitely the smallest print” she teased with a smile. “Hey! At least I have one! I can take credit for sitting through the pain of getting one!” “Did it hurt that bad?” “…no, but it makes me look cooler if it seems that I sat through something painful. You know, like I was macho enough to deal with the pain.” Sam laughed. “Okay one, don’t say ‘macho’ if you want to act cool. Two, I’m pretty sure you were mentally being tortured the entire time you were sitting there, so you still own that badass image from putting up with your own thoughts.” He nodded his head and shrugged his shoulders. “Eh, I’ll take it. So, do you like tattoos?” he asked as he put his shoulder pad back on. Sam quickly shook her head. “Oh, really?” “Yeah, I mean there’s nothing wrong with them, and I don’t have anything against people that like and have them, I just personally don’t care for them. I feel like they can be dangerous if you go somewhere sketchy, and unless I have a specific meaning behind the tattoo I’m getting, I don’t think it’s worth the pain or the risks of getting one.” Donnie decided to take a risk when asking his next question. “Do you think you and your siblings would ever get matching tattoos? You know, like how my family has a symbol that unites us. Would you and your siblings ever do that?” Sam paused, but Donnie could tell by her facial expressions that her pause was to think about what he had just asked rather than her spacing out from her emotions like she had nights before. “Honestly, I can’t see ALL my siblings being interested in something like that. We’ve had matching accessories though. We all had necklaces with an initial pendant attached to the chain. The pendant was black and the initials were in whatever our favorite color was, so my ‘S.A.P’ was green over black, and it looked awesome!” she exclaimed with a smile. Donnie noticed it again, that she was talking about her siblings in the past tense. He so badly wanted to ask her why she had continued this habit, but he saw how happy she was as she talked about her siblings and he didn’t want to rob her of her happiness, so instead he continued on with the conversation.

As the two walked back to the lair, they continued to talk about their families and what it was like to have so many siblings. They found it interesting how they had shared so many similar experiences since they were both the second to youngest out of all their siblings. They both experienced being treated as the baby of the group and everyone felt the need to look over them even though they were capable of taking care of themselves, and how even though people treated them like kids (at one time) they were still expected to act like adults at the same time because they had another sibling who was younger than them. They swapped stories back and forth until they got back to the lair, and when they returned to their familiar territory, they decided to keep working on the med lab since they both still had so much energy left. They worked for another couple hours until Sam was so tired that she started losing control of her balance. At that time, Donnie helped her walk back to his lab where he had his spare bed. He didn’t have to worry about her being comfortable since she collapsed on the bed as soon as she saw it, and within seconds she was sound asleep. Donnie covered her with a blanket and left her to sleep.

As he walked back to his room, he reminisced about everything he had learned at the museum, but then suddenly his mind reminded him of the night that Sam had entered his lab when, at the time, he didn’t want her taking one step in his lab aka his sacred space. He remembered how furious he was that she had snuck into the lab and how he acted towards her, and how upset she was because she thought that he hated her (and at that time, she was almost right in assuming that.) The memory dropped a lot of guilt on the turtle’s shoulders. He felt horrible that he ever treated her that way, especially after days like today where she was the only person who could connect with him in ways that the rest of his family couldn’t. There was one thing that cheered him up though, and that was how his attitude and actions towards the girl had changed over time. The night of his memory where he stated that he didn’t hate her, those words were the first ‘nice’ things he had ever said to her, and that same night he vowed that he would at least attempt to treat her better, not only for her sake, but also in respect for Mikey since Sam and Mikey had obviously become very close friends even that early on. Donnie smiled as he thought of all the happier moments that not only he, but that all his brother’s had shared with Sam. He was glad that she didn’t give up on them and that she kept finding ways to get them to talk to her, like the night she had tricked Leo into getting upset and making her fight with Raph, and he was glad that he and his brother’s had all eventually tried to get along with and try to get to know the girl as well. As time went on, she became more like a sister to the boys rather than just a friend, and Donnie was grateful to have her around as the newest addition to their family.

*Wednesday July 2nd*

It was around 1 a.m. when Mikey felt a presence enter his room. He had been sleeping on his right side and was facing the wall, so he couldn’t see who it was that had entered his room and shut the door, but he had a good idea that he knew who it was: Sam. He continued to lie still though, just in case it wasn’t her. He couldn’t list how many times his brother’s had snuck into his room to pull pranks on him at all hours of the day and night, but it was okay since he had done the same to all of them, but he was also staying still in case it happened to be a burglar from the Foot clan. Ever since the Foot had found their first home, the boys were always on edge when they heard noises at times when it was completely silent.

As he lie still and thought of who it might have been that entered his room, he felt the motion of someone crawl into bed with him. They didn’t touch him or move around much, they just got into the bed and lie still underneath the covers. At this point he was pretty confident that it was just Sam who had fallen asleep on the couch earlier, so he paid no mind to this, not until he heard a light sob. It was silent after that, but a few minutes later he heard it again. It sounded like she was crying but fighting her hardest not to let it be known.

Mikey quickly turned on the small lamp next to his bed and turned over to see that it was Sam who had crawled into his bed. She was laying on her left side so that he was now facing her back. “Sam…Sam, why are you crying?” he asked gently. She didn’t speak, but instead shook her head to show that she didn’t want to talk. Mikey knew that was total bull and knew that there was something she wanted him to know, or else she would have gone somewhere to hide and be alone rather than come straight to his room. Knowing this, he carefully pulled her towards him. He lay down and held her from behind, his arms wrapped protectively around her. “Does it have anything to do with you thinking you saw your brother the other day?” She paused and then slowly nodded her head. “I had a dream about him. It felt real, and then I woke up…” she couldn’t speak since tears had begun to pour out from her eyes again. Mikey held onto her a bit tighter. His heart hurt as he listened to his friend quietly cry for the longest time. She was always so happy and full of smiles whenever they were together, which made seeing her this way, so broken and emotionally torn down, so difficult and heartbreaking  for him. “I can’t say I understand what you’re going through, because I’ve always had my brothers by my side, but I can say that I know I’d be lost without them. Having the people that have always been a room away suddenly disappear for so long would emotionally and mentally kill me. I’m so, so sorry you’ve been alone for so long, but we won’t let you feel that way ever again, I’ll never let you feel that way ever again.” As soon as the words left his lips, Sam turned over and lay down facing him, her face now buried in his chest. A small smile appeared on Mikey’s face as he continued to hold his friend close, one hand resting against her back and the other gently running through the girl’s hair. He let his chin lightly rest on top of her head as he heard her sobs slowly fade out. He held her close until he knew for sure that she had drifted off to sleep, and once he knew that she was okay, he finally allowed himself to fall asleep as well.

He knew that he could never replace her brothers that were now living far away because he knew that no one would ever be able to replace his brothers if they ever moved far away. Still, he wanted to do everything he could to see Sam smile instead of frown, to see her laugh instead of cry, to see her fall asleep because she had had an exhausting day of fun activities instead of falling asleep from her tears. He vowed that he would stay by his best friend’s side as much as he possibly could, not to replace her brother, but to help bring back the fun and joyful memories that she had of spending time with him, and to create new memories that would help tuck away the all the bad ones.  

[aion-rsa]

The Flash: Year One - The New Barry Allen Origin Story

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The Flash: Year One will not only add new details to Barry Allen's origin, but also remain true to the past.

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Feature Meg Downey

DC Entertainment

Mar 1, 2019

The Flash

How well do you really know Barry Allen's origin story? Chances are, even if you're a die-hard Flash fan, the answer is "not that well." Sure, there's the chemicals and the lightning storm, there's the version of events we all know and love over on the TV series -- but what about the Barry who has been running around as the Fastest Man Alive since the Silver Age? What actually happened after that fateful night in the lab?

The truth is, Barry's earliest adventures are pretty woefully underexplored. There are a few reasons for this. For starters, he's a product of an era in comics where origin stories weren't explored in great detail. But perhaps more importantly he spent the majority of of the late '80s and '90s, the time in which origin stories were rapidly becoming a highlight of superhero comics, dead and gone after sacrificing himself during the 1986 event Crisis on Infinite Earths. This meant Barry really missed the boat in terms of cashing in on the "Year One" craze that followed, with such notable in-depth origin stories like Man of Steel by John Byrne, Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, and George Perez's Wonder Woman. Dead men don't really need to have their beginnings explored and soon enough, a new flash named Wally West had taken up the mantle, leaving Barry as a fond memory and cautionary tale. But have no fear, because it's a problem Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter are gearing up to tackle head on this May with the upcoming Flash: Year One story arc by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter -- the first of its kind -- beginning in issue #70.

"Barry Allen is a hero on a pedestal," writer Joshua Williamson tells Den of Geek, "he's the hero who died, the hero who sacrificed himself. [...] Everyone knows Barry as this super optimistic, hopeful guy. But when his mom died, it's like Geoff [Johns] always talks about, he was standing still."

Williamson is referring to Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver's Flash: Rebirth, a limited series published in 2009 that resurrected a long-dead Barry Allen into the modern DC Universe, while re-framing his origin story. All that stuff you may have seen in the CW series where Barry's mom is murdered by a time traveling Zoom? That all came into the mix here. Prior to that, Barry's origin story just featured the chemical accident/lightning strike combo that empowered him and off he went -- not exactly the most thoroughly fleshed out beginnings for a superhero.

Barry's newly revealed childhood trauma positioned him to be the catalyst for an event known as Flashpoint, which sparked the New 52 era of DC continuity. It's all a little complicated, but the long and the short of it wound up being Barry time traveling back to his mother's murder and stopping it, thus creating an alternate timeline where all DC stories were condensed into an approximately five year period. Strangely enough, however, despite the major repercussions of Barry's updated origins, there weren't a ton of details to be found beyond Barry's childhood and the murderer. What he was actually doing immediately after he got his powers, and why he decided to become The Flash in the first place, remained a mystery.

"[After he got his powers] he fell into this hole. And we've never really looked at what made him come out of that. It was scary for him. You don't just automatically become a superhero. It's not like you get powers and then suddenly everything is great again," Williamson says. "Barry's a scientist, so he was looking at it like a science problem. So, at the start of things, he's actually super pessimistic -- he's looking at these abilities and thinking 'what's the point?'"

This idea that superpowers aren't a magic bullet is central to what Williamson hopes to accomplish with Year One, by taking a look at what Barry chose to do for himself rather than what happened to him seemingly at random. "When we first meet him he has such a bleak outlook and he's confronted with all this stuff that actually makes him take a look at himself, really deal with his feelings and his pessimism. We haven't really seen anything like this before for him, in terms of an origin story. Even from the TV show, we wanted to make sure we were doing something totally new that you'd never seen before."

For inspiration, Williamson cited the classic Showcase #4, which introduced Barry Allen to readers back in 1956. "Of course we looked at Showcase #4 a lot, but there's actually a second story in that one that no one ever remembers that was really interesting to me," he teased. Barry's first appearance sees him take on a rather on-the-nose confrontation with a villain known as The Turtle in "The Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt," but the issue doesn't end there. Showcase #4 also features "The Man Who Broke The Time Barrier," Barry's second ever adventure in which he's forced to track a criminal to the 50th century.

Williamson didn't offer any specifics as to just how or why "The Man Who Broke The Time Barrier" will come into play for Flash: Year One, so start those conspiracy theory spirals -- The Flash #70 is only three months away. It will be part of the ongoing Flash story -- meaning there's a chance you'll find a reference or two to Rebirth-era events -- but the arc itself will largely stand on its own. So use these next few months to catch up if you're so inclined (it's worth it, we promise), but don't panic if you're looking to jump in at the start of the arc.

The Flash #70, chapter one of The Flash: Year One, arrives on May 8.

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