#the way they hedged on the ships was pretty funny. and by funny I mean annoying. but oh well.

[stephantom]

I don’t know what I feel, but loki creating and holding together Yggdrasil after centuries of time-looping and failure and loneliness was not on my bingo card, and it did make me smile sadly in a “yeah wow I guess this could be it” way. Idk cheers I guess

[notebooknebula]

Leverage Books to Grow Your Real Estate Business with Max Keller & Jay Conner

https://www.jayconner.com/leverage-books-to-grow-your-real-estate-business-with-max-keller-jay-conner/

Max Keller is a Best Selling Author, Investor, Entrepreneur, and National Speaker

Max joins Jay Conner to teach everyone how to create success.

Max went from being a full-time high school Math Teacher to creating multiple successful real estates and marketing businesses. He has published multiple books and currently licensees his lead generation systems to real estate professionals all over the country.

Although business is Max’s new full-time obsession, one thing has never left… the heart of a teacher. Max loves the opportunity to teach, inspire, and share real-world applications that can transform the lives of business owners.

Max earned his B.B.A. in Finance from The University of Texas at Austin and his M.A. in Teaching from Louisiana College. He has over 15 years of experience in real estate, finance, and teaching, and he was named the 2019 Industry Innovator of the Year. A few of his current roles are consultant, teacher, author, speaker, and expert panelist. He has flipped over 100 houses and is on a mission to help real estate agents and real estate investors have customers chasing them.

Max created Savior Publishing House as a way to serve his community and help seniors with their real estate challenges. The Savior brand of companies focuses on providing Christian real estate and business solutions to our clients. Max enjoys spending time with his wife and children and engaging in family activities, such as being involved at church and going on vacation. He is passionate about investing time in his family.

Timestamps:

0:01 – Get Ready To Be Plugged Into The Money

1:42 – Jay’s New Book: “Where To Get The Money Now”- https://www.JayConner.com/Book

2:59 – Today’s guest: Max Keller

5:26 – How Max Keller got into the real estate business

7:19 – Max Keller’s first real estate deal.

8:23 – Max Keller’s struggles during his start-up in the real estate business

13:29 – Max Keller’s marketing strategy in finding deals in the senior market

17:41 – They see me differently because I have a book – Max Keller

20:38 – Let Max Keller help you create your own book for your real estate business.

27:34 – ‘Real Estate Investors’ Book Writing Checklist” – https://www.DealsChasingYou.com/Conner

28:57 – Max Keller’s parting advice: Lead with value.

Private Money Academy Conference:

https://jaysliveevent.com/live/?oprid=&ref=42135

Have you read Jay’s new book: Where to Get The Money Now? It is available FREE (all you pay is the shipping and handling) at https://www.JayConner.com/Book

Free Webinar: http://bit.ly/jaymoneypodcast

Jay Conner is a proven real estate investment leader. Without using his own money or credit, Jay maximizes creative methods to buy and sell properties with profits averaging $64,000 per deal.

What is Real Estate Investing? Live Private Money Academy Conference

https://youtu.be/QyeBbDOF4wo

YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/c/RealEstateInvestingWithJayConner

iTunes:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/private-money-academy-real-estate-investing-jay-conner/id1377723034

Listen to our Podcast:

https://realestateinvestingdeals.mypodcastworld.com/11247/leverage-books-to-grow-your-real-estate-business-with-max-keller-jay-conner

Real Estate Investing With Jay Conner

Jay Conner

00:02:40

My special guest knows how to teach and create success. In addition to that, my guest and friend went from being a full-time high school math teacher to creating in such a short period of time, a moldable successful real estate and marketing businesses. In fact, he’s published multiple books and currently licenses his special proprietary lead generation systems to real estate professionals all over the country. Also, I want you to know that all of those businesses are my friend’s new full-time obsession. But one thing has not changed, and that is his heart of being a teacher.

He’s got a servant’s heart. He’s always looking to give value and he loves teaching. He loves the opportunity to teach, inspire, and share real world applications that can transform your business. In addition to that, my special guest and friend has been investing in real estate. He’s got 15 years of experience in real estate, finance, and teaching. And as a matter of fact, he was named the 2019 Industry Innovator of the Year. Also, he has already flipped over 100 houses. In addition to that, he’s created a company called Savior Publishing House as a way to serve his community and to help senior citizens with their real estate challenges, enjoy spending time with his wife and children engaged in family activities. And something very, very important to him is being very involved in his local church, just like me and Carol Joy. With that, welcome to the show my good friend, Max Keller.

Max Keller

00:04:57

Hey, good to be here. Let’s go.

Jay Conner

00:05:00

It is awesome to have you on here, Max. Good to see you again. You and I are in a fellow mastermind. You and I have probably known each other now for about 3 years or so. And I tell you, it’s just amazing to watch all the phenomenal successes and the growth of your company that you’ve got going on. We’re going to be talking about private money with you here on the show today. But before we jump in, tell us, Max, how did you get into real estate?

Max Keller

00:05:28

It was sort of by accident. So, I was teaching Math at an inner city school. I was coaching football, basketball, and track, and I didn’t want to actually get into real estate full time. I just saw it as a passive income opportunity. My pay was pretty much fixed to being a teacher. And so I was like, I got to do something as my kids were getting older. So what I did was I just wanted to maybe get one or two rentals a year. I figured if I did that over a period of time, I could have a pretty good nest egg and then pass it on. What ended up happening in 2015 was I just kind of got sucked into real estate. I mean, it’s not just a good way to make money over long periods of time, but you can really increase the active income.

So I basically just got a local mentor. I worked all day as a teacher and then at night I would work for him. And within about 3 months I got a couple of houses under contract wholesale. One made about $16,000, which is like 4 months worth of teacher pay. I Then did it again. And then another time. And I just decided I needed to go full-time. And so that’s what I did. I just went full-time, I made the leap, it was a lot easier to source deals back then in 2015, 2016 than it is right now, but there’s still ways to do it. You just have to know what you’re doing, execute, and level up your marketing. And so that’s sort of been the journey that I’m on. I’m in Dallas Fort Worth and it’s very competitive like a lot of markets. And so what happened with me, I just had to figure out a better way to do my marketing because if you don’t have leads in your business, whether they’re for private money or for deals, you don’t have a business. So that’s kind of what happened to me. It’s been an amazing journey and it just keeps evolving every day.

Jay Conner

00:07:19

So was your first deal, a wholesale deal, a fix and flip, what was it?

Max Keller

00:07:23

So I have pretty good credit because I didn’t use it. That’s what’s kind of funny about credit. If you use it a lot, you don’t get very much more and your credit score is low. I had gone through when I was a teacher, like the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University model, so I had all my debts paid off. I didn’t understand how to leverage debt in a good way yet. So, I actually took down my first property with a line of credit, I guess I kind of really wholetailed it, I technically took title to it and then just sold it, like I did a closing 4 weeks later to a cash buyer. But yeah, it was $16,000. I mean, I didn’t squeeze every ounce of juice out of the deal like I could have, but what I did have back then, which was really important, is having some really consistent, solid buyers. And that allowed me to create some opportunities for bigger chunks of cash today. And then it allowed me to leverage into long-term assets.

Jay Conner

00:08:23

What were some of your early struggles when you were starting out?

Max Keller

00:08:26

I think probably the first one was what to focus on and like who to market to. So it’s funny. I do a lot of marketing now and I’ve gotten a lot better at it. But at first, the challenge was that marketing because there’s so many other people sending out the exact same thing to everybody. And so as the competition kept going up in our market, the return on my ad spend kept getting lower and lower. And so I had to figure out basically what I figured out in my market was the problem that we were having was every other investor and wholesaler were sending the same messages to the same people. Like if they’re on my list, they’re probably on other people’s lists, too. And we have hedge funds entering our market pretty early on and they were paying really, really high prices.

So I knew that if I was just going to only compete on price and compete against people who have multimillion dollar marketing budgets, that was going to be a tough order. So the good news is I just thought about what the problem was and said maybe I don’t need to take down every deal in Dallas Fort Worth. What’s the best niche I can focus on? And so what I did and what I would encourage people to consider, even if they’re brand new is like, I just kind of outlined what’s a perfect deal for me. And for me, a perfect deal is one where I make good profit on the deal because of a larger profit deal and a smaller one. They take about the same amount of time. Number two is I want to work with people that aren’t resisting me. Like, I would go over to people’s houses and they would argue with me when I showed them the comps and they hadn’t moved in 20 years.

They don’t have a real estate background. And I was like, this is kind of a joke. And so that was number two. I want to work with people who are like, “You’re the expert who helped me,” and I want to work with people that I just enjoyed working with, who were just nice people that just didn’t have a clear path. And so those are the kind of people I wanted to work with. I made a list when I’d already done about 30 or 40 deals, most of the deals that I’d already done didn’t meet all of those criteria, but the ones that did, you didn’t have to be rocket scientists to figure out what the pattern was and that they were senior citizens, they were senior homeowners. So that was sort of my first marketing A-ha moment, was that there’s this really large, fastest-growing niche in our real estate space that I could target with different messages.

Senior homeowners have different needs than millennial homeowners. They just do. They’re interested in different stuff. They have different questions. So instead of sending everybody the same message, “I’ll buy your house, paid cash in 7 days,” like everybody else is sending, I started sending totally different messages that were very senior-centric. And as a benefit, I got a lot more calls. I had a much higher response rate and then kind of the next thing that happened after that real quick was about a senior’s house. It was the dad, and his adult children were there. So he was probably in his early ’80s and the kids were in their ’50s, early ’60s. People were upset because they’re selling the family home. There’s a lot of memories, Christmas was right over there, but they had to do it.

The dad couldn’t stay in the house any longer. And so the adult daughter said, “I really appreciate everything that you’ve done for us. You’ve helped us out.” I found the dad a new place to live, like a senior retirement home. And she said, “You know a lot about this. Have you ever thought about writing a book about this?” I was like, Jay, my lands, that was the furthest thing from my mind. I was like, “No, I’m a Math teacher. I’m not an English teacher.” But then when I thought about it, I was like, that’s actually a pretty good idea because at the time in the little 3 cities that I focused on in this huge Dallas Fort Worth metro area, I was getting known as the guy who knew a lot about seniors.

But if I wrote a book about seniors and their housing struggles, I could be the guy who wrote the book on it. So that’s what I did. I’ve got a special gift for your audience at the end, by the way. If you’re interested in writing your own book, we’ve created the first of its kind DIY guide. It’s basically the framework that we didn’t have when we wrote our first book, but we have now for all the books that we write. I didn’t realize that a book would be such an incredible magnetic marketing engine for my business. I was selfishly just kind of tired of having the 4-hour Q and A’s in everybody’s living rooms, answering the same questions over and over for 3 years. It was kind of burning me out. So I just wrote the answers to all those questions in the book. I wrote down all the stuff that people should ask, and I just got it printed. It took a couple of hundred hours to write my first one and then I just started giving it to people and it became my ultimate business card. And it really changed the way that I market for deals and then eventually private money forever.

Jay Conner

00:13:30

So, you started focusing, as you just said, on serving and talking with senior citizens that were at the point where they needed to sell their houses.

What are your favorite marketing methods for locating the owners of these houses that may be looking to sell?

Max Keller

00:13:56

Great question. So there’s really 2 categories of marketing methods that we use. They’re the ones that we used before we had a book. And then there’s the ones that are more available to people who are experts, authorities, local celebrities. You, obviously, are in that category. And so what we did initially when we got the book, was basically just the same methods that we were using. Data is more available now than it’s ever been. It’s easier than it’s ever been to find more ways than there’s ever been for people to reach you. What’s really missing in marketing is really understanding who you’re talking to as a marketer and then sending messages that are like reading their minds.

That’s the biggest problem, okay? It’s not the list. Everybody has the same list. Everybody knows how to stack a list. You can go on YouTube, figure it out in 5 minutes. The real challenge is why would they choose you over everybody else? That’s the missing piece. And so that’s what we did. I’ll give you an example, real simple, okay. We’re getting calls from our direct mail, our door-to-door flyers, our normal calling agents and talking about if there are pocket listings. Normal stuff. So people are calling our office, right? We had just gotten the book and sometimes they’re calling with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder because they know that they’re getting all this mail, you know? So they’re like, “Hey, congratulations, you’re going to win the house lottery. You have the opportunity to come over to my house and pay me more than you probably should.”

And so when people call, they’re like, “we need you to come over right now.” And I was afraid that if I didn’t go over there real quick, they would sell it to somebody else. That’s what they teach at all the bootcamps. And that’s probably true if you don’t have a book, but if you do, you don’t have to do that because instead I would just say, “Hey, oh great! Yeah, you want us to come over? Okay. we’ll get to that. Hey, real quick, do you have a copy of our latest book?” And they’re like, “Your book?” like the whole tone changes. I go, “Yeah! We wrote the book on senior housing. I’m the Home To Home guy, the step-by-step senior housing guide.” And I press further.

“So, let me ask you a question. If I send an autographed copy of the book to your house,  you can read Chapter 3 – ‘All The Ways To Sell Your Home with Pros & Cons of Each’ before I come over. Because if you can, then I’ll come over and if you can’t, then I can’t come over. See, I’m the boss of my business. I’m the expert you’re calling and talking to the foundational source for the information that you need. So we’re going to follow my process.” It’s not being rude. It’s just a statement of fact. And so it really increases compliance, which is what you want as a business owner. Because you know the formula to help your clients better than they do. Otherwise, they’d be doing it themselves. Well, what do you think people are going to say when you ask them if they’re going to read an autographed book?

What do people say when they get your autographed book? They can’t wait. So what happens is, I pay a courier about 30 or 40 bucks. I send it over and I go, “Hey, do you still need me to come over right now? Or are you going in to foreclosure?” Then we got like a couple of days. It’s okay, a couple of days. So now I’m on my schedule, which is what I need to run a predictable business. I send the book, they read Chapter 3, but they read the rest of the chapters. Do you know what I mean? They read the story right here with me and my Momo. Do you think people think that guys who take care of their 90-year-old grandmas are scumbags or loan sharks? Heck, no. They’re like, “Man, this is, like, my new grandson, Max.”

So when I come over, they’ve read the whole book. They’ve already spent 4 or 5 hours with me and they see me differently because I have a book, you know? So it just sets the tone really well. It puts the odds in my favor. Then when I come over, I bring them the workbook and they’re just like, “Dang, it’s like Christmas around here.” And then I go through it with them. So instead of just talking about stuff or asking these lame and hard closing questions that nobody likes and it makes you look really slimy, we don’t have to do any of that stuff. Here’s the perfect example, Jay, on page 41. I tagged this page. I go, “Now, Mavis, if you’re looking at some other investors to buy your house, I totally understand that.”

I said to her, “I’d probably do the same thing, but make sure that you ask them these questions. These are the questions you’re going to want to ask to make sure you don’t get roped in with the wrong person. And by the way, you can ask me those questions, too: Do you see the credibility? Do you see the openness?” It’s like lights out. So that’s how we buy houses and it works really well. We attach it to what we’re already doing, but then the other stuff is the stuff that we didn’t even know about, which is speaking to local businesses. So one time I spoke at the probate attorney association, a monthly meeting for my county. Jay, do you think that 30 probate attorneys sitting in a room while you’re standing, that makes you the expert at what you’re delivering? Do you think some of those 30 probate attorneys in the next 2 years are going to know somebody that needs to sell their house?

Jay Conner

00:19:12

Well, it’s the perfect market that is like the revolving door of prospects for your target market.

Max Keller

00:19:19

Yeah. And so I used to think the only way to market for deals was directly to the homeowner with really standard, generic messages that get thrown in the trash. So our messages used to be in the junk mail, but now our books are on the coffee table with all the other autographed books from the local real estate experts, which, as you know, it’s not a huge stack. So, it’s about pivoting when you’ve established yourself as an authority, as an expert, as a local celebrity in your field, whatever it is. It helps make the transition going from an annoying pest, as Dan Kennedy says, to a welcome guest.  We were the pesky salespersons who were only pitching and not listening, but now we’re the educator or the non-fiduciary housing advisor. That’s just a big paradigm shift. And when you’re in front of 30 business owners, there’s an incredible amount of leverage because they know 30 prospects. So in 1 hour you can really speak to 900 people. It’s just super powerful. And I haven’t found any other method of marketing that can replicate those kinds of results.

Jay Conner

00:20:32

Well, you can’t beat the credibility of having a book. You can’t beat the credibility of knowing what you’re talking about and being an expert. So, Max, we got a lot of people here listening to the podcast and I’m sure they’re scratching their heads going, “Well, that’s a great idea, Max, but how in the world do I get me a book?”

Max Keller

00:20:52

How can I get a book? Yeah, great question. I would love to come on here and say, “Jay, I’m just such a hot shot ninja marketer that I planned all this out.” Nothing could be further from the truth. If my market wasn’t so competitive, I would have never spent 200 hours writing a book. I would have just kept scooping up deals like most people were doing in that time in these tertiary, secondary markets, but I didn’t have a choice and it worked out really good. Here’s what happened. I’m getting deals with my book. I’m in masterminds, and we’re actually in a lot of the same masterminds. So I’m in this mastermind and my friends in there, you know, investors copy what works, they’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. And they’re like, “Hey, I kinda like this.”

“I live in Florida. You’re not using your book in Florida. It turns out we got seniors there, too. You think I could use your book?” And I was like, “I don’t know.” Maybe I just didn’t understand. And then my friend in Chicago is like, “Hey, can I use your book? Hey, they got seniors in Chicago, too.” So what we did was we created a system. I brought in some of the who’s who in publishing and we created a licensing program. It turns out the secret behind this book is that 99% of it is about stuff that our ideal prospect cares about. 1% is about us. Most marketing messages are the opposite. All they do is talk about themselves and very little about the person. That’s why they don’t call you. It’s like, “I’m sending out all this stuff. Why are people not calling me?”

Because it doesn’t look like you even understand what they’re going through. So that was sort of the accidental secret sauce from this. So we created a system where we change about 5% of the book, because the ways to sell a house in North Carolina is pretty similar to Dallas and is pretty similar to California, especially with the types of assisted living facilities, all of that’s about the same. So now we just swap them out on the cover. We give them a custom cover and they just pay us a one-time licensing fee to set up their book. In less than 30 days, they have a book and a workbook that they can hand out to prospects. And so they only spend about an hour or two of their time filling out all the information we need to personalize it. We write in their story.

So it just lowers the barriers that make it easier. And the folks that are usually a fit for our program are folks that are active real estate investors. They understand the value of a deal. They have some credibility, but they just haven’t figured out a way to signal it to the people they’re trying to reach. The phone isn’t ringing like it used to. Those are the people that come to us. And we’ve had about 130 students that licensed one of our 4-books systems across the nation. They see that this works and they don’t want to reinvent the wheel. So yeah, that created another, whole new business that I never expected. That’s where I got the award from, with Robert Kiyosaki. Jay, a funny story and I didn’t tell everybody this right.

It’s kind of embarrassing, but in 2005 I actually tried to get into real estate. I was 25. I just got married. The problem was, I wasn’t reading and I definitely wasn’t writing books. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. So I researched CRMs all day, which is worthless. And I created an LLC, which is meaningless. And I didn’t know anything about marketing or lead generation. I stood in line to get Robert’s book for 2 hours. And then I just ended up not doing anything. That’s what happens. I just didn’t understand what to do next. I didn’t have a mentor. I didn’t even know what that was. So it’s crazy to think and I never would have imagined in a million years, 15 years later, I’m getting this award, we’re sharing a stage together and we’re exchanging books. I never would have imagined it.

It was a really cool deal. So it can happen. Books are super powerful and we believe that we’ve made it easier than ever for folks to plug in. And like I said, it’s for folks who want to do senior housing. And then what happened was that, well, once you have a deal, what do you need after that? The money. So we created a licensing program. This is one of my student’s books, Leonard, I’m really proud of him. He’s in Seattle. And because it turns out, guess what? Senior homeowners have questions. And when you give them the book, they look at you really differently. It works the same way with private money lenders. Who knew? So this is Leonard’s book. And then we just swap out covers. Here’s Tim Davis’. So you see how they’re different? But the insides are the same. But here’s the thing, the person you’ve given it to doesn’t care.

They just want to solve their problem. They’re just trying to figure out how to not get into a deal with a lousy borrower. They’re just trying to figure out if this deal really has a discount or not, they just want to have their questions answered. So instead of going to a blog or getting a bunch of emails, which have a low perceived value, we give them something that has a higher perceived value and a higher level of expected authority and expertise. And we just educate and help people. We tell them this isn’t for everybody. Being a private money lender on real estate is not for everybody. This is who it’s for. This is who is not for. This is my book and if you want to go through it together, I’d love your feedback. You know, stuff like that. So it’s been really cool and he’s happy because he didn’t have to rewrite this himself.

And then what we’re good at is helping people apply it to their marketing because just getting a box of books where you wrote one chapter with everybody else, nobody cares about when you fell down a well and you overcome your struggles, they just care about themselves. “What’s in it for me?”, that’s what all the homeowners are thinking. That’s what all the private money lenders are thinking. They won’t tell you that, but that’s what they’re really thinking. So just give them that, but give it to them in a way that establishes your authority and your credibility and it’s scalable and that’s pretty much what we do. And then we created a book system for Gene Guarino. We just did his latest book, and his students licensed it. And then we haven’t even announced this publicly, but we just wrote a book for Eddie Speed and the Richard Thornton, and so there notes students are going to license that out. That’s brand new. We haven’t even announced it, but I guess I spoiled it a little bit. So it’s been really cool to help people because everybody there wants to lead with more value. They want to educate well, I mean, who would ever say no to that? So it’s been cool.

Jay Conner

00:27:14

What you’ve done there, Max, is you’ve created a way that no matter what niche someone has in real estate, they can further invest on how to raise their credibility and actually convert a higher percentage of prospects into actually doing business. Well, I know we’ve got people that want to connect with you. So what’s the best way for people to connect with you, Max?

Max Keller

00:27:37

Yeah, it’s real simple. We made a special link as long as it’s up, so don’t delay, but we’re going to leave it up at least for the first 25 people who download this. So we created a new book called, “The Real Estate Investors Bookwriting Checklist.” It’s basically all the steps that we went through when we wrote Gene’s book and Eddie’s book and Richard’s book. But we didn’t have that when we started and we haven’t seen it in any other books. So it’s a real simple guide that you can use, whether you’re thinking about writing a book or an e-book or you just want to have social media messages that convert better. It’s real simple. Just go to DealsChasingYou.com/Conner. You can download a copy of the book while the link is still up. And then you can go on the website and check out some of the training videos that we have. It talks about the different types of book systems and how it would benefit you because that’s what it’s all about. It’s about getting more deals. It’s about getting more dollars. And when those things get dialed in, the marketing becomes a lot easier. Life just gets better.

Jay Conner

00:28:50

Max, thank you so much for offering that amazing gift to our listeners here. Any final comments and advice?

Max Keller

00:29:01

Just lead with value. Look, I know you can go deep sea fishing and I know there’s some great fishing where you’re at. You can go deep sea fishing and spend 4 hours trying to wrestle a big fish on the boat. That works. People do it. It’s just really exhausting. That’s what it’s like to market in a crowded market, trying to compete against Wall Street with price. That’s what it’s like trying to market without a book. But what we do is totally different. We share what we’re doing. And then we attract the people that resonate with our message. And so they’re calling and qualifying themselves to work with us. And in one of the most competitive markets in the nation, in one of the most competitive times, people are regularly calling us asking if they qualify to work with us. That’s a big difference.

Jay Conner

00:29:49

That’s awesome. Thank you so much, Max. There, you have it, folks.

[boop-le-snoot]

masterpost • main masterlist • taglist & faq

previously on...

Chapter 3 is finally here. Sorcerers need their shopping done, too. Beyonce/Wong platonic ship (joking)! And finally some action, more witchy stuff. Bucky whump because I have a saviour complex. Stucky cuteness moment. Some blood/gore in this chapter.

My insides clenched, seeing the yellow and blue notice taped to my door - the building manager rarely left notes, so whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good. I had managed to wind myself up into an anxious frenzy by the time I had gone inside and locked my door behind me, immediately thinking I would have to exhaust myself by turning to magic to keep a roof over my head.

For once, the news turned out to be positive: a neighbor was being evicted and turned in to the police for stealing packages. The building manager urged the tenants to report any missing items and apply for a refund when possible, apologizing for the inconvenience. I wondered what prompted this, basically unheard of in NYC, act of kindness as my altar stared at me with mocking amusement, pointing out the obvious by its mere presence.

Grinning to myself, I texted Odette - predictably, she was happy for me, happy that my protection spell had turned out strong and steady, and added a few tips of her own for my spell to stay that way. It felt like I'd grown invisible wings, those days, with all the possibilities open - and never once did I let myself entertain a thought of getting back at an enemy of the past for longer than five seconds.

Sure, it was perfectly human to consider making the cheating ex go bankrupt or make sure the college professor, that failed a couple of students each semester as a 'reality check', trips and face-plants at least once a day... I mean, who wouldn't experience a malicious sort of joy from petty revenge?

But I found my powers were best applied with a positive result in mind. My friend's cat was the first test rat- I mean, living creature I had practiced my healing spells on. The eleven year old kitty was struggling and both me and my friend loved the critter dearly - so the short, but tiring spell I performed yielded exactly the results I was expecting. Odette said something about genuine love backing up the magic, and- well, Dumbledore much?

On humans, it turned out, it wasn't nearly as simple. I didn't know what I had expected would happen after performing nothing short of a whole improv-performace type of ritual right in front of my very puzzled but hopeful friend with chronic asthma, but it wasn't the sheer exhaustion that ran bone-deep and left me bedridden for a whole day.

Odette visited my dingy apartment with her signature enormous purse full of vials she spoon-fed me and trinkets she strategically placed in and around my immediate sleeping area. "There, there," the woman patted my head as I pitifully moaned at the ear-splitting headache. "The first one is always the most challenging. After all, if it would be easy, everyone would do it."

I understood that. But at the same time, it felt unfair that no good deed went unpunished. I told Odette so, raising my voice to the best of my ability as she rummaged around my kitchen.

"Nothing in this world comes out of thin air, whatever you decide to give has to be taken from somewhere," she explained patiently. "People like us are considered hedge witches. We do solitary work and draw most of our energy from the Earth, from mother Nature. We cannot perform miracles, however, the cost of our spells are very low," I felt an immediate peak of interest at the simple yet effective explaination she gave me. "We remain mostly human. Gaia* is kind and generous to the ones who pay respect," Odette continued over the clatter of pans and pots. "There are other kinds of witches - who take from other people, who take from the dead. But taking something by force always leaves scars and taking something from the dead means bringing a piece of them back to places it should not be."

I pondered the words as Odette brought the kettle to a boil, the whistling shriek piercing through my skull like a sharp projectile. "What about Voodoo practitioners?" I couldn't hold back my curiosity.

Odette cleared her throat. "What is left of them is mostly not human. Their gifts are great but the costs are greater. They can live far, far longer than the average witch but their souls will know no peace, just like the souls of the dead they anchor to themselves over time," Odette entered the room with a bowl of tangy, creamy liquid that smelled like pumpkin soup. "We do not bestow any judgement upon our brothers and sisters but it is our duty to inform the young." She cast a pointed glance towards me, passing me the soup and a wooden spoon I didn't know I had. "This should help you recover. Take tomorrow off if needs be."

She left shortly afterwards and I hadn't much strength than to use the bathroom, wash the rune-engraved spoon and curl up in my bed, only waking up when the meager light shone over my face from the window. Sleepy and fog-tinted, the early morning NYC was damp and windy as I stuck my head out of the window to soak my sleep-heated head in the cool air.

As uneventful as the day at the café was, I still wasn't up to 100% energy-wise, but the long walk from Jeremy's to Odette's was pleasantly invigorating. I didn't find the cold autumn moisture displeasing; the small raindrops kept me awake and alert. Odette nodded in muted pleasure as I clocked in and returned the special spoon back to her. The runes on it were interesting; I had taken a picture of them for research purposes, fully intending to craft myself something similar.

"Odette has taken on an apprentice," Wong's voice had me take in several deep breaths in preparation for the inevitable fuck-fest on my patience. "She has been avoiding me. And the girl is painfully slow."

I didn't hear the answer of Wong's companion over the rustling of the boxes I was hastily shoving in their places before the Asian man's temper grew foul. More foul. Ugh. The sharp ding of the bell had me yelling a, "Just a second please, I'll be right with you," while trying to keep my tone polite.

Wong's sour face and a list of items required greeted me as I flew out of the backrooms, noticing the locked doors of Odette's office on my way out. Wong's companion stood at the far end of the store - his robes quite different from the ones I'd seen people of their kind wear, his lithe, tall figure seeming strangely familiar. I squinted my eyes at his back. "Is this all you need?" I waved the list around, increasing the volume of my voice.

The tall man turned around and I could only gape. He, in turn, also froze, the stern, unfriendly expression losing heat and giving way to perplexed wonder. "I had placed an order, for sorcerer Strange," Tony's boyfriend eyed me somewhat sheepishly under Wong's concerned gaze.

I nodded, eyeing Wong in turn, letting satisfaction nestle a warm ball in my chest. Stephen's look of displeasure had turned onto his... Colleague. By the time I finished retrieving Strange's order and packing up the items on Wong's list, the Asian man had left, leaving Stephen to sheepishly pretend to examine the books on the furthest shelf. I waved the paper bags as he took long strides towards me, his fancy, large necklace glimmering under the lights.

"So, how long have you been working here?" Sorcerer Strange asked after I told him the total.

The cash register beeped loudly, coins clattering on the desk as I counted out his change. "Some time now," I shrugged noncommittally. I felt his magnetic eyes gloss over my adornments, the star necklace, the various rings; I could practically feel him coming to his own conclusions. "Long enough for your colleague to get an attitude with me," I had to make sure he knew I would be taking no bullshit from him - or anyone else, for that matter. Odette's opinion on his kind was firm and I was heavily inclined to agree.

"Hmm, I see," Strange was equally as keen on hiding his curiosity. It was a funny thing, really, that we, being adults that we were, treated this encounter like some sort of a dirty secret. "Don't take it personally. Wong is like that with everyone," The man briefly scratched his beard with a gloved hand before pocketing his change and picking up the bags. "Except Beyoncè, maybe," the wink he threw me was positively mischievous as it caught me off-guard, giving him a fox-like appearance.

I sighed as the door shut behind him. Pretty white boys - the ultimate human disasters.

I had no time to dwell on them, however, as something - or someone, hit downtown with all the malicious intentions to wreak havoc on the innocent civilians calmly going about their day. Mutants and people who knew Odette came in hordes, scrapes and bruises and strange wounds that required imminent healing.

My boss was no rookie, she dutifully accepted each and every single soul, looking worse for wear with each minute. Not being able to withstand seeing her drain herself, I simply took over the simplest tasks - and she said nothing, just gave me a nod, instructed to use whatever I needed and write it down somewhere along with the name of the person who required the healing.

As the battle raged, the crowds thinned but the ones who managed to come to Odette's spouted more serious wounds, obviously a result of them fighting back. Mutants covered head to toe with coats and hats and robes, for me to swallow my shock when they undressed - horns, tails and weird skin textures were on the far end of the normal. I dutifully extracted small pieces of information from each and every person I treated.

Yes, the Avengers were winning. No, there aren't many people hurt, most of the damage is cosmetic. Yes, the villain of the week is as stupid as usual. It was like a mantra. Odette poked her head into the spare room every now and then, her eagle eyes briefly scanning over me to make sure I wasn't exterting myself.

As I applied the healing salve to a tiny, pink-skinned woman, bandaging up her hands, my boss entered and closed the door behind her, setting down on the creaky chair with a loud thud. "Just got the news, the Avengers apprehended the terrorist," she sighed long and slow. "We've done all we could, the next few days I'll be handling house calls so you'll be here on your own. I'll probably see you in a few days, don't hesitate to give me a call if something comes up," Odette seemed to be barely standing up, yet when she tore off a few pieces of her jewelry and chucked them into a big tin can under the sink, the glossy sheen in her eyes melted away.

"Okay," I mumbled under the watchful eyes of the mutant woman. "Will there be more people coming in today?"

"No," the woman in front of me snorted. "SHIELD is prowling the streets. They are not fond of us, they always say we intervene unnecessarily even though we willingly do their dirty work so our children could be safe," the bitter, harsh tone took me off-guard.

I had to admit, there was reason behind her words. "Will you be able to get home safely? I have a puffy coat and a hat you can borrow." Figuring an expensive taxi ride would be a better alternative to something terrible happening to the woman, I offered her my winter clothes.

She smiled at me, razor blade teeth and large, red eyes the kindest I'd ever seen on a person. In the end, she took the clothes, promising to bring them back in a few days and Odette gave me a parka that was too small for her frame - despite it smelling like someone's grandma's attic, I found it to be quite lovely vintage. The puffy knitted scarf she added felt like warmth and safety - she had to have knitted it herself, for I knew, handmade items carried a significant amount of energy in them.

The shop was eerily quiet as I cleaned and scrubbed the stained, dirty floors and disposed of the bloody clothes and bandages in the tiny, odd fireplace in Odette's office - that was a thing most peculiar, it burned everything I put in it, but had no chimney, no place for the smoke to exit. Magic.

Something banged loudly against the entrance door. I let out a startled shriek, broomstick falling out of my hand and adding to the sudden cacophony of noise as the figure behind the stained glass slowly slid down the door, a deep, male voice groaning something incomprehensible loud enough for me to hear.

Grabbing a large serrated knife we used for mincing the bones of small animals, I made quiet steps towards the door, seeing a large, obviously humanoid figure helplessly lean on the door. The man's arm glinted chrome black and gunmetal grey in the low light. "Sargent Barnes? Bucky?" I whisper-shouted, carefully plying open the door.

He lifted his head, blood dripping down from it, his face looked like someone went to town on it with a meat mullet, his eyes were unfocused and couldn't keep a straight line. His flesh arm leaned heavily on the door frame, the prosthetic hanging limply, dragging his whole body to its side. It must've weigh a ton.

"Я должен найти капитана Роджерса," he whispered.

I didn't understand Russian at all but I could make out the name of his boyfriend. Which made sense. Bucky looked severely concussed - I idly wondered what exactly they had been fighting, what could have given a freaking super-soldier such a brain-leaking injury. "Sargent Barnes, follow me," I put on my big girl shoes and used my momma bear voice, towing the man behind me.

He, too, weighed a ton, as I stumbled, helping him into the chair in the spare room that became my healing station for today. The longer I looked at Bucky, the less lucid he grew, eyes falling shut as he murmured something in jagged Russian, slurring his words.

There was no time to think about the consequences of exposure of my witchcraft; mortar and pestle, herbs and salves flying everywhere, I assembled a healing spell and memorized the according ritual in what felt like record time. He was bleeding all over the chair, fresh crimson blood pouring out of his nose and mouth and it was all I could see.

I hadn't known true terror until the blood that poured out turned black. Whatever it was in him, it was poisonous - my protection charms grew hot, scalding as they left marks on my skin; powering through the pain and unable to turn my eyes off the convulsing Barnes, I finished the chant just as the flow of vile, tar-like liquid suddenly ceased. It pooled around his feet, dripped down the armrests and matted his long hair. It reeked, too, of copper and putrid meat.

Bucky had passed out somewhere mid-spell, the slow, steady breathing bringing me my own sense of calm. To say that I was drained would be an understatement - my vision swam and my world spun on it's axis as I unlocked Odette's office to messily rummage through a cabinet for the emergency tonic I knew she kept there. I chugged the vial, an avalanche of almost anxious, jittery energy hit me like a freight train - exactly what I needed.

I bought myself a couple hours of time. Cleaning up the sludge around Bucky's feet and removing the outer parts of his gear was easy as he remained as relaxed as a cooked spaghetti noodle. The amount of weapons he had on him was impressive, but those weren't what I was looking for - his phone. It was dead, so I plugged it in, waiting for the 5% to show and bringing it to his fingertips, hoping he used the print recognition instead of the password option... And I lucked out.

"Hello, this is Star, I found a Bucky. Tell Dr. Strange to come get him, he knows where I am." I texted the "Stevie ❤️" contact, my inner fangirl self squealing at the dorky name of his boyfriend's contact in Bucky's phone. Shortly afterwards, I went ahead and snapped a picture of myself next to sleeping Bucky, figuring out some actual proof wouldn't do any harm in this bizarre situation.

The answer didn't let me wait long. "10 minutes" came the first text, and shortly afterwards - "Is Bucky okay??????". I had to snort at the amount of question marks before honestly replying "He will be ☺️" and putting the phone back in Bucky's pocket. I cleaned up and attempted to lift Bucky up, succeeding in waking him up into a half-lucid state, probably courtesy of decades of training and whatnot, to at least drag him to the front of the store. I wasn't particularly comfortable with strangers seeing the backrooms.

Bucky leaned with his back against the counter, ass flat on the floor and a towel with a cold compress pressed to his head when the doors all but flew open, revealing Captain Rogers, still in uniform and Stephen Strange, arguing with his boyfriend, both still suited up and bloody and grimy.

"Uhh," I blinked owlishly, causing the men to stop bickering and stare first at me, then at Bucky. "I think he hit his head," I offered weakly, backing up slightly at the amount of burning eyes staring at me.

"Shortcake, that you?" Tony's eyebrows rose as he surveyed the bodega, the items on the shelves, the black and red blood stains on my previously pristine, yellow shirt.

"Now is not the time, Tony. Go with Rogers, make sure the medical is prepared for Barnes and disable his arm," Strange barked out authoritatively, shooting me a puzzled but compassionate look. "The portal is open. I'll talk to Star, find out what happened." He advanced towards me as Captain picked up Bucky bridal-style as tenderly as he could while making sure the compress stayed on.

"Keep that tone fo the bedroom," Tony's voice was more than displeased as he shot me and Strange a hurt look, but followed Steve into the golden circle right outside the door before it sparked shut.

"Now, now, what happened here?" The sorcerer's voice lowered into a soothing drawl as I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding. My shoulders sagged, fingers twitching with anxious energy. The man extended a gloved hand, briefly squeezing my shoulder. "It's alright, take your time."

Damn, did I look that bad?

Taglist: @couldntbedamned @mikariell95 @letsby @sleep-i-ness @toomanyrobins @mostly-marvel-musings @persephonehemingway @schemefrenzy @lillsxd @bluecrazedandbeautiful @slothspaghettiwrites

[cartoonfangirl1218]

True Colors

Looking at my old messages from FF.net, I found this old descendants story so I decided why not, I'll post it. Heavily inspired by @screaminginternallyalleternity's Jane characterization and JanexCarlosxJay ship. Mainly cuz I had been messaging her. Anywho, hope y'all enjoy.

"So what do you say?" Jordan asked taking a huff of silph.

"It's funny." Jane smiled dreamily, her mind already wandering off as the effects of the silph relaxed her. Though she was sharing her room right kow, she felt at peace and alone, and safe.

"No no" Jordan said waving her hand as if to clear the fumes "I'm serious, we should go to the homecoming dance as ourselves. Our natural forms."

Jane was tempted to roll her eyes at Jordan's ridiculous idea. Go to the dance in their real forms. Ones that were technically "banned" because of how obvious they were magical. Ones that she hid all these years.

She wanted to roll her eyes but Jordan was being oddly insistant about it.

"Why?" Jane asked, evading having to answer or even think about her playing a role in this scheme. She couldn't. She never showed her form to anyone. Her blue freckles were disguised with concealer, her wings and tattos carefully hidden through clothes in which she had never taken them off ever.

"Just for fun. To show those stupid mortals what they are missing? How dare they make us hide what we really are and suppress ourselves." Jordan snorted, clearly gearing up for her usual rant against mortals and the magic ban. "So worried about what we could do to them. How we are technically better than them, hotter than them"

"That's just the silph talking" Jane said softly but already she could feel her panic coming. Barely but it was there. The silph was suppressing it making a odd conflicted emotion.

She felt like she was about to drown, her head trying to reach the surface for a breath of frenetic air and energy but also underwater where it was calm and still.

"No, I thought of doing it before...Non-silph talking. Zoning out during class and stuff."

"Really?" Jane said, trying to keep the conversation heading back to her.

"Yeah. Like one time when I was 13, I had really considered it. Sorta stupid and immature. I wanted to show up Audrey. You know, because of how she is always bragging how she is the prettiest and the fairest. Also I used to have a crush on Ben."

"You had a crush on Ben" Jane murmured.

She never would have guessed, Jordan didn't seem the type. She always figured she would be with a more confident, brash person. And a Fae at that too considering how she always complained of mortals.

"Ben's...Ben. He's so generous and caring. Unselfishness, such a turn on." Jordan sighed wistfully.

"If it's just for the dates, you shouldn't do it." Jane advised.

"But it's not just the guys. It's showing off to the girls too. It's an ego boost. Aren't you tired of being ignored, and considered to be plain when you just KNOW that you could top those mortal girls any day of the week." Jordan protested. 

Jane blanched. No! That sounded horrible. It was enough people thought of her as a freak and avoided her now. Not that she wanted to hang out with others and their shallowness. She didn't want people to look at her like she was some sort of object. Her form wasn't even that pretty. "But but it looks weird, it's not pretty." She said.

"Please." Jordan scoffed. But seeing Jane's uncertainty she changed to a softer tone.

"Even if you don't think so. The mortals will. I mean I have bright pink skin for goodness sake" she pulled at her pink streaks "That doesn't look good but the people think it's hot as hell. It's because we are Fae. It's a novelty, we are exotic and exotic is erotic. It reminds them of who we actually are. Magical, mysterious, thus incredibly unattainable and sexy." Jane looked down nervously, taking long calming breaths. "I'm not doing it." 

To Jane, this step of showing off was too overwhelming and intimate. Her wings, her tattoos were personal. Whenever she did unfurl her wings alone she felt exposed but free because she was alone. To do that with people staring at her would be unthinkable and clustraphobic. These over-entitled royals would see her as exotic alright. A exotic toy or object to be touched and viewed over. Just more bullying over why Jane wouldn't serve them or help them.

Jordan frowned, "I was hoping but I figured you wouldn't. Oh well better yet to make a solo entrence. With your lithe curves you might have taken even more attention than me. After all people wouldn't expect you to do it." Jane sighed. No they wouldn't and she was perfectly fine with playing up to THAT expectation.

Two weeks later was the homecoming dance and Jane waited nervously outside the courtyard doors for her dates, Jay and Carlos. It was the second dance they were coming all together and she felt as fluttery as she did the first time.

They made her feel normal in a way. They all had issues but they understood each other. She felt safe, and even if people stared at the threesome she didn't care. The people that mattered to her were with her. As she waited patiently for the two to show up, she looked around at the expanse of darkness. 

How things had changed. She wouldn't have gone to one of these events last year. Too boring. But now with the incursion of VKs there were quiet a few changes even some repeals of the magic ban even though she had disapproved Mal's actions in ignoring the ban and giving magic and an even worse rep.

From the corner of her eye, she saw one of the ornately shaped hedges rustling and went over to it.

She saw Jordan applying the finishing touches of black lipstick as she stared into a compact mirror.

"Hey,” Jane waved.

"Oh hi,” Jordan said distractedly.

"Are you still doing your big entrance?" Jane asked shyly. Even though Jordan seemed fine showing off her form, it still felt like an intimate act to Jane so she felt that it and to be whispered with the respected amount of privacy. 

"Yeah," Jordan clipped her compact shut, and transformed.

Jane tried not to be so obvious in her astonishment but her mouth dropped open anyway. She could see what Jordan meant by the pink skin looking odd but at the same time, it was incredibly alluring.

Her hair had lost its' pink streaks and was out of the usual ponytail in long pure black waves. The hair itself looked like it was constantly moving in slow-motion as if she was underwater. Her eye were still light blue but now circled with azure. Same blue eyeshadow with three distinctive spots over her left eye. Her black lips provided a contrast to the skin.

The rest of her body had changed as well. A more pronounced curvy figure to say the least. The light green sleeveless tube top was cut off at the midriff and Jane secretly wondered how the hell it was holding up Jordan's pronounced bust considering that it looked like it was one jump away from popping out completely.

Magic she supposed.

Meanwhile her matching skirt laid loosely over her now obvious hips, and where her legs were, now was a smokey wave as if she had just emerged from a lamp. Jordan had also highlighted her look with shiny jewels that Agrabah was famous for. A diamond/emerald necklace. An amber jewel coming from her belly ring. Tiny ruby, amethyst and Amber jewels decorating the dress itself in patterns. Plus the golden cuff links genies were known by.

It was an awe-ing sight altogether and she couldn't or wanted to look away from how Jordan moved and glistened.

"So that dress..interesting," Jane said.

Jordan tugged on her pointed ear with it's single gold hoop, "I'm the embodiment of wish fulfillment. You learn to deal with the no clothes thing."

Jane merely nodded than comment, "It's cool that you're doing this. I just wouldn't...it's scary."

"I know, I'm scared too." Jordan said which took Jane aback. She had showed no fear throughout this whole thing.

"You think I don't know what might happen. Being objectified, moreso than usual. More demands for wishes. The usual entitled mortal comments. People that forgot how magical I am will remember, and want favors. Trust me. I'm sticking by Aziz or Ben the entire night. No casual one night stands today." "You don't have to do it." Jane assured her.

"I'm going to." Jordan said firmly "Even though I hate how people see me. I hate hiding who I am even more. Hiding magic is painful, and using silph is okay but still that is a small consolation. There has to be more." 

Jane thought of Starlight Valley with her father. How wonderful it was. "Good luck then" Jane murmered as Jordan started toward the door. Then paused to pull up Jordan's tube top up a little more so the bust was safely cradled in them. Even though it still looked a bit unlikely to stay that way.

"Thanks. Have fun tonight." Jordan said and went inside.

Jane resumed her position outside but couldn't ignore the pounding wave of thoughts she felt from inside. As well as the actual noise of whistles and catcalls.

Jane sighed and summoned some courage and wiped off the concealer from her cheeks as Carlos and Jay ambled toward her. The move revealed her light blue freckles that danced across here face.

"Hi Jane" Carlos smiled with a hint of nervous excitement. His bright white teeth made an unconscious smile dance across her lips. "Pretty" Jay, ever the blunt one, poked at her cheek, to which Jane playfully swatted his hand away.

"Have you always had them?" Carlos asked as he took her hand. "Yeah" Jane bit her lip, smiling.

"They're pretty" Carlos complimented "They match your eyes." 

Jane nodded her head bs shrilly and grabbed Jay's hand to head inside.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Weird, “Autograph.”

Wrote this between sporadic bouts of studying because I have the attention span of a flea and the motivation of a blob fish. So This is for those of you asking about what happened after “Movie Star.” 

He watched his shuttle hit altitude and then vanish into a pristine blue sky. The roaring of the engines faded away until there was nothing but the distant thunder of jet engines, so much quieter in comparison to the wild screaming of the spacefaring craft headed on her way back to the Harbinger, and a crew that would be captained by his second in command. It hurt him to think that someone else would be captaining his ship, that she'd be in deep space without him.

He wondered if this is what it felt like for a parent to leave their child for the first time.

It all just made his heart ache, and he had the sudden desire to call and make sure she hadn’t spontaneously combusted as soon as he had entered that shuttle leaving her on the docking port moonside.

“Yep, she totally exploded, the entire crew is dead and their ashes will forever float through space.” He turned his head to glower at Conn floating at his back and staring up into the sky with a grin.

“Shut the hell up Conn.”

“Make me.”

“Do I need to remind you that the only thing between you and a snapped spine is a gravitational chastity belt.” he snarled 

Conn adjusted the gravity field harness around his narrow-protruding hips, “Speaking of chastity belts-”

He held up a hand, “NO-no I am stopping that line of conversation right there.”

A gentle hand rested on one of his shoulders, and he turned to find Sunny standing over him her head tilted slightly to one side. The expression she had on was almost comical for an alien without human facial structures, “They’ll be fine.” Then she slapped him on the back making him stagger forward, “Now stop frowning, You should be excited.”

He straightened himself out adjusting his jacket.

To his side, Krill sighed and looked up at the sky with an almost longing expression.

“What’s your problem?” Sunny wondered 

The Vrul sighed, “The amount of time I spend on a class A death planet is really making me question my sanity.”

“You’re only now beginning to question your sanity?” Adam wondered wryly as he looked around the tarmac. Aside from a couple of baggage carriers, and people in bright orange vests, there was no one here, and no way to tell where they were supposed to go.

“Ha ha, funny ...Where are we going?”

“Guess we sort of just head towards the terminal?” He glanced towards the taxiways between them and the terminal and shook his head. That didn’t seem likely, but also…. There was no one here, “Or not…. I would expect at least someone to be here.”

Sunny crossed her arms in annoyance, “Seems kind of rude they would ask you to come and then just…. Leave you.” 

His eyes scanned over the tarmac once more, baggage carts, buggies, distant buses, a fancy black car, but nothing close by. He adjusted his bag over his shoulder, “May as well walk to those people over there and ask them. I don’t want to get in the way of the planes.”

Adam, followed by his extraterrestrial entourage slowly began heading in that direction. A bus rolled by them going the opposite direction, and the black car from earlier turned onto the same road to roll past. Adam kept walking.

“Commander!..... Commander Vir.” 

The group of them spun in a tight circle turning to face the car, which turned out to be a limousine, the front window rolled down, and a man in a dark suit leaning out.

Adam looked around like there was someone else by that name standing behind him before pointing at himself, “I ur…. Me.”

The man parked the car and stepped out reaching over to open the car door, “Mr. Ellis apologizes that he couldn’t meet you in person, but he hopes that you will find his personal car satisfactory. Adam blinked like a deer in the headlights, “Er… uh… are you sure you’ve got the right person?” He eyed the car.

“You stupid or something?” Conn wondered floating towards the door and vanishing inside the car, much to the driver’s confusion and surprise. He stared after Conn with wide eyes before turning to look at Adam.

“Believe it or not he's actually pretty tame for his species.” The commander sighed stepping forward and thanking the man awkwardly as he slid inside.

He wasn’t entirely sure if satisfaction was the word he’d use to describe how he felt. Everything, and he meant everything was extravagant and eccentric to the extreme. Crystal glasses, with the appropriate liquor, adjustable colored lights, heated seats in a fabric he couldn’t even name, the absolute definition of leg-room so that even Sunny was comfortable. There was a TV just above the far end turned to the news, a snack bar, a sun roof. He folded his hands in his lap afraid to touch anything for fear of damaging it.

Sunny scooted to sit next to him while Conn and Krill took the other side. 

Conn leaned back in his seat, “Not bad.”

“You would say that.” Adam muttered leaning a little closer to Sunny hands pinned between his knees so as not to touch anything.

Sunny had no such qualms sprawling out like she owned the place head resting back onto a fluffy set of cushions just before the window, “Now this, I could get used to.”

Adam disagreed, there was no way that he would ever be able to get used to something like this. In fact, at this moment he was wondering what he was even doing here, hanging out in famous people’s fancy cars with private drivers. He wasn’t special enough for something like that. In fact, he was a soldier, that was it, and arguably not even a very good one. He was just some lucky son of a bitch who had alien friends and a spaceship somehow by coincidence.

He should have been happy, but felt himself wilt internally as he looked around the car at all the fancy things.

Conn watched him from across the car but said nothing.

Unfortunately for him, Sunny caught the tension glancing between him and Conn. 

The were rolling out of the LAX tarmac as she spoke, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Adam interjected over Conn, who continued to speak through Adam.

“Boo hoo, oh woe is me, I’m not special enough enough to be here, I am just an average guy who's not even actually good at anything wa ... was.”

Adam snarled at Conn, “get the hell out of my head Conn.”

“You can’t just leave your mind dangling open for all your thoughts to flop out.”

“Thanks for phrasing the analogy that way Conn, I appreciate it.” he leaned back in his seat arms now crossed, “And yeah, I feel a bit out of place. I should be back up with my men doing something useful but here I am being treated all special by people who barely even know me. If they really did they wouldn’t be half as interesting. If they knew how half the stuff I did was pure dumb luck, or how i spend most of the scared out of my mind. How I’m not some kind of badass.” Sunny hummed deep in her chest, “Yes, the story of the man whose dumb lluck led him to being the most important human in the galaxy is totally boring. Yawn, I am falling asleep already.”

“You don’t even yawn.”

“Why do you think I said yawn instead of actually yawning then?” 

He growled, “My point is, I just feel out of place.”

“Welcome to being a celebrity Adam. Having dumb luck that put you in a position for people to look up to you. You think these people got here because they are ACTUALLY special. No, they got here because their parents were famous, or because they got into good acting schools when they were kids, or because they knew a guy. All of these people got lucky, aren’t actually special, and there are plenty of people out there more talented than they are, but at this point they are so famous no one cares anymore.”

Adam sat in silence contemplating the thought, “II mean…. When you put it like that.”

“You know it's because I am always right.” Sunny said smugly.

He turned his head towards the window watching the city pass by below them. LA was the largest and one of the most ancient cities on the continent. Of course it spoke nothing of a city like Rome or London, but it was still pretty impressive. The entire place was so shiny and white mixed with delicate greenery all built on the bones of the slums. Not only was LA one of the oldest cities on the continent it was also one of the richest. The further they went the nicer the already nice buildings got reaching towards the sky all shiny and white.

Massive mansions dominated the distance with high gates and private shuttle pads. 

The sky above them was dominated by flying cars, private shuttles, and the occasional jet. One mansion they passed by was so big, it seemed  as if the front facade went on for almost a mile intertwined with many decorative fountains and trimmed hedges upkeep exclusively by robots.

They turned down another street heading into the city with expensive outlet malls and large flashy brand names that probably cost as much as the warp core used to power his ship. He was both parts intimidated and stunned leaning towards the window to stare at all the strange people that walked the sidewalks.

He turned his head following a very excessively dressed man in a tailored ball gown that took up most of the sidewalk.

Where he grew up in the suburbs, there had been people who dressed according to plenty of other time periods, but the trend had been early 2000s mostly thanks to his mother who performed the modest almost utilitarian style of their clothing plus they had never been rich enough to afford new fashion. Jeans were cheap, easy to make, a staple of the poor masses. Not that they had been poor poor per say, after the war his father worked as a farmhand for Megafarm producing millions of pounds of produce, while his mother had quit teaching to pursue business in talor-making period accurate clothing for those who were into that sort of thing. As a result, his family had been middle middle class.

But this…. This was for the 1%. A place he had never even dreamed of seeing.

He looked down at himself again, shabby jeans, black T-shirt and a hand me down leather jacket from his older brother David, which had seen better days.

He sunk down in his seat.

They took another corner and pulled up to the gate. He craned his neck to look out the window glancing up to the large sign hanging over the gate which read.

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS.

Named for the ancient strip of land which produced many of the early movies when film was in its infancy. Once famous for the land and the people who lived there, it was now famous for being the highest grossing film studio EVER. A powerhouse of film that practically monopolized the world of action. While a lot of people demonized the studio for being a monopoly on film, Adam could see why.

They made some good shit.

The gate buzzed open and they were driven inside. He HAD to get a better look rolling open the skylight and standing to look out the top of the car. Hundreds of people dressed in costumes, carrying props, cameras, equipment. Mouth open like an idiot he stared through open warehouse doors and onto virtual projected sets on which actors stood in full costume, or in motion capture suits. Camera men walked around in massive exoskeletons controlling up to ten cameras at once.

A dog trotted past with a handler, a dog that Vir recognized from plenty of movies in which she had starred tail wagging tongue lolling. He dropped back inside the car with wide eyes staring at Sunny who was also looking out the window with wide eyes.

The car came to a stop towards the end of the strip, but then picked up again rolling into one of the giant warehouses and pulling to  a stop. The engine cut, and the doors opened. He stepped out thanking the Driver.

“Commander Vir! Just who I wanted to see!” He turned just in time to catch Director Ellis, or more like be blinded by him, as he skipped up wearing his strange sequin suit and cat-eye glasses. Instead of going for the handshake the man grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, “It’s so exciting to finally have you here. You will be so excited to see what we have done. Just like you said, being as accurate as possible’ it's been a real challenge, but I assure you, you will be so proud. We have done so much research, and I have talked to experts everywhere” 

A mousy little woman scuttled after him holding two cups of coffee looking frazzled and exhausted as she tried to keep up with her boss.

Members of the crew looked up from where they were standing and a few exclamations of awe went up, and he couldn’t blame them, aliens were pretty cool. Despite Conn being a total asshole, he cut an impressive figure of billowing white ribbon and slow ethereal movement.

The man pulled back eyes widening at Conn, “You will be an absolute bitch to animate,”

“Match his personality.” Sunny quipped stepping out of the car.

She was greeted excessively by the director as well as Krill.

A sizable crowd had gathered, and Adam stepped back intending to allow his non-human friends the attention they deserved.

That’s not exactly what ended up happening. Stepping out of the circle he heard a shriek that made him nearly leap out of his skin. He turned to find a young woman with large glasses wearing a grey suit and pencil skirt. There was a pile of papers and a clipboard on the ground at her feet like she had dropped them.

Her eyes were wide as she stared at him mouth open.

“Er…… are you ok?” He ventured leaning down to pick up her papers.

When he stood back up she was still frozen her eyes wide. He offered her papers back.

That broke her from her frozen state but beginning with her hands which started to shake frantically in front of her. The shaking grew wider and wider, her expression grew more excited and she began to leap up and down squealing, “No way, no way…. No way no way no way.” That devolved  until she was simply squealing with excitement. 

Adam stepped back in shock and confusion, “It’s really you I can't believe it!”

She rushed forward arms out then paused, “Can I?” Her expression was so innocent and excited, her eyes so wide that he didn’t know how to respond.

“Er ...sure.”

She nearly broke his back wrapping her arms around him and squealing in delight again knocking her glasses askew. He grunted as the breath was crushed from his lungs. Despite being tiny she was surprisingly strong, and he felt his feet lightening upon the ground hands held out to the side still clutching her clipboard.

She stepped back after a moment with a big smile, her glasses canted at an awkward angle, “Can i get a picture with you.” She begged 

He glanced over his shoulder still not convinced that she hadn’t mistaken him for someone, “Um, Are you sure. I Maybe you have the wrong person.”

She shook her head vigorously giggling, “No, I’d know you anywhere. Commander Vir, the first man to meet sentient life, participated in the Drev war, commanding the first fleet of interstellar ships. You are my HERO.” She looked at him with eyes so wide, so innocent and starstruck that he hardly knew what to say.

He wondered if maybe he was dreaming.

“Picture?” She pleaded

“Um ... uh yeah, sure I guess.” She squealed again this time causing him to drop her clipboard as she grabbed him by the arm pulled him in and whipped out her phone snapping at least ten pictures of them before letting him go. “Mr. Vir it is such an honor.” She was saying, “I’ve read everything about you, all the declassified transmissions. Like that time you saved an alien race from extinction, or that time you ran a marathon on a A-1 death planet, or or like the three times you've saved entire planets.”

“Oh I…. really?”

She nodded, “Yes, Mr. Vir.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, “You can just call me Adam.”

He was nearly defined in the next moment as she shrieked again and hugged him.

“What’s your name?”

She put her hands over her mouth eyes wide, “S-samantha, but- but my friends call me Sammy…..You can call me Sammy.” He blinked in confused surprise and a bit of self consciousness feeling himself go a bit red.

 She may have been star struck, but he was sort of struck by her being star struck. This had to be some sort of dream, even more confusing when he realized the circle of people he assumed had been there for his alien companions had ll circled themselves around him. 

Men and women, stage crew, and actors in motion capture suits gathered around wide eyed and smiling.

He spun in a slight circle staring around at all the faces.

A man stepped from the crowd, a young guy in a motion capture suit. He held out a hand, “Commander, Ezra Hemming. I Well I guess I’m the stunt double for…. For your stunt double? Keith Jenning.” 

“So? You’ll be doing all the legwork?”

The young man blushed.” I guess you could say that.” 

Did he seriously seem nervous? It seemed so strange, and all these people were looking at him, approaching him, wanting to talk to him. It was insane, he shook so many hands learned so many names in such a short amount of time. At some point there was a hydraulic hiss, and the crowd around him parted.

A woman walked towards them elevated on a set of robotic stilt legs, wearing a motion capture suit, and an exoskeleton that gave her an extra set of arms. Vir felt his mouth drop open. Rita Ortiz… the penultimate action hero casting choice, and someone he had a boyish crush on for…. Well a couple of years now. 

In her exo suit, she was as tall as sunny, which he assumed was the point, “Commander.” She said politely.

“Ms. Ortiz…. Er…. Can I….. get your autograph.” He stammered out feeling stupid almost immediatly, but to his surprse she broke into a wide smile.

“I was about to ask you the same thing. Make it a deal and trade mine for yours.”

He choked with a rather sporadic laugh not believing her in the slightest.

Some of the crowd finally noticed his alien friends and Ms. Ortiz seemed especially interested in sunny, for obvious reasons. The two stepped up to each other examining the other with a critical eye.

Sunny seemed pleased.

Samantha lurked next to him, and he had a feeling she was trying to be discreet, but it wasn’t working. He was still wigging out about this hardly able to believe it. At some point, someone grabbed him and dragged him towards the director's chair where Ellis was was talking to some of the writers.

He turned in his chair, “Adam…. May I call you Adam, Good, the writers and I were just going over the script, and well we have run into a few snags. You gave us a pretty detailed explanation on some of the things that happened, but this part right here, the part where you lose your leg….. It's very vague.”

Adam shuffled his feet awkwardly glancing over to where Sunny was showing the actress how to more properly move like a Drev. A few of the VFX people were there as well examining her armor, its color and debating how best to reproduce that in post. 

“Well I….. It was taken off during the Drev war.”

“I mean, yeah we got that, and not to push but…. Unless you want us to cut that part out.”

He glanced again towards Sunny.

“I…. its hard to talk about.”

A hand on his shoulder, “I understand, I quite understand….”

He mulled it over for a minute while the writers were talking heart hammering in his chest. He had never told Sunny…. Never really explained about his post traumatic stress related to that incident. Never really mentioned how long it took him to trust her, and he never would. 

He'd never fess up to the nightmares.

Because he didn’t want them to matter anymore.

“I can’t explain it to you but…. I can show you.” The group of them turned almost surprised, and he was honestly surprised at himself too. What he was about to do…. It was a bigger deal than any of them might assume.

“Sunny!” he turned, and the bright blue alien trotted over humming happily the way that Drev did. She seemed so happy, nothing like the creature in his dreams, his friend, his best friend.

“Yes?”

“I…. Well I need to show them how I lost my leg, hard to explain, so I thought we might show them.”

He watched Sunny carefully, and was probably the only one who noticed the slight wilt in her shoulders. The guilt flashing in her gold eyes…. Of course the thing in his dreams would never have felt that way, “Oh ... are you sure.”

He cleared his throat waving it off, “Of course, here.” he stepped forward motioning around the room, “I remember the rocks being sort of like this. There was a shallow sort of bowl like a pocket and some rocks here. There were actually a Tesraki and a rundi soldier right there, and I was over here.”

The crew, following his words began moving around the greenscreen landscape creating the sort of space that he was talking about.

“Now I had one of those older models M-23s pieces of shit, and a knife.” He reached out for the prop weapon offered to him, “And the drev had a spear.” He glanced towards Sunny, who was looking very, very uncomfortable, but someone handed her the prop spear. She looked down at it and swivel it in her hand like the thing was an extension of her body.

She didn’t seem particularly satisfied but didn’t say anything. He moved up onto the fake terrain, and she did the same looking over at him with concern. It was almost as if she knew that even though he had never bothered to tell her. 

He came up one side of the set while she came up the other; she had the spear held out ready, and he had the gun up. Of course, he dropped it on it’s sling when it supposedly overheated, 

He remembered this like it had been yesterday, how the rock had felt under his feet, the panic he had felt for the two defenseless soldiers she was stalking. He remembered panicking when the gun malfunctioned, he remembered how he wasn’t thinking straight. He remembered making the decision that cost him his leg.

He didn’t bother trying to go easy on her, catching her around the neck and raising his hand with the collapsable knife.

The world began to spin, and before his eyes he saw the ash and fire.

He heard the gunfire felt his body moving as it once had. Saw the dark shadow, heard the screaming and felt the hot air over his body. He remembered the knife biting into her skin. He remembered being thrown to the ground.

Set lights flashed around him as he slammed into the floor, padded but still painful as he rolled to the side. Sunny’s foot came down right next to his head as he rolled to the side cutting at her heels.

The creature reached down to grab him, but he rolled to his feet cutting at the hand.

He remembered the sweat trickling down his body from the great heat of the volcanoes. He remembered how the ash had coated the stone making things strangely slippery. He remembered the poorly equipped gear and the oversized shoes.

He remembered slipping backwards landing hard on his back as the spear cut downwards.

He remembered bone cracking and flesh splitting in half.

He braced for pain but none came. The fire died, the ash vanished, and he found himself on the ground hands over his face, a spear tip lightly grazing the outer carapace of his prosthetic leg. Sunny stood over him spear held in one of her lower arms. Though her posture was ready for a fight, her eyes….. So much more expressive than that of the creature he remembered from his vision, looked at him in worry and something that looked like pain.

He lay on the ground looking up at her, at her mercy, just like he had been on that day.

And he knew she wouldn’t hurt him.

She withdrew the spear and stepped back offering one hand to him. 

He didn’t hesitate to take it, and she hauled him to his feet.

Together, they turned to look at the spectators who were looking on in awe,and shock.

Quietly sunny began, “Our orders were to remove their limbs…. In our culture Disability IS death. We thought that simply removing their limbs would stop them…. We were wrong.”

Adam tried to keep his voice light, “I don't remember much, but I crawled about ….50 feet down that hill before someone managed to find me and stabilize me. The leg was completely gone, no hope of reattaching something that’s just gone.”

“That was….. Intense.” Ellis finally cut in, “We should have had some cameras rolling dammit. Can we recreate that!” He began ordering his men around, and for a moment, the two of them were forgotten in the crowd. He stood there quietly noticing on the instant as two pairs of arms wrapped themselves around him. Enveloping him in an armored hug that almost completely encased him…. Safe.

A voice at his ear.

“Don’t EVER make me do that again.”

He placed a hand over hers, “Never, I promise.” 

[hellswolfie]

Ok so I finished The Lost Hero (from the Heroes of Olympus), it was pretty good, and here’s my thoughts : 

        THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE  : 

ok so i really want to precise that just bc i didn’t like those things didn’t mean i didn’t like the book.

- Jason. I’m actually warming up to him now that I took a step back but when i was reading i barely couldn’t stand him bc he was like...This cliche bland character surrounded by so more interesting characters but that the author shows as the real Hero of the story and the Best Person Ever. It’s a bit harsh, I know, and the fact that he often felt like a blanck state could easily be excused by his lack of memory, and I get that RR was probably trying to do a parallel with Percy but yeah still...But I’m still willing to give him a chance for the next books ^^. 

- Jiper. Yeah I’m hard on Jason, but this one is more about Piper, actually. I mean she has such an interesting background and personality and all that, but so many of her chapters were spent angsting about JASON (the fact that I didn’t like him didn’t help, ngl). And it also brought out a side of her that I really didn’t like and I fear that’s not something that she will have to answer for. Like she feels so entitled to her relationship with Jason (the “He doesn’t know it yet but he’s mine so back off” to Drew really irked bc girl that’s also HIS choice) even tho she met 3 DAYS AGO, just bc she saw how their relationship COULD be... Nope. It really doesn’t mean you have a claim on him, lady. 

- The fact that the storry is like 4 days ? 5 at most ? Like I know it’s always like that with the PJO book but I never liked this.I like slow burns stories and the fact that all the character developements, relationships and all that only took three days...it just always feels so rushed. 

- The fact that they let the threw newbies just go like that ??? I mean I get that they’re “old” and they guessed Jason had some experience but like he could have been very dangerous and a horrible person for all they knew ? And they just let those kids who have no experience whatsoever, after saying they’ll protect them and that they’re safe now, do a very important quest, on which literaly depends the fate of the world ? How could they even know they could trust them ? They didn’t even have any training (and no I don’t count coach hedge for that) ??? It just didn’t make sense to me. Bc at least Percy, in the lighting thief, was sent on a quest with on of the most experienced camper and the guy whose job was to protect him so THERE it made sense. 

- Some treatments of secondary characters like Drew, the Stereotipycal Mean Girl (which is a real old and sexist cliche imo, and it really doesn’t help that she’s a POC girl either), or Médée, who has such a tragic backstory but we still arent supposed to feel any sympathie for her ?? Fuck that. 

     THINGS I LIKED : 

- Leo. No wonder he’s a fan favorite. Like at first I thought he was just gonna be the comic sidekick who was would be useful from time to time, and then I got to read his chapters and MY GOOOD HE HAS SO MUCH DEPTH I LOVE HIM SO MUCH ??? He’s such a genius, so compassionate, his backstory is so fucking tragic and interesting and he’s a real badass I love him !! (the only thing I didn’t like about him was how he viewed women sometimes but I hope that’s something he’ll grow out of once he gains more confidence in himself). And let me tell you his relationship with Festus like...I legit cried bc of Leo when he died ?? Also I kind of ship him with Nico now, bc they have so much in common (feeling like an outcast, losing the only family they had...) but also a different way of expressing it...But yeah I spoiled myself I know it won’t happen what a waste :(

- Piper. As said before, I didn’t like anything related to Jason with her but all the rest, I loved it ! Her relationship with her dad, her fiery aptitude, how fucking brave and badass she can be...The scene when she hesitates to give the potion to her dad to make him lose his memory was so great bc it made her very human and show how she was still a kid who needed a dad, but still did the right thing...YES !! Also I was a bit warry at first with how she viewed Aphrodite’s kids (with the “I’m not like other girl” trope I could smell coming from a mile away) but I really ended liking her arch about it. And her powers are so interesting I really can’t wait to see how far she can go with it!

- The Aphrodite Scene. I was very pleasantly surprised at this, seeing at how Rick portrayed her and her children in the previous books. But here, he gave her so much more depth, and also to the beauty standards, and I fucking loved it. (also I want to add how he describes her appearance is depending on her viewer, instead of going the easy road by making her white and blond, is awesome and genius PJO SERIES DON4T SCREW THAT UP). 

- The friendships between Leo and Jason and Leo and Piper. I just think there is  a lot of potential here. Like the scene after Piper discovers about Leo’s firepower, and he thinks she sees him as a monster but she just says something like “dude what are you talking about it was so cool ????” almost brought tears to my eyes ^^

- The mentions of Charlie and Selena. I loved to see there was still an impact about their death and that it was “fixed” by Leo and Piper. They deserved to be remembered. 

- Annabeth. I actually didn’t think I would see her in this book and I gasped when I did, and once again, to no suprise, I loved her to bits. She’s still so amazing, and I really hope we see more of her relationship with Piper bc I can sense a good friendship there ^^ (also the fact she refused to go help Hera like good for her lol). 

- Thalia. Didn’t except to see her either, and I was so glad I did. I loved seeing more of her backstory and her being a badass once again but also super soft for her little brother

- Coach Hedge. He was such a funny and lighthearted addition, so different from all the other satyres we saw before, while still being a good protector for the kids and accepting his responsability. Bless him. 

- Hera. Actually funny addition from me, with seeing everyine constantly being like “yeah but do we HAVE to save her ?” like srsly no ones like her XD But also she’s also the only one who did something very daring, apparently, (and traumatized a kid during all his childhood !!) so yeah, interesting character

- The POV switch. What can I say, I’m a slut for those and RR really provided, it was so great and interesting to see their different thoughts and how it was perceived by the others !

- Just..Getting back to this world. I missed it so much and didn’t want to read this series when I finished PJO bc I wasn’t ready to let Percy go but now that I did it read it I don’t regret. This world and greak mythology really shaped me as a child and even now, and seeing all those Heroes and mythological figures...Yeah I really missed it. 

[shiftyskip]

Edward James “Babe” Heffron

The real Babe Heffron: 

Edward James Heffron was born on May 16, 1923 to Joseph and Anne Heffron in South Philadelphia. He was the third of five children in his Irish-rooted family. He had three brothers: James, Joseph Jr., John (called Jake or Jack). He also had one sister named Anna Margaret. He attended a Catholic elementary school, but his parents could no longer afford it after a while and in high school, Babe attended public school Southern Philadelphia High (which he called Southern). He dropped out in his third year, to help with finances. Babe took up betting on horses. Every penny he got off of a horse race, he gave to his mother. 

Babe used to rough house and play football when he was younger, but one day he hurt his hand playing. He says that “my hand and fingers contracted to the wrist and curled under, and I was in excruciating pain from my wrist all the way up the arm.” The pain would come back whenever he used his hands too much. The pain would stay with him for decades, even after the war. 

His friends decided to rent a room, fix it up, and make a dance hall called the Shindig. He and his friends were at the dance hall on December 7, 1941.The brothers decided to tell their parents before enlisting. His father had a talk with them the next day, without their mom. Babe states that, “He told us that we had to fight for our country and for the freedom of those less fortunate than ourselves. He made it clear he wouldn’t accept a slacker for a son and that he was expecting us to do our part.” His father had previously served in World War I, so Babe knew what was expected of him. 

Babe enlisted in August of 1942. His brother Joe was drafted into the Army while Jake and Jimmy were in the Navy. His call to service was on November 7, 1942. Which his official date of when he went on Active Duty. Babe was working at a shipyard in New Jersey at the the time. His job was to help fix up ships to become aircraft carriers and he hadn’t told them about his enlistment. His boss handed him a 2B slip, stating that he did not have to serve because his work served the war effort. Babe ripped it up in front of him. In Babe’s words: “I wasn’t going to shrink from my duty to my country. If my brothers, neighbors, and friends were all going, I wasn’t about to stay behind.

Babe went through Basic at Fort Eustis in Virginia, he was not a Toccoa boy. Meaning, Babe didn’t have the absolute joy of training under Sobel.He was assigned to B Battery, an anti-aircraft unit. He was promoted to a tech corporal and helped prepare future officers for officer candidate school. When he had arrived, he instantly put in the paperwork to become a paratrooper, but was told to finish Basic Training first.  Six to Seven months later, he was given the okay and was on his way to Fort Benning, Georgia. Babe was not in Jump School until January of 1943. In Fort Benning, he was put with 1st Parachute Infantry Regiment, K company.

Night life was limited. The boys spent most of their time by reading, listening to one man’s radio, or talking about home. Lights out was at 10:00 PM and they were up by 5:00 AM. When they did get to have some more time, Babe and others went to the Bama Club nearby. One day, a wife of an officer hosted a competition. Her best jitterbug partner got a bottle of champagne. Babe went up and danced with her. He ended up winning the competition. 

In jump school, Babe made a new best friend, Johnny Julian. Johnny was from Alabama and both men thought the other talked weird since Julian had a strong southern drawl and Babe did not. Babe said, “He was clean-cut, believed in God, believed in everything I believed in, believed his was coming home. We could talk to each other real easy.” Babe and Julian also became friends with J.D Henderson. Together, the three made a pact, that if one died the survivors would have to tell the parents. The trio stuck together through Jump School.

Babe loved jumps, even though his hands provided extra difficulty. He enjoyed the beauty of the day jumps, but disliked the night jumps. Night jumps were dangerous and one night, a plane crashed, killing all the men inside the plane. The night jumps were cancelled at the camp and the men were transferred to Camp Mackall for their final jump. Babe got his Jump Wings in March. 

 He was transferred to Camp Shanks, preparing to go home one last time before heading out overseas. In May of 1944, Babe was headed out overseas. When they reached, Liverpool, England, they had learned that the 101st and 82nd had jumped into Normandy. Babe was not part of the D-Day jump, instead he was a replacement for the troops who didn’t return from that jump. Babe, Henderson, and Julian were all transferred to Easy Company once they returned.

Easy Company’s barracks were in the middle of Aldbourne, England. Babe was told to visit Bill Guarnere. Guarnere, also from South Philadelphia, noticed that when Babe walked in, he walked like a penguin. This walk was like a duck, side to side, which Guarnere recognized as the South Philly shuffle. Guarnere and Babe only lived a short distance from each other in South Philly. 

Babe learned that replacements were not easily accepted. Toccoa Men wanted little to do with the replacements. They had trained together, jumped together, fought together, and mourned together. They didn’t want much to do with a replacement, didn’t talk to them and sure as hell didn’t want to fight with one. Babe was assigned to a Toccoa vet’s gun squad, Joe Toye’s. Joe Toye, unlike the others, didn’t give a damn if Babe was a replacement and accepted him. Chuck Grant was another Toccoa man that accepted Babe easily, even gave him a new nickname: Jigger. Guarnere was also often with Babe, going out to pubs and dances. Even so, Babe stuck with his fellow replacement friends, Julian and J.D. 

Babe and his friends enjoyed their time in England. Babe was often jitterbugging with girls and dancing away. They went to several different dance halls and other places. Even when they were supposed to be watching over the shed that held their chutes, Chuck Grant and Babe never made it to the shed. They never did. They were always off somewhere, enjoying a pub or two. 

During his time at Aldbourne, Babe’s girl back home, Doris broke up with him. She dumped him in a letter because she’d found another man. Babe didn’t much care about it. He hadn’t even visited her before he had left for England on his last weekend pass, saying that a previous weekend with her had been, “the most boring few hours [he] could’ve spent.” The world had a funny sense of humor, because the plane Babe boarded to jump into Holland, was named Doris. 

Babe was eager to jump. Babe made the jump into Holland on September 17. The jump in Holland went easy. Babe helped one mad who’d broken his leg during the jump off the field, but other than that there was not much, if any, combat. The Dutch greeted the paratroopers in celebration. They loved the paratroopers and called them angels from the sky. In Son, they received word to take Eidenhoven. On the route there, a Dutch woman gave Babe a baby carriage for him to carry his supplies in. He did so until Popeye threw his weapons in, then Babe made him push the carriage.

His platoon was the first to enter the city, and he instantly set up his machine gun by a footbridge, facing an entry way into the towns. Dutch underground members asked to attack the Germans instead, and Babe allowed them to. When the Germans appeared, the Dutch attacked them and killed all but one. The injured German was taken as a prisoner, but first a woman asked where he was hurt and when he pointed to his shoulder, she beat him with a hidden brick in her pocketbook and screamed something along the lines of evil at him. Babe said that it made his day.

Babe had many close calls in Holland. In Nuenen, a tank caught on fire and all of the men inside had died, leading it to be driven into the ditch next to Babe. How he escaped, he doesn’t remember. Later on, he thought he was hit but Buck Compton has been hit in his butt, tripped over a wheelbarrow, and hit Babe’s leg on his way down. Guarnere and others eventually rescued Compton.

 To escape the Germans, Babe had to get over a 6 foot hedge. To get over, Babe had to back into German fire and get a running start. As he jumped, his rosary came off of him. Sheehy grabbed his jump jacket and pulled him over the hedge. Babe, reluctantly, was about to leave his rosary behind, but found it inside his helmet. His mother had given him the rosary before he left and he was determined to carry it through the war.

Then he had another close call as the Germans shelled a cemetery he was standing in. One last one was when he was stuck in a ditch, with Germans firing at them. He went to return fire when Guarnere kicked him backwards and back into the ditch, saving him from getting shot while Guarnere himself still stood in the fire. Another close call was in October. Babe witnessed Joe Toye and Jim Campbell go into enemy territory. Toye had called for Babe, but Campbell stepped up instead, telling Babe to stay back. Campbell was hit in the back with a shell and died instantly. Toye was wounded pretty badly. But Campbell stuck out in Babe’s mind, for he had taken the hit for Babe. Babe never forgot him.

One time, when stopped by a river, Babe fell asleep by his machine gun. When he woke up, another paratrooper was peeing on his gun, since it was too dark to see. Babe started screaming and yelling, ready to kill the man. He never did shut up.

Babe was on the front lines for 73 days in Holland. When they reached Mourmelon for their rest. All the boys who were left after Holland got dysentery. Bill, as Babe envies, missed this because he had been hit and taken to a hospital. Even with dysentery, the men continued to train and work. In December, they had all received weekend passes to various towns when Bill ran in with the news that they were leaving, the Germans had broken through the Ardennes. Their weekend passes were off and they were headed into one of the worst winters Belgium had without winter gear. They had no combat gear, no ammo, no supplies. They were headed, unprepared, into the winter.

They arrived outside of Bastogne in the early morning. Their greeting was disgraceful to Babe. They encountered American soldiers fleeing. These soldiers tried to convince them to turn back. It was a disgraceful sight for the men to see. Medical supplies were extremely limited after this. On the way up, the 101st medical company was captured, but Babe offered to go get more supplies with another soldier. On the way back, when dark gave them cover to move around, Babe suggested they take a shortcut through the woods. Babe fell into a hole he didn’t see in the dark, snowy forest. Below him, a voice asked, “Hinkle, Hinkle, ist das du?” 

Babe scrambled out of the foxhole and yelled, “Hinkle your ass, Kraut!” And then he ran. 

Babe attended Mass in the snow one day when Father Maloney came up. They took communion in the snow and used the Father’s jeep as an altar. Skip Muck was in front of Babe once, after the communion, Babe said: “At least if we die, we’re going to die in a state of grace.” Skip agreed with him. 

They lost track of days out in Bastogne. It was a despairing, never ending situation. But the boys were determined. Babe states that, “If our general would have said, “Drop your weapons,” I don’t think a man in the 101st would have surrendered. Wouldn’t have happened. I think they would have gone against his orders. As bad off as we were. as cold as we were, as hungry as we were, I don’t think an American Airborne soldier could throw down his gun.” The armored division, according to Babe, likes to believe they saved the Airborne at Bastogne. But Babe says all they did was end the siege. The paratroopers were there before, during the fighting, and after the fighting. 

Joe Toye and Babe had another close call on New Year’s Eve. At exactly midnight, the artillery started shelling the Germans. But the shells started falling short and were landing right in front of Toye and Babe’s foxhole untl Toye called the men in charge and told them to aim better. Turns out, Joe Toye has shit luck, because he was hit in a German air raid by shrapnel the next day. He came back the next morning. 

Eisenhower, much to the dislike of the paratroopers, decided to launch an offensive on Foy and Noville. This extended their stay in the bitter cold, when they thought they were going to be relieved soon. Needless to say, not many were happy. 

The same day, January 1, Babe received word Julian had been hit. Babe ran to where Julian was. The Germans had shot him through the throat and whenever someone tried to move towards Julian, they fired at them. Babe couldn’t get Julian away from the Germans. Julian had wanted his class ring, wallet, and watch to be returned home if he died, but Babe couldn’t reach him. Julian died in the snow and Babe couldn’t reach him. When the Germans were finally pushed back away from Julian, his patrol members told Babe he could visit Julian’s body if he wanted. Babe couldn’t do it. He refused because he couldn’t stand to see Julian that way. His only relief was that Julian hadn’t suffered long.

Times were tough for Easy. Although Toye came back January 2, the day after Julian died, the same day Hoobler accidentally shot himself and died. Babe says he was gone before they got him out of the forest. January 3, it started snowing and the boys went back into their foxholes in the Bois Jacques forest. They had just reached the foxholes when the Germans started shelling them. Toye lost his leg in the shelling and Guarnere lost his leg trying to help Toye. Babe tried to light a cigarette for Guarnere, not sure how to help the men. He thought they were both going to die. But a kid in a Jeep pulled by with ammo, Jackson pulled a gun on him and told him to take Guarnere and Toye back, probably saving their lives.

January 10, the Germans shelled them again. When the shelling started, Babe was talking to Penkala and Muck in their foxhole, which was a short distance away from his. As the shelling began, Luz ran by. Penkala and Muck yelled for Luz to join them in theirs. But Luz dove into his own. Shortly after that, a shell exploded directly in Penkala and Muck’s foxhole. When Luz and Babe went over to their foxhole, Babe says that it wasn’t normally like how they went, they just evaporated. There was little left, if anything. “They has just vanished into thin air.” Babe, even while mourning the loss of his friends, couldn’t help thinking that it could’ve been him. Babe believes that Muck, much like he said in the communion together, died in a state of grace and he thought of Muck with every communion afterwards.

By Mid January, they advanced on Foy. The well-known story of Speirs saving the day in Foy. They dug in outside of Foy. When they were preparing to advance on Noville, Babe found he could no longer use his hands without splitting pain. He couldn’t hold a gun anymore due to the pain. He had even tried rubbing ice onto his hands to loosen them up, but the pain was too severe. He was in the hospital for 5 days and 4 nights because his calcium was too low. During his hospital stay, he encountered a nurse from South Philly. She said that he looked like an old man. “That’s what war will do, turn a nineteen-year-old kid into a man.” Due to the fact Babe’s hands were so bad, there was nothing the doctors could do. Babe had to go AWOL to get back to Easy, much like his friend Guarnere had earlier in the war.

He hitchhiked his way back to the company. When he got back, Easy was sent to Hagenau to hold the line up there, but they stayed in houses this time. They spent a few weeks there, crossing the river nearby and capturing German prisoners (Jackson died on one of these trips). They had been fighting for two and a half months by the time they were finally relieved and taken back to Mourmelon.

By the end of March, Easy Company was heading out again. They were headed to Germany, the Ruhr pocket near the bank of the Rhine River. The men were going from house to house to search out Germans. Babe had nightmares about for years about an incident that happened on patrol. His orders were to clean out one side of town, when he stumbled upon a bomb shelter. The procedure was supposed to be throwing a grenade in the bomb shelter and then kicking the door open. Babe felt he shouldn’t throw the grenades, and he told the others not to and kicked the door open. He stumbled upon a girl about 20 years old, with toddlers and an old couple was behind her. Babe had nightmares about what would’ve happened if he had thrown the grenade first and accidentally killed them. He says he wouldn’t have been able to live if he had killed them. 

On another patrol, Spina and Babe stumbled upon several men in the house. They had a small jar of money with them. Babe and Spina took the money, which the other men claimed was a payroll, and the next day gave it out to displaced persons (recently liberated from camps) after church. They’d earned it.

They stayed on duty till the end of April. After that, Babe and Easy Company were on their way to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. They stopped in Landsberg for a few days, where they learned a Concentration Camp was located. When Easy arrived, the sight was devastating. In his words, “If any of the guys didn’t know why we were fighting, they knew then.” He continues later, “If anyone tells you the Holocaust didn’t happen, or that it wasn’t as bad as they say, no it was worse than they say...It wasn’t fair.” 

Easy Company soon continued after helping liberate the camp and made their way up to the Eagle’s Nest. As they went. they passed many German soldiers surrendering and many dead SS officers. Some took their lives, other times the French killed them, and Easy let them have that. On May 5, Easy took Berchtesgaden and were the first ones in the Eagle’s Nest. There, with little resistance, they looted and drank to their hearts content. Babe didn’t like the drink choices very much, so he didn’t drink much. But he says he did have a glass of Hitler’s champagne. 

On May 7, Babe was directing POW traffic when a car pulled up to him. A German general and colonel sat in it. The general was driving the colonel. The colonel told Babe that the general, General Tolsdorf, wanted to surrender to someone of equal rank and asked Babe to find someone. Babe told him to get out of the car. The general got out of the car and saluted to Babe. Babe didn’t salute back and sent the general on his way to Colonel Sink with another lieutenant. Babe then searched his car and took anything of value with him. Babe later learned that this specific general had been in command of the German troops in the Bois Jacques woods. 

May 8, 1945 the war was over. Easy Company left the Eagle’s Nest and went to Saalfelden, where Babe looted and got a gold sword with a swastika engraved on it, encrusted with stones. He took it with him. They were transferred to Kaprun, where they stayed for several months. There Babe met a small, Polish girl, Annie, from a DP camp. (This was common among the troopers and some even married the women in the camps) Sadly, at the end of July, Babe had to leave. Easy Company boarded a train for France, but somehow Annie had found his train. Annie chased after him, with a small suitcase, and the boys hung Babe out the boxcar by his ankles. Annie gave up chasing him after a while. 

In France, Babe did his last jump, this was a qualification to receive jump pay. The man before him hesitated and when Babe got him out of the plane, Babe had jumped wrong. He was facing the wrong way (towards the motor, not the tail) and his ropes were tangled. Babe panicked and started saying his Hail Marys. He eventually got his legs untangled, his chute opened, and he landed safely. 

Babe was discharged in December of 1945. He arrived back home and meet his brothers, Jimmy and Joe, and his father at a local bar. His mother had suffered a heart attack while he was gone, but she had recovered. Babe went to work when he got home. He only worked 2 jobs, and both of them were with Guarnere. He worked at the waterfront as a cargo checker and clerk. He worked there for 27 years until his retirement. 

Babe returned to playing football every weekend. He played on a team with other veterans from the war. He played with that team until he was 32. He also went back to betting on horses. There’s even one named after him in Ireland. The horse is Babe Heffron, and it jumps hurdles. Babe was pretty amazed by the fact he had a horse named after him. 

A year after the war, Babe went to go find Bill Guarnere. Babe found him shooting dice in the street. Babe immediately jumped on him, forgetting that Bill was wearing a prosthetic leg. Bill told him that he had thought he was the cops at first. Babe and Bill went out for a drink, Babe met Bill’s wife. Babe and Bill were inseparable after that. They attended Easy Company reunions (which Bill started and ran for 60 years) together, went to Europe many times together, worked together. They worked on construction projects and each others houses together. Bill copied Babe’s phrases, to the annoyance of Babe. They even got arrested together. They went to an Holocaust memorial dinner together, where they met survivors of the Concentration Camp Babe helped liberate. Bill was Babe’s best man at his wedding. 

Babe married Dolores Kessler when he was 37. She had three kids from a previous marriage, Dolly, Harry, and Bobby. Two years later, Babe and Dolores had a daughter named Patricia, who they called Trisha. Trish called her godfather, Bill Guarnere, Uncle Bill. 

Babe’s hands healed 23 years after he first got home. His hands never bothered him again. He figures his body was lacking something, and after drinking a lot of milk, he got it. He was never told what was wrong with him. 

Babe couldn’t face Julian’s mother for 12 years. He finally contacted her and he visited her at her daughter’s house nearby. Babe gave her the regimental scrapbook, the only one he owned. Babe broke down, while Julian’s mom remained tough. “She was a better soldier than I was,” Babe said. “I knew Julian was looking down on me saying, “Good job, well done.””

Band of Brothers was published and soon the HBO series was in production. Babe and Guarnere were brought out to meet their actors, who they had only had phone conversations with. Robin Laing, a Scottish actor, was playing Babe. Babe had some concerns on how Robin would play him, especially with the South Philly accent, but they vanished when he met Robin. He even teased Robin about the Philly Accent, but told Robin that he did fine. According to Babe, Robin sounded just like him. Robin even had rosary beads and scapular, just like Babe in the war, which touched Babe dearly. 

Bill and Babe stayed at a fine hotel, with HBO providing an open tab, and invited the actors back for drinks. They drank those poor kids under the table and by the end of the stay, they had a $5,000 liquor bill. in the hotel, Bill and Babe gave away any momentos they could to others. One time, Babe put three shirts on, saying, “I know they ain’t gonna get me this time...”, but by the end of the night both men were in their underwear in the hotel. They had given nearly everything away. Babe even gave Robin his scapular, the very one he’d carried through the war.

Babe had told Richard Speight Jr., who played Skip Muck, about his last communion with Skip. After the communion scene, Speight turned to Robin and said, “Well, Heffron, if we die, we’ll die in a state of grace.” Babe was forever touched by Speight’s actions. 

Babe, although he did not watch most of the series because it was too hard to handle, did have a guest appearance in one of the episodes. He’s seen as a cameo in Holland, when Talbert is kissing a Dutch girl. 

After Band of Brothers, Babe and Bill had a book published together about their story. Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends was published in 2007.

Babe died on December 1, 2013. His ashes, along with his wife’s, were later put in bronze heart and put it a statue dedicated to him in his hometown of Philadelphia. Guarnere also has a statue in Philadelphia, so even in death the two are never far apart. 

[merinathropp]

Tanz der Vampire - Vienna 2018: Detailed Breakdown

Guys, this was such an amazing experience, I have a real mixed bag of opinions (both good and bad) and a lot of emotions. I feel so lucky to have seen this production. Now, to get all my thoughts down on paper! 

First night - from middle stalls front row Second night - from middle stalls seventh row

Graf von Krolock - Drew Sarich (second night) Graf von Krolock - Florian Fetterle (first night) Alfred - Raphael Gross Professor - Sebastian Brandmeir  Sarah - Diana Schnier Herbert - Charles Kreische Magda - Anja Backus 

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THE GOOD STUFF

ALFRED - Hello yes first off I would like to marry thank Mr. Raphael Gross for his powerful, heartfelt portrayal of one of my all-time favourite characters. He was everything I could ever want in an Alfred: sweet and devoted, full of energy and expression, and completely freaking adorable. He scurried around the stage like a frightened hedgehog, but I mean that in the best way possible. He was a ray of (very anxious) sunshine, you couldn’t help but love him and want him to win against all the odds. 

- Für Sarah was An Experience, in the best way possible. Raphi’s Alfred started off very soft and uncertain, sort of pep-talking himself into summoning up the courage to keep going, but as the song went on, he seemed to sort of...grow and strengthen in front of your eyes? Like he was channelling all his love for Sarah into fighting against his fears, and by the end of the song, he had defeated them completely. He was practically punching the air and thrusting the bag all over the place with passion and determination. It was sweet and stunning and perfect, and the audience rightfully cheered at the end :’)

- Loved this detail: when the Professor was demonstrating to Rebecca how he was going to stage Chagal, Raphi turned his head away and cringed and closed his eyes for the actual moment of staking. Such good foreshadowing, setting up how frightened Alfred is by the whole staking process, so early on!

- When the Professor gestured in Ein Guter Tag for a bowl of gruel, he leapt up and charged around the bed at such a speed, he completely forgot where he was going :’) because he headed straight for the Professor’s clothes instead of the trolley! He had to skid on his heel and go charging back to fetch a bowl of gruel instead. It was the most Alfred-y thing to do (being in such a desperate hurry to please the Professor, he forgets what the Professor actually asked him to do) - I loved it.

- When the Professor is chiding him for stepping on the creaky floorboard at the end of Act 1 (even though it’s actually the Professor himself), Raphi’s Alfred stood there with this expression of half-bewilderment, half-hurt on his face, kind of like: “But Professor I’m not...doing anything...” and it was both hilarious and sad all at the same time. Then when Alfred himself passed the creaky floorboard, he walked very carefully to make sure it didn’t creak again, which is the most Alfred-y thing and I loved it. 

- Okay, this made me laugh so much at the time, even though I always feel so bad for Alfred: when the Professor does his “Hast du ihn provoziert oder was?!” line and tries to investigate his trousers, Raphi’s Alfred went into a complete panic and struck this ridiculous wobbly pose where he tried to turn his legs in and cross his knees, he looked completely silly and like he was about to fall over at any moment :) poor Alfred, it’s just the icing on the cake in that scene...

- The bite was 10x more traumatic than it needed to be, because inbetween the usual screams of pain, Raphi’s Alfred cried out Sarah’s name, and that pretty much broke me. I don’t know whether he was begging her to stop or just crying out in horror, but either way, it was gut-wrenching. 

- He undid four of his shirt buttons in the bathroom scene??? revealing a lot of bare chest to the audience??? I think this is the most scandalous thing I’ve ever seen an Alfred do??? (not exactly complaining, it was just...unexpected)

- Raphi lost his red coat somewhere over the course of his dance with Herbert and it was the greatest thing I have ever witnessed in a rendition of Wenn Liebe. Literally, it was hanging off his shoulder, and he couldn’t pull it back up because of the mirror-reflection. This + drenched in sweat + his hair looking like he’d come through a hedge backwards = I felt bad for laughing, but it was hilarious and adorable in equal amounts, just the icing on the cake in that scene.

KROLOCK (DREW SARICH) - I was not prepared.

- Seriously, nothing could have prepared me.

- Nothing, I tell you.

- Don’t get me wrong, I’d seen this guy on YouTube before and always thought he was a perfectly decent Krolock. But seeing him live...oh boy, seeing him live was an experience I will never forget. I finally understand all the hype for Drewlock and it is so. freaking. justified. I’m now going to fangirl for a couple of paragraphs and probably say 19023 things that all his fangirls have been analysing for decades, but what can I say? I’m a shiny new fan!

- I think the best way to describe Drew’s performance is hypnotic, charismatic and animalistic. There was something so intimate about his portrayal, you hung on every single word he spoke. Each line was given purpose and meaning, every gesture controlled and planned, every tiny inflection mattered. He was magnetic to watch, sending this incredible hush over the audience whenever he spoke or sang. When he was onstage, it was like the entire world and all the other characters revolved around him, and each time he left the stage, I found myself wishing (for the first time) that there was more Krolock in the show. 

- He glided around with this incredible predatory grace. His hands were constantly moving and arching and flexing, like a cat with its claws. He’d snarl, hiss, bare his teeth, twitch his lips, lick his fangs etc. in a way that somehow always came off incredibly chilling, never silly or pantomimic. During his numbers, I kept noticing my heart literally pounding in my chest, or having to to lean back in my seat and let out my breath in a gush because I’d been holding it...ridiculous, but true, and completely awesome.

- His personality for Krolock was full of charisma, pathos, wit, genuine menace, and humour. Proper humour, that was what surprised me the most, e.g. his sarcasm with the Professor and mocking reaction to Alfred’s candlestick charge both made me laugh out loud. 

- His dynamic with Alfred was...full-on seduction? Vor Dem Schloss was surprisingly intense! I’m not a Krolfred shipper, but I can see where the inspiration comes from now, and understand why this ship has climbed in popularity recently. Drew’s Krolock approached Alfred and moved his fingers in front of his face, like he was casting a spell, and Raphi went all dopey and wide-eyed, like he’d slipped into a trance (much more interesting than Alfred looking mildly scared and awkward through the whole scene). Then during the ‘Ich lehr dich, was es heißt zu lieben’ line, when Alfred was gazing sleepily out into the audience, he tucked a finger under Alfred’s chin, guided it around and upwards to look at him, then begin to draw them together (literally, I thought a kiss was coming and was ready to throw a riot) - before breaking off at the last second and sweeping away. I was like: “This. This right here, is when the ship was born. I’m holding you personally responsible, Mr. Sarich.” 

- In fairness though, I like that Drew’s Krolock kept his interest in Alfred consistent throughout the show and made a proper ‘arc’ of it: during the He Ho Reprise, when speaking directly to Alfred (who had hunched in on himself and turned away, like he was hiding), he reached out a hand over the battlements and beckoned with one finger, and Raphi’s Alfred slowly looked up to meet his gaze, and started to shuffle towards him across the stage, like he was falling back into a trance again. Tom’s Alfred did something similar when I saw him in Hamburg, but this was much more obvious and a nice throwback to Act 1. 

PROFESSOR - This guy was perfect. Hilarious, frustrating, easy to love, fond of Alfred. Ticked all the boxes and an amazing voice to boot. What a great performance. 

- Once Alfred had helped him undress in Eine Schoner Tochter, he reached out and held his hand to Alfred’s cheek and gave him this proud grandfather smile like “Thank you my boy, another good day’s work done :)))” and I cried a lot on the inside...these two will be the death of me I swear...

- During the He Ho Reprise, he brandished his umbrella threateningly at Krolock, and then when Krolock spoke directly to Alfred, he encouraged Alfred to take his umbrella instead, so he could brandish it at the Evil Vampire Overlord too and presumably protect himself more effectively :’) 

HERBERT - Why, oh why is no one talking about Charles?! This guy is sheer perfection as Herbert! Hands down one of my all-time favourites. He reminded me strongly of Kirill Gordeev from the Russian production, but with his own personal flair. Very much a graceful, charming, vain, ‘spoiled princeling’ Herbert with the perfect amount of underlying menace. He felt very fresh, and there were so many little details to his performance that stood out. Best of all, he never played for laughs or threw Alfred around like a sack of potatoes to get an audience reaction.

- On the line: “Was macht dich so blass? Bist du krank?” he said the last part as if it were a dry witty joke, and then giggled and swept his hand like “I’m so funny!” and it made Alfred’s nonplussed reaction twice as hilarious :)

- When the minuet began in Tanzaal, he swept off his cloak and tossed it over Koukol like he was a hatstand, it was priceless. And 110% Herbert. Somebody write that into the official blocking for this character, please. 

- Throughout Carpe Noctem, he was very much embodying the ‘MC’ role and pulling all the strings. Lots of elegant gestures to pull dancers on and offstage, that kind of thing. At the end of the song, he focussed his attention completely on Alfred, watching him sleep with this :) expression whilst all the other dancers exited the stage. Then he clambered off the bed, and started to exit the stage...before pausing, and turning back to look at Alfred again (kind of like a kid sneaking a last glance at something special, it was unexpectedly sweet?) with this little smile on his face like “Awww look at my human! :3” and finally slinking offstage after that. Definitely stealing that for a fanfic someday...

KENTAUR SETS & COSTUMES - Are stunning and beautiful. ‘Nuff said. The vampire outfits in particular are exquisitely detailed and lovely to watch, all that sweeping velvet and heavy embroidery. The rotating set in Act 2 is also super neat! I think the projections are best seen from middle of the stalls, rather than front row though.

ORCHESTRA - Sounds like a dream, y’all were right, it’s a thousand times better than the German touring version. Full and luscious and gorgeous. Loved it so much.

THE BAD STUFF

SARAH - Oh boy, time to brace myself for the hate mail. I really, really didn’t like Diana’s Sarah. I found her belt shouty and downright painful at times, and her acting choices very confusing and inconsistent. I don’t want to turn this into an unnecessarily negative post, so I will just say: she’s clearly a wonderful talented young person, I just personally didn’t like her performance for Sarah at all. 

KROLOCK (FLORIAN FETTERLE) - Again, didn’t care for this guy’s performance. Very sedate, bored-by-his-eternal-life Krolock that came off...downright dull, for me. I felt as though he had no stage presence. He didn’t seem to want to give Krolock any real menace or personality in general, though I understand that this might be part of his take on the character as a vampire with ‘deadened’ emotions. Full respect to the guy as a performer, I just personally really, really wasn’t a fan of his Krolock. 

DANCING - Went wrong in multiple places, both times I saw it, which absolutely broke my heart. The cast I saw in Hamburg were flawless, not a foot out of place, but this was a whole different story. During Red Boots Ballet, Sarah didn’t even hit her splits on both performances I saw, and Krolock’s dance-double let one of her legs drop on that amazing ‘spinning’ lift at the end, which must have thrown him off balance, he was staggering around all over the place. Carpe Noctem was equally messy, with some really nice moments and some really “huh?” moments as well. White Vampire/Sarah seemed to lose their marks halfway through and face the bed instead of the audience, several moves felt like they were being ‘marked’ rather than fully danced, or left unfinished in aid of keeping up with the music. I spoke to two other fans who warned me that the Vienna dancing could be sloppy sometimes, but I genuinely didn’t think it would be this noticeable. I know we’re spoiled with all the Moscow/St. Petersburg bootlegs of insanely polished Russian dancers, but still...

BLOCKING ETC. - During my first performance, it seemed as though bits of blocking were being lost or accidentally messed up, e.g. when the Professor pushes his bag off the table using Chagal’s body and Alfred has to catch it...well, the bag was positioned wrong, so Alfred just picked up the bag and the joke was lost. The ensemble also managed to get out of time with the orchestra during Vor Dem Schloss, which was funny at first and then just frustrating. I’m going to put this down to the heat of the day, because it was pretty stuffy in the theatre and maybe the cast were just finding it hard to concentrate...?

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I’ve now seen Tanz four times in total, and continue to love this show more every day. Time to start saving for a trip to Russia, that’s the production next on my bucket list! Unless someone attempts a heavily, heavily revised Broadway revival before then...I mean, a girl can dream, right? :)

[pmwrites-blog1]

The Loverboy Trials - Chapter 1

(Complete)

It didn’t take long for everyone to learn about what almost happened at Haggar’s battle cruiser. It was strange to experience the retroactive fear, like a bite that stings but doesn’t quite puncture the skin. Keith was safe, at least.

Nobody’s said a word in ages. The clinking of their utensils against the not-porcelain bowls bounces off the walls far too loudly, setting Lance’s teeth on edge. He dares a glance up from his goo. Everyone’s head is down, focused on anything but eye contact.

This is not what he imagined in a reunion dinner feast.

Continue on AO3 or-

It didn’t take long for everyone to learn about what almost happened at Haggar’s battle cruiser. It was strange to experience the retroactive fear, like a bite that stings but doesn’t quite puncture the skin. Keith was safe, at least.

Nobody’s said a word in ages. The clinking of their utensils against the not-porcelain bowls bounces off the walls far too loudly, setting Lance’s teeth on edge. He dares a glance up from his goo. Everyone’s head is down, focused on anything but eye contact.

This is not what he imagined in a reunion dinner feast.

It’s the fifth time Hunk has cleared his throat in the last twenty minutes when he finally sets down his spoon. Lance internally winces. The big guy’s barely touched his food and the creases around his eyes are just a little too strained for the friendly smile he wears.

“So, you had, like, a space parachute. Right?”

Oh, Hunk.

What Lance thinks must be the most horrible silence in the universe stretches into a small eternity across the table then. He looks at Keith, who sits frozen in his old chair, almost normal again in his stupid jacket and t-shirt. Almost.

“A parachute wouldn’t work in space, Hunk. It’s a vacuum.” Keith’s eyes are downcast as he says it, already knowing that he can’t fix this or make it funny. He tries anyway. It doesn’t feel like anyone breathes. “You’re an engineer. You already know that.”

Fuck, say something, say something, say something, make a joke, McLain. Bring normal back – come on!

His mouth is too dry.

Hunk laughs. “But you were going to eject out of there.”

Keith doesn’t answer. Hunk must decide that he just doesn’t have an appetite tonight because he gets up after a moment and leaves without a word. No one tries to stop him. Keith doesn’t so much as twitch a muscle. Lance thinks this must be what tense holiday dinners with backwards family feel like.

Shiro finally looks up from his plate with a cough. “Have you decided yet? Do you think you’ll go back with the Marmora right away?”

Keith meets his gaze, thankful for the change in topic. “I don’t know. If you think I can be useful here, then I’ll stay to help with the rift stuff.” There’s something a little hopeful in his voice that must be contagious because Lance feels it too.

“Keith, you’ll always be handy to have around here. It’s your choice, and I’m not sure what Kolivan’s plans are for upcoming missions, but we’d be ecstatic to have you back.”

Keith leans against the back of his chair, arms crossed. It’s not an abnormal position for him to be in. But, Lance catches the dark circles under his eyes, even though the small smile he offers Shiro, how his skin is afflicted with an unhealthy pallor.

“Yeah.” He tries to keep up the grin. “It sounds like you’ll need all hands on deck soon. I might as well stick around.” He looks down. “...At least until then.”

It’s not a perfect answer, but it’s just enough to let everyone ease up a little and return to their food.

A beeping starts suddenly, and Lance recognizes the sound as a communication request. He waves the rest of the group off. “You guys finish eating. I got the phone.”

“Not a phone, Lance,” Pidge calls.

“Figure of speech, Pidge!”

The jog to the bridge is quick. At his chair, Keith’s old chair, he opens the lineup. It’s not a distress call; they just want to join the coalition. He prepares himself for a long boring talk about resource contribution and a bunch of other politicking he’s picked up from Allura. They’ve put the line on hold while they gather council members to join the call. Before they can get to it though, Shiro comes over to his station and reads over his shoulder.

“You know what? They’re not too far from us. We have time. We might as well all visit in person, stretch our legs a little.”

Lance looks up at him, puzzled. They haven’t bothered negotiating diplomacy in person since they figured out their broadcasting network months ago. They don’t have time – not if they’re going to beat Haggar to the rift. “Shiro, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

Without even looking at him, Shiro starts typing into Lance’s station, downloading the coordinates. “Matt and Coran can handle things here. Besides, Slav needs time to work out a plan for closing the rift for good, and we’re not going to be much help there.”

Lance stands up to face him. “Yeah, maybe not you or me. But Pidge and Hunk are, like, super geniuses.”

“Lance, I understand what you’re saying, but…” With a sigh, the leader leans in to whisper, hedging a glance back towards the dining room. “Now is not a good time to split up the team like that again. Considering…recent events.”

“Then we shouldn’t go. Shiro, I’m all for some relaxation, but this might be the last chance we have to regroup at home base for a while,” he pleads one last time.

Shiro dismisses him again, and Lance tries not to let the sting burn too much. “Think of it as a bonding activity. Awkward diplomacy like the good old days.” Shiro claps his shoulder again with a warm smile and Lance does his best to return it.

They’ve landed in a large plaza in the center of a shining city. It has high glittering spires that rake through the clouds like fingers. The people look about ninety-five percent humanoid. The other five percent attributes to a stiffness Lance has never seen on Earth. A stiffness, a paleness, an aura of discomfort like they have a ruler up their ass. The kind with the metal sliver on the side that you threatened to slit a kid’s neck with on the playground.

Lance positions himself in formation with the rest of the team as they exit the ship. Keith steps up beside Lance and pulls his hood to cover his face.

Keith hasn’t said for sure if he’ll return to the Blade. But he isn’t wearing his paladin armor either. Lance can admit that he’s worried about it. He half-expected that Keith would put the armor back on for this. That he wouldn’t leave it gathering dust in the castle for another minute. Lance has thought about offering Red back to him. He’s thought about asking if Keith wanted Red back. He’s thought about just talking to him in general.

A representative comes to greet them. She’s followed by an entourage of officials all dressed flowing, floor-length robes, which seem contradictory to their harsh countenance. They appear color-coded to occupation or something. The representative has a mint color. She approaches Shiro and the group begins to walk.

As they walk up the stairs, Hunk shoots Lance a pointed look, eyes darting between him and Keith as an eyebrow raises. Lance waves him off until he shrugs and falls into step with Pidge.

Lance sticks close to Keith’s side. It kind of hits him then that this is the first time in months that he’s had someone to walk next to. He hadn’t noticed it before, but before he left, he was always at Keith’s side: walking with him, standing with him, glaring with him. Lance has missed the simple sound of their footsteps echoing in synchronization without even knowing it.

They follow the mint lady around the citadel for the grand tour. Keith continues to sulk, so Lance nudges his elbow.

“Okay, is it just me or do these guys seem way too proper?” He puts on his best mischief smirk as he whispers, hoping to draw Keith into their old line of banter.

Keith blinks. “What?”

“Like, they’re so formal! It reminds me of when my mom would make the whole family dress up for a portrait every year.”

Keith tries to hide it, but Lances catches the smallest twitch of a smile. “Well, they’re meeting the defenders of the universe. I guess it’s a big deal to them.”

“No, no, no, no, my bro. I think they’re like this all the time. Like, this seems normal to them.”

“Okay. So what?” Keith starts to look more amused, which, is great. Score one for Lancey-Lance.

He grins and leans over into Keith’s space so no one will overhear. He senses the other boy tense next to him but brushes it off. “So I bet that means they’re secretly giant kink-freaks.”

Keith laughs through his nose, trying to keep quiet as he snickers. Lance practically beams at the reaction. “Why did you put that image in my head? Gross.”

Lance bumps into his shoulder good-naturedly and wraps an arm around him. Very bro-like. “Like, okay. Hear me out: Miss Diplomacy up ahead. Can you imagine the things that must go on after they clock out at four?”

“No!” he hisses between gasping laughs. “Don’t even go there. You’re disgusting – don’t make me think about that!”

Lance grins, high on that sweet, sweet validation that comes from greatly improving Keith’s mood. It’s nice to see him relax again, goofy and easy-going like he was before. He wants to keep it up, push it further, coast on this line of banter as long as he can. It’s a wonderful grooming for his ego, but he forgets to remember that he can take things too far.

“Yeah, not really what I’m into either. Personality is important and I get the feeling they don’t do casual. Plus, she’s the leader and probably too old for me.” He does a quick scan around the room, eyes randomly sticking to a girl that looks much closer to his age. He can’t really tell much about her from the formless clothes, but he knows a nice jawline and pretty eyes when he sees ‘em. “But her? I bet I could get her to loosen up. ” He winks and waits for the laugh.

It doesn’t come. Just like that, it’s gone – the amusement. Keith’s eyebrows drop and he yanks himself away from Lance’s hold, a mask of indifference washing over him.

“Can you control your annoying mouth for one mission?”

Lance reels. Because it’s been a while since Keith has actually sounded angry with him. About anything. And they’ve had some light arguments about his flirtations before. They never escalated.

He pushes down the urge to get defensive. This is about something else – he can feel it. “Whoa, whoa, Keith –” He reaches for his arm. He doesn’t know what he did wrong, but he doesn’t want to fight. Not when they just got him back. Even if Keith is being kind of a salty bitch.

“ Not now, Lance.” Keith jerks away, the motion so harsh that his hood falls from his face.

That’s when everything dissolves into one big clusterfuck.

Several gasps echo around them. Lance realizes they’ve been led to some sort of council room, so the acoustics for the dramatics gasps around them are great. The two of them look around at the stunned faces of the officers who had been walking with them.

“It cannot be –”

“It’s uncanny!”

“A true blessing!”

The rest of the paladins gaze warily at the murmuring crowd around them and realize all at once that every single pair of eyes is fixed on Keith.

The robed aliens make a beeline for the former paladin. Keith looks ready to fight, but a firm stare from Shiro restrains him. They’re here for diplomacy. Lance tries to stay close, but the council members swarm them too fast for Lance to remain by Keith without getting violent.

“You must come with us at once,” they insist.

“What? Why?” Keith backs away as they reach for him. “Hey! Hands off!”

Lance gets pushed to the edge of the frenzy. “What do you want with him?!” he demands.

The woman they were following earlier steps aside as the rest ignore Lance and press Keith out of the chamber. Lance catches a desperate glance thrown his way. He moves to follow but is held back by a guard he hadn’t even noticed positioned at the entrance.

The woman smiles at them, but it does nothing to settle their nerves. “They are taking him to the temple.”

“The temple?” Hunk asks.

“Yes! He is clearly an incarnation of Amans.”

Pidge adjusts her glasses. “And that is who, exactly?”

“The capital’s patron god. The god of desire, sensuality, and fertility.” Lance feels his jaw drop, but can’t be bothered to close it.

He can tell Shiro is struggling to remain collected, face contorted uncomfortably. “And why do you think Keith is your…sex…god?” And geez, that would be so much funnier if this wasn’t so disturbing.  

She only chuckles, and it’s then that Lance realizes how much this lady is getting on his nerves. She leads them to the back of the council room where she pulls aside a large curtain. Behind it, a huge mural stretches to the ceiling.

It looks exactly like Keith.

[kingofthenorth49]

You light up my life

Tonight Lenz ate the last of the Walmart solar lights. It was like the solitary survivor, the last man standing so to speak, then in an instant, it was over.

“Your dog is eating the last light”. Funny, he’s always my dog when his behavior is like a left leaning college student. Over the last 35 years she has developed a very unique way of reminding me of my bad decisions in life, and has perfected the art of not letting me ever forget them.

Those lights, the thirteen of them, have stood a silent vigil over the west side of our pool since 2017. I paid good money for them, a buck fifty if I recall correctly, plus the cost of the plastic bag of course. I remember bringing them home and deploying them between each of the cedars we planted with the intention of having them grow into a hedge that would shield the pool from the back sides of the Rupert street neighbors.

The cedars are dead too. Pretty sure Lenz is responsible for that as well, apparently he doesn’t believe in using one spot for relief, he’s got to spread the love around like some French sailor on shore leave.  

Tabernac. Thanks Dan for building that one into my lexicon.

So I think it was Christmas day when I realized the ugly truth that’s been hiding in plain view all along. I realized then that I had psychologically repressed it, likely to make him more loveable, more warm and loving given the way he looks and acts sometimes, but the cold hard truth is as unavoidable as Hunter Biden dipping into the collection plate as it passes by at church on Sunday. My dog is a socialist.

Speaking of Karl Barks, he’s put a few pounds on as of late, seems our diet and exercise regiment some what deviates from the RCMP Dog services cadet program. Last weekend I decided to take Lenz and do some lead work at the bird sanctuary and when I put his black tracking harness on, it was, ahem, a bit snug. A bit snug means I had to take it off him and loosen all the straps to get the clips to properly snap. I guess he has not avoided the COVID-19 twenty like most people.

But I digress.

So why would I think my new dog of five months is a card carrying socialist?

First it’s his economic dependency on the state. Less than six months ago he was on track to be the next K( dog wonder of the world, chasing bad dudes and finding bad stuff and riding around in a cool SUV all day with unarguably the coolest team member of the RCMP force, the dog handler. Ok, so I took a bit of liberty right there, sorry (You know who you are).  Anyway, he had a job, was earning his keep and his future looked bright right up until some bad choice or decision ended his life’s ambition and he found himself on a 5 AM flight out of Calgary heading for a new home outside the force.

He doesn’t work anymore, well, he doesn’t work HARD anymore. By that I mean he puts in some effort to sit and beg occasionally, usually at the supper table, and he still likes to chase balls in the back yard until he doesn’t, until it’s time for his mid-afternoon nap, which is slightly longer than his late afternoon nap.

His basic essentials are taken care of, his food, shelter and needs are met by the state (Gloria and I).

He gets free health care (and boy does he like taking advantage of that!)

He watches TV and whenever he sees a working dog on Border Security or Live PD he just yawns and goes back to chewing his bone.

He barks at other dogs who are out walking by with their owners, only because they are doing something he doesn’t want to, so therefore he needs to bark-shame them into submission.

He has developed a wait and see attitude towards any instruction offered towards him.

He feels entitled to sit by the table and stare at you unwaveringly until you submit and offer him something from your plate, which he had no part in preparing but fully expects to receive the benefit of.

The other night we were all enjoying pre-bedtime snuggles on the bed when a picture fell off the wall in the dining room (I’m sure the ghost had something to do with that) and he heard the bang, issued a single bark, and went right on back watching the Real Housewives of Orange County with Gloria. Didn’t even stand up.  (Ed note. As I’m writing this, coffee in hand in front of the warm fire, his fur-ship is sitting here on the couch with me, chewing his favorite rubber kong bone in a rhythmic pattern. I don’t recall him paying for that either….) Let’s just say he’s not exactly earning his keep.

Yep, he’s become a socialist. He might even be a communist, but we haven’t had him long enough to understand his politics yet.

Now as you can imagine this presents some level of frustration for me as I believe we all must contribute, if not only for the good of society, for our own personal sense of well-being. One only needs look no further than these ill-advised lockdowns to see the damage caused by idle hands. Don’t get me wrong, it’s incumbent upon society to protect those who can’t help themselves, but I also just as firmly believe it’s our responsibility to contribute not only to our own keep if we can, but to the general good (i.e. by paying taxes to fund common need).

Don’t get me wrong, if they can change the world into a panacea of love and unicorn farts with this “great reset” and make the world a better place, I’m all for it. But unfortunately, I read a lot and it’s been tried over and over again with epic fail results each time, most recently in Venezuela, which is now suffering greatly and on an economic slide of historical proportions.

But that’s not real socialism is it.

Reality would be if we stopped supporting Mr. Barks with food, shelter and love, he would quickly become feral and have to forage for food, something to which he’s not accustomed. He’s have to fight others’ for food and shelter, compete for resources as it were.

I’m sure he’d be fine, his 275 pounds of jaw strength and his tenacity would ensure he didn’t want for food, but the same can’t be said for the poodles of the world. The only concern he has to face is the lack of an opposable thumb. Opening doors will be a challenge.

Anyway, we are still today in a free market economy, so after I muster up the inclination to grab a shower off we will go to Co-Op to pick up a new $70 bag of Ekanuba dog food (which surprisingly Lenz will have forgotten his wallet at checkout) and maybe we will head out to the bird sanctuary for a hike to burn off some of those snacks we’ve been getting overly accustomed to during the break.

I do know one thing, at some point we are going to run a few tracks today, and by we, I me he. He’s going to earn his keep while he can, because we all need a sense of self-worth and pride to keep us healthy and on the right track.

Go out there today and give it your best shot, because if it’s your best shot and at the end of the day you feel good with the results, you are doing ok. If you aren’t satisfied with the results, take stock of why they aren’t and adjust your approach, you’ll get there.

Just never leave any of that to anyone else. They won’t ever have your best interest at heart like you will.

That’s freedom.

Jim Out.

[thaliasthunder]

grecia reading The Heroes of Olympus #3: the mark of athena

this story is getting darker and im scared of what will be of my poor heart while reading this saga 🤠

anyway here u have ur food my lovely little opposums

tell me the cover its not jason and percy about to rock each other's shit 😭

oh this gonna be narrated by annabeth

WAAAA LEO HI BABY I MISSED YOU

piper's hello kitty tank top tho

annabeth identifying with reina was deep

that sarcastic troublemaker smile 😭😭 my boy

DIS GIRL JUST-💀 JUST FLIPPED THE SHIT OUT OF PERCY 💀

deadass really laughed while being pinned to the floor i love him sm

leo said ":D✌🏼" love him

"i only attack my boyfriend like that" girl- 💀

percy & jason fist bumping <3 i love how their friendship is rising

WAAA they mentioned thalia my beloved punk daughter 😭

JASON & PERCY'S BUDDING BROMANCE JFKSJSK

"we got a dam hole" SHUT UPP😭

"chicken girl" leo please 💀

LEO PROPOSING OCTAVIAN TO ABOARD THE SHIP AS IF HE WAS A CHILDKSKDJAJ i missed my fire boy sm 😭

people always asking annabeth if she has a belly buttom LMFAO

the fuck? the Argo II went crazy and everyone is throwing shit to the team

man everyone in camp went batshit what the fuck

leo really be thinking of annabeth as blonde & furious

percy u better calm the fuck down and talk nice to leo or i'll rip your neck

percy baby its cute u'r being protective over hazel but if u don't start being good w leo i swear to god i'm gonna be the one to use you to feed the sharks

WHST DO YOU MEAN MY SON NICO IS GONNA DIE

nemesis talking about ethan <\3

jason & piper really been leaving leo aside? bitch im gonna kill them

OH THEY FOUND ECHO

"omg, I <3 N!!!!" 💀

HOT STUFF☠🔥boi- 😭

"yeah baby check me out!" what is this KSAKDS 😭

BAD BOY SUPREME🔥

why is everyone starting to hate each other send help 😭

blackjack my beloved is back !!

NOT JOHN GREEN 💀💀

damn it's always amazing to imagine jason using his lighting power go on boi

oh okay percy & jason rocking each other's shit was interesting

HELP why blackjack knocking percy's lil head to the ground w his hoof was so funny 😭

ASJAKS PERCY TALKING ABOUT HIS FIGHT WITH MY PUNK DAUGHTER THALIA 😭😭

"i don't need an ocean" 💀💀 the way these two's relationship is starting to rot 💀

"you sir are a ray of sunshine" percy- 💀

okay so they need bacchus' help to get a bronze jar, with something inside it, from 2 giants in rome in just 5 days or rome will be fucked up and nico my baby boy will die but this bitch doesn't wanna help

ohh love to see piper using her charmspeak power to the ediolons in the boys' body

lightning boy <3

jason's "percy needs a knock on the head every once in a while" 💀😭 he's not wrong tho

MY SON NICO IS TRAPPED IN A JAR

leo grinning and muttering "classic classic" 😭😭

the prophecy calls nico angel im gonna sob

BITCHES DON'T WANNA LOOK FOR MY DEATH SON IM GONNA KILL THEM

"you're caPtaIn sAlt watEr. anY idEas frOm thE eXperT?" boi  💀

my boy percy developved fear of drowing my heart aches <\3

"im worth like two franks or three franks?" Leo my beloved fire boy 😭

jason apologyzing to hazel <3

noo percy lost his white strand of hair i loved that strand 😭

percy making that avalanche in Charleston and appearing w the knife was pretty baddass ngl

mi bebito leo <3

"Hello, hazel lavesque" catch me crying in the club

shrimpzilla 😭

mr hedge just sold leo & hazel's flashback moment to frank JDKFJFJ 😭

piper kissing leo's cheek so soft 😭

"but they didn't want to meet me?" percy i stg 😭

annabeth & jason talking about the Athena parthenos' theft in peace? blond besties

hercules saying the only one who barely understands him is dionysus reminded me that Zöe said Hercules was a douchebag to her in TTC so im like mmh i dont trust this dude 🙄

piper ain't taking hercules' shit we love to see it

"i could-" "you could shut up" jason hun help 💀

"not forgiving himself for mistakes was one of percy's biggest talents" my ocean son <\3

my ocean child feels overwhelmed with too many expectations leaning on him pls give my boy a break <\3

it's good manners to walk ur date to the door 😭

romans automatically switching to english when percy looked at 'em confused after they spoke in italian reminded me of that one americans-think-the-world-is-USA-centric stereotype ppl have of americans 💀

the waiter's pained smile's "american?" JFKSKFK 😭💀

"mussolini? wasn't he bffs with hitler?" leo i swear to god 💀

leo talking about pi and more math shit gods my fire boi is hella smart and we forget that

i love leo world

"who is it?" "Valdez!" "Valdez who?" him 😭😭

leo just whacking Gaea dirt ass face in the metal mirror as if nothing 💀💀

it's jason's 16th bday 🤧

percy can??? relive drown people??? my powerful son??????

Hagno talking about Pan <\3

WAAAAHH NICOOO 😭🖤

my death son is really fucked up come here baby boy i'll take care of u <\3 :'(

my sky son and my ocean son working together <3

Chinese Spidercuffs? mmh big brained move of her 

???????????? WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK ?????????? JUST HAPPENED ???????????????

grecia reading The Heroes of Olympus #1: the lost hero

OKAY???????? FUCK???????????

WHAT DO U MEAN PERCY'S MISSING WHERE IS MY SON

"Rainbows. Very macho" leo JFDKFKSJ shut tf up 😭😭

AAAAAAHH WILL MY SUN BOY

OH MY GOD LEO IS SON OF VULCAN AKA HEPHAESTUS

love to see how percy's gift is working w the camp being always crowded w new kids  <3

annabeth & rachel getting along <3

leo speaking spanish dIOSSS 😭😭😭

leo cAN FUCKING CONTROL FIREEE

clovis my sleepy child

oh so we're getting into roman mythology too now, gotta revive my 13-year-old-obsessed-with-greek/roman/egyptian-mythology era

leo winking and doing finger guns 😭

piper is daughter of aphrodite 🕊

leo's "she's got makeup! A miracle!!!1!" i hate him sm 😭😭

bestie really got a metal dragon as a pet

jason was raised by wolves 😃 (oh just like romulo & remo, makes sense)

thalia's pics in zeus' cabin my beloved gothic daughter <3

annabeth saying thalia should be in her twenties reminds me of how i used to think in The Titan's Curse woahh thalia's older than them she's so cool AND NOW THEY ARE OLDER THAN HER SHUT UP IM GONNA CRY

jason... is... thalia's brother... 😀😀

Happy the dragon 😭

leo yelling when piper punched him as jason set her feet right 😭

not leo talking shit right to his father's face boi 💀💀

jason apolozing to leo and leo being a little shit about it oh i love my fire son 😭

the boys being all soft when piper told them she had to kill them 😭😭

THALIA MY EXPLOSIVE POWERFUL PUNK DAUGHTER IS BACK HI BABY I MISSED U

not leo instantly falling in love w thalia god i know boy she's amazing 😭

“We were absolutely destined to meet your hot sister.” leo for the love of god shut the fuck up 😭😭

leo spontaneously combust everytime he gets excited why do i think this is adorable

GAEA IS THE ENEMY

jason's pledges to zeus in the battle <\3

leo's deadass reading the helicopter's data as if it was implanted in his brain tf baddass fire boy my beloved

jason's rome speech to porphyrion 😃 power

oh my fucking god jason didn't close his eyes while hera turned into a supernova

AJKSKAKDJS THALIA GIVING PIPER A HUNTER CARDJSKD GIVE IT TO ME I WANT IT

AAAAAHHH THEY HAVE TO SAIL TO GREECE IN ARGOS II

....so there was an exchange of leaders and jason will be a peacemaker in the two groups.......

oh gods they need to go the Roman camp to get the other demigods before going to greece im nervous,,,,

😭😭😭 MY SON PERCY IS IN THE OTHER CAMP BRING HIM BACK TO MEEEEEEEE 😭😭😭😭

[janeykath318]

Kiss, Marry, Kill: Kirk x Reader

It all started as a joke: someone in the security department had done the Kiss, Marry, Kill, game with certain co workers and it had started to spread, even down to Medbay, where various nurses could be heard debating the merits of Scotty, Uhura, and even Chekov. The Captain ended up overhearing while he was getting patched up one day and you knew you were all doomed. 

"So, Nurse Y/L/N, how am I faring on the lists down here? Did I make it on a lot of people's Kiss list?" "I hate to break it to you, captain," you told him, mirth dancing in your eyes, "you're actually leading in the Kill category. Dr. McCoy in particular was very vocal in his choice." "Of course he would," Kirk sighed, rolling his far too pretty eyes. "I did think some of you liked me better than that." He made a sad puppy face that was next to impossible to resist, especially for you who secretly had it bad for him. "Maybe if you wouldn't be in here so much, we wouldn't be so sick of you, captain," you said mischievously. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder, you know." "So, if I stayed perfectly healthy, you'd respect me more?" He asked, half teasingly. "Possibly," you hinted. "Maybe acting less like a child when you're getting hypos would help too. Just a tip." You winked at him and walked out to get the doctor, leaving Jim staring after you, torn between being insulted and in love. The next few days, the Kiss, Marry, Kill theme seemed to really spread over the ship. In fact, someone in the bridge crew announced there would be a contest for people to submit their Kiss, Marry, Kill choices, (among the single officers) along with written out reasons to be judged by Uhura and Sulu. Those with the best reasoning for their picks would get to have dinner with the officer of their dreams. You rolled your eyes and wondered just how desperate the Captain was to be liked. "No way am I doing this!" You declared. It's  utter childish nonsense!" "Oh, c'mon, Y/N, I thought you'd jump at the chance to go out with that corn-fed menace of a Captain you have a crush on," teased Dr. McCoy, hearing your rant. "Oh, puh-leeze," you snorted. "I don't have a crush on him. Just because I made one comment about his eyes once, does not mean I'm all lovey-dovey, lovestruck over him. Heck, even YOU admit he has gorgeous eyes, and you certainly have no romantic feelings for him." "Oh, there's a very big difference, Y/N. You haven't seen yourself when he comes in here. You're practically bowling over the other nurses to get to him." "I do not," you sulked. "Do I, Christine?" "Well......" she tried to hedge, and you put your hands on your hips, outraged at the lack of support. You pretended to utterly ignore the whole contest, but the endless chatter about Jim vs. Scotty vs. Leonard drove you up the wall, especially the guys in medical who talked about him like he was a piece of meat, ripe for the tasting. You hoped they were all horrible writers. Jim deserved better! At last, you got an idea. It would probably not win the contest, but it would make you feel better. You sat down after shift and started writing. Kiss, Marry, Kill, by Y/N Y/L/N Kiss: James T. Kirk Reason: 1. To shut him up when he drones on and on about the wonders of space 2. Those lips are too perfect 3. My gut tells me he's really good at it. Marry: James T. Kirk Reason: Because I worship the ground he walks on and he might be less of a reckless fool if he had a spouse to remind him how much he has to live for and how loved and needed he is.  I’d love to pick that genius brain. Also: captain's quarters come with real water showers, a big plus. Kill: (Hypothetically, of course) James T. Kirk Reason: He's a aggravation to the nth degree. Examples include: Frequent Injuries, extreme stubbornness, Those ridiculous stupid smiles he gives that could cause dangerous heart arrhythmia, his bluer than blue eyes that cause people to lose their concentration when he looks at them, and the terrible dad jokes he cracks that he thinks are so funny and laughs so hard at. Despite being pleased at managing to refrain from mentioning Jim's other positive attributes (that ass!), you wavered back and forth before you finally sent in your entry. You'd kind of bared your heart, after all. However, Sulu and Uhura were both very good at respecting people's privacy and they wouldn't spill your secrets. Besides, the chances of you winning were very low, if not impossible, given that you'd used the same name for every slot. At last, however, you hit send, and went to bed very relieved. You'd almost forgotten about the whole thing by the time the winners were announced three weeks later and when you got a message declaring "Congratulations, Lieutenant Y/L/N, you were selected as a winner in our shipwide contest. Your entry was chosen as the best among those who put Captain James T. Kirk in the Kiss or Marry options." You stopped reading right then and there and began mentally freaking out. You'd only entered as a joke and a fun way to relieve your feelings. Guess they'd taken you seriously. Could you back out without looking like an idiot? Surely, the runner up would be more than happy to take your place. During lunch the next day, the winners were announced over the intercom by Sulu. You didn't know where to look when your name was read and all your friends turned to stare at you. (Thankfully, McCoy had other things to worry about, since someone had won dinner with him.) "Congratulations, Y/N!" Christine said, a pleased grin on her face. "I'll gladly offer my services to help you get ready for your date with the Captain." Your face felt like it was burning up, more so when you saw Jim Kirk ambling over to your table. "Hi, Captain," you muttered, wishing you could sink through the floor. "Nurse Y/L/N! This is a happy coincidence!" Kirk exclaimed, walking up to you, with that disgustingly contagious smile on his face. "How so?" You managed, even more nervous in his presence. "I've been trying to get up the courage to ask you out anyway." "Me?!!" You squeaked. "Of course you. You do know you're my favorite nurse, right?" "No......" you said slowly, processing this information. Jim liked you? Really? Surely it was too good to be true! "Yes, you are," he said firmly. "So, Are you going to claim your prize?" There went that cheeky expression again. "Insufferable egoist," Len muttered, rolling his eyes. "Of course she is!" Christine said for you. "Name the date, place and time, and she'll be there." While you were spluttering, they determined the dinner would take place in the small observation deck the next Friday at 1900 hours. "Great!" Jim exclaimed, "We'll see you then! Have a nice day, Y/N." "Traitor!" You hissed weakly to Christine, but the butterflies of anticipation dancing in your gut said differently. "Trust me, you'll thank me later. I wouldn't have done this If I didn't think he really cares about you," she told you. She did come through on her promise to help you prepare for the big date, and before you knew it, you were all dolled up in a green dress and cute updo style Christine saw in a magazine and thought would look perfect on you. "There! You look stunning!" She said at last, stepping back and inspecting you carefully. You smiled and gulped. "Let's hope the Captain thinks so, too." "Oh, he will," she assured you. "Now, shoo, have a good time!" More nervous than you'd ever been, you made your way to the agreed upon room, where Jim was waiting for you. Having rarely seen him in anything besides his uniform or a hospital gown, you were taken aback by the sight of him in a blue dress shirt and tie. "Wow!" You breathed. He cleaned up GOOD. "Wow, yourself," Jim returned. "You look amazing." "Thanks," you said, face warm with the compliment. "This was really nice of you to play along, but What if Cupcake had won?" Jim laughed. "I'd still hang out with him, but He's only likely to put me on the Kill list. Trust me, I'm not his type AT ALL." As the two of you devoured the food, which was very tasty, he asked you about what you'd written. "I actually didn't think I'd be considered eligible," you told him, "given how I made cases for why I'd want to kiss, marry, AND kill you. Somehow, it was rather cathartic." "I seem to inspire that reaction a lot," Jim said ruefully, buttering a roll. "Glad you came, though. So, tell me, what's life like working in Bones's domain? I hear he can be a bear at times." "Oh, he can," you confirmed. "You just have to use common sense and know how to placate him. He's a good boss, but he doesn't suffer fools." "That's very true," Jim said. "He's said several times that next to Chapel, you're the best nurse on Alpha shift." "He said that?" You asked, flustered again. "Yes, he did," Jim said. "And I think you're pretty awesome too--both as a nurse and a person." "Wow, You really are a smooth talker," you said, raising an eyebrow. "Let's see if you're still saying that once you've got to know me and my quirks some more." "Does this mean you're willing to go on more dates?" He asked, looking hopeful. "As long as this one ends as well as it started, definitely." "What do you say to this?" He asked, pulling the cover off of a plate containing two lovely slices of chocolate cake with caramel filling peeking out. "Poke cake?" You gasped. The man had done his research--this was your absolute favorite indulgence. The white frosting on top covered the caramel glaze that oozed down through holes poked in the cake and made it deliciously gooey and decadent. "Indeed. Made special by real people: not replicators." Jim looked extremely pleased with himself, eyes darting back and forth between you and the cake. Picking up Jim's hand, you kissed it dramatically. "My hero!" You explained in a staged breathy sigh. "That'll do the trick all right. The shyness disappeared along with the cake and you and Jim ended up laughing and talking and flirting until a late hour. "So, see you again soon?" He asked, when he walked you to your door. "Of course. Hopefully NOT in sickbay, though." You poked him meaningfully in the chest, then leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Goodnight, Jim." "Goodnight, Y/N" he replied staring after you with what Christine would have called "heart eyes."

@whatif-animagineblog @yourtropegirl @kirkaholic123 @southernbellestatues

@kaitymccoy123

[colp76-blog]

A human brain-controlled spacecraft would mean mechanical perfection. This was accomplished, and something unforeseen: a strange entity called—Mr. Spaceship

Origins.

Mr. Spaceship was first published in 1953 for Imagination, Stories of Science and Fantasy and later in The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick. If you would like to read the short story, it’s available for free download in the link below.

http://www.gutenberg.net

Synopsis.

It’s the future and Terra is still at war, only this time it’s with the Yucconae aka the Yuks, an alien life from another planet. The Yuks are winning because they are using technology that is far more superior than the mechanical spaceships used on Terra. Their spaceships are biological and able to think for themselves, leaving humanity struggling to find a solution; until now. Philip Kramer is part of a research team that comes up with a plan to build a spaceship that’s powered by a human brain but it’s his wife Dolores who can think of the ideal candidate. Professor Michael Thomas taught both Philip and Dolores when they were younger but now he is older and dying. After hearing Kramer’s plan, the Professor donates his brain to the cause. The project is complete and everything is going perfectly until Kramer learns that the Professor has made some changes to his plans. The changes become rather significant as the Professor can now control the entire ship. Kramer and his team become fearful and manage to escape the vessel before it leaves for outer space. Kramer is informed that his wife has been involved in an accident and he leaves to go see her. It turns out the accident is a ruse by the Professor and Kramer is kidnapped. The Professor had his own plan all along and wants to take Kramer and Dolores to a new planet. To start a new civilisation, one that doesn’t desire war.

Conclusion.

As soon as I read Mr. Spaceship, I was taken to a world that I had almost forgotten. Okay, I wasn’t around in 1953 when the story was first written but I was around before the digital revolution when television was black and white, and that’s the environment my imagination created when reading it.

“A lot of this was still mechanical, worked by pressure, temperature, stress. Now it’s under the central master.” “The brain?” Gross said. “You mean it’s been altered so that the brain manipulates it?”

This story could have been sponsored by Benson and Hedges with the number of cigarettes that was lit up and it was funny to remember a time when this was classed as normal. I did enjoy revisiting that era though and it took me back to those early morning black and white matinees that first introduced me to science-fiction, but?

I think the story has suffered the passing of time with some of its chauvinistic views. I’m certainly not blaming Philip K. Dick for this and your views could be far different from mine but Dolores should have been the most important character in the story but she’s brushed aside with ease. In my eyes, she came up with the idea to contact the Professor and it would have been more realistic if she was the central character, only because she seems more caring than Kramer. I mean, there could have been a lot more depth to her character in making Kramer believe that war is pointless. I know I’m not a great writer but I feel that a modern-day Dolores would have had more of a voice. I think the fact that the Professor decides to discuss his future plans with Kramer while Dolores is left sitting in the luggage department speaks volumes. Not exactly the all-seeing eye I want looking over me personally, thank you.

“Where are we going?” He smiled at his wife, standing nervous and frightened, her large eyes full of alarm. “I don’t know where we are going,” he said. “But somehow that doesn’t seem too important right now…. I’m beginning to see the Professor’s point, it’s the result that counts.”

But then again, I could be wrong! Maybe Philip K. Dick is pointing this out to me on purpose and he is aware of this situation. If he is, well what a wonderful way to do it. I guess I should talk about the Yuks, I was expecting more interaction with them but I guess you can only fit so much into the story but I was craving a little bit more information. I did like the idea of Mr. Spaceship and some of the imagery used was spectacular. I did have visions of Independence Day 1996 and Starship Troopers which came out in 1959.

“Suddenly the air-conditioning snapped into operation. It snapped abruptly off again. Down the corridor a door slammed. Something thudded. The men stood listening. Sounds came from all sides of them, switches shutting, opening. The lights blinked off; they were in darkness. The lights came back on, and at the same time the heating coils dimmed and faded.”

After reading Mr. Spaceship quite a few times, I’m left wondering, what is the moral of the story? I guess I could look at the Professor who is pretty reminiscent of those who have survived the turmoil of war in real life. Only problem is his actions are not something I agree with so he didn’t really resonate with me. Kramer really didn’t seem like the man who could lead a new society into a peaceful existence either.

“In time of war everything must be tried,” Kramer said absently. “If one life sacrificed will end the war it’s worth it. This ship might get through. A couple more like it and there wouldn’t be any more war.”

I guess that just leaves Dolores for me and how she could have provided so much more to the story. The good thing about art is that it can be interpreted in many different ways and can learn you something about yourself and life. I guess that’s the real genius of Philip K.Dick, he leaves you left wondering so much after reading his work. This is my first look into his short stories and cant wait to start the next one.

Have you read Mr. Spaceship and what are your thoughts? I would love to read your comments and thank you for visiting.

Mr. Spaceship, Philip K. Dick 1953. Where is my Mind? A human brain-controlled spacecraft would mean mechanical perfection. This was accomplished, and something unforeseen: a strange entity called—Mr.

[saturninemartial]

Me and You - Part 1

Rating: This chapter is just General or Teen; but part 2 will be Mature or explicit. Ship: Shyan (Shane Madej/Ryan Bergara) Warnings: None Series: I love you more than I ever loved anyone before, or anyone to come. Synopsis: A stupid marriage proposal. Notes: I’m going to make this into a series of twoshots or something, because I know exactly what I wanna write. This is my first work in this fandom!!

AO3 link

The question comes out of the blue, interrupting the comfortable silence they’ve been sharing for at least the past hour. The crunching of gravel and twigs underfoot has been their soundtrack, with the occasional small, short comment about something they see during this hike just outside of LA.

“Have you ever thought about getting married?” There’s a tinge of apprehension on Ryan’s voice; he’s obviously been thinking about this a lot but seems afraid of what Shane will think; and Shane doesn’t like the thought of Ryan being afraid of asking him something, especially if it pertains to them. Shane blinks, and a tiny frown quirks on his lips.

“That’s a loaded question if I ever heard one,” he remarks, but almost immediately realizes it’s a mistake. Ryan huffs a sigh, and Shane can see him retreating back into his mind. They’ve been out in the sun a little while, but a little embarrassment seems to color the younger’s cheeks.

“Never mind. Forget I said anything,” Ryan mumbles, looking away. Well, that riles Shane up a little bit.

“You brought it up, obviously it’s important to you,” Shane reasons, his tone chiding.

“No—you know I sometimes say things without thinking!”

“Yeah, but that means it comes from your heart or whatever; and besides, I could practically hear you thinking over there! Just explain to me what you’re thinking!”

“Okay!” Ryan’s voice rings out; they’re practically talking over each other at this point, which is nothing new to them. He sighs again, having slowed his steps, though they’re still walking. “I was just thinking…” His voice is much quieter again, almost dripping with a timidness that Shane doesn’t like. He’s hedging, the older can tell, trying to stall a little. Shane raises an eyebrow at him, and Ryan fidgets, rubbing the back of his neck. “What if we got married? You and me?”

This time, both of Shane’s eyebrows rise slightly as he weighs this. It doesn’t surprise him too much—he knows Ryan is a huge, sappy romantic—but he thinks their relationship is just fine the way it is. “You wanna get married? You wanna marry me?” The second part is what’s surprising to him; as cocky as Shane likes to act, anyone ever wanting to marry him, of all people, is laughable. Ryan is husband material. Shane, not so much.

“I… Yeah?” Ryan glances up at him for a moment, then focuses on the trail again. They’ve been doing this ‘Ryan and Shane, Shane and Ryan’ thing long enough—first just as work partners, and then as romantic partners too—that talking about relationship things has always been fairly easy. And Shane hates so much that Ryan seems afraid of asking him; and Shane hates that he might give an answer that Ryan doesn’t like.

The silence falls again, but not for too long as Shane has finished formulating his answer. “I don’t see any reason we should. You can have a perfectly fine committed relationship for the rest of your life without getting the government involved. You don’t have to tell anyone else that you love each other, all you need is each other.” They’re both old enough now that the ‘rest of your life together’ thing isn’t so daunting, and in fact feels realistic enough. And even though they still act like best buddies, their love still burns hot and deeply enough that it doesn’t feel stupid talking about the rest of their lives.

Shane looks over, and Ryan’s jaw is set slightly. He’s thinking. “That’s…noble, I guess, and touching that you even bring up spending the rest of your life of me. But you forget just how much the government is involved regardless. And how much everything else is involved too. There’s tax benefits, and being able to sign off on various things together. And what if something happens to one of us? A hospital, or a-a funeral home is going to take a spouse a lot more seriously than just a boyfriend. A spouse gets more rights than just a boyfriend does. A spouse is like an immediate family kind of thing, a spouse can legally make decisions for the other person. And—“ Ryan is staring up at Shane, big dark eyes shining with passion in that Ryan way. “And don’t forget the fight for marriage equality. So many people had to live in long-term relationships and not have the things I just mentioned, they weren’t allowed to see their partners in the hospital, they weren’t included in funeral arrangements, they weren’t in obituaries even though they were with their partners for years and helped them with everything! And I also…” He licks his lips. “I kinda just wanna get married.” He finishes with a lame shrug.

The first thing out of Shane’s mouth, after a beat of silence, is, “You’re already thinking about me dying?” which is met by an elbow into Shane’s ribs.

“Shut the fuck up, Shane.”

Shane shakes his head, laughing slightly. “Nah, you do raise a lot of good points though. That whole speech just shows why I love you. You’re passionate as fuck but also really well-informed and smart.”

“…Thanks.” Shane can hear the blush in Ryan’s voice.

“Welcome, baby. I guess it does worry me a little bit that maybe we’ll end up shooting somewhere dangerous and one of us gets hurt and has to go to the hospital. Or we get really old, since getting old comes with just a whole shit ton of problems.”

Ryan laughs, something breathy and shaky. “Yeah, if I even live that long. Unsolved has probably taken years off my life at this point.” Their hands find each other, and Shane’s thumb smooths over the back of Ryan’s hand. He can tell Ryan’s nerves are still thrumming. But Shane has been pretty much convinced, and not just because he wants to make his boyfriend happy.

“Well? You wanna get married?” Shane looks down at him, brows raised in proposition.

“Didn’t I just fucking say I wanted to?”

“Then we’ll get married.” It’s decisive and confident; and Ryan looks back up at him, their eyes meeting. Ryan’s eyes still have something shining in them—love adoration, something, Shane doesn’t like to toot his own horn that much—and the older man experiences an onslaught of emotion. That weird, funny feeling in his stomach that he’s been getting ever since things with Ryan turned romantic, the good kind of weird, funny feeling that you get when the person you like or love does something you love; and an overwhelming amount of protectiveness.

Maybe it’s the emotion that Ryan instills in him, but getting married actually doesn’t sound too bad now. He gets to protect this wonderful human being for the rest of his natural life (he’d say forever but that would mean admitting that ghosts exist). And really—Ryan is his best friend, so there would be no better choice for Shane to marry than him.

They fall into silence again, hands still loosely connected as they continue their little trek. The gears are still turning in Ryan’s head though; his pensive expression is such a giveaway. Even though it might not be so obvious to others, Shane thinks the gears turning in Ryan’s head need to be oiled as they’re too noisy. It makes Shane worry just a little bit this time. Has he done something wrong? He glances down at their hands: his right and Ryan’s left.

He stops, which startles Ryan a little bit.

“Something wrong?” Ryan asks, concerned. Oh no—he’s probably starting to think he’s twisted Shane’s arm into this marriage thing. Even though Shane’s arm is pretty hard to twist, he knows Ryan does get a little embarrassed about his more sentimental tendencies (which is kind of cute).

The older man releases his boyfriend’s hand and looks around them on the ground, biting into his lip in thought. Previous hikers have left all manner of trash along the path, despite the various signs saying not to. In a stroke of blind dumbness, he bends down and paws through a pile of leaves, twigs, and pieces of trash, which earns him an expected indignant questioning from Ryan. But he persists, and finds a good piece of garbage: a Jack Link Matador wrapper.

“Shut up for one moment and let me put my plan to fruition.” Shane sinks down onto one knee. Ryan’s expression is at first one of confusion; but then the realization… It’s when Shane knows he fucked this all up. The surprise and reverence on Ryan’s features loudly display just how much this whole thing means to him; and Shane finds that he actually loves that look so much; and now he hates himself for wasting this moment, that they’ll never get it back, or be able to redo it with the same amount of impact. “Ryan Steven Bergara, will you do me the absolute utmost pleasure of marrying me?”

A huge grin works its way across the younger man’s face. “Of course, you fucking idiot! We’ve already discussed this!”

“Yeah, but I know this kind of thing is important to you.” Shane takes his boyfriend’s left hand and ties the beef jerky wrapper around his ring finger, and Ryan throws his head back and laughs.

“You’re the fucking worst,” he admonishes Shane with a huge grin, cupping the older man’s face in his hands. Shane stands again, cupping the sides of Ryan’s neck.

“That’s not how you talk to your future husband,” Shane chastises softly, also grinning. The quietest of 'I love you's is exchanged, barely louder than a breath; then Ryan stretches a little, and their lips meet, the younger man humming softly in the back of his throat. It’s something sweet, and loving, and soft; and these sweet, loving, and soft moments are cherished by both of them as they’re often very loud and passionate.

“You’re going to make a great ghost husband someday,” Ryan says softly when they break apart, wearing a shit eating grin.

“That’s—“ Shane scoffs, exasperated, though it’s playful. “Why are you so eager to have me dead?”

Ryan only laughs in reply, obviously giddy; and Shane can’t help but to think about how much he loves this man, supernatural absurdity and all.

[quadratic-shipping]

Kay, new icon is Vriska’s dice cause the gradient was lame, and every Vriska blog halfway to sunday has already had every photo of her face as their icon twice. It also works cause of yknow liking dnd and stuff. one thing I really liked about my last vriska pic one was the negative space made it feel like it popped and I feel like this one has sort of the same thing going for it. Wow, it can be that deep. I’m just rambling cause it’s 3am and yet again I have stayed up this long. I can;t wait til it’s winter again so I can force myself back into a normal sleep schedule. I stayed up all night a couple nights ago, and that gave me one decent night of sleep so I might just try that again tonight. Rest put under the readmore because it’s irrelevant and sleep deprived rambling I wouldn’t dare subject my beautiful followers and browsers to.

While I’m here, posting a late night thing no one will see or interact with; thank god; I was cleaning and I came across one of those neck warmer things that legit just a tube you pull up your face to keep your nose from freezing off because Canada Winters, I never can use them because I always fog up my glasses, and I just wanted to say that Niqabi gals with glasses are so brave? Legit if I had to deal with my glasses fogging up I’d die, I’d rather lose my nose to frostbite than fog them up (like I go outside enough loll) so for them to deal with that everyday is like, legendary. I mean, I guess if you were pretty antisocial you wouldn’t have to deal with it much but still, point totally stands. 

While we’re on the positivity train? Lesbians? y’all really like Vriska HUH? Thank you for interacting, I appreciate, yall are so valid. I’m torn between “You have good taste” jokes and “Yall will just like anything w/ vriska in it” and either way it takes too strong a stance on my own content to feel good about it. Obvs goes the same way for all the NB and Trans ppl interacting, yall are also Excellent and I appreciate yall. Obvs I’m cis so I don’t have any real godtier takes or anything abt. gender, but reading your guyss stuff is excellent please keep making it.

Uh sexuality update; Still labelling as bi, IDK if I really want to date men tho, before I actually and FINALLY get a taste of the other side; please; because I feel like the problem with my relationships re; dudes is just that I can’t just be myself, I’m just 900000% in my own head about it and not even like; trying to be idealized, idk whats going on I just have a hard time connecting w/ them and it’s defo my fault so idk bro. IDK it’s fun to have crushes but dating is BORING from my very limited experience with only guys which is why a gf would be excellent. Or girl aligned partner. I feel like maybe what I’m attracted to is like, femininity, not necessarily femmes or women. IDK bruh it’s weird. doesn’t help I can’t even figure out how to get and keep friends LOLLL it’s 3am. Sorry

Honestly before I started vrisrose posting I felt so useless yknow cause in the vriska circles there are a lot of intelligent people who understand canon better and are overall smarter and better spoken so I just felt like everything I had to say was just old hat and not very interesting. But the thing I like about VrisRose is no one else is talking about it as frequently ( I was searching the tag and my blog came up in the recco’s for blogs up top and I was very happy) so I feel like, hey, this is my niche. That one engineer of useless inventions quote: The best way to become top of your field is to specialize:, I jsut love rarepairs so much! I think it’s such a great way to approach character analysis because no one exists in a vaccum so seeing peoples interactions and what people like is so fun!!!! I say, invalidating all my personal issues lollll

CHARACTER ANALYSIS! FUCK TALKING ABOUT INTERACTIONS OR ACTIONS ON THEIR OWN OR THOUGHTS OR HC’S, I STAND BY MY ONE TAAKO ‘vriska did nothing wrong’ QUOTE; Trying to understand what characters morals, and their opinions on certain things by analyzing their opinions and interactions in canon is 500x more productive seeming to me than other things. Like, say taako’s thoughts about vriska, V and Lucretia are p similar actions wise, and he was pissed at her but that was mostly cause of the personal connections, when it doesn’t affect him Taako doesn’t seem to have any moral objections to any of the icky moral stuff; think robot planet or whatevs where they were gonna genocide the place and lup was like no and that was like the only reason he didn’t I’m pretty sure, I’m not too big brained on taako or adventurezone either so don’t take my word; So I think that Taak’s would be chill with Vriska. Another thing? The Lucretia thing was like, giving up which Taako is not ok with and Vriska thigns were about not giving up so I do legit think he would be totally coool with her, even if she were real, unless obvs she hurt one of the seven bird red robe people and their new friends.

ISN;T THAT SUCH A FUN METHOD OF CHARACTER ANALYSIS? I’m not drunk or in an altered state just tired enthusiastic and with a lot of pent up thoughts. Speaking of which, this song just came on it’s “Slowdance with you” by the Marcus Hedges Trend Orchestra and it is SOOOOO good, it’s on a vrisrezi playlist I put on bc I’m rereading song of the pyre because it was vriska day and it’s super good soo so good. It’s on loop now, legit best

Quick detours before I lay out some more hs thoughts; 

Overwatch:

-Ben “Captainplanet” came out w/ a new article and I LOVE IT so much and I want hhis job so bad I wanna get into stats so much ahhh  please so good it’s giving me a , this is crude but it’s the best way I can phrase it, a math erection. I love math so much <33333333

-The Shock, my faves, are doing well and I’m happy for them! I hope they go 7-0, I believe in them! I’m lying I am so fucking nervous for literally every match they have they’re gonna 2-5 AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Why am I so INVESTED? They technically could take first spot but that’s require titan’s to lose every match left and the shock to 7-0, but the thing is I thought that I wanted that but 

-then I watched the titans london match today, and I HATED the thought of titans losing. And losing so hard to other teams too, and I didn’t realize this but I think I do actually kinda like the titans?The thought of them not being a great team makes me sad. I think it’s like I really like them and shock as rivals, yknow, stage one and two, then this upcoming map? If Titans aren’t still Good in this meta it just sorta makes their rivalry not fun. Kismesis vibes is what I’m gonna say cause I’m TRASSSHHHHH pls stop my terrible hands from typing also if I ever saw actual ship stuff I would kill whoever made it. Like I’m not gonna check their socials or anything but if they’ve got a match against most teams I’d probs root for them. The Wolf section today was so funny lollll

-I think I might hate the London Spitfire. I have literally no reason to? I think all the players are good and I like them as people and I would never actively hate on them? But I’m like. Really mean to them in my head. I was so satisfied seeing htem lose to Florida, and Titans like IDK? Also they’re hella overrated so anticlutch jfc. Hate the franchise, love the players if that makes sense. IDK WHYYYYYYYYYYY

-Also I’m gonna miss tomorrows shock match and I’m so scared rip.

Misc: 

-Tripped backwards and somehow upturned my moms glass scale and it fell on my foot, that shit hurted.

-Oh My God I’m Projecting a million different things right now because I feel like this will not have an audience if you see this I’m begging you please don’t interact I’d die of embarassment keep the fact you’ve seen this a secret from me

HS:

-JFC song of the pyre is an excellent fic, I wish it would ever get updated it’s so fucking good guys

-I need to read more vrisrezi long form

-Non-sgrub vrisrezi is best vrisrezi

-My ideal Vrisrezi au would be like HS canon, diverge into non-sgrub and they completely fall out of touch, Killing Eve season 1, then Song of the Pyre. THAT is what I want.

-Killing eve season one and two would be an even BETTER VRISROSE AU AHHHHHH

-I once read a very good trollstuck rose but it was an eri-rose ship so basically what I want is that persons troll rose but paired with vriska. For how much I blog about it I’ve read very little vrisrose fic but almost everything I know comes from this fic. . Oh uh this is not the erirose fic that I read w trollstuck although it does unfortunately have erirose but I can excuse it when the vrisrose is this Excellent

Alright I’ve run out of hyper juice, have a nice night, sorry for posting thisssss

bye

[aeroknot]

@yellowflasher​ said: tell me abt this show bc i have been thinking of watching it

ahhhhh!! i’m so glad you asked me to talk about this show!! haha

as usual I’m a fucking insufferable, over-talkative spaz!!!

ummmmm ok!! it’s kinda like... Jessica Jones mixed with Tombstone mixed with Grimm?? and X-files as far as Monster of the Week and agents who pine for each other goes? & i’ve seen peeps compare it to Supernatural but I never watched that so... SHRUG. 

so the premise is that our wonderfully complex anti-hero chick wynonna earp returns to her hometown of Purgatory (somewhere in the U.S. near Canada; I personally think Montana because it’s the most western state bordering Canada (in the first ep Wynonna asks a fellow bus passenger “your first time out west?”) that’s not Washington or Idaho, bc neither of those seem like its setting esp. since Idaho is just a sliver of the whole border, tho it could be North Dakota or Minnesota I guess?--  EH it’s kind of not been touched on as far as I know and anyway it doesn’t matter shut up aero just---). she is the great-great grandaughter of wyatt earp, the righteous 19th century wild west u.s. marshal raining down hellfire on USDA grade A Assholes. but then he’s cursed!! and his kills are actually cursed in hellfire!! even if they’re killed, they resurrect from hell the next time a new heir turns 27 if not all of them have been defeated, and they’re demons trapped within the borders of Purgatory (har har go figure), or in the show’s terms, also called Revenants. earp had a renown 77 kills, and the only way to break the curse is for his heirs to hunt down and shoot all 77 kills before the heir dies-- the heirs have the power to wield his mystical gun Peacemaker which sends Revenants back to hell. wynonna is our fantastically loveable resistant heroine because she was never meant to be the heir-- her older sister, the firstborn, was supposed to be, but shit went down (which got her ostracized and locked up in psychological institutions) and now she is the heir. and I’ll move on from synopsis to opinions because I don’t want to start spoiling anything and the show should just speak for itself!

reasons I’ve enjoyed it!!!:

Wynonna Fucking Earp. early on I described her as a “slightly perkier” Jessica Jones. That was wrong-- in the SLIGHTEST part. she is a WAY WAY PERKIER Jessica Jones. and I fucking cannot get enough of it. Like... Dark-haired leather-jacket-wearing harrowed-past-having orphaned-and-outcasted-as-children anti-heroes are mostly typically supposed to be deadpan, snarky, grumpy, sexily standoffish, and often secretive and hard to read, and only rarely invested in others. And she is that, often, yet SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT. She is: GOOFY!! CRASS!! EMBARRASSING!! PLAYFUL!!!! She smiles a lot!!! She celebrates victories! She cracks jokes! She expresses her desires upfront and unabashedly, and without games! She is emotionally vulnerable with loved ones and friends and grows even more in this throughout! She actually asks people for support and comfort!! & She busts balls endearingly! She’s courageous and helpful! She’s brash and brazen--and yeah, this gets her scolded by others, but rarely does it feel like she’s punished for her impulsive heroics by her writers, as I often feel (male) writers of female heroes (or usually side-heroes) tend to do (probably she’s not punished because mostly women are writing this story, gee isn’t that weird? hah). There’s consequences, yeah, but it usually works out and she’s still the hero ultimately. She’s basically the plucky hero wrapped in anti-hero fodder, and I have completely fallen for her. She makes me laugh so much with her dialogue and makes me feel represented with how WEIRD she ultimately gets to be. Plus, she is emotionally vulnerable almost every episode, and her sister even succinctly chides her with “for a lone wolf, you sure are needy.”

getting to that, HER SISTER!!! Waverly is amazeballs. I think she even used the term amazeballs in an episode, recently-- she’s that amazeballs. She’s still growing a lot, but she’s definitely quintessential underdog baby sister, and I’m here for it, because she’s also reinforced as an integral part of the story and gets her own romance even before Wynonna and it’s so wonderful. Waverly constantly has a new skill or tidbit of information up her sleeve-- she’s inventive, thorough, super super damn nerdy, and also social and kind and popular. Plus, she’s with Nicole Haught (and I just cannot get over the playfulness of some of these names in the story, lmao) and they’re just fantastic together and I’m so happy to see them together every time. So far it’s good lesbian content. My face honest to god always cracks into a smile when they’re together. also um!! i want her entire wardrobe!! 

The Earp Sisters are just... Their sisterhood is so rich and complex and SATISFYING. Like I actually feel like I’m watching REAL SISTERS. They are gross and raunchy with each other, and I laugh so hard. They are sweet and supportive to each other and I cry. They are competitive and jealous and conflicted with each other, and I’m relieved to see this-- to see all these layers to them. It’s great writing and acting for a sister bond and I’m just excited to see sisterhood being such an integral theme for a t.v. show. 

the SYFY effects are sometimes silly but I still enjoy it. the ENTIRE CONCEPT is actually pretty silly and sometimes goes cheesy, even, but I still am endeared by its approach just the same. The storyline itself is... often confusing me, and I LIKE that, believe it or not. I don’t mean “confusing” as in the plot doesn’t make sense-- it does-- I mean “confusing” in the sense that it’s, hm, how should I say... I guess kind of disjointed? There’s always a Random Revelation thrown in suddenly, or weird Twist that literally had NO foreshadowing, and often it seems like the story progresses with big chunks of time in between episodes which can be hard to place and pace the action and relationship developments... Usually I’d probably nitpick all this, but actually, it keeps me very transfixed because usually I can completely predict what will happen next due to a show’s use of foreshadowing, but this show often completely bypasses such a dance with the audience, and though I sometimes question if that’s effective storytelling, I honestly think I’m really starting to respect this method, and so I want to stick around for it. I could probably go into way more detail with this, but then I might start spoiling things, so I’ll leave it at that. Someone who constantly predicts the “reveals” in a show, even at an episode-by-episode pace, gives this a seal of approval!! Nothing “revealed” is particularly earthshattering and it’s often given away in such a matter-of-fact tone, but it propels the story in interesting ways without a ton of hoopla in trying to ever pull one over its audience, and I like and respect that. They’re like “oh fuck! This weird idea we had is A Thing now. Let’s explore that more together, viewers!!”

(I will say some of the deaths are not as effective as I think they could be because of the above evaluation of the approach to plot/pacing/twists/reveals, but I’m still interested in those choices. brings me to a legit critique tho: they should uh... stop killing so many Cool Women right after immediately introducing them. It’s starting to worry me. :\ but also...? I’m trusting? I think? still? anywho!)

I’m a Tombstone-loving Fuck and Doc Holliday is one of my favorite real-person enigmas of history and this Doc Holliday incarnation is supremely gratifying. He is consistently entertaining and intriguing!

I was initially all in for Holliday and THEN FUCKING DEPUTY MARSHAL XAVIER DOLLS CAME FOR MY WHOLE HEART. Go! Look at his special eyes! Look at his HEART EYES at my DAUGHTER WYNONNA. He has my whole approval. I’ll buy the ring for him. I’ll plan the proposal. DO IT.

-- ok aside from my shipping bullshittery also Dolls is just. An amazing guy. I love him. He’s a boss in so many senses of the word, and he constantly surprises me. I feel like he’s... A Capital-A Adult? You know? He’s mature, and methodical, and clever, and talented, and confident. It’s funny to me that he’s called “the stick in the mud” and yet through small tidbits we see he’s really not (he can be playful or perverted, too), he’s just Grown. A Man. Focused, with an Agenda and a Goal. It’s lovely to see him come out of his shell a bit and be cheeky and then at the end of S1 just like... OPENLY ADORE the people he’s around. But it’s also a breath of fresh air somehow to see An Adult Man. I don’t know, maybe it’s what the actors bring, too, because both Doc and Dolls really just strike me as assured individuals, each of them just really secure in their sense of identity, which makes them GREAT foils to Wynonna, and it’s just fabulous, really. I like adulthood being given this reverence and care. It makes someone like me, hedging out of her twenties, feel a little bit more like there’s still a space in media and storytelling for people over 35. lmao. (and admittedly 35 is still fucking young, but Hollywood would have us believe it’s time to go out to pasture at this age)

and on that note DOC HOLLIDAY AND DOLLS TOGETHER. I JUST. *clenches fist* THEY’RE SO GREAT. AND WITH WYNONNA I JUST. It IS A LOVE TRIANGLE, in the barest evaluation, yes. And I prefer Dolls with Wynonna, yes, and usually I, yes, Fucking Can’t Stand Triangles, but the way these writers are approaching this has me fucking bowing down to them. I am really enjoying the way they’re taking this so far. I laughed to myself the other day because the realization suddenly dawned on me like “oh.... Fucking Anciently Old Immortal Pale Guy + Mystically Endowed Outcast Brunette Girl + Man of Color With a Secretive Monster Backstory” is fucking..... Twilight. This is Twilight. If it had a Wild West spin and was written, you know, WELL, and the characters were a thousand times more interesting. Is Emily Andras trying to come for Stephanie Meyers? MAYHAPS. 

I’m gonna give some rapid fire thoughts to wind down: GREAT MUSIC SELECTIONS, fun shootouts!!, LESBIANS!!! <33333, mostly interesting villains, good cinematography, action!, mystery!, HUMOR!!! THAT DIALOGUE!!!! WRITE ALL MY LIFE AND INTERACTIONS W/ OTHERS W.EARP WRITERS!! 

I could go on and on which is in my fucking nature I’m so goddamn sorry look at this pit you’ve opened but ultimately my answer is: It is so fucking fun. It is a Delight! A DELIGHT I TELL YOU. I get joy from this; I laugh, I’m entertained, my brain thinks hard but not too hard, the characters have infiltrated my heart so damn quickly. DELIGHT. I’m so sad I’ve caught up but also I fucking bought a Season Pass on Amazon prime for s2 so even though I don’t live with cable anymore, I’MMA BE ON THIS.