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demonfox38 · 3 months ago

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Completed - Vampire Survivors (Base + Ode to Castlevania DLC)

This game makes my brain scream at me.

Like, okay. I'm an average office worker. If I'm not in a meeting, I've got something from YouTube running in the background. Music playlists, video essays, whatever. So, in agreement, in disagreement, whatever—the terms "hauntology" and "dopamine addiction" are consistently in my short-term memory thanks to the video essay portions. The rot of culture by failure to let new ideas bloom, clinging to nostalgia and old symbols. Taxing and abusing neurotransmitters in search of instant happiness. Fun, happy things to ponder while I try to burn these hours of my life away.

Do I think either are threats? Well, unchecked nostalgia, definitely—especially when it's faux 1950s Americana influencing law to restrict the rights of others. Dopamine addiction is a bit more of a mixed bag. Like, you've got to create habits of maintenance, absolutely. Cooking, cleaning, exercise, grooming, so on. But, if you're clever, you can figure out how to use your reward system to help support these habits. Starving it or trying to obliterate it won't help, especially if it causes rebound issues. It's just…ya know. Gaining an appreciation for slower processes over instant gratification and deriving lessons from the struggles of life over bodily abuse and obliteration.

I bring these topics up because I got both "Vampire Survivors" and its "Ode to Castlevania" DLC for the cost of a goddamn cheeseburger. This pixel-exploding throwback of a game lasted me for over 100 hours. Drug dealers and fast-food restaurants would wither and die at such a nexus of cost and effectivity.

Some killjoy could do real numbers discussing hauntology and dopamine addition as the subjects apply to this game.

Should I have gotten into "Vampire Survivors" sooner? Possibly? The communal vibes I absorbed on it were nothing but praise. I don't know if I would have felt brave about trying a Rogue-like prior to playing "Baroque," but I do enjoy a good ol' fashioned bullet hell / shooter, from time to time. It might be lame that it literally took the announcement of a "Castlevania" DLC for me to give this game a try, but hey. This DLC did better about pulling me in than "Dead by Daylight" or "Dead Cells" did under similar circumstances.

What's "Vampire Survivors" about? When I figure that out, I'll get back to you. Most of the narrative I'm picking up is derived from a mix of stage names, enemy bestiary entries, and the surnames of the characters I unlock. Generally speaking, it's about Belpaese and Ladonna kin coming together to endure waves of monsters until the cold, clammy fingers of death come for them. And then, finding a way to break past their power. The powers behind them. The limitations of space and time. Research gone horribly wrong, time and time again. Creepy things hidden at the bottom of towers. Fallen civilizations. Corrupted religious sects. Milk-based magic. Ya know. Wholesome stuff!

In another world—with another particular video game company and their infamously litigious team of lawyers—"Vampire Survivors" may not have made it past its first year. It's not hard to see what game series may have inspired the creation of its lead whip-wielding fighter of the undead. Arca Ladonna may be even more egregious in the video game celebrity look-alike competition. (Don't even get me started on those Blue Venus creatures!) But, the aesthetic inspiration certainly doesn't stop at Konami properties! "Bayonetta", "Batman", "Okami", "Sonic the Hedgehog", "Mortal Kombat"—there's gonna be at least one situation you'll have where you end up snorting with laughter with how close to the copyright line this game rides.

Also, "Vampire Survivors" is the most Italian video game I've ever played. Like, yes, tee-hee on "La Borra" and "Testa di Mano" enemies. Nothing is as fucking authentically Italian as naming a character after Cristina D'Avena. Like, goddamn. How do you top that? Make a stage based on the set design for Dario Argento's "Suspiria" and "Inferno" films? Have playable knockoffs of "Lupin the Third" characters? How about an entire race of sentient ducks running parallel to human society? Call their main hero Duckabolik or something. Goddamn.

Although, there were those ducks in space…

So, I put an RPG's worth of hours into the game without getting much in the way of plot. Obviously, something else is keeping me around. How about that core gameplay loop? It starts simple enough. Move your dude up, down, left, and/or right as needed. Hit enemies with attacks. Pick up gems. Level up. Repeat until you die or you hit 30:00, at which point the game sends a Reaper after you to finish you off for good. Run the game again, continue grinding up weapons, unlock more people and levels, etcetera. So goes this song in a round.

You determine your own progress with this game through the Achievements screen. Look at what items remain, make your next goal, and finish off what you can in your next game. Progress will remove some tasks from this list, but it may add others as more opportunities unfold. Empty out your Achievements? Well, guess what? You'll get an extra round of tasks in a brand-new Secrets screen as well! Clearing that may not get you bonus trophies in Steam, but it may get you some additional levels and characters, too. Ditto the Adventures mode too, while you are at it!

Actually, the Adventures mode is pretty strange, if you don't have other DLC for this game. It's really only two stories? Weird. Seems underutilized. Kind of strange that Konami didn't pitch something for this mode, too…

If you're looking for a general overview of tasks to complete, this may help:

Get through the first five game maps, performing well enough to unlock their Hyper Mode options.

Trigger and kill the special boss in Moongolow.

Pick up the Yellow Sign and use that to start killing Reapers.

Kill the special boss that now spawns in Capella Magna.

Gather all base relics (including defeating the damned Sketamari.)

Harass the final boss for two more relics.

Fight the final boss.

It helps to experiment with different weapons and passive items. Leveling up different weapons unlock different characters, so that makes it an easy sell. Using the correct combination of passive items with weapons may also augment the weapon, giving it different (usually better) properties. Getting proficient with different characters may also unlock Arcana cards, which can grant your character with random bonuses while in a battle. Long story short—don't go stale, and neither will the game.

Also, "Castlevania" fans: go look at the names for those Arcana cards. Come back when you've face-palmed.

Most of the game's complexity comes from making your randomly-assigned resources count. The enemies are simplistic, just ambling towards you. The pressure comes more from managing distance from them and your own powers as the enemy's strength grows over time. (Honestly, the biggest difficulty spike may just come from not getting a Garlic weapon, of all things.) Sketamari is the most complicated creature I had to deal with, and that was more building a viable weapon stack in a short amount of time and preventing any interlopers from building it up than anything else. Everything else is…well. Dodge the shit and don't get touched. Video Game Rules 101.

While aesthetically simple, the game is a glory when it comes to CPU resource management. Lesser machines could not handle the glut of objects and particles being rendered on screen, particularly in later parts of a level. I suppose a creature doesn't need more than three frames of animation when a hundred or so of them are being rendered on screen at once. It's amazing this game is as stable as it is, for all of what it is doing. I've had it chug once, sure. Even had it lock up my computer, one time (although one of my poodles was a contributor to that mess.) But, man. Whatever is going on with managing the location, health, and appearance of all on-screen objects is nothing short of technomancy.

The music is also pretty solid, too. Loops well; doesn't get distracting. Honestly, it sometimes gets crushed by the sound effects, but you can adjust the audio and music tracks to balance it out. I appreciate the soundtrack not being above having a joke or too, as well. (Remember: this is an exceedingly Italian game.)

With this game, you need to pace yourself. If you get every run perfect, you'll be spending somewhere between 15-30 minutes in intense play. (Assume you'll be more on the longer end than shorter.) The circular motions you'll be making can be taxing on your thumbs. Make sure to get up, stretch, and rest your eyes and hands every hour. Your body will appreciate it.

Also, seriously. Take the game's flashing warning to heart. You can adjust some settings to ease up on what is being rendered, but the game is designed to burn like a comet. There's gonna be tons of debris shearing off it, and you do not want that scalding your eyeballs.

For those of you hopping in via House Dracula, the DLC "Ode to Castlevania" provides an additional map, as well as…well, the marketing says 40+ weapons and 20+ new characters, but let me tell you. That plus sign is hiding a lot. Like, 90+ pieces of music, 25 bosses, and several dozen new enemies. Damn.

Much like the base game, you're not gonna get much more in the way of plot. It's mostly pushing as far as you can in a single go, punishing bosses as you gather the strength to tackle them and unlocking your Belmont, Belnades, or buddy of choice. However, there is a fun little treat at the map's end regarding the English opening cutscene of "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" and Death being a goddamn nightmare. Like, damn, dude. I know the breakup of a bromance that lasted a millennium was rough on you, but this is not the best way to react.

Because of the map's ungodly size and number of tasks to tackle, you'd be better off making good headway into the main game before tackling this. At the very least, it will help you to get that time limit lifted with an Endless mode unlock. (You can also eventually invert the castle, if you're into that.)

The loop here is more like:

Unlock Belmonts (generally, in order of timeline, with a few exceptions.)

Use Belmonts to unlock ally characters, beat bosses, and unlock parts of the map.

Push forward until you finally get Richter.

Use Richter to fight Death.

Max out your new wave of characters.

Fight new bosses.

Find the Pile of Secrets and Wood Carving Score.

Continue until all secrets are exhausted.

That should hold you out…Oh, I don't know. A good 50 hours or more?

I can't get over how deep this DLC digs into "Castlevania" characters and songs. Finally, in 2024—after getting booted from two other games!—we have a playable Hammer. And a playable Mina Hakuba. LMAO. I know people didn't have her on their bingo card, but damn. There are all kinds of playable characters here that I never expected to see, whether in terms of capabilities, story fates, or just coming out of the wrong division of Konami Computer Entertainment. I don't know who wanted a playable Vincent, but uh…there you go. Congrats to you.

I mean, what? Am I supposed to be a shithead and ask for the merchant from "Harmony of Dissonance" or someone from Wygol Village? Fucking 80 goddamn characters, and two are the final Sorrow cast members that I was missing. And fucking Quincy Morris of all goddamn people, now that the copyright for Stoker's "Dracula" has gone to hell. Screw it. I'm take the W and leaving on this one.

With the way Quincy looks in this game, doesn't he look a bit like the North American cover of "Castlevania Bloodlines"? It's making me question some things about that box art…

The DLC takes a fair amount of flexibility when it comes to cast powers. Like, you're not gonna get soul or power absorption with Shanoa or Soma, but you are going to get unique boosts for each cast member. Every Belmont gets a unique way to use their whip, so that's neat! A great way to prevent stagnation, for sure. And, hey. Don't like the default weapon your character starts with? You can switch that out eventually, too. Just gotta prove your competence. Meet some achievements. Do the "Vampire Survivors" grind.

Most of the "Castlevania" remixes are pretty solid as well. Just take a YouTube playlist already. Enjoy. (I was particularly tickled by "Wood Carving Partita" and "The Sinking Old Sanctuary," for what that is worth.)

Now, the songs aren't exactly paired with the characters you may expect. Like, Christopher Belmont gets "Beginning", which then throws "Trevor" into "Aquarius", throwing Sypha and Yoko off, and so on. If you get the Magic Banger relic, it's no big deal to correct. It's just funny how preconceptions can make cool music otherwise seem off.

There was one major part that actively pissed me off with this DLC, and it was unlocking Camilla. The flavor text on her unlock secret implies that a Belmont needs to kill her off (either Leon, Simon, or Sonia, whomever you consider the "first" Belmont to be.) The actual method of unlocking her is hitting her with a Nightmare spell. Like…okay? I'm hoping that'll be patched out later, but man. Wasting hours on that only to find out I was being misled was annoying.

I can't say the sweat needed to unlock Brauner was worth it as well. He isn't as immediately frustrating, but he takes way more time than seems necessary. Just go toss the Blood Astronomia and some compatible weapons on Dracula, get him up to the gallery, level him to a stable point, and park him for a couple of hours.

As shit tier as 2024 has been personally, I can't help but be comforted with the "Castlevania" game releases this year. The "Dominus Collection", the "Dead by Daylight" DLC, and the cherry on top, this. I shouldn't have needed such an incentive to play "Vampire Survivors," but I was more than happy to go hog-wild on this game and its DLC. God bless the development team for this game. They may have developed the digital version of a stimulant drug that makes my hands and brain scream, but I can only hope the best for them.

Good people put their fan translators in their credits, man. And poncle's staff…them's good people, that's what.

The base "Vampire Survivors" is currently available for $4.99 USD on Steam, although that price tends to frequently dip down a dollar for seasonal sales. "Ode to Castlevania" tacks on another $3.99 USD. There are additional levels of DLC and expansions past that point, if you want more. I'm not certain if you'll find more vampires to survive, necessarily, but at least you've got, like, actual vampires to survive now. Which, apparently, is a whole ass meme I didn't know about before!

What's the official count on that now, anyway? You don't fight Dracula, so I don't think you can count him. But, there's Walter, Joachim, Carmilla, Orlox, a Jiang Chi, Stella & Loretta…actually, do you count them? I mean, I know the Sanctuary spell works on them, so I'd say yes, but…Or, wait. Shit. Does "Vampire Survivors" mean the vampires you survive, or the vampires that are also surviving alongside you? Maybe I didn't think this through…

Man, counting vampires shouldn't be as hard as surviving them. Ah ah ah!

#post game evaluation #vampire survivors #ode to castlevania

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ohhicas · 2 years ago

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what do you think writers who want to write a good accurate James should know? :)

Oohh I haven't done this in awhile I know I'm gonna forget some Huge Important Beats

He's like, legitimately(ish), friends with Catwoman. They are on non-murderous speaking terms, she respects him for as far as that word can stretch, and he was able to clock her by walking style alone but kept teasing her cause it was funny. The story ends on a positive note; they do not hate each other. He gets along with her.

Dude beat the devil, like, twice. He is on Neron's immediate shit-list cause he ruined his plans. He doesn't have special powers or abilities (will get back to this), he's just A Dude with a charisma dumpstat who lives up to his Trickster title. He also has a biological son with a direct path to a (good) God figure, so he's somehow managed to place himself square in the middle of "Jesus loves me, Satan hates me". (And with the pure headcanon he was raised religious and later dropped that whole thing cause he formed his own opinion as his parents were Italian(retconned to this, originally they were just white) in the like, 60s? this is very funny to me.)

and James isn't special. He's a tightrope walker and acrobat who is afraid of heights and opted to study antigravity in his freetime just to survive until he could blow that popsicle stand. He then turned to crime Only Because he wanted to be a little silly, and hey his name was James Jesse, he really likes Cowboy penny books, and Jesse James is pretty cool. It's gotta be fate.

James was, possibly, one of the youngest Rogues in the original unit. I'm talking like, Original Original unit. This isn't necessary understanding to a 'needed for writing' scenario, but it does add to it. It adds to the silly, and it adds to how Impressive he is for what he does/doesn't do, as he's hanging around with a bunch of blue collar con-men just wanting to slap around possibly The Strongest and Certainly The Fastest Hero DC had on it's roster at the time.

He's best friends with Pied Piper; you cannot take this from me. I have panels to prove my stance but they're generally seen hanging out together 'off shift' in comics (once Piper goes to his more heavier set, longer hair look seems to be a turning point for it). When the rest of the guys rag on Hartley for his gay status (Digger, mostly), James doesn't join in. He lets the guy into his house several times just to chat and gossip about the others. when James receives a phonecall that his ex-girlfriend's son has been kidnapped and is in danger, he calls Piper to come help. When James goes FBI, he gathers Piper (and Mick) to help. He tells Piper to his face he doesn't understand why Piper would give a rats ass about the others when they were so cruel to him before. They are friends, and Several headcanon-based reasons have been created over the decades for why James would've acted the way he did in Countdown (outside of just, "Countdown is a bad comic". Which it is. But if you're trying desperately to make it make sense, the 'attempted lore patching' flies)

Speaking of

James isn't a murderer; if he has a body count it's entirely on accident. He's not purposely running around trying to murder anyone and he certainly wouldn't join in on beating a child to death.

Leaving the bulletpoint categories; he's also "popular" in Hollywood, and i'm using """""Popular""""" with a lot of """""". On top of his (legit) devil/angel connections, he's also besties with the Blue Devil (the original one) and knew the Kid Devil before things happened. He was practically living in the (blue devil) man's house, hanging out at movie sets, casually tweaking his car to fly just because he could. They are! Friends! James is REALLY GOOD at making friends with an eclectic group of people!

He also canonically dressed in drag (it was like, the 80s, so 'drag' isn't what you're thinking) just to tease and harass Captain Cold, lying to the man's face with some goddamn Bugs Bunny looneytunes antics while in a cheap wig and cottage cheese, and the man bought it. He is SO GOOD at what he does. James is so good. He's a jackass and he's Not Kind and he will rob you blind for one corn chip if he's feeling up to it, but you'll survive the encounter. When Axel Walker stole his shit and started tying bombs to strays and the homeless, dragged the Trickster title through mud, he went on a war path and threw the boy in a dumpster as a threat. He cares for his name and reputation, cares for his (actual) friends.

Watering James down to some "Joker Lite" old man who is some kind of FBI's Most Wanted murder comes from the old, silly live action show that sold Hamill his future Joker roles and isn't James in the slightest; and writers looking at the DCAU, Original Flash Show, and Current Flash Show as "the best place for James information" need to be taken out back and slapped with the whole of Waid's run. It's such a disservice.

#james jesse #I HAVE NOT USED THESE TAGS IN SO LONG #unlocked a very old chestnut

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marialightwood-chase · 6 months ago

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random idea i have that im too lazy to type out in an actual story

Molly and Angel have a dog

and pretty much always have

this is their fourth dog

she’s a husky

I havent given much thought to her name

but it’s probably be in italian or after a roman goddess

she wakes Molly up for her morning walk

and Molly says “It’s Tony’s turn to walk you”

then she looks over at his bed (because i like the idea that they share a room just because they can) and sees he never came home the night before

and goes and gets dressed to walk the dog and then eats breakfast

while walking she runs into someone who owes Anthony money (and is also lowkey scared of Molly for literally no reason) and she just says “I’ll let him know when I see him next”

at some point on the walk she finds Anthony’s body

I’ve always had this idea (that i have zero idea where it came from) that Angel died in January and there was snow on the ground when he died

not that the last thing is that relevant to anything else

Molly tries to wake him up thinking he just fell asleep

then tries CPR

She calls a cab bc she’s strong but she’s not gonna carry someone her size alll the way back to the house

Once she gets back, her dad starts trying to find out how he died

cause he may not have liked Anthony (at all) but his son being dead would be a huge scandal

And basically orders Molly to start calling people and tell them that Anthony’s twin

Most of them go off without a hitch bc he had friends and a lot of people thought he was a sweet young man

the hardest call was with Arackniss (or ig Jonathan according to his wiki page)

bc he’s off starting his own ring all the way in California

but he eventually agrees to come back for a few days

anyway so im fast forwarding a bit to the funeral itself

it goes without a hitch (unless Molly crying while speaking about her twin brother counts as a hitch)

but it all goes to absolute SHIT afterwards

mostly because of arackniss

he says, basically “I have no idea why everyone’s so sad about an f** who died because of his own addictions

And Molly kinda snaps

Cause basically the only people actually sad about his death are her, their nanny that practically raised them after their mom died, his employer* and his three suuuuper close friends of people actually invited to the funeral and here is his own brother insulting his memory

also she’s getting very overstimulated bc her dad’s using it for mob deals and everyone else is just getting drunk

this one i do have actual, flowing dialogue for: “Can you just stop for one fucking minute? Insult Anthony all you want tomorrow, but for one day can you pretend that even a minuscule, tiny iota of your being cared about your little brother? Cause I did, and I’d like to be able to actually mourn him. Tomorrow I’m gonna have to go about my day clearing any presence of him from the world, so can you just fucking let me cry for one day? Goddamn”

and Arackniss just says “Nope”

and leaves right then and there

*Anthony’s employer is this guy who owns a bunch of clubs in NYC, and Anthony was officially working there to sell drugs to people there and run numbers for the club to skim profit but eventually just worked there as a performer. Only Molly really knew about it

#hazbin hotel molly #angel dust #hazbin hotel #arackniss #death #headcanon #bullet point fic

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writerrelapse · 2 years ago

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It Rains Aboard the February

Short thing I wrote while abroad. SciFi Horrorish? Might revisit some time to do more with it.

Please check out the tags for trigger warnings. Gonna list 'em up here too:

#tw child death #tw blood #tw gore #tw overt racism #tw mention of unaliving

"I heard this thing can go twice as fast as those military planes. You know, the ones radar can't see," said Markus, watching the sun arc over the curve of the world from the porthole of the February. He swirled his cocktail in one hand, pressed a finger to the impossibly thick glass.

"Are you all set, sir?" the server at his elbow asked. Her nametag said something he didn't know how to pronounce.

"Sure," he replied, waving her away.

She left with a click of heels and the whoosh of heavily filtered air. He'd have to tell Lockheed about the sound the door made--too loud, disruptive. The instinct to check his smartwatch came and went. He was supposed to be on vacation; no emails, no conference calls--something cold touched the back of his neck and he wiped at it, distracted by the swirl of clouds over Canada. If he asked, maybe the pilot would let him use one of the telescopes to find Sarah sitting on the back porch of her mother's house where she'd fled from the states, from him, her hands dirty with garden dirt.

Markus drank the rest of his cocktail, nose wrinkling. Vacation, he reminded himself. He was in orbit on Lockheed's dime, for chrissakes. Jettisoned as far away from everything as humanly possible by the fuel of grit and prosperity, good service, good practice and long nights standing between Lockheed and the budding union heads in untailored suits.

He left the lounge for the spa. A massage would get his mind off things.

***

Stretched out on his stomach, he floated in the red warmth behind his eyelids, Anita's blunt knuckles kneading at a knot in the meat of his shoulder. He grunted when her weight bore down.

Anita asked, "Good? Bad?"

"Fine," he said. A little pain meant it was working. The white noise playing from the ceiling speakers changed to the hiss of soft rain, the hum of an engine, the padding under him fine Italian leather. "Can you change the noise?" he asked.

The masseuse hummed, her soft footsteps going to the side table. "Batteries are dead. Lo siento, I will find more," she apologized, hurrying out.

Markus grumbled and shifted on the table under the towel. Water hit him, cold and wet, slithering down his arm. "Anita, what the fuck is leaking?" he called.

"La lluvia," said a girl's voice above the sound of traffic and water dripping into a gutter.

Markus shoved himself up onto his elbows and craned his neck. Who the fuck had brought their kid--

She stood in a paisley raincoat in the shadow beyond the doorway, dripping water onto the shining plex floor.

Markus grabbed at the towel around his waist, scrambling off the table. He slipped and landed hard on his hip, "Fuck." He could see her small legs and her rainboots between the legs of the massage table.

Don't worry, Lockheed had told him. We'll deal with it. It was raining. You didn't see her. You hydroplaned. Accidents happen. The car was brand new and so fast, he wasn't used to it yet, he didn't know how the light had been red. Horrible tragedy, not worthy of manslaughter, your honor. Mister Markus Holland regrets--

"La lluvia," said the girl in the raincoat.

Then it poured in buckets, soaking through his towel, hammering against his shoulders. The room would fill. He would drown. No matter the sleeping pills, the drinks, the company bonuses--he would drown.

"Mister Holland," Anita said, standing over him, brown eyes large and worried, dry. "Did you fall?"

No girl, no water. Markus clambered to his feet. "No, I--did you bring a goddamn kid here?" he yelled. He must've seen her welfare brat running around somewhere and it made him remember.

Anita blinked. "No, no there are no children on the ship, Mister Holland," she answered. "Do you...want me to work more on you or?"

Markus stormed out, tying the towel at his waist with shaking fingers. He should've been keeping up with the sleeping pills, even if they made him feel like shit in the morning. Lack of sleep could make a person hallucinate. In his room he took a dose, pulled on a pair of lounge pants and went to the large, plush bed to wait for them to kick in and his heart to stop hammering. It wasn't his fault. The Porsche had been fast--his first luxury car--the rain had been dense. Could happen to anyone.

The ceiling was made of asphalt, glistening with water and puddle mirrors. Her body was crumpled against the drain, leg at a wrong angle, fingers curled limp and pale.

He opened his mouth to scream. Water dripped from her hair into the back of his throat. No, no. It had been--

"La lluvia," she said, head lolling like it would come off.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry--"

Her eyes looked at him, glassy and discolored. One disoriented in the socket and showing pink muscle.

"They needed me. I was their golden boy. I couldn't go down for--for--"

Droplets let go from her fingers, tinged with red as they hit his face. The girl's eyes had been the same hazel as Sarah's as she'd served him divorce papers,"You can keep the car."

"I don't want the car. I don't want the money."

"You did, and you got them."

***

Sarah stretched out on the weathered porch boards, giving her back a break from pulling weeds out of the vegetable bed. The rabbits had done a number on it but she had more chicken wire coming. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she checked the number. 'Ralph LOCKHEED.' She didn't remember his last name anymore. Not that it mattered. She answered him with, "If you're going to try and apologize for Markus again, I'm tossing my phone in the creek."

"No," he answered quickly. "Don't hang up. Listen, Markus passed. The cops are investigating because he left a will. Emailed it out just before his death. He left you a lot of his assets. The rest are going to the mother of that girl he hit and, get this, a couple union heads he'd busted."

Sarah heard herself ask, "Did he kill himself?"

"That's the story the cops are going with, but here's the thing. He drowned."

"But...he was on the February, right? That fancy billionaire's spaceship?"

"Yes,” Ralph answered. “And he drowned."

#actual content #tw child death #tw blood #tw gore #tw overt racism #tw mention of unaliving

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mcchazzy14 · 3 years ago

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Jim Hopper x Dmitri Antonov SFW Headcanons

Part 1? Maybe. (More under the cut!) I’m gonna do an NSFW one too. Any specific headcanons (SFW/NSFW) that you want answered, let me know in replies or shoot me a message.

Let’s Get Started!

1. Jim asked Dmitri out first. It was on the way back to American from Russia. It went something like:

“Hey, so…do you wanna see where your nickname came from?”

(Murray choked and Joyce rolled her eyes. Yuri wasn’t surprised at all)

2. And yeah they definitely went to Enzo’s for their first date. Dmitri’s never had Italian food before and Jim finally got those breadsticks he’d been dreaming about.

3. Dmitri gets nightmares from the prison. The demogorgon really scared the shit out of him. He’ll wake up sweating and shaking, feeling just inches away from death. He can usually pull himself back to reality if Jim isn’t awake but he usually wakes up when Dmitri does. So Jim will pull him into a hug and tuck Dmitri’s head under his chin, rubbing his back until he calms down again.

4. Jim’s physical affection in public towards Dmitri is more squeeze of the shoulder, brush of the back when he passes, etc. Once they’re alone he gets more comfortable with it and he’ll pull him into those big bear hugs we all know he gives.

5. Dmitri’s a cuddler. When they’re sleeping, he’ll either hug Jim from behind and bury his face in between his shoulder blades, or he’ll force his way into Jim’s arms and curl up to his chest. He’s got little spoon energy.

Jim’s hesitant on it at first which is why Dmitri is usually hugging him from behind. Once he’s more comfortable with it though, he’s all for holding him close every night.

6. Jim loves the height difference between the two of them. It’s only a couple of inches, but it’s enough. Makes him easier to hold.

7. Dmitri cooks a lot. He’s definitely better than Jim is. He wakes up early to cook breakfast before Jim goes to work and he’ll make El waffles with extra sugar until he gets in trouble.

8. Jim came home to Dmitri and El sitting on the couch watching movies. El had a plate of waffles, covered in chocolate syrup, whipped cream, sprinkles, and tons of other toppings. Dmitri was eating peanut butter straight out of the jar with a spoon. Jim didn’t stay late at work anymore after that so they didn’t get into anymore trouble.

9. The two of them are constantly teasing each other. It’s one of the ways they show their affection for each other. From an outsider’s view it might not look like they like each other, but they’re so goddamn in love, it’s ridiculous.

10. They fall asleep on the couch together a lot. Like an unhealthy amount. If they put a movie on, there’s a 50-50 chance they’ll both pass out halfway through it. They’ll wake up around 1am and stumble back to the bedroom.

11. Jim calls Dmitri ‘D’ a lot. It’s quick to say if he’s in a hurry, but he uses it affectionately as well. Especially after nightmares.

Dmitri occasionally calls him ‘American’ as a joke and usually gets a smack on the head for it.

12. Dmitri said ‘I love you’ first. He mumbled it in Russian a lot before he said it in English since Jim didn’t know those words. But eventually, they were alone, having dinner together and it just slipped out. He waited about thirty seconds for Jim to say it back to him.

13. The keep using the ‘What are the odds?’ joke. Jim will ask him stupid questions and Dmitri responds with equally ridiculous ratios. He never gives him a 1:1. Well, except one time….

“Hey, D, what are the odds that you’ll marry me…?”

“I’d say…..one to one.”

That’s it for now!!!

#YES THEYRE HERE #jim hopper #dmitri enzo antonov #dmitri Antonov #dmitri antonov x jim hopper #stranger things #stranger things 4 #headcanons!

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pallasperilous · 3 years ago

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Everybody's Got A Hungry Heart

Everybody's Got A Hungry Heart Dean Winchester/Castiel Rated T (mostly for swears) Wordcount: 18k, complete for @pimentogirl

Read on Ao3

Summary: A second-generation rock star struggling with creative burnout, Dean is willing to try just about anything to get his mojo back. Even hiring a weirdo mysterious journeyman music producer recommended by his brother's witchy folk idol ex.

Tags: Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Alternate Universe - Show business, Rock Star Dean Winchester, Music Producer Castiel, Fluff and Mild Angst, Slow Burn, Explicit Shostakovich Content, Dean Winchester POV.

Excerpt:

Dean is jumpy as shit. Why one (possibly Icelandic?) beep-boop specialist has him on edge while Mick Jagger’s own vocal coach barely got his heart rate over 55bpm is a goddamn mystery. Maybe it’s the harp solos from that sample track; maybe Dean’s nervous that this is his last shot, and if this guy can’t save Dean from filling out the back end of his contract with “Best Of” and “Live In Concert” compilations, he might as well walk into the fucking sea.

Castiel saves Dean’s life at dinner, which is pizza and a very grudging house salad from the most normal place Dean can slip past Sam.

The real pisser is that it’s not even a good story, as near-death experiences go. A stray bullet doesn’t bust through a window and nick Dean in the carotid; Castiel does not put pressure on the wound and yell “stay with me, dammit” until paramedics arrive. No falling marble, heart attacks, accidental ODs, or jumping-into-the-pool-from-the-roof. Sam just says something mildly funny and Dean tries to breathe some hot Italian sausage (shut the fuck up) and chokes.

Crowley’s not there – he’s vaping out on the side lawn and probably catching bugs in his mouth to replace the human blood he usually drinks. Dad’s dead; Mom is extra dead. Bobby’s home in South Dakota probably asleep in front of the TV. Sam’s…not actually great when it comes to split-second emergencies. He always gets that spinny hourglass kind of look on his face, and in the long, slow milliseconds where Dean’s dying of meat, he thinks it’s gonna be real fucking funny when he and Eileen have a kid and she goes into labor, he’s probably gonna slam the car door on his own hand.

Then Castiel steps behind him and balls his fists under Dean’s ribcage and does the Heimlich thing like that’s why they hired him. The meat magically caroms out of Dean’s airway and across the table, and then Dean is just generally disgusting and pathetic for a few minutes while Sam wigs out and Crowley takes a photo.

Afterwards, Dean offers Castiel a drink, which he turns down in favor of another glass of tap water, as if he has not just rescued Dean from being Us Weekly’s “Gone Too Soon” cover of the month.

“I hope I didn’t bruise your ribs,” Castiel says. “It’s been a long time since I’ve done it, and never on anybody tall.” He’s around Dean’s height, maybe a few years older, a guy on the “interesting” end of the handsome spectrum (Lisa once said Dean was made in a “handsomeness lab,” which feels 1% worse every time he remembers it). If Castiel hadn’t just contracted every muscle in his body against Dean’s back and ass, Dean wouldn’t think the guy was particularly built – it doesn’t help that he’s dressed like a Mennonite accountant who’s recently lost weight and hasn’t had time to drop by the Men’s Wearhouse to size down. He’s taken off the jacket, at least, but he’s still wearing an actual fucking necktie in a room full of denim.

“You save a lot of people from choking?” Dean wheezes. It would be real cool if this has blown his voice.

“You’re my third. I also rescued a boy from drowning when I was sixteen.” Castiel has his hands in his pockets, casually admiring the wild pink sunset shaking itself out over the pool. “Residential pools are incredibly dangerous,” he says, like it’s a compliment.

There’s not a lot more after that. Castiel is still on Iceland time and it’s hard to get it up for chitchat or shop talk after you’ve all felt the cold touch of death over cheesy breadsticks. Sam offers to show Castiel out to the casita – not that there aren’t plenty of guest rooms in the main house, or that he’s being exiled or anything, but he won’t have to worry about running into the staff there, or a pantless Dean before coffee.

Castiel is shouldering up one of his exactly two modest bags when Dean catches him. “Hey, I listened to the tracks you did for Rowena. Really good stuff.”

Castiel smiles, a small, tired, but authentic one. No teeth, no golly shucks, no blush. “Thank you,” he says. “She’s a unique talent. Working with her was quite an experience.” He lifts his hand in a little “see you in the morning” gesture and Dean returns it, jamming his spare hand in his back pocket like he’s got leather ranch gloves back there and now he’s gonna go out and bring the cows in before nightfall.

Dean can smell Crowley hovering camphorously behind him. “That was a sick burn, right?” he asks, looking back. “Super polite mode?”

“The sickest,” Crowley agrees, cooly. Then he scuttles up the staircase for the night, whistling Eddie Cochran’s opening riff on Three Steps to Heaven. Or maybe it’s Queen Bitch. Read the full story on AO3

#destiel fanfic #deancas #pallasperilous fic #profoundnet

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daisies-and-buttercups · 3 years ago

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“Love and War - Chapter III” - Luca Changretta x reader

Summary: You’ve picked a side, and now you have to deal with the aftermath.

A/N: When I started this fic I had a decent outline what I wanted to happen but my ideas sorta ended with this part. However, I’m loving where this is going and I have some more ideas, so there probably will be a few more chapters 👀 Either way, I want to thank everyone that liked and commented, not only on this fic but in general, it always makes me so happy and it really means a lot 💕

Words: 3.4k

Chapter I Chapter II

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Your house was now used to your incessant walking, the wood singing along as you stood on it over and over, pacing from one room to the other, picking the phone up, sighing, falling on the bed for a short moment before starting the routine all over again.

By morning you had slept for only a few hours, the ghost of Arthur visiting you in your dreams to blame you for his death, shaking you up until you woke up. The sun was now high, making you jump up to reach the phone. You weren’t backing down, you’d have no more deaths.

The phone rang consistently, bothering Ada enough to make her pick it up, ignoring Tommy’s order against it. “What?” Her tone was annoyed, but she understood once she heard yours, nervous and desperate. “Ada? Ada! I need to know where they are. I’m not having them kill each other.” “Oh darling, I… I can’t. Tommy was adamant about not letting you know.” Her tone was now softer, having missed your conversations and feeling the desperation in your voice. “Ada, please. I covered you when you and Freddie-“ “Is this a me-and-Freddie situation?” “What?” “Is he your Freddie?” Your fingers tapped on the table, looking up at the flowers that had started to wither. You had pressed the nicest ones in a book, but couldn’t bring yourself to throw the rest away and, even if dried out, they still somehow looked good, so you kept them. Was he your Freddie? He definitely felt like what Ada had described all those years ago, the feelings she described so vividly were now also your own. You hadn’t spent long enough with him to truly know, but you didn’t want him to die before you had the chance to figure it out. “I don’t know, Ada. I think so.” Her sigh was the only sign, along with your impatient tapping, that time was still flowing. “The distillery. Tommy left not too long ago, so I’d rush there.” You groaned and ran to get your shoes, running back to the phone to thank her. “You didn’t hear it from me, you hear me! Not from me!” She repeated over and over, hoping that you wouldn’t be the victim of the day. She really didn’t want to lose a friend.

The roads were deserted as you ran past the first buildings, spotting the distillery in the distance. You turned the corner, trying not to run the final meters that separated you from whatever was going on inside, thinking it wise to listen to what was happening before jumping into a situation you might not know how to handle, but stopped dead in your tracks. Someone stood outside the door, taking a few steps, listening, scratching his head and checking his gun. Someone that looked a lot like… “Arthur?” He turned and faced you, smiling but quickly placing a finger over his lips, letting you know to be quiet. You walked fast again, walking over to him and crashing against his chest, pulling him in a quick hug, but freezing when you realised why he was out here. He wasn’t alone, but the men stayed back, leaving you the space to talk, holding their guns in clear sight nonetheless. “How are you doing, love?” He whispered. “You’re… you’re meant to be dead.” “Hope it’s not too disappointing to see me still standing, dear” he laughed softly, placing a hand on your shoulder, “I’d suggest leaving now, it ain’t gonna be pretty.” he motioned to the gun, glancing inside while focusing for a moment on the voices that could faintly be heard. You stood still, listening along and hearing Luca speak, then the sound of banging and glass breaking, the clear sound of a fight. It was the vortex of emotions swirling in your steps that kept you there, trying to make sense of the situation. Your image of Luca had been shifted because of Arthur’s death, only to now find him standing there, armed, ready for a fight. And you knew who the bullets in his barrel were for. “Ah, that’s my cue. See ya, love.” You weren’t sure if it was the sound of your heartbeat or of your footsteps, but before he had time to react you slipped past him, holding your stare straight ahead of you, the colour of blood painting your thoughts. It was rage, that rage that had never been strong, that always came when you weren’t part of Tommy’s plans. When you had to stay behind. When it was better if you didn’t know. You wasted all your tears on a man that wasn’t dead, not an ounce of regret in anybody’s mind when you walked in.

The first thing you saw was Tommy’s expression drop when his eyes landed on you, the only person that could’ve complicated this further. Then you saw Luca. His face wasn’t the same as when you last saw it. Gashes decorated it, his eye was swollen and his lips hung open, showing you the damage dealt in its full glory. It was a gruesome show, only made worse by the stares that you received for being there. Tommy was holding him up when you walked in, the faint glimmer of surprise passing through his eyes, expecting Arthur to walk in, not you. But to see you walk over to the bloodied man… maybe that’s what made him truly speechless. When you reached Luca you stopped, looking at his injuries for only a second before hearing Arthur cock his gun. “Get away from him, sweetheart. I told you to leave.” You turned slowly, first meeting Thomas’ cold stare and then facing the gun that was pointed at you, crossing your arms in defiance. “I’m not going anywhere, Arthur. Shoot me, I’m not leaving.” Luca called your name, pulling you weakly away, trying to get you to stand behind him. He wouldn’t have you get killed over his life. But you didn’t move, asserting your position once more in front of the man, planting your feet harshly against the ground. You saw Arthur’s eyes wander between you and Tommy, unsure as to what to do. You all waited for the next move, the only sound being Luca’s demands for you to leave as he clung to you, trying to get you to leave. “Go.” Tommy spoke through gritted teeth, his eyes fixed on your hand, the one that gripped on to Luca’s. He couldn’t watch you, so worried for the life of that man. A person he had considered a friend, a helper, family, even, now standing on the enemy’s side. You had been Luca’s only request. He didn’t care about the rest, but he wanted you to leave with him, if that was what you desired, and he didn’t want anyone trying to stop you. He wanted you, and that made Tommy’s blood boil, but he played his part, knowing full well that he had the upper hand. He knew that there's no leaving, not for you and not for him. There was nothing to go back to either way. Luca was never going to leave alive in Tommy’s eyes, but when you crossed the threshold the illusion shattered. The way you looked at him made it clear that you’d be willing to risk more than your life for the Italian. He’d been a fool, maybe, but there had always been something about your ways. He knew you, cared for you, and underestimated you all at the same time. In his eyes you’d always follow him like a lost puppy, just like Arthur did, but you were strong enough to break from his spell and get away. “Now!” he shouted, walking over to Arthur and ripping his gun out of his hands, aiming it at you, allowing his emotions to leave him, falling back into his new reality. You were an enemy now too, and he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot. A small flinch and the beginning of a tear was all that you allowed him to see before you moved, cringing at the sound of Luca grunting in pain at your movement, trying to pull him up somewhat gently, but not allowing him to see that, no matter where you stood now, this still hurt.

Feeling your heart beat in your chest, you focused on the gun aimed at you for a moment, stopping at the door to look each one of them in the eyes. Tommy’s gaze didn’t falter, menacing and cold, while Arthur couldn’t look at you, moving away from where you stood, realising the side you chose didn’t match his own. You had often sat with Arthur, the two of you ignored on many occasions and gave you an extra reason to bond, and he cared deeply for you, but he wouldn’t go against Tommy, not even to look at you to show you that he somehow wasn’t mad, just surprised and disappointed at your choice.

While you walked out of the door, no man followed you, making it clear that Luca’s men were no longer his, Matteo standing still behind you, not daring to look up and meet Luca’s eyes, clutching his rifle tightly against his chest. “I should be the hero coming to save you, not vice versa.” “Yeah, well, maybe next time.” You muttered, struggling to walk while carrying most of his body weight. You weren’t sure what other damage he had apart from his face, but his limping and laboured breathing suggested that other parts of his body had been wounded too. He pretended to be fine, taking steady steps before falling back onto you with a grunt, whispering a mix of Italian swear words and apologies.

The moment you crossed the threshold of your house you walked him over to the sofa, finding the phone and calling the doctor before gathering anything useful that you could find, cursing at yourself for not being more organised. “You could’ve died.” he spoke, his voice coarse as you made your way back to him with the various creams. “You’re a goddamn fool.” You muttered, dabbing his wounds, making him flinch and hiss in pain. “Gentle, love.” He tried to joke, moving away from you, only to stop when the pain between his ribs got worse. “I wouldn’t have to be gentle if you weren’t such an idiot.” You answered back, scoffing but softening your touches nonetheless. The doctor was going to be here soon, so you decided to focus on the various cuts, moving as gently as you could, wiping away the blood and removing any piece of glass still stuck in his skin. “Never do that again.” He spoke seriously now, moving ever so slightly while you took care of him, lifting his hand to wipe some of his blood that had gotten on your cheek. “Never do what again, save your ass?” “Stand between me and a gun.” It had been a bold move, trusting your gut, knowing that Arthur wouldn’t shoot at you, even when your brain was cursing at you to get out of the way, but you weren’t sure if that made all the difference. You hadn’t thought about it, you just felt the need to stand in front of him, to shield him, whatever the outcome. “Then next time be on the right end of it.” Your movements were stopped by his hand gripping yours, holding the blood-stained rag still, some of the drops dripping down your arms, colouring your skin with faint red lines. “That was my intention and always has been, I can assure you, but in no circumstance I want you to take a bullet for me.” His eyes wandered, looking at you while you took care of him. He couldn’t have hoped for a better sight, yet something about the scene before him tugged at something deep within him. The fear of what he thought he could never achieve being right in front of him, maybe. “Turns out I am here to clean up your wounds in the end, eh?” you joked, trying to wipe the serious look off his face along with all the blood. “Y’ won’t want to kiss me anymore, with all these cuts. Too many scars.” “Who said I ever wanted to kiss you in the first place?” It was a harmless joke, proved for good measure by the soft kiss you placed on his lips, the meeting of your tongues enticed by both of your lips curving into a soft smile, the feeling of finally belonging somewhere filling your chest. “You never seemed to mind, dear.” “I’ll always want to kiss you.” You added, letting the truth run free. He laughed, his eyes crinkling as he smiled, gently caressing your face with his fingertips, tracing invisible lines. “No good came from kissing this old man, sweetheart. You-“ his words were interrupted by the timid knock on the door. He watched as you rose, making your way to the door, welcoming the doctor in and gesturing towards Luca, quickly explaining that you tended his external wounds and needed some help at assessing the internal ones. He looked away, nodding at the annoyance of being interrupted.

“He’s got a broken rib. It will take him up to two months to fully recover, but in a week or two the pain should lessen. He’s also running a low fever. Everything seems under control, but if it rises you’ll have to monitor his condition.” The small man talked quietly, as if he didn’t want Luca to hear. Timid steps made him grow closer to the exit with each word he spoke, evidently eager to leave. “Thank you, doctor.” He nodded, turning to walk away, stopping just before the door to glance behind him, looking at Luca, now standing tall behind you. “Is there a problem?” You asked, feeling the tension rise. You knew that Tommy had men all over town, but you didn’t want to believe that the doctor that had been helping you for years might be close to turning on you. “They told me to deliver a message.” A message. Through a man, rather than a phone call. Was that too personal for him now? They had no issue telling you about Arthur’s supposed death by phone, but now that he was threatening you, he used someone else’s voice. “Have they, now?” Luca’s words were raspy, still out of breath from the movement and the pain, but that didn’t make him any less intimidating in the doctor’s eyes. He was shorter than both of you, a small and round man, and, even with a broken rib and in pain, he knew Luca could easily overpower him if he so wished. “They… Mr. Shelby said that you’ve got to leave. You’ve got until tomorrow. If you’re not-“ he took a deep breath, trying to steady his trembling voice, “if you’re not on the last ship out of here they’d…” he trailed on, not wanting to anger either of you. A quick glance at you and he nodded, rushing out of the door, closing it behind him in a haste, eager to get away. You turned, letting out an exasperated sigh while Luca stood behind you, considering the doctor’s words. He hadn’t looked at you, only at him, which meant that it was very likely that their appreciation for you over the years had counted for something. They wouldn’t kill you. “I’ll pack my bags.” It wasn’t a question, there was no doubt that you’d follow him. Life with the Shelby’s had been a blessing, some of the best years of your life, but you doubted Tommy would welcome you back, at least not so soon. There was nothing left for you here, not in the land of Thomas Shelby. “He’s not after you.” he tried to stop you from grabbing the bag, grabbing a hold of your hand as he spoke, holding you in place. You moved to face him, studying his expression. A lot of Luca came from his eyes, using his words to charm and threaten and keeping his secrets hidden deep inside. “But he’s after you.” “You’ve got a life here.” “I had a life here.” you answered, feeling the electricity of a new start in the air. “If I stayed I’d have to find a job, and not only are most businesses owned by the Blinders, but those that aren’t wouldn’t welcome someone that got away from them on bad terms. They’re feared, and I’d just make whoever wanted me a target. I made a choice, Luca, and you’re not getting rid of me so easily.” you laughed, moving closer to him and caressing his cheek, gently, avoiding the small cuts. “I get to start over.” He smiled at your words, wishing he had your way of seeing things, the simpler ones, his eyes now trained to see the thousands of possibilities and dangers that his way of life offered him so easily, yet ignoring the other possibilities, the ones that weren’t deadly. You complemented each other, lacking what the other was strongest in. And while he looked at you, all he saw was the image of the wife he never could’ve dreamed of having, hoping that one day you’d be just that. He smiled again at the thought, watching you as you walked back to your bed, opening your bag to pack your belongings. “America?” you asked, choosing the limited clothes you could bring. You could buy more once you arrived there, but you were sentimental and some had to come; the dress you wore on your first day in Small Heath, the one you had on when you saw Ada’s kid for the first time, and the few dresses you wore with Luca. You placed them all neatly, feeling the soft fabric under your hands, picking a few other items to fill the bag. A photograph of you, Polly and Ada, all smiling proud, a pearl necklace that made you feel like you could rule the world, along with a few memories of your years in England. He nodded, still deep in thought. “Will Matteo be joining us later on?” “Matteo’s with the Blinders now.” “Is he?” you smiled at him, knowing that the truth wasn’t that simple, and when he looked at you, you knew you were right. The mafia didn’t work with money, but with honour. It was a different world from Tommy’s, and Matteo wasn’t going to bail on the Changretta family just for some extra money. “There’s only two ships leaving, one tonight and one tomorrow.” He watched you from the mirror, his fingers lightly dragging over his wounds while he was deep in thought. “They’ll know where to find us.” you spoke the implication out loud, giving you the time to think of a solution. “So what if we don’t go to America?” He stood, his eyes closing at the brusk movements, still not used to the level of care he needed to take when he moved, making his way to the small table where a bottle of wine had been discarded the night before, half of its contents still in it, two glasses lined up next to it but only one used. “My family needs me.” “Yeah, alive.” “The Shelby’s have fucked with the business, I’ve got to fix their deeds.” “But you can’t fix anything if they kill us tomorrow.” he opened his mouth, ready to protest, but you continued “I’m talking about one extra day, one stop before heading to America.” The wine was sweet, calming his nerves in the slightest of ways. “What do you suggest?” “Call your family, fill them in on what they haven’t figured out on their own. Then we pack our things, spend the night in each other's arms and when we wake up, we leave. The ship sets sail tomorrow at 9am.” “You’ve planned this.” You nodded, looking at the man that stood before you with a pleased smile. You had spent enough time alone with your thoughts to come up with more than one plan, and this one was your favourite. A simple exit. You picked up the papers, the tickets for your journey, that had been abandoned on the desk, handing them to him with a wink. “Italy. You’ve got family over there too, right? I’m sure you’ll be able to secure us a place to sleep for the night, and if not I guess we’ll just have to sleep under the stars.” You raised your hand dramatically, moving your fingers around an imaginary constellation. “Then we leave for America. One day, a small change in plan, and we’ll have the Shelby’s waiting for us here. Wrong place, wrong time, but not for us. And once we arrive, you’ll have all the time to fix what needs to be fixed. Deal?” He took a second to think about it, pursing his lips in thought, watching as you waited patiently, switching your weight from one leg to the other. Then he nodded, your hands lifting in victory as you approached him, softly placing your arms on his shoulders.

“We have a deal.”

#luca changretta x you #luca changretta x reader #luca changretta imagine #luca changretta #peaky blinders x reader #peaky blinders #peaky blinders fanfic #peaky blinder fanfic #Liza's attempts at writing

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surrealsunday · 3 years ago

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Crazy theory anon here.

Thanks for your response because talking with others is also helping me make sense of things in my own head. I like what you said and I agree that there might be another thing that breaks KP up again after they survive the current situation because I keep waffling between what I already wrote and this theory. I wonder if it might have anything to do with the thumb drive. Tawan showing up has put the spotlight on Porsche because they’re trying to frame him as a scapegoat or, at the very least, a distraction but I find it interesting that they keep bringing up his parents death. So much that it can’t be written off as insignificant.

I don’t necessarily think this is what’s gonna happen but I’m curious if some connection between Porsche and Kinns family might arise when they look at whatever is on that drive. The one thing that is in Porsches favor is that the mole has been there long before he and Kinn even met but if there’s a connection to the family since he was a child? That could be misconstrued in a myriad of ways and place doubt in the minds of the people preaching his innocence, especially if the family actually is connected to their deaths in some way. That might make it seem like some form of motive for Porsche and further serve as a misdirect from whoever is orchestrating this whole thing. It could also potentially drive an even bigger wedge between KP. On the flip side, if Porsche finds out that, say Korn for example, was responsible for literally destroying his life and causing lifelong trauma to him and his brother and then forcing him into this life that he fought against so hard? That could also be really bad and maybe cause Porsche to doubt Kinn for the first time since they’ve been together. I mean, even before Porsche, I think the main goal was to keep Kinn isolated and paranoid and now that can’t happen if he and Porsche are solid. He’s no longer a sitting duck in the middle of this mafia pond.

Like, I find it interesting that when Vegas toying with Porsche was obviously not working and only really bringing KP closer together, they throw a wrench into it with Tawan showing up who just so coincidentally was held captive by the Italians. It’s just so obviously suspect.

I don’t actually think that Porsche will take off with Vegas tbh I just kinda like the idea but I never even considered Kinn walking away from the pool because he trusted Porsche to handle himself. That’s so interesting! I think the truth is also that Porsche just doesn’t have the option to tell Vegas to back off and like he said in the past to Kinn, he has to play his role when it comes to that situation “manners, you know?” Because as much as Porsche is a little shit who’s goal in life is to be an endearing pain in Kinns ass, he understand his place with the other members of the family for the most part. I think at the very least Porsche is on guard with Vegas but might be smart enough to act like he’s buying this “I’m so misunderstood” schtick and still seem as passive as Vegas thinks he is. However deep it runs, I just don’t think Porsche is trusting of Vegas anymore but he knows he needs to keep making him think he’s creating a weak link with his tactics. If that makes sense? That’s why hearing people in the fandom say things like “Porsche needs to stay away from Vegas” is so frustrating because he doesn’t really have the option to do that anymore than he has the option to stay away from anyone else in the family because they’re the goddamn mafia. He doesn’t have the same leeway he has with Kinn and I hope Kinn is finally getting over his jealousy enough to understand that now.

This is a little out there I admit but like I said, I loooooove speculating.

Thanks for your response though, you’re very good at articulating your thoughts and it kinda helps me with all this information bouncing around my head. I struggle to get it all out in a coherent way sometimes so I very much enjoy interacting with you.

Ohhhhh I'm so glad you came back. This is fun!

And god you're totally right. There is the thumb drive and that whole thing about Porsche's parents to contend with too. I'm super intrigued to see how all of it will come together. You raise some really interesting thoughts which reminds me of something I had originally considered happening (but lost sight of in the drama of this ep). I also had thought Korn's (maybe) involvement in Porsche's parents deaths could potentially throw a curveball and cause the final hurdle before Kinn and Porsche form a united front. My speculation (and disclaimer... truly based on nothing but what I could imagine when late night musing) was that maybe whatever the 'truth' is, it's awful enough for Porsche to want out of mafia life. I really can't imagine a situation where he steps away from Kinn - maybe it would be because Porchay has been pulled into the world? - but if he did, it wouldn't be because he didn't love Kinn, but because he had to get away for Porchay's sake. And him leaving would be a betrayal of sorts to Kinn? I dunno. I still can't totally see Kinn pulling a gun on him like he does in the preview under those circumstances. But I think all those lose threads have to come together to cause some drama. That's for sure.

"I think the main goal was to keep Kinn isolated and paranoid and now that can’t happen if he and Porsche are solid. He’s no longer a sitting duck in the middle of this mafia pond." I so totally agree. Tawan sees Porsche (and Kinn's soft heart which he's given to Porsche) as a weakness. He's wrong though. Porsche makes Kinn stronger - and vice versa. And that is a lesson I can't wait for Tawan to learn. Vegas too sees Porsche as an opportunity to weaken and destabilize Kinn. But he's just going about it in a way that would actually work (if it weren't for the fact that Kinn and Porsche are so devoted to one another). Vegas knows if he took Porsche from Kinn, Kinn would be totally lost. And I agree... it's way too suspect that Tawan shows up right when Vegas's plan so dramatically fails. Vegas has a long-game plan for sure, and I would be shocked if that didn't intersect with Tawan in some way. And perhaps Tawan was inserted into things because Kinn and Porsche were proving themselves to be too devoted to one another - so additional measures were taken.

You actually sort of changed my mind on the whole 'Porsche running with Vegas' thing and I am seriously considering it now. Maybe it just won't last long? And it will be in the interest of Porsche clearing his name? Now that you've raised the possibility with me, I am considering it more.

And OMG we are on the EXACT SAME PAGE when it comes to your thoughts about Porsche's interactions with Vegas. Yes! I totally get why people get frustrated watching and want Porsche to tell Vegas off or just leave or whatever but... and maybe this is just because I relate to Porsche a fair bit... I think I would react the exact same way as Porsche? The sort of 'play nice' thing while being on guard and no longer trusting Vegas. It's like when Vegas kisses Porsche and Porsche does a sort of meek move trying to get away (vs. the way he responds with Kinn, for eg). That made so much sense to me. He can't piss off Vegas and reject him or tell him off. Not without the very real danger that comes with that (which he acknowledged at the end of ep 3 in recognizing that Kinn saved his life when threatened by the minor family). Porsche can tell off Kinn all he likes - he always could - and do so without fearing for his life. There was always a level of trust there. That doesn't extend to Vegas and it especially doesn't extend to Vegas now. And of course there is another layer to their interaction at the pool in this ep. Porsche is vulnerable and he sees Vegas being vulnerable in return (yes it's a ploy but Vegas fronts well). He's wary and reserved, but there is a comradery he allows in that moment because, quite frankly, he's feeling a bit lost. It makes sense to me in the context of everything we see happen in the ep. And honestly it makes me super curious to get a better sense of what Porsche is thinking when it comes to Vegas, which I imagine we will get next ep.

And truly it's my pleasure to chat with you 💞💞💞. Your thoughts are extremely well laid out and really make me think! Trust me when I say you are beyond coherent (I hope I am offering the same despite this being the end of a very long work day for me lol). I can't wait to find out what we might be right or wrong about!

#kinnporsche #kinnporsche speculation

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g0dfreycomplex · 2 years ago

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𝟹-𝟻 𝚂𝙾𝙽𝙶𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝚁𝙴𝙼𝙸𝙽𝙳 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙾𝙵 𝚈𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝙼𝚄𝚂𝙴.

001. “ nothing but rotten apples lay here / light years from the tree / got thrown out of the house at the ripe age of three / i’ll do my very best to keep my feelings of off my chest / and out of your neck, out of your neck. ”

002. “ he says, "ooh, baby girl, don't get cut on my edges / i’m the king of everything and oh, my tongue is a weapon / there's a light in the crack that's separating your thighs / and if you wanna go to heaven, you should fuck me tonight." ”

003. “ and you're so mysterious / got that obsession with death / i saw your driving your prius / and even that was munster koach-esque / you watch italian horror and you listen to the scores / leather-clad and spike collar / i want you down on all fours. ”

004. “ goddamn, man child / you act like a kid even though you stand six foot two / self loathing poet / resident laurel can-you-know-it-all. ”

005. “ my life it seems has taken a turn / why in the name of god would i ever want to return ? / peel off our skin / we’re gonna burn what we were to the ground / fuck in the fire and we’ll spread all the ashes around / i wanna kill away the rest of what’s left / and i do. ”

tagged by : @blondiexbiites (ty bb!)

tagging : anyone who wants to play along! <3

#dash games tbt.#this was so fun #i could have done like an entir #. ♛ 𝙶𝟶𝙳𝙵𝚁𝙴𝚈𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙿𝙻𝙴𝚇 [...] 𝘼𝘽𝙊𝙐𝙏 & 𝙈𝙐𝙎𝙀 𝙄𝙉𝙁𝙊

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batarangsoundsdumb · 4 years ago

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yet another ask dump yeehaw!

do you ever think that jay's mother was one of those bitch who believes in horoscope and tarots and things like that and so he believes in these things too, or it is just me projecting?

sheila haywood took one look at jason's birthchart said 'nah this won't do' and left.

Wait, but what happens when the justice league does find out that Bruce and John fucked? Lmao it sounds like it would be hilarious, really, I don’t want a justice league that doesn’t make fun of Bruce for like his entire life.

barry runs out of the meeting immediately and comes back with an entire sti testing kit. diana fully seriously wants bruce to get tested while bruce is sitting there like 'come on guys, you're being ridiculous, i already checked twice'

john is standing in the corner clearly offended while bruce is just like 'don't even say anything, constantine, you fucked a shark'

tim was like "i'm drake now" and everyone was like ahh so your fursona is a dragon and tim was like pffffft no. ducks.

on the one hand, good for him, on the other hand, bro, how do you still have a secret identity when your superhero name is just your last name,,,,

Your fic on ao3 was GOLD PLEASE CONTINUE I loved Dinah's cameo btw ( @purple-vixen

thanks so much! i already continued but this ask is like 10 years old because i'm a notorious procrastinator (also yes! i love dinah so much aahhhhhhhhhhhh)

I've FINALLY been watching the Batman animated series and I gotta say, after watching "the gray ghost" I am CONVINCED that Batman is a closeted super hero geek who was 100% freaking out the first time he met Superman and is just REALLY good at hiding it.

bruce internally: holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit bruce externally: get out of my city, alien

AHHH ur multimedia fic is the only thing that brings me happiness anymore continue it forever pls

uhh thanks, but can't continue it forever because my attention span is that of a toddler on crack on a good day and i can't function without at least 10 things going on at the same time and music in the background

Oi, so I'm getting into dc and watching batman the animated series, and they use fruitcake a lot. Which I thought was very funny and wanted to share w you - Denilla

wait like fruitcake (food) or fruitcake (derogatory) ?

young justice 🤝 teen titans slut shaming batman

tim drake and dick grayson to their respective teams 'you guys stop it, that's my dad'

Happyhoganon: If an eighty year old Batman had fought crime in Gotham City for decades and the only threats to him and the city lately are a wheel chair bounded Penguin, your usual purse snatchers and a few con artists popping up every now and then, how well could the Dark Knight do in maintaining the peace in Gotham despite him being just somewhat fit to do that as an elderly man (which says A LOT given how old he is)

uhh he'll probably do what my grandpa does and that is ruthlessly prank them until they die of shame.

in the death in the family interactive movie there's an ending where Jason is tasked with raising Damian and he decides he's gonna raise Damian to take down the waynes and al ghuls which uh maybe isn't great BUT the idea of Jason raising Damian... PRICELESS. CHAOTIC. I just need more people to know about this :)

yes i saw that wow holy shit but jason would accidentally drop damian on his head one (1) hour in and jason just yeets him into the lazarus pit.

Headcanon: The Penguin has a really hard time fighting any of the Robins because of his avian obsession means there's always a small part of his mind that's like "Birb. Child. Protect" ( @subspacecadet )

as soon as dick becomes nightwing the penguin is like 'you know what, fuck this dude' and shoots at him.

Y'all talking about King Shark dating Constantine, let's not forget about John literally hooking up with Satan

listen there's a clear difference between monsterfucker and satanfucker in that king shark is literally a shark and satan still looks like a normal dude

Does everyone in Gotham think Batman is a teen dad?

everyone in gotham thinks batman has been around since gotham was founded, but they do think that bruce wayne is actually a teen father and dick grayson's biological dad.

why. why would you do that fancast when you know it will only hurt people

what? i loved my fancast it was really well done. i did it with good representation in mind and i really managed that with alfred pennyworth being ✨italian✨

Seeing james charles a jason gave me psychic damage how dare you i need to wash my eyes

well that's a you problem isn't it?

do you think dick grayson thirst tweets about nightwing just to annoy his family/cause problems on purpose in general?

he thinks nightwing is hot, next question.

holy jiminy cricket batman, its as cold as the good lords ass crack in here!!

i- what? this is why i don't fuck with english expressions it's way too goddamn weird

Brooooooo, your teen dad!Bruce au is soooo good. I've got brainrot.

Honestly if you ever write anymore, I'd read that shit twice. Sign me the fuck up. Good stuff, Good Stuff.

uh yeah i'm thinking about writing a fic, but i have exams coming up and i don't wanna fail because that would suck. but after i'll certainly be writing more tho

your teen dad AU is so great! bruce acting like a big brother for all of like a week before he's telling everyone about his son. what if in the AU dick meets the JL because they need to rescue him? maybe he's in trouble/kidnapped at a gala and bruce starts calling for JL. clark finds him and has to fly with dick to bring him home - that's how dick and clark meet and superman becomes dick's fave hero. he goes around the manor thinking he can fly with a red blanket draped around him like a cape.

actually- if you want a young dad! bruce fic with like that kinda stuff(just with damian) go check uhh- in for a penny by cdelphiki. it's really good and bruce is like 24/25-ish. (and dick's there!!!)

This account has solely convinced me that Tim is a trash goblin ( @hamilcat-and-magic-turtle )

because he is. that boy has slept in dumpsters on multiple occasions even if he is the son of a billionaire.

Okay but when you said victory dance I did think of the whole justice league defeating the big bad and then they all start flossing

well that's exactly what hal jordan does and that's why batman uses a gun now. no but the victory dance in my opinion is like the 'we're all in this together' dance from high school musical.

The horrors in Invincible s1 was nothing compared to the comics, I cant wait for s2

oh well okay, i mean i personally react to horror and violence by laughing awkwardly so i can't wait to be called a monster for accidentally laughing at a mass murder.

I'm currently watching Batman: The Brave and The Bold and- Bruce is just talking about Oliver like he's an old love (@nightwings-kid)

okay im going to watch that lmao that's totally and completely in character for him tho.

The invincible comic is like super gratuitous with its violence so much so I'm shocked the show was able to adapt it in a faithful way! Anyway had the show been live action it absolutely wouldn't have the same impact as it does as an animated show and I'm so glad so many people agree with me on that

also because a live action casting would've been like uhh amanda stenberg for amber, the dude- the guy from the supernatural but with a mustache for omni-man, and scarlet johanssen for debbie grayson

Debbie grayson is a milf, yes. You're welcome for the invincible propoganda, now you can questions your life. Bruce def seems like the perfect father next to Omni-man. Like they really took a rip off justice league and I was like well, now I'm attached even tho I was like hah I know who they're supposed to be. And then bam- death gore death gore gore gore sad Mark grayson just had to have daddy issues. Why does every character have daddy issues. I'm sick of the attacks

because daddy issues make a person arguably funnier, that's why i'm not even remotely funny (haha good dad flex). i liked that it was dark contextually, but not in the colouring, bc i hate when it's like 'uh yeah graphic murder and now a shot so dark you have to sit in a dark room and squint at the screen to faintly see the characters. (like dcau ugh)

About the Wayne insurance, for a moment I thought you would put the video with moans over the waves.

i mean- i could've done that, but rick rolling seemed more family friendly.

Its the first time in forever that im surpise rickrolled, i usually expect it. Congratulations (i really should know better this is tumblr)

i get rickrolled so often but i actually like the song so i dont really give a fuck

Actually, my information about Damian and John's kids is outdated because it was revealed that the old men telling the kids stories about the Supersons were actually Jon and Damian the whole time. I was blinded by my thirst for Grandpa!Bruce Wayne but I was wrong... I liked my version better, tbh (@artemisa97)

fair enough. but i'd honestly like to see damian and jon getting together, just because it's a really fun dynamic and their friendship was really cute when they were kids. (also idk maybe it would be nice to have one (1) main batfam/superfam character that's not cishet)

How am i JUST finding your blog skdskfkd you're so fucking funny and ur takes are hot

i thought u were calling me hot :( but youre not :( crime detected (but lmao thanks)

So I have depression and I swear that your memes are one of the few things that have made me laugh so thank you 💛🥺 (@katekanebadass)

aw you're welcome, and i hope you're doing okay!

The metropolis memes are so funny, I love them 💀��

i think metropolis is also so fucking funny it deserves more attention imagine having your entire police force being upstaged by an alien from kansas and his kids

as an american i feel your complete lack of knowledge of us geography is just so sexy (platonic) ❤️

thanks so much (i also don't know any other geography, i'm not kidding, like you can tell me you're from hungary and it will just blank, there will be nothing that comes to mind)

In the DC universe they don't say "Can't have shit in Detroit" they say "Can't have shit in Gotham"

this just reminds me of that guy whose porch got stolen like the steps to his door, and i'm thinking of people living in gotham and waking up without a front door and going "can't have shit in gotham"

honestly all i know about chicago is the bean, so. what would gotham's famous sculpture be?

gigantic gargoyle statue in front of one of the police precincts because a villain thought it was a smart way to keep the police inside, but it's too heavy to move.

why tf do people go on about how batman "works alone" or how he's the "lone wolf" when he like 38290202 members in his family

bc people think it's cool that a grown man in his 30s has no friends or family instead of calling it what it is (sad)

Bruce is gotham's sugar daddy

why would say something so controversial yet so brave.

my favorite batfamily fanfictions are the ones where they use their shitty codenames, unironically, in any context

dick: gerard way are you in position, gerard way are you in position

tim: for the last fucking time, my codename is 'totally not count olaf' this week, abbafan 3000

dick: shut up my codename isn't 'abbafan 3000'

dick: it's 'abbafan number 1' and you know it

I have a feeling Tim drake is ur favourite batfamily member but okay u don't have favs if u say so ok

i mean he is, i won't deny it. but i love each and every one of the batfam just the same, i just have a weak spot for short dumbass nerds, because i'm a short dumbass nerd.

Omg i fuckin love boy meets world too fam shsjkfk

bro boy meets world was the shit!!! it was just fire and awesome and so fucking great like bro. it was so good im not even going to be accepting criticism

you know I find the whole "joker completes batman" thing a bit disgusting considering the horrendous stuff the batfamily went through because of the joker and let's not get started on the "joker has a point" thing like yeah he's this cool complex villain but he's absolutely batshit crazy

like yes! i get what you mean the joker just fucking sucks man he doesn't do shit for batman's character or the batfam he's literally just annoying as fuck. like the joker has a point' shit is so stupid. i will accept 'magneto was right' because he fucking was and i think he didn't do anything wrong, but joker? he's just like that. he's not even cool and complex he's just a weirdo with a bleach kink at this point.

ALSO YOUR RACISM POST- SO TRUE BESTIE

thanks bestie, i'm glad you agree.

in today's essay of why I think cass should become batman- I was thinking Tim would probably be the most efficient batman in many ways but I also think he wouldn't want to be batman tbh none of the batfamily members would want to be batman because they're trying to outgrow him but cass is the one who wants to represent the symbol that is batman

absofuckinglutely i will say it again and again that cass represents the batsymbol more than anyone in the batfam, in batgirl (2000) she literally didn't care about anything else than bruce's oath to not kill, she thought the batsymbol was more important than anything in gotham. she's just an excellent character because her motivation to not kill is not 'i'm scared i can't come back from it' or 'well my dad says no murder so i'll go along with it' but that she's killed somebody as a young child and she never wants to kill a human ever again and that's so fucking beautiful for a new batman like yes.

need more cass, duke and tim inclusion in gothamite memes

yes yes, a tall order of cass, duke and tim coming up in 1-14 business days

oldest to youngest batfam members cus I'm confused as shit

okay order of being taken in: dick, jason, tim, cass, damian, duke order of age: alfred, bruce, dick, cass, jason, tim, duke, damian (though cass and jason are around the same age general consensus is that cass is a little older)

I'm so confused Steph is a redhead?? like how was it that hard to get this right? the source material is literally right there and free

cw is jared, 19

do you receive anon hate? if so, how do you deal with it

uh no, i'm not remotely popular enough to get anon hate and i also don't say a lot of things that would attract anon hate, but i do send anon hate to @the-real-peter-parker because he forgot about the specialists from winx club

Wait how many languages do you speak??

uhh- 5 if you include latin, but that's a dead language and i'm really bad at it. but english, my native language, german, and french also, tho german and french not fluently.

You can mix aguaepanela with aguardiente 😈 and is tasty

okay but now i'm curious if the liquor deserves the 😈 emoji or if that's a you problem. but i googled it and it looks like something you'd take one sip of and then not remember the rest of your evening.

#i love all of you guys so much thanks for all these asks #some of these are literally from march but fuck it #the day tumblr puts dates next to anon messages is the day i close my inbox crawl into a hole and die #it's such a basic task to answer asks but i don't want to bother anyone with asks clogging up their timeline #and if i don't have a funny or good answer i'm like 'uhh okay won't answer it now then'#so this is for you #also i deleted a few asks because it gives me mental pain to see my inbox go over 50 and it's almost at 100 #i was complaining about having too many asks to the-real-peter-parker like months ago and then i had 45 asks in my inbox #now it's amassed to going over 100 twice #but no i love all of you and you're great and you're all fantastic and i lvoe you #muchos kiss kiss #kiss kiss for my kiddies lvoe you #invincible spoilers #dc #dcu #dc comics #ask #anon #bataranswers #i really wanna try aguapanela now i'm gonna see if i can find panela somewhere and review it for you babes #uh yeah that's it #muchos gracias for all your questions babes

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365days365movies · 4 years ago

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April 9, 2021: Some Like It Hot (1959) (Recap: Part Two)

I’m considering a historical post for Marilyn Monroe...

After all, the life and tragic death of Norma Jean Baker is interesting, and I enjoy educating myself about film history and its greatest figures and stars...but I dunno. This isn’t really a starring vehicle for her, and I’d be better off doing a Tony Curtis or Jack Lemmon retrospective. But...I’ll make that decision by the time I get to the Review. We’ll see, is what I’m saying. If anybody actually specifically wants me to make that as a post, let me know! Maybe I’ll do it regardless.

But OK, let’s get into the movie once more! I’m enjoying the shenanigans in this picture, so let’s see more of them! First part is right here!

Recap (2/2)

On the beach, the girls are all having a good time, “Daphne” included, when Sugar suddenly runs into a mysterious man wearing a stereotypical rich person sailing outfit. This is, of course, Joe, but he introduces himself as “Junior”, the heir to the Shell Oil company, and owner of a yacht. And yeah...Sugar’s fooled and Sugar’s hooked. She invites him to come to his show that night, and he says that he’ll try to come.

This is to Jerry’s frustration, as he immediately recognizes Joe (obviously), and tries to expose his trickery to Sugar by going back to their room to tell “Josephine” about the whole thing. But SOMEHOW, Joe’s able to sneak back in and jump into the bath, suit and tie on. Dude’s slick. Sugar leaves, and an irritated Joe gets ready to fight Jerry. But just then, the phone rings, and it’s that naughty boy Osgood (HIS WORDS NOT MINE), who invites “Daphne” onto his yacht after the show that night. Opportunity.

Joe hatches a plan, with the reluctant help of Jerry, who’ll keep Osgood occupied as Daphne. Meanwhile, he’ll sneak onto the yacht as Junior, and pass it off as his own yacht for Sugar’s benefit (and his own, obviously). With the plan in place, the performance goes on that night. And that GIF of Marilyn doing a shrug that I keep using? It comes from this song right here, which serves as Sugar’s leitmotif throughout the film. And...it’s Marilyn Monroe, and it’s also that DRESS, and it’s my teenage crush on Monroe coming back WITH A FUCKING VENGEANCE, and...it’s also a catchy song, not gonna lie.

Using flowers given to “Daphne” by King Simp Osgood, and a pre-written note, he tells Sugar to meet him that night on the yacht. After the performance, both Sugar and Joe make their way to the docks, and Joe commanders Osgood’s motorboat to get to the yacht, posing with his fake-ass accent all the while. Seriously, either she’s rolling rocks on her Sense Motive checks, or he’s just throwing away natural 20s on Bluff checks. It’s ridiculous.

On the yacht, Joe bluffs some more (equally terribly), and notes that they’re alone on the boat. However, he claims that he’s both impotent and unable to fall in love, emotionally and physically. This is a result of psychological trauma from his Princeton girlfriend falling off of a cliff in the Grand Canyon, just as they were about to kiss for the first time. Jesus Christ, the fact that this is working so well is astonishing. Sugar tries to cure him through multiple kisses, and he responds with very little reaction, the clever devil. Which is particularly difficult as she basically attempts to seduce him. And it’s Marilyn Monroe, so...I mean come on.

Meanwhile, poor, POOR Jerry is forced to dance at a local Cuba dance hall with Osgood, who’s frustrated by “Daphne’s” constant attempts to lead. Nice touch there! The humorous interludes of their dancing interject Sugar and Junior’s make out sessions, which are VERY against the goddamn Hays Code. And eventually, Jerry actually seems to start enjoying his dance with Osgood, and they actually close the place down until morning! Huh. That leaves Osgood none the wiser, as they leave the yacht just as he’s arriving.

Joe goes back to their room, where Jerry’s still dancing the tango, and he has an announcement: he’s engaged! To Osgood! What? I mean, that’s a set-up for some SERIOUS trust issues down the line, but...huh! For 1959, that’s surprisingly progressive...sort of. Jerry’s SPECIFICALLY in this to marry a millionaire and get a quick divorce and alimony payments every month. Huh. I mean, it’s slimy, but at least he’s open-minded. Osgood even gave him a bracelet absolutely covered in diamonds.

Sugar comes in to tell “Josephine” and “Daphne” about her night with “Junior”, and everybody’s happy (I mean, not Jerry, but he’s OK). Shame if something happened, like the arrival of the mobsters trying to kill Joe and Jerry.

So, the mobsters trying to kill Joe and Jerry arrive, under the pretenses of being “Friends of Italian Opera”, and are in search of the two witnesses of the garage massacre. Detective Mulligan is also in search of them, and is in Florida alongside Spats and his men. The two narrowly escape them in an elevator, then immediately go to pack their shit and GO!

But Jerry doesn’t want to leave Osgood so unceremoniously, and Joe feels the same way about Sugar. Over the phone, he manages to get ahold of Sugar as “Junior”, and tells her that he must leave unexpectedly, and that he’s to marry an oil heiress in Venezuela. This crushes Sugar, understandably, but he also gives her Osgood’s diamond bracelet! Aw, poor Jerry.

Poor Sugar, too. As said previously, she’s crushed, and she goes to Josephine and Daphne’s room to get some bourbon. “Josephine” tells her that she’ll move on in time, but she replies that that’s impossible, given that there’s a Shell gas station on every corner. Fuckin’ OUCH.

Things get even worse when the two leave their rooms via the window, only to be spotted by Spats and his men, and are this time recognized, due to Jerry leaving his gunshot bass on the porch where they can see it. They attempt once again to escape, changing costume to resemble a bellhop and an old man in a wheelchair, but get recognized and chased, until they wind up under a table in a banquet hall where the “Friends of Italian Opera” are meeting.

Led by Little Bonaparte (Nehemiah Persoff), the members are, of course, all members of the mafia. Bonaparte is greatly angered by the massacre, as Toothpick Charlie was a friend of his. Through a comically over-the-top mobster speech, he basically telegraphs that we wants Spats dead. And when they bring a big cake out to celebrate Spats’ birthday (which isn’t for another four months), a mobster springs out of the cake, and kills the entire Chicago mob assembled, all with Joe and Jerry still under the table in front of them.

After the deaths of the mobsters, Joe and Jerry take their chance to escape, while Mulligan comes in to investigate these deaths. Our musician duo manages once again to escape, performing a quick change act and turning back into Josephine and Daphne. They make a plan to escape via Osgood’s yacht (as the mobsters are watching the roads and airports), and Jerry makes the call. Joe then hears the siren call of Sugar, singing a lamenting song in the lounge with the band.

Watching over this sad song, Joe laments his actions, and makes his way down to the stage, still disguised as Josephine. And he just kisses her, right on stage. Which...fuck me, this movie takes place in 1929? THE SCANDAL!!! But that’s quickly diffused when Sugar AND the mobsters recognize Josephine (and Junior) as Joe, and Joe takes off in hot pursuit.

Both Josephine and Daphne manage to escape yet one more time, and make their way to the docks with Osgood. And chasing after them is Sugar, in love with Joe after all that, and the two come together in a loving embrace. Meanwhile, in the front of the boat, Osgood and Jerry have...well, the only thing I already knew from this movie, and arguably the most famous ending to a comedy film ever made. Go ahead and watch it, because I’d rather not spoil it.

youtube

That was...a very funny film! Is it the absolute funniest film ever made? I don’t think it is personally, but it’s definitely in my top 10! I’ll analyze Some Like It Hot more soon enough, in the Review! See you then!

#some like it hot #billy wilder #marilyn monroe #tony curtis #jack lemmon #george raft #joe e brown #joe e. brown #comedy april #user365 #365days365movies #365 movie challenge #365 movies 365 days #365 Days 365 Movies #365 movies a year #useranais

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schleierkauz · 4 years ago

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Q&A Highlights

Ok so bad news first: My questions were ignored. Cornelia did not clarify any of our death-related theories. Maybe next time.

There was A Lot of other stuff, though so... Enjoy!

- The stream starts with everyone wishing us a happy women’s day! Usually women in Erfurt (where the bookstore people are) get flowers but not today because... you know. Cornelia says America is starting to go back to normal, meanwhile Germany... :| Anyway. Don’t look over here.

- Cornelia says she probably won’t get the vaccine anytime soon because she’s just chilling on her farm anyway and people who have to be out in public/are vulnerable should get it first

- Question: When will Cornelia visit Germany again? In response to this, she gives us some exclusive news, not official yet, heard it here first: She’s gonna move to Italy! Apparently she bought an olive farm there which is cheaper, better for the environment (her current farm will be sold to some people who want to turn it into an organic farm) and obviously closer to Germany so she’ll be here more often. :)

- The 4th Reckless book will be released in English at some point this autumn

- There’s no definite release date for TCoR because she’s busy with Dragonrider but she hopes she’ll have finished writing it by the end of this year

- If she’s still alive after all that to work on Reckless 5, it’ll be the last book of the series... probably. She’s also working on a bunch of smaller projects with her artists in residence

- Question: What are Cornelia’s favorite stories by Jane Austen, the Brontë sister and Shakespeare? She’s not a huge fan of Austen or Brontë because she finds all those repressed emotions too exhausting to read about. With Shakespeare on the other hand she struggles to name a favorite because there’s so much greatness to choose from (she does name MacBeth and Romeo and Juliet though)

- The Black Prince’s legacy in the Reckless timeline may play a role in the next Reckless book or it might evolve into a whole other story. Either way, she’s thinking about it 👀

- Someone asks about Reckless characters and Cornelia says that Kami’en and the Dark Fairy felt very familiar to her from the start in that she always knew who they were as people. She’s not sure why that is. She thinks the Dark Fairy represents many aspects of womanhood, like the ancient forgotten Goddess. Same with Fox, who embodies different sides of that.

- If Cornelia had to date a man from the Mirrorworld, Kami’en would interest her

- Rainer Strecker randomly joins the chat to say hi and everyone is delighted

- Cornelia’s favorite book series is still Lord of the Rings

- Question: Why has the Black Prince never found his true love? Cornelia says she’s not sure that’s true - maybe he did found true love at some point and then lost it again? ‘...and they lived happily ever after’ isn’t a guaranteed outcome after all. Since he’s such a passionate man, she’s pretty sure he’s had at least one big lovestory at this point. She hasn’t asked him about that yet but hopes she’ll find out when she continues writing his story.

- Jumping off that question, Cornelia says she respects her characters’ privacy and lets them keep their secrets until the time comes to ask about them, just as she would with real people.

- Someone asks if Cornelia has ever written herself into a story and she says a part of her is in all her characters. Except the villains because she hates them. She feels closest to Fox because she also always wished she could shapeshift

- The bookstore lady jumps in and asks about Meggie, is she similar to how Cornelia was as a child? Cornelia says yes, especially because she also had a very close relationship with her father and they would bond over books. However, she always envisioned Meggie with dark hair and as a different kind of girl than she was. (Ok sidenote from me on that, I wonder what she means by ‘dark hair’? Because Meggie is explicitly blond, so like... dark blond? Or did we just unlock brunette Meggie in 2021? Cornelia-)

- Continuing the conversation, Cornelia says she doesn’t consider herself the creator of any of the characters in her stories, she feels like she met them and wrote about him but she would never say something like ‘I invented Dustfinger’ because that’s absurd. How would that even work. That’s disrespectful. No.

- Some characters pretty much demand to be written about and are very impatient (like Jacob), others are more shy and elusive and take effort to understand (like Will or Dustfinger)

- There probably won’t be another book like The Labyrinth of the Faun because it was created under such unbelievable circumstances. Cornelia does enjoy writing film scripts, though, like she did for the Wild Chicks recently

- Question: How does Cornelia come up with character names? She has a bunch of encyclopedias and when she knows where a story takes place she checks if there are any artists from there whose names she can steal. She always wants names to have meaning and to paint a picture of whatever character it belongs to. However, she says that sometimes the vibe of a name is a tricky thing: When she wrote The Thief Lord (which takes place in Italy), she thought ‘Mosca’ was the perfect name for a big strong boy. However when the time came to translate the story into Italian, the Italians told her that ‘Mosca’ sounds like the name of a tiny little fly. Oh well.

- Cornelia says a lot of readers have written to her about The Thief Lord because at one point Victor (the detective) calls Mosca (who is black) a “Mohrenkopf”. Context: ‘Mohrenkopf’ is a German slur towards black people and also an outdated name for this goddamn marshmallow cookie:

Fuck this cookie.

- Cornelia says yeah, Victor is being racist in that moment but that doesn’t mean that she, the author, is racist. Similarly, she used the term ‘Indians’ in Reckless and a lot of readers were upset which she did not anticipate. To her it’s a positive word since she admires ‘Indians’ so deeply and finds terms like ‘Native/Indigenous Americans’ very complicated. She wonders how much longer she’ll be allowed to say ‘Black Prince’

- She thinks it’s right to be vigilant about bigotry but simply searching for problematic words is dangerous because context matters

- Bookstore lady brings up Pippi Longstocking and how the N-word has been removed from modern copies (think Pippi’s father). She think’s it’s wrong because the original text is part of the cultural heritage and shouldn’t be hidden from children but instead explained.

- Cornelia says that in America she sees the hurt that’s connected to that word but she doesn’t think it’s right to simply remove the slur and expect everything to be fine. After all, the text in which it was used is still the same so any harmful ideas would still be in there and that needs to be discussed. Simply whitewashing things doesn’t make them any less racist.

- Cornelia brings up a visual example: The Asterix comics. She always liked them but the fact that the only black character is drawn as a racist caricature is harmful and wrong. It’s time to listen when black people express how hurtful depictions like that can be. Many white people never noticed racism growing up because it never affected them and that’s why it’s important to learn

- The ‘from rags to riches’ American dream was usually reserved for white people and Cornelia thinks a lot of (white) people are waking up to that fact. The way black people are still being criminalized and the way prisons use inmates for cheap labor is horrible and like a modern kind of slavery

- The bookstore people try to say something but Cornelia is not done: We Europeans are not off the hook either because the sins and wounds of colonialism are still felt around the world, not to mention the way other countries are still exploited today. Our wealth rests on the shoulders of poorer nations. Many doors are opening and it’s difficult to step through but we have to do it and admit to the things we may have been blind to due to privilege.

- The three of them agree on that and go back to reading questions

- Question: What are Cornelia’s tips for young authors? She advises to never start writing a story on a computer, always get a notebook and collect ideas & pictures for your story. Don’t rush things. If you have more than one story, give each story its own book and feed whichever one is hungry. It’s important to follow the idea where it leads, if you use cliches your readers will recognize them. And then it just takes time and passion. And trust in your own unique voice. She paraphrases a quote by Robert Louis Stevenson who once said no one cares about stories or characters or whatever, people read books to see the world through the goggles the author puts on them. I’m sure he said it prettier, I’m paraphrasing the paraphrase.

- That said, Cornelia thinks authors who say things like “I’m writing to express my innermost turbulences” are kinda dumb. She thinks it’s important to write about the things that happen everywhere else and around yourself and to try to find voices for others, not just yourself. Just like how carpenters build furniture for everyone else, a writer should use words to build things for others, whether it’s a window or door or a hiding place.

- Speaking of notebooks, as most of us probably know Cornelia has a lot of those and occasionally publishes them on her website. She says she’d love to let people look through them in person, maybe at the new farm in Germany (Cornelia sure does love farms)

- Speaking of writing things on paper, all three of them stress that everyone should write more letters because one day they’ll be old letters and curious people will want to read them, just as we like to read old documents now.

- Last question: How come both the Inkworld and the Mirrorworld feature a character called Bastard? Cornelia thinks that’s a good question and she should probably think about that. (Am I stupid? Are they talking about Basta? I’m confused)

...And with that, the livestream ends. They’ll get back together to do this again two months from now, until then: I’m going tf to sleep

#its 4am fuck me this took SO LONG-#cornelia funke #info #reckless #inkheart #man this was a long one #a lot to unpack here #thanks cornelia i have more questions now hdfhkjghd #i googled way more slurs than i had planned for today ngl #i really really hope i managed to accurately translate especially that part of the conversation #honestly i cringed a bit hearing them talk about it #but it is an important discussion i suppose #also @ the people who actually read my tags:#thank you for the good luck wishes for my interview today!! it went really well!#i was vibrating the entire time bc its been so long since i talked to a stranger #but i got the job :) so all is well

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zpetlovesglitter · 4 years ago

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The Wicked Powers Theories

The Wicked Powers has recently been getting me excited WAY too much - which says a lot about how weird I am since Cassie hasn’t even started on it yet (LOL).

aND, so, I kind of thought it’d be nice to jot down some predictions and theories on how the series might go and maybe some thoughts on THE SHIPS (that really do be the real TEA).

So.Here we go.And do let me know about any thoughts you have on this topic as well - I read anything about TWP like a crazed creature these days istg.

1)The POV has already been envisioned to be from Ty, Dru and Kit. I absolutely love this settlement since they are all very intriguing characters. Ty is an interesting person and his actions are always unpredictable, so we might enjoy this one. And,I believe he is at The Scholomance while the story progresses, followed by Livvy (Ghost Livvy, I mean).It’s still unclear what Livvy’s situation is, so I can’t wait to know more about that - it’s bound to be something unexpected. And, as for Dru, it’s kinda obvious. We all know that WE HAVE A LOVE TRIANGLE COMING UP. But, other than that, we also know she attends The Academy and finally starts to makes some friends and even has that really close Italian (..or was it Spanish???) Shadowhunter friend who’s her age and Cassie also revealed that the two are really tight indeed. And I will be honing in on the Love Triangle soon - I told you I’ll be trying to spill whatever tea I’m guessing at. And, as for the last character WE HAVE KIT! OMFG YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE OLDER BROTHER KIT.LIKE GOSH DARN IT HE IS SO ADORABLE AND MINA IS SO EFFING CUTE I CAN’T EVEN- AND KIT’S TRAINING WITH JEM AND HE IS GOING TO BE A WELL-TRAINED SHADOWHUNTER IN TWP, SO YAYYYY!! And, I absolutely CANNOT wait for MinaXKit interactions, they are the cutest siblings ever and I absolutely know that Mina grows up to be sarcastic. I can’t wait for the possible sarcastic arguments between Kit and 4-year old Mina. YOU THINK I FORGOT ABOUT KITxTY? NOPE.THE REAL SHET’S COMING UP.

2)Now,we know that the storyline is going to have something to do with that Faerie Heirloom that was from the Rosales Family. And, Cassie also said it was going to be kind of an Arthurian Legend-ish story. If you don’t know the Arthurian Legend, I suggest you read on it. I’m not sure if Cassie meant the characters and LOVE Aspect of it or the LEGEND aspect of it as in the stuff about Excalibur and all. But, for now we’ll view it in both and examine it, shall we?

King Arthur's reign ends after his wife and best knight have an affair.

This is the drama in the legend.But, there are no relationships with the MCs yet. So idk. I’m clueless. Like, maybe Dru has a relationship?? Okay I’m clutching at practically nothingness so don’t judge me. :/

So,it’s obviously something to do with the LEGEND.

I am afraid I cannot say too much about it, since I have never read too deeply about it. But, here’s some of the basics:

-He managed to pull out Excalibur from the rock it was stuck in.

-He wielded Excalibur for the people and not for his own self-interest.

-He gets help from a wizard named Merlin.

-The peeps go on a quest.

And I have this reference from a website..I’ll hit u with the link as well, if you’d like to read more on it like I did

Arthurian legend, the body of stories and medieval romances, known as the matter of Britain, centring on the legendary king Arthur. Medieval writers, especially the French, variously treated stories of Arthur’s birth, the adventures of his knights, and the adulterous love between his knight Sir Lancelot and his queen, Guinevere. This last situation and the quest for the Holy Grail (the vessel used by Christ at the Last Supper and given to Joseph of Arimathea) brought about the dissolution of the knightly fellowship, the death of Arthur, and the destruction of his kingdom.

(I’ve linked it with the text above.)

So,now I thought this was interesting- the destruction part. After all, it’s something I’m expecting about the Shadowhunters. Will the Clave maybe be destroyed? Or maybe Faerie will be destroyed? So,there were three things that brought on this uh Destruction.FIRST, his wife and his best buddy were going behind his back and doing them lovey-dovey stuff. And they all go on some quest to retrieve something important to them. So, this sounds like something plausible to be the plot of TWP. Maybe the Heirloom’s missing? And who goes on the quest though? Maybe they venture through Faerie? BLAH MY HEAD HURTS SOME THINGS ARE BETTER TO BE SURPRISED WITH ;)

-----I kinda scrolled back up while writing about Janus down there and remembered CLARY MIGHT BE TAKEN HOSTAGE LIKE YESS AND THEY GO FIND HER MAYBE?

3)We will defo see Christina, Mark and Kieran at some point- no worries, Emma and Julian too. Happy Couples! XD

4)So,then we can look forward to Dru and Jaime’s interactions. I am absolutely excited for this the most, as a shipper of the two. If you remember, we saw Jaime ignoring her for a while back there at the end of QOAAD and then he says “See ya at the Academy soon ig”. I really do hope they meet and hang out as friends, at least. I am excited to see what kind of trope it’s gonna be tho. Like, do they ignore each other and remain awkward until they start the adventure stuff in the book where they eventually have to talk to each other after years or smth. Or, maybe they’re really good friends rn. But, what I’ll warn y’all shippers is that they might not end up together, and could wind up as brother-sister-ish kind of best buddies. Which is equally cute a relationship imo. It’s a really sweet thing to be, really. I lowkey hope Cassie spins something beautiful for their relationship like a sibling-like best friends kind of thing. But, I feel like they might have feelings for each other in secret. Or maybe they date. Or maybe they suppress their secret-feelings for the sake of friendship later on in the book and end up having that really sweet friendship I was talking about.There are SO many options and that is precisely why I am so freaking excited.

5)JAIME ROCIO ROSALES. Like, I have this gut feeling that he might end up being my fave male protagonist character in TSC. He’s got it ALL. Like, the sense of humour, the looks, the bubbly yet brooding personality, the quirks and OFC THE FRICKING NAME ITSELF IS CUTE AF LIKE BRUH I CANNOT WAIT TO READ ABOUT HIM.I have so much to say about Jaime but I’d rather we let ourselves simply wait for the crumbs Cassie might give us or maybe reread all his parts in TDA like I do everyday or just wait for the book to come out rather than simp for someone we know nothing about yet....

6)Ash Morgenstern. He’s a cute lil bean. That was random and untrue lmao. He’s not a ‘lil bean’. He’s totally badass with dem wings and all, but we know he’s soft inside for Janus and ofc Dru, I believe. I find him the most intriguing character, honestly. I would love to know what goes through his head. He’s actually, like, the one character in TSC that I don’t have all figured out. He gon surprise us all for sure tho. He is awesome. That’s all I have to say for now. And he looks up to Janus which is SO GODDAMN SWEET AHHHH. And THE WINGS I CANNOT WAIT TO READ MORE ABOUT THE WINGS IT SOUNDED SO BADASS ISTG I LITERALLY CANNOT WAIT GOSH DARN IT. But he really do be a cute lil bean lowkey tho.

7)Kit and Ty LOL. I have no words really. But lemme tell you how it might go. There is definitely going to be some kind of reunion. AND THEN THAT’S WHERE IT GETS CUTE. They could either be awkward and we know what tension that gets us-perhaps some whisperings of My Watson...(? ;) and maybe they go all sad and brooding with dem looks later OR, they could be the sweetie-pies they were before and be happy and all HIII BUDDDYYYY MISSED YAAA LESS GO BE DETECTIVES YAY BURN IT UP MAH BUDDY!! Either way it’s going to be cute af and we know it . TRUST IN CASSIE Y’ALL.I trust Cassie to let this ship sail the seven seas and seven more like it deserves.

8)Ash and Dru So, Ash has a strange lil fixation on Dru and I believe he even thought she was ‘pretty’ or something. It was definitely a good adjective, but I think he said ‘pretty’. idk but we know he likes her. and I can imagine a nice relationship. I can picture them with her hair flying in the wind and they meet for the first time or smth. IHNI WHAT IM SAYING. But, there will be DRAMA. They are going to be real cute with each other YOU CAN BET ON THAT.And, by cute I do not necessarily mean ‘Oh, you have the loveliest eyes’ or some shet like that. I have a feeling it’s going to be a case of ‘Well,that’s not weird or anything YOU WEIRDO - NO U - NO U - NO U’ However this relationship is going to go, I know that it’ll be a sweet one.And, for all you shippers of these two, I have no assurances that HE IS THE ONE or anything but he is definitely a candidate. Jaime is going to be some competition I can tell. So, idk. It depends on the Jaime x Dru ship to decide things for Ash x Dru ship imo, since it might be a no-brainer if the two have feelings for each other- I mean,Jaime is an actually perfect love interest in TSC, while Ash is strong potential Best-Friend material, so it’s ONLY if Jaime and Dru don’t like each other that way that Ash could make it as a love interest. So, if y’all wanna find out what’s in it for you guys, ask Cassie maybe about how the Jaime x Dru ship might go, the next time u wanna ask her ;)

9)Tavvy and maybe the kid Helen and Aline might have had We were getting hints of another baby, so HERE WE GO.Tavvy might have a playmate. :D. YAYYYYYYYYYY

10)Janus I’m honestly worried about him. He is a worrisome character. I hate empathising with the antagonist, personally. AAAAHHHH . I hope we see some character development in him. I really don’t want to see him as an antagonist in the story. He’s sweet and feels cheated, but he should realise that it ain’t Jace’s fault but SEBASTIAN’S fault. I would like for him to make amends with Jace :( And, also, he might get the story started in TWP tho idk. But, seriously tho, when he went home in that short story and Ash asked, “I thought you were gone forever?” or something of that sort and he shook his head sadly and Ash went soft for him. Like, that fricking broke my heart. I love this relationship tho. And, i hope Clary and him can be good friends. But, I feel like he might end up dying to save her or smth and make us all cry . T_T

11)WHAT TF IS GOING ON WITH THE SHADOWHUNTER POLITICS RN THO?HOW AND WHERE ARE THEY ALL SURVIVING TOGETHER WHAT IS THEIR SYSTEM AND STUFF THIS IS NOT A POINT WITH POTENTIAL THEORIES COZ HONESTLY I WANT TO BE SURPRISED BUT I THINK THEY MIGHT ALL JUST BE IN HIDING AND THEN IN TWP THEY MIGHT HAVE TO COME OUT FOR A QUEST OR SMTH AND WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE SHADOWHUNTERS AT THE CLIMAX OF THIS WHOLE SERIES??? IT IS THE END OF TSC SO IM SCARED AND KINDA SAD TOO :(((((((

12)Thule We might learn more about the Thule world and maybe they restore it or maybe the Quest is in Thule. idk. we don’t know much, but Thule will most probably be explored a lot. Cassie wouldn’t have opened up Thule for no reason.

13)Zara and Emma Showdown? Befriend e/o ? What’s in store for these two? If it’s a showdown we get to see CORTANA YAY I AM OBSESSED WITH CORTANA NOW BECAUSE OF CORDELIA AND HER OBSESSION GOSH DARN IT WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME

14)BIG WAR I see a huge war coming I just know it. It’s a climax so there MUST be a big war and so I cannot wait! Feel like there’s gonna be some deaths as well. Lowkey feel like Jia might die. I can feel it. :(

15)The best-friend shadowhunter of Dru is a nice thing to look forward to! I can’t wait to read about the two! And I love the fact that Dru is finally exposed to new people. And, for anyone who’s confused as to how she goes to the Academy, in QOAAD she only said she’ll have some maturity done AFTER some years . Those years are over and she at the Academy now hecc yeah I BELIEVE THE BFF IS CALLED THAI AND SHE’S FROM THE SPANISH INSTITUTE CORRECT ME IF IM WRONG???

16)Magnus Bane He is literally everywhere. He gon be here too. No worries for all the Magnus Bane stans. He’ll make it here without a doubt! Good for you :). and the entire community of shadowhunters they literally always need him 17)THE MAIN MAIN PLOT THE SHADOWHUNTERS SHOWDOWN IS OBVIOUSLY GOING TO ALSO BE RELATED TO THE PRINCES OF HELL COMING TOGETHER AND I AM TOO SCARED TO LOOK TOO INTO IT BUT WE KNOW SHIZ COMING GNJODIFPEDWEFHUGBJ VM

18)THIS IS KINDA RANDOM BUT I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE SELF-ESTEEM GROWTH IN DRU LIKE PLEASE SHE QUEEN MWAH

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wistfulcynic · 5 years ago

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The Bend of the Arc (1/ 4)

SUMMARY: Emma Swan hates Killian Jones at first sight. He's everything she despises in a man: arrogant, provocative, and a known criminal associate of the city’s most notorious gangster. She’s determined to put him behind bars, until a shocking event forces them together and Emma discovers that there’s a lot more to Killian than meets the eye.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @stahlop! ~ I know it’s a little early your time, but I have zero chill. Lisa, it’s been so wonderful getting to know you this past year or so, especially watching you get back into writing! You said you’d like to see my take on the enemies-to-lovers trope, and so here it is—I hope you enjoy it. Have a FANTASTIC birthday 😘😘😘

(note: Crime is soooo not my genre, but I did my best with it. If there’s anything I completely effed up it’s okay to tell me about it, but please be gentle 😘😘)

Rating: M (language and eventual smut) Words: 5.8k (of 30k total) Tags: Modern AU, enemies to lovers, bounty hunter!Emma, criminal!Killian, smut, bedsharing, stranded together

On AO3

PART ONE:

She could smell the despair the moment she walked through the door. That wasn’t unexpected; grim places frequented by grimmer people were the bread and butter of her trade and this particular grim place—a grimy hole in the wall near the harbour—bled exactly the same hopelessness as the rest of them. It was, however, not where she’d expected to locate this particular mark, and she didn’t care for the unexpected. In her line of work, unexpected could get you killed.

He was here, though, right where her informant had said she would find him, and she spotted him the moment she walked through the door. He didn’t even look out of place, despite the expensive cut of his hair and his jacket, despite his goddamned Italian shoes. He should have stood out, been chased away, should never even have known a place like this existed, and yet here he was, slumped over the bar staring moodily into his drink the same as every other sad sack in the joint.

She didn’t like it. It was unexpected.

She slid onto the barstool next to him, taking care to allow her hair to drape across his arm. He didn’t move, not so much as a twitch. She exhaled a breathy sigh. No response.

The direct approach it would have to be, then.

“Hey.” She nudged him with her elbow. “What’s good here?”

“Lass.” His eyes never left his glass. “I’m afraid you’re barking up the wrong tree with me this evening. I’m not in the mood.”

“What mood?” She gave a light, tinkling laugh. “I just asked what’s good.”

“Try the rum.” He drained his glass and set it down firmly on the bar. “The Botucal. Only place in town that serves it. Everything else here is swill.”

He stood up and left, without so much as a glance in her direction.

I didn’t matter, though. She’d seen enough to know that it was him, and with her mark positively identified it was time to move in for the kill. She slipped off her stool and followed him out into the night, shivering in the chill breeze that blew in off the sea. She always forgot how much cooler it was near the water.

She looked around for the mark and spotted him a short distance away, walking in the direction of the marina. Probably headed for his boat, she thought. She hurried to catch him up, moving on the balls of her feet so her heels wouldn’t click on the pavement.

When she reached him he was just passing the harbourmaster’s office, a small building made of weatherbeaten wooden boards and with its door secured by a heavy iron chain looped through the handles, and she smiled to herself as she extracted her handcuffs from beneath her skirt. Perfect. In one swift, practiced move, she grabbed his arm and snapped a cuff around his wrist.

“Killian Jones,” she said. “I’m here to—”

He moved faster than she would have imagined him capable, using her hold on his arm to spin her around and slam her back against the door of the office, knocking the wind out of her.

He held her there with his body pressed firmly against hers and even in her dazed state she registered the warmth and sturdiness of it, the spicy smell of his skin. His breath ruffled the fine hairs on her temple as he leaned in close to murmur in her ear. “I know precisely who you are, darling, and what you’re here to do,” he said, his voice a low, rumbling purr. “And I’m afraid I can’t allow it. You should have stayed in the bar.”

“Then I wouldn’t have caught you.” Her own voice was breathy.

“You haven’t caught me now.”

Her head snapped up at the amusement in his tone and she got a good look at his face for the first time. Even in the faint glow of the harbour lights the sight was breathtaking. Photographs really didn’t do him justice.

“Yeah? Who’s the one in cuffs?” she retorted.

There was a tug on her wrist and an ominous click, and the smile on his face became a smirk. “I believe you are, love,” he replied.

“What the fuck?” She looked down to see her own damn handcuffs, now attached to her own wrist. He held her un-cuffed wrist firmly as he looped the cuffs through the heavy chain securing the door handles then clicked the second one into place on it, chaining her to the door.

“What the fuck?” she repeated, her voice rising to a shriek as she tugged on the chain. “How the hell did you—”

“Come now, you must have read my files. I dare say you know more about me than I do myself.” He held up a small leather case that she recognised as a set of lock picks and regarded her with a raised eyebrow. “Did it never occur to you that I might be able to get myself out of handcuffs? No?” He clucked his tongue. “That is a shame.”

She tugged at the chain again, “Let me go!”

“I fear that’s impossible, darling. As I told you before I can’t allow you to take me in. I have business to attend that won’t wait while I spend the night in a cell.”

“It’ll be a lot more than one night!”

“It won’t be any nights. Also a shame. I wouldn’t mind at all spending a night with you, particularly one in which bars and handcuffs feature prominently.” He leaned in close to her again, dragging his nose up her cheek as his hand curled around her hip, thumb stroking just above the apex of her thighs. She snarled in outrage and he chuckled. “Beautiful, fiery woman like you,” he growled into her ear. “I’ve no doubt you’d make it memorable.”

“I wouldn’t—” She was so furious she could barely speak. “Never—not in a million—not if you—the last man—”

He chuckled again and stepped back. “Aye, love, I get the picture. Not if I were the last man on Earth, et cetera et cetera. I could change your mind, of course—” he smirked at her furious snarl “—but alas I’ve no time.”

He shrugged off his jacket and moved to drape it around her shoulders and she recoiled with a hiss. “Get the fuck away from me!”

“Now, darling, you may be here for some time. It’s a chilly night and you are, if you’ll forgive me, not appropriately attired for the sea air. Don’t freeze to death out of spite. If nothing else it’d be a highly embarrassing way to die.”

She ground her teeth, but when he stepped forward again she allowed him to tuck the jacket around her shoulders. She hadn’t registered just how cold she was until engulfed in its warmth, in heat carried by his body and still bearing his spicy scent. His fingertips brushed the nape of her neck as he pulled her hair free of the jacket and she shivered, not from the cold this time.

“Such a shame,” he murmured, almost to himself.

“You’ll pay for this,” she spat.

“As much as I hate to keep contradicting you, darling, no I won’t.” He smoothed the jacket over her shoulders and gave them a little pat. “Now you just sit tight right here and I’ll send someone to collect you. Let’s hope they don’t take too long.”

He backed away with his eyes still on her, tilting his head to the side and biting down on his lower lip. Fury surged through her and she yanked at the chains again, letting out a guttural shriek when he simply laughed and turned away. She kept her eyes on him as he strolled along the waterfront like a man without a care in the world, until he turned onto one of the piers and disappeared from view.

“Emma?”

The voice, masculine and familiar, jolted her from her half-doze and she lifted her head, blinking in the harsh glare of a flashlight and trying to focus.

“Is that—Graham?”

“Fucking hell, Emma, it is you! I thought he was—here, let me get you out of those cuffs.”

Emma struggled up from the awkward crouching position she’d been in as Graham put his flashlight away and took out his keys. “Graham, what the hell are you doing here?”

“Rescuing you.”

He undid the cuffs and waited as she stood up straight and stretched her aching arms and shoulders.

“How did you know where I was?” she asked, reaching out her hand for her cuffs.

He held them out to her, but when she took them didn’t let go. “Emma,” he said solemnly.

“What?”

“You’re not gonna like it.”

“What?” She tugged on the cuffs and he released them. “What the fuck is going on, Graham? Tell me!”

He sighed. “I need you to stop chasing Killian Jones.”

“What?”

“Come on. We need to go to the station and then I’ll explain.”

“He’s working undercover!?”

“Yeah.” Graham’s face was solemn, with no hint of the smile he usually had for her. “He is. For over two years now.”

“Two years? Fuck.”

“Exactly. But it’s nearly over. We’re so close, Emma, to the biggest RICO case of the last fifty years. We can shut down Pan’s whole operation in one move, but all of it, everything, hinges on Jones. We need him.”

Emma’s lip curled. “And what does he get out of it? Immunity, I suppose.”

“Yes. His record will be completely expunged. Clean slate.”

“But he’s a criminal!”

Graham sighed and rubbed his temples. “They all are, Emma.”

“See, this is why I never wanted to be a cop,” she sneered, leaning back in her chair. They were sitting in an interrogation room in Graham’s precinct, surrounded by confidential files and cold coffee. “You ignore the crimes of one asshole in exchange for getting your hands on a bigger asshole. But that still leaves the first asshole loose on the streets, and with a clean slate this time. How is that justice?”

“Justice is never perfect,” said Graham shortly. “Nothing is. We do the best we can.”

“That’s not good enough!”

“It has to be, because it’s all we’ve got.” He leaned across the table, his eyes intense. “Emma, listen to me. Jones believes you actually did him a favour tonight. He’d been getting the sense that Pan no longer fully trusted him, but being actively pursued for a freaking eight-year-old bench warrant of all things seems to have brought him back in the boss’s good graces. That is the only, and I do mean only reason you are not in some serious fucking shit right now.”

“What, for doing my job?” Emma scoffed. “You can’t be serious.”

“Do I not seem fucking serious?” snapped Graham. “Did you not hear me say this is the biggest case in half a century? Do you not understand the goddamn consequences if it goes wrong, especially now?”

“I—”

“Let me be perfectly clear about this. You cannot bring Jones in. If you do, this precinct will never work with you again, and neither will any of the others once they hear about it.”

“But I—”

“And that’s not all. I’ve put you in serious danger by giving you this information. I’m sorry for that, but I knew you wouldn’t back off just because I asked you to. And frankly we are all in fucking danger. Jones’s cover is as deep as it gets and the position he’s in right now is deadly precarious. If he’s blown before we can close the case it won’t just be him who dies. Do you hear what I’m saying, Emma?”

She nodded, too frustrated for speech.

“I’m trusting you, trusting your discretion and hoping like fuck that this one time you can leave your damn principles at the door and be realistic. Forget about Killian Jones. Not for his sake, for your own.”

It was the biggest RICO case in fifty years, and it went off without a hitch. Every member of Pan’s criminal organisation was arrested, from the kids who ran the street-level scams right up to the boss himself. Moles that had been embedded in the police department for decades were rooted out and an entire network of sham businesses collapsed. Crime in the city came screeching to a halt as even Pan’s competitors scrambled for cover.

The evidence against them was solid, detailed and airtight, and one by one every single mob canary begged to sing. Fingers were pointing in every direction, many at each other but most of them straight at Pan, and the district attorney was confident that with a bit of manoeuvring she could see every last one of them behind bars for a very long time.

Every one but Killian Jones.

He was never mentioned by name in any of the reports or the news articles, simply referred to as ‘an undercover informant’. But Emma knew. He’d done one job and now he was free and clear, and the fact that he had spent ten years as Pan’s right hand didn’t even seem to faze the police.

“How do you know he won’t just step into the power vacuum left by Pan?” she demanded of Graham one afternoon, as he processed the paperwork for a shoplifter she’d brought in. “Someone’s going to.”

“It won’t be him.”

“But how can you know?”

“I trust him.”

Emma stared, unable to believe her ears. “I can’t believe I ever considered dating you,” she spat. “You’re not who I thought you were.”

“You considered dating me?” Graham repeated, gaping at her.

She shrugged. “Yeah, for like half a second, back when we first met. You were hinting pretty heavily and honestly? I don’t shit where I eat, otherwise I probably would have said yes. But that was before I found out you trust criminals.”

“Not criminals. Criminal, singular. Just this one.”

“But why?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“God damn it, Graham!”

Graham set his jaw stubbornly. “Look, Emma, I get that you feel betrayed and I’m sorry for that. But this is how the police work. It’s legal and it’s final. Killian’s record is clean now. Leave him alone.”

But she couldn’t. She did try, as much as she was able, but Emma Swan could never let anything go once her sense of outrage had been triggered and she couldn’t think about Killian Jones or anything related to him without outrage. She still had the jacket he’d left her in, hung in her closet right next to her own so that every time she donned the red leather she saw it there, mocking her, keeping her anger burning fierce and hot.

And so she watched him. Subtly, because she could be fucking subtle, using her own network of informants that the cops didn’t know about. She tracked his movements, all his comings and goings from his house to his offices, and she traced his business dealings, bank records, tax reports, everything and anything she could get her hands on.

It was all clean. He was never seen in any of Pan’s old haunts or associating with anyone remotely shady, his accounts showed a healthy income from legitimate sources. Businesses he had set up as part of his role in Pan’s organisation and then cleaned up once Pan was taken down.

And yet. There was too much income, Emma felt. It was too clean. Too much money, too many businesses, far too quickly. Leopards, as the cliche goes, do not change their spots, and Emma was certain that Killian Jones was as spotted as they came. She just wished she knew how he was hiding them.

The elegant marble foyer of the Gold mansion was the furthest imaginable thing from a grimy dockside dive bar but the smell of despair was here as well, just of a different kind. The despair of people who have more money than they could ever spend and are still unhappy, who have come to realise that however many cars or jewels or houses they buy the emptiness inside them remains.

At least the other smells were better. Emma inhaled deeply as she entered, breathing in the aromas of a dozen different perfumes and colognes, along with some mouthwatering canapés of which she fully intended to partake. She’d gone to a lot of trouble to wrangle this invitation, she might as well enjoy herself.

Snagging a glass of champagne from one passing tray and a mini crab soufflé topped with caviar from another, she sauntered into the room, deliberately drawing and ignoring the eyes upon her. The dress she wore was far subtler than her usual work attire, long and flowing and draped in a way that suggested far more than it revealed. Its deep crimson hue flattered her pale hair and skin and the faint shimmer in the fabric caught the light as she moved.

Emma popped the last bite of soufflé into her mouth and resisted the urge to lick her fingers. Instead she sipped her champagne and looked around for another tray. One passed by bearing what looked like tiny donuts and she almost dove to grab one. Biting into it, she found that it was savoury and filled with a feather-light truffled chicken mousse. She closed her eyes on a moan of delight, and when she opened them again Killian Jones was standing in front of her, watching her with an expression she found deeply objectionable.

“Well, darling, I do hope you’re not here for me this time,” he said.

Emma sneered. “I’m not.”

“Learnt our lesson, have we?” he replied with a smirk.

She ground her teeth. “I’ve simply got bigger fish to hook,” she said.

“Indeed. Considering that I am an entirely innocent man.”

She snorted.

“That infuriates you, doesn’t it,” he observed, smirk deepening. “That I walked free.”

Nearly a year’s worth of frustration and righteous fury bubbled up inside Emma, bursting forth before she could stop it. “It’s not right!” she exclaimed. “It’s not justice!”

“No, it’s just not perfect justice. Though one certainly could argue that a decade spent under the thumb of a madman is more than enough punishment for whatever crimes I committed.”

Something in his voice troubled her, a pained sincerity that niggled at her conscience. She ignored it. “Rationalise it all you like, if it helps you sleep at night,” she retorted.

“Oh, I have no trouble sleeping,” he said, stepping closer and leaning into her space, hips first. “Though occasionally I do forgo it voluntarily, in favour of more… enjoyable activities.”

“You’re filthy.”

“I certainly can be,” he purred. “If that’s what you want.”

“I want nothing from you.”

“Well love, we both know that’s not true.”

“Oh do we?”

“We do. You’re something of an open book, you see.”

She rolled her eyes. “I am the opposite of that.”

“You’d like to be. But for those who know how to look, your tells are obvious.”

“Bullshit.”

He shifted, standing straighter and observing her with blue eyes that went, between one blink and the next, from flirtatious to coolly assessing, sharply analytical. She felt a flare of alarm in her chest, and the worrying suspicion that she may have underestimated him.

“The relaxed posture,” he said. “That’s one. You’re a woman of action, rarely still. If you stop moving you start thinking, and you, Emma Swan, hate nothing more than being in your own head. You’re tense all the time unless you’re pretending not to be, as you are now. Playing the role of carefree society girl, perfectly at home in these glittering surroundings where you are in actual fact deeply uncomfortable.”

She attempted a laugh. “Maybe I’m just having a good time.”

“You’re holding that glass so tightly you’re in danger of snapping the stem, and you’re digging the heel of your shoe into the floor. It takes a lot of effort to maintain that outward calm, which is why you don’t normally bother. You hate artifice, bullshit as you would call it, and your plan tonight is to get in, get your mark and get out. After you’ve eaten your fill of the food, that is.” The corner of his mouth curled into a half-smile. “Do correct me if any of this is wrong.”

“It’s all wrong,” she snapped.

“Now, love, don’t you start to bullshit.”

Emma’s fingers clenched tighter on the champagne glass and she deliberately forced them to relax. “Why don’t you just leave me alone,” she hissed.

His eyes softened, and heated with an expression that made her belly clench. “Because you intrigue me,” he murmured.

“Well you disgust me.”

He laughed. “Liar.”

“How dare you—”

He brushed a lock of hair off her shoulder, his fingers close enough that she could feel the heat of them but not their touch, and when he spoke again his voice was rough. “You’ve a delightful pale pink flush all across your skin, your pupils are dilated, your breathing shallow. And your pulse—” His hand glided down her arm and wrapped around her wrist, fingertips pressing gently onto her pulse point. “It’s racing, love. I don’t require any special skills to pick up on these tells.” He caught her gaze, his own heated and intense. “Would it help if I confessed that the attraction is entirely mutual?”

“No!”

“Pity.”

She tried to pull her arm from his grip but he held fast, leaning closer still to murmur in her ear. “He’s over by the fountain.”

She wouldn’t look, thought Emma. She wouldn’t. She closed her eyes as Killian released her and the heat and intoxicating scent of him moved away. She didn’t want his help, didn’t need it. Resented it. But she couldn’t stop herself from looking and of course there he was. Her mark, standing in front of the fountain at the centre of the room.

“How the hell did you know—” she spun around but Killian was gone.

Emma took a deep breath and then another, to calm herself and focus her concentration on her task. She smoothed her hair and the front of her dress and tossed back the rest of her champagne, gave her boobs a little boost and headed for the mark, a soft smile on her face and a gentle swing in her hips.

She had crossed about half the distance between them when he tensed visibly and his shoulders shifted, like he was trying to pull them back and stand straight but was defeated by the power of his own sullen slouch. For a moment she thought he might have made her, but his eyes were fixed on something across the room, something—or someone—blocked from her view by the fountain. Emma slowed her pace, keeping her distance until he made whatever move he had planned. For several seconds he stared intently at whatever, whoever, held his attention and then he nodded, shoulders slumping even lower than they’d been before, and moved on surprisingly light and agile feet towards a small door behind the foyer’s grand staircase. With a quick glance around the room he slipped silently though it and a moment later Emma followed.

Behind the door was a long, shadowy hallway that fulfilled her every expectation of what a mansion corridor should look like. The carpet beneath her feet was so thick that her steps made no sound as she followed the mark, past paintings and statues and even an honest-to-goodness suit of armour. She felt her jaw drop as she took it all in, until the mark turned a corner and she had to speed up her pursuit so as not to lose him.

She made it around the corner in time to catch a glimpse of him disappearing through a door, and when she reached it she found that it hadn’t fully shut. She slipped her foot through the gap and eased it open until she could see into the room beyond.

It looked like a museum. Or at least what she imagined museums should look like; she hadn’t visited many. It was a vast room that felt curiously airless, with tall ceilings and no widows, panelled entirely in wood. The same wood that made up the many low tables scattered over more of the same thick rugs that lined the hallway. Upon each of these tables a statue stood. Women, mostly, and some men, all naked. Made of marble, Emma imagined, though she was hardly an expert. Weren’t statues generally made of marble? They were definitely some kind of stone, or she supposed possibly plaster. It was hard to tell the difference from so far away.

Tentatively she nudged the door and when it made no noise pushed it open further and slipped into the room, weaving through the statues in search of her mark. A voice spoke just ahead and to her right and she moved quickly over the silent carpets, stopping when she caught sight of a pair of polished shoes and the tip of a black cane, and ducking behind a statue, out of sight of the man who spoke.

“So,” he said, his voice cold and without inflection, and with a hint of an accent she couldn’t place. “Do you have it?”

“I—” the mark began.

“Do not disappoint me, Felix,” the cold voice interrupted. “You would not like for me to be disappointed.”

Emma crouched down and peeked around the leg of the statue that shielded her, just enough so she could see both men clearly. The mark, Felix, was in his early twenties, with a sullen face to match his posture and lank blond hair that fell into his eyes. He’d been arrested for loitering two months ago and missed his court date, but there was nothing else on his record worse than a few shoplifting charges and possession with intent. This meeting, this whole damn situation, seemed well above his pay grade and she should have known that, Emma berated herself. She should have smelled a rat from the start, but instead she’d let herself be distracted by canapés and by Killian goddamn Jones, and forgotten what she was supposed to be doing.

She could almost hear Felix’s terrified gulp. “I—I couldn’t get it,” he whined. “Jones said—”

“Do not speak to me of Killian Jones,” hissed the other man, a slight, elegantly dressed one with long hair and a thin face in which teeth and eyes were prominent. “I will deal with him when the time is right. For now—” He lifted his cane and Felix cringed.

“No, sir, please. I’ll get it I promise—”

“Your promises are worthless to me,” said the elegant man, with a reptilian smile that made Emma’s skin crawl. He was enjoying this, she realised, feeding off of Felix’s terror and craven grovelling as he slowly advanced. He twisted the head of his cane and with a faint swish and a mechanical clank a long, sharp blade appeared from the end of it. Felix stared at the blade, frozen in fear.

“They are, in fact,” the elegant man continued, closing the remaining distance between them, “as worthless as you are.” He bared his teeth and plunged the blade into Felix’s heart.

Emma gasped. She couldn’t help it. For all the hardships she’d suffered in her life—the uncaring foster families, the time on the streets, the teenage pregnancy—she had never witnessed a crime more serious than petty theft and drug dealing. Nothing like cold-blooded murder. She would have liked to think herself tough enough to handle the sight without flinching but she was overcome by the sheer horror of it. The blood that bloomed across Felix’s shirt and the way the life drained from his body. The cold, cold triumph of the man who killed him. It was the worst thing she’d ever seen, could ever imagine seeing, and though she clapped her hand across her mouth it was too late. The noise of her indrawn breath was loud in the room’s still air and the man looked sharply at her. He couldn’t see her behind the statue—she didn’t think he could—but he knew precisely where she was.

“Well, well,” he said. “It appears we have a loose end.”

Emma ran. She didn’t hesitate or stop to think, just leapt up from her crouch and sprinted, as fast as her high heels and the confusing layout of the statues would allow. She had no idea if the man had any backups—he seemed the sort who would, though she hadn’t seen or heard anyone but himself and Felix—but she knew that no matter what it was riskier to try to hide than just to run, to put as much distance between herself and the man as she could and try to get away.

She headed straight for where she thought the door was but soon found herself disoriented. There was no clear path through the statues and they all looked the same—white limbs and torsos atop identical tables, on a carpet with the same repeating pattern, in a room with no markings of any kind on the walls. She could hear the man behind her, his steady breathing as he pursued her across the thick carpet, not running, of course not, because doing so would tire him and that steady, deliberate pace was far more terrifying, damn him, and she tried to run faster, grabbing blindly at a small piece of statue as she passed. It was lighter than she’d expected—perhaps plaster then, not stone—and she flung it back the way she’d come, not looking at where it flew, not stopping to see what it hit when it crashed and shattered behind her.

She reached the wall but there was no door on it, just identical wooden panels repeating all along its length. One of those must be the door, Emma thought. There had to be a door, she’d come in through one. She began to feel along the wall looking for a knob or a button or a loose join, anything at all that might trigger it to open. Now that she was no longer running she felt her fear much more acutely, gripping her chest and clouding her mind and edging her dangerously close to panic.

“I don’t know who you are,” called the elegant man’s voice, from much closer behind her than she’d hoped. “But I’m very much taken with your lovely hair and that glorious red dress. Very… memorable, both of them. Very distinct.”

Emma’s search for the door grew frantic. She tried to keep calm and focused but all she could think was that she was alone in this room with a murderer. An absolutely remorseless killer was mere feet behind her and there was no door. There was no fucking door and that meant no escape. She was trapped here in this airless, noiseless place and she was going to die.

A sob rose in her throat, almost drowning the soft click to her left. The panel next to her swung open and she could just make out the silhouette of a man among the shadows of the hallway beyond. Was this the backup, then, she wondered? A henchman come to block her escape, force her back into the clutches of the elegant man? The appearance of this new threat snapped her back into herself, gave her something to do, and she seized on that with desperate relief. Holding herself loose but alert she bent her knees, settled her weight over the balls of her feet and prepared to defend herself as best she could. It wasn’t likely she could stop them killing her, but she could damned well make it difficult, and now that the door was open she had at least a slim chance of escape.

The shadows shifted as the man in the doorway reached out with a speed and deftness of movement she’d seen only once before, and quicker than she could react he grabbed her and yanked her against him, clapping his hand over her mouth and pinning her arms to her sides, pulling her back through the door and letting it fall shut behind them. When it had latched with another soft click, the man swung Emma to one side and gave the door a sharp kick with the heel of his shoe, jamming the delicate mechanism that controlled it.

Emma seized the advantage of his momentary imbalance to try to struggle free, wriggling in his loosened grasp and aiming a kick at his instep, but again he was too quick for her. He shifted his weight to avoid her swinging foot and adjusted his hold, tucking her tightly against his side and dragging her with him as he headed away from the door, moving rapidly despite her furious squirming, along the hallway and down a darkened stairwell and through a side door of the mansion then out into the night.

“I have a car waiting,” he growled in her ear, picking up their pace now they were out of the house. “It’s idling at the end of this driveway. If you don’t get in it, right now, you will die. Don’t make me tie you up, Swan. As much as I would enjoy that in other circumstances.”

Emma could see the car he meant, the only one in the long driveway that was running. When they reached it she dug her heels hard into the loose gravel beneath them, throwing Killian Jones—because of course it was fucking him—off balance just enough that his grip loosened and she was able to jam her elbow into his ribs, wriggling away when he huffed in pain.

“Let go of me!” she shrieked.

“Keep your voice down,” he snarled, grabbing her arm and pulling her back again. He scowled down at her, his eyes angry and frustrated and scared. It was the fear that caught Emma’s attention, made her pause. “I should bloody well let him kill you,” Killian muttered. “But instead I am going to save your life, whether you like it or not. Now get in the damned car, woman.”

Emma yanked her arm from his grasp and this time he let her go. They stood glaring at each other, breathing hard, gripped by a very similar anger and, more worryingly, the exact same fear.

“Why should I trust you?” she demanded.

“You have no earthly reason to,” he replied. “But that man you saw in the gallery, that is Robert Gold, and however vile you think me I assure you he is a hundred times worse. The devil or the deep blue sea, take your pick, love.”

Emma stared at him, searching for the lie, for the deceit she knew had to be there. But there was none. For the first time in their acquaintance he was being completely serious, and completely honest. Damn it.

She got in the car.

Millions of thanks to @thisonesatellite and @ohmightydevviepuu for holding my hand in this unfamiliar genre. Also, tagging everyone who showed an interest in the snippet of this I posted a few weeks ago. If you don’t want to be tagged in further updates, PLEASE let me know 😘 @kmomof4 @mariakov81 @katie-dub @spartanguard @darkcolinodonorgasm @courtorderedcake @squidvisious @cluttermind @teamhook

#cs fic #cs ff #cs fanfic #cs ff au #modern au #bounty hunter!emma #criminal!killian #enemies to lovers #birthday fic #stahlop #the bend of the arc #profdanglaisstuff

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