#this is really about James McAvoy in general

[iseveryoneherederanged]

I'm a girl but jesus christ I would sell my soul to look like Charles Xavier in his 20's

I mean seriously, those eyes? I did not know blue before them

Those freckles? Like a galaxy held within his very skin.

That smile? It could illuminate the darkest of rooms, or the darkest of hearts (Erik who)

The most unrealistic thing about those movies was that everyone he met didn't immediately join his side, cause like you want to make me into a weapon to fight your cause and eventually die protecting you? Yep, okay, I'm in.

[ladylaviniya]

The Negatives of Shooting People

Chapter 2 || MasterList || Chapter 4

Chapter Summary: A new job creates a new problem for August who decides he needs to remind you of his power. You let Lloyd inside, and he has an offer to make.

Chapter Warnings: 18+ Dead Dove Do Not Eat, Masturbation, Referenced Non-Con Events, Implied Illegal Weapon Arms Trading, Threats, Manipulation, Stalking Journalism.

Pairing: Kingpin!August Walker X F!reader

Word Count: 9.4k

Author Notes: in my mind and casting, Jude Driver is played by Adam Driver. Wesley Gibson is played by James McAvoy. Brandon Sullivan is played by Michael Fassbender. Katarina Vikander is played by Alicia Vikander.

Inspiring Song: "Woman." by Ke$ha.

10:23am Thursday 8th August 2024, Brisbane CBD.

“These photos Miss Y/L/N, they’re magnificent. I haven’t seen quality this good since…well…never really…When can you start?”

You grinned, sitting across from the head editor of one of the smaller local newpapers.

You knew you had to find a job quickly…you were sick of the employment agency and their unhelpful attitude. You knew if you were going to remain safe and take down the billionaire asshole, you needed to be the best version of yourself.

It had been a three days since you first met that monster... August Walker. And he had seemingly invaded your every thought. He was there in the back and front of your mind haunting and taunting you with his smirking lips and roguishly deep voice.

The gentleman who sat in front of you had no idea. That was something you were okay with, how could anyone know? No one knew. You hadn’t called or replied to any text messages Lloyd had sent.

You made a resume portfolio of your best photos you’d taken since your first camera your dad ever bought you. Both Polaroid and electronic. You still hadn’t forgotten that August had stolen one of your father’s cameras from the day he forced you to cum on the recliner chair.

You knew you were inexperienced in journalism…but your photography was a master skill unlike any other.

Your successful interview, you put it up to a great sense of confidence, as well.

“Right now if you’ll have me,” you winked. He was an older man of an older generation. Clearly he knew and was a deep fan of Australian banter that borderlines the aesthetics of flirtation. You were a young woman and he was an older man, the math was simple. Bat your lashes, pretend to be coy and then slide in with a sarcastic remark or sexual innuendo.

He laughed and leant over his desk. You shook your new bosses hand.

He liked that very much. ‘Of course he would, he’s practically old enough to be someone’s perverted uncle.’

“Oh most definitely…” he said biting his bottom lip, he was milking the banter.

He was a handsome even for a classic perverted elder fellow. John Luther was a grey fox so the ladies might say. You were sure that from now on never to truly trust a man…so when he winked back and looked down your shirt- at your chest, you smiled wider, ‘predictable men…he is going to be easy to manipulate…’

You had to thank August one day…if he hadn’t hurt and humiliated you the way he did…you would never have felt the rage of all women and the desire to use your assets to get what you wanted in this Man’s World.

You sat back a lit and lifted your chest as you gave a big happy sigh while watching Mr Luther continuously ogle your chest.

It sent a shiver even down your spine thinking about it…entering a villainess era…a femme fatale story….a tale of revenge and justice.

“I admire a woman with confidence,” he said sucking his teeth, his right hand slide down beneath his desk out of view. You had half a mind to assume he was palming his dick in his trousers.

“So how about I assign you your first assignment? See how you go? I’ll even let you choose…”

“Choose?” you asked with a faux coyness, fluttering your lashes.

“Well, we have a very interesting story idea in regards to the Woolloongabba Doggy Day care that just moved to East Brisbane, rumour has it that the business is understaffed for the amount of dogs they keep in care. And they only use half of the required sanitization required. A spread of kennel cough and many dogs having their ears ripped off by other larger dogs belonging to rich clients the owner of the doggy day care refuses to lose business towards.”

Oh dear, you noted, that sounded tragic….it’s a good thing you never had a pet as a kid. It would hurt too much to be in that position. Hearing a pet dog had its ear ripped off by savage untrained dogs.

“...And the other case?” You sweetly chirped.

His smile fell, “There’s a certain gentleman that’s running around allegedly smuggling drugs and arm deals…” he repeated, “’Allegedly’…”

He rolled back in his chair to reach for a folder on his bookshelf, flicking through it.

Your craning neck had time to catch the outline of his prick beneath his pants. ‘Oh yes...this man is putty in my hands.’ When he swivelled back, you dashed your eyes back to his desk trinkets and smiled at him.

“A bloke named August Walker selling to or buying from an old money American philanthropist Brandon Sullivan…”

‘No fucking way’….just your luck…

You were going to fucking take it no matter what….

Luther grimaced, “It’s a big task so I won’t judge you for not taking it. I’m just hoping to catch the sons of bitches at it. It would be a huge story for media not even those wankers at seven, nine or ten news could think to report.”

You reached over his desk to steal his pen and stick note pad. You took down the name he mentioned on a sticky note- Brandon Sullivan...you made sure to memorise it well.

“How about we even make those conniving morons at sky news jealous, sir?” You smirked and watched as the rockets soared in his eyes with his white tooth grin.

He laughed hard.

He wiped his hand down his chin, “I love a girl with ambition Miss Y/L/N. I’m sure you won’t disappoint me! The dead line for photos is in a week, he’s having some soiree on next Friday or something so it’s got to be before then because you’re never gonna be able to enter those clubs, chicky. Respectfully.”

You smile and shake his hand again, “Mr Luther, I swear…I’ll give you the best goddamn shots you’ve ever seen of that criminal.”

Now your man hunt had truly commenced, you smiled to yourself. Who knew that revenge could come so easily and quickly…

Luther gave you your own cubicle to work in. A place to hang and edit your photos. A place to file your evidence. He may have mentioned that the work they did in his agency was on par with the police but by no means legally police work. So if the cops arrived, you stayed hidden and kept your fucking mouth shut....

You had a job and began researching the bastards name again on your laptop, compiling the sources from Google and the notes from Luther’s folder files.

You discovered the following about August J. Walker.

He was born in New Jersey. He was twice your age and almost as old as your father. He had a plethora of connections in businesses from alcohol distillery to Chinese restaurant vendings. Actually you were confident that a restaurant he help partnership over had a familiar logo. You tapped your lip and wondered briefly if your father ever delivered there as a truck driver.

August was a fan of European and Asian based foods and sold it at his clubs. He owned over fifteen around the world. One of his biggest in Australia was The Lions Lounge, it was on the edge of Fortitude Valley. It was for the richest social elites of the country. The price of food alone was almost your weeks rent.

On the website of his club you could see information regarding the tightship of his security. It seemed supreme so there wasn’t a chance of you going to his club without a fat purse and invitation.

A party was coming up, a celebration for the ten year anniversary of its opening. A soiree with a “The roaring 1920s.” Theme. You scoffed at the cliché.

It was exclusively invite only, it was only on the website so that those who received a invitation could reply a rsvp. And with you fresh out of luck of an invite like Luther even said, there was little to no chance of clawing your way inside.

So...that’s when you had to resort to extra creativity. You held up the sticky note and smiled.

09:07am Wednesday 14th August 2024, Robertson Brisbane.

August Walker was a man with a craving to remain in power. He had fought tooth and nail to get where he was and for now he felt incredibly comfortable…he had enough money to buy the fucking country...he had the power to make politicians kneel and kiss his shoes if he demanded it. To the police, with his legal team, he was currently untouchable.

He could literally have any woman he wanted…but he wanted you. Since that night he first saw your photo, he starved. He had given you time to mourn. Now you were alone and he righteously believed you needed him.

Yet to his surprised pleasure, he liked the fight and push you tried to dish out on him. Your guts to go to the police sent blood to his cock. He hadn’t expected it. He believed you’d roll over and cry only. He never predicted you’d immediately leave the apartment before he could wish you a good morning or afternoon after leaving you drugged up. He snooped for hours in your father’s bedroom and yours. He’d flicked through your old school reports and photos. He tried tidying your mess and clutter, washing your vomit covered duvet and even had cigarette to pass the time.

So when he received that call from the police requesting his presence, instead of anger, he felt surprise. Not many could surprise him. But you did...

He pushed away from his desk and rubbed his eyes chuckling,  you were definitely a tasty little thing.

It made his dick hard when he remembered you crying beneath him. He loved to fantasise your pathetic excuses and spitfire words. He only wished you’d push the boundary more. The more you fought, the sweeter the submission.

He pulled out his ‘other’ phone. His ‘business’ phone. The phone no police would ever know or see. He swiped his thumb across the screen and groaned at the sweet nude thing he took photos of the night you’d both met. Oh how pitifully adorable you were with your desperate pleas and confusion as the pill quickly broke down into your blood stream.

He wished he had a video of it. How he teased your phone away from you. How he mocked you. Half of it he imagined you probably didn’t remember. After all it wasn’t long that you were totally out of it, limp and softly snoring.

He liked how much control he had over you. Laying the strips over your hairy body and tearing it away to be baby smooth as he liked it. How delicate you looked as he rubbed the baby oil into your skin to settle any potential irritation. Perhaps it was sick of him to prefer you like this. He sighed, licking his bottom lip, staring at the photo he took of your freshly waxed pussy.

He had done sicker things to other people. But you were someone who didn’t deserve this. That is where the guilt lied. You didn’t deserve this and August Walker fucking new it deep in his bones.

He wasn’t shy of hurting innocence but your situation was different. This was personal.

So really could he hold it against you for going to the police? No... And besides...his false alibi had been solid... especially after the rape kit evidence had been tampered with, concluding as inconclusive...

Something about the thought of making you submit but never fully breaking, constantly challenging him- turned him on so much, he found it impossible to work. He slapped his phone down and chewed the inside of his cheek while he considered calling up Natalie, one of his go to escorts. His payable whores. She was expensive but she knew how to suck him off to completion quickly and he wanted to focus on work and finalising the details of his party in two days, not on you.

As fate would have it….he wouldn’t have a choice…the phone rang on his desk.

He pressed the reviewer to his ear and turned to look out the window.

“Walker.”

“It’s Gibson.”

He smiled and leaned back in his rolling chair, “Ah Wesley, yes, how are you mate?”

“You’ve got a little problem, sir,” he heard his public relation specialist sigh, “A tail.”

“Oh?”

“I’m sending the email now,” the click clack typing of the keyboard echoed in the headset Wesley wore,” It seems the paper has started to find better journalists…”

The email notification came in quickly. The ping from his monitor forced August to spin around in his chair. He pursed his lips and scrolled to click the link.

He hovered the mouse arrow down and noticed the collection of photos taken of him in the high class restaurants talking with a old underworld buddy of his. Some of the images however were incredibly exposing. His hand was shaking Brandons in one when he made a export deal with him, another photo showed August’s fingers touching a contract, his eyes looking at a phone Brandon was holding with images of guns. This was not good at all…

“What the fuck…” his hand pressed to his lips, he mused, “The photographer was smart, he knows how to pick a decent angle, Jesus what camera took this?” He clicked another photo, “These details…you can practically see every pore on Brandon’s bloody face…”

His mouth felt dry. He knew he needed to hire Natalie’s services now, the stressed building up had him tense. His erection had vanished, now it was a matter of pain in his shoulders and back.

He scrolled further and stared at the headlines jumping out. “Playboy or Pathological Criminal.”, “Party King or King Pin.”, “Australia’s own insider terrorist.”

His eyes widened at seeing the publishing office. John Fucking Luther & Co. News.

His jaw cracked with the tightness he clenched. No. He didn’t have time for this shit.

“She, sir,” The lackey corrected, “Newest of Luther’s flock. His word usually isn’t credible but this? This is going to be hard, expensive press to erase or cover up. Other news outlets are fighting over the rites.”

She...

He picked up a pen and clicked the button. Why was it even that important.

She...

She? His eyes sharpened. He looked closer at the photos on his screen. Something about the photo style reminded him of something earlier he had seen the previous week. So many….on a wall…beside a bed…filled with a captivating woman he defiled…but surely not you? Surely not you...

“What did you say?”

“Sir the cost to-”

He shook his head and sighed into the phone, cutting of the agent, “No, no, I meant the photographer. You said ‘she’? Luther? Are you sure this is real? His lot are the worst, always blurry or grainy if they’re lucky…who the fuck is this new photographer or editor or whoever the fuck is getting these images.”

“We can only assume,” Wesley mumbled, “You’ve had this little thing on your tail for the passed few days, she tries to be sneaky we’ve noted. We didn’t expect her to release decent pictures…we followed her back to the Luther office. The angles fit the locations we have caught her in.”

His thumb pressed hard against the pen.

“Show me this bitch,” he growled under his breath.

Another email ping and a link later, your face filled the computer screen. Your eyes burned him right back…you were in a few photos. Some where you hid among a roof top, another you were hiding in a corner at the restaurant, and finally one where you were just in a park looking down at your camera probably going over the shots you’d taken.

“Want us to deal with her, sir?” he suddenly heard Wesley ask. Deal with her...Destroy her reputation...beat her up…sell her…or kill her....no…no...not his new puppy.

He blinked with bewilderment and hummed, “No...” He cleared his throat, “No, no thankyou, Wesley. I know this kid; don’t worry…” he smirked, “This is just a simple misunderstanding…bit of…play. Trust me.”

Oh how he could’ve whipped the skin from your back raw for this if you were anyone else...

“Sir, if you can’t get her to stop, if she’s going to keep doing this…” Gibson warned, “Anything more in depth- you’ll wind up in court or prison at the worst, the pigs aren’t taking the pay like they used to…”

August shook his head and sighed, “It wouldn’t be the first time Wesley. Ignore her. I’ll deal with it. She’s my responsibility.”

His public relations officer seemed to pause for a moment. As if he had something else to say but he knew better than to total talk back to August Walker.

“Alright sir, have a good evening,” August heard before he slapped the phone, hanging up.

He scooted closer to the screen and scrolled back at the photos you’d taken. He bit his lip and chuckled, shaking his head at your profiling photo, “You little-...you want to play this game? Fine, now it’s my turn.”

He began dialling up a new phone number. He held it back up to his ear and waited for the receiver to pick up.

“Jude mate, I’m gonna need you to develop some photos for me...oh yes,” he replied pinching the pen in his hand, “Red room style.”

06:19pm Wednesday 14th August 2024, Woolloongabba, Brisbane.

“Who needs a man? Huh!” You said to yourself testing out the new bolts and chain locks you installed on the front door. They rattled and locked. They didn’t budge when you jiggled the handle and pulled. You still had three more you planned to drill in.

You wiped the sweat off your forehead and grinned proudly. This is something your dad should have taught you how to do. Thankfully with the help of a YouTube tutorial and a bit of bravery you managed to take full control and ownership of your front door.

If your new landlord wanted to charge you for damages to his door, so be it, as long as this kept you protected from him while you slept at night that was all that mattered. He’d either have to pick every complicated lock, guess or, he’d have to hire the damn firefighting crew to use a battering ram.

When you opened the door again to test it a second time, a squeak of surprised popped from your lips. You clenched your dad’s power tool tightly.

A man in a black suit and black sunglasses stood outside the door with an large yellow envelope in his hand. He held it out to you silently. He looked ominous and familiar, he wore leather gloves…your eye widened, he was August’s driver.

You glanced between him and his hands. Every second was a risk you weren’t sure you could keep taking. You hesitantly pinched the bottom of his flat package and he let go. He pulled the edge of his sunglasses down his face, looking at the plethora of door locks.

‘What was his name again? Judea, Judas?’

He said quietly, “It might be better if you open it inside...” his eyes glanced at the door again before smirking, “Nice locks...pretty crappy if you think it’s going to stop him though.”

‘Him...August Walker...’

You stood still in shock. He gracefully spun on his heel and left. Your tongue caught in your throat…what the fuck was this?

The package was as thick as your hand.

You had to know it was from August…I mean who else could it be from? Especially since you speculated it was his driver that delivered it…especially since there was a massive cursive ‘A.J.W’ on the tab of the envelope.

You held your breath and walked hurriedly backwards inside.

Your teeth caught your upper lip. You slammed the door shut and locked all the locks before going to the couch, disposing the drill on the coffee table, and tearing open the envelope.

You pinched the top wide open and hovered your eyes inside. There was a white papery page ripped out from a note book. You pulled it out and unfolded it to read his handwritten warning.

“Careful Puppy, you’re lucky my men didn’t bite when they sniffed you out, sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong. I think you need a break from your little hobby. So I’m going to remind you...I have copies of these. Scratch me again and I’ll bite back. Stay down or I will put you down.”

Your mouth became dry as your eyes raced over that one last line again.

‘Stay down or I will put you down.’

When you ‘put down’ an animal, it usually means death…your insides grew cold. You were confident this was a strict warning, not a threat but a promise, August walker was telling you to stop investigating or he would kill you…

Your hands shook uncontrollably. You wanted them to stop. Your body felt the reeling anxiety. You dumped the rest of the envelope over the counter. All the content spilled across the entire floor. A camera came clattering out. Your father’s camera in fact.

Inside were photos of you. A photo of you working in the editor office. A photo of you walking in the deli section at the underground Woolworths grocery store and photos of you sitting at the Queen street bus station, even the bus numbers showed up. The bus 200 via Carindale. Then at the bottom of the spread out deck of photos were the shots from the night he forced you to cum on the recliner and the night he had drugged you, naked on his bed.

Your teeth clenched hard.

You felt your eyes grow hot quickly with tears. You didn’t like how pathetic and helpless you appeared, covered in tape, and totally lost in the bliss of his sexual torture. You didn’t realise how sweaty it had made you until noticing the intense wet shimmer over your body in the photo, the hot light of the camera shone reflectively from your skin.

You closed your eyes and choked on a sob. He made his point loud and clear but it wasn’t fair. Why could he get away with all of this? You wanted to tear all the photos up one by one until they were tiny papers the size of your pinky nail.

But they sat in a piled collection on your coffee table.

Your hand cupped your mouth as you fought your wails. You clenched your teeth and stomped your foot.

You kept rereading his note. Memorising his handwriting. His Y’s had a straight tail that didn’t curve upward. It made you hate him twice as much as irrational that detail was.

August hadn’t come back since then. He had not made any personal contact since he cornered you in your father’s bedroom. It wasn’t the last time you saw him though…you saw him almost daily, but you confidently were sure he never saw you until now. You were gathering all the evidence possible to put him in the doghouse...

You pressed yourself against the wall and slid down it on your back until your bottom hit the floor.

Now what would you do? Take photos and write about abused animals instead? Always worrying about August coming into your home to take his revenge for the humiliation and defamation you brought to his name?

You settled your hands into your lap. Your heart was pounding. You could hear every awful thud.

Your phone came to life. Lloyds number ran across your screen.

‘Oh god, Lloyd. Sweet, wonderful Lloyd. Maybe he could help me.’

Hitting the green button, you picked up the phone and cleared your throat, “Hey, how are you?”

His voice was a cool balm, “I’m getting on alright. I thought I’d call and check up on you. You haven’t been very chatty over text is all. I still think you should move Y/N.”

Lloyd kept you as updated as he could. He said he interviewed August a few days ago and the excuse was laughable. August had lied about being at his club during the time he had been with you. He had staff members who could vouch for him, Lloyd suggested they’d been paid off and supposedly security footage, all which Lloyd assured must’ve been edited. It was comforting knowing out of everyone, Lloyd stayed true in his belief that you were a victim.

Another tear rolled down your face, your voice became shaky, “Yea...I think you’re right. Lloyd...things have been happening...and...can you- can you just come over please?”

You were breaking down hard and couldn’t stop the wave of anguish coming over you. The detective was compassionate and said softly, “Of course. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

When the phone disconnected you rubbed your face and flared your nostrils. Seeing the photos made you feel dirty, unclean. You decided a quick shower before Lloyd arrived might help you relax and calm down from the absolute panic attack creeping under your skin. You stood under the hot spray and tried to control your breathing.

And under the water your thoughts persisted to race. A particular question shot through you.

‘Why would he even send those to me?’ Your eyes shut. ‘Why’? If you were just some women, he liked to fuck and humiliate... ‘Then why didn’t he just come in and do it in person?’

It was like a pin had dropped. Your eyes flashed wide open, and you turned off the water. You scrubbed your face and got out of the shower, rushing to put your pyjamas on. You almost slipped on the tiles and hard wood.

You crashed to your knees at the coffee table and spread the photos around trying to find that one.

The one where you were sitting inside the editor building at your cubicle. It had been taken from a low angle on the street. A small laugh escaped you. If he sent you an image of you at the office he knew where you worked, and who you worked for…he had read your articles...a light laugh escaped your parting lips. Tears dripped from your eyes, not from grief or fear, oh no, it was relief. Now it made sense.

'Of course!' August had read your articles...and they- you chuckled; they frightened him!!! Yes, maybe not to the extent of full fear, but enough that he felt it fit and necessary to send these too you. He felt threatened. The articles were piling up on speculation against him now in the paper. You were walking a thin line between defamation and creative liberties in alleged speculations, but Mr Luther assured it was legal in the laws of journalism and gossip.

If August had copies of your lewd rape photos, if he published them…you didn’t care...what was the point in caring about that?

You knew humans could be animals. It didn’t matter what was seen. Anyone can masturbate to anything, even just a selfie – so an image of you cumming on the recliner chair was really nothing at the end of the day…sure you might lose your job but the confidence to get you there would be used in the future again. And it would be all worth it just to watch the cuffs slap over August’s wrist. Because even if he’d never go away, locked up for your abuse, you could at least drag him further down with as many criminal activity charges as possible.

You glanced at the note he wrote…maybe he didn’t even write this. If he really wanted you dead, you were sure you would be. This wasn’t a threat, this was a game. He was toying with you, clearly trying to scare you into stopping any investigations of his hidden underground work.

Little did he know, he had no idea that your rage and hunger for revenge was greater than your fear of him.

You pinched a photo to the light and smirked. If only a week ago, this poor defenceless girl knew how her life would change for good...her eyes the mirror of yours. You slapped it flat in the table and pinched your eyes. August was definitely no talent in taking photos.

You smiled recalling how Luther reacted to the first photo you brought him the third day of working...

02:36pm Thursday 8th August 2024, Brisbane CBD.

On the sticky note you’d written down a name Mr Luther had shared. You looked up that name, Brandon Sullivan, with deep dive searches and found very little of him…however he did have a single photo up on his Facebook, he was holding a gorgeous woman.

Once you had reversed search the woman’s face, Katarina Vikander, you could have peed with excitement. She was some Swedish ballet dancer and super model. She was Brandons girlfriend. And she was happy to share a dozen photos over all her social media platforms…and yes, Brandon clearly wasn’t a fan of his personal paparazzi, but there were hiccups in his cover ups.

Katarina had taken a selfie on a balcony; her sunglasses reflected her phone and Brandon coming out of their hotel bathroom.

Behind Katarina was a marina in the background. That area was very rich and popular and easy to find. You recognised the area only by chance. The were staying at the JW Marriot Gold Coast Resort and Spa. You could see the JW Marriot logo on a bath robe in a previous photo while she wore a creamy face mask with cucumber slices over her eyes.

Katarina seemed to have this obsession with a Americana aesthetic, her favourite artist was in her saved Instagram stories, Lana del Rey.

The caption of her post with Brandon hidden in the background under a broad brim hat said, “Sunny and happy with my love, he doesn’t like the seafood here, he wants ‘real truffles.’ **eyeroll emoji**”

You remembered how you sat back after seeing that and searched every restaurant in the area of the Gold Coast region and only one sold authentic truffle dishes…men are fickle and usually won’t try new things…he was clearly a man set in his ways if he wouldn’t let her post photos of him. or at least that was your theory and assumption about the almost non-existent Brandon Sullivan.

You went back and searched August. He had a decent amount of information, he was very private however, no named girlfriends or family. He was very business oriented….and what did you know? Two years ago on his LinkedIn profile you could see August had been at the opening of the same little truffle restaurant nearby where Katrina and Brandon were staying. You scrolled.

‘Looks like he was or still is an investor.’

It wasn’t solid evidence, and you didn’t know if August would be there to meet with them…so all it took, was a simple phone call…and the great skill of confidence with a stride of lying.

As the phone dialed, you selected a fake name. Your co-worker had a F.R.I.E.N.D.S coffee mug, and you stared at the dark drink stain…it’s dark colour making a perfect name.

When a staff member of the restaurant answered you hurriedly got through your plotted lie, “Hello? Yes, my name is…Jennifer Brown, I’m Mr August Walkers new assistant…listen his last employee was quite begrudged and threw out all the known appointments Mr Walker was to attend in the next three months. I’m pretty sure he has a table booked for your restaurant?”

The administrator paused. You hoped he wouldn’t ask you to repeat yourself or question you further, so you sarcastically joked, “He will murder me if I can’t find out, it’s very important.”

You prayed he’d bite the banter.

The administration clerk had a boyish tone, “Of course! Would you like me to look up the time and date of his reservation?”

You smirked and held back a cackle, you feigned a sweet joyful cry, “I would be grateful if you could be a dear, thank you so much!”

And that was how you found out the schedule and exact location of August Walker and his criminal associate.

09:45am Friday 9th August 2024, Coomera, Gold Coast.

Getting inside the restaurant wasn’t too hard. It had an open-door area with French doors. You made sure to wear a large sun hat and a plain dress. Your dad owned a small camera, about the size of an apple. You put it on a timer and leant to the floor, aiming the view finder at their table.

The entire time you swore you were sweating bullets. If August had seen you and confronted you, you probably would be chained to a pipe laying naked on a dirty mattress…maybe with those missing women you heard about on the news, Rachel, Stephanie, and Alison.

‘Why didn’t he keep me then? We did he return me back home? Did he kill those other girls?’ the more you thought too deeply on the topic, it made your skin crawl.

You clenched one of the forks, staring at the kingpin in the reflection. He looked to smug for a man that got off on harming women. You wished you could stab out his eyes with the prongs. And when the waiter came around to ask what you wanted to order, you held up the fork and requested a new one, apologising for “dropping it”.

You determined the camera had taken enough footage. You knew you’d need to make your escape when the waiter left to find you a new fork. Afterall- who can afford to pay for a cut of salmon with rocket leaves and white sauce for a hundred and thirteen fucking dollars?

You went straight home on the train and bus. You developed the photos in the bathroom sink. Hanging it up on the shower rails to set.

Those were the first photos you gave Mr. Luther.

The other times you took photos of Brandon and August were harder, a little more risky.

06:23am Saturday 10th August 2024, Coomera, Gold Coast.

You had staked outside of the hotel where Brandon stayed. Waiting across the street in a side street. It was cold and miserable. But you knew August would be down here. Darling Katarina had posted a photo of her shoes in an elevator, beside her feet were Brandons shoes, but his had a shine. You could see the blur of Augusts moustached face. Maybe it was a reach, except when the caption said, “Lions Lounge anyone? Don’t my heels look incredible! **love heart eyes emoji**”

You were dressed in rags, you clenched a juul stick you bought that morning, gagging on the watermelon flavour while you practiced your “Eshay” accent. You stared up at the windows trying to guess which room the three were in with the help of the ex-ballerinas photos.

A month ago, you would’ve thought doing something like this was insane and frankly unhealthy. But you a month ago had not been humiliated and manipulated, God knows what a woman will do once you’ve pissed her off…was it obsession? Most definitely, for revenge, for justice, for all the girls who fell for August and harmed by his reputation.

You waited…and you were right. Brandon and August walking out together. The sweet young woman was clinging to Brandon’s side with a wide girlish smile and love heart shaped sunglasses. Funnily enough, the car that picked them up just so happened to be driven by the same dark headed driver in the same black car that August took you in. You took a snapshot of the license plate and watched it drive through the somewhat slow traffic down the street. You walked and walked, keeping your eyes set on the license plate. While traffic rolled, you turned and noted there were a few empty taxis.

You took off the jumper that you cut a bunch of holes in and dumped it in a garbage bin before bending down and tapping on one of the taxi windows.

“Hey! Are you available to drive me?” You called to one of the taxi drivers that hadn’t noticed you until that second...his eyes widened with surprise before nodding, “quickly, traffic is slow, hop in!”

You slid directly into the passenger side, which on a normal day you’d never dare.

But today wasn’t a normal day. You sat up in your seat and scrolled the area with your eyes.

“So where are we headed today, ma’am?” The driver asked.

You pointed ahead with a cheeky smile, “See that black car? The fancy one.”

“The tesla?” He asked.

“My friends are in that car, so please follow it. They know the way.”

He peered at you curiously, you knew it was stupid. If you had friends rich enough for a tesla, they’d never leave you to find a taxi. But hey…money is money, the driver wouldn’t argue. He started the timer and to your satisfaction traffic picked up. When they zoomed through the street the taxi tried to keep up. They were driving to a quieter street with Western Europeanised cafe’s.

As they stopped and hoped out you quickly requested to the driver, “Do you mind going around the corner? I’m a little embarrassed.”

God, you hated to say it but you had to play the suddenly snobby cunt.

He didn’t care either way to your relief and parked around the corner, metres away from the two men.

You paid the driver handsomely with cash you managed to find in your old piggy bank back home and slid out of the cab. Your face carefully looked around the corner and you skirted back. August, Brandon and Katarina had decided to sit outside in the warm morning sunlight. It was just your luck! Quickly, you crossed the street away from the cafe. The more distance the better.

To your luck it was a block of units across from the cafe. You walked around the building and kept your head down. You came up behind in an alley and smiled at the long spiral stairs that went up to the roof top. The adrenaline extinguished all fear of heights and pushed you up until you stood out on a flat roof. You crossed the way and looked over the side.

‘Fuck’, you thought to yourself. ‘Would a police officer ever do this? Would Lloyd ever have the guts to do this?’

Probably not, there was lots of red tape involved in police investigations...but you were just a reporter...You were a photographic investigator and you amazed yourself at the lengths you were taking. You were eager to get these shots. This evidence.

You saw the pair of businessmen receiving a cup of tea and breakfast meals from the waitress. Getting down onto your tummy, you grabbed your camera and leant over the ledge to zoom in on the two.

The pumping blood roaring in your vein filled you with a mixture of fear, excitement and surprisingly…arousal.

Those were the photos that made it to the papers first.

06:35pm Wednesday 14th August 2024, Woolloongabba Brisbane.

As you reminisced on the evidential demise of August Walker, a knock at the door designed a bigger grin across your face. Lloyd had arrived. And no longer standing in a fit of sobs you welcome him cheerfully at the door.

He was wearing a black turtleneck and black slacks, totally out of uniform. Below his eye was a reddish spot. It was shining against his pale face. It wouldn’t surprise you if it was a bruise.

‘Many police are brutal and cruel but there’s no way Lloyd is one. He isn’t one of those cops...he must’ve been attacked by some bogan eshay or crackhead.’

His smile turned your knees to warm jelly. You felt shy like some first year highschooler being noticed by the seniors. He just had this glow around him.

“Hi Lloyd.”

“Hello there,” he said softly, his head cocked to the side, “Do you mind letting me in?” He asked.

‘Oh right.’

“Come- come in.”

You felt your face grow warm. You opened the door wider and looked out and down the hall. You held your breath and stood aside. The tall man slid passed you inside to your lounge room.

You took a massive breath in and exhaled. No one was waiting behind a corner or ready to catch you with the officer. You knew there were no security cameras and you doubted August would ever add any with his reputation.

Lloyd removed his leather shoes and placed them beside the door. His black socks glided over the hardwood.

You bit your lip…you looked back at the coffee table and quickly shut the door, bolting the locks after the detective entered your flat.

If August knew you were letting a detective inside, continuing to talk to one he could-…’Well, hold on...how would he know? He wouldn’t.’

“Woah, locked me in, what are you doing?” Lloyd gasped as he glanced over the metal mechanisms of your door. His eyes widened when you twisted the locks and shifted the small chains.

“I just...um. August Walker.... he’s kinda now...my new landlord and he probably will be getting keys soon and I....” your breath wavered. You paused and took a deep breath, “I needed to talk to you privately in person I think....”

His eyes didn’t grow any wider, but his pupils shrank. He pinched his dark pink lips. Sucking his teeth loudly he nodded slowly.

“That’s definitely a pickle you’ve been put into then, huh?”

You nodded back, pressing yourself against the door, sighing softly, “That’s not even the half of it Lloyd...”

His eyes raked up and down your body in surprise. You weren’t wearing your bra and your nipples were rock hard. Your pyjama bottoms were very short and little did you realise how much they were riding up your thighs.

You walked around him timidly to the coffee table.

“I got a new job, as a photographer journalist, no real experience required just my luck honestly,” you awkwardly laughed, “August um, he’s supposedly up to no good and I thought I could have a jab at him from a professional angle…”

You sat yourself in the recliner, while you invited him to sit opposite of you on the couch where he’d be able to properly look at all the photos.

He looked frightfully tired. His hair was dishevelled, and his shirt was stain with sweat. He had a nasty purple bruise on his knuckles that also matched the one under his eye.

You lifted your knees to your chest and worried about how much trouble this man was getting into as well as you. You wondered if it was like television shows where detectives mostly focus on the darkside of the force.

You gestured to the photos. You weren’t sure how he would react. He sat on the couch and peered across the coffee table, glancing over the images. It took him a few seconds before a gasp of shock ripped from his throat.

You tapped on the photos where you’d been stalked and seen taking photos of August, “Well, it shows he’s not one to have his photos taken...”

He was shaking his head. He couldn’t stop staring at the nude photos. And for a few seconds you relived that feeling of embarrassed humiliation.

You could see how his throat bobbed and his eyes flutter.

He leant forward on his knees and licked his lips.

“I...and here I had called you to check up on you and I was going to ask you for help Y/N, but god I don’t know if that’s gonna work now,” he sighed.

The detective ran a finger across your face in the lewd photos.

Your eyes narrowed, “Wh-what do you mean?”

There was a lengthy pause.

He chewed the inside of his cheek before asking, “How much do you hate what August did to you?”

You didn’t hesitate, “I’d kill him for what he’s done if I knew I wouldn’t go to prison…” you briefly looked down, “He…he came back like you said...”

Lloyd eyes glanced down too and he sighed, “Thought as much…let me guess…he threatened you?”

Your eyes fluttered closed, August had done more than just threaten you.

You nodded slowly, “He…he did…but he…is possessive, he kept saying I was his and I belong to him.” You pointed to the photo of you taped up on the recliner.

His brows pressed together, his eyes saddened. He clear his throat, “How long ago was that?”

Your mouth grew dry. You felt embarrassed telling Lloyd.

“The day of the report, after you brought me home.”

His eyes widened, his hand rubbed his parted lips, “So he ugh…he was here already?”

You nodded again, “The call you made… he was standing right here with a knife in his hand.”

“That’s why you have those deadbolts huh?” The officer rubbed his eyes and groaned, “Fuck. I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you call me after he left? I could’ve moved you, you could’ve stayed with me at least until I could put you into witness protection. Fuck!”

His swearing sent a shiver down your spine.

Your looked at your feet, you knew he wasn’t victim blaming, he just didn’t understand. You told Lloyd everything…confessed like he was your priest. You told him what August did with the vibrator despite it bringing you to tears again. You told him he was the new landlord and that’s why you installed the extra locks. You told him about your new job and you told him about the photos and how you were going to help however you could to put the bastard away.

You sat off the recliner and slid the photos back into the envelope.

“You’re very brave Y/N,” Lloyd whispered, he reached out and laid his warm hand on top of yours.

Your belly felt warm at the praise. You let him hold your fingers in his and rubbed his thumb over your skin. You stared at his blonde moustache and those bright clue eyes of his. You imagined his mouth scratching your lip if you only leant in closer...he was still as handsome as the day he patiently listened to you in the report.

Lloyd smiled softly.

God if you were a cat you would’ve been feral and in heat with how creative your imagination was getting.

Your eyes fluttered as your entire body warmed up.

“Y-You said you needed help with something?”

He smirked, letting go of your hand.

He claimed, “After what you’ve told me I’m confident you can do it...but you might not like it…”

“Try me,” you huffed, falling victim to his contagious grin.

“I have two tickets to August’s little Soiree at his club The Lions Lounge,” He started off, “My other sources have confirmed there is going to be some form of arms deal with some unsavoury company, illegal, unregistered weapons. August Walker is very good at knowing the law and requesting a warrant… but the sources I have are not substantial to the board to guarantee a warrant by that night and by that time Walker would’ve moved the weapons and sold them in a different location.”

You pieced it bit by bit.

“So you need to get inside the party, find the deal going down and bust them?”

“Exactly, that’s right! However the moment a single man waltzes to the front door it looks suspicious. I need a lady on the arm…and better yet…I need a distraction for Walker, if he sees me head on, I could be as good a shark chow.”

Your eyes lit up, it didn’t take a genius to realise he meant you. You would be the distraction. And you’d be damned before you put yourself in real danger again especially after the threat August had given you...your photos were taken in public, this would be in private. Anything could happen to you.

“No… that is too dangerous, Lloyd,” You stood up and paced the floor in front of Lloyd who was now also rising to follow you in your pacing. You walked around your kitchen and Lloyd put his hands on the bench beside you.

“Y/N…” he bent close in a whisper. You wouldn’t look at the detective. Fear was buzzing inside of you. You felt stupid about saying you’d do anything to take August Walker down now. You really wanted to just humiliate the man and call him up in prison one day and rub it in his face. But this? This was a game of cat and mouse and you didn’t want to be backed up into a corner again.

“I wouldn’t be asking you if this unless I had to...”

You bit back the whimper in your throat as Lloyd touched your shoulder gently.

“He let you live…he has a soft spot for you.”

‘He threatened to put me down.’

He turned you around and squeezed your arms while he pitched the plan, “What’ll happen is we enter the club, I find the dealers and you find Walker because he will be hosting the party, he will want to know why you’re there and you are going to tell him that…you wanted to see him.”

You rubbed your eyes angrily, “Why the fuck would I want to see him?!” your fingers felt moist, you’d been compelled to tears.

The kind eyed detective sucked his teeth, “I don’t know, make it up. Kiss him. Men don’t care about a thing once a pretty thing is kissing them.”

You rolled your eyes and shook your head. No, this wasn’t the Lloyd you had imagined.

“Oh,” you chuckled sourly, “So you’re pimping me out then?”

He gave you a dumbfounded look, “Call it whatever you want…you’ll be paid good money for your service and he’ll be arrested, in prison, unable to touch you. You can run away and move to wherever you want then.”

Your breath was shaky as you dared to ask, “How much?”

His left brow rose.

“How much would I be paid by the Queensland police or Australian defence department or whoever this is through?”

He sighed and gently laid a hand on your shoulder, “Around fifteen grand.”

Your breath escaped you. From near negatives to fifteen grand overnight? That much? For this job?! You were stunned…not sure if it was worth your life…but if it meant he only humiliate you one more time and you walked away with that much money…you’d do it.

You shook your head, “Fine, it’s this Friday night yea? His club is high-class and I don’t have clothes for that type of event.”

The tall man stood back and chuckled as he tug into his back pocket and retrieved his wallet. He pinched a wad of cash and slapped it in the benchtop. Your eyes widened, holy fuck it was a month or two in rent alone…

“Go buy some. But you have got to be ready. At Seven o’clock I’ll pick you up an hour before the event and we can refresh what we know before we line up.”

You glanced between him and the money and nodded….”Alright, let’s…let’s do this.”

He laughed and clapped his hand excitedly, he leant in and gave you a fat kiss on the cheek. Nothing romantic, just pure joy.

“Thankyou so much Y/N you are going to be hailed a hero, a legend in my books!” He marched back to the couch and grabbed his blazer.

“You are a special person and I’m honoured to have met you! Really honoured!” He said as he unlocked all your bolts. He swung the door open and slammed it behind him.

You sighed and fell back against your cold fridge.

You weren’t sure you could pull this off….but as your eyes looked over the cash, the corner of your lips lifted.

You shut your eyes and sighed…all that money, it made your blood pulse. You returned to the lounge room and sat in the recliner. You laid back, staring at the ceiling. Your hands crawled down, passed the waist band of your pyjama shorts and underwear. You touched yourself and sighed.

Your fingers rubbed delicately against your clit while you leant against the kitchen bench.

You tried to imagine someone...Lloyd…the detective. He had a warmth his face. Lloyd would never rape you though, he was good, he was honest…

You moaned softly, imagining his warm hands groping your skin and his lips kissing your skin.

Fingering yourself, in and out, in and out.

You were imagining Lloyd speaking to you. He was currently the most attractive man you’d made contact with in weeks...other than August who essentially raped you.

What kind words would Lloyd say? “I washed our clothes, finished the dishes, now come here and let me fuck you.” ‘Oh yea that’s fucking hot.’

You imagined he would be gentle and soft before using more strength in his hips. His lips would be soft and hot. He would protect you and play sexy policeman. You might not have been a fan of the justice system but you were confident Lloyd would fill in a police uniform very well.

So why did your body start to dry up?

You didn’t know what you were doing wrong. You were riding your fingers and teasing your clit…why couldn’t you cum? You felt weird doing this now. It was strange to think before you met August you could cum very easily, after your dad- well you hadn’t touched yourself because you weren’t thinking about sex for a while until the millionaire stepped into your life.

After the third time of unsuccessful release, you punched the arm of the chair and started searching sex toys on your phone.

You weren’t totally sure if the prices were worth it for a piece of painted pink silicone. And there were strange shapes you were amazed were even designed to fit into a human….‘a whole fist? Surely that’s satire,’ you thought, ‘it shouldn’t be possible. It would be like reverse birth?’

You settled on buying a “rabbit dildo with thrusting pleasure.” You rolled your eyes at the name. You slapped your phone down and sighed, rubbing your eyes.

The hour was late.

Your first paycheck would be coming in soon. It was the smell of a small victory.

10:33am Friday 16th August 2024, Queen Street Westfield Shopping centre, Brisbane.

“What should I wear…” you hummed as you flipped through the dresses. Some of these dresses cost the amount of a new iPhone. You bit your lip. ‘Maybe I can return them tomorrow and give Lloyd his money back?’

A sales clerk came up, “Need some help?” She was blonde, curvy and tall. A supermodel compared to your body. You blushed.

“I’m looking to wear something to one of the high end clubs like The Lion Lounge, he’s having a nineteen twenties theme soiree this evening?”

Her lips widened, “Well, we do have many suitable gowns and even pantsuits for that social class, what designer were you thinking?”

You balked and worried that she would see you sweat, “Oh…I um…I’ll be super frank…I have not a clue what I’m doing…it is my first time to something so spectacular.”

The clerk’s eyes softened, her lips pursed, “Well! Let me help you then! These gowns you’re looking at are definitely not old twenties glam worthy! Right this way!”

Your cheeks buzzed as you were led into a dressing room and made to try on multiple styles, designers and colours of dresses.

She asked if you were getting your nails done and gasped when you said you hadn’t thought about it.

She was like a fairy godmother. She went the extra mile to call up the other stores in the mall to book appointments. You hadn’t felt so pretty ever in your life until then

She appeared stunned by the cash you laid on her counter.

Your nails were french tips with a holographic clear coat. You received a quick arm and leg wax and eyebrow shaping. The makeup matched the entire outfit. Your dress clung to your best assets and shaped your body with a clutch purse and low heels to match. Your hair was gelled and hairsprayed down into finger waves. And a lather of pearls circled around your throat and wrists.

The long finger of your dress tickled your calfs down to your small kitten heels.

You looked incredible, it took your breath away to see the glow up….

Lloyd thought so too.

HELPLINES:

If you are a victim of sexual abuse, assault or domestic violence or know someone who is please reach out to these links that share helpline services, phone numbers or emails. Consent and respect is important in every relationship whether between friends, family or even strangers. .

Australian Helpline Services

UK Helpline Services

American Helpline Services

India Helpline Services.

[heavenlytouches]

hey! I really love your work. I thought that maybe you could do Charles headcanons (SFW and NSFW), like you did with Logan.

Much love :]

Hello sweetie! Aww thank you so much for a great request and kind words (and feeding my James McAvoy obsession). I love and adore every single one of you ^^ El <3

Charles Xavier- SFW! alphabet

༺ ˎˊ-

GN reader

<3 (SFW)

TW-none

Charles Xavier alphabet headcanons

YOUNG! Professor X

(Charles Xavier- NSFW alphabet)

Charles Xavier

a - affection (how affectionate are they? how do they show affection)

Tell me if I'm wrong but Charles seems like a really affectionate person

He's a definition of -physical touch-

Charles would hug you/hold you whenever he can- holding your hand or just keeping his hand on your thigh

Before his missions or before entering Cerebro he would make sure to GET his comfort hug

"Didn't you forget something, my love?"

b - best friend (what would they be like as a best friend?)

You and Charles know each other from the earliest days so ofc you are besties

He is a great person to be around with, he's fun, chill and loves hang outs

Charles protects you like a big brother (from boys, animals, mutants even yourself)

Just then when you notice how protective he is, you start to question your "friendship" status ;) "C'mere hon, who knows what they want." (YOU KNOW MR TELEPATH)

c - cuddles (would they like to cuddle? how do they cuddle?)

He adores them!!

Cuddles relax him, he's young but he's got soo much on his mind already

Charles would love to lie down on your chest, closing his angelic eyes and relaxing

When he would feel stressed or scared he would just come to you and press you to his heaving chest

"You are my escape, my miracle."

d = domestic (do they want to settle down? how are they at cooking and cleaning?)

Charles would be CRAVING such life

I feel like he's really chill person on the inside, just wishing the best for you and others

Settling down in a quiet place far away from society sounds appealing to him, bonus points if you're coming with him

"Love, I was thinking.. there's one nice place in Scotland-"

e = ending (if they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

He would not do it, not sorry

I feel like Charles would be more emotional in general out of all X-men dudes

Charles would come to you and try to calm himself down, failimg miserably, tears streaming down his freckled cheeks

Whatever the reason is, he would try his hardest to fix it

"I-please... I can't.. we'll figure it out together, right??"

f = fiance(e) (how do they feel about commitment? how quick would they want to get married?)

Charles loves this idea but it would be hard to focus on commitment in a world full of chaos

I think he would want to get married but ofc when everything feels right and you don't have to be afraid no more

Sneaky dude would use his powers to see and buy the exact ring you want

"I know I can -see- your anwer but please.. say it out loud, love."

g = gentle (how gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Say whaever you want but he's an angel, I don't want to hear anything else

He would be so gentle to you, apologising after anything, running to you

Charles would always be your person, he would understand you or at least would try, he would never give up on you

He would be also gentle when it comes to physical affection, peppering you with kisses and gentle caressing

"You know I'm always here for you, right?"

h = hugs (do they like hugs? how often do they do it? what are their hugs like?)

His hugs are warm and calming, he would wrap you in his arms, playing with your hair

Man loves hugs, what can I say

Charles would just open his arms waiting for your warm embrace, absent-mindedly drawing small shapes on your back

I feel like he would also sniff your cologne/hair because it calms him down (not in a creepy way TwT)

"You smell so good dear, oh my~"

i = i love you (how fast do they say the L-word?)

Charles would wait for a few dates until saying the L-word

When the two of you would be sitting under the starry sky on a warm summer night- you could notice him from the corner of your eye, looking beautiful as ever with his fingers pressed to his temple

Once he would know your toughts and honest feelings he would compose himself and just confess

When you'd return his feelings, the feeling mutual- Charles would jump to press you in his warm embrace, his ocean eyes glowing happily

"God, how much I love you."

j = jealousy (how jealous do they get? what do they do when they’re jealous?)

Charles would be jealous but a -normal- amount

If he saw you talking to Logan or Magneto- he's fine, he knows they just like your company and they don't want anything else from you

Of course if there was somebody flirting with you he would appear out of nowhere, pulling you to him and kissing you so that the person gets the hint

His power move would be controlling their mind from afar, making them do something stupid and embarassing to make you laugh

"You...you will pour that beer all over yourself..do it."

k = kisses (what are their kisses like? where do they like to kiss you? where do they like to be kissed?)

Charles would love your kisses, giving in anywhere and eveywhere no matter who's around

His kisses would be gentle and soft, moving with rythm

He would love kissing your lips and gently caressing your cheeks or pulling you closer by your waist

I feel like he's okay with any type of a kiss, he is your man and you can kiss him wherever you want- lips, forehead, neck, abdomen- you name it

"A-aww love.. That tickles-"

l = little ones (how are they around children?)

Something tells me that he wouldn't be a fan of this idea

Poor man is obsessed with protecting others and it already gives him many problems so he would instantly think he would be a terrible dad

Charles would be scared, the world is a strange and awful place to bring kids into

If you explained it to him, if you want kids and you explained him how much you really want them maybe, just maybe he will give in

"I'm sorry I... I don't want them to get hurt here.."

m = morning (how are mornings spent with them?)

It IS mentioned he doesn't need sleep so-

He would be already -awake-, looking at you with his beautiful blue eyes, his freckles glowing in faint morning light

Charles would wrap you in his arms the second you wake up, nuzzling his nose in your hair, enjoying the comfort of his fav person

"Good mornin' dearest. Slept well?"

n = night (how are nights spent with them?)

Charles would like to talk to you until you fall asleep

He would be happy it's finally only you two, enjoying in long-craved privacy

Settled in his arms, his thumb caressing your shoulder- you would get the best good nights' sleep

I feel like he would tell you various stories and adventures just to help you sleep

"Shhh hon, just focus on sleeping, okay?"

o = open (when would they start revealing things about themselves? do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

His mind is an open book (no pun intended) and he can read your mind at all times- he would share everything with you because he feels like that's the only fair way

Charles is one of those people who would notify you about everything, even him going to the bathroom

On a deeper level, he would love your connection and he would love to be able to share everything with you

You would be the anchor in stormy seas of his mind

"You are a great listener love, thank you."

p = patience (how easily angered are they?)

Charles is the most patient person you know

If you think he was patient around Eric, surprise, he's 10x better with you

He would explain everything to you, show you, even draw you pictures if needed

He usually just goes in your head and tells you very important things so nobody could inerrupt you two and his explaining ("explaining")

"This one is really important...ready? I absolutely adore you."

q = quizzes (how much would they remember about you? do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Charles is master at remebering things about you

You are his main priority (and saving the world, your hero) and ofc he knows EVERYTHING about you

I think he even knows you better than you know yourself

Anyways, if he forgets something important by chance- he can always go in your head, take a deep dive and magically "remember" it a second after

"Yes darling, of course I remember your dog's birthday. How could I forget?"

r = remember (what is their favourite moment in your relationship?)

This one is adorable, it's deffo how he confessed to you

It was a warm night, stars were dancing in his eyes and you could feel a strange tension between you two, he seemed nervous

Charles sat next to you on a soft grassy path, looking at you with such loving gaze, his temple propped up on his hand

You felt a rush of electricity in your body and moments after, Charles moved closed, his rosy lips inches away from you

"I know how you feel,,, but please tell me. I want to hear you."

s = security (how protective are they? how would they protect you? how would they like to be protected?)

He is naturally really protective person

Charles would keep you safe like he's holding a drop of water on his palm

He may come off as emotional and soft but when your safety is in question he's ready to destroy everything and everyone who hurts you

Just a slight touch to his temple, his eyes glowing with rage and he could make absolute chaos

"YOU WILL GET THE HELL AWAY FROM THEM_ NOW!"

t = try (how much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

Charles is an old romantic

Walks in the park, stargazing, cinema and kisses, romantic dinners, dances, romantic vacations- he's all that and a bag of chips

He loves you and he's not ashamed to show it, let the whole wide world know

"Darling, I was thinking..wanna go to dance with me?"

u = ugly (what would be some bad habits of theirs?)

I feel like he wouldn't allow you to go on his missions with him

Not even close

He knows you love him and he really DOES need you by his side but he doesn't want you to get hurt

Human or mutant, you're staying at home

Charles wouldn't make it out alive if something happens to you

"Love, we talked about this... please just listen to me once."

v = vanity (how concerned are they with their looks?)

Charles is a beautiful man but he's always worried about his looks

If his hair sticks out at odd places, if his shirt matches his jacket, this and that

You would have to re-assure him that he's the most perfect man you've seen

Man's acting like he's not the prettiest dude on earth

"Are you sure? I think this one matches my eyes waay better-"

w = whole (would they feel incomplete without you?)

It's you and him, end of story

He would feel lost without you, his other half that fitts him so well

Charles would sometimes be so worried about you he'd be having nightmares and full-on night terrors

"Are you here?? Love?? I'm sorry just.. a bad dream, yes."

x = xtra (a random headcanon for them)

You can't tell me this man wouldn't use his powers against you

If you two were fighting he would sneakily take a peek in your mind

Thinking about chocolate? About cuddles? Even puppy or just a basic -I'm sorry"'s? He's on it!

"Something tells me you're craving chocolate so...I got you this"

y = yuck (what are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

He doesn't like cruel people

Mutant, human- if you're cruel to others, especially the ones who need your help, he's out

If you are this way and he really really really likes you, Charles might try to change you

"No, no, look. They are friends, you see?"

z = zzz (what is a sleep habit of theirs?)

His sleeping habit is: HE DOESN'T SLEEP

I saw somwhere that Professor X doesn't need sleep so, here you go

Charles is your bat, he's literally almost crawling on the ceiling when you are asleep, bored

Most of the time he would just cuddle you and keep you safe, your soft breathing relaxing him

"Good night dear, see you in the morning."

Yaaaay James McAvoy!!

Hope you liked this drabble <3 I can create more multifandomcontent; remember, requests are always welcome!

I love you guys so much

El <3

(all images were made by: El via canva & paint)

[animentality]

Every time I hear "Fix You" by Coldplay, I always remember this AMV made by someone who shipped young Magneto and young Charles Xavier from the X Men First Class film series.

Because I saw an interview with Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy, the actors, and they played that AMV in front of a crowd.

And they were laughing at it. The audience, the actors, the host.

Because it was amusing to them, the idea of "shipping" in general.

And there was this undercurrent of homophobia to their laughter, kind of like how when Brokeback Mountain came out, people laughed at it, made parodies, pretended it wasn't a sad movie about bisexuality and lost love and how homophobia keeps queer people quiet and yearning and painfully wondering what their lives might've been like if they'd been allowed to love the person they wanted to.

And it always makes my stomach lurch because it just felt so ugly to watch that.

Plus James McAvoy was clearly very uncomfortable with it, and kept laughing it off by pretending Michael Fassbender was his wife or something. It was a straight man, who didn't like how fans were interpreting his character as a bottom, which I understand, but.

They brought that content onto the show. Those people who drew art and made videos were not THROWING it at them. They just made it.

I don't remember how old this interview was, I just know it was waaaay before shipping and fandom became normalized. So I highly doubt anyone was really forcing them to look at that content.

Back when actors just didn't understand queer fans reading into homoerotic subtext. Although I guess.

That guy from winter soldier tv show proves that actors can still hate when fans read homoerotic subtext in their shows.

So anyway.

Long story short.

Fix You makes me think of homophobia, and my wires are fucking crossed.

The virgin James McAvoy vs the chad Charlie Day, who absolutely supported his character hooking up with the other whacky scientist from Pacific Rim, whose name I do not recall.

[jalwyn21]

The thing that pisses me off the most about Swifties talking about Joe using public transport as a British person is how oblivious they clearly are to how class even works in the UK. I know some other people have said this but it just really shows their ignorance. Joe is from what would be considered an upper middle class background which is literally just a couple of steps below aristocracy in Britain. If you actually look at his family history, he's got some very influential family members. Plus, his family is clearly in a position to support not only his but Patrick's goals of acting. In Patrick's case studying internationally. And I believe Tom went to Cambridge. That's three children from London (one of the most expensive cities in the world) who've had a very expensive education.

There is such a disparity in class in Britain and London especially. Generally speaking, the people that get to have careers in acting are the ones that have the resources to fund it as well as the connections. While there are certainly working class people who become successful in the field, most don't even get the chance because of the class disparity. James McAvoy has spoken on this. Now this isn't shading Joe or his family because they are clearly good people and Joe is very talented (and I'm sure Patrick is too) and has worked hard but the fact is they have had resources and privileges that many other British people don't have. So for these swifties who would obviously know what the Alwyn's actual financial background is and the connections they have (because they seem to stalk Joe's every move) to use him travelling on the tube as something to prove how poor he is and make fun of him, is truly offensive to me personally as someone who grew up working class. I like Joe and I have nothing against his family at all but it bothers me that these swifties would take what is a genuine issue that so many people in Britain deal with and apply it to a man that most definitely has not dealt with it for the sole purpose of making fun of him.

Also, for all Taylor likes to talk about having to move to a foreign country and live in a rental house, if her relationship with Joe is any indication, she obviously did not live the life a regular British person would live. Hell even if she hadn't been with Joe at the time, she wouldn't have experienced that regular life because while Joe at the time was just a normal person, she was still Taylor Swift.

I think swifties in particular but most Americans in general can't wrap their heads around the concept of Europe. Seriously, it's a thing.. 🤷‍♀️

And yes, Joe is lucky enough to have had a good life and a good family and the best education money can buy.

The thing with Joe, is that you don't feel it. You don't feel how privileged he is because he is not disconnected from reality and he doesn't rub it in people's faces.

He genuinely doesn't think he is better than other people. Joe knows how to be normal. You know the yogurt boy jokes? Yeah, it only shows that even as a teenager he was more grounded than she will ever be. He built character. She built billions. 🤷‍♀️

And to be fair about Europe.. the public transportation is not bad so I think everyone uses it, regardless of how much money they have. 🤭

But yeah, the Joe is poor jokes are very offensive and in the poor taste I've come to expect from swifties.

Also, bragging about someone else being a billionaire is not the win they think it is. Especially if you consider that the people who made her a billionaire are probably struggling with the cost of living... 🙄

[horrorlesbians]

if you can get past the demonization of DID and the incorrect science i think split is worth watching because james mcavoy is just brilliant

i generally don't care about incorrect science as long as the film is enjoyable (like I just finished bodies bodies bodies and I'm pretty sure using a dead face to unlock a phone via face id doesn't work) but I think I'll be too pissed to really enjoy the movie. maybe I have to watch it high

[anotheruserwithnoname]

Some thoughts on Daredevil & Wolverine

On Sunday I went to a matinee screening of Daredevil & Wolverine - the first time I'd seen a film in a cinema since MEGAN back in early 2023. The tl;dr is that I loved it, and I had some general thoughts. By necessity I have to go full spoiler so here's the spoiler break (and if by chance you don't see a break, now's your warning to run away screaming in terror).

I wasn't a fan of the first Deadpool movie. I felt it was a bit pretentious and "R-rated for the sake of being R-rated" rather than telling a good story that happened to hit R (these were my initial thoughts and except for the R-rating part I felt similarly about the first Avatar). As a result I've never actually seen Deadpool 2 (or its PG-13 edit, Once Upon a Deadpool), but I liked Deadpool 3 a lot. It didn't feel pretentious and it had heart which i wasn't really expecting. It had somewhat of the same vibe as Free Guy, which is a good thing. (And just to complete a thought from earlier, I found myself greatly enjoying Avatar 2).

My only concern (though it isn't hurting the box office any) is in some respects the film hits on one of the biggest criticisms of the MCU and other franchises: it is NOT a jumping on point for anything. You need to have at least a passing familiarity with the past Deadpool films, the X-Men films, the MCU films, at least one of the TV series, AND several of the non-Disney/Sony franchises (Blade and the Affleck Daredevil/Elektra, the Fantastic Four films of the mid-2000s) in order to get some of the jokes and for some of the moments to resonate. There are two characters who play key roles in the final act of the film who have absolute no relevance to anyone who hasn't seen Deadpool 2 (like me) and the Loki TV series. The return of X-23 might have also meant a bit more had I seen the Logan movie, as opposed to Elektra and Blade's return, as I had.

BUT - all credit to the writers - while there is a level of "continuity lockout", it's not enough to damage the film. And when I did see a moment related to a film I knew (I somehow managed to avoid being spoiled about Chris Evans reprising Human Torch), it hit a bullseye.

I'm going to have to watch the film at least once more because a few references landed when I was thinking back on the film hours later (like Deadpool joking about getting a boner watching Gossip Girl, which wasn't a random pop culture reference - his wife, Blake Lively starred in it.)

Speaking of, I loved the way Ryan Reynolds had Blake and his kids play some of the Deadpool variants (though I was disappointed to learn Blake only did the voice of Lady Deadpool). Nathan Fillion is also in there somewhere, making this the 3rd time I think that he's done a cameo in an MCU film. Reading the cast credits is a must (yes, that IS Henry Cavill as a Wolverine. I wonder if he was ever considered for the part? He plays a somewhat super-powered Wolverine too. Super, get it? LOL)

Jennifer Garner was already over 50 when she reprised Elektra and looks amazing. She could do an Elektra film now (or an Alias revival) if she wanted to.

Hugh Jackman has aged well into the role of Wolverine. I hope we get to see another one with him (now paired with X-23, played by Dafne Keen, a rising star who I know from the His Dark Materials TV series in which she co-starred, coincidentally, with James McAvoy of X-Men fame).

Channing Tatum as Gambit was a real surprise. The point about him appearing is that film starring him as Gambit (an X-Men spinoff) was planned but cancelled, so he finally gets the chance. Although played mostly for laughs (and reminiscent of Tatum's cameo in Reynold's Free Guy), he kicks ass. If a Gambit movie isn't announced down the line I'll be surprised.

Similarly, Wesley Snipes makes a strong case (no disrespect intended to Mahershala Ali) for continuing to play Blade. He even says this in the movie!

It is no secret that recent Marvel movies have been controversial and not universally loved by a long shot. D&W does not shy away from this - which may make some people uncomfortable, but at the same time respect to Disney for allowing it. I'm surprised there was no dig at Star Wars' expense, though; I guess Disney only allowed the biting-the-hand humour to go so far.

There is a female counterpart to Charles Xavier in this film. Played by Emma Corrie, Cassandra Nova is one of the best villains the MCU has had for a while. Much like Sylvie, the female version of Loki in the TV series, I appreciated that they didn't just make Cassandra a copy of Charles but made her a unique character. I wasn't aware she originated in the comics until after I saw the film. Too bad they killed her off. Or did they?

Kudos for making D&W the first-ever MCU film to reference Saskatoon (though maybe not in the sense the city would like! LOL). There were a few other Canadian references in the movie - the CN Tower makes a notable cameo on The Void. Which, if you've ever been to Toronto ... (I'll leave that joke there LOL)

The dog. Nothing else need be said. Part of me hopes Ryan Reynolds saw her up for adoption and wrote the entire Dogpool subplot just to get her in the movie.

The closing credits, aside from having one of the best stingers of all time, also includes a retrospective video of the non-MCU movies with behind the scenes and interviews. It's in keeping with the fourth-wall-breaking concept of Deadpool and at the same time it's a touching tribute to the older films, including some that were under-appreciated by audiences at the time.

I do have one major criticism (and this is legit the only part of the movie I did NOT like): considering the film is in part a sequel to Loki, and the fact so many MCU characters are referenced, including a cameo (using manipulated stock footage) of Chris Hemsworth as Thor, it actually makes zero sense that the film did not have an appearance in some form by either Tom Hiddleston as Loki or by one of the other Loki variants (Sylvie, Richard Grant's version, or even a new one). Instead we have an appearance by one of the agents from the series and one name drop of the Loki TV series itself (which means Reynolds & Co. would have been aware of the Loki variants including the quite-popular Classic Loki played by Grant). Also, it's unclear if it takes place before or after the events of Loki the series. I think it was a lost opportunity (maybe there's a deleted scene). But as criticisms go, that's still pretty minor.

The gag reel on this is going to be glorious.

[claygoestothemovies]

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

After the most aggressive marketing campaign since the Crusades, SPEAK NO EVIL is finally here. More importantly, we never have to see the trailer ever again. As its own thing, it’s actually pretty fun! As a remake of SPEAK NO EVIL (2022), it fails epically.

The story follows Ben (Scoot McNairy), Louise (Mackenzie Davis), and their daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) as they go to visit some new friends they recently met while vacationing in Italy. After moving to London and having some marital difficulties, going to the county for a long weekend seems like just what they need, even if they barely know the people they’ll be visiting. Upon arriving, things become increasingly uncomfortable as their hosts display behavior that is, shall we say, a bit out of the norm.

As the villainous hosts, James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi are nearly pitch perfect. McAvoy in particular seems to be having a blast with the material, and is far more sinister than the campy performance the marketing suggested, thankfully. Davis and McNairy do as well as they can in their straight man roles, and I wish I could have seen them dig to the depths that were asked of the performers in the original, but that’s not the movie we got. I was, however, impressed by the child actors! Dan Hough’s Art and Lefler’s Agnes were surprisingly nuanced for people their age.

The original SPEAK NO EVIL was one of my favorite horror films of 2022, and one of the bleakest movie watching experiences I’ve ever had (complimentary), so with America’s track record of diluting foreign horror when we do the inevitable remake, I was nervous to say the least. The experience of watching this remake was fascinating and maddening all at the same time. On one hand, I was really enjoying myself, even though I was fully prepared to aggressively hate it. On the other hand, when the film did the generic thing that I had been expecting ever since the project was announced, I was furious. James Watkins, director of EDEN LAKE, doing a neutered and defanged version of SPEAK NO EVIL was not exactly on my bingo card for the year.

If you aren’t familiar with the Danish original, you’ll more than likely really enjoy this. It doesn’t reinvent the horror movie wheel, and is about fifteen minutes too long, but it’s largely inoffensive. If you are familiar with the original version, you’ll probably want to walk out of the theater about two-thirds of the way through. Will I ever understand why we felt the need to do an American remake of a film only two years old that’s largely in English already? Absolutely not. Did it do exactly what I was afraid of it doing? One hundred percent. I don’t think it succeeds as a remake, and fundamentally misunderstands the material, but ultimately, the films are doing very different things, and I have to give it props for trying to distinguish itself, if nothing else. It’s worth a rental at least for McAvoy’s performance alone, but unlike the vacationers, maybe choose to sit this one out.

3.5/5

[ludinusdaleth]

Ira Wendagoth and Lord Asriel

ooooh cr and *hdm*! wasnt expecting the latter thank you

for ira:

First Impression: so, heres the funny strange part. as matt described him i realized he looked exactly like a LOVER i had in a recurring dream. a noseless fae monster. i am still trying to process that the nightmare king was in my dreams. additionally the second matt namedropped ira many of us went crazy knowing that was also the name of a somnovem member.

Impression Now: my terrible husband <33

Favorite Moment: when he talks to the bells after realizing they're on the same side and you see his harsh creepy exterior partially give way to a new level of friendliness, and all of his actions in the kreveris infiltration, namely watching him become fearful seeing his former bosses and using his highest spell slot to save fearne

Idea for a Story: id love a general book or comic of his backstory and pov in this campaign!

Unpopular Opinion: oddly enough it doesnt seem like finding him hot is unpopular? hes the hot boy of this campaign and im surprised & pleased with that! so i assume my actual unpopular opinion would be that i genuinely rarely find what he does as too cruel or evil simply because the context of a fae doing it makes it kind of funny & natural. am i supposed to be mad at him when hes having a laff

Favorite Relationship: with fearne, laudna, fcg, ludinus, ashton, & morri

Favorite Headcanon: while i think he naturally looks how he does, like to assume he has a shitton of caustic burns and old scars that add to his design. he never had lips but maybe the area around his face is cracked & peeled like dead skin. his ears are still long & sharp but insanely battered and clawed to shreds. and maybe he experimented on himself to "enhance" his body.

for asriel:

First Impression: he was actually among the first characters i knew of in hdm. a mutual nonstop reblogged gifs of him and i was intrigued by the aesthetic & story promise of "james mcavoy in another ya adaptation where he looks harsh as hell, seems distant to his kid, has a snow leopard, and is staring at beautiful northern lights"

Impression Now: oh hes sooooo ludinus coded

Favorite Moment: stated above, the scenes of him in book one in the north, and also, of course, him sacrificing himself with marisa coulter to kill metatron

Idea for a Story: i think his purpose in the story is pretty fullfilled but id have liked to have seen his reaction when his daemon became a damn snow leopard, the coolest thing it possibly could have settled into being

Unpopular Opinion: i think maybe im not as crazy as everyone else seems to be about him & marisa as a couple but good for yall

Favorite Relationship: his scenes with lyra are brutal in all the best ways, and it's funny to say his best interactions are with a fragment of himself but i really enjoy any scene with him & stelmaria

Favorite Headcanon: him & ludinus would have every reason possible to get along except theyre too similar including in snootiness & arrogance (even if lud doesnt believe he has any lol) the two would fight SO much and give everyone in a 70 mile radius a headache

[denimbex1986]

Dallas Voice: For you, how does it feel being part of a movie that’s moved so many people in the gay community?

Andrew Scott: It’s extraordinary, really. We’re all completely blown over by it. The response we’re hearing from cinemas across the country, where people are standing up at the end and they’re clapping — it’s just very unusual for me. I’ve certainly never been in a film before where that happens.

People just feel very inspired by it, and they have very passionate feelings toward it. So yeah, I’m thrilled about that — thrilled [it’s being embraced] not just by the gay community, but by a lot of different audiences. We kind of really hoped that the gay community would embrace it, but we keep saying that it’s not just a gay movie. The message — the idea of solidarity — isn’t just for a gay audience. All of us are more similar to each other than we think we are.

Pride demonstrates strength in numbers, which seems especially relevant now that the gay rights movement is in full swing and more straight allies are standing up with us. As the fight for equality marches on, what do you see as the relevancy of this story right now?

Being gay isn’t something in and of itself that’s a virtue any more than being straight is, but the attributes that gay people develop as a result of being gay – mainly empathy toward other people, and compassion and tolerance — those are things to be proud of. It’s a real message that I find really heartwarming. To segregate people is very dangerous in the struggle for gay rights for people across the way. Inclusivity rather than exclusivity. We must celebrate our differences, and we must celebrate our humanity as well as our sexuality.

You recently spoke out against the notion of “playing gay,” which is obviously something you feel strongly about.

You can’t. It’s absolutely impossible to play that as an actor. If someone were to play me in a film about my life, I would hate for just gay actors to audition for the role, because I think I could potentially have attributes as much in common with a straight actor as I could with a gay actor.

You can really make a general wash of people’s sexuality [and say] that people are exactly the same. But the attributes I possess as a human being could be represented by anybody with human sexuality, really, if they have the chief attributes that an actor needs, which are empathy and imagination. So, I do think it’s very important that those things are mentioned, that a human being is made up of a whole range of things and sexuality is, of course, one of them, but it’s not the sum total.

Which straight actor would you want playing you in a film?

Oh, I have no idea! That thought terrifies me! The fact that I can’t even get an audition for that part terrifies me even more.

You’ve co-starred with some of the finest-looking men in the show business: Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy, James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe, to name a few. Is it in your contract that you only work with the most attractive men in the industry?

[Laughs] Absolutely, it is. And I believe it’s in all their contracts as well, which is why they get to work with me.

So, in Season 3 of Sherlock, you came closer to kissing Benedict than a lot of us ever will. What was that like?

You know what, Benedict is my friend, and when we shot that scene on Sherlock we knew it would be sort of cheeky, but that question always makes me very uncomfortable because he’s my pal. I sometimes wonder if people are asking that question hoping for a new response.

Movies about gay people weren’t always as celebratory as Pride and others that have been released recently. With that said, do you think Pride would get the same reaction it is now if it came out 20 years ago?

It’s difficult for me to answer that. I just know that it feels very timely. I think it’s incredibly progressive, and the idea of just different attributes of gay people being explored is extremely important. But the idea of this story 20 years ago, talking about these people as heroes — I’m not sure. It’s very hard for me to answer that. I just know the fact that it’s been embraced by both gay audiences and straight audiences is very important.

We set out to make a mainstream film, and it is a mainstream film — it’s finding a mainstream audience — and sometimes the word “mainstream” is a bit reductive. What I mean by that is that in order to understand what it means to be a straight person or a gay person, it doesn’t require too much imagination. We all come from a union of a man and a woman, and a gay person can understand heterosexual love. I think straight people actually fundamentally find it easy to understand homosexual love — there’s just a stigma attached to it that maybe prevents them from admitting that sometimes. People understand sexuality at a very basic level, and so I never have thought that people are intrinsically homophobic. I think that’s something that’s learned.

Would you say that sexuality is much more fluid than we think?

I think it is a very fluid thing. I think all sexuality is about communications. Say you were to label the kind of conversations you’d like to have at dinner and you said, “I’m a sarcastic person who likes to talk about politics and, you know, juggling.” We don’t label the way we communicate verbally, so why do we need to label the way we communicate sexually? I think it’s sometimes questionable. It’s a physical thing, so it’s very difficult to articulate verbally.

You came out publicly last November. So, to mark your one-year anniversary, tell me what changed for you after coming out to the world.

It’s funny, I don’t see it at all like that. I can understand why people could perceive it as my “one-year anniversary,” but for me it was something that happened a long time ago. You know, I keep myself to myself. I don’t do a huge amount of interviews. I am delighted to say, though, that absolutely nothing has changed, really. I’ve been in the business coming up on 20 years now. I started very young, and so I’ve always wanted to play all sorts of different parts.

With something like Pride, obviously, I have to speak a little more about personal issues — that’s something I realize with this project — but, in the future, I feel that in order to be progressive it’s not necessary for me to speak about [my sexuality] in every interview I do. If I were to meet my family and friends every day for the past 15 years and say, “I came out,” every single time they asked about how it was being gay — what kind of question is that? Laughs] Let somebody live their life. There are certain times when it’s right to talk about it, and there are absolutely times I feel that it’s not relevant.

Do you think society puts too much emphasis on talking about sexuality?

I don't. Yeah, I think sometimes there can be prurient interest in any type of sexuality and people’s sex lives, but I think that’s just the way human beings are. I would love it if there were a sense of just letting people be, just letting people be who they are, and not getting too hysterical about these things.'

[a-gassy-antelope]

Miscellaneous Tag Game

Made by the one and only @ronald-speirs <3

Thank you for the tag @grumpy-liebgott ! Am I finally doing this after being tagged almost a month ago?....maybe

Favorite place in the world you’ve visited?

I haven't been many places truthfully. I loved hiking near Niagara Falls and also hiking in the Smokies near Gatlinburg. (I'm going to Alaska later this year so that will likely take the cake for me!)

Something you’re proud of yourself for?

Working 3 jobs while also caring for a terminally ill parent. Not to get too sad, but yeah, that was a time.

Favorite books?

Oof, gonna age myself with this. The Harry Potter will always hold a special place in my heart even though it has aged terribly. Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chatlas made a big impact on me as a teenager. One Flew Over The Cukoo's Nest by Ken Kasey is a favorite classic. Recently Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison kept me very entertained with pure shock value (although I just finished The Slob last night and it by far takes the cake for the most disgusting thing I've ever read)

Something that makes your heart happy when thinking about it?

When I think about the people I choose to surround myself with. I am a very open person with those I love. Once someone is in my inner circle I am a no boundary kinda person. Let's cut the small talk and bare all our trauma and then tease each other about it. Let's rot on the sofa together. It makes my heart happy to know that I have people I can be like this with.

Favorite thing about your culture?

...what culture... I could say there's a certain culture of the American Midwest that i love. Mainly the 'midwest goodbye' where you stand in the front door chatting for way too long, then in the driveway then in your car with the window rolled down. Also, ever had a midwestern dessert salad?????

When did you join the HBO War fandom? What was the first show you watched?

Well, my brother is older than me and he was very much ww2 obsessed. So watched Band of Brothers way younger than I probably should've. Probably when I was like 8? When I got into my career there was this song at work that would play and it felt so oddly nostalgic until one day I realized it sounded the intro credit music for Band of Brothers. Then it was put on Netflix and it was all down hill from there. Very different to watch again as an adult vs what I remembered from my childhood.

Have you read any of Easy Company’s books? If so, which ones were your favorite?

I just finished Dick Winters' memoir not that long ago! I think I'll read Shifty's next!

Favorite HBO War character and your favorite moment with them?

Everyone in b.o.b is my precious baby. See that generic white man? Yep, thats my child. Honestly though there are certain quotes from various characters that just scratches my brain. Buck with: "Your ass?!" Webster with: "You ignorant, servile scum! What the fuck are we doing here?" and the cadence in which he says "Don't salute the Germans!" Liebgott with "Hershey Bar!" Winters with: "What's that? A piece of paper? I dont wanna see another piece of paper" and Speirs with: "You talk to an officer you say 'sir' " (totally not because it made me feel some type of way)

Do you make content for any fandoms, if so; what sort of content?

I have made Band of Brothers stuff here on tumblr, classic text post as memes. Ao3 I've made Band of Brothers, Star Wars and My Hero Academia content!

Favorite actor/actress and your favorite film of theirs?

hm....that's hard to pick a favorite. Meryl Streep is always delightful, as is Gillian Anderson. Natalie Portman? Keira Knightly? ok, ok, maybe I should list a man...James McAvoy. Jack Nicholson. I dunno, I don't like picking favorites.

Favorite quote/s that you wish to share with others?

"I paint self portraits because I am so often alone...Because I am the person I know best." This Frido Kahlo quote really sticks with me because I feel like I can relate to being isolated and enjoying spending so much time on my own. I am my best companion and draw from my own experiences and emotions.

Random fact your mutuals/followers don’t know about you?

I am a licensed massage therapist and I work with patients with chronic pain and injuries. I love my job and my patients even though it is a very draining profession.

If you’re a writer, do you need a beta reader (say yes so I can be your beta reader 🤭)?

I am a writer! I want to say that I'm open to beta readers but I am also simultaneously afraid of others reading my work and embarrassed that people might not like it. That being said, I am working on a multi part Winnix fic rn.

Three things that make you smile?

My pets: a cat, 2 snakes, 2 leopard geckos and a pink tongue skink

Sweet gestures from my partner (or their dumbass jokes)

Writing!

Any nicknames you like?

Instead of Alex, a friend once called me Al Pal and I'm bewildered that it took me over 20 years to ever hear that.

List some people you love to see around on tumblr!

Uhm, everyone???? I love seeing people share whatever they're passionate about or find cute and funny. I love when people love things unapologetically! @grumpy-liebgott, @blueberry-ovaries @lewis-winters @easycompany123@andromeddog @hanniewinnix and honestly so many more!

What would you do during a zombie apocalypse?

I have two options. Get to my Marine Corps brother who is a borderline doomsday prepper but lives an hour and a half away or die immediately.

Favorite movie?

Again with the favorites? Some of my comfort movies include: Pride and Prejudice (2005), Mamma Mia, Hellboy 2 The Golden Army (specifically 2, not the first one) and Coraline

Do you like horror movies?

Yes! If my above mentioned books weren't an indicator. I love modern paranormal, 80s slashers and any Vincent Price movie

Tagging (no pressure!) : Also, Sorry if you've already been tagged! (does anyone else get nervous tagging people for no damn reason?)

@hanniewinnix, @pettypumpk1n @multifandomfanfic @hbowarandchill @fxxiva

[shamelessrabbithole]

Noel Fisher

His IMDB: Vladimir in Breaking Dawn: Part II; Mickey in Showtime's Shameless Why so watchable? He may be 28 and Canadian, but this actor generally gets cast as the vulnerable complex American teenager. This November he'll show that he can just as easily fast forward his age when he plays a 3,000 year old Romanian vampire in the much anticipated final Twilight flick.

Home is where the part is: "Breaking Dawn is the first time since I made the move to L.A. that I've ever booked a job that shot in Vancouver. So fun. I really miss the nature in Vancouver. Stanley Park is amazing and you're an hour from Whistler. In L.A., I live on a street that has three trees...it's just all pavement."

Fandom wherever you grove: "When I was at the grove seeing a movie, I got swamped by maybe 15 12-year-old girls. This was for a movie I did way back in the day called I was a Teenage Foust. We're talking when I was 17 or something. It was one of the little girl's birthday and she was a big fan of the movie so I gave her my bracelet as a birthday present. She was so excited and it was just really sweet."

A dish-load off his mind: "I'm kind of the dish master because I unfortunately don't have a dish washer. Those old Los Angeles apartments never do! I've got to do the dishes every night, otherwise it's that whole pile in the sink and it's just gross. can't take it."

Having a ball: "My parents were so supportive and put me into so many differ- ent classes when I was growing up...circus training was one of them. They had this big hard plastic ball and basically I would get on top and walk around skipping rope on it. That was my big trick."

Wise-ery loves company: "I think the best advice I've ever received is to throw yourself into anything you want to do with everything you have. I think with acting, you can take it too lightly and think it's just about saying words. There can be a tendency especially with younger people (myself included in my early years) to lack self-discipline. In order to do this job properly you have to really focus on it. Apply yourself, learn about it and really delve into it."

His men to watch: James McAvoy, Ryan gosling, Daniel Day Lewis.

https://web.archive.org/web/20141009192458/https://issuu.com/zooeymagazine/docs/march2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYlBC68FkWU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_mJhjqm2hY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVDiIQnvTBM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXYqOlYVCnM

-🔍

Aww he gave his bracelet to a little girl?! 🫠 Thanks so much for this 🔍. Not only did you provide links to older stuff, but you sorted through it for us and pulled out the most interesting nuggets! What did I do deserve all this?! You continue to spoil us all with such great riches!

[thepalmofyourfreezinghand]

he looks sooooo pretty. like i've always thought he pretty in a "i have grown quite fond of you though there are no sexual desires or urges you come to me as a long lost friend whom i once picked apples with in papas orchard" kind of way, but these last couple of days...

Hahahahaha I totally get it! To quote Monica, to me Joe has always been charming in a “sexless kind of way” haha. This is probably because I find it very difficult to be attracted to celebrities in general (they’re there, I’m here, I’ve never seen them irl, I know a lot of attractive people in real life…).

But just from a distance he’s so pretty. He has the prettiest features.

But my taste in men is just pretty boys with “delicate” features. My mum always makes fun of me for this, but it’s true: the most attractive guy I’ve ever seen in my entire life is the airport worker who pushed the stairs to our plane at Tallinn’s airport. It’s been 8 years since we visited Estonia and I still think about him haha. The second prettiest guy I’ve even seen worked in a cheese shop also in Tallinn. Joe is definitely in my top 10, though. I just LOVE angelic features on men. You know, Kedar William-Stirling (Jackson from Sex Education), James McAvoy in Atonement, Wi Ha-joon, Joe… I just really like pretty men.

(Side note, if anyone reading this lives in Estonia and is attracted to men just know that I envy you so much haha).

[petnews2day]

Haley Lu Richardson on The White Lotus, narcissism and her precious pet

New Post has been published on https://petnews2day.com/pet-news/cat-news/haley-lu-richardson-on-the-white-lotus-narcissism-and-her-precious-pet/

Haley Lu Richardson on The White Lotus, narcissism and her precious pet

‘Portia’s this Gen Z kind of person who feels she’s moved past the masculine-feminine dynamic’ (HL)

Haley Lu Richardson is issuing me with a warning. “I’m looking rough!” cries the actor, as she turns her camera on. What appears on the screen is actually very sweet: a rosy-cheeked 27-year-old covered in stickers. There’s a purple star stuck to the right of her nose, and a green one on her forehead. She’s nestled in the centre of a white fluffy beanbag and surrounded by houseplants – standing, hanging, trailing – in various wicker containers. Her screen name reads “h poopie”.

When I ask about the stars, Richardson is dumbfounded. “You don’t know zit stickers?!” she squeals. “Oh my gosh, they’re honestly the coolest thing since sliced bread. You can also get flowers with little rhinestones, Hello Kitty ones, SpongeBob ones, rainbow ones… it’s just amazing because it makes having acne fun!!!” It’s half past eight in the morning for Richardson, who’s in her apartment in California, and she is in a very good mood indeed. She laughs a lot, and every time she does her eyes fill with tears. “I had a lot of wine last night – ha!” she erupts. “I didn’t even go out; I went to see one of my friends and he made me this amazing dinner but it was so garlicky, like, my pores reek of garlic. I washed my face last night and this morning. Twice this morning. And brushed my teeth, already. And I still reek of garlic!”

Richardson has been on our screens, sans stickers, for 10 years. When she was 16, after a childhood in Arizona spent dancing for five hours a night and competing every weekend, she suddenly decided she wanted to live in LA and be an actor. Her mother made a sacrifice, moving away from Richardson’s father to the west coast so that her daughter could pursue her dream. The day after Richardson turned 18, her mother moved back to Arizona because she missed Hayley Lu’s father. But those years of absence from home paid off. In that time, Richardson cut her teeth in the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up and the supernatural children’s drama Ravenswood. She then went on to star as the sunny best friend of Hailee Steinfeld’s catastrophising teen in coming-of-age movie Edge of Seventeen and as a prisoner kidnapped by James McAvoy in the psychological horror Split.

Her first lead role, as an architecture enthusiast in the 2017 indie Columbus, was a revelation – The New Yorker’s Richard Brody wrote, “Richardson vaults to the forefront of her generation’s actors with this performance, which virtually sings with emotional and intellectual acuity.” An infectious turn as a teenager travelling across US states to get an abortion, in Unpregnant (2020), followed. We’ll come back to the film later, but right now – while she does still dance, and gives weekly lessons to octogenarians – she’s starring in The White Lotus, HBO’s smash-hit wealth satire that has returned (on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV) for a second season set in Sicily.

In it, Richardson is enjoyably frazzled and lost as Portia, the long-suffering assistant to Jennifer Coolidge’s deranged millionaire Tanya. When we first meet Portia, she’s perched in the luggage hold of a boat, half crushed by 17 designer suitcases owned by her boss, who’s sunning herself on the top deck. I’ve got lots of questions about Portia, but Richardson is a hard interviewee to tame. She is a little delirious, and keeps asking me about my life, but eventually she is wrestled into talking about her new show. The whole time, she looks like a child trying to do a serious face, who’s just been caught behind the sofa, cutting her fringe. We start with what it was like working with Coolidge. “Honestly, just really hard to not laugh,” says Richardson, “because she’s such a funny woman. She’s doing things that are so absurd and strange and socially unacceptable but somehow getting away with it. My first few days working with her I had a really hard time acting being annoyed and miserable around her, because she was just making me and everyone on the crew laugh. I’ve heard that like, on Anchorman and s***, people just laughing during takes. But I’d never experienced that until this.”

As she’s talking, a humungous white and brown floofball of a cat saunters across the screen. It’s Darbin, Richardson’s pride and joy. “Hello Darbin!” she coos. She scoops him up, stuffs her face into his fur. Squeezes him so tightly I worry for his health. “I love him. I kind of become possessed when he’s around.” Darbin travelled to Italy with Richardson when she was filming The White Lotus. “He did so well on the planes with me, all the different apartments and hotels,” she says. “He’s a very good cat. A very good boy.” Addressing the pet, she murmurs, “Anyway, I have to focus, OK?” Darbin wanders off.

Back to the show. After Portia and Tanya arrive at the White Lotus resort, Portia is immediately sent to her room so as not to intrude on Tanya’s romantic getaway with her husband. Portia manages to sneak out of her suite – “I have to eat!” – and before long we see her crying on a sun lounger. “I wanted to be thrown around by some hot Italian guy,” she tells a friend on the phone. “But the menu’s all pasta; I’m gonna be so bloated. It sucks.” “Pretty relatable line, that one,” Richardson says now. “That’s honestly how I felt in Sicily. I rarely felt hot, because I was eating so much and there weren’t any vegetables there apart from eggplant.”

Because of last night’s wine, when Richardson starts getting into the nitty-gritty of the drama’s themes, she goes literally cross-eyed with the effort. “Portia feels like she’s over the typical masculine-feminine dynamic,” she says. “She’s this Gen Z kind of person who feels she’s moved past that, but she still has this deep need for external fulfilment in the shape of a hot guy.” At one point, Portia tells Adam DiMarco’s Albie, a Stanford grad she’s been flirting with at the hotel, “I just wanna have fun. I just wanna feel, like, fulfilled and have an adventure. And I’m, like, sick of f***ing TikTok and Bumble and screens and apps and sitting there and bingeing Netflix. And I just wanna, like, live. I just wanna live my life so badly. I wanna meet someone who’s totally ignorant of the discourse, you know?” It’s a sublime example of writer Mike White’s acute social observation, showing how earnest and pretentious, yet hopeful, young people can be. “Yeah,” says Richardson, “she’s a lot more f***ed up and narcissistic than she thinks she is.”

Richardson plays a long-suffering assistant in ‘The White Lotus’ (Sky)

Last summer, months before Richardson and Darbin rocked up in Sicily, Richardson had been up for one of the most coveted roles in the superhero genre: Batgirl. The part eventually went to Leslie Grace but, this August – just as production was finishing up and to the total shock of the film world and its own directors – it was canned. Michael Keaton was set to reprise the role of Batman for the film, for the first time in 30 years, and more than $100m (£88.7m) had already been poured into it, but Warner Bros said it had been shelved due to a “strategic shift” by leadership. Richardson was taken aback when she saw the news. “I felt really bad for all those people that made that movie,” she says. “I know what it’s like to put your heart into something, and something that’s that big and that much money and that much energy and that big of a crew, like, that’s so crazy that you can just scrap that. That’s so extreme,” she says, emphasising that last syllable, hands in the air.

There were reports that test screenings had not gone well. Richardson has been up for other big franchise roles before, and she laments the fact that the actor is shown so little of the script beforehand. “With those movies, you’re for sure taking a risk that you may be compromising creatively and artistically. That feels so scary and aggravating because, most of the time, my priority with taking jobs is connecting to the character, the material, the filmmaker. But I’ve heard of friends who’ve been auditioning for things and they don’t even tell them who the character is. They’re just like, ‘It’s Marvel!’ So you’re really holding on to the hope that it’s gonna be good.”

We wanted Unpregnant to start conversations within families, between moms and kids

A film that she did get cast in and did get made, and that she is very proud of, is Unpregnant, co-starring Euphoria’s Barbie Ferreira. It was like a modern Thelma & Louise but with an abortion storyline. “Doing that movie, and having all those conversations publicly about abortion, really was part of my growth and letting go,” she says. She had worried, before it was released, that people would “hate” her because of the film’s pro-choice message. “I don’t feel that way now. I did that movie, it came out, I talked about it, and I don’t feel scared that people would hate me for something like that. It’s beautiful.”

It’s upsetting to hear that a young woman was afraid to speak up in a liberal society. But Richardson is proud of the film’s legacy. “I don’t want anyone to hate me, obviously, and the main goal for all of us in that movie was we wanted as many people to see it as possible so that it could start conversations within families, between moms and kids. It’s such a personal decision and topic, getting an abortion, so if people see it from a personal, intimate point, like in our film, it will be a change from just hearing about it from the government.”

As our conversation wraps up, Richardson tells me, “I’m pretty impressed I was able to do that in my state.” Friday morning is just getting started for her, and my Friday night is about to begin. If it goes well, I’ll be feeling an approximation of what she is tomorrow. She laughs. Her eyes water a little. “Have a great niiiiiight!!!” she yells.

‘The White Lotus’ is exclusively available on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW

[james-stark-the-writer]

this movie is............ more frustrating than anything, really. an entire genre of this doesn't work if you're not scared of mentally ill people. it simultaneously has the most rancid vibes of Shane Black's The Predator (2018) and Lucy (2014) without their general meanness and misanthropy. what the fuck was Shyamalan on when he was writing this movie, why is the villain in your Mental Health Movie the mentally ill person? belief is god, i guess? truly, i don't know what he expects us to take away from this movie but i need everybody to just be fucking normal about mentally ill people, please. people with DID already have enough fucking problems. Patricia is a camp icon, Hedwig is just a little guy, i love them both dearly. this tries to give Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) but, as incredibly talented as James McAvoy is, he is NOT Anthony Perkins. it's more compelling than it is "good" and i think that's worth a lot to me. carries on the unsubtlety of Unbreakable without the nuance and depth to sustain that for anything beyond the basic premise, especially not for this runtime. why such a high rating then? well, let's talk about it.

My ★★★★ review of Split on Letterboxd

[agentnico]

The Book of Clarence (2024) review

This film may be 2024’s biggest box office flop thus far, but that doesn’t mean it won’t get cult status, and especially Benedict Cumberbatch’s entire role is destined to be a meme, trust me on that. Just you wait.

Plot: Struggling to find a better life, Clarence is captivated by the power of the rising Messiah and soon risks everything to carve a path to a divine existence.

Going into this movie I expected to be super offended by it. Look, I’m not overly religious myself, but I come from an orthodox family and have been raised as such, so naturally I do have certain beliefs, and do think a lot of what happened in the New Testament is true. So of course when this movie came about I had my trepidations, however after watching it I found myself not nearly as offended or shocked as I expected. For one they don’t go against the fact that Jesus is the true Messiah, and in fact encourage that fact. I mean of course there are some blasphemous aspects to it as one would expect - the final act is a twist on the Bible that I am certain is going to pee off more than a few Christians. But as a whole The Book of Clarence is its own thing that doesn’t’ mess a lot with religion. For the first two thirds especially it’s more about Clarence and his buddies going on this adventure through Jerusalem and getting up to various shenanigans, and basically this being a stoner-comedy set in AD. And I have to say that generally speaking I enjoyed it.

The whole thing is absurd for sure. I mean, the flick is produced by Jay-Z, which speaks volumes in itself. But it’s got a great soundtrack, the direction overall is good from Jeymes Samuel, though stylistically I think he outdid himself more in The Harder They Fall - that western was just so cool! The humour was good in parts but in others not so much. It kind of depended on who was delivering it. For this movie features an all-star ensemble cast, however the performances I must say were a mixed bag. LaKeith Stanfield I truly believe is one of Hollywood’s current greats, as previously everything I’ve seen him in impressed me. However here as Clarence I feel like he was holding himself back a little. Don’t get me wrong, he does an alright job overall, but it was not anything special. A lot of other characters pop in throughout, but only a few really left an impression. Alfre Woodard as Mother Mary had me in stitches delivering lines such as “I was minding my own virgin business just being a virgin”, and David Oyelowo as John the Baptist was overly expressive and gave some solid Will Smith-level slaps. James McAvoy too as Pontius Pilate was both dramatic in that you can tell he didn’t really want to crucify Clarence as he liked the guy, but also delivered some hysterical laugh-out-loud lines like “Once you die from drowning, you’ll be free to go. Proceed.” I actually wish McAvoy was in the film more - his character was so sarcastic - I loved it. And then there’s Benedict Cumberbatch. Okay, so Cumberbatch’s 5 minutes of screen time are all for this one specific gag, and I do admit it was amusing and the batch of cumber played it fashionably over-the-top, but also what the movie does with his character…. Okay, so it’s funny. Can’t deny that. It’s actually bloody hilarious, especially as it comes out of nowhere. But also like it is offensive to the Church. I imagine many audiences would have been angered by his role, however I enjoyed it, even if it was a waste of Benedict Cumberbatch’s talents. As for the rest of the cast, they are serviceable, but not particularly memorable.

The movie does drag in a few places, and the writing didn’t always play out the best. Again, when you had the stronger actors delivering the lines, the moments of dialogue were really funny and definitely boosted the comedic value of the scenes. However at other times you could really tell the script writing just wasn’t up to par and felt lazy as it slugged along. Also, I feel like the movie wasn’t too sure what it wanted to be. Like it starts with a scene of these dudes smoking weed whilst floating upside down and a lightbulb pops up above their head, then in another scene there’s a random 80’s/90’s techno dance number, and then at the end there’s this really dark crucifixion scene featuring realistic detail with dramatic music playing. It’s a jarring mood swing, that really made me wonder what this movie was trying to accomplish. Like is it trying to parody the Bible, but also at the same time taking it seriously? It’s a shift that doesn’t really mix, and as such the ending does fall flat.

I ended up enjoying The Book of Clarence way more than I expected, and the moments of comedy that hit really do hit. Like I can easily see in a future someone doing a reel of “Book of Clarence funniest scenes” on YouTube, as there truly are some solid moments of slapstick comedies and banterous dialogue wit. But the third act with the heavily dramatic serious mood swing does question what the movie is going for, and also it does overstay its welcome. I’d say this is an interesting, thought provoking experiment that has its ups and down, however is very much worthwhile checking out. But also Cumberbatch’s….. like what the actual hell??

Overall score: 5/10