#to be mob lawyer alec

[lurafita]

Mafia homework help

Did you know that there are "trope generators" out there in the wild, wide web? You just decide how many tropes you want, and then the generator gives you random tropes for you to cobble into a story. It's surprisingly fun.

My first pull happened to be "wrong number" and "Mob boss" - 🤣 And since I'm me, I have to insert some fun into this. I considered one of them being the mob boss and the other a cop, but honestly? Cop & Mob boss is like the majority of fics where mafia romances are concerned and "enemies to lovers" is not a favored trope of mine. So I thought, maybe something different.

Like Max calling what he thought is the homework help line, but he got a few numbers mixed up because he wrote the number down in a hurry when leaving class and is unable to read his own chicken scratch.

So he accidentally called Magnus Bane, head of the mafia NY branch.

Magnus: "Who is this?" Max: "Uhm, my name is Max Lightwood, from class 5b, of Idris school." Magnus: "And how did you get this number, young Maxwell?" Max: "Just Max is fine. And our teacher gave it to us?, in case we needed help with the equations? And I'm really stuck with the problem on 7d, page 19." Magnus: "… Are you talking about your homework? Max: "Yeah, of course. That's why I called the homework-help line?" Magnus: "I'm afraid you have the wrong number." Max: "Damn, really? Shit. I… okay, this may sound weird, but could you still help me? My older brother won't be home for another three hours and I still have over half of these stupid math problems to do." Magnus, amused: "I do have some time to kill, so, why not? Send me a photo of the assignment you are having trouble with."

And whoop. Mafia boss turned tutor. Not quite sure how to work in Alec. Maybe he is a lawyer who will then later come to work for Magnus. Oh, I like that. Mob lawyers are fearsome. Alec can help Magnus run his empire. :-)

[dannyreviews]

The Age of Innocence (1993)

1993 was the second coming of 1939 when it came to the number of American films that were released. Martin Scorsese's "The Age of Innocence" remains one of that year's absolute gems, a departure (no pun intended) from the famed director's usual gritty nature. Replacing gunfire with passing glances and mafia dealings with upper class gossip, "The Age of Innocence" is classic Scorsese and in my opinion, among his best films ever.

Based on the novel by Edith Wharton, "The Age of Innocence" , focuses on the impending union of the two most important families in New York society. Lawyer Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) is engaged to be married to the sweet and quiet May Welland (Winona Ryder) and their marriage is the talk of the town. At the same time, May's cousin Ellen (Michelle Pfeiffer) has returned to New York to non-stop gossip pertaining to her impending divorce. Steeped in a world of customs and tradition, Newland is drawn to Ellen's unconventional lifestyle and while handling the matters of her divorce, the two begin an affair. Newland must decide which moral route to take, one that will maintain his place in the hierarchy of the upper crust, or the other sizzling in passion, yet tainted in scandal.

"The Age of Innocence" may be gentile in its appearance, but it's every bit the nail biter as "Raging Bull" or "Goodfellas". The adaptation by Scorsese and Jay Cocks shows dynasties pitted up against one another like mob families, favors that are made to keep up appearances and a family matriarch and high end couple with all the power in the world like mafia dons. At the same time, the art direction by Dante Ferrets and costume design by Gabrielle Pessucci, doesn't merely recreate late 19th century New York, but embraces every facet it possesses, from vast estates filled with art collections, fine china and chandeliers to ornate opera houses where their audience and actors don the most glamorous haute couture. When it comes to matching the authenticity of its period, there is not one false note. Having culminated from decades of prior period pieces, "The Age of Innocence" takes the genre to a whole new level of appearance that has rarely ever been repeated.

Scorsese assembled one of the most diverse casts of recent years. In addition to the 3 main actors, there are Golden Age of Hollywood stars (Norman Lloyd, Alexis Smith), veteran British actors (Michael Gough, Alec McCowen) and the new crop (Richard E. Grant, Robert Sean Leonard) and each brings their own craft to this unique film. Robert De Niro or Joe Pesci would have seemed out of place if they were included in the cast, so it was wise to delve further in the variety of acting styles and backgrounds and have each of them adapt to the lingo of Edith Wharton's New York. Also, to have the calming voice of Joanne Woodward narrate the story transitions the film into Merchant-Ivory territory, which I'm sure Scorsese studied up on prior to filming.

As for the main cast, Daniel Day-Lewis is absolutely terrific in playing the emotionally repressed Newland Archer, who must balance his double life amidst its open secrecy. Winona Ryder also shines in an Oscar nominated turn as May in all of its Golden Age of Hollywood charm. And then there's Michelle Pfeiffer, who is absolutely mesmerizing in portraying Ellen's liberal personality, in a performance that the Academy should have considered. The supporting cast standouts include Stuart Wilson as Ellen's "other man" Julius Beaufort, a lecherous scoundrel, Miriam Margoyles' BAFTA winning performance as Mrs. Mingott, May's grandmother, and Sian Phillips as Newland's mother.

"The Age of Innocence", along with Jane Campion's "The Piano", Jim Sheridan's "In The Name of the Father" (also with Daniel Day-Lewis) and James Ivory's "The Remains of the Day", represent in my opinion, the best of cinema in 1993. Out of those films, "The Age of Innocence" isn't the top one (that honor belongs to "The Piano"), but it represents the most expertly made. The acting, direction, novel adaptation and authentically honored period are all building blocks to the neatly tied packaged result.

9/10

[malectober]

Because sometimes, worlds need to be changed - or protected.

And who better than our very own Magnus and Alec Lightwood-Bane for the job?

Under the cut are a few fics where Magnus and Alec play the saviors - whether as the police, soldiers, or superheroes. (While, of course, occasionally finding love along the way)

Facilis Descensus Averno by @littleturtle95 - Coffee shop au by day, superhero au by night

I Will Fix You by @khaleesiofalicante - Lawyer Magnus + Detective Alec + a shit ton of angst

The President and The Pilot (series) by CrypticNotCoy - President Alec, Air Force Pilot Magnus, a whole lot of shenanigans and the occasional dose of angst

Upon Thy Lips by Carmenlire - Alec returns to a Magnus who has been waiting for him for five years

Major Alexander Lightwood by caffeineaddicted_malec - Alec was declared dead by the military five years ago, but it turns out he's been held hostage all this time

One Love by Scribblesnpaws - Alec is forced to join the military when he is outed to his parents, and it takes 13 years and a stalker for him to unite with Magnus again.

Days of Dark by magnusragnor and ohprongs - A "The Amazing Spiderman" AU ;)

Once Upon A Time in the Clouds by Fatale (femme) - a Sky High AU

Don't flirt with me (I'm working, dammit) by @thelightofthebane - FBI Agent Alec has to go undercover into a prison, where he meets (and is distracted by) Mob Boss Magnus Bane

[the-great-lightwood-bane]

blood is our inheritance

Malec | Rated general | tw canon-typical violence, gangs, mention of drugs

Day 23: Forced to Kneel | Tied to a Table

Summary: Magnus went missing on a Tuesday.

Or, the mafia AU where Magnus gets kidnapped as leverage against his boyfriend the mob boss — not that Magnus knows about Alec's less-than-legal life. But Magnus has his own secrets, and perhaps even as everything changes, some things can stay the same. 

A/N: one day late... I appear to be incapable of keeping up

inspo from a prompt on the @malecdiscordserver

Read it on AO3 or below the cut.

Magnus went missing on a Tuesday. 

Tuesdays were Alec’s least favourite days of the week. For some reason, all the possible problems that could occur seemed to enjoy falling on a Tuesday specifically to irritate Alec. Being a mafia boss was never easy, but it was particularly difficult and irritating on Tuesdays. 

This particular Tuesday had been mostly uneventful. Alec had managed to be only five minutes late to his date with Magnus, and in fact he’d arrived before Magnus himself — except that Magnus didn’t show up, and didn’t show up, and didn’t show up. 

Magnus had never been more than fifteen minutes late for one of their dates. At the twenty-minute mark, Alec started making some calls. 

The advantage of being a mafia boss was that he had plenty of people at his command to send out to search for his missing boyfriend. And missing he was; according to Jace’s report, there were traces of a fight in Magnus’ flat, and the man himself was nowhere to be found. 

He had been taken, and Alec knew both why and by whom. 

Alec’s only rival gang, led by Valentine Morgenstern and his son, had been steadily losing ground to him over the last several months. They were desperate; they wanted revenge. Somehow, they’d figured out where Magnus lived and what he was to Alec, and so they’d taken him. 

Magnus knew nothing about Alec’s second life. He loved Alec’s casual side, the part of him that pretended he was a lawyer with a crazy schedule, the man who didn’t have blood so thick on his hands it could never wash off. Magnus would know who Alec was soon enough, if he didn’t already, and that would be the end of the love they’d shared. 

The most important thing was Magnus’ safety. Alec couldn’t let himself focus on the coming heartbreak until Magnus was confirmed safe, and alive, and unharmed — and Alec would destroy the Morgensterns if Magnus had been hurt. 

~

Magnus opened his eyes tied to a table leg, a gag over his mouth. 

It’d been a while since he’d last awoken like this, but he recognised the situation immediately and began sizing up the space. The knots were fairly well done, but his captors either hadn’t bothered to search him for weapons or had failed to find the knife in his sleeve, so he could get out of them easily enough. There were several guards standing at the exits, but nowhere near enough to pose a problem. The table he was tied to was in the centre of the room, so he couldn’t see behind him, which was annoying; his bonds kept him kneeling on the floor, hands tied behind him and around the table leg. An annoying position, but he could get out of it without much trouble. 

The real question was why they’d taken Magnus in the first place. He’d left the bloodier parts of his past mostly behind, since killing his father; he hadn’t expected anyone to find him again. He needed to know how these people had found him and make sure that neither they nor anyone else ever did so again. 

A man rounded the table and entered Magnus’ sight — a man who Magnus recognised as Valentine Morgenstern, leader of one of the two gangs in the city. The weaker gang, Magnus knew, although he wasn’t exactly up to date on all the politics going on. 

Morgenstern wasn’t looking at Magnus, though — he was talking to a younger man at his side, likely his son. Magnus listened in. 

“—with Lightwood’s boy toy in our power, we’ll be able to take back all the ground he’s gained,” Morgenstern said. “Lightwood’s gang has been a thorn in our side, to be sure, but we’ll get rid of them soon enough.” 

Amidst a vague amusement at Morgenstern’s cockiness, puzzle pieces clicked together in Magnus’ mind — Alec’s strange schedule, the few times Magnus had seen dark stains under his fingernails, the reason why he’d been captured. Morgenstern knew nothing of Magnus’ past; he was simply trying to hold Magnus over Alec’s head. 

Well, Magnus couldn’t allow that to happen. 

He slipped the knife from his sleeve into his hand and sliced through his bonds. 

~

It took half an hour for him to assemble a team while his scouts figured out in which of Valentine’s bases Magnus had been hidden. Fifteen minutes to get there. Ten to kill every guard outside and race through hallway after hallway to the centre of the building. Alec’s people obeyed him without question; they knew to whom his loyalties lay and they would follow where he led. 

When Alec burst into the central room, though, the sight that met his eyes was nothing like he’d expected. 

In the middle was Magnus, splattered with blood which — from the angle of the stain — was not his own, holding a knife in one hand and a gun in the other. Alec looked him up and down, checking for injuries, only registering a few moments later how incredibly attractive Magnus looked like that. 

Scattered across the ground were at least twenty corpses, among them Valentine’s and his son’s. 

Magnus turned towards them as he entered, a smile tugging up his lips when he saw Alec. “Look, I was going to tell you, but it’s kinda hard to bring up being a semi-retired assassin over dinner.” He paused, meeting Alec’s eyes. “Perhaps about as difficult as saying you’re a mafia boss.” 

Alec was at Magnus’ side in a moment, desperate to wrap Magnus in a hug and assure himself that Magnus was safe — but Magnus wasn’t making any move to reach out for Alec, and Magnus knew who Alec was now, and there was no way he could ever still love Alec. 

“We should probably get out of here before more of Valentine’s goons show up,” Magnus said, after a moment of awkward not-touching. 

Before Alec could summon a response, before he could make up his mind to say something, before he could think of anything to say — a door swung open, and perhaps fifteen people stormed through. Alec began firing immediately, and several gunshots sounded from beside him almost in unison — Magnus clearly handled a gun well. Semi-retired assassin, Alec thought, and then he was in the thick of the battle, fighting at Magnus’ side as though there was nothing unusual in it. 

The fight was done almost immediately, and Alec glanced over at Magnus as he caught his breath. Magnus was already looking at him. 

“You’re right, we should leave,” Alec said, flicking his fingers; his people formed up around him and Magnus without hesitation. They broke into a quick trot, and Magnus kept up easily; the few guards they came across were dispatched easily enough. 

Once they were out, Alec hesitated, turning to face Magnus fully. “We should talk.”

Magnus nodded. “My place?”

“Sure,” Alec agreed. “Give me an hour to deal with everything, and I’ll be there.” 

Another moment of hesitation, and then Magnus turned away to hail a taxi, and Alec tried not to read too much into it as he led his people away. 

~

Exactly an hour later, a knock sounded on Magnus’ door, and he opened it to see Alec — no longer bloody, wearing a button-down shirt that told Magnus he was nervous as clearly as the expression on his face. 

“Come in,” Magnus said with a gesture, the formality of it feeling odd because this was Alec. But it was also the leader of the foremost gang in the city — the only gang, without Morgenstern — and Alec knew about Magnus’ past as well as Magnus knew about Alec’s. 

Alec came in with a tight smile, and they sat down at the table without speaking. 

Magnus was the first to break the silence. “So.”

“So,” Alec agreed, a small smile ticking up his lips. “You’re a semi-retired assassin, I’m a mafia boss.”

Magnus nodded. “Yes. I — I think I should probably explain exactly what I meant by semi-retired assassin, though.” 

Alec tilted his head, waiting, and Magnus took a deep breath before he began. 

“My father was Asmodeus.” 

Everyone with any connection at all to the crime world knew that name, and judging but Alec’s widened eyes, he was no different. Asmodeus’ drug cartel had been incredibly famous, and its dissolution upon Asmodeus’ death was perhaps more so. Magnus went on before Alec could speak. 

“He raised me from the age of eight until I killed him shortly before my twenty-first birthday. I did his bidding because I knew no better and because he was my father. I killed whoever he told me to, assassinated whichever upright politicians or police were coming close to catching him. I killed him because I’d just found out that my mother had been addicted to his drugs, that she’d died because he’d stopped supplying her with them. He’d killed her because she’d refused to let me join his gang at seven as he’d wished. I’d already had some doubts about what he was doing, but that was what… tipped me over the edge, I suppose. I killed him.” Magnus swallowed, eyes still fixed on his hands in his lap. He hadn’t realised how much he’d wanted to tell Alec all of this, to confess everything, until the words were spilling from his mouth. “I don’t regret killing him. I don’t regret afterwards, when I helped along the dissolution of his drug empire by killing people. I suppose neither of us are the type of person to regret that.” He didn’t quite have the faith to meet Alec’s eyes. 

“My father led the mafia before me,” Alec said softly. “I’ve been trained since birth to take over from him. I managed to get my siblings out — Izzy and Jace know what I do, but they’re not actively involved. I took over the mafia from him when he died; I was eighteen at the time. I had a lot of ideals, changed a lot of things — eliminating the drug trade within my area, for one thing.” Magnus raised his head at that, but Alec wasn’t quite looking at him. “Not that I haven’t done bad things; I’ve killed, like you, many times. It’s necessary, to maintain my role.” He shrugged. “I don’t regret most of that, either.” 

Alec finally turned to look at Magnus, meeting his eyes with a mix of hesitation and hope. “I’m not in a position to judge you for anything you’ve done, Magnus. I understand if you think my actions are unforgivable, or if you don’t want to be dragged back into the crime world, or if you simply don’t love this side of me or don’t want to deal with the drama that comes with it.” He swallowed while Magnus remained silent, speechless. “I love you, Magnus, despite or because of everything I’ve only now learned about you. I love you. I love you.” 

“I love you too,” Magnus finally managed around the impossible tenderness rising in his throat. “I love both sides of you, all of you, everything. I don’t think anything you’ve done requires forgiveness, I want to stay by your side for as long as I can. I—”

He cut off when Alec kissed him with a greater love and a deeper knowledge than before, enough to drown in, enough to breathe in. 

Alec had been a star in the sky, a light Magnus couldn’t quite reach, a goodness that he didn’t deserve and couldn’t attain except by shutting half of himself away. Now Alec was here with him, on the ground, blood on his hands and fire in his veins and that same beautiful smile that Magnus loved, attainable and real and loving him. 

Magnus laughed with the joy bubbling up in his chest and kissed Alec again. 

~ Alec revised his opinion. Tuesdays were the best days of the week.

[normal-thoughts-official]

look i want charlie's pov on malec more than anything. tall scary mobster(?) brother of cute gf is melted soft puddle for this weirdly hot dude with great eyeliner and also just generally charlie interacting with magnus actually. hey do u think if he ever found out about the shadowworld he might talk to magnus about it for someone not so close but still trustworthy and kind and safe? aaaaaaaAAAA

ok but you are right and you know what? FUCK IT. au with charlizzy endgame he can be part of the polycule lmaoo and we get to see all the dumb shenanigans that come with that

like LOOK i get why izzy would tell him that the lightwoods are jewelry makers, it's not THAT far from weapons forgery so she can probably pull that lie off, maryse probably knows a little something about it too, and besides there is her shop, but alec? Alexander Gideon Fucking Shit At Lying Lightwood? NO WAY

i mean look alec is smart and he is cunning and he actually can lie when a plan involves it (he was pretty convincing with "i will bring magnus to the clave myself") and he definitely knows how to navigate diplomacy and stuff like that, but when it comes to actually pretending to be something he's not? especially if it involves improvising? my man lightwood fucking sucks. it's the truth. the same man who convinced lorenzo he would arrest his own boyfriend went "TheSE CeiLInGS ARe spECtaCULaR" not a few moments later. do you think he knows JACK SHIT about jewelry other than what magnus and izzy like or don't like? do you think he even knows what mundanes use as means of transportation? this man doesn't know what bees are. i have to laugh

charlie is probably already half convinced that they're in the mob or some shit anyway, with the way Fucking Shit At Lying Lightwood went all "she told you we're jewelers pffft". also he saw izzy kick that vending machine. like he probably thought it was hot valid but come on now. a woman in stilettos KICKED a vending machine right in the middle without even flinching while she was in the hospital tired as shit with withdrawal sweats. charlie ain't stupid. but also he pretends that he buys it and is all ":) love jewels" just to see what they will come up with

alec gets desperate and asks magnus for help. magnus is just like why do you think i know shit about jewelry making?? alec is like "well you mix up stuff all the time. also you wear them. didn't you design our wedding ring?" and he's like "alec i used mAGIC for that. also do you think making POTIONS is the same as making JEWELS?" and alec is like "i'M DESPERATE"

cue the both of them having an intense research session. for like two whole weeks you can find the both of them at any given time watching boring as fuck documentaries about jewelers and taking notes and shit. they even get some tools so they can PRACTICE just in case charlie fucking? asks to see alec work or something? they are himbos. and of course it's all for nothing because that is NOT the part someone who's not in the field would focus on, so as soon as charlie goes "so, what's your specialty?" alec's like "what's a specialty"

bonus he looks up maryse and you know because shadowhunters are fucking dumbasses she probably just spawned into the mundane world without any documentation or backstory or ANYTHING so he finds out that maryse lightwood doesn't fUCKING EXIST and her shop just manifested fully formed one day. at this point the mob is the only possible explanation

charlie idly wonders if he should go to the police, if anything to ask about them, but he doesn't want to ruin the lightwood's lives, they are nice. then one day he walks by the police station and who does he see if not maryse's FUCKING boyfriend. "oh my god, they are infiltrated"

charlie probably thinks that alec buys magnus all his fancy stuff with like laundered money or something. he's all like "haha hey glad to see that they are so accepting of gay people in the mob- i mean jewelry making business :)"

and THEN he asks magnus and alec how they met and they are like "uh" and magnus is like "alec was. a frequent client" cuz you know not a LIE but what the hell was this mobster always going to Fancy Guy for? maybe alec doesn't buy him his stuff maybe magnus is ALSO in the mob. maybe he's a hitman or something. damn, they are really open minded in the mob

except magnus is too sweet and nice to be a hitman so either he's excellent at pretending or he also has nothing to do with any of this. maybe he's like, a tailor or something. mobsters also have to buy regular stuff right? they wear a lot of suits in the movies or whatever. maybe he's their lawyer. he's gotta be pretty good at what he does if he manages to save these guy's asses in court, because they kinda suck at blending in (bonus somehow izzy's trial comes up in conversation so he is like. oh my god magnus IS their lawyer. and his admiration for the guy just doubles cuz really, how)

so he decides, you know, if this guy is also unrelated to the mob he should probably talk to him or something. magnus is trustworthy, he figures. also, i mean, same situation, right? regular folks who just found themselves in love with weirdly sweet mobsters. maybe they can trade tips. if magnus is their lawyer, he probably knows how stuff works better than charlie anyway

so one day he shows up at magnus' and he's all like "i want to preface this by saying that i won't tell anyone" and magnus is sweating already because FUCK there's a potion simmering not two rooms away and alec's bow is rIGHT BEHIND CHARLIE HANGING IN THE DOOR. and charlie is all "do you know what the lightwoods actually do?" and magnus is like "uhhh, yes, they are jewelry makers" and he's like "come on magnus. did you really think i wouldn't figure it out? they aren't jewelry makers. did you know that maryse lightwood doesn't EXIST? hell, i bet none of them do"

cue dramatic "i know what they are" "say it. say it out loud" "mobsters" "what?" "what?" "uh"

and magnus is all like "haha charlie don't be silly of course they are not mobsters. excuse me" and shoos charlie away somehow

he probably has to EXPLAIN to the lightwoods what the mob even is cuz let's be real, there is no way they know. and everyone is like well this is very fucked up! and alec is like "hey actually we should just pretend to be mobsters, that would be easier. it's way closer to what we actually do. jewels, izzy? really?" and izzy is like "alec i'm not telling my boyfriend that we are MOBSTERS!!!" and alec is like "well of course not, that's what a mobster would say. but we can pretend that we are pretending to be jewelers but REALLY we are pretending to be mobsters who are pretending to be jewelers, leave some clues here and there, and actually convince him because he thinks he knows our secret" and izzy is like "no!!!" and alec is like ":("

(magnus is like "that was a very good plan, honey" and alec's like "right?" and magnus is like "yes, very complex, i like it. you'd make a good mobster, you could use your Shadowhunter Mode" and izzy is like "can you guys PLEASE save this for later")

anyway they probably sit charlie down and have a "charlie we are totally not mobsters and here is why" talk but charlie is very clearly like "hmmm. doubt" so after some more sweating and shit they decide to just tell him the truth lmao

bonus points if charlie goes all "THAT'S your newest lie?" and then magnus starts floating or something and he goes "oh ok i see. can i lie down for a second". i mean realistically he would probably test them but once magnus straight up portals them to paris he kind of has to face that maybe he wasn't that right. maybe luke even turns in front of him and shit. or the lightwoods use the runes to become invisible. you know. but THEN he goes "oh ok i see. can i lie down for a second"

but hey at least his cute gf isn't killing people on the side! just demons. who exist. well he can just not think about that!

hey this is random but i was picturing someone mentions that the mob sells drugs and izzy is kinda upset because, you know, she's struggled with addiction lmao. and protective ass alec is like >:( but then later izzy talks about it with charlie and it's like, sweet? extra points if she's like "worst part is that you're not even that wrong. i dragged raphael in with me" and they talk about that you know

anyway yes you are RIGHT about him going to magnus to talk about the shadow world, like, at least it's not the mob! and he was ready to talk to him about that anyway. and magnus out of all of them is the one who best understands mundanes so he can help a lot because he kinda knows what charlie will be thinking, unlike the rest of them. hell, maryse is taking classes on being a mundane. like. come on

and just aaa honestly i would just really like to see that friendship? and see charlie being all excited cuz you know he's a DOCTOR so imagine all the shit he can learn from them! and eventually magnus mentions catarina and charlie gets to meet her and he becomes kind of her inside man helping her cover her tracks when she uses magic to cure a patient that wouldn't make it otherwise or something, and he is really happy with that. and it's just sweet you know? and just yeah generally give me charlie getting close to the downworlders, maybe even getting gifts from madzie because he's been helping her mom so much, like enchanted flowers or something, please and thank you daodhsaoijdsaoi

[kinkymagnus]

ok but can we talk about mobster roleplay except magnus is supposed to be like a rival mobster instead of a lawyer or whatever and alec teases him because he always submits so beautifully and does what alec wants in the end ❤️

SJDFKSJFSDFHAHAHAHHAHAHHAH TUMBLR FUCKIGN. DELETED THE ASK AHFLWATYTHROUGH HAHAHAAHFDCUK

IT’S FINE. IT’S FINE. I’LL TYPE WHAT I REMEMBER. IT’S FINE. 

...

a quick and easy guide to taking over the other most powerful mob in the area:

meet hot leader

fuck him really good

???

profit

ok but really

it’s all sly banter and subtle “threats” at the private negotiating table (maybe they meet in a bar for a little extra fun? like oh we’re for sure strangers haha just talkin about. things.) and oh, magnus plays at being the cocky tough new guy in town, but the lightwoods have been here a long time, and alec knows perfectly well how to fuck him into submission take care of him ;)

actually while the lightwoods being an old crime family makes sense to me i also like the idea that magnus has been the local leader (in this. elaborate backstory. high warlock lmao)  for a while and alec’s the new guy in town who’s gonna take him down a peg by fucking him senseless. i guess the lightwoods could still be an old crime family just from a different area, idk

also im picturing at one point alec “threatens” magnus like dagger to the throat (alec, being the cautious overprotective bf that he is, has not only used a fairly dull blade, but he’s had this dagger spelled to hell and back so it probably couldn’t leave a mark on magnus if he threw it with all his strength) and magnus is like [swallows] [tries to hide the fact he’s super wet right now at how effortlessly alec has him pinned]

anyway ,

magnus (magnus’s character?) goes to this meeting expecting a battle of words, and somehow ends up with his pants around his ankles, panties around his thighs, and a thick cock pounding into his cunt (and a big hand firm and warm on his lower back, keeping him pinned as he’s fucked over his own desk) and he isn’t even mad, it feels too good, he’s totally lost in a haze of pleasure

and alec’s teasing him for being such a little slut--aren’t you supposed to be powerful? aren’t you supposed to be the great, fearsome magnus bane? and here you are, a needy little slut who spread his legs at the drop of a hat... what would they think of you now, if they could see you like this, whining and crying and moaning with pleasure, just living for a cock in your pussy? saw how wet you are from me bending you over your own desk and spanking you, calling you the slut you are? you just want to be full, don’t you, that’s all you really care about, a cock inside you--is that why you act so smug and powerful? you’re waiting for someone to prove you wrong? to snap and fuck you like the whore you know you are? do you get off on being humiliated? 

and--oh, oh, alec films it, so he has Proof of everything, gives the camera an eyeful of his blissed out face, his wet cunt stuffed full of cock, his shaky thighs spread wide and his pretty tits and his needy pleas for more. and he can use it both to tease magnus (”now anyone can see how pretty you look when i make you my slut--”) and to “”blackmail”” him (”wouldn’t want me to show this to your crew, huh? or--maybe you do, maybe you’re hoping they’ll see this and know what you really want, hoping they’ll pass you around and take turns with your pussy so you never have to be unsatisfied again?”) and like. of course, they end up doing it again and again and again in a hundred different positions and there are a lot of little films (”would you like them to see how pretty you look on your knees, on your back, on your stomach--all with your wet little cunt exposed?”) and oh, magnus is thoroughly his by now 

of course, even after alec has given him a nice rough fucking and teased him to hell and back for being such a slut for his “enemy” ;) alec always ends up carrying him to bed and just lavishing him with kisses all over and praising him for being so good and doing such a good job like the aftercare is always immensely fluffy and sweet, sometimes even towards the end he just kinda forgets the roleplay and gets more into making love to him like the thrusts are slow, deep rolls of his hips and he kisses him all sweet and languid and forgets the camera, forgets showing magnus off to it, and instead is just focused on kissing him and touching him all over (and sure, magnus has rewatched all of them, but he likes to linger on those moments, where he can practically feel the love through the screen, even though the magnus in the moment was a little too fucked out to be focused on it) 

[ansonmountdaily]

Anson Mount filmography [12/?] → The Warrior Class (2007)

Rookie lawyer Alec Brno (Anson Mount) has just been assigned the case of his career: exposing a billion-dollar oil scam led by a ruthless mafia boss. When he reluctantly falls for the gangster's beautiful but drug-addicted wife - also his key witness - Alec soon realizes that all the legal savvy in the world can't protect him from the dangerous reality of mob violence. In a system where criminals often walk free, sometimes courtroom warriors must take the battle for justice into their own hands.

[kevrocksicehouse]

Dean Stockwell had a perfectly fine, respectable, 72-year acting career. Then there were those three years in the ‘80s,

Ben in Blue Velvet. D: David Lynch (1984). Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) who’s been observing/having an affair with Dorothy Valens (Isabelle Rossellini) is accosted by her psychotic lover/kidnapper and taken to what looks like a third-rate whorehouse to meet “Ben.” “Here’s to Ben!” he says. “We all love Ben.” Stockwell comes out, rouged like the love child of Joel Grey’s Cabaret emcee and Pee Wee Herman grew up and got into things neither of them could countenance, and with a slithery just slightly effeminate voice that disguises his own sadistic nature. “Suave,” Frank says, “You’re one suave f—.” They talk drug-pushing shop for a minute repeatedly using the phrase “candy-colored clown” which we figure is drug slang, until he grabs a handy stage light, brings it to his face (the better to cast shadows) and lip-synchs Roy Orbison’s “In Dream’s” (“The candy-colored clown we call the Sandman…..”), slowly using it in a dance of seduction, and if this scene doesn’t show up in your nightmares some time in your life, it’s because your nightmares aren’t doing it right.

Howard Hughes in Tucker: The Man and His Dream. D: Francis Ford Coppola (1988). The eternally (and annoyingly) optimistic automobile designer Preston Tucker, facing a congressional summons, takes a meeting with Hughes, on a dark airfield in front of an enormous, for the time, plane. “The lawyers, all they can think about is will it fly?” “Who cares whether it flies? That’s not the point. Spruce Goose…now why do you suppose they call it that? People……Did I change or did the cosmic sense of humor? I used to laugh when they did. This prick, Homer Ferguson, is after me too. Subpoenaed me for a congressional investigation which either I show up for…IN PERSON… or he’s gonna send me to jail. I’m already in jail.” In a two-minute almost-a-cameo, Stockwell’s germophobic, paranoid billionaire leaps over Leonardo DiCaprio’s and even Jason Robards’s Hughes to show the dark mirror to Tucker’s sunny dreams, a drifting Ahab who lost sight of his white whale years ago.

Tony “The Tiger” Russo in Married to the Mob. D: Jonathan Demme (1988). In this gangsters’n’kitsch farce, Stockwell is a dandyish Mob boss, as charming as he is unprincipled, the kind of guy who’ll whack a subordinate (Alec Baldwin) for sleeping with his mistress (“I loved you like a father,” Baldwin says. “Well you disappointed the shit out of me,” he replies before pulling the trigger) and then comes on to the guy’s wife at the funeral. Not out of revenge, but hey, she looks like Michele Pffeiffer, so whaddayagonnado? And the scene where he sings a fast-food jingle with his driver (“Drive up to the clown”/ “It’s a Burger World Town.”) on the way to an assassination attempt, got that damn song stuck in my head for a week.

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: The Rebellion of Adrien Agreste, ch. 15

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Luka Couffaine, Lila Rossi/karma, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/aneurism, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Plagg & Tikki

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Lila Rossi, Jagged Stone, Plagg, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine, Penny Rolling, Anarka Couffaine, Rose Lavillant, Juleka Couffaine, Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Césaire, Chloé Bourgeois, Wayhem, Nadja Chamack, Nathalie Sancoeur, Sabine Cheng, Tom Dupain, Tikki, Fang, Principal Damocles, Caline Bustier, Ms. Mendeleiev, original minor character, Alec Cataldi, Lila Rossi’s Mother, Sabrina Raincomprix, Roger Raincomprix, Mylène Haprèle, Le Gorille | Adrien Agreste’s Bodyguard, Nino Lahiffe, Nooroo

Tags: Lila Rossi salt, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Teenage Rebellion, Swearing, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Crack Treated Seriously, Lila Rossi’s Lies Are Exposed, Cuddling & Snuggling, Luka Couffaine Needs a Hug, Paparazzi, Parentification, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Gabriel Agreste Needs an Aneurism, Uncle Jagged Stone, we’re all queer here, the spirit of punk is sometimes just being allowed to be yourself, Kagami Finds Her Groove, punk rock fashion, Savage Kagami, Marinette protection squad, Good Parent Sabine Cheng, Good Parent Tom Dupain, Protective Kagami Tsurugi, Protective Luka Couffaine, Bisexual Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Pansexual Luka Couffaine, Sharing a Bed, Pet Names, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Instagram, Bullying, Social Media, Anxiety, Makeover, Hugs, will cure your acne, Face Punching, Bad Ass Juleka Couffaine, Rumors, Protective Juleka Couffaine, Protective Adrien Agreste, Lawyers, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Holding Hands, accountability, mental health, Jagged Stone’s well-paid pet shark, How to Make the Evening News, Sexy eyeliner for days, one fish two fish Lila is a screwed fish, How to have fun and piss Gabriel off, Fuckery, sweet litigious karma, Alya sugar, lawyer shark doo doo doo doo doo doo, Schadenfreude, Bad Ass Alya Césaire, Gaslighting, abuse denormalization, Jagged likes his lawyers like he likes his pets: toothy af, Blood in the Water, Everything you didn’t know you wanted and some things you did, Gabriel Agreste is shark bait, Denial, Consequences, Principal Damocles salt, caline bustier salt, the impotence of Gabriel Agreste, snarky Nooroo, lies and the lying liars who tell them, Lila’s brain is a narcissistic hellscape, Lila’s mind is built like an Escher piece, Alec Cataldi salt, Adrien Sugar, wholesome salt, Fu Salt, Kwami Shenanigans, Nooroo is a little shit

Summary: The Impotence of Gabriel Agreste

Notes: I’ve received some amazing fanart for Rebellion. @redcoloredpanda drew Luka and Adrien snuggling, and @momo-oh-nono drew Marinette’s rocker outfit! So now chapter 17 is writing itself in my head, yay! Thank you for inspiring me!

AO3 link

Chapters 1-2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14

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Gabriel Agreste watched, fingers steepled, as the scene outside the school unfolded. He had, of course, realized quite quickly attempting to counter Adrien’s claims would be a foolish move. True or not, he would look like the villain if he were to try, accused of homophobia and perhaps classism given the way this Luka boy dressed. He had cancelled the story that was to appear, and hopefully nothing would leak.

On the bright side, he had a patsy. Lila was a loose cannon, currently proving so to the entire world, and he could easily claim she had mischaracterized her relationship with his son. She was currently trying to do the same thing, taking advantage of the fact that Adrien had not yet arrived to the mob of reporters.

“He told me he loved me. He told me we would go public, and he used me and then dumped me,” the girl was telling a reporter tearfully.

Gabriel was rather displeased with the implications of that accusation, which could impact the brand.

Fortunately, the reporter was more interested in the limo that had pulled up and deposited… was that the young designer?

The girl nearly fell, but someone rushed forward to embrace her. When the camera focused…

Kagami Tsurugi.

Nathalie shifted beside him, and he could feel through the miraculous that she was as startled as he was.

He could only assume Adrien was also in the limousine; from the “leaked” text messages the previous night and implications on social media, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was an accomplice. But this meant the scion of his business partner, someone he thought would be a good influence on his son, was likely also involved. Her presence was unlikely a coincidence.

Perhaps this was information he could use, but he filed it away for later as none other than Jagged Stone exited the limo next.

Despite the video the night before of the “jam session,” it was unexpected to see the rock star accompanying his son to school.

The announcement came as a surprise, as he didn’t follow the music world terribly closely, and certainly not a ruffian like Stone. Gabriel had been unaware that Marinette had been so prolific, that she had designed anything beyond the bowler hat.

“Please prepare a dossier on Mlle. Dupain-Cheng,” he ordered Nathalie. She immediately began to tap away on her tablet. “And perhaps her parents as well. We should know who we are dealing with.”

Next to leave the limo was Adrien and his… boyfriend. Clearly, the Gorilla had not been able to intercept them as ordered. Though he’d seen the disaster that Adrien had made of his hair in the photos and video the previous night, it still shocked him.

He studied the body language of his son and Luka Couffaine, frowning. They appeared to be close, the other boy looking at him in such a way as to make the “boyfriend” claim believable. For the life of him, Gabriel couldn’t figure out how they could have met—though from the dossier Nathalie had prepared it seemed the boy’s younger sister was in Adrien’s class.

When Mlle. Tsurugi caught Lila’s wrist, he found himself letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. From the angle of the camera he had been uncertain who she intended to hit.

The teens played for the cameras masterfully, and Gabriel couldn’t help but be a little impressed. If this was staged, they had organized a believable PR opportunity on extremely short notice. If they weren’t working against his interests, he’d consider giving them internships at Gabriel.

Beside him, Nathalie let out an involuntary incredulous snort at Lila’s ridiculous accusation of pederasty.

Luka Couffaine gave a remarkably level response, and barely had Lila spoken again than the cameras jostled, moving around in a way that made it difficult to see what was happening, though it sounded like Lila let out a little shriek.

The camera’s focused on a young woman with purple in her dark hair as she yelled, “How dare you talk about my brother that way! You’re not worthy of the bottom of his shoes!”

Rather creative, as far as insults went.

Jagged Stone saw fit to introduce the girl as Luka Couffaine’s younger sister, who had been mentioned on the dossier Nathalie had prepared on the “boyfriend.” And identified their mother as a former bandmate of his.

Gabriel let out a disgusted sigh. Of all the riff-raff Adrien could consort with, he chose someone close to a disaster of a man like Jagged Stone. That certainly explained why the rocker was involved.

Lila’s desperate claims that Luka Couffaine was courting Marinette Dupain-Cheng, though interesting, were quickly refuted.

And then Kagami Tsurugi spoke, a complete falsehood as Gabriel had not been aware of this supposed boyfriend before Adrien took his Instagram account rogue the previous evening. He would have to find out if she was being misled or intentionally lying to damage his image.

He frowned at Mlle. Dupain-Cheng’s allegations of sexual impropriety toward Adrien by Lila, glancing toward Nathalie. “Have HR investigate that.”

The cameras jostled again as Lila childishly threw herself at the girl. When they focused, Lila was on the ground, a woman in a smart business skirt suit looking down at her with a bored look on her face.

Nathalie started typing notes on her tablet as the woman, apparently M. Stone’s lawyer, outlined a list of charges against Lila. Her fingers stopped at Lila’s accusation—which, while twisted, was technically not entirely a lie.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes. He had miscalculated, using this girl. She was far too much a loose cannon, clearly, out only for herself. He had known that, of course, but thought her controllable, someone who would not bite the hand that fed her.

“Have HR fire her immediately. Gabriel social media should put out a statement announcing that, stating an investigation will be made into the sexual assault claims.”

More drama unfolded on the TV, the situation interrupted by the inept principal of the school. Lila’s attempts at getting Mlle. Couffaine in trouble were cut off by the lawyer, who announced further charges based on the defamation and attempted assault against M. Couffaine.

He watched, stewing, as a touching goodbye took place between his son and the other boy, as they exchanged pet names, even.

Truly, if this was a performance, much had gone into it in under 24 hours. It left him uneasy.

The paparazzi continued filming as Mlle. Tsurugi left, as Jagged Stone tried to coax his ridiculous crocodile out of the limo, as Adrien and Luka flirted further, as Lila shrieked and tried to interrupt through what would have likely been violence if not for the snapping crocodile taking offense to her.

Her ire turned to Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, whose large father stepped in front of her as a shield, before she was scolded by the principal and ordered into the school.

Lila’s last attempt to turn matters in her favor, claiming Marinette was a bully, was laughed off by Jagged Stone.

The press swarmed them, calling out questions that were largely inane at best, though the one questioning the relationship between Mlle. Dupain-Cheng and Mlle. Tsurugi caught Gabriel’s attention.

“I think a call to Mme. Tsurugi shortly will be in our best interests, perhaps,” he murmured.

“I’ll add it to your schedule, sir.”

He was impressed when his son shut down the reporters, asserting his right as a minor not to be filmed. The boy had jumped to defend Mlle. Dupain-Cheng from a question regarding the “leaked” text messages, confirming he released them himself.

Ending his association with Lila Rossi was necessary, particularly if she was foolish enough to leave such damning evidence to be released.

The drama moved into the school, where the cameras would not follow, and Gabriel stood.

“You will watch through a butterfly?” Nathalie asked.

He only nodded in response as he moved past.

Gabriel didn’t transform until he was safely in his lair, ignoring the reproachful look from Nooroo. He quickly sent an Akuma out toward the school, letting it hover so he could get a better picture.

What he found was… boring. The group including Adrien and Mlle. Dupain-Cheng were seated outside the principal’s office, waiting on something. The girl herself was half-asleep against her mother.

Movement and anger caught his attention. A woman was stalking across the courtyard, then up the stairs. She marched right to Mme. Bustier’s room and started yelling… in Italian.

He guessed this was Lila Rossi’s mother.

The argument spilled into the open-air hallway, the rage from both of them potent Akuma possibilities—though he preferred not to use the younger Rossi any longer.

The Akuma was noticed, he realized, when shock and horror assailed him from all around. The Akuma dipped lower, drawn by the tumult, only to be captured.

Lila Rossi’s mind was a dungeon of grudges and entitlement, filthy and haughty. It always had been, but the sheer narcissism of her inflated self-import was cloying in a sickening way.

Before he could even begin to speak to her, though, pain assailed his senses, and he was abruptly aware that his connection had been severed. When he had his senses back, he realized his Akuma had been captured in a jar. He didn’t know what had led to that, but the emotions he felt were even more promising than the Rossis’.

The guilt and horror and anger of Alya Césaire was so potent he sent the Akuma beating against the glass to try to reach her, to no avail—it was only as strong as a simple butterfly. He couldn’t Akumatize her, no matter how powerful she would be. He couldn’t send out another Akuma, not with one already out, and Nathalie wasn’t strong enough for another try at Scarlet Hawkmoth, though this was the perfect occasion for it.

Before long, the Akuma was shut in darkness, and was thus useless.

He snarled in frustration, letting his transformation fall. Nooroo only regarded him silently.

Useless.

Only the mundane was left to him—a call to Mme. Tsurugi, after he’d calmed.

It would be hours, the Akuma long since purified by Ladybug, before he’d realize he could have recalled the power and sent out another.

No amount of railing at Nooroo would give him that opportunity back—and the kwami only murmured cheekily, “You didn’t ask” when Gabriel demanded to know why he hadn’t recommended it.

--

Marinette felt her phone buzz on her lap and snuck a peek at it.

Kagami: Are we dating now, too?

She could feel the heat rush to her face. A coughing fit overtook her. She only vaguely aware of what was going on around her, until a cup of water was pushed in her hand and she found herself in the hallway with Adrien.

He looked concerned, so she silently showed him her phone.

Another text had come in, as it turned out.

Kagami: M. Agreste called my mother. She wishes to know the answer to the question from that reporter.

To her surprise, he quirked a cheeky grin, his eyes lighting up. “Oh, you should.”

He was going to be the death of her.

[carmenlire]

Higher than the Big Trees Ch. 20

read on ao3

Alec slips the cufflinks through his jacket, giving his sleeves a brief tug. Looking in the mirror, he likes what he sees.

It’s not an unusual sight-- fuck knows that Alec has an entire section dedicated to formal wear. Everything from tuxedos and more adventurous suits to slacks, blazers, and a dozen classic suits in black and similarly neutral colors.

His look today wouldn’t be amiss on Wall Street. His modern fit suit is hand tailored to perfection. His silk button down is in a snowy white, offering a beautiful contrast between the pitch black of the jacket and pants. His Tom Ford belt gleams subtly and his oxfords shine.

As Alec goes back into his walk in closet, he flips his collar up. He has a business meeting with one of his sponsors today, hence the extra effort, and truth be told he doesn’t really mind. There’s something to be said for his sweaters and jeans but Alec enjoys dressing up on occasion.

How fortunate for him that he picked a career where there’s always a gala or awards show or party.

His tie rack is teeming with bow ties and ties in a hundred different colors and patterns. Alec forgoes the more adventurous options-- there’s a light blue one with penguins on it that he usually wears at least once during the winter-- choosing instead a dark maroon tie.

He starts tying a Half Windsor Knot on autopilot as he moves out of his closet and back into his bedroom. His meeting is slated to start at nine and it’s half seven now.

With one last look in the mirror and a half-assed effort to tame his already messy hair, he grabs his phone, wallet, and keys and heads out into the penthouse. He takes the leather portfolio that has some reports and information his lawyer had put together with him.

He has the place to himself-- Jace is at work and Izzy wanted to spend the morning at Uptown Java, something about wanting to read one of her medical books.

As he walks to the elevator, he checks his phone. He sees a text message from Magnus and unconsciously starts to smile. It’s Wednesday morning and this will be the third day that Magnus is out of the country. While Alec had thought that things might fizzle out a little this week as the physical distance between them grew, he was pleasantly surprised to see that they talk just as much, if not more, than when they’re both in the same city.

While there are long periods between texts, they’ve kept up the same thread since yesterday afternoon. It’s something about the merits and pitfalls of public transportation and Alec chuckles in the elevator as he reads Magnus’s tale about accidentally shutting his jacket in a taxi door as he was being dropped off from a night out-- and not realizing until the driver started leaving.

Dave isn’t due to arrive for another half an hour and with that in mind, Alec walks a few blocks over to the closest Starbucks. The line is almost to the door and he messes around on his phone while he waits, unobtrusive.

It never fails to surprise him. Alec’s been in secluded boutiques and been mobbed but New York barely bats an eye most of the time. Oh, he still meets fans regularly wherever he goes, but he can also do normal things. He can stand in line at Starbucks and not worry that he’ll cause a scene.

As he thinks about how lucky he is to live in the city, he guiltily thinks about the internet snafu with Magnus a couple of days ago.

He didn’t have an excuse. While it was early as shit-- not even six in the morning yet-- Alec had been awake, training with Jace. They’d just finished their five mile race, Alec winning, when he’d walked over to his bag. Taking a few gulps of water, he’d heard his phone start vibrating. It’d been far too early for anyone to be calling him and as he’d seen Magnus’s name come up on the screen, he’d been curious. He knew that Magnus was flying out today but he hadn’t thought it was so early.

Jace had sent him a quizzical look as he’d picked up the phone, swiping to accept the call. Alec had mouthed Magnus and Jace had raised his brows, smirking.

Rolling his eyes, he’d turned away and talked to Magnus as he waited to board his flight. They'd talked for almost forty minutes and it had been chill. There’d been a few silent stretches where neither one had anything to say and hadn’t thought of a new topic yet and it hadn’t felt awkward.

Really, it made Alec content. They were both just happy to relax on the line with each other. Halfway through the phone call, though, Alec had been a little stunned to realize that he wasn’t following Magnus on anything. Especially since Magnus followed him, apparently.

He’d thrown the phone on speaker and Jace had been all ears at being the first to know what Alec’s new friend sounded like. Thankfully, Magnus had realized he was on speaker pretty quick and there hadn’t been any potential blackmail on the phone call for Jace to commit to memory.

Alec had went to Twitter first, following and liking a few tweets. His profile picture looked like it was taken in an office, dark wood walls serving as the background. He had a few thousand followers and Alec liked the mix of trivia, mundane observations, and photos.

Instagram was the same, though Alec couldn’t resist commenting on a few posts. When Magnus had told him that he regularly practiced yoga and was actually a certified instructor, Alec had almost swallowed his tongue. It was one thing just to be told that, however, and quite something else to see Magnus doing a One Handed Tree Pose (he looked it up) in nothing but form fitting black boxer briefs.

It was obvious that Magnus kept in shape but seeing him post a few workout videos not only got Alec a little hot under the collar, but genuinely made him interested in working out together. While he liked to work out alone, he also enjoyed having a partner. Alec thinks that there could be a little friendly competition going on between them and it’d be fun to see just how evenly matched they were.

Alec orders and pays with little fanfare, still marveling at how stupid he’d been. Or, not even stupid-- he’d just been oblivious for the first time in years.

Alec knows that his life is under a microscope, that the daily minutiae that is deeply uninteresting about everyone else is fascinating when it’s about him. He should’ve foreseen that his fans-- smart as hell and twice as tenacious-- would immediately noticed that he followed someone on not only one, but two platforms.

Alec might dedicate a lot of time to his fans but he’s also intensely private when it counts. He follows less than a thousand people and rarely adds to the number. His fans hadn’t wasted a minute.

After hanging up with Magnus, Alec had gone right back to working out with Jace who had mock scowled at him for taking so long. He’d just shrugged, a little helpless, and Jace had just shaken his head, clapping him on the back as they took their positions to spar a little.

When Jace had finally finished with him, he’d flopped down next to the mats and asked Jace to toss his phone over to him. Jace had gone over to their shit and in true brother fashion had unlocked his phone, scrolling through his notifications. He always acted like a kid, as if Alec wasn’t perfectly aware of what he signed up for when he asked Jace the favor but he just laid on the floor, catching his breath while Jace invaded his privacy.

After a minute or two Jace had handed the phone over, merely saying, “I never get used to how many notifications you have.”

Alec wasn’t in the mood to deal with it, so he’d just opened his messages, confirming lunch plans with Izzy and getting caught up on a few emails and calls.

He’d finally checked his phone in the early afternoon after lunch and had been surprised at the number of engagements. Even for him, it was high. When he’d tapped into the apps and seen the root of the damage, though, he’d wanted to kick himself.

He should’ve known.

He’d texted Magnus as soon as he put the pieces together, hoping that his few moments messing around on social media wouldn’t be the end of things between them. Alec’s very cognizant of the fact that his life isn’t for anyone and he’d promised Magnus discretion two weeks ago. This was the very definition of indiscreet.

He’d sweated it out, knowing that Magnus was still flying. He’d spent a couple of hours preoccupied, distracting himself with fine tuning the song he and Catarina had worked on. Thankfully, Magnus had understood and he’d ended up abandoning his song for almost an hour as he texted Magnus in a flurry.

Alec had taken the rest of the afternoon afterwards, messing around on his piano until the sun started fading and he was playing more by feel than sight. He’d finished the day cooking dinner for the three of them and Clary, retiring back to his bedroom by eight and falling asleep reading.

Alec’s pleased to realize that his writer’s block is officially over. All of those months of trying to string two sentences together, not finding the right chords or note runs and it seems to be a thing of the past. He’s not churning them out but he’s making steady progress. In addition to the collab with Cat and his song tentatively titled Angel, he has two or three others that are brewing in the back of his mind.

He’d really just been fucking around on his piano, a Steinway & Sons K-132. It had been one of his first large purchases and it’d been ages since he’d had time to play for fun, trying out chords and arrangements or playing some of his favorite pieces for pure, simple enjoyment.

The past few days had been quiet, especially without Magnus to potentially see. He’s spent that time writing half a dozen songs. While he wasn’t concentrating too much on the content-- really he was just writing whatever came to mind-- the tone was undeniable.

His last album had racked up the awards for being gritty, dark. He’d written about the price of fame, about one night stands and one city lovers and jaded ennui. There’d been one or two softer songs-- one he’d collaborated with another artist for, another that he’d written with Jace and Clary in mind-- but overall, An Arrow in the Dark had been cynical and cutting with an overlay of sensuality that the public had loved.

So far, this album looked to be forming as the total opposite. The songs were softer, sweeter, and Alec couldn’t help but notice that he was drawing on these burgeoning feelings inside him for source material. He thought of how easy things were with Magnus, how much he was enjoying making a new friend and learning about an incredibly interesting man. Then there were those fucking butterflies that wouldn’t leave him alone when they touched accidentally or he learned something else entirely endearing about Magnus.

He’d say Magnus was his muse but their arrangement was too platonic for that. You couldn’t write an entire album about a friend, after all. He refuses to look too closely at the fact that the only real thing that's changed to break his block is meeting Magnus. He doesn't think he could handle it-- not with everything else the man brings out in him.

As Alec walks back to the front of his building, he sees Dave pull up right on time. Dave gets out and heads to the rear door of the Lincoln town car, nodding as Alec approaches.

“Right on time, Alec. That’s what I like to see.”

Mock affronted, Alec holds out one of his coffee cups as he asks, “When am I ever not on time?”

Dave doesn’t respond, just hums as he accepts the drink and takes an appreciative sniff.

“Vanilla latte, my favorite.”

“You’ve been my driver for almost eight years. I would hope I’d have your order memorized by now,” he says, grinning.

Alec climbs into the back seat and spends a few minutes relaxing. The upcoming meeting wasn’t anything intense but his lawyer, Underhill, wanted to pin some numbers down and Alec wanted to brush up on the details before they walked into the boardroom.

He opens the portfolio, taking out a few handouts and skimming them as a refresher. He’d gone over everything when it was first sent but it never hurts to review things one more time.

Alec had a healthy relationship with sponsors. There were those for his tours but also a handful of companies that wanted his name and his face on their products. This morning’s meeting was to discuss a renewal of his Nike contract and Alec was looking forward to it. While the company might be sweating a little, Alec and Underhill had already talked things through and knew that they’d be walking out of the room partners for another two years regardless of Nike's offer today.

Traffic is brutal as ever in the early morning rush hour and Alec almost spills his coffee twelve times, taking ill-timed sips just when traffic slows to a stop. Still, Dave knows what he’s doing and they make it to the corporate offices with ten minutes to spare.

He gets out, without assistance, and waves Dave off with a mutual confirmation to return at two.

As he walks towards the glass and steel doors, he sees a familiar figure walking towards him.

“Hey, Alec,” Underhill says as he nears. His five thousand dollar suit looks impeccable and he look ready to do business.

“Morning, man. How’s Adrian,” Alec asks as the two move in for a handshake.

Underhill turns towards the doors, smiling and opening the one closest to him, gesturing for Alec to go through first as he answers.

“Adrian’s great. We have a vacation planned for next month in Aspen. He’s already got a dozen trails mapped out for us to try.”

“Yeah? Are you still going through with it?”

The two of them share a knowing look as the secretary calls for her boss.

Looking both giddy and unnerved, Underhill smiles. “Of course. I’ve had the ring for six damn months. I think it’s time that I actually used it.”

Alec claps him on the back just as one of Nike’s lawyers meets them in the reception area. There are a round of handshakes before they’re being guided to one of the conference rooms.

The room is utilitarian. Four walls of glass show a large conference table where six people are already sitting.

Underhill has shed his easy going demeanor. Instead, he looks serious, ready to do business and get Alec the best deal possible.

There are no pleasantries and as the three of them take their seats, Alec opens his notes up, face impassive.

He may not have gone to college, but he’s no slouch. He knows that Underhill has his best interests at heart-- has for four years now-- but you don’t get to be in Alec’s position without being screwed over a time or two, in both his personal and professional life. Alec spends not an inconsiderable time reading up on a variety of topics on a routine basis. Among those are music, business, and law. He may not be ready for his LSATS but he’s read through every piece of business that crosses him. The terms they’ve offered are a fair counterpoint to what Nike had initially given them and the next few hours promise to be lively if nothing else.

Underhill remains cool under pressure, no less intimidating for being one against six. While Underhill had his own firm with a range of junior partners, interns, and paralegals, he was always Alec's representative.

The room breaks after a few hours, reaching a bit of a stalemate. The opposing team offers it as an excuse for a quick bite to eat but when Alec’s and Underhill’s eyes meet, they know the truth.

They're going to the other partners to see if they can accept the new deal.

The two of them go to a close cafe where they each get a smoothie, drinking them as they walk around a park across the street. They return to the room when the thirty minutes are up.

Everyone sits down and it’s quiet for a minute before the partner in charge of this deal stands, buttoning his suit jacket, before reaching a hand out first to Alec and then Underhill.

“I’m pleased to say that the other partners agreed that the proffered terms are acceptable. We’ve reached an agreement and are pleased to announce that you’ll be partnered with our company for the next two years, continuing our contract without issue."

As he hears the words, Alec stands and there’s a few minutes as he and Underhill shake everyone’s hands. Alec is given a Montblanc pen and scrawls his signature a dozen times on a contract as thick as a book.

Just a few minutes later, they’re leaving. They wait until they reach the sidewalk before looking at each other and laughing, half relief and half pure amusement.

“Our terms were hard and I have to say that I’m a little surprised that Nike accepted them. You’re getting eighteen percent more up front with a two percent rise in your kickbacks. They must really like you.”

Alec shrugs, playing coy. Though really, he’s surprised at their luck, too.

“You know how much buzz they got for signing an openly gay man to represent their company. Those commercials went viral as soon as they were released. I am proud of you, though! They definitely thought we were going to back down first.”

Underhill shakes his head. “If only they knew that we would have accepted what they offered last week.”

Laughing, Alec says, “Another win for us.”

He takes a step back and looks at his watch, sees Underhill do the same.

Underhill waves his briefcase a little, saying, “I’ve got to head back to the office and file these. Plus, I think I’m going to try to meet Adrian for a late lunch. I’ll talk to you later but you should be good for the next few weeks on everything from my end.”

Alec nods, taking out his phone. “Sounds great man. Thanks for today-- you crushed it.”

The two of them smile at each other before heading off in opposite directions. Looking down at his phone, Alec sees that they let out about forty minutes early and he calls Dave to let him know that he’s not needed.

Alec takes the opportunity to do a little shopping. He’s not the most avid shopper but once in a while when he has some free time, he likes to kill some by poking into stores. He usually just ends up buying stuff for everyone else but it’s a nice way to spend an afternoon every six months.

He ends up buying a necklace for Izzy and phone case for Jace who insists on never using one despite the fact that he’s had to replace his iphone at least twice this year alone.

It’s calming, really. Alec spends most of his time with people, though he gets his fair share of time solo. There’s just something about walking around a city alone-- even his hometown-- that makes him feel like just Alec, anonymous. A free agent.

He’s walking down the street, heading towards the subway station, when he sees a cameraman headed his way. Sighing internally, he resolutely keeps walking.

“Hey man, it’s TMZ. How are you doing today?"

Alec smiles but it’s his public smile. Which isn’t to say that he doesn’t genuinely enjoy some interviews and promo. But sometimes there are certain reporters, or companies, that he’s not a fan of and so he has to use his public persona a bit more.

“I’m good, man. What about you,” he responds easily.

“Can’t complain. What do you have there?” He aims his camera at the few bags in Alec’s hand. There’s one from a jeweler’s, another from a small boutique, and a last bag from an independent bookstore around the corner.

Shrugging, Alec says, “Nothing much, just doing a little shopping.”

“Who are you shopping for, Lightwood? Do you have a special someone that you’re buying gifts for?”

Alec looks at him drolly. “My sister.”

TMZ guy nods along, still looking like he’s going to get the scoop. “We heard you followed someone on Instagram this week. What about him?”

Inside, Alec seethes but he keeps the bland expression pasted on his face as he continues walking. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I think his name is Magnus? He’s a professor?”

Hoping the camera doesn’t pick up on his clenching jaw, Alec returns, “He’s a friend I met a few weeks ago.”

“Oh? Is that all there is or should we be worried that the music scene’s most eligible bachelor is finally taken?”

Alec smiles, though it feels more like a grimace. “No, I’m still single and unattached. There’s nothing going on there except friendship.” No matter how much I might want that to change.

The reporter looks at him like he’s digging for more information before turning to another topic. “What about your music? With your tour wrapping up, do you already have plans for your next album?”

Here, Alec can relax. The tension eases out of him at the familiar question. This, he knows. He grins a little but still remains facing forward as he approaches a crosswalk.

“I’m just in the studio seeing what we have. Every album has a different vibe and I’m having fun coming up with the concept for number seven.”

“Can you tease anything?”

Alec thinks for a minute. The words are on the tip of his tongue but he bites them back as he thinks about possible repercussions. In the end though, he decides to go for it. Even if he ends up completely scrapping what he has so far, this is where he’s at right now. Plus, it’s never too early to start building buzz.

“I think this album will be the best I’ve ever written.”

“Yeah? Why is that?”

“I’m experiencing something new for the first time in ages and I can’t help but write about what I’m going through. I think this album will explore a source bank I’ve never tapped into before.”

“What’s new with you?”

Alec declines to answer as the reporter asks a few more leading questions. After a minute, the TMZ guy backs off, throwing out a goodbye.

Alec returns it and continues on his way home.

He makes it back to his apartment twenty minutes later. The sun is starting to dip in the sky and the penthouse is washed in golden light. He sees Izzy on her phone in the living room. She looks up as he enters.

“Hey, hermano.”

“Hey, Iz.”

He tosses one of the bags at her and she stills for a moment before sitting up and opening it. When she takes out the necklace, she studies it for a few minutes. It’s a double tiered piece. The top is a choker but the second layer falls down, several inches longer. It’s gold with different colored stones every few centimeters. It’s colorful and unique and perfectly his sister.

Izzy must agree because she’s grinning. As Alec nears her, she leans over and hugs his middle.

“Thanks, Alec. I love it and can’t wait to show it off. You didn’t have to, though, you know that right?”

Alec just looks at her. “That’s half the fun of shopping for me. You know that. I saw this in the storefront and felt like spending money. It works out for both of us.”

Alec sits on the other end of the couch and the two of them relax in the quiet for a little while, both on their phones. It’s a companionable silence and one that Alec misses when he’s on the road.

After a while, though, Izzy looks up, excited. “You know what we should do?”

Alec doesn’t answer, remaining engrossed on a game on his phone.

Izzy kicks him and he groans before asking, “What.”

“We should go out tonight!”

lec must not look enthused with the idea because she glares at him. “What? It’s been a month since you last went out-- when’s the last time that happened?”

Alec opens his mouth to argue but abruptly closes it, realizing that she’s right. Alec might like to stay home with his book or piano but he also likes having a good time and usually goes out at least once a week. There are periods when he’s parties for days on end, passing out just to go out again a few hours later. Huh. This is different.

As he thinks, Alec just pictures Magnus. They’d only hung out a few times but any time spent with him was valuable and there was no contest between talking to Magnus or going out to the latest club.

A friend shouldn’t affect him like this. A friend shouldn’t change his patterns so thoroughly and so gently that Alec doesn’t even notice-- doesn’t even care.

Decision made, Alec looks over at Izzy and nods. “Alright, then. We’ll go out. Is everyone going?”

Rolling her eyes, Izzy stands up. “What do you think I was doing on my phone? Clary has an art class that runs late tonight but Jace can go.” She smiles as she starts walking toward her bedroom. “It’ll just be the three of us, like old times. Now I have to go get ready. We’ll head out at ten?”

She doesn’t wait for confirmation, just goes to her room, shutting the door with a resounding click.

Alec finishes the text he was writing to Magnus, relaxing against the couch as he presses send.

It had been ages since just the three of them went out. There was always a date or Clary or friends or it was for a special occasion. While Alec hadn’t planned on going out tonight, the idea doesn’t sound hideous. He’ll go, have a few drinks, dance with a few people.

Maybe this is what he needs. He needs to shake Magnus. Maybe if he meets someone else, he won’t be so hung up on Magnus’s eyes and his intelligence and his everything. He needs a distraction.

Maybe if he gets laid Magnus won’t get under his skin so damn much.

Alec stands up, stretching his back.

If Magnus is just his friend then by God Alec will get this thing out of his system one way or another. Something's gotta give and Alec is a master at distraction when he needs to be.

That thought in mind, he heads to his room.

He needs to get ready.

[aion-rsa]

The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 2 Review: Acheron Part 2

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This The Walking Dead review contains spoilers.

The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 2

So far in season 11 of The Walking Dead, the biggest weapon in the arsenal of the survivors hasn’t been a gun, but the brain. Specifically, the power of observation. Princess used it to good effect to nearly get the group out of Commonwealth processing prison, and now Yumiko is taking the information Princess and others have gathered on the people around them, churns it through her lawyer-trained mind, and comes up with a line of patter so effective it makes Ezekiel’s summation of lead guard Mercer (who I can only call the Pumpkin King due to the color of his armor) look like me taking notes on a television show.

Yumiko, Princess, Ezekiel, and Eugene were all put into a no-win situation, and figured out a way to get out of it with everyone intact and at least as sane as they were going into it. The subterranean survivors, when faced with a difficult choice to save or abandon a member of their group, took the easy way out and decided that some people can be discarded when their usefulness has ended. Or, more accurately, when the process of saving that person puts the group at risk.

The cliffhanger ending of “Acheron Part 1” echoes one of the show’s most polarizing (read: bad) choices, season 6’s fake-out death of Glenn. However, rather than forcing Maggie to do the physically impossible by sliding under the world’s tallest dumpster, the show takes an easier way out and has her just disappear under the crashed subway and crawl along the undercarriage until she finds an escape hatch to pound on and willing ears to hear her struggling for readmission to the Yellow line service to DC from Alexandria. This way works better, because unlike season 6, there’s not a drawn out psyops campaign designed to make us all believe that Maggie is really dead, it’s just a cliffhanger between two episodes and we just saw another person, Daryl, do the same act of slithering under the train to chase after his dog.

The second part of Jim Dowling’s episode works well because it’s so competently set up by the first half, particularly in the subterranean scenes. Negan is given a choice between risking himself for someone he knows wants to kill him or walking away and letting her find her own way out of the situation. He chooses the method he chooses, and when Maggie returns to confront him, he points out that she threatened to kill him not 5 minutes prior to that moment, so why would he break a sweat to save her? Once again, Angela Kang and Jim Barnes put forward a frustratingly good point for the character.

Read more

TV

The Walking Dead: Who Is Mercer?

By Alec Bojalad

TV

The Walking Dead Season 11: Yumiko Twist Explained

By Alec Bojalad

It’s put himself at risk for someone he doesn’t like versus Maggie making the choice to allow Gage to die in a horrible manner to avoid potentially putting the group at risk. She leaves him, locked behind an emergency door, to get the full Captain Rhodes treatment while everyone watches, horrified and helpless. Except for Maggie, of course; she could have chosen to try to save him and didn’t. Negan knows that no matter what he does, he won’t change Maggie’s mind, even if he is the reason anyone from Alexandria survived the Whisperers. Maggie leaving Gage to die, on the surface, feels like much the same choice Negan made at the burning of Alexandria; do you try to stop something and blow your mission or allow a person/people to die in service of a greater good? Or, perhaps, allow someone to die because saving them might be too inconvenient.

Inconvenient or not, it’s a harrowing moment. Jackson Pace hasn’t gotten a lot to do on the show throughout his time, aside from hassle Carl and Lydia, but he does a solid job of portraying Gage’s desperate betrayal in the last moments of his life, and the defiance with which he plunges his knife into his own chest is a pretty memorable way to go out. Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan are always solid, and there’s just enough bravado in Maggie’s reasoning behind not saving Gage that it’s a little see-through that she’s not quite as blasé about letting him die as she seems.

In the Commonwealth clearing house portion of the episode, Josh McDermitt does a phenomenal job as Eugene, and Kang and Barnes do good work in scattering little bits throughout his section of the episode to show just how the Commonwealth breaks people down during the intake process via gaslighting Eugene while he waits on the bench as Yumiko and Princess disappear into the ether. McDermitt does a great job of handling Eugene’s embarrassed admission when talking to Mercer, and Eugene’s nervous patter grows faster and more insistent as he becomes more and more mortified by his admission, and by the truths about himself he has to tell in the process.

It’s essentially a take to camera with a few reaction shots, but it’s really effective and smart of Dowling to sit back and just let McDermitt do his thing without much interruption as he does with Gage’s horrific death and Daryl’s hero moment near the end of the episode. Certainly, less can be more, and when you have a good performer or a good special effects crew doing their thing, it’s always a good idea not to get too cute. Steady and solid, with a good handle of the performers, and good pacing throughout the episode, building to their respective climaxes steadily.

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Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Escape one bad situation by the skin of your teeth or by baring your soul, and stumble headlong into something else that might be more dangerous. Maggie, Negan, and the rest know what they’re walking into by the end of the episode, but Yumiko and company? Uncharted territory. At least with an armed mob approaching you threateningly, you know where you stand.

The post The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 2 Review: Acheron Part 2 appeared first on Den of Geek.

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The Weekend Warrior 12/13/19: JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL, BLACK CHRISTMAS, RICHARD JEWELL, BOMBSHELL and more!

Woooooooo!!! We’re starting to get to the end of the year with only three more weekends of new movies before we’re into 2020, which on one hand, has to be better than 2019, but maybe not in terms of box office with no “Avengers” or “Star Wars” movie in sight.

Sony Pictures is releasing the second-to-last sequel of the weekend, JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL, which brings back all of your faves, including Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, and introduces a new character played by Awkwafina. I reviewed the movie over at The Beat, and also discussed its box office prospects

I also will have a review of Sophia Takal’s horror remake BLACK CHRISTMAS (Universal) over at The Beat, but that’s mainly interesting since it’s the second remake of the ‘70s horror movie, this one produced by Blumhouse.  I really liked Sophia Takal’s previous movie Always Shine, so I’m definitely interested to see what she does with a mainstream horror film.

You can read my reviews of both those movies over at The Beat, although the Black Christmas review is embargoed until Thursday night… make of that what you will. Plus you can read more about the three wide releases over at my weekly Box Office Preview.

One movie I haven’t reviewed over there is Clint Eastwood’s latest, RICHARD JEWELL (Warner Bros.), which stars Paul Walter Hauser as the famed Atlanta security guard who discovered a bomb in the city’s Centennial Park and was then accused of planting the bomb there to be seen as a hero. The movie also stars Sam Rockwell (as Richard’s lawyer), Kathy Bates (as Richard’s mother), Jon Hamm as the FBI guy who is after him and Olivia Wilde as the Atlanta reporter who first breaks the story about Jewell being a suspect. I’m going to try to write a mini-review for this one, but long and short of it, is that this is another really good movie from Eastwood, and if I get a chance, I will write more about it soon.

LIMITED RELEASES

There are a bunch of great movies coming out in limited release, some that will expand wider later in the month.

First and foremost is Jay Roach’s BOMBSHELL (Lionsgate), starring Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly and Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson, and if you know those names, then you might already realize that this film written by Charles Randolph (The Big Short) is about the Fox News sexual abuse scandal. Margot Robbie also stars in this one, as does John Lithgow as Roger Aisles, plus there’s lots of other great character actors in roles as people you might know from the news (both on camera and behind the scenes).  I was hoping to write a fuller review of this and maybe still will but didn’t have time before getting this column out. Regardless, this is a very intriguing and entertaining film (just like The Big Short) with fantastic performances by all. The movie will expand nationwide next Friday.

Josh and Ben Safdie are back with UNCUT GEMS (A24), starring Adam Sandler as a New York jewelry merchant who gets his hands on a rare South African gem, and then spends the entire movie trying to get it back after lending it out to star basketball player Kevin Garnett (playing himself). I wasn’t really a very big fan of the Safdies’ Good Time, which Millennial critics tend to cream all over, but Uncut Gems is definitely better even if it’s similarly manic. Sandler’s definitely good in the role, but awards-worthy? Not even close… I think this ia good movie being sold by people as a great movie, and I couldn’t disagree more. If you liked Good Time, you’ll probably like this, too. This will be nationwide on Christmas Day.

Terrence Malick is also back, continuing his amazingly prolific degree of filmmaking in his mid-70s with A HIDDEN LIFE (Fox SEarchlight), a three-hour drama about an Austrian farmer (August Diehl) who refuses to swear allegiance to Hitler as WWII begins, which first makes him a bit of a pariah in his rural community but eventually gets him thrown in prison for treason. Valerie Pachner is quite terrific as his wife, and the movie has some great smaller roles for Matthias Schoenaerts, the late Michael Nyqvist, Bruno Ganz and Jürgen Prochnow. If you’re a fan of Malick’s better films than

Kristen Stewart plays French New Wave actress Jean Seberg in Benedict Andrews’ SEBERG (Amazon), about how the actress got into a relationship with Hakim Jamal (played by Anthony Mackie), causing trouble for her career. The movie also stars Margaret Qualley (Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood), Jack O’Connell, Zazie Beetz and Stephen Root, and it will get a limited release this weekend.

Stephen and Robbie Amell star in Jeff Chan’s Code 8 (Elevation Pictures), Robbie playing Connor Reed, a guy with superpowers living in a world where those with powers are minimalized and living in poverty. In desperate need of money to help his ailing mother, Connor gets in with a powered thug named Garrett (played by his cousin, Stephen) to use his powers for elaborate heists. It’s a surprisingly good movie, mainly due to Jeff Chan’s ability to create a big movie on a seemingly limited budget.

You can check out the trailer and Chan’s original short film that inspired the feature below, and my interview with Robbie Amell will be on The Beat on Thursday sometime.

Steven Luke’s The Great War (Saban/Lionsgate), opening in select cities Fridays, takes place during the last days of WWI where a regiment of African-American “Buffalo Soldiers” are trapped behind enemy lines. When one escapes, he asked to join an all-white troop to find the survivors.s

An interesting doc, especially for lovers of dance, is Alla Kogvan’s documentary Cunningham (Magnolia), which uses 3D technology to explore the life and work of the late choreographer Merce Cunningham (who would be celebrating his centennial anniversary this year), combining archival footage with newly-created performances of Cunningham’s greatest work. This movie reminded me quite a bit of Wim Wenders’ doc Pina in that I enjoyed this, despite having zero to no interest in dance in general. It will open at the Film Forumin New York on Friday, as well as Film at Lincoln Centeruptown, the Royal in L.A, the Arclight in Sherman Oaks and Edwards Westpark 8 in Irvine.

Xavier Dolan’s latest film The Death and Life of John Donovan (Momentum), stars Kit Harington, Natalie Portman, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Thandie Newton, Jacob Tremblay and more. It’s about the relationship between a young actor and a TV star that takes place ten years after the latter’s death. It will open in select cities and On Demand.

Lastly, there’s Danny Abeckaser’s MAFIA drama Mob Town (Saban Films), starring David Arquette, Jennifer Esposito, Jamie-Lynn Sigler and PJ Byrne.

Also, next Monday, Trafalgar Releasing is releasing Gorillaz: Reject False Icons, a new concert doc about Damon Alban’s Blur spin-off group with comic artist Jamie Hewett.

STREAMING AND CABLE

Michael Bay’s action-comedy 6 UNDERGROUND (Netflix), starring Ryan Reynolds, will get a very limited release Weds. before debuting on the service on Friday. I really don’t know much about it other than it’s about six specialists come together to do stuff.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

This weekend, the Metrograph begins a fairly self-explanatory series called “Malick: The First Four Films” to coincide with the release of A Hidden Life (see above), although 2005’s The New World won’t screen until next weekend. Also, the theater also continues its annual “Holidays at Metrograph” series with Billy Wilder’s 1960 Oscar winner The Apartment screening Saturday and Sunday. Welcome To Metrograph: Redux continues with David Lean’s Brief Encounter  (1945) on Wednesday and Otto Premingers’ Bunny Lake is Missing  (1965) on Friday and Saturday. This week’s Late Nites at Metrograph  is David Lynch’s Dune (1984) while Playtime: Family Matinees is the 1992 The Muppet Christmas Carol.

ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE BROOKLYN (NYC)

Tonight’s “Weird Wednesday” is Blue Vengeance from 1989, while the weekend’s “Kids Camp” is last year’s animated The Grinch. On Monday evening is a 10thanniversary screening of Vernon Chatman’s Final Flesh. Tuesday’s “Terror Tuesday” is the original Black Christmas from 1974 (already sold out), and “Weird Wednesday” is the 1985 thriller Trancers, hosted by John Torrani.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

The Weds. Afternoon Classics matinee is The Thin Man (1934), starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, while Friday’s “Freaky Fridays” offering is the original 1933 James Whale movie The Invisible Man. The Weds/Thurs double feature is Todd Haynes’ Carol (2015) and Far from Heaven (2002) with DP Ed Lachman appearing on Weds (sorry, sold out!). Saturday and Sunday offers the Kiddee Matinee of A Christmas Story, as well as a special “Holiday Edition” of the New Bev’s Cartoon Club. Friday’s midnight is Tarantino’s own Reservoir Dogs, while Saturday midnight is the holiday horror film Don’t Open Till Christmas (1984). Monday’s Matinee is Bad Santa, starring Billy Bob Thornton and Monday night’s screening is Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander (1982).

FILM FORUM (NYC):

“Scorsese Non-Fiction” will continue through December 17 with screenings this week of Rolling Thunder Revue and Shine a Light, as well as another screening of A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American MoviesFriday, and screenings of the classics The Last Waltz and No Direction Home: Bob Dylan on Sunday.The 70th anniversary 4k restoration of Alec Guinness’ Kind Hearts and Coronets will continue through December 19 with screenings at 12:30 and 6:10pm each day. This weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is the Disney animated film The Aristocrats (1970).

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

After an encore screening of Auntie Mame (1958) on Thursday, the Egyptian will screen a David O. Russell hosted screening of Tourneur’s 1919 film The Broken Butterfly with musical accompaniment on Friday. Saturday night is “Retroformat 10thAnniversary” sponsored by the George Lucas Family Foundation, showing two hours of movies from the early 20thCentury with musical accompaniment. Saturday night is a Spike Jonze double feature of Being John Malkovich and Three Kings, while Adam Driver will continue his awards campaign run by appearing for a double feature of Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Storywith Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson.

AERO  (LA):

Terry Gilliam will be appearing in person on Friday night for a TRIPLE FEATURE (!!!) of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, Time Banditsand The Adventures of Baron Munchausen… which makes me really wish I lived in L.A. On Saturday, screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski will screen their new movie My Name is Dolemite along with Tim Burton’s Ed Wood  (1994). Edward Norton and Primal Fear  (1995) producer Hawk Koch will appear on Sunday afternoon for a double feature of the latter (in which Norton stars) along with Norton’s own new film, Motherless Brooklyn. Tuesday’s “Christmas Noir” Is Nicholas Ray’s debut TheyLive By Night (1949).

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

MOMI’s own Terrence Malick series ends this weekend with screenings of Voyage of Time: Life’s Journey on Friday and Sunday, The New World: Limited Releas Version on Saturday, as well as The Thin Red Line on Sunday evening. Monday, there is a free screening of Martin Scorsese’s Casino (1995) as part of “Martin Scorsese: Four Movies over Four Decades.” Saturday’s family matinee is Hiroyuki Morita’s 2002 film The Cat Returns, while John Cassavetes’ Gloria (1980) will screen on Sunday afternoon as part of the ongoing “Always on Sunday: Greek Film Series.”

MOMA  (NYC):

This week’s new series is called “The Wonders” and it’s the first American retrospective of writer-director Alice Rohrwacher and the actress Alba Rohrwacher. I’m really not that familiar with either although Rohrwacher’s Happy as Lazzaro last year was fairly well-received.Modern Matinees: Iris Barry’s History of Filmal so continues this week with Hamlet  (1920) today, Greed  (1924) tomorrow and a program called “Great Actresses of the Past 1911 – 1916” on Friday.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

Weekend Classics: May All Your Christmases be Noir will be screening Charles Laughton’s 1955 film The Night of the Hunter, starring Robert Mitchum;  Waverly Midnights: Spy Games will screen Hitchcock’s North by Northwest; and Late Night Favorites: Autumn 2019 will show Aliens and Eraserhead.

FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER (NYC):

Not much to report except that there will be an encore screening of the 2001 Korean blockbuster My Sassy Girl on Thursday afternoon.

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

Continuing its Nicolas Cage vintage series with 1991’s Zandalee on Wednesday, Barbet Schroeder’s Kiss of Death (1995) on Thursday and Sunday.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART  (LA):

[malecficlibrary]

Counting Lies by Inrainbowz

Part #6 of the In Any Other World - Malec AU series

Chapters: One-Shot Genre: Other AU Length: 5K - 10K Rating: Teen & Up Secondary Characters: Clary Fray, Izzy Lightwood, Jace Wayland, Luke Garroway, Maia Roberts, Maryse Lightwood, Max Lightwood, Ragnor Fell, Raphael Santiago, Robert Lightwood, Simon Lewis, Valentine Morgenstern Secondary Pairings: Raphael Santiago / Simon Lewis Themes: Alec POV, Angst, Break Up, Crime, Established Relationship, Family, Injured Alec, Injured Magnus, Injury, Lawyer, Relationship Milestones, Superhero, Unhappy Ending 

Summary:

49. Superhero and Villain AU

The city was torn apart by the fight between the mob families and the vigilantes, but Alec and Magnus were far away from all that. They were just two normal guys in a normal relationship.

Number of lies: 3

[normal-thoughts-official]

Magnus and Alec 3 hours after roleplay and fucking but also way too much backstory in which Alec is a mob and Magnus is his lawyer (with way too fitting suits) that just saved him from jail time for tax evasion

Magnus: let's do the exact same scenario again because I have another witty one liner that's just perfect for this

Alec: yeah and I want to recheck my (fake) shell companies, the 4th one doesn't really fit

ok but with magnus being his lawyer who just saved him what im picturing for this roleplay is that alec "thanks" him by giving him a good rough fucking like he wants, which in turn made me imagine alec being all "that gets you hot, doesn't it? knowing what i do? knowing i could do anything i wanted to you right now?" so basically what im saying is that they are doing roleplay inside the roleplay where they pretend alec is roughing him up when actually he is "rewarding" him for his work as a lawyer and tHAT is the roleplay. which is extremely convoluted and ridiculous so of course i fucking love it

also i picture magnus interrupting midway like "no wait say that line again i just thought of the perfect *chef's kiss* answer". alec, extremely amused and heart eyes because he loves him: "okay"

😍 im gonna make you my little bitch 🥰

[birdiethebibliophile]

What do you think jace, Alec, clary and Isabelle would be doing in an au where they're not shadowhunters, job wise?

Full disclosure I haven’t read the books or seen the show but I want to answer this anyways, entirely based on what I’ve seen from Tumblr and a quick google of their faces. Here goes.

Jace:  Right, he’s the undercut guy. WaIT NO THERE’S ANOTHER JACE WHICH ONE IS THIS ABORT ABORT THIS ONE LOOKS WAY EVILLER. First Jace looks like he’d be the secretary to a really prestigious defense lawyer. Second Jace looks like he’d be a mob vampire probably.

Alec:  Okay, he’s the nice gay guy played by Matthew Daddario who’s dating the cool warlock dude with the painted nails. I got this. He seems like he should be taking care of small, adorable beings, like animals, or maybe puppies. He’d also be a YouTuber on the side with a small but faithful following.

Clary:  Red-haired girl. Tbh she’s probably the prestigious defense lawyer First Jace works for. Also teaches kickboxing maybe. Gay.

Isabelle:  I honestly don’t have much here. I think I’ll go with Indiana Jones-style adventurous archaeologist. Or an international superspy. One of the two.

[kinkymagnus]

hey speaking of convoluted roleplay, personally i like playing with truth serum. and look, i’ve got three modes with truth serum (maximum angst, tender fluff, and KINKY SHIT) and we’re just gonna stick with the third one for now so this isn’t ten years long.

so like you know classic fun fake power dynamics scenario like (damn now i’ve got the whole “mob boss” alec on the mind fuck) boss/secretary or maid or some shit, or the hero/villain shit i’ve had brewing for like a year, or the dragon/prince stuff i’ve had for longer, or whatever, the point is magnus is tied up and helpless and being “”made”” to take it, trying not to “break” as alec drags orgasm after orgasm from him, except at some point in all his cute “struggling” and weak “denials” of how he shouldn’t do this, alec casts a truth spell or gives him something and when he rubs the head of his cock at magnus’s wet pussy and teases him, asks him what he wants, magnus chokes out a please, please fill me with your cock, i want it so bad, and whines and begs for him all flushed cheeks and humiliation at being such a slut ;) 

like this works in so many scenarios like magnus trying to get himself under control, or even to just make what he’s saying seem less desperate (”i need this” comes out as “i want this so badly”) and his face burning as alec whispers dirty things in his ear about what he could do to him and magnus can’t help the yeses and pleases that are torn from his lips, can’t help how he sobs out thank you, thank you, oh, fuck, when alec slides into him (and sure they slip up and magnus can’t help but whine i love you or fuck i’m so glad we did this but honestly it’s just another sweet reminder you know?) 

and like even just in different specific roleplay scenes like. mob boss alec and lawyer magnus or even just you know in some way magnus getting bent over a big scary mobster’s desk and getting teased and examined and licked until he’s sobbing, told how pretty he is, pinning him down firmly so he can’t struggle or squirm away (there are many potential roleplay scenarios just specifically with mobster alec actually like. “paying off a debt” or “teaching him a lesson” lol) and then alec slaps his ass and asks him to say exactly what he wants and magnus tries to say whatever his “lines” are (you know like just let me go or i’ll pay you i swear or whatever you want to go with i don’t know) but instead all he can do is whine fuck me, please, make me cum on your cock and alec laughs at him and he’s embarrassed but so so wet??? amazing. or like alec “”threatening”” him you know but magnus is just like oh fuck i want you so bad i want you to pin me down and fuck me hard and alec’s like well i guess we could work out....an alternate arrangement ;)) (i picture these dorks not being incredibly good at those scenes bc they keep making cheesy puns or winking or slipping up with an i love you or a gentle kiss lmao but honestly it’s sweet and who cares about immersion when you’re having fun) 

boss alec pinning his secretary or his maid against a wall and teasing him, rubbing his clit through the thin fabric of his skirt or slipping a hand under his shirt and magnus melting into it and wanting to kiss him so badly, like, alec bending him over the desk or taking him against the wall and when it kicks in magnus is just babbling about how much he loves alec’s cock and alec’s hands and alec and alec asks him if he’s a little whore and magnus Very Eagerly is like yes yes i’m a whore i’m your little slut sir and i mean alec just has to reward honesty, doesn’t he? 

also idk why but i just imagined a sorta bad boy alec/nerdy magnus vibe? like. twi malec perhaps, and who knew “””shy””” nerdy lil magnus was such a kinky slut when you got to him open up a little? for some reason i’m imagining seelie magic in this one. lmao like this feels more au than roleplay (although it could just be REALLY lore heavy or some shit) but like they’re college students. alec’s a sexy Bad Boy with a cool leather jacket and magnus is like a quiet nerd but they go to some seelie party and truth shenanigans (magical truth or dare gone horribly wrong? just seelie pranks making the place of partying a no-lies zone, and then either magnus blurts something out or alec blurts something out or they hook up normally (magnus feeling Weirdly Bold, bonus if one of them did blurt something out because of the truth thing but didn’t realize) and then when they start hooking up they’re like “hm mayhaps something is up” lmao fuck idk 

ANYWAY dragon alec pinning “”””””””innocent””””””””” prince(ess for some fun feminization kink perhaps?) magnus to his bed, exploring his body and stripping off his layers of clothes one by one, magnus helpless and loving it underneath him, all oh we shouldn’t, i shouldn’t, and half-protesting even as he sighs and melts into every touch and whines and shivers with pleasure, and like, hey, CONVOULTED ROLEPLAY WITH A STORYLINE, he’s supposed to be an ~innocent virgin~ or you know ~wait for his prince charming~ or whatever and here he is getting fucked and ruined by the dragon guarding his tower instead, letting a dragon kiss his tits and spread his legs and lick his clit and fill his cunt with that Big Dragon Dick which just adds to the whole humiliation, pretty “”innocent”” little princess lifting his skirts and begging a dragon to raw him hard) and then, you know, bing bang boom truth spell and suddenly all those little half-protests and bitten back whines of pleasure (what if someone sees? and i should call the guards and alec laughs all low like wouldn’t you like that, if your guards came in and saw you like this, saw me about to stuff your pretty cunt full--go ahead, sweetling, call the guards, we’ll give them a show--) morph into very loud slutty moans of pleasure and begging breathlessly for alec to do all sorts of filthy things and even magnus looks shocked at some of the things he’s saying 

actually that was supposed to be mostly in character but there’s another fun part--obviously magnus consented to the truth whatever beforehand but this could also lead to him blurting out something even he didn’t expect (like, especially kinky/filthy and/or Soft(TM)) so it’s just like. magnus tied up, legs spread, face burning, pussy wet, having just let out a very long string of pleas for something incredibly explicit and dirty--i can’t think of a good example but like bonus if it’s twi magnus (bc u kno ;) ) and alec’s just like.....damn and magnus is like was that too much and alec is like no hold on i’m just taking notes babe 

but really tho like even if he’s at that point a little too fucked out to notice or care, sometimes alec gets just the incredible pleasure to see magnus totally fucked out and shamelessly begging for alec to fuck him and call him a whore and spank him and edge him or whatever else and he’s just like 🥰 i love my husband 🥰

ALSO this one is a little more dicey but pandemonium/public sex? i imagine it’d have to be a controlled crowd bc, you know, truth serum, but like, magnus getting fucked nice and hard and babbling all these sexy whiny desperate things????? in front of everyone??? (bonus actually if it’s more of like. an area thing, or if alec had some too--this wouldn’t work for all of the scenarios probably but also magnus losing his mind and getting the living daylights fucked out of him all while alec is whispering just like. the softest validation in his ear and he literally Knows it’s true? good.)

speaking of the whole knowing it’s true part that in particular makes it very hot for alec like magnus is babbling and whining so much about wanting alec so bad, wanting alec to do all these filthy things to him, and like, a) validation, magnus wants him This Bad, b) consent sexy and knowing just how much magnus likes it when he bends him over and spanks him and pins him down and makes him cry with pleasure? good. c) again just Hot like all these things he’s saying he a hundred percent means and it’s not that he doesn’t other times but there’s something really good about knowing magnus literally can’t lie and is one hundred percent not holding back and he’s just begging for alec’s cock :) 

i have so many thoughts on truth serum, even just this like, one third of the categories i have for truth serum ideas lmao