#wardell what can’t you do

[lightsout-lewis]

Steph singing with Paramore it’s not on my bingo card but here he is!

Source

[ohthewh0rror]

BREATHTAKING.

˚₊ ⋆ ☠︎︎ ⋆ ₊˚ prompt — Will a small act of jealousy lead to an accidental confession of feelings?

Pairing: Tom Riddle x Reader

Word Count: 800

You had just made your way out the door of Arithmancy, planning to head straight to the library. Your Arithmancy grade was finally back at an A, thanks to the help of Tom, and you planned to meet him at the library at your usual spot. You weren’t sure how you managed to get Tom to help you with Arithmancy, but you were forever grateful. Without him you would be making an ‘N’, and grades aside, you gained a friend.

At least, you think he considered you a friend too. You doubt he’d ever admit it, but his actions alone told you he was at least fond of you. From the way he waited for you at your spot in the library every monday and wednesday evening, how he willingly partnered himself with you in Potions, and the occasional late night owl asking you about your day.

You managed to make it just outside the library doors when you heard a masculine voice call from behind you, “Y/N! Wait!”. You stopped in your tracks, whipping around to see who had called out to you. You didn’t recognize him at first, but as the boy got closer, it hit you that it was Wardell, the Hufflepuff that was seated next you in DADA. He came to a stop in front of you, slightly out of breath, seemingly having jogged to you in hopes of not losing you in the crowd.

“I know you’re busy, but I wanted to ask you—” Wardell was cut off by the chilling tone of a certain Slytherin making his way to you from the opposite direction, “she’s busy.” The look on Wardell’s face told you he was conflicted, because as much as he needed to speak to you, Tom Riddle was not someone you wanted to cross. Tom and his ‘friends’ were people who could easily make his life hell.

You gave Wardell an apologetic smile as Tom came to stand behind you. You could smell the faint scent of his cologne as his chest brushed against your shoulder, his hand coming up to rest on the small of your back. “Its okay, Tom, what did you need, Wardell?” You asked, taking pity on the boy. You weren’t sure what Wardell saw in Tom’s eyes, but as the boys eyes darted from yours to Tom’s you saw him clam up even more. “Forget it,” he gave a slight shake of his head, “I’ll just see you in class tomorrow.”

You watched Wardell walk back into the dwindling crowd before you turned to face Tom. It only took a second of observing the look on his face, and though you’d never seen the look on Tom himself, it was still a familiar gaze nonetheless.

“You’re jealous,” you said, crossing your arms and staring at him incredulously. The fact that Tom was able to even experience the feeling of jealousy was enough to make you want to laugh.

“And you’re delusional,” he could try to deny what you said, and you might have even believed it 7 months ago, but you knew him better than that. The look in Tom’s eyes told you that if given the chance, that poor boy wouldn’t live to see tomorrow. Giving a small roll of your eyes, you turned and made your way into the library, Tom falling into place right beside you as the two of you made your way towards your usual spot.

You threw your tote on the table, “you know, you could at least try to look a little less murderous when another guy talks to me?”. Tom elected to ignore you as he took his seat opposite of you, laying out his parchment and quill. As you stared at him, waiting for him to speak to you, you watched him set his things on the table. It wasn’t every day you sat and observed Tom, but you were always waiting on the chance to do so. Because, as intimidating as he was, you couldn’t deny that Tom was extremely handsome. Finally, Tom looked at you, his eyes catching yours. The look of anger had since faded from his eyes, “stop staring; it’s rude.”

Your face grew hot with mild embarrassment, “I can’t help but stare at you because you’re just so…” you trailed off. You were trying to salvage your pride, but now you’ve just dug yourself a deeper hole. “So?” He asked, his interest seemed to be piqued as he gave you his undivided attention. You thought about pulling the silent treatment on him like he did to you, but you knew he wouldn’t let you drop it. He would poke and prod until he got the answer out of you.

“Handsome. You’re handsome.” You confessed. You're sure that this was far from the first compliment he got from a girl, but it was still satisfying to see the faintest hint of a blush on his face. He held your gaze for a few seconds longer before looking away, clearing throat, “I don’t have time for this, open to chapter 16.”

You felt a smile tug at your lips, feeling mildly proud of yourself; you actually managed to fluster Tom Riddle.

You deserved a medal, truly.

[vxiphoid]

ꉂ LUNAR BREATHE ᝰ

❨ music for: the om!brothers, from: you ❩ i havent written for obey me yet so heres my take on “gifting” them with music you’d think they’d like :]] my GAWD i cannot write for lucifer to save my life😞﹫lucifer, mammon, & leviathan

lucifer

playlist; workaholics

MARRY-GO-ROUND OF LIFE - JOE HISAISHI

now playing ෴

up next queue ↴

CHARLIE’S INFERNO - THAT HANDSOME DEVIL

NOEL’S LAMENT - KHOLBY WARDELL

MY TIME - BO EN

𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀

♫ MARRY-GO-ROUND OF LIFE - JOE HISAISHI

- self explanatory, you can’t tell me he doesn’t listen to this song. smooches the top of your head for putting it on even though its already on his playlist, you know him so well<33 lucifer defo dances with you to this song MWAH MWAH. also likes listening to this while doing paperwork? i dunno manne he just really likes this song

♫ CHARLIE’S INFERNO - THAT HANDSOME DEVIL

- believe it or not, lucifer has this song memorized WORD FOR WORD. you’re jamming to all the upbeat parts n he’s just “i don’t want to dieeeee please don’t let me diiiiiieeee” he enjoys the song i swear. he doesn’t listen to this one much, once every blue moon or so, but when he does he’s smiling just a little

♫ NOEL’S LAMENT - KHOLBY WARDELL

- OH MY GAWWWD WJHEWKDN‼️ he loves this song its so dramatic and (he’s a drama king)⁉️⁉️ the violence is sorta like therapeutic, bobbing his head to it and everything (this is a cry for help). lucifer loves classical music and the rhythm of the song gives off that vibe. literally unravels his whole big brother act to this song, such a stress reliever, cannot thank you enough.

♫ MY TIME - BO EN

- now THIS is a genre he doesn’t listen to. since its new to him you kinda just sit and watch him. the piano is well placed plus the song is a whole burst of energy, multiple shots of expresso livening moods. you said that its from a video game from the human world but the songs have way different meanings than they seem and lucifer stayed awake all night to decode it. it was on loop for like six hours straight…

mammon

playlist; music is cheaper than therapy

FUNEE HAT FREESTYLE, FUNEE HAT SONG - KEVINKEMPT

now playing ෴

up next queue ↴

DOGTOOTH - TYLER, THE CREATOR

HONEY - KEHLANI

MOONLIGHT - KALI UCHIS

𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀

♫ FUNEE HAT FREESTYLE, FUNEE HAT SONG - KEVINKEMPT

- this is the song he blasts at like 3 am to piss off levi and satan also because its a whole bop??? a song about hats has mammon hyped as soon as it shuffles on his playlist. his favorite hat you ask? funny ducky hat‼️‼️ has to barricade is door when he does play this, satan will break it down.

♫ DOGTOOTH - TYLER, THE CREATOR

- there is NO WAY mammon doesn’t listen to tyler omfg. this is a rather new song so when you were like “oh great mammon, please spend two minutes and fifty seven seconds of your life to listen to such a yummy song” (in his words, not yours) he had to try it out. lets just say those two minutes and fifty seven seconds was completely worth it.

♫ HONEY - KEHLANI

- you told him to listen to this PURELY because he’s a simp. this man lays awake in his bed, smiling like an idiot just thinking about you, why not give him a little background noise while he does? literal putty in his bed after that. he’s yours, he’s yours, he’s yours.

♫ MOONLIGHT - KALI UCHIS

- type of song you listen to when you’re on cloud nine thinking about your first kiss or something like that… something about the beat is so soul-gripping. THE SPANISH? LAWWD. AND HER VOICE IS HEAVENLY. kiss him to this song PLEASE. why is this song 10 hours long?

leviathan

playlist; airplane mode

NOVACANE - FRANK OCEAN

now playing ෴

up next queue ↴

LOVE TASTE - MOE SHOP

STRESS RELIEF - LATE NIGHT DRIVE HOME

FIGHTER - JACK STAUBER

𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀𓈀

♫ NOVACANE - FRANK OCEAN

- half of the time you have no idea what this dude is listening to, think of novacane as a blessing. this is a song where you have to leave levi alone with it because he’s to embarrassed to sing the curse words near you😭 but once he gets comfortable the only thing you’re really going to get is humming along with the song. he does like this one though :]

♫ LOVE TASTE - MOE SHOP

- CLASSIC BOP FOR GAMING. has this shit on full blast in his headphones + 1000 notifications from his phone telling him that his music is too loud. levi is the happiest when you show him this one because its right up his ally and you play games with him with this in the background😋.

♫ STRESS RELIEF - LATE NIGHT DRIVE HOME

- he has those times where he gets sad for literally no reason and he spins in his little chair and thinks about it, this song is perfect for that. lowkey helps him think everything over and even if he’s not sad it kinda just empties his brain. give him lots of kisses, basically shower him with love after listening to this <3

♫ FIGHTER - JACK STAUBER

- THIS IS ONE OF THOSE SONGS WHERE LEVI LITERALLY CANT STOP LISTENING TO… ABSOLUTELY FOLDS. yall are little nerds and finish the lyrics to the song one by one without having to communicate on who sings what, telekinesis type stuff.

back to om! masterlist

[stevenbasic]

Growing into the Job, Post 382: Lawyers!

“Someone call Sheryl,” was the last thing Randi said as she left the room with Amelia, Stephanie and Julia, leaving Josie and Marisela to finish up with the news lady. The photoshoot was basically done, anyway, and the four of them would handle these lawyers whose arrival Aubrey had just announced. It was a surprise to everyone, and not a pleasant one. Just the word: ‘lawyers’:  Ick. What the fuck, Randi fumed, What could they want?

In the meantime, she’d asked Lakshmi and Shanette to get Dr. J to Melissa. He was whisked away quickly, and soon found himself standing, in his silly little-boy’s suit, facing his giant young girlfriend in her huge, immaculately modern office. The two other girls hovered near the entrance, listening down the hall through the open door.

“We have some visitors, huh?” Melissa purred, from where she’d been sitting on her office couch. If tensions filled the air, none of it was in her voice. White leather creaked pleasurably below her, and she appeared relaxed, bare of foot and curled up with her laptop. She looked, of course, beautiful, and certainly unperturbed. “Aubrey tells me they’re here with a lot of paperwork, and are being really demanding.” She looked at her boyfriend, standing adorably nervous about ten feet away. He seemed delightfully unsure of himself. “They want to meet with whoever's in charge.”

“Well, I, uh-” Dr J fidgeted in place as he looked at the ground. He was suddenly feeling even more out of place, out of sorts, and so far out of his comfort zone that his head began to spin. D-do they mean m-?

“Shhhhh, don’t worry, honey,” Melissa continued confidently, “I’ve got this. Can you pass me my heels?” At that she nodded at the pair of what-must-be eight-inch stilettos, black, standing just off to his right.

“S-sure,” he replied, gathering them and handing them to her. He felt ashamed that he was afraid of these outsiders and needing her to handle it. 

“I think they are coming,” Lakshmi said, from the doorway.

“They’re definitely coming,” agreed Shanette, standing aside.

Melissa was putting on her heels, casually. She remained seated.

The lawyers’ voices preceded them, gruffly, echoing down clinic halls. To Dr. J they seemed obnoxious, improper, and more out of place here than even he. Girls’ voices were mixed in, argumentative. They were all headed this way, a small crowd.

At the door to Melissa’s office, Shanette moved to stop them. “Excuse me who are-”

“We’re told you’re Dr. J,” said the first one, a half-shaven man in his early thirties pushing right past Shanette. His glasses were obviously fake. Two others followed in his wake, also blatantly uninvited. Each of them were younger still, and all carried mounds of papers, folders, notebooks. In tow, roughly ten feet behind was a uniformed police officer, also male though gray of hair. Pudgy, he remained quiet.

Shanette and Lakshmi stood with gaping mouths to their right and left. Before they could say anything, Randi. Amelia, Stephanie, and Julia stepped in behind the three intruders and their armed accomplice.

“We tried to stop them, Missy,” Randi groaned.

“...but they’re assholes,” finished Amelia. 

“Doctor,” the lead lawyer began, “I’m Attorney Feinman, this is my partner Attorney Howard, and our, uh, other Attorney, Attorney Wardell. And this is Officer Healy.”

Shanette and Lakshmi moved beside Dr. J and their hands went to his shoulders protectively. 

“G’Afternoon, ladies,” burped the policeman, shifting on his feet uncomfortably 

“We have warrants, for a search and seizure, Doctor,” continued the lawyer, “and would like you to come with us.”

An overhead light flickered.

“You w-want who to do what?” Dr. J stammered.

“Wait a second,” Julia chimed in as she moved into the room, “you can’t just-”

Angie stepped into the office, last to arrive into the chaos.

“Yeah who-” began Stephanie, also now flanking the three men. She was one of the first to smell it, the change in the air. She felt her musculature begin to respond, under her pretty blouse and smart pencil skirt. Her shoes became tight. 

“You can read the paperwork yourself,” came the voice of the second lawyer, a darker guy with an unfortunate beard and black, beady eyes, “signed by a judge of a state court of, uh, record in the district…” He’d already begun to rifle through a sheaf of documents in his arms. 

“Yeah we got it all done yesterday,” said the third.

None of the men had yet vocally acknowledged the obviously impressive young woman sitting on the couch. The police officer, though, had started to stare. Wow what a looker. He’d been told to be careful of that one, that she could pose a physical threat. What he didn't realize, though, was that she was already, quietly, starting to release something from her skin. Instinctively, but also partly on command they came, her pheromones: some for these little man-things, a particular combination, and others for her girls.

They’re not paying attention to me on purpose, these silly things, Melissa realized. She cocked her head. Let’s change that. 

“I see you have some papers, and it sounds like you want to stop us from, like, taking care of our patients,” Melissa said, finally addressing the new men in the room for the first time. Her voice, though no louder than any of the others, suddenly became the only sound in her office. She fought back a smile as all the attention in the room was now immediately focused on her. “Now that’s not nice, is it?”

“No, it’s not,” came Randi, her voice a smoky concurrence.

“Not nice at all,” other voices hissed in harmony. Bodies inched in.

The lawyers, in their hundred-dollar suits, shivered in secret silence. Skin crawled and, for the love of god, their dicks began to harden. But Attorney Fineman, after a moment, was finally able to compose himself and push on. He’d been warned about this and he was beginning to think maybe they should have worn those gas masks like his shadow contact ANDRSON had suggested. With a slight stutter he began his legal speil followed quickly by the two other attorneys. They clamored on about their papers, their injunctions, their restraining orders. Their zeal, though, seemed somehow tempered diminished. But they proceeded to list what they had as evidence of human rights abuses, zoning infractions and environmental c-complaints and…well, uh…

Attorney Lou Fineman, an activist who had taken up with the Resistance more than a year ago and coordinated today’s intervention with ANDRSON and his cell, felt his voice begin to fail. These plans were months in the making, and already he felt their foundations began to shiver. His partners had grown quiet already. The cop hadn’t moved a muscle, still standing back.

From her seat on the couch Melissa watched the lawyer, and began to smile.

He has a job, yes, and he has a fancy degree, that too, she thought, training she’d had at Evolution kicking into gear. Unconsciously she began analyzing him and his little team, silently gauging their threat level. But the man is weak, all three of them are. Melissa pursed her lips and studied them again. She knew, if she wanted, she could lift the lot of them up by their collars and throw them out the window. Or, haha, she could ask her girls to tear them limb-from-limb. They’d probably do it, if she asked nicely. Some of them might even enjoy it, and the men would rip like paper dolls. But it wasn’t just their physical bodies that made them inferior to the budding superhumans filling the room. Melissa was always a good judge of people, and these days it was like she could see right into them. These men lack the - what would you call it? -  ‘strength of personality’ - to do what they’re trying to do, she continued to muse, but the good thing is, I’ve got enough of that for everyone. She knew she already had the force of presence to fill up a room, even a big one like her office. Her personality, like the rest of her, just kept getting bigger and stronger. 

“So w-we’ll be taking the doctor with us,” an attorney said trying his best to muster a sense of authority, “F-for his own protecti-“

“I can’t let you do that,” she spoke, plainly, her voice a dormant power unto itself that immediately quieted the man, “You won’t take Jay away from me.” The pheromones that had already begun to amplify the aggression and protective nature of her girls began to redouble, pour from her skin.

Lakshmi, to her side, growled. She felt something about herself grow heavier. 

The lawyers’ accusations began to devolve into nervous babbling as the pheromones began to overtake them. Their argument of authority sounded more like pleading as they continued to threaten to take Dr. J into their custody. “Th-the law,” began the third attorney, “s-says we can take him for his own safety. It says right here in this statute…”

The girls each inched inwards. Unseen, Amelia’s nails became sharper, longer. Marisela ran her tongue over her emerging eye teeth. The attorneys slowly began to realize they were surrounded. Randi sniffed the air - fear - and flexed her jaw. 

But the men foolishly pressed on. “So unless there’s something here more powerful than the law…” That was all Melissa needed. More powerful than the law? she laughed to herself, Let’s see what you think. Enormous high heels now on, she put her hands on her knees and began, slowly, to stand...

The three lawyers, side-by-side in front of her, watched. As did all other eyes in the room.

Though pheromones that would be recognized as chemical weapons poured off her, it was the mere sight of Melissa rising to her full height that nearly made the mens’ hearts stop. Up and up she rose, until she towered over every man in the room by more than a foot, and they began to visibly quiver. 

Now that she was 6´8”, and well over seven feet in these heels she knew the effect her size could have on others. Becoming taller had granted her with much more than just a desirable body. It’d begun to garner her respect, make others see her as their superior. She'd become an imposing woman, and she was still growing. As they’d told her at Evolution, it looked like she was just getting bigger and bigger, faster and faster every day. The thought of it - even here, among these enemies - made her tingle. With her height, her strength and beauty, her new position and her growing wealth? Everyone, crane your necks, look up at me. The imposing Amazon stands above you all.

“Holy shit,” Josie gasped, with a laugh. 

“G-g-good lord…” stammered one of the little men.

“Look at the s-s-size of her…” marveled another.

The cop’s hand, reflexively, went to his weapon.

Melissa had stood from the couch, letting them see she was not just a woman. No, she towered over them like something divine among toys, and she felt it. “Want to see something ‘more powerful' than the law?” she spoke in a voice now two octaves deeper, its arcane energy making the windows tremble. Under her smart business clothes, under her plain gray blouse she felt her muscles swell. She leaned into it,  flexing her traps and shoulders and lats and now fighting back the urge to go into full double-biceps pose. I could burst out of this blouse like it was tissue paper if I wanted. She could feel herself brimming with untapped power, and as she looked down at the little men quaking in their pants, energy crackled in the room. A knowing smirk crossed her face as she watched her girls slowly close in. 

She looked to her left, where Jay stood, silent and trembling. He was looking at her too, in similar awe. Good, she thought, I want him to see this. 

“Jay, come,” she commanded, beckoning him closer with an outstretched hand. In a moment he was quietly by her side, standing behind. If I was wearing a skirt, she almost giggled, he’d be clutching it. Or hiding beneath.  Her perfumes had already done their work absolutely drowning the men in a sea of submission, but she couldn't resist the urge to release a little more.

“Drop the weapon,” she commanded next, and the room heard a gun clatter to the floor. It had been drawn by Officer Healy’s shaking hands, but now lay useless.

The lawyers began cowering, and as the giant woman took one step towards them, the smallest of them could be heard to yelp.

Graciously, she offered out her hand. 

“I’m Melissa, by the way,” she began, as the lead attorney’s hand automatically rose up to meet hers, “Melissa Monroe, Office Manager.” She took his hand, and just stood there, feeling the fragile bones in her grasp. She smiled, pondering if she should strengthen her grip and mangle his hand - not just a little, but completely break it into a pulp, into a useless pulp. For his misbehavior. Ahh, but you’ll want to jerk off to me later, won’t you? she considered, smiling to herself, And maybe you’re a righty. 

The second lawyer dropped his papers, which fell to the floor in a fluttering wave. Melissa now looked his way, and saw that his mind was more on the underside of her breasts than where they should be, on the papers now scattered around the floor. Her smile curled. It didn’t bother her, that he was fixated on her tits, as long as it distracted him. Actually, Melissa rather liked the attention that her body brought her. As long as no one tried to touch, they were free to enjoy. And stare. And remember what they saw for later. 

“Why don’t you drop your papers, too?” Melissa suggested coyly eyeing the third lawyer who, after a short pause, felt compelled to do the same. They all watched as his pile of yellow legal files fell in a spreading puddle at his feet, leaving him with nothing to do but stare. 

Dr. J, from behind his girlfriend's huge thigh, her muscular rear, looked on in a mix of thrill and horror. What is she doing with her voice? She's commanding them like they’re puppets. The power in her - goddamn it, how submissive was he? - excited him darkly, and he groaned as his cock surged for her. 

Melissa was giggling. The other girls began to giggle too. There was so much the swarm of them could do right now…

But suddenly, there were even more women in the room...

Five young women had entered, holding their own briefcases, carrying their own paperwork. Blonde. Each was smartly dressed and strangely similar. Dr. J’s eyes widened; he felt he recognized them all. They were younger but he could see  it right away: it was like the attack of the Sheryl’s. 

“We’re going to have to ask you gentlemen to leave,” spoke the lead of this new team of attorneys. 

===================================

thanks to ElephantPorn for the images, and RiF for all his help editing

[beardedmrbean]

Five months before he was arrested in a fatal shooting, prosecutors requested a higher-than-normal bond for Wardell Wright, stating in court records that he posed a risk to the community.

An Indianapolis mother is now questioning the court system and how Wright, the man accused of gunning down her 15-year-old son, bonded out of jail so quickly in a previous armed carjacking case.

“I feel like the court failed when it came to Wardell (Wright)," said Donnetta Lewis.

Wight, 19, is now facing murder and escape charges in the June shooting death of Jeremiah Lewis. In January, Wright was arrested in connection with an armed carjacking at an Indianapolis gas station.

Wright led police on a chase in the stolen vehicle and then on foot. Before he was arrested, Wright ditched a firearm altered with a Glock switch in a dumpster, according to the probable cause affidavit for his arrest.

He is facing charges of armed robbery, possession of a machine gun, auto theft, unlawful carrying of a handgun and two counts of resisting law enforcement in his arrest on Jan. 30, court records show.

Marion Superior Court Judge Cynthia Oetjen set a surety bond of $10,000 and a cash bond of $500 after Wright was booked into jail on the charge of possession of a machine gun, which is a Level 5 felony. Wright's original bond was double what would normally be set for a Level 5 felony in Marion Superior Court as the judge determined an enhancement was appropriate.

Prosecutors ask for higher bond due to 'significant risk' to victim, community

The next day, police connected Wright to the armed robbery and presented additional information to the prosecutor's office so that enhanced charges could be filed in the case. Prosecutors asked for a bond of $100,000 and wrote Wright posed “a significant risk not only to the victim in this matter, but also to the community as a whole” in a motion for a higher-than-normal bond.

Wright had already posted his original bond so a magistrate denied the request from prosecutors for a higher bond. Wright was released from jail the day after his arrest around 7 p.m.

All of this was the normal operating procedure for the court system, said Emily VanOsdol, court administrator at the Marion County Superior Court.

“You can only hold people for so long without some (preliminary) charges,” VanOsdol said. “The prosecutors could get more information from a detective before the official charges are filed. It can happen both ways, where the initial bond is set high, and the official charges are less.”

Michael Leffler, a spokesperson for the Marion County Prosecutor's Office, noted prosecutors do not have influence over a defendant’s initial bond.

‘My son died for no reason’

On the day Jeremiah Lewis was killed, he was supposed take his mother’s car four minutes away to work at a thrift shop. Instead, the teenager was lured to the 2000 block of Lohr Drive by a friend from school, Donnetta Lewis said.

Police found the teenage boy inside his mom’s car suffering from gunshot wounds around 9:45 a.m. and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Wright and a 14-year-old girl were arrested and charged with murder in Jeremiah Lewis’ death on June 22, according to IMPD.

The girl told police she asked Jeremiah Lewis to meet her so she could buy marijuana, according to the affidavit for Wright’s arrest.

“I never knew my son to sell drugs because he was smarter than that,” Donnetta Lewis said.

The mother can’t understand why her son’s friend from school lured him to the location where he was killed. She doesn’t know why anyone would have wanted to hurt him, she said.

“My son wasn't a bad kid,” Donnetta Lewis said. “He made straight A's since kindergarten all the way to 9th grade. Once this happened, all his teachers reached out stating how much of a good kid he was."

Ashley McKinney, a teacher at Lynhurst 7th and 8th Grade Center, said she was shocked to hear Jeremiah Lewis was killed in a shooting.

“He was funny and respectful,” McKinney said. “He cared about other kids and loved sports, especially football. He was very smart.”

Jeremiah Lewis had already started taking college-level classes through Ivy Tech while in 9th grade. Jeremiah was the kind of student who could make the day better for teachers, McKinney said.

The teenager, nicknamed “Scooby” by his family, left behind five younger siblings. Jeremiah Lewis liked to play basketball and wrestle his brothers and sisters.

“His younger siblings and cousins loved him,” Donnetta Lewis said. “We haven't found anything to take the pain away.”

Detectives are continuing to investigate the circumstances and the involvement of other individuals in the shooting, according to police.

Donnetta Lewis is hopeful everyone involved will be arrested.

“My son died for no reason,” Donnetta Lewis said. “No reason at all.”

Attorneys for Wright did not respond to requests for comment before publication of this article.

[pridepages]

Acts of Love: Teacher of the Year

I just finished Teacher of the Year by MA Wardell. I have thoughts...

Here there be spoilers!

Representation is a word that’s used so often I fear it’s almost lost meaning. We nod along and agree that it’s important to have in theory. But until you find that book that hits you where you live...the one that makes you feel it...Can you really understand?

I never thought I loved romance novels until I started reading queer ones. I never knew how much I needed one about a teacher until I read this one.

MA Wardell’s debut Teacher of the Year has been described as a love letter to educators, but there’s something so impersonal about that. Of course teachers should be respected and celebrated for what we do! It’s rewarding work, it’s fun work, but it’s also incredibly hard work. By the same token, I think it’s become all too easy for people to reduce ‘teacher’ to yet another label. We’re either great evil or pure as the driven. We’re either entitled or exploited.

How about this: We’re human.

It’s a concept that seems obvious on its face, but I assure you that we are expected not to be. We are expected to be Mary Poppins: Practically Perfect In Every Way.

The worst part? Who gets to define perfect? What parts of yourself will you be expected to cut away to fulfill those expectations? 

That’s what I love so much about Wardell’s narrator, Marvin Block. He’s not perfect. He’s an anxious mess with ADHD who doesn’t have his ducks in a row (“they typically dance at a rave”). But he’s got the one thing that counts: he loves his kids.

At the virtual launch, Wardell laughingly shared that he wondered if it was a good idea to “put teaching tips in the sexy book.” (For the record: my vote is a hard yes. Fellow teachers need all the help they can get!) But I think the only bit of wisdom we really need is this: “Teaching is an act of love.”

I live in what we in the United States call a Deep Red state. Where I live, the LGBTQ+ community is under attack. And the government is hiding it under the disingenuous plea to Think Of The Children.

Because, apparently, my very existence in the classroom is a threat to my students.

I wear my beaded rainbow bracelets and my rainbow gem necklace as a silent act of rebellion. But I also have to bite my tongue as two students in study hall debate whether or not Alexander the Great was gay (the answer as far as I’m concerned? Yes)---Why? Because if I were to say even something as innocuous as: “while we can’t even be sure how a historical person would label, there is some evidence that he had a male partner,” I could be fired. For discussing inappropriate material with a child.

I look around my school and I don’t see a single ally poster or rainbow flag. And I’m no fool. I know exactly what that means.

So I got used to the bifurcation. The French teacher can tell her students she got married this year, but I’d better shut up if I ever get a girlfriend. It hurts, but you know--you go sort of numb. You get used to it.

And why do you get used to it?

Because you love what you do. And more than that, you love your students.

But that kind of love shouldn’t demand this kind of sacrifice, the kind that hurts you so deeply it’s like chronic pain.

And that’s why Wardell’s book is so important. Marvin Block gets to have a happy beginning, middle, and end as a teacher. Everyone from admin to fellow teachers to his students knows he’s gay. And no one questions his fitness to work with children. Because a queer identity isn’t inherently, solely sexual.

That said, Wardell also said the quiet part out loud and proud: “Teachers have sex, too!” And Marvin gets to have it all. He lands the Hot Dad, awakens Hot Dad’s latent bisexuality, and has all kinds of steamy sex from the tender to the kinky. As he should! Being a teacher doesn’t make Marvin any less human. And humans should get to have joyful, uninhibited expressions of love and sexuality with other consenting humans!!

The funniest part of the whole thing is the reminder that being a teacher can--and often does--become a part of your identity as much as being queer. Like how Marvin guides Hot Dad--Olan--through sex “Like a competent teacher” who does “my best to cheer him on with the phrases ‘just like that’ and ‘a little slower.’” 

That’s really what makes this book so special: We get to see all the figurative and literal acts of love by one teacher. We see Marvin as a complete person. Imperfect? Maybe. But definitely whole.

By turns sweet, spicy, funny, and above all timely, Teacher of the Year should be required reading. School is in session, and Mr. Block is modeling the lesson.

[power-chords]

Prev anon here, thank you!

All fits well with what I got from Heat, though law school surprises me a bit. Amphetamines make more sense to me for him than cocaine too.

You’re welcome! I leap at the opportunity to discuss all things Michael Mann. No shit. Re: Vincent Hanna, Speed Fiend, I don’t think he’s picky, based on my read of the source material. Just that an amphetamine habit is easier to maintain. This is not the type of guy who will turn down a line!

As for the law school thing, this is how I contextualize it: Hanna has been both thrilled and traumatized by the experience of warfare, of active combat. He relishes the pursuit, the adrenaline rush, but is troubled by its potential — in others, quietly in himself — to be hijacked by wanton bloodlust. He believes in right and wrong; the war was wrong, and he wants to do right. He wants a structure that will rein in the worst of his urges, remove him from an active battlefield where he might succumb to the same temptations he’s witnessed, but he can’t abandon the lure of the chase, the righteous sublimation of putting Bad People away. So what does he do, being a principled, intelligent high achiever with a really vicious dark side* that he is acutely conscious of but only partially, tenuously honest with himself about? Of COURSE he tries to become a lawyer!!! LMAO

Which doesn’t work out, obviously. Because he can’t handle the structure, the System, being the radical Individual that constitutes all Michael Mann protagonists, antiheroes, and not-quite-villains**, each of whom are in some way and to varying extents adrift, alienated from the world. So he becomes the next worst thing: a fucking cop! And the rest of the book, and the rest of Heat, is an exploration of the ways in which Vincent Hanna bumps up against temptation and recognition, the tragic burden and cathartic ecstasy of unflinching self-knowledge. Of glimpsing yourself and refusing to look away — being unable to look away. (His name is NEIL MCCAULEY.)

*Let me know if you do or do not want to know more about this, because it was a big Oh Shit moment in the book for me!

**Vincent from Collateral would be such an example. An authentic Michael Mann capital-V Villain is constituted by the likes of Waingro, or Wardell from Heat 2, or Leo from Thief. They are participants in systems — systems of unbounded urges, of unscrupulous criminality — that are defined by opportunism and cruelty, representing conclusions arrived at without struggle or interrogation, aspiring to nothing beyond their own indulgence and perpetuation.

[pregnant-javert]

MelRuth college au if you still take asks

I had more fun with this than I was expecting? I'm not a fan of college AUs really so I just kind of expected that this would be a quick one that I wouldn't enjoy writing...but I kind of liked it a lot, actually. Under the cut <3

P.S this will be two chapters long...I will post the link to the second chap on AO3 when I finish it :)

The engineering students were a loud, odd bunch, Ruth reflected. Any time she was near their group; behind them in the lunch line; in a lecture theatre with them, being in the stands near them at a soccer game. All of them followed the same general archetype—bespectacled, nerdy guys and tanned, sporty girls. Ruth only shared one class with people from engineering—a business class—and quite frankly if she had to spend any more time with them than that, she’d lose it. Ruth preferred her friends in the hotel management course she was doing—they were quiet, bookish, respectable people. They could hold a perfectly nice conversation without going off on wild tangents or making stupid jokes. Ruth was quite happy to spend the last year of college coasting along with the same group of people she’d always known.

Until she met Melanie Cavill.

It was completely unexpected, you understand—Ruth would never willingly spend time with someone from the engineering school—but she hadn’t had much choice in the matter. Melanie had flounced into their shared business class two minutes before it was due to start, and the only spare seat was next to Ruth.

Melanie threw her ratty backpack down underneath the foldout desk, and withdrew a laptop computer that was nearly as roughed up as her bag. “Is it alright if I sit here?” she asked, sounding out of breath. “Normally I turn up earlier.”

“You’ve already sat there, so I don’t know why you’re asking,” Ruth said.

Far from being offended, Melanie actually laughed. “You’re right. Stupid of me, yeah? I’m Melanie Cavill. Don’t think we’ve met.” She held out her hand as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Ruth returned the handshake. She wasn’t an animal, after all. The lecturer stepped up to the lectern, so Melanie didn’t say any more. They both stayed silent for an hour while the lecturer explained something about supply chain management. When the lecturer announced a break for ten minutes, Melanie immediately turned back to Ruth. “So what’s your name then?” she asked.

“Ruth Wardell.”

“What course are y’all doing? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around.”

Ruth felt herself blushing; she shouldn’t have been ashamed of what she’s studying, but hotel management seemed stupid next to Melanie’s engineering. Ruth told her anyway.

“Damn, hotel management? So what, you want to own a hotel or something?”

Ruth already had a B&B waiting for her back in Kendal, but her father would only pass it down to her on condition she took this course. She wouldn’t tell Melanie this, though. “Yeah, I suppose.”

“That sounds cool,” Melanie said, and she sounded serious. “I’m only here because Wilford wants me to. Have to show up to every class or else he’ll stop paying for my college.”

“What would you rather be doing?” Ruth asked incredulously, but she was kind of interested in the answer. She wasn’t sure who this ‘Wilford’ character was either.

“I don’t know…building things, fixing things, breaking things. Not whatever this is,” she scoffed, throwing her pen onto the desk. “Supply chain management is pretty dry.”

Ruth agreed with that assessment. “You need it to run a successful business,” she said anyway.

“I don’t see the point. I don’t want to do anything like this—if I spend the rest of my life making stuff, I’ll be happy.” Melanie leaned back in her chair, which creaked ominously. “So hotels, huh? That a big ambition of yours?”

“My father owns a hotel back home. I can’t take over unless I do this course.” Ruth had no idea why she was telling Melanie this, but it wasn’t that big a secret anyway.

“Family business?”

“Yeah.”

“My parents have a dirt farm,” Melanie said. “I thought I was gonna spend the rest of my life there, fixing tractors and all that jazz. Until Wilford found me.” The way she said the last sentence sounded guarded, so Ruth didn’t ask who he was. “I like engineering, but I was never a college gal.”

The lecturer called an end to the break and launched into a monologue about their mid-semester test. Melanie whipped out a piece of refill paper and scrawled something on it, passing it to Ruth. Ruth flattened it out on the desk.

A mid semester test? This is the first I’m hearing of it >_>

Ruth fought the urge to laugh. They’d been talking about it for the past month. Either Melanie wasn’t paying attention, or she’d just forgotten.

We’ve been talking about it for a month…

I guess that’s just me, then. There’s no way I’m gonna pass—I haven’t been paying attention at all.

Ruth looked down at Melanie’s messy purple handwriting. She could have just passed the note back with some generic condolence, but something within her made her go a different route.

Study session at my place?

Damn, you serious?

Ruth didn’t write anything more. The lecture ended and everyone stood up to go. “Wait. So you want to have a study session?” Melanie asked.

“I mean…I don’t have anyone else to study with. And you seem like you could use the help.”

“That’s certainly true,” Melanie said, stuffing her laptop into her bag and zipping it closed. “Your place or mine?”

“Probably mine? It might be quieter.” Ruth had picked her dorms for its distance from the campus. It was too far away for convenient access, so the only people who stayed there were part-time students or people who wanted the quiet like she did.

“You’re right. People keep partying at mine all night. If I want to pass this test, I better actually study this time. Here’s my number. Call me,” Melanie said, then she was hustling down the rows of seats and practically sprinting out the door. Ruth slung her bag over her shoulder, making her way out of the lecture theatre at a more sedate pace. What was Melanie thinking, galumphing out of the place like a horse. Ruth looked again at the crumpled piece of paper in her hand, which had a scrawled phone number and a curly M underneath. She stuffed it in her pocket—she’d call later.

Ruth couldn’t help herself—she was a little excited by this prospect. Maybe it was time to find new friends, even if it was going to be Melanie Cavill.

Maybe Ruth’s last year was going to be more eventful than she thought.

[grandma-course]

BIRTHDAY PLANS

So... This one ended up a LOT darker than I intended it to be. Quite steamy. Involves dubcon. Proceed with caution and take care. 

Pairing: Ruth/Lilah

TW: dubcon, implied NSFW

It was supposed to be just an innocent discussion. LJ’s birthday was coming up and the insufferably doting Folgers were dead set on spoiling the birthday girl rotten with what few luxuries they had left aboard. Lilah, however, quickly grew bored of main courses and surprise gifts. Ruth gripped the clipboard ‘till her knuckles turned white as she noticed the shift in Lilah’s demeanor. A coy smile playing on her lips, the woman brushed a stray strand behind Ruth’s ear. She couldn’t suppress the flush no matter how hard she fought against it. Swallowing a huge lump in her throat, Ruth soldiered on, voice only wavering for the slightest fraction of a second. “So, on the topic of refreshments…” The clipboard was swiftly knocked from her hands and the Hospitality smile wiped off her face. Lilah was straddling her. Exasperated, Ruth swatted uselessly at the arms wrapping around her, breath coming in shallower and shallower pants the clearer it became there would be no escape from her predicament. “Lilah… I’m begging you, for Robert’s sake, if for nothing else, stop this… Stop it now!” but the demand came out a whimper, her voice small and broken as tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. She hated just how much she wanted this. Knew she should’ve been outraged. Dreaded the correctional measures to come when the story would inevitably twist against her favour. Despite it all, Ruth felt her blush deepen and body react to the heat and proximity. “Why… why would you risk it all for an old hag like me, anyway? I won’t tell a soul, I’ll do whatever you ask of me, just… stop this… Please…” Lilah only cocked her head in amusement, leaning down until Ruth could feel her hot breath on her lips. “Fancied you since the day we met, Wardell… Robert’s out for as long as I ask him, poor old fool, and the girl’s off getting up to Wilford only knows what, leaving no one to interrupt... Gets so monotone in this train, sometimes, the same two faces haunting me wherever I go. Can’t a girl have some variety every once in a blue moon?” Ruth fought uselessly to turn her head in the other woman’s strong grip. She could only squeeze her eyes shut, incoherent and desperate pleas falling from her lips, and pray for an impatient knock on the door. Alas, nothing came. Anything, anything. One pathetic slap would have sufficed. She didn’t even need the strength to throw the woman off her. Hell, if she could have mustered up the courage for a firm “No!”... Ruth felt the fight drain out of her. She looked up at Lilah, defeated, her hopes of softening the ruthless woman’s heart with tears quickly waning as she saw the look on her face. “Just make it quick…” Lilah pushed her down on the couch and started tearing open the teal jacket. In the same moment, Ruth’s prayers were answered. The impatient knock came. 

[ranty-ramblestein]

(captions~) Somehow the AC channels I watch never mentioned that the osechi has multiple variants, so I never knew I could get a white variant that matched my kitchen better!  I had also just gotten a pack of stuff from Wardell that I liked, so some got added to the kitchen~ ...Can’t believe I never noticed that the wrestling corners are beds, either...

I also did a quick edit of Raymond’s vacation home, giving him an employee that drives the boat, because there’s no way he knows how to sail a boat!  He probably never got cast in a movie where he needed to sail... but he def knows how to fly a helicopter!

pic 1: "I sorry, osechi has /WHAT!?/" Croissant gasped.  He quickly moved the one in his kitchen to the Cyrus Pile.) pic 2: ...How did I never notice this was a bed? pic 3: The Cranny finally had another item related to a DIY for sale!  You need three for the stacked diy, but one went into the Cyrus Pile, as usual~ pic 4: Yoo, Cyrano and Biscuit and my male Wild World character were in a polyamorous relationship!  Heh, making Cyrano and Biscuit roomates would be awesome! pic 5: I got the other part of the Artsy set!  And I also ordered a bunch of new things through Wardell, of course. pic 6: Mark you fish with fish! pic 7: I like how the background is usually black, but when you choose black seat cushions, the background color is gray! pic 8: I added a bunch of items to the kitchen! Changed the light above the table bc of applebees nostalgia, replaced the iron wall shelf with bottles, put a scone above the tea, and the osechi is white now~ pic 9: I went back to do a quick thing and caught Del floating! pic 10: I realized that not putting a person stand-in there, I was implying that Raymond could drive a boat, and he cannot!  He has an employee to do that!

[those-celestial-bodies]

WandaVision premiere liveblog!

All spoilers will be contained under the cut; I’ll be editing & saving this post as I watch!

Seriously I can’t believe we’re here! Round of applause for everyone who has been here over the years! I’m so excited that we’ll be joined by a whole new wave of people for the show. No matter how the show ends up, I’m glad we’re all sharing this!

I have watched a streaming premiere approximately 0 times before... do they go up exactly at the turn of the hour or is it here or there? 

Apparently it’s five minutes post the hour...

Here we go! Marvel Studios intro has changed Wanda’s little part from the AoU “you are an Avenger” to her fight with Thanos. Vision is still the last thing we see in the “M” for the final logo.

Oh my god her little short wedding dress! Love that it’s “starring” Wanda and Vision. And man they are just dropping us in media res. 

I’m dying this is too cute. And they did remember Vision doesn’t technically eat food! I wonder how the dinner party will go...

I am going to be creating Sims 4 house of every single era no one can stop me.

“Charmed”, from Agnes. Haha.

Oh we have a name for the husband--Ralph. Don’t think there’s any significance there.

People we weren’t kidding Bettany is completely natural in this environment. 

He’s so carbon based I love him. CARBON BASED.

Oh they actually call him Vision. Does he have a first name? That’s his last name I’m assuming... 

That magazine is “Glamorous” is seen in the 70s too.

A toaster... ok. So long as they avoid the obvious joke. Oh that’s the “blinking red light” from Stark Industries.

OH THAT EXPLAINS THE DRESS! Aw that’s too cute!

Oh she is still Sokovian! And Mr Hart is all red scare. I love they brought that in.

Interesting Wanda brings up super speed before his density shifting.

Woah thirsty Vision! 👀

Oh there’s the density reference.

That’s REALITY WARPING BABY!

Oh my god this is genuinely funny! 

I like how Wanda is European with her super American accent but Vision is... I guess not?

Interesting...Vision doesn’t act until Wanda commands him to. And it looks like Mrs Hart was pleading with Wanda there right?

YAKETY YAK OFFICIAL SCARLET VISION SONG.

Those names in the  credits didn’t mean anytihng to me.... gonna Google them later.

Oooh MCU real credits. Very cool. Pixel Rose, pixel glasses, pixel... gazebo? Pixel watertower, pixel children’s mobile, pixel staircase, pixel house, Halloween costumes.  Aw... the wedding rings...

That’s Episode 1 done!

Praying for animated opening... Oh we get a previously on, that’s cute. 

Yeah you can kind of hear the difference in Elizabeth Olsen’s 60s cadence here. Neat.

Can I say I love they aren’t completely sexless?

HELL YEAH ANIMATED HERE WE GO!

Oh cute they’re all the actual characters!

Oh shit they’re actually called Glamour and Illusion. +1 for fake Wardell. Anyway that’s a reference to the sidekicks from the 2nd 80s mini.

Love how it’s transformed to a slightly more naturalistic approach. 

There Agnes is with the brooch again...

Huh that mailman is suspicious.

Love the reference to Mary Tyler Moore’s pants-wearing being a controversial thing in The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Please clap.

Hmmm I kinda know what they mean with the weird splices of mystery kind of out of nowhere.  Interesting that both Mr Hart and Dottie suddenly get a lot nicer when they have... incidents...

Strucker like Baron von Strucker? Oh yes that’s HYDRA lol

Aww that’s so cute, he’s “drunk”!

Haha his smug face when he floats 

Wanda is too cute as Glamour!

Oh my god his drunk party tricks. 

Oh look the cabinet has the Mind Stone on it.

I love how they kind of subtly established Wanda wanted kids with the “for the children” thing.

Aw...he put his hand on her belly to protect the babies.

SIMS 4 HOUSE COMING GOTTA DO IT.

Oh that’s interesting... there was that one clip from the trailers showing them sitting down and kissing that doesn’t happen in this. 

Anyway, that’s it for Episode 2! This was amazing and more than exceeding my expectations. I was a little worried by the early reviews but frankly, if that’s the worst of their problems it’s only getting better from here!!

[pollylynn]

Title: Inclusive  WC: 900

“What, y'all trying for the deadly double?” — Wardell Williams, Law and Murder (3 x 19)

“You’re going to make me regret this, aren't you?” They haven’t even reached the corner outside the precinct before she has to ask the first time. It’s obvious it won’t be the last. 

He’d listened patiently—or at least with what passes for patience with him—in the elevator on the way down from the fourth floor while she’d given him the bullet points, no spoilers run down of the plot to Forbidden Planet. He had listened with attention, waited a beat to be sure she was finished, then launched into his campaign for what he’s calling Both/And OR Snacks Are Not Meals. 

“I’m just trying to make it clear that I’m not married to the idea of burgers.” This thought is entirely continuous with whatever thought he started out with back on the precinct steps. It’s as though she has not spoken at all. “For one thing, New Jersey is the only state in the northeast in which it is legal to marry one’s burger.” He gives her a sidelong glance to see if she’s laughing. She is not laughing, but only through sheer force of will. “But I also want to make it clear that I am open to all reasonable suggestions for our late-night, post-movie dinner.” 

“Oh, it’s all reasonable suggestions now?” She tips her chin up as though she’s appealing to the mild spring night in the case she’s building against him. But she’s not building a case. She’s not wondering if she regrets this already. She’s hiding a smile. “Moments ago—mere moments, Castle—you were generously allowing me carte blanche to choose the setting for this mythical meal.” 

“Suppose we stipulate carte mostly blanche.” He bounds a few steps ahead so he can face her as he walks—no, practically skips—backward. “Then will you say yes?” 

She almost does say yes. It’s nearly a reflex, and that’s a little unnerving. He’s working the puppy dog eyes and it gets to her—almost gets to her—and she wonders when that happened. She probably shouldn’t wonder too long or hard though. She suspects the answer is not exactly going to be reassuring. 

“Either/or,” she says sternly. She reaches out to grab his sleeve so he doesn’t actually back directly into  the path of an oncoming cab. 

He startles and scurries to fall in step beside her again. “ Unfair! That is totally un—“ His head swings toward her, his eyes narrowed. “Wait. Either snacks or dinner after. Because you already said I could have popcorn and candy.” 

“Did I?” She scrunches up her face like she certainly can’t recall agreeing to something patently ridiculous. 

It gets the job done. He panics a little and has to spend the rest of the short walk to the Angelika working his way back up to candy and popcorn. He has to lobby hard for real butter, not the fake-butter flavoring. 

“We never talked about any kind of toppings at all, Castle,” she cuts into his impassioned argument against the clothes-staining, nature-defying, crime against god and man that fake butter  is, “so I’m not sure where this conversation is going.”

He is delightfully vexed by the whole thing, then suitably chastened and humbly grateful when she honors not only the original popcorn and candy deal, but springs for extra butter—real butter. She figures it’s a job well done as far as diverting that conversation stream goes. He is immediately sucked into the movie—which he has obviously seen a hundred times before, not that she was deluding herself otherwise—and she figures that he’ll have forgotten all about his Both/And campaign by the time it lets out. 

But it seems that the night is still young as far as delusions on her part go. He starts back in on the vast number of late-night dinner options available to New Yorkers in between effusive sentence fragments about which parts of the movie are definitely the best, accept no substitutes. 

“We could do tacos. Couldn’t you go for a taco?” He does not wait to see if she could, in fact, got for a taco. “Oh! And how scary is that whole dying line?” He makes his voice gravely. “Monsters from the id.” His mind pings back in the direction of food. “Tacos, though. I’m seriously thinking . . .” He finally seems to register that the conversation has gone one sided. “Not . . . tacos?” 

“Castle, I never said . . .” It’s her turn to trail off when his face falls. She sighs. “Are you really still hungry?” She scours a hand over her eyes. “How could you possibly still be hungry?” 

“Nah,” he says quickly. “It’s . . . nah.” 

It’s like watching a defensive barrier snick up round him. It’s not what she wanted. It’s not what she meant. “Castle—“ 

“I’m not, really.” He softens. He gives her a crooked smile. It’s a mask that slips. “Just . . . didn’t want the night to end.” There’s a tug from him to her. A jolt that makes her heart thump hard. “I had fun.” 

“Me too,” she says quietly, and that seems to be good night. He gives her another smile and turns to follow his separate path. She calls after him, though. Some fool instinct makes her call after him. “Rain check on those tacos?” 

He turns to face her. He walks backward for a few skipping steps. “Rain check.” 

A/N: No meal. No things. So brain dead.

images via homeofthenutty

[calibansprincessx]

Hell Is Hot CH 3-How To Stop An Apocalypse

Wow Thanks all for actually reading and liking this story ! This story is on AO3 My name their is Sunhoney_fandoms ! So if you guys are having a hard time finding all the parts here you can go there to read! I will make a tag on my blog soon though! 

@kanakalala458 @queenhumanoid @lachicademarcasrojas

Back at the academy, Aunt Zelda, Aunt Hilda and Ambrose were already gathered in the office. 

“Hey guys, what’s going on?” I said determined with a puff of air.

“Well it’s about time you showed up. I mean honestly Sabrina does this coven mean nothing to you.” Aunt Zelda said asking cigarette in her typical knowing voice. 

“Sorry, Aunt Zelds I got here as soon as I could. What’s going on?” 

Ambrose interjected as to not waste anymore time or cause more tension. “Well cousin, we captured Circe but we still need to figure out how to deal with the rest of the Pagans before they retaliate.” 

I began thinking, the Covens powers were still waning and we’d need the whole coven and the hedge witches to take down the pagans. We might have to move up the third challenge so the coven could have enough power. 

“How long do you think we have until the pagans retaliate?” I said still in thought. 

Ambrose answered quickly. “We killed 4 of them members and kidnapped Circe, they’ll need time to regroup. I think we have two to three days before they attack but we can’t wait that long to be ready.” 

“Okay Ambrose come with me, I might have an idea but I need help. Auntie’s I’ll fill you in if me and Ambrose prove it to be successful.” 

“Fine. We’ll reconvene at dinner time tomorrow.” She said taking a long drag of her cigarette. 

Ambrose whispered, “Where the heavens are we going, cousin?” He said walking as determined as I was. 

“We’re going to Hell.” I said as I stop dead in my tracks knowing we’re where the aunties can’t see us, to transport us to hell.

While in Hell I told Ambrose my plans of aligning with Caliban.

“If I could declare the final challenge as queen I could get enough power to save the coven!” I said excitedly hoping that he would know if this would work. 

He stared at me shocked. “Cousin, this is mad. You can’t get married. The auntie’s will never allow it!” 

“Ambrose, I have no choice and Caliban is not that bad. With both of our powers we can stop the hedge the witches” I said trying not to be too loud. 

“How do you expect to explain this to the auntie’s? You know they’ll say to find another way.” Ambrose says worriedly.

“Caliban and I already signed an agreement signed in blood and in clay, it’s official. The auntie’s will have to accept this and if you help explain that this can restore our coven it might go down easier.” I said pleadingly. 

“Me?! Cousin, I don’t know about this.” He states nervously.

Just then, Caliban shows up. 

“Caliban, what are you doing here?” I said surprised.

“Well princess I could hear you talking about me all the way from the beach.” He said looking down at me. His state made my cheeks feel like they were on fire. 

“How—“ I started. 

“I have my ways, my queen. Now what is it that I might help you with?” He said as confident as always. 

I turned to Ambrose and then back to Caliban.

I explained to Caliban that if he came back to my house with me and Ambrose to tell the auntie’s of our alignment that we may be able to move up the third challenge in order to stop the pagans.” 

“Would you help me move up the third challenge and stop the pagans?” I said promisingly and almost out of breath. 

“I’ll help you Morningstar but we must be fast if you wish to be coronated in time to stop the pagans.” 

Ambrose interjects, closing a book. “Okay then let’s go.” 

“Caliban, can you—“ I started before he already knew to transport us to my house. 

When we got there Aunt Zelda was sitting alone with a dirty shovel next to her. We walked in slowly. 

“Aunt Zelds, where’s Auntie Hilda?” I said confused. 

Aunt Zelda explained to us that the pagans turned Aunt Hilda into a spider and she killed Dr Cee and some stranger from Riverdale. 

“I buried her in the garden, she should be in any minute. Now who have you brought here Sabrina?” She says finally looking over to us. 

Before I could say anything Caliban began introducing himself. “I’m Caliban, Prince of Hell.” He said matter of factly. 

“Oh heavens. Sabrina what have you gone and done now?” She said getting up hearing a knock on the door. “Oh that must be Hilda now, why on Earth is she knocking?” She says annoyed as she opens the door. 

BANG 

“spinster somnum istum” Caliban summons. 

Mrs. Wardwell falls. I dropped to the floor as Aunt Hilda began to bleed. I begin putting pressure on the wound, crying. “Ambrose go get help!” I yell as Ambrose runs off. “Caliban! What did you do to Mrs Wardell?” I yell out. He bends down next to me, wiping a tear from my eye and picking up Aunt Zelda. I move with him keeping pressure on her gunshot wound.

“Relax princess I just put the spinster to sleep. Now where can we take her to lay her flat.” He speaks slow, calm and confident. 

Ambrose appears with Prudence and Mambo Marie. “Downstairs!” He yells. 

“We need to operate.” Mambo Marie states. 

We get downstairs and Caliban lays her down, while Prudence rushes to get the equipment for Mambo Marie to take the bullet out. 

We all wait patiently but one thing I can’t get over is how Caliban put Mrs. Wardwell to sleep. I didn’t know he had power like that. I look at him and quietly speak. “Caliban, how did you put Mrs. Wardwell to sleep? I didn’t know you had power like that.” 

He speaks while continuing to watch Mambo operate. “My power comes from the Pits of Hell. I studied many things and learned how to harness my power to its fullest.” He said smirking down at me. 

“Wait, does that mean I can get power from the Pits Of Hell?” I said trying not to be too loud as if I could wake Aunt Zelda. 

“No, it doesn’t work like that princess. I am made from the Pits of Hell.” He states. 

Dammit. I begin thinking out loud. “Why would Mrs. Wardwell shoot Aunt Zelda?” I speak so confused.

I start to hear screeching outside. Caliban, Prudence, Ambrose and I go to see what it is while Mambo waits for Aunt Zelda to wake. 

“It’s a banshee, a Spellman will die. I’m sorry.” Prudence speaks strong and soft. 

“Wait. We have to go. Ambrose, Prudence go upstairs with Caliban and he can transport you to the academy with the egg.” I said quickly.

“Cousin, what’s going on?” He speaks worried. 

“In the distance, Blackwood and Agatha are coming. She’s covered in blood. Go! Now! Caliban come back for Mambo, Aunt Zelda and I after.” I say slamming the door and running to the basement and locking all the entrances I can

Aunt Zelda still hasn’t woken and I explain to Mambo Marie the plan, although she tries to protest at first. All of a sudden I hear the front door burst open and hear Blackwood yelling. “KILL EVERY SPELLMAN YOU FIND!” Caliban appears. “Quickly” I said quietly to him. He grabs our hands and transports us as Agatha tries to bust the basement door down. 

Back at the academy I turned to Caliban. “Do you know any protection spells?” I speak harshly. 

“No not off the top of my head. I know protection sigils.” Caliban states. 

Before I could speak, Ambrose interrupts reaching into his bag. “I still have some of the Dark Lord’s essence that we removed from Nick. If all of us use what’s left to write sigils we can get the entire academy protected quickly.” He speaks fast and knowingly. 

Just as we finish protecting the academy Aunt Zelda wakes up and I’m right by her side. 

She sits up quickly. “I have it. I have the answer. I know how the coven can regain power and defeat the pagans.” She states confidently before looking around confused. “Where am I?” 

I lunge into her arms. “Aunt Zee! You’re alive!” We’re at the academy Aunt Zelda. We’re all safe here, for now.” 

“Where’s Hilda?” She said looking around then back at me confused. 

“She never resurrected from the Cain Pit, Auntie.” I said tears brimming my eyes. 

“What?” Aunt Zelda says in disbelief. 

“I’m afraid Aunt Hilda is gone.” Ambrose states before sobbing while Prudence comforts him. 

“Impossible. I left her not one moment ago in the Nether Realm. I saw the future, and Hilda lives to be an old crone. If she hasn’t resurrected on her own, then I’ll use what I learned in the next life to drag her back into this one.” Aunt Zelda yells confidently while getting off the table. “Today we will rip our sister Hilda back from the clutches of death himself. Now, who amongst you will return to the Spellman house with me to do the deed?” 

We return home and circle around where Aunt Zelda buried Aunt Hilda. All of us holding hands as Aunt Zelda remains in the middle of the circle. 

“It is said that whenever you call on the Triple Goddess, she comes to you. As much as I ignored her, put my faith in lesser gods, signed my name in other books, she still came to me when I needed her most. When I wandered, lost in the Nether Realm, it was she who led me back to the material world. We call you, Hecate.” The wing begins rustling through us. Aunt Zelda begins to call out. “We call on you now, Maiden, in your unbounded potential. We call on you, Mother, in all your divine power. We call on you, Crone, in your arcane wisdom. We are descended from all maidens, mothers, and crones. And so, when we call on the three-in-one, we call on all witches stretching back from the beginning of time to the end of days. We call on… ourselves, the powers that have been denied us. Imbue is with them, Hecate, and we shall pray to you morning, noon, and night. And we shall live to honor thy three faces, they three forms. Dark Mother, keeper of the key to the door between worlds, we… summon thee. Return our sister, Hilda to the realm of the living, and we will never forget you again!” Wind blows, thunder rumbles. It stops and Aunt Hilda doesn’t rise. “Hilda? Hildy? Hildy, are you there?” Aunt Zelda’s voice trembles as she drops to her knees. “Hildy.” Ain’t Zelda sobs. 

Seconds later, Aunt Hilda’s hand shatters through the Earth and Aunt Zee pulls her out. 

Aunt Hilda now resurrected and covered in dirt asks, “What have I missed?” While brushing herself off. 

I sigh. “A lot, Aunt Hilda. The pagans still need to be stopped.” 

“Oh, bloody pagans, what kind of trouble are they causing now?” 

So we catch Aunt Hilda up on the pagans plan to pollinate everyone in town with caramel apples for the Green Man. We devise a plan to put a lullaby spell on the town and use Pesta to kill the Green Man by wearing a Mrs. Wardwell glamour. 

After I deliver Pesta to the pagans in a Robin glamour, she destroys the Green Man. 

“I killed your pathetic plant god. Now I think it’s time you and your carnival left Greendale.” I spat as the rest of the coven shows up. The pagans begin departing. 

“Coven, do not stop until every last pagan is driven from our home.” Aunt Zelda bellows. 

We got rid of the pagans. Everyone went home. 

“And so Greendale is saved once again.” Ambrose says clinking a glass with Auntie Hilda. 

“And tomorrow morning the town will wake nice and rested.” Aunt Hilda replied 

“And none the wiser, Sister.” Aunt Zelda leaned forward in her seat. “Thank you, Sabrina. When the coven and your family needed you the most, you were there.” 

“It was nothing, Aunt Zee. I’m thankful to have had the help I had. I love you guys.” I spoke softly. 

“I suppose you’ll be running back off to Hell.” Ambrose spoke low with his head down. 

I took a long deep sigh. “I actually need to talk to you guys about that. Before any of this happened, I was gonna tell you guys.” 

“Tell us what Sabrina?” Aunt Zelda says ashing her cigarette. 

“Yeah doll, you can tell us anything.” Aunt Hilda said to combat Aunt Zelda’s sort of harsh tone. 

“I am to marry Caliban, Prince of Hell after I finish the third challenge tomorrow. Now before you get angry please listen.” I sigh. “This will ensure that I still get to spend time here with you guys. I will continue to go to mortal school and Caliban and I will have breakfast and family dinners here, but I will live in hell and spend my evenings there. This also secures Hell stays where it belongs. Caliban and I have already made an agreement, signed in blood and in clay. Right now I need to go meet him at Dorian’s.” I spoke calmly and softly. 

It was quiet for a moment. Ambrose said nothing already knowing the agreement. Aunt Zelda was the first to speak. 

“Queen of Hell is not the life we hoped for you, Sabrina, especially not marriage this young. But I am happy you thought through this agreement and still made your family a priority.” She said sadly. 

“I know Auntie Zee, me too, but it’s my destiny.” I said tears pricking my eyes. 

Aunt Hilda and Aunt Zelda begin to cry. 

“Oh, don’t cry, Aunties. I’ll be back later tonight, not for dinner, unfortunately.” I said resting my head on Aunt Hilda’s shoulder. 

“Oh, who’s crying?” Auntie Zee scoffs as she wipes a tear. 

“I bloody am.” Aunt Hilda remarks back. 

“It’s okay. It’s not the end, it’s not like you’ll never see me again. But for now.. I’ve got to go.” I say standing up to leave. 

“Lanuae Magicae!” I say transporting myself to Dorian’s.

[frizz22]

Continuation of your Worlds Collide one shot where the next time they come over Zelda and Faustus are properly fighting like smashing things and screaming at each other and Zelda using telekinesis??

1. Gabriela Mendes prompt: Showing how the hunting of Zelda and Faustus went, who was right and what prize the winner won?2. Molly2501 asked for a continuation 

Notes: 3 for 1! Since all of these dealt with the same fic I combined them. Hope you don’t mind :) Read part 1 here and part 2 on ao3

They’d set out for the hunt; equally arrogant and certain they would win. Zelda had never dreamed they’d both be wrong. 

When she found the beast, first, she might add, the realization stunned her long enough that it almost got close enough to attack. It was only Faustus coming up behind her just then and casting a spell temporarily blinding the thing that allowed Zelda to dodge out of the way.

Breathing heavily, she turned and locked eyes with Faustus; he nodded once and the two of them moved in tandem to kill the beast. Spells flew, each of them sensing what the other was casting before it even left their fingers and able to cast a follow up spell that increased the damage of the first.

When the creature finally fell, dead, Zelda approached it slowly, toeing the carcass with her shoe to be sure. Scoffing, Zelda glanced at Faustus where he’d come and knelt next to the creature. “A Chimera. Seems we were both wrong.” She muttered, rounding the beast to better examine it.

A huff escaped Faustus as he flicked his wrist to run a few spells on the dead chimera. “And no wonder we were wrong, chimeras aren’t allowed out of Hell, for good reason.” He gestured to the size and appearance of the thing, it wasn’t something easily hidden or explained away to mortals. “It never should have made it past the first few circles of Hell, let alone all the way to our plane and into Greendale.” Standing, Faustus brought his gaze to hers. “Help me teleport it to the academy?” It was much easier to move something so large with the help of another witch than to attempt it alone and they could hardly leave the thing in the middle of the woods where a mortal might stumble across it.

Nodding, Zelda rounded the chimera and stopped next to Faustus. Clasping hands, they combined their magic to transport the beast to the academy for further studying.

Adrenaline still pumping through her from the encounter, Zelda didn’t let go of Faustus’ hand when they completed the spell. “Seeing as how we were both... off in our guesses, how shall we settle our bet?” Zelda purred, looking up at Faustus under hooded lids.

A wicked smile stretched on Faustus’ lips as his eyes swept over her hungrily. “Oh, dearest, I’m sure we can figure out a way to deal with the fact that we tied.” He drew her in for a hot kiss then, breaking only long enough to teleport them to his bedroom and ensuring the door was locked and a silencing spell in place before descending on her again.

~~~

Still trying to catch his breath a bit, Faustus undid the scraps of silk holding Zelda’s limbs to the bedposts. Her body fell limp against the mattress, she groaned happily and when he joined her, and she curled lazily into his side.

“Hmm, we should ‘tie’ more often.” She intoned, nipping his neck lightly and his arms tightened around her.

Chuckling, Faustus pulled her closer. “Agreed.” He replied, fingers dancing along her skin. “And to keep things fair, it’s my turn to be tied next round.”

Eyes shining with excitement and lust, Zelda growled her approval and latched her lips more firmly to his neck while her hand slid lower.

~~~

Another few rounds and a bath together later, Zelda was getting dressed to go home; Faustus lounging on the bed, watching her.

“You could stay.” He murmured, easing himself off the bed to stand behind her and slid her zipper on the back of her dress up.

Huffing softly, Zelda shook her head. “You know I can’t. My family likely already burned the house down in my absence.” She turned and cupped his cheek sweetly, pressing a light kiss to his lips.

He caught her hand as she made to pull away. “We could,” he cleared his throat and swiped his thumb over the back of her hand. “We could make it so you didn’t have to go back and forth.”

Brow furrowing, Zelda cocked her head at the warlock in front of her. “What are you saying?”

~~~

Sabrina and her friends were sprawled in the floor in the parlor, working on a project for Ms. Wardell’s class. Though her friends were far from out of questions about the witching realm, they did have homework to finish. So, though Sabrina was happy she could have certain people over without hiding her family and their lives, she’d made them move to the parlor to work—it also helped that Aunt Hilda and Cerberus had needed to run to the store for more supplies and Ambrose had disappeared to go see Luke. Meaning there were far fewer distractions.

They’d finally hit their stride, actually paying attention to their project and not asking more witching questions, when Aunt Zelda burst through the front door, disturbing the quiet, and Blackwood two steps behind her.

They were shouting at one another.

“I don’t care what the coven has to say about the matter,” Zelda snarled, rounding on Blackwood, eyes flashing dangerously.

Slamming the door behind him, Blackwood scoffed. “You’d flaunt tradition?”

Closing the space between them, Zelda bared her teeth. “In this? Absolutely.”

Blackwood lost his patience and snatched a vase from the side table and flung it across the room, strewing flowers and water in its wake. “You’re being intractable for no reason other than—"

“No reason?!” Zelda interrupted, and the furniture and other loose items in the room rose about an inch into the air from where they’d been sitting.

Not backing down, Blackwood gave her a curt nod. “Yes. No reason other than you cannot commit. To anything.” He added, throwing a hand into the air.

More magic crackled through the air, and even Sabrina and Roz’s hair began to lift into the air. Theo muttered a small ‘whoa’, but the adults didn’t seem to realize they were there. Zelda suddenly waved her hand and the vase Blackwood had thrown before came hurtling back at him.

He barely blocked the projectile with a spell and arched a brow. “That how it’s going to be? Instead of talking you’re going to throw things like a—"

This time a lamp was levitated off a side table in the parlor and hurtled at him. “Like a what, Faustus? You’re the one who started throwing things.” Zelda snapped, following the lamp with the heavy phone book sitting by the front door.

Blackwood cast a shielding spell that had her aunt stumbling several feet back with its strength. “Because you never listen.” He retorted, casting another spell which Zelda deflected. And though on some level Sabrina knew she should interfere; she was just as transfixed watching the interaction as her friends.

“Never listen?” Zelda repeated back incredulously, “never listen? Perhaps that’s because you never truly say what you mean.” She launched a small side table at Blackwood now and he didn’t block it in time, and it knocked him back into the wall and then pinned him there, Zelda’s hand held up to ensure he couldn’t move. “You’re always hiding behind the church or coven traditions, you never say flat out you want something, or someone, just because it’s what you want. There’s always another reason, another purpose than because you want something.”

Zelda stalked closer so their noses were only inches apart, both of their mouths curling into snarls. “When you finally have the courage to ask me that question without some nonsense about the Dark Lord, the church, or the coven, then you can come back.” She spat and, based on how the snarl on Blackwood’s face transformed into a grimace, she’d pressed the table against him even harder. Suddenly knives flew in from the kitchen and hovered menacingly behind Zelda, the tips pointed at Blackwood. “Do we have an understanding?” She asked, eyes flashing dangerously and now even Sabrina and her friends were lifting about an inch off the ground.

Eyes flicking to where the knives were floating, Blackwood nodded. “Perfectly.” He ground out, livid but clearly at a disadvantage.

Arching a brow in acknowledgment, the knives flew forward and buried themselves into the wall on either side of Blackwood and her aunt stalked upstairs; her magic dissipating as she left and items lowered back to the floor.

The table pinning Blackwood was the last thing to fall and he was breathing harshly when it did. Straightening his coat with a stiff jerk, Blackwood glared up the stairs where her aunt had disappeared and then teleported away.

Blinking, Roz and Theo turned and gaped at Sabrina, likely expecting some explanation.... she didn’t have one, though, Sabrina was just as stunned by what they’d witnessed. Before they could find their voices again, Hilda and Cerberus came through the front door, the smiles sliding from their faces at the destruction.

Lips pursing, Hilda turned to Sabrina. “Love, while your friends may be in the know, now, that doesn’t mean you need to be unnecessarily demonstrating—"

“It wasn’t me!” Sabrina hurriedly stated, pushing herself into her knees. “We were just doing homework when Auntie Zee and Father Blackwood came back. They’re the ones responsible.” She gestured to the broken vase, lamp, overturned table and knives in the wall.

Hilda squeaked when she saw the knives and turned to the stairs. “Zelda Spellman!” She shouted up, pushing her bag into Cerberus’ arms and propelling him to the kitchen while she waited for her sister to respond.

When Zelda finally appeared at the top of the stairs, she looked entirely unconcerned about what’d happened. “Yes?” She drawled, leaning in the railing.

Huffing in disbelief, Hilda gestured to the mess that was the foyer. “Care to explain why my good knives are currently embedded in the wall?” She asked pointedly, hands on her hips.

Rolling her eyes, Zelda walked down the steps at a leisurely pace. “Faustus and I were having a discussion.” She informed her sister, though from the look in her eye Sabrina could tell that the ‘discussion’ was still bothering her aunt.

A scoff emanating from Hilda recaptured Sabrina’s attention. “And what kind of discussion leads to—"

“A private one.” Zelda cut in as she reached the bottom of the stairs, brow arched. Though she did flick her wrist causing the table to right itself, the vase and lamp to become whole once more and the knives flew from the wall and towards the kitchen where they heard Cerberus yelp in surprise. “There.”

Unimpressed, Hilda shook her head and made for the kitchen with Zelda. “Does this have to do with your bet? Did you lose?”

A bark of laughter escaped Zelda. “Lose? Hilda, please.” She shook her head. “I was the first one to find the beast. Though, it may have been a chimera. So, neither of us were correct and I tracked it faster so I certainly didn’t lose.”

“A, a chimera!” Hilda gasped, their conversation continuing as they moved further away.

Sabrina turned back to her friends, a grimace on her face. “Okay, I know how that looked and sounded. It’s not norm—"

“Your aunt fought a fucking chimera?” Theo murmured, eyes round.

“That’s badass.” Roz added, shaking her head. “I mean, what?!”

Getting to his knees, Theo nodded enthusiastically. “And, and that fight?!” He moved his hands as though he were casting spells. “She was just like wham and he went whoosh, and then she pinned him to the wall, and everything was floating!”

Stunned that her friends were impressed instead of perturbed by the brawl in the foyer, Sabrina let it go and dove right into talking about chimeras—only too happy to get distracted from their project if it meant her friends hadn’t been frightened away by this sudden display of magic.

[intoxicatingimmediacy]

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with actor Daveed Diggs about his role in TNT's new science-fiction show Snowpiercer, and the relevance of the show's idea of challenging class structures.

Full transcript under the cut.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Before the movie "Parasite" swept this year's Oscars, the director, Bong Joon-ho, created another film about class conflict, a sci-fi allegory set on a train hurtling through a frozen post-apocalyptic world called "Snowpiercer." Now that movie has been adapted for television.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SNOWPIERCER")

DAVEED DIGGS: (As Andre Layton) So we the people, the survivors left behind, we invaded their train.

SHAPIRO: That's Daveed Diggs. He stars as a homicide detective who moves up in the ranks of the train to investigate a murder. And he joins us now. Welcome.

DIGGS: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

SHAPIRO: To give listeners a sense of your background, you have written and starred in movies, you were in the original Broadway cast of "Hamilton," you've made rap albums, you've had small roles on TV shows. But I think this is the first time you've basically carried a TV series on your shoulders. How was that experience different from other projects you've done?

DIGGS: Well, it is very different. It's hard to say you're carrying anything when Jennifer Connelly is also helping you. So...

SHAPIRO: (Laughter) That's true. She does a pretty great job, too.

DIGGS: She's carrying a lot of the weight herself. But, yeah, you know, I was pretty wary about deciding to be a principal on a TV show because I've never really wanted to do anything for six years potentially or whatever the crazy contracts are they have you sign, you know? But this world felt like there were enough stories to tell that I wouldn't get bored, quite honestly. And it's continued to prove me right. There's always, like, interesting twists and turns. Layton is - continues to be fascinating to me and challenging, and...

SHAPIRO: That's the name of your character, yeah.

DIGGS: Yeah, yeah, Andre Layton.

SHAPIRO: You say the world has a lot of stories to tell, but it is a very confined world. I mean, it is a train.

DIGGS: It is.

SHAPIRO: Your character describes it as a fortress to class. Will you just kind of describe the setting?

DIGGS: Yeah. It is - I mean, it's a train that is 1,001 cars long. And it is set up like most trains where first class is up at the front.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SNOWPIERCER")

ALISON WRIGHT: (As Ruth Wardell) Some concerns about the sauna.

JENNIFER CONNELLY: (As Melanie Cavill) Oh, no. I'll send maintenance right away.

ANNALISE BASSO: (As LJ Folger) No. It's not broken. The Europeans are body shaming again.

DIGGS: And there's a second and third class, and then there's the tail, which is where Layton is from.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SNOWPIERCER")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) They just cut our rations again.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) No doubt. It's like slavery the only reason they still feeding us at all.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) They're starving us to extinction.

DIGGS: In the tail, there are essentially stowaways who rushed the train in a sort of bloody last-ditch attempt to not die during the apocalypse. This train is all that's left of the world. Everything else froze over when our scientists tried to overcorrect climate change. And so everyone on here are the last surviving people, and the stowaways in the back were sort of allowed to stay in exchange for labor, but they get none of the social services of the train.

SHAPIRO: Yeah. There was an article recently in The Atlantic about how the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating the class divide. And one of the lines in this article said America in the era of the coronavirus is less like a train engine pulling everyone along and more like the movie and upcoming television show "Snowpiercer" in which a cocooned elite rides out the storm in luxury. I know you filmed this series before the pandemic hit, but do you think it has a different resonance now? I mean, this was not an article about "Snowpiercer."

DIGGS: Yeah. I mean, I think it definitely does. And I think something about a sci fi show that uses an allegory to examine class structure is probably always going to be very relevant. But it is particularly so now. We're confronted with the idea of resource scarcity, which, to me, is, like, really the main driving force of "Snowpiercer" is just what do you do with limited resources? And we don't often have to think about that. But right now, when we're all inside and it's becoming very clear who is comfortable and who isn't, I think those differences become a lot more pronounced and infuriating.

SHAPIRO: Yeah. In this show, your character has to decide whether to take the opportunity that he's offered and leave his people behind in the tail of the train or stay true to his roots, even if that means giving up some of the privilege he's being offered. And I wonder, as you have become more famous and successful in your career and your life, is that a question that you've had to struggle with yourself?

DIGGS: Whew, bro, no one's ever asked me that question.

SHAPIRO: Really?

DIGGS: Yes. Yeah, of course. That's wild, actually, to think about. Yeah. I mean, there is, and I think this is true sort of for anybody who comes from just a different world socioeconomically than they find themselves in. There's like a - it's something akin to survivor's guilt. That feels like an extreme way to discuss it, in some ways. But I am always sort of hyper aware of my privilege these days and - yeah. And so I try to find ways to - I don't know - pull people along with me who I came up with or whatever, just try to find ways to, in some ways, offset it or use parts of it for other things. But there is an awful lot of negotiation of that kind of space that happens in my brain all the time.

SHAPIRO: Well, I also wonder if this comes back to the kinds of stories you choose to tell. Like, because it is occupying space in your brain, you're engaging in projects that sort of work through some of these issues.

DIGGS: That's possible. I've never thought of myself as a type of actor who uses his work as therapy. But maybe that's what's happening (laughter).

SHAPIRO: What do you do with that? Like, you can't just reject the opportunities you're given.

DIGGS: You can't. I try to be as careful as possible and ask my team to be as careful as possible in terms of, like, vetting organizations that I'm working for. But, you know, I am aware that I am, like, a participant in and sort of thriving in a system that used to hold me down and that is still holding down a lot of my friends and family.

SHAPIRO: Do you mean hold you down as a person of color?

DIGGS: A person of color, as a poor person. You know, it's undebatable that what - you know, as "Snowpiercer" examines, there are different worlds that we exist in based on your class, and race also plays into that in a big way. And if we look at, you know, how New York is being policed during this lockdown and that all to me folds back in to a system, like an economic system, that I am in some ways - in a lot of ways a beneficiary of right now, right? And so that's a complicated thing. Like, I - the neighborhood I live in right now, if I call the police, they're going to come. They just repaved my street during this lockdown. There are so many other streets in LA that need to be repaved.

SHAPIRO: But it must be nice to have your street repaved, too.

DIGGS: I'm saying, right. But our - you know, this voting district also has money.

SHAPIRO: Yeah.

DIGGS: So we all interact with this system. And now I'm interacting with it in a very different way than I used to, and it's complicated. It's hard.

SHAPIRO: So it's like, do you blow it up or do you shine a light on it or do you just prosper in it? Like...

DIGGS: Right, right, exactly. And so I guess these days I am trying to shine a light while also maintaining the safety and comfort that I'm acquiring for me and for my family.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SHAPIRO: Daveed Diggs, thank you for talking with us about "Snowpiercer."

DIGGS: Thank you so much, man. You got deep in there.

SHAPIRO: Daveed Diggs stars in the TV adaptation of the movie "Snowpiercer," which premiered on Sunday on TNT.

[st-ckholm]

i'm all for a good 'facing a phobia' story ~woopdoopwhumpwhoomp

Oh Me Too @woopdoopwhumpwhoomp

Red is finished, white is requested.

Prompt: Facing Their PhobiaWord count: 1097Warnings: Descriptions of needles doing needly thingsFandom: Original characters

First prompt finished for @badthingshappenbingo!

Ft. the first time Colten was a whumpee. He was literally made for this prompt so Here We Are.

—

Light pushed into his eyes, forcing between his heavy lids that had been sealed shut for what seemed like years. He felt heavy, could barely lift his head, but when he managed to tilt his neck enough to look at his surroundings, he let out a strangled groan. The walls were unfamiliar, too bright white and blank. His vision, too blurred to pick up anything but shapes and colors, caught a glimpse of a darker shape against the wall.

“There you are, how are you feeling?” A voice asked. Colten knew it sounded familiar, but he couldn’t figure out who it was.

The shape came closer, bent down, and touched Colten’s cheek. He blinked a few times, desperately trying to clear the fog from his eyes enough to see the face of the person above him. He gave another groan in response to the question.

“Not great, huh?” The person said again, and Colten figured that the deep voice belonged to a man. “Don’t worry, dear, you’ll come out of that fog soon.”

Colten kept fighting against the haze in his eyes, clenching them shut, opening them, blinking, refocusing. Eventually, his vision was clear enough to see a face.

Dr. Anderson. 

Colten sighed a breath of relief. His doctor was here, that meant that he would be okay. He must’ve just gotten hurt, had a bad reaction to his medication, and now the doctor was here to make sure he was okay. 

“Wh- what happened?” Colten muttered, looking up at Dr. Anderson. He wasn’t wearing scrubs or a white coat, just a plain white shirt coat and a black tie. His hair, surprisingly, was somewhat more messed up than Colten has ever seen it before.

“I need your help with something, Colten.”

Unsurity filled Colten once again, and in his newfound quest to discover what had happened, he tried to lift his hand to his head.

But it didn’t move.

He struggled, fought against the binding, but a ziptie tightened around his wrists kept him from moving them from behind his back.

“Dr. Anderson?” Colten questioned, his vision finally clear enough to piece the room together. He was sitting on a black sofa, his back pressed against the arm rest and his ankles and wrists tied together. The clothes he wore weren’t his own, black sweatpants and a loose grey shirt replaced the pajamas he had gone to bed in.

“Call me Wardell, dear.” The doctor said. “Now please, try to relax. Like I said, I only need your help.”

Colten fought harder. He’d been working as a detective long enough to know when someone was bending the truth, and this was damned sure just that.

“Colten.” Wardell spoke sternly, a warning, but as there was no threat to be seen, Colten kept fighting against the ties.

“Colten!”

As quickly as Wardell spat out his name, there was a Hand in Colten’s hair, gripping onto the bright red strands and forcing his head against the back of the seat. A cold, wet pad was pressed against his neck, just above his carotid artery. It stunk of rubbing alcohol.

“You’ll learn to listen to me when I tell you what to do, but until then.” Wardell raised a syringe, waving it to ensure Colten got a good look at it. “You’ll need a little bit of help.”

Colten was frozen. 

He stared at the needle, unable to peel his eyes away from it.

A transparent brown liquid filled the barrel and the needle jutted out from it. Wardell’s hand threatened to dive towards his skin at any moment.

Colten broke.

“No, no! Please, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” He sobbed, trembling. “I’ll be good, I won’t fight, please just put that away!”

Wardell looked puzzled, but moved his hand closer anyway.

“It’ll help.”

The needle poked through his skin, and Colten tensed up despite knowing that it would only make it worse. He felt it, every sickeningly cold millimeter of metal, pushing between the fibers of his muscles, breaking through his veins, sending fire through his nerves. Tears pushed from his eyes, and he looked away from Wardell as the man violated him with a syringe. The plunger was pressed, and a freezing sensation filled his bloodstream. By the time the needle was removed, Colten laid still again, head rested against the back of the sofa. He was crying, and Wardell ran a hand through his hair as if to comfort him. His muscles felt like they were filled with concrete, pulling him down, keeping him from moving.

“What do you want from me?” The detective asked meekly, still not looking at the doctor. Wardell sighed, as though Colten’s condition made him sad.

“I need help testing a medication.” Wardell answered. “It’ll save a lot of lives, make a lot of people recover from things that can’t be healed yet.” His voice was soft, soothing, and Colten listened. “It’ll cure any virus you can think of.” The doctor pressed a bandaid over the injection site on Colten’s neck. “Help victims of nearly fatal injuries recover before they can die.”

Colten was silent for a moment, trying to process everything. 

“Why me?”

Wardell chuckled softly. “You’re a strong man, you’ll be able to hold up to whatever testing needs to be done while I perfect the medication.” A pair of wire cutters were lifted off the ground and used to cut off the zipties. “Will you help me?”

Colten didn’t want to say no, he was scared of what the doctor would do to him if he refused. So he nodded.

“That’s a good boy.” Wardell stood, gathering the zipties, wire cutters, bandaid wrapper, syringe, and alcohol pad. “I’ll be back in a few hours with some food for you before we start testing.”

The doctor left Colten limp on the sofa, closed the door behind him, and locked it with a key that hung from his belt.

—

When everything was put away, exactly where it belonged, Wardell opened a notebook that sat on the lab counter. His basement, now filled with the makings of the perfect testing facility, was his pride and joy. With a pen pulled from a wire cup, Wardell wrote;

Day 1, 4:27 p.m.

Subject (further referred to as Colten) has been collected and is readjusting to his new room. He fought to escape from his binds until shown a sedative. Colten seems to have symptoms trypanophobia; the fear of needles. He doesn’t seem to know what his partner knew about me.

He agreed to testing, but it is likely that he will resist it once he discovers that the drug is administered via syringe.