#we still have parades and stuff though! /pos

[unnerving-creation]

Marching band season is over now!!!

[excuseme-howdareyou]

Day 7: Nightmares | Time Travel | Mythology AU

........

"Bruce?" 

Dick's voice was tiny and quiet and barely more than a whisper. Still, Bruce rolled over in his bed and blinked sleepily at the small boy standing in his doorway. His blanket was wrapped around his shoulders, making the short preteen appear even smaller buried underneath the mass of fabric, and the nervous look on his face made Bruce's throat feel tight. 

Sitting up, Bruce rubbed the sleep from his eyes and chanced a glance at the clock. 4:27AM. "What is it, chum?" he asked.

Dick pulled the blanket tighter around himself. "I can't sleep," he admitted quietly. 

Not entirely unexpected. The Manor was still new to him; it was a far cry from the circus and no doubt-

"I... I had a nightmare."

-and oh.

Bruce swung his feet over the edge of the bed and beckoned Dick to come closer with his arm spread out in gesture for a hug. The 12 year old needed no other initiative and launched himself across the room. He was almost a teenager, but Bruce was still able to easily pick the lad up and settle him into a tight embrace. Gangly elbows and knobby knees curled up and Dick was almost lost in the swatch of blanket, but Bruce held onto him -blanket and all- with as much tightness as he dared. 

It had been two months since the death of the Graysons, one since coming here to the Manor. He did not have to ask to know what the nightmare was about. 

One little hand squirmed out of the blankets to grasp tightly onto the sleeve of Bruce's nightshirt. He did not let go after that and Bruce did not try to stop him. 

After all, Dick needed to be able to hold onto him to make sure he didn't fall too.

...........

The first time Bruce caught Jason in the middle of the night, he was standing on the kitchen counter in his bare feet, trying to reach the container of cocoa sitting on the top shelf. He was also cursing up a storm under his breath. ("Who the hell puts stuff up this high? Stupid tall people.")

"Late night snack, Jaylad?" Bruce asked with a smile and leaned his shoulder against the doorjamb. 

Jason nearly fell off the counter in his surprise. "Bruce!" he whirled around, his hold on the cupboard door the only thing keeping him balanced in his haste," I was uhhh..." His eyes darted around the room nervously. Then his shoulders drooped in defeat. "Please don't tell Alfie I was standing on the counter."

Bruce couldn't help but grin. "It'll be our secret," he promised," Though I've learned it really is impossible to hide anything from Alfred. The man knows everything."

He and Jason had a running theory that Alfred could read their thoughts.

(It still hasn't been disproven, by the way.)

Recognizing that Jason still hadn't gotten his cocoa, Bruce walked forward and with his immense height easily reached up and grabbed the tin container. He handed it to a sheepish Jason, who jumped off the counter. 

"So," Bruce continued by getting two mugs out of the cupboard as well," Had a craving for hot chocolate?"

Jason had the container on the kitchen island and pried the lid off. "No, I uhh..." he frowned, even as he reached in and grabbed the measuring spoon inside," Couldn't sleep, ya know? Figured a hot drink might help."

The smile slid off Bruce's face. He knew what 'couldn't sleep' meant. 

"Wanna talk about it?" he asked. 

Jason looked like he was about to blurt out his thoughts, but then changed his mind as he dumped a spoonful of cocoa mix into each of the mugs. "Nothin' to talk about," he muttered sourly. 

Bruce knew from experience it was best not to press. 

Doesn't mean he wasn't going to stay in this kitchen for an hour, drinking hot chocolate with his son. And when Jason toddled off back to bed, he seemed... calmer, more at ease. And when he yawned, wide and tired and Bruce caught a glimpse of that chipped canine tooth, he couldn't help but tussle that head of messy hair. 

"Hey!" Jason protested.

"Goodnight, Jaylad," Bruce leaned down and pecked his lips on Jason's forehead," I'll be here in the morning when you wake up."

Judging by the smile on the boy's face, it was the right thing to say.

...............

Tim wouldn't tell Bruce when he had a nightmare. But he had certain tells that if someone looked, they could tell he was having a restless night. 

It took Bruce an embarrasingly long time before he noticed it. He wanted to blame it on the fact that Tim lived across the street at his own house and so Bruce didn't see him after patrol was over. But even from the front steps of the Manor, it would've been obvious to see. And so it was actually Selina who brought it to his attention, one of her 'visits' to the Manor to see if she could rouse Bruce into a game of manor-tag. (Only this time she marched straight up to him and whacked him over the face with a sofa pillow)

"Go look outside your front window, you dense idiot," she frowned at him, then left for the night. 

And that's how Bruce found out that Tim climbs up onto his roof whenever he can't sleep. How long he's been doing it, he doesn't really know and Tim wasn't telling. But Bruce could recognize that look in his eyes; the empty stare as Tim sat on the peak of his roof and gazed -almost longingly- at the driveway leading away from his house. 

He didn't make a sound when Bruce sat down next to him, just glanced up then went back to staring at the road. Bruce wondered what he saw there. Or if... he was daydreaming about something he wished he saw there. 

"Nightmare?" he asked. 

"No more than usual," came Tim's reply and wasn't that just a stab in Bruce's heart?

"Wanna talk about it?" 

Tim shook his head. 

"Okay."

A few minutes passed before Bruce noticed that Tim was starting to droop. Whatever nightmares plagued him, exhaustion was still catching up to him. Without a word, Bruce reached over and tugged the teenager over into his side with one arm wrapped around his shoulders. Surprised but not fighting it, Tim tilted his head until it rested on Bruce's shoulder and yawned. 

"Whenever you're ready, we'll head back to the Manor," Bruce told him. 

Tim blinked up at him in confusion. "Really?" he asked," But I thought I had to be here in case Ms. Nefzger came early tomorrow?"

Ms. Nefzger, the housekeeper that only shows up every three days. Bruce felt a sweep of guilt that that was the reason why Tim was staying in this large house by himself; to keep up the ruse. "If it happens, then I'll deal with it," he said instead," Tonight, Alfred's got the guest room ready for you, then tomorrow you can chose which room you want for your own."

The smile Tim gave him reminded him so much of another boy with dark hair and blue eyes. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, Tim. I really mean it."

..................

It was the small parade of animals down the hall that garnered his attention. 

First it was the damn turkey, leading the way with a ruffle of feathers. Then the click clack of Titus' claws on the hardwood floor, the sound preceeding the sight of his large head appearing. Through his open door way, Bruce then saw the shadow of his youngest son, right at Titus' side and holding Alfred the Cat in his arms, as the menagerie paraded past. 

Equal parts curious and concerned, Bruce rose from bed to follow after him. He supposed he was lucky that Batcow wasn't part of the proceedings. 

"Damian?"

Damian and his pets stopped. "Father?" Damian turned around, surprised to see Bruce standing right behind him. 

"What's wrong?" he asked, noting that his son was still in his pajamas and slippers," Is everything okay?"

Damian opened his mouth, hesitated as if he wasn't sure what he wanted to say. Then, with a scowl, he announced," Just doing a patrol of the house, Father."

It didn't take a genius to realize that probably wasn't what he was really doing. "Mmhmm," Bruce couldn't help but smile fondly at him, then guessed," Couldn't sleep?"

Somehow not expecting his bluff to be called, Damian froze at the implication that he'd been found out so soon. "I..." he blinked," Maybe?" He held unnaturally still, as if half expecting to be sent straight back to bed.

Bruce was enough of an old hat at this by now. "Yeah, me too sometimes," he reassured him. He reached out and laid one hand on his son's shoulder, wanting to give him a hug but not wanting to disturb the cat in his arms. "What can I do to help?" he asked. 

Damian stared at him in equal parts awe and confusion. "Umm," he fumbled for words," Well, sometimes... Richard would sit and watch Animal Planet with me?"

"You got it," Bruce smiled and gave his shoulder a squeeze before straightening up," Shall we get a snack first? How's hot chocolate sound?"

................

They were halfway through the 'Ice Worlds' episode of 'Planet Earth' when they were joined by a third person. "Rough night?" Jason whispered as he leaned over the back of the couch and saw Damian fast asleep snuggled between his father and Titus. Bruce had to tilt his head back to get a look at his second oldest and wondered when he'd come in. 

"He couldn't sleep," Bruce answered back just as quietly, not wanting to wake Damian," Everything alright? What are you doing still up?"

"I'm a grown man, Bruce, I don't need a bedtime," Jason scowled at him, but it didn't last long as Tim appeared at his side and lightly slapped him on the back of his head. 

"Stop getting so offended over everything," Tim scolded him, then turned to Bruce," He just finished his stakeout and came to harass me for my case notes."

Yeah, that sounded like Jason. 

Just then, Jason noticed the duo of cocoa mugs on the coffee table. "Hey, you had hot chocolate without me?" he pouted. 

Holding back a chuckle, Bruce told him," It's still in the same place as always, Jay." Then he couldn't help but grin," Need any help reaching it?"

The word Jason signed back at him would not be polite to repeat out loud. "Make me a cup too!" Tim whisper-shouted at his retreating back. 

"Ooh, I thought I heard David Attenborough," and all of a sudden there was Dick on the other end of the couch, munching on a granola bar he probably had stashed away in a pocket somewhere. (At this point, Bruce was over questioning where he came from)

"Just don't wake your brother," he whispered and got a pantomimed 'lips-locked' from his eldest. It was all in vain though, for as soon as Jason returned -with two cups of hot steaming cocoa- he shooed Titus off the couch so he could take his spot. The dog's movement woke Damian, who blinked sleepily at the troupe all around him. Finally, his eyes landed on Jason, who'd taken Titus' spot. 

"Todd," he grumbled, and the drawling way he spoke it told them he was only half awake. 

Jason smiled at him," Heya Baby Bat," then gestured at him with his open arm. A moment later, Damian leaned over in the opposite direction of Bruce and was soon fast asleep on Jason's shoulder. Bruce wanted to be jealous that Jason stole his cuddling time with Damian, but couldn't deny how adorable it was. 

(Dick thought the same thing, cooing at Jason and tried to hug his other arm, only to have Jason whisper-shout at him," Hey, don't spill my cocoa!")

A small form curled up on Bruce's other side and he looked down to see messy dark hair and sweet dark eyes. "Movie night?" Cass blinked up at him. 'Wasn't she at Barbara's tonight?' Bruce wondered, but gave up trying to guess. He was all too happy to wrap his arms around her shoulders (except where Tim was apparently using her as a pillow, cuddled up and sipping on his cocoa) and hold his only daughter tight. 

"Yeah, family movie night," Bruce whispered back. 

[caffeineivore]

Moar Spirits for Spirit

Prompt: M/N, Neck

**

At this hour of night, this section of Central Park is all but deserted, which serves the purposes of the two young men meeting there just fine. The older of the two unties the red bandanna around his head and stuffs it into a pocket before stepping out into the light-- the colour is too eye-catching, even at this hour of night, and likely to draw the attention of passersby or the odd passing cop. The star-shaped tattoo on his wrist is a little less noticeable. 

He doesn’t give the other boy much of a greeting beyond a fairly elaborate handshake-fist-bump combination, during which money changes hands, but sits down at the base of the a statue-- fairly new, some dude in a cape holding a sword atop a horse, lights up a cigarette as he counts the wadded-up cash. “That’s a little bit more than what I asked, Trey. Wanna tell me what’s up?”

Trey is perhaps all of fifteen, gangly but baby-faced, shuffling his feet in his battered red high-tops. “Well, I got together some extra. You know. Isn’t that good, Switch?”

The evasiveness of Trey’s body language and his non-answer to Switch’s question makes the older boy lean forward, all but trapping him against the statue’s concrete base. “Don’t tell me you’re trying to get up to some shit, now. I don’t think that’d be a smart idea.”

“I just-- I got a new caseworker. She actually cares. I’ve been going to school and I think I might be able to graduate. She’s even helping me get a part-time job.” Trey’s still too young to know not to babble out sensitive information when he’s nervous, and so he rambles, shrinking away from Switch’s thunderous expression. “I won’t snitch or nothing, I promise. She doesn’t know anything about any of that, and I’m not gonna tell her. I just think I should get out of this so that it won’t fuck up my chances.”

“And you think it’s that easy, huh?” 

The snick of a knife being drawn is all but silent, and yet to Trey, in this still and deadly-silent park, it’s loud as a gunshot, almost as loud as the pulse pounding in his throat. Switch-- short for Switchblade, his weapon of choice, so easily hidden, and yet, flicked open close enough to his face to nick the tip of his nose, so lethal, all the same. “We took care of you when your trickin’ mama couldn’t. And now you think an extra hundred dollars gets you a free pass? An out?” Switch’s face is close enough to Trey’s that flecks of saliva impact against Trey’s cheek with his words, but the boy is too terrified to be grossed out. “You seen what happens to snitches. I guess you about to see what happens to rats going green, too.”

Trey is too scared to do more than yelp and squeeze his eyes shut, but the slash of the knife never comes. He hears a rumble, feels the earth shake in its very foundations at his feet. Maybe this is what an earthquake feels like, or the Apocalypse. Suddenly he doesn’t feel the pressure of a body up in his face any more, and hears Switch screaming.

He opens his eyes, and sees his former fellow gang member airborne, hoisted up by the scruff of his neck like a kitten, arms and legs dangling helplessly. The man holding him immobile is tall and muscular, looking like something out of King Arthur or maybe the Vikings, and has the tip of a wicked-looking sword that makes Switch’s knife look like a toothpick in comparison held to Switch’s throat. Trey has no idea where his mysterious saviour had come from; certainly, he’d not heard anyone or anything approaching just a moment ago. The man turns his face towards Trey, eyes dark and flashing.

“Run, you dithering knave! What are you waiting for?”

Trey jerks into action and jumps to his feet, dashing for the nearest exit. He almost crashes into a woman walking into the park, but manages to avoid her at the last second with a hasty “’Scuse me, ma’am!”. Maybe his new caseworker would help him evade Switch and any of the others who would likely now try to beat his ass. Angela. He’d never met anyone like her before, capable of giving him reason to hope for the better. 

“You’re excused.” Linden knows terror when she sees it, and it’s all but radiating off the boy in waves. It doesn’t take much to ascertain, based on his speed and direction, that he must have come from that particular section of the park, and she quickens her footsteps. She’s not quite prepared, however, to see her noble, impetuous, good-hearted idiot of a knight holding a flailing young man aloft twenty feet in the air. 

“Drop him. Hard enough to immobilize him. Not hard enough to kill him.” 

Nathalán follows her directive, but at that distance, Switch is still immediately rendered unconscious by the drop. Linden kicks away the knife that falls from his hand hard enough that it splashes into the pond, then bends over him, critically. 

“He’ll live. Probably a bit of a concussion and definitely will be favouring his left leg, but he may make it another year. Unless his lifestyle gets the best of him.” She is no fool, and certainly the tattoos and colours are a dead giveaway of his affiliation and probable livelihood. “I suppose he was shaking down the other one who ran out like the hounds of hell were pursuing him?”

“The other one was trying to bow out. Abjure the group which he’d been part of. They’ve been gathering more often, of late, in the park late at night. Selling their bags of powder or pastiles.”

“Kid’s trying to jump out of a street gang,” Linden shakes her splendid, curly head. “He’s lucky to have escaped with his life.”

“Will they seek retribution, then?” Nathalán asks in his blunt, direct way. “He is but a child. Foolish, undoubtedly, but not worthy of the ills they would visit upon him.”

“He shouldn’t have gotten tangled up with the street life,” Linden murmurs. “But I suppose I can’t fault you for having sympathy for foolhardy lads with more bravado than sense.” Nimbly, she clambers up onto the statuary’s base, so that she can look him in the eye. “I daresay you saved his life just now.”

His hand, so rough and inexorable around Switch’s neck, is gentle as it traces her back, pausing over her shoulder-blades where her wings would be when she’s in her most primordial and deadly of forms. “Maybe I see something of myself in him-- a yearning to regain honour that’s been lost. A desire to be worthy, someday, of love and forgiveness.” He dips his head, and the lips that touch her temple are soft and not at all cold, for the moment. “I just thought-- he should get that chance. As I did.”

“You are shameless and incorrigible,” Linden tells him, unable to stop a wry laugh from bubbling up. “I’ll see what I can do, I suppose.”

“I shall keep watch from here, as usual. And let you know if there is news.”

**

Though he was certainly not opposed to being inundated by some very nice drugs, courtesy of the emergency room staff at the hospital, Switch didn’t enjoy being laid up, not one bit. No one believed him, of course, and part of him was afraid that maybe he really was losing it. Certainly there was no freaking way that he’d been plucked off the ground by some statue come to life like something out of a Harry Potter movie, then unceremoniously dropped like a used Kleenex. He’d been found the next morning by park maintenance and by all accounts was lucky to be alive-- between the concussion and the broken leg and the freezing temperatures. Of course the po-po’s had not bought the story of why he’d been there so late, and they’d busted him cold with Oxy’s and two dime-bags of blow. One of the narcos actually had the nerve to laugh at him. “Well, Switch, maybe you wouldn’t be imagining such things if you weren’t high all the time. Funny how these things happen only to people like you.”

He hated the fucking cops.

Of course, there’d be the whole parade of possession charges and court and probie. And then he’d get down to business. Trey, specifically, was at fault for the predicament that he’d found himself in at present, and therefore needed to face the consequences of his actions. He still had homeboys on the street who could take care of a miserable little prick as easy as one-two-three. Just as soon as he managed to get out of this godforsaken hospital, of course. When he was somewhere not handcuffed to a bed.

The TV is set to one of the cooking shows, probably the food network or something, and the hostess is a super hot lady with curly reddish-brown hair and fantastic boobs behind her cute little apron get-up, showing the audience how to make some type of fancy holiday roast thing. 

“The most important part of this is letting it rest. You don’t want to carve it right away, not while it’s still tense from the heat and stress of the cooking process.” The perky hostess explains as she pulls the steaming roast out of the oven with bright-green mitts. Switch barely pays attention to her long-winded explanation, but out of nowhere, the TV starts to flicker, then go to static. Yet, eerily, though the entire pretty suburban-kitchen background of the cooking show disappears into that black-and-white-snowfall-effect, the cooking lady remains, facing him head-on, brandishing a carving knife with casual, deadly expertise in one hand and a knife-honer in the other. She’s got great boobs and is all smiles, but Switch knows, just from the way she’s holding it, that she’s as deadly with a bladed weapon as he is. 

“Rest, now.” The lady’s voice is still sweet, terrifyingly so. “I’ll carve it when it’s ready. There will be enough for everyone, even those who want seconds.” Switch clutches at the sheets and attempts to scoot back, but his bum leg keeps him immobile, as do the handcuffs. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do now. You wouldn’t want to ruin things, would you?” For one electrifying, nightmarish moment, he could swear that the cooking lady’s eyes go red as blood on that television screen even as the ring of carbon steel echoes eerily in the room. Switch feels cold sweat beading on the back of his neck, and on his upper lip, goose-flesh breaking out over his arms. 

“Fuck all this.” Shakily, he hits the button to summon a nurse. “Get that asshole pig in here. I need to talk to him.”

[roswelldetails]

Episode 101: Pilot - Details

Episode Summary

Roswell, New Mexico s01e01 ‘Pilot’ – RETURN TO ROSWELL — When Liz Ortecho (Jeanine Mason) reluctantly returns to her tourist-trap hometown of Roswell, New Mexico, she reconnects with Max Evans (Nathan Parsons), her teenage crush, who is now a Roswell police officer. But Liz soon discovers a shocking truth: Max is an alien who has kept his unearthly abilities hidden his entire life, along with those of his otherworldly sister, Isobel (Lily Cowles), and their friend Michael (Michael Vlamis).Elsewhere, Master Sergeant Jesse Manes (Trevor St. John) spearheads a long-standing government conspiracy — unbeknownst to his son, Alex Manes (Tyler Blackburn), who has recently returned from service overseas with emotional and physical injuries. The politics of fear and hatred that run rampant in Roswell threaten to expose Max and his family and could endanger his deepening romance with Liz…as well as their lives. Heather Hemmens, Michael Trevino and Karan Oberoi also star. Julie Plec directed the episode written by Carina Adly MacKenzie.

Details - this is not an exhaustive list of every single detail, but just a few that might be important now or later. 

Rosa’s memorial in the diner says, 

“In loving memory of Rosa Ortecho

January 17, 1989 - June 1, 2008

(This conflicts with her headstone in episode 2 which says February 9, 1989 - June 7, 2008, but either way, Rosa was 19 when she died.)

Liz’s dad says it’s the 10th anniversary of Rosa’s death, and it’s also Liz’s 10 year high school reunion, so Rosa died the same year Liz was graduating high school.

In the diner, Max tells Liz that he joined the force because he “likes protecting people” - it helps him sleep at night.

Entering the jail to find Michael in the drunk tank, Max says, “Another drunken fight at the Wild Pony?” - Michael seems to have made a habit of drunken fights at the local bar.

During their argument at the jail, Max tells Michael “You’ve never done anything for anybody” and Max answers, “Everything I’ve ever done has been to protect Isobel and you.” (To which Michael responds, “Everything you’ve ever done has been to protect yourself.”

During the same argument, Isobel says, “I have been worried my entire life that someone would find out about us.” - Meaning no one has yet, that she’s aware. (So Rosa did not find out about them.)

At the ranch Michael greets Alex “Finally back from Bagdad” meaning that despite the fact that the town threw him a parade when he got back, this is the first time he and Alex are speaking.

In his trailer, Michael has some debris from the crash and a LOT of research and calculations on the walls. He’s been trying to figure out stuff for quite a while.

In a flashback of Rosa and Liz:

Rosa: “Really, Max Evans - he’s so vanilla. It’s like I’ve taught you nothing. All our lives that kid’s made moon eyes at you, and now, two weeks before graduation you look back at him?”

Liz: “I guess I’ve been thinking about the things I’ll miss, and maybe I don’t want to miss Max Evans.”

Rosa: “He’s already in the rearview mirror, trust me.”

Liz clearly had some feelings for Max before Rosa’s death. And for whatever reason, Rosa wasn’t in favor of the pairing. 

Crosses on the side of the road:

Kate Long (Wyatt Long’s sister)

Jasmine Frederick

Rosa Ortecho

Rosa’s cross is not written in the same lettering as the others - it was not done by the same person who put up the other two.

Liz tells Max that her mother IS mentally ill - not was, so we can assume she’s still alive somewhere, though she left the family at some point. She also mentions Rosa being mentally ill, seeing hallucinations, and hearing voices. Growing up, she was afraid that she’d end up like them.

Maria calls Liz her “high school BFF” in the bar scene. (Though we find out later that she was close to Rosa as well.)

When Max talks with Isobel at his house, he tells her that he knows the mark could show up on Liz after her healing. - Meaning he has healed before.

Isobel says there are “too many secrets - things she can’t ever know” when talking to Max about Liz. This is apart from the fact that they’re aliens.

The handprint on Liz is the same weird color-changing shade as the ship fragments in Michael’s trailer.

In the cave, Max tells Liz about their fear of capture and experimentation and says that “nothing has ever mattered to me more than protecting Michael and Isobel from that until I saw you bleeding and I just-”

“Project Shepherd” is the name of Master Sgt.’s alien-investigating bunker club.

When Michael and Isobel are talking at the reunion, Michael suggests that Isobel should be ready to mind whammy Liz if she betrays them.

Isobel: “I don’t do that anymore. I don’t mess with people’s minds.”

Michael: “If I could do it, I would, but I can’t, so start preparing yourself.”

(So Isobel had definitely messed with - maybe multiple? - people’s minds before, and Michael knows for sure that he doesn’t have that power.)

Michael: “Because if Liz Ortecho turns on any of us, you will get insider her head and erase it. Maker her leave Roswell... leave Max. Just like you did ten years ago.”

(Isobel did something to Liz’s mind a decade ago to make her leave - and/or perhaps to make her stay away.

Inside Master Sgt.’s bunker there are at least 6 yellow pieces of tape on the wall map.

One says “Crash Site alpha pos”

One says “Incident 45E (or 4SE?) 8.17.81 pos delta”

It appears that the military have been tracking more than one incident in the years since the original crash.

Sgt. Manes says that the ship was carrying an army of monsters and “most of them died that night, but at least one survived.”

He wasn’t talking about Isobel, Max, or Michael, so there is, or was, at least one other alien out there.

At the reunion, Alex asks if Michael is cooking meth because his engineers detected phenyl-2-propanone around his trailer. Michael tells him it’s not P2P they’re detecting, but it’s something similar. P2P is a chemical that includes acetone, so it’s likely that whatever Michael has been doing has involved acetone and is chemically similar to P2P. (Or maybe he’s just sitting around synthesizing his own nail polish remover!)

In a flashback during the reunion, Liz is in the diner dancing with Kyle. Alex is at the counter. Rosa is at the counter playing guitar, and Maria is also there dancing. Max is on the outside looking in. - cut back to Max looking on as Liz dances at reunion. He spends a lot of time on the outside looking in.

Max says to Isobel at the reunion, “She can never know about what happened to Rosa.”

This sounds like it probably involves more than just “I drove off and left her standing around drunk in front of the diner.”  (What he tells Liz in episode 3.)

[etoilesdephan]

Hi phantom! Haven't checked in on you for awhile, I hope you've been good and stuff! Remember water and tea and things, because it's IMPORTANT TO STAY HYDRATED. Okay so I'm just gonna ramble for a bit. First things first there was this thing on school I wanted to do, but I didn't get in and it made me really sad, because I really wanted to do it, and that was some time ago so I thought I was kinda done with it, but apparently I wasn't... whatever, it'll be fine I have test week next week 1/?

Okay so where did I leave of? I was talking about test week. So this week we have a weird thing, in which we have extra explanation about the stuff you want and I dunno it’s hard to explain. And I’ve been studying really hard for Latin test, which I have next Wednesday, I hope it goes well. Further on, I just finished an amazing book I borrowed from aurelia (she forced me to read it) and I loved it. It was about a boy who is emailing with this other boy and they don’t know who the other is. 2/?

And they’re super cute and stuff, and then someone finds out and blackmails one of them and it’s awesome and you should read it if you have the chance, it’s called “Simon vs. the homo sapiens agenda. Speaking of gayness, there’s a pride in my city this Saturday!!! I might go, I’m not sure yet, I’d love to, though. AND I SAW THIS AWESOME RAINBOW TSHIRT SOMEWHERE AND I THINK I’M GONNA BUY IT. Also (honestly what is this thing??) Do you have any tips on coming out? I don’t know. I just want 3/?

To come out to my parents, and I know they’ll be accepting, BUT I DON’T KNOW HOW TO START SUCH A CONVERSATION, BECAUSE WHAT THE HADES?! I’ll make it work. I might get glasses! I don’t know why, but I’m excited about it! I’ll keep you updated. What else? What else? I guess that was it, I love you, I hope you’re good, drink water, eat bananas, take care of yourself and watch dnp stuff. Bye! 4/4

Ahh, sorry that it took so long to reply; I’ve been away from my laptop all day :’) It’s been super sunny and nice after the gloom and rain the last two days so I had to use the chance and get out :D hahaaa

The book you mentioned sounds really cool and I will definitely look it up now! Thank you for telling me about it :D As for the tests, I am wishing you all the best of success, but I’m sure you’re going to ace the tests anyways!!! And I’m sorry that you’re still sad about not getting into that school thing :( I’m sure more opportunities will arise though!!!

Ahhh, the Pride parade sounds amazing and so does the t-shirt! :D Just make sure you stay safe and hydrated and generally dressed appropriately for the event cause it’s a lot of time on foot and sometimes it’s really hot so it’s important that you’re prepared

As for the coming out part, the experience with coming out can be super different from person to person, but the first thing’s first - MAKE SURE THAT YOU WILL BE SAFE. I’m glad that you’re sure that your parents will be accepting this post that I answered to before might explain it the best. It’s hard to give any other tips, honestly.

Sending you lots of love and hugs! Stay hydrated as well and have fun c: 

[jennaschererwrites]

10 Most WTF Revelations From Oliver Stone's Putin Interviews - Rolling Stone

What's the Russian equivalent of Kool-Aid? Whatever it is, it's definitely red – and Oliver Stone has eagerly drunk it down. The trailers for The Putin Interviews, Showtime's four-part series documenting a series of conversations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Stone, would have you believe that you're going to hear some pretty hard-hitting stuff as the autocrat and the filmmaker face off, Frost-Nixon style. What we got instead was a series of softballs lobbed lovingly in the direction of one of the most powerful and dangerous men in the world. Except for a few moments, Stone seems serenely unconcerned with anything beyond flattering his subject – and engaging in some supremely one-sided exchanges about history and policy along the way.

The Putin Interviews are drawn from 30-plus hours of Q&A sessions that Stone conducted with Putin between July 2015, when Obama was still firmly ensconced in the White House, and February 2017, when America was seriously grappling with the question of how much Russia had interfered in the U.S. election. The conversations take place in locales ranging from the Kremlin to Sochi to, bizarrely, a Moscow hockey stadium. In the course of the show's four-hour span, the two men discuss the past (the fall of the Soviet Union and Putin's rise to power), the present (the conflict in Syria, Putin's relationship with Obama) and the future (Putin's paranoia about a hypothetical NATO takeover).

Through it all, the leader is as calm, collected and confident as a dragon seated atop his pile of gold – knowing that he holds all the power in this exchange, and supremely unconcerned. The former KGB agent-turned-head of state comes off as intelligent, rational and well-spoken, which is precisely what makes The Putin Interviews so dangerous. Since Stone more often than not takes him at his word, the politician's proclamations sound like unassailable facts – regardless of whether they actually are. It's telling that the series is set to air on Russia's state-run Channel One in its entirety later this month.

Whether or not Stone set out to make a puff piece on the Russian president, one who has held power for 16 years and counting, a puff piece he has indeed made. In an appearance on The Late Show on Monday night, Stone sang the praises of Putin, to the point where a taken-aback Stephen Colbert asked, "Anything negative that you found? Anything? Or does he have your dog in a cage someplace?"

Here are 10 of the most baffling, strange and frankly unsettling revelations that came out of Stone's too-long, too-soft docuseries – because unless you have a thing for subtle autocratic propaganda, you definitely shouldn't subject yourself to watching it.

1. Flattery Will Get You … No Information Stone – who has also interviewed the likes of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez – has been granted unprecedented access to Putin, but to what end? As they stroll through the hallways of the Kremlin or drive down winding country roads (with an omnipresent translator mediating the exchange), the director projects the obsequious air of a fan who gets to hang out with one of his favorite celebrities. "You are an excellent CEO, and Russia is your company," Stone gushes. He enthuses about "the marching, the precision, the pride" at a Victory Day Parade and tells Putin that he's "a true son of Russia." The president, for his part, eats it up – and it's deeply unpleasant to watch. At the very end of Part 4, Stone says any flack he'll get for these interviews is "worth it if it brings more peace and consciousness to the world." It's a pretty big stretch to say that giving this borderline despot the chance to preen and pontificate for the cameras accomplishes anything like raising consciousness. But hey, whatever Stone needs to tell himself to sleep at night.

2. Putin's Really, Really Into Fitness The two things that Putin invariably brings up out of nowhere: how much he hates NATO; and how much he loves Judo. He says he's been practicing the discipline since he was 13, and he has a statue of the founder in a place of privilege in his extensive private sports facility, which he proudly shows off to Stone. He claims that Judo informs his actions in politics, saying that he favors flexibility and sometimes giving in to others "if that is the way leading to victory." But perhaps the oddest set piece of the series is when Stone comes to watch him play hockey. "You look colorful. Mighty Mouse. No, that's cool," says the fanboy when Putin appears in full scrimmage gear. "When I get off the ice, I feel very big," Putin bizarrely replies. Should we bring you boys some Gatorades, or …?

3. Women to the Sidelines It's impossible not to notice that in four hours' worth of footage, there are almost no women who ever make an appearance – even in the background – in Putin's insular, patriarchal world. (The exception is Stone's wife, Sun-jun Jung, who's an occasional and silent presence; and cutaway clips of Hillary Clinton, whom Stone repeatedly and inexplicably calls a neoconservative.) But the ladies do get a mention in one of the few jokes that the po-faced Putin ever makes: When Stone asks him if he ever has "bad days," the president replies, "I'm not a woman, so I don't have bad days." "There you go," Stone responds with a chuckle. "Now you're gonna insult 50 percent of the American public. The way they're gonna take it." "I'm not trying to insult anyone. That's just the nature of things," Putin replies. Did we stumble into an episode of The Handmaid's Tale?

4. The Hypothetical NATO Map of Doom Putin talks about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization the way Ahab talks about Moby-Dick: He's obsessively certain that it's out to get him. Again and again, the president returns to the idea that NATO is a "mere instrument" of U.S. policies, and that its other members are "vassals" who exist to allow military installations to be placed in their country. While discussing George W. Bush's withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002, Putin speculates wildly about NATO member states (many of them former Soviet satellites) building up their defenses and encircling his country. A dire map graphic follows him down the rabbit hole, showing an area from Eastern Europe to Alaska bristling with missiles and warships all pointed at Russia. Whether or not his paranoia is justified, it's clear that the Cold War never really ended for this guy.

5. Stanley Kubrick Movie Date Night Stone can't stop talking about movies (often, cringingly, his own Snowden), a strategy that never connects with Putin, who couldn't give a fig about pop culture. In one of the series' most surreal sequences, he asks the president if he's ever watched Dr. Strangelove, which of course he hasn't. "Oh, you must see it, really. It's well worth it. It's a classic," Stone opines. Cut to the pair of them watching the film in question in some vast, echoing room in the Kremlin, the filmmaker glancing at Putin the way you do when you're showing your friend a YouTube video you think is hilarious yet, for some reason, they just aren't laughing. "There are certain things in this film that indeed make us think, despite the fact that everything you see onscreen is make-believe," Putin says stiffly, moments after Major Kong rides the bomb down to annihilation. Even Kubrick couldn't have written a moment like this.

6. It's Totally Cool to Be Gay in Russia, Right? It isn't until the second episode that Stone raises the specter of one of Russia's most persistent human rights problems: Its treatment of its LGBTQ citizens. According to Putin, Russia doesn't engage in "any restrictions, any persecutions" of homosexuals, which is demonstrably untrue: A sweeping anti-gay law that Putin signed in 2013 places restrictions on distributing LGBTQ "propaganda" to minors, an act vaguely defined enough to allow for sweeping discrimination. Though he does eventually acknowledge the existence of this law, Putin's defense is that hey, at least it's not as bad as the death penalty. Um, pretty low bar? He insists that it's a matter of holding up "traditional values" and birth rates, because "God has decided." When Stone asks if Putin would be comfortable sharing a shower with a gay man in a military submarine, the president laughs and says: "Well, I prefer not take a shower with him. Why provoke him? But you know, I'm a Judo master and a SAMBO master as well." Nope, no homophobia to see here. Move along.

7. How Many Offices Does One Man Need? If you're Vladimir Putin, the answer is apparently three, all right next to each other, somewhere inside the vast gold-flecked maze of the Kremlin. "It used to be bigger during the Soviet era," the president says of Office Number One, which used to belong to Joseph Stalin. He then proceeds to lead the camera crew through two adjacent offices, one stuffed with framed prints leaning against the wall and another with two desks scrunched up side by side. Then it's off to the situation room, where Stone sits back to watch what seem to be some highly staged video calls with his subordinates. "At a set time, we will take further steps to accomplish this mission," a general calling from Syria announces from the screen. The whole tour seems designed as a performative demonstration of Putin's power, and the only one who doesn't seem to get that it's all for show is Stone.

8. The Cuban Missile Crisis, Part 2 In April 2016, the international community was briefly alarmed when a pair of Russian jets buzzed low over an American destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, in the Baltic Sea north of Russia. The show of aggression was a classic Cold War move, but a rare and alarming one in the modern age. The incident blew over after the ship turned around, but according to Putin, the Russian military was "brought to the brink." In a chillingly casual tone, the president says that missiles could have been trained on the Donald Cook, because "our commanders always have the authorization to use any means for the defense of the Russian Federation." When Stone is taken aback by this, Putin replies, "Who is trying to provoke whom?" Never mind that the destroyer was in international waters at the time.

9. What Election Hacking? [Whistles Innocently] In their final interview, held in February of this year, Stone asks Putin why he decided to hack the election. "We did not hack the election at all," he declares. He goes on to says that the "unrecognized hackers" who broke into the DNC's computer network "have brought to light the problems that existed, but they didn't tell any lies." And anyway, "Hackers are not the ones to blame. These are internal problems of the United States." Putin doggedly, brazenly refuses to admit to what the intelligence community has all but agreed to be true, but he gives himself away: As he dodges Stone's questions, his usually calm demeanor gives way to nervous finger-drumming and lowered glances. There was no way he was ever going to admit to anything here, but watching the president's usually controlled body language betray him was perhaps the one true revelatory moment of this series.

10. Putin Thinks Stalin Was, Y'know, Pretty Okay Putin is a consummate politician, offering praise and condemnation in equal measure for Russian and world leaders past. But you'd think the one guy he wouldn't want to throw his hat in for – given how often Putin is accused of being more dictator than president – is Joseph Stalin. Remember that guy, the Soviet despot who ruled with an iron fist and caused the deaths of untold millions? According to Putin, Stalin was just "a product of his era," and his merits outweigh his faults. "You can try to demonize him however much you like. We try to talk about his merits in achieving victory over fascism." He briefly mentions all the abundant human atrocities, before concluding, "I think the overwhelming majority of citizens of the former Soviet Union admired him." Oh, good.