#while Marcus kinda evens out a bit and is still a fucking asshole but has more control? on when to be really bad i guess?

[elisedonut]

Marcus: I think I got your lunch. *Holds up a note that reads: ‘I am very proud of you. Love, Percy’* Oliver: Oh yeah. I didn’t think this was for me. *Holds up a note that reads: ‘I love you but for the love of merlin, Please behave.’*

[omegawolverine]

Plesse tell me about queerness in the get down!!

okay okay queerness in the get down let's fuckn goooo

disclaimer: I havent watched this show in full for like 5 months at least, probably gonna get something wrong and/or forget some more important bits. also this wasnt proof read I just word vomited

tws: period typical homophobia, abuse mention, f slur use, bury your gays trope, overdose mention, mention of a creepy possible age gap (the age gap hasnt been confirmed so that's why its possible), cops

going from least to most prominent queer characters, let's start with mylene cruz!

so, from the beginning of this show she has an established romantic relationship with ezekiel (although the status of their actual relationship changes frequently throughout the show) and though this was a relationship she was hesitant to pursue, it is clear that she does have romantic feelings for him and if not for them both having growing careers in very different music genres (zeke specifically working in a genre that she repeatedly labels as bad because she thinks they're ruining records + that it isnt real music because they're using someone elses piece and rapping over it, that's not really important here tho lol) they probably wouldve had a much healthier, smooth sailing romance. that being said theres a few things that happen in the show that, while not explicitly clear, or even really good coding at that—to the point where you wont catch if you really arent looking for it (and trust me, I always look for coding, hers was just so little that it flew over my head until I saw someone else mention it)—are still cool to think about!

so, for starters, I wanna mention the toy box performance, which was performed by mylene and regina, who are best friends. that's all cool and shit, and you dont really think much about it...until you hear about the fact that the show runners purposely colored a lot of the scenes in that performance with the bi colors. like. the writers after the show ended basically said "oh yeah there was plans to make her coding more explicit, but our shit got cancelled soooo" and then dropped the fact that she was gonna be bi (or at least implies bi) in the series, which puts a new twist on a few things.

now, besides the bi coloring in the background of the toy box performance (which was mostly on scenes with her and regina, which involved a lot of uh,, lowkey lewd dancing. with each other. in very revealing outfits. wooooo), there's her music! I dont tend to read too much into this one bc, like I said before, her coding is fucking light and the writers themselves said they didnt really get to do much with it, but I think some stuff with her music is interesting. specifically how her, yolanda and regina's song set me free blew up because dizzee, resident (lowkey enby coded) bicon, got their song played in a queer club. also that the song was majorly important to dizzee and started playing literally right as he kissed a boy for the first time and realized "oh shit I like boys that's bonkers". also that the song can be taken in a gay way since literally the entire thing is about becoming your true self, fully and unapologetically, which is what both dizzee and mylene's entire character arcs are about. dizzee (and a lot of other queer people, apparently), heard this song about being set free and it resonated with them so much that they got that shit most of its popularity.

speaking of dizzee and mylene, they parallel each other a lot in the way that their arcs are about them realizing who they are, coming into themselves and no longer just letting people treat them like shit in a sense (dizzee starting to tell people essentially that they can call him weird all they want, they can make fun of how he acts, what he likes, how he dresses, etc. but he likes how he is and quite literally saying "it's okay to be an alien" as he has consistently compared himself to one throughout the show vs mylene learning that if she wants to be a disco singer she needs to put her foot down, not let anyone, not even the love of her life, not even her abusive father, stop her from achieving her dreams, etc. and continuing to pursue her career with or without their support). one more little parallel that I think is interesting is during I think s2 towards the end of the show is when dizzee and thor are shown together having fun with each other, painting all over the building and each other and are basically just being happy and in love together and then they have these clips of them being interspersed with clips of mylene at a party where she is starting to realize that if she wants to get anywhere she needs to be her own main priority and that she needs to put her career and her dream, which is what makes her the happiest, above all else if she wants to succeed. idk I just think how the show made these two into a weird parallel, accidental or not, is neat. maybe not an explicitly queer parallel, but I think at least how her music and whatnot helped dizzee, the main queer character in this show, blossom, is important.

moving on we got shaolin fantastic also known as "oh no your internalized homophobia is showing-"

so, heres a quick list of...interesting shao facts:

Consistently referred to as fag/faggot (shaolin fanfaggot is my personal favorite); he gets really defensive about this despite nobody actually thinking he's queer, it's just people being assholes to be assholes, and he is the only character consistently referred to using a slur, especially a homophobic one, especially for a "straight" character. dizzee, a canonically queer character, is called a fag less than shaolin is even though dizzee actively goes to gay clubs, has a not so secret dude he "hangs out with" and wont let anyone properly meet, paints his nails, wears less than straight clothes even by the 70s standards and is just all around the definition of fucking queer (and I mean like in the weird way, not the gay way). in fact theres only like once I can remember him being called a fag and it had nothing to do with him actually being gay it was literally just like thrown out there the same way you would call someone a bitch.

Has only shown sexual interest in women, yet refuses to have deeper relationships with women in general (possibly because of trauma but who knows) but takes his relationships with his "brothers", specifically zeke, very seriously

Tells zeke and zeke ONLY his real name when zeke was planning to stop being his friend bc shao more or less got boo boo, a like 14 year old black kid, arrested for selling hard drugs; he was clearly scared and trying to do anything to keep zeke around, literally chasing him down the street and hounding him until he got zeke to stop and argue with him

Kept threatening to beat up zeke in the end but couldn't actually bring himself to do so, instead saying that zeke is "fucking lucky" before walking away

Let's zeke get away with things that nobody else can, in general just has a weird soft spot for ezekiel that he shows with nobody else

when shao found dizzee with thor in a vaguely compromising situation (like they were just shirtless covered in paint sleeping next to each other but shao had also seen everything they painted on the walls ((which some of it was sus)), it was clear they had painted on each others bodies and dizzee had been routinely disappearing with this guy for weeks now yet not producing nearly as much art, at least, as far as we audience members know) he didnt judge him but instead, waited for him to get cleaned up and then told him something along the lines of "theres a reason why im so secretive blah blah blah [not everyone needs to know everything about me]", which, in context, kinda implies that he might be a lil. a lil homiesexual. jus a lil.

whenever even the possibility of zeke leaving him comes up he absolutely loses it. he has literally cost ezekiel life changing opportunities because he thought zeke would just up and leave him for them. this could be abandonment issues bc he's a severely traumatized character, and that probably does contribute to it, but it also is just not a reaction he has to any of their other friends just randomly dipping in and out of his life soooooo

generally speaking, this mfer has got either bisexual with a big hard on for zeke coding or homosexual with terrible internalized homophobia and still a hard on for zeke coding. either fucking way, that nigga gay. he gay as hell. gay as fuck man. there wasn't really much to analyze here tbh bc the coding is just so fucking obvious if you look for it or you are/have been a gay person who's dealt with at least a little bit of internalized homophobia.

also, just a sidenote, idk how fucking old shao, but I'm praying hes like at max 19 bc I'm pretty sure zeke is a minor in this show and shao definetly is not so the whole him being heavily implied to have a crush on ezekiel thing is kinda. oof. not oof if zeke is like 17 but any younger than that? OOF.

edit: apparently the characters are only supposed to be a year apart in age but i had no clue about that before writing this post and since shaos age was never actually stated in the show i naturally assumed he was an adult since his actor Looks Like An Adult. this is definetly on me to a certain extent, but i also never saw anything about this when trying to find our their ages so 🤷‍♀️ maybe i just didnt look deep enough, sorry!

now moving on to the main event...marcus dizzee kipling :]

so, first things first, let's talk enby coding bc him being bisexual was already confirmed!

um, to start off, I just wanna say I dont think this enby coding was intentional or even really coding, it's just moreso me being a dizzee kin on main and knowing as a transmasc enby he has very transmasc enby vibes. for example:

cool, gender neutral nickname that everyone calls him

paints nails various different colors

the whole wardrobe is just a transmasc enby heaven...fishnet shirts, jean overalls, jackets and cuffed pants galore, the big colorful pins, etc

gender neutral hairstyle (when I had my fro it was very sexy and made it easy to transition between hyper masc and vaguely fem, which is pog)

comparing himself to/representing himself consistently with an alien character (though this is meant to represent his sexuality, it could also double as a gender thing too, not neccesarily bc of the whole nonbinary alien trope but bc an enby who likes aliens might heavily identify or compare themselves to whatever their idea of an alien is, whether that just be a genderless entity or a motherfucker with fly style and no need to be perceived as anything other Wacky As Hell)

moving on from there, let's talk about how his queerness is presented to us and how, while it may be a really good piece of representation, especially coming from netflix, it still lacks in A Lot of places.

so, let's start with good things!

i personally really like the get down's queer rep with dizzee bc it's (for the most part) nonsexualized and very very soft, about dizzee figuring himself out and realizing there is a place where he fits in, and about two teenagers in the 70s falling in love over their shared passion for street art. it also features an interracial couple where both boys challenge stereotypes both about queer men and men of color, which is epic poggers and very sexy. this piece of rep specifically is very important to me bc I am a queer black person and even tho interracial relationships are mostly normalized now, I've still had people give me shit for primarily dating white people in a town that is...primarily white lol

mm anyways, I can also appreciate how in the get down, dizzee being represented by rumi the alien is not a thing specifically related to gender (as it often is) and instead is about his sexuality and just in general weirdness and how it has led to him being alienated amongst his peers, poc or otherwise. him seeing himself as an alien is not about just his queerness, which is important, it is about him being a queer black man who talks different, acts different, dresses different and is "soft"—he isnt a walking black male stereotype and he wouldnt have been seen as masculine back in the 70s by any stretch of the imagination. this can be relatable to a wide spectrum of queer poc, from queer black men currently who still have to deal with this shit or to people like myself who are afab neurodivergent mixed race enbies that have always been signaled out as weird and alienated for it. dizzee is god rep bc while he has a small part in this show, his parts are very impactful, hard hitting and show queer poc of all ages that they arent alone and that it's okay to "weird", you just need to embrace it because somebody will love you for you, as thor did for dizzee.

that being said theres um. some minor problemas here,,,

namely:

dizzee and thors first kiss

the lack of development this pairing got

the way dizzee was confirmed bisexual off screen, he never said the words himself, just showed interest in both genders

the way dizzee and thor were never even confirmed boyfriends or just fwb so most of the fandom just calls them boyfriends bc Why Not

dizzee was implied fucking DEAD??? AT THE END OF THE SERIES?????? AND THOR WAS IMPLIED ARRESTED?????????????

now, these might have been things that wouldve been fine had the show been given it's full run but it wasnt which is why we are now left with probelms.

so, from the top, let's go over these: dizzee and thor's first (and only "on screen") kiss was one that was shown in a montage of other queer people making over and doing other vaguely romantic/sexual things, one of those things being a whole ass naked titty being mouthed at, but the actual kiss...was just not shown? like they really did just say "yes they kissed <3 you know this from the context clues of it being in a montage with kissing, hickey giving and titty sucking <3 but no we will not show it <3" LIKE HELLO? I SAW A NAKED BOOBIE BUT NOT TWO MEN KISS??? HUH????????

also, dizzee and thor were both fucking high as hell during this bit like this isnt a terrible thing but it's also like sometimes you do shit when you're high that you wouldnt do sober and they just never kissed again on screen so like?? like idk that's not that bad but it does kinda irk me since they deadass got no other on screen intimacy after that unless you including painting on eacher other or sleeping next to each other on a shitty mattress but not touching at all during it bc they were both at opposite ends of the mattress like half way off it

so yeah, that was trash. then we got lack of development, which kinda goes with the "dizzee being a bisexual but he never says it in canon" thing cause like...okay dizzee was already sort of a side character from the get go like he wasnt the mc by any means, but he became way more of a background character as things continued until we basically only saw him for performances or when he was with thor, yet they got no fucking development as a pairing other than "dizzee realize he gay, he like thor, he and thor spend time together and ig probably do some gay stuff but we dont really know bc we only ever see them do graffiti together now" like?? tf am I supposed to do with that shit. answer. quickly. and then theres dizzee not being confirmed bisexual, which is just a running problem with shows literally doing everything to say a character is bi except for having the character just...say they're bi? which would be so easy? like a good way dizzee and thor couldve had some development is by thor teaching dizzee things about the queer community that he didnt even know existed, thor couldve helped him understand what being bi meant and helped him label himself and whatnot but instead we got an off screen confirmation that the writers had bisexual in mind when writing him. which is garbagé.

the whole thor and dizzee never having a confirmed relationship status is also a development problem cause like literally nobody knows if they were just friends who made out, maybe fucked, who knows, or if they were dating bc dizzee does give a love confession but a love confession doesn't mean there is a relationship, especially since thor didn't say he was in love either (as far as I remember, I could be wrong, plus whether or not that really happened or was apart of dizzee literally overdosing during a performance is unclear so 🤪)

and now for the biggest issue...bury your gays trope.

during the season 2 finale, dizzee and thor are chased by cops after they are found doing graffiti, one of the cops is able to catch thor while the other chases dizzee into a train tunnel and there is a train seen headed straight for him before the show cuts to black on a train horn. the show writers claim that if they had gotten another season, dizzee wouldve been alive but since they didnt and since that's essentially super fan trivia knowledge, most people dont fucking know that and instead had to watch a black queer teenager chose death over being fucking arrested by a white cop. on top of that, thor didnt see any of that shit because he was caught and the cop started hauling him off while dizzee was still being chased so thor literally has no clue where his friend/possible boyfriend fucking is or that he's likely dead in a goddamn tunnel all alone, unless you count the fucking pig that chased him in there who wouldve died too. this shows rep was so fucking good as far as most shows go on not having major fucking problems, on not being toxic and over sexualized, etc, etc. and then they just. killed a black queer teenager for no fucking reason. like it was literally the last episode ever, it would add nothing to the plot, it would just devastate fans and devastate it fucking did. I dont cry easy but seeing a character I identified with, who I had hyperfixated on, die because he'd rather that than be arrested is terrible. it fucking sucked.

so yeah. that's my all too extensive thoughts/analysis on the get down's queerness. theres definitely stuff I missed, or misinterpreted, or looked too much into, etc, etc., but this was a fun thing to spend time writing sooo yeah!! thanks for the ask anon, sorry this was just a big rambley info dump, but hopefully you get some enjoyment out of it since it took like 3 hours at least 😭😭 feel free to ask clarifying questions lol

[dream-a-little-bigger-x]

Paralles | Chapter 10

Add yourself to my taglist! | Here’s my masterlist! | Parallels Masterlist

Characters: OC! Violet Grace Dawson, Luke Patterson, Julie Molina, Carrie Wilson, Bobby Wilson, Reggie Peters, Alex Mercer, Flynn nolastname, Willie nolastname, Nick Danforth-Evans, Dirty Candy 

Guideline: Sunset Universe is the universe in which Sunset Curve is famous and Violet is friends with Carrie, Julie and Flynn. Candy Universe is the universe in which Dirty Candy is more famous and Sunset Curve has broken up. 

Song(s) used: Boy Bye - Emma Bale

Warnings: I wrote this after watching Ginny and Georgia, so.... I added Marcus Baker as a character don’t @ me. Minor anxiety. 

Words:  4,231

The second Violet woke up the day after her date with Luke, her phone started ringing. Glancing down at the screen, Carrie’s picture smiled back at her. Violet chuckled, not surprised that the girl was FaceTiming her at this moment and immediately picked up. 

Before Violet could even greet her best friend, the blonde girl attacked her with the important question. “How was it? Tell me everything!” 

Violet chuckled as she sat down on her bed with the phone angled in front of her. “It was so amazing! He took me to this fancy Italian restaurant called “Figurati Italia”, which I’m pretty sure means “Imagine Italy”.” She sounded dreamy and resembled a lovesick puppy. It scared Carrie a little as the girl droned on and on about how chivalrous and amazing Luke had been on the date. 

“He did say something about a blind date you guys had set us up on…” Violet continued after minutes of dream-talk about the date. “What’s that about?”

Carrie swallowed harshly. Being reminded of that mistake made the guilt well up in her stomach. “That was – uhm…” She searched her brain for the right words. “Violet – other Violet – was so in love with Luke and the boys knew Luke had a minor crush on Violet too, or at least they thought he did. So, we set them up on a date, before the whole Sunset Curve thing blew up. When they realized what we had done, Luke kinda laughed in her face and told her he’d never date her…” 

Violet’s jaw dropped. “What an asshole!” she snarled. “And you let me go out with him?!”

“I’m sorry, Vi! But this is different, this is – this is to get you back!” 

Violet chuckled, her second of anger switching out into worry. “And what if that’s not how we get me back?” 

“Then we’re just gonna have to find another way and in the meanwhile, get you used to this universe?” Carrie suggested. Her stomach felt weird in that moment, like a bad omen, a foreboding that something terrible was going to happen. 

The brunette girl nodded her head slowly, trying to wrap her mind around the idea of being here. Forever. She wasn’t the Violet that used to live here. She was nothing like her. Or at least, she didn’t think she was, judging from the stories she’d heard. People would notice, at some point that she wasn’t who they knew her to be. There had to be a way to mislead them. To learn to be the Violet they knew. 

“Do you know if Violet had some sort of diary? Just so I can get a sense of what she was like, how her brain worked and stuff?” 

Carrie pondered over it for a moment. “She did have this songbook she used to write her songs and thoughts into? I believe she hid it in her nightstand.” 

Violet immediately dove towards the white nightstand and opened the first drawer, finding a bright blue fake leather notebook with ‘VGD’ embossed in gold on the front. 

“I found it…” 

Curiosity rose within both girls. Carrie had never been allowed to look into that unless it was a song Violet was willing to share. Though she knew there was more in there than she was allowed to see. Violet’s biggest secrets, her deepest thoughts. They were all stored in there and now, the girls were granted a free pass into Violet’s mind. 

“What’s in it?” Carrie asked. 

“Songs, mostly,” Violet replied as she browsed through the notebook. She halted at a song titled ‘Homesick’ and as her eyes scanned the lyrics, she could feel every single feeling her parallel self was feeling in that moment. Her eyes halted at the date that was scribbled at the very top of the page. “Care… Around what time did you set her up with Luke on that blind date?” 

“Uhm…” Carrie hummed as she pondered about the question. “I’d say around March 2018 or something.” 

Violet’s heart dropped. “Huh…” 

“What?” Carrie asked. 

“I think Violet may have written a song about him,” she mumbled, but Carrie heard her, loud and clear. “It’s kinda heartbreaking…” Her fingers traced over the stains of run-out ink. Violet had been crying while writing this song. “Luke’s an asshole…”

“That’s no news,” Carrie scoffed. 

Violet stared at the paper while the gears in her brain started doing their work. “He needs to pay for what he did… He needs to pay for breaking that poor girl’s heart.” 

“And how are you gonna do that? He’s so self-absorbed and obsessed with his fame, he won’t even notice you’re trying to make him pay for what he did…” Carrie reasoned, but to no avail. Violet was already plotting the perfect scheme in her mind. 

“Vivi,” her mother walking into her room made her snap out of her train of thought. “Can you go to the store for me, please? I forgot the feta cheese for dinner tonight.” 

Violet rolled her eyes at her mother. “Of course, ma, I’ll go in a minute.” 

“Don’t call me ‘ma’,” her mother frowned. “And get outta bed, it’s past noon!” 

The girl managed a smile. “Sorry, mom. I’ll go in a minute.” 

Her mother shot her a smile before turning on her heel and leaving her daughter’s bedroom, letting Violet and Carrie to their conversation. 

“I hear there’s a super cute new bag boy in the store around the corner,” Carrie informed with a smirk. “Total cool guy. Guitarist and has a motorcycle.” 

“Huh,” Violet hummed as the gears in her brain started working yet again. “I do have a thing for guitarists, don’t I?” 

“That you do,” Carrie agreed. 

Violet chuckled before saying goodbye to Carrie and getting off her bed. After throwing on some fresh clothes and doing her makeup, Violet left the house for the store with the scheme unfolding in her brain. The new bag boy would be the perfect pawn in her plan. 

Though, when she entered the store and laid her eyes on the new bag boy, she didn’t expect him to be this gorgeous. His sharp jawline and high cheekbones, along with the perfect swoopy brown hair was enough for her heart to nearly burst out of her chest. 

“Fuck,” she muttered and made her way towards the cheese aisle. With her mind set on the pretty bag boy, she searched the shelves for the feta cheese and once she had found it, she reached for it. Being in such a rush, however, caused her to take the packet behind it with her, causing it to fall to the floor. “God dammit, stupid cheese,” she groaned to herself as she bend down to pick it up. 

A hand bumped with hers as she reached for it, and, when she looked up, she stared straight into Pretty Boy’s light brown eyes. Violet swore they stared right through her soul, baring every little piece of her. 

“What’s the cheese done to you?” he asked, chuckling as the two of them got up again, both holding the cheese. 

She regathered herself from the impact the boy had on her ovaries and flicked a strand of hair out of her face. “It did what I want you to do.” She confidently said, her lips slightly parting as it had always been one of the many tricks she had up her sleeve. 

Pretty Boy’s eyes skidded from the left to the right, trying to figure out what she meant. 

Smirking, Violet wrapped her hand tighter around the cheese and, as he was still holding it, pulled it closer towards her, pulling him along until his face was inches away from hers. “Fall for me,” she whispered before letting go and pushing past him. 

“You got plans tonight?” he shouted after her. 

Violet smirked and turned around, glad her plan was working. “Yep, I’ll be at Red and Blue tonight,” she told him, hoping he’d get the hint. Judging by the smirk that lifted his plump lips, Violet knew she was winning. 

“I’ll see you there then.” 

And the boy managed to keep his word. That night, when Violet was at Red and Blue with Julie, Flynn and Carrie, the Pretty Boy showed up too. Her breath hitched in her throat as she noticed him approach her. 

“You didn’t,” Carrie gasped in Violet’s ear. 

“I did.” She smiled at the boy. “Hey,” she greeted when he was close enough. 

“Fancy seeing you here,” he teased as he reached for her hand and kissed the back of it like a true gentleman. “I never got your name.” 

She went on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his ear. “Violet Dawson,” she introduced herself over the loud music. 

“Marcus. Marcus Baker.”  The two of them smiled at one another, causing Violet’s world to stop spinning for just a moment. “Wanna dance closer to the DJ? The atmosphere’s always better there.” Violet bit down on her lower lip as she nodded her head in response. Marcus then led her through the sea of dancing people, holding on tight to her hand. 

As the two danced together to the music, Violet noticed Luke walking into the club with his bandmates closeby. His eyes skidded across the crowd and halted when they met Violet’s. He hadn’t even noticed who she was dancing with until he had approached them. 

“Hey,” he said, “Who’s this?” 

“Marcus,” Pretty Boy introduced himself with a smile as he reached his hand out for Luke to shake, which the rockstar completely ignored. “Okay…”

“You wanna get out of here?” Luke asked Violet, cocking his head towards the door. 

Violet’s eyebrows knitted together, “I’m actually having fun, Luke. I’d rather stay.” She looked up at Marcus, shooting him a quick, apologetic smile. “But you can go if you’re not having fun.” 

“Oh, uhm… No, I’m staying. You want something to drink?” he asked instead, and Violet could tell he was getting a little nervous. 

“Sure. You want something, Marcus?” 

Marcus hummed and grabbed Violet’s hand again before guiding her towards the bar, leaving Luke to trail behind them. 

“When were you gonna tell me you had a boyfriend?” Marcus asked, his lips pressed to her ear to make sure only she would hear. 

Violet chuckled. “Oh, he’s not my boyfriend. We went on like one date and I think he’s desperate for another, but I’m not really that interested.” 

“Ah,” said Marcus, nodding his head. “You need me to make sure he knows that?” 

Violet smirked. “No, I’ve got another idea for that.” She said and confidently made her way to the stage. Marcus watched as she walked, his lips turned up into a smirk. 

She grabbed the microphone on the stand and cleared her throat before nodding at the band, telling them to start playing the song. While the upbeat, bass-driven music chimed through the venue, the girl started swaying her hips before starting to sing with her eyes focused on Luke. 

“You thought I'd worry That I've made the wrong decision But I'm moving on way faster than I thought I think I've grown out Your destructive efforts Still you're holding on to all the things we loved”

A soft, yet distinctive guitar riff chimed in at the pre-chorus and when she looked up, she found Marcus next to her with a guitar in his hands and a smile on his face. 

“You want me to come back Like I want you anytime Now I'm here with somebody Now it's the sad boy you play out And again I'm falling Yet again that's no surprise Thought I left it behind”

Having Marcus there gave her the confidence to really go for it on the chorus. She started moving her hips to the music while singing the lyrics to Luke, who stood near the bar, watching her and Marcus like a hawk. 

“But I don't want this You think I want you back But I'm so over this Boy bye And I'm not homesick You think I want you back But I'm so over this For now?”

The music went back to its bass-driven core and while Violet focused on Luke at the back of the club, Marcus couldn’t keep his eyes off of Violet as she sang. From the moment they had met, he had found her interesting. She was this overly confident, attractive woman and it intrigued him. He wanted to know what she was compensating for. 

“Friends keep asking why we're not together So I guess you haven't told 'em what you did Oh You may be sorry It's not better late than never And I think this time I'm glad we called it quits”

As even Marcus grew more confident on the guitar, Violet made her way over to him and leaned on his shoulder. This action made him look up. Neither of them could hide the smile crawling to their lips as their eyes locked. 

“You want me to come back Like I want you anytime Now I'm here with somebody Now it's the sad boy you play out And again I'm falling Yet again that's no surprise Thought I left it behind”

She stepped away from Marcus again and for a few seconds, kept eye contact with him until she got lost in the music and let herself go during the chorus. 

“But I don't want this You think I want you back But I'm so over this Boy bye And I'm not homesick You think I want you back But I'm so over this For now?”

Her eyes landed on Luke again to see his reaction on her performance. She didn’t like what she saw though. He looked at her in the same way he had during their dinner. The literal embodiment of the heart eyes emoji. It frustrated her, but it didn’t distract her from the song. 

“But we gotta stop the playing round The playing round For Gods sake Oh we gotta quit the playing round It's more than we can take Oh we gotta stop this playing round The playing round For Gods sake Oh we gotta stop the playing round It's more than we can take”

“But I don't want this You think I want you back But I'm so over this Boy bye And I'm not homesick You think I want you back But I'm so over this For now?”

Marcus took Violet’s glance his way as a sign to really go at it on the guitar and show off a little. It did seem to impress her as she turned towards him, giving him that same smirk she did in the store. 

“But I’m so over this Boy bye And I'm not homesick You think I want you back But I'm so over this Boy bye Boy bye”

She let out a very last hum as the band stopped playing, Marcus included. The crowd then burst out into applause and even the guitar boy next to her clapped for her. Her cheeks heated up whilst she locked eyes with him. 

“I didn’t know you could sing,” Marcus said, placing the guitar back where he found it. 

Violet shrugged. “Didn’t know you played guitar.” That was a lie, Carrie did tell her that, but it was the right thing to say as it caused Marcus to bare his pearly white teeth that nearly caused Violet to get a heart attack. 

“That was hot,” Luke grunted in her ear when she and Marcus approached the bar for another drink.  

Violet furrowed her eyebrows. “You didn’t get the hint, did ya?” she asked and Luke tilted his head a little, the smirk vanishing from his face. “Leave me alone, Luke. Please?” 

“Wha– Violet?” Before he could say anything else, Marcus had already whisked her away to go and dance on the dancefloor with a drink in their hand. None of it made much sense to Luke, but he figured it was just the new way Violet operated. Maybe she didn’t want to be exclusive. Maybe he needed to try harder. 

And that’s what he was going to do. 

Try harder.  

Violet was almost scared to turn up to practice the next day. Luke would probably hate her for rejecting him and it would make everything awkward and weird. It wasn’t going to end well and she knew that. 

When she arrived at the garage, she was proven right. Luke acted cold towards her as soon as she entered the studio and everyone could feel how the warm, comfortable bond they had, had turned ice cold. 

“No, Bobby!” Luke groaned for the nth time that rehearsal. “It’s a B chord, not a C chord! Are you ever gonna get it right?!” His voice was thundering through the garage and it startled each and every person in that room. 

Violet glanced over to Carrie, who furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She hadn’t been informed about the conversation Violet and Luke had had the other day, but she could tell something had been off about the two since rehearsal started. 

“Luke, calm down!” Alex yelled at the lead guitarist. He did know what had happened between the two and he knew Luke was taking it out on everybody else instead of owning up to it like an adult. 

Luke scoffed, “No, Alex! This is exactly why we broke up in the first place! Because we don’t work!” His eyes flicked over to Violet, making her feel like there was a different layer to that sentence. They wouldn’t work either. 

“No, you’re just mad because you got rejected!” Alex fought back. At least someone mentioned the elephant in the room. The girls on the sofa gasped and all three of them immediately looked at Violet, who shrunk in her seat behind the piano. 

Luke clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “Rub it in, why don’t you?” he muttered before placing his guitar on its stand and gathering his stuff. 

As he started to make his way to the door, Violet got out from behind the piano and ran after him. “You can’t run out of rehearsal, Luke! Come on! Just because I didn’t wanna go on a date with you, doesn’t mean you have to quit the band!” 

“I do though,” he said and turned around. With a few large, but slow-paced steps, he stopped in front of the brunette girl that had broken his heart and hurt his fragile reputation. 

“Why?” 

Sighing, Luke muttered,“Because I joined for you, you idiot.” 

Violet couldn't possibly say anything to that and let Luke walk away again. The feelings she had been feeling for him all this time finally got reciprocated. By a different version of Luke, that is, but still. It didn’t quite matter which Luke said it. She heard it coming from his mouth. The words she’d been wanting to hear for years. 

“I am so sorry, guys,” she breathed, hiding her face in her hands. “This is all my fault.” 

“It’s not your fault, Violet,” Reggie said, shrugging. “Luke’s just stubborn. He can’t take no for an answer.” 

It was supposed to make her feel better, but it didn’t quite. She had ruined any and all chances she had of returning to her own universe just because one version of that guy had hurt her years ago. 

“Can we end rehearsal early then?” Alex questioned, coming out from behind his drums. “I got a date with Willie tonight.” 

Violet smiled. At least that was a thing here. “Yeah, sure. It’s not like we’re gonna be able to perform at Chubbie’s anyway,” she said, shrugging. 

“We’ll get there, don’t worry,” Alex tried to soothe her and placed a hand on her shoulder as he passed her on his way to the door. 

“Yeah, we’ll be ready in time,” Reggie agreed as he, along with Julie and Flynn left the garage, leaving Violet with the Wilsons. 

Violet shook her head, trying to wrap it around what had just happened. “How can we be ready in time when the gig is this weekend?” she mumbled to herself when Carrie wrapped her arms around the girl. 

“I know how to get your mind off of everything,” she said, pressing her temple against Violet’s. “Girl’s night at my place.” 

Violet couldn’t help the smile reaching her cheeks. That did sound like a good plan. The best plan, even. It would keep her mind off Luke and the gig and the whole universe thing. It would calm her nerves and anxieties. 

Or at least, she thought it would until they arrived at the Wilson’s house. A group of girls stood at the front door, angry expressions on their faces and arms crossed in front of their chests. 

“Where have you guys been?” Kayla asked, grumpily. “We’ve been waiting here for over an hour!” 

Carrie squeezed her eyes shut. “Fuck, I forgot about rehearsal…” she muttered. 

“Rehearsal for what?” Violet questioned, unaware of any gigs that were happening for Dirty Candy. Though, judging from Kayla’s shocked face, there was a gig she should be aware of. 

“The gig this Saturday!” she sneered. “A mega-important gig at that!” 

Carrie and Violet glanced at each other, eyes widened in complete horror. The exact same day as the gig at Chubbie’s with the boys from Sunset Curve. As Kayla and the girls started yelling at Carrie and Violet, the latter completely zoned out. She couldn’t hear a word of what was said. All she could think about was how she might be stuck here for the rest of her life if she didn’t perform at Chubbie’s on Saturday with the boys. 

What if they didn’t show up after that humongous fight? What if that wouldn’t be the thing they had to do to get her back? 

The girl’s storming off snapped Violet out of her thoughts, yet she still found herself in some sort of state of shock. Nothing felt right anymore and everything kind of sucked. There was no way she was ever going to survive in this universe if stuff like this kept happening. 

“Vi?” she could hear Bobby’s voice in the far distance. “Are you okay?” 

She coughed, shaking herself back. “Yeah… Yeah. I’m okay,” she clearly lied but the Wilsons didn’t push further and instead took her inside where the girls watched some movies together. 

Within half an hour, Carrie had already fallen asleep and Violet couldn’t bear watching the rest of the movie. Her mind was restless and kept running back and forth over her options and every possible scenario that could happen. 

There was only one thing that could keep her mind off everything. So, she hoisted herself up from the couch and made her way to the music room where she took a seat at the piano. 

Her fingers grazed the keys, letting a soft melody fly out the instrument. A content sigh left her body as she let the music take her away. It felt nice to let everything out of her system. It seemed to be her one and only escape to her from this crazy world. 

“You okay, Vi?” Bobby’s voice shook her out of her thoughts, causing to stop playing the piano. “You seemed a little out of it earlier.” He moved over towards her and sat down next to her. Their shoulders touched and it caused a weird spark to send shivers down Violet’s back. Something she had never felt before. 

“Yeah… Everything’s just�� a lot, you know?” Bobby tilted his head, urging her to elaborate. “The switching universes, Luke suddenly being into me, the pressure of being in Dirty Candy…. It’s just – a lot… I’m used to being on my own, writing music with my best friends, but now I’m suddenly supposed to be this whole other person…. It’s exhausting.” 

A single tear rolled down her cheek, which Bobby caught with his thumb just before it reached her lip. The two locked eyes and for a second, Violet found herself drowning in his eyes. She had never noticed how gorgeous they were until now. The dark brown, the slight twinkle that was in them. She had never seen him up close like this. Her eyes took that liberty to scan his entire face. From his eyes to his nose and cheeks to his lips. Before they could move back to his eyes, Bobby closed the gap between the two of them and kissed her, full on the lips. 

Violet was startled, at first, but quickly melted away under his touch, closing her eyes as he deepened the kiss. The kiss lasted longer than it should’ve, but Violet didn’t quite mind. Or at least not until her mind drifted back to Luke and she felt like she was kissing him instead of Bobby. 

This caused her to flinch back. 

“Sorry! I shouldn’t have…. I’m sorry,” she quickly muttered before getting up and running out. 

Though it was a mistake to Violet, Bobby didn’t quite see it like that. If it were up to him, this would’ve happened a lot earlier and could happen a lot more often. He had never admitted it to anyone, but he had been in love with Violet for years. Those feelings had never been reciprocated, so he didn’t act up on them either. Violet was just Violet. Until now.

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[sirowsky]

The Flowers Always Know

Description: When a mad scientist uses you as an experiment while you’re on holiday, the Heroics only just manage to save you. And in your recovery you become very close to the leader of the group. (Slow burn)

Rating: Mature/Explicit 18+ ONLY

Warnings: Language, smut.

Link to Masterlist

Comment: So, I’m suffering side-effects from vaccination today, and I’m kinda out of it. So this chapter might be too, I honestly can’t tell right now. Anyway, it’s all smut and fun times, so enjoy! :D

Chapter 26

  Monday arrived like a freight-train, and getting up that morning turned out to be almost impossible, because Marcus had decided to pick that moment in time to be his most adorable – and most impossible self.

  You’d had an active night, repeatedly waking up to find yourself wet and pining as though you’d been dreaming about sex for hours. It had happened three times during the night, and no matter how much you’d tried to just breathe and relax and calm down, it had only gotten worse, and you’d had no choice but to wake him, each time, and ask him to help you.   Obviously, he was only happy to help, sleepily smiling and pulling you to him to warm himself up.   The third time you’d just groaned after you woke up, and he’d started laughing when the sound woke him too.

  “Seriously, hermosa, are you in heat or something?”

  “I fucking hope so… This is exhausting.”

  “Come here, I’ll do the work this time, you just relax.”

  All of this meant that you hadn’t gotten back to any real deep sleep before the alarm went off, and you woke up feeling restless but also somehow heavy and sluggish.   And then there was your beloved fiancé.   You had kept him up for most of the night, and so when the alarm went off, he decided to punish you by not letting you get up.   You turned the alarm off and then rolled over on your back and sighed, and suddenly he was on top of you, sleepy and warm and heavy, and utterly unmovable.   He didn’t instigate anything or even speak to you, he just laid there, falling back asleep with you as his mattress.

  “Marcus, don’t. Please, I’ve already got Management on my back, I don’t need to be squished from the front too.”

  “Mmmm… but you’re sooo squishy…”

  Even though he was practically asleep, he started hardening against you, and even though you were stressed and exhausted in equal measure, your fucking body responded as though you hadn’t been with him for months.

  “I don’t have time for this, baby.”

  That seemed to wake him up, and he ground himself hard against your mound, eliciting several involuntary whimpers from you. Yes, whimpers. You were that fucking desperate.

  “But what if this makes a baby?”

  The words sent tendrils of pleasure through your nerves, and your inside walls were suddenly quaking.   He could feel you react, so he pressed himself inside, and you gasped and clutched him to you as hard as your arms and legs would allow you.

  “What if you really are in some kind of heat, and this is the perfect time.”

  Your limbs were shaking, trying to hold him even tighter to you, needing him as though he was oxygen and you were drowning.

  “You don’t wanna waste it, do you?”

  Your power shot out, hard and short, and you were just able to direct it down underneath you, shattering the legs of the bed and probably the frame too. But you hardly even noticed as Marcus ignored it and drove into you faster and deeper, making you come with more than one loud moan, before he followed.

  “Fuck… See what you did?”

  “Oh, no, you broke the bed all by yourself, sweetheart.”

  “Because you took me to fucking fairyland!”

  “I did what, now?”

  “Oh, never mind, get off me, I need to get in the shower.”

  “Ask nicely.”

  “Hmpf. Or what?”

  “Or I’ll lick you all the way back to fucking fairyland.”

  Oh, yes, please…

  Wait. NO! You do not have time for that.

  “Please, my darling fiancé, will you let me get off this bed now?”

  He grinned from ear to ear hearing you call him that for the first time, like you knew he would. Then he kissed you, slipped out of you, jumped off the bed and sprinted into the bathroom, giggling like a little kid.

  “Don’t you dare steal that shower from me, Moreno!!”

  “You’re welcome to join me, preciosa.”

  “No! I am not gonna join you, you’re gonna get out and let me get ready.”

  You’d scrambled out of the remnants of the bed and reached the bathroom by then, and sure enough, he already had the water going in there. It hadn’t warmed up yet, and as soon as you stepped over the threshold, he aimed the nozzle of the detachable showerhead at you, drenching your naked body in cold water.   You didn’t scream, but you did lose your breath with the shock of the sensation. But thankfully, you’d done the Ice-Bucket challenge when it came around a few years earlier, so you recognised your reaction and quickly regained your senses. And when you got your breath back – you were fuming.   Your ghost hands found his waist, and you watched him go from amused to surprised to disbelieving, when, in pure frustration, you lifted him clean off of the floor and moved him out of the shower stall.   You walked past him while he was still levitating and stepped into the now warm shower spray, before dropping him by the door. And since he was unprepared for the rough landing, he lost balance and fell over.

  “Well, damn, famb… I didn’t know you could do that.”

  “Apparently I can, so stop fucking with me and let me get ready for work.”

  “Hey, to be fair – you’re the one that’s been fucking with me all night – I’m just returning the favour.”

  “Okay. Let me rephrase that: stop being an asshole!”

  “Only if you promise to let me bug you at work today.”

  “What? No, that is the opposite of what I need right now.”

  “Fine. Then I’ll just keep being a dick instead.”

  “Oh my god, what has gotten into you today? You’re worse than a three-year-old.”

  He didn’t answer, but you could hear him starting on his morning trimming, whistling a little while he worked and waited.

  “Argh… Fine. You can bug me, but no more than once every two hours.”

  “No deal.”

  “Marcus…”

  You sighed. This was just gonna be one of those days.”

  “Okay, I yield. But – fair warning: I will use my powers to force you to stay in line, if I have to.”

  “Understood.”

  You half-ran into the kitchen 15 minutes later, to find Missy putting the finishing touches to a cup of tea, before handing it to you.

  “Oh, you really are an Angel! Thank you so much, sweetie.”

  “I figured you’d need an assist this morning after what I heard from your bedroom earlier.”

  You froze, and your cheeks flushed when you remembered, not just the bed, but your own noisiness.

  “I am so sorry… I was a little… out of control, this morning.”

  “In a good way, or bad?”

  “Hard to say, really.”

  “But, you guys are okay, right?”

  “Yeah. Physically…”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning I’m not the only one having a weird day today.”

  A minute later, Marcus bounced into the kitchen, and immediately stole the piece of toast you’d just finished for yourself and was in the process of carrying to the table. And without so much as a glance at you, he chewed down more than half of it in a single bite, while reaching for a cup to get himself some coffee.   You stared at him with your mouth hanging open.

  “Did you just steal food from me?”

  “Excellent toast, love. Really good.”

  With a surprisingly controlled burst, you shattered his cup, and then the entire coffeemaker.   He just stared at the mess of coffee and broken china on the floor, and then he looked up at you, looking mockingly shocked.

  “Great, now you have to get me a new coffeemaker.”

  “Like hell I do. Get your own coffeemaker, ass-hat.”

  “Okay, calm down, it was just a piece of toast.”

  Glaring at him, you reached into one of the cabinets and pulled out a handful of supplement bars, chucking all but one into your handbag, and headed for the front door.

  “Have a nice day, Missy.”

  Marcus called after you.

  “Hey, wait, what are you…”

  “Marcus, I have seven weeks-worth of work to try and catch up on today, did you really think that this was the day to fuck with my breakfast? The one meal I might actually have had time for. I can’t deal with you and your weird mood right now, so I’m gonna drive myself to work and hope to god that no one decides to point out how fucking late I am on my first day back, because if they do – I might actually explode!”

  You left the house and ripped the wrapper off the bar and started eating it on your way to the car.

  You didn’t hear Missy and Marcus’ continued conversation as you set off for work.

  “Dad, what’s wrong with you, she’s really stressed right now, why are you making it worse?”

  “I’m just feeling mischievous today. Besides, if there’s one thing she needs when she’s stressed – it’s distractions.”

  “Ooh… Was that what happened earlier too? Cause it sounded like you broke the bed, which seems a little extreme for a distraction.”

  Marcus rubbed the back of his neck a little awkwardly. He couldn’t understand how you were so comfortable talking to Missy so openly about this stuff, or how you managed to actually talk to her about it, without really telling her any details.

  “Uh… that was just, a bit of an overload. She seems to be in some sort of… hormonal state right now.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “I mean like… animals get sometimes. You know… certain times of the year.”

  “Almas in heat?! Humans can’t do that.”

  “Normally, no. But we’re not exactly normal.”

  “Speak for yourself, weirdo.”

  “Hey!”

  “I’ll race you to the car!”

  She shouted the dare while she was getting up, and grabbing her bag, and as she headed for the door, Marcus shouted after her while he grabbed his things and tried to keep up with her.

  “I can move the car, you know!”

  “That’s cheating!”

  “So is jumping the start line!”

  “Hah, try and keep up, old man!”

    You weren’t even settled into your office before Marcus appeared on your threshold. You’d had to make several stops on the way there, to talk to people and get updated on active projects, and as you stepped in, you realised that the woman that had filled in for you while you were gone was a total slob.   She’d left fast-food wrappers everywhere, and the two wastebins in the office were beyond overfilled, there was at least as much junk around them as there was inside them.   You’d just finished clearing all the crap into a large black garbage bag, when you heard him whistle.

  “Someone’s about to get an earful, I hope.”

  “More than one.”

  “Oh, then I’m staying.”

  He plopped down on the sofa, leaning back and making himself comfortable.

  “I do love it when you pull out that nasty side that makes people quiver.”

  “I’ll happily make you quiver.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh, yeah. All the way through the floor.”

  He chuckled, and burrowed himself deeper into the soft cushions.

  “I might just sit here all day and just watch you.”

  You talked to him a bit on autopilot, focusing more on trying to bring some kind of order to the giant pile of papers on your desk.

  “No, you won’t. You have a mission today.”

  “What? Since when?”

  “Since Miracle accidentally killed a kitten belonging to the daughter of some rich-ass Sheik, whom of course demanded an apology, which Miracle obviously refused, causing a full-blown conflict that you’re now gonna have to solve.”

  “I swear one of these days, I’m gonna accidentally send him into deep space on a ship without re-entry capacity.”

  “Have a nice day, honey.”

  He was on his feet and heading for the door when he shot back over his shoulder.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll still find time to bug you, conflict be damned.”

    You didn’t see him for a few hours after that, and you’d thought you’d feel relieved being able to focus on your work. But his absence turned out to be just as annoying as his presence.   You found yourself constantly eyeing the door, hoping he’d pop his head in so you could ask him to relieve the burning ache that had begun to migrate from your core and into your thighs and even your back.   It was getting to the point where you were seriously considering going online and purchasing a wand from a store that offered instant delivery, just so you could stick it in there while you were forced to sit, to give your god damned endlessly pulsing walls something to clench over.   Just as you were about to give up and go find that instant-delivery page, there was a knock on the door. Marcus didn’t knock, so it wasn’t him.

  “Come in.”

  “Hey. You got a minute?”

  It was William, your not-assistant, who still helped you whenever you asked, just because he was that kind of guy. He was a couple of years younger than you, and fit. The kind of fit that all guys wished they were. Not huge, not too noticeable, especially not under the immaculate suits he wore, but it was there. If you hugged him, you could trace the contours on his back. Not that you had.   He was handsome, attractive, but so not your type. You’d never even considered it. And it was quite the testament to your physical compatibility with Marcus, that even now, when you felt like you could sit down on a fucking cactus, you still didn’t even consider it.   It was Marcus you needed. Always. But right now, more than fucking air.

  “Sure, Will, what’s on your mind.”

   “You asked me to look into that toy-factory that burned down a couple years ago. Well I did, and it turns out that the owner abandoned the lease, so the property is actually unclaimed right now.”

  You tried to listen, you really, really did, but your core chose that moment to decide that it just had enough.   William was on the opposite side of the desk, but when you doubled over and laid your forehead down on top of it and groaned, he came around to check on you.

  “Are you okay, what can I do?”

  “Ma—Marcus… I need Marcus…aargh.”

  You reached for your phone to call him, but your hands were shaking, and you dropped it on the floor, in front of your feet.   Ever the helpful, William kneeled down to get it just as another loud groan escaped you, and of course – that was the moment that Marcus decided to step in.   The look in his eyes when poor William appeared from under the desk, with you panting and groaning behind him, could have killed a man twice his size.

  “I swear… I was just reaching for her phone! She wanted to call you, but she dropped it, I didn’t touch her! I would never… Mr. Moreno, I wouldn’t…”

  “Get out.”

  “Marcus… he didn’t…”

  “I know. But he doesn’t get to stay for what happens next.”

  William ran from the room, politely closing the door behind him, and Marcus locked it, before coming over to you.

  “I would never…”

  “Shh. I know, hermosa. Now let me take care of you.”

  “Oh, please… I’m burning…”

  He picked you up from the chair and helped you stand while he undressed you, and then he sat you down on the desk to do the same with himself.   Then he grabbed your legs and hoisted them up over his hips while he positioned himself at your entrance.   His tongue dove into your mouth at the same time that his cock began to dig through the thick pulsing membranes inside you. And it was such a relief. Your head fell back and your torso collapsed onto the top of the desk, as every cell in your body was suddenly right again.   He held onto your hips as he worked his way inside, inch by inch, feeling you relax the further he got.

  “What are you made of, mi amor? To be capable of such need, and such pleasure..”

  Once he was filling you, he let go of your hips and leaned down to wrap his arms around you, knowing you needed to feel as much of him as possible, even if you were too lost in sensations to ask him right now.   He moved with force, but not brutality, staying deep, letting you have exactly what he knew you needed, until you unravelled over him. But he managed to hold himself back, for the first time with you. And stayed still while you recovered, kissing you passionately and mumbling things in Spanish you’d never heard from him before.   As soon as your breathing had calmed, he started moving again, and that was all it took. The heat rushed right back, and this time, it came with a fresh rush of energy, that had your legs curling around his back and your hands clawing at his shoulders, demanding more.   And he obliged.   You were so tightly clung to him, that when he stood up from the desk, he wouldn’t even have needed to keep holding you, but he did.   He turned around and shoved your back against the wall, and his energy shifted, craving more too. He drove into you with more ferocity, but still somehow without that brutality that you’d felt from other lovers.   His need was driven by love, more than physicality, and his body responded accordingly. It made you love him even more, if that was even possible.   You were already closing in again, and he wanted to come with you this time, but he also wanted it to last longer. So, he shot a current at you, but you were so oversensitive that all it did was enhance everything you were already feeling by the double, and you screamed.   You actually screamed out your orgasm while your body rocked relentlessly against him, and he did come with you, his hands digging into your hips as he tried to hold you to him while you squirmed with the force of your release.

  “Hermosa?”

  He was panting like he’d just run a sprint. And you were panting like you’d run a marathon.

  “Yeah…”

  “If this is gonna be a recurring thing… we’re gonna need to rethink our office furnishings.”

  “And sound-proofing. Shit… I can already se the stack of complaints.”

  “Fuck ‘em. You wanna scream, you scream. Let the whole damned world hear how good you feel.”

  “I’m sorry honey, but I really hope this isn’t a recurring thing.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if it is… and you happen to be out of town when it hits… I might actually die. And I’m not even exaggerating. That was unbearable.”

  “We’ll figure it out, either way. Do you feel better now?”

  “Yes… and no.”

  “No?”

  Right on cue, the bear woke up.

  “Yeah… what she said.”

  He laughed and kissed you.

  “God, I love you, woman. Bears and all.”

  “Just get me to the restaurant. Greg and I have an arrangement.”

  “Roger that.”

  “Oh, and darling? Please apologise to William. You went full Cujo there for a moment, and I think you really scared him.”

  “Cujo? You compare me to a damned dog?���

  “Amaire can explain it to you. I’m too tired right now.”

  “The Wonder-Twins call me Cujo, too?! What is this?”

  “Marcus! Food. Now…”

Authors’ Note: I love criticism, don’t be shy to let me know if there’s anything you like/don’t like/have questions about.

@blueeyesatnight​​ @farfromjustordinary​ @allmyspideys​ @hrk-fic-recs​ @strawberryperegrine @lucrezia-thoughts​ @computeringturtle @sarahjkl82-blog

[inkribbon796]

In their Place Ch. 2

Chapter 2: As Blue as Can Be

Summary: Damien isn’t acting normally and that concerns everyone.

Chapters: 1, 2, 3

“Marc?”

Silver was groggily coming back to consciousness.

“Marc?”

Silver woke up, head pounding, and his ears ringing as he reached that he was still on his back with a thin view to the skylight overhead.

It took him a few groggy minutes to realize who had said his name, it was Dark!

Immediately Silver shot away, floating a bit off the ground, Dark looked surprised. He also looked completely like Damien.

Silver looked to see his mask ripped to pieces right next to where he had been laying.

“How do you know my name?” Silver demanded.

“How are you doing that?” Dark asked in surprise, his voice sounding normal, as if he really was Damien.

“No, answer the question,” Silver demanded, flying a little closer.

Dark took a couple steps back, looking at the hero as if he was crazy. “Marc, we’ve been friends for years. Of course I know your name.”

“We’re not friends!” Silver shouted. “You’re an asshole. You sold us out.”

“Don’t yell at me!” Dark shouted back. “You and Celine having issues does not mean you can take it out on me.”

“The hell are you even talking about?” Mark spat. “Who do you think I am?”

Dark looked at him, “Marcus Iplier, you’re my brother-in-law.”

Mark felt a little bit of relief, he didn’t actually know his name, he’d just gotten lucky. “Okay, okay,” he interrupted. “I think you’re confused. I’m not who you think I am. I’m tapped out for today. I’ll go home, you go home; and we forget this ever happened.”

For a brief moment Dark looked worried before he gave such an amused smile before he gave such a startlingly honest chuckle that it actually made Mark think he was dreaming. A chuckle that turned into a full on laugh.

Never, not even once while Dark was pretending to be mayor, did Dark laugh. Damien, even before he’d been revealed as Dark’s primary host, tended to act like a tightly coiled spring. So he gave half-smiles, and wry chuckles.

But that laugh was something else. It was almost a light cackle. But there was just something so genuine about it that Mark became aware that he wasn’t looking at Dark.

This was Damien.

He wasn’t looking at Dark.

“Okay, okay,” Damien seemed to calm down, a smile still on his face. “You got me, you got me. For a second there you had me worried. I’ll bite, I’ll play along. Why are you floating?”

“I’m, uh, a superhero,” Mark told him, trying to figure out what to do with Damien when he wasn’t Dark.

“A what?” Damien reflexively smiled. Mark was shocked by how genuine that smile was.

“A superhero, you know?” Mark answered. “Like from the comics? I’m kinda like Superman, I can fly and lift stuff.”

Damien waved his hand dismissively, rolling his eyes. His smile became a little sadder. “If it’s just Legionnaire business you can tell me that and just move on. I’m not bitter anymore.”

“I don’t work for them,” Mark tried to insist.

The mayor sighed, looking away from him and up to the ceiling. “How’s Celine? I haven’t seen her since she . . .” Damien looked at Marc uneasily. “Since the baby, you know.”

Mark wanted to shake Damien and demand that he make at least some kind of sense. But after a long pause he decided, “Look, I’m not who you think I am. I’m not whichever Mark you’re thinking of. I don’t know Celine personally, she’s tried to put her axe through my chest a couple times but I don’t really know her.”

“Don’t know her?” Damien repeated in confusion. “You’ve been married for five years, you should know her by now. I get that grief can change a person but I’d be there to help if I could.”

“Grief?” Mark asked.

“The baby,” Damien tried to remind. “Last I heard she was excited about the baby.”

“I’m not the one with kids,” Mark continued. “You are.”

Suddenly Damien was furious, “That isn’t funny Marc. You’re an asshole but you’ve never been cruel. Stop it.”

“It’s true, I don’t have kids, I’m not married, we’re not friends,” Mark told him. “Did you shoot up before you let Dark take you for a fucking spin today?”

“This joke isn’t funny anymore,” Damien warned, and that anger was starting to look a touch familiar.

“I’m not your brother-in-law,” Mark repeated.

“That’s it, I’m getting a light,” Damien started patting himself down. “Where are they?”

Then he reached into his coat and took out his carton of cigarettes and quickly pulled one out and started looking for a lighter, getting increasingly frustrated the longer he couldn’t find it. “Where is it?

Finally Damien groaned loudly and looked back at Mark. “Marc, can I borrow a light?”

“I’m not the Mark you think I am, and I don’t smoke so I don’t have anything to help you with that,” Mark told him.

Damien let out an angry groan and walked over to the other side of the space and sat down on the ground. He started massaging his temples and Mark heard his communicator crackle to life.

“Hey Silv,” Jackie’s voice crackled out. “Everythin’[1] alright?”

“No,” Mark commented. “I’m here with Mr. Mayor, I think we beat Dark out of him. I can’t see Dark or Celine anywhere.”

“What do yah mean yeh beat Dark off ‘a him?”[2] Jackie demanded.

“Don’t move, I’ll be right there,” Marvin said.

Damien was staring at him, “You’ve gotten better at magic.”

“I’m shit at magic,” Silver reminded pointedly.

The mayor let out an amused scoff, “You live with Celine, compared to her, everyone’s shit at magic.”

He’d just tried to tell a joke. But by his face he clearly expected Mark to find it at least a bit funny. Which absolutely floored Mark.

Mark would have commented, but when Damien moved his hands from his temples and just earlier his neck had been pristine. But now there were black bruises on Damien’s neck, the mayor was absentmindedly rubbing at them which is when Mark realized, grimly, that they were in the shape of handprints.

“What happened to your neck?” Mark asked.

“Is there something on it?” Damien stood up, massaging it. “It feels kinda[3] sore.”

“Kinda,” Mark took a couple steps forward and watched the bruises fade. “Does it hurt?”

Damien cleared his throat and tugged at his collar. “No, but it feels strange. Mayhaps I’m just coming down with something.”

“Yeah, may—” Mark agreed.

He was cut off when a blast of magic slammed into Damien and knocked him to the ground, Marvin flying in, “Don’t move, fooker[4]!”

“I finally had him calm!” Mark shouted, watching Jackie and Patton run over as well.

“Yeh[5] don’t trust demons,” Marvin reminded, charging up another blast as Damien braced his arms over his face.

Patton stood in front of Damien, staring at Marvin.

“Get outta[6] the way, Cap!” Marvin shouted.

“No!” Patton seemed to widen his stance a bit to stabilize himself for a fight. “Stop it.”

“Give me one good reason,” Marvin ordered.

“He’s afraid,” Patton said, his tone even and calm. Then he looked back at Damien who was bleeding from the nose and was trying to stop it. “You scared him.”

“He’s Dark, he deserves ta be scared ‘a me,”[7] Marvin commented.

Patton was already kneeling down next to Damien who flinched when Patton got closer. The emotional Side pulled a handkerchief out and knelt down a little to hand it out to Damien. “Here you go, kiddo.”

Damien watched him for a bit before taking a bit. “Thank you, I seem to have misplaced mine.”

When he tilted his head up to stem the bleeding Patton began coaxing him to point his head back down. An action that got the empathetic Side funny looks from the mayor but the man did so.

“See?” Patton gestured to Damien. “He’s not hurting anyone.”

“It’s a trap, an’ yeh know it,”[8] Marvin insisted. “We can’t trust that lyin’ demonic fooker as far as Anxiety can throw him.”[9]

“I am not a demon!” Damien shouted, clearly insulted.

“We’re not supposed to hurt people,” Patton reminded. “The hunters do that. The demons do that, but not us.”

“No hold up,” Damien continued as he glared at Marvin. “I might not be the most perfect person in the world, but I am not a demon.”

“Yeh’ve been lettin’ one walk around in yer skin,”[10] Marvin accused.

“Even if that was true the Legionnaires would kill me before I even got out the front door,” Damien fired back.

“You have been, and you’ve been the worst,” Mark chimed in.

“Don’t make this worse, Marc,” Damien ordered.

“It’s true,” Mark told him.

“Prove it!” Damien dared.

“Okay, fine,” Mark pulled out his phone and unlocked it, starting to scroll through his camera roll.

Damien was just staring at the phone, a look that got even more confused when Mark showed him a video of Damien, Mark’s voice from somewhere in the device.

“Have anything to say, asshat?” Mark asked.

“Get that thing out of my face, you want a news story, get a press badge,” Damien heard himself demand, a shrill ringing in the background.

“Nah, this is for me, just a friendly conversation between friends,” Mark reassured.

“What is this?” Damien asked in awe, tapping the screen. “Is it making that noise itself? Did you get it from the Legionnaires?”

“It’s my phone?” Mark reminded. “I know you’ve got a couple bricks but you have to have seen one before. Illinois has one.”

“A phone?” Damien asked, absolutely confused. “That’s not a phone, it’s too small. I didn’t know magic could alter technology like that.”

Mark just stared at him, pieces clicking together. “Damien what year do you think it is?”

“Uhh,” Damien paused. “1928?”

“What?” Marvin stared at Damien in surprised. “Stop fookin’[11] with us.”

“Have you even been conscious while Dark was controlling you?” Mark wondered out loud.

“Who’s Dark?” Damien asked.

The heroes all stared at Damien in horror.

“Oh fook,[12] he’s serious,” Jackie realized.

“You’ve been under the control of a demon that has been ruling this town for years,” Mark approached slowly, scared of startling the mayor. “We’ve been fighting him and we only just learned about you a couple years ago. We had no idea you weren’t willingly working with him.”

“I would never work with a demon,” Damien argued desperately.

“He must have done something to you,” Mark explained.

“Is he still here?” Damien asked. “Get him out.”

“Is that permission?” Marvin asked, excited.

“Yes, hell yes,” Damien told him.

Marvin summoned up a chair and pulled a piece of chalk out of his sleeve. “Great, then we can find Celine an’ Dark will be magically cut off at the ankles.”[13]

“Where’s Celine?” Damien asked, the worry thick in his voice as he stepped into the circle Marvin was drawing, runes and magical symbols leading to the chair.

“We were kinda hoping you’d tell us,” Silver admitted. “She tends to disappear and we can never find her.”

“I’ll do whatever I can to help find her,” Damien promised.

When Marvin was done with the circle he placed his hands on the circle and started chanting.

Almost immediately Damien felt like his body was trying to explode from the pain, his whole body locked up and he started screaming in agony. Something in him felt like it was slamming against a brick wall and unable to escape. It only got more painful. He could taste blood in his mouth and he reflexively coughed it up.

Before he could black out from the pain, Patton rushed forward.

“Stop! Stop!” Patton called out, disrupting the spell as he broke the circle.

“Patton, I almost had him,” Marvin spat.

“He was bleeding,” Patton reminded. “You were hurting him.”

Marvin turned and kicked a piece of rubble. “Why didn’t it work? He’s not fightin’ us.”[14]

“Something that painful should have worked because I don’t want to do it again,” Damien groaned weakly, clutching his chest as Patton knelt beside him.

The heroes just standing or sitting where they were to think of what to do with Damien next.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Accessibility Translations

1. Everything

2. What do you mean you beat Dark off ofhim?

3. kind of

4. fucker

5. you

6. out of

7. He’s Dark, he deserves to be scared of me

8. It’s a trap, and you know it

9. We can’t trust that lying demonic fucker as far as Anxiety can throw him.

10. You’ve been letting one walk around in your skin

11. fucking

12. fuck

13. Great, then we can find Celine and Dark will be magically cut off at the ankles.

14. Why didn’t it work? He’s not fighting us.

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

Bubble Shit (The Borderlands Series, Part 9.)

Series description: Not many people had the chance to see a vault or to mean anything in the world of Pandora. Will a hardly built relationship in the loneliness of the desert would have the potential to change anything in the world of anarchy and chaos - or will the friends try to murder each other?

Part Summary: Along with landing on Eden-6, you actually had to go through the plan to know how many people you recruted and how much of a chance you might stand.

Warnings: A lot of guns, violence, reader is a tough badass - not a vault hunter tho. They’re badass and don’t give a fuck. And Scooter is a dumb bitch, as always.

Word count: 2 K

Tagging: @notaliteraltoad​ @mayacaroni​ (maybe you’ll like the series and you’ll stick around, I just thought you might wanna get notified!)

Series master list:  H E R E

In every meaning of the phrase, it was sir Hammerlock to the rescue. It also turned out that sir Hammerlock was the one who Scooter had contacted and the one who was willing to go with you on the suicidal mission along with his lifetime partner, Wainwright Jakobs - who turned out to run the whole Jakobs company alter. Which was exciting you - you were just too furious to show any emotion.

"Thank for savin' our asses back there. I couldn't exactly handle the landin'." - Janey smiled at the duo driving the car while the rest of you sat in the trunk pressed on each other. It was rather uncomfortable for everyone, but everyone shut up so you wouldn't start another conflict.

"No problem, miss Springs. Wainwright and I knew about your planned arrival and as soon as you weren't on the spot on time, we knew something went wrong. Excuse us for arriving as late as we did, it wasn't the simplest task to find you in here." - Sir Hammerlock answered nonchalantly and you looked at that dude with a furrow. It wasn't that you hated him, but you were too angry to even say thank you. Scooter was pressed up to your side and you tried to scoop away to Rayray's side without a stroke of luck. That gross son of a bitch was just pressed to you and you could say that it makes him extremely happy.

"No problem, Hammylock! How had ya been? Ages since I saw ya for the last time!" - Scooter yelled directly to your ear and you were just ready to strangle him to death when the nearest chance comes by. That guy was just a pain in your ass.

"It was rather difficult, Scooter if I might say. I had a hard time accommodating here on Eden-6, but the fauna gives me much more choices than the Pandora's did!" - Hammerlock's big, rosy lips curled into a happy smile and you almost melted under the look he gave to Wainwright. These men were in love, there was no doubt about it. And you were with love at their idea of love.

"I have a new girlfriend, see?!" - Scooter yelled all over the car and suddenly, you two were the main interest of everyone. You were his what? He said what? Your patience was wearing thin and Scooter seemed to just make himself sure he'll piss you off as soon as he can. - "Ya have a similar arm, that's super cool!" - Athena was just as confused as you were along with everyone else in the car. Exactly since when you became his girlfriend? Did you miss that? Was he assuming this based on the fact you two held hands for about ten minutes? Was Scooter actually five? You moaned in distress and bit your lip.

"I see. Nice to meet you, miss! My friend's friends are my friends!" - Hammerlock turned at you with a smile and offered you a handshake. He had the metallic hand on the same side as you did - on his left. - "By any chance, are you two distantly related?" - Hammerlock asked with a furrowed face and you almost choked at the question once again.

"I haven't met this dude until two weeks ago. We're not even friends." - You yelled back at Hammerlock and he raised his eyebrows in wonder.

"I see, miss!" - He answered after a short while. - " You're stepping up your game, Scooter." - Hammerlock told the man beside you with a wink, whatever that meant. The rest of your way was almost awkwardly quiet since anyone knew why the hell Scooter would say that you two are in fact in a relationship. That dude seemed to be an actual five-year-old not having only severe brain damage, but showing a case of schizophrenia with seeing and feeling things that weren't based in reality at fucking all.

"This is some bubble shit." - You muttered out when you were getting off of Wainwright's car and almost hissed at when Scooter offered you his palm. No. Last time you held his hand, because you were scared to death, he figured out that you're dating.

But the amazement over Wainwright Jakobs' mansion was something that made you forget about everything as you tried to look at the house. Is was huge. Like fucking huge. You heard stories about this house being the foundation for every Jakobs rifle, revolver, shotgun, and stuff like that ever made. You loved to use the guns since you found yourself on Pandora’s surface, so this was like a beautiful dream.

"Are you shitting me?" - You looked at Athena and she gave an unknowing look back. - "This is the goddamn Jakobs mansion. Every Pandorian cowboy’s dream." - You whispered.

"That's true, miss. It's always nice to meet someone whos interest in my family's business... In a good way. And may I say, I haven't seen this shotgun for a long time." - Wainwright took the shotgun from your back and he skillfully flipped it between his fingers. - "I think that we don't make these for more than fifteen years. A true ancient one." - He put it back on your back.

"You-you’re... That Jakobs? Like that gunman Jakobs?" - You stuttered out, following him inside as Hammerlock offered everyone food and something to drink before a long meeting you were scheduled to have.  

"As far as I am concerned, I think I am. I can show you some of my wares and maybe give you a good-luck gun, how does that sound?" - Wainwright smiled at both you and Athena entering the meeting hall by his side. You almost suffocated. That Jakobs was willing to give you one of his guns as a gift? This adventure was slowly looking better and better.

"You won't be going with us?" - Athena asked when she saw you being on the verge of screaming, laughing, crying, smiling, and freaking out.

"No, unfortunately, I have a family business I have to keep my eyes on, but Hammy will be accompanying your little party. He already contacted a lot of people, so you don't have to be alarmed, ladies." - The man smiled, yet you barely got a word from what he said. You were still drooling and having heart-eyes because of the offer you got. A Jakobs’ gun will be given to you as a good-luck gift. Oh, dear Buttstalion, this was your best day.

It was kinda funny seeing Rayray and Blindy not being accustomed to such a luxury - any member of your party was, but in fact, you at least were living like normal people. These bandits were living in Ham’s Creek, one of the creepiest looking assholes you've ever had seen. Hammerlock offered you plates of fresh vegetables and fruits, which almost made you cry since it felt like centuries since you saw normal food for the last time. All you were eating on Pandora was Skag bacon and home-made bread, sometimes you didn't eat at all and drank vodka only. And they even had some normal water and juice. That house was heaven and you didn't want to leave. Ever.

"Now that we’re in safety and everyone's here, we might go through the plan Scooter and I had put together, shall we?"  - Sir Hammerlock smiled at everyone and adjusted the monocle with the broken glass he wore.

"We know that the distress call - if you wanna call it like that, came from Athenas. For those who might not know, this place was and is inhabited by sirens. So we knew that Maya is there possibly, which is why I didn't contact her for our cause - I'm sure she already knows what's heading their way." - He told you and suddenly, pictures of Athenas’ landscape appeared everywhere around you. It was a beautiful place - which you hummed to Athena while stuffing your face with slices of carrot.

"I tried my best with calling Brick, just as you said, Scooter, but he is off to his own business, I guess. Unfortunately, he won't be able to reach us. However, mister Mordecai had answered my call and he has only one condition - nothing shall happen to his new pet friend on our adventure." - Hammerlock smiled and when you saw pictures of these men, your breath got stuck for a moment. Youve only heard stories about Vault Hunters, since you were a child. But these men looked dangerous and unpleasant, especially Mordecai with his bottle of alcohol, just... Just like you were looking all the fucking time.

"I contacted miss Tina next, and I am courageous enough to say that she is more than thrilled to accompany us on our journey since she was screaming something including the world's bomb, mothersuckaz, and blowing up." - Another picture was showed to you and holy fucking christ, that girl looked insane. And that wasn’t meant to be a compliment. She looked nuts.

"Next on the list was mister Zer0, Marcus and Torgue, miss Gaige, mister Krieg, and mister Axton yet neither of them answered the call. And... The last one came to volunteer herself. This young lady’s name is Fiona and according to her words, she is a con-artist of sorts, as far as I was able to understand." - Hammerlock looked at Scooter. His eyes opened up and you didn't know what on Earth should be your response. You didn't know anyone from the names you've just heard.

"Naturally, I thought about the route we will have to take and to calm miss..." - He pointed your way since he hadn't even know your name. - "We won't be taking a flight by a rocket since our Fast Travel system is working just fine. We shall take a small detour to... Uh... Boom Town as it is called, to pick up Tina and mister Mordecai. Miss Fiona told me that she will meet us in Athenas. In my opinion, ten people, especially as dangerous as miss Tina, are enough to make a difference on the battlefield." - Hammerlock told each of you honestly. That sounded like a plan that someone thought about.

"And the attack, Hammerlock? How do we plan to do that?" - Athena next to you asked. Hammerlock nodded and pointed his finger at her, showing you other landscapes from Athenas.

"You had to notice that this terrain isn't exactly the most pleasant to have the surprise factor on our side. We talked with Scooter about this." - Hammerlock nodded and Scooter stood up.

"Janey and Pickle were using a thingy called Stingray on Elphis and I tell ya, man, that thingy is cool as hell. So, I thought about playin’ with the engine and gravity sensors a bit, makin’ it fly much higher than before! And we might need a machine to, ya know, even make us the damn car on that planet since I don't think it's connected to the network." - Scooter told Athena, and it could be heard that he's an expert in this area, and Janey jumped into the conversation with her engineering and mechanic talents.

"In that case, we have to do somethin’ about the core and the coverin’, mate, because I'm worried that this will be our biggest problem. Elphis didn't have atmosphere and Athenas do." - She said seriously and you looked at Wainwright with your heart-eyes again. Scooter nodded and both of them left the room to work on the machinery. Everything seemed to be too real for you. Just too real.

[universal-kitty]

.: Day 1 - F/O February :.

Reverse Self-Ship: You are your F/O’s F/O!!

I’m from a video game series akin to an odd mix of Watch_Dogs and Grand Theft Auto. Things can get a little pervy, hijacking cars is involved, stealth and adventure abound...but so is a bunch of ridiculous, silly things, like a petting minigame that triggers randomly when interacting with my cat.

There’s a single-player mode focused on my background and meeting up with past friends or exes...and is story-based, allowing you to attack and kill them, befriend them again... All sorts of stuff.

Also, the option to adopt more cats and become a crazy cat lady...in spirit.

Shit, romance people if you want! Live life!

Marcus got Wrench (Reggie) the game as a birthday gift. It was mostly a joke, because Reg REALLY thought he wouldn’t like it....and what else do best friends do but give their bffs prank gifts?

Still, Marcus bought it for him new... So Reg boots it up and gives it a chance, anyways.

......holy shit, he actually likes this WAY more than he first thought he would.

First of all, he HATES animals; every one he’s ever met seems to hate him and hurt him, so he’s turned his back on animalkind. However, throughout the game, I’m NOTHING but kind to every animal and suspicious of every person I meet.... Some of which he understands completely. There are some ASSHOLES in this game!!

Also, the way I croon to my cat and get into baby talk... It’s so damn cute to him. Really makes him feel some kinda way, which he flushes over. (Haha, wow that’s embarrassing.)

The point is, he ends up hating animals a little less and starts loving cats a LOT more.

Actually had to put down the controller and walk away from the game when doing a dancing minigame. He could barely focus on the button commands with how cute I was being while doing the dances.

Proceeds to look up people who 100% the dances just so he can save them to his phone. Watch them whenever he wants.

Later deletes them, 100%s them on his own, and THEN saves them onto his phone. Is a lot more happy with them, cause they’re HIS gameplay videos and not someone else’s.

LOVES messing around with outfits. Someone on the staff was either a big fan of cats or just...made that my most out-there personality trait (second only to the games and show in my world that are obviously knock-offs of real-world games), but he’s not complaining. Running around in cat ears and a cat tail? So damn cute.

His personal favorites are the masks I have combined with the matching jackets; it makes me feel more relatable to him...but he’s a greedy man and always eventually takes them off so he can look at my face.

Has SO MANY PICTURES on Facebook of him playing this damn game. Marcus kinda thought he was pranking at first, but now the whole squad knows Reg is a bit of an addict.

They got him the other games on Christmas and he cried. Everyone was....kinda in awe.

Josh got him a t-shirt with my character on it that reads “Bee Paw-sitive~!” on it. He wears it a LOT.

He definitely started up a collection that rivaled....basically no one else in the fandom.

HATES seeing the fandom pairings. And since you can romance anyone due to my sexuality canonly being Panromantic...it’s frustrating.

(Well, he’s Bi, so some of the people he wouldn’t mind sharing with, yeah....but he’s specifically venomous over the people he’s SURE are my friends only. Or are/were super toxic to me in my past. So, so bitter that anyone likes those ships, but holds his tongue only bc he got a figurine of me doing some cutesy pose next to his monitor. It helps him keep his head.)

Literally has a savings account reserved for merchandise. If it exists, he wants to buy it. If it doesn’t, but someone’s commissions are open? He’s gonna buy it.

Has bought art, jumped on art-trades/requests to get MORE art of us together. Has two plushies of me, as well as a body pillow. Continues to seek more things.

Is honestly upset that my size is medium (and so he can’t wear my canonly fitted clothes), BUT that doesn’t stop him from owning a single shirt in my size AND getting items that mimic my wardrobe.

He likes to imagine we can match together....or I can wear HIS version of my fave shirts when mine are dirty~!

Is still debating getting a kitten. Until that day, cat plushes are among the only other plushes he has (aside from mine).

Weird as he felt about it, he later admitted to his friends that he....kinda felt romantically towards me? And was thinking about just being fictoromantic...

Josh was the first one to see no problem with it and fast. People can be hard to work with, so... You do you. (Reg then felt bad about bullying him so much....oop.)

Horatio was also quickly on board. “Hey man, they make you happy. If it helps, it helps.”

Marcus....was a little more confused, but got in the spirit of it, regardless. “man, if I knew you would’ve actually liked it, I woulda got it for you a lot sooner!! Have fun, man.”

Sitara doesn’t quite get it, but.... It sure explains why Reg kept pestering her to tag “Purrfect Anarchy” in certain places and commissioning her for stylized art of him with them.

T-Bone....kinda harasses him about it, but the group stands by Reg. Josh is pretty upset about it, though.

He also follows every piece of news and publicly shares it, after admitting to being ficto. LOTS more pictures like, “Cutie’s got good taste.” [selfie with him sticking out his tongue and wearing one of the replica shirts] “Dinner date with bae!” [screenshot of me looking at the screen of his laptop, dinner and candlelight between us]

Everyone rolled with it more and more over time, so now it’s entirely not uncommon for them to bribe Reg to do things by dragging me into it...

Sitara: Hey, you leaving? Wrench: ...yeah, why? Sitara: Can you get me a coffee while you’re out? Wrench: Wh-? Why should I get you-? Sitara: I bet Rachel would like you doing something like that, y’know. Wrench: .....That’s cruel. You’re cruel. Sitara: I know~! You know how I like it, thank you, and Rachel loves you. Wrench: [sputters audibly and shuffles out the door, muttering to himself, embarrassed]

They don’t do a LOT of crimes anymore, but... Definitely still fuck shit up w/ cops. Reg daydreams a shitton about a masked romance and the anarchy we could commit together... After all, I helped him be braver. So he could help me, too, and then..... So much glorious chaos. Maybe makeouts in his car...

Was literally the type to not give a SHIT about marriage or kids, but now nonstop thinks about our lives together. Anarchy and domestic lifestyle shit can coexist, right? We can be married, have our cute lil’ two story (three, if you count the attic AND a basement), and some kids.....and also go create anarchy and throw bricks at cop cars and cause so much damn trouble..... Right?

He’ll even get a CAT for our home. It’ll be our first kid and not only will he be SO COOL, but they’ll name her (yes, a girl) Princess Leia and I’ll probably cry in happiness!!

Reg is DETERMINED to be the best husband/boyfriend ever. Doesn’t matter which, cause whatever speed I’d like to go at? Hell yeah, he’s down for it. Just as long as he can still hold my hand and gush over how cute I am and-

Has gushed about me and my series before and WILL do so again, prompted or not.

Actually participated in the fandom a little. Mostly does reblogs and such, but has written a few stories (self-inserts are the majority), done some not too shabby art, and prides himself on being the BIGGEST fan of the series with all the merch he has AND commissions bought.

Made a select few friends who also are fans, but... Is constantly anxious about his self-shipping. Either that they might eventually think he’s weird, send more anon hate (he’s gotten some in the past for “being a creep”), or- worst yet- also self-ship with me and he’s still dealing with that idea.

Until then, he’s got a wedding ring he bought cheap at the jewelry section of some store, so.... Coping skills, babey.

[thetaylorfiles]

Woww thank you so much for the detailed answer! I love your blog so much that i have put the notifications on ❤️❤️ also, will you recommend me the psychological thrillers you were talking about? Big sucker for that. I kinda avoid going out for a walk because i have to wear a mask and it really affects my breathing (my face gets puffed up, swollen and red) but i have a nice terrace with a swing so i sit and read there sometimes. It's so hard because I haven't seen anyone my age since February🥺

Oh my god you’re so sweet!! Thank you. I felt like that wasn’t a good list at all but I’m glad you liked it.

When I go for a walk, I don’t wear a mask. I keep one in my bag just in case, but we have this unspoken social contract here that we all go out of our way to really social distance with other walkers. We move to the other side of the street or I’ll move up someone’s driveway to let others pass by first. Just whatever works so that we can all be outside enjoying fresh air while still being safe. Can you do that?

If not, would you consider driving to a smaller town or suburbs and trying that there? Might be worth it.

As for seeing someone, can you expand your bubble? Find someone else in your friend group that is as cautious as you and make a pact to tell each other where you each are going and to not be out in any unsafe activities. And then you guys can be in a pod together. We do that with one of my best friends who has a daughter who is my daughters best friend. And every few weeks we’ll get together and it is so needed and lovely and just god, it helps so much. As long as you guys are being super safe and can trust one another. Or you could also just distance when together. Sit outside and sit apart but talk and laugh!

Yesterday it was my daughters birthday so we had two of her closets together friends come by with their moms. We all wore masks and we sat on our front lawns. The moms sat 6 ft apart and the girls played close-ish together, but with masks and not touching. And we chatted for an hour. These moms are my friends too and I haven’t seen them in forever. It was so nice to catch up. Something like that but without kids?

As for paychological thrillers - oh wow. Those are my faves and I have recs!!!!! Just finished one I loved! It’s called He Started It by Samantha Downing. That was amazing. Plus her first book called My Lovely Wife.

Let me go to my Goodreads list and look at my five starred shelf for more.

I do know You and Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes are on it. I’ve loved those books long before the tv show. Read them even if you’ve watched the show. They’re different enough to read and still enjoy. I love the show and I love the books. They’re both just the fucking best.

Im going to screen cap my shelf of Absolute Best for you. Some aren’t psychological thrillers. Some are more Sci Fi tinged psychological thrillers (like the Blake Crouch or Marcus Sakey books). But they’re just unputdownable and I can’t recommend them enough. I love books that are basically our world with just a little bit of Sci Fi fossed in. Like it’s our world, but what if you met yourself in an alley one night. And then the rest of the book is a page turner trying to sort out how to navigate from there.

Then there’s a few from Max Barry who writes fiction. He’s just a favorite.

But the rest are psychological thrillers. And a lot of the psych thriller authors on this list have other books too that are very good but were maybe 4 and a half stars for me. Like, crazy good but not perfection, you know?

I’m actually on a book hangover from He Started It. You know when you read something SO damn good, nothing else can compare to it so you have to wait a few weeks to really give something a shot?

Oh!! Also, I love Harlen Coben. He writes psychological thriller page turners like nobody’s business. They’re all so good with so many twists. You really can’t go wrong (ive only read his standalone ones, not the Myron series). Try him.

But!! Before you do that, if you live bingable this shows with lots of twists, check out all his books made into series on Netflix. There’s The Stranger, Safe, The Woods amd The Five.

Okay. Think I covered it all? Hope this helps more! I’d say, DM me if you want to chat or need more recs but I have no DMs available because Tumblr is an asshole.

[popculturebuffet]

Excalibur #1: “The Accolade of Betsy Braddock”

As the magic of Krakoa seeps into Otherworld and puts Morgan Le Fay in a genocidal mood, Betsy Braddock tries to find her place in the new world while also dealing with her idiot brother.. but you know instead of Paul Rudd she has a reality warping man child with mental instablity. Meanwhile Apocalypse adopts an unprouncable name and a new misson statment as a wizard man, Gambit suppresses the urge to kill him and Goldballs tries a new somehow even worse name out.

Welcome back. Due to yesterday being kinda nuts, and the last review being more taxing than planned, this one is kinda late. But better late than never as dawn of X continues it’s win streak with Excalibur, back and better than ever. And thankfully this time, the exposition is all really easy to bake in as we go compared to my last few reviews, so without any delay, it’s time to forge the sword once again. This is Tini Howard and Marcus To’s Excalibur.

We open on a long info page revealing that when Xavier gave his big “While you Slept the world changed” or, to put it more acuratley “All I wanted was to love you , to help you to save your asses and all you did was either try to kill us, look away while others did, or make a token effort at best to help. Fuck you, we’re taking what’s ours bitches. “ speech, Apocalypse gave his own, in a sense telling Humankind “Magic is ours to take back now.... “

We cut to the present where Morgan Le Fay is in Otherworld, basically the court of king arthur, the source of Captain Britan’s power, and a realm created by the british public’s collective subconscious. I don’t get it either. But Morgan Le Fay, Arthur’s evil sister and long time pain in the ass of the Avengers in the 616, has taken over in his absence and nearly drowns one of her minons upon finding something in her well.. a weed affecting it.. and since the x-men have a plant motif and apocalypse made a big MINE NOW speech to the rest of the world.. it’s easy to see Krakoa’s involved. Nice work Apocalypse, your on Krakoa one week and you’ve already pissed off the neighbors.

After the opening titles, we cut to Braddock Academy, basically the british version of Xavier’s and Avengers Academy and unsurprisingly a pet project of Brian’s. Since the school is also the Braddock ancestral home, Betsy’s been crashing here while sorting things out after getting her original body back. Yeah for those of you not that familiar with Psylocke, which I am not but know at least this much, was body swapped with the Assian Kwannon. That was reversed shortly before Dawn of X, which in order to help smooth the transition has given each their own starring roll. And really it is an intresting thing to explore: Betsy spent 5 or 6 years in a body that was not her own, living her life, loving, and doing bloody awful things in the name of the greater good. So it’s no suprise being put back in her old body after all this time and the implications of having basically lived her life in someoen elses skin with the other person now having it back and being understandably pissed about it, having only not gotten it back sooner due to dying of the Legacy Virus. Thankfully this issue dives deep into it and we’ll explore it more as we go.

The child loudly complaning is Margaret, Brian and Meggan’s daughter. Margret is one of the few things Mark Guggenheim’s run on X-Men did that was all that intresting as, probably thanks to a combination of her dad’s magical man juice and her mom’s already shifting genetics, can already talk in full sentences and comprehend stuff at the tender age of 1. Betsy is of course heading to Krakoa but much like Kitty last week, she’s unsure. But it still works: Kitty was unsure because Krakoa, for whatever reason, basically rejected her and staying would just make her a ghost again. For Betsy, she’s gone from living in a stranger’s body and back again and is understandably frazzled and unsure of tommorow.

But as Brian escorts her to the portal on his property, a touch I like as Meggan is a mutant herself and Brian is a longtime ally so it makes perfect sense to put a portal down there both for his mutant students to depart and for Meggan to visit without having to leave her husband behind, he encourages her. This is something I love about the issue: most x-runs I see betsy in kinda forget she has a brother and Uncanny X-Force turned him into an asshole. Here, their close bond and past, she was a supporting character in his book first after all, is shown beautifully as Brian , while happy to have her back, wants her to move on with her life and knows she’ll do great. 

As also seen above Betsy wishes their brother could join them though Brian isn’t so sure. I didn’t really get into Jamie in the other review, and i’m pleased as punch to get here there. Jamie is their older brother.. and also has schizophrenia and the power of god, two tastes that instead create a rancid punch that threatns all life as Jamie dosen’t think anything else is real. Despite this, Betsy wishes he’d be there to see it and hopes it’d make him better. After all if Apocalypse can find a new start here why not him? They literally have worse people on the island.

Speaking of the devil, after Betsy makes her awkward entrance, we cut to Apocalypse who’s of course standing out a window watching everything meancingly, because even when he’s on the good guy side and no longer plotting horribly Darwinian crimes.. he’s still a super villian deep down and old habits die hard. He’s visited by Trinary, a fairly new x-character introduced in X-Men Red, she’s a technopath, as well as one of the brain trust running Krakoa’s computer network. Also as you can see apocapse want’s to be called by his weird Krakoan name.. i’m just going to stick with Apocalypse as I assume it’s the same thing and even Tini Howard herself has flat out admitted she dosen’t have a translation for it and just scripts him as Apocalypse still. He also gets dagger eyes from everyone’s faviorite Cajun as he makes his villianous rant.

Remy does however have more reason than most to hate the man: He was one of Apocalypse’s horseman once: he attempted to go under cover, but underestimated how good the horseman process was and would up having to go to Mr.Sinister of all people to get himself back to normal. So yeah, having the guy who turned you into a monster that tried to kill your future wife, KINDA makes you not willing to have a ham sammich with the guy.  Trinary came to fetch Apocalypse to check out a new gate that opened.. to otherworld.. the problem is Morgan sealed it, and thus Apocalypse , not being a moron, decides they need “a champion” to break it. And since Hercules is on a three month no pants cruise of the bahamas right now, he’s going to have to be less literal about it.  Meanwhile MOrrigan is an asshole to a coven of sorcerers decreeing that they failed her by.. letting mutants exist. Yeah the one weakspot I have with the book thus far is the opening villianess: Morgan Le Fay simply isn’t that intresting and while she’s had a good storyline or too here she’s pissy because.. mutants found magic again. It isn’ t a terrible motive but her steroptical villaness “take my anger out out my minons” stuff is just tiresome and not at all entertaining. She’s the right level of threat for this book, just not fleshed out about enough and is the one real dry spot in this issue. 

Back on Krakoa, Betsy runs into Kwannon and it’s.. about as awkard as you’d expect as you can see.. and really isn’t helping Betsy’s unease. And I actually, despite not having read a ton of comics with Betsy in them get why she’s so uneasy besides the obvious problems of having the woman whose face you stole around all the time: she has no idea what to do. Everyone else on Krakoa, for the most part at least, is fully on board with the new plan, rairing to go. Sure some understandably object to their old foes being there… but theirs a sense of optimism and wonder and happy.. that just dosen’t go with someone who has so much blood on her hands she looks like she took a guys heart out with her bear hands, is in a body that hasn’t been home in years, and has to look the person who’s body she stole, intentional or not, and didn’t put any effort into bringing back from the dead or once she was back giving her her body back in the face. She’s just not in a great place. Thankfully even if her old pal Jubilee dosen’t pick up on this she does get Betsy could probably use some booze. Unfortunatley pressing matters keep her from finding out if krakoa can pour mimosa’s directily into her mouth via some kind of hose bush:

It’s your pal and mine goldballs, one of the five mutants able to raise the dead (but the car is fine). Or Egg I guess but I’m not calling him that. For one goldballs is a far better name just for the ridiculous factor. For another, just call yourself goldeggs. It’s still dumb but egg is somehow dumber. Even add a Z if you want no one cares. Your one of Krakoa’s own personal jesus’. You could rip a person’s throat out and no one would care… though granted that’s also because death is now meaningless for mutants. But yeah as you can see he has a problem and it’s Jamie.

And yup Jamie is back, alive and while not trying to kill everyone, is still kind of a weird asshole. Also I do not want to know what he did in there but I presume he fucked at least one person. Maybe he made them out of thin air, maybe they just came in. Maybe Sinister decided why not. Either way he’s fouling up the pods, and soon puts his foot in his mouth by saying Betsy’s classic look reminds him of better times right after their parents died. However in a nice little character bit he quickly apologizes, showing he has genuinely changed thanks to his resurrection on some level, and admits that the real reason is because they were all together then and all happy. As for why he’s a nusiance, it’s simple: while ressurectees DO need time to recover from you know, the whole being dead thing, it usually takes about ten minutes for the shock to wear off. And while there’s clearly no shock left Jamie is just farting around. Betsy’s response is to treat him like a ten year old. 

It..actually works.. but unfortunately Jamie has about as much intrest in seeing Brian as Brian does in seeing him. And I see why: before he went insane, Jamie was still a supervillian and still hunted brian out of jealousy, while Jamie.. is just kind of a dick. He’s like Krakoa’s own discord: he’s not an apocalyptic godlike threat to the world any more but he will fuck with you just for cheap laughs. Betsy tries using her telepathy to force him to go but Fabio stops her, as it upsets the eggs apparently and decides to drag Brian here, something even Jamie can see as a bad idea. And when the naked man whose been back for all of 5 minutes can see the holes in your plan, maybe you rethink things. But I also get why Betsy is trying so hard at this: She has almost no stablity left and Brian has been her rock, past and present. But Jamie is still her brother and now has the potetinal to do good and while still a loon, is no longer a genocidal madman and is stubbornly refusing to reconcile because he’s decided to swear off humanity. She just wants her family whole and her brothers not trying to kill each other, but is in too bad a state to recognize they need time and may NEVER get along. it’s how it is with family. Dosen’t mean she has to choose one or the other. Brian wouldn’t make her and frankly Jamie isn’t dumb enough to try that.  Thankfully apocalypse interupts Betsy’s extrodinarly bad plan to ask her about the gate.. and point out that Brian himself would be the best way and that, even as a half human, he’d be welcome here in this crisis. He probably get some leeway since apparently the captain britan thing makes him half otherworlder and he is a cosmic champion versus just some joe who wants to enjoy a paradise he hasn’t earned thorugh hard work or nearly dying a bunch. 

Betsy heads to Braddock Manor where Brian is already planning on going to Otherworld to fix this and is naturally not all that inclined to listen to Apocalypse. So as seen above Betsy goes with plan B: She’s going with him even if it’s a trap because fighting alongside her brother doing the right thing is better than moping around an island trying to dodge Kwannon. This also gives me a nice opprotunity to bring up Betsy’s approach to their former enemies. She’s far more accepting than the rest, even Logan outright objected, but I also easily get why: She’s former black ops, having served on one version of X-Force and lead the one right after it. She understands the need for pragmatism and is a pragmatic person. It’s probably why she’s so willing to forgive Jamie: yeah he did terrible things, but at his worst he was mentally ill, and as established by X-Men #1, Krakoa has terrific healthcare and telepaths and empaths to help him work through his issues. He may not WANT to of course, but he’s more likely to and him slowly improving in paradise is better than her brother just being dead to her as a genocidal mad man.  They encounter Morgan who, being basically a 50′s disney villian, expects Brian as otherworld’s champion to start drowning his own sister.. because fuck subtley. 

Back on Krakoa we meet up with Rouge and Gambit. As a tiny bit of exposition for you lapsed ex fans the two are now married. The two reconciled in the excellent Rouge and Gambit mini series, hashing out their long and messy history. Then X-Men gold happened.. see there was SUPPOSED to be a wedding of Colosus and Kitty.. but their reconcilation was so terribly forced no one wanted the wedding and editoral had gambit, of course, steal The Wedding. So the two are in a happy place, though Rouge dosen’t want to use her power dampener on paradise, understandable as said dampener is a repurposed anti-mutant thing and it’d be like brining a pile of nazi gold as your present to a jewish wedding. Rouge then decides , as shown above ot bring up the idea of having kids but before Gambit can say “of course”, Trinary summons them for apocalypse. Apocalypse needs Rouge as he figures her absoprtion power might allow her to serve as a gateway, and a way to retrieve Betsy. Remy, Understandably, dosen’t want her to do this But Rogue is willing to take the risk to save her friend. Remy , now tenativley on board, suggestings bringing in Jubes since she was the last one to talk to Betsy, but A-Train is way ahead of them. 

Naturally, having talked to her all of one sentence, she has nothing. Also curiously apparently Apocalypse wanted Jubes to bring her son, adopted if you didn’t knokw about him, Shogo with her but shockingly she didn’t want to bring her son to see the scary blue man who had no trouble trying to do a murder on a child when she was younger. However Apocalypse really needs her as a bridge between minds: Rouge will touch the portal to break through it and Gambit will keep watch and is all too happy to. As a side note i’d lvoe to see apocalypse babysit “So you see small infant, after that I cleaved the flesh off his skull and put said skull on a pile as a warning to my enimies. You always want to get the flesh nice and clean off.. .the bits create more of a smell and you need to think of the smell. Speaking of the smell I think someone needs a changie!” 

I would too, but i’m pretty sure Remy would be a ground smear, but I think Apocaypse does respect his willingess to try anyway even if he dosen’t take gambit serious as a threat. 

Back in crazy magic lady town Morgan is slowly corrupting Brian, and despite Betsy’s best attempts to stop it, is quickly turned into a warped dark knight who’s trying to shove the amulet of right in her face for some reason.

But with Apocalypse plan in motion, she figures out what’s going on and destroys the portal.. unfortuantley for Rogue this causes to feel weird and then well.. this is the end result.

What exactly the fuck dosen’t even begin to describe this.

Back in King Arthur’s House, Trinary’s words not mine, Betsy tries to kick Morgan’s ass but Dark Brian blocks her… before the above happens.. and it’s clear WHY he was cramming the amulet down her throat... Morrigan has full control of him, he can’t do anything to stop her.. but he can pass it on so she can hopefully stop her or , if he can’t be freed, destroy him before he harms anyone else. He sends her back to the real world as Betsy wails> This scene is damn powerful, as we’ve seen before Brian was one of the few people who understood she was going through some shit and offered her his full support... and now he’s gone, no idea how to rescue him, leaving a wife and daughter behind. 

Back on Krakoa things arne’t much better wirth Rouge int he flower cocoon I showed earlier and Gambit ready to blow Apocalypse’s head off.. and as you can see Apocalypse is like “Fine i’ll come  back from it stronger, but can you please wait? We’ve got a lot of shit going down. But before Apocalypse can pound Remy into a Cajun Corpse, the assembled group is distracted by a returning Betsy. 

And so we end on Betsy, now fully crowned once again as Captain Britain, wondering what the fuck is up with Rogue. We get a quick Epilogue where one of the covern from earlier joins a cult based on the same one related to apocayplypse and we’re out. ‘Final Thoughts: Excalibur #1 is a good start. While some things don’t quite gel, Otherworld isn’t explained at all for those who have never heard of it (raises hand), it feels fresh and makes me invested in Betsy’s struggle, the tragedy Brian goes through, Remy’s fury and Apocalypse, who for once gets to serve as a wise sage instead of a warrior and it’s an intresting role for him, as well as him clearly being set up to mentor Betsy as she rises higher than ever before with her new role. It makes you want to see what comes next and the only real drawback is that Jubilee is basically a tagalong while Rictor is entirely absent, but both I suspect will be fixed with time. As fhte first part of a story, and the first Dawn of X Comic to be part of an arc since the two mini series that launched it, it works well setting things up. As I said the comic suffers from a lack of exposition on Otherworld and from a weak villain, but it’s not enough to distract from this fun, well crafted fantasy and I can’t wait to see what comes next. Until next time, hail to the queen baby.  

[castroneves]

so i’m new to indycar but my brother just got us both tickets for pocono so what’s the tldr on the sport? who’s your favorites? also who’s the shitty drivers personality/beliefs wise to stay away from?

i know you said tl;dr but i literally can’t be brief in this context so i’m just gonna give you a short little profile of each driver (just the ones you’ll see racing at pocono) in order of the current championship standings (also i’ve realized i have a hard time explaining indycar to people who don’t already know formula one because i make a lot of comparisons so if you don’t watch formula one just ignore those parts i’m sorry):

1. josef newgarden: basically the personification of a golden retriever puppy. super high energy, gets along with everyone, and a super talented and FAIR driver (see: the newgarden move). he won the championship in 2017 and is currently leading this year’s championship by 16 points

2. alexander rossi: confirmed trump supporter, comes off as an arrogant asshole in interviews, but everyone loves him because of his talent. it’s so hard to hate him because he’s literally that good (here’s an example, and another example), i honestly think he could make max verstappen weep if they were on the same terms

3. simon pagenaud: quickly becoming my all time favorite driver (i love almost everyone on the grid but as i’ve now met simon twice i think he’s my top fave). he won the indy 500 this year and the championship in 2016. he’s very quirky and goofy, kind of like an older version of josef. team penske truly needs will power’s chilled out & relaxed persona to dilute the feral energy from josef & simon lmfao (here is a video that really captures his essence) 

4. scott dixon: the most successful driver on the current grid and one of the most successful in history. i don’t know much about him personally but he seems like a father figure to whoever his teammate is (felix this year) and he has a really cute family too

5. will power: the old, relaxed energy to mellow out team penske. he had a streak of success in the early 2010′s and kind of had a reputation as an arrogant asshole around that time but i think he’s gotten a lot better since then. he won the indy 500 for the first time last year, and the championship in 2014

6. ryan hunter-reay: nicknamed “captain america”, another dad figure on the grid, has a pretty decorated career. don’t know much else about him but he’s very highly respected on the grid, josef newgarden once said he is “just too polite” 

7. takuma sato: very sweet and level-headed, 42 years old and still going strong, has a really comforting presence on the grid. in races he’s generally in the midfield but is capable of surprises, like winning in alabama this year and very shockingly winning the 500 in 2017

8. graham rahal: son of indycar legend bobby rahal. he’s very honest, straightforward, WILL tell you the truth even if it hurts and i respect him for that. has a bit of a temper but always races fair and expects the best out of everyone. he also does a lot of fundraising and charity work for veterans which is coolio (i jokingly refer to him as my brother because his dad and my dad look VERY similar, it’s uncanny)

9. felix rosenqvist: rookie fresh off the boat from formula E. also don’t know much about him but he’s been very exciting to watch so far this year and just got his first podium this weekend at mid-ohio which was very well deserved (he did once say the n-word on instagram, many years ago, and he’s swedish so i don’t expect him to know the history, but... it happened)

10. james hinchcliffe: literally everyone’s fave, not one single person hates him. he’s the beaming ray of sunshine on the grid and gets along with everyone, very similar to josef. if josef is a golden retriever, james is a cuddly little labrador (here is a video of them together from a LONG time ago but nothing has changed)

11. sebastien bourdais: another old boy but a true legend. he won 4 consecutive championships in champ car (indycar’s predecessor... kind of... it’s a long story) and continues kicking ass today. he was in a really scary crash during qualifying at the indy 500 a few years ago and made an impressive comeback. 

12. spencer pigot: i honestly truly do not know anything about him, i didn’t even know he was a full time driver until right now, he just kinda fades into the background...

13. santino ferrucci: another confirmed trump supporter, was kicked out of formula 2 for deliberately making contact with his teammate, using his phone while driving his car, allegedly making racist remarks towards his teammate, etc. (you can read about it here). some people will say he’s had a really successful rookie season but honestly he just got lucky a few times and isn’t that good overall. he comes from money which explains a lot lmfao

14. colton herta: the BABY of the grid. he won his second ever indycar race at COTA this year, becoming the youngest race winner in indy history at 18 years old, one week before his 19th birthday. aside from his mega talent on track, he’s a respectable guy off track and is very mature for his age. if you watch F1 i’d compare him to a slightly more laid-back version of lando norris

15. marcus ericsson: if you’re coming from F1 then you already know him pretty well. he didn’t have much success in F1 but has found his niche in indycar, already scoring a podium in his rookie season. he’s chill and quiet but overall a nice young man

16. marco andretti: a third generation andretti, honestly has no real purpose on the grid aside from being the descendant of two racing icons (his grandfather is mario andretti, his dad is michael andretti), but uhhhh he’s been racing for about 15 years and only has two wins, so... take that as you will. you’ll almost always find him at the back of the grid these days

17. zach veach: by far the tiniest driver on the grid. i stood very close to him this weekend and he was shorter than me (i’m 5′1″) and i wouldn’t be surprised if he hasn’t broken 100 pounds. i don’t know much about him other than his very inspiring backstory (read here), and he has a strong religious background as well.

18. tony kanaan: a fucking FIXTURE on the indy grid. another old man but a legend. he has been racing in indycar for 17 years and did champ car for 5 years, so essentially he’s been at the top class of american single seaters for almost as long as i’ve been alive. he has one championship win (2004) and one indy 500 win (2013)

(skipped ed jones, not racing at pocono)

20. matheus leist: the first driver i ever met in person. he’s really nice and chill, but honestly not much to write home about on track. he’s solid and fairly consistent, but i wouldn’t bet money on him

(skipped jack harvey, max chilton, patricio o’ward: not racing at pocono) 

24. ed carpenter: nicknamed “the oval master” because... he’s really good on oval circuits. he races the ovals for his own team. that’s all i know tbh 

(skipped conor daly, sage karam, james davison, helio castroneves: not racing at pocono) 

29. charlie kimball: don’t know much about him other than that he’s diabetic, and there was a pretty interesting article about how he manages his blood sugar during races (read here). he also has a bit of reputation for being rude/dismissive to fans but i can’t confirm that, i’ve never met him

so that’s it for your grid. you can take that information however you want, they’re just my opinions, someone else might have the complete opposite. also i should add, i really don’t wanna scare you if this is your first race, but pocono is one of two races on the indy calendar that makes me so viscerally nervous i almost can’t watch it (the other is texas motor speedway). again, i don’t want to freak you out, but just so you’re prepared, you will probably see quite a bit of crashing during the race. the AMR/holmatro safety team is one of, if not THE best in all of motorsports, here’s a little (slightly dated) video you can watch about how they do what they do in the event of crashes (warning tho: there is graphic crash footage in that video). despite what some people may say (i’m looking at you, felipe massa), indycar is the hallmark of motorsport safety and most other series have followed them in terms of safety technology innovations over the last 20 years (e.g., indycar has been using safety cars since the 70s, mandated a pit speed limit in 1991, CART mandated HANS for all tracks in 2001, indycar has used safer barrier since 2002, etc.) so if you do see crashing, take a deep breath and remind yourself that they have the world’s best crew taking care of them instantly. if you have any other questions don’t hesitate to ask, & i know you’ll have tons of fun at the race hehe :^)

[tessxomarie]

Saving You - Part III

*Hello loves! This is Part III, we get to meet Kendra and read a little bit into more of Leah’s backstory. Bear with me here, I promise all of the details mentioned have meaning in future parts! For now, enjoy!*

A few hours pass by since I left the clubhouse. As soon as I got home, I showered and changed into a pair of old raggedy pajama shorts and an old Chicago Cubs t-shirt. Chicago is where I’m originally from, at least that’s where I was born and raised until I was 5.

I hear a knock at my door, and sure enough it’s my girl Kenz.

I open the door and let her in and give her a weird look as she has a key to my place.

“My hands are full, I couldn’t reach for my key.” She says laughing, and then I look down and see she has a million bags.

“What the hell did you bring?” I ask eagerly as she passes by me and into my home.

She plops one bag on the couch and takes everything else into the kitchen. “Well, my overnight bag for one because I plan on getting wine drunk and I ain’t going anywhere. Secondly, I had to stop and get our favorite men – Ben & Jerry, and I also picked up some stuff to make tacos, because you know I’m Mexican and I can make tacos in my sleep.” She explains as she places all of the items on my kitchen table.

I cannot stop laughing because Kendra always makes me laugh. It’s just her personality, she rarely takes anything seriously. She is the literal definition of zero fucks given, but the girl demands respect. She was one of my first friends I made in nursing school. Actually, she was my only friend I had made at that point, and by the grace of God we were able to come up through the ranks together. Kendra has been my side through a lot of shit. She’s had her fair share of family shit and guy drama, but she’s always been there for me – no questions asked.

“I was just going to order us a pizza.” I say, staring in awe at the groceries she has brought over.

“Well, think of it this way – you save some money on food tonight and you can repay me by holding my hair back when I hug the toilet later.”

“That’s fair.” I reply, and we shake on it.

Kendra takes over my kitchen as she preps the tacos, and I assist. We have our usual girl talk banter, because even at 26, we still act like teenagers.

“So, did you go to the club today?” She asks.

“Yup. They called before I was even walking out of the clinic.” I say as I dice up some onions.

“EZ and Angel?” She asks without missing a beat.

“EZ and Angel.” I repeat and nod.

Kendra, although she has no direct blood ties to the club, she is still clued in on myconnections – she knows everything, it was part of the deal Marcus and I worked out.

“Who started it this time?” She asks as she seasons the meat in the pan.

“I honestly don’t even know, EZ had a nasty cut on his face but Angel took a nasty beating as well.”

Kendra just rolls her eyes as she knows how immature this whole ordeal is.

“Did Angel thank you this time?” She asks even though she already knows the answer to that. I stop dicing the onions and stare at her with my “really?” face.

She puts her hands up and says “You know, I was kinda hoping for a miracle. You’d think after cleaning up his messes for the fourth time in a month, a ‘thank you’ would accidentally escape his lips as if he truly is thankful for someone who gives a damn.”

I let out a sarcastic laugh, “I’m just doing my job because it’s what I do for the club. They save my ass when I need them too, and I save theirs.” I say pouring all the veggies together in one big mixing bowl.

“When have they had to save your ass, Lee?” Kendra asks with a quirked brow.

Before I can even respond, she answers for me “exactly, they haven’t. You’ve held up your end of the deal, the least Angel can do is fucking say thank you – he’s such an asshole.”

One would think that after all of the disrespect Angel has thrown my way these last eight months, I wouldn’t give him a thought after I fix him up. It’s hard to explain, but he’s like a puzzle to me and I highly dislike how I cannot figure it out. He doesn’t go out of his way to bully me or anything, it’s nothing like that. It’s just, he doesn’t really care to acknowledge my existence whenever I’m around, and he’s the only member to do so.

Kendra lets out a chuckle, “Okay enough MC talk, let’s eat like the hangry fat girls we are.”

We end up laughing most of the night, stuffing our faces with tacos and wine, oh and catching up on some trash tv.

“How does someone let a so-called doctor inject cement into their face?!” I exclaim and look at Kendra with a major what the royal fuck face as we watch an episode of Botched on E!

“It’s like a nasty car wreck out on the 405, I don’t want to look but I can’t stop staring. Look at their cheeks, like legit cement is in there. How? Why? But like seriously why are we watching this? Isn’t there some cheesy romcom we can watch?” Kendra suggests as she snatches the remote from my hand.

“Bad Moms, perfect.” She says as she tosses the remote on the other side of my sectional.

I take another sip of my wine and tilt my head back, simply enjoying this moment – a quiet night in with my best friend.

“We’re going to be cool moms like these bitches. Right?” Kendra asks as she takes a bite out of a cookie that came out of nowhere.

“Cool moms are the only options, babe.” I answer, and we clink our glasses.

“I know you and I both got shit on in the mom department, but I really don’t want that to hang over our heads when we have kids. Like, if I see you slipping up, I will go full hoodrat Kendra on you.” She announces, and let me just say, hoodrat Kendra is a real thing.

“I promise, I’m not going to be like Briana. I can’t be. Also, if I see you being a shit mom, I’ll first smack you into next week, and if you don’t respond to that, I’ll just use my 1-800-MC card.” I say with a big smirk.

“You chicken shit, you rather call Marcus or Samcro than kick my ass?”

“Kenz, we all know you could kick my ass twice and your own ass at the same time.” I admit, and that’s the full on truth. I’ve seen Kendra scrap before, and I think everyone around Kenz should want her to be on their team.

“I’m so glad you know the true me, it will only continue to benefit you my young one.” Kendra tells me as she reaches out and touches my shoulder in a gentle way but it’s with full sarcasm.

“Okay real talk, what is the weekend plan Aleeah Starr?” Kendra asks while opening up her calendar app on her phone.

“Middle name? Really?” I say with a look, my look of ‘was that necessary?’

“Hoodrat Kenz can come out to play if you’d like.” She replies with a smile.

I laugh and eye roll, “Okay then, Kendra Sofia…” I say to her with an evil eye as I open up my calendar.

“Hmm, I’m off this weekend, all I have going on is Tessa’s birthday party on Sunday. Would you like to come?” I ask.

“Eva already called me and said she’ll see me Sunday.” Kendra says with a nervous expression on her face.

I give her a funny look, questioning why she looks like that.

“Aside from my Abuela Natalia, Eva fucking terrifies me – you just don’t say no to her.” She says deadpan.

I laugh, “A-freaking-men”.

Eva, she’s a true bad-ass. She and Marcus, I think they’re still married? They’ve spent more time apart than together in recent years, but they both love each other tremendously.

“Okay, so Sunday we can drive up together. Do you want to drive together tomorrow and go visit your dad?” Kendra asks.

I let out a big sigh, and I give her another look as Kendra knows my feelings about this subject.

“Why do you ask me this every weekend?” I plead.

“Lee, he’s still your dad. Prison jumpsuit and all, he’s still your dad and he still loves you.”

“I haven’t seen him in a while.” I confess.

Kendra nods, “I know, that’s why I asked if you want to go.”

“I don’t know Kenz, I just feel the older I get and the longer he’s in there, that Father/Daughter connection dies each day. He doesn’t even want to see me half the time.”

“He just hates the situation he’s in, babes. He got a shit deal, but we both know you’re still the light of his life.”

I rub my eyes, trying to keep it together yet again.

“I just don’t know how I would feel going up there now, especially when I’ve dealt with so much shit from the club. I don’t need anyone on the inside seeing me talk to my cop father turned inmate. That’s just asking for me to get someone killed or get myself killed.”

“Aleeah Starr Parker.” Kendra says with her eyes rolling, and I am deeply confused.

“What?”

“Are you so exhausted that you forgot who is even protecting your dad?” Kendra asks, and I palm my face.

“No, I didn’t forget…well maybe for a second.” I admit.

“Lorenzo has Jesse’s back, okay? Our dads are prison buds! How poetic is that?” She says as she pulls me in for a cheesy hug.

I give off a look of disgust, because Kendra is never this touchy feely. But my facial expression does not stop Kenz from continuing on.

“Oh, stop that, give your best friend a hug and smile. Hell, could you even bother to laugh? Come on, if we can’t laugh that our fathers are both in prison, our moms are both dead due to their stupid choices, we would be miserable unsuccessful sluts working on a pole for a living.”

Kendra has a big grin on her face, and she keeps giving me the famous Kendra look – the one where it always makes me smile because she knows how to make me smile; that’s what a best friend is for.

I do end up laughing, quite a bit.

“Thanks for making me laugh, I needed it.” I say looking at Kendra with a puppy dog face, because I am on the verge of tears – it’s been a chaotic week, ending it with the cherry on top that is the Mayans MC. And wine always has me feeling some type of way.

“My little Lee-Lee, come here, give me another hug.” Kendra says as she pulls me in for a hug.

“Okay, time to refill. We are finishing this second bottle and then we are going to sleep like precious babies.” She says as she stands up from the couch and heads to my kitchen.

As Kendra heads to the kitchen, I look down at my wrist and I start snapping my pony-tail holder. It takes me a moment to realize what I’ve even doing or why I’m doing it.

“Breathe, Leah. Just breathe.” I whisper to myself.

“I’ll be okay, just breathe.”

[passive-aggressive-mercy]

holy shit, I just went on a half hour rant I’m so sorry.

I’ve never played Skyrim, but there’s a big chance that character is inspired by, or at least named after Marcus Tullius Cicero.

Cicero, was an asshole, but he was a golden tongued asshole. grew up outside of Rome to wealthy parents, and had no real title when he ran for consul (an important position). basically back then, your ancestor’s name meant everything. it’s why in old stories and stuff, like Beowolf, they introduce themselves as their father’s son if their father is a known man. it gives people you just met an expectation or a level of respect for you based on your familial ties. but no one knew Cicero’s father because he didn’t come from Rome, but that didn’t matter because he was charismatic. he won. he won against this guy named Catiline, who btw, was a big fan of vigilante justice, but more on him later. anyway, Cicero became consul and immediately opposed a new law that was being passed about. see, even though no one knew his family, Cicero was still ‘old money’ or a patrician. and this guy named  Tiberius Gracchus offered up a plan to take a little bit of land from wealthy people, and give it to the plebeians (the impoverished). aand those old money assholes (because you needed to have money to run for office back then. you needed to be a rich man to run for senate) didn’t like that shit at all because the plebeians don’t have a lot of money, but they got a lot of people in their ranks, so if one of them actually gets rich enough to run you know he’s going to get voted into office so fucking quick and that’s going to threaten the richy rich men’s precious community of power hungry pricks, so Tiberius and a bunch of his supporters get straight up murdered by senate members. But the bill looked like it was going to get passed anyway. meanwhile, Catiline, that dude from earlier, he’s in a metric fuck-ton of debt after not winning the election, plus he’s pretty pissed that a no name fucking ass-hat stormed in from no where and swiped the consul position from him, so like any normal person he decides he’s going to fucking assassinate key members of the senate and set the government buildings on fire so that all of the records of debt get burned and no one has any more debt and at this point in time, thanks to numismatics (the study of coins) we know that Rome is pretty short on funds right now, not as much currency is getting made, and a lot of indebted plebeians are pretty desperate for any sort of help to get out of poverty because you know, they can barely eat. plus, their only real advocate just got fucking murdered soo they’ll hop on board basically any plan right now. so Catiline builds a fucking militia and tell them to wait outside town and he organizes with all these peeps to get his plan off the ground when OOPS! someone wanted to impress his girlfriend so they told her about the plan to overthrow the government. turns out she’s fucking tight with Cicero, and now the head bitch in charge knows what’s up with our homeboy. Cicero takes our main man to court and spouts off this whole speech that’s basically “I was threatened!! by this man!! who is jEALOUS of ME and my ACCOMPLISHMENTS and he and his SMELLY THIEF FRIENDS want to taKE oUr LaNd and fucking RUIN SHIT and you guys killed the LAST ASSHOLE who TRIEd to fuck with us why won’t you at least STAB this one??? you know what? just get him out.” and so Catiline fucks off to his militia, and they have a nice time rejecting the status quo until Catiline gets himself demolished on the battlefield. meanwhile, Cicero shoots the land share legislation out of the air and begins to go on a witch hunt for Catiline’s followers, persecuting people without even giving them a trial, and the people of Rome are having none of that shit the senate is full of assholes, but they’re honorable assholes... actually no they weren’t the government was filled with lies and corruption, but they couldn’t just let Cicero murder these people so they were like “hey, maybe you should cool off. take a walk outside for a bit, and then come back when you’ve calmed down.” so Cicero went into exile for a few years, left his wife (who wasn’t technically his wife anymore because he was banished from Rome) in charge of all his finances, came back after a while, watched Julius Caesar get stabbed, went to fight in the civil war because of the whole... leader of Rome getting stabbed...thing. and comes back afterward and now he’s been away so long, the relationship with his wife is so strained and he finds out she’s skimming off the top of his estate earnings and [Cicero implies in a letter to his bestie that he thinks] she’s going to use the money to run away with a freed slave of theirs that she fell in love with, so he divorces her, but at this point, he has no money to pay her father back his dowry ( a thing the father of the bride gives the new husband as a compensation), and his daughter’s good for nothing (third) ex husband hasn’t payed back his dowry yet, so Cicero is kinda strapped for cash right now. what’s the solution Cicero goes for? marry a 15 year old who’s dad is rich. and that’s what he does. (keep in mind he’s like *at best* in his 50′s right now) so a week after he divorces probably one of the most boss women in Roman history, he marries a fifteen year old girl, and everything is going fine, until Cicero’s daughter Tullia dies in childbirth. (he absolutely adored Tullia, she was his pride and joy, unlike his good for nothing son, coincidentally also named Marcus Tullius Cicero, who died in the civil war while trying to impress daddy dearest. spoiler, didn’t work.) and Cicero is so stricken with greif that he locks himself in his study, and his new wife divorces him. meanwhile, Octavian, Julius Ceaser’s nephew/adopted son (didn’t actually adopt him, simply named him Julius’s heir in his will, and Octavian saw an opportunity and ran with it) just defeated Marc Antony in battle and goes by Augustus now,  (yes, this is Augustus Caesar you’ve heard of him, yeah?)  and is the supreme overlord of Rome (lol but Octavian will straight up deny it. “no no no, I’m one of you, please don’t stab me to death 23 times on March 15th like you did with my dad pretty pls.”) anyway, Cicero has been pretty politically vocal, and after all the shenanigans while he was Consul, the new senate wasn’t having that shit at all, and Cicero got his name added to the Murder List ™ aaand so the Senate’s hired assassins payed him a lil’ visit. and now, you know who Cicero is.

[jairden]

As the alarms began to ring, I knew something was up. Did they notice the door to the safety deposit box room was ajar? Had I tripped some silent alarm that wasn’t in the blueprints?

And now I’m down on the floor, thinking it’s just my luck that today, of all days...

I mean, it was months of planning. Literal months. Seriously?!? And these folks had to come in, guns blazing. Like that’s gonna work. No way out that way, except in the back of a police car. Or a body bag.

That’s not a fun thought.

I was almost to the door! I just had to stop and say hi to Andy on my way out. He’d been so helpful. Letting me be wishy washy about a safety deposit box a couple weeks back, opening that new account when I had less than the standard collateral. Such a nice guy. He definitely made the whole job easier. I mean, I didn’t need him or anything.

That’s what gets me. I was being nice. Friendly and personable. And now I’m stuck here as these hooligans, these rank amateurs try to fleece this place.

***********

Well shit. They finally got into the safe. Took them a bit. They emptied the cash drawers first. Gotta have been quite a disappoinment; I’m sure they were expecting more than ones and fives.

Then the haggling with the branch manager. They put a goddamn gun to his head. Of course he fainted. No one else on shift knew the code in. Well, I did but let’s get real, I’m not helping out here. Five minutes later they bring him around. Ice water from the break room; neat trick there.

Aaaaaand there’s the swearing. And the threats. Kinda tamer than I expected. Oh wait, they’re escalating. Man, I wish I could see but one of the goons is walking by now. Let’s hope they don’t try to rob us harmless victims here on the floor. I’m crossing my fingers, and I can hear old lady Abigail praying. I left her stuff alone. That woman has been through some shit these last couple years. I may be an amoral toad, but there’s a line there even I wouldn’t cross.

************

I guess that one is the head of the crew. At least the one with the best people skills. The police negotiator is trying to get him to let go of the hostages. Five of the thirty, as a show of good faith. I don’t know if I want to go or not. Everyone thinks this is the weirdest robbery every. The staff found the open door to the safety deposit boxes. Checked a few, found them empty. I don’t think they checked all of them. I’m sure they didn’t, no fireworks from Edger Willam’s box. Fink. No crash of the lead block in Teddy Farson’s. They missed all my petty revenge bits, I think. Except the glitter bomb in Hannah Marcus’s cube. Hannah hates glitter.

I should go. Get out while I can. The crew is scared, the staff is scared. Everyone is so tense. I should go.

************

Why am I still here?

Old woman Abigail got out. A few others. All good people, people that deserved to get out. Not dirty thieves like me. Oh fuck. This is a case of a guilty conscience. I feel bad about robbing this place! And now I’m thinking of something worse. I’m going to beat these people at their own game. Forget the bag. Forget a life of ease. Hell, it was never about the money. It was giving some of these assholes around what they deserve, and making me comfortable in the bargain. Maybe Teddy will still break his damn toes when he comes in to claim his property. That’ll have to be enough. Damn it. I know this building. I know the people here. I have this place wrapped around my finger.

I’m going to make myself a goddamned hero, aren’t I?

Suddenly, you hear alarms go off in the bank as a group of masked men start shouting at everyone to get on the ground. You grip your backpack filled with money tighter and hope they don’t learn you already robbed this place blind with no one noticing.

[loserlikescomics-blog]

Top 5  - January 2017, Week 1

First New Comic Book Day of the year, nerds! A pretty sizeable pull this week,. but then again, I’m subscribed to way too many series because I’m a damn fool. But just like my other problems, it’s fine, so let’s move on to something else. I’d like to point out that this Top 5 list will be SPOILER HEAVY, as will all of my weekly Top 5 Lists from here on out. Because of that, you can expect Top 5′s to be Read Mores. Let’s get started!

5) Nova #2 (Jeff Loveness, Ramon Perez)

I don’t know much about Nova, whether that Nova is Rich or Sam. Because of that, I’m having a really fun time watching these two get to know each other and interact with one another and other people. There’s one scene in particular, where Sam takes Rich to Amadeus Cho’s flying food truck base to make sure that it’s actually Rich, and within a few panels the whole Champions team shows up. Rich struggles with the fact that everyone is a legacy hero and is also “twelve years old”, and Loveness even kinda calls out the absurdity of Young Cyclops through Scott and Rich’s interaction, which I thought was pretty funny. 

The fight scene at the beginning is just kinda average, what you’d seem to expect from a Nova fight: punches, laser blasts, flying, cool helmets. After that, though, the issue is pretty much just dialogue. Sam and Rich go to Knowhere, where they have another comedic conversation with a telepathic dog named Cosmo, which makes me confused and also really excited because like what the fuck? But also holy shit? A highlight of this scene is “Just be confident! Women love men. Not weak, sweaty boys.” coming from a dog in a cosmonaut suit. This comic so far is making me like Sam even more, and start to like Rich, and I’m excited to see how these two interact with and learn from each other in future issues.

4) Saga #41 (Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples)

Marko’s manbun is still ridiculous but I’ll be god damned if he’s not my favorite character. I’m sorry but I just had to get that off of my chest. Last month’s stinger (Prince Robot asking Alana to raise Squire, then putting his armcannon to his own head) left me really excited for how this exchange would play out. I’m a bit conflicted on what I want to happen to Robot. One one hand, I was really excited for Robot’s arc to come to an end, where we see him go from one of the most powerful characters in this story, spiraling out of control until he kills himself while extremely high and sad, but on the other hand I still think Vaughan could do great stuff with Robot and potentially even have him pull the nose up. Y’know, despite how fucking awful things have been for him in these past few volumes. Yeesh. 

We get a small lil’ interaction with Will, Gwen, and Sophie that I enjoyed, where Will finally finds them and proposes to Sophie that he trains her to become a Freelancer like he used to be. Gwen is pissed off, but Sophie calms everyone down and declines his offer. Will then asks Lying Cat if she wants to join him or stay with Sophie, in which she stays with Sophie. You can HEAR Will’s heart breaking and I almost started crying but he turns around and walks away before we go back to Phang. There’s a standoff where The March has Kurti, and everyone sans Marko is trying to figure out some way to save Kurti. Naturally, Hazel does some dumb bullshit and The March drops Kurti and gets lit the FUCK up with some blaster fire, with the classic Vaughan stinger showing that Marko is the one who just killed The March, which has me SUPER PUMPED FOR SOME MORE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR MARKO PLEASE READ SAGA IT’S SO GOOD

3) Nightwing #12 (Tim Seeley, Marcus To)

I love Dick. That’s not just a cheap joke to get really weak chuckles, he’s actually my favorite superhero. So, naturally, I love this run on Nightwing. The Raptor arc was really fun for me, but I’m enjoying the Bludhaven arc even more. I just love seeing the other side of Dick that’s not detective work or fighting, where we see him talking to people and going soooooo out of his way to help as many people as he can, just because he thinks that he should. 

I like the cast of the Run-Offs, especially Stallion and Shawn. The dynamic of them fearing the most loveable member of the BatFamily is really cool to me, because Dick has always been the last harsh because he’s always smiling and willing to lend a hand, and I like watching it play out. Speaking of Dick’s lightheartedness, there’s something special that I love about his quips. There’s even a panel where Dick tries to banter with a member of the Run-Off’s and the dude is like “I’ll help you save my friend, but I won’t banter with you” and Dick is pretty much like :’)

I realize that this segment has basically been me saying “GOD I LOVE DICK GRAYSON but like. C’mon just read Nightwing. It’s so good. Please. He’s so pretty.

2) Champions #4 (Mark Waid, Humberto Ramos)

These little assholes keep getting deeper and deeper into my heart. I loved the beginning of this, when they’re all scrambling to not die and Kamala is taking charge, showing that she’s the actual leader of the group (despite whatever Cho has to say). My favorite part of this issue was the conversations that the team had while they were trying to move the wreckage back towards land. Kamala and Scott clear the air about the Inhuman/Mutant dynamic that I’d honestly forgotten about with these two, and showing genuine care and respect for one another that made me feel all warm inside. Sam and Viv also have a moment where she repairs his helmet and he calls her out for being so emotionless, before Viv reveals her super tragic past that I had no idea about. Sam then goes to apologize and Viv just shushes him.

The rest of the issue is just a “How do we get out of this wacky situation” type thing where they all work together to escape an Atlantean ship, another example of how well this team is starting to work together and trust each other, another thing that warms my heart and puts a shit-eating grin on my face. My only complaint here is that Miles might as well be absent from this issue because he barely has five lines of dialogue that aren’t quips, but I still loved it regardless. Please read Champions.

1) Green Lanterns #14 (Sam Humphries, Julio Ferreira)

As soon as finished this issue, I knew it was going to be my #1 this week. I had to stop myself from crying at work while I was reading this because it hit me so hard. Jessica Cruz is a fantastic character. I love her so, so much. As someone with anxiety, I find her relateable and love seeing her be able to overcome obstacles that are put in front of her, whether it’s via help from her friends or her own willpower. When I first picked up Green Lanterns, I thought it would just be a fun buddy cop-esque title with some ringslinging, but I also got two characters I enjoy so much that I’m so excited on every other week when I get to read another issue with them. 

The Lanterns save the day, basically, by saving the villain that was trying to kill them. This causes Frank/The Phantom Lantern to feel Compassion, which turns him into an Indigo Lantern, leading to him realizing his mistakes and taking off the ring (which is such a better-written solution than punching him with giant boxing gloves until someone else can take it off of him). Simon and Jess then take this opportunity to get the ring away from him, at which point Jessica puts it on herself to keep it away from him, in which we get a short bit of “What emotion is my strongest?” from Jessica, where she hopes against hope that her strongest emotion isn’t fear. The Phantom Ring chooses Will, and she stays a Green Lantern, realizing that she’s more than her fear, her anxieties, and her shortcomings. She finally makes constructs, and proves that she truly IS worthy of the Green Lantern ring that picked her. 

She takes off the ring and gives it to Simon while she celebrates her constructs, and he contemplates putting the ring on. This is where I was a little worried that the story would fall apart, and that Simon would either put the ring on and get the same spiel about how he deserves the ring, kinda undermining Jessica’s development, or have some other emotion get picked by the Phantom Ring and the fight would continue. Humphries proved my cynicism wrong, however, and had Simon put the ring down, saying that being a Green Lantern is good enough. Some other stuff happens, but really, I’m just so happy about this arc. Rage Planet was a good volume, but The Phantom Lantern was so, so good, and I would recommend it to anyone,