#who likes when Sheppard asks if she's ok

[justjensenanddean]

Jensen Ackles and Danneel Ackles Panel | Brighton UK (Crossroads 6), March 11, 2023

( sicparvis87 )

Jensen: IT’S ONLY SATURDAY WE GOT A WHOLE OTHER DAY, PACE YOURSELF! (to Danneel) have YOU been pacing yourself? Danneel : No! (x)

“are you ready for this?” - jensen to danneel  (x)

Ok, so. Danneel’s first con was a Starfury. Jensen said she shouldn’t brag. And a bit later Jensen said he had the dancing covered. (x)

“as long as there’s no dancing i’ll be fine” “it’s okay i have that covered”  (x)

“we’ve got to develop some projects currently in development”  (x)

Jensen saying he’s really proud of what they’ve been doing with the Winchesters and what’s in the work.  (x)

“i wanna work with the people i know i trust and who are outstanding human beings”  (x)

Dream projects? Jensen: “Ruth would obviously be the star.” (Ruth is watching from the balcony.) “Oh hey, Ruth, didn’t see you there.” He wants to work with the people he trusts, outstanding human beings. (x)

Jensen: “we’ve had 15 years to weed out the bad people, I’m not sure how Mark Sheppard is still here…”  (x)

Jensen just wants to work with the people he’s got to work with who are just good people. It’s gotta be grounded in love, family, a tad of humor and a little magic.  (x)

“it’s gotta have heart, humour and a little bit of magic” the unofficial tagline of their company  (x)

Jensen helping Danneel count for how many years they’ve been together when she started as Anael on SPN  (x)

How was it working on set. Danneel struggles with how long she’s been together with Jensen. Jensen knows it would’ve been 12 seasons when she came in at 13 and is proud he knows. (x)

Jensen immediately asked “IS THAT ON THE GAG REEL” when Danneel fell during her first scene on SPN  (x)

“i did not act like a husband in that moment” jensen too focused on getting danneels gag reel moment on film instead of helping her  (x)

Danneel put together a whole playlist for The Winchesters before they even cast anyone, and a lot of it actually made it onto the show. They chose “I’d Love To Change The World” which in the pilot FIRST.  (x)

Which scene with music from The Winchesters did they like most? Danneel put together a playlist before they even cast, a lot of it made it on the show. “10 years after”/I love to change the world” (?) really set the tone. (x)  But a lit of songs they wanted were too expensive to afford. On SPN, as production got more expensive, they had to stop using music so much, used more score to save money (x) 

“i get to go and destroy some robots in a warehouse? i’m in. i’m easy” (x)

Jensen is easy. When he heard he gets to come on the set and destroy a bunch of robots, he was in, but doesn’t play a lot of video games. Danneel snitches that he plays Mario Cart with the kids almost daily. (x)

Jensen said he doesn't play video game anymore but Danneel said he plays Mario Kart almost everyday with the kids  (x)

In his old house pre-Danneel he had a special dark room with two TVs and two couches to play Halo with his friends. (Danneel snitches again.) He plays “blue shy guy” on Mario Cart. (x)

Fan asked if Jensen plays video game and Danneel went “well you play one every day”. And Jensen went “Wordle? … BACKGAMMON?!” (The answer is Mario Kart because he plays it with the kids)  (x)

help jensen is so excited to introduce his kids to his fave videos games when they’re older and he also doesn’t always let his kids win video games which danneel finds mean considering he’s competed by 6 year olds (paraphrase)  (x)

“I know your next question, it’s ‘what character do I choose on Mario kart’, the answer is blue shy guy. I’m a shy guy ” (x)

Q person reccs Red Dead Redemption. Jensen really wanted The Last of Us, but when he heard Pedro got the job, he knew he had no shot. (x)

Jensen really wanted to be on The Last of Us, then he heard Pedro Pascal got the part and went “oh no he’s PERFECT” (im paraphrasing but he was nerding out )  (x)

They’re talking about recreating the music video for their anniversary. Their friend did it first as a birthday gag. So he suggested they do it “for instagram”. Danneel was like “let’s go”. and they got into a serious fight over who would be Paul Simon  (x)

Danneel says they do zero work for instagram content. Q was about the music vid years ago. The Ackles’s argued who plays Chevy and who plays Paul Simon. Jensen complains about having to be the short guy again. He’s gonna get a complex. He yells for Mark to come down. (x)

Danneel telling Jensen he was so good on their anniversary video, and telling him “you were made to play Paul Simon”  (x)

“it was very rare for him to be home during the week… for 15 years”  (x)

He also said he was really sad his kids wouldn’t get to experience the whole ‘taking the cartridge off and having to blow on it for it to work again’ (x)

Danneel didn’t wanna be in The French Mistake bc it’s “Jensen’s thing”  (x)

Karaoke. Danneel only did it once. Sang “Band of the run” and there was a very long musical interlude. It scared her so much she never did it again. Jensen went with the Dawson’s Creek gang and sang “El Paso”.  (x)

Everyone put their glass down either in amazement or shock. There’s a plate in a corner of that bar with an etching how great that night was, Jensen jokes. (x)

Editor, director, actor walk into a bar, you can only buy one drink? Danneel: Editor, they can make you look good. Jensen: Would buy himself a drink. (x)

Danneel once got handed a bag with her as a doll filled with fish hooks. She blindly reached in the bag and straight into a hook. (x)

They’re talking about creepy fans, and Danneel just said “they’re not fans of the show, fans of the show don’t do these things”  (x)

danneel is telling a story abt her accepting a gift off a fan of her being made into a doll out of fish hooks and she accidentally got hurt and jensen said ‘you know how much i had to PAY for that doll?!’  (x)

Weirdest thing given to Jen and Dee, someone left a dead kitten on their door step  (x)

jensens talking about how performing radio company concert for the first time was a very different experience to acting or performing other peoples songs bc with those other two you interpret it your own way but it’s still other peoples words but these were his and steve’s  (x)

Playing in Nashville and performing words he actually wrote himself with Steve was “next level”. Danneel adds that he was nervous and he doesn’t get nervous. (x)

“to get out there and perform something you created it’s certainly more of a vulnerability”  (x)

danneel watched the concert with the kids on stageit. “they thought it was cool” (x)

The kids were pretty impressed seeing him on stage, but they see him play a lot, because he plays them songs on the piano at home all the time.  (x)

their kids have watched the scoobynatural episode so many times  (x)

Jensen is talking about fighting to have Dean dying while he was standing instead of how it was originally planned with Dean dying on the floor. (x)

Jensen about Dean’s death: “I don’t have to LIKE it, but I’m proud of it.”  (x)

Jensen would change how they handled the Leviathans and get rid of them sooner if he got to change something  (x)

What would Dean from s15 tell Dean from s4? Danneel: Beware of vampires!  (x)

question about what directors inspired them the most! (Jensen’s answer has been long but he mentioned Kim Manners, Bob Singer and John Showalter)  (x)

jensen ensuring he was conscious of every crew members job so that they felt like they had purpose.  (x)

Kim Manners and Bob Singer, they both set the tone on the show. Micromanaged. Kim said “you’re gonna direct one day” to Jensen and it got him thinking. It was becausehe was interested in the lenses, lighting & such. (x)

Bob and Phil Sgriccia helped him a lot. Phil said “always have an answer, even if it’s wrong.” Because when you say “you pick” or “whatever” to a Q from someone working for you, you dimish the other person’s job. And you can always change your mind & that tells them you thought (x)  about it, thus making their job even more important. (x)

To Danneel; how did you know he (Jensen) was THE ONE? Jensen; *cracks up* Danneel: It was on Ten Inch Hero, I always knew he was cute and all of that, but… It was one of those, we were driving back and forth, and just talking about our future, and our career (x)  Danneel: I’m a girl who likes to do things first. (…) At the end of the movie, there’s a scene where I walked up to Priestly and gave him a kiss… That was NOT scripted.(x)  Danneel: but obviously Jensen had read the script, he knew it wasn’t scripted. I just knew I had to do something else or it would be too late. (x)

danneel knew by the end of filming ten inch hero once they’d spent time doing long drives talking about their futures and everything and then in the scene where she kisses priestly wasn’t scripted and jensen was like “oh!!!!!! i caught a BIG fish let’s go!”  (x)  “i like your talent your cute your-” “you were like this one can give me good kids” “yeah i saw you with your nephews and-“ “and you were like this is a good pedigree!” (x)

J-yeah but after we dated when did you know I was the one to marry They went on vacation and her mum knew then D needed to marry him. J-i knew I needed to spend the rest of my life impressing her  (x)

When did Danneel know that Jensen was the one? They were friends before but thought they would never be together. They carpooled to the Ten Inch Hero set. 40 mins each way, just talking about the future, how they were raised, carreer… (x)  She always knew Jensen was cute, but those talks really did it. In the last scene of the movie, the little kiss between their characters wasn’t scripted, that was Danneel making the first move. (x)  Jensen immediately knew it was a big fish snd went “bzzzz” (reeling in noise). Jensen prods when she knew he was the one to marry though. They went on a family trip. Then Jensen knew he’d spend the rest of his life trying to impress her. Danneel’s mom knew they were it too. (x)

Jensen: “I’m gonna try to impress for the rest of my life… Still hasn’t done it! I’m gonna keep trying to.” (x)

Danneel said she was really nervous up until she did her first photo ops and everyone was so nice to her  (x)

( MurielFPhotos )

[mylittleredgirl]

dear smut4smut author 🔥

Thank you in advance for writing for me! I’m very easy to please as a reader and love being surprised, so I hope you can write something you like.

There were so many wonderful tags in this exchange and I signed up literally 30 seconds before the bell rang, so I may have missed adding some of my always-loved kinks to every request, but I do always love them! You can also assume "and similar tags" are okay for the requested tags. This tumblr has anon asks open if you want to tease or clarify!

I'm usually a "they are/could be really really in love (even if they don't know it yet at the time of the fic)" kind of shipper, but I made a note in the M*A*S*H section where that's kind of different!

--

💕 I love: canon divergence | complications (e.g. emotional baggage, working together while in a relationship, traumas inflicted by canon) | episode-related fics | fix-its | friends to lovers | happy/hopeful endings | hurt/comfort | “it’s just casual” to lovers | other canon characters included in the fic | pining | polyamory dynamics | 5-times | all ratings are welcome.

🔥 Kinks enjoyed: aliens made them do it (or local canon equivalent) | blow jobs | body worship (especially related to body changes like aging, scars, weight gain, etc) | edging | hand jobs | masturbation | soft dom/sub (bondage and praise yes; pain and shame no; bedroom dynamic not 24/7 lifestyle) | watching/voyeurism | sweet I-love-you sex works for me too!!

⛔️ DNWs: alternate-setting AUs* | bashing of other characters or past canon relationships | crossovers (except between series in the same universe, like star trek) | hurt no comfort | non-canon nicknames | non-sexual bodily fluids in sex scenes | permanent character death | spelling out accents (for human characters) | unplanned pregnancy unless noted | zombies or blood-sucking vampires (other canon-typical aliens and cryptids are ok!).

*AU clarification: I don’t want alternate-setting (coffee-shop, law office, regency, etc) AUs, but I LOVE what-if canon divergence AUs of all sizes: fix-its, what if X episode ended differently, what if Y foundational thing didn't happen (e.g. “what if Agent Scully wasn’t assigned to debunk the X Files in the pilot episode, but she and Mulder met another way”), as long as they are still the same characters in the same canon universe.

--

🌃 Stargate Atlantis 🌃 (John Sheppard/Elizabeth Weir, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard/Elizabeth Weir)

My home-field ship is Sheppard/Weir, and I love them in every weather! I have also read some great ot3 fics and there really aren't enough of them to meet all the potential. John and Rodney both love her so so much in canon and are people who really don't know how to process or express that, and it makes me want to see how they figure it out... or make it messier. If you're writing that ot3, it's important to me that Elizabeth be a full and loved participant in the dynamic (and not just a guest or a ghost in a McShep fic).

In any case, I really want Elizabeth to be alive! Equally fine with fics set in seasons 1-3, AUs where Elizabeth is rescued or comes back another way, or fics where "that just didn't happen." I'm fine with "came back wrong" or suffering along the way as long as at her core she's Elizabeth and it ends in a hopeful or happy way.

Tags requested:

"Thank God You're/We're Alive" Sex

Aphrodisiacs

Body Worship

Can't Stop Thinking About It - Can't Forget One Night Stand

Clearly The Fact That We Keep Having Sex Is A Series of Unrelated Bad Decisions

Comfort Sex

Desperate Arousal

Dom/sub - Soft Dom

Established Relationship - The Inherent Romance And Eroticism Of Being Known

Hand Jobs

Hurt/Comfort Sex

Masturbation

Mutual Pining

On the run together [Maybe they rescue Elizabeth but can't return to Atlantis for some reason...?]

Praise Kink

Reunion Sex

Sex Pollen

trapped together

Trauma Recovery

Voyeurism

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👽 Stargate SG-1 👽 (Clone Sam/Jack)

I love this ship when they’re still themselves, but now with some understandable existential angst and alienation from both their past and new lives. I love exploring the tension between what they have lost and this new life they have, and the challenges of navigating a relationship when they spent so long NOT being in a relationship. Sexually, it must be so strange (and perhaps also so fun?) to have new bodies with old souls and skills...

"I know it's still you in there" Sex

Body Worship

Comfort Sex

First Time

Hurt/Comfort Sex

Mutual Masturbation With Intent to Watch Each Other in Lieu of First Time Sex

Playful Sex

Praise Kink

Semi-Public Sex

Shower Sex

Tender Sex

DNW: Either of them having sex with other teenagers. DNW exception: I usually DNW unplanned pregnancy, but I'm ok with pregnancy scares or unplanned pregnancy for these two.

--

🍺 Cheers 🍺 (Sam/Diane)

This couple is the platonic ideal of “toxic ship that needs to be together monogamously forever as a quarantine measure so nobody else ever has to be part of this.” I love them. They’re the worst. They have incredible sex and want each other so bad it makes them look stupid. I NEED them to annoy each other til death do they part. I will happily read smut, fluff, angst, unhealthy coping mechanisms, hate-sex-but-secretly-I-love-you-sex, canon-like comedy disaster shenanigans, even an unlikely-fantasy version of them where they go an entire loving fic without torturing each other because they've figured things out feeds my heart.

Tags:

Alternate Universe - Soulmates [they would hate this sooooo much!! a true escalation of their dynamic in the show to cosmic levels]

Argument leads to sex

bickering as foreplay

Clearly The Fact That We Keep Having Sex Is A Series of Unrelated Bad Decisions

Clothing - Black tie dress code

Faking Sex to Fool Someone Watching Results in Real Sex

Kept Constantly Aroused [just imagining them doing a "who will break first" torture game all week in the bar...]

Oral - Sneaking away from public event for risky semi-public cunnilingus

Position - Table Sex

Position - Wall Sex

Reconciliation Sex

Slap Slap Kiss

unexpected tenderness

Wedding Night

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⛑ M*A*S*H ⛑

I'm brand new to this fandom! As of writing this, I have watched through season 4 and it is rewiring my brain daily. They're all trapped together and so they love each other and hate each other and admire and need and pity and sometimes they just like each other. Everyone is horny and everyone's a little pathetic. They're all obsessed with each other in one way or another and I'm obsessed with them!!

I'm always happy to read romantic love, but in this case, these clowns are so situationally codependent that I think "flawed human people who need something in a hard situation and get some of it from each other through sex (and learn something about themselves or each other/maybe grow closer in some way through that)" rings true! (This is not a request to not do romance though if that's what rings true for you.)

About the ships:

I am obsessed with Frank and Margaret's dysfunctional relationship, I have spent waaaay too many hours thinking about What's Wrong With Them. They are so horny it's doing them psychological damage (and doing psychological damage to everyone else in the 4077 who has to think about it). You know they fuck so well.

Hawkeye/Trapper/Margaret has the potential to be really hot or kind of silly or even... surprisingly sweet. I answered an ask about it recently here!! Either this is a case of her calling their bluff because she's fed up, a circumstantial case of irrepressibly horny people huddling for warmth, or maybe they're really taking care of each other when they need it.

Trapper/Margaret: I soooooo wanted them to hook up [and probably regret it] [but could they stop at just once??]. I mean she's hot for him and he's got a lot of charged energy around her and they'd both really like to put each other in their place... 🔥

Hawkeye/Trapper: They are together in all kinds of weather! They are besties, the automatic plus-one for any shenanigan, they're so open with each other, they're so physically affectionate, they'd do anything for each other... (I also answered an ask about them.)

I just realized I didn't click on Hawkeye/Margaret and now it looks like I specifically excluded them.

Hawkeye/Trapper/Margaret/Frank: This one is kind of a writing dare tbh, but the comedy doubles act in every scene with these four makes me curious how it could happen. Couple swap? Both couples having sex in the same place but expressly NOT paying attention to each other (jk unless...)? Is this what will finally get them out of the time loop????

Tags:

"Thank God You're/We're Alive" Sex

Awkward First Times

Can't Stop Thinking About It - Can't Forget One Night Stand

Clearly The Fact That We Keep Having Sex Is A Series of Unrelated Bad Decisions

Clothing - Coming In Pants

Comfort Sex

Desperate Arousal

Frenemies with Benefits

Friends With Benefits

Huddling For Warmth Leads To Sex

Praise Kink

Sex as a Team-Building Exercise

Sex Chicken - 'I won't back down first!' mentality leads to sex

Sex gets paused to deal with PTSD then maybe returned to

Slap Slap Kiss

Switching

Threesome - A/B have sex while C watches

Threesome - F/M/M

Time Travel - Time Loop can only be broken by having sex with specific person

Voyeurism

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🛸 The X-Files 🛸 (Doggett/Reyes, Doggett/Reyes/Scully, Mulder/Scully/Doggett/Reyes)

Doggett/Reyes is a lifelong ship for me, and I love the season 9 dynamics between Doggett, Reyes, and Scully – how they work together professionally, their developing friendships and trust, and their romantic attractions. Some of the draw of an ot4 with all the agents is the idea that their affections for everyone in the group are not equal and not the same, so that makes for a fun dynamic. How does it happen? How do they not just end up killing each other?

Tags:

"Thank God You're/We're Alive" Sex

Blow Jobs

Clothing - Black tie dress code

Comfort Sex

Hand Jobs

Hurt/Comfort Sex

On the run together

Playful Sex

Telepathic Bond [so fascinated by Monica's spooky visions and how she's convinced Doggett has them too...]

Threesome - A/B have sex while C watches

Threesome - Established Couple Seducing Third Character

--

That's all! :) I hope you find something fun here to entertain you. Thank you again!

[sarah-dipitous]

Hellsite Nostalgia Tour 2023 Day 153

The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon

“The Impossible Astronaut”/“Day of the Moon”

Plot Description: The Doctor is summoned to assist President Nixon in saving a terrified little girl/The Doctor fights an alien invasion dating back to the beginnings of human civilization

Why IS it that Amy and Rory are just like…part time companions? Is it their relationship? Is it the fact that Rory has a steady job? (He’s not in retail, he’s not a temp, and he’s not a student, so he can’t just go off whenever…even though time travel is definitely half the premise of the show) Amy gets a steady job later but not yet.

They just hitched a ride on a school bus?? Seems unlikely

Was that the first Silence we see?

Okay, one, since when do the Doctor’s friends ever do as they’re told? Every time they’re told to stay put, they’re always running about…Two, they’re putting a lot of strain on my suspension of disbelief. Because I know a younger version of the Doctor meets up with them later in the episode, SOON in fact, but you’d think a time lord’s death wouldn’t be something that could be rewritten. Yet we know he gets at least four more regenerations (12, 13, back to Tenant, 14). Like, unless you had some really extenuating circumstances, like magic (like how Lucy brought back the Master), it shouldn’t work like that.

Mark Sheppard always plays the BITCHIEST characters and I love that for him. Nixon tells his character he was the second pick for the job he’s asking him to do, and Mark tells him he was his second choice for president (I hope Crowley comes back to spn soon)

The Doctor is definitely the kind of guy who would say shit like “I’m the only one who knows and understands all the quirks of my car and can make it function at all” meanwhile he’s just adapted to all the things going wrong MEANWHILE River can and will fix shit behind his back

I do love that he’s always trying to get his hats back

Mmmmm, is this the first hint we get to Amy’s pregnancy, too??

People die in the silliest, most dramatic poses on this show

If Sherlock’s fourth season hadn’t been a disaster and the show itself had lasted any longer, they could have used this episode to loop Hamilton into the superwholock fandom and then where would we be? Like as a society? Apparently two of these three men fancied the Doctor: John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson. Maybe we aren’t in the DARKEST timeline

Rory. How are you asking if this is sensible?? Do you know who you’re traveling with? Like, right now you’re exploring some underground tunnels with the woman who loves the universe’s most ridiculous man, and you have the nerve to ask if this is sensible??

It’s sad to hear River talk about the day she knows will come when she’ll see the Doctor and he won’t know who she is. She doesn’t yet know that’s the last time she’ll see him, but she does fear it will kill her. And I don’t know if she means just emotionally devastate her or ACTUALLY kill. We know what will happen, but fuck. Yet we never see or hear the Doctor talk about her with anything close to what she feels even though we know he’s been through her last time with him

Man… that cliffhanger (Amy shooting at the little girl in the astronaut uniform) would have been killer if I didn’t know too much slash wasn’t about to watch part two right now

(I paused too often last ep so hopefully I can just do a no whammys run)

Oh good, they don’t pick up where we left off. We pick up THREE MONTHS LATER

The TARDIS crew is on the run, trying to do ANYTHING about the Silence and on the run from Canton(/Mark/Crowley)

Rory’s so gangly and rubbery when he runs.

Ok sure they were all working together with Canton, but…why’d they let it go on for THREE MONTHS??

What’s Moffat’s fixation on not looking at things? He created the Weeping Angels and the Silence, both of which have distinct advantages when you’re not looking at them

You know, after watching Sam and Dean flash their fake FBI badges so many times, I did become suspicious of Canton (an ACTUAL FBI agent) showing his, even if under…less than official purposes. Just because it’s Mark? And he’s always gonna be Crowley to me? Maybe

This children’s home is…so disturbing. I can’t believe I’m gonna watch this and then try to go to sleep

Sometimes I don’t think we appreciate the tremendous effort it takes to send people to space. But seeing the full shuttle vs size of the command module for Apollo 11 really puts it in perspective

I never liked the plot line with the whoever kidnapped Amy while she’s pregnant.

I mean…it’s accurate and deserved that Canton shoots the one Silence after it tells him they rule the Earth and have no need for weapons, and then he goes “yeah well, welcome to America” but like…….

I can’t remember when Amy actually gets TAKEN taken. Because we’ve already had an appearance of the lady with the eyepatch but I’m not sure

Amazing how he’s seen … omg, no. I just confused the Doctor with Castiel. No saying the Doctor WASNT there when the Tower of Babel was being built, though. He probably was. I’m just saying humans have been trying to reach the heavens for thousands of years (even if we’re taking that story as allegory, it was still originally written THOUSANDS of years ago), we didn’t JUST decide in 1969 to go to the moon because the Silence influenced us to

Good on Canton adapting so quickly to future technology

How do they keep prolonging the “does Amy love Rory or the Doctor?” past Amy’s Choice, past Rory being the Last Centurion, past them getting MARRIED??

River should not have been able to shoot the Silence behind her……..

God…Rory’s constant jealousy and suspicion IS pretty annoying but if you waited 2000 years for someone whose writer makes them deliberately vague about who they’re confessing their feelings to, it’s also understandable

[happycabbage]

*sobs*

01x11 The Eye, 02x16 The Long Goodbye, 03x05 Progeny, 04x10 This Mortal Coil

[oopsitszuli]

What pets the Hashira and kamaboko squad would own Hcs!

Authors note: special features of kanae Kocho, Tamayo, yushiro, and Kagaya!!

Warnings: none!!

——————————————————————————-

-Hashira-

Kyojuro Rengoku:

* He would own Two golden retrievers and one tabby cat.

* All three of his pets are adopted from a local shelter.

* Probably calls them his children.

Gyomei Himejima:

* Brown Maine coon cat. I have zero explanation it just fits.

* This cat is gyomeis PRIDE AND JOY. Like- he shows him off to everyone who comes near his house.

[[ “this is my pet cat. I love him very very much.” ]]

Tengen Uzui:

* Dog person 100%

* His first pet was a white German Sheppard! But then his wives talked him in to buying more animals.

* Now they own a white German Shepard, a yellow lab(Hinatsurus choice), a corgi(Sumas choice), and a Saint Bernard(Maikos choice)!

Shinobu Kocho:

* A total fish/bird nerd.

* Of course she owns a fish tank but I also believe she owns two Rosy-faced lovebirds!

* The birds are probably trained to like everyone but Giyuu. (Just so she can tease him about it)

Muichiro Tokito:

* SUGAR GLIDERS. FIGHT ME. HE OWNS TWO SUGAR GLIDERS AND ABSOLUTELY ADORES THEM.

* He sometimes forgets their names so he’s taken to calling them thing 1 & 2

* Mitsuri probably bought them for him and she occasionally watches them when tokito is busy.

Iguro Obanai:

* Reptile NERD- (me too honestly)

* He owns (kaburamaru of course) bearded dragons, chameleons, leopard geckos, and crested geckos.

* He thinks of them all as friends more then as pets.

Mitsuri Kanroji:

* Cat lady. No questions asked.

* Tabbies, Calicos, Birman, Siberian, Tonkinese.....you name it she’s probably got it.

* Has “cat play dates” with Gyomei.

* She also owns a bunny!

Sanemi Shinazugawa:

* Shiba Inu! Or an Akita! Either way he’s got a puppy!

* He is the best dog dad in the world. Goes all soft when he’s around his fluffy boy.

[[ “Who’s a good boy?! Yes you are! Yes you areeee!” He said in his best baby voice while petting his beloved puppy, unbeknownst to him a few of his fellow Hashira members had shown up.

“Shinazugawa has gone soft! How cute!” Mitsuri chimed in while smiling brightly.

“I HAVE NOT-“ ]]

* he would then apologize to the dog for yelling in front of him.

* HE ALSO CANONICALLY OWNS BEETLES AND THATS SO CUTE

Giyuu Tomioka:

* Black cat that started showing up at his house and one day wandered inside.

* It just wandered in and he went “......ok then...” and kept it.

* Shinobu scolded him for taking in a stray cat and not even taking it to the vet or giving it a bath.

* Now he’s an amazing pet owner (partially due to a fear of Shinobu.) and his cat absolutely adores him.

-Kamaboko squad-

Tanjirou Kamado:

* Hamster and two guinea pigs, Hands down.

* He owns a tiny little short haired hamster and he absolutely adores her.

* He also owns golden and brown guinea pigs! He thinks they’re the cutest thing ever.

Zenitsu Agatsuma:

* Ferrets! Two lil ferrets who he adores almost as much as he loves Nezuko.

* Probably has to keep them away from Inosuke because Inosuke gets a lil to rough when playing with them.

* Nezuko helped him name them!

Nezuko Kamado:

* She owns a Holland lop bunny!

* She probably bought the bunny at a fair Ngl- that or Zenitsu bought the bunny for her.

* She would also probably own a beta fish!

Inosuke Hashibira:

* Greyhound. Self explanatory.

* He probably races it on a daily.

* The perfect dog for a person like Inosuke.

Genya Shinazugawa:

* Bearded dragon!

* He likes them cause they’re rough on the outside but softies on the inside if they like you! Just like him!

* Spoils the dragon to the point Sanemi has to stop him from buying new terrarium accessories when they go to pet stores.

* WOULD 100% WALK THE DRAGON ON A LEASH-

Kanao Tsuyuri:

* like Shinobu, she’s a bird nerd!

* She owns two Cockatiels and unlike her they’re extremely loud!

* She thinks it’s kinda funny- a quiet girl with her two loud ass birds.

* Regardless of how loud they are, she absolutely adores them.

* They have a habit of trying to catch the coin when she flips it in the air.

Special features:

Kanae Kocho:

* Hedgehog! She thinks they’re absolutely adorable!

* She also probably said that the hedgehog reminded her of Sanemi because “She’s spiky and intimidating on the outside but on the inside she’s sweet and cuddly!” Which had Sanemi blushing and scoffing.

Yushiro Yamamoto:

* Hear me out.......... Hermit crabs.

* I HAVE ZERO EXPLICATION I JUST THINK HE WOULD THINK THEYRE NEAT-

* AND HE WOULD LIKE WATCHING THEM

Lady Tamayo:

* She’s content with just chachamaru. But she always thought turtles were neat!

Kagaya Ubuyashiki:

* The crows-

* IM NOT JOKING- THOSE ARE ALL TOTALLY HIS PETS AND HE ADORES THEM MORE THEN ANYTHING IN THE WORLD.

[cesca-untoldstories]

every time i see you edit cesca into official art it just makes me wonder who her va might be if she was an actual character. what would her voice be like

I wish there was a cable to connect my head to a tv or something to show you all those imagines I had over watching Seiyuus interacting with eachother!

Francesca's Japanese voice actor is Kotono Mitsuishi (known for doing Sailor Moon, Boa hancock, Mei-Mei, Gracia Hughes, Misato, Ebichu haha) and English va is Jennifer Hale (commander sheppard my beloved in mass effect)

I have that strange wish that Mrs. Kotono came as a special guest at the Stardust Crusaders event ;o; A shadow image of Francesca with Mrs. Kotono's voice yelling "Eeeeh! Aren't you forgetting someone?" and she apprearing in the corner posing as Francesca to then laugh feeling so welcome between all males voice actors! ;w;!!!!

Kotono Mitsuishi is well loved and has been someone who has always inspired me that comfort with her voice, the way she can mold it for characters of different ages; from an inexperienced girl to a concerned and experienced mother makes me understand that she is perfect for Francesca! In addition knowing that she matches all the dates with her career and to date she continues to work, so it makes me happy to feel that she would be recognized in part for the role of Francesca!

Now let's talk about how she would be with the other voice actors~

Kotono Mitsuishi and Daisuke Ono would be such a powerful duo 😂 they would be goofy together finishing the other words when been asked questions about the character. (( totally not me headcanon'ing one of Daisuke Ono's favourite characters is 'Cesca ;w;))

Imagine they singing Stand Proud make my heart race so fast!! both been dorkies challenging each other to do something OR THE BETTER JOJO IMAGINES. they put in the scenario a part of the anime where 'Cesca is crying for hol-horse and Jotaro yell at her to stop making them loose precious time. but they do the other character... Daisuke Ono doing 'Cesca and Kotono Mitsuishi doing Jotaro! ;W;!!!!!!✨✨✨✨✨

💜✨💜✨💜✨💜✨💜✨💜✨

I mean 'CESCA SINGING

💜✨💜✨💜✨💜✨💜✨💜✨

Mrs. Kotono is such a fan of the series she voice, so she would feel so connected to 'Cesca since Stardust to finally see Daisuke's face in Stone Ocean event ;w;!! and both welcoming Ai Fairouz as the new voice for Jolyne make me sobs. both been experts in voice acting welcoming Ai to the end posing together Y-Y!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok I will shut up, I'm gushing so much!

[fan4196]

Mister Perfectly Fine

Fearless - Taylor's Version (From The Vault)

As long as he's going, working his eight hours at the hospital, running from one meeting to the other, squeezing surgeries in every free minute he has or running behind the twins at home, everything is fine. As long as his mind is going he's perfectly fine. But as soon as his head hids the pillow or he sits down alone in his office and his mind starts to calms down he's not fine anymore. As soon as his mind stops thinking about the hospital he has to run, the patients he has to save or about his twins, his thoughts take over - thoughts he hates and loves at the same time. Deep thoughts that bring forth every kind of emotion in his body. Thoughts about her. The one good thing he had in his life for so long and now not anymore because he chose his kids. He chose his kids over her and after months he still doesn't know if it was the right or wrong decision. Since the day he left her, this thought lives in his head like a parasite, never leaving him. In every quiet second his mind goes back to this decision and everything involved in it and makes him go nuts. But not only his mind goes crazy also his heart. He could cry everytime he thinks about her and the potential future he lost by leaving her. He could beat himself at the thought of how much he hurt her - again. It beats him up that he not only broke the vow he gave her not to long before he left but that he broke the biggest promise he ever gave her - to always be her home and to never leave her. He knew that this was and still is her biggest insecurity. Way to many people left her or pushed her aside like she was nothing and Alex promised to himself, pretty early in their relationship, that he would never do that to her. But he did, more than once.

Every quiet minute his heart aches at his biggest lost he ever experienced and at the unconditional love he had received from her daily and now never will again.

Of course his kids love him and he knows that Izzie does too in some way but it's just not the same. It's not the kind of love that overfills his heart with warmth every day. The kind of love that let him growl at the ceiling, fake break up in front of a whole hospital, that is ok with going jail to prevent someone from having to testify, that puts on fake vampire teeth and marries someone for a second time after a crappy day at work. The kind of love that, now that it's gone, makes him realise how big of an impact it had on him, his mind and his heart. Because now that it's gone, his body wants it back like a drug. But nothing, sadly not even his kids, can fill his empty heart completely. There's always this whole that nothing can fill.

And so everytime his mind gets the chance to calm down it craves for the drug he can't consume. She is 1800 miles away, living her life like he should too - but he just can't, not really.

He leans back in his chair starring at the picture of the twins that's standing on his office desk right beside his work laptop. Their silly faces smile towards the camera. He loves his kids, they are one of the best things that ever happened to him but every time he looks at them he can't stop but wonder what his and Jo's kids would have been like. If they would have had a little boy first, who was through and through a mommas boy or if they would have had a little girl first, who would have looked like a carbon copy of Jo and would have adored her daddy to death. Or if they would have had both; twins - silly and foul-mouthed but still the cutes little angels.

He hates those uncontrolled, silent thoughts of what if. He hates that he secretly wishes things were different. He hates that he's not fine when he should be.

He loosens his stare from the only picture on his desk and turns his chair to reach for the lowest drawer of his desk - like he did so many times before. He opens it to take the only item out and carefully strokes his thumb over the wooden frame until it hits the silky red ribbon he never took off. Starring at the picture in the frame, memories of one of the best days in his life play in his head. From her excited face when she showed up at Mer's house, to her excitingly kissing Arizona, to her storming into his dressing room mocking him for something she thought he did, to her loud, pure laugh in the shed, her soft lips on his after they said I do, to her sleepy smile as he picked her up to carry her bridal stile through their loft door.

Everything about this day was perfect even though nothing went according to plan. But that was so them. Nothing in their six years together ever went according to plan. If it would have, he would have married her a year into their relationship. They would have started making babies immediately and would now live in a big suburban house with their five kids, two dogs and probably some fish. But it's not, their life didn't go according to plan, they had some massive bumps in their road - their ups and downs, they broke up and found their way back together, they had their difficult paths to navigate through but they did it and it made them stronger - as a person and as a couple. He always thought that nothing could ever break them. And he loved the thought of getting old with Jo and to die with her at his side once they were wrinkly and grey. Now everything changed and it's his fault.

Looking at the big smile on her face, the urge to call her comes over him - to hear her voice, to talk to her about everything he hates right now.

Way to many times the thinks of just dialing her number and calling her. The thought of hearing her voice again makes his heart flutter. He misses her. He misses talking to her. He misses his friend he can tell everything. He misses their lazy nights curled up in each other's arms on the couch, a trashy reality show in the background, while they just talk - about everyone and everything for hours without loosing a topic.

He also misses her silly self. Her bad jokes that she thought were hilarious. Her face when she told them. Her pure laugh after she told them. When they were alone she never took herself to serious. She was one hundred percent herself around him. Joking, laughing, running around without pans and only one of his shirts on.

He's not gonna lie, he also misses her body. Her perfect body - her ass, her boobs, her mouth, her smell, her hair, her perfect hands that she loved to bury in his hair. He loves and misses every bit of her. He misses what her body was able to do to his. How her hand in his neck was able to give him goosebumps on his entire body. How her presence when she walked into a room, made his stomach flutter. How her lips on his let him forget everything. How her curled up in his arms, close against his body made him love her even more. It wasn't just the amazing sex he misses, it is her.

He puts the picture down on his desk running his hands over his face. He never thought that he could miss someone this much - and he had lost a lot of people over time.

The little knock on his door let him sit up straight again. He quickly puts the picture back in the drawer and closes it before he let's the person come inside.

"Doctor Karev. You wanted to speak me?"

"Doctor Jones. Yeah, please sit down." He points to the chairs in front of his desk to let the resident sit. "I heard you were at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital in Seattle. Tell me how it was."

"Oh. It was amazing. I've never seen a this innovative and cutting edge hospital before. No offense." The brunette smiles a little nervous as she sits down in front of her boss. 

"Absolutely not. I know how good it is. I learned in that hospital and worked there for many years." Alex replies with a little, toothless smile.

"Really? I never knew that." She answers surprised.

"So tell me a little bit. What did you do while you were there? Who did you meet?" Alex asks, interested in hearing about his former colleagues and friends.

"Oh I- Ok on the first day I was in their ER. Doctor Hunt showed me around and I assisted him. The second day I met the Doctor Meredith Grey. God she's everything, but I guess you know that. She showed me around the ICU and I met Doctor Webber and Doctor Bailey. On the third day I was in ortho and met Doctor Lincoln, he's amazing. Well they call him Ortho-God for a reason. My third day I was with Doctor Sheppard. She showed me her newest scans and let me join in on an operation. The last day I was with Doctor Hayes on the Peds floor. He was so nice and showed me around the NICU and PICU. I also met Doctor DeLuca and Doctor Wilson there, they were both so nice and showed me some of their cute little pacients." She smiles after finishing.

"Sorry, Doctor Wilson?" He asks a little confused.

"Yeah. She was so nice. She showed and explained me everything and let me hold one of her patients. She was so cute. The baby not Doctor Wilson. I mean Doctor Wilson is pretty cute too, especially when she's talking to her little patients but that's not the point, right?" She laughs.

"I guess I missed something, little patients? What is she doing on the Peds floor?" Alex asks again, trying to get every single little bit of information from the resident.

"Well that's where OB/Gyn's are sometimes, right?" She shrugs. 

"Wait. OB/Gyn?" Now he's confused. Did Jo change specialties or was the resident in front of him talking about someone completely different?

"Yeah. Oh right. She was a general surgeon before but changed specialties during the pandemic. She told me everything when we were having lunch. She said she needed some joy in her life after her husband left her and she found that in OB so she changed specialties." Doctor Jones clarifies, with a smile.

"Thank you." Alex nods, to signal the brunette that he got all the information he wanted.

"Ahm sure. Anything else, Doctor Karev?" She asks before she stands up to leave.

"No. It's good to hear you had a great time in Seattle." He gives her a toothless smile before he leans forwards.

"I did. Thank you again for letting me do that."

"No problem."

As the door closes he leans back in his chair again. Thinking about what Doctor Jones just told him.

He's happy that she's happy. That she found new joy in her life. That's everything he needs to know. He needs her to be fine. Even though he misses her even more now and is not fine, he is happy that she is fine.

-

It’s finally Taylor Swift x Jolex Week! So excited for all the stories. Here’s mine, hope you like it.

Enjoy!

-

@odd-birds-and-booksellers @doc-pickles @angry-slytherin @cicinicole-14 @mac-andcheeses @renipedia @jobrookekarev @kidneys4karev @only-freaking-sunflowers @iamtrebleclefstories

[wind-goddess-eri]

The Fire Garden (Hanzo Hasashi x F!OC)

Warnings:Fluff, Physical Disability, Blindness, Love, Secret Relationship, not really much of warnings just whats in the fic.

Summery: Aiko(blind OC) goes to see the grandmaster of the Shirai Ryu.

Words:568

Under the cut as always.

The sun shined brightly the day Aiko decided that she was going to Hanzo's alone. Aiko was a blind woman who lived with her mother. It was almost like a dream. She never thought she would find someone. She remembered when she first met Hanzo Hasashi. She was so scared being alone at the Fire Garden, but this really nice guy found her. He was very nice to her and didn't insult her by mentioning her blindness in a mean way. Hanzo gave her what seemed to feel like a doll made of yarn. Aiko smiled and hugged him. Today she will meet with him so she hurried downstairs.

"Mommy?" She called for her mother.

"Yes hun?" she answered in a curious tone.

"Can I go to visit Grandmaster Hasashi?" She asked sweetly.

"Yes, you may go. But you bring buddy." She ordered in a demanding tone. She was very protective of Aiko more than a normal child and demanded Aiko always take the dog with her everywhere.

"Ok mother, I won't be long." She felt around to go up the stairs and get ready.

Grabbing her walking stick she headed outside calling for her dog, Buddy. Buddy is a German Sheppard. He's always in the woods doing whatever it is that dogs do. Since Aiko can't see, she can only guess what he would do out there. When he came up to Aiko, she put the leash on his collar and told him that they were going to go see Hanzo.

They started toward the Fire Gardens, which was within the forest from what Aiko's mother has told her. They followed a trail all the way to Hanzo's house and she knew this by the sound of my stick hitting the wooden porch.

"Grandmaster Hasashi? Are you there?" She called out.

"Yes Aiko, I'm right here," he told her, taking her hand and leading her inside the house.

"Hey, Hanzo," Aiko smiled, reaching to feel his face. She smiled once more and gave him a big hug. Taking his hand in her's, they went over to sit on his couch. On the way to the couch, she bumped into his coffee table making her knee sting a little.

"Oops, sorry." Aiko smiled lightly and apologized. Hanzo moved her a little to get to the couch and sat her down.

"What would you like to do today?" Hanzo asked her.

Aiko smiled, "I just want to spend some time with you, that's all. Is that's ok?"

He scooted closer to me, holding my hand. Hanzo and Aiko have been secretly seeing each other for quite sometime but this was the first time Hanzo did what he did. He kissed her cheek.

Aiko could feel herself blush and asked, "What was that for?" The Grandmaster turned her head towards him and kissed her lips. She kissed him back as sweetly as she could.

"I love you, Aiko." He said to her softly.

Aiko smiled big and kissed him again, "I love you too!" she leaned her head on his shoulder, "Hanzo, can I ask you something?"

He held her close, "Anything, firefly"

She hesitated, then spoke, "Am I beautiful?" Not knowing what she looked like always made her wonder such things. Who did she look like? What color were her eyes?

He hugged her and answered honestly and softly, "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen"

[leverage-commentary]

Leverage Season 2, Episode 12, The Zanzibar Marketplace Job, Audio Commentary Transcript

Jeremiah: I am Jeremiah Chechik, director of this episode.

Jessica: I am Jessica Rieder, one of the writers of this episode.

Melissa: Melissa Glenn, the other writer.

John: And John Rogers, executive producer of Leverage. And we switched to Irish whiskey, just for this one, we just-

Jeremiah: We did and it's doing the job.

John: It's getting the job done. Ah, the return of Kari Matchett. And by the way, we originally did not show the taser in that scene; that was added in post.

Jeremiah: That's right, it was added later. It was written as-

John: When people were going, ‘What happened? Was she beamed out onto a starship? What the hell was that effect?’

[Laughter]

Jeremiah: It was written abstractly. Kari is worth watching carefully for her subtleties.

John: Yes.

Jeremiah: She's just a delightful actress.

John: We really lucked out in casting- having Kari come in as the wife first season, knowing that we could then recur her, that was- that made a big difference. 

Jeremiah: She does elevate everyone's game.

John: Yes exactly. 

Melissa: Yes, she was great.

John: Wonder twins, where'd this episode come from?

Jessica: Oh my gosh.

Melissa: This episode, we- we knew we loved the idea of this episode, the idea of Nate in danger, the idea of Sterling being involved. But we just kept- we tried a lot of different versions of this episode throughout the season, and we had to kind of put it away, focus on a new episode, and then dive back in. And we stumbled upon the idea of bringing Maggie back in it as well. And so for weeks, it was ok: Sterling, Nate, danger, Maggie. And then just trying to find the right danger, the right, you know, the right kidnapping.

John: And then we actually sat down, I remember one day we were like, ‘Ok, what does Maggie do? Alright, now what is famous art?’ And we plowed through all the different stealable and collectable things.

Melissa: Yes.

Jessica: But ironically, this is the first episode that Melissa and I started writing of season 2, and it took all season. It was the last episode that we ended up writing, so it was quite the arc for us.

John: It's a bear- I mean some of these are a bear to break, you have to find the right setting, the right combination of characters. I’m gonna ask, I'm gonna break from the writing cause we've got a really cool sequence coming up. Jeremiah, how did you do this?

Melissa: Yes, a fantastic sequence.

Jeremiah: This was possibly one of my most favorite shots to do, and I'll describe how I did it in a moment, but I'd like everyone to pay careful attention to the tooth which will be hanging in the air-

[Laughter]

Jeremiah: In a few moments.

John: No, I like the fact that the whole set up to this- the fun was, originally it was written that you just heard his voice and Eliot broke into- 

Jeremiah: Here it is!

John: There's the tooth.

[Laughter]

John: I love the fact that you staged that we saw Sheppard- Mark Sheppard, come in. It adds the suspense to it that just makes it so much better.

Jeremiah: It just indicates that bad shit’s gonna happen.

Melissa: Yeah. The first time they landed on that table, it shattered.

Jeremiah: Now this is all one shot.

Jessica: Light.

John: Yeah.

Jeremiah: The interesting thing here was I had everybody freeze on certain poignant dramatic moments, and move the camera around, you know, with the steadicam and then unfreeze it at a perfect- and the actors- very difficult for the actors to do that. And they were so committed to doing this, as was Mark, that we enjoyed shooting this so much. 

John: You beat the hell out of Mark for quite a while that day.

Jeremiah: We did, and there's no one who enjoys getting beat up more than Mark Sheppard.

[Laughter]

Jessica: And his son was on set that day. His- how old is-? I can't remember how old he is.

Melissa: 10ish.

Jessica: About 10, and he had the time of his life watching his dad get beat up by Chris Kane. That was fantastic.

John: Well you know what? I'm friends with Mark and that was his big request for Christmas, was that could I get Chris to beat up his dad. And so it was like, I’ll gladly do that!

Jessica: Right. 

John: I'll gladly arrange for that.

Jessica: Yeah, it was really fun.

John: Now this is- now how do we wind up in the Ukraine?

Melissa: I believe we like the idea of the faberge egg. 

Jeremiah: It was originally somewhere else; Paris, I think.

John: Venezuela, I think.

Jessica: It started as Caracas, Venezuela, yup.

John: And then wound up- it really came like can you shoot Caracas, Venezuela in Portland? Portland doubles for a lot of things. 

Jessica: Doesn’t double for Venezuela.

John: What's interesting is you have this, sort of, very American-centric view of the world. We then started looking for cities and you call up flicker pages and stuff on Kiev and I like it; kinda looks like Portland and it's a lovely little city settled in a valley, lots of woods around it. From the mountain you would be hard pressed to which city you're in.

Jessica: It's true. I think at one point, there was one day where we all were researching Kiev and decided it sounded so great we wanted to move there. We just sort of fell in love with it.

John: Yes.

Melissa: Very Estonia.

Jessica: Oh, Estonia! Yeah.

John: Well we kept trying to come up with the, sort of, Mission: Impossible, third-world country. Remember that, Jeremiah? They used to have that sort of- 

Jeremiah: Balochistan.

John: Yeah that was this weird Latin American/Russain combination. And we kept picking, like, ‘Well let's pick these small Eastern European countries. Estonia. Estonia is the center of e-commerce in the world. Wow, Estonia sounds nice. Kiev has a beautiful culture. Wow, Kiev is beautiful!’ We have no bad place to go.

Jeremiah: To get there, basically they stand up with their passports of choice and they are in the Ukraine.

John: Yes. No shoe leather for Leverage. We’re there.

Jess: The beauty of television; things travel faster.

John: We had the traditional 1970s plane taking off shot, though, that was a nice choice.

Jeremiah: Yeah, very- yeah.

John: There you go. And again, this was a nice-

Jeremiah: Jeri Ryan just being superspy. And here we are in a lovely scene with the inimitable Matt Keeslar.

John: Matt Keeslar and-

Jeremiah: Now Matt and Mark Sheppard have worked together a lot on Middleman.

John: On Middleman. And you directed that show, right?

Jeremiah: I did, and produced as well. 

John: This is a full-

Jeremiah: So this was a lot of fun.

John: This is a rare four-hander. This is four very good actors kind of digging in, and Tim not with the team, which is not something we usually do.

Jessica: Yeah.

Jeremiah: This was a delightful scene to direct. Because again a) Mark and Matt really wanted to go at each other. Never really having played opposite each other that much in the series, and Matt always being the good guy. Here the roles are somewhat reversed, and in an unusual turn on this show, for Mark he's apparently the nice helpful man.

John: Well that was part of the fun. And I’ll let you two talk about it is, writing the old partnership they used to have here.

Jessica: Yeah, just seeing a glimmer of the friendship. You know, you could sort of see shadows of friendship that they used to have, and more of who Nate used to be and more of who Mark used to be- or Sterling used to be, too.

John: Yeah, and that little smile, too, has this moment of were good cop/bad cop we've done this a million times.

Jeremiah: Now here we have a lovely- I have to thank the art department here. They did a spectacular job creating just this wonderfully dowdy place, perfect paint chip, if I may say so.

Melissa: This office was amazing.

John: You know this was built in the 50s, this office.

Jessica: Yeah, totally it hasn't been redecorated since then.

Melissa: My favorite part is the rotary phone that we’re about to see. Every time he did the shot of the rotary phone, I had to almost leave the room because I was laughing so hard.

Jessica: It's true. Melissa had to actually leave video village a couple times cause she couldn't contain herself.

Jeremiah: I remember requesting, ‘I want him to have a rotary phone and I want him to dial allllll the numbers.’ 

John: All the way around.

Jeremiah: Because I know that would provoke Aldis in character, because first of all he's probably never seen the rotary phone-

Melissa: It’s true.

John: Didn't we talk about- you've actually never seen a rotary phone.

Melissa: No, I grew up with a rotary phone in the kitchen. I think maybe Rieder-

Jess: No, I'm not that young, I've seen a rotary phone before.

John: No, but you hadn't had one in the house.

Jessica: Oh yeah, no.

[Laughter]

John: You've seen one in museums, operated by dinosaurs calling each other before they went on hunting parties.

Jessica: Oh yeah. Right next to the display of fighter [unintelligible].

Jeremiah: Here we go.

Jessica: Yup, here we go.

John: And now he's gonna dial every number.

Jessica: Very slowly.

John: Wes and you can see Aldis-

Jeremiah: Watch Aldis!

John: Wes just staring. Just- oh the glare.

[Laughter]

John: Oh, that's great.

Jeremiah: That was worth doing. 

Melissa: I love it. It's just- yeah.

John: This was a lot of fun pairings in this episode, actually. This really- we were into the swing of, we know what couples, what splits we wanted to see, and we also varied it up a little.

Jessica: I think this is one of the rare episodes where we, sort of, how we- that’s part of how we broke the structure, was who do we wanna see play off each other? We really wanna see Nate and Kari in a room together, we really wanna- you know. And it was kind of fun to build around those pieces.

John: And this is interesting. We had a different way to get Gina in originally. Also, early was the idea that the team doesn't know that Nate has teamed up with Sterling and they get a call like, ‘It's Nate Ford and Sterling loose again and they're terrifying Europe.’

Melissa: Yeah, that is a great version.

Jeremiah: Note the old map behind Kari, it's a lovely-

John: Yes it's very nice. I love Kari says a thousand things about her relationship with Nate just in this, just in, ‘Oh God, I know exactly where this is going.’

Jeremiah: That look. And he of course backs out, totally backs down from his original stance.

John: And that actor’s great - is that Marty?

Jessica: Marty Ryan.

Jeremiah: He's fabulous, he was really good. And here we go.

John: Now it's- see yeah see? The two of them work the cases- you can see like, what I like- it's interesting, and this was a good choice Jeremiah, Tim’s a little scruffier than Mark here.

Jeremiah: Yes, well that was-

John: If you saw his old persona he would've been the really flashy one compared to Mark.

Jeremiah: It was purposeful, at least, not only in the writing, but the visual iconography Mark in a way controlling and driving. And being, you know, being in control. Of course, wonderful entrance of, you know- 

John: Parker, yeah. We never actually see her enter a room.

Jeremiah: You never see her come through a door, she's just there.

Jessica: No, she just- she just drops in.

John: That's actually a running thing we realized we had unintentionally done in the show. You don't actually see her come into the room a lot, she’s often just there.

Jeremiah: How pretty is this room?

John: That is a gorgeous room, where'd you shoot this?

Jeremiah: The museum.

John: Oh in that museum that we were in for 207? Yeah, oh it was fantastic.

Jessica: Yeah, that was a great location. 

John: This is also one of our more pure detective ones. It’s like it was a little bit of competence porn, like seeing the thief and Nate kind of use their brains to figure out exactly how this heist went down. 

Jeremiah: And you really feel the wheels turning, they're lovely, and this fake smile here is like-

John: And that's a callback, of course, to when she opened the van door. Lot of fun. 

Jessica: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

John: It was interesting having Kari back. It was one of those things like, can she be the whole back half? We really liked to have her around.

Melissa: She was fantastic.

Jessica: Can we keep her?

John: This was one of my favorite bits. Talk about this running gag.

Melissa: Well this was just her bag of, you know, of escape bag, her on the run bag.

Jeremiah: Things that women on the run must have. 

Jessica: Yes, it’s perfect.

John: I love that it's ‘your first fugitive bag’ that Parkers put together here.

Jessica: Yes, that’s true. That was I think- this was one of my favorite bits in the episode, too, just the fun of it. You know, they are carrying on their whole, like, old married couple argument and Parker’s just down to business. I love it.

Jeremiah: Totally committed to organizing it and-

Jessica: I love it.

John: Yeah, also I like this, and Kari really established this in- for her first appearance, and again, it's again, when you're counting yourself very lucky when you get actors like this. Kari didn't play hostile to the team; Kari played like she genuinely liked them, she just didn't like Nate. And that carries through, and that allowed us to do this scene where, you know, Maggie and Parker actually have a perfectly lovely time together running away in Europe; it's just that Nate’s driven her out of her mind.

Jessica: Yeah, it’s true.

John: Really nicely done

Melissa: I think partially the team doesn't lie to her as much. You know, Parker doesn’t lie to her; she tells her exactly what she needs to know.

Jessica: I'm a thief, yes.

Melissa: Where as Nate is lying to her.

Jeremiah: Cause Kari does need a file, everywhere she goes and not just a nail file.

John: No, no. Just in case.

Jessica: Every woman does.

Jeremiah: And this presentation of the drink, it's very nice and very weighted. He’s poured it, he gives it, and-

John: And he takes it. 

Jeremiah: And he takes it.

John: That says something that Tim Hutton- pardon me, that Nate Ford did not intend on, and we- by the way, Mark Sheppard and I talked about that for an hour. 

Jessica: Oh my God.

John: He called me before when we were doing the rewrite-

Jeremiah: He talked to me for, like, five. 

[Laughter]

John: Yeah, five hours. Well you're on set with him, it's gonna happen. It was like the idea that Nate would take the drink without realizing that Sheppard had figured out that he was drinking again was a very big deal, and it actually pays off in the finale.

Jeremiah: Here we go, eastern european wardrobe.

Melissa: Oh this- their little bit.

Jeremiah: Trashy.

John: Yeah this is- again, I don't know what we would do without iPhones and picture cameras at this point; I don't think this show would be essentially unwriteable. I love her little weird, creepy look that Beth is running there; it's like vulnerable and predatory at the same time, it's nicely done.

Jessica: I don't know how people wrote shows like this before there were camera phones and cell phones. 

Jeremiah: They did, it was called Rockford.

John: It was called Rockford. What you would do was you bump into this guy in the parking garage, and you pretend to be a Texan who was looking to invest in his oil well. 

Jessica: That’s true.

John: And in that time you'd exchange briefcases with him, you know, it was just the camera bit that was tricky, yeah.

Jessica: That's true, yeah.

John: And Matt doing very hard-done-by very well. I also like, by the way, you guys did a very nice job of- if again, we never tell you where Tara Cole came from, but if you track how she looks, and what she knows, and what she can do, all the way six episodes, you get a pretty good idea of what she used to do before she became a criminal. And it was really nicely done.

Melissa: Yeah, it's a great scene with her and Eliot, kind of, squaring off their skills - the scene that’s about to come next.

Jeremiah: At least we think so.

[Laughter]

John: Well I would agree. She also- the fact that she can speak those languages that pays off in the finale, also. The sort of backdoor where she hangs up. Again, this is interesting because this is a really drive-y, hit the ground running episode, and it’s very investigatory. Oh, nice transition.

Jeremiah: Lovely transition.

Jessica: That was one of the challenges of writing it is, it is much more crime story than what we usually do. So making it a crime detective story that felt like Leverage was, you know, part of, I think, the challenge.

John: Well what also helps is we burn two stories an episode. We were actually talking about this in another commentary where, we do the wire, which is a con that most shows will do the entire show, we do it in an act.

Jessica: Yeah, it's true.

John: And we tell you it’s the wire, we don’t lie to you like some other crime shows.

[Laughter]

Jessica: That will remain nameless.

John: That will remain nameless. This show, the entire first half is detective story, and the back half is kidnapped. And so, you know, that also helps keep the pace up when you're doing something that's not our usual style. Yeah, she does a great job on this.

Jessica: And this day, we were losing light so fast, you know, cause it-

Jeremiah: This guy was good, too.

Jessica: And they did it so quickly because it was like, this is soon gonna become an exterior night scene if we don't get it done soon.

John: Oh the scary look, that was great.

Melissa: That was perfect.

Jessica: The three of them just knocked it out of the park, and they did it so quickly.

John: That's just my Irish whisky.

Jeremiah: Everybody has a lot to do in this episode. 

John: They do, and what I like is it's also a recurring thing that Jeri really found the character early; that kind of confidence where she knows what you can do, don't bullshit her, let's move it along, we have a job here, but without rushing you. You know, she really created a great character in six episodes. Now the blank envelope, of course, a classic piece of the famous Zanzibar Marketplace con.

Melissa: Yes, the illustrious Zanzibar Marketplace.

John: Where did you find and research the Zanzibar Marketplace?

[Laughter]

Jessica: It's kind of a funny story. You wanna tell?

Melissa: Sure. We were breaking the story and John says, ‘Oh, then they can do a  Zanzibar Marketplace,’ and we all said, ‘Sounds great!’

Jessica: Of course they can.

Melissa: And John left the room to go rewrite some stuff.

Jessica: Be brilliant.

John: And then I explained what the  Zanzibar Marketplace is. It’s like a marketplace that occurs when something is stolen very quickly. It's called a Zanzibar Marketplace because, like African markets, it springs up and then disappears and they move on. And then I walk out of the room.

Melissa: So John leaves the room and we all look at each other like, ‘I've never heard of that, I don't-’

Jessica: ‘Does anybody know what a  Zanzibar Marketplace is?’

Melissa: So we get out the laptops fast as we can, searching everything and there's no sign of it.

Jessica: Our poor writers assistant is, like, furiously looking for documents on Zanzibar Marketplaces.

Melissa: Can’t find it, can’t find it. So we just figured this should be how it works.

Jeremiah: People's imagination actually existed before Google.

Jessica: I don't know how people wrote-

John: Well no, cause they assume- cause I did it in, ‘This is a real thing’ voice and walked out of the room. I had no idea until I came in the next day they’d spent a night researching it.

Jessica: We did! Yes.

John: It's like ‘We can't find anything.’ ‘Oh I'm sorry kids, that was drunken bullshit. Did I not make that clear?’

Jessica: You'd think by season two we’d know the difference between real voice and drunken bullshit voice, but we’re still figuring it out.

John: Unfortunately they blend together.

[Laughter]

Jessica: And they really do.

Jeremiah: We figured, I guess, if you bought it, the audience would.

John: There you go.

Jessica: And we did, yeah.

Melissa: And we gotta make up more of the rule of exactly how it works, and what, you know-

John: The rules of the Zanzibar Marketplace, yeah, exactly.

Jessica: That was kinda nice.

John: It was nice how it worked, not worrying about the-

Jeremiah: This is lovely, that he closes the computer; he doesn't want to know.

Jessica: Right, he doesn't have to talk about it.

John: That was tricky, actually, that was; trying to figure out exactly where Nate and Sophie are in their arc each one of these beats. And that's the thing is, Gina’s in every episode, so we have to figure out what her attitude is towards him. It's not just that he closes it, it's Gina giving him the close it sign.

Jessica: Yeah.

Melissa: Yeah, ‘Don't let dad know you're talking to me.’

John: Yeah, exactly. A lovely embassy.

Jeremiah: This ballroom scene, I have another one of my freeze/unfreeze multiplex camera sequences.

Melissa: This time with 100 extras.

John: Yes.

Jessica: Oh my god.

Jeremiah: With 100 extras which again was challenging but delightful.

Melissa: Oh so fun.

John: And Hardison in the van. Again, establishing, oh he had to rent the foreign van, that's right.

Jessica: Yup, and it smelled like cabbage.

John: Yeah. And Mark-

Jeremiah: There's a lot of complexity in the staging here, and these are things, obviously, that I just love to get up and do.

John: I love how Mark’s really playing this, but without overplaying it and letting you know- there you go.

Jeremiah: And now, there you go. And they look and now we follow, one continuous shot, there’s-

John: Now the trick is, you can't cut in these, you've got to-

Jeremiah: No, you cannot cut in these.

John: You have to stick with them or else the shot doesn't work.

Jeremiah: You have to get the timing exactly right and the pace, you have to imagine how far transitions go, and whoop Beth into a close up.

John: Oh it's a four-way, isn't it? That's right. It's nicely done. Sheppard to Hutton to Riesgraf and then back.

Melissa: And Beth’s in a very flowy dress.

[Laughter]

Jessica: Dress, right yeah, lots of material there. Yeah Beth walked in on set that day and I think everybody fell over.

Jeremiah: And- another, geographically placing everybody in the same- 

John: Oh that’s it and screw you, no. its-

Jeremiah: Act break.

[Laughter]

John: If that's not an act break, I don't know what is. I love- Matt Keesler is a particularly gifted actor, by the way, in that he can play a leading man. He can play Johnny Squarejaw, he can play this sort of unctuous financier, and what's great is he gets to- oh look at the eyes.

Jeremiah: He can do that, and yet you know something else is going on behind those eyes. 

John: Yeah.

Jessica: It’s true.

John: I am always tempted to just write six episodes that was Nate and Maggie fighting crime before they get divorced, just bang them out for the winter. It’d be fantastic.

Jessica: I'm all for that.

Jeremiah: Here we go, another kind of fun little hand off.

John: And yeah, three-way pass. We actually wind up doing this pattern in the season finale; this particular handoff style. And it's nice, because by duplicating- and even with the same hand motion that Chris does, and by duplicating it in the finale, we establish that they've been working together long enough that they’ve got this rhythm down.

Melissa: They have the rhythms.

Jessica: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

John: Exactly. Great dress on Kari.

Melissa: Yeah. And it was a dress she had to wear for the rest of the episode.

Jeremiah: Ages. For ages.

John: It's not Richard Kind in the finale in his bathrobe- he was in his bathrobe for a week on an oil tanker.

[Laughter]

John: Yeah, that's slightly more pleasant. And it was also nice because we got to define, sort of, what Jeri’s character was like, and she will actually, kind of, enjoy watching Nate twist on the end of a rope there. 

Jessica: Yeah, they developed chemistry with Jeri- well with Tara, so quickly that just made it so fun to write, so much fun to shoot that, like, just became comfortable and the play between her and Nate was so natural.

John: And this is- we don't usually send Eliot on the con.

Jessica: No.

John: This was a lot of fun.

Melissa: That is the official Zanzibar Marketplace.

Jessica: This is what a Zanzibar Marketplace is.

John: And now, as you may have seen on FBI files or in video tapes-

[Laughter]

John: No, there is nothing more fun than the awkward boyfriend/girlfriend meeting. Whatever paradigm you wanna-

Jeremiah: The exes.

John: Yeah, the exes awkward conversation yeah. And Nate’s veiled threat about how dumb and foolish and good looking the thief is. No it was all-

Melissa: Yes, yes.

Jeremiah: And Kari’s reaction. Always nuanced and always interesting.

John: Yeah.

Jessica: And we haven't talked about Sam yet. 

John: Anthony-

Melissa: Andrew.

Jessica: No, but his character name is Sam. Yes. And he was great, he came in, we sort of got him- we found him at the last minute and it was just fantastic.

Jeremiah: He was unctuous, in a redefinition of the word. 

[Laughter]

John: Unctuous squared. Yeah. No, and that's a nice beat there, too, that you never get the- That was a big thing that we wanted, there were two or three scenes that we needed to do between Tara and Nate. One of them being she doesn't stop him from drinking, and this was where we drop that one. And then the finale, the way she does stop him from drinking is actually taking his booze and drinking it; she doesn't lecture him, she just deprives him of it.

Jessica: Yeah.

John: Yeah, this is a great job. Is that a brand? Did smart computers pay us money? I don't remember getting that check.

Jeremiah: No.

Jessica: There is the Fabergé egg. The first one we ordered showed up- and Melissa and I picked it up. We forgot to check the size! 

Jeremiah: It was one inch.

Jessica: Yeah, it was one inch tall.

[Laughter]

John: Oh, that's great.

Jessica: The props guy came to us and said, ‘This isn't gonna work.’

John: We have a small problem. Where did Eric find the second egg?

Melissa: I think it was the same website and he just embellished it and made it one of a kind.

John: That's good. And this was a lot of fun; this was a lot of technobabble, figuring out how the webcam would work. I have to admit I’m fascinated by web cameras, I'm fascinated by the idea of open informational- this bright vital information also being open information that anyone can hack.

Jeremiah: Information must be free.

John: It must be- it wants to be free. But it shouldn't be.

Jeremiah: So they say.

[Laughter]

John: And then trying, basically trying to do the stall that would be echoed in the kidnapping stuff later. If you think about it, we basically set up everything that's gonna happen in the fifth act in this sequence.

Jessica: That's true. That was totally intentional.

John: It’s like we do this for a living.

Melissa: Yes. We’re getting there.

[Laughter]

John: Yeah, slowly but surely.

Jessica: Poor Aldis did a fantastic job. We gave him- we handed him just two pages of straight dialogue that he just had to spew out, and did a fantastic job just getting all of it, ‘cause-

Jeremiah: And made him look good doing it.

Jessica: Totally makes him look great.

Jeremiah: Which, as we know, is the most important. 

John: It is. It’s competence porn. It's good watching characters who are good at their jobs doing interesting things. 

Jessica: That’s really true.

John: It's one of the things that people like in television. And the biggest-

Jessica: This was so fun.

John:  It really was in the writers room was like, list the things that can go horribly wrong at a party. 

Melissa: For Nathan Ford.

John: You meet your ex, she's with a better looking guy, and then your ex wife and your girlfriend get along really well. It really just went right through the checklist.

Jessica: That is true, yeah, that was fun.

John: And also the idea, again, that your first instinct in a lot of these is to play the woman as being jealous and that's just really petty and, kind of, television. And the idea that Kari-

Jeremiah: I like doing this is a one, circling and having them play it out, with all those people around them isolating them like this. It was- 

John: Well it's kinda cool also that in a one- when we've got the sound off-

Jeremiah: And they finish.

Melissa: And they walk out of it.

John: In a one with the sound off, you can see the choices the actors make. I noticed this in one of the other episodes, you can really read the emotions when you've got actors this good. You don't need the sound; you know how this conversation’s going.

Jessica: It’s true.

John:  It goes up a little, down a little, up a little, they resolve, they're ok.

Jeremiah: Beth looking amazing.

Melissa: Yes that dress.

Jessica: Yeah Beth looking amazing.

John: And then keeping- and this was a lot of fun, actually, doing a sequence of Mark Sheppard as Sterling.

Jessica: And giving him to play more of the comedic, you know, side. Which we just don't see Sterling do very often.

John: No, and Mark is a ridiculously funny human being.

Jessica: He is; he was so great at it and just-

John: Now that room was originally a burn room. That was actually- remember that?

Melissa: Yes.

Jessica: Oh yeah.

John: That was gonna be a room that, you know, was in the embassies. And the CIA used the set up that if you press the button, everything in the room would basically be torched, but it was one of those things we never wound up using, but it was one of those really geeky research things that writers like that just don't work in the plot in the form.

Jessica: Don’t have room for it.

Melissa: Or don’t exist in locations.

John: Don’t exist in locations. I love when he grabs his face.

[Laughter]

John: He's just lovely. Yeah, you really get the sense that in the old days, Nate was the really straight uptight one and Sterling was the one who occasionally would do this sort of bullshit. The street punk.

Jessica: It's true.

Jeremiah: Mark just loved doing this. 

Jessica: He did.

John: Just, ‘you're such a kind man’.

Jeremiah: I think his son was on set for this, too.

Jessica: He was, yeah.

Melissa: Yes, he liked that as well.

Jessica: Max is his name, and he- was the son’s name.

John: And this is a common structure. When you're writing your Leverage spec, because we did the bottle show earlier today; it's a fairly common structure that the episode in theory is over at the end of the second or third act. You’ve accomplished goal one and either Nate’s hubris insists that you go farther, or you have some sort of organic result from the complications from the success. It can never be random, I'm not that good a writer, but I do insist that just stuff cant drop out of the sky; it has to be reasonably- it has to be a consequence of the action.

Jessica: They succeed too well, usually; that's one of the things we try to do.

John: Yeah and Hardison- Aldis playing the hatred of Sterling really nicely. Both of them play that really well.

Jeremiah: What's interesting on Leverage, just as a theme, is that things generally happen moving forward out of the success rather than the failure. Which differentiates it from other shows, which set out a plan which fail more often than not, and then consequences move the story forward.

John: Well it's the reverse of the- I love the fact that she knows his earbud voice, that's lovely. And Tim, by the way-

Jeremiah: Very defensive here. 

John: Tim despite- no matter what you write, it wouldn't work unless he really could play this ‘you have no right to be mad at me’ voice. He does the screwed up-

Jeremiah: And very cool, kind of.

John: Yeah, that is nice.

Jeremiah: Ethereal.

John: How'd you get the multiple images there?

Jeremiah: Just multiplexing them, and, you know, it’s a secret.

John: Is it a director secret? They have to hire you in order to be able to do that? I was unaware.

Jessica: Now this is a fun location. ‘Here actors, lay on this really dirty floor for 8 hours.’

[Laughter]

Melissa: Luckily it smells like cinnamon.

John: Why'd it smell like cinnamon?

Melissa: You know, I'm not sure- I don't know what that building- 

Jessica: It was like a former Cinnabon factory or something.

Melissa: I don't know.

John: No, you're just making that up.

Jessica: No, I swear.

Melissa: She is. She is making that up.

Jessica: Ok, but it did smell like cinnamon buns.

Melissa: It did smell like cinnamon.

John: Alright, sure.

Jessica: And the floor was sticky; it was really sticky.

John: Oh hey, that's something I don't need to know. 

Jeremiah: This is something people really didn't need to know.

John: Well you know, you admire Kari a bit more for being in that dress on that floor, cause he's in a suit.

Jessica: Right? These guys are troopers.

John: That is also- the bit with the door when she said it was locked is absolutely taken from my marriage.

[Laughter]

Melissa: Yes, I was gonna say, you pitched that bit.

John: I pitched that bit. I was like, ‘I already said: locked.’

Jessica: This is interesting. It was interesting to shoot and write the team alone with Sterling. You don't have Nate as a buffer anymore and it was sort of uncomfortable, like, to write it and to shoot it, it felt like there was something wrong.

John: What are your thoughts on staging this? Cause this is not a dynamic we've ever done.

Jeremiah: Iconically I knew where I had to be, which is the team against him. 

John: Yup.

Jeremiah: And so you want to work with Christian, who’s, kind of, bridging the gap and having to make the decision, because he's the one who's gonna have to make it all happen anyway. It's either gonna be Mark’s plan, or it’s gonna be the gang’s plan.

John: Left and right. So that's why they are in the same frame it’s like we choose one or the other.

Jeremiah: And then basically, he will make his choice, as you see. You know, right now we don't know exactly where we're going and Mark is making his pitch.

John: I think when we were writing it, we didn't really know where we were going at this point.

[Laughter]

John: I think writing we were like, ‘And then they get kidnapped and stuff happens.’

Jeremiah: See there, Christian makes his decision right’ he's already made his decision, he stands with the team, he says this is the- and Mark- 

John: Hates it.

[Laughter]

Melissa: Yeah.

John: There's a- it's a great bit that we- you know, it kind of throw away the Eliot beating the hell out of him in the opening of this, and it became such a big thing that the last shot- the two actors dug in on it so much, the second to last shot on the finale, Christian is walking past Mark and they look at each other, and you just feel like it could come to blows in that half a second that they pass each other. No, they're very aware of each other.

Jessica: Yeah, there's good tension there.

John: And this is Nick and Nora. You know what? Seriously man, you can just write Nick and Nora with the two of these for five years. It’s impatience. What I love also is that her brain is moving as fast as his is. Although we do do the vindication of the evil boyfriend here, so that's kind of nice. He's lovely in this.

Jessica: Such a great job.

John: Cause he’s selling the con.

Jeremiah: Trying hard not to tip it.

Jessica: Yeah.

John: Yeah, now cause he's- cause forgive me, he is- we haven't seen Matt Keesler yet. No we haven't yet, so that's actually the first confirmation we have that he might be the bad guy, when we do the complicated double cross.

Melissa: Yeah, Sam comes in and says- 

Jeremiah: The- for naturally gullible, we’ll believe it now. I don't think it’s strongly tipped by him being there.

John: No, no it's tricky. We always- we’re always- because we write con and heist shows, always wondering if we could fool ourselves. And to a great degree, the fans of the show are very hip to con and heist shows. But so many people have watched so much television that metastructure now is useless, because you never know if you're screwing with the structure or not. The bickering with the wire thing, lovely. The two of them utterly ignoring Sam sitting there was really great.

Melissa: Well it's not often that we change bad guys midstream; we usually are aimed at-

John: We did in the season opener, but he was plainly an accomplice. This is one of the few times we do the- again, crime story, the guy you think is innocent is actually in on it.

Melissa: It’s true.

John: No it- no, this was a lot of fun, and this was also a typical thing in the writers room of: ‘Yes we've locked them in a room with no escape. What interesting things do they do to get out of here?’

[Laughter]

Jessica: ‘Oh shoot, this worked too well.’

John: Yeah, I guess what would be in a room? And then we locked Rieder in a closet for two days until she came up with some really good ideas about how to get out.

Melissa: How to get out.

Jessica: I did; I torched my way out.

John: Yeah, it was nice; it was nicely done.

Jessica: That's what happens when you’re the lowest writer on the totem pole. ‘Is it possible to escape this room without dying? I don't know, let's use Rieder again.’ 

John: Hey, you proved your worth multiple times, by the way.

Jessica: I'm getting awfully good at the escape.

John: Yeah, to be fair, no one else is probably small enough to get out the ventilation shaft, but it was a valid attempt. No. And again with the bickering. Also web cameras. I remember when web cameras in hostage stuff first came in in television. And it'll be interesting to see in 10 years what technology has done to crime writing.

Jessica: That's true.

Jeremiah: It'll change it again. Well telephones now in crime writing totally transformed them.

John: Well that's yeah 24 shows with the cell phone. We kind of upped the things with the earbud, but the idea that-

Jeremiah: You never see a show where the hero goes up to a phone booth with somebody in it. Opens the phone booth, not that you can ever find a phone booth, but assuming you could, and throws him out in order to use the phone.

John: It's interesting, somebody on YouTube did a great clip of all ‘There's no signal on my cell phone.’

[Laughter]

Melissa: Yes.

John: You have to have a really good- constant communication between all your cast members is brutal for suspense. And you know it's- but it's expected now, and you really have to jump through hoops- 

Jeremiah: Well the only time that you lose cell phone coverage is when you absolutely need it.

John: Yes, exactly.

Jeremiah: That's a rule. There you go, electrocuted.

John: Yup and Maggie has no problem with shocking a man. I like Matt Keesler’s reflexes there. ‘I fully expected there to be a wall of flame when I walked in, sometimes this happens.’

Jessica: This is sort of the one moment where we let Kari- or Maggie, be sort of the typical girl, you know, where she's holding the gun like that- holding her clutch, you know, yeah.

John: Well guns are uncomfortable things.

Jeremiah: And now we reveal.

John: And that was- by the way, just as one of the directors- we have very few directors. When, you know, you have to do the flashbacks, the flashback reveals, that's gotta be a pain in the ass. Because, you know you've gotta overshoot the scene, you've gotta know where your stopping point is and you can't rely on the editor to do it.

Jeremiah: You just have to be specific in your head. I mean, for me, I just play the show in my head and then copy it.

John: Yeah, oh is that it?

[Laughter]

Jeremiah: It's really easy.

Jessica: Well if it's that easy.

John: I had no idea it's that simple.

Jeremiah: I read the script, play it in my head, I go ‘Woah, that's a pretty good show,’ and then I just duplicate it.

John: Also in a weird way Sam is playing- I like the annoyance that this is actually a very good plan to murder us. 

Jessica: Yes, exactly.

John: Nate can't help but admire a good chess defense. I mean, even if it's beating him, he admires it. If you think about it, weirdly Sam, the bad guy here, is our usual victim. He's a guy who’s been ripped off by the financial machinations of the rich bastard he works for- 

Jeremiah: And he wants revenge.

John: Yes, he wants revenge. Ordinarily he'd be sitting in the bar crying, talking to Nate in the opening five minutes of this episode, if only he weren’t a murderous bastard.

Jessica: If the Leverage team had found him earlier they could have saved him from his evil self.

Melissa: That's true.

John: So how'd we come up with the elevator bit, guys?

[Laughter]

Jessica: I don't even remember how we came up with the elevators.

John: No, this was fun. I will say I really respect- we had a totally different physical ending, and Dean Devlin came to us and said, ‘I've seen the car bit’ and it was a car bit, it was the car exchange. He goes, ‘I've seen the car bit, now let's see something different,’ and walks out. And were like, ‘Ok, we won't use the same kidnapped ending that every other television show on earth uses.’

Jessica: And there's a reason they all use it. Cause you can't come up with anything else. 

[Laughter]

John: It's the only viable- and I can't remember.. then became the elevators and I can't remember- and we were actually on a whiteboard figuring out the timing and how high the building had to be and how long the display was-

Melissa: And if Eliot was up on the top floor or if he was on the bottom floor, we walked through-

John: Who cut away from each- we had like 4 different versions of this. 

Melissa: Yeah. 

John: No, and it was funny because I remember the day we finished that-

Jeremiah: One of my favorite shots here.

John: That's brilliant, that's really nice. Well that whole top floor shot like a bastard.

Melissa: Oh my god, it was gorgeous.

John: That was just the construction site, right? Was that-?

Jeremiah: Yeah, it was- hung the plastic to get the kind of silhouette look. 

Melissa: It's the same building that the bottom floor is where they were is where it smells like cinnamon. 

John: Oh interesting.

Melissa: And Portland has just lots of-

John: Yeah Portland really has not disappointed us; lots of great locations.

Melissa: Lots of variety of looks.

John: But yeah, we actually finished blocking the elevator switch and I was like, ‘I think we invented a crime trope.’ You know how long it's been since somebody invented a crime trope? It's pretty nice. No the elevator switch - that saved our ass.

Jessica: And John gets all the credit for coming up with the timing of how, you know, Hardison slowed down one and then sped it up. I remember when you came up with that you'd been in your office with your head down as you- like when you just need us to go away for a while, and then you come back into the writers room you're like, ‘I fixed it. I'm going home.’

[Laughter]

John: I did. I went home, I was like-

Jessica: You did, you were like, ‘I'm done for the day.’

John: ‘It's 20 floors, here’s the delay, here's the seconds per floor. I'm out.’

Jessica: Yeah. Only a guy who studied physics in college and is now a television writer is gonna come up with that. That was-

John: This is- by the way, nice performance here, cause this could be easy to get very hackneyed in here and Tim and Kari keep it very grounded. And I love Matt just folding up. 

[Laughter]

Jessica: Yeah.

John: Just because, you know what? I'll be the first to say that's me. I'm in the corner handcuffed in an elevator with a bomb, I’m weeping and talking to Jesus.

[Laughter]

Jeremiah: Nice moment.

Melissa: Good to know.

John: Good to know. Well, it takes a bomb.

Jessica: It takes a bomb to get John to pray.

John: Just in case. ‘I know it's meaningless, so, you know, on the off chance I'm wrong’. Oh no, this is a lovely ending; this worked out really well. And you know what? That's why I say credit to Dean. It is a more interesting ending, you know? He's very good at challenging us.

Jessica: Every now and then Dean comes in and puts a gun to our head and it works out.

John: Nice blow by the way. You did a real blow there, didn't you?

Jeremiah: Yeah.

John: Yeah.

Jeremiah: And real fire.

John: And the victory gloat. 

Jessica: I love it.

John: This, by the way, is one of my favorite effects shots.

Jeremiah: I'm glad I fought for this.

John: Yeah, this was great- this was hard to do. Cause we actually wound up building the tops of the elevators and then shooting the jump, the leap across. There you go. I love- she's just- she knows what they're doing she just- we all know and up. And Matt, oh- 

Jeremiah: ‘What the-?’

John: And I love Karis reaction there like, ‘You sons of bitches.’ 

Jessica: Yeah, exactly.

John: But I love- I think it's actually in the script that-

Jeremiah: I like this shot a lot.

John: It's a beautiful shot. We built most of it, wound up building most of it practically, just a little CG assist. And we almost found her a place to let us ride elevators. They were like, ‘We'll let you do it, but if you die we won’t- the insurance wont cover it.’ Ok, in that case, fine.

[Laughter]

John: I love the look on Matt's face, because it's actually in the script and that character stands there with a look of a guy who just saw his girlfriend kiss her ex-husband goodbye right in front of him.

Jessica: That is the look; yup, he got it.

Melissa: Foiled.

John: Foiled. Gloaty-gloaty foiling and then the whole getting away, the whole, you know, how do they get away? Because originally, we made much more of a deal of the fact that it was an embassy, that it was an embassy car. Cause I had lived in New York for a while-

Jeremiah: There's Matt barfing into a trash can.

John: Yes. ‘The first bomb’s always the hardest.’ I love Parker’s attempts at humanity, they just never go well.

Jessica: Yeah, it’s true. Originally in the script there was more about the embassy being a safe haven, and we hit a little- a lot more-

Melissa: He was so untouchable.

Jessica: And so- I think we were all concerned that the thing at the end when we switched the plates wouldn’t play, but I think it still totally holds up. It's that you hit it enough, and you're familiar enough that it-

John: Yeah, we hit it 3 times and that's generally the rule. Good entrance there for Jeri, by the way, there.

Jeremiah: Yeah.

John: Nicely done.

Jeremiah: This all felt really good. This is complex to stage all this.

John: There's six people there, with one in the deep background, you know, we're not easy, yeah.

Jeremiah: Dean did this.

John: Dean shot this whole ending sequence.

Jeremiah: I was doing that.

John: I think you were blowing stuff up at this point.

Jessica: Yeah, Glenn and Jeremiah were blowing stuff up, and me and Dean were outside freezing our asses off in Portland in the rain. It was so cold there that day.

John: And yet 107, like, two weeks earlier when we were shooting the other one.

Jessica: Yes!

Melissa: When they were shooting the one where it was all onstage, the bottle show-

John: That was 107 degrees. When you're actually outside, it's freezing.

Jeremiah: All the faces here really sell-

John: Lana Veenker. I will give our Portland casting- she’s amazing. 

Jeremiah: She’s done a great job.

John: She has yet to disappoint us. And really has not only that, surprised us. Like I said, we planned on bringing up three or four actors a week; we brought up one, if that.

Jessica: Yeah.

Melissa: This one we had a few special guests, so.

John: Yeah, we brought up a few more. 

Melissa: Had a few more plane tickets.

John: But what was I going to say? Oh, the original ending, also, when you get to the point where- wow, there's a lot of flashes in this one. It's tricky, you gotta make sure they are all the right length, too.

Jessica: Yeah.

John: If they start to get too long, you lose your sense of where time is. 

Jessica: Yeah.

John: The end of this, you guys wrote it, you went up with Jeremiah and shot it, and I was working on the finale. And I was like, well- and Dean and I were trying to find a bad guy for the finale, for the second half of the finale and we’re like, it should be Sterling, but Sterling investigates art theft and we’re doing our crime, like our international crime episode. ‘God, it'd be- god, I wish Sterling was the Interpol agent.’ And it was one o’clock in the morning, and Dean tells this story in the commentary. One o’clock in the morning where I go, ‘Well why don't we just make Sterling Interpol?’ And Dean’s like, ‘Yes, that's it!’ I said, ‘Are we being really smart or really tired?’

[Laughter]

Melissa: Cause it was like the next day. We were shooting the reactions in the bar.

John: So none of this should play in any way shape or form as that revelation. So that's why we wound up actually shooting the news follow up, like, months later.

Melissa: Right.

Jessica: Right, yup.

John: And then putting different words in his mouth. I love the way Mark plays to the crowd here, though, he was fantastic. 

Jessica: Oh yeah.

John: And that's a great shirt too

Jessica: It’s perfectly Sterling. I think that's actually Mark’s shirt, isn't it?

John: It is. This is all Mark’s wardrobe.

Jessica: Yeah, Mark likes to bring his own shirts.

John: When he's not acting, he's fighting international crime. 

[Laughter]

John: This is great and then the smug look just for the freeze frame. There you go. And that is actually our production manager Benjamin Raymondjack as the CNN anchor.

Melissa: Did a great job.

Jessica: We use all the parts of the aimal here.

John: We use all the parts of the animal. If you were wandering outside our studio that day you may have been the CNN anchor.

[Laughter]

John: What’s great- and just the hatred. 

Jeremiah: Their reaction.

John: And also the way that Christian lets- finally Eliot lets her into the club with a shared hatred of Sterling. Yeah, but that entire- that entire ending was glommed on 4-5 weeks after.

Jessica: Yeah, literally, I think it was-

Jeremiah: Well we shot that week- but I knew that he was in Interpol.

John: No, we hadn't decided yet.

Jeremiah: No, you did.

John: Oh we had decided, but we hadn't shot it, that's right.

Jeremiah: That's right. So this, I shot the scene to be able to do that. 

John: Oh, there you go.

Jessica: Yeah, yeah.

Melissa: Originally I think we wrote it just to be that he got credit.

Jeremiah: This is a lovely scene; this is a very simple kind of button. It's just very simple and I wanted to keep the camera, sort of, out of upstaging the actors as I normally do.

John: Yeah. And you- I think you were one of the first to pull- to shoot from that side of the booth, too. Are they at a table or booth?

Jeremiah: Yeah, it's a booth.

John: I think you were the first to pull the wall out, you did in a previous-

Jeremiah: If there's a wall, I will pull it out.

John: Yeah, you pull it out. You know what? You did it in your first one, and then we did it again in The Bottle Job cause we were shooting in the bar, and then we did it again in this. No, it just allows you- it doesn't feel so claustrophobic shooting up against a wall.

Jeremiah: Well I don't like shooting up against walls. 

John: Yeah, there you go.

Jeremiah: There I go.

Jessica: This is- I think this is probably one of my favorites; in the episode I was off camera crying. Like, I had just loved the two of them together and, you know-

Jeremiah: Yeah, they're good.

John: Well I love the fact that Nate is the worst judge of his character. You know, both Sophie and Maggie are better judges of who he should be and, you know, what he can do.

Jeremiah: Well by the way, I think one of the reasons we like Nate is cause he really has the love of two great women.

John: That’s a good point.

Jeremiah: And that sort of the villain who- puppies love him.

Jessica: It's true.

Jeremiah: You love him. It doesn't matter if he's John Demenia, puppies love him.

John: And Demenia was framed. It's interesting. When you say villain- cause we were talking about this the other day. Tim’s really found- Tim and I talked about this a lot before the season started. As you pull layers off Nate Ford, most guys are like, ‘You get to know him and so you get to know his softer side.’ That's the standard television trope. Nate gets more awful the more you get to know him. He's more judgemental, he's angrier, he's dunker, he's got a violent past. And that's the episode. That was nicely done, guys. Would you like to say anything to the nice folks before we wrap it up?

Jessica: There we go.

Jeremiah: Just- I would watch the next one.

[Laughter]

John: There you go. Thank one hopefully you and millions of others. Kids?

Jessica: No, we had fun; it was great.

Melissa: Good night.

Jessica: Good night.

John: Nicely done.

[rodneymckays]

stargate episodes that should have been, part 20: an alternate reality episode where cam went to atlantis and sheppard joined sg-1. in this universe cam wasn’t injured in antarctica and i think that he is the kind of guy who would go to another galaxy for fun and also because he has to do the Best thing he can possibly do and that’s going to another galaxy. sheppard for whatever reason didn’t sit in the chair but did still fly jack down to antarctica so when they’re looking for sg-1’s fourth jack is like “well there’s this guy i met who kinda reminds me of me except he likes antarctica for some reason” so he becomes sg-1’s fourth under sam’s command. i think at first that would cause issues because of his problems with following orders + sam is new to her command and feeling somewhat insecure about it BUT these issues aren’t with sheppard disobeying sam’s orders they’re just sam worrying that he will. because sheppard only disobeys orders that he sees as bad and from what i remember of s4 + his personality in general he really respects sam. anyways this is actually a 3-parter because you have the sg-1 episode where our sg-1 meets the other sg-1, the atlantis episode where our atlantis people meet the other atlantis people, and then the crossover where they all meet one another because you can’t have the sheppards and the cams not meet themselves. i have no idea where in the timeline it is beyond “not season 4” because there are inconsistencies, but whatever. it’s also very long so i am using paragraph breaks for once!! also i will be putting a 1 after the duplicates from the show universe and a 2 after the duplicates from the au for clarity. (everyone without a number is the only one of themselves present and is from the au). also i definitely got carried away and this is too much plot and not enough character interaction even though i originally thought this one up for the character interactions, oops.

EPISODE 1: SG-1. somehow, our sg-1(1) is pulled through to this other reality. something to do with ba’al messing with some ancient tech in the other reality. the sg-1(2) of that reality, led by sam2 and featuring a major sheppard2, has snuck onto the ha’tak ba’al is using as his base of operations. they run into our sg-1(1) and there’s some spider-man pointing meme and then sam1 and sam2 start discussing how this could have happened while the valas compliment each other’s hair and cam1 and sheppard2 go “wait but you’re supposed to be in atlantis” “no, YOU’RE supposed to be in atlantis.” eventually we find out that ba’al is using ancient tech to develop a hyperdrive capable of traveling between galaxies, which the goa’uld don’t have. his test destination is the pegasus galaxy because he figures that if it works for one jump but then fails, then he can just turn up at atlantis and ask the tau’ri for help again after threatening them lightly to save face. obviously the humans don’t want ba’al going to pegasus, because we like our villains to stay confined to just one galaxy, and also if his hyperdrive works then he could destroy atlantis or ally himself with the wraith or be defeated by the wraith and have his ship captured and now the wraith have an intergalactic hyperdrive or—well, there’s lots of ways it could go wrong, and sg-1(1) gets the point that they need to help sg-1(2) stop ba’al. they spend much of the episode tracking ba’al and sneaking around the ship, until they finally corner ba’al in the engine room and teal’c2 shoots him. unfortunately, they enter hyperspace almost immediately after this, and are captured by… another ba’al. END.

EPISODE 2: ATLANTIS. somehow, our atlantis team1 is pulled through to this other reality. something to do with mckay2 and zelenka messing with some ancient tech in the other reality. our atlantis team1 is quickly locked in interrogation rooms because who are they and why is major sheppard with them instead of colonel mitchell? this tips off mckay1 to the fact that they’re now in an alternate reality. fortunately mckay2 and zelenka have already reached this conclusion and they’re let out of the interrogation rooms just in time for news to reach atlantis that a ha’tak has arrived in pegasus. (and also before ronon1 and ronon2 start fighting instead of just glaring menacingly at one another, because who thought it was a good idea to have ronon2 interrogate ronon1. he didn’t even ask any questions.) alternate weir decides to send the atlantis team2 in to investigate but mckay2 is like “i’ll need someone to help me with the goa’uld tech, we’ll take zelenka” but zelenka is immediately like “no?? there’s another you here. take him. i don’t like leaving the city” so it’s decided that both mckays will go, and you can’t send mckay1 without the rest of his team so EVERYONE is going. they take two jumpers because mitchell2 and sheppard1 both want to fly the jumper. when they arrive through the space gate that the ha’tak is near, they see a badly damaged wraith hive with no life signs. the ha’tak has also taken some damage, but much less, and they’re able to fly through a hole in the hull to board. they detect minimal life signs: two on the bridge, eleven in the cells, and a few others scattered around that must be ba’al’s jaffa. the group decides to split up; they toss a coin and mitchell’s team2 goes to the bridge while sheppard’s team1 goes to the cells. when sheppard’s team1 arrives at the cells, they find them unguarded but locked. mckay1 cracks the lock and we see the cell doors slide open. cut to the bridge. when mitchell’s team2 arrives, they see one of the dots on the life signs detector begin to fade. mckay2 gets the door open just in time to see ba’al collapse to the floor, having been fed on by a wraith. END.

EPISODE 3: CROSSOVER. what the hell, ba’al is in a wraith now. (i’ve always wondered about what would happen if the goa’uld met the wraith; would they fight and if so who would win? or would a goa’uld take a wraith as a host? is that even possible? i say yes because it’s Fun.) the symbiote entered the wraith and then promptly fed on his former host because he was hungry. this is obviously Terrible News because the wraith are bad enough but tbh they’re not very smart. ba’al is. mitchell’s atlantis team2 all point their weapons at him and radio sheppard’s atlantis team1 to let them know there’s now a goa’uld with a wraith host. sheppard1 responds and says “ok, we’ll we’ve got two sg-1s here. and also todd” to which mitchell2 replies “who the hell is todd?” (“pale skin, long hair, likes to suck your soul out with his hand but makes it weird by returning your soul ten minutes later?” “oh you mean casper.” “what the hell kind of a name is casper?” “what the hell kind of a name is todd?!”) we find out that “casper”, who is of course alternate todd but was named casper by mitchell2, was on the hive ba’al disabled. he and one other wraith were taken aboard the ha’tak, and he was put in the cell for later in case the first implantation of a wraith didn’t work. he’s willing to help everyone defeat wraith ba’al, because goa’ulds taking wraith as hosts is bad for the wraith too. so they do some stuff, and with much difficulty, kill wraith ba’al. it’s harder than killing a normal wraith because he has the goa’uld regenerative ability, and also he keeps feeding on his jaffa to recover after being shot. eventually they manage to trick him into a set of rings and space him. then they have to decide what to do with the ha’tak. casper wants it for himself because of the intergalactic hyperdrive and turns on them. they manage to activate the self destruct and flee back to the jumpers. they believe that casper is destroyed in the self destruct, but he survives somehow. the rest of the episode is the sams, mckays, and zelenka trying to figure out how to send sg-1(1) and the atlantis team1 home. we also get a few character moments between everyone and their counterparts: cam2 and both sheppards discuss puddlejumpers while cam1 is sad because he doesn’t have the gene and never received gene therapy so he can’t fly a puddlejumper. they break into medical to convince beckett to give cam1 the gene therapy; they’re pretty sure it’ll work on him since it worked on cam2. it does, and the cams and the sheppards immediately have a race to the mainland and back. (the sheppards win, but it’s close, and the cams try to blame it on the fact that cam1 has never flown a jumper before while everyone else has.) the daniels go to the library together and share their knowledge about the ancients and the ori; mostly they know the same stuff but they do both learn a few new things. the ronons fight one another. it’s a draw. the teylas and the teal’cs watch the ronons fight, and then meditate. the valas flit between each of the groups and compare their versions of everyone. vala1 ends up in weir’s office and bugs her with a bunch of questions until weir actually puts down her work and just Hangs Out. vala2 ends up with the cams and the sheppards because she’s absolutely best buds with sheppard2 and desperately wants to meet sheppard1. anyways after everyone hangs out for awhile they go home and it’s a very :) ending, which is what they need after All That.

i like this character swap idea a lot because after watching the pegasus project i was kinda chomping at the bit for more character interaction between sheppard and the rest of sg-1. particularly vala. more after the cut cause i wanna yell about all the other stuff i love about this!!

i also like the idea of sheppard not being in the team leader position. it makes me wonder what him following orders offworld, particularly sam’s, would look like. i don’t remember him and sam butting heads over command decisions in quite the same way him and elizabeth did at the start (sheppard wanting to go go go, make slapdash decisions, usually in an effort to help people, altho sometimes misguided, particularly in hot zone, vs elizabeth who was often looking towards a less militaristic approach, i.e not trading explosives to the genii, not torturing a POW etc. and who took her time making decisions). but then again, both sam and john are military. so, it’d be interesting to see how sam manages him along with the rest of the team. also, since hes not in a leadership position (no ones counting on him to keep the team together), would he be even more gungho about the self-sacrifice play? or just the same as ever? anyway, enough about john (once i start, i can’t stop, it seems), let’s get into the episodes!!

Episode 1:

“if it works for one jump but then fails, then he can just turn up at atlantis and ask the tau’ri for help again after threatening them lightly to save face.” LMAO truly ba’al’s modus operandi.

and the wraith potentially stealing hyperdrive technology is DEFINITELY something sg teams of all universes and galaxies should team up to put a stop to. a whole new galaxy to feed on?? not to mention earth??? NOT GREAT. the situation definitely calls for earth’s mightiest heroes squared.

also i appreciate a good sneak on an alien ship. especially times 2. and who would partner with who?? so many fun character combos!

Episode 2:

LMFAO OKAY. ronon vs ronon is such a ronon thing that i laughed out loud. both of them would definitely wanna know which one was tougher. also. also. i would love for zelenka and mckay1 to have a science twin moment and mckay2 to get all proprietary and be like “get ur own!”

i can’t imagine rodney would get along all that well with himself so its a good thing the rest of the teams will be there to run interference. and be separated on the ride there bahaha. cam and sheppard would totally fight over who gets to fly the cool spaceship (the teylas look at each other with raised eyebrows of sympathy and respect. both teams require them to pull on their reserves of infinite patience).

OOOO and ending on a CLIFFHANGER and INTRIGUE, QUICKLY, to the next episode!

Episode 3:

u kno, i was thinking earlier, after reading the first episode, what would an interaction between goa’uld and wraith look like? my immediate thought was, they are either gonna join forces to crush the stupid humans or fight because the goa’uld kinda need those humans for indentured servitude and, u kno, living. or, u kno, they would fight just because their ginormous egos clashed. but NEVER did the thought occur to me that a goa’uld might take a wraith as its host for its superior genetic makeup over humans (super strength, jedi mind tricks, telepathy etc.) and this is why ur brain is amazing. and a smart, conniving creature in control of a wraith body…spells trouble. and i didn’t even consider the double healing factor which would make any wraith on par with an uber wraith (that i dont remember ever seeing after the defiant one lol).

also cam naming his todd casper means everything to me. his ability to drop movie/pop culture references no one gets/appreciates is extremely endearing.

another amazing thing about this; sam actually gets to science with mckay and zelenka FOR ONCE. i’m really sad we were deprived this in season 4, like i get sam was the leader of the expedition in that season, and it wasn’t her job to be doing science/where is the time, but u can’t take the science out of the girl, no sir. i just wanted the beautiful mind children to be techno babbling it up, all with a begrudging respect for one another, as everyone stares in awe and confusion.

and cam gets to fly cool spaceships!!!! for leisure! with no one threatening his life! he did not get to do enough flying imo. and the teyla’s definitely deserve meditation time after dealing with double of their rambunctious team. and YES elizabeth deserves to have fUN. vala is the best person to help her with that. and vala and sheppard!!!! being buds!!! ALL I HAVE EVERY WANTED FROM STARGATE! what a fantastic ending to a wonderful series of episodes.

[3pirouette]

Fic: The Honey Trap (4/?)

Distribution: AO3 Anyone else please ask first :)

Story Summary: Peggy’d lost count. She wasn’t sure if she was a double or triple agent at this point, and in the end, it didn’t matter. What mattered was getting out of this alive.

Chapter Summary: She almost couldn’t breathe sometimes with how much it hurt to sit and wait, knowing her coworkers were now snickering behind her back at the made-up stories, and knowing none of them understood how much she cared for that 98 pound man who’d stuttered at her in the backseat of a car as he called her beautiful.

Chapter A/N: Again, eyes to the time stamps. :) Progress will be slow and steady with this, and likely interrupted by Steggy Week on Tumblr, but it is far from abandoned. Thank you for all the support with this so far.

Chapter 4: The Theatrics

October 1944

Peggy pulled the door of the bathroom shut behind her, finally letting out a shaky breath as she flipped the lock into place. She nearly stumbled to the sink, leaning her hands on the cold porcelain.

She needed something to ground her.

She looked up into the mirror, and knew it was a mistake.

Her eyes gave it all away, at least to her. They told volumes of how much it hurt, how much she was lying. She needed to get that under control, and fast, or the last four weeks of work were lost.

It hadn’t been difficult, at first, to slip into the typing pool. The work was boring and tedious but necessary, and she at least could make herself feel somewhat better knowing she was still doing important work for the war effort while she sat and waited for Wallace.

But after a few days, word got around and her co-workers got bold.

First it was Mary, at the next typewriter over, asking casually if Peggy had a beau. Then Florence from across the aisle piped in that she’d heard Peggy knew Captain America. She couldn’t exactly deny it, she needed word to get around so Wallace had a reason to talk to her, to pull her into Hydra, so she tried avoiding it. She hemmed and hawed, tried to look both lovelorn and sad.

She found that wasn’t too hard: she missed Steve terribly and the last image she had of him was burned into her brain. His sad, broken blue eyes watching her leave after smacking him wouldn’t leave her.

But then some of her co-workers got audacious.

She’d been under cover before, even deep cover where she’d had to say and do things she didn’t believe in or would have never done as herself to get information or to get what she needed. She knew this was no exception. But she’d never been in a situation where what she was lying about was so close to the truth. Pretending to betray crown and country was part of the job. She’d believed this would be no different.

Except the first time she heard one of the guys in the mailroom joke about her ‘serving under Captain America’ she felt all the air rush from her like she’d been punched in the chest.

The jokes and insinuations got bolder and filthier and just like every other female in the place, she didn’t have much she could do about it besides take it.

But every comment hidden in a joke, every insinuation that she was easy, every filthy wink and every invasive question kept the wound of leaving Steve fresh, kept the fear of him not waiting for her, of him eventually believing her betrayal, wide open.

She almost couldn’t breathe sometimes with how much it hurt to sit and wait, knowing her coworkers were now snickering behind her back at the made-up stories, and knowing none of them understood how much she cared for that 98 pound man who’d stuttered at her in the backseat of a car as he called her beautiful.

She tried to separate it, to tell herself that she’d fallen in love with Steve, that he was the man waiting for her and missing her, and that the Peggy Carter she was playing had been betrayed and played by the famous “Captain America.” It rarely worked, though.

What she did know was that it was easy now to look sad and lost and just a little bit desperate as she struggled to make friends in the typing pool. She’d come into it thinking she’d have to be standoffish, that she’d have to force the story Wallace so desperately needed to let them infiltrate Hydra, but she was sickened at how easy it was to simply let it happen and how well her co-workers played into it.

Peggy ran the cold water and let her wrists sit under it until it was almost painful, enough to recenter her and bring her mind back into focus. She’s seen Wallace around the building, but he still hadn’t made contact.

There was still so much to be done, and no room for her own life and needs to get in the way, not with Hydra still a threat.

~*~

November, 1944

She strolled the street, arm in arm with Wallace. He was rambling on about taking her somewhere to dinner, but she just kept a tight smile on her face.

She couldn’t let him know her heart skipped a beat every time she saw a set of broad shoulders and blonde hair on every GI that passed them in the street. She couldn’t let him know she was both terrified and excited about maybe seeing Steve because she knew the 107th was in London.

“Maggie?”

His voice, and concerned gaze, shook her out of her reverie. She still didn’t answer to Maggie right away, but she’d asked him to call her that. Sometimes his tone was just a little too close to Steve’s and it made her heart ache when he called her “Peg.”. She smiled up at him. “Sorry, lost in the clouds for a second.”

He hid his concern well, but she could still see the quick flicker of his eyes. “Ah, that’s my Maggie.” He laughed it off, knowing they were being watched by Hydra. He’d been romancing her for two weeks now, and Hydra was still unsure if they could trust her. Wallace was trying to keep from pushing too hard, and she knew she needed to make a convincing sell to the men who were listening to their wire for the next few dates. “Always got her beautiful head in the clouds.”

If he’d been a real suitor, she would have stepped away, unlinked their arms, and marched herself right home. As it was, she could only smile. “Oh, you know me so well.” She tried to make her voice light, but she knew it was still tight and clipped. “What had you asked?”

He turned her down the next block and pointed at two restaurants only a few doors down from each other, smiling. “Pub or French Bistro?”

They went to dinner here often, the Hydra surveillance team was centered in a building on the corner, and it made it easy for them to listen in. Peggy bit her lip and pretended to think hard between the places after she saw the curtain on the window at the corner move. She hated being watched. Though she liked the idea of wasting Hydra’s money and resources on a French bistro, she knew the poor place had just as few resources as the pub, and at least at the pub there might be more noise, more distraction. She couldn’t make it easy, though. “Oh, Richard,” she started, sounding exasperated and pulling at this coat, “We’ve come down here for dinner nearly every time we’ve been out. What about the little Italian place a few blocks down? Or a good old fish and chip?”

Richard Wallace smiled. He was a good sport, and great undercover agent. Despite her anxiety, she felt safe working with him, and he always seemed to know exactly which tactic she was taking right when she was taking it. “Aw, Mags, I was just…” he laughed anxiously, but his eyes glinted. “I know I get a little predictable sometimes, but maybe next time, ok? I was hoping you’d say the bistro this time, and maybe we could have a nice dinner, just the two of us.”

She looked at the bistro façade sadly, her eyes catching the movement in the apartment window again. She squeezed his arm and he squeezed back. “I just… what with the rationing, it just makes me sad every time I go in and it doesn’t taste the same.”

“I know,” he turned, pulling her back against the brick behind them to allow other pedestrians to pass, nodding his head. “And a Sheppard’s pie always tastes the same, no matter what.”

“Quite,” she finished with a smile.

“It’s just…” he reached down and held her hand, then tapped out a few letters in morse code against her palm as he took a slow, deep breath for their eves droppers to hear. Say no he tapped out, smiling at her. “I was just hoping if I romanced you a bit, you’d see how serious I am about you. That I’m ready to take everything to the next level.”

She didn’t have to feign the distraction, the way her eyes turned sharply from his across the street. It wasn’t Steve, but Barnes and Dugan who drew her eye, the laugh of the latter ringing out bright on the dreary night. They didn’t see her, but it was enough to send her into a tailspin.

“Maggie, are you…”

“The soldiers…” she bit out quickly, turning back to him. “There are just so many tonight. Why are there so many?” She used the anxiety, let it fuel her as she pressed forward. “Do you think there will be an attack?”

“Maggie, I…”

“I’ve been so nervous all day,” she clutched at his hands, squeezing tight. Up close, as she was, she could see the concern in his eyes for her. “When I was on the front, I knew what was coming. But now? Now I know nothing and I can’t stand not knowing and all you want to talk about is dating and duck a l’Orange?” She huffed, turning on her heel. “Richard, I—”

“I’ll take you home,” he interjected, turning her swiftly and moving her forward. “I didn’t mean to push.”

“No, I- I’m sorry. I’ve just been so nervous.” She stopped and took his hand gently. “I do like you, Richard.” She swallowed hard, but said the words she didn’t want to say anyway. “I was hurt, badly. And so very, very recently.” She looked down and away, with her head at just enough of an angle to see that their audience had ceased trying to hide and was watching inconspicuously from the window. “I just don’t know if I’m ready for that again.”

He lifted her chin with his hand, looking at her. “I’m not gonna hurt you, Maggie. Not like he did.”

She stared at him for a moment, then squeezed his hand. “You’re right. I think it’s best I go home tonight.”

“I’ll walk you, then,” he replied gently, moving them forward slowly.

You ok? He tapped out on her hand gently as they moved along the sidewalk.

Fine. She tapped back, head held high and straight forward.

They both knew it wasn’t the truth.

~*~

That Night

Dugan sat across from Barnes in the small Pub, eyeing his hat as the two men waited for their drinks. “You saw her, too, didn’t you?” he nearly whispered.

“I’m pretty sure it’s why Stevie didn’t want to come out tonight. He knows she’s here. Didn’t want to bump into her.” Barnes smiled up at the waiter as he dropped the mugs of beer off, pulling one towards him and taking a long pull. He winced at the warmth, but took another sip as warm beer was better than no beer.

Dugan winced himself, but was likewise undeterred. He looked at Barnes and folded his hands. “You ever get a clear story outta him about what happened?”

Bucky shook his head and looked away, smiling at a woman standing by the bar with her friend. “No.” He turned back to Dugan when another GI stepped up to the girl and her attention was pulled elsewhere. “No, I—” He sighed and stalled for time with another long drink. “Same bullshit he’s telling everyone.”

“Which is bullshit,” Dugan added, leaning on the table. “We both know the two of them weren’t just some… some…”

“She’s not some two-bit hussy sleeping with soldiers and Steve’s not an idiot.” Bucky bit out, remembering her face as he left her behind the mess, eyes wide with hurt and betrayal. “Stupid,” he mumbled, taking another sip, “but not an idiot.” Bucky shook his head and winced. “And neither is Phillips. No way the old man missed that clip in the newsreels.”

Dugan laughed, running his finger up and down the side of the mug, playing with the condensation. “Right? I was shocked as hell he let that get through.”

The two men were quiet for a moment, content to sip their warm beer and be anywhere other than a tented army base.

Bucky leaned back, spinning his empty mug and signaling for a refill. He let out a harsh sigh and shook his head as he pulled on his ear. “You don’t think… nah.”

Dugan chuckled and leaned forward. “That Phillips let that slip for a reason?”

Bucky leaned forward on the table in a flash, whispering. “It’s the only thing that makes sense- But, why?”

The men leaned back, silent, as the waiter dropped two more mugs on the table and took away the empty ones. They were ready for the warm, flat beer this time as they each took a sip, waiting and thinking.

“She is a spy,” Dugan started quietly. “Maybe she needed an out, or a cover, or something like that?”

Barnes shook his head, cradling his beer close to him. “But why drag Steve into it? Why all the theatrics?”

“She, uh…” Dugan swallowed hard and seemed a little uncomfortable bringing the obvious up. “She was with some guy. They did seem… close.”

Barnes slowly swallowed a mouthful of the beer, face sour. “I don’t like this at all.”

“The beer or the situation?” Dugan asked, trying to lighten the mood.

He winced. “Neither of them, any more than you like it.”

In one swift move Dugan drained the rest of his beer and stood, setting his bowler on his head. “C’mon. If she’s out an about, we better go keep him company inside somewhere before he gets into trouble.”

Bucky stood and drained his own mug, following out as he mumbled, “Stupid fool always seems to be getting himself in trouble, no matter what I do.”

[winterequinoxx]

that one time my friend and I got to meet Mark Sheppard via judicious use of her guide dog.

my friend (M) and her dog (B) spent a day at a Supernatural convention with me back in 2014. She's been a huge Mark Sheppard fan since Firefly days so the panel she was most looking forward to was his. but when she asked to have one of the Accessible seats towards the front she was told "No....not like it matters since you can't see him anyway" (cue me nearly punching a bitch). so....we got stuck sitting towards the back.

Here's the thing about Mr. Sheppard. he likes to wander during his panels. like...it's impossible to get him to stay on stage. she we cooked up a plan (M cooked up the plan. I was her eyes).

she sat at the center aisle, so B would have room and not have to be crammed under a chair since she was older and we were trying to keep her comfy. l was to elbow M as hard as possible to alert her when Mark came ANYWHERE near us, and she would stick her hand out in an attempt to get his attention.

it worked

he shook her hand, said a quiet "glad you're here" and we expected that to be it. then he looked down, saw the dog and harness, looked back to M, and turned the mic off and introduced himself, asked our names, and started asking some general questions about Service dogs.

at one point he said "may I ask, what type of vision loss do you have, or how sighted are you? I don't know the proper way to ask..."

She assured him that it was fine (and offered to let him pet B because HOLY SHIT WHY WOULDNT SHE-B wasn't actively working and M was safely seated) and said "I can tell light and dark. but that's about it....it's really funny.....I've been a fan of yours for years, but I've never seen your face."

Cue eyebrow cock, dropped pitch, and him practically PURRING "but you know my voice...."

omg we both just giggled and melted a bit, like I'm GLAD she couldn't see in that moment because the Charm oozing our of that man is damn near criminal.

I tried to be sneaky and get a picnof him talking to her, he caught me, I went to apologize, and he cut me off with "Hold on, your friend is getting a picture for you. I'm going to put my cheek against yours, love"

M, who has 2 masters degrees and approximately 0 braincells at this point: "Hehehehehh, OK!!!"

and that's how we shamelessly used a guide dog as bait to meet Mark Sheppard and he got yelled at by the other members of the panel because he disappeared for like, 3 minutes

[imalifegen89]

A Legacy Left Behind - Chapter - 5 - The Gemmond Incident

Part 4

Steve maintained a light jog and Captain Vega kept up the pace easily. They had all seen the Jumper rising to the sky to hover above the Wraith-Carrier to finish it off as promised. The explosion had been massive and instantaneous, making them feel the tremors that ran through the jungle floor even from the distance they were at. Then they had all seen the Jumper slowly turning away and heading towards the ground slightly faster than it should've been for a comfortable landing. Steve aimed a look at Danny who understood the order without Steve really having to verbalize and nodded an acknowledgement. Steve then took off towards the direction the Jumper had been heading with Vega in tow, as she was acting as the medic for this mission.

He heard the appreciative whistle Captain Vega let out seeing the site of destruction. The Spaceship had been turned to dust, literally. About a fifty-yard radius around the center of the explosion had been scorched and a few solitary trees had caught fire. But even as they looked, the fires were dying down. And most importantly, the containment of the blast, the way the pilot had managed the feat, was as close to as perfect as it could get.

They spent a few seconds taking in the sight and took off towards the Puddle Jumper that was now resting on the ground at the edge of the blast radius. The back door opened as they closed in. Steve let Vega enter first and followed right behind her. They had all heard the weariness that came through the comms when Sheppard had finally contacted them with the update. He remembered how Sheppard had looked when he caught him back in Afghanistan and he needed to see with his own eyes to make sure the man hadn't done himself any major damage.

They found both pilots more or less sprawled on their seats on the front. Lorne had his head resting on the control panel in front of him with both arms wrapped around his head securely. Sheppard had his chair halfway turned towards Lorne, his body stretched out with his left leg up, his foot resting on the side panel with the DHD. He was resting his head on the headrest of his seat with the back of one hand covering his eyes and the other just dangling at his side lifelessly. They presented a picture of two guys suffering from a massive hangover after a night of bar hopping and excessive drinking. Steve would have laughed at the sight if he hadn't known the real cause of this picture of misery.

"Alright you two, tell me who hurts more?" Vega was all business, but she kept her voice soft to avoid aggravating their obvious headaches.

Lorne raised a finger and pointed towards John without bothering to move any other part of his body. John mumbled something that sounded like ‘Lorne’ but came out more of a moan. Vega went for expedience. Since Sheppard was half-turned her way already and they could both see the markings on his face, she chose him first.

"Major, move your hand, I need to check you."

Sheppard sighed in agreement and slowly removed his hand. Steve could see the impressive bruising that covered most of his jaw and the swollen split lip. He could also see the remnants of dried blood around his nose.

Then he saw the open jacket and the uniform and inhaled sharply.

"Sheppard, your uniform - did they try to feed on you?" He kept his voice low and soft, but the inquiry came out way sharper than he intended.

Sheppard opened his eyes fully and inclined his head towards Steve, locking his gaze with him.

"It was alright, Steve - ruining my vest and shirt was as far as they got. I had it under control." He then gave him a lopsided grin that melted away to a pained grimace.

"He had a plan," Lorne announced, his face still hidden under the protection of his arms.

Vega checked the pilot over and handed him the industrial-strength pain killers she had, as directed by Dr. Lam, especially for the gene carriers. All the assigned medics in the field teams carried those as standard items in their kit. Sheppard didn't really have any serious injuries that needed urgent care and the bruising on his face needed ice, which was not really a part of a field med-kit. Apart from the raging headache, he seemed to be fine.

Then she turned towards Lorne to repeat the process.

Steve moved closer to Sheppard and rested a hand lightly on his shoulder. Sheppard moved his head to rest his cheek on the back of Steve's hand.

Lorne, who had finally uncurled from his position at Vega's urging to take his pain killers, pointed an accusing finger at John. “All I'm saying is, man, the next time you go and offer yourself up for the main course, let us know beforehand, yeah?"

Steve's hand tightened on John's shoulder upon hearing that bit of information. John rubbed his cheek on his hand like a cat, an effort to calm and assure him. "Hey, I did warn you! Besides, it worked didn't it?"

"What if the thing had the chance to feed on you before you could get a hold of it?" Lorne shot back.

"Nah, it didn't. I did what I did to get him to put his guard down. They enjoy the pain they inflict while they feed, Lorne. The fucker had to open his mind before he could feed on me. That's why I lured him in like that, so I could do what I did."

Steve was listening intently to the insanity of the plan John had devised to do something. But when he thought back to the chaos that surrounded them during their escape, it dawned on him. He knew exactly what the pilot had been doing.

"All those Drones that started dropping dead? That was you, wasn't it?" he asked. He hadn't realized that Sheppard could go on the offense as well as defense with the telepathic attacks.

"Well, indirectly. Those things are all connected to each other, sort of like a hive-mind thing. When I attacked the mind of the Wraith, it had a cascading effect. I kinda saw the same thing when I was back in Afghanistan, you know? When the Wraith female had me, I saw glimpses of those connections and they looked frayed. Maybe because I had already killed the male by then. That time I was only concerned about finishing her as quickly as I could. Today, I figured I would try something different. I had to give the rest of you a chance to get everyone out. And it did work," the pilot explained, his eyes closed and his cheek still resting on Steve's grip.

John's reply told Steve that the pilot hadn't known for sure either. The crazy asshole had played a dangerous game on a guess - well, an educated guess - but still a guess nevertheless. 'Shouldn't have brought up that Baghdad bullshit before we left,' Steve berated Danny in his mind.

"Do you think whatever you did extended to Drones in the Darts around the Gate and the city?" Steve asked. They needed to devise a plan of attack if that was not the case.

"Ah, crap! I don't know! Let me check." The painkiller seemed to be working and John was a bit more alert. He turned his chair slowly to face the Jumper screen and concentrated.

The Jumper's Heads-Up-Display came to life at Sheppard's urging and started scanning the area for the requested data. It showed that the six Darts that had been patrolling near the Gate all crashed to the ground, as well as the nine Darts that were circling the city. There were two more Darts; one had crashed in the jungle on the way to the ship and another one had also crashed just a few hundred yards away from the Jumper. The display also showed that there was a possibility that there were captured Gemmondians in those two jumpers since they were on their way back to the ship when they crashed.

"Shep, we need to call SGC. Give them a report, get them up to date on what happened here, and possibly get somebody who can figure out a way to maybe reverse that and free those people," Steve suggested.

"The rest of the team is with the Gemmondians, right?" Sheppard asked.

"Yeah, they’re about three hundred yards from here. We were talking to them earlier - they know the way to get back to the city through the jungle. Apparently, they have some villages nearby as well. Some other race called Nasyans? They said they can trek to the nearest village and get back to the city the next day," Steve replied.

Sheppard nodded. "Let's send some of our guys with them. That way we can keep our eyes on them and know where they go. Also easier to contact them if we need anything from them or vice versa." He tapped his radio and activated the team channel. "Sheppard to Williams."

"Go ahead, flyboy, you good?" Danny answered with a question.

"Yeah, yeah. Listen, how far is the village they wanna go to?" Sheppard inquired.

"Tesson - that's one of the councilwomen - she is saying they can make it to the nearest village in about 2 hours, even if they took their time walking. So I'm guessing about 10 klicks maybe?"

"Ok, send three of ours with them. We should be able to keep the radio coverage with that distance. The rest of you, return to Jumper. We are heading back to the Gate to report what happened here and then make a plan on how to help these people. Oh, and Danny, is there anyone who can't make the journey? Anyone injured? Anybody who needs to go to the city urgently?"

"Nah, no one is seriously injured. Guess those life-suckers didn't want to contaminate the food supply. But there are two councilwomen - Tesson and Nehra - they'd like to go back to the city if at all possible. They might be able to calm the situation there," Danny informed Sheppard.

"Alright, bring them with you. We will go to the Gate first, report to SGC, and then return them to the city," Sheppard ordered.

"Roger that," there was a click as Williams signed out to go and do as ordered.

..........

"Y’all look like you've been busy,"

The connection had been established through the Stargate with the SGC without a hitch and almost all of them let out a collective sigh at seeing Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell's face fill the screen instead of Dixon's.

Danny had sent Bates, Adam, and Cadman with the Gemmondians to the village. Bates, because some of the Gemmondians knew him and were grateful for the familiar face, Adam because he was the secondary medic, and Cadman, as she was the other equivalent of a 'walking armory’ apart from Higgins. The rest of them, along with the tearfully indebted councilwomen had crowded into the Jumper, reached the Gate in about five minutes, and dialed home to report.

"Yeah, we were. Gemmond was under attack by Wraith and we flew right into the middle of it," said Sheppard.

The Colonel's eyes widened at that and the amused grin disappeared. He had been sure that they were in trouble for starting a bar brawl or something, given the time of the year at Gemmond and their ruffled and bruised looks.

"Start from the beginning, Shep. Tell us what happened," the Lieutenant Colonel ordered.

Sheppard launched into a report of the events. He described the scene when they flew in, the recon they did over the city, how they followed the Dart into the Wraith Carrier, the rescue of the prisoners, how they dealt with the Wraith, and finally about blowing it all to oblivion. Steve and Danny also joined in, describing their sides of the narrative and they all kept the verbal report short yet filled with important details.

"...and then me and Lorne, we left the Carrier in the Jumper. We blew it up once everybody cleared the blast Zone. Adam, Bates, and Cadman are there with the Gemmondians on their way to a nearby village as we speak," Sheppard finished the account. Glancing back, he could see everyone was focused on the screen and the account of the day's events. Tesson and Nehra, who had been patiently listening, had gone pale. Whether it was because of the shock at being captured by the Wraith or because they were scared of his team and how they had handled the situation, Sheppard wasn't sure.

The Colonel was probably seeing something similar on his screen because he put on his highly effective, greet-the-natives smile, and addressed the Gemmondian Councilors directly.

"Hello ma'am. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell of the Stargate Command. Can you please tell me what happened? Before our people got there? As I understand, the Gate was blocked from your side by the Wraith. When did the attack start?"

The older woman, who introduced herself as Tesson, stood up from where she was sitting at the back of the Jumper and came forward to speak to Mitchell.

"We have been hearing stories from the travelers who came to our planet for some time now, Colonel. They were talking about the strange starships that would appear in the sky, then send down their awful flyers to catch people. The people would disappear, never to be seen again. The stories about an evil enemy who can control minds and breed fear among us, scare us like prey into running for our lives. They called it 'the Culling'. They said they were hunting humans for food. We didn't want to believe those fanciful stories, although the travelers were scared out of their minds. We were happy to let them stay in Gemmond however, because here it was safe, or so we thought." shudder ran through her entire body as she inevitably started reliving the memory of the attack. Vega slowly guided her to sit on the chair behind Sheppard.

Then Tesson took in a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and started to relate the rest of her story.

"It was only a few hours after the day's 'First Rising Call.’ The Ring activated and those horrible little flyers came in. Our city security managed to raise the alarm, but it wasn't much help. I dispatched a group to dial the Ring for help, but they couldn't. They came back and reported that these things were holding it captive. Then they started circling above the city. They destroyed some of the buildings - they were herding us all out - that much was clear. Then they started swooping down and activating their strange beams. Our people started disappearing,"

She had tears rolling down her eyes and Danny offered her his can of water. She took it gratefully and gulped down some water before continuing,

"One moment I was helping a group of children inside a building and the next everything went black. When I woke up, I was inside that thing along with many others. I was there for about an hour when your people showed up. This entire attack must have been going on for about three hours since those things first came in.” She paused and looked at each of them, gratitude shining in her eyes. “I must thank you all from the deepest of my heart, for arriving when you did. As luck would have it, it seemed that you arrived just in time to prevent a greater tragedy. We already had lost some of our citizens to those abominations. But it could have been so much worse," she continued to address the team inside the Jumper. "I do mean it. People of Gemmond are once again in your debt. On behalf of my people, I do thank you."

She rose from her seat and bowed to all of them, Nehra also stood in the back and followed suit. They were all a bit uncomfortable at the display. The team understood, but for them, they were just doing their duty.

"It's alright ma'am, we’re glad we showed up on time too," Sheppard said, flashing a lopsided, almost shy smile. It worked. Tesson returned the smile and sat back on the seat. Then implored both Mitchell, Sheppard, and everyone else, to address her as Tesson.

"Is there anything we can do for you, Tesson? Anything you need? Medical care? Any supplies?" Mitchell inquired.

"Please, medical care would be much appreciated. Our food supplies were not targeted. Our harvest is safe. I believe they didn't need to bother with those, since they were collecting us as their food supply. I and my fellow councilors just need to get our people to clean up the destruction those flyers left behind. They need to focus on being productive so that it will help to calm them down and distract them from the harrowing shock we have all experienced, and to prevent everyone from wallowing in grief and losing their minds."

She sounded confident as she already had some sort of a plan to get her city back in order. Mitchell nodded decisively. "We’ll send a few teams right away, Tesson, along with a few doctors and medical supplies. Our guys will stay around to help with getting the city cleaned and organized as well."

"I thank you, again." With that, she rose, bowed, and went to the back of the Jumper to sit next to Nehra.

"Oh, and Colonel, you might need to bring a few scientists or maybe engineers with you. We have two crashed Darts in the jungle area that still have the dematerialized people still in them. The Jumper's got all the data and the locations already marked. So, if our people can have a look and see whether we can free them as well?" Sheppard added.

"Hmm, Let me talk to Carter. She might not be able to make it, but she would know who’s best to deal with that," Mitchell said thoughtfully."Shep, do you think there are any more ships? Maybe in orbit?”

"I don't really know, Colonel. The jumper ran a few scans around the area here - there’s nothing at the moment. But I can't be sure about the orbit, or near space of the planet. I didn't get the sense that the Wraith managed to send any hyperspace message to a nearby ship, but it's a possibility," replied Sheppard. "I can take the jumper up once I have dropped Tesson and Nehra at the city, fly a few rounds around the planet and scan the space to be sure," he offered.

Mitchell studied both the pilots for a few moments before shaking his head.

"No. You and Lorne both still look like hell and I don't think a few more hours of flying with your mind would do either of you any good. Drop the ladies and bring the Jumper back to the gate. I’ll come over with SG-1 and I can take her for a spin around the planet," he grinned at the thought of that. "Don't worry, I’ll take good care of your baby." He laughed, noticing the grimace Sheppard was trying to hide.

Sheppard was truly grateful for the offer since he still felt like his head was about to split open. But the thought of handing the Jumper over to another pilot still grated on his nerves. He had become a bit attached to the clever little craft, he realized.

"You all have already done an amazing job," Mitchell addressed the entire team. "Taking on a freaking Wraith ship all by yourselves is not a small deal. You’ve earned a break. I’ll pick up the other three of your team and bring them along as well. I'll bring three teams with me and once we are there, you guys can return home. Then get yourselves checked out and take the rest of the day off. We will do a full debriefing tomorrow with your live feeds, Jumper records, and everything. I'm sure General O'Neill will want to be there for this too. If this is happening on other planets as well, that means the Wraith are busy stocking up supplies and they are getting ready for something big. But we’ll discuss this further tomorrow. See you all in thirty, Mitchell out,"

With that, the connection terminated and Sheppard nudged the Jumper towards the city.

[thefivecalls]

Things I associate with each of the sides for no reason

Logan:

I understand he's supposed to be dark blue or indigo. Regardless, he will always be teal. This teal:

For some reason when I got detention that one time I got a Logan vibe so yeah theres that

"Space... The final frontier..." But uhhh just the opening has his vibes

Why is he always whereing a neck tie and not a bow tie? If anyone has necktie vibes its Janus not Logan

Logan also has chaos incarnate vibes that are only in check because of his last shreds of humanity one of these days he'll break and when he does thomas can and will set something on fire using bill nye the science guy tactics

He is waking up early and going to bed late

He is framing posters

He is dancing in your bedroom to awesome music that has never been such a vibe before that moment and will never be again.

Broken clocks

Beaker from the muppets? I don't quite get it but yeah

Rock of ages

Getting a pitcher of soda or tea or whatever and setting it on his desk, then getting 23 straws and taping them together so he can lay in bed on his phone and safely drink it without spilling

Grilled cheese

Kahoot music

Remus:

Death waltz. Not the synthesia no the one that takes 14 people to play.

Canoeing

Obviously he has close combat weapons but have you thought about giving him a bow and arrow? I have and yes thats a vibe because he is one of three people I've ever met with those vibes ok

Portable speakers

He is bonfires and fireworks.

He is hyperfixating on something and writing a story until 4 in the morning.

Potions!

The fact that witches ingredients are actually just named strange things but are edible somethings? Like mustard seeds being newts eyes and the like

Acid

In my human anatomy class we dissected deer hearts and when we found the blood clots we called them the Forbidden Jellies.

The county fair

The circus that comes around at fall festival time

Homecoming game in football/rugby

I feel like if he played an instrument he'd be a baritone

The lime green smoke Disney villians have

Roman:

Zootopia the movie

Hopping. Or bouncing in place.

My family's crest?? I think its because of his crest but he had those vibes before the outift upgrade???? Idk

The ponytail thing that give you a unicorn horn when you've got short hair but bangs that are beginning to grow out

He is picnics at the park

He is also going shopping

He is also dancing in the rain at four in the morning with the outside lights on and the music blaring but its ok the neigbors are four acres away and they sleep like the dead.

When I went to my first metal concert and I saw the mosh pit? The exhilaration that comes with wanting to join but not wanting to get crushed is a Roman thing.

Pancakes

Cold pizza at midnight

Succulents!

Fire and cane whiskey

The warm smiles that the bearer never gets to see because they don't get the chance to see it in a reflection

Butterscotch

Janus:

Springtime showers that makes snowmelt rivers

Prom. Dont ask this is just a him vibe ok

He seems like the guy that would make a blanket cacoon/nest when his bedsheets are in the wash and can I say mood

Sunlight

Looking off my back porch and seeing the feilds of corn beginning to dry out in late fall every three years.

Pumpkin soup

Apple cider

Lemonade

Not only is he snowmelt rivers he is also the first thunderstorm of summertime

Sun tea. Not the brand the stuff that you make via harnessing the suns power

Cucumber facemasks

Wildflower honey

The person who youd never guess goes to comic con but is actually the one who wins first place in the costume contest every year

Oversized sweaters

German Sheppards and yellow labs sunbathing after playing for hours

Antique mirrors

Burlap canvas bags

Oil paint

Espressos at ten at night

Late night chinese food runs

Dragons

Spice. Not the average spice either I'm talking could eat a carolina reaper and yes he'll be more red but he could still talk and thats more than I can say for myself

Virgil:

The red rubber balls from kick ball in elementary. By god I can smell the plastic just thinking about it

Flappy stims! Almost every time I flap he comes to mind I never really questioned it

The weighted blanket my dad got that I steal from him all the time

'He's a Mary poppins in a world of hasselhoffs" my friend once said that not even talking about Virgil but like. Come on.

Basically all of Star Lord's vibes are Virgils

Deadpool

Jack Skellington (kinda obvs)

Sample perfumes that are like the size of a pinky

Telescopes

Not writing an essay but instead learning all about world history or astronomy or psychology

Earings. Specifically hoops

Black pearls

Boardwalks that have tiny shops along them with a bunch of food.

Going to a club or a party with flashing lights and even though you're kinda nervous you have fun and live like tomorrow is still a dream away.

Ripped movie posters that the theater is selling

Tying ropes together to make nets.

Fairy lights

Taping movie theater tickets to your wall after you've gone and seen it

Scarecrows sitting on bales of hay at sunset next to my willow tree and the cicadas are on their 13th year so they're the loudest they'll ve until another 13 years have passed

The glint in someone's eye when they think of something mischievous

Bang by AJR

The corpse bride's tale/song

Patton:

The lazer eye meme. This one

Graham Crackers. Not smores, not candy crack-just the cracker ok

Pep rallies

The pet store??

Sugar sculptures

Corn pits (strictly midwestern thing)

Driving for hours upon hours and seeing the strange statues some towns have as you pass them by

Silver sparkles

Art herpes glitter

Photo booths

Riding in the back of a pickup truck on the county's main road

Wedding crystals cabinet where you put the fancy china you're going to give to your children that never gets used once but is probably worth half your house

The chubby bunny challenge

The moment when you tip your chair back too far and you know it but you can't do anything because you'll be on the floor in a second anyway

The thing maya did from Girl Meets World when she slammed lockers closed and caused the chalkboard to let its dust fly

Dusk.

That moment when everything is going by so quickly so you step back and watch the world go by for only a few seconds but then you're back in the present laughing with your friends

Snow cones melting and getting the syrup all over your hands

Orange Side:

All things citrus but especially lemons no not oranges lemons

Sunglasses

Men in black 1 not the rest just the first

Pineapple too hes got a lot of pineapple vibes

Combat boots but with spikes

Also lace?

And tea. Like, all kinds of tea but especially the really expensive stuff that I've only tasted like twice thats imported from Ireland

Himalayan salt lamps.

Sensies. the wax melting things

Candles too

Once we meet him I'll have more but this is it for him for now

Thats it! If this gets notes I might do emile remy and thomas but I think I'll leave this be for the moment. Have a great day y'all!

[blankdblank]

Next Caller Pt 42

“It’s supposed to be Sheppard’s Pie, but it’s more of a, swirl than layered.” Giggling softly you sat down I the chair beside him.

“Looks delicious all the same.”

Sheepishly he grinned at you and he asked, “How was work?”

“Quiet as usual, saw three check outs, got some decent tips I handed over.”

“How does that work with tips?”

“Well you turn them in each night and they take note of them for taxes, the total is added to your checks monthly, and there’s options to send it or a part at least to the cooks who make our lunches.”

“That’s a nice touch.”

“Well we’re not allowed to tip generally, only paying guests can.” After wetting your lips you asked, “How was the shop?”

“Good, only stopped in for a bit. They didn’t really need me today. Keep finding reasons to send me home early anyways lately.”

“Imagine that,” you teased making him smirk at you. “I should warn you though, we’ll be having company near breakfast tomorrow.”

“Really?”

You nodded, “Apparently I am the only show host willing to aid in a repair air time slot on our floor and now that I have my own booth Echo and Glori will be over to help set it up to broadcast from here. Don’t know what Mal will get up to past possibly nap.”

Thorin chuckled again, “I am certain she could find something to help with the show.”

“Haven’t much recorded bits for her to signal and with the system I have the touch screen in the booth I can link to the monitors outside to signal audio clips.”

“Well I am certain it will be a rousing success. How long will the repairs last?”

“Two weeks, minimum. Depending on how much of a fuss the other shows put up sounds like. I think they’re wanting to add in a second sound booth so we won’t have to ant march past one another. No doubt with some special touches for each show, bunnies flooded on mine for instance,” making him chuckle again in your next giggle.

“Right, um, I was meant to ask on behalf of Bofur’s daughter, Shari, and her boyfriend Ori,”

“Boyfriend?”

He nodded, “Yes, he’s a mix between Firebeard and Broadbeam, just barely related through Dain to our clan by marriage. Many get confused, Shari takes more after her Hobbit Amad to having our Durin looks.”

“Ok, you were saying?”

“Right, yes, the pair of them graduated art school and they were watching your show on Bombadil and they love the style that matches theirs and they were wondering if you might have some tips to get them started in animating. They have a summer program starting soon they got intern spots on but it’s months off.”

“Oh, um, I mean if they want something to do they could help me fill in coloring on my panels. It’ll be mind numbing and painful for their hands but if they’re up for it...”

“They will be. I’ll text Bofur after dinner.”

“Isn’t it a bit late?”

“His shift ends in an hour, a night owl as well works in the business side with Gran and Gramps.”

“Ok, ya, well if they’ll be up they could be here before my show and they can work through it if they like otherwise I could try to work a weekend thing out.”

He shook his head, “They’ll be here tomorrow.”

“Will I be needing to supervise them then? Boyfriend and all?”

Chuckling to himself he shook his head and replied, “No. Not at all you focus on your show they will be focused on work. They are Ones, and are of no risk, fully trusted.”

Plates emptied through sharing a bit more on possible plans for the week for him while you were at the hotel and smirking as you eyed the messages on the board from the birds you helped fill the dish washer he started then paused at your hug. Wrapping his arms around you in return he asked, “What is this for?”

“Apparently you want hugs, Cuddle Monster.”

Thorin laughed and kissed he top of your head, guiding you along halfway releasing you, “Come on, off to bed with you. Big day tomorrow.”

You nodded and after changing to comfy flannels and a halfway sheer tank top you flopped into your bed and wiggles under the covers in the room beginning to warm by the fire to the distant sound of Thorin answering Bofur’s confirming call to secure the details he was all too elated to hand over.

.

Up you sat to the sound of a doorbell and out of bed you climbed frowning your way to the door as you awoke. Opening the door you brushed your hair back and looked to BamBam in his bag alone on your porch making you step out and peer over into your front garden where Mal has chased a paper of hers. Bending down you picked up the bag watching Mal huffing in snatching it up and turning around to join you on the porch. “Sorry,” taking hold of BamBam’s bag saying, “Keep losing my notes, got a tear in my bag buying a new one after this.”

“Oh that’s good,” you said as she stepped in and you watched Echo pull into your driveway with a truck parked on the street behind it.

To the door the techies strolled after Echo with all their supplies in heavy looking bags that you guided inside and through the house past Thorin heading to the kitchen to get started on breakfast. “Want some tea?”

The Elves shook their heads thanking him for the offer and Echo said, “Tea would be lovely, thank you. Should not take long.”

The dark room seemed in an odd place to the techs but when you switched on the lights their lips parted at how the space was so far from what they had expected out of an old storage room. “Booth is over there, clearly, and the audio set up is over here in this corner.”

They nodded and got to work as Mal looked the space over still gawking and Echo said, “This is splendid. I should warn you I had some bodies in my trunk.”

Your brow inched up and unnoticed to you at the tail end of the group you saw Elrond’s twin uncles holding their work kits and rolling stools for said kits you accepted hugs from, “What are you doing here?”

Elured chuckled replying, “Glori said you were working on a commercial. We know you’ll need help.”

Elurin, “In town till Saturday, then we have to help with some mural in Gondor since they had a row with Beorn over his bear theater so he is retaliating through art.”

You giggled and nodded saying, “I’ll grab my sketches, just have bare characters so far.”

Elured, “Better to have us here for the mind numbing part.”

Elurin, “Jackrabbit we love coloring books you know that.”

The stacks of bound sections had them smirking on the path back to their waiting stools and kits they rolled to the wavy desk and eyed the notes you had made and Mal asked, “All of that is for a commercial?”

The twins answered, “Anyone can just morph the expression changes and motions on top of a stagnant body pose, we prefer old school, frame by frame to make it flawless.”

Their heads turned as Thorin came in with tea for Echo who was admiring your carpet for the booth one techie was inside of. “Jaqi, kids are here,”

You nodded and when Ori and Shari came into view flashing quick grins at Mal whom they recognized in the sea of Elves. “Hey, good to see you, I know it’s early, but um, these are my friends Elured and Elurin here to help with the commercial as well.” Feeling the curiously smirking twins looking you three over you said, “Ori and Shari here just graduated from art school and wanted to get some tips on animating before a summer program of theirs.”

Elurin chuckled, “No problem there, we have the best break into it right here.”

Elured motioned the closer, “Come in, while Jackrabbit eats we’ll give you the basics on it.” The pair moved in and while you stepped out Mal went with you and Thorin leaving them to it so you could eat. Smirking as she saw you winding your curls up into an awkward bun already starting to droop. “Sleep well?” She asked and you nodded.

“Not bad. Just a bit earlier than usual.” At your seat you lifted your mug of tea to sip on then said, “I’m good.”

She sat down beside you still keeping hold of BamBam asleep on his bag and asked, “Seriously, all that was the commercial?”

You nodded, “Three full minutes. And it’s just the characters, no background or color yet.”

“Get out.”

You giggled, “It takes a lot of patience to be an animator.” Looking her over you asked, “How was your night? You look like you’re holding something.” She smirked and you said, “Besides him.”

Sheepishly she said, “I got an interview.”

“Ooh,” That had Thorin looking over at her wondering if she was aiming for another job.

“Well you know I’m two years left on my Marine Biology degree so I can finally start interning, and there’s a really great program in the Grey Havens this summer. The head of it picked out my application, loved my profile page I had to make and wants to come interview me on Thursday.” Her eyes scanned over you.

“That’s amazing, why are you looking at me like that if you need the summer off I won’t be mad go follow the fish in the sea.” Making her smile as you added, “I won’t stand in your way.”

“See, thing is, they needed to pick an interview location, and, well, I sort of gave them your address.” Your brow inched up and Thorin chuckled to himself, “See, I can’t take them to the Tea shop, or the tattoo parlor which I live over, but no doubt they’ll get crushed by something toppling over. Can’t use Bilbo’s house because no doubt Frodo will streak through coated in bubbles with Bilbo and Dwalin after him. And it’s on Thursday and I hoped if you were here and off the show you might let me use the dining room or parlor just for the interview I swear I’ll pay you back or do chores or whatever you need.”

Rolling your eyes you said. “It’s fine. Not a problem, good impressions, I get that. Rented my friend Elrond’s tea room once for one of mine. Thank you for actually asking. So, details.” You said taking another sip.

“Well, it’s mainly working with a shark preservation camp. Heading out to inspect, observe, tag and all that with some work helping on the rescues and injured sharks back at their base. Most first timers don’t get to go in the deep ocean yet so mainly I might just be centered around nursing in the base and compiling data maybe.”

“Doesn’t sound too bad, do you get to be the one to give the baby sharks their lollipops?” She gave you a playful glare and you giggled back, “I’m sorry I’m not trying to tease you. You say shark nurse and that’s what I see a baby shark sick in bed just waiting for its lollipop and temp to be taken.”

A grin cracked across her lips, “Alright, it is a cute image.”

“You’ll have to send pictures.”

“I’ll have to get in first.” She sighed out as Thorin started to set food down in front of you, gesturing at it in a silent question if she wanted some she shook her head as you spoke freeing him to grab his own food.

“You’ll get in you love rescuing animals. I mean come on you even took in an injured Mortar boar for Vanna’s sake.”

“Ooh, cast off this weekend, Dain is so thrilled he’s planning a party for Truffles and him to welcome BamBam fully.”

“Aww, so sweet.” After another sip you lowered your mug asking, “Why wouldn’t they take you? Since you’re so critical of being accepted.”

“Well, for the blaring obvious reason no Dwarves have been accepted before, and only a handful of Hobbits, who all got especially high class jobs from the internship.”

“So what’s the problem? You love sharks, they’ll let you in.”

“Ok, you don’t,” she sighed, “Cirnaven is one of the hardest researchers out there-,”

“Cirnaven?” You asked in fluid Elvish correcting the pronunciation wondering if she was trying to say someone else’s name instead.

“I, yes... wait have you heard of him? Is he really famous out there? I know you came through the Grey Havens and Lindon.”

“He’s my step father’s twin brother.” That dropped her jaw that lowered even more as you said, “He used to take me on his runs when I lived there.”

“Jaqi!! You went diving with him?!”

Following a timid nod you said, “He’s the one who helped me with my water therapy.”

Her mood dimmed a moment then spiked again as she asked at Thorin’s settling down at the table patting your hand before easing your utensils closer to your hand signaling you to eat. “Could you put in a good word then?”

“No doubt I already have.” Her brows arched up and you said, “Look, I don’t have many friends and my calls home got boring, I have talked about you and my Naneth had three times as many questions on you as your parents had on me. I wasn’t kidding when I gave you their best on holidays and your name day. No doubt Cirnaven was told about you and the name caught a flag.” You paused a moment as you said, “Come to think of it I can’t remember him taking anyone outside of Numenor past the Misty Mountains.”

Mal pointed at you, “See! My point! Right there.”

“And you invited them right to my house,” you teased.

“I-,” her voice cracked a moment as that set in that if they had wondered if she was your friend that the address would no doubt confirm you were her friend.

“Game and point.”

“I don’t think that’s the term,” Thorin muttered around his mouthful and you sighed around yours making him chuckle. “Don’t mind me. I’ll be heading out in a little bit. Won’t know I’m here, give you plenty of privacy.”

“You do know you live here, right?” He nodded smirking as you continued, “Just making sure. Not gonna be naked in the booth no need for privacy, you’d be listening anyways so no need to scurry away.”

“New inventory today, Balin will need me.”

“Ooh, jealous.” You teased making him smirk and chuckle causing Mal to smirk watching the pair of you bantering.

“What am I in store for then? If I may?”

“Not much, just breaking into Durin’s house.” Making him almost choke on his food and coughed a few moments.

Mal, “You do know that’s grounds for proposal depending on what Bunny does?”

You smirked at her making him chuckle and say stabbing another slice of waffles, “Gran no doubt will be calling again in that case. Can’t wait.”

Mal, “Will they at least be engaged by tomorrow?”

“Not yet.”

The pair of them groaned and you giggled. Thorin asked, “How is that possible, tradition is they break in and he has to propose for surprising him in his dwelling.”

“For a traditional break in yes.” His brow inched up as you said, “It’s his birthday.”

“Not till November.” He grumbled back.

“Well if he would have answered Bunny’s question it wouldn’t be but it is now.”

He pointed his fork at you, “You’re doing this on purpose.”

You giggled again and Mal said, “You said Durin and the bantering isn’t till book two, when do they get together, and I mean full courtship wide open.”

“Book four.” Again they groaned and you took another bite of your food. “Just wait till book three, when he gets to wooing.”

Thorin smirked holding back his argument that according to Dwarf traditions has been clearly wooing Bunny already leaving you your surprises knowing they would be amply worth it.

.

Echo shared fully how the system was to work and assured you he was staying for the first show with Glori confirming it was airing flawlessly as it should from the station where the work crew had just gotten started. Into your booth you went leaving the young couple between the twins wondering where the rest of the crew was for the show. Up onto your stool you sat settling your notebook on the stand inside the small booth and you inhaled sharply tapping the screen on the monitor there to confirm in the countdown to being live that you were ready. And through your headphones you slipped on the opening music played at Mal’s tap from behind the desk across the room while BamBam napped on the floor beside her feet.

“Hey hey hey, it’s me your dear friend Bunny, devoted as ever with my ear to the ground here to give you all the latest. Today however much like before we are on an adventure as I happen to be scaling a wall at the moment carrying you with me.”

At the shop Thorin smirked at the opening wondering how the break in would take place and go over with his kin.

“Now, we seem to be locked in quite a dilemma because I find myself committing quite the crime of the century, but you see it really can’t be helped as it is entirely out of my own volition you see.” Brows inched up wondering what violent ends Bunny was facing to commit a crime. “Quite bluntly not two days passed I had been thwarted in trying to discover the birthday of King Durin, and so now here I am, scaling this monstrosity of a wall to bake for the stubborn King. Whether he likes it or not, the truth of it is, no matter what today is now his birthday and he shall just have to live with the fact that today of all days even as a King he cannot escape an impending cake.”

Carrying out through the process inside and through the palace and unloading of ingredients as several smirking servants were noted by the narrator taking over for you. Blending in was Durin still brooding away as to how his next meeting with Bunny would go after their last speaking ending in a row recapped for those listening in seeing the painfully easy to remedy dilemma the pair faced. With his sharing the date he misunderstood her reasoning to know and her sharing her intentions for spending said date with him. All wishing to simply drag both characters to lock them in a room until they shared they loved one another.

*

Colors had been set out and divided up with your reference colored sketch taped up for the new duo and Elured said, “Now, you handle the gown base, you the wrap,”

Elurin, “Just leave the details to us.”

Ori eyed one of the panels asking, “what are these lines?” Asking about the fainter lines aimed from two tally marks landing across Beatrice and the chair underneath her.

Elured, “Those are light references. Now this one is from the lamp, so to this we will add a golden hue, while others with moonlight shall be more silvery white.”

Shari, “Jaqi adds light references? These are on nearly every panel looks like.”

Elurin chuckled, “Like we said, Jackrabbit is very old fashioned. Used to carrying the weight and thanks to that it makes this so much simpler for us.”

Elured, “Now, around those lines color your spots in and we will show you how we treat those sections.”

Getting to coloring with colored wax pencils they filled in their sections and passed the images on only to watch as the brothers colored the light strips in with non wax colored pencil they then painted over with a golden hue coloring up to where the lamp would be adding more depth to the scenes. The twins taking turns with each panel on the smaller details they let dry and accepted the next pair in a slow building stack from the first section that Echo smirked in seeing coming to life.

A detail on the chair however had Ori asking, “These symbols, on this chair, what are they? Some old form of Elvish?”

Elurin, “No, Troll.” That had the couple looking at him.

Shari, “Why would Miss Pear add Troll runes to this tale? I know she added Troll characters to her old show-,”

Elured, “Back in her apartment before her move to Beryl she lived in a Troll town. Babysat for a family of Trolls, all while the first show was in development.”

Elurin, “Gorufndunt, the little boy, one day he started crying so hard. A game promoting a Troll character just ended up the butt of jokes and mocked and abused because out of the band of warriors he was the lone Troll and by public opinion was meant to be mocked and insulted. Gorufndunt believed so much that for once there could be a Troll outside Troll media that was more than that.” That had their lips parting.

Elured, “So Jackrabbit put her foot down, we revamped the entire second half of the first season to include a Troll Warrior named Gorufndunt, with his parents’ permission that is, to use his name. She fought so hard to keep him strong and respectable and true to their traditions. Sure there were misunderstandings and a few teasing snippets, and he was a clown at times, but for his own choosing nothing to do with his race. Fully respected member of the team and looked up to.”

Shari, “What did the little boy think?”

The twins smiled replying, “He loved it. Every moment, and he was so proud.”

Echo, “Small hands turn the wheels of the world. That move was not much, but it started the motion all the same. She knew how much it meant to him and it would mean to so many other little children watching looking for someone to look up to just like them.”

Ori asked, “How did he like the next season, wasn’t there a family in that one?”

Their smiles dropped and Elured said, “There was a fire, in their apartment building. None of the family could get out, Jackrabbit barely did. Their names are in the memorial clips at the credits, and for the second season after reaching out to their clan she was granted permission to add a family for the warrior with their names. All equally as strong and respectable in their own ways, even little Brumble in her wobbling years.”

Elurin, “Their clan was honored to have them live on, their little quirks, and snippets of their lives that their heirs now get to watch with pride seeing the characters their ancestors inspired.”

Echo, “When Jackrabbit’s Ada’s clan had all but disowned her Trolls showed her kindness and friendship, one she feels to have betrayed in losing that family from the world. With all her projects she tries to add little hints to make people wonder and possibly inspect to look up their history.”

Mal hurried back to her desk from her bathroom break stepping over BamBam on his path around the room again and with a call from Glori Echo stood in your own commercial break you exited the booth saying, “Excuse me,” hopping over BamBam to hurry out the room.

Back again you came letting out a breath asking Ori and Shari in a peer over the desk, “How you doing?”

Shari grinned at you flexing her fingers and hands in the break, “Good. Thank you for giving us this chance.”

“Well I’d like to help where I can, and you’re really doing me the service.”

Ori, “Can we ask what the Countess is saying?”

“Give it till Thursday and you can hear the audio clip recordings yourselves. Giving it a simple try and hopefully they will like it.”

Echo said walking over, “If anything you might have to invite Gorgo over on the weekend to give it a once over.” Leaning in had claimed a warm hug, “Glori needs some back up, I do believe you have it under control from here.”

By the time you had returned however Echo sighed saying, “Glori needs me.”

On your toes you accepted his hug saying, “I’ve got it, go have fun, about to throw some flamingos into this pool party.” Making him chuckle and leave as you said, “I can drop the guys off after the show.”

“You are doing spectacular Dear JackRabbit.”

Mal said, “Don’t know how you stay sane in that box.”

Smirking at her from the doorway you said, “You just have to change the way you think.”

She rolled her eyes, “Let me guess, outside the box?”

You giggled closing the door and moving back to your stool to add your headphones again readying to dip back into the show again, yet when you came back on the air you looked down hearing a snorting in the booth while you were describing setting the table with all the food you had made only to have light fill the box when Mal crept inside pulling BamBam out of the box she closed mouthing an apology. Chuckles came from the trio in the tea shop knowing where the odd boar noises came from others largely ignored.

Pt 43

@avaria-revallier​​ , @c-s-stars - Stars hope you like the details coming up about your dear Mal :D

[horansqueen]

AM Conversations : chapter 49

A Niall Horan fanfiction ; rated MA

CHAPTER 1 || CHAPTER 2 || CHAPTER 3 || CHAPTER 4 || CHAPTER 5 || CHAPTER 6 || CHAPTER 7 || CHAPTER 8 || CHAPTER 9 || CHAPTER 10 || CHAPTER 11 || CHAPTER 12 || CHAPTER 13 || CHAPTER 14 || CHAPTER 15 || CHAPTER 16 || CHAPTER 17 || CHAPTER 18 || CHAPTER 19 || CHAPTER 20 || CHAPTER 21 || CHAPTER 22 || CHAPTER 23 || CHAPTER 24 || CHAPTER 25 || CHAPTER 26 || CHAPTER 27 || CHAPTER 28 || CHAPTER 29 || CHAPTER 30 || CHAPTER 31 || CHAPTER 32 || CHAPTER 33 || CHAPTER 34 || CHAPTER 35 || CHAPTER 36 || CHAPTER 37 || CHAPTER 38 || CHAPTER 39 || CHAPTER 40 || CHAPTER 41 || CHAPTER 42 || CHAPTER 43 || CHAPTER 44 || CHAPTER 45 || CHAPTER 46 || CHAPTER 47 || CHAPTER 48

NOTES:

-one chapter is her pov, the next is his. -4.4k -im sorry, i never proofread, i hate it. -there WILL be smut. but not only smut. -this is a romance, comedy, smut story. -for the summary, check my MASTERLIST.

- if you want to be notified when this is updated, please message me or leave a comment!

- note for this chapter: i would love your comments on this chapter. im planning the ending of this and its coming soon so comments and opinions are GREATLY appreciated, thank you!

Only one request and tbh i didnt make it ‘public’ just in a public place i hope its ok :)

Chapter 49 : Her chapter

OLIVIA

Following Niall for all his radio interviews turned out to be a lot of fun. He was funny and interesting and it was no surprise to me that everyone was endeared by him. I would end up with my head tilted, a big smile on my face and hearts in my eyes when I looked at him, even if I had known him for decades, but I was happy everyone saw in him what I've always seen. He used to be a bit hidden when he was in One Direction but as a solo artist, he shined more than I could explain and it made me so happy that everyone could finally see how talented he was.

"So Niall you've been very open about your current relationship and after i've made my research, I read that your girlfriend is actually your childhood best friend?"

I held my breath, trying to keep my calm but I was suddenly scared that my facial expression was betraying me. That woman was gorgeous with her long legs, her dark hair and her big eyes. She bent slightly and I couldn't help but glance down at her cleavage like pretty much everyone in the room. I swallowed hard and let my eyes move back to Niall who sent her a smile.

"She is, actually. We've been best friends for as long as I can remember." he shook his head slightly and shrugged, a smile still on his face. "I don't know what I'd do without her."

"We've seen you with famous girls like Maya Greenberg or Heidi Sheppard, why her?" she frowned and tilted her head and I felt my heart jump in my chest again.

I hadn't thought about Heidi or Maya in a long time but now that they were mentioned, something twisted in my stomach and I had a hard time swallowing. Thinking that Niall had compared me to them was hurtful and now I knew pretty much everyone else would compare me to them, too, and it was even worse.

I looked at Niall raise his eyebrows at her, a bit surprised by the question or it seemed, and the words that came out of his mouth changed everything.

"Wow, that's the easiest question i've ever had to answer." he chuckled, shaking his head. "Why her? Because I love her. That's why."

The woman sent him a smile and that's when I realized she hadn't acknowledged me at all. In fact, she had ignored me from the beginning and although I didn't really care, it did feel sort of odd at this moment.

I sighed subtly when the subject turned to something else than me and when everything was over, I got up and walked closer to the door to wait for my boyfriend. I took my phone and answered a few text messages, leaning against the door frame, but when I looked up from something funny Louis had sent me, I lost my smile. I couldn't remember her name, I was in shock, but she had her hand on Niall's arm and the way she was looking at him made my heart drop in my chest. Now I knew why she had asked him some questions about me but the fact that she was flirting with him right in front of my face while being totally aware of it made me feel like shit. Was I disposable to the point where anyone thought he would cheat on me or get rid of me for any reason?

I stood straight, my eyes roaming from my boyfriend's smile to her hand sliding gently on his arm and when he handed her his phone, my breath caught in my throat. She typed something quickly before giving it back to him and tilted her head, squeezing his arm before letting him go. My eyes dropped back to my phone when he turned my way and I waited until he was close to me to look up. I held my breath again when I noticed she was waving at him and he raised his hand before putting both in his pockets.

"Ready to leave?"

"Did that just happen right in front of my face?"

He glanced back and then turned to me again.

"Not here." he let out in a low tone, making me close my eyes.

We walked out of the room and reached the hall but we remained silent and he brought me to the stairs instead to take the elevator. I walked down a few and finally turned to him, shaking my head.

"Why did you flirt back? You said you didn't do that anymore!"

"I didn't-"

"Don't lie!" I cut him, feeling tears reach my eyes, unsure if they were of pain or anger. "I saw you! She put her number in your phone? I was right there and she knew it!"

"Okay, fine, i'm sorry!" he let out, a bit mad. "I was just a bit taken aback, I didn't expect that and I just... I thought I would just play dumb and then do nothing about it."

I stared at him, my heart aching so bad in my chest as I tried not to cry, and I started pulling on the fabric of my shirt. This situation was horrible and did nothing good to my self-esteem, I knew it.

"You think she's pretty? Be honest."

He sighed and closed his eyes as I pressed my lips together.

"Yes, Liv, she's pretty, but-"

"Prettier than me?" I quickly added, cutting him again.

"No one is prettier than you." he pointed out. "So no."

My eyes roamed on him and I sniffed, his words once again making me feel better but not completely reassured. I took a step closer and licked my lips again.

"If we weren't dating would you-"

"Please Olivia, i'm begging you, don't go there."

And just like that, the pain was back. I swallowed hard, feeling myself tear up, but I gave up and nodded. It was an unfair question, I knew it. If we weren't dating, he would be able to see whoever he wanted and call any girl he found interesting and those 'what if's would only end up hurting me anyway. I just wasn't sure of how he felt. Did he feel trapped with me? Was I stopping him from living his life as a famous and talented man fully?

"After all this time, you still don't trust me."

It was not a question, and the defeated tone he had used made me want to run away but I didn't. I stayed in front of him, staring at him, until he moved closer and wrapped his arms around my head, pulling me against him.

"I'm sorry, Niall, i'm so sorry."

He remained silent for a while and then sighed, leaning his cheek on top of my head as I gripped the back of his shirt like my life depended on it.

"No, it's okay. If I saw a guy flirt with you and put his number in your phone, i'd be pissed."

After hugging me tight against him for a while, he took his head away and i moved mine up to look at him. I didn't expect his lips roughly crushing against mine and my heart skipped a beat. He pushed me back until he could press me against the wall and my lips parted when his mouth reached for my neck.

"Are you sure you-" His hand slipped in my pants and panties and my eyes shot open when his warm finger slid between my legs. "Oh fuck."

"When I saw you put on your damn sweatpants on today I thought I was going to explode."

This time, I chuckled but bit my bottom lip when one of his fingers brushed against my clit. I slipped one of my hands in his hair and and my mouth found his ear. I started nibbling on it and he groaned against my neck.

"Why do you turn me on so bad in simple sweatpants?" he asked in a raspy voice. "I just want to pull them down and fuck you."

I leaned my head against the wall and closed my eyes.

"Do it."

He stopped his movements and pulled away, his eyes traveling on my face.

"Really? Here?"

I nodded quickly, feeling my heartbeats accelerate at the thought as one of his hands slipped inside my shirt to grab one of my breasts. I let out a short and low moan and his other hand reached for his pants. He undid his belt quickly and skillfully with the fingers of one hand before reaching for my waist. He turned me around roughly, pushing me against the wall and I placed my palms on the cold cement as i felt him pull on my pants. His hand reached between my legs and my eyes fluttered close as I felt his cock rub on my ass. Two of his fingers slid inside me and he groaned near my ear.

"You're already so wet, princess, is it because of me?"

I didn't have time to answer, I just held my breath as I felt him push his dick inside me and my fingers curled, making my nails scratch on the wall.

"Fuck, don't move."

Both his arms slithered around me, one reaching for my breasts and the other between my legs. He started fucking me hard and fast and I shut my eyes tighter as his lips brushed against my neck. My whole body was throbbing and from how hard he was fucking me and the way his fingers flicked against my clit, I knew I was not going to last very long.

"Oh my... god."

I felt his lips curl against my skin and a shiver crossed my whole body as he gripped my breast tighter. I had forgotten about the whole encounter with that girl, I didn't care about her giving him her number anymore... all that mattered was Niall's body pressed against mine and the low grunts he let out near my ear.

"I want to fill you with my cum so bad. I want to fucking own you."

His voice came to me in a whisper but he still managed to sound rough and dominating and that brought me close to an orgasm.

"You do, you own me."

"Yea? I want to cum inside you and know that it's dripping in your panties and down your legs until we get home."

My heart skipped a beat at the thought. It was so hot that it made me feel slightly dizzy and the fact that I would feel it for the rest of the day made me squirm slightly. He had an other interview planned and I knew that would stay on our minds for hours.

I wanted to beg him to do it but my body was throbbing so hard I couldn't talk. I started moving in rhythm with his thrusts, pushing my ass back against him and he started going quicker. It only took a few seconds before he pushed me hard against the wall. His movements became unsteady but surprisingly, he kept touching me for a few seconds until I felt an orgasm spread all over my body.

"Mm, fuck."

I started shaking against him as I felt him hold me tighter as he came and kept my eyes closed until we both came down from our highs. He let his lips brush on my shoulder before trailing small and soft kisses on my skin. It made me smile as I kept my eyes closed and tilted my head to give him better access. I didn't know if it was the post-orgasm ecstasy but I didn't seem to feel insecure anymore because of what had just happened. He let go of my breast and took his hand off my pants to wrap both his arms around my waist, hugging me tighter against him, his face still buried in my neck. I let my hands slide slowly on the wall and sighed, a sensation of well-being lingering inside me.

"I love you Liv."

"I love you too Ni-"

I didn't have time to finish talking and held my breath when I heard a sound. I felt his whole body tense behind me and at the exact same time, we moved away and pulled our pants up before rushing down the stairs. He held his arm out to me and I grabbed his fingers, letting out a laughter I didn't know I was holding. We only stopped running when we were outside and I started laughing even more, holding myself on my knees as I panted from the run.

"We almost got caught." I pointed out even if I knew he was aware. "That was close.”

"I know!" he chuckled, his lips forming a big smile. "Fucking hell."

"I never thought you were the type of man to take that kind of risks."

"I'm not." he laughed. "I mean I did before but not very often."

We stared at each other with a smile for a while but he finally moved closer and took me in a hug. I hugged him back, squeezing him as tight as I could against me and making him laugh again.

"Easy kid, I can't breathe."

I laughed and pulled away, tilting my head and sending him a fond smile. I hated when we fought and I knew most of the time, it was my fault, but I really wanted to change and start trusting him. I had to make an effort and I was going to do it.

I watched him grab his phone as we started walking to his car. I could feel his cum drip in my panties and I squirmed lightly, feeling my inner thighs throb at the thought but I didn't mention anything.

"What are you doing?" I ask as he grabbed his key in his pocket to unlock the car, his eyes still glued on his phone.

"Oh, just deleting some woman's phone number." he let out, glancing up at me with a soft smile. "I don't need to meet other girls, I'm already dating the love of my life."

                                                        ----

I glanced at the clock again and let out a sigh without really realizing it. Niall was late, as usual, and even if It was not uncommon these days, it was still bothering me. I grabbed my phone to check if I had a message for the second time in the last minute even if it would have been pretty much impossible to miss it. I looked back at the tv but I couldn't even remember the title of the movie or even the name of the main character. I felt stupid and a bit mad at myself. It felt like I couldn't function properly when Niall wasn't there and it was becoming ridiculous. I heard my phone and felt my heart jump in my chest as I grabbed it without looking at the called ID.

"Hello??" I asked happily, my eyebrows raised.

"Damn, love, I didn't know you'd be that happy to talk to me." Louis pointed out with a laugh. "You sound thrilled! Didn't know I had that effect on you."

I grimaced and leaned back against the couch again, bringing my feet up and letting out a sigh.

"Mmhm it's all you, Louis, I spend my life waiting for your call. Just a glimpse of your attention makes me euphoric."

He laughed again and I licked my lips. His laugh somehow always made me smile. Not a big happy smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"Not me but Niall yea?" he added, a bit concerned. "You're waiting by the phone and glancing at the door every few seconds."

I looked down in shame even if he couldn't see me and shrugged a shoulder.

"Maybe."

"I know what it's like." he admitted after a few seconds of silence. "I did that for a while after El and I.. well, you know."

"Yea, i know." I whispered.

Niall and I weren't broken up, we still had each other, and at that exact moment, I felt like shit for the way I acted when Louis clearly had it worse. We remained in silence for a while but it didn't feel awkward. I was just happy he was there to keep me company.

"How about we go out?" he suddenly asked after a while.

"Out?"

"Yea! The night's young and we're both bored out of our minds!" he explained a bit too enthusiastically.

"More stressed than bored i'd say."

"Come on Liv, just a few drinks."

I closed my eyes and held my breath. It's not that I didn't want to go, it's just that I wanted to be there when Niall would come home. I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could since I felt like we barely did anything together anymore. I wanted nothing more than to cuddle him and do something normal like watch a movie and make out. And suddenly it hit me how dependent I was being. Niall was busy and it was alright, but it was also alright for me to do stuff, go out, and have fun. We were two separate people, and even if I felt like he was a part of me, it didn't mean that I couldn't do anything by myself.

"Alright, let me put pants on and a bit of make-up."

"And do something with your hair too, love, will you?." Louis joked before laughing.

"Twat."

                                 --

The music was loud and it smelled like weed and cheap perfume. It was crowded and I suddenly felt my heart twist in my chest until Louis searched for my hand and gripped it tight, leading me through the sea of bodies dancing, chatting or kissing. We found a table and I checked in the back pocket of my jeans to make sure my phone was there, It was the fifth time I was checking but it didn't matter. I put my phone on the table and stared at it a few seconds before Louis tapped the table a few times.

"Wine?"

"Beer is fine." I replied with a smile, loud enough for him to hear me.

He nodded and came back a few minutes later with enough beer for way more than two persons. My lips curled and I chuckled low.

"Did you invite your friends?"

"Yea they're supposed to be there soon." he explained, his eyes suddenly moving away from me. "There they are."

I knew most of them from meeting them at Louis' New Year's Eve party and we all started chatting and drinking. After a while, stress and sadness had left my body and I finally told myself that maybe this is what I needed but I couldn't help but think it would have been so much better if Niall was with me. I glanced at Louis who was in deep conversation with a pretty blonde and tried to hide a smile. Most of the time, he tried to hide how sad he was but with me, from time to time, he would say something about Eleanor that made me realize he never really forgot her or got over her. I couldn't pretend I knew how he felt but I could  understand the love he had for her, because it seemed to be very similar to the love I have for Niall.

At some point, the blonde haired girl got up and left and I just kicked Louis under the table before leaning against it with a big smile.

"She's hot! Are you gonna bring her back to your place?"

He frowned and sent me a smile, pretending he had no idea what I was talking about and it made me laugh. If anyone deserved to be happy, it was Louis, and seeing it happening right in front of my face was a gift. I knew she was interested too just by the way she was looking at him and I decided to let them have their discussion. When I finished my 6th beer (or was it 7th?), I got up but grabbed the table before chuckling. One of Louis' friends helped me find my balance again and I tilted my head, sending him a big smile before thanking him.

"Hey Liv, you okay?"

I turned to Louis when I heard his voice and glanced at the pretty girl who was getting up to leave.

"You stay with her." I whispered. "I'll take a cab!"

"No way you're going home by yourself."

"But she-"

"I got her number, it's cool." he explained. "Besides, Niall would kill me if he knew I left you for some random girl I barely knew."

"I bet you want to know her more, don't you?" I asked, tripping a bit over my words and making him laugh again.

I turned to her without waiting for Louis' answer and sent her a grin.

"He'll definitely call you, he just needs to bring me back to my boyfriend for now."

The girl smiled back at me and chuckled before Louis intertwined our arms together and brought me outside. I wasn't really drunk, just a bit tipsy, and when the cool air of the night hit my face, I sighed low.

"D'you think Niall and I are meant to be?" I finally asked after a few moments of silence.

"Can't believe you're asking me that."

Louis had let go of my arm and I pushed both my hands in my pockets as I looked up at the dark sky. Only a few stars were visible and it reminded me of a few weeks before, when Niall brought me to the lodge and played me his song under the stars. it didn't matter how cheesy it was, it was clearly impossible to forget a night like that. We quickly found a cab and he gave Niall's address before turning to me. I stared back at him and bit my bottom lip, not sure I should say what I was about to say next.

"I don't know anymore, I mean I thought you and El were meant to be, too."

"We are." Louis let out in a low and sad tone, his eyes looking up at the sky too. "I know we are. Just like you and Niall."

The ride was short and Louis decided to walk me to the front door after telling the cab to wait for him. I tried to unlock the door but realized it already was and I practically ran inside only to see Niall sitting on the couch. He turned to me and his face changed into an annoyed expression, making my heart jump in my chest.

"Niall!"

I moved away from Louis only to walk quickly to my boyfriend who got off the couch and looked down at me with a frown.

"Where the hell were you? I tried to call you about 10 times!"

"Sorry mate," Louis let out, raising his nose up as he walked closer to us. "She kept looking at her phone so I sort of hid it."

He searched through his pockets and handed me my phone. My lips parted slightly and I grabbed it before turning to my boyfriend.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you'd be home early, if I had known I would have stayed."

We stared at each other intensely and I really didn't know how he felt. Most of the time, I could easily read him and he could read me too but today was different.

"Imma leave guys, taxi's waiting for me."

We told him goodnight and when the door closed behind him, I shook my head.

"Why do you seem... angry?"

"Olivia, I literally decided to come back home early for you." he pointed out a bit louder. "And you weren't even there!"

I frowned and shook my head again, taking a step back.

"What are you saying exactly, Niall? Because i've been spending days and evenings here, waiting for you. The one night I decide to go out and have fun instead of wait and fall asleep on the couch, you come back early. Well i'm sorry, I didn't know. I couldn't have guessed because i've been falling asleep, alone in bed or on this damn couch for weeks now. And now you're blaming me for it?"

His face changed and he sighed.

"I'm sorry I didn't answer your calls. I seriously forgot about my phone after my third beer." I added, letting my shoulders fall. "But I had a good time, and I needed it."

"Okay, you're right." he sighed again but louder this time. "Of course I don't want you to wait for me here and weep, I'm just disappointed that we didn't get to spend the evening together."

I nodded slowly. "Me too, Nee." I admitted in a very low tone, trying not to let tears fall. "We should get in bed and talk for at least an hour, what do you say? You can tell me about the songs you're writing at the moment and I'll tell you about Louis' new crush."

With a chuckle, he nodded. "I like that idea. I feel like we haven't had a proper conversation in months."

I smiled at him and kept quiet for a while before my lips curled more and I chuckled.

"First one in the room wins!" I let out, jumping up on his couch to walk past him.

I threw myself in the hall but I could feel him very close to me and when his arms wrapped around my waist, I let out a short scream. He pulled me up and I laughed again as he pulled us in his room, walking backwards to be sure he was the first one inside.

"I won!"

"You cheated!"

"Look who's talking!"

He put me back down, grabbing one of my hands and making me twirl around a few times. I ended up facing him and chuckled, feeling a bit dizzy from the spin.

"Fuck I miss you."

His words made something stir in my stomach. It felt good to know he missed me too because sometimes, I doubted it. He was busy, it's not like he really had time to think about me. I, however, spent most of my time thinking about him.

"I miss you too, Niall." I admitted in a whisper. "So fucking much."