#with his gorgeous wife and his detective bestie

[ann-chovi]

Brain rot is strong- multiple wips cooking (one of which probably won't get posted even when it is done hahaha).

[amydancepants-peralta]

So here’s a little headcanon that I wrote, that absolutely no-one asked for, totally inspired by this post by @Upworthy on Instagram that completely melted my heart.  (aka, a fic where Jake goes to ballet class with his daughter and everyone’s heart explodes just a little bit 💕💕)

(Full disclosure, I have no idea what I think they will call their child, or even if they will have their daughter.  There have been some amazing options thrown around, and I here for all of them!)

x

tutu tuesday 🩰👯‍♀️

Jake Peralta, in case anybody is asking, is one of the most bad-ass detectives New York has ever seen.  The best, in fact (a statement he can now make a little more confidently, given that his wife is now a Lieutenant).  He has seen things that could make even the toughest cringe, and he can handle any situation that the world throws at him.

Except, it seems, Tutu Tuesday at his daughter Mia’s dance class.

He’d been so confident walking in today.  His mother had been so insistent that he knew how to dance properly (it’s an incredibly charming skill, Jacob, and not up for negotiation) that spare time during his youth had been filled with dance classes not dissimilar to this.  It was a expertise that few knew about, mainly because he rarely mentioned it without turning bright red, but he was actually fluent in the art of ballroom dancing, and after two years of lessons, a master at tap.  And sure, it had been a few years (okay, maybe more than a few) since he’d actually danced, but it was just like riding a bike …. right?

Wrong.

His feet wouldn’t turn out the right way, his frame refused to lock into place, and he was just a bumbling mess of oversized limbs and mumbled apologies that kept accidentally bumping into people whenever he tried to move.

His daughter, on the other hand?

“No Daddy, like this!” She giggles, raising her hands up as high as she can reach them and spinning, and she definitely didn’t get this from Amy but she turns so gracefully, so weightlessly, this beautiful hybrid of messy curls and a button nose that (thank god) she had inherited from her mother and his heart just may not be able to contain how cute this is.  Not for the first time since her birth, Jake wishes he had a Go-Pro permanently strapped to his head, purely to capture all of these tiny but incredible moments, because it doesn’t seem possible for him to be able to remember all of them, but somehow he does.  

He can’t wait to get home to Amy, to tell her about their day, and also he just noticed one of the waiting moms taking video of the whole thing and he’s definitely going to ask her for a copy.  

“And one, two, three and plié!” Miss Melissa the dance teacher calls out from the front of the class, and quickly Mia moves back into position in front of Jake before bending her knees outwards so smoothly it appears second nature.  Jake copies his daughter’s action, ignoring the definite creak that came from his left knee or the tiny twinge of pain that came from his nearly decade old bullet wound, and steadfastly ignores the mirror on the wall opposite them.  

“Lift up!” the teacher calls out and Jake leans forward, gripping his daughter carefully around the waist and raising her up high.

“And time to twirl!” 

Jake turns in a circle, praying that he’s staying within their own dance space as Mia’s ribcage vibrates with giggles.  Her body is held into a tiny arabesque position, arms and legs as straight as she can manage through her contagious giggles, and the smile on her face could light up the entire room.  Jake can feel his body swaying to the side as the spinning makes him dizzy, and he tightens his grip slightly before lowering to the ground with the other dancers, smiling when Mia immediately envelopes his legs in a giant hug.  

His lower back is aching, his knee is absolutely throbbing and this did not go the way he had expected it to (what on earth happened to his dancer’s frame, damnit?) but his daughter was bursting with happiness and he was so very, very grateful that he got to attend ballet class today.  

“That was so fun, Daddy!” Mia tells him, voice muffled by his sweater, and Jake’s heart soars.

Keeping one hand on her back, Jake uses the other to push his glasses back up (today was his first day off in ten days, and contacts seemed like way too much effort this morning), glancing over at the other dads beside him and feeling relieved when they looked just as exhausted as he did.  Marco, the father of Mia’s dance class bestie Harper, widened his eyes in Jake’s direction, pretending (or maybe not pretending) to wipe a line of sweat off his brow.  At the front of the room, Miss Melissa announces today’s class was over, asking all the children to give a round of applause to all the parents that had come to class today.  

Jake gives a tiny bow in Mia’s direction, lifting his hand up for a high five when she finishes clapping, and lets out a relieved sigh that finally he could relax again.  

Parenting was tough, guys.  

.

.

“Okay, madam Mia, remember our story?” Jake asks as he switches off the car engine, turning in his seat to smile at his daughter still safely ensconced in her carseat.

“Dance class then straight home!  No icecweam at all!” Her tiny voice cries out, raising one tiny hand across her mouth in a ‘my lips are sealed’ motion she had definitely picked up from her mother.  

“Exactly, baby girl.”  Grabbing one of the wet wipes from the holder Amy installed in the centre console, Jake unbuckles his seat beat and leans towards his daughter, wiping the remnants of the ice cream that they absolutely did not have from her face before getting out of the car.  She is a wriggly worm of excitement as they make their way along the footpath to their apartment, feet still stretched out in perfect points as she practices her pirouettes.

“Imma show Mommy how good I’ve gotten!” Mia announces as Jake unlocks the door to the building, bounding towards the elevator with such energy that he needs to push his aching legs into double time just to keep up.  

Her tiny ballet slipper covered feet slap against the hardwood floors that lead to their front door, and she bursts into their home as soon as Jake turns the key, racing over to Amy in the kitchen before Jake’s even crossed over the threshold.

“Mommy, Mommy!  Daddy danced with me today and the teacher said I was rooly good and we definitely didn’t have any ice cream at all!”  Her words bounce off the kitchen cabinets as she races into Amy’s arms, and Jake steadfastly looks the other way as Amy clocks the words ice cream and definitely.  

“Wow, that sounds like a lot of fun, Mia!” Amy responds with a laugh, clapping politely as her daughter begins to display her turns, holding third position as she finishes.  “Very good, sweetheart!”

“You shoulda seen Daddy, he was soooo funny!” Their daughter giggles, pointing at Jake before covering her mouth to conceal her laughter.  

“I bet he was, baby.  How about we get changed out of our tutus and into our regular clothes, and you can come back and tell Mommy about the rest of your day?”  Mia nods, waiting until Amy has bent down to leave a kiss on the top of her head before running towards her bedroom, the tulle edges of her skirt scraping against the door frame as she runs.  

“I’ll have you know, I glided like an angel in that classroom.”  Jake begins, walking into the kitchen and giving Amy a kiss in greeting.

“I’m sure you did, babe.”  Amy winks, ruffling his hair good naturedly.  “But what’s this I hear about ice cream, Detective?”

He winces, glancing in the direction of their daughter’s bedroom before leaning in for another soft kiss.  “You know I can’t help myself when she looks at me with those gorgeous eyes of hers, Ames.”  He rubs his nose against his wife’s before continuing.  “I’m a sucker for them, and because they’re the same as yours, I totally hold you responsible.  Besides, she knows the rule.  No ice cream after dinner if she’s had some earlier.”

Amy’s eyebrows lift as she pulls away slightly, leaving her hands gripped tightly around Jake’s waist.  “You’re going to deal with the meltdown later, Peralta.”

“Fair call.”  He leans in for another kiss, because he truly can’t get enough of his wife, before leaning back to pull his phone out of his pocket.  “Would it help if I told you that I have video from our class today to show you?”

“Um, YES!  Why didn’t you lead with that?  Gimme!” 

Laughing, Jake hands over his phone before turning his attention to the ingredients for dinner that Amy had begun to lay out on the bench.  She was an excellent planner, but not so excellent chef, and surprisingly he had taken to the role like a duck to water.  

He hears a snort behind him as he reaches for a frypan from the cupboard, half turning to watch Amy’s shoulders begin to shake with laughter as she pauses the video on his phone.  

“Soo … by ‘glided like an angel’, you totally meant ‘stumbled like a baby calf learning how to walk’, right?”

“Hey!  I was very graceful.”

Amy nods slowly, the barely contained smile on her face completely giving her true opinion away.  

“Ballet is hard, babe!  Honestly, I do not recommend.”

“No doubt!  But Mia looks like she loved it.”

He turns fully at that, leaning his weight against the kitchen counter.  “She is so amazing, Ames.  Our girl can move.”  Throwing Amy a wink, Jake continues.  “No idea where she gets it from, though.”

Her hand slaps against his shoulder, and he captures it before she can get away, leaving an apologetic kiss against her palm.  “Sorry, babe.”

Amy’s eyes narrow slightly but she shakes her head with a sighed, “No, you’re right.”, before leaning her head against Jake’s chest, arms encircling around his waist.  “It’s about time there was a Santiago child that could dance, though.  And I’m totally proud that it’s ours!”

A heavy thump and the unmistakeable sound of multiple items falling echoes down the hallway, interrupting their quiet moment, and Amy lifts herself out of Jake’s arms with a groan.  “One of these days, she’s going to be able to get changed without making a mess.  This is totally your genes at play here, Peralta.”

Jake’s unable to argue as Amy hurries out of the kitchen, watching her hips sway (still a favourite of his) before moving a few ingredients to the cutting board and reaching for a small dose of paracetamol from their first aid kit.  

Parenting was hard, and his dancers frame was all but completely gone, but all of it was one hundred percent worth it.  

[bmaxwell]

Number 45: Heavy Rain

Games often require a suspension of disbelief, more so as they hew closer to reality. Heavy Rain required a lot of suspension of disbelief. I have to get some things out of the way before I can talk about this game. David Cage seems like a clown. Between the allegations of toxicity at Quantic Dream, the way they responded to those allegations, the clumsy way their games handle delicate subjects, the way they tend to oversexualize women, and the way Cage speaks as if he is an auteur creating high art, there’s a lot to dislike here. I can’t blame anyone who gets a whiff of it and says “No thanks.”

I didn’t run right out and buy Detroit Become Human, and I kept my expectations low for the game. And yet when I did come around to it, I found myself engaged with the game despite all its flaws. The situations it presents are often shades of grey, or things that must be decided under duress. Characters can live or die based on your choices and how well you engage in the game’s Quick Time Events*. Playing through the game with my wife and oldest child is something that will stay with me. My kid telling me to shoot the stripper** then immediately regretting it; my wife getting angry with me near the end of the game when I got a key character killed, those are moments other games cannot give me. 

My journey here started with Indigo Prophecy on the Playstation 2 years ago. That game felt like nothing I had ever played at the time. I can’t say it’s a great game or even a good one, but it has one of the most memorable opening scenes I’ve ever played. It spent the next several hours slowly losing its grasp on that promise, but there was something there. A few years later a buddy showed me this video at work, which sold me on both Heavy Rain and Giant Bomb:

 This is a self-contained DLC side story and contains no spoilers for the game.

Heavy Rain is a story about a serial killer where the perspective shifts between four characters: a young female journalist named Madison, a private detective named Scott, an FBI agent named Norman, and a father named Ethan whose son has been abducted by the killer. The game frequently puts the player in situations where difficult choices must be made quickly, and the outcome of those choices is almost always permanent; that is, you’re not seeing a game over screen and trying again, and you’re not initiating a conversation again and choosing the other dialogue choice. The story just adapts to the outcome and you keep playing.

There was a scene in the game where I was playing as Madison, and my leads had taken me to a man’s house. He offered me a drink, which I politely declined as something just didn’t feel quite right about him. A few moments later he excuses himself and heads upstairs. I begin snooping around his home for clues related to the case, and the camera splits to show him up in his room with all the creepy medical equipment and restraints, filling a syringe with something and heading back down. I found what I was looking for and got the hell out of the house before he returned, but my heart was pounding in my ears the whole time. These games have a lot of situations like that. Sometimes they walk that tightrope deftly, other times not so much. 

This creepy dude who wanted to drug Madison and take her up to his scummy sex dungeon is one example. Madison is a gorgeous woman who is, at one point, the star of an uncensored, player-controlled shower scene. Beyond: Two Souls also has a similar shower scene***. Beautiful women nude and on the wrong end of potential sexual violence and dangerous situations with men are a common thing to encounter in David Cage’s games. 

I remember a moment where I, playing as Ethan, was in a situation where I was confronting a drug dealer in his apartment. The encounter goes south and he ends up shooting a gun at me, trying to kill me. Long story short, I ended up with a gun drawn on him in his little girl’s bedroom (she’s not there) and he’s begging me to spare him because his daughter needs him. I killed him then and there. I had a spirited discussion with a friend who chose to spare the man. The game is great for these “What would you do?” discussions.

I found myself deeply absorbed in Detroit Become Human in spite of its flaws.

And it’s a goddamn shame I can’t recommend games like Heavy Rain or Detroit Become Human with no strings attached, because these games offer an experience unlike any other games I have played. They are wonderfully immersive, and the way your actions and choices permanently affect the story lends a sense of urgency not found in most games. I know that much of this choice is illusion and affects the details more than the main plot, but I can buy in enough to be invested in those moments and outcomes. But the way women are sexualized, the way delicate topics such as racism and child abuse are clumsily handled are hard to ignore. Even the regular stuff is often handled with all the delicacy of a hacksaw. Detroit Become Human opens at a hostage scene in progress. An android is holding a little girl at gunpoint on a balcony in a high rise. You’re looking around for clues before confronting him, and you find a tablet in the little girl’s bedroom. As soon as you unlock it, a video immediately plays of the little girl and android laughing and playing, and the girl saying “I love you, Daniel! We’re gonna be besties forever!” The core idea isn’t bad, but it hits you right between the eyes with it in the most can’t miss way possible. 

I like that Cage really goes for it, I just wish he wasn’t so convinced of his own genius. The man desperately needs an editor, he needs someone who can tell him when he’s going off the rails, someone who can say “No David, this bit is a bad look, let’s punch it up.” If you go into this game (or any of Cage’s games) looking to find faults, you’ll absolutely be able to do that and will have a bad time. If you can buy in and go along with the ride, and take the heavy handed writing in stride, there’s a lot of intensity in the moment to moment situations and decisions the games present. Maybe you can sympathize with the characters; it’s not their fault they’re in a danger-filled, badly-written video game. They need your help! I played these two games as shared experiences, and that helped make them magical for me. 

*Still not my favorite thing to see in a game. 

**A proud moment for any parent. ***Someone used a debug mode to uncover a nude model of Ellen Page that is censored in the retail game; worth noting that the developers crafted those assets and left them intact in the game to be discovered

[premimtimes]

From kid-friendly hits like Abominable and Little to the horror of Jordan Peele’s Us, there are plenty of movies to watch online with Showmax.

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Us

Lupita

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Abominable

Trailer: https://youtu.be/fYAYakGxxis

Three teenagers must help a Yeti return to his family while avoiding a wealthy man and a zoologist who want him for their own ends.

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Little

Little

Trailer: https://youtu.be/UtdhMbH81FY

At a point in her life when the pressures of adulthood become too much to bear, a high-powered businesswoman is transformed into her younger self. This throws her headlong into a whole other set of challenges and leaves her underappreciated assistant having to cover for her at the office. Starring Marsai Martin (Diane in Black-ish) as the little Jordan Sanders, Regina Hall, Issa Rae (Insecure) and Justin Hartley (Kevin in This Is Us). Watch it now »

Skin

Skin-on-Showmax

Trailer: https://youtu.be/32wrMGeluOY

Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) stars as a destitute young man, raised by racist skinheads and notorious among white supremacists. He turns his back on hatred and violence to transform his life, with the help of a black activist and the woman he loves. Director Guy Nattiv won the Oscar in 2019 for his short film of the same name. Watch it now »

Fighting with my Family

fighting_with_my_family_showmax [Photo Credit: Showmax]

Based on a true story, Fighting With My Family follows reformed gangster Ricky, wife Julia, daughter Paige and son Zak as they make a living wrestling together in tiny venues. Also starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Vince Vaughn. Watch it now »

BlackKklansman

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Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GI-meMwsjQ

BlacKkKlansman tells the bizarre true story of Ron Stallworth, Colorado Springs’ first African-American detective, who attempts to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s… with the help of a Jewish stand-in. The film won auteur-director Spike Lee a long-overdue Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, making it his first competitive Academy Award in his 34-year career. Watch it now »

How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

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Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeU0_VeWtEU

Inseparable besties Hiccup and Toothless, the big screen’s most adorable dragon ever, are back for their final adventure in the beloved Dreamworks threequel inspired by Cressida Cowell’s best-selling book series. Hiccup and Astrid have created a utopia for dragons and Vikings alike, but now a new danger threatens everything they love, just as Toothless finds a potential girlfriend. Watch it now »

The Secret Life of Pets 2

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Trailer: https://youtu.be/rMtPJ7llCEE

With a new baby in the house, our favourite Jack Russel, Max, lands himself in pet therapy for stress and finds a mentor in the form of a Welsh Sheepdog, Rooster. Patton Oswalt replaces Louis C.K. as the voice of our hero Max; Harrison Ford voices Rooster, and Kevin Hart returns as Snowball. Watch it now »

Yesterday

yesterday_[Photo Credit: showmax]

Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is a small-time singer-songwriter in an English coastal town who’s rapidly facing the reality that his dream probably isn’t going anywhere, in spite of the fanatical support of his best friend, manager and biggest fan, Ellie (Lily James). Then there’s a mysterious global blackout, Jack gets hit by a bus, and wakes up to find that The Beatles never existed. Yesterday has a gorgeous, feel-good soundtrack that Beatles fans will adore. Watch it now »

Time Freak

time_freak [Photo credit: showmax]

You know that time you messed up in a relationship and had your heartbroken, maybe let the one that could have been The One slip through your fingers? Well, what if you could go back and fix it? What if, like teen genius Stillman, you had a time machine that would give you all the do-overs you needed to get it right? Starring Asa Butterfield (Otis from Sex Education) opposite Emmy nominee Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark from Game of Thrones). Watch it now »

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The 10 biggest movies on Showmax right now From kid-friendly hits like Abominable and Little to the horror of Jordan Peele’s Us, there are plenty of movies to watch online with Showmax.