#you have a dozen comics and books lying around and a lot more on your open tabs

[dangerousdan-dan]

Currently fighting the battle (trying to resist the urge to read Batgirl (2000) yet again)

[thewritetofreespeech]

please write me something adorable for Mammon x Reader!!

Based loosely on the cutest comic ever created about Mammon (I will not argue about this this) by @hhhany82 [x]

You hadn’t seen Mammon all day. Which was unusual for him.

Usually, the white-haired demon spent every free moment he had invading your personal space. Talking to you. Trying to get you to laugh. Involving you in his latest scheme. Today, however, he was mysteriously absent. To the point that you had to ask one of the others where he was.

“Maybe he’s in the rookery.” Satan supplied when asked. Sparing a moment to look up from his book while he and the other younger brothers lounged in the sitting room.

“The rookery?” You asked. You guys had a rookery?

“Yeah. It’s where Mammon keeps his familiars.” Asmo replied.

“You mean they don’t just live outside?”

“Hehe, no.” The pretty demon said with a laugh. “He keeps them in a tower here at the House of Lamentation. Don’t know why. Birds are so creepy!”

“Does he have a lot of them?” You were really curious now. You’ve only ever seen one or two; and maybe foolishly thought they just appeared when summoned. You hadn’t really thought the familiar thing through a lot. This was really quite fascinating.

“Yes. Of course, the Avatar of Greed has to have hundreds of familiars.” Satan replied with an ear roll.

“I think they just keep making new ones on their own.” Beel replied. “Not that he doesn’t just pick them up along the way. Seems he used to always come home with a new one when he went out.”

“That bird brain.” The demons all laugh at Belphie’s witty drawl. They then tell you that the rookery was in the western wing, in one of the towers there. You thank them and head that way. Interested now in seeing what all this familiar, rookery nonsense was about.

It took you awhile to make it to the tower; and even longer to climb up the stairs. When you managed to make it to the top you were amazed to see the room open up into a tiny forest of black trees. Barren trees twisting and coiling towards a sky they could never reach. While dozens of birds squawked and fluttered around the dark husks. It wasn’t a hundred, as Satan claimed, but it was certainly a lot.

“Guys! Calm down! I got enough for all of ya.” You hang back around the corner when you heard Mammon’s voice. Able to hear and see him but staying out of his line of vision. Not that he would have noticed you anyway. He seemed completely engrossed in the birds around him. “You better appreciate this, ok. I spent all that was left in my bank account on getting this fancy bird seed for ya guys. It’s organic and supposed to be really good for your feathers and stuff. Not that ya guys need it. You’re all just as handsome as the Great Mammon!”

You have to cover your mouth hard to stifle the laughter threatening to bubble out of your throat. Was he really talking to his birds?? Like one of those silly old bitties that chat for hours with their parakeets?? This was too funny!

“Well, at least you guys appreciate the nice things I do for ya. Those dunder-headed brothers of mine only see the bad stuff I do. I’m a demon! What do they expect?! They never see the good stuff I do, or like say anything nice about me. Just the ‘scummy older brother’. I get such a bad rap. Just like you guys.” Your hand came away from your mouth when you heard him say that. The soft, sort of sad smile on his lips breaking your heart as he softly nuzzled one of the bird’s heads with his finger. “It’s not so bad now though. With [Y/N] here. They’re nice to me. Least I don’t get dogpiled on so much when they’re around. They try to see the good in me all the time. They’re a good person. Makes me wanna try harder to be good.” He paused to pour some more food in another dish for his crows. One flying down from its top perch to land on his shoulder and eat directly out of his hand.  “Yeah, yeah, I know. Lost cause right? Sometimes I wanna tell ‘em they’re a really bad judge of character, but…most of the time…it’s just nice to have someone believe in ya. You know? Everyone else has just given up on me. ‘Cept for you guys of course. But [Y/N] keeps trying. I really love that about ‘em. I guess it’s why I love ‘em so much.”

Your hand flew up to your mouth again, only this time to cover up the gasp threatening to break free from it.

Mammon wouldn’t think you were such a ‘good person’ if he knew you were spying on him! Eavesdropping on his private conversation with him and his birds. “Who’s there?!”

You flinch when the demon barked out his accusatory claim out into the darkness, obviously having heard you, and you have to steal yourself for a moment before you skip out of your hiding place. “Just me!”

“[Y-Y-Y/N]!” Mammon stammered in alarm. His trademark glasses jostling on his nose as he jumped. The crow on his shoulder flying away. “H-How long have you been standing there?!”

“I just got here.” You telling him. Lying to spare him the embarrassment (or devastation that the one he admired so was a dirty rotten peeper). “I didn’t even know we had a rookery until now. Satan told me where to find it. Are these all yours?”

The demon still seemed rattled, frozen in fear almost at being discovered talking to his birds or what you might have over heard, but quickly coughed and righted himself. “I uh…Y-Yeah. Of course, they're mine. The Great Mammon needs an army of familiars to do his bidding. Being able to control this many just shows how awesome my power really is.”

You giggle a little and ask him to tell you all about his birds. Helping him feed and care for the rest; especially the baby birds. You never tell him that you overheard what he had said to his flock. You’ll keep his secret, just like the crows do.

[souichioneshots]

Adult!Souichi x Reader 【2 day fic; Day 2】 NSFW!!

Lol here's part 2

Ya'll said you like detail

well, here's a lot of detail

this is super ooc for sure, but whatever there's like barely any adult!souichi porn so take this shit and leave me alone

byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

【MUST-READ DAY 1 + Binzo FIC To UNDERSTAND WHAT IS HAPPENING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!】

Souichi loudly sighed as he placed the hairdryer back on the counter. He was exhausted. What had started out as a good day turned to shit in a matter of minutes.

Closing his eyes, he recalled the events that had unfolded before him that afternoon.

After checking out of the hotel, you two still had another four hours to kill until the kimonos were ready for pickup. Although there wasn’t a lot to do in the little town you were in, there was a large home center that he had planned on going to soon. He needed to get some things for the haunt and some everyday items for his family. You claimed you’d never been to a home center before, so it should be fun.

At least, that’s what he initially thought.

He had left you alone for 1 minute to go get a cart. Seeing how heavily invested you were in reading the comic book he told you he liked as a kid, he figured that you wouldn’t notice. But he was dead wrong.

As he put the items he was holding into an empty cart, the lights of the store started to flicker. He heard people screaming and things being knocked over.

Leaving the cart, he rushed to where he had left you. But you weren’t there. Instead, your mask along with several broken mannequins took your place. There were drops of blood everywhere. You had been scratching yourself again. A nasty habit you had whenever you got anxious. Following the trail of blood and broken items, he finally found you. You were in the pet-item section of the store.

His eyes widened in shock as he saw you, floating ever so slightly off the floor. A group of Japanese horned beetles circled your floating body as you swayed back and forth, like a body that had been hung by its neck. All the other animals in the area, the rabbits, the birds, even the fish all laid dead on the floor surrounding you.

He was about to call out your name and try to calm you down, but then he saw your eyes.

They had gone completely black.

Blood dripped from your nose and to your lips as you smiled at him. A shiver traveled down his spine as you met his eyes.

¡¡¡∀ﻼ∀ﻼ∀ﻼ∀ﻼ∀ﻼ ¡¡ɘɿoʜʍ 'υoγ uɒc 'ɿɘʍob γɯ ʇυoʜʇᴉʍ ϱuᴉɘp quɒʇƨ ʇ,uɒC ¡γʇɿɘboɿb ɿᴉɘʜʇ ɘʌɘᴉɿʇɘɿ oʇ kcɒp ɘɯɒc γllɒuᴉt oʜʍ koo⅃ ˙llɘM llɘM llɘM

Souichi couldn’t understand a single word you were saying. His heart raced as he remembered what the man who sold you had said. If you were ever displeased, you could take the power of others away, and in extreme cases, their life force. From the looks of you and the dead animals around you, this seemed like an extreme case.

The lights above you flickered rapidly as you placed your feet on the ground and walked towards him.

He needed to do something fast. You were drawing too much attention to yourself. Drawing too much attention to him! He needed to run. If he ran fast enough, he might be able to reach his family and disappear just before you could get him.

Just as he was about to turn around and leave, tears started to run down your cheeks, making him stop. You put your hands out to reach for Souichi, but he backed away, afraid you were trying to trick him.

“I,ɯ ƨoɿɿγ˙˙˙ Ⴇou,ʇ˙˙˙⅃ɘɒʌɘ ɯɘ˙˙˙ I,ɯ˙˙˙Sorry…Please…” The whites in your eyes returned as tears endlessly streamed down your face.

The people who had been watching from afar made a commotion as you suddenly collapsed onto the ground. Blood seeped from your arms, legs, and nose as your eyes finally shut.

It took all the power Souichi could muster to make everyone in the store forget what had happened. He was able to pin everything on a couple of teenage pranksters, but he prayed that no one would ever look at the security footage from that day.

Seeing that it would not be the best idea to travel with the bloody body of an unconscious girl thrown over his shoulder. He rushed to the nearest hotel. Using his power to make you undetectable by the people around him, he brought you into the room you two were in now and allowed you to rest. However, you had awoken while he was showering.

You nearly scared him to death when you entered the shower fully clothed.

Your face was emotionless, eyes slightly puffy from crying too much, and dried blood was smeared all over your body. Seeing how your legs trembled from exhaustion he offered to help you wash up, something his older sister would usually do for you, but you refused, asking him to leave. Quickly finishing up, he left you alone.

He didn’t know how long it would be until you finished. But either way, he wasn’t exactly looking forward to it.

Walking over to the mini-fridge in the room, he took out a can of lemon-flavored Strong Zero and chugged it all down in one go. He held the still cold can up to his head as he tried to relax his mind.

He really didn’t think things through very well when he got you. He should have heeded that man’s warning. All of this just to get more powerful? There were dozens of other ways he could get the power he wanted. Ritual sacrifices, joining covens, deals with demons. But he just had to choose the ‘easy’ route.

If he didn’t do something soon, he might end up powerless or dead like your old masters.

Souichi let out a sound of surprise as he turned around to see that you had been standing behind him the entire time. Small puddles of water formed around you as water droplets dripped from your hair.

“Y-You’re done? Do you need help drying your hair?” He nervously asked.

He really hoped you couldn’t read minds. God knows he can’t take on anyone as powerful as you, especially after all he did today.

Keeping your eyes to the ground, you spoke in a small voice.

“Where did you go?...”

“Hmm? You told me to get out?” Souichi tilted his head to the side in confusion.

“No!” You gripped the hem of your pajama-yukata, trying to hold back your emotions. You sounded like you were on the verge of crying again.

“You left me alone…at the home center…You tricked me…” Your body trembled as you took deep-uneven breaths. “Why did you leave me…Did I do something wrong… I’m sorry if I did something to upset you… I just… Please… Tell me…”

Souichi’s eyes widened at your words. He couldn’t believe what you were saying.

The scene you made at the home center was all because of him. All because you thought he left you. Dumped you to fend for yourself in an environment you were completely unfamiliar with. He knew he could never truly understand how you felt, but he assumed that it must have felt worse than the time his grandmother left him alone with a family who doesn’t understand him or his abilities.

He felt horrible for actually thinking about leaving you back there.

“Y/N… I wasn’t trying to abandon you. I just went to get a cart to put the stuff in. I’m sorry…” You looked up at him with teary eyes as he explained what had truly happened.

Stepping forward, you wrapped your arms around his slim body.

“Promise you’ll never leave me again…” The sound of your voice was muffled a bit by his clothes.

“I Promise.” He put his pinkie out for you to wrap your own around.

Moving back a bit, you both looked at each other and chanting in unison.

「指きりげんまん　嘘ついたら針千本飲ます　指きった！」

As you let go of each other’s pinkies, a devilish smile grew across your face.

“You’re suddenly in a good mood.” He said, a little surprised by your sudden change in attitude.

“Fufufu. Of course, I am. After all, a promise between two witches is sacred.” Rushing to stand on top of the bed, you pointed and laughed at him. “Don’t blame me if you end up drinking a water bottle full of needles one day ~! Kakakaka!”

Souichi couldn’t help but laugh at how similar you sounded to him when he was younger. Even your laugh, although it suited you well, was forcefully done just so you could sound creepier. You were like a little clone of him.

As you stood taller than him, Souichi was now able to clearly see the scratch marks that traveled from your knees up into your yukata. They looked painful. Your arms weren’t looking so good either.

Going to a bag filled with supplies, he called for you to sit down. “We should heal those wounds before we go back home.”

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, you waited for the man to start the healing process. He was the only person you had ever met that was able to successfully do this.

“Where did you get this?” You asked as you examined the green bottle of gooey liquid labeled ‘100% Aloe Vera’.

“I went to the superstore while you were asleep.” Souichi replied as he kneeled in front of you and took your arm into his hands.

“Hmm…” Suddenly you gasped loudly, making Souichi jump a bit. “The kimonos!”

“Ah~ I got those too. I even went to eat sushi from that place we saw yesterday.”

“Ehh--!!” You exclaimed. “You’re lying!! I wanted to go too!”

“Well then maybe you shouldn’t have thrown a tantrum and blacked out at the home center.”

You huffed and looked away in annoyance as he continued to massage your left arm. The scars slowly faded away as he chanted and rubbed the skin.

“Geez…You should have just gone ahead and conquered Japan without me while you were out…” Souichi laughed as you mumbled under your breath.

“So…did you have fun?” You asked as he moved onto your right arm.

“Not really. The sushi was meh and those annoying old ladies kept asking where you were. They even tried to fit me for a kimono.”

“Did you get one?!” You excitedly asked. Souichi shook his head side to side, indicating that he did not.

“Aw…That’s a shame. I personally think you would look absolutely delicious in a kimono.” Souichi looked at you with a shocked expression, making you go into a panic.

“N-Not that kind of delicious!! I mean uh… Like …nnn…” You ran your hand through your hair as you tried to find the right word. “Handsome! You would look very handsome in a kimono…uuuu…” You brought your hand down to cover your face as Souichi laughed at your embarrassed expression. You’ve been saying a lot of weird things like that to him recently.

Finally finishing your arms, he moved down to your legs. Souichi’s heart suddenly started to race as you pulled your yukata up, allowing him properly to see the scratches he needed to heal on your legs.

Clearing his throat, he gave you the bottle. “I think you can do this part yourself.”

You looked up at the raven-haired man in confusion. “No, I can’t. I never learned how to do healing spells. If I did, do you think I would have been walking around with scratches and bite marks all over my body this whole time?” Souichi sighed at your statement. You were right.

“Fine… I can teach you how to do this if you want.” He said as he opened the bottle.

“Ok. Teach me.” You let out a sigh as Souichi poured the lotion on your legs. It stung at first, but that pain soon melted away.

Rubbing his hands over the markings, he explained the spell to you. You paid careful attention, repeating the chant right after him and watching as your skin healed before your very eyes.

Seeing that you still had a couple of scratches trailing to the back of your legs, he told you to flip over.

You immediately apologized when a small growl escaped you. Being put in a vulnerable position like this was not something you were used to.

As you finally calmed down, Souichi noticed your body slightly move on its own. Your body slid down a bit, trying to keep his fingers on the top half of your legs. His mouth started to feel dry when he saw that you weren’t wearing anything underneath your yukata.

Your legs closed ever so slightly as his hands moved dangerously close to your already slick pussy.

“I-It’s really important to heal all parts of the body…” He nervously explained as he gently rubbed his thumb against your pussy, clear fluid sticking to it as he pulled away.

Completely forgetting about the other scratches on your legs, Souichi focused himself on another part of your body.

“This spell helps with cuts, bruises, and even... muscle fatigue.”

“Fatigue...?” You repeated the word like you had no idea what it meant.

“This place seems to be pretty tight. You probably have a lot of built-up fatigue here…”

You tried to hold back your voice as he slid his index finger into you. Your legs trembled each time he pulled it back and almost out of you. Souichi could feel his member getting harder in his boxers as he continued to finger you. The wet-hot sensation of you wrapped around his finger was making his mind go fuzzy.

He wanted to go further.

Grabbing you by your waist, he flipped you back over. Your cheeks were red, and your chest was rising and falling at an uneven pace. Souichi licked his lips as he got back on his knees and brought his face closer to your pussy.

“You don’t always have to use your hands for this spell though…But…I’ll need to help you if you wanna try this method…”

You let out a shaky moan as he pressed his tongue against you. Souichi could taste the Aloe Vera he had rubbed on you as he pushed his tongue in between your folds.

His tongue was tingling, and his mind was slowly starting to forget how or why he even started doing this to you.

Bringing his hand down to his boxers, he freed his aching erection. Clear fluid dripped from the tip of his cock as he started to move his hand back and forth.

Jolts of pleasure surged through his body as he slipped his tongue inside you, rolling over your clit every time he pulled out. It was almost like you two were actually connected.

He can’t remember how many times he repeated this motion.

Your legs physically trembled as your breathing became more erratic. He could tell you were gonna cum soon. But he couldn’t hold himself back anymore.

Pushing himself off of you, Souichi spread your legs wide. He needed to cum inside you. He needed to make you his.

“Fuck…” Souichi pressed himself against your dripping entrance as he sped up his hands’ motions.

Why did you have to cover your face with your hands? He wanted to see your face when he came inside you.

“Ah~I’m cumming…” His body twitched downward as he pushed just the head of his cock in and poured his thick white seed into you.

A smile grew on his face as he looked down at the mess he had made of you. His seed seeped out of your pussy as he pulled himself out.

Moving to the empty space next to you, Souichi laid on his back. Your shoulders slightly touched as he moved even closer.

His heart was still racing from how amazing that felt. Even now his body felt like it was tingling.

Souichi closed his eyes as he tried to catch his breath.

Completely oblivious to the immense amount of power that was being transferred into him right now.

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About "Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances" from The Owl House

Salutations, random people on the internet who most likely won’t read this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons!

When Dana Terrace did her AMA on Reddit, a fan asked what we could expect for the new season. To which she replied by listing five things:

Parental conflict

A lot of emotions

Island exploration

New characters

...There's a fifth thing in there. You just got to look closely.

Now, when Dana mentioned parental conflict, dozens of fans assumed she was talking about Alador and Odalia, which, I mean...valid. They were the only two parental figures who presented any real conflict, and the idea of Camila being involved seemed implausible due to Luz being cut off from the human world. But no matter how you perceived that line, one thing’s for sure: No one expected Eda and Lilith's mother to be a source of conflict!

Yup. Today we met the woman who created two of the (former) greatest witches in all of the Isles. Was her introduction welcomed? Or did she give the Blights a run for their money for the "Worst Parent(s) of the Year" award? Only spoilers can answer those questions, so keep that in mind as we go in-depth with "Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances."

Let's review, shall we!

WHAT I LIKED

The Flashback: Already, this episode comes out swinging by giving us so much information! We get an explanation of what Eda goes through when cursed (which is horrifying), the reasoning behind her gem, the revelation that Eda ran away from home, and the reveal of how she got the portal door. The best part is, none of it feels rushed or forced. Eda's curse and the portal are integral threads to this story, both in this episode and in future ones. Tying them together sets up Gwendolyn's determination to cure her daughter while showing Eda's determination to escape her mother by skipping town into another dimension. There's also a sense of mystery in how and why the portal was in their backyard. And judging by how we got all of this incredible information in episode FOUR of the new season, something tells me we'll get answers to those questions sooner than we might think. This was such a strong opening to the episode. Despite giving so much information, it makes fans like me want even more. Which is an A+ in my book.

Gwendolyn: Yeah, might as well step out the gate in saying that I like Gwen...but I can already see how others won't. Immediately, she sets herself up as a mother who would do anything and everything to cure her daughter. That aspect of her character is perfect, and it quickly won points from me in terms of liking her. It's just that Gwendolyn's disregard of what Eda wants and the complete dismissal of Lilith are aspects of Gwen that are certainly going to rub some people the wrong way. Especially if those kids come from households where their parents are a lot like Gwendolyn. I was in the same boat of hating her too for a while, but thankfully, the last act saved her.

First, there's that scene where Gwendolyn threatened the lives of the demons for not only screwing her over but making things worse for Eda. It's one of those "Hell hath no fury like a mother scorned" moments that I always love to see.

Then there's the fact that Gwendolyn learns her lesson and, more importantly, apologizes. Not many actual abusive mothers would do that (Looking at you, Odalia), so it's nice to see that she makes an effort to make amends. Oh, and by the way, since I mentioned it, don't go around calling Gwendolyn abusive. She isn't. Or, at least, not to my eyes. If anything, she's a lot like Sara Fitzgerald from My Sister's Keeper (The book. Not the movie. The movie sucked).

In that story, Sara makes controversial choices that result in her youngest daughter Anna getting the short end of the stick due to putting all attention towards her eldest Kate. But here's the thing: KATE HAS CANCER! So while Sara's choices are beyond questionable, you can understand her point. And if you don't, well, I'd see how you would react when in her shoes. Trust me when I say that situations like this aren't always cut and dry. It's the same with Gwendolyn. She's far from "Mom of the year," but you understand where she's coming from. She wants to do what she can to help Eda, even if her methods could have been better. But that's just how I feel, and I can't speak for everyone who dealt with mothers far worse than her. If you refuse to forgive her, I'll understand. But to me, I consider Gwendolyn a worthy addition to the series.

(Plus, she just radiates Grandma energy when interacting with Luz. It's cute, and therefore I must love it!)

Luz: This season is on FIRE when presenting Luz!

I adore that the first thing we see her doing in this episode is sleeping after, most likely, another all-nighter to find a new portal. It proves that she has a determination made of iron and an intense dedication to getting back to Camila. In fact, it's that dedication that works as a perfect way to build a connection between Luz and Gwendolyn. They both want to reconnect with their families and are willing to do whatever it takes to do so.

Regardless, despite so desperately wanting to see Camila again, I'm glad that Luz still has common sense when it comes to helping Eda. She quickly sees that Gwen's cures are doing more harm than good, and it's great that Luz is the one to call malarky on the whole thing. No one had to spell things out for her because she's smart enough to notice that everything Professor Warlop is marketing feels a lot more like the fake medicine real people sell in the human world. It's a testament that despite having a big heart and the best intentions, Luz still has the intelligence to know when something is up and put a stop to it. And, again, let's hope that more people pick up on that.

Lilith: ...who would have expected Lilith of all characters to have most of the emotional moments in this episode?! I sure didn't!

But...Yeah. Lilith is the best thing in "Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances." On top of her seeking Gwendolyn's approval being relatable for some viewers, it's also really heartbreaking. I mean, listen to the shocked and hurt tone in her voice after finding out Gwen visited Eda regularly. That alone should give away how much Gwendolyn is important to Lilith and says so much about how strained their relationship became after the curse. Then there's that scene where she just breaks down, feeling both scared and torn apart by the fact that she experienced the curse in its full form and could do nothing to stop herself. It...stung. That's the best way to describe it. It stung seeing a character who is (mostly) cool and collective to become so vulnerable and broken. And, you know what? It's because of this that Lilith has won me over. I still don't think she should have been as forgiven as quickly as she was, but after learning what Lilith went through and what she's currently going through, I'm more than willing to be ok with her. And--I can't believe I'm saying this--I'm going to miss her being a part of the Owl House. She earned her place, in my opinion, creating entertaining dynamics with everyone. Sure, she'll make appearances every now and again, but I wouldn't mind a few more episodes with her being with the main group. But I'm positive the writers will have plans for her in the future and seeing how well she was written in this, I can't wait to see what they do next.

King Hoping to see his Dad Again: This was just a cute tidbit that ties nicely into last week's episode. Bonus points for that scene where King and Lilith get drunk off of Night Market ice cream. It got a good chuckle out of me, especially when Hooty was the one who ended up being the voice of reason.

Cursed Lilith: ...How does she look worse and more terrifying than Eda?

How Beast Keeping Magic Works: Not much I can say about this. It's neat to be given a visual explanation of how Beast Keeping magic works and how it's more than just controlling animals. Judging by the roof shingles, it can also be making objects more animal-like. It's pretty cool, and I hope to see more of how the rest of the magic from the prominent covens work.

Luz wasn’t the only human: To tell you the truth, this doesn't surprise me. Eda did say that every myth humans have is a bit of the Boiling Isles leaking into the human world, so why can't the opposite be true? However, the reveal of there being a famous human around many years ago presents many more questions, and possible theories, that deserve to be discussed in a future post. For now, I'll just say that it's awesome how this reveal perfectly transitions us to next week's episode, "Through the Looking Glass Ruins." We already know Luz is going to the library. But, seeing how Gus is going to be a prominent character in that episode as well, he probably wanted to tag along with Luz to study about the first human in the Boiling Isles. Only to then get sidetracked by some cool kids from Glandis. It's in the realm of possibility, thus proving how more serialized this season compared to Season One while still being somewhat episodic. Because even if "Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances" presents a lot for the overall story, it's still its own tale about family relationships and knowing how to truly be there for the people you love. Resulting in a necessary and cute episode that ends on a wholesome note without any major surprises like--

Creepy Clone Luz: ...

...Dana Terrace, you lying--YOU SAID CREEPY LUZ WAS A FARCE! IN THE SAME AMA, TOO! CURSE YOU! CURSE YOU AND YOUR SNAKE TONGUE, GOSH DANGIT!

...Alright, now that I got my overreaction out of the way, this was an amazingly well-written surprise!

Tricking fans into thinking that Camila is crying over the realization that Luz is gone, only to then reveal this...thing, is the best shock to the system that this series has done so far. Even better, it results in all the right questions:

Who is it?

What is it?

Where did it come from?

When did it get there?

How did it get there?

How does it know about Camila?

And why? Just, why?

To me, a series that presents all of these questions, and makes me excited for whatever answers are given, is a series that's doing something right. Because if I'm still reeling over something that lasts for a second, despite seeing the episode hours ago, that is a testament to how good a surprise really is.

WHAT I DISLIKED

Trust me, I want to give this episode the A+ just for that ending alone. But, there are some issues I have that are worth discussing.

Eda’s Outfit Change: I know. It's the nitpickiest of all nitpicks I could present. Particularly because Eda doesn't even look bad (although that's no surprise). The issue is that it feels weird that Eda's having this permanent outfit change in the fourth episode of Season Two. Or, to me it is, at least. Because I think that if you're going to give a small yet constant change to the look of a character, it should be done right away. Like, in the first episode of a new season. I highly doubt fans would question why Eda is wearing different clothes by then, so it wouldn't be too bad if the first time we see her, she’s sporting a new outfit. Again, this is just me, and I have no problems with the outfit itself. It just seems odd they would do this later rather than sooner.

Screwing with Eda: I...did not like this. At all. It was funny at first to see Luz and Gwendolyn lure Eda with Apple Blood like how Wile E. Coyote would bait the Road Runner with birdseed, but it quickly took a turn. Because I don't want to see Eda meet inconvenience after inconvenience from her mother and surrogate daughter. I like Eda, and seeing her happy makes me happy. If I wanted to laugh at a character's suffering, I would have picked Boscha, Mattholomule, Alador, and/or Odalia. This? This was just unnecessary cruelness to a character who doesn't deserve it. And it takes up a good chunk of this episode, making me question whether or not this would be the stinker I was fearing. Fortunately, the ending increased my enjoyment by several notches, but that doesn't change how this was the low point of "Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances."

IN CONCLUSION

Despite the road being rocky in the middle, I still consider "Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances" to be another solid A episode. The first and last few minutes have some quality writing that adds more to the characters, ongoing plot, and mystery that the series is building up. It's one of those important episodes you can't skip when watching a series, but given how it's keeping the new season's impeccable track record, I fail to see how that's a problem.

(Although, I am scared. We haven't gotten a stinker yet, and I really don't want it to be next week's episode. It's a Gus episode with sweet Lumity content on the side! That cannot fail!)

[girlactionfigure]

Only when he got older he realized just how fortunate he and his family were to be alive.

“The extermination of most of his relatives and millions of other Jews by the Nazis; the intrusive, unemployed immigrants who survived and crowded his parents’ small apartment; his sickly childhood; his mother’s dark moods; his own ever-present depression” - all of this, he survived, according to Patricia Cohen of The New York Times.

He was born in Brooklyn to Polish-Jewish immigrant parents on June 10, 1928.

One of his earliest photographs (attached to this story) shows him as an infant - “a plump, round-faced, slanting-eyed, droopy-lidded, arching-browed creature” held by his mother, with his older siblings, according to writer Margalit Fox.

Growing up, Murray as he was then known “har­bored ongo­ing fear of the per­ils that might lurk out­side of his home and neigh­bor­hood” and remembered how he cel­e­brat­ed his bar mitz­vah, according to writer Stephen Whit­field. 

That's when his father discovered that much of his extended family had died in concentration camps. The young boy thought he had "done something very bad, that I had made him suffer more than he had to."

“The death of members of his extended family during the Holocaust . . . exposed him at a young age to the concept of mortality,” according to NPR.

“As he got old­er, he was con­stant­ly aware of his mar­gin­al­i­ty and dif­fer­ence,” wrote Whit­field.

He seemed to be always sick, but when he was well, he could be naughty. He remembered his mother often called him “vilde chaya”, which in Yiddish meant "wild animal".

“His view of the outside world was often limited. . . and the little that he could see from his window,” according to PBS. “It was during this time that he began to draw and to allow his imagination to run free.”

He made a name for himself as an illustrator. When he received an opportunity to write his first book, he used the title "Where the Wild Horses Are" - unfortunately, he realized he couldn't draw horses, so he told his editor. His editor would respond, "Well, what can you draw?"

He would answer "Things."

He would become “the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century, who wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche,” according to the New York Times.

He remembers receiving a letter from one fan:

In an interview with NPR, he is quoted as saying, “A little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children's letters – sometimes very hastily – but this one I lingered over . . . I wrote, 'Dear Jim: I loved your card.' Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said: 'Jim loved your card so much he ate it.' That to me was one of the highest compliments I've ever received . . . He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.”

~~~~~

“Maurice Sendak has been one of the most consistently inventive and challenging voices in children’s literature,” according to PBS. “His books and productions are among the best-loved imaginative works of their time. Like the Grimm brothers before him, Sendak has created a body of work both entertaining and educational, which will continue to be popular for generations.”

“Roundly praised, intermittently censored and occasionally eaten, Mr. Sendak’s books were essential ingredients of childhood for the generation born after 1960 or thereabouts, and in turn for their children,” wrote Fox. “He was known in particular for more than a dozen picture books he wrote and illustrated himself, most famously ‘Where the Wild Things Are,’ which was simultaneously genre-breaking and career-making when it was published by Harper & Row in 1963.”

He brought “to life a world of fantasy and imagination,” according to PBS. “His unique vision is loved around the globe by both young and old.”

When he died in 2012, the Washington Post wrote:

“They say that a creative adult is simply a child who has survived. Sendak survived a great deal, losing relatives in the Holocaust and struggling through a childhood that he remembered as “a very passionate, upsetting, silly, comic business.”

“And his books captured this — never talking down, yet always reassuring.

“The best writers are the ones who trust their audiences. Sendak did. And we trusted him right back.

“Sendak did not lie to children. He did not attempt to say that the world was more or less difficult than it was.”

~~~~~

In 2008 in the New York Times, Sendak revealed that he was gay and had lived with his partner, psychoanalyst Eugene Glynn (February 25, 1926 – May 15, 2007), for 50 years before Glynn's death in May 2007.

In that article, Sendak said he never told his parents: "All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy," he recalled. "They never, never, never knew."

In a 2011 interview with NPR host Terry Gross, Mr. Sendak said "finding out that I was gay when I was older was a shock and a disappointment. I did not want to be gay. It meant a whole different thing to me — which is really hard to recover now because that's many years ago. I always objected to it because there is a part of me that is solid Brooklyn and solid conventional and I know that. I can't escape that. It's my genetic makeup. It's who I am."

Elisabeth Hoffman of the Baltimore Sun wrote, “Why do we pass laws that isolate, demean and shame people for something so utterly personal? It's no surprise that gay teens are bullied. No surprise that Maurice Sendak had to hide part of his identity from his parents — and from his readers.”

“In that often emotional NPR interview, Sendak also said: "I have nothing now but praise for my life. I'm not unhappy. I cry a lot because I miss people. They die and I can't stop them. They leave me and I love them more. What I dread is the isolation. There are so many beautiful things in the world which I will have to leave when I die. But I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready."

~~~~~

“His work . . . did not seek to for­get the emo­tion­al threats that scarred his life,” wrote Whit­field. “Sendak’s rec­ol­lec­tions of dread and dan­ger instead became the source of a painstak­ing cre­ativ­i­ty that [Golan Y.] Moskowitz [author of “Wild Vision­ary: Mau­rice Sendak in Queer Jew­ish Context”] read­i­ly calls illus­tra­tions of ​“genius.” Sendak believed that his fan­tasies must instill truths, rather than con­firm the con­ven­tions of inno­cence, and this think­ing rev­o­lu­tion­ized the way that young peo­ple were under­stood and addressed.”

In that last interview with NPR, “the beloved children’s writer and illustrator was 83 years old and in declining health. He was feeling the loss of people close to him who had died in recent years. Inevitably, the discussion turned to issues of mortality … By the time it was over there were teary-eyed people in cars all across North America. One listener, Brent Eades, left a message on the NPR Web site: “I happened to be listening to this extraordinary interview while on the early-morning commute from my small Ontario town to Ottawa. I was entirely absorbed in it; and the final couple of minutes left me with tears streaming down my face, which I’m sure nonplussed my fellow commuters.”

~~~~~

In “Where the Wild Things Are”, Sendak wrote:

“ . . . the wild things cried, “Oh please don’t go we’ll eat you up-we love you so!”

And Max said, “No!”

The wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth

and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws

but Max stepped into his private boat and waved good-bye

and sailed back over a year

and in and out of weeks

and through a day

and into the night of his very own room

where he found his supper waiting for him.”

~ jsr

The Jon S. Randal Peace Page

[improvidence318]

i said screw it so here it is

howdy howdy, this is the anon with the 20’s lingo sheet. i don’t have a tumblr (though i wish i do tbh) and realized that i don’t know how to work shit on tumblr, so i’m just sending in the sheet through a text post. i am highly aware of the amount of power i’m bestowing upon you and honestly couldn’t give a damn

A

ab-so-lute-ly: affirmative all wet: incorrect And how!: I strongly agree! ankle: to walk, i.e.. “Let’s ankle!” apple sauce: flattery, nonsense, i.e.. “Aw, applesauce!” Attaboy!: well done!; also, Attagirl!

B

baby: sweetheart. Also denotes something of high value or respect. baby grand: heavily built man baby vamp: an attractive or popular female, student. balled up: confused, messed up. baloney: Nonsense! Bank’s closed.: no kissing or making out ie. “Sorry, mac, bank’s closed.” bearcat: a hot-blooded or fiery girl beat it: scram, get lost. beat one’s gums: idle chatter bee’s knee’s: terrific; a fad expression. Dozens of “animal anatomy” variations existed: elephant’s eyebrows, gnat’s whistle, eel’s hips, etc. beef: a complaint or to complain. beeswax: business, i.e. “None of your beeswax.” Student. bell bottom: a sailor bent: drunk berries: (1) perfect (2) money big cheese: important person big six: a strong man; from auto advertising, for the new and powerful six cylinder engines. bimbo: a tough guy bird: general term for a man or woman, sometimes meaning “odd,” i.e. “What a funny old bird.” blotto (1930 at the latest): drunk, especially to an extreme bootleg: illeagal liquor breezer (1925): a convertable car bug-eyed Betty (1927): an unattractive girl, student. bull: (1) a policeman or law-enforcement official, including FBI. (2) nonesense (3) to chat idly, to exaggerate bump off: to kill bum’s rush, the: ejection by force from an establishment bunny (1925): a term of endearment applied to the lost, confused, etc. Often coupled with “poor little.” bus: any old or worn out car.

C

cake-eater: a lady’s man caper: a criminal act or robbery. cat’s meow: great, also “cat’s pajamas” and “cat’s whiskers” cash: a kiss Cash or check?: Do we kiss now or later? cast a kitten: to have a fit. Used in both humorous and serious situations. i.e. “Stop tickling me or I’ll cast a kitten!” Also, “have kittens.” cheaters: eye glasses check: Kiss me later. chewing gum: double-speak, or ambiguous talk. choice bit of calico: attractive female, student. chopper: a Thompson Sub-Machine Gun, due to the damage its heavy .45 caliber rounds did to the human body.  chunk of lead: an unnattractive female, student. clam: a dollar coffin varnish: bootleg liquor, often poisonous. copacetic: excellent crasher: a person who attends a party uninvited crush: infatuation cuddler: one who likes to make out

D

daddy: a young woman’s boyfriend or lover, especially if he’s rich. daddy-o: a term of address dame: a female. Did not gain widespread use until the 1930’s. dapper: a Flapper’s dad darb: a great person or thing. “That movie was darb.” dead soldier: an empty beer bottle. deb: a debutant. dewdropper: a young man who sleeps all day and doesn’t have a job. dogs: feet doll: an attractive woman. dolled up: dressed up don’t know from nothing: doesn’t have any information don’t take any wooden nickels: don’t do anything stupid. doublecross: to cheat, stab in the back. dough: money drugstore cowboy: A well-dressed man who loiters in public areas trying to pick up women. dry up: shut up, get lost ducky: very good dumb Dora: an absolute idiot, a dumbbell, especially a woman; flapper.

E

earful: enough egg: a person who lives the big life

F

face stretcher: an old woman trying to look young fella: fellow. As common in its day as “man,” “dude,” or “guy” is today. “That John sure is a swell fella.” fire extinguisher: a chaperone fish: (1) a college freshman (2) a first timer in prison flat tire: a bore flivver: a Model T; after 1928, also could mean any broken down car. floorflusher: an insatiable dancer flour lover: a girl with too much face powder fly boy: a glamorous term for an aviator For crying out loud!: same usage as today four-flusher: a person who feigns wealth while mooching off others.

G

gams (1930): legs gatecrasher: see “crasher” get-up (1930): an outfit. get a wiggle on: get a move on, get going get in a lather: get worked up, angry giggle water: booze gimp: cripple; one who walks with a limp.  Gangster Dion O’Bannion was called Gimpy due to his noticeable limp. gin mill: a seller of hard liquor; a cheap speakeasy glad rags: “going out on the town” clothes go chase yourself: get lost, scram. gold-digger (1925): a woman who pursues men for their money. goods, the: (1) the right material, or a person who has it (2) the facts, the truth, i.e. “Make sure the cops don’t get the goods on you.” goof: (1) a stupid or bumbling person, (2) a boyfriend, flapper. goofy: in love grummy: depressed grungy: envious

H

handcuff: engagement ring hard-boiled: tough, as in, a tough guy, ie: “he sure is hard-boiled!” hayburner: (1) a gas guzzling car (2) a horse one loses money on heavy sugar (1929): a lot of money heebie-jeebies (1926): “the shakes,” named after a hit song. heeler: a poor dancer high hat: a snob. hip to the jive: cool, trendy hit on all sixes: to perform 100 per cent; as “hitting on all six cylinders”; perhaps a more common variation in these days of four cylinder engines was “hit on all fours”.  See “big six”. hood (late 20s): hoodlum hooey:  nonsense. Very popular from 1925 to 1930, used somewhat thereafter. hop: a teen party or dance Hot dawg!: Great!; also: “Hot socks!"  Rarely spelled as shown outside of flapper circles until popularized by 1940s comic strips. hot sketch: a card or cut-up

I

"I have to go see a man about a dog.”: “I’ve got to leave now,” often meaning to go buy whiskey. icy mitt: rejection insured: engaged iron (1925): a motorcycle, among motorcycle enthusiasts iron one’s shoelaces: to go to the restroom ish kabibble (1925): a retort meaning “I should care."  Was the name of a musician in the Kay Kayser Orchestra of the 1930s.

J

jack: money Jake: great, ie. "Everything’s Jake.” Jalopy: a dumpy old car Jane: any female java: coffee jeepers creepers: a term of exclamation jitney: a car employed as a private bus. Fare was usually five-cents; also called a “nickel.” joe: coffee Joe Brooks: a perfectly dressed person; student. john: a toilet joint: establishment juice joint: a speakeasy

K

kale: money keen: appealing killjoy: a solemn person knock up: to make pregnant know one’s onions: to know one’s business or what one is talking about

L

lay off: cut the crap left holding the bag: (1) to be cheated out of one’s fair share (2) to be blamed for something let George do it: a work evading phrase level with me: be honest limey: a British soldier or citizen, from World War I line: a false story, as in “to feed one a line.” live wire: a lively person lollapalooza (1930): a humdinger lollygagger: (1) a young man who enjoys making out (2) an idle person

M

manacle: wedding ring mazuma: money milquetoast (1924): a very timid person; from the comic book character Casper mind your potatoes: mind your own business. mooch: to leave moonshine: homemade whiskey mop: a handkerchief munitions: face powder

N

neck: to kiss passionately necker: a girl who wraps her arms around her boyfriend’s neck. nifty: great, excellent noodle juice: tea Not so good!: I personally disapprove. “Now you’re on the trolley!”: Now you’ve got it, now you’re right.

O

off one’s nuts: crazy Oh yeah!: I doubt it! old boy: a male term of address, used in conversation with other males. Denoted acceptance in a social environment.  Also “old man” “old fruit.” “How’s everything old boy?” Oliver Twist: a skilled dancer on a toot: a drinking binge on the lam: fleeing from police on the level: legitimate, honest on the up and up: on the level orchid: an expensive item ossified: drunk owl: a person who’s out late

P

palooka: (1) a below-average or average boxer (2) a social outsider, from the comic strip character Joe Palooka, who came from humble ethnic roots panic: to produce a big reaction from one’s audience percolate: (1) to boil over (2) As of 1925, to run smoothly; “perk” pet: necking, only more; making out petting pantry: movie theater piffle: baloney piker: (1) a cheapskate (2) a coward pill: (1) a teacher (2) an unlikable person pinch: to arrest. Pinched: to be arrested. pinko: liberal pipe down: stop talking prom-trotter: a student who attends all school social functions pos-i-lute-ly: affirmative, also “pos-i-tive-ly” punch the bag: small talk putting on the ritz: after the Ritz Hotel in Paris (and its namesake Caesar Ritz); doing something in high style. Also “ritzy.”

Q

R

rag-a-muffin: a dirty or disheveled individual rain pitchforks: a downpour razz: to make fun of Real McCoy: a genuine item regular: normal, typical, average; “Regular fella.” Reuben: an unsophisticated country bumpkin. Also “rube” Rhatz!: How disappointing! rub: a student dance party rubes: money or dollars rummy: a drunken bum

S

sap: a fool, an idiot. Very common term in the 20s. says you: a reaction of disbelief scratch: money screaming meemies: the shakes screw: get lost, get out, etc. Occasionally, in pre 1930 talkies (such as The Broadway Melody) screw is used to tell a character to leave. One film features the line “Go on, go on – screw!"  screwy: crazy; "You’re screwy!” sheba: one’s girlfriend sheik: one’s boyfriend simolean: a dollar sinker: a doughnut sitting pretty: in a prime position skirt: an attractive female smarty: a cute flapper smudger: a close dancer sockdollager: an action having a great impact so’s your old man: a reply of irritation speakeasy: a bar selling illeagal liquor spill: to talk spoon: to neck, or at least talk of love static: (1) empty talk (2) conflicting opinion stilts: legs struggle: modern dance stuck on: in love, student. sugar daddy: older boyfriend who showers girlfriend with gifts swanky: (1) good (2) elegant swell: (1) good (2) a high class person

T

take someone for a ride: to take someone to a deserted location and murder them. tasty: appealing teenager: not a common term until 1930; before then, the term was “young adults.” tell it to Sweeney: tell it to someone who’ll believe it. tight: attractive Tin Pan Alley: the music industry in New York, located between 48th and 52nd Streets tomato: a “ripe” female torpedo: a hired thug or hitman

U

unreal: special upchuck: to vomit upstage: snobby

V

vamp: (1) a seducer of men, an aggressive flirt (2) to seduce voot: money

W

water-proof: a face that doesn’t require make-up wet blanket: see Killjoy wife: dorm roomate, student. What’s eating you?: What’s wrong? whoopee: wild fun Woof! Woof!: ridicule

X

Y

You slay me!: That’s funny!

Z

zozzled: drunk

  have fun.

[indestinatus]

Perfect Match

TIVATOBER 2020 // DAY 28

↳ prompt: Halloween Party - rated T (2,170 words)

summary: Ziva steps into the party and isn’t completely surprised by all the eyes that turn to her - but that is far from being the only surprise of the night. 

A/N: for my darling @softdeckerstars​, who mentioned something on chapter 1 and stayed with me until chapter 28 to see it written. Your love and support is unmatched, dear friend. Love you so. 

read it on AO3 🎭

Ziva stepped out of the car, facing the chilly air of the street. 

She was nervous. This wasn’t something she usually did, dressing up like that. 

She should’ve brought the jacket she left hanging at the back of her door. Her bare shoulders were shivering, but now there was no going back. Maybe if she had calculated how much skin that outfit was going to show, she wouldn’t even have tried it. Even with the metal-like plaques now covering her forearms, there was still a lot to cover—and the tightness of the bodice didn’t really leave things to the imagination. 

She wasn’t feeling bad as she had looked in the mirror earlier that night, though.

No, she felt… Different. It wasn’t common for them to have time to dress this fancy, and even more than that, go to a party. It was true it was still in the local bar they used to go to every Friday or so, but… With makeup and styled hair, Ziva hadn’t felt that different in a long time. 

Swallowing down her self-consciousness, Ziva took a step towards the bar, opening the rusty door. 

A dozen conversations started at the same time, the sound amplified as she stepped inside. Quickly surveying the bar entrance, Ziva realized it had been decorated with Halloween colors - dull orange and light purple lights hanging from the ceiling - as well as a few spiderwebs and scary skulls placed between the drinks and on various tables. 

In a second, Ziva also noticed that many eyes had turned to her. Some belonged to people she knew, perhaps ones she could even call friends - after a couple of drinks, it was difficult not to laugh with the regulars - but most were from men seeking something. Company for the night.  

Ziva tilted her chin up, challenging them. With a side smirk, she thanked the bartender, Gina, and the young woman gave her an appreciative nod. It didn’t take long for Ziva to spot her friends, though, and a relieved smile cracked on her lips as soon as she saw Abby across the room, also smiling broadly at her. 

“Wow, Ziva, you look great!” Abby took both her hands inside hers, a face so excited Ziva wondered if she had had any drinks already or if this was her natural state. She decided on the latter. 

“Thank you, Abby. And you look… Dark.” Ziva eyed her costume and quickly added, “In a good way.”

With dark eyeshadow and sporting a long red velvet cape over a black dress, Abby looked like her normal self—except for the little fangs that now protruded from inside her mouth. 

“Thank you,” she replied, grinning. “It’s my version of Dracula. Last year, I didn’t win because no one knew who was Mina Harker, so I decided on something simpler this time. Well, simpler in my eyes. It’s just absurd no one knows her. But knows him! She’s part of the story too and—”

“Wonder Woman.”

Tony’s voice made Ziva’s heart do that little flip she was familiar with, and as their gazes met, his was so intense she felt unable to breathe properly. 

It was as if the whole world was reduced to that moment, with Tony’s eyes doing an elevator motion and then back up to her face after a slow blink. Ziva looked down to her own outfit, taking in the knee-high boots and metallic dress. Meeting his gaze again, she felt that even the cold plaque circling her forehead had turned warmer somehow—when Tony parted his mouth to lick the curve of his bottom lip. 

“Yes,” Ziva replied, feeling better than she did the whole evening.  

Tony’s brow shot up, appearing above the glasses he was wearing. Ziva bit the inside of her cheek to keep from making any comment about it (or inflating his ego)—but good heavens, did he look good sporting that. Wondering if Tony would ever wear glasses in real life - and not just a part of a costume - Ziva let her gaze wander down his outfit as well, taking in his combed hair to the side and open shirt. 

“You weren’t lying,” he said, breaking eye contact for a second with a sheepish smile. 

“Why would I do that?”

Ziva tilted her head and visibly saw Tony inhaling. She knew what that gesture did to him, and offered him a secretive smile she knew he would understand. There was something so compelling in making him lose control like that, and how easy it was. All she needed to do was to linger her gaze for some seconds and he would start fidgeting, pressing his lips together or talking without any filter at all. 

But there was something different about tonight. She noticed he couldn’t stop staring. Not even when McGee arrived with the first round of drinks - dressed in some sort of character Ziva didn’t recognize, with elf ears and a strange-looking vest - and not even when a couple of his local friends approached him. 

Tony continued to look at her over the bottle brim and stealing glances when neither of them was talking. The night stretched into a few rounds of drinks, and Ziva soon started to feel the happy dose of alcohol inside her system. Smiling more than usual, she realized they had drifted closer to one another, and Tony’s shoulder was now pressed against hers. 

“You do know this is just a party, right?” Tony looked at her from the corner of his vision. “Not a job interview for modelling or…” he trailed off, and for what felt like the tenth time that night, let his eyes trail to where the bodice hugged her waist, tight and fitting. 

“I heard there is a competition, yes?” Ziva lifted one of her eyebrows. 

“Right,” Tony chuckled, taking another sip of his beer. “Ziva David, parading in front of everyone, dressed as a sexy Amazon Warrior.”

“Isn’t that one of your fantasies, Tony?”

His eyes sparkled and Ziva couldn’t help but cast a confident smile when the beer he was drinking stopped midair, a half-hearted huff sent in her direction. 

“Funny,” Tony said, pointing her a finger. ”You… You can’t say that. You have no right to—”

“You guys are matching!”

Abby gestured at them with a wide smile, clasping her hands together. Her excitement caught the attention of nearby tables, and now a few curious customers stretched their necks to see what she meant. 

Abby was right. Tony had the decency to look down his own torso, where a half-open white shirt displayed the Superman logo which suited him well. A loose tie was draped around his neck, and with his hair combed to the side, Tony did look straight out from a comic book. 

From the way he still stared at her, Ziva guessed she did too, his attraction now way less disguised from the effects of the alcohol. She met Tony’s gaze to find it curious rather than with the playfulness she expected, and Ziva was caught off guard for a moment before she could slip back into her façade.  

“Really?” Ziva cast Abby a smirk. “I did not notice it.”

A click sounded a second later, and Ziva flashed a smile at how excited Abby looked when she pulled McGee to see it too. Halting for a second and furrowing his brows, McGee’s gaze darted between the two of them but finally decided not to comment on the matter. After some loud, excited babbling coming from an already tipsy Abby, she left them alone as well, but not before sending a not-so-discreet wink Ziva’s way. 

“Hm.” Tony turned to her, putting his hands inside his trouser pockets. “Do you think they know?”

Ziva glanced to where Abby and McGee now stood, not looking at them but still close. They appeared to have started some sort of debate on another table about someone’s costume, but Ziva couldn’t catch much more than that. 

“No,” she replied. “They do not.”

“I thought that was the plan.”

“Hm.” Ziva turned to Tony, smirking up at him. “Seeing you squirm is way better.”

Tony’s tongue pushed the inside of his cheek, as he tried to suppress a smile but failed. 

“And you couldn’t settle on something looking less…” he trailed off, tipping his chin to her costume. 

Ziva chuckled. “Powerful?” 

His eyes were pure hunger when they returned back to her face. Ziva’s heart started beating faster. 

“I was going to say ‘less Ziva’.”

Tony’s eyes sparkled and Ziva smiled, appreciating how good he was at flirting. 

“Hm.” Ziva pursed her lips, leaning forward on the table. “I like it. I can even conceal my weapons.”

Tony’s eyes instantly flickered to her chest, the low cut of her dress drawing the desired effect. When his gaze met hers again, Ziva parted her lips. Everything was just too intense. And he looked way too handsome with his hair and glasses like that. 

“How many are there with you?” Tony stepped into her space. 

Ziva tilted her chin up towards him. “Do you really want to know?”

“A man needs to be prepared,” Tony chuckled. “But you do look... amazing.”

“Thank you,” Ziva opened an honest smile, then skimmed his face as she said, “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

Tony lifted a hand to brush a curl off her shoulder, and the light touch of his fingers left a burning trace on her skin. 

“We clean up nice, don’t we?” 

He skimmed her face in wonder and Ziva smiled, looking at him from under her eyelashes. Not even a moment after, Tony chuckled, shaking his head as she trailed his gaze with her own. 

“You know what?” He chuckled weakly, then hummed with the back of his throat before meeting her eyes again. 

“Screw you,” Tony said, though his eyes were visibly sparkling.

Ziva huffed out a laugh, taken aback. “Why?” 

“For making me want to tear it off.”

Tony’s lips pressed together as he nodded towards her metal dress and his hand hit the table a couple of times in a fist, then opened with the palm facing down. Licking his lips, he closed his eyes and glanced the other way, and Ziva couldn’t help but laugh at how helpless he looked. 

“Hm.” She clicked her tongue and cracked a smile. “And I have not even ‘paraded’ yet.”

Tony continued to shake his head, the look he cast a clear mix of helplessness and pure lust. 

“Dangerous woman.”

“Wasn’t it Wonder?”

A smile cracked on his lips, and Ziva followed it as Tony turned to face McGee and Abby still in a heated conversation at the table across the room. 

“They’ll know,” he said after a moment, with a duck of his chin. 

Ziva chuckled amused, then lifted an eyebrow. 

“How?” she asked, then motioned to their costumes, adding, “I do not think we can be more obvious than this.”

Going with matching costumes had originally been Ziva’s idea, but Tony had also helped pick the ones that felt appropriate. They had previously discussed how to break the news to the team, but it wasn’t something that easy to tell everyone that they were actually together now, however natural it may seem. With a Halloween party approaching, Ziva had joked they should leave them a clue, even if as minimal as matching costumes. 

“When I kiss you,” Tony replied, then chuckled as Ziva sent him a questioning look. “Just saying. They’ll know.”

“I thought we had agreed—”

Tony’s hands cupped her face and pulled Ziva close in an instant, words cutting short. As soon as his lips met hers, his tongue demanded access into her mouth, and Ziva let him with little to no restraint. 

Tony’s mouth was almost aggressive, the kiss an explosion of all that had been building up all night. Ziva tuned her senses to return its energy, and as she let her fingers trail to the back of his head, Tony let out an appreciative groan from low on his throat. 

She felt his hands fisting her hair, and Ziva circled his neck to pull him closer. With all the weight of Tony’s body now flushed against hers, she suddenly felt lightheaded, and as his hands left her hair to trail the sides of her hips, Ziva did feel like she was getting out of breath. 

Breaking the kiss, she heard him whine before sharing her breath—as if he was also in need of some oxygen. Tony let his forehead pressed to hers, and squeezed Ziva’s waist to make a point. 

“Know that this is your fault,” he said, sounding indeed a bit breathless. 

She tightened her grip around his neck, chuckling against his lips. 

“We both know it is not,” Ziva replied. 

“It is, though.”

And if he heard another click coming from Abby’s camera, Tony made no comment on it before claiming Ziva’s lips again with his own. 

As he smiled through the kiss, though, she had a feeling he was alright with them figuring it all out just like that. 

[mostlywritersblock]

Dracula 2019 fic

Part 1

****

Is this a dream?

Of course it is.

You’re drinking my blood.

But my blood is deadly to you.

Yes.

So you’ll die.

So will you.

After all this time

Did you think I’d let it hurt?

****

Dracula awoke.

It was disorienting, not because of any lack of vision but simply because he had awaken.

Something he’d thought he’d never do again.

By all rights, he should be dead.

Well, dead-er.

He was laying on his back, comfortably mind you, staring up at the ceiling when a familiar voice punctured his thoughts.

“I thought it might happen today, or rather I’ve been telling myself that for the past two weeks.” The woman from the foundation spoke.

Bloxham was it or something other?

“Just so you’re aware it’s been a total of 19 days since your attempted suicide”

Attempted suicide? Is that what happened?

“Your lawyer has been dutifully notified of your condition and current occupation of our facility. For more economical reasons I’m sure you can see why you’ll be staying here instead of a hospital until we can safely monitor your progress and rehabilitation.”

Progress? Rehabilitation? What was wrong with him?

“What is wrong with me?” The statement came out far weaker than he intended, and by god was that really his voice? Such a pitiful thing!

Bloxham stared at him blankly. “I just told you, attempted suicide.”

She stepped out of view but he could still hear her. “Now that you’re awake I’ll have the doctors come examine you. Try not to hold back on anything, the more information you provide the better.”

A series of scenes played out suddenly before him, ripping his focus away from the present to-

A flash of light, so intense, like the sun itself-

The sun.

Agatha.

He could hear retreating footsteps.

“Wait.”

Bloxham hesitated. “Yes?”

“Aga-Dr. Helsing. Zoe, where is she?”

There was a long pause.

“She’s alive, I’m not allowed to say anymore on the subject.” And she briskly walked out of the room. Dracula listened as the soft hiss of the door sealed behind her.

Ah.

So he was back in the glass cage. Wonderful.

****

The doctors poked, prodded, and took blood samples for a sum of 75 hours before Dracula got fed up and snapped one of their necks. The rest quickly fleeing the room as he viscously bit into the dying mans jugular. It was delicious.

Keep dangling a carrot in front of a starving rabbit and they’re bound to take your finger along with it.

****

The blood seemed to have done some good, and he wasn’t the only one to notice. The next following days consisted of Bloxham gathering up as many volunteers as she could to start giving him blood. It wasn’t the greatest thing ever but he felt he should play by the rules just for a little while longer.

Just until he had regained his strength.

****

By the gods. He was going to go mad of boredom. He’d requested -what - at least a dozen times by now, for some form of entertainment. A book, magazine, some new eletro-technological gizmo. Anything. But it was as if his request fell on deff ears. Which wasn’t possible. Which meant they were ignoring him.

Dracula sighed dramatically. He’d also requested for his lawyer, though he now supposes that won’t be happening anytime soon either.

****

He kept seeing her.

Not in his dreams - because, well, that wasn’t really possible at the moment- but in the shadows of his cage.

Agatha.

He hadn’t heard anything more since he’d first asked about her. It was as if the topic of one Dr. Zoe Helsing was taboo, classified, unmerited information that he was definitely not privy to.

No matter. He was counting down the days now.

Soon.

****

He’d surmised he’s been held prisoner at the foundation for a total of 39 days, 14 hours, and 45 minutes when the alarm sounded throughout the corridor. An unnecessary red light bouncing about the walls.

He slid the key card into place and a mechanical hiss sounded as he pushed the the final door open.

Fresh air rushed to great him. Along with twenty or so armed guns.

Dracula didn’t bat an eye as he rushed them. The sun grinning down on him when he slaughtered them all.

***

All that time in the foundation and no one had been one step closer to discovering how he was still alive. The one mystery he was actually hoping they’d solve before he jumped ship. Oh well. Now to find the real answers, with the only person who could possibly provide them.

He hoped at least.

****

He was surprised to find that Zoe was not actually where he had expected her to be.

He had thought, naturally, that with all the secrecy that obviously whatever information they had was not of the positive sort. Meaning he assumed he’d find her half dead in a hospital riding out the tale ends of her cancer.

Not. Outside a cheap flat lounging in the shade with a beverage smelling strongly of alcohol.

When Zoe finally noticed his chilling presence she gifted him with a small smile.

“Took you long enough.”

*****

He was to say very bluntly. Not pleased. Not pleased at all to discover Zoe did Not in fact have all the answers.

He was pleased however to note that she had miraculously been somewhat cured of the cancer. A miracle they were both certain he had a hand in doing.

Another piece of the puzzle yet unsolved.

She’s currently undergoing chemo, a last ditch effort by her doctors to make sure the cancer never comes back. But Zoe says everyday she feels a little stronger, a little less like the poison is in her veins.

Dracula supposes he’s happy for her.

Happy to have the company now that they’re not constantly at each other’s throats.

But he’s still a vampire, a fact they’re both acutely aware of as time passes by.

Dracula leaves sometime in the night, Zoe’s warm body curling into the space he previously occupied.

It’s not goodbye. But he needs sometime to collect his thoughts and -

He needs to feed.

****

Zoe finds him not even two days later.

“You know running off in the middle of the night is not going to solve any of your problems.” She states taking a seat in his temporary domicile.

Dracula rolls his eyes, “It doesn’t unsolve them either, Zoe. I’m driving myself mad with explanations, scenarios that make no sense and facts that don’t add up.”

He paces a few steps. “By all accounts I should not be here. I should dead, not undead.”

“Careful it almost sounds like you’re regretting being a vampire.”

Dracula frowned. “You know that’s not what I’m saying. I just wish to understand, nothing like this has happened before.”

Zoe sighed, “ Look it’s not like you went around drinking sick blood all the time, or for the length you drank mine. Who’s to say you can’t die from it. Maybe it just severely weakens you, like a vampire kryptonite.”

“Like a vampire what?” Confusion crossed his face as he tried to distinguish the strange word. And here he’d thought he was doing pretty well in this century.

“It’s Superm- you know what I’ll get you the comic sometime. Anyway, we really don’t know what kind of effect sick blood may have.”

Dracula scoffed. “Oh and me practically dying isn’t effective enough for you?”

“Not when you can come back good as new, no.”

Dracula smiled dangerously, “There’s the cold nun we all love to hate. Don’t suppose you’re hoping I’ll try it out again and stay dead next time.”

“One can only hope.” Came the distinctive foreign reply.

“Well I’m not, so there’s another dead-end for you.” He sneered. Zoe took in a deep breath

“Look, I want to get to the bottom of this just as much as you do, but you ran away from the one place that could possibly offer some kind of scientific explanation.”

Dracula released a low growl, “I’m not going back there.”

“I’m not asking you to I’m just-“

A loud buzzing filled the room, Zoe frowned sharply before tearing into her purse to dig out her phone. She glanced at the screen briefly before answering.

“Yes? What is it now?”

Dracula stared intently at his shoes trying not to grow impatient.

“Again? This is the third time this month, yes I know he escaped twice thank you Margo. Yes. Yes he’s with me. Yes I’ll tell you. Look, now isn’t a good time, I’ll call you later. Tell Florence to just reschedule their meeting, I won’t be in tomorrow. Thursday? Fine, yes, whatever works. Yes, goodbye.” Zoe let out an exhausted sigh as she lightly slammed her phone face down onto her lap.

“Trouble in paradise?”

“Trouble you caused.”

“Oh what have I done now?” Dracula mock pouted

“The contributors - our sponsors are reviewing the foundation, again. Apparently the fact that you escaped twice puts us under strict scrutiny.”

“Ah, I don’t blame them, for the price they’re paying I’d put your organization under strict scrutiny too.”

“It’s your bloody fault!” Another deep breath, “And it isn’t my organization, I just help run it.”

“What happened to early retirement?”

“I’m not dying now, why should I give up when we were really starting to see a breakthrough.” She quipped sarcastically.

Dracula chuckled, “Point taken.”

****

Turns out running an organization that your not legally obligated to run takes a lot of time and effort, both of which Zoe was finding hard to balance, especially with an over demanding, narcissistic, ego-centric vampire breathing down her neck. Oh and she also wasn’t trying to kill him, or capture him, or run test on him this time.

So.

There was that.

Zoe figured her sudden lack of animosity towards the man remained largely on the fact that he saved her. Or rather drained the sick right out if her.

So now she can’t help but feel a little obligated to offer aid in this troublesome mystery. Even if that means lying to half her staff the whereabouts of Dracula’s location.

However, the animosity spikes at certain moments too.

They usually coincide with Dracula’s feeding habits.

*****

TBC

[cottagethings]

self-quarantine activities

1. Complete a puzzle: The more pieces the better! Feeling extra saucy? Take on a Rubik's Cube. More of a word person? Crossword puzzle!

2. Start a journal or blog. Sure, it can be about the coronavirus, but it could also be about a specific interest from chess to cheese. 

3. If it won't bother your neighbors: Dust off that old instrument and practice.

4. Text all your exes just in case you have one more thing you wanted to get off your chest.

5. Write poetry. Perhaps you can craft a haiku for Mother's Day, or something without a specific structure. Just try it!

6. Watch all the really long movies you’ve avoided until now.

7. Download Duolingo, or a similar app, and teach yourself a foreign language.

8. Finally read “Infinite Jest,” “Les Miserables” or even “The Stand.” Go all in and read “Ulysses.” You got this. 

9. Meditate. Try lying down with your eyes closed, palms up and while focusing on your breath. Or spend 20 minutes sitting crosslegged and repeat a soothing word to yourself in your head. (The latter is more like transcendental meditation.)

10. Face masks, moisturizer, oh my! Treat yourself to a 10-step skin care routine you don’t have time for during a normal work week.

11. Look at pictures of puppies.

12. Put together the most attractive charcuterie board possible, but you can only use foods you already have in your fridge and cupboard.

13. Take note from "Tangled" star Rapunzel, who has an entire song about how she's spent her days alone in a castle. Activities included in her ditty: Ventriloquy, candle-making, papier-mâché and adding a new painting to her gallery.

14. Write actual letters to family and friends. After that? Write thank-you notes to service people who you remember went out of their way for you.

15. Learn calligraphy. YouTube can help.

16. Finally read the rules to those long and intense board games you've never played with the family. Encourage the family to play.

17. Put on a soap opera. Mute the sound. Create your own dialogue.

18. Have a space in your home where all of the tupperware goes? Organize it and actually match lids to containers.

19. Try on all your clothes and determine whether they “spark joy” á la Marie Kondo.

20. Better yet, go through this process with your junk drawer and supply shelves. 

21. Have a roommate meeting about how to be more considerate of one other, especially while you will likely be spending more time together. Bring baked goods.

22. Bake those goods.

23. Watch the films that won Oscars for best picture.

24. Watch films that won Independent Spirit Awards for best picture. 

25. Watch films that critics say should have won those aforementioned awards.

26. Read all the New Yorker issues piled on your desk.

27. Will Tom Hanks into recovery from coronavirus by watching every Tom Hanks movie chronologically. 

28. Knit or crochet.

29. Use Skype, FaceTime, Google Hangouts or Marco Polo to video chat with your long-distance friends.

30. Try out at-home aerobics or yoga videos. Consider downloading a fitness app with curated workout playlists.

31. Look at yourself in the mirror. Attempt a self portrait with pencil and paper.

32. Take a bubble bath (bonus: Add a glass of wine).

33. Make a classic cocktail, from negronis to Manhattans and aperol spritzes. Don't forget the garnish.

34. Coloring books: They’re not just for kids.

35. Take time to reflect: What have you accomplished in the last year? What goals are you setting for yourself in the next year?

36. Write a short story or get started on that novel.

37. Actually try to reproduce something you see on Pinterest. Probably fail. Try again.

38. Clear out the family room and camp indoors with all blankets, popcorn and scary movies.

39. Finally get around to fixing that broken door knob and loose tile or cleaning scuffed up walls. 

40. Acquire a foam roller and treat yourself to some physical therapy. 

41. Pretend you're 13 years old and fold a square piece of paper into a fortune teller you put your thumbs and pointer fingers into. Proceed to tell fortunes. 

42. Learn how to braid (fishtail, French, etc.) via YouTube tutorial..

43. Throw out all your too-old makeup and products. (Tip: most liquid products have a small symbol on them noting expirations, usually six months to a year. This includes sunscreen!)

44. Interview your grandparents (over the phone, of course) and save the audio. Can you create an audio story or book with that file?

45. Go through your camera roll, pick your favorite pics from the past year and make a photo book or order framed versions online. 

46. Go on a health kick and learn how to cook new recipes with ingredients you may not be using already, from miso to tahini.

47. Create a Google document of shows or movies you’re watching and share it among family and friends.

48. Make a list of things for which you are grateful. 

49. Have your own wine tasting of whatever bottles you have at home. Make up stories about the journey of the grapes to your mouth.

50. Work on your financial planning, such as exploring whether to refinance your loan or ways to save more money. 

51. Perfect grandma’s bolognese recipe.

52. Make coffee, but this time study how many beans you use, which types, how hot the water is, how long it brews and whether any of that makes a difference.

53. Buy gift cards from your favorite local businesses to help keep them in business while we quarantine.

54. Watch “Frozen 2,’ which went up early on Disney Plus. Another new movie on the streaming service: "Stargirl." 

55. Write a book with your family. Pick a character and each member writes a chapter about their adventures. Read aloud to each other. 

56. No March Madness? Have a Scrabble tournament. Or Bananagrams. Pictionary, anyone?

57. Get into baking with "The Great British Baking Show," but your technical challenge is baking something with the ingredients you have on hand (that you didn't already use in the charcuterie board).

58. Indoor scavenger hunt.

59. Alternate reading the Harry Potter series with your kids and cap each one off with the movie.

60. Dye your hair a new color. No one else needs to see it if you don't like it.

61. Read Robert Jordan’s 14-book “Wheel of Time” series before it streams on Amazon starring Rosamund Pike. 

62. Write a play starring your loved ones. Perform it via a video call app. 

63. Go viral in the good way by making a quarantine-themed TikTok.

64. Rearrange your sock drawer. Really.

65. Stop procrastinating and do your income taxes.

66. Make lists of all the museums, sporting events and concerts you want to visit when they finally reopen.

67. Get into comics with digital subscriptions on your tablet, like Marvel Unlimited. 

68. Rearrange your furniture to make it seem like your home is a totally different space. 

69. Practice shuffling playing cards like a Poker dealer. Be ready for employment opportunities once all casinos open back up.

70. Organize your spice rack alphabetically or get crazy and do it by cuisine.

71. Teach your dog to shake. Hand sanitizer optional.

72. Memorize the periodic table. You never know when that will come in handy.

73. Order and put together some IKEA furniture. Time yourself.

74. Get a free trial of a streaming service and binge-watch as much as you can before it expires. 

75. Apply for a new job. You have remote work experience now. 

76. Learn a new style of dance via YouTube, from bellydancing to breaking.

77. Update or write your will and organize your affairs. Yes, it sounds melodramatic and morbid but let’s face it: This is a task many of us avoid because we never have the time. Now we do.

78.The parades have been canceled but you can still make corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day.

79. Bring out the Legos. Build your house inside of your house.

80. Watch the "Star Wars" movies in this and only this order: Rogue One-IV-V-II-III-Solo-VI-VII-VIII-IX.

81. Two words: Coronavirus beard! Grow it, moisturize it, comb it, love it.

82.  Learn the words to "Tung Twista." Get them so ingrained in your brain that you can rap them as fast as Twista can. Impress everyone. 

83. Been meaning to get some new glasses? Try on new frames virtually on sites like GlassesUSA.com.

84. Attempt things with your non-dominant hand, from writing to brushing your teeth. Prepare to be frustrated.

85. How many words per minute can you type? See if you can get speedier by taking a typing course.

86. Prepare to verbally duel a bully who wants to discuss the evolution of the market economy in the Southern colonies, by memorizing Matt Damon's "Good Will Hunting" speech. 

87. Learn origami. Make cranes for your loved ones.

88. Stretch. Work on your flexibility. It's possible to get the splits back, right?

89. Try to speak in pig Latin. Or, "ig-pay, atin-Lay."

90. Talk to your plants. How are they doing? Make sure they are getting the amount of sunlight they should be. Check their soil. Water if necessary.

91. Deep condition your hair and put paraffin wax on your hands. Enjoy your soft hair and nails.

92. Consider donating money to food banks to help families struggling to get meals.

93. Write a song. If you want to make it about your time inside and put it to the tune of "My Sharona" and replace "Sharona" with "Corona," do what you have to do.

94. Study the art of beatboxing.

95. Try moving in super-slow motion. It's OK to laugh at regular speed.

96. You know how there are dozens of ways to wear a scarf, but you only wear it the one way? Learn the other ways.

97. Learn Old English words. Pepper them into your conversation. Wherefore not?

98. Try on a new shade of lipstick. See how long it takes your partner to notice it.

99. Take deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth.

100. Sleep. Get lots of it.

[ohblackdiamond]

the end of the world tour (kiss/endgame crossover, r) (part 1/4)

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4

“Peter, c’mon, you’re saying we should just waltz right in to their place and tell them what, exactly? ‘Hi, we’re KISS. We haven’t done anything heroic in forty years, but—’”

“I wouldn’t say we haven’t done anything heroic in forty years. We all got married.”

Or,  four washed-up former rockstar superheroes don the spandex of old in a last-ditch effort to save an already half-gone world. They just need a little support from a billionaire who's not too keen on KISS interrupting his private life. Somewhat Endgame compliant.

Notes: Most of this probably goes without saying given the general content of this tumblr, but in case anyone MCU wanders in-- KISS has been a part of Marvel Comics since 1977, and, in fact, starred in Marvel’s first full-color, magazine-sized comic book from that same year (in an infamous publicity stunt, the band members added their own blood to the ink of the first issue). Their characterization, history, and powers vary from run to run, and to be honest, it was easier just to pull from KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park and a bit of Scooby-Doo Meets KISS for powers, and actual band history for most of the rest. (Pulling from comic history, well, would have entailed messily trying to make canon ’70’s teamups with Spider-man and the Avengers work out with MCU—impractical at best!) Mistakes are mine.

Intimations of your typical usual suspect pairings, but nothing explicit.’

Looking back, the signs had been there all along. The KISS memorabilia starting to spread out like a fungus to all parts of the mansion they’d moved into five years prior. The cold cream that had found its way back to the bathroom counters.

The abrupt shift in mood of half the household.

The gloomier half. Except that wasn’t much of a specification. Ace tried to be upbeat, but he spent the bulk of his time alone, tinkering with the fifty-year-old remnants of his spaceship, though each assurance that he was going back to Jendell (“you guys’ll come with me, it’ll be great, we’ll just stay there forever”) seemed hollower with every passing year. Gene had put on an incredibly gutsy show in public for the first several months after the decimation, donating millions to clean up efforts around the greater New York area, only to falter in private. Paul had only started recovering enough to shave regularly over the past six or seven months.

Peter wasn’t in great shape himself. He knew it, too. But he was surviving. They were all doing that much. They had a daily routine down, one they stuck to as strictly as cloistered monks. Cooking duties divvied up; chores divvied up. Shopping divvied up. They could’ve hired help easily. The battered remnants of the KISS juggernaut were still enough for generations to live off of, like a bastard version of the Vanderbilts. But doing the chores themselves gave everything a sense of purpose. Meaning.

They weren’t doing poorly for four widowers. Coping a whole lot better than most guys their age who’d lost everyone but each other.

Deep down, Peter knew they couldn’t have made it any other way. They would’ve all been driven out of their minds with grief. Just cracked up. Especially those first few months after moving in together. In a sick kind of desperation, they’d spent that time sleeping in the basement together, the four of them, on a pair of pull-out couches. The prospect of waking up alone was just that awful. The craving for normalcy just that deep. Waking up to Ace’s morning wood (Christ, the guy was sixty-eight; his ability to maintain a hard-on had to just be alien biology at this point) had become a strange, nostalgic kind of comfort.

They were still sharing rooms sometimes. It felt really juvenile, at least to Peter, crawling into one of the other guys’ rooms at night, like a kid with a nightmare, but it helped. Touch helped. Living together brought them some focus beyond themselves. Forced them to look out for each other. Keep each other from doing something stupid. Funny how without any contract or tour bullshit to worry about, they could stand each other again.

Sometimes a little more than that. Sometimes a lot.

But Peter really didn’t connect the dots for awhile. One morning, he stumbled downstairs to see Paul making pancakes from scratch. He hadn’t made any pretenses of being a chef in years, but there he was, even tossing chocolate chips and strawberries into the batter.

“I decided every day was a good day,” he said, shrugging, when Peter asked him about it.

“He got laid,” Ace had called out from the living room. Peter, staring from an abashed Paul to an oddly-silent Gene, hadn’t asked for any elaboration, figuring he had a fair idea. Well, whatever. If they wanted to go back to fooling around with each other at this late a date, at least there was plenty of Viagra and K-Y to be had.

A few days later, Gene bought about three gallons of ice cream, an exorbitant amount of toppings, and a stash of his Moneybags signature root beer and they all spent the afternoon making and devouring sundaes and floats. Nobody bitched about lactose intolerance. Then they’d sat around and watched Godzilla movies on DVD and played each other on the old KISS pinball machine. It was like old times—really old times.

Peter had just figured things were finally starting to settle into a new normal. A devastating normal, sure, but they were all learning to cope.

He had no idea the coping methods they’d picked involved a lot more than self-help platitudes and dairy products, and a lot less Viagra.

Not until about a month later, on his assigned day to do the shopping—though they were all more flexible on who did the shopping than any other aspect of their chore board. Paul still hated to go anywhere by himself, invariably dragging someone else with him. Usually Gene, sometimes Ace. On his own days, Peter usually tried to invite Ace along, just to get him out of the backyard, even though Ace’s penchant for Arizona Green Tea still far outstripped the supply at the closest grocery store, and Peter would still have to make a dozen weird maneuvers around the place just so they’d avoid the liquor.

This time, though, Peter went alone. Stuffed the old Porsche full of a mix of canned and dried goods, mostly. Still the easiest, cheapest stuff to find, with or without the world half-gone. Almost bizarre to see things start to get in demand again. The first few days—the first few months, after, the grocery store had been hell to go to. Just the smell of all that food rotting for want of people to buy it. The look of it, mold everywhere, flies buzzing, maggots crawling—and not as many as all that.

A fifty-fifty split in all forms of life. Existence was just a coin toss.

He’d pulled into the driveway and gotten out, lugging a couple grocery bags out with him as he headed toward the door, pushing the doorbell with his elbow. No answer.

Another push. Nothing.

Ace was probably out back somewhere. Paul and Gene were probably upstairs, too close to deaf to have heard him away from the main floor. Goddammit. Peter sighed and set down one of the grocery bags, digging through his pockets for the house key, pulling it out and unlocking the door, only to be greeted by an odd, clinking sound and a low groan as he stepped inside.

“Gene?”

Peter dropped the grocery bags and hurried towards the noise, mouth pursed. No panicking. He couldn’t afford to panic. Still, it could be anything. Gene never had taken care of himself that well—sure, he’d never done drugs, but he had the diet of an emancipated six-year-old—prime candidate for a heart attack, for sure—

“…. What’re you…”

“Peter?”

Gene was lying on his back on the kitchen tile, mostly-obscured by the girl straddling him. She was leaning forward, blonde hair like streamers over his face as she kissed him, his hands clasping her wrists, holding them above his head, against the floor. Her white dress was bunched up enough it was obvious there was nothing beneath.

It was a scene Peter had first witnessed out of Gene around 1974, and it hadn’t gotten any more appealing in forty-five years. Just a lot more curious. No, fucking bewildering. Normally, Gene was—had been—infamous for stripping off as few clothes as possible in his rush to get to the main event. It was like the man thought a groupie couldn’t wait for him to get his jeans more than five inches past his hips. But this time was beyond bizarre. Gene wasn’t in his usual jeans and cowboy boots and button-down. He was in costume.

More specifically, he was in every ignoble inch of his Destroyer costume, except for the codpiece. His black leotard was hiked down to the tops of his scaly, silver monster boots, chest armor stretched over his torso, black leather gauntlets on. The last time Peter had seen any of that particular outfit, Clinton was still president.

The blonde gave him a brief look, then Gene, who whispered something Peter couldn’t quite hear. Then she started rolling her hips against his again, Gene dropping his hold on her wrists to cup his hands around her face, her hair sweeping over them both, preventing Peter from getting a great look at either of them. Peter just stared, unsure of whether his eyes could afford a closer vantage point.

“Really, Gene?”

“I’m—ngh, doing my duty as an American citizen here.”

“Your duty?”

“FER. Federal Emergency Repopulation.” Gene paused, glancing at the blonde. “If he’s bothering you, we can take it upstairs—"

“Jesus Christ, Gene, you’re seventy years old! And why the fuck are you in the costume?”

“Well, that aspect wasn’t really up to me.”

“Gene, sit the fuck up and look at me.”

“Peter—”

Gene raised up a few inches as every bit of color drained out from Peter’s face.

He looked better than he had in forty years. No, that wasn’t right. He looked like he had forty years ago. The Demon makeup couldn’t obscure it. The lines around his eyes and forehead were gone. The fullness that age and weight had left in his face and neck and chest had vanished utterly. He looked healthy. He looked young, terrifyingly young.

“Gene, what the hell did you do?”

“I—"

Before Peter could manage a single syllable, a loud, shrill cry from upstairs interrupted everything.

“Paul?”

“Oh, shit. Let’s not continue this upstairs.” Gene’s attention was back on the blonde, who rolled her hips up against his invitingly. “Better check on Paul, Pe—ohh, fuck, yeah…”

Peter darted upstairs, yanking open the door to Paul’s room to find almost the exact same scenario. One he hadn’t seen in decades. Paul, halfway in costume, rhinestone-covered black jumpsuit hanging somewhere around his hips, with a girl up against the wall, her bare legs wrapped around his waist. Three hip replacements, two knee replacements, and at least one rotator cuff replacement and yet Paul didn’t seem to be having any issues holding her there. Or plowing her.

Probably because he, too, looked to be about forty years younger.

---

Half an hour later, both girls were gone and Paul and Gene were back to a semblance of normal. The makeup had, weirdly, lingered when they’d reverted back—Peter couldn’t remember that ever happening when they were actively in the superhero business—though neither of them seemed particularly surprised by that, just a bit disappointed. Paul had darted over to the bathroom to get some cold cream and washcloths, like that would head Peter off at the pass, before returning to sit down at the table with Gene and Peter.

Peter was still fuming.

“Look, Peter, I can explain—” Gene started.

“You don’t need to. It’s obvious. You used the talismans.”

“Well, yeah.” Paul looked about as apologetic as a kid who hadn’t been caught until after eating the entire bag of Oreos.

“I didn’t know they could do that.”

“We didn’t, either.”

“Bullshit, that’s the only reason you were fucking—”

“No, really! We got them out for old time’s sake a couple months ago.”

“It makes sense, I mean, mystical artifacts from Victor Von Doom’s mom, supposed to reveal the true self of the holder…” Paul trailed.

“True self, my ass. Your true self is a bottle of Aquanet.”

Gene was starting to smirk. Paul elbowed him in the ribs.

“So you decided you were gonna use the talismans of Khyscz to make yourselves younger so you could fuck random girls. Christ. I knew you didn’t have any dignity, but—” Peter paused, unsure of how to even state the rest of his tirade. For once.

It was just too damn bizarre. They’d left that shit behind years ago. Decades ago. Their last real superhero stints had been in cancer wards, letting kids with lymphoma and leukemia jam with them from their beds and wheelchairs. Their first had been—well, they’d caught some burglars in the Bronx and Queens a couple of times, between band practice, before they were even signed to a record company. Once they’d started touring, they’d tried to keep the double lives up, and for awhile, it had worked to their advantage. People didn’t know whether seeing KISS on the street meant a concert was coming to town or a gang was about to get busted. And the merchandising…. Christ, what a frenzy. The public had eaten it up. Lunchboxes and the pinball machine had only been the beginning.

The biggest criminal they’d ever stopped was some amusement park tyrant, Abner Devereaux. Naturally, they’d turned it into a movie a year later. Hadn’t even been allowed to put most of their powers on display for fear of wrecking the sets and camera equipment. Paul couldn’t fire off any laser beams; Ace’s teleporting barely got a mention. Peter was lucky they didn’t try to trim his claws down. Even Gene’s fire-breathing had to be faked for the camera. He’d had to swill kerosene in his mouth and just spit at the torch like he was from the circus.

Really humiliating, looking back, but they hadn’t quite realized it. The movie had seemed like a natural next step. They were giving the fans what they wanted. A superhero group that could do anything, be anything. Role models. Rockstars. Sex symbols. Entrepreneurs. The four most recognizable faces in the world, faces of a corporation worth a hundred million. Not bad for 1978. Not Stark Industries levels, but not bad.

But the movie had started the blowback. No one under twelve even watched the damn thing. The press was coming out with hit pieces on the daily. Headlines like “Shilling Superheroes” and “Crimefighting Doesn’t Pay—But Capitalism Does” started dotting the supermarket stands. When they retreated back into making records, the bottom had already dropped out. KISS didn’t come off as superheroes or even musicians anymore, just a bunch of guys out for a quick buck. No amount of charity work—and certainly not a long stretch of tail-between-their-legs touring in Australia and Europe, where their superhero antics weren’t as big a part of their mystique—could’ve brought them back from that.

Peter had left KISS before things completely crashed. Been fired, more accurately. What that’d mean for the dwindling state of their superhero gig should’ve been obvious, but looking back, Peter couldn’t remember thinking about it or anyone even mentioning it when he’d left. Ace hadn’t talked about it when he quit the band a couple years later, either. KISS still performed with the outfits and makeup for awhile after. But the crimefighting was over. Any superhuman powers were done with. Gene ended up having to spit kerosene to breathe fire onstage for the rest of his career. The talismans just wouldn’t work without the four of them as some kind of unit.

Apparently, their current living arrangement counted as some kind of unit. Good enough for the talismans. And apparently, the talismans didn’t even care whether Paul and Gene were using them for the right reasons. Peter shoved his hands through his hair before slamming his palm against the table. True to form, Paul and Gene didn’t even blink. Gene, in fact, took it as an opportunity to continue.

“We thought it’d be a better sell to FER if we could offer them something a little more exciting than—”

           “Than a bunch of old assholes.”

           “More or less, yeah.” Paul rubbed at the star on his eye with a dollop of cold cream, carefully. “It’s not any kind of PR stunt. Just makes for better lays and healthier sperm.”

           “We’ve had 53 successful pregnancies just over the last two months,” Gene offered. His phone buzzed, and he picked it up. “Make that 54.”

           “54? Was that mine or yours?”

“Mine. That was, uh…” Gene scrolled up on his phone. “Tori Friedmann. Remember, the one with the tattoos right around her hips?”

“Gene, I didn’t see her anywhere near naked.”

“She had her hair dyed green. It was in ringlets.”

“Oh. Oh, yeah…” Paul trailed, before turning his attention back to Peter. “We’re really helping things out.”

“Helping things out?” Gene snorted. “Don’t be modest. We’ve got the best track record for pregnancies in the entire state of Connecticut. Eighty percent success rate after four sessions or less. Amazing.”

“Who’s supposed to be raising—” Peter started, but he was cut off almost immediately by a laugh.

“Seriously? The government’s paying the girls out the nose. Prenatal up through college. All we had to do was participate.” Gene shifted, pushed his washcloth into the jar of cold cream, and started wiping off his face. “Of course, FER pays the guys doing it, too, but it’s not our main motivation.”

“Why the hell aren’t you jacking it into a cup? What’s so wrong about artificial insemination? Is FER Catholic?”

“This world’s starved for the human touch. Sex drives are lower than the Dow right now.” Gene cleared his throat, tilted his head as if he were about to start on an interview-worthy set of sound bites. “Now, what we’re offering is only what KISS has always offered, an escape, a fantasy. But we sell it better than any fucking band before or since. We lift those girls up.”

“Yeah, I saw Paul lifting that girl up—” Peter started. Paul looked only a tinge embarrassed. “You could’ve been her grandfather, for Christ’s sake.”

“Hey, they know exactly who they’re getting with,” said Gene. “We aren’t pretending we’re a tribute band. And we cheer them up, Peter. Some of them haven’t slept with anyone in five years. Some of them haven’t touched anyone in five years. They forgot how to even be alive. We’re reminding them.”

“You’re selling your sperm, Gene, don’t act like it’s some grand gesture.” Peter paused. “Is Ace in on this, too?”

“I think Ace got in about four lays, but then he felt bad about it…”

“Because he’s got a conscience?”

“No, because he’s an alien. I mean, the girls kind of got off on it, I think, but…” Paul shrugged, finding a clean corner of his washcloth, patting away the traces of cold cream. “He thought Earth ought to be repopulated by regular humans.”

“No, because he’s an alien. I mean, the girls kind of got off on it, I think, but…” Paul shrugged, finding a clean corner of his washcloth, patting away the traces of cold cream. “He thought Earth ought to be repopulated by regular humans.”

“He didn’t care about that when we were touring.” God knew how many girls Ace had knocked up with half-Jendellian spawn back in the seventies. His kid with Jeanette, Monique, hadn’t ever exhibited anything weird that Peter had seen, but then again, Ace was pretty good at keeping his own alien oddities under wraps. At least in public. Online tabloids and shit still said he was a normal guy from the Bronx that had just watched too much Star Trek in high school. If he hadn’t toured off and on with the guy for years, and if the remnants of his spaceship weren’t currently in their backyard, Peter might’ve believed it, too.

“Yeah, but when we were touring, the world wasn’t in an apocalypse.” Another corner of the washcloth and Paul was wiping off his eyeliner. “I dunno. I told him if they didn’t care, he shouldn’t, either. It’s not like his dick is any different.”

“He’ll change his mind. Probably.” Gene set down the washcloth, face reddish but bare. He looked so appallingly confident that Peter almost wanted to punch him. No, he did want to punch him. Clearly, the repopulation gig had been Gene’s idea. Paul was far too depressed these days to be such an opportunist on his own, and Ace… Ace, clearly, just had gone along with it. Neither of them had ever been half as desperate for a lay as Gene, either. Peter settled for pushing back his chair and leaning over the table, yanking Gene by both arms.

“What’s the matter with you?”

“Pete—”

“Don’t you even remember what we were supposed to use the talismans for?”

“Sure. Saving the world.” Gene tugged his arms out of Peter’s grasp. Utterly unmoved. He didn’t even have to stand up in order to wrench him away. It just made Peter all the more incensed. The blitheness of it. Shit, Gene used to care. Paul used to care.

“Fucking girls for some government program isn’t saving the world!”

“Then what the hell do you suggest? We’re a little fucking limited with half the population gone.”

“Fixing this mess!”

“How?” Paul started to laugh. “If the Avengers aren’t touching it, what makes you think we should?”

“When did that stop us before, huh? We were there before they even existed!”

“Most of them,” Gene put in dryly. “Captain America’s old enough that he could’ve even fathered you, Pete.”

“Oh, fuck you,” Peter rattled off. “Fuck both of you. You’ve finally got a real opportunity here and you’re too damn sorry to take it.”

“A real opportunity? You’re telling us about opportunities?” Paul snorted. “I should’ve known all you’d do was bitch and whine as soon as you found out. Mr. Misery never did fucking retire. Can’t let anybody else be even a little happy—”

“You’re not happy, asshole!”

The sound of the backdoor swinging open swallowed up any other comments. Ace, standing there in a ratty screenprinted Betty Boop t-shirt and jeans, looking sweaty and vaguely perturbed.

“Y’know, contrary to popular belief, I’m still not deaf.”

Peter spun around to face him.

“Ace! You knew what these bastards were doing this whole time and you didn’t tell me!”

Ace raised his palm in what might’ve been surrender, then shut the door behind him. He didn’t cross over to the dining room where the others were seated, surprisingly—just headed straight for the kitchen.

“Sit down, Pete. ’M gonna get us some water.”

Peter sat down. He wasn’t mollified, not in the slightest, but he stayed quiet until Ace returned, four water bottles in hand. Gene and Paul didn’t say anything, either. The only real sound was Paul screwing the lid back on the jar of cold cream.

Ace pushed a water bottle towards each of them before sitting down next to Peter. Peter eyed him warily. It felt like a band meeting, the tension thick as concrete, only for once, they weren’t arguing over solos or setlists. And Bill Aucoin, of course, wasn’t there to make sure they shook hands and shared a joint by the end. Not quite the kind of nostalgia Peter craved.

“Okay, so,” Ace started, conversationally, “I get why you’re pissed off, man.”

“You should’ve told me—”

“I tried! I told you Paul got laid! But you didn’t wanna hear anymore.”

“That’s because I thought he was back to fucking around with Gene!”

“I did not—" Paul’s face was going from pallid to pink to red at an alarming rate. Beside him, Gene was rubbing his forehead with a wince. “Look, let’s just address the issue at hand.”

“You’re right,” Peter snapped back. “Ace, listen. What they’re doing’s fucked-up.”

“Peter, we’re all still in kind of a bad place right now, I dunno if it’s the time to—”

“It’s not the time to be trying to repopulate like—like tigers in the zoo.” Peter exhaled. “Not when we could be doing a lot more. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you assholes.”

Ace unscrewed Peter’s water bottle before opening his own. He took a long swallow, then let out a sigh.

“Just wait. I’ll be getting us to Jendell in another three months, easy. Then we won’t have to worry about any of this shit.”

“That’s been your answer the last five years, Ace! You can’t fix your ship! We all know we’re not getting off this planet!”

“I mean it this time! I really got it cracked. Three months or less.” Ace took another swallow of water. “It’ll be great. My ma—aw, man, you’ll love her. She’s great. I tried sending her our records once we got big, I still had this little portable, y’know, for shipping off small stuff, don’t know if she ever got it…”

“Still having family must be great, Ace.”

Ace flinched visibly.

“I haven’t seen her in fifty years, man, I don’t know for sure. We’re all in the same boat there.”

“We’re fucking not, Ace. You just proved it.” Peter swallowed thickly. It was a lower blow than he’d meant to take. But he couldn’t help it. Fifty-fifty shot, and they’d all managed to lose. All that grief the sickest, saddest equalizer. Gigi had beaten cancer. Monique had been clean for a couple years now. Gene’s kids had careers… Paul’s youngest three weren’t out of elementary school. All of them a million times more deserving of being alive than they were. Peter’s gut roiled, and he grabbed his water bottle, forcing several gulps down just to quell the lump in his throat. He still had to take a few more breaths before he was half-positive his voice wouldn’t quaver too much, and by then, Paul had already begun talking again.

“Okay, okay. Let’s say we wanted to do something. Where would we even start? What would we even be fighting against?”

“I don’t know.”

“Exactly. Now—”

“I know where we’d start.”

Pete’s gaze shot over to Gene. He couldn’t keep the bare, hopeful note out of his voice.

“Where?”

“Avengers headquarters. That or Stark’s place.” At Paul’s indignant glance, Gene shrugged. “What, it’s obvious. And it’s only a hypothetical. For all we know, they could be working on the solution right now.”

“They’re not doing a damn thing,” Paul insisted.

“How do we know that, though?” Ace said it slowly. “I mean, really. They haven’t given everything up. The Hulk’s still around… you get reports of some of the other guys sometimes, taking down drug cartels, that sort of thing…”

“So it’s worth a shot!”

“Peter, c’mon, you’re saying we should just waltz right in to their place and tell them what, exactly? ‘Hi, we’re KISS. We haven’t done anything heroic in forty years, but—’”

“I wouldn’t say we haven’t done anything heroic in forty years. We all got married.”

“You know what I mean, Gene.” Paul paused. “You really think they’re gonna buy that? You really think they won’t laugh in our faces?”

“Only one way to find out.”

Paul let out a long sigh and gave Gene a look of utter betrayal Peter hadn’t fully witnessed since the disastrous Reunion Tour about twenty years back. The I-kept-this-band-alive look. The why-don’t-you-ever-listen-to-me look. The I-told-you-KISS-condoms-were-a-bad-idea look. Gene just shook his head in return.

“It’s worth a shot. The worst they could say is no.” Gene took a swig of water. “And if they do, so what? My ego can take it. We can go back to helping with repopulation efforts here in New Haven.” He paused. “Actually, we could probably introduce the Avengers to the program, I’m sure the country could use some super-sperm to—”

“God, no.”

Ace started laughing. Really laughing, that awful, unsettling, but infectious cackle that used to embarrass the rest of them during interviews. Peter caught sight of Gene’s lips twitching and then he lost it himself. Totally helpless. Paul had his hand over his mouth, but Peter was pretty sure he was laughing behind it.

It had been so long since they’d found anything funny. So long since they’d had any kind of idea in mind beyond surviving from day to day. Sure, Paul wasn’t sold on it, and Peter wasn’t sure if Ace was, either, not exactly, but—they were getting there. There was energy there, buzzing through his veins, making him feel fidgety and anxious and alive, really alive, for the first time in five years. He knew it was the same for the others. All the four-who-are-one superhero mysticism they’d tried to blow off as bullshit as tempers had flared in the studio and onstage and in their hotel rooms—shit, there was something to it. There had to have been or they wouldn’t still be together now.

“All right, fine, we won’t advertise it,” Gene finally said, once the laughter had died down. “If they went on the market, we’d probably be out of luck. But if we head to Manhattan… that’ll take us, what, couple hours if we drive, depending on how many highways they’ve finally cleaned up…”

“I’m not driving,” Peter said flatly.

“We could teleport,” Ace offered. “If you got better coordinates than just Manhattan, anyway.”

“Right, yeah, we could—” Gene considered. “Actually, I think we might be better off heading to Stark’s directly.”

“Why?”

“Because he holds the purse strings. And because he’s the one person out of all of them I’ve actually spoken to.” Gene was nodding to himself. “I don’t think he lives in the city anymore, but I’m sure we can—"

“I didn’t agree to any of this.”

“Paul, c’mon. It’s not hurting anything.”

“It’s been forty years. We’re gonna be laughed out of town.”

“Yeah, but we’ve been laughed out of town since we started. ’S fine.” Ace looked over at Paul, mouth uncharacteristically pursed, on the verge of dissolving into giggles again. Peter could tell by the way Ace had his hand cupped around his thigh, underneath the table. He couldn’t remember the last time Ace had done that to him. Peter reached out to put his hand on top of Ace’s, absently tapping against the rings. Ace crooked a slow smile, and half-spoke, half-warbled, “Y’know, we’ve got nothing to lose…”

“That song was about anal, not stomping up to the Avengers headquarters asking for a job application.”

“Same difference. Well, one’s a little sexier.”

“This isn’t a joke, Ace. It’s just stupid.” Paul exhaled, staring at each of them in turn before shaking his head. “God, why the hell am I even still entertaining this shit?”

He started to get up, only for Gene to grab his arm before he’d done much more than push his chair back. Paul sat back down, glare fixed on his face.

“Paul, c’mon. We can’t do this without you.” Gene hadn’t let go of his arm yet, but Paul wasn’t relaxing into the touch. “What’s the real issue here? Are you that afraid of being turned down?”

“Let go of me,” Paul rattled off impatiently, brushing at Gene’s arm. “And no, I’m not. I—fuck, I can’t—”

“Can’t what?”

“What if you’re wrong? What if they aren’t trying? What if busting up drug cartels is all the Avengers are good for these days, too?” Paul tried to laugh but couldn’t seem to manage it, coughing, then draining the rest of his bottled water. “Nothing to lose—like hell we have nothing to lose. If we go over there, and we find out this world really is all we have left, no… no do-overs, no—saving anybody, no bringing anyone back… then that’s it. We’re done. We’ve got nothing anymore. Not even hope.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Peter watched as Gene reached over again, clasping Paul’s wrist before, almost hesitantly, taking his hand. Paul winced, but didn’t pull back. “We’ve got something left. We’re KISS. We’re family.”

“Gene—”

“And that’s not going to change, all right? Don’t get me wrong. It’ll hurt like hell if they say there’s nothing that can be done.” Gene paused. “But that doesn’t make it true. Look, whatever life ever had in store, we’ve kept going. We’ll keep going regardless.”

Paul didn’t say anything for awhile. Long enough that Ace had stopped just resting his hand on Peter’s thigh and started actively trying to pick the lint off his slacks instead. Peter batted his hand away, then, before Paul finally spoke back up.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay. I’m in, I’ll do it.” Gene was still holding Paul’s hand. Neither had let go yet. “But don’t get too excited. And don’t think we’re just gonna pop over there tomorrow.” Paul finally tugged his hand away, but not until after a brief squeeze.

“We’re not? Oh, c’mon, Paulie, if I get some coordinates, I know I can teleport us there!”

“Because,” Paul said, grinning almost wolfishly, “we’re gonna train first.”

[hermannsthumb]

We’ve entered Newt’s birthday month, so I’m hoping birthday sex will be A Thing at some point. 👀👀👀

HAHA...well...this is really almost entirely sfw except for allusions and implications but!!! (i did write this one like i said but im always in the mood for cute married newmann fic....)

Newton, Hermann’s found over the years, is remarkably easy to please when it comes to holidays. He’s happy with anything, so long as it involves the two of them together. Of course, Newton puts an absurd amount of effort into everything for Hermann, so Hermann usually ends up putting an equally absurd amount of effort into everything for Newton. Wedding anniversaries must have Newton falling into his arms and proposing all over again by the end of the night. Valentine’s Day must have him falling into their bed. Even Halloween must have Newton giddy and excited and happy and reaffirming just how much Hermann means to him.

Hermann’s planned out every minuscule detail of today—Newton’s birthday—for that very reason. It must be perfect. Even better than last year.

He sets his alarm for exactly thirty minutes before Newton usually wakes (ten, instead of ten-thirty) and gets started on making him breakfast and coffee as he runs through today’s agenda in his head. Breakfast in bed, then Newton will likely want to have sex (which Hermann is more than happy with), then they’ll catch a cab to the aquarium, then come back to change into something nice (and Newton will likely want to have more sex, since he always gets rather enthusiastic when Hermann wears his good suit), then they’ve got reservations at the sushi restaurant Newton likes, then come back for cake (which Hermann still has to put frosting on). A perfect day for his husband.

It’s not until Hermann’s cooked half a dozen pancakes that he looks out the kitchen window and realizes he may have to make slight adjustments to their plans for the day.

“Pancakes!” Newton says happily when Hermann wakes him with a kiss a tray stacked with breakfast and a bouquet of flowers. He picks a pristine heart-shaped one from the plate and beams. “This is so cute, Hermann. How long did it take you to learn how to do that?”

“Not long,” Hermann says, lying through his teeth. He practiced for two weeks. He kisses the top of Newton’s head again. “Happy birthday, my love.”

Newton sets his breakfast tray off to the side, then winds one of Hermann’s apron strings around his fingers and tugs him forward. “You’re looking cute too,” he says, eyes roving up and down Hermann’s body, from his socked feet, to his rocketship-dotted apron, to his silky pajama shirt. “Really cute. Loving—” He tugs at the apron string again. “This.”

“At least eat something first,” Hermann chastises, and Newton leers at him and sneaks his hand under the apron. He rubs at the front of Hermann’s pajama bottoms gently.

“Alright,” Newton says.

“I should be doing this to, ah,” Hermann gasps, threading his fingers in Newton’s hair and watching the fabric of his apron shift and move along with Newton, “to you. Oh—darling—”

“Mm,” Newton hums. “No you shouldn’t. Spread those hot supermodel legs for me, baby.”

When Newton’s finished, and successfully reduced Hermann to a boneless, panting heap on the mattress, he barely remembers to wipe his mouth off before shoveling three pancakes into his mouth and moaning in a way that’s nearly erotic. Hermann thinks he might be a little disgusted if he could think straight. “It’s snowing,” he remembers to say.

“Is it?” Newton says. Several crumbs fall from his mouth to their sheets. “A lot?”

Hermann rolls onto his side and pulls back the curtain of the window just next to their bed. “A lot,” he confirms. There are a good two inches more than there were earlier. There’s a light clatter of dishes—Newton setting his tray on the bedside table, Hermann assumes—and then Newton presses up behind him and wraps a warm arm around his waist.

“We’ll stay in then,” Newton murmurs, mouthing kisses up the back of his neck. Hermann’s eyes flutter shut, but he manages a small, disappointed sigh. The kisses stop. “Not good?”

“I made plans,” Hermann says. “Tickets. And—er—reservations.”

“Then we’ll go out,” Newton declares. He wiggles his hand under Hermann’s shirt, and Hermann shivers. “After…”

They don’t go out. They intend to go out, and Newton puts on a dress with fish and seaweed and jellyfish on it for the occasion, and Hermann wears a sweater that clings to his arms because he knows Newton likes it, but the moment they open their front door they have...second thoughts. “Sure is cold,” Newton says, catching a snowflake on his gloved palm. He watches it melt. “Cold, and snowy, and—”

“Treacherous,” Hermann says, looking at the poorly-plowed streets, the ice and slush covering their stoop and sidewalk beyond. He’s never good with navigating his cane through slush.

“One of us could slip,” Newton says.

Neither of them make a move to step down.

“We have reservations,” Hermann reminds him. “And tickets.”

Newton squeezes his hand and smiles. “We could make out on the couch all day?”

They crank up the heat—“It’s my birthday,” Newton says, “I earned it!”—and pick something from Newton’s decades-old record collection to blare on the turntable, and Newton strips to just his dress and plops himself down happily into Hermann’s lap. “This is better,” he says, kissing and nuzzling at Hermann’s throat. “Anyway, we can reuse the tickets, right?”

“They’re good until autumn,” Hermann says, smiling as he tilts his head back. They can always order takeaway from the restaurant instead and let someone else have their table, too. Newton’s hands dip lower. “Ah,” Hermann says, going pink, “don’t you want to open your presents first, love?”

His gifts are nothing too extravagant: guitar strings, a strange-looking plant that Newton (evidently familiar with its species) talks his ear off about for ten minutes, a new leather jacket, some old comic books from a nearby antique shop, a scarf Hermann hand-knitted himself to replace the one Newton lost on the metro in October. Newton is thoroughly delighted by everything anyway, and pounces on Hermann and kisses him amidst the wrapping paper scraps in thanks. They frost the cake together after that, Newton throwing handfuls of rainbow sprinkles at it like an over-enthusiastic toddler, and skip dinner to curl up on the couch once more and eat it directly off the serving platter.

Newton forgoes his fork to eat with his hands after only a few minutes. “This is the best birthday ever,” he declares, licking pink frosting off his fingertips.

“You said that last year,” Hermann says.

Newton scoops up another piece of cake. “So?”

Hermann rubs dried frosting off the tip of Newton’s nose, and Newton sticks his tongue out at him. It is a good birthday.

[cluelessrebel1988]

Shipping questions

Saw that @hpfangirl13​ had done this and it looked like fun so I thought I’d give it a shot

Talk about the first ship you ever had.

One of the first pairs that I remember wanting to get together was Harry/Hermione as I was reading the Harry Potter series. I didn’t know what shipping was at the time (I’m not even sure there was a term for it yet), but I really thought they made a better couple than Ron/Hermione for the longest time. I eventually came around to Ron/Hermione (Book 7 was the game changer), but Harry/Hermione was the one I was rooting for for about half the series.

Talk about three of the most important ships throughout your life.

I mean, the first one is pretty important, right? The one that gets you started on wanting to see where a relationship or friendship goes. So yeah, Harry/Hermione would probably be an important one. Outside of that, the top three are Cartinelli (Peggy Carter/Angie Martinelli) on the show Agent Carter was a big one for me because that kickstarted by deep and resounding love for f/f pairings;FitzSimmons from Agents of SHIELD. If for no other reason than that’s the one thing that kept me watching through some pretty dismal story arcs; And Riley Matthews/Maya Hart (Rilaya) from Girl Meets World, due to them being one of the few pairs I’ve shipped since day one.

What’s your current OTP?

Not gonna lie, I fell pretty hard for the budding romance between Jane Banks and Jack the lamplighter in Mary Poppins returns. It’s just so sweet and pure and just starting out and it’s damn near perfect.

What’s your current NOTP?

I don’t really have one at the moment. The most recent was probably Kara/Mon-El on Supergirl, but mostly because I thought the relationship was poorly written and that the arc that they gave Mon-El would have worked just fine if they weren’t in a relationship.

Do you have any poly ships?

No. I’ve never been able to get into that. No judgement against people that are, though!

How do you feel about love triangles?

I have yet to see one that didn’t get old fast and drag a story down hard. 

How do you feel about RPF?

Not really my thing. Feels too weird.

Have you ever shipped yourself with a character?

I actually have. Generally when I’m testing out OCs in my head or in the canon of the story, I don’t have them mess with canon pairings, but I’ve got a Lord of the Rings OC that I ship with Eowyn and yes, it’s pretty much a self-insert situation. 

Do you have many ships that never got together at all?

Well, Cartinelli never became an actual couple, but I was never expecting them to. That’s probably the only one.

Do you ship any characters that have never met?

No, there’s gotta be some kind of meeting

Talk about your favorite first kiss.

Gotta go with FitzSimmons on this one. After a little over two seasons of slow burn, and just about every bad thing you can think of getting thrown their way (including one of them getting sucked into a portal to an alien planet), they’re back together, dealing with the long months apart, the fact that one of them is convinced they’re cursed as a couple and conflicting emotions abound, and the confrontation scene they’re having reaches a tipping point and Fitz kisses Simmons as passionately as he can. She kisses him a moment later, but more gently and for just a moment, nothing else matters. No one else matters. It’s just them. Still love that scene.

Have you ever been disappointed when your ship finally got together?

Not really. Not that I can think of.

Has a ship ever broken your heart?

I had my heart broken about a dozen times over with FitzSimmons, largely due to a combination of amazing writing and an inexplicable desire by said writers to keep them from getting together.

How do you feel about will they/won’t they?

Oh, if it’s done well, it’s about as perfect as it gets. But you gotta do it right. 

Have you ever “shipped at first sight”?

I think most, if not all, of my ships started at first sight

Talk about a ship you initially disliked.

I was never on the Reylo train, and I’m still not even after ‘The Last Jedi’ (though I get why a lot more people started shipping them after that movie). I’d be lying if I said I hated it, but it’s just one that I never got on board with.

Talk about a pairing you’ve stopped shipping romantically.

I really can’t think of any.

Talk about a moment which made you question an entire ship.

I really had a hard time understanding the SkyeWard (Agents of SHIELD) ship after it was revealed that Ward was Hydra. Pretty much everything about him after that was just...ugh. I’ve maintained for a while that his character deserved a redemption arc and that said arc would have been a more interesting story than just straight up making him the bad guy, but the two of them together never made sense to me after that reveal.

Have you ever shipped something despite yourself?

Not really. I know what I like and what I don’t and my ships tend to fall in line with that.

Talk about a ship you feel alone in shipping?

Probably just about any pairing from ‘The Great Escape’ but that’s largely because it’s a movie from 1963 and I’m not sure how many people in the shipping culture of today have even heard of it.

Is there a ship you just don’t get, but have nothing against?

Not really. Most of the ships I don’t get I have problems with, and the ones I don’t ship, but don’t have a problem with I at least understand 

Which of your ships have the best chemistry?

FitzSimmons has always had amazing chemistry and just continues to get better

Which of your ships deserve better writing?

FitzSimmons deserves writers that will just let them be happy for five fucking minutes, okay?

Do you mostly ship canon pairings?

There’s a bit of balance, I think, maybe leaning toward canon pairings.

Have you ever shipped a pairing before you even started watching the show/movie simply because of gifs and graphics or similar?

Not that I can think of.

Have you noticed a pattern in your shipping? Is there a romantic dynamic you’re more drawn to?

It’s what I (and a lot of Tumblr users) call the Slytherin/Hufflepuff dynamic. You’ve got the tough character who would set world on fire to protect their less world-weary counterpart, and the eternal optimist who will forever see the best in their significant other, perhaps most especially when they can't see it in themselves.

Is there a ship you’ve shipped for most of your life?

I guess my longest, most consistent ship has been FitzSimmons which I’ve been shipping since 2013. Cartinelli is a close second, that one’s since 2015

Does shipping come easily to you?

Oh yeah. It takes very little for me to start shipping something, even if its casually.

Do you need to ship something to really enjoy a movie/book/tv show/comic?

I don’t know if I NEED to ship something to enjoy the source material, but I’d be hard pressed to think of a situation where it doesn’t improve it at least a little.

Name a couple of fandoms in which you have no ships.

I’m not currently shipping anyone on the show Manifest, so there’s that.

Talk about one of your favorite headcanons for a ship you love.

It’s not one that I came up with, but I did see a FitzSimmons headcanon a few years back that he didn’t know how to tie a tie (despite wearing them all the time) and she tied them for him but no one knew about that. I really liked that and it’s kind of the epitome of their relationship in season 1

Name your favorite fan artist(s).

I don’t really have any favorites, not that I could list.

Share your favorite fanmix for your OTP.

I did come across a Cartinelli fanmix a while back that I liked. I don’t remember all the songs in it, but I do remember it included ‘La Vie En Rose’ and “Someone to Watch Over Me’ which are songs a lot of people associate with the ship

Do you create fanmixes/gif sets/fanart/fic/fanvids and so on for your ships?

I’ve made a few fanvids for a couple of my ships, and I’ve written a fair share of fics for others.

Do you have a favorite trope and/or AU for your OTP?

My favorite FitzSimmons AU is one where they get a happy ending (I’m a bit bitter about this, can you tell?)

Do you like and use ship names?

Dear God, yes. The more creative the better.

Is there a fictional relationship you’d really want for yourself?

I mean, apart from one where I’m a rider of Rohan and am able to romance Lady Eowyn, no

If you could change one thing about your OTP, what would that be?

Angie Martinelli plays a bigger role in season 2 of Agent Carter and there’s no forced love triangle BS with Peggy.in Los Angeles. Cartinelli happiness (romantic or otherwise) ensues

[ctfmeister]

The Power of Unicorns

Unicorns… Amazing mythical creatures that radiate with purity of nature, living free in the wild completely uncorrupted by human malevolence. Animals that hold so much power they are said to be able to control the world around them with magic, to bend the forces of life itself to their whims. These incredible beasts are so spectacular that they could only exist in the world of dreams.

Vera absolutely loved them. Ever since she was a child, the young woman had always been fascinated with these creatures. Back then, her grandma used to tell her story after story about them. How their majestic beauty and splendor left all who saw them speechless. How they lived happily and freely in a land of magic and wonder. And most importantly, how they used their powers to protect those who were in need.

All these stories left a huge impact on Vera. And it showed, as over the years her room had become littered with accessory after accessory of unicorn-related paraphernalia. She loved everything unicorn related she could find. Movies, games, comics... But her favorite were books. Oh, how she loved to stick her nose in a fantasy book, relaxing as she let her mind be transported to a magical land of unicorns…

Yes, Vera was all about these creatures. Which is why it was very unfortunate for her that they didn’t exist in real life. If they did, Vera would have no problem spending her days caring and watching over them, but as it stood, she had to settle for the next best thing: horses.

Vera’s family owned a relatively successful horse ranch here in Nature Gorge. They bred and sold horses to places all around the country, and, while it wasn’t the most lucrative business, it was more than enough to let them live peacefully. It was a quiet and mundane lifestyle, but Vera wouldn’t have it any other way. Her love for nature fueled a desire to continue the family business, and though horses weren’t as amazing and magical as unicorns, they still held a large place in her heart.

Right now, on this lazy Thursday afternoon, Vera relaxed on the old living room couch. With the TV on as background noise, she held a fantasy book in her hands, daydreaming about… What else, but unicorns. Her long smooth black hair cascaded onto her shoulders, complementing her pale light skin tone. Her shiny green eyes swirled about from word to word, each one of them inspiring a billion thoughts in her head. Yes, this truly was the perfect afternoon for a quiet girl such as her. That was until…

‘BREAKING NEWS!’ A man called out from the TV. ‘Dear viewers from Nature Gorge and the surrounding area: A large tornado has been spotted and is predicted to pass through the town.’

The book in Vera’s hand slowly fell onto her lap, as the anchor’s words began sinking into Vera’s mind. She looked intently at the television, fear and anxiety creeping into her mind.

‘Local authorities are asking all of the town’s citizens to evacuate immediately, even if you are not in the tornado’s direct path. Tornadoes are dangerous phenomena and we ask our viewers to remain safe.’

Vera stared at the screen in awe. The tornado’s path… It went directly through her home! Her house… The stables… Would they all be destroyed? The horses, would they be killed? Vera stood in the middle of the room completely frozen in shock, her mind barely able to comprehend the situation before her. What was she going to do? Was her quiet simple life really going to end this way?

‘RRRIIINGGGG!! RRRIIIIIINGG!!’ Suddenly, the house’s phone began ringing, snapping Vera out of her trance. She quickly stepped towards it and picked it up.

“Hello?” She answered the phone with uncertainty.

“Oh thank god you picked up…” The voice breathed out in relief.

“Mom?” Vera asked.

“Vera, sweetheart… I need you to listen and listen carefully, ok?” Vera’s mother spoke calmly. “Go to your room and get your backpack. Grab everything that’s important and leave the ranch. Go south ok? Do not go north of the ranch.”

“Mom, I saw it in the news.” Vera said. “There’s a tornado. It’s… It’s coming towards the farm!”

“Yes sweetie.” Her mother replied softly. “That’s why I need you to pack your stuff and leave, do you understand? They won’t let me go back up to the ranch to come get you, so I need you to start going south and don’t stop, alright?”

“B-b-but mother!” Vera yelled out. “What about the farm? What about the horses? Are we just gonna leave them here?”

“I’m sorry sweetie…” Her mom answered in a somber tone. “There’s nothing we can do about them now. I know how much you loved the ranch, but right now your life is more important.”

Vera felt a lump in her throat, cutting her breathing. Was this the end of her life at the ranch? Was her dream of a peaceful life really going to be destroyed? Her heart beat faster, sweat pouring down her skin. “Vera, sweetheart. Just gather up your most valuable things and leave.”

“Y-yes mother…” Vera replied dutifully.

The call ended, sound ceasing to come from the phone. Vera stood in the living room, still in shock. She stared out into nothingness, not quite sure what to do with herself. Her head shook violently. This wasn’t the time to space out, she still had to do what her mother had told her.

Without a second thought, she dashed upstairs as fast as she could, Vera entered her room in a frenzy. She quickly picked up her backpack from a corner, scanning the room for what to pack… …

What the hell was she going to pack? Her laptop was probably a given, but what after that? Should she take some of her books? She had dozens of them, so to pick a select few would be a hard choice. What about her unicorn figurines? The wouldn’t all fit in her backpack, and the had the sharp horns that they had would make storing a pain. What about her unicorn plushies? Would they be too big and bulky? And what about clothes? She didn’t have a lot of unicorn themed clothes, but she still had a ton of cute pieces she wanted to keep.

A wave of dizziness came over Vera, unable to decide what items were the most valuable. The fact was that most of these objects were valuable, Vera didn’t want to have to decide to pick one over another. Each one held an important place in her heart, to think that she’d had to abandon some of them…

No! Vera shook her head again. This wasn’t the time for this, she had to get out now! That’s what her mother had told her. Tears began forming in her eyes. With a sudden burst of fury, Vera began to slip whatever items she could into her backpack, not caring much on what item she grabbed and instead focusing on trying to get as much as possible into her pack.

During this outburst, she accidentally managed to push her dresser, making it wobble slightly. Then, all of a sudden, a small metal lunchbox slammed down from the top of the dresser and onto the floor, causing a large bang as it hit. Vera jumped in surprise as she heard this. She lowly turned around to see the box lying on the floor. She didn’t remember putting such a thing there. Filled with curiosity, she quickly stepped towards it to inspect it.

This was… This was the lunchbox grandma gave her before she passed away! Vera remembered it vividly. Her grandma had told her only to open it at her most dire moment. The young woman sighed. Her grandma had always been so cryptic and odd… But… Vera had to admit, things were pretty dire right now. Maybe this was the time to its insides?

Slowly opening the metal box, Vera coughed as dust flew from the dusty case. Inside, were a small note, and an old leathery book. Vera picked up the note first and began reading it.

‘Dear Vera,

If you are reading this note, then it means that you have finally encountered an unsurmountable* obstacle. You are a brave, strong, caring young lady, but sometimes the challenges that appear before you will require more than that. For that reason, it is time I finally tell you the truth. Do you remember all the fantastical stories of magic and unicorns I always told about when you were just a child?

Well, those weren’t just your grandma’s old fairy tales. The fact is, Vera, you are a witch. And so was I, and so is your mother. You come from a very long family of witches that specialize in animal magic. Your mother always wanted to keep you away from this, but I always knew a time would come when you would need to know.

Right next to this note is a spellbook with everything you’ll need. The later spells might be a bit out of your reach right now, but you should be able to complete the first few. I recommend your start with the unicorn one. This will make you able to control magic and the elements with much more ease than with your current body. I’m sorry I hid this from you for so long, but I know that with this new knowledge, you’ll be able to overcome any problem that gets in your way. I love you, and I’m very proud of you.

With love, Grandma.’

Vera stared at the note wide-eyed. Witches? Magic? Unicorns? Was this some sort of prank? Vera’s grandma had always been a bit mysterious, but was it really because of she was some sort of mage? Magic wasn’t even real, right?

Her curiosity piqued, Vera turned her attention towards the so-described ‘spellbook’ that sat inside the metal box. She picked it up, finding it to be much lighter than she thought it would be. In fact, this book didn’t really feel like one of the old arcane spellbooks that usually appeared in fantasy novels. It had a rough brown leather cover and was about the same size as any regular notebook, with around the same thickness too.

However, despite its very typical appearance, what differentiated this book from others was its content. Vera opened the book and began flipping through the pages, quickly skimming over the words on each page. And as she turned page after page, her mouth opened wide out in surprise. This book… It really was a spellbook!

In every page of the book were written, detailed instructions on how to perform various spells. From shooting out thunders, to levitation and telekinesis, to even transformation… And out of all those spells, there was one specifically that really caught her attention.

Quickly flipping the pages back, Vera returned to the beginning of the book to find that spell that had seriously caught her interest. Just like her grandma had said, it was one of the first ones in the book… The Unicorn transformation spell.

According to the book, it allows whoever casts it to transform into a Unicorn. The books explained that Unicorns have a much easier time than humans accessing magic, so it’s a good spell for beginning magicians. But more than just that, Vera now had the chance to become a real-life Unicorn. While Vera would have preferred to see live Unicorns rather than become one, she had to admit the prospect was still quite appealing. These magical creatures that she thought would never be attainable were now on the palm of her hands…

She focused once more on the spell, reading off all the ingredients needed to complete it. A little bit of horse mane… Some chalk… Some candles… … Yup, she had everything she needed to complete this. Vera looked up thoughtfully, trying to really think this through.

Would she really turn herself into a Unicorn? This was her first time playing with magic, so Vera didn’t really know what bad side effects she might encounter. Would she even be able to do it in the first place? And what about changing back? Even if she did transform into a unicorn, would she really be able to stop the tornado?

These questions filled Vera’s mind, filling* her with doubt. However, each time she really thought it through, her conclusion was always the same. If this was what it took to save her life and her family’s ranch, then she would have to do it. With a determined expression, Vera bolted upwards. She ran out of the room with the book in hand, ready to gather all the materials for the ritual.

 Vera was knelt down on the front porch of her house, looking intently at the spellbook in her hand. Below her, was an ornate circle drawn in red chalk, with the required items for the spell orderly placed inside. The sky was clouded and dark, with gust of winds crashing against each other to make it a very chilling sight.

This was it. This was the point of no return. While the prospect of transforming into a unicorn was exciting to Vera, it was also scary. Being a witch? Controlling magic? Having an animal’s body? These things were all foreign to her. And yet, if she wanted to save her house, her horse friends, and her lifestyle, then this is what she had to do.

She gave one last sigh. Vera was ready to do this. She read the spell over one last time. The items were gathered, and the circle was drawn. All that remained was for her to read some Latin incantation. It looked simple enough, even if she really didn’t know how to read Latin in the first place.

Closing her eyes, Vera began reciting aloud the Latin spell, burned into her mind after fervent memorization. She worded out each phrase clumsily and with uncertainty, probably butchering up the pronunciations as well. But as she finished chanting the words, she could feel a whisk of arcane energy begin to fill her. Yes! It had been a success, she was going to start changing soon!

With her tightly eyes shut close, Vera waited excitedly for her changes to manifest… A wide smile appeared on her face, they would begin any second now… … However, as the wind kept blowing, and time kept passing, Vera’s excitement began to fade. Nothing… Nothing was happening... Why wasn’t anything happening!

As large sigh left her mouth, Vera opened her eyes, finally coming to terms with the fact that nothing was happening. This didn’t make any sense! She’d felt that little warmth inside her, surely that meant it worked, right? Did she do something wrong? Vera reread the spell once more, trying to see where she might’ve messed up. Maybe the circle wasn’t round enough, or maybe she missed one of the items, maybe her pronunciation was very bad, or maybe…

Maybe magic wasn’t real. Maybe her grandma was just playing tricks on her from beyond the grave, and Vera had fallen for it hook, line and sinker. Vera kicked herself mentally. God, she was so stupid. She’d wasted so much time preparing this fake spell, and now the tornado was at her doorsteps. Would she even be able to escape it at this point? No, this was most likely a fatal mistake. Vera began to tear up. Maybe it was better this way, now she wouldn’t have to live without her ranch and her horses…

Then, out of nowhere, a sharp sudden pain attacked Vera’s midsection. She yelped out loudly, dropping the book in her hand to the ground as she clutched her stomach tightly. Her whole body… It felt odd, sort of tingly. A strange aura of warmth enveloped her. Something… Something was happening!

Her entire body began to shift, bones crackling loudly. Her hands were first to morph, nails growing larger and thicker, turning from a soft pale pink into a dark greyish tone. Her hands flattened out, fingers slowly merging until nothing was left but a single long, rounded, hard nail to cover it. Vera looked at her hands in amazement. They’d turned into full horse hooves!

Soon Vera could feel the same changes start to appear in her feet. Their nails grew out, fingers merging into a single digit, as they swelled so large and bulky they burst out from her shoes, rupturing her socks. Vera stood up to try and get a good look at her changing body. Her arms and legs were bulking up, her muscles growing larger and stronger. Before long, Vera’s arms and legs were replaced by powerful equine legs.

Next her hips started to crack out loud, as her entire midsection fattened up with more mass and flesh. This new weight pushed down on Vera just enough so that she couldn’t stay standing upright anymore, and she softly fell on her four limbs. Her body bulked up into a large rounded cylinder, her breasts slowly receding to nothingness with entire midsection became uniform. This new body was thick, strong and big. It was so large in fact, it caused the rest of her clothes to snap into pieces and fall gently onto the ground, leaving Vera completely naked.

A strange tingling then manifested around her private area. Her vagina pulsated madly, as if it was trying to expulse something from deep inside. And her little clitoris throbbed too, glowing to a bright blood red as it began to lengthen farther and farther apart from her body. This member grew longer and thicker, losing its rounded appearance for a more cylindrical one. It only stopped growing until it reached a massive 30 inches long, upon which the tip began to flatten considerably, forming into a round disc.

Finally, her vagina gave in, the skin around it beginning to merge slowly until it was sealed off entirely. But that wasn’t it for that area, for a small sack-like protrusion began to inflate around where her vagina had been, slowly growing in mass as it began to down down closer to her enlarged clit. Then the last remaining parts of her uterus were expulsed into this sack, nestling at the bottom of it snuggly as her new balls.

Skin began to grow around the base of Vera’s new clit, forming a small pouch-like addition to her body. Then a vertical slit formed around the tip of her engorged clit, finalizing its transformation into a large hefty horse cock, hanging proudly and erect from the bottom of her body.

At this point, Vera couldn’t help but notice a strange flush come upon her body. While the transformation had been painful at first, now instead of pain, she felt an odd warmth she’d never experienced before. An unknown need… The best way she could describe it was… Arousal. Vera could tell something was different, besides the bestial morphing of her body. She craned her neck down as far as she could, trying to spot where this new heat was coming from when…

She saw it. Hanging down from her new horse body. There was this… This gross… This horse cock! Vera wasn’t just turning into a unicorn, she was turning into a male unicorn. She began to pace back and forth with her horse legs, feeling panic fill her mind. This wasn’t part of the deal! Nowhere did the spell say she would become male. She didn’t want to be a male unicorn, she liked being a girl!

Vera looked down at the dropped book to see if she could find a solution. Unfortunately, it had fallen with the pages face down, so Vera couldn’t read anything. A strange desire, a foreign lust filled her body. And Vera didn’t like it one bit. It was too strange for her, she had to figure out some way to flip the book, a hard task given her new lack of opposable thumbs. Maybe if she kicked it lightly…

However, her transformation wasn’t about to let her figure out some way to fix this problem, as it continued spreading through her body. Her neck began thickening up and extending from her body, losing its conical shape in favor of a flatter one. It grew out away from her body until it was about the length of a human arm.

Then followed her ears. They stretched out and away from her body, their tips becoming pointed as the ear hole grew deeper. Before long, her ears were standing tall, completely independent from her head. Her face was not spared either, for her mouth and nose stretched forward. They converged together to form a long equine muzzle, as her face was truly transmogrified into that of a horse’s. By now, all of Vera’s previous human traits were gone, her body was that of an adult male horse.

But that wasn’t it for Vera. She paced back and forth with anxiety, feeling her new penis throb harder. Throughout her body, her skin started to feel all tingly and warm. From deep inside her pores, small white hairs started to sprout. They quickly spread throughout her body, covering every last inch of her being until her skin was wrapped up in pristine white coat.

It was quite strange, how pleasant the feeling of growing a magical looking coat of hair was. Vera couldn’t help but whine in joy as it happened, her penis bobbing up and down with pleasure. Soon after, the long flowing black locks on her head started to spread down along the backside of her neck, forming a beautiful black mane. Down in around her butt, her spine began extending, causing more of her lustrous black hair to prop out in the form of a tail.

And then she could finally feel it. The last piece of the puzzle, the thing separating her and regular horses was finally sprouting from her forehead. Her whole body buzzed in bliss as it slowly made its way out of her skull. The white horn spiraled upwards, growing into a majestic 7-inch cone, with small creases that coiled to its base. It glowed brightly, all of the magical power focusing within her.

She could feel it~ All the magic that concentrated in her horn. She felt the power of nature at her hands, or now hooves. It was exhilarating, how she could control the wind, direct lighting, command fire… She was one with the elements! She was one with nature. All this power… This strong connection… This feeling of unity… It felt so good~ Vera couldn’t handle it.

And neither could her penis. The pleasure that had accumulated throughout her body reached its peak, and her cock, unable to take any more, began blasting shot after shot of hot horse spunk onto the wooded floor, flooding the circle in its entirety. Her balls churned, penis throbbing madly as Vera happily climaxed onto her porch.

As the pleasure began to die down, and Vera let out a sigh of relief. This new body… He’d been so afraid of it before, but now he couldn’t love it any more. It was everything he could have dreamed of… Having such a close connection to magic and nature felt truly amazing. His new gender didn’t really matter. In fact, he embraced it, the power and confidence of being a hung stallion.

But this was no time to stay and admire his new form, he had a job to accomplish. Without any delay, Vera began to gallop over the hill towards the speeding tornado, ready to face it head on. He ran with confidence and speed, moving with such sureness that one would think this was the body he’d had his entire life.

After some agile trotting, Vera could finally see the twister, spinning madly as it devoured the landscape below. With a valiant smirk, he pointed his horn towards it, gathering up his magical energy until… BOOM! A large bolt of lightning shot out of his horn, speeding towards the twirling devil.

The lightning pierced right through the center of the tornado, like a sword stabbing right through its enemy. And just like planned, the twisting winds began to slow down, clouds slowly dissipating from the air. Soon, all that remained of the tornado were some greyish looking clouds, for the beast had been dismantled with a single blow.

Vera hopped around happily, excited to have been actually able save his farm. However, as the dust settled, and his mission ended, a sudden realization came to the new unicorn. What was he to do now? His task was completed, but he did not know how to turn back into his previous human form. He didn’t even know if it was possible to turn back into his human form.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like his new form, but Vera had to admit he quite enjoyed his human life. That was why he’d risked so much to save it. Was there some sort of process to turn back into a human, or was he doomed to remain a unicorn for the rest of his days?

He began to ponder these questions over, when he was suddenly distracted by nearby noises. He looked over to where they were coming from… It was the horses in their pen. They were all running about, happy that their demise had been prevented. Vera smiled as he watched them. So joyful… So free… Their happy trotting made him want to run along with them. Yes, Vera could ponder over these questions later. Right now, he wanted to enjoy his new form with his equine brethren. Without second though, he quickly jumped over the fence and joined the celebrating horses.

 “Vera!”

Vera comfortably laid down on her comfortable bed. Sleeping felt so nice, and her bed was so cozy. Although it also felt a bit grainy, almost as if it was made with hundreds of little rope strings. And it was kinda chilly in the room too.

“Vera, wake up!”

Vera’s head shook wildly. What time was it even? Too early, that’s the answer. Vera was sleeping so soundly right now, she wanted to stay asleep.

“Vera please! Wake up!”

God, who the heck was calling her? And why was she being asked to wake up. Vera squirmed angrily. With all this yelling no one could stay asleep. Vera slowly lifted her eyelids open, revealing the whole room to her.

Right above her, stood Vera’s mom, looking down on her daughter with a worried expression. She lowered herself down, extending a hand towards Vera. Vera blinked, looking around the room. She wasn’t… She wasn’t in her room! Instead, she found herself in the horse pens, laying softly on a stack hay instead of her bed.

Grabbing onto her mother’s arm, Vera pulled herself off the floor. She looked around in confusion, wondering why she’d been sleeping in the barn, until she noticed that her body was distinctly lacking any clothes. With an embarrassed blush, Vera tried her best to cover her naughty bits.

“Oh Vera, I’m so glad you’re ok.” Her mom breathed out in relief. “I just wish you hadn’t done that…”

“Done what… ?” Vera asked, still waking up from her sleep. “Oh! You mean the unicorn thing?”

Vera’s mother nodded softly. “Not just the unicorn thing, but just about magic as a whole. I didn’t want you to get involved in this world, so I tried to hide it from you. I guess it backfired in the end…”

Vera’s mom looked out through the barn doors pensively. Vera fretted at her mother’s worry. “B-B-But it’s fine, right? I saved the farm, and now I’m back to being a human again! No harm, no foul.”

But the comment was met with a head shake from Vera’s mother. “It’s not that simple dear. You see, once you transform into a unicorn, you’ll keep transforming back into a unicorn again and again. It’s a state that will never leave you until the rest of your life.”

“Oh…” Vera looked at the ground downcast. “Can I… Do something about that?”

“You can learn to control it somewhat.” Her mother commented. “At first, it’ll just happen when you’re feeling strong emotions. Anger, bliss, jealousy, lust… But if you practice it enough, you can sort of stop it or induce it at certain times. It’s hard to master, even your grandma had difficulties with it. But now that you have this, you’ll have to learn how to do it.”

A large sigh left Vera’s mother’s mouth. “I’m sorry honey, this is all my fault. I shouldn’t have kept you away from this. Magic… It’s in your blood. I knew that eventually you’d try to come to it. I didn’t want it to happen, but honestly, if that’s what you want to do, I guess there’s nothing for me to do but support you.”

Vera’s eyes lit up brightly. “Really?!”

“Yes, really.” Her mother responded with a smile. “As long as you’re responsible with it.”

With that, Vera’s mother began to walk out of the stable. “I’ll let you go get some clothes. Come by when dinner is ready.” She said, walking through the stable doors. “And come clean the mess you left on the porch!”

A bright blush came upon Vera’s face. She had made a mess, hadn’t she? But more importantly, she’d just gotten permission to use magic. Vera was so excited, she jumped up in the air. This was gonna be so awesome! She could turn into a majestic unicorn, but what other cool spells awaited her in that book? It seems her quiet life had gotten a little bit more interesting.

She began to walk out of the stable, when suddenly a strange scent hit her nostrils. She sniffed it deeply. It was… The scent of mares… In heat. They began howling loudly, in deep need for a suitable mate. Vera’s clit began to tingle. A sly smile crept up on her face. Yup, her quiet life had definitely gotten more interesting~

Here’s a short little thing I wrote as a prize for UnicornLady for the FtM Discord caption contest. I’m not too big of a fan of feral stuff, but I can definitely see the appeal. I also don’t usually work with original characters, so I hope I did fine with this one. Anyways, hope you like this one! And keep an eye out for my next post for an important announcement ~

[davidcarner]

Reassigned Ch 13, Jedi Knight

A/N: Zettel said something to me in looking at the last chapter that gave me the idea for this one….I have a basic outline but as I typed this chapter, two characters that I just can't seem to get away from FORCED their way in. Forced I tell ya…Not a one of you believe me, do you? I give you Reassigned, Ch 13, Jedi Knight

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck, but I do have 4 different media versions of the original trilogy

Chuck, Sarah, and Carina were looking around the shutdown Weinerlicious. Bryce had stormed out after hearing of the plan to turn it into Bartowski Solutions. Very little paperwork was involved with the NSA or DNI and the rent was much lower than Chuck thought it would be, a government perk. Chuck also became the preferred internet and computer consultant for government jobs in the area, giving him some guaranteed income that made him smile. Carina thought Chuck had thanked her at least half a dozen times in the past hour . Casey grunted a lot in approval, mumbled something about moving Beastmasters and headed to the Buy More.

"Wait, those two are still going to work at the Buy More?" Chuck asked. Carina nodded.

"Until we figure some things out on Bryce, I don't want him interfering with you," Carina said. Chuck hugged her again, making Carina give Sarah another amused smile. "You could take me to lunch if you really want to thank me." Chuck looked a little nervous. "As colleagues, Chuck. Really, do you think I'd cross blonde momma bear in her condition?"

"You do like to push things," Chuck replied.

"Chuck, I don't do suicide runs," Carina said winking. "Sarah, your boyfriend is taking his new employee to lunch." Sarah looked at her a minute.

"Carina, I'll say this once, if anything happens and Chuck has to talk to HR about being sexually harassed, you'll wish all I do is fire you," Sarah said. Carina started to open her mouth to say that she and Chuck actually worked for her, but she didn't. Instead, she nodded. The two took off and Sarah glanced over at the Buy More where she thought maybe it was time to smooth some things over and take someone out to lunch herself.

She walked over to the Buy More, and went inside. She stopped at the doorway. She looked at the nerd herd desk he used to inhabit, but he wasn't there anymore, he had moved on, to better things, with her. She looked around and saw who she was looking for. Bryce caught her eye and moved toward her.

"Help you find anything ma'am, or did you already see what you need?" Bryce asked as smoothly as she could.

"Oh, I already see it, thanks," she said, and continued to walk past him. Bryce looked on in shock. She walked up to Morgan, who was looking at movies. "Morgan," she said gently trying not to scare him. He spun, saw her, and his face lit up. "I hear you're the man to go to for some sizzling shrimp," Sarah said. Morgan's eyes got wide. "I wondered if I could buy you lunch?" Morgan's face went from happy to upset like the snap of a finger.

"Sarah Walker, how could you," he began.

"Morgan," Sarah tried to interject.

"Look, I understand, the hormones, the beard, sometimes you just can't control yourself," Morgan began. Sarah was so shocked she couldn't stop him. "But, Sarah, he's my friend, not just my friend, but I'm the Chewie to his Han."

"That's Star Trek, right?" Sarah asked.

"I know you do that jokingly," Morgan replied.

"So, no?"

"Funny," he said. "I get it, your wants, your needs," he said, never seeing the look of horror on her face. "But I can't hurt Chuck. I mean it's been a while since Jill," his eyes got wide. "Is it that bad?" Sarah shut her eyes trying to figure out how to process that question. "I can get him some books and videos how to be better," he mumbled, more to himself than Sarah.

"Oh, God, Morgan," Sarah began.

"See, he should be making you do that, not me," Morgan continued. Sarah shuddered. "The three of us can sit and talk, and mwphmh." Sarah had covered his mouth.

"I feel NOTHING for you or the beard, no offense," Sarah said. Morgan nodded, hand still covering his mouth. "I need your help with Chuck, not in THAT way, and I wanted to take you to lunch to see if you could give me some tips, since, well, you know, you're his best friend." Morgan's eyes lit up.

"I mean it will take a little more than my lunch time," Morgan began.

"Big Mike!" Sarah yelled seeing him. Big Mike stopped in his tracks. "I'm taking Morgan for a while." Big Mike nodded and went back to what he was doing. "We'll bring back some donuts and you'll be golden," she said to Morgan.

-ooooo-

Sarah moaned. Morgan was right, or it was the hormones, or both, but sizzling shrimp was so undervalued.

"Right?" Morgan asked, his eyes lighting up. All Sarah could do was nod and chew. "So if the problem isn't Chuck with the sex," he began. Sarah choked on her food with those words. He reached over and tried to pat her back, but he just couldn't reach. She waved him off. "I'm guessing the problem is Bryce." She dropped her utensil, and just stared at her plate. "I mean it's his baby, and now he's dead, and his twin brother who I've never heard of before, nor has anyone else, is suddenly at the Buy More. Plus I know you work in the government, John Casey has a jaw of granite, and Carina and her long legs are always over at the Buy More and not to see me, which I really can't figure out what else I need to do for her to notice me."

"What are you trying to say, Morgan?" Sarah asked.

"She's in to me," Morgan said like she had lost her mind.

"Not about Carina, about Bryce."

"Bruce is really Bryce," Morgan said nonchalantly. "And I'll go one step further, that whole cover was very comic booky, so I'm guessing Chuck came up with the idea." Sarah put her head in her hands. "No one else has any clue if that's what you're worried about, and he's a big enough of a jerk, Bryce that is, that he makes a perfect ass man." Sarah groaned. "My only question, did Chuck offer to step out of the way for you two to get back together or did you tell him to not even suggest it."

"No," she said sounding tired. She looked at Morgan, who had a look of understanding on his face. Of course he did, he was Morgan. Chuck's true best friend, the that was always there for him. He knew Chuck. "He offered, and I messed with him for a minute before I called him an idiot."

"He can be quite an idiot for someone so smart," Morgan replied with a knowing nod.

"This actually is good," Sarah admitted. "You knowing all of this helps, so now I can ask what I don't understand. Why does he keep trying to save Bryce?" Morgan studied her a minute.

"Do you remember in Return of the Jedi when Luke refused to kill Vader because he was his father?" Morgan asked.

"If I say yes would you know if I'm lying?" Sarah asked.

"No clue," Morgan admitted.

"Yes," Sarah replied. Morgan nodded

"So that scene perfectly illustrates what's happening here," Morgan said. Sarah made a mental note to go home and pay attention this time when Return of the Jedi was on. "See, Vader is Bryce, he's going to be a dad and Chuck wants him to have a chance, even though Bryce is picking the dark side over being a father." Sarah was beyond confused. "Plus, throw in the whole his father left him, and Chuck never wants to see a child go through that, Chuck will do anything to save Bryce from himself and the dark side. Get it?"

"No," Sarah said. Morgan sighed.

"Chuck will do anything for those he loves," Morgan explained.

"Chuck loves Bryce?" Sarah asked.

"Not like you, but like a friend, but yeah," Morgan replied.

"How? Bryce screwed him over, multiple times and Chuck is angry at him, he might even hate him, although if Chuck does hate Bryce it is the weirdest hate I've ever seen."

"Chuck has a lot of experience being angry with those he loves," Morgan said gently. "Chuck's angry at his mother, his father, Jill, Bryce, Stanford, and Harry Tang…although he doesn't love Harry Tang," Morgan said, realizing he was spiraling. Sarah had to agree with the entire assessment. "What I'm saying is, someone could walk in tomorrow with a gun to Harry Tang's head and Chuck would try and save him."

"He would, wouldn't he," Sarah admitted.

"That's why we love him," Morgan said. "Welcome to the club, Sarah Walker." Morgan raised his glass of soda. "The we love Chuck Bartowski and we're fortunate enough that he loves us as well." Sarah smile and toasted with Morgan. She had never met anyone like Morgan or Chuck before, and she was thankful that she now had.

-ooooo-

"When I said we could do or talk about anything, this really wasn't what I expected, Curls," Carina said. Chuck turned to her slowly.

"You don't think Sarah would think…" he trailed off, scared to finish that sentence.

"No, she'd understand actually," Carina said. "Truth be told, maybe a little relieved." Chuck looked surprised. "Us getting along, having some type of relationship," she paused, frowned, and continued. "Some type of NON-sexual relationship that is."

"Really?" Chuck asked, surprised. "I mean, I've obviously never lived the life you two have, but you two have an odd friendship." Carina shrugged.

"When you've both been through the thunderdome you recognize things in each other, and can comfort the other," Carina said softly. "Sometimes the only comfort you need is just knowing someone else knows what you're going through."

"You both made it, you both got through it, and you're both on the other side?" Chuck said. Carina nodded.

"Maybe we're not both all the way though it, but that's pretty close," Carina said. "Damn, Curls, you're getting deep today. So, why are we here?"

"This," Chuck said, picking up a black maternity tee shirt with the words My Nerd Game is Strong on the front.

"Okay, what's the problem?"

"I really want to get it, for Sarah, you know because she's got the nerd, but can I?" Chuck asked. Carina stared at him. "It's not my kid, she's pregnant with, and that's what this shirt is suggesting." Carina began to laugh. She burst into laughter and couldn't stop. She fell against him, and he had to hold her up she laughed so hard. She finally calmed down.

"Chuck Bartowski," she said, shaking her head. "Do you love that little girl that's not yet born?"

"Yeah, I do," Chuck admitted.

"Are you going to be there for her?"

"Yeah, you know I am."

"I know you are, or I'm going to kick your ass," Carina promised. "And I know she's going to marry you." Chuck shrugged.

"She loves me, everything else is icing on the cake, I got the greatest prize ever, Carina," he said with a smile covering his face. "The woman I love, loves me. What else could I ask for?"

"Her hand in marriage," Carina said dramatically with her hand against her forehead. He gave her a friendly shove. She grabbed the shirt and looked at it and then at him. "Yeah, her nerd game is strong, she snagged you."

"Carina Miller, are you saying I'm a catch?" Chuck asked.

"See, you can't say that to me and me not mess with you back," Carina retorted.

"I withdraw the question," Chuck said quickly and took the shirt up front to pay for it as Carina followed, laughing.

-ooooo-

Chuck opened the door to the apartment and started to give out his normal greeting when he heard very familiar noises. His eyes grew wide as he walked into the living room. There on the couch was his girlfriend, watching Return of the Jedi. Not just watching, but studying. He made a fist and bit his first finger trying to calm his excitement, but it wasn't working.

"Uh, Sarah," Chuck began.

"Shh," she said. The Emperor stood over Luke. "Now young Skywalker. You. Will. Die." She paused it and looked at Chuck.

"You've not Han, you're Luke, and Bryce is Darth Vader," Sarah said. Chuck gave her a look. "And the Emperor, he's….he's…life!" she said, her face lighting up. "And no matter how bad it gets you'll still do anything for him. You'd die for him." She paused. "I'm wrong, Bryce isn't Darth Vader, everyone you love is Darth Vader." Sarah looked up at him. "Ellie, Awesome, Morgan."

"You," Chuck said softly.

"Me," she agreed, nodding. "You need someone to protect you from doing something stupid."

"I wouldn't call everything I do stupid," Chuck responded. "I mean sure, there's several things, but not everything."

"No, not stupid," she said. She closed her eyes. "You'd give it all for someone you love, or even for someone you don't love, because you couldn't stay out of Castle because Bryce was in trouble, you can't help but help someone who needs it."

"If you saw a little girl about to get run over," Chuck began.

"I'd save her," Sarah said softly, and the look on her face said she was thinking about something. Chuck suspected it was something in her past. She had gotten looks on her face before when discussing the past, or things that reminded her of it. But he had no idea what this would be because he had read the entire file, and there was nothing in there about children, or little girls, or Return of the Jedi.

"What is it?" Chuck asked.

"What's what," she said, giving him a look. "Just thinking about how lucky I am."

"Ummm, no," Chuck said, shaking his head. "That was not a look that was thinking about how lucky you are." Sarah looked away.

"It was my last mission," Sarah said softly.

"The one where you destroyed the package?" Chuck said.

"Yeah," Sarah replied, and then turned to look at him. "Chuck I want to tell you, I do, but if I tell you, then you'll know and that will put people in danger. It's not that I don't trust you, it's just…" Chuck put his hand on her shoulder.

"I get it," he said, with a soft smile, but it really didn't reach his face. She knew this disappointed him, hurt him, but this was too big. He would never purposefully give away the information, but what he didn't know he couldn't tell. "Hey, this is for you," he said, handing her the bag, and headed off toward the bed room. She opened the bag and pulled out the shirt, melting. He had finally gotten to a place where he was comfortable enough to buy her something like this. Something that said he was hers, and then she went and told him she couldn't tell him. She took a deep breath and went into the bedroom. She walked in, sat on the bed, while he was looking for clothes for the night.

"I need to tell you the story about a baby girl, her name is Molly," Sarah said, tears coming out of her eyes. Chuck turned, slowly. "She was my last mission."

-ooooo-

It was some time later that Chuck thought Sarah had drifted off to sleep. Chuck's shirt was beginning to dry where Sarah had cried as she told the story of Molly, that was now kind of her sister, living with her mom. He was slowly rubbing her back, staring up at the ceiling. How could the US Government have done all of the things it had done to her and let like Ryker use her? Chuck really wanted to go find this Langston Graham and punch him in the throat. Not that Chuck would punch him, because if Graham was a member of the CIA there was every chance he was a much better physical specimen than Chuck, and Chuck really hated violence, but the things they did to Sarah made him consider it.

"Hate leads to the dark side," Sarah mumbled from under his hand. He froze his stroking off her back.

"First you watch Return of the Jedi, now you start quoting it to me," Chuck said. "You're working way to hard if you're trying to get into my pants." Sarah laughed.

"No, I had lunch with Morgan today," Sarah began. "We had sizzling shrimp."

"Huh, and I thought you didn't want to get married," Chuck said. She lifted up and put her chin on the back of her hand that was on his chest.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I think by the arcane Morgan laws, if you take him out for lunch and get him sizzling shrimp you are married," Chuck said. "I don't make the Morgan rules, Baby," he said shrugging. She chuckled.

"It doesn't apply when you're taking them out asking for help with his best friend," Sarah retorted.

"Please tell me he thought you were actually asking him out," Chuck said, grinning.

"How'd you know?" Sarah asked.

"That beard has given him an insane amount of confidence over the years," Chuck said. "It's mostly aimed at Ellie, but sometimes it hits innocent bystanders by mistake."

"Well, he did, and he went on for some time, but he told me you were like Luke and Bryce was Vader, and I didn't understand any of that until I came home and watched it," Sarah replied.

"Again," Chuck said. Sarah raised an eyebrow. "We've watched it twice."

"It's been on twice, I was otherwise occupied," Sarah said haughtily. Chuck gave a low growl and grinned. She bounced a shoulder. "The force was with me." He burst out laughing. "But, you are a Jedi Knight." He grinned at her.

"Really, I'm a Jedi Knight?" Chuck asked, grinning. "You saved a little girl, you went against your corrupt superior and hid her. Sarah Walker, you are a Jedi Knight, and you are my only hope."

"That's Star Wars, right?" She asked. A low growl came from Chuck and she giggled. "Chuck is that a light saber in your pocket?" She squealed as he wrapped her back up in his arms and kissed her.

-ooooo-

They pulled up in front of the house, and Chuck looked very nervous. For that matter, Sarah did to.

"Sarah are you sure about this?" Chuck asked. Sarah nodded.

"I read Carina in, she's part of the safety protocol now for my mom," Sarah said.

"I mean I get why you wouldn't want to visit, to keep your mom and sister secure," Chuck replied, sounding nervous. Sarah grinned at him.

"Chuck Bartwoski, are you scared of meeting my mother?" Sarah asked.

"Look, this may surprise you, but there was exactly one person before you that I was in enough of a relationship with to meet their parents, and that didn't work out so well," Chuck replied.

"Well, good news, I've already slept with Bryce and now I'm with you," she said. Chuck gave her a very flat look. "Too soon?" The look didn't change. "Too soon," she confirmed. "Chuck, I'm with you. I don't care what my mom thinks of you, but I know she's going to love you."

"How can you know?" Chuck asked.

"Uh, you are with me, while I'm pregnant with someone else's kid, that's kinda a big deal," Sarah explained, her hand gently caressing his face. "Chuck, I love you, and she's gonna see that."

"If you say so," Chuck replied. They got out of the car, and walked up to the front door. Sarah rang the doorbell. Chuck stood there nervously as the door opened. The lady Chuck could only assume was Emma stood there holding a little girl in her arms. Chuck quickly saw the look on her face as she saw Sarah, the obvious pregnancy, and then the glance at him. Chuck gave a wave.

"Hi," she said, extending her hand. "Nice to meet you, Bryce," Emma said. Chuck winced and so did Sarah.

"Mom, this is Chuck," Sarah said. Emma gave her a look. "Bryce and I are…actually we really never were."

"So this is your doing?" Emma asked Chuck. Chuck gulped.

"No, this is Bryce's doing, but Chuck is helping me," Sarah said. Chuck saw Emma's expression change and then she glanced to her daughter. "He actually knew Bryce, and Bryce was a jerk to him, just like he ended up being to me."

"Told you," Emma muttered. She stepped out of the way, a smile on her face for Chuck. "Please, come in." Chuck walked past and entered the home. As Sarah did, he heard Emma mutter, "I assume everything is okay?" He didn't hear an answer but felt a bit of ease of the tension in the room, so he assumed Sarah had confirmed everything was okay. Chuck was standing in the living room. "Please have a seat." Chuck sat, and Emma seemed to make a decision. "I hate to do this, but since you're about to help raise one, and I really need to speak to my daughter in private, do you mind watching Molly?" Emma placed Molly in Chuck's arms before he had a chance to say anything. He wondered if his eyes got as big as Sarah's.

"I would be glad to," he said to Emma. He turned to Molly. "Hey gorgeous," he said. She giggled and wrapped her arms around Chuck's neck.

"She never likes anyone," Emma said, stunned.

"Chuck has that effect on people," Sarah said softly. Emma turned to Sarah, her eyes turned soft.

"We really need to talk," Emma said, nearly dragging Sarah away. Chuck turned to Molly.

"So, you're gonna have a niece in a few months, and that will make you and aunt," Chuck said to the grinning toddler. "Are you okay with that?"

"Yep," Molly said. Chuck nodded his head at her.

"You know they're in there talking about me, right?"

"Yep," Molly said, and snuggled into his lap. Chuck smiled, and ran his hand through her hair as she shut her eyes.

-ooooo-

Sarah came out of the back bedroom behind her mother. She was a bit exhausted, but it was a good exhausted. Sarah told her mom everything. She blamed it on Chuck. Since he came into her life it was like she had verbal diarrhea. Emma was absolutely excited and asked if she was going to get married. She had rolled her eyes and Emma had scolded her for it, but Sarah could see in Emma's eyes and on her face, she didn't mean it. Emma was happy. Sarah realized she hadn't worn her "spy mask" the entire time, and Emma had probably seen all the happiness in her when talking about Chuck. She nearly crashed into her mother at the entrance to the living room she was so lost in her thoughts.

"I think you picked a good one, Sarah," Emma said. Chuck was there, Molly asleep in his lap and he just looked so at peace. Something inside Sarah fluttered, jumped, and was just happy. Happy in a way she didn't know she could be happy. Chuck was integrating into her family the same way she was into his. He was real, this was real, and for the first time since she was sixteen, and had met Langston Graham, she began to believe she could have everything she wanted.

"I know I did, Mom," she said. Emma put an arm around her. She had found home, all because of Chuck Bartowski.

A/N: Steampunk . Chuckster and I got to talking/watching vs The Suitcase and I saw where Morgan was talking about things and he figured out how everyone was CIA. Inspiration. Maybe I made him too observant, but I have to wonder, if his best friend was moving in with Sarah, would he have straightened up? Maybe I'm off, I don't know, but man that was fun to write. BTW that 2 min scene in the hotel room closet is GOLD. If you haven't seen it in a while, watch it. Yvonne's almost eyeroll and sarcasm is amazing! Hope you liked it, reviews and PMs are always welcomed…Til next time!

DC

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I thought about every episode of The Owl House Season 1 (Part 1/2)

Salutations random people on the internet who probably won't read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Hey, do you miss Gravity Falls?

...

Yeah, I know, dumb question. Which is why I have good news! Not only is there a new series that is just as good as Gravity Falls, but in some ways, it's even better. That new series would be none other than Disney Channel's latest hit: The Owl House.

The Owl House, slowly but surely, became my new obsession since Eda reacted to decapitation with an unconcerned, "I hate when that happens." I wrote fan-fiction, made fan-art, and even began to separately review new episodes. Unfortunately, I got in a little late in the reviewing game and only managed to analyze the last four episodes of season one. And like an idiot, I promised that I'll review the rest when they came out on Disney+. Seeing that all of the first season has finally come on a legal streaming service (which means WATCH IT RIGHT NOW!), it's time I finally saw through to that promise. However, I'm not going to over-analyze each episode because that would be insane. So instead, we're going to lightning round these suckers. Because it's my Tumblr, and I get to decide what I review and how the hell I review it...hooah.

Which means this is your last chance to avoid spoilers if you haven't seen The Owl House yet. Seriously, it's a great show, and you can catch up right now on Disney+. A week-long trial is more than enough time to watch the series, so DO IT! With that out of the way, let's get started with:

“A Lying Witch and a Warden”: This episode gets a lot of flack for having poor pacing and being too preachy with its message. And to that, I say...you're not wrong. Yeah, I wish I could be that person who can defend this episode against criticism like that, but these are understandable problems that just left this icky feeling in my tum-tum when watching. But that's only when looking at it as a regular old episode when in reality, people need to see it as a first episode. The first episode in any show needs to get viewers interested enough to continue watching by answering these five essential questions: What's the plot of the show? What's the tone? Who are the main characters? What's the world they live in? And what are the rules of the same world? "A Lying Witch and a Warden" does a great job of answering all of these questions. And if you stuck around until the season finale, then that means it did a great job of keeping you interested in sticking around as well. So seeing how it got its job done, albeit, with mixed results, I give this episode a B-.

“Witches Before Wizards”: Don't mind me. Just reveling in the fact that Luz escaped to a fantasy world to avoid Reality Check Camp, only to get a reality check anyway. Because that's what this episode is in a nutshell. Through the "quest" that Luz goes on, she learns two important lessons: One, don't trust strangers who offer you something nice and shiny (bonus points for Eda warning Luz to avoid men with sandals and then have Ategast wear sandals). And two, there is no such thing as having a predetermined destiny. I love the idea that Luz coming to the Isles was just a twist of fate, and everything that happens afterward is pure dumb luck. And that moment when Eda gave a speech about making your own path instead of waiting to become something special? That was the moment when I went from thinking this was going to be a fun show to thinking it's going to be a great show. So consider this episode a solid A in my book.

“I Was a Teenage Abomination”: How is it possible for an episode to get better and worse with time? Because here's the thing: This episode does a great job of showing how perfect Amity's development is. After one single season, it already feels jarring, seeing the way she acts in certain scenes. However, in that same respect, it's the same reason why this episode got worse. I didn't mind that Willow practically got away with cheating and vandalizing the school with her magic because she and Luz were basically trying to show up a two-dimensional bully. But knowing what we know in the future, it does seem unfair that Amity gets punished for their bad behavior and Willow got little consequences for it. Sure, Luz got banned and had to work at gaining Amity's trust, but what about Willow? Although, despite this complaint, I don't really hate this episode. It builds a believable connection between Luz and her friends, and the B-plot King and Eda show off their budding friendship. So while this episode is a C-, it's a somewhat enjoyable C-.

“The Intruder”: Is it weird for anyone else that King gets most of the blame in this episode? Yes, he took the potion, but Luz was the one who kept pushing him. This is why it never sat right with me seeing how everyone, including himself, blames King for this episode's incident. That being said, "The Intruder" is fantastic. Eda, as the Owl Beast, is legitimately threatening, and the way the episode treats Eda's curse like a chronic illness is actually kind of sweet. It teaches kids how this is something that just happens to people, and they're not any weaker because of it, as long as they take the right steps. Which is cool, and it's why this is another solid A episode for me. Sure King getting the blame bothers me, but it pales in comparison to everything else “The Intruder” does right.

“Covention”: If you want my personal opinion (obviously, seeing how you're reading this), "Covention" is the perfect episode to show a friend to get them into watching the The Owl House. Everything there is to love about the show is seen in just these twenty-two minutes. Eda being a chaotic good, Luz being a sweet and understanding character, some incredible/natural world-building, an actually decent B-plot, an epic fight scene, great comedy, and, my personal favorite, the building of Luz and Amity's relationship. In fact, this episode has the most quintessential moment between these two, that Dana Terrace herself took charge of making the animatic for it. A scene that is so perfect that you can do an analysis of these few minutes alone...which is what I did. Click here to read it! "Covention" gets an A+ in my book and might possibly be the best episode of the season. Maybe even the series!

“Hooty’s Moving Hassle”: There's not really a lot I can say about this episode. I don't hate it, but I'm not exactly in love with it. The interactions between Luz and her friends are adorable, and there are a few good jokes that kept me laughing. But the story is kind of bland, and I just find Eda's sudden obsession with Hexes Hold'em kind of odd. Especially since a card game is what nearly defeated the "undefeatable" Owl Lady. If it wasn't for the nice reveal of Willow's and Amity's friendship (which comes into play in a far better episode), I'd say that you could skip this one on future rewatches. Because this is a C grade episode that just doesn't grab me as well as others.

“Lost in Language”: Ah, yes. The episode that made dozens of fans jump aboard the Lumity ship...unless you're like me, and you've been shipping these two since the show's theme song (And I don't know why, either. It's just the second I saw Amity my first thought was, "Oh, honey. You're gonna fall in love with the main character, aren't you?" AND I WAS F**KING RIGHT!). But jokes about shipping aside, "Lost in Language" is a fantastic episode. It has a great lesson about how people are more complex than their first impressions (Or to not judge a book by its cover, if you wanna stay on theme). Edric and Emira seem like a chaotic duo who cause mischief all for good fun. But Luz, as well as the audience, learns that Ed and Em are kinda the worst (they get better in future episodes, but still). Then there's Amity, who hasn't had the best first impressions in the last few episodes. We got glimpses of a good person here and there, but for the most part, that's all they were. Glimpses. Then there's this episode, which gives us more than a small look, but some actual insight into who Amity really is. Better yet, who she wants to be. It's something that I appreciate about The Owl House in that it wastes no time in developing Amity's character. So much so that I can forgive this episode for shoehorning a "Two idiots and a baby" plotline that does nothing but add maybe two minutes of padding. So yeah, it's an A+ for sure.

“Once Upon a Swap”: "Ugh! It's the body swap episode! How cliche and-" SHUT UP! Shut your mouth, and listen: Something being cliche does not always make it bad. Only when the cliche fails to tell an entertaining story does it have the right to work as a complaint. "Once Upon a Swap" may have a cliche premise, but it's still an enjoyable story (or stories) with great laughs and even some ok lessons. I can understand if you hate the episode because its premise is something you've seen a dozen times to the point where your sick of it. My most hated story idea is the "Character A saves Character B, and Character B becomes a life slave." If you have seen this story once, you've seen it a thousand times, and it's the same case with a "body swap" episode. But guess what: The Owl House is a kids' show. Kids'. Show. You can complain all you want about predictability, but kids are the type of viewers who will be new to this experience, despite if it's one that is done to death. Which is why this is solid B of an episode if you ask me.

“Something Ventured, Someone Framed”: Can people please stop shipping Gus with Mattholomule? Because that slimy, greasy, weaselly little son of A BASTARD BITCH WEASEL DOES NOT DESERVE LOVE IN WAY POSSIBLE!

...

But enough about how Mattholomule is the worst character ever, because "Something Ventured, Someone Framed" is a B+ in my opinion. Sure it shows the worst side of Gus and lets Satan's little herpe win in the end, but there is still quality to be had. We get insight into who Gus is as a character, on top of Eda swallowing her pride and cleaning the school so Luz can get into Hexide. Also, Eda's permanent record was the first time this show brought me to tears due to laughing so hard. So while I have to take points off for the inclusion of Mattholomule (I don't make the rules. I just live by them), this is still an episode I wouldn't mind revisiting.

“Escape of the Palisman”: I subscribe to this theory that Luz will one day have Eda's staff as her own. And episodes like this that strengthen the bond between Luz and Owlbert help confirm that theory. Luz's dedication to trying to make things right could just be part of her kind nature, but I like to believe that this is Dana and the crew trying to set up this possible outcome. As for what I think about the episode itself...it's ok. Again, Luz's dedication is nice to see, and King's adventure with Owl Beast Eda is somehow insanely adorable, but there's not really much to say other than that. So it's another B episode for me.

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And that’s the end of part one! Part two has probably already been posted by the time you finish this, so you can go ahead and find that if you’re interested.

[aion-rsa]

Jupiter’s Legacy: Leslie Bibb and the History of Lady Liberty

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Leslie Bibb successfully made the transition from modeling to acting, making her television debut 25 years ago in the TV series Pacific Blue and on the big screen a year later in Howard Stern’s Private Parts. Since then she’s appeared in more than two dozen movies and a wide variety of TV shows, including the main cast of The Big Easy, Popular, Line of Fire, Crossing Jordan, GCB, Salem Rogers: Model of the Year 1998 and the forthcoming Home Movie The Princess Bride.

Fans of the superhero genre will undoubtedly recognize her as reporter Christine Everhart in Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010). Now she gets to don the superhero costume to fight evil as Grace Sampson/Lady Liberty in Netflix’s Jupiter’s Legacy, and in the following exclusive interview she details her road to discover who Grace is as a person and the experience of shooting the series.

VITAL STATISTICS

NAME: Grace Kennedy Sampson

ALTER EGO: Lady Liberty

POWERS AND ABILITIES: Super strength, speed, and sight; power of flight; some level of invulnerability; knows when people are lying.

NEED TO KNOW: Wife of Sheldon Sampson, mother to Brandon and Chloe, and founding member of The Union. She’s the glue that holds the Sampson family together.

What’s it like to wear a superhero costume?

When I put it on, I was, like, “This is pretty badass.” Listen, I felt that maybe I’d missed that window to be a superhero, so to get to do it …  well, I feel really lucky and excited. And to be able to do it on this level, because Netflix really wanted to do it right, is amazing. What attracted you to the show?

I like just getting to kick ass and all that, because it’s fun. But there has to be a story to it, otherwise who gives a shit and who’s going to come back if there’s not something that pulls you in to it? I remember when I read the first couple of scripts thinking, “Hmm, I’ve never read this sort of take on a superhero show.” I mean, there was the family dynamic—it felt Shakespearean a little bit and it felt like a family drama. And then there was the aspect of all of us in the beginning of the story, in the 1920s, where it felt like Mad Men meets Justice League or something. 

How did you find Grace?

My mom passed away unexpectedly a couple of years ago, and I remember being struck with how I saw her change; how fearful she got as she got older.

Was it fear of her own mortality?

Fear of mortality, how she changed ideals—I just watched her change drastically, and she was so different. To watch that change was heartbreaking and confusing and scary. Because I saw fear, I saw perhaps regret, I saw all of these things. I got the show right after she passed away and what struck me about it were these characters, especially The Union. You see them when they’re bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in their 20s and so idealistic. And then, when they’re older it is such a difference and you don’t usually get that perspective.  

It reminds me of what Coppola did with The Godfather and The Godfather Part II with the flashbacks. I’d never really seen a TV show do it, let alone a superhero show, but you get to see them change and how cool to create that moment where it starts to change. 

One of my first big jobs I got was this movie called The Spouse and I had a picture of Natalie Portman that I cut out of Vanity Fair or something, and there was a quote with it that said, “Be the fearless girl your mother warned you about.” That quote always stuck with me, and when I got this part, it really resonated with me, because Grace, as you’re seeing her in the present day, has forgotten the fearless girl she was. 

On this show, I really love that they created this character who, in 1929, works in a male-dominated world when women weren’t working; they were getting married and having kids. But she was the captain of a wrestling team. She didn’t have time for relationships. She was very career driven at a time when that wasn’t common for women. And she was a truth seeker, and vibrant and alive and didn’t take shit from anybody. 

Did you tap into that fear?

What I incorporated, probably subconsciously, was the moxie she had when she was younger. Her fearlessness in a world that was very male-dominated. This is especially true for the first season, where it’s so important to show the idealism they once had.  

I always said my mom was like a cat on a hot tin roof; she always landed on her feet. Grace is that way, too. Even if she’s scared, she’s going to talk her way out of it or find a way out of it. She’s going to figure it out.  And looking at my mom led me to Grace’s beginnings. Also inspiring were people like Katharine Hepburn, Rosalind Russell, and Amelia Earhart. 

I always have a lot of photos of my friends around, so wherever I go, I feel like I have family and friends with me. My trailer always has loads of pictures of them, but also incorporated are characters and people like Amelia, Kathy Hepburn… everyone laughed that I had Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones up there. I just find it inspiring to see all of them around you and they give me those things I thought was important to set up in the first season. Again, the idealism of where they started.

Is this a world you’d been very familiar with?

Comic books are not my world and I didn’t appreciate them, because I didn’t realize the artistry, storytelling and depth that go into comics. Now watching people talk about comics, I get very excited. For normal folk like myself, if somebody just said, “Oh, it’s like Game of Thrones or Boardwalk Empire,” you see that it’s all the same character breakdowns and it’s the same drama happening in these little worlds. 

As always, the script is the thing.

The most important thing!

How would you say Grace evolves? 

What you see with Grace, especially in the present day, is a woman who has the weight of the world on her shoulders, which is becoming more difficult, because her husband is digging his heels in and there’s no bend to him. But the world isn’t the same as it used to be. We’re bringing knives to a fight where people have drones. As a result, there’s a ripping at the seams and, at the end, her not toeing the company line, not standing in a unified front with her husband. 

At the end of the day, they’re a married couple, and they’re a married couple who work together and live together. After a pandemic, everybody understands how hard it is to be with somebody 24/7, you know what I mean? It’s like, this is what this woman and this man have been dealing with. 

Which represents quite the change.

By the end, she’s finding her voice and asking herself, “Where’s the fearless girl I used to be? What have I given up for this that maybe I don’t agree with anymore?” The set of rules that worked in 1929, just don’t work anymore and she experiences an awakening. 

And it’s fascinating to see them questioning the beliefs they’ve always held, which is yet another reflection of where we’ve been in recent years. 

That’s the beauty of comic books. It’s like Captain America coming in and saving the day or Lady Liberty coming in and taking the robbers away, making the world safe and it’ll be okay. But what we’re realizing is that you can be the strongest person in the world and be so weak when it comes to your children. You can be the smartest person in the world, but you can’t figure out love. Nobody is infallible. We all have an Achilles heel and none of us have the answer. Yet we think that we do. We think we know the right way. And there’s something interesting in that gray area with the show. 

Any particular highlights for you of the filming?

The thing about the show is that it’s constantly morphing and reinventing itself. I want people to stick with it, because when we get to the island where they get their powers, it will be impossible for you to not think it’s the coolest shit you’ve ever seen. I just remember when we were filming it, it was weird, because the weather was really crazy. We were supposed to be on a little island. Puerto Rico had just been struck by a hurricane, so we lost that location. 

Then we were going to shoot on an island in Toronto, but we ran over because of other things, so we couldn’t do that. So we had to make an island out of Toronto—our production designer was amazing. Anyway, we were filming one day and it was 60 degrees, gorgeous, sunny. We were, like, “It’s great that we’re going to be here.” And literally the next day there was a snowstorm. Our director, Mark Jobst, said, “We’re using it. This is what the island would do.” It was almost like suddenly art was imitating life. 

When we were at a beach and we’d just landed, a rainstorm came in and then there was all this mud, so it was crazy. But the six of us truly felt so bonded during this whole experience that it just enhanced the chemistry. I know that we all felt like we’d been through a war together in this filming, because of the environment. It was just so out there. 

So for an audience unfamiliar with the Jupiter’s Legacy comic, what do you think the power of the show will be for them?

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It’s really this epic, Shakespearean family story. It’s about human beings and power struggles. Plus, I think we’re all kind of our own superheroes right now. Our doctors and nurses on the frontline are superheroes. Families who are losing their jobs and pivoting are superheroes. We’re not going through a Great Depression, but that’s where our show starts and with the idea of having to reinvent yourself when the world gets turned upside down. So I hope the human story of it translates, because that’s really what we wanted people to see:  these human beings and what they’re going through. And it just happens to be that their day job is that they wear capes and save the world, but they’re going through the same things that we all are. 

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