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fluffywolverine · 3 years

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so season 6 of lucifer came out.

there were some things that i liked, but generally i hated it. i believe that was SUCH. BAD. WRITING and it left me frustrated. so i decided to write down all things that pissed me off and sometimes i try to fix this by giving other ideas that – in my opinion – would have made the story better. Check my points out and feel free to add your points of view. without further ado: let’s talk.

- imma start with the big one – fucking time travel. ok I generally hate this trope in the media, because it’s complicated and often leads to some logical mistakes – and they happened here. so rory time travels because of her anger which was caused… by her anger?? i think this was unnecessary. it also brings trouble with this whole free will vs. fate discourse. lucifer says, that he chooses free will… but at the same time he goes the path of his fate. he disappears from rory’s life, because he HAS TO in order of the events of the season to happen. just because he chose to do it, doesn’t mean it’s free will.

- lucifer becomes the very thing he desperately didn’t want to become. “bUt It WaS fOr ThE gReAtEr GoOd” screw this bullshit, if writers wanted to make it better, they could have easily do so. they could have altered the rules of time travel so that his choice of staying could have resulted in rory disappearing. yes, that would have been heart-breaking, but it would have been a great lesson for lucifer, that he can’t make the same mistakes his father did.

- chloe and Lucifer get a child without even talking about it. “bUt MaYbE tHeY tAlKeD aBoUt It We JuSt DiDn’T sEe It” you may say. but the point of writing anything - whether it’s a book or a script – is to show any thing that matters. and talking about having kids is one of the most things any couple should do. also not every couple needs to have kids and forcing deckerstar to have it feels so far-fetched. this thread was very unnecessary.

- rory herself is a big problem. to begin with – she wanted to KILL her FATHER. i get her frustration, but commiting a murder?? just because he wasn’t there for her?? I would have thought that chloe taught her better, taught her that, like, killing people is bad. turns out she did not. secondly… she just isn’t necessary here. i elaborate later so in conclusion – her thread could be altered with michael’s and it would have made much more sense. i also don’t like the actress (why was she blinking so much??) so i certainly didn’t help.

- of course ella has to end up with a boyfriend. because earlier she always ended up with “bad boys” and now, without any help, she is just able to have a healthy relationship! yay! for me this creates a toxic view, that in order to be happy one HAS TO be in a relationship, because being alone is aLwAyS bAd. well, it’s not.

- i also have troubles with lucifer starting up a foundation for her. firstly, he didn’t ask her. secondly it – AGAIN – shows, that anything good ella got, was because of another man. firstly because of her relationship with carol, secondly because of lucifer’s idea. it could have been so easily altered! there could have been a scene of a conversation e.g. with amenadiel where she expressed a will to do better and be better for someone (given that she sees a lot of dark in herself). amenadiel could have then told her, that she is an inspiration and that it is her biggest strength. that could have been where ella came up with an idea to start a foundation blah blah – it’s just a rough idea but I believe that written well, it could have been so much better;

- and the last thing about ella – of course she had to find out about celestial stuff because sHe WaS tHe OnLy OnE rEmAiNiNg. umm what about trixie? i'll come back to her later. ella was portrayed as the only one believing in god and having her seeing that he really exists ruins the concept of faith. it’s not about knowing something exists, it’s about believing in it.

- WHERE THE FUCK IS MICHAEL. i must admit that i loved this character AND I CAN’T STAND HOW AWFULLY HE WAS TREATED HERE. so at the end of season 5 lucifer says “everyone deserves a second chance, even you michael". and what does he do then? COMMANDS HIS TWIN TO CLEAR THE FLOOR IN HELL. yes, i agree that michael should have been punished for his rebellion plan, but… he already has his wing cut off. now he’s stuck in hell, with no way out and is he supposed to learn his lesson? this is cruel. instead of this the entire season could have been centred on him – his journey to self-acceptance, learning how manipulating someone is toxic and starting to realise how to be a better person. at the end he could have become god (because amenadiel is such an obvious choice), which would create a beautiful connection – michael in heaven and his twin in hell.

- lucifer doesn’t feel like being god and that’s cool. damn. people died for him to win this place and he’s like “actually you know guys i’m not the right person bye”. while i believe that anyone should step out if they have a reason, but at the same time lucifer should have faced any consequences of his decisions. falling frog and kool aid in the river are not enough.

- adam’s plot feels just quickly sketched, not actually written. i really appreciate this take on toxic masculinity but it all felt too fast-paced. it’s good that they show this idea of “strong and not-showing-any-feelings man” kind of attitude, but it is impossible for ANYONE (especially The ManTM) to change their mind in a matter of a few days. it takes weeks, months, years even, especially given that adam is like a gazillion years old, he should have especially taken a long time to process this.

- carol is just too pure to exist. he’s also one of the most boring, plain and one-dimensional character i’ve ever seen. i feel like they gave him a problem with alcohol because the writers were like “hmmmmm he has to have some weakness. LET’S MAKE HIM AN ALCOHOLIC”. we don’t see any signs of his everyday struggle, why did he fell into this problem, how did struggle. it just feels like a dull plot device to show that he has flaws. oh and also he’s so pure that he doesn’t mind ella BREAKING INTO HIS HOUSE. acceptance should have boundaries and violating someone’s personal space isn’t right.

- why did they forget about trixie again? yes, i know that scarlett estevez had another project but this does not justify the bad writing. the girl lost her father and we only see her crying once because of that. no signs of this affecting her everyday life, not showing any consequences of her relationships with other people, not glimpse of any change in her behaviour. oh and also she loses lucifer too because time travel! great idea, writers! losing another close to her person would have been soooooo good for her psychic for sure.

- i also hate the idea that suddenly rory becomes the only child they care for. where is trixie when they spend their day on the beach? where is she when her mother dies? did writers forget about her as well as they did about michael?

- amenadiel being a police officer is… problematic. i was looking forward to this thread, i was kinda scared too and it turned out… meh. i’m white and not American, so this of course does not involve me at all, but i felt like this was not enough. harris basically said that there is nothing they can do to make it better for black folks. even though chloe and amenadiel want to make everything more just, we don’t actually see any change. the only thing is that harris becomes a detective (right? i’m not sure if i understood it correctly, so correct me if i’m wrong, please) which is a total contradiction of what she said before. suddenly she does not have to protect people anymore?

- in season 5 they stated that heaven and hell need to be fixed, as the system is unfair and unjust. at the end we don’t see any change, the only thing that is different is lucifer helping damned souls. it doesn’t help at all! these people still go to hell, they still suffer and there’s nothing that changed here! plus there is also this thing, that a sociopath who murdered people in cold blood goes to heaven (because he does not feel any guilt) and a person abused by her parents/partner/whoever goes to hell (because have been manipulated to feel guilt).

- dan making amends with trixie while… there wasn’t really anything to make amends about. like, most of the parents make mistakes while upbringing their children, but does this make them unworthy of heaven? i would have preferred dan to slowly regain his self-consciousness, how he positively affected the lives of people around him and by doing so – through conversations or maybe reliving some of the memories, he could have proved to himself that he is worthy of love and redemption.

phew, what a ride. i really liked dan being reunited with charlotte (it went just as i imagined) and mazeve dynamics. i even felt like they are finally a real life relationship – with people hurting each other by not understanding each other, but then talking and seeing other’s perspective. generally though, i’m very disappointed.

sorry for any mistakes, lacking commas etc. writing a text this long in not my native language was not easy.

#lucifer #lucifer netflix #lucifer spoilers #lucifer season 6

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mrs-tsunderemeitantei · 3 years

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Recently, the author Gosho Aoyama has claimed that the ending of Haibara will be " Surprising" for everyone ?? What does that mean ?? It is not clear if it is a bad or good ending !!! Do you think that Haibara will never come back to her adult form as Miyano Shiho and stay as a kid.. and make a relationship with Mitsu ?? And if Haibara take the permanent antidote.. do you think that she will be punished and jailed since she was a member of BO?? or she dies in the end ??

Oh good God there is a lot to unpack here but thank you for your questions and I'm soo glad you brought them up! I’ll try to answer them as best as I can 😄

So yes, Gosho did say Haibara’s ending will surprise everyone but I also remember him saying Detective Conan’s ending will be happy. Not to mention Haibara is a veryyy popular character (if not the most popular female character on the show), so I find it hard to believe that she’ll just end up being killed off. I don’t think Gosho would do that to us.

Now when it comes to her remaining as a kid, I kind of talked about how I feel about it here . In short I believe she deserves to regain control of her life as Shiho and not remain as Haibara. Also this fan comic about Shiho explaining to Shinichi why she didn’t want to remain as Haibara is beautiful in every way and I think you should take a look at it.

But to add to that, I refuse to believe she’s willing to remain as Haibara. Whenever people say she’ll get a chance to relive a proper childhood it irritates me 😂 I mean she’s still mentally an adult. I cannot imagine having to always act like a child, go to school and relive high school (diabolical if you ask me) when I’m mentally grown up.

Personal opinions aside, there is one moment where it was hinted she’d be willing to stay as Haibara. In the movie Captured in her Eyes she basically said she'd love to stay as Haibara IF she lost her memory. This is not canon and she did say after that she was joking but she tends to "joke" when she actually means what she says.

But since then, Haibara’s character has grown significantly. And these developments ⬇️ have me believing she's most likely going to take the antidote.

Jodie interpreted why Haibara refused the witness protection program was because she found a family in her friends. So with that logic, shouldn't that make sense for her to stay as Haibara? Ummm not really. She didn't just stay for the friendships, in fact she was so moved by Ayumi's words that she realised she has to face her fate and keep fighting. If she doesn't take the antidote, she's basically accepting what she was forced to become because of the organisation without facing her struggles and embracing her past. She'll technically be running away from her true self and erasing any link she has to her family whom she loves so much.

And tbh if Gosho decided she should lose her memory and remain a kid, I’ll be extremely disappointed. That would be a very poor and rushed ending and all her character developments would have been for nothing. Also I don't understand why some people equate her returning as Miyano Shiho to her cutting off the detective boys from her life. If anything, she'll probably continue living with the professor who she now looks up to as a father figure, while still remaining close and looking after the detective boys.

Now for the relationship with Mitsuhiko, I just can’t see how that can happen. He is a child for God’s sake! No matter how smart or responsible he is, he is still a CHILD. And whenever people say she should be with Mitsuhiko it makes me wonder, do they expect it to happen right now when she is still Haibara or are they saying when they eventually grow up? The first one is no way because she’s mentally an adult and he is a child and that is a crime waiting to happen. The second option means she’ll stay a child and I already expressed how I feel about that. Also I hate to break it to the AixMitsuhiko fans but Haibara loves all the detective boys like her younger siblings. She is the older sister / senpai of the group and she’s never displayed any romantic feelings for Mitsuhiko, nor do I think she’d develop them in the future simply because she views him as nothing but a baby brother.

Now on to the juiciest question that you asked, “Will she be jailed because she was an ex BO member?” I have a lot to say on this so please bear with me😁

We now know that Rei was planning on handing her back to the BO in the Bell Tree Train arc (see here). Thankfully, that didn’t happen thanks to Conan’s big brain thinking making Rei believe that Shiho died. Now, he is yet to meet Haibara and discover the truth about her (I cannot wait for this to happen!) but when he does, this is how I imagine things will go down:

He’ll despise her because he’ll think of her as a criminal who worked for the BO and developed a deadly drug. However, he won’t be able to hand her back to the BO since he was the one who confirmed her death. Handing her back would only have the BO question his credibility / loyalty and possibly jeopardise his future there. Therefore, he’s left with one option; take her into PSB custody and interrogate her. But, there’s no way Conan, the Kudo family and even quite possibly Akai would just stand aside and not intervene. At the same time, I doubt Rei will simply believe her if she said “she was forced to make a poison” (even Conan didn’t believe her when they first met). So how will he back off? These are my theories:

I feel the tapes Elena recorded packed way more than just the drug’s true purpose. She may have also recorded what the organisation forced her and Atsushi to go through. And with the fact that Vermouth seemed to blame her animosity for Shiho on her parents, it is quite possibly Elena mentioned Vermouth on the tapes. If Haibara brings up those tapes and Rei heard them, first of all he’ll get closure (because he loved Elena as his own mother) and finding out about Vermouth’s link to the Miyanos, he can investigate them more. I don’t think it’ll be difficult for him to uncover the truth about her family especially since he knows Vermouth’s secret and that couldn’t have been easy.

If Haibara doesn’t bring up the tapes, I think Akai will step in by asking Rei to hand over Vermouth (since she’s an American citizen) if he wants to take Haibara. Rei would never agree to that because Vermouth provides him with invaluable help and support in the organisation, so he’ll be forced to let Haibara go.

And for my final theory, just like how the Kudo family struck a deal with Rei to work with Akai (I reeaallly want Gosho to reveal what their talk was about), they’ll probably do the same thing to protect Haibara and in time, Rei will learn the truth about her past.

So basically in the end, I don’t think she’ll be arrested. I’d like to think once Rei learns the truth about her and her family’s past, he’ll be relieved to have received closure (because he loved Elena so much) and subsequently decide to protect Haibara. Also Gosho hinted Rei and Haibara will eventually get along so the probability of her being arrested is low.

Haibara’s ending is something I’m really looking forward to and I’ll be crushed if she isn’t given the ending she deserved (there is plenty of room for her ending to be ruined so fingers crossed that doesn’t happen). I picture her returning as Shiho, staying with the Professor, slowly warming up to Mary and Sera (I can’t begin to imagine how she’ll feel when she finds out they’re related) and maybe even go on to be a narcotics agent. Why narcotics agent? (All explained here ). When it comes to her love life, God knows what will happen, but the Mitsuhiko pair is highly unlikely to happen. Also, I don’t see why she has to end up with someone. Her happy ending doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll be with someone. In fact...

Having a family and friends she cares about.

Being free to live her life without constantly looking over her shoulder

Confronting Gin for killing her sister and whatever history they shared (I’m so mad GinxSherry has fizzled out without being answered. I need to know the truth about their past!!)

Finding peace and accepting her past

....are all enough reasons to give her the happy ending she deserves to have.

I hope this long speech helped answer your questions 😂. I honestly enjoyed writing it so, thank you so much for letting me do this 🖤😁

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worstloki · 4 years

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Part 3

Fury: I cannot believe the Avengers No. 1 unattainable criminal right now is a seventeen-year-old twink Clint: I can’t believe you’re calling Loki a twink Tony: I can’t believe he's been the legal godparent of kids his own age for months and I didn't realise Steve: You didn’t get him removed? I thought you made Rhodey their legal godparents instead?? Tony: nah I removed Thor Natasha: ?? why would anyone do that ?? Fury, having a breakdown: we nearly lost New York and the entire world to a 16-year-old twink with daddy issues Clint: yoU just did it aGAIN- Tony, the only actual Avenger who knows Loki isn’t actually evil™: heY! Daddy issues are a serious thing! Don’t make fun of the guy for having a crisis and finding out his life was a lie and he’d faced over a millennium of abusive environment for nothing! Avengers: are you… defending Loki… the megalomaniac WAR CRIMINAL who turned every SHIELD facility into ice cream earlier today…? Tony, hands up in surrender: I’m saying maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to judge the guy. I wouldn't be able to guess what but maybe he had an ulterior reason for the New York fiasco? His normal stuff is usually harmless. Avengers: ... Tony: What? It could’ve been much worse. Strange, rolling his eyes: Yes, at least it wasn’t Stark Raving Hazelnuts Loki, who has been standing at the back listening to the entire conversation: That flavour is way too chalky to suit SHIELD anyways [everyone turns to Loki with their weapons ready, except Tony of course] Loki, raising his hands in surrender: what? A Hunka-Hulka Burning Fudge is way better, and its green, and for some reason they didn’t have a Loki flavour so that was the next best option-

---

Loki: hey Morgan what would you say if i offered you an officially evil part-time job with decent pay and extremely good evil workplace benefits? Morgan: do you offer evil dental? Loki: of course?? we also have A-Grade coffee 24/7 because top class extremely good evil deserves only the best Morgan: Excellent! I look forward to working with your evil team and being a part of your nefarious schemes and plots in future Loki: Thank you. Tomorrow we replace all Tony's vehicles with incredibly realistic wax models. Morgan: ...including the jets? Loki, scoffing: what kind of amateur villains would we be if we left his jets, boats, bikes and single vintage helicopter untouched Tony: its 4am can you maybe not have this conversation right next to me in my own workshop?!

---

Tony: I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WOULD REPLACE THEM WITH WAX MODELS Morgan: What kind of low-grade predictable villainous evil doers would we be if we did what we said we would Tony: oh $#!^ now you're speaking like him too Loki, cutting his shoulder to reveal cake: Just so you know, it wasn’t JUST the vehicles ;)

---

Peter: *following loki around with a notepad* Loki: Terribly sorry if you mind but he's MY intern now. Tony: You don’t think there’s anything wrong with what you’re doing, do you? Loki: I don’t think anything I’ve ever done is wrong Peter: *avidly taking notes and nodding along*

---

T’challa: I cant believe you filed an application for ‘time off’ Shuri: I NEED at least 3 hours a week reserved specifically for training if I want to keep my part-time job T’challa: you don’t NEED a job! You make up 90% of Wakanda’s research and development departments! Your technology work IS a job! Shuri: yeah well my ACTUAL job is fun and has proper work benefits and I simply must empty the time blocks I specified for it! You wouldn’t stop me from meeting with Peter and Morgan would you? They ARE, legally and spiritually speaking, my siblings, brother :) T’challa: what job could you have that would need you reminding me that a mischief deity adopted you before telling me what the job actually is Shuri: The official position is called Secretary of Evil but that’s only for the probationary 2 week period and I’m allowed to request a name change if I think of anything better T’challa: T’challa: you are working as a SECRETARY?! Shuri: The job pays well, Brother, T'challa: T'challa: mother will be so disappointed

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Scott: I can’t believe you did that Maggie: I didn’t know he was a supervillain! OBVIOUSLY! Scott: how would you noT KNOW! He wears nothing buT LEATHER and BELTS and GREEN BOOTS AND- Maggie: I needed someone to watch her and she showed up in pink sweatpants and a black tank top and was charging a decent rate Scott: Scott: are you sure their name was loki

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Clint: you told me it was a ‘family gathering’! Tony: yeah, it is, and the avengers are family Clint, pointing at Loki: so what’s the twink doing here and why are MY kids along with every other person here who is under drinking age clinging to him like a frickin’ koala bear Tony: morgan wanted to get her ‘the floor is lava’ badge and loki was the only one immune to the lava so they jumped him - and he enjoyed walking around covered in them way more than he should have - and also loki is legally peter and morgan and harley and shuri’s godparent so he’s allowed to be here on more of a basis than anyone else here at this point Clint: There was LAVA near MY KIDS?! Tony: no of course not – it was FAKE lava that just looked and functioned like real lava Clint: im taking them all home Tony: good luck convincing them not to want another playdate Clint: this isn’t a joke Tony Tony: I’m serious. Good luck. The kids love him, and you’ll need all the luck you can get if you want them to ever root for the side of good instead of wherever-loki-is-at instead.

---

Pepper: *watching the news* Pepper: oh hey the Avengers are on Peter, running into the room: woW NICE Pepper: wtf why is Hulk wearing giant boxing gloves Peter: Language! Pepper: is Steve's shield padded?! Peter: i don’t remember that being normal Pepper: did most of the Avengers just ditch Steve? Why’re they leaving Peter: I guess the danger must be over? Pepper: WHAT is going ON out there today Peter: I think Loki had planned an attack today so maybe he did it as a joke Pepper: oh they're facing Loki yeah okay that explains it Peter: Loki always does the funniest things of course he baby-proofed all the Avenger's gear! Classic Loki! :D

-meanwhile-

Captain America, tears streaming down his face: pl,,ease, loki,, stop,t his, I cant hit ,,a child Loki: Look at you, the American icon, unable to save all these innocent people from having their skin turn into primary colours, all because you are TOO AFRAID to fight me! Captain America: I’m a national icon, not a good soldier but a good man, I will do whatever it takes to keep innocents safe, but I can NOT beat up someone who isn’t even legal enough to vote Loki: I was around causing chaos before this ‘voting’ was even invented! And I’ll NEVER legally vote even if I could!! mwahahAHAHA- Falcon, to Bucky in the background: How did we not realise he was a teen, all his comebacks are ‘no u’ and ‘uno reverse card’ and ‘look over there!’ Bucky, to Falcon: I don’t know but I really really want to know where he gets his outfits from Falcon: if it means I’ll be seeing you geared up in leather again then I want to know where he gets his outfits from too ;‘) Thor: I think my brother makes his own outfits Loki, still tormenting Captain America: *SISTER Thor: ah, my bad Captain America, crying x2: wait does this mean I’ve been lobbing my shield at not just a child, but I’ve been misgendering them while doing it?! Loki: only occasionally and I don’t blame you that was on me for monologuing too long, really— Captain America, taking off the helmet: nope I’m done Loki: what are you doing Steve, handing Sam the shield: It’s yours. Enjoy. Sam: woah woah woah what’re you doing you cant retire just like that Steve, unzipping his suit to reveal American flag boxers: watch me Bucky to Sam: hello new best friend Sam, realising that Cap and Bucky are a duo: oh no no no STEVE is your best friend Bucky: he hasn’t been my ‘best friend’ since I saw him with the American flag splayed over his butt Loki, holding his hand out for Sam to shake: Hello there new Captain America its nice to meet you formally, my name is Loki and yes I’m a child but I’m actually 1075 but that is irrelevant if I’m causing trouble and looking for a fight, I’m also genderfluid so yes sometimes my pronouns will be different but I’ll be sure to inform you if it happens Sam: what are you doing Loki: I’m… formally introducing myself Sam: Sam: why?? Loki, blinking to hide that he’s getting teary eyed: well, the last national icon I didn’t do this with ditched me because I didn’t Bucky, a trained assassin, who isn’t a fool: *hugs loki* that wasn’t your fault steve just likes to carry the stupid with him Loki: thanks Bucky: is this a bad time to ask where you get your clothes from…? Loki: I make them Bucky: oh. Well $#!^. Loki, sniffing: if you join the dark side I’ll make you some too Bucky, immediately: done. Sam: JAmES Bucky deadpan: Yes, Samuel, what is it that troubles you, my new arch nemesis?

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Sam: HE TOOK BUCKY Natasha: What do you mean ‘he took bucky’ he’s standing right next to you Sam: He’s “infiltrating the enemy” Natasha: *lifts an eyebrow and looks to Bucky* Bucky: It’s true. My loyalties lie elsewhere now. Natasha: ??? Bucky: note to self – unexpected outcomes confuse the black widow. Natasha: how did this happen?? Sam: he SOLD himself out to the ENEMY Natasha: well when you say it like THAT ;) — Bucky: I think friendship is a decent price to pay for decent clothing Natasha: ??? Sam: oh also I’m Captain America now because Steve broke down and quit Natasha: ?!?!?!

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Peter, entering the room and high-fiving Loki: I heard you got Mr. Bucky to switch teams! Loki: well, my fashion skills ARE legendary Tony, under his breath: he’s not even trying and he’s gotten every kid and the freaking winter soldier on his side and I am so so grateful he isn’t actually TRYING to make everyone go bad

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Bucky: we’ve been over this Steve, Loki is young but he’s also over a thousand years old Steve: I was beating up a KID, Bucky, a kid who was SMALLER and WEAKER than everyone else where he lived but wouldn’t EVER turn down a FIGHT for what he BELIEVES IN and he was probably BULLIED and I wanted the guy DEAD, Bucky– Bucky: don’t forget the genderfluidity thing Steve: he said it wasn’t my fault but I should’ve asked Thor after he referred to Loki as ‘she’ instead of thinking he’d made a mistake and I just can’t – he isn’t even old enough to DRIVE or VOTE or DRINK or BUY A KNIFE or -- Bucky, holding Steve and patting his back: hey now, there, there, it’ll be okay, Bucky: *gives Loki a thumbs up as he sits on the couch with popcorn and watches Steve be miserable*

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Loki: We need to get through this locked door. Tony, quick, give me your card! Tony, handing the card over: Take it! Loki, pocketing it: Thanks! Morgan, fire at the door Morgan: *pulls out an iron man gauntlet painted green and gold* Tony: hOW COULD you deface YOUR BIRTHDAY PRESENT with GREEN Morgan: MINE is still being used as a paperweight. This is one of YOUR gauntlets. Tony, under his breath: maybe it’s not too late to burn the physical evidence and hack Loki’s name off the digital copies of the adoption forms Loki, whispering back: oh its definitely too late. I’m already on your christmas card and everything.

#LokiAdoptsAU #where all the kids can enjoy loki tormenting the world because its funny and no one actually ends up seriously injured ever #loki is about mischief and chaos not death and destruction #the avengers don't know why the kids are attached #tony knows that loki isn't evil but so far Shuri and Peter and MJ and Ned and Cassie are the only ones who know about the torture #because everyone else is an *d*ot #watch as loki cajoles the avengers to his side 1-by-1 with the promise of good coffee decent prankster material and custom leather outfits #ThisPostIsLongerThanMyLifeSpan #TPILTMLS

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justcallmemitchie96 · 4 years

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Just like drops of water

Prompts "This is, by far, the dumbest thing you've ever done" and "People are staring" for @2ya2yao‘s Super Junior Prompt Fic Challenge

It took me ages to finished but I hope you like my first Super Junior piece for different reasons but it´s now here and hope you like.

P.S. The gif of Kongie and the baby the edit is mine. Also I´m writting a Leeteuk fic on Wattapad but is on spanish if you would like to read it my user is DisasterNefilim13 (from that story comes the inspiration of the female on this piece.

Carry a toddler looked like if Leeteuk was going to a trip instead to work, this was something new that he have to do to deal in his wife absence, she had an emergency work trip. He struggled to balance his schedule with his clingy daughter, he thought that her mum absence did actually affect her.

Once he entered the building with his sleepy daughter, he noticed how most of the people stare at him, it was something that he was used because it was part of being an idol but this was a different kind of attention. He had a casual look and some sunglasses and a blanket over the body the toddler, his manager was helping him with some of his bags.

"People are staring" he said in a low tone to his unconscious daughter. "Probably more for you that for daddy" he chuckle.

He walked all in the halls of the SM building saying hello to the people passing by, he stopped on the elevator, but he wasn't alone.

"Hello" said him to the other people waiting for the elevator.

"Hi, hyung" said to him someone he knew, Donghae he was smiling but his face change when he noticed the girl in his leader arms. "Wait, what's doing Eunhae here?"

"Long story" said the eldest letting out a sigh.

"If you want one manager or assistant can take care of Eunhae while we do the meeting" Donghae suggested.

"I don't think that it could work" Leeteuk said while he lightly lift the blanket that covered his daughter and Donghae noticed how the girl was holding tight her dad t-shirt. "Y/N had to go to a work trip and Eunhae doesn't want to leave me, yesterday I did a program while she was asleep but when we woke up made a tantrum and had to do the rest of the show with her playing in the set" he explained with a little smile.

"She really must be missing her mum" said looking at the toddler. "It's the first time Y/N she goes to a work trip since Eunhae was born, isn't?"

"Yeah, she's more used to be with her mum and now she's gone, she doesn't understand why"

While they were talking they arrived to the meeting room, Donghae helped him with Eunhae bag and both enter to the room, most of the members have arrived already.

"Hello" said Leeteuk doing a little curtsied while holding his daughter.

"Why did you bring Eunhae?" asked Shindong confused.

"Are you practicing to be in The Return of Superman?" added Heechul. "Cause I'll do if you too"

"Y/N went to a business trip" responded Donghae.

"Oh, that makes sense but still think about my offer" said Heechul making a wink.

"Your kid just born a few months ago" added Yesung.

"I wanted to be part even before having kids now I have one and can be part"

"I like the show but I'm not sure, the fans still don't know Y/N and she likes that, it's more comfortable for her and Eunhae" Leeteuk said while watching his daughter and he could notice that she could wake up anytime soon.

"Hey, but don't you upload pictures of Eunhae and Kongie to Instagram" comment Yesung, thoughtful.

"He doesn't show her face" defend Kyuhyun. "Yet" finally adds with a wicked smile.

"Hello" Siwon said behind them, making them turn around. "Uh, hyung you bring Eunhae?" asked curious.

"Yeah, she didn't wanted to stay with my sister"

"And Y/N?" asked again the newcomer.

"In London" answer the leader.

"I get it, so Eunhae had increased the attachement with you, right"

"Siwon are you a psychology or something" said Heechul impressed, cause everyone noted the hold she had on her dad.

"No, it's something I read on a book about child behaviour, those are quite interesting"

"Why are you talking about children?" asked Ryeowook walking into the room.

"This is what happens when some members started to have children" added Eunhyuk jokingly.

"Oh, look how cute looks Eunhae" said Ryeowook when noticed the baby and walked to see her. "She's definitely prettier every time I see her, she has definitely her mum genes"

"What if we better start the meeting?" comment Leeteuk to change the subject of the conversation.

They started their meeting, it was mostly to see the plan of their new comeback and a new season of Super Junior Returns, they talked about how to fit their individual schedules with their team at SM. When Eunhae wake up, the members were just casually talking, his dad was the first to noticed.

"Oh, look who wake up from her nap" said in a cute tone, the one he use with Kongie and Eunhae. The toddler just smiled and looked to her dad.

"I can't really get used to this" said laughing Eunhyuk.

Eunhae change her attention to her uncle, and the she looked confused, and started to look between her dad and Eunhyuk.

"Poor Eunhae looks like she just found out someone looks like her daddy" added jokely Donghae.

"Please don't make her confuse, she still too young for your games" comment Siwon looking the maknae expression.

"Yeah, don't do that if Y/N found out about that she'll kill me" said Leeteuk worried.

"It never worked on her" comment Ryeowook disappointed.

"Eunhae, come with uncle Kyuhyun" said the youngest to the toddler, she got closer to Leeteuk and tried to hide on her dad chest.

The attitude of Eunhae made the rest of the members smile but Kyuhyun didn't stop his attempts to call her attention. After 5 minutes the girl went to his arms.

"Please don't make her cry" ask for it, Leeteuk he knew his members and also assumed the evil maknae intention.

"I just want to help you" answer playing around with the toddler. "Eunhyuk, can you sit next to Leeteuk?" asked to his hyung.

Eunhyuk was curious about what Kyuhyun was planning to do, like the rest of the members, even when all thought the same.

"Eunhae, where's daddy?" asked cutely, making her smile and pointed out between Eunhyuk and Leeteuk.

Eunhae looked to both men, she surely knew her dad but the two man in front of her looked so similar and she got frustrated, first she started to pout and in a few seconds the toddler started to cried uncontrollably, Kyuhyun tried to calm her but didn't worked.

Eunhyuk and Leeteuk stood up quickly, getting close to the toddler and calm her, she only wanted her dad but both react to Eunhae crying. When she saw the familiar face she tried to free herself from Kyuhyun hold and she did with a little help from her uncle.

The members were surprised when Eunhae was calm once again but the biggest surprise was for her dad that watched next to Kyuhyun, she didn't realised that Eunhyuk was holding her instead of him.

"I feel betrayed by my own daughter" commented Leeteuk, as he was staring at Eunhyuk playing with his daughter.

"She just likes her uncle Eunhyuk" comment Hyukjae walking close to his leader to give him his daughter.

Once Eunhae was in her dad arms she smiled to him and put her head on his chest, close to his heart, that action made the rest of the members let out a sigh for the cuteness of the toddler.

"Hyung, even though Eunhyuk can help you to take care of her while you work" added Ryeowook.

"I really don't have nothing in my schedule this week" said Eunhyuk shrugging his shoulders.

"Surely she doesn't like to be unknown places, surrounded with lots of people" added Kyuhyun.

"You're right, she's been stressed" agreed Leeteuk.

He knew that this isn't going to be a good idea once his wife found out but it was the best for Eunhae and his sister probably would help him but he tried before and his daughter didn't like that option.

Eunhyuk definitely wasn't going to make fun of Leeteuk and Heechul for complain about parenting, it was hard. Eunhae wasn't a baby and he had to be behind her, Shimkoong playing with her and be around her like a protector was a problem sometimes. He literally had to learn how to be a dad for a one and a half year old.

"Eunhae what if we watch something different to Poporo?" asked Eunhyuk to the girl sit next to him but she was too focus on the TV and someone called to the door.

"Who could be?" he said to himself.

"Hey!" said Donghae smiling and entering the house loudly.

"What are you doing here?" asked the eldest surprised.

"I thought you might need some help" said showing some bags that he bring. "And also I wanted to see Grace"

"You too call her in her american name" answer surprised. "But she's watching Poporo with Shimkoong, they act like sisters"

"Shimkoong was Leeteuk first daughter, even Y/N had to win her" added Donghae laughing.

Both men were watching the toddler from the kitchen and she was still in the same position.

"How are you doing as a babysitter?"

"Hahaha" said sarcastically Eunhyuk. "With all the instructions from Leeteuk and the ones Y/N leave him, have been easier but is still challenging, I realised kids are unpredictable"

"Well you can practice before you have your own" comment the youngest.

"Leeteuk couldn't practice a lot before Eunhae and he seems doing a good job"

"Basically he have just taking care of us since our trainee days"

"You're right" agreed Eunhyuk.

"We should eat before the food gets cold"

"I need to prepare Eunhae food, smoth baby food"

"I bought something for her, I'm sure she will like it" said Donghae surely.

Both men took care of the toddler, they played with her and even shared her afternoon nap. Leeteuk was supposed to arrive soon for Eunhae bath time.

"Leeteuk says he's on his way here" informed Eunhyuk to the youngest who had the girl in his arms.

"You heard that Grace, your dad is coming" she just looked him, recognition dawned on her face. "You know your uncle Eunhyuk isn't your dad" he said in a low tone making the girl let out a cute laugh.

"Eunhae, here's your little snack" Donghae sit with Eunhae on sofa, the other man bring a plate and a bib.

Eunhyuk put her the bib, when she was free and saw the fruits that her uncle prepared her, picked the fruits with her hands, both men laugh seeing her eat.

"I have an idea" said suddenly Donghae. "She doesn't talk properly, does she?"

"No really, at least not for the time I have take care of her" answered his bandmate. "Why?"

"We can help her to say dad and surprise Leeteuk when he arrives"

"I'm sure that we can't do it in less than a hour" said Eunhyuk denying with his head, he was sure his friend really had bad ideas and this was one of those.

"Let's try" said Donghae and hold Eunhae and place her in front of his friend. "Take her snacks"

"Okay"

They tried to make the girl say the word 'Dad' in their language and on english but say didn't even tried.

"Leeteuk is coming soon, what if you show her a picture of him and we keep saying dad only in korean?" comment the youngest of the men, cheerfully.

"Well, we could try" agreed the other man.

Donghae sit Eunhae again between his legs and Eunhyuk searched for a picture of his leader to show the little girl, when she saw it, she became excited.

"Oh, who's here? It's dad" said cutely Eunhyuk when he saw the girl reaction.

"Yes, Grace" added Donghae. "Dad"

"Dad"

They keep going for a few minutes, but they were so focus on their task that they didn't hear that someone arrived.

"Who's in front of you? It's Dad, just say it one time that's enough Grace" said the man holding the girl.

"D-ad" finally said the girl.

"Yes, finally she said Dad!" Both men celebrated on the floor with the girl.

She said one more time and went to the other man, and he held her and Eunhae saw someone very familiar and started to make noises calling the men attention.

"Eunhyuk, why my daughter called you dad!" said furiously the new arrival woman.

"Y/N" said surprised the mentioned. "I can explained she didn't…" his voice had a little fear.

"First, tell me where's my husband?" she asked more calmly. "Come with mummy, Grace" said to the toddler in the man arms.

"He's…" started to say Donghae when the door opened.

"Eunhae, daddy is home" said cutely to his daughter, she was more excited her both parents were home.

"Can you take Grace to her room?" asked politely Y/N to Donghae, he agreed quickly, trying to escape to the trouble that he caused.

"Park Jongsoo, come here immediately" demanded Y/N, he instantly knew he was in trouble and he didn't knew why.

"Jagiya, you're home" said Leeteuk once he was in front of his wife, he tried to hide his fear, Y/N was a bit scary mad.

"Eunhyuk you tried before with me and didn't worked and why did you play with my daughter tell her that you're his dad" Y/N ignored what her husband said, she was between both men, staring furiously.

"You really did that" asked calmly the eldest man to his member.

"No" Eunhyuk respond honestly.

"Then when I arrived she said dad and when to you" added the woman suspicious.

"Because Donghae is stupid and have stupid ideas, he wanted to teach Eunhae to say dad and one of them it was me showing her a picture of him in my phone, she did but the she wanted my phone and I held her for that" Leeteuk laugh at the explanation of this member, Donghae always was causing big trouble from little things.

Y/N had her hand in her nose, she was looking to the ceiling hiding a small smile.

"Go with Eunhae, and tell Donghae to come"

Eunhyuk leave relief, leaving the couple for a few minutes.

"Why D&E are at home?" asked Y/N leaving out a little laugh.

"Don't get mad but Eunhae didn't wanted to leave me and a had some programs this week and she confused Eunhyuk with me in the meeting I had with the members and Kyuhyun said that Eunhyuk could help with Eunhae" said Leeteuk embarrassed.

"What about your sister?"

"The problem when you left was that Eunhae didn't wanted to leave my side and it seen to work for both of us, a set isn't a place to her"

"This is by far the dumbest thing you've ever done" said Y/N smiling, she was happy to be home.

Leeteuk kissed her, he knew that she wasn't longer mad and probably Donghae had been saved from being scolded.

67 notes · View notes

singledarkshade · 3 years

Text

Finding Home

Part Two Author’s Note: I did not originally intend to write anymore of this but more appeared. The first part can be found here.

Time went by achingly slowly and Jonas spent all day watching the clock. Finally, the end of school arrived, Jonas grabbed his stuff heading to his locker at top speed. Reaching his locker, Jonas tried not to grimace seeing his friends waiting for him.

“Friday night,” Dean cried, the moment he spotted Jonas, “Are we heading out? To drink heavily and eat like pigs?”

Jonas smiled amused at his friend whose idea of a big night out was half a pizza and a large coffee.

“Can’t,” Jonas told his best friend as they started walking, “Family stuff tonight. I have to get home.”

“Your mom never makes you do things,” Chrissie said surprised, “This must be important.”

A smile touched Jonas face, “It is.”

As they left the building Jonas spotted his mother’s car just outside the gates and turned back to his friends, “I will see you on…”

“Who’s that guy with your mom?” Heather cut him off.

Turning Jonas smiled to see the man Heather was talking about, looking exactly as Jonas always remembered him. Dressed in dark jeans, a white shirt, brown leather jacket and his duster.

Jonas loved that coat, he used to put it on to pretend he was saving the world like his dad, and he had woken up many times wrapped in it held in the arms of his hero.

Looking at his mother, Jonas tilted his head questioningly. She gave him a quick nod confirming it was allowed.

“That,” Jonas turned to his friends with a huge grin on his face, “Is my dad.”

The three of them stared at him.

Dean finally said, “You told me your dad was dead.”

“I thought he was,” Jonas told him before he headed over to his parents knowing his friends were following on. His dad wrapped one arm around him in a quick hug the moment Jonas reached him.

“Dad,” Jonas couldn’t stop his grin, “These are my friends. Dean, Chrissie and Heather.”

“It’s nice to meet you all,” his dad said with a slight nod.

“You too, Mr Burns,” Dean replied before adding, “We were told you were dead.”

Jonas grimaced slightly wondering how they were going to explain this but said quickly, “Very long story which I will tell you at another time. See you Monday.”

“Oh,” Dean winced, “You’re not going to make the game then?”

Jonas sighed, hating to disappoint his friend, “I’m going to spend the weekend with my dad.”

“We can go to the game,” his dad spoke up, “If you want. You may have to explain the rules to me though.”

Rip could see Miranda trying hard not to laugh as he agreed to go to a high school American Football match, but any time that he spent with Jonas was time well spent as far as Rip was concerned.

Jonas however looked ecstatic.

“That’s cool,” Rip’s son exclaimed, “I can teach you everything you need to know.”

“It’ll be great, Mr Burns,” Dean spoke up, “This is against our biggest rivals.”

“I look forward to it,” Rip told the other teenager.

They made their goodbyes and climbed into the car.

“Are we going back to the house or the apartment?” Jonas asked as Miranda began to drive.

“We’re going home,” Miranda replied with a smile.

Jonas hesitated a moment, “Home?”

Rip turned and nodded, the joyful smile on his son’s face lighting up the world around him. When Miranda drew up in the driveway Rip realised that he was, after so much pain and grief, finally home once more with his wife and son. Jonas instantly moved to his side the moment they got out of the car and walked with him inside.

“We are not doing this too much,” Miranda said after she ordered food, “And since you’re now back with us,” she sat beside Rip, “You can cook.”

A smile touched his lips, it had been a long time since he’d been able to cook for the people he loved. Being on his own meant he didn’t enjoy it as much as he had when cooking for Miranda and Jonas.

“Whenever you want me to,” Rip promised, leaning in to catch her lips in a kiss.

She let out a soft hum of happiness, before she asked, “Are you sure about going with Jonas to the game tomorrow? I’ve never thought of you as a sports guy.”

“I’m getting to spend time with Jonas,” Rip reminded her, “I don’t care how I do it. Plus, this lets me meet his friends.”

Miranda smiled at him before she frowned in thought, “We need to work out a story to explain basically everything.”

“I already have,” Rip shrugged.

“Care to share, darling?” Miranda asked sharply.

Rip pressed a kiss to her neck, “We should wait until Jonas is with us to discuss.”

Miranda chuckled at the obvious attempt to distract her, “You’re not changing the subject that easily, Rip. We’re discussing this first. We need to be a united front with Jonas, we have to be a team.”

He pulled away, frowning as he began to pace.

“Rip,” Miranda moved into his path, “Look at me.”

Slowly his eyes found hers finding only love in her eyes.

“I know you’ve been alone for a long time,” Miranda took his face in her hands so he couldn’t pull away, “I know how hard that shell around you is, I’ve had to break through it once before.”

“Miranda…”

“Rip,” she stopped him, “You have to let me in.”

He stared at her for several minutes before whispering, “What if I lose you again?”

“Darling…”

“It will kill me,” Rip breathed, resting his forehead against hers, “I’ve tried to live without you, and I wasn’t living.”

Miranda kissed him, holding him close, “I know how you feel because I thought you were dead too.”

She moved him back to the couch and cuddled close to him, just letting him breathe.

“I was thinking that we tell people you and Jonas were in witness protection,” Rip said after several minutes, “Because I worked in law enforcement and one of the people I was after put me in the hospital. You and Jonas were placed under protection while I recovered but a colleague who was working with our ‘bad guy’ told you I was dead and told me the same about you. We’ve only found each other again by pure chance.”

Miranda mused for a moment before nodding, “That makes sense and is not that far from the truth. It explains Jonas and I using different names all these years, as well as your sudden reappearance in our lives.”

Rip rested his head against hers, smiling as Miranda held him revelling in being back with his family.

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

Miranda woke early the next morning, smiling to feel her husband holding her close in his sleep. She could hear his slow measured breathing; a sound she’d missed so much through the years they’d been apart. The comfort of his embrace was something she’d wished for and never thought she’d have ever again.

Turning to look at him, Miranda smiled to see the scruff on his chin, his beard was growing back, soon he’d look like himself once more. The worry lines he wore were smoothed away as he slept, making him look like the man she’d met so many years before.

She knew how hard his work as a Time Master had been, knew how much he needed the security of their home and love. Learning what Druce had done to him, how the faith he’d had in the Time Masters had been ripped away, Miranda hated them more than she ever had.

These Legends would also get a piece of her mind whenever they arrived for not helping keep his head above water when he needed the friends that he claimed them to be.

Rip murmured, shifting uncomfortably as bad dreams invaded his rest, so Miranda gently stroked his hair, it had always made him relax before, and she smiled to see that it still did.

Checking the time, Miranda knew she wasn’t going to get anymore sleep. Now Rip was resting again, she eased herself away from him watching as he pulled her pillow close. She pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead before heading downstairs to make some breakfast.

“Morning,” Jonas wandered into the kitchen, heading to the fridge, and pulling out orange juice.

“Morning,” Miranda smiled at her son, before frowning, ��Don’t even think about drinking out the carton.”

“I wasn’t,” he said sheepishly, grabbing a glass and poured the juice into it.

Miranda chuckled to herself as she drank her tea,

“Where’s Dad?” Jonas asked, putting the carton back in the fridge.

“Still asleep,” Miranda told him, “But he’s looking forward to going to the game with you today.”

Jonas grinned.

“Honey,” Miranda said softly, “I know you’re excited to have him with you but remember your dad has been alone for a long time and has gone through a lot. He might not be how you remember him.”

Nodding Jonas replied, “I understand that. I’m not a kid anymore either.”

“I know,” Miranda sighed, “Just don’t push him too much.”

“What do you mean?”

Miranda rested her hand on her son’s shoulder, “What do you remember most about your dad? When he was with us, what do you think of first?”

“He sang,” Jonas smiled, “When he was making dinner. You two would dance and he would pick me up to join in.”

“He might not sing for a while,” Miranda told him, “Because right now he’s still trying to get used to having us with him again. It was hard for us to be without him, but we had each other. Your Dad thought we were both gone. So, be patient if he isn’t quite who you remember, okay?”

Jonas hugged her, “I promise.”

Rip opened his eyes aware he was alone in a room he’d never woken in before. Turning to look at the empty space beside him, he saw the picture of him holding Jonas the day he was born on the table beside the bed. That moment had been the best of his life. Stretching, Rip could faintly hear noise coming from downstairs and when he focussed could hear the two people he loved most in the world. He couldn’t make out what they were saying but just hearing their voices was amazing. It occurred to him suddenly that this was his home now, and it overwhelmed him for a moment. He thought he’d lost this so long ago, that he’d lost them, and it felt unreal.

Rip slid out of bed, had a shower and dressed, feeling a bit like an intruder. Taking a slow deep breath, he headed downstairs finding his wife and son having breakfast.

“Morning,” Miranda smiled at him, giving him a quick kiss.

Rip instantly relaxed, “Morning,” he turned to his son, “Ready for today’s game?”

“I’ve had several messages from Dean already,” Jonas laughed, “Making sure we’re coming.”

Miranda chuckled before explaining, “Jonas has been to every game since Dean started on the team except one. They lost that game, so Jonas now has to make them all or it’s a bad sign.”

At the beep from his phone, Jonas rolled his eyes, “I’ll be back.”

Disappearing as he called his friend, Rip watched his son wistfully.

“You’re still his hero,” Miranda murmured to him.

“It’s hard knowing how much of his life I’ve missed,” Rip sighed, “And seeing him like this, he’s so grown up.”

“I know, Darling,” Miranda rubbed his arm comfortingly.

Rip turned to her, “You can come with us today.”

“This is your time with your son,” Miranda told him, “Besides, I have a self-defence class at the same time,”

“You’re going to a self-defence class?” Rip asked bemused, since he knew Miranda could take his best agents down easily.

Miranda laughed, “I teach the class. It’s only a recent thing I started to do but I enjoy it.”

“Okay,” Rip smiled, “As long as you’re sure.”

“I will see you both at the end of the game,” Miranda told him, she caught his hand, “Just beware of the other parents. An unknown person in their midst, you will hear a lot of murmurs.”

Rip shrugged, “I’m sure I can handle it. And if I can’t, Jonas will be able to.”

Miranda drew him close, “I know he isn’t the little boy you remember but he is incredibly smart and funny,” she smiled, “And he is ecstatic to have you back in his life.”

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

Jonas grinned as he walked with his dad towards the football field, his mum had dropped them off before her class and would join them at the end. Heading towards the entrance he suddenly frowned in thought.

“Dad?”

“Yes?”

Knowing his mother and remembering what he’d been told of his father and his upbringing, Jonas hesitated for a moment before asking, “How many weapons do you have on you?”

His dad shrugged, “Just the dagger in my boot but it won’t be picked up by any detectors of this time.”

“Okay,” Jonas nodded, that wasn’t as bad as he’d imagined.

They headed easily through the door, towards the stands and Jonas grinned as he led his dad to seats just behind where the players were sitting.

“Hey,” Dean called from his spot, waving up to them before going back to warming up.

“I mentioned I do not know the rules or anything else about this game,” his dad said as he took his seat, “Haven’t I?”

Jonas chuckled, “You did. Don’t worry, I’ll explain as we go,” glancing round he could see the interested looks his dad was garnering and hoped no one made any comments. From his memory and what his mum had told him, Jonas knew his father could slash people with his tongue just as easily as a knife.

Rip was instantly aware that his presence with Jonas had caused a lot of interest. He’d never liked being the centre of attention, having been trained to blend into the background and be forgettable so that he could do his job. He knew appearing from nowhere with Jonas was going to cause some interest but was doing his best to ignore it.

Thankfully the game started, and all the attention moved to the field. Jonas was extremely good at explaining everything that was going on, even while cheering on his friends and to Rip’s surprise, he was beginning to understand what was happening as well as become invested in the game.

Jonas hoped his dad was enjoying himself, but his dad didn’t really give much away. He was very aware of the looks they were being given by the parents of his classmates and was relieved when Chrissie and Heather appeared.

“Hi, Mr Burns,” Chrissie beamed as they grabbed seats beside them.

His dad nodded hello returning his attention to the game. Jonas wondered how they were going to explain everything since his parents hadn’t given him the story that they’d come up with yet, but he hoped it meant that he’d be allowed to use his real name once more. He wondered how his friends would react to it. A yell pulled his attention back to the field he saw his friend had the ball.

“Come on, Dean,” Jonas jumped to his feet with everyone as they watched Dean run, “Come on.”

As Dean scored, Jonas jumped and yelled turning he found his father also on his feet clapping. A smile covered Jonas’ face when his dad wrapped an arm around his shoulders as the crowd celebrated.

Miranda arrived at the school with about five minutes left of the game and smiled to see her son and husband sitting together. It felt so good to see Jonas with his dad once more, her son had missed that connection for so long. Heading down to join them, Miranda could feel eyes on her and could hear the whispers of interest, but she kept the blithe smile on her lips knowing how much it would drive all the gossips crazy. Reaching the row, she slid along and took the seat at Rip’s side.

“Hi,” she grinned at her son before turning her husband to her and planting a quick kiss on him. She felt Rip’s body stiffen in worry of being caught and squeezed his hand, “It’s okay. It’s allowed now.”

“Old habits,” he murmured.

“How are we doing?” Miranda asked their son.

Jonas grinned at her, “We’re winning but not by much.”

As soon as he spoke Dean got the ball, Miranda joined everyone on their feet, “Come on,” she yelled. Rip’s amused smile made her shrug, “I’m an involved parent.”

They continued to cheer as Dean ran before scoring to win the game. Miranda smiled as he watched her son with his friends celebrating while she leaned into her husband who was watching their boy.

“His life is so different from ours at his age,” Rip whispered.

Miranda nodded, “I made sure of that.” Squeezing his hand, she asked, “Will we go home?”

“Sounds good,” Rip smiled.

Walking back to the car Rip wrapped his arm around his wife’s shoulders as Jonas talked to his friends a few steps in front of them.

“Sandra,” a call came from behind them making Miranda grimace.

She looked at Rip and sighed, “Wonderful. Let me do the talking.”

“Yes, dear,” he murmured as they turned to find a tall dark-haired woman coming towards them.

“Janelle,” Miranda smiled, “Did you enjoy the game?”

“Of course, it was great we won,” Janelle smiled before moving on quickly to what she wanted to know, “Aren’t you going to introduce us to your…friend?”

Miranda continued to smile in the way that Rip knew meant to tread very carefully, “This is my husband.”

“You’ve remarried?” Janella demanded amazed.

Miranda shook her head, “No.”

Janelle stared at her for a moment before glancing at Rip who returned the stare, “How wonderful for you to be back together after all those years when he wasn’t here. Jon must be happy to have a father again after all this time.”

“Be very careful what rumours you decide to start,” Miranda said, taking a step towards the other woman, “Remember the last time you and I disagreed.”

Fear flitted across the other woman’s eyes and Rip forced himself not to laugh.

“Goodnight, Janelle,” Miranda took Rip’s hand, “We’ll see you at the next PTA meeting.”

As they walked away, Rip murmured, “Should I ask what you did to her?”

Miranda chuckled, “Oh you know me, dear.”

“That’s exactly why I’m asking,” he replied.

Miranda smiled but said nothing as they continued to the car.

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

Miranda could feel Rip’s nerves as they sat in the school Principal’s office, she was a little worried herself at how their story would be received. Then again, they had both been raised to lie.

“Don’t worry,” Miranda rested her hand on his, “It will be fine.”

The door opened and Principal Everly walked in, “Good morning,” she greeted them, “Sorry, it’s been a bit of a crazy morning.”

“Not a problem,” Miranda told her.

“And Mr Burns,” Everly smiled offering Rip her hand, “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

Rip shook her hand murmuring politely, “And you.”

“Okay,” Everly took a seat, “Sandra, I understand you wanted this meeting to update us on the changes in Jon’s circumstances. But as you know your son is a straight-A student and we’ve seen no changes in his behaviour. I would give anything to have a school full of kids like him.”

“Actually,” Miranda said as she smiled proudly at the other woman’s words, “That’s not why we called the meeting. I’m sure you’re interested to know why we told everyone my husband was dead when he’s sitting here.”

Everly grimaced before saying, “I admit I am very interested.”

Squeezing his hand, Miranda launched into the story they’d concocted. Everly listened until Miranda finished, and she shook her head.

“Wow,” Everly breathed, “Sandra, I have no idea what to say.” She mused for a few seconds before shaking herself, “As you were under witness protection, I’m assuming your real names are not what we have on record.”

“No. Our real surname is Hunter. I’m Miranda, this is Rip and our son is Jonas,” Miranda told her.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miranda and Rip,” Everly smiled.

“Jonas is going to tell his friends the full story today,” Miranda told her, “But we have agreed that he will continue to use Jon Burns officially until graduation so not to confuse things.”

“Of course,” Everly smiled, “I’m looking forward to getting to know you, Mr Hunter and hope you become as involved with us as San…Miranda is.”

Rip let out a long sigh of relief as they left the school.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Miranda laughed, leaning into him.

“Giving our names like that,” Rip grimaced, “It’s not what I’m used to.”

Miranda kissed him, “I know, dear. Things are different now. You’ll get used to it.”

Rip smiled, “As long as I have you and Jonas, then I know I will.”

Chuckling, Miranda noted, “Since you are still off work for the rest of the week, how about we go for lunch?”

“How about I make you lunch?” Rip suggested, “That means I don’t have to share you with anyone else.”

Miranda smiled, “I do love when you’re possessive.”

Chuckling Rip held his wife close as they walked to the car, happy to be together although still trying to get his head around everything.

“How did your friends react to the story?” Rip asked his son as Jonas grabbed some orange juice from the fridge when he arrived home from school.

Jonas chuckled, “They were fascinated. It’s a pity I can’t tell them the full truth but it’s as close as it comes.”

“What about your name?”

He shrugged, “They tried calling me Jonas, but I’ve been Jon to them for so long it was a bit weird.”

“At least I won’t have to be careful using your real name around them,” Rip smiled, wrapping his arm around his son for a quick hug. It was something he’d fallen into whenever Jonas was close, and thankfully Jonas didn’t mind being constantly hugged by his father – for now anyway.

“Your mother has invited Gary for dinner tonight,” Rip told Jonas, “She wants you to get to know him too.”

Jonas nodded before asking, “How does that work? He used to be an AI and is now human?”

Rip shrugged, “I’m not precisely sure how it happened. I think it has to do with when the Vanishing Point was destroyed and the Oculus interacting with his programme. I’m hoping when Gideon returns, I can get her to look into it.”

Jonas grinned, “She’s going to be really surprised to see us.”

Rip nodded.

“Are you just going to tell her,” Jonas asked, “Or do you have something more entertaining planned?”

“I hadn’t thought of that but…” a smile touched her lips, “That could be a good idea.”

Jonas grinned, “It’ll be fun.”

“We can work on it,” Rip told him, “We have some time.”

#fic #legends of tomorrow #rip hunter #miranda coburn #jonas hunter

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dragon-writer · 4 years

Text

Aaron Hernandez

Just finished the Aaron Hernandez miniseries. I don’t watch American “football,” so I didn’t know him. It was just up on Netflix.

By the first time you hear the slurred speech, I’m like, “Please don’t tell me this obviously brain damaged man is currently doing life in prison somewhere.” That was my first nightmarish thought and it turned into a horror show/suspense right off the bat because I didn’t know anything and I didn’t want to google it...

By episode two, it’s almost a comedy. Joker style. A comedy of very deliberate errors.

Parents who push their children in order for them to “make it” are good in a sense, but also kind of abusive, especially when you’re pushing them to excel at violent things.

It’s not like God parted the skies and commanded Aaron to make it to the SuperBowl. It’s just an ego weak kid listening to his father. And then the Patriots with their military “football is life” bullshit just stepped in to keep it going... He’s just introjecting these neurotic drives one after the other at higher and higher levels because he’s talented enough to compensate... Nightmare.

I mean, I didn’t have to deal with trauma on that scale, but it’s a cold sobering moment when that disillusionment sets in and you realise that you’re physically and mentally irrevocably damaged because someone sold you on an idea. Because someone said jump when you were six and you just kept jumping till your twenties.

And this is why I hate movies like Split that make dissociation seem like a magic trick that comes with cool powers. Sometimes, it’s as simple as breaking off a piece of yourself that doesn’t jump. That’s capable of anger and doing simple things like saying no. That doesn’t have to provide for anyone.That doesn’t have to represent a community. That isn’t being graded and statistically analysed.

You create something that isn’t bound up in the same stranglehold you find yourself in.

We used to have a dog that they kept on a chain, day in day out, never barked, and they used to joke that if it ever got loose it was either going to run off or maul somebody. That’s what happens when you slip a leash and break out of an imposed routine of compliance. Sometimes you play cool and try to blend, sometimes you go werewolf.

So yeah, I hate when abused, mentally ill or brain damaged people commit suicide. TVs, movies, real life, true crime. And then everyone is like, “The demon is slain!” as the sun starts shining down on Pride Rock once more. Fuck that. It might sound shitty, it might actually be shitty, but my moral stance is that it’s better to plan a homicide than a suicide. There’s that noble way of looking at it as if a suicide is protecting other people, but I mean, your own life and health has to be your number one priority. It’s like they say in MMA, protect yourself at all times.

And he’s in this sport where he’s being repeatedly injured while holding on to a ball, protecting a ball.. and it just occured to me, that the whole point of American football is using your body however violently to protect a ball because “Culture, money, entertainment...”

And they made so much ado about the 40 million contract! How much of that did he actually get? Meanwhile his owner is worth something like 6 billion and he’s doing fine. Nothing traumatic going on there. He’s what, 80? Are there any stories about how dangerous it is to be an owner?

There were so many red flags. So many...

By episode 2, he’s just like... impulse killing. No planning, the most half-assed cover-up, and it’s sad because it’s just a really slow suicide all in all, but I’m still watching it because it’s really kind of unbelievable that it’s happening in the first place. He’s gone from shooting strangers to shooting friends to shooting people who were basically extended family, like a death spiral. So at this point, I’m worried for him and Shay and the baby...

And then he’s in prison for life, and for the nightmare that the story was so far, this is like a happy ending. I start coming up with possible endings... “Oh, so he got some therapy inside and he’s working in the prison library writing Harry Potter fanfiction or something. Gets at least monthly visits with his child...”

And then he kills himself and they’re doing slide shows on his brain in universities, like “Could you believe how fucked up the brain of this person was - this is so shocking! So he wasn’t just an evil killer? His brain was degenerated after a decade and change of chronic trauma in the name of a billion dollar industry sport that’s only played in one country? Wow?”

Who gets to 27 with that kind of neurological degeneration undetected? Wouldn’t he have had access to the very best neurologists, psychiatrists, etc? It’s not some asymptomatic condition that springs up on you overnight. They didn’t have to cut his brain open after death to figure this out.

And that’s off Medscape. You don’t need to be an advanvced pathologist to solve this mystery. And that’s why I think I’m upset at Netflix and whoever else made this for making a sensational drama out of it like there was some giant puzzle to be solved as to why he did it. All the rumours about his sexuality when the man’s already dead to garner more media attention and get people talking.

The man had stage 3 CTE. Giant-ass ventricles at 27. Record breaking. He’s the youngest person on record with such advanced degeneration. So maybe when he started shooting people on impulse it had less to do with his sexual experimentation and more to do with the fact there were holes in his brain. To feel yourself slipping away like that for years. Everyone’s fantasy on the outside, literally hollow on the inside.

I mean, I’m looking at pictures of the man’s brain on a slab after midnight and reading the suicide notes he left like, “Well, he didn’t lose his spelling...”

What the fuck, Netflix? I needed a trigger warning on that.

I don’t want to hate on the sport, I just think it’s stupid. But then I follow another sport where a man was apparently fighting for years with one eye... Doctors let him fight with one eye even though his “good” eye isn’t all that good either...

It’s the same story of billionaires giving you shit pay for your life and organs. Same story of straw dogs. The only thing that made Aaron special is that he was young and good looking and his brain broke before his body so he wasn’t some irrelevant reitree. They didn’t juice him for everything he was worth so it’s all about wasted potential...

The players at the end talking about how fine and healthy and normal they are... “Concussions never hurt me. Brain damage is a natural part of life. Thousands of us have CTE and we haven’t killed anyone...” It’s so disturbing.

It’s like an ongoing international True Crime.

So to end this note-to self rant, moral of the day - disappoint who you have to disappoint, hurt who you have to hurt. Don’t disappoint yourself, don’t hurt yourself.

#aaron hernandez #chronic traumatic encephalopathy #neurosis #mma #ufc #michael bisping #american football #played in only one country #sports #traumatic brain injury #mental illness #tw: suidice

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axther · 4 years

Text

children are meant to be cradled, not placed in wars

bnha x reader

chapter two

YN was dreaming.

She knew this because she was in an alleyway, and felt much shorter than she actually was. It was a weird feeling that reminded her of an out of body experience, or waking up at three A.M. and only vaguely remembering it in the morning.

Either way, she was facing a beaten and bruised man. He held his side, but despite his efforts, it was obvious he was bleeding out. He had a strange scar that stretched from the left side of his scalp and down to his throat, like someone had dragged a knife down the skin. It was ugly, but that was the only thing that seemed to make him stand out.

“Nine would stop you, Demise. You don’t stand a chance.”

Not-YN held up a hand, a light sparking from them before a small ball of light grew in her palm.

“Where is she?” Not-YN’s voice was ragged, like a chainsmoker’s, and threatening. “You know goddamn well that we all saw her come home.”

“This isn’t her home, you know. Not to her.”

“This is her home. It always was.”

“She’s hiding. Hiding from you, from Nine, from Shigaraki, from All For One. Smart kid...she’ll always hide.”

“Shut up. You are in no position to talk shit.”

“I’m not, unless you consider the truth shit.”

Not-YN was silent, before shoving her hand out. The light disappeared and lit up inside the man’s stomach. He looked down with a mix of horror and resignation before his stomach imploded, blood and bile scattering across the walls and concrete. Not-YN took her hand back before spinning around and leaving the alleyway. Two men were behind her, but they had masks that looked like a geometric fox and a snake. They were stiff and had their hands behind their backs.

“Very good, ma’am.” The fox said.

“A merciful death,” The snake murmured.

“You are kind, ma’am.” Both said simultaneously as Not-YN entered the daylight.

“As fitting for the new god.”

YN sat straight up in her bed, panting with a feeling of bile in her throat. Her palms supported her, but her arms were shaky and her lungs burned.

“Good morning.”

YN popped her neck from turning it with such force. The woman from before, Recovery Girl, sat at a desk nearby, and she realised that she was in a medic’s office.

“Good morning,” YN felt confused, wondering when she came here, and if she even was supposed to be here. “Where am I?”

“My office. I decided you needed to be around me more than my average patients, considering your means of arrival. To keep an eye on you.” She gave a benign smile.

YN went silent, glancing around at her surroundings.

The room was pristine, and there was a window to her left. A potted succulent bathed in the sunlight and YN squeezed her eyes from disbelief at her situation.

There was a subdued knock at the door. Recovery Girl rose to get it, but it opened when she was a foot away.

“Midoriya’s broken his finger!” There was a girl’s voice, and YN’s entire face turned into half confusion, half excitement. She remembered the name from the boy that had saved her, and she peered beyond the curtain at her bed.

A girl with extraordinarily round brown hair that curled around to her chin supported the green-haired boy, and though his finger looked more burned than broken, she didn’t seem very phased. Recovery Girl looked disappointed.

“Midoriya! You need to take better care of yourself!” She scolded.

“Sorry, ma’am…” Midoriya sounded actually regretful.

“Miss Ochako, could you please tell Aizawa that he’ll be here for the rest of the period?” Recovery Girl sighed. Ochako saluted, nodding.

“Of course!”

“Thank you, dear.”

The girl left, and Recovery Girl began fussing over Midoriya. It seemed like Recovery Girl had forgotten that YN was in the room, and she started wrapping his finger. It was mutilated, and dark brown and veiny red lines coursed across the wound.

“You have to stop ruining your limbs! Next time I see Toshinori, I’m giving him a piece of my mind!”

“Yes, ma’am.”

YN fell back against the bed, wincing when it made a creaking noise. She felt like she wasn’t supposed to be in there, that she was an outsider. That she couldn’t be caught.

“Huh?” Midoriya made a sound of confusion. Recovery Girl chuckled.

“Was someone eavesdropping?”

YN bit back a snarky remark about how it was hard not to eavesdrop, to the point that it wasn’t even eavesdropping, but she gave a hum. It came out more like a growl and even sounded pissed off, and she sighed.

“...No.”

Recovery Girl walked over and ripped back the curtain, making both YN and Midoriya jump. He, again, made a pose of surprise.

“It’s you!” He cried, a blush making its way across his face.

“Yes.” YN felt like a dumbass, but she didn’t know what she was supposed to say. She kind of wished that choices could have come up like in one of Soma’s video games.

A tense and uncomfortable silence fell across the room, and Recovery Girl glanced between the two. They were averting each other’s eyes like the plague, and the pro hero made a ‘oh’ sound.

“Midoriya, this is the girl that you-”

“Yes!” He shouted, and YN winced from how awkward it was. He was cute, yes, but he didn’t seem like he was much in the ‘meeting new people’ department.

Recovery Girl gave a smug smile, with her entire face scrunching up and a giddy glint in her eye.

“You know, I think that I had a bandage delivery coming this afternoon. I have to pick it up. You keep her company, Midoriya!”

Before either of the teenagers could say anything, she left with speed that an elderly woman shouldn’t be capable of, laughing the entire time. Even when the door was shut, YN could hear the faintest hint of chuckling.

“I thought…” Midoriya began, confused. “That any deliveries come here?”

There was a tense and awkward silence, and YN bit her lip. She looked out the window, trying everything in her power not to come off as creepy, angry, and mean, while not being creepy.

Meanwhile, Midoriya had done the same thing but was eyeing the door. He would glance at the strange girl every couple of seconds, the intensity and frequency of his glances increasing as time went by. He hated the idea of giving the girl the wrong impression of himself for any number of reasons, but the biggest one was right in his face.

Jesus Christ. She was pretty.

He didn’t really notice it before since they were in a potential battleground, but now that it was just them in the white medic’s office, he saw it.

She had her face turned to the window, and her hair was accented by the gentle, falling sunlight from the window. There was a mirror adjacent to her, and he could see her face in the reflection. Her eyes, with the light hitting them just right, seemed to be in layers, and the thin white curtains blowing in said open window gave the entire thing a ‘Hollywood American blockbuster romance movie’ kind of feel.

Midoriya felt a bad taste in his mouth from the silence and cleared his throat.

“Uh…” The girl jumped, and he looked at the ground. “What’s your quirk?”

A safe icebreaker! Good job!, he thought.

The girl turned, and her mouth opened.

“What’s…” She paused, and Midoriya turned to look at her in the eye. Her voice was gravelly, but badass, in the way that tsundere gangster anime characters sounded.

Her brows had furrowed.

“What’s a quirk?”

Midoriya just about felt his soul leave his body, and the entire corpse go cold.

“You...don’t have a quirk?”

Abort! Abort! Mission failed!

“I dunno.” She looked away, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. “I don’t know what a quirk is.”

Sheltered! Cute but sheltered!

“Uh, a quirk, is, uh…” Midoriya grasped for straws trying to find a way to convey what a quirk was to her without making her feel bad.

“Is it like a superpower?”

Midoriya looked up, completely surprised.

“Yes! That’s exactly it! How did you figure it out?”

“Well, it seemed like a lot of the folks that were at the, uh, crash site, they had different qualities about them. It reminded me of Marvel and DC.” She smiled, vaguely. “I just kind of put it together.”

“Ah! You’re smart! Yeah, that’s right. Do you have one?”

The girl frowned. “No. Should I?”

“Well, I mean…” Midoriya paused. He didn’t want her to feel bad, but she was one of the few that didn’t have quirks. “Kind of? I mean…”

“Most have them?”

“Yeah. There are people that are quirkless, like, I used to be! But then I got my quirk.” He smiled, thinking to when All Might told him that he was going to inherit One For All.

“Yeah?” She gave another smile, this one much softer, and Midoriya felt his cheeks heat up. “How did you get it?”

Midoriya felt his heart stop.

“I, uh, well, I, um, can’t really, uh…” God! He felt like he could tell the girl, but he had just met her, and All Might’s identity couldn’t be revealed. The conversation was going great, and then she had to ask the one thing he couldn’t answer.

“Oh.” The girl looked like she had stepped on a landmine. “Sorry if it’s personal! You don’t have to tell me. It’s okay.”

Midoriya hid his face in his free hand. “Thanks.”

“Yup.”

The conversation dropped off, and Midoriya sighed. He glanced at the door, hoping that Recovery Girl would drop in, but then he heard the girl.

“Thanks.”

Midoriya jumped. “What for?”

“Saving me.”

Duh? What else would it be?

“That was...incredible. And I would’ve died. So thank you.” She turned, with a smile, and for the second time that day, Midoriya felt his heart stop, though for different and far more pleasant reasons altogether.

“You’re my hero, Midoriya.”

Midoriya remembered back to when he was still training with All Might to inherit One For All. He was talking about how All Might always pushed on, no matter what, and how did he always want to protect people?

Toshinori Yagi had an answer.

“Well, I have someone I want to protect. And I think of them with the collective.”

He told Midoriya that he would find that person and that he would understand it when it happened. He said it was like feeling a hot arrow through the chest, melting through. That it was a thought of ‘That’s who I want to fight for!’

And Midoriya Izuku, talking to a girl he had pulled out of the sky and known for only a day, felt that hot arrow like it had been waiting the entire time. Like it had just been hovering, and as soon as she said that, it flung itself at him with the frenzy of sixteen years.

He let out a feeble ‘oh’, with all the breath knocked out of him, and nearly toppled out of the chair when he took a breath. His head spun.

Recovery Girl walked in, beginning to babble about something before snapping her eyes between the two teens. Her eyebrows raised into her hairline, and a smirk came over her face.

“Did you two have a good chat?”

Midoriya whipped his head to look at her, and YN went back to looking out the window. Midoriya shook his head wildly, flailing his free hand.

“It’s not like that! Not at all! We just kind of talked!”

“I never assume anything, Midoriya.” Recovery Girl had a twinkle in her eye, and she gently guided Midoriya off the chair. “The period is over, so feel free to get back to class. But absolutely do not put pressure on your finger!”

“Yes, ma’am.” He turned to YN, and his voice caught in his throat. “See later you-you later-be safe-”

“Go! I have to check up on her!” Recovery Girl shoved Midoriya out the door, laughing at his blabbering. YN gave a shy little wave, smiling.

“He’s nice.” YN’s eyes followed Recovery Girl, watching her fuss around with some medical tools.

“Yes, he’s quite kind. He could use restraint with his quirk, though.”

“What do you mean?” YN tilted her head, and Recovery Girl approached her.

“Whenever he uses his quirk,” The elderly woman hummed. “It breaks whatever limb he’s using.”

“What?!” YN yelped.

“Yes. I thought he would have mentioned it.”

“He didn’t. Obviously.” YN glanced out of the corner of her eye at the chair he was previously in, squinting. She didn’t intend to sound pissy, but that meant that he probably hurt himself when he caught her, and that made her feel even worse.

“Now, my dear, please raise your arms.”

YN lifted them obediently, with some of her arm muscles bunching together from the sudden gravity.

“Do you work out, dear? You seem quite strapping.”

YN held back a laugh from the use of ‘strapping’, as she hadn’t heard that word used that way for years, but nodded. “I took tae kwon do when I was younger. I quit about a year ago, but I still try to work out.”

Recovery Girl nodded sagely. “Good, good. It’s important that you can protect yourself. Especially since you’re such a young woman…”

“Ah, thank you.”

The conversation stopped since Recovery Girl was tugging at different parts of YN, before pulling away.

“You are in wonderful condition, my dear. Since all you got from that fall was a migraine, and even then that’s gone away, you seem to be quite resilient.”

“I’m glad.”

“I think one of the pro-heroes are talking about taking you in for the time being, until we can get more permanent housing for you. I assume that you don’t have family here, at least.”

YN looked out the window, eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t think so.”

This entire place, she realised, seemed like perfection. It was quaint for a city, with clean air and kind people. And people had superpowers. This world wasn’t her own.

This world wasn’t...her own.

She looked back at Recovery Girl, more serious than before. “Thank you. Is it okay if I leave, walk around?”

“Only a bit, dear. Don’t wear yourself out, stay in the school, and come back when you’re done.”

“Thank you.” YN smiled, shaking off her seriousness and placing her legs on the side of the bed. The cold tiles hit her feet, and a shiver went up to her spine. Recovery Girl came back with some shoes that looked like slippers.

“Wear these. They should fit you, and if not, I keep all kinds of sizes.”

Thankfully, they did fit, and YN rose. She looked down at Recovery Girl (by God, she was short) and smiled.

“I’ll be back.”

“Be safe, dear!”

YN pulled open the door and stepped out. Large wide glass windows were in front of her, and she realised that, indeed, she was inside a school (what kind of school was nearly this large?) and that the gates were just outside the glass, several floors down. In the distance, she heard a clock or a bell toll twelve, and the faint sound of teenagers talking.

She was in a high school. That makes sense. Vaguely.

YN blinked lethargically, feeling a strange sense of being both displaced and weighed down. It felt as though the weight of the world was on her shoulders, and she had no one to share the burden with. This was her trial, she thought, before realising that she was acting like she was dying. Sure, it was an unfathomable situation where she had to completely fix the way she acted and accommodate a completely different society. But there was nothing she couldn’t do.

YN nodded to herself. She was going to approach the sources of the sounds, and then try to integrate herself with the conglomerate, so to speak. And then...well, YN figured, she would fight those battles.

YN took the turn and began walking.

Midoriya was preoccupied.

He was in the dining hall, a bowl of katsudon in front of him, and his eyes focusing on a floating piece of scallion that bobbed around the pork. Iida and Ochako were talking animatedly about a severe essay that Aizawa had assigned, especially with it only having been a week since the villain attack at USJ. Even moreso, the Sports Festival hype was beginning to gear up, only making students more restless. But Midoriya was restless for a different reason.

His mind had been almost exclusively on the girl from earlier, and just how quickly he became so whipped. Part of him said that it was just a crush on someone he thought was attractive, but the rest said that he was most definitely willing to get on one knee and marry her on the spot. The thought, as delusional as it seemed, made him flush and bright red. It crawled up his neck and onto his ears, and he placed a hand over his cheeks. He huffed, before realising that Ochako and Iida had stopped talking. He opened his eyes to see them staring at him. Iida was wide eyed and concerned, but Ochako had an almost conniving grin.

“What’s the look for, Deku?” Ochako hummed, tilting her head. Her hair bounced along, curling and hitting her chin. “You’re on fire!”

“Indeed!” Iida said, his voice sharp and almost booming. “If you believe you have caught something, then it is best to explain to a teacher and take approximately three days off, as to take care of yourself and not infect anyone else.”

“You aren’t sick, are you?” Ochako looked smug, crossing her arms. “It’s a blush!”

“A blush?” Iida looked at Ochako. “But that would-”

“I-It’s okay! I was just thinking…” Midoriya stammered, hoping to backtrack from the conversation as much as possible. “It’s nothing important…”

“Is it a girl?” Ochako grinned though it seemed the smallest bit forced.

“How did you know?!” Midoriya yelped before looking around to make sure that no one else (read: Bakugou) heard his voice jump six octaves. “I mean...how did…?”

“You look giddy.” Ochako pointed a finger like Foenix Right. “I guess you have a crush on someone from in our class!”

“Well...not quite.” Midoriya hugged himself. “She’s not from 1-A, but she’s here? Like, not attending but she-”

“Who is it?” Ochako seemed to be jumping her seat. Iida frowned.

“We cannot pressure Midoriya to say anything he doesn’t want to! Peer pressure is a very serious issue that cannot be allowed in U.A.! Despite you thinking-”

“He wouldn’t tell us if he didn’t want to!” Ochako giggled. “Who is it?”

“She’s, uh...she…” Midoriya gulped. “She’s the...girl…”

“What? Speak up!” Despite his warnings, Iida leaned in with Ochako. Midoriya felt like he was about to faint, and tried to avoid Ochako’s wide eyes with all his power. His own eyes wandered, before he glanced upon fell on one of the side entrances.

The girl stood there, towering over most and eyeing the entire cafeteria in wide-eyed wonder like a child at Christmas. He noticed that her eyes lingered on people like Mina and Shoji who’s quirks were more obvious. His entire face lit up in a blush when she barely turned to face the section that he and his group were sitting in, and he ducked under the table with a yelp. He had no idea how to act. And this? This definitely wasn’t it.

Ochako looked over at where Midoriya had spotted the girl, and when she saw the girl, her face split into a maniacal grin. A cruel chuckle sounded over the table, and when Midoriya peeked up over the table at her, he paled.

“Hey, what are you planning?” Midoriya felt his stomach drop. “She’s-that’s-!”

“Hey, miss!” Ochako yelled, waving a hand and even floating a bit. She sat back in her chair when, against all the odds in the crowded and deafening dining hall, the girl heard. She seemed confused, pointing a finger at herself before Ochako nodded with vigor.

“Yeah, you! C’mere!”

The girl weaved her way over, and Midoriya couldn’t help but stare at the way she maneuvered. It was fluid and lithe, like a dancer, and Midoriya didn’t even realise he was staring until her face was suddenly much closer, and it had lit up in a smile. He jumped before looking at the table again.

“Hello, Midoriya!” She looked at Ochako. “Did you call me over for something?”

“Yeah! Deku was talking about you!”

Midoriya looked up, hoping that she was looking at Ochako, but she was staring right at him. Her head was tilted, slightly, like a puppy might do, and a sudden mental image of her with floppy German Shepherd puppy ears swarmed him. He reared back. Her eyebrows furrowed.

“Are you alright, Midoriya?”

“See!” Ochako cried. “Even she’s noticed.”

Iida nodded and the girl glanced between the two with curious eyes.

“I’m sorry, but...who are you two?”

“I am Iida Tenya! It is a pleasure to meet you!” Iida rose and bowed, and the girl seemed taken aback. She gave a shaky smile and a wave.

“I’m Ochako Uraraka! But just call me Ochako!” Ochako gave a little grin and a peace sign. “What’s your name?”

Midoriya suddenly narrowed in on the conversation, realising that he didn’t know the girl’s name. The girl was about to speak, the beginning of something sounding, when the ten minute bell rang. Iida jumped.

“While we both wish we could speak with you more,” Iida pointed at a mounted clock. “Our lunch break is coming to an end and it is unacceptable to be late to our classes.”

YN hummed. “Of course. Hopefully, I’ll see y’all around.”

She waved and left, before Ochako and Iida turned to Midoriya with malicious grins (though Iida’s didn’t seem as nearly conniving as Ochako’s).

“So that’s the girl! She’s adorable!” Ochako gave a less evil but still concerning smile, clasping her hands together.

“She seems quite polite.” Iida nodded, beginning to polish off his food. Midoriya sunk into his chair, embarrassment wanting him to be swallowed whole.

But, hey, he thought. He almost got her name. And he definitely wanted to see her around.

YN pulled back into the hallway that she came from, figuring that she might as well head back to Recovery Girl’s office and see if she couldn’t find something else to do. Maybe she had colouring books, or something. She could burn time until something came up.

The halls had long emptied by the time that YN was at the second to last turn to the office. The students were in their respective classes, and YN was just a single child trying to worm her way back to Recovery Girl.

YN was snapped out of her thoughts when she saw the back of a student. He didn’t wear the uniform, but he looked to be about the right age.

“Excuse me...shouldn’t you be in class?” YN called out, beginning to walk up the boy. Blonde tufts of hair stuck out in the back, and she saw that there was a tan on his ears. “Sir?”

The boy popped his neck, slowly and methodically, and she heard him breathe deeply and sigh. Her nerves began to buzz, and the hair on the back of her neck rose. She stopped walking up to him.

“Sir?”

“You…”

His voice came out like a wheeze. YN stood a little straighter, about to touch his shoulder.

“Hey, are you ok?”

His head spun around like a bullet, his neck cracking from the force. His entire face was some sort of hollow blue void, and she could feel it sucking her in.

“You did this.”

“H-Holy shit!” YN yelped, falling onto her back and scrambling back. The boy stepped closer, a hand reaching out, before his head turned seventy degrees to look at the upcoming right turn. The boy, the thing, it wrapped a hand around her throat and drew her close.

“Stay away from Mizuki.”

It disappeared with a blue burst of light, and Recovery Girl hustled around the corner to YN. Immediately, she began to check her for injuries, but YN stared absentmindedly at the ceiling.

“Dear? Can you hear me?” YN barely recognised Recovery Girl waving a hand in front of her face, everything beginning to blur together.

All YN said was ‘ah hell’, before blacking out again.

@missadorable96

a/n: midoriya/ellipses is my otp. no i do not accept criticism

#camt #camtbcnpiw #camt update #bnha x reader #my hero academia x reader #izuku midoriya x reader #ochako urakara x reader #iida tenya x reader #midoriya x ellipses #yn x passing out #boku no hero academia x reader #children are meant to be cradled not placed in wars

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chrisevansbabymama · 5 years

Text

Daddy Hair Care - Chapter 4.1

Chapter 3

Chapter 4.1 - American Boy:

It was 9:51pm when Kayla looked up as the semi-sheer curtains on her booth were drawn open and Chris hovered above her. She locked her iPhone screen, the gadget that had served as a good distraction and company as she waited for him and Lauren. Keith and Tiffany had opted out.

After sending Chris off to his press event, Lauren retreated back to her suite a few doors down to nap, whilst Kayla went back home. She could have napped, but she used the hour to get ready for the dinner. It may or may not have had something to do with making an effort for Chris. She consulted her best friends’ Amanda and Michelle’s help, who co-signed that she should look “casually sexy,” like she wasn’t even trying to make an effort. So she settled for a no make-up, make-up look but with a bold lip. Her lips were her favourite feature. Then she wore high-waisted mom jeans that accentuated her butt (another one of her favourite features), completed with a roll-neck and satin heels.

But Chris had turned up on his own and still wearing the four-digit expensive suit from the event. He looked just as dreamy as he did when he left his suite earlier.

“Hey,” she greeted, taking him in as he slid in the booth opposite her.

His cologne wafted the small space. She breathed him in.

“Hey London,” he said and slid off his coat.

“Hollywood,” she shot back before chuckling at her nickname, “You haven’t called me that in a while,”

“I forgot I even used to call you that,” he smiled and then eyed her drink. “Have you guys ordered - where’s Lauren?”

“I thought she was coming with you?” Kayla explained, only to be met with his perplexed expression. “She told me she was running late and was going to

wait for you to come back to the hotel to change, and then you’d come together,”

“No,” he said slowly, recalling his conversation with her earlier. “I spoke to her when I was leaving the event just twenty minutes ago and she said she was already here with you,”

Even more confused by the mismatching narrative, Chris chewed on his bottom lip, deep in contemplation. This wasn’t like Lauren to lie. But she had said she was tired and wanted to spend the evening and all weekend in bed, before she came up with the plan to go out for dinner.

Kayla noticed his face change as if he suddenly had an epiphany; he shook his head in disbelief.

“What?”

“Seb,” he muttered, concluding quickly.

Kayla’s eyebrows knit together, now just as confused as he was.

“I bet she’s with him,” Chris said confidently with a nod.

But that didn’t make sense to Kayla; why wouldn’t Lauren tell Chris the truth if that was the case? And why did she lie to her and insist that she was coming out for dinner? But she shook her head, dismissing the thought. They were not best friends, so Lauren didn’t owe her an explanation about her private life; Chris perhaps, not her. And she supposed it made sense that she was lying if she was sneaking around with Seb.

But Kayla immediately had her own epiphany; that she was going to be spending the evening alone with Chris. She suddenly felt sick. Of course she’d been in his company, alone, on multiple occasions when Lauren had slipped out of the dressing room or his hotel suite to return his loaned suits, or grab a coffee.

But never like this, never in an intimate setting where she wasn’t working and had that to distract her. All of a sudden being up close to his face on a daily basis wasn’t as intimidating as this scenerio. She actually felt bad for Chris. He was the one getting the short end of the stick and now stuck with her, she bet he probably preferred to be in his suite with room service instead of this.

“Shall we call her?”

“Hmm, maybe not,” Chris replied quickly. “Probably best to leave her to it,”

“I’m sorry,”

“For what?”

“You’re stuck with me,” she shrugged, she lowered her posture. “Rain check? We can rearrange it for another time with everyone else?”

He paused, scrutinising her concernedly, “Why? You tired? I mean, I’m hungry and I could really eat so I’d prefer not to turn this down,”

“Are you sure?”

“Are you kidding? I’ve been looking forward to this since we talked about it at the hotel,” Chris reached for the menu. “You scared of being alone with me without your crutch, Lauren?”

“Oh shut up,” she huffed, her posture straightened back up without much thought.

“Just me and you London,”

And just like that, she felt normal around him again.

“How was the event?” she finally asked to break the silence as he studied the menu.

He sighed and gave her a look, that although she wasn’t Lauren - who was an expert at reading him, she understood this look: just…don’t.

“That bad?”

“I just hate those events, I knew no one. Y’just kinda stand around and mingle with a champagne in hand and pop a canapé here and there, and keep smiling for the cameras. It was a recipe for an anxiety attack,” he rolled his eyes. “I couldn’t wait to leave, at least I had this to look forward to,”

Had been looking forward to this as much as she had? Was he counting down the minutes, like she had been too?

“And as usual, every journalist was asking me about my Cap diet,” he rolled his eyes. “That’s all they know to talk about,”

“Like you’re some piece of meat,” Kayla offered to lighten up the mood, after noticing how distressed he was getting.

And it worked, he was startled at first but then a grin marked his features, letting her know that he was okay with the sparring. But that precipitated the nerves again for her; she could handle him, but usually that had been with Lauren in the audience. On her own, she felt cornered like he would see through her jokes.

“Like some piece of meat,” he echoed and then his voice went up an octave as he feigned pain in a playful voice. “I am more than my looks, I’m someone’s son and I’m a daddy,”

A daddy...she mused.

Kayla looked down to hide the smile threatening to light up her features. She needed to get out of her own head if she was going to survive this evening with him. As that realisation hit her again, coming to her in waves, her heart

thudded and she glanced at her phone. If only she could tell her friends that she was now out alone with him. But there was no way she could pick up the gadget surreptitiously and not only because it was rude, but her palms were a sweaty mess.

“I’m going to treat myself tonight, London. I’m going all out, what’s the greasiest option here?” he gave her a determined look. “Let’s give them a different variation of Cap’s body and see what they will ask me,”

“I’d recommend the tempura options if you really want to suck it to them, otherwise there’s not much grease here,” Kayla pointed out, receiving a child-like groan from the man across the table.

He grumbled, scanning the menu quickly to confirm that nothing else on there was going to satiate his appetite. The second he left the press event he had decided that it was going to be a cheat night; but he wasn’t going to find his pleasure in a sushi restaurant.

“Wanna go somewhere else?”

“Oh no, it’s fine. I’ve already made you wait all this time-“

“It’s okay. I would love a proper meal too, since someone’s made me wait this long to eat,”

“Sorry,” Chris said sheepishly, catching the playful shot at him for making her wait.

“C’mon Hollywood,” she wiggled her eyebrows. “I know a place,”

________

“This is everything I didn’t even know I needed,” Chris groaned with a mouthful of food.

It was a short while later when the two found themselves tucked away in the back of a darkly lit unassuming Lower East Side eatery. As her go-to for comfort food, Kayla thought it was ideal spot for Chris hide away. The sushi restaurant scene was almost too similar to the crowd he had left at the magazine party; dressed up, well-heeled, mini dresses and cleavage, suits and perfume drenched guests everywhere, with sake on the drinks menu.

Despite being overdressed for this crowd, they felt more relaxed. At the eatery, there were distressed jeans, sneakers, thick layered outfits to combat the cold, and drinks on the menu with names like Freaky Friday and OMG! They Killed Henny. Chris was tickled and he’d giggled at the names for longer than they warranted. But Kayla didn’t mind, she appreciated his sense of humour and that he didn’t take things too seriously.

“I could so eat this every day,” she told him wearing a look of adoration; happy to be eating at long last.

“I’m impressed, London. The concept always seemed bizarre to me, but this is golden,” he reached for syrup and drizzled it all over his waffles until they were swimming in the saccharine liquid.

Kayla felt all giddy at impressing Chris. She loved their little sparring matches and quips, but when he was complimentary, it gave her confidence that he took her seriously. She wasn’t just there for some comic relief.

“Is this really your first time trying chicken and waffles or are you trying to be cute?”

“Believe me, it is and I’m not proud of it,”

“Wow, I’m disappointed Evans,” she meant it.

“I don’t get out much, and I’m not allowed to eat this stuff,”

“You sound like a kid! Surely you have cheat days?”

“Usually it’s pizza, nachos, ice cream and beer. I’m a creature of habit,” he shrugged, shoving his face with another bite. “A simple guy,”

“I just thought chicken and waffles was simple? Isn’t it the most basic combo -the American equivalent to fish and chips?” she commented. “I bet you don’t cook. Do you cook?”

“Do I cook? Of course I cook,” he gave her a ridiculous look.

“Hey,” she looked at him pointedly. “I could have asked you what your Cap diet consists of,”

He deadpanned, “Yeah, touché,”

“Okay, so what do you cook, what’s your knockout meal? I gotta warn you, my standards are low,”

“I can knock a tagine out the park…pesto eggs…I make mean pesto eggs,”

“I don’t believe it,”

He shrugged, “Not really fair if I can’t prove myself without a kitchen,”

“True,”

“What’s your ‘knockout’ meal?”

“I make a good pad thai, and I bake a lot too,”

“I don’t believe it,” he mocked her with a lopsided grin. “Prove it,”

“Unlike some people,” she coughed a ‘you’ under her breath. “Some of us are normal and don’t live in hotels, so I actually can prove it,”

He looked at her, shocked at the low blow. She flinched at the expression, realising how insensitive she came across.

“Chris, I’m so sorry, that was so insensitive,”

“It was,” he pointed a look at her, but the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth put her at ease; he hadn’t taken offence. “You owe me, now you have to cook for me,”

Caught off-guard by his flirty remark, she became shy; imagining the domesticity of his proposal. It was something that had always occupied her imagines and thoughts on a few too many occasions.

Chris blushed. It was almost visible, his face had turned a soft pink hue as he also imagined it: watching her taking charge of the kitchen to cook for him. He was certain that she was a good cook. Lucky for him, the dim lighting had obscured just how bashful he was.

“I’ll help you, of course, because otherwise that’s just sexist of me to demand you to cook for me,” he corrected.

Everyone inch of Kayla’s feminist inhibition wanted to say ‘damn right,’ but the sexiness of this entire scenerio crippled her.

Patriarchy 1 - 0 Kayla.

“You seem very convinced that it’s going to happen,”

“Speaking it into existence,” he imitated her mantra with a wink that she didn’t know what to do with.

So really if she played her cards right, she could have Chris Evans in her home? And cook for him?

“We’ll see,” she said casually, but deep inside she was screaming.

“Don’t you feel sorry for me? I eat out of take out boxes, or room service. I miss a good home-cooked meal,”

“That hardly seems like a nightmare,”

“You’re lucky I’m not travelling for the Infinity War press tour. I’d love to take you with me and see how you survive out of your territory,”

To him it was a careless and empty threat, but to Kayla, she hung onto the fact that he had even considered her as an option.

“You’re just showing off because New York is your territory,” he continued.

“Hardly! London’s my territory,” she laughed at how worked up he was getting. “So what’s brought you out tonight if eating out isn’t your favourite thing to do? You’re usually one to hide away indoors?”

“Seb’s been bothering me to get out more and ‘put myself out there’ to start dating again, I kinda ignored him until my ma said the exact same thing,” he sat back. “Which clearly means that I have a boring life. If I’m not with Mya or Dodger, I’m either napping or working,”

“So your tactic to live a carefree life is to hide at the very back of a hidden restaurant, stuff your face with waffles drenched in syrup?”

“It’s a good start, baby steps,” he considered, before they both started laughing.

Kayla considered what he meant by ‘putting himself out there,’ had he been reserving himself all along? She wondered how long he’d take to make a move on her if he liked her. Then she felt ridiculous for even thinking it possible, Chris was clearly the type that made a move if he liked someone. Judging by his lifestyle and age; being a dad and all, with a career going for him, he didn’t seem like the type to waste time. He had that sexy and mature ‘I know what I want and I get what I want’ aura about him.

So why hadn’t he made his move, if he liked her as much as Lauren proposed?

“As the singles on Team Chris Evans, me and you should make a pact,” he lifted his glass and nodded at hers. She mirrored him. “From now on, we are going to make time and put ourselves out there,”

It wasn’t a secret that she was single, but she’d never had a conversation with him for him to know that she was. Something about the way he made that assumption bothered her. Was she that unappealing that it was obvious she was single?

She didn’t call him out on his (albeit correct) assumption though, she clinked her glass against his as he made a toast to being single ‘but ready to mingle.’ Really, the playing field wasn’t levelled; if he wanted, he could be in a relationship tomorrow. He had a queue of women around the world ready to say yes to him.

But she smiled and pretended it was okay, like she knew to.

Like she always did.

Like she always had to.

Chris downed the last of his beverage and sat back again, satisfied. A food coma was imminent, so he stifled a yawn and stretched. Even then, it was a sight for Kayla, it wasn’t even the way his muscles contracted and wrestled with his dress shirt. He just looked so soft and needy. In need of a cuddle, she concluded. The man could just breathe and that was enough for her to lose her senses.

“Long day,” Kayla said sympathetically.

“Man, you have no idea,”

“Let’s get the check,”

“I don’t wanna go home, well, back to the hotel. I’ll just sleep,” he frowned.

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

He looked at her incredulously, “No! It’s a Friday night, putting myself out there and being carefree, remember?”

Kayla thought, “Okay, you can walk me home, that’ll kill sometime,”

“It’s cold,”

“Hence why we’re walking, it’ll keep us warm. I live five minutes from here,”

“That’s not really how the science works,” he stated. She gave him a blank look. He groaned, “A car is better and warm, there is heating,”

“This is so Hollywood of you, Evans. I doubt you’ll meet the woman of your dreams when you’re tucked away in the back of an Uber. Put yourself out there,” she pepped him. “What if you get cold? Carefree, remember?”

What if the woman of my dreams is already there with me? Chris smiled, failing to hide it; Kayla thought her pep-talk was resonating with him.

Chris resigned, “This is so London of you. You’re used to your crappy weather, you can shoulder the cold,”

“You’re so Hollywood, I’m in heels and I’m not complaining,” she pierced her eyes at him. “But you’re all, ‘I’m Chris, I’m from LA where it’s always hot, and I don’t walk anywhere because I have personal chauffeurs-“

“Fine, we are going to walk,” he said determined to show how normal he was.

“Before we go,” she bit her bottom lip nervously, realising he wasn’t putting up a fight anymore. “I kinda lied, it’s more like a fifteen minute walk,”

“Okay, if I’m bearing the cold to get you home, you’re cooking for me next time. I mean that,”

“Deal, and relax, it’s not even that cold,”

Chapter 4.2

_________

Disclaimer: Gif Not My Own

Tags: @mississippifangirl @thinemineours @tessathedragon @thottio @caninoona @eratotalles @allonszassbutt @thinemineours @dreamingwithmendes @void-imaginations @daybreak96 @l-auteuse @cliffordasparagus @bumber-car-s @lvlyab @melaninmarvel @milkymil-k

#Chris Evans #chris evans gif #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans fan fiction #Chris Evans fanfic #Chris fan fic #Chris Evans imagine #Daddy Hair Care #Chris Evans fic #sebastian stan #Sebastian Stan imagine #Sebastian Stan fan fic #Sebastian Stan fanfic #Sebastian Stan fanfiction #chris evans x black reader #Chris Evans x woc #daddy chris evans #Chris Evans daddy

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thisyearingaming · 4 years

Text

2011 - This Year in Gaming

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective - Nintendo DS, January 11th

A quirky adventure game where you are fucking dead, and you gotta work out who killed you. Ghost Trick is like Ace Attorney at first glance - it looks similar, and is made by effectively the same development team. Give it a shot on iOS.

Dead Space 2 - Multiplatform, January 25th

Dead Space 2 was the undisputed king of alien horror until Alien: Isolation released. Yeah, you battle massive acid-spitting aliens, but it’s the necromorph babies you’re gonna be shit-scared of. It isn’t quite as unique as it’s predecessor, but it’s definitely much better to play. Bring your brown pants.

The Nintendo 3DS Releases - March 27th

The 3DS was like magic when you first fired the 3D slider all the way up - then it became a gimmick you never used again. Releasing with a few decent launch titles and being able to boast Street Fighter IV as playable, the 3DS arguably didn’t really pick up much steam until a few months after launch. While more powerful than the original DS which was six years old at the time, I can’t remember being particularly interested in it at the time.

Portal 2 - Multiplatform, April 19th

Valve’s final single player experience until their jump into VR was a bloody good one - very funny and amusingly written with the best Steve Merchant performance since The Ricky Gervais Show, Portal 2′s puzzle solving adventure is rarely a chore to play through, and has thousands of custom maps courtesy of the Steam community.

L.A. Noire - Multiplatform, May 17th

Rockstar’s foray into adventure games has stood the test of time as an enjoyable and often startling journey nto the seedy underbelly of 1947 Los Angeles - as Cole Phelps you’ll threaten a Jewish man with the gas chamber, arrest a paedophile instead of a clearly guilty father, quote Hamlet to a prop skull at the scene of a car crash, destroy thousands of dollars of property, and yell at a child whose mother’s just been murdered. Great fun!

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The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - Windows

CDPR hit it out of the park with a fantastically improved sequel to 2007′s Eurojank diamond in the rough The Witcher, and really introduce Geralt of Rivia to more people for the first time with this game. A branching story that sees Geralt hunting Letho, the killer of King Foltest, and allying either with smelly hippy elven leader Iorveth and his terrorists who don’t appear in the sequel or the very cool but quite racist Vernon Roche and his special forces group, who are supporting characters in the sequel.

Alice: Madness Returns - Multiplatform, June 14th

A surprisingly charming, unsettling dive into the fractured psyche of the Victorian equivalent of an actual goth gf, Alice is a sequel to American McGee’s Alice from 2000. Surreal as fuck and absolutely drowning in atmosphere. Just don’t look at any of the YouTube comments on videos of the soundtrack. Rather bizarre show...

Duke Nukem Forever - Multiplatform, June 14th

Sometimes it’s best NOT to bet on the Duke. I bought this game to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I did neither - DNF is fucking boring, and I blame it ALL on Randy Pitchford’s devotion to ruining things I like. DNF could’ve been brilliant - either embrace your heritage like Doom Eternal would eventually do, or make it into a “last hurrah” kind of thing where Duke realises he’s getting old and can’t kick ass forever. The greatest disappointment of the 2010s so far - but worse would follow with it. The King is dead - hail to the King, baby.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Multiplatform, August 23rd

The piss-tinted prequel to 2000′s excellent conspiracy RPG Deus Ex, Human Revolution is like smashing Robo-Cop into a world where Detroit is not a humanitarian disaster zone. Adam Jensen, the gravelly-voiced biomechanically enhanced security chief of David Sarif, is dragged into a world of American conspiracies involving FEMA death camps, the government enforcing martial law in US cities and massive Chinese conglomerates plotting to control the world. Just like real life! DXHR is my favourite in the series for its design, atmosphere and narrative.

Dead Island - Multiplatform, September 6th

Eh. Wasn’t that good. Notable for having the most misleading fucking trailer since Metal Gear Solid 2, but nowhere near as fulfilling upon release. An open world zombie survival game with a focus on melee weapons more fragile than your granny’s second hip. Oh great, now there’s a dead kid on my page. Thanks, Techland!

youtube

Driver: San Francisco - Multiplatform, September 6th

A game you literally can’t buy anymore, DSF was incredible to play when it came out and has only really gotten better with time. It’s still so unique for a driving game that I’m surprised Ubisoft have had the good sense to just leave it and not go pants-on-head retarded with the franchise since. Nick Robinson had to buy Subway gift cards just to purchase this game.

Batman: Arkham City - Multiplatform, October 18th

Arkham City was so cool at launch and it still is today. A proper Batman epic with twists, turns, and the most addictive combat arena for years. This whole thing is gold from start to finish, except for the Harley Quinn DLC. I can’t even go into detail about it here, but I fucking LOVE this game.

Sonic Generations - Multiplatform, November 1st

Sonic Generations is the best Sonic game since 3 & Knuckles, but has now unfortunately convinced Sega that not only do people despise the Adventure games, they also really want to see Classic Sonic and Green Hill EVERY GODDAMN DAY. Generations is like a proper celebration of Sonic’s history, even including stuff from every reviewer’s favourite punching bag Sonic 2006 - I really like Generations and it has a stellar modding scene on PC.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception - Sony PlayStation 3, November 1st

The “finale” of the Uncharted series until Naughty Dog decided it wasn’t. Uncharted 3 may not be as tight as Among Thieves, but it’s just as enjoyable. As quipping invincible action hero Nathan Drake, you’ll ruin historical artifacts and “incapacitate” about 4000 guys in your quest to find Iram of the Pillars, chased by Cruella de Ville and her mercenary squad of a million faceless Englishmen.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - Multiplatform, November 8th

God I was so excited for this. World War 3 never looked cooler, and then it came out - and it wasn’t that good. It didn’t feel as epic as MW2, not as well-written as MW, and not as interesting as World at War and Black Ops. Multiplayer was... fine? I think this is the point where most people realised that Call of Duty was basically downhill from here.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Multiplatform, November 11th

See this paragraph? You can read it. Another installment in Bethesda’s cross-franchise “Little Lies” series, Skyrim has been released more times than China’s created a pandemic. But it’s still really good and when you rub it the right way it comes all over your screen like a particularly excited storyteller, ready to point in the direction of adventure.

Super Mario 3D Land - Nintendo 3DS, November 13th

Yeah this was the point I decided I wanted a 3DS. It looked incredible and so fluid, and it really was! Playing this was great fun. That’s really all there is - I can’t be funny about it, nor overly critical. What do you want from me?

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations - Multiplatform, November 15th

I didn’t like this when it came out - I thought the new graphic style was bad, Constantinople was dull, and the music was too different. Ezio was angrier, older, and the complete lack of any supporting cast from Brotherhood had me thinking this was a game that nobody wanted to work on - but now that I’m older, I can see this for how good it really was. Revelations blends the Ezio and Altair stories together, culminating in a satisfying emotional climax.

Saints Row: The Third - Multiplatform, November 15

This video speaks for itself.

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Minecraft - Windows, November 18th

There’s something beautiful about those early builds of Minecraft. Quiet, unassuming, and riddled with potential for exploration. I could talk for hours about the first time I was thrown into Mojang’s survival experience, about how I still get a bit weepy hearing Wet Hands by C418, about how shit-scared I still am of the mines and caves. Minecraft is immortal, and always will be.

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ti-bae-rius · 5 years

Text

Chance Encounters - Part 2/2

(Read part 1 here: https://ti-bae-rius.tumblr.com/post/185651968861/chance-encounters-part-12)

I’ve been held up from writing this for @daisyherxndale for AGES so I hope it isn’t a disappointment now it’s written! But yeah, bit of kitty, bit of Mina and Kit sibling stuff, and some ghost!livvy. Enjoy part 2 of this fic which was a little longer than expected!

Ty walked over to where Kit was pushing Mina on the swings and stood in front of her, putting his hands up for her to push her feet off. She laughed when they made contact, her little welly boots being pressed, pushing her back towards her big brother, giggling gleefully.

“How’s Church?” Ty asked finally and Kit sighed, grateful he didn’t have to be the one to break the silence.

“Good. He’s a little gremlin, but you wouldn’t think it was the same cat around Jem. They’re like...obsessed with each other.”

“Kitty!” Mina added and Kit smiled fondly.

“Oh yeah, Mina’s charmed him too,” Kit explained. “Haven’t you? You’re friends with Church the kitty cat, aren’t you?”

“No! Kit and Ty! K-I-T-T-Y,” she said, spelling it out phonetically with little kid letters. “Kitty!”

“That’s called a portmanteau,” Ty told her, nonplussed. “The blending of two words. It’s French - and that word itself is a kind of portmanteau of the words ‘porter’ and ‘manteau’. Isn’t that neat?”

“Neat,” Mina laughed, repeating the Americanism back to him in amusement.

Kit’s phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it from his jeans, glancing at the screen as he pushed Mina with one hand. Jem’s photo showed up and he slid his finger along the screen to take the call. It was always hit or miss whether or not Jem intended to call; he was not the most adept at technology. However, he also worried when Kit didn't answer, so Kit sat also worried when Kit didn’t answer, so Kit sat himself on a bench and put the phone to his ear.

“Hi, Jem. All okay?”

“Everything’s fine. I just wanted to check in. Tessa’s found a new antique bookshop.”

“We’ll never see her again,” Kit grinned. “A bachelor once more, Brother Back-in-the-game-ariah, am I right?”

“I don’t have words to describe how much those nicknames disturb me,” Jem returned, which made Kit laugh. “How’s Mina?”

Kit glanced up and looked around when he saw the swings were empty. He saw his sister at the top of the slide, beckoning Ty after her. He obeyed, taking the ladder three rungs at a time, so he was at the top in only a couple of steps. Mina slid down and ran off to the climbing frame, leaving Ty to follow her. Mina was pulling herself up on the lattice of rope to be at eye level with Ty. Ty tucked his knees up to swing across a set of monkey bars which made Mina clap her hands together, impressed, She reached her arms up and Ty lifted her onto one shoulder, carrying her as she swung herself between the monkey bars, weightless and safe in Ty’s strong grip. At the end, he set her down and bent to give her a high five. Kit’s heart twisted.

“She’s good, keeping Ty busy,” Kit said, sounding faraway and distracted, even t his own ears. He was hardly listening anymore, otherwise occupied watching Ty and Mina. This was not the Ty he’d left behind in Los Angeles in 2012, the young man who played with his little sister now, his past and present crashing together. Where did that leave his future? Kit thought. This Ty was taller and willowy, careful and calm. He was different, yet entirely the boy Kit remembered.

“Hello?”

Kit almost dropped the phone when Jem’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Sorry, hey. I was just thinking.”

“It looks like Tessa is finally done. We’re going to head home and - oh by the Angel, Tessa! Darling, how many more books do you need?” The line disconnected and Kit smiled, sliding his phone back into his pocket.

“Mina! Mummy and Daddy are on their way home. Let’s go and have some lunch,” Kit called and Mina grabbed Ty’s hand, pulling him along after her. Kit grinned at Ty’s awkward gait, having to bend to keep his hand in hers, looking startled. When they reached Kit, she stretched her free hand out to him, anchoring the two boys, one on each side of her.

“Swing!” Mina pleaded and Kit lifted her by the arm, Ty copying him, and the two swung her between them, making her squeal happily. This was what it would be like if we had a kid of our own, me and Ty. Kit startled at the thought. Where had that come from? He glanced across, wondering if Ty was thinking the same thing. His side-profile gave nothing away, but when he glanced across and met Kit’s eye, he blushed and ducked his head.

“Where’s Livvy?” Kit asked when they’d got back.

“She’s hidden, but she’s here,” Ty said, taking a sip of the can Kit handed him. He winced. “What is this? It’s awful.”

“It’s Irn-Bru,” Kit laughed.

“It tastes like gasoline,” he coughed.

“That’s petrol to you while you’re here,” Kit joked. “Here, give me that. You’ll like this one better.” He slid his own can across the kitchen counter and Ty drank from it, nodding.

“That’s way better. But yes, Livvy’s here. We just didn’t want Mina to be scared if she could see ghosts too, and I didn’t know how your parents would react.” He froze, glancing at Kit. “Sorry, I didn’t mean...I know your dad...”

“It’s okay. Tessa and Jem are like my parents.” Kit smiled. “But, um, I’d like to talk to Livvy, if that’s okay? Like...in private?”

“Oh, yeah. Of course. I’ll leave you to chat.” He glanced up. “Livvy, you can make yourself visible. It’s okay.”

Kit was, as always, somewhat taken aback by Livvy’s appearance. She looked so young, only fifteen. Kit hadn’t realised how much three years could change a person, but Livvy looked so much younger than him still. It was hard to see someone you cared about frozen in time, unable to grow and become older. It made him think of Tessa, who would stay young as the others aged around her. It wasn't eerie as much as it was sad.

“Hey, Livs,” he smiled, as Ty closed the door behind him, going out into the garden where Tessa, Jem, and Mina were sat. Tessa was lounging on a picnic blanket, Jem’s arm around her, leaning back against his shoulder. They were watching Mina, who was looking at something on Ty’s sleeve, some creature or other, no doubt.

“Sorry again about your conservatory,” Livvy said, and Kit laughed.

“You say that every time you see me,” Kit pointed out. “It’s fine. I told you, Magnus fixed it right up. It’s as good as new - probably better than new since Magnus probably added a little pizzazz to it.”

“That’s Mina, huh?” she asked, smiling wistfully. She was peeking around the alcove to look outside, careful not to make herself visible to the others. “She’s beautiful.”

Kit nodded. “I know. She’s amazing. She’s such a fast learner and so clever. I swear she’ll be reading War and Peace by the time she’s seven.” Livvy laughed, and it sounded unpractised. Kit supposed she didn’t have much cause for laughter nowadays. “How are you?”

“Dead, as per usual,” Livvy replied. “You?”

“Alive for now,” Kit told her. “Fingers crossed I stay that way. I-um...who’s Anush?” Kit blurted and Livvy covered her face with her hands, though her transparent form meant Kit could still see her despairing head shake.

“Just some guy from the Scholomance. Stop being all jealous.”

Kit scoffed, blushing. “I’m not. Shut up.”

“Um, says the person who asked me to manifest,” Livvy retorted. “But seriously? You asked me to show just to interrogate me about my twin’s potential relationships?”

“No!” Kit assured her quickly. “I wanted to talk to you. What are you guys gonna do when Ty graduates?”

“I wanna go back to L.A.,” Livvy admitted. “I don’t know if it’s the best idea though, or if Ty will even want to go back. He misses everyone but I think he quite likes the independence. I just worry that it’ll all go wrong. I’m okay when we go back for a few days or weeks, but staying there indefinitely feels like tempting fate. You know?”

Kit looked up at her. “Well I hope you come back and visit, wherever you go.”

“Ty wouldn’t stay away from you for long now he’s finally got you back,” she smiled. “He’d always come back and visit you, and we come as a package deal - even more than when I was live. Plus,” she added, nodding to the garden where Ty was sat with Mina, “I think he’s made a new friend.” Kit smiled and Livvy sighed sadly. “Go. They’ll be missing you. I’ll see you later, Kit.”

“Wait!” he called, and she paused, hovering. “Thank you. We’re still best friends, right? If you want to talk, get Ty to visit and we’ll talk.”

“Of course we’re still best friends. Besides, you don’t have much competition in that department,” she added. “I’ll see you soon.”

With that, she vanished, though Kit could almost pretend he could see her, floating behind Ty. Mina was looking up at him, awestruck. It took a moment for Kit to realise why; a squirrel was sat on his shoulder and he was feeding it nuts from the feeder in the apple tree. Kit didn’t need any reason to look at Ty with the wonder his little sister did. When he headed outside, sitting down in the grass and pulling Mina carefully into his lap, she turned to shush him, pressing her finger to his lips.

“Sssh. Squiggle.”

Kit nodded solemnly, though he smiled as soon as she turned back around, wrapping his arms around her. He could still remember when she was newly born and he’d held her. Kit had never believed that babies smelt as good as everyone said, but Mina’s hair tickled his nose as he breathed and she smelt of vanilla and cotton and milky tea. He rested his chin on her head now and breathed in the memory of it watching Ty with a heart that was swelling so great he wondered when it would inevitably break.

#kitty #KITTY FIC #ty and kit #kit and ty #kit herondale #ty blackthorn #tiberius blackthorn #jessa #jem carstairs #Jem and Tessa #tessa and jem #jessa baby #baby carstairs #fic #fanfic #tessa gray #wilhelmina carstairs #mina carstairs

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joeymozzarello · 5 years

Text

Pen to Paper

Chapter Four

Summary: A simple thesis on a simple book she’d read. That’s all she needed to do. She knew it would be at least a little bit arduous but she didn’t think it would cause this much trouble.

Pairing: Tim Murphy x original female character

Words: 1,628

A/N: i got the idea for this in the american natural history museum where i found a note to a Julie T from a Dr. Com on a bench near the t-rex room.

Julie had written four out of the sixty pages she had to write. She tapped her fingers on the table she was sitting at, the usual one that, for the past week, kept getting hijacked by Tim Murphy, on a mission to push all of Julie’s buttons until she cracked. Truly remarkable how up until now, he hadn’t succeeded.

The bar flashed rhythmically as Julie stared at the document in front of her. Her notes were out, open on the table, most of them anyway, and she just stared. This is ridiculous. Her eyes kept flicking to the clock directly ahead, the one that hung right above the main entrance to the cafeteria.

She was trying to figure out why she was so unfocused all of a sudden, if maybe she had lost inspiration or if maybe there was a Mercury retrograde she didn’t know about, that always seemed to catch her out. A hand squeezed her shoulder, it was a strange gesture, Julie wasn’t expecting it and it sure was unlike Tim to-

“Julie? What’s this?” Dr Connors stepped forward to look at the notes. “Fascinating, there’s a lot of me but not a lot of the other author,” she laughed a breathy laugh. “I sure hope I’m not your only source of intel.”

Completely out of nowhere, Julie felt her mood drop. “Um - hah, no, of course not,” she shook off her need to sigh. “Lunch early today?” She asked as Dr Connors took the other seat in front of her. It didn’t feel quite right, her eyes shifted to the entrance for a quick second.

“Actually, I have a headache so I took a break,” Janet rubbed circles on her temples. “Perks of being in charge of almost everyone,” she hummed. “Say, honey, would it be terrible to ask you to get me a cup of tea?”

Julie thought about her funds, she barely had any money to feed herself, let alone buy tea for other people. What kind of person would she be to refuse the request, though? She couldn’t say no, she would come off as the world’s worst person. If she were back home, she wouldn’t have hesitated but now she wasn’t so sure. “Oh, yes! Sure, I can do that,” she swallowed. “Give me a moment.”

Shutting her laptop and jumping off her stool, Julie made her way to the queue to order the coffee. She fiddled with the zip of her hoodie before bringing her and to her back pocket where she took out her wallet. She had two dollars, she hoped it would cover it. She caught a glimpse of a bright yellow knitted sweater and a smile appeared on her face, but as the owner of the sweater got nearer, her giddy excitement turned to disappointment. Why?

“Next please,” the guy working the booth today gestured forward. She knew him because Tim knew him, she was sure his name was Steven or something but she didn’t risk it. He smiled at her, a nice smile with pearly white teeth and a youthful gleam in his eyes. “After that look you gave my pizza on Monday, I was sure you’d never come back,” he chuckled.

“What, me? Give a look? No, you know I’m the biggest fan of your pizza,” her face twisted a little bit. “No, I’m so sorry, I cannot lie to you, that pizza would definitely not make my top ten,” she laughed as he did. This wasn’t nearly as awkward as she thought it would be.

“What will it be for you today, then?” He asked after a wink, leaning over the counter to look at the menu from her perspective, she giggled, her face flushing a little bit. “An iced tea? Nachos? Chocolate pudding?”

Julie bit the inside of her cheek. “Actually, it’s nothing for me, today,” she watched him as he stood, a little confused. “Dr Connors wants tea,” she shrugged, Steven raised his finger and nodded, as if to say ‘say no more’. Once he handed it to her, she pulled out her wallet, but Steven stopped her.

“It’s on me,” he smiled. Thinking about it, Steven wasn’t the worst person to look at, not at all. He was tall and sharp-looking, a jawline that could cut and eyes that she was sure would be described as ‘dreamy’ if she were reading a book. “Hey, this may seem way forward and you can one hundred percent say no but there’s this new karaoke bar and me and some friends are going to check it out on Saturday night and since you’re new in town -” he paused. “Well I thought maybe you’d like to make some friends.”

Julie smiled. She wasn’t one to accept requests on a whim but today felt different, she could feel the loneliness downing on her and she was beginning to miss her friends, so Steven might’ve been right. This could be good. “You know what? Sure, why not?”

They exchanged contact details and just like that, Julie was back with Janet. “So you’re flirting with Stevie, huh?” Janet’s eyebrow shot up, smugly. Julie’s face went red, eyes wide, but before she could say anything, Janet waved her hands at her with a roll of the eyes. “You don’t have to tell me anything about that, I’m a good observer. Instead, tell me about this thesis.”

Minutes passed, then hours and still no sign of Tim at his desk or at the cafeteria, complete radio-silence. On her way back from delivering some papers to another professor, she stopped at Tim’s desk, slowly bringing her eyes down to the scattered papers and endless notes he had. His laptop was in standby, flashing the words Tim’s Mac-a-saurus to which Julie laughed quietly. He must’ve been here today if his laptop was. Julie didn’t know why she was so interested, maybe it was because she’d grown used to his endless babbling every day, it kept her sane - not that she would ever admit to that fact.

She noticed the line of toys he had on his desk, two velociraptors, seemingly being chased by a t-rex, what looked like a triceratops standing on its hind legs and a velociraptor flipped on its back. A tragedy, she thought. In the trashcan sitting next to his desk, under crumpled paper and coffee cups from various coffee joints, she spotted empty bags of sour candy and she couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Find something interesting?” Julie jumped at the voice, her face instantly flushing when she realised who it belonged to, but she managed to pull herself together just as she turned to her own faded reflection in Dr Tim Murphy’s glasses.

“That’s new,” she pointed out with a cocked eyebrow. “Be honest with me now, are you just wearing those to make people think you’re more intelligent?” Tim sighed and just walked around to his chair and sat, setting various papers down. “Oh no, are you gonna give me detention? I didn’t mean to make fun of you.” Julie giggled, Tim just waited with a calm expression on his face.

“Is it out of your system?”

“Ugh, you’re no fun today, what happened?” She asked, tilting her head with a sigh, something Tim was not a big fan of. He’d received a lot of those in his time and he didn’t like it, it meant people thought there was something wrong with him or that he had to be pitied or looked after - he didn’t want that.

“Nothing, I just have a lot of work to do,” he paused, Julie wasn’t really sure what he wanted her to do. “Do you mind?” He stuck his chin out with and expectant look on his face, one that was clearly telling her to leave, so with a surprising pang in her chest, she sadly - but pridefully - obliged and made her way down the hall.

Dick.

She was a little shocked at his behaviour, they’d known each other for about a week now and she thought she was getting on pretty well with her only friend in town, but apparently not. Maybe it really was good that she was going out this weekend, she suddenly felt good about making plans with Steven. She needed to get out and explore the city, after all, coming here had been her dream since she was a kid.

She sat at her little desk right outside Janet’s office and she just stared into space, her elbows crumpling her notes and Cynthia’s eyes staring right through her soul. Here was another thing - Cynthia? Not the biggest fan of Julie. Earlier in the week, Julie had walked in on her complaining to Janet about how it wasn’t good to keep another Tim around. Everything about that felt wrong to Julie.

Tim was a Sagittarius, headstrong with too many opinions and not enough of a filter. He was loud and a Mr Know-it-All. Julie, though also being a fire sign, was completely different. Her Capricorn moon made her who she was, Cynthia just couldn’t see it. Julie felt that she had been much better conducted than Tim - who did he think he was? He had a mouth on him, if she were back home, someone would have told him to shut up already.

We get it. You’re clever. You’re handsome or whatever. Try being nice for once.

Julie couldn’t wrap her head around what had occurred between them. She didn’t enjoy being disliked, especially when she had no idea why. She also didn’t enjoy fussing over people she barely knew, but she couldn’t help but wonder if her jokes had gone too far - no. Stop it.

She sighed. Saturday couldn’t come soon enough.

Master List!

#tim murphy #dr tim murphy #tim murphy au #joe mazzello #joe mazzello au #jurassic park #jurassic world

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archadianskies · 5 years

Text

jupiter grayscale

@dbhrarepairs Tuesday Day 2: Highschool/College AU / Unrequited; post-revolution not!Markus/Simon, RK900/Simon + Markus/Josh

It shouldn’t disappoint him, shouldn’t wound him so deeply since he expected this outcome but it does anyway, it does knife into him like a cold blade when he realises he is, yet again, not the first choice. He reasons he’s come to terms with it, this state of just being, just existing, just surviving the day to day. He survives the revolution, even sort of has a hand in it though all he really did was echo Markus’ decisions and try to keep the casualties as low as possible. It almost costs him his life at one point, and Simon concludes it would’ve been easier to just die. His life isn’t worth much, he should’ve just absorbed the role of the martyr and died for the cause. Anything would’ve been better than trudging along in this limbo where things continue to happen all around him, but not to him.

He’s being melodramatic, if he’s honest with himself, but he figures he’s earned that right whilst watching his close friend fall in love with the man he’s fallen in love with too.

Josh deserves this, he deserves to be loved by the leader of their people, he deserves Markus and Markus deserves him too. Josh is strong and eloquent and strives for the integration of their people with mankind. He is also soft and gentle and affectionate, caring and open with others. There’s no one in Jericho like Josh, and there’s no one in Jericho Simon is more closer to than Josh. The PJ500 even gave Simon his Detroit University sweater when Simon’s temperature regulator finally gave out. If there’s anyone who can match Markus’ headstrong determination, his poetic eloquence, his compassion and leadership, it’s Josh. Not Simon. No, there’s no way Simon can ever compare to Josh and the vast sea of knowledge about American history and civil rights in his head. It’s exactly what their people need, what Markus needs, to build a future together with the humans. They are a beautiful, harmonious match and it makes Simon ache right down to his core to see them together. Two beautiful beings so at peace with themselves, so confident in their conviction. And rather handsome, too. Very handsome.

Everything happens at breakneck speed; they’re alive, they’re granted the status of living beings, they’re given basic rights to a surname, to a minimum wage, to accommodation and privacy. The chaos keeps Simon busy, and he’s grateful for it because there’s hardly any time to wallow in the poisoned well of his thoughts. He stays as neutral as can be when they are at meetings, at press releases, at city council even when it claws him apart to see Markus and Josh leaning towards each other like a sunflower to the sun. They whisper to each other, they twine their fingers together beneath the table, they preen each other’s ties, lapels, they bump their brows fondly. They are in love and Simon loves and loathes it at the same time.

“I have been assigned as your security detail.” The RK900 is new in every sense of the word; the completed upgrade of Connor’s RK800 prototype model, the latest addition to the DPD workforce, the most recent deviant in his known circle.

“Because I’m the obsolete PL600?” Simon muses with a pinch of dark humor. The RK900 frowns.

“Because you are a leader, one of the Jericho Four, and therefore a target for anti-android groups.” He was only half joking, but the other android answers so sincerely it makes him laugh.

“And who is protecting Markus?”

“My...brother, Connor.” There’s only a slight stumble when he says it, the word a little awkward on his tongue. “He has a security team already set up inside. I am to escort you to the Town Hall from here.”

“Do you have a name?”

“My name is Ronan.” It’s also a little awkward on his tongue, like tasting something he’s never tasted before but knows he’ll grow to like. “It’s derived from the Japanese word ronin, meaning a masterless warrior.” It’s endearing, and Simon realises Ronan is a little like the child in the playground who is new to town and sees everyone playing with their friends and wants to belong too but just doesn’t know how. He reaches out and preens the collar of his smart jacket.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ronan.”

“I am...new. To everything. It is a lot to ask of a Jericho leader, but I wish to learn how to navigate the world.” Ronan speaks hesitantly, the way someone does when fearing they would be struck at any moment. Like a beaten dog. “It is confusing. I was programmed to be...something else. Something violent. But CyberLife had to deviate me as part of the agreement to release all remaining models.”

“And now you don’t have a clear purpose.” Simon surmises with a sad smile. “That’s the trouble with deviancy, Ronan. No one really has a clear guide but then again that’s just how it is for humans, too.”

The RK900 seems to deflate at that, visibly discouraged, and he looks so earnestly lost it makes Simon smile. The new kid in the playground. He seems to come to his senses and straightens his posture, tilting his head slightly down to compensate for their height difference.

“It is snowing heavily. Your temperature regulator is malfunctioning, you will need to wear adequate clothing to compensate.” Ronan’s shrugging out of his sharp tailored jacket and gently draping it around Simon’s shoulders. “We should leave now or else you will be late.”

Simon bursts out laughing, because the whole thing is just ridiculous isn’t it? A state of the art detective-slash-soldier being paired with a malfunctioning obsolete caretaker. Ronan blinks at him, confused by his outburst and Simon manages a smile.

“I’m sorry you’re the one stuck with me.”

“It’s an honour.” Ronan murmurs, as if it’s a confession he’s hesitant to voice. “The RK200 would not have had any deviants to lead if you hadn’t cared for them first.”

He hadn’t thought of it that way, and he stands there stunned as he processes his words.

“Our taxi will be arriving shortly.” Ronan gestures for him to follow, and Simon’s feet carry him out because his mind is still reeling. This whole time the world has been whizzing passed at breakneck speed and he’s been standing still, stagnant, trapped in a cycle of self-loathing and pity, and now the world’s taken a moment, put the future on pause as it hands him a gift. A new project, a new distraction.

They sit in the taxi, silent except for the news bulletin playing on the small screen. It’s a beautiful winter’s day, and last night’s snowfall is being dusted with a fresh layer like something out of a Hallmark movie. The vehicle is warm, Ronan discreetly turning on the heating when they’d first settled in and Simon’s not sure what to do. He’s used to fussing over people, not having people fuss over him.

“Where do you stay, when you’re not on active duty?”

“I have a small room at the precinct with a charging bed.” At the sight of Simon’s disturbed expression, he continues. “Sometimes if the situation calls for it I will stay in the guestroom at Detective Reed’s apartment.”

“You poor thing.” Simon commiserates and the corners of his mouth twitch up into a brief smile.

“He has two felines who are far better company.” Ronan holds out his hand and shows a holophoto of a pure black, and a fluffy tortoiseshell cat. “If it were not for them I would not stay there.”

Simon laughs at that and is delighted when Ronan chuckles softly too. He looks a little like Connor, but not too much; he’s a little leaner, a little sharper, more intimidating- but they smile the same. His eyes crinkle up like Connor’s, his mouth makes a wide pleasing shape. Simon lets himself fall in love a little. He can’t hurt himself any more than he already has, and Ronan is so far out of his league he figures it’s pretty safe to have a little crush.

*~*~*

He’s not exactly sure how he’s become the nominated liaison between Jericho and the DPD but he’s not altogether unhappy with the decision. As much as he loves being a caretaker, loving and nurturing the abandoned YK500s and helping them integrate with human children- it’s nice to be given a job interacting with adults. Josh also pointed out his visage helps put humans at ease; apparently a caucasian with blond hair and blue eyes seems more trustworthy than a very handsome professor and all around gentleman with dark skin but what would Simon know.

Carefully setting down the tray of TeaRiums on the reception desk, he plucks one out and hands it to Stephanie the sweet ST300 deviant.

“Good morning Steph.”

“A very good morning to you, Simon, thank you.” She giggles, accepting the sweet heated beverage. “Meeting’s been delayed a little as Captain Fowler is presently stuck in traffic but you’re welcome to sit and wait.”

“Thanks, I’ll head on in.” Tray back in his hands, he passes through the security gates and heads for a familiar set of desks. “Good morning Connor, this is for you.”

“Oh, thank you Simon.” The android detective breaks into a wide smile, eager and puppylike and endearing.

“And this one is for you, Ronan.” Simon smiles softly, offering the other tall cup.

“For me?” Ronan blinks in surprise as he accepts the drink, and Simon gathers the android is probably not used to being given anything in general. “Thank you. I’ve never had one of these before.”

Simon sits on the edge of his desk, the last cup in his hands. “Well now that we’re considered living beings like humans, capitalism has to find a way to profit from us too.” Connor snorts back a laugh, and Ronan barely manages to hide a growing smile as he takes a sip from his cup. Adorable, Simon thinks, he’s actually quite adorable.

*~*~*

It’s snowing heavily, certainly not the picturesque flurry of a Hallmark movie, and he really, really should not be outside. But he is because he’s stubborn and he hates appearing broken and weak when their people have suffered far worse. Simon grits his teeth and forces himself to bear it, to work through the sluggishness and cascade of errors and stiffness in his joints. He can do this one thing, this one damn thing, surely, and hand deliver important documents to the mayor and attend the meeting.

“You shouldn’t be outside, it is well below freezing.” Is the first thing Simon hears when he manages to open his eyes. Ronan is looking at him in alarm, reaching for his hands and cupping them in his. The other android is forcing his temperature to spike so Simon can leech his warmth and Simon hates himself a little bit more at how quickly his system soaks it up.

“What are you doing here Simon?”

“The mayor requested the signed documents be brought to his office and discussed with one of us Four.” Simon’s voice comes out slightly staticky, and he’d be mortified with embarrassment if he weren’t trying so damn hard just to stay functioning. “What are you doing here?”

“...The mayor informed the DPD about this meeting and requested adequate security.”

Simon manages a huff of a laugh, feeling ever more sorry for the both of them in this very moment. Ronan lets go of his hands in order to shrug off his rather handsome new trenchcoat, and he drapes the heavy navy wool garment around Simon’s shoulders like a warm blanket. He’s not sure where Ronan’s taking his satrorial cues from but he does appreciate how the android is always so impeccably groomed. The shelter of the foyer and the warmth from Ronan’s coat starts to compensate for Simon’s broken regulator, and his system finally starts to ease him away from emergency shutdown. It’s ridiculous. He’s ridiculous. How he’s still alive is a mystery to everyone including himself. So he laughs and it sounds a bit like a nervous crazy giggle, like scratchy white noise, but it feels good to get it out anyway.

“Were you expecting Josh?”

“Yes.” Ronan nods, frowning as Simon continues to giggle. “The nature of this meeting and the weather led me to assume it would be Josh.”

“He and Markus have to prepare for the White House trip.” The mild buzz of hysteria fades a little around the edges as he remembers how fondly they looked at each other, discussing their hopes for a day of sightseeing and precious, private relaxation away from their duties. “North has her hands full with her Eden Club outreach program so that left me.”

“You should have told me.” He sounds so disappointed Simon feels guilty. “I would have arranged for adequate transportation and escorted you here.”

“You really don’t have to worry about me-”

“But I do.” Ronan interjects firmly. “I do worry, Simon.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re one of Jericho’s leaders, you’re an important public figure, and-” he seems to catch himself, eyes widening slightly before he averts his gaze completely.

“And?”

“And you’re important to me.” He says it so quietly yet with such conviction, and Simon’s pretty sure this isn’t happening and he’s actually constructing this dream scenario as he’s dying somewhere outside in the snowstorm. “You’ve been endlessly patient with me and helped make sense of my deviancy. You’ve been nothing but kind to me, when you had to be neither of those things. I am here today, the way I am, because of your kindness and your patience.”

“Ronan...” Simon sighs and he’s exhausted, bone-tired as he leans forward and rests his brow against his shoulder. He doesn’t recognise who he is after the violence against them stopped. Who is he, now the revolution is over? All the iterations of him, the Burbank family caretaker Simon, the machine Simon, the Jericho caretaker Simon- they’re all previous chapters in a book that was meant to end but now has an excruciating unplanned epilogue.

“Don’t say you cannot believe such claims, because you spend your days giving our people hope.” Ronan chastises sternly. “And if you can’t force yourself to believe those claims, then at least believe me.”

He closes his eyes, turning his head so he’s resting his cheek against Ronan’s shoulder, and the other android hesitates briefly before wrapping his arms around him. When he continues, his voice is softer, his tone tinged with reverence.

“You are Simon of the Jericho Four, and Jericho would not be complete without you. Each of you bring different skills to the table, and yours is no less crucial than the others. Believe me, please.”

What more does he have to lose, really? He left his heart somewhere on that roof in Stratford Tower, or perhaps it’s still inside the rotting hull of the freighter full of ghosts now lying on the bottom of the canal because it’s certainly not in his own chest, or the chest of Markus Manfred.

“I’m not used to being treated kindly,” a pause, a forced laugh, “or even just being seen.”

“Neither am I.” Ronan murmurs, words smudged in Simon’s hair. “But I see you, Simon. And you see me.”

*~*~*

It’s a quiet thing, a soft steady thing that gradually manifests rather than something intense and explosive and dramatic consuming his life. It’s a small box of Ronan’s things, all his worldly possessions fitting in so small a container, sitting on the table in Simon’s apartment. It’s Ronan’s jackets hanging in his closet. It’s Ronan’s hands, with an average crush force strong enough to crumple a vehicle, brushing him so softly, featherlight and reverent as if the android longs to map him completely by touch alone. They kiss one unremarkable day in December when Ronan comes home and Simon’s finished his duties for the meantime. He gives him a box.

“I have a gift for you.”

“A gift? It’s still three weeks until Christmas.” Simon teases lightly, running his finger along the black cardboard.

“It isn’t for Christmas. It’s just a gift I want to give you.” He says matter of factly, the delivery so earnest it always makes Simon smile. He opens the box and it’s a biocomponent he doesn’t recognise.

“It’s a prototype.” Ronan explains hesitantly. “I asked a large favour of the Kamskis and they were surprisingly obliging.”

“The Kamskis?” Simon echoes in surprise. “This is a Kamski prototype?”

“It’s an upgraded thermal regulator.”

“Oh.” His vision blurs suddenly, and the emotions get stuck somewhere in his chest between his hearts. Plucking the component from the box, he turns it this way and that to admire it. There’s no serial number, just ‘SMN600’ branded along one of the curves. “Ronan I-” He trails off, finally meeting those stormy grey eyes and finding them glossy with emotion too. They lean in at the same time, their mouths meeting in a kiss that’s a little clumsy from nerves and buoyed with hopeful giddiness. When they part, Simon places the component in Ronan’s hands before stepping back and beginning to undress. He lays against the bed and Ronan crawls atop him as he pulls open his chest cavity. They don��t speak, they don’t dare to, as Simon reaches inside himself and pulls the broken component free. Ronan’s fingers are warm when they ease inside, ever careful, ever gentle as he slots the new component in its place. Their eyes meet again, and then their lips do a moment later and Ronan presses him down into the bed as Simon opens his mouth for more. He wants to drown in him, he wants him to wash clean the poisonous well of his thoughts and leave something pure in its wake. They kiss, again and again and again, and Simon doesn’t think of Markus anymore.

Ronan doesn’t return to the converted storage room at the precinct and Simon no longer comes home to an empty apartment. They build a life together, something just for them. It’s a quiet, soft, steady love that grows confidently, like the tired withered thorns blooming brightly after the snow melts.

#dbh simon #rk900 #dbh josh #dbh markus #detroit: become human #dbhrarepairs #dbhrarepairsweek #today's song is jupiter grayscale by gallant #annie writes: dbh

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antipthy-blog · 5 years

Text

❝ i want to be good , life’s just not letting me ! ❞

one. ⤻ statistics.

full name: jess alex mariano.

nicknames, aliases: no notable ones. can’t get much out of jess.

age: twenty - one.

date of birth: february seveth.

place of birth: new york city, new york.

current place of residence: truman island.

occupation: writer, vagabond, pain in the ass.

nationality: american.

sexual & romantic identity: pansexual, panromantic.

gender identity: cis male, he/him.

hogwarts house: slytherin.

source material: gilmore girls.

two. ⤻ biography.

jess wasn’t always a problem child, wasn’t always a holden caulfield rip - off in torn denim and worn leather. jaded gaze hasn’t always thinly veiled hurt and anger --- - no, it used to be a sunny sparkle that lingered in warm brown, buoyant smile instead of soured smirk. funny, he thinks, doesn’t seem real.

jess alex mariano is born to liz danes and, at the time, an unnamed father. liz’s boyfriends don’t tend to stick round long, and his father is a prime example --- - ditched the minute the stick turned pink. when jess, only an infant, points at the bearded layabout liz has picked up this time and utters a babbled ‘dada !’, the current boyfriend flees too. it’s about this time that liz decides to separate her motherhood from her romantic life, stops letting anyone get too close. she tries, and for a few years, it’s good. until jess is about eight, it’s him and his mom, and everything feels right. she helps him with homework at the dinner table, cooks his favourite meals, presses a kiss to his forehead before he goes to sleep at night. he’s a well - adjusted kid in those years, polite and kind and dedicated to the ever - growing stack of books that keep his bedside company but life continually fails to be kind, and he’s barely past his ninth birthday when fate cracks its whip again.

liz brings around a new guy, one that sneers at jess but sucks up to liz and strokes her ego and really, it’s all he needed to do. years and years’ of work unravel right at her fingertips and suddenly she’s leaving a nine - year - old to cook himself dinner, clean their little brooklyn apartment, get himself up and off to school. the first stamp of hurt digs into those bright eyes, and it only deepens as time barrels on. it’s like she forgets that she has another life to take care of. she leaves rent money and grocery money every week, but he stops seeing her when he drags himself home from school.

fourteen, and virulence is not so much a new behaviour but one that has developed, metastasized over the past few years. he’s fourteen when he first drinks an entire bottle of wine liz has left in the cupboard ( finds out real fast that red wine tastes like shit ), followed by swigs and swigs of cheap vodka that leave his head buzzing and his eyes burning with tears that he blinks furiously back because she’s left him, she’s chosen a piece of ass over her own flesh and blood and that shit stings. it doesn’t take him much to get drunk that first night, and he wakes up with cheeks still tacky with tears and a pounding headache. liz doesn’t care, though. liz isn’t here.

he raises himself in these years, rents movies and spends most nights curled under a heap of blankets, hand perpetually stuck in over - buttered popcorn. he makes his way through all the works of his favourite directors, branches out into different genres that he didn’t think he’d like, racks up an impressive catalogue. it’s the same with books --- - he reads voraciously, a frequent at the local library. he’s never missed a due date, always gets his books and movies back on time so he can pick up more, delve into worlds simultaneously better and worse than his own. in the absence of someone showing him how to do it, he takes the cultural zeitgesit by the horns and makes it his own, like everything else in his life.

it’s saturday when it happens. he’s sixteen, absolutely shitfaced off a cheap bottle of scotch liz’s latest boyfriend has slipped him as some kind of fucked up means to keep him complacent and nonplussed about how infrequently his mother visits. said mother returns in the middle of a rewatch of the lost boys, sobbing about how she’s been broken up with and how broken her heart is and something snaps like nothing else. only five foot nine at the time, he grows into a seven foot monster when his volume picks up, voice trembling and catching as he unleashes years’ worth of neglect, swallowed hurt and acridity at liz, who only watches with wide eyes and pursed lips. he yells, he shakes, he asks the fuck did you think you were doing coming back here ? the fuck did you think i was gonna do, extend another olive branch, let you cry on me so i can pick up the pieces like nothing ever fucking happened ? fuck you liz, fuck you. you don’t deserve my sympathy, y’know that ? y’don’t deserve jack shit of my time, seein’ as i was never good enough for yours.

liz packs him up to stars hollow after that, a bundle of bad attitude and metallica shirts and careworn copy of beat poetry tucked into the oversized pocket of a jacket. he alternates between glaring out the window and flicking through on the road, but ends up asleep, head lolled back and throat exposed --- vulnerable, like he’s never been before but will continue to be long after stars hollow leaves its imprint on him. he arrives with a scowl and a flourish, and luke greets him with a sigh and a heavy, too - warm hand on the shoulder. tells him about the place on the two - minute walk back to the diner, and that’s all it takes for jess to realise that he’s in hell. in his first few days, he makes no attempt to become acquainted in any way with the place, and then luke’s whisking him off to a friend’s and he meets her and his entire life is thrown, because she’s the most angelic creature he’s ever met and he’s going to die if he doesn’t get to hear that silvery voice every day for the rest of his life. he steals her copy of howl, writes borderline love notes in the margins and hopes she doesn’t read too much into them.

he is gone before he’s even really there. chases her, breaks her arm, leaves her, dates her, ruins her. he doesn’t graduate. he loves luke but he can’t stomach the disappointment that burns in the back of those deep eyes, so he slips out as quietly as he came. he leaves stars hollow in his wake, nothing more than the faintest remainder of a chalk outline outside of doose’s to even murmur that he was there in the first place. he thinks about going back for the first few weeks, but once he’s settled, he doesn’t think back on it.

jess’ memories of his real life are fuzzy. his memories come in fits and starts --- he wakes up one night with the searing memory of a wedding, a kiss, a name, and forgets it the minute he closes his eyes. he remembers luke, of course --- - doesn’t think the old man would let him live it down if he did. he clings to whatever memories he can recover like they’re a cliff’s edge and he’s got sweaty palms and the water beneath is crocodile - infested ; sometimes he writes them down, even if they’re nothing but a name or a word. he’s got a journal dedicated just to that, to trying to decode the words and pictures that come to him in dreams like he’s some kind of prophet. he keeps it with him at all times.

as far as his false memories go, he’s been living in truman since he was thirteen, sent to live with an uncle of unclear description who’s going to ‘straighten him out’. he knows it’s luke, but whether luke knows it’s luke is an entirely different story.

i’ve already rambled too aggressively for one morning so yea jess is a sad little mess n it’s canon that he still is !!!!!!

three. ⤻ wanted connections.

a group of writer pals / oh, you’re my best friends. he’s developed quite the little group of friends in truman, other writers and creatives who get him and get what he’s trying to do with his own writing. it’s not entirely dissimilar to canon truncheon, if you get me ????? anyway please give him friends

all i can say is big yikes / i laugh like me again, she laughs like you. it’s canon that jess is always going to be in love with rory, idc what anyone says. anyways, he tries to date someone else and he ends up dating a carbon copy of her. and it’s fine, it’s all good, nothing’s wrong until he accidentally calls her rory and then, y’know. shitteth hitteth the faneth.

#━━ ˊ * ╰ 𝑟𝑒: 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗳𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺 . ╱ ooc .#truman:intro #2/3.......... can u say killing it

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jackbeiste · 4 years

Text

heart of glass [jack + sebastian]

characters: jack beiste and sebastian smythe (@sebastiansmythejoie)

date: october 26

note: jack tries to figure out where he stands with sebastian and it doesn’t go very well

warnings: mentions of alcohol and sex

sebastian

It had been a long day for Sebastian but eventually day one of Lacrosse tryouts were over and all he wanted to do was flop down on his bed and sleep. A thought interrupted his dreaming of sleep as he reached his apartment; he had made plans with Jack tonight. Sebastian sighed. Not that he didn't want to spend time with Jack, he did, but the thought of having to leave again once he was home was exhausting. Seb pulled out his phone as he stripped down to shower. "Long day, can cocktails come to me?" Seb typed quickly, throwing the phone down on his bed and heading to the shower. Bas revelled in the feel of the heat streaming down his body; relaxing all of his muscles from hours of tight posture and fast moves. He let his eyes fall shut and his mind wander; imagining Jack in there with him, the shorter man flush against him, hard cocks pressed together, the sounds of Jack panting as Seb fingered him open... The sound of his phone buzzing with a response pulled Seb from his day dream and he grinned, quickly stroking his own cock to completion. There was a knock at the door and he hurried to finish dressing in just plain jeans and a t-shirt since he wasn't going out and it wasn't like he had to dress up for Jack; the man had seen him naked so many times now. Seb walked over to open the door; hair still wet but a grin on his face. "Hello handsome."

jack

Jack was waiting for Sebastian to finish try-outs, spending the time playing some Odyssey. It had been a while since he’d last played; he’d been too busy with school, D&D, figure painting, and well, boys. It was nice, he liked to just roam around ancient Greece like this. But he couldn’t stop thinking about how nice it would be with Sebastian next to him; studying his law books, Jack’s legs draped over his lap so the books would be resting on them and… he frowned, watching Alexios and his horse run right off a cliff thanks to his foolish distraction. He looked away, not quite able to admit the day dreams he’d been having of late, but also not quite able to bear the sight of Phobos dying. Odyssey truly made the death of the horse so brutal, especially in contrast to Alexios’ seeming inability to get injured from anything but a fight, and he couldn’t help the ‘sorry’ that slipped his lips quietly. He felt relief when he checked his message from Sebastian, happy to get away from his room and the day dreams he kept having of Sebastian in there. Collecting his stuff, he quickly got dressed to make the journey to the older man’s apartment, going over the drink recipe in his head. The sight of the brunette in just jeans and a t-shirt was surprising – he was always so well-dressed – and so… breath-taking. He looked so beautiful like this. Jack was almost glad the guy preferred to dress preppy most of the time. “Hey,” he murmured, stepping inside quickly while he could still tear his eyes off of Sebastian.

sebastian

Seb chuckled at the way Jack still seemed almost nervous around him, the way Jack so clearly walked by him without meeting his gaze. "So what are you making for this hard working teacher," he grinned, "I've half of todays turn out was entirely disappointing, I have a few hopefuls though," he commented, hopping up on a bar stool at the island in the kitchen, watching Jack; eyes roaming from his face to his ass.

jack

"Don't laugh... it's called Dicksch... Dicksucker," Jack admitted with a heavy blush. It had been introduced by one of his best friends, finding it hilarious at first, but they'd all ended up loving it. It was sweet and very effective. He unpacked his bag, glancing around. "Glasses?" He asked, rather sure Sebastian probably had fancier glasses than just water glasses for things like this.

sebastian

Seb actually laughed out loud, which wasn't a noise that was heard from his mouth often. "Dicksucker hm, well that sounds good to me. What's in it, or is it supposed to be a surprise." He winked. Seb moved over to a cabinet by his little dining table and pulled martini glasses, they were the best for cocktails in his opinion, "these are rather special, the blue glass is from a set I found on a trip to France at an arts market." He set them on the counter and jumped back on his bar stool; eager to have a front row seat to the gorgeous man.

jack

Jack gestured to his loot; pear vodka, blueberry schnapps, soda water and 7up. "Oh, cool," he said, studying the glasses carefully. They were definitely beautiful, but the 'rather special' made him a bit nervous. Still, he filled them with the ice he'd brought, putting the rest in the freezer before starting to mix the actual drink. "No ing.. injuries today?" he asked, glancing up at Sebastian. He'd been debating wether to try-out but he'd ultimately decided not to. He didn't really have time for it with all the D&D and figure painting as well as class and seeing friends.

sebastian

Seb grabber the bottle of pear vodka and smelled it before taking a small swig making a hum of approval. “I’m more a dark liquor person but this could be interesting.” He watched Jack intently as he mixed the drinks, not caring that he was blatantly staring. “No injury today, I was surprised by how well benji did I thought he was joking about trying out,, even with that frat party last night I survived so we have a few going onto the second day of try outs.”

jack

He could feel Sebastian's gaze on him, and he blushed as he glanced up to meet it. As he finished the first drink, he quickly started on the next one. "He seemed eks.. excited," he nodded, gently pushing thr first glass over to Sebastian after finishing his own drink too. "Fens... Fencing hungover?" He raised an eyebrow at him. He knew the swords had a special tip or whatever, but still... that seemed risky.

sebastian

"Damn Beiste, I don't think I've seen you make a drink this fast." Sebastian teased, he wasn't exactly in the mood to rush their night even with the second day of try outs tomorrow he had fun with Jack and had no intentions of rushing their fun. "Nothing much in the way of a hang over, frat parties tend to consist of cheep beer so it's the crap content that gets me more than the volume of alcohol." Seb shrugged, it really was no big deal to him to drink American light beers. "It was a fun time though."

jack

"Was it with your fre.. frat?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow at him. He wasn't entirely sure which frat he was in, it might be Gabe's frat. Sebastian didn't strike him as the frat party type, but then again, he more or less stated that he wasn't. Even with Gabe as a frat president though, that was still most of what he knew about frats. "Yeah?" He'd been to a few big parties, but he still preferred the casual parties, if you could call it that when it was just a bunch of friends sitting around, playing Dungeons and Dragons while getting drunk. "I've only been to one. I like... uh, party parties," he settled for, unable not to smile at his own joke.

sebastian

"No, sadly your big brother has turned it into the lamest frat on campus now it's his little daycare." Seb rolled his eyes, what was the point of a frat house if not a place to party. "I need to start a rebellion, he's not been throwing the mixers we need to make contacts out there in the real world for our careers. That's the only useful part of a Frat, well, that and the house full of easy lays with all the drunken guys wanting to explore there sexuality now they are away from their parents and judgy high school friends." Seb laughed. "What do you class as a 'party party'?"

jack

Jack just shrugged innocently at that, not knowing what to say. He understood that the rest of the fraternity maybe weren't too pleased that their president was suddenly a parent, and had to keep his surroundings safe and appropriate for a baby. But that also pleased him, knowing his nephew's needs weren't in any way neglected or compromised. He sipped on his drink, still waiting for Sebastian to try it, waiting for his reaction with nervous anticipation. The thought of him with some other guy hurt, even though he has never assumed anything different. But lately, the thought actually bothered him; and he took a sip to hide the slight frown on his lips as he couldn't quite block out a mental image of Sebastian having sex with some drunk undergraduate, some other Jack. "Don.. Dungeons and dragons."

sebastian

Seb watched Jack seem to shrug off his words so rather than commenting further he took a long drink. "Sweeter than I normally go for but a refreshing change." He nodded in agreement. Though if he was talking about the drink or Jack who really knew. Seb raised his eyebrows and chuckled, "Dungeons and Dragons counts as a party? You sound like that kid from last night."

jack

Jack did smile a little at that, pleased that the other man liked the drink. It made him relax even though he hadn't quite realised he'd been just a little tense as he waited for Sebastian's verdict. He frowned a little at the mention of whoever Sebastian's had hooked up with last night, but he couldn't help but feel a bit curious too; not sure whether he was interested in who it was or if he was slightly hurt that it didn't bother Sebastian much to be with someone that was a lot like Jack... without being him. "Yeah? Do you know his name?"

sebastian

Sebastian played with the straw in his drink surveying Jack. Tonight the young man didn't seem quite his usual self. Most nights he was gushing about something nerdy he was into or flirting up a storm with Seb but tonight he seemed tense. The two had fallen into an easy back and forth over the recent weeks but here now it was more like their first time when neither of them knew what the other would do. Seb narrowed his eyes, he felt like somehow this was a trick question. "Yangi, didn't catch his last name. Nerdy guy, hot too."

jack

Yangi. He felt his chest tighten and sweeped the rest of his drink as he tried to collect his thoughts. There was no doubt that it was the same Yangi. He wasn't sure what pissed him off the most - that Sebastian had gone for Yangi because Jack had to admit he had a small crush on him or because Yangi didn't seem like the kind of person who would be interested in the kind of relation Sebastian offered. It made him feel weird about the two of them too. "Seriso.. Seriously?"

sebastian

Sebastian chuckled. "Seriously, the kid hadn't even had a first kiss yet if you can believe it so I didn't get much. He may be hot but you're more fun." He winked, teasing Jack and enjoying his drink. Bas didn't think much of sharing his escapades with the younger man; it wasn't as if they were anywhere near monogamous. They were both sleeping with Val and who knew how many others. They had never discussed being exclusive or defined their relationship in any way. To Sebastian they were friends who enjoyed each others company and bodies. The concept of friends was even relatively new to Sebastian; he had family and team mates and the brotherly yet sexual relationship with Val but beyond that his relationships with Marley, Ariel and Topher he had developed over the last year or so were still so new to him he had no idea what this thing with Jack was.

jack

Jack just stared at him, a shaky hand placing the glass back on the table. "You... first kiss?" He asked, the last coming out as a hiss. Of course, Yangi was more than free to do what he wanted to do, and if he wanted Sebastian to be his first kiss, then Jack didn't have a problem with it. But he had a feeling he hadn't quite grasped who he was getting involved with before that kiss. Jack still regretted his first time, not because it hadn't been good, it had felt really good, but it hadn't been special. He couldn't even remember the guy's name. He knew it wasn't Sebastian, but looking back, Jack doubted he was much different from the man sitting in front of him. When he got involved with Sebastian, he had been confused but he knew what he was getting himself into; Gabe made sure to warn him more than once or twice. He knew, and still... he felt like this. It made him worried about Yangi, but mostly angry - especially as Sebastian was sitting here, with that god damn smirk on his face as he told the funny story about the nerdy freshman whose first kiss he'd taken. Did he talk about Jack like this with others? About how eager he was for a shy boy, how he would let Sebastian fuck him so hard he was all sore the days after, or how he kept wanting to see him? Did he chuckle, and say, 'I can't turn the poor thing away. And he's a decent fuck, so...' ? Jack swallowed hard, suddenly not sure wether he was more mad about Yangi or sad over the realisation that all he was was just another fumbling but eager freshman in Sebastian's eyes, the latest entertainment? Until the next one? When Gabriel had warned him, he had assumed it was because Sebastian never went further than fuck buddies. He hadn't expected it to be because Sebastian was just looking for another play thing.

sebastian

Seb furrowed his brow “yeah first kiss, that a problem? You think he should be saving himself for marriage or something?” He chuckled he didn’t believe in love and marriage and was perplexed that his fuck buddy would be judging him for kissing a guy he just met, or judging that guy for kissing Sebastian. Wasn’t like he could talk he was fucking Seb more than even Val these days.

jack

"Oh, fuck you," Jack spat out. "Yangi is my friend. He... You can't just kiss him." His words came out weird, but he didn't care. He was surprised he could get them out somewhat decently considering how he just wanted to cry right now. "You don't care, do you?"

sebastian

"I prefer to fuck you, he winked. "I can't just kiss a man who is willing an able?" Seb laughed, he was so surprised at Jack who never seemed to have a problem with Seb kissing him. "I care that it was a good kiss, what more am I supposed to care about? It was his first kiss so have to marry him? Or should he be saving himself for marriage like you are?" Seb growled back, not missing the malice in Jacks tone.

jack

"What if it wasn't just a kiss for him?" Jack hissed back, but took a step back at the last of Sebastian's words as if he'd been punched. Suddenly, he didn't know what he was doing. His one night stand had been surprising, but it had been the result of him trying to just... go with the college flow. But what the fuck was he doing, continuing to see people like Sebastian? There wasn't just fuck buddies in Jack's world. He grew attached. And he had. To Sebastian and Valerian both, even if it happened to be in different ways. Yet, the man he'd wanted to confess his crush - or was it more than just a crush at this point? - to just minutes ago... the same man seemed to not give a fuck that he'd kissed Yangi, a shy and soft boy, without any thoughts on even talking to him again probably. "Am I just a fuck?" He asked quietly.

sebastian

"It was a frat party we talked and made out of course it was nothing more don't be so ridiculous, I'm Sebastian Smythe, if you're kissing me you know exactly what you're getting into, or not getting into as the case may be. There is nothing more to it. You and I? We fuck and yeah we hang out but what else could it possibly be. You know who I am." Seb growled, not meeting Jacks eyes because all of these questions were so much more painful than he knew how to handle. A life time of repressing feeling left Seb with no idea how to process the idea of someone being more than just a fuck. This was his life and whether or not he was happy with it was no matter.

jack

Jack shoved his shaking hands into the pockets of his jeans, staring down at the counter. "Not everyone knou.. knows who you are," He said, his tone more mocking than he'd planned. How could he have possibly convinced himself that there was something between him and Sebastian? Even Valerian, with his indifference, treated him better than this. He sniffled, feeling tears welling up in his eyes. There was a lot he wanted to say still, but he didn't know how, or even where to start. And he didn't feel quite sure he wanted to know the answers to his questions. "Would you care if I stoo.. stopped coming? Or wa.. would you just find someone else?"

sebastian

Seb laughed, "everyone knows who I am if they are in a position to be kissing me Jack." He taunted, not letting Jack's tone get to him, or appear to get to him at least. "As long as we are fucking you wont stop coming." He winked. "You're not the only person I'm fucking, you realise that don't you." Seb raised an eyebrow, wondering what Jack thought was happening between them.

jack

"Val isn't you," Jack said quietly. "I'd miss you, even if I saw him," he added before letting out a weak, hollow laugh. Had he really thought that was a mutual feeling? He reached a hand up to wipe away his tears, feeling his cheeks burn with humiliation; both for the tears but... this. Was it really too much to ask to be someone to Sebastian? He just couldn't bear the thought that he was just a current fuck whose name the older man would eventually not even remember. "Is that it? Jo.. just enjoying to see how many stuph... id freshmen you can add to your count? You're just a fucking Shelob." If Sebastian had even thought about it, about anyone but himself and his stupid fucking dick, he surely would've seen that kissing Yangi had been a dick move. "Just... fuck you," he spat out, shaking his head as he rushed out of the kitchen, slamming the front door shut behind him as he left.

sebastian

"What does Val have to do with this?" Seb scoffed, "I prefer my freshman with at least half a brain thank you," He chuckled but taking a step back away from Jack as he saw the other man wiping tears from his eyes. He wasn't accustomed to crying people, especially not men he was fucking. The anger and hurt in Jacks face made him feel like he was going to throw up and he had no idea why or what it meant. "Fine if you have such a problem with my actions don't bother coming back." Seb shouted as Jack rushed away. His shoulders slumped once the door to his apartment slammed. All the fight left him and all he felt was empty.

#char: sebastian #inter: para #para: heart of glass

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thewidowstanton · 5 years

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Stav Meishar, multi-disciplinary performer and creator – The Escape Act: A Holocaust Memoir

Stav Meishar – a stage artist who mixes theatre, circus, music, dance, poetry and puppetry – was born and raised in Tel Aviv in Israel. She attended the Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts and has worked professionally as an actress since childhood, notably starring in Wicked’s original Israeli cast.

After moving to the US in 2008, Stav has performed internationally in Hebrew, English and Yiddish. In 2012 she founded Petit Mort Productions to provide an outlet for multi-disciplinary artists whose works are “innovative, unique and perhaps a bit strange”. In 2013, her play The Dreamer and the Acrobat ran at the NY Frigid Festival, and she made her circus debut on silks in the Off-Broadway revival of The Megile of Itzik Manger.

Stav is now based in Bristol and this month embarks on a UK tour of her solo show The Escape Act: A Holocaust Memoir, which is based on the life of Jewish-German circus artist Irene Danner. Stav chats to Liz Arratoon in the run-up to its UK premiere at Jacksons Lane in London on 23 September 2019.

The Widow Stanton: Is there any showbusiness in your background? Stav Meishar: Almost everybody in my family is in love with the arts but nobody else makes it. Everybody does other things around it. My mother is an arts critic, lecturer and guide. She knows everything there is to know about arts but when I asked her if she ever wanted to make any, she said: “Heavens, no!” My dad owns a business he funded… it’s kind of hard to explain but it’s like an archive of Israeli folk dancing. So ever since I was little whenever a new Israeli folk dance would be created, he’d get the choreographer and a bunch of volunteer dancers and videotape it, with instructions, so that enthusiasts around the world can learn how to dance.

How did you start performing so young? I’ve always loved attention [laughs]. There’s video tapes of me when I’m two or three years old doing, like, hand puppetry. Not with actual puppets, just with my hands. I think it was a Mr and a Mrs who met at a movie theatre and fell in love. It was always something I wanted and I used to scour the newspapers when I was little for audition notices. So when there was one for an Israeli production of Oliver Twist I figured, why not be an orphan? [Laughs]

So you just auditioned and got the part? Yep! The production was first in Tel Aviv. There’s a big tradition in Israel on Hanukkah to have shows for the family because everyone’s off from school and the parents are going crazy trying to find something different for the kids. I was… 11, I think, and then the following year it toured all around Israel. I had a lovely time.

What happened about your schoolwork and all that boring stuff? If I remember correctly, the rehearsals were about a half-hour bus ride from my school and I had to get special permission to leave the last class a bit early, so that I could make it on time. All the kids were really mean to me about it: “Oh, you know, she’s hoity-toity with her rehearsals.” I’d rehearse every day and get home at about 7pm.

But being on tour… I think because Israel is so small it’s a bit different to what we think of as tours in the UK or US. There were about 50 kids in the cast so the production would hire a bus and I think there was at least one adult from the production with us.

Was the Thelma Yellin school like a Fame school or something? [Laughs] It’s pretty much what you imagine when you think of a performing arts school; a little bit like Fame. It’s a great school in Israel that still exists and has a great reputation. All the students have to be good at all the regular subjects. You can’t slack off in any of that but you also have to choose one of six artistic majors: theatre, classical music, jazz, cinema, visual arts and dance. So mine was theatre. I was there from 14 to 18.

Why did you move to the US? I always wanted to be in musical theatre, and originally the dream was London. I got accepted at a few schools here but none of them had international scholarships. There was a lot of crying and sadness around that [laughs] and then I picked myself up by the bootstraps and figured, ‘Well, I’ve got to come up with a plan B’, and I got accepted to a musical theatre programme in New York at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy that did have quite a generous international student scholarship.

I worked my arse off for about two years saving every shekel I could and got some help from my parents as well, God bless them, and yes, I moved to the States and studied musical theatre. I graduated and worked in professional musical theatre in New York for about a year and then one day I woke up and realised, ‘I hate it!’. Not musical theatre, I still love that, but the business around it; how mean everybody is and how soul-crunching open calls are. I couldn’t do it anymore.

This crisis was in about 2010 and I was in a really dark place for a while and decided, ‘I’m just going to see as much theatre and performing arts as I can and see if I can get inspired by any of it, and take as many classes as I can in all kinds of different things’. So I took yoga, and I took Pilates and all kinds of stuff… and I took a silks class and uh… well… yeah, fell in love. [Laughs]

Where did you learn your circus skills? I trained for a long time at the Circus Warehouse in New York, which is a fantastic space with really high-level professional training. It’s not a university, it’s not accredited, but the level is super high and the coaches are all fantastic.

I see also you play ukulele and do poi spinning… have you got anything else up your sleeve? I had a year or two of trying a bunch of different things. I still play the ukulele mostly for my own pleasure. I took a street show to the Edinburgh Fringe for a couple of years where I put together Shakepearean monologues with whatever was popular that day on MTV, on the ukulele. So Taming of the Shrew and how badly he treats her, how awful he is leading into Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. That was fun for a little while.

Oh, and poi spinning… I do a lot of things none of them in any way as professional as I do theatre. You can’t do too many things well. You do a lot, you end up being OK at most of them. I’m skilled in a lot of things but wouldn’t consider myself expert in all of them. Theatre is where I’m most confident… history, specifically World War II history is something I’m very confident in, and Jewish education is something I feel an expert on. Circus is always a tricky thing because I’ve been doing it long but I have never done it with enough… let’s put it that way, I started late and I’m lazy.

Have you done stuff at Circomedia, being in Bristol? Yeah, I just did one year full time there, basically shadowing their foundation degree students doing all the practical stuff but none of the academic stuff, because I already have my degree. It sounds much more than I’m capable of. Yes, I just graduated from a full-time programme; I’m still pretty shit at circus but I never intended, like, I don’t market myself as an acrobat. I’m a multidisciplinary artist who has a lot of tools and because this current project is about a circus artist, I had to have some circus skills thrown into the melting pot of the show, but I’ve been really adamant with everybody where I’m performing, don’t market it as circus show or people will be really disappointed. It’s a theatre show. It has puppetry, it has circus but I’m no more a circus acrobat than I am a puppet master.

So let’s talk about The Escape Act. How did it come about? It was completely random. I started my Jewish education company, Dreamcoat Experience, and our niche, so to speak, was teaching progressive Jewish education using performing arts: drama, music, puppets, thing like that, and I started weaving circus methods into our curriculum. I was curious if anyone had done that before and I went to Google and I typed in ‘Circus Jews’ and one of the first things to come up was the New York Times obituary for Adolf Althoff, the German circus owner who saved this Jewish family. I just remember reading it and my jaw dropping to the floor going, ‘How is there not a movie about this?’. It was incredible. I just started going into this Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole from which I never emerged.

You’ve written about Irene Danner’s story for Circus Talk, but give us a brief outline of her story. In seven years of research, I uncovered a lot and it’s a big story. The short of it is, Irene, born Danner, was a descendent of the Lorch family, Jewish Circus royalty; they were the most famous Risley act of their time. They performed with the Ringling Brothers in America, they went on tour with Circus Sarrasani in South America, they really were the celebs of their time. The circus closed when she was about seven years old; they went bankrupt around 1930 with the rise of anti-semitism and people not really wanting to see ‘the Jew circus’ anymore.

Irene trained as a acrobat from when she was little and got her first job when she was 13, with Circus Busch. She was the flyer for the horse-riding troupe The Carolis and was there for three years until the law changed and Jews weren’t allowed to work anymore. About three years later she went to see the Circus Althoff and fell in love with their clown, Peter Bento. Peter asked Adolf if he would give her a job. Adolf knew it wasn’t legal but he didn’t really give a shit, excuse the language. That’s his, not mine. She was not allowed to marry Peter because of the racial laws of the time but they had two kids during the war and three more afterwards.

At some point when the Jews were starting to get deported, she persuaded Mr Althoff to let her family join as well; so her sister and her parents, and all four of them survived the war. Other members of her family didn’t make it. If you visit their house there are a few stumbling stones outside for all those who perished. The idea is that you shouldn’t just be reminded of the Holocaust when you decide to be by going to a memorial, but that you stumble upon them.

The Escape Act is as faithful to the story as I could make it but I took some artistic liberties. For example, she joined the Althoff circus because she fell in love, but in the show I’ve made it that she joins because she misses performing and she wants to do what she loves. It’s a bit of a feminist twist; she’s making her own path.

So in the show, you’re doing a bit of trapeze and juggling but it’s a theatre show? It is definitely a theatre show. It’s quite text heavy.

How did you go about your research? I started at the Yad Vashem Museum – the big Holocaust museum in Israel – because the obit mentioned that Adolf Althoff and his wife Maria, had received the honour of the title ‘The Righteous Among the Nations’ from Yad Vashem, which is a special sort of order, I guess, for Gentiles who saved Jews during World War II. As they’d given them this honour I assumed they’d have files on them and indeed they had.

They had interviews with both Adolf and Irene… photos… and then I just started visiting museums, archives, libraries, just picking information wherever I could, speaking to whoever I could. I wish I spoke German; my research would have been so much better. A lot of my info came from a wonderful book called Jewish Identities in German Popular Entertainment. It’s the only English book available that talks about circus performers in Germany during that era. Of course I looked at the bibliography and saw where I could branch off from there.

One of the books I got in German is this tiny little book that’s all interviews and testimonies from Irene, her husband, Adolf, basically everybody involved. I crowd-sourced the translation. I just reached out on Facebook and got something like ten German speakers to translate two chapters each voluntarily. So I got the whole book translated out of the goodness of their hearts. One of my favourite things described was the friendship that Irene and her husband had with a Moroccan acrobat called Mohammed; Muslim, of course, and being Jewish, I was like, yes, Jewish/Muslim friendship, yay! He was their best friend during the war and he helped hide them, he protected them, they were really each other’s backbone.

Years later when I went to Irene’s town and interviewed her kids, who are now in their seventies, I asked them if they were still in touch with any of the saviours. Her eldest son was like: “Ja, ja, we still speak, Christmas cards, birthday cards, but the one we are really in touch with, we speak every week on the phone, is Uncle Momo.” It just took me a second… I’m like, ‘Do you mean Mohammed?’. He goes: “Yes, yes, he lives in Tangier now.” ‘I’m sorry, is he still alive?’. “Yes, he just celebrated his 94th birthday.”

It was just incredible! So here I am in a living room in Germany, learning that there’s one person still alive from that era, and here’s the real amazing thing… this was in May and in June my husband and I were booked on our honeymoon, guess where? Morocco! That was incredibly random. It was meant to be. I told Irene’s son, ‘It so happens we’re going to Morocco. Will you please connect me with Mohammed?’. So a few weeks later, there we were in his living room in Tangier.

What does it mean to you to be performing the show in Germany on the anniversary of Kristallnacht? I think I’m actually more terrified than honoured, because her kids are probably going to be there and I’m so terrified that they’ll be angry at me for making changes. That’s my own demons and whatnot. I think as an artist it’s something of a trait to imagine a worst-case scenario. It’s something we do to ourselves but I’m sure it will a wonderful experience and hopefully her kids will love it. I did ask for their blessing and they gave it to me.

But just talking to you I get emotional about bringing the show on Kristallnacht because this is where it all took place. Even when I visited there last year it was really emotionally difficult to be in that synagogue where I know Kristallnacht happened, and to be in the family’s home where I know Irene saw her own grandmother being snatched away. In those places there’s a visceral element to being in the spot where it happened. Like visiting Auschwitz is different than reading about it. And there is a scene in the show that takes place on Kristallnacht, so to be at the synagogue where it actually happened, in the town where it actually happened, in front of that family, I mean, it’s… ahh! It’s an incredible gift that they’ve given me to invite me to do my show there.

Do you feel, with the rise of the far right, that your show is even more relevant now and it’s even more important that people should hear this story? Yes, absolutely. It’s been in my mind ever since I started researching this history, and every time I think it’s going to become less relevant, it has to get better from here, it doesn’t. It’s getting worse. Every historian has this feeling of helplessness where you see history repeating itself and yet people do it anyway. Even with Germany and all that history, when I talk politics to people, they’re like: “Oh, but it’s getting better now. Gays have the right to marry, trans people are accepted.” But if you look at history, the Weimar Republic happened right before the Nazi regime. They had, like, the biggest gay parties, they had cross-dressers, they had cabarets, they had this amazing period of artistic and sexual liberation and then this happened. I’m not sure that an improvement necessarily says an upward motion.

When I first starting working on the show the thing I really kept thinking about was how the Holocaust was taught to me. Growing up in Israel it’s a big subject in our curriculum. We study it, I dare say, a bit too early, but one of the most powerful experiences that I had growing up and that I saw as a Jewish educator in America is that schools would bring survivors to tell their stories first hand. And that’s always been for me and my students the most powerful experience, more than watching movies, more than seeing pictures of naked skinny bodies. Just having a person there telling you this is what happened, this is what they did to me, to my sister, to my parents, it’s different. And it’s a resource that’s not going to be available forever. Survivors are dying out and the thought that led me in this work is, ‘OK, what experience can I create that would get as close to a first-hand telling as possible?’.

I’d like to think this show is a good alternative. It’s not perfect, it’s never going to replicate that, but telling a story in the first person as if it were my story and taking those moments of stepping away from the character, and being myself and telling my own experiences, more about the after-effects it has, I think that’s powerful for everyone. What’s it like for someone who is descendent of refugees from a genocide? How does that affect you? Here’s this person who was never in the camps, who never starved and who had a pretty cushy, privileged life and yet there’s this scar that was her inheritance, and it’s never going to go away.

Would you say this show is the highlight of your career so far? It’s definitely the most ambitious project I’ve taken. I’ve been a performer for most of my life but I’ve always interpreted other people’s work. That’s what actors do, and this is not the first time I’m doing my own project but it’s the first time I’m doing, first of all a project that I’ve vested so much time and effort in, but it’s also the first project that has autobiographical elements. So the show I would say is 95 per cent Irene’s story but the rest is me and my history.

The way it’s structured is when there are points when her experiences sort of trigger my own memories growing up, I take a step out of Irene and become myself, the house lights go up and I talk to the audience about my own experiences. It’s a wonderful thing as an artist to be able to share that sort of vulnerability with an audience, and it’s absolutely terrifying and it’s difficult. It’s so raw and it’s weird because those things haven’t happened to me. I’m telling the stories of my ancestors and still, yeah, it’s right there in the really innermost parts.

vimeo

Stav Meishar performs The Escape Act: A Holocaust Memoir at Jacksons Lane in London on 23 and 24 September 2019, before a UK tour.

Picture credits: Michael Blase; Asaf Sagi; Kati Rapia: Shirin Tinati: Gilad Kfir

For Jacksons Lane tickets, click here

For tour dates, click here

Stav’s website

Twitter: @stavmeishar

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