#and who is set up as So Much Better than Zachary

[isfjmel-phleg]

L'Engle, would it kill you to let Vicky Austin have one (1) boy in her life who does not patronize and try to control her? Just once? As a treat?

#random personal stuff #back on my soapbox feel free to ignore #I'm rereading (most of) the Austin family series #and yeah Zachary Grey is The Worst and I would fistfight him if given the chance #but this time reading The Moon by Night I'm struck by how the other guy who's interested in Vicky #and who is set up as So Much Better than Zachary #and as his Foil In Every Respect #is actually also The Worst in a less obvious way #he's known her just a few days and he's already telling her things like 'I don't want you to see him again' #which Vicky notes is the same exact thing Zachary has said to her about this dude #...and yet neither she nor the narrative seems to grasp that in both cases this is a huge red flag??? #is this what dating in the 60s was like? #I do like this series (for the most part) but not because of the romance plots #Vicky's struggles with family dynamics and trying to understand life are very real and relatable

[juni-ravenhall]

whats ur non mainstream film taste then? genuinly curious to hear. as someone whos ended up in some weird ass corners of the film world like Neil breen Zachary Oberzan 0 budget stuff i love hearing what kind of weird indie corners other people have gotten into :3

i will talk a lot below that prob wont be interesting anyway, but i have to say first that i mostly stopped watching movies and now i mostly watch things @yasminewestbank chooses (not all the time but mostly) bc shes a movie nerd, so she picks movies that are usually either genuinely good or at least watchable, and if it was just me alone id prob not be bothering to watch those anyway, bc even a great movie just doesnt give me that much. i suffer from pretty severe apathy :( so if u want someone who hypes up genuinely good movies rather than me who is like "this is genuinely good but im still apathetic and dont really care" then yasmin is better to talk to. (im also generally more of a nonfiction type when it comes to video content, i could hype up Tasting History on youtube most days of the week but i struggle to hype up any movie at all. oh, and animated shorts, there are always some interesting student films and stuff.) the rest ⬇

my taste is usually "its [symbolic or not] critical commentary on something i care about" (feminism and misogyny, classism, bigotry, racism, the queer experience, abuse, trauma, violence, human self development, etc etc) or "its portraying human experiences [internal and external] in an interesting or just realistic way", like. realistic but in a highly specific meaning of realistic. i dont care about realism as a concept itself in art (realistic visuals or realistic setting or realistic costume etc i rly do not care about), what i mean is just about capturing a real essence of human brains and experiences, not copypasting stereotypical ideas without meaning. i can also enjoy some more abstract like david lynch bc its expressing human feelings and experiences in an appealing way. im really big on symbolic stuff and will just keep talking about what different parts of the movie meant or represented after i watch something w yasmin.

(edit to add... i should prob note that many of the movies i mention have adult content and heavy topics depending on who you ask? but i assume ppl who read this would already know to check ratings and warnings)

on the criticising / teaching side of meaningful, it would be for example, Poor Things [2023].... on the realistic / documenting side, for example Burning [2018] or Naked [1993], and i liked ryuusuke hamaguchi's movies Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, and Drive My Car (tho that one has a really badly written scene in it by the end that i hated) for the characters too. i dont know if those are the best examples its more just off the top of my head. theres also mainstream movies that fit my criteria, so for that criticising / teaching side, there's for example Pleasantville [1998], and Pretty Woman, which yasmin told me ppl tend to hate, but if thats the case i think ppl really didnt understand what it was about (it showed so much about misogyny and class issues, coated in such a way that you could get average boomers to watch it as a "romantic" movie without being aware of the actual meaning of what youre going into, the same way pleasantville can be watched as a goofy gimmick movie without being aware of the meaning youre going into, tho pleasantville is heavyhanded by the end, and i guess pretty woman manages to still fly over ppls heads? but not too surprising considering all those mainstream things now will literally just explain every joke and every meaning.... its like all of media is mickey mouse clubhouse, you know?)

i more or less prefer to watch an animated short or a weird animation on youtube/social media than watching a good live action movie. some animated shorts i really liked recently are Au Revoir Jerome, GLOIRE AMERE 40000, and BOLAVLK/WEREAWOLF, and vewn stuff. and i like those Molly Moon game tiktoks, as an example of like, low production stuff…. i dont care at all how much money or time went into something, but bc im usually not actively seeking fiction video content on my own, its more about what falls into my lap by chance, or yasmin/someone shows me.

i thought of listing more movies but its kinda hard for me to remember them after a while (re: apathy). i remember i liked another one from the Poor Things guy called The Favourite but i barely remember what happens in it. I liked one called This Must Be The Place, and one called Annette. those are movies yasmin showed me or that she picked for us to try together.

oh, one movie i saw on my own that i liked a lot is And Then We Danced. it has some less good parts, but overall it for some reason really lives rent free in my head. it felt like i went and lived in georgia with the characters for an hour, idk, it was done in an immersive way that impressed me and i found appealing. another one i remember from years ago is Lille Soldat (little soldier) which i really enjoyed the main character in. that stuck with me. ive tried to find this movie to show to yasmin, but its been hard to find.

i used to watch lots of random movies (from different countries, different times in history, i had a phase where i watched a bunch of really old horror movies) but most of its been forgotten and then i just stopped watching movies whatsoever bc the mainstream ones are generally unwatchably bad and i didnt have motivation to go out of my way to find good movies anymore. its still hard even with good ones. like, The Square, and Triangle of Sadness, i watched with yasmin and it was fine, but i had already tried watching The Square alone and had to stop after a minute bc it just made me cringe and feel bored. but watching it together with her was fine and i did enjoy the meaning. so thats why i say i might not even be watching good movies if it was up to me alone....

if u werent interested in that ramble i hope u stopped reading before now for ur own good :D i have an opportunity to express myself in rambles -> i will express myself in rambles

#ask #answer #reply #anon #nonhorsgaem

[shzmluvrs]

The Disconnect

Prompt: My random headcanon that pretty much just focuses on that odd... difference in vibe between Billy as himself vs when he's in his superhero form.

Timeline: Both movies

TW/Content: None, just me talking just to talk fr

Reader: None

Requested By: My damn self😼🫶🏽

Back to Master List

So like, duh, Moon and I have like... constant headcannons for like, every single person ever in the Shazam movies. And I did plan to write/list 'em out and post at some point. But this one is my biggest one, so I think it deserves its own post🤷🏽‍♀️.

Anyone who's seen just either one of the movies is pretty aware of that... weird little (but noticeable) disconnect between Asher Angel's Billy Batson and Zachary Levi's Shazam. Asher is a damn good Billy, while Zachary... he's good at being Shazam and acting like a kid who doesn't know what he's doing (which is the overall plot, ofc), but I just can't/don't believe him to be Asher's Billy, if that makes sense (??).

So, while yes, this is a little jarring for viewers, if you're anything like me, you know it's kind of not the end of the world and can be bypassed/looked over. Fixed, even, if had been given the proper attention to do such. And what better way to do that than through some good ol' writer brain🤷🏽‍♀️?

My in-media headcanon for why Billy acts so differently in his super-powered adult form is because he simply just becomes heaps more confident. He knows he's invincible to most things, he's got all these different and god-like powers and abilities, etcetc... So natrually, with those things comes an overwhelming and amazing sense of security, right? Therefore, leading to a surging amount of both confidence/ego and recklessness that you might not see come from some vulnerable, hard-knock-life-stricken, defensive kid.

It also gives him more freedom to come out of his shell (almost forces him to, really), hence why it becomes so much easier for him to talk to/interact with others while he's in his adult form. He almost wants to, because of that classic teenage boy need to show off (for the ladiesss😼🫶🏽⚡️). He gains the chance to actually be a kid, frfr, because he had to grow up and learn to care for himself so soon. Because, hell, it's not like he knew if his powers were a privilege he was gonna get to keep🤷🏽‍♀️. Gotta make the most of it.

Not to mention, poor boy has probably felt all alone and helpless all his life. Constantly having to do things on his own, constantly worried about how he's gonna get by and/or where he's gonna end up next. These abilities are like a free "out", if ykwim. He can essentially do whatever he wants, go wherever he wants now that he can just fly off somewhere...

I'd be eager to run around and do the most over the top shit, too, if it had been me. As Freddy once said, "I'd kill to have what you have...".

Plus, I mean, he is a teenager. A teenage boy, at that. I'm pretty sure no matter how hard and tall you've set up your shell, at the end of the day, if you randomly got superpowers n shit, you'd act a little bit out of normal character, too. Especially if your "normal character" are/is a bunch of walls n shit you've built up to protect yourself from the things that, you now no longer have to, because again... SUPERPOWERS!!

So, to try and wrap this all up, I, personally, am one to believe there's nothing a fanfic or a headcanon can't fix, hence... this lmao. And that's pretty much my way to try and fix/make sense of that disconnect between acting styles so I can properly hyperfixate in peace lmfao. And hopefully, now that you've seen this, you can, too :).

Okay, the end, that's it, goodbye🫶🏽😼.

Headcannons on all characters to come relatively soon, y'all, I promise🫡💕.

~ Star✨️

Back to Master List

#shazam #shazamfuryofthegods #shazam fury of the gods #dc comics #shazamedit #billybatson #billybatsonshazam #asher angel #zachary levi #shazam2 #shazam fotg #shazam icons #shitpost #shazam family #shazam fanfic #shazamfuryofthegodsxreader #billybatsonicons #billybatsonxreader #billybatsonedit #billybatsonimagine #billybatsonstuff #dcimagines #dc headcanon #shazamheadcanons #dcmultiverse #dceu #dcfanfics #dc shazam #captainmarvel #moon&star

[cerise-on-top]

hi! i heard you were doin' requests for OFF, and needless to say, i have a huge soft spot for that game lol. though there isn't alot of fanfiction of the game itself, so-!

could i maybe request The Batter, and possibly Zacharie [ doesn't matter if you do both or one-! ] with a player who hides their face with a mask because they have different color eyes, and one day takes the mask off, not knowing The Batter/Zacharie are there, and they see the player's face for the first time-?

thank you!! i really love your works :D!

-🌻

Of course you can! I just hope I did the request justice! I understood this as the player having heterochromia, so I hope this is what you had in mind! And if not, simply reach out to me again and I will rewrite it! And thank you for reading my works, it makes me really happy! So, without further ado, here you go:

Batter and Zacharie Seeing Reader’s Face for the First Time

Batter:

To say that Batter had never been interested in what you looked like would be a lie. He wanted nothing more than to see what you, the one he holds in higher regard than anyone else, looked like. But his curiosity was of lesser priority than your comfort, and so he left you be. After all, you weren’t the only person on his quest that had worn a mask.

He highly respected your need for privacy and would walk away for a bit whenever you told him to. It was only natural you had to take it off every once in a while. This time was no different.

And so, leaving you in the safety of the area he purified mere moments ago, he went on ahead for a bit to scout the area. Narrow paths decorated with little lamps that lit up the dark mines. Taking a few turns, it seemed as though he had gone in a circle. This suspicion was only confirmed when he saw you, without your mask on.

There was no going back from that. He had seen something he shouldn’t have. Even so, as much as he wished to, he couldn’t bring himself to look away. For the first time, he saw your eyes. They were so unlike anyone else’s, so colourful. They weren’t just one colour either, no. You had heterochromia.

“Batter, I-,” you stammered out. That fear in those eyes, it hurt him in a way no spectre ever could. “Please forget that you saw my eyes.”

So it really was your eyes that you felt so insecure about. In that case, he may have had something he could show you himself that he wasn’t too proud of when it came to you.

“My Player, please, there is nothing to be afraid of. In fact, there is something that I have not been entirely truthful about either.” And with that, he opened his eyes. Four of them, shining like the blood moon, looking at you and you only. This time, you were the one curious.

Gazing into them, you were completely awestruck and overcome with adoration. “They’re absolutely beautiful.”

A rare sight unfolded in front of you: Batter smiled ever so slightly at you. “This perception of pulchritude is not one-sided. I do think the same about your eyes.”

Zacharie:

Being in a video game definitely had its downsides. From the predictability of every outcome to the fact that he was trapped in a world he could never flee from, no matter how hard he tried. So, having you around was definitely refreshing. A higher being, unbound by programming. You were definitely his favourite customer, he did always look forward to trading with you.

Though, that freedom he so envied you for wasn’t the only thing he found intriguing about you. Just like him, you were concealing your face. He had his reason and you had yours for doing so, he wasn’t going to pry too much. A few remarks about how similar you and him were in that regard, yes, but that was it.

Even so, he knew the next spot he wanted to set up his shop in. What better place to purchase equipment is there than a mall overrun by spectres? It was obvious you and Batter were to come there eventually. Well, while he was correct in that thinking, he did not take into account that perhaps the two of you had beaten him in getting there. Whereas Batter seemed to not have been close by in that moment, you were there, facing Zacharie.

Except you were not wearing your mask in that moment.

That was not something the merchant had expected at all. Yet, he couldn’t look away either. Especially when met with those eyes. He had heard of heterochromia before, yes, but in a world with monochrome residents, this sort of thing was a miracle. Since there was no way to undo what happened, he opted to lighten to mood a bit, to try and calm your frightened self down: “You know, your eyes are very much like this mall. It’s just so easy to get lost in them, wink.” He put great emphasis on the wink to make sure you would hear it.

It wasn’t the first time he had flirted with you, so a sigh simply escaped your lips. If only his pick-up lines were better, but it seemed to make you smile at least a little bit. After you put on the mask again, he approached you further, laying out his wares on the counter. “They really are something special, I wasn’t lying about that part. Maybe you should take off your mask more often~”

Taking a look at what he had to offer, you huffed and playfully punched his arm. “Why don’t you take yours off too, then?”

“Patientia comes est sapientiae.”

Patience is the companion of wisdom.

#off (game) #batter x player #batter x reader #zacharie x player #zacharie x reader #i have yet to get better at writing Zacharie #but even in my free time i'm going to write and study him some more so i can make a better portrayal of him #but yeah #thank you for being my first request!!! #i hope this is to your liking! #🌻

[aboutzatanna]

Zatanna & Dr Fate

Zatanna and Dr Fate don’t have the same history in the DCU canon as they do in the YJ verse.  In fact, Dr Fate has an entirely different set of hosts in the DCU as opposed to the YJ verse.   

So here is a short collection of all the times that she has interacted with Dr Fate in DCU canon (if I missed any, let me know, if you want to know more about the various hosts in the comics, check out this post):  

The first we ever got to see Zatanna and Dr Fate interact was during a JLA/JSA crossover in Justice League of America #100:  

This comic was in celebration of the 100th issue milestone of JL and the plot revolved around the JLA and JSA splitting up in various teams up rescue the Seven Soldiers of Victory who have been scattered throughout space and time after their last adventure. 

Not much interaction between them in subsequent JLA/JSA crossovers but we did get this great spread by George Perez in JLoA #94 in which Zatanna is shown opposite to Dr Fate as their team’s respective magic user:   

Then during the annual JLA/JSA team ups (specifically JLA #95), she can be seen chit chatting with Dr Fate. Up until this point there has only been one Dr Fate and it was Kent Nelson:  

Sadly, we never got to see her interact with Inza Nelson Fate: 

Edit: I just learned that she did interact with Inza Nelson’s Dr Fate in Spectre #17 during a story arc where the Spectre had snapped and was trying to pass judgement on all of humanity.  Zee, Inza and Etrigan were all part of group gathered by the Stranger to stop the Spectre. To make things more complicated, Eclipso has possessed Spectre: 

Though to my knowledge, Zee has never met the kind of creepy and utterly bizarre Eric/Linda Strauss incarnation::  

Later, in the 90′s, we got an edgier version of Dr Fate or Fate as he was called, whose real name was Jared Stevens who was ex mercenary who discovered the helmet of Fate and he melted it down so he can shape it into a knife because *that* is what real men do. /sarcasm

He also didn’t wear the classic Dr Fate costume, instead he dressed like your typical edgy 90′s hero with a long trench coat or leather jacket with bits of armors and course tattoos: 

Somehow he scored an ongoing title called Fate and after that was cancelled he got a second title called Book of Fate.   His first ongoing, even scored a short lived spin off title called Scare Tactics, as far as solo’s goes, Jared certainly had better luck than any other Dr Fate’s that came before and after him.   

Fate #10 was notable because it had Zatanna on the cover and she’s essentially the co lead of the story.   

The plot of the issue involves Jared Stevens on the run after being framed for a plane explosion.  So Jared is on the run and looking for a place to hide which leads him to this venue where Zatanna is performing under the pseudonym ‘Ms Katonic’. Prior to going on stage, she seemed nervous and unsure of herself and not her usual bubbly confident self.      

The show goes wrong (as they usually do) when they are attacked by a cult called the Firebringers whose leader Tyson believes that there is a truer reality than the one we see now and commits ritual sacrifice  in order to reach his goal.  

After getting aquainted with Jared, Zee takes on the villain Strega and we learn why Zatanna isn’t being her usual self:   

Afterwards, we’re introduced to  Evan Fulcanelli whom Zatanna describes as her father’s oldest friend. Evan is an alchemist, either he was named after the real life French alchemist Fulcanelli  or he is the real deal himself:  

 Later in the issue, Fulcanelli sacrifices himself fighting Strega who wants the secret of his alchemy. Notably Zatanna calls him uncle and Fulcanelli calls her ‘niece’:   

Could it be just an affection description of their relationship or could Fulcanelli actually be Zatara’s brother by blood. In that case, is he Zachary Zatara’s father and that’s why Zachary’s magic doesn’t work on organics? Because his father is an alchemist?  

At the end of the issue, Zatanna and Jared go out on a date although she turns down the possibility of going back to his place:   

She later appeared in Fate #14 on the last page alongside Alan Scott and the Phantom Stranger to recruit Jared for the Underworlds Unleashed event:   

Jared is often bemaoned for being representative of the 90′s extreme Dr Fate but some of his stories were actually quite descent.  Especially the Keith Giffen stuff.  

In Fate #20 he accidentally stumbles into her dressing room whilst she was changing as he was meeting one magical character after another looking for advice and she reacts exactly as any woman would in that kind of situation:  

Later we see her interacting with the Hector Hall incarnation of Dr Fate in JLA/JSA: Secret Files & Origins:   

The ‘cold shiver’ would be followed up in the ‘JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice’ crossover.  

I find it funny how Hector just slaps on the helmet when he hears Zatanna coming downstairs.  Given his history and personality, I can only imagine he is thinking of his missing wife whilst making this face:   

To my knowledge Zatanna didn’t get to meet the Kent V Nelson incarnation of Dr Fate. She also wasn’t part of the Helmet of Fate series of one shots when the helmet sought out various established DC characters as it’s hosts.

She does have an established friendship with the Khalid Nassour incarnation of Dr Fate and they interacted in JLD Vol 2′s Annual #1: 

and even served as his mentor in YJ S4.  

In the YJ verse, she is time sharing the helmet of Fate between herself and her students. In many ways, she and her father are the Dr Fate of Earth 16.   

The comics don’t don’t really mix the two. Largely because the Zatara’s and Dr Fate’s are two different ‘flavors’ of magic. They both have their own thing going on.  Zatara’s are performers, more light hearted with added bits of drama and the occasional foray into the dark side of magic. Dr Fate is a much darker, more horror based character who deals with faustian bargains, arrested development, co dependant relationship and the psychological toll of magic. One is about the lighter side of magic and wish fulfillment whilst the other represents the darker side of it.      

#zatanna zatara #zatanna #dr fate #kent nelson #jared stevens #hector hall #khalid nassour #young justice #justice league #justice league of america #jsa #justice society of america #justice league dark #jld #zachary zatara #doctor fate

[daughter-of-melpomene]

Share your newest OC and a few facts!

Thanks so much the this, Kass!! I will share a few facts about my new Star Trek OC, Layla Dupreti!!

She's an OC for the newer movies with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, rather than the original series.

She's a Sulu ship.

Layla is a skilled thief who's been renting her incredible stealth skills out for hire since she was only a teenager, after losing her family and needing a way to make money for herself. This does result in her being paid very well, but it also means that she often finds herself working for some very dangerous people, and roped into jobs that have dangerous consequences if she refuses to do them.

A prime example of this being when a very threatening group of people pay her to stow onto the USS Enterprise at its next stop and make off with their new load of cargo. The cargo is medicine and sorely needed on the planet the Enterprise is taking it to, so Layla really doesn't want to steal it, but she'd rather be a bad person who steals much-needed medicine than be dead, so she agrees to it anyway.

She then winds up getting caught, but rather than keeping her as a prisoner and subjecting her to Starfleet justice, Captain Kirk feels bad after hearing Layla's story and decides to let her off the hook, provided she stay on the Enterprise and take a job as a yeoman (because really, is it even Jim Kirk if he doesn't have a soft spot for young people with rough pasts?).

Layla is very rough around the edges, due to the way she grew up - she's closed-off, has a hard time recognizing or caring how other people are feeling, and doesn't trust easily, or even really at all. But the longer she spends on the Enterprise, around people who are kind and accepting and willing to give her a chance, she begins to relax and open up just a little.

(Not that she ever really loses her sharp tongue or reluctance around new people; you can take the cat out of the alley, but you can never really take the alley out of the cat.)

One of the first people on the Enterprise she starts to develop a bond with is Christine Chapel (we're pretending she actually has a role in the movies instead of just being mentioned), and the two of them even have a little flirtation for a while, but it never really goes beyond that; they have fun flirting with each other, but they know they're much better off as friends. (Plus Chapel sees the way Sulu looks at Layla and she would never want to step on his toes like that.)

She also develops a kind of unexpected bond with Spock; they bond over being seen as the cold and emotionally distant ones on the crew, and often "hang out" by sitting in silence together, both of them doing their own thing.

She and Sulu are definitely the grumpy/sunshine, golden retriever boyfriend/black cat girlfriend, "take my knife" boyfriend/"I already have it" girlfriend, and we love it for them <;3.

Speaking of knives! Layla actually has a matching set of knives, given to her as payment for one of her first jobs, that she takes with her everywhere and always keeps at her side. She's named them Castor and Pollux, and they're basically her children.

I haven't made an official intro post for her yet, but I'm very excited to do that and explore her and her character further!!

(I'm also gonna tag my Star Trek girlie @dancingsunflowers-ocs, because she's technically already met Layla and I think she'll be happy I'm officially doing something with my girl!!)

#asks about my ocs #oc: layla dupreti #fic: peace

[pisspope]

cat ive got couple coming right up

🐶💕(this one esp)💚💤🌟💋🛡

and the last but not least✅whos the housewife of the household (aka does all the cooking and cleaning and will look stunning in a backless apron)

speak i listen 🎤🎤🎤

oh for u mae? anything

🐶: If you and your f/o were to get a pet, what would it be?

Okay so in canonverse we have two rats that are retirees from a marleyan science experiment. one of ems got a piece of ear missing and the other is mostly blind but zeke likes to set them on his shoulders while he reads the paper. Sees them as kindred spirits (Beast being used for science experiments and all), also jokes about them having the same amount of time left (rats only live about two years). Which... jeez zeke. Hilarious but jeez.

In modern aus we have a kid named Xavier and until she's able to speak we call her our pet but otherwise?? Too busy. Might get a cat in our later years though.

💕: Who’s the clingier one in the relationship?

it's zeke he's soooooo whiny. like once ur his person u r His Person and he will not let you forget it for a second. gets out of work or some activity early and is calling you up like "why aren't you homeeeeee I wanna watch tvvvvvv". Not physically clingy but verbally and emotionally clingy. Sends u a text and then sends "🥺" every five minutes until you respond.

💚: Who gets jealous?

BOTH. we both act like we're hot shit but also secretly think the other person is settling. I keep it on the dl then get a little buzzed and say "do u like [person] better than me be honest 👉👈🥺" and he has to reassure me that no, now and forever everyone but me can suck eggs. zeke will get fake jealous because I think it's sexy ("saw u waving at the mailman today. fucking tart." then we [redacted][redacted][redacted]), but also gets actually jealous specifically when I talk about my thing for older men. Def have a come-to-ymir moment in the idol au after I flirt too much with label director Zachary if u catch my drift.

💤: Do you sleep together? If so, describe your sleeping positions and patterns (E.g. who steals the blankets, are either of you insomniacs, etc.)

So we do sleep in the same bed but,,,,,, our sleep schedules are insanely fucked. Like it's been known to happen on occasion that I go to bed before midnight and he doesn't wake up at 4 AM to eat a cheese stick and crash on the couch watching markiplier but it's rare. actually a boon in aus where we have a kid or two because one of us is usually up at any point during the day or night to answer inane requests. both sleep in fetal position backs to each other asses touching bc if I see his bits or he sees mine it's on sight ://// horn dogs :///

🌟: Who’s the tease in the relationship?

Me :) although he stone faces his way through it in public. second we're home though teehee I'm in danger (affectionate). 100% a pants wearer so the second I walk out of the bathroom in a skirt he knows I'm gonna be flirty and obnoxious all fucking day. eyes rolling into the back of his head but he secretly enjoys it.

💋: Where are your favorite places to kiss your f/o/where are their favorite places to kiss you?

I like to smooch him right underneath his jaw where his beard is sparse so I can kiss and then pull at the longer stubble so he yelps. also kissing his stomach and pulling at his chest hairs, a little mean and a little sweet at the same time.

hes an inner thigh kisser and biter no doubt in my damn mind. also likes pressing kisses to the lips down there idk idk idk

🛡: Who’s the more protective one?

hmm see this is a tough call because it's kind of neither? we're pretty independent of one another so we end up holding our own a lot. I do have a tendency to just lay down and take it when someone's mean though so if zekes in the room when that happens? oh I pity whoever spoke ill of me. but this is only if I'm in the room and its more of him defending me because I didn't stick up for myself, like if someone were to talk shit and I weren't there? He'd probably just shrug it off or even chuckle and agree. So yeah. Cake is not winning a chivalry contest any time soon.

✅️: Who does the housework?

Trick question because Zeke does the chores to the best of his ability in a little "May the Forks Be With You" Star Wars apron but his best is my half-assed. so he does the chores and I thank him soooo much then while he sleeps or does work I pick up the detail work. type to glass clean all the windows but not dust all the surfaces ynow. neither of us can cook tho :/ zeke boils hot dogs and expects a compliment for using the stove

#ohhhhhh this was so much to think about but also so fun!!!!!! #feel like a mechanic wiping his brow after a long day of work #thank u for the ask though !!!!! i had a lot of fun :) #cat thots #asks #cakecore

[kira-the-whump-enthusiast]

!! for the character intro game

Tysm for the ask!!!

This definitely didn't take me over 10 days to get to lmao

From this ask game <2

Name: Zachary Chang

Pronouns: He/Him 🏳️‍⚧️

Zach!! He's my first ever whump OC and also, I love him cuz he sucks so much <2 my favorite OC with problems :D He's appeared in this drabble which you could read. if you want. it's a little old I'm prolly never gonna continue it so

Zach has like, three main traits I would say? Overwhelming arrogance, yet also deep rooted self loathing. An extreme reluctance to make friends or any meaningful connection. And boredom. So, so much boredom.

Pretty much he had a kinda shit childhood. Manipulative parents + a pervasive feeling of otherness growing up kinda turned him off from desiring any sort of meaningful connection because whenever he was vulnerable, it was used against him. Also he developed a lot of self loathing issues, and to cope with that he leaned into ego. He's not better than anyone else, in fact he's rotten to the core, but he's the only one who sees the world as it really is, in his mind.

And the world is not only cruel and selfish, but it is deeply, utterly, boring. And Zach truly thinks he's tried everything (he hasn't), and nothing is fun to him. Nothing has brought him joy. I will say tho, he is the type of guy to try a new hobby and give up when he isn't amazing first try. Zach also has a lot of overconfidence in his prediction skills- and he's not right 100% of the time, but he's right enough of the time that he believes his prediction ability is practically infallible, and he takes that as further proof that everything is too boring and predictable.

Most of the time he's looking for something new to do, for temporary excitement or serotonin. The thing is, he's quite callous, and he doesn't really care about people or their happiness. He's a bit nihilistic, he thinks that whatever he does, it doesn't really matter in the end because everyone will be dead, eventually, and the universe will move on like nothing happened.

And then that's how he decided that becoming a villain might be fun to try. So he decided to start by majorly fucking with a random person of his choice! That person was Tào Lan, and her friends, Grace, Amir, and Declan. They formed a vigilante group, so Zach thought it would be fun to mess with them.

He started by like, kidnapping Declan and sending a letter and a videotape to the group like "hey I kidnapped your friend, if you don't rescue him by this date, I'll kill him!"

From then on, he had like a couple skirmishes with the group as they tried to rescue Declan and defeat him. First one was at an abandoned warehouse, and he set it on fire with everyone inside, and Amir ended up dying in that. Which was extremely traumatizing for Lan and Grace. To the point that neither of them could organize another rescue attempt. They tried, but most of their attempts ending up being fruitless very early on.

And then the date passed, and they got a picture in the mail of Declan's corpse.

That made Lan and Grace decide that they had to do something immediately. They were gonna kill Zach, for everything he'd done. But that fight didn't exactly go well, as it ended in Grace's demise.

Which only left Lan. And she used to be happy, you know? She had her best friends with her, and she felt like she could do anything with them at her side. But now she felt horribly empty and hopeless, though she was learning that she could do still anything, in their memory.

Once she recuperated physically from her last fight, she was determined to finally kill Zach. And this time, she succeeded.

Well, almost. At the last minute, she changed her plans. She wasn't going to kill him, but she was going to make him regret being alive.

Zach planned for a lot of things, but he didn't exactly plan for being tortured. He didn't think Lan would go that far! But she did, and he suffered for it. He was suffocatingly trapped in a cycle of suffering, and no matter what, Lan just wouldn't let him die. He knew he'd die eventually, but it was taking too long-

And then someone saved him. An old classmate, Erika Sanchez, found him and got him out of the abandoned prison he was being held captive in. And now he's crashing at her house :) She doesn't know about his crimes, and he's not about to tell her. There's a bit of an angsty half recovery arc <2

(Zach on the left, Lan on the right)

@whump-queen <2

#whump #whump ocs #villain whump #my ocs <2 #oc zach #oc lan #there is definitely more to the story but again for the sake of brevity #not including the whole thing #god I love characters who suck they're my favorites of all time #zach has a shark hoodie. btw #and a bla.haj #he has a bit of transgender swag #anyways zach and lan are my beloveds #they need so so much therapy

[dontjudgemeimawriter]

Perozinosaurus and therizilophus! (I think I spelled those both wrong. They're next to each other in the dino asks list)

I was gunna say usually dinos have "saurus" at the end and then realized you switched the suffix XD

Parasaurolophus - share a scene where a character is/gets embarrassed or flustered

Idk if you did this with this scene in mind XD but I wanted an excuse to share this bit on here and it's pretty close to the prompt.

--

“You betrayed [Zachary] first,” I said.

[Abigail] nodded. “Yes. I did. For the Judge, the only person who would ensure that he didn’t retaliate.” She moved around behind me, taking the back of my chair. “I’m impressed you’ve deceived him that long.” She took the chair, leaning it back to drag it, and without full support of my neck muscles, my head fell backwards. At least the back of the chair wasn’t so high that my head hit wood. “And all for Raymond? I always thought you’d cross us for Zachary. If you’ll cross us and Zachary for him, he must be very special.”

Of course he was special. “You know he’s powerful. That’s why you went to all this trouble, isn’t it?”

She’d been about to drag me, but she let the chair balance again, and my head swung forward now. Just drag me out already, being swung around like this sucked.

“Oh is that why you faked his death and risked your life for him? ‘Cuz he’s a good Nyp?” She laughed, and I remembered back when she’d worked with its, when I’d almost fooled myself into thinking of her as an older sister. Her laugh was teasing and somewhat patronizing. “I highly doubt even you are that pragmatic, especially given how much trouble it got you into. Seems to me he’s a bit more important to you than to us.”

She ruffled my hair. Ruffled my hair. “Just hope it’s even a fraction requited,” she added.

I glared, which was pretty much all I could do at that moment. I didn’t like her insinuation. She knew nothing about him. She didn’t even know me, not really. And she had to get her likely ship-dust-covered hands out of my hair. Of course Raymond was important, important to me, even. But what she didn’t get and what I hadn’t got until spending time with Raymond is that other people were worth saving, especially someone I’d gotten to know, who’d been there for me. She hadn’t had those experiences, hadn’t gotten to know him. Maybe she would have saved him, too.

She was, as much as she tried to assert herself as better, part of a world that, like Zachary had, saw love as the only excuse for resisting their authority, and killing anyone who threatened them. I wasn’t even that much better, as I’d be happy, in that moment, to take my gun from her belt and pull the trigger right on her chest if it meant Raymond would be safe. But Raymond was better than that, and that was why I protected him. Abigail would never understand that.

--

Therizinosaurus - share a scene that you’ve put a lot of work into

Going to share the only scene that's been really edited, or a part of it anyway. Of course, you've seen this plenty, as you have what it was printed in, which is why more work was put into it.

--

The walk wasn’t all scenery. Most of it was along the wooden walkway parallel to the river, with a few steps when the rocky beach jutted out to become a cliff. Stands were set up throughout to make a dispersed market along the walk. Raymond paused to look at craft and food stands, always complimenting something on display before not buying anything, and then the walkway would thin out and it was just the two of us for a bit, and though he’d chat about the stands or sights we’d seen, the conversation died quickly. I only had four hours left with him and I was wishing I was better at talking to him, when finally he suggested we play a game.

“A getting-to-know-each-other game, because that’s the point. Two truths and a lie.”

I raised an eyebrow. “We’re both good at telling when we’re lying.”

“Yeah, but lies work differently when you play this. And I won’t look in your head to find out.”

“Fine,” I agreed, willing to go with whatever he suggested and hoping he wouldn't make me go first since though the rules seemed self-explanatory, I had hardly ever played. 

He nodded. “Okay,” and took a moment to think. “I don’t like jello. I had three cats growing up. And…” He grabbed his earlobes, and I didn’t realize why until he said, “and my ears are pierced.”

I glared at him and he laughed, not moving his hands. I stared at his grinning face, trying to remember, and when I couldn’t I playfully grabbed his arm, trying to pull it away so I could see.

“No cheating!” He pulled away from me and I found myself laughing. I wished I was sure, but that must be the lie, right? It made sense that I wouldn’t notice if they weren’t pierced, because that was expected. I thought over the other two statements just to be sure. I couldn’t remember him not liking jello specifically, but I did remember him being picky about foods with certain textures. And Mika had mentioned having cats. “You don’t have pierced ears.”

“Wrong!” He moved his hand to reveal his earlobes and stepped closer to show me. No earring, but sure enough, there was a hole. Without thinking much about it I raised my hand to it, brushing my finger over his earlobe. I couldn’t feel the hole, but his ear was soft and his skin was warm. 

“How’d I not know that?” I asked.

“Well I got them pierced when I was really young—both Mika and I did, and by the time you knew me, I’d transitioned and wasn’t wearing earrings ever. But they haven’t closed and in the last year I’ve occasionally put studs in.”

“Still.”

He smirked. “You’re observant, but only about things you deem important. This,” he pulled at his earlobe, “wasn’t important.”

Fair. “So what was the lie?”

“We had two cats.” He grinned. I glared at him. “See, lying works different! Your turn.”

--

Ty! You got 2 very gay scenes, good job.

From This

#We have reached the point of Denial #syndicate #syndicate excerpt #wip excerpt #dino ask game #y'know I love the 2 truths and a lie scene but damn I've seen it so many times now #Idk if I'd really call Terran flustered here but it's close at least #eh maybe yaeh he is #oh also ty for your help in the first scene :)

[phantom-le6]

Ramble of the month June 2023: Phase 2 of the Batman Begins-Led DCEU

This ramble is coming so late in the month of June simply because I wasn’t quite sure what to write about.  I had hoped to land on something a bit more general current affairs or otherwise different from my usual run of Marvel and DC-related articles, but the one idea I have in that line is very much in its infancy and will take a while to work out how best to do.  As such, I’ve decided to quickly put my alternate DCEU up to the same level as my 90’s MCU that I did a ramble for last month.

With my alternate DCEU, as those who read my March ramble will remember, the idea was that Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins is used to kick-off a wider continuity, producing what I would hope was a better, more consistent and cohesive superhero film universe.  To recap, the alternate DCEU I’ve come up with begins in 2005 with Batman Begins and works on a basis of one film a year, then two as the momentum builds, and the break-down of those films is as follows:

2005: Batman Begins

2006: Man of Steel

2007: Wonder Woman

2008: The Dark Knight, Green Lantern

2009: The Flash, Man of Steel 2

2010: Aquaman, Justice League

Going into the second stage of this alternate DCEU, the films shift into the three-per-year pattern I also use in my 90’s-based alternate MCU.  The slate for this hypothetical DCEU phase 2 breaks down like so:

2011: Wonder Woman 2, Green Lantern 2, Green Arrow

2012: Hawkman, Batman/Superman, Aquaman 2

2013: John Constantine, The Flash 2, Suicide Squad

2014: Justice League 2, Green Arrow 2, Batman: The Long Crusade

 As you can see, solo hero film sequels make up a fair chunk of the phase, but so do introductions for more solo heroes, and we also get more films based around teams and ensemble casts.  How do these then interconnect to tell a story?  Well so far, Batman’s first two solo films went much the way Nolan made them in real life, but with the cover-up of Harvey Dent’s crimes, etc. in the Dark Knight being done in a pro-Batman way, enabling his inclusion in the Justice League.  Superman got his solo introduction in an earlier version of Man of Steel, then better defined himself with the aid of Martian Manhunter against the likes of Lex Luthor and Metallo in a sequel.

 In turn, Wonder Woman’s origins remain very much World War I-centric in this film-verse, the Flash gets his introduction in a clash with the Rogues instead of doing Flashpoint, while Green Lantern goes through a revised origin based on the ret-con done when Hal Jordan was resurrected in the comics.  As for Aquaman, that film is designed around the 2018 version, but changing some elements as well (Aquaman learns about his Atlantean origins as an adult, his mother is only usurped rather than executed, etc.)  This all then leads to a Justice League film where the League battles the White Martians, based on Grant Morrison’s JLA: New World Order.

With this as our foundation point, let’s look at what the phase 2 films offer.

Wonder Woman 2 (2011) Directed by Gates McFadden

Diana/Wonder Woman = Kate Beckinsale

King Faraday = Bradley Cooper

Maxwell Lord = Zachary Quinto

Barbara Ann Minerva/Cheetah = Kirsten Wiig

Paula Von Gunther = Diane Kruger

Sensei = Chow Yun-Fat

This film borrows only slightly from Wonder Woman 84 of the real DCEU.  It involves Diana, Maxwell Lord, Cheetah and the Dreamstone, but a lot about it is also changed.  The film is set in the 1960’s during the Vietnam war, and Wonder Woman is coerced into helping government agent King Faraday hunt down rogue businessman Maxwell Lord and Nazi war criminal Paula Von Gunther, both of whom seek the Dreamstone. The villains are also accompanied by the reluctant archaeologist Barbara Ann Minerva, and their quest takes them to Nanda Parbat for the final act, bringing them into conflict with Ra’s Al Ghul’s predecessor Sensei (since Ra’s got white-washed in Batman Begins by the casting of Liam Neeson, we can’t claim Sensei as Ra’s father as per the comics).

 I’ve retained Gates McFadden as director from my alternate version of the first Wonder Woman, and Kate Beckinsale as my alternate Wonder Woman, while Kirsten Wiig is the only carry-over from Wonder Woman 84.  Everyone else is a fresh casting, and I’ve very purposely left Steve Trevor (played in this alternate DCEU by Heath Ledger to leave the Joker role for Willem Dafoe).  Comics have a bad tendency towards not letting death stick, and except for a small handful of cases, I don’t think it’s a habit the films should follow.

Green Lantern 2 (2011) Directed by Matthew Vaughan

Green Lantern/Hal Jordan = Ben Affleck

Carol Ferris = Liv Tyler

*John Stewart = Derek Luke

*Guy Gardner = Damian Lewis

Thaal Sinestro = Mark Strong

*Katma Tui = Mila Kunis

Kilowog = Tyrese Gibson

Tomar-Re = Hugh Laurie

Salaak = Dominic West

Arisia Rrab = Anna Paquin

*Boodikka = Gina Carano

*Ke'Haan = Kevin Durand

*Laira = Emma Stone

*Kreon = Ryan Philippe

Carl Ferris = Kurt Russell

Tom Kalmaku = Taika Waititi

Andy = Connor Trinneer

Biff = Josh Lucas

Ganthet = Patrick Stewart

Sayd = Glenn Close

Appa Ali Apsa = Hugo Weaving

*Lyssa Drak = Angelina Jolie

*Arkillo = John Cena

*Amon Sur = Ben Foster

*Romat-Ru = Ian McShane

 With our first GL film bringing Hal Jordan into the corps and having him and Sinestro team-up to take down Black Hand and Atrocitus, the second now has room to really play with the Hal-Sinestro dynamic. In this film, Sinestro goes rogue early on and is imprisoned by the crops, only to be broken out by members of his fledling Sinestro-Corps, the fear-wielding Yellow Lanterns that are the antithesis of the Green Lanterns.  As the Green Lanterns are rocked by the rise of the Yellow Lanterns, Hal is forced to find his trust again and recruits fellow humans Guy Gardner and John Stewart to aid him against Sinestro.

 Again, we’re keeping the director from a first film into a second, and much of the cast is retained from the earlier film.  For ease of reference, the new additions for this film are marked with asterisks, and those from Lyssa Drak down are all Yellow Lanterns; every other new character added is a member of the Green Lantern Corps.  Where possible, I’ve tried to go for notable actors who I feel can really create the sense that we’re watching two corps of ring-wielding warriors; one group very much a kind of space-police, the others more like terror-wielding space-maniacs.

Green Arrow (2011) Directed by Simon West

Oliver Queen/Green Arrow = Ethan Hawke

Dinah Lance/Black Canary = Malin Akerman

John Diggle = Gary Dourdan

Felicity Smoak = Elisabeth Moss

Robert Queen = Michael Ironside

Moira Queen = Julie Hagerty

Count Vertigo/Werner Zytle = Christoph Waltz

Tommy Merlyn/Dark Archer = Dean Cain

William Tockman/Clock King = Bill Irwin

Floyd Lawton/Deadshot = Christian Slater

Hellhound/Kai = Archie Kao

China White = Kelly Hu

The emerald archer is someone DC has constantly talked about giving a solo film to, but somehow never seem to get around to, something that’s rather surprising considering the character’s efficacy in recent years kicking off TV’s Arrowverse continuity.  As such, I really wanted my hypothetical DCEU to give this character the cinematic chance DC and Warner Brothers don’t seem to be offering. Going through various films I know to come up with a good director, I’ve landed on Simon West of The Mechanic and various other action films to lead on this one.

 For the title role, I picked Ethan Hawke based on an age similarity to the actors I’ve already picked out for Green Lantern and Flash, since Green Arrow is closer to those heroes than to most others when joining the Justice League. As such, picking someone too much younger or older risks creating a mentor/mentee relationship instead.  It also doesn’t hurt that Hawke is a good actor, and for his co-lead, co-hero and love interest, I’ve picked Malin Akerman based on her performance in Watchmen.

 Other cast members mostly vary from notable film actors to CSI alumni.  My notable options in terms of picking up anyone who has had other DC-related roles include Dean Cain (Superman in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman), Michael Ironside (the voice of Darkseid in the DC Animated Universe) and Christian Slater, who plays Deadshot in the DC Animated Movie Universe.  I’m also aware Kelly Hu plays the role of China White in the Arrow TV series, and decided this was a casting worthy of transfer into my alternate DCEU.

Hawkman (2012) Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Carter Hall/Hawkman = Sullivan Stapleton

Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl = Jessica Alba

Carl Sands/Shadow Thief = Rupert Friend

James Craddock/Gentleman Ghost = Benedict Cumberbatch

Khufu = Adrian Lester

Chay-Ara = Naomie Harris

Hath-Set = Colin Salmon

Cinnamon = Bryce Dallas-Howard

Nighthawk = Chris Pratt

Commissioner Emmett = Robert Wagner

Stewart Frazier = Anthony Mackie

Professor Ziegler = John Rhys-Davies

Emma Ziegler = Reese Witherspoon

Hawkman is one of those superheroes who really needs his own film before you go shoving him into team films, something the people on Black Adam didn’t realise apparently.  After all, this guy is one-half of a regularly reincarnating duo, and frankly learning this has somewhat spoiled my affection for the old Justice League animated series by bringing in Hawkgirl alone.  Regardless, it’s something best done in its own film, and this time I’ve picked Thor director Ken Branagh, based on his work on both Thor and the most recent film version of Death on the Nile.

 The fun thing about Hawkman and Hawkgirl is they reincarnate, so any film focusing on the pair for origin purposes can shift between time periods, and in the process use different actors for the roles.  Black British actors Adrian Lester and Naomie Harris play the pair in their Ancient Egyptian incarnations opposite Collin Salmon, while their “wild west” incarnations are played by Jurassic World duo Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas-Howard.  This leaves the modern versions to be played by Sullivan Stapleton (300: Rise of an Empire) and Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four, Sin City).  Rupert Friend and Benedict Cumberbatch then play the modern-day antagonists, each with roots in those past lives.  A few notable actors then round out the cast in some supporting roles.

Batman/Superman (2012) Directed by Rob Marshall

Bruce Wayne/Batman = Christian Bale

Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent = Brandon Routh

Lex Luthor = Kelsey Grammer

Mercy Graves = Scarlett Johannsen

Alfred Pennyworth = Michael Caine

Lois Lane = Kate Bosworth

Dabney Donovan = Emile Hirsch

Joseph Martin/Atomic Skull = John Cena

General Swanwick = Harry Lennix

Dr Emil Hamilton = Richard Schiff

James "Jim" Gordon = Gary Oldman

Capt. Maggie Sawyer = Jeri Ryan

Insp. Turpin = Colin Farrell

Jim Harper/Guardian = Bobby Cannavale

Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning = Jamie Foxx

Rex Mason/Metamorpho = Karl Urban

Tatsu Yamashiro/Katana = Devon Aoki

Prince Brian Markov/Geo-Force = Daniel Brühl

Jennifer Lynn-Hayden/Jade = Rachel Nichols

Amanda Waller = Viola Davis

Rick Flag Jr. = Joel Kinnaman

Floyd Lawton/Deadshot = Christian Slater

Captain Boomerang/Digger Harkness = Hugh Jackman

John Corbin/Metallo = Orlando Bloom

Killer Frost/Louise Lincoln = Amanda Seyfried

Major Disaster/Paul Booker = Dave Bautista

Parasite/Rudy Jones = Alexander Skarsgård

Count Vertigo/Werner Zytle = Christoph Waltz

Unlike Snyder’s Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, I’m not trying to do a hero-on-hero clash based on an Elseworlds graphic novel.  Instead, I’m taking my cue for this one from the DC animated film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.  Much like that film, this one would have Superman framed by Lex Luthor for the murder of a supervillain.  As the government and public alike turn against him, Superman has to turn to Batman for aid in proving his innocence.  The government’s efforts at apprehending Superman result in the enlistment of the Suicide Squad, giving the villain team an intro ahead of their own film, and to combat them, Batman brings in the Outsiders.

 As a result, this film becomes something of an ensemble picture, which is a key reason why Rob Marshall is my chosen director.  Marshall directed the fourth instalment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, as well as the recent live-action remake of The Little Mermaid.  Such films doubtless give him not only experience in directing the fantastical, but also dealing with large ensemble casts.  Speaking of which, the film retains a fair number of actors from the Batman and Superman solo films of this alternate DCEU, and most notably pairs Christian Bale with Brandon Routh in the title roles.  John Cena also gets a second DCEU role, as he also appears as Arkillo in Green Lantern 2.  Both roles would be mo-cap CGI, though, so factor in appropriate voice effects for each role and it’s an easy double-cast to excuse.

 As for the two teams involved, the Outsiders have largely gone unused in film, with only the misplaced Katana turning up in the Suicide Squad film of 2016, and I’ve recast that role to Devon Aoki simply because that’s an actress I’m aware of.  In turn, the only Suicide Squad casting I’ve retained from the 2016 film has been Viola Davis and Joel Kinnaman.  The rest of the squad is either gathered from this film-verse’s past instalments (Deadshot, Boomerang, Metallo and Vertigo), or they’re new to this film (Killer Frost, Disaster and Parasite).  The squad’s selection, in turn, is about combining fan favourites with villains who can put Superman in jeopardy.

Aquaman 2 (2012) Directed by Jonathan Frakes

Arthur Curry/Aquaman = Chris Pine

Thomas Curry = Bill Pullman

Atlanna = Kim Catrall

Mera = Felicity Jones

Orm/Ocean Master = Taylor Kitsch

Vulko = Jonathan Frakes

Dr Stephen Chin = Tadanobu Asano

Black Manta = Idris Elba

Scavenger/Peter Mortimer = James Franco

Siren/Hila = Felicity Jones

Aqualad/Garth = Luke Benward

Yes folks, I’ve brought back Trek actor/director Jonathan Frakes to helm the second Aquaman film while also reprising the role of Vulko.  With Aquaman now ruling Atlantis and preparing to marry Mera, and the treacherous Orm now imprisoned, Black Manta returns for revenge, aided by Mera’s villainous twin sister Siren and human criminal Scavenger.  This film is also the first to start in on the idea of superhero apprentices by bringing in Garth, better known to comic fans as Aqualad, or Tempest to use his latter-day codename.  The cast is largely unchanged from film 1, and Siren being a twin to Mera allows for an obvious double-casting in those roles.  As a result, only James Franco and Luke Benward are new additions.  Franco, of course, is well known for roles in the Raimi-Maguire Spider-Man trilogy, the first film in the rebooted Planet of the Apes continuity and various others. Benward, by comparison, is a former Disney Channel actor with a decent filmography even by the time of this film, and he is of an age to integrate well with others I’ve cast with a view to setting up for a Teen Titans film or two down the line.

John Constantine (2013) Directed by Sam Raimi

John Constantine = Matt Ryan

Zatanna = Katrina Law

Jason Blood/Etrigan = Eddie Redmayne

Alec Holland/Swamp Thing = David Harbour

Dr Fate/Kent Nelson = Mads Mikkelsen

Inza Nelson = Tessa Thompson

Morgan Le Fey = Elizabeth Hurley

Mordred = Will Poulter

Felix Faust = Brad Douriff

Enchantress/Dr June Moone = Keira Knightley/Natalie Portman

Solomon Grundy = Andy Serkis

Having learned that Constantine is Liverpudlian in the comics, I’m certainly avoiding the use of Keanu and other non-British actors for the role in this alternate DCEU.  The Americanisation of non-US roles is something I can’t stand generally, and when it’s done to a character from any part of Britain, I get even more ticked. As such, I’ve retained the Arrowverse and DCAMU choice for the role, Matt Ryan, going into this film.  It’s largely a one-off, but the film has Constantine dealing with the return of Morgan Le Gey and her son Mordred, figures from Arthurian history, aided along the way by several other mystic heroes. Unlike the DCAMU’s Justice League Dark, this film isn’t about a team-up; rather, it’s more of an Indiana Jones-meets-horror adventure, with Zatanna and Jason Blood being the only ones along for the ride in the long-haul.

 Given the horror aspect, I’d be putting this film in Sam Raimi’s hands, and throwing in a veritable who’s who of quality actors.  For the Enchantress, I’ve actually cast two women to play the role for one very simple reason.  The Enchantress of DC lore is a separate entity from the woman she possesses, and I think casting two actresses that can appear similar to play each character is a different way to do that.  Since two people pretending to be one was a trick Keira Knightly and Natalie Portman had to pull in the Star Wars film The Phantom Menace, I think it’s a good idea to use that same casting here as an homage.  As for Bruce Campbell, I’ve not put him on the cast list but I know he’d show up in a suitable comedy relief moment.  An obnoxious American tourist Constantine could put some minor curse on for a quick laugh seems appropriate.

The Flash 2 (2013) Directed by JJ Abrams

Barry Allen/The Flash = Matt Damon

Iris West = Drew Barrymore

Eobard Thawne/Reverse Flash = Jake Gyllenhaal

Wallace "Wally" West/Kid Flash = Calum Worthy

Det. Ira West = William Sadler

Dr Henry Allen = Harrison Ford

Darryl Fyre = William Russ

Capt. Singh = Faran Tahir

Patty Spivot = Cameron Diaz

Tina McGee = Pauley Perrette

Francisco "Cisco" Ramone/Vibe = Wilmer Valderrama

Ralph Dibney/Elongated Man = Ben Savage

Sue Dearborn = Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Mari McCabe/Vixen = Lupita Nyong'o

Captain Cold/Leonard Snart = Rob Lowe

Heatwave/Mick Rory = Ron Perlman

The second Flash film sees the Flash becoming increasingly established as Central City’s de facto superhero, even inspiring other metahumans to become heroes.  However, it isn’t long before Barry finds his new life in jeopardy, thanks to the sociopathic nature of time-travelling speedster Eobard Thawne, otherwise known as the Reverse-Flash.  This film brings back much of the first film’s cast, with Jake Gyllenhaal taking on the villain role as Wilmer Valerrama (NCIS), Ben Savage (Boy Meets World and Girl Meets World) and Lupita Nyong’o (Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) play the hero roles. Mary Elizabeth Winstead then rounds out the roles by playing Sue Dearborn, the love interest for fledgling hero Elongated Man.

 Director-wise, we’re again unchanged from original to sequel; I picked Abrams for his work on the rebooted Star Trek films, and for now I think he’s still the one to direct the Flash.  That’s not to say all sequels in this film run, or in my 90’s-based MCU, will retain the same director for each hero or team.  It just happens that in this case, I’ve kept a lot of the titles consistent because I honestly think the less you can change your director and any recurring cast roles, the better.

Suicide Squad (2013) Directed by Guy Ritchie

Amanda Waller = Viola Davis

Rick Flag Jr. = Joel Kinnaman

Floyd Lawton/Deadshot = Christian Slater

Captain Boomerang/Digger Harkness = Hugh Jackman

Killer Frost/Louise Lincoln = Amanda Seyfried

Hellhound/Kai = Archie Kao

Mirror Master/Sam Scudder = Terrence Howard

Garfield Lynns/Firefly = Chaning Tatum

Ben Turner/Bronze Tiger = Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Sameer Park/Copperhead = Sendhil Ramamurthy

Siobhan Smythe/Silver Banshee = Katie McGrath

Bette San Souce/Plastique = Elisha Cuthbert

Eric Needham/Black Spider = Mehcad Brooks

Brian Durlin/Savant = Michael Rooker

Roman Sionis/Black Mask = Ewan McGregor

General Wade Eiling = Clancy Brown

King = Cuba Gooding Jr.

Queen = Jennifer Lopez

Jack = Mark Whalberg

Ten = Jaimie Alexander

Ace = Chris Hemsworth

For this film, I feel it’s to go with Guy Ritchie as director, as his work directing films like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels makes him a natural fit for covering a film that’s all about criminals.  In this film, the plot would be about Black Mask hiring the Royal Flush Gang to steal classified military intelligence.  The intel is in three parts, and the Suicide Squad is called in. Their mission; either capture the Royal Flush Gang for interrogation or follow them to find out where Black Mask is hiding the intel.  Again, this is a huge ensemble cast, and the film will inevitably involve a body-count by its very nature.  The cast includes a huge number of notable actors, some of which are brought over from other roles in TV’s Arrowverse.  The only repeat from the DCEU not previously mentioned in this ramble is of course Michael Rooker as Savant, which is a transferred casting from James Gunn’s Suicide Squad film.

Justice League 2 (2014) Directed by Alan Taylor

Bruce Wayne/Batman = Christian Bale

Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent = Brandon Routh

Diana/Wonder Woman = Kate Beckinsale

Green Lantern/Hal Jordan = Ben Affleck

Barry Allen/The Flash = Matt Damon

J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter = Chiwetel Ejiofor

Arthur Curry/Aquaman = Chris Pine

Vandal Savage = Gerard Butler

Talia Al Ghul = Marion Cotillard

Giganta = Hayley Atwell

Amazo = Steve Austin

Professor Anthony Ivo = Brent Spiner

Lex Luthor = Kelsey Grammer

William Hand/Black Hand = Wes Bentley

Weather Wizard/Mark Mardon = Michael Fassbender

Black Manta = Idris Elba

Solomon Grundy = Andy Serkis

Alfred Pennyworth = Michael Caine

Lois Lane = Kate Bosworth

Snapper Carr = Josh Duhamel

Iris West = Drew Barrymore

Carol Ferris = Liv Tyler

The second Justice League film follows a similar tact to the animated DC film Justice League: Doom.  In other words, a major villain manages to uncover contingency plans Batman developed to take down his fellow heroes if they went rogue. These plans are then adapted and used against the Justice League.  Both films are based on JLA: Tower of Babel, but in our film as with the animated version, the lead villain role shifts from Ra’s Al Ghul to Vandal Savage. However, I’ve included Talia because we’re now way off Nolan’s original Batman trilogy, and yet I still want to see the thread of Talia’s vengeance on Bruce retained.  Also, Talia stole Batman’s contingency plans in the comics, so it’s a good way to get back to being true-to-source.

 Much of the cast is recurring from past films, with only a handful of the villains being fresh additions on this film.  I also add in Amazo and his creator Professor Ivo as opening villains, with Amazo later coming back for certain plot-points.  Since Amazo is an android, I thought it would be fund having Brent Spiner, who played Data in Star Trek: TNG, appearing as Amazo’s creator. The whole thing is directed by Alan Taylor, who I think did a good job on Thor: The Dark World despite popular opinion to the contrary.  I’d be curious to see how he handled a Justice League film instead, especially one with all the twists and turns this one would involve.

Green Arrow 2 (2014) Directed by Simon West

Oliver Queen/Green Arrow = Ethan Hawke

Dinah Lance/Black Canary = Malin Akerman

John Diggle = Gary Dourdan

Felicity Smoak = Elisabeth Moss

Roy Harper/Speedy = Cameron Monaghan

Moira Queen = Julie Hagerty

Grant Wilson/Ravager = Andrew Garfield

Carrie Cutter/Cupid = Serinda Swan

Prometheus = Sebastian Stan

Dr Arthur Light = James McAvoy

Barry Allen/The Flash = Matt Damon

Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent = Brandon Routh

Diana/Wonder Woman = Kate Beckinsale

In this second Green Arrow film, the Justice League approaches Oliver Queen about replacing Batman on the team.  Oliver, however, initially refuses because while he disagrees with Batman’s methods, he is aware the League lacks sufficient regard for the idea that fail-safes should exist.  When a group of villains then manage to make three of the League go rogue, it falls to Green Arrow, Black Canary and young hero Speedy to set things right.  While things kind of work out and result in Ollie joining the league, Wonder Woman leaves because she isn’t willing to concede her objection to the idea of checks and balances.

Once again, the director and most of the case are consistent from film 1 to film 2. Beyond the guest appearances of some League members, the new cast is all bound up in addition of Cameron Monaghan (the proto-Joker in TV series Gotham) and our quartet of villains.

Batman: The Long Crusade (2014) Directed by Matt Reeves

Bruce Wayne/Batman = Christian Bale

Alfred Pennyworth = Michael Caine

Richard “Dick” Grayson/Robin = Patrick Schwarzenegger

Lucius Fox = Morgan Freeman

James "Jim" Gordon = Gary Oldman

Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin = Sean Astin

Arnold Stromwell = Steve Buscemi

Rupert Thorne = Vincent D'Onofrio

Tony Zucco = Robert Iler

Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow = Cillian Murphy

Dr Lesley Thompkins = Rene Russo

Det. Harvey Bullock = Donal Logue

Det. Renee Montoya = Penelope Cruz

Det. Crispus Allen = Djimon Honsou

Det. Peter Foley = Matt Le Blanc

For the third solo Batman film, and the last one in this phase, things change a lot more.  First off, the directorial reins transfer to Matt Reeves.  Second, we’re dealing with a Batman who is on the outs with the Justice League following the events of JL2.  At the same time, a gang war is brewing in Gotham between the Penguin and rival mob bosses Arnold Stromwell and Rupert Thorne, following Black Mask’s fall in Suicide Squad.  In the midst of all this, Stromwell’s nephew Tony Zucco returns, having killed the parent of Richard “Dick” Grayson a year earlier.

 The film is essentially looking at Batman trying to distance himself from others due to trust issues, only to be made to realise he can’t do this, and just because some of his fellow heroes haven’t understood him or his ways doesn’t mean others don’t understand him.  Again, we have a fair number of returning cast members, but also plenty of new ones, include Patrick Schwarzenegger, son of the legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger, taking on the role of Robin. The film also expands Batman’s supporting cast by working in more notable members of the GCPD and Bruce’s surrogate mother figure, Dr Lesley Thompkins.

 So, that concludes the second instalment in our alternate DCEU for the time being. Hopefully I can think of enough other things to discuss in future rambles to keep us from coming back to this or my 90’s-based MCU too soon.  However, if there’s sufficient positive response, I can always come back to both in due course.  Anyway, until the next ramble, ta-ta for now.

[scardanvers]

madelyn cline & she/her/ cis woman ‷ watch out , scarlett danvers has crash-landed into roswell !! they look twenty six years old and celebrate their birthday on april 11th. they are from salt lake city, utah, reside in aurora apartments and are currently working as manager/bartender @ area 51 & casual dj. one thing you should know about them is she has a habit of chewing on ice cubes. ‷ 

full name : scarlett ashley danvers nickname(s) : scar , danvers birth date: april eleven zodiac sign : aries age : twenty-six gender : cis woman pronouns : she / her / her’s sexual orientation : bisexual romantic orientation : biromantic current residence : roswell, new mexico occupation : manager/bartender @ area 51 and dj

trigger warnings include: (tagged before and after) drug use, alcohol, violence, pregnancy, abortion, bad parenting (just in case).

*      BACKGROUND.

only child scarlett was born to already separated parents, lauren saunders and zachary danvers in salt lake city, ur. lauren a pretentious wedding planner and zac a bar owner. the two were together for a year before falling pregnant with scarlett, though split just 2 months before she was born.

scar lived with her mother and visited her father every second weekend and whenever her lauren had appointments or a wedding to attend.

from a young age, scarlett was very generous and sweet; sharing her lunch, playing with other kids nicely, making friends easily with her lively nature. she also, however, found herself getting in trouble for talking back to teachers or reefing scrunchies out of kids hair simply because she didn’t like the look of it. she didn’t understand why she was getting in trouble because to her, she was just helping out ─ they looked better without it.

from mid-elementary to middle school, grandparents and relatives who would also look after scar often tried to encourage her to be less outspoken; to watch what she said, be gentle with others and to be seen not heard ( ew ). tw: bad parenting. her father didn’t defend her actions or dismiss them, tw though her mother was quick to the defence and encouraged her to use her voice and be as bold as she so desired.

as a teenager, scarlett began to see less and less of her father when his new family began to take rank and a lot of angst began to build because of this. she already doesn’t get to see all that much of her mother, especially wedding season, and the lack of attention from her father set something off within her.

tw: drug use, alcohol and violence. she started to ‘ act out ‘ as such; sneaking out, befriending those a lot older than her and encouraging her to do things she shouldn’t, drinking and taking pills, even purposely smacking a baseball with a bat at a senior because he was mean to a freshman. tw.

djing was something that scarlett became interested in in her last year of high school, having been around a couple at some parties she been to. they showed her how to transition songs, bpm, and being able to read the crowd.

after just one session at a house party, scar was hooked and she was sourcing a deck in days.

when scarlett graduated, she did in fact go to college but not for her new found passion. scar got accepted for a physical therapy degree. after taking it up for 6 months, it was evident that it was NOT for her and much to her parents’ disgust, scarlett dropped out to travel ─ starting with a small group of her friends and continuing on by herself.

you can imagine the fun she got up to on a 7 month long trip lmao.

upon her return to salt lake city, scar debated on what she wanted to do with her life and where she wanted to go. she went through a bit of a crisis really about a whole lot of things and it was during this time, scarlett and her mother moved to roswell, new mexico

tw: pregnancy, drug use. roswell was VERY different from slc, but she took it as a new adventure. she was having the time of her life; meeting new people, drinking until her hearts content, getting high whenever she wanted, working as a shop assistant and learning the ropes of djing on the side until finally getting into proper clubs at 21 and work as a bartender. scar, however, had started been sleeping with a fling and ended up pregnant. tw.

tw: abortion. the idea of being a mother petrified scarlett to her core, though she was so torn up about it she made herself sick for weeks. eventually, she made the decision there’s no way she could possibly go through with it. tw.

scarlett didn’t give herself the chance to feel anything; instead instantly bottled up her emotions because apparently that is easier than facing it head on. just turned it off like a switch. or sealed the cap shut, really.

it’ll come to a head one day.

these days, scarlett is happily working at the bar at area 51, gradually making a name for herself and a small following ─ she posts some of her mixes on the likes of soundcloud, snippets on tiktok and playing some gigs. it’s only onwards and upwards for this firecracker !

*      PERSONALITY.

she has little to no filter, whatsoever. she is inappropriate, flirtatious and honest without thinking first most ─ if not 98% of the time. scar is very much the type of person to suck on someone’s fingers in public and not think twice, or tell you exactly what she’s thinking in that moment.

scar is a patient person, truly, there are just times she simply turns unexpectedly and with no warning. one minute she’s going about her day, no qualms, the next she encounters a minor inconvenience/etc and she explodes. lashing out with a sharp tongue or even throwing hands, which she is not afraid to do.

she can be a bad influence, evidently.

flirt flirt flirt ! what more can i say? she’s a tease, a brat, will flirt with you blatantly, with her eyes, will play cat and mouse, give a taste and leave you wanting more: just living her best life and thriving.

scarlett can be very sweet. very giggly, cuddly, soft and warm. if she deems you a friend, she will protect you and be there for you no matter what or time of day ( even if she doesn’t know what to say ). she’ll hold your hand just because, buy you a bunch of flowers that she sees because it reminded her of you, beat someone up because they hurt you, even make you a playlist.

she keeps her cards close to her chest, not wanting people to leave or hurt her. it’s a reflex that she leaves first, pushes people away or hurts them before they get too close, because who likes to get hurt? nah.

it’s not often that scar asks for help ( not really anyway ) but when she does, she usually reaches out to those she is closest to.

this woman loves to box, run, pilates, keep active in any way that she can. want someone to go on a walk with? hit her up, she’ll go. they don’t have to talk; they can listen to some beats and keep each other company.

scar has music playing a lot of the time; she doesn’t have to know who the artists are and the genre does not matter (generally). something has to be playing. whether she’s on her way to work or to meet a friend, or even relaxing around her place.

scarlett has to be doing something, otherwise she’ll get lazy and won’t do anything. like lay in bed for three days and won’t wash up or clean up lazy. so she doesn’t fall into this trap ( which she does ) she constantly tries to keep herself going, whether it’s seeing people, yoga ( a fresh, year old hobby ) finding a “fix”, working, boxing, having sex. u know, as you do.

this girl is happy to party in the club, the courtyard, or have a small little get together in the living room. as long as there’s music ( any kind even, her music taste is vast ) she’s happy.

on the contrary, she’s also happy to chill and do jack shit. sit on the couch and chat, or smoke, watch whatever comes on, or not talk at all. or make out for the hell of it, hey, whatever floats your boat. she’d be very happy to simply make out, js.

*      PLOTS.

best friend(s): go on, gimme gimme. just two people that mesh together, or small group of ppl! they’re seen together practically all the time, getting up to god knows what, and scar would go to hell and back for them. period !

ruined friendship: friends that slept together, turned into fwbs and one of them got feelings when they weren’t supposed to. along those lines anyway.

fans(?): those who like her mixes, or have seen her in one of the clubs or bars ─ the real icons !

roommate: with the help of her mother, scar has bought her flat but this muse is renting a room off of her. so gimme this pls and thank you.

friends that drifted apart: they met through travels and were so close but now it’s like they’re strangers again, or would meet for coffee every day and it was special but they slowly stopped going, or mutual friends that had a lot in common but those common interests aren’t that interesting anymore; listen the possibilities are endless!

exes/flings: please !! something angsty; something that was sweet. maybe she hurt them by pushing them away, or perhaps it was a “i’m going to lead you on for the hell of it” situation. maybe even a fling that went nowhere. even the fling she fell pregnant to. anything is possible :)

hook ups/fwbs: wbk that there could be a few of these so, do it. current ones, old ones, ones that she never wants to see again but oh no here you are fuck, the i don’t remember you hook up, whatever you desire.

bar/club buddies: people who she sees relentlessly bc of the night-life lifestyle she lives and everything that does with it. u feel?

misc: old neighbours, new neighbours, acquaintances, enemies, old roommates, people she met on her travels, confidant, mentor, crush (old, new and unrequited), let’s just chill and make out, someone who fixes her car, workout/sport buddies, flirtationship, regulars at work where she has their drink made by the time they walk in?

literally, anything. no joke lmao.

#roswellintro #drug use tw #pregnancy tw #abortion tw #violence tw #bad parenting tw #alcohol tw

[newagesispage]

                                                                         SEPTEMBER 2022

THE  RIB  PAGE

Season 11 of American Horror Story is almost here!! Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk are also working on the new American Sports Story and American Love Story! This season is still secret, of course, but it seems that it will include Billie Lourd, Isaac Powell, Patti Lupone, Zachary Quinto and Sandra Bernhard!!!!! Some have said that it will be set in the 70’s and or 80’s.

*****

Micky Dolenz has sued the FBI to find out more about a Monkees FBI file. His lawyer stated,“the lawsuit seeks to expose why the FBI was monitoring the Monkees and its individual members. The 7 page file was released in 2011 but was heavily redacted. It includes an FBI source who went to a 1967 concert with “subliminal messages” on screen, “which constituted left wing innovations of a political nature. Dolenz states that he has “exhausted all necessary required administrative remedies.”

*****

Kansas voted to protect abortion rights.

*****

Days alert: WE HATE U NBC!!!!! Taking off Days, a program that has been loyal and steady since 1964!!?? Peacock? What a great way to ease it out. They have been looking for a way to get rid of it for some time. I guess they finally figured out a way just so they could add more news. Nobody is a bigger news junkie than me but there are plenty of more reliable news outlets than NBC. Gimme a break! But, I digress. So glad to see Xander and Sarah working together to get to the truth. What the fuck is wrong with Stephanie? Does she not know about the evil in some of Salem’s residents?? I know she was a bit of a rebel back in her driving days but she wasn’t stupid! **Please, bring Tate and his Mother back to town!** It is cute the way we are seeing Gabi and Stefon’s love story thru Rolf. ** Hooray for Roman and Kate! Now if the ladies can just save themselves and put Orpheus in his place, things will be just fine.

*****

I can’t believe Better Call Saul is over. Salute to one of the best shows ever to hit our screens. What a great way to use the Nesmith demo there towards the end. There was not a bad performance in the bunch but let’s really not forget Michaell Mckean and his astounding work!!!!!

*****

Hillary Clinton was there for opening night of the79th Venice Film Fest.

*****

Batgirl was nearly finished and WB/ Discovery shut down post production.  Was it because of taxes?

*****

Kelli Giddish is leaving Law and Order SVU. It was not her choice.

*****

Polio?? Really??

*****

What?? Arizona sold their back-up water supply to the Saudi’s?? I could not believe that this was true until I found out it was. The Arizona State land dept. sold thousands of acres to a Saudi Corp., Fondomonte. They have leased the right to pump as much water as they want and sell it back to Arizonians. What??

*****

Bill Paxton had a stroke in 2017, following an aortic aneurysm during a valve replacement. His family settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Cedars- Sinai Medical Center.

*****

The latest sexual misconduct news: Gary Busey was arrested on 2 counts of criminal sexual contact,  1count criminal attempt/ criminal sexual contact in the 4th degree, 1 count harassment, disorderly persons offense. ** Arcade Fire’s Win Butler has been accused by 4 people of sexual misconduct. ** In 2016, it was learned that Charlie Sheen had exposed about 25 women to HIV without divulging that info. He just settled one of those cases for $120,000.** Former Buffalo Bill, Matt Araiza has been accused of rape.

*****

Young Thug and Gunna Face were arrested under the RICO (racketeer influenced and corrupt organization) Act with evidence dating back to 2013.

*****

Plesiosaurus fossils have been found in the Sahara Desert. Plesiosaurs in fresh water???? This does help the Lochness believers.

*****

Jon Batiste is leaving The Late Show.

*****

Kathy Griffin asked for help from the internet crowd. It seems that medical personnel sent her a copy of her latest cancer scan with no explanation. Luckily some image readers out there helped her out since she could not get a return call from her physician. It is not just the civilians out there that are getting shoddy service, it is everywhere.  

*****

The Georgia case has heated up. First Sen Graham claimed he couldn’t testify, then he was told to take a bus, an Uber, whatever and testify. Soon a delay was granted so they can decide about testimony that involves the full role of a Senator.

*****

Biden has delivered the largest economic recovery plan since Roosevelt, the largest infrastructure plan since Eisenhower, the most judges confirmed since Kennedy, the second largest health care bill since Johnson and the largest climate change bill in history. -Klain

*****

The 87,000 new IRS agents will be phased in over 10 years. 50,000 are set to retire. This will bring the number of employed to 2013 levels.

*****

Florida GOP candidate, Martin Hyde threatened a Police officer’s job when he was pulled over for speeding and texting. It seems that every day we see another example of politicians thinking that the laws do not apply to them. I thought they supported law and order.

*****

Joe Pesci, Edie Falco and Pete Davidson will star in TV’s Bupkis which will be executive produced by Lorne Michaels.

*****

Gotta check out Leslie Jones, Ken Jong and Jason Alexander in Out of Office.

*****

The FBI went into Mar A Lago because Scary Clown 45 did not return all the boxes of info that he said he did. I mean, he was the one who signed some of this into law!  His lawyers lied to the DOJ and sort of forced the hand of the DOJ. 18 months ago, the National Archives asked the DOJ to look into the missing boxes. The Trump crazies have run to his aid. Not only do we have to worry about what they may be doing to our voting rights and elections, now we have this. The threats to law enforcement, the FBI and the military by the Trump gang is atrocious. How can bullies be so upset about Hillary’s emails which is just a step over the line, when Trump has run way past the line? More than 300 documents have been recovered since January. I am sure that Scary Clown loves the optics of this. Is that why he kept them, just so they would HAVE to come and take them. He knows that details are not made public in ongoing investigations but we have gotten to see a little of the affidavit. And let’s not forget the Chinese operatives that were once found at Mar A Lago. All of that top secret info was vulnerable. If nothing else, we are looking at obstruction. There are strict protocols with classified info. There was a system in place for the most sensitive materials which the Trump administration does not seem to have followed. How do we know that other countries have not already seen this material? In cases of espionage, it takes years for spies to infiltrate and gather info.

*****

George W. Bush changed the rules with the Presidential records act that used to let us see things in 12 years but now it is 20.

*****

Scary Clown’s current legal team includes a Florida insurance lawyer who’s never had a federal case, a past General counsel for a parking garage company and a former host with far right One America News. - Washington Post

*****

Judith Giuliani has sued Rudy for $262,000 in divorce settlement money she says he owes. She also claims she has “bailed him out” with about $70,000. In 2020, he was sued by Miller Gafney art advisory for $15,000. Dominion Voting has sued for $1.3 billion. The District of Columbia and NY have suspended his law license.  

*****

Paul Rudd will join season 3 of Only Murders in the building.

*****

Does the T Rex have small arms so they can hold onto their mates during sex?? Some scientists are telling us that.

*****

Edie McClurg’s family have said that she suffers from dementia and is being victimized by a friend.

*****

Former Detroit Lions Rob Sims and Calvin Johnson have formed Primitiv in Michigan. The Cannabis co. Was inspired by all the injuries they and their teammates suffered on the field.

*****

Is this true? Aaron Rodgers claims he took ayahuasca, a psychedelic and it worked wonders for him. It is apparently not on the NFL’s list of off limit drugs. He has made comments that he is a magic mushroom fan as well.  

*****

Keenan Thompson will host the Emmy’s.

*****

Johnny Depp will direct Al Pacino in Modigliani.

*****

I always wanted David Alan Grier to host one of the late- night shows. Thanks to Kimmel, we saw that he is a fabulous host!! He is a natural! More Please!!  Late Late show??** It was great to see Al Franken as host as well. People talk of him running for Senate again. As much as I would personally like that, I think he has more influence as host or talking head because he can be less inhibited and have a bigger impact. That said, I stick with my dream ticket from a few years back of he and Stacey Abrams as a Presidential ticket. Don’t care who is on top.

*****

Dollface was cancelled.

*****

Salmon Rushdie was stabbed on stage as he was beginning a speech about the U.S. being a safe haven for exiled writers.

*****

The word is that Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb do not really get along. Some were concerned that when Savannah was late for work, it was to make a point! Some insiders say that the fans love Kotb and the NBC execs love Guthrie.

*****

Why do Piers Morgan and Chris Christie remind me so much of each other? Are they related?

*****

R.I.P. Robyn Griggs, Freya the walrus, John Eastman, Ben Stern, Lamont Dozier, Teddy Ray, Vin Scully, Mary Alice, Roger E. Mosley, Anne Heche, Olivia Newton John, Jessica Klein, Denise Dowse, Virginia Patton, Wolfgang Petersen, Bob Lupone, Mikhail Gorbachev, Bill McCormack, William Reynolds and David McCullough.

[aurorawest]

My favorite books of 2021

Here it is...my non-exhaustive list of books I loved this year! One thing these books all have in common? Queer characters in prominent roles.

The Daevabad Trilogy (City of Brass; Kingdom of Copper; Empire of Gold) by S.A. Chakraborty

The official blurb for City of Brass:

Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles. But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound. In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences. After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for...

Why did I like this book: Oh man. Okay. Full disclosure, when I read City of Brass, I was like, this is fine, not amazing, but I’ll pick up the other two in the series because I enjoyed it enough. The world-building is A+, the characters were likable, and I enjoyed the romance.

And then. AND THEN. Kingdom of Copper. Whew, you guys...the intrigue. The politics. The world-building. THE QUEER CHARACTERS. The pining. Where City of Brass is sort of more about the vibes and the road trip, Kingdom of Copper is where it really takes off. All the characters really come into their own. Characters I didn’t care about in City of Brass suddenly became my favorites (I would die for you, Muntadhir). Everyone has complex motives and is tormented by at least three different things.

Empire of Gold is just as good, and it a fantastic wrap-up to the series. I never wanted it to end. Bless the author for releasing bonus material. We stan an author who writes fic of her own work and then releases it for her readers.

I truly cannot recommend this series enough. I gave up on this sort of high fantasy years ago because it’s all the same, but I loved the Islamic setting (it gets billed as Middle Eastern but it’s mostly not set in the technical Middle East...yes I’m being pedantic), I loved the characters, I loved how fresh it felt. I just loved it. So much.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

The official blurb:

Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues—a bee, a key, and a sword—that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth. What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians—it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also of those who are intent on its destruction. Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose—in both the mysterious book and in his own life.

Why did I like this book: This book is beautiful. This is a book for people who love words and stories. Erin Morgenstern can string the most gorgeous sentences together, and I hate her a little bit for it. Reading it is like...like floating in a pool full of honey while you eat marzipan. Or your decadent sweet of choice, haha.

I love all (or okay...most) of the characters, but my love for Zachary and Dorian is enough to secure this book a spot on my all-time favorite books. I also had no idea this was a queer love story, and god, what a gorgeous love story it is.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

The official blurb:

A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret. Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days. But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn. An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.

Why did I like this book: Two middle aged men find themselves and find love with each other? Haha okay take my money. One of the reviews for this book describes it as a ‘big gay blanket’ and honestly, I can’t put it any better than that. There’s nothing complicated in this book and you never have to think too hard, but it’s delightful from beginning to end, and I was screaming for Linus and Arthur to just KISS for the love of god.

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

The official blurb:

Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men. But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy. Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores. 

Why did I like this book: Look, I’m still swooning over this book. I’ll never be over Monty and Percy and HOW STUPID they are and the longing and pining and how exquisitely funny and perfect this book was. Monty is exactly the kind of fuck-up I love, Percy is exactly the kind of restrained, patient, quietly-dealing-with-his-own-shit love interest for the fuck-up that I love, and their banter and flirting and friends to lovers journey feels like it was written very specifically for me. This is a romance wrapped in a road trip adventure novel, and you guys, I hate Mackenzi Lee because she not only writes romance perfectly, she also had me laughing out loud as I read this book—and, and, she also writes really beautifully, and you know what, I just wish I was her. Mackenzi Lee, I wish I was you.

Teixcalaan (A Memory Called Empire; A Desolation Called Peace) by Arkady Martine

The official blurb for A Memory Called Empire:

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court. Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.

Why did I like this book: Another one where the world-building and the politics is crazy good, and of course, lovable characters that I didn’t want to say good-bye to at the end of the duology. These books play into my very specific interest of passing on and implanting the personality of a dead person into a living person as a means of preserving knowledge. In fact I wondered repeatedly if Arkady Martine is a Weyoun stan.

Also features a queer romance!

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

The official blurb:

First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations. The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?

Why did I like this book: Look, if you read my writing, you’ve probably figured out that I love romance. I love rom-coms. I’ve never met a contemporary romance novel that I haven’t immensely enjoyed, and even though they usually don’t end up on my favorite books list, I still love the hell out of them. But this book? This book. Maybe it’s because it was the first queer contemporary romance novel I read, but I got to the end of it and was ready to start all over again. I basically bullied my wife into reading it, haha (which can be said for most of the books on this list...still working on getting her to read The Daevabad trilogy).

The characters are just...lovable. Henry is full of anxiety and has been pining for years, Alex discovers he’s bi. The sex is hot. And it (the book, not the sex), was a lot deeper than I thought it would be. It actually had things to say, and I loved that too.

The Locked Tomb (Gideon the Ninth; Harrow the Ninth) by Tamsyn Muir

The Emperor needs necromancers. The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman. Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit. Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won't set her free without a service. Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon's sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die. Of course, some things are better left dead.

Why did I like this book: Gideon the Ninth reminded me that I love to read (also shoutout to the Broken Earth Trilogy by NK Jemisin, which I did not read in 2021 but helped me along this path). I’ve developed a bad habit in recent years of mostly picking up books secondhand, either at library books sales or thrift shops, and not coincidentally, it seemed that it was almost impossible to find a book that was really, really good. Okay well...yeah, as it turns out, it helps to buy books from bookstores, so your selection isn’t the books people have gotten rid of.

Anyway. Gideon. This book is fun, and pulpy, and full of a huge cast of characters that I actually grew to know and love. The world-building is fantastic, the setting is fantastic. The mystery sucks you in. And Gideon is an endless delight, as is Harrow.

Honorable mentions to American Hippo by Sarah Gailey and A Book of Tongues by Gemma Files

River of Teeth official blurb:

In 2017 Sarah Gailey made their debut with River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow, two action-packed novellas that introduced readers to an alternate America in which hippos rule the colossal swamp that was once the Mississippi River. Now readers have the chance to own both novellas in American Hippo, a single, beautiful volume.

Years ago, in an America that never was, the United States government introduced herds of hippos to the marshlands of Louisiana to be bred and slaughtered as an alternative meat source. This plan failed to take into account some key facts about hippos: they are savage, they are fast, and their jaws can snap a man in two.

By the 1890s, the vast bayou that was once America's greatest waterway belongs to feral hippos, and Winslow Houndstooth has been contracted to take it back. To do so, he will gather a crew of the damnedest cons, outlaws, and assassins to ever ride a hippo. American Hippo is the story of their fortunes, their failures, and his revenge.

A Book of Tongues official blurb:

Two years after the Civil War, Pinkerton agent Ed Morrow has gone undercover with one of the weird West's most dangerous outlaw gangs-the troop led by "Reverend" Asher Rook, ex-Confederate chaplain turned "hexslinger," and his notorious lieutenant (and lover) Chess Pargeter. Morrow's task: get close enough to map the extent of Rook's power, then bring that knowledge back to help Professor Joachim Asbury unlock the secrets of magic itself. Magicians, cursed by their gift to a solitary and painful existence, have never been more than a footnote in history. But Rook, driven by desperation, has a plan to shatter the natural law that prevents hexes from cooperation, and change the face of the world-a plan sealed by an unholy marriage-oath with the goddess Ixchel, mother of all hanged men. To accomplish this, he must raise her bloodthirsty pantheon from its collective grave through sacrifice, destruction, and apotheosis. Caught between a passel of dead gods and monsters, hexes galore, Rook's witchery, and the ruthless calculations of his own masters, Morrow's only real hope of survival lies with the man without whom Rook cannot succeed: Chess Pargeter himself. But Morrow and Chess will have to literally ride through Hell before the truth of Chess's fate comes clear-the doom written for him, and the entire world.

Why did I like these books: Queer cowboys. Beginning and end of story.

#the daevabad trilogy #the starless sea #the house in the cerulean sea #the gentleman's guide to vice and virtue #teixcalaan #red white and royal blue #locked tomb trilogy #american hippo #a book of tongues #reading tag #annual reading wrap up

[titan-fodder]

Pyroclastic (Mike Zacharias x Reader)

Summary: Some would argue that the park is dead, but you know better; it’s livelier than it has been in hundreds of thousands of years, a shuddering, breathing monster finally rising to its feet after an eternity of slumber. Soon, it will open its mouth in an earth-shattering scream, and then, everyone will see.

Not dead; just waking up.

Rating: E (explicit)

Word Count: ~19.5K

Warnings: slow burn, friends to lovers, Eruri, implied Mobuhan, spelling Miche ‘Mike’, swearing, fighting, lots of nerdy shit, explicit sexual content, breeding kink

A/N: This is my contribution to the Smut Pile’s Apocalypse collab. I urge everyone to check out all the pieces on the masterlist. A big thanks to @pleasantanathema​ and @whats-her-quirk​ for being about as excited about this as I was, to @shadowworks​ for always encouraging me when I take on projects too big for my own good, and to @mindninjax​ who volunteered her husband’s expertise on this. I’m pretty proud of this piece and had a blast writing and researching for it. This is by no means scientifically accurate, but I did my best to make it realistic (as in I watched Supervolcano again and spent a lot of time on the USGS website). Also, I have been to Yellowstone exactly one (1) time in my life and was terrified the entire time which is where my fixation with it comes from. 

Enjoy~

GLOSSARY

Caldera - large basin-shaped volcanic depression with a diameter many times larger than its included volcanic vents; commonly formed when magma is withdrawn or erupted from a shallow, underground magma reservoir.*

Pyroclastic flow - A hot (typically >800 °C), chaotic mixture of rock fragments, gas, and ash that travels rapidly (tens of meters per second) away from a volcanic vent or collapsing flow front.*

Tephra -�� pieces of all fragments of rock ejected into the air by an erupting volcano.

VEI - The Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) is a relative measure of the explosiveness of volcanic eruptions.*

*definitions taken from USGS website

4  Y E A R S  B E F O R E 

Levi looks pissed when he’s on screen. He looks pissed all the time, but he looks especially pissed when he’s made to stand in front of pointed cameras and outstretched microphones. 

You can’t blame him; it’s not actually his job to deal with the press, but some years ago, Erwin had twisted his arm this way and that and convinced Levi to take over conferences.

“They understand you better,” he’d said. “You enunciate better than me. We can’t have people misunderstanding me and panicking, can we?” The blond had purposely spoken with an accent thicker than usual, and Levi had called him every name under the sun, but in the end, he’d relented, and now…

“Dr. Ackermann! Dr. Ackermann! Is it true that this has been the largest earthquake in Yellowstone since Hebgen Lake?” 

Levi squints, actually cringes at the question, then waves one of his small, bony hands. “Hebgen Lake was a major quake—7.2 on the Richter scale. This was only a 5.3, and yeah, it’s been a while since the park has had a quake larger than a three, but that doesn’t mean—”

“So, should we be worried about a supereruption?” Another reporter asks, and you clamp a hand over your mouth to keep from laughing as the light leaves your colleague’s eyes. 

Levi’s jaw slides, and he pauses, no doubt to think about how to answer because this is a delicate question, one that the general public always reads extremely far into. He’s good at keeping his expression blank, at least, probably another reason Erwin requested he take over interviews. 

“Listen,” he starts off, slate eyes locking onto the largest camera in front of him. “Yellowstone is a hub of seismic energy. It wouldn’t be the park we know and love today if it wasn’t shaking and letting off steam like it usually does, right?” This gains a few relieved chuckles from the crowd of journalists. 

“Was this earthquake bigger than the ones we’re used to? Yes. Are we monitoring each and every tremor that we pick up? Also, yes. So, don’t make yourself sick worryin’ about sh—stuff you can’t control. We’ll let you know if it’s time to worry.” He sucks his teeth for a second, waiting for his advice to wash over everyone, then adds, “Keep a bug-out bag packed, though. Not because of the volcano or anything. Just because… The world is crazy and so are people, and it’s always good to be prepared.”

They take it as a joke, laugh a little louder as Levi steps down from the podium, but you’ve worked with him long enough to know he had made the comment with serious intent. It’s a lot easier to fly out of town at a moment’s notice when you already have the necessities packed, and though he won't tell them all the facts this early on, there’s a chance that they will eventually have to evacuate, yes. 

“I fucking hate that big, blond bastard,” is the first thing Levi tells you when he’s within earshot, much less well-spoken in casual situations than when his face is being broadcasted. “Voht iff they dunt understahnd me, Lebi?” He mimics your boss badly then pantomimes an uppercut with a dramatic grunt. 

“Why’d you make him sound Russian?”

“I was trying to make him sound stupid ‘cause that’s what he is.”

“I have four doctorates,” Erwin states as he falls into step with both of you, finally moving from his little hiding place behind one of the news trucks. “I’m not stupid. And, I do not sound like that.”

“That’s what you think,” Levi grumbles, doing his best to shrug away from the larger man when Erwin slings an arm around his shoulders. It doesn’t work, and Levi ends up stumbling to keep up with Erwin’s longer strides, which only serves to irritate him further. 

“You looked good up there. I mean, you sounded good. Sounded sure, comforting…” 

You shake your head at Erwin’s obvious struggle to just not be the big weirdo that he is, but it sure is painful to watch sometimes. 

Governor Zachary takes over the conference, leaving the three of you to make your way inside the lodge that the emergency broadcast was set up outside of. Levi and Erwin bicker through the lobby then through the back doors that lead you to the jeep that you all swing yourselves into. 

The sky is still a little dusty with shaken sediment, and some of the park rangers are setting up barricades at the mouths of a couple hiking trails leading to what is now a moderately large crevasse that’s opened up in the Biscuit Basin. 

Other than that, the park doesn’t feel much different as you ride through it on your way back to the lab. The Summer sun brings with it your favorite 70 degree days, and if it weren’t for Erwin’s questionable driving, you’d be tempted to hang half your body out the window just to feel the warmth better. The faint smell of sulfur in the air is soothing at this point—the smell of activity, the smell of science, the smell of home. Geysers are still shooting boiling water to the skies. The mud pots are still bubbling like ominous cauldrons. That earthquake couldn’t have shaken too much out of place if all the geothermal spots are still behaving as they normally do.

The tires kick up rocks and dust as Erwin brakes dramatically outside of the base, right behind another familiar jeep that makes Levi roll his eyes. 

“Great. The boy scout’s here.” 

“Oh, be nice, you little grump,” Erwin chastises him. “Mike’s been nothing but kind to us since he started working here.”

“Yeah, except for the time he misjudged the depth of that puddle and—”

“Splashed you with mud, yeah, yeah, we know, Levi,” you finish for him as you slide out of the vehicle. “You bring it up every time you see the guy. We know.”

“And, didn’t he apologize afterward?” Erwin prompts.

Levi doesn’t answer, but you respond for him: “Profusely. Drove him back to the lab, offered him his spare change of clothes—”

“Useless,” Levi hisses. “The dude’s a giant.”

“Not his fault he’s…” You try not to sound too giddy when you step through the door and see the man in question. “Enormous.” 

You don’t know Mike very well, one of the newer park rangers but with a background in geology which leads him to your neck of the woods very often. The few conversations you have had with him have all been pleasant. He’s soft-spoken but obviously intelligent with good instincts about both the park’s weather and wildlife. 

He’s also the only ranger you’ve seen actually pull off the dorky park uniform, but that could just be because the different shades of green look good against his tan skin and bring out his light eyes. Even taller than Erwin and a little broader too, M. Zacharias (as his little, metal name tag reads) is a slab of a man, and yet, when he grins, it’s almost boyish. 

“Hey, Mike, what’s up?” You greet.

He turns his head to look at you, flipping shaggy hair from his face, then offers one of the soft smiles you were hoping for. “Just came to drop off some samples for Hange.”

“Disgusting,” Levi mutters just for you to hear as he passes, and you shove him hard enough to make him stumble and flip you off. 

“How’d the press conference go?” Hange asks, tossing a small, corked flask of mud from hand to hand—what you assume to be the sample—while twirling in their computer chair. The last member of your team, Moblit Berner, glances away from the holographic model he’s studying to hear the answer. 

“I think it went well,” Erwin says. “Levi handled it like a champion, as always.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, old man,” the brunet bites out, joining Moblit next to the expensive projection table in the middle of the lab. “What’re we lookin’ at?”

“I’m just running the numbers from today’s quake. The possible effects it had underground.”

“And?”

Moblit is quiet for a beat too long.

“Mobs, what is it?” 

You, Erwin, and Hange make your way over to the table, staring at the laser-lit park model and the chamber underneath it. 

“Well, in most of the scenarios, it’s fine,” Moblit tries. “Nothing to worry about.”

“And, in the others?” 

He looks to Erwin, as everyone does in times of concern. Thick eyebrows pinched together, your boss motions to the hologram. “Show us.”

Moblit punches a few things in on the app he uses to control the model, then takes a deep breath and lets it play out for everyone to see, including Mike who slowly makes his way over, curiosity apparently getting the best of him. 

At first, nothing looks to change, just a living, breathing reenactment of what you were seeing today—every geyser, every fumarole, every little rumble, every minute rise and fall of the ground sped up to be detected with the human eye. 

And then, it stops. 

“Why did it…”

“Just watch,” Moblit shushes you. 

The outline of the ground fractures in several different places, statistics for different earthquakes blinking above. The known vents of the park—every geyser, mudpot, and fumarole—are rendered inactive, and under it all, that massive chamber everyone is always so worried about begins to bulge upward and outward, growing larger and larger until…

The map shorts out, flickering then disappearing entirely, leaving the six of you staring at the space where it was shining just seconds ago. 

“Was that…” 

Erwin inhales deeply through his nose before exhaling the word that will eventually bring the nation to its knees.

"Supereruption."

3  Y E A R S  B E F O R E

Even through the thick headset, the whir of the helicopter blades is loud, a rhythm pulsing through the air strong enough to be felt in your chest right alongside your beating heart. 

Thankfully, Mike’s deep voice is loud and clear when he speaks, nodding his head to the right, “Look down at about two o’clock.”

You follow his command, tilting your head and peering down at an empty field. 

“I don’t see anything,” you say.

The microphone hanging in front of his mouth picks up his chuckle, and the sound of it echoes in your ears, making you grin albeit a little confused. 

“Exactly. That’s a big spot for bison this time of year.”

“Then why aren’t they here?”

Mike lets the chopper hover for a while, both hands still on their respective control levers. 

“Ground’s been moving too much,” he says after a few seconds of silent staring. You’d known the answer already but hearing the wildlife expert confirm it fills you with a little more dread than you’d originally harbored. “They feel things we don’t, the tiny quakes, the tremors. Stuff you only think the seismograph picks up—they feel all of it.”

“They know what’s coming,” you say more to yourself than to him. 

Mike offers you one of those charming, close-lipped smiles. “When in doubt, trust the animals.” 

A line you’ve heard him say a few times now. Mike loves everything that lives in the park, from all the common lake trout and sand cranes to the endangered grizzly bears and gray wolves. 

Trust the animals, he says. Because he trusts them. Because he loves them. 

“You wanna fly over the Grand Prismatic?” Mike asks, pulling you from your thoughts, and when you look over, you find your reflection in his mirrored aviators as he stares at you. 

His mouth quirks up at the corners, causing yours to do the same, and you nod. “Yeah, always.”

It’s your favorite view in the park, the colorful spring from up above. Mike had learned that a few months ago, and now whenever you ride in the chopper with him, he makes sure to pass over the beautiful attraction just for you.

Nearly 200° Fahrenheit with a pH of 8.7, the pool, while still dangerous due to its temperature, is one of the more moderate dangers of the national park, tame in comparison to the Norris Geyser Basin with temperatures up to 459° (a thousand meters below the surface, anyway) and a pH of about two. It’s dissolved bones—human bones. And, would claim even more if given the chance. 

You suppose that’s expected for a basin that’s sitting over a chamber of 1,500° molten magma. 

The Grand Prismatic is just as stunning today as it is every other. Its outer orange and yellow rings darken to greens and blues the further inward you look, thick steam rising from all over but more condensed over the middle. 

It was one of the park's biggest attractions, tourists flocking to the spring with their cameras, too stricken by the vivid chromaticism to listen or read about the temperatures and microbials that are responsible for the colors in the first place. 

As you hover above now, just to the side of the steam, your heart aches. There are no ignorant tourists to take pictures of the pool, the boardwalks and trails to these hot spots now blocked off once it became apparent that the earthquake that took place last year was not the last of its kind. Your team as well as the park rangers went to the park board as a unit and suggested that tourists needed to be kept away from as many geothermal features as possible, all of you with the same fear in mind: someone (or many someones) falling in. 

It's always been a risk, but now, with weekly rumblings, that risk has multiplied exponentially. All it takes is someone losing their footing on the boardwalk over the Norris Geyser Basin for serene sightseeing to turn into tragedy, and that's on a good day. Throw a 5.7 earthquake into the mix, and the park could lose an entire tour group to the heat and acid. 

It's just not a risk any of you are willing to take anymore. 

Most of the park remains open. Old Faithful continues to draw people in by the thousands. They sit and watch boiling water shoot into the sky every hour or so, clapping happily at the sight, unaware of the way you and your team hold your breath in wait, hoping for the geyser to go off on its usual schedule. 

One day it will stop. One day they'll all stop. And, then… 

"I can't believe it's all gonna be gone one day," you muse, blinking down at the prismatic pool for as long as Mike will let you. 

"Nah," the man disagrees. "Not gone. Buried, yeah, but not gone."

You snort, turn back to him with a grin and roll your eyes. "Yeah, no big deal. Just miles of pyroclast and ash, probably snow when we get thrust into another ice age 'cause of the crazy climate swing..."

"Alright, alright, I get it. The sun dimeth and the land sinketh."

"Gusheth forth steam and gutting fire," you continue grimly.

Mike turns the helicopter back toward the landing zone, saying nothing else and leaving you to take in the sights below. You're grateful for the silence; it's good for processing, for preparation. 

And, you're grateful for Mike, one of your best friends at this point—soft and kind despite his intimidating stature, smart as a whip, and just as stunning, if not more so, than the Grand Prismatic. 

"Any idea what you'll do afterward?" He asks, holding a hand out to you to help you from your seat in the chopper. 

"Not really. Survive, I guess." 

You land just a little too close to him, your face nearly coming in direct contact with his broad chest, but Mike steps back just in time, making you extend your arm, still connected at the fingers, before he drops your hand. 

"A feat all on its own," he says flatly, but he perks up as you both begin walking to the park ranger base. "Maybe you'll find another team to work on."

"I don't want to find another team," you tell him honestly. "This is my team. This is my home."

Mike hums, an understanding little sound, body warm when he gently bumps into you on the gravel pathway to the lodge. "Yeah, I know."

A geophysics major at UCLA with a specific interest in volcanology, getting to intern with the Erwin Smith at the Yellowstone supervolcano had been a dream come true. You'd expected to gain knowledge and experience—nothing more and nothing less. You'd lived out here for one summer during your graduate program, clocking the field experience you needed to get your degree and taking in everything you could. 

Back then, it felt like all you did was ask questions and get in the way. By the end of that summer, you knew every variation of Levi Ackermann's irritated sighs, every different pitch of Hange Zoe's shouts and how they correlated with their experiments. Moblit had been the newest permanent addition and was even more nervous than he is now, trying and failing to keep up with Hange (which he's much better at doing these days). 

They were all fantastic, but it had been the lead researcher who'd reeled you in. You'd never met anyone as passionate as Dr. Erwin Smith, captivated by the monster underneath the park and thrilled to share his brain with anyone willing to hold their hands out for it. Hell, he'd even helped you with your Master's thesis—hydrothermally altered mineralized systems and their seismic reflections. 

When you graduated, the Yellowstone team was the first you reached out to and the first you heard back from. Erwin said you'd been a perfect fit even as a student (which you hadn't exactly believed but definitely blushed at anyway). Mobs, Hange, and even Levi seemed happy to have you back. It was like you were meant to be here. In this park. With all of them. 

Studying the volcano and all of its properties has always been like breathing to you—natural and necessary. You move when it moves, every shake and tremor a heartbeat in your own chest, every shooting geyser like blood in your veins. The mudpots are your bubbling emotions, the fumaroles, your sense of building pressure and release.

You feel at home in the park because you trust it. Because you love it. 

You don't have room for another team in your heart, but as you walk inside the lodge next to Mike, watching as he takes off his sunglasses and grins at one of the other rangers, you think you at least have room for one more person. 

2  Y E A R S  B E F O R E

The lab has two extra bodies in it—two extra unwelcome bodies who keep getting in your way and touching things as they ask questions that no one has the answers to yet.

“When did you say this was going to happen?” The rotund state governor, Dhalis Zachary, asks for the second time since arriving, picking up a sample test tube that Moblit immediately plucks from his hand with a nervous smile.

“As I said before, it’s difficult to place a concrete timeline on an event like this,” Erwin tells the white-haired man. “We don’t exactly have in depth records of the last three eruptions, so all we have to go off of is the earth itself and our simulations.”

At the edge of the projection table, Nile Dok, FEMA director, cautiously waves a hand through the holographic model displayed in front of him. He obviously doesn’t think anyone is watching him because the slender man jumps in surprise when you snort at your desk, and his angular cheekbones take on a pink tint of embarrassment from having been caught.

He clears his throat, straightens the knot that sits over it, then turns to face Erwin and prompts, “Three eruptions before. One was a lot bigger than the others, though, right?”

Erwin nods. “Huckleberry Ridge. Over two million years ago.”

“We’re hoping—if a supereruption is to occur—it’ll be closer to the size of Mesa Falls,” you pipe up.

“Which one was that?” Zachary asks.

“One-point-three million years ago, two-hundred-and-eighty cubic kilometers of erupted materials…” Levi lists off as he makes his way over to the table with a sanitary wipe in hand. He doesn’t like people in his space, doesn’t like strangers in the lab, even (especially) government officials (“They leave fingerprints, and they breathe on everything, and they waste our fucking time.”).

“Two-hundred-and-eighty cubic kilometers… That’s the best-case scenario?” Zachary looks to Erwin, eyebrows raised high over his wire glasses.

Erwin stares at him for a moment, contemplating the best and easiest way to explain this to someone who has no real experience in the field. Eventually, he settles on, “Moblit, can you run some simulations for me?”

“Of course, sir,” the mousy scientist agrees, phone in hand and pulling up the app before the boss can even finish speaking.

Everyone gathers around the table except for Levi who steps away from it, grumbling under his breath about coming back to clean it later. He at least hits the lights, making the model easier to see as Erwin starts listing off numbers and scenarios.

“The best case, actually, is only one vent opening, maybe two. It would be something comparable to Mount St. Helen’s, though probably a bit bigger, say point-five cubic kilometers of material. It would be necessary to evacuate the park and this region of the state at the very least.”

Zachary hums, “And, how likely is that?”

Erwin shrugs. “Hard to say right now. As the earthquakes increase, though, the likelihood of a small eruption like that, uh, dwindles.”

“Small,” Nile scoffs.

Zachary makes a similar noise, slightly louder, a little more offended, then rattles off, “Mount St. Helen’s killed almost sixty people. The blast, the ash, the lahars—” as if you don’t all already know.

“No one’s discounting the damage of the eruption,” Levi cuts him off. “But, if you’re sweatin’ at those numbers, all due respect, Governor, I don’t know if you’re ready to stomach the rest of this little light show.”

The older man cuts his eyes at Levi who squints right back at him, only turn and shuffle over to his desk when Erwin waves him further away, a silent way of saying ‘keep your smart mouth away from the authority figures’.

“Moving on,” you cough, twirling a finger to get both Erwin and Mobs to continue.

“Yes,” Erwin nods. “So, any eruption is dependent on how much magma in the chamber is eruptible magma. Just because it’s there doesn’t mean it will come out.”

Moblit punches in a few numbers to show what a small-scale eruption would look like, first with one vent then with two.

“With just that amount, even with two vents, it isn’t enough to completely destabilize the chamber.”

“And, destabilizing it would be… bad…” Nile states more than asks, brown eyes lit up by the model in front of him.

“No shit,” everyone hears Levi grumble from his desk, and Erwin huffs and looks at you, expression a little exasperated as he jerks a thumb back toward the grumpy man in yet another one of his silent motions— a plea in this case—'go take care of him’ which you do.

Levi is slumped in his computer chair, arms crossed over his chest as he peers over his desktop at the four men gathered around the hologram.

“Should’a just gone with Hange and the boy scout to collect samples when I had the chance,” he mutters.

“You hate collecting samples, especially sulfur samples. Which is what they’re getting now.”

“Yeah, well I hate these guys even more.” He says it quietly enough so that they won’t be able to hear, and even if they could, both Governor Zachary and Nile are too invested in the information that the scientists are giving them to pay attention to anything else.

“What’d they ever do to you?” You push, curious now because sure, Levi has always been the surliest of the team, but it’s rare that he’s surly and loud about it.

“Nothing. They have done nothing because they don’t belong here. They have no idea—no fucking idea—what’s about to happen.” You can hear his frustration even through his whispers. “Best case scenarios? Why are we even going over those? We know damn well that we’re not looking at one or two vents. And, we’re not lookin’ at Mesa Falls either.”

Letting out a long breath, you lean against Levi’s desk, ignoring the way he grunts in protest.

“I know. I’m sure Erwin and Moblit will prep them for the worst case.”

“There’s no prepping for it,” Levi hisses, gray eyes flashing. “We’re talking about—"

“…A nationwide cataclysmic event.” Both of you register Erwin’s voice at the same time and glance at the other group to find them staring at the lit-up simulation of the Huckleberry Ridge eruption.

“Which would pretty quickly turn into a worldwide problem,” Moblit adds quietly.

“Worldwide?” You hear Nile question in a low but very alarmed tone. “Because of the ash?”

“Well, yes, but, it’s not just ash,” Erwin clarifies, diving into his explanation of tephra and how dangerous it is. He reminds the men how far it traveled after the Mount St. Helen’s eruption since they’ve apparently latched onto that one, then challenges, “Now imagine an eruption about… six hundred times that size.”

“Six…” Nile swallows, turning his entire, slender frame toward Erwin and repeating, “Six hundred times bigger? That’s what we’re expecting?”

In his little rolling chair, Levi’s chest puffs a bit, finally satisfied that the gravity of the situation is beginning to set in. “Maybe they aren’t as dumb as they look.”

Erwin is about to say something, right hand lifted with his index finger extended in a very matter-of-fact way, but before he can manage to get anything out, the door to the lab swings open and Hange walks in, Mike just behind them carrying all the collected samples in what almost looks like a lunchbox.

“We’re back—” Hange stops, taking in their surroundings, the lack of lights, the bright projection, the grim energy, then shouts, “Hey, get some Pink Floyd playing! Like a planetarium in here! Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me…”

“Dr. Zoe,” Moblit clears his throat. “We were just going over the utter devastation a supereruption could wreak on the country.”

“Oh, were you?” Hange pauses, brow rising, lips puckering into a sour expression. “My bad.”

Raising a hand to your forehead, you laugh to yourself for a few seconds before shaking the untimely amusement off and making your way over to Mike to take the sample kit from him.

“Careful,” he warns jokingly as he passes it off. “Got some very fragile gas and mud in there.”

“Yeah?” You tease. “So, I shouldn’t, like, shake it or anything?”

“Definitely should not shake it. Here, here, just—” He takes it back, grinning broadly as he tells you, “I think it’s best if you let a professional handle such dangerous compounds.”

All the doom-and-gloom you had been feeling mere seconds ago evaporates entirely, and you let out a frankly embarrassing giggle as you watch Mike very carefully set the samples down on Hange’s lab table, making a show of securing them and whispering a final, “Stay,” so that you clamp a hand over your mouth.

Levi groans in disgust, and, at the same time, Erwin mutters an apology to Zachary and Nile for, “… employing a team of children.”

Your face heats in embarrassment, but it doesn’t keep you from smiling at Mike when he saunters back over, looking rather sheepish himself.

“Lunchtime soon, right?”

“Yeah, in a bit—”

“Please go now, for the love of God,” Erwin sighs. “And, take Levi and Hange with you.”

None of you need telling twice, quickly grabbing wallets and home-packed meals before rushing from the lab before your boss decides to murder one or all of you.

Levi steers Hange toward his car, leaving you alone with Mike which you don’t mind in the slightest. You take most of your lunches with him anyway, some of your breakfasts and dinners too, so this is simply part of your daily routine.

“I’ve got some sandwiches packed already. Wanna hit Mount Haynes?” He suggests, sliding into the driver’s seat of his jeep.

You point a fingergun at him and nod. “I like the way you think, sir.”

He takes a very specific route, avoiding any damaged areas, having to veer off of the actual road at a certain point to take a safer path he and other rangers have made. You watch the mountains of the park grow closer and closer, what you know to be the ridge of Yellowstone’s caldera looming nearer.

Mike parks at the base of your intended destination then reaches into the backseat to grab the aforementioned lunch. You have no intentions of actually hiking to the top of the mountain—don’t have the time or the will, honestly—but as soon as the two of you have worked up a sweat and are at a decent enough elevation to look out on the park underneath, you drop to the dusty ground and take it all in.

Even from this distance, you can see some of the gases and steam in the air. That’s the only movement there is, though, save for the occasional ranger vehicle zipping along. The land seems almost barren at this point. The grass is still green. The sun is still bright as it is every Summer.

But, there are no animals, no tourists, no real life. Instead, it’s been replaced with cracks and crevasses, with barricades and warning signs.

Trail Closed

Road Closed

Danger: Keep Out

It’s been almost six months since the park decided to shut down to the public, and if you’re being honest, it should have closed its doors long before. It took people dying to bring the board to their senses, an earthquake that shook the ground for minutes, the crust of the earth splitting right under the historical lodge that so many loved.

Fourteen casualties. Twenty-nine injured.

That’s what it took.

You barely recognize the park now, feel like the last endangered species left within its boundaries. It’s just the research team, some of the rangers, and the occasional outside visitor (board members, government officials, or press that gets waved away).

Some would argue that the park is dead, but you know better; it’s livelier than it has been in hundreds of thousands of years, a shuddering, breathing monster finally rising to its feet after an eternity of slumber. Soon, it will open its mouth in an earth-shattering scream, and then, everyone will see.

Not dead; just waking up.

“You look tired.” Mike’s voice may as well be carried by the breeze, light and low, refreshing as it passes over you, and you flash him a smile while nodding.

“Exhausted.”

He grabs a sandwich from the lunchbox, and you fish hand sanitizer from one of the many pockets on your pants, squirting it into your hand first then holding it out to the man beside you.

“Seems like you spend more time here than at your apartment.”

“Oh, most definitely.” You unwrap what looks to be turkey and pepper-jack and try to ignore the way your stomach flips at the fact that it’s your favorite simple-sandwich-combo and that Mike remembered. “Lot to do in the lab. Obviously.” You take a bite—no mustard, only mayo—and feel some of the tension between your shoulder blades begin to unwind.

“Figure you wouldn’t want it any other way, though,” Mike comments before chomping into his own sandwich.

“Right you are. I mean, end of the world, potentially. Scary stuff, but also…” You swallow, lick your lips and stare out at the landscape in front of you as you grapple with words. “It’s like… I’m terrified, but I feel like I’m exactly where I need to be. Like…”

This is how I’m supposed to go out, you almost say, but you’re smart to keep it to yourself. That’s a thought for you and you alone, one you haven’t shared with anyone because nobody else would understand except maybe Erwin.

“This is what you’re meant to do,” Mike supplies, and you look over at him. “This is what you love. I get that.”

And, he’s right. But, the park and volcanology—those aren’t the only things you love.

Mike sits there, legs crossed like an overgrown kindergartener, shaggy hair blowing in the wind, light green eyes so, incredibly warm and bright, and it feels like you can’t breathe anymore, like your lungs and throat are already full of ash that hasn’t fallen yet, tight with dying declarations you can’t bring yourself to make.

“Have you ever heard of Katia and Maurice Krafft?” You ask, and yes, your voice does feel somewhat strangled, the space behind your eyes burning just a little hotter than usual.

Mike shakes his head, takes another bite, and gives you his undivided attention.

“They were these French volcanologists who got really famous for the pictures and footage they took of erupting volcanoes. The recordings they got for the community were—I mean, they were pioneers. They changed the game. There’s photos and videos of them just—” you gesture nebulously with both your hands, nearly flinging your sandwich off the side of the mountain and making Mike reach out and catch your wrist before you can.

“Please, no feeding the park’s wildlife, ma’am,” he jokes easily, and you have to shove the sandwich into your mouth to keep from giggling like a schoolgirl. Mike shows the smallest of satisfied smiles, completely unaware of his own charm, and it’s maddening and intoxicating, and it’s all you can do to keep talking about the brave scientists.

“Anyway,” you continue. “Katia would get, like, within feet of lava flows. Just walkin’ right beside ‘em in her special heat suit. And, they’d wear protective helmets because of, you know—”

“Explosions. Falling rocks.”

 “Yeah, exactly. They were just there, documenting it all happening, nerves of fucking steel. Katia was usually the one gathering samples and stuff while Maurice recorded, but he was right in the thick of it too. This badass couple learning and adventuring together.”

Mike eventually questions, “What happened to them?” but you’re sure he knows the answer when you deflate a bit.

“Mount Unzen eruption—got caught in the pyroclastic flow. Died instantly.”

“At least they were doing what they loved,” he says, and you nod.

You’re silent for a while, neither of you eating but both of you staring. You think about the Kraffts often, especially now with Yellowstone’s imminent eruption. Doing what they loved… They died for their research, and though you never got the chance to meet them or even speak with anyone who has met them, you have a feeling they wouldn’t have wanted it to happen any other way.

“Just so you know,” Mike gets your attention, and when you look over at him, your heart swells.

The sun is reflected in his eyes, making light green glow with more than just warmth and sincerity, and god, you’re so in love with him, you can feel it in your bone marrow. You ache for him, you pine for him, and you want to live for him, but how…

“I’d film you walking next to a lava flow,” he tells you. Despite the little smile playing at his lips, you know he isn’t kidding.

Tears prick the corners of your eyes, and you have to look away before any actually fall, but your sniffle definitely gives you away. You swear internally, berating yourself for getting emotional in front of Mike, though you can’t say you’re too surprised. Your stress levels have been through the roof, working non-stop for months now, the government breathing down your neck. People have died and the park is literally fracturing before your eyes, and you’re not ready to see it end—to see everything as you know it come to an end.

“Pretty dusty up here,” Mike comments while nudging you. You find him holding out a handkerchief, letting you take it then turning his gaze forward again to allow you a little privacy to dab at your eyes.

Mike has senses beyond the normal human spectrum. He has a sense for weather unlike anyone you’ve ever seen before, from thunderstorms and tornadoes to record snowfall and, on a few occasions, earthquakes. You can still vividly remember being in the lab the day of the fatal quake that damaged the hotel, seeing Mike suddenly look at the seismogram seconds before it started picking up the first tremors. Levi had called it “freakish”, but you had called him “incredible”.

It’s not just the weather, though. Mike has a way with people and animals too, like he can gauge their emotions and act appropriately. It’s how he knows what days he can push Levi’s buttons and get away with it, how he knows when Hange is too busy and overwhelmed to gather samples themself, so he gathers some for them.

And, it’s how he knows exactly when he needs to pull you into a hug, like when the team realized the chances of a small to moderate eruption were next to nothing, like when he had told you how many of those hotel guests had gotten hurt and died and you’d stared at him with wide, watery eyes, and like right now, as you think about Katia and Maurice Krafft, the fate they met and how yours might not be any different.

Will you die doing what you love? Will you be able to welcome it as bravely as they did?

You rest your head on Mike’s shoulder, letting yourself melt into his side, his arm sturdy and grounding where it wraps around you, and as you look out over the sunlit grounds, one last question plagues your mind:

Does a pyroclastic flow burn as hot as the molten feelings inside of you?

You can’t imagine anything does.

1  Y E A R  B E F O R E

The message is broadcasted straight from the state capitol, Levi's expression grim as he reads off the paper hidden on the podium. 

"I know all of this sounds apocalyptic—the ash and blackouts and probable climate change, and it is scary, but we still have some time, so there's no reason to panic. We just urge that if you haven't already started preparing, now's the time. Please."

A couple steps behind him and a little to the right is Erwin, standing tall and nodding at everything Levi says as if he's providing some kind of credibility. 

"Considering we're looking at a VEI eight, the team of volcanologists at Yellowstone have recommended that all of Wyoming and its neighboring states evacuate, but I'll let Homeland Security go over all that."

As he turns to step back, the crowd of reporters and journalists begin shouting out questions, and Levi grimaces as he moves to stand next to Erwin who places a hand in his shoulder. 

You can't hear everything being asked from where you're watching at the lab, but you can't imagine it's anything good judging by the way Levi's frown just keeps growing. 

Fortunately, the vaguely familiar secretary of Homeland Security, Dot Pixis, takes the stand quickly, holding up wrinkled hands in an attempt to calm the crowd. 

"We have some more very important information to cover in this address, so if you'll allow me…" He clears his throat and straightens a stack of papers on the podium, no doubt a huge list of protocols that the public will only half listen to. 

You swivel back and forth in your chair as you watch the thin man on screen, his voice scratchy but strangely soothing as he outlines rationing, supply storage, and evacuation routes. 

"We're also negotiating with our neighboring countries about opening borders. Now, anyone seeking refuge would still be required to fill out an application for a temporary visa, but—"

"God, you know they gotta love that," you mumble to yourself. 

Hange, tinkering somewhere behind you, laughs and agrees, "Yeah, after decades of treating immigrants like trash, and now we're just knocking on their doors, asking for help. Ridiculous."

"Embarrassing, is what it is." 

It was for whichever government official had to make that call, anyway. You're positive that had been a hard pill to swallow. 

As far as you've heard, the foreign affairs part of this mess is actually going quite well. You'd accompanied Erwin to the big meeting with Canadian officials and watched him and Pixis plead a case for America, emphasizing just how bad the eruption will be "at home", then switched tactics at whiplash speed to go into how countries needed to work together since this wouldn't just be the US's problem in the long run. 

It turned into a rather inspiring speech, if you're being honest, prompted you to text Levi a short, how is E so damn charming all the time? to which he'd responded, Believe me, you're asking the wrong fuckin guy. 

With multiple government agencies now backing the states and setting plans in motion, the impending eruption seems even more real. You thought your stress levels were high before, that your sleep pattern left little to be desired, but oh, you had been wrong. 

Case in point being Mike walking into the lab with a brown paper bag and slightly unpleasant expression as he asks, "Have you eaten today?" 

Your glare has no real meaning as you grumble, "Had a granola bar this morning."

"It's nearly six," he groans, pushing you, chair and all, up to your desk and setting the bag in front of you. "Please eat something before you pass out."

"Okay, okay, Christ. You're more attentive than my mother."

"I met your mom last year, and you and I both know she would be hysterical if she knew how you've been treating yourself lately."

He has a point. In fact, you're glad Mike is naturally quiet and didn't bond too strongly with her, otherwise you have a feeling he would have called her by now to complain. 

The chicken salad sandwich you bite into must be imbued with some kind of magic, because you let out an honest to god moan when you swallow the first bite. 

"Oh my god, what did you put in this?" You ask as you blink up at your best friend. 

Mike snorts and rolls his eyes. "Uh, actual nutrients maybe? Weird how your body needs those."

Hands too busy shoving more food into your mouth, you headbutt him right at the hip, just hard enough to make him grunt and sway. He steadies himself, glances down at you like he's annoyed but ends up breaking into a grin when he catches what you assume to be a piece of chicken salad dotting the corner of your mouth. 

"What am I gonna do with you," he mumbles, wiping it with a gentle thumb. 

Your body warms with both embarrassment and affection, but you can't quite find a response even as your head clears for the first time in about two days. You really do need to start taking better care of yourself. 

The undeniable feeling of being watched makes your neck prickle, and you break Mike's gaze to find Hange staring at both of you, a not-so-subtle smile making their mouth curl mischievously. You have a pretty good idea of what they're thinking, and you're heart starts beating a little faster at the thought of them possibly speaking it out loud, but before they get a chance, Mike's phone rings. 

You catch a glimpse of the name displayed before he picks it up—Gelgar—recognize it and tease, "One of the doomsday preppers, right?" 

Because no matter how much Mike denies it, just like he does now— "They're not doomsday preppers—" you know that his friends are a little odd. Extremely well prepared, but odd. 

"Hey man, what's up?" He answers, stepping away from you. "Isn't it almost two there?" 

You don't try to listen in, just look back to Hange and shake your head when their smile grows. 

"Stop."

"What?" They giggle. "I'm not even doing anything!" 

"You're thinking things, though."

"Well yeah, I'm always thinking things. How else would I have gotten this smart?" They flip their ponytail for emphasis and toss a wink your way, but Hange's voice gets oddly sincere when they tell you, "Seriously, though. You guys should get while the getting's good. I don't know why you haven't jumped each other's bones yet."

You splutter, look around frantically to make sure Mike isn't within earshot, and thank god, he's in the next room over. 

"Hange!" 

"I'm just saying! It's like watching Erwin and Levi from a few years ago. God, that was a nightmare."

"How dare you. I am nothing like—"

"Yeah, yeah. When do they get back in anyway?" 

You both look to the TV that's still playing the live address, easily spotting your missing team members behind Secretary Pixis. 

"Probably not 'til later tonight. Levi's gonna try to talk Erwin into getting a hotel, I bet, but he's gonna wanna come back to the lab and check everything before he goes to bed."

"How do you know he wants to come back?" 

You show a sheepish grin, fishing the chips out of the paper sack Mike brought, then answer, "'Cause that’s what I’d wanna do."

*

It's late. Far too late to be at work, but being at home never feels right these days. It's too quiet, too still, too not the lab. The only time you genuinely enjoy being there is when friends are over for a movie or meal over the weekend. Other than that, you're not at all attached. 

Not the way you are here.

Almost midnight, you move from table to table, working, organizing, just keeping busy. You're very awake, still jittery from the quake that shook the park at around three that day. It lasted for almost three minutes, splitting the ground dangerously close to Old Faithful, and the geyser hasn't gone off since which is troubling. If too many of the geothermal spots stop releasing pressure, the eruption will take place sooner than anticipated. 

It's why you're here so late, pouring over the data, studying the numbers and possible effects. 

You're not alone, though. Erwin is also shuffling around the lab, but he's focused on something else, a project of sorts. 

"Can you come take a look at this?" He calls from the projection table, and you drop what you're doing to join him. 

The model isn't lit up as a hologram, surprisingly. Instead, Erwin has paper blueprints laid, curling at the edges from being rolled up. It takes you a second to realize what you're looking at, but when it comes together, you inhale sharply. 

It's a simple design, a square floorplan with a couple entrances. The only exit looks to lead upward, though, and it's easy to tell that means Erwin wants this to be underground. There are notes scribbled in the blank spaces, 4 meters down, bomb proof top, ventilation, generators, gasoline?, rations < 5yrs, medicine, vitamins, guns. The list goes on, handwriting sloppier and sloppier the more thoughts Erwin had at the time. 

"You think this would be ready in a year?"

Erwin shrugs. "With the right construction team, yes. That one bunker designer…" Erwin snaps, trying to think of the name, but it doesn't come to him. "Whoever—He built ten shelters in two years." 

You stick your hands in your back pockets as you lean over to look closer. It could just be your overworked brain, but it looks like a good design, something someone actually has a chance of surviving in. 

Hearing your name makes you look up again. Erwin has you pinned with one of his serious blue gazes. "No one else will understand, so please keep this plan to yourself."

You nod but venture to ask, "You haven't told Levi?" 

"No," he answers, mouth pulling downward. "It's… Going to be a fight."

"Understandably so. You're basically married to the volcano, though, Erwin."

"So are you."

His eyes are shining as your lips twist into a grimace. He's gotten to know you well over the years. You've always shared a certain bond over Yellowstone, one the other team members just don't have. To them, it's just a job, just science. 

To you and Erwin, though, it's a religion. You're in love with the park, all its secrets and eccentricities. It's your home; it's where you belong. 

"Assuming this does get built," Erwin starts, lifting a thick eyebrow in curiosity. "You would want to stay, right?" 

"You mean, ride out a supereruption? Be the first to see the zone-one damage?" 

Erwin doesn't answer, but he does smile, excitement dancing just below the surface of his stare. 

You feel it too, the urge to throw caution to the wind, to take a chance that could very possibly get you both killed. The Kraffts flash through your mind again, their failed attempt at escape.

A breathless, "Fuck yeah," tumbles from your mouth before you can dwell on the consequences for too long. 

It's time to either live it up or go down in ash and flames. 

6  M O N T H S  B E F O R E 

Yellowstone is unrecognizable. The ground is mostly made up of large crevasses and smaller cracks, debris from fallen buildings left in piles with no one to clean them up. 

The geysers are all inactive at this point, but steam is still rising from the springs, and the mudpots are still bubbling. It's the only thing that's keeping the volcano from erupting. 

The ground shakes multiple times a day, the lab seismographs constantly picking up activity. The little ones don't faze you anymore. You and Mike secure the glass samples to make sure they don't break while Erwin and Levi basically hug their computers. Yours was damaged in the quake that prompted Hange and Moblit to leave—a 6.7 that caused Hange to fall into their desk, breaking their collarbone in the process. After getting Hange pain meds and a sling, the two of them were on a plane to D.C. that same night. 

Every day is another risk taken. Now, it's just you, Erwin, Levi, and Mike. 

The latter two spend most of their days dropping hints about leaving soon as well. Mike has already made plans to fly to Norway and join his not-doomsday prepper friends and brings it up often.

"You should come. See the tulip fields while they're still around."

"Gel and Nana have done a great job setting up the ranch. They wanna let as many people stay as they can." 

"You'd really like them. They bicker like an old married couple, but they're good people."

Levi takes a different approach with Erwin, appeals to the other man's desire to help and protect. 

"We really should head to the homeland security office. They don't know what they're dealing with."

"Dok is an idiot. They need a bigger brain over there for guidance or whatever."

"Your long-term plan will be better than anything those government fucks will come up with anyway."

Every time, you and Erwin gently wave them off with promises of "soon" and "just a little longer." Neither of you breathe a word about staying. Despite the fact that construction on the bunker has not started and you're running out of time, both of you are dead set on the plan: go down with the park. 

You're found out before it can come to fruition, however. 

The remaining team is sitting in the lab, busy with their own little projects, when Mike looks up suddenly, takes a deep breath, then says, "Earthquake," just as the seismogram starts going wild. 

He pulls you from your chair quickly, dropping to the ground and bringing you with him to crawl under your desk. On your knees, your body curls in on itself and you lock your hands over the back of your neck as the floor beneath you starts to rumble violently. 

You can hear Levi cursing from somewhere as the sound of glass shattering rings throughout the lab. You think another computer falls, models and books flying from shelves. 

Mike huddles over you, one hand gripping the leg of the desk while the other protects your ribs. You want to tell him to shield himself, but you know there's no use. Besides, the weight and warmth is comforting even in the face of danger—his chest hot against your back, the epitome of a knight in shining armor. 

It lasts for several minutes. The power cuts off, windows crack, doors swing open only to slam shut again. You know the lab is going to be an absolute wreck when it's over. 

When the shaking finally settles, everyone crawls out of their hiding places. Levi warns, "Be ready for aftershocks," as if you don't know, and Erwin fumbles in his desk until he finds a flashlight. 

The ray of light illuminates the damage. Just as you suspected, the place looks like a tornado blew through. Glass litters the floor along with the far-flung books and park models. Both Levi and Erwin's computers fell and disconnected, and your stomach drops as you think about all the potentially lost information. 

"You okay?" Mike asks, pulling you up to your knees so he can look at your face. 

"I'm fine," you tell him, his hands on your cheeks making you flush, so you distract yourself. "E, Levi, you guys okay?" 

"Yes," Erwin answers first. 

Levi shows his face, a deep frown making his brow furrow, as he looks at his desktop. "I'm pissed but uninjured."

The four of you spend the next couple of hours cleaning up what you can, pausing and taking cover when the aftershocks hit, then starting over as the lab sustains more and more damage. 

Mike sweeps up the glass. Erwin focuses on getting the computers back on the desks safely then goes and checks the projection table. You and Levi collect the bigger items, setting books back on shelves. 

You don't think about the mistake before it's too late, when Levi is already pulling out the blueprints that were hidden behind the stack of encyclopedias. 

As he stills completely, you turn to look at him and find him staring down at the large, uncurled papers. Your instinct is to snatch them from his hands, but it's no use. He's already seen enough. 

"What the fuck is this?" His voice comes out like poison as he immediately looks at Erwin. 

The larger man glances at Levi, eyes trailing to what he's holding, then pales. 

"Levi..."

"Is this a god damn bunker? Are you planning on staying in this hellscape?" 

Erwin strides over to him and reaches for the prints, but Levi tugs them out of reach. 

"Answer me," he spits. "Is that your plan?"

"I—" Erwin swallows thickly before answering, "Yes."

It's silent for a long time, and the more it drags on, the tighter Levi's lips get, gray eyes shiny with quiet rage. 

This is what Erwin was trying to avoid, why he insisted on keeping the bunker a secret. 

But while Levi is glaring at Erwin, you feel another gaze on you. Skin crawling, you chance a glance up at Mike, stomach churning when he looks away quickly and bites his lips. He knows. Somehow without anyone saying anything, Mike knows you’re planning to stay too.

Heavy breathing and the distant sound of rumbling earth is all that can be heard, followed by backup generators roaring to life and restoring the overhead lights. 

"You too?" Mike finally speaks. “You wanna stay too?”

You chew on the inside of your cheek, unable to answer. He sounds so disappointed—defeated—and it makes you feel sick. 

"Do you guys know," Levi growls, "How fucking insane that is? This is the dumbest, most reckless, selfish fucking thing you could do! And, I know it's all your thinking!" He drops the blueprints in favor of shoving Erwin roughly, making him stumble back. 

"Hey," you step toward him, but the small man just turns to you and accuses, "And, you egged him on, yeah? Did you even think of us? How we would feel? Staying here is suicide!"

"I have a plan, Levi," Erwin says, raising both hands to his head and effectively disheveling his own hair. "If you just look at the plans. I know what we need to survive. I've done the math, I've studied the—"

"Jesus Christ, we're talking about an eight hundred degree pyroclastic flow! Tephra that will suffocate you. You really think being a few meters down during the eruption will be enough?" Levi is screaming now, his voice cracking, and you think you see tears at his waterline. 

It makes the spaces behind your eyes burn, but it’s only partly out of guilt. The other emotion that’s welling up in you is anger, a betrayal you can barely wrap your head around, but it comes tumbling out anyway.

“Do you even know us? You think we can actually leave the park behind?” Your voice rises to match Levi’s, gains his acidic attention once again. “I don’t even understand how you can run away, after everything you’ve put into this place! How can you just—” You let out a sound somewhere between a groan and a cry as you raise your hands to your face and shove your palms to your eyes. “I get Mike because he doesn’t have anything fucking left here. He’s just been helping out—”

“You think I don’t have anything left here?” He asks quietly from beside you, and when you look at him with a watery stare, you find him wounded. His jaw slides forward as he sucks on his teeth, and fuck, his eyes are getting glossy too. 

“See, this is exactly what I mean,” Levi gestures wildly at the two of you. “Mike and I have stayed because you guys won’t fucking leave, and now it comes out that you were never planning to. When were you gonna tell us? Would you have even given us enough time to get out?”

“Of course!” Erwin takes him by the shoulders, and Levi snarls up at him. “I was working up to it. I wasn’t ready to—to deal with this.”

“I can’t believe this. You really think a whole team of workers is gonna come out here to help build this? You wanna put their lives in jeopardy too?”

“We—”

“You haven’t even thought this through all the way! When did you come up with this? When you hadn’t slept or eaten in forty-eight hours? When your brain wasn’t fucking functioning at full capacity?”

Erwin stays quiet, and so do you because Levi has a point. Taking care of yourselves physically has not been high on either of your lists of priorities, and you’re sure your mental state has suffered for it. All the nights spent at the projection table, mapping out ideas, growing giddy over the idea of staying for the eruption. Was that just two people high off passion, becoming more and more unhinged with each passing day?

Quite possibly. 

You expect the fury to be enough to push Levi away, that he’ll simply give up, drag Mike out with him, and leave you and Erwin to hunker down like you’d planned.

But, that is not the case. 

Instead, he shoves a thin finger into Erwin’s chest, gritting out, “Pack your fucking bags so we can go to D.C. where they need you.”

Erwin takes a breath then slumps in defeat. Now, when faced with the obstacle that is his boyfriend, you figure he’s weighed the pros and cons and made a decision. Between his love for the park and his love for Levi, he’d rather salvage the latter. 

Mike shifts next to you, grumbles out a low, “You too,” that makes the tears finally fall from your eyes. “I’ll take you on one last ride to the springs, but then we’re leaving.”

He stays true to his word, and you cry the entire time you’re in the chopper, headset smushed against one ear as you rest your head on the window and look down at the Grand Prismatic, the steam rising from it. It’s beginning to grow discolored with all the activity, but it’s more stunning now than it’s ever been. 

Soon, it’ll be completely covered. All of it will. And, you could have been too, stuck underground for a couple of years only to be the first to step out into the pure destruction. 

That’s not an option anymore, though, not with Mike looking as grave as he does, not with the way he shadows you in your apartment as you gather the necessities, like he thinks you’re going to bolt and run back to the lab, not when the two of you meet back up with a still-fuming Levi and a despondent Erwin to head to the airport.

The tickets are outrageously priced at such short notice, but that doesn’t stop Levi and Mike from passing their credit cards over.

“Two for Washington D.C.”

“And, two for Bergen, Norway.”

Boarding passes in hand, the four of you walk through the bustling airport together for as long as you can before you have to inevitably split up. Levi glares at you but still pulls you into a tight hug, grunts into your ear, “You’re so stupid,” before letting go and turning to Mike. “Keep her safe, boy scout. I’m trusting you.”

Mike nods, and both of them clasp hands as you turn to look at Erwin. Tears and pathetic sniffles return when you walk into his open arms, clinging to him and mumbling, “‘M sorry, ‘m sorry. I would’ve followed you.”

“I know.” He rubs your back and heaves a sigh. “I know you would have.”

He eventually disentangles you to hold you at arm’s length, wipes the moisture from your face with his thumbs, then shows a sad smile. “See you in a few years, yes?”

“Yeah.”

One more squeeze, and everyone turns away to walk to their respective gate. Mike’s hand splays across your back, warm, guiding you in the right direction, keeping you steady. He’s always kept your feet planted firmly on the ground. You figure, if there’s one person you’d like to experience the downfall of society with—above ground—it’s him. 

S I X  W E E K S  B E F O R E

Norway is kind of incredible. It has a natural beauty that takes your breath away just like Yellowstone used to, but it’s vastly different. Everything is green, including the lights in the sky at night. You’re surrounded by rolling hills and mountains, and you just know it’ll be beautiful under thick layers of snow. 

The once rustic ranch, now restored, is made up of several small houses and a farm full of cows and goats. It’s sad to think about the fate they will eventually meet (slaughter then stomachs), but you know it’s necessary to prepare for the coming years.

And, the owners have definitely prepared. 

Gelgar and Nanaba are everything Mike described and more. Between taking care of the farm and setting up energy sources, they do their best to make you and the other arrivals feel at home. They’ve designed the ranch to house up to about thirty people, a commune of sorts (minus any cult-like vibes). Naturally, everyone pitches in and helps around the place. You find yourself cleaning a lot, but you don’t mind. It’s a nice, mindless task that keeps you from thinking too hard about everything you’ve left behind. 

You also like to join Nana outside, help with the animals and enjoy the sunshine while you still can. Of course, this subjects you to endless teasing especially today when she catches you staring into the distance at Mike who's helping Gelgar fix a solar panel. 

His shirt is starting to stick to his back from sweating, muscles straining under the damp cloth, and good lord, when did he get that broad? Sure, he's always been tall and fit, but working on the homestead has definitely made him more built. That along with the fact that his hair has gotten long enough to tie up in a bun has your mouth going a little dry. 

"Like what you see?" Nanaba asks, accent thick, voice full of amusement. 

You shoot her a look, face all scrunched up when you mumble, "Don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh?" She sticks her tongue out. "Don't be coy. I see the way you both look at each other."

"Tch." 

"And, how both of you volunteer to cook with the other when it's your turn to. You move around each other like you know exactly where the other is. Two halves of a whole."

You roll your eyes. "We've just worked together for a while. We make a good team."

She's not wrong, though. Since coming to Norway, you and Mike have grown even closer. There was a period of time when you could hardly look at him, too guilty for trying to stay at the park, guilty for hurting him, but eventually the two of you fell back into your normal dynamic—joking, laughing, touching just a little too much, smiling when you think no one's looking. You even spent an afternoon together in a nearby field of flowers, just like he'd promised. With a picnic basket full of food, and a blanket to lay on, you'd admired the clouds overhead while enjoying the rustling grass surrounding you. 

It's been your favorite day since coming here, had reminded you of the lunches you used to share on the mountain. 

You're not brave enough to make any sort of move, though. Mike is just so good. There's a chance his affections are simply based in friendship, and that's something you're scared to ruin. He means too much to you. 

"How long did you work together?"

"Like, four years, give or take a few months."

"And, you're still acting like nothing is there?" Nanaba tsks. "Ridiculous."

"How long did it take you and Gel to get together?" You ask, then quickly backtrack, "Not that that's what I want with Mike necessarily."

"Mhm," she smirks. "Gel and I did it backwards. Got pissed at a bar and fell into bed together. Then we started to get to know each other and found out we just worked."

Sounds about right, you think. The couple has an interesting back-and-forth, half bickering, half innuendo. You can always, always see the love in their eyes, though. That's what you want in life. That’s what you want with Mike. Even if you won't admit it out loud. 

You turn your gaze back to the roof he and Gelgar are on just in time to see him making his way down the ladder. Once on the ground, he and the other man start striding over to you. Mike's face is red, sweat beading at his hairline, and Gelgar's pompadour is beginning to fall. 

"Think we got it fixed up," Mike announces, lifting the bottom hem of his shirt to wipe his forehead. 

You stare at his toned stomach for just a little too long, the lines of his hip bones leading into the waistband of his jeans. 

Nanaba's words ring in your head again—fell into bed, fell into bed, fell into bed—and you fixate on the idea of you and Mike doing the same. To have him hovering over you, or maybe you over him, thighs on either side of those hips as his hands trail up your body—

You shake the thought from your head, letting your glazed eyes refocus on the men in front of you. 

"Alright, I'm gonna grab a shower before dinner. Who's cooking tonight?"

“I believe it's Lynne and Henning," Nana answers. 

Mike nods then heads toward the little house he's been living in, right next to yours, of course. He reaches out to let his hand brush yours as he passes, and it takes conscious effort not to grip onto one or two of his large fingers and follow him. 

"God, that's painful to watch," Gelgar snorts. 

Nana laughs and agrees, "I was just telling her the same thing."

"Oh, shut up. Ya' couple of meddlers."

*

A line forms every evening outside of the main house, the one Gelgar and Nanaba share. You and Mike stand together at the back, watching everyone in front of you. Some are families, some are couples, some are here alone. You figure, no matter their status, the ranch is a nice place to be—peaceful, home-y despite its size. So far, everyone gets along. 

Only the kids complain about chores, about seven of them constantly running around together, but that’s to be expected, and honestly, you don’t mind picking up their slack. Life is about to get very difficult for them. They should get to be children for a little while longer. 

Potato soup is poured into your bowl with a ladle, topped with shredded beef and green onions, then you and Mike retire back to your little cottage home to eat and watch TV. It stays on the same channel, world news, and there’s always a long segment that covers Yellowstone and what it’s doing. 

It is not uncommon at all to look up from your food and see Erwin or Levi’s face on screen, speaking with experts, sometimes in interview-like settings.

Tonight, they’re covering a problem that’s been going on for some time, but everyone figured would resolve itself: some people will not leave the most dangerous zones, and it’s because they simply do not believe an eruption will take place. 

Even with the evidence, the science backing it—even with actual federal authorities knocking on their doors and telling them to leave—there are many people who just want to stay put. It’s insane to you, makes your blood boil. Children have been taken from their homes to be placed in safer areas, which only causes the disbelievers to get angrier. They want to say “I told you so”, but that’s not going to happen. 

What’s going to happen is getting burned alive in the flow that pours from the volcano. They will die a painful death, get buried under meters of fallout, ash, snow. There’ll be nothing to recover except for petrified, charred corpses. 

Of course, the irony is not lost on you; you and Erwin were both willing to chance similar fates, but you still think the two of you would have been more prepared than these regular-Joes who think their front door is enough to stop a volcanic eruption. 

“In the end, there’s no reasoning with people like this,” Erwin says on camera, a soft, sad smile playing at his lips. “When a person is so, uh… Dead set on staying, it will take an unstoppable force to move them.”

In your case, that unstoppable force had been Levi screaming at you while holding back tears. 

“Unfortunately for them, this force is the eruption, and they won’t be able to leave when that occurs.”

“Because they’ll be dead,” the reporter states more than asks.

Erwin nods and answers with a grim, “Yes. Yes, they will be.”

They’re not trying to be subtle, obviously hoping that this will get through to the stubborn masses, but you doubt it will. They’re living on borrowed time at this point. Any day could be their last.

Mike is quieter than usual as he eats, barely even looking at the television screen, and you have a feeling he’s thinking about how close you were to staying alongside those stupid assholes. It’s still a touchy subject, one both of you do your best to avoid. You’re mostly happy to be in Europe, spending your days with Mike and his friends and everyone else running around here. 

But, there’s also a part of you, deep down inside, that aches, that misses the park, that still wants to be right in the middle of the destruction. Watching it blow from so far away is going to hurt. This massive monster you’ve fallen in love with over the years will never be the same, and your last good look at it was that tearful helicopter ride. 

You’re not resentful toward Mike or Levi for dragging you out of the lab that day, but you are grieving in a sense. 

The program ends with Erwin giving one last warning— “If you insist on staying, I’d advise bomb-proofing your home, stocking up on several years-worth of rations, and installing one hell of a ventilation system. Good luck.”

Mike clears his throat and stands, grabbing his empty bowl as well as yours, then heads into the kitchen to rinse them off. 

Sighing, you follow him, lean against the counter a couple feet away as you think of something to say that won’t sound too forced.

“Hey,” you start.

Mike gives a low, “Hm?” as he holds the dishes under hot water, finally glancing over when you gently nudge him in the side.

“Thanks for…” You take a deep breath, pinned by light green eyes, then try again. “Thanks for bringing me here.” He blinks but doesn’t say anything, so you continue. “It’s really nice. And, I’ve bonded or whatever with Nana.”

“But, you miss the park,” he says.

You shrug. “I mean, yeah. That park was my life, but… Probably dying in it was not one of my brighter ideas.”

He snorts, shuts off the water, then turns to you. Craning your neck, you take in his face—really take it in—the few strands of hair that hang freely past his jawline, the way his beard, no longer stubble but not exactly thick, forms around his mouth and connects with his sideburns, his strong, slightly curved nose, how his Adam’s apple bobs when he swallows. He’s so painfully handsome, especially all shaggy and rugged, and it makes your heart beat too hard and too fast in your chest. 

Mike dries his hands on a dish towel, looking down at them when he tells you, “I’m glad we were able to get you out of there. It’s not something I’ll ever feel bad about. Even if you hate me for it.”

“I don’t hate you,” you scoff. “Never could. You’re my best friend, Mike.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” you smile, then think of Nanaba earlier that day and laugh quietly. 

“What?”

You wave a hand, shake your head. “Nothing, nothing, just… Nana has… Ideas, or something.”

There’s no need to elaborate. Mike understands what you’re trying to say. He inhales then breathes out it out in a chuckle as he posts up against the counter next to you. “Yeah, Gelgar does too.”

“Guess they don’t know us very well.”

A silence hangs between the two of you, one that would normally be comfortable but is now a little thick given the subject matter of your conversation.

You and Mike. Just earlier that day you had been thinking about how scared you are to ruin the friendship, but the more you imagine, the more you get lost in the fantasy…

“Or maybe…” You glance over to see Mike nibbling on his bottom lip, eyes fixed on the ground as he continues, “Maybe they know us better than we know ourselves.”

He raises his head, gaze locking with yours, and you stop breathing. Because that stare is so hesitant, searching for something inside of you as if you have the answer, but you’re just as scared and confused as he is. Over four years of friendship—of good, meaningful friendship—is that worth risking just because you’re both curious? 

Or has it all been leading to this since the start? Since those first, short conversations, since the meals shared with one another, the affectionate gestures. Mike has always kept your head on straight, looked after you with even more care than he had with the park’s wildlife. 

You thought it’d all been one-sided pining, that he was just glad to have someone who understood him a little better than everyone else because you do. You understand his passion for the planet, you understand all his little fixations. You appreciate every eccentricity like he appreciates all your neuroses. 

“Maybe so…” 

Two very large hands are on your face, tilting upward, and your lungs begin to burn as Mike strokes just under your eyes with the pads of his thumbs. He has to lean down quite a bit, pauses just over your lips to let out a tiny huff of surprise, disbelief, awe maybe, then closes the rest of the miniscule distance. 

He is very warm and very firm against you—feels good, all the comfort of someone familiar but still so new. Your lips fit together perfectly, and at last, you’re able to breathe again, mouths moving in an experimental back and forth, feeling each other out until he runs the tip of his tongue along the seam of your lips. Gripping strong shoulders, you let the kiss deepen, opening your mouth for him, and Mike groans when he’s finally able to taste you. 

Hands fall from your face, moving down, down, down, brushing your ribs, settling at your hips, but his fingers are long enough to curl and dig into the meat of your ass, making you gasp and press harder against him.

Rolling his pelvis into yours, you very quickly find yourself pinned between Mike’s body and the counter. Your grasp travels to the back of his neck, pulling him closer—you just need him closer—and he must feel it too because he hoists you up and sets you on the countertop, making room for himself between your legs.

You feel too hot and too desperate, but it’s good, a release that’s needed to happen for far too long. All manner of geothermal metaphors swim through your mind, spurting geysers and boiling mudpots, and it makes you giggle against him, biting down on his bottom lip and smiling around the flesh as he lets out another one of those rumbling, satisfied noises. 

“What’re you laughin’ at?” Mike mumbles, and for some reason, it’s strange to hear his voice so close, so quiet, as you’re pressed together, breathing each other’s air. It’s intimate and different, but it’s right. 

“I’m just…” Another little laugh, “Thinking about the volcano.”

“When are you not thinking about the volcano?” You have a feeling he’s rolling his eyes, but he still grins and kisses you again.

“It’s all dirty things if that helps.”

Mike nods slowly, lips trailing from your mouth toward your neck. “Helps some.”

You tilt your head to give him better access and let out a little whine when you feel him bite down on a patch of skin just beneath the notch of your jaw, wrap your legs around his waist and do your best to rock into him because good god, you want him. 

Fingers tangling under his loosening bun, you tug him back to your mouth, slotting your lips against his and sliding your tongue between his teeth. He presses you closer with a hand on the small of your back, squeezing the air from your lungs so all you can breathe is him. 

“Mm, Mike, Mike,” you pant, barely breaking away only for him to chase after. You laugh, push his chest at the same time you gently tug at his hair, and he backs away just enough for you to get a good look at his half-lidded eyes and spit-slicked lips. 

Honestly, staring at him now, you can’t believe you made so long without ever making a pass at him. He’s gorgeous, built like a roman statue only larger, with sun-kissed skin and a startlingly light gaze that threatens to leave you boneless. 

“D’you wanna, maybe…” You swallow and blink up at him, too many questions suddenly invading your mind—is it too early for sex? Will he think you’re easy? What if it doesn’t actually work out? But, you bite the bullet anyway and finish, “Go to the bedroom?” 

Mike is silent for a few beats, leaving you to second guess yourself and brace for disappointment and embarrassment, but then he clicks his tongue and answers, “Uh, yeah. Yes, let’s do that,” in a voice a little higher than usual, and scoops you from the counter.

Every little house on the ranch is laid out the same, so it does not take him long to find your room. He sets you down at the threshold, and from there, it’s a flurry of discarded clothing and stumbling to the bed.

“How have we never done this before?” He huffs, crawling over you, leaving wet kisses in his wake. 

You’ve still got an arm covering your bare chest, but Mike doesn’t seem self-conscious in the slightest which comes as a surprise considering how reserved he typically is. Not that he has anything worth hiding—not the thin layer of hair that dances over his barrel chest, not the ridiculously cut abdominals or sharp ‘V’ of his hips, and definitely not the thick cock bobbing against his stomach as he moves. You would be intimidated if you didn’t know him as well as you do, but you’re sure that he’ll be gentle with you. Mike may be many things, but careless is not one of them.

He reaches your mouth, kisses you so deeply it makes you dizzy, and as he does, he very slowly pulls your arm from your chest, leaving you vulnerable—free for the taking. 

His touch is soft enough to tickle as he brushes over one of your nipples, making you exhale against him and arch your back like a silent plea for more. He traces around the bud, makes it pebble before carefully rolling it between two fingers.

Warmth spills into your gut, makes you squirm on the bed, and a moan makes its way from your throat as Mike gently tugs at the sensitive flesh. He lowers his head again, lavishing the same kind of attention on your other nipple with his mouth. He nibbles and licks and sucks, and you wriggle and whimper beneath him, one hand trailing down his body until you’re able to close your fingers around the head of his cock. 

Mike grunts, thrusts into your hand a couple times, enough to make precum drool from his tip, but before he can get too carried away, he says just above a whisper, “Let me get you ready,” then moves to lay between your spread legs.

Sliding his arms under your thighs, he locks them into place, and you release a shaky breath, feeling his eyes taking you in for several seconds before licking up your slit once then pushing deeper.

“Oh, fu—”

Both your hands shoot downward, one gripping the messy bun at the back of his head as you shudder at the sensation of his beard against your pussy. You’re wet in seconds, core pulsing as Mike uses his tongue to slowly open you up, then pulls back to flick over your clit. 

“Mike—Mike—”

He hums into you, shaking his head slowly back and forth, no doubt making a mess of his face and you. You don’t have anything to say, just feel your throat tightening like there are unspoken words that need to come out, but you can’t think straight, not when he’s doing what he’s doing, not when you feel the tips of his fingers reaching out to spread your lips. 

He is thorough bordering on methodical, makes sure you’re at the point of full body shakes before he gives you a break, and then, when your breathing returns to a normal rate, he starts all over again. There is a tightness in your gut that builds and builds then dissipates every time he stops, and he must know because when you whine in frustration, Mike just grins and kisses the inside of your thighs. 

The same pattern is repeated with his fingers, just one at first, massaging your walls perfectly, then a second that makes your eyes roll into the back of your head. He rubs over the swelling tissue inside of you, seems to enjoy every little gasp and noise you make, including the unsatisfied one you let out when he pulls his fingers from you. 

You can feel how damp the bedspread is underneath you, can see the evidence of your arousal on Mike’s face, and it makes you flush but doesn’t stop you from tugging him down for another messy kiss. 

“You ready?” He asks, sounding just as breathless as you feel, and you nod furiously, bending your knees and planting your feet on the mattress so that you can lift your hips to his. 

Mike chuckles, reaches down between the two of you to take hold of his length and taps your clit with his cockhead a couple times—simultaneously the most infuriating and most erotic thing you’ve ever experienced. Slowly, he lines himself up, just barely pushing forward, and when you bite your lip and squeeze your eyes shut, Mike tells you to, “Breathe, baby, open up for me.”

He already sounds wrecked, like he’s fighting the urge to just sheathe himself entirely, but he waits, giving you one inch at a time with periods of adjustment in between. You always sort of figured he was big, but this burning stretch is something you hadn’t imagined even in your lewdest of fantasies. You’re incredibly full, feel him in your gut and throat and everywhere, but it isn’t bad; it’s just a lot. 

“Okay,” you stroke the forearm next to your head and nod. “Okay, you can start moving more.”

Mike’s brow creases. “You’re sure?”

“About as sure as I can be with a monster cock inside m-me—” Your laugh turns to a moan as Mike begins to pull out, eyes trained on your face for any sign of real discomfort, but your mouth just drops open, your own eyebrows raising at the feeling of his length hitting every one of your most sensitive spots. 

“Holy…”

He pushes back in quickly, still mindful of what your body can take, and when all you do is cry his name and scratch down his back, Mike starts up a steady rhythm that has you seeing god. 

That tightness is back, hotter than before, threatening to burn you up entirely as your cunt flutters and spasms and leaks around Mike’s length. 

The sound of a hoarse groan makes you open your eyes, and you follow Mike’s line of vision to where you’re connected, see his cock sliding in and out of you, dripping slick and ringed in white cream toward the base. The sight makes you clench around him, and Mike swears under his breath then leans forward to gather you in his arms. Your head lolls back as he lifts you, sitting on his knees for just a second before falling onto his back and letting you drop onto him. 

You choke, and Mike pants, but his hands are tight at your hips, moving you up and down his length like a sleeve. His pupils are blown wide when you look down at him, hair nearly entirely out of its tie, bottom row of teeth exposed as his jaw slides almost primally. 

He looks completely lost in you, possessed as he fucks up into your pussy rougher than before. You bounce in his lap, whimpering his name with every thrust, growing in volume when you feel a finger press against your clit. 

“You gonna come for me?” Mike grits out, rubbing a circle over the swollen bundle as his eyes flick from your chest to your face. 

You nod, ignoring the burning in your thighs in favor of the sensation between your hips. “Yeah, I—I—Fuck, Mike—”

“Come on, baby, come on—wanted to see this for years, come all over my cock…”

You snap, legs shaking as your climax crashes through you. Your cunt pulses around Mike, coating him in more of your juices and making him groan and fuck you through it. You whine at the stimulation, swollen walls so sensitive yet taking everything he has to give you.

Every thrust to your g-spot makes you gush a little more, come a little longer, until all you can do is fall onto his chest and let him use you as he needs to. You leave marks on his pecs, bites and scratches, and Mike grunts at every one of them until he sits up and flips you once again.

“Where do you want me?”

“Anywhere, I don’t care, I don’t care,” you babble.

Mike inhales sharply then lets out a long groan as he pulls out and shoots his load onto your stomach. It’s warm and thick, some pooling in your belly button as Mike makes a trail down to your clit where he smears the last few drops. You twitch at the contact, hole clenching around nothing now, but you can already feel soreness settling into your muscles. 

Mike gives you two little pecks on the mouth, then one last, longer kiss before rolling to lay on the mattress beside you, chest rising and falling with deep breaths.

This silence doesn’t bother you. It gives you time to come back to your senses, to reflect, to remember everything that was said which leads you to ask, “You meant that—about wanting this for years?”

Mike turns his head and smiles so sincerely it almost brings tears to your eyes. 

“Well, yeah. Been in love with you pretty much since I started at the park.”

He says it so casually, like it’s the most natural thing in the world, and maybe it is, but it still makes your breath catch. 

“Seriously?” You turn to lay on your side, and Mike mimics the action, propping his head up with one hand while he lets the other settle on your waist. 

He lifts an eyebrow and questions, “Is that so hard to believe?” 

“No, I just… Thought it was one-sided on my end, I guess. Like, we were too good of friends.” Mike leans forward to gently headbutt you, and you snort to yourself, “Guess I was wrong.”

“We were both being stupid,” he mumbles. “But, we were also focused on other things, married to the job or whatever.”

Lifting your face makes him lift his, and you smile into another kiss, feeling happier and more balanced than you have in a very long time. 

Without much more discussion, you and Mike get up to rinse off, sharing more soft touches under the spray of the shower before crawling into bed together. Falling asleep feels like coming home.

You don’t even mind the smug grin on Nanaba’s face when she sees you and Mike leave your house together in the morning, nor the teasing jabs Gelgar throws your way over lunch. You don’t know if anything is capable of knocking you out of your perfect, peaceful little world on this perfect, peaceful little homestead.

Except maybe a supereruption, of course. 

E - D A Y 

It happens right in the middle of the morning news. You and Mike are sipping on coffee, expecting the same report you’ve gotten every day— “Nothing yet, closely monitoring, blah blah”—but as the English news anchor tries to introduce the meteorologist, he stops, holds a hand to the speaker in his ear, then looks at the camera with wide yes. 

“I’m—I’m getting news that the Yellowstone supervolcano has just begun to erupt, we’re cutting to the US address at Washington D.C. now—”

And just like that, Levi’s face is suddenly on screen, picking him up mid-sentence. 

“... One vent open at the present time, but more will open shortly. Stay indoors, ration your food. This is what we’ve been preparing for.” He looks tired, and when you do the math, you understand why: seven AM in Norway is one AM in D.C., meaning Levi was probably woken up to make the announcement. 

As always, you can make out Erwin’s figure behind him, hands clasped tight and shaking, and it isn’t until Mike puts a hand on your shoulder that you realize you are trembling right along with your old boss.

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay,” he reassures you. “We’re gonna be okay here.”

You nod and let him pull you closer to him as both of you look back to the screen and listen to what your old colleagues have to say.

The news stays on for the rest of the day. At around ten, the second vent opens up. Then another. Then another. Levi keeps track, expression never betraying the fear he must be feeling, even when he delivers the message that a full ring around the caldera has opened up. 

“Obviously, we can’t get in close enough to look, but we estimate at least two thousand four hundred and fifty cubic kilometers of eruptible magma will pour from the volcano. That’s the size of the eruption from around two million years ago, but it could be worse with the current number of vents…”

The journalists on site, usually so ready to ask questions and challenge Levi, are silent today, and you imagine they’re staring with eyes the size of saucers, not quite believing what they’re hearing because it’s happening. It’s finally happening. 

You eat a quiet, solemn lunch at Nanaba and Gelgar’s, no one knowing what to say. You feel nauseous, stunned, not unlike losing a loved one. You’re able to forget the absolute destruction taking place in the states for a few minutes at a time, but it always comes back to you, punching you in the gut with the same, brute force every time.

The park. The lab. The forests. The towns. Cities, states, homes, lives, all wiped off the map. 

Erwin takes Levi’s place as public speaker close to five, probably to let the other man get some sleep, and reports that the portable seismogram, still linked to the remaining seismographs located around the park, show that there are near continuous earthquakes taking place, “Which could either help should enough earth shift to block the magma chamber, or make things worse by disrupting it further.”

“E is not very good at keeping people’s hopes up,” you mutter, and Mike chuckles.

“Yeah, I see why he makes Levi do all the talking now.”

You both receive texts from the rest of the team, Levi’s coming at an appropriate time but the others reaching you at odd hours of the night when you’re nestled in Mike’s arms.

Neither of you sleep as reality sets in the rest of the way. That was it. The beginning of the end of everything you know. Everything is about to change.

You sniff, try to be as quiet as possible as the tears you’ve been holding back all day finally begin to fall, but Mike knows, feels your body stiffen as you curl into yourself. 

He hugs you close to him but doesn’t say anything, just rests his cheek against yours and holds your hand. 

There’s nothing anyone can say to make this better, no amount of optimism or determination that will make this any easier. Your home is covered in miles of pyroclastic flow, and as it hasn’t stopped yet, you know this is just the start. Soon, anything left alive will be suffocated by the tephra, people, animals, and vegetation alike. Though you won’t die where you are, everyone at the ranch will be feeling the effects soon enough.

Your mother calls from France where her and your dad decided to “vacation” for the next several years. She’s worked up about not being able to get through to you for almost an entire day, and even as you reassure her that you’re mostly fine, she hears the way your voice cracks and offers to fly to Norway.

“Mom, the airports are shut down by now,” you sigh. “We already talked about this. We can’t see each other for a while, but we’ll FaceTime until we can’t anymore.” Until the cell towers are knocked out, you don’t say.

“I just know my baby girl is hurting right now. I know how much you loved—”

“I know,” you cut her off, scared that hearing it from her mouth will just make you lose it again. “I know, but I’m okay here with Mike and everyone else.”

“You’re sure?” She sniffles, sounding a lot like you. “Cause your father and I will find a way to get to you if you need us.”

“I’m sure, Mom,” you tell her with a sad smile she can’t see. “Get some rest, okay?”

You share many calls like that, many ill-timed text messages until the eruption finally comes to an end six days later. The damage it’s done is incalculable—the entirety of the United states now covered in a cloud of ash that blocks out the sun. 

It doesn’t reach you for a few days, but every time you go outside, Mike sniffs the air and mumbles something like, “Smells like sulfur,” or “It’s getting closer”, but after another week, the entire globe is covered. 

1  M O N T H  A F T E R

Everything is an estimation. Everyone knows that a massive amount of magma erupted, but they don’t know how much. Everyone knows that a large number of people have died, but they don’t know how many. There are too many mysteries, and it’s nowhere near safe enough to send search crews out. 

Despite all the warnings, people are still trying to go outside—to see the ash, to review the damage, but even with cloth or medical grade masks, they’re breathing in the dangerous particles floating in the air, tiny minerals that turn to a cement-like substance in their lungs, and because of that, the death count is only rising. 

News reports cut in and out, as do phone calls. Some texts never get sent or received, so all you truly have is your little home and Mike. 

And, you cry, and you mourn, and you miss your friends and family—fuck, you don’t even know how you’ll survive so long without them—but you also revel in the fact that you’re safe. Not everyone can say that. The fact that you had almost willingly stayed in the most dangerous zone of the explosion is laughable now. There’s no way you and Erwin would have survived that, something he agrees with you on when you share a short phone call with him just to check how he and Levi are doing. 

They’ll be staying at the Homeland Security compound for the forseeable future, but he assures you they’re well-prepared to brave the years-long gray storm. 

Without any livestock to take care of, or mouths to feed other than yours and Mike’s, you find yourself with an abundance of free time. You still have power thanks to the solar panels and the couple of windmills set up around the ranch, but you don’t know how long that will last. 

You both read a lot, do puzzles together, fall into bed both out of desire and just because there’s not much better to do.

And, that part of your apocalyptic life is kind of great. Mike is great. He takes care of you both in and out of the bedroom, is gentle with you until you tell him not to be, and then he’s more than happy to succumb to your needs. He’d invested in a frankly absurd amount of condoms before the eruption so he wouldn’t have to worry about pulling out every time, but every once in a while you want him like you had him the first time—desperate and passionate and completely raw. 

That’s the feeling you’re experiencing tonight, staring at Mike from your place on the couch rather than at the book in your hands.

You see him smile before he actually looks at you, but when he does, he has a glint in his eyes you’ve gotten very familiar with over the last month. 

“Need something, baby?”

You bite your lip to keep from grinning too bashfully and glance back down at the open pages on your lap. “Nuh uh.”

“You sure?”

“Mhm,” you nod. 

“Really?” Mike puts down the wildlife magazine he’s perusing and leans closer to you. “’Cause it looks like you might want something.”

You cross your legs, flip a page you haven’t even read, and shake your head. 

It’s a dumb game you’ve both started to play, who can hold out the longest. Of course, the longest record is one you both hold—four years and some odd months—but other than that, you usually make it two or three days at most.

But it’s hard with him walking around looking like he does, and for someone so quiet, Mike is mischievous and handsy, knowing just how to rile you up only to walk away and leave you to whatever you were doing before. He whispers in your ear, he grabs your ass, sometimes he’ll just stand right behind you in the kitchen and inhale, trace his nose up your neck so that you shiver and break out in goosebumps, then mumble a shameless, “You smell nice.”

He’s troublingly good at driving you crazy, and you realize this is why it took you so long to actually get together. You can’t imagine being this wound up and wanton in the lab with everyone there to see. 

“You know,” Mike speaks again. You look at him from the corner of your eyes as he leans back against the cushions and nonchalantly kicks an ankle over his thigh. “A lot of people are dying. Like, thousands. Millions.”

Frowning, you nod. “Uh, yeah. Worldwide disaster taking place.”

“Yeah, it’s a shame,” he adds. His lips twitch upward for a second before he purses them, waiting for another couple seconds then stating, “Should probably start thinking about… Efforts to repopulate.”

Eyes widening, you tilt your head to the side in disbelief, a short, incredulous laugh bubbling from your throat.

“You should be ashamed of yourself, Mike Zacharias!” 

Reaching behind you, you grab a throw pillow and launch it at him. Mike shields himself easily, choking and chuckling as he tries to defend himself, “I’m just—saying! It’s something to keep in mind!”

“Trying to guilt me into sex—” You smack his forearms with the pillow again, “As if I’m not already easy for you—" smack, smack, “—by bringing up all the people dying out there. What is the matter with you?”

He gets a hold of the pillow and rips it from your hands then hugs it to his chest and stares at you with that uncharacteristically devious look. “Is it working?”

You scoff at him, gently kick at his thigh in one last act of defiance before responding, “I mean, kinda.”

And, that’s all he needs to hear before he’s throwing himself at you, pinning you to the couch even as you giggle and squirm, ridding you of the comfortable clothes you have on so that he can kiss and lick every part of you he can reach. He acts like he’s hungry for you, and you have to use all your strength to shove him off of you just so that you can work his pants off and return the favor. 

Mike is all grunts and curses as you work him over with your tongue, a hand on the back of your head heavy but not pressuring. He trembles as you take him deeper, his tip hitting the back of your throat and sliding just a little further. 

It always hurts your jaw, leaves it sore for a full twenty-four hours at least, but the way his jaw drops and his hands ball into fists make it worth it. 

You use one hand to stroke what your mouth can’t reach, the other settling between your own thighs to get you to where you need to be, and only when Mike is panting and you’re dripping slick into your curled palm do you pull off of him.

He helps you into his lap, lets you take your time sliding down his length, because even after as much practice as you’ve had, it hasn’t exactly gotten easier. He’s still massive, and you still have to will yourself to relax around him, but once your muscles have loosened enough, you begin to rock your hips. 

Mike lets you use him like that for a few minutes, knows he’s at the perfect angle to rub over your g-spot, so he just watches and leans forward to place teasing kisses around your open mouth. 

“Feel good, baby?” His voice drips like honey as he grips onto you to aid in your movement. 

Nodding, you dig your nails into his shoulders, then shift to start moving up and down his length. Mike takes it as his cue to take over completely, strong enough to lift and drop you as he pleases, and you both fall into a frenzy of motion, desperate to get off, to get each other off, to share that euphoria. 

“Do you actually want to?” You ask in a daze.

Mike cracks his eyes open to ask, “What?” and slows down enough to give you enough breathing room to speak. “Do I wanna what?”

Making lazy air quotes with your fingers, you mimic his deep voice, “Repopulate,” then elaborate, “Have kids. Do you want that?” 

Everything stops. Your hips still, as do Mike’s, and he stares at you, the lusty haze of his gaze clearing as he processes what you’re asking. 

Feeling completely exposed, you try to rationalize, “I know, I know, we’ve only been doing this for, like, a month, and it’s kind of a terrible time to actually bring new life into the world, but if I’m gonna do it with anyone—”

Mike fists both hands in the hair at the back of your head, pulls you to him to smash your lips together. When he starts bouncing you again, your muffled moan is still loud in the small living room, and Mike’s voice comes out somewhere between desperate and destroyed when he tells you, “Yeah, I want kids. Want you to have my kids.”

“Okay,” you breathe, matching his rhythm, then again, “Okay.”

A switch seems to flip in Mike’s head. You watch and experience him devolve into someone—something—primal. He fucks you like he never has before, long hair hanging in his face, lip caught between his teeth as he groans around it, pistoning into you quick and rough.

“You want it?” He growls, pausing to suck a mark at the swell of your breast. “You want me to come in this pussy?”

Your heart stutters, jaw dropping slightly because Mike isn’t a vulgar man, never has been, but now, the way he’s looking up at you with wild eyes, you know all he needs is the right push, and he’ll lose it completely. 

“Yeah, fuck, want you to fill me up, please,” you whine.

Your world tilts as he tosses you long ways on the couch, sliding back into you with ease and demanding, “Touch yourself.”

You grin slyly, “What, don’t have the focus?”

“Not really,” he admits, flicking sweaty hair from his eyes. 

Two of your fingers find your clit, massaging it the way you always do when you’re desperate for an orgasm. It makes you clamp tighter around Mike, and you tell him again—beg for him— “Please, baby, want you so bad.”

He comes quicker than usual, shooting line after line deep inside of you until it starts dripping out around his cock. 

He can’t stay inside you for long, unable to take the way you keep clenching and twitching from your own ministrations, so Mike pulls out and shimmies down your body so that his face is just above your cunt. At first, he just stares (like always), admiring your swollen folds and how messy you are, but soon he pushes a finger into you, attaching his mouth to your clit shortly after.

It doesn’t take you long. The thought of him fingerfucking his cum further into you paired with the actual sensation of it sends you over the edge within a few minutes, and the two of you are left sweaty and panting, too drunk off each other to really think about the gravity of what you’ve just done but enjoying it all the same. 

The feeling eventually returns to your legs, some of the fog in your brain dissipating as you run your hand through Mike’s hair, and when you find that you can, you voice, “Can we even handle a kid? Or like… Can a kid handle the world as it is?”

“Kids are weirdly resilient,” Mike speaks, face pressed against your stomach so that you can feel the vibrations. “And, maybe there’ll eventually be a race of super babies or something—have enhanced lungs to deal with ash. Darkvision and shit.”

You snort and shake your head. “Dummy.”

He retaliates by blowing a raspberry just above your belly-button, grins lopsidedly when you squeal. 

“But really, our kids’ll be fine. Volcanologist for a mom and an Eagle Scout for a dad? Doesn’t get much better than that.”

“Oh my god, you were actually in Boy Scouts? Does Levi know?”

Mike makes a little ‘pft’ sound and shoots you an unimpressed look. “Of course not. Like, I’d ever let that tiny, tiny man be right about anything.”

Your laugh is so deep and genuine, it makes your whole body shake. Mike raises his head to keep it from bouncing so much, but you can feel him staring for the duration of your giggle fit. Even through squinted, teary eyes, you can see his gaze is full of adoration, and you figure having two parents who love each other as much as the two of you do will at least make the hard life ahead of you a little easier for a child. 

4  Y E A R S  A F T E R

Heavy snow falls outside, adding to the thick layers on the ground and clouding the window you’re staring out of. The carrier is nicely heated, ensuring you and its other two occupants stay toasty as you keep eye out for incoming headlights. 

“Think that’s them,” Mike says, and you swivel to look out his driver’s side window to see two dull beams of light growing brighter and brighter. 

“Don’t know who else it would be,” you joke. “No one else is dumb enough to come back to this place.”

The only sign of your husband raising his eyebrows is the way his hat shifts slightly. “You’re right about that.”

Cinching fur-lined hoods tighter, you both slide out of the tram, boots crunching on ice and snow when you land on the ground. Mike circles to your side, opens the back door, then unbuckles and collects what looks to be a bundle of jackets in his arms. Two light eyes peer out between a beanie and a face mask, gloved hands reaching out and grabbing for you. 

“You want Mama?” Mike coos before passing your son to you.

You settle him on your hip, rub his shielded nose with yours, hoping your body heat will help keep him warm out here.

It’s been winter for… Years, now, the ash from the eruption having behaved exactly as you thought it would, blocking out the sun, and sending the planet hurtling into another ice age. It was something not everyone was prepared for—the intense cold, the food and water shortage, the isolation, but you were lucky. You had everything you needed.

The other snow vehicle stops a ways off, lights left on as two figures jump out, recognizable even when completely covered up. One is nearly as tall as Mike, the other considerably smaller even up close. 

Pulling his mask down, Erwin shows a brilliant smile as he stops in front of you and Mike, and Levi immediately protests— “Oi, cover your mouth, old man! You need it for more than just talking shit.”

Mike laughs, but still reprimands the other man with a pointed, “Levi,” and a nod toward the little boy you’re holding. 

“Fuck—I mean…” Levi takes in a deep breath then apologizes over the whistling wind and falling snow, “Sorry, Huck.”

Bouncing him on your hip, you peer at your son and prompt, “Huckleberry, you remember Levi and Erwin from the computer?” 

Though your team has seen him many times on Zoom and FaceTime, this is first time Huck is meeting any of them in the flesh.

Your son looks between them for a while, quiet as he sizes up both of the men, then he reaches out for Levi the same way he had for you just moments before. Levi makes a dissatisfied noise but still takes him from you, and once Huck is passed off, you shuffle to Erwin and wrap your arms around him, breathing into his chest and warming your face. 

Your boss squeezes you tightly, mutters a low, “I know, I missed you too.”

It isn’t enough to drown out Levi’s sing-song baby voice, and both you and Erwin glance over to find him with his forehead pressed to Huck’s as he teases, “Can’t believe your parents named you after a volcanic eruption. That was pretty dumb, right?”

Mike glides over, places one hand on Huck’s head and the other on Levi’s, then sighs. “Please don’t criticize my wife’s terrible taste in nam—”

“Hey! You agreed to it,” you shout, taking the little boy back from Levi and glaring at both the smiling men. “Better shut up before you give him a complex. He can understand things, you know. He’s three.”

“Huckleberry Pine Zacharias,” Levi scoffs. “I cannot stand you guys.”

“I think it’s a great name,” Erwin interjects, lightly tapping Huck’s nose under his mask. 

“Well, you have shit taste, too.”

“Obviously, if I married a little gremlin like you,” Erwin drawls easily, leaning into the punch that Levi throws into his arm.

“Anyway, we’re here for a reason, right? Other than freezing our asses off?”

“Yeah,” Mike nods, kicking at the snow on the ground like it’ll make a difference. 

All of you know that buried beneath all the white is dried pyroclast, but under that… 

Is what remains of Yellowstone.

“How do we even go about rebuilding?” Mike is the first to ask.

Erwin stares at his own feet, face scrunched up in thought for a while before looking back up and stating, “From the bottom. Everything starts with a good foundation.”

Levi just scoffs, but you and Mike lock eyes and share a hidden grin. 

You take Huck back from Levi, leaning in for a side hug as you do, then suggest to everyone, “Well, then, now that we’ve seen a little of what we’re working with, we should head back to the shelter and start making a plan.”

“Yeah,” Levi agrees. “Gotta start getting ready for the next eruption due in seven hundred thousand years, right?”

“Right.”

After splitting back up into the two separate carriers, Mike follows closely behind the other in order to make it to their newly built bunker without getting lost. It’s perpetually dark from the never ending snow and cloud coverage, hazardous even with the vehicle’s tracks, but you can’t find it in yourself to be scared. Not now, not when life finally feels to be returning to something close to normal. 

#aot x reader #aot fanfic #attack on titan fanfic #mike zacharias x reader #snk fanfic #the smut pile collab

[earthchica]

ungodly hour ➝ part three

Chris Evans x Reader OFC! ( Zariyah Hawthorne )

Summary: in which Chris and Zariyah have to work alongside each other despite being exes.

Warning: Slight Fluff, Jealousy, Angst and Cursing

Word Count: 1.6K

Note: my english and spelling is trash. i’m sorry lol but like, comment and reblog! 💙

WATTPAD LINK click here

January 6th, 2017 ➝ Dallas, Texas

ZARI 👀

It's been a few weeks since my encounter with Chris and his new girlfriend. 

I was depressed about the whole situation at first but by the time, the weeks went by.

I was feeling alot better, thanks to Zachary. I've been spending most of my time with him in Dallas, Texas.

He's been such a gentleman and a great friend. I decided to not go the fwb route with him. 

Though he definitely knew how to put it down in the bed. Staying in Dallas with him has been really fun but it was my last day. 

Filming was starting early tomorrow in Atlanta, Georgia.

I was so excited to get back to work but also scared because I’ll be seeing Chris on set everyday and I don’t want to show any emotions.

Zachary looked at me with a sweet smile and pulled me in a tight hug. I pulled away and looked down.

"I'm gonna miss you, darling," Zachary says, caressing my cheek. I look up at his beautiful green eyes with a smile.

"I'm gonna miss you too, Zach. You've been such a great friend and I really appreciate you" I said.

He makes a face when I say the word friend before nodding. There was a honk outside, and that was my cue to leave.

"Well, that's my ride. I'll see ya later, cowboy" I said with a giggle, giving him another hug before grabbing my bags and walking out the door.

―――――――――――――――――――――――――

My body was filled with so much excitement and energy, I couldn't believe that I was here on set.

I was walking around when I saw Lily talking to one of the producers. I rolled my eyes, feeling like this day had just been ruined. 

"She's a total bitch." I was startled by a voice. I glanced over and it was Tessa Thompson, one of my close friends.

"Oh my god, Tessa you scared the shit out of me. How are you" I said, hugging her. 

She laughs and hugs me back.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you and I'm good, how about you?" Tessa asks.

"That's good to hear and I'm doing better!" I answered genuinely with a smile. 

Tessa was about to say something but someone cut her off.

"Well, well look who it is," Lily says with a chuckle. I rolled my eyes, looked over at Lily.

"Listen up, Zariyah just knows this is only business and nothing more. Nothing will happen between you and Chris. He's mine,"

"Girl, bye. I don't want Chris, okay. So please take your insecure ass somewhere" I said, waving her away.

"HE'S MY MINE NOW, SO BETTER WATCH THE FUCK OUT!" She growls, getting into my face. 

I looked at her like she was crazy, then I remembered this was a place of work and I had to be professional.

"What the hell is going on here?' Chris asks, pushing between the both of us.

"Chris, you better check your girl before she has some teeth missing," I said, walking away from them with Tessa.

"Damn, Zari. I swear I thought you were about to kick her ass" Tessa says. 

"No, not onset but if we were in streets hell yeah"

Tessa laughs. "Zariyah, I miss you"

"I miss you too, girl," I said with a giggle. 

―――――――――――――――――――――――――

It's been months into this, it's hella hectic. A lot back and forth to various locations, filming random scenes that didn't go together.

It will probably make a lot more sense when the movie is done but It was alot. I've been trying my best to get through this but it's really hard.

Chris and his girlfriend were everywhere, being all lovey-dovey and doing whatever the hell they want on set, it was making me sick to the stomach.

I was chatting with some of my costars in the food tent when Chris and his girlfriend came in and greeted everyone but me.

I tried to keep my cool but Chris kept looked at me while he and Lily were being affectionate in front of everyone

Like he was trying to make me jealous. GAME ON, motherfucker.

I got up and went to get myself something to drink. I was about to take a sip of my bottle of water. 

But I jumped when someone covered my eyes with their hands. "Guess who?" A rugged, deep voice spoke. 

I knew that voice, I removed the person's hands from my eyes and turned around.

I squealed with excitement, not believing who it was. 

I jumped into his arms, making him laugh and he twirling me around in a circle happily.

Everyone was watching including Chris. "Oh my god, what are you doing?"

"I wanted to surprise you."

"Really?" I asked. “Yeah, I miss you.” He says with a charming smile 

I grinned, pulled him into another hug. "I miss you too, I'm so happy you're here”

the petty games began.

"Me too, darling!" He says, pulling away and looking at me with those green eyes. 

Someone cleared their throat and we both turned our heads to them.

It was Anthony. 

"So Zari, who's the fellas?" He asks, looking him up and down suspiciously before looking back at me.

I was about to say something but he spoke for himself. 

"I'm Zachary Colton" He says, holding his hand out. 

Anthony smiles and shakes his head. “Cool, Cool and how do you know our Zariyah?”

“Uh we’re..” I cut him off.

"Dating, we're dating. He's my boyfriend," I said, wrapping my arms around his waist and laying my head on his chest.

Zach looked down at me surprised. "Just go with it" I mumbled with a smile.

"Uh yeah. She's my girlfriend" He says with a chuckle, kissing me on the top of my head. 

"That's amazing, well, let's get to know you-" I cut Anthony off.

"Oh no, I don't need y'all interrogating my boyfriend. Plus, I want to show my baby around" I said, removing my head from his chest and taking hold of his hand.

Chris was sending dangerous looks at Zach, I could see the look of his jealousy from a mile away. My plan worked.

―――――――――――――――――――――――――

CHRIS 🤔

A few minutes later. 

"Babe, I'll be right back. I'm gonna go to the bathroom" Lily says, kissing my cheek and I nodded, looking down at the food on my plate.

"Are you really gonna let that dude take your girl?" Mackie asks, coming over to sit next to me, I clenched my jaw.

"She's not my girl, Mackie. Plus, she broke up with me and I've moved on. I'm happy with Lily" I said, trying to make myself believe that.

When it wasn't true, dating Lily has been hell. She was the worst person I have ever met, she was such a bratty, mean person.

"Are you really? Cause the way I see it, you're not over Zariyah and you're just using Lily as a rebound" He says.

"First, I am not using Lily. Second, I’m done with Zariyah and she’s obviously done with me as well. As you saw she's moved on"

"Do you really think she's moved on?" Scarlett asks, coming into the conversation.

"I mean, yeah. Did you not see the guy?" I asked with a frown.

"She was obviously improvising, Chris. Zachary is her friend, she went on a blind date with him but that was it" Scarlett spilling the beans.

"Wait, that was the guy from Donatello," I asked, pointing to the direction they left.

I knew that douchebag looked familiar.

"Yeah and I heard you crashed the date," She says, giving me a knowing look.

I shook my head.

"No I didn't, did Zariyah tell you that..." I asked.

She raised her eyebrows at me "Okay, I kind of..that doesn't matter," I said, changing the subject.

"Do you still love her?" Scarlett asks.

"Yes!" I mumbled softly. It was hard to admit but it was true.

"Okay then so stop being so stubborn, and go talk to her about your feelings.”

"I agree with Scarjo, man. Everyone makes mistakes and they learn from them. Give her another chance before it's late" Mackie says, hitting my arm.

―――――――――――――――――――――――――

"Did you just say I was your boyfriend just to make your ex jealous?" Zachary asks as we walk into my trailer and sit on my couch.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," I said, shaking my hand and looking at him nervously.

"It’s okay...Zariyah...I have to tell you something?" He says, taking hold of my hand. 

“What is it?” It took him a minute before blurting it out fast. 

“I think I’m in love with you, and I want to be more than your friend. I just need to know if you feel the same way too”

I opened my mouth to say something but there was a knock at the door. I look at Zachary for a second before getting up, and going to open the door. 

I opened the door, and was surprised to see Chris standing there. "Chris?" 

"Zariyah, I’m still in love with you" He blurts out sweetly. Boy, I was in some serious shit.

―――――――――――――――――――――――――

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[wisehq]

Mission Debrief: Chapter Forty-two

...It's all coming together.

I'm just going to come outright and say it; I had no idea what to write for this review- not because there wasn't anything to discuss, but rather this chapter gave us so much that I didn't know what to focus on first. Chapter forty-two has single-handedly thrown open the doors to a hundred different theories, and believe me when I say that after a whole night of redbull and theorizing I couldn't come up with any clear answers (the folks over at the Strix discord group can attest to that).

So here's what we're gonna do; I'm not going to focus on the chapter itself.

It was cute. Cardshark Anya is hilariously awesome. Damian is a little shit (whom I adore), and the chapters where the kids can just be kids are- in my opinion- the best.

That's all I'm going to say on the matter. For the rest of this review, I want to go over all the facts we know so far about the story and setting. All of the things Endo has been slowly building up in the background and the pieces that we can stitch together from them, starting with this chapter. Two key things stuck out to me.

In the entirety of the story up till this point, this is the first time we have heard mention of a royal anything- and not only that, but this chef is a former royal chef. This of course implies that a) said chef was fired (not likely given that Eden wouldn't likely associate with someone who was disgraced like that) or retired, or b) that there is no royalty anymore. Ostania is a totalitarian state and the main power of the government- from what we've seen- lies with the ruling political party, i.e the National Unity Party, a.k.a Desmond's party. Such a political structure would have no room for royalty in a governing capacity, and therein begs the question; is there still a royal/noble class- albeit in a non-governing sense- or was it abolished sometime in the recent past?

Classical language is not proper speaking and diction like I had originally thought. Classical language is a specific term typically used to describe a dead language or dialect (think Latin, or Hebrew before it was revived). I find this particularly interesting because under no circumstance would a child as young as Anya know anything about a dead language unless- as Loid points out- she was exposed to it as a toddler. It would have had to have been when she was very young, as she herself doesn't realize she knows this information. This would mean she likely learned it from her birth family; Anya was old enough to remember the lab and scientists, meaning she became Subject 007 later on in life- otherwise she would have remembered knowing classical language.

These two concepts are incredibly important to keep in mind, both now and later on as the story progresses. We now know that a royal class plays a factor in the political game that Twilight and everyone else is playing, and we know that Anya knows information that she shouldn't know otherwise (even with her mind-reading powers). So where does that leave us?

Honestly, for the first time...I'm kind of stumped?

Let's look back at the story and see what else we can piece together- maybe there's something in there we can extrapolate for our purposes. Another clue to point us in the direction that Endo is seemingly funneling us towards.

From chapter forty-one

Franklin Perkins was a man who believed in making his country a better place to live. In his eyes and from what he saw, Ostania wasn't going in the right direction- but why? He blames his lack of money for his mother's death, and we see him hold resentment towards the government over socialistic policies. Wealth is something to be shared with others, not hoarded for ones self. That seems to be where Ostania's moral compass is pointing towards, but is that really the case?

From chapter 39

Mr. Green mentions that people have been fleeing to Westalis; from the way he says this it sounds like this is happening currently- not in the past- and people are going so far as to travel through a third country just to get to Westalis. Such a journey isn't without its perils, so anyone attempting to crossover from Ostania would likely be taking a huge risk in doing so. Not only that, but most of what we've seen in the story is Ostanians loathing Westalins...so what would compel people to do this in the first place?

From chapter three As Anya reads the minds of people gathered at a politcal rally near the start of the manga, we see their disgruntled thoughts behind her. There's multiple mentions of losing jobs and not having enough money- some people are even hungry. Most of these people blame Westalis for their troubles, though not the leader of the rally, ironically.

Also from chapter 3

We find out (and often forget) early on that there are multiple political parties in Ostania. Donovan leads the National Unity Party, whereas the political rally we see here is hosted by the Nationalist Party. The latter preaches peace with the west, but many of the people gathered reject this outright. This is important; the N.U.P is the most successful political party in Ostania, which means a majority of the country's citizens approve of their platform. If we're to assume the Nationalist Party's platform is to advocate for peace with Westalis, then we must also assume that the N.U.P stands for the opposite; direct aggression with the west.

From chapter 31 The Zacharis Dossier, though ultimately a bust, hinted at rumors that have permeated East and West since the start of the cold war. We know for a fact that human experiments did indeed take place in Ostania, so it also stands to reason that there is at least a kernel of truth to the claims of P.O.W (prisoner of war) massacres conducted by the west. It's a heinous crime, and also one that leads to another question; why would any country go through with it in the first place? In addition, piggy-backing off the former point;

From chapter 19 While Loid details Project Apple, he uses the word 'regime' to describe the former Ostanian government. The literal definition of a regime is a government, especially an authoritarian one (Oxfrod Dictionary). I won't highlight all the specifics of what is and isn't authoritarianism, but essentially the point I'm trying to make here is that the current Ostanian administration is still very much a regime. Donovan acts as the authoritarian ruler (or would-be ruler; we don't know if he's actively in charge or is looking to usurp power for himself) and continues on the legacy of the former government. We know for a fact that this is the case because Anya is only at most 6 years old, likely even younger. That would mean the experiments being run on her had to have been recent, which fits with the time frame that we established at the beginning of this rabbit hole- it also aligns with what we know about what Donovan has been doing on the back end of things. Those who have kept up with my reviews know what I'm talking about; gloom pharmaceuticals, the truth serum, OSO-R, etc. All of that, which then leads us to...

...right back where we started. So...what then? What can we conclude from all this? At least a few things;

Anya is tied to Desmond- either directly or indirectly.

Anya's past is also Ostania's past; she's familiar with a dead language that's no longer spoken, and there's definitely a reason why no one speaks it anymore.

Ostania is in a period of political and economic turmoil. This also comes on the heels of a (possible) former monarchy, and the struggle of a country willing to embrace authoritarianism so long as it means staying alive.

WISE and Westalis are not innocent in this game of chess with Ostania and the SSS, and more than likely have committed atrocities that may or may not be directly tied to Ostania and- possibly- Anya's past.

And...this is as far as I can go. I've hit a wall, as have other people I've talked to. We're still missing pieces to the puzzle. Endo will of course provide us with more clues and theory fodder as the weeks and months progress, but for now this is as far as I can go on my own. On the one hand I feel defeated because I can't come up with a meaningful explanation for everything and present it in a neat little bundle for you all to read, but on the other hand I'm thoroughly enjoying this. I'm more engaged with this manga and story than any other I've read before; I'm at the edge of my seat every week, and I'm sure most of you are, too. For now, I'll leave the review here. I find it fitting to leave it open ended, just as Endo did with Loid's self-imposed question. Hopefully, like him, we can find answers in the near future.

Also, BONUS...

...No fun panel with a snappy comment this time. Instead, I’m going to humbly ask for your help.

If you have any ideas about where you think the story is going, theories as to how everything fits together, or just really want to discuss the manga with other fans- please check out our forum and share with us. We’d love to hear what you all think; not only that, but a lot more heads makes theorizing both more productive and a whole lot more fun. Check it out if you have the time, or- if you don’t feel like clicking on any links- you can always leave a comment either on this post or send us an ask or message. Anytime, any reason, we’d love to talk SxF.

Again, thanks for reading, and we’ll see you all next chapter!

#spy x family #chapter forty-two