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just-for-cal · 5 years

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She’s Jealous - [c.h]

word count: 2885 warnings: swearing summary: (y/n) reads some thirst tweets and gets a bit frustrated

(y/n) loved Calum, she always did and it’s likely that she always will. Especially when she never plans to never act on these feelings.

So it felt unfair to her that she was getting so upset scrolling through Twitter. Dozens upon dozens of fans thirsting over him. The other boys too, but she only had narrowed eyes at the comments directed towards Calum.

“Whatcha lookin’ at?” Luke threw himself over the back of the sofa she was sat on, scooting close to her and looking onto her phone.

The first thing he saw being an all caps message about Ashton’s arms, and something about choking.

“Jesus love, into Ash now are we?” He chuckled, but (y/n) glared at him. “Alright, not in the mood for funny” Luke muttered to himself.

“Have you seen all these?” She asked him in a quiet voice, eyes still trained on her phone as she scrolled.

“Thirst tweets? I look sometimes, some of them are kinda funny”

(y/n) simply hummed, clearly that wasn’t the answer she was looking for.

“What’s got you all worked up? I thought you’d be agreeing with some of ‘em” Luke jabbed (y/n’s) side with his elbow, and she tried to force a smile, but her nerves seeped through.

“Everyone’s just so… so into him,” She explained, and before she could keep reading, Luke took her phone, and closed the app. “I feel like maybe it diminishes my chances even further”

“Your chances? Please, (y/n/n), you’ve got the biggest head start of all chances, it’s less of a chance more of a, eh, hundred percent guarantee”

The girl just rolled her eyes at Luke’s words. He always tried to convince her of how he thought Calum returned her feelings, but she never felt that way. He always seemed glued to their platonic relationship, so she never acted on the feelings she’d harbored for so long.

“I’m not kiddin’ babe,” Luke told her. “Ya should hear what he says about you when you’re not around, he loves to talk about you”

(y/n) blushed, but she still shook her head and took her phone back from his hands.

“Thanks, Luke,” She sighed, and smoothed out her skirt before standing. “Are you coming out tonight?”

“Yeah I’ll tag along,” He said and stood up with her, outstretching his arms. (y/n) chuckled quietly, stepping into his arms and letting him hug her tight. “Besides, I'm already all done up, can’t cancel now”

She was laughing when she pulled away, smiling to see he has in fact put on a shimmery eyeshadow to change up his usual leather jacket and jeans look. Even going so far as to put on his heeled boots.

When she looked away, Calum was coming down the stairs, but he stopped at the bottom and just stared at her. He looked frozen, lips parted, eyes set on her. (y/n) crinkled her brows as though to silently ask if he was alright.

“Wow,” He mumbled, finally walking over to her and his best friend. She still looked confused. “You look amazin’ sunshine”

“Oh,” She chuckled nervously, ducking her head down and pushing her hair behind her ear. Luke rolled his eyes and left the room, unable to handle all the pent up tension that had filled it. “You had me worried there for a sec”

Calum grinned at her, this girl he’d had in his life now for a few years and couldn’t ever get a long enough look at. She was blushing under his gaze, and it only made him smile more.

“You ready for dinner?” He asked, and she nodded, letting him guide her to the front door.

Luke was there waiting, looking at his phone and chuckling to himself. Mike and Ashton were planning to meet them at the restaurant, and we’re probably already there.

“What’s so funny?” Calum asked, and Luke showed him he was on Twitter.

“These thirst tweets about you, they're hilarious”

Calum blinked in surprise, not having expected that response, at all, and looked to (y/n) with raised brows before back at Luke.

“Why...?”

“Cause she was lookin’ at ‘em earlier, and I wanted to know what the big deal was. These are great!”

Calum looked at (y/n) again, a smirk on his lips to know that she’d read thirst tweets about him. But before he could make a cocky comment, Luke spoke up again.

“(y/n/n) you’re in this one,” Luke snickered as he read one, and then proceeded to read it out loud. “It’s a retweet of a pic of Calum, zoomed in on his thighs, and it says ‘@(your handle) sure is one lucky chick, i bet @CalumHood lets her ride his thighs whenever she wants’ can you believe that?”

If she hadn’t been blushing before, she certainly was now.

Luke was laughing his ass off, all the while (y/n) avoided looking directly at Calum, who was staring at her.

“Alright, on that note, let's get going,” Cal suggested, letting Luke out so he could walk with (y/n), his hand resting on the small of her back. When she looked up at him, he leaned a bit closer. “We’ll talk about why you were reading thirst tweets about me later” He told her quietly.

(y/n) winced.

Dinner went by well, besides the fact that Calum had his arm slung around the booth behind (y/n’s) shoulder, his fingertips grazing her shoulder every now and then. But no one said anything about it.

“So, (y/n/n), you comin’ back to the house after dinner?” Ash asked. She began to shake her head, but Calum spoke up for her.

“Yeah, we’re all gonna chill back at the house,” He said, his hand caressing softly over her shoulder now. “Probably watch a movie or something if that sounds good to you guys?”

“Yeah that sounds great” Ashton agreed.

While the other boys proceeded out of the booth to head to the car, (y/n) shot Calum a look.

“What are you doing? I can’t hang out tonight, I have class in the morning, that’s why we did dinner instead-“

“That’s really too bad, love, because you and I need to have a bit of a talk, don’t we?”

She raised her brows at his bold comment, but didn’t argue with him again. Simply followed next to him out of the restaurant.

She continued to stare at him, waiting for him to give her some sort of sign of what was going on in his head. Clearly something had happened, but he wasn’t budging at all. The only sliver of a sign he offered was pulling her in close to him when they got in the back of Luke’s car. Which only made (y/n) more anxious for answers, because it was now obvious to Luke that something was up.

Ash and Mike were already at the house when Luke pulled in, and everyone went in together, deciding on drinks and just hanging out and chatting. (y/n) didn’t understand why Calum needed her to stick around for this, but she wasn’t going to question him in front of everyone.

She was sat curled up on one end of the sofa, and surprisingly, it was Ashton next to her, not Calum. And Luke on the other side of Ashton.

Calum was in his own seat in a recliner, sat upright and solid, completely isolated from the group. Michael was also sat alone in a similar chair, but still made the effort to join in on the laughter and conversation.

At this point, (y/n) was not only confused, but a little pissed off.

She took a long swig of her beer, gave Calum a pointed look, and then excused herself to the kitchen for another drink. Where she waited for him to show up just seconds later.

“You alright love?” He asked as he strolled into the kitchen, words sweet, but voice cocky. (y/n) crossed her arms as she leaned back against the counter.

“What the hell is up with you? You drag me back here with the guys because you need to talk to me, and then ignore me, when you know I shouldn’t even be here in the first place-”

“Babe,” Calum cut off her irritated rambling, and she gawked a bit at the pet name, but before she could continue, he took a large stride forward, practically caging her in against the kitchen counter. “Why are you so upset?” He asked, feigning concern as he leaned in even closer to her. His lips brushed the shell of her ear as he spoke again, hands on either side of her on the counter, now actually keeping her their against him. “Why are you so tense, angel?”

(y/n) pushed herself further back into the counter, trying to put some space between their bodies as their eyes met again. There was a coy smirk on his lips, telling her he knew exactly what he was doing, messing with her like this.

“Was it all those tweets you were reading, babe?” He asked, and she liked her lips, suddenly they felt very dry. Calum chuckled as he caught the action. “I knew it”

“What do you think you’re doing?” She asked him breathlessly.

“Didn’t you want to have that talk now? That is why you wanted me to follow you in here isn’t it?” Calum asked, and the irritation in her eyes dissipated into something else he recognized all too well, just not so much on her.

Lust.

“Did all those thirst tweets from random girls make you a bit jealous baby?” He cooed, hands finding her hips and sliding just a bit under the hem of her shirt, just enough to run the rough pads of his fingers over her skin. He cocked an eyebrow at her, telling her he was impatient for her answer.

“Maybe,” She murmured out, unable to find her voice due to his distracting touch. “Just a little bit”

“Really?” Calum chuckled, letting one of his hands trail from her waist to cup just under her jaw, pulling her in closer. He was leaning over considerably by reason of their height difference. “I can tell when you lie (y/n), we’ve been friends for years” His ring clad fingers ran delicately down her throat.

When he leaned forward, her eyes fell shut, and a chill ran down her spine as his lips brushed over hers. It almost seemed unintentional, but (y/n) knew full well that Calum was in absolute control of what he was doing.

“We should get back to our friends before they come looking for us” Calum practically muttered into her mouth, stepping back a bit to leave the room.

Before he could, her small hands grasped the collar of his leather jacket, pulling him back in against her and connecting their lips in a desperate and passionate kiss. Like her life depended on it, she’d never thought twice about kissing him, she just knew that she needed to before he could leave.

Calum reacted immediately, kissing her back with fervor, his hands setting back on her hips so he could lift her up and set her on the counter. Her skirt rode up a bit, but she didn’t have a care about it. Their kiss broke for a moment as she readjusted to be comfortable, but he didn’t let her do much before tugging her right back into his chest, neck craning down to meet her lips again in a fiery kiss. She tasted of alcohol and her strawberry chapstick and he was addicted to it upon contact, each kiss more desperate than the last, until she was panting against him in silent plea for more.

“Cal,” She murmured his name out softly as he hiked her legs up his hips, so that he could run his hands under her bare thighs and hold her securely against him. He trailed a few kisses along her jaw, making her tilt her head back in bliss.

He pulled away, eyes flickering over her features and taking a moment to fully appreciate her in this state. Her eyes were shut, long lashes casting small shadows over her cheekbones. Lips swollen and pink because of him. She looked like a piece of art like this.

(y/n’s) eyes opened when she realized he wasn’t about to kiss her again, and a blush settled on her cheeks as she found him staring at her. She bit down on her bottom lip to keep from smiling too wide and looking like a dork.

“What?” She murmured after he’d just stared for long enough. Calum shook his head, smiling one of his infamously happy grins, his eyes crinkling and his teeth on display as he looked at her.

“I just love you so damn much, I don’t know why you’d ever be jealous of a stranger, angel” He murmured, a hand cupping her cheek. She wasn’t sure how he’d gone from irresistibly sexy to adorable and sweet in a matter of seconds, but it didn’t matter, because her heart was swelling beyond maximum capacity and the smile she’d tried to hold back broke free.

“You love me?” She asked, even though he’d said to her clear as day, she needed to know that her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her right now.

“Course I do sunshine, you’re my best girl, always have been” He said, shrugging his shoulder and cocking his head to the side. (y/n) smiled at him, her hands finally releasing their death grip on his collar to take his face in her small palms, gently guiding him down to kiss his lips softly. Gentle, and pure, and sweet.

She kept her forehead pressed against his, her hands still holding him close even as their lips parted.

“That’s how I should’ve kissed you the first time,” She whispered to him. “After a date, all nervous like”

Calum chuckled softly, his hands taking her own and his lips brushing the back of them both before cupping her face in his hands, and kissing her sweetly, as she did him.

“I love you too,” She murmured between small kisses. “I love you too” She repeated, their noses bumping a bit as their lips met again in a slightly more sloppy kiss.

“Hey where’s the- woah hey!”

Calum and (y/n) pulled apart upon hearing Michael’s surprised words from what he’d walked in on. The bassist swiftly pulled down her skirt from where it had ridden up pretty high on her thighs, and gave his friend an awkward nod of acknowledgement.

“Guys! They finally did it!” Michael hollered into the living room.

(y/n) sighed, giving Calum a bashful and apologetic look before she slid off the counter she’d been sitting on. Luke and Ashton came rushing in, one with his arms up in cheers, and the other staring wide eyed and gawking just at the close proximity of Calum and (y/n).

“It’s February, you guys owe me twenty, I guessed the closest!” Luke hollered at the other two.

“You bet on us?” (y/n) asked.

“Luke, you guessed January, it doesn’t count ‘cause it passed. Ash wins, he guessed May” Michael ignored (y/n’s) comment, while fumbling for his wallet to pay Ashton.

“But I was closest,” Luke argued. “Doesn’t matter if it happened past my guess, my guess was still closest-”

“Hold on, hold on,” Calum spoke up, taking the twenty dollar bill from Michael before Ashton, or Luke, could. “You guys are not paying each other over (y/n) and I getting together”

“We’re together?” (y/n) asked softly from next to him.

“Course we are baby,” Calum winked over at her. “If you’ll have me, but give me a moment,” He turned back to his friends, holding up the money. “(y/n/n’s) got classes in the morning, so we are taking this, I’m taking her home, and we’re using your money to get her breakfast for the morning”

“Fine,” Luke muttered. “Congratulations by the way, I knew you two would crack”

“Crack?” Calum muttered, but shook his head, deciding he didn’t want much more of an explanation. “Okay, we’re gonna head out, ready?” He asked (y/n), who nodded and took his offered hand so he’d lead her out of the house.

“Don’t forget to carry the bride over the threshold!” Luke hollered before they could be out of earshot.

Calum turned to (y/n), squeezing her hand and kissing her temple.

“When’s your last class tomorrow?” He asked, and she thought for a moment.

“I should be finished up by two,” She answered. “Why, you free?”

He giggled, actually giggled at her response, and nodded his head.

“I say we go on that date you were talking about earlier,” He suggested, opening the passenger door of the car for her. She hummed and got in, Cal quickly closing the door and getting in on the driver’s side. “Well? Am I taking you out tomorrow?” He asked, and she grinned, nodding and leaning over the center console to meet his lips in a kiss.

“You sure as hell are” She agreed, and Calum grinned before kissing her again.

They should have done this long ago.

xoxo ~ jordie

#5sos #5sos x reader #5sos fanfiction #5sos imagine #5sos scenario #calum hood #calum hood x reader #calum hood fanfiction #calum hood scenario #calum hood imagine

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themikewheelers · 4 years

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Do you expect some kisses of Mileven in s4? Tbh people who say that mileven was only kissing and being annoying in s3 are literally blind like they’ve 3 scenes kissing and 2 of them are from the first episode, and I expected waaay more when the cast was talking about it they clearly exaggerated lol I think the first two episodes they will be separated and then they will reunite i just hope we don’t have the same painful route of reuniting them in the last episode because i struggle a lot in s2

I mean one things for sure, and thats that the writers know how invested fans are in the ships, and they knpw they cant go a whole season without giving content or the fans will go crazy. So yeah, idk how much Mileven content will get in s4, and how much of it will even have them physically together, but we’ll certainly get smth. And with kissing, it rlly comes down to if theres a natural way to put it in I guess lol. Like if we get some sweet fluffy scene at some point in the beginning where Mikes visiting the Byers new town, Im sure therell be a kiss somewhere in there. But if the first time theyre physically together all season is during some intense point in the plot where kissing would realistically be the farthest things from their minds, theres not gonna be a kiss just for the sake of having them kiss. I wouldnt worry too much about it tho. Idk if theyll kiss, and if so how many times or whatever, but I also dont rlly think it matters. Im sure we’re gonna get Mileven content anyway. the question of kissing rlly just comes down to if it makes sense for them to kiss or not within the content we get

#Anonymous

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lostandbrokenshell · 5 years

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Say yes part two

John seed x OC Elle white.

Fast forward a few years.

The sun was high, it was hot out there was no breeze to help cool her down. She didn’t know why but she wanted to keep watch in the horizon something was going to happen. Just when she thought she couldn’t take the heat anymore a breeze ripped through feild. It felt so refreshing.

“Its not safe where you are.” Elle turned around John was standing there, but it wasn’t the John Duncan she knew. He was different, dressed different and there was something else different about him? Thats right, its John Seed now. She could see Falls End behind him the sound of the church bell rang throught the air. “Dont get caught out here.” John said befor he disappeared.

Confused Elle reached out for him but something behind her made her turn around. The bomb hit the ground, the explosion was instantaneously the impact wave reached out fast as the mushroom cloud reached up into the sky. Screaming Elle tried to sheild herself as the heat wave raced towards her.

Elle sat up panicked, breathing heavily. Its just a dream. She reminded herself shakily. She got out of the backseat of her car the cool night air was refreshing against her damp skin. Leaning against the car she looks up at the sky, the sun was starting to come up. Sighing deeply after a few minutes she got into the drivers seat. Might as well keep driving, a few hours out of Falls End. She thought as she started the car up and started driving. To the town she had never been to, that haunted her dreams.

She wasn’t far past the tunnel when her car broke down she had her backpack on and almost ready to walk away when a white truck pulled up. There was a big cross on the hood of the truck and the sides, their clothes also had the same cross. They must be from the church. She thought

“You having car trouble?” One of the men asked as they all got out.

Elle laughed and nodded “Go figure eh? Its been a long trip out im not surprised. You gentlemen wouldn’t know where i could find John Seed? Im an old friend.” Elle asked with a nice smile. But she could tell something was off, as soon as she said Johns name their face hardened.

“Whats your business with John?” They asked their whole demeanour turned hostile.

“Im an old friend.” Elle replied firmly and flatly, they seemed not to like that answer but where unsure how to react to her yet.

Slowly one of the men went back to the truck and grabbed a radio and started talking quietly on it. The others just stared her down waiting. “Whats you name?” Radio guy hollered out.

“Elle White.”

There wasnt much of a pause after he repeated her name “Get in, we’re taking you to the Seed Ranch.” Radio guy yelled out. All the other guys waited for her to start walking before they did, following her close. She got in the passenger seat and the rest of them crammed in the back.

The ride there was quiet other than the radio which was blasting a song that seemed the lyrics where something like ‘Oh John’. But Elle wasn’t paying much attention to the music she was nervous about the men who very much out numbered her. As the house came into view Elle realized the road next the the plane runway that they turned down, was actually a long driveway. He did like his planes she thought remembering the few times he took her out. John was waiting outside with another man she didn’t recognize, John was wearing the same clothes as her dream. Where as the other man was shirtless and had his hair up in a bun. The men who drove you didn’t stay after they dropped you off, they left right away after a nod to John and the other man.

“Its been so long Elle, its so nice to see you.” John said warmly as he came over to hug her. His voice was just as silky as the last time she heard it.

“I missed you John.” Elle replied while hugging him back.

“This is Joseph, i never had the chance to introduce you before i left.” Elle looked over to him his face was friendly, but he was looking right into her eyes. She almost felt like he was staring through her, into her soul.

“Ive seen you before, In one of my visions, your just beautiful in person. Your with us in the collapse, you help us prepare, you help us shepherd into the new era.” He said softly while taking a step towards Elle, but coming no closer.

A vision of the bomb dropping flashed through her mind. “I haven’t seen you in mine.” She looked over to John she could almost feel the heat of the blast against her skin. “But i seen John.” If John was surprised at that he hid it well. “He told me I wasn’t safe where i was and not to get caught outside”

Joseph started walking towards her and cupped her face in his hands. “The lord brought you here, because this is your place, you will help us ive seen it.” His smile was so reassuring. “You and yours, will be welcome to walk through Edens Gate with us.”

“The government is trying to gather information on you all. They came to to visit me, trying to get information on John, from when he was in the law firm. They thought i might hold grudges against him for my brothers ruined career and life.” Elle blurted out.

“The career you helped to ruin?” John asked while raising his eyebrow.

“I dont think they realized i told you not to play favours with him. Or that i gave April the evidence that lead to his criminal charges. Because since you left shortly after his divorce was settled and it came out that he was stealing from clients. They thought it ended badly between us from the firms decision not to help Mike with one of their lawyers. And that since i was a ‘Scorned woman’ in their eyes i must be out for blood.” Elle snorted and rolled her eyes. “You know because emotional women cant think clearly and all i guess.”

“When will the little ones join us.” Joseph asked with a warm smile. Its like it didn’t even phase him Elle mentioned the government was after them. John, he took a small step back and studied Elle completely surprised by Josephs comment on little ones.

Elle was surprised herself. “How did you know about my children?” She asked cautiously.

“I seen them in my visions, with you. You must have lots to talk about, and i will have more times to talk with you later. You should talk with John now.” He smiled warmly at her before he walked away down the driveway.

“Come in.” John motioned towards the house.

“Thank you.” Elle said with a small smile, John took her into the dining room and started to make some coffee. Which seemed to take hours to make even though it was only minutes.

“What are their names?” He asked as he passed her a cup.

Elle paused and sipped on her coffee before she sighed deeply and looked in his eyes. “I was going to tell you.” She said softly. “But by the time I realized it, you where leaving with your brother to reclaim your family name. I didn’t want it...” She paused looking for the right words. “I was scared, i knew you had your path. And I didn’t think mine was with you at that moment, I didn’t want it to derail anything for you. I didn’t want it to seem like i was trapping you after you had found your family again.” She blurted out she could feel the heat in her face. “They’re twins, Mira and Johnathan, or Mimi and Joe as they say it.”

She gave him a small smile John was listening to her, his face made of stone taking in her words but showing no emotion. It made Elles stomach knott in the suspended moment of waiting for the other shoe to drop. “When will they get here?” He asked, his face still blank with emotion.

“Mikes ex wife, April shes looking after them right now. When i give her the call shes going to bring them, shes a couple towns over with them. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go with me showing up, or what i was walkimg into.” Elle replied softly while taking another drink of her coffee, hoping it would magically wash her nerves away.

John put his coffee down and walked towards her, each step she could feel her stomach drop a little more and more. Like each step echoed though her body vibrating her every nerve. Her chest felt like there was a hundred pounds sitting on it, each breath was a battle. One of his arms wrapped around her waist as the other grabed her hair behind her head. Kissing her hard, tightly holding her close against him. She kissed him back more aggressively, hungry for more.

After a few moments Elles pocket vibrated against them, breaking the embrace pulling away Elle looked at her phone. “Its April.”

John kissed her forhead. “Bring them here, this is their home. Your place is in Edens Gate with me, i will give you everything, give them everything.” His grip on her was firm. “Say, it.” He whispered as he leaned in she could feel his breath on her ear. “Say yes, Elle.” It was almost a demanding tone, but it still sent shivers down her spine.

Elle swallowed hard, she didn’t know what to expect when she left to look for him for answers, certainly wasn’t expecting this. She mostly wanted answers to her dreams, now shes left with more questions. Questions and one big desire, and longing. His grip tightened more as he waited impatiently for her response. “Yes.” She mumbled his grip on her relaxed, along with the rest of his body as it embraced her more gently.

“Thats my girl.” He murmured as he gently kissed her neck.

Elle could feel her whole body tingle as she leaned into him, enjoing his current gentle state. She took a moment soaking it in before she pulled away to call April back to bring the kids.

John begrudgingly had emergency business to attend to before April arrived, his mood was foul when he left with the men. Who seemed very aware they wanted to do this quickly as possible.

The kids played out in the yard while April and Elle sat off to the side watching them. “You sure its safe here?” April asked looking over at Elle. “I looked this place up, its cultish.”

Elle laughed a little. “Oh believe me April, i looked it up to.” She flashed her a smile. “But everything just makes sense to me. I dream about a town that up until today i never seen get dusted by a bomb. In said town happens to have a... Alright cult is the right word for it, who are preparing for a doomsday.” Aprils face changed to a ‘really’ look. “Yes, almost every cult is doomsday like” Elle scowled every word dripping with sarcasm. “But this cult just so happens to be lead with my ex, father of my children who apears in the KA BOOM dream. Looking exactly like saw him in today, and he looks completely different from the last time i saw him.” Elle even added in hand gestures for the ka boom.

“Yeah, if i wasn’t there for your first dream, I dont even know if I would of believed you. Being woken up to you screaming, god you where so scared. Helping you look up this town, that I didn’t even thought existed because ‘It was just another nightmare’ kind of thing.” She stopped and looked over at Elle. “Its been a wild ride.”

“It has been, im glad i got you in the divorce.”

“Amen to that, gained a sister in marriage even though the marriage failed the sisterhood thrived.” April agreed. “Saw your car broke down by the tunnel, i told you to wait for the mechanic and leave today.”

“Im sorry, i though we where talking about sisterhood, this sounds like a mom ‘I told you so’ thing.” Elle snorted while rolling her eyes. “Besides I wanted to get here as soon as possible.”

“Im thankful you did.” Johns voice came from behind them, both women turned around. He was walking towards them but watching the kids.

“Well, now is a good time to go site seeing before everything gets dusted.” April said as she stood up smiling and nodding to John as she passed.

He nodded towards her but his gaze was fixed on Mira and Johnathan, who where oblivious to anything going on in their direction. “Want me to call them over?” Elle asked.

John shook his head and sat down next to Elle. “Let them play.” He looked over to her. “You all will have a baptism tomorrow, the church will have a big lunch for everyone to meet you.” He gently put his hand on her face and brought his eyes to her. “I enjoyed our time together more than i have with anyone else, as short as it was. When Joseph found me, and invited me to join him, i considered offering you money to come. To include you in Edens gate, to help us build it up from the ground, i certainly could of used your talents from time.” He paused watching her face. “Offering you money, you would of laughed at me, you never desired that.”

“I would of gone with you, just to go with you. Not for the money. I like your stubbornness, and cunning fierceness and most of all the great sex.” Elle replied giving him a smile. “If i had gone with you, I probably wouldn’t of been as scared to tell you about the twins. But the could of, should of scenarios can go in so many ways. And it makes no difference because we are in the here and now with what did happen. But, a full circle was made, I know this is where we need to be.”

Whoo, end of part two! I have definitely decided on more Elle stories to come!

#far cry 5 fanfiction #farcry 5 fanfic #john seed x oc #farcry 5 #Elle white

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oscar-isaacs-number-one-bitch · 5 years

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“The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” Movie Review

Back on Oscar nomination day in 2014, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 5 nominees for the Best Animated Feature of the year, and while that list included some crowd favorites like Big Hero 6 and more mature blockbusters like How to Train Your Dragon 2, the largest story that day wasn’t about any of the nominations, but one film that was left out of them. Most pundits and basically any critic who had seen the brilliantly creative, immensely funny, and more-emotionally-affecting-than-it-had-any-right-to-be Lego Movie had it pegged as not only a surefire nominee, but surefire winner of that award, and our jaws were left hanging on the floor at the lack of its mention during the announcement.

Despite that though, The Lego Movie went on to be an animated hit in the homes of people all across the world, two mildly-to-wildly successful spinoffs were launched to critical praise, and the studio immediately began plans for a sequel, with directors Phil Lord & Chris Miller not returning to the project as they were already booked to direct the Solo movie for Lucasfilm (which they were fired from, and then they moved on to Into the Spider-Verse and we all saw how that shook out). Thus, we have The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, which finds Emmet and the rest of the Lego people 5 years removed from the ending of that first film. Bricksburg has been ravaged and destroyed by the toys of DuPlon, and our heroes now live in Apocalypseburg. But when some of the residents are captured by a mysterious new character from the Sistar system, Emmet must embark on a daring new mission to rescue his friends and prove that he truly is The Special.

I’ve made it no small secret that I love The Lego Movie and thoroughly enjoyed Lego Batman. Lego Ninjago was…fine for me, but I mostly chalked that up to it being very much tied into the popular children’s Ninjago series, which I hadn’t watched. With the direct sequel to the film that birthed them all being not only released but also set 5 years after the original, I was curious to see if the team at Warner Bros. would be able to pull off the same magnificent feat they did in 2014, especially without the direction of Lord & Miller. And, for the most part, they almost do. Much like How to Train Your Dragon 3, I thought Lego Movie 2 was pretty good – just not as good as those initial outings. While there are certainly moments of levity and plenty of jokes from a script by Lord & Miller, something did feel missing in its direction and pacing.

For a start, there are too many musical numbers in this movie. That may seem like a strange thing to say about a Lego movie, especially as a critique to start with over something more significant, but that’s exactly my point. It doesn’t make much sense until one realizes that the studio fell so in love with what worked in the original that they just decided to do that again – but a lot more. Sure, the original film this one is following had an iconic original theme song, and even Lego Batman dabbled a bit in the introduction, but Lego movies are not musicals. Even Tiffany Haddish (who can’t sing very well, as we find out) gets no less than two numbers essentially all to herself, and basically all of them take place in the second act. This not only overcrowds the movie as a whole, but the second act is simply too repetitive. On a story level, that means there’s less time devoted to moving it along rather than just using the same jokes for a little while longer than necessary. They’re not bad jokes, and some of them are actually quite funny, but that zippiness that was so profound in the original film is missing here, giving way to a slightly more elementary-style humor, which follows, considering the director they found to replace Lord & Miller is Mike Mitchell, director of Trolls.

Not only is the second act overly repetitive and reliant on the same jokes, the newer characters added to the franchise aren’t exactly super memorable. None of them leave the lasting impact that a character like a Lego Batman did on the first movie, and there are basically zero interesting cameos throughout (save for one that actually does turn into a pretty hilarious real-world reference joke during the third act). General Mayhem seems to be the stand-in for the Batman character this time around, but apart from capturing the main heroes and transporting them to the Sistar system, there’s really not much else to her until the final couple of minutes and she doesn’t help craft other characters’ development like Batman did for Lucy. In addition to this, the villain this time around (whose name I’m not even going to attempt to type since I’m writing this at almost 2:00 in the morning) might be a more intimidating presence than Lord Business, but she’s not exactly as or more compelling.

One of the things that made Lord Business compelling was his tie-in to the real world that informed the surprise reveal at the end of the original Lego Movie, but while the added-on real-world element to this entry in the series presents a beautiful intent with its message, the actual Lego sections don’t handle telling that message quite as clearly as the first one did its central themes, which makes understanding the villain character in The Second Part more difficult than it honestly should be. Most of the supporting cast that are introduced in this movie aren’t very memorable, which doesn’t bode well for a franchise plan. Even though the Rex Dangervest storyline does go to some pretty ambitious places, he remains sort of a watered-down version of what he’s probably meant to be, and a lot of that is wrapped up in his very convoluted storyline.

Even the animation seems to have taken a bit of a hit; in the original movie, it was made fairly obvious that everything was made of legos, and that was a super cool and innovative way to create an animated movie, but when this sequel gets busy in the Sistar system or with characters not from the Lego world, it becomes difficult to get very invested in the animation, as it no longer carries that particularly unique look. If we’re going to continue to get Lego movies in this vein for a while, spending more time outside of the Lego world than in it is a bad idea. Legos are fun! Spending time in the Lego world should take up the majority of a movie in this franchise, not a minority.

There is a fair amount to like about this movie though; pretty much all the original characters carry the same weight and charm they have since 5 years ago, and the story and themes this movie presents in conjunction with the last one are actually very sweet. Some of the music is actually quite catchy as well, and The Lonely Island come back again with a stellar closing credits sequence. While the direction could have used quite a bit of work, the script by Lord & Miller does what it can to keep the franchise fresh and new, and if nothing else, most of the jokes are funny on first arrival.

It may sound like I’m knocking on this movie too much, but much like How to Train Your Dragon 3 (the superior film between these two, if you’re wondering), I did enjoy it – I just find it to be a bit disappointing as a sequel. That’s the tough part about being a film critic; if you’re reviewing a sequel, talking about the stuff that worked again isn’t nearly interesting as what doesn’t work as well this time around or what works better because that sticks out more, which can make it sound like that’s all you think of the film. With Lego Movie 2, that means telling you that while what worked last time mostly works again this time, there are a few spots that don’t work as well, and that’s okay, if a little bit of a bummer.

“I’m giving The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” a 7.6/10

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dandizettes · 6 years

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lets go lesbians im watching the lizzie boot

- bridget is not even bothering with the accent and i think that is VALID

- the band appears to be having. a bit of trouble. following the singers

- i really like the gal playing liz so far! her voice is pretty

- ok. well i dont really think she uh. y’know BROUGHT IT for this is not love? like. the intensity just uhhhh wasn’t there. hm. her voice is lovely but just feel like she didn't hit that peak u know

- I LOVE THE ARRANGEMENT OF GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE WOW - ok liz is lookin better here! certainly more intensity

- GUYS they really FIXED gotta get out of here oh my god it sounds so much better w/o the heavy metal distortion

- but then. on the other hand. without the heavy metal distortion u really gotta RAMP IT UP vocally 2 get that same feeling and uhhhhhh i dont really feel like its there, tbh

- im not sure if its the singers or the band but SOMEONE is messing up the timing a little

- blocking is a little weird? liz keeps pacing for like no reason

- ALICE PLANT YOUR FEET PLANT YOUR FEET YOURE SHIFTING YOUR WEIGHT ALICE ITS VERY DISTRACTING

- awww no one is doing the “hhhhhh-ahhhhh” back up vocals in this version

- aw alice keeps trying to comfort her and she keeps pushing her away :(

- liz is doin a good job being super panicky though!! alice just wants to help. oh man she's trying so hard

- i think it was a little down tempo or the drums weren't loud enough or the actors weren’t keeping the intensity but something was a lil. off about the whole number

- i like alice’s costume and hate everyone else’s lmao

- i think alice’s mic is off? or no one is miked? idk but she's real quiet

- piano player is making some weird choices

- alice hon COMMIT to the head voice

- oh god here we go its soul of the white bird

- lizzies doing a good job so far

- weirddddd blocking decisions. real weird blocking decisions

- liz is weirdly far downstage? while she does the “never let the boys come” part and its. detracting from the whole experience. like she's not the focal point which makes no sense because this is an important part

- oh actually i think liz did a good job with That Part of the song. u know, with That Part being what it is

- emma is still center and lizzie is up left and its still real weird

- the band is really not bringin it

- liz has good intensity here but. theres no BUILD to the intensity so it feels jarring

- OH SHIT SHE WAS GONNA JUMP. THATS THE “lizzie don’t!” in the recording. she was going to jump off the roof

-emma babe fuckin YELL fuckin SCREAM get MAD

- literally what the fuck is the bassist doing

- emmas getting there. a little more mad now

- never mind its gone now that she's singing

- i think they're choir ppl. not theatre ppl. thats the problem

- band is doing weird tempo things again. i think it should be swung or something? idk much about music but i know this sounds off despite not REALLY being off, tempo-wise, u know

- OOOOOOH THEYRE DOING THE DRY ICE THING

- is. is bridget wearing nikes with her dress

- this whole thing seems. under-rehearsed

- not enough PAUSES everything is too FAST

- alice is doing GOOD with will you stay

- YES BABE HIT THOSE RUNS

- the piano player is BAD

- liz initiates the kiss the second time!! i think thats important

- mmmmm why are all these heads off. not nearly enough chaotic energy

- oooooh man some VOICE CRACKS. but they powered through it!! good for them

- piano man WHY

- mercury rising was underwhelming bc of bad blocking and piano man playing WAY too fast, but they HIT those harmonies

- OH SHIT THOSE ARE WEIRD CELLO NOISES AT THE BEGINNING OF SOMEBODY WILL DO SOMETHING!!!! I DIDNT KNOW THAT

- cellist killing it with those weird screeching rat sounds HELL yeah

- OH FUCK YEAH BRIDGET STEPPED IT THE HELL UP

- SOME!BODY! WILL D I E E E E !!!!!!!

- oh my god it is SO UNDER TEMPO

- ok. we need the distortion for this one folks. it sounds like Lizzie Does Indie Folk without it

- well at least the drums are finally kicking in

- BRIDGET FUCK IT UP HELL YEAH

- oh these poor girls the band is playing SO SLOW

#im splitting this into acts bc i have. many things to say #lizzie

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minglermail · 6 years

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i thought of another two: mike & toon!bill, houndless & everett

wasn’t sure which mike you meant so im just gonna go with junior cause thats what most ppl mean when they just say mike SGIODJFKLSDMF

Mike Jr. and Toon!Bill

I like you / You amuse me / I’d laugh with you / I wish I knew you better / I trust you / You inspire me / I consider you an equal / I would trust you with my life / I think you’re smart / I think you’re a good person / I’m not sure what kind of person you are / I’m not sure how to make you happy / I’d hug you / I’d let you hug me / I’m scared of losing you / I respect you / You’re my mentor / You’re my friend / I’d comfort you / I’d prank you / I would choose your happiness over mine / I’d call for you in a time of need / I would protect you / I’d visit you in hospital / I’d carry you if you were hurt (He’d Certainly Try…) / I’d feel guilty if I hurt you / I’d let you be near me when I am vulnerable / I would ask your advice

i think mike jr. would like and respect bill as one of his dads friends!! and would appreciate that bill is friends with his dad because his dad As We Know Hasn’t Been Doin’ Too Great (and like impulsively cut off all his friends once marcy went missing) so it’d be nice to see that his dad has friends again! plus he’d think bill is pretty cool and chill and wise and would probably enjoy spending time with him

Houndless and Everett

I like you / I love you / I would take a bullet for you / You amuse me / I’d laugh with you / You confuse me / I wish I knew you better / I trust you / I consider you an equal / You’re better than me / I would trust you with my life / I think you’re smart / I think you’re a good person / I’m not sure what kind of person you are / I want to make you proud / I want to impress you / I’m not sure how to make you happy / I would trust you with my most treasured belonging / I’d hug you / I’d let you hug me / I’m scared of losing you / I want to be better for you / I respect you / You’re my friend / You’re my best friend / I’d party with you / I’d comfort you / I’d prank you / I would choose your happiness over mine / I don’t know what I’d do without you / I’m scared of you leaving me / I’d give my life for you / I’d call for you in a time of need / I would protect you / I’d visit you in hospital / I’d carry you if you were hurt (He’d TRY at least) / I’d feel guilty if I hurt you / I’d let you be near me when I am vulnerable / I’d call you at 3am / I’d break you out of jail / I would ask your advice / I would blame you for something I did / I would cry in your arms

houndless LOVES everett as we know and thinks hes super epic and also gets worried about him often HSDLKMFSDFLMSDF

#pom barks #asks #long post #text heavy //#lawbotchiefjustice

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runningwitches · 6 years

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Loved

Summary: The reader is sad because they feel useless. Steve makes sure they know that’s not true and the party cheers them the heck up.

Request?: Nah M8 I’m just sad as heck

Word Count: 1819

A/N: i mean, seasonal depression and a neverending fear that nobody will ever love me and that I will die alone drove me to binge read a shit ton of steve harrington x reader fics and cry despite the fact that i havent finished season two of stranger things but im gonna write this anyways.

i guess this is steve x reader but thats not the main point of the story

idfk i just want to be loved

(umm, henderson! reader who is loved by everyone, i do not give a shit if this follows the exact storyline, ok? i just wanna be happy again) (also i do not look anything like a henderson! so reader can be adopted or some shit? maybe a cousin? who tf knoes? not me, thats for sure !!

Warnings: Probably Season Two Spoilers, No Editing, Probably super OOC and all that because I started this at almost three in the morning and now its four and I’m exhausted but I cant sleep because I’m sad. Anyways I’m just trying to say that it’s bad but I’ll love you if you read it anyways.

I was curled up in my bed, isolating myself from everyone as per usual. After the events with the mind flayer and demodogs and upside down, I realized something pretty depressing. Nobody needed me. I mean like? Sure I was Dustin’s sister. And sure, I was kinda helpful in saving Steve’s ass from the demodogs and Billy, but it just feels as if I weren’t there, nobody would even notice. As if my presence had no positive value to anyone in The Party™.

So instead of socializing with them while they all played DnD and joked around, I sat myself in my room, wrapped in a blanket burrito, holding back tears. I had my music on in the background as I mindlessly flipped through one of the magazines my mom had bought for me. Everyone was downstairs as it was Dustin’s turn to host the DnD night, and everyone was over. I mean, Dustin, Mike, Lucas, Will, El, Max, Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan, and I definitely wouldn’t be surprised if I walked downstairs to find Joyce and Hopper there too. Every once in awhile I would hear some loud laughter come up from the group, signifying how happy they were without me there. It definitely wasn’t easy for me to sit there by myself staring blankly at the pictures of celebrities I didn’t even care about, but I continued to tell myself that they would be happier without me, attempting to drown out the sounds of their joy with the mixtape I had made for myself a little while back.

As I closed my eyes, focusing on my breathing, trying to force the tears that had started to pool back into my eyes, I heard someone knocking on my door. I quickly wiped my eyes to ensure there weren’t any stray tears, pulled the blanket tighter around my body, and attempted to look miserable. But miserable in a sick way and not in a sad way. If it were anybody except Dustin or Steve, I knew I was going to be able to pull off the “I’m not feeling very well” charade, so my chances were pretty good (though odds were rarely skewed in my favor).

Of course with my luck my little brother came bursting through the door.

“(Y/N)! Why aren’t you down there playing DnD with us?!” he asked, voice booming loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear. As I prepared to try my excuse with him to see if my acting skills had gotten any better, I noticed someone else walking through the door. Looking up, my watery eyes met the concerned look on Steve’s face.

“Hey shithead, stop screaming. You don’t need to tell everyone in Hawkins about your sister’s lack of participation in game night,” he said to Dustin, ruffling his hair and then muttering for him to go back downstairs. Dustin looked angrily at Steve for a moment before looking between us for a second, muttered something to himself, and then left the room, surprisingly closing my door as he left.

“What’s up with you lately? It’s not like you to miss game night, but you haven’t been to a single one these past few weeks.”

“I’m just not feeling well, Steve, don’t worry about it,” I told him, looking down at the magazine in my lap and trying to will the tears away.

“Don’t try that bullshit with me, (Y/N). I know you better than that, do you really think I’d believe that crap?”

“There’s no bullshit to be had Steve, just go back downstairs, I’ll be fine,” I told him, yet I still refused to make eye contact. So when he sat down on the edge of my bed, put two fingers under my chin, and lifted my head up in order for me to make eye contact, I saw his face immediately soften.

“I’m not gonna go back downstairs until I figure out what’s wrong with my favorite girl.”

It took all of the resolve in the world for me to not break down at those two words, and it still didn’t even work. “Favorite girl?” I repeated, but only in my own head. “There’s no way I’m his favorite girl, he’s lying to me. Everyone always lies to me” I told myself. And in that second it was like the dam was broken. The tears started to fall freely from my face. I curled myself into more of a ball than I already was, which was a surprising feat of human flexibility, if I’m being completely honest. Steve’s arms immediately went around me, pulling us closer to each other, and practically pulling me into his lap.

I didn’t say a word as he stroked my hair and shushed me softly, I simply let out a series of what I would consider disgusting sobs.

He continued whispering to me, little things telling me that I’d be okay, or that he was there for me, or that everything was gonna be fine. As my breathing finally evened out, he hadn’t asked me what was wrong like I had expected, so I knew I had to speak up.

“Why are you even here, Harrington?” I asked him bitterly.

“What do you mean?” he replied, exasperated.

“Why do you even care about me?” I reiterated with a sniffle.

“Why do I care about you? (Y/N) what are you on about? It would take me ages to list all of that back to you.” I didn’t respond, but I allowed myself to relax a bit, leaning now onto his chest instead of holding myself as far away as I could while somehow still being in his lap. “(Y/N) you’re wonderful. You care so much about all of the kids, sometimes I think you out-mom even their own mom’s.” That was greeted with a sharp exhale from my nose which was (correctly) interpreted as a laugh. “You’re fucking badass. You can use a gun, a bat, a hockey stick, and pretty much anything else you can get your hands on to slay monsters, like real life monsters.” He checked my face after this comment, and was lucky he did, because he almost missed the slight curl of my lips. “You never let anybody get in the way of doing what needs to be done. Not even racist douchebags that show up and kick my ass. And you certainly don’t take shit from anyone.” A few more tears fell from my eyes, but he grabbed my face and used his thumbs to wipe them away, looking into my eyes. “And you’ve got a whole group of teenagers sitting down there worried sick about you because you mean so much to all of them.”

I sniffled again and threw my arms around his neck, whispering an almost inaudible, “Thank you.”

“Of course, sweetheart. Now let’s go get you cleaned up so we can finish that game of DnD.” I almost blushed at the pet name he gave me, if he didn’t sweep me up into his arms and carry me to the bathroom so I could rinse my face off. He made sure to grab my blanket from my bed and grabbed my hand to lead me down the stairs.

“Wow, it’s so nice of you to join us,” Dustin said the second we were down the stairs, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Steve shot him a look that said, “shut up or I’ll kill you,” while I just gave him a small smile. Before I even got settled on the couch I was smothered by two bear hugs.

“I missed you (Y/N),” El told me, gripping me in probably the tightest hug I’ve ever had. “You were gone for three weeks!”

“Yeah dude! Don’t leave us alone with these losers for that long ever again!” Max exclaimed, hugging me almost as tight as El was.

I smiled down at both of them, hugging them back just as fiercely. Looking up, I saw the smile Steve had on, but I ignored it in favor of the smiles on my girls’ faces. Ruffling their hair, I removed myself from their grips and went to sit on the couch between Steve and Nancy.

“It’s a good thing you came back (Y/N). I almost killed your brother, and not in the campaign, in real life. I’m pretty sure you’d be the only one who could stop me.” I chuckled to myself and then smiled at Lucas.

“It’s a good thing that I’m back then, huh?”

Will looked up at me this time, “Definitely! I was waiting for you to come down so I could show you this drawing!” I smiled down at him, glancing briefly at Jonathan, only enough to recognize the immense pride on his face at the fact that Will was genuinely happy and smiley. He brought it up to show me a picture that he had drawn of me fighting a monster, a cute little label that pertained to my name at the top. “Steve said you fought a monster and won! And I didn’t even get to see it. So I thought I’d draw it out for you.”

“I love it Will!” I exclaimed, pulling him into a hug and looking at the drawing again. It wasn’t until this second look that I noticed a label by the monster’s head as well. It simply read, “Billy” with a little arrow to indicate that the monster I was beating up was named Billy. I laughed at the naming of the monster and pulled Will into another hug, pressing a light kiss to the top of his head. He grabbed the drawing and placed himself back into his spot.

“(Y/N), you want to hop in on this campaign? We’ve still got a while left to go and we’re in a pretty good spot to add another character?” Mike offered, as he was playing Dungeon Master.

“Yeah, come on (Y/N)! You haven’t actually played in forever!” Dustin added.

The rest of the group added their own chorus of “Yeah”s to try and convince you to join.

“Okay, I guess. But only if I get to be a healer! I’m tired of killing the monsters,” I joked, earning a laugh from everyone in the room.

“Okay, okay, so the group walks up to the tavern in town, hoping for a nice evening away from the fighting for once. But the open the door and see, A MOM, not just A mom, it’s their mom!”

“What?” El asked.

“Mike what are you on about?” Lucas added.

“OH MY GOD, (Y/N)’S GONNA BE LIKE OUR TEAM’S MOM!” Max shouted in realization. The whole group looked at Mike in anticipation. “Well obviously, how else would I have gone about this? It’s perfect, and the perfect position to make her the healer.”

“I mean, technically she’s my sister,” Dustin announced, implying that you couldn’t be his mom.

“See (Y/N), I told you I was gonna kill him.”

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ariyadaivaris · 5 years

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Feel free to not answer this but did something happen with Jack Sexsmith to make you not like him as much?

hm. i...dont like to think about it but i probably should say something haha

uh the short version is he’s still been supporting mike bird, like a weirdly large amount of other people in britwres (notably ospreay because of fucking course he would, and riptide was also booking him after all this came out), after pollyanna came out and said he’d r*ped her. notably pollyanna was a pretty big name in progress and like, she was FRIENDS with ospreay and then she said that she’d been assaulted by someone who a lot of people considered a mentor and everyone turned on her lmao. ospreay was particularly nasty about it, its why i remember it a lot, every time i see him its time to recall some of his MANY fuckups and this one always stings most

uh. this is also about jack. jack was also a friend of pollyanna’s and i dont know how he responded to the situation at the time, but he’s still supporting bird. after bird got booked for a wwe uk thing lmao. me when assault accusations Ruin Mens Lives or whatever

but. yeah. i dont know all the details to what pollyanna said and her twitter is private now and she has a statement in her bio not to talk about wrestling with her, she quit the business, she wants nothing to do with it. which. considering the response she got when she came forward with this, i dont think i would either. its not just a problem with sexsmith, its like. mike bird is apparently a role model for a LOT of people in britwres. he’s a mentor, he’s a Legend, everyone looks up to him, and apparently thats enough to dismiss how a man with that much influence might have used it to take advantage of your coworker and your friend.

sexsmith isn’t the only one but like. i’m...real fuckin hurt finding out about it, yknow. i still like the character a lot, jack sexsmith the character and sexy starr is like, you know! youve seen me! mean the fuckin world to me. but. uh. jack the performer certainly let me down and so did a lot of britwres but this one’s. ah. its...troubling as im sure you can guess

#rape -#assault -#abuse -#not about him but about. apologetics of

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airoasis · 5 years

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Do This To Get The Most Out Of Your Law Firm's Leads

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/do-this-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-law-firms-leads/

Do This To Get The Most Out Of Your Law Firm's Leads

Can my legislation company use an automated attendant for the period of working hours and is coping with an auto-attendant worse than getting a real individual after which being placed on hold? K, each of these will not be good situations. The auto-attendant eliminate the auto-attendant. That will have to no longer occur, and we proved that with a patron about a year in the past, we literally transformed nothing about his company, rather than the truth that he began having a real man or woman reply his calls and his consumption literally doubled over 60 days. So, that mostly solutions that. And, simply believe about, put yourself in the shoes of the patron. When you name your bank and also you get that thank you for calling Chase, please enter your bank card quantity, now, press one for this and press two for that and press three for this How mostly do your find your self just pounding the zero button unless you get someone on the mobilephone. Its like, just for the reason that its your corporation and its no longer a financial institution doesnt make you particular. Persons dont want to deal with that, they wanna speak to an actual person.And, certainly if it is a regulation company where it is like an emergency provider, a individual damage, or DUI, or criminal offense or anything like that after which its like, believe about, in case your toilet is overflowing and you name a plumber and the plumber says Thanks for calling, please please hold and hearken to our automatic message, for this press one, for this press two for this press three youre gonna get pissed off and youre ordinarily gonna hang up and then youre gonna call the next plumber simply in view that your toilet is overflowing, you need anything now. You dont have the endurance to seat down and navigate the complete menu, and half the time these menus arent even established effectively. Thats the opposite thing that drives me crazy about quite a lot of these stuffs. To begin with, eliminate the auto-attendant, you should certainly not have an auto-attendant. So, thats the answer to that, 2nd factor is, the 2d question is Is an auto attendant better than talking to someone and hanging them on maintain? It depends the way you do it.So, a number of times, I speak to legal professionals, and theyre in these workplaces the place they’ve an executive suite and one receptionist for the complete flooring and all they do is reply the telephone. They are saying law place of job of Mike Smith and they say okay, they say is Mike Smith in, they are saying Im no longer sure, let me transfer you to him, or they simply transfer you to voicemail. What you need to do is you ought to make certain that theyre at least getting their contact expertise before transferring them wherever. And, it’s the type of thing where, each time any individual, at any time when I ask for a person they usually say Please maintain after which it simply the voicemail, I immediately cling up. Nothing irks me more than that. So, other individuals try this as good and what i’d do if I had been you is i would be certain that if they will switch and put someone on preserve.I would make certain that they without doubt get the contact know-how before they do this seeing that folks will cling up and they will call the next legal professional. I see it occur always. Individuals have zero persistence , simply consider about if, your bathroom is overflowing, the plumber picks up and says please hold, after which, youre simply sitting there watching your bathroom overflow, youre gonna grasp up and phone a different plumber, and youre undoubtedly not going to go away a voicemail and hope that that plumber calls you back. So, you have to ensure that they at least get the contact know-how. In an superb world theyll not ever transfer you, theyll never put you on maintain. One factor I hate, i’ve a patron, and Ive been complaining to him about this for 4 years now. Hes been a customer given that 2015 and he has a rather gigantic regulation firm and every time I call, the receptionist picks up the phone and says legal guidelines blah blah blah, please preserve, and doesnt even even give me a chance to say something, they just put me on keep correct away, and that drives me loopy. I dont know how you control it, the telephone is ringing off the hook. You get plenty of mobile calls, I comprehend, but youve received to bring on extra individuals, youve acquired to get an answering carrier, you gotta get some thing. The whole thing you do, put yourself within the client footwear, within the client footwear.Suppose about, what is going by means of their mind when they call your place of work and it’s whatever that’s, in the event that they understand it an emergency to them, it will not be an emergency to you, but when its an emergency to them, they youve gotta ensure that theyre speakme to an actual individual, that they suppose you could aid them with their drawback. So, I dont like either of those choices. I feel its gotta be answered by way of an individual that can Auto-attendant, most likely no longer, speaking and placing them on preserve, thats k assuming, as long as you get the understanding, its nonetheless no longer the perfect scenario. So, optimistically that helps. .

#andrew stickel #attorney marketing #attorney marketing strategies #attorney marketing tips #internet marketing for lawyers #law firm advertising #law firm marketing #law firm marketing advice #law firm marketing ideas #law firm marketing strategies #law firm marketing tips #lawyer advertising #lawyer marketing #lawyer marketing advice #lawyer marketing tips #legal marketing #marketing for lawyers

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batterymonster2021 · 5 years

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Do This To Get The Most Out Of Your Law Firm's Leads

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/do-this-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-law-firms-leads/

Do This To Get The Most Out Of Your Law Firm's Leads

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islesblogger · 5 years

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NHL Trade Deadline 2019: The Aftermath

What Happened at the Deadline?

Today was Lou Lamoriello’s first trade deadline day with the NY Islanders. From all indications he pushed a few offers, but could not find the appropriate deal to add to the Burger Barn’s menu. Something that has happened in Islanders Country a lot over the past decade of deadlines.

Mike also details the day on the The Isles Faithful Podcast Episode 25.

The last splash was in 2006 when Garth Snow sent a bag of non-magic beans to Edmonton for Ryan Smyth. What he ended up with was poke check into the playoffs, and first round ouster by a superior Buffalo team. He didn’t give up much, and upon Captain Canada’s teary-eyed departure he didn’t gain much in return. Much like that day an adequate bargain was obtained. The Islanders gave up nothing, and got nothing in return.

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Why Did it Happen?

Lou has a relatively young first place team that is buying into a new system. They’re not only in first, but they are on a post learning curve trajectory that should keep them there. Even if other teams have improved themselves at the deadline, the Islanders GAVE NOTHING AWAY.

Their biggest assets are still mysteries. But what we do know of them is that they all fit into the current scheme. Most would think that Anthony Beauvillier would have been on the block for some of the bigger fish. But I also assume that there would have had to be some kind of extension behind a deal involving Beau. Lou would not have given away a 20G RFA with center potential for a rental.

The Islanders have been short on right handed defensemen for as long as I’ve been a fan… and that’s a pretty long time. The other two items on most price lists would have been Dobson and/or Wilde. You can flip a coin (it had better be three sided) because one of Pulock, Dobson or Wilde will be on a Norris list within five years. It’s too early to tell which one of the “prospects” will be on that list, so they’re both too valuable to be traded for a rental.

As I pointed out earlier this year, there were some names that were most likely available. Lou just couldn’t find the right mix of picks, those prospects, a target and a seller’s consent.

Where Are They Now?

The Islanders lead the Washington Capitals by two points, and have two games in hand. At this point it’s basically a three-horse race for first with Columbus making a late run. The Blue Jackets helped themselves immensely by not giving up any important roster players, and acquiring Matt Duchene, Adam McQuaid and Keith Kinkaid. This very well could become a dogfight or a walkover in the next two weeks. The Isles’ schedule is littered with division rivals and they have two more games with Washington (3/1, @ 4/6) and Columbus (3/11 and @ 3/26). Those games will be paramount. The final game against Washington could determine home team advantage for the first round.

Where Do They Go From Here?

There are a few paths they can go by, but in the long run… they need to think of building a team for their new arena. The first step in that is seeing what you have on the current roster.

Some Questions About The Future

Where does Anthony Beauvillier fit in the Islanders’ future? Is he a top six wing? Can he be a bottom six center? Can he eventually replace a guy like Val Filppula? Can he become the next Butch Goring? Can he win a face-off? Will they ever use him to kill penalties?

Will Josh Ho-Sang ever get his act together? I’m not one who is going to say I know ANYTHING about Josh’s situation beyond what out on the surface. The young man has amazing talent, and when he throws that on the ice with full focus and the full effort of his physical abilities he’s a force. When he loses that focus, he has had some issues that keep him off the ice all together. I personally want to see him with guys like Ladd, Lee, Nelson and Beau. He has to earn NHL playing time to do that. Maybe there is one last gasp this season to see if they can put some trust in him. It will make a big difference to his first RFA deal, what they do with Eberle, and whether he is an Islander after June.

Is Michael Dal Colle a full time NHL player. He had a very good NHL showing. I think he earned a full time NHL gig next year. He might even make a cameo later in the season and possibly the playoffs. Does he have a “beast mode”. He certainly has showed it in the AHL, and he has shown plenty of “moments of confidence” against NHL vets. It will be fun to watch him evolve as a player.

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Off The IR

How do they re-assemble the puzzle with their returning pieces? I’m gonna push for the BrockLeeBar line until it happens, or they give us BrockHoLee. Lee and Nelson have been very good with Jordan Eberle, but they are not creating scoring chances at a first line clip. The Isles have been pretty good at 5v5 scoring (but not defending) over the past 4 years. They need a number one line again.

This year, neither top line has really stood out as a scoring threat. The Nelson line, however, has scored more than they have given up, and that is a rarity in recent Isles history. They need to shuffle that a bit. Andew Ladd will help that. I’m sure Trotz will be reluctant to break up what works with Lee+Nelson+Eberle. I expect to see it eventually. It could be a big boost in the second season.

Hickey will eventually be paired with an recent partner. It could be with Mayfield as a solid enough third pair. When that happens you can create a single offensive pairing that can defend the neutral and defensive zones as well. Everybody that has watched Bridgeport games for the last four years knew it had to happen eventually. Pulock and Toews for 15 minutes a night at 5v5. Make it happen!

Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'nCa5D9g6SUdy9tfhjMHMZg',sig:'NwVkx-IOPGqzlvq-6hN0FSHWo4BkEQPXE0ls2PnmFCs=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1093309662',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});

July?

We still have a handful of very important unrestricted free agents. Lou has passed the sell by date. Now he has a few months to sign them. No panic. My opinion… in order of importance.

Anders Lee. He’s their captain. He’s our captain. Don’t let two consecutive July’s mark the Islanders losing a captain. This one would be worse than the last one. All evidence points to Lee being an Islander through and through… so it would be on Lou if they lost him.

Robin Lehner was the biggest question mark when the season started. He has become the biggest exclamation point. He should be part of their goaltending future.

Brock Nelson. Even I thought he was a trade deadline goner in October. But Brock+structure+team buy in has been the biggest surprise of the season. If anybody thought in October that Lee, Nelson and Eberle would be the #1 line of a first place team raise your hand. Yeah, I didn’t think so. Brock has quietly (maybe invisibly) contributed 20G a year for 5 years. Now he’s in the locomotive, certainly not a passenger. He’s going to want conductor pay. Given the market for top six centers that can shoot and create from the forecheck, he’s going to get it. This is going to be a tough negotiation, but I think they come out with a solid 5 year deal.

Val Filppula. The Isles will have almost as many signed options at third line center next year as they did last year. None. I advocated for some AHL training for Beau, but that wasn’t popular. Now here we are. Val has been great. Way better than expected. They do not have another option ready in Bridgeport. Otto Koivula will get games next year, probably. You can’t rely on him yet. I think Val will be an early July signing after Lou gets to troll the waters a bit. If he lands Matt Duchene they are done. They have the resources to do it.

Post Apocalypse Outlook

All in all I’d say the Islanders came out of this okay. They go into the playoffs with a few new weapons to deploy. They also get to battle test some players with very little or no playoff experience. If they come out of it better players win win. If they win win, then Yes Yes Yes!!!

NHL Trade Deadline 2019: The Aftermath was originally published on islesblogger.com

#Anders Lee #Brock Nelson #Free Agency #Islanders #Josh Ho-Sang #Matt Duchene #Noah Dobson #Trade Deadline

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agent-kentauris · 7 years

Text

i use the word ‘finally’ too much. im working on improving my pacing ATM so hopefully ill figure out a solution for that one, eh? anyway.

--------------------------------

Thursday, 03/13, 08:09

Safehouse

Rome

--------------------------------

Madison was crying when I walked back in the door, hunched over on the sofa holding her new replacement phone in her hands. She had a single earbud in. Mina was on the television, making soothing sounds.

“Mike,” she said, pausing and looking up. “Your phone is off.”

“I didn’t know,” Maison whispered. “But they…”

“Long story,” I explained. “I’ll grab my laptop.”

>>The hell happened here?

Mina took her time in responding. I could see her typing on the television. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

>>Second question: you’re talking to Madison now?

>>Third question: you’re *okay* with talking to Madison now?

Her eyes flicked up to her camera.

“Can you give me a minute?” she said.

Madison had some kind of audio playing on her phone. She rewound whatever it was she was listening to, and put it on again.

>Okay, so you dont think its strange? she was using the workstation that *parker* was?

>>What happened here?

>what happened is i finished that background check. st james got a job rec from an art gallery owner in NH. but there's no mention of a "saint james" family tied to the gallery owner

> in fact, the trail of “saint james” stops in NH entirely. no paper trail, no certificate of name change, or anything else to confirm her identity

>>so?

>come on. thats not something you see in a civilian.

>>What I *see* is Madison sobbing on my couch with an audio file on repeat. What. Happened.

>that’s between she and i, mike. suffice to say that just because *you* trust her, doesn’t mean I do

“It’s not suffice to say,” I said outloud. “Madison – can I see that?”

She blinked away another tear.

“Of course,” she said.

“Mike-” Mina warned.

“With all that’s going on, you and me are gonna start keeping secrets? No. Thanks, Madison.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said, which should have been my first warning.

The second should have been my own voice on the recording. I didn’t recognize myself, though. Not even two week ago and I couldn’t recognize myself. The guy on the recording sounded bad. He was coughing, alarmed, panicked.

“Alb- Mi-” he said, in between heavy, wracking coughs. He was hyperventilating, too, and that didn’t help the coughing.

“Sir! Can you hear me?!” said another muffled voice. “You’re gonna be fine. We’ll get you out of here. We’re evac-”

He was interrupted by machine pistol fire.

I yanked the earbud out, flung it away on the sofa. On the TV, Mina shook her head.

“I said I’d try and pull the recordings,” she said impassively.

“Yeah,” I said, swallowing hard. “Yeah, you did.”

“I’m so sorry,” Madison repeated.

“Wait…” I realized. “You-”

Madison had been listening to that. She’d heard the embassy, and there was – not just me. She knew about Surkov. About Albatross. About…

“I told her everything,” Mina said. “If she’s going to help us effectively, she needs to know.”

“Everything?”

The embassy. The yacht. Sis, almost shooting Sis, Halbech – the missiles.

“All of it?” I repeated.

“She knows everything you know. I noticed there was a lot that you didn’t see fit to tell her.”

How much did she have recordings of? The missiles in Saudi – Shaheed twisting around words but he was right, wasn’t he? Surkov you used to work for them too. Haha – maybe she had stuff from the Greybox. Evidence of the program needs to be eliminated. Sean. HA! Sean. Halbech. And Halbech missiles. In the blue sky, trailing overhead.

Madison rested a hand on my shoulder. “Mike?” she asked.

“Why?” I asked Mina.

“She needs to know the risks,” she said, and then added, in almost perfect Arabic, “I needed to know if I could trust her.”

“And that’s how you did it?”

“Uh…” Madison said.

“And what if she is?” I added. “What if she fucking is, Mina? What then?”

“So you agree with me?”

“This isn’t ABOUT that. This is about you.”

“Me?” She seemed like she was about to laugh. “Me, Michael? How?”

“You had no right.”

“I had every right,” she declared, “Because this isn’t about me, and it’s certainly not about you. This is something bigger than both of us. Why do I have to keep reminding you?”

“If this is about me,” Madison said hesitantly, “Then…I did ask Mina to tell me. I wanted to know.”

“She wanted to help.”

“And that makes it right?” I asked, hating the quiet venom that was there.

“Yes,” she said. “It does. Though I will remind you – you brought her into this.”

“I didn’t have a choice, she was on the goddamn phone-”

“We always have a choice, Michael.”

I was too angry to think straight in another language. Almost couldn’t handle English.

“Then what was I supposed to fucking do,” I hissed. “Tell me – what was I supposed to do. Leave her?”

“Honestly, Michael?” she said, “I don’t know. Maybe. But it would have been better that what you’re doing to her. At least now she knows the risks.”

She couldn’t go back to life as it was before. Fuck, if anyone ever found out what she did know – I mean, how well did I know G22? They might kill her. If she was lucky. And they were so much better than that. Tear her apart in the media first. Her family, her friends. There was no understanding that risk. Ever. Not even if you were living it. Don’t think about it. Because in our case it wasn’t so much a risk as an inevitability, was it? This didn’t end well. It never did.

“I understand if you disagree,” Mina said. “But it’s done.”

“No shit,” I said.

The silence grew awkward very quickly.

“What did you find at the villa?” Madison finally asked.

“Let’s go get some food,” I said.

“Some – why?” Madison said. “Don’t we have to-”

“Nah,” I said. “Let’s just go. I’ve got the rental bike for a week, and its nice outside.”

“We need to debrief,” Mina said. “We don’t have a lot of time-”

“You know how to ride?” I asked Madison.

“My father never let me learn.”

“Well, you can hang on, then. We’ll be fine.”

“Mike-” Mina warned.

“I can’t do this right now. You coming, Madison? I’m buying.”

“I…” she said. She glanced over her shoulder, back at Mina, whose eyes were tight and narrowed. She was frowning intensely at me.

“Anywhere you want,” I offered.

“Are you armed?”

It was a strange question. I guess it was justified. I took the stun gun out of my pocket and dropped it on the floor. I tossed Marburg’s pen over onto the living room table.

“Nope,” I said.

“Alright,” she said. “Although I don’t know what’s open this early in the morning.”

“We’ll find something,” I assured her. “Catch up with you later, Mina.”

She shook her head, and disconnected abruptly.

“Shall we?”

“Sure, Mike,” Madison said.

#the omega report #aptor madison saint james #i really wanted mina and madison to talk at some point #esp. since i realized three people hardly ever do in that game #at least at once #so #i maybe kind of me'd the entire five second clip where you send mina marburg's data?#but im tired of missions so

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spectrumscribe · 7 years

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Your Heart’s Desire

a very late submission to tmntflashfic‘s valentine’s day prompt thing, since it got insanely long, and has to be broken up into parts.

Master Post of Chapters.

————————————————————————————- Chapter Five.

Casey slammed his bag down on the table, and slumped into his seat. His fellow arts student, directly across from him, raised her eyebrow.

“What crawled up your sorry ass and died?” She asked, eyes skimming over the dark circles under his eyes, and the scratches on his arms. “Or better question, what attacked your sorry ass?”

“I went from having one demon, to two demons, to three demons, all of them pissy little assholes-” Casey counted on his fingers quickly. “-in under, like, a week or two or some shit. I don’t even know anymore. Jesus.”

“You got another cat? Cats? Two new cats, plus the first one. Yikes.”

“Yeah. Sure. My cats.”

“Three cats is a lot of cats, Casey. Even for a currently single art student.”

Casey dug out his energy drink, cracked it open, and took a sip before answering. “You’re telling me.”

“So what happened to you last night? The cuts and shit. Your cats turn on you or something?”

“Or something.” Casey grumbled, nursing his drink. Caffeine. Sweet, sweet caffeine. “Two of them got chased off by the other one, and then showed up again in the middle of the night- not even after four AM, god- and proceeded to continue their piss fit in the middle of my living room, trash my kitchen and couch in the process, and bring my neighbor’s wrath down on all of us. Again.”

Two extraordinarily angry demons dropping out of thin air- right onto another demon, who’d finally gone to sleep maybe an hour ago- in the middle of the night hadn’t been fun. Casey had woken up to the loudest racket he’d heard in… probably a few hours. Maybe.

There’d been fire involved. There’d been purple electricity involved. And just for shits and giggles- knowing Mikey- there’d been balls of pure energy launched into the fray that left chunks missing from whatever they hit.

And then April had kicked down his door, broom and water gun in hand, and everything went straight to metaphorical hell.

Not literal hell, thank god, but they certainly were heading that direction for a while there.

Donnie had tried to kill Casey at least twice more. Maybe Mikey too. That being- Mikey maybe trying to kill Casey, and Donnie maybe trying to kill Mikey. At the same time. Casey hadn’t been able to tell for sure if Mikey actually tried to kill him or not, but he had a very deep suspicion of that one stray plasma shot.

April was the only reason anyone actually went to bed afterwards. Casey now had three new words to live by: Witches Kill Bitches. Yikes.

Casey took another long sip of his drink.

He’d gotten electrocuted, beaten, and just a tiny bit burned. Fun night. Maybe one of the wildest he’d had in a while.

Whoop-dee-fucking-doo.

“Why don’t you just give two of the cats back? The first one sounded chill enough without the others.”

Casey laughed dryly. “Oh I wish. I really fucking wish.”

If April couldn’t chase the other two off- and damn if she hadn’t tried- then no one could.

Casey’s classmate shook her head sympathetically and despairingly. “Casey, I do not envy your life, nor do I understand it.”

Casey slumped over the table, balancing his already empty drink in his hand. “You and me both. God.”

april

APRIK ANSWER ME

fuck april*

CAPS LOCK STANDS THO

Casey for god’s sake

What is it?

It’s not even three AM yet why are you texting me

I JUST REALIZED RAPH MIGHT ACTUALLY KILL ME

…how is this news?

He threatened your life at least five times the first day you met.

YEAH BUT I JUST REMEMBERED THE SOUL THING

THE SOUL THIGN APRIJG

THESOULTHING

You’re worse than I am at three in the morning.

What ‘soul thing’, Casey.

THE SOUL THING ABOUT HOW IM SIGNING MY SOUL OVER TO HIM FOR WHATEVR STUPID CNTRACT I MADE AND HOW ILL DIE ASSOON AS HE TAKEE IT

Typos galore, and

Yikes.

THIS IS WHY IM SITTING IN MY EMPTY BATH TUB AT THREE AM IM GOING TO FUCING DIE

APRIL HELP IM FUCKED

I FUCKED MYSELF OVER RLLY BADLY THISTME

H E LP

And somehow, I’m betting you still find him ‘hot’.

YES THIS IS PART OF THE ‘FUCKED MYSELY OVER’ BIT

Oh Casey.

Casey, Casey, Casey.

How did you make it to adulthood? Really.

SHUTUP THATS NOT HELPGUL RIGHT NOW

APIL IM SCREAMING

SCREMAING AT THREE AM IN MY FUCKIG BATHTUB

FUCK MY FICKING LIFE OH MY GOD

Raph’s kept you alive this long, he probably won’t kill you.

I’m assuming, at least.

You’re very hard to keep alive, Casey. If he just went and killed you after all this, it’d be a waste of time and effort.

Of course I could be wrong and your demon call boy could just be insane.

SCREAMING APRL

SCRMMING IN A BATHTUB

NOT

HELPING

At this point, you may be beyond help.

Even mine.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

ohshit i woke up don

fuc

fuckripme mikes awaketoo fukcv

apl make sure my funeral is a nece one I deserved better ing likfe than this

fkjgb;eiugb;bkbgfjnfgt

Casey?

Good grief. None of us are ever getting a full night’s rest ever again.

I’m getting my gun, Casey. I’ll be there right away.

I just need pants first.

In the end, Casey didn’t ask Raph about the soul thing. He was, in a word that he was never ever going to repeat to anyone, too chicken-shit to do it.

If Raph’s reply was “Yup. When we complete the contract and I take your soul- you die. Tough.” then Casey wasn’t sure how he’d handle that. Better to just avoid the whole awkward “will you kill me or not” conversation for now.

And besides, he didn’t really want to bring up the whole ‘ending the contract’ thing. If he did, that meant they’d have to start working on it again, and Casey… didn’t really want it to end. Not just yet.

He focused instead on surviving the transition into having Donnie as a member of their crowded household, and not dying in the process.

The lanky demon, dark as Raph but with way more hair and way less muscle, was a complete know-it-all. He took every chance he had to lord over Casey the fact that he was just some ‘ignorant human’, Donnie’s words not Casey’s.

He also took every chance he had to hint very unsubtly that Casey didn’t deserve Raph’s presence in his home, and Casey tried not to read deeper into that beyond speciest tendencies Donnie seemed to have.

Mostly though, as long as Donnie was preoccupied by the thick textbooks he kept getting from somewhere, or by Mikey or Raph, he didn’t give Casey much attention at all. Just lounged around Casey’s apartment building, and made snide comments at everyone.

It wasn’t intolerable, seeing as Donnie had gotten over his ‘murder the human’ phase pretty quick. Still annoying for Casey though, trying to make it through his own apartment, only to have a long tail trip him up, or a large wing snap out in his face. Casey retaliated with holy water mixed into Donnie’s food portions, smacking the demon’s protruding appendages with his hockey sticks, and sicking Raph on his brother when all else failed.

Or April, but watching the two of them stare one another down, broom and magic in hand, was a bit hard on Casey’s heart, so. Not so much that option. He liked his apartment intact, thank you.

So basically, Casey snapped at Donnie and Donnie snapped at him and they both threatened violence until someone pushed them apart. No blood was shed- no more than what was usual lately- and they somehow found a balance of mutual dislike.

In the end, neither of them liked one another, but Donnie had been very clear he wasn’t leaving until Raph did, and Casey had been very clear that he either shove it or shove off.

But no one was dead yet, so. Kudos to both of them.

Now Casey was dealing with a new problem, created another time over with the newest addition to his already too cramped home: feeding them all.

“Why do you guys have to eat so fucking much?” Casey grumbled, shoving the heavy grocery cart along. “God. This is more than I eat in a month.”

“I need power, because you’re a moron who can’t even remember why he summoned me,” Raph answered as he tossed yet another package of food into the cart. “And because Don and Mike are little shits who like to be as annoying as they can.”

“Yeah, I kinda figured that out,” Casey said sulkily. Accommodating three demons at once was a major hassle, especially when one was liable to set the neighborhood on fire for a laugh, and the other was still in the middle of a silent pissing contest with his neighboring witch. Oh the trials of adulthood. Casey felt like he deserved a vacation.

If it wasn’t for the insane load of cash Donnie had magicked up, Casey knew he would’ve hit broke by now. From where the cash had come from, Donnie wouldn’t say, but looking at all the zeroes in his account, Casey hadn’t felt like questioning its origins.

He had however, questioned why he wasn’t paying some price for the generous donation. Donnie had replied vaguely that his due was being covered by Raph, and then promptly fucked off into the open air; lifting off the ground with sweeps of his wings, and leaving Casey outside the supermarket without a real explanation.

Fucking demons.

Upside of things, Casey had gotten to send his dad and sister a good chunk of cash, and he didn’t have to worry about student loans anymore. Downside, his dad had texted to check if Casey had switched career choices to become a hitman and his sister had texted with the question if escort prices had suddenly gone up.

No faith from his family, honestly. Couldn’t he make money in a legal manner? Casey could totally make that much money if he tried.

Raph came back to the cart with an armful of hotdog and hamburger buns, and dumped them into the already very full cart.

“For the meat,” Raph explained shortly to Casey’s questioning look.

“What meat?” Casey asked.

Before Raph could answer, a shopping cart went racing past their aisle, and Casey caught a glimpse of Mikey riding it and what looked like majority of the raw meat section stacked in with him.

“That meat,” Raph said, pointing after his brother, and Casey could hear semi-maniacal laughter coming from that direction.

Casey sighed, and started to push their cart towards the direction Mikey had gone. “Guess we’re having a barbeque tonight, since no way this is all fitting in the fridge.”

Something crashed on the other side of the store, and Casey started pushing their cart a bit faster.

After they’d wrangled Mikey, magicked away the witnesses memory of the demon’s full-tilt crash into the flower stand, repaired said flower stand, and Donnie had at some point reappeared mysteriously out of thin air to snark at everyone- Casey managed to herd the three demons towards the check out with their purchases.

Again, he got his usual cashier, and the man gave Casey another look for his newest addition to their gaggle. Donnie admittedly stood out even more than Mikey did, in looks at least, being well over six feet. Mikey still had him beat in aura of crazy though.

In comparison to his siblings, one twitching constantly and the other giving everything a calculative and condescending look, Raph was practically normal seeming. Slightly below average height, and just a tinge of surliness to him.

And then Raph hiccupped a smoke ring, and the image was ruined.

Casey paid for their food, and didn’t give the cashier any explanation for his friend group.

Since Casey didn’t technically have a barbecue for barbecue, and neither did April, the task of cooking the meat got passed over to the walking fire pit. They also ended up relocating to the roof, after Raph set Casey’s ceiling on fire.

A pleasantly warm evening wind blew over the roof top, wafting the smell of cooking meat towards Casey. He glanced up to look at the other roof top occupants.

April had brought one of her folding chairs up with her, and was reading a book near her garden. The position was only semi-protective seeming, and everyone was giving her garden a wide birth.

Mikey was busy playing with a cat that’d appeared out of nowhere, despite Casey’s apartment building being pet free. Casey had started to question the cat earlier, but then he’d seen it had deep, bottomless black eyes, and had figured he’d leave well enough alone. At least it seemed more interested in rolling around on the roof with Mikey, rather than causing extra property damage like all the other demons in Casey’s life.

Donnie was the opposite of Mikey, completely lax and silent. He was laid out on a blanket that he’d probably stolen from Casey’s linen closet. Wings out and tail twitching, Donnie seemed intent on catching the last rays of the sun before it went down, slowly paging through yet another thick book he’d pulled out of nowhere. Eventually, he and April were probably going to bond like the condescending smarty-pants assholes they both were, and then everyone else was probably going to die.

Raph was rotating a couple dozen meat products in the air, flames licking around them in helix spirals. It smelt great, and Raph’s intent focus on keeping the food from burning gave Casey the chance to side-eye him a bit.

Admittedly, Casey might’ve been side-eyeing all the demon brothers, because shit- it wasn’t like they weren’t all relatively to very good looking. Even Mikey wasn’t exactly hard on the eyes, as unlikely as it was for Casey to ever risk going for him. Because he liked his extremities intact and not bitten off, and he totally still caught Mikey eyeing him like food sometimes.

Point being- Casey had a lot of very attractive men staying in his apartment at the moment, and wow was he very gay.

He tried to remind himself that A) two out of the three would probably kill him if they got the chance, and B) his focus was on Raph, as impossible to obtain as the demon likely was, and that he shouldn’t get distracted by the demon’s siblings.

And besides, he liked Raph the best anyways. Better personality, even if no one else would probably think that except for Casey.

Casey refocused on the sketchpad in his hands, and did his best to reroute his wandering thoughts. No gay thoughts for him, no siree. Not while he was in the presence of others.

He was in the middle of yet another sketch of a full demon form- this time Donnie’s, because the long swooping tail and wings were fun to draw. He was still trying to get the proper look down, since at the moment it looked too much like a regular dragon, and not a demon.

“Hey Raph,” Casey said, glancing up from his drawing again. “Quick question. How come you all look like dragons? Not very demony.”

“Because that’s what fits this era best,” Raph replied. Which made no sense.

“Elaborate a little more than that?”

Raph gave him a look, but answered anyways. “Our manifesting shapes change depending on the plain of existence we enter, and also with whatever the sentient population will fear best. In this era, it’s apparently big scaly lizards with wings. I’m not complaining, since it’s better than some we’ve gotten.”

“Dragons are cool shit though,” Casey said, twirling his pencil as he watched the meat in the air do the same. “They’re everywhere in media. Not exactly the boogieman.”

“Worked well enough on you,” Raph said, giving Casey a teasing smirk.

Casey scoffed. “Man, whatever. It was morning and I was hung over. ‘scuse me for not being able to keep my cool with a fucking demon in my house.”

Raph gave a warm laugh, and Casey found himself smiling just a tad wider than he usually would.

“Okay, I got another question then,” Casey said, leaning forwards on his crossed legs. “Which one of your ‘manifestations’ has been your favorite? You gotta have one, seein’ as you’re old as shit now.”

“Shut up, I’m young by demon standards,” Raph said, rolling his eyes. “And if you really wanna know, one of them was one I had just a couple hundred years ago. Not on this plain of existence, but it wasn’t too far off in similarity.”

“Yeah? What was it?”

“A turtle,” Raph said, and Casey couldn’t help the startled laugh that came out of him.

“What? No way. How is a turtle scary?” Casey asked in disbelieving amusement. “They’re like- tiny and cute and shit. Slow too.”

Raph shrugged, twirling his wrist so all the meat in the air would too. “I’d show you, but since I’m busy… hey Donnie!”

“What?” Donnie said in a tone that Casey recognized easily from his own sibling.

“Get over here; I want you to show Casey what the turtle manifestation looked like.”

“Ugh, no way. I’m busy right now,” Donnie said, giving them both a grumpy look.

Raph twirled a couple hotdogs threateningly towards Donnie. “Do it, or I use your horns as extra roasting sticks.”

“Raph- come on, don’t be a dick.”

“Don’t be a lazy shit.”

“Raph.”

“Donnie.”

“Fine,” Donnie grumbled, getting up if only because the hotdogs had been getting dangerously close to his seven inch horns.

Casey stood up too, officially and extremely intrigued about what would happen next. He wasn’t alone in that either, since April had set down her book to watch the rest of them, and Mikey and his weird cat had gone still.

Donnie steepled his fingers together, and closed his eyes. For a moment, nothing happened, but then a rune circle appeared under his feet. From the bright purple magic, a wall of water swirled up and around Donnie. The height of the airborne whirlpool grew, and Casey could see that something inside was growing with it.

Then, the water’s surface broke at the bottom, and receded upwards to reveal-

-a giant bipedal turtle.

Casey let out a shocked laugh, and couldn’t believe his eyes.

Donnie had gone from six something to twelve something, now with the addition of a shell, plastron, and dark green scales. A long staff was strapped to his back, held in place by royal purple sashes wrapped around Donnie’s chest and shell. The water receded to pool in the air above Donnie’s head, and it condescend into a sort of reflective disk. Casey mentally compared it to the halos he’d seen on angels in church murals.

Donnie reopened his eyes, which had remained luminous red through the transformation, and looked down Casey with a displeased look. Somehow, even with a beak like mouth, he managed to sneer at Casey.

“Ta da,” Donnie said, giving a half-assed jazz hands. “One turtle reporting for duty. Can I change back now? This itches.”

Casey noted that instead of discordant and harsh, the demon’s words were actually close to lyrical sounding in this form.

“Why’s it itch?” Casey asked, secretly hoping to prolong things so he could memorize the finer details of this form. Shit, this would look amazing in watercolors.

“Because it’s not the right one for this world,” Donnie said in a deeply annoyed tone. “It’s wrong and it feels a bit like wearing a winter coat in summer, I guess.”

“Oh. Neat.” Casey replied vaguely, still busy memorizing.

“You know,” April spoke up. “I wonder if anyone can see the shit you guys do on this roof. I don’t know about you, but it would be weird to see a giant bipedal turtle on my roof if I didn’t know better.”

“I have spells that erase memories of events like this,” Donnie replied smoothly, with only a hint of ‘duh’ in his tone.

“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure Raph doesn’t, because yesterday a guy at the coffee shop down the way said he saw a really weird ass bird in the sky. About the size of a mini-van? Pointy horns too.”

Everyone looked at Raph, who looked a little embarrassed.

“Raph.” Donnie said in a disapproving tone.

“Sometimes I forget to turn them on, okay?” Raph defended.

“I can’t believe you.”

“Shut up! Do you want dinner or not?”

“I do! We do!” Mikey interjected, waving his cat around in the air like something out of the Lion King. The cat made a long warbling meow, and Casey’s felt goosebumps prickle on his skin.

While the others were distracted, he took the chance to pick up his sketchbook and start a rapid gesture drawing of Donnie. Maybe later, he could get Raph do switch forms too, and draw him as well.

So while Casey hurriedly drew, Donnie got pelted by hotdogs as he kept berating Raph for his carelessness, said hotdogs quickly snatched out of the air by Mikey and his cat and devoured, and April calmly watched the whole show from over the top of her novel.

All in all, a pretty normal evening for them lately.

Casey was about done with being assaulted by demons.

Example: being stalked on the way home from campus, and feeling increasingly evil vibes being aimed at the back of his head.

The first afternoon in days that didn`t involve one or more of his mostly unwanted house guests tagging along- and this happens.

Casey risked a glance over his shoulder.

The man, concealed by his loose black hoodie and blue ball cap, was still following him. He seemed normal enough from first glance, no tail or horns or anything in plain sight, but Casey also knew better by now than to be fooled by that.

Casey thought he saw a flash of icy blue eyes from under the hat brim, and he whipped his eyes back to the sidewalk in front of him.

He was at least a half hour’s walk from his apartment still, and the bus wouldn’t save him now.

Why didn’t demons have cell phones? Raph could probably destroy a small city on his lonesome, but he didn’t have a god damn cell phone.

Casey tugged out his phone, trying to casually speed up his walking as he did.

april help im being stalked by one of raphs crazy relatives pls send help rn

A cold shudder went through Casey, and he knew the guy following him had gotten closer again. On and off as he’d been walking the last five minutes, every time Casey looked back, the guy got closer.

Fear sweat prickled the back of his neck, and Casey swallowed.

He didn’t have a handy bat or hockey stick, and he didn’t have a demon protecting him either. Unless someone got here quickly, he was probably going to end up demon food.

Pretty sick way to go, all things considering, but he’d rather not die on this particular day.

“Respond,” Casey muttered. “Please, god- April, respond already.”

Casey felt a rush of air go past him, and it felt way too fucking cold for this time of year. Something not actually there tried to climb up his spine, and Casey shuddered all the way down to his soul.

He typed an all caps message of ‘HOLY FUCK APRIL IM SERIOUS PLS RESPOND RN’ and started walking even faster.

Wow this was not how he wanted to die right now. Maybe later, maybe a few years down the line, but not right fucking now.

His phone chimed, and Casey gasped out a choked laugh.

Raph’s on his way. ETA should be less than a minute.

Why can’t our lives be normal anymore.

BESNIDELATERIMGONNADIE

What else is new?

Casey would have replied again, but a violent shudder went through him as an ice cold feeling gripped his body. He didn’t want to turn around, really, he didn’t- but he did anyways.

Raph’s brother- probably the elusive Leo- stared Casey dead in the eye, from just a block away. Navy blue eyes froze Casey to his core, and he felt like he was suddenly breathing sub-zero air.

Leo opened his mouth, and something reverberated through the air. The other humans walking down the street around Casey stumbled, and Casey’s knees came close to buckling. He only barely recovered enough to keep standing.

Welp. Time to start running.

Casey bolted fast as he could, and he cursed Raph for bringing this kind of insanity into his life.

Casey might’ve been slacking on his exercise lately- too much demonic influence in his life to even remember- but he could still sprint like the wind. He’d never quite grown out of the skinniness from his teenage years, and he counted his blessing that he hadn’t packed on muscle like he’d hoped he would. Wind whistled past him as he ran, and Casey felt caught between sheer terror and utter excitement.

Nothing like running for your life to kick the old adrenaline into gear.

Casey risked a partial glance over his shoulder, and regretted it as caught sight of Leo still hot on his tail. The demon wasn’t even running, he was just walking- and yet, he was still only a block behind Casey.

Fucking demons. Fucking demon magic. Fucking life.

Casey pushed himself to run faster, and prayed he wouldn’t land on his knee wrong and wipe out. He’d be screwed if he did.

He yelped as the sidewalk ahead of him was suddenly coated in ice, and he had to stop short before he hit it. Casey turned to the left, and darted across the street. A lone car honked at him as he ran, and for a second, the accident that’d fucked his knee over flashed across his eyes.

Then it was gone, and his feet hit the sidewalk across the street. He kept running, lungs heaving as he attempted to give Raph time to show the fuck up and save his ass.

Casey had to change directions again though, as the sidewalk again was covered in ice. This time with jagged points aimed directly at Casey, ones that would impale him clear through if he fell on them.

Casey dodged away from them, and found himself in an alley. An alley with a dead end.

Shit. Clichés. He hated clichés.

Casey whirled to run back out, and found Leo blocking the way. Casey retreated further into the alley, and raised his hands to the calmly advancing demon.

“Okay, so, I dunno if the other two have told you this yet-” Casey swallowed, trying for bravado instead of nervousness. “-but I’m officially off the menu. Just ask Raph, he’ll vouch for me.”

Leo didn’t pay his words any mind, and the air around Casey suddenly went freezing. With a wave of his hand, encircled by blue runes, Leo sent the alley into the deep freeze.

Casey’s airways went dry from the sudden drop, and he glanced around in panic. The walls of the alley were quickly being covered in ice, sharp points growing from both sides like jagged teeth. Casey’s shoes skidded momentarily, as the ice spread across the ground as well.

“I’m serious, Leo,” Casey said, trying to get the demon’s attention by saying his name. “Raph and me are cool. So if you could, like, be a little less literal with the chill, he’ll be here any second now to explain the shit that’s been going on-”

Leo remained quiet, but shut Casey up with a harsh gust of ice wind. Casey inhaled sharply, and coughed at the sheer coldness. It spread through him, and he coughed harder as he struggled to breathe.

Then-

He realized he couldn’t move his feet.

Casey made the mistake of glancing down, and saw that his feet were encased in ice. Ice that was steadily climbing up his legs, and locking him in place.

The dark ice moved quickly, spreading up Casey’s body almost faster than he could register what was happening. It covered his legs, and then spread to his torso, and Casey couldn’t breathe, ice filling his lungs and chilling him through.

His eyes clouded with tears, as ice wind kept whipping around him. He was half blind, more than half frozen, and came to the conclusion he probably was going to die.

He managed one last cough, before the ice spread to his neck, and froze his lungs in place. He felt the ice spreading down his arms, and Casey couldn’t think it was so cold. Everything was burning, the freezing prison wrapping itself around every piece of his body.

Casey felt the ice creep onto his face, his vision blurring as it did, and he couldn’t fight it at all.

The ice covered his nose, and spread over his eyes and head, and then Casey was trapped in the dark. His eyes frozen shut and his lungs frozen in place.

Then-

Something flared, hot and burning, on his chest-

And the ice shattered around his face, around his chest, and Casey could breathe again.

He blinked rapidly, sucking in as much air as he could, and tried to clear the clinging ice crystals to his face. Everything hurt, his hands and feet and legs and every bit of skin on him- they felt like they were still encased in ice. Cold enough that the warmer air was making them burn.

Casey saw something red flicker on his chest again, but he couldn’t see well enough to recognize what it was.

He spotted Leo, who’s calm, blank expression had broken. He was staring at Casey in shock, visibly confused as to why Casey wasn’t a human popsicle.

Then Raph fell out of the sky, right onto Leo, and threw his brother across the alleyway. Casey managed a short laugh at the sudden shift in mood, Leo looking utterly confused and offended by the turn of events, and Raph looking like he wanted to set everything and Leo on fire, the both of them yelling at one another in increasing volumes-

And then Casey’s vision went black, and he felt himself hit the ground.

next part.

#Your Heart's Desire tag #my writing #lmao casey's life is not easy at all #how he suffers #Casey Jones #April O'neil #Donatello #michelangelo #raphael #rasey #*shimmies*#love them cliffhangers #also #nearly all the sibs are together now and we're about halfway done go me #and yet #they still have not kissed #we have to fix that lmao

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