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trickster-4 · 4 years

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Luz is Shabranigdo !?

Chapter 4

Sorry it’s been a while, this chapter was uncooperative.. Gonna take a nap..

“So Eda’s ancestor met me in Atlantis…” Luz sat down on a nearby stump. She felt herself struggling to smile.. It was a small light in comparison to the destruction that happened.. Yet, Eda the second closest thing she had to a mother and the most wonderful person she had met was born because of those past actions.. Who knows maybe there were other small lights? “She ended up becoming a witch.. “

“You know the Clawthorne Family has been a very prominent family.. History changing in fact…”

“Really?”

“Yup.. They were responsible for a lot of reformations..” Amity had a look of pride in her eyes.. Her eye’s grew a little sad as nostalgia grew in her thoughts.. She used to consider it an honor to study under Lilith.. “They broke down a lot of caste systems.. Put an end to a lot of insane laws.. People called them Heroes… Sadly much of their changes were undone by the rise of Emperor Belos.. But, when people think powerful witches from ancient history they tend to think Lina Inverse-Clawthorne..”

“I think I remember her..” Luz blushed at the memory of the most tsundere witch she could remember. “She and Gourry were so in love, but he was so dumb..” She laughed at the memory of their arguments, chases, and how they fought over food.. “It took a long time for him to actually realize that much less confess it..”

“Reaally?”

“Yeah it took end of the world nonsense..” Luz shook her head in utter disappointment at that kind of boneheaded ignorance. “You know.. I originally thought the reason I was.. punished was darker.. That I tried to destroy the world for the laughs...”

“Yeah I heard..” Amity gazed at Luz with concern and worry.. “Don’t forget we just saw that your soul was literally ripped apart seven ways.. Soul fragmentation can make people unstable.. Memories can get jumbled up even when the pieces go back when they’re supposed to be.. My guess is the memories of your punishment got mixed with the memories of your later fragments.”

“I hope there’s not gonna be anymore problems..”Luz turned away from Amity. This had been a harrowing experience and Eda had pushed Amity to go through it with her.. Letting her see all these issues.. It grated on certain learned instincts.

“Hey don’t worry Luz.. We’re with you.. Okay?”

“Okay..” Luz lit up again. She hugged Amity tightly before reaching into her pocket and pulled the bell. “Let’s go..” She rang it twice..

Seconds later…

Luz woke up to see Lilith chained with her staff currently lying in Eda’s grip. Amity got up not too soon after and a sour frown grew on her face..

“Lilith..”

“Amity..”

“You wanna run it by me how Luz was a threat to you and how that justified lethal force?”

“She’s the lord of darkness! Literally the source of all dark magic..”

“She was a fourteen year-old girl barely my age struggling with magic. No offense..”

“None taken..”

“And you had to the gall to kidnap her to threaten just to get an advantage over Eda. How is that civilized? How is that any better than how you say the wild witches were.. If her powers hadn’t woke up..”

“But, she didn’t die… Frankly I’m not certain anything could kill her..”

“You did all this to secure your place with a tyrant..”

“That’s treason..”

“Is it really treason if the civilization isn’t worth preserving? … eight hundred thousand people…”

“..Excuse me?” Lilith’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Amity with growing fear and desperation. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing her apprentice couldn’t know could she? “What are you talking about?”

“What does she mean Amity?”

“… Our population is dwindling Luz.. There are witches disappearing from time to time..” Amity pinned Lilith with a glare.. “Their palismans are taken, artifacts destroyed, and research burned.. He’s feeding on us isn’t he?”

“…..I won’t say another word..”

“Right because of your little collar..”

Everyone turned to look at Luz who was startled before rubbing the back of her head with an embarrassed smile.. “Ooh right sorry about that still have Atlantis on the brain.. The contract in her wrist reminds me of the sigil contracts the nobles used to use for their slaves… I mean the spell work is almost exactly alike… This is reaally uncomfortably for me now..”

“Wait you’re saying the coven system is based on Atlantean Slavery?”

“Basically? I mean think about it you can control any potential avenues for the middle class mages.. And keep them from being a potential threat by making them weaker..”

“In that case were would Lilith have been?” Eda grinned towards her sister eyes filled mischievous mirth

“A highly valued tutor or courtesan. Based on her limiters and tracking glyphs..”

“Courtesan?!” An infuriated Lilith growled.

“Limiter?!”

“Ha that’s rich imagine conservative Lilith as a courtesan..” Eda grinned as Lilith began to blush and fume.. She decided against pushing it any further given there kids in the room. “So not a noble?”

“I can’t really say Atlantean Witches were really weird about family lineage…” Luz had to resist the urge to facepalm. That ideology was so stupid.. Ceifeed had originally noticed a number of genetic illness arising from harmful genes.. He had repaired the damage, but complained about having to do it so often.. So he taught his priests how to fix the problems… Some people heard his words and went completely off the wall and started obsessing over linage and blood.. “If they knew about your ancestor originally being a human slave girl.. They’d get all twitchy.. That said no Nobles ever had them.. They were the only free mages who never wore such degrading things..”

“Ha looks like between you and me I’m the only nobility..” Eda laughed to herself.. “That said human ancestor?”

“Indeed please explain.”

“Edalin she was a first generation witch a real prodigy.. She was born human and acquired magic later in life..” Luz smiled as she thought fondly of the child. “Good kid glad to see she got to become a witch.”

“Wait Edalin the Uniter was a human slave girl?!” Lilith shouted with shock she suddenly felt lightheaded… And fainted..

“Uh Lilith?”

“Is she gonna be okay?”

“That used to happen to her a lot as kids..”

“Yeesh someone is a lightweight for heavy truths.” Luz shook her head with amusement.

“Yup.. By the way Amity your mom called I told you were spending some time with the dark lord doing some rituals here and she was welcome to pick you up but she backed off did for some strange reason..”

There was silence through the house. Amity looked afraid and worried. Her mom has come here to this place.. Her mother was always an unstoppable force of nature whenever she wanted to get something. It was the same with her father as well. Their way or no way.

“.. Uh Amity are your parents Ceifeed worshippers?” Luz questioned curiously.

“No they’re agnostic.. But, I think they may have seen your clash with Emperor Bellows so they definitely believe now…”

“Wait how would they have seen that?”

“Some activist group called anoma-witch broadcasted it on all our arcane transmissions… “ Amity smiled as she recalled the shock of her family. The twins had dropped their pancakes onto the floor Elmira cried shortly after.. Her father was aghast and shocked at the sheer gall of such an attack on the seat of their government. Her mother on the other hand she looked absolutely terrified.

“… Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Nooo!! I don’t want people using that spell!!!” Luz shouted in a panicked voice smashing her hand into the wall. She looked at the ground horrified remembering how that spell was gleefully and carelessly given to the Atlantean military branch who used to it conquer the surrounding nations.. She nearly started hyperventilating before Amity touched her shoulder.. Luz looked to Amity.. “Please tell me that words from that spell were scrubbed from the audio…”

“It actually was.. They must have known what would happen..”

“Thank goodness.. I can never use that spell again… It felt so right..” Luz looked horrified as she remembered how she felt in that moment that sadistic glee in her heart and the fear in Lilith’s eyes.. The thought of watching the life in her eyes drain away. She felt that dark magic wasn’t worth it.. “It’s so enticing, intoxicating, and I won’t use it again… And I don’t want anyone else to use it either..”

“Luz… You can’t be afraid of dark magic.. It’s literally half of all spells you use.. “ Amity invited Luz to sit with her.. Luz sighed before sitting next to the green haired witch.. “After the fall of Atlantis when the gods vanished.. Many of the the spells we witches used no longer functioned.. We were scared afraid that our powers would disappear one day yet they never did.. Magic persisted and grew stronger once more.. Eventually we discovered that much of your and Ceifeed’s energies had been infused in us and the earth.. And we learned how to mold and shape the magic you left us.. This is what mortal magic is… Yet despite it’s unpleasant origins it amazing and wonderful.. Dark magic your magic.. it’s half of what you love so much Luz.. You contributed to something wonderful so please don’t be afraid of it..”

“.. Yeah you’re right.. You know even at my worst when forced to I began to care for Edalin..” Luz perked up as she thought about all the friends that were supporting her throughout all of this. Willow, Gus, Eda, King, A-And Amity.. She looked at the green haired witch noting the gentleness and compassion.. “Thank you so much Amity..” She took of Amity tightly hugging her closely..

“You’re welcome..”

As the room was occupied with the drama no one noticed the flow of magic emanating from Lilith’s clothing. A quick concealment ward casted by the Emperor shielded his astral presence from detection.

“Well well Lilith you played your role magnificently. You were so terrified of me and concerned with warning your sister that you failed to notice the scrying sigils in your cloak..”Emperor Belos eyes glowed as he began to search for the Owl House for two things… He looked through the living room, before moving to the kitchen, and then through the various bedrooms. The Emperor would sigh in annoyance, as it turned out it seems the Owl lady kept the key on herself at all times.. But, on the other hand… The human’s device was left out on her desk.. “Little Luz you really must keep an eye on your personal effects like this.. “ He gingerly sunk a finger into the device and his mind began to tear through the meager password protection.. “Hmm Camilla Noceda..” Belos spent time his time reading through Luz’s texts learning what he could of her.

He began to laugh upon realizing that there was only one more thing necessary to force Luz into his plans.. A few minutes later he cut the connection from the scrying symbols.

The Emperor began to form a new spell using the evocative nature of Old Magic as a base for it.. “I call the one who brought forth the dawn. The one who tirelessly heals during the day and night. The blind one who does not understand the true nature of things..”

“Quaint..” Belos noted as a red circle began to form in the air before erupting into a portal.. It was unstable but it would last for his purposes.. “Let’s see..” He reached in and pulled hard retrieving a middle aged Dominican woman wearing a blue nurse’s outfit. “Ah now you must be Luz Noceda’s mother..” He smiled as a look of fear, recognition, and anger grew in the woman’s eyes at the mention of that name.

“Bastardo!! ¡¿Qué le hiciste a mi hija?!!” Camilla stopped speaking as the strange masked man began to shush her and she suddenly noticed how much bigger he was than her.. “What did you do to my daughter?! If you’ve hurt her!”

“I have done nothing of the sort, but I will if she doesn’t do exactly as I say..”

Meanwhile back at the Owl House…

Lilith woke up with a headache she was still in chains and her arms were getting pretty sore. She sighed and spun her fingers dematerializing the chains.

“Well done Lilith my faithful servant..”

“Emperor Belos… How are yo.. The Coven Brand..”

“Indeed.. You did just as I planned inform your sister and her apprentice that I have her mother..”

“Sir that’s..”

“Tell them that she will give me the key by midnight or I will have fun testing any number of lethal spells on human physiology..”

“….”

“Oh that reminds me by the way Lilith you’re fired. You can pick up anything you left behind here, but you’re no longer welcome to employment in my services.. Have fun doing whatever is you like to do in your spare time..”

“….” Lilith sat there in silence as the connection was severed.. She felt her world falling apart her hand shook as the coven glyph dissolved from her wrist. Years of sacrifice, constantly plotting, and countless hours of competing to stay at the top to be the Emperor’s most favored servant.. And this was her reward after giving him everything… A long distance banishment laced with false kindness.. Her head fell into her hands and she began to cry..

Eda Luz and Amity hearing Lilith crying approached her. They noticed she was free and Eda raised her staff, but then lowered it realizing that her tears were very much real. “Well this was awkward..”Eda really hoped this breakdown wasn’t about the deathhex she sent to Lilith’s mailbox..

“Uh Lilith?”

“I-I messed up… Belos told me I was free to go..” Lilith then slowly looked to Luz in fear.. “I never knew please believe I didn’t know..”

“What did you do?” Luz’s eyes narrowed as she glared at Lilith.

“… Belos placed several spells he was here seconds ago in astral form looking for the key.. He found the next best thing the location and name of your mother..”

“How?!”

“Even if that bonehead got that information it’s impossible for him to do anything with it..” Eda placed a calming hand on Luz’s shoulder. “Nothing will come of it.”

“You underestimate him Edalyn.” Lilith shook her head terror in her eyes. “Belos knows more about the ancient magic than most mortals.. He summoned your mother here..”

“How!! She’s not a mage, dragon, or demon?!” Luz couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her mother the woman who flinched during Halloween had a presence in the astral realm strong enough to be summoned.. How was that even possible!?

“She gave birth to you.. You are the source of all black magic.. And in order to give birth to you your mother was altered enough to survive your reemergence into this world. That’s enough magic for certain summoning rituals to work.”

“… I have to go..”

“Luz..”

“It’s my mother!!” Luz screamed.. Her eyes glowed red as she made her way to the door dark bat-like wings began to form on her back.. “I’m going to find her..”

“Stop..” Eda sighed at her apprentice’s foolish attitude.. This was a trap more than likely he was planning something the question is what.. “I’ll fly us it’ll give us time to discuss a plan.”

“Thank you Edalyn..” She gave her a relived hug her wings disappeared as they dissolved into shadow.. Luz let go slowly and began to look towards the door with worry and concern.

“Your welcome..” Edalyn reassured her apprentice gently as they all walked together towards the door.

Belos’s palace…

“Go to hell!”

“Ha.. Tell me do you know what your daughter really is?”

“I know that she’s a better person than you’ll ever be..”

“Perhaps it’s all a matter of perspective.. Shabranigdo the demon god of darkness and in the ancient world the lord of black magic and in the modern world the source of dark magic..” Belos gestured towards an ancient demonic statue with fangs, horns, wings, and ruby eyes. Camilla stared at the strange relic wondering what the ancient history of this old god had to do with her and her family. “She was one of the patron gods of ancient Atlantis and sunk it when it served it’s purpose.. It’s half of all magic part of the very fabric of our being. And I plan to control it..”

“.. What do your stories have to do with my daughter!?”

“Tell me was her birth troublesome? Where there sudden storms on that day? Did ash began to fall from the sky when it was finally over?”

“… Yes..” Camilla was stunned by this stranger listing the various events that surrounded Luz’s birth. “I don’t see what that has to do with..”

“All three occurrences are symptoms of a demonic birth.. Usually if there it’s one it’s a common demon.. two occurrence mean a demon of considerable strength. Three occurrences.. The demon god was prophesied to display all three symptoms on the hour of it’s rebirth with a human as the mother.. Shabranigdo the progenitor of the demon race..”

“… Are you saying my daughter is the devil?” Camilla scoffed.

“… To many people she would be such.. she is the original destroyer… Countless civilizations have been destroyed by the spells she created.. Such is her purpose and nature..”

“You’re insane..”

“Maybe..” Belos shrugged uncaringly. “It doesn’t mean I am not right.”

Outside Belos’s Palace…

Luz Noceda approached the Emperor’s Palace alone the numerous guards moved aside all while her very presence caused the Emperor’s various scrying spells to leave specific blank spots for her friends to exploit.. Numerous restrictive spells around Luz collapsed as she was wreathed in a crimson dark aura. Numerous Witches felt the malevolence from her and backed away in fear.. Several flowers around the palace began to crumble into ash as they aged at an accelerated rate…

Kikimora guarded the chamber the Emperor was waiting in for Luz. She shook at the sheer malevolence in Luz’s presence ancient instincts told her that this was her progenitor, her maker..

“Move aside speck..” Luz spoke with an old cruel authority in her voice ..

“.. M-My lord awaits you..” The demonic woman stuttered as she stepped aside and the door opened for the dark god.

As Luz stepped forward she sighed Amity, Eda, and Lilith would have to move fast.. Belos was powerful she could feel his presence.. It felt corrupted so twisted in a way a mortal could not be.. He was feeding on something powerful enough to give even the greatest of her old servants an impossible task.. And she was comparatively inexperienced, granted she had immeasurable knowledge as the lord of black magic, but Luz couldn’t use that knowledge reliably due to the emotional baggage.. However.. She extended a hand and imagined the fire glyph before drawing a crimson circle.. A powerful fireball grew in her palm..

“Perfect..” Luz Noceda stepped inside waking into the chamber. She began to notice two things, this room was dimly lit and that it wasn’t the throne room. Emperor Belos was seated in a chair at the end his eyes glowing blue menacingly. “Let my mother go!” She shouted with determination.

#luz is shabranigdo?!#the owl house amity #owl house #lumity #amity owl house #luz owl house #lilith owl house #eda the owl witch #eda owl house #crossover #fanfic #slayers

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auburnfamilynews · 4 years

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Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Uh.

Don’t know if you heard, but college football got canceled last night because of the pandemic. That’s right. We didn’t get to play Georgia in Athens, and we definitely didn’t get our doors blown off and we definitely aren’t waking up this morning thinking about everything from the good old days to coaching changes and all things in between.

I wish.

SNAP JUDGMENTS

Thanks Gus. I’m done

-James Jones

We’ve been prolonging the inevitable for some time now but here’s the truth. Gus Malzahn has a clear ceiling & a clear floor. He’ll keep this team bowl eligible & he’ll give teams hell at home but he won’t win another championship as Auburn’s head coach. As much as it pains me because I genuinely like the man, we are being left behind by the top tier SEC programs. Tonight was an embarrassment to everything Pat Dye did for this Auburn football program. We will likely have to wait a year due to COVID but the truth is that Gus is done. Here’s to hoping we can knock off LSU in Jordan-Hare.

War Damn, ya’ll.

-AU Nerd

Well..... I picked Georgia to win this game because I couldn’t trust Gus to win a game in Athens. Man I hate being right sometimes. But the omens were there yesterday.....

#1 - This day started bad when news came out that Cam had tested positive for COVID.

#2 - Then on the basketball side, JD Davison, as I figured, committed to Bama.

#3 - It was announced that SEC Freshmen of the Week Jaylin Simpson was out due to injury, a huge loss.

#4 - We didn’t have Shaun Shivers or Eli Stove on offense, also due to injury.

So we were behind the 8 ball before this thing started. And then it just snowballed from there.

I will say in a positive that Tank Bigsby lived up to his name and I’m excited to see him continue to get better.

Basketball starts in 7 1/2 weeks though.

War Eagle!

-Will McLaughlin

I said before that this was a game you absolutely could not lose. You were going against a walk on quarterback who was 5th string earlier this offseason. Georgia looked like garbage against a team that hadn’t won an SEC game in three years. Auburn’s 3-10 against Georgia in the last decade.

Well, we lost that one. There’s no X’s and O’s needed. You just got punked. Sure, it’s one loss in a weird year against an Uber-talented team, but it’s indicative of where this program is. Can we beat anyone? Sure. Are we a top half SEC team? You bet. But I’ve given up hope that this regime will ever get us to the top. War damn.

-Ryan Sterritt

The better program won this game tonight. It has been over a decade since this series has been competitive, so tonights result should come with no surprise. Simply put, our standard that Pat Dye built has been diminished into a distant memory. We’re extremely comfortable being 3rd in a division on a regular basis with 3 wins over our in-state rival in 8 years, all at home, while we simply do not compete for Sixty Minutes on the road against the teams that we want to beat.

For as bad as this defense looked tonight, we should be appreciating what the championship-level defense of 2016-2019 was, all led by a generational talent up front who is now starting as a rookie in Carolina. This defense was always going to struggle by comparison. But it’s the offensive side of the ball that has been an inconsistent disappointment for large chunks of every season since 2015. And truthfully, our offensive line, which was patched up in 2017 with transfers, has not been right since around 2016, or around the time the prior staff’s recruits funneled out (Braden Smith excluded, but it’s clear he’s an outlier with regards to recruited talent along the OL from this current program). This version of our offensive line is probably more gifted than last year’s in some aspects, but they have yet to have 4 consecutive weeks of practice thanks to COVID. Even then, at an upward trajectory we should expect this offense, led by a legacy quarterback, to be misused through various points of this season and into next. It’s our standard, after all.

So, it begs the question. Not for today. Not for this year. Maybe not for next year. But at some point, who are we going to choose to be when it comes time to take a good long look in the mirror? We’d all love to go there now, but fiscally you are kidding yourself if you entertain it. So, I’ll just say when that day comes what I want to be able to say when we look in the mirror is that we want to be a program that consistently contends for championships. We want to be a program that will outwork our rivals. We want to be a program that expects to beat Georgia, LSU, and Alabama or have a fair shot no matter if the game is in Jordan-Hare Stadium or the very gates of hell themselves. I hope that’s what we’ll want. But my fear is that we’ll beat Alabama in Auburn next year and just enjoy the memories of when we were a legitimate program that built upon itself. That’s what Pat Dye did. And that’s what’s been wrong with Auburn ever since we stupidly decided to let him go. We once could look in the mirror and say that we were the toughest team anyone on our schedule had to play. Now? We’re telling the truth when we say that our opponent is supremely more talented than we are. And that’s a damn shame.

And until we are at that crossroad of having to answer that question, this numbing feeling of normalcy over performances like tonight are more painful than the loss itself. This should not be normal. This should not be numbing. This should be a wake up call. But if history has shown us anything, it’ll just be another lost night in Athens, GA until that day of self-confrontation arrives.

-Josh Black

Lopsided, brutal 60 minutes. How does this team bounce back next week? That will tell us a lot about this team, their coaches, and their leaders.

-Josh Dub

-AU Chief

Everything that’s been said or needed to be said about the game has been said above. Listless effort. Less talent. No heart. No prep. No adjustments. No will to win, save for one player, a freshman. It doesn’t need to be rehashed because you all watched what happened last night and that was as embarrassing an effort as we’ve seen likely since Baton Rouge in 2015.

Josh Black talked above about Georgia being the better program, and it’s true. We should be mad at Gus for not being able to manage the roster so that we don’t have total turnaround on both lines to go against the recruiting behemoths on our permanent schedule. Despite his faults as a head coach, Gene Chizik’s staff was built to recruit, but he had to bring that standard up after Tuberville’s failures. Not to shove blame off of Gus, but there’s a reason that Georgia and Alabama were able to find their footing and become top tier programs so quickly Auburn had the upper hand. Auburn was it. Tuberville was able to turn those 2 and 3-stars into SEC stars. He didn’t need to get the blue chips. BUT WHAT IF HAD TRIED? Imagine if Auburn was winning six straight in the Iron Bowl and going against Mark Richt at the same time as they were signing 5-star players. Alabama never gets its footing after one year with Saban, because he’s got real competition in the state. Auburn would have been established. It began there.

Now, it’s been too easy to recruit against Gus. He makes it easy on himself. When you see what Alabama does with a Jaylen Waddle, you’d like to go there and become him instead of Anthony Schwartz. Yeah, they tried last night with Schwartz, but it didn’t hit. You hit a couple of those plays and everything loosens up. We’re supposed to be good enough to convert those plays. Meanwhile, there’s little solace taken in the fact that Gus was right when he said that Georgia had the best talent in the SEC, and Kirby was wrong when he said we did (even facetiously).

10 years since our last win in Tuscaloosa, 15 since our last win in Athens, 21 since our last win in Baton Rouge. Those are staggering numbers. What do you do? Fire Gus? It’s already been said, and it started as early as the second quarter last night. Who do you get? Therein lies the rub. You can’t grab some hot young assistant. You have to compete now. Would we give a Dabo type of hire the time he needs? Clemson didn’t really get competitive until his fourth season. Take three years of beatdowns and then we start to play? Nobody’s patient enough for that.

We may be stuck here with that kind of a game every so often, quite honestly. There’s likely not a better alternative at this point, but there are things that need to change. We can’t get trounced on the recruiting trail anymore, but there’s no reason we shouldn’t be getting wrecked by our chief rivals. We can’t mismanage a roster like this, and we can’t go into a road venue and show literally nothing. Damn.

-Jack Condon

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2020/10/4/21501195/snap-judgments-4-georgia-27-7-auburn-6

#IFTTT #Blogger #auburn #auburn fast #wareagle #AuburnFamilyNews #war eagle #sec #football news #aubu

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haughtbreaker · 7 years

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Drove All Night

So I was inspired to write this after watching the Voice in which Celine Dion was coaching some singers to perform her version of Drove All Night that's been redone like a thousand times.

Waverly and Nicole are in a long distance relationship, but Nicole feels like surprising Waverly. If the title didn't tell you exactly what happened... the below gif has nothing to do with the fic, I just think I’ll use it as often as possible

"Wynonna…." Waverly whined in frustration. "I have to go." Looking at her wristwatch, she could feel each second that bled away with her sister's asinine…

"But… you're the only one that pours my shots the way I like them." Wynonna gave her a pleading look until she received the snap of a towel to the back of her head. "Hey!"

"Leave your sister alone, Wynonna." Gus slipped behind the bar, grabbing a few empty pint glasses. "She's got a date."

"It's not a date." Waverly protested, unable to hide her smile as she untied her apron. "It's just a call."

"A pre-scheduled call that happens every Friday." Gus pointed out as she filled a glass with beer.

"God bless modern technology and skype." Wynonna laughed, snagging one of the beers from Gus's tray. "Much more convenient for phone sex."

"Oh my god!" Waverly shook her head. "I'm leaving." As she slipped out the bar, she could still hear her sister's laugh over the sound of country music. Jogging across the street to the parking lot, she hopped into her jeep and pointed it towards home.

She hadn't planned on getting involved with someone while on vacation. She'd just finished her online degree and had been looking to explore some of the sights she'd only ever seen on TV, even if Chicago was the farthest she could afford to go.

She'd found her way to Millennium Park where she'd heard there would be yoga at dawn. She hadn't expected the crowd, the lines of people rolling out mats. She'd ended up on the outside of the field, but she still found it easy to follow along, having caught herself mesmerized, more than once, by the large group moving together. Still, she felt amazing by the time the class was over.

She would have continued to feel amazing if not for being stumbled over while she was rolling up her mat. The air was knocked out of her momentarily as another form crashed to the ground beside her. "Owwww." She groaned as she sat up, her side throbbing.

"Shit! Oh my god. I'm so sorry."

Waverly looked up to watch a tall redhead push herself up off the ground easily, strong arms flexing as if she did a hundred push-ups daily. Suddenly a hand was held out towards her and she took hold, standing with very little effort of her own. She winced slightly, knowing she was going to have at least one bruise from the impact.

"Are you ok?" The woman looked her over carefully, checking her for injury.

When caramel-colored eyes locked with her own, Waverly could feel something change in the air. It was like a physical blow against her, unexpected yet not entirely unwelcome. "Yeah. Yeah I'm fine." Waverly was surprised to feel heat rising to her cheeks, but she hoped it was hidden by her post-workout flush. "Don't worry about it. Right as rain."

The woman bent down to pick up the frisbie she'd been trying to catch, her fingers tracing the rim. She had a smile that was genuine and completely contagious. "I'm so sorry about that. I should have been watching where I was going."

"It's fine." Waverly waved the woman off. She could feel a fluttering in her chest and wrote it off, attributing it to the work-out. "I have this weird knack of getting in trouble so… I'm sure I would have eventually stumbled over someone myself." Her brows furrowed as she realized how idiotic that sounded.

To her credit, the woman chuckled. "I can't let you take the credit for that. After all, you were the one standing in one place." She paused, taking a moment to bite her bottom lip as her mind seemed to evaluate the situation. "You have to let me make it up to you. Let me buy you a coffee."

It was the last thing Waverly expected. "You don't have to do that." She laughed, her polite nature refusing by habit when something inside her was telling her to accept. She let her eyes drift down the lean form, noticing the black t-shirt that said CPD Trainee.

"I do." The woman insisted.

Waverly wrinkled her nose in thought. "I'd hate to drag you away from your friends." She indicated the few people that were waiting, hands on hips.

"Oh!" The woman easily tossed the frisbee back to the group before returning her attention to Waverly. "No dragging necessary. I'd much rather spend the time begging your forgiveness for such egregious clumsiness." She spoke with an exaggerated despair. "I'm Nicole." She offered her hand again.

Waverly accepted the handshake, unable to stop herself from noticing how strong yet delicate the fingers felt in her own. "Waverly."

"Hey Babe." Waverly fell onto her bed with a frown as she stared at the black box on her tablet screen that normally held her girlfriend's beautiful face. "What's up with your camera?"

"Sorry, Baby." Nicole's voice was slightly withdrawn, something strange in the timber of it. "I can't get on camera right now."

Waverly sighed softly. "That sucks… is it like a software problem? We can switch programs." She wanted to see that smiling face she missed so much. Long distance relationships were bad enough without technology standing in the way.

"No." Nicole's answer was short, almost deserving of suspicion.

It's not that Waverly was a jealous person… ok she was. She was completely a jealous person and living so far away only amplified that by a thousand, but she also knew Nicole had impenetrable integrity. She trusted Nicole completely. "What are you doing?" She tried to sound innocent, tried to keep the wariness from her voice, but considering Nicole's chuckle she got in response, she knew she was busted.

"Getting you a present."

That piqued Waverly's interest. "A present?" She looked at the clock. Normally Nicole was getting ready for bed at this time. "This late? What for?"

Another chuckle came her way. "Yes, and because you're amazing. Unfortunately this is the only time it's available."

"What?"

"Forget about it for now," Nicole tried to derail the conversation. "Tell me about your day."

"No no." Waverly shook her head as if Nicole could see her. "What sort of present? I think I deserve a hint if I'm being deprived of prime camera time right now. Especially since I just took a shower and I'm still wet and naked..." She tried not to laugh as she folded her pajama covered legs under her.

There was a long pause before Nicole chuckled softly. "You are not. And I'm not going to tell you. It's a surprise."

"But…"

"Waverly… I'm not going to tell you what it is." Nicole's voice held a smile in it along with hint of mischief that only drove Waverly crazy.

She didn't really like surprises, but she knew that Nicole could be just as stubborn as she was. "I miss you." Was all she could say. "I know we talk every day, and I love hearing your voice, but sometimes I forget what you sound like in person, and I don't like that." She had a ticket already bought for when Nicole graduated from the police academy, but that was still weeks away.

Nicole sighed softly. "I know, Baby. I miss you too."

Waverly wasn't even sure why she had agreed to a long term relationship. She was a physical person and the distance was killing her. All she had to cling to was the memory of soft skin and incredible lips, maybe a few whispered promises between the tears of separation. They didn't even have a plan. Everything was taken step by step. Nicole had to graduate, then get her certifications, then what? Nicole was American. She was Canadian. Was Nicole going to move to Canada? Would Waverly herself move to the states?

The thought of that made her stomach curl. She loved Purgatory and all it's quirky life. She had been born under the same roof she was currently laying under. Yes, she wanted to see the world and all it had to offer, but to permanently leave her home town? It was almost too scary to think about. "So… Wynonna got arrested this morning," she finally said, not wanting to dwell too much on their uncertain future.

"What did she do now?" Nicole's voice was part relief, part amusement.

"She punched Champ." Waverly said proudly, knowing how much Nicole hated her ex.

"Remind me to buy her a beer the next time I see her."

Waverly laughed. "You know, as a future officer of the law…"

Nicole had only met Champ once when she'd visited a few months ago, but it had been enough for her. "Yeah well, as a human being, I take personal offense to his threatening the gene pool of my species."

"God your voice is so sexy." Waverly couldn't help responding. She was rewarded with a throaty chuckle that slipped down her spine. "Nic… how am I supposed to fall asleep if you're not on my screen?"

"Are you in bed now?"

Waverly nodded before she remembered her camera wasn't on. "Yes… my cold… empty bed." With a sigh, she wiggled her way under the blankets. "If only I had my favorite American…" She propped the tablet on the pillow beside her even if the cameras weren't on. "And if Gillian Anderson wasn't available I'd even take you."

"Wow…" Nicole laughed.

"I could get me some Dana Scully." She joked, hearing Nicole's laughter double. "I might have a bit of a redhead fixation."

"Yeah you do." There was a brief pause. "Why don't you tell me what you miss most about me." Nicole's voiced dropped to a lower timbre.

A smile spread across Waverly's face as she closed her eyes, explaining in detail exactly what she missed most about her girlfriend until sleep claimed her.

Nicole sighed as she rubbed her eyes. She was beyond tired and she felt it in the quiet, especially after Waverly had fallen asleep talking to her. Looking down at her phone, she smiled as the screen lit up, having been feeling a bit like a creeper waiting for a response. Sliding out of the car, each step seemed to sound too loud, gravel crunching beneath her boots.

She got to the front door just as it opened.

"Are you kidding me?" Wynonna pulled her in for a sloppy hug, having drank way too much. "Does she even know you were coming? Of course not. She would have made a huge deal of it." Wynonna shook her head.

"You know Waverly." Nicole chuckled, shucking off her jacket and hanging it on a hook. "You look good for someone fresh out of jail."

"Pfffft." Wynonna snorted. "Like Nedley would ever keep me locked up."

Nicole pat her on the shoulder. "Well, that's great. I'm sure Champ deserved it." she looked down the hall where she knew Waverly room was. "Sorry to do this, Buddy, but… I didn't drive all this way to see you."

"Pfffft." Wynonna snorted again. "Whatever, Dude. We can talk at br….lunch. Just try to keep quiet, eh?"

Nicole smirked, making her way to the familiar bedroom after making a quick detour to the bathroom. The room was dark and it took a minute for her eyes to adjust, familiar shapes forming in the darkness as she closed the door behind her.

She couldn't help but smile as she breathed in the scent of the room that was all Waverly. Setting her phone and keys on the dresser, she moved to remove her boots. She must have been more tired than she realized because as she was fighting with a knot in her laces, she suddenly crashed to the ground loudly, the breath getting knocked out of her.

"What the shit?" Waverly sat up quickly.

Nicole recognized the very familiar sound of a shotgun cocking and threw her hands up in defense. "Waverly, stop!" she quickly called out.

There was a moment of silence before the light on the nightstand clicked on, a soft light filling the room. "Nicole?"

Unsure of what else to say, Nicole laughed. "Surprise?" Finally kicking off her boot, she pushed herself off the ground just as Waverly slipped out of bed, pulling her into a tight hug. Nicole breathed a small sigh of relief as she returned the hug.

Suddenly Waverly pushed her away, eyes narrowed. "You asshole! You scared the shit out of me!"

"I know. I'm sorry." Nicole pulled her back in, finally pressing their lips together. She melted into the gentle embrace, sliding her arms around the toned waist as an arm slipped around her neck.

Waverly groaned, breaking off the kiss and pressing her ear to Nicole's chest, listening to her heartbeat. "I can't believe you're here… How did you get here?"

Nicole could feel the heat radiating off the small form and blissfully absorbed it. "I kind of… drove."

Pulling back, Waverly looked up in confusion. "You… drove? Are you crazy? That must have…"

"Yeah." Nicole nodded. "I just got in my car and… I found myself starting to drive West." She shrugged slightly. "I drove all night…"

"Not that I don't appreciate it… cause I very much do… but why would you do that?"

Nicole's lips tilted into a slight grin as she stepped forward, edging Waverly backwards towards the bed. Leaning forward, she cupped Waverly's cheeks, kissing her again. "To get to you." Another kiss and she was pulling away as Waverly pulled her shirt up and off. "Is that alright?"

Waverly nodded, her fingers working on the belt of Nicole's jeans, having lost all interest in further conversation. She'd almost forgotten the scent of her girlfriend, subtle and sweet vanilla over a scent that was all Nicole, and she filled her lungs with it. "I missed you so much." She whispered, her fingertips sliding over the expanse of soft skin, reacquainting herself. There was a slight more definition than she remembered, less softness and increased strength, no doubt from her on-going training.

"Me too." Nicole whispered, revelling in each inch of flesh that was revealed until finally she was following Waverly onto the bed, covering the length of the shorter form. "You are even far more beautiful than I remembered." She could barely believe she was there, brushing soft kisses down the line of Waverly's neck.

"Shit…" Waverly felt every inch of Nicole pressed against her, especially the lips and tongue that found her breasts and the heat of a palm sliding down her hip. "Miss you so much."

Nicole couldn't help chuckling. "I'm right here," she whispered, moving to capture soft lips once more in a kiss. She slipped her thigh between Waverly's, finding a welcoming heat. Nicole felt more than heard the moan against her lips and she felt her own arousal pique at the sound. Every reaction, every sound, every touch, it felt like she was learning them again. Her memories were just shallow echoes easily cast away with each new sensation. Waverly's hips moving in thrusts against her thigh, nails digging into her shoulders, she loved every new memory. She relearned the sound of small gasps as their lips broke apart.

Waverly buried her face in the curve of Nicole's shoulder, whimpering softly. "Fuck." She whimpered in frustration as she felt the edge approaching way too quickly. She wanted to blame the dream she'd been having, leaving her already breathless and full of desire, but it had been so long since she felt Nicole's touch.

Nicole almost laughed at Waverly's curse, grinning as she slipped her hand down between their bodies, her grin spreading as she pressed fingertips into heated depths and her girlfriend gasped. "I love the way you sound… So fucking gorgeous."

Waverly's brow furrowed. "No fair." She whimpered, her body trembling as she tangled her fingers in red hair, tugging Nicole's head backwards to find mischievous eyes.

Nicole could have laughed, but she could tell how close Waverly was and instead crushed their lips together, muffling Waverly's moan as she was pushed over the edge, her nails biting into Nicole's shoulders. Nicole ignored the pain, instead focusing on the way Waverly's body slowly lost it's rigidity, difusing into a boneless puddle of flesh on the bed as she broke the kiss to brush her lips over flushed cheeks. "You are so beautiful." She commented with a soft chuckle. "So beautifuly… sensitive."

"Asshole!" Waverly laughed, nudging a strong shoulder. "It's been way too long since…" Her eyes fluttered shut as the fingers still inside her pushed deeper just a bit before slowly disappearing. "Hey… put that back…"

Nicole laughed again. "Demanding little thing, aren't you?"

"I wasn't done…"

"You look pretty done to me." Nicole nipped the line of her jaw teasingly. She didn't expect the surge of energy from the compact frame, but she didn't fight it either, allowing herself to be turned over and pinned down, Waverly's body covering her own completely.

"You were saying?"

As devious eyes got closer, Waverly's forehead pressing against her own, Nicole felt the smile spreading across her face. She'd missed the weight of Waverly's body lying atop her own and she wrapped her arm around the toned waist. Her own body was on fire, needing to be touched more than ever, but she had patience. She just enjoyed the moment of sharing the air between them, feeling the lightest of touches tracing the line of her jaw, fingertips sliding down her throat.

"I've missed you so much."

Nicole captured the wandering hand in her own, intertwining their fingers. "Me too."

Waverly smirked, guiding her knee between strong thighs, nudging Nicole's legs apart so she could settle her hips between them just before meeting soft lips in a deep kiss.

Nicole couldn't stop the moan that slipped from her throat. The kiss was far from gentle. It was needy and possessing, more a claiming of her than anything else, and she gasped when Waverly broke the kiss off to move down her body. She wanted to tangle her fingers in brunette hair, to guide the slow desent, but she found first one hand pinned to the bed, and then the other. She felt a soft chuckle against her breast just before soft lips wrapped around her nipple.

Nicole groaned, her hips rocking forward of their own accord, but despite Waverly's own quick unraveling, it was very aparent that her girlfriend had every intention on taking her time, even if it took all night.

By the time they were too tired to continue, intertwined forms still trembling together, it pre-dawn light was illuminating the curtains.

Nicole smiled as she pulled the comforter over their bodies, finding Waverly watching her closely. "Will you hate me if I sleep for the next 12 hours?"

Waverly shook her head, sliding closer with a soft hum. "Never. When are you returning home?"

Reaching up to lazily push long hair behind Waverly's ear, Nicole leaned forward for a quick kiss. "If you mean work, I haven't figured it out yet. The Academy is closed on Monday." She brushed the tip of her nose along the length of Waverly's. "But… if you mean home home… I think I'm already there."

Waverly couldn't help chuckling. "That was so cheesy." She could feel sleep tugging at her as she wiggled a little closer, expelling all air that dared come between their two bodies. "You're lucky you're cute."

"No I'm lucky you're cute." Nicole chuckled, pressing a kiss against Waverly's temple. She didn't tell her about the phone conversation she'd had with the town's Sheriff a week ago, or the quick meeting she'd set up with him since she was in town. There would be time later to discuss that. For now, she was just happy to have the woman she loved falling asleep in her arms, holding her a little too tight and with their heads so close it was making her light headed from the recycled air. It was perfect.

#wayhaught #wynonna earp #smut #lol sorry #celine dion song as fic #wefanfic

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keanuital · 7 years

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In praise of Keanu Reeves, the nicest of meatheads

The Hollywood star has embraced a life without pretensions.

Rolling Stone journalist Chris Heath once asked Keanu Reeves a simple question: why do you act? The star of The Matrix, Speed, Point Break and My Own Private Idaho paused the conversation to consider the matter. And he paused it for a long time. “Forty-two seconds, he says nothing. Not a word, a grunt, a prevarication, or a hint that an answer might come,” wrote Heath. But then an answer did come: “Uh… the words that popped into my head were expression and, uh, it's fun.” When Heath later asked Reeves if he ever wanted to direct, he waited 72 seconds for: “No, not really.”

Both Coco Chanel and George Orwell observed that by 50, we have the face we deserve. The Beirut-born Reeves is now 52 (the same age as Nigel Farage, as tweeters and bored bloggers periodically point out), but he looks pretty much the same as he has always looked: solidly handsome and straightforward, yet somehow vulnerable, like a Boy Scout who wants to do the right thing in a world that doesn’t. Jan de Bont, the director of the 1994 film Speed, called him “an action hero for the Nineties”. By this, I think he meant that, unlike the muscle-bound shit-kickers of the previous decade, a Keanu hero wouldn’t go out of his way to kill for fun. Where Arnold Schwarzenegger could, in Total Recall, shoot the woman he had wrongly believed to be his wife and joke, “Consider this a divorce,” Keanu always seemed somewhat conflicted while taking care of business – as if his eyes were saying, “Sorry it had to be this way.” The Nineties were the age of hunky romantics: Jason Priestley as Brandon in Beverly Hills, 90210, Ethan Hawke in Before Sunrise. Keanu fit that mould. I suppose even guys with guns had to be sensitive.

And even dumb guys, too, with or without guns – for you don’t have to be able to think in order to feel. Reeves began his career describing himself as “a meathead”. “I can’t help it, man,” he said. “You’ve got smart people and you’ve got dumb people. I just happen to be dumb.” He specialised in playing benevolent meatheads, from Ted “Theodore” Logan in Stephen Herek’s Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure to the spaced-out teen Tod Higgins in Ron Howard’s Parenthood (both 1989). Then he traded meathead simplicity for that of the likeable (and, as ever, sensitive) action hero in films such as Speed (1994) and Chain Reaction (1996). The Matrix series followed, as did a few smaller, more indie-ish movies (Thumbsucker, A Scanner Darkly). But the 2014 action film John Wick, whose sequel is in cinemas now, was widely welcomed as a return to form.

Reeves largely plays the assassin of the title as a primitive cinematic archetype, but he can't help but gesture towards something more profound. Wick, in both films of the franchise, is motivated by grief over the death of his wife. (In 2001, Reeves’s girlfriend Jennifer Syme died in a motor accident, a year after losing their child; perhaps the role had a personal resonance for him.) He might stab people in the head with pencils, break necks and shoot guns into crowded rooms like Chow Yun Fat after three espressos, but he’s ultimately a man of feeling.

This narrative of a career of sensitive but slightly dumb simplicity isn’t quite fair on Reeves, however. For he has, on occasion, been capable of delivering complex performances that rank alongside those of his more conventionally actorly peers. In 1991, he held his own opposite River Phoenix in Gus Van Sant’s road movie My Own Private Idaho; he has since appeared opposite Al Pacino as a wily defence attorney (The Devil’s Advocate) and Gene Hackman as a troubled sportsman (The Replacements). He has been directed by film festival favourites such as Francis Ford Coppola (Bram Stoker's Dracula), Bernardo Bertolucci (Little Buddha) and Sam Raimi (The Gift) – if not always successfully.

And he started his career not with excellent dudes, but with Shakespeare. When Reeves was 14 and living in Toronto, he was cast as Mercutio in a local production of Romeo and Juliet. An agent who saw him signed him up and secured for him a string of television roles, which swiftly took him to Hollywood. Reeves’s embarrassingly stilted attempt to portray the evil Don John in Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing (1993) makes me fear the discovery of video footage of that version of Romeo. But the fact that Reeves’s life as an actor began in this way reminds me of his seriousness about his craft. He might not have much range but he has admirable ambition. Many years later, when the studios pressured him to sign on for a Speed sequel, he ran off to play Hamlet in Canada.

In 2011, the New Statesman’s film critic, Ryan Gilbey, observed in the Guardian that Reeves had “some claim to be the most enigmatic, as well as the most warmly adored” actor in Hollywood. That assessment was based in part on the “Sad Keanu” meme that had spread the previous year, in which a paparazzi photograph of Reeves morosely eating a sandwich on a bench led to countless expressions of sympathy online (more than 14,000 people joined a Facebook group called “Cheer Up Keanu”; 200,000 comments about the picture were left on Reddit) and to the declaration by fans of a “Cheer Up Keanu Day”, which apparently takes place every 15 June.

This weird adoration and the sense of enigma surrounding the actor are, I think, closely linked. We know relatively little about Reeves’s off-screen life, which he keeps well guarded, but what we do know suggests qualities that are, for one reason or another, vanishingly rare in entertainment gossip – warm humanity and hidden depths. Hagiographic stories circulate of the actor donating millions of dollars to animal welfare charities and cancer research (his younger sister Kim was diagnosed with leukaemia); of Reeves offering stranded hitchhikers a ride; of a team of stuntmen being surprised with a gift of £6,000 Harley Davidson motorbikes, which he had quietly paid for.

“Money is the last thing I think about,” Hello magazine reported him saying in 2003. Not long earlier, he had reduced his pay by several million dollars so that the producers of The Devil’s Advocate and The Replacements could afford to hire Al Pacino and Gene Hackman, respectively. And, according to ABC News, he “handed over his valuable profit-sharing points” to the special effects and costume design team of the Matrix franchise, which he believed deserved the true credit for its success. (Some place the value of this donation at $50m.) By these accounts, Reeves is most definitely a righteous dude. He’s also a curious one. A few days after the Brexit vote, the New Statesman’s politics editor, George Eaton, was surprised to find him visiting Portcullis House as a guest of the Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi. It was “fittingly surreal”, George told me, and Reeves came across as “courteous” and “modest” when he posed for a group selfie with some of the journalists who happened to be there.

As Reeves’s star rose in the early 1990s, the American men’s magazine Details lamented: “Nearly all celebrities – nearly all people – like to talk about themselves [but] Keanu doesn’t.” I guess it’s frustrating for journalists that someone so clearly interesting should be reticent about telling us about himself.

But I don’t really have to know much about Keanu Reeves to like him, though I’ve never met the guy. And there are things that I can learn from him, too. In Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Alex Winter’s Bill S Preston, Esq., paraphrases Socrates: “The only true wisdom consists in knowing that you know nothing.” To which Reeves’s Ted responds: “That’s us, dude.” That’s them – and every one of us with any sense, if we’re honest. We may think we’re smart and even persuade the people around us that we are. But in the end, most of us are meatheads. Reeves shows in his life and work that meatheads can live good lives, even in the face of disparagement and personal tragedy. Maybe Chanel and Orwell were on to something – he really does have the face he deserves.

NewStatesman

#keanu reeves

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