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mostlywritersblock · 2 years

Text

Arcane FF

Author’s note. This is not a Silco/Powder but more of a trauma induced father-daughter relationship. That being said feel free to read it however you like. Hoping to post on AO3 here soon. I try to update every Monday and Wednesday.

This takes place between Ep 3 and 4

Trigger warnings: trauma, gore, depictions of child death, panic attacks, slight suggestion of suicide.

(I am in no way a medical professional so I apologize if my depictions of medical care are incorrect. Thank you!)

PS. This one has dark themes. Please see the warnings above. If that isn’t your cup of tea please feel free to skip, I promise we’ll get back to the hurt/comfort soon.

Also this chapter is a little longer because I will be visiting family next week, so I’ll only be posting one chapter then instead of two.

Thank you to all who read these btw, I feel like my pre-story notes keep getting longer and longer, sorry!

Part 8.

Part 7. Part 6. Part 5. Part 4. Part 3. Part 2. Part 1.

New series: Aftermath (Silco centered fix-it fic) post every Friday.

=============================================

Powder stared at the toy outstretched toward her.

“…Where did you get that?”

“Does it matter.” ‘Other Powder’ frowned, sitting down beside her. “Now.” She set the toy between them.

“Let’s talk about Vi.”

================================================

The moment he opened his eyes, Silco knew he was dreaming. He was back in the cannery, daylight streaming through. Somehow he felt different. Blinking up and around him he slowly touched his face.

And gasped. He didn’t need to see his reflection to know the scarring was gone.

Stunned he slowly began walking towards the exit leading outside.

Shielding his gaze from the bright light with a hand, he stopped at the entry.

Fresh air greeted him.

“Silco?”

===============================================

“Powder?” ‘Other Powder’ prodded her gently. “Do you wanna go first, or should I?”

She stayed silent, staring down at the toy. The other version of her blew a raspberry.

“Okay, I’ll go first.” She pulled the tory toward her. “Vi was holding us back.”

“What?” Powder frowned glancing at her, “no, why would-“

“Ah, ah! I said I’d go first, you can have your say in a minute.”

She frowned but stayed quiet.

“She didn’t believe in us. Even when she said she did, she didn’t mean it. She never gave us a chance to prove her wrong either.”

‘Other Powder’ slowly pushed the toy back in-between them. “Your turn.”

Powder blinked, gently she pulled the stuffed animal into her arms.

“She did give us a chance to prove her wrong, lots of them. Like the inventor…we just -kept messing up.” Powder squeezed the toy close. “Like we always do.”

===================================================

Silco spun around, but there was no one behind him. Glancing wildly about for signs of another person he stepped further outside.

After a moment of looking, he narrowed his eyes, paranoia creeping up inside him.

“Show yourself!” He growled out, body becoming tense.

Silence.

Quickly becoming frustrated, he marched back inside the cannery -

“Where are you going?” A voice called.

- and stopped. Clenching his fist he stalked back outside, realizing the sun was swiftly setting.

“I said show yourself!” He yelled, anger rising.

A shadow suddenly ran past him.

Momentarily startled, Silco gave chase.

=================================================

‘Other Powder’ pulled at the animals ears as she held the toy. “What happened wasn’t our fault remember. The inventor shouldn’t have even made those things, I mean who does that?” She gave a hard yank, “But Vi blamed us for what happened, and Mylo blamed us for losing the stuff we’d found. But none of that was our fault.”

Powder couldn’t say she necessarily disagreed.

“And that whole speech on the roof, she made it sound like everyone makes mistakes. So why is it that when we do something wrong it’s suddenly; ‘Powder isn’t ready’ and ‘Powder should stay behind.’ Silco is right, if Vi had just taken us with her in the first place, none of this would have happened!”

There was a small ‘rip’ as ‘Other Powder’ gave a particularly hard tug on an ear.

“Oops, uh heh, sorry.” She placed the toy back down.

==================================================

Silco followed the shadow toward the back of the building, night having suddenly fallen. A chill seemed to pick up around him. Feeling uneasy about the entire situation he slowed his pace as the figure dashed down the same alley/tunnel they’d taken the previous night.

What was happening??

“Silco.” The voice eerily beckoned from within the darkness.

He hesitated. Some part of him instinctively telling him not to go any closer. Against his better judgement however, he called out.

“Who are you? Show yourself!”

Suddenly the chill was replaced with an intense heat as an explosion went off behind him, the force of it knocking him forward onto his knees. Whipping his head around he watched as the cannery became alight, fire licking up from the bottom, windows blown open.

Coughing heavily from the fumes, he stumbled back to his feet. Shocked, he watched as the building began to crumble inward on itself, the entire top floor collapsing.

That hadn’t happened

A scream ripped through the air. Silco’s eyes widened, the familiarity of it hitting him full force.

Jinx!

Taking off at a full sprint toward the burning building -

- Silco was painfully yanked back. Struggling against the grip, he moved to shove whoever was holding him away. Only to stop cold.

“Where are you going?” Vander hissed, gripping him tightly.

Stunned, Silco stared back, “Vander?”

“I said where are you going?” The large man growled.

Fumbling for words, Silco glanced at the building as another scream rang out. “Jinx, she needs help.”

Vander frowned, his grip tightening even more if it were possible. “You can’t go in there.”

A weird righteous anger was rising in him as he tried to pull his arm free. “Let go!”

“You’re too late.” Vander spat out. It felt like a slap to the face.

“No! Can’t you hear her, she needs help!” Wrenching his arm finally free he stepped back, but Vander made to grab him again.

“You’ll only make things worse!” Vander yelled. Silco ignored him, choosing instead to race toward the building.

==================================================

“Vi was trying to protect us.” Powder mumbled out, fingers playing with the ripped stitching, the ear hanging on by a thread. “That’s why she told us to stay. But…I wanted to help. I wanted to prove I could be just as good as everyone else. That I could be smart like Mylo, or tough like Claggor and…brave like Vi. That I could be someone Vander would be proud of…”

Wearily, she held the toy out to ‘Other Powder’.

Instead of taking it, she simply put a hand on the stuffed animal’s head. “They’re dead, Powder, we can’t be like them because we aren’t them. And we can’t make someone who isn’t here anymore proud, so why try. Why keep holding onto something that will only bring us pain.”

“The past can’t be changed, why waste time with ‘what ifs’ when it does more harm than good. The sooner you understand that, the better.”

Powder blinked. “What did you say?”

“I said I think it’s time we move on.”

======================================================

Silco hesitated as he reached the building, eyes scanning the area for any signs of movement.

“Jinx!” He yelled. The smoke making it difficult to see anything.

A scream came again, but not near the flames; further away this time. Confused he stepped back, following the sound once more to the side of the building.

“Help me!” She screeched.

Silco rounded the corner, Jinx coming into sight as he did so.

Just like the night before.

Only this time she wasn’t alone. There was another figure standing next to her.

Swiftly moving toward the child he felt himself stumble as his eyes grew wide. It wasn’t some figure; it was him.

Silco watched himself crouch down, Jinx sobbing a mere foot away. Time seemed to slow. It was surreal, seeing himself from afar like this.

He waited.

Waited for the child to fling herself at him, for him to drop the knife in surprise. To decide to take her with him.

But as the seconds dragged on, the chill from before returned.

“Please!” Jinx cried, “help me!”

Silco took a hesitant step forward.

Why wasn’t it playing out like it had the night before? Why was-

The Silco near Jinx pulled out the knife.

Jinx didn’t notice him though; instead she glanced over his shoulder, right at Him.

Silco felt his stomach drop.

“Help me!” She screamed.

He ran. Fully prepared to knock into the other version of himself -

-the version of himself that was bringing the knife down on the child.

“NO!”

=====================================================

“I can’t just…move on.” Powder grumbled out, “they’re my family.”

“Correction. Were, they were your family.” ‘Other Powder’ scooted closer, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Look, I’m not saying we should forget them, I’m just saying maybe we stop dwelling on the past? If Vi really cares, she’ll come back, right? So why don’t we just enjoy our time until then.”

Powder scrunched up her face, “enjoy our time?”

“Yeah, I mean have you even thought about the possibilities now that we don’t have Vander telling us what to do and where to go? Or Vi breathing down our necks every time we want to explore the city. We’re free Powder. We can do whatever we want now!” She stood excitedly. “We can say whatever we want, eat whatever we want, take whatever -“

“Yeah, but, what about Silco?”

“…What about him?”

Powder fiddled with the stuffed animal. “Don’t you think he’ll have rules too?”

“Sure, all adults do.”

“Then…we’re not really free are we?” Powder frowned deeply.

‘Other Powder’ folded her arms. “He’s different though.”

“How do you mean?”

“He made us a sandwich and let us eat those muffins. You think Vander would have let us do that?”

Powder was about to say ‘yes, yes he would’ but was cut off.

“Besides…he gets us.” Then softer, “he gets me.”

Powder looked at herself in confusion. “You? But we’re the same?”

‘Other Powder’ looked down. There was something - off - about her gaze. “I told you. I’m better than you.”

Powder felt the floor give a small shake, distracting her from the ‘Other Powder’s’ implication. Oh no! I’m doing it again! She quickly covered her face. Despair creeping in around her.

===========================================================

Warning. Graphic depictions of gore and child death, skip to next line break.

No matter how hard he tried. He couldn’t reach her. Some unseen force was holding him back. Helpless he watched.

He watched as a version of himself repeatedly brought the knife down, easily tearing through the child. Her screams still echoing in his ears.

She was dead by the third strike. Silco had seen the light leave her eyes; that odd shade of blue and violet and face wet from her tears, frozen in time.

There was blood. Everywhere, and as sick as the sight made him he couldn’t rip his gaze away. For some reason he felt as though he needed to see this, needed witness what might have happened. Too see just how monstrous he could have been.

And in not saving her, he owed her. He owed her to see it through.

Hands stained red, he watched himself shakily stand.

“I told you.”

Both Silcos turned around.

“You’ll only make things worse.” Vander walked up beside him.

Silco was unable to respond, instead he looked back at the child.

“You know.” The other Silco spoke up, looking at Vander. “I couldn’t just let her walk away. I need The Lanes support, how would it look if word got out that I’d killed you?”

“You’re not my only enemy Silco. Remember that.” Vander growled back. “There may not be any war, but the battle for Zaun has only just begun. Are you ready for that kind of responsibility.”

The other Silco snarled. “I’ve been ready for years! You were the one who was never ready!”

“I did what I thought was right!”

“As did I!”

Vaguely Silco realized the two had continued to yell insults at each other, ignoring both, he slowly made his way over to the child.

The fire was beginning to spread, it’s blaze casting long shadows on her face. Eerily, it gave the appearance she was still breathing.

Kneeling heavily beside her, he gently reached out, hands shaking.

She was still warm. Silco felt bile rise up, turning away from her he emptied his stomach.

How.

How could he have considered killing her.

A child.

Shame, horror, anger, he didn’t know what to feel. He was disgusting. A true monster.

Guilt.

…her siblings had been children too, not nearly so young, but he hadn’t given them a second thought the moment they’d came for Vander.

He felt guilty.

He’d wanted Vander to understand. To make him realize; to see that all he’d wanted was for the Underground to be as great as he knew it to be. What was so terrible about that?

But Vander didn’t see, and so he’d set out to make him understand and in doing so, he’d destroyed this girl’s family. In doing so he’d broken her.

Just like him.

A broken.

Twisted.

Vile.

Monster.

He felt the disfigurement return to his face.

Slowly he turned back to her.

========================================================

“Whoa! Did you feel that!” ‘Other Powder’ exclaimed, when the floor finally stopped shaking.

“How do I stop this, I don’t what to make another hole.” Powder worried aloud, standing as well.

“Actually - that one wasn’t you.”

Powder looked at her in confusion. “What? I thought you said I made the hole, that I’m controlling this dream, or whatever.” She folded her arms, face becoming pensive.

“Right, yeah, and you did. But just now…that might have been me.” ‘Other Powder’ said sheepishly.

“So you’re controlling my dream now?”

“Our dream. And sure, but only because you’re letting me.”

Powder was quickly becoming frustrated. “What do you mean? You keep changing what you’re saying.”

“Yeah, because you keep changing the rules!”

Powder froze. “What rules?”

‘Other Powder’ let out her own frustrated sigh. “Whatever you want, usually we just follow whatever someone else tells us. But these last few days, we’ve been following less and less, and it’s been great! We’re leaders Powder, not followers! Why should we have to listen to anyone else!”

Powder glanced around the room, had it always been this dark? “Look, I don’t - I don’t really understand any of this -“

“Of course you don’t!” ‘Other Powder’ hissed, mood instantly turning sour. “You’ve been too busy trying be someone you're not that you’ve never even noticed me!”

“But you are me!” She yelled, anger and a small bit of fear lacing her words.

The room suddenly felt like it was closing in around them.

What was happening??

‘Other Powder’ glared at her.

“For the last time. I’m not you, I’m -“

“Better, yeah, I heard you the first time!” Powder snarked but still moving away, “how can you though, if this is my dream, how are you better than me.” She snatched the stuffed animal off the floor. “And - and if I’m in control then I should get to decide what happens next.”

‘Other Powder’ looked confused. “What?”

“You’re scaring me.” Powder stated, holding the toy close. “I don’t want to be here anymore. I want to wake up.”

Taking a step closer, ‘Other Powder’ reached out, “wait, don’t go, we still have so much more to talk about.”

Powder looked down at the pit from earlier. “I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”

‘Other Powder’ flinched back, actually looking hurt. “You don’t mean that.”

“I do.”

“Powder, please-“

“No.” Fearfully she looked between the hole and her other self.

‘Other Powder’ narrowed her eyes. “You can’t leave, not yet.”

“I’m sorry.”

‘Other Powder’ frowned. “Why are you-“

Powder rushed her, and in one giant push, she shoved the other version of herself back toward the hole.

“What are you doing!” ‘Other Powder’ screeched, nails digging into her.

“I’m sorry!” She cried out again, eyes watering.

‘Other Powder’ looked over her own shoulder, just as her heels dropped over the edge of the pit. She began to fall backwards. Reaching out she latched onto the stuffed toy.

They stood for a moment. ‘Other Powder’ balancing on the tips of her toes and hanging by the ears of the toy. Powder standing firm as she stared into the eyes of her other self.

“Don’t do this.” ‘Other Powder’ breathed out. “You need me. You won’t survive without me.”

“You’re wrong.”

“I’m not, Powder listen to me-“

“No. Not about that. About Vi. You said she was holding us back. You’re wrong.”

The stuffed animals’s ear gave another small rip, the tether breaking, ’Other Powder immediately tipping back.

Powder snatcher her hand at the last second.

“I - I knew you wouldn’t let me fa-“

“You’re holding me back.” Powder stated.

Then let go.

‘Other Powder’ stared back in momentary shock, before letting out a chilling scream as she fell.

Powder watched as the pit consumed her.

===================================================

Silco held her close. The heat from the fire getting awfully near now.

He didn’t feel it though. And if he did, he didn’t care.

He couldn’t - put into words - couldn’t describe everything he was feeling in that moment. How could a dream be so reveling of one’s emotions?

And yet.

Here he was. Unable to move, unable to detach himself from her small body.

He didn’t cry, didn’t scream in anger. But he felt it. Felt how much this child had changed him in the span of a day. Imagine what she could do in a week, a month, a year?

He heard soft footsteps approach.

“If you don’t move soon, you’ll both go up with the flames.” Vander said, strangely emotionless.

Silco wanted to shout at him, wanted to ask him how he could just stand there. Did he not care? Wasn’t she like a daughter to him?

This was a dream.

Calming slightly he tried to rationalize the situation, but there was no point. Perhaps if he let the fire get them he’d wake up.

Maybe he wouldn’t.

Maybe he wouldn’t wake ever again.

Something about that thought settled and unsettled him.

It was getting hotter.

“Silco.” Vander warned.

She, was getting hotter

What the hell?

“Silco, get out of there!”

He looked up, surprised to hear the fear in Vander’s voice, but he was gone.

“Sir, wake up!”

What?

His hands and arms were burning, the child was burning; still he didn’t let go.

“Silco!”

Silco’s eye shot open, Sevika’s worried gaze hovering nearby. Immediately he bean to sit up, but was hindered by a weight on his chest. Looking down he found the child clinging to him.

Alive.

She was alive.

The relief he felt in the moment was once again - embarrassing. He needed to get a grip, and fast.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, his tired brain trying to play catch-up.

“I think we should get her back into the tub.” Sevika was already heading toward the tap.

Silco looked back down at the child, quickly realizing that the heat hadn’t been from the fire in his dream; she was burning up again. Sweat was covering the child’s face, her hair matted down. She was paler than before.

He carefully slid them out of the bed and kneeled beside the tub. Gently he placed her inside. She was still sleeping it seemed, but the jerky movements she made showed just how restless she was.

Sevika stood, looking between the two of them. “I’ll get the doctor, keep her in the tub until we get back.”

Silco nodded, eyes not leaving Jinx.

He heard the door shut behind her.

==================================================

There was a stillness. A deafening silence as Powder stood above the pit. For a moment she felt good, like an unknown weight had lifted.

Then she saw it.

A small, trickling of sand.

It dusted onto her head. Glancing up she watched as small amounts seeped in through cracks in the ceiling.

Strange.

Then she felt it.

A pain so sharp it brought her to her knees. It tightened around her chest, strangling, squeezing. She couldn’t breath. All at once she was too hot and too cold.

The pit grew wider.

Fearfully she scrambled back, but the pit only continued to grow, the sand quickly filling up what space was left within the room.

“No, no, no” She whispered, too afraid to break the strange silence.

There was nowhere to go. The window she’d come through earlier, gone. Horrified she watched as the pit grew ever closer, sand now falling in as well.

She was going to die.

Or fall into an endless darkness.

She wasn’t sure which was worse.

“Wake up, wake up!” She tried pinching herself. “Come on!” Letting out a frustrated scream, she tossed herself against the nearest wall, “wake up!”

She tried again, and again, and again. Her shoulder beginning to ache. The pain in her chest not letting up.

“Wake up, please, wake up!”

She was running out air, out of time.

“I’m supposed to be in control, then. Wake. Up!” Shakily she slapped herself. Feet slipping in the sand, she got on her knees. She pressed herself as close to the wall as she could get, the pit only a foot or so away now.

“Please,” she begged. “Please, wake up, stop this, please.”

The pit didn’t listen and in the next moment she felt her legs drop out from under her; she didn’t even have a chance to let out a scream before sand and darkness consumed her.

distantly someone was laughing.

#silco #arcane silco #powder #powder arcane #vi arcane #sevika arcane #arcane #jinx arcane #powder is traumatized #this is a dark one #let me start off by saying I listened to my favorite things by mary j blige #and carol of the bells by john williams for inspiration during this #I know that sounds weird but here you go #it's the holidays after all #anyway #everyone is working through their trauma in this chapter #dreams I find are a good way for the conscious to air out its dirty laundry in the unconscious #silco is going through some major conflicting emotions #will he learn from them #eh #powder is smarter than I think a lot of us give her credit for but her naivety gets in the way often #I think powder is also showing early warning signs for mental illness #silco too but that's another series of tags I don't want to write #sevika is just out here trying her best #she really doesn't get paid enough #these chapters are the foundation for silco and powder's relationship #if things seemed rushed that's only because I'm a firm believer silco and powder bonded early on #they still have a strong relationship but things have calmed #as always you guys are amazing <3 #thanks for reading! :)

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lovelyirony · 4 years

Note

Made up fic title: Bleed out my love for you

special thanks to @angxlsgrxce for coming up with the idea for this one!

Tony sacrifices time and time again. It’s familiar, his story, honestly.

Bucky knows it. Ever since he was brought back and placed in the tower and was observing everything, he knew.

It’s so apparent.

Not just because he knows about the Attack on New York, not just because of Ultron. The previous events before the Avengers were even a team speak volumes.

And then. In smaller ways.

In the way that Tony pours the last of the coffee for Natasha, in the way that he doesn’t prefer ordering Thai food, but will anyway because Thor wants to try it.

In how he lets Bucky into the building, into personal space. Even though their history together is not ideal at all.

Self-sacrifice isn’t always a grand gesture. Sometimes it’s pushing yourself back again and again.

Tony’s been pushing himself back for years, it appears.

The curious thing about it is that he doesn’t seem to want to take care of himself. Bucky knows the feeling, even indulged a few times. (A few times too many, but hey. Not important.)

So he starts on a new goal: treat Tony with kindness.

This starts off about as smooth as a damn asteroid belt, because Tony is very confused about when there’s a steaming mug of coffee waiting for him, when Bucky asks him about his day.

It’s suspicious.

Because as sad as it is, and as much as Tony doesn’t want to admit it, people aren’t nice to him unless they want something.

The only people that defy this rule are the Originals: Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy.

And he lets them be nice to him, because they have essentially bullied him into accepting their gifts and kindnesses and the occasional “you have to come with me” when they fix lunch.

Bucky is not part of this.

Far from it, for the most part.

So Tony assumes that he’s trying to get something, and that kind of makes him angry.

He doesn’t like it when people try to get something from him. He’d rather they just ask, not do all of this under-handed shit to try and butter him up.

So he confronts Bucky. No use in having it continue. He doesn’t need someone to attempt to fix him breakfast or ask him if he wants to come to team dinner or make coffee. It’s ridiculous.

He doesn’t want to be rude about it. They still have to be a team.

But. There’s something that has to be done to let him know that it won’t be happening.

So Bucky is summoned to the lab, and maybe Tony’s a little nervous.

“Um, did you want something?” Bucky asks.

“I just wanted to talk to you about something for a quick sec,” Tony says. “It’s about what you’ve been doing lately.”

“Is this about the coffee thing?”

“It’s about more than that thing,” Tony says. “I’m going to be honest with you, James, I don’t like when people try to do things because they want something.”

Bucky doesn’t speak for a moment. Then two moments.

James.

Tony only uses real names when he’s upset. So that?

“Tony, I-”

“It’s okay, but I’d rather you ask next time if you want something,” Tony says, and he looks so tired.

“No, that’s not what-”

“It’s okay, fine really. I just don’t like empty favors. That’s it. I don’t want this to be awkward, so sorry? But I said what I said, and you’re free to go now.”

It isn’t a suggestion. It’s a command, and Bucky follows it with his head down and his cheeks burning.

There are two feelings running through his mind right now:

Irritation that Tony thinks that Bucky was doing this to gain something.

Sadness that this is what Tony has to think. He has to think that people want something, because when don’t they?

So Bucky’s kept his distance. He’s still been turning on the coffee machine, although he makes sure that it never is him that’s seen.

He still sees that Tony gives and gives and sometimes the world is on his shoulders, and there’s so much tiredness in the way he moves.

Bucky knows a little bit about how tiredness works.

He swears Jarvis to secrecy.

“I do not think that Sir would mind if you explained.”

“I don’t think he’d really believe my explanation, Jarvis. But thank you.”

“Very well, Sergeant Barnes. Would you like me to send you a list of his likes and dislikes?”

“Yes.”

“Very well. Anything else I can get for you?”

“Actually, I do need one question answered. How does he feel about fun socks?”

“I believe he’d be amenable.”

“Thanks.”

Tony doesn’t know why it persists.

Bucky-James-knows that he’s not getting anything. Tony won’t do it.

So he doesn’t understand why there’s still coffee and why he still is doing nice things.

“Maybe he’s genuinely trying,” Rhodey tells him when they get their lunch.

“Or maybe it’s the long-con,” Pepper says, slurping on her smoothie. “You don’t know what happens when there’s a long-con.”

“I don’t think so,” Tony says. “I mean don’t get me wrong, you are right so many times, but James...I think he’d know. I mean, it’s not like only the Winter Soldier learned stealth.”

“You’re calling him James?”

“Yes.”

“Weird,” Rhodey remarks.

“How is that weird?”

“You only call people you dislike by their first name, or if they think you’re annoying.”

Tony pauses.

“How have I not noticed that?”

“You don’t notice a lot of things. Remember how I cheated you out of so much money in college by cheating cards?”

“You manipulated and wounded me,” Tony said with a sigh.

Rhodey snorts.

“I did no such thing, cupcake, you were just under the assumption that I was going to be nice to you for all time. You should’ve assumed something else.”

“Like what?”

“Like sometimes, people just want to help you,” Rhodey says. “Jarvis updated me on what was going on.”

“People don’t help me,” Tony says, scowling. “Except for you, Pep, and Hap. Anyone else is just...that’s just weird.”

“You’re just not used to people genuinely not wanting to screw you over,” Pepper says, taking her smoothie cup to the sink. “And Bucky doesn’t want to do that. I think if he was going to do it to anyone, it’d probably be Steve or something.”

“Aren’t they best friends?”

“I tend to zone out any time you talk about the Avengers,” Pepper says, knowing damn well that she hangs onto every word so that she and Phil can go out for their monthly coffee dates.

“You are the worst at lying.”

“Not as bad as you,” Pepper sing-songs. “Or were we all supposed to believe that you genuinely liked Marie’s new cardigan?”

“Listen, you can’t say anything mean to Marie, she’s Marie. She baked me cookies because I frowned once on a Wednesday.”

“I’m in love with her,” Happy sighs. “I wish she baked me cookies.”

“Then quit being awkward and go in there and get her,” Pepper says. “Honestly, Happy, you can be a catch when you try and don’t rely on your tough-guy appearance.”

“Besides, every single employee of SI knows that you love Downton Abbey.”

“Why do they know that?!”

“I am. Admittedly,” Pepper starts, “a completely awful office-gossip. It’s in my blood, I think.”

“You’re the worst.”

“You only say that because you can’t go to Pilates with me this week.”

“Not my fault you have it on a weird time on Thursdays!”

“I can’t please everyone, Hap.”

Tony snorts, chewing a bit of the bread set out on the table.

“Hmph.”

This is thought-provoking.

Because maybe, just maybe James is being a nice person. This is a brand new thought to Tony, of course.

“I could have told you that from the beginning, Sir.”

“Well, we all have our faults,” Tony says breezily. “And J, I would not have listened at the beginning. You’re a learning AI.”

“You think I haven’t learned something after more than thirty years in functional use?”

“No, of course not. Don’t be daft.”

“I shall try my hardest, Sir. But I do not know how I could ever compete with you.”

“Hey!”

He watches James a bit more after that.

He’s a quiet sort of guy, never really saying anything unless it’s a quip or an opinion about dinner. (He hates anything with eggplant in it.)

James isn’t watching for anything, save for the other shoe to drop. God Tony is familiar with that.

So Tony does what he does best, and surprises people.

Bucky is not sure why he’s in the lab, again. Well, he might be sure. He’s still leaving coffee out, still getting some sort of fun fruity snack for Tony. He��s still being nice, and Tony has maybe noticed?

(Probably, if Jarvis has been intuitive enough to keep recommending different online shops for Bucky’s addiction to looking at novelty-everything.)

Tony faces him and yeah hi, those arms are nice to look at.

“So it appears that I have been in the wrong,” Tony says. “Because you were being nice.”

“But you were right to not trust me. For a lot of reasons.”

“And you should’ve just tossed me out the window,” Tony says. “Or I should’ve been more...trusting. Ugh. Words suck.”

Bucky laughs.

“Luckily, coffee doesn’t need words, and I have some brewing upstairs. If you still like that sort of thing.”

“If you still like that sort of thing,” Tony mocks. “I was out of the womb addicted to coffee, I’ll have you know, James.”

Bucky snorts.

"Rhodey’s already told me the story of you getting used to it in college and referring to it as a ‘necessary evil’.”

“Jarvis, leave me a reminder to kill Rhodey-darling,” Tony says.

“I will do no such thing,” Jarvis responds just as easily. “But I will let him know you leave your regards.”

“He didn’t even help build you and he’s your favorite,” Tony grumbles.

Bucky laughs.

“To coffee we go, Tony.”

Over the course of time, they become closer. Bucky knows Tony’s coffee by heart, and Tony knows exactly which pastry to save at official meetings when Bucky comes in late.

“You know if you came in on time, Tony wouldn’t have to guard your pastry like an overzealous attack dog,” Steve says, leveling a look.

Bucky smiles fondly.

“But then how I would i know I liked an overzealous attack dog?” he asks. “Thanks, doll.”

Tony stills for a moment.

Oh, he liked that.

“Anything for you, James.”

James. But in a good context. He...he could get used to that.

Tony does slowly start to do nice things back to Bucky.

And maybe. Maybe it’s nice to do nice things for him. Maybe he loves seeing that calm little smile, he likes bringing James’s hair into a bun and twisting one strand down, and James will leave it there.

It’s the fact that James sees when he’s tired, when the world is tilting a bit.

When he goes into the lab and sits there, not saying anything but choosing the music and cooking food and helping when Pepper and Rhodey can’t.

Telling him about something he found during the day that he liked. Like how he found a Queen album that he shouldn’t have spent money on, but he loved the songs on it.

How he tells him all about the new cooking thing he tried.

How at the end of the day, James will smile at him and it feels like it’s coming home after a long journey.

How they lean on each other, how Tony gets him the best sort of hot chocolate at night, and they look at each other and there’s nothing that needs to be said.

It’s simple, how love works sometimes. And how complicated humanity can make it.

But Tony won’t.

No, he takes James’s hand in his after a long mission, one that has muscles stretched out and eyes tired and bodies leaning on each other.

“Come to bed with me,” he murmurs.

“Are you sure?”

“Darling, nothing’s surer than you.”

It is not a grand love confession. It is not pouring rain, clinging button-downs, smiles across the room that mean the world and then the universe.

It is simple, and it is boring.

And Tony loves it.

#lovelyirony writes #i just. really like this #i like how pepper was just immediately LONG CON MISSION. IT'S THAT ONE #true ally #tony stark #bucky barnes #winteriron #pepper potts #rhodey #happy hogan

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txylorwrjtes · 4 years

Text

I’ve got you, sweetheart: Part 3

Pairing: Dean x reader

Warning(s): Mentions of abuse, angst, fluff, reader has brain damage, self hatred, self doubt, Dean has a breakdown

Character(s): Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Mary Winchester, Y/N Y/L/N

Summary: Your mother marries an extremely abusive man, who abuses you to the point you get brain damage. You have a hard time with speech and learning all of the things you already learned before, but you have Dean by your side to help you every step of the way.

Word count: 1,861

Previous part || I’ve got you, sweetheart masterlist

The week for Dean has passed by after continuously taking care of you. He had checked you out of the hospital and brought you back to the bunker. He had carried you into the library, where everyone was spending their time. All of their eyes trailed over towards you as Dean settled you into one of the comfy chairs in the room. Once you were settled, he crouched down in front of you. "Is there anything you want, sweetheart?" He asked you. He had spent a little bit of time each day through out the week in the hospital trying to get you to say words that were simple. You always struggled, but he knew what you were trying to say. "Are you cold?"

All you could do was slowly nod your head yes to answer his question as you shivered. You opened your mouth to speak, "J-.." you were trying to say the word, 'Juice', but you found yourself struggling all over again. "J-.." You tried once again, but failed. You could feel tears pricking at your eyes as you balled your hand into fists again. Your brain still hurt. The words you had learned throughout the years growing up were now jumbled up in your mind, making it harder for you to speak.

Tears streamed down your face and Dean's face fell into a saddened expression as he reached a hand to your face, wiping away the tears with the pad of his thumb before his hand dropped down to hold your own. "Oh, baby.. it's okay." He reassured you. You were doing just fine. But he knew that the frustration of not being able to speak properly was what was making you emotional. Luckily, he knew what you were trying to say. "You want juice?" He asked. You slowly nodded your head yes again. "Okay, I will go get you some juice and a warm blanket. And then I will come back and I will hold you."

You didn't respond to what he said. You just stared past him and to the other side of the library. Dean gave your hand a gentle squeeze before he let go and got onto his feet. He left the library and headed for the kitchen, where he had gotten your favorite kind of juice from the fridge. He then made his way over to one of the cabinets and opened it up, searching through it for the straws.

As he was doing so, he could hear footsteps behind him. He turned his head to see that his mother was standing there, a concerned look on her face. "How are you holding up, honey?" She asked her son, making her way up to him and rubbing his back in a comforting way. "I know this must be hard."

Dean finally got to the package of straws and took one out, plopping it right into the bottle of juice as he let out a sigh. He didn't realize he was crying until he sniffled. "Not too great." He mumbled underneath his breath. He felt as though it was his fault you were in this situation. He wanted to take your pain away, he wanted to take your damaged brain and switch it with his for however long it takes to heal. "I shouldn't have left her there all by herself, mom. I should've stayed. Or I should've just taken her with me to the cops." Dean's jaw tightened as he found himself growing angry with himself. His hand balled up into a fist and he pounded onto the counter. "God, I'm so stupid!"

Dean couldn't help himself. He slammed the cabinet shut. But when it opened back up again from how hard he pushed onto it, he found himself beating at it, heart wrenching sobs wracked through his whole body as his mother pulled him back, into a tight hug. She shushed her son as they both fell to the floor with him in her arms. "You are not stupid!" She told her son. "You did what you thought was right and I know that deep down-.. Y/N would be proud. She's so lucky to have you. This will get better, sweetheart, I promise you."

The sobs that were escaping Dean slowly came to a calming point. He just stared at the cabinets below the counter as tears just rolled down his face. He was tired of spending his nights hating himself over the situation you were now being put through. All that came out of his mouth was one word turned into a question. "When?"

Mary shrugged her shoulders at his question. "I don't know." She admitted. She wanted to give her son a piece of advice that would help himself get through this and hopefully something he can pass on to you when you start to question things. "But everything takes time. And time is what helps people heal."

~~~

After being held himself for a while by his mother, Dean had grabbed a hold of the juice he had gotten for you and made his way back to the library with a blanket he had gotten from the supply closet. He noticed that nobody else was in the library. The lights were off except for the lights in the library. Sam must have gone to bed and Castiel must have gone to the mancave to binge watch whatever show he was watching on Netflix, leaving the both of you alone.

You were still staring towards the other side of the room until you heard footsteps. You slowly turned your head to see Dean walking towards you with the bottle of juice you wanted and the blanket he promised to get. He set the bottle of juice on the small table situated near the chair. He then lifted you from the chair all before sitting himself down with you in his lap.

He placed the blanket on top of the both of you, making sure you were warm enough before he reached over to the juice bottle. He helped you get the straw into your mouth and let you begin drinking until you didn't want it anymore.

When you didn't, he set it back down onto the table, he placed his hand on your side as he reached for a book, grabbing one from the bookcase that was a couple of inches away from the two of you. "I want to read to you." He said as he opened the book to the first page. The cover read 'It ends with us.' He held the book up with his right hand. "To help you with pronouncing your words."

Given the warmth of his hands against your clothed skin, you slowly reached out your hand and clamped it around your boyfriend's right wrist, slowly bringing it down to your lap before bringing it to your right side, the one that was bruised. The warmth of his hand somehow eased your pain of the bruises. He wondered why you did that for a moment, but when he saw the relief on your face, he suddenly knew why. You wanted his hand there.

So he kept it there, slowly moving his hand underneath your shirt so it would come in direct contact with your skin. From there, Dean began to read the book in his hands. He read to her, letting all of the words sink into your mind. And in that moment, he realized that not only did you need him through all of this, he also needed you. He needed to know you were safe and this time, for good.

Dean Winchester knew that everything took time. And he was going to use this time to help you. He was going to be there for you every step of the way.

He gently pressed his head against the side of your own as he read to you. It was soothing for the both of you. It took sometime for you to process the things he was saying, reading off from the book and you couldn't read well anymore, but you could still listen. You closed your eyes as you listened to the words coming off of the page.

You could remember things, and one of those things you could remember was how much you loved reading and writing stories of your own. You could feel your heart breaking at not being able to that anymore. At least, not for a while.

For now, you were just going to have to take time processing the words you hear and take time getting your speech back.

Dean could almost sense that you were getting tired and he had left the book and the now empty bottle of juice to carry you to his bedroom. He would clean everything up in the morning, but as for now, you were both tired.

When he got to his bedroom with you in his arms, he made his way over to the bed and gently laid you onto it. He laid the blanket you had in the library on top of you before walking back to the door and quietly shutting it tight. He kicked off his shoes and removed his jeans, leaving him in his boxers and his t-shirt.

He crawled into the empty space on the bed next to you as you turned around to face him, he covered himself up the blanket.

You both laid there in silence for a few minutes. All up until you slowly reached out to touch the bridge of your boyfriend's nose, slowly running your finger down to the tip of it.

Dean's lips stretched into a smile as he let out a light chuckle. "That's my nose, sweetheart." He told you, reaching his own hand out and running his fingers along your arm. Your finger trailed down to his mouth, where you ran your finger along his lips. "Those are my lips." He said, fluttering his eyes shut as your finger came up to his eye. You ran your finger along his one eyelid. "These are my eyes. And these.." He gently moved your hand to one of his ears, leaving it there for a moment, he held her hand. "These are my ears. And each one of these has a purpose. My nose is to help me breathe and to smell the good things and the bad things. My eyes are to help me see, and they let me see your beautiful face every day. My ears are to listen, to hear. Music, television, your voice. And my lips.." Dean paused for a moment, leaning his neck forward a bit to place a kiss to your cheek. "My lips are to give you kisses and to smile or frown. They help me talk. Because without my lips, every word I try to say would be muffled."

You took your time processing what all he had to say. You could feel tears running down your face again as you scooted closer to the man, nuzzling into him.

Dean wrapped you into his arms, his eyes fluttering shut as he held you. You both found yourselves falling asleep from the silence that filled the room.

~~~

Next part || I’ve got you, sweetheart masterlist

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saharamae21 · 4 years

Text

Vapor (Part 12)

Hey y’all. Sorry for not updating Vapor the past few days. I needed some time to think about where I wanted this to go. It was a good time to refresh and go into it with a clear head!

Word Count: 1.6K

Warnings: Mentions of Drugs and Abuse

______________________________________________

The accident sounded way worse than it was. John was released from the hospital and now we all sat quietly at The Wreck. I, of course, was a little worried. I was scared if the Pogues would welcome me back the same way they had treated me when I left. I did abandon them. They all smiled though. They told me they were glad to see me and that they hoped I got everything figured out. JJ slung his arm over my shoulder and I smiled. They were so nice to me and I couldn’t figure out why.

Then we were off. The conversation turned useful pretty quickly and we sped off to the old forts. We had to find where the old stone wall was. I stood on top of the hill, trying to imagine where it would be when JJ crept up behind me. He wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on my shoulder. The warmest of feelings filled me whenever this boy was around, my own personal ray of sunshine.

From the forts, we drove in the directions of the wall. We were on this gravel road that I remembered a little too well. Why did this seem so familiar? I grabbed JJ’s dab pen and took a hit of it while laying in his arms. I exhaled towards the roof of the van, receiving protests from Pope in the front seat. JJ chuckled and pulled me in for a sloppy kiss. His eyes were so dilated and huge. They were so pretty. I heard Kie dry heave next to us as JJ moved from my lips down my neck. I pushed him off and took another hit, needing the high. The nicotine ran through my body like electricity, giving me energy and fulfilling my needs. I let out my vapor again, this time breathing it in JJ’s direction.

“God, that’s hot,” he whispered deeply in my ear. I bit my lip and handed him back his pen. He took a hit of his own before returning his attention to me. “I could watch you smoke all day.”

We took a sharp left and then a stone wall came into view. Our stomachs churned as we got out and realized where we were. We stood in front of the Crain house. We all knew the rumors of what happened here. We all knew that it was the worst case scenario. Without much hesitation we snuck onto the property. This was 400 million in gold we were talking about. We couldn’t stop here. I walked through the garden, holding JJ’s hand as we went. I listened to John say he didn’t really believe the stories of this place. I did though. I listened to Kie joke around, causing JJ to speak up. He started telling us about how it was all true and how Mrs. Crain’s daughter used to babysit him. I listened to him tell his story and felt a sick feeling in my stomach.

Murder was not my favorite subject, so to say. I was definitely on edge and JJ knew it. He kissed the top of my head and pulled me into his arms. I listened to him whisper an apology and I told him I was fine. Then John told us that we needed to look for water and we decided to split up. Kiara walked away first. She was upset about the whole Sarah Cameron thing as she should be. John followed after her. Pope told us to take one section and he would go the other way.

“The decapitation quadrant,” JJ muttered. I swallowed hard and grabbed tightly onto his arm. He ruffled my hair and told me he’d protect me.

I was almost relieved when we found nothing. The whole area we checked had no sign of water and I let out a sigh of relief. JJ pulled me into his arms and held me tightly. He knew how much anxiety this had given me and just wanted to make sure I was alright. Just when my anxiety had drained away I heard John B call out.

“Hey, psst! Hey, come on. It's the only place we haven't looked,” John B said, crouching in front of what looked like a cellar entrance. We walked over. I shook a little as I looked at it. I was not going into the basement. I couldn’t do it. JJ told me he would be right next to me, but it didn’t help. This was all too much. My inhales became sharp and JJ told me I didn’t have to come. He told me to stay and keep watch. I nodded and stayed outside the door. I listened to them bickering back and forth inside. I wanted to know what was going on, but I couldn’t bring myself to go in. I listened to Kie and John arguing and closed my eyes. I wanted to be with my friends. What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I do it? It was just a cellar…

When they came back out, Kie was silent. John was raving about a plan with Pope. But JJ, he came straight to me. He kissed me sweetly and wiped the tears from my eyes. I could tell that he knew I was upset with myself. He pulled me into his arms and whispered how proud he was. He whispered to me that I was strong and that it was a working progress. He told me that I shouldn’t push myself too much.

After that I felt pretty tired. We went back to the chateau and I plopped down in the spare room. JJ laid down next to me and pulled me into his chest. The smell of weed and mint filled my lungs. As soon as he had his arms around me, the bad energy drained out of me. He was better than any chemical I could put into myself. I closed my eyes and drifted off.

This wasn’t my usual dream… This is home. I was in my room on The Cut. It was small and there wasn’t much in it. It was later in the day, probably around 8pm. I heard a knock at the door and ran over to get it. I used to love greeting people. When I opened the door, JJ was in front of me. His blonde hair was sticking to his forehead from sweat. Blood dripped down his face and onto our welcome mat. “JJ!” I yelled and tried to wipe the blood off of him. He pushed my hands away.

“You’ll get dirty, Addie. Stop,” he said. I let him in and he was just going to freshen up in the bathroom, but my mom saw him. She knelt down in front of him and tears filled his eyes. Whenever my parents were nice to him, it would trigger waterworks from the boy. He didn’t know what kindness was. My mom helped him clean up and gave him a cupcake that we had for dessert. I remember him smiling and eating it happily. I remember him coming back, day after day, bloodied and bruised. Why hadn’t I done anything for him sooner?

I woke up and he was peacefully asleep next to me. He’s had the same expression in his sleep his whole life. It was innocent and adorable. I laid there and admired him for a second until I heard John B call for JJ. I leaned over JJ and placed small kisses all over his face. He woke up, smiling. He pulled me into a kiss. One of the kinds that make you not want to leave bed. I pulled away and told him that John B wanted him. My guess is that he needed JJ to go get Pope or Kie. We walked out of the room and JJ went to JB. He told me he would be back soon and walked out. John also told me he would be back. I waited on the porch for everyone, but to my surprise, there were now six instead of five.

Sarah Cameron sat on the couch next to John and eyed me for a moment and told John she didn’t know I’d be here. I rolled my eyes at her as I walked past. I don’t know why she was still upset when we both clearly were not into Topper. I sat next to J and leaned my head on his shoulder. I listened to John explain what was going on and I listened to Kie protest.

“I gotta say, I'm just a tad uncomfortable with all of this,” Pope added, shifting uncomfortably. He was siding with Kiara. I think most of us were siding with Kiara.

“When are you not?” John snapped back.

“I dunno. I rode here on the back of JJ's bike pretty comfortably,” Pope shot back.

“It's true. Most relaxed I've ever seen him,” JJ backed him up. I chuckled and asked JJ if I should be jealous. He tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and said I had nothing to worry about.

I could sense the tension in the room as Kie and John B went back and forth. I knew that this wasn’t going to be something that was completely settled, but when Kiara told John B that it was her or Sarah, I knew this wasn’t going to end well. John was an indecisive guy. He wanted the easy things in life and in his head he didn’t see what was wrong. He didn’t see the pain he was causing Kiara the past few hours and I honestly didn’t know if he cared that much. He was too focused on himself. He went for the Hail Mary and said he wanted both. I rolled my eyes and listened to the boys besides me snicker. That was enough to push Kie past the point of caring and stormed out. I followed her, telling JJ to knock some sense into his friend.

Just when I came back, everything else began to fall apart… And no one could predict what happened next.

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just-call-me-j-10v3 · 3 years

Text

Episode .5

The beginning

https://just-call-me-j-10v3.tumblr.com/post/643250003280904192/episode-1-the-truth-of-the-missing-brother

On the twelfth hour on the first day of October 1989, 43 women around the world gave birth. This was unusual only in the fact that none of these women had been pregnant when the day began. Sir Reginald Hargreeves went around to collect as many as he could, however he only got eight of them.

Number eight, or Jela Hargreeves as she would be later known as, was a special case, simply because her mother had abandoned her from the start. On that twelfth hour a woman that goes by the name Marie Laurence was amongst the couple dozen not so fortunate women to be struck with those harsh birthing pains.

Her screams of pain were ignored in that New York alleyway, she had been walking home from her job as an exotic dancer. Marie would consider it honest work, maybe, if it weren’t for the fact that she was in deep debt with her boss. She was in too much trouble and having a kid, it would end up ruining her life forever.

She had the baby in that gloomy and damp alleyway and after she collected herself she left the child to die. She called the cops anonymously, saying that she had heard a baby crying in that damned alleyway for her own conscience's sake, (Jela didn’t see her until she later offered her the money she would’ve gotten for her from Reginald out of spite, a way to say she was better off without her, but let's keep that between us).

Reginald held that abandoned baby girl in his arms, he looked her in the eyes and when he saw that lack of emotion in her eyes the way she was so detached from everyone else.

“She has never been held before me, how is that so?” he had asked them as they told him this shocking news.

“No sir, we had figured we were picking up a dead body when we received the call, you came just as we set up to carefully extract her. The only issue we’re having is she doesn’t seem to cry or make noises, we’re afraid she might not have the ability to or other such issues. We really think it’s best to have her stay in the hospital with the other’s you have adopted.” The nurse suggests as she looks at the newborn in his arms.

“I will be taking her home with me now, the others I will pick up when they're ready, she needs to be held by me and me alone.” He says before leaving to take care of the little girl at home…

You see, Jela to Reginald was going to be his special child, the one he treated differently to see if it revoked a different outcome, her childhood she was known as ‘Daddy’s favorite’ but the others will never fully understand the amount of extra torment the emotionless one got as Reginald’s true number one.

That’s where we move to today, when you see the outcome of the little heros, the day where numbers 1-7 were met with a weight off their shoulders, but the day number eight was met with her first ever jolt of grief… The day of Reginald Hargreeves’ death.

Jela sat there, watching her sister playing violin on that late night, she would always go out of her way to see her.. After all Vanya and Jela were the only two the others didn’t exactly get along with.. She was watching when she got a call, she got up out of her seat, flashing Vanya a quick ‘I’ll be back’ look before walking away to answer the call.

“Unless someone died you shouldn’t be calling me and you damn well know that.” Jela snarls as she answers the phone, she knew that it wasn’t anyone she cared about, just another one of her workers.

“I’m sorry boss, listen, it’s that damned Hero of yours again, he showed up at that small hit you had set up, a few of our guys didn’t make it.” The worker in question states solemnly, shaking his head and biting his lip.

“Good, that means he feels like he saved the day, that was the point Speedy, I know you don’t get it but they needed to go.. Call them, I don’t know, casualties, another statistic. Whatever makes you feel better, just get someone into the coroner's office to burn, cut or even cover up those tattoos. I don’t need Diego finding out about my operation, got it?” She says with lack of emotion, something that came naturally to her, however, feeling emotions, that was the hard part. She sighs, knowing that her workers like to call each other family, she thinks on it as she hears his silence, most likely biting his tongue. "Alright, I know what you’re thinking.. I'll call a meeting with the Pit (A group of snakes), we’ll get our snakes in a group and take a day off to mourn, sound good Speedy?”

“Thanks Queeny, I’m sure their families will appreciate it, I’ll make sure we send them the usual parting gift.” He says, sounding more content with that outcome.

“Don’t start expecting it every time some run of the muck idiot dies to someone as bullheaded as number two, this is an exception, only because there were multiple losses at once.” Jela sighs, just hanging up, about to go back in when she receives another phone call…

“Mom, it’s late, why are you calling me?” She says, false worry in her tone, she never worries, or, rather, she never feels the emotion that comes with the idea of worrying. That’s when she hears it, the whispering of those three goddesses, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, or, also known as, the Moirae… the Fates. And with those whispers starts coming the emotions, she feels the fear, the agony, the grief… “No- Mom tell me you didn’t.”

“Please I need you to help me Marie-” She says, calling her by the name she had given Jela in the beginning.

“It’s Jela, and don’t move a muscle, don’t tell Pogo, don’t call anyone else, I will be there. You are lucky I was taught to respect you as my mother otherwise I would gladly be an orphan tonight.” She hung up the phone, telling Vanya that a job went wrong and she has to go, she calls one of her cars, the driver drops it off and walks away. She gets in and goes home, when she gets there she quickly works on cleaning and setting everything up to make it look like an accident, nothing remotely suggesting otherwise. She quickly messes with Grace’s programming, editing the cameras to remove herself, but leaving the truth about their fathers death to be found.. She went to her old room that night and for the first time since she was a child she sat there and cried…

The news got out the next morning and Jela was there to meet number two, who had felt the need to do his own check on Reginalds death. She watched as he walked around the room, examining things and making sure there wasn't any struggle.

“Diego, looks like you only care to visit after he’s dead, mom definitely missed her st-st-stuttering stanley.” She teased with a smirk, her eyes showing a slight glint of mischief, even with the circumstances she has to act like herself, even though she hates how she feels she can’t show that she does feel.

He throws a knife at her and she doesn’t even flinch as that knife flies directly next to her head, the wind from it moving her jet black hair. “When did you last see dad, Marie.”

She snarls a bit, absolutely loathing that name, her two toned eyes going darker at the sound of it. “You can say what you wish about me and call me what you wish, but don’t you dare insinuate that I killed my father.” Her voice cracks a bit, her eyes watering a bit, normally it would make people feel remorse or pity, but for Diego, it scared him to see Jela tear up like that.. An emotional Jela is a deadly one. Which means, if Reginald did die from muder Jela would have them dealt with already… Unless they were family, and she only considers a few people family.. He better call Allison and make sure she’s alive at some point… Just in case.

“Calm your tits or at least cover them, what the hell are you wearing anyways?” He says, getting distracted by her all too revealing outfit.

She couldn’t help but smile a little at that response, blinking her tears away and shaking her head. “You’re such an idiot, you know that?” She says, looking down at her black sweatpants, combat boots and crop top.

“I’m not an idiot, you just have the same iq as that one dude with the apple.” He says, playing dumb to try and break through those walls she has been building up, they used to be close when they were teens, he still likes to believe he knows her better than anyone. He knows how to make her smile at least.

She lets out a small laugh, smiling a bit. “You and I both know you damn well remember who Issac Newton is, stop playing dumb.”

“Tell anyone I did that and we’re going to have another match like when we were twelve.” He warns before he starts to leave to sneak into the coroner's office.

“You cheated! We considered the choke hold against the rules prior to the match!” She frowns something close to a pout.

“I adapted Miss ‘I can see the future’ maybe talk to your witches next time!” He shouts back, only to have a shelf that had been holding up perfectly well their whole lives fall directly on top of him.

She burst out laughing as she watches him stand back up in the hallway, holding his head. “That’s what you get for calling the three Goddesses of fate witches! You never learn.” he scoffs and just leaves without another comment. Jela goes and sits in the living room, looking at the painting of her old favorite sibling before texting Vanya. I’m sorry I wasn’t with you when you found out.. You have to come to the funeral or else we’ll have to have one for one of the others soon after, love you.

Allison was the first to make it there, Jela was sitting on a rocking chair next to their mom, reading in front of the fireplace in a black pantsuit, her jet black hair straight, as per usual, her green and brown eyes looking over as Allison walks in, scanning her up and down, her eyes flashing to a pure white colour, almost as if she were blind, something that happens when the fates talk to her. “Troubles at home I see, if you need help getting your daughter back I can help you out.”

“Don’t use the fates to spy on my life, if you cared you would actually call me.” She says with a frown, shaking her head.

“Says the one that didn’t invite me to her wedding, but you’re right, I don’t care about you in this instance, however, I do care that Claire doesn't get to see her mom, my niece deserves better.” She states in a melancholy voice. That’s when another one of their siblings enters.

“Hey Mom, mom?” Jela glances at the robot in question, sighing, she’s going to have to do another repair…

“Vanya?” Allison says as she recognizes the voice. “You’re actually here..” Vanya lets out a relieved sigh as her sister walks over to hug her. Jela sets down the book she was reading, or rereading should I say, as she watches her siblings hug. Extra-Ordinary: My Life as Number Seven (Vanya Hargreeves' self-written tell-all auto-biography) Oh how Jela loves that book, the most truthful thing she has ever seen in her life, even paints her as a villain.. Jela always loved playing the villain, even when they were training as kids.

“Hey Allison..” she says as her sister lets her go. Jela stands up to join the girls after setting her book down, walking over to them.

“Hah, what is she doing here? You don’t belong here. Not after what you did.” Diego says, dramatic and closed off as ever as he walks through the door.

“Talk to her like that and you’ll lose your tongue.” Jela snaps, standing protectively by her sister who never knows how to respond when Jela stands up for her like that.

“You two are seriously gonna do this today?” Allison asks, glancing over at Jela who she knows better than to get on her bad side before looking at Diego's outfit. He looked like offbrand Batman. “Way to dress for the occasion by the way.”

“And he was making fun of my crop top the other day, at least my clothes don’t make my ass look flat.” She whispers to Vanya, making her giggle a bit, Jela knew how to cheer her up.

“At least I’m wearing black.” He responds, either ignoring Jela’s comment or he didn’t hear it. Vanya looks at him walking away and Jela can practically feel the anxiety radiating off of her.

“You know what? I- Maybe he’s right and I shouldn’t-” Vanya starts, proving to Jela that she was right, like usual.

“Forget about him.” Jela and Allison say at the same time, making Jela wonder if the fates were messing with her or if she’s just more like her sister than she thought. “We’re glad you’re here.” Allison finishes off before they head to the living room to sit down.

Jela, however, meets up with Diego at the top of the stairs, knowing that he’s going to see Luther snooping around. “You’re an asshole to Vanya, she spoke the truth, that’s more than most of us.” She says, earning a glare from Diego, family events always puts him in a brooding mood. “She spoke out against someone she deemed as an abuser and she stood up against her siblings for bullying her. She has the right to tell her side of the story.”

“She made us look evil, I’m not a bad guy Jela.” He snaps, glaring at her, getting more frustrated at how calm she looks.

“You’re the only genuine hero I know Diego, she was venting and got money out of it, any kind of publicity is good publicity, if you have an issue with the book, write a statement on it and post it.” She says with a shrug, watching the shocked and confused look on Diego's face when she calls him a hero. She goes to speak again, only to be shushed as he hears Luther rummaging around and they walk towards it.

They stand in the doorway, watching him for a moment, the villain and hero, side by side. “We can save you some time.” Diego states as they both lean against their sides of the doorframe.

“They’re all locked, no forced entry.” Jela continues, her and DIego used to be a great team when they worked together..

“No sign of struggle, nothing out of the ordinary.” Diego says as he slowly walks towards his brother. “Oh, you got big, Luther. What’s the secret, huh? Protein Shakes? Low carbs?” Jela lets out a small laugh, really just watching them to make sure they don’t break anything if they fight.

“What do you want?” Luther asks, glancing at Jela before looking Diego in the eyes, something Reginald taught all of them, eye contact shows that you aren’t afraid. Diego lets out a sigh that slightly resembles a scoff before taking a paper out of his pocket, one Jela knew he damn well shouldn’t be able to have. That’s vigilantes for you.

“The autopsy report.” He says, holding it out for Luther to grab, but as soon as he goes for it Diego pulls it slightly out of reach. “Ah.” He says like the teasing sibling he is before letting him grab it.

“And you have this why?” Luther asks, opening the paper with more gusto than Jela would’ve liked, she has a feeling that Luther isn’t going to let this go, and that frustrates her.

Diego walks away a bit, facing the door and winking at Jela, “Well that’s because I… broke into the coroner's office.” He says with his arms open and a slight bow before sitting down in a chair. “And surprise, surprise, Dad’s death was… normal. Just a boring old heart failure.” Jela walks over to Luther, grabbing one of his arms and pulling it towards her height so she could look at it. She immediately realizes something and gives Diego a bit of a look.

“Yeah, so.” Luther says, a bit offstandish about it, looking at the picture, skimming over the report a bit.

“So, why are you in here, checking all of the windows.” He was with a slight raise and drop of his hands to gesture at the room they’re sitting in.

“Were you the first on the scene?” Luther asks, slight suspicion in his tone, looking at his brother, Jela watches the interaction, knowing where this is going.

“Pogo reported the body.” Jela says, very particular with her words, something they’ve all gotten used to over the years of growing up with Jela.

“Yeah, I talked to Pogo, he said he couldn’t find Dad’s monocle.” Luther says, giving Jela a look, she knew that look, he always wore it when they would be training in the detective work of the job.

“And your point being?” Diego says, shrugging his shoulders and brushing it off, that’s when Jela knew that he had taken it, she didn't understand why he would want a monocle, it wouldn't look good on him so it must be an emotional decision.

“Well can either of you think of a single time where you saw dad and he wasn’t wearing that monocle?” He counters, looking at Jela for support, but this is when she just shakes her head and leaves to have her own conversation with her more chill siblings.

She could practically smell the classic scent of drugs and booze when her favorite sibling entered the building, she smiles a bit, walking towards her fathers study and laughing a little as she sees him rummaging through their dead fathers things. “Let me guess, an advance on our inheritance?”

“Oh, that’s perfect! I’ll have to use that one!” Klaus says, walking up to Jela and pulling her into a hug, she groans, completely tensing up. He quickly lets go and throws his hands up. “Oh right! Sorry, no hugs.” He says, giving her a quick peck on the cheek insead and she sighs, glancing back at the door.

“Well, if you don’t find anything I can give you something light to keep the real bad ones away, you know how I feel about the hard shit, but my business is doing great and I don’t want you to have to deal with those nightmares… Ben’s yelling at me isn't he?” She says, practically feeling the ghosts glare.

“More like just giving you a thorough glare, says he doesn’t like how we influence each other. Do you know I love you?” He says with a smile, before going back to rummaging, That’s when Allison walked in and Jela looked back at her, seeing that look on her face reminded her of when they were younger…

Jela was sitting in a chair next to Reginald, the others were getting ready for bed, but not Jela, Jela was stuck with her Father still even though they had training in the morning. She sat next to him, thread with gold intertwined in it wrapped tightly around her hands, tight enough that she knew she would have marks the next morning and it would hurt to fight. She used it (and sometimes still uses it) as a conduit to connect with her deities, most people would have a shrine or candles and other such things, but Jela wasn’t religious, she was just chosen and created to withstand the emotional turmoil and the pain that comes with the knowledge of the future.

There’s a knock on the door and it breaks her concentration, coming back from talking to the three goddesses her eyes go from the blind white color to the mismatching green and brown. She looks down in time to see that the thread has cut through her skin, but knows better than to stop because of it.

“The children are ready for bed sir, they wanted to say goodnight.” Grace says cheerfully as she enters, part of her mothering program wanting to override her other systems and go help Jela… But she couldn’t, no matter what she wasn’t allowed to help Jela, only Reginald was. It was in her programming.

The door opened and Jela looked up, making eye contact with the others, the only ones who showed no jealousy at all were FIve and Klaus… They know the truth, she had told them all about what it was like being his favorite. Their father didn’t even bother to glance. “Okay! TIme for bed now kids, come along. Come along now.” Grace says as she ushers them out.

“Come along now Allison, your father and sister are busy.” Grace said to her as she was the last to budge.

“He’s always busy, and she isn’t my sister.” She says before walking out, Jela showed no sign of caring about Allisons harsh words, they both were too alike and bumped heads and she knew that. Reginald saw Jela’s lack of emotional response that night and cleaned her wounds before taking her out for ice cream, only to leave Jela out in the woods for a week after that ice cream.. That was her reward, other than usual training she got life or death. She lost weight but she made it out without so much as a scratch, she could only give the explanation that the fates were on her side.

“Jela, what are you two doing in here?” Allison asks, bringing Jela back to present times, she blinks once, collecting herself as she glances at Klaus, who quickly gets up from his spot behind Reginalds desk.

“Oh! Allison! Wow, is that you?” Klaus asks as he walks over to her, Jela stepping to the side as she lets her favorite sibling talk his way out of this one. “Hey, come here. Long time, too long.” He states, pulling Allison into one of his comforting hugs.

He pulls away from her a little and looks into her eyes, Jela walking away from those two as she walks over to her spot next to her fathers chair, one of her most recent art projects sitting on the desk. It was of number Five with an axe, his face covered in blood… She still did projects with her dad and they have recently been trying to get her sibling back, it had been their main focus. She could tell dad was getting paranoid, she just never wanted to see that it was going to be her mom that betrayed him. She wishes that her deities would’ve shown her that instead of a worthless picture of Five.

“Hey, I was hoping to see you actually, because I want to get your autograph. Add it to my collection.” Klaus saying this makes Jela focus on their conversation, she laughs a little, shaking her head.

“Klaus, I love you but I think it’s your drug dealers that have the collection, not you.” Jela says bluntly, looking at the two.

Klaus gasps and Jela almost expects him to be offended until he says, “You love me? I win! I was the first one you said it to, everyone owes me twenty bucks!” He is excited about it, Jela looks at him, not even shocked as she watches Allison hand him twenty bucks.

“Just out of rehab?” She asks when she sees the medical bracelet on Klaus’ arm, her eyebrow cocked, regretting giving him the money.

“No, no. No, no, no, no. No. I’m done- I’m done with all that.” Jela looks up at him, knowing better than that, plus, he stutters when he lies. “I just came down here to prove to myself that the old man was really gone. And he is! He’s dead. Yeah!” He says, clapping with excitement.

“You know how I know? ‘Cause if he were alive, only one of us would be allowed to set foot in this room. He was always in here, our whole childhood, plotting his next torment, right? I mean, Jela you know how he used to look at us, that scowl.” He says, pointing up at the portrait.

“Thank Christ he wasn't our real father so we couldn’t inherit those cold, dead eyes!” He says, pulling his eyes open and screaming a little with a chuckle. Jela looks at the scars on her hands from all the training she went through, the lack of sleep she had gotten, she was the only one that went without a half an hour break on the weekends. Without him she’d most likely be dead or have no idea how to communicate with the fates, if the fates say that this is where she is meant to be then so be it, she looks at Klaus who is sitting in their fathers chair, looking out the window for a moment.

“He wasn’t a good person by all means, but he was a great one. He pushed us to our limits and made us face things that no one else will hopefully ever have to face, but he was my father and I didn’t wish any kind of death on him. He is gone, his thread has been cut. That should be the end of his story, but-” She groans, the whisperings happening again and she grips the string in her pocket, she isn't allowed to tell them that yet. “...But I wish I was able to tell him that he wasn’t as smart as he believed and that his legacy is failing. It seems I’m the only one able to continue with the majority of his-”

“Blah blah blah, can we go back to you saying how much you love me, oh! We could go for a walk and buy brownies at the store!” Klaus interrupts, Jela just shakes her head at him. He is the only one that has ever gotten away with doing something like that. “Jela, sis, I love you.”

“Don’t over use it or it won’t hold as much meaning, but… I love you too Klaus.” She says looking in one of their fathers drawers and finding a picture that she took of her kissing Reginalds cheek, he looks so serious, but you can see a bit of a smile hidden there.. It was from their last ice cream trip, that was two days ago. She made him take a break because he was getting extremely paranoid, he told her she reminded him of Grace that day, the real one.. It shocked her… She should’ve known something bad was coming...

“Get out of his chair.” Luther says sternly, walking into the room, Jela sighs.. Luther has so much devotion to a man that he didn’t even really know. He thinks the numbers are based on the first being the best, but in reality it was based on a point system like Jela is an eight out of eight stars. She knows that Vanya has to have an ability, she just wishes she could figure out how to provoke it.

“Oh, wow, Luther! Wow, you really, uhh...You really filled out over the years, huh?” Klause says gesturing as if he was flexing his arms.

“Klaus.” Luther says in that same stern, scolding tone as he watches his brother, shaking his head a bit.

“Eh, save the lecture. I was already leaving. So, you guys can talk amongst yourselves.” He says with a small, teasing laugh as he walks towards the door, Jela walking to follow, smirking when Luther puts an arm in front of Klaus.

“Drop it.” He says and Jela can see his anger building up, it’s only a matter of time before he snaps and she's pretty positive it’s going to be on Diego.

“Ex-squeeze me?” Klaus says, playing dumb as he makes eye contact with Luther, not afraid of him.

“Do it. Now.” Luther says, only glancing away to look at Jela with a look that says ‘you were really going to let him get away with this?’ There’s a bit of a pause before KLaus gets a frustrated look and pulls away from Luther.

“All right. All right.” He says as he pulls away and as he starts pulling things out of his pockets he says. “It’s just an advance on our inheritance! That’s all it is! No need to get your little panties in a bunch.” He says with a gesture to his crotch, Jela laughs, walking towards the door.. She had missed Klaus, Allison however just looks away, disappointed. She walks out with Klaus, shutting the door behind them.

“Okay I know you kept the box, just give me the book inside.” She says and he excitedly pulls it out of the back of his shirt, pulling it out. She uses her key and opens it, taking the content out and putting it in her purse.

“You’re my favorite sibling, you know that?” He says, giving her a kiss on the cheek making her get a grossed out look on her face.

“You’re invading my space, and you better only buy weed with that or else I’ll skin whoever sold to you.” She says seriously and he smirks, saluting her as he walks away, looking at Ben who is glaring at him. “What, you’re dead, she’s my favorite living sibling.”

“I miss when she would ask about what was morally correct and what wasn't.” Ben says with a sigh, glancing back at Jela.

“Don’t worry I’ll buy the hard stuff from the really awful guy that I owe money to, it would be like doing the world a favour.” Klaus says, basically putting a target on that guy's head.

“Klaus you know she’ll do it.” Ben says with a scolding tone, glaring at his annoying sibling.

“That’s the point!” He says with a mischievous smile, him and Vanya are the only two that know about Jela’s real job.

They all eventually end up in the living room sitting in silence, Jela goes to take a drink of alcohol only to have Diego take it from her, giving her a stern look. She snarls at him, no matter how many times she has explained to him that her seizures are from talking with the fates and not because of an actual physical ailment he doesn't believe her. “I want my drink Diego.”

“Jela, last time you drank you had a seizure.” Diego says back and she frowns, holding her hand out for her drink.

“You know she gets what she wants Diego, save us the fight..” Vanya says softly and Diego takes the drink, downing it. Jela gets a look in her eyes, one that she always gets when she’s planning something.

“Okay Batsy, I’ll get some water.” She snaps, but it's only a matter of time until something happens and she won’t be taking Diego's side. Luther clears his throat, standing up.

“I guess we should get this started. So, I figured we could have a sort of memorial service in the courtyard at sundown. Say a few words, just at dad’s favorite spot.” Jela looks at Luther, shaking her head. Dad didn’t have a favorite spot, just a place where he made Luther feel important. The spot in question was the oak tree that Luther had an emotional connection to thanks to memories of their father.

“Dad had a favorite spot?” Allison asks, voicing almost everyone’s thoughts, she looks quite confused at the idea.

“You know, under the old oak tree. We used to sit out there all the time. None of you ever did that?” He says, a confused look on his face, Jela looks over and makes eye contact with Diego, he looks at her and she nods her head, confirming that not even she did that with Reginald.

“Will there be refreshments?” Klaus asks as he walks over with a joint and a drink of some sort, he lets Jela take a sip as he sits down. You can always count on Klaus to ask the important questions. “Tea? Scones? Cucumber sandwiches are always a winner.”

“What? No. And put that out, you know dad didn’t allow smoking in here.” Luther starts, only to be interrupted.

“Is that my skirt?” Allison asks, a tone that you would only hear coming from a sibling who has gotten their stuff ‘borrowed.’

“And my crop top, you better not get that dirty, it's my metallica one. Diego only let me cut one of his shirts I borrowed, and I like that one.” Jela says, giving Klaus a look.

“What? Oh, yeah, these. I found them in your rooms! It’s a little dated, I know, but this skirt is very breathy on the bits.” He was with a gesture towards his crotch.

“Listen up. Still some important things to discuss, all right?” Luther says, using his big boy leader voice, making Jela roll her eyes, she doesn’t really agree with him being a leader, but tolerated it to make him feel better about himself.

“Like what?” Diego asks, looking at Jela with an exasperated look.

“Like the way he died.” Luther says, making Jela let out a groan, any hope she had of abiding the issue being demolished.

“And here we go.” Diego says, Jela taking Klaus’ drink and drinking some of it, ignoring the glare it got her everytime she did.

“I don’t understand, I thought they said it was a heart attack.” Innocent Vanya says, looking at Jela for confirmation, she nods her head. That is what they said.

“Yeah, according to the coroner.” Luther says, Klaus holds his blunt to Jela’s lips and she takes a hit. Little did she know that Ben was yelling at Klaus for it the whole time.

“Well wouldn’t they know?” Vanya counters, giving him a slightly frustrated look.

“Theoretically.” Luther responds, and Jela could tell that he was getting even more bottled up frustration from this as no one believes him.

“Theoretically?” Allison asks with a frown.

“I’m just saying, at the very least, something happened. The last time I talked to dad, he sounded strange.” Luther states, trying to get them to take this seriously. Klaus starts gurgling his drink.

“Oh, quelle surprise!” He says while gurgling, Jela looks at Vanya, she’s starting to lose her patience.

“Strange how?” Allison asks, obviously upset by this, she just wants it to be over with.

“He sounded on edge. Told me I should be careful who to trust.” He says and Jela gets up, walking over to the book shelf and just moving on from this annoying conversation, letting the others deal with it. Only hearing the important part like Luther telling Klaus to sober up so he can talk to dad's ghost and bringing up the monocle which in turn frustrates Batman, then it comes out, making her smirk and walk back over to them. “So whoever took it, I think it was personal, someone close to him, someone with a grudge.”

“Where are you going with this?” Klaus asks and Jela just pats Luther's shoulder, wondering how someone should properly respond to this situation, she decides pity is the option.

“Oh, isn’t it obvious, Klaus? He thinks one of us killed dad.” Diego says, now standing next to Luther, not once looking away, Jela snickers at the thought. Luther gets a guilty look on his face as they all stare at him.

“You do?” Klaus says his voice showing confused shock and his face just showing generally being upset with the thought.

“How could you think that?” Vanya asks, there was hurt hidden in her voice and Jela starts to feel protective over her siblings, after all, she knows who did it.

“Great. Job. Luther. Way to lead.” Diego says before leaving the room, presumably to hide how frustrated he really is.

“You’re wrong on this one Luther, take a step back and look at the full puzzle..” That’s all Jela says before walking to find Pogo.

“That’s not what I’m saying…” Luther says, trying to defend himself and his detective work, it was failing.

“You’re crazy man. You’re crazy. Crazy.” Klaus says, looking Luther in the idea before leaving as well.

“I’ve not finished.” Luther says, trying to get them to stay so he can change their minds.

“Okay, well I’m sorry, I’m just going to go murder mom. Be right back!” Klaus says sarcastically as he walks away from Luther, Vanya following.

“That’s not what I was saying, I didn’t-” He gives up, sighing a bit as he watches his siblings leave. “Allison. Jeez..” he says as she completely ignores him. “That went well.”

Jela sits in the kitchen, on the counter when Pogo walks in. “You’re too harsh on them you know, they are your only family.”

“I see three of them as my real family, Vanya, Klaus and Five. Allison, she’s a good woman and she deserves more than she gat, just like the others, if not more at times.. But she and I will never get along. And Luther is just, well, a dog on a leash and his owner just passed away. He doesn't know how to lead, I lead more than he does, even if it doesn’t look like it.” She says, leaning her head against the cupboard behind her.

“And Diego?” He says with a knowing look, smirking a bit. She gives him a slightly cold look, but sighs a bit and shakes her head.

“We have never called each other siblings, even corrected everyone on it growing up, not once have I seen him as or called him family. I think the fates always knew we would be something more… but it didn’t last, he left when he got the first chance to leave, and when he asked me to go with… I couldn’t. I couldn’t leave dad.. Even from the start dad had spent more time with me than the others, I was the only one he held as a baby and he was the only one I ever let hold me, not mom, not you, only him.. And now he’s gone. He’s dead and I seem to be the only one of his children who truly cares.” She says, looking at her hands.

“Jela, I-” He starts, trying to find a way to comfort her or help her… but he never had to before, nor did he get the chance to, Reginald was very strict on either he helps her or no one does. Now he’s gone. She looks up at him, but all those emotions leave her face when Grace comes in, along with Diego. Pogo walks over to grace and tells Diego she’s going to have a quick charge before the big event.

“Number two.” Jela says emotionlessly, still leaned back, but then she sees it, the pity in his eyes and it makes her groan. “Don’t. Whatever you heard, whatever you’re thinking, keep it in that smooth brain of yours, and yes, I mean the texture.”

“You can be a bitch sometimes you know that? A heartless, monstrous bitch.” He says and she doesn’t even flinch, she has heard it all before but what happens next shocks her. “But I know how much he meant to you.” He hands her the monocle. “I know you knew I had it, you should keep it.”

“Diego, there’s no point in me having this, he’s dead, we’re supposed to be moving on.” She says, shaking her head as she holds it in her hand.

“Do you remember our first mission?” He asks randomly, and she looks at him confused, nodding her head.

“I remember everything, Capital west bank outside of main and sixth, it was 17 years ago.” She says, still confused about why he was bringing it up.

There was a group of heavily armed men and they were trying to steal from the bank, they were dumb about how they did it, but smart enough to keep hostages. Jela had entered the building first, scoping out the place and telling all of her siblings which entrances were clear. Allison and her were the first to make appearances. Allison rumoured a man to shoot his friend in the foot and as she did that Jela walked up to a man, talking out one of her butterfly knives and looking him in the eyes.

“May the fates be on your side.” She said and the man held his gun up, trying to shoot at him, only for it to jam, Jela throws her knife at him, killing him instantly, as the rest of her siblings went around to finish off the others.

“Gun’s are for sissy real men throw knives!” Diego says, throwing one of his knives at a man, winking as Jela who just laughed a little at his dumb catchfrase. She walked over to the hostages, simply walking over to them and leading them out, every bullet missing them as they walked with her… They eventually got all of the ones in the main area and had Ben finish a group of them off with his ability before leaving, Jela pats Ben's shoulder comfortingly only to get a grossed out look on her face and taking her now bloody hand and wiping it on Diego. “Hey! That’s gross.” She just shrugs at him.

They walk out of the front doors, the cops yelling at them to lower their weapons and they didn’t because their knives were already holstered. Jela does as her dad told her to and walks to the middle, putting on a heroic face as the questions start coming.

“Who are you?” asks one news anchor and Jela looks at them, her dad said to keep them calm and he will step in when necessary.

“We’re the umbrella academy, a group of well trained heroes.” She answered smoothly, three siblings on each side of her, Luther seemed upset that she was answering questions, but she ignored his side glances.

“How did you get into the banks?” and “What happened inside?” Were the next two questions to be said out loud.

“How do you usually get inside of a building, or better yet, a building with locked doors, and I think it is quite obvious that all that happened inside doesn't matter, as long as the money is untouched and the people are safe.” She says, her voice loud enough to hear and it’s smooth, calming, careful.. She always knew how to sound like a hero. Their father gave a speech and the questions just kept coming, He put Jela under his arm, it showed that she was his prized child, she spoke for him..

She frowns a little at the memory, she used to be fond of it, now it hurts.. Why is that? “You chose such a stupid catchfrase.” She says, laughing, he walks in front of her with a mischievous glint in his eyes, their walls always down around each other… even if they didn’t realize it.

“I was a kid and you told me you loved it.” He says with a fake frown, she looks him in the eyes, he was standing directly in front of her now as he talks to her, she is still sitting on the counter. She feels herself missing how they used to be, before they became enemies… the only issue is, Jela knows it would never last, after all he had Eudora Patch now. Her hand twitches, and he knows that means she’s either murderous, upset, or uncomfortable, so he takes a step back.

“I was lovestruck and wanted to see you smile, trust me those oxytocin and vasopressin chemicals have gone, and from what I’ve heard from people on the force, your chemical imbalance when around me is gone too.” She says blankly, not showing any emotion, which is normal for her.

“Me and Eudora? Did she talk to you about me?” He asks and the way his eyes lit up with curiosity made her laugh.

“Diego, look at you, you’re a teddy bear.” She says with a snort, and just like that all of his walls come shooting up out if nowhere… and so do hers. They both can see it in each other's eyes, they aren’t ready to spend this much time together yet, she sighs. “I'm going to go find Klaus.” And with that she leaves. She walks towards where the bar is, but pauses for a moment, she pulls one of her golden threads out and holds it gently in her hand, and with that she sees her deities.

“Where are these emotions coming from? I thought you sai-” She says, almost about to get snarky with the ones she calls her godly parents.

“You will feel what you need to feel when you need to feel it, now listen to them. Stop believing in strength coming from how emotionless you are, give in and show him that you are sorry.” Atropos states, and Jela knew she should just agree.

“But-” She doesn’t apologize, she never apologizes. Why would she apologize to him when she doesn’t see what she did wrong, but why does she feel bad then.

“You are running out of time to speak with him, so make your choice.” Lachesis says before they send her soul back to her body.

When her sight comes back she groans, realizing that Clotho had walked her to the door of the living area.. She walks in and Diego looks at her from his spot at the couch. “I’m sorry, I still care, and I’m clingy.”

Diego gets an astounded look on his face, sitting up and looking her in the eyes. “Dads death really fucked with you, huh?” He asks, looking at her with complete and utter disbelief.

“No, I just know that no one will ever believe you if you tried to tell them I said that.” She says before walking over and sitting next to him, they sit in silence for a while.. Both a couple of brooding people who like the color black.

“I’m not that pissed, but I’m stronger and smarter than you act like I am.” He says, struggling to say those words.

“How about we-” She stops when she hears the music and looks at him when she gets an idea. She stands up, walking over to the door and checking both ways, shutting the door, Diego throws a knife past her and her pupils dilate, a laugh escaping her.

“How about we be stupid and just dance.” He says, holding his hand out, Jela isn’t a dancer… but she could never say no to that puppy do look, so she takes his hand and lets him spin and dip her before they pull away and start doing some random, fun moves. Sharing laughs and smiles, just like they did when they were kids… that's when thunder rumbles and the music stops. They share a confused look and rush towards the sound, Diego taking her hand on instinct and she doesn’t bother to question.

“What is it?” Vanya asks, fear clear in her voice as she looks to Jela for an answer.

“Don’t get too close!” Allison says, pulling Luther back by his arm gently, not once looking away.

“Yeah, no shit.” Diego says, but Jela ignores all of them, pulling her hand from Diego and getting closer to it, too curious for her own good. That's when one word rings through her head. Five.

“It’s a portal from a different timeframe.” Jela says, with knowledge from failed experiments.

“Out of the way!” KLaus yells, pulling Jela behind him as he tries to spray the portal with the fire extinguisher before throwing it in, Jela gives him a dirty look and pushes him back to the others.

“Get back, I don’t want you hurt.” Jela says, giving him a look and he steps back. That’s when something starts to push through.

“Get out of the way!” Luther says, pushing them back. “Stay behind me, stay behind me.

“Yeah, stay behind us.” Diego says, trying to reach for Jela to bring het behind him, only for her to take a step closer.

“FIve…” She says fondly, completely ignoring the chaos behind her, and just as he pushes through and falls out she catches him. Carefully setting him down.

“Does anyone else see little number five, or is that just me?” Klaus says, not looking away from Jela and Five as they all walk closer.

Five looks down at his body, seeing how young he is. “Shit…”

_______

ASK TO USE MY STORY

#the umbrella academy #tua #the umbrella academy oc

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introducingmiggymackerel · 4 years

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Finished my first KFAM relisten last night and I’m still reeling from the heartbreak of ep 100 so here’s a short list of some of my favorite things:

The Pomchi Palace jingle

Just the whole first Mission: Apparition episode. “Four score and a cap in your ass” is iconic. Also very good Bemily content

Also re: Bemily when she visits them at the first Best Small Town in America celebration and Ben just gets so cute and flustered and Emily almost says she loves him and aaahhhhhh

The little post-credits bit at the end of ep 61 where Herschel and Cecil sing Shake It Off

Any time Sammy laughs post-ep 75 (but esp in 79, it just hits particularly hard the first time)

Just Herschel and Cecil in general. This show endeared me to two very old men and I would die for both of them FUCK

MARY JENSEN. She’s incredible and I love her and she’s amazing

The Tim 1 vs. Tim 2 fight happening in the background of J Fink reading from the fucky list during the telethon at channel 3

Troy roasting the FUCK out of Gundersen at the debate

The whole bit Emily and Sammy have when they tease Ben for his “Ben-isms”

“Snap, crackle, pop, diabetes!”

Honestly? Calvin. What a wild concept. Chaotic evil at its peak

Also Gwendolyn. She sucks but she’s so funny and I get so excited every time she shows up.

The fact that they actually adopt “Jack-in-the-Box Jesus” as an expletive for the rest of the show

When Ben hears the recording of Can You Hear Me for the first time and hypes up his own vocal performance

“Let’s make this fuckin’ mean somethin’” is such an excellent line and moment

“It’s been locked up for far too long” also makes me cry every time without fail

Ben not knowing what nonbinary means when Sammy brings it up but immediately becoming a very excited ally

The first time Mr. X calls and Ben puts him on hold and they both say at the same time “I don’t like this”. It was early on in the show and they were so in sync it makes me so happy

Whenever Herschel says “my/our boys” 🥺 it has big Grunkle Stan and Mabel energy

(Or “my Cecil”)

Also whenever Sammy says “my Jack”

Agent Reagan Spears. I know I already made a little separate post about her but I just wanted to reiterate that I adore Reagan, she is the light of my life and she is so weird

Every time Ben and Dan get into a 90s boyband fight. It’s so dumb and so fun to listen to

Fuckign,, I know it’s incredibly awkward and strange but when Jacob and Pearl sing Satisfied in Troy’s car I just laugh until I cry they’re so WEIRD

The whole back half of ep 44. The music. The sound design. The acting. I just,,

Ben losing his shit at Gundersen in ep 73. That moment is painful and it sucks but I love me some quality acting and patented Ben Arnold rage

Every time they date themselves with cultural references that were topical at the time but are kinda outdated (ex. various Trump jokes, baby shark, Hotline Bling)

Sammy “Sassy Dad Friend” Stevens. Just whenever he does the dad voice and especially when he gets called out for it

Every Sammy “mmhmm!”

The Beauregard announcement at the Best Small Town in America celebration in ep 78!!!! The suspense and the shock are just very good

Ron just,,,, loves Kingsie so much

“What the f*** are you saying that for, Sammy?!” “I’m sorry, did you just say fuck?!”

Chet clearly caring a lot about the boys. He’s a shithead but everyone has just kind of adopted each other into their weird family over time and I live for it

The first time Ben says “bad times are tough, but not tougher than you” and Sammy is like “wtf did you listen to the tape??”

When #OperationKingFallsKringle showed up and Sammy got all excited like a little kid like “wait he’s here?? Oh my god he’s here!!! Look at what I’m wearing!”

Darlin I’m Gone is such an earworm I get it stuck in my head every time I hear it

Any episode where we get content that’s not from the show. Town hall debate? Channel 13 news report? Wright On? Gimme it all

Sammy being all big-brother protective of Lily when she and Katie start… hanging out and denying it when Ben gets on him about it

Sofa King Beer. Such a stupid pun

CECIL motherfucking SHEFFIELD!!!!!!! AAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And that’s just off the top of my head! I know there’s not a lot of Emily or Lily content here but I just wanna make sure I don’t spoil too much

#anyway thats my ramble bye #kfam #king falls am #long post

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shemakesmusic-uk · 3 years

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After releasing their album Play With Fire last year via Suicide Squeeze Records, Californian punk trio L.A. Witch are sharing a new video for their standout track 'Motorcycle Boy'. Speaking about the video, L.A. Witch singer and guitarist Sade Sanchez said "The song is inspired by Moto Boys like Mickey Rourke, Marlon Brando, and Steve McQueen, so of course we took a lot of inspiration from our favorite biker movies like The Wild One, Rumble Fish, On any Sunday, Easy Rider, Hells Angeles '69 and The Girl on a Motorcycle. I had worked with (director) Ambar Navarro and Max on another project and loved their other work, so we wanted to work with them on this. They definitely did their homework and came up with a cool story line. I got to feature my bike that I'd been rebuilding during the pandemic. It was nice to shoot a video where you get to do two of your favorite things, riding motorcycles and play guitar."

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Margo Price has shared a new music video for 'Hey Child', said to be the heart and “centerpiece” of her acclaimed 2020 album That’s How Rumors Get Started. It’s directed by Kimberly Stuckwisch. In the moving visual, the country star confronts the demons of her past. There are scenes referencing the time she spent in jail for substance abuse, as well as others depicting her struggles with addiction and depression. Price’s vulnerability is on full display here, and she ultimately uses it to heal and find strength again. Watch it down below. According to Price, 'Hey Child' was originally written back in 2012 “not long after my husband Jeremy and I lost our son Ezra.” She continued, noting how fellow country star and album producer Sturgill Simpson helped encourage her to release it: “'Hey Child' was a song that was written back in 2012 not long after my husband Jeremy and I lost our son Ezra. We were playing shows with our rock and roll band Buffalo Clover and occupying most of the bars in East Nashville. We had begun hanging with a rowdy group of degenerate musician friends and partying harder than The Rolling Stones…The song was about how many of our talented friends were drinking and partying their talents away but after a few years had passed, we realized it was just as much about us as our friends. I had retired it when the band broke up but Sturgill Simpson resurrected it when he asked me if I would re-record it for That’s How Rumors Get Started.” [via Consequence of Sound]

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NYC collective MICHELLE has today unveiled their first new single of 2021. Titled 'FYO,' the track powerfully recounts the four lead singers’ experiences growing up with mixed race identities. The track arrives alongside a music video directed by the band’s own Layla Ku and Emma Lee. Speaking on the message behind the song, Jamee Lockard from the band shares: “'FYO' is about belonging to different worlds but feeling rejected by both. Growing up as a mixed-race minority in the US, my self concept was warped by other people telling me what I am and am not, pushing and pulling me between identities. Although my feelings of cultural dissonance still ebb and flow, now I have the vocabulary, support system, and perspective to unpack that inner conflict on my own terms. We should never give others the authority to define who we are."

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With her new album Homecoming set for release on April 2 via Daemon T.V., Du Blonde is sharing the video for ‘Medicated’. Featuring Garbage’s Shirley Manson, Du Blonde says of the song, “‘Medicated’ is a letter to my 27 year old self who didn’t want to live anymore, from my now medicated, functioning and content self. It might sound depressing or concerning, but really it’s quite joyful. Like ‘look at how things can be if you hang around’. Shirley and I had talked about her adding vocals to a track and when I wrote Medicated it seemed like the perfect fit. She’s been a voice of reason for me many times when i’ve been struggling and it felt really appropriate to have her. I shot the video in my childhood bedroom using a green screen Girl Ray gave me at the start of lockdown,” she continues. “The spiders are a reference to a hallucination I had in my early teens where I pulled back my bed covers to see thousands of spiders writhing around in my bed, which now I see as a result of extreme anxiety. A lot of the scenarios in the video are a celebration of the things about me that I feel people might feel shame about. There’s so much stigma around taking medication in order to ease mental health conditions, so I wanted to express my feelings on the subject which is basically ‘I take medication and i’m stoked about it because thanks to that i’m still alive’.” [via DIY]

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Back with her powerful Y2K sound, Spain's Rakky Ripper channels PC Music and Rina Sawayama on brightly catchy new single 'Whatever'. The new EP Xtra Cost is released February 19. If you are over the age of 25, odds are that you can recall a very specific kind of pop that graced our launch into the new millennium. Since coined as "Y2K", chart music of that short era was flush with R&B beats, synthetic arrangements and sickly sweet hooks. Britney was the industry’s honey-highlighted princess whilst Christina made it dirrty. It’s something that Rina Sawayama has made 2020-relevant again with the release of her debut album Sawayama, whilst PC Music and Charli XCX took it to another extreme with the redefinition of what it means to be pop. Meanwhile, over in Spain, the alt-pop scene is flourishing courtesy of artists such as Rakky Ripper and her own unique blend of Y2K-meets-hyper-pop. Already gaining Charli XCX approval when the Mercury Award nominee asked Rakky to join her onstage at her Madrid show, the Granada talent shows crossover potential with her new single 'Whatever'. Punchy beats and playful synths capture the sticky heat of pop done well whilst its fuzzy guitar gives it an alternative edge, however it’s its hook-riddled chorus and Rakky’s Spanglish lyrical mix that make 'Whatever' a standout moment. “‘Whatever’ is the pop girl in my new EP Xtra Cost,” shares Rakky of her new release. “It’s my 2021 version of Britney, *NSYNC and the Spice Girls. The new video tells the story about two people who are in love but one of them pretends not to care, so the other person is always chasing.” [via Line Of Best Fit]

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Things are afoot in the FKA twigs camp. In October, the R&B star revealed that her third album had been completed during quarantine. Now, she’s back with a new song called 'Don’t Judge Me'. It's her first since dropping the masterful album MAGDALENE in 2019. In addition to a stunning performance from FKA twigs, the track features UK rapper Headie One and producer Fred again…, who’s worked with the likes of Ed Sheeran and Brian Eno. 'Don’t Judge Me' appears to be something of a companion release or sequel to 'Don’t Judge Me (Interlude)', an early 2020 collaboration that also featured all three artists. Unlike the intentional vagueness of that song, the themes on this version are a lot more direct. During her verse and the hook, twigs begs her lover to hold her and appreciate the “precious love” she sends their way with a devastating urgency. Headie One takes a different approach in his verse and goes off about racial injustice and police brutality. “Know more about my people from the streets than from my teachers/ I done a million speeches/ No justice, no peace, ’cause we in pieces/ Officer, am I allowed to breathe here?,” he raps with a conversational directness. It’s a really powerful pairing from two different yet complementary artists with voices that demand the listener’s full attention. Check it out above via a dazzling video co-directed by FKA twigs and Emmanuel Adjei, who was heavily involved in Beyonce’s Black Is King visual album. Like all of FKA twigs’ clips, this one is truly something to behold. [via Consequence of Sound]

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Girl Friday have delivered a surrealistic visual for 'Earthquake,' the powerhouse lead single from Androgynous Mary, their acclaimed album of 2020 out now on Hardly Art. 'Earthquake' is one of the band's most gloriously raging moments and sees the group power through three and a half minutes of unadulterated catharsis. Girl Friday’s Vera Ellen, who directed the new video, offers this, “The greatest love story is between a song and a video. I wanted to deconstruct the creative process. How do ideas find each other? What happens when the artist lets outside forces get in the way of an idea? How is an idea affected by us, the audience and our expectations? What does an idea have to do to become it’s complete, purest, self. Beyond anything, it’s a story of fighting for true liberation. This will look different for everyone but I hope people can project their own struggle onto the story, and relish in the freedom experienced by the characters (if only for a moment)."

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J-Pop girl-group, FAKY has released their first single of 2021, 'The Light' with an accompanying music video. This song was selected as a campaign song for the horror film Jukaimura (Suicide Forest Village), the most recent work by the master horror director, Takashi Shimizu, who also directed The Ju-on (The Grudge) and Inunakimura (Howling Village). This up-tempo and cheerful track was created to add another layer of eerieness and uncertainty to the hair-raising storyline and themes of the movie. 2020 was a successful year for the girl group. FAKY hopes to further their success in 2021 starting with the release of 'The Light'. “Our new single ‘The Light’ is an uplifting song with its pop melody, powerful live band sound, and motivating message to move forward towards the light” - FAKY. The music was composed by up-and-coming music producer, Maeshima Soshi (Hypnosis Mic, Hey! Say! JUMP, Rinne and Sorane). 'The Light' expresses that moment when your heart quivers, just when you are about to change, with the theme being about overcoming conflict and having “power to strike out into the world.”

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Kinlaw's dark-pop quest has seen her shatter boundaries. Snapped up by Bayonet Records, her piercing, roving eye deconstructs her personal feelings, illuminating electronic structures in their stead. New album The Tipping Scale is out this month, and it expertly reflects the vagaries of winter, the spartan landscapes and the self-examination. Taken from the record, new single 'Haircut' deals with shifts in her life, with the urge to propel herself into something fresh. "I cut my hair to confuse myself," she comments. "It started as a mission to change who I was, to make a new and better version, but ended with my feeling like I no longer knew what I was mourning." A song about leaving trauma behind and embracing the possibilities of the present, 'Haircut' carries some inspired connotations for these troubled times. Kinlaw says the single offers "a question of personal power, and even speaking on this song today has been challenging because it was written when I was unsure if I had any power left. I think 'Haircut' can be a lot of things to many different people, particularly those who identify with the juxtaposition of in-depth, internal dialogue paired with everyday coping strategies. There is a sweetness to it, but also such substantial, unwavering difficulty. Today, I prefer to think of 'Haircut' as an anthem of resilience and an ode to the ways we keep going, we shapeshift, and we reinstall that there is a way to find what it is we are hoping to find." The visual leans on the intimate, opening up a window into Kinlaw's life, and her true feelings. [via Clash]

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The Rhode Island born, Los Angeles based singer, songwriter, musician and actress Emeline is known for her work with Thievery Corporation's Rob Garza as well as her solo music full of biting lyrics and catchy hooks. Her new music video for '6 Foot Deep' was filmed at the infamous Westerfeld Mansion a.k.a “House of Legends.” Icons like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin have lived there, as well as the founder of the Church of Satan. Covered in satanic etchings and scratches from his pet lions, the energy within the house added to the feel of the music video. Also previously used for the Russian Embassy, the house has featured on "Ghost Hunters" for it's haunted happenings.

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The Charli XCX-crafted Nasty Cherry have returned with their first single of the year, 'Lucky'. The new track follows last year's Season 2 EP, and arrives as first taster of a new EP landing this spring. The band say of their new single, "'Lucky' is a song we wrote for each other during the pandemic where the six weeks we got to spend together felt incredibly precious and introspective. It's a reflective, sweet and spiky little song." [via Line Of Best Fit]

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Griff has premiered the video for her incredible new single ‘Black Hole’. Launched as Annie Mac’s Hottest Record in the World last week, the striking new visual sees Griff examine a past relationship through a surreal, Alice in Wonderland’-esque journey from the sewing room into self-discovery (directed by duo SOB). [via With Guitars]

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Poppy Ajudha has shared her new single 'Weakness' in full. The London based artist blends together jazz, soul, R&B, and a whole lot more besides, resulting in a sound that is truly her own. 'Weakness' is a song about love, and it finds Poppy capturing that nuanced dichotomy between the rush of pleasure and an innate fear of being out of control. In a note, Poppy explains that her new single is "about feeling out of control and at the mercy of someone else because of how crazy they make you feel, but also feeling bittersweet about it, because you’re a bad b*tch and you don’t have time for that ish." The songwriter steered the video, too, a self-admitted "control freak" who oversaw the neat mixture of animation and a superbly styled set. "Self-directing was really fun," she comments. "I’m a control freak so it was great to get stuck into all the facets of making a music video. Choosing the team, the makeup looks, directing the styling ideas, writing the narrative, working out how to build the set. It definitely felt like a challenge to direct, star-in and perform choreographed moves for the first time but I love to push myself and am really glad I did." [via Clash]

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GG McG’s latest single, ‘Good Morning’, is her first release this year and second overall, following ‘Boom’ in 2019. The song was written on GarageBand during lockdown and was produced by Japanese Wallpaper’s Gab Strum, mixed by Konstantin Kersting and mastered by Andrei Eremin. “‘Good Morning’ is about the total, complete chaos of the past year and the feeling of waking up every morning, reading the news and being blown away by just how much worse things were than the day before,” McGauran said in a statement. [via the Music Network]

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Singer HyunA dropped her seventh mini album I’m Not Cool on Thursday, singing of the ups and downs of being the “cool girl” on stage. The album’s title song 'I’m Not Cool' sings about the nice things she tells herself. “It’s really about my originality. I try to compliment myself before going onto the stage. I tell myself it’s not bad to be myself. I’ve long dreamed of this moment right now, and I feel like I’m a bird flying freely in the sky or a flower blooming in the field. I know I cannot be loved by everyone, but I become perfect with just one person’s love. The song is about these kind of every day thoughts.” Donned in exotic outfits and flashy makeup, HyunA said she “became a snake” in the song that sings “No one’s as intense as I am, like salmosa. I tried to show as much of myself as I could in the music video. I wanted to show how intense the ‘not cool’ HyunA could become when fully set,” she added. The creativity behind the title track comes from the unique minds of herself, singer and the founder of her agency P Nation Psy, and her best colleague and boyfriend Dawn. “We worked on the song while just chatting about it endlessly with each other,” HyunA said. “When Psy threw in a big catchy chunk, Dawn would creatively unfold this, adding fun elements to make it fit my style and state of mind. I personally like writing those rebellious lines. Mingling these three minds together, every day, was just so much fun.” [via The Korea Herald]

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THYLA are sharing their first new music of 2021, with new single 'Breathe', a track that the band confirm will appear on their long-awaited debut album, set for release later this year. Putting 2020 firmly in the rear-view mirror, the Thyla ethos of putting one foot in front of the other serves them well as they look toward what a long-awaited debut album might sound like. As self-confessed underdogs they've developed an attitude that aims at turning the possible into the inevitable, and with the hypnotic 'Breathe' they reach for reflective, melancholy sounds to accompany what is a time of intense loneliness for many. It is a theme that has been creeping into Thyla's music for some time, and 'Breathe' sees them further explore the idea that, in a world more connected than ever, we are paradoxically more shut off as individuals. 'Breathe' shows yet again that even at their subtlest, Thyla are capable of carving out an impassioned pop world full of the intricacies of our much-missed IRL interactions. Lead singer Millie Duthie offers these thoughts on the track: "'Breathe' was written in the early hours of the morning. Eventually we chanced upon this really vibey atmospheric lick that you hear in the intro, and the whole song grew from there. The song blossomed into a slightly melancholic dream-pop bop, it’s bittersweet and has a slightly inconclusive feeling to it; imagine a film where the main character never actually gets the happy ending you’ve been so long yearning for. The result of how the instrumental sounded no doubt manifested lyrics that held the same sentiment. The song is about loneliness, estrangement from family and close friends, yet despite this, feeling a sense of inner strength about the situation. It’s like recovering from a breakup and realising you’ve come out stronger, but a reflection of the scar tissue that resulted from the trauma."

#videos of the week #l.a. witch #margo price #michelle #du blonde #rakky ripper #fka twigs #girl friday #faky #kinlaw #emeline #nasty cherry #griff #poppy ajudha #gg mcg #hyuna #thyla

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overdramatic-queer-antagonist · 3 years

Text

Echos of Something Long Forgotten

AO3

Yeah, I can write canon compliant things. Wild, I know.

Magnus should be in bed. It's three am, and he's got a long day of training tomorrow, but- He has nightmares a lot. Always about Julia. Most of the time, they're about what happened, Kalen, and such, but sometimes they're... something else. It's not that he can't remember the dream so much as parts. Scenery, people, and words, usually.

He's had The dream since before Governer Kalen. Hell, Steven (his father in law, not the fish) took him to a dream specialist for it. Ze had said it was a sign of PTSD, but Magnus had never experienced anything like it in his waking life.

In the dream, something descends from the sky. When Magnus tries to remember what, all he can think of is static. Dream Magnus knows what it is, though. His friend grabs his hand (Another piece of static. He can't think of his name or face. Magnus is pretty sure it starts with a B,) and they run towards some more static people. The captain tells them the game plan. Which is also mostly incomprehensible, but Dream Magnus gets it. And then they break off.

Magnus runs into the Hammer and Tongs. He's yelling for Steven and Julia, and he hears Steven scream. There are more people- no. not people. They're a part of the thing in the sky. He gets into the room just soon enough to watch the static monsters kill Julia. Even as she dies, she keeps hacking her ax at it. Sometimes Magnus wonders if she died fighting in real life, too.

The dream was marginally easier when he still had Julia. He'd wake up screaming for her every time. She never got frustrated, though, even when they were fighting. She'd kiss the scar above his eye, and they'd go downstairs and heat up some lavender tea. That's what he was doing now. He never did lose the habit of stocking up on lavender tea. It wouldn't be as good as Julia made it, but it would do.

Magnus was sure he'd be alone. Yet, here Taako was kneading dough way too hard.

"Taako? Is everything okay?" Magnus asks blearily.

Taako jumps and aims the Umbrastaff at Magnus, relaxing when he sees who it is. "Shit, Maggy! Thought you were one of those crystal monsters!" When Taako doesn't answer the question, Magnus raises an eyebrow. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just couldn't sleep."

"Yeah, same. Had a nightmare." Magnus says. He's trying to imply that Taako can tell him what's wrong.

"What about? Dogs falling off the moon?" Taako asks, making clear that he doesn't want to say why he's up.

"No, actually. About my wife. And what happened," Magnus is kinda lying, but he doesn't really want to get into it, and he doubts Taako would either.

"Fuck, sorry, dude." From anyone else, that would seem apathetic. But Magnus likes to think he knows Taako well enough to know that's not true.

"Yeah, just making some tea. Speaking of what are you making?"

"Oh, just basic sourdough. Don't have 'nuff energy for anything too fancy."

Magnus would love to tell Taako he's sure it will be delicious. He is. Those macaroons Taako made last month for Candlenights? Amazing. But Magnus knows that any mention of actually eating anything he makes will make whatever wrong worse.

Those macaroons were the only thing of Taako's Magnus has ever seen anyone eat in the half-year he's known him. It's not like Taako doesn't cook. He does, all the time. But when he's done, he always just throws it away.

Instead, Magnus stays quiet. The two putter around the kitchen, making their respective coping foods, in silence until they hear a loud banging coming from Merle's room.

Magnus, you guessed it, rushes in. Well, actually. He knocks politely on the door and asks, "Everything okay?" He doesn't get a response, so he says, "Okay. I'm gonna come in now." and opens the door.

Magnus doesn't think he's ever seen Merle cry. Well, there was that time last month when Magnus cut his arm off, but even then, he barely shed a tear. Now, Merle was sitting at his desk, sobbing so hard that it shook. It looks like that banging Magnus heard was Merle's Xtreme Teen Bible! falling off of the desk.

Merle looked up at Magnus sadly and sighed, "Oh no, Mags. You don't need to see me like-" His thought was interrupted by another loud sob, and he gave up on trying to speak.

"Okay," Magnus starts carefully. "I'm gonna carry you over to the couch. Nod if that's okay." Merle nods, so Magnus gently lifts and walks slowly over to the couch.

By the time he has Merle comfortably seated, Taako comes over with a rag that smells like lavender. (Magnus privately wonders if Taako just dumped his tea on a rag.) He puts the rag around Merle's neck and holds his hands.

"Okay, now tell me what happened," Taako says.

"I had a nightmare. I w- I'm sorry, I can't," Merle whispers the last part as if he thinks if he's quiet enough, the tears won't try to interrupt him.

"That's okay. You're gonna have trouble. Just keep trying." Taako says as he rubs circles into Merle's palm.

Merle takes a deep breath and continues, "I was playing chess with a man. I can't think of his face, but I'm pretty sure I knew him. J-J." He slumps over as he tries to think of the name.

"Don't worry, Merle. Just keep going." Magnus says.

"Okay... He kept- he kept asking me about my kids. And I kept trying to change the subject, but he just kept asking and- I can't explain it, but I just knew he was going to hurt them."

"Is there more?" Taako asks. Merle shakes his head. "Okay, now take slow, deep breaths. In for 7, hold for 4, out for 8."

After a few cycles, Merle looks like he feels a lot better, and he asks, "Now, where the hell did you learn that, Taako?"

Taako closes his eyes tight like he has a headache, and Magnus puts a hand on his shoulder. "It's not worth it. Just let the question slide past."

The trio sit in quiet for a moment before Taako finally asks, "Magnus, did your nightmare have static in it?" Magnus nods. "Mine too..." Taako says thoughtfully. After a moment, he lets out a loud groan and gets up. "There's something there! It's right there, but I. Can't. See. It. And it's driving me crazy!"

"Just let it pass. Do you wanna talk about what it's about?" Taako opens his mouth to speak and instead starts gagging. "Okay, me first. A big cloud of static comes down from the sky. There are seven of us. We all seem to know what's going on. We're trying to stop it. I go to the shop- Oh boy. One second," Fantasy Jesus, why is Magnus's mouth so dry. His heart was pounding, but he could work through that. "I go to the shop my father in law and I owned, and I can hear him screaming from the backroom. The last thing I see before I wake up is Julia hacking at a static monster, refusing to die. The worst part is these dreams started before they even died."

It takes a moment to realize why nobody's speaking. Merle's drinking a glass of water- good he was crying. He's probably dehydrated.- But Taako's writing furiously into a notebook. Magnus laughs. He looks just like- Taako gives him a weird look, and Magnus shrugs in return.

"Can you speak, bud?" Merle asks.

Taako sighs, "Yeah, I think it'll be okay. Wasn't sure, though, hence the notebook. Okay... Fantasy Mary Berry, this is like group therapy or something! So. I poisoned a whole town."

"Gosh, Taako, that sounds terrible. I'm so sor-" Taako interrupts Magnus with a sharp, bitter laugh.

"That wasn't the nightmare. It actually happened. An accident, obvi, but I'm still wanted. Glamour Springs, forty people died."

"Shit."

"Yeah. 'Shit' indeed. The point is that's why I don't really cook for anyone anymore. In my dream, I'm making something for someone... It's so weird. I want to say she's my sister, but I'm an only child. But, yeah. My 'sister' eats it. Thirty garlic clove chicken, because my brain hates me. It poisons her, and I sit there watching her die in front of me, unable to do anything but pray it doesn't hurt too much. I can't even figure out what I did to mess up the recipe so bad."

There's silence for a moment. Magnus doesn't really know how to proceed, and he's willing to bet the others feel the same. After a second, Merle speaks. "Wow. What a fucked up group we are, huh?"

Magnus laughs, "Yeah, that's one way of putting it, old man!"

Eventually, the conversation becomes less weighted and the silence more comfortable. It's nice. Knowing that there were other anomalies like Magnus. People who cried for people and places they didn't know that didn't exist, probably. Even so, Magnus can't shake how familiar all of this feels. Talking with Taako and Merle like this. It feels like he's done it a thousand times. But he guesses that's just another thought he has to let slip through the cracks. For now, he'll just goof off with the first friends he's made since the fall of Raven's Roost. Yeah. That sounds nice.

_____

Lucretia hoped that they would be asleep. She'd woken up with nightmares again, just like she had for the past 112 years, just like they all had. This was the day the Hunger took their home from them, after all.

She just wants to check on them, make sure they were still there. Not dead like her nightmares. They aren't. She hears Taako laughing from behind the door, and for a moment, all she wants to do is barge into that room and tell them about the latest book she read.

That's what they used to do on this day. When everything was too much like what they'd lost. Magnus would always try to get through it alone, but the Captian made sure nobody went through it alone.

The twins would bake cookies, elderflower macaroons, Lucretia's favorite, and try to teach Barry how to make hot cocoa. They never could figure out if him drinking the one with milk in it was better or worse. Taako swore it was a sin to drink hot cocoa made with water, but Lup didn't want him to hurt his stomach.

Merle would listen to Lucretia rambling on about whatever book she'd just read. They had to stock up on them because she went through them so quickly. Taako would interject her retelling with comments and jokes. Whenever she read a particularly heteronormative one, he'd start interjecting ways the scene could've gone but didn't. It was like a party. It was a little too somber, but that just made it a shitty party.

It had been twelve years since their last shitty party. Lucretia wanted so bad to just walk in there and be like they used to. Taako, making fun of Barry and Lup. Merle, trying to get Davenport to dance with him. Much to the dismay of everyone else in the room. Magnus, parading Lucretia around on his shoulders as she ranted about how overrated Fantasy Shakespeare was.

But Lup and Barry are gone. Davenport's a husk. Magnus, Merle, and Taako, while they may not seem too different to the outside eye, are broken. And it's all Lucretia's fault. She tries to tell herself that she had no choice. Once the Hunger was stopped, they could go back to that. She really should be going, actually. But she's been all alone for twelve years. So she leans against the door of her brothers who don't remember her. She'll just listen for a little bit longer.

#the adventure zone #the adventure zone balance #taz #taz balance #taz balance spoilers #taz fic #fanfic #magnus burnsides #taz magnus #taz taako #taako tacco #taz merle #merle highchurch #taz lucretia #angst #tw swearing #tw panic attack #tw nightmares #tw ptsd

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queen-of-deans-booty · 4 years

Text

The Song Remains The Same: Part Two

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 1,636

Warnings: typical supernatural violence, language, angst, blood, you know the usual

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Supernatural. All credit goes to their respective owners. Any and all comments on these are appreciated. I really want to hear what you guys think about this one!

Feedback is the glue that holds my writing together.

Tags at the bottom

Dean pulled up to the house where the Winchesters were staying at, and you looked around to see if any of these houses were your mom’s. When you saw her for the first time, there was a pull coming from her body, making sure you knew she was around.

You didn’t get that feeling this time.

The Impala was parked in front of the house so you knew this was the right one. You three got out of the car to survey the house, but you were growing nervous. Sam was dead set on seeing his parents, but his brother stopped him before he could go any further.

“Sam. Sam. Wait, wait, wait, wait.”

“Dean, Anna could be here any second.”

“What exactly are we gonna march up there and tell 'em?”

“Uh, the truth?”

“What, that their sons are back from the future to save them from an angel? Gone Terminator? Come on. Those movies haven't even come out yet.”

“Well, then tell her demons are after 'em. I mean, she thinks you two are hunters, right?”

“Yeah, hunters who disappeared right when her dad died. She's gonna love us,” you said sarcastically.

There was a pause as Dean thought of what to do next.

“Just follow my lead,” he sighed, walking up to the house and ringing the doorbell.

It didn’t take long for someone to answer, and Mary looked at you and Dean in disdain.

“Hi, Mary,” Dean chuckled.

“It’s good to see you again,” you smiled.

Looking over at Sam, you saw that his reaction was the same when Dean found out that she was his mother.

“You two can't be here,” she panicked.

“I'm sorry if this is a bad time.”

“You don't understand. I'm not—” she looked at Sam and stopped the thought from coming out of her mouth. “I don't do that anymore. I have a normal life now. You have to go.”

“I’m sorry,” Dean sighed, stopping the door when she tried to shut it on him, “but this is important, okay?”

The door swung open wider to reveal John, and Sam gasped quietly when he saw him.

“Sorry, sweetie, they're just...”

“Mary’s cousins,” you smiled, finishing for her. “Yeah, we couldn't stop through town without swinging by and saying 'hey', now, could we?”

“I’m Dean and this is Y/N,” Dean introduced himself and you to John even though they already met.

“You look familiar.”

“Really? Yeah, you do, too, actually, you know? We must have met sometime. Small towns, right? Got to love 'em,” he chuckled.

“I’m John,” John smiled, holding out his hand for Sam to shake.

Sam had tears in his eyes like you’d expected him to, but he shook off the shock and shook his hand.

“This is Sam,” Dean said for his brother.

“Sam. Uh, Mary's father was a Sam.”

“It’s a family name,” you chuckled.

“You okay, pal? You look a little spooked,” John chuckled nervously when Sam hadn’t let go of his hand yet.

He dropped it in realization and just chuckled.

“Oh. Oh, yeah. Just a... long trip.”

“Well, Sam, Dean, and Y/N were just on their way out,” Mary chuckled.

“What? They just got here. Real happy to meet folks from Mary's side. Please come on in for a beer.”

“Twist my arm,” Dean smiled, but Mary could only glare at him.

She had no choice but to let you three inside the house. You took up a home on her couch just like Sam and Dean did with the Winchesters sitting across from you. Sam couldn’t stop staring at his mother, and it was starting to put John on edge.

“Are you sure you're okay, Sam?” John asked.

“W—oh. Yeah, yeah. Um, I'm just, um—you are so beautiful,” he sighed at Mary.

John leaned forward, about to attack if necessary, but Dean saved his ass.

“He means that in a—a non-weird, wholesome, family kind of a way.”

“Yeah, right,” he chuckled nervously.

“We haven't seen Mary in—in quite some time, and—See, she's the spitting image of our mom. I mean, it's—it's—”

“Eerie,” Sam finished.

“So, how are you guys related?”

“You know, uh, distantly,” you shrugged.

“Oh. So, you knew Mary's parents?”

“Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Mary's dad was, uh, pretty much like a grandpa to us,” you smiled.

“Oh. That was tragic—that heart attack,” John sighed, reaching over to take his wife’s hand.

“Yes, it was.”

“So, uh, what are you guys doing in town, anyway?”

“Uh, business, you know.”

“Oh, yeah? What line of work?”

“Plumbing.”

“Scrap metal.”

“Mechanic,” you, Sam, and Dean said at the exact same time. Mary jumped up before John had a chance to question it.

“Oh, gosh. It's almost seven. I hate to be rude, but I got to get dinner ready.”

“Maybe they could stay.”

“I'm sure they have to leave,” she tried to get rid of you again.

The phone began ringing, and John stood up to go get it. As he was leaving the room, he turned to you three.

“Uh, look, please stay. You know, it would mean a lot to me. I haven't met much of Mary's side of the family.”

“You have to leave. Now,” Mary hissed when John was gone.

“Okay, just listen—"

“No, you listen. Last time I saw you, a demon killed my parents. Now you waltz in here like you're family? Whatever you want—no. Leave me alone.”

“You and John are in danger,” you blurted out.

“What are you talking about?”

“Something is coming for you.”

“Demon?”

“Not exactly,” you sighed.

“Well, what, then?” she asked, clearly impatient.

“It's kind of hard to explain, okay? It's—it's—”

“An angel,” Sam interrupted his brother.

“What?” she laughed, not believing a word he says. “There’s no such thing.”

“There was a time you didn’t believe in demons, right? They’re real, and they’re twice as strong as demons. Bigger dicks, too,” you scoffed.

“Why would an angel want to kill us?”

“It's a long story, and we'll tell you the whole thing, but right now, you've got to trust us, and we got to go. Look at my face and tell me if I'm lying to you,” Dean said, staring into her eyes.

“Okay,” she sighed. “Where do we go?”

“Out of here. We got to move now, though.”

“Okay, but what do I tell John?”

“Where is John?” you asked, looking around the room.

Getting up, you and the other three people walked into the kitchen only to see no John but a message written on a sticky note taped the phone.

Back in 15. J

“It’s Anna. She got him,” you said to Dean and Sam.

“You sure?”

“Yes! Mary, where would John go at this time of night?” you asked.

“Maybe the garage where he works, but I don’t know—”

“Come on. Let’s go,” you urged, leading the group out of the house to go save John since you knew Anna found him.

Even before you got to the garage, you knew that John was in danger. When you did arrive, you knew that Anna was inside the building. There wasn’t any physical indication of the angel’s presence, but you could just feel her inside.

“Come on, she’s inside,” you whispered, leading the group inside.

It was quiet, too quiet, but you made sure to locate John before Anna could get to him. If she killed him, and Mary does go on to have a kid with someone else, then it wouldn’t be the same Sam as you know him now.

You found John in one of the rooms with Anna, and it looks like she got to him before you three did. She didn’t do too much damage to him, but you’d be damned if you’re going to let her do any more. John was flung over a car, and you snuck up behind her while Sam, Dean, and Mary went to do their own thing somewhere else. Anna knew you four were there, and she turned around only to come face to face with you.

“Y/N.”

“Anna,” you smirked, your eyes turning bright blue.

She raised her arm to attack you, but you grabbed her wrist to prevent it from happening. She tried to move her arm back, but the grip you had on her was too great. With your other hand, your magic swirled into a ball until it was big enough to attack her with. Shoving your hand at her chest, she flung across the room and hit the shelves by the wall with a loud thump.

Looking at Mary who approached you, she held an angel blade in her hands, and you grabbed it before throwing it at Anna who disappeared before it could reach her. Turning around, you came face to face with Anna who threw Mary into a windshield since her focus was on the Winchesters dying. The angel moved to go to Mary, but you grabbed the closest thing to you and rammed into hr back. The crowbar that you picked up stuck out of her back, and she turned to face you with a smirk.

“Sorry, that’s not how you kill an angel.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing that wasn’t my goal,” you smirked.

Stepping back, you gave her enough time to look at Sam who was behind you getting the sigil ready.

“You can distract them, though,” he said, shoving his bloody hand onto the sigil which sent

Anna away in a burst of bright white light. The crowbar that was in her body fell to the ground in an echoey noise. Mary panted as she got off the car, and to her right, John crouched on the ground with a concerned look in his eyes.

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ladyhistorypod · 4 years

Text

Episode 12: The Lady History Library

Sources:

Zora Neale Hurston

National Women’s History Museum

Zora Neale Hurston Digital Archive, Chronology

Zora Neale Hurston: A Biography of the Spirit

Further Reading & Listening: The Dead Ladies Show (podcast), Wrapped in Rainbows: the Life of Zora Neale Hurston (audio book), The death and rebirth of Zora Neale Hurston (article/podcast),

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou’s Website

Time

Biography

National Women’s History Museum

The Harlem Writers Guild

Poetry Foundation

Mary Shelley

Literary Hub

History Channel

Encyclopedia

Biography

Poetry Foundation

British Library: Mary Shelley

British Library: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein and the Villa Diodati

University of Central Missouri

Somerset Live

Attributions: image of Maya Angelou, Book Page, Maya Angelou at Hillside Courtesy; William J. Clinton Presidential Library

Click below for a transcript of this episode!

Archival Audio: Our story is about a library. Although this library is a new one, it is not much different from most. And the people you will see might be your own neighbors.

Alana: You guys we did it. (Laughing)

Lexi: Yes!

Haley: Guys, I was in the car going to my in-laws or like what my mom calls my in-laws because I don't know what to do– like what do you call your boyfriend's parents when you live with your boyfriend?

Lexi: Your boyfriend's parents.

Alana: Hey Riddle Riddle has a word for this. SOPAS. Significant other’s parents.

Lexi: Oh yeah!

Haley: I like that.

Lexi: That's good.

Alana: Your SOPAS.

Haley: We’re not, like, married but then I don't know like I feel like saying oh my boyfriend’s parents. And we heard it like on the radio and all the tweets just came rushing in and we were getting gas and I did like a little dance in the car.

Lexi: Awww.

Haley: And when we were driving up I kept clapping and saying thank you out the window to all the Biden/Harris signs and then hissing at all the Trump/Pence and I think I heard me. But like, come on.

Lexi: I was walking on the beach, and people were driving by with American flags honking and every time someone honked everyone would cheer. And then this guy came by in a Biden/Harris tee that he'd cut the sleeves off of so it was very like 1980s muscle tank and he had a little horn on his bike and he was talking and he was going “woo! Woo!”

Alana: That is so Biden.

Lexi: And then there was one guy who gave him the middle finger and everyone who was like around the area of the beach, like it's Covid so people like weren't like close together but people were like around each other and everyone just looked at that guy like. You’re the asshole.

Alana: There was like just tons of honking and it was a lot of fun. And then I was trying to take my Shabbat nap and there was still honking.

Haley: What I want to know like immediately, and I say that sarcastically because we have a lot of other fish to fry, is where his like presidential library is going to be. Because that's like law. In the fifties Congress passed a law that every US president has to have their library. My guess is that Trump’s is going to be in like Florida. Like right next to–

Lexi: You don’t think New York City?

Haley: No. I’m being fully serious when I say it's Florida because I don't think New York.

Lexi: Mar a Largo Presidential Library?

Alana: Yeah probably.

[INTRO MUSIC]

Alana: Hello and welcome to Lady History; the good, the bad, and the ugly ladies you missed in history class. Today I'm joined in the Lady History library by Lexi. Lexi, what's the best grade you've gotten on a paper about a book you didn't read?

Lexi: Well I have to tell you something, Alana. I have never not read a book for school. I am a kiss ass. I'm a loser. I never had–

Alana: Haley is doing the big L

Lexi: L. on her forehead. I know. I was called all sorts of names. Brownnoser, ass-kisser… My number one teacher relationship was with the AP literature teacher. I read every word of Light in August. I read every word of One Hundred Years of Solitude. So, sorry to disappoint you but–

Alana: You’re blowing my mind right now.

Lexi: I read all of Crime and Punishment word for word.

Alana: Our other librarian is Haley. Haley, what do you think is the most overrated book in the straight white male literary canon?

Haley: Anything from Shakespeare.

Alana: I love you so much Haley. I also don't like Shakespeare.

Lexi: There's a theory that he might be three women pretending to be a man.

Alana: And I'm Alana and I believe everyone has two favorite books; their intellectual favorite and their actual favorite.

Lexi: One hundred percent true.

Alana: So this is my post intro banter; what is your intellectual favorite and what is your actual favorite. Intellectual favorite is like your favorite that you had to read for school, and then like your real favorite.

Haley: That's assuming I like, read books in high school. Okay, let me–

Lexi: I’m the opposite.

Haley: Like, let me– okay, I'm like on the spectrum of dyslexia. My mom may come after me, she doesn’t listen to the podcast, it's fine, she's in denial about it. But I have a really hard time doing pronunciation in my head and pronouncing words. It just, it happened. I didn't really start reading until the second grade. So going into high school, I had to do the standardized testing. I got a one on the English and then like a four on the science? Because those were like the two that worked. And they thought I was like the stupidest person in the world. Like they couldn't like. Brain fathom that I didn't think the same way for reading grammar and like reading books because they were like “did you– what happened? You got a four on science.” And I just, I did not read like it was never– and I read books on the side. My mom would like see me reading like Harry Potter, Hunger Games, all the YA books of the time and not reading school books. And it was just like out of disdain. But I think if I had to pick out of like the five I actually read was One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest because I knew I would watch the movie with Jack Nicholson and I actually like the book. And then fun book, I don't have a favorite fun book, I just have a genre. Like that cheesy romance novels.

Alana: Oh yeah.

Haley: Not the ones about sex, but just like the girl finding the guy… the single mom like figuring life out. Anything from like Jennifer Hyde, Jasmine Guillory, those books are my jam because I know that like I'm so distant from them. Just like in retrospect and I don't have those type of human emotions. I’m like “oh. That’s– that is a fantasy.” That is my fantasy type thing. Like I think I can like see a pig fly or just like Harry Potter's wand come shooting at my brain cells, but like girl falling in love because she met a guy at the bookstore? That sounds fake.

Alana: I want to point out. Haley is the only one of us who’s in a romantic relationship right now.

Lexi: I think that says something about if you have too high expectations… you’re gonna be single. (Laughing)

Haley: Remember, I thought like my longtime boyfriend was gay and in a relationship the man he was sitting on the couch with.

Lexi: So, okay. My favorite intellectual book is probably One Hundred Years of Solitude, and people always like “why the hell do you like that book… like incest… like what's wrong with you?” I just think it’s really well written. Like, I think it's very visual in how it describes things and it's like full of like visual metaphor and now I sound like an asshole the way I’m talking. Like I love books.

Haley: No, I am so happy you said that because I tried reading that book. That was never recommended in school, but after finishing school and like learning to love to read through like summer vacation and then also college, I found one of those buzzfeed list of like a hundred books you had to read in school and I've been trying to like pick them off. And I've tried to read that book like two to three times and I can't get past page 70, and I don't know if that's just me or that's like the book. But it's probably me. But now that you’ve said this I'm gonna start it again.

Lexi: I think it takes a certain kind of person to enjoy it, but it's a very good book. And then my fun book– that's hard because I love lots of fun books. Like I want to say The Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty but that's not really fun, that's actually quite intellectual. Oh, now I sound like more of an asshole! I can’t not sound like an asshole this episode.

Alana: Today on Lady History: Lexi’s an asshole.

Lexi: I'm a literary snob. But no, this– this’ll redeem me. My all time favorite book like of all time is called the Perkin Papers, and quite frankly I don't know if it even still exists, like I don't think you can buy a new copy of it because the copy I have is from the 1930s and I found it at an auction in a box when I was five. But it's gotten me through some rough times.

Haley: That is the most Lexi way of finding a motherfucking book if I’ve ever heard one.

Lexi: I go to a lot of weird places to find books. So my favorite smart person book, or my favorite high school book is Frankenstein which oh my god sneak peek foreshadowing. And then my favorite actual, my actual favorite fun book is either Good Omens which I read before I knew the show was coming out by the way. I am not a bandwagoner. Not that there's anything wrong with being a bandwagoner but I am not a bandwagoner. Or an Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green and the sequel, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor. But I think that Hank Green's books are beautiful depictions and explorations of humanity and social media.

LEXI’S STORY STARTS HERE

Archival Audio: This little song is a story. The young lady thinks that it's time for them to get married, in fact if she thinks they just have to, and the boy doesn’t want to marry. And so this song’s about it. (Singing) Tilly, lend me your pigeon. He caught me with mine. My pigeon’s gone wild in the bush. My pigeon’s gone wild. My pigeon’s gone wild in the bush. My pigeon’s gone wild.

Lexi: I have two things in common with Zora Neale Hurston, any guesses on what those two things are?

Alana: You love the bison at the zoo.

Haley: You both have owned birds.

Lexi: I don't think either of those are true of Zora Neale Hurston. But, those two things it is is that she was a trained anthropologist and she went to a college in Washington DC.

Alana: Okay my guess was that you both lived in DC for– my actual guess was that you both lived in DC for a while, and I know that sounds like “eheheh that’s what I was going to say” but that is, like, what I was going to say.

Lexi: No I believe that you would have guessed that because I think it's like… People reference her around DC because she spent some time there. Although she didn’t spend that long there. Anyway and then the funny thing is you both also kinda had that come with her so. Haha.

Alana: That's true.

Lexi: We all have those two things in common with Zora Neale Hurston. Now I will begin. So, let's jump into her story… book, get it? She's an author and also Haley says that a lot of times so it’s not that unique that I said that. Zora was born on January 15, 1891 in Notasulga? I might be saying that wrong. Notasulga, Alabama. And like many other young Black women in her era, both her parents had been enslaved. And when she was very young her family moved to Florida and settled in Eatonville, which is one of the first towns in the United States to be incorporated by African-Americans, so she grew up in an area with a lot of African-American leaders.

Speaker 2: There, her father became mayor and pastor at the local church and her mother Lucy Potts Hurston died in 1904 and her father remarried. Zora and her stepmother did not get along, and so the young girl went to live with other family members, spending a lot of time with her brother in her brother's homes. In 1914, she moved to Memphis and began working as a nanny for one of her brother’s children. And she then became a maid and moved to Baltimore. In Baltimore, she eventually became a waitress and decided to go back to school, studying at night. And on September 17, 1917, Zora at the age of 26 enrolled at the Morgan Academy. She graduated with a high school degree a year later and moved to Washington DC where she began working as a manicurist and continued to work as a waitress. That fall she entered Howard University and in two years she earned an associate's degree. Zora co-founded The Hilltop, which is still Howard's student newspaper to this day. She then moved to New York City. Zora, through a scholarship she earned, attended Barnard College. There, she declared herself an English major, but was also passionate about anthropology, studying under the famed “founding father” anthropologist Franz Boas. Also while in New York, she befriended notable Harlem icons such as Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen. She became a part of the Black cultural movement, joining many other Black writers living and working in Harlem. At the end of her college career, Professor Boas encouraged her to collect Black folklife in the south. This experience shaped future work. As both an anthropologist and author, Zora dedicated her life to the preservation and promotion of Black cultural studies. She did not only study Black culture and African diaspora in the United States of America, but also visited the islands of Haiti, the Bahamas, and Jamaica; studying religion and reporting her findings in US newspapers. In addition to producing ethnographic work for her research, she also used her studies of Black culture, religion, and folklife to inspire her fiction writing. She also collaborated with Langston Hughes on her writing. Her most famous work, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is notable for breaking barriers as one of the first fiction novels to explore the experience of a Black woman in America. Today, the novel is used as an educational tool in high school literature classes and college anthropology and American studies courses. If you have not read it, do yourself a favor; go pick up a copy from your local bookstore or library. It was the book that inspired me to pick Zora for this episode and it's one of the works that inspired me to study anthropology in college because when I read it as a junior in high school I was like this is really interesting I need to know more about this lady and how she got all this information to make the story. And I found out how she did ethnographic work and I was like “that's a job?” So anyway, that’s really cool. Zora wore many hats, and anthropology and literature were not her only passions. She also taught drama at the North Carolina College for Negroes, which is now the North Carolina Central University and she worked as a consultant for a movie studio, Paramount Pictures. In the 1940s, Zora lived on a houseboat that she called Wanago. And also in a controversial hot take zero oppose the Supreme Court ruling in Brown V. Board, believing integration would actually result in assimilation and destroy the cultural transmission of knowledge between Black teachers and Black students, which I guess makes a bit of sense. At the time, integration meant a lot of Black students went on to have white teachers and a lot of Black teachers were no longer teaching. And cultural representation in education really matters because sometimes without specific cultural understanding, meeting students’ needs can be really hard, and we still see this problem today. So obviously I don't believe in school segregation, but I think Zora’s point could be used today to support hiring diversity and hiring teachers who reflect diverse communities where they teach. Zora was married three times, but it never lasted long. I think they were all like a year, but honestly they’re such a footnote in her life it's hard to find resources on these guys. Through her lifetime, Zora was largely ignored by mainstream white literary critics and she had a large following in the Black community. She was usually underpaid for her work and she lived poorly for most of her life. Towards the end of her life, despite being an accomplished author, she was evicted. She suffered a stroke in 1959, and in old age she was forced to enter the St Lucie County Welfare Home where she was cared for until her death of heart disease on January 28, 1960. Because she had no money or close relatives, she was buried in an unmarked grave and her funeral was held through donations collected from her friends. When Alice Walker, the author known for her book The Color Purple, found out Zora’s grave was unmarked, she decided to do something about it. In 1972, she found Zora’s grave and commissioned a marker for it. The marker reads “ZORA NEALE HURSTON / A GENIUS OF THE SOUTH / NOVELIST FOLKLORIST / ANTHROPOLOGIST / 1901–1960." And yes, she got the birthday wrong, but that's okay because she did an awesome thing recognizing her. Though in life, Zora’s work was overlooked, in death she became an icon, and is considered one of the best writers of her time. Today many modern authors consider her an influence on their work. Her folklife recordings and manuscripts are held in the Zora Neale Hurston archive at the University of Central Florida and can be accessed online through their website or the Library of Congress. Her hometown, Eatonville, Florida, honors her with the Zora Neale Hurston Museum of Fine Arts and the Zora Neale Hurston Library; two fitting tributes to her passion for arts, culture, and literature. And, so I know I said that the reason I picked her was because of Their Eyes Were Watching God, and that's true but that's only half true. Another reason I love Zora Neale Hurston is that when I worked at the zoo there were two bison at the National Zoo, and there's always bison at the National Zoo because the first animal ever exhibited at the National Zoo was a bison and every time there's always two, and one is always named by Howard University and one is always named by Gallaudet University because they’re two universities in DC, and the students vote through a poll to name each of the bison that represent their school. And this started as a tradition because the bison is the mascot of Howard. They are the Howard bison, so that's how this tradition started. And usually the Howard students pick an alum of their university to be the bison's name, and so while I was working at the zoo, the bison named by Howard students was named Zora and she was named after Zora Neale Hurston, who got her associate's degree from Howard University. And that's pretty cool, but unfortunately I just found out recently that Zora passed away March 7, 2020 from an leg injury. And when big animals like bison and horses get leg injuries, they can't really recover. They have to be humanely euthanized, which really stinks. But they do have two new baby bison at the zoo that just got named this July.

HALEY’S STORY STARTS HERE

Archival Audio: History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again. Lift up your eyes upon This day breaking for you. Give birth again To the dream. Women, children, men, Take it into the palms of your hands, Mold it into the shape of your most Private need. Sculpt it into The image of your most public self. Lift up your hearts Each new hour holds new chances For a new beginning.

Haley: So, like Lexi said, I always say let’s crack open that story book, and that’s exactly what we're gonna do today for Marguerite Annie Johnson or Maya Angelou. I'm gonna try a new way of quote “storytelling” for just in general huge historic heroes by telling a couple of quote “short stories' ' rather than like one long telling of their life-icles.

Lexi: Vignettes.

Haley: What?

Lexi: Vignettes. Like if you ever read the book The Things They Carried– oh my god Lexi’s a literary snob. It's a book told in vignettes.

Alana: Vine was also short for vignettes.

Haley: And I thought it was fitting to do it for our author ladies because like short stories, haha so funny. And especially our author, Maya, has written 36 books and some of those actually include cookbooks, so throwback to our previous episode. So, story number one I've titled quote “I love the uniforms.” So Maya had spent some time in San Francisco, and she was actually the first female African American cable car conductor. So for those of you who are not familiar with San Francisco's cable car, they’re the classic almost like trolley-like vehicles that make a bunch of noise when you hear them. And they're mainly downtown SF to go up and down those massive eff off hills, and they’re a huge tourist attraction at this point. And the secret is, guys do this if you're ever in SF, past corona, all that good stuff. It's fourteen dollars to like ride it. But if you get one of those like day passes included, then that's– like that's what you have to do. You have to make sure the day pass you get or if you're a local because a lot of them use it for their transportation of like if you're on top of Knob Hill you go down the hill or up the hill to get to really where like the financial district stuff is… all the big businesses. and in our like monthly pass where you pay like eighty dollars for it you get like unlimited trolley car… or, cable car… I always called it the trolley. I don't know why, but Robert and other locals would yell at me saying “it's the cable car. The trolley is something different.” They all look the same to me and I'm still gonna get lost either way. Anyhoo, sixteen year old Maya wanted this job and even said on like an Oprah Winfrey talk show, “I loved the uniforms,” hence the title. And it was her mother who actually said that she should go to the city office and get the job if she wanted it so badly. And when she went to the area like where the cable car conductors got hired, she was noted to be reading Russian literature. And she wasn't first hired or even allowed to like apply because of her race. Because surprise surprise, America wasn't woke and it’s still not woke. But she read her Russian literature, like the boss girl she is, and was hired. When she like, she didn't get the application actually before being hired. She was under the legal age so she actually wrote that she was 19 like the badass she was. and as a conductor her mom would also join her. And like she's currently conducting at like the butt crack of dawn at four AM and her mom would kind of go behind a trolley car. And the trolley car isn’t like a closed vehicle. It’s not like a bus or train where the doors close. You can just hop on and you'll see people hold onto a pole and stand on the outside, and cars come like within inches of you. You can't even have like a backpack or something. Like you have to like hug yourself to this pole, essentially. I've almost gotten hit once or twice. Also for cars going by, there are special lanes, if this was like the same back then as well. There are special lanes that these cable cars can go through. Regardless her mom would trail Maya’s cable car and Maya said quote “with her pistol on the passenger seat.” So I love that. I don’t– like I just– ugh. Juicy. And she worked there for about a semester before deciding to return to school. Second story, I'm calling it “getting pen to paper.” In the 1950s, African American writers in New York City formed The Harlem Writers Guild to essentially support Black authors in the publication process and affirm them as the beautiful writers they are. And the Guild is still around today, the link is in the show notes, of course of course. And she was one of the early members and during this time she began to write I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, an autobiography of her life that was published in 1969, And many claim to be her most famous book. This is now where like my memory is kind of getting fuzzy because I read a lot of her books, and a lot of her books– or, most of her books are autobiographies or what she actually created as a genre during this time as autobiographical fiction. And that’s basically taking parts of your life and adding some elaborate essence to connect it more, make it more juicy. And this one I think is the one that took like thirteen years to write. Like she kinda wrote it along with her life and also included some earlier parts. So she just like took truly the most time and it really paid off. And she also during this time in the Guild continued to explore art forms in poetry, dance, music, and even like writing and directing films. So we get just her really explain herself as a writer. And lastly, we have story number three, which I have called quote “On the Pulse of Morning.” And On the Pulse of Morning was the title of the poem she read for Clinton's presidential inauguration in 1993. That's why when Alana was like “hey, let's– let's do a quick nod of the election,” I was like “haha! I got this.” She was the second poet ever to read an original work at a presidential inauguration. The first was Robert Frost at JFK's in 1961. And the poem itself shares themes of inclusion, change, and the role of the president, and like the responsibility it comes with, but also like the role and responsibility a citizen has, which are all things we should just remember right now, 2020. And she was chosen because she grew up in Stamps, Arkansas or like a lot of her childhood was in Stamps, Arkansas, which was rather close to where Clinton was born. And he said that her writing really resonated with him. For example, he was quoted saying ”When I read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, I knew exactly who she was talking about and what she was talking about in that book.” And that references how Clinton's grandfather managed a grocery store that was in a predominantly African American neighborhood. And actually for this spoken word poem, was recorded and she ended up winning a Grammy Award in 1994. It was apparently like an amazing amazing thing. I don't have enough time to go searching on the YouTubes for it because I was researching another gal because we're recording two episodes tonight. But it was noted to be almost as like a theatrical performance. She just exuded that power and greatness and dug deep into her roots of being a dancer and performer. Before I finish, because I have my three short stories, I would like to note that Maya at times had a very difficult life with racial injustice, physical and sexual assault, loss, and just– the list goes on. But I did not want to pick stories on that because even in her a lot of her books she would focus on the positives and say how she took the bad and turned it into something good. And each three of those stories had a little nugget so dig deep into what I said and pick out positive from the not so positive; the bad, if you will. And I would just like to share my favorite book of hers which was published in 2013, a year before she died, and it's Mom and Me and Mom. And she also died at age 83 so she lived quite a life. One of my favorite quotes of hers is “If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.”

ALANA’S STORY STARTS HERE

Archival Audio: She's beautiful, she's evil, and she'll do anything for love. Never been a movie like Lady Frankenstein.

Alana: I'm so excited for this. My lady for today is Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, née Wollstonecraft Godwin; the teenage girl who invented science fiction and my O.G. goth queen. You may have seen some internet history lessons that you should of course take with more salt than the Dead Sea and I will note those when they come up, but sneak peek I have wonderful news about them. Mary was born August 30, 1797, that makes her a Virgo. Her parents were William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft– yes that Mary Wollstonecraft, the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women. Side note, I think we should do an episode on pre-first wave feminism feminists and I am calling dibs on Mary Wollstonecraft. They'd only gotten married that March scandal noises, gasp, shock and awe, possibly because William what was this radical anti marriage philosopher freethinker, and then his lover– not my favorite word, but anytime I use the word lover I am referencing Hadestown– was pregnant and it was a propriety thing. Although Mary Wollstonecraft had already had another daughter from a previous affair with an American businessman and I don't think they were married. Yeah, that's the real shock and awe. There is so much shock and awe, scandal in this story. Get ready for it. Just a week and a half after Mary was born on September 10, her mother died of complications from the child birth. And those complications can basically be summed up with 18th century doctors didn't wash their hands. And William Godwin made it very clear to Mary that she was a monster who had killed her mother. Literary scholar Sandra Gilbert has argued that Frankenstein is a projection of her own life. A quote unquote “monster” trying to have a relationship with the parent whose life it ruined. William remarried their neighbor Mary Jane Clairmont who had two kids of her own. And then William and Mary Jane had a son, so now Mary has four half and/or step siblings. Her stepmother vastly preferred her own children. Mary and her stepsister Claire would go on to spend quite a bit of time together but we'll get into that in a bit. Mary found solace at her mother's grave at St Pancras Church in London. She learned to write her name by tracing the letters on the tombstone, and that's only like the third most goth thing about her. But nobody talks about this one. I just think– I think it's like cute goth. Like kawaii goth. She would just like to hang out there and read or whatever like it was her spot. Normal kids have treehouses, Mary had her mother's grave. She published a kids’ book at the age of eleven called, I'm gonna butcher this pronunciation, but it’s not spelled like French so I guess this is on you Mary that I'm gonna mess this up. Mounseer Nongtongpaw; or, the Discoveries of John Bull in a Trip to Paris. It was her father's publishing company, so just a skosh of nepotism there, but it's still cool that she was eleven and published. In 1812, when she was fourteen, her father sent her to Scotland to live with some family friends, the Baxters, at her step mother's request. One of my sources said that Mrs Godwin felt quote “threatened by Mary” who had become the quote “beautiful image of his first wife” which. Mm. I do not like. Do not like. Mm. Okay. But you know what? Whatever though, because Mary is thriving. She feels good, she's away from her wicked stepmother, she's made friends with the Baxters’ youngest daughter Isabel, and she's like healthy and just like thriving. She's, she's living her best self. That November, she briefly visited home and this is potentially– it's kind of disputed by scholars, but this is potentially the first time she met, heart eyes emoji, Percy Shelley but he was still married to his first wife Harriet. Percy had come to study under Mary's father, but they were immediately smitten. In 1814 William Godwin brought his daughter home like for permanents because he wanted her to start earning her own living. But I think if Mary actually met Percy before in 1812, I like to imagine him just being like “hey, Mr Godwin, you know what would be really cool? It would be really cool if Mary were here. Don't you think I would be really cool if Mary were here?” But I… like I don't know if that's what happened. But this is where Percy and Mary have definitely met, and they read together and they have intellectual discussions. He’s very impressed by her parentage and her intellect, and they started their affair and they're very much in love. Mary takes him to her favorite place, her mother's grave, to profess her love for him. This is also where Percy asks her to marry him. And this is our first internet history lesson. You may have seen that Mary Shelley lost her virginity on her mother's grave. Most scholars say yeah. That happened. That's true. Because it was a very– it was a place of emotional growth for Mary. Percy later said that having sex with Mary was his real birthday. I hate this man.

Lexi: It seems like they all had a lot of problems.

Alana: I hate this man. I hate him so much. And we're gonna get more into why I hate him so much, but, okay. Percy supposedly gave Mary's dad twelve hundred pounds, which is now over eighty four thousand pounds, which is over a hundred and ten thousand dollars, in exchange for him to allow Percy and Mary to run away together. Mr Godwin took the money and said no. But Mary and Percy ran away to Switzerland anyway. And Mary's dad doesn't speak to her for two and a half years. I want to point out, Percy is still married to another woman at this point, who was pregnant and they already had a child together.

Haley: I was just about to ask that.

Lexi: Yeah.

Alana: They're still married. Mary’s stepsister, Claire, who I mentioned, comes with them as a translator. But it's possible that Percy was also having an affair with her and they were a throuple. Percy was like all about free love and probably would have been one of those dudes on Bumble who's like “ethical non monogamy.” I'm looking at Lexi because she knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Lexi: I’m like envisioning a meme where it's his profile and he’s got like books, book emoji, cigarette emoji. He’s real edgy.

Alana: Oh yeah, totally. There is also evidence that Mary had affairs too, so this is like 19th century polyamory. Claire did eventually leave their household when Mary's jealousy kind of like physically made her ill. It just like she sank into this deep depression that magically got better when Claire moved out. They’re constantly on the move because Percy owes a lot of people a lot of money and he has to keep running away from creditors. Like, he– he gave someone a hundred and ten thousand dollars for permission to do something he was gonna do anyway. So, hm. Not great.

Speaker 1: Here is what everyone is waiting for, the writing of Frankenstein. This is a very famous story that they've done on Drunk History which was very funny to watch a drunk person try and say Wollstonecraft Godwin. I died laughing for ten whole minutes. And there’s an episode of Doctor Who about it, and side note the Thirteenth Doctor is chef's kiss A plus amazing, it's a whole new show and I love it. So 1816 was the year without a summer because the Indonesian volcano Mount Tamboro, I hope I'm pronouncing that right, had erupted the year before and covered basically the whole planet in a giant ash cloud. I am being dramatic, but my point is it was dark and gloomy and rainy the whole summer across Europe. So Claire’s back, and she’s pregnant with Lord Byron's– yes, that Lord Byron’s– child. And Lord Byron is staying at the Villa Diodati in Geneva, and the three of them meet him there and they're all hanging out. Are they having orgies? Maybe. Byron and Percy had been talking about Romantic– capital R. romantic, as in the 19th century cultural movement, those kind of ideas about death and magic and life and ooky spooky stuff. And so they start a ghost-story off. And this is where Mary begins Frankenstein. It wasn't all written in that night. I feel like that's a misconception, that she wrote all of it that night, but that was just like the idea. Most of it was actually written in Bath when everyone went back to England. And it wasn’t off-the-cuff either. Like Mary had a really hard time coming up with her idea. Percy and Mary finally got real married in December of 1816 after his first wife Harriet committed suicide. Apparently she was pregnant with another man's child, but honey have you seen what's going on here? I think you would've been fine. But Percy was denied custody of their children and he believed he might have a better chance of getting custody if he were quote– massive air quotes– “settled down.” This didn't work, but Mary's dad starts talking to her again, so that's nice. And Mary had a huge role in Percy Shelley's legacy, probably because some of survivor's guilt. He drowned in a shipwreck with two of his friends off the coast of Italy in July 1822 while Mary was recovering from a miscarriage that almost killed her. When Percy's body washed up, he was only identifiable by the Keats poetry in his pocket. Percy was cremated on the beach and his heart did not burn. That's true. Modern doctors say it probably calcified from a bout with tuberculosis earlier in his life. One of his friends took the heart and kept it and only gave it to Mary after her constantly bugging him. Which leads us to our second internet history lesson. Did she keep Percy Shelley's heart? Yes and no. When Mary died in 1850, her family definitely found his heart in her desk wrapped in the pages of his final poem, Adonaïs which is like a really sweet love poem. You should read that. But read Frankenstein first. Did she actually carry it everywhere? Uncertain. Maybe, but they definitely found it in her desk so she definitely had it. We're– we're not really sure where it is now. I don't know how that's possible, but I have conflicting sources. It's possible that it's with Mary or with their only child who had reached adulthood Percy Florence Shelley. They’d had a bunch of kids who either died super young or only lived like a few days. Mary is primarily responsible for the posthumous collection of Percy Shelley's work. So that's like all her. It’s like in her writing credits that she edited all of these collections. After Percy died, Mary turned down several marriage proposals because she quote “wanted to be Mary Shelley on her tombstone” which is really sweet. Side note, thank you to 19th century people for writing down all your feelings in like journals and thoughts and everything and then keeping them. I love that we know what you were thinking because there was no Twitter for you to document your whole lives the way that I do, although of course if you see me on Twitter, no you don't. This is where the stories about her usually stop after, Percy died. But, Alana, you said that she died in 1850, Percy died in 1822. What on earth did she do with those 28 years? I am so glad that you asked. First of all, she wrote a bunch more, thank you very much. Five more novels that weren't Frankenstein were published in her lifetime and at least twenty short stories. While she was no longer the radical she had been when she was with Percy, she took it upon herself to protect the women in her life. Claire, who lived with her on and off, obviously who I brought up a couple times. She lived with and supported the wife and children of one of Percy's friends who had also drowned. She helped her childhood friend Isabel, Isabel Baxter, from before, get out of England when she had a child out of wedlock. So she was protecting her, her friends. Mary died of brain cancer in 1850. Her son and his wife had her parents’ bodies exhumed and she's buried between them in St Peter's Church in Bournemouth. There are plans for a Mary Shelley museum in Bath, just up the street from the Jane Austen Centre and very much in the same style of like employees in period clothes and family friendly. The most recent article that I found about it was from June and one of the people in charge of it said that it would be finished by the end of the year slash early 2021, and that tourism would pick back up by then, but it's November and the U. K. just went back into lockdown, so I don’t think that schedule is still what’s happening. But, once travel is a thing again and once that Mary Shelley museum is open I think Lady History field trip to Bath. Shout outs to some professor at the University of Central Missouri for putting their study guide or test for Frankenstein as a PDF on the university website. The timeline of Mary's life on the first few pages was very helpful. I hope it wasn't a student who cheated, but the url is like UCM dot EDU, so… I just– I love Mary Shelley so much. I used– I made this joke in high school when we were reading Frankenstein that I think I am Mary Shelley reincarnated. Like if reincarnation is real, I would buy that. Like I'm only half kidding. But if reincarnation is real, which I don't know. I don't know if reincarnation is real. I know hell is not real, that's for sure. I also think it would be cool to be a ghost. Anyway… Lexi why are you laughing at me?

Lexi: It’s just very you.

Alana: Yeah. Anyway. So that is the story of Mary Shelley, the teenager who invented science fiction, and if you think it was some like, Isaac Asimov or whatever, who I literally saw in a meme once. If you think a man invented sci fi you are incorrect.

Lexi: You can find this podcast on Twitter and Instagram at LadyHistoryPod. Our show notes and a transcript of this episode will be on lady history pod dot tumblr dot com. If you like the show, leave us a review or tell your friends,and if you don't like the show keep it to yourself.

Alana: Our logo is by Alexia Ibarra, you can find her on Twitter and Instagram at LexiBDraws. Our theme music is by me, Garageband, and Amelia Earhart. Lexi is doing the editing. You will not see us, and we will not see you, but you will hear us next time, on Lady History.

[OUTRO MUSIC]

Haley: Next time on Lady History; we're going to be discussing some ladies whose lives were unfortunately cut a little too short.

#womens history #feminist history #literary history #mary shelley #maya angelou #zora neale hurston

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iicewitch · 4 years

Text

✨ bleed magic

a playlist for @glitchedwitch link to playlist: here tracklist and favorite lyrics below:

1. poniko’s room [lights on] - yume nikki ost instrumental 2. distant past - everything everything Take me to the distant past, I want to go back Save me from the distant past, I wanna survive Canine fangs about my throat You're bleeding over Eden like a goat Tall blade dripping in every field I'm blooming like a fuming human shield 3. president heartbeat - everything everything Were you born in a cave now? Do you live in a cage now? If you burst into flame now Will they call you a human being? And your spine is a glass spire And your flesh is the concrete And your blood is the sewer And your skin is the city wall 4. orange caramel - catallena The small, dancing Catellena (Red Sun) Without knowing, I’m falling for you Chic and proud, Catallena (Red Sun) Jutti meri oye hoi hoi, I’m bewitched 5. wings - little mix Mama told me not to waste my life, She said spread your wings my little butterfly Don't let what they say keep you up at night And they can't detain you 'Cause wings are made to fly 6. eighth wonder - lemon demon Extra clever. Earthbound spirit. Ghost in the form, of a mongoose. And I have hands. And I have feet. I'll never die, I am a freak. Hello, I'm here, I'm living in the wall, I know I might be small, but I am a... Freak 7. the will of one - the protomen As I walk through the city streets These frightened people watching me pass There is an evil that holds them here Yet they won't try breaking its grasp But if I stay here with you Then I will leave them to their doom Do not say this is how it has to be You do no better than the fools of this burning city 8. father of death - the protomen What have I done? Though I did not pull the trigger, I built the gun That he holds in his hand Last night I dreamed I climbed to the top of a mountain of metal For miles I could see the destruction of man If the shadow blocks out the sun... there will be Light! If it stays 'till the sun is set... there will be Light! If the sun never shows its face again... there will be Light! No matter how dark the city gets... there will be... 9. i’m a hex girl - hex girls With this little cobweb potion You'll fall into dark devotion If you ever lose affection I can change your whole direction I'm a Hex Girl and I'm gonna put a spell on you I'm gonna put a spell on you 10. free - mother mother Love, let my anger Turn into peace Love, let the doves cry out in the streets Love, let the poison bleed out of me Love, let my love inside go free A bloody war Behind my eyes I come out right on the other side 11. the sticks - mother mother I'll be gone for good Out there with the creatures in the woods And I'll be understood Make friends with the pagans in the nude I'll be no different Just a little less interested In all that new world shit 'Cause there ain't no new world in the sticks 12. infinitesimal - mother mother There's a million, billion, trillion stars but I'm down here low Fussin' over scars on my soul, on my soul, on my soul, on my soul On my soul, I am so infinitesimal, oh They say it started with a big bang But they say it was really just a small thing Strangely I'm feeling like a big bang 'Cause I've been making something out of nothing 13. burning pile - mother mother My mama, lonely maid Got her buns in the oven, and she never got laid My papa, renaissance man Sailed away and he never came back again All my troubles on a burning pile All lit up and I start to smile If I, catch fire then I change my aim Throw my troubles at the pearly gates 14. build god then we’ll talk - panic at the disco Raindrops on roses and girls in white dresses It's sleeping with roaches and taking best guesses At the shade of the sheets and before all the stains And a few more of your least favorite things 15. life is looking up - forgive durden Could this be the day I've waited for When all my hard work doesn't go ignored? Maybe she was right, the will realize I can change the world open us their eyes They know I am more than some eager blood Not some average bones, I believe in love I just want to prove I deserve this gift I will change the world, maybe this is it 16. bleed magic - idkhbtfm Crawling up your skin Potions pills and medicines To drain you And bleed your magic out 17. the oracles on the delphi express - the dear hunter You've been stuck in the middle of patience and animosity. With a lust for solidity, and a cryptic history, your luck's running thin. 18. chattering lack of common sense - GHOST Wait, what is going on here? I'm a little out of sorts I've been contemplating fallacies and things that scare me "Why not try to let go?" I've been feeling out of order I'm allowing change, so take a good look; This is me This is what I've come to be This is what I've come to be 19. daydream - j-hope Wishing on a sky Wishing on a scar If there’s the sun I want to dream Wishing on a sky Wishing on a scar If there’s the moonlight I don’t want to wake up from it 20. witch flight - yume nikki OST instrumental 21. wiggle - cosmo sheldrake Hey ho, where did you go Did you wriggle or roll Did you giggle or grumble through Tom Thumb from where did you come Did you toggle or run Did you skip, trip, or stumble through 22. counting stars - one republic I’m old, but I'm not that old Young, but I'm not that bold And I don't think the world is sold I'm just doing what we're told Lately I been, I been losing sleep Dreaming about the things that we could be 23. urban caravan - fake type Because there’s a surely a bunch of fresh possibilities out there If I don’t try it out, ain’t that just a waste? In the end, it looks like the world is so wide that curiosity is inexhaustible There’s war songs but also songs of peace, The feelings remain just the same Keep your unwavering faith’s compass close to your heart 24. counting cards - rainbow kitten surprise Jokes we tell to laugh, dear Laugh to hold back the pain Pain is in the mind, dear Stars are much the same Gone in the time it takes the light to reach In time you'll find We're blind to the things we don't believe Paint me red, paint me red Picture that, picture that Picture us and God shaking hands just because we can 25. god of marie - MASA This is our creed, aimed at a God that’s gone all floaty. We’re pure! We’re fans of Marie. We’re not doing anything wrong! Hm? Are you a fan of Marie, too? The stoned Reverend and his crazy worshippers Are surrounded by smoke in the cathedral The highest god has come down. We give thanks to ganja! 26. bad apple - nomico Will I exist in a place like this? Will I exist in a time like this? If someone like me can change, if I can change, will I turn white? Am I dreaming now? Or seeing nothing? My words are useless even if I speak I'm just tired of being sad, I should go on without feeling anything 27. my songs know what you did in the dark - fall out boy All the writers keep writing what they write Somewhere another pretty vein just dies I've got the scars from tomorrow and I wish you could see That you're the antidote to everything except for me 28. magia - kalafina If I can follow my path without wavering, I care not if my heart shatters. I wish I had a spell to stand against the sadness that's ever before my eyes Back when I loved books about wonderland where a captive sun shines, I believed the fairy tales that told me all my wishes would come true 29. immortals - fall out boy I'll be the watcher (watcher) of the eternal flame, I'll be the guard dog of all your fever dreams, Sometimes the only pay off for having any faith, Is when it's tested again and again everyday, 30. the last of the real ones - fall out boy 'Cause you're the last of a dying breed Write our names in the wet concrete I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me I'm here in search of your glory There's been a million before me 31. interweb - poppy And the world feels smaller When it's at my fingers So let's keep talking Tell me what day is it Can't turn it off yet, I'm wrapped up with it So let's keep talking Tell me what day is it I caught you in my interweb I caught you in my internet Well, maybe I'm a spider 32. armed and ready - casey lee williams Remember all too well My time of living hell The night my enemy would conquer But now I've been set free Lived through the tragedy You'll wish you'd killed me, now I'm stronger! Feel like I'm finally unbroken Oh, now I'm back from the dead Strength back, confidence growing Out of my way 'Cause I'm armed and ready (armed and ready) 33. red like roses part 2 - casey lee williams I couldn't take it, couldn't stand another minute Couldn't bear another day without you in it All of the joy that I had known for all my life Was stripped away from me the minute that you died I wanna tell you that you're all that ever mattered Want you to know that, for eternity, I'm shattered I tried so hard just to protect you, but I failed to And in a prison of abandonment I've jailed you 34. lapis lazuli - zach callison She wanted to leave this place And get herself back in space Lapis Lazuli You fled into the bottom of the sea Lapis Lazuli You were so mad but then you came around to me 35. unreasonable behavior - OFF ost instrumental 36. devil’s train - the lab rats Or I can be the bee in your bonnet, your best friend forever Two peas in a pod flockin' like birds of a feather And you never have a need to beg, work, or steal If all this sounds worth it then let's make a deal Sitting on the tracks waiting for the night train Looking down the road, ain't never gonna go back Listen for the whistle through the wind and raindrop Who's gonna ride the devil's train tonight? 37. the room where it happens - leslie odom jr No one really knows how the Parties get to yesssss (Parties get to yesssss) The pieces that are sacrificed in (Ev’ry game of chesssss) Ev’ry game of chesssss We just assume that it happens (Assume that it happens) But no one else is in (The room where it happens) The room where it happens We want our leaders to save the day— But we don’t get a say in what they trade away We dream of a brand new start— But we dream in the dark for the most part Dark as a tomb where it happens 38. the perfect fit - dresden dolls I used to be the bright one Smart as a whip Funny how you slip so far when Teachers don't keep track of it Can't you just fix it for me? It's gone berserk Fuck, I'll give you anything If you can make the damn thing work 39. million years - nico vega You better learn from a man who's afraid to dance With a witch like me, and a wicked trance, 'cause A spider bite is a natural wound, but a dagger in the back is a plastic tomb Ain't nobody knows the trouble I've seen, but they know the sound of their own damn scream, well Lady bug! Bring me news, or a soul so rich and a crystal pool Let it burn, let it burn, singing songs of truth 40. i want you - savage garden Anytime I need to see your face I just close my eyes And I am taken to a place Where your crystal mind and magenta feelings Take up shelter in the base of my spine 41. pursuing my true self - shihoko hirata Loading loading loading Quickly reaching maximum capacity Warning warning warning Gonna short circuit my identity We are living our lives Abound with so much information 42. backside of the tv - persona 4 ost Lost destiny Far outcry They hear you no more Numb feeling Whole dizziness Deep scars No pain No sanity Body aching Control your own fate Invisible Real enemy Bring your mind Deep Down A moment of truth, tell me what's really happening Their rhyme is nothing but you've got everything Bro, you've got everything but you don't know anything 43. rivers in the desert - shoji meguro A river in a dry land The last ace in a lost hand When the hope of new beginnings burned our feet Now we need it: A heartbeat for a tin man An oasis in a singed land Remind us what we're here for: Creating new life Creating rivers in the desert 44. again - yui I'm wanting to scream that we're living to make our wish come true can you hear it? We won't be able to take it safe, because we have no place to go back to I'm always grateful for your kindness, that's why I want to be strong I'll welcome friend or foe for the sake of moving forward You still have too long a life left to erase these feelings completely, don't you think? I want to redo the things I left undone, So let's go, one more time! 45. komm susser todd - arianne It all returns to nothing, it just keeps Tumbling down Tumbling down Tumbling down It all returns to nothing, I just keep Letting me down Letting me down Letting me down 46. the spider and the lamps - forgive durden I'm the Spider, Crawl inside her! They don't understand, This is their last chance, No more idle hands, I'll destroy the lamps, Then they'll know, Whose in control. 47. here comes a thought - estelle and aj michalka You're losing sight You're losing touch All these little things seem to matter so much That they confuse you That I might lose you And it was just a thought, just a thought, just a thought, just a thought, just a thought It's okay, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay We can watch, we can watch, we can watch, we can watch them go by From here, from here, from here 48. black paper moon - tommy heavenly6 Don't be scared of the pumpkin carriage the witch drew Cuz it can show in your eyes A symbol rises to the top on the card I dropped in the sweet crimson jam Your destiny - if you wish Any sort of world Can be yours 49. to zanarkand - ffx ost instrumental 50. poniko’s room [lights off] - yume nikki instrumental

#gene's playlists

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queenofslime · 4 years

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I would also like to ask you all the quarantine asks! :D

Why, thank you! <3

Animated character that was your gay awakening? If I’m gonna be honest it’s the girl from the 19th amendment song in School House Rock (Sufferin’ for Suffrage). Also Kim Possible.

Grilled cheese or PB&J? Grilled Cheese!!!

What show/YouTube video(s) do you put on in the background when you when you don’t have anything to watch but you want something on? TV show: Cheers. Youtube: Bon Appetit

Your go-to bar order, if you drink? I don’t really drink all that much.

What’s your favorite pair of shoes that you own? Floral Doc Martens I’ve had since I was 15

Top three cuisines? Chinese, Mexican, Indian

What was your first word as a child (that wasn’t a variation of “Mom” or “Dad”)? Hi!

What’s a job that you’ve had that people might be surprised to find out you’ve had? I work for a gay rights lawyer right now

Look up. What’s directly across from you? Toaster oven

Do you own any signed books/memorabilia in general? I had John DiMaggio, voice of Dr Drakken, sign my Kim Possible CD

Preferred way to spend a rainy day? Drinking tea and watching movies

What do you get on your bagels? I’m a monster sometimes I just eat untoasted bagels with nothing on them

What WOULD you get if you had access to anything you wanted? I have no idea at the moment. Probably new clothes so I can commit to a color scheme and an Aesthetic

Brunch or midnight snacks? Midnight snack. Or “dark lunch”, as I call it

Favorite mug you own Little mug from Daiso with a cat playing piano. On one side it says “This beautiful music is being played by the cat” and on the other side it says “Can you play the piano just the way I did it?”

What coffee drink would you describe yourself as? I need a uquiz to tell me based on which Mary Oliver poem makes me want to plant myself in a garden

Pick a song lyric to describe your current mood (and drop the name and artist!) First thing that came to mind: “I thought I was so smart/but I don’t know my heart” I don’t know my heart from pride and prejudice the musical

Fruity or herbal teas? Herbal but I prefer black tea

What’s that one TV show that you’re a little bit embarrassed to watch but you still like nonetheless? Sex and the City is nice for when i don’t want to have to think about anything but i want to see pretty outfits and low-stakes problems, you know?

That book you were forced to read for class but actually ended up enjoying? Catcher in the Rye, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Do you match your socks? If I can

Have you ever been horseback riding? Once or twice

What was your “phase” when you were younger? (i.e., Mythology Nerd, Horse Girl, Space Geek, etc) I went through a like 5-year long Ancient Egypt phase. But I also read Dragonology and D’Aulaires Book of Greek Myths cover to cover multiple times

Have you ever been to jail? No i’m sheltered

What’s your opinion on Lazy Susan’s (the spinning tray in the middle of tables)? Is there discourse about this?

Puzzles? I’m pathetic with puzzles. I get frustrated with that kind of stuff so fast. I always lose escape rooms and I don’t even try to solve the murder when i’m watching a mystery show.

You can only have one juice for the rest of your life, what is it? Apple

What section do you immediately head for when you walk into a bookstore? Poetry

What’s one thing you’re trying to learn/relearn in your downtime right now? I bought a pattern and fabric to sew some pajamas but I’ve been putting off starting it

Who’s your go-to musical artist when you’re feeling upbeat? If I’m REALLY upbeat I’ll listen to my Broadway playlist, “Vigorous Jazz Hands”

Where could someone find you in a museum? In the gift shop buying postcards to put on my wall

What’s that one outfit in your closet you never get the chance to wear but want to? I have this absolutely killer brown leather jacket with big-ass shoulders that makes me look like a lesbian park ranger but it’s almost never cold enough where I live to wear it

Rainbows, stars, or sunset colored clouds? Stars :)

If you could own any non-traditional pet (dogs, cats, fish, rodents, etc), what would it be? A fox maybe!

Do you have more art on your walls or more photographs? Art

You have to get one meme tattooed on your body, what meme is it and where does it go? “Bottom Text” on my butt

Pick a superhero sidekick to hang out with Layla from Sky High

Lakes, rivers, or oceans? Ocean

Favorite mid-2000s song What to Do by OK Go (2002)

How do you dress when you’re home alone? Sweatpants and a tshirt. Or sometimes just a bralette and basketball shorts.

Where do you sit in the living room (we all have a preferred spot, and you know it)? Right side of the couch. if my mom is sitting there then the armchair next to the sofa.

Knives or swords? Swords

A song you didn’t think you’d enjoy but ended up loving Orville Peck’s debut album Pony

Pick an old-school Disney Channel Original Movie Twitches!

Are you a “Quote that relates to the photos” caption-er, an “explanation of where I took the photos” caption-er, or a no caption kinda person when you post pictures online? Usually an explanation kinda person, unless i’m posting on my spam Instagram in which case the photo and the caption usually have nothing to do with each other

Name a classic Vine I’m in me mum’s car...broom broom

What’s the freezer food that you stock up on when you go to the grocery store? Bagel bites or bean burritos

How do you top your ice cream? MnMs and whipped cream

Do you like Jello? I could take it or leave it i guess

What’s something that you don’t have a picture of that you wish you did? Let’s get philosophical: the way other people see me (ooooooo)

How are you at climbing trees? I used to be pretty good at it as a kid but I haven’t tried in earnest in years. Hm I need to go try once it stops raining around here

#mel tells #ask #retrauxpunk

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sweet-teas-writing · 4 years

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A Woman Scorned (Chp 3)

A/N: Hello beautiful people :) I'm so happy that you enjoyed the first two chapters last week! It makes me proud to know you're enjoying the story so far. And now here is a brand new Saturday, which means a brand new chapter. I will be posting each new chapter on Saturday, and, in this one, our dearest Ava will finally meet her old flame Alastor. Hope you guys enjoy and I love you all so much! Feel free to ask to be tagged into the tag list if you are not already.

Three: Ava, Meet Alastor

The sound of my alarm and the sun shining in from the window woke me up from a sound sleep. I groaned in annoyance and a bit of pain due to a slight headache as I sat up in the bed and looked over to my right. Jason was still asleep, snoring lightly. I glared angrily at him, wishing I could burn a hole through his skull. I hated… no I loathed him. The way he talks to me, the constant cheating. He told me that I wasn't good enough for him. But yet, the naive, heart-struck little girl in me was still in love with him, which is why I still put up with his shit. My head and my heart were always at constant war with each other, and each day it gets so hard on who to listen to.

I rubbed my temples, my headache starting to feel worse and took a deep sigh. I had to get it together, I had my big meeting today and I can't afford to get distracted. I got out of bed, making sure I didn't wake Jason, and headed to the bathroom to get ready. I opened the medicine cabinet and took two aspirin followed by a glass of water. I sprayed water in my hair and added my curling cream, making sure my bouncy curls stood out. I fluffed them out with a pick and side parted my hair. After taking a quick look in the mirror, I began to put on my makeup. I added some extra concealer to hide the puffiness around my eyes, followed by some eyeshadow and lip gloss. Satisfied, I walked over to the closet and pulled out my favorite white blouse and black slacks. After getting dressed, I put on my black stilettos, grabbed my blazer and purse, and grabbed a banana and a bottle of water before heading out the door.

Once I reached my car and climbed inside, I rolled down my windows and turned on the radio to find some upbeat music to listen to, needing a pick me up. While scrolling, I heard Mary J. Blige's song "Real Love" blast through the radio and it spoke to me. Her lyrics sang right through my soul, and I couldn't help but sing along loudly as I put on my sunglasses and drove out of the parking lot of my condo complex, feeling the cool, early morning Miami breeze and the warm sun.

I stopped for some coffee and a bagel before I arrived at my office. I walked into the meeting room to see Yolanda, Blake, and the rest of my team sitting around the table listening to a man tell some kind of story. I wasn't even paying attention to what he was actually saying because I was so fixated on his voice: confident, boisterous, and deep. His laugh made my body tingle; his speech so eloquent and charming that I could listen to him speak for hours. I knew that voice anywhere.

Yolanda saw me from the door and smiled, inviting me in.

"Ava! You're here! Come on in," she said. "There's someone we would like you to meet."

Everyone stood up from their seats, Blake had a devilish grin on his face, as Yolanda and our new client walked over to where I was standing. He wore a black suit with a crimson vest and tie and a neatly white pressed dress shirt. His shoes were also black but were lined with crimson accents. He was a very sharp dressed man. Upon looking at me, those bright, hazel eyes of his shone with adoration. A huge smile plastered his face, showing two rows of pearly white teeth. His hair, dark chocolate and thick, was coifed perfectly on top of his head. And he walked with a mixture of both grace and confidence. I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face upon seeing him.

Yolanda gave me a quick hug before introducing me to our new client: "Ava, I would like you to meet our newest client to Springwells Marketing Agency, Alastor Montez. Alastor, this is the head of our marketing team, Ava…"

"Ava Thomas-Sanchez," Alastor said admiringly as he extended his hand out to me. "You still look as breathtaking as when we were in college. It is so good to see you again, my dear."

I chuckled before accepting his greeting. "It's actually Mitchell now," I told him as Alastor glanced at my wedding ring. "I'm... married."

Alastor blinked followed by a brief nod of his head. "Forgive me," he said apologetically. "Mrs. Mitchell."

I winced inwardly at his words. Why did that sound so gross? "It's okay," I said with a grin. "It's great to see you too, Alastor. I am really looking forward to working with you."

"As am I," he said.

I couldn't help but stare at him. It doesn't look like he's aged since college. His physique through his suit was noticeable, his chest large and impressive through his clothes. I would be lying if I said Alastor wasn't an attractive man. But I'm a married woman, so he is off limits. Strictly business and strictly professional.

Yolanda spoke up breaking me out of my trance: "So," she piped. "Shall we get started?"

Alastor and I look towards her: "Right, yes," I stammered. "Let's get started."

Alastor and Yolanda returned to their seats and the rest of the team sat down as I stood at the head of the table. I placed Alastor's file in front of me and turned to face him.

"So, you were mainly selling your products to a lot of wineries and country clubs back in California?" I asked Alastor.

"Indeed I was my dear," Alastor responded, the charm and flirtation thick in his voice. "California was known for producing wine so I figured it was the perfect place to set up my business. I started off at a few places here and there until the demand for my product grew, not just in California but across the West Coast. Most of the men who bought from me purchased cigars as well, because who doesn't like to smoke while drinking?" Alastor chuckled and my team were just hypnotized by his voice.

"So why the move to Miami?" I asked him curiously.

"Ah, Miami is an expert on knowing how to have a good time," Alastor stated confidently. "The number of nightclubs and restaurants here will make anyone here buy wine and cigars. Plus, I was bored out in California. I thought I needed a new change of…" he looked at me with a smirk. "Scenery."

I choked a bit before clearing my throat. Blake covered his mouth to stifle a laugh and Yolanda couldn't help but smile at my embarrassment.

"Right," I said after a moment. "Well, here at Springwells, we like to collaborate with our clients on the kinds of advertising that are best to promote their products to revenue the most profit than your competitors. According to your file, your distribution factory is set out in Orlando, and you charge $25 for each bottle and $80 for each box of cigars."

"Again, correct," Alastor said with a nod.

"So I would think it would be best to advertise in the upper class areas of Miami. Country clubbers, nightclub owners, charity donators, anyone who is willing to spend on the finer things. Maybe host a wine tasting event, add a couple of your cigars, anything to sell your product to your audience. We will work on the billboards and magazine ads to get your products out to the public."

"So determined," Alastor said with a grin. "You were always known to have such a bright mind, Ava."

"I'm flattered," I chuckled. "All I want is the best for our client, and I'm willing to do anything to achieve the satisfaction of them."

"Really now? I feel like I can be easily satisfied," Alastor said with a wink.

"You are very flirtatious today," I said shaking my head.

"Call it natural charm," Alastor chuckled.

I scoffed amusingly. "Same old Alastor."

"You know you've missed me," he chuckled.

"Well," I said to my team trying to tune him out. "We will get started immediately. We will attempt to get this done within the next two months, okay? Everyone get to work."

My team- minus Yolanda and Blake- snickered at me as they got up from the table and walked out of the meeting room. Alastor soon stood up from the table and made his way in front of me, holding out a small piece of paper.

"If you ever need to reach me," he said placing the paper in my palm. "You are more than welcome to give me a call."

I raised an eyebrow. "You do know I have your number in your file right?"

Alastor shrugged. "Well that's my business number. This one is a little more… personal."

I felt another blush creep up on my face but I immediately shook my head. "I…"

Yolanda took the piece of paper from my hand. "Thank you, Mr. Montez. That's very thoughtful."

Alastor shook his head and grinned. "Ah, my dear, you don't have to be so formal. Call me Alastor." He looked over at Blake still sitting down. "Both of you can."

"Mm, I'll call you whatever you want me to," Blake said with a wink.

Yolanda opened her mouth in soft gasp. "Okay. Alastor."

Alastor laughed. "You have very charming friends," he said to me. "It's good to see you again, Ava."

I nodded my head and bit the corner of my lip. "You too, Alastor. Um… I'll call you with the updates as we continue to work on expanding your business."

"I look forward to hearing your voice," he whispered.

I sped walked towards the meeting door: "Okay, time for you to go! Have a lot of work to do," I quickly said.

Alastor chuckled again and held up his hands. "Okay okay. I'll go. It's so cute to see you get all flustered." He turned to Yolanda and Blake. "It's a pleasure to meet you Yolanda. And you too, Blake."

"Oh honey, the pleasure was all mine," Blake said as Alastor walked out of the door towards the elevators.

I sat down at one of the tables and groaned aloud, shielding my face with my hands. Yolanda and Blame stood over me, with Blake having a cocky smile on his face and Yolanda a faint blush on her cheeks.

"God, that is a man right there," Blake sighed dreamily. "Charming, successful, and sexy as fuck. So much better than seeing a picture. I mean I would never cheat on Damian but… whew."

"He was quite the looker," Yolanda admitted. "But it seems he was quite interested in you, mami," she said to me. "He couldn't keep his eyes off you."

I whined through my hands. "He hasn't changed since college," I muffled. "Still as flirtatious as ever."

"I don't see the problem with it," Blake stated. "It's obvious he still wants you."

I lowered my hands and held up my left hand to Blake, showing my wedding ring.

"Oh," Blake shrugged. "Honey, live a little. There's nothing wrong with making another 'friend.'"

Yolanda scoffed: "I'm sure he wants to be a little more than friends."

I ignored my friends comments: "There will be nothing going on between me and Alastor. I'm a married woman and he is my client. It will be a completely professional relationship."

Blake chuckled: "Whatever you say, love."

Yolanda hugged and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Ignore his teasing, Ava. You know what's best for you. Follow your heart."

I leaned back into her arms. "I know, 'Landa. Thank you."

Blake rolled his eyes. "Why am I the bad guy here?"

"Cause you're always teasing her," Yolanda stated.

"Can't help she's easy to tease," Blake joked. "I'm sure Alastor can make her blush just as much as I do…"

"Blake shut up!"

**TBC**

Tag List: @sirenascales @masked--empress @evilangel84 @wwevampireamongkpop @queen-legacy-productions @superrezzy00 @neversatisfiedgirlfics @defenseofourdreams6277 @writing-reigns and anyone else who wants to read it!

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rainydawgradioblog · 4 years

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Rainy Dawg Radio’s Best of the 2010s!

ALBUMS

Palberta - Bye Bye Berta

Palberta is a band that somehow manages to scratch almost every musical itch I have. Nowhere else have I heard a band successfully hold three part harmonies over squeaky atonal guitar riffs and abstract drum thrashing. Although I wouldn’t categorize them as twee, noise rock, post-punk, indie pop, no-wave, or any other genre name for that matter, they distill everything I love from all these types of music and mush it into something beautifully stinky. In my eyes, their 2017 album Bye Bye Berta stands as the definitive statement of what Palberta’s all about. With 20 tracks clocking in at under half an hour, the album wastes no time on filler. Skronky punk riffs burst apart at the seams and a sweet little lo-fi love song comes out of the wreckage, only to be replaced by an abstract tape sample collage. The band also has an incomparable mastery over lyricism, as evidenced by such classics as Finish My Bread (Finish my finish my finish my bread, finish my finish my finish my bread, etc…) and Trick Ya (HEY! Don’t trick me, I’m gonna trick you! HEY! Don’t trick me, I’m gonna trick you!). Highlights include the endearingly ramshackle and stupid pretty “Honey, Baby” and their cover of “Stayin’ Alive” (Jenny’s eating burgers and everybody’s shakin’ and stayin’ alive!)

- Elliott Hansen

Alex G - DSU

Shit if you know me you know I live for that sad bastard indie music. That’s exactly what DSU does best. Probably my most played record of the 2010s, this album’s lo-fi indie rock overfloweth. The opener, After Ur Gone, is on the noisier side of the album’s spectrum along with the squealing guitar of Axesteel and Icehead (peep the scream vocals in his live performances), while songs like the instrumental Skipper exemplify why Frank Ocean tapped Alex for the Self Control riff on Blonde. The emotional core of the record, Sorry, gets right back to the Elliott Smith comparisons that we know and love: lyrics of trauma, drugs and apologies included. My favorite song is Harvey; it smacks me right in the younger brother emo spot, with “run my hands through his short black hair I say / ‘I love you Harvey I don’t care’”. While not as chaotic as House of Sugar, twangy as Rocket, or psychedelic as Beach Music, this record is Alex G comfort music at its finest.

- Max Bryla

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

Picture this: J Dilla, Madlib, and Aphex Twin all come together to create an album with little more than some old Coltrane records and an original Xbox at their disposal. The end result is like a trip through the universe. Yet the album comes from the mind of a single individual, who sits in the cockpit with a mischievous grin on his face: Steven Ellison, known professionally as Flying Lotus. The opening track, ‘Clock Catcher’, feels like Ellison slamming his foot onto the ignition so hard that it snaps out of place, shooting into the heavens at the speed of light before the listener can even strap in. Whirling through the stars, the rest of the album is the journey home from the expanse, often melancholic, often wondrous, always changing. From the punchy, off-kilter rhythms of tracks like ‘Nose Art’ and ‘Computer Face//Pure Being’ to the fat synth melodies of ‘Dance of the Pseudo Nymph’, ‘Recoiled’, and ‘Do The Astral Plane’, Flylo is always striking the listener from a different sonic vantage point. You can tell he’s having the time of his life with each of these songs, wanting to share every bit of it with our eardrums. After countless listens, I’m still finding new things about this album to appreciate. A complete masterpiece of cosmic epiphany fuel.

- Trey Marez

Ott. - Fairchildren

People throw so much music at me. And I remember this album was recommended to me back in high school, and I listened to it for the first time in zero-th period -- I think it was someone who went by the name “phryk” on IRC. And dang, it’s still such a good album! In what sense? It’s so well-mixed; that’s the first part. Secondly, it is just a wonderful listening experience from start to finish. If you need a good album of reggae, dub, electronic, here it is. One thing you shouldn’t do with this album: use it to test out speakers at Goodwill. The bass of this album was so good that I bought home a pair of speakers that turned out to be so bad.

- Koi Nil

Car Seat Headrest - Twin Fantasy

Bandcamp has been known for hosting some of our wildest dreams this decade, and when 2011 lobbed William Toledo’s first rendition of Twin Fantasy down my ears my life changed. Emotions are crushed to death in the back of parking lots, the lo-est of fi’s, and lyrics that trigger far and melancholy memories of the early 2010 zeitgeist swarmed with insecurity and Skype calls. The album is Toledo’s first cohesive piece, finally creating work with developed central themes, dedicating the first concept album of his life to falling in and consequently out of love. The album speaks as a mirror to itself, reflecting Will’s own joy and confusion towards falling conservatively and completely in love, until the sobering downward spiral back into isolation. I was only eleven when I let the album own me completely, and am only nineteen as I hold onto it for dear life. Twin Fantasy was never a perfect album, and Toledo recognized this as he re-released Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) in 2018, reinventing the album’s sound with a much higher fidelity, lyrical updates, and redone instrumentals that turn the original into an overture or prologue to be enjoyed separately for more context. Searing solos, cute doo-wop moments, sentimental lyrics, slap-happy drums, fish wearing business suits, dogs, coming out over Skype, smoking, not smoking, nice shoulders, waitresses, the Bible, the ghost of Mary Shelley’s frankenstein, cursive, they might be giant’s rip offs, not knowing SHIT about girls, stealing alcohol from our grandparents and grandparents, bruised shins, cults, fish, getting the spins, and being really really really sensitive to the sunlight. I’d fight for this album, listening to “Cute Thing” as I get RKO’d. Take the time to enjoy the ride, I wouldn’t miss it for the world. (It technically used to be a gay furry album, but now it’s techincally a straight trans furry album.)

- Cooper Houston

Sabaton - The Last Stand

Sabaton is every history teachers dream band. These Swedish power metallers educate the listener about the history of war by discussing various battles, conflicts, and figures. They do this through anthemic choruses, riffs that make your fist pump, and oddly enough synths that work surprisingly well. Since history interests me and I really like metal, Sabaton was pretty much made for me. This album will always have a soft spot in my heart and evoke fond memories as it was one of the first CDs I picked up after getting my license back in 2016. As I gained more independence and freedom as I approached adulthood, this was my soundtrack. This album lived in my CD player during this time as I listened to it over and over again, never once losing its replayability. Ranging from the American battalion that got lost in the Argonne Forest during WWI to Allied and Axis forces joining together to fight at the end of WWII, this album tells of various historical last stands. While this is certainly isn’t the best metal release of the decade, it’s still an extremely solid album. In this case, the sentimentality plays a larger role than anything. While it may not be found on any “Best Album of the Decade” lists, Sabaton’s The Last Stand will always hold a place in my heart and in my car’s CD player.

- Jack Irwin

CONCERTS

07/20/19: What the Heck? Fest @ Croatian Club, Anacortes, WA

Choosing a single favorite concert from the entire past decade seemed insurmountable until I decided to define it by the overall experience rather than exclusively the music. This past summer, I was lucky enough to be one out of barely over a hundred people at the first What the Heck? Fest in 8 years. The festival took place annually from 2001 to 2011, featuring PNW indie legends, K records icons, and all manner of dorky indie folk kids. WTH laid dormant until this past spring, when Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie) announced its return along with the revival of his long-dead initial moniker, the Microphones. I made the trip up from Seattle alone by train and bus, spent a little while wandering Anacortes (the Business was closed :( ) and made my way to the repurposed church which houses the Unknown and the Croatian Club. I ended up seated a few feet from Calvin Johnson in one direction and Kimya Dawson in another. I felt a little out of place at times, like a stranger in the middle of a 90s indie family reunion, but the atmosphere remained consistently welcoming. D+ opened the show, fronted by Bret Lunsford (formerly of Beat Happening), the founder and main organizer of WTH, and backed by Phil Elverum and Karl Blau, who played their own sets later in the night. K Records mainstays Lois and Mecca Normal were on next, delivering stripped down, socially-driven whisper punk/indie pop. Karl Blau led an outdoor sing-along and covered a Pounding Serfs song, who played the next set (their first in [a lot of?] years) for a total of two renditions of “Slightly Salted,” a song I could have listened to in every set that night. Phil hopped back onstage again alongside Lee Baggett to back Kyle Field from Little Wings, an indie-folk favorite of mine, with rambly half-nonsensical lyrics and plenty of soft strummed warm twangly guitars. Black Belt Eagle Scout delivered (comparatively) heavier sounds, coupling slow, soft sung melodies with fuzzed out shoegaze tones, building tension until the Microphones (Phil backed by Kyle, Karl, Lee and keyboardist Nicholas Krgovich) came out for the final set of the night. They opened with what I interpret as a 25-minute rendition of the then-unreleased Belief, which was later shortened to 7 and a half minutes as the opener to the new Mount Eerie record, Lost Wisdom pt. 2. Phil then played a handful of old Microphones tracks alone, including a version of The Glow pt. 2’s title track with reworked lyrics, as well as its closer, My Warm Blood, excerpts from the final Microphones album (confusingly titled Mount Eerie), and what I believe to be another unreleased song. I left with the most limited merch I’ve ever managed to snag: one of two Ziploc bags of lettuce with “the Microphones” and a small K records logo sharpied on the front. I felt bad eating my merch, but it sustained me through the cold Anacortes night as I wandered to and from poorly lit parks, killing time until my 4AM bus back to Seattle.

- Elliott Hansen

03/09/19: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (Solo) @ Vermillion Gallery, Seattle WA

Was really not sure what to expect from this one going in, but CYHSY’s s/t from 2005 has always been one of my favorite records. I hadn’t ever been to Vermillion in Capitol Hill, but it was hosting CYHSY on a “living room tour”, where Alec Ournsworth (vox, guitar, harmonica[!]) hit tiny spaces around the country. Vermillion sat 40 at most, and I got to check out some cool local art in the space as well. Alec’s trademark voice that (according to p4k) sounds “as if someone were pressing his vocal cords to a fret board and bending them” which is pretty damn accurate. Amongst CYHSY’s greatest hits (In This Home On Ice and Cool Goddess in particular), he also covered Pixies and Tom Waits through lively and exciting banter. Great dude, great music, great venue. My favorite of the 2010’s for sure.

- Max Bryla

11/14/18: Milo @ Vera Project, Seattle, WA

Milo, and the ruby yacht house band are poetic alchemists that constantly dish out hefty servings of succulent syllables with each new release. Kenny Segal who does the beats for a few of Milo’s songs (and other hip hop artists) opened by transporting the crowd into the ethereal realm with a few classics from his album: happy little trees. Once Kenny Segal finished, Milo accompanied by the ruby yacht house band jumped on stage. I was close enough that I could make out Milo’s squirtle tattoo on his bicep and waited for his vivid and veracious vocabulary to leave me in a state of decapitation. Crispy, potato chip like static (a Milo-live signature) was consumed ferociously by the crowd as he hit us with one banger after another. About halfway through the set Milo dropped the mic and went off stage into the back room. The ruby yacht house band was left Milo-less; their beat lingering in the air, festering with each hit of the snare. Milo returned a while later, wielding a pair of tap dancing shoes in one hand and a ukulele in the other. He put on the tap dancing shoes on stage, everyone in the audience screaming with his return. Donned with the tap dancing shoes and positioning his ukulele on his chest; he began to dance. Holy shit he was good too. Strumming the uke and tap dancing away I was utterly mesmerized. My eyes glued to his performance. Suddenly, as if stricken by some divine intervention, Milo seized the ukulele by the neck and smashed it against the ground, splintering into a thousand pieces. After his destructive fit, he picked the microphone back up and whispered into it emotionlessly: “Think about that”. I did. The whole experience was transcendental and instantly triumphed as my greatest concert of the decade. You KNOW I snagged a sliver of uke on my way out.

- Rocky Schaefer

08/07/17: Metallica @ CenturyLink Field, Seattle, WA

While Metallica has had its ups and downs throughout their career, they do one thing well, and that is putting on a damn good live show. Metallica built the best line-up I have ever seen, given the popularity of the bands they chose. With them they took Avenged Sevenfold, who I greatly dislike but are still a huge band, and Gojira, one of the best modern death metal bands on the scene. The sheer size of this concert was absolutely and extremely inspiring as Metallica was able to fill up CenturyLink Field, a venue usually reserved for pop artists who draw in thousands of attendees. The amount of people that attended signaled to me that metal is far from dead. While this tour was in support of their newest album Hardwired to Self Destruct, Metallica made sure to incorporate classics into their setlist including “Seek and Destroy,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” and “Battery.” James, Robert, Kirk, and Lars delivered a killer concert will tight playing and outstanding individual performances. Being able to see my music hero, James Hetfield, play live was truly a special experience. The one thing that stood out during the performance were the visuals. Each song had a unique and individual video effect on the large screens behind the band which made each song special and memorable it its own way. While I wasn’t close to the stage by any means, the crowd interaction created a unique experience that made me feel much closer than I really was. This concert wasn’t just a concert, but also a life-changing experience. Seeing the band that truly got me into metal, the thing that I rest my individuality on, is something that defined the decade for me and will live with me forever.

- Jack Irwin

SONGS

“You Are Here” - Yo La Tengo

This one I don't think I can fully explain. By miles, this is my most played song of all time. It is the opener of Yo La Tengo’s 15th album, There’s A Riot Going On. The album, and song, starts with the meditative synth line that builds into a pulsing rhythm over the course of the first minute. The rhythm maintains through the rest of the song, as casual guitar strumming is added and another synth that doesn’t sound all that dissimilar to Jonny Greenwood’s Ondes Martenot. My favorite part of the song, though, are the drum fills of the latter half: they crash and roll like the ocean. With or without the title of the song, the audio conveys a degree of presentness and contentedness that I haven’t been able to find elsewhere quite yet. I’d recommend it.

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welllpthisishappening · 5 years

Note

I’m a pretty big Pens fan. I’ve been kind of hardcore freaking out and flailing about because my team is probably going to ripped apart and hastily sewn back together over the summer, and they might be trading my favorite player, but I haven’t had time to process it until now because I’ve had finals and moving, but now it’s kind of hitting me. Anyway, I was wondering if you could do some sort of fluffy next gen thing from TOTBL? Your writing never fails to brighten my day so I figured I’d ask.

Hello, anon, you are lovely! Thanks for being patient on this one. And honestly for reading Blue Line, because, like...I am not nice to your team. I’m so glad you still enjoy it! I especially hope the Pens don’t trade your favorite player. That is a sports fate I would wish on no fan.

So, you asked for fluff and this is a great, big pile of that. I think I’ve mentioned a few times that although Chris is not a huge athlete, he plays baseball in HS and one time, he pitches in the city championship game and Matt and Leo Nolan (who plays professional baseball) both skip their professional obligations to come see it. Time-wise, this is June 2046. Which sound like a fake year. But that makes Henry 41, Roland 36, Lizzie 29, Matt 27, Peggy 24, Chris 18, Leo 25 and! introducing Taylor Débleu who is Phillip and Aurora’s kid. He’s 22.

“You’re late.”

Killian startled as soon as the words were out of Peggy’s mouth — seemingly talking to empty air until that empty air was no longer empty. It was being gulped down. By a clearly out of breath Matt.

Who was not supposed to be there.

There, of course, being Fordham University and a baseball field without seemingly any shade, a city final and unexpected start because Xavier had lost in the first round and there were loser’s brackets and you pitched your ace in a must-win, and they’d done that the day before, but that meant that Chris was going to start in a winner-take-all championship game and he’d been freaking out and—

Killian was also running out of oxygen.

“It took me forever to get here,” Matt grumbled, running a hand through hair that was starting to get a little damp. “And then they didn’t want to let the Uber guy on campus and he definitely came in the wrong entrance.”

Peggy narrowed her eyes. “How is that possible? Where did you come in?”

“I have no fucking idea.”

“Hey,” Killian snapped, and he’d probably blame years of experience and possibly the sun, but it was mostly just nerves because Chris was nervous and he really wasn’t all that great at playing baseball. He was better at it than hockey, though, and it had become a thing and now there was a championship on the line.

Or so he’d mumbled quietly the night before.

His ears had gone decidedly pink at the time, an incredibly telling tell that had made Killian’s eyes flicker towards Emma. Much like they were now. Her mouth was hanging open. Maybe that’s where all the oxygen was going.

Because Matt was not supposed to be there.

“Dad, listen, if you’re going to blame anyone for this, it’s totally Mar’s fault,” Matt started, ignoring Peggy’s objections and limbs. They were both making a considerable amount of noise. “She’s the one who texted me in the middle of the night and—“

‘—Ok, that is just patently untrue.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be on ice somewhere, mini-Jones?” Ruby asked, leaning around Emma with a smile on her face and a likely melting chocolate chip cookie in her hand. “I distinctly remember an email.”

The phone in Robin’s hand made noise — laughter coming from Philadelphia and Killian could just make out the way Roland’s shoulders were shaking in the frame. There were far too many of them there, taking up more than a dozen seats with Xavier plastered across shirts and hats and Mary Margaret had baked far too many chocolate chip cookies.

Will was going to eat half of them before they even got to the fifth inning.

Killian hoped Chris was still pitching by then.

“You did text pretty late, Pegs,” Roland reasoned, as soon as he was able to speak without laughing. “Lizzie was super annoyed. It woke her up.”

Peggy slumped in her chair, letting the top of her head slam into Matt’s stomach. He hadn’t sat down yet. And he was going to draw more attention than all of them. Because Matt really, really, really was not supposed to be there. He was supposed to be on ice, in Tarrytown, fulfilling face-of-the-franchise obligations and instructing children who had paid a considerable amount of money to be there.

“You guys are all super lame,” Peggy sighed. “It wasn’t that late.”

“How late is not late?” Emma asked, tugging lightly on the back of Peggy’s shirt. “C’mon, babe, get off him. He looks like he’s going to die.”

Roland laughed again. “I think that means he’s in offseason shape.”

“Ok,” Matt groaned. “Thank you.”

“Did you walk across the whole campus to get here?”

“The guy got really confused by Fordham and Fordham Prep and—“ Matt waved both hands in the air, shaking his hair away from his eyes. Too long. Always too long. “Why are they playing here, though? Is that normal?”

“Fordham Prep doesn’t have a baseball field,” David explained. “This is it, kid. You should have worn a hat.”

“Yeah, it’s crazy hot over here, right?”

“We only go where we’re told to go,” Will said, one side of his mouth tugging up. “And you better sit down, Dr. J, you’re going to start attracting attention.”

Matt made a low noise in the back of his throat, but Will did bring up a pretty good point and—“Hey,” Killian said suddenly, Emma’s expression shifting because she was absolutely thinking the same thing. “Why exactly was Peggy texting you?”

Silence.

Well, relative. Matt was, after all, kind of late and he’d missed the first inning and there were bats swinging and balls landing in gloves because, apparently, this was the type of sport where they had to warm up between every single inning and Killian was still only a little confused by what actually counted as an error.

Particularly at the high school level.

“Oh, he didn’t tell you did he?” Emma asked.

Matt squeezed one eye shut. “That sounds like a rhetorical question.”

“It was, kind of.”

“He didn’t think MD would be able to show,” Peggy said, and Killian could hear the hitch in her voice, an overprotective streak that ran several miles and an entire college campus wide. “Because there was definitely an email about the camp thing and Toph knew that this was MD’s week to be up there and—well, he’s you know…”

“Oh, say it, Pegs,” Roland chuckled. Matt opened his eye again. So he could roll both of them.

Peggy stuck her tongue out. “MD is famous. It’s…well, everyone in Toph’s class knows him and it’s—“ She shrugged, eyes going a little glossy. Mary Margaret handed her a cookie. “Anyway, Toph told me that he knew Mom and Dad would be here and that meant everyone else, but he didn’t think MD or—“

The stands shook as soon as the latest set of footsteps came running towards them, more having chests and flushed cheeks and Mary Margaret nearly dropped the whole Tupperware container.

That definitely would have attracted attention.

And maybe they didn’t need to worry about Matt.

Leo Nolan was also decidedly out of breath, beads of sweat on his temple and far too much orange in his outfit, but Killian assumed that was an occupational hazard. “Are we late?” he huffed, dropping his hands to his knees.

“You’ve got to stand up, Le,” Roland shouted. “Otherwise you’re going to mess up your diaphragm or something.”

“God, that is not accurate at all,” Matt argued. “What the hell are you doing here? How did you get here?”

Leo waved a hand in the air, nodding in the general direction of his parents and there were more footsteps coming, a kid clinging to Henry’s side and Taylor Débleu, Phillip and Aurora’s son who worked for a Fortune 500 downtown, was trying to keep his phone pressed to his ear at the same time he worked his tie loose.

“They have these things called planes, Matthew,” Henry drawled, flashing a grin at Robin and Regina and saluting slightly at Roland. “And frequent flier miles.”

Matt was going to give Emma a run for her money with the mouth-hanging-open thing. “He is supposed to be in Miami!”

“MD, you are really not doing a good job of hiding out here,” Peggy muttered.

“Seriously, Le, how did you get here?”

Leo grinned. “Was the plane quip not enough for you? Also Tay called in some favors after Peg texted us all in the middle of the night.”

“Oh my God, it was not the middle of the night,” Peggy screeched, but the sound quickly morphed into something closer to a cheer and an umpire calling strike three and no one looked more surprised by that than Chris. He blinked once, twice, three times, a soft chuckle where he was still standing on the mound, catching the ball with a backhanded move that would have put several of the nearby professional athletes to sham.

“Shit, look at that hand-eye coordination,” Will said, before adding quickly—“Do not yell at me for that, Cap. I don’t—“

“—No, no,” Killian shook his head. “That was insane.”

He could practically hear Ruby roll her eyes. “This is why he was never a very good quote. And you’re really avoiding the question, Leo. Your mom’s about to have a conniption.”

“Ok, that is also not accurate at all,” Mary Margaret objected, but she was already moving both hands cupping Leo’s cheeks in the same way they had since he could stand up. “How come you didn’t tell us? We could have picked you up.”

“Then what would Henry have to do?”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s definitely all I had to do,” Henry groused. He dropped into the chair next to Peggy, letting Lucy crawl onto her lap with what was, very clearly, a handmade sign. “It’s not our best work,” he added, “but that was mostly because the Grand Central was a mess and then Leo’s plane almost got delayed and, you know, Tay’s not actually in charge of the FAA.”

“Also, to answer the question,” Leo added, slinging an arm around Mary Margaret’s shoulders, “today’s an off day anyway, we would have been traveling, but then Pegs texted us, said Chris was going to pitch today and I figured I’d get here a little early.”

“Except he’s not as good at booking flights as Taylor is.”

“I’m taking that as a compliment,” Taylor said, stuffing his phone and his tie in his back pocket. “What inning is it, anyway? Peg’s awful at updating when she’s not on some kind of warpath.”

Killian blinked, Peggy’s lips all but disappearing behind her teeth. “Were you on some kind of warpath?”

She shook her head.

And every other kid, none of whom were really kids anymore, and some of whom had their own kids, very quickly and very loudly objected.

“War. Path,” Taylor repeated. “What time did the first text demanding our presences come?”

Peggy glared at him. “That is not correct English.”

“Yeah, well, luckily for you, you’ve got those fantastic athletic genes to fall back on and people who aren’t all that bothered by your middle of the night texts and—“

“—Except Lizzie,” Roland interrupted, mumbling something that sounded a lot like dad, seriously, you’ve got to hold the phone still.

“It’s because she’s got that case she’s starting next week,” Matt reasoned. “And the first text came at like one in the morning because it also woke up—“

He exhaled loudly as soon as he realized what he was about to say, eyes going impossibly wide as he tried to brush the hair away from his forehead again. It didn’t work. They were all going to get ridiculously sunburned.

“Hey,” Leo yelled, dragging the word out until it sounded like several different words and a few more announcements and maybe they should have gotten the PA announcer involved. Just to make things as absurd as possible.

The kid at the plate swung. And missed.

“Ok, ok, you guys need to—“ Matt started, but anything else he was about to say got drowned out by cheers and his head snapped around so quickly Killian’s hand moved on instinct. Like he was going to do something about it. Until that same hand flew into the air, another swing and miss and he didn’t know much about baseball, but he might have been googling things and he hoped no one else knew that.

Emma totally knew that.

She’d been asking David questions all season. And they still couldn’t figure out how to count something as an error at the high-school level.

“Did you see the movement on that?” Leo said. “Seriously! The kid didn’t even realize it. He’s got to keep throwing that, he’ll throw a perfect game.”

“Oh my God,” Taylor sighed. “You are a professional athlete. You know not to jinx things.”

“I’m not jinxing, I’m—ah, shit.”

Leo shook his head quickly, plastering a smile on his face and he’d been too loud. Or it was only a matter of time. Or something. Something negative and professional and the kids coming towards them all looked a little nervous.

With notebooks in their hands.

“Leo? Uh—uh, Mr. Nolan? Do you think we could get an autograph?”

Peggy snickered, burying her head into the curve of Henry’s shoulder, but this was what Chris had been worried about. He never really wanted the spotlight. He wanted to play a game he was, relatively, good at, without any hopes or expectations of anything more. And—

“Mattie,” Emma muttered lightly, the tip of her tongue pressing into the side of her cheek. “You better move behind Dad or something.”

Matt hummed in confusion, but Leo had finished signing autographs and brushed off requests for a selfie — I’m just here to watch the game, guys — and it only took Killian a moment to realize what Emma was looking at.

A small group of girls on the other side of the seats, all of them wearing their Xavier shirts, and one phone between them. They appeared to be on some kind of swivel-timer, glancing down at the screen, only to glance back up just as quickly, muttering and whispering and—

“Too good looking,” Roland mumbled, Matt glaring at the screen because he couldn’t do anything else. Not without attracting attention.

And stressing out his brother.

“Just stay as still as possible, MD,” Peggy grinned. “Bend your knees more, so Dad can block you.”

“This is ridiculous.”

“Bend your knees.”

“I can’t,” he hissed. “This is as good as it’s going to get in these jeans, Mar.”

That drew a whole new round of laughter, Matt’s head falling against Killian’s shoulder blade and it wasn’t entirely comfortable, but it was also pretty par for the course and that was the wrong sports joke. The last kid didn’t strike out. He grounded to third.

Matt appeared to be choking on oxygen. He was trying not to cheer.

“That’s good, right?” Lucy asked, curled against Peggy’s side with her sign already brandished.

Killian nodded. “Really good.”

“Good.”

And it kept being good. For five more innings. Until it was the seventh and Chris was still pitching, a three-run lead and maybe there just wasn’t any oxygen in the Bronx.

It felt that way.

“You’re stressing me out, Cap,” Will drawled, slumped in his chair with his legs hanging over the seat in front of them. They were all going to get called out on in the internet for this.

But Killian couldn’t remember the last time anyone on Chris’ team had pitched so many innings and Leo was definitely keeping track of the pitch count. That was probably another occupational hazard.

“Shut up, Scarlet,” Killian said. There wasn’t much insult to it though, because he was definitely kind of freaking out and for someone who had played in more high-pressure games than he’d like to remember, he was never very good at dealing with it when his kids were doing the same thing. “At least I’m not pacing.”

Will hummed in agreement, Emma waving a dismissive hand over her shoulder as she followed the same path she’d been going since the fifth. “How many is he at, Leo?”

“Not even a hundred, Em. I think they take him out once he gets there.”

“They do,” Peggy confirmed, only to be met by several sudden surprised expressions. “What? I know things. Toph and I talk. He’ll have to get through the inning quick.”

“Look at your jargon,” David said.

“Can we all focus, please?” Emma asked sharply, and Killian wasn’t sure who made what noise, him or Matt. “I will ground you, Matthew, I swear.”

Matt hummed, not sounding particularly threatened, but that was probably because he was going to get in enough trouble for blowing off camp without having to deal with his mother as well and—“Oh shit,” he whispered, ignoring Killian’s grunt when he used his shoulder for leverage. “Throw it, throw it, throw it.”

The kid he wasn’t really shouting at did, in fact, throw it, an only slightly off-target out at first that left a different kid with absurdly stretched out legs. “God,” Matt added, hooking his chin over Killian’s shoulder. “That can’t be comfortable at all. Le, is that comfortable?”

“I play in the outfield, Matthew.”

“And you need to direct your voice to somewhere that is not my ear,” Killian added, rolling his shoulder. Matt didn’t move. He hadn’t expected him to.

“Ok, ok, ok,” he continued, voice picking up. Emma stopped pacing. Because that voice was a voice, a voice neither one of them had heard in years, a voice that usually came with extra ice time when he was a kid or getting to tag along to Rangers practice, taking shots on an NHL net. That voice never happened unless there was hockey involved.

Until. Now, apparently.

Because Matt wasn’t supposed to be there and Leo wasn’t supposed to be there, but Peggy had sent out middle-of-the-night text messages and Henry had absolutely rearranged his schedule and Killian’s smile made the muscles in his face stretch to ridiculous proportions.

Not like that kid at first, but—well, he would never have been able to do that.

Killian didn’t try and roll his shoulder again, fluttering his fingers instead and pulling Emma against his side as soon as her touch grazed his skin. Matt was still talking.

“C’mon C, c’mon C, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon.”

Matt flinched as soon as the bat hit the ball, but then that ball was in the air too and Leo might have been standing on his seat at this point. “Get your glove under it,” he shouted, waving both arms like he was directing the plan he’d come in on. “Clinch it, clinch it, clinch it!”

“Oh my God, you guys are the worst,” Peggy groused, but that kid listened too. Or, probably just knew how to play baseball.

Maybe he knew what an error was.

And they were down to their last out. Killian took a deep breath, a soft squeeze to his hand and a smile from Emma, the jut of Matt’s chin digging into his shoulder.

Chris took his hat off, dragging the back of his hand across his forehead and it was probably a testament to the competitive gene that was part and parcel of being a member of this family because he hadn’t really looked their direction until that very moment. His eyebrows jumped, lips parting with a pop that wasn’t actually audible, but sounded like several explosions in Killian’s brain.

His shoulders slumped, some of the tension almost visibly falling with them, and Killian could see the muscles in his throat shift slightly. One side of his mouth tugged up.

“Should we feel bad for the guy at the plate now?” David mused, Ruby making a noise that sounded a bit like an objection. She’d started stress-eating cookies in the sixth. “Because, uh—well, Chris has got that look.”

“What look?” Killian asked.

Robin threw his whole head back when he laughed. “Your look, Cap. And Matt too, if we’re being honest.”

It wasn’t really a compliment, but it wasn’t really an insult either and it was, admittedly, pretty goddamn accurate. Chris put his hat back on — and worked himself into a full count.

Killian could hear Emma’s teeth, the soft clack of them as she took an unsteady breath, using the hand that wasn’t still wrapped up in his to press against her cheek. Mary Margaret wasn’t watching. Roland kept shifting on the couch if the sound was any indication. And Will had gotten his phone out too, muted voices that were demanding updates he clearly wasn’t giving them.

Peggy was using Leo as leverage, his feet back on the ground, while she stood on her chair, both of them shouting suggestions and instructions and something that sounded like to the glove, throw it straight to the glove.

“Where else is he going to throw it?” Matt groused.

Chris threw it. Not quite perfect, possibly a little outside, but it was low-level high-school baseball and he’d been far too nervous, so, maybe not quite perfect was, actually, pretty goddamn perfect and he exhaled as soon as the ball landed in the catchers’ glove.

A swing and a miss. For the final out. And the city championship.

Emma squeezed Killian’s hand again.

And he was about to do something — a little paternal, a little proud, possibly kiss his wife and then tell his kid he loved him, but all of that got forgotten as soon as the words were screamed into his ear.

“Fuck yeah, C,” Matt yelled, jumping and flailing limbs and both he and Leo moved impossibly quick. Their hands slammed into the backstop, rattling metal and drawing the attention of, probably everyone on the Fordham campus. “Yes! Yes!”

Ruby slid down her chair. “Oh my God, this is going to be everywhere.”

“Ah, it’s not the worst thing we’ve done, Lucas,” Killian reasoned, arm moving around Emma’s middle and he did, finally, kiss her temple.

“If that’s our marker, we’ve got to reexamine some things.”

He chuckled, Emma shaking slightly against his side and Chris was nowhere to be seen, likely in the middle of the pile of celebrating kids in the infield, hats forgotten and gloves strewn across meticulously and incredibly well-watered grass. And it only took a few moments — but Killian wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to the concept of winning, particularly when his kids were involved and then there was more shouting and cleats on the stands and both Matt and Leo moved again.

Chris slammed into them both in equal measure, a knot of limbs and words — did you see that pitch and how’s your arm feel and I didn’t think you’d be here.

It was the last one that did it.

Matt pulled back slowly, staring at Chris with something that looked torn between disbelief and just—well, disbelief. He punched his shoulder. Of course. “Wouldn’t have missed it,” he said, and Chris’ arms flew around his middle, hugging tight while several different camera shutters, some of which belonged to phones that weren’t theirs, went off.

#cs ff #captain swan #cs fic #captain swan fic #blue line one shots #seriously thanks for reading anon #i am not nice to the the teams i don't like in this verse #also i really just want chris jones to be happy #like at all times #here's a question though #will i ever post all those one shots i have written #or just keep writing new stuff #the world may never know #anonymous #laura rambles

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