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lovetheworld-harrypottergirl · 3 months

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Request: @inlovewithafairytale " Some fluff, that reader has her period and he is there... i have my period right now and honestly need some comfort😂😭"

I got you gurl bc same and writing this caused my to focus to shift away from my freaking cramps 😂 To start off with there's a bit of a back story, but bear with me on this

Here you go!!!

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You were unique, like most supernatural creatures. But you were even more special than most, all because of Deucalion. You had been in his Pack when you were younger and he killed your parents, and he couldn't bring himself to harm a child. So he took you in under his wing, caring for you as his own and even giving you the bite when you turned seven after you had a close call with an Omega because you couldn't defend yourself. But after the bite, things changed.

You started manifesting abilities unlike anything Deucalion had ever seen, and it scared you how he began treating you as more of a weapon than a human being. So you ran away. You ran as fast as your little legs could carry you to a truck stop, where you spent the night in the back of a truck, not realizing the driver left halfway through the night with you in the back. So when you woke up with three people hovering over you, it sent your mind into high alert, shooting up from your sleeping position and backing away from the strangers. A man with a badge on his shirt held his hands up, saying you were safe and that he wouldn't hurt you.

You eventually warmed up to the the man, letting him carry you out of the back of the truck and to an ambulance, which the other two people were now waiting by. He rode with you to the hospital, telling you stories to keep your mind off it, holding your hand as the two people wheeled you into the large building. They wheeled you into a room as the man continued talking to you, until he was interrupted by a woman with brown hair entering the room.

" I heard Travis Richards found a stow away in the back of his truck."

" In deed he did."

" Is this her?"

The man nodded, stepping back from the bed a bit as the woman pulled on a pair of blue gloves, replacing the man and smiling, putting her hands on her knees and bending over a bit.

" Hi there sweetheart, my name's Melissa, I'm going to be helping Sheriff Stilinski out with you to make sure you're not sick, is that alright with you?"

You nodded as she smiled brighter.

" Good, can I see your arm?"

You nodded again, holding out your arm as she wrapped something around it, squeezing what looked like a ball and watching where the little needle went.

" Ok, blood pressure seems good, can I have a little listen to your heart?"

You nodded as she putting the thing around her neck into her ears, the end she held going to your chest.

" Ok sweetheart, just take three deep breaths in and let them out slowly."

You did as she said, taking the breaths and letting them out slowly as she set the thing back around her neck, turning to the man.

" There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her, her blood pressure looks normal and I didn't hear anything wrong with her breathing or heart, but we should probably keep her overnight just to make sure."

" Are you sure?"

" Yes, it's best in situations like this to see if any behavior changes happen after a-"

" Pst!"

The two adults looked at each other before looking at the door, seeing two little boys peeking into the room from the hallway. The woman, Melissa sighed.

" Boys, I asked you to stay in the staff room-"

" What are they doing here?"

" Sitter had an emergency and had to drive home to Washington, they've been here the last two hours."

" Mom? Who is she?"

Melissa smiled at the little boy, grabbing his hand and leading him into the room and towards the bed.

" This is Y/n, Scott, can you say hi to her?"

" Hi."

" Mr Travis found her and called the hospital for her."

" Why? Is she sick?"

" No, she's not sick sweetheart, he just wanted to make sure if she was sick or hurt that she got taken care of."

" Oh... Well is she better?"

She chuckled softly, standing up and looking down at her son.

" Well how about this, I still have an hour until my shift is done, so how about you and Stiles keep her company and ask her things. Do you want to do that?"

He thought a moment before nodding up at his mom, seeing her smile.

" Ok, just stay in here and I'll come grab you when it's time to go home."

" Ok."

Melissa and the Sheriff left the room, leaving you to stare at the two little boys. They both hopped up on the foot of your bed, holding out their hands.

" Hi Y/n, I'm Scott."

" Hi..."

You shook his hand, look at the other boy, who was smiling cheekily.

" I'm Stiles!"

" Hi..."

" Is it true you slept in Mr Travis' truck?"

You nodded hesitantly, the boys eye lighting up.

" Woah... That's so cool! What was it like?"

You eventually began talking more with the two little boys, talking yourselves into a nap, snoring away when Melissa and the Sheriff came in to retrieve their children, deciding against it when they saw to two boys sleeping by your sides. After that and after you told the Sheriff about how you ended up in the back of the truck, he and Melissa decided to care for you since you had said you had no family. They fed you and gave you clothes, they enrolled you in school, and gave you all the love you had been missing the past few years of your life. They eventually took it a step further by essentially adopting you, sharing custody of you as they both grew to love you like their own daughter. As for Scott and Stiles, they became your best friends and adopted the roles of your self appointed big brothers, even though they were only a few months older than you.

But nonetheless, you three did everything together, from homework to classes to sports, you were almost never seen without them. And then Scott got bitten, and it changed everything. You had been supressing your abilities for years and a few weeks after Scott told you and Stiles, you came forward to them about your abilities. Stiles immediately began researching your abilities to try and help you figure out what you were, obviously, and you got along with them even better than before, you even hit it off pretty well with Scott's girlfriend Allison. But you guys went through a lot in the years after, from one of your classmates turning into a lizard to Scott rising to full status as a True Alpha when he bit some kid.

It was after that someone you didn't expect to see ever again returned, your second and third grade crush Theodore Raeken. He had always been really nice to you, so it didn't really surprise you when he continued to after you got reacquainted. You hung out for hours sometimes after you were done with practice and got lost on time when you were with him. So when he asked you out, you had to stop yourself from screaming to keep from looking crazy. And it was the best thing ever, finally being with someone who loved you as much as you loved him.

But like all couples, there were days when one of you was having a tough time and let it out on the other. You guys had had a little fight after Theo saw a guy flirting with you at a party and he had stormed off. He had been ignoring your calls and texts for almost a week and it pained you, especially on this week. You had been feeling like crap since yesterday, especially since you didn't have Theo. Your period had started and you were left with the worst cramps, and you had nobody to talk to since Scott was with Stiles and your mom was at work.

So you ended up going into the bathroom and looking at yourself in the mirror for a few minutes before you started just bawling, sliding to the ground and curling into a ball. A few minutes into your crying you heard the door close and a voice call out your name.

" Y/n? Anyone home?"

You pressed your face into your arms as you let out another cry, hearing footsteps coming towards the bathroom as the door knob jiggled.

" Y/n? Hey, what's wrong baby?"

"G-Go away Th-Theo... I don't want t-to talk to y-you..."

" Baby, listen, I'm really sorry for getting so mad the other day, would you please just talk to me?"

" I s-said I'm f-fine..."

" Baby, you're crying, you're clearly not fine. Just please let me in and tell me what's wrong."

You sniffled, staying silent as you reached behind you to help pull yourself up onto the edge of the bathtub, feeling something run down your leg. You touched and saw the red substance on your hand, your eyes watering again as you sobbed into your clean hand, hearing Theo jiggling the knob again.

" Baby, please just let me in, I- Why do I smell blood?"

You could hear him inhale through your sobbing.

" Y/n, why do I smell blood coming from in there?"

You let out another sob, Theo banging on the door.

" Y/n, please open the door baby! Please! If you don't open this I'm breaking it down!"

You covered your eyes, your sobs and the sound of Theo's door banging filling the bathroom.

" Y/n, you have about three seconds to let me in before I break this door down! Three! Two! One!"

On the count of one, Theo broke into the room, the door swinging open as he quickly knelt in front of you. You covered your face, not wanting him to see you cry as he tried to pull your hand away from your face.

" Baby, what's wrong? What happened?"

" G-Go away Th-Theo-"

He pulled your hand away from your face, moving his face down to look at you.

" Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong? Why are you crying baby?"

" P-Please just g-go away..."

" No, you're my girlfriend, do you really think I would leave you alone when you're crying? No, I wouldn't, just tell me what's wrong."

He looked and saw your hand with blood on it, a drop falling onto the bathroom floor, not seeing any visible wounds on you. Then he saw the bit of blood on the inside of your thigh, sighing out of relief.

" Come on baby, let's get you up."

You didn't resist, sniffling and hiccupping as Theo pulled you up, leading you out of the bathroom and I to the kitchen and over to the sink, turning on the water and pushing you down gently into a chair. He grabbed a washcloth and ran it under the warm water, turning the sink off and crouching in front of you, placing his hand on your thigh and rubbing his thumb against your skin gently.

" Baby, can I help you?"

You nodded a bit, your face covered by your arm, laying your head down on the table. Theo took your hand, wiping away the blood from along your fingers as he listened to your suppressed hiccups, gently tapping your leg. You moved your legs and Theo took your other hand, placing the washcloth in your hand and putting it on your thigh, moving your hand for you to clean the blood away. You let out a shaky breath, a tear dropping onto the table, Theo's hearing picking up on the quiet sound. He tugged on your hand a bit, speaking in a quiet and gentle voice.

" Hey, Y/n, look at me."

You turned your head, your head laying on your arm as you looked at him, your eyes glassy. He brought his hand up to your face, placing it on your cheek and brushing away a tear.

" What's going on, baby? I haven't seen you like this since we were in grade school."

You sniffled, your leg beginning to shake.

" I-I... I-I got so sc-scared that night... I-I convinced m-myself I wasn't g-good enough for y-you and that's w-why you left... Wh-Who am I k-kiding... Y-You are..."

" Baby, don't talk like that-"

" It's t-true... I-I'm a m-mess..."

" What are you talking about? You're beautiful baby."

" N-No I'm not... I'm a m-mess... Y-You're just b-being nice... Y-You're probably d-disgusted with m-me..."

" Baby, I've never seen anyone more breathtaking than you, you could never disgust me."

He smiled the most genuine smile you had ever seen him do, his eyes literally sparkling as they looked at you. He stood up, gently grabbing your face in between his hands and looking down at you.

" So, I don't want to see those beautiful Y/e/c eyes of yours with anymore tears, I don't wanna see it. You hear me?"

He mock yelled in a lighthearted tone, making you let out a small laugh, causing him to smile.

" There's my girl. Now, we aren't going to go back to this at all, ok?"

You nodded.

" So, you're going to go upstairs to your room and change into something cozy, then we can watch whatever you want, I don't care if it's something I don't like, we're going to watch it, ok?"

You nodded, Theo smiling and leaning down to place a kiss on top of your head, his hands rubbing up and down your arms.

" Ok, go change, I'll be waiting down here."

You nodded once more, standing up as he pressed a quick kiss to your cheek, pushing you gently towards the stairs. You laughed softly, going up the stairs and to your room, going into the bathroom and changing your entire outfit, walking down the stairs in a pair of sweatpants and one of Theo's shirts you had taken underneath your Beacon Hills Lacrosse jacket. You walked into the living room, seeing Theo setting down a bowl of popcorn beside a dozen other of your favorite treats.

" What's all this?"

" Snacks for you, your mom has a bag of them she keeps hidden away for occasions like this."

" You have my mom keep a hidden stash of my favorite snacks?"

" Yeah, obviously."

Theo walked over to you and grabbed your hand, pulling you into the room and down onto the couch. You giggled, nestling yourself into his figure.

" So what do you want to watch?"

" Can we watch Camelot?"

" Of course we can."

" Thanks baby."

Theo smiled, scrolling through and clicking on your show, setting the remote down as the episode started.

" You hungry?"

" Mhm."

Theo sat up, reaching over to the table and grabbing a bowl, setting it in front of you as you looked at it. The bowl was a yellow one filled with an assortment of candy, but only yellow ones. You looked over your shoulder at him, seeing him watching you.

" What's this?"

" Candy, I know how much you like it and how the yellow ones are your favorite, so I took some time to put all your favorites together, that's the more sour candies. We have Skittles, Sourpatch Kids, Lemonheads, Sour Gummy bears, Sour Gummy worms, and lemon drops."

" Did you and my mom happen to plan any chocolate anywhere in all this?"

" Yup."

He sat up again, grabbing another yellow bowl, setting it next to the other bowl.

" This one has Mr Goodbars, M&M's, White chocolate Lindors, only the Yellow Reese's pieces, Yellow chocolate covered almonds, Sixlets, and some white chocolate covered in yellow sprinkles."

" How did I get such a great boyfriend?"

" Guess you were just lucky, now shut up and watch your show."

You giggled as you turned back to watching the show, putting a piece of candy in your mouth every few seconds, Theo nuzzling his face into your neck and pressing soft kisses to it every few minutes. By the third episode, your eyes were growing heavy and you stopped eating your candy. Theo smiled to himself, carefully sitting up and putting the bowls of candy on the table before laying down again, turning off the TV as you turned into him, murmuring sleepily.

" Why'd you turn it off..."

" Because you're obvious tired."

" No I'm not..."

" Oh really? Then what time is it?"

" It's only like 7..."

Theo chuckled, brushing some of the hair away from your face.

" It's almost 11 baby, just go to sleep."

" But I'm not..."

You paused, yawning before speaking again.

" Sleepy..."

Theo smiled.

" Ok, sure, come on."

Theo moved his arm under your waist, pulling you up and on top of him, laying your head on his chest as he played with your hair. You struggled to keep your eyes open, your lids growing heavier as you spoke quietly.

" Theo?"

He hummed back, moving his head a bit to look at you.

" I'm not tired... But you probably are... You can sleep here... I'll just hold you while you sleep..."

He laughed a bit, stroking your hair and nodding.

" Ok, you're right, I am a bit tired. Thank you for the offer baby, I'm just going to rest here tonight."

You nodded sleepily, looking up at him a bit. He held your chin gently, pressing a soft kiss to your lips, keeping his lips pressed to yours for a few seconds, whispering.

" I love you..."

" I love... You more..."

Theo smiled, placing an arm over your waist and the other on your shoulder, pressing a soft kiss on your head.

" Goodnight baby..."

And with that, you were out like a light, Theo following not to long after you. A few minutes later, your mom, Scott, Stiles, and Lydia all entered the house, arguing about something as your mom stopped. She smiles to herself.

" Scott..."

He continued talking loudly, not hearing her.

" Scott!"

" What-"

" Sh!"

He halted, following the gaze of his mom to the couch, seeing his younger sister asleep on the couch, sleeping soundly with her boyfriend holding her close. He saw Stiles look at them, elbowing him before he could get a word out.

" Ow! What the hell was that for?!"

" Sh!"

He lowered his voice, rubbing the spot he had just been elbowed.

" What? I don't like what I'm seeing."

" Stiles, grow up a bit, they're just sleeping."

" So? Sleeping leads to cuddling which leads to canoodling which leads to making out which inevitably lead to sex! I don't him sex-ing up my little sister!"

Your mom rolled her eyes, pushing the boy and the red head out of the house, bidding them good night and locking the door.

" Good night Scott."

" Night mom."

He left up the stairs, your mom looking at you sleep, sighing and grabbing a blanket. She fanned it out over you before kissing her fingers and pressing them gently to your forehead and leaving to her own bedroom, knowing you were in the hands of someone who would never intentionally do anything to hurt you.

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Thank you so much for this request! I really enjoyed writing it!!! Requests are open for any story you want! Thank you my lovelies!!!🤍🤍🤍

#theo raeken #theo raekan imagine #theo raekan x reader #scottmcall! brotherxreader #stilesstilinski!brotherxreader #Melissamccall! adopted motherxreader #noahstilinski!adoptedfatherxreader #teenwolf #teenwolf imagines

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k-evans-reads · 1 year

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In Living Color

Chapter 17

Summary: When Natalie Marton, lead character designer for Buzz Lightyear, meets the voice of Buzz, Chris Evans, the sparks are undeniable. But when their work pushes them away from each other, both physically and emotionally, will the sheer differences between their worlds be enough to force them apart?

Pairing: Chris Evans x Pixar Animator OFC Natalie Marton

Word Count: 5,217

By: @k-evans-writes and @ourfinest-hour

We do NOT give permission for our works to be reuploaded, translated, or reposted on any other site. Our work is our own.

Warnings: Sexual content. 18+ ONLY. MINORS DNI.

Previous | Main Masterlist | In Living Color Masterlist

December 31st, 2021

Chris watched Nat as she checked the temperature of the chicken, shutting the door of the oven quietly as Mark and Jamie boomed with laughter from behind them. The happy laughter in the room made Chris smile, his cheeks practically aching from how much he’d been laughing and smiling the past two days he’d been up in this cabin in the mountains of Washington.

They’d spent Christmas on opposite coasts, with their own families back in their hometowns, before Chris, Dodger, Scott, and Scott’s partner flew to Washington to join Nat, Mark, Jamie, and Lauren at a ski town just east of Seattle, tucked away in a large rental in the snowy mountains. He’d missed Nat desperately over the holiday, despite only being separated for nearly two weeks. They’d made the decision together to spend the holiday apart, but it hadn’t made it any easier and instead had only made them a bit more attached to their phones than either anticipated that day.

But here in Washington, surrounded by their closest group from California, they’d slipped seamlessly back together, evidenced by Chris smacking her ass as she walked by him to open another bottle of wine for everyone. He’d thought the action went unnoticed by the group in the kitchen, with Scott and Steve making a salad by the sink and Lauren handling the potatoes while Mark and Jamie sat at the island and prepped green beans, but a groan told him otherwise.

“Are we really going to have to deal with this for the next three days?” Mark asked, rolling his eyes as he scowled at the couple.

Chris’ brows furrowed as Nat smirked playfully at him, her hand tickling his side as she headed back over to the stove to help Lauren. “Deal with what?” Chris asked him.

“You two being all over each other,” he clarified, waving a hand before he grabbed the pepper from the counter, grinding it over the vegetable. “I swear nobody would even be able to fit a piece of paper between you two!”

But Nat didn’t miss a beat, even with her back turned and as she sprinkled rosemary on top of the potatoes. “Don’t be crabby just because you don’t have a new boyfriend yet,” she told him, faux-dismissively.

Scott grinned from where they were near the large window overlooking the snow-covered trees outside, telling the group, “We’re actually spoiled by Chris being… Chris, because that means he can’t really be into PDA when we go out and do things so it saves us.”

Jamie chuckled as he shook his head, getting up to bring the dish of green beans over to the oven. “Yeah, and at our game nights Nat is too busy trying to make up some ridiculous rule or throwing game pieces at everyone and Chris is busy trying to talk shit about everyone for them to even think about getting handsy,” he supplied, dodging a playful shove from Nat.

Steve glanced over his shoulder as he washed his hands, pointing out, “Well they’re making up for it now.”

“Okay in my defense, I haven’t gotten my girl in almost two weeks! Give me a fuckin’ break!” Chris told the group, holding his hands up defensively, but he smiled as the rest of the group laughed.

Nat turned as Lauren put the potatoes and green beans into the oven, leaning the small of her back against the countertop as she crossed her arms over her chest and told the group, “And Chris is going to be ditching me come February.”

Chris rolled his eyes, reminding her, “It’s called filming, not ditching.”

But Nat smirked at him, shrugging her shoulders. “Same thing,” she murmured, laughing as he snaked an arm out to tickle her side.

“You know, after how many times you ate it on the mountain today, I would have thought it’d knock the sass out of you,” he murmured, his hands stopping as Nat leaned against his side with a happy sigh just before she slipped out of his grasp to check the chicken again.

Jamie frowned, his eyes wide as he seriously told Chris, “Nothing can knock the sass out of her, trust me, we’ve seen her wipe out way worse than today.”

Recalling that very first day that Nat had crashed into his life he chimed in, “That’s true, I do seem to remember meeting Nat for the first time seeing her slamming into a glass door.”

He didn’t even have to see Nat as she bent over the oven to know she was rolling her eyes while defending,“I was trying to hurry and didn’t notice-”

But Chris couldn’t help but cut her off with a playful smirk, asking, “Notice that big door right in front of you?”

“You know what, Evans?” Nat started with a smirk, pointing the spatula in her hand at him, “If you keep this up, you’re sleeping alone tonight.”

“By midnight you’ll be freezing and come lay on top of me so I’m not worried,” Chris shrugged with a soft laugh, moving to sit down on one of the barstools at the island.

“I still think my first meeting with Nat was more memorable,” Scott insisted as he washed his hands, turning the faucet off before turning around as he dried his hands. “I got to meet her while she stuck her head out the window of her apartment yelling that she was locked in.”

Mark let out a loud laugh from next to him at the counter, shaking his head and insisting, “Honestly, that’s not even anything to bat an eye at. When you know Nat as long as we have, chaos is just something you come to expect.”

“How did you all meet, anyway?” Chris piped up as he looked between the trio. Over the past almost year, he’d come to see just how close the three of them, as well as Lauren and their children were. He knew that they’d all been friends for so long and had become more like family than friends which is something he understood well, knowing just how bonded he was to some of the people in his life that he’d grown up with but Chris finally vocalized, “I think in all this time I’ve never actually heard exactly how other than you all worked together.”

A soft laugh echoed from Lauren as she peeked in the oven to check on the food before looking over her shoulder, “Honestly Chris, I don’t know that you should get them going. You should know by now that these three have their own little language we’ll never be able to decipher.”

A soft smile crossed his face as he looked over at Nat, running a hand through her curly hair as she noted, “It’s been so long that I don't think I even remember the first time that I met Mark.”

“Oh I do,” Mark was adamant as he pulled everyone’s attention to him, his hands resting on the counter as he revealed, “I was helping with the onboarding orientation for the new hires. How old were you? Like early or mid 20’s?”

Nat’s brows furrowed as she tried to recall exactly when it was, finally remembering, “I was 22 so you were 27.”

Mark nodded, continuing the story and telling everyone, “Yeah, so anyway I’m sitting at this orientation with probably thirty or so people and in comes this curly-headed tornado who sat down right next to me and she introduced herself, told me that she thought we were going to be friends and then asked me to watch her stuff while she went to the bathroom,” he paused, shaking his head with a grin. “But I guess Nat was right because we did become friends almost immediately.”

“Jamie, how did you get hooked up with the gruesome twosome?” Chris asked, nodding his head towards the other man in the room with a curious look on his face.

Jamie smirked, glancing at Nat and Mark with a knowing look in his eyes. “Well I was in a different department but I had met Mark here and there but we hadn’t talked a lot. But one day on my lunch break I walked through the Pixar campus and I saw this girl sitting on a bench unzipping her backpack,” he quieted down as Mark and Nat began laughing, a smirk on his lips while Scott, Steve, and Chris’ faces turned to confusion. “I was just absentmindedly watching and saw a little squirrel hop out of her backpack and run across the grass and up into a tree.”

Chris’ jaw dropped and his eyes widened in shock, and he turned to Nat as he incredulously asked, “You had a fucking squirrel in your backpack?!”

“My thoughts exactly,” Jamie murmured as he sat back in the barstool, smirking at the chaos that story caused.

Nat held her hands up in defense, waiting until the room quieted down to speak. “Okay it actually makes sense though because I saw a little squirrel in the parking garage and I was afraid he’d get killed so I just dumped some of my nuts into my backpack to lure him and then zipped it up when he climbed in and took him out to where the trees were,” she told them, then paused and shrugged. “That seems very normal to me.”

Chris rolled his eyes as she finished speaking, insisting, “Only you would think that it’s normal to lure a squirrel into a backpack to get it to safety.”

As the timers began beeping, Lauren grabbed oven mitts and opened the oven to pull each dish out while Nat grabbed the meat thermometer. “That’s not even the part that surprised me about that story. The part that shocked me was that Jamie chose to be friends with her after that!” Lauren laughed, waiting until Nat nodded to pull the dish of the chicken out as well.

“I just remember making eye contact with her and laughing so hard, then Nat ran over to give me that same crazy explanation and that was that,” Jamie chuckled, grabbing the bottle of wine and salad before he headed to the table.

“Okay Jamie wins for the most memorable first meeting with Nat,” Scott laughed as he looked around the group, helping carry food over.

But before the conversation could roll on, Chris put a hand out as he said, “Wait, we haven’t heard Lauren’s yet!”

“Well Jamie and I’ve been married for five years so these hooligans had already been thick as thieves for a long time,” Lauren snickered as she looked at the three outgoing artists who were bonded so tightly. She accepted Chris’ help gratefully, handing him an oven mitt so he could carry the potatoes as they headed to the table “But my first time meeting Mark and Nat was when Jamie brought me out with them one night and we walked in and Jamie pointed out that his friends were the two drunk people singing a karaoke duet up on stage.”

At the thought of the memory, Nat hunched over behind her chair with her loud hysterical laughter, dark curls shaking as she pushed out through her adorable laughter, “The worst part is that we actually weren’t even drunk!”

Mark was laughing just as hard, reaching a hand to point at Nat from across the table as they all sat down and he kept cracking up, arguing, “No, the worst part is that it wasn’t karaoke night!”

With the lighthearted atmosphere in the room, Chris slipped into the empty chair next to Nat and snapped his fingers and commented with a smile, “Damn I really did think my first meeting with her was special.”

“Yours doesn’t even make the top ten that I can think of,” Jamie shook his head.

“It might not be the most embarrassing first meeting I’ve had, but it certainly is the most special,” Chris felt his heart soften as Nat said those words, looking at him with nothing but love in her eyes, holding his gaze for a long moment before tipping her head back as she mused, “God, I can’t believe how long it’s been since that first orientation at Pixar. I remember feeling like I was going to throw up because I was so nervous.”

“I think I might have,” Mark laughed before he looked at his two longtime friends, asking, “Can you believe how long it’s been since we all started?”

“I can’t believe all three of us are still there,” Jamie noted, leaning down to pet Dodger who was walking around their feet. “Although I’m pretty sure they’re going to have Nat chained to her desk from here on out so it’s not surprising she’s stuck there.”

Unsure of the meaning behind his words, Chris tilted his head and asked, “What does that mean?”

“Right before Christmas they assigned me to my next film already,” Nat nearly groaned as she leaned back in her chair, informing him, “I’m starting on Inside Out 2 right when we all get back from the holidays.”

Steve piped up, wondering, “Is Lightyear even done?”

Chris was curious, looking at Nat as she let out a soft sigh, “I’ll be fully done with it in February so I have to work on both for the next month.”

His brows furrowed as he heard her weary words, remembering their conversation from earlier in the month as he pointed out, “That sounds kind of rough, Nattie.”

But Nat could only shrug before Mark launched into explaining, “Nat’s just too good that they don’t ever give her a break. She always goes from one thing right into the next,” with a chuckle before he paused to serve Lauren some of the salad. “Once she showed how great she did as lead character designer for Disgust in Inside Out, they’ve just been putting her on as much as they can.”

While grabbing her glass of wine, Nat muttered, “Apparently they just really want me to have no life ever.”

Not wasting a chance to tease his friend, Jamie wondered, “Sorry did you ever have one? This is news to me.”

Not missing a beat, Nat smiled at him and told him, “You can just fuck off.”

Chris just shrugged before leaning over to bump his shoulder against hers, “After your incredible art show, I think you’re going to have to tell Pixar you can’t work as much because you’re too busy becoming a famous painter.”

Nat shrugged, her voice quiet as she admitted to not only him, but the group as well, “With the way my schedule is going to be coming up, I’ll be lucky if I even have time to think about painting, let alone do it.”

Chris frowned at her words and watched as Nat pushed aside her feelings and passed him the potatoes before she dug into her dinner, but throughout the evening, the thoughts lingered in his mind as they ate dinner, cleaned up, then watched a movie with everyone, celebrating with champagne as they rang in the New Year before they all trudged off to their bedrooms in the rental home.

Chris and Nat headed down to the ground floor and to the back corner, closing the door behind them with yawns and sore muscles from the long day on the slopes. The bed was inviting and empty, thanks to Dodger deciding to spend the night with Scott and Steve upstairs, and Chris flopped down on it with a sigh as Nat pulled on one of his old sweatshirts.

“Ugh, I’m so sore! Why in the world did I let you and Scott talk me into going down that huge hill?” She complained quietly, pulling her curly hair up into a messy bun before she crossed the short distance of the room to lay down on the bed with a groan.

“That huge hill? You mean the one that the group of kids passed you on?”

“Yeah that one,” she yawned, eyes softening as she sat up against the fluffy pillows.

“I was trying to show you how to do it!” Chris laughed, a hand coming up to run through his hair as he plugged his phone in and set it down on the nightstand.

Nat pulled the fuzzy blanket that was folded at the foot of the bed up tucking it around her lanky frame as she rolled her eyes and reminded him, “Yeah, while laughing at me!”

“Well you looked pretty funny, babe,” he murmured, his hand coming to rest over the blanket on top of her knee, squeezing her leg reassuringly.

She rolled her eyes but the fond smile playing across her lips betrayed her as she muttered, “Nice to know my boyfriend is so supportive of me.”

“I’m supportive through my laughter,” he assured her with a grin, smirking as she shoved his shoulder lightly. He laid down on the bed fully and rolled onto his side, facing her as his voice dropped and he confessed, “I know we’ve only been here a few days, but this has been so great. I’ve really loved this trip.”

“Me too,” Nat agreed, her voice quiet and soft. “I really missed you over Christmas.”

“I missed you too, Nattie. It just didn’t feel right without you,” he sighed. He thought it wouldn’t have been a big deal, being separated over the holiday. He assumed the chaos of the big family get-togethers would’ve been enough distractions for them both, but their nearly-constant contact over text and a couple phone calls throughout the day proved otherwise. It hurt more being apart than it would’ve been for him to suck it up and hop on a flight to be with her before the holidays, but he had not expected it. Most of his previous relationships had little to no expectation, especially less than a year in, when it came to spending Christmas together or alone with their families, but both he and Nat had their own reasons to be home. He was gearing up for what seemed to be a long year of work ahead both in Atlanta and abroad, with three projects and two press tours to handle, and Nat, to see her family, baby Jack, and spend time with them alone.

But he’d missed her. He’d ached to be there with her, to have her by his side as he watched his Ma open up her gifts from everyone, to see Dodger bouncing around with his niece and nephews as they enjoyed the chaos of the morning. He wanted nothing more than to have her by his side, and he wasn’t surprised when he learned a few hours later that Nat was struggling with the same thing. That knowledge both helped and stung a little, but it built up the anticipation even more for their New Years getaway with the group in Washington, to the point that he was practically vibrating as he stepped off the charter flight to see her waiting in a rental car with Mark, Jamie, and Lauren at the airfield.

Nat gave him a half-smile as her voice softly told him, “We’re going to have to get used to that with the year we have coming up.”

“I guess so,” he sighed, giving her a frown in return as his mind began racing with all he knew was happening that year. He was already committed to those three projects, involving long shoots in Atlanta, across the country from Nat. He knew that once work picked up post-pandemic that it would test them, but it certainly happened a lot quicker than he realized. The year flew by thanks to Nat’s role in his life, making him look forward to everyday for a new reason that he hadn’t anticipated this time last year. But with the reality being that it was about to be 2022, he realized just how long they’d been side by side, nearly inseparable for almost ten and a half months now. “I was going to ask you if you might be able to come out to Atlanta at all while I’m filming Ghosted but from what you said tonight, it sounds like you’re going to be really busy.”

“Yeah I found out about Inside Out 2 right before Christmas break and I wanted to wait to tell you until I could see you in-person,” she sighed, frowning slightly at herself. Her hand landed on top of his where it was resting on her knee, squeezing it gently before he flipped his hand over and laced her fingers through his own, all without taking his eyes off of hers. “I was really hoping I would have a more relaxed January so we could spend a lot of time together before you leave but now I’m going to be even busier having to juggle both projects.”

“It’s alright, baby. We’ll still get to spend time together,” he assured her, before he remembered what was on his calendar in early February and he frowned nervously. “Are you going to be able to get away to Palm Springs in February?”

“That was on the schedule before I was assigned so I still get that time off,” Nat reassured, smiling faintly at the mention of that long weekend away. He knew what she was imagining – just them, phones off, no distractions, one last quiet weekend before the chaos of the year truly began. “I’m sure those couple weeks before I’m going to be swamped though.”

Chris chuckled, his thumb moving back and forth mindlessly over the soft skin on the back of her hand. “I have a feeling I’ll be bringing you a lot of comfort food for lunch,” he laughed.

“Chris, I think you should go home for a while in January,” Nat sighed, surprising him with those words. He thought they were pretty in sync, wanting to soak up any time they could before chaos broke loose and they had forced distance between them, but to hear that she didn’t want him out there with her made him – admittedly – nervous and a bit scared. “You know I love to be with you, but I know you’re going to need some time to recharge and be home for a bit before everything. And honestly, I think having you in LA that whole time would make my schedule worse because I’d feel so bad that I’m working so much and you’re there.”

He nodded, understanding where she was coming from, but also trying to push aside those selfish feelings of even just wanting to be around her. “I want to spend as much time with you as I can, but I do think spending some time at home would be nice,” he finally began, shrugging half-heartedly. “I might head back home once you get busier but we can figure all of that out once we’re back in LA next week.”

“Having been so busy, and knowing how busy both of us will be this next year, it feels so nice to have this time here. It feels so good to just not have to worry about any of it for a while,” she admitted, the soft happy look on her face warming Chris from the inside out.

“It really does,” he agreed easily, his hand tightening its grasp on hers. A year ago, he hadn’t even met Nattie yet. He was at home in Massachusetts, where he’d spent the majority of 2020, doing all his work through Zoom and email and riding out the pandemic in his bubble. But now? He was happy. He was sharing his life with someone, someone he couldn’t imagine a future without, and he was excited for what this year could bring for them. “I’m so happy I get to start this new year with you, Nattie. I can’t believe that this time last year I hadn’t even met you yet.”

“It’s weird to think that one year ago we hadn’t met and this year is so different,” she laughed, arching an eyebrow before she asked, “I wonder what next New Year’s will be like?”

And at the mention of that, Chris couldn’t help but let his mind wander. He didn’t know what it would be like, his brain for a moment flickering to the worst possible thought as he wondered if there was a possibility they might not be together. But just as quickly as that thought came, it left, knowing deep in his heart that Nat was it for him. He knew just how deep his love for her ran and everything in his brain was looking at their relationship through the lens of them being together forever.

He wanted everything with her. He wanted to go to bed every night next to her. Have dinner with her every night. Laugh at the same stupid jokes with her day after day. Celebrate holidays together and buy birthday gifts for their nieces and nephews. What it would be like to see Nat holding their own baby in her arms. Take their daughter or son for their first day of preschool. Come home to Nat ruining another one of his tee shirts as she painted furiously by the big windows in their home. He wanted every single moment of his life to be shared with her and he hoped that somehow next New Year’s, they’d be even closer than they were right now.

“I don’t know what it’ll be like next year, Nattie, but I know I’ll still be so in love with you,” he murmured, his mind racing with snippets of what their future could look like. “I don’t know how I got so lucky.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying to myself for months,” Nat chuckled, but her smile turned into a smirk as she turned to face Chris, her legs folded underneath her as she looked down at him. “How I managed to have you in my life is something I’ll never understand but I’m not going to question it. I’m so excited for this year because of knowing i’ll have you.”

Chris pushed himself up, his hand running up and down Nat’s arm as he honestly told her, “I love you, Nattie. I love you more than I knew was possible.”

“I love you too, baby,” she breathed, pausing to search his eyes. “You’re truly my best friend.”

The softness in her voice and tears that were glistening in Nat’s eyes showed Chris just how honest her words were. Just as they always did, Nat’s words went straight to his heart, treasuring the fact that she considered him her best friend, because he knew that in every sense of the word, she was his. They could laugh, tease and joke around with each other, but then could switch on a dime to having the deepest and most vulnerable conversation, knowing their feelings were safe with the other person. Chris knew that Nat was always supportive of him, telling him the hard truth when he needed to hear it or helping him see his own faults in things, while validating his feelings in other moments. She helped him grow, pushed him to be better, and made him feel more loved than he ever had felt.

Nat loved him just for him and nothing was more beautiful than that.

Their arms came to snake around one another, pressing their bodies against each other’s warmth as their lips connected in the dim room. Chris just needed this. He needed this physical connection with her, unable to hold his deep feelings for her in and judging by the way she kissed him back, Nat felt the same exact thing. He wanted to hold her close, feeling her heartbeat as they kissed, Chris so wrapped up in the fact that Nat was his and he was her.

There was so much love and tenderness in the air as they both slowly peeled each other out of their clothes, their warm bodies pressed together without a single inch of space between them. Chris swore it was like heaven getting to have Nattie in his arms, loving her in both words and actions and having that love returned to him. It certainly wasn’t the first time Chris had been in love, having had the opportunity to have some beautiful relationships in the past, but it had never been like this and he knew there would never be anything like this again. Nat was his world and he couldn’t imagine it any other way.

A low moan erupted from Nat’s lips, echoing in his ear when he finally pushed inside of her, giving them each that connection they’d been longing for. Nat’s arms were wrapped around his waist, pulling him down and deeper into her with each slow and sweet snap of his hips. But Chris wasn’t in a hurry, just taking his time peppering her lips with kisses and showing her with his loving words in between each kiss. Nat’s eyes had been squeezed shut, drinking in every bit of this moment, but when those long eyelashes of hers fluttered open and looked at him with such emotion and tenderness, he felt his knees going weak at just the sight knowing that this sensitive, beautiful, kindhearted artist was looking at him that way and nobody else.

His emotions for her were so pure and true that seeing this woman that he loved so deeply underneath him and hearing her gasp and moan while she gripped his shoulders was just too much for him to be able to handle. Chris could feel himself getting close, each thrust of his hips into her warmth bringing him closer and closer and he could tell by the way Nat was panting that she was barely hanging on too. He brought a hand down between them, rubbing his thumb against that bundle of nerves that had Nat crying out loudly as her fingertips dug into his shoulders and her walls squeezed him like a vice.

With one more drag back against her velvety walls and push back in, Chris was groaning with pleasure into the crook of her neck as he emptied himself inside her. But as good as that high felt, it was this moment that he loved almost more than anything. This moment of holding each other close, still tucked inside her as they lazily kissed and soaked in the feeling of just being fully connected in every way.

Nat’s hand ran up and down Chris’ bare back, nails dancing along the skin lightly, causing goosebumps to pop up in her wake. He leaned his forehead against her collarbone and kissed the skin there, wanting nothing more than to just stay here with her forever, protect her as best as he could, and get to step into their future, side-by-side, together. He wanted nothing more than to grow old with her, raise a couple kids, build a life and a home. And as he gently pulled out of her, cleaned them up, and climbed back into bed next to her, pulling her against him as she drifted asleep, he couldn’t help but think, once again, about how much this year flew by. With each passing day, their anniversary approached, and it put them one step closer to forever.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading!

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pedropascal24-7 · 15 days

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#pedro pascal #gladiator 2 #paul mescal #denzel washington #joseph quinn #cinemacon

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margotfonteyns · 4 months

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At The Christmas Ball: A Vintage Xmas Anthology

01 - At The Christmas Ball - Bessie Smith (1925) 02 - Santa Claus, Bring My Man Back To Me - Ozie Ware (1928) 03 - Papa Ain't No Santa Claus - Butterbeans & Susie (1930) 04 - It's Winter Again - Isham Jones & His Orchestra (1932) 05 - Jingle Bells - Benny Goodman & His Orchestra (1935) 06 - There's Frost On The Moon - Artie Shaw & His Strings (1936) 07 - I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm - Mildred Bailey (1937) 08 - Christmas Morning The Rum Had Me Yawning - Lord Beginner (1939) 09 - Winter Weather - Fats Waller & His Rhythm (1941) 10 - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters (1943) 11 - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland (1944) 12 - Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Connee Boswell (1945) 13 - Boogie Woogie Santa Claus - Mabel Scott (1948) 14 - Baby, It's Cold Outside - Pearl Bailey & Hot Lips Page (1949) 15 - All I Want For Christmas - Nat King Cole Trio (1949) 16 - What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? - The Orioles (1949) 17 - Midnight Sleighride - Sauter-Finegan Orchestra (1952) 18 - Silent Night - Dinah Washington (1953) 19 - White Christmas - The Drifters (1954) 20 - Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer - The Cadillacs (1956) 21 - Warm December - Julie London (1956) 22 - Love Turns Winter To Spring - June Christy (1957) 23 - The Secret Of Christmas - Ella Fitzgerald (1959) 24 - The Christmas Song - Carmen McRae (1961) 25 - A Christmas Surprise - Lena Horne (1965) 26 - Santa Was Here - Lorez Alexandria (1968)

Download: flac / mp3

#music #christmas music #my compilation

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stormxpadme · 7 months

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Whumptober 2023 No. 14 - Flare

Scogan Bingo challenge Soulmate: You feel the same sensations your soulmate is feeling (pain, touch, sexual)

Since it was Jean's death, to blame for triggering this whole thing in the first place, it wasn’t too extraordinary that at first, no one, including Scott and Logan, even noticed.

Hell, they'd just lost a woman they had both loved, each in their own way; of fucking course, they felt similarly shitty in the few days following the clusterfuck that had been Alkali Lake. None of their teammates, or of the children and teenagers at Mutant High, expected anything different from either of them than locking themselves up in their respective apartments right now.

Well, Logan for his part would at least not have put it beyond that obsessive asshole he was calling a team leader to dive back headfirst into his work immediately, admittedly. Or to train himself to death in the Danger Room.

Anything just to forget the same pain that Logan was drinking away in his living room in a not much healthier way, with one bottle of the hard stuff after the other on his lips. Silently, mostly unmoving, ignoring occasional headaches and rare bouts of nausea behind his forehead as his healing factor was, curiously, slightly busier than usual dealing with that auto-assault.

But … no. Judging by the few shy status updates that Marie was giving Logan whenever she came by uninvited with a tray of the most necessary carbs and coffee, Scott, at least until the morning of the funeral planned, was indeed barricading himself in that flat on the other side of the hallway. From time to time, he was giving the other residents a life sign by picking up, unseen at night, one of the water bottles from the otherwise untouched supplies that the other X-Men or the pupils kept leaving outside his door. No one had seen him since that quick trip to Washington after the Alkali Lake crisis but whenever an especially bad bout of memory and regret hit, Logan could hear the guy hurl some shit against the walls or sob particularly uncontrolled.

He was mildly confused every time how much that hurt from someone whom he suddenly found, he wasn’t loathing half as much as he'd used to anymore. Dwell on that, he didn’t for now, though; for that, he was far too busy screaming into his own pillows and questioning all his life choices. And make it to the bathroom as gracefully as possible every now and then, in spite of some weirdly intense dizziness in his head, as if drinking for a week nonstop was too much even for a feral. Getting rid of whatever body fluid even his robust system couldn’t just sweat out was all he could bring himself to for now, before going back to nursing the next drink. Not like he could have gotten up to much right now anyway, with that bitch of a headache. Which was just as well. Logan wasn’t the type to sit down in a black tie in a row together with other mourners and listen to speeches about a dead person from people who surely hadn’t even known Jean well enough to be qualified to hold one. He would have stayed the fuck away from that ceremony in the backyard either way. Accordingly, only a warning, dismissive growl came from his lips when Ororo entered his apartment without even knocking, signaling him with an unambiguous gesture to get off his ass, while Logan's enhanced senses could pick up in the distance that everyone was gathering in said garden. "'m not coming, so fuck off. I don’t do funerals."

"I don't give a shit what you usually do." Ororo only smiled bitterly when he winced at the expression feeling too crude for someone always looking and expressing themselves so ethereally. A gesture that dug deep lines around the downward-pulled corners of her mouth that Logan had never noticed before. Alkali Lake had let everyone – except for him, naturally – age 10 years or so. "Will you get up voluntarily or do I need to douse you with some rain? Honestly, the way you smell I'd do us all a favor."

"I said I'm not …"

Logan paused with a frown and tensed when the familiar bright voice of the mansion's leader from a certain apartment next door suddenly shouted Ororo's name, in an unusual breaking, upset tone. Charles had apparently tried the same job Ororo had come to Logan for … And whatever the guy had found in what had once been Scott's and Jean's apartment was obviously off.

With a curse, Logan jumped up when unexpected, bone-deep worry surged through him, cursing himself for not checking in person on that goddamn idiot over there at least once in the last few days. Maybe Scott was in a far worse condition than they'd all thought after all and had decided to try and end that miserable existence of his while everyone was busy in the garden … Logan didn’t get a chance to check because he suddenly had to hold on to the sofa backrest, his legs almost giving in under him as that weird dizziness and throb behind his forehead returned, too strongly to follow Ororo's hectic footsteps outside. Fuck, alright, no more vodka, at least for a few hours … How much his body was really betraying him for some reason, he only realized when an inhumane, gruesome pain like a blade to his guts suddenly hit his right upper belly, so strong that it got him to his knees at last, with strangled groans on his lips. What the …? Anyone not familiar with the characteristics of ferals would probably have told him now that it served him just right, after drinking basically his weight in booze for a week, that his liver threatened to give in on him out of the blue, only that didn’t make any fucking sense …

"Logan, we got an emergency. You need to take Scott …" Ororo, on her way back inside his apartment, froze on the spot when she saw him cowering there on the alcohol-stained carpet with a grimace of agony on his lips, clutching both his side and his head as he was trying in vain to breathe through whatever the fuck was happening. A look somewhere between utter bewilderment, a hint of amusement, and growing shock had the color drain even more from that beautiful face as Ororo covered it with one hand, slowly shaking her head. "You gotta be kidding me …"

Logan didn’t get around to asking what kind of fucking epiphany the woman thought she was having. Another stab into his brain as if he'd attacked himself with his own claws drew a scream from his lips while something in his belly felt like it was exploding, and suddenly the world went black.

*****

"If this is your idea of humor, Windrider …" Technically, Logan had been feeling significantly better upon waking up. The explanations as to why that was, both from Ororo and from some weird blue furry guy who was in the process of moving into Mutant High to take over Jean's medical duties, apparently, immediately made him nauseous again though. Not to mention the insignificant little detail that he couldn’t even have gone up from that damn medical stretcher to try and run and hide from what he'd just been told, even if he'd been willing to leave Scott alone in the sick bay with two apparently clinically insane people. Exhaustion was sitting in every cell of his body and his mind, making every movement hard work. He was slurring his words, his attempts to wrap his brain around why that was significantly slowed.

And all of that … allegedly thanks to the man in the bed standing next to Logan's. More specifically thanks to the huge IV bags of narcotics that Scott was being hooked to.

This had to be a joke, this couldn’t be happening …

"Do you see us laughing? No one in this house has any spoons left for stupid pranks right now." After checking on Scott's artificially slowed but fortunately steady vitals again that the monitor belonging to all the fancy alien tech equipping these halls displayed, fur guy came to stand next to Ororo. The way, he rested his hand on her shoulder for a moment, squeezing it softly spoke of those two going way back. Sharing many of Logan's feral characteristics, Hank must also be smelling the growing exhaustion in Ororo, a lack of proper nourishment, and especially the tears trying to come to the surface again and again. The woman wasn’t grieving any less than Scott and Logan did, and that their embarrassing little health stunt had made another delay of the funeral necessary surely didn’t help start processing the recent tragedy.

Logan was feeling sorry for her but with what was about to wreck his life harder than one of Ororo's hurricanes all of a sudden, he didn’t have emotional energy left for comfort right now. "You guys just told me I'm trapped in a forced marriage, so forgive me for calling bullshit on some pseudo-science fairy tale, King Kong."

"No one's forcing anything on you." Apparently sensing, Logan was feeling honestly more upset and lost by the second, Ororo changed from her chair to the bedside after giving Hank's paw a brief squeeze, and gently took Logan by both shoulders, effectively stilling his weak attempts to sit up even a little. When she bent over him, she scrunched her nose, blinking rapidly, for a second, causing Logan to make a mental note about maybe visiting a bathroom soon for something else than relieving himself after all. "Try to lie still, please. As long as we have to keep Scott under, your body won't let you go anywhere either. I'm sorry this is happening to you two, Logan, I mean it. No one saw that coming or could prevent it. It's fate, accident, a higher power, call it whatever you want. No one knows. The reason you haven’t heard about soul bonds before is that they're so rare, we didn’t even have an entry in our database of phenomena so far. If I didn’t happen to know two cases from my African homelands, we might not even have realized what's wrong with you two before it would have been too late. As this is a one-in-a-million thing, there's no records and hardly any science on it. We're basically flying blind here. You two are bonded in your minds now; that much we know. And as far as anyone knows, that condition is irreversible. But whatever you make of it, is only your choice."

"Some kind of choice." Logan snorted and turned his head away from the compassionate look in Ororo's dark eyes because he wasn’t sure he could deal with pity right now. Now his gaze was right back on that tall but worryingly thin shape on the neighboring bed, and that wasn’t much better. He wanted to be pissed at this guy just for existing more than ever. Yet he tried in vain to conjure up the same childish rage from the beginning at someone who was so damn different from him … And yet, not least when it came to their job and their protective instinct regarding those close to them, at the same time so very similar. Logan had never managed, not before Alkali Lake and especially not after Jean's death, to make any sense of how his feelings about this man had changed with time, into something that went far beyond respect for a strong leader. Into something that, at first glance, by the usual boring, standard social morals, hadn’t seemed to fit his affectionate yearning for Jean at all. And now he sure as fuck knew even less how to deal with Scott. "What choice do I got when you're telling me, he and I would probably be killing each other if we just ignore this? If I wanted to fuck off from here again for example? What do you think would happen then, if we feel everything in our body of what's going on with the other? I'm stuck here now, 'Ro, you know that as well as I do. Whatever plans I had for my own life, for finding my past, it's all fucked."

"Stop it with the doomsday funk. That's not like you." Ororo only grabbed his shoulders even harder to make him look at her again, and Logan could have sworn to see Scott slightly startle even in his induced sleep from the touch apparently indeed mirrored in the guy's mind. This was some fucked up shit, goddamnit. "I told you, we don't know anything for sure. But one of the theories is that telepaths are either knowingly or accidentally responsible for causing such phenomena with their powers. Which, by the way, you two might be contemplating once Scott is back to his feet. Maybe you can think of a certain someone who was trying to give you two a gift in her last moments alive, consciously or not." For a moment, Ororo's voice threatened to break but she put herself together when it was Logan this time, clumsily reaching for her hand on his arm. "I'm just saying, if this is a telepath thing, we happen to have one of the leading authorities on the subject in this house, you know. Charles already offered to engage in as many mental sessions with you two as is necessary until we get to the bottom of this. It's possible that with time, he can cut the bond. And until then? I'm pretty sure, with how fond that idiot over there is of you for some weird reason, he won't say no if you ask him for the occasional road trip to hunt down leads."

"Yeah, I'll pass on that until I educated the guy on bearable tunes," Logan gave back with a weak grin, an exaggerated shudder at the memory of a certain CD in Scott's car.

"Driver picks the music," Ororo reminded him with a weary chuckle, obviously glad, he could at least find something like a smile in him again in spite of the shitty situation. "For now, all you two need to do is take care of each other physically. What you make of that in the long run … If you can find it in you to explore what Jean might have thought could be between you there … That's only up to you guys. We'll help you with anything you need as much as we can, that at least I can promise you."

Logan ran a still very heavy hand through his hair with an absent groan, not even close to sort out the emotional chaos in his head yet. But since he had to anyway, he might be getting at least a little closer to trying now. Starting with that he'd be obviously obliged to be a lot more informed about the sick bay file of one Scott Summers than he'd ever cared for. "You can start by telling me why exactly I'm lying around here as if Rogue's just kissed me unconscious instead of spending another evening with my best friend Vladimir on the sofa."

"Yeah, about that." Hank cleared his throat with a scathing look distorting his animalistic features. "No more benders unless you two are both on holiday and you've cleared with Scott that he's okay with spending hours knocked out on the sofa. That your healing factor can deal with an amount of booze that would kill anyone else doesn’t mean he will be okay with being forced into a delirium without even touching a single glass."

"Yeah, well, tough shit, I'm not becoming abstinent because someone can't hold their liquor," Logan grumbled, fully knowing already that he wouldn’t be touching the same amount of alcohol anytime soon. Mostly because Scott was a lot more fun to spar with, both with words and in the gym, when he was of a sane mind. "Besides, you said, what we're feeling from each other is only sensation and not the actual cause, so it obviously wasn’t me who knocked Scooter out by accident. Wanna tell me why you really got him on a dozen needles?"

"Drug overdose," Ororo answered for Hank, surprisingly sober for a tidbit that punched into Logan's stomach like a steeled fist, trying to stir up that guilt again that he hadn’t checked on that stupid idiot across the hall in time. "Not what you think," she added immediately, to his relief, squeezing his hand again firmly. "I don't suppose you happened to wonder why you suddenly can’t hold your liquor anymore?" She demonstratively tapped her forehead with two fingertips, nodding jerkily when Logan's eyes went wide. "It's a flare of the particularly nasty kind. We think it's Jean's death that caused it. Intense emotional stress tends to cause mutation gifts to evolve. In Scott's case, that always means that his optic blasts are growing even more powerful, and that's always bad news. Since he can't control it and his shields need to hold back his powers all the time, there's basically nonstop pressure from the recoil on his brain. That's always been a problem. I don't know Scott other than on his weekly Advil ever since we met. But right now, the pain must be unbearable enough that he's almost shredded his liver to pieces with those damn pills. Nothing that Shi’ar medicine and tech can't fix, but unless we want to give him a complete physical overhaul to prevent organ failure every half a year or so from now on, we need to find a solution for this, somehow. Charles is already trying to contact the Shi’ar, to see if they have an idea. Unfortunately, with their ships millions of lightyears away, it can take months until such a conversation happens."

"And until then …?" The frown of honest concern and compassion on Logan's face deepening, he finally managed to sit up a little, relieved when Ororo got the silent, slightly embarrassed hint of his eyes darting to the unmoving figure on the other bed, and pulled the stretcher closer so that Logan could rest one trembling hand on Scott's arm. He shuddered instinctively when he felt how much weight Scott really had lost in those last few days alone. No wonder Logan had felt the need to fill his own stomach with as much fluid as possible. Yeah, that definitely wasn’t continuing, for reasons of self-protection alone. It was Logan's job now to look out for that guy … And with time, maybe, he'd be able to decide if that happened only because, while his body was equipped to deal with pain, Logan had never been a masochist. Maybe in truth, it was for a reason, he'd become an integral part of this team in the short time between Alkali Lake and Liberty Island, becoming a living shield, especially for this guy. Maybe it also wasn’t chance that it had been him and none of the others, to hold Scott in the moment of Jean's death when they'd both felt something crucial in their life break away, fall apart … Not realizing, something maybe just as important had been given to them in turn.

"Until then he'll have to try and get by with sensory reduction, as much rest as possible, and every amount of painkillers that his system can take," Hank explained gravely, sounding audibly unconvinced and unhappy with such a makeshift solution. "I can wake him up as soon as the Shi’ar tissue adhesive is done repairing his liver and stomach, and I guess he'll be out of here by the end of the week, but don't expect to see him return to work anytime soon. I hate to say this, but this might be a good time to consider taking over leading duties for either of you two."

"Yeah, not gonna happen, King Kong." Logan didn’t even need to look back at Ororo to know there was a similar look on her face. Neither of them was suited for the front row permanently; this was entirely out of the question. Not to mention that Logan was pretty sure that if Scott was now to lose the only other thing in his life he was so used to obsessing about? The next thing with regard to these shared sensations that Logan would have to witness was his own heart stopping to beat when the guy would throw himself on some sword or cut his wrists. The alternative wasn’t something that exactly thrilled him either … Then again, on second thought, maybe the idea vaguely forming in him right now would at least be a stale replacement for drinking his worries away which was notoriously off the table for the moment. "Those famous Shi’ar drugs you got there, McCoy ... Think there's some painkillers among them that'd do anything for me?"

"With your healing factor? Huh. We'd need to run a few tests, I suppose." Hank paused for a moment, rubbing through his beard with a thoughtful hum, not quite catching on yet what Logan was suggesting while Ororo already stared at him in both bewilderment and a good deal of respect and gratefulness. "You'd still be burning through the substances a lot faster than anyone else, but with an IV big enough … I guess we could get you through a couple of hours. I don't see why you'd need that though. Your body can repair pretty much anything within a couple of minutes, so there's no need to numb anything for you …" He paused, his glance falling on Scott's lifeless shape when he finally understood, and almost dropped the datapad he'd been swiping around on. "Careful there, Wolverine. You keep this up, they'll start calling you a nice guy."

Logan showed the guy an extended middle claw just for good measure and let out a silent curse when he saw Scott startle and stiffen again in his sleep, until the usual burning and stinging from the closing wounds on Logan's knuckles subsided. Well, that made it official: He was forbidden from anything fun from now on. So that was what being Scott Summers was like. Welcome to the experience or something. "Shut it, King Kong. Yes or no?"

"Charles will have to manipulate himself another trust fund just to finance the resupplies of all these extraterrestrial drugs that we're gonna need." Hank tiredly rubbed his eyes behind his narrow glasses for a moment but showed a lopsided grin then. "He's very fond of his current team constellation though so that's probably going to be a much smaller headache than our young captain here is dealing with right now. Come on, Ororo, I think we're needed for an urgent staff meeting in Charles' office. I trust you'll keep an eye on things here for us, Logan."

Logan had another vicious remark on his lips about hardly having a choice in the matter. But it was with quickly increasing resignation he found, amazingly, maybe he didn’t even want one.

*****

The first few days were hell. And that had nothing to do with the constant nausea and annoying fatigue from being hooked to aggressive chemicals for half an hour every morning.

Scott, to everyone's confusion, took the news far more composed than Logan had. Side effect of having been in a relationship with a telepath for years, Logan supposed. At least a mental bond wasn’t exactly anything new for Scott. Plus, the guy was still far too traumatized from Alkali Lake to get his panties in a knot even about making close acquaintance with someone he'd only used to fight with for the better part of their time together so far. Besides, with how blindly the dude trusted that shade bag Xavier still, after everything, he was probably having all his hopes on this annoying condition being reversed someday. Or he had decided that almost offing himself by accident over one life-shattering incident in his life was more than enough for the time being and that he had no emotional capacity right now, lamenting over a couple of inconveniences.

Logan couldn’t even loathe that compartmentalizing asshole enough for being so unfazed, to drown out the growing attachment he felt to him, with every hour they inevitably spent from that day on more. And there were lots of those. Finding a mutually useful working rhythm for their new life situation was about as exhausting as anyone would expect. When everything going on in someone else's body was inevitably mirrored on your own, you couldn’t help but deal with it, explore it, possibly reverse it if it was anything bad. Truth was, Scott and Logan hadn’t talked that much in all that time that they'd been knowing each other. And with each thing, Logan came to learn about that supposedly rich kid douche whom he'd wanted to punch in the face in his first days at Mutant High, he felt more like a fucking idiot.

Thanks to his amnesia, there was obviously not a lot he could return the favor with, of learning about atrocities in Scott's life like teenage drug trades, Essex and a lot worse captivities than with Weapon X. But Logan at least tried not to be a total asshole when Scott unambiguously told him, for example, that one glass of booze at night was more than enough and that he could very well do without feeling like having a heart attack in the gym every day, just because Logan couldn’t control his caffeine intake.

Logan, on his part, quickly cured Scott of the habit of using the damn bathroom far too rarely because not everyone had the height of a damn tree and the bladder size to go with it. Logan's kink list did not include a constant pressure to piss, thank you very much. He also made very sure to drag Scott to Hank every other hour, in spite of all cursing and resistance, whenever Logan felt something else sting, burn, throb in his body that definitely did not belong there and that Scott had never bothered to get checked out in all these years. Those Shi’ar scanners and tools got a lot to do in that first adjustment period.

And no matter how much Scott pretended to hate him for this every time, he never failed to come by Logan's apartment afterward with a six-pack for another evening of watching some game on the couch until they both fell asleep in their respective corner. Their yelling matches in the first three months after Jean's death were legendary, they were told later, but at some point, miraculously? They had sorted it all out.

The fact that at this point, Logan had also basically moved into Scott's apartment because that had simply made things easier, was just a side note in their very personal little soap opera. It never failed to amaze Logan how comfortable he'd become in Scott's presence, so much that he didn’t even really think about it anymore when he fell asleep on that damn couch to the sound of some game or waded into the shower half-asleep in the morning. Which helped to get at least somewhat awake before their usual drug session at the sick bay that was keeping Scott's headaches at a manageable bay for the rest of the day. Maybe, some things, you didn’t need to question. It was a quickly familiar rhythm of recovering, teaching, waiting for good news from Charles' office in vain, and another evening of either a friendly chat on that couch or watching their favorite teams fuck up on TV in comfortable silence, over leftovers or takeout. Something, Logan thought he could get used to in the long run. Accordingly, he didn’t even think about it that much when one of these nights, after the light had gone out, a certain natural urge hit. It was honestly surprising that this hadn’t happened before, given his feral instincts were usually very basic in that regard, just like about every other natural body function. With all that had happened lately, Logan had mostly just ignored the thought whenever it had come up, too exhausted or busy or both to follow it anyway. But feeling something like peace again after all the excitement, maybe for the first time in years, even, he found on that night, lying alone in the dark as so often, he was too riled up to fall asleep. He wasn’t too shocked anymore at contemplating if that maybe had to do something with walking into the bathroom to a stark naked Scott in the shower by accident earlier. That wasn’t a bridge either of them was even remotely ready to cross yet, and Logan had never been in a hurry about such things anyway. But denying that it was a remarkably attractive piece of behind on his mind right now, that he'd spotted there before creeping back out the door silently, would have been a lie. Or a, thanks to some resumed training very well-defined, broad shoulder line. Those sinfully long, strong legs … Definitely a nice image to recall when Logan slipped one hand into his loose sweatpants without thinking much about it, not surprised at how hard he suddenly was. This wouldn’t take long. Moving his fist up and down his aching length with his eyes firmly closed, he allowed himself to indulge in a fantasy he was no longer shying away from, of what would have happened if he hadn’t sneaked back out earlier, if he'd joined Scott in the shower instead, maybe … Exploring that attractive body with his hands and tongue, licking off every drop of water while he went to his knees for the guy, ever until that cute piece of ass would be right in his sight. A twitching, untouched hole just waiting to be devoured with his tongue while his hand would be busy, playing with those heavy, large balls …

"How about you get into my bed and we continue things there before you make us both come early, Claws?"

That low, hoarse voice from the direction of the bedroom had Logan startling so much, he promptly almost fell off that stupid sofa. Tearing his hand away from his straining erection, his cheeks were suddenly a bright red as he realized how thoughtless he'd been for a moment, not even considering that yes, of course, Scott would feel that too. Not the touch itself, not that, thankfully – not from their own hands, at least. That part at least, their connection had spared them. Which was not a given, as they'd found out painfully in the very beginning, during a sparring session in the Danger Room with the others. Neither of them was a very tactile person on principle; therefore, that every touch from someone else on their soulmate, they would experience themselves, too, hadn’t occurred to them until then. Not before the first full body check from a fully metal-encased shape ramming Scott's, promptly sending Logan flying to the ground from the pain as well. After that, they'd known better than not keeping their distance from people even more than before. That surely most inconvenient part of their connection though did not affect what they did to their own bodies themselves. So Logan had been neglectful for a moment, not even considering what kind of sensations giving in to this primitive desire might be causing inside his mate anyway ...

Seeing in the weak shine of Scott's bedside lamp now how flushed the guy's cheeks were, hearing him breathe slightly faster and irregularly, and spotting a definitely very interesting-sized bulge at the front of his night pants, Logan decided, maybe that had been one of his more sensible decisions lately.

Never bothering with a verbal answer, he got up and swung over the back of the sofa, more stumbling in his sudden hurry to get to Scott than walking. Ignoring the slight stinging on his own scalp as he buried both hands in his mate's hair, he pulled Scott down to him for a desperate kiss, moaning in need when he felt against his stomach how hard his lover was already, the air heavy with a hint of sweet salt and both their labored breathing. His tongue deeply slipping into Scott's mouth, Logan found with exasperated amusement, he needed to dial down on the cigars because the guy definitely tasted a lot better than he did.

But Scott didn’t seem to mind a lot, willingly opening his lips for him to let him in. Already, large, impatient hands stroked under Logan's shirt, raking through the fuzz on his chest, massaging and groping everywhere they could reach. A whimper came from Scott's lips when his fingertips found Logan's nipples and tugged, harshly enough for Logan to make a note about how rough his lover apparently liked it in bed. Then he startled with a sigh of pure pleasure as Logan bit down on his lower lip in retaliation, almost hard enough to draw blood. "Fuck … Need you … Want you, Logan …"

That last part, that was the important thing. That was what Logan had maybe needed to hear to act on these long-simmering desires. Because that they needed each other was clear ever since the day they'd been bonded, and neither of them had asked for that. But how much, how quickly and intensely they'd fallen for each other after that, that had been only their own decision. And now that Logan knew it had indeed been a mutual one, he was more than ready to finally give in to that wish to take their connection to the next stage. Unable to wait any longer, he dropped to his knees, casually pulling down Scott's pants as he went, his mouth already on that fine dark layer of hair on the base of his destination as he inhaled his lover's grounded scent deeply, his fingers clenching down on that beautiful ass just as he'd fantasized about it a minute ago. Logan had to try hard not to come on the spot when he immediately experienced that dominant hold on his own body – that was definitely something he still had to get used to in spite of all experiences of a similar kind in the last few months. Finally getting his mouth on the head of his lover's thick cock made it torture to hold back as he felt his own straining length worshipped with long, greedy licks, the pressure of a curious tongue, of tightly working throat muscles as he easily swallowed that beautiful piece of cock down, holding Scott in place by his grip on his lover's hips. Just imagining what it would feel like once he'd actually get around to playing with this perfect ass, to bury himself in that tight channel to the hilt, had Logan's head spin. He was pretty sure, there would be a lot of rings of a certain kind involved in the immediate future for such encounters, to keep his peculiar feral stamina from ruining things half a minute in, thanks to that assault of sensations from two sides at once … But for now, none of that counted. For now, he enjoyed simply his partner's taste on his tongue. The way, Scott was shaking and writhing under him and the pleading sound of his name on his lover's lips as Logan's hand was firmly closing down on the root of his cock, his balls, keeping both himself and his mate from coming too soon at the same time. With his head quickly bobbing back and forth, his tongue darting forward to tease Scott's loins, the underside of his cock again and again, Logan found every lingering anxiety and grief for everything that he'd lost in his life subside at least for the moment, drowned out by that double sensation of basically sharing one body with someone else. Something that he'd dreaded so much in the beginning and that now gave him an unexpected kind of peace in a period of his life when war was once more around the corner every single minute. When he finally loosened his grip around his lover and thrust his head forward tightly once more, swallowing firmly around Scott's jerking cock until he could feel his lover come straight down his throat, while spilling his own load all over his hand and the floor, Logan decided that maybe, Scott and he didn’t even need to worry that much about if Charles would ever make it to separate them again.

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

@whumptober | @whumptober-archive

@scoganbingo

#no.14 #flare #x men #fic #nsfwhump #everything after x2 didn't happen sue me #x men original timeline movies #x men movies #fanfiction #stormys fanfics #scott summers #cyclops #wolverine #scott x logan #scoganbingo #scogan #nsft #whumptober2023

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dgct2 · 15 days

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Based on the trailer that Scott brought to Las Vegas to share with cinema owners, “Gladiator 2” recaptures the first film’s epic sprawl and shattering action sequences. One that saw Mescal face off against a charging rhino and a horde of vicious baboons. There were also naval bombardments, political intrigue aplenty and a pair of diabolical emperors who seem even crazier than Joaquin Phoenix’s spiteful monarch. Through it all, Denzel Washington seems to be pulling the strings as a shadowy operator who intends to use Mescal as a blunt instrument in his power play. “Rome must fall,” he says at one point. “I need only to give it a push.”

The 5 minute clip featured a brutal battle between Pedro Pascal and Paul Mescal.

#movies #spoiler alert #pedro pascal #gladiator 2 #denzel washington #paul mescal #sneak peek

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 1 year

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A number of Senate Republicans on Tuesday rejected the idea of lifting the debt ceiling temporarily to buy Congress more time to negotiate a larger measure with the White House that would prevent a default.

On Monday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the deadline to prevent a default on the nation's debt could be as early as June 1, four days before her previous prediction. The U.S. hit the statutory borrowing limit in January and has been using “extraordinary measures” to pay the bills.

Several GOP lawmakers said that pushing back the deadline will only shift negotiations into the future because Washington is known for addressing these crises at the last minute.

"If she [Yellen] would have said June 15, it would have been done closer to June 15," said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D. "If she would have said July 1, it would have been done closer to July 1. This will always go down to the wire when you have divided government."

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., agreed it's a "silly" idea, telling reporters: "We all work around deadlines here. If we do a short-term extension, it means we won’t get into negotiations in earnest until three or four weeks before whatever the new extension is. That’s how this place works."

"We’ve been kicking the can down the road for four and a half years since I’ve been here," said Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind. "We need to at least agree to something without delaying it."

Asked if he would be open to a short-term debt ceiling increase, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said, "No, absolutely not. That's just a bunch of gimmicks."

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., also said that it's a "mistake" because it brings "more uncertainty."

Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., also poured cold water over a short-term extension, saying it isn’t a good idea and cast doubt on whether it’d even have the votes.

“I would prefer that we get this done the first time. That always gets dicey. And, frankly, I don’t even know if there’d be the votes for that,” Thune told reporters. “I think there’s going to have to be a really earnest effort made to try and negotiate something that can get passed by the deadline.”

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., meanwhile, said he was open to a 30-day extension to lift the debt limit.

While members of Congress are not actively pursuing a short-term extension at the moment, Congress has passed such measures in recent debacles over the debt ceiling to allow more time for talks.

Senate Democratic leaders are keen on sticking to the White House's demand to pass a clean debt ceiling increase.

"Our position remains the same," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor Tuesday. "Both parties should do what we have done in the past, the last three times default faced us. Both parties should pass a clean bipartisan bill to avoid default together."

Schumer lashed out at House Republicans and specifically Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., for the debt limit bill they passed last week in the lower chamber. Schumer said McCarthy "caved to extremists" in agreeing to the legislation that would slash federal spending.

McCarthy, in a statement responding to Yellen's letter, said Monday that "House Republicans did their job." He also criticized President Joe Biden, saying he "has refused to do his job."

McCarthy did, however, accept Biden's invitation to meet with him and other top congressional leaders at the White House on May 9 to discuss the debt ceiling, a source familiar with the call confirmed.

House Democrats are also preparing a plan to pass a clean debt ceiling bill through a special rule, which could be brought to the floor without support from GOP leadership. It would, however, need all Democratic House members to vote for it — as well as a handful of Republicans — and at least 60 Senators to defeat a filibuster in the Senate.

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doomedandstoned · 5 months

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Washington’s DRYLAND Gets Heroically Heavy for ‘Weekend in the Swamp’

~By Tom Hanno~

DRYLAND is a Metal band from Bellingham, Washington, and I'm here to tell you that they are a kick-ass act that you should all be listening to. They released their newest album, 'Weekend In The Swamp' (2023), on October 27th.

These guys aren't just a Metal outfit, as they also incorporate elements of Doom, Stoner, Thrash, Hardcore, Punk, etc into their musical stew, and one tasty stew it is! Because of this, Dryland has had the pleasure of playing gigs with bands like Red Fang, Castle, Filth Is Eternal, Thunderpussy, Mos Generator, Year of the Cobra, Noah Landis and Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Twin Void, Deathchant, Kadabra, and many, many more.

Weekend in the Swamp by DRYLAND

The very first track, "Haunt The Hearts Of Men", starts off with a Mastodon vibe, sharing similarities with that band's best album, the mighty and weighty Leviathan. This is the only Mastodon album that I like, so I don't compare others to it lightly. As the track moves forward, so do more influences enter, and these come from Thrash, Stoner, and many others that fall under the Heavy Metal umbrella.

Another of my favorites is “Into The Outroverse,” partially because I love the title, but mostly because the music is extremely well put together. Like the other tracks on this record, vocalist Bradley Lockhart puts in an excellent vocal performance that uses equally excellent lyrics. The music throughout is awesome as well, hitting several different genres as influences to create a well rounded listening experience.

Immediately after “Into The Outroverse” is “Goblins,” which is another of the best tracks on Weekend In The Swamp. The main riff pulls from Thrash, minus the speed, but then transitions into a Stoner Metal vibe before heading back into the main riff again. Bradley sounds incredible, his vocal performance matching the music with perfection and power.

youtube

The album closes out with “A Dying Thing”, a track that brings the Mastodon influences back to the forefront, as well slight touches of 1980s Hard Rock. This song uses a bit of everything that Dryland is about, and serves as the best way to end an incredible album...by leaving listeners wanting more!

There are four other tracks on Weekend In The Swamp, and they are all very good, but in this review I pulled the best of the best to talk about. In other words, don't expect any weak songs.

The album is out now on both digital and vinyl formats, so I urge you to go to their Bandcamp profile and dig into this excellent album for yourselves. Enjoy!!!

Follow The Band

Get Their Music

#D&S Reviews #Dryland #Bellingham #Washington #heavy rock #progressive rock #stoner rock #heavy metal #Tom Hanno #Doomed and Stoned

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bearterritory · 11 months

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No. 1 Cal Repeats As Pac-12 Champions

Golden Bears Win V8+, 2V8+, Freshmen 8+ Races

LOWELL – The No. 1 California men's rowing team had another outstanding week of racing, securing the Pac-12 Championship title for the second year in a row. After winning the 2V8+ race, The Golden Bears had a three-point lead in the standings going into the final race as they split the 3V8+ and freshmen 8+ races with Washington, leaving it up to the varsity eight crew to bring home the title. In the V8+ race, Cal and Washington were even through the start but the Bears we able to build a deck lead in the opening 500 meters. Cal continued to push and opened a bow to stern lead through the halfway mark. The Bears didn't let up and grew their lead to open water in the third 500 meters, managing to finish four seconds ahead of Washington in a time of 5:34.673 to secure the Pac-12 Championship. "I'm really proud of how the entire team raced today led by the varsity eight, who I think had a great race," Cal head coach Scott Frandsen said. "I'm also really pleased with how the second varsity eight, freshmen eight and varsity four raced. The conditions were a little rough with the crosswind at the start, but calmed down through the morning and were pretty good by the time the varsity eight race. I want to give a special shout out to my coaching staff with Brandon [Shald], Jason [Elefant], Jack [Smith] and Mike [Chandler] for stepping up in their roles and making sure all the crews were primed and ready." After jumping out to an early bow to stern lead over Washington, the second varsity eight crew overcame some adversity in its race as the Stanford boat veered towards it during the second 500 meters. The Bears were able to maintain their composure and managed to pull away, but then had to fend off a surging Washington boat that pulled within half a length in the final 500 meters. Cal was able to hold off the Huskies' push and finish a half-boat ahead in a time of 5:38.058. "I'm really happy with how the second varsity eight got out and attacked the race, which was a focus, and then managed the adversity through the middle and dug in and held on for the win," Frandsen said. In the 3V8+ race, Cal got out to an even start with Washington but fell a deck behind early. The Huskies increased their lead to a half-boat by the halfway mark and continued to push the distance between them and the Bears throughout the remainder of the race. In the beginning of the freshmen 8+ race, the Bears fell behind half of a boat in the opening 500 meters behind Washington; that lead stretched to almost a length by the 1000m. Cal started to move back on Washington through the third quarter of the race and drew level roughly 200m before the finish line. Showing great composure and belief, the Bears pushed ahead to win by one-second win with a time of 5:47.100. In the varsity four race, Cal and Washington jumped out ahead of the pack with the Bears about a half boat back through the opening 500 meters. Cal made a strong move towards the halfway mark and overtook the Huskies with a deck lead. The Bears continued their push building a bow to stern lead through the third 500 meters and came away with a two-second win in a time of 6:24.270. The Bears now shift their focus to getting faster over the next three weeks leading up to the IRAs in Mercer, New Jersey June 2-4. "It's always good to get beyond the exams and beyond this weekend and have about 12 days in Berkeley before we move east to New Jersey. I always feel like we can get a lot done and have that be a very productive period," Frandsen said. Final Standings 1. California – 72 points 2. Washington – 65 points 3. Oregon St – 47 points 4. Stanford – 42 points Results V8+ 1. Cal – 5:34.673 2. Washington – 5:38.511 3. Stanford – 5:39.025 4. Oregon State – 6:00.363 2V8+ 1. Cal – 5:38.058 2. Washington – 5:39.201 3. Stanford – 5:52.342 4. Oregon State – 6:03.102 3V8+ 1. Washington – 5:46.669 2. Cal – 5:54.189 3. Oregon State – 6:19.549

Freshmen 8+ 1. Cal - 5:47.100 2. Washington – 5:47.260 3. Oregon State – 6:26.730 V4+ 1. Cal – 6:24.270 2. Washington – 6:26.600 3. Oregon State – 6:57.462

#UC Berkeley #Bear Territory

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sourmiguel · 1 year

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Starting at the End by Cobrilee (wc17775, explicit)

Summary: After graduating college and quitting his amateur porn gig to move back to Beacon Hills and join the Beacon Hills Sheriff's Office, Stiles discovers that the man he never quite left behind is now a... fan. Leave it to the two of them to start at the end.

Love this. I'm a sucker for porn star!Stiles anyways, but I love the idea of him just doing it in college for the cash before coming home. And then Derek is ... so precious in this. Just so good!

*Double Rec Incoming!* Two fic recs for the price of one!

And so he became the Nanny! by dandeliondick (wc18692, teen)

Summary: Stiles, now 29 years old, has been a firefighter for the last seven years in Washington. After a series of arson attempts ended up taking the life of one of his friends and teammates he’s shaken. His captain orders him to take some time off. With nowhere else to turn but home he heads to Beacon Hills. It would be nice to see his dad and Melissa, maybe even Scott would come to town. Not even in town two hours he runs into Cora Hale and old classmate who has an interesting job offer that may just take his mind off the darkness clouding it… Derek had taken over his dad’s publishing house when he was 30, which was two years ago now and has been juggling ever since. Being a single father of two was hard enough without the added stress of running a company. Their mother had stuck around until their youngest was two months old before disappearing in the middle of the night. At this rate, a second pair of hands might be just what he needs…

I love this. I am a sucker for a Nanny fic, but also I love the trauma that brings Stiles home. And the balance of relationships in this fic are great!

#fic rec #sterek #sterek au

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47burlm · 10 months

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Despite our troubles and we have many- be Safe and have a good 4th of July

I walked through a county courthouse square On a park bench, an old man was sittin' there. I said, "Your old court house is kinda run down, He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town". I said, "Your old flag pole is leaned a little bit, And that's a ragged old flag you got hangin' on it". He said, "Have a seat", and I sat down, "Is this the first time you've been to our little town" I said, "I think it is" He said "I don't like to brag, but we're kinda proud of That Ragged Old Flag

"You see, we got a little hole in that flag there, When Washington took it across the Delaware. and It got powder burned the night Francis Scott Key sat watching it, writing "Say Can You See" It got a rip in New Orleans, with Packingham & Jackson tugging at its seams. and It almost fell at the Alamo beside the Texas flag, But she waved on though. She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville, And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill. There was Robert E. Lee and Beauregard and Bragg, And the south wind blew hard on That Ragged Old Flag

"On Flanders Field in World War I, She got a big hole from a Bertha Gun, She turned blood red in World War II She hung limp, and low, a time or two, She was in Korea, Vietnam, She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam.

She waved from our ships upon the briny foam and now they've about quit wavin' back here at home in her own good land here She's been abused, She's been burned, dishonored, denied an' refused, And the government for which she stands Has been scandalized throughout out the land. And she's getting thread bare, and she's wearin' thin, But she's in good shape, for the shape she's in. Cause she's been through the fire before and i believe she can take a whole lot more.

"So we raise her up every morning And we bring her down slow every night, We don't let her touch the ground, And we fold her up right. On second thought I do like to brag Cause I'm mighty proud of That Ragged Old Flag

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denimbex1986 · 4 months

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'Andrew Haigh never cared about casting a gay actor in a gay role until All of Us Strangers. The British director’s new film, suffused with his own childhood memories, follows a 40-something queer Londoner named Adam who returns to the place he grew up and encounters his parents—who’ve been dead for decades—in the flesh as if they never left. “I didn’t have the happiest of childhoods.…As Adam was digging into his past, I wanted to do the same thing,” says Haigh, who filmed the metaphysical story in his actual childhood home. “I was trying to unpack some nuances of a certain generation of gay people. I needed someone who could understand that and have those conversations with me.”

That specificity is on display throughout All of Us Strangers, a gorgeously sad meditation on queer love and loneliness being released by Disney’s Searchlight Pictures. And it’s particularly evident in the performance from Andrew Scott, so vulnerable in the lead role. Strangers tends to leave audiences sniffling through a collective ugly-cry.

It’s unusual, to put it mildly, to find a film like this in the awards conversation. Queer people who love the Oscars—and trust, we’re out here—have gotten used to a severely limited brand of representation. We can be depicted in some brilliant films that go the distance, like Moonlight or Tár, but we’re rarely in front of or behind their cameras. And, as a result, even the most impressive projects often lack what Haigh is speaking to—that authentic rendering of experience, those idiosyncrasies drawn from intimate understanding. Gay men who’ve seen Strangers’ sex scenes will know what I mean.

Of the 88 titles nominated for the best picture Oscar over the last decade, only a small fraction featured primary LGBTQ+ themes; of this group, only two came from openly queer directors, and only one key queer role was occupied by an openly queer actor (Everything Everywhere All at Once’s Stephanie Hsu). An openly LGBTQ+ man has not been nominated for an acting award in more than 20 years, going back to Ian McKellen’s 2002 nod for The Lord of the Rings. No openly LGBTQ+ person has been recognized in best director by the Academy since 2010.

Some of these unfortunate streaks should break this year, with All of Us Strangers leading a wave for queer cinema on the awards trail. I’m not talking about movies centered on LGBTQ+ characters that fit the typical Oscar profile, like Bradley Cooper’s Maestro or Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, nor about Todd Haynes’s May December, a (relatively) hetero drama from the New Queer Cinema legend regularly dismissed by the Academy. A wide range of films, made by and about openly LGBTQ+ people, are meeting serious consideration, and Disney, Netflix, Sony, and Amazon are all investing in their rollouts. Roger Ross Williams, the gay filmmaker making his narrative-feature debut with the Amazon-backed Cassandro, told me back in Telluride that he was being approached in droves by LGBTQ+ attendees who were energized by the sheer variety of movies on hand...

Like Strangers’ Andrew Scott, the 54-year-old gay actor Colman Domingo is finally stepping into a major lead role on the big screen. “I’ve supported many of my colleagues in this industry and that’s been lovely,” the Euphoria star told Vanity Fair. “But [Black queer men] are not in the center of our own stories. That’s the truth.” His exuberant performance in Rustin finds him tearing into the kind of part Hollywood kept out of reach his whole life: “There is a fearlessness to find that vulnerability and bring that part of myself to it. I don’t have to reach so far outside of my experience, but I can pull from within.” Rustin’s stirring portrait of the unheralded architect of the March on Washington, then, serves as a kind of metaphor for its star as he steps into the spotlight at last.

Domingo or Scott may well end the dreadful decades-long drought of LGBTQ+ male performers at the Oscars—in part because of the heavy-hitting studios behind them. (Domingo is also a scene-stealer in The Color Purple, distributed by Warner Bros.) Less flush is the campaign for Monica, IFC’s critically acclaimed mother-daughter indie, which is also climbing a steeper mountain when it comes to awards milestones: Its lead, Trace Lysette, hopes to be the first-ever openly trans acting nominee. Lysette already became the first trans lead to be featured in competition at the Venice Film Festival, where Monica premiered; she earned rave reviews and now wants to get the word out, despite the movie’s small marketing budget. “I feel like I’m still fighting for it to get the same love from the trades that the bigger films get,” Lysette says. “I want to level the playing field, and it’s very hard to do.”

Queer films have faced this reality for a long time: How can you keep up when you’re starting from so far behind? For some, there’s so much ground to cover, it’s hard to notice progress at all. “I just didn’t get nurtured in the same way that some of my cis actor counterparts did,” Lysette says. “A lot of trans people feel like they’re playing catch-up in their life.”

Still, Monica’s very presence in this space, artfully illuminating a trans woman’s complex family dynamics, signals another step forward. Haigh says he’s noticed improvement in the climate for LGBTQ+ cinema since 2011, when his breakout film Weekend was released: “I’m pleased to see that there’s a lot more queer content around. Not as much as I’d like there to be, but there is a lot more.” Haigh appears to be hitting his stride at the perfect moment, boosted by a studio campaign bigger than any he’s had before. “I’ve tried to take the pressure off myself…. I’m trying to tell something that I understand and that is my experience of the world, and is authentic to me,” he says. “It doesn’t mean it’s going to be authentic to everybody who would call themselves part of the queer spectrum, but that’s all I can do, is tell something that feels right and honest.” For once, he’s far from alone.'

#Andrew Scott #All of Us Strangers #Andrew Haigh #Colman Domingo #Weekend #LGBTQ+#Oscars #Moonlight #Tar #Lord of the Rings #Sir Ian McKellen #Bradley Cooper #Maestro #May/December #Anatomy of a Fall #Trace Lysette #Rustin'

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talesofsonicasura · 1 year

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I'm still suffering from cold influenced writer's block so sorry about a lack of actual posts. For now, I'll drop what I might do once I clear my drafts a bit. This is Leon Scott Kennedy flavor since I want to practice writing him soon. Only NSFW thing I write is graphic injuries such as gore and body horror.

So many of you need to go to horny jail when it comes to this man./hj

Of Bug Cults and Living Stone

Leon comes across a living legend on his search for the president's daughter: a beastly troll. Stone like hide, razor sharp teeth, thick scruffy fur and sturdy horns to a powerful frame. Apparently Saddler's cult had stolen something very important to them. They want it back so badly that they'll serve as the agent's familiar. A pact which grants the troll immunity to sunlight in exchange for their power and services. The kind of dangerous deal right up Leon's alley. Troll!Reader

(Anyone can try this idea. In various folklore and mythology, trolls turn to inanimate stone if caught in sunlight. Basically Leon better not try anything funny as that fatal weakness will be voided so they can tear him to shreds without issue.)

Wondrous Place To Rest

After escaping Raccoon City, a lone Sherry and Leon take shelter in a mysterious theatre. What was thought to be an abandoned building isn't as empty as it seems for they wondered into Wonderworld Theatre. The two meet the three sibling maestros that run this enchanted show: Balan, Lance and Chimeris. Guess laying low for a while got completely strange. (Involves my Balan Wonderworld OC Chimeris!)

Operation: Magnify

Apparently Umbrella Corp had decide to meddle with more than viruses in Raccoon City. Operation: Magnify, a project built from mysterious blueprints that could create a monstrous supersoldier two-three times the size of the average person and aggression to match. Leon didn't expect the ugly side of his potential job to save him from the undead hordes aiming to tear everyone apart. MAG!Reader

(Any writers can take a swing at this one too. MAGs come from Madness Combat and are quite destructive without a handler. Abilities include: insane pain tolerance to the point they can shrug bullets to the head, super strength, enhanced durability, enhanced senses such as sight, smell n hearing. Random abilities like as electrokinesis or geokinesis can manifest. Limb discoloration and extra traits such as spikes, tail, etc can manifest. MAG!Spirit Tracks Link alongside Consternation OC for examples.)

Bullets and Sweets

The Sweet Healing bakery is a unique shop that recently opened up in Washington DC. A place which offers delicious pastries alongside therapy for whoever needs it. Leon decides to check it out under Chris' recommendation and meets the shop owner Tikki Cho. A very kind woman who becomes a great friend capable of driving off the cold trauma his job brings. Though Leon doesn't know that the shop owner is actually a Chinese Rabbit demon or yaoguai. (Involves my OC Glitch Yaoguai Tikki Cho!)

I see Leon having a thing for monsters or is a monster lover.

That's it for now! Until next time folks, continue to thrive in the wake of Raccoon City!

#sonicasura #tales of sonicasura #resident evil series #biohazard resident evil #resident evil #biohazard #re series #self insert #leon kennedy #leon kennedy x reader #leon s. kennedy #leon s. kennedy x reader #leon scott kennedy #leon scott kennedy x reader #leon s kennedy x reader #leon s kennedy #canon x oc #ocs #resident evil leon

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 1 year

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Aided by Father James Robinson, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., center, and John Lewis of the Voter Education Project, a crowd estimated by police at 5,000, march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge from Selma, Ala., on March 8, 1975. :: [Scott Horton]

* * * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 5, 2023 (Sunday)

Heather Cox Richardson

President Joe Biden spoke this afternoon in Selma, Alabama, to commemorate the 58th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when law enforcement officers tried to beat into silence Black Americans marching for their right to have a say in the government under which they lived. Standing at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which had been named for a Confederate brigadier general, Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan, and U.S. senator who stood against Black rights, Biden said: “On this bridge, blood was given to help ‘redeem the soul of America.’”

The story of March 7, 1965, commemorated today in Selma, is the story of Americans determined to bring to life the principle articulated in the Declaration of Independence that a government’s claim to authority comes from the consent of the governed. It is also a story of how hard local authorities, entrenched in power and backed by angry white voters, worked to make the hurdles of that process insurmountable.

In the 1960s, despite the fact Black Americans outnumbered white Americans among the 29,500 people who lived in Selma, Alabama, the city’s voting rolls were 99% white. So, in 1963, local Black organizers launched a voter registration drive.

It was hard going. White Selma residents had no intention of permitting their Black neighbors to have a say in their government. Indeed, white southerners in general were taking a stand against the equal right of Black Americans to vote. During the 1964 Freedom Summer voter registration drive in neighboring Mississippi, Ku Klux Klan members worked with local law enforcement officers to murder three voting rights organizers and dispose of their bodies.

To try to hold back the white supremacists, Congress passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, designed in part to make it possible for Black Americans to register to vote. In Selma, a judge stopped voter registration meetings by prohibiting public gatherings of more than two people.

To call attention to the crisis in her city, voting rights activist Amelia Boynton traveled to Birmingham to invite the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to the city. King had become a household name after the 1963 March on Washington where he delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech, and his presence would bring national attention to Selma’s struggle.

King and other prominent Black leaders arrived in January 1965, and for seven weeks, Black residents made a new push to register to vote. County Sheriff James Clark arrested almost 2,000 of them on a variety of charges, including contempt of court and parading without a permit. A federal court ordered Clark not to interfere with orderly registration, so he forced Black applicants to stand in line for hours before taking a “literacy” test. Not a single person passed.

Then, on February 18, white police officers, including local police, sheriff’s deputies, and Alabama state troopers, beat and shot an unarmed man, 26-year-old Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was marching for voting rights at a demonstration in his hometown of Marion, Alabama, about 25 miles northwest of Selma. Jackson had run into a restaurant for shelter along with his mother when the police started rioting, but they chased him and shot him in the restaurant’s kitchen.

Jackson died eight days later, on February 26. Black leaders in Selma decided to defuse the community’s anger by planning a long march—54 miles—from Selma to the state capitol at Montgomery to draw attention to the murder and voter suppression.

On March 7, 1965, the marchers set out. As they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, state troopers and other law enforcement officers met the unarmed marchers with billy clubs, bullwhips, and tear gas. They fractured the skull of young activist John Lewis and beat Amelia Boynton unconscious. A newspaper photograph of the 54-year-old Boynton, seemingly dead in the arms of another marcher, illustrated the depravity of those determined to stop Black voting.

Images of “Bloody Sunday” on the national news mesmerized the nation, and supporters began to converge on Selma. King, who had been in Atlanta when the marchers first set off, returned to the fray.

Two days later, the marchers set out again. Once again, the troopers and police met them at the end of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, but this time, King led the marchers in prayer and then took them back to Selma. That night, a white mob beat to death a Unitarian Universalist minister, James Reeb, who had come from Massachusetts to join the marchers.

On March 15, President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed a nationally televised joint session of Congress to ask for the passage of a national voting rights act. “Their cause must be our cause too,” he said. “[A]ll of us…must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.” Two days later, he submitted to Congress proposed voting rights legislation.

The marchers were determined to complete their trip to Montgomery, and when Alabama’s governor, George Wallace, refused to protect them, President Johnson stepped in. When the marchers set off for a third time on March 21, 1,900 members of the nationalized Alabama National Guard, FBI agents, and federal marshals protected them. Covering about ten miles a day, they camped in the yards of well-wishers until they arrived at the Alabama state capitol on March 25. Their ranks had grown as they walked until they numbered about 25,000 people.

On the steps of the capitol, speaking under a Confederate flag, Dr. King said: “The end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience. And that will be a day not of the white man, not of the black man. That will be the day of man as man.”

That night, Viola Liuzzo, a 39-year-old mother of five who had arrived from Michigan to help after Bloody Sunday, was murdered by four Ku Klux Klan members who tailed her as she ferried demonstrators out of the city.

On August 6, Dr. King and Mrs. Boynton were guests of honor as President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Johnson recalled “the outrage of Selma” when he said, "This right to vote is the basic right without which all others are meaningless. It gives people, people as individuals, control over their own destinies."

The Voting Rights Act authorized federal supervision of voter registration in districts where African Americans were historically underrepresented. Johnson promised that the government would strike down “regulations, or laws, or tests to deny the right to vote.” He called the right to vote “the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men,” and pledged that “we will not delay, or we will not hesitate, or we will not turn aside until Americans of every race and color and origin in this country have the same right as all others to share in the process of democracy.”

But less than 50 years later, in 2013, the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. The Shelby County v. Holder decision opened the door, once again, for voter suppression. Since then, states have made it harder to vote. In the wake of the 2020 election, in which voters handed control of the government to Democrats, Republican-dominated legislatures in at least 19 states passed 34 laws restricting access to voting. In July 2021, in the Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee decision, the Supreme Court ruled that election laws that disproportionately affected minority voters were not unconstitutional so long as they were not intended to be racially discriminatory.

When the Democrats took power in 2021, they vowed to strengthen voting rights. They immediately introduced the For the People Act, which expanded voting rights, limited the influence of money in politics, banned partisan gerrymandering, and created new ethics rules for federal officeholders. Republicans in the Senate blocked the measure with a filibuster. Democrats then introduced the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would have restored portions of the Voting Rights Act, and the Freedom to Vote Act, a lighter version of the For the People Act. Republicans blocked both of those acts, too.

And so, in 2023, the right to vote is increasingly precarious.

As Biden told marchers today, “The right to vote—the right to vote and to have your vote counted is the threshold of democracy and liberty. With it, anything is possible. Without it—without that right, nothing is possible. And this fundamental right remains under assault.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#racism #Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From an American #history #Edmund Pettis Bridge #Selma Alabama #Voting Rights Act #Corrupt SCOTUS #voting rights #human rights #civil rights movement #Civil Rights

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the-unspeakable-tsar · 7 months

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X-Manson Chapter 3 by Doctor Benway - Annotated by Tsar

We now get into the portion of the story that discusses the raid and its immediate fallout. Tw for depictions of assault, gore, and child abuse.

[Shot of Douglas and Marie-Ange Ramsey]

DR: The raid. Oh, boy.

Int: Why did you not bring in the authorities?

DR: I think there was too much going on. I was freaking out over Ariel ending up there, then Elizabeth Braddock disappeared and there was that big manhunt and there were reporters all over the place, and then Professor Lehnsherr showed up and he was in a worse state than I was.

[Shot of Gabrielle Lehnsherr]

GL: He can't talk about it, can't even think about it. I only know parts, from what he cries out in the night and from the reports on the investigation.

Int: He went to Emma Frost for help?

GL: It seemed the logical place to start, since she knew about the School and was a psi. Also, at the time Erich was not welcome in the US at all. Besides the Cape Citadel incident, his interference in the deployment of nuclear weapons in Europe and his resolution of the Korean conflict had made him a great many enemies in Washington, especially in the State and Defence Departments. It was part of why we lived in Vienna. When we tried to live in Germany, the Americans had them revoke his visa. The French and the British were no help, since Erich kept messing with their missile programs also.

Int: So he entered the US illegally?

GL: Yes. He flew to Montreal on a commercial flight, then flew to the Academy on his own power. His original plan was to convince Emma Frost to engage the authorities in an assault on Xavier's school.

Int: But that's not what happened.

GL: No.

[Shot of Emma Frost]

EF: Ultimately, the responsibility for the raid on Xavier's school is mine alone. If I could go back and change anything in my life, it would have been my decision to attack without support.

Int: Just you and Erich Lehnsherr?

EF: Yes. I found that my resistance was not what I had hoped that it was. With Erich's panic and Doug's fear and my own guilt for not going myself to pick up Ms Braddock from the airport, I allowed myself to act precipitously. Xavier was going to New York to debate a fundamentalist preacher over mutant rights issues. Doug hacked into the computers at the Stryker Crusade and found that Xavier was to be accompanied by Summers, Grey and Logan. Worthington was supposed to be at some big pro-mutant fundraiser in Los Angeles, and McCoy was still in Princeton. From what Douglas and Angelica and Vance had said, that left the Russian and the Irishman in charge of the School. We thought that we had a chance. It was hubris, pure hubris.

*Takes place somewhere around God Loves Man Kills. Scott being there raises questions; maybe the raid takes place roughly after his liaison with Maddie.

[Shot of Doug and Marie-Ange Ramsey]

DR: I had a feeling that they were going to try something on their own. Vance and I talked about calling the FBI and then he told me about what happened with the cops again, so we decided that we'd have to call a whole lot of different places at once so that there'd be too many for Xavier to get his claws into. Vance was into calling the Avengers. Angie ran in and said she saw Emma and Erich heading for the chopper. Vance and Angie took off after them, but she sent them back.

Int: Manipulating them?

*at this point, the Interviewer has made a lot of suggestions that psychics are always manipulating people. perhaps rightly so.

DR: No, no. Just sending very forcefully. She told us not to follow. We had a big argument. I said we should follow, Vance and Angie wanted to do what Emma said.

Int: But you ended up there.

DR: I said goodnight to them then took a taxi and the train to Boston followed by a train to Rye. Then I took a taxi to Salem Centre. I got there at 10:30.

Int: Why did you disobey Frost?

DR: I just had this terrible feeling that something was going to go wrong. Kind of like what Marie-Ange gets when she deals the cards, but not so focused. I had this feeling that we'd overlooked something.

Int: Did you have a plan?

DR: Kind of. It was so insane in retrospect that I still can't get over the fact that I'm still alive. I had this crazy idea of sneaking around the outside and checking to make sure everything was OK, that they'd all gotten out. Then I would call for help, if anything looked wrong. I couldn't see anything from the road, so I got into the grounds by going over the wall and into the woods. I didn't even think that they had any security equipment in place. I found what was left of the helicopter under a tarp by the lake, but neither of them were in it. I was going to go and phone Vance and all the agencies when I saw the car drive up.

Int: Their car?

DR: The Rolls-Royce. I saw Xavier get out and go into the house with Logan and Summers and Grey.

Int: They had no idea that you were there?

DR: I'm resistant enough that he couldn't pick me up unless he knew where I was. If there hadn't been a storm blowing in, or if it had been blowing in from behind me, Logan would have picked me out. If I'd known how lucky I was, I would have just taken off and made the calls.

*ororo reference?

Int: But you didn't.

DR: No. They weren't racing in, so I knew, just knew, that Ariel and Ms Frost were still in there. I watched Xavier go into a side entrance to the house, kind of into a basement. I waited five minutes, then went to the door. It was open and it was dark inside, so I went in.

Int: What did you find?

DR: Guns. Lots of guns and grenades and something that looked like a missile. There was another door, kind of half open. I went over to it, and looked in. It opened onto a kind of balcony over this indoor pool. It was all tiles, and it really stank. There were people down around the pool chanting, and one of them was walking back and forth over the surface of the water. The water was, it was, it was-

*The x-men do have an armory.

MAR: Blood.

DR: It was like he was walking on a pool of blood, but it couldn't have been blood. Not that much..

*they had to store it somewhere, douglas.

Int: Did you see Emma Frost and Erich Lehnsherr there?

DR: I saw them, I saw Xavier, but not much else. From what I did see, Emma was being held by some kind of force and Professor Lehnsherr was floating in the air, moaning. I didn't know it at the time, but it was Cable walking on the water, holding them there.

*in an earlier post, i referened Xuan and Dani as being the second or third Psi Mentioned by Brian Braddock. I forgot about Cable. He could take either place, but it's likely Xuan's place.

Int: So what did you do?

DR: I thought of running, but I just knew that they'd be killed before help would come. Then it struck me. They might have all that power, but I was in a room full of grenades. I thought that if I could distract them like they did in all those World War 2 movies, then they might be able to escape. I found some grenades that said they were concussion grenades and some that were smoke. I laid out three of each and then I pulled all the pins really quick, then threw them through the door all at once.

Int: What happened?

DR: They always counted to ten in the movies, but these things had twenty second fuses. I counted onetwothreefour as I pulled the pins fivesix as I picked them up, seven as I stepped up to the doorway, eight as I threw them, nine as I turned and ran, then ten and nothing. I mean, I had it all thought out, and it didn't work, so I stopped dead, turned around, went back, and looked. They were all staring at me.

Int: Oh shit.

DR: Oh yeah. Emma sent to me: RUN. I ran, and I kept thinking of the car and I just got outside when all the grenades starting going off. I heard the roar and the glass breaking and I thought, I killed them all. I got to the car and the keys were still in it. I started it just like I'd seen my Dad do, and Emma sent to me and told me to drive it around the side. If it hadn't been an automatic, we'd have been fucked. So I drove this car, which was about the size of a bus, down across the lawn just as she's dragging Professor Lehnsherr out the door. There's people all over the place, crawling out the windows, throwing up everywhere from the gas, but they don't see us. She wrenches open the door and throws Erich in and sends DRIVE so hard I had a nosebleed. So I drove.

Int: Did any of them try to stop you?

SR: Logan was the only one in any shape to stop us. He tried to charge the car.

*fuck.

Int: So you drove away from him?

DR: Ran right over him.

MAR: That's enough. Stop the tape.

*Point to Tarot for stopping it before Doug has a war flashback

[Shot of Gabrielle Lehnsherr]

GL: Erich regressed. What he saw took him back to the War. He had a very bad War, as well you know. He didn't utter a single word for five years after that. It took a decade for him to make a full recovery. He did all he could, but he couldn't save my son.

*Xavier or Cable hit him with all his repressed trauma, i think.

[Shot of Douglas & Marie-Ange Ramsey]

DR: Sorry about that. I'm OK.

MAR: If you're certain.

*tension in the marriage?

DR: I am.

Int: How did you get back to the Academy?

DR: I had to get out of the grounds first, and I was panicking. I mean, I could barely reach the pedals and see over the dash at the same time. I remember driving across the patio twice and almost hitting people both times, then I somehow found the gate and drove out of it. I pulled over about half a mile down the road and looked in the back. The Professor was unconscious, and Emma was just sort of collapsed on top of him. I looked at her and said I can't drive or something like that and she just stared back at me, like she was some other person.

Int: She was possessed?

DR: Not in the classical sense. You know those old comics where someone sees a ghost and their hair turns white overnight? It was exactly like that, except that her hair was already white, it was just like her face matched or something. I could see people in the road, so I took off. I drove for like three hours until I found this phone booth by the side of the road. I called the school emergency number and got Mr. Fitzroy, and said that he had to come out and get us.

Int: How did he find you?

DR: I gave him the number, and I think he had some connection in the phone company. He was out with half a dozen masters in a van within 15 minutes. It turned out I was only ten miles from the Academy.

Int: Did you go to the authorities?

DR: When I got back, they sedated me. They didn't know that would break down my natural resistance to telepathy. I was almost asleep when they came to see me.

Int: Who?

DR: Xavier and Cable and Ariel. They were standing at the foot of my bed. They weren't physically there, of course, but they were there for me. To give me a message.

Int: Did you know it was her?

DR: Not until they told me. She was very pretty. She had long brown hair and these big brown eyes. She looked so scared.

-----

She sits up, upending the half-fill tub of chip dip onto the shag carpet. The chips follow, but she doesn't notice. She goes down on her knees before the set and touches the image of his face on the warm unyielding glass.

#xmen fanfiction #marvel #marvel fanfiction #tw cannibalism #tw assault #tw child abuse #emma frost #doug ramsey #magneto #erik lehnsherr #max eisenhardt #kitty pryde #nathanial summers

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