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wardenparker · 1 year

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The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Dating Your Ex - ch 5

Marcus Pike x female reader Co-written with @absurdthirst

When Marcus unexpectedly runs into his ex-wife he is plunged into a world of complications where rekindled attraction and deep-seated insecurities reign. Unfortunately for him, it is also a world where his ex-wife is not the only ‘ex’ around, as a new case crosses his desk that will require all hands on deck. ✨💖Inspired by and based upon absurdthirst’s Tequila💖✨

Rating: Mature, but as always this blog is 18+ Word Count: 7.9k Warnings: **Blanket warnings for this series include: divorce, break ups, collegiate Greek life, underage drinking, food/alcohol consumption.** Generic bashing of Patrick Jane, lots of guilt and self-flagellation in the inner monologues. Summary: As the stress starts to pile up, there is some serious conversation to be had between two people who have notorious trouble communicating. Notes: Every step forward these two take just leaves me a little more in love with them.

Ch 1 ~ Ch 2 ~ Ch 3 ~ Ch 4

The day ends up being excruciatingly long. Taking the daguerreotypes back to your lab doesn't reveal anything much at first besides the fact that they were very improperly stored for many years, but over the course of several hours things begin to slowly paint a picture - so to speak. When your eyes start to feel crossed, fuzzy, and glossy around eight-thirty that night, you're grateful to see Marcus appear in the laboratory doorway looking run down but thoroughly unaccompanied by the agents from Texas.

"Hey," you hum, suddenly very pleased with yourself for sending an exhausted Silvia home half an hour ago.

“Hey.” Marcus shoves his hand through his hair and sighs. “I’m sorry, I know it’s too late for dinner - we hit a dead end and I just wanted to see you.”

"Why is it too late?" Peeling off your gloves, you toss them in the bin under the far counter as you round your lab table, offering him a hug if he wants one. "If it's because you want to head home and have some alone time, that's fine. But it's not too late for us to have dinner together, if that's what you're thinking."

"To be honest, I don't want to go out." Marcus admits, feeling completely drained from having to deal with the Janes for hours after you had left with the daguerreotypes. They had hit a brick wall and Teresa was obviously worn out from travel and working on the weekend, so Marcus had called it a night. Work could continue tomorrow. "I just want to go home, shower and be lazy."

“Then that’s what we’ll do.” Ringing your arms around him, you let him sag against you just to feel the support of someone else being there for him. It’s clear he had a rougher day than you did, and you can completely understand why. “Your place or mine?”

“Would I be completely selfish if I asked to go to my place?” He asks softly. He wants you to see it, to see you there. “We don’t have to, but I will need to get my car.”

“Of course we can go to your place.” You prop your chin on his chest to look up at him and offer him a quiet smile. It’s not a stretch to imagine that he bought a big family-ready house when he got here and is now just puttering around it making little improvements until he has someone to share it with. It nearly brings tears to your eyes to think you could actually get to be that person again. “If you want to give me your address I’ll just stop over at my apartment to grab some clothes for tomorrow and meet you there?”

“Okay.” He snorts and shakes his head. “Maybe we should exchange numbers. Since we didn’t get around to it yesterday.” He jokes with a smirk.

“We got a little…swept up in things.” And you aren’t sorry about it for one single second, but you do take your phone out of your pocket to hand to him.

Marcus hums, smirking at your trusting him with your phone as he opens the messages and sends himself one. Unable to stop himself from messing with you.

To: 202-867-5309: ‘Hey baby, it’s me. I cannot tell you how GREAT last night was. Easily the best I’ve ever had.’

He hits send and pulls out his phone when it dings and grins. “Awwww, thanks babe.” He jokes with a wink as he hands the phone back to you and starts sending you his address.

"What...?" You look down at your phone, seeing the text he sent himself, and burst out in a fit of giggles. "It was, though." You have to admit that. "Definitely top five. I'm not really sure anything can top our wedding night, though."

“That was a good night.” Marcus smirks and shakes his head. “Although I’m not twenty anymore and I don’t know if I can move that way.”

“We were young and very limber.” And as energetic as you had both been that night in the hotel room after leaving the backyard wedding his parents had hosted, it had all been lovemaking. Every second of intimacy is infused with the promise of a lifetime of support and affection.

“I knew you’d have a house,” you grin at seeing his address pop up in your phone screen. “You were never an apartment guy even when that was all we could afford.”

Marcus pout. “I had a condo in Austin, I’ll have you know.” He tells you dramatically before he shuffles slightly. “I, uh— I bought it when I thought—” He breaks off and sighs. “When I thought Teresa was following me out here. Because at the time, housing was insane - so I jumped on it.”

“And I’m sure it will be perfect for whatever life brings next.” As determined as you are for that to include you, Marcus is in charge of his own life. And until you are able to sit down and have a real conversation about the future, you aren’t going to suppose anything at all.

Part of him wants to jump the gun, to open his mouth and make plans with you. But he had driven you away with that so he just hums. “I’ve got to get an Uber home. Unless….” He gives you a small smile. “You wanna give a guy a ride home?”

“Come on.” The smile on your face softens, spreading into a wide grin as you offer him your hand. “We’ll stop by my place on the way to yours.” The note of hope in your voice is unmistakable, but you don’t even mind. “Maybe I’ll pack a couple of clean things? If you want me to stay more than one night, I mean…”

Marcus takes your hand, lacing his fingers with yours and squeezes it gently. “That will be good. Makes sense so we don't have to get up early if we don’t have to.” He’s not going to push, but if you’re offering, he’s going to take whatever you give him.

“So…” you glance up at him as the two of you walk out of your building together, out to the parking lot where your Mini waits. “Teresa seems nice. When she’s away from Patrick, anyway.”

“Teresa is…independent.” Marcus concedes. “And unfortunately, played her cards close to her chest. I had a thought that Jane might be an issue - especially when he showed up at her house one night and seemed surprised I was there, but I shook it off as being ridiculous.”

“Ever the optimist.” You can’t fault him for it. Not really. His ability to see the silver line in anything is one of the things you always loved about him.

“Yeah.” Sometimes that optimism seems like a curse and he shakes his head. He had taken his shot and had been honest - to a point - and it just hadn’t worked out.

“So what do you want to do about dinner?” There is something - a doubt - in his voice that you don’t like, so you change the subject quickly.

“I have some stuff at the house or we can order something.” Marcus tells you, wondering if he shouldn’t just take you out like he promised. “If you want to go out, we can.” It’s something he does, sacrificing his own wants for someone else, and it’s just natural at this point.

“No, baby. You wanted to stay in.” You’re not going to take his comfort from him, that would be a shitty thing to do. “We worked all day. Let’s have something delivered when we get to your place. Chinese? Pizza?”

“Whatever you want. I honestly don’t have any preference.” He just wants a shower and a comfortable pair of sweats to lounge in.

“Chinese, then?” An order of kung pao chicken and lo mein were always his go to when class or work has been particularly hard, and you squeeze his hand gently. “I’ll even share my crab rangoon.”

“What did I do to deserve that?” You were horribly possessive over the creamy wontons. To the point you had smacked his hand the last time he tried to steal one and really got mad at him.

“I have grown as a person,” you tease, sighing slightly as you step outside and the crisp fall air hits your senses. If you’re ever lucky enough to stand up with him again - like that wonderfully vivid dream you had last night - you’ll even put it in your vows if it proves to him that you’ve changed. “I love you more than crab rangoon, Marcus Pike.”

He can’t help but bark out a laugh, tossing his head back and making it a full belly laugh. Enjoying the ease of the moment and the spontaneously funny comment. “That proves it.” He promises as he tugs you closer with your joined hand and cups your cheek. “You love me more than crab rangoon, huh?”

“Yeah.” In the chilly air he radiates heat, and you let yourself be reeled in against him without hesitation. “I absolutely do.”

“I’m gonna need that in writing.” He teases. “For when you are looking to stab me with a chopstick.”

“When we get home I’ll write it out and you can hang the framed note in the living room as proof.” You love him more than anything and it has taken walking away to realize that. But the sidewalk outside your office isn’t the place for that discussion.

“Bribery.” Marcus jokes, not mentioning that you are calling it home, like it’s where you two live together. He swallows down the butterflies in his stomach, knowing it could just be a turn of speech. It doesn’t mean anything.

“Evidence.” Leaning in to press your lips to his, you let the kiss linger for a few seconds before pulling away. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Marcus dutifully follows you to your car and climbs in after opening your door for you again. He groans slightly as he closes the door and starts to put his seatbelt on. "Your house and then mine." He sighs, exhausted from the day and the mental fortitude it took to deal with Jane. He honestly doesn't see how Teresa did it every day.

t doesn’t take long - under an hour - to get everything accomplished, and Marcus orders your dinner from DoorDash on the drive between your places so that by the time you pull up in front of his white-picket-fence-American-dream picturesque house in The Palisades, all you have to do for the rest of the night is relax.

The house is adorable: classic Victorian with fresh white paint with blue shutters in the windows and a little front lawn, with the whole property fenced in in a way that says the last owners definitely had a dog. It’s exactly the kind of place you can see him happily raising his kids and doing yard work on the weekends, even tossing a tennis ball or frisbee for the pup. It’s classic Americana - and classic Marcus.

Marcus fidgets slightly, aware that you are judging. Perhaps not in any negative kind of way, but he had explicitly told you what kind of home he wanted when the two of you were dreaming as teenagers, the kids you had been. This was it, and he feels surprisingly vulnerable. His car is in the garage and he gives a careless shrug. “This is it.”

You reach for his hand once you’re out of the car, offering him a smile. “I love it,” you promise him.

He gives you a small smile and walks up to the door, rolling his eyes when he sees the mailbox stuff full. “Gone one night.” He huffs, letting go of your hand to unlock the door and grab the mail.

“All the best junk mail that Washington DC has to offer.” Inside, you follow Marcus as he deposits your bag and the mail on a side table in the hallway, then into the kitchen to grab drinks and chopsticks before dinner arrives. Take out in front of a movie would have been a classic Saturday night for the two of you years ago, and it’s a comforting ritual to return to.

Marcus sets everything out and kicks off his shoes. “I guess a tour is in order?” He offers.

“You have a little bit more to show than I did,” you joke, trying to lighten the load that the day has left on his shoulders.

“You know me, too many plans.” He smiles weakly and rubs his hands together. “It’s got a basement, but I’m sure you don’t want to go down there.”

“Show me everything.” In the most hopeful and optimistic part of your mind, you are already wondering what it would feel like to come home to this house. To drop your keys and purse on that side table and be greeted by those kids or that dog he always dreamed of. “Even the scary basement. I-I want to see it all.”

“Okay.” He gestures around the kitchen. “This is the kitchen, it was renovated, but I want to add an outdoor kitchen for when the weather is nice.” He admits. “It looks out over the backyard, so it’ll be like an extension of the kitchen itself.”

“The fact that you even have a backyard in D.C. is impressive.” Visions of the backyard barbecues his parents used to throw, dance through your mind and you grin. “Taking a page out of your dad’s book, huh?”

“I guess.” He can’t help but smirk slightly. “He did teach me to use a grill.”

“The perfect way to celebrate good weather is with a cookout. You know I believe that.” God that smile. With his dimple on display he really does look every bit as boyish as the night you met.

“Yeah, I remember that shitty little charcoal grill we had on the balcony of our apartment.” It’s the first time he’s mentioned living together and he hums slightly. “The entire apartment would smell like burgers.” They had been broke and couldn’t afford steak or much else, but it had been fun.

“I bet you never had a housewarming party. Even after you made friends at work.” Your free hand sits comfortably on his waist and you hug him ever so gently. “A backyard burger party before it gets too cold would be killer.” The grin that graces your lips along with the idea is just a touch devious, though. “I’ll make all the cheesecake you could possibly want.”

“It’s a nice thought.” Marcus muses, imagining a get together over here without the pressures of work or anything hounding them. He takes care of the team by taking them out regularly, but that would be strictly social.

“So.” You nudge him a little and smile again. A little wider this time. “Kitchen and backyard. What’s next?”

“The basement is in here.” He motions to the door that leads down. “Through here. It’s a good size. Perfect for storage.” It’s strange to be giving you this tour but he opens the door and flips on the light.

You're halfway down the stairs when Marcus's phone rings - the unknown number on his caller ID letting you know that your dinner has arrived. "Saved by the bell." you joke, knowing that he fully understands your tendency to be creeped out by smaller, dark spaces. Besides, there's something off right now - something making him uncomfortable - and you're fairly certain it's you. So maybe just having dinner is better.

Marcus chuckles as the two of you turn around and go back upstairs. He knows why he’s slightly unnerved. Seeing three of his ex’s in a room would make any man start to think. And Marcus tends to overthink. You’ve run out on him once, crushing his heart when you insisted on a divorce. Now you’re back, looking at him like you did so many years ago. Seeing Teresa made him remember that feeling when she stayed in Texas, chose another man, it wasn’t even half as bad as you walking out of his life. He honestly doesn’t know if he can risk this again.

Beating Marcus to the front door means you pay the teenager delivering your food, and flash a grin at him as you close the door behind you with the stuffed-full bag of Chinese in your arms. Straight into the living room is where both of you go, plopping down on his comfortable sofa to hand out containers. The thin sheet of cardboard between containers catches your eye, and you pop up quickly to retrieve a marker from your purse - scrawling "I love you more than crab rangoon and will always share my favorite things with you" on the cardboard before coming back to set it in front of Marcus at the coffee table.

Marcus stares at the cardboard for a moment, grinning and huffing at the written declaration. “Cute.” He wrinkles his nose at you and there is a moment where he wants to kiss you, as he steals your crab rangoon. Just to see if you will let him get by with it. But that doubt stops him. “I’m gonna shower before we eat if, that’s okay.” He murmurs, standing up. “Drinks in the fridge, make yourself comfortable, okay?”

"Sure." The complete change in his demeanor from last night to tonight is borderline crushing, but you bite back the disappointment in your reaction and just smile. You don't deserve a second chance. Deep down, you know that. But it was so close last night that you could taste it, and feel it, and there's nothing you can do now but admit how desperately you want it.

Marcus chastises himself as he makes his way upstairs. It doesn’t dawn on him that he grabbed your bag until he is setting it down on his bed. Sighing softly, he looks at the mirror over the dresser. “Just fucking relax.” He tells himself.

Waiting for him to finish is almost interminable, and it's not like Marcus takes extra-long showers or anything. It's just the pure torture of waiting for him to come back and probably tell you that this was all an awful mistake and that you need to leave. Anticipating rejection is like having a knife poised in your gut and just waiting for the twist, but you're not walking out of his life this time without a fight. He would have to look you in the eye and tell you that he felt absolutely nothing for you to get you to even falter.

He feels a lot better after the shower. It’s amazing to him what hot water and clean skin can do for his attitude. Dressing in comfortable grey sweats and an FBI t-shirt, he’s more relaxed as he comes downstairs. Frowning slightly when he sees that you haven’t started digging into the food. “You didn’t find something you wanted to drink?” He asks, sure that there were still a few cans of soda in his admittedly empty fridge.

“I wanted to wait for you.” You tell him honestly, getting up when he appears at the bottom of the stairs. “I…think we should talk while we eat.”

That’s not good. Marcus nods and decides to put it off for just a second longer before you tell him that it was a mistake. “Let me get a drink.” He manages before he walks into the kitchen, that knot of doubt squeezing his guts like a fist.

He comes back a second later with two cans of ginger ale and sets them down, which gives you just enough time to take a deep breath before smiling as reassuringly as you can. “I’m not…really sure how to do this,” you admit, hating how uncertain you sound as you try to set your thoughts in order. When he sits down next to you, you scoot a little closer, afraid of being rejected if you reach for his hand but needing to be next to him. “So I’m just going to put it all out there on the table.” You can do this. Just tell him how you feel. “I love you. I never stopped, honestly. And I know that I’m not exactly in a position to ask for anything, but after seeing you again and especially after last night, I can’t imagine a single version of the rest of my life that doesn’t include you. So I’m asking. I’m asking you to take me back and give me a second chance if you can find it in your heart to forgive me. Walking out was the worst decision I ever made and I will do everything in my power to make it up to you.”

Marcus swallows harshly and his heart leaps up into his throat. They are words he’s wanted to hear for years. Since the day you told him you wanted a divorce. That loving him wasn’t enough. He reaches for your hand, taking it gently. “I- I’ve waited for so long to hear those words.” He admits quietly, rubbing his thumb over the back of your hand. “But—”

“But.” You nod your head slowly, trying not to grip his hand too tightly, waiting for the words to come. For him to say no and tell you that it’s too late and you hurt him too badly. The words you absolutely deserve.

“But part of me wonders if you’ll do it again.” Marcus’s words are quiet, strained. “Because I plan too much or want too much or say the wrong thing and you decide that you don’t want to do it anymore.” He licks his lips. “Today I had three women in the same room who dumped me. And only one of them really shattered my heart.”

“You have every right to doubt me.” Goodness knows you would, if you were in his position. “But I want to make plans with you. All the big plans and little plans you’ve ever had, I’m ready for them.” When you do squeeze his hand, you can’t help but look at the place your wedding rings used to sit, wanting to have them back again. To have his trust again. “I know you want to be married with kids and a beautiful domestic life and I know that I’m the one who put that on hold last time.” Two fingers under his chin tip his eyes up to yours. “My birth control is in the bag I packed. I will throw it in the trash right now.”

Marcus’s eyes widen and he quickly shakes his head. “No.” He rushes out. “I don’t want— I mean I want that but—” he reaches for your other hand and gently pulls it down from his face. “I don’t want having a baby with me or throwing birth control away to be a means of proving anything to me.” He tells you. “I just got a little in my head today.”

“Anybody would have.” The fact that he didn’t say yes to the grand gesture gives you an oddly disappointed feeling in your gut but you push it away. You’ve wanted kids for years now - and your mind’s eye has always unhelpfully made them look a bit like Marcus in your daydreams - so it shouldn’t surprise you. “I’m just…I’m not very good at this.” He was always the articulate one, and you half-laugh in spite of yourself. “Last night you said it was always me for you. Well…it’s always been you for me, too. When I managed to pull my head out of my ass long enough to think, I realized that the world is a damp shade of gray without you in my life. But I figured you would have found someone else already and moved on. So I never let myself look you up.”

“I’m sorry.” Marcus is good at apologizing, and he means it right now. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like I was just- using you for last night. I had hoped to spend the entire day with you. Much differently than we did.” He huffs, flashing you a smile. “I just don’t know if I could handle it if I lost you again.”

“I don’t feel like you used me. I think we just got interrupted, and this conversation would have happened this afternoon instead of tonight.” If anything, your relief at seeing him walk into your office tonight was proof that it was him and not just the sex that you craved. “How or if this happens is entirely up to you. Whether that’s lightning fast or slower than a sloth, or even— even if you decide that you can’t forgive me. But…” You want to kiss him - lips or cheek or hands - anything. But you don’t want to make him feel pressured. “I’m all in. If you decide you want to give us another chance, I’m all in. Communication, planning, big dreams, all of it. I just— I love you so much. And I want to give you everything.”

Marcus swallows, looking into your eyes and he swears that he falls more in love with you. Hearing the words that he needs, he leans in, pressing his lips to yours. “I love you.” He promises. “I didn’t - I want this.”

“I know you didn’t.” And you’ll live with that guilt - shame - for the rest of your life. But at least maybe you can fix some of the mistakes you made when you broke his heart. “I will never stop being sorry for what I did, I hope you know that.”

“I just never understood why you insisted we had to divorce.” He admits quietly, needing to talk about the things he hadn’t brought up at the time back then in an effort to be as accommodating as possible.

“It took me years to figure out why I thought like I did.” And when you had that breakthrough, it came along with a personal hatred and depression that lasted for multiple years. Ruining your life over something so obviously flawed was the worst life decision you ever made. The tears in your eyes at this point are pure shame. “I really thought that the options were family or career. That there was no way to do both. And saying it out loud is just…it’s the stupidest I’ve ever felt. If anything, you deserve to be with someone smarter than me.”

Marcus snorts and shakes his head, thinking that’s the most ridiculous thing you could have said. “Baby, you are the smartest person I know.” He promises you, cupping your cheek. “I was the one struggling in school, remember?” He hadn’t been a horrible student. It had just taken more work on his part. “I just wish you had talked to me about it. I would have never made you choose one or the other.”

“I should have talked to you.” You sniffle, very aware of that now-obvious fact. “When my parents got married, my mom gave up her full-time job to work a couple of days a week for barely above minimum wage, and then gave that up to have me and Leah. I had sorority sisters telling me how lucky I was that you were so smart and charismatic because it meant you were going to get a great job and I could stop torturing myself figuring out a career. And my two friends from home who got pregnant young and had to quit their jobs to take care of their kids.” It had felt hopeless at the time. Like drowning without a clue as to how to swim. “I…I didn’t want to disappoint you by loving my job too much or by being a bad mother. And I just…panicked.”

“You would have never disappointed me. And I don’t think you would have been a bad mother.” Marcus reaches out and caresses your cheek. “Baby if you had told me that you decided you didn’t want kids, I wouldn’t have forced you to. I would have needed time to get used to the idea. But I never wanted a forced family. Who knows?” He shoots you a small grin. “I might be shooting blanks from that time you kneed me in the nuts.”

“I was very drunk and slipped on my Halloween costume. It wasn't my fault!” You protest immediately, breaking into giggles at the memory of that night. You’d sobered up fast and had babied him for days in apology. “I was scared of what growing up and having a future meant, honey.” Leaning into his touch is safe. It’s comforting. It’s home. “I didn’t find out until it was too late that I didn’t want a future that didn’t include you.” The explanation feels like far too little too late, and extraordinarily dumb to boot, but he deserves the truth. No matter how awful it makes you feel. “By the time I got around to figuring out that I really do want to be a mother, I had lost the guy whose kids I wanted to have. And it was my own fault.”

“And I don’t want you to think that I can’t compromise.” He wishes you had this conversation twelve years ago. Maybe it wouldn’t have been this way. Maybe it would have been the house you bought together and there would already be kids. But he doesn’t want to dwell on that. “Why don’t we eat, hmm?” He asks. “We can still talk, we should talk.”

“Yeah.” You nod, feeling like an idiot no matter how reassuring he is. But the container of crab rangoon sits squarely in between you and you have no intention of moving it. “I don’t know what would have happened if we had talked then, but I know you have nothing to apologize for.”

“I don’t want you to continuously apologize either.” Marcus grins and reaches for the container. “Honestly, maybe some couples counseling? If you want and feel like it would be good.”

“Absolutely.” You nod. You would agree to almost anything to have him back in your life - but that actually sounds productive regardless. Therapy has done wonders for your life over the years. “Getting some communication tools can only be a good thing.”

“I agree.” He opens the container and smirks at you, feeling better now that he’s expressed what he’s feeling. “Now, what were you saying about sharing the crab rangoon?”

“That you should absolutely have some.” He can have the whole thing if he really wants. Anything as long as it makes him happy. “All the rangoons and dreams you want.”

He shakes his head and picks one up to feed it to you. “Shouldn’t just be my dreams.”

It’s a sweet gesture, intimate without being sexual, and you savor the moment for what it is. “How about we share, then?” Your offer when you finish chewing. “Food. Dreams. All that good stuff?”

“Compromise.” Marcus smiles at you, his eyes soft and full of love. “I like that.” He pops the rest of the rangoon you had taken a bite of into his own mouth.

“Not our strong suit historically, so I think it will be a good place to start.” It’s a fact, and you’re not going to start hiding behind those now after everything. “Should we start big or small?”

“What do you mean?” He asks curiously.

“Like do you want to talk about how many kids we want and what kind of second wedding we’ll have, or do you want to stick to thinking about what kind of nice date we’ll go on when this case is closed?” As far as you’re concerned, the future holds all of those things, so you don’t mind dreaming about all of it.

“I don’t want to rush you.” Marcus protests slightly. “It’s been a long time. Those rose-colored memories might not live up to reality.” He wants to plan with you but he also doesn’t want you to be disappointed by him as the man he’s become without you.

“We can dream a little without having to pin everything down.” That’s something else you were never very good at - taking his random comments about thinking a shirt at the mall was nice as meaning he desperately wanted it or his musings about maybe rearranging the living room in the old apartment as your cue to completely redecorate. “But we can also keep it small until you’re comfortable talking about more long-term things. I mean it, love. I’m all in, if you want me. So we can do this at your pace.”

Marcus snorts, shaking his head. “That’s my line, sweetheart.” He reminds you. He’s always been the one jumping in too fast. Hell, he’d proposed both times without there being any thought in his head beyond wanting to be with them forever. The last proposal had been in a hallway at the Austin field office.

“I know.” Your head bobbles a little as you reach for one of the creamy fried wontons in the box between you. “But on top of it being the truth, I also wonder when the last time was that you had a partner that gave you a little romance of your own.”

Marcus is a giver. Always putting others first and taking care of the people around him, wanting them to have everything they could want or need even at the expense of his own desires. Even you had been guilty of taking his immense good nature for granted once in a while. But never again.

His brow wings up and he contemplates the question. “Hell, I don’t even know.” Marcus shrugs slightly. “Never really thought about it.”

"It seems about time that changed, my love." He deserves to be treated as well as he treats everyone else, and you're going to see to it that from now on, he is.

“So on a scale of one to the Addams family, how weird was today?” He asks with a slightly amused smile on his face.

"Don't you dare besmirch the names of Gomez and Morticia Addams by comparing them to Patrick and Teresa Jane," you snicker, shaking your head as the two of you settle in to eat in earnest. "Honestly, Agent Jane isn't so bad. It's her narcissistic husband that I can't stand."

“You noticed that too, huh?” He asks, shaking his head and humming as he picks up another crab rangoon.

"He might as well walk around in a t-shirt that says 'I <3 Myself'." And he would have bought it for himself, too. That's the kicker.

That makes him laugh. “Has to be underneath those suits.” He jokes. “Who wears a vest nowadays? MBA wielding salesman assholes and former con-artists, apparently.”

"No." Your eyes go a little wide and you laugh in disbelief, with your fork stopped halfway to your mouth. "Is he seriously a con man? That makes so much sense."

“Yeah. He grew up in the traveling carnival, or circus scene.” He tells you. “Incredibly observant and used it to claim he was psychic. Until…” Marcus frowns slightly, hating that anyone - even Patrick Jane - went through that kind of pain. “Red John killed his wife and daughter. His first wife, that is. That’s how he came to the FBI - by way of Teresa when she was at the CBI.”

"Red John?" It takes you a second, rolling back through the index of names and random facts in your head, before you tilt your head at him in surprise. "The serial killer? Well shit."

“Patrick Jane killed Red John.” Marcus doesn’t blame him for that. He would have done the same if it had been him.

"Shit." You shiver a little, not out of discomfort with Patrick Jane killing someone, but just at the fact of it. "I guess...remind me not to piss off Jane, then."

He chuckles and reaches out to spear a piece of your broccoli. “Actually I don’t think Patrick would ever kill someone else. Unless something happened to Teresa. Which, as much as I don’t like him, I understand.”

"Well, he just rose from boring and annoying to weirdly interesting but still an asshole in my books, so I guess that's something?" When he holds his container out to you in return you snag a piece of chicken and grin.

“You love General Tso’s but would never order it, always eating mine.” He pretends to pout but he loves this. He’s missed it. “Although I don’t think we ever ate Thai together.”

“It never sounds like the best option but it always looks so good.” He’s smiling - honestly smiling - and it really does ease your tired heart. “Do you want to pick a Thai place for the next time we go out? Or hell, even the next time we order in?”

“We could do that.” Marcus agrees to that readily, liking the idea. “I think we deserve a proper date again, don’t you? You and me going out and having fun together? Would you like that?”

“I’d love that.” Even thinking about it makes your cheeks burn a little and your smile grow. “What else would you want to do that night?”

Marcus hums thoughtfully, aware that you are happy with the idea. "Wellllllll, I am hoping to go home with the most gorgeous woman there. So there's that." He teases playfully, offering you another bite of his chicken.

“Oh yeah?” The giddy flip in your stomach comes with a hum, and you accept the bite happily. “I mean, if she is who I think she is, I can guarantee it.”

"Yeah? You can guarantee that?" There had always been a lot of fun teasing and jokes between the two of you. The relationship had been, in his mind - magical, until the day it wasn't. "I hope so." He goes on. "I remember the first time I met her, I swear I fell in love then."

“You fell in love with cheap tequila and a tight t-shirt?” Just because you remember every second of that night doesn’t mean you don’t love to hear Marcus reminisce, and take a sip from your soda can to hide a happy sigh. “I bet she fell in love right then, too.”

"I fell in love with a gorgeous pair of eyes and the most beautiful laugh I've ever heard." He leans in to kiss you softly before he winks at you. "Didn't hurt that she was hot enough that I shared the good booze with her."

“There were a lot of body shots that night.” You practically snort at how very stereotypical that part of the night was - flirting in his room at the frat house and letting yourselves get completely caught up in the delicious feeling of wanting that comes with new love when you’re extremely horny young adults.

"Yes there were." Marcus can't even hide his reaction to that, not that he would. Not from you. But just talking about that night has him hardening. "You really liked having the salt licked off your nipples if I remember right."

“I had the hottest guy I’ve ever seen sucking on my tits.” You point out, smirking a little at the memory. “Of course I liked it.”

"I mean, they're great tits." Marcus's grin gets a little wider. "And I was just a horny teenager. A beautiful girl is gonna let me drink tequila off her body and lick her tits, who am I to stop her?"

"I would have rioted if someone tried to stop us." You laugh again, shaking your head as you both beam at each other. "There was no way I wasn't spending the night with you once I realized you were interested."

"And I don't think there were many nights you didn't spend with me after that." Marcus grins as he picks up another piece of chicken. This time for himself.

"I'm just lucky that your brothers liked me," you muse, thinking of the way his frat brothers had basically treated you as a little sister once they saw how inseparable you and Marcus were. "I showed up for one damn party and then never really left."

"They didn't have any issue with you, unless we were having sex." He snickers, remembering all the times the door had been beat on for being too loud.

"Which was a lot." And you would never apologize for that - not even then.

"They didn't give you a stuffed bunny because they thought it was cute." He jokes.

"Aww, really?" You feign innocence, even though you both know that at the time you had cracked up laughing over the fucking like bunnies joke. "And here I thought they just found me adorable."

He snorts, leaning in against you. "They were all surprised that we didn't end up with an accident." He admits.

"My sisters were too." The other girls in your sorority had practically made up a list of baby names at one point. "They even had a baby shower theme picked out."

"I didn't know that." Marcus shakes his head, amused at how certain your college friends were that you were going to have kids and here you are so many years later and none of the happily ever after had happened yet.

"Yeah." You nod your head slightly. "They were going to throw a little garden party. It...it would have been cute." And for every year that has passed, you have wished more and more deeply that there had been a reason for it.

"Well..." Marcus senses the slight disappointment and he sighs. His shoulder jostles yours slightly and he sends you a sweet smile. "When you do have a baby, make sure you invite all of them to the shower."

"When we do, I will." It's a promise that you'll stand by, no matter how long it takes to happen, and you slip your hand in his to squeeze his fingers gently before laying your head on his shoulder. "And it will be a garden party."

"It can be in your own garden." Marcus responds, hoping that by that time you might consider this home. He would landscape the backyard into whatever garden oasis you wanted.

"Only if you like the idea of turning part of the backyard into a garden. We have to both like it." Following his trail of thought, you snuggle a little more deeply into his side and reach for the last crab rangoon to split in half.

"It's big enough that we can have a garden area." He looks over at you with a grin. "Although you know I kill any plants I touch beyond grass." He was not blessed with growing anything it seems and you had teased him when he had killed every plant you brought home.

"Which is why you won't be allowed near my rose bushes." The grin on your face is teasing when you look up at him, but there is so much love in your eyes that it nearly overrides every other emotion. "We can put a little bench or a swing out there to sit together."

"It would be nice." It's a thought that sends a warm flood of contentment through him. "Relax with a glass of wine after work when the weather is nice."

"And an extra place for our friends to sit when we have those backyard barbecues that I know we'll end up throwing once I get you a new grill." It's already become his first gift in your mind - something that you can do for him to make him smile and show him even just a little of that loving care that he gives to everyone else.

Marcus smiles and leans in to steal another kiss. "You don't have to do that." He promises. Just the idea that you would think about buying him a gift makes him feel good.

"I want to." Another stolen kiss lingers, and you both smile into it. "It can be a surprise, or you can pick out your dream grill. But this way every time you use it, you'll have an extra reason to smile."

“I don’t know.” He wrinkles his nose at you playfully. “My dream grill is pretty expensive.” He warns. “Alllll the bells and whistles.”

“Bring it on.” You grin, placing a kiss right on the bridge of his nose. “I make good money and intend to spoil you.”

Marcus shakes his head and smirks. “Oh really?”

“Yes, really.” Years ago, your definition of spoiling him had been largely sex related, and while that isn’t going to change unless he wants it to, it’s definitely going to include more now that you can actually do more to take care of him. “You think I don’t realize how much you scrounged for that little diamond chip in my engagement ring? You deserve every ounce of spoiling I can possibly give you.”

“I always felt guilty that I couldn’t get you something bigger.” He admits. “You deserved to have a gorgeous ring.”

“You could have given me aluminum foil and I still would have worn it proudly.” You tell him honestly. “The ring isn’t what matters, it’s who gives it to you.”

“I know.” He smiles at the thought. “I just wanted to give you the world.”

“And I love you for that.” Your head rests on his shoulder once more, fingers trailing up and down his arm as gently as a breeze. “It’s going to be better this time, Marc. I promise.” I’m going to be better. The silent thought rings loud and clear in your head.

“Just talk to me and we will be good.” Marcus promises. “I just don’t want you to feel like you have to make decisions by yourself.”’

“And I want you to feel like you can dream with me and plan for the future without being afraid that I’ll react poorly.” Since it’s exactly what happened last time, it is bound to be one of the biggest issues in communication. “If I am even bordering on being overwhelmed, I promise I’ll tell you.”

Marcus hums, having learned his lesson with planning too much but he nods. "I'll work on that." He promises, knowing that it will be an issue but he doesn't want it to hinder a relationship with you.

“We’ll work on things together.” Couples counseling will be smart for both of you, but for now you tip your head back and leave a kiss on the sharp line of his jaw.

"Eat the rest of your food." He urges, smirking at the feeling of your lips on his skin again. He needed this. This talk was good for him and hopefully good for you.

“Bossy,” you tease, grinning when he huffs.

"I just call it leadership skills, sweetheart." He teases and sends you a small wink and leering grin. "Or should I stop being bossy? You seemed to like ‘Director Pike' earlier." He hadn't missed the way you had shifted slightly.

“I’m not mad about it.” Marcus being a little older and a lot stronger had always been a bit of a turn on and he knew it. “Bossy can be fun sometimes.”

He smirks and leans back, pointing his chopsticks at you playfully. "You know it, baby." He teases. "Be a good girl and I'll show you some other tricks I've learned."

------ Master Tags: @pixiedurango @chattychell @winter-fox-queen @lady-himbo @artsymaddie @princess76179 @paintballkid711 @missminkylove @pedrosbrat @ew-erin @sarahjkl82-blog @sharkbait77 @justanotherblonde23 @lv7867 @recklesswit @mylittlesenaar @f0rever15elf @gallowsjoker @steeevienicks @athalien @sherala007 @skvatnavle @thatpinkshirt @jaime1110 @girlimjusttryingtoreadfanfics @goodgriefitsawildworld @greeneyedblondie44 @katheriner1999 @littlemousedroid @harriedandharassed @churchill356 @ajathegreats-blog @hardc0rehaylz @beardsanddetectives @kirsteng42 @ladykatakuri @adancedivasmom @madiebear @tanzthompson @emilianamason @bigsdinger @xocalliexo @pedr0swh0r3 @avaleineandafryingpan

tCIGtDYE: @missmarmaladeth @afro-hispwriter @rosmarinus @mythrielofsolitude @jxvipike @avaleineandafryingpan @hnt-escape @supernaturalgirl20 @scorpio-marionette @bobafvcker @midnightevermore @dinoflower @pearl-aqua-tears @itsbaehyungbitch @pepperminticedcoffee @anticipayosbot @girlofchaos @speedynana @loveslide @noisynaia @just-here-for-the-moment @goodgriefitsawildworld @curiouskeyboard @iarellanouus @mymistery09-blog @seasonschange-butpeopledont @thenightdreamsballad @pondsofravenclaw @sherlock221b114679797 @pimmyxyone @theredwritingwitch @ghostinhours @timpletance @strawberryjamcheesecake @amb11 @a-little-shade-of-kiki @wildemaven @tuquoquebrute @supernaturalgirl @ellenmunn @iceclaw101 @toxicfrankenstein @catsandgeekyandnerd @missmarmaladeth @theincredibleinkspitter @agiroflee98 @lyonessofnarnia @we-could-have-been @totostits @scorpio-marionette @kikis-writing-world @trappistmonksofthefuture @danichz @88dragon06 @scorpionerd @myrealmofchaos @movievillainess721 @firekissed13 @qseomik @acollectionofcells1 @captain-of-my-game1992 @alician87 @lovesbiggerthanpride @justgonewild @hiyorinatsuki @pinkrosethorne @apocalypticwafflekitten @groovycass @rebel-fanfare @d0cthunder @gooddaykate @purplerain04 @astridflowers @frasmotic @dornish-queen

My Masterlist!

#Pedro Pascal #Pedro Pascal character fanfiction #Pedro Pascal fanfic #Marcus Pike #Marcus Pike x reader #Marcus Pike x you #Marcus Pike x female reader #Agent Marcus Pike #ex wife reader #The Mentalist #Mentalist fanfic

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foli-vora · 3 years

Text

there she goes

A/N: Soft boi has arrived! Literally only watched his episodes of the Mentalist because Patrick Jane, quite frankly, annoys/bores the absolute shit out of me.

Pairing: Marcus Pike/f!reader

Word count: 1.7k

Warnings: none that I can see but please let me know if you think something should be added!

+++

Standing in line at your favourite little café, you watch the rain pelt against the glass panels of the shop with disdain, cursing the bright sunny morning that tricked you into leaving your umbrella and jacket at home. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky when you woke and left for work this morning, and now it seemed like the dark grey clouds delivering the onslaught of rain stretched from horizon to horizon with no signs of a break any time soon. Typical, you thought to yourself. Like your day hadn’t been bad enough already.

Your landlord had dropped the bomb of a rent increase, your car had a flat, you had missed the bus and had to take a cab, your desk chair decided to die – leaving you practically on the floor trying to answer calls and use your computer and the office printer refused to print anything, no matter how many times you called it a piece of junk and kicked it. Suffice to say, you were more than ready for a strong hit of caffeine.

You’re dragged out of your inner grumbling when a finger gently taps your shoulder and you whirl to face the tapper immediately, sharp words of irritation dying on your tongue the second you meet their gaze.

Brown eyes, you notice instantly. Soft, soulful brown eyes. He was… nice. Understatement. He was gorgeous, with neatly trimmed facial hair and windswept dark hair falling just above his eyes.

He gestures towards the counter with a polite half smile, “Uh, you’re next.”

You blink in confusion before glancing at the young girl behind the register, seemingly waiting for you to step forward and order, and quickly apologise to them both. She smiles, making quick work of your regular order and then you’re stepping aside, throwing another apology towards the stranger before finding a seat and sitting with a deep exhale.

The rain comes down harder because of course it does. You mentally add embarrassing yourself in front of the first decent looking guy you’ve seen in a while to your list with a quiet groan. Melting back into the chair, you take a moment to fully bask in your somewhat dry clothes and shoes before inevitably having to end up running through the torrential downpour back to the office.

A to-go cup is placed gently in front of you, your name scrawled across the side, and you blink dumbly at it before following up along the arm until you’re looking at the man from the line. He’s smiling again, his own coffee in hand and the other now buried in his pants pocket.

“Someone’s away with the fairies today.” He notes light-heartedly, and then gestures over his shoulder. “They called your name – I hope it’s okay that I bought it over.”

You blink again, and only when his brow quirks ever so slightly do you snap out of your reverie.

“Oh God, I’m sorry. I’m not usually this spacey.”

His face softens, lips quirking into a sympathetic smile. “Bad day?”

“Yeah, you could say that.” You reply dryly, eyeing the rain as you stand. “Thanks for bringing my coffee over. It probably would’ve been stone cold by the time I came back to Earth.”

You’re rewarded with a deep chuckle and it sends a little flutter through your chest. You made the pretty stranger laugh – not a total loss of a day, after all.

“I could try and make it better, if you want.”

You raise a brow, smiling shyly. “Oh yeah?”

He nods with a small smile, “Yeah.” He looks over his shoulders and shrugs lightly. “I could get you a slice of banana bread, a muffin, maybe… a gingerbread man? He has mini marshmallows as buttons.” His voice is light, playful, and when his grin widens, you find yourself unable to resist returning it.

You hum in thought, “Sounds like you’re a big fan.”

He chuckles, looking down as he nods. “Yeah look, I may eat colourfully decorated marshmallow buttoned gingerbread men more than a fully functioning adult of my age should.” He admits, grinning as you chuckle. “We could grab a table... maybe talk for a bit?” He watches you check your watch, hope growing in his chest at the thought of getting to know the pretty distracted stranger a little better over coffee.

“As tempting as that sounds, my break is almost over and I’m pushing it for time.” His face falls a little and you mirror his disappointment, briefly wondering if your boss would let you off if you tell her all about the pretty stranger at the coffee shop. “Thank you for the offer, though…”

“Marcus,” he smiles, shaking your hand firmly. The encasing warmth of his hand is enough to send a thrill through you, and your heart flutters in nervous excitement. The feeling doubles as he murmurs your name, pointing to your cup before you could ask how he knows.

You duck your head, smiling warmly at him before turning to the door and bracing for the wet chill that’s about to take hold. A warm hand softly pulls your arm back, and you turn back to him in question. He’s looking at your empty hands with a frown.

“Don’t you have an umbrella? Or a jacket at least?” Marcus asks, frown deepening when you shake your head.

“No, it was sunny when I left this morning – bad day.” You explain, a smile still tugging at your lips despite the downpour bombarding the street. There was something about this kind and pretty stranger that had you unable to stop smiling, and your cheeks were starting to pay the price with a lingering ache.

“Well, you can’t go out there without one, here – have mine.” He reaches past you and grabs the dripping umbrella propped up by the door, holding it out to you expectantly.

You recoil instantly, “What? No!”

“Please. It’s bad out there!”

As if to cement his argument, a snap of thunder crackles overhead, the rain increasing, and you cringe instantly.

Still, you shake your head and push his hand away, “I can’t take your umbrella! What about you?”

“I drove here – my car’s around the corner. Please, take it.”

You weigh up your options, not wanting to leave the handsome stranger with nothing to keep himself dry, but ultimately, it’s his pleading puppy eyes that completely win you over and then you’re reaching out, taking the umbrella softly and desperately trying to get a hold of your rapid heartbeat.

“Thank you, Marcus.”

He shrugs, an easy grin stretching his features and your eyes fall to glance over it appreciatively. He had a damn good smile. “Don’t mention it.”

“My knight in shining suit.” You coo, chuckling at the flush of faint pink that washes across his cheeks. “I can’t tell you how much this has turned my day around.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” And he truly is.

You linger a moment longer, grinning as he turns slightly bashful under your heavy scrutiny. “It was really nice to meet you, Marcus.”

He beams, “You, too.”

With a small wave, you disappear into the rain and Marcus sighs softly, watching you go with a small flicker of regret at the missed opportunity. Umbrella and your number next time, Pike, he scolds himself solemnly.

His nose curls as he watches the rain for a moment and then sighs deeply, reaching for the lapel of his jacket. He pulls it over his head and briefly thinks about his car, still parked in the nice and dry parking garage back at the bureau. He’s not at all sorry for telling you a little white lie to get you to take his umbrella, you needed something in this weather and it was his absolute pleasure to provide. Knight in shining suit. It had him smiling to himself the entire run back to the office, despite the downpour that had him saturated in the first two minutes.

He keeps an eye out over the next few days, intentionally going for lunch at the same time as that rainy day in hopes he’d see you again. Every day, he was left walking back with a feeling of disappointment, but not letting it crush his hope for the next day.

It’s not until over a week later when he’s standing in line, the café busier than usual, when he hears a familiar voice pipe up from behind him.

“I’ve heard the gingerbread men here are pretty good.”

You’re already smiling when he turns to face you, a grin of his own creasing his cheeks.

“I’ve been keeping an eye out for you.” He admits, nodding when you tilt your head with a curious oh? “Just making sure you’re not holding up any more lines – people need their coffee, after all. Can’t be waiting around all day.” He teases, laughing when you softly shove him playfully.

Shaking your head, you step up next to him and lean in to his side, “So guess what?”

He chuckles softly to himself, looking at you expectantly. “What?”

“I took a long lunch. Well, actually, I’ve been taking long lunches all week hoping to see you.” You admit, somewhat shyly. Were you coming on too strong? You hope not. It’s only been a week and you had missed him like you had known him longer than five minutes. You weren’t sure whether to be slightly concerned that a literal stranger had you so caught up in a whirl or thrilled that you had finally met someone who seemed genuinely decent.

He smiles softly, relieved that this little thing between you both wasn’t one sided. “I’ve been hoping to see you, too. I actually –”

“Hey, move it along!”

You startle, turning to frown at the irritated man behind you when Marcus chuckles and offers a small apology over his shoulder, before reaching for your hand and gently pulling you the short distance to the counter to order. You barely take notice of him and the barista talking, instead focusing on your hand now wrapped up in his, his thumb rubbing softly across your knuckles, and how it’s making your body thrum with electricity. You smile to yourself, eyes flicking back up to his face to find him looking at you expectantly, brow firmly raised with a small smirk.

You blink. “What?”

#marcus pike x reader #marcus pike x f!reader #pedro pascal x reader #marcus pike #the mentalist

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tabloidtoc · 3 years

Text

National Examiner, March 22

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson -- his journey from thief to superstar

Page 2: These stars wheely like to bike -- Hugh Jackman, Eva Longoria, Matthew McConaughey, Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, Russell Crowe, Arnold Schwarzenegger

Page 3: Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez, Al Roker, Pierce Brosnan and Keely Shaye Smith, Matt Damon, Justin Theroux, Ethan Hawke

Page 4: Jennifer Aniston's roles and costumes

Page 6: Susan Sarandon is 74 and single now and she admits she likes to date younger men because they have more inquisitive minds than older guys

Page 7: Golden Age of Glamour -- the shocking beauty tips, tricks and secrets of Hollywood's most stunning stars -- Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Crawford

Page 8: Listen to Granny -- older media influencers are getting into the act on social media, with women in their 80s and 90s earning huge followings and lots of money on Instagram -- while some are all about their head-turning styles, others go with decorating or fitness to create their granfulencer brands

Page 9: Go ahead and binge that new TV show because it's good for your mental health -- new research shows the lack of social connection we're all feeling now because of COVID-19 restrictions can be filled, at least to some degree, by watching TV, reading books and listening to music

Page 10: Lucia DeClerck has some advice for living a long life, and she knows what she's talking about because she's 105 years old -- not only did Lucia live through the 1918 Spanish Flu, she's the oldest person in her nursing home and she just beat COVID-19 -- how does she do it? Gin-soaked golden raisins

Page 11: 8 ways to prevent back pain

Page 12: Stars Still Strong and Sexy As They Hit Milestone Notorious 90 -- Marla Gibbs, Gavin MacLeod, Angie Dickinson, Barbara Eden

Page 13: William Shatner, Olympia Dukakis, Dan Rather, Rita Moreno, Willie Mays, James Earl Jones

Page 14: Dear Tony, America's Top Psychic Healer -- all marriages need care and attention to flourish

Page 15: There are nicer, more medically accurate ways to describe it, but "dead butt syndrome" says it all, that feeling of numbness or achiness from sitting too long -- it is no joke to the many people who experience the discomfort of DBS, otherwise known as lower cross syndrome, gluteal amnesia, or gluteus medius tendinosis -- people who sit at their desk all day for work are particularly prone to this syndrome, where muscle tightness in the hip flexors and weakness in the gluteus medius muscles in the buttock combine to create hip and lower-back pain, leading to numbness -- luckily there are simple remedies you can try to alleviate symptoms and even reverse the syndrome

Page 16: Princess Diana: little girl lost -- Diana's brother Charles Spencer reveals truth about heartbreaking childhood

Page 18: There are about 100 prepaid food receipts fluttering on the wall of Ruma's Deli in Missouri and if you're hungry and your pockets are empty, you can grab one, bring it to the counter and get a free meal, no strings attached

Page 19: Pixel the cat is so creepy-looking even a professional exorcist crossed himself and ran -- Alyson Kalhagen's cat has giant googly eyes, a Halloween pumpkin smile and oversized bat ears and he's also fond of making funny faces but the two-year-old has racked up a fan base online, where more than 12,000 followers find Pixel's peculiarities precious

Page 20: Cover Story -- Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is huge in every way -- the muscle-bound ex-wrestler has starred in dozens of blockbuster films, has tons of projects in the works, millions of bucks and a brand new show about his childhood but he hasn't always been on top of the game -- the dynamo has gone through so many tough times and bad decisions they would sink a lesser man but he's an open book about all of them and how he fought to get to the top every step of the way

Page 22: After a long break to raise her children, Michelle Pfeiffer is on the silver screen again and looking better than ever -- the 62-year-old is in a new film called French Exit, in which she plays a tragic widow who packs up and moves to Paris with her son -- the actress says to return and thrive in an industry formerly known as being obsessed with youth is a gift -- although her husband David E. Kelley has been behind dozens of hits like The Undoing and Big Little Lies, Michelle doesn't want to work with him because she's seen a lot of couples where they seem to have a great marriage, and then they work together and next year they're filing for divorce -- next up, Michelle will play Betty Ford in the upcoming series The First Lady

Page 24: A Texas grocery delivery driver got more than just shelter from the storm when her car became stuck in a customer's driveway -- the people who lived there took her in for five days and made her feel like part of the family

Page 26: Deep Focus -- stunning underwater pix from an unseen world

Page 32: Pet Projects -- family portraits get everyone into the picture -- photographer Tasha Hall creates "farmaly" photos, which include each and every one of the household where they've got two feet, four feet, paws, claws, hooves or wings

Page 34: While everyone loves a comfortable, cozy mattress, having a really good becomes more important with age because a bad one may leave you with aches, pains and posture imbalances but the problem is that these specialty mattresses are very expensive -- fortunately, Medicare may cover up to 80 percent of the cost if you go about this purchase the right way and you'll then be responsible for the remaining 20 percent, as well as any deductible

Page 40: Psychic Self-Defense -- many people are born with a psyche that is naturally sensitive -- there has been a modern-day rise in occultism and practicing psychics and the way of the world at this time had made many more people seek help -- this has produced a far greater awareness of the need to protect and defend ourselves when working in a magical or psychic context -- we are all constantly being bombarded with psychic vibrations, not all of them good

Page 42: 20 Things You Never Knew About Tiger Woods

Page 44: Eyes on the Stars -- Jenny McCarthy is in high spirits as she preps to tape a new episode of The Masked Singer in L.A. (picture), Goldie Hawn works out in L.A. (picture), Jane Fonda has given up on getting hitched -- she has three failed marriages and being single means she can watch whatever she wants on TV, Kelly Clarkson admits that since her marriage soured she no longer considers marriage a fairy-tale thing and she can't imagine being married again, Charlize Theron admits she hasn't made the grade when it comes to homeschooling her kids Jackson and August, Patrick Schwarzenegger is looking to follow in the footsteps of his dad Arnold Schwarzenegger but says his dad hasn't offered any pointers when it comes to a career in showbiz, Bindi Irwin is close to welcoming her little wildlife warrior with husband Chandler Powell and her 17-year-old brother Robert Irwin has some opinions about his sister's ever-expanding figure saying she's massive

Page 45: Duchess Kate and Prince William hold video calls with folks shielding at home during the pandemic to discuss the positive impact of the COVID-19 vaccine (picture), Chrissy Teigen goes shopping with daughter Luna (picture), Mary-Kate Olsen finalized her divorce from French banker Olivier Sarkozy and she was spotted in NYC having dinner with businessman John Cooper, Gordon Ramsay is steamed after being diagnosed with arthritis, Jessie J has a new boyfriend with dancer and choreographer Max Pham Nguyen, Alec and Hilaria Baldwin dropped a bombshell -- they've welcomed their sixth child via surrogate

Page 46: We all get a bit snippy at times, but if you tend to fly into a rage, it's not good for your health or friendships -- here are some simple anger-management techniques you can do any time

Page 47: Curious Earthlings have always been hungry for movies about the moon and its mysteries -- Cat-Women of the Moon, A Trip to the Moon, The Right Stuff, First Man, Gravity, Apollo 13, Hidden Figures

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mitchsmarners · 5 years

Photo

BLOOD IN THE WATER

summary: “I think we’re all going to have do some pretty terrible things,” Eddie said quietly. His hand came to wrap in Richie’s shirt, trying to burn out the violent grip of his father’s from earlier. “None of us have a choice in anything anymore. Whatever happened at Greta’s tonight-“ Eddie’s voice broke and he felt Richie press a kiss into his hair. “There isn’t a good and a bad anymore. There’s just die or don’t.”

[or: after the gruesome murder of his younger brother, Bill Denbrough is determined to bring about the end of the string of crimes in Derry no matter the cost. As stories unwind and fall apart, there’s only more questions as everybody’s lives hang in the balance.]

chapter count: 18/21

chapter warnings: graphic depictions of violence, mentions of past character death, mentions of past sexual abuse, major character death....?

Taglist: @honkhonkrichard, @hufflepuffkaspbrak, @emmieliabedelia, @reddie-for-anything, @reddiesetrichie, @beepbeepbitchard, @lemonadeandrice, @mirandosky, @lunacuore, @fivxharmony

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Richie wasn’t sure he’d even fully regained consciousness yet when hitting his head on the hard ground threatened to knock him right back out. He could vaguely hear Beverly arguing about something, her voice going high pitched in the way it only ever did when she was truly scared. Richie groaned, feeling as though his brain was vibrating inside his skull and fought to open his eyes.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Beverly was almost screeching, and Richie crinkled up his nose. Why did she have to be so fucking loud? Didn’t she know Richie had a headache? He tried to roll further onto his back but found his hands bound together and holding him back from full movement.

“What, Marsh?” The male voice hit Richie’s ears and he knew if his brain was functioning anything close to its average speed that he’d know it. “You might not have known where this was all heading, but I did. Considering how quick you were to flip back over, it’s probably best that-“

“I was never on your side!” Beverly cried, sounding tearful. “The Tozier were always my true family… you guys tricked me… you promised! And Richie… why Richie…”

“He’s brought this on himself,” the man said, sounding bored. “If Tozier had just managed to keep his cock in his pants, then-“

“If I’m going to be murdered,” Richie grumbled, eyes still shut tight. “Can we get the fuck on with it? I’m fucking cold over here.” He managed to wrench his eyes open, world spinning for a moment and giving the distinct urge to throw up everywhere. Beverly was staring at him with horror-filled eyes and by her side was none other than Patrick Hockstetter. “Yeah…” Richie laughed through his dry throat. “That just figures, doesn’t it? How ya been, Hocky?”

“Been better I’ll admit,” Patrick laughed darkly, waggling his brow at Richie. “I don’t want to do this, Tozier. You know that, right?”

“You don’t want to kill people?” Richie challenged, brain fuzzy and all his defenses down. “I find that hard to believe.”

“I don’t want to kill you,” Patrick clarified with a shrug. “Hitting a man when he’s down? It’s not my style, but we’ve all got our orders. It’ll be over soon.”

“How come our lovely Miss Marsh isn’t all fancied up down here with me?” Richie asked, eyes fluttering shut. Light flashed behind his eyes and Richie must have faded away for a moment because once he tuned back in, Patrick and Beverly had once again lost interest in one another and were bickering with each other. “Hey! Hey! I’m not dead yet! Can somebody please tell me what the fuck is going on?”

“Richie, Rich, Rich,” Patrick chuckled, grinning wolfishly down at him. “Don’t you already know? You staked your life on a liar.”

Beverly made a wounded noise beside him as Patrick told hold of her arms and began to bound them behind her back as well. Beverly didn’t put up any fight, but there was a deep anger written all over her face as Patrick forced to the ground beside Richie. Patrick grabbed hold of Richie and yanked him into a seating position, Richie unable to hold back his exclaim of pain as his head was rattled.

“Did you tell Tozier about how you were bringing food and water to little Janie Jane the whole time we were holding her?” Patrick asked as he played with a long strand of Beverly’s red hair. The fire in the middle of woody floor was making her hair burn like the winter camp fires they used to hold out in these same woods, when life was easier. “All while keeping her chained up to the wall?”

“He knows… that I had part of it,” Beverly said, looking at Richie with wide, wet, pleading eyes. Richie squeezed his eyes shut, seeing the flashing lights once more, and stomach swooping horribly. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do, Hockstetter…”

“Does he know that it’s your fault we had to kill her?” Patrick asked in a sickeningly sweet voice, a voice dripping in Californian summer venom. “That Janie figured out where we were keeping her? That she asked you, because even through everything, she trusted you? And that if you’d only kept those little facts to yourself, she would have lived? That we really would have let her go once this was all over- just like promised. But you had to blab.”

Richie was definitely going to throw up now. “That’s… that’s not true,” Beverly sobbed out. “You… She saw all of us!! You wouldn’t have let her live!”

“You’ll never know if that’s the truth.” Patrick chuckled. “Is that just what you tell yourself, Bevvy? Make yourself feel better? Keep that guilt of the little girls death off your conscience?”

“I’ll carry that guilt with me until I die,” Beverly spat at him. “I’m not some fucking sociopath like you, who can kill his own best friend and feel nothing.”

“I didn’t kill Henry,” Patrick said. “I just dropped him off where he needed to be. Job was already done when I got him.”

“Oh, please-“ Beverly rolled her eyes. “She never would have killed somebody herself. She always got somebody else to do it.”

“She killed Georgie Denbrough herself,” Patrick countered and Beverly bit harshly down on her bottom lip.

“WHO did?” Richie finally shouted, trying to ignore the sharp, throbbing pain in his skull. Beverly and Patrick both held long eye contact before Beverly sighed.

“Richie… you don’t want me to tell you,” she said softly. “I promise you don’t.”

Richie shook his head, looking away in disgust as Patrick turned his predatory gaze back onto Beverly. “$3,000 for the prize of the life of a thirteen year old girl. Was it worth it, Bev?” Suddenly he was knocking into Richie and fumbling with the pockets of Richie’s jeans. Richie let out a soft shout, eyes dropping shut as he was jostled around once again, but managing to hold himself conscious as Patrick waved Richie’s cell phone in Beverly’s face. “What if we called dear, sweet, Stanley Uris and let him know just what exactly he helped you cover up?”

xxx

Incoming call from Richie Tozier <3

Eddie’s heart stopped for a good thirty seconds in his chest as he stared at his ringing phone. He then turned rapidly on his heel and rushed back to the group of makeshift friends in the living room, forgetting all about the intent to chase after Bill. “Guys…” Eddie wheezed as he slid into the room. “It’s… Richie.”

Stanley’s eyes flashed. “Answer it.

Eddie nodded, oxygen being just a little hard to get into his lungs at the moment. He hit accept, and wheezed only once before getting out actual words. “Richie… Richie, where are you-“

“Try again, sweet cheeks,” the slimy voice came through the speakers and Eddie’s heart fell right out of his body. In that moment, Eddie was sure he’d completely forgotten how to be alive and was being carried through human existence by pure will of the universe. “Eddie, baby, put it on speaker!”

With shaking hands, Eddie did as he was told. He held out the it out towards the room. “Losers!” Patrick called joyfully to them all. “Everybody listening?” Patrick laughed through the phone line. “Is Stanny boy there? Put him on, got somebody who wants to speak with him.” Beverly’s screaming voice, probably words but too far away to make out anything besides high pitch shouts, came through the line.

Stan stepped forward and took the phone from Eddie’s trembling hands. “Patrick let them go,” he said calmly, holding the phone up towards himself while keeping it on speaker so the full room could hear. Ben’s arm slipped around Aurora’s back, and Mike pulled a shaking Patty into his chest. Eddie stared, unblinking, at his phone while it counted how long the conversation had been taking place.

Patrick makes a sighing noise, and the sound of what was likely his hand running across Beverly’s face echoed across the line. Eddie squeezed his shuts and Aurora cupped a hand over her mouth. Richie could be heard shouting towards Patrick, but even from the distance Richie must have been from his phone, Eddie could hear that his words were slurring.

“Stan, Stan, Stanley…” Patrick hummed. “You know, maybe after tonight you’ll finally be the lone wolf you’ve always claimed to be? Patty’s there, too, isn’t she? Hiiii, Patty!”

“Patrick, you bastard!” Patty shrieked, loosing herself in a way Eddie had never heard before. In a way he didn’t even know was possible. Mike’s arms came out to grab at her hips, pulling her to him as though she could physically fight Patrick Hockstetter through the phone. Eddie wished that she could.

“Patrick, where the fuck are you?” Stanley practically growled, his voice the perfect picture of rage but just looking at him, Eddie could see the truth. The sickly pale of his face, the shaking of his hands and bottom lip. Stanley Uris was terrified, maybe more so than he’d ever been in his life. “I swear this isn’t fucking funny, you better tell us where you are. Now.”

“I don’t take orders from you, Uris,” Patrick snapped, then there was round of hushed whispers across the line then Patrick’s voice was back to its psychopathic cheery tone. “Is Kaspbrak still there? I’ve got somebody who has something to say.”

Eddie’s heart clenched as the broken voice came over the speaker. “Eddie…”

He grabbed the phone back from Stanley, entire body trembling now. “RICHIE! Oh my God, do you know where you are? Are you okay? You don’t sound okay, Richie… Richie, please, where are you?”

“I’m….” Richie swallowed audibly. “Eddie… please don’t look for me, okay? Stay inside. Okay? Don’t do anything stupid. Please.”

“What?” Eddie asked, tears burning into his eyes. “No, Richie! We’re going to find you! I promise, okay? We won’t let anything happen to you, everything is going to be fine. We’ll fucking find you.”

“No…” Richie said, sounding like he was crying… sounding like he was broken. “Please, don’t, Eddie. I don’t want anything to happen to you, you… looking for me isn’t going to do anything, okay?… Baby… Eds…”

“Don’t call me that, Richie,” Eddie said, fully crying now and putting nearly all of his thought process into getting the words out. On trying to breathe and speak. He couldn’t let himself listen to how Richie was crying, how Richie was implying it was hopeless. He couldn’t see anything around him; couldn’t see the sympathy on Mike Hanlon’s face, how Patty had turned away from them and pressed her hands up over her ears.

“Eddie, you know I-“ Richie paused, seemingly trying to figure out how to finish. While it was still thinking it over, a loud gun shot rang out. Beverly’s screaming of his name was cut out as the line beeped then went dead.

#reddie #reddie fic #it fanfiction #my writing #blood in the water #richie are you okay..... are you okay richie

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weekendwarriorblog · 3 years

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The Weekend Warrior 9/10/21 - MALIGNANT, THE CARD COUNTER, TIFF 2021, LANGUAGE LESSONS, THE ALPINIST, EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE, FAUCI, and More!

Before we get to this week’s releases-- and there are a lot of them, though not necessarily wide releases -- I probably should mention that the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is beginning this week up North across the board. I was unable to go in person, more due to the money than any worries about COVID. (Honestly, I have no idea what’s going on at the border right now between America and Canada, but I figured I better wait it out before attending TIFF in person… until I can actually afford it.)

This year’s TIFF offers a lot of premieres, most of them taking place in physical theaters in Toronto, such as Edgar Wright’s, Last Night in Soho, (which just premiered in Venice) and Universal’s musical, Dear Evan Hansen, as well as David Gordon Green’s horror sequel, Halloween Kills (which also just played in Venice oddly). Other movies playing TIFF include Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, and The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, both which star Benedict Cumberbatch. Mihael Peace's Encounter, starring Riz Ahmed and Octavia Spencer, and docs like Julia (as in "Child") and Attica. There’s even a doc about the Canadian rock band, Triumph! (I’m looking forward to that one.) Antoine Fuqua’s remake of the German film, The Guilty, starring TIFF regular Jake Gyllenhaal, will have its premiere, and many, many more. Too many to watch, let alone write about, but I’ll try to review a few of these over at Below the Line and maybe some here. (There are also lots of movies that premiered at Cannes in July that will play at TIFF, and some of those will also play at New York Film Festival later this month, which is where I’ll see them.)

A movie that I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time and is finally seeing the light of day is James Wan’s return to horror, MALIGNANT (Warner Bros.). Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll have a chance to see this before Friday, which is a bit of a bummer, but I’ll look forward to seeing it with the common people in a theater. Because I’m looking forward to this movie so much, I haven’t even watched the latest trailer, so I really don’t know too much about it, which may be for the better.

Of course, you know Wan’s name from some of the most successful horror franchises of the past two decades, starting with Saw in 2004. After a few movies that didn’t do quite so well, Wan reteamed with his Saw collaborator Leigh Whannell for Insidious in 2010, which also did very well and created a similarly successful franchise. (Whannell would go on to direct the third movie in the series, the respectable sci-fi thriller Upgrade, and then he directed 2020’s The Invisible Man for Universal, which was also a substantial hit.) Meanwhile Wan went on to direct The Conjuring in 2013 and its 2016 sequel, The Conjuring 2, based on the true case files of supernatural investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, played by regular Wan collaborator Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. Both of those “Conjuring” movies opened with $40 million+, and you guessed it, they also led to hugely successful franchises for Warner Bros with spin-offs galore.

Although Wan has been making big studio mega-blockbusters like Furious 7 and Aquaman in recent years -- and he’s hard at work on a sequel to the latter -- Malignant is his return to horror after a whole five years, which certainly is exciting for horror fans and those who love Wan’s style of horror particularly.

One thing that’s become fairly obvious from writing about box office over the past couple decades is that horror movies are rarely sold on the names of their stars, although Wan has a fine lead in the form of Annabelle Wallis, who just so happened to have starred in the 2014 The Conjuring prequel called Annabelle, which did quite well. (No, she did not play the title doll Annabelle, if you haven't seen it.) And that’s about it. The fact that Wan can do whatever he wants these days, and he decides to return to the horror genre without stacking the deck with all sorts of name actor, is pretty impressive. Even Saw had bigger names actors like Carey Elwes and Danny Glover!

Although I don’t know much about Malignant, it’s definitely giving me vibes of Sam Raimi’s Drag Me To Hell, the horror master’s return to horror after making three “Spider-Man” movies. Although it’s well-loved by horror fans, it ended up opening with just $15.8 million in the summer of 2009. That’s a little daunting when you figure that Malignant is opening in September and in the second weekend of a huge blockbuster like Marvel’s Shang-Chi.

But there’s something else that’s been bugging me, as excited as I am to see the movie. I’ve been doing this a long time, and Warner Bros. has become almost legendary for screening all their movies in advance… every single one. I can maybe think of two examples of movies that didn’t get advance critics screenings. Malignant is screening for critics but only on Thursday night with an embargo Thursday at 10pm. That is not the move of a studio confident in a movie they’re releasing. Maybe it’s to avoid spoilers or maybe it’s ‘cause Malignant returns Wan to the craziness of the Insidious movies rather than the more commercial and mainstream horror of The Conjuring movies. I don’t know, cause I haven’t seen it, but I'm still gonna go see it on Friday night, ‘cause I like James and want to fully support his movie.

But that adds another layer of foreboding to the horror movie that will also be on HBO Max Friday, and it’ll be so easy for the curious to just hit “play” on their remote to watch it that way, which is what I think most people will do. Because of this, I’m struggling to find a way that Malignant makes more than $13 million, taking quite a distant second place to Shang-Chi in its second weekend.

Opening in roughly 500 theaters Friday is Paul Schrader’s THE CARD COUNTER (Focus Features), which stars Oscar Isaac as former prison inmate and professional gambler, “William Tell,” who drives around the casino circuit making money by playing blackjack and poker. He meets two people on his journey that changes the course of his path, the first being Tye Sheridan’s Cirk (Yes, with a “C”), a young man whose father ended up killing himself after serving time in military prison for crimes at Abu Ghraib. Tiffany Haddish plays La Lina, a woman who sees Will’s talent playing cards and wants to put him in her stable of players. The relationship between these three characters is what keeps the movie interesting even when there are only a few minor dramatic fireworks.

If there’s any doubt that Schrader, a significant Hollywood player in the ‘70s and ‘80s, is firing on all cylinders then The Card Counter confirms that 2017’s First Reformed was no fluke, as Schrader remains valid and important well into his 70s. Like First Reformed, this film features an undeniably solid performance from Isaac, who plays such a subdued character, an enigma who every so often truly explodes.

Sheridan's sheepish Cirk seems like an odd choice in road companion, although Haddish proves to be quite a counter (pun intended) to Isaac, as she seems far more comfortable in Will's world. Trying to understand Will and what he sees in Cirk and why he joins the World Poker Tour circuit despite wanting to remain anonymous is what keeps The Card Counter so invigorating. (One odd thing is that despite the title and the opening which literally teaches the viewer how to count cards while playing Blackjack, in most of the movie he’s actually playing poker.)

Folks who enjoy poker movies and the intricacies of Vegas and the gambling community in general should really enjoy The Card Counter for that aspect alone, but then there's the past of the main character, which ties into Abu Ghraib and the horrors of the tortures committed there. Some might feel that two decades after 9/11 isn't the best time to bring those crimes back to the forefront, but Schrader ably explores what it must have been like for the military torturers after they were convicted.

Few screenwriters and filmmakers could pull off what Schrader does in terms of combining these elements, as the story weaves itself through these very different worlds. Frequent Schrader collaborator, Willem Dafoe, takes on a smaller but still significant role as “Gordo,” Will’s commanding officer who trained him to torture. Even so, one of my favorite moments is a scene in a diner where Will performs a card trick for Cirk that would make the late Ricky Jay proud just adds to one's enjoyment.

I will say that I wasn’t as thrilled by the movie’s last ten minutes, as it feels like Schrader ran out of steam in terms of how to resolve all the pieces of a puzzle, leaving a couple pieces out before completion. Regardless, The Card Counter is a constantly compelling film that keeps you invested in the different characters’ behavior as things happen to and around them.

As far as box office, The Card Counter isn't getting a very wide release but with so many movies in the top 10 quickly dropping away leaving movies like Shang-Chi at the top, it should leave room for Schrader's film to inch its way into the top 10 and maybe even the top 5!

A movie I’m unlikely to see and know very little… okay… nothing… about is the faith-based SHOW ME THE FATHER (Sony/AFFIRM Films), which will open in about 1,000 theaters on Friday. Okay, fine, you twisted my arm, and I looked it up. This is a new documentary about fatherhood from the Kendrick Brothers, the duo behind faith-based hits like War Room, Courageous, and Fireproof. I've seen none of those movies, though I know all of them exceeded expectations, but this is also a doc, and those rarely do as well at the box office. I wish I could give you a definitive number for this, but something makes me think it won’t make more than $2 million, even if the religious right seem less worried about COVID and vaccines and wearing masks in movie theaters than everyone else. Expect it to end up in the bottom of the Top 10 with lots of confused movie writers not knowing what it is.

Kristen Bell and Kirby Howell-Baptiste (who have appeared both on The Good Place and in Veronica Mars together) co-star in the comedy QUEENPINS (STXfilms), which is being released straight to Cinemark Theaters on Friday and then it will be on Paramount+ on Sept. 30.

In the movie, based on a true story, Bell plays Connie Kominski, a suburban Phoenix housewife who thrills to saving money with coupons, hatches a scheme with her best friend JoJo (Howell-Baptiste) to sell coupons via mail, not realizing that what they’re doing is illegal as they rack up millions of dollars. Unfortunately, they have Paul Walter Hauser’s Loss Prevention Manager Ken Miller on their tail, and he teams with postal inspector Simon Kilmurry (Vince Vaughn) to try to catch them women trying to scam the supermarkets.

This movie, written and directed by Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly, actually is based on a true story, but it took me a little while to get into it, and it definitely had its ups and downs. The first thing one has to get past is the fact that this is essentially a heist film that involves illicit coupons, and at first, Connie writing letters of complaint to companies comes across a bit like a Greenberg for middle-aged women. (Note: that film's star, Ben Stiller is one of the movie's exec. producers.) On the other hand, Kristen Bell tends to be great in this kind of role and you can tell she's worked with Ms. Howell-Baptiste from their organic chemistry as best friends. Joel McHale has a tougher time fitting in as Connie's husband Rick, but that actually works in this case. (A little trivia fact: McHale, Howell-Baptiste and Natalie Morales, whose directorial debut is reviewed below, all appeared in BenDavid Grabinski's Happily, as did Stephen Root, who has a small role in Queenpins.)

Queenpins eventually falls into a steadier pace with the introduction of Hauser's character and then bringing Vaughn into the mix, although the two of them have very little interaction with the two female leads, as the film instead cuts between the two duos. Hauser essentially seems to be playing a jokier version of Richard Jewell here, constantly trying to get more involved in the case and wanting to be deputized by Vaughn. The two of them work well together, and there's only one unfortunate scene involving… it's too disgusting to mention, but it's where the film needlessly delves into gross-out humor, and that's also where it falters.

As much as the law in this movie act like buffoons, the two ladies don't seem very much smarter, doing idiotic things like buying Lamborghinis and guns in order to "clean” the illicit money from the coupon-selling scam. Because of that, Queenpins gets sillier and sillier and feels less like any sort of possible true story as it goes along. The movie basically comes across like a less skilled version of Butter, but in that case, it was a movie that shouldn't have worked but did. In this case, it's the exact opposite.

Cinemark Theaters only has about 331 theaters across America, including a lot in Texas, California, and Ohio, but honestly, I don't think awareness is high enough for Queenpins for it to make much of a mark, but even if it makes less than a million, it could theoretically break into the top 10 this weekend, but I think it will fall just short.

The movies above are the only ones that may be going even remotely wide, so because of that, this weekend’s box office will look something like this with Shang-Chi remaining #1 with relative ease, Malignant taking a distant second, and Candyman and Free Guy fighting it out for #3.

1. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Marvel/Disney) - $33.5 million -56%

2. Malignant (Warner Bros.) - $13.6 million N/A

3. Candyman (Universal) - $4.8 million -53%

4. Free Guy (20th Century/Disney) - $4.5 million -42%

5. The Card Counter (Focus) - $2.2 million N/A

6. Jungle Cruise (Walt Disney Pictures) - $2.1 million -48%

7. Paw Patrol: The Movie (Paramount) - $2 million -50%

8. Show Me the Father (Sony/AFFIRM) - $2 million N/A

9. Don’t Breathe 2 (Sony/Screen Gems) - $2 million -30%

10. Respect (MGM) - $600,000 -57%

--- Queenpins (STXfilms) - $445,000 N/A

It was tough to pick a “Chosen One” this week, because there are a few decent films, but I had to go with Natalie Morales’ directorial debut, LANGUAGE LESSONS (Shout! Studios!), which she co-wrote and co-stars in with Mark Duplass. I saw it at SXSW back in March, and I loved it just as much a second time around, due to the simplicity of the premise and just how much Morales and her co-star do using similar Zoom technology we’ve all been using for the past 18 months. Duplass plays wealthy Californian Adam, whose husband buys him a series of Spanish lessons, given over Zoom by Morales’ character Cariño, who lives in Costa Rica.

You might think after over a year of mostly communicating with family and friends via Zoom, we’d be so sick of it that a movie that uses that as a conceit would be absolutely horrible, but maybe that’s why it’s easier to connect with what Morales and Duplass were attempting with this terrific piece of work. How these two people from different backgrounds interact begins slowly as might be the case while getting online language lessons from a new teacher. As they become more comfortable with each other, there’s more playfulness, as they begin to open up to each other. (Adam's Spanish teacher definitely has a dark side that comes out as things go along.)

I’m not sure if there was a lot of improvisation involved with the script as with some of the films Duplass did with the wonderful Lynn Shelton, but however they put this film together, it works in a similar way where it’s charming and funny, even during some of the more emotional moments. Because Duplass’ character is declared as gay fairly on, there's none of the attempts at making this some sort of meet-cute romance, as may have been the case with a studio movie. There's also never anything lascivious or creepy about their relationship, which makes some of the moments a little confounding, but ultimately, it all pays off.

Even though there’s a certain aspect of the movie that makes you want it to be kept organic and authentic-feeling, there is some gentle scoring by Gaby Moren that’s kept far behind the dialogue that does add something subliminal to the film.

Language Lessons is absolutely delightful -- definitely one of my favorite films of the year -- maybe because it thrives on its own simplicity by just having two actors doing what they do best.

Another great movie coming out in select theaters Friday is EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE (Amazon), starring Max Harwood as Jamie New, a fairly normal gay 16-year-old from Sheffield, England… other than the fact that he wants to be a drag queen. His mother Margaret (Sarah Lancashire) supports him, as does his best friend Pritti (Lauren Patel) but Jamie risks the ridicule and mocking and bullying of his entire Year 11 class as he proclaims his desire to attend prom in drag. This is the feature debut by Jonathan Butterell, a choreographer who directed the original stageplay.

I honestly wasn't really sure what to expect when I went to a theater to see this with a real audience. For one thing, I had no idea it was a musical. I had seen Max on some morning show talking about the movie and how it was based on the true story of Jamie Campbell, a British teen who wanted to be a drag queen, but I don’t remember him saying anything about singing or dancing. And the music and performances are all terrific, including all the young actors playing Jamie’s schoolmates, who have more than a few spectacular numbers to show off their own skills. (They’re kind of like the Greek chorus for the film.)

Harwood is exceedingly likeable, which is why he can carry this film, but it’s then an even bigger joy when Richard E. Grant shows up in a mentor role, as former drag queen “Loco Channel.” Grant has proven countless times he can do anything, and though his singing voice takes some adjusting to, it also leads to two absolutely amazing moments. Same with Lauren Patel and Sarah Lancashire, who each have numbers that would bring down the house on a Broadway stage but just gets the tears flowing as you’re watching on the screen. Sharon Horgan, who was just in the recent drama Together, plays more of the antagonist role as Jamie’s disapproving teacher, and her one number does not show that singing is one of her talents. (She does okay, and gets through it, at least.)

That aside, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is a truly wonderful musical (and movie), one that took me quite by surprise, since I wasn't expecting something a bit more "Free to Be You and Me” (look it up). In fact, Harwood shines, and the cast around him does as well; the fact this musical was able to bring out so many emotions from me offers proof positive that it's a true winner.

Jamie is opening in select theaters this Friday, and then it will stream on Amazon Prime Video starting Sept. 17. I recommend going out and seeing it in a theater if it’s playing near you; it’s a real crowdpleaser, for sure.

Also launching on Amazon this Friday is the series, THE VOYEURS (Amazon), starring the terrific Sidney Sweeney (who many will know from Mike White’s The White Lotus on HBO Max) and Justice Smith as a young couple who move into a loft apartment in Downtown Montreal after which they become interested in the sex life of their neighbors across the street (played by Ben Hardy and Natash Liu Bordizzo).

I’ve really been looking forward to the action-thriller KATE (Netflix), starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who I love, so sue me. It also stars Woody Harrelson, who I’m also a fan of. Directed by Cedric Nicholas-Troyan (The Huntsman: Winter’s War), it has Winstead playing Kate, a kick-ass assassin who has 24 hours to get revenge on the man who tries to kill her, eventually teaming with the daughter of one of her targets. Harrelson plays her handler.

The fact that this movie, starring one of my favorite actresses playing an assassin and doing a bit more action than we've seen from Winstead in a while (Birds of Prey being an exception), comes so soon after The Protégé with Maggie Q may only be a coincidence, but whoever is making these movies clearly knows what I'm all about. This one also has a very tiny sci-fi angle as well, and much of it is set in Tokyo, so it has both those things going for it, too.

Is this Winstead's best role or movie? No, probably not, but it does show her versatility, the fact that she can do something like Scott Pilgrim and other types of genre, but also do serious drama, and this is much stronger a venture into a Japanese yakuza thriller by a Westerner than last week's Yakuza Princess. Much of that comes down to Winstead and Harrelson, who do a much better job selling even the weaker dialogue, because you can tell they're both taking it very seriously. Like Yakuza Princess (and Kill Bill, a model for both of them) Nicholas-Troyan leans heavily on his soundtrack and on some of the more stylish visuals, but at least this one offers other things beyond the constantly-circling camera in certain scenes.

Let's face it that watching Winstead taking part in some pretty impressive and violent fight and stunt sequences would probably be more than enough for me to enjoy this even, if there are moments that rip-off Kill Bill so obviously but again, better than other similar rip-offs. Eventually, Kate gets sidled with a young teen girl, Ani (Miku Martineau), the daughter of one of her victims, and that does take away from the "sole assassin” aspect but does give it more of the feel of The Professional. Maybe that would work better if Martineau didn’t seem much older than the teenager she was meant to be playing, which might be due to the fact that she swears more than Samuel L. Jackson. In some ways, Ani offers something more akin to Black Widow with a third act twist that few will see coming.

Ultimately, the movie works well as an action movie, if not slightly marred by its overuse of clichés. It probably will come as no surprise that I prefer seeing action movies like this on the biggest screen possible in a theater, and in fact, this did get a nominal theatrical run last week before streaming on Netflix Friday. Winstead's badassery does wonders at making sure that fans of her and the genre won't be disappointed by its few flaws.

Also hitting Netflix this week (today, in fact) is the doc BLOOD BROTHERS: MALCOLM X & MUHAMMAD ALI (Netflix), which has a fairly self-explanatory title. I haven't seen it yet.

A movie that people who liked the Oscar-winning Free Solo will also want to check out is Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen’s THE ALPINIST (Red Bull Media/Roadside Attractions/Universal), a documentary about the 23-year-old solo mountain climber Marc-André Leclerc, whose amazing climbs were counterbalanced by his elusive behavior that kept him mostly under the radar for so many years.

This is a very different movie from Free Solo, though. That was about Alex Honnold's determination to make one singular climb, while Leclerc was already making just as many impressive climbs at a younger age. It's pretty obvious that Leclerc was destined to climb even bigger rock faces as Mortimer (whose previous film, The Dawn Wall, was sadly overlooked with all the push behind Free Solo) and Rosen finally catch up with him.

I don't really want to say too much more about the film or Leclerc, since it's best to learn about him through the movie and the amazing interviews compiled by the filmmaking duo. There's a good reason why mountain climbing continues to be of interest to the casual non-climbers like myself. Great films like The Alpinist find ways to glorify these amazing climbers without glossing over how dangerous mountain climbing can be as a sport or hobby.

The Alpinist had a Fathom Event on Tuesday night, but it will also be getting a moderately wide release in theaters through Roadside this Friday as well. You can read my interviews with the filmmakers over at Below the Line, too. Also, I mentioned another Universal doc, Under the Volcano, a few weeks back, and I have an interview with those filmmakers over at Below the Line, as well.

Another doc of note out this week is FAUCI (NatGeo Documentary/Magnolia) from directors John Hoffman and Janet Tobias, which looks at the life and career of NIH Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, but it doesn't deal with the last year and a half where Fauci's main focus was fighting COVID. No, this goes back to earlier in his career, to when he started at NIH, meeting, working with and eventually marrying his wife, Dr. Christine Grady. (Nope, I had no idea he was married either.)

More importantly, the movie follows Fauci's role in the discovery of HIV and AIDs and the conflicts between the government and protest groups like ACT UP who didn't think Fauci and the government did enough to help the gay community fight against AIDS and certainly not fast enough to make a difference.

Hoffman and Tobias’ doc has a fantastic interview with Fauci at its core that sometimes gets a little cutesy, but also allows him to talk candidly about his efforts in fighting disease, including the efforts to help fight Ebola in Africa where it was so debilitating for those who couldn't afford medicine that the USA had to step in.

But AIDS is really the crux of the film's exploration of Fauci's past achievements (and partial failures), and watching a younger Fauci talking to the AIDS activists in a rousing speech is one of the highlights, as is watching the present-day Fauci tearing up while talking about an AIDS patient who died.

I’ve always had a bit of a skewed perspective on epidemiologists and infectious disease doctors due to a few incidents when I was fighting cancer, and Fauci has annoyed me for the good part of the year by being so wishy-washy and negative towards movie theaters (which led to a full-year of closings in NYC with no major super-spreader cases since they reopened). But this documentary definitely helped change my mind about Fauci, maybe because the general public really never had a chance to meet or know him or his work before COVID hit.

Fauci is quite a fantastic doc in terms of shining the spotlight on a needlessly controversial figure who has been politicized despite having held his position through six administrations. I would definitely point someone to this doc if they still feel negatively towards the country’s top epidemiologist. It helps to humanize Fauci much like the RBG doc did for the late Supreme Court Justice.

Seriously, there are so many movies this week that there’s no way I’m gonna review everything, but you can read about a few of them below.

A music doc hitting New York on Friday and then opening in L.A. on Sept. 17 is Tom Surgals's FIRE MUSIC: The Story of Free Jazz (Submarine Deluxe), exec. produced by Nels Cline and Thurston Moore (who happens to be playing his first NYC show in a couple years this Sunday). It covers the free jazz movement of the '60s and '70s that produced the likes of Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, and John Coltrane. The movie features archival footage from the '60s jazz scene and interviews with key players, including critic Gary Giddins. I'm not going to review this, but it's pretty good, because I definitely had a phase when I was really into this type of jazz, basically all-improvisational with less structure than the jazz that uses charts and such. I know that a lot of people hate or misunderstand the musical style but it's quite stirring, as is Surgal's film. I do feel you'll already have to be a fan of the musical genre to enjoy the movie, though.

Hitting Apple TV+ on Friday is the filmed version of the Broadway musical, COME FROM AWAY (Apple TV+) -- similar to last year’s Hamilton and David Byrne’s American Utopia -- which is being released on the streamer to coincide with the 20th anniversary of 9/11, since the musical is loosely based on the events. It was filmed earlier this year, 14 months into the pandemic that shut down Broadway with a fully-masked audience watching Broadway’s first live performance since the shut-down. This is one of the MANY musicals on Broadway that I’ve never gotten around to seeing but it involves a town in Newfoundland, Canada where a plane lands on 9/11 as they’ve been diverted following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

Claire Lewins’ doc THE WONDERFUL: STORIES FROM THE SPACE STATION (Dog Star Films/Universal Home Entertainment) features footage from the International Space Station and interviews with the astronauts who have been involved with the extraordinary space project. I hope to watch this over the weekend, but it sounds like my kind of movie.

Already on Apple TV+ (it debuted Tuesday!) is Bailie Walsh’s BEING JAMES BOND, a documentary about Daniel Craig’s run as 007 over the past decade plus, which you can rent for FREE on Apple, so go do that!

On Monday, FX and FX on Hulu will debut the first few episodes of Y THE LAST MAN, the new series based on the Vertigo comic series by Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra that I absolutely loved. Set in a world where every single male human and animal has died, it stars Ben Schnetzer (Pride, Warcraft) as Yorick, who is -- you guessed it-- the last man on earth. He’s also an escape artist/magician, trying to survive with his pet capuchin monkey, Ampersand, as he goes across country trying to find his girlfriend Beth who left for Australia before the event. It also stars Diane Lane (as Yorick’s mother, who becomes the President), Olivia Thirlby (as his sister Hero), Ashley Romans (as Agent 355), Missi Pyle, and lots of other actresses (because all the men are dead). I’m slowly making my way through the series, and I like what I've seen so far, but the first three episodes will premiere on Monday.

A few other movies, a couple that I’ve seen, which I just don’t have time to review…

Nicholas Cage stars in Sion Sono's PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND (RLJEfilms), which opens at the IFC Center this Friday. He plays a bank robber who is sprung from jail by Bill Moseley's "Governor" whose adopted granddaughter (Sofia Boutella) has gone missing. Cage's character is allowed to go free to find her, but he's put in a suit that will self-destruct in three days if he doesn't return. So it's kind of like The Suicide Squad, and though it has an interesting cast (including Nick Cassavetes, who also appears in Queenpins this week), I don't remember liking this much at Sundance earlier this year. (I actually don't thnk I got through the movie.)

John Pollono adapts his own stageplay SMALL ENGINE REPAIR (Vertical) to the screen with John Bernthal and Shea Whigham playing life-long friends Terrance and Packie with Pollono’s Frank, who are overly protective of Terrance’s teen daughter, Crystal (Ciaro Bravo). A chance encounter turns into a night that spins out of control as the friends have to make a tough decision about how to resolve the situation. I was pretty mixed on this movie even though Bernthal and Whigham continue to be great in everything they do. (I just think Whigham's recent movie, The Gateway, was better.)

Hitting the horror-streaming network Shudder (I have a subscription, because I’m a fan) on Thursday is Ruth Platt’s MARTYR’S LANE, a ghost story about a 10-year-old girl named Leah (Kiera Thompson) who lives in an old house with her family but whose mother has grown distant. At night, she’s visited by a guest who challenges Leah in exchange for more information about the house and her family.

Saul Williams stars and writes the score for Charles Officer’s AKILLA’S ESCAPE (Vertical), a crime noir about an urban child soldier set in Toronto and New York with Williams playing Akilla, a 40-year-old with a covert cannabis operation that goes legit. As he’s ready to cash out, he’s robbed by a group of masked youths. Akilla captures one of them, a mute 15-year-old named Sheppard that is associated with the Jamaican crime syndicate founded by his grandfather.

Jonah Feingold’s DATING & NEW YORK (IFC Films), which premiered at the Tribeca Festival a few months back, stars Francesca Reale (Stranger Things) and Jaboukie Young-White (The Daily Show) as Wendy and Milo, two Millennials who are thrown together at the worst time in their lives for romance, as they meet on an app called Meet Cute, have a first date, and then ghost each other before being thrown back together into an unconventional romance. I’m usually a fan of the rom-com genre, and I often can even withstand one that takes place in New York City and uses my town in a completely unrealistic way to show how romance can flourish here. (*koff*BULLSHIT*koff*) But then you throw in the M-word (Millennials), and this grouchy old man could barely get through this movie, though I’m not even remotely surprised it premiered at Tribeca. It seems very much like a Tribeca movie, and yes, that was meant in a pejorative way as the former “Film” festival has lost its way over the years. I’m half-kidding, the movie is entertaining enough, and I’m sure younger people will enjoy it more than I did.

A few other films I didn't get to this week…

DOGS (Dekanalog) AZOR (MUBI) BAD CANDY (Dread)

That’s it for this week. Do we have any new movies next week? I think Clint Eastwood has Cry Macho

#Movies #reviews #The Weekend Warrior #box office #Malignant #Queenpins #Everyone's Talking about Jamie #Kate #Fauci #The Alpinist

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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When Paul McCartney Braved the Set of Roger Corman’s The Masque of the Red Death

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Jane Asher is as well-known for acting as she is for dating an ex-Beatle, and in 1964 she brought Swinging London to the canteen of Roger Corman’s The Masque of the Red Death.

Based on the gothic short story “The Mask of the Red Death: A Fantasy,” the film remains the most ambitious installment in Corman’s Edgar Allen Poe cycle of movies, contrasting the bleak landscape of a dying village with the psychological torment of six rooms of color, and one with no color at all, just a deep black with a blood red crimson glow cast on it. Vincent Price stars as the sadistic and satanic Prince Prospero, whose darkness reigns over his dominions.

Price wouldn’t be this malignant again until 1968’s Witchfinder General, which was retitled The Conqueror Worm, even though it had nothing to do with the Poe story. In Masque, he throws decadent orgies to distract himself from the catastrophes which rage out of his control around him. The Masque of the Red Death came out in 1964, but shot in London during the titillating Profumo Scandal of 1963, and the pampered and entitled characters Hazel Court (Hammer’s Curse of Frankenstein) and Patrick Magee (Dementia 13, A Clockwork Orange) played could have stood in for unholy political unions. The 19-year-old Asher, as virginal peasant girl Francesca, personified the bright lights of the other side of town.

Asher was an iconic face of Swinging London and the emerging youth culture of the early 1960s. Probably best recognized as the little girl who makes friends with the astronaut in The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), she was a child actress who first appeared on screen in the 1952 film Mandy. Before Jefferson Airplane warned about chasing “The White Rabbit,” Asher played the title role in Argo Records’ productions of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass in 1958. While her parts in films like The Greengage Summer, and the 1962 Disney production of The Prince and the Pauper increased her visibility, it was a spot on the BBC’s Juke Box Jury which forever tagged her name with the pop revolution which was swinging through London in the wake of the racket coming from the seaport of Liverpool.

Asher was 17 in 1963 when the British magazine Radio Times assigned her to cover a Beatles concert at the Royal Albert Hall. “Now these I could scream for,” she declared in the story when it came out. Asher’s onscreen persona and public profile personified hope and helpful activism which may have seemed naïve to the Prosperos of the older generation but lurked outside their castle walls. Asher’s flame-red hair promised as much of a danger to the old guard as the Red Death. And he brought that optimism to the set of Masque.

“Jane Asher was wonderful to work with,” Roger Corman tells Den of Geek while talking about the restoration of The Masque of Red Death. “She was a very young girl. She had worked on the stage. I think she was in the Young Shakespeare Group. And I don’t know if it was her first picture or not, but she was very good. She was an excellent actress and very good and easy to work with.”

Asher’s Francesca is so accommodating, she tells Prospero’s mistress Juliana, “I will do what I must to save my men. But if they die, I will die — and so will Prince Prospero.” Asher’s performance is fragile and courageous, giving the character sensuality and dignity. As part of “the Resistance,” she is a worthy opponent for Price’s dark prince. Although she is uneducated, she can counter his Satanic philosophies and self-serving moral relativism. She is also the stand-in for the audience to relate to as she ventures through the colored rooms with her eyes wide open, occasionally in shock.

The first cut of the film shocked the Catholic Legion of Decency in the U.S. and the British Board of Film Censors, which bemoaned the “Satanism and erotic costuming” on the screen, according to the booklet which comes in the restoration package. Corman cut nine frames from the scene where Francesca is stripped down and thrown into a bathtub because it gave the illusion of nudity. The removed frames ensured Asher’s breasts would not appear on screen.

Offscreen, Asher was just as fresh and friendly as her character. The actress was also dating a very famous musician, who happened to write a big hit for the band her brother, Peter Asher, was in. Den of Geek asked whether Asher introduced Corman to any of the other players in Swinging London.

“A little bit,” Corman says. “Jane and I used to have lunch together in the studio commissary. And on a Thursday, she said a friend of hers was traveling through, on his way to London the next day. Would it be all right if he came and watched a shooting during the morning, and we could all have lunch together? And I said, ‘Sure, fine.’

“So, I got a director’s chair, sitting next to mine, during the shooting. And it was a nice, young guy, and we talked during the shooting. And I explained to him a little bit between shots, how it all worked. And then we all, Jane, and he and I, had lunch together. And it all went very well. And at the end of the lunch, I said, ‘Jane tells me you’re going to London. What are you going to be doing in London?’ He said, ‘Well, I’m with a singing group from Liverpool, and we’re going to be making our debut tomorrow night in London.’”

Yes, it was Paul McCartney.

By that point, Corman had already made the jukebox movie Rock All Night, which featured the music of The Platters, and would go on to produce the 1979 punk movie classic Rock ‘n’ Roll High School. That film starred The Ramones, who got their name from Paul McCartney when he tried out the stage name Paul Ramon. But Corman had no clue who he was talking to back then, and the Mersey musician kept up his part in the masquerade of red sauce.

“He was very cool,” Corman says. “He knew that as an American, I didn’t know who The Beatles were, or what he was. And as he left, I said, ‘Well, good luck, Paul, on your debut in London tomorrow night.’ And I remember he was very cool. He understood, and he didn’t want to say, ‘Listen, buddy, we’re the number one group.’ He just said, ‘Well, we’re a singing group.’”

Whatever show it was Paul’s singing group was in town for, the band apparently passed the audition. “Then I saw the paper Sunday morning headlines, ‘Beatles conquer London,’” Corman remembers.

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While McCartney never came back to the set again. It wasn’t the last informal encounter the two legends had. “We were at an Academy Award party, which was I think the Vanity Fair party, and I saw across the room Paul McCartney,” Corman recalls. “And I said, ‘Oh, there’s Paul over there.’ And my wife, Julie, said, ‘Let’s go over and talk to him.’ And I said,’”No. I had lunch with him 60 years or so ago. He isn’t going to remember some guy he had lunch with 60 years ago, and I don’t want to intrude’ because he was in a conversation.

“And Julie said, ‘Well, I want to meet Paul McCartney.’ So, she went over and talked to him, and he came over to see me. As he approached, he said, ‘Masque of the Red Death.’ He knew exactly where we’d met.”

Shortly after the filming of The Masque of the Red Death, McCartney moved into the attic of Asher’s parents’ 18th-century London townhouse. McCartney and John Lennon wrote many of their signature songs in a music room in the basement, including “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”

Asher inspired McCartney to write classic love songs like “All My Loving,” “And I Love Her,” and “Here There and Everywhere.” Their relationship also drove him to pen the equally classic “We Can Work It Out,” “You Won’t See Me,” and “I’m Looking Through You,” which McCartney says, in the biography Many Years From Now by Barry Miles, “I seem to remember after an argument with Jane.”

Jane’s mother, Margaret Asher, taught McCartney to play the recorder, which was used on the song “The Fool on the Hill.” That song was written about Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and Asher was part of the Beatles’ entourage on the band’s meditation retreat to India.

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After The Masque of the Red Death, Asher would go on to star in Alfie opposite Michael Caine in 1966 and continue a diverse artistic course. Besides being a consistent presence on film, television, and stage, Asher has written three novels: The Longing, The Question, and Losing It.The Masque of the Red Death will be available on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital on Jan. 25.

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thisdaynews · 4 years

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POLITICO Playbook: What Trump still doesn’t get about Pelosi

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POLITICO Playbook: What Trump still doesn’t get about Pelosi

A QUICK REALITY CHECK … PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMPtweeted this — in part — on Christmas: “Why should Crazy Nancy Pelosi, just because she has a slight majority in the House, be allowed to Impeach the President of the United States?”

WELL, DEFINE“slight.” SpeakerNANCYPELOSIstarted out this Congress with a 36-seat majority — which is the fifth-largest of all majorities since the 105th Congress, in 1997-1999.PELOSIhad the largest majority in the last decade — 79 seats — which came just afterBARACK OBAMAwon the White House, between 2009 and 2011. The smallest majority was seven seats, between 2001 and 2003. Republicans held a 19-seat majority when they impeachedBILL CLINTON.

IT’S POSSIBLEthat Trump has never fundamentally understood the power shift in Washington brought about by the 2018 midterms. He went from dealing with an all-Republican Congress to having to fend off a ferocious Democratic majority in the House that has largely held together despite its geographic and ideological diversity. That is one reason, perhaps, that he finds himself impeached heading into 2020.

ALSO:This missive fromTRUMPcame after this presidential message: “Together, we must strive to foster a culture of deeper understanding and respect—traits that exemplify the teachings of Christ.”

IN CASE SAN FRANCISCO DEMS ARE LOOKING FOR TRUMP’S ADVICE, @realDonaldTrumpthis morning:“‘Nancy Pelosi has no leverage over the Senate. Mitch McConnell did not nose his way into the impeachment process in the House, and she has no standing in the Senate.’ Brad Blakeman. Crazy Nancy should clean up her filthy dirty District & help the homeless there. A primary for N?”

— FOR THE RECORD:California does not have traditional primaries. It has a “jungle primary,” in which both parties participate, and the top two vote-getters face off in the general election. In 2018,PELOSIgot68.5%in a seven-candidate jungle primary field — the next highest vote-getter got9.1%.She won the general election with86.8%.

A PEEK UNDER THE HOOD … NYT, A1 … ERIC LIPTONandSTEVE EDER: “For Trump Organization, Office Skyscrapers Make Up for Lagging Hotels”:“With hotel expansion plans thwarted, marquee hotels in New York, Panama and Toronto stripped of the Trump name, and revenues lagging or relatively flat at properties like Doral, rising rent collections at office and commercial properties have provided the Trump Organization a sorely needed boost.

“Revenues at office towers on Sixth Avenue in Midtown, on Wall Streetin downtown Manhattan and at a third building in San Francisco — cities that are centers of political opposition to the president — have each jumped during Mr. Trump’s tenure in the White House, outperforming the family’s much better recognized assets like Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York, financial filings show. ‘Our office buildings are killing it,’ Eric Trump said in an interview. ‘It is under appreciated.’” NYT

BIG POLITICO MAG INVESTIGATION — “How Close Did Russia Really Come to Hacking the 2016 Election?”by Kim Zetter: “Government reports indicate a Florida election technology company was hacked in 2016. There’s plenty the public doesn’t know about the incident—but should—going into 2020.”

— WAPO: “U.S. Cybercom contemplates information warfare to counter Russian interference in 2020 election,”by Ellen Nakashima: “Military cyber officials are developing information warfare tactics that could be deployed against senior Russian officials and oligarchs if Moscow tries to interfere in the 2020 U.S. elections through hacking election systems or sowing widespread discord, according to current and former U.S. officials.

“One option being explored by U.S. Cyber Command would target senior leadershipand Russian elites, though probably not President Vladimir Putin, which would be considered too provocative, said the current and former officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity. The idea would be to show that the target’s sensitive personal data could be hit if the interference did not stop, though officials declined to be more specific.” WaPo

— “Election officials learn military mindset ahead of 2020 vote,”by AP’s Christina Cassidy

Good Thursday morning.Happy Boxing Day.

FLAGGING FOR STEPHEN MILLER AND CO. — L.A. TIMES: “Seeing a Central American surge, Mexicans join the asylum line at the U.S. border,”by Patrick McDonald in Matamoros, Mexico: “Word about Central Americans and others gaining U.S. footholds via the asylum process has spread to violence-racked areas of Mexico, prompting many to head north to border towns, from Matamoros on the Gulf of Mexico to Tijuana on the Pacific.

“‘First we heard about the caravans,then we heard that the Central Americans were getting asylum in the United States,’ said José Antonio Mendoza, 28, another asylum hopeful here from Guerrero, the western Mexican state where Acapulco is also situated. ‘And then we heard that asylum was also a possibility for Mexicans.’ Mendoza has been waiting here for two months with his wife and two children, ages 3 and 7.” LAT

A USEFUL UPDATE ON THE GOVERNMENT,via WaPo’s Greg Miller and Greg Jaffe: “The new Russia adviser at the White House — the third in just six months — has no meaningful background on the subject. The only expert on Ukraine has never spoken with President Trump, only been mocked by him publicly.

“The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv will soon be without its highest-rankingdiplomat for the second time in a year, as another ambassador departs after being undermined by the U.S. president and his personal attorney.

“The CIA analyst who triggered the impeachment inquiry continues to workon issues relating to Russia and Ukraine, but when threats against him spike — often seemingly spurred by presidential tweets — he is driven to and from work by armed security officers.

“Having been impeached by the House, Trump faces trialin the Senate on charges that he abused the power of his office and sought to obstruct Congress. But the jarring developments over the past three months have also exposed the extent to which the national security establishment and the values that have traditionally guided American foreign policy are facing an extraordinary trial of their own under Trump’s presidency.” WaPo

HMM … “Murkowski ‘disturbed’ by McConnell’s vow for ‘total coordination’ with White House for impeachment trial,”by KTUU’s Sean Maguire: “‘And in fairness, when I heard that I was disturbed,’ Murkowski said before describing that there should be distance between the White House and the Senate in how the trial is conducted. ‘To me it means that we have to take that step back from being hand in glove with the defense, and so I heard what leader McConnell had said, I happened to think that that has further confused the process.’

“Murkowski was critical of the impeachment processconducted in the House of Representatives that she describes as rushed. … She says the Senate is now being asked to cure deficiencies in the evidence that will be presented at the trial, particularly when it comes to whether key witnesses should be brought forward to testify … Murkowski remains undecided how she would vote when the trial takes place.” KTUU

— WHAT TO MAKE OF THIS?It’s tough to tell. If Murkowski is, indeed, disturbed by McConnell’s words, does that mean she will build a coalition and block the rules for impeachment? Does she believeTRUMPshould be removed from office? We need to see how this will translate into action to fully understand the implications.

DOUG LETTER PROFILE … WAPO: “In court, he speaks for Speaker Nancy Pelosi,”by Ann Marimow: “After a 40-year career at the Justice Department, defending policies of presidential administrations from both parties, Letter now speaks for the speaker in courtrooms throughout the country while advising House leaders on impeachment. …

“With his small team of lawyers, Letter is locked in pitched battleswith the Trump administration, which has vowed to fight all congressional subpoenas for documents and testimony — and resisted cooperating with House impeachment proceedings. As general counsel to the House, Letter has a hand in an outsize number of fast-moving legal fights between Congress and the president. …

“Letter, 66, sleeps only four hours on a typical night,according to friends and former colleagues. When he’s not in court or crafting legal filings, he briefs Democrats on strategy and advises House leaders on impeachment. He talks frequently with Pelosi in meetings, by phone or in texts, with messages that also touch on a shared affinity for sports teams from the Bay Area, where Letter grew up.” WaPo

2020 WATCH …

— “Democrats seize on anti-Obamacare ruling to steamroll GOP in 2020,”by Alice Miranda Ollstein and James Arkin: “A court ruling last week putting the Affordable Care Act further in jeopardy may provide the opening Democrats have been waiting for to regain the upper hand on health care against Republicans in 2020.

“At the most recent Democratic presidential debate,candidates largely avoided discussing the lawsuit or Republicans’ years-long efforts to dismantle Obamacare, and instead continued their intra-party battle over Medicare for All.

“But Senate Democrats, Democratic candidatesand outside groups backing them immediately jumped on the news of the federal appeals court ruling — blasting out ads and statements reminding voters of Republicans’ votes to repeal the 2010 health care law, support the lawsuit and confirm the judges who may bring about Obamacare’s demise.” POLITICO

— BUTTIGIEG POLICY X-RAY … WAPO: “Buttigieg health plan hinges on ‘supercharged’ version of unpopular Obamacare mandate,”by Jeff Stein and Chelsea Janes: “Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg sells his health-care plan as a moderate alternative to Medicare-for-all — offering a government-sponsored plan to those who want it while letting others keep their private and employer-sponsored insurance.

“But the South Bend, Ind., mayor’s plan has a catch:If you choose not to enroll in any coverage, you could still be on the hook for thousands of dollars. Under Buttigieg’s proposal, Americans who lack coverage would be automatically enrolled in the government plan, potentially saddling them with a big bill at the end of the year for ‘retroactive’ coverage.

“Buttigieg’s campaign has said the proposal will ensure the candidate’s promiseof universal health coverage — without eliminating private insurance, as some of his more liberal opponents have proposed.

“But critics say the policy represents an expanded versionof one of the least popular aspects of President Obama’s 2010 health-care law: the individual mandate, which fined Americans for not having health insurance. The mandate was repealed by the 2017 Republican tax law and ruled unconstitutional last week by an appeals court. None of the other leading Democratic hopefuls have reprised it as part of their health-care plans.” WaPo

— NYT’S KATIE GLUECKin Creston, Iowa:“The ‘But I Would Vote for Joe Biden’ Republicans”:“The voters at campaign events for Joseph R. Biden Jr. here in Iowa and across the country aren’t just shopping for a candidate for themselves.

“As they jostle to take pictures with the former vice presidentand listen to him preach about national unity, they are often thinking about someone else — a dad, a neighbor or a colleague. They consider the political leanings of people close to them who are uncomfortable with the most liberal presidential contenders, but who hate the chaos of the Trump era and are receptive to the kind of centrist, seasoned candidacy Mr. Biden offers.

“Some Democrats have been warning the party not to obsessover these potential swing voters, arguing that electability calculations about mythical undecided moderates are futile at this moment of extreme political polarization. But for many Biden supporters, those voters are their Republican-leaning relatives and friends. And their perspectives are an increasingly prominent consideration as the Iowa caucuses near.”

TRUMP’S THURSDAY —The president has nothing on his public schedule today.

HAPPENING TODAY — “Netanyahu’s Survival Is Tested as Likud Party Holds Leadership Vote,”by NYT’s Isabel Kershner in Jerusalem: “With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future on the line — and possibly Israel’s — members of his conservative Likud party voted Thursday on whether to stick with their scandal-scarred leader or replace him ahead of a general election in March.

“Mr. Netanyahu, who was indicted last month on corruption chargesincluding bribery, was widely expected to prevail over his challenger, Gideon Saar, a seasoned but less popular party veteran. Even so, this is the most serious challenge to the prime minister’s party leadership since 2005, and fears of a low turnout on a day of bad weather made the outcome harder to predict.

“The result of the vote, expected to be known early Friday,will determine whether Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, will lead Likud into the country’s third parliamentary election in less than a year.” NYT

— POLITICAL CHAOS IN IRAQ … THE NATIONAL: “Iraq president Barham Salih offers to step down amid protests”:“Iraqi President Barham Salih has handed his resignation to parliament after refusing to endorse a nominee for the prime ministership from an Iran backed political group.

“He said that he would rather step downthan pick a new prime minister rejected by demonstrators but as the constitution does not allow him to reject a nomination he would resign. Parliament will now have to meet to discuss and vote on the resignation. If they endorse the move, Mr Salih will step down.

“Parliament’s Binaa bloc on Wednesday nominated Assad Al Eidani,the governor of Basra and a former minister of youth and sports. The alliance is led by Iranian-backed politician Hadi Al Amiri.” The National

CRACKDOWN IN MOSCOW — “Russian authorities raid Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s Moscow office,”by Reuters’ Andrew Osborn and Anastasia Teterevleva: “Russian authorities raided the Moscow headquarters of opposition politician Alexei Navalny on Thursday, using power tools to gain entry before dragging Navalny out by force and confiscating technical equipment such as laptops.

“Navalny and his allies said the raidon his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) was carried out by the Federal Bailiffs Service and was connected to his refusal to delete a video investigation which leveled graft allegations against Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and billionaire businessman Alisher Usmanov.” Reuters

— EARLIER … WSJ: “In a Big Shift, Russians Take to the Streets Over Everyday Complaints”

FOR YOUR RADAR — REUTERS/BEIJING: “China, Russia, Iran to hold joint naval drills starting Friday”:“China, Iran and Russia will hold joint naval drills starting on Friday in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman, China’s defense ministry said on Thursday，amid heightened tension in the region between Iran and the United States.

“China will send the Xining, a guided missile destroyer,to the drills, which will last until Monday, and are meant to deepen cooperation between the three countries’ navies, ministry spokesman Wu Qian told a monthly news briefing.” Reuters

L.A. TIMES: “Americans are retiring to Vietnam, for cheap healthcare and a decent living standard,”by Ralph Jennings

Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at [email protected].

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Matthew Verghese,deputy COS and communications director for Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Md.).How he’s celebrating:“I’ve come to love having my birthday right after Christmas because every year I get a chance to go home to Maryland and celebrate with family and friends new and old. … Luckily, my boss — Congressman Brown — is letting me skip staffing him when he presides over the pro-forma session this morning. Last year he had an interview on ‘Morning Joe’ at 7 a.m. on the government shutdown, which was far too early a start for my birthday.”Playbook Q&A

BIRTHDAYS:DoD’s Jonathan Hoffman … DOJ’s Mary Blanche Hankey … Katie Fallon, Hilton’s global head of corporate affairs … Candy Crowley … Mike Hammer, U.S. ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (h/t Ben Chang) … Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities … Noelle Troost … Eloy Martinez, senior director of government relations at the American Gaming Association … Natasha Walsh … Andrew Weber … Noa Meyer … former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) is 64 … David Sedaris is 63 … Kristin Davison … Scott Shepard … former California Gov. Gray Davis is 77 … Alex Zuckerman, senior coordinating editor at Newsy … Alison Moore … Peter Segall …

… Joe Maloney,partner at Locust Street Group, is 4-0 … Georgiana Cavendish… Ron Parker (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … Dan Drew … William Gordon … Bullpen Strategy Group’s Alex Angel … Emily Cyr, associate producer for “Firing Line with Margaret Hoover” … Nate Baker … Amelia Colton … Sally Fox … Jeff Quinton … Matt Neufeld is 58 … Jeremy Broggi … Synim Rivers … Cole Henry is 33 … Charlie Summers is 6-0 … POLITICO Europe’s Clémence Vatier … Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe … Rob Pyron … Joe Mosby … Jane Song … Ellen Field … Will Heyniger is 57 … Dave Nieuwstraten … Jennifer Duck … Sarada Peri … Scott Lear … Joe Deoudes … Jill Cooper Udall … Holly Shannon … Jon Henke … Bishop Garrison

Anna Palmer @apalmerdc

Jake Sherman @JakeSherman

View all our political and policy newsletters

#doesn #Foreign #Pelosi #Politics

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castrovulcant · 3 months

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I'm going to start a hit counter, how many times does Patrick Jane get hit because he's taunting someone.

Strike one:

[image description: Dane Kurtik punching Patrick Jane in the face. /end image description]

#Patrick Jane hit counter #I'm just going to reblog this post each time he gets hit with a gif of it #it might get quite long #I'm actually nine episodes into season three but my partner has decided he wants to watch the show #so now I'm watching it on my own and with him #I'll add to the counter when I'm watching with him #can't wait for lisbon to punch him in the facr #face #he deserves it #the mentalist

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alexanderwrites · 7 years

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Thoughts Roundup - Twin Peaks: The Return, Part 10

“Laura Is The One”

After the wild, nuts-to-the-wall freakout that was Part 8, Parts 9 & 10 have returned us to a more conventional mode of storytelling - it should be noted that “conventional” is used here very loosely, and that by episodic TV standards, these episodes are still pretty nuts-to-the-wall. Maybe part 8 pushed its nuts THROUGH the wall whereas 9 & 10 just gently press the nuts up against the wall. Maybe I should drop this analogy altogether and get into what was a slow, ruminative but intensely powerful hour of TV. (Also - I didn’t do a write up last week because i’m stupid and forgot).

. The violence against women in this episode can’t be ignored. It’s right there, front and centre. We start with Horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE Richard Horne being his horrible self and killing (or at least brutally attacking, she seemed to still be breathing) a witness to his earlier hit and run, before we move on to Amanda Seyfried’s Becky, who is viciously attacked by her ALSO HORRIBLE boyfriend. The trifecta is completed when Richard heads to his Grandma’s for a vicious, intrusive robbery. There is commentary on violence towards women here: when Robert Knepper’s Rodney is accidentally swatted in the face by Candie, it leaves a small mark, but no harm is really done. She is beside herself the rest of the scene, wailing and crying and overridden with guilt and fear. She feels genuine sorrow - contrast this with Richard’s nonchalance towards his violence against women and we start to get a look at how disparately different victims of violence are treated.

The violence on display is as much about our perception of gender roles and their function within narratives as it is about highlighting how HORRIBLE these characters are. Having said that, it would be nice to see more female characters with a little more agency in the foreground. I do wish we had some more diversity when it came to leading women in the show (not to mention the almost non-existence of women of colour in the show) to counter-balance the violence against them. I believe the characters ARE there, but due to the unimaginably huge roster of characters, a lot of them are shuffled to the back. It’s a shame because you know what? I could watch an entire hour of Jane Adams’ Constance. She’s such a charmingly funny and unique character, and every time she turns up I hope she’ll get more than a few lines. Diane is similarly fascinating, but because of the narrative structure (and this and last week’s revelations), she’s being kept at arm’s length. A great character again, but I hope she isn’t absent in future episodes like she was tonight. Luckily we have Janey-E (Naomi Watts is just the greatest of all time and I won’t hear any arguments against it) as a prominent character, and she is a fascinatingly complex one, as she swings from being weirdly performative to achingly sincere. It’s easy to list a whole bunch of other great female characters, but I suppose what I wish is that they were more central to the plot in a positive way. Twin Peaks couldn’t be Twin Peaks without violence. It’s one of the things that the show is fundamentally about, and furthermore, how we react to, or DON’T react to that violence. But I don’t know that we need three scenes of it in one episode to highlight that. Then again, discomfort was probably the intent. We’re meant to feel like something deeply wrong is happening, and if that’s the intention then this episode succeeded.

. I talked about that more than I expected, so moving on! Nadine got the moment of the night for me when her Silent Drape Runner store was revealed. Get it, girl!! I adore Nadine, the absolute weirdo. I dearly, dearly hope we get more of her over the next 8 episodes. It’s almost impossible to see how she could tie in to the central story which is a shame because she’s one of the most fun people to watch on the show.

. The scenes with Cooper were a mix of hilarious and tragic, as they tend to be. It is both understandable and unfathomable how Janey-E could find him attractive - on the one hand, the doctor’s scene reveals how scarily in shape he is. No one’s blaming her for checking him out. On the other hand....come on. You’re attracted to the guy who drinks coffee like it’s a sippy cup of ribena? It’s a funny notion, but also a little sad because it makes you realise how starved for warmth and affection she probably is, as anyone would be. Him, too. Their sex scene is initially pretty funny because of Kyle Maclachlan’s fucking expressions (literally). Man, he has proven himself to have adept comic skills this year - as well as pretty much every other acting skill known to the profession. But as they lie together afterwards, it feels poignant again. It’s another reminder of how close yet far away our Coop is, and as much as I want him to find himself, I want Janey-E to be happy and find herself, too. She’s been put through some shit, having unwittingly married a non-human doppelganger manufactured by an evil entity who has escaped from another dimension. That’s a lot for one person. Plus she’s named Janey-E. How unlucky can one person be?

. I sort of liked the stuff with Jim Belushi and Robert Knepper. They give a couple of very intense and solid performances, but the problem for me was that it’s another complex storyline being introduced so deep into the series. If it’s one that lasts a few episodes - fine. But i’d almost like to see their part wrapped up - or advanced dramatically - by next week, mainly because there are more interesting threads the one these two linger on. I want more Doppelcoop. I want the Bookhouse Boys heading to the black lodge. I want more Patrick Fischler rather than the guys he gives orders to. It’s hard to judge from episode to episode which assortment of characters you’ll get, and it’s starting to feel like this series’ logline should’ve adapted an existing catchphrase: “Twin Peaks is like a box of Gormonbozias: You never know what creamed corn nightmare you’re gonna get”. I personally am happy with whatever assortment we get, but getting Belushi and Knepper’s characters is like getting a pretty nice plain milk chocolate when I could be getting a delicious hazelnut deluxe. It’s not bad at all, just...perfectly fine.

. When it comes to Diane and her relationship with Doppelcoop, i’m utterly intrigued and utterly uninterested in guessing where it’ll go. There will be a million theories floating out there about how and why they’re in contact, but i’d rather just watch the story play out rather than guess ahead. It’s a very cool development though, and Cole’s vision of Laura at the door was completely disarming and haunting. Again, I don’t really want to guess ahead at how Laura will play into the following episodes, but we know she will. That’s enough for me. I’ve been browsing the Twin Peaks reddit lately (I know...I know) and i’ve gotta admit i’m waring very thin from it. Not EVERYTHING is a thing, guys. I’m beginning to think all the fan theories are detracting from the story, when really i’d rather just experience the ride. We can’t outsmart Frost and Lynch and they’ll tell us what they want and in the manner they want to. And anyway, more interesting than a tenuous “it’s all set in another dimension and i have proof!” theory is something that put maybe the biggest smile on my face yet: ALBERT ON A DATE!!! With CONSTANCE!! How utterly delightful. I guess he’s got over his love of Harry Truman, then.

. I really thought we were going to get Audrey this episode, as we inch closer and closer towards her through her horrible bastard son. Seeing more of Johnny this season has been a surprise, but from what happens to him tonight, not a pleasant one. It is fully heartbreaking watching him try to wriggle out of his restraints to rescue his Mum, and a pretty solid metaphor for so many of the male characters on the show: When a woman is being hurt, the men are impotent to help. For Johnny, it’s understandable that he can’t, the poor guy. But for the other men? It’s not that they can’t, it’s that they won’t. Harry Dean Stanton’s Carl plays a lovely old folk song outside his trailer, looking briefly torn up when he sees a mug go flying through a trailer window, the sound of a furious male voice growling from inside. Does he go and intervene? He doesn’t. And he’s a ‘good guy’, right? I re-watched Blue Velvet again yesterday, and was blown away by how full of shit Jeffery Beaumont’s good-guy image is. Like Carl, when he sees Dorothy’s attack, he doesn’t step in. He just watches. This seems to be a recurring theme with Lynch: those who see violence against women stand by and allow it to happen. And there ARE Carls everywhere, who’d rather say “That’s sad but not my business” than stand up and help. What happens to the Woman who witnesses evil (ie Richard’s hit and run) and tries to report it? She’s destroyed by a Man. God, it’s heartbreaking. The layers of commentary get deeper even as I write this, and I realise things about this episode I hadn’t thought of. I think part 10 is the most troubling and divisive, yet most fiercely critical yet.

. And then, we get a surprise I truly wasn’t expecting: more of The Log Lady. Maybe the most iconic, important and wise character on the entire show, leading us onwards through the dark night. God bless the log lady, and god bless Catherine Coulson. Every word she speaks is fraught with such pain and feeling, and it’d be a fucking sin for us to not cherish every word of it. I found myself listening to her words just as Hawk does - with eyes almost closed, in utter silence, revering them and their power. At the centre of this Season, underneath it all, the real heroes are Hawk and The Log Lady. It is so nice, so utterly refreshing to have such a pure moment of goodness and beauty, and for it to be between a Woman written with true agency and a Native American Man who has risen to protect his town - two beautiful souls who are stepping in to save the day that the white dudes have repeatedly fucked right up. It’s a gorgeous scene, and it segues into a road house performance that is easily my favourite of the year so far. Rebekah Del Rio’s performance of No Stars (No surprises, it was co-written by David Lynch) is haunting and it feels like a turning point for the series - from here on in, the darkness in the woods around Twin Peaks is out in full force. Perhaps this is why the episode is so aggressive. I left this terrific episode feeling unsettled and troubled - and that’s exactly how we’re supposed to feel. There’s a bad moon rising over Twin Peaks.

“But in these days the glow is dying. What will be in the darkness that remains?”

#twin peaks #twin peaks spoilers #david lynch #twin peaks: the return #dale cooper #kyle maclachlan #TV #review

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theartificialdane · 7 years

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Galactica, chapter 249

Deck the hall with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, la la, la la. The Puerto Ricon sun is shining, and christmas is celebrated in the land of Galactica!

Thank you to everyone who has been patient in the wait for this chapter, and thank you to @samrull @toriibelledarling and @veronicasanders for their help, creative minds and their writing skills <3!

“I don’t think I can do this.”

Fame held onto Patrick’s arm. The comfort of Jinkx’s family jet, that would normally calm her right down, was offset by her fear of flying in such a small aircraft, and with all the people in here? What exactly kept them from falling out of the sky. Patrick squeezed her hand, and Fame took a deep breath, trying to center herself like she had learned in her hypnosis class. She had to admit though, it was nice to be sitting in such a big, plush seat. Hopefully the sedative would kick in soon.

“Of course you can.” Patrick gently titled Fame’s head, giving her a kiss. “Everything will be fine.”

***

Courtney chattered excitedly with Adore, getting all the latest gossip about her band and the stunning goddess they’d found to play bass, when Bianca tried to catch her attention from the other side of the plane. “Hey, baby! We’re about to take off… You wanna come sit over here?” Bianca flashed her dimples, gesturing to the spot beside her.

“Uhh, thanks, I’m good,” Courtney said, kissing the top of Kylie’s head and turning back to Adore, who raised an eyebrow.

“Damn, B, what’d you do now?” Adore teased.

“Fuck off, Adore.”

“Now now, be nice, sis.” Adore flashed a cheeky grin.

***

“Baaaaaaaaabe, come ooon.” Pearl smiled as she leaned over the table. “Let me taste!”

“No! Katya is helping me make these for your mom.” Laila laughed, fighting Pearl off as she tried to get her hands on the small fruity cakes.

“Just a bite! I’ll do whatever you want.” Laila suddenly got a flash of Pearl in bed, her girlfriend panting above her as she rode the dildo that had become their favorite, the thick black silicone so familiar to Laila.

“Okay okay, you can have some.” Laila smiled and held out a small piece of vzvar, Pearl taking a bite and moaning in pleasure.

“Mmh.. Thanks babe.”

“You’re welcome, now get out.” Laila pushed Pearl. “I have to work.”

“Thank fuck. You guys are nauseatingly sweet.” They both turned to see Trixie standing at the kitchen counter, chopping potatoes for Ivan’s dinner. Laila blushed, her entire face going red as she realized Trixie had been there the whole time.

***

“So...Alaska…” Fame attempted to change the subject, turning to the slender blonde. “I’m so glad we get to spend this time together outside of the office.”

“Yeah,” Alaska agreed. “It’s gonna be...awesome.”

Fame cleared her throat, trying to think of something to say to her. “How...um...how are the spring palettes coming along?”

“Hey Alaska, I bet this is exactly what you were hoping for your vacation, eh?” Bianca taunted, pinching Fame’s thigh. “Just chatting about work with your boss?”

Alaska giggled, nervously sipping her champagne.

“Oh, stop it! I was just saying that she’s doing a great job! You’re such a beast!” Fame swatted Bianca’s hand away, getting into a play fight with her, Bianca happy that she could distract her friend from the horror of flying, Patrick giving Bianca a gentle smile as Alaska slipped away.

***

“These vegan spring rolls are delicious!” Courtney smiled at the flight attendant as she finished her lunch, before she turned to Jinkx, bouncing in her seat excitedly. “Omigod Jinky, guess what?! You know that theatre agent you set me up with? Well, he got me a meeting with that producer friend of yours, Sharon-”

Adore’s eyes got huge and she squeezed Courtney’s arm, whispering, “/Abort, abort!/”

Courtney gave her a confused look, asking, “Huh?” and then turning back to Jinkx, who had a terrified smile plastered across her face. “You know, the one producing Cabaret? Anyway, I met with her last week to talk about playing Sally and she’s so funny, and I think we totally hit it off. She’s a little worried about my accent, which is hilarious because most Americans can’t even tell the difference, and--WHAT?!” She glared at Adore, who was giving her frantic eyes and shaking her head violently, interrupting her amazing news for some reason.

“Alaska,” Fame said, tilting her head, looking at the blonde who was finishing her lunch. “Didn’t you and Sharon used to date? I’m sure I’ve heard about it somewhere.” Fame smiled, happy to have a topic she could discuss with Alaska that wasn’t about work.

Adore’s grip on Courtney’s arm tightened like a vice. “OW! Stop it!”

“Uh, yes, we did.” Alaska cleared her throat and polished off the rest of her champagne.

There was a long moment of silence.

“So…” Bianca began, attempting to break the tension, “Patrick...fuck any cute assistants lately?”

***

“Are you sure the gift for your mother is good enough?”

“I’m absolutely sure.” Sutan smiled as Violet looked at the silk scarf she had wrapped up for Christmas one last time, before finally putting it in the car. Sutan had come to get her at her apartment, her boyfriend driving the batman car Raja gifted to him for his birthday. “She loves scarves, and as you know, Muslim christmas is all about the gifts.”

Violet laughed. It was kind of weird to her that Sutan’s family celebrated christmas, but she wasn’t saying no to a few days on Long Island in Sutan’s mom’s cosy little yellow house.

Frida yipped, and Sutan picked her up, the chubby little dog that could no longer be described as a puppy wagging her tail as she was zipped into her doggy seat in the back.

***

Jane sipped on an iced coffee, watching some footage in the cramped Post Production offices, when her field producer, Jeremy, walked up behind her, holding a flash drive, a sly grin on his face. “Check out this sequence I just cut together,” he said.

Jane took the drive and popped it into her system, playing out the reel. It was a sequence over the course of three holiday parties, focused on Bianca Del Rio and her famous predilection for pretty blondes. She was flirting with models, business associates, laughing and flashing her killer dimples. Intercut was Courtney glaring on, looking more and more murderous in each shot, ending with a shot of her literally dragging Bianca away from a pretty young thing and throwing her against a wall. Jane burst out laughing. “This is amazing, remember when we thought she’d be the boring one this season?”

Jeremy nodded. “Yeah, and it gets better. So we found this girl…” he threw some tabloid pictures down of Bianca and a cute blonde making out in a club. “They seem to have had a thing during London fashion week, last year. She’s a singer, got a record deal remarkably soon after this little affair. Sound familiar? She’s also younger than Courtney, so that’s gotta hurt.”

“You’re /so/ evil,” Jane said. “So, what, you’re sending her to Puerto Rico?”

“Exactly. We’re there anyway to film Courtney’s concert. Might as well add some drama!”

Jane winked. “Good job, man. We may have to give you a raise.”

***

“Oh /man/,” Adore collapsed onto the bed, exhausted. “That was a long fucking day, trapped in a steel tube with those motherfuckers, and one of my presents got squashed! It sucks.”

“Tell me about it…” Alaska grumbled, rolling her eyes. “And I told you not to bring anything soft.”

“It’s not soft. It’s delicate.”

“That’s literally the same word.”

Jinkx sighed, halfway through removing her shoes, one heel in her hand, both Alaska and Adore looking at her. “I’m sorry about everything on the plane-”“

“I know,” Alaska replied tersely.

“I thought inviting that agent to Courtney’s concert was a nice thing, you know? I didn’t realize it was gonna mean Sharon—“

“I get it, Jinkx.”

“Well, I’m sorry. That’s all.”

“Fine.”

Adore groaned loudly, one arm covering her eyes. Both Jinkx and Alaska looked at her. “Can you guys, like, please just…not do this anymore? At least for the time we’re here? Because it’s really starting to take its toll on my fragile emotional state.”

Jinkx looked up at Alaska, whose face was suddenly filled with guilt. In the next instant, both of them were on the bed, tackling Adore and covering her with kisses.

She shrieked and giggled, lapping up the attention. “See, this is more like it…” she purred happily.

***

Courtney sank down into the warm water of the hot tub, the day’s tension melting away as the jets pounded against her sore muscles. She took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh air, admiring the beauty of the Caribbean sunset.

“Room for me?” Bianca asked, standing above her with two cocktails in her hands.

Courtney nodded, and Bianca slipped in beside her, handing her one of the drinks, kissing her lightly on the cheek.

“So...what do you think?”

Courtney leaned against her shoulder. “It’s even more beautiful than you described.”

Bianca smiled, wrapping an arm around her waist.

“Bianca, seriously! Did you have to put me next to Adore and her...whatever you wanna call that situation?” Eddy, Bianca’s brother, opened the sliding glass doors, holding his fiancée’s hand, making Courtney jump slightly.

Bianca looked up at her brother quizzically. “What exactly is your problem?” she asked. “Hi, Rose. How was your flight?”

“Great!” Rose exclaimed. She settled down at the edge of the hot tub, lifting up her skirt and dangling her feet in the water. “And I have no idea what he’s complaining about.”

“I’m complaining because I really don’t want to have to listen to my baby sister engaging in sexual deviancy on Jesus’s birthday.”

Eddy stood at the bar, pouring drinks for them, complaining loudly, when Fame and Patrick wandered outside as well. Courtney groaned, already annoyed with the lack of privacy, but it seemed like that was a big part of an American Christmas.

“If it helps, Eddy, most historians think that Jesus was actually born in the Spring. We just celebrate in December because of the Winter Solstice,” Courtney said.

“Are we really talking about Jesus?” Patrick wondered, settling into a lounge chair with a beer.

Rose giggled. “Eddy hasn’t been to church in 20 years. He’s just being a pain in the ass.”

“Sorry if I don’t think listening to Adore get double-teamed sounds like a relaxing vacation,” Eddy said.

“Gross, dude,” Bianca laughed, nuzzling into Courtney’s shoulder.

“Exactly!”

“Miss Bianca? Dinner will be ready in 5 minutes,” said Maria, the villa’s chef.

“Thanks!” Bianca called, rising from the water and wrapping a long flowing cover-up around her bathing suit. Fame snickered softly. “What, bitch?”

“No, nothing! It’s cute.”

“You got something to say, blondie?” Bianca walked over to Fame and poked her playfully with her foot.

“No! I just...I can never get used to seeing you in resort wear. It’s so...casual.”

“Oh, go fuck yourself!” Bianca bent down and began tickling her and she shrieked happily, slapping Bianca’s hands away.

Courtney clenched her fists under the water and closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the cool tile.

***

“You see this one next.”

Violet gasped in delight as Sutan’s mom handed him a photo. “Oh my god!” Violet grabbed it, holding it into the light so she could see it properly. “Is that pink hair?”

Mani nodded, a smile on her face as well. Violet and Mani were sitting in the livingroom, Violet surrounded by photos of the twins, their mom having kept every tiny magazine mention they had ever gotten, and printed every photo they ever sent her. Frida was on the floor napping, snow falling outside the window. Violet and Sutan had gone up early, opting to spend the night at Mani’s so they could help her prepare for the christmas feast, and help her get everything she needed in order, though Sutan would never tell his mom directly that he was worried about her in her elderly years.

“Anada sometime silly boy, he think he was cool.”

Violet laughed, Sutan looked perfect in all of his awkward glory, his hair practically in a buzzcut and bright pink, Raja in the background of the party photo drinking beer.

“Can I take a picture of this?” Violet was already looking for her phone.

“You think that is best photo? Wait until you see high school times.” Violet’s eyes widened as Mani took yet another box.

“There’s more?”

“Anada look very cute in leopad pint.”

In that moment the door to the kitchen opened, Sutan walking in with a tray of tea and sweets that they had picked up on the way.

“... What are you guys doing? Is that my fucking high school yearbook? Mom!”

Mani and Violet both burst into laughter, Violet nearly doubling over as Sutan desperately tried to gather the pictures and speaking in rapid Indonesian.

***

“What the fuckin’ FUCK are you doing here?!” asked a delighted voice with a British accent.

Bianca spun around, and was suddenly greeted by an adorable young blonde, with perfect winged eyeliner and an angelic pixie-like face. Her mouth was open in surprise. She threw her arms around Bianca’s neck in drunken glee while the others looked on.

“Oh my GOD, it’s been ages! What a fuckin’ crazy-ass coincidence, eh?!” She pressed a kiss against the corner of Bianca’s mouth, giggling, then looked at Courtney, who was standing there as if she was trying to decide whether to throw up or stab her in the throat. “So this is the one who’s making an honest woman of you, huh Bianca?! Hi, I’m Zee. I had a sordid fling with your girlfriend back in her ‘I don’t do long term relationships’ days.” Zee threw back her head and laughed.

Courtney cleared her throat, wondering why Bianca wasn’t detangling herself from this pretty young thing, but determined to stay composed, especially in front of the Housewives cameras. “Hi, I’m Courtney…”

“It wasn’t that sordid...” Bianca said weakly, trying to keep things light.

“Whatever you say,” Zee winked, then exclaimed, “Omigod, Bianca! Remember that DJ at Egg? The crazy motherfucker with the gages?” She hugged her tighter around the waist, resting a chin on her shoulder.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Bianca flashed Courtney an apologetic look. The thing about Zee was, she was totally harmless, and tipsy, and having a good time. Sure, she might be crossing a line, but Bianca wasn’t about to be a dickhead to the girl. They’d ended on good terms.

Adore and Alaska stepped closer, clearly worried that something was about to go down. Alaska’s eyes drifted to Courtney’s hands, which were clenched into tight fists.

“I did what you said and slipped her my demos and she’s totally playing them all the time now! You’re a fuckin’ genius.” Zee stood on her tiptoes to kiss her again, and Bianca turned her face, making sure that the kiss landed on her cheek and not her mouth. Zee fluttered her lashes. “You’re such a tease…”

Adore finally couldn’t take it anymore. With an approving nod from Alaska, she stepped forward. “Zee, right? Hi, I’m Bianca’s sister. I /love/ your eye makeup.”

“Omigod, thanks!”

“You’re welcome! Can I buy you a drink?”

“Suuuuure!” Zee released the grip on Bianca’s waist and took Adore’s outstretched hand, following her to the bar. “Bianca, why didn’t you tell me you had such a hot sister?!” she called over her shoulder.

Bianca looked at Courtney, reaching for her hand. “Wanna dance, baby?” she asked softly.

“Not really, no.”

Fame and Jinkx wandered back over to the group with Rose, laughing.

Alaska grabbed Courtney’s arm and pulled her over to Jinkx, hoping to avoid any more tension. “Hey Court! Come tell us about your show! Maybe Jinkxy can help you rehearse tomorrow!”

***

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“It’s not a good idea. It’s a great idea!” Pearl smiled and wrapped her scarf around Laila, pulling the other woman in for a kiss. Laila wanted to be annoyed and maybe even upset, but she couldn’t when Pearl was kissing her, the other's lips so soft. Pearl pulled away and took another sweater which she carelessly threw into her bag, even though Laila knew it had most likely cost more than Turbo’s last vet visit.

“Don’t worry cutie. My mom is going to love you.”

“If you say so.”

“I don’t say so. I know so, also you’re bringing her the most bitchin Christmas present!”

“I am?”

“Yup.” Pearl laughed and held up a small black box. “A Cartier nouvelle vintage bracelet that’s a complete replica of the one she wore to her college graduation.” Pearl opened the box, and Laila recognised diamonds immediately.

“Pearl, I- I can’t afford that. Why would you get that from me? What about you?”

“I’m giving her a hand painted worlds best mum mug, from that pottery class I did with Max.” Laila couldn’t help but smile. Pearl had always been horrible with gifts, her girlfriend generous to the extreme in her daily life, but she sucked horribly at presents. Pearl shut the box, a smile on her face. “You’re my favorite ladies. I want you to get along, and as they say. Diamonds are a girl's best friend.”

***

Courtney threw open the doors of the balcony and stepped outside, tilting her face to watch the first rays of sunlight peak over the horizon. She breathed in, feeling her nerves settle as the warmth of the sun crept into the purple sky. She lifted her dress up over her head and tossed it down on the lounge chair, letting the fresh air caress her body.

Arms slid around her waist, and she jumped slightly, then relaxed as Bianca’s lips found the back of her neck.

“Baby, please don’t be mad at me…” Bianca murmured into her skin, pressing against her from behind. “I can’t bear it.”

“B…” It wasn’t exactly that she was angry. She didn’t think that Bianca had done anything wrong, really. It was more that this was, again, a reminder of the constant doubt that plagued her. That girl had been vibrant and funny and beautiful, and the chemistry between them was real, and so...Courtney closed her eyes, turning around in Bianca’s arms, knowing that this same discussion would only exhaust her, only make her irritated. “I’m not mad.”

Bianca smiled, dimples deep in her cheeks. “Good. You know, it’s officially Christmas Eve now. How about I show my angel how thrilled I am to have her here?”

Courtney swallowed, could feel herself breaking apart. When would she stop feeling this way? Would she ever stop feeling this way? Like she was only here by luck, some ordinary girl who Bianca had chosen for an inexplicable reason and everything in her life was on borrowed time while she waited for the other shoe to drop. Because if one thing was clear to Courtney after tonight, it was how utterly, utterly replaceable she was.

Cupping her chin, Bianca brushed their lips together softly, whispering, “I love you, so fucking much…” She took both of her hands and pulled her into the room, leaving the doors open so that the gauzy curtains blew in the breeze, laying her gently down on the bed.

Bianca quickly shed the rest of her clothes, tossing them to the floor, sitting down on the bed and leaning back on her elbows, turning her head to look at Courtney with that seductive grin that never failed to make Courtney’s pulse quicken, especially when her eyes swept up and down the blonde’s body. Courtney took Bianca’s face in her hands, pushing her backwards, straddling her on all fours.

Bianca slid her hands up Courtney’s thighs, gently cupping her ass. Her mouth found a stiff nipple and she swirled her tongue around and around. Courtney shivered with desire as Bianca’s tongue continued to lick and toy with her nipple. A hand slid up to play with her other breast and Courtney arched into it, soft sighs and little whimpers escaping her mouth.

Bianca rubbed her knuckles gently around her entrance, already so wet, and then withdrew her hand, causing a pitiful moan. Courtney pressed their bodies together, grinding against her desperately.

Chucking gently, Bianca pushed her hips away, holding them apart. She moved her mouth to her second breast and sucked hard on her nipple. Courtney let out a whine as sparks raced through her body and caused her to thrust into the air, the swollen feeling in her abdomen growing.

“Oh god, Bianca, PLEASE!” She moaned as Bianca tossed her onto her back and used her knees to hold her thighs down. She bent down and kissed her, long and soft and deep, letting her hands wander over her body with a feather-light touch, her skin hot and flushed. She grinned as Courtney moaned again in tearful frustration.

“I love you…” Bianca whispered, kissing a trail down her jaw, rubbing her clit harder. “I love you,” Bianca repeated, mouth moving down her collarbone, hands sliding over her trembling skin. “I love you…” she added, lips pressed against Courtney’s belly, tight with tension so intense she felt it might burst open.

Courtney nodded, panting, as Bianca’s mouth finally found her swollen clit, tongue swirling around and around. Courtney gripped her hair like a vice, crying out in relief as she started to come. “Oh /GOD/…”

Bianca sucked on her, stroking her quivering thighs until her fingers loosened and her body went slack. Then she gathered her up into an embrace, kissing her temples, holding her close, murmuring, “Do you know how much I love you, angel?”

Curling tightly against her warm body, Courtney sighed contently. “Mmmhmm…”

Bianca held her tighter. “You’re the best Christmas present I’ve ever had, baby.”

***

“What a good boy Ivan, you’re such a good boy!” Trixie smiled brightly as he fed his son, little Ivan’s hair sticking up in all directions as he munched on a christmas morning feast of a bowl of fruit, his brand new Baymax shirt already filled with stains, but Ivan was giggly and happy. He and Katya had woken up at the crack of dawn, properly more excited than Ivan himself when they led him into the living room, the lights on the tree bright as they unpacked their presents, Ivan loving every single thing Katya had gotten him from the grocery store. Trixie picked Ivan up and took him to the sink, quickly rinsing off the little boy, as he was already falling asleep in his arms.

“Trixie?”

Trixie didn’t look up, too focused on making sure at least some of the food came out of the shirt.

“Trixie. Trix! I’m talking to you.”

Trixie looked up, and he almost dropped his jaw at the sight of his wife. Katya was wearing the exact outfit from the final scene of Grease, even her hair done in the perfect style. Katya had introduced him to the movie, and in a drunken state a few months ago, Trixie had confessed that he never seen anything sexier than that very outfit.

“Katya.. What are you?”

“Why don’t you tell me about it in the bedroom, stud?”

***

“Good moooorning, my loves, Merry Christmas!” Adore sang softly, climbing on top of her girlfriends, wearing a Santa hat and nothing else.

Alaska opened her eyes, a lazy grin on her face. “Morning…”

Jinkx whimpered a little. “I’m Jewish, can I sleep five more minutes?”

Giggling, Adore snuggled against her and kissed her cheek. “What if I tempt you with cocoa and marzipan coconut pastries?”

Jinkx sat up, red curls spilling down her back. “I’m up.”

Adore giggled and picked up a pastry from the tray, shoving it into her mouth. Alaska reached over and trailed a hand down Adore’s bare torso. “Cute outfit, li’l bear. Very festive.”

“Thank you,” Adore said, batting her lashes.

Alaska stretched, arching her back and continuing to dance her fingers teasingly over Adore’s soft skin. Adore leaned down and kissed her, hands tangling in her hair, pressing their bodies together. Jinkx pushed Adore’s hair off of her shoulder and bit down gently, wrapping an arm around her waist, the other one snaking down her belly.

Alaska’s hands were on Adore’s breasts, toying with her nipples as the younger girl began to pump her hips, rubbing against her vigorously, lips parted, whimpering. Alaska smirked at Jinkx conspiratorially, the redhead grinning back at her and scooting closer.

Jinkx slung a leg over both of them, continuing to wriggle her fingers between their thrusting hips, two fingers sliding easily inside Adore’s hot, wet pussy as a thumb rubbed her clit in circles.

Alaska buried her face in Adore’s neck, clutching her ass and grinding hard against the back of Jinkx’s hand. Jinkx sucked a bruise into Alaska’s pulse point, fingers moving subtly, patiently, her free hand trailing down the back of Adore’s milky thighs, then back up to her hair.

Adore whimpered, hips picking up speed. Alaska’s fingers moved back to her breasts, pinching her nipples. Adore’s eyes rolled back and she moaned, digging her fingers into Alaska’s shoulders. She turned her head to the side, capturing Jinkx’s mouth in a deep kiss, tongues struggling for dominance as she began to come, moaning into the redhead’s mouth, thighs squeezing Alaska’s hips tightly.

Jinkx withdrew her hand, pushing Adore onto her back, crawling down her body to lick her clean, sucking on her clit, holding down her thighs as she writhed and moaned. Alaska giggled, turning to her side and nibbling on her collarbone, fingers drifting over her slick, sweaty skin while she kissed her over and over. “Our pretty baby…” she murmured.

Adore moaned again, arching up against Jinkx’s mouth. “/Fuck!/”

The three girls suddenly jumped at several loud /BANGS/ on the wall. “HEY! CAN YOU PLEASE KNOCK IT OFF IN THERE!” yelled an irritated voice. “Some of us are trying to think about the baby Jesus!”

Adore raised herself up on her elbows, chest heaving, eyes narrowed. “SUCK MY DICK, EDDY!” she yelled back, then looked at the other girls and collapsed back on the bed in a fit of giggles, arms outstretched languidly. “Merry Christmas, babies…”

They grinned, snuggling in beside her and covering her face and neck with sweet kisses.

***

“Raj, move you legs!”

“Yes mom.”

Raja rolled her eyes, and Raven laughed as she snuggled into the side of her soon to be wife. They were all in the livingroom, gift wrapping all around them as they ate breakfast, little Frida napping on the floor, Violet completely absorbed in the books Sutan had given her, while Sutan was trying to teach Mani how to use the new food processor the twins had given her for christmas.

Raven couldn’t believe the wedding was only a few days away. In just a few days she would be Raven Amrull, and she couldn’t imagine a better Christmas presents... Except the new diamonds Raja gave her, and the fur coat, and the trip to Hawaii and also the most adorable Jimmy Choo’s, but Raven didn’t care about the material stuff in life. Not really, not when she had her Raja,

“What are you thinking about my angel?”

“That I’m the luckiest girl on earth.”

Raven smiled and turned her head, looking up at Raja and fluttering her lashes for good measure. Raja laughed and leaned down, their lips meeting in a tender kiss, and Raven sighed, happiness washing over her.

***

The gang piled into the limo, sighing. They’d just attended Courtney’s concert on their last full day in Puerto Rico, followed by an afterparty, and were all exhausted, none more than the pop princess herself, who stretched out with her feet in Adore’s lap and her head in Bianca’s, looking like she might pass out.

“Did I do good?” she asked sleepily, as Bianca kissed her fingers.

“So good,” Bianca answered.

“Incredible!” Adore agreed.

“That venue was HUGE!” Rose said. “I’d have died.”

“I sort of died a little when I saw it,” Courtney laughed.

“I’m dating myself here, but I was so jealous that you got to do a duet with Ricky Martin,” said Jinkx. “It was amazing.”

“I know, right?! I’m so lucky he was available. I think we might do a collab on my next album.”

“Really?” Bianca asked.

“Yeah. Latrice is working on it. Fingers crossed. We talked about doing a video where we’re both in drag. How cool would that be?” she giggled.

“That is so hot,” said Adore.

Bianca cleared her throat slightly, realizing that this might be an easy way for her to bring up a collaboration with Farrah. She’d been trying to put that obnoxious meeting with the girl and her mother out of her mind, but the truth was, they did have some pretty disturbing leverage on her. “Have you ever considered doing other collaborations?”

“Yeah, definitely. Latrice is talking to Ciara’s people too, and so we’ll see.”

“What about like, someone more in your wheelhouse? I mean, that kid I was talking to at the Galactica party, Farrah? She’s apparently obsessed with you. Her momager called me and practically begged me to set a meeting. I told them to call Latrice--”

“Yeah, why would they be calling you?”

Bianca shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“And she’s not even a singer. She’s a sitcom actress.”

“Emmy winning sitcom actress.”

Courtney paused, grinding her teeth slightly. “How about we play a game called ‘Let’s not talk about the teenagers who flirt with you at parties’? Hmmm? Rules are really simple!” Her eyes flashed darkly.

“Uhh...yeah, sure. You look really hot in red, by the way.” Bianca tugged at her top. “So let’s talk about that.”

Courtney’s lips twisted into a smirk. “See, you’re already winning,” she said, pulling Bianca down for a kiss.

***

“It was a hate crime.”

“It’s a perfectly acceptable gift.”

“Don’t defend her!”

“She’s my mom Betty.”

“And that just makes it so much worse!” Betty kicked her shoes off and threw her handbag on the kitchen counter as they were finally finally finally back from christmas with Shane’s family. “She knew exactly what she was doing, and even worse, she made me wear it!” Betty pointed to herself, the bright green fuzzy sweater with a big orange B making her look like an escaped muppet.

“I think mine is cool.”

“Of course you do.” Betty rolled her eyes as Shane pulled at his purple sweater, a yellow S on it nearly burning her eyes. Betty sighed. “Can’t we just drink leftover wine and dessert and celebrate that we survived another year?”

Shane smiled brightly, pulling Betty into a kiss. “A true Christmas miracle.”

***

Flipping on the kitchen light, Courtney jumped slightly at the sight of Patrick at the table, sipping a whiskey, partially obscured by a pile of Christmas presents. “Jesus!”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Patrick said.

“No, it’s okay. I just didn’t expect anyone else to be up at 4 am. Plus you’re sitting in the dark.”

“Yeah, well…” he shrugged. “Sometimes you just need a minute, you know?”

“I’m sorry to bother you.” She bit her lip and turned around.

“Wait-”

“Yeah?”

“You don’t have to go. Grab a drink. Take a load off.” Patrick gestured to the empty chair.

Courtney nodded, taking a coconut water from the fridge and walking over to the table. “Uh, sorry I’m not wearing bottoms,” she apologized awkwardly.

“Could be worse,” he said. “At least I am.”

She chuckled and then sat down with a deep sigh.

“So. Trouble sleeping?” Patrick asked.

“Something like that,” she said softly.

“You know…” he began, then paused.

“Yes?”

“I...don’t want to overstep.”

“Go ahead. It’ll be refreshing to hear a new opinion for a change,” Courtney said.

“Bianca is really happy with you.”

Courtney looked at him, fingers nervously peeling the label off the coconut water.

“Look, maybe I have the wrong idea, but it seems like there’s...like you don’t totally feel secure with her. And so I just want to tell you...it’s not an accident. She chose you on purpose. You’re giving her something that no one else ever has. Including my wife.”

Courtney bit her lip, looking slightly ashamed.

Patrick raised his eyebrows. “I’ve seen the way you watch them. I don’t blame you. It’s unsettling, especially if you don’t know the history. If you weren’t there when it happened.”

“What history?”

“Well...let’s just say that Fame didn’t have the perspective that she has now. I was across the country, but even I could see that she was starting to have feelings for Bianca, that this alleged ‘friends with benefits’ thing was turning into more for her. And so Bianca ended it. Which is the only reason they’re still friends. Otherwise it would have ended in disaster.”

“Oh.”

“But you know, I can’t tell you how to feel. I can only tell you what I know, and what I see. And that’s that you make my friend really fucking happy. So...cheers.” He held up his nearly empty glass, toasting Courtney’s bottle of coconut water.

“Thanks, Patrick. You know, I don’t care what Bianca and Raja said during your fight with Fame. You’re not a robotic number-crunching cheater.”

Patrick threw back his head and laughed. “Thanks. And you’re not an empty-headed gold digging sex doll.”

Courtney giggled. “Cheers. To a safe flight back for the wedding of the century.”

“Oh god, yes. Get ready for The Raven Show.” Patrick laughed, toasting her.

“I’m actually super excited. Is that weird? I mean say what you will about Raven, but she knows how to throw a party. I think it should be a lot of fun.”

Patrick raised an eyebrow. “I admire your optimism.”

#galactica #au aag verse #rpdr fanfiction #my fics

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bromfieldhall · 7 years

Text

What Makes You Beautiful - A Mentalist Fanfiction

TIMELINE: Set some in the future after series four finale. Minor spoilers.

SYNOPSIS: “Yesterday I made a New Year’s resolution. I’m going to give myself one whole year to woo and win the love of California Bureau of Investigation’s Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon.”

PAIRING: Patrick Jane/Teresa Lisbon

Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

CHAPTER 6

"I don't know why you're being shy, And turn away when I look into your eyes"

~ What Makes You Beautiful ~ 1D

June 12th – 5.55am

Something's wrong with Lisbon.

I can't quite work out what it is yet, but it obviously has something to do with me.

I look over to where she's speaking to the man who found the dead body at my feet and let out a sigh of frustration.

Ever since I arrived at this crime scene she's been avoiding me. Apart from a barely spoken acknowledgment of my presence, there's been nothing. No fleeting touches, no smiles…she won't even look at me.

I didn't take much notice at first. I put her offhanded manner down to the fact that it's ridiculously early, it takes over an hour to get here to the National Park and the victim has been murdered in a particularly barbaric way. It's never pleasant to see limbs missing.

But the longer I'm here, the more aware I am of the marked change in her behaviour towards me.

I must confess it concerns me a little. Actually, it concerns me a great deal. Especially as we had our second 'date' last night.

It wasn't something I'd planned, we've been far too busy, it was just good timing for once. A case had closed quicker than anticipated when the murderer confessed, surprisingly easily even if I do say so myself, and I'd quickly taken the opportunity to suggest we get something to eat. She had agreed with a smile and we'd gone to a local diner. It was the only thing open at that reasonably late hour but to me, however trite it sounds, just the two of us alone spending some quality time together, talking, laughing…it felt like we were dining at a five star restaurant.

I'd walked her back to her car in the CBI parking lot and she'd turned to face me with a smile.

"Thanks for dinner, Jane, I had a nice time. See you tomorrow," she'd said then turned to go but I wasn't about to let her leave just like that.

"Wait, Lisbon, technically this was a date," I'd told her with a grin. "And if memory serves, you showed me exactly how one should end not so long ago."

I'd thought for a moment that she would make some sardonic comment and leave but she'd slowly turned back to me and tilted her head to the side as if assessing my words.

"You're right, I did," she'd replied, the slightly higher tone of her voice the only giveaway that she wasn't as composed as she pretended to be.

My grin had widened at the almost challenging look in her eyes and I'd gladly accepted it. I'd purposely clasped my hands behind my back so as not to touch her anywhere but her lips. I wanted all her focus to be on our kiss and nothing else. Slowly, I'd leaned forward, watching the way her eyes closed and she tilted her head back so that I might reach my prize easier. I finally placed my lips on hers and had felt a jolt of pure desire race through my body.

I shouldn't feel like that from just a simple kiss…but with Lisbon I just do. I can't explain why, I don't even want to try. I just know that I want to feel that way for the rest of my sorry days on this earth. Especially when it's one of those amazing, leisurely kisses that holds the promise of so much more, as last night's was…

She's really good at those.

And that's why her coldness this morning is like a kick to the gut. I don't know what I've done; all I know is that I have to put it right.

I shake my head in amazement. A couple of kisses from the woman and I'm completely under her thumb. Thank God she doesn't realise it yet.

I think back over the past few weeks and try to recall any trouble I've caused. I honestly can't remember having done anything bad recently. Well…not too bad anyway. I mean, yes, that man did end up with nearly half of his head shaved last week but at least it proved he was innocent. Not that he was grateful about it. Really, you just can't help some people.

"Any thoughts?" asks Lisbon brusquely, suddenly appearing by my side.

Plenty. How about I take you in the forest and…well…take you. There's a thought. You'd have to look at me then. I smile a little as my gaze roams over her averted features and picture her hair all mussed up with leaves from the forest floor. It'd be a good look on her. My body starts to react to my errant musings but as I study her a moment longer, it's evident that she's still not going to look at me and my warm feelings are swiftly overtaken by irritation.

"She's dead," I reply being deliberately awkward. I'm going to get some reaction out of her one way or another this morning, even if I end up with a broken nose.

"Anything else?" she enquires with just the faintest hint of annoyance in her tone.

"Her left hand's missing."

"Apart from that?" she queries starting to sound exasperated.

"Her left leg's gone below the knee," I answer helpfully.

"I know that, Jane! Is there anything useful you can share?" she solicits with barely contained ire clear in her voice now.

Just where I want her…mentally speaking.

"Walmart has a two for one special on taco shells. That's useful to know…if you like tacos," I inform her flippantly. I then turn to her and query interestedly, "Do you like tacos, Lisbon?"

"What the hell is wrong with you this morning?" she demands to know finally turning to look at me back.

"I could ask you the same thing," I counter with a frown.

My comment obviously brings her up short and her anger is quickly replaced by worry…no, not worry exactly…more like…apprehension. I'm intrigued.

"What? I don't know what you mean," she denies defensively .

Oh, but she does. I can tell by the way she can't quite meet my eyes again.

"Liar," I say succinctly.

Her gaze snaps to mine and a soft blush coats her cheeks before she looks away.

"Let's just get on with the case, shall we?" she proposes, all business once more. "Her name's Maria Henshaw, age 21. Worked in a local pharmacy in town."

I decide to let it drop for the moment and do as she asks. Pushing her further will only cause her to close up and I don't want that. I'm confident I'll find out what's wrong…eventually.

I drop to my knees and proceed to look over the victim in closer detail. A cursory sniff reveals a chemical smell I can't identify then I turn my attention to the rest of her body. She's obviously been hit on the head so I check out the stumps where the limbs were removed. My stomach churns a little but as I haven't eaten yet this morning, I know I'll be fine.

"There's some kind of unusual aroma you might want to get them to check out. It looks as though her leg and hand have been cut off cleanly and precisely so I'd take a guess at it being done by someone with some sort of medical background," I comment as I stand and brush the dirt and leaves from my trousers. I look up and catch her staring at me but she quickly drops her gaze, somewhat guiltily, and takes great interest in the lifeless body on the ground.

"OK, so you think maybe the person who did this is a doctor or something?" she asks logically.

"Possibly," I concur with a shrug then add drolly, "Maybe even a mad scientist that needs body parts for his latest creation. There are a lot of odd people out there, Lisbon."

"Tell me about it," she mutters meaningfully under her breath, making me smile.

I watch her walk away and go over to Cho. They talk for a few moments then both glance over at me before she walks off into the forest. Cho heads my way, notebook and pen poised as ever in his hands ready to take down any pertinent information.

"What did you do this time?" he asks bluntly.

"I don't follow," I reply, surprised at his question.

"Lisbon just told me to ask if you had any other idea's about our vic. She's gone to have a look around. She'd never purposely leave you on your own at a crime scene unless she's pissed at you about something; so what did you do?"

I'm a little annoyed that he's so quick to conclude that I'm somehow at fault but I have to agree that he has a point. Lisbon doesn't leave me alone at crime scenes. It usually results in too much paperwork.

"If I knew, I'd do something about it but as it is, I can't help you," I tell him tetchily. I gesture to the body and add, "Either with her or Lisbon."

I stalk off in a huff towards where I last saw the infuriating woman and head into the forest. I can hear Cho calling me but I ignore him completely. I want to know what has Lisbon so rattled. Since there's nothing I can think of that I've done, I'm beginning to suspect that it's something she doesn't want me to find out…and that makes me a little afraid.

Could she be wanting to end this thing between us before we've even got started? I hope not but it wouldn't surprise me either. Lisbon is nothing if not cautious and I'm positive that from that first moment I kissed her poor bruised face, she's been arguing with herself back and forth as to whether or not I'm worth the trouble.

In truth, I'm not sure that I am. I know she deserves better than me. She can certainly get better than me. But we still both have our own baggage that we struggle with and maybe she's decided that mine's just a little too heavy to help carry on a more personal level. I'd be devastated but I wouldn't blame her for that. How could I? I buckle under the strain myself at times. It's hard.

I continue on through the undergrowth and keep an eye out for Lisbon. My unhappy thoughts urge me on quicker and in my haste I fail to notice a tree root sticking out of the ground at an awkward angle. I trip over it and fall flat on my face so hard it knocks the breath out of me for a moment. As I lay there, my heart sinks as I hear the sound of someone approaching and lift my head to see Lisbon come to a halt a couple of feet away. No man wants to be found like this by the woman he adores. So humiliating.

"You OK?" she asks in amusement.

"Wonderful," I reply dryly.

I'm pleased to note that at least she's looking and talking to me now. It's nice to know that my little mishap has one upside.

She moves forward a couple of steps then holds out her hand to help me up. I grasp it firmly and quickly get to my feet. I have every intention of keeping a tight grip of her hand now that I have some contact but when I glance down at myself I reluctantly have to relinquish my hold in order to brush myself down. I'm a complete and utter mess.

"I'm surprised you bothered to help me up," I say conversationally as I run my hands down my jacket and vest. I grimace in annoyance at the odd smear of dirt that is left behind. I shall have to get this suit to the dry cleaners.

"Why's that?" she asks.

"Well, I would have thought that this scenario is what your dreams are made of, Lisbon. The two of us alone in the middle of the woods, me prone at your feet," I explain as I bend to tend to my trousers. "Just think of all the things you could do to me with no-one to hear…"

I trail off as I straighten up and my teasing grin fades when I see the way she's looking at me. Flustered doesn't even begin to cover her expression.

"Trust me, Jane, I never dream about you in any scenario," she refutes a little too adamantly. "I have enough of you during the day without you bothering me at night too."

Her eyes skittering away from mine negates that statement however and suddenly everything miraculously clicks into place. I've been so concerned that her behaviour was about something I've done, that I failed to entertain the notion that it was actually about something she's done…albeit subconsciously.

The avoidance, the apprehension, the grouchiness…the denial.

It all makes sense to me now and to say I'm relieved is an understatement. It isn't what I'd feared after all and I can't contain my smile that Lisbon was apparently as affected by our kiss last night as I.

"Never, Lisbon?" I check, raising my eyebrows sceptically.

She pouts a little and I see a frown start to form at my obvious incredulity.

"…Never, Jane," she verifies unconvincingly then blushes just to confirm my suspicions.

I do so love her stubbornness…even when she is lying to me. I watch her in silence for a few seconds more; just enough time for her to grow uneasy and begin to fidget a little and then I let her off the hook.

"OK, if you say so, Lisbon. Best get back to the scene. I want to have a crack at the man who found the body," I tell her cheerfully.

I turn and leave her standing there, confident that she'll follow. I hear her footsteps behind me and grin to myself as I walk back through the foliage to the crime scene, mentally rubbing my hands in glee.

If I'm not very much mistaken, and I'm sure I'm not, Lisbon had quite a dream about me last night…of the naughty variety. Very naughty if her level of embarrassment is anything to go by. Oh, Lisbon, you bad girl, you.

I wonder what we did? Whatever is was, I hope that in the not so distant future I'll be able to make that dream a reality for her…especially if her cuffs are involved. I've had a few of my own wild dreams about what she does with them.

I reach the clearing where the body is lying and head over to Cho and Rigsby with Lisbon still trailing a little behind. They give me interested looks as I join them and I realise I probably look quite unkempt.

"You've got leaves in your hair," Cho advises me, impassive as always.

"Oh, it's not what you think," I say with a diffident smile, knowing full well that it will make them both jump to the wrong conclusion. I run my hand through my hair a couple of times to dislodge the plant life and clarify tritely, "There was a tree stump. I fell over…"

Lisbon joins us and Cho glances at her guarded face then looks back at me and nods.

"Yeah."

Unsure of why Rigsby and Cho look a little ill at ease, Lisbon frowns and does what makes her most comfortable. She takes charge. Barking out orders, she gets updates on the situation while I go and talk to the shaken man who found the body. A few well chosen questions later and I rule him out of being the murderer. I turn and look around for Lisbon and see her walking towards me with Rigsby and Cho.

"The local sheriff's office are going to continue the search for the missing body parts. We're going into town to speak to Maria's family and do some canvassing," she informs me. "Why don't you go back? You probably want to change your suit."

Oh, you're not getting rid of me that easily.

"No, I want to come along. You can ride with me if you like?" I suggest with a winning smile.

With the two male agents flanking her, she knows it'd look odd if she didn't accept my offer. We always go together, even before I started my personal campaign. She eyes my car warily but nods her head.

"OK, but just don't drive too fast," she warns grudgingly.

We get in my car and follow Rigsby and Cho to town where we split up. Lisbon and I talk to Maria's family and the people at her workplace while the guys head off to speak to her friends. Our investigation moves along nicely and it's soon apparent to me that the victim's boss at the pharmacy is to blame. He'd trained as doctor years ago then decided to go into pharmaceuticals instead.

The motive is all down to medication theft. Her boss was actually taking the drugs and selling them on and Maria found out. He killed her with a single blow to the head. There was no real reason for the missing limbs, he just decided to do it. Kept them as some kind of trophies. Like I said to Lisbon. A lot of odd people out there.

I lean against my car with my arms folded while I wait for her to finish up with the local Sheriff and smile at her when she finally emerges from the building. I've been on my best behaviour since I realised her little secret and as the day's worn on she's gradually relaxed around me once more. I'm pleased because it means she's unsuspecting of a little plan I've been concocting. Nothing bad, just some payback for the way she behaved this morning.

"You still here? I thought you'd be long gone," she states as she looks around. "Where's Rigsby and Cho? I need a lift back to CBI."

"I told them they could go," I reply casually. "Rigsby was chomping at the bit to leave. Hot date I believe. I'll take you back."

I push myself away from the car and open the door for her to get in. She gives me a glare that tells me she's not happy with the arrangement but I don't care. I get to have her to myself for a while, that's all that matters.

Her mood lightens considerably on the ride home as I do my best to make the journey an entertaining one. I love to hear her laugh, even though some of it is directed at me. She apparently found my falling over a lot funnier than I'd realised.

As we near the CBI, I suggest we get something to eat and we stop at a roadside diner for a quick bite. Hunger sated, we continue on and finally reach the parking lot of the Bureau a little after nine in the evening.

"Thanks for the ride," she says as we get out of my car. "I'm heading off home, it's been a long day. I'll finish up the paperwork in the morning."

"I'll walk you to your car," I offer as I fall into step alongside her.

We walk in comfortable silence, my hand accidentally brushing hers as we move. My heart skips at the unintentional touch and I give her a sideways glance. She looks at me too and we share a smile. Once we reach her vehicle she turns to face me. Her eyes fix on my lips and for a moment I think that she's going to kiss me but, instead, her gaze wanders slowly down my body then back up again. My heart begins to pound at the fact that I'm pretty certain that Teresa Lisbon has just blatantly checked me out.

"You should get that suit to the dry cleaners first thing in the morning otherwise it'll be ruined."

Or maybe not.

"I will," I reply agreeably as I take a step nearer to her.

I hear her breathing begin to pick up speed as she tenses slightly and I take another deliberate step right into her personal space. She looks up at me and we are so close now that even in the dimming light I can clearly see that her pupils are so dilated they are almost black. I know damn well that mine must look the same and as her lips part slightly, I have to fight everything within me not to give her the kiss she so obviously expects.

I begin to second guess my plan because, really, what kind of fool am I for denying myself her lips? But then I think back to how upset she made me and I renew my intent.

Her eyes flutter shut and just as she begins to lean forward I raise my hands and place them firmly onto her shoulders, holding her still.

"I'm sorry, Teresa, but I can't kiss you tonight. It wouldn't be fair on you," I say, my voice barely above a whisper. "I'd hate to be the cause of two sleepless nights in a row…it makes you grouchy…and just a little bit mean."

Her eyes snap open and widen slightly as they lock with mine in horror. A red flush stains her cheeks so swiftly and hotly, I can almost physically feel the warmth radiating from them. Suddenly, her face contorts into a picture of magnificent rage but, before she finds her voice, I grin and lean forward to place a gentle peck on the tip of her nose. I turn and start walking towards my car wincing slightly at the diatribe that follows my retreating back.

"Why, of all the...you arrogant, narcissistic, son of a…I hate you!"

I love you, too.

"Goodnight, Teresa," I reply brightly as I keep walking and lift a hand in salute before delivering my parting shot. "Sweet dreams."

The sound of her car door slamming followed by the engine firing and a screech of tyres has me grinning even wider than normal. I get into my Citroen then set off for my motel at a more sedate pace than my lovely partner. Once in my room I make myself a cup of tea then get changed into my pyjama bottoms.

I sit up in bed and have my drink, allowing the soothing brew to help me relax as my mind wanders back over the last few months. I think the softly, softly, baby steps approach to Lisbon is paying dividends at last. She's finally seeing me as a man and not just 'Jane' her annoying consultant. I'm glad because ever since our first kiss, I've been more than aware of her as a woman. It's downright uncomfortable at times.

I finish my tea and place the cup on the nightstand then turn off the lights. I really must bring Lisbon some of those doughnuts she enjoys so much as a small peace offering tomorrow. I'm sure she'll forgive me by the end of the day. She's good like that.

I settle myself down in bed and as I lie in the dark my unruly body stirs when I think back to how wonderful Lisbon looked in all her angry glory and how much I want to feel her lips on mine again. I turn on my front and let out a groan of frustration as the floodgate in my head opens wide and pictures of the woman I so desperately want fill my mind close to bursting.

Despite my goading earlier, somehow I know I'm the one who's going to be in for a sleepless night tonight.

END CHAPTER 6

#mentalist ff #mentalist fanfiction #jisbon fanfiction #jisbon ff

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comicsbeat · 5 years

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Yes, it’s that time of the year where The Beat quizzes a wide swath of creators, journalists, retailers and other comics people for their upcoming projects, thoughts on the past and future of the industry, and inspirations. Huge thanks to everyone who took the time to participate, as you’ll find some very interesting takes on where we might be going below, as well as a ton of news about upcoming books. We’ll be running the survey in five parts as always, culminating in the naming of the Comics Industry Person of the Year.

Emma Vieceli, Comicker

2019 Projects: Having switched hats a bit this year, my biggest project for 2019 is a writing one: Life is Strange for Titan comics and Square Enix. I’ll of course be continuing with my co-created independent title,. Beyond that, some fun bit and bobs waiting to play out; aren’t there always? 😉

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? There have been so many sadly negative stories in 2018, from genuine losses of talented and loved people to anger, upset and fury over the fact that some people still don’t seem able to just enjoy comics and all it can encompass, but I’m going to instead focus on the fact that I personally felt an injection of enthusiasm into the industry this year. Somehow it felt that a resilience and determination was instilled, perhaps to counter some of the negative in the world, generally. I’ve seen a lot of successes and excited friends. Creators are making transitions to new mediums and fans are getting behind them. It’s not a single news story, but it’s a joy seeing the waves of unification and enthusiasm that have risen up in my internet- bubble over the last year.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? A generous billionaire shall swoop into the publishing industry and financially bolster us all. Industry-wide weekends and evenings shall be enforced and sick pay shall be introduced. The billionaire shall be loved and we’ll make a statue of them and hold an annual celebration of their greatness.

I’m pretty sure that’s what I heard, anyways.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Spending more time with my creator-owned baby, BREAKS. this year got very busy and I lost a lot of my buffer for uploading. I’m looking forward to some self-indulgent comicking 🙂

Who inspired you in 2018? Every single person who takes the time to contact me and say they’ve enjoyed what I’ve made. That is the biggest inspiration we can hope for. But I’ll also say Andrew James of Titan Comics – he was my editor for Doctor Who a couple of years back and was willing to take a chance and offer me my first monthly writing gig with Life is Strange. His confidence in me has been hugely inspiring and helped me do something I wasn’t sure I’d ever get a chance to.

Erica Schultz, Writer/Editor

2019 projects: The trade paperback of Twelve Devils Dancing comes out the first NCBD of January with a cover by Bill Sienkiewicz. The Good Fight anthology comes out next year. I’m working on a project with Emily Pearson, another with Liana Kangas, and a third with Stelladia.

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? The passing of Stan Lee.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Captain Marvel’s film, and how Kelly Sue, Jaime McKelvie, Dave Lopez, and Dexter Soy set that story up to be amazing.

Jimmy Palmiotti, Creator-Writer

2019 Projects: Wonder Woman for DC 100 Walmart exclusive- Sex and Violence Vol. 3- Painkiller Jane mini- series and feature film- Random Acts of Violence feature film- Coney Island graphic novel and Mystery Marvel project.

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Sadly the passing of Stan Lee, one of my heroes and a friend, and on a positive note, the release of the DC 100 page exclusive comics for Walmart.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Creators once again separating themselves from the big companies to create their own characters mainly because the biggest companies out there do not involve the creators in the development, past comics, of characters they work on into film and TV and barely include them in a % of the license income they make off their images. This is a business that has no security for the talent as they get older, even though the biggest companies can easily help them and choose not to, and because of this, creators will be going elsewhere. An obvious and big reaction to this is we will see everything but the better selling titles take a huge hit and a ton of cancellations across the board. I also think this is the year where comics as a whole will be taking a hit unless things change really quickly.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? More creator owned character development and spending some more time traveling and having fun with my wife.

Who inspired you in 2018? My wife, Amanda Conner, continues to inspire me each and every day to be a better person, work through my problems, and enjoy life… and not make it about work all the time. After so many years of hustling, what is important is becoming clearer because of her. I am thankful for that.

John Green, writer/artist

2019 Projects: The second book in my KITTEN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY series, “A Bridge Too Fur,” comes out in Fall from First Second Books.

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Not so much a story, but news that the world heard (and felt) both within and outside of the comics industry was the passing of Stan Lee.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Hopefully something GOOD and not something scandalous or heartbreaking!

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Probably the next Star Wars, I guess.

Joshua Frankel, Publisher, Z2 Comics

2019 Projects: Right now Z2 Comics has 8 books or so in production for next year 5-6 of them are some of our tentpole music books. The one coming out the soonest and that has been announced is the Ghost of Ohio. The book is by Andy Biersack (lead singer of the Black Veil Brides) Scott Tuft and Eryk Donovan. It is going to tie into Andy’s same named second solo album. We’re expecting big things out of the project. Aside from that of announced books we have Run The Dungeon and D&D comedy written by Patrick Kindlon and Drawn by Goran Gliogvic. Lastly we have Tales of The Music Makers a book showcasing people the Music Maker Relief fund have helped and draw by Gary Dumm.

Some of our biggest books this year will be announcing shortly after this article runs ( and one before most likely)

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? I think the acquisition of of comic book companies by broader media companies is probably the biggest story. In a span of a year Millarworld got bought by Netflix, Valiant getting bought by DMG wholesale and now Darkhorse having a majority stake bought by a Chinese VC firm. As a broader story in the last couple of years there has been a flood of investment being poured into comics. That said despite all of this money being pushed in sales have shrunk at least in the direct market. It seems counterintuitive but investment in comics is actually not great for the market as a whole, though it does benefit the people working in the industry.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? I hate to say it but I think the sugar rush of investment money is going to start to wear off. Your going to see a lot of comic companies either downsizing or folding up shop. The Lion Forge layoffs are probably just the tip of the iceberg. Also it should be noted it looks like the economy is about to slow down and possibly contract next year. This will most likely accelerate these trends

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Probably some horrible new food that’s invented

Who inspired you in 2018? This is going to sound super pretentious but I read a book called On Grand Strategy by John Lewis Gaddis. His basic thesis is that to properly employ a grand strategy a certain cognitive dissonance is needed where one has to plan out details carefully but roll with the punches when those details change. He uses a few historical examples from Xerxes to FDR. Overall that idea has been very helpful in running Z2 in the last year.

Mark Newgarden. Cartoonist

2019 Projects: How To Re-Read Nancy What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Stan Lee dies What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Big boy pants

Brian Fies, Cartoonist

2019 Projects: “A Fire Story” graphic novel, to be published by Abrams in March 2019, expands the 18-page Emmy Award-winning webcomic I posted after my home was destroyed in the California wildfires of October 2017. The 160-page full-color hardcover tells more of my family’s story as well as the stories of others affected by the fire, while also touching on issues of class and climate change.

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Stan Lee’s death, and the reflection on where comics came from and where they’re going that it prompted.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Whatever movies Marvel cranks out. They’re not all great, but they’ve all been entertaining.

Who inspired you in 2018? Carol Tyler always inspires me because she makes high-quality comics with outstanding heart and craftsmanship.

Peter Kuper, cartoonist

2019 Projects: Adapting Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Too few books on climate change

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? More books on climate change

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Going back to Oaxaca, Mexico

Julia Wertz, cartoonist

2019 Projects: I’m working on an autobiographical book about my last years in NYC, as well as keeping up with daily diary comics at Patreon

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Unfortunately, Cody Pickrodt’s lawsuit.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? The resolution of that lawsuit, which I hope he loses.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? It’s not really a guilty pleasure, more just a pleasure, but I always look forward to Gabrielle Bell’s diary comics

Who inspired you in 2018? Liana Finck, who’s book Passing for Human, was released this year and was really unique and interesting, and she also continues to churn out cartoons for the New Yorker and on her instagram that somehow distill the human condition into one hilarious panel.

Sarah Glidden, cartoonist

2019 Projects: I’ve been on maternity leave for the last 7 months but he’s about to go to day care two days a week so I’m excited to get back to work.

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Cody Pickrodt suing his alleged rape victim as well as ten other cartoonists, critics and publishers who came out in support of her is one of the most despicable uses of the legal system I’ve ever seen in the comics community.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? When the 11 beat this lawsuit.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Paying a day care to take care of my son for a few days a week so I can work on comics, which financially makes zero sense.

Who inspired you in 2018? I could pretend its not my baby but who am I kidding? He makes me see the world differently.

Jeffrey Brown, cartoonist

2019 Projects: My new picture book, “My Teacher Is A Robot”, comes out in June

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Stan Lee passing away. Also, side note, how old and out of touch is Bill Maher to use Lee’s death as an opportunity to declare that the comics medium has no value?!

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Barnes & Noble will experiment with a new kind of store that expands the graphic novel section, eliminates all other categories, and focuses on comics and pop culture related merchandise. The stores will work with Diamond Distributors and they’ll also sell a large selection of both new and out of print pamphlet comics.

Joe Casey, Renaissance Man

2019 Projects: March: JESUSFREAK with Benjamin Marra (Image Comics). April: SEX Vol. 6 with Piotr Kowalski (Image Comics).

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? I don’t know how “big” a story it was, since death is an inevitable part of life, but we lost a lot of legends this year. Steve Ditko. Harlan Ellison. Jon Schnepp. Russ Heath. Gary Friedrich. Marie Severin. Norm Breyfogle. Carlos Ezquerra. Stan Lee. And that’s just a partial list.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Hopefully something that no one could’ve possibly predicted…

Jeff Trexler, Attorney

2019 Projects: TBA

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? The 50th Annual San Diego Comic-Con – guilty pleasure because every year i say I should stay in New York to work, but …

Who inspired you in 2018? Ashley Eckstein, who not only wrote the stellar inspirational memoir It’s Your Universe but justifiably made the annual Her Universe fashion show one of — and arguably the most — buzzed about events at Comic-Con. She’s also one of the best speakers I’ve ever seen; her book tour and the talk she gave to lawyers & designers from around the world at this year’s Fashion Law Bootcamp were an exemplary blend of inspirational uplift and practical strategic advice. And there are others in the fashion community who were especially inspiring for me this year: Douriean Fletcher, Allison Cimino, Tony Kim, Jaimie Cordero … getting to catch up with and learn from people like this at comic-cons is a big reason why I go.

The Beat's Annual Creator Survey Part 1: creators speak out on the buiggest stories of 2018 and what might be coming in 2019 Yes, it's that time of the year where The Beat quizzes a wide swath of creators, journalists, retailers and other comics people for their upcoming projects, thoughts on the past and future of the industry, and inspirations.

#2018 creator survey #ashley eckstein #Brian Fies #Emma Vieceli #erica schultz #jeff trexler #Jeffrey Brown #Jimmy Palmiotti #Joe Casey #John Green #Joshua Frankel #Julia Wertz #Mark Newgarden #Peter Kuper #Sarah Glidden

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