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#rourke ending
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"Would you rather kiss my ass or die?"
Doom to the Atlantis boys. xD
@the-haunted-office
"What? Why would we kick your ass?" Milo asked.
"She said 'kiss', dingus." Rourke corrected. "And sure, I'll do it. Dying doesn't sound appealing just yet.......says the oldest one in the room."
"And I'd rather not die, too." Milo said. Without realizing it, he had the saddest, most pitiful look on his face as he knelt down and got ready to follow through with it.
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soulsxng · 7 months
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"Whatever happened, he's definitely shaken up...but it was hard to tell if it was the news itself, or whatever Creation wanted to talk to him about. He talked with me a little bit, but he was pretty antsy, and ended up heading back to his place with Mimi before long. I guess...if it were me, I'd give him some time to calm down, and then try to go talk to him? You know how he is-- if you come off too strong with worrying after him when he's already freaked out, he'll just push you away."
Across from Rourke, Jaspern sighed. Slumping heavily back in his chair with a quick upturn of his hands on the desk; as if acknowledging that there was little he could do, at this point in time.
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"And Tia?"
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"More or less the same. I managed to find her after JJ left, though she didn't want to talk at all. She pretty much told me that she was just stopping by to get some stuff together before she went to spend some time with Quella...so she's headed to Vasyri, I figure. Ati Phel said he'd let me know when she got there. At least when she calms down from stuff like this, she'll come and talk to you...so you should probably give her some time, too."
Time, huh.
Jas crossed his arms over his chest, lips pursed in an obviously displeased frown. He wanted to check on JJ and Tiariia himself, but...well, he knew that both of his kids wouldn't want to be bombarded with questions and concerns right away.
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"Creation is trying to drag them into the middle of this mess, I know it. All because they don't want to risk their own damned necks." They couldn't. Ahnia's king knew that all too well-- should any of the Creationary Trio fall in a situation like this, it could spell the downfall of existence as a whole.
But that didn't mean he wasn't going to gripe about it when they kept involving his children in shit like this.
"...When they summon everyone together for the announcement, I'll be going back, as well. I want to see people's reactions, so we can start figuring out who might give JJ, Tia, and the others trouble to work with, and who will be easier to approach right away. I'm going to drive myself up a wall if I stew here much longer."
[To those presently capable of perceiving Our voice, We greet you.]
As if on cue, Ippuru's voice rang through Jaspern's head. Echos of different tones layering on top of each other. Some fading and trailing off, while others continued on. The language Creation spoke wasn't one that any of their creations were capable of speaking, but somehow their meaning always came across perfectly clear to even those hearing it for the first time.
[For some number of you, this may well be your first time hearing Us, and as such, We shall make Ourselves known. We are the beings that you may know...as Creation. We should hope that you do not choose to regard this as mere jest, for Our purpose in speaking to you now is of the utmost importance.]
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"Ah...that's happening soon, isn't it? Well, if you still need some help getting rid of some energy after you get back, I can meet you on the training grounds!"
[Soon, We will be calling you to Us. You, leaders of the realms and species. Deities, and those of exceptional power and influence. Make yourselves prepared for when We summon you, and do not resist. Conduct yourselves with propriety while in Our presence, for We shall scant tolerate any frivolous wasting of Our time. Take this to be your one due warning, and We shall avail Ourselves of your presence thusly.]
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"Thanks, Rouri. I think I'll take you up on that. See if Alteo wants to join in too, yeah? I'd feel bad knocking you around too much, you know."
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"Hey! Just you wait, I'm going to take you down at least once! I won't even need Teo's help!"
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going from the ‘94 Stargate movie to Atlantis: The Lost Empire just feels Right
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belliesandburps · 2 years
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It’s Me Birthday
Today, I celebrate my 33rd birthday.  Kind of amazed I’ve evaded the death eaters this long after stealing the life force of that poor bastard from over the pond, but since I’m still here, feel free to send me any asks ye like, be ‘em kink-based or otherwise!
Unless you’re one of the death eaters trying to send me back to hell for my sins.  In which case, I should warn you that I’ve layered my apartment with garlic.  Yes, that only works on vampires, but it WILL be quite pungent.  So your move, demons...
...I dunno what the hell I’m on about either.  I’m old, shut up.  ‘XD
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alethianightsong · 5 months
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Atlantis: the Lost Empire subverts the "White Savior" trope so well and here's my Ted talk tangent
Atlantis: the Lost Empire is just Avatar but with a smarter story. Both films feature a young white man discovering a foreign culture, falling for the culture's princess, and saving the natives' way of life. Both films commentate on the exploitation of indigenous people for their resources. The biggest fundamental difference between Avatar and Atlantis is how the white male leads approach their scenarios. Milo Thatch is a wide-eyed scholar who just wants to learn; Jake Sullivan is a soldier infiltrating the culture so he can exploit them. Milo never had any intention of hurting/exploiting the natives but the people around him did; Jake knew the end goal was exploitation and only changed his alliance when he fell in love. Kida comes to Milo for help and he approaches her with respect not condescension; Jake has to learn the planet and its people are worthy of respect. Milo is attracted to Kida but he doesn't save her so he can get the girl; he saves her to save her people (getting the girl was a luxury and even then, it's obvious they'll take things slow cuz there's more important things than romance like reconnecting the Atlanteans with the lost parts of their culture). The Atlanteans are also not harmless, primitive natives. They had super-advanced technology ie the Leviathan that took out a modern submarine in like 2 minutes while the Navi are overtly primitive, their simplicity treated as a virtue. The Atlanteans were so advanced that they sent themselves back to the Stone Age with their war tech. This little detail keeps the Atlanteans from being hippie-dippie natives who need rescuing and make them a cautionary tale; they used to be greedy, hyper-advanced warmongers and that hubris leaves their race and culture on the verge of extinction. Both the Navi and Atlanteans have spiritual, mystical aspects to them, but the Navi are anti-tech while it's only the rediscovery of their tech that allows the Atlanteans to save themselves. The primitive life we see the Atlanteans lead is not presented as ideal; it is the death throes of a culture, a fatal stagnation at the bottom of the world. When Kida and Milo meet, it's not the typical "more advanced culture taking from the weaker culture" that has come to define first contact between societies. It's quid pro quo: we both answer, we both listen, we both come away with more not one party coming away with less. No one is humbled or talked down to. As for the antagonists of both films (Avatar and Atlantis) the antagonists of Avatar are just cardboard cutouts. The antagonists of Atlantis are just disinherited individuals coming together for a treasure hunt. There's a gag where Milo asks what each character seeks and they all say "Money" but that's not it. They each want to pursue goals unique to them and they need money to do it. When the chips are down and it's either money or NOT dooming an entire lost tribe to death, they choose saving the tribe. The main big bads, Rourke and Helga, have just spent a day walking through a ruined city where people live in the remains of their greatness and think, "Yeah, we are so stealing their technology so we can reenact the fall of their civilization on our OWN civilization. Why? Cuz capitalism." Why am I talking so much about Atlantis but not Avatar? Because Avatar lacks depth. I've watched Atlantis a thousand times on my cheap 2000s-era TV and get pulled in each time but Avatar's just a pretty screensaver playing in the background.
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seaslugfanclub · 6 months
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Just got my first ask!! I’m shocked that so many people love the Holo!Villians ❤️❤️❤️
(Y/N)’s co-workers having to get them because the villains refuse to comply with anyone else
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Honestly, all the other Disney Park workers are at their wits ends with the Villains.
Either because they only know more popular villains from the mainline movies, so they don’t know how to work with villains like Rourke, Slim, Ratigan, etc. Or they just expected all the villains to be simple stereotypes, not actual sentient character.
Some park workers also thought that they “could fix them” and that led to some pretty nasty confrontations.
The moment (Y/N) gets a minute to sit down, a coworker comes out of nowhere begging for their help.
“(Y/N)!! Hades is trying to schmooze some parents into selling their souls in exchange for 5 minutes of silence from their kids!!”
“(Y/N)? We need you at the Haunted Mansion ASAP. Frollo’s trying to preform an exorcism on the ride!”
“ Uh- Hey, (Y/N)? Yeah, some guy called Ursula a ‘Dollar store Divine’ and now she refuses to give his voice back to him.”
Luckily the villains comply to (Y/N) whenever they get called. Don’t tell anyone, but sometimes the villains will cause a scene just to get (Y/N)’s attention.
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My asks are open, feel free to send in requests if you want to see anything specific!
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Hear me out: I think Karlach was mishandled.
Karlach should not be automatically 100% good. By all means, she can still be a fun person to be around, but her immediate alignment is strange to me.
She worked for GORTASH of all people and, as I said in my previous post, she was OKAY with doing it with no indication that it was forced or that she was trying to "make ends meet". Gortash was not a good guy even before the Absolute thing. He was a slaver and arms dealer with his own trauma from the Hells. She should have had the same mindset as him if she was willing to work for him and be on friendly terms. She thought he was her friend. Having her think this way and not be okay/aware of what he's doing makes her look stupid. Karlach is not stupid.
She only turned against him when he betrayed her and the rest of her thought process should be in place. Kinda like when Lieutenant Sinclair was betrayed by Commander Rourke at the end of Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Sinclair still would have gone through with the plan if she got the upper hand and I think that's what they should have done with Karlach, like, she didn't learn anything from being betrayed as her focus would have been on trying to escape her predicament with Zariel.
She should very much have the idea that it's okay to do that to others, just not to her which COULD BE PART OF HER CHARACTER ARC. She should be just as self-serving as Astarion. She shouldn't bat an eye at the gnome slaves or the refugees or at killing anyone at the Grove unless she was given the information that Dammon was there. She could have just shrugged it off as "I'm sure they did something to deserve it", an attitude she would have had with Gortash's victims. Honestly, she shouldn't have had any indication of what happened with the Grove if she's been dealing with the asshats on top of the hill.
Yeah, keep her angry with Zariel and anyone who tries to drag her back to hell and have her gunning for Gortash, but her initial attitude when you meet her shouldn't be there until after she learns some stuff like TREAT OTHERS THE WAY YOU WANT TO BE TREATED. She should approve of some of the things Lae'zel and Astarion approve of until her change.
Karlach should have been given an edge that was worn away over time with a good PC and even Wyll once he is convinced she's not a devil. She isn't a bad person. What Gortash taught her is not how the world works. He stole time from her that she will never get back and she could end up doing the same to someone else if she's not careful. Hell, she could view what Gortash did to her as a "misunderstanding" and he'll welcome her back with open arms if not convinced that what he did to her was intentional and a way to get rid of her. It could mesh very well with the idea he was trying to get her to take over the Hells and backstab Zariel. In a good run, there may be times for a good PC to swat Astarion away if he tries to give Karlach ideas of hurting people.
With an evil PC, she could be pushed to use soul coins each fight and slowly have her rage make her go insane and closer to death without her realizing it. She'd also be risking the same thing she did with Gortash. She could also accept the idea that Gortash wanted her to take over the Hells and she failed.
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praazlwurm · 6 months
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having a normal one in Area Zero tonight lads
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eh hehehehehehehehehehehe He'll Be Fine
waaaaaaaaaaaaah so this is one ive been wanting to do for a while due to the Team Perilous AU and the first #Volotober2023 prompt being 'Scarlet and Violet' was the golden opportunity to pour the work in
got to play around with Hella Shading as well as filters/layer effects for the noise around the hand and strengthening the shadows
altogether a lot of fun seeing how much i could do with the concept! pulled/infulence by this shot out of disney's Atlantis ofc
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(i'll let you put together how volo ended up in this situation / how it parallels rourke >:3c )
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cartermagazine · 7 months
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The Incomparable Michale K. Williams
Michael K. Williams brought a hard-edge charisma to his portrayal of Omar Little, the sawed-off-shotgun-wielding stickup man on the pioneering HBO series “The Wire.”
He grew up in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, and in his words, he had never envisioned a life outside the borough. But before he was 30, he parlayed his love for dance into dancing roles with singers George Michael and Madonna, and choreographed and performed in the music video for Crystal Waters’s hit single “100% Pure Love.” He landed his first acting opportunity when he caught the eye of Tupac Shakur.
When Mr. Shakur saw a Polaroid photo of him in a production office, he decided that Mr. Williams was the person to play his character’s brother in the 1996 film “Bullet,” in which Mr. Shakur starred opposite Mickey Rourke.
Williams also played Albert “Chalky” White on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire from 2010 to 2014. He earned five Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his performances in the HBO television biopic Bessie (2015), the Netflix drama series When They See Us (2019), and the HBO series The Night Of (2016) and Lovecraft Country (2020). He had a recurring role in the NBC sitcom Community from 2011 to 2012. He also had supporting roles in a number of films including Gone Baby Gone (2006), The Road (2009), 12 Years a Slave (2013), Inherent Vice (2014), and Motherless Brooklyn (2019).
Michales most personal project came with the series BLACK MARKET with VICE television. Michael K. Williams journeys into the dangerous world of illicit trade.
Michael K. Williams used his celebrity status to promote several causes, most notably criminal justice reform, both in the United States and in the Bahamas. He was the American Civil Liberties Union’s ambassador for ending mass incarceration, appearing in an ad campaign.
His legacy will forever live in the hearts of love ones, friends and fans like CARTER™️ Magazine.
A true loving and amazing human being.
CARTER™️ Magazine carter-mag.com #michaelkwilliams #wherehistoryandhiphopmeet #cartermagazine #carter #rip #sip #blackhistory #blackhistorymonth #history #staywoke
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Disney Villains x Reader || Gifs
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Topic: Kissing 💋 💋💋
Characters: Clayton (2), Commander Lyle Rourke (2), Gaston (2), Percival C McLeach (2) and Shan Yu (2)
Warnings: Steamy gifs, nsfw themes throughout, Clayton's talks about choking and dirty talk (Degradation/Praise), and Gaston's 2nd one can be triggering (The man in it grabs the woman by the neck and yanks her to kiss him).
Clayton:
Slow & Sweet: He likes to think of himself as a gentleman, so many of his kisses reflect that.
So when he brings his lips to yours its to remind you how wondeful you are, how much he appreciates you. He'll compliment you, call you darling, and press a warm kiss on your lips.
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Choking: On the other hand he's also a dick and loves knowing he has you fully under his control just from his 'kissing prowess' and having your pulse point under his strong thumb ahile you let him is one of his favourite ways to get that good feeling. He'll usually pair it with some degrading praise like 'Good girl' in that pompous patronising tone or 'Listen to me now, darling, what did I say about talking when I'm speaking?'.
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Commander Lyle Rourke:
You do a Lot of the Work: Boy, Rourke's a jerk. And he just loves having a hot little thing (You, obviously) paying attention to him. So yeah he'll just be sitting there giving back about 60 percent less then he's receiving. He's just just sitting there enjoying the feel of your mouth on him instead.
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You're his Doll: While he is a jerk, he also has a soft spot for you (You're his!!) so yes he is pretty affectionate with you as well (He likes to give you special treatment and see others feel extra bad cuz he treats them like they don't matter).
So yes, he calls you pet names, always has you in his car with him, saves you some of the best rations, etc- all with a kiss, or an affection butt smack.
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Gaston:
Rough & Horny: Gaston is lusty!!! And proud he has a large penis!! So obviously he needs to prove it? Most of his kisses will lead to that (Or at least he'll want them to. Up to you though of course).
Also very dominant, he will always be on top, devouring your mouth with his. No one TOPS like GASTON-
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Rougher: And it gets worse, yeah. When he's upset that translates to anger every time and he fumes and if you're willing- he'll take that out on you. Kisses will legit bruise your mouth and your teeth will ache. His tongue scrapes against yours and he sucks hard. If you're into hate sex, right on!
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Percival C McLeach:
Kisses Deep: He's inexperienced but he gets the hang of it quickly because he loves it, the feel of your mouth on his own, and ends up doing it a lot.
And he wants to take as much as he can from you, so its almost always open mouthed and passionate.
Loves the feel of your tongue!! Loves rubbing his against yours, and loves the taste.
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Unsure: McLeach has lived with only the company of a mean monitor lizard for who knows how long, so any human interaction is like chucking him directly into the deep end- especially if its the positive kind. So for a long time you'll be the one initiating affection of any kind.
He happily accepts it - kisses, hugs, more than that, - because he really likes you, he just doesn't like the idea of revealing his true feelings yet. So go ahead, hang your arms around his neck, nuzzle his nose with your own, bury your head in his neck- just be sure to give him a little, reassuring smile first.
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Shan Yu:
The Taste of You: Shan Yu is very passionate and loves everything about you, deeply, including the taste of your. Of your mouth, and of your skin- no he does not care if you're sweaty, are travelling constantly becaise you're invading China, and he's not about to hold that against you.
He'll leave open mouthed kisses on any skin he can get to but his favourite is your neck- most of your scent is there and he loves that. It's so you.
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Forehead Kisses: He's constantly giving your forehead kisses, because you're almost always around the other men of his army but he still wants to show you he cares about you and wants to be close.
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beegoould · 10 months
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The raccoons weren’t having a good time of it on Rourke, but they lasted long enough to breed more raccoons who would continue not to enjoy themselves very much - which was evolution’s end game after all.
Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky
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leiawritesstories · 2 months
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PART SIX: JUNE
Word count: 8.1k
Warnings: swearing, violence, breaking and entering, fuzzy science, scheming, flirting and more flirting, innuendo, a villain, more violence, blood, minor character death
shout out to @house-of-galathynius for beta reading this hot mess and to @backtobl4ck for encouraging frederick
I don't know if I should say this, but...enjoy!! 😁😈
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“Moon Moon!” Aelin clapped her hands twice as she strolled past Fenrys, who lounged against the Boss’s office door like it was the most natural place for him to be. “Thanks for showing up.” 
The blonde man shrugged, a half-smirk curling his lips. “Like I had a choice.” 
“You always do.” She threw him Celaena’s sweet little grin that usually made people either piss themselves, cry, or start babbling. “You can choose to show up, or you can choose to die.” 
“Not much of a choice, Boss,” he drawled. He flopped into the chair across from her desk. “So tell me, who’s the mark?” 
Aelin tapped on her computer for a few minutes before she slid a single sheet of paper across the desk. “Have a good long look, Moon Moon, because this is the only time you’ll see all of this info in one place.” As the Boss, she was many things, and stupid was decidedly not one of them. 
Fen picked up the paper, his dark eyes scanning each line of text and small, grainy photo. He cocked one blonde brow. “Rourke Farran, eh?” Not looking up from the paper, he huffed out a breath. “The man’s whole fuckin’ house is a booby trap, Boss.” 
“I’m aware.” 
“So what’s this bastard done to…god damn.” Before he could even ask the full question, it was answered. “He’s got a front for a front.” 
“I have never tolerated, nor will I ever tolerate, the treatment of human beings like commodities,” Aelin said softly, lethally. Celaena Sardothien’s notorious steel undercut her tone. “Farran thinks he can get away with it because I haven’t come for him. Yet.” 
Fenrys whistled lowly and set down the paper. “What’s your timeline, Boss?” 
Aelin liked this man more and more with each interaction. “I need Farran at the river warehouse by the 10th. You can use whatever means necessary, beat him up a little, get him nice and ready for his session with me, but don’t even fucking think about killing him.” 
“Don’t worry, Boss.” A lazy, hungry grin unfurled across Fen’s handsome face, the dim lamplight reflecting off the scars on his cheeks. “Softening up bad boys is my specialty.” 
“That’s why I hired you.” Aelin took back the paper and tossed it into the shredder next to her desk, which ate through the single sheet with a brief mechanical grinding of teeth. She burned the shreds at the end of each day, never one to take any chances with documents that could potentially be stitched back together. Fenrys stood up to leave, and she waited until he was almost out the door before speaking again. “One more thing, Moon Moon.” 
“Yeah?” He paused, alert, his stance striking an oddly familiar chord in her mind. 
“Farran isn’t dumb enough to put all of his guard dogs in one place.” 
He nodded slowly, working over that little tidbit of information. “Noted. I’ll tell you when he’s ready for you.” With a wink that was far too flirtatious for anyone’s good, Fen left her office. 
Aelin rolled her eyes as she returned to her computer. Her encoded list of targets was shrinking by the week; really, there was only one name left after Rourke Farran received his one-way ticket to her riverside warehouse, and it called to her every day. Some days, it took all of her willpower to stick to her typical Boss hours and Galathynius hours when she knew that if she spent just one more hour as Boss, she could solidify the plans that she’d been simmering for so fucking long. Just before she slit his throat, she’d once murmured to a criminal that she was cleansing the world of villains. In the months since then, that cleansing had nearly been completed. 
She slid her gaze down to the end of the page, following the trail of crimson lines that struck out each name up through Farran’s, and stopped, musing on the last name left. Five letters. One name—the villainous criminal was possibly more elusive than Celaena Sardothien herself. 
Maeve.
On the one hand, it made complete sense that Arobynn’s lover—ex-lover—would have taken over his business, diminished as it was when all of his cronies started fighting over their pieces of the trade after Arobynn died. On the other hand, Aelin had wondered just why the hell Maeve would have wanted to take over Arobynn’s drug- and gun-running business; surely the money couldn’t be the only reason. The more she dug into the grimy, seedy backchannels of truth, though, the more she came to understand why Maeve had done it. 
The woman had been madly in love with Arobynn Hamel, and now she was madly out for blood. 
~
In the prep room of the Gal Inc. labs, Aelin snapped on a fresh pair of sterile blue latex gloves, checked her badge where it was clipped to her lab coat, and nodded at her reflection. It had been seven weeks since Ren had come into the labs to have his SecondSkin changed—she and Nehemia had decided to extend the wearing period to seven weeks, as Ren’s use of SecondSkin was an experiment—and she was curious to see if anything was different. 
“About time,” Nehemia said dryly as Aelin walked into the small, sterile lab, the one that Nehemia typically reserved for experiments that needed to be kept quiet. “I was just about to assume you were in a meeting and start the removal process without you.” 
“Hello to you too, Dr. Ytger,” Aelin returned, just as dryly. “I just had to primp a little longer, you know how much effort it takes to look this good.” 
Nehemia snorted. “Galathynius, if you spent that much time primping, I’d never let you in my lab.” 
“Don’t I know it.” Aelin sat down on the second rolling stool and scooted over to Ren’s side. “Okay, Nemi. It’s your experiment.” 
Quickly but clearly, Nehemia ran through her usual list of removal instructions, then dismissed Ren to go take his shower. He emerged about half an hour later, wearing his robe, his hair damp and his face…
“Aelin, come here.” Nehemia motioned for Ren to sit down and scooted her stool up close so she could examine his ruddy face. “This doesn’t look like a typical hot-shower flush.” 
Aelin scanned the redness on Ren’s face and nodded in agreement. “Allsbrook, does it itch?” 
“Not on my face, no,” he answered. 
“Are you itchy anywhere else?” 
“Yes.” He nodded. “Chest, elbows, upper arms, torso, knees, feet, most of my back, some other areas. It’s not bad, it’s more annoying, like when you have a mosquito bite that you want to scratch.” 
“Would you please remove your robe so we can see if there’s anything visibly wrong with your skin?” Nehemia asked. 
“One sec.” Ren hopped off the chair, went into the shower room, and came back out a moment later. “Just wanted to put my boxers on.” He took off his robe, hung it on the hook in the wall, and sat back down.
“Too much information, Allsbrook,” Aelin grumbled. 
Nehemia ran her analytical gaze over Ren’s body, charting the red rash spread over the areas that he had said were itchy. It looked like an ordinary chafing rash, the skin irritated and slightly split in some places, and some of the redness faded, indicating that it was probably sensitive to the heat of the shower he had taken to remove the SecondSkin. 
“Are you allergic to latex or any of its components?” Nehemia inquired. 
“Not as far as I’m aware, no,” Ren said. 
Nehemia hummed. “Ae, I have thoughts. What do you think?” 
“Prolonged exposure?” Aelin asked. “It almost seems like what happens when you wear the same tightly fitting garment—like a leotard—for an extended period of time and it chafes.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. It could also potentially be compounded by bacteria and dirt buildup under the material. It lays atop the skin, and as much as we want to claim that there’s no gap, we know there has to be a microscopic distance between the material and the wearer’s skin that could allow that to happen.” Nehemia gently touched two gloved fingers to the rash on Ren’s chest. “Does this hurt?” 
“No.” 
She pressed down. “Does it hurt when I do this?” 
He shook his head. “No. Itches, but it doesn’t hurt.” 
“That’s a good sign, at least.” Nehemia sighed. “Okay, Galathynius, we need to talk before we can decide how to move forward.” She beckoned Aelin towards the back of the room. “Should we go ahead with another application?” she asked, her voice lowered to a whisper. 
Aelin pressed her lips together. “Well, we can’t exactly have him disappear while we try and work out the rash.” 
“I don’t want it to spread or get any worse because it wasn’t treated, though,” Nehemia said. “I think we need to at least treat the rash.” 
“Yes, I agree, but how will that work with another application?” Aelin’s brows furrowed. “And how should we treat the rash if we’re not fully certain of what it is and how it works?” 
“We haven’t yet agreed to do another full application,” Nehemia reminded her, “and my instinct is saying to treat it like it’s a normal chafing rash—hydrocortisone cream, Benadryl, that kind of thing.” 
Aelin nodded. “Okay, that sounds fine. How do you think we should apply the SecondSkin?” 
“Hmm.” Nehemia tugged her lower lip between her teeth. “We could selectively apply it and avoid the rash areas. Theoretically, he’s not going to be stripping down in front of anyone for any reason, so he really only needs to have the right fingerprints and face, maybe footprints too. I vote we just apply the SecondSkin to his hands, face and neck, and feet.” 
“I think we should apply it from hands up to elbows, just to be safe, but that sounds like a solid plan. Do we have hydrocortisone cream here?” 
“Should be in the first aid bin.” Nehemia returned to Ren’s chair. “Okay, Allsbrook, here’s how we’re going to proceed. We’ll treat your rash and reapply the synthetic to your hands and lower arms, face and neck, and feet, which should hopefully give the rash time and breathing room to heal. You should apply this cream every day, as often as necessary, to the parts that are most itchy or inflamed.” She took the tube of hydrocortisone cream that Aelin handed her and applied it to Ren’s rash. 
“Is this something I can find at the pharmacy?” he asked. 
“Yes, it’s a common treatment,” Aelin replied. She walked over to the safe built into the far wall, keyed in the combination, opened the compartment, and retrieved a sleek steel canister from inside. She closed the compartment back up and brought the canister over to the prep table next to where Ren sat. 
Nehemia took off her used gloves and replaced them with a fresh pair. “Ready?” 
“Ready,” Ren confirmed. 
Working in tandem, Aelin and Nehemia carefully laid the almost-invisible film of SecondSkin over Ren’s hands, forearms, face, and feet, carefully molding it to his skin. The pieces had all been prepped beforehand, since it took a significant amount of time to press fingerprints and other distinctive blemishes and markings into the synthetic material, and the SecondSkin molded to Ren’s skin flawlessly, leaving almost no evidence that it was there. 
“Come back in two weeks,” Aelin instructed him as she disposed of her gloves. “We’ll want to see if your rash has improved, which will help us decide how to move forward.” 
“Got it.” Ren went back into the bathroom, got dressed, and came back out as Chaol Westfall, contact lenses placed and bland grin on his face. “See you in two weeks, Dr. Ytger, Galathynius.” He left the lab. 
“We should have seen this coming,” Nehemia groaned when Ren was gone, chucking her gloves into the trash bin. “Honestly, Ae, I feel like such an idiot.” 
“Nemi, you are a genius,” Aelin reassured her. “You’ve been so busy with development and research, and we didn’t even know this could happen until we saw it today.” 
“Yeah.” The chief engineer sighed. “I need to go chart all of this, and you probably have meetings or whatever shit you do in your big fancy office.” She smirked at Aelin.
Aelin rolled her eyes, nudging her friend in the shoulder. “I’d say something smartass, but I do have a meeting pretty soon. Let me know if anything comes up with Allsbrook, yeah?” 
“Of course.” Nehemia waved and turned down a side hallway towards her office. Aelin headed back to the prep room, put her lab coat in the laundry basket, and collected her things before heading to her office and the inevitable day of meetings. 
Two weeks later, Ren came back to the labs, his rash significantly improved. Nehemia removed and reapplied the SecondSkin in the same few areas and instructed him to keep treating the rash, as she didn’t want to move forward with full SecondSkin application until it had completely healed. 
“It’s a good sign that the rash is healing,” she told Aelin over the phone later that day. “In theory, that means the SecondSkin could cause a rash from chafing, irritation, or prolonged use, but the rash can be treated like normal.” 
“Definitely a good sign.” Aelin jotted down that note. “Hopefully, that means SecondSkin can be used for the wide audience we’ve been intending all along.”
“How much longer do you think this is going to be in development and testing?” Nehemia asked. “It’s been over two years, Ae. Shouldn’t this be about the time where we start to consider trial groups?” 
“I’d say yes, but we’ve only just learned about the rash, and we’re not yet sure if the current formula won’t cause that rash.” Aelin was partially thinking out loud. “My gut says to wait until the Ren trial isn’t getting a rash, and then move into trial groups.” Which will give me more time to get rid of Maeve before she can make a move for the SecondSkin tech like Arobynn did, she added silently. 
She was the only person who knew why Arobynn Hamel had died when he did—the former crime lord had taken one step too close to her highly guarded technology, and she’d had no choice but to retaliate. It was…not unexpected that Maeve would try to do the same. 
~
Fenrys Moonbeam might very well be insane. 
People had told him that frequently, ever since he was a reckless kid jumping off the playground structures at school, but he’d never had the thought himself until he was strolling into the Night Owl—a popular nightclub that was rumored to be the primary front of Maeve’s organization—in tight leather pants, a silver sequined jacket, and no shirt. Because rumor also had it that Maeve, the so-called Queen of the Night, had a…taste for handsome men, and he had it on good information that Rourke Farran was a frequent guest at the Night Owl. 
He sauntered up to the bouncer with a lazy, easy grin sprawled across his face. “Hey.” 
The bouncer, who could accurately be depicted as a concrete brick, stared flatly at him. “Invitation only, fancy boy.” 
“I’m with Cadre,” Fen returned, sliding his hand into his jacket to retrieve a beautiful ivory card with purple script embossed across its fine surface. He waved the card at the bouncer. “And they’re expecting me in ten minutes, so it would be great if you’d let me get my pretty ass through the door.” 
“Fuckin’ performers,” the bouncer muttered as he swung open the door. 
“Thank you,” Fen crooned, blowing a kiss at the stone-faced man. The door slammed behind him, and he tucked the invitation—expertly forged by Celaena’s man Nox—back into his jacket and slipped into the crowd of dancing bodies. He winked and smirked his way through the crowd, letting the thumping beat of the music ease his rhythm, until he reached the bar. 
Sure enough, Rourke Farran lounged on a barstool near the far end, one hand around a bottle of beer and the other around the waist of a blonde woman whose lipstick was littered all over his neck. 
Fenrys muffled the snort he wanted to let out and waved over the bartender. “I’ll take a Sex on the Beach,” he purred, giving the guy, who was probably in his early twenties, a wink. 
The bartender’s blush was faintly visible in the flashing strobe lights. “Want that extra strong?” His gaze flicked ever so quickly to Fen’s bare chest. 
“Give it to me as-is, and then we’ll see.” Fen lowered his eyes to half-mast and watched the bartender make his drink. The other man threw the drink together effortlessly, sliding it across the bartop to Fenrys with a little smile of his own. 
“I get off shift in an hour,” he said softly, dark blue eyes alight with hope and a little hesitancy. 
“Good to know.” Fen took a long sip of his cocktail and nodded appreciatively. “Delicious.” In his periphery, he noticed Farran push the blonde out of his lap and stand up, swaying a little, and turn towards the dancefloor. 
He brushed past Fen on his way over. “Get a fuckin’ room,” he slurred, his glassy-eyed gaze flicking once over Fen’s glittering jacket and tight pants. “Goddamn fancy boy.” 
“I’ll be back.” Fen drained the rest of his drink, tossed a twenty on the bar, and rose, following Farran into the sea of dancing bodies. He kept a discreet distance from the man, far enough away to not be noticed but close enough to watch the man’s moves. 
As he had suspected, Farran oozed sleaziness. What he was doing on the dancefloor barely passed for dancing; his gyrating hips and roaming hands were just barely short of outright having sex in public. He moved from girl to girl, changing partners as often as the music changed, leaving a good number of people giving him dirty looks for being too handsy. Fen snorted, knowing that the man probably deserved their scorn. Farran began to move towards the doors, and Fen slipped onto the dancefloor himself, moving fluidly through the crowd, keeping a constant eye on Farran’s steady, subtle escape route. 
Time to move, Moonbeam. 
Feeling a twinge of guilt for not staying to meet the cute bartender, Fenrys watched Farran leave the club and waited exactly a minute and a half before he headed out as well, putting enough unsteadiness in his step to indicate intoxication. Once he was out of the club, he glanced down the street in both directions and then went left. Even if he couldn’t track Farran, he knew where the bastard lived. 
After a quick pit stop in an alley to swap out his flashy jacket for a closely fitted black knit turtleneck, Fenrys headed into the tidy grid of streets that made up western Orynth, taking a meandering route towards the tidy, wealthy neighborhood where Rourke Farran lived. The neighborhood was decked out with security cameras, as Celaena had warned him, so he looped around through the expansive back yards, slinking easily through the landscaped trees and plants until he came to the fence that marked the edge of Farran’s property. There weren’t cameras along the back fence, primarily because of the rotating patrol of guard dogs and security guards, so Fen swiftly scaled the fence and hopped into a tree. 
He waited for the first round of patrols to pass before he carefully reached into the thigh pocket of his pants, withdrew a slim, vacuum-sealed package of meat, quietly cut open the plastic, and tossed the meat in a gentle arc directly onto the grass beside the paved walkway that wove around Farran’s house. A pair of guard dogs came barreling around the corner within sixty seconds, barking and growling and quickly discovering the meat. The second and third patrols weren’t far behind, and it was only a few minutes before all eight guard dogs were tearing apart the meat. 
“The fuck is happening?” A security guard rounded the corner, breathless from sprinting. He saw the dogs calming down and settling back into their patrols after having finished the meat. “God. Which idiot dropped snacks everywhere?” 
Another guard sprinted around the corner. “Everything okay?” 
“One of you jackasses dropped the dogs’ snacks,” the first guard snapped. 
The second one raised his hands in innocence. “I’m not the snack keeper tonight, dude.” 
“Whatever. Just get your ass back to rounds.” The guards nudged the dogs back onto the path and headed away. 
Mentally, Fenrys started counting minutes. He got to four, then five, then slowly and carefully slid down from the tree and darted across the lawn and onto the shadowed back porch. A moment later, he’d scaled the drainpipe leading up the side of the house and was perched on the balcony directly outside the master bedroom. 
Wherein Rourke Farran was fully naked in front of his mirror, with his—
“Fucking hell,” Fen groaned to himself, shaking his head. “Disgusting.” But also enough of a distraction for him to slip down onto the balcony, pull a slender silver tube from his sleeve, raise it to his lips, and blow a tiny needle dart straight into the back of Farran’s neck. 
Farran crumpled to the floor. 
Good work, Moonbeam, Fenrys complimented himself. Now you just have to get the asshole out of his booby-trap house and over to the river warehouse.
Easy. 
Right?
~
“He’s all yours, Boss,” Fenrys drawled as Aelin strolled past on the way out of the storage warehouse. 
She glanced at her smart watch. “It’s only the eleventh, Moon Moon. That was quick.” 
He shrugged, irreverent as always. “What can I say? I like to work fast.” 
“Hopefully not all the time.” She smirked wickedly. “Your bartender boyfriend might be disappointed.”
Fenrys flushed a delightful shade of pink. “How the fuck—”
“Don’t ask questions you don’t want answered, Moon Moon.” She winked wickedly at him. “How’s our special guest doing? Is he adjusted to his new home?” 
“It took him some time to get used to the room,” Fen returned, casually pulling a set of brass knuckles from a pocket of his cargo pants and spinning them over his fist. 
Aelin chuckled, soft and lethal. “Not surprising. Thanks, Fen.” She paused just in front of the side door, her gloved knuckles resting on the doorknob. “Oh, Moon Moon?” 
“Yeah?” He froze, his posture still as a…soldier’s. 
“I’ll need you for cleanup on the twenty-seventh.” 
He nodded. “Got it, Boss.” 
Aelin keyed in the door code and left the warehouse, satisfied that she had set the wheels of her plan in motion. While she trusted Con’s assessment of his brother, she wasn’t fully convinced that she could completely trust anyone on her payroll, and Fen’s easy charm masked a cold, heartless willingness to carry out whatever depraved task she demanded of him. Furthermore, that stance of his—the utter stillness of his posture when someone ordered him to stop—had been pricking at her memory for days, and she’d only just realized why. 
Fenrys stood like a soldier. More than that—he stood like one of her uncle’s men, one of the Terrasen Special Forces. 
And Aelin knew the day one of Gav’s men got into Celaena Sardothien’s business would be the day her double identity began to crumble. Even if she wanted to trust Fenrys, she had to confirm for herself that she could, and that meant giving him a fake kill date in case he needed to report back to someone in the military. 
If he did, if he turned out to be a spy, then the TSF would come sniffing around for Rourke Farran when it was already weeks too late. 
~
Aelin laced her fingers with Rowan’s as they strolled through the fancy restaurant’s glass front doors, something settling deep in her chest at the simple, casual intimacy of holding his hand. Her mind had been running in overdrive for the last two weeks, and even now, with ten days left in the month, she hadn’t been able to slow the constant dizzying whirl of her thoughts. 
Rowan was one of the only people who’d brought her a glimpse of peace recently, in the few scattered dates they’d been able to snatch between both of their busy schedules. He flicked her a tiny, secret smile, one that only she ever saw, before approaching the hostess stand with the same confidence that cloaked him when he was in his investigator clothes and badge. And dear god, the things that confidence did to her already throbbing pussy—she was half tempted to slip off her panties and sneak them to him under the table. 
But she was a mature woman, so she wouldn’t. 
“Whitethorn, party of two, seven-thirty reservation,” Rowan said to the hostess. 
The young woman—probably a college student, if Aelin’s guess was correct—tapped a few things into her tablet. “Your table is ready, Mr. Whitethorn. Please, this way.” She led Rowan and Aelin through the low-lit restaurant towards the far wall of windows. Through the glass was a breathtaking view of Orynth, the city cast in shades of bronze as the sun began to drift downwards. 
“Gorgeous,” Aelin murmured, captivated by the view. 
Rowan’s thumb brushed across the back of her hand. “Not half as much as you.” 
She blushed. “You’re quite the flirt, you—oh!” Unexpectedly, a man’s shoulder brushed hers as they wove through the restaurant floor. She looked up to find none other than Police Captain Chaol Westfall, wearing a nice suit and a mildly shocked expression. 
“M–Miss Galathynius,” he finally managed, clearing his throat. “And, ah, Lieutenant Whitethorn. I…I apologize for running into you.” 
“Westfall, what are you doing here?” Rowan inquired, polite on the surface but with narrowed, suspicious eyes. 
“Considering we aren’t at work, it’s none of your business, White-horn, but I was at dinner with a friend of mine,” Chaol shot back. There was definite animosity underlying his words. 
Rowan raised a brow. “You…have friends?” 
“Ah, lighten up, darling,” Aelin interjected before either man could resort to fists. “We don’t all live at our workplace, as we seem to have discovered. And Ro, darling, we’ve left that poor hostess floundering.” She wrapped her hand around his arm and tugged him towards their table. 
He shot Chaol one last suspicious look. Chaol returned the look, but broke the stare-off to nod respectfully at Aelin as she passed. “Ms. Galathynius.” 
When they reached their table, Rowan pulled out Aelin’s chair before seating himself across from her. Questions brewed in the shifting of his eyes. “Question, Ae—do you know Westfall? How?” 
“That was two questions,” she teased. “Yes, I’ve met Captain Westfall before. It’s all part of the business; I’ve met just about every notable figure in Orynth at some function or another. I probably met the police captain at some kind of gala.” 
Rowan nodded slowly, digesting the information. “That makes sense. All those faces probably run together after long enough, yeah?” 
“I try to keep them separate, but yeah.” She flashed him a sheepish grin. “There’s only so many names and faces you can memorize before they all start to appear the same.” 
“Why, Miss Galathynius,” Rowan drawled, his face alight with mischief, “are you implying that there are too many men in suits in this fine city?” 
She shrugged, meeting the gleam of his humor with her own dry wit. “I’m simply observing that if a few less of them were to bother me at every function I attend, my mind would be clearer.” 
“I thought you had a mind like a steel trap, love.” Raising a brow, he sipped his water. 
“It sometimes takes a moment to pull out a name from the file cabinet,” she returned. “And—oh look, here comes our server.” Their server, a sandy-blonde-haired man in his late twenties wearing the restaurant staff’s uniform of white shirt, black trousers, and maroon tie, wore a pleasant (if tired) smile as he pulled his notepad from his apron pocket. 
“Good evening,” he said cheerfully. “My name is James, and I’ll be your server tonight. Would you like to hear about our specials this evening?” 
Aelin glanced at Rowan, whose eyes had visibly narrowed as he scanned the server. The look was so blatantly male, she almost rolled her eyes, but her possessive buzzard relaxed when he saw the silver wedding band adorning the server’s left ring finger. “I actually think we’re ready to order, if that’s alright?” 
James the server just about melted to the floor in relief. “Are you serious?” he asked, lowering his voice to an incredulous whisper. “I—I haven’t had a single easy table tonight, and it’s the last two hours of a double and—I’m so sorry, that was completely unprofessional of me.” 
Aelin chuckled. “Don’t worry, James, was it? Customer service is a rough job.” 
“Tell me about it,” the man grumbled. 
Rowan shot Aelin a confused look. “Ae, love, I haven’t even looked at the menu.” 
“Do you trust me, love?” she asked. 
He pursed his lips, not quite used to letting someone else order his food. “All right.” 
“Perfect.” She blew him a subtle kiss. “Okay, James, is it alright if I give you our order a few steps away?” She lowered her voice conspiratorially, keeping it still loud enough for Rowan to hear. “I want to surprise my boyfriend; I’ve been here more than once but he hasn’t ever been.” 
“Of course.” James smiled, a genuine one this time. “I brought my wife here once when we were dating—took half my paycheck, but it was worth it.” He stepped aside a few paces and Aelin followed, quietly giving her and Rowan’s order. The server’s pen flew over his page. 
“And say hi to Chef Emrys for me, would you?” she concluded. 
“You…you know the head chef?” 
“Bit of a long story, but yes. Tell him Aelin Galathynius says hi, please. Thanks!” She came back to the table and slipped into her seat, leaving the very nice but very shocked server to collect his wits after realizing just who he was talking to and go to place the order. 
“Poor guy looks like he just got hit by a truck,” Rowan observed, smothering a laugh.
Aelin smirked. “I may or may not have given him my full name.” 
“Ah, the name drop.” He nodded sagely. “Just what every famous CEO has to do to the poor server who got their table.” 
“You’ve got quite a mouth for a soldier, you know,” Aelin mused, her words slowing to a near- seductive pace. “A respectable man would never insinuate that his date uses her job title for perks.” 
“I never said I was respectable.” Lazily, his gaze roamed down her upper body, admiring the way her little black dress scooped beneath her collarbones, accentuating the gleam of the single small teardrop diamond pendant that nestled in the hollow of her throat. 
James came by with two glasses of white wine and an appetizer platter with two sharing plates, breaking the dangerous haze of the moment, and Aelin thanked the server as he headed off, no doubt to take care of his other tables. 
Rowan’s jaw slacked just a bit at the sight of the cured meat and prawns arranged on the plate. “Please tell me you didn’t order the most expensive things on the menu, Ae.” 
“Of course not.” She reached across the table and linked her hands with his, the gesture as natural as breathing. “I got us an appetizer to share, a first course, a meat course, and a dessert, and I’m not the kind of person who orders expensive items just to flash her money around.” 
He breathed out a deep, controlled exhale. “I know, love. It’s just…” His thumb rubbed across her knuckles. “I’m not used to any of this—the fancy restaurants, the fancy food, the way people don’t bat an eye at spending thirty dollars for some toast.” 
She cracked a grin at that. “Let me introduce you to the fine, fine work of Chef Emrys, then. I actually used to work for him, way back when I was eighteen and my parents decided I needed to experience real-people jobs.” 
“Way back when,” he drawled, teasing her. 
“Hush, old man,” she teased right back, plating up a sampling of the appetizer plate and sliding it over to him. “I know I’m only twenty-seven, but my stint as a hostess feels like forever ago.” 
“Kind of like how basic training feels like forever ago for me.” Rowan agreed. He bit into one of the cured prawns and nearly moaned, his eyes closing in joy. “God, this is incredible.” 
She beamed. “Wait until you taste Chef Emrys’s filet mignon, Ro.” 
The conversation flowed freely between them after that, only interrupted by the arrival of new food and wine. A mushroom and herb risotto accompanied by an aged Riesling. The promised filet mignon, which almost made Rowan cry with joy, and a spectacular six-year Merlot. And finally, individual blackberry cobblers, the berries ripe and fresh and perfectly sweet-tart, paired with the restaurant’s signature Cabernet. 
“I don’t think I can move,” Rowan sighed as he set down his last empty wineglass. “But it was absolutely worth every bite.” 
“I think I’m going to dream of this cobbler,” Aelin added, regretfully nudging her empty dish towards the end of the table. “Tell me when you’re ready to leave, yes?” 
“Gonna need three to five business days,” he mumbled. 
Her laughter rippled across their low-lit table. “I love when you let that humor of yours loose.” 
A different kind of hunger flickered in his forest eyes. “And I love when I have you all to myself.” 
“Possessive much?” 
He just shrugged. “Call me whatever you want, love, but we both know you only come for me.” 
Flames flickered through her blood at the deep, sinful timbre of his voice. “That’s only because I haven’t introduced you to my drawer full of battery-powered boyfriends.” 
The banked embers simmering in his expression flared into a bonfire, and he sat upright and beckoned their server over. “Suddenly, I’m ready to go home.” 
James was at their table within two minutes. “How was everything for you tonight? Can I get you anything else?” 
“It was absolutely mind-blowing, as always,” Aelin said. “And no, I think we’ll just take the check.” Covertly, she slipped James her credit card, and he gave her a small nod as he went over to the server computer to process the payment. 
“Don’t think I didn’t hear you,” Rowan murmured, the velvet caress of his voice stroking down her spine. “Mind-blowing, Ae?” 
“Would you happen to know anything about that?” she asked, innocently. 
In response, he trailed a brazen stare down her figure. “Seems like you need a refresher.” He stood up far too smoothly for someone who had just finished his fourth glass of wine, gave her his hand for stability as she rose, and then rested that hand against the small of her back, his touch burning through her dress. 
Their server returned with a check folder in his hand and passed it over to Aelin, who glanced over the receipts, signed her name, and tucked her credit card and her copy of the receipt back into her small handbag. “Thanks, James.” 
“Ah, thank you, Ms. Galathynius, Mr. Whitethorn. You might have been the best table I’ve had all day.” He tucked the folder into his apron pocket with a wry grin. “Have a good one!” 
“If it’s good, it won’t be just one,” Rowan whispered into Aelin’s ear. 
A shiver danced down her neck. “Is that a promise, Lieutenant?” 
He held the door open for her as they left the restaurant. “Ask me again when you’re begging for my cock, love.” 
~
Ren Allsbrook, alias Chaol Westfall, was expecting Whitethorn’s visit, but the man’s presence in his office still gave him an oddly unsettled feeling. 
He pasted a bland, blasé expression onto his face. “Yes, Whitethorn?” 
Rowan dropped into the chair opposite Ren’s, regarding him with a piercing look that almost seemed to pierce beneath the layer of SecondSkin cloaking his true identity. “How the hell do you know Aelin, Westfall?” 
Ren shrugged. “We met at some city leader event a while back. Some big thing the mayor hosted so the big names of Orynth could pretend to be civil to each other.” 
“Yeah? How long ago was that?” 
Fucking think, Allsbrook. Chaol Westfall had been the police captain for about three years, Ren had taken over as Chaol six months ago in January, and the mayor’s Leaders Gala was always held in…the fall…“Last October, I believe. You’ll have to give me a little grace on the estimate, since I was damn busy with actual work.” 
“Cute of you to think you can get away with sneering at me from your soapbox, Westfall,” Whitethorn said dryly. “Well, I checked the dates, and the mayor always holds his little party in October, so I’ll buy your story.” 
“My story, huh? When did you get so desperate for leads that you started accusing coworkers, Whitethorn?” 
“Shut up,” Rowan grunted. “I’m just making sure you haven’t been doing anything shady with my girlfriend, jackass.” 
“Ooooooh, we’re using official terms now?” Ren couldn’t resist the urge to press Whitethorn’s buttons. “I thought you were allergic to that kind of commitment.” 
“I wouldn’t get smart-mouthed with me, Westfailure,” Rowan grumbled. “I’ve seen you going to the Galathynius labs. What the hell are you doing there?” 
Ren muffled a rather creative string of curses. “Whitethorn, I know you’re terse, but what the hell was that subject change? Give me some goddamn context, for shit’s sake.” 
“Fine.” Rowan pulled up some security camera footage on his tablet. “This is a record of the feed from the Galathynius, Inc. lab complex’s security cameras, and before you open your mouth, I have clearance. Two and a half weeks ago, on June 4th, you went to the labs. You went again yesterday.” He tapped on the video, and the footage played, clearly showing Chaol walk into the labs and walk back out after a period of fast-forwarding through nothing. 
“Well.” Think, you fucking idiot! “Since we are currently quietly investigating a connection between Galathynius, Incorporated, and the, uh, Shadow Killer—”
“Shadow Assassin,” Rowan corrected. 
“Whatever. That person. You think there’s a connection, and I’m pursuing it. I happen to know a scientist who works in the Galathynius labs, and I set up a couple of meetings to speak with her.” Ren folded his arms across his chest. Buy the story, Whitethorn. 
Whitethorn frowned. “Why didn’t I hear about these meetings?” 
“Because I was being discreet, duh.” Ren poured a heavy dose of sarcasm into the last word.
Rowan grumbled something that sounded like a string of cussing. “I didn’t get sent to this investigation for the laugh track, Westfall.” He stood up and left the office, carelessly banging the door shut behind him. 
“Jackass,” Ren grumbled. He turned back to the endless slog of paperwork and files he had to get through, because the job of police captain came with a lifetime supply of that shit. Against all beliefs, he’d actually come to enjoy this job, this role, and he was just as invested in the case as Whitethorn was. 
He just happened to be on a different side. 
~
This is fucking insane, this is fucking insane, this is fucking insane. Those were the words running through Fenrys’s head as he and his twin strolled down the secret back stars of the Night Owl. He was barely able to focus on the opulence of the hallway—plush velvet lining the walls, fine mahogany banisters, and black wall torches and overhead lights giving the whole space a deep purple glow—when his mind was so focused on what lay at the end of the walk. 
“Relax,” Con muttered. “Don’t get us fucking killed before we’ve found out what she wants.”
“I’m trying,” Fen grumbled. He straightened the lapels of his jacket, the same sequined one he’d worn to the Night Owl three weeks ago. “But—”
“But nothing.” Con cut him off. “Remember why we’re here.” 
“Right.” Because Celaena had trusted the two of them with infiltrating Maeve’s lair. Because they were the key to taking down the last obstacle in Boss Sardothien’s path, whatever the hell it was. 
The masked guard in front of the twins stopped at a dark wooden door at the end of the hall. “Wait here,” he said, expressionless. He went into the room, closed the door behind him, and came out a few minutes later just as expressionless. “Maeve will see you now.” And he opened the door. 
Fenrys took a quick, deep breath and strolled into the dark-paneled office, Con at his side, both of their gazes immediately locking onto the woman who sat behind the imposing black marble desk at the far end of the room. Her face was pale, nearly opalescent in the darkness, her lips were stained scarlet, and her unnervingly violet gaze was fixed on the twins. 
“Thank you for being willing to meet on such short notice, boys,” Maeve said, her calm, cold voice slicing through the room like a blade. 
“Our honor,” Fen replied. Maeve gestured at the pair of leather chairs opposite her desk, and the twins sat down. 
She steepled her fingers under her chin. “I have a job for you.” 
Con shared a loaded look with Fen. “Both of us, or just one?” 
“Both of you. I need one of you for each side of the job.” 
Slowly, Fen nodded. “Alright. What can we do for you?” 
One corner of Maeve’s scarlet lips curled upwards. She retrieved a thin manila file from her desk and slid it across the desktop. “Fenrys, kill this man.” The order was as clearly and casually enunciated as if she was asking for a glass of water. “Connall, you will stay here to monitor Fenrys’s task.” 
Beside Fenrys, Con’s posture stiffened. “How?” 
“We have an advanced tech space that will provide all the equipment you need, as well as the chance to experiment with some of the devices we’re working on.” A gleam flickered briefly through the Queen of the Night’s unflinching stare. “And I require company.” 
“Alright.” Con dipped his head in acquiescence, flatly refusing to meet the sharp, concerned gaze Fen shot towards him. 
“Excellent.” Maeve smiled, and it sent a shiver down Fenrys’s spine. “You may go, Fenrys. I expect it won’t take you too long to get the job done.” 
“I pride myself on efficiency,” he smirked, masking the oily chill in his blood with a lazy, half-wild grin. He rose, nodded at Maeve, and strolled out of the room and then out of the club, his steps sure and unfaltering until he was around the corner and out of sight. 
Then, he ducked into a side alley and slumped against the wall, his veneer of easy confidence dropping to reveal his hidden terror. Fuck! He’d left his brother in that spider’s lair; gods only knew what could happen if either of them failed to do what Maeve commanded. Hands shaking, Fenrys reached into the hidden inner pockets of his jacket, his fingers closing around the comfortingly cold steel of his favorite twin flat knives and the envelope containing the thick piece of cardstock that had been in the file. The least he could do—for himself, for Connall, and for the man he had to kill—was carry out his task quickly, before the Queen of the Night could hurt his brother.
And so, heart heavy, Fenrys Moonbeam adjusted his jacket and the weapons contained within it and began his prowl towards Orynth Police headquarters.
~
Rowan arrived at Orynth PD unusually early on the morning of June 30. After a restless night—he’d tossed and turned far into the wee hours of the morning, snatched probably three solid hours of sleep, and had a muddled collection of dream snippets—he’d just decided to bite the bullet and drag his ass out of bed at five in the morning. Shortly before six, he keyed in his code at the door of the police station, let himself into the quiet, chilly building, and dragged himself to the locker room to dump his bag and splash some icy water on his face. With his vest strapped on and his badge around his arm, he grabbed his laptop bag and trudged up the stairs to the offices, ducking into his office to drop off his things and try to form a to-do list. 
Fuck, he needed caffeine. He needed it badly enough that he’d even drink the bitter shit from the common-room carafe. So he pushed his chair in, left his office, and went down to the bullpen, following the faint scent of the first batch of coffee. Operating on autopilot, he was halfway to the break room before he smelled it. 
Blood. 
That coppery tang was unmistakable. 
Fuck. 
Coffee forgotten, Rowan whirled around and strode back to the bullpen, following his nose like some kind of hound. A bloodhound, whispered the traitorous part of his mind that sounded an awful lot like Aelin’s witty laugh. In any other context, he might have laughed along. But not this time. Head down, he tracked the metallic stench of blood across the bullpen, its tang growing heavier with each successive step he took. The blood, wherever it was, was still fresh enough to be that strong, but old enough to have spread its scent through a significant part of the floor. Both of those things worried him. A lot. 
Hand straying to his holster, Rowan rounded the corner towards the cluster of desks where the detectives and Westfall worked whenever Westfall was in the bullpen. He inhaled, catching a lungful of blood-scent, so strong it nearly knocked him back. That part of the floor was still shadowed in the early-morning dimness, so he flicked on the nearest light for a better visual. 
The flashlight in his hand clattered to the floor. His other hand clenched around the cold, smooth handle of his gun. 
He’d found the source of the blood stench. 
He blinked. Shook his head. He snapped his jaw shut, swore at himself a few times, imagined Gav yelling at him for losing his mind like a goddamn fucking green idiot, and took one step forwards. 
He froze. 
Sprawled facedown in a pool of his own blood, the back of his skull concave as if bashed in with a heavy, blunt object, with a bullet hole ripped through his temple and knives pinning his now-limp hands to the desk, was Chaol Westfall. 
Rowan locked up the side of himself that immediately started screaming questions and approached Chaol’s…corpse…carefully, forcing the investigative side of himself to take the lead. He cautiously nudged Westfall with his baton, noting the lack of response. With that amount of blood loss, he’d be more shocked if the man was alive, but he still had to go through the steps. As much as he could, Rowan circled the body, clocking each new wound he found on the man’s body. It was…more brutal than he had initially noticed, slashes and cuts scattered over the body, as well as the knives stabbed through the hands and the obvious point-blank range of the bullet, marked by its entry and exit wounds. 
As he came to the other side, Rowan stopped once again, because there was a goddamned note tacked to Westfall’s forehead. No—nailed to his forehead. 
Fuck.
He pulled on the pair of latex gloves he kept tucked into his belt and gingerly reached for the note, lifting it up enough to read it. He didn’t remove it; he was too experienced to fuck with a crime scene like that. He did, however, lift up the paper, which was surprisingly thick and high-quality for a fucking assassin signoff. Three words were printed onto the note in dark ink. He tilted the paper slightly, and the black ink shimmered with a dark purple sheen, indicative both of its quality and probably of the signature colors of whoever the hell had written the message. 
Tread carefully, Lieutenant. 
There was no signature. There was, however, a symbol stamped beneath the short, threatening message. Rowan peered at the stamp, sharp gaze scanning it until the shape came into focus. It was an almost photographic image of an owl, the bird posed in eerie stillness, its inked eyes large and unblinking. And atop the owl’s head sat a crown, a perfect arc of five jeweled spikes. 
It was the mark of the Queen of the Night.
~~~
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the-gay-disney-games · 3 months
Text
Round 1A: Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) vs. Newsies (1992)
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Propaganda:
Atlantis: The Lost Empire:
“I know Milo is trans because he is exactly like me in every other way why wouldn't he be this way too”
“Milo is a twink and Helga is butch I rest my case”
“Audrey”
“Helga Sinclair is literally there, gay awakening of many along with Kida and Audrey”
“Literally everyone on the exploration team is some form of queer coded except for Commander Rourke. From weedy Academia Disater Bi Milo, to lesbian coded mechanic Audrey, to the crotchety, gossiping, seen it all and death's too intimidated to take her old queer Wilhelmina Packard. Plus how all of them wear their crystals at the end of the movie... They are not straight.”
Newsies:
“i could make a supercut if i had the energy. 1: kenny ortega word of god confirmed trans racetrack, 2: the male leads get a balcony scene, a weird alley scene where one shoved the other against a wall by the chest and it’s REALLY gay, at the end when jack decides to stay it cuts to DAVEY (these r the male leads) instead of sarah (the love interest), 3: in one of the songs one of the characters sings “ain’t i pretty” and one of the other guy characters nods. also it’s a musical about the underdogs/oppressed winning yes it’s based on a real thing but yk. and they made the ending a lot happier and all the main characters are amalgamations of people/made up”
“Just gay as hell tbh”
“Kenny Ortega, the director, confirmed that he purposefully queercoded it! Jack and Davey almost kiss like 20 times and the have a balcony scene also Blink and Mush are constantly cuddling in the background.”
“it’s directed by a gay person, same guy who directed the high school musical movies, so everything that’s super gay can be assumed to deliberate, literally certifiably gay coded. it revolves around the friendship between these two guys. it’s a lot to get into maybe i’ll get back to you later but it’s really gay and also my favorite movie, i mean my name on here is literally transfagjackkelly”
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possession · 2 years
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In my end is my beginning.
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS (2018) dir. Josie Rourke
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Endless Summer spoiler ahead!
Ok I am a horrible person who chose the endless summer ending where MC let the whole world burn 🔥 to stay on la Huerta with the love of her life Jake (🥹😍❤️) and her friends forever. Yeah, no resucitating loved ones, or sacrificing herself to let Vaanu return to their home. Certainly no letting Rourke win... thank god I don't have to make life-and-death decisions in my actual life/job 🫠
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atlantis-archive · 4 months
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Moliere Digs Dirt!
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Written and lettered by: Michael Stewart Pencils by: Al Bigley Inks by: Jeff Albrecht Colors: John Green Published in: Disney Adventures Collector’s Issue! Atlantis: The Lost Empire Volume 11, Number 6 (pg.76-79). Publisher: Buena Vista Magazines Inc. Publication date: circa July 2001.
Text:
Page 1: Mole: [No1 Stay back!] [Why do you do this to Moliere?] [Why?] Vinny: [You've had this coming for a long time--] [--and now you're going to get it!] Audrey: [You can't escape from us this time, Mole!] Mole: [Not the bath! Anything but that!]
Page 2, Panel 1: Mole: [Please--I am a Digger!] [Dirt is my life!] Panel 2: Vinny: [Who's got him?] Audrey: [Grab him!] Cookie: [Lemme at him!] Sweet: [Watch out!] Helga: [Move in!] Mole: [Hah! Again I slip away from the mob!] Panel 3: Sweet: [Mmmph!] Audrey: [There he goes!] Helga: [-:sigh:- It's only a bath.]
Page 3, Panel 1: Milo: [Hey, what's all the excitement?] sfx: KRAK Vinny: [Oof!] Sweet: [Company halt!] Audrey: [That Milo is a genius--] [--at being in the wrong place at the wrong time!] Helga: [And to think--] [--we've accomplished dangerous missions all over the world...] Panel 2: Mole: [I will never was the dirt from my body!] [Some of it dates back to when I was but a small child!] [These are cherished memories!] Panel 3: Milo: [Er...sorry, Vinny.] Vinny: [Oooh. I always liked Fireworks--] [--just not going of inside my head...] Panel 4: Narrator: [On the bridge...] Rourke: [Any report on Operation Scrubadub, Mrs. Packard?] Packard: [Huh? Oh--Moliere's bath!] [Nah, they haven't caught the grungy little guy yet.] sailor: [Big problem up ahead, Commander Rourke!]
Page 4, Panel 1: Narrator: [Meanwhile...] Milo: [Hah ha ha! I have made another unclean getaway! Panel 2: sfx: CLICK Mole: [Sacre bleu!] Panel 3: Mole: [No! No! No! No!] Audrey: [Get ready for the scrubbing of a lifetime!] Helga: [Wait--listen!] [A message from the bridge!] Panel 4: siren: [RED ALERT! RED ALERT!] Mole: [Ack!] Audrey or Vinny: [Let's go, people!] Panel 5: Mole: [You see? Sometimes you can lead a mole to water, but you cannot make him use soap!] Narrator: [The end!] [Turn to page 80 to find out about the red alert!]
Notes:
This occurs after Audrey Let's Off Some Steam!, presumably while Milo is still looking for the sleeping quarters.
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