Bangin’ Jeff Easley cover on CM2 — Death’s Ride. Unfortunately, like the cover of CM1, no such thing happens in the adventure. The painting is rad enough to have a second life as the main image for the Challenger series D&D DM screen, though.
Anyway, we’re only two modules into the Companion modules and the new Companion stuff is out the window. Politics? Kingdom management? War? Nope, a big old wilderness sandbox. True, there are elements of the Companion stuff — the barony of Twolakes is a Dominion, the module ends in a mass combat — but the bulk of it is dedicated to exploring a wilderness to unravel a mystery. The region is pretty detailed for a 32-page module, with several key locations and a lot of NPCs (potential allies all) getting profiled. The adventure sites are pretty good, too — a castle, a temple, a dragon’s lair, a tower, a village, a swamp, each revealing part of a plot to take over the barony from it’s rightful rulers. The encounters are suitably high powered — my favorite encounter involves six hydra that are disguised as a grove of trees by illusion spells. That’s a toughie. And while there is no skeletal rider, there IS a big blue dragon hanging out here too. The challenge is here. The stakes feel high, even! It just doesn’t really deliver on the nebulous Companion promises, even if players can take control of the barony at the close.
I can’t wait for CM2 promo, because I’m really interested in what Zawe has to say about this role and joining the MCU.
Tbh, I was surprised to learn she joined, since I got the impression that she wasn’t into being part of a franchise/big budget film. She said that while Velvet Buzzsaw was a big budget film, it still felt like an indie at heart, and that’s why she took the role. So it’ll be interesting to hear why she changed her tune on that. Maybe she’ll say Charlie and Tom had an influence on her during Betrayal. lol
carol deserves her own trilogy without the rest of the chaotic mess of the avengers. i did not wait this long to have a female superhero trilogy and have it be ruined because marvel just wants to get more money by adding in more avengers. like did they not learn from civil war????
sean had now firmly reached the point of the night where he felt done with the party. he’d had his last drink nearly an hour before so he wasn’t directly buzzing off of that anymore, and as the party numbers dwindled slightly he found himself ready to call it a night, too. he was in the middle of a conversation with one of his classmates when he saw craig approaching him over the top of her head. his attention immediately shifted from her, to craig, as he gave his best friend the ‘you alright?’ look. @craigmcnning
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Revolution (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Charlie Matheson/Miles Matheson/Bass Monroe, Charlie Matheson/Bass Monroe, Charlie Matheson/Miles Matheson, Miles Matheson/Bass Monroe
Characters: Charlie Matheson, Miles Matheson, Bass Monroe
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Threesome - F/M/M, Uncle/Niece Incest
Summary: Bass can’t have Charlie until Miles does, but Miles can’t either until she is willing. This is the night Charlie decides to break the impasse.
I found this in my WIPs from 2014 and it looked basically finished so I decided to polish it - which turned out to be a nearly complete rewrite, but here it is, for ol’ times sake. ;)
Okay, I know y’all have got to be sick of me by now, but just...
CM2 Underground Fighting AU
Bass and Miles fresh out of the military, looking for a way to soothe the violence. They find a fight and meet Charlie, who gets her shoulder dislocated in her fight. They set it and over the course of time start to earn her trust. She talks with them, but dodges most of their questions, though she does tells them a gym where they can get in the ring if they want it, while hinting that that’s where she started out.
Time passes and they see her every weekend at the fights. She almost always loses, but she keeps coming back. Miles finally breaks and asks her why the hell she’s doing this. She evades the question, refusing to tell them her real reason. She doesn’t need some damn knights in shining armor. Bass asks her to at least let them train her, teach her a few tricks they picked up in the military. She agrees.
Things progress. Bass and Miles train her during the week and on the weekends she gets into the ring. It falls into a semi comfortable rhythm.
Then Charlie shows up to the Saturday fight absolutely beat to a pulp. Broken ribs, eye basically swollen shut, limping and favoring one hand. Bass and Miles demand to know what the hell happened. She was fine on Wednesday when they last saw her. She tries to brush them off, saying she has to get into the ring. They refuse, furious. She rages at them, telling them they have no say over it. They rage right back, telling her in gruesome detail exactly what will happen if one of her broken ribs punctures an organ.
She finally breaks and tells them she has to. “If I don’t... my little brother is going to die. He... He’s sick, really, really sick. If I don’t get my dad the money...”
Miles and Bass look at her. Then Bass walks away and Miles forces Charlie into a chair, where she drops her head into her hands and her shoulders start to shake.
Then they announce the newcomer and Charlie looks up. Bass is in the middle of the ring, shirtless and barefoot. A mountain of a man squares up with him and Miles feels Charlie suck in a pained breath under the arm he hadn’t even realized he had wrapped around her.
The fight is glorious. Bass is a lion let free and his opponent pays the price, ending up bloody and unmoving on the floor. Bass doesn’t respond to any of the cheers, just disappears back into the crowd. Then he’s in front of them with a stack of cash. He holds it out to Charlie.
“Bass, no - ”
“I had to bury both of my baby sisters.” Bass’ voice is hard, his whole body thrumming with tension. “I’m not letting you bury your brother. Take it.”
Charlie looks up at him, and there’s a moment of understanding between the two of them. She takes the money.
“Now let’s get you home.”
They take her back to their apartment, Miles carrying her when she can’t walk, because he knows Bass is too raw right now, too wound from the fight and the emotions of talking about his family. They settle Charlie on the couch and put a blanket over her. Charlie catches Bass’ hand. “Thank you, Bass.”
Bass doesn’t speak, just nods and then heads towards the bathroom. Miles lets him go, even though his instincts tell him to follow, bringing out the bandages for Charlie’s swollen hand. But she stops him, her eyes knowing.
“Go. Take care of him.” Miles doesn’t say anything, just looks at her. Then he gives her the smallest smile. Because she understands. No one in four decades has ever understood.
He goes into the bathroom and finds Bass in the shower, staring blankly at the wall. Miles strips down and joins him, wrapping his arms around the other man and holding him until the shaking and tears stop.
