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#4.10 Fall
wickedspacegrace · 3 months
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Doctor Who 4.10 midnight is such a slay representation of discourse in a crisis. Nobody is listening. Groupthink. Scapegoating marginalised people. blaming the “Immigrant”. Getting offended at others knowing more. Making stuff up to explain things they don’t understand. And backtracking on what they said at the end of it all.
hope anyone saying that the new episodes are too political remembers the show has had the allegories on lock since forever
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benoitblanc · 8 months
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fanfictionalraven · 12 days
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Piece by Piece Pt.2
Title: Piece By Piece Pt 2
Summary: Almost 11 years later, the reader and Dean run into each other again.
Characters: Reader, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Original Characters, John Winchester (mentioned)
Word Count: 3,083
Warnings: Mention of character death and past abuse
Author’s Note: This story was originally posted by myself under the account Winchestersgirl91. It was published in 2017. This story takes place after episode 4.10 Heaven and Hell.
Read Piece by Piece Pt. 1 here.
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It had been a long day. You had been on your feet since you’d walked through the door, without one chance to take a break. The patients were being overly needy and the doctors excessively demanding. You’d had one patient take a swing at you and another almost fall out of bed. Things had finally slowed down enough for you to try and catch up on your charting so you fall into the chair at the front desk. You look up at the clock and sigh. One more hour and you were home free. Running your hands over your face, you turn your back to the entrance and unlock your computer. You open the first file and just as your fingers brush the keys…
“Excuse me, Sweetheart,” a voice says from behind you. You freeze. It had been ten years but you knew that voice. You’d know that voice anywhere. “We’re agents Perry and Schon with the FBI. We’d like to ask you a few questions.” For a moment, you wonder if you were hearing things. But the second you turn around, your doubts are gone. There are two men standing at the desk in dark suits, each holding up authentic looking badges. But you knew those weren’t their badges or their names. One, you didn’t recognize by face but you knew immediately he was the younger brother. The other man you would recognize anywhere. You’d seen that face in your dreams almost every night for the past ten years.
“Dean,” you say, staring up at him. He’s looking back at you like he’s seen a ghost. Which was really saying something in his case.
“Y/N?” He asks. You’re frozen for a moment, trapped in those green eyes. In the next second, you’re being scooped up into a bone-crushing hug. Laughing, you return the embrace immediately. Dean lets you go and looks down at you, those dimples showing.
“How’ve you been?” You ask him. He shakes his head slightly.
“I’m okay. What about you?” He asks, his eyes falling to your arms. You smile and hold them out between you, showing him. The scars are still there but they’ve faded over the years. He smiles and his eyes find yours again. You bite your lip then turn to the other man.
“That must make you Sam,” you say, holding your hand out. He laughs and shakes your hand, nodding. “I heard so much about you in just a few hours.”
“Well I’ve had several years to hear about you,” he says. You feel your face heat up and you look at Dean. He rubs the back of his neck, nervously.
“You been talking about me for nearly eleven years?” You ask. He shrugs. You smile as you look between them. “You guys still hunting goblins?” Dean laughs and shakes his head.
“Goblins still don’t exist actually,” he tells you. Sam looks at Dean, an eyebrow raised.
“She knows?” He asks. Dean glances at him and shrugs. “Huh.”
“Is your dad here too?” You ask. You catch the look on both their faces and your smile falls.
“Dad died about two years ago,” Dean tells you. You nod and reach over, placing your hand on his arm comfortingly.
“I’m sorry. I was hoping to get to thank him,” you say. Dean looks at you, confused now. “An FBI agent just happens to show up at the door after I spend the night with you?” He lets out a nervous laugh and nods.
“Figured that out, did ya?” He asks. You laugh lightly and nod. “Did it work?”
“They never laid another hand on me,” you tell him. He nods, relief clear on his face. You smile and stand up on your toes, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. “Thank you.” He smiles at you tenderly and nods.
“Had to save you from those goblins,” he says. You look down, that blush creeping back into your cheeks. Sam clears his throat and you both look up at him.
“Speaking of,” he says, sending Dean a look. He nods quickly and leans back against the counter, crossing his arms.
“What do you know about Dr. Cannon?” He asks. You furrow your brow, thinking back, and shake your head.
“Not much. He just showed up one day about a month ago. Keeps to himself mostly. Why?” You ask, looking between them. They exchange brief looks and your eyes widen. “Is he…one of your things?” You ask, whispering now. Dean shrugs his shoulders.
“You know the women that have been murdered?” He asks and you nod. Of course, you knew. Four women, all drained of their blood found in the park. One of them had been a coworker of yours. You were terrified to go anywhere on your own.
“He’s our best lead right now. We’ve got him on camera leaving a club with one of the women and then there was the one that worked here. Did you know her?” Sam asks. You frown and shake your head.
“Not well. She was new, fresh out of nursing school. Although, Dr. Cannon did seem to take an interest in her. We just thought he was flirting,” you say, frowning more. You see Dean’s jaw clench slightly before he speaks.
“He hasn’t taken an interest in you, has he?” He asks a ferocity in his voice you’d never heard before. You shake your head quickly.
“No. Not that I know of at least. No one’s said anything if he has,” you tell him. He nods and you both look over at Sam as his phone starts to ring. He pulls it from his coat pocket then looks at Dean.
“It’s Bobby. Be right back,” he says before walking away. You watch him go then look back at Dean.
“What is he? Dr. Cannon?” You ask. Dean scratches at his chin.
“Looks like a vampire,” he says. You frown and nod, looking back where Sam had walked off. You feel a hand on your arm and look back to find Dean watching you closely. You smile and turn towards him, taking a step forward.
“You moved up from grand theft auto,” you say. He raises an eyebrow at you and you smirk. “I saw you on the news a little while back, Clyde. That bank robbery?” You ask. He lets out a laugh and nods. “Although, you got yourself a new Bonnie,” you say, cutting your eyes towards Sam. Dean laughs more and shakes his head.
“Nah, you were always my only Bonnie,” he tells you, reaching up and pushing a strand of your hair back into place. “You happy here, Y/N?”
“I am,” you tell him, nodding. You see the disappointment spread across his face and you can’t help but laugh. “Were you hoping I wasn’t?”
“A little. Then I could offer to whisk you away,” he says. You smile, stepping even closer to him.
“Asking me to run away with you, Dean Winchester?” You ask. He shrugs once and you sigh, shaking your head. “No.”
“Again?” He asks, laughing lightly. You smile and reach out, running your hands over his arms.
“I’m afraid so. I’ve got roots here. I’ve got a job that I love most days and a house with a mortgage to pay on. I’ve got people who need me,” you tell him. He nods slightly then his eyes widen quickly.
“Oh, crap. You’ve got someone, don’t you? Of course, you do. God, I’m so sorry, Y/N,” he says in a rush. You laugh and take his face in your hands quickly.
“Dean, relax. It’s not like that,” you explain. He nods slightly and reaches up, taking your hands in his. He brings them down to his lips and presses a gentle kiss to your knuckles. A cough behind you causes Dean to let your hands go. You take a step back as you glance back at Sam.
“We should get going,” he says, looking at Dean. He nods and looks down at you again.
“Could we – I don’t know – grab a drink tonight or have dinner? Something?” He asks. You bite your lip, hesitating. You wanted nothing more than to have dinner with Dean, to spend another night with him. But…
The sound of running draws you from your thoughts. You step around the corner quickly, expecting to find a patient out of bed. Instead, what you find makes your heart nearly stop. A beautiful, young girl with bright green eyes and y/h/c curls tied back in a purple ribbon is racing towards you with a wide smile that shows off two perfect dimples. She’s wearing an old leather jacket that’s way too big on her but she doesn’t care. You drop to your knees and hold your arms open to her. She bounds into your waiting arms in a fit of giggles.
“Momma!!” She exclaims, wrapping you up in a tight hug. You let out a laugh and press a kiss to her temple.
“What are you doing here?” You ask, glancing up at the teenage girl walking up behind her, slowly.
“M.K. had something to show you that absolutely could not wait till you got home tonight, didn’t you?” She asks, looking down at the young girl. She giggles and nods, dropping her backpack. She pulls back the right side of the leather jacket to reveal a bright pink ribbon that says BIRTHDAY PRINCESS across it. You smile, touching it gently and nod.
“Wow!! That’s nice!!” You tell her. She giggles again and nods, looking down at it.
“Mrs. Little gave it to me this morning. And everyone really liked the cupcakes you sent too,” she says, looking back at you. You smile and nod before glancing over your shoulder at the two bewildered men. You reach into your pocket and pull out a couple of dollar bills.
“Why don’t you ask Tee real nice to take you down to the vending machines before she takes you home?” You suggest. M.K. smiles widely and takes the money from you. She grabs the teenage girl’s hand and pulls her down the hallway quickly. You rise to your feet, picking up the purple-trimmed zebra striped backpack. Taking a deep breath, you turn to face Dean and Sam. “That’s — that’s M.K.” Sam glances at his older brother then looks back at you.
“M.K.?” He asks. You bite your lip then look down.
“Mary Katherine,” you tell them. Nothing but silence answers you so you look back up. Sam smiles a little and looks down the hall where the two had gone. Dean is still staring at you, slightly paler now. He blinks once, twice, then shakes his head.
“How,” he stops and clears his throat. “How old is she?” He asks.
“Ten. Ten today actually,” you explain. He nods his head slowly, never taking his eyes off you.
“And we…” He stops, trying to count back in his head. You sigh and nod.
“Ten years and nine months ago, yea,” you tell him. He takes a step back and runs a hand over his jaw slowly. He was in shock and you couldn’t blame him. You had expected this sort of reaction, imagined it a thousand times in different scenarios. Granted, this was never one of them. But Dean’s next words take you by surprise.
“Can I meet her?” He asks. You and Sam both look at him, shocked.
“You literally just found out she exists and you want to meet her?” You ask. He shrugs once and you shake your head quickly. “Dean, that’s not a decision I want you to take lightly. That’s not something you can just jump in to.”
“We don’t have to tell her who I am right off the bat,” he says. You sigh and set her backpack down on the desk.
“No, Dean. You don’t get it. I can’t introduce you to her. Either of you,” you say, glancing between them. “The moment I tell her that you’re my friends Dean and Sam she’ll know that it’s…Dad and Uncle Sam.” Dean stares at you in confusion and you look down. “You think I didn’t want her to know who her father was? I mean, it’s not like you chose not to be in her life. I’ve told her all about you. I’ve told her that her father is Dean Winchester. That his brother is her Uncle Sam. She wears that leather jacket you gave me every day that I let her. And she knows that you travel all over the country saving people. In fact…” You unzip her backpack and pull out a purple folder. You leaf through a few pages in it before pulling out the one you were looking for. MY HERO is the title written across the top of it.
You look at the desk quickly when one of the call lights flashes, reminding you where you were. Sighing, you pull a post-it note off the nearby stack and stick it to the front of your daughter’s paper. You quickly jot down your address then turn and hold it out for Dean. He takes it and looks it over briefly before looking back at you.
“Take it. Read it. Think about what this is really going to do to all of us. Then decide. If you still want to meet her, that’s where we live. You can come by for dinner around 6. If you change your mind, I won’t blame you. This isn’t something you ever asked for and I’m not holding you to any responsibility,” you tell him. He searches your eyes for a moment then nods. You kiss his cheek quickly then rush down the hall to your waiting patient.
When you come back to the nurse’s station, Sam and Dean are gone. You sigh and fall back into the chair, running your hands over your face. A post-it note stuck to your computer screen catches your eye. You smile slightly as you pick it up. Dean’s phone number is scrawled across it. See you at six. M.K. comes back down the hall with Tina right behind her so you stow the note in your pocket quickly. You hold your arms open and your little girl rushes over to you, climbing into your lap.
“Who were those men?” She asks. You smile and run a hand over her hair.
“Some old friends,” you tell her, fixing the jacket around her shoulders. “Now you get home and get your homework done. I’m gonna pick up your cake when I get off work then I’ll be there and we can celebrate together yea?” M.K. giggles and nods, jumping down from your lap. You help her get her backpack on and watch as she leaves with Tina.
As soon as you’re able to, you leave the hospital. A quick stop at the local grocery store and you’re headed home with a purple iced, chocolate cake. You glance at the clock as you turn into your subdivision. 4:25. You would have plenty of time to shower and get dinner ready before Dean arrived. Your heart leapt in your chest at the thought of Dean and M.K. finally getting to meet. You knew it was highly unlikely that he’d stick around but having him in her life, in your life, would mean enough.
You pull into the driveway and your smile falls quickly. The front door was wide open. Tina always made sure the door was locked and dead bolted. She was incredibly safe and protective over M.K. which was one of the reasons she was such a great babysitter. Her mother was your best friend and had kept M.K. while you were finishing school until Tina was old enough to watch her.
You get out of your car leaving all your stuff behind, unable to shake the bad feeling in the pit of your stomach. Something is wrong. You rush up the front steps and into the house.
“Tina? M.K.?” You call out, looking around. Your eyes widen as you run into the living room, finding it completely trashed. The coffee table and its contents were flipped and scattered haphazardly. The sofa cushions were thrown and ripped. “No, no, no.” The smell is what hits you next. It’s a smell you know well from working at the hospital. Blood. You spin on your heels to check the rest of the house but stop in your tracks. A knife from the kitchen, dripping in blood, has been driven into the wall to hold a note in place. You shouldn’t have talked to those hunters. You recognize the handwriting instantly. Dr. Cannon.
With trembling hands, you pull your phone out of your back pocket. Thankfully, you had already saved Dean’s number. You quickly find his name and put the phone to your ear before running to each room of the house. Dean answers after the second ring.
“Hello?” He asks. You’re fighting to keep it together now, finding the house completely empty.
“Dean, they’re gone,” you tell him, your voice shakey. “Dr. Cannon took them.”
“Who?” He asks.
“M.K. and Tina. They aren’t here and the house is wrecked. There’s a note about me talking to you two. Dean, there’s blood,” you finish in tears. He tells Sam quickly before answering you.
“We’re pretty sure we know where his nest is. We’re going there now. You stay put and wait for me to call you. You got me?” He asks. You nod, trying to make your voice work again. “Y/N?”
“Yea. Hurry,” you tell him. You can hear the distinct roar of the Impala’s engine coming to life over the line then Sam muttering directions to his brother. You look around once more at the destruction and panic rises in your chest. If he could do all of this, what would he do them? “Dean, be careful.”
“Don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine. And we’ll bring them home,” he assures you before he hangs up. You move out to the front porch and sit down on the steps. Running your hands over your face, you try not to think.
You try not to think about what he’s doing to either of them right now. You try not to think about having to tell Tina’s mother, your best friend, that her daughter is dead. You try not to think about coming home every day to an empty house. You try not to think about M.K. screaming for you. You try not to think. You try.
Read Piece by Piece Pt. 3 here.
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dinneratgrannys · 10 months
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ONCE UPON A TIME 4.10, Fall
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henyrmlls · 10 months
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ONCE UPON A TIME | 4.10 “The Fall”
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scoobydoodean · 3 months
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DEAN That's another question. Why would you fall? Why would you want to be one of us? ANNA You don't mean that. DEAN I don't? A bunch of -- of miserable bastards... Eating, crapping, confused, afraid. ANNA I don't know. There's loyalty... forgiveness... love.
4.10 "Heaven and Hell"
Very interested in the things Anna lists here first.
Loyalty. Forgiveness. Love.
All the things her life as an angel lacked. Not because angels don't actually have emotions, but because angels exist in a religious cult environment that literally punishes them for thought crimes, where feeling something that doesn't vibe with the rest of the heavenly host is evil because it's what lead to Lucifer's fall, and where disobedience to a single order means death because disobedience was Lucifer's sin.
Anna lists loyalty because her own brothers in arms—her own soldiers she fought in the trenches with for millennia—show up in this very episode to kill her. There's no love, there is no forgiveness, and there is certainly no loyalty.
CASTIEL I'm sorry. ANNA No. You're not. Not really. You don't know the feeling. CASTIEL Still, we have a history. It's just -- ANNA Orders are orders. I know. Just make it quick.
Cas does feel despite Anna's words (they all do. THEY ALL DO) but feeling is forbidden--"orders are orders". Cas isn't allowed. He can't let himself feel this. He has to be a good soldier or else. So all he can offer are meaningless platitudes. Anything more could get him in trouble. So he can't feel. Cas has never let himself feel the full brunt of his emotions... and if he were able to feel truly sorry, and really let himself feel it... he wouldn't do this to her. He'd fight.
We're already getting hints that Cas is close to getting in trouble (Uriel tells Dean that Cas doesn't enter Dean's dreams because Dean is his weakness—Cas likes him). We know he'll actually get in trouble 10 episodes later—get packed off to Bible camp for corrective discipline (after being demoted).
Anna kisses Dean right in front of Cas and Uriel, and it's meant as a defiant "fuck you" and a liberating display of her freedom—the fact that SHE is the only one of them who's really broken out of the mind control enough to allow herself to truly feel it all.
She's doing something forbidden—something many of the angels consider to be dirty—by kissing Dean. She's showing that she gets to feel because she chooses to, and that she regrets nothing about her fall—she'd do it all again. She's making a mockery of Cas in particular by showing him that because she rebelled, she gets to act on emotions Cas is terrified to ever truly touch. She's making a mockery of his claim that he's sorry—that he feels for her. She's saying "THIS is what it is to feel." What Cas feels? It's shame.
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episodeoftv · 4 months
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Prelims, Vote 6 of 8
The top 4 finales will move on to be included in the main bracket
Propaganda is under the cut, may include spoilers
Dancing with the Stars - 31.11 Finale
The winner had been pre-decided before the season even began which rendered the entire season pointless. I also watched on the West coast so I went into the episode knowing just how rigged it actually was because the results were already posted online. I don’t expect these shows to be 100% authentic but I at least expect the finale to use actual votes instead of having the winner put it in her contract that she wins.
Leverage: Redemption - 2.12 The Museum Makeover Job / 2.13 The Crowning Achievement Job
I just Cop Daughter. What ever happened to the “good” cop just being some rando I liked those days.
Medium - 7.13 Me Without You
I'll be honest, I watched this show with my mom as a child and I don't remember too many details, but I DO remember being filled with absolute rage over the fact that they killed the main character's husband so abruptly and how they handled the fall out. This was the series finale and instead of giving a nice, wholesome ending, the creators decided to say F you to the fans and make everyone miserable for... no real reason, honestly. It wasn't even well written or well acted, from what I recall. It was just... bad. It's been almost 13 years and I am still filled with absolute rage over this stupid ending. I honestly don't care if no one else votes for this, I just want it to be known it's a Bad finale.
Nancy Drew - 4.13 The Light Between Lives
The entire final season sucked honestly. They didn’t give a proper ending to most of the plot lines simply because they didn’t give themselves enough time. And they knew it was going to be the final season so it made no sense to do that.
Roseanne - 9.23 / 9.24 Into That Good Night
Just focusing on the (at the time) series finale and not all the terrible things Roseanne decided to say and be later. This finale sucked. It was built to retcon the entire (admittedly bad) season that came before it as a bizarre fantasy of the titular character after her Husband died. They quickly and randomly undid different characters' development and swapped around couples just because.
Torchwood - 4.10 The Blood Line
Captain Jack's magical blood is necessary to heal a evil vagina running through the core of the Earth, and Bill Pullman's on hand as a cackling supervillain pedophile who dies screaming about how he's going to chase little girls in Hell. But the worst part is, somehow, all of that is boring.
Xena Warrior Princess - 6.21 A Friend in Need
They undid an entire series of redemption work with one that could only be redeemed with her death an unending torment
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sourcreammachine · 4 months
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Doctor Who episodes ranked let’s go
(o’th’ revived era. and eight’s movie because i’ve seen it)
and two-parters are counted as one, but i get to define what a ‘two-parter’ is. this is because i’m in charge not you
9.11 Heaven Sent aka the stars align and somehow Moffat manages to pull an incredible script out of his arse after being stuck up there for so long aka Capaldi is the new Atlas from carrying his entire era aka now you understand why i’m splitting up some two-parters and not others aka ahaha 9.11 lol
3.8/9 Human Nature / The Family of Blood
1.9/10 The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances
3.10 Blink
2.4 The Girl in the Fireplace
4.12/13 The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End
1.6 Dalek
6.i A Christmas Carol
3.11 Utopia
4.8/9 Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead
7.v The Time of the Doctor okay hear me out first thing is i’m an absolute sucker second thing is why couldn’t season 7 have actually seeded any of this with actual thought and subtly rather than mystery-box hackery it literally makes me think of how much better his era could’ve been if Moffat wasn’t so up his own arse
2.8/9 The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit
7.iv The Day of the Doctor
4.11 Turn Left
3.4 Girldick
1.12/13 Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways
7.iii The Night of The Doctor aka my boi Eight finally gets done justice
4.10 Midnight
4.6 The Doctor’s Daughter
3.2 The Shakespeare Code
3.i The Runaway Bride
2.12/13 Army of Ghosts / Doomsday
2.3 School Reunion
6.11 The God Complex
4.1 Partners in Crime
10.11/12 World Enough, and Time / The Doctor Falls (look, i’m a sucker i know, and i couldn’t give a shit about Gomez and Simm, but fuck you Moffat actually figured out how to write human emotions. Talalay’s finest hour. Lucas’ finest hour. Moffat did not deserve a swan song but he got himself one somehow)
5.2 The Beast Below
8.8 Mummy on the Orient Express (despite the awful, horrible ending, see below (very far below))
4.7 The Unicorn and the Wasp
4.2 The Fires of Pompeii
7.12 Neil Gaiman’s Good Episode
1.1 Rose
5.1 The Eleventh Hour
2.7 The Idiot’s Lantern
10.1 The Pilot
5.10 Vincent and the Doctor
4.i Voyage of the Damned
6.4 The Neil Gaiman Fanfic Hour
3.1 Smith and Jones
4.4 The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky
6.10 The Girl Who Waited
1.2 The End of The World
5.12/13 The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang
2.i The Christmas Invasion
6.7 A Good Man Jumps The Shark
5.6 The Vampires of Venice
4.3 Planet of the Ood
7.ii The Snowmen
1.11 Boom Town
3.12 The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords
1.7 The Long Game
7.7 The Rings of Akhaten
8.6 The Caretaker
5.7 Amy’s Choice
9.7/8 Zygons. you can basically hear Capaldi’s back cracking from him carrying it
4.v/vi The End of Time, Parts 1 & 2
10.6 Extremis, the most underrated episode fuck you
4.ii The Next Doctor
8.5 Time Heist
6.1/2 The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon
2.1 New Earth
10.3 Twelve Decks a Racist
9.ii The Husbands of River Song (yeah i’m a sucker, the ending gets me)
6.3 Curse of the Black Pearl spot, fuck
11.1 The Woman Who Fell To Earth (based on how it made me feel in 2018, looking back yeah the warning signs were all there)
5.4/5 The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone
5.11 The Lodger
1.3 The Unquiet Dead
7.4 The Power of Three aka Chris Chibnall Shits Himself on Live Television
2.5/6 Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel
7.9 Hide
10.5 Oxygen aka La Problema Es Capitalismo
8.1 Deep Breath
2.2 Tooth and Nail claw, fuck
1.8 Father’s Day
11.3 Rosa (bring back Blackman as an episode writer, she wrote Noughts & Crosses, she can do it)
7.11 The Crimson ‘Orror
6.8 Let’s Kill Hitler
6.5/6 The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People
4.iv The Waters of Mars
7.6 oh no it’s clara
9.10 yaay clara’s dead
5.8/9 The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood
12.5 Fugitive of the Judoon (again, based on how i felt watching it for the first time. it was a good episode and an interesting mystery box, just one filled with shit)
1.4/5 Aliens of London / World War Three
7.5 The Angels Take amy lol
2.11 Fear Her
8.4 Listen, aka the first episode that Capaldi carries, despite Moffat being himself again
10.ii Twice Upon a Time (ugh we could’ve had a brilliant trilogy to see out Capaldi, but instead we get Moffat masturbating on live television for an hour. look, The Doctor could have had an actual character arc - they feel like they’re on borrowed time after their resurrection on Trenzalore, after the events on Gallifrey they feel like any sort of feelings of ‘duty’ as last of the time lords (as errant and fleeting as such feelings might’ve been) are resolved, and after failing their BIG MASSIVE SEASON 10 ARC with Missy and getting stabbed in the back, and BILL [redacted for spoilers], they’re happy to accept their death - and that’s where the season ends. yuletide 2017 could’ve ended this arc, they’re taught the love of the universe again, they see the goodness they bring to all life - Clara, i am a good man. and when they sit down to die, those words ‘maybe just one more go’ could’ve had the weight of the universe behind them, it could’ve been the greatest who line ever written, had that line actually had weight on its shoulders. Moffat is a hack. mystery-boxing is hacking, end of story. Capaldi, the finest actor ever in the role, was done dirty by scripts with no weight and planning. Grand Moff lives up his own arse - that power gives him the ability to write incredible episodes such as Heaven Sent and everything he ever touched under Davies - but it makes all series, arcs and continuity fall apart into a pile of shit. this episode is the finest example - a universe of potential, reduced to one hour of self-congratulatory masturbation)
6.9 Night Terrors
11.9 It Takes You Away (the one with the frog god)
7.10 Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS
9.12 Heaven Sent Part II: Whoops
8.9 Flatline
7.3 A Town Called Widowmaker
4.iii Planet of the Dead
9.1/2 The Magician’s Apprentice / The Witch’s Familiar
6.12 Closing Time
3.7 42
13.i Eve of the Daleks (the aisling bea one)
8.3 Robot of Sherwood
9.5/6 Maisie Williams
6.13 The Wedding of River Song
5.3 Victory of the Daleks
8.11/12 Dark Water / Death in Heaven aka i’m sorry Gomez but not even you can carry this
3.6 The Lazarus Experiment
11.i Resolution (…of the Daleks)
10.2 Emoji Robots
8.2 Into the Dalek
10.5 Knock Knock. Who’s There? Yer mum
7.13 The Name of the Doctor aka the Biggest Waste of Richard E. Grant until Rise of Skywalker
7.2 Dinosaurs on a Plane
10.8/9 The Pyramid at the End of the World / The Lie of the Land
Doctor Who: The Movie!
11.6 Demons of the Punjab
7.1 Asylum of the Daleks
7.8 Cold War aka i’m starting to think Mark Gatiss might be a bad writer actually
3.4/5 Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks
11.5 P’ting
9.3/4 Under the Lake / Before the Flood aka the Biggest Waste of Peter Serafinowicz since the Clone Wars didn’t bring him back. also a deaf person falling in love with their interpreter is the most toxic thing ever. and it’s 90 more minutes of season 9 tedium ugh
2.10 Love and Monsters. yeah this high up
8.7 The anti-abortion episode. and it’s not just for that fact alone nonono, The Doctor is such an unbelievable unforgivable cunt this time. at least Clara calls them out in that brilliant final-ish scene BUT they’re still unforgivable AND they get forgiven anyway next week?? literally they take the way Clara’s character arc was going and throw it all in the bin
8.10 In The Forest of the Shite
11.7 Kerblam!
10.9 Empress of Mars aka i’m starting to think Mark Gatiss might be a bad writer actually
9.i Last Christmas aka remember how they reset Clara’s character arc after Mummy for literally no reason???? THEY FUCKING DID IT AGAIN!! she’s literally put in limbo for an ENTIRE SEASON, after they gave her TWO good offramps and apparently chickened the fuck out from using them?? and expected me to care when she (spoiler)? also the episode’s like really boring. bonus points for the absolutely perfect casting of Nick Frost tho, very nominative determinism
10.i is my hatred of Doctor Mysterio unwarranted? probably. but i still hate it
12.8 The Haunting of Villa Diodati, the most overrated episode fuck you. no it is not ‘the only good episode of season 12’ - it’s just as bad as the rest. The Doctor is unnecessarily unlikeable. the villain boy is nonsense, uninteresting and unlikeable. and worst of all - i don’t want to have violent sex with any of the people in this villa
12.4 Nikola Tesla’s Tower of Terror
11.8 The Witchfinders
9.9 Sleep No More aka i’m starting to think Mark Gatiss might be a bad writer actually
13.2 Flux Part 2: War of the Sontarans (oh yeah like they don’t do war normally, that’s like saying the fucking ,, toasting of the toaster or something)
7.i The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe (it’s only Chibnall from here on out let’s goo)
12.1/2 Spyfall. literally how the FUCK do you waste both Stephen Fry AND Lenny fucking Henry how the fuck. also The Doctor basically committed a nazism right
12.3 Orphan 55, the second most underrated episode - a lot of people say it’s Chibnall’s worst but i think there’s worse
12.i Revolution of the Daleks (the priti patel one)
11.2 The Ghost Monument
13.4 Flux Part 4: Village of the Angels
11.10 The Battle of Rashhcjxjshog s Kjalapados
12.7 Can You Hear Me? (that was the one with the finger guy. no i don’t mean jonathan banks)
11.4 Spiders in Sheffield
12.6 Praxeus
12.9/10 how did they let chibnall get away with it. isn’t there supposed to be oversight. aren’t there supposed to be safeguards. how did they let him get away with it
13.1 Flux Part 1: The Halloween Apocalypse
13.ii Legend of the Sea Devils
13.3 Flux Part 3: Once, Upon Time
13.iii The Power of the Doctor aka thank fuck, it’s finally over
10.5 Flux Part 5: Survivors of the Flux
10.6 Flux Part 6: Fuck You Chibnall
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topazy · 1 year
Text
Inside, outside
Pairings: 10k x reader, Addy Carver x sister reader
Warnings: Swearing, child death
Chapter: 4.10
You shake your head, watching as Warren storms on ahead, not stopping to take a much needed break. She was leading you towards something called the black rainbow; not that any of you knew what it meant, but she had currently led you into a large open field in the middle of the country.
Rolling your eyes, you rub at your forehead, feeling a headache come on, most likely caused by a lack of food, water, and sleep or by Murphy continuing to moan. You walk forward to get further away from his irritating voice and unintentionally listen in on 10k and Sarge’s conversation.
“What was it like being in the Marines?”
“I'm still a Marine,” Sarge beams at him. “I reckon I’ll die as one. They were my family. After they rescued me from my old family, they gave me something to live for other than myself. Still does. What about you? What keeps you going, ten thousand?”
“My girl.”
A woozy feeling builds up in your stomach, and your face flushes red. You know 10k loves you, but he doesn’t talk much openly to others about his feelings, so hearing how much he says that causes your heart to speed up.
“Getting her to Newmerica is the goal. At least there we can find a new home and start fresh.”
No missions, no saving the world, no Murphy. No matter how hard he tried, 10k couldn’t let go of the things you'd been through together.
“You know that’s back that way, right?” Sarge looks at him confused.
“Yeah, but if history has taught me anything, it is that following Warren is our safest bet, and it will get us where we need to be.”
“Disgusting, isn’t it?”
You jump in surprise when Murphy appears behind you, scowling. Knowing he’s talking about what 10k just said, you flip him off and say, “Shut up, Alvin.”
He scoffs, “Alvin? Who pissed in the cornflakes this morning?”
Doc puts his arm around your shoulder and says, “Don’t listen to him; he’s old and jealous of you young kids in love.”
“Pfft love, that’s what they're calling it.”
Usually you don’t rise to Murphy’s teasing, and by the look on Doc’s face, you know you shouldn’t, but you snap back at him. “You wouldn’t recognise it because you’ve never been in it.”
“Of course I have,” Murphy says, clearing his throat. “Trust me, you’ll fall in and out of it quicker than I ever did.”
Doc quickly changes the subject to avoid saying anything else. The last few days, Murphy had been more belligerent than usual, taking every opportunity he could to cause an argument. You didn’t know what his issue was, but the way he kept staring at Warren suggests it somehow related to her.
The first building you come across is one that you’d been in previously, years before, and returning brought back memories of Red and 5K.
Tellers lab.
The air feels tense as you walk along the outside of the building, the silence only broken by Murphy asking the question you were too afraid to ask. “Warren? Why the hell did you bring us back here?”
She hesitates before answering, “I don’t know. But I intend to find out.”
The grounds of the building are scattered with dead bodies, and Sarge looks around confused. “What in the holy heck happened here?”
“We tried to help some people, but it didn’t work out.” You say, biting on your lower lip, remembering all the people who died. You turn around and see something moving fast—“Z incoming!”
The last time you were at the lab, someone had put metal helmets on Zs, making them merciless proof. 10k manages to trip the Z up with a metal chain, causing Doc to let out a loud laugh.
“Stop playing with that damn thing!” Warren orders before tossing a piece of metal in the opposite direction for the Z to chase. “All right, everybody suits up.”
Wearing a suit that was on a dead body moments before felt disgusting. Thinking about it makes your skin crawl.
You look up, feeling a hand on your back, to see 10k giving you a sad smile and asking, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Are you?”
“No,” he chuckled softly, pulling you to your feet. “But I will be once we leave this place.
“Good because I was lying.”
You follow the others and head inside the lab, which is now covered in dampness and has what looks like a fungus growing on the walls. Warren claimed she was searching for batteries, but you didn’t believe her.
The further into the building you went, the darker it got, with the only light coming from your torches, which is how you, 10k, and Warren got separated from the others. You watch bewildered as Warren automatically knows how to find the secret rooms and codes to enter them. Well, most of them.
Warren, try shaking her shoulder. “Warren!”
She looks hypnotized while trying to figure out different padlock codes for what looks like a metallic freezer with lots of chains and locks around it. Warren mumbles to herself, managing to get some of them off.
You and 10k share a look of concern when a rattling sound comes from outside. Seconds later, a Z burst through the door; it knocked you to the ground and pinned you against the wall.
“Warren!”
She suddenly grabs a chain and smacks the Z on the head with it, saying, “I show you mercy.” She drops the chain to the ground and then looks at the 10k, confused. “What are you doing here?”
“We were following you.”
She looks around the room and asks, “What am I doing here?”
“You were trying to get into that,” you say, getting to your feet and pointing to the metallic object. “I think you were having one of your visions.”
The lights in the room start to flicker as a beeping noise goes off. 10k watches as she struggles to remove the chains. “You knew the combination to all the other locks. You're on the last one.”
“I don’t remember,” Warren walks up to 10k. “Hit me.”
“What?”
“Hit me. Sometimes fighting triggers the dream. Hit me.”
You look between them and say, “I’ll do it.”
“No offense, but I think our boy here is a little bit stronger than you.”
“I don’t know. I think you should let Astra do it.”
“Come on!” Warren rolls her eyes. “Don’t sissy out, just hit me.”
10K very lightly hits her cheek; his cheeks flush with embarrassment at how weak the slap was. It was obvious he didn’t want to hurt her.
“Hit me.” 10k goes to move his hand again, but Warren catches his wrist, squeezing it tightly. “Harder!”
You push 10k aside and punch Warren in the face, knocking her to the ground. You both look down. “Shit, I think that might leave a bruise.”
10K bites on his lip, looking down at her then back at you, “Any unresolved issues I need to know about?”
You shake your head, trying to laugh it off. In truth, you adored Warren and had a lot of respect for her, but all the rage you felt when she wanted to leave 10k behind when he fell out of the boat or hurt him to get information about Murphy came flooding back at once.
Minutes later, Warren wakes up, knowing the code, and unlocks the final padlock. She opens the door and puts her hand through a thick layer of slime and goo, pulling out three metal objects, including a transmitter.
She looks back at you and says, “Let’s go.”
You meet up with the others, who are gathered around a test tube that has a little boy trapped inside it. His body is frozen inside, but his mind is still alive. Sarge tried to split the power from a battery so that the power for the tank stays on, keeping the little boy alive, and so Warren has enough to get a radio working.
Amazingly, it works, and you managed to make contact with Citizen Z, who had information on the black rainbow. Hearing his voice was good; you always worried something bad had happened to him whenever he went silent for too long.
“Kaya’s been drilling down into deep storage looking for anything black and rainbow.”
“Did you find anything?”
“We had intruders here, zona soldiers. They copied all the black-and-white files, then wiped the servers. They also used a secure NSA hardline to spoof into the NORAD computers. They logged onto the administrator account for a defunct weapons program. Guess what it was called.”
“Black rainbow.”
“What is a black rainbow?” Warren asks.
“You won’t believe…”
The radio cuts out before you can hear Kaya’s answer. The only way to get the radio to work again is by turning the tank with the kid in it off, which means turning off his life support. Your group starts to debate what to do; Sarge wants to somehow save the boy, while Murphy wants to show him mercy. It was a difficult decision to make, but the kid was already dead; his brain was only functioning because of a machine, which was incredibly cruel considering he would never move, talk, or be remotely human again.
Warren makes the tough call and orders Sarge to divert the power to the radio, but when she’s unable to do it, you step in. You put your arm around Sarge and said, “She can’t do this.”
Warren nods and takes over, granting the young child mercy before turning his power off. When the power is diverted back to the radio and you are able to make contact with Citizen Z again, you learn that Black Rainbow is a biological weapon of mass destruction.
And the only way to stop it from being blasted was by getting the president of the United States' thumbprint and resetting the missile at the launch site.
Shit, nothing is ever going to be easy.
The car ride towards Washington is tense; everyone is still reeling from what happened at the lab and the information you’d found out about Black Rainbow. You sit in the back of the truck in between Doc and 10k, trying not to fall asleep. Your fingers play with 10k’s hair as he sleeps with his head resting on your lap.
While driving, Sarge motions to the sky and says, “It’s a beautiful sunset.”
“It’s only beautiful if someone is there to watch it,” Warren says bluntly.
“That’s not true,” you say quietly. “The world is still full of beautiful things we can’t see; it’s just a little harder to notice now.”
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loliwrites · 1 year
Text
No one asked for this and if you've never seen The West Wing, you probably don't care. But the chokehold these two have on me. It's just a whole lot of pining and fluff.
AU of 4.10 Arctic Radar if Jack hadn't asked Donna out for drinks that night.
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“The two CBO reports are right on your desk, as is the East Asia paper. Your call sheet is clear. If there’s anything else, I’m happy to come in early tomorrow. Do you think I could go?” Donna wrapped her scarf around her neck, dejected. Of all the things she’d ever done for Josh, and how little she tended to ask of him, his little trip down memory lane with Jack Reese was just the icing on the cake. 
“What time is it?”
“Quarter to eight,” she grabbed her bag. Somehow they both knew he was going to let her flee.
“Sure,”
Donna pulled on her long, wool coat and fastened the buttons to keep it closed. By the time she reached outside, the cold November air would be in full force and she wouldn’t have the hands to secure them.
“Those are good stories about you, though,” Josh paused, giving the briefest of thoughts back to Donna’s underwear and Karen Cahill debacle. “Those stories would make me like you.” It also wasn’t lost on him that those stories had made him like her.
“You like everybody,” she folded a note into her pocket and grabbed her bags.
“Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving. You won’t be coming in early tomorrow. You won’t be coming in at all,” 
“Is there anything you need?” Despite whatever feelings she was having at the moment – of seemingly being forgone by her latest crush, there was true sincerity in her tone.
Josh wished in that moment she hadn’t sounded so sincere. He wished she hadn’t asked him that at all. He didn’t deserve that. He didn’t deserve her kindness when he’d so flagrantly decided to tell Jack those anecdotes. It was true, he did like those stories. Those stories were endearing. The minutiae added up to the whole of this woman he simply couldn’t live without. “No, I’m just saying,”
“Okay,” she flung her bag over her shoulder and left the bullpen. “Happy Thanksgiving,”
“You too,”
And yes, telling Jack those stories had been a decision, albeit not one laced with intended malice or meant to sabotage. How could someone not like those stories? How could someone hear those and not fall a little more in love with her? Josh had genuinely thought he’d been doing her a favor. If he liked these things, any man would. Any man would be lucky to have the woman in those stories. Had the roles been reversed, and he was hearing these stories for the first time, he’d have stormed the halls of the West Wing to find her. He wasn’t sure why Jack hadn’t, though he had to admit there was a hearty amount of relief that he’d hadn’t. 
It was unfair of him, he knew that too. How many times in the past had he sabotaged her dates, advertently or not? He kept her at work late. Gave her stacks of work she’d never get through, knowing she had dinner plans. It was work she’d have to do eventually, but it wasn’t so pressing that she miss a dinner date. His recurring jokes about Dr. Freeride. And more than a few times, he’d leave her with a parting comment that the man she was going out with was a dud. Or an idiot. Or a jackass. Or a subspecies of bipedal man. And when she’d come back from those dates, he wasn’t nearly surprised that she’d come to those same conclusions. Yes, it was beyond unfair. Donna had been nothing but supportive with the rise and fall of Mandy. And the re-emergence of Mandy. She championed him to go for Joey Lucas. She was even a cheerleader to his relationship with Amy. Even when Josh would recount all their horrible arguments to her, Donna was supportive every time they reconciled. And here he was, subconsciously (or not) sabotaging every lead she got on a relationship.
“Hi Ma,” he blurted into the phone and tilted his head to the side to cradle the receiver between his cheek and shoulder. He wasn’t sure how he’d gotten to this point. Hadn’t remembered returning to his office or hearing the phone ring. 
“Hi Joshua, happy Thanksgiving,”
“Happy Thanksgiving,”
“Roberta told me there was a cold front moving through the northeast. Said it looks like it’s gonna be pretty bad so stay safe with your plans tomorrow,”
Josh glanced down at his watch and then rubbed one of his eyes with the back of his fist. “I will Ma, I’ll probably just be here,”
She tsked him, “you don’t have to work, do you? Where’s Donna? Did she go to Wisconsin this year?”
“Donna’s in town.”
“Well invite her ‘round,”
He nodded like an obedient son, “okay.”
“Joshua, I mean it. Throw a turkey in the oven for that girl. She does enough for you every other day.”
“Jesus, okay Ma.”
“I’m just saying, cook her a goddamn meal.”
He nodded again, “I will, I will. Scout’s honor. Look, Ma, I’m gonna pack up and get out of here. I love you,”
“I love you too,”
They both clicked the line dead almost simultaneously. Josh sat stunned in his desk chair for a moment. He stared at the phone and after a second, chuckled. Florida had turned his mom a little more… spicy than she’d been in his youth. He took a second to think about what his dad would say about this new version of his wife. Probably would’ve doted on her just as much. But before the emotions could fully sneak up on him, Josh took a deep breath and stood up from his desk. Inspired by his mother’s words, he threw on his jacket, flung his backpack over his shoulder, and all but ran out of the West Wing.
He wasn’t really sure what he was going to do – or say. What could he do or say that would make things better? Short of going back to Jack and really giving him a piece of his mind. Because all Josh really wanted to say to him was that there was no way in hell he deserved Donna. If he didn’t like those quirky and off-color stories about her, then he didn’t deserve the girl who also had stories that were a little more wholesome.
Like the time she left the festivities after the Illinois primary, booked herself a one-way ticket on some ragtag regional airline, and got herself to Connecticut eleven hours after Josh had gotten there. She was still new in his life by all accounts and had never met his parents. But having her there for his father’s funeral had meant everything to him.
Or all the times she’d been there for him after Rosslyn. She literally kept work away from him. She cooked for him. She cleaned for him. She nursed him back to health. And he knows that had he asked, she would’ve bathed him too. Though he’d never ask. She had run herself ragged for the months of his recovery. Most nights she never made it back to her apartment. When he’d become mobile again, he often found her curled up on his couch in the morning. 
And then, for the second time that evening, Josh wasn’t sure how he’d ended up here. He remembered stopping by the liquor store for a six pack. He thought he’d finish those off by himself. But he hadn’t remembered how he’d gotten here. At the steps of her apartment, looking up at her window. He knew she was awake. He could see the light coming from her great-grandmother’s lamp. He always teased her about that lamp. It was gaudy. It gathered dust. And for some reason unbeknownst to him, it gave off this low frequency buzz whenever it also gave off light. He ascended the steps, keeping his eyes on her window for as long as humanly possible, and only pulled his gaze away from it so he could ring her buzzer. Waiting and waiting, and growing colder and impatient, he rang the buzzer again. It wasn’t like her to leave someone – anyone – waiting outside. Then with a particularly strong and cold breeze, Josh ran his hand down the line of buzzers to the other apartments in the building. Surely one of them would ring him in. 
God bless the tenant on the second floor.
Josh whipped the door open and ascended the old wooden stairs, two at a time. He kept his hand on the banister as he turned the corner and ran up the next flight. Just as Donna had been to his apartment countless times, he’d been to hers too. Usually he was drunk and yelling at her roommate’s cats. And by the following morning never remembered why he’d been there in the first place, but he had been there before. Now as he knocked on her door as gently as he could as to not startle her, he hoped he’d be happy to remember this night.
He heard the chain on the door slide and when the door started to creak open, he raised his gaze and soon found himself staring upon Donna.
“Hi,” he offered, taking a moment to take in the sight. She was wrapped in the enormous flannel blanket he knew usually lived on the back of her couch. It didn’t look as though she’d been crying, though her expression didn’t exactly look pleased. “I brought a peace offering,” he lifted the six pack and flashed an overcompensating smile on his face, hoping she didn’t slam the door on him.
Donna glanced at the beer, then pulled the door open a little wider and stepped to the side to let him in. Josh took that as a win and Donna figured as much. Truth be told, she didn’t exactly know what she was feeling. It was no secret that her past romantic exploits hadn’t gone spectacularly well. From Dr. Freeride and the lobbyist who couldn’t shut his trap about his agenda once he found out she worked for the deputy chief of staff. To any number of blind, and otherwise, dates she’d been set up on. And perhaps the worst of all was her last more serious encounter – Cliff Calley. Serious. What a joke, she thought. It had been two nights that were great, followed by two depositions that weren’t. Not to mention the sheer and utter embarrassment of having her boss hand over her diary to Cliff for him to read. She could’ve died in her skin right then and there. Not to mention the trouble and grief she’d put Josh through. And thank God he’d been mature… or sane… enough to realize that he didn’t need to read her diary to make it all go away. Perhaps he would’ve been confused why he showed up so often in her nightly recounts of the day.
“I really am sorry, Donna,” Josh offered again as he rounded into her kitchen and pulled open the drawer where he knew the bottle opener was kept.
“Quit apologizing. What are you, moonlighting as a Canadian?” She took the open bottle and downed a first sip. “I’ve already done that,”
He suppressed a smile as he popped off the cap to a beer for himself. On their way out of the kitchen, he reached forward and clinked his bottle against hers for good measure. “I wasn’t trying to ruin that for you,”
“I know that, Josh.”
“I mean it,”
“I know,” she folded one leg beneath her and sat back down on the couch. The blanket fell away from her shoulders as she moved to take another sip.
“Are you mad at me?”
Donna imagined that’s how Josh sounded as a child and had been the thing he’d asked his parents countless times after Joanie. Always searching for a sort of validation. Proof that he had been wrong or bad and was worthy of the anger; most of which he felt within himself. Just as she suspected his parents had, Donna couldn’t summon too much anger at him. Sure he knew how to push her buttons. And knew how to rile her up and piss her off. But the anger was always short lived and she’d be left with a sense of enduring love.
She took another sip of her beer and settled back against the couch as Josh sat at the other end of it, angled toward her with one leg crossed under the other and his free hand stretched across the back of the couch. “You did a fool thing, but… I expect you to do fool things. You’re a man, you can’t help it.”
“Donna,” he half-whined.
“Well I haven’t exactly seen you knock one out of the park when it comes to women. Watching you try to flirt is almost as painful as watching you do a press briefing.” She smiled, vindicated when he choked on his beer and coughed. “It’s just like that time you told the entirety of the communications staff about the history of our non-anniversary,”
“But that’s a good story, too.”
“But you got it wrong.”
Josh opened his mouth to speak but he quieted himself. It wasn’t worth saying that he only got the story wrong because she had told him a wrong version of the story. He’d reiterated the story as he’d been told by her. He couldn’t help if she had recounted a false narrative to him. But that wasn’t worth it. Being right wasn’t the point right now. 
“Despite what you say, guys don’t go out with everyone. At least not the ones worth anything. They want a well-to-do woman, not an assistant. And if by some stroke of luck or charm they can look past my job title, they can’t look past the fact you’re my boss.” Upon seeing a hint of a smile cross Josh’s face, Donna extended her leg and kicked him. She managed to pull her leg back before Josh was able to grab hold of her ankle, though he did try. Maybe a part of her wished she hadn’t been too quick. Or that he had been quicker. “Anyway, I really like Jack. So much so, that he’s the type of person I could see a lot of potential with. That’s why I asked you to talk me up to him. I didn’t imagine you’d do such a spectacularly awful job at it.”
“Donna, I think you’re missing a big aspect of this–”
“Josh,” she leaned forward and set her bottle down on the coffee table, effectively trying to cut him off completely. But he wasn’t having any of it.
“No, no, listen. Would you really, honestly want a guy that wasn’t endeared by those stories? I mean, your future husband is going to hear these so-called embarrassing–”
“Not so-called, they are.”
“Your future husband’s going to hear these and he’s going to think less of you for them? You’re gonna spend the rest of your life with a guy who you have to censor yourself around? Donna, I’m pretty sure you were attending your town’s Holland-fest, dressed in wooden clogs and a funky, white pilgrim hat well into your college years. You’re gonna have to hide a lot of your life from this husband.”
She shot up from the couch, “look at you with the sensitivity!”
Josh mirrored her movement and stood in pursuit of her. “All I’m trying to say is that a guy who doesn’t like all the little quirks that make you Donnatella Moss from Wisconsin, doesn’t deserve Donnatella Moss from Wisconsin.”
Donna exhaled and folded her arms over her chest. “Well that’s very kind of you to say. But for what it’s worth, I wouldn’t hide my life forever. Just until the guy knows me. Until he knows that I’m cute, and witty, and not an absolute nutcase.”
“I think you should give yourself more credit. You’re not just an assistant. You happen to be the assistant to a very important–”
And this time he was sufficiently cut off. He’d have rather it been because she interrupted him with another plea or remark. But instead he was cut off because her phone started ringing. She ran to it, though the man who was usually responsible for making her phone ring was currently in her apartment. And as soon as she greeted the caller, and Josh saw how she blushed and placed her free hand over her heart, he knew it was Jack. And he knew that whatever night they were going to have, was now over.
Josh sat back down on her couch as she continued her conversation in the kitchen. He stared at his beer for a second, and then with slow precision, lifted it back to his lips, tilted his head back, and took a long sip that finished it off. How many times was he going to have to lose this girl? And how long was he going to pretend like it didn’t shatter him every time she started up with someone new? His mother had been right, of course, and he wondered how long it had been since she realized her son was in love with his assistant. He ventured to assume she knew from the first moment she met Donna – the day after his father had died. 
As much as Donna’s presence had meant the world to him, he also sensed that it had meant a great deal to his mother, too. It was Donna, after all. She could make anyone feel comfortable or loved. And as soon as she got to his childhood home, she took it upon herself to begin tasks no one would’ve ever asked of her. She immediately entered the kitchen and whipped up a quick pot of her mother’s hearty stew. She had asked Josh to join her, and in between their light and gentle conversation (mostly of Josh recounting memories of his father), she would ask him to get her things from around the kitchen. Do you know where the lid to this pot is? Do you think your mom has vegetable stock? That’s alright, beef stock is fine. Where’s the vegetable peeler? Do you mind washing those potatoes? And when she’d finished cooking, Josh brewed a large pot of coffee and assisted her in scouring the kitchen. That night, Josh’s mom found her deep-cleaning all the bathrooms. And dusting and vacuuming the next morning. Finally Josh asked her why she was doing all this, and Donna just shrugged, “this is what I would want help with if someone important to me had just passed away.” From that moment on, Josh didn’t have one phone call with his mom where she didn’t ask about Donna.
Realizing he’d been caught up in a memory, Josh laughed at himself and glanced toward the kitchen. Donna was still on the phone, and suddenly growing uncomfortable being in her space while this other man was monopolizing her time and attention, Josh stood from the couch and carried his empty beer bottle into the other room. She made quick eye contact with him when he set the bottle in the recycle bin. 
He jut his thumb back over his shoulder. “I’m gonna head out,” he whispered.
“Hold on one second,” she quickly responded. Josh wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or Jack, but he paused anyway. Donna set her phone down on the counter, “thank you, Josh.”
It wasn’t lost on him that she was keeping her voice down so Jack didn’t hear it through the phone. She neared him with outstretched arms, and taking him into a hug, he buried his face in her shoulder. “You’re welcome,” he backed away from her knowing that if he didn’t create some distance between them, he was going to inadvertently sabotage this new upcoming fling… or relationship. “Happy Thanksgiving, Donna.” He quickly side-stepped her and went for the front door, hearing the soft patter of her footsteps behind him. 
“Are you going to be alone tomorrow?”
He pulled open the door and looked back at her. “No, I… I have plans,” he paused. “Do you need somewhere to be tomorrow?”
She shook her head, a grin stretching over her face, “no, Jack just asked if I’d go over to his place. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t going to be alone before I accepted.”
That one felt like a turkey carver to the heart. But Josh still shook his head. “No, enjoy your time. I’ll see you Friday at work. Early. I want to prep a bit before advising Leo on the CBO notes.”
“I’ll be there, boss.”
Josh let his smile widen a little bit, but he was soon out of her apartment. He was almost at the flight of stairs down when she shut the door and he looked back at it. Truth was, he was going to be alone tomorrow. In all actuality, he’d probably just go to the office and spend the day there. His intention was to ask Donna to do Thanksgiving with him, but once the phone call came through, he knew there was no way he was going to ask her to forgo a day with her newest flame to be with him. She would’ve dropped her plans in an instant.
Josh made it back outside. He looked up at her window. The glow from her great-grandmother’s lamp was still present but this time he also spotted her walk past the window, the phone still glued to her ear. Josh looked down at his feet and pulled his coat tighter around himself. Another Thanksgiving without the girl he really wanted around. He was starting to get used to it.
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reblrths · 11 months
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cinnamon rain, emma cameron // raise high the roof beam, j.d. salinger // everything, everything, nicola yoon // crush, richard siken // shameless 4.10 // genesis, valzyhna mort // the bear // animal mask, the mountain goats // the fall of the house of usher, steven berkoff // erica e. goode // grace, florence and the machine // juno steel and the monster's reflection, the penumbra podcast // two birds, regina spektor // famous blue raincoat, leonard cohen // song for sasha banks, the mountain goats // avatar: the last airbender // killing flies, michael dickman
thigh to thigh in the grave.
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daughtrychris · 30 days
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daughtry✓ shared to instagram
↳ daughtry✓: WE ARE THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE THAT WE’LL BE JOINING BREAKING BENJAMIN FOR A 21 SHOW TOUR THIS MARCH THROUGH APRIL 🤘 LFG!!!!! PRESALE and VIP PACKAGES ON SALE TOMORROW at 10:00 AM local PUBLIC ON SALE THIS FRIDAY 10 AM local GET YOUR TICKETS NOW 🔥 DAUGHTRY.LIVE 🔥 LINK IN BIO 🔥 DOWNLOAD THE DAUGHTRY APP FOR EARLY ACCESS 3.21 / Bethlehem, PA 3.22 / Atlantic City, NJ 3.24 / Johnstown, PA 3.26 / Erie, PA 3.27 / Niagara Falls, ON 3.29 / Peoria, IL 3.30 / Kalamazoo, MI 4.02 / La Crosse, WI 4.03 / Madison, WI 4.05 / Cedar Rapids, IA 4.06 / Waukee, IA 4.09 / Mankato, MN 4.10 / Duluth, MN 4.12 / Sioux Falls, SD 4.13 / Rapid City, SD 4.16 / Missoula, MT 4.17 / Idaho Falls, ID 4.19 / Billings, MT 4.20 / Casper, WY 4.23 / Omaha, NE 4.24 / Lampe, MO #daughtry #chrisdaughtry #breakingbenjamin #livemusic #musictour
[ ooc; part of hollywoodfamerp only! don’t reblog, use or save outside the group! likes outside the group not encouraged but will not be stopped ]
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catty-words · 18 days
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top 5 daxton moments and top 5 benvi moments
GO OFF.
daxton:
this scene from 3.05 they're so cute and fond and achy 😭
the absolutely perfect 4.10 send-off of the daxton dynamic
devi's first kiss devi's first kiss devi's first kiss
the scene in her bedroom in 3.08. receipts of the way this scene makes me insane: x, x, x
the way paxton's falling in love with her in 1.03 and she can't even see it 😭
benvi:
the season one and season three cliffhangers - paired together because they make me insane in the same way
everything everything absolutely everything going on with them in 3.09
their bratty-horny energy in moments like unfuckable nerd / ben gross better get ready to eat his words and maybe you should shut up / well... and your mouth is writing checks that your lips can't cash and he was flirting, right? / with his mom? yes. etc. etc.
he encourages her to go, but he doesn't want her to leave 😭😭
*gestures at this through line in their relationship*
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crispwolf · 10 months
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There's a lot of doom and gloom around Shiv's ending and the cycles and the getting mom'ed of it all, but there is a simple thing here - Tom is not Logan. In that he is somewhat okay with her having power over him. He's unhappy, but practically speaking anything goes, as long as it does not threaten what he's built for himself - his career. That's the red line. Tom took years of belittling and abuse until 3.09, there was an accumulation for sure but the tipping point was when she disregarded his career.
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In 4.06 he felt that she had seen him and understood his needs - career and money. And he was okay with the whole play with Mattson, they even plotted together a little bit. Then came the party in 4.07 and ...
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But now, she gave up that power, she gave it up voluntarily and made him king and Tom will appreciate that. Well, he's more likely to appreciate that than Ken ever would. Man he was insufferable in victory - he cuts her out, every time. In 4.10 he makes a show of hesitation sitting in Logan's chair for one second then its lean back and shoes up and promising Stewy chairs and taking credit for her work and dad-ing it up. Ken has taught her that a Ken victory is not a Shiv victory in any way, shape or form. And he's not above browbeating Rome to fall in line. That also happens, every time.
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Tom has always been my least favourite character, but backing him was the right choice for her. They have their issues, Shiv is still an effortlessly selfish and entitled nepo baby who is broken inside, and Tom is still slimy and cruel and being CEO will make him worse. But its the best chance their respective happiness has had since the pilot.
This time if she builds something outside of Waystar, there's no Logan offering faustian bargains. Tom would, if anything, be delighted to see her have less to do with the company. And if she leaves him then she leaves - the one thing Tom truly cares about is not threatened by anything she does anymore.
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Either way that baby is screwed.
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dinneratgrannys · 10 months
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ONCE UPON A TIME 4.10, Fall
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lovely-laurent · 4 months
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As The Water Rises Up Again
Begins on AO3 1.1.24
“…Xander wondered if staring at a computer screen was as bad for his eyes as people claimed. He thought of his dad, and how he’d put on a pair of thick glasses as he looked down at his cell phone, with the text as large as he could make it. “It’s the damn computers,” he’d say, “Ruined my eyes.”
It probably didn’t help that he was nearly seventy years old.
Irrelevant, his father would say, “The man down the street is eighty-two years old, and he doesn’t need glasses. Never used a computer a day in his life, either.”
But, of course, the thought of glasses made him think of Meg, which made his stomach twist and turn with loss. When they’d first met, Meg had worn glasses. They were round and silver, and made Xander notice how big and blue her eyes were. He remembered how she’d try to wear mascara, only to have it rub off onto her lenses when her eyelashes fluttered against the glass.
His phone felt heavy in his pocket. His fingers twitched with the desire to text her, beg her, and announce his remaining love for her.
But he couldn’t do that. She’d made it very clear the third time he’d begged her to come home. He’d knocked on the door to her new apartment and wept as he pleaded with her to return home. Yet, it fell on deaf ears. She scowled at him, her big, blue eyes full of disdain as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Instead, Xander stared at his case files. He had been scribbling into his notepad all morning, keeping his thoughts as organized as possible.
Michel Fortier → Lance Dumont
Alex disappears 2.10 → Fortier break in 3.10 → possible abduction attempt 4.10
So, within a three day period, one brother disappears, and the other gets pulled into a car and attacked.
His notes became more specific over time, referencing every detail he could think of.
He clicked through the photos, until he came back to the pictures of the notes from Alex’s apartment. A couple in particular caught his eye.
Rue Dugommier
Michel Fortier - 15.2.1993
Rue Mornay
Once he saw that, he felt another piece of the puzzle fall into place. Rue Dugommier. Xander had been there just this morning, handing a potential witness a cup of coffee and returning a pair of gloves. And Rue Mornay? Xander had been there, too. Michel’s office was on that street.
He grabbed his pen and wrote down a new note….”
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