#and for all that I love Big Finish and what they’ve done for River’s story

[educationedgeblog]

The Role of a Certified Business Analyst

Bridging the Gap Between Ideas and Success

In the ever-evolving landscape of business, where ideas are the seeds of innovation and success, it’s crucial to have individuals who can transform these ideas into tangible plans for growth. Enter the Certified Business Analyst — a professional adept at navigating the intricate maze of business processes, deciphering complex data, and steering organizations toward their goals.

Understanding the Role of a Certified Business Analyst

Let’s start with the basics. A Certified Business Analyst is like the Sherlock Holmes of the business world. They investigate, analyze, and connect the dots to solve the mysteries hindering a company’s progress. In simpler terms, they help businesses figure out how to do things better, faster, and smarter.

Imagine you have a dream of building the world’s most fantastic ice cream parlor. You’ve got the flavors, the ambiance, and the passion, but you’re not sure how to make it a reality. This is where a Certified Business Analyst comes in handy. They’re the ones who will help you figure out the best location, the most popular flavors, and the right prices — all by diving into the details and using their expertise.

The Certification Badge: What Does It Mean?

Now, you might be wondering, what’s the deal with the “Certified” part? Well, it’s like having a badge of honor. When someone is a Certified Business Analyst, it means they’ve gone through a series of training and exams to prove they know their stuff. It’s not just about having a fancy title; it’s about having the skills and knowledge to back it up.

Think of it this way: If you were hiring someone to help you organize a big event, wouldn’t you prefer someone certified in event planning? Of course! The certification is a signal that this person has the expertise to make things happen.

What Does a Certified Business Analyst Actually Do?

Let’s break down the day-to-day tasks of a Certified Business Analyst without diving too deep into the jargon ocean.

Problem Solving: Picture a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces. A Certified Business Analyst is the one who figures out what those missing pieces are and how to put them together. They identify problems within a business — maybe a slow process, a confusing system, or a lack of communication — and propose solutions.

Data Detective Work: Certified Business Analysts love playing detective with data. They collect information, analyze it, and turn it into meaningful insights. It’s like telling a story using numbers and charts instead of words.

Bridge Building: Imagine a river between two towns. The bridge that connects them is like a Certified Business Analyst, helping different parts of a company communicate. They ensure that everyone is on the same page, working together towards common goals.

Innovation Engine: Ever heard the phrase “thinking outside the box”? That’s a Certified Business Analyst’s forte. They come up with creative ideas to improve processes, cut costs, and make the business run smoother.

Communication Maestro: Translating complicated business jargon into plain language is a superpower of a Certified Business Analyst. They’re the go-between for the tech wizards and the marketing maestros, making sure everyone understands each other.

Project Navigation: Ever tried sailing a ship through uncharted waters? It’s not easy. Certified Business Analysts guide projects from start to finish, making sure they stay on course and reach their destination successfully.

Make sure check this: PMP Exam Prep

Why Every Business Needs a Certified Business Analyst

Alright, you might be thinking, “But my business is small. Do I really need a Certified Business Analyst?” Absolutely! Here’s why:

Efficiency Boost: A Certified Business Analyst can spot inefficiencies in your processes and suggest improvements. This means things get done faster and with fewer hiccups.

Cost Savings: By identifying areas where you can trim the fat, a Certified Business Analyst helps you save money. They’re like the financial advisor of the business world, making sure every penny is well-spent.

Strategic Planning: Want to grow your business? A Certified Business Analyst helps you chart the course. They create strategic plans based on data and market trends, ensuring your business sails smoothly into the future.

Improved Decision-Making: With data-driven insights, a Certified Business Analyst empowers you to make informed decisions. It’s like having a crystal ball that tells you what will work and what won’t.

Adaptability: In the fast-paced world of business, things change quickly. A Certified Business Analyst helps your business stay nimble, adapting to new trends and challenges.

Becoming a Certified Business Analyst: The Journey Unveiled

Now, you might be curious about how one becomes a Certified Business Analyst. It’s not as mysterious as it sounds — it’s a journey of learning and growing.

Education: Many Certified Business Analysts start with a degree in business, management, or a related field. This provides them with a solid foundation of knowledge about how businesses operate.

Certification Programs: To earn that coveted certification, individuals often enroll in specialized programs. These programs cover everything from data analysis to project management, giving future Certified Business Analysts a well-rounded skill set.

Hands-On Experience: Theory is great, but hands-on experience is where the real magic happens. Many certification programs include practical elements, allowing aspiring analysts to apply their knowledge in real-world scenarios.

Continual Learning: The business world is always evolving, and so are the skills needed to navigate it. Certified Business Analysts engage in continual learning to stay updated on the latest trends, technologies, and best practices.

Networking: Like any profession, networking is key. Certified Business Analysts connect with others in their field, sharing insights, tips, and tricks. It’s like having a support system of fellow detectives.

In Conclusion

In the grand tapestry of business, Certified Business Analyst are the weavers, ensuring that each thread is woven seamlessly into a masterpiece. They are the unsung heroes who turn chaos into order, ideas into plans, and challenges into opportunities.

Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur, a small business owner, or a corporate giant, the insights and expertise of a Certified Business Analyst can be the wind in your sails. So, the next time you encounter a business challenge or dream of starting something new, remember — there’s a Certified Business Analyst ready to help you turn those dreams into reality. They’re the wizards behind the curtain, making the business magic happen, one analysis at a time.

#business analyst #certificed #analyst #Canada #University #certified business analyst

[fortes-fortuna-iogurtum]

honestly I think I prefer River Song written as a brilliant and slightly mysterious archeologist who speaks as though she’s known the Doctor for centuries and still believes so firmly in his goodness even when he would doubt it himself and occasionally reveals glimmers of a hidden sadness deep inside her heart but who is ultimately kind even when she’s unknown and unproven than “””edgy””” River who flashes her gun around all the time and is written as little more than a sexy flirty walking string of innuendos and “hAH aren’t I smart 😏😘” one-liners

#i randomly decided to rewatch Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone tonight while finishing up my current crochet project #and I had forgotten just how much I love /this/ version of River #the way she acts kind of motherly towards Amy and teases the Doctor a little but mostly just acts like she’s known him #it’s less about the flirting and the spoilers here and more about the way they automatically fall into step side by side #and I actually love that the most? #I mean I love the flirting and the hints and him slowly accepting it and returning it we get in later episodes too #don’t get me wrong #but I’ve always been a sucker for understated ships #and the thing that got me about them at the beginning wasn’t the blatant flirting #it was the subtle rhythm between them. the way they seem to know each other completely #and fill in the other half of the dance automatically #even when he doesn’t know who she is yet #and for all that I love Big Finish and what they’ve done for River’s story #it irks me to death when they reduce her to just a bunch of innuendos and general ‘’sexy smart lady’’ tropes #it’s like she suddenly becomes a female version of Captain Jack Harkness at his most tropey and vaguely-developed moments #I feel like those writers are trying to write her the way she’s portrayed in The Husbands of River Song before she realizes who Twelve is #as tho that’s /really/ who River is in the Doctor’s absence—the front she was putting on to keep from breaking down in that episode #but I’ve always felt like the episode makes it rather clear that the persona River was using there wasn’t meant to be accepted as /her/! #it was her attempt to forget and lose herself and play a part for a while until she could pull the pieces back together after Manhattan!! #the same way Twelve acts especially manic and hyper in The Return of Doctor Mysterio because he’s trying to distract himself from her loss! #you’re supposed to see THROUGH her guise in THoRS you’re supposed to see it as her way of grieving and trying not to fall apart #not as This Is What River’s Really Like When The Doctor Isn’t Around This Is Her True Self #anyway I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about River and the way she’s written throughout different eras of the show and audios 😅 #maybe one day I’ll write out a coherent post on it instead of just yelling in the tags of my own midnight watch posts #gurt says stuff #mobile #doctor who #river song

[greatbigbellies]

Born Too Large

This was meant to be kinky, but spiraled out of proportion as I wrote, and the belly only comes in at the end. But I wanted a wholesome relationship so…

Ever since birth, she was an outcast, a freak, a giant. At 10 years old, she was already taller and stronger than all the men in the village, including her father, who bitterly blamed her for her mother’s death in childbirth. None of the other kids wanted to play with her; she was an unfair advantage in team games, and even when she proposed that they all take her on, no one was brave enough. So it was that she resigned herself to duty and chores, routinely doing the work of three men, which only made them more jealous and resentful, until one day a royal knight was passing through and beheld the young giantess, and impressed with her size and strength, offered to take her away from this humdrum backwater and put her gifts to use in the king’s army. With no lost love, she left her home behind and joined the knight’s entourage.

She became his squire, and in time she was taught the ways of war. Fully grown, she stood at eye level with a man on horseback. She needed custom made armor, and her sword was too heavy for anyone else to lift, let alone swing. It needed no edge; the sheer weight of it was enough to crush a man’s breastplate. Her strength became a thing of legend; impossible to miss on the battlefield, the mere sight of her set soldiers on the run, which she was fine with–she never much liked killing; it felt too much like bullying. And although her reputation grew, she still heard the hateful words behind her back, the subtle ridicule and quiet envy, of how she stole all the glory. At this point, her heart is hardened and the words don’t hurt her much anymore, but she’s still no happier, in spite of the accolades and glories she’s won in the king’s service. But it’s not all bad. Her closest friend among the knights is eternally grateful, after she saved his life on the battlefield by lifting the horse that had fallen on him, even when the doctors pronounced he would never walk again. And sometimes, she blushes when the maidens compliment her.

This continues until an enemy kingdom, fearful of her strength, sought to remove her from the picture. She’s lured into a trap in a remote corner of the kingdom, and as she passed over a bridge over a ravine, the bridge supports were destroyed, and she fell a great height, bouncing on the rocks and plunging into the river below. She should have died, but her armor protected her, and she drifted downriver, unconscious.

When she next awoke, she found herself in a cramped bed, dressed in bandages, aching all over. It hurt to move, it hurt to breathe. Then a small man (every man was small) appeared in the doorway, and nearly dropped the bowl of soup he was coming to give her. She was awake at last! He explained that he was a fisherman, and that found her washed ashore on the banks; and after getting some help, they carried her to safety, peeled away the armor, and addressed her wounds. It was up in the air whether she’d make it or not; after all, she’d been asleep for a week. She stresses that she must return to the king’s service, but she wasn’t in the shape to go anywhere. The fisherman gently pushes her back down, and for the first time she can remember, she’s not strong enough to resist. She needed to rest and heal, he insisted, or else all their hard work to try and save her would be for naught. A little guilty now, she lays back down, and accepts the spoonful of soup when he puts it against her lips.

Recovery is slow. Aside from her wounds, she needs to go through physical therapy to recover her strength. For so long, she’s been the strongest person in the room, yet now her legs wobble like a newborn colt’s, unable to support her own weight without leaning on the fisherman and his friends, who offer their support unconditionally. It becomes clear to her that they aren’t aware of her reputation; the village is more isolated than most. In her towns and villages, she was recognized (for better and worse). But here, she’s just… a person. A person in need, no less. There’s no judgment, no expectations. In spite of her bruised and broken ribs, she feels she can finally *breathe*.

She starts to adjust to life in the village, helping where she can as part of her rehabilitation, still not at her peak strength. She’s on a more even playing field with the other villagers, yet they value her all the same. In the morning, she often finds gifts at the door, and she treasures these more than any bounty she won in the king’s army. Her previous life seems so distant now, so unimportant. She feels loved; a strange and unfamiliar feeling. And overtime, she realizes her own feelings for the fisherman, who’s been at her side since the beginning. He’s nice and sweet and funny. While she was still on bedrest, he would tell her the most awful jokes, and she would laugh so hard it’d hurt her ribs. She had seen many attractive men in her time as a knight, beautiful and unblemished from a life of privilege or hard-cut and well-muscled from battle. Yet none of them compared to this little man with bushy eyebrows, a wiry beard, and a little gap between his front teeth. Yet his smile outdid the sun, and put a funny warmth in her chest. And eventually, she works up the courage to confess her feelings for him, afraid that he would reject her; she was just so big, and clumsy, and she ate so much, and she wasn’t particularly pretty from first a childhood of farmwork then years of battle. But none of that mattered, because he liked her too. And soon enough, they shared a bed for the night, then every night after. It is awkward at first, as she’s never shared a bed with anyone before or known such intimate touch, but she adjusts to this too.

But the peace does not last. For while she was recovering, the enemy kingdom had invaded, conquering town after town, and now they’ve come her. None of the villagers are warriors. But she is–even though she still aches and is out of practice. The fisherman tries to talk her out of it, they don’t have to fight, *she* doesn’t have to fight anymore, not for some distant king. She tells him, she isn’t doing this for the king, but herself and them. And when it becomes evident that he can’t dissuade her, he gets the boys together, and they work all night to equip her. Dressed in pots, pans, and similarly improvised armor, armed with a lumber axe, she meets the enemy forces at the village outskirts, and after a beat they recognize her: the she-giant wasn’t dead! Uncertainty spreads through the ranks. They had all heard the stories–of how she cleaved a man in two with but a single blow with her monstrous blade, or the time she lifted a castle portcullis with her bare hands, or when she held a bridge by herself against 50 men. They thought she was dead! But the captain bristles. He did not believe in ghosts, and if this wretched country could produce one freak, why not another–this could not be the same woman. So he challenged her to single combat, sure that she was just another country bumplin; his superior skill would prevail against her brute strength. She, in return, extracts a promise from him; that he and his men would leave the village alone if she bested him. The battle is quick and humiliating, but opposite of how the captain expected things to go. Though out of practice and still not at her physical peak (which she might never reach again), she trounces him. Again and again she insists that he stays down, but his pride won’t allow it, until she delivers a blow that turns out to be fatal. The enemy force is aghast; their fears were true. The second in command, now newly promoted, honors the bargain and hurriedly withdraws their forces. That night, she breaks down and sobs in the fisherman’s arms; she didn’t miss killing.

Later, the king manages to turn back the invading army, and following the rumors finds her again. He demands why she hadn’t returned to his service; her disappearance is what emboldened the enemy to finally invade. But he’s willing to forgive her transgression, in light of her outstanding service, provided she returned–but before he can finish, she pulls him from his horse like she’s scolding a child. She’s done with killing, she tells him, she’s done with people using her. She wants to be left in peace, and invokes her outstanding service to lay claim to the land that the village stands on. No taxes, no demanding kids march off to fight strangers’ battles. In exchange, on her promise as a knight, she would never raise a blade again, for him or against him. And soberly aware that she could crush his head between her hands like an overripe melon, he comes to the decision that her demands are totally reasonable, this village wasn’t *that* important anyway, and he actually fulfills his end of the bargain. The king leaves the village in peace and that’s the last of him that she ever sees.

Things settle down again, and there’s no more attacks, no more tax collectors, no more recruiters. For her, it’s a return to form, a distantly familiar life, except this time she is loved. She is accepted. And eventually, she and the fisherman, now her husband, decide to have kids. It’s scary for her. What if they end up like her? What if they’re too small? What if she accidentally hurts them? Forgetting that she’s handled babies before, and helped others through childbirth. But her husband assures her, it’ll be fine. They’ll be fine. She’s the kindest, strongest, gentlest soul he knows; and he’ll be there every step of the way. And a few months later, when the two of them decide to leave the village to go visit her old friend from the knights, her belly is the size of another woman’s at 3 weeks overdue, but for her it’s only the first trimester. Her old friend, seeing her next to her tiny husband, jokingly asks if he needed a ladder to do the deed, but it’s in good fun and they all laugh. She is happy, and eagerly awaits the birth of her children, however many there are, however big or small they turn out to be.

#submission #97thsilentium #I WANNA BE CLEAR THIS GLORIOUS PIECE WASN'T WRITTEN BY ME #this was a submission and a damn good one #like there's not a lot of belly but that's okay i like this sweet giantess girl

[starkerintheparker]

starker reclist - canon based fics

Hi Starker fam! To celebrate my 900 followers I decided to finally start posting my humble and very personal reclist. I’ve been planning to do it for a while now but it got way bigger than I anticipated so I decided to split it in 4 parts and will share the first one today. I’ve been around for less than a year and there’s a lot I haven’t read yet so my plan is to update this list as I go. 

Under the cut is part I, solely is dedicated to canon-based fics. I’m a sucker for angst so most of my recs feature guilty!Tony, miscommunication, porn with feels and all that jazz. Hopefully you’ll be able to find something interesting according to your preferences. Oh and don’t forget to leave kudos, comments and spread the love for these authors :) Cheers!

Last updated: 2020/04/18. All new fics added will be marked with ***

• 10 Ways to Woo Your Boo by @darker-soft-starker (NR, 6k, completed)

Summary: By twenty-one Peter Parker had graduated college, scored himself a post-grad job and was a full-fledged member of the Avengers. He had his own apartment, paid his own bills and juggled his time between being a superhero and working enough to cover his rent. So long as Peter was armed with his ID, he was a full-fledged adult in the eyes of the law. Perhaps foolishly, he’d assumed it would make him an adult in the eyes of everybody else too. Keen to be seen as worthy of Tony's heart, Peter enlists the help of his friends and the internet in courting his former mentor.

Review: We all love Ash’s fantastic AUs but this lovely canon-based fic may be one of my favorite works by her. I will never know how she manages the fine balance between angst, humor and romance, I just know it hits me good and takes my breath away. Oblivious!Tony and Peter being a bisexual disaster at wooing, what do you mean this wasn’t in the movies? Sounds canon to me.

• 100-Point Restoration by Destina (T, 8k, completed)

Summary: Tony needs a happiness upgrade; Peter wants Tony. These goals might be compatible. (This story is set roughly five years post-Homecoming).

Review: I just realized this was the first Starker fic I’ve read, and it was back in 2017! I didn’t ship Starker at the time but this author must have done something right because for some reason I couldn’t take my eyes away. This fic is gorgeous. Tony’s voice is amazing, his dynamics with Peter are spot-on and organic - but nothing’s better than watching their feelings unfold, like a soft and warm humming just awaiting for disclosure.

• adult supervision by doveslayer (M, 20k, on hiatus)

Summary: Peter Parker should not keep drunk-dialing Tony Stark after midnight. But more pressingly, Tony Stark should not keep answering. In which Tony tries to convince himself he's doing nothing wrong. warning: underage!Peter tho pretty vanilla imo                                                                                        

Review: My favorite “everything is happening while nothing is happening” fic. Their voices are spot on, the dialogues are clever, and you can almost touch the tension with your fingertips. It’s been a year since the last update but even if this fic never gets finished I promise the read will have been worthy!

• Attached by @paspleurer (E, 7k, completed)

Summary: Tony gets it, he really does. As far as rebounds go, sleeping with your childhood hero isn't half bad. And if what Peter wants is this— just sex, with no strings attached— then Tony will give him this.

Review: Pleurer and Learned Foot have seduced me with the rebound trope. This is a lovely Tony POV with the good old pining + miscommunication combo, plus enthusiastic sex and sweet domesticity. What else could I ask for?

• Covet by RTC anonymous (E, 34k, completed)

Summary: Peter has a new boyfriend. Tony starts drinking again, for unrelated reasons.

Review: I read this fic when I was still warily lurking around the Starker fandom and it blew me away. The sexual tension is so palpable you can almost taste it. There is jealous, guity Tony failing at mentoring and a vulnerable, smitten Peter Parker trying to make sense out of it. RTC anon is a religion.

• Ephemeron by @ramblings-from-elsinore (E)

Summary: "Being around Ned, Peter's reminded how out of place he is. For Ned, the second ever appearance of aliens over Manhattan is the stuff of excited hallway chatter, of where were you when—? Ned’s world wasn’t blown apart and stitched back together. Because Ned doesn’t remember. No one does, except the ones who were there, who fought." AKA, "Tony's relationship with Peter may be unconventional, but they’re unconventional people who have had some pretty fucking unconventional experiences." In which Tony can't stop touching Peter to make sure he's real, and Peter dreams of being in Tony's arms and not disappearing.

Review: I started reading this fic before I joined the fandom and man, what a way to get pulled into this ship. Brace yourself for hardcore guilty!Tony being all over the place plus unhealthy codependency and touch deprivation, all the good things. Reading this is a spiritual experience but fair warning: this is not a happy story, at least not for a long while, so please mind the tags.

• Expiration Date by @learned-foot​ (E, 12k, completed)

Summary: Tony knows exactly what this is. First big breakup, go for a fling with a completely inappropriate person. It’s basically a cliché. He kind of thought Peter was better than that, but apparently being brilliant and one of the bravest people on the face of the planet doesn’t mean he’s immune from being a stupid college student who makes stupid college student mistakes. AKA Tony is sure this is just a fling, and he deals with that about as well as you’d expect.

Review: Ahh my beloved rebound trope and my first rec (out of many) by LF! Between a pining, insecure Tony making all the wrong decisions and a young and confident Peter unwilling to let him go, this fic makes your heart ache in the best ways. Good thing LF only works with happy endings!

• From Thy Bounty by @ibby-writes​ and feyrelay (E, 31k, completed)

Summary: Tony’s eyes are always dark, but now there's almost no iris left. He looks hollowed out. There’s something terribly hungry there, despite the feast they've filled themselves on.

Review: I’ve lost count of how many times I reread this insanely hot and ridiculously well written fic. Besides the A+++ characterization, there is delicious food porn foreplay followed by a breathtaking cat and mouse game that culminates with no less than 13.5k of intense and unapologetic sex with feels, my favorite kind. Enjoy the meal! ;D

***Gift of Choice by tuesday (E, 12k, completed)

Summary: Tony Stark had a thing about giving Peter stuff.

Review: This is my favorite fic by tuesday and the PERFECT rendition of our beloved sugar daddy trope. Great pacing, amazing dialogues and a breathtaking build up that makes you both smile and sweat in anticipation. They’re so in love I almost can’t handle when they finally get together. Sexy, hot and very sweet.  

• here is my hand, my heart by belatrix (E, 16k, completed)

Summary: Mostly, Tony had tried not to look. He still does. Try, that is. It’s just― it’s getting a little bit harder every day.

Review: I have a HUGE soft spot for this beautiful masterpiece, because it was the fic that finally made me join the Starker fandom. I’ve reread it so many times and it never fails to amaze me. Through an atmospheric non-linear narrative, this shows a guilt-ridden Tony Stark trying and failing to resist one determined Peter Parker who won’t take bullshit for an answer. Hot, and angsty, and breathtaking.

• I know that you got Daddy Issues (And I do too) by feyrelay (E)

Summary: The one where Peter’s blue balls save the world. Because, yeah? That meandering, blooming thing between him and Mr. Stark? That relationship that continues to be maddeningly legal, platonic, and above-board, but still somehow haunts Peter’s wildest wet-dreams? That might just be the key to Strange’s endgame.

Review: This fic is a love letter to those who appreciate an angsty and nuanced slow burn like me. Possibly the best character study I’ve ever read combined with a clever, well researched and intricated plot. Reading this will make you fall even more in love with Tony and Peter as individuals, before wanting them to be better together. Make sure to also check all related fics under the tag DIEU (Daddy Issues Extended Universe) - the Starker verse we fucking deserve.

• if I am the river, you are the ocean by sadonsundays (E, 7k, completed)

Summary: The one where Tony can't sleep and Peter can't stop his hands from shaking.

Review: This is a gorgeous recovery fic, painful and heartbreaking, yes, but still very gentle as Tony and Peter’s relationship quietly unfolds. Pepper is an absolute treat which was refreshing to me. I just love the quiet and angsty undertone that guides their journey until they finally find home in each other.

if you’d grant my love a pardon by belatrix (M, 2.5k, completed)

Summary: The first time, it goes something like this: “No,” Tony says, but it’s tired, half-hearted, not quite a denial.

Review: One of the reasons why I love this ship is that there’s always room for angst, even when they’re already together. This lovely yet heartbreaking fic mirrors Tony’s fragile heart as he realizes that as much as he should, he just can’t let go of Peter, not quite yet. Belatrix writes guilty!Tony’s headspace like nobody else and I just can’t recommend her writing enough.

• in the light of a dying star by @areiton​ (M, 6k, completed) fix-it

Summary: Extremis isn't a guarantee. That's what Pepper told him, as they took him off the bloody, dusty field. It was just a chance. A desperate gamble.

Review: I’m so glad I read this right after Endgame because this is the fix-it Tony and we all deserved, this fic is so comforting and beautiful. I really love the quiet, ethereal atmosphere and how it shapes our perception of time and character development. Peter is beautifully written and their get together made my heart ache in peace.

• In the Morning by @cagestark​ (M, 6k, completed)

Summary: Peter's pretty stressed. He isn't understanding physics despite all the extra time he is spending with Bruce. And underneath it all, something is wrong with Mr. Stark.

Review: Heart wrenching and painfully honest fic, where Tony is a jealous mess and Peter is his usual earnest, sweet and good self. They meet in the middle, and it’s quiet, beautiful and sad.  

• Kiss Me by @ironspi​

Summary: Five times Peter and Tony almost kiss and one time they did.

Review: This fic was such a lovely surprise! It begins unpretentious and it builds up to quality pining and unresolved sexual tension. Chapter 4 is particularly awesome, so charged and intimate. Kudos to the author for exploring Peter taking the lead and making Tony melt in his arms.

• Landslide by spqr (M, 8k, completed) fix-it

Summary: Peter jumps into the quantum realm with his heart in his throat. He steps out in 2018, on the edge of a lake he still has nightmares about. A hundred yards away over the water, the lights in the lakehouse are on.

Review: Morally ambiguous characters + angsty time travel? Count me in. This fic has a very interesting (and darker) take on Peter post-Thanos, in his raw and desperate grief over Tony. Bonus points for amazing dialogues and a fix-it plot so clever and believable I’m surprised I didn’t see it on screen.  

• lean on me now by @areiton​ (G, 9k, on hiatus)

Summary: He’s so tired, and he hurts, the kind of screaming pain he’s struggling to ignore now, and he wants to go home. But he can do this. He can sit and watch, and keep them safe. A wry smile tugs at his lips because he knows how ridiculous that sounds--a kid keeping Avengers safe.

Review: One of the best canon divergence fics I’ve ever read. It’s quiet, angsty and Peter’s voice is simply amazing. My heart breaks for Tony, but I’m so here for Peter & Rhodey’s brOTP, the fandom deserves more of it.

• noticing by @areiton​ (NR, 2k, completed)

Summary: “You deserve to be happy,” Rhodey tells Tony once, when Tony is drinking and conflicted and Peter is sleeping unaware on the couch. Tony watches him, eyes bright.

Review: How could I ever resist seeing Tony and Peter’s relationship development through Rhodey’s protective and thoughtful gaze? Any Tony stan should read this fic because this is the kind of love, friendship and support he deserves. Reading this put my mind at rest, knowing Tony’s cared for, and safe.

• Obvious by @learned-foot​ (M, 14k, completed)

Summary: When Peter wakes up, several things become very clear all at once: he’s underground somewhere unpleasant, something is messing with his powers, and his entire body hurts. A lot.

Review: WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP *victory dance* god this one is brutal, but we can trust LF to bring on full angst with an intriguing plot and A+++ characterization. I’m so here for protective!Tony doing whatever it takes to keep Peter safe, including all the confusion and heartbreak his problematic decisions may bring.

• Permission by @cagestark​ (E, 16k, completed)

Summary: During drinks with the Avengers, Peter admits that he enjoys orgasms more when someone is giving him permission, though since he's single, there isn't anyone in his life to offer it. Generous Tony offers to offer it.

Review: This fic is unique and so very hot, but don’t let the smutty summary fool you. There is also tenderness and FEELS in capital letters. Despite their arrangement, pining!Tony is so vulnerable and so completely in love with Peter it kinda breaks my heart a little, but thankfully Cage is a big fan of happy endings like me, so we’re all safe in her hands.

***Post-Endgame NYE by @darker-soft-starker (M, completed)

Summary:  Five years after the events of endgame Tony is resurrected. Months after that, he's still trying to find equilibrium

Review: Hands down the loveliest ‘flirting on a bench’ I’ve ever seen, and my top favorite NYE Starker fic. I love to see Tony facing an existential crisis while he navigates his new life post-resurrection, including the violent realization of ‘oh no, Peter’s an attractive adult now’. Gentle and gorgeous get together, kudos at Morgan for being a little devil and playing matchmaking.

• Proxy by @cagestark​ (E, 11k, completed)

Summary: Peter wants to know if Mr. Stark knows, like, anybody who’d be willing to make out with him. Things escalate from there.

Review: I have such a big soft spot for this fic because “by proxy” is one of my favorite tropes and Cage explored it masterfully. Again, this is pining!Tony at his best and Cage just has this ability to transform what once started as a sexy little thing into this soft and gentle love story, the kind that gives you butterflies in the stomach.

• Radar by @intoxicatelou​ (M)

Summary: Peter could say that he’s officially approached desperation, but he wants this, wants Tony, and he’s willing to do everything it takes. Or the one in which Peter tries to become Tony's celebrity crush from 2009 in order to seduce him.

Review: This is one of my favorites self-indulgent fics, I just can’t resist the good old “Peter’s seduction handbook” trope and intoxicatelou delivers it beautifully. This story is sweet, super fun and relatable af. There’s A+ pining, Peter being a bisexual disaster and MJ being the queen we all stan, shocking absolutely no one.

• Revelations by RTC anonymous (E, 127k, completed)

Summary: “I still don’t get it,” Ned says. “How you just... keep being ordinary in spite of all the craziness you’ve lived through. You were in space. You helped Iron Man save the universe. And nobody knows it was you.” His tone softens, becomes almost sad. As though he realizes that what he’s saying is so completely alien to him that he will never be able to understand this part of Peter’s life. “Peter, don’t you want people to know you for who you are?” An AU where they get the Gauntlet off of Thanos that first time, on Titan.

Review: I feel like I don’t need to justify this choice – almost everyone in the fandom has either heard of or read this masterpiece, it’s safe to say this fic is part of the Starker Training Wheels Protocol lol. If you have just arrived or is just exploring the fandom and enjoys slow burns I suggest you start right hee because it doesn’t get any better than this. There’s A+++ characterization, breathtaking pining, insane sexual tension and a very satisfying ending if I may say so. Definitely among my top 3 Starker fics. RTC anon, wherever you are, please know you are loved and appreciated. I’ll literally build an altar for you.

• Reversal by @learned-foot​ (E, 4k, completed)

Summary: Sometimes, Tony is the one who needs to be praised.

Review: For once Peter makes Tony just lie down and take 😊 the fucking 😊 praise 😊. I feel like I’ve been waiting for this fic all my life. This is the praise kink Tony (and we all) deserve, genuine, gentle and powerful. If you’re a big sap for their love like I am, you’re in for an emotional ride because this is overwhelmingly sweet to the point it brings tears to your eyes. LF is such a gift to this fandom.  

• Settling by @cagestark​ (E, 5k, completed)

Summary: Peter really wants to be taller than Tony. Heels help.

Review: One of my favorites by Cage, I still remember how happy and giggly I felt when I first read it. There is A+++ characterization, amazing dialogue, Avengers domesticity, praise kink, the hottest blow job and my favorite Starker first kiss. Oh, did I mention Peter in heels and Tony loving every moment of it? You’re welcome :D

• Stipulations by RTC anonymous (E, 70k, completed)

Summary: Peter Parker’s long term dream recently went from ‘get into MIT’ to ‘afford going to MIT’. As the time approaches, it’s dawning on him that he won’t be able to pay his tuition and afford the move to Cambridge all at once: he’s out of money, his secrets are beginning to pile up, and desperation has started creeping in... And then one night, he saves Tony Stark’s life.

Review: Another fandom classic by our irreplaceable RTC anon, this fic is SO GOOD I keep coming back to it and just recently I realized I’ve built all my personal Starker headcanons out of it, lol. A+++ characterization and hot, delicious pining is a given with this author, but I’m really here for that senses-dialed-to-11 trope, and RTC delivers it masterfully.  

• subtle by @areiton​ (T, 1k, completed)

Summary: Peter is not subtle. He wears his emotion, his excitement, like a flag waved bright red and teasing for a bull—impossible to go unnoticed, impossible to ignore. It’s adorable and it’s Peter, and it’s—in hindsight—why Tony misses the context clues.

Review: This fic is like reading poetry, a balm to the heart. Peter wears Tony’s colors and by the time Tony finally gets the context clues they fall together in the gentlest, softest way.

• Take it slow by tuesday (E, 13k, completed)

Summary: There were a ton of reasons dating Peter was a bad idea. Tony loved bad ideas. He was going to do it anyway. In which Tony thinks they're dating, and then they're dating undercover.

Review: This fic is so endearing it’s basically impossible not to cheer for these two, despite their usual infuriating communication issues, lol. But I promise all the angst and wait are worth it, because there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing how they (finally!) get to be on the same page.

• the record spins on the trails we blaze by @darker-soft-starker​ (NR, 5k, completed)

Summary: Years after the events of Homecoming, Peter thought all of the bad memories were well and truly behind him. After all, so much has happened since then - and he's happy now. Everything is kinda perfect.Turns out nothing stays buried.

Review: Hell yes! I agree HoCo’s events were particularly traumatizing and this trope is not as explored as it should be. To put it simply, this fic is something I didn’t know that I needed and Ash delivered it beautifully. It’s incredibly gentle, cathartic and honest, not to mention the lovely domesticity and understanding between the characters that will make your heart swell.

• Under Someone Else by @learned-foot (M, 7k, completed)

Summary: Peter realizes he’s just a rebound. And he’s okay with that, really. Or at least, that’s what he keeps telling himself.

Review: FEELS, FEELS EVERYWHERE. It’s so hard to choose a favorite fic by LF but this is the first that comes to mind because it introduced me to the amazing rebound trope. It’s so refreshing to see this ship’s potential for angst and miscommunication playing into the “fuck first, talk later” scenario. Warning for vulnerable boys being idiots and breaking our hearts but P.P.P.S they do eventually get their shit together and it’s glorious!

• Up for Anything by tuesday (E, 8k, completed)

Summary: When it came to Tony Stark, Peter would take what he could get. In which Peter believes he's just a rebound. (Not Endgame compliant.)

Review: Of course there’s yet another gorgeous rebound rec because I can’t get enough of this trope. Honestly, LF and Tuesday writing for each other have provided some of the best fics this fandom has, God bless them. This is another treat featuring pining!Peter and the usual “I can’t communicate properly how much I fucking love you”, but there’s also bantering, delicious dirty talk and so much affection that you’ll read it all with the biggest smile on your face.

#starker #reclist #peter parker x tony stark

[there-must-be-a-lock]

Breakfast and Bus Rides

Criminal Minds/Supernatural crossover ft. Harry Styles

Word Count: ~3030

Warnings: Egregious amounts of fluff, one gratuitous kitten, and a couple stoned rockstars. Lots of discussion of coming out and some other LGBT-adjacent issues. 

A/N: A wild Plot appears! I was having some feels about coming out/honesty (hm wonder why, is a mystery) and foisted those feelings on JJ and Dean. 

Thanks to @stunudo​ for a pre-read, endless encouragement, and the kitten scene idea.

This is part of the Rockstar AU. It picks up right where Wake-Up Calls and Watermelon leaves off. 

Dean exchanges a glance with Sam, and they both hang back as the others start to gather in the kitchenette. Penelope keeps shooting wide-eyed, starstruck looks at Harry, and it’s making Dean nervous. 

“You okay with this?” Dean asks quietly. “You think she’ll keep her mouth shut?” 

Sam shrugs. “I can talk to her.” 

“And Schroeder? I mean, love the kid to death, but holy hell does he babble.” 

“Spencer’s known since the first night of tour.” 

“How?” 

Sam chuckles. “Kinda a funny story… tell you later. I honestly think he might’ve forgotten, though.” 

“What about the rest of ‘em?” Dean asks. “I mean, I like ‘em well enough, but…”

“I want to tell them,” Sam says, without hesitating. “I’m just gonna bite the bullet and invite them all over for breakfast.” 

Dean sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “You sure?” 

“I trust them.” 

“Okay. Just don’t want you to get hurt, Sammy.” 

“What a shock,” Sam deadpans. “Dean’s pulling the protective big brother card? Alert the press.”

Dean purses his lips and gives Sam a light punch on the arm. “Bitch.” 

“Don’t let Emily hear you saying that,” Sam chuckles. “Shoulda heard the lecture I got the other day about the way misogyny is perpetuated through language. Honestly, though. What do you really think is going to happen? It’s not like they’ve outed you and Cas, they’ve all been awesome about it.” 

“This is different, though,” Dean says, with a grimace. “I mean, like it or not, it’d be news. The gossip rags would pay serious fuckin’ money for a picture of the two of you.” 

“It’s not like we’re gonna walk around, like, fused at the mouth,” Sam laughs. “No PDA required. But… I want him to meet some of my friends. Y’know?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Stop worrying so much, Dean.” Sam’s expression is soft and fond, and he claps Dean on the shoulder before heading for the coffee maker and Harry. 

Harry wraps himself around Sam like a giant squid, if a giant squid wore Gucci, and Dean’s chest feels tight with anxiety. The two of them are looking at each other with these stupid googly-eyed dimpled smiles. It doesn’t even count as PDA, not really, except that Sam is so godawful at hiding his feelings that he might as well be wearing a neon sign. 

Then Harry starts feeding him a strawberry, and that definitely counts as PDA, if not public indecency. Gross. 

If someone did take a picture of them like this, with their sleepy-eyed smiles and interlaced fingers, it’d be worth thousands of dollars. That’s a hell of an incentive. Dean’s had people fuck him over for much less. 

Dean’s learned his lesson over the years. The only people you can really trust are your family. 

Cas emerges from their room, blinking blearily around at everyone before coming over to Dean and leaning in for a kiss. 

“Morning breath, fuck,” Dean grumbles, making a face, but he grabs Cas and pulls him in anyway. 

A cheer goes up around them, and Dean sees Jack coming out of his room, clothed now, but still blushing red and shamefaced. 

“What’d I miss?” Cas says, scowling, and Dean grins gleefully before launching into the story. 

* * *

“I guess I just don’t see why it’s such a big deal,” Spencer says, contemplating his hand of cards. “Aside from a very vocal minority, there’s widespread support for LGBT rights, statistically, and the music industry is more progressive than most. If you look at David Bowie, for example —” 

“I pass the turn,” Charlie interrupts, cutting him off before he can launch into full-on textbook mode. “It’s not really about that, though.” 

Charlie forgets about the conversation for a minute as he attacks her planeswalker. She used to own her local Friday Night Magic tournaments, and she’s more than a little pissed that this skinny fucker in a sweater vest has won three of their last four games. Spencer is sneaky. Charlie can respect that, but it’s infuriating. 

“Why, then?” 

“Hmm? Oh, that. It’s more to do with… privacy, I guess. That’s a hell of a lot of public attention for Sam. He doesn’t want people to sing Happy Birthday to him, you know?” 

“Doesn’t everybody hate being sung to?” Spencer asks pensively.

“Well, yeah. But Harry’s the sort of famous where people get totally invasive and weird about his personal life. Like, starting rumors, tabloid shit, and it extends to anyone he gets involved with.” 

“Really?” Spencer downs the last of his coffee. It’s his third cup, but he hasn’t touched the plate of pancakes that’s been going cold on the table.  

“Yeah. I don’t know if Sam realizes the full level of crazy at work, but Dean and I looked online, one night, after Harry brought it up. The shit people have said about his exes… about his friends, even. They’re vicious about it. Analyzing every facial expression in every picture, making up stories…” 

Spencer’s forehead creases in a frown. “I play Grasp of Darkness on your Primordial Hydra and swing with all my zombies.” 

“Motherfucker,” Charlie mutters. “Rematch?” 

Spencer’s staring intently down at the table, lost in thought, and he doesn’t seem to hear her for a second. She chucks one of her D-20s at his face and he starts when it bounces off his forehead. 

“Sorry.”

“Where’d you go?” 

He hesitates before mumbling, “I had a stalker.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, she — Cat. I told her I didn’t want to sleep with her, and she didn’t like that very much.” He pauses, brow furrowed. “She learned everything about me, and I mean everything. Tried to manipulate me, tried to manipulate my friends…”

“Yikes. What happened?” 

“She went to jail for a little while. She showed up when she got out, one night in Boston—” Spencer brightens. “—but Derek tackled her and threw her into the Charles River.” 

“For real?” 

Spencer nods and smiles in a way that makes Charlie think she’s not getting the full story. “It was a weird night.” 

“So she hasn’t showed up since then?” 

“No. But… I just felt like I couldn’t hide anything, like every part of me, every shitty thing I’d ever done, was under a microscope. It was awful. I’m all for being honest, you know? That’s great, in theory, but... everybody deserves the right to hide if they want to. You should be the one to decide what parts of yourself you want to share.” 

Charlie thinks about the friend who outed her in high school, and how naked she felt. 

“Agreed.” 

* * *

Dean sits down next to Derek at the kitchen bar as he’s sealing the third joint.  

“Rolling for the road?” he asks, around a mouthful of bacon. “Nicely done.” 

“The key is the crutch,” Derek tells him. “Ditalini.” 

“No shit? Huh.” 

Derek keeps working, watching Dean, who’s watching Sam. 

“Nothing to worry about here,” Derek points out gently. “You know that, right?” 

Dean lets out a little self-deprecating laugh. “Sorry. Fuck. Habit, y’know? He’s my brother.” 

“Oh, believe me, I know,” Derek says ruefully, glancing over at Spencer. 

“Every person he tells is another person that could hurt him,” Dean says fiercely. “I fuckin’ hate that.” 

“Worrying doesn’t help, though.” 

Dean scowls at that, thinking for a moment as he chews, before saying, “I just wish there was a way I could help.” 

“A while ago, there was this guy who went after Emily,” Derek says slowly, twisting the next joint closed. “And he didn’t hurt her bad, or anything. Spencer and JJ jumped in, and Spencer took the worst of it, because… Spencer.” 

“Can’t see him being handy in a fight.” 

“Try telling him that when he’s pissed. Point is, though… nobody got hurt, but I was pretty shaken up about it. Beat myself up for not being there to protect them, until my girl Penelope talked some sense into me. She said, ‘It’s not your job to keep them safe all the time. The most important thing is to make sure they know they’re safe with you.’ I think about that a lot.” 

“So, what, I’m supposed to just… ignore the risk?” 

“No,” Derek says patiently. “But it’s his risk to take. You being afraid isn’t going to make the world any less scary, but knowing that you’re there, that you’re proud of him, that you’ve got his back no matter what? That helps.”  

Dean mulls that over. There’s a mulish set to his jaw that reminds Derek of Emily; it’s the face she makes when she knows he’s right and doesn’t want to admit it. He tries to hide his smile as he finishes rolling the last joint and offers it to Dean. 

“Thanks,” Dean says gruffly. 

“Any time.” 

* * *

When JJ opens the bus door, she’s greeted by a cloud of weed smoke. She can see Hotch stretched out on the couch with a half-smoked joint in one hand and a battered copy of Slaughterhouse-Five in the other. He’s reading out loud, and for a moment JJ can’t figure out who he’s reading to; then she notices Pearl curled up on his chest, rubbing her tiny fuzzy head against his cheek. 

It’s so goddamn cute JJ doesn’t know what to do with herself. She settles for whipping out her phone and taking a quick picture. 

As she walks up the bus steps, Hotch holds out the lit joint without pausing, and she takes it happily. 

JJ’s exhaling smoke, finally feeling the weird tension under her skin start to evaporate, when Rossi opens the door.

“All set,” Rossi says, giving the driver a thumbs-up. 

“Did you triple-check your head count?” Hotch asks, deadpan. 

“Sure did.” 

“Everybody present and accounted for?” JJ adds innocently. “Spencer?” 

“He’s showing off his new toy on the Winchesters’ bus.”

“Penelope?” 

“Playing Sega with Charlie.” 

“And Morgan?” 

“Already in the back, taking a nap.” 

“Emily?” Hotch presses. 

“She’s in the batcave to — oh. I see.” Rossi glowers. “Very funny.” 

“Are you sure you didn’t forget Spencer again?” JJ asks, giggling hoarsely around another lungful of smoke. 

“It was one time,” Rossi protests, flipping them off. “You try keeping track of the kid. He’s like a squirrel. A squirrel on LSD.” 

“Pretty sure it was mushrooms that day,” JJ points out. 

Rossi sits down and asks thoughtfully, “Did anybody see that coming?” 

“Sam? Honestly, no,” Hotch answers, frowning. “Not that it’s any of our business, but…” 

“Me neither,” JJ admits. 

She’s still rattled by the whole thing, for reasons she can’t quite put her finger on. It’s not about Sam, or whatever bullshit constructs of masculinity that would make people assume he’s straight just because he has muscles and dresses like a lumberjack. She’s not shocked by the label, or whatever. 

“There’s someone I want you guys to meet,” Sam had told them. He tucked his hair behind his ears as he said it; it’s his tell, his nervous tic, and JJ has the poker winnings to prove it. She had wondered, for a moment, what would make him smile like that in spite of his obvious anxiety. 

Dean had been glaring from the other side of the room, gauging their reactions, his arms folded and his fear written all over his face in the guise of a scowl, like a feral dog who’d been backed into a corner. JJ could understand the fear. Sam, though… Sam just looked relieved. 

Hotch and Rossi are staring at her, she realizes abruptly. 

“Hm?” 

“I said, anything you want to do in L.A.? Plenty of time for sightseeing.” 

JJ shrugs. “Not really.” 

“You okay?” Rossi asks, looking at her closely. 

“Yeah, just… tired. I’m gonna take that nap now.” She gives them a bright smile, passing the joint to Rossi, and gets up before they can question it. 

JJ feels a little better once she’s in a spare bunk with the curtain closed. It’s easier to examine the knot in her chest like this, now that she’s alone in the dark, safe and hidden. 

She keeps coming back to the smile on Sam’s face. 

There was a moment, earlier, when JJ noticed Sam and Harry from across the room as they talked to Emily and Hotch. Harry had been leaning against Sam’s side. Sam’s arm was draped casually over his shoulder, and he started playing idly with Harry’s hair, combing his fingers through the messy curls at his temple as Harry tilted his head into the touch. 

There was a peaceful possessiveness in it—the sort of cozy familiarity that had been worn soft by time like overwashed cotton—an unspoken claim: mine. 

How long has it been since JJ felt that with someone, like their closeness was a second skin that she could wear in public? 

Not since Emily. Even then it had always been tainted by fear, an overwhelming desire to hide whenever she could feel someone watching. 

She and Emily are loudly affectionate with each other in public, of course: drunk and dancing, or clinging to each other as they stagger home, or kissing with an exaggerated smacking sound when anyone mutters disapprovingly in their direction. But that’s brash and performative and platonic, the sort of thing JJ could do just as comfortably with Penelope or Spencer. That’s different. 

Anybody who’d seen Sam and Harry would’ve known immediately; that sort of intimacy is unmistakable, and Sam didn’t seem to care. He was smiling like he was proud to show it off. 

JJ has seen it in Dean and Cas, too, but never quite so clearly. Maybe it’s because they’ve never had to hide around the Business As Usual crowd, so the contrast hasn’t drawn her attention, or maybe it’s just that they’re not demonstratively tactile in the same way. You have to know him well (and you have to be paying attention) to catch glimpses of  the tenderness that Dean masks so well. He doesn’t wear his emotions on his face for everyone to see. JJ can relate. 

But Sam wasn’t hiding, that morning; he was just sweet and vulnerable and proud of it and JJ realizes suddenly that she’s jealous. That’s envy squirming around in her belly. 

She wants that sort of love: fearless, or maybe in spite of fear. She gets sick of hiding, sometimes. 

JJ puts a pin in that thought and tells herself she can deal with it later, when she’s not quite so stoned and maudlin. Right now, it’s naptime. 

* * *

Dean intended to nap all the way to Sacramento, but he only manages to doze for a half hour or so. There’s too much on his mind. He pushes groggily through the door and thinks a silent thank you at whoever got the coffee machine going. 

Spencer and Jack are sitting on one couch, playing with something that Dean recognizes as a theremin. Sam’s on the other couch, and Harry and Cas are sitting at the table. 

“What do you think?” Cas asks, when he notices Dean watching. He holds up two bottles of nail polish. 

“Black is punk rock. Pastels are for the Easter bunny’s little sister,” Dean opines. 

“Love you too, Dean Bean.” Harry shoots him a cheerful pastel-green-painted middle finger. Dean ruffles his hair affectionately on his way to sit next to Sam. 

Dean’s first instinct was to scoff, to snark, to dismiss nail polish as girly, but he knows the instinct is just a vestigial memory of his dad’s stern voice. He’s been getting better at recognizing that voice, in the last few years; for a while he thought he was done with it, figuring that if he could admit he was in love with a guy, he must be over that sort of learned bullshit. Can’t be phobic if you’re one of the homos, right? So… fuck off, Dad. 

Then Harry showed up, with his totally fuckin’ zen attitude about annihilating gendered fashion norms, and Dean found himself wincing, sometimes, or looking around furtively to make sure nobody was staring. Even at Bonnaroo, when Harry went around hiding behind wigs and glasses—when the entire point was for him to pass as a girl—Dean’s immediate knee-jerk reaction was to cringe. It’s taken awhile, but he’s getting better at ignoring the fear when it kicks up in his gut. 

Dean’s distracted by a drawn-out melancholy squeal. 

“Someone turned a taxidermied badger into a theremin one time,” Spencer says happily, as Jack waves his hand over it again. “They called it a badgermin.” 

Dean snorts. “Sounds like a violin that needs an exorcism.” 

“Or a Barred Owl on barbiturates,” Sam offers. 

“Worn-Out-Brake-Pad flavored La Croix.” 

“A whale that got so stoned it forgot how to talk.” 

“One of the mermaids from Harry Potter having a wet dream,” Spencer suggests, and Cas laughs so hard he almost knocks over the bottle of nail polish. 

“Get your shit together, Castiel,” Harry scolds, but he’s giggling too. It’s like being scolded by a very happy sloth. “You’re done, mate. Who’s next, hmm?” 

He points at Jack, who shakes his head. 

“I need to get some sleep,” he says, and the last word cracks on a yawn. 

Sam grins. “Yeah, I’m guessing you didn’t get much rest last night.” 

“Sweet dreams, Mr. Grey,” Dean teases, and wolf-whistles as Jack retreats. Cas relocates to the couch, giving Dean a peck on the cheek before sitting back and admiring his manicure. 

Harry waves the bottle at Spencer, who doesn’t notice; he’s focused intently on the instrument, coaxing out something that actually sounds like music, in a vague, freaky kind of way. 

“Yeah, okay,” Dean says, rolling his eyes and settling at the table across from a delighted Harry. 

“How about a nice hot pink?” he asks. 

“Don’t push your luck.”

“Wasn’t one of those used in the Doctor Who theme?” Harry asks Spencer. Spencer brightens like a big geeky Christmas tree that’s strung with lights made of useless trivia. 

“Now you’ve done it,” Dean says under his breath. 

“Actually, that’s a common misconception,” Spencer announces. “The original composition used—”

Dean must be going soft, because he’s actually kind of enjoying this, both the lecture and the manicure. 

Then again, he thinks, Sam is enthralled, and Cas is smiling, and maybe Dean’s just really enjoying his life right now. 

Fuck off, Dad, he thinks, admiring his pastel green nails. 

#criminal minds fic #supernatural fic #harry styles fic #criminal minds #supernatural

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Riverdale 5x11-5x14

So I might have fallen behind a bit with Riverdale and have only now just caught up with the new episodes post break. I decided writing reviews for each episode was going to take too much time and to be honest I don’t have too much to say so I’m just going to do a quick run down of what I thought of the episodes and then go back to single episode reviews from 5x15 onwards. Overall I’m not overly impressed with the episodes, I feel like the season started out really good but as its gone on its just kind of lost its way and I don’t know if that is covid related and all the breaks but I haven’t enjoyed the episodes as much post like episode 8, though I liked ep 10 better than episode 9. But anyway lets get into the reviews. As always these are just my own opinions and there will be spoilers.  

5x11

So the episode starts off with Veronica and Archie deciding to put a pause on their relationship until her and Chad are officially divorced which I personally think they should have done from the start because the way they got back together was way to fast, I mean she told Chad she wanted a divorce, kissed Archie and was sleeping with him, then she goes back to new york and sleeps with chad all in the space of like 2 episodes. Though I think given their scene at the end when Veronica is pushing a little for him to change his mind I don’t think she is as much on board with their pause as Archie. I will be honest I’m not really enjoying the way they’ve written Veronica this season I actually think they’ve made her kind of unlikable at times and she sometimes comes across a bit selfish I also feel like they don’t really know what to do with her character anymore. But I am glad Veronica and Archie have decided to take the break however I also think it might be a bit ominous for Varchie that they’ve done this now which I’ll get into more in a separate post. 

Ok this might be a little mean of me but I was kind of happy when Archie called out Veronica when she came to him for help about her blue opal. About how she went to new york despite him asking her not to and about how she then came back without a divorce and having slept with her husband and not even telling him why she can’t divorce him just yet. But Archie is still Archie so naturally he does help her anyway. 

Speaking of Veronica’s blue opal I did find it kind of hilarious that she seemed to care more about that then she did her father’s life. But you know fair. 

Archie isn’t the only one Veronica asks for help though she also gets assistance from Reggie and we learn more about how he ended up working for Hiram, turns out his father is still running for the worst dad of eternity award and got into debt that Reggie is now working off. I did like the Veggie scenes though and I am really glad that reggie is getting more screen time. 

This episode was an episode for the return of the side characters, Dodger and Darla are back and causing problems as per usual. Also there was that guy, Doc, Jughead was saved by who we heard about once in a story Jughead told about how as a kid he watched a guy being beat by some rich guys. To be honest I wasn’t all that interested in Jughead’s storyline this episode. I mean is that something that actually happens? Rich guys just randomly beating up homeless people like they did with Juggie and  Doc. I’m not saying it doesn’t I just thought it was a bit nonsensical for these guys just to come out of a club and start beating up a guy just because. Still bless Doc for coming to the rescue and taking care of Jughead, I did like Doc and I wouldn’t mind seeing him again. But another thing that didn’t make sense to me is that Jughead didn’t recognise Doc. Like he was old enough to remember this traumatic experience of watching a guy get beat and feeling guilty about not helping but doesn’t recognise the guy until he gives Juggie his name. Yet Doc was able to recognise Jughead even though the last time he saw him was a child? Overall I am not sure what the point of Jughead’s storyline was this episode other than to maybe show how messed up he is at the moment with the blackouts and hallucinations, I suppose it was also so he could reach the realisation that he needed to go back to new york and work out what happened to him when he lost those days. He does leave a really sweet voicemail for tabitha before he goes though and promises to finish their dance. 

The best part of this episode though was the storyline with Tabitha and Betty, also Jessica, and their search for Jughead. I really liked the interaction between Betty and Tabitha and I like that they are becoming friends. Tabitha was obviously really worried about Jughead. But Betty, wow, she couldn’t be less bothered about Jughead could she. I mean after hearing the voicemail he left for her I can understand why Betty is reluctant to get involved with anything to do with Jughead because that voicemail was yikes. I mean Betty did cheat and that clearly hurt Jughead so I am not saying that Betty is entirely blameless but I would expect the voicemail was still a shock as it had been five years since she had cheated and we know from the most recent episode (ep 14) that she and Juggie were amicable with each other and would talk on the phone so this probably came out of nowhere for her. However Betty is Betty and so she still helps. Which ultimately leads to Jessica showing up and I know we are suppose to hate Jessica but, like, I love Jessica. I was thoroughly entertained by her antics and thought she was actually kind of funny. She’s another character where I wouldn’t mind if she just randomly pops up and causes some trouble now and again. In the end as suspected Jessica is actually there for ulterior motives and wants Jughead’s manuscript. I actually really felt for her when she explained that she wanted it because she was afraid Jughead had written something that would look bad to her family and friends. It’s the same as how the serpents were upset about how he wrote them in the outcasts and how he threatens Betty saying once people read his books they’ll all know what kind of person she really is. I’ve spoken about it before but Jughead often uses his friends and others peoples stories in his writing and I am glad that the writers of the show are now showing the effect that has on the people who are the subjects of his writing. That being said I am worried that might not be the true reason Jessica took the manuscript and its possible she might actually try to publish it herself. Also it was kind of funny seeing Betty and Tabitha on the shrooms but, not ok Jessica, don’t drug people. 

Archie was rounding up all the convicts this episode and to be honest I don’t really have much to say about this other than I thought it was really smart to use this as a way of getting money out of Hiram so they can repair the school that Hiram had trashed. 

Meanwhile Penelope has started a ministry which means she gets early release from prison. Also I absolutely loved the expressions of cheryl and nana rose when Penelope told them about the ministry. I am glad that Cheryl at first was very wary of her mothers plans as oppose to just immediately going along with it, but alas she does get roped in to it when she opens a chest and finds Jason’s burned skeleton inside. I mean can we please please just let that poor guy rest in piece. Please. At this point poor Jason has been stuffed in a freezer, dumped in a river, buried and exhumed twice, set on fire in a viking burial and now he is stuffed in a trunk. Also I am a bit confused. Was Cheryl snooping in her mother’s room and discovered Jason’s remains there or was it her room and she was the one that had recovered him? But anywhere Cheryl seems to have a revelation when she sees the bird and ends up embracing the ministry life. 

5x12 

So episode twelve is kind of like the breakfast club episode where it is out of the timeline and kind of like a standalone episode but still has information about the plot of the season. This episode is the backstory of Hiram but we also get some great Reggie development in this episode. I didn’t hate the episode as much as I thought I was going to when I found out there was going to be a hiram backstory episode, but I also don’t think it was very accurate in terms of what we already knew from previous episodes. I think there were a lot of continuity errors. But those aside it was a ok episode. We learn that Hiram and his dad were shoe polishers and that Hiram clearly hated the way they were treated because they were poor and wanted more from life. We also learn that it was his father who first began searching for palladium after learning about it from a business man in new york and that’s why they decided to move to Riverdale. Hiram’s motives are to finish what his father started. Hiram catches the attention of a drug dealer guy and starts running drugs and gets money and new shoes and a car. His parents are obvious suspicious and aren’t happy about him getting caught up with those guys so his dad goes to tell the mob leader that he will fire his son or he’ll go to the cops which leads to him being killed by the mob leader. Hiram then kills the mob leader’s men and pretty much drives him out of town and then he takes over. Hiram clearly loved his dad but they had issues. Hiram would get very angry about the way others would treat them but his dad would often shrug it off. But I do think losing his dad had a big impact on Hiram and it was interesting to learn more about his past. 

The other kind of plot in this episode was with Reggie and his dad which was obviously suppose to mirror Hiram and his dad. Only in this scenario Hiram is the criminal and Reggie is young Hiram. Reggie manages to pay off his dad debt but wants to still work for Hiram meanwhile his dad wants Reggie to quit working for Hiram. He even like Hiram’s father did in the past visits Hiram and asks him to let Reggie go. What’s interesting is that Hiram does, I am assuming its because in that moment Reggie’s father reminded him of his own father and he kind of forces Reggie into making the decision he himself wished he had made. But first he gets Reggie’s and Hermosa’s help in finding and killing the mob boss finally avenging his father’s death. Hiram also tells Reggie to go back to his father and forgive him and here is my problem with this. I get that its because Hiram regrets all the disagreements and the falling out he had with his own father and there’s Reggie and he reminds Hiram of his younger self and Reggie’s situation reminds him of his past but Hiram’s dad was a decent person and was a good father who always wanted the best for his son. Reggie’s dad on the other hand used to regularly abuse and beat his son. Yes he does show concern for Reggie in this episode but that doesn’t erase the years of abuse he inflicted on his son. It’s not the same and I honestly don’t think his father deserves Reggie’s forgiveness. That being said I suppose if Reggie is forgiving his dad not for his dad’s sake  but for himself because he thinks that will help him heal and move on that I can be ok with that. 

Come the end of the episode I don’t think I hate Hiram any less but still his backstory was interesting and I am glad that Reggie isn’t working with him anymore.    

5x13

Out of all of these four episodes this one was the one I liked the most. So in this section I am going to divide it by plotline/characters. 

Archie 

So the episode starts out really intensely with Archie having a nightmare about his time at war and Eric losing his leg which honestly looks horrendous and I am not at all surprised that both Archie and Eric are now suffering from PTSD. It gets a bit dangerous too when Eric pulls a gun on Archie whilst having a flashback. Uncle Frank tries to help them by getting them a dog. As someone who actually has a therapy dog myself I know this is something that does actually help. But we do learn that sadly Vegas passed away whilst Archie was deployed. Also the dog Frank got is one that was used in dog fighting and ends up biting Eric. Archie’s reaction to finding out that there is dog fighting ring in Riverdale is to track them down and beat them up. I do think Archie was really struggling this episode, he was trying to get help for Eric but it is obvious that he himself also needs help. I actually really related to Archie and Eric struggling to get help for their mental health because it is something I have gone through myself and it can be really frustrating and can make you feel kind of helpless and I actually think they did a good job of showing that, which considering its Riverdale I was pleasantly surprised by. We also learn some more about Archie’s time in the war when he tells Frank the story about Bingo. At first he tells us that Bingo was a stray dog that their unit adopted who got caught in no man’s land. It is actually a rather harrowing scene where you see Archie and Eric in the trenches and Eric is badly hurt and you can hear this dog yelping in the background. It’s even more harrowing when you learn that actually Bingo wasn’t a dog but one of the soldiers in their unit. I feel like Archie changed it to being a dog to deal with the trauma of it all but when Eric tells Frank the truth and he then asks Archie about it Archie really has to confront what actually happened and that loss and grief of losing his friend in such a brutal way. Its obvious that Archie also feels responsible because he was put in that awful position of having to choose between saving Eric or saving Bingo he feels like because of the choice he made Bingo died. Despite what Frank said about not being able to save everyone I think he thought he could save them both and its really eating him up that he ‘let’ Bingo die. I also think that’s why he is so focussed on saving the town because he thinks it’s a way of making amends for not being able to save his men. I do think it was really sweet that Frank and Eric organised  the dog rehoming thing to help Archie get some of his hopeful spirit back and show him that there are still some good people out there. They also decide to name their new dog Bingo in honour of their friend which is also kind of sweet. But I do still think Archie has a long way to go in his recovery as by the end of the episode we see him have a nightmare and then a hallucination of bingo but he does at least admit to the therapist that calls him that whilst he was calling on behalf of his friend he too needs help. I mean I am glad that he is going to try to get some help but I am still worried for Archie given what happens in ep 14 which I’ll talk about more in the section for that episode. Also we got that little Barchie crumb of the light shining through his window, a lit window in the dark.  

Betty and Tabitha 

So Betty and Tabitha have been working together to try and find the truck killer and whilst trying to get information out of a trucker Glen pops up and we find out that he has been arresting the girls working the lonely highway. I mean there is a killer out there and these girls are their victims, they are struggling to make ends meet and have been forced into this kind of work and Glen instead of focussing on catching the killer is arresting them, yup I agree with Betty, girl should’ve stabbed him harder. We also learn that Betty apparently quit the FBI and did I miss that because I don’t remember her quitting? I remember Glen took over the case and moved it out of Riverdale but I don’t remember her quitting altogether. But anyway Glen then takes her badge and gun which I guess is fair if she has quit and isn’t an agent anymore but at least Betty is actually trying to catch the killer unlike Glen who is clearly not. Watch it turn out to be him that is the truck killer, go on Riverdale I dare you. Despite being warned off by Glen Betty and Tabitha are still determined to put a stop to the murders and so decide to hold a coyote ugly night. I actually thought this was a really clever way of getting information and creating a database. In order to get entry to the venue all truckers have to show their ID and give their licence registration.  am a big supporter of characters acting smart so I did like that plan. Also I love the coyote ugly movie (don’t judge me) so extra win there. I also like that the plan did incorporate alot of the characters. One thing I have been enjoying this season is that they are mixing up who is interacting with who. You had Alice working the bar, the girls dancing to keep the truckers entertained whilst Reggie and Kev searched the vans. Though I do have a question when they find the blood in the back of the truck and Betty says her and Reggie and Kevin are with the FBI where did they get those FBI jackets from? Are they just easy to come by like part of a Halloween costume or something? There is another thing that I thought was funny and that was that Betty makes it clear that no one is to go off alone with a trucker and yet at the end of the episode she does exactly that and it just so happens to be the killer who comes at her with a chainsaw of all things which was a little ott in my opinion but this is Riverdale so I suppose what was I suspecting. But at least Betty manages to capture him and she does the sensible thing and turns him over to the proper authorities, or no wait what was I thinking of course she doesn’t this is Riverdale so she’s just going to question him herself. Come one you all know it wouldn’t be as entertaining if she just handed him over to the FBI. 

Veronica and Reggie

I really liked the storyline of Veggie working together in season 3 so I was really happy to see them working together again and I really enjoyed their scenes. I just think they work really well as a team. They also come up with a really great idea for getting investors whilst also getting one up on old Hiram. Obviously Reggie knows alot about what is going on with Soldale and knows that houses will never be built there. So they phone Hiram’s investors and tell them this little rumour that Soldale is a bad investment and convinces them to invest with them instead. This was actually another smart move by the characters so again I support it. And anything that ruins Hiram’s day is a win to me. 

Cheryl and Kevin

Kevin after a little encouragement from Cheryl after she finds him cruising again decides to talk it out with Fangs but unfortunately for him and the viewers we fins out that Kangs ahs moved on...with Moose? I mean I feel for Kev its also upsetting to find out your ex has moved on I imagine it is even worse when your ex has moved on with your other ex. Kevin then also has a bit of a inner crisis when he receives a teacher of the year award and realises that this is not at all where he was expecting his life to be. He had dreamed of being in new york, writing and directing instead he is still in Riverdale and he’s still cruising and unlucky in love. Cheryl’s solution to all of Kevin’s problems is to invite him to join her cult, sorry ministry. At first Kevin is reluctant and not really interested but is finally brought around with the temptation of a musical number. So yup Kevin has joined Cheryl as a believer. Now I am going to surprise myself here and say I am actually interested to see where they take this and where this story with Cheryl and Kevin goes because from the promo pics and what not it looks like they are going to be taking over as leaders of the ministry. I don’t think this is at all a healthy copying mechanism for either of them though and I hope they do get actual real help soonish.   

5x14

This was a weird episode and was kind of told in the style of the night gallery show episodes where Cheryl invites Minerva over and shows her three paintings and then tells her the story behind each. So again I am going to split this part in the three storylines we get told. 

Archie

The first one is a painting of Archie as a miner, the portrait itself hilariously did remind me of the cover of a bad romance novel but the story itself wasn’t too bad actually I think out of the three I found his the most interesting. It does give us some more information about the shows plot for this season, pardon about one of this seasons plots. Cheryl has finally discovered that their is palladium under her maple groves and has the genius idea of digging it up before Hiram does. Like seriously why didn’t anyone think of this earlier? I mean it also ties into that long forgotten plot from the beginning of the series that Cheryl is indebt after spending seven years renovating her home. I am assuming she wants the palladium to cover those debts. So naturally she hires Archie and his construction crew to mine it for her because everyone knows that construction and mining are basically the same thing right? Though I did think it was really funny when Cheryl pointed out that Archie so far has been teacher, coach, fireman and bounty hunter. At least the show is aware of its own ridiculousness. So Archie and the boys decide to mine for the Palladium but whilst down there Archie has more hallucinations about Bingo. We also see Archie in therapy and we find out that Eric is also getting help and this actually does seem to be helping Eric which is good. Whilst initially it looks like things are improving for Archie he then gets a really bad reaction when down in the mines and becomes very paranoid which results in him storming into the therapists office and behaving very erratically accusing her of drugging him and working against her which clearly frightens her. When everyone else in the mines also then starts hallucinating Frank realises that there is carbon monoxide down there and that is what is causing the visions and for everyone to start acting aggressively. Surprisingly this is actually an accurate representation of what can happen with high exposure to carbon monoxide and we do love us some accuracy. However it does lead to one of the most frustrating scenes in the episode when Archie goes back to the therapist and begs her not to cut him lose explaining about the carbon monoxide and about how he is now seeing not just Bingo but all the men he lost. The therapist tells Archie that she is afraid to be around him and that if he is having hallucinations to that level that she doesn’t think he is safe to be around anyone. Like what kind of therapist is this. This is not what a therapist would do. If she was afraid to be alone with him then refer him to another therapist and if you are worried he’s a danger to others than admit him to a psychiatric hospital where he can safely get help. This therapist just kind of washed her hands of it and said not my problem. But this has left me feeling really worried about Archie and I do feel like he might end up going really dark and spiralling.

I do think that the gas could actually be leaking into the town from the mines though. I was thinking about it when watching the episodes  but alot of the characters are having hallucinations and visions of some kind and at first it seems like it is related to that characters trauma but now I am starting to wonder if it is actually because of the gas. It could also explain the Mothmen hallucinations too. Speaking of the Mothmen they got a mention in this episode that made me happy. When taking a lunch break Fangs tells the story about how some of the truckers used to be miners and they tell stories about humanoid cannibalistic creatures that lived underground. Why does this make me happy you may ask well because I have been predicted since the beginning of the season that at some point all the the storylines will converge and I am hoping that come the end of the season we will get a big team up with all the characters. Previously we have had Betty’s storyline with the highway killer being linked to Jughead’s storyline of the mothmen and now we’ve just had the link between Archie’s storyline and Betty and Jughead’s. Which means I am one step closer to my big team up.    

Jughead

So Jughead’s storyline was my least favourite out the three. We have finally learned the truth, the big mystery of what happened to Jughead that caused him to lose three days of his life. He was in a hole. Yup that’s it he just fell in a hole, got rabies and then hallucinated a rat king. Underwhelming is the best way I can describe what I thought of that. There were so many great theories out there on what could have happened that caused Jughead to have this trauma so bad that he literally mentally blocked it out and what we got instead was just that he got upset that Betty, who he broke up with five years ago, didn’t come to his book launch so he got drunk and fell into the sewers. I kind of feel like with them bringing back the voicemail, with him saying betty was the one that lead him out of the dark, that they are kind of making it all Betty’s fault, like she is the reason for his trauma and all his problems and if she just pays him some attention it’ll all be magically fixed and almost like its her responsibility to save him and I am not sure I like that. Don’t get me wrong I am not saying that your girlfriend cheating on you with your best friend wouldn’t do a number on you, but it is all about Betty when Archie betrayed him too. Like where is Jughead being cut up about the fact that Archie who was like a brother to him kissed his girlfriend? I don’t know maybe its just me but I am finding it a little one sided. I also think it shows how unhealthy his relationship with betty has become. I think if it gets to the point where you can’t function without a person then that’s not good and that’s not healthy and again maybe it is just me but I don’t see that as romantic which I am not sure if they are trying to play it off that way or not. I did feel really bad for Juggie though when he talks about how even though he disappeared into the dark for three days no one missed him and that he felt really alone. I do think maybe that’s more where his trauma comes from and I kind of wish the writers had developed that more rather than having it again be solely about Betty. Like if we had seen him reaching out to several people and inviting them to his book launch, like a text to his dad, a phone call to his sister or mum, reaching out to Archie or Veronica and then all of them making excuses about how they are busy and can’t come. Then have him invite betty and her say yes at first and you see him relieved because he has someone coming. Then have her cancel and him spiral. I just think it would have had a bigger impact. Instead, and maybe this is a bit harsh, but it came off as him just being some drunk who can’t get over his ex ad kind of like with Veronica I kind of feel like the writers are making the characters unlikeable. And to make it clear my problem here is with the writing not the actual characters themselves but to me they’ve at times made veronica seem unlikeable like when she sleeps with Chad, Jughead with the voicemail to Betty, Betty with her not seeming to care at all about Jughead, Archie with him sleeping with Betty and then after stopping that getting right with Veronica the next day. I don’t know if its just that they are trying to keep the core four separate for some reason? But it just seems a bit off, I know I said I wanted more varying interactions between the characters but I didn’t mean at the expense of the core four relationships. But maybe they are trying to show how it can take time to reconnect with old friends when you’ve been away from each other for a long time? 

Anyway back to Jughead the other thing that was a little bit annoying for me was that the timeline was a little confusing. When Jughead is telling the story it seems like it all happened in like a year but its not its spread out over the seven years he was gone. We know that the voicemail was 2 years ago so putting it at five years into the time jump and that was the night he fell into the sinkhole. But in the story it seems like its only a few days later that Archie called when actually it would have been two years after Juggie fell in a deep dark hole. But then I suppose a confusing timeline is peak Riverdale so. But yeah I did find it made his story a bit confusing which was frustrating. 

However Jughead does seem a bit more optimistic come the end of his story and I think hopefully things are going to start getting better for him I hope he does get some support from his friends though like Tabitha and Archie, I also hope he clears the air with Betty. Just so he isn’t feeling so isolated and alone.  

Betty

So the last story is Betty trying to find out where Polly is from the trucker serial killer that she has chained up in her shop class at high school. Again not much to say about this. I thought it was smart to use Alice as a way to emotionally manipulate the killer and to make Polly seem human to him so he’ll tell them where she is. This does backfire however and we end up with that ridiculous scene where Alice tells Betty then as her mother she is giving her permission to kill him. Alice honey I’m not sure but my mum said it was ok is going to hold up too well in a court of law. Betty decided instead to see if she can scare him into telling her the truth. So she threatens him with some pretty dark stuff, saying she will cut off his feet, then his legs and the knees then the groin. Then his wrists and that he might have a heart attack at that point, but that she reckons he is stronger than that and that she has some tricks up her sleeve. Which is really dark betty really dark. Then when she is collecting a chainsaw she ahs a flashback and we find out that this is what TBK said to her which somehow makes it even scarier and worse, I really need Betty to talk to someone about this asap because just like I am with Archie, I am worried about where she is heading. We never find out whether she was actually going to go through with cutting up the trucker because when she gets back he has bitten off his own tongue and swallowed it so he would choke. Betty does figure out though that they are dealing with a family of killers who are hunting their victims.   

Phew ok so that is all of the episodes that I missed. I know I complained alot in this review so apologies for that. To end on a positive note I am very excited for the next episode as we are going to be getting the pussycats back so I am hoping for a good episode.    

#riverdale #riverdale spoilers #Riverdale Review #anti varchie #anti bughead #just in case

[thejosh1980]

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...

We've sure had a few changes here at The Ocean Shores Resort. It's been a full on month since I last wrote... Through the good, the bad, and the ugly, we've been keeping positive, enjoying the cooler days. Damn summer is hot and long here!!!

The past few months have all been about learning to deal with life's unexpected roadblocks and detours.

There's a lot to tell, but I think the main thing is, at least for me, that I've been a student for the first time the late 1990's. I've spent the past 4 weeks in class, learning, studying, researching, getting to know my classmates and finding all of it challenging, stimulating and exciting.

Studying counseling has been surprisingly awesome for my mental health too. I mean, I have had some really challenging days, especially when it comes to some of the assessments. The first one, well I just about quit the course over it. I really was at my wit's end. An assessment, I suspect, that was created by some office nut job in a government position, who never taught a day in his life and thinks his open ambiguous questions are making it easier for us to answer. I think the whole class suffered sleepless nights that week!! Terrible, but I chipped away at it, persevered and managed to finish it a few days early. Not only that, I learnt a lot about myself and the situation at hand, as you know I'm all about the process.

I learnt that I have to work slowly and meaningfully at these assessments. I can't expect to finish it in one sitting or even in one weekend. Just starting and having a go, finding the easier parts to get done first, using different resources (I love how I can spend the day watching youtube videos and count that as research) and making sure I take time to focus on me with a little bit of self care.

Alex has been super great too, as I delve into this mysterious world of study and being a student. She listens to me talk about the counseling theory of the day, the one we just did in class and how great it is because I can already apply it to friends, family or, more importantly, myself, only to hear me talk about the next theory the next day, like it's gods gift to therapy. She proof reads all my work, debates theories, offers very good suggestions (not only is she super self aware, but she's studied psychology) and somehow, I don't know how she does it, but she knows when I need a break and encourages me to take it. Otherwise I would be at the books day and night.

I've also learnt a lot in class about myself. Part of that comes from comparing my experiences, beliefs and knowledge with my classmates. They are all really great people from a wide variety of backgrounds. But some, push my buttons ever so gently, and I love it. I love the challenge of figuring out why I react to that person that way. What is it I'm feeling and why?

I am thankful this is not an online course!

I've gotten to know some classmates fairly well, and I am surprised at how they openly offer words of appreciation and support. Like “your voice is really calming” and “your vulnerability and openness is a breath of fresh air”. I always thought my voice sounded pretty crap! (Yes I know I sing, but that still doesn't mean I like the sound of my own voice). Also, I never thought I was actually being vulnerable, I always thought that I was just sharing stuff, my stuff, in the hope we can understand each other better. I may have to stop that now....

Nahhhh, just kidding...

The course is something that is right for me, right now. I don't think my mental state would have been ready 2 to 5 years ago, let alone 10 or even 20 years ago!!

Besides the 2 afternoons being ruined by frustration, anger and hopelessness, due to the above mentioned assessment from hell, it's been a good 4 weeks into the year long course. I look forward to each day in class... I even go to the college on my off days to work in the library instead of working from home. I just get more done, even though Mijo misses my lap!

I don't know where the course will take me, I haven't even thought of what job I want to do once I'm a qualified counselor. I hope that during my time as a student, the course will guide me in the direction best suited for me. Learn my weaknesses, follow my strengths and work with both. It's all too overwhelming to think too far ahead. See, I'm learning...

Right here and now... That's all that matters....

During my first week at college, Alex changed jobs. Arriving in Australia and diving head first into real estate sales 1 hour away from home was a real high jump to begin with! The pressure of the job, not to mention the 2 hours a day traveling time, the weekend work and the small size of the business with undefined job roles made it tough! Real tough!

Alex decided to side step into an admin position in a bigger real estate company closer to home with defined job roles, massive support and a very positive outlook. She basically took up her role she had in New York. She's lovin' it! I am too. She's home each night at the same time, doesn't bring much work home with her, other than stories of her awesome day, which I love to hear. Additionally she now has her weekends free to explore and relax too.

She also found a psychiatrist who confirmed her ADHD diagnosis. Alex was originally diagnosed in her early 20's after her turbulent teenage years. She had therapy and medication back then but after a huge burn out in the US, she came back to Germany and let it all lapse. It has been a real struggle for her to cope, and at times, I'll be honest, it has put strain on our marriage. Well, 1 day after her first doc appointment and her meds had kicked in, she's become a new woman. It's been great to get to know this side of her. While things are not 100% perfect, I now have a wife who looks forward to getting up and attacking the day with gusto.

Mum's had a hard run lately too... We all know that I came back to help support her as her eye sight slowly deteriorates. I've been here to read every label, drive her to every appointment and help her work the wonderful world of her laptop, printer and Windows. Alex has been alongside us for the ride too. There's been a few recent health issues that have cropped up. I can't go into detail, but it's fair to say, I can see it was the right time to come home and be here to support Mum.

Mum is strong willed, strong minded and independent, and little of that will change while she can fight against all the odds throwin' at her. It's been a tough couple of weeks, and mum's kept focused on the bigger picture, her health, it's been inspiring.

Mijo has been through the wars.

The little deaf cat recently celebrated his 6 month birthday, but the poor fella has something seriously going on with his health which means we are delaying any big celebrations until his 1st birthday... Besides ringworm (it's not actually a worm, it's a fungal infection), a tooth that won't grow down (it grows directly forward and needs to be surgically removed), no appetite and losing weight, he's doing fine! The poor lethargic fella sleeps all day, which is kind of normal, except I can't remember the last time he had the energy to chase a toy or even run.

I haven't been taking him out much, he needs rest. We did explore the beaches, rivers and parks nearby together, I hope that in a few months I can pick up where we left off. For now he needs rest, calmness and another trip or two the vet.

Through all these ups and downs, we're all actually quite good.

My deep hole from February/March is just a blimp on the computer screen of my life. Studying has raised a few challenges but I am working my way through them, determined to kick that courses ass and learn, learn, learn... One day I hope I can help others through similar struggles as my own.

Alex's struggles with ADHD are progressing in the right direction now and her new job sure was the right call. Mum is showing the world she can take on whatever is thrown at her, and then some.

Alex and I keep going from strength to strength. I'm blessed with her support, respect and love. One classmates already calls her “the awesome wife”, and they've never met!! I guess when I talk about my wife, I reek of pride and love, as it should be.

Thanks for reading,

The Josh

#mental health #counseler #education #psychology #family #journal

[appleb18]

Star vsThe Forces of Evil Season 4... One Year Later

One year ago, Star vs The Forces of Evil ended its fourth season and it was a disaster. It wasn’t always all that bad, in fact the show was pretty good on it’s first two seasons and bit of season 3 however it's just the final season that ruins it. It didn’t live to people expections and it felt rushed. Now let’s discuss how the show messed up shall we? 

Behind the Failure

Before I talk about the dreadful writing of season 4, I want to talk about behind the scenes of the show's downfall. According to Daron Nefcy Twitter, she tweeted that “Just finished the last episode of Star vs The Forces of Evil” a month before the finale. 

It’s fine if it was an episodic show like Phineas and Ferb, Batman Brave and the Bold and episodic shows but writing an ending for an ongoing story is something you should NEVER do. Writing the ending without a plan is a terrible decision to make, especially past plot points that were established and most of them were left answered. 

 You’ll probably be thinking that they were rushed and while I understand that all plot points can’t be answered like Gravity Falls but they wanted to make the romance their top priority over the story, which I’ll talk about later. Daron actually knew she had four seasons to work with and it makes it so frustrating to hear! 

So now let’s talk about how it all went wrong. 

Character 180

Previously, I used to like most of the cast, they used to be enjoyable characters but in season 4, oh dear they all turned into pricks.  

The onlys characters that didn’t get ruined in the fourth season were

Eclipsa and Globgor 

River Butterfly 

Tom Lucitor 

But everyone else, they all became such unbearable picks like The Magic High Commision. They used to act like decent people, trying to defend Mewni from Ludo/Toffee

And they actually have character, especially Rhombulus growth when he befriends Star. 

But they get character assassinated and become monster haters with no actual reason just like the Mewnimen and they never atone for what they’ve done to the Butterfly family. 

Moon betrayal came out of nowhere and it only lasted like seven minutes then she joins Star and Eclipsa because she didn’t realize Mina and her soldiers are going to commit genocide. Why didn’t she see that coming? They were racist to monsters, did she think they’ll actually spare them? 

Her reason behind is so stupid and that is because she doesn’t trust Eclipsa ruling Mewni but why all the sudden? While it’s true she let her get shot by Meteora but that’s an mother instinct to protect her child. Also she tried to kill her own daughter to protect Star and Mewni. So Moon shouldn’t see her irresponsbile. While she isn’t fit to be ruler, she is trustworthy. What’s worse is she admittedly teams up with them to defeat Mina.  

Then there’s Star and Marco, the two main characters of the show and they became terrible people. All of the development from the previous seasons get thrown out of the window. 

Marco never talked to his parents after he left and barely visits because “he’s too busy” and he didn’t even know he’s gonna get a baby sister. Clearly doesn’t care when Star’s mom goes missing, his ego in the Neverzone and neglecting Nacho’s for a very long time at least 1000 years. Marco breaks up with Kelly for no reason and he knows what’s she going through.

For Star, she acts more of a princess and has responsibilities, having a reason why she can’t go back to Earth but it doesn’t excuse her being a terrible person. She’s irresponsible that she leaves Rhombus and Eclipsa alone despite it’s very clear they want to kill each other, she’s a brat in “Junkin’ Janna”, she’s so rude to Tom when he comes a better person for her, she’s been eyecandy on Marco even though she has a boyfriend and she’s a complete dick in “Cleaved”. I hate the excuse for her acting like a prick because “she’s a teenager, and teenagers are dumb”. What a load of bull 

Losing Focus 

Season 4 has to be the most unforced in the entire show. They present plot points and they barely explore it. They’ll make a comment about it and the show just moves on from it. Mostly showing shipping episodes and filler 

The show introduced that mewmens were originated from Earth but never further explored that. 

Mewni hates monsters but never shows why and how. It just makes them complete dicks throughout season 

They never had a set goal or what’s trying to be. The only thing that made the plot moving was Moon disappearance but it gets resolved in two episodes. 

So the only thing left is Star trying to end racism for season 4. The problem with this is there’s no stakes, if she fails, monsters and mewmens won’t get along and that’s fine because their children on both sides won’t make the same mistake as they did, making it no need to push it.

It would’ve worked better if they showed the Mewni perspective when Eclipsa became ruler. Unfortunately, they display them as unguided children, expecting Moon to do everything for them and complain. Also they hate monsters because they do not like them.  Most of them go live with Moon, making them not accept change nor monsters. They don’t deserve any sympathy, they are just a bunch of idiots who are racist. 

And the thing that made the season so unfocused is the freaking shipping. 

Starco is Terrible 

Remember when it was good back the first two seasons but season 3 and mostly season 4 made it so hard to watch and instead of shipping being a subplot like most shows, they turn it into a main plot. I don’t understand why they have to prioritize shipping over the story. It’s inevitable that Starco will become cannon because that’s what people wanted but it cost to establish ships to be torn down in the most frustrating way.

Kelly and Marco break up with no reason why and it’s off screen.  

Star is a bad girlfriend to Tom, leaving Star crying

Then in a few hours, Star and Marco become a couple. Only a few hours and the resolution was so dang quick. It makes me wonder why they have to stay so long if she loves Marco more than him? 

Star and Marco would rather die together instead of being with their family despite their relationship just starting. It would’ve worked better if Tomstar broke up earlier and Starco become cannon so we can see their relationship more than just a few episodes. There’s really no need to drag it for so long! 

Mina Loveberry isn’t Threatening

Mina Loveberry, the main villain for season 4 and yet didn’t do anything. Unlike Toffee scheming behind the scenes for three seasons, Ludo raising an army of rats and gaining better control of the wand and Meteora powers growing, she didn’t play her role for the whole season. All she did is she rebuilt her battle armor and send poison fruits to Eclipsa, that’s it. The show never showed how dangerous she is 

While sure she can beat Star and Tom but she got oneshoted by Meteora who got defeated by Eclipsa. So she really isn’t that big of a problem to handle. 

In the finale, again she never did anything and she got knocked down by a Corrupted Unicorn, making her not so dangerous like other characters said she was

Seth should’ve been the main villain instead of that crazy lady but unfortunately, they never introduce him even though he’s still alive according to The Book of Spells.  

Cleaved 

So the series finale and I have to say, my god how the show has fallen. This finale is a disaster, it’s way worse than any other cartoon finale such as Adventure Time and Steven Universe Future. 

With no build up, Star has come to a conclusion that she needs to eradicate magic because it’s bad. There weren't any clear signs that magic is truly bad. Star never actually thought about everyone else that is made out of magic or used it for their daily life. The only thing she realized is she won’t be with Marco. Not able to her friends or the many lives she’ll ruin but she won’t see Marco and everyone agrees to destroy the magic. 

So Star and Marco go to the World of Magic to destroy it. As they enter and almost forget who they are, the pudding apparently helps them jog their memory and he’s carrying a lot of them. 

They realized Tom was still at the realm and he’s riding on the Corrupted Horse so Marco will handle it while Star uses the whispering spell to destroy it.

Star gets help destroying magic by Eclipsa, Moon and for some odd reason Meteora can do it too with her butterfly form even though she never went through mewberrity. Then the past queens help them out too

As they were destroying magic, Marco feeds Tom the pudding but gets impaled by the unicorn with dramatic music playing but that got completely scrapped when he goes back to Earth. 

After they successfully destroyed magic, Star and Marco have to go back their worlds but then she decided she wants to abandon everything and everyone so she can be with Marco and he does the same by staying in the realm. They both hug and something happens through the power of love that links between two worlds and again they were a couple for two episodes. 

She goes back to Mewni and sees that she doesn’t have cheek marks anymore. Moon, mewmens and Mina are reformed and no punishments were given.

With magic gone, her and her family just caused the multiverse that relies on magic, face chaos and they will collapse entirely. Although they prevented genocide of the monsters but ultimately cause genocide at a larger scale than Mina’s in the process like all of Star spells, people who are made out of magic and The Magic High Commsions are dead. 

Then two portals for each world exploded and both worlds collide. The writers made it out as if it’s a happy ending but it just causes panic between both worlds and racism towards monsters is now worse than ever but Starco can at least be together. 

Conclusion

I used to like Star vs The Forces of Evil and I thought it would’ve been great but like most shows that disappointed me such as Steven Universe, and Voltron, this show really frustrated me. If the show actually didn’t focus too much on the shipping or made it as a romantic show, it would've been great but they didn’t and the show suffers for that. It’s a dang shame that it has to that route. 

#Star vs The Forces of Evil #svtfoe #Star Butterfly #Marco Diaz #River Butterfly #Eclipsa Butterfly #Moon Butterfly #Rhombulus #Hekapoo #Mina Loveberry #Globgor #Tom Lucitor #Kelly #Starco #Tomstar #Kellco

[sabraeal]

Age of Reason, Part 1

Obiyuki AU Bingo Sleeping Beauty AU

The moon hangs swollen in the night sky, a bloated corpse in the river of the heavens. Fitting for a night like this, for the job he’s about to do.

Salt is thick on the air; a strange taste for a path in the middle of a wood, so tangled and choked with briars that he can hardly pass. As it is, they catch on the wool of his shirt, pulling snags in the pile. He huffs, plucking one from the shoulder seam. By the end of this little excursion, he’ll need a new wardrobe.

His mouth curves. Good. With the mountain of dir he’ll get from this job, he can afford an upgrade.

That is, if he ever gets there. The canopy looms, branches criss-crossing in a messy tangle, blotting out the sun. They said the village was only half a day’s walk, barely an hour over the border but--

That’s the thing about borders in these parts: there’s nothing to mark them.

The brush rattles, soft as a snake’s warning. His feet slide beneath him, supporting his crouch, legs coiled tight to pounce--

“Ah! Hail, traveler!” A man slips out from the bush, his hair a sloppy thatch of mouse brown, a basket perched high on his back. “Not many on these roads, of late!”

He straightens, yanking his boot away from where a briar has latched around its brim. “Can’t imagine why.”

The man smiles at that, but it’s a faint, bitter thing. “Ah yes, well, the plant life is certainly aggressive.”

He frowns down, plucking a bramble off his shoulder. “Can you tell me if it is far to Clarines?”

“Clarines?” His lips part in a friendly flash of teeth. “Why, you’re already there. Or at least close.” He hunches, squinting into the undergrowth. “There should be a marker, oh-- ah! There!”

There-- a small statue, nearly swallowed by the forest, shoulder-high. He steps toward it, gloved hand pushing aside the briars.

“What’s this?” He tilts his head. “An angel?”

“To guide us,” the man says, hushed. “Or guard us. I hardly know any longer.”

He lets out a bark of a laugh. “I thought the Clarinese were above superstition.”

The stranger’s smile wears thin. “So did we.”

The man next to him is large, tall and wide as a mountain, dwarfing the stool he sits on. Still, there’s something delicate about him, almost hesitant, holding this breath like he’s taking a plunge off the world’s edge.

“There’s a place,” the man says, his voice a deep rumble, like the way rocks move beneath the mantle of the earth. “In Clarines, just over the border. A manor.”

He leans in, on the hook. A manor means money, whether the people in it are alive or not. “Clarines? I thought they didn’t brook with the supernatural anymore. They’re--” he pauses, for dramatic effect-- “enlightened.”

The man’s mouth rucks into a smirk. “That they are.”

“And you’re telling me this manor is cursed,” he asks, dubious. “In this great land of reason.”

There’s gravel in this man’s laugh, the sorta of rasp that only comes from experience. “A man’s only reasonable if he believes what he sees with his two eyes.”

“And you’ve seen this?” he presses. “A cursed manor right in Clarines?”

“I have.” His teeth flash in the tavern’s dim. “And if you have any sense, you’ll see it too.”

“Where are you headed?” The man bobs along beside him, the mousy haystack of his hair ruffling in the breeze. “Down on to Wistal? I hear it’s nice this time of year. Prince just had a baby too, I heard. Holding a big party just to name the thing.”

He sighs. Clarines might be a land of reason, but they still clung to their royals. “No.”

“Eurikenna isn’t half bad either, if you don’t mind sticking to your own skin,” the man offers amiably. “They’ve got a festival of their own going on, least so they’re saying.”

He knows persistence when he sees it; this man has no intention of letting him walk in companionable silence. “I’m headed to Laxdo. Just across the border.”

The man’s brows hike to his hairline. “That so?” He lets out a huff of a laugh. “Seems as though we’re headed the same way. The name’s Shuuka.”

“Ah.” His mind whirs. “You can call me Kage.”

“Well, Kage--” he hitches the basket higher on his back-- “what brings you out to Laxdo?”

The gate, in theory, shouldn’t be a problem. Those royals like to make them high, make them spiked, make them out of wrought iron to keep the riff-raff out. He’s no stranger to being kept on the outside.

Boosting over a fence is no trouble, no matter how high they make it. But the briars, well-- those are a problem.

It’s the first part of his night to disappoint his expectations, but oh, it’s far from the last.

“Business.” His hands flex at his side, even as he smiles. “And maybe some pleasure.”

Shuuka’s smile stiffens. “Ah, well, there’s not much of either in Laxdo. Though if you’ve got something to trade, there’s always a few itching to buy.”

The man gives his pack a cursory look, but he assures him, “I’m no merchant.”

“Huh.” Shuuka’s mouth purses, thoughtful. “What else might bring you out this way?”

“KUREI!” A band of men raises their tankards as they catch sight of him in the corner, cheeks ruddy with drink. “The savior of Oberwald! You have a drink?”

He raises his own stein, nearly empty, but they’re all too far into their own to notice. With a raucous cheer, they turn back to the bar, wheedling for another pint.

Good. Now when they remembered that name, they would talk of the man who drank drink-for-drink with them, who told them just what they wanted to hear. He wouldn’t, of course-- but this night would be a blur to them, and a conversation with the man of the hour would be a lie that was safe to make. After all, he wouldn’t be around to gainsay them.

The big man is steady as he pours, the bottle comically small in his meaty hand. “Ah, so that’s what you have them call you.”

He watches his cup fill with dismay, smile plastered onto his lips. Now this-- this wouldn’t do. He could drink any of village men under the table, but this stranger--

Well, he knows when he’d be beat. “All the villages between here and Altenrode.”

“Quite a ways,” the giants says, shifting on his stool. “Thought I recognized the name they were shouting when I came in.”

“Many a tavern lifts a glass to me.” And he’s sure more than a few toast his eventual demise too. “But about this manor...”

The man’s mouth slides into a dangerous curve. “Ah, right, the cursed manor. Used to be a royal residence, you know. One of the ones built by the old king.”

A king’s manor. All the more promising. “Never heard of it.”

“You wouldn’t,” he agrees, “it was barely been finished before he died. The prince took up with it though. Kept a mistress of his there.”

He’d never much cared for Clarines-- too learned, and too suspicious in all the wrong ways-- but he did know something of their royals. At least, the younger ones. “The prince?”

“The same.”

His finger taps at the tables. “But none of this explains the curse.”

The man’s mouth splits wide, teeth flashing white in the dim. “Why do you think you’ve never heard of it?”

“I heard a rumor,” he says, casual, “that there’s a manor in Laxdo that used to belong to the royal family.”

Shuuka’s step stutters beside his. “Still does,” he manages after a moment. “On paper.”

Ah, now that was promising. “So it’s true.” He slants a sly look at him. “It was abandoned.”

A blunt-fingered hand ruffles through his mop of hair, anxiety entrenched at the corners of his eyes. “That it was.”

“The prince’s mistress used to live there, did she?” He doesn’t need to wait for Shuuka’s answer, it’s writ across his face. “Some say she still does.”

It’s silent for a moment, only the crunch of their shoes on the path to fill it, until Shuuka croaks, “Who says that?”

“So you mean this is a ghost situation.” He takes a quick sip of his ale and wishes he had more. “A haunting. Maybe a poltergeist.”

“No.” The man’s smile grows thin. “She’s alive, by all accounts.”

Alive. Now that’s a different sort of request. “I’ll admit you’ve got me intrigued, mister, but I exorcise spirits, not ex-mistresses.”

His mouth twists wryly. “Is that what you call it, then?”

“It is.” He settles back into his chair, balancing some of his weight on his toes. His knives dig comfortingly into the arch of his back. “I may make a name for myself for ridding folk of unwelcome guests, but those are the ones who have lingered, and need to pass on. By all accounts, a living mistress, well--” he winks-- “she’s done her job, and I’m not the sort to pry her from her hard-earned reward.”

The man shifts, the light of the lamps skittering over the hard planes of his face, and he grins. “Glad to hear it.”

Ever so slowly, he slides his feet down, so his soles touch the floor. “Still think I should go see this manor?”

“More than ever,” the man admits, and in the light, he swears he can see red glittering among the gray of his hair. “You see, this mistress, she’s not dead--” he hesitates, lingering at the edge of another drop-- “she’s asleep.”

Shuuka lets out a long string of air. “Wouldn’t think they’d talk about all that, even out in Tanbarun.”

“Ah, you know how it is.” He shrugs. “They love a good story. Even better if there’s a pretty girl with a curse.”

Shuuka grunts, casting him a measuring look. “And that’s what brought you here?”

He grins. “Who could resist?

The man shifts next to him, hesitant. “Just what was it that you do again, Kage?”

The brambles wrap tight around the bars, thorns as sharp and thin as needles. He places a hand over it, and-- ah, yes, that’s not smart. Not gonna be able to climb that way.

Not that he has many other options. Forewarned is forearmed, and someone hadn’t seen the need to tell him about the thicket of thorns tangled around the only entrance. Besides what could hang off his belt-- a few of his finer tools and a couple of his favorite knives, and a handful of nuts for good measure-- he’s shown up empty handed to a pruning party.

Still, if she had gotten in, he could too. He’d just have to get creative about it.

He stares down at his hands, leather giving a soft squinch as he flexes them. His teeth clench at the feel of padding against his palm.

Or he might just have to do this the old fashioned way.

His mouth hooks into a smirk. “I didn’t say.”

Shuuka’s eyes narrow. “Is that how you got that bruise on your cheek?”

The salt is rough against his palms, stinging where cuts haven’t yet become calluses. This hasn’t been the easy job he signed up for, but-- it’s fine. All this ends tonight.

He cranes his neck, squinting at the fattening moon in the sky. It’s not as full as he wants it, but that’s par for the course on this misadventure. It’ll do.

Stretching out a toe, he scratches a circle in the dirt. This isn’t how he likes to do this-- most villages have at least cobbled stones at its center, some sort of central pavilion around the town well, but-- not here.

He grimaces, pouring the sand into the trench he’s made. His payment here is more likely to be greens than guilder, but-- he knows better than to turn his nose up at a good meal. Not when he knows there’s no guarantee of his next.

“Kurei,” the mayor hisses from his doorstep, not daring to take a single step from its frame. “Are you sure--?”

“Stand back!” he warns, holding out his hands. Outstretched, they just fit inside the circle. “When I call the curse’s spirit, it will be violent! It longs for a life, and if any living being stands in this square besides myself, they risk becoming its next host!”

The townsfolk murmur worriedly at their doors, and one by one they close, even as shutters peep open. Eyes peer curiously out from slender cracks, all of them fixed on him. As they should be.

“I shall now call out the incantation.” He raises his arms, hands grasping beseechingly at the moon. “Protect me now, O Mysterious Maiden, for I call forth a power both vengeful and unknowable!” He takes a breath, and projects the words, “Veni! Vidi! Vici!”

For a long moment, there is only silence. He glances at sky, frowning as a cloud leisurely passes.

He clears his throat. “Veni. Vidi. Vici!”

A wind picks up, sudden and urgent, blowing at the salt in his circle, and pricking at his hair, but--

The moon shines down, unimpeded, and the circle around him softly begins to glow. Perfect.

A grunt saws from the rooftops, followed by a savage snort and a dangerous growl. He turns, a moment too late--

And catches a beastly elbow to the face.

His lips part in a grin. “Well now,” he drawls, casting his companion a sly look. “If you want to hear about that, you’ll have to buy me a drink.”

#obiyukibingo2020 #obiyuki #akagami no shirayukihime #snow white with the red hair #sleeping beauty AU #my fic #age of reason #this is supposed to at LEAST have a second part #but it didn't make sense to keep it all one chapter #since the frame shifts #and this was enough to get me through bingo #MORE LATER i guess #but enjoy the idea of obi as a supernatural monster hunter #OR IS HE? #>:3

[sonickedtrowel]

1, 2, 4, 10, 20!!

Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

Oh boy so I’m sure I must have mentioned it at some point but I won’t turn down a chance to ramble about it again: me and @regalpotato​ are working on a Day of the Doctor rewrite and I’m pretty psyched about it!  Basically, Eight is there rather than War (although War does make an appearance!) and also River is there, because Duh, and there are other Things going on that are different from the episode/novel, but that’s spoilers and also still partially cooking in my brain, lol.  It’s at 11k-ish right now but still pretty early in the story, too early to probably say what I will love most.  But I’m having a ton of fun with it, especially the dialogue, and currently torturing Ten in every way I can think of.  You know, lovingly torturing.  For the most part.

That is the really big thing I’m excited about, but I do still have two prompts left from a couple weeks back (I didn’t forget you, anons!) and those are milling around in my head too waiting for inspiration to strike. 2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

No secret that I love writing multi-Doctor / River stories, and in fact having somewhat recently finished an 8 and 11 / River fic I will have to be on my toes to not repeat myself too much haha.  But I just love getting everyone together and letting them yell at each other for a while - the best honestly - and then later we get Revealing Conversations about Feelings, as well as POV changing chapters.  Not to overhype it but!  I think it’s gonna be fun! Putting the rest under a cut because I am long-winded lol.

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

Hmmm I’ll pick something I like from the WIP that’s all my writing - this is from Night of the Doctor with Eight and Ohila, but it’s diverged from the original script here and iirc pretty much all new dialogue for Eight.  I don’t normally write this sort of Doctor speech because I’m usually doing romance, but I can hear Paul McGann righteously shouting/soliloquizing in my head so I’m pretty happy with it: *** “What would you have me do?” the Doctor hissed.  “What does your broken prophecy foretell?  That I become one more loyal soldier in Gallifrey’s glorious army?  I can join this fight and take a thousand lives, die a thousand deaths, and this war will still go on.  The universe doesn’t need another soldier!” “Not a soldier,” said the Sister, “a warrior, with the power you’ve refused to wield.  You could have destroyed the Daleks before they were even created.” “Yes, I could have done.  And I didn’t, because I have no right!  Whatever it is you think you can turn me into, Sister, you’ll continue to be disappointed.  Because there’s one person who is always needed in a war: a good doctor, willing to help whomever they can.  No matter if they’re despised, or called traitor— no matter who they lose or how many times they fail!  There will always be more lives to save, and I’ll be there, helping, wherever I can.  I only hope I’m strong enough to carry on doing it half as well as another doctor I knew.” ***

(Yes of course we have Liv Chenka references!) 10. How would you describe your writing process? It takes me forever to get ideas, but once I have a sort of general amorphous direction for the story and an emotional starting point for the characters, I just jump in.  And then I keep getting shower thoughts about more and more stuff happening and what was supposed to just be some fun fluff starts growing a plot and getting wildly out of hand and this is just my life.  I am very much not in control. 20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?) Ohhhh this is such a good question!  Definitely going with There is a love I reminisce because there’s a lot going on under the surface in that fic and not all of it stated super explicitly.  So um, huge spoilers below if you haven’t read it!

Manhattan and Trenzalore (both times) are essentially retconned, through a combination of River’s innate abilities and Eleven going around the timeline trying to do better after being confronted with his shortcomings in TNOTD.  How the Doctor survived Utah is explained and it’s not because he was in a stupid robot.  It spawns an implied post-Library reunion with River, Eleven and the Doctor’s oft-referenced and never quantified or named children from Gallifrey.  It implies a different resolution to the Hybrid thing and an alternate series 10.  And of course it uses BF’s far-superior Ravenous 4 plot twist to preemptively annihilate the timeless children crap, and a combination of Ravenous 4 and Doom Coalition 4 to make River basically a time goddess.  But maybe my favorite thing was giving life to this headcanon of mine.  IT CANNOT BE REFUTED!  They’ve never said ANYTHING specific about his family so it’s free real estate baby!

*** “Yes, sorry to harp on about this, honey, but I think we can discuss the regeneration semantics later,” River cut in.  “You’re saying I came back from your future to your distant past and just… stayed?”

“Well… yes, I think so.  There were certain things we couldn’t discuss.  I had always just assumed that I’d reached the end of my last regeneration and you weren’t too pleased with that, so…  You know, describing it now, it does seem very irresponsible.  But I don’t recall having any complaints.”

“No, I shouldn’t think you would.”  River smiled, but her mind was racing.  “How would that even work?  Eventually, we’d come back round to when we first met on your end, and what, I wipe myself out of your memories?  Selectively, for your entire lifetime?  I think you might notice a little thing like that.”

“I suppose you must have had a plan for it, but I can’t remember it now.  I just remember the two of us, together through the centuries.” He smiled fondly and River felt like the ache in her chest would strangle her.  “I remember our family.”

“Our what?” she cried, as the older Doctor had a sudden choking fit.

“Our family.  Our children and…”  Dread slowly dawned on the young Doctor’s sweet face.  “Oh, please, no,” he whispered.  “Don’t tell me they’re…  No, this happened! It happened in both versions of my memories!”  He looked to his older self, panic-stricken.  “Tell me you remember!”

“You had a family,” River soothed, as Babyface stumbled over his own tongue.  “It just wasn’t with me.”

“What?” he laughed incredulously.  “Who else would it be?”

“Your first wife, sweetie.  I’m your second.  Well, the second one that counts.”

“No, that’s— I’m sorry, that’s nonsense.”  He turned to the older Doctor again. “You can’t tell her, is that it?  Because she hasn’t done it yet?  I’m sorry, River, maybe I shouldn’t have—”

“No!” Babyface shouted, finally collecting himself.  “Yes, we— I had a family, on Gallifrey, before I ever left.  River wasn’t there, obviously, because that’s not how anything works!”

“Who, then?” the young Doctor demanded.  “Who was your first wife?”

“I— I— she was—”  He opened and closed his mouth silently, looking increasingly horrified.

“You don’t like to talk about it,” River explained.  “She passed away.”

“Yes, but just between me and myself,” the young Doctor pressed on with an utter absence of tact that made it easier than ever to see this was the same man before her, “who was she?  And your children, what were their names?”

River hesitated, watching as the older Doctor wrestled with himself.  These were details not even she had ever asked him for.  She knew the general outline, of course, and that was enough.  It was a hurt so deep and so impossibly ancient, she couldn’t truly imagine how distant it must be for him now.  No sense in forcing him to open that door and dwell on it again.

“I, I don’t,” he finally muttered, looking almost fearful, “I don’t talk about it.  I don’t think about it.”

“You’ve forgotten them,” the young Doctor said, voice low and furious.  “How could you?”

“S-Susan,” Babyface stammered, wide-eyed.  “I left Gallifrey with Susan.”

A relieved smile flashed across the young Doctor’s face.  “And where did you suppose she came from?”

“No, she… I don’t…”  Chair legs scraped abruptly across the tile as the older Doctor bolted up from his seat, white-faced, and stumbled back from the table.

“Doctor?”  River stood, her hearts racing.  

His eyes met hers for a split second, the strange terror in them sending a chill through her, and then he was gone like a shot.  

“Doctor!”  She made to chase after him, but his younger version was still clasping her hand.

“He’ll be fine,” he reassured her.  “He’s just working it out.”

“Working it out?” she repeated, too stunned to reach out and grasp for the obvious.  She turned to him in a daze.  He smiled, and for a fleeting moment she fancied she could see the long contentment of a life she’d never dared dream of, etched in each little line on his older, younger face.

“I told you, River.”  He laid his other hand over hers, warm and steady.  “It was always you.”   ***

#thank you so much for these they were great questions!! #i need to like shut up though these are such long answers lollllll #amillionmillionvoices

[jaehyunhour]

all i wanted | part seven

best friends to lovers!mark mini series.

summary: in which an awful breakup brings you and mark closer than ever before. and you fall in love. or maybe you’ve always been in love and never realized.

pairing: mark x fem reader. (special appearances from day6′s young k, stray kids’s hyunjin, chungha, and other nct members!)

word count: 1,585 words.

previous | next || au masterlist

tag list: @catkastrophe​ (if you want to be on a tag list for this fic, please send me an ask!)

“did you ever think this would happen?” y/n asks, slipping her fingers to fit between mark’s. she looks up at him as they walk next to the han river. mark holds a picnic basket in his other hand and looks for a good spot for the two of them to sit and enjoy the food they prepared.

mark thinks for a second before responding, “no.”

“that’s it? i don’t even get any elaboration or anything?” she teases.

“baby, the entire time i’ve known and been in love with you, i never thought that one day i would actually be able to hold your hand and call you mine. i thought i would be stuck seeing you with brian for the rest of my life and just be heartbroken.”

“ugh,” she groans. “don’t even say his name— how bout over there?” she points towards an empty spot away from all of the other people who had the same idea as mark and decided to visit the han river. they maneuver their way over there and begin to eat, sitting in silence enjoying their meals, and stealing kisses here and there.

“mark, why didn’t you confess to me earlier?” y/n asks, after having finished the food mark ate for her. she was always a fast eater, having to wait for everyone else to finish eating when she was already done.

“what’s with all the questions today? i feel like i’m being interrogated, do i need a lawyer?” mark says, mouth full of kimbap.

“i’m just trying to make sense of everything,” she explains. “you knew you were in love with me a few weeks after we became friends, and now we’ve been friends for years, but you never said anything. i was single for months between then and brian coming into my life.”

“i didn’t want to ruin anything you may have had going on,” mark says.

“i don’t believe that.”

“ummm, i didn’t want to ruin our friendship?”

“is that your answer a question?”

“both?”

“maaark, c’mon,” she pleads.

he sighs. “i was genuinely just afraid that you would reject me, alright? i would have rather kept you in my life and secretly been in love with you forever, than tell you and risk you never speaking to me again.”

“babyyy, you know i would never ever do that,” she says, pinching his cheek.

“but i don’t know that! or rather, i didn’t. i’ve seen other boys you were friends with confess to you while you were dating brian and you haven’t spoken to any of them since then.”

“yeah, but they’re not you, mark. you’re my best friend. i could never be without you.” she can tell mark’s mood has changed, and she leans over and presses a kiss to his lips that he doesn’t return, food still in his mouth. “i’m sorry for bringing it up, baby. i know it must’ve hurt for you to keep your feelings hidden for so long, but you have me now okay? there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. you and me forever, baby.”

“are you sure about forever? i’m still kinda thinking i’ll get rid of you in a few weeks,” mark jokes.

her hand that was previously stroking his cheek moves to his ear and gives it a quick tug, “not funny, mark!”

“owowow, that hurts!” his hand shoots up and rubs at his ear, trying to ease the pain. “you’re mean!”

“no, you!” she sticks her tongue out at him. he swallows his food and begins to laugh at her.

“i love you,” he says, leaning in and giving her a kiss. he pulls back before she can deepen it.

“do you think we have time to—y’know? before we have to go hyunjin’s?” she asks, pressing a kiss on his neck.

mark’s eyes flutter closed and he stifles a groan. “um, if we leave now, we might have some time,” he sighs. before he can get lost in the feeling of her lips traveling on his neck, she pulls back and stands up.

“alright, let’s pack up then, let’s go!”

they still arrive to hyunjin’s about 20 minutes late, wearing different clothing than what they wore on their date and both bare-faced. they still haven’t explicitly told chungha and hyunjin they’re dating, hoping to keep the secret to themselves for just a little longer. when they walk in, hyunjin groans at both of their appearances.

“did you guys bone before you got here or something? you’re late,” he says. mark blushes and y’n is quick to respond.

“psh, no, we just had to shower and get comfy because i’m spending the night at mark’s after movie night,” y/n says.

“uh-huh,” chungha responds, not entirely convinced.

“what’s the movie for today?” hyunjin asks, handing mark the control to the tv.

“uncut gems,” mark says, searching for it on netflix. “y/n read some reviews on it and it’s supposed to be mad good, apparently adam sandler does great in it.”

“well, if y/n says it’s good, then it probably is. her recommendations have never failed us,” chungha responds.

“and i don’t think today will be the day i fail you,” y/n says with a big smile.

mark and y/n make themselves comfortable on one side of the couch, while chungha and hyunjin sit on the other side of the couch. they hold hands, while y/n rests her head on his shoulder, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary. they’ve always been very affectionate with each other. it’s not until mark is too lazy to grab a snack off the coffee table in front of them that they out themselves.

“baby,” mark starts. “can you hand me a bag of chips?”

without processing, y/n leans over to grab it and freezes just before her hand grabs the bag.

“what, are you oka—“ mark starts, but is quickly interrupted.

“baby?” hyunjin asks. “that’s new.”

“shit,” mark says under his breath.

“oh my god, you guys are dating,” chungha says. “please tell me you guys are dating.”

“so what if we are?” y/n asks.

“i. knew. it.” chungha stands up and does a victory dance. “hyunjin, you owe me 50 bucks! i told you they were dating!”

“what the— how did you know?” mark asks, confusion etched on his face. y/n is just as confused.

“it’s soooo obvious,” chungha starts. “the vibes have just been different lately. tell us EVERYTHING, right now!”

“the movie is still playing! this is a good movie!” y/n protests, half because she wants to finish the movie and half because she doesn’t know if she’s ready for the emotional toll having to tell the entire story will take.

“fine, but once it’s done, you’re telling us everything,” hyunjin says, rewinding a few minutes.

and they finish the movie. and as requested, once it’s over, y/n tells them the entire story. the first time she caught brian with sooyoung (and hyunjin is pissed to know his ex ruined her relationship, but happy it brought her together with mark), when she got back together with brian, mark’s angry confession over facetime and the time they didn’t speak, the second time she caught him with sooyoung and left, when her and mark finally got together, and their life since then.

“you mean to tell me you and mark have been dating for almost a month now and this is the first time you’re telling us? some friends you are!” hyunjin says.

“HEY, you guys had a bet going on whether or not we were dating!” mark responds.

there’s a beat of silence. “you got me there,” he says in response.

“damn, that’s insane,” chungha says. “i never thought i would finally see the day you guys actually got together. damn. so now what, are you guys moving in together or what?”

“woah, slow down, we just got together,” y/n says, with a giggle.

“oh come ONNN,” hyunjin says. “you guys were practically already living together even when you were dating brian, and you’re totally meant to be.”

“ah, i know, i know, i’m just kidding,” y/n says, turning to look at mark and setting a hand on his thigh. she gives him a little squeeze and locks eyes with him, memorizing the stars in his eyes as if it would be the last time she would look at them, even though she knew she would see them for the rest of her life. “my lease is over in two months and then i can move in,” she says, turning to look back at her friends.

“please don’t get pregnant before we graduate, i don’t think i’m ready to be an imo yet.” chungha says.

“speak for yourself,” responds hyunjin, elbowing her side. “i’m so ready to be an uncle, jinnie samchoon just has a nice ring to it.”

“no one is going to be a samchoon or an imo just yet, i’m on birth control until 2025 at the very least.” y/n laughs.

“okay, but as soon as that year comes i expect my niece or nephew.” hyunjin says.

“deal!” y/n responds, putting her hand out. hyunjin shakes it.

“deal?!” mark yells. “oh god, what am i getting into?”

“you know exactly what you were getting yourself into,” y/n says, pinching his cheek and then pressing a kiss to his lips.

“i don’t know if i do,” mark responds.

“love you,” she says, for only mark to hear

#nct #mark #mark lee #nct smut #kpop smut #lee minhyung #nct mark #nct 127 #nct dream #nct fluff #nct angst #nct reactions #kpop #kpop drabbles #kpop scenarios #nct au #mark lee au #nct 127 smut #nct 127 fluff #nct 127 angst #nct 127 scenarios #skz hyunjin #day6 young k #chungha

[theoriginalladya]

Okay, @wrexidentalinsurance, you get a completely new thread for the answers to these!  I’ll put your questions in bold to make them easier to find the answers.

From what I’ve read that you have figured out, I know he has amnesia of some sort, cannot recall his last name. 

He does have amnesia of a sort.  Caleb is Earthborn, and I started his background story, Seeing Reds, with his first experiences after that happens, and moving forward.  His last name doesn’t even get discussed until a fic I’m working on right now which immediately follows Reds.    

He’s Irish?? (Pls don’t shoot me if I get that one wrong) 

Most definitely Irish!  In my head as I’m playing the games, I’m imagining Mark Meer’s voice with that sweet Irish lilt ...  ;)

He doesn’t seem to get kissed often but when he does, he kind of throws all caution to the wind. Seems inexperienced in romance. 

Okay, now this I haven’t gone into too much just yet because I haven’t decided if it’s going to come up in discussion between him and Kaidan (not that it really matters, I suppse).  It isn’t that Caleb is inexperienced - far from it - it’s just been a long while since he’s been involved with anyone, certainly anyone in what might be considered a ‘long term relationship.’  Caleb is bisexual, and back in his Reds days, he was in relationships with a couple of girls; one dies young (after their relationship is over), the other survives.  Neither of those relationships was what he would call ‘serious’ in adult terms, though he is a rather loving, affectionate person and isn’t afraid to show it.  After events in Seeing Reds, however, he tends to veer away from serious attachments, romantic in nature or not, because of what happens to him back in Ireland.  

Has he had experience with guns or violence prior to enlisting? Or did he even enlist? Street fights? He seems like a scrapper.  

Oh, hell yes!  lol  Essentially, as he grows up in Ireland and becomes a member of the Reds, he starts honing his skills that will develop into his Infiltrator class.  His Irish name is sealgaire, hunter, for a reason (and this will still play out in stores as he moves through the Alliance years, too).  He enlists at first because it’s a means to and end - a place to sleep, three meals a day, a job, etc.  He’s surprised to discover fairly early on that he actually likes it. 

Will he regain his memories? 

The first big story for him and Kaidan I’ve been plotting out since creating them that happens post-ME3 will revisit this issue, I promise!  The problem will come up once or twice in the stories leading up to then, but it will get resolved in that story (when he, Kaidan and a few others return to Shannon, Ireland)

What’s his perspective of Kaidan? What was his first impression of K? 

*rubs hands together*

His perspective of Kaidan is:  he’s a life saver.  Literally.  I headcanon that Kaidan and Caleb actually meet at the tail end of Caleb’s mission on Akuze (story forthcoming).  They serve together on the same ship, and Kaidan is part of the medical team sent down to help evac Caleb’s unit.  They don’t actually know one another before then even though they’ve been on the same ship, and the reality of the situation is they won’t actually meet (with Caleb conscious, that is) in person for a couple more months after that, but they do meet prior to ME1.  I can’t say anymore than that right now because I haven’t written any of it and I know their muses like to throw me curve balls, so ... yeah.  Essentially when they get to the Normandy, they’re being reunited, after a fashion, and it’s their first chance to actually work together.  

Is he even tempered or a bit quick to wrath? 

Depends.  For the most part, I’d say he’s pretty even tempered.  There have been a few moments when his temper is swift, sure and deadly (okay, I may have started drafting one of those last week), and especially when he’s younger, but for the most part he has a long fuse.  

Paragon or more of a renegade style?  

When I finished writing Reds, I was almost positive that he’d come out of the experience as Renegade.  Like, 99.9% positive.  (He actually comes out of his ME1 game more paragon because he saves the Council - for writing purposes, I consider him to be a pretty even split at that point)  But as time goes on, much to my surprise, he turned more Paragon.  By the end of ME2, he’s got almost a full bar more of Paragon than Renegade (P = nearly full, R = one bar plus a tick short of full).  ME3, despite returning to far more of his Renegade type tendencies, he still ends up much more Paragon than I thought he would. To put it very simply and plainly, he surprised me.  Of course, by then he’s involved with Kaidan (romance doesn’t start for them until ME3), so that may have affected things, too.

There were times he seems heart-broken and down-trodden. I got this sense of loss when he spoke to Anderson about his father.

Caleb is a product of his Irishness, for lack of a better way to describe it.  Though not very open about it most of the time (Kaidan has to go digging sometimes to figure out what the real problem is,etc.), that doesn’t mean he isn’t emotional.  He’s always been ‘tough’ and ‘stoic’, I suppose, but losing the Reds the way he did was really traumatic for him.  Nan and Ned, the Reds, they’re all his found family after a child of about six years walks out of the Shannon River dripping wet and with no memory of anything before.  Nan tells him that he needs to fill that space with new memories and he does.  He grows up living and loving with every fiber of his being, fighting hard for everything he has, and then has it all stolen away from him.  He is not a happy camper when he leaves for the Alliance, I can assure you!  However, he is smart enough to realize that there is a time and a place to do what needs to be done, and he isn’t afraid to do that either.  I won’t go so far as to say he wears his heart on his sleeve - he doesn’t, not really - but he is extremely careful about those he lets in close to him and how many.  (note:  it isn’t until he’s on the SR2 with the doctor and Joker around that he realizes just how close he let the people from the SR1 get.  At the time, it didn’t seem all that close - they were a team, they did their job, but the level of relief he feels when he gets Garrus and Tali back floors him.  Especially Tali, because she reminds him of Aoife back in Ireland).

#ladya replies #wrexidentalinsurance #Caleb Shepard #mshenko #mass effect #There's so much more I want to say but I can't #because PLOTS!!!!! #Thank you so much for asking about him!!!!! #I'm always open to questions!

[darkestwolfx]

Attack of the Reptiles - Re-Review #43

We’re in the centre of South Africa searching for the great horned ape today! Or rather, two humans?

I actually missed these two (probably not as much as Gordon though)! Buddy and Ellie are two of the good regulars that IR have on the books. But seriously, even Buddy asked;

“What could be worse than that?”

There’s always something to come when you say something like that on this show.

And this place doesn’t look at all creepy.

“These are badlands, very dangerous!”

Hmm... I wouldn’t have guessed.

I like this version better! You know before it became over run by giant reptiles. Even so, maybe this is a message we shouldn’t be messing around with nature.

“I’m not even going to think about how long that’s been there.”

How about all the way back when EOS was pinging Bagels everywhere at the end of ‘EOS’? That would be my best guess because I can’t imagine John as messy besides then. Anyhow, I love how he chucks it out of the way to become all IR business like.

“I checked the camera feed. Look what it’s filming now.”

“They’re either really into dirt or the camera’s been dropped. That’s not a good sign.”

“The guide said you’d have to be crazy to go in after them.”

“Oh, I’ll do it! We can’t let Buddy and Ellie disappear! They haven’t finished filming season 14 yet.”

We all know what that waiting for the next series to air is like.

“Yes! More adventure with the Pendergasts!”

That little dance he does gets me every time! It’s so realistically Gordon and the animation is on point.

“I’m such a huge fan!”

“Really? I never would have guessed.”

I love episodes where we get to see a bit of Scott and Gordon interaction. I mean, Virgil and Gordon, and Gordon and Alan both work great as duos, but there is still so much potential in scenes with these two. And there was a slight amendment to the launch sequence. After all, besides Brains, we’ve always seen Scott travelling alone in Thunderbird One.

“Do you have visual on ground?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then we need someone on the ground.”

“You’re clear. Ready to go into the unknown?”

Did anyone else here this line and instantly think Panic at the Disco? Or was that just me?

Is it a bird?

Is it a plane?

No, it’s a parachuting Tracy!

“Now to make a nice, soft landing. Oh no! Not exactly soft but it could have been worse.”

I’m holding off on commenting for a moment because-

“You just had to say something didn’t you?”

-Gordon said it for me for once!

He did stumble across Ellie though.

“Gordon Tracy!”

“I’m here to rescue you! Could you chuck me a rope?”

One of my favourite starts to a rescue. I’m not sure which is best - Scott and Ned, or Gordon and Ellie.

“We do search and rescue all the time. Couldn’t be simpler! Oops, sorry, did see the hole.”

“Uh, Gordon, that’s a footprint.”

“John, are you getting a life sign nearby?”

“Yeah, but judging by the size it has to be a glitch.”

“Nothing’s wrong with your equipment, John.”

“Are you sure?”

“Trust me.”

I reckon that doesn’t normally happen when Gordon says that, but we’ll go with it for now. All that hushed whispering was great as well. A nice difference to the usual shouting and orders that we get over the comms links.

“Gordon, what’s going on down there?”

“I don’t know!”

Loved that moment.

“My pet store nightmare just came true.”

Giant reptiles? I think that’s a nightmare for many people.

Now, in the original TOS episode ‘Attack of the Alligators’, on which many parts of this one are based, the nightmare was Alan’s, but it completely makes sense to put Gordon in his place and it works really well in my opinion.

“I can’t see anything- woah!”

Yeah, really well done, Scott, nearly smash Thunderbird One to smithereens. Look where you’re going! Talk and look, I believe in you.

And now we move onto one of my definite favourite moments. Although, not quite the size of Thunderbird Four, me thinks.

“Do you seeing what I’m seeing?”

“And peppers.. and cucumbers...”

“This is no ordinary jungle. We’re running through a supersized vegetable garden!”

We could feed the world with vegetables that size! Or we could release and single? Opinions?

I’m still not sure what was up with all the ‘Thunderbirds are Go’ title cuts that ran through this episode. It’s like they thought it would be too short without them, because I know they aired the episodes without advert breaks. Interesting. It happens about 4 times though and it’s actually really irritating.

“We’re safe for the moment.”

“But how? Who sealed the door?”

“That would be me love!”

“Buddy! You’re alive!”

I love how they’ve been running around looking for him, and here Buddy was, sitting pretty the entire time. All’s well and that’s all that matters, right? Right. Also, I still love how there is a character with a disability so openly shown on a program like this. It’s an absolutely brilliant choice.

“Orchard Industries.”

“John, can you check on that?”

“Orchard industries claim that they could greatly increase the size of crops. But they were shut down years ago.”

Yep, in TOS, Professor Orchard created said growth serum with carries this plot.

“Does it say why?

“The GDF found out The Hood was a silent partner. And there were reports of secret facilities in hidden locations. According to my files they were experimenting with a new type of growth serum.”

The Hood didn’t have any involvement in the original story, but the serum did catch eyes and there was an attempt to steal it, potentially with intent to sell it on, so The Hood could always have heard about it and been a perspective buyer.

“Well that explains the humongous plants out front.”

“And if the reptiles ate those serum filled plants, that would explain how they got so big! Scott, please get us out of here.”

Call on big brother for a rescue. Classic.

Gordon sneezing! Brilliant. I can imagine this was a little bit of a dream situation for him for a moment though - you know, taking away the giant reptiles and the allergies and the danger, and... well, maybe everything save Buddy and Ellie.

“It’s a hover boat. We have a hover boat!”

“And this canal could take us all the way to the river. If the boat was working that is?”

“I just need a hypo-spanner to fix it.”

“The good news is, I know where you can find one.”

“And the bad news? I had to ask.”

Yes, Gordon, you did.

And so, here we go. The desperate attempt to obtain the hypospanner from within the cluster of giant reptiles which nearly ends early when Buddy let’s the wire slip. And then does nearly end abruptly - after some success - when the clip breaks away.

“I’m not very tasty...”

Says you, Gordon, and I’m kinda hoping that you wouldn’t be certain of that.

“Hey, come and get us you overgrown amphibians.”

“They’re reptiles love.”

“Common mistake.”

Um... no comment.

Look, it’s Gordon of the Jungle! I think he’s been watching too many movies.

“I’ll give up celery crunch bars for a year is you please just start.... Yes!”

I would hold off on the cheering, Gordon. Gosh, think how much money will be saved on the shopping!

This is definitely another brilliant episode though. Very Gordon centric, but giving him a story where he definitely has to work out of his comfort zone of the ocean. Scott has to cope with hovering above doing very little actually - which was probably a struggle for him, and John really needs to clean Thunderbird Five.

“What an adventure!”

“Season 15 is just around the corner!”

“You’re doing another season! Oh, wait till I tell Alan!”

“I just hope we have enough material. Occasionally we’re told our show is too far-fetched.”

“Really? I never would have guessed.”

I love the repetition of certain lines in this episode - it adds to the humour.

“You shouldn’t have. You really, really shouldn’t have”

“Aww, they’re cute.”

Once again, in the original, Tin-Tin bought Alan a Pigmy alligator at the end of the episode as a birthday present, but Buddy and Ellie get Gordon two for saving their lives! That was classic and Gordon’s reaction was perfect. He really must enjoy being their number one fan now! And did Scott actually coo? I think he did.

But, they do look kinda cute...

Cuter than these fella’s were at least;

Sorry this one’s a little short - today is a poor internet day, so I had to take what I could get.

#thunderbirds are go #attack of the alligators #attack of the reptiles #Gordon Tracy #Scott Tracy #John Tracy #Virgil Tracy #Alan tracy #Buddy Pendergast #Ellie Pendergast #Re-Review Series #Darkestwolfx #Thunderbirds2015 #citv #itv #ir #international rescue #Tracy island

[mimzy-writing-online]

I hope this question isn't too stupid, but you're one of my favorite writing blogs so I'll give it a shot. I want to write a FanFic based on the 1971 version of Willy Wonka. I wanted the story to tell Violet Beauregarde's story, the one that turns into a blueberry. However, I have SOME questions as I'm fairly new to FanFic. 1). Am I better off focusing on each kid's perspective, going back and forth? Or is it good to narrow my focus one one character? 2). Can I give them a character arch, li

(2/3) like Violet's really mean in school but she becomes kind after her experience at the factory. Is that too cliche or predictable? 3). Why does she try waddling away after her blueberry transformation and the Oompa Loompas are singing/dancing around her? They're trying to help her, and I don't really get why she'd do something like that. 4). What are tips to better understand the characters I want to flesh out? I guess it circles back to the last question, understanding their psyche. Yikes

(3/3)  Yikes! Super sorry this ask is long. And I'm even more sorry if my questions were lame or you've covered them before. :P. I can overthink at times, ESPECIALLY when it comes to my writing. I'm such a perfectionist storyteller, it's not even funny. I hope my questions aren't bothering you. You're one of my favorite writing blogs, so I figured I could come to you. I apologize in advance for wasting your time. You DO NOT have to reply at all if you don't want to. :P Thanks, have a great week

First and foremost: this is not a stupid question, you are not wasting my time at all. This is actually a rare treat for my blog because I don’t get many asks that don’t involve blindness, though I usually know better how to answer those than I do other questions. So, here we go:

Are you better off focusing on each kid’s perspective, going back and forth? Or is it better to narrow your focus onto one character?

The general rule of writing is to simplify. If two background characters serve a similar purpose, just combine the characters, for example. Slimming down extra scenes that don’t contribute to plot or character development.

However, that advice is meant for people publishing novels, working within an overflowing industry, dependant on sales and royalties. They have to meet whatever industry standards are, like word count or POV types. They have to find someone willing to take them on as a client because they love that book.

Fanfiction is not bound by such nonsense. Fanfiction is a beautifully lawless land where capitalism cannot influence it. What defines what you do with fanfiction is if you enjoy reading it, and if you have the steam to continue a long project.

Some people easily write 200,000k fics within a matter of weeks or months (or in my case, just once, two years). Some people work best with short fics. Both (and everything in between) are wonderful.

So, how much steam do you have for this project? How long do you think you can carry it and still finish it? Because that defines how big you should plan to make this project. If you don’t think you can write a long fic, then maybe just stick to one character.

A compromise between the two is to focus primarily on one character, and examine the other characters more briefly. This could be done in just a single POV chapter, or a handful. This could be done with the characters connecting and seeing the side character through your main character’s eyes, seeing how they’ve changed.

There’s no wrong answer. This fic is for your enjoyment primarily. No matter what you write, it will appeal to at least a few people, if not crowds. But your fun comes first, both literally and figuratively. Write for you, write to explore the story for yourself.

Can you give them a character arc like Violet’s where she becomes kinder after her experiences in the factory? Is that too cliche or predictable?

I wouldn’t call it predictable, because I’d expect everyone to go into completely different directions because they were all such unique and individual people before they entered the factory, and they were foiled by their own quirks.

Violet was mean and fake, she was demanding. I don’t know how much I want to speculate on the plotline you have going for her, how you’ll develop her to make her want to be more kind.

But I would love to speculate on the others.

Agustus Gloop? 

I feel like his experience in the chocolate river and almost drowning would make it hard to enjoy chocolate ever again. I think it would be a long time before he had any sweets. Also, because of his weight, I imagine there’s got to be some body-image issues hiding under the surface. I’d also put money on him being bullied, and him acting out against the students who bully him and because of his size he is more intimidating, but that doesn’t stop people from saying things behind his back.

I imagine the chocolate thing is a form of self-comfort. Maybe he turns to other foods to over-eat with to cope. Maybe eventually he figures out that this isn’t helping him. Does he try to replace unhealthy foods with healthier ones? (idk, I have a personal turn off on getting into the concept of dieting, so I’m not going to dig in much there).

I’d like to see him learn to love himself, develop some body neutrality, that his body doesn’t define who he is or what his worth is. That he becomes okay with who he is as he grows up. People who are happy and comfortable with themselves are generally nicer and easier going than people who aren’t. Maybe with some self-love, he’ll be kinder to others.

Veruca Salt?

Okay, I have a confession. My brain thought of her when discussing Violet. I haven’t seen either of the films in years.

Well, let’s thank Wikipedia everyone, the greatest gift of the internet.

Veruca does come across as a spoiled brat. Her parents shower her in material objects, which might mean something. I have a close friend who hates people buying things for him or giving him gifts that cost money. This has to do with a parent buying him things out of guilt after episodes of emotional abuse. I asked him a while back what he wanted for his birthday (I meant baked goods, I bake or cook special meals as birthday gifts for my friends. A has asked for chocolate chip cookies for three birthdays in a row now. Several friends ask for cookies for Christmas). Anyway, my friend had a panic attack and couldn’t respond until an hour later.

Maybe there’s something to that.

What does she think about money as she grows up? Does her love language continue to be gifts? I think it might one day be quality time. Maybe it is now. It’s common for rich parents to be absent and barely spend time with their kids because of work and extravagant social lives that sort of money gives them access to, meaning they barely have time in the day to spend with their kids. Maybe gifts are the only way she can make sure her parents still care, the only way she can get their attention? 

Mike Teavee?

Apparently in the movie credits his last name is spelled Teevee. But I’m obsessed with tea (and this is the point where I remember my tea and wonder if I’ve let it go cold because I got too focused. Nope, it’s still there). So it’s Teavee here.

Wikipedia describes him as a young boy who only watches TV, nothing but TV. He’s especially interested in cowboys and Western films. He comes across as a know-it-all. He’s easily annoyed but gets along with others.

Anyone have a guess at where I’m going with this?

Mike is neurodivergent. I mean, that’s my new headcanon. I lean towards ADHD because that’s what I project, but like everything else, his interpretation is in the eye of the beholder. Every viewer sees something different in him.

Some common ADHD (and autism) experiences beyond having a specific interest is how others react to your special interest. You get used to people getting bored when you talk about your interest for the thousandth time, but it’s still important to you, but not to someone whose opinion matters to you. RSD is probably common.

Wikipedia says he’s described as lazy in the books? Common ADHD “symptom,” or rather something that outside viewers label as laziness. Really, he just doesn’t have the motivation to do any of those other things.

And Charlie?

Did anyone think I wouldn’t have any thoughts on Charlie, our hero and protagonist?

Oh no, I have thoughts. Charlie goes to great lengths to set his family up comfortably, he becomes generous with his money. He also knows nothing about running a factory. I’m hoping Willy Wonka gives him some help there. But I bet adult Charlie is a stressed-out workaholic who tries to do everything and thinks he has something to prove, that he’s not just some random lucky child, that he can do this. Charlie totally gets a work-related anxiety disorder.

Those are my thoughts. I still think giving them Violet’s arc isn’t cliche or predictable, but rather completely different from what you think would happen to all those kids.

I mean, maybe a few of them are still little jerks in their adult lives. There’s no one road to grow up on, even if you’re four strangers who shared a similar traumatic experience.

Why does she try waddling away after her blueberry transformation and the Oompa Loompas are singing/dancing around her? They're trying to help her, and I don't really get why she'd do something like that.

They strange looking short men she’s literally never talked to, never seen or heard of before today, who’s already taken away two children by this point, all while singing a song about what terrible children they were.

And she’s scared because her body is doing something strange and scary and awful. She’s scared. She doesn’t know what to do. What will happen if these strange men take her away? She doesn’t know what happened to the other kids.

And they’re not really communicating they want to help, just singing cheerfully about how awful children are.

What are tips to better understand the characters I want to flesh out? I guess it circles back to the last question, understanding their psyche.

A lot of it is just watching real-life people and wondering why they are the way they are. Listening to their reasoning and what they tell you about who they are and where they come from.

I know people who grew up like Agustus with using over-eating as a way to self-comfort, and the bullying they experienced. I know that if a kid was physically bigger than his bullies, maybe he’d fight them to make them stop and leave him alone. People who go through that journey of learning that their body doesn’t define who they are, accepting it because it is theirs and it takes care of them.

(Which reminds me of a post I like that pops around here and there, that positive body image should be about more than how “sexy” your curves make you look. A person shouldn’t have to be sexy to be treated like a person. A person shouldn’t have to be sexy at all if they don’t want to, especially not all the time, and especially not a child. And there are a lot of obese children in the world who don’t have any positive body image messages designed for them)

I learned what my friend’s love languages are and why they have them and what they mean. Which is why I have that theory for Veruca.

Mike is just self-projection and listening to other neurodivergent people when they describe their life experiences or listening to their theories when they say a character is neurodivergent too.

I won’t lie, my theory on Charlie is based entirely on the Avatar: the Last Airbender fandom’s common head-canon that Zuko becomes a workaholic after he becomes Firelord. There might be some canon material in the comics that supports that, but I’ve never seen it. I think Zuko and Charlie have a similar vibe and that those three years Zuko struggled, and Charlie’s entire life before the factory make them both feel like they need to be perfect and do everything right to prove they deserve the job they’re given and that their backgrounds don’t define their worth.

Thank you so much for your ask anon!

And again, you are not a bother. I enjoyed digging into this movie I’d never thought in depth about until tonight. And you’re not alone, lots of writers are overthinkers and perfectionists. You are in good company. Our writing and fanfiction community welcomes and loves you <3

And thank you for your kind words! I’m so happy that you love my blog so much <3 It made my day to read that

Take care anon, and good luck in your writing :)

#writing advice #fanfiction #writeblr #anon #charlie and the chocolate factory #Anonymous

[deputyrhiannonhale]

Nodus Tollens Chapter 2

(ooc) In this chapter, the same general trigger warnings are applied here! And once again let me know if you wanna be tagged or don’t anymore!

Chap 1

tagging: @returnofthepd3 @ja-crispea @f0xyboxes @shelliechen @xbaebsae @deputyjessicaquinn @dieguzguz @hopecountygazette 

~~ It took Rhi longer than it really should for her brain to register the imminent threat of drowning, and the fact that Burke was once again not giving a second thought to making sure she was ok, just swimming away from the truck as it sank closer to the river bed.

'Just wait until I get to the surface. I'll kick your ass before the Peggies can.' Rhi thought to herself as she pushed against the metal of the truck door to propel herself upwards and began kicking her legs.

When Rhi broke the surface, she gasped loudly, needing oxygen badly, before she paddled towards the bank. Rhi crawled up on the soft muddy surface, flipping onto her back, still taking in deep breaths, staring up at the starry night sky, fading in and out of consciousness.

"Stop! I'm a U.S. Marshal!" Burke was screaming off to her left and Rhi lifted her head to see the bouncing beams from flashlights and her heart rate spiked again. She still couldn't relax, footsteps brought her head to her right in time to see a tall bald man standing above her. He didn't have the cult look about him, but he still looked menacing in the paleness of the moonlight, she wanted to run, but the darkness pulled her under completely.

Rhi vaguely remembers being carried, she groaned a few times, but couldn't keep her eyes open. Flashes of her past with John filled her mind's eye. How sweet and kind he had been towards her. Spending months together as she recovered, learning about each other, and yet...he kept something this big from her. Had it been obvious and she was just too naive to put it together? Probably.

It was the night before Rhi was leaving to go back to Billings, she was packing her bags, getting ready to say goodbye to everyone, when an unexpected tapping sounded from her window. She jumped in surprise, her head snapping to the right to find John peering in her window, he gave her a small smile and a wave, motioning for her to open the window.

"What are you doing here?" She whisper-shouted at him, laughing as she opened the window and leaned on her elbows onto the window pane. 

"You really didn't think I wouldn't come and see you off, did you?" John replied in his normal almost cocky manner and Rhi scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Considering I asked you not to because goodbyes are really hard for me and I can't get out tonight...yeah I did." She admitted, resting her chin on her palm, giving him a playful smile and wink. "Also...why didn't you just come to the front door? At least then you coulda come in." She asked, her brows furrowed in confusion, a subtle shift in his gaze went unnoticed by Rhi and John shrugged, chuckling softly.

"I guess I figured this seemed more Romeo and Juliet." John answered, causing Rhi to snort loudly, and she covered her mouth and nose quickly, until the laughing passed.

"Well...that's a love story that ended really well, huh?" They both shared a laugh then before John motioned for her to climb out of the window and join him. She knew she shouldn't, she needed to finish packing and go join Earl for dinner. Rhi looked over her shoulder at her door before finally deciding. "Fuck it." She clambered out the window, and took John's hand.

Rhi startled awake to find her hands zip-tied to a bedpost. She yanked at her restraints, growling loudly. She was mad at herself for being so stupid, that fucking look in his eyes that night should have been a warning. Mad at being restrained by who knows who, she was just mad at the world at this point in time.

"Why the fuck am I tied up?!" She shouted, yanking with every word, as she looked around the room and spotted the man she seen before she passed out.

"The cult is looking for ya. Smartest thing for me to do would be to hand you over." The man answered and Rhi scoffed, giving him a very vicious smile.

"Please, please do it. Let me at that fucking cult." Rhi was nearly frothing at the mouth in her anger, still pulling and twisting her arms trying to get free. The plastic ties were beginning to burn her wrists as she struggled as the man approached her, pulling out a knife and sliding through the makeshift cuffs. Rhi growled, tossing the zip ties across the room before rubbing her wrists gently.

"Now, there's some clothes over there that should fit. We need to burn that uniform." The man pointed over to a line of lockers against the wall as he spoke, and Rhi stood to her full height, giving him a quick nod. "Meet me in the back once you're done."

Rhi sighed loudly, opening up the lockers and digging through what meager amounts of clothes were there. None of it was her style, however that didn't matter at this point in time and she understood that; a denim vest, a shirt with 'TROUBLE MAKER' in black letters across her chest and a simple pair of jeans and combat boots were the closest to comfortable she was going to find.

Strapping her sheath with her bowie knife to her right thigh, she began to make her way to where she heard the man's voice calling out to different individuals.

In this room, Rhi discovered a conspiracy theory style mapping of Hope County complete with Joseph's, Jacob's, John's and a woman named Faith's pictures. She studied each person and what this man had written about them. Her anger had been so high she hadn't registered Faith standing behind Joseph as well at the church. She hadn’t shown much interest in Rhi considering her outburst.

"Oh good, you did find something that fits. I didn't properly introduce myself properly before. I'm Dutch." Dutch stated, as Rhi approached him, she gave him a quick but polite nod.

“Rhi Hale.” She introduced herself, holding out a closed fist, offering it for a bump in lieu of a handshake. Dutch stared down at her closed fist long enough to make Rhi shrug and give a heavy annoyed sigh and shove her hands deeply in her pockets.

“Wait, you’re Earl’s niece, right?” Dutch finally said after a few more beats of silence. Rhi gave him a tight smile, and another quick nod.

“The one and only. Now about getting to those fucking peggies...they’ve got Earl. I’m gonna get him back.” Rhi promised, looking over Dutch’s shoulder at all the monitors on his table top, and he laughed.

“Well, there’s a problem missy. I haven’t-”

“Don’t call me that.” Rhi interrupted him, her eyes shifting back to him to give him a very stern look, and he held up his hands in a placating manner.

“Understood. However, I still haven’t heard from Eli, Jerome or Virgil. I think the cult has messed with the radio tower on my island. Think you could help me out? You do this for me, and I help you however I can.” Rhi rocked on the balls of her feet as she thought about his request. She didn’t know him, even though he seems to know her, but given her affiliation, that wasn’t overly surprising. Yet, she still wondered if she could trust him. How does she know that he isn’t a part of the Project, and just steering her into more danger? Rhi let out another heavy sigh. She knew she wasn’t in a position to be picky at this moment. She had people to help. She pinched the bridge of her nose before running her hand through her hair.

“Yeah, I’ll help. I’m sure you’ve got people out there too that need help. This isn’t just about me.” She said on an exasperated sigh, what has she gotten herself into. This isn’t how her job as a police officer in a small town like this was supposed to go. Rhi expected the occasional drunk and disorderly kind of stuff and it’s nearly always the same people every weekend.

“There’s a gun and map in the safe over there that you can have. Once you get your bearings I’ll let you know where to go.” He instructed, pointing over to the safe to Rhi’s right back towards where she had come in here. She mumbled to herself as she walked over to the safe, picking up the gun and ejecting the magazine to check it, finding it not fully loaded. Replacing the magazine back into its spot, she racked the slide and placed it at the small of her back before picking up the map. Giving Dutch a two finger salute, she left the room to find her way out of this bunker.

Rhi shielded her eyes when she emerged, the sun proving to be way too bright for her, cursing under her breath at how much it stung her eyes. Once her eyes adjusted, she looked around at all the vegetation surrounding her, it was deceivingly peaceful here, she even took the time to breathe in and just bask in the natural music of the woods, but that didn’t last long before her radio beeped. 

Rhi trekked on, after finally having received more information from Dutch about how the cult was snatching people and how she should try and save as many as she could to get them on her side. Done and done she has told herself, knowing she would need as much help as she could muster from the way Dutch made it sound. She froze when she heard voices and what sounded like a loud punch, Rhi crouched and eased forward until she found the culprits; two cult members and a civilian.

Rhi didn’t even waste time, she picked up a metal bat that was leaning against the tree she was behind and snuck up to the female cult member, standing at the last second and thwacked her hard on the back of the head. The two men left looked at her in surprise as she pulled out her gun from its spot nestled at the small of her back and she trained it on the other cult member firing without hesitation. The man she saved stared up at her from his position on his knees, it was clear in his eyes that he was unsure if Rhi was a savior or more bad news. She finally smiled at him, replacing her gun at the small of her back and extended a hand to help him to his feet.

“Name’s Rhi.” She introduced herself as he dusted himself off, and she bent down to pick up the rifle one of the cultists dropped and tossed it to her new found friend. He caught it and juggled it a couple of times before finally giving her a quizzical look. “And you are?”

“T-Tom…” Rhi gave him a bigger smile and winked at him.

“Hope you know how to use that Tom, we are going Peggie huntin’.” She informed the still confused Tom as she walked by him and he turned, falling into step with her.

“Wait...you’re the new deputy, right?” Tom was a nervous man, she could tell just by his tone alone, she used to sound just like that in her younger days, and it took her back to all the times she tried to ask her step-ass for anything.

“I am. I’m going to take this cult down for fucking with me. Can I count on ya, Tom?” She looked up at the taller man, and he was smiling, the fire was lit behind his eyes.

“Absolutely!”

Tom proved to be more of a fighter than she had given him credit for, he was very stealthy, very quiet even when moving through the brush and tall weeds. He informed Rhi that it’s all about knowing her own body and how it moves, while also keeping the wind in mind. Move when the wind moves the weeds, and stop when it does. It was all information Rhi was taking to heart, knowing anything valuable now would prove priceless later. With Tom’s help, it didn’t take Rhi long to clear out what Peggies were inhabiting Dutch’s little island. 

“You know where the radio tower is, my dude?” Rhi asked Tom, smiling triumphantly at him, and he returned her bright smile, before motioning with his head over his shoulder.

“Just right over this way.”

Rhi stood at the base of the ladder leading up to the top of the tall tower, her hands on her hips, her head tilted all the way back, staring skyward. “Fuck…” She whispered to herself, before eyeing Tom. “All the way up there, huh?” He chuckled before punching her shoulder in a light playful manner.

“After all that, you trying to tell me you’re scared of heights?” Tom teased her and she laughed weakly, pushing him gently.

“Not the height...the fall is more the problem.” She confessed, as she rolled her shoulders, and began her climb to the top.

“Now, I know what you’re thinking, and no, I’m not gonna have you climbing radio towers all over the county. Just this one.” Dutch radioed to her and she scoffed, pulling the radio off her belt once she made it to the first flat surface.

“Not really...what I was thinking. But that’s good to know.” Rhi countered sarcastically, which caused Dutch to chuckle slightly.

“Same humor as your uncle. Now, don’t go falling.” Dutch suggested and Rhi rolled her eyes, sighing heavily.

“How did you know what I was planning, Dutch?” Rhi retorted, Dutch replied with a sarcastic ‘har-har’ before Rhi put the radio away and continued climbing.

Rhi hugged along the center of the tower, moving easily to the switch to bring it back to life, the wind stronger so high up and she took deep calming breaths, as she looked down. Big mistake, now all she was thinking about was missing her footing and falling to her death.

“You’re doing great!” Tom’s faint voice reached her ears and she couldn’t help but laugh, he obviously couldn’t see her sweating bullets up here. Rhi pulled in another shaky breath before turning and pulling the switch to start the radio signal again.

“Hey, that definitely did it, kid, I’m getting a good signal now!” Dutch praised her, and she slid down to a crouching position while she waited for more instructions, trying to steady her shaking hands. “Fall’s End needs your help. That’s in the Holland Valley. John Seed’s region.”

“Of course…” Rhi muttered out before grabbing the radio. “Do you know where Earl is at?” Dutch remained silent for a moment.

“Sorry...I don’t know that kid, but I can ask around for ya.” Dutch promise and she couldn’t ask for more.

“Thank you Dutch.” Rhi put the radio back and looked around, there was a zipline attached to the radio tower and she debated if she wanted to take the quick way down. Sweat was trickling down the back of her neck, and she looked down the ladder. Either way she could fall, but maybe the zipline would be faster, and she wouldn’t have to be worried about her freezing up halfway down, and having to embarrassingly call down to Tom to rescue her. She took a deep breath and zoomed down the zipline.

Right as her feet touched the ground, she wobbled trying to catch her balance and her radio beeped again, assuming it was going to be Dutch, she was shocked to hear John’s voice calling out to her.

“Deputy.” His tone was dripping with contempt, and it caused her to growl. As if he had any right to be upset about her for anything when he lied to her for so long.

“What do you want, bitch?” She hissed, her fingers squeezing hard on the device, and she heard him chuckle on the other end.

“Now...is that anyway to address an old friend?” He taunted her, provoking her to let out another growl, and she used both of her hands to mimic a strangling motion on the radio, pretending it was John’s neck.

“Friend?” She hissed again. “What kind of friend hides something so major?” John made a tsking sound at her question.

“Judging by your uncle's reaction, you hid our tryst from him.” That pulled Rhi up short, she hadn’t lied about her relationship with John back then, but Earl had also not asked her what she had been doing either. Earl had always just been concerned with getting her better from her head injury, bless his soul.

“He never asked, so I never brought it up.” She responded lamely, and she mentally slapped herself for sounding so stupid.

“Omission of truth is the same as a lie, my dear.” John continued to taunt, knowing he was getting under her skin just by how heavy her breaths were coming out.

“Fuck you ‘its the same as a lie’!” She shouted into the radio, shaking it violently. “You’re in a brainwashing cult.” She bit out as harshly as she could. “You were trying to get me in there! Do you even give a fuck?”

“We are not a cult!” He shouted back just as loudly, but then there was a long pause as he collected himself. “Why don’t you come by my place and I’ll show you how much I care.” John's tone was velvety smooth, and Rhi glared at the radio in her hand, had he really just tried to flirt with her? She grimaced, the audacity of this man was baffling to her.

“Not in a million years.” She quipped, a frown deep on her face, daring him to say one more thing.

“You couldn’t stay away from me, even if you tried.” Came John’s cocky response, and Rhi’s brows furrowed and she tilted her head, anger quickly rising in her soul. She bit down on the radio hard enough for it to creak in her wrath, and she promised herself shouldn’t give him the satisfaction of a response. Just as she was getting ready to find Tom, the radio beeped again, and she nearly threw it into the woods when Dutch’s voice sounded.

“Earl is in Faith’s region. Don’t believe everything you see there, and don’t listen to what she says, you got it?” Dutch had come through for her. John thinks she can’t stay away? Well, she will show him.

#far cry 5 #far cry 5 oc #far cry 5 john seed #john seed #rhiannon hale #deputy rhiannon hale #hope county montana #hope county #earl whitehorse #dutch #nodus tollens #faith seed #cameron burke #john x rhi #far cry 5 fanfiction

[thebibliomancer]

Shadows of the Dark Crystal liveblog pt 7

Shadows of the Dark Crystal by J. M. Lee because surely people can’t get ruder to Naia, right?

Last times on book: Naia left her home swamp for the first time to travel to Ha’rar to prove her brother’s innocence. She made a stop in Sami Thicket where the rude Gelfling live. Then she saw some Skeksis for the first time. Big day for her.

Chapter 9

Naia is not having a good time at this party, Kylan sings a song.

“Naia sat alone on one of the many benches in the square ... No one joined her, and that was fine, or so she told herself.”

Ooof. Gelflings are the best at being so lonely that it hurts me, the audience.

Even Neech, her shoulder eel, ditches. Because the Spriton food is unpalatable and he goes to hunt something more appetizing.

But Naia doesn’t want to cause a scene or do anything to ruin Maudra Mera’s event so she just sits off to the side, watching the Lords from afar.

She tries to help the children and Podlings do dishes but they just give her a weird look.

Geez, poor Naia.

She’s alone in a crowd. “She felt more alone in Sami Thicket than she had in the wild field beyond it.”

Then the Census Taker SkekLach starts to take the census and the Spriton all form a line to be counted.

Maudra Mera manifests out of nowhere to tell Naia not to join the line, since she’s not Spriton. And calls her “my little soggy pet” because they will not have a single interaction where Mera isn’t vaguely rude or condescending.

Naia asks why the Skeksis are taking count, since they’ve never done it in the Sog before so she doesn’t really understand the core concept.

Maudra Mera: “It’s only worth counting what’s valuable”

GEEZ!

I didn’t think she could be shittier but she managed!

She also just starts touching Naia’s hair without asking which is also not great. Don’t do that, Gelflings or humanlings.

Aside from being casually offensive, Maudra Mera tells Naia she’s set up a cot for her in her own chamber to stay the night. Or if she’s staying up (best boy) Kylan will be preforming a song after dinner.

“Though she wasn’t particularly interested in hearing a song, she also wasn’t a child, ushered off to bed so early in the evening by her mother.”

Yeah, Naia! This is your quest! You can stay up as late as you want!

“Song telling wasn’t popular with the Drenchen. Weaving fantasy stories was a waste of time, according to her mother, who favored hard-talk and action. Stories were only good for distractions.”

Naia finds Neech eating a strange bug and gets ready to go to bed mostly to avoid being avoided the rest of the night. But she stops when best boy Kylan starts to sing.

Let me tell you a tale of Jarra-Jen

Who flew Thra once move and back again

Met a four-armed monster with half a heart

Jarra-Jen and the Hunter, and the Leap in the Dark

Huh! Was Jen from the movie named after an adventurous folk hero? If so, its almost an ironic name! Jen would really like to have a quiet afternoon.

Also, Kylan is such a confidant singer that even the Skeksis have turned to listen.

So the story of brave Jarra-Jen is that he’s heading home through the Dark Wood with a bag full of gifts from the Skeksis because the Skeksis super love Jarra-Jen and his cool travel stories.

But while walking through the dark forbidden Dark Wood, the Hunter starts chasing Jarra-Jen. The heroic traveling Gelfling winds up cornered against a cliff with a drop into darkness.

So this clever Gelfling chucks his Skeksis treasure off the cliff and listens. And before the Hunter can attack, Jarra-Jen jumps off the cliff into a calm river and laughs at the Hunter’s frustration. The end.

Everyone cheers after Kylan finishes. Even SkekLach starts chortling. Because if there’s anything the Skeksis like doing its laughing at other Skeksis. Although they’re the only ones who currently know that the Hunter is one. Its like a private joke, population 2.

The Skeksis start talking to Kylan who mentions that the Hunter killed his parents when he was young.

And Maudra Mera immediately rushes in and tries to rush Kylan away.

“This... Hunter. From song,” the Scroll Keeper said. “A myth? Some story, made by Gelfling?”

“It’s not a myth,” Kylan said, but Maudra Mera laughed nervously and clutched his shoulders tightly.

“A story, yes,” she added. “To teach the children not to leave their homes after the Three Brothers have gone to bed. You know, they listen to the song tellers more oft than they do their own parents!”

“Songs of brave heroes, thwarting villains,” SkekOk said, almost humming the words. “Gives a Gelfling hope, eh? Gets a Gelfling through the night? Very well, very well.”

Phew! I was wrong when I said the scene where SkekLach ate some squash was the most tense scene in Dark Crystal!

Maudra Mera is still a jerk but I sympathize in this moment specifically.

Naia finally heads to beds which in this case is a stack of blankets and cushions by the hearth. She was promised a cot tho!

She flops into bed and instantly gets incredibly homesick. Aww.

Naia wanders if Jarra-Jen ever got homesick and then dismisses it because they’re just made up stories.

“The songs might be fun to listen to while they were being sung - but after they were said and done, the song teller’s lute was packed away. They didn’t help her now. In a way, they were nothing but soft-speak, huff-puff only good for distraction, children, and the curious Podlings.”

I dunno. You seem like you could use some distraction, honestly.

Naia decides that what IS real is the Skeksis. And she’s going to go to Ha’rar, defend the crap out of her brother, and bring honor to her clan!

“Before long, she told herself, the names of the Drenchen would be marked in the thick pages of Lord SkekLach’s tome, and their number would be recorded in history.”

Hahahahahah.

Oof.

#dark crystal #the dark crystal #Shadows of the Dark Crystal #liveblog #Naia #Kylan #that's right BOOM #best boy is here