#now i can’t stop thinking about that episode of urban legends where the girl take pills thinking she’ll loose weight | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

prairiedust · 4 years

Text

The Further Folklore of Supernatural

Here’s a little more folklore meta in light of how season 15 has been playing out if anyone is game. I genuinely thought that Moriah would be the end of the folklore stuff and tossed out “Folk the Author” as an “epilogue,” so this is probably less of an addendum than it is a waymarker as I try to continue to parse these themes into the last seven episodes.

Welp. *waves hands at everything* THIS is not how anyone expected 2020 to go. Things got a little bit big and I stopped thinking about Spn in light of needing that energy elsewhere. But I also don’t want this crapfest to ruin how I fan my favorite show, so here I go again. I will attempt a TL;DR, too!

If you’ve read my old “folklore” analysis here about how I think fairy tales and all their baggage fit into Supernatural season 14, you know that I believe Castiel has stepped into a Sleeping Beauty type story, and that coincidentally a few themes and symbolism from Snow White kept popping up around Dean. (I hold Sam to be a Protagonist in the modern “literary fiction” sense of the word, but emotionally, thematically, and narratively he’s always been a little inaccessible to me. I finally understood him when the death-of-the-author plot surfaced, and I’ll get to Sam eventually here. And Jack, there’s a little Jack in here, too.)

If you would rather have the TL;DR than read several thousands of words about how folklore and myth *might* be abstractly connected to an American genre show, all I can say is that I tried. The textual support is all in the folklore posts. This is as succinct a summary as I could fabricate. At least I’m not gonna talk about Sam and bricolage and freeplay! This is an almost completely theory-free post! If you don’t want to read or don’t need a refresher and just want to know how this has been working in 15, you can scroll down to “END OF TL;DR”.

So, to catch up, I’m not talking about the folklore and mythology that this show has always relied on for plot and MOTWs. I wasn’t drilling down into urban legends like Hook Man or world folk monsters like shtrigas or pishtacos. By “folklore” I mean the study of storytelling tropes and tale types that have been with us for ages. One of the many subtexts of the end of the series. I’ve been tracking this because I think it’s fun to see how fairy tale imagery and mythology might layer preconscious suggestions into the text of the show. I personally think it was loud enough to be seen easily, but more than likely viewers felt unsettled, felt cheered, or felt like they knew what was coming? I’m curious to know. Anyway.

When we found out that Kelly Kline was going to name her baby “Jack” waaaaay back in season 12, things started chiming. Jack and the Beanstalk. Jack the Giant Killer. Jack Tales. Jack is a powerful Western character, sort of a cross between a noble hero and a trickster, featuring in stories that often blur lines and boundaries. He is both the poor man’s youngest son and the equal to King Arthur’s heir. Jack is both everyman and extraordinary. Jack is so cool, I wish I had more time to parse that but his qualities are not subtle in the text/subtext, anyway.

But back to my half-crack reading of seasons 14 and 15.

Once upon a time in Supernatural, there were two fairy tales being told. Both fairy tales are found all over the world and in many forms, but they all can be grouped together because they all contain shared elements of the same basic plot or shared themes, and these two in particular are sister stories. So when I mention “Sleeping Beauty,” I’m talking about lots of different versions of the folk tale, and the same for “Snow White,” which can be found in one form or another in storytelling traditions all over the place. It is both helpful and irritating that these are both Disney movies, too.

Jack makes an allusion to Sleeping Beauty in 14x03 The Scar while talking to Castiel-- it’s the kind of subtextual flash that in and of itself means little and proves nothing, but then beginning with The Scar we got three stories in a row that dealt with “sleepers” of some sort-- Lora in 14x03 doomed to die because of a witch’s spell, Stuart in 14x04 Mint Condition in a coma because of a ghost attack, and Sasha’s father in 14x05 Nightmare Logic under the spell of a clever djinn. It’s powerful subtext, like a soft light that bathes these episodes in the color of fairy tale and makes Jack’s Dramatic Swoon at the end of Optimism all the more Dramatic-- subtext amplifying the plot. Jack goes to Heaven, but is eventually cornered by the Shadow, who wants him in the Empty where he will sleep forever-- the Shadow being an entity who has claimed the husks of dead angels since their inception and thus implies a “curse” laid on Jack from the moment he came into being-- but Castiel, who is ever a thief in oh so many ways, makes a bargain with the Shadow and essentially takes over the consequences of Jack’s Sleeping Beauty story (hence my rarely used but hilarious tag “Castiel Thief of Endings.”)

Now that we know from 14x20 Moriah that the Shadow and Billie the Reaper are, if not allies, at least working together when Jack is awakened in the Empty, does that mean that Castiel’s deal is still on the table, or has that fate been thwarted? *pounds table* Was Jack’s death and Chuck’s rise as a “greater threat” in 14x20 enough to shift Castiel’s ending? It’s the kind of subtextual question that lends tension to the narrative and it’s what I am here for.

Well, speaking of thwarted expectations, Dean’s arc was being shadowed by a Snow White tale type. We all know Snow White but why don’t I sum it up anyway, since Disney messed up the folktale ending lol. Snow White is cast out of her home by her jealous stepmother (and echoes of the stepmother’s magic mirror show up in 15x02 Gods and Monsters) who sends her huntsman to kill her; the dude can’t do it and turns the girl loose in the forest instead. Snow White joins a band of outsiders who live in the forest-- in the Disney movie and the Grimms’ tale they are dwarfs, in some versions she happens upon a band of robbers-- and they love her very much and we presume she’s safe for the rest of her life; Michael mysteriously turns Dean loose to join Sam’s gathering of hunters, however we know, like Stepmom, Michael is still out there. The stepmother finds out that Snow White is actually alive and contrives to kill her herself. Eventually succeeding, Snow White appears to die and is usually laid to rest in a crystal casket/glass coffin. Her stepmother’s machinations have _stolen her agency_ (further paralleling Dean’s possession by AU!Michael.) A Handsome Prince stumbles upon Snow White, is besmitten with her, and he asks her protectors if he can have her, as one does. Leaving the Disney adaptation aside, Snow White awakens when whatever item that has caused her death-like state is dislodged (piece of apple in her throat) or removed (magic corset) or withdrawn (poisoned hairpin) by her protectors. Snow White is a story about the community of the dwarves of band of robbers or adopted family caring deeply for her, and when Dean starts making his own crystal casket, the ma’lak box, in which he will ride out eternity in tormented symbiosis with Apocalypse Michael, he has to rely on his family to help him see the plan through. However, here’s where Jack-- who is as much a chaos engine as his surrogate father Castiel if not more so-- steps in and ruins the ending. Jack smites Michael. Dean Winchester is saved. Again. To put the final nail in the coffin, so to speak, Jack later destroys the ma’lek box entirely.

That was quite the surprise ending… for one of the stories.

Was the end of season 14 the end of the Sleeping Beauty theme, also?

END OF TL;DR

I quit writing about “folklore” for a while, but that doesn’t mean it stopped being a theme. It just stopped being fun to write about as the story got more and more dark, and when it transmuted into two parallel themes of “folklore” or storytelling by the people versus Death of the Author--or storytelling by a lauded authority-- and there was so much angst about the boundaries of Chuck’s powers, I just wanted to sit back and enjoy that. I did distill my thoughts about Sam’s new arc in the DotA plot, which I thought would subsume the folktale themes but hey, we still have folktales around, too. I mean, we have Sam and we have Dean, and we have two “literary” subtexts, or maybe rather two subjects about the nature of story, something that I thought was a little bit of a surprise.

Storytelling was a Feature of 15x07 Last Call, both in the sense that Lee and Dean swap new stories and tell old tales of their adventures together as they catch up, but also in the sense that we got additional “text”-- hints of a backstory where John and Dean hunted with Lee in that swampy long-ago “Stanford era,” and again we get storytelling when _Lee recounts how he ended up keeping a marid in his basement_. There is also an allusion to the Thousand and One Arabian Nights in that episode that I yelled about in a meta that I never put on the interwebs, but the “marid” is in a specific tale in many editions of that collection, and thus calls in not only a different folktale tradition but the concept of a framed/nested narrative, which I believe will be important to understanding the last episodes of the series, but that’s an aside. In 15x08 Our Father Who Aren’t In Heaven, Castiel _tells Michael the story_ of how everyone ended up where they are now to convince him to help. And Michael and Adam’s allyship, if not friendship, was probably the best subversion of any “storytelling” expectation we’ve ever had on this show. Belphagor set us up for “room full of crazy” or something, but, no. We got symbiosis.

That almost sums up how I’ve been viewing the last “era” of spn. This wasn’t in the master post, but I shouted a lot about underworlds before 15x09 Purgatory 2: Return to Purgatory, and then stopped shouting because I had to ferment for a while. Also, as has been mentioned, the world turned to crap. But talking to other meta writers during the ramp up to the resumption of the season helped me realize just why this reading of myth to folktales to literature feels so right.

Underworlds and Otherworlds…. Everybody has crossed into an “underworld” or three in Supernatural, it’s really nbd. It was actually surface-level plot in season 13. By the time 15x09 rolled around, our heroes are just, like, strolling in and out of “sealed off” Hell after doing a level one spell and chilling with Billie in the Empty and even that Purgatory trip didn’t have the same feeling of danger that, say, crossing into the AU did. But also, we’re at the point where subtext is leading us to a _satisfactory_ ending. Where before we had serial text, like a cumulative tale type-- “The House that Jack Built”-- which just kept adding more and more plot, we’re hurtling o’er the apex of Freytag’s pyramid now and things are getting loud.

But they’re also getting very shifty.

I wrote a little bit about Sam Winchester successfully reviving Eileen in 15x06 Golden Time and the “Orpheus and Eurydice” symbolism of him keeping his back to her. (I’m not linking it because it’s so, so rough.) But because Sam is not an underworld hero, not completely-- I see him as a modern Protagonist coming to terms in a psychoanalytical model with things like mortality, fallibility, and mastery-- maybe bildungsroman, even -- he was able to subvert the tragic ending of the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice because it is not “his” story. But if I were pressed to find a mythic or folk tale type to measure Sam against, I could. I would probably sideye “the sorcerer’s apprentice” trope (ATU 325-The Magician and his Pupil :D ) which began as a poem that entered European folklore on different fronts. (and weirdly, that story was also Disnified in Fantasia. That’s probably more my own limitation as a gen x american lol than anything coming from the writer’s room.)

Dean got his moment in Purgatory where he was able to finally come to grips with his anger and heal the rift between himself and Castiel because Purgatory is a different kind of underworld. Dean is a successful threshold-crosser, having crossed that boundary out of Purgatory before, but in 15x09, his prayer to Castiel is all a subtextual evocation of doing the emotional and mental work of therapy, which Sam, as a modern protagonist, is usually caught up in. The mythic hero also deals with mortality, failibilty, and mastery, but in different terms. I hope I’m doing an okay job peeling apart these nuances that I’m seeing.

Since Castiel accompanied Dean to Purgatory, and in the past made his own wildly successful incursion into and out of Hell with Dean’s soul, and was the one in The Trap who actually retrieved the Leviathan blossom, Castiel counts as an underworld hero, too, but you can pull the lever and send the tumblers spinning again and make him a fairy tale character in that he has made this Bargain with the Empty which is both in the “modern” tradition of subverting a fairy tale, and the tale type “deal with the devil.” Or he could be seen as a modern protagonist in that he’s lowkey grappling with questions of selfhood and identification. “I am an angel of the lord.” “I am no one.” “It’s Steve, now.” “You are nothing.” “I am an angel.”

We even got an episode that playfully explored the concept of “hero” by subverting our expectations (Sam and Dean were rescued by, of all people, an upgraded Garth.) It was called The Hero’s Journey, after the Joseph Campbell book about mythic heroes.... !!! Like, what??? !!!! I didn’t even have anything to say about that episode, it just rocked. The “meta” was just all out there in plot, like the olives and boiled eggs in a 1950’s gelatin recipe.

Some of this slipperiness in the subtext points right at the study of folklore and the (admittedly Eurocentric at first) efforts to transform a “soft science” into something approaching scientific rigor. The Aarne-Thompson-Uther folktale index is today a codifying or cataloguing tool, with which anthropologists and literature scholars can line up stories based on the motifs found within them-- it is useful for cataloguing tales, making comparative studies, and for trying to trace these stories back through human history to find the One First Story of that type, for instance the ur-story that led to Snow White. When did people first start telling that tale, where, how did it spread, and why are we still telling it today? The danger in using the ATU index is that by stripping a story down to it’s bones, we lose the story, if that makes sense. The beauty of using the ATU index is that you find many, many more interconnected stories. It’s sort of a paradox. Some scholars criticize the ATU, claiming that one could take a random selection of these motifs and shuffle them to create a story and, you sort of could? That’s the beauty of the system.

So that brings us to Jack. I feel like Jack, as in Jack of all Trades, is anything that the narrative needs him to be. As far as I can find, “Jack” is not a “tale type.” He shows up alongside any number of them-- sometimes as a trickster, sometimes as a hero, almost always as a kind of slippery character. In the first folklore post, I invested many words in exploring Dabb’s obsession with threes-- AU Michael asks three beings what they desire, asks his human victim to guess his name three times, then we follow three sleeper stories, and so on. The original TFW was three people. But Jack makes four.

What is Jack’s story going to be?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And speaking for a sec about the origins of myth and folklore-- what about ALL OF THE OTHER PEOPLE in the world? Are they lowkey churning the matrix of reality on their own and generating their own content, like Becky and her AO3 stories and mackettes?

*¯\_(ツ)_/¯ intensifies*

It all just feels so good at this point, even the peril that I feel surrounding Castiel.

I *think* this will be the last of the longform metas before the end of the series. I mean, I can only hope so. I’ll drop some stuff about individual episodes that might be applicable as I rewatch, and I might clean up my post about Last Call and drop it on here, but I just wanted to kind of hold this up as a mile marker before the Final Seven air.

#the folklore of supernatural #idk even what to tag this

55 notes · View notes

daffodildazaiwrites · 3 years

Note

i'm very curious about your selfship :000 and i'm looking for something to watch, maybe,, a top 5 anime would be sweet ! hope it's not to much, i'll keep the birthday wishes to later 💗

Ohhhhh okay! Thank you for asking anon also tell me about your top 5 animes too!

Let me tell you my top 5 anime and then about my selfship then (≧◡≦) For the top 5 I’M going to pick normal length anime’s (like i love one piece but it’s like 900 episodes and I feel like suggesting that would be cruel but if you’re up for the challenge to it xD)

Self ship stuff under the cut!

Also keep in mind my top 5 always changes but if you want to watch something new these will be fun!

Birthday event: Alphabet and Interactions

Top 5 Anime

1. Black Clover (Episode count 157 - ongoing)

Okay if you want something action packed + fighting the system made up by asshole royals this is for you.

Basically to give you a summary in this world magic is everything, everyone can use it except for Asta. Asta and his brother Yuno want to become magic knights and travel to the capital and participate in the magick knight exame, Asta gets picked for the worst squad and Yuno the best one, their adventure starts from there.

Animation very good, story, in my humble opinion, good. So yeah go watch it before this too gets to like a 900 episodes xD

2. Toilet Bound Hanako-kun! (Episode Count 12 one season but there probably will be more)

I just watched this and fell in love with it enough to start the manga because I can’t wait for season 2 to come out :’D The animation is very pretty and you just want to learn more about the characters, highly recommend! so here’s what 9anime’s summary about it:

“The famous "Seven Wonders" that every school seems to have are a staple of Japanese urban legends. One of the most well-known of these tales is that of Hanako-san: the ghost of a young girl who haunts the school's bathrooms. Kamome Academy has its own version of Hanako-san's legend. Rumors claim that if one successfully manages to summon Hanako-san, she will grant her summoner any wish. Lured by the gossip, many people have tried to call upon her, yet every attempt has failed. However, when Nene Yashiro, a girl hoping for romantic fortune, dares to summon Hanako-san, she discovers that the rumored "girl" is actually a boy! After a series of unfortunate events involving Nene's romantic desires, she is unwillingly entangled in the world of the supernatural, becoming Hanako-kun's assistant. Soon, she finds out about Hanako-kun's lesser-known duty: maintaining the fragile balance between mortals and apparitions.“

3. Haikyuu! (There’s four seasons but I don’t know how many episodes and I’m too lazy to count sorry :’D)

I’m sure you’ve heard of Haikyuu, basically it’s a sports anime about volleyball. I was one of those skeptics saying that I wouldn’t enjoy sports anime but here we are.

The animation and learning about each individual characters story really gets you hooked so if you haven’t check this out yet you totally should!

4. Jujutsu Kaisen (Episode Count 12 - Ongoing)

Ah yes the ever famous Jujutsu Kaisen, there’s a reason why everyone’s talking about it, it’s because it’s very very good. If you like your hero stuff with angst and interesting worldview philosophies I highly recommend! Here’s what 9anime says:

“Idly indulging in baseless paranormal activities with the Occult Club, high schooler Yuuji Itadori spends his days at either the clubroom or the hospital, where he visits his bedridden grandfather. However, this leisurely lifestyle soon takes a turn for the strange when he unknowingly encounters a cursed item. Triggering a chain of supernatural occurrences, Yuuji finds himself suddenly thrust into the world of Curses—dreadful beings formed from human malice and negativity—after swallowing the said item, revealed to be a finger belonging to the demon Sukuna Ryoumen, the "King of Curses." Yuuji experiences first-hand the threat these Curses pose to society as he discovers his own newfound powers. Introduced to the Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu Technical High School, he begins to walk down a path from which he cannot return—the path of a Jujutsu sorcerer. “

I also, of course, have a jujutsu blog if anyone’s interested it’s @sassystarlightgojo !

5. Banana Fish (Episode count 24 - Complete)

I’m not gonna say much about this other then I still think about it, also this has mature themes and again I won’t say much but it’s angst but it also has its cute moments! highly recommend! Also if you do start watching do not look up ANYTHING about it!

“Ash Lynx, was a runaway picked off the streets of New York City and raised by the infamous godfather of the mafia, Dino Golzine. Now 17 years old and the boss of his own gang, Ash gets his hands on a mysterious drug called "Banana Fish"—the same two words his older brother, Griffin, has muttered since his return from the Iraq War. However, his investigation is hindered when Dino sends his men to retrieve the drug from Ash at an underground bar he uses as a hideout. At the bar, Skip, Ash's friend, introduces him to Shunichi Ibe and his assistant, Eiji Okumura, who are Japanese photographers reporting on American street gangs.”

Honorable mentions: Fire Force (beautiful animation great story watch it), Given, Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun, Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign, Ouran Highschool host club

Now on to my Selfship!

Okay I won’t keep this super long (I do want to post some selfship stuff but honestly I’m not sure anyone would want to read those xD) I ship myself in a poly relationship with both Dazai and Chuuya.

In canon world I also joined the port mafia pretty much at the same time as Dazai, we already had somewhat of a relationship but Dazai, as we all know, was a bit too intense back then but when Chuuya joined I realized that I like them both and slowly out relationship starts to bloom. Chuuya is quicky to realize he might have a bit of feelings for Dazai too and even if he never told him, in order to understand himself better he rolls with it.

But when Dazai decides he’s going to leave I try to stop him but then end up going with him, leaving Chuuya a letter before we go.

So that’s pretty much the gist of it xD I didn’t write much of the relationship dynamics because I just thought it would be too long of a post buuuuut if anyone is interested feel free to ask!

#sil’s birthday bash #sil answers #anon #birthday event #sorry that this is a little long

6 notes · View notes

hippychick006 · 4 years

Text

15.12 - Galaxy Brain

Episode Review/Recap

This is not pretty. Not the worst episode ever, but definitely somewhere in the bottom 10. It mainly suffers from having the focus on “fan favourites” I stopped caring about seasons ago, and contempt for Sam and Dean and their fans coming through loud and clear in the writing.

Everything under a cut because some people can’t handle the truth!

Official episode summary to get us excited and want to watch live: Sam and Dean respond to a frantic call and together along with Castiel, Jack, and Jody Mills (guest star Kim Rhodes), assist in an extraordinary and heartbreaking rescue. Billie (guest star Lisa Berry) surprises everyone with a visit to the bunker.

My reaction:

“Heartbreaking rescue” 😂

Kaia is shown in the recap and since I know from the promo that Jody is also in this episode, it’s yet another Wayward af episode being forced onto an audience who were very clear they didn’t want it 🙄. The recap is sending me to sleep and my bitter Sam girl is rising since he’s barely in it. Checks who wrote it and rolls eyes: Teleplay by Bobo the 🤡. Dean likely isn’t going to be much better off, prepares self for Destiel pandering and Dean being used as a side character to prop up the actual side characters. Awesome. Roll on Walker where I hope I won’t be subjected to this shit.

The radio shed scene is boring. Done with “fan favourite” Chuck and have been for several seasons now. Chuck’s droning on about Sam and Dean, yet it’s Dean and waste of space who are being shown sitting down together, with Sam barely in the background. Awesome. I just. Why? This is like when someone says something about J2 but we get a gif that includes M. Why are we incapable of getting just J2 or Sam and Dean?

Moving quickly on, we transition from one character I used to love but now don’t care about, to another character I used to love, but now don’t care about. “Fan favourite” Jody is examining a dead cow. “Fan favourite” Alex calls her, she must have been busy doing something else as she doesn’t appear in the episode. Side note, Berens put the line in about vegan lasagne because the girl playing Alex is a vegan. Oh… so we’re putting in shout outs to the side characters now? Maybe that’s why the writing is so bad. #justsaying 🤷‍♀️

Jody gets whacked on the head and is it wrong to hope she’s dead? 😔 I know she’s not dead, I know this episode is going to be TFW 2.0 rescuing her (though I predict they will end up being the ones needing to be rescued because Wayward af). It’s too much to expect some real cases, some real urban legends to investigate in the final season. Show went too big when it should have gone home.

Almost 7 minutes in and we finally have Sam and Dean. Yay! Berens has finally remembered they are still characters on the show, but I guess he hasn’t focused on them as they aren’t “fan favourites”. And of course “fan favourite” waste of space is in the scene because Chuck fucking forbid we get the brothers without their waste of space hanging around because he somehow has nothing else to do the last 4 seasons.

We’re pandering to “my three dad’s” fan fiction crowd in this scene, though sharing 1 braincell Destihellers for sure will be tweeting about “dads” Dean and waste of space and cheerleader Uncle Sam. They’re talking about “fan favourite” Jack and him eating hearts. Sam doesn’t want to trust “fan favourite” Billie (good call imo). Dean seems disconnected from this scene. Same Jensen, Same tbh. Jared, bless him, is trying his best with this shit, even bringing out the big gun puppy eyes of doom, but I’m feeling nothing but anger.

We move from them to Jack wandering around the bunker. We see him looking at “fan favourite” Mary’s initials carved into the table… and thank you show for reminding me of that fuck up that I’d wiped from my memory. 😡🤬. We learn during this scene that Jack has been trying to contact Billie, but she’s busy so sent him a reaper.

Back with my three dad’s and Jensen can barely keep the contempt out of his expression to deliver this script. 😂

We learn in this scene that Jack trusts Death so waste of space trusts Jack (me plaintively, why???), This appears to be the part in the season that waste of space is being set up to be the tool, which they’ll forgive him for yet again. 🙄 and also 😴 and 😡, a lot of 😡

Ooh, Sam just asked the obvious question, “If Jack kills god, what about Amara.” Nobody really answers it though.

Jared side-eyeing Misha at the end of this “brother” scene. Wtf are you doing in this scene? Your contribution was what exactly? Did I get any time off during any of this for you to stand in this scene doing nothing, other than pandering to Destiel stans that could give a fuck about me, than as a cheerleader for their non ship? He flounces out. I wish I could leave as easily Jared, but you sucked me into this show the first time you popped your cute mop of emo hair around the door and asked, “Do I have to?” I’m here to the bitter, bitter end my friend.

Back with Jack and “fan favourite” random reaper we’ve never seen before. No offence to the lady, but it might have been nice to see “fan favourite” Tessa back. I don’t think she bit the dust, did she? Anyway 😴 through this scene.

Parent!Sam goes to find Jack and hears him talking to someone. Immediately concerned, he knocks on the door, and enters. The reaper has disappeared. Sam asks who Jack was talking to, Jack says no one, Sam knows that’s not the case but doesn’t push it. Sam says they’re glad to have Jack back and asks if he knows that and that Jack could have come to them first, they would have helped him. So… we’re just ignoring the whole box thing and the end of last season? Awesome, said no fan of good writing or continuity anywhere.

By the way Jack, that was your cue to be honest with Sam about the reaper.

Ah, yet another pandering moment!! How would we have endured the last few seasons without one or two or twenty of these crow barred into every episode. Screams from the rooftops “waste of space is a god damn angel, he doesn’t eat or drink, why the fuck are you trying to humanise him you twats.”

Anyway 😴 through that scene and I swear, I would pay to have a version of this show with waste of space completely removed from the last few seasons. Zero purpose to this, other than setting him up to be wrong again, and taking Dean along with him, because if Jack’s anything other than a red herring, I’ll be very 😡

As an aside, I don’t know who that is in this scene but it’s not Dean. It’s not my Dean that I fell in love with. I hate how much this show lost its way and dragged everything down to pandering and soap opera drama.

As another aside, this scene is like an outtake with seeing who can have the deepest voice, their vocal chords are going to be permanently screwed.

However, what amuses me as always with any Dean and waste of space scene, they don’t actually talk, except about Sam or Jack and this scene is no different.

Dean’s phone rings. It’s Jody. I started watching this epsiode, then took a break for a couple of days and had somehow completely forgotten she was in the episode. That’s how efficient my mind is at removing the trash. 😂. Anyway she’s in trouble and tells Dean where she is and that he has to come, otherwise she dies.

Dean and Sam drive to the location given by Jody and I’m incredibly surprised that waste of space isn’t cadging a ride in the back seat. Seems this is a random time they can deal with things on their own without requiring the assistance of several others. Just like the good old days. Shame they’re saving one of the Wayward failures rather than a brand new case that would have been infinitely more interesting.

Sam and Dean get to pretend they remember how to hunt in this episode, Dean covering Sam’s back while Sam helps untie Jody who is tied to a chair in the middle of a barn is the best scene in the episode so far. Jody has plenty of time while Sam’s untying her to warn them to watch out for “fan favourite” Dark!Kaia but no, and that’s how bad this is. She barely gets a gasp and a “look out” before Sam gets whaled on. And of course they are both going to get their asses handed to them because “Wayward af” 🙄. Fucking hate Wayward, not content with ruining 4 episodes of season 13, they’ve come back uninvited to waste another in season 15.

What the fuck did I just see? No seriously, what the actual everloving fuck did I just see? (My swearing goes up exponentially the worse the writing is, I make no apology for that). Samsel-in-distress is writhing on the floor, while Dean is being choked by whiny dark!kaia complaining about her spear, so of course Jody has to be the one to rescue the Winchesters by whacking her on the back with her chair 🙄. To add insult to injury, we don’t even get a padabooty shot to make up for this atrocity we’ve had to endure. And believe me, I could see Jared desperately trying to give us that shot. I’m 😡

Now that Jody’s been shown to be more competent than the Winchesters because “girl power rules”, Sam’s able to stand up again and both he and Dean get their guns trained on dark!kaia.

Long boring scene later – mainly between Jody and Kaia because why write for the two guys you’re paying a quarter of a million dollars per episode for, when you can write for the cheap side characters and have Sam and Dean just stand in the scene doing practically nothing. Are you chuck damn insane with this nonsense? Oh sorry, upshot is Kaia is alive and Dark!Kaia can see her world ending and needs to open the portal to rescue her so she lured Sam and Dean to get to Jack (for him to open the portal like he did before). 😴

Jack and waste of space are playing connect 4. Jack wins. 😴

Sam and Jody arrive back at the bunker. We get a waste of screen time between Jody and waste of space who meet for the first time, with Sam once again being very expensive, but beautiful background. Dean comes in a little later so he can have a dramatic entrance with dun dun dun, dark!kaia. 😴

I love how the Scooby gang are all off to the side, having a conversation but Dark!kaia is clearly within listening distance so it just makes them look like dumbasses.

Jack’s off limits in helping Kaia (Parent!Dean said no), but Sam says they’re going to look for another way. Ummm… wasn’t that what the entirety of Season 13 was about and you needed the grace of an archangel for? You’re just going to “check the lore” and miraculously find in half an episode what you couldn’t find in the entirety of a season? This is bad. Waste of space is going to call plot device “fan favourite” Sergei. How they never stumbled across Sergei before, I have no idea as he seems to be the oracle as far as Drabbernatural is concerned.

Dark!Kaia is so whiny. They are terrible at writing teenage girls, it’s actually insulting at this point.

Oh, I thought Jack had found the right spell in research, but turns out the monster needed for the spell is now extinct as they read about it in dad’s journal. Wow, I don’t remember the journal being mentioned in a long time, surprised they remember it even existed, let alone used to be the holy grail of hunting and pretty much what the show centred around in the early seasons (*whispers*, when the show was good).

Wow, they even managed to make the 30 second broment boring. This is a new low. 😴

Jody and waste of space scene because yes, out of all the scenes I could have wished to see in the final season, this was on the list. 🙄. They talk about “fan favourite” Hunter!Barbie Claire (who couldn’t be in this episode because she’s all that and a kit kat now - Supernatural who? I don’t know her.). We find out Claire loved Kaia. I mean yeah, it’s totally normal to fall in love within 15 minutes of knowing someone. Fucking hell, someone take this pandering hack’s laptop away and save us from this trite aimed only at people who share 1 braincell who only wanted the relationship as it’s a “parallel” to Destiel. But since Dean dancing with a lamp a couple of episodes ago was a parallel for Destiel, why are we pandering to them. (*whispers* the writers are all narcassists and put stoking their ego before good writing).

This is bad. Did I mention this was bad? No, but it’s really, really bad.

Jack was listening in so he’s going to do something stupid so Claire gets her “love” back. Of course he is. 🙄

He goes to speak to Dark!Kaia. She’s still whiny, we’ll fast forward this garbage to the point Jack looks inside Dark!Kaia’s head to see what she sees, which is Kaia struggling in lizard world. 😴

Jack goes to Sam and Dean and says he’s helping Kaia because he owes her. Parent!Winchesters are funny, neither are happy with what Jack wants to do but they support their mother killing son.

Reaper is back to stop Jack doing something that is “Winchester dumb” and Jesus fuck, how much contempt does this hack writer have for the lead characters and the 99% of the audience who love them?

Anyway the next few minutes are how stupid the Winchesters are that they can’t even fix the warding on the bunker, and I hate this writer is getting paid actual money for handing this crap in. Unfortunately, he’s got his fellow writers and a couple of hundred sycophants telling him how absolutely amaze balls he is with the rest of the c list cast tweeting around each other at how good they all were.

This is my favourite bit of the episode – not really – but it amuses me the Hellers are making mountains out of “I need to borrow your angel” (😔 pandering) and completely ignoring that no-one bats an eye or puts up a token protest that the reaper needs to use waste of space to feed the wards to keep them running as long as they need for the spell to work. No one asks what harm that might do to him, waste of space is yet again, nothing more than... well, a waste of space really. Never change Hellers, never change. 😂. I’d like to point out that if Sam has been needed to charge it, the reaction from Dean would have been entirely different. 😂

Dean makes the spell, Sam reads the words, while 2 of the 3 side characters just stand there with no purpose. The warding going up throughout the bunker is the coolest part of this episode though. Special effects used their $2.50 dollar store budget wisely this week. 👍

10 second broment where Sam asks Dean how Sam’s feeling about what they’re doing.

Sam: honestly? It feels like we’re taking a big, probably stupid risk… it feels good. Disobeying cosmic entities, doing the dumb right thing, it feels like we’re back.

Note to Berens, I think you could have fit a few more dumb synonyms into that speech to let us know how you really feel). 🙄

I like how Sam checks Dean’s backpack in this scene though. I’m wondering if that was J2 rather than writing or direction.

Yet another scene between Jody and waste of space. 😴. Jody thanks him for staying behind to look after the reaper. Waste of space says he wants Jody to stay behind too.

Jody (out of absolutely nowhere): What is that? Some bs male chivalry thing?

Fuck off with your sjw feminist bullshit to please the single braincellers. With shitty lines like this, it’s absolutely no surprise Wayward didn’t get green lighted.

Waste of space talks about how he’ll never be able to make what’s right, what he “took from Claire”. Oh, you’ve remembered you possessed a child, incapable of consenting to being possessed, in order to blackmail her father to agree to being possessed again against his will. A father and husband you got killed because you provoked Lucifer by shouting “Hey assbutt” at him and getting Jimmy blown to smithereens? And you still wander round wearing his face and clothes? No, waste of space, you can’t ever make up for that.

Anyway, the reason he doesn’t want Jody going is that if Claire loses her on top of what she’s already lost (including Kaia), then it would kill her. Jody agrees. I meanwhile have to stop watching while I try to find my eyes which have rolled right out of my head at this point of the episode. 🙄

Found them, we’re back!

The reaper and Castiel put their hands on a stone tablet, not sure if we’ve seen it before or it’s just a random object the reaper has handy. 🤷‍♀️. The wards are supercharged (hiding the use of Jack’s powers from Chuck so he doesn’t alert Chuck that he’s back). Jack opens the portal and Dark!Kaia, Sam and Dean step through to lizard world.

It’s raining heavily, but not on Sam’s hair bizarrely. Denied wet!Sam so here’s a gif from a good episode.

And because I'm here for both my boys, here’s wet Dean as a bonus

They start walking to find Kaia and are set upon by those creatures from the first Star Wars movies – the ones that sell the droids and this bit is exciting, finally we get what I’m here for. Sam and Dean are going to kick as…. Or not, because why write Sam and Dean doing what they should be doing. The creatures don’t want to fight, they are scared of the world ending and run away. Totally anti-climactic. 😔

They find Kaia and in the most bizarre writing so far in a season chock full of bizarre writing, Kaia rushes to the guy who pulled a gun on her and forced her to do something she didn’t want to do, resulting in her getting stranded on that shitty lizard world alone, and instead of stabbing him, she… hugs him.

In fairness, it was ooc writing by I think Berens that had Dean pulling the gun on Kaia in the first place so this is just a really weak attempt at fixing the original bad writing, which only ends up compounding the problem.

Sam “the writers never bother to write in a hug for me” Winchester just stands back and smiles at Kaia. In fairness, Sam never getting hugged goes way back and I headcanon that Sam has “back off” vibes to protect himself. Common in younger siblings that experience a lot of loss early in their lives.

Kaia notices dark!kaia and looks about to kill her but Sam says that she helped them find Kaia. They go to leave but dark!kaia wants to stay because she doesn’t belong in their world. Sam says she’ll die and she seems to accept that, being left behind as Sam, Dean and Kaia run for the portal.

We see Dark!Kaia’s world pretty much ending, with her embracing it, just as Sam, Dean and Kaia step back through the portal.

Jody and Kaia hug and I think we’re supposed to feel 🥰 at that, but I care for neither of them (and Kaia was the one I originally liked in season 13, but Wayward af and the trite with Claire, plus dark!kaia episodes ruined it).

Kaia and Jack scene and Kaia looks really well put together considering the entire time we saw her in the AU, she was clearly having mental issues, but like a magic wand has been waved, she’s completely normal and healthy and no worse for 2 earth years in complete isolation in a world you have to fight to survive in every day. Miraculous, but that’s a Wayward af cardboard cutout character for you.

Jody comes in and offers Kaia a home at Jody’s home for cardboard cut out girl!power hunters. Kaia asks if Claire will be there and Jody says soon.

Sam, Dean and waste of space are crammed into a frame and we wouldn’t have this overcrowding in a scene if they didn’t insist on crowbarring him in. There would be more space in the scene if he wasn’t wasting it. I’m guessing it’s to frame Jack in the front with his “three dad’s” behind 🤮. It just looks bad.

After Kaia and Jody leave, they go back to speak to the reaper. They’ve remembered they have two stars in this framing, Sam and Dean are together in the front of the shot, Jack and waste of space are behind.

Sam asks the reaper if the warnings worked. She snidely answers that the fact they are all still alive says it worked. She’s killed milliseconds later by… Billie. Oh “fan favourite” reaper, so sad to see you go. Maybe you’ll be resurrected in a later episode. We can always hope.

“Hello boys”. Wait, isn’t that Crowley’s line (and before that Ellen?).

Oh my chucking lord, why the dramatical looks at Death and everyone being scared. This is bad. This is like that Clint Eastwood movie where they all look at each other.

It’s bad. Who directed this? Lol, I think it might have been Richard. He’s been hit or miss for me. And this one’s a miss.

Sam and Dean step aside to allow Billie to get to Jack and can I just say, no parent would ever do that. I don’t believe Sam and Dean would do that, but they do, do that (sniggers childishly at do do). They just step aside without saying a word, but who cares about them and what their characters would do. Certainly not the writer of this episode.

Death tells them they risked everything for one girl and for what, because all the worlds are dying.

Waste of space says it’s Chuck and glares impotently at Death (I think that’s what he’s doing, he might just need the bathroom again, who knows anymore tbh), while she agrees with him, saying Chuck has been wiping out galaxies for the end.

Sam asks what her end game is. He asks how Jack is going to kill god, what the plan is.

Long, boring monologue later, God has a book in Death’s library, meaning he can die. Billy: Everything dies” 😂

We flashback to original death in the pizza place with Dean and I wish they hadn’t. The difference between that scene and anything in the last season is glaring. But I was right from something we were talking about a few weeks ago, because we get this quote from Death to remind us;

Death: In the end, I reap him too

Original!Dean: God? You’ll reap god

Death: oh yes

Waste of space, “And why would god write the blueprint to his own death?” (that would have been a good line for Sam or Dean who have barely had anything to say or do this episode as it is, and they’re in the scenes just standing there getting paid a quarter of a million dollars to watch someone who hung up his acting shoes before season 7, give this line, and I can’t with this).

Anyway, god didn’t write the book, the books write themselves.

Another boring monologue, the upshot of which is Chuck had to write himself into the framework, hence he has to have a book, but it’s not explained very well and I’m fake coughing bullshit on this plot device as it doesn’t make any sense but I throw my hands up in the air. If the writers don’t care about even trying to make it make sense, then why the fuck should I put any effort in to explain it away. 😴

God hasn’t read his book and can’t unless Billie lets him. Sam asks if Jack is in god’s book. She says yes and “so are you. I told you Dean, you and your brother have work to do, this is your destiny. You are the messengers of god’s destruction.”

Oh great... they’re messenger boys now? Awesome.

Back with Chuck, he’s still in Radio Shed, watching a number of televisions and all of them show worlds being destroyed.

Chuck gets up to leave, the “fan favourite” Radio Shed employee asks if he’ll be saved. Oh you sweet summer child!

Chuck says he’ll be fine, but as he leaves we see a meteor hit the store (and show, if you think that was a surprise twist ending, it was flashing neon lights from the very beginning).

The episode seemed to be double the length of normal, but nothing really happened and it was boring af.

Somebody get this show a defibrillator. Stat! Oh wait, on second thoughts, slaps “Do not resuscitate” sign onto show. Let it die in peace.

#spn spoilers #15.12 #galaxy brain #spn critical #very critical

29 notes · View notes

ezilyamuzed · 4 years

Text

Ten Years Gone- Chapter One

Description: Ten years ago, your world had changed. Ten years ago, you had met him, leading your life to never be the same again. Time is running out, but is it too late after all these years?

Word Count: 5963

Warnings: Language, angst, death (I think that’s about it)

A/N: The first chapter to a new series. If you haven’t read the prelude, you can HERE. This takes place at the end of season 1, beginning of season 2. I re-watch specific episodes to integrate the story in as much as I can into the real one (some things are bound to be reworked a bit!) This process takes lots of time, so please let me know what you think. Also I suggest a re-watch anyways because - come’on, they’re worth it!

Any grammatical mistakes are all my own, because I am human. Remember all comments and feedback are welcomed! If you want a tag in future posts regarding this series or other writings please send an ask! Please leave a comment if you like it, it keeps me motivated to continue! As always thank you for reading! Enjoy!

TEN YEARS GONE MASTERLIST

*Picture and lyrics used are not mine. Led Zeppelin is Amazing.

* Flashbacks are all BOLD and Italicized.

*Oh, do you know my name? Do I look the same. You know I'm the one you want. I must be the one you need.

You reached over and turned the knob of the radio up, getting lost in the rhythm of Zepplin while on your way to Bobby’s reminded you of old times; the good times when you would sit in the back seat while your Uncle Danny sung along while driving. Now it was just you and his ‘70 Chevelle, taking on the world one monster at a time.

You were still grimy from the last hunt, and the fact that there was no A/C on a 90 degree day left you a sweaty mess sticking to the seat, even with the windows rolled down. Your tank top was practically drenched and your shorts probably looked like you peed yourself, but that didn’t really matter. In a few minutes you’d be walking into the place you had called home for the better part of 9 years and honestly, Bobby had seen you in worse shape. Hell, he’s bandaged you more times than you’d like to admit.

Spending your birthday with him had become somewhat of a tradition. Each year that past was another one closer to countdown. At least you were never alone. You were early this year by almost a month, but only because your car needed fixing. And it was also nice to relax every once in a while, but you’d never tell Bobby that.

As you pulled up to the sweet sight of home, you noticed a different black car parked along the side- John Winchester’s unmistakable black impala. After shifting into park you sat in the car for a minute, contemplating whether you should or should not go in. It had been years since you had seen him and the last time, well, that was something that no one wanted to ever talk about. So what would he be doing here?

You exhaled deeply as you peeled yourself off of the seat, walking slowly to be greeted by your favorite living being in the world.

“Hey ya Rumsfeld,” you smiled as you crunched down and rubbed the aging Rottweiler behind his ears. “We got company huh?”

Rumsfeld turned his head towards the house and back to you, licking your cheek to show his affection.

“Missed you too boy,” you gave him another pat on his head as you stood. “Guess I’ll go see what’s going on.”

You walked through the back door to the kitchen and called out for Bobby. He yelled that he was in the living room and he would be right with you. You heard someone ask who Bobby was talking to, to which he didn’t respond. That was supposed to queue you to stay out of it, but curiosity got the best of you. It always did.

“Why does it look like John Winchester’s car is out there?” You asked as you walked into the living room.

You stopped in your tracks as you saw Bobby staring at you in disapproval as a young tall guy turned his head towards your direction. He looked like a green eyed god in a leather jacket. Your heart skipped a beat as he flashed a slight smile to you while he looked you up and down with widened eyes. He was smooth looking like James Dean. That’s when it hit you. Dean. No, it couldn’t be.

“Y/N,” Bobby spoke up. “You remember Dean and Sam.”

Dean. Dean fucking Winchester. Your first kiss. Hell your first love was standing there after so many years. The man who made you go all stupid so long ago.

“Wait, Y/N?” His eyes grew wider in surprise, almost like a disbelief.

“Wow,” you heard a voice from behind him. A tall, practically a giant to you, shaggy haired kid stood up from the desk with a huge smile on his face as he approached you. He wrapped his arms around you in a tight embrace picking you up a little, knocking the breath right out of you. “It’s been a long time.”

“Sam?” You exhaled out as you realized that this was now post pubescent little Sammy cradling you in his arms like a rag doll. “Holy shit you’ve grown!”

“Yeah, I can kick Dean’s ass now,” he smiled as he dropped his arms and stepped back.

“You wish,” Dean snarked back, before turning to you with a sheepish grin. “Good to see you Y/N.”

“Yup,” you popped off your lips, really hoping that he didn’t think you were still pining over him for almost a decade.

“Did you lose all your clothes in a fight there Y/N?” Bobby spoke up again in that damn fatherly tone, making you realize that your outfit was practically nonexistent, especially when there was company around. No wonder Dean had looked at you that way.

“A/C is busted,” you shrugged. “While in town, I figured I could use the garage. Didn’t think there’d be company.”

“Took a liking to cars anyway huh?” Dean smiled, knowing that it would be your biggest complaint when he would suggest things to do.

“Anyways,” you turned your head to Sam. “What brings you here after all this time? Finally remembered the address?”

The barking of Rumsfeld stopped anyone from saying anything else. Bobby ran to the window with Dean as Sam looked over to you in panic, pushing you back to go to another room. Whatever was going on, you didn’t have enough time to question it as you heard the front door bust open with a woman’s voice now speaking.

You listened to them carefully, waiting to see if it was possible to stop whatever had come through that door. Whatever it was, they did a lot of monologuing for some colt. Wait, not THE Colt? You thought that was an urban legend, not real. And the Winchester’s had it? That could only mean one thing; the girl was a fucking demon. You listened as she talked, hearing her voice move through the room with the steady steps of someone else leading her further in the room.

“Good job Bobby,” you thought to yourself. “Get her into the trap.”

Hearing Dean’s voice inform her that they got her, you breathed out deeply after realizing that you had been holding it in. Fucking demons, the worst thing you’ve ever come across. Impossible to kill and impossible to predict.

“Bobby,” you moved from your hiding spot to the living room, only to see the demon in a young girl’s body, probably around your age. Poor thing, she was probably dead already.

“Salt. Windows. Now!” He instructed, making you jump to hit all the upstairs entrances in a hurry, a task you were all too familiar with.

As soon as you finished you went back down the stairs, witnessing Dean double fastening the knots on the rope he had tied around her. She looked at you with a grin, almost like she had known who you were.

“Y/N, you need to get out of here now,” Bobby stated as he walked past you.

“What’s happening Bobby?” You asked as you grabbed his arm to stop him.

“It’s John, he’s been taken,” he spoke clearly and firmly. “Now you need to go upstairs now.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Now Y/N!” He growled as he shook off your grip, going back to the boys to inform them that everything had been salted.

You stood there for a second, wanting to protest Bobby’s directions, but you knew whatever was going on, it had to be big. Hell, if John and the boys were involved it most definitely was. You looked back towards them as you ascended the stairs, catching a glimpse of Dean looking at you with his jaw tightening and fury written all over his face. A look you had seen only one other person do before; his dad.

————-

You laid out on your bed, finishing up the last bit of a creative writing assignment; integrating Hamlet into the current year. That was easy enough. Your world was definitely not short of witches, ghosts, magic, and vengeance. Besides Bobby, it had been rather quiet weeks that followed after the boys had left. The last you had heard from your uncle Danny, he was onto something big. That was almost 3 weeks ago. You started feeling dread in the pit of your stomach, but Bobby would try to reassure you that he would be coming back, just sometimes it was a hard task to get a phone. That excuse made you roll your eyes every time he used it. He was trying to keep you safe, but unfortunately in this life you can’t always do that.

Hearing a rumble of an engine approaching you got up and looked out your window to the driveway. Kicking up the dusty ground you saw for the first time in months the sleek black Impala you had hoped to see again. Your heart was racing as you ran out of your room and bolted down the stairs. Flinging the door open, you ran outside with a bright smile, only for it to fade as you realized it only had one occupant.

“Y/N,” John stated as he walked around the car.

“Where’s Dean and Sam?” you asked while moving your head around him, hoping that somehow they would spring up from hiding.

“We need to talk,” his voice sounding grave and eerie.

You stopped and looked up at him, his face twisted in guilt, as if he was searching for the words to tell you the worst. That’s when the dread grew larger in the pit of your stomach, filling your throat with bile, and your eyes with tears as you managed to mumble out your question.

“How?”

“Demon,” he breathed out, as he looked you in the eyes, his filled with fury with his clenching jaw. “I’m sorry Y/N, but Danny is gone.”

——————

You sat with your knees up to your chest on top of the stairs, feeling like a kid again listening in on her parents when she should have been sleeping. They were exercising her out of the meat suit, at least attempting rather slowly to try and get answers out of her. Demons lie and they trick people into believing it’s real. That’s just what they do.

As you felt the house shake, you knew the exorcism was happening; sending the demon back to the hell from where it came. You slowly stood up, grasping the banister as you overheard Dean and Sam with the prodding questions to the girl that was clearly dying.

As Bobby moved to grab her water he stopped and just shook his head to you, signaling you to stay away and for once. You listened and sat yourself back down, hidden away from their sights.

You could hear the eerie gurgle of her last words, and the desperation in Dean’s voice making you feel your heart break for him. He had known loss, but this? No one ever gets used to this.

“You boys better get a move on before the paramedics get here,” Bobby instructed them, which was a blatant lie. No paramedics were coming. He knew and you knew what was going to happen before they did.

“What about Y/N?” Sam spoke up. “Is she okay?”

“Don’t you worry about her,” Bobby insisted as he led them out the door. “You just get back your dad and bring him back here.”

“Thanks Bobby,” you heard Dean say as they left out the door.

As soon as you heard the engine rive up, you finally descended down the stairs, already prepared for what was to happen next.

“Bury or burn,” you asked with a sigh to Bobby as you glimpse down at the young girls lifeless body.

“It’ll be dark soon. We will burn the body and bury her after,” he stated while taking off his signature hat and running his fingers through his hair.

“Bobby,” you spoke up again. “Those boys don’t know what they’re getting into. We should have gone with them. I could help. I-“

“No,” Bobby shook his head. “Whatever mess they’ve gotten themselves into, those boys will make it out.”

“They didn’t even know what they were doing. You're sending them in blind without backup.” You argued. “They barely knew how to do an exorcism.”

Bobby looked at you, giving his own disapproving glare that you would want to ever get involved with the Winchester’s and demons.

“They’ll be fine,” Bobby tried to reassure you. “They’re stronger than you think.”

“What about when they realize that John is dead?” You found yourself asking out loud.

Bobby exhaled deeply, shaking his head slowly to your words. A circumstance he didn’t want to admit was possible, but you knew better.

“Then we will be here for them after,” he responded with certainty. “Those boys, well like you, they are family. I know you don’t like this, but it’s for the best.”

You didn’t want to argue anymore since you knew there was no point in ever trying to change Bobby’s mind once it was made. You rolled your eyes and turned to the door.

“It’s almost dark, I’m going to set up everything for the fire, but after we’re done, I’m not sticking around to see whatever mess they come back as,” you stated as you opened the door, pausing for a moment before shutting it behind you. “If they come back.”

As the door shut behind you, you lifted your head to feel the dusk air turning cooler. You looked over to where Rumsfeld used to lay on the old truck now vacant. Your anger rose inside of you as you thought about how in less than 5 minutes upon your arrival at Bobby’s, demons had managed to come back into your life and of course Winchester’s were involved.

———

“His storage locker isn’t too much further away Y/N,” John stated to you from his spot in the driver’s seat. “You sure you want to do this?”

“Everything he kept from his childhood, his life and my parents' lives before is in there,” you stated while leaning your head against the window of the passenger side. “I can’t just leave it there to collect dust and be forgotten.”

“Anything else-“ he paused to see your reaction before continuing. “I’ll make sure it doesn’t get into the wrong hands.”

“Take whatever you need,” you shook your head with a sigh. “I want nothing to do with that life, not when it’s taken everything from me already.”

John remained silent as his eyes stayed fixed on the road. You could see out of the corner of your eye that he was subtly nodding in agreement.

“Bobby will take care of you,” he broke the silence after a few minutes. “You can live the normal life you deserve.”

“Normal. What’s that,” you asked yourself as you turned your head back to the scenery. After John had told you the news he offered to take you to collect items Danny had hidden in storage. It wasn’t a short trip, especially next to John Winchester. You had wished Dean and Sam were at least with you, but Bobby was on his way to pick them up at their latest school.

For once it wasn’t just trees galore you were looking at, but skyscrapers and buildings with luxurious architectural fixtures. Definitely different than your usual, which most certainly explained why Danny had chosen it.

The two of you stayed in silence until he pulled up to the storage place- Castle Storage. As he put the car in park you prepared yourself for whatever you were going to find in there. It wasn’t going to be easy looking at things that would remind you of what you had lost, but it had to be done.

‘Happy birthday to you’, you had thought as you followed John’s lead to inside the building, turning around corners until he finally stopped at a door. You watched as he unlocked it with a key that had hung on your uncle’s keyring, popping open the door and turning on the light to the side of him.

“Wait one second,” he advised as he held out his arm to stop you from moving. “Your uncle could be a paranoid SOB, so there may be traps.”

He glanced down by his feet, and crouched down low, seeing something you obviously did not.

“Tripwire,” he informed you as he stood back up. “Watch your step and follow my lead.”

You nodded as you watched him take a few steps in and followed him exactly. It was like an arsenal and a museum of fucked up shit all at once. His life, all collecting dust in a storage room to be forgotten. You glanced down at the floor, there was a weird star painted on it with markings all over.

“Devil’s trap,” John commented as he moved further in. “Stops demons from moving anywhere.”

You felt a sense of dread as you drew closer, every nerve in you telling you that this was a bad place.

“Can we hurry up? I don’t want to be here,” you stated as you drew your arms close to your chest.

“In and out,” he stated as he opened up a couple of cardboard boxes. “I think this is what we’re here for.”

You peaked inside, right on top was a collection of family photos. Your family photos. You reached in and gathered them up, taking a moment to remember your parents faces.

“He definitely had a collection. It’s going to take me awhile to get this all out of here,” John said, breaking you from your thoughts.

“Just keep it all here then,” you shrugged as you continued looking throughout the box that was filled with random papers at the bottom. “It’s not like anyone else is using it.”

“Maybe I will,” he stated while moving around some of the weapons that were carefully placed along a caged wall.

“Well, now. Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”

That voice. You knew that voice. It was your uncle Danny’s. John and you quickly turned your heads to it, your heart was racing out of your chest.

“Danny,” you breathed out in cry, about to move to him but John grabbed your arm before you could move.

“Y/N stop. That’s not Danny.”

—————

After scrubbing the foul stench of burned flesh and dirt of your skin, you made your way to the local pub. You didn’t want to argue with Bobby anymore about not helping Sam and Dean. Dean Winchester, after all these years he still made your heart ache just by thinking of his name, meaning you had to find a quick distraction for the night, so what better place to do it?

Some familiar faces gave you a nod as you sat down and ordered a double whiskey neat and a beer.

“I see trouble is back in town,” you heard behind you, making you turn your head to see the skeptical glare of the sheriff that had on more than one occasion threatened to arrest you for good, but nothing could ever stick.

“Sheriff Mills,” you grinned. “Isn’t it about time to retire?”

“Not if you’re still hanging around these parts. You and that old drunk Bobby.” She grinned back. “ So what are you doing back in town? It’s been almost a year.”

“Nice to see you miss me when I’m gone,” you scoffed back as you took a sip of your beer. “It’s my birthday in a couple weeks, so I’m just visiting the ‘ol man. I’ll be out of your hair soon.”

“Stay out of trouble Y/N,” she warned. “You’re still young. I’d hate to see you throw away your life over something stupid.”

You let out a quick laugh as you shook your head.

“Have a good night Sheriff.”

You watched as she walked away before she let out that damn motherly sigh of disappointment. What did she know about anything anyways? You weren’t purposely throwing your life away, you were living it with the little time you had left.

“Hey there trouble, I see the Sheriff already gave you your yearly warning.”

You looked at the man behind the bar grinning back at you as he leaned back with his muscular arms crossing his equally muscular chest. Josh Adams, the local bartender that had been your on and off again distraction since high school when you came into town.

“Just the trouble I was looking to find,” you winked and smiled as you downed your shot. “How about another round?”

————————

John’s words rang in your head as you stared at the face of your uncle. How could it not be him?

“Aw John, why of course I am,” his eyes flashed bright yellow as he grinned and let out a manic laugh.

“Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus,” John stated to say, making the yellow eyed fraud stop smiling and grow in anger.

“Enough of that John,” he snarled. “We don’t want things to get messy now do we.”

“Omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii,”John continued before the demon waved his hand and knocked him back hard enough to the ground to knock him out.

“That’s better,” he grinned again before looking at you.

The fear was growing inside of you the way that his eyes glared. The tears couldn’t stop flowing as you witnessed your uncle’s face twisting as he moved towards you. Your eyes moved down to the floor. The trap. You could get him in the trap until John woke up. Unfortunately your eyes gave it away, as he looked down and smiled as he stepped around it.

“What a pretty little girl you are,” he smirked.

“Wh..what do you want with me,” your voice quavering.

“You are just what I’ve been looking for,” he grinned as he drew closer. “I need someone with a little fire for my army.”

As you felt your breath catch in your chest while his eyes gleamed yellow at you again, you felt a hard metal object down by your right hand. Panic rose in you as you picked it up and smashed it up against the skull of your uncle’s body. It had taken him by surprise with you continuing in a frantic, pushing him closer to the demon trap. Before he crossed over he opened his mouth up wide and a cloud of black smoke filled the room, rushing towards John’s limp body until it cleared away. You went to rush over to him, but stopped dead in your tracks as his eyes sprung open, now bright yellow.

“I see spending time with hunters has turned you brave,” he smiled as he stood. “That’s good. It means that you’ll be strong enough for what will happen. You’re a fighter.”

“I will never agree to join you. I won’t do it!” You yelled out loud.

“How sweet. Do you think you have a choice? How about I change your mind,” he smiled as he pulled out a pearl handled gun from the waist of John’s pants and shot it right to where John’s heart should be, making you jump out of your skin as you heard the sound. “So what will it be Y/N? Your life or his?”

———————-

You had lied when you said you would be leaving again, and Bobby knew it but went along with it as you took your time finding your next hunt. You had to know what had happened, if they even survived. Six days had come and gone when Bobby got a call from Dean, letting him know what had happened. John was dead thanks to the yellow eyed demon that was still out there. Your demon. They had failed.

Bobby took one of his tow trucks to go get them, a couple days there and back. You stayed perched in his living room, flipping through books as you waited patiently for them to return. Anxiously waiting to see why the demon was so interested in them and if they even had the slightest plan.

You awoke to the sound of the heavy truck making its way down the gravel driveway. The slam of the doors made you look out the window as the three men stood there talking about something in the darkness. There was a solemn look on all their faces as the lights hit the mangled impala and their own matching bruises. You watched as they turned to the house to enter it, and for some reason instead of getting up, you shut your eyes tightly and pretended to still be sleeping.

“I see the couch is taken,” you heard Dean chuckle with sarcasm before hearing a wince or pain.

“Take a bed upstairs,” Bobby instructed them. “You need some sleep.”

“Thanks Bobby,” Sam muttered as you heard them ascend the stairs.

“They’re gone. You don’t have to pretend to be sleeping anymore,” Bobby stated after a few minutes, making you open your eyes.

“How’d you know?”

“I know you and how you’ve probably been sitting here since I left, waiting to see if everyone was alright.”

“What happened?”

Bobby shook his head as he picked up the near empty bottle next to you and downed it in a gulp.

“It’s only the beginning, isn’t it?” You found yourself asking the obvious.

He shook his head to confirm your words as he sat the empty bottle down and walked towards his desk to pull out another.

“I think it’s worse than what we know. Something bad is brewing and it’s no time to be hanging on the sidelines.”

You let out a little chuckle, knowing that was Bobby’s way of saying he was wrong and you were right. No time to sit out. You had work to do.

———————————

“So what’s your choice?”

Your mind raced as your breath quickened while you watched the blood pour from John’s chest. Sam and Dean. Their dad was going to die if you didn’t make up your mind right there. They were going to be alone in the world just like you.

“Tick tock goes the clock,” he teased. “He won’t have much blood left if you wait too long.”

Could you let this happen to them? How would you even live with yourself knowing you choose yourself over their dad; even if he wasn’t the father of the year. They would never forgive you.

“Yes,” you breathed out as tears rolled down your face as you claimed the position of the martyr.

“Yes what?” He grinned.

“My life for his,” you looked up to him through your tears.

“That’s a good girl,” he stated as he drew closer. “Now to make it official. Your life for his. You get 10 years and then you are mine. Standard deal of course.”

Ten years? You had expected him to kill you right there. Why wait so long?

“Oh the little fire pistol you’ll be when that day arrives. Oh yes, you will be useful to me then. Until then; a kiss to seal the deal,” he grinned. “Now be a good girl and give daddy a kiss.”

Your face twisted as you fought the sickness in your throat from coming up as you kissed John’s lips. Your second kiss and it was to promise your life away. You quickly pulled away and saw his eyes flash yellow once more before the cloud of black smoke rushed out of John’s mouth, making him fall down to the ground.

You dropped down to your knees, examining where the bullet had gone. There was nothing but smeared blood over the now healed spot. He was safe. He was alive.

John’s eyes fluttered open as he groaned.

“Y/N, what happened?” He demanded in a fierce rage.”What did you do?”

Happy birthday to you.

—————————-

The sun shining through the curtains awoke you, making you stretch out along the couch. As you stood up, you glanced at Bobby asleep on the desk. The fresh bottle from last night was now empty as well. You threw your hair up into a mess on top of your head as you made your way to the coffee pot. Caffeine was a necessity on most days and you were sure that was certainly true now especially after the couple days that the boys must have gone through.

After the coffee was done and you made some toast with jelly, you sat at the table with your legs nestled under you to read the latest obits online.

“Um, morning,” you heard Dean say as he entered, rubbing the mess of hair on his head, a healing gash bandaged across his forehead. “Didn’t know anyone would be up this early.”

“Coffee is fresh,” you stated back, trying not to look at him.

“Thanks,” he mumbled as he retrieved a cup of his own.

He took the seat next to you and sat in silence as he sipped his drink. You didn’t allow yourself to flinch as he started to tap his thumb off the table.

“So what are you looking-“

“Sorry to hear what happened,” you said cutting him off. He was trying to make small talk and you wanted to get down to business.

He let out a deep sigh before responding.

“Thanks,” he mumbled before taking another sip.

“So what’s your plan now?” You asked while finally looking up at him, his eyes now furrowing to you.

“I don’t know,” he replied quickly. “Fix my baby out there and who knows.”

You leaned your head to look out the window at the broken down Impala. It looked like a freaking parade of MAC trucks had a demolition derby on it.

“Scrap it,” you rolled your eyes.

“You shut your mouth,” Dean hissed with anger, making you look back in surprise.

“It’s just a car Dean.”

“Yeah and what would you do if that had happened to Danny’s car out there?”

You let out a sigh as you came to the agreement in your mind that you would murder anything for fucking with it. Hell, you have before.

“Touché,” you shrugged.

“So what are you looking at this early? Don’t you have a job or something to get to?”

“I’m looking for the next job,” you stated as you turned the computer screen to his view. “A couple outside of Toledo were found dead, drained of blood. Might be vampires.”

“You’re a Hunter?” He questioned with a gasp. “How the hell did that happen?”

“You know the standard dead parents, fucked up childhood, raised by an old drunk of a hunter kind of way,” you sassed back. “Limits the desire to sit behind a desk.”

“Touché,” he shook his head with a laugh. “I had hoped you had done something better with your life.”

“And who’s to say this isn’t something better than the pitfalls of being normal and ignorant to what’s really going on?”

“Says that scar I can see on your upper thigh, those dark circles under your eyes and the scent of last night’s bourbon on you.”

You looked down to see the reminder peeking out from your shorts from a run in with a wolf during a full moon. Bastard had got ya good, but he was now a rug somewhere.

“I’m just tired and you’re the one to talk for looking like shit.” You rolled your eyes before you realized that you had just taken a jab at the fact that he just went through hell and lost. “I-I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to-“

“It’s alright,” he let out a breath. “We all have our scars and the stories to match ‘em.”

“Eventually they all heal right?”

———————

“How could you let this happen John?” You heard Bobby screaming from inside the house.

You sat outside by a worn down truck playing with the little puppy Bobby had surprised you with when you returned for your birthday. Rumsfeld. With everything that had happened, he wanted you to feel safe and loved, even if he couldn’t give it to you.

“They’re going to kill each other in there,” you heard Dean state as he sat next to you, giving Rummy a rub on his ear. “What happened anyways? Thought my dad was just taking you to pick up some stuff from your uncle?”

“He did,” you simply replied, not wanting to go into it.

“So why are they yelling at each other?”

“I don’t know,” you shrugged, lying directly to him. You knew exactly why. You had sold your soul for John’s life and 10 years. Definitely not something anyone should be happy about, but you couldn’t bear seeing the alternative. “Where’s Sam?”

“In the car,” Dean motioned around the corner. “Dad told us to wait for him in there, but I wanted to see what was up before we left. I don’t think we will be welcomed after this.”

“They’ll get over it eventually Dean,” you stated. “They have too. You’re all the family I have left.”

You felt a tear roll down your cheek and as fast as it happened was just as fast as Dean moved to wipe it away. He then put his arms around you, giving you a deep hug as you laid your head on his shoulder.

“Hey eventually it’ll get better, I promise.”

“It feels like I’ve been stabbed in my gut,” you softly stated, breaking away from his embrace.

“Look at this,” Dean pointed to the little scar on his chin. “When I was little I fell doing dumb stuff outside and my mom had to banged me up. Hurt like a bitch, but it healed. Even after all these years, the scar tissue can hurt, but it’s a reminder that I had someone who loved and cared for me. Scars heal Y/N, but the memories are what make us who we are. Don’t forget that.”

“You always know the right thing to say Winchester,” you smiled back.

“By the way, happy birthday,” his emerald eyes gleamed. “I know it’s a little late since it was yesterday, but you were gone. I just wanted you to know that I was thinking about you.”

The grin on your face spread as you looked over at him. He went to lean in, to give you that soft sweet kiss you wanted, not the harsh one from a demon you had gotten just yesterday.

The two of you jumped to your feet as you heard the door slap open hard. John was yelling for Dean and Bobby was yelling at John to get the hell out of his sight. Dean looked back at you and pressed his lips quickly on yours before running towards their direction. You followed behind to witness Bobby waving a shotgun at John, his face red with rage.

“Don’t you ever come back here you son of a bitch!”

As soon as Dean and John jumped in the car with a frightened Sam in the back, they peeled out of the driveway leaving a trail of dust behind.

“What the hell Bobby?” You screamed. “Why would you do that?”

“He had no business getting you mixed into this shit. Danny never wanted that and I’ll be damned if I allow it to happen,” he seethed. “I swear I will find a way out of this. Whatever it takes.”

The dust was settling down along the driveway, the impala nowhere in sight. You stood in your spot for what felt like forever, hoping to see them coming back. But they wouldn’t...not for a long time.

....to be continued....

Tags: (Let me know if you don’t want added!) @snffbeebee@waywardnerd67 @waywardbaby @dean-winchesters-bacon @jaylarkson @ladywinchester1967 @wildefire @i-hear-crazy-calling-my-name @hobby27 @iamabeautifulperson18 @19agbrown @sonotalice @drakelover78 @aloneanddesperate @pisces-cutie @biawol @jamielea81 @fallininjapan @justkending

#ten years gone #supernatural #supernatural series #supernatural fanfiction #Supernatural fanfic #dean winchester #Sam Winchester #bobby singer #john winchester #dean x reader #ezilyamuzed #supernatural season 2 #spn season 2

8 notes · View notes

currentlyreadingmanga · 4 years

Text

Toilet-bound Hanako-kun Chapter 11: The 4pm Bookstacks (Part 1)

Previously: we had quite a heavy chapter last time. Teru and Hanako faced off. It was a very one-sided confrontation and simply put: Teru is not someone to mess with. Not only was one of the most action heavy scenes we’ve had so far, but it was also very emotionally heavy. It provided a good amount of character development for the three boys, and specially for Hanako and Kou (and helped solidify the foundation fir their friendship to grow). One very crucial point was how Hanako feels about the crime he commited and his need to atone. Overall, I had a lot of feelings and seeing my two children cry broke my heart. Then we finish the chapter with Yashiro finally meeting the suspicious green haired girl in the school’s library and boy I’m sure nothing bad or dramatic will happen hahaha...haha......ha

Now onto the next chapter!

Ohhhhh that’s right, this is the start of the new volume!

Well, this is an interesting cover right here. We have an almost apathetic looking Hanako facing the white haired dude that I think it’s gonna be the next apparition/mystery. There’s something about his expression that makes quite the contrast with the rest of the element of the picture. Like, there’s a pair of hands that are trying to grab him from behind and he’s also bound by what seems to be a red rope. Maybe it’s just me, but it directs my focus to his face because it makes me wonder why he looks so indifferent but also kinda defeated?? idk maybe I’m reaching again ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ we’ll see

Okay, yes it definitely looks like the white haired dude will be our next mystery, and that at least Kou and Yashiro are gonna run into him. Hanako seems to be doing soemthing else and it looks like he’s not on the same scene as the other two. He’s sitting on what looks like a school desk, with Yako on his head and holding various gem stones? There’s a lot to unpack here that will probably make sense after I read some more

Next is the chapter index and it looks like the this next arc is called “The 4pm Bookstacks” and it will be a four parter. Going by the usual formula, these bookstacks will be the next mystery

Also

I’m so incredibly curious like.......what could this even imply, why is there a chapter dedicated to donuts

Anyway, I’ll stop rambling because we haven’t even started the chapter yet

Our suspicious green haired girl is asking Yashiro if she’s interested in the seven mysteries and it seems like she knows about Hanako? and that according to her, he’s “the one that’s like a cat” and I have......so many questions.......

Oh, okay, I was thinking about the comparison in a more cute light but the description “capricious, selfish and childish” really makes it seem like she doesn’t hold him in high regard.

.....................excuse me, what? “is yours like that too?” That’s very specific wording. Hanako mentioned before that not many people can or do summon him, right? Could that mean that she’s one of the people who summoned him? And that like, he adapts his personality according to whoever calls upon him? Or could it be that there’s multiple Hanakos going around? Like different versions of the same apparition that can exist at the same time? Or maybe there’s different spirits that take on the same title? Because we know Hanako is not his real name, since it’s the name of a common urban legend.............I now have even more questions

So Yashiro is also wondering if this girl knows Hanako personally and that her description of him doesn’t really match the boy Yashiro has come to know so far.

Bless your very active imagination, Yashiro. As entertaining as that mental image is, I really doubt that’s the case.

Green haired girl is telling Yashiro that she should check out the fifth mystery if she wants to learn more about Hanako. Yashiro will probably find information, but still, this is a very convinient piece of information drop without expecting anything in return and I don’t trust this girl clarifying in case me calling her suspicious at almost every chance I get didn’t get the message across

Hey! There he is! The white haired dude has finally arrived. What an entrance

Also I see you back there you suspicious pretty boy, don’t think you can escape my eye

Oof, Yashiro crashed into him so hard that they ended up on the floor. Poor guy. Also, I remember that I saw this guy in one of the first episodes (in the background) walking around, so I’m guessing this dude is a teacher of some sort, or maybe the librarian. If that’s the case, I wonder how the hell did an apparition ended up working at the school. Also why would he want to do that, just why (then again, maybe that’s just because I don’t particularly like the idea of teaching and it’s one of the possible work options I’ll have once I graduate so.....yeah, maybe he likes teaching and I can’t relate)

Wow the suspicious duo really moves fast, the practically vanished into thin air

Ohhhh the cover page is really pretty! It seems like butterflies are a really strong motif during this arc. Also the little bubbles with their names are really cute to me for some reason. Is HanaNeneKou their three way ship name? I bet it is. And if it isn’t, it should be

It’s the next day and Yashiro decides to ask Aoi about the fifth mystery and of course Aoi knows since she’s our designated exposition fairy.

Okay so, according to the rumor, in the school library there’s a special room you can only enter at 4pm (hence the name). The room is full of books with people’s names and each of them has a record of that peron’s life at the school. And what’s really interesting is that these books show not only the past but also the present and the future.

That sounds like it could bring a lot trouble for a lot of people. But if it’s true, then it makes sense why the suspicious girl told Yashiro to check it out, since all she would have to do is check for a book with Hanako’s nam-wait..........Yashiro doesn’t know Hanako’s real name, so would she even be able to find anything? Because not only we would have to count on the bookstacks containing records of people who are already dead, but also that they somehow would know of his “new identity” and changed the name in the cover. So I feel like the chances of finding his book are pretty slim. Well, I guess she could look into her own book to see if she would learn his name in the future?? Would that create a paradox? .......possibly, idk, I should keep reading

Ah, and now we have the downside of going to the 4pm bookstacks. Aoi says that there are three kinds of books there: white (records of living people), black (records of dead people) and red (books that you should never ever read, because you’ll probably get killed or something, that seems like something the new rumors would say). Okay, that answers one of my questions: yes, Hanako’s book could be there since there are records of dead people. Still, I would think his book would have his real name and that will make it harder (if not impossible to find it). Also, Yashiro will probably end up reading one of the red books because of course things are not gonna be easy here.

Yashiro would like to go see if she can find Hanako’s book but she (thankfully) thinks that going there alone would not be the smartest idea. And (again, thanfully) she also thinks there was something suspicious about the suspicious girl and that she maybe probably most definitely should talk with Hanako about it. Though, if she goes with Hanako, she (and I) feels like he wouldn’t let her read his book. I mean, if he hasn’t told her anything about the details of his past already, that would indicate that he’s not ready to share yet. In the end (an judging by one of the color pages), she’ll probably go with Kou without telling Hanako.

And speaking of the devil, there he is. And he’s talking to the white haired dude! What a coinkydink.

Ohhhh he’s Kou’s homeroom teacher and Kou says he’s being mean. But sensei (I’ll call him that until we learn his name, okay? okay) says he only wants to ask him for a favour.

.............pfffft. Yeah, that, that probably looks hella suspicous,huh? Like, he’s not doing anything bad, but the others don’t know that.

Oh! It seems like Hanako is not here right now. Apparently he’s at a meeting??? Interesting.

Well, if the art of this guy in the anime opening and in the color page hadn’t already told me he’s a supernatural, then this would really bring it to light. What would be the odds of him having a meeting at the same time Hanako’s gone for a meeting and have it not be the same meeting? Like, that could be the case, but I doubt it. I wonder if they’re meeting to discuss about the recent events and changes that have been happening with the school’s apparitions. I mean, probably, but we shall see

And yep, Yashiro’s taking Kou with her.

Precious boy, bless him.

He adds that he agreed to come because he also wants to read Hanako’s book. And it makes sense, since it could possibly help him find more evidence to prove to Teru that Hanako is not a bad guy. And he’s telling Yashiro about his change of heart, too! That’s great! They need to know where they all stand, and even if he doesn’t tell her all the details of the fight, it’s good that Yashiro now knows that he doesn’t really want to exorcise Hanako without a good reason.

This is a nice parallel to the realization Yashiro had during chapter 8. Again, good foundation for their friendship to grow! I love it!

Precious baby, bless her heart. Why are the main trio so cute omfg I shouldn’t be so attached already

Arrow straight to the heart. Man down, man down, Yashiro’s cuteness has reach critical levels, Kou’s heart can’t handle it

Ohhhh a butterfly appears and it leads them to the door to the bookstacks. Okay, so that’s why we had such a strong butterfly motif

Wow, indeed. It’s both pretty and creepy at the same time. Also there’s the lamps and the gem stones that appeared in the colour pages.

And there’s water! So this is indeed another boundary (in case there was any doubt left) like when we were in Yako’s territory.

Yashiro is thinking back to Aoi’s warning about not reading the red books. But Yashiro, dear, I need you to do more than thinking. Please tell Kou about it if you haven’t done so already. Please. I beg of you.

Okay she’s telling him about the white and black books, but she’s only thinking about the red ones and Yashiro p l e a s e I’m dying over here ／(￣ロ￣;)＼

Ahhhhh anyway there seems to be a lot of white ones, only a couple of black ones and no red ones. That’s suspicious and we’ll probably end up finding one by accident while looking around and ahhhhh ple a se just tell me if Kou knows

They spent hours looking but they didn’t found anything. And I’m not surprised, since I think that his book would have his real name on it

Kou’s poor heart can’t catch a break, Yashiro is just too cute

But it seems like our butterfly friend(?) might know where we could find a clue.

Ohhhhh it’s Yashiro book! And it’s very possible we could find information about Hanako there if the records really have their entire time at the school. According to the index, it does have everything up until her graduation and it all seems very detailed.

OH MY GOD

THAT’S SO PRECIOUS oh my god!!!

Yashiro, sweetie, you’re writing poems about this boy. You can be in denial only for so long, come on. You have to admit you like him, even if it’s just a little bit.

Kou seems to have the same idea I had earlier: if they can’t find Hanako’s book, they might as well check the future section of their own books and see if they can learn something from there.

Omfg t h a n k y o u!! Now I feel a bit better

Oh........the page that reads “the future” is red.............and Yashiro says that it could be a place marker but knowing that we shouldn’t read the red books, reading a red page doesn’t sound safe to me. But Yashiro is gonna read it, because she’s braver than me and her sense of self-preservation is almost non-existent

..................yeah, this looks fantastic, nothing bad will happen by reading this, no sir

Yashiro, baby, you need to find better people. Because most of the guys you like seem like trash. Like, honestly, who tf says things like this when turning down someone??? It’s just rude

Anyway! She finds a page that talks about Hanako’s “true identity”! But she hears a scream in the distance and she’s not sure if it was Kou..........nothing bad will happen, no si-

OH.............that’s. that’s not good. Does this mean that the whole book is turning red now? Why? Do the books turn red if one looks into the future section, is that how this works? Either way, girl, you need to close it right now because this smells like trouble

But of course she doesn’t because she’s so close to finding out about who Hanako is and

......................well, hello there. That’s nice and terrifying. Is she(?) made out butterflies? Is this the thing that comes for you if you read a red book? Does it just....eat you?? Also what about the sensei? Thanks to the colour page I’m pretty sure he’s part of this boundary, so is he not here because he’s at the meeting right now? Is this butterfly thing something he controls, like Yako did with her dolls?

Anyway, It would really be a great time for Kou or Hanako to show up right now ple a se

Ahhh and there’s our cute boy, thank god.

....................holy shit it does look like her. It has her hairstyle and her skull brooch, I didn’t even notice. That’s so creepy. Does that mean that the apparition’s appearance would change depending on who had reads the red books? (EDIT: now I realize that Kou was the one saying that since later on the apparition that does look like him appears behind Tsuchigomori, so.....yeah, that answered my question)

Oh noooo they’re trapped inside! Kou tries to use his staff but it doesn’t work because of the seal that Hanako put on it ahhhh this is. not good. And speaking of the boy himself, there he is, just at the right moment before our children could be eaten.

And just like that, he’s got it under control. Like, I know he said it’s his job to keep the rest of the supernaturals in check, but still, I wonder why he’s so powerful. I’m sure we’ll learn in the future, but it’s still an interesting mystery

He really isn’t subtle about it and I love it. You jealous baby pfffft

Aaaand there’s sensei. And this overall confirms that he and Hanako were at the same meeting since they arrived at the same time. He’s not happy about the state the books were left in.

(；☉_☉) oh no

He’s grabbing them with his creepy extra arms and he’s confirming what I said before: yes, the books turn red when you read entries from the future, and boy he’s really not happy about it

Annnnnd there’s his face from the intro and from last chapter’s preview.

He’s kinda hot ngl

The situation looks pretty bad, but Hanako (with an adorable smile on his face) tells him “no bullying” and sensei lets them go.

Huh. Interesting. “Honorable number 7″ and “the boss’s guests” imply that Hanako is in charge. Like, it was implied in the fact that he’s the one that has to maintain balance between the supernaturals and the humans, so I guess this is more of a confirmation? Also, I wonder if that means he’s just overall more powerful than the other mysteries and that’s why they consider him “the boss” or if there’s another reason.

Other than that: we finally got a name! Tsuchigomori. That’s a mouthful. I’ll try my best to remember it. But this is the barely the beginning of this this arc, so I’m sure I’ll remember it soon enough. (EDIT: I just noticed that Yako is there, too! Did they all come here together? Or maybe she’s just there as imagery because she’s also a school mystery? Either way, we’ll see next chapter)

#toilet bound hanako kun #jibaku shounen hanako kun #jshk spoilers #jshk #tbhk #live blogging

17 notes · View notes

ahs-theories · 4 years

Text

Episode reaction: 9x06 Episode 100

@echoesout | @its-a-goode-day

Well! That episode was...interesting. I know a lot of people were disappointed that there wasn’t anything really special done for the 100th episode, but they do have a plot to stick to. That aside though, it was also definitely less action and more set-up.

I was kind of hoping for something “special” but I also knew it was a long shot, especially since the season will only have 9 episodes. It was their mistake, though, they shouldn’t have announced it as the 100th episode, making a big deal out of it.

We totally called the time jump! And I had a feeling Donna was going to be the one to get Brooke out, though the way she did it was a lot more badass than my theory. Looks like she’s gotten over the weepy “what have I done?!” phase and is ready to go after Margaret and try to atone. I, for one, can’t wait.

Same. It definitely seems it’s going to be Brooke and Donna against Margaret. It’ll be interesting to see where the ghosts fall in the battle. They could very well go after Margaret, but they have their own grudges like Montana with Brooke.

Richter getting married and having a kid was a surprise, and dare I say a good one? Maybe not the most exciting, but I liked it, and it was really sad to see that get ripped away, even if it freed him up to go after Margaret. I’m just glad his son didn’t die. And I keep trying to think of whether he grows up to be anyone else we know from the show.

The biggest twist to me was Margaret and Trevor. One, didn’t expect him to be alive. Two, didn’t expect Margaret to go into haunted real estate? Three, that beehive hairdo. They make a fun and totally weird couple, though. Can’t wait to see how that plays out. Also, Montana and Xavier are a very random pairing.

I’m calling it now. Someone will kill Margaret, very publicly, and no one will raise a finger to help her because they will think it’s all part of the show in the camp Halloween celebration thing.

And next week is the episode we’ve kind of all been waiting for (mostly for Lily), The Lady in White! For a reminder, here’s the episode summary:

A hidden chapter of Camp Redwood is revealed. The survivors help a stranded hitchhiker.

So, let’s dive in!

The Hitchhiker

At first, I thought the hitchhiker and the lady in white could be one in the same, like in Supernatural, or another ghost from the camp. But from the episode trailer, it now seems like Dylan McDermott’s character is the hitchhiker. We see him in the car with Donna and Brooke, then Brooke asking him “where [these] psychos keep coming from?” and Donna tied up in the road, apparently about to be run over.

We did some digging and couldn’t find any active serial killers at the time who posed at hitchhikers, so exactly who this guy is remains a mystery, as well as what he might have to do with the larger plot. Our main theory right now is that he could be a wannabe killer, maybe someone inspired by famous murders like Camp Redwood. With the main plot ramping up, I don’t know why they would throw a random new guy in for an episode, so I’m thinking maybe he targeted Donna and Brooke specifically, knowing who they are and maybe wanting to go to Margaret’s festival. Or perhaps he has a personal connection to the camp--a relative of someone who died wanting revenge.

The Lady in White

The lady in white is a fairly common figure in urban legends as a ghost searching for a lost loved one, usually her husband or child. It’s also another title taken from an 80s slasher film, again about dead children. Since this is also the episode Lily Rabe is supposed to appear in, the leading theory right now is that she’ll play this figure. The “hidden chapter” part of the summary could suggest something sinister about the grounds before Camp Redwood’s time. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time a place with evil energy led someone already disturbed to go into full-on bloodlust. Murder House, anyone? Going with this, there’s a rumor that the ghost is Lavinia Fisher, a serial killer from the 1800s, but this hasn’t been substantiated and seems like a very unlikely choice considering Lavinia lived, committed her murders, and died in South Carolina.

The other option is that the “hidden chapter” just refers to Margaret’s real role finally coming to light. Running with this and the urban legend part, the lady in white could possibly the mother or relative of someone Margaret murdered. She might not even be a ghost at all but a woman who hears about the plans for the camp and wants to stop it. But if it is a ghost, the fact that the episode takes place on Halloween will be important. More on that later.

However, even if it is someone connected to the camp, I’m wondering about the purpose of introducing another ghost for just one episode in the middle of everything going on. There are already so many bigger players after Margaret. My alternate theory is that the lady in white refers to Margaret, who committed the original murders in her white nightgown. This would go with the theory of her actions finally being revealed to everyone. And, if the lady in white is not Lily, I’ve been thinking about who she could be playing. Maybe one of the musicians advertised for the festival? Belinda Carlisle would be the right age range.

I believe we never got an official confirmation of Lily being in the episode, did we? I’m still very suspicious that she was not featured in the preview, while Dylan was. So I’m not holding my breath just yet. I think she’ll either not be in it in the end or she’ll have a very minor role. I said this once, and cause I liked the idea I’ll say it again: petition for Satan to resurrect Sister Mary Eunice 😅

The Deadly Trio

Honestly, with all the set up that’s happening, whoever this mysterious “deadly trio” will be is still unclear. “Unleashing a new era” at the camp could mean a lot of things, though the most obvious one is another massacre. Margaret doesn’t seem to have any standing plans for one, but she didn’t last time either. She just took the opportunity that presented itself. We’ve also got Ramirez, and Montana and Xavier are certainly a trigger-happy duo. But, back to the Halloween thing, the ghosts will be able to roam free if the rules of the Murphyverse stand, which means Montana might be more interested in going after Brooke. Plus, though the two of them definitely have the bloodlust, they’d also have to think about how crowded their little camp would get if they went on a spree.

On the other side of this fight, we’ll presumably have Brooke, Donna, Ray, and possibly Chet and Trevor and some of the counselors from the original massacre trying to stop the killings, and Richter just trying to get Margaret.

The Final Girl

We finally have the title and summary for episode 9, which may or may not be the last episode of the season: “The camp tries to draw in a lost soul looking for closure.” It definitely sounds like Brooke, maybe Donna, but Margaret and Montana don’t really fit the profile.

It seems they’re going to go down the traditional route with this. But how cool it would be if Margaret ended up being the final girl. We haven’t had a real twist this season, they could very well add it at the very end.

#ahs 1984 #american horror story #ahs #ahs spoilers #ahs theories #ep. reaction #1984 spoilers #xavier plympton #montana duke #brooke thompson #margaret booth #s9 reaction

26 notes · View notes

happythexceed · 5 years

Text

Summary of “K SEVEN STORIES Episode 5 K: Seven Stories “Memory of Red - ~Burn~”

Spoilers ahead. Sorry for any discrepancy. I tried to put in whatever I remembered I watched once and I’m not so good in remembering details. Some of the sub feels a bit vague.

The Idol K

The Silver Record Trio headed to the school island to pay the duo a visit. Kuroh wondered why they need to pay them a visit when their entertainment companies had agreed to help them. Shiro mentioned they were just going to tell them to “Please support them”. The school island had the sceneries suitable for filming.

The duo were filming special effect for a kid show where one is an ally of justice and the other is a devil who kills all people. Yeah, Yata is a hero and he gets a cape on screen on The Idol K finally. The two of them had a healthy rivalry relationship Shiro hoped Kuroh can have with Yukari.

Yata and Fushimi should have been over (the betrayal) as Yata is talking to Fushimi and getting along very well with him. During their break, Fushimi was grumbling about how lousy the script is written and Yata said he enjoyed it. Shiro greeted them and hope to get their support. They had both heard from their company about the charity event. Yata had no complaint if Kusanagi had agreed. Fushimi will just do his job.

Shiro presented them with the onigiri as the reward. Fushimi stared at it and Shiro replied that there’s only salt as filling. Yata teased that Shiro have even make the effort to research on Fushimi’s preference. They are going to have a wonderful performance.

Memory of Red - ~Burn~

The movie started off with the Damocles Down happening. The former Blue King Habari Jin couldn’t stop the former Red King Kagutsu Genji on time and his Sword of Damocles fell and he was caught in the blast. Various kids saw the Damocles down happening including Hisui and Tatara (if not Neko) who was hugged by his parents watching the blast intently. Young Iwa was shown at the scene.

The slate kid appeared commenting on the destruction. Kagutsu is the representation of it. What will the next Red King do? The next scene had a kid wearing his soccer uniform with the name “Suoh” on it witnessing the destruction from the Kagutsu crater. Suoh woke up from his nightmare. Anna who had been having a nightmare as well woke up and Mikoto wondered if she had a nightmare. Anna explained she could be affected by his dream sleeping by his side. Anna asked if Mikoto wished to be free.

Mikoto found himself in a cage with Totsuka and the rest of HOMRA members. He wished to be free but he doesn’t hate to be trapped.

It’s December and HOMRA members were having a discussion about Anna’s birthday celebration. Totsuka wanted to bake a 5 metres tall cake and everyone were like NO! This is only meant for her wedding. Everyone have their ideas which were scrapped until Kusanagi came up with the idea everyone to present Anna a rose and Anna would be able to form a bouquet from them. Anna overheard them and headed back to Mikoto’s room upstairs. She remarked that it isn’t a good time for her to go downstairs.

Totsuka shared his plan with Mikoto. He couldn’t stop harping on the 5 metres cake. He told King to present a rose and congratulate her on her birthday. They commented how time flies and they had taken in Anna when she was 7 and now she is 11.

There is a scene with Anna telling Totsuka he would not live long if he remains by Mikoto’s side.

The drinks arrived and Mikoto is staring why they have a “normal” drink and why is his drink so “girlish”. Red and with strawberry and suitable for King. “Strawberry fizz” was what Totsuka had ordered for King since he said he could decide for him and the red suits him.

They talked about their past how they started HOMRA with only the three of them at first. The man who was a supporter of Kagutsu caused Mikoto to become the Red King and what kind of destruction he could cause if he become the Red King instead. In the first place, they are already dead by now. (That make me wonder if Mikoto was not the supposed red king? He somehow took the power from that guy). People wanted to destroy everything surrounding them not caring if the world is destroyed tomorrow but doesn’t deny there are some good within it.

Totsuka waved goodbye to the two of them as he wanted to buy some stuff from the convenience store before going home. That was when he crossed his path with “Shiro” who was possessed by the Colourless King for the first time.

Preparation for Anna’s birthday is going on and everyone was busy. Chitose is flirting, Eric is looking at a necklace, etc. Totsuka showed everyone a dress and he wore a ribbon.

As for Mikoto, he passed by a shop and seemed to be having a debate in his mind. He gave up and walked into the shop. Mikoto was staring hard at a cute little teddy bear. He was like telling the bear to stop looking so cute, stay away from him, and he can resist not buying him. He gave up again and going to grab the bear. Little did he expect another hand grabbed the bear the same time as him.

That guy who is eyeing the same bear was Munakata. Mikoto wanted to leave and Munakata could have the bear. Munakata stopped him asking him didn’t he want to get the bear for HOMRA princess? Mikoto can’t deny. They talked how how they have their friends and family. They are Kings but at the same time they are both human. Munakata is in a cage like him. Munakata questioned if Mikoto wanted to leave the cage. The life outside the cage is too dangerous for human.

“Shiro” and Hisui in Kotosaka was having a discussion. “Shiro” thanked him for providing this body to him. This body is light and good. Hisui provides information about Totsuka and Kusanagi to him for him to plan his game. “Shiro” the new Colourless King using Weismann’s voice commented how he possessed many people obtaining their memories, how human are black and he is going to combine them together. First step he declared he would kill Totsuka Tatara who is the weakest.

Yata burnt the pot in bar HOMRA practicing his cooking for party food and heading home with Kamamoto (subs keep spelling his name wrong). Yata defended his fried rice is delicious ok? He just can’t manage party food. An airship passed by them, flying close. They noticed a girl using a candle app raising up to the sky aiming at the ship. To think people are still doing it now. Yata recalled how he went after it when he was still in middle school. He thought his world might change if he hopped on to it. Kamamoto added Fushimi was with him back then isn’t it? Yata changed the subject by demanding Kamamoto to lend him his kitchen to practice his cooking.

Totsuka is heading home from the bar and bumped into King who is going out to get cigarettes. He asked King to accompany him to the rooftop and showed him the night scene. Mikoto wondered about the red blinking light and Totsuka told him about the candle app. There is an urban legend that if people who feel down and out raised their device to the air with the app when the airship passes by, their troubles will be sucked in by the ship. Mikoto asked if he likes that. Totsuka replies that he didn’t need to as he had Kusanagi, Anna and him. He preferred to be grounded.

At the bottom of the building, “Shiro” is staring up at the rooftop where Totsuka and Mikoto are.

The night before Anna’s birthday, HOMRA alphabet boys had a talk among themselves after leaving the bar. Eric got a little sentimental and how happy he was taken in somehow and found a sense of belongings and the boys “beat” him up for spouting nonsense.

Totsuka asked Kusanagi if he needed help and Yata offered to help. Totsuka decided to head off to get Anna the “cake” instead. He reminded Mikoto although he can’t bake the real one, he wanted to film that same scene he and Mikoto saw that night. The blinking red light resembled that candles on top of the cake and he wanted to show Anna that. (It was as though everyone knows this was the last time they see Totsuka alive). Kusanagi tell Totsuka to take care, Kamamoto said he will pick up the cake from him tomorrow. They would see each other tomorrow. (Tomorrow never came).

Totsuka came to the rooftop and was shot by “Shiro” and he asked him why as he laid in the pool of blood. “Shiro” introduces himself as the Colourless King as he shot the camera Totsuka dropped. He declared to Totsuka on the Seven Kings and Seven Stories they have he wanted to take them all and make them all his. He raised the phone with the app as the airship appeared above him.

Totsuka wanted to go back to inform them but his body didn’t allow him to do so. He fell and laid on the ground in despair if he is going to die there. He is also worried that the rest of HOMRA friends will be targeted. Yet when he thought about the time he had with them he felt happy and peaceful. He took out his phone he wanted to call king. He wondered if he would be angry. He called Kusanagi. (The phone keep ringing and we wondered if he will answer). Totsuka told Kusanagi he was happy.

He saw himself on the speeding on the mountain road and met King who stood in the middle of the road. He thought of the past during school days how much fun he had.

Totsuka died in Yata’s arms later. Mikoto heard from Kusanagi and informed Anna who started to cry. She just woke up dreaming of Totsuka breaking into pieces like a marble.

The whole HOMRA grieved. Tears running down Eric’s cheek, Bandou burst into tear. Yata in bloodied shirt yelling why in frustration.

Fushimi went into Munakata’s office to report about Totsuka’s death and they had a meeting. Awashima mentioned Kusanagi contacted her and asked her and Scepter 4 not to interfere. It is between Red Clan and Colourless clan. How can Scepter 4 not get involved when it is clan related and they had the safety of people in mind. Munakata decided they will advance for their cause is pure.

Mikoto watched Totsuka’s body and Kusanagi noticed he got a new ear ring on his ear and recognized as Totsuka’s but didn’t remember it was that red. It’s hollow so Mikoto filled it with his blood. He wanted to remember Totsuka’s existence as there won’t be a grave or anything left of him when he burns him. HOMRA held the ceremony by the seaside. Anna left Totsuka a rose before Mikoto burnt the coffin. “No blood no bone no ash!” There wasn’t a trace left by Totsuka after the fire died out.

Mikoto sat quietly alone looking out at the sea when Kusanagi approached him. Totsuka lives his life the way he wanted and Mikoto decided he would do the same. Kusanagi would not stop him. It was payback time.

Hisui and Iwa discussed about the Colourless King. Hisui played a supporting role this round and he would not want to get involved in his game. The plan Colourless King has would help him to move his greater plan. Iwa can choose not to watch if it’s hard for him. Iwa after all witnessed the Damocles down and lost all his clansmen as the only survivor.

Neko as a cat came to Ashinaka Academy and slept when a boy fell from the sky and crashed.

HOMRA gang walked into the street. Mikoto signaled them to do their job as he walked on with Anna. Anna asked if he wanted to avenge Tatara. Mikoto thought about Totsuka’s words that he needed a place of belonging, Munakata’s words about the world outside the cage is not meant for human etc, Mikoto merely replied he would do whatever he wants.

Thoughts:

The life in the cage is the world the people involved in the Dresden slate is it seems. Yata and Fushimi used to be really normal wanting to change the world found themselves inside it. Mikoto wanted to get out yet he doesn’t hate to stay in the cage where people he cared and care about him are in. Life outside the cage is dangerous although they set themselves free. Hisui will want a life outside the cage. This is a movie setting up for Season 1. The bit and pieces of various characters getting together and their discussion will ultimately lead to the series of happening in season 1. I’m hoping for a miracle and a different ending to happen yet it won’t be nice if there is a major change changing what led to the end of season 2.

#k seven stories #k memory of red #totsuka tatara #suoh mikoto #setting up for season 1 #tatara witness the damocles down isn't it?#the kid looks like neko too #problematic when the kids look similar #can't differentiate by the colours #poor Kusanagi can't say anything to stop Mikoto #totsuka tatara was the character that brought me into K fandom #liking sarumi came later

117 notes · View notes

shadowsong26fic · 5 years

Text

AU Outlines: Other Fandoms Edition

So I know that probably like zero of my followers on this blog even go here but I was watching Person of Interest lately, and I’ve also been reading occasional Supernatural spoilers, because I used to be in that fandom and I occasionally get curious. Especially this most recent season. Naturally, this woke up some old characters/situations/etc. that I used to work with, which I’ve been occasionally toying with in the back of my head when I’m bored and/or procrastinating other projects.

I’ve been going back and forth on how I feel about the one plotline that interests me this season (and by back and forth I mean I was really excited when I first read that a particular character was back; engaged by the summaries/etc. I read from his first couple episodes, the third one intrigued me until I read more detailed spoilers and then I started to side-eye it a little bit...)

And then I read up on last week’s episode. And nope, all my excitement is gone, replaced by Pissed for reasons I’m not sure I can actually articulate. (Though I kind of attempted to in the tags here on my personal blog.)

...honestly, I probably should’ve known better; making this kind of storyline really pay off/work would require a lot of attention given to a tertiary character, and given SPN’s track record with the internal worlds and motivations of characters who are not the Big Three, and the fact that they’ve been ignoring a lot of their established angel/vessel lore, the way Claire’s backstory more or less got completely forgotten...I should not have gotten my hopes up. Sigh.

ANYWAY this is now officially Spite Fic(tm). Here, have an outline of a Supernatural/Person of Interest crossover.

Starring Nick.

...uh, before I actually start, I should probably get some background out of the way.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, Person of Interest is a TV show that ran for five seasons, 2011 - 2016. Without c/ping the opening narration, the basic premise of the show is that, in the wake of 9/11, genius software engineer Harold Finch built a surveillance and analysis program, in an effort to prevent similar future tragedies. Out of fear that his creation would be abused, he designed the Machine as a closed system--basically, all that’s provided is an ID number (usually an SSN, at least for US citizens; but Our Heroes get a green card number in one episode, and a student ID number in another), and the person that number indicates is key to unravelling whatever is going down. The Machine was initially designed to predict mass casualty events/terrorism and provide the (relevant) number to the designated government operatives, at which point human intelligence takes over. However, the Machine also identifies things like…gang warfare/one-on-one premeditated murder (irrelevant numbers). That’s where Our Heroes come in.

The first half of the series is basically a procedural with a twist—each episode, the main characters get an irrelevant number (or more; the record was I believe 38 in one episode). They don’t always know how that person is involved, whether they’re the victim or the killer/perpetrator. In a few memorable cases, the number was arguably both.

Then, in the second half, a rival AI (Samaritan) is brought online, and the series becomes somewhat darker in tone and shifts into a cyberpunk apocalypse story. With a few regular irrelevant numbers thrown in on occasion as well, for good measure. For the purposes of this outline, we don’t care so much about POI B, for reasons I will explain, but it bears mentioning. Especially since Greer is still hanging around and trying to bring Samaritan or something similar online.

Right. On to some memorable/notable/important characters.

Our Heroes are Finch, who, as I said, designed and built the Machine. For various reasons, he’s living off the grid (he’s a very private person). Using a backdoor built into the Machine, as of when the series starts, he receives the irrelevant numbers. But he lacks the skills/ability to intervene directly, so he recruits John Reese.

Reese, then, is Finch’s partner/employee/they are totally married; a former CIA assassin who is now presumed dead, he does most of the hands-on work with the numbers and becomes known as the Man in the Suit who is basically Batman.

Carter! Carter is freaking amazeballs; she is p. much the moral/ethical center of the show, one of their two cop friends who was actually trying to track them/Reese down and arrest him for the vigilante BS for the first half-season or so but then they became friends.

Fusco is their other cop friend; former dirty cop/member of an ring, initially recruited by Reese to work undercover in HR (as said ring is called), basically runs on a combination of Dogged Loyalty (the reason he joined HR in the first place, transfers that loyalty to Team Machine, gets his moral compass recalibrated, and becomes one of the most loveable dudes on the show) and Snark (featuring such delightful quotes as “What was I supposed to say? Sorry, boss, Agent King is really a superpowered nutball. Just ask my buddy, the urban legend.” Also at least once a season, he makes a comment to the effect of “just when I thought you guys couldn’t get any weirder…”).

(Also, he is, as my roommate puts it, Shaped Like A Dad.)

Shaw joins the team in Season 3; textbook (and canonical!) bisexual compact Persian sociopath (note: she has some sort of Axis II personality disorder that is occasionally called sociopathy in-universe, but that doesn’t quite fit); there’s…there’s really not much else one can say without just like summarizing everything she does or quoting ad nauseum.

Root! Root is introduced as a major antagonist; hacker/programmer on Finch’s level who works as a contract killer, her initial goal is to locate and free the Machine, which ends up recruiting her early in Season 3 and becoming…you know that particular kind of reformed villain that becomes the weird family member because yes they’re still kind of awful and murdery, and they did a great deal of damage to you and yours, but you’ve now been through Some Stuff together, and besides, they’re your awful and murdery, you know? So not exactly a redemption arc, but they’re one of the Heroes now and just kind of stick with it. Like Barbossa, in POTC. Or Vegeta. My roommate (referenced above) calls this the Weird Uncle trope. And she fits this trope really well and I love it. Also, she and Shaw are canonically girlfriends as of...s4 or s5, depending on how you look at things.

(Also, not necessarily relevant for this outline, but on the subject of Weird Uncles, one cannot talk about POI without mentioning Elias; our friendly neighborhood Mafia don. No, really.)

And Bear! Cannot forget Bear. Bear is Finch and Reese’s dog, acquired at the beginning of S2 and the most amazing. He also has a twitter! In Dutch!

On to some antagonists, Greer is not our friend. He works for/created a company called Decima Technologies; his goal is to bring an unrestricted AI online and let it run the world for complicated reasons relating to some of his experiences during the Cold War working for MI6. Also he has a very punchable face.

And then there’s Control, who runs the Relevant numbers program for the government. She is an awful, awful human being (fully aware of it, too; she has a great speech in the third season finale about how she’s a Necessary Evil and why) and I love her so much.

Okay, that’s the basics for the POI side of things. I can go on a lot longer if y’all want more details (I didn’t even cover my girl Zoe or Leon or…), but that should be enough foundation for the outline to make sense?

For the SPN side of things--I’m not going to summarize the canon background, due to it being the larger/primary-ish fandom. But in terms of the relevant AU stuff, I’m going more or less with the backstory I established for Nick for The Promises of Angels and Cartography!verse.

Basically, he was a high school history teacher; his wife and son were murdered by a serial killer known as the Chesapeake Ripper

(There might well have been/probably was some demonic involvement, though not in the same way as I think S14 canon established; basically either because a “talent scout” demon like that one s7 episode was already involved or because the Ripper was operating independently and a demon got involved later, he was pointed towards this particular woman and baby who fit his victim pool. Either way, Nick was targeted because he was the right bloodline and accessible, because vessel lines are a thing even if the show has forgotten that.)

(Also, Lucifer later took Nick to kill the Ripper. Signing bonus. So to speak.)

After Detroit, Nick gets picked up by Meg, who holds on to him for a while for a variety of reasons (information that might be buried in his memories from the year he spent possessed; the chance that he might be a new key to the Cage…) until the Leviathan turn up, at which point she no longer has the resources to keep him. She cuts him loose at that point, rather than killing him (mostly because she thinks Lucifer left him alive For A Reason and until she knows what that is, she can’t kill him).

So, at this point, in Promises or Cartography, Nick just sort of wanders around for a while until he runs into Claire or Jody, respectively.

For the purposes of this AU, he ends up drifting to New York instead.

And, with all that background out of the way, NOW we can get to the actual fun stuff.

…no, wait, I lied. One more note: as with p. much all my SPN projects, I am following Logical Time rather than Show Time. Which is to say, when calculating dates/figuring out where the timelines intersect/etc., I’m including the two skipped years (between S5/S6 and between S7/S8).

(That being said, I reserve the right to stop caring about the timeline later and just mashing things together as I think it would be entertaining.)

ANYWAY.

We open in the first half of POI S3, somewhere between “Mors Praematura” and “Endgame” (i.e., Root is in the library, but Carter hasn’t initiated her takedown of HR yet). If my math is right, this puts us either in S7 or during the second gap year for SPN.

It starts as most of these adventures do; Team Machine gets a new number.

“This one may be a bit of a project, I’m afraid,” Finch says. “Nick Cross has been missing for several years. He hasn’t been seen since May of 2009, and there’s been no electronic activity on his identity in that time, either.”

Of course, when they dig into his background, his wife and son getting murdered comes up.

“Any chance he killed them?” Reese asks.

“No, he was cleared at the time. They were victims of a serial killer, and Mr. Cross had solid alibis for three of the five incidents, including the one involving his wife and son.”

(Shaw, at that point, theorizes that Nick’s number came up because he somehow tracked the Chesapeake Ripper down and is planning to kill him. And, if that’s the case, doesn’t really see the point in stopping him.)

(“Start with finding him, Ms. Shaw,” Finch says. “We still don’t know if that is, in fact, what’s going on.”)

(Finch also doesn’t approve on principle, of course, but that is not an argument he wants to have with Shaw on this particular morning.)

(Plus, the Ripper seems to have stopped operating at around the same time Mr. Cross disappeared...so there’s a chance that Shaw’s theory is accurate, just out of date.)

In any case, they reason that the Machine wouldn’t have handed them his number if he weren’t alive and in range; Reese and Shaw ask Carter and Fusco to see what they can pull up, and start doing their own legwork.

Carter ends up being the first to find a lead—while on her regular patrol with Laskey, she spots a guy who matches the description, albeit with a few extra scars, and is acting a little off. Like he thinks he’s being followed/watched.

Reese goes to check it out, and this is where things get, uh, Weird.

See, here’s the thing. I love John Reese, and he is a man of Many Skills.

But, uh.

Being approachable and reassuring is Not Among Them.

Like. Don’t get me wrong. When he’s in Bodyguard Mode, it is exactly the right level of Intimidating. He just…has trouble turning it off.

Look, the dude is a semi-retired CIA spysassin and it oozes out of every pore unless he works really hard to tone it down.

(And sometimes even then.)

And since this is just, like, preliminary surveillance to see if this guy Carter spotted really is their number, and he’s not planning to make contact yet, he’s not really focusing on toning it down.

So, when Nick spots him, guess what this looks like to him.

Yep, he thinks Reese is an angel.

He runs.

Reese: “....yeah, pretty sure that’s our number. And he just made me.”

(If Carter didn’t already, Reese probably also mentions that the five-year-old DMV photo they’re working from is out of date; Nick is pretty badly scarred, they look kind of like radiation burns.)

Of course, it was hard enough to find Nick in the first place, so Reese doesn’t want to lose him again. So, made or not, he continues following. Hoping to get to a position where he can make contact and figure out what’s going on. Or just keep tabs on him until Shaw can catch up and take over.

(Not his favorite approach, but he screwed up somewhere and that’s what he’s stuck with now.)

Nick knows the angel is still on him--and this is new and terrifying; he’s had demons after him a few times since Meg ditched him, but this is the first time an angel’s found him and, frankly, angels are worse than demons in his mind.

(Also he’s supposed to be warded how did the angel even find him--)

(Yeah, Nick has gotten a couple tattoos in his post-Meg life--he’s warded, the same sigils that are etched into Sam and Dean’s ribs; he also has a standard anti-demon-possession tattoo.)

In any case, he has a knife up his sleeve, he just needs to get somewhere more or less out of sight, just for a minute, maybe not even, and then he can throw up a banishing sigil. He just needs that minute.

Reese spots Nick duck out of sight into an alley and heads that way, picking up his pace. There’s a chance he’ll lose the number in there, depending on how many exits there are--

Nick casts his sigil and then books it, not wanting to stick around and see if it worked.

Reese gets there just a hair too late.

“I lost him,” he admits, then catches sight of the bloody drawing on the wall. “...but I think I might have an idea what our number’s running from. And why he disappeared for so long.”

“Yeah?” Shaw asks.

“Looks like he might’ve joined a cult."

“....really,” she said. “Huh.”

“He drew some sort of occult symbol on the wall. Looks like blood.”

“...okay, so he joined a cult.”

“It makes a certain amount of sense,” Finch says. “He went through a horrible tragedy. He could have been vulnerable, especially if he sought but failed to find any comfort in traditional religion.”

Reese takes a picture, and sends it to Finch. “Think you can figure out what this is?”

“Well, it’s hardly my area of expertise,” he says, “but I’ll see what I can do.”

“We’ll work on picking up his trail again,” Shaw says, appearing beside Reese in the alley, as she does sometimes. “Maybe stop by and pick up Bear to help.”

...and now skimming over the next few hours...

Finch spends some time in one of the few corners of the internet he’s not super familiar with, and does identify the symbol eventually.

“It’s for protection or warding. Specifically against angels.”

At which point Shaw busts up laughing at the idea of anyone thinking Reese is an angel.

But that does support the idea that he’s running from whatever cult he got mixed up in.

ANYWAY moving on.

Reese and Shaw eventually catch up with Nick again.

Unfortunately, so have the people who are after him.

(And by people, I mean demons. Two of them.)

(Who recognized Nick, obviously, and had the same ideas as Meg, with regard to his potential Uses.)

(Only they’d rather off him so no one gets to unlock whatever secrets he might be holding.)

Shaw goes up--she’s the better sniper, after all--and Reese makes his way into the alley where Nick is cornered

Firing, naturally, at their kneecaps.

Except.....

Nothing...nothing happens...?

(Well, except now the demon is pissed and gunning for Reese instead.)

(Nick is very relieved to see that this guy is not, in fact, an angel. Angels don’t normally use guns.)

(Of course, now he’s just confused, wtf is going on.)

“What the...” Reese says.

“Maybe you missed,” Shaw smirks, from her perch.

“I didn’t miss.”

“Sure,” she says, aiming at the demon chasing him, getting a solid hit in the shoulder.

Which....also does nothing.

“...well, that was weird.”

She fires again, this time a killshot--yeah, yeah, there are Rules, but under the circumstances...

Meanwhile, Demon #2 has gotten ahold of Nick. Who has frozen a little bit.

(He tends to do this, when stressed/triggered--internalize things, and just go blank. He was more or less catatonic when Meg found him, started gradually coming out of it; when Sam got his soul back that sort of accelerated the process and by now he’s mostly functional, but there are Moments...)

Shaw keeps firing at Demon #1. It’s not killing it, but it’s keeping it pinned down so hopefully Reese can reach and extract their number.

“Finch, we’ve got a Situation here.”

“Yes, I can see that.”

(Finch has hacked into some nearby security cameras.)

“You have any idea what the hell is going on?”

“I’m afraid not, Ms. Shaw,” he says. “It’s only the two of them, I think--no one else is coming though the police will probably be responding to the shots soon--”

“Yeah, Finch, I know. Reese?”

Nick is up against the wall and Reese bodily hauls the demon off of him to engage in a fistfight.

(Did not expect a skinny kid like the demon’s host to pack this much of a punch, he’ll have some fun bruises tomorrow...)

Which snaps Nick out of it.

Demons. These are demons. Only demons. I know how demons work. I can--

He rattles off an exorcism, as fast as he can.

The demons scream and smoke out, leaving their two dead hosts behind--Host #1 may have been dead already, or Shaw may have killed them; Host #2 was already gone.

“Finch?” Shaw says. “Finch, are you getting this?”

“I’m--yes, I see it,” he says.

Reese is about to add something, but the Nick passes out--Demon #2 managed to score a solid hit before Reese got there--and he moves to catch him.

“Damn it--he’s bleeding, pretty bad.”

“Get him to the safehouse,” Finch says. “I’ll meet you there, and we’ll...we’ll figure all this out.”

“Library’s closer,” Shaw points out. “And you said no one else was around.”

Finch hesitates for a moment--more concerned about Root than about their base being compromised, at the moment--then nods. “Fine. Bring him here. I’ll clear off a space for you to patch him up.”

“Copy that,” Shaw says. “Reese, stay with him, I’m gonna get us a car.”

...okay, I’ll admit, the rest of this first New York adventure isn’t super well planned out in my brain. So, skimming through it pretty quick...

They bring Nick back to the library. Shaw patches him up, while Finch goes over the footage he found, trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

Nick eventually wakes up. There’s a Talk.

“They were demons,” Nick explains. “They, uh. They can’t be killed, not with guns. There’s a couple specially-designed weapons, I think. And angel blades. Holy water will burn them, and you can use salt to keep them out. Best thing to do is probably trap them and exorcise them.”

Basically, Team Machine gets The Talk about monsters and so on Existing.

He admits to having been possessed for a year when they ask him why demons are chasing him, though he’s a little vague on further details. He does mention Meg, too, that she held on to him after he was dispossessed.

He asks how they found him--he’d thought his warding was messed up, especially when he thought Reese was an angel.

They give their characteristic vague answer, then ask, “If you’re...warded, how is it they found you in the first place?”

He figures, at this point, that his warding is fine--it doesn’t hide him from demons, necessarily, but even if it did, warding doesn’t stop the bad guys from spotting him by chance. Which is, incidentally, exactly what happened.

Nick also, of course, gets in the usual number questions; “who are you” “why are you helping me” etc., with the added weight of his possession and the fact that they took on literal demons to try and save his life.

Also, somewhere in this mess, Nick wanders off into the part of the library where Root is being held. Possibly while the rest of Team Machine is getting what they’ll need to deal with whatever Climactic Fight will end the episode/section.

(Nick was a high school history teacher, and this is a really awesome library, of course he’s going to go exploring if he’s left alone.)

(Bear is there to keep an eye on him/keep him from leaving.)

(Bear also gets many scritches and pets, as he deserves.)

Anyway, Root and Nick have a conversation; whether she and the Machine are already doing their Morse Code thing or something else is going on...or...something...anyway, Nick gets read in on the Machine’s existence.

(His reaction is more or less “...that does not even make the top ten most unbelievable/dangerous things I know exist, so...all right then.”)

Finch gets back to find them talking about history or something. Bear is next to Nick, who is a lot calmer/more willing to work with them than he was before. Root is just inside the cage wall, idly scritching Bear’s ears as they talk.

(This is actually Important.)

Anyway, eventually there is the requisite climactic fight. Possibly angels are involved--I know Shaw gets her hands on an angel blade at some point...

Point is, things get resolved, more or less. Nick ends up leaving New York.

BUT! Because Root had a Moment with him back there, and Finch saw it, he’s willing to unleash her a little earlier when the shit hits the fan a few episodes later.

In short, thanks to Root kind of sort of Bonding with one of their weirder/more fragile numbers, Team Machine is much better positioned to deal with Endgame nonsense, which means, first, that Carter gets to live (though Reese might still get hella shot, depending on how exactly Root changes what happens with Simmons; but he won’t go on his Roaring Rampage of Revenge); what follows is then that Team Machine is all working on the same page when Claypool’s number comes up aaaaaaand we avert Samaritan. Yay!

(Carter does still deduce the Machine’s existence, of course, gets upgraded to the yellow box and everything. And, remembering the late-S1 drama, strongly advocates for Fusco getting read in, too.)

(She gets her way on that, too. Eventually. Probably before too much longer, even.)

Also, Control does reveal herself, but doesn’t manage to capture Root just yet.

(Which also means Root doesn’t get her implant, at least for a while.)

But apart from that, we can leave this group to their own devices for a while, and get back to following Nick, who is now past his Origin Story, so to speak...

Hokay. So. After Nick leaves New York, he just starts sort of drifting again, and then a few days later, he gets a phone call.

Which he actually answers; in all honestly very few people would reach out to him this way, and he’s pretty sure none of the things that terrify him are on that list.

“Can. You. Hear. Me?”

Nick stares at the phone for a long moment. The Machine repeats herself.

“…no.” He hangs up.

(Look, he knows damn well what that phone call was; Root told him enough when the two of them talked in the library. And he is not interested in letting another near-omnipotent entity screw with his head. Once was enough. He learned his lesson.)

The Machine backs off, deciding to try a less-invasive way of trying to get in touch with/recruit him.

Why is she doing this? Well.

The Machine’s mandate/objective is to protect humanity. When Nick came up on her radar as an irrelevant number she could offer her assets, she noticed some…let’s call them anomalies. In archival data about him, about the two people talking about murdering him…lots of things didn’t add up. Which is why he got pushed to the top of the list, so to speak.

(I mean, assuming she does put a certain level of thought/deliberation into which numbers she sends her assets? If two come up at once that are unrelated, does she need to decide, or do they get both? This isn’t 100% clear in the show, I don’t think; pretty sure all the multi-number episodes do end up being related, even if they don’t appear that way at first, apart from, like, backlogs from when the Machine has to go dark temporarily for whatever reason…anyway, if that is the case, she picked Nick because there was a lot of Weird Shit going on around him and she needed her human assets to sort through it, because she simply didn’t have the tools or parameters necessary to work it out for herself.)

So, Nick’s number comes up, and even more strange things keep happening. The Machine evaluates, and comes to the conclusion that there’s an entire class of threats to humanity that she hasn’t been monitoring correctly. The fact of the matter is, she was programmed with certain blind spots, because Finch had certain blind spots.

But the Machine is now in a position to correct that. She’s aware of the flaw in her system and, thanks to the changes she’s been making since Stanton’s virus and the other S2 arc plot stuff allowed her to start altering her code in a way she couldn’t before…

She can make up for it by adding yet another set of numbers/another protocol. Relevant numbers to the government as always, irrelevant numbers (within their reach, at least) to Finch and his team, “necessary” numbers (i.e., protecting the Machine herself/keeping tabs on other, potentially hostile, ASIs) to Root, and now…we’ll call them “hidden” numbers.

Of course, the next problem is, while there’s a lot of data available about monsters, angels, demons, etc., it’s very hard to sort through what is useful data and what is, frankly, BS. And, unfortunately, she lacks the parameters to do it herself.

Ergo, she needs a human asset to help her figure it out. Teach her/help her define this new dataset.

(And also to intervene when necessary, but that can come later. She’s got a bit of a learning curve ahead of her first, and she knows it.)

But, of course, she doesn’t want to retask any of her current assets—both because they have enough to deal with and because, again, learning curve. Better for at least one entity involved to know what they’re doing, right?

And so, she decides to recruit Nick. Nick, who has already been her window into this hidden world. Nick, who needs her as much as she needs him.

(Kind of like Root, except absolutely unlike Root. Like in that they were both drowning when she approached them, and needed her to give them a framework to cling to, to drag themselves back to the surface; unlike in that Nick is drowning in a very different ocean than Root was.)

Anyway. Eventually, she does manage to talk to him, and explain what she wants.

And he’s still not...100% sure how he feels about working with her, but...well, data entry, right? He can do that. Maybe.

“I don’t know how much help I’ll be,” he admits. “Just because I was possessed for a year doesn’t mean I know everything.”

“It’s still a place to start,” she replies. “Eventually, I’ll figure out the patterns and be able to extrapolate.”

“...okay, then.”

(As it turns out, he knows a lot more than he thinks he does, which is utterly terrifying; he has a lot of subconscious/residual information buried in his mind.)

Of course, eventually, just data entry isn’t enough.

The Machine doesn’t have all the answers/all the patterns down, but she has enough that she’s starting to identify threats/numbers she can assign out.

But Nick...well, Nick is fragile. Mentally, of course, but physically as well--burned inside and out, metaphorically and literally, by a long, incompatible possession.

At the moment, though, he’s the only asset she has in this area. Recruiting others, from among the insular, paranoid hunter community...is going to be difficult.

She spots something she thinks he can handle, especially if she grants him God Mode access and keeps him there.

He stares down at the text message she sent him.

“...I can’t do this,” he says. “I can’t...”

“Can we please try?” she says. “I’ll help you.”

“...I...”

“It’s a demon, I think.”

He thinks about it for a minute. He can handle demons, he thinks. He has before, after all. He understands demons. And...

(he thinks about the feeling of evil still living under his skin; he thinks of blood on his hands and in his heart; about all the nightmares and half-memories; about how he feels too small for his own body, how his thoughts echo inside his head...)

(he wants to do better. he wants to be better. maybe helping...people like him, people who have gone through what he went through...maybe that’s a start. to make up for what he did.)

“...is the host still alive? When I...if I manage to get there and exorcise them...are they still alive?”

“I can’t tell,” she admits. “I’m sorry.”

“I’ll...try,” he says. “I’ll try.”

It ends up, fortunately, being a win for all of them--the demon is thrown enough by seeing Lucifer’s former vessel that Nick has a chance to act; the host is in fact still alive.

Nick spends hours after the exorcism, just...sitting with him, talking. Helping him cope/process things.

“...we should do that again sometime,” he finally tells the Machine, after he goes back to wherever he’s sleeping these days.

So, he starts kind of sort of hunting after that, with the help of an ASI.

Every time he directly engages something, he’s in God Mode. He has to be, because of the aforementioned damage; he wouldn’t survive on his own.

(Probably, at some point, he and the Machine put together something like the Tenebamus Infinitum forum in The Promises of Angels; online support group/community for possession survivors.)

(Sam may or may not find his way there...)

At first, they mostly focus on demons/possession cases. Sometimes ghosts. But they slowly start to branch out into other areas.

They deal with some miscellaneous monsters, faeries, maybe a vampire...good times.

Pretty much the only ones they avoid are angels and pagan gods, because Nick cannot deal.

(Angels for uh obvious reasons; pagan gods because he remembers like two things from his possession with any clarity, and one of them is Muncie, Indiana/Gabriel’s death.)

(The Machine occasionally considers trying to get him into a hospital for a while, the way Root was--she thinks it would help him--but he’s...managing for the moment, so it’s not as necessary, and she does still need him actively working....plus, he’s terrified of being sedated so...this gets put on indefinite hold.)

During this period, though, they do acquire two more Friends.

First--and I’m not 100% sure how they meet; possibly similar to how Nick and Jody meet in Cartography!verse, i.e., a grief support group of some kind.

Anyway, first he meets a young woman, a psychiatrist. Who is familiar, if peripherally, with angel and demon type stuff.

(Other monsters are gonna be a little New to her.)

Her name is Ashley Finnerman.

(Yes, as in Donnie.)

(He was her cousin.)

(After what happened to him, she started trying to figure it out, and eventually did.)

(...honestly, the forum may be her idea. She definitely joins it, not as a fellow survivor, but as a crisis counselor/trained professional who will believe them.)

(Ashley is pretty big on community building in general; yes, she’s a therapist and that’s a start, but she’s only one person. In her ideal world, they’d be able to draw in other professionals--psychiatric because this is an underserved population that desperately needs those resources; medical (as in physical medical/other MDs); legal...anyway, she’s not 100% sure how to go about doing that, but helping out on with Tenebamus is a step in the right direction, in her opinion.)

Ashley is eventually read in on the Machine as well. She has more or less an actual Life outside of it all, so she isn’t as immersed as Nick is, but she’s still definitely part of his team.

And second...somehow, they acquire Adam.

How? ...again, not 100% sure, but probably one of two ways--

One, something similar to Promises, where Nick gets too close to the Cage mouth for some reason and is offered a Bribe. He takes the bribe, with exactly zero intention of following through on his end of the bargain, so to speak.

Two, some kind of straight-up Fairy Tale Bullshit. S6 establishes that faeries can reach the Cage; Nick somewhat accidentally does a favor for a powerful faerie through his work with the Machine, and to repay the debt, the faerie (or possibly a High Up Faerie who has taken ownership of the debt because he helped someone in their court/their child/something or other) restores his Counterpart to him? IDK, something like that.

...I think I like this option. He accidentally does a favor for, IDK, Mab. And she, not wanting to be in his debt, heads down to the Cage.

This works because, a) Mab is probably one of the few entities that can go toe-to-toe with an Archangel like this; and b) Michael is actually on board with springing Adam.

(Not necessarily because he gives a shit about Adam, but he does give a shit about Justice, and keeping Adam down here, especially with Sam gone, is not Justice.)

Naturally, she doesn’t tell Nick ahead of time--he did the favor without consulting her, she shall repay him in kind. Faeries and Obligations, man.

Anyway, Adam joins them, and then Nick doesn’t have to be quite as hands-on because Adam is perfectly capable.

(Adam also, at some point, makes a comment about the three of them having ‘nearly a complete set.’)

(I have no idea how/if they’ll ever be able to find someone to fit in for Gabriel, but three out of four!)

(Nick finds this oddly hilarious, for reasons he can’t quite articulate.)

So, that is what Nick is doing while Team Machine is foiling Vigilance and Greer and Decima and dealing with their Hard Sci Fi end of things.

Let’s bring these two worlds crashing back together, shall we?

(Well, I say crashing together...this probably isn’t the first time Nick has run into the others since that first adventure.)

(If nothing else, he’s stayed in touch, off and on, with Root.)

(And I’m pretty sure the others have met Adam.)

(Maybe that was where Shaw got her angel blade...)

So, timeline for this. Uh...probably at least a year after Nick’s first encounter with Team Machine. For the SPN side of things...ehhhhh I’ll handwave/stop caring and say this is sometime in the latter half of S8. Between the first two Trials. Let’s go with that.

Nick and co are back in New York, probably dealing with something on their end of things. A ghost or something.

And then they get sucked into some Team Machine nonsense.

Control still wants the Machine--or a suitable Plan B--back under her complete, well, control.

Decima is going after some other potential ASI.

(Root is back in town to deal with them.)

Vigilance is involved too, because why not.

(Greer can’t initiate his endgame there just yet, after all, so they’re probably still operating.)

Nick, Adam, and Ashley are pitching in, because they’re here and the Machine needs all the help she can get on this one. Because Reasons.

Meg gets involved--this goes AU in that she escaped Crowley somehow. And one of the first things she does is try to check on her various assets, so she’s trying to track Nick and figure out what the hell is going on with him.

Crowley, of course, is chasing her, trying to get her back.

And, to round it all off, Sam and Dean are chasing him.

(As they approach, Sam starts noticing a weird buzzing feeling in the back of his head. Like circulation returning, or something like that. He decides not to mention it--thinks it might be a new Trials symptom, and he’s already hiding those from Dean, what’s one more secret? Besides, they need to know what Crowley finds so interesting about this place...that’s way more important, right?)

So, all these disparate parties converge on wherever the potential ASI is being held/built.

Root and Nick, of course, are both in God Mode.

(...incidentally, Nick is...nnnnnnnnnot super comfortable with calling it that? He and Adam and Ashley mostly just call it access or full-access.)

(Nick has the same tingling feeling in the back of his head, but he can’t do anything about it right now. He just focuses on the task at hand, and getting himself and his friends through this alive.)

The Machine tips Nick off to the fact that there are demons sniffing around--a couple of Crowley’s minions. Which, of course, Nick and his team can handle, but there’s several of them around and we reeeeally don’t want Crowley getting access to an ASI.

(Especially not S8!Crowley.)

So, Nick, Adam, and Ashley head off to put up wards and shoo off any demons they can, leaving the others to deal with the Decima nonsense/destroy the drives or whatever.

There’s a lot of ground to cover, so they split up.

Eventually, Nick gets pinned down by Decima mooks, trapped in a corner of the facility where he’s trying to finish getting the wards up.

“What...what do I do now?” he asks the Machine.

She runs her simulations, and it doesn’t look good.

And here is where it’s different from, say, “If-Then-Else.” Slash another way Root and Nick are very different people/assets.

Whereas Root is perfectly okay with obeying orders from her God without question, Nick needs to be told his options and make the choice himself.

At some point, he describes Access as oddly comforting. It’s almost as overwhelming, almost as much of a surrender, as consenting to possession is.

But there’s one critical difference.

He doesn’t have to listen to her.

He can say no.

He can hang up.

I mean, it’s generally speaking a bad idea to do that, but the option is still available.

So, his head doesn’t feel as empty with her in it, but a lot of it is still on his terms.

That being said, when there’s no time, or it’s a very immediate “there’s someone behind you” type of God Mode moment, of course, that’s less of an issue.

But something like this, where there’s a fork in the road?

If there’s time, she’ll lay out two or three of the least bad options and let him decide.

“If you go out the door and turn left, you will run into Control. She will figure out you’re tied to me, and she will take you prisoner. She will almost certainly torture you, to get you to give me up. Adam and Ashley will meet up with my other assets, and they will rescue you, but the chances of their success are very slim. There is a five percent chance, at best, that you will survive. It varies, depending on how quickly the others can mobilize.”

“Okay,” he says, and swallows. “And...and Adam and Ashley, will they...?”

“They have better than even odds of surviving.”

“Okay,” he says again. “What else?”

“Turn right,” she says. “You’ll run into the demon who held you captive.”

“Meg?”

“Yes.”

That’s not so bad, he thinks. Meg didn’t torture him too much, and she wanted him kept alive.

“Control will capture Root instead,” she continues. “Sameen and the others will attempt to rescue her. Adam and Ashley will pursue you.”

Control capturing Root, on the other hand, seems like a very bad thing. Still...

“Adam and Ashley?”

“About the same,” she says. “But there is another concern.”

“Okay.”

“If Meg takes you, there’s a chance she’ll find me. And if she does, it’s extremely likely that someone less friendly will, as well. There is also an approximately 17% chance that you’ll wind up in Crowley’s hands instead of Meg’s. And his chances of finding me are a lot stronger.”

Yeah, no. That cannot happen.

“Are there any other options?” he asks.

She pauses for a split second. “Turn right,” she says. “Then at the first hallway, turn left instead of going straight. I’ll have to leave you then--there are several Decima soldiers, but if you manage to get past them on your own, you’ll find Sam and Dean Winchester.”

It hits him like a punch to the gut.

“Your chances of reaching them without my help are better than your chances of surviving Control,” the Machine continues, “but not by much. If you can get there, though, they most likely won’t harm you.”

Unless I’m in full-access mode, Nick thinks, and shivers a little.

“And I can say with approximately 97% certainty that, when Adam and Ashley find you, they won’t harm them, either. I cannot say the same for the demons or Control.”

“They won’t hurt us physically,” Nick finally manages to say. “But I can’t...I-I-I don’t know how I’ll...I can’t shut down, not in here. A-and I don’t know how Sam will react to seeing me, I’ll probably seriously fuck with his head a-and I can’t...I can’t...”

(there’s this running refrain in his head, that Sam Winchester is perfect, and that Nick is the reason that everything goes wrong.)

(the Machine regrets even more not getting Nick more help.)

He takes a shaky breath. “Plus, I don’t know if Adam’s ready for that yet,” he says. “He hasn’t...uh, he hasn’t said anything about wanting to track them down.”

“That’s true.”

He’s quiet for another minute.

“Nick?”

“...I’ll take my chances with Control,” he says.

“I understand,” she says. “Thank you. And I’m sorry.”

(It’s not what she would have advised him to do, necessarily--she would have advised him to try for Sam and Dean; it balances protecting her with protecting the majority of her assets.)

“Directions?” he says.

“Open the door and turn left.”

She guides him down the hallway, advises him where to dodge, where to strike. He picks up a gun at one point--

(he’s hesitant, and she reminds him “you’re in Control’s world now, you have to play by her rules.”)

He gets to the inevitable trap, where ISA corners him and Control is there.

She recognizes, pretty quickly, that he’s in God Mode.

“...now just who the hell are you?”

On the other side of the facility, Ashley’s phone rings.

“Can. You. Hear. Me?”

The Machine also advises Root that Nick has been captured.

She and Finch have finished neutralizing the potential ASI drives; Reese and Shaw are with them; Carter and Fusco are currently working on securing their exit route, after driving off a handful of Vigilance mooks.

“We need to move,” Root says. “Control has Nick. Adam and Ashley will meet us.”

Reese nods once. “Lionel, Joss, get ready. We’re headed your way.”

“Copy that,” Carter says. “Fusco--”

“On it.”

Meg has realized that Crowley is here, so she’s now in the process of finding her own exit. He’s in pursuit.

Sam and Dean got all turned around and manage to get to just the right hallway at just the right time to see Adam and Ashley piling onto an elevator.

“...Dean,” Sam says. “Dean, tell me you’re seeing what I’m seeing.”

(he doesn’t press his hand. he hasn’t hallucinated in almost two years, he doesn’t need to--)

“Adam?” Dean calls.

Adam half turns to them, hesitates for half a second, then follows Ashley into the elevator and the door slides shut.

...and I’ll admit I don’t have a whole lot planned out beyond that. Also this is getting, like, super long. So, quick wrapup, so to speak.

So, Team Machine, plus Adam and Ashley go to rescue Nick.

Sam and Dean track them down.

Adam goes to talk to them, try and get them to back off.

“I have to go rescue my friend,” he says. “But once I’m done with that, we can talk. I promise. We’ll set up a meeting and I’ll tell you...as much as I remember, I guess. But right now, I have to go rescue my friend. Kind of on a clock here.”

“We’ll help,” Sam offers.

“This isn’t really your kind of thing,” Adam says. “This isn’t monsters, this is the ISA.”

“The what now?” Dean asks.

“Like the CIA, but on steroids.”

“...how the hell did you get involved in CIA bullshit?” Dean asks.

“It’s kind of a long story,” Adam says. “Which I will tell you, once my friend is safe. So can you please just...let me do this first?”

“How did...” Sam asks. “How did you get out?”

“Also a long story,” Adam says. “But I’m the only one who came out, I swear. And...” He hesitates. “They...mostly left me alone, after you were gone. If you were worried about that.”

(Sam hadn’t been, mostly because he had been Very Firmly Not Thinking About Adam for a while now, but he’s relieved to hear it.)

Reese steps out. Possibly holding his grenade launcher. “Come on, Adam, we gotta go.”

“Coming,” Adam says, then turns back to Sam and Dean. “I will call you as soon as we’re clear. I promise. Don’t follow us, okay?”

Without waiting for an answer, he follows Reese and they go to rescue Nick.

(Obviously, S&D don’t listen and do, in fact, follow Adam, but I’m not 100% sure where that would go.)

(Other than they do, in fact, manage to extract Nick alive, but it’s a near thing.)

(The fun thing here is, Control actually can’t break Nick. Well, she can’t get him to tell her anything about the Machine, anyway.)

(Yes, everyone has their breaking point so far as pain/torture goes, and Nick is no exception.)

(But he will physically break--i.e., die--before he mentally breaks.)

(And while psychological torture would be a lot more effective, she doesn’t know what buttons to push.)

(When she runs his prints/whatever, she gets the name Jacob White, which is an identity that Finch put together for him, for when he needed to interact with the real world. Since his own identity is...complicated.)

(Yes, that is a reference.)

(I couldn’t resist.)

(Also, the Machine, through Root, gets to deliver her verbal bitchslap to Control at last.)

Uh....yeah. That’s all the actual Plot I have at this point. But some other notes!

My girl Zoe is totally in the know. She may or may not have encountered Bela at some point, or found out some other way, but she does know.

(She never told Harold and John because--well, honestly, why would she? Her stock in trade is secrets, after all. And it never came up, and she wasn’t involved with Nick’s first adventure.)

Elias will turn up at some point. And basically become something like John Marcone, if any of y’all are familiar with the Dresden Files.

Bear’s Plot Armor may be some kind of magic, and I would not be surprised if he could take on a Hellhound and win.

Carter and Jody. Just...just Carter and Jody, man.

Like I said, Shaw gets her hands on an angel blade at some point. She and Dean probably bond. I feel like they would bond.

Also, I think Dean gets put into God Mode at some point. Possibly as his first real introduction to the Machine.

Like...IDK, he and Sam are with Nick for some reason, Nick, as implied above, cannot go into God Mode in front of the two of them, and honestly Sam going into God Mode in front of him would also be pretty devastating, so...Dean’s phone gets to ring!

“Can. You. Hear. Me?”

“...the fuck?”

“Can. You. Hear. Me?”

“Yes, I can--what the fuck is--”

“Two. O’clock.”

::turns and OHSHIT just in time::

IDK the idea just entertains me.

...yep, I think that’s it.

If you’re still here, thank you for putting up with my nonsense/checking this out.

Tune in next time, for an actual serious AU outline of some kind.

(....who am I kidding, these things are never serious XD)

#shadowsong writes spn #shadowsong26fic #shadowsong writes crossovers #au outlines for the win #shadowsong writes self-indulgent bs #shadowsong is feeling Spiteful today

6 notes · View notes

iohourtime · 5 years

Text

Kiokuya (Memory Man) - Novel Spoiler (Part 4)

This is the last part of the recap of Kiokuya (Memory Man), the novel in which Yamada’s new movie is based on. There are obviously spoilers in here.

Links to previous part(s): Part 1: Prologue + Episode 1 Part 2: at present 1 + Episode 2 + at present 2 Part 3: Episode 3 + at present 3

Episode 4: First and Last Contact*

*This part is pretty long because I kept a lot of the conversation in the last scene. I feel that the movie is probably going to end the same way. Frankly, that is probably the only plausible ending to the story.

Ryoichi saw Kyoko talking with friends in the cafeteria. She glanced over at his direction but did not see him. He didn't feel as shell shocked as before, but he still couldn't forget it ever happened.

Ryoichi did not find another plausible case after Saza. However, Memory Man became even more popular among the high school crowd, so the forum was flooded with new traffic. The discussions were mostly baseless speculations, although it was generally accepted that the following were the ways to contact Memory Man:

If you need him, he'll show up.

Leave a note on the message board by the train station.

Sit on the green bench at the park and wait.

One day, Ryoichi was going home from the store and decided to check out the park. There weren’t a lot of slides and stuff, plus there were a lot of tall trees, so the park was kind of secluded. There was a guy with a long coat sitting on the deep green bench with his dog. A young high school girl approached the bench and may have made eye contact with him. Flustered, Ryoichi left immediately while wondering if the girl was trying to contact Memory Man.

Since that day, Ryoichi chose to walk home through the park to observe. Every day, there would be some high school girls nearby. They just seemed to be curious more than anything, but one day, there was a girl who looked like she was searching. He sat down next to a girl and asked if she was “waiting for someone”.

“I'm researching the Memory Man.”

Her face turned white. “That had nothing to do with me.” And she left hurriedly. Ryoichi wondered if he was being over sensitive.

…………

A week later, Ryoichi walked by the bench again and saw a familiar figure. Maki!

His heart raced, just like the first time he saw someone waiting there. This was probably just a coincidence. She just wanted to sit down for a bit. He tried to comfort himself but he felt an unexplained terror. He didn't want to see her because if he did, he would have to confront the truth. He ran home.

…………

Ryoichi never got a response from ICO or DD. Even though the chat room had been taken over by the newbies, he went in hoping to bump into those two. He found Doctor instead, who hadn't seen them lately but thought they might just be waiting for the new people to get bored and leave.

Ryoichi wasn't so sure. Yes, ICO might not have time for this nonsense but DD totally thrived on this. A thought suddenly entered his head. Did they have their memory erased because they were getting close?! Once the idea was planted, he couldn't get it out of his head. He knew DD worked at the flower shop of Hospital K,so he had to go see for himself.

He got to the flower shop and saw the familiar had of light brown hair. “Hey.” Ryoichi said tentatively.

“Oh welcome. Do you need help with the flowers?”

“No… I'm RYO. Do you remember me? We were in the same chat room and met once offline. We talked about urban legends.”

“Urban legends? Oh, I remember some site I didn’t visit in my browser history. It could be my brother using my computer without permission again! Maybe you mixed us up? He sometimes pretend to be me for shits and giggles.” DD smiled.

Ryoichi felt a shiver down his spine, yet he was able to stay calm outwardly. “Can I ask you a question? Have you heard of Memory Man?”

“Sorry. Is it a movie?” Whoever he was in real life, he was no longer DD.

…………

This was the third time Ryoichi had been forgotten but he was hit just as hard as before. It was clear that DD and probably ICO’s memories were erased. Kyoko, Nanami, and now DD. They were 3 people he knew. Was it a coincidence? He had this uneasy feeling that Memory Man was onto him. He couldn't even talk to ICO and DD since they forgot about the investigation and him!

Ryoichi went for a walk to clear his head and ended up at the park. He ran into that girl at the bench from the other night.

“Sorry, do you remember me? I asked you about Memory Man before.”

“The popular urban legend? I'm not interested in these weird stuff.” She replied with a shrug.

Another one. Ryoichi was so freaked out he couldn't move. And then he looked over at the bench and saw her.

“Maki…”

“Ryo-chan!” Ryoichi felt a sense of danger. If all the people around him were getting their memory erased, who will be next? Maki trotted over to him without a care.

“Are you going home? Let's go together!” Ryoichi let Maki grab his arm. He looked at her smiling face and told himself not to be scared.

…………

Ten years ago, Maki’s parents were renovating their house so they temporarily moved in with her paternal grandparents. Her maternal grandparents also rented an apartment nearby. One evening after dinner, Ryoichi walked her home to her other grandparents.

Since their moms were best friends, Ryoichi and Maki were like family. Ryoichi took her upstairs to her mom and they heard a conversation they were not supposed to hear.

“We shouldn't see each other alone again.”

“Um. Please tell Maki for me…”

Ryoichi still remember Maki’s face, how hard she was trying not to cry. That was the first time, and probably the last time he saw Maki so heartbroken. Because she forgot all about it the next day.

…………

Ryoichi sat on the green bench. Maybe if he just sat there, he could prevent another person from being Memory Man’s victim? He couldn't help thinking about ICO and DD. How could Memory Man know about them? Was he or she someone close to him? Maybe someone in the original chat group? It must be someone who knew about the investigation!

Thinking back to the first sighting from 50 years ago, it seemed incredulous that Memory Man, who was probably elderly, to be spying on them online. Maybe there were more than one person?

Memory Man is good at investigation, could be female… could it be ICO? Was she stringing us along the whole time? Then again, it could have been anybody. If that person had marked Ryoichi, would Maki be in trouble? He couldn't bear to think about Maki having her memory erased again.

The dream. The recurring nightmare. What does it mean? Although Maki is no longer a child, if Memory Man strikes, there's nothing she can do against him! Don't be scared again. Don't run away like last time. Like I did in the dream.

“Ryo-chan?” Ryoichi looked up. Maki was standing in front of him.

“I'm waiting for someone.” “Who?” “I'm not sure…” Ryoichi must have confused the heck out of her “... hold up, I'm actually waiting for you!”

“Huh? Why?” Maki asked.

I have to do it. Ryoichi thought. Talk to her. Ask her. Stop hiding.

“You know you could meet Memory Man if you sit on this bench.” Ryoichi started gently.

“Oh, you mean that rumour? Yeah, it is harder to find someone at school who doesn’t know about this.” Maki replied.

“Are you trying to look for Memory Man?” Maki did not speak, nor did she look at Ryoichi. Ryoichi knew he got his answer.

“I am not going to ask what you want with him. I just want you to know that if you make the request, that memory will be completely erased from your mind. Do you know how that feels? Just because you don’t remember, it doesn’t mean it never happened. Don’t you find that…” Fear, sadness, loneliness. Ryoichi remembered how he felt when Kyoko forgot about him. “I just want you to think carefully about it. You can’t undo it. I know I am selfish, but those memories make a part of you. If they are gone, you are not 100% you anymore. I don’t want any part of you to disappear.”

Is he too late? Can he still talk Maki out of this destructive decision? He didn’t know where to begin or how to convince her.

“I thought you don’t believe this urban legend.” Maki said.

“I don’t believe in the story. I know.” Ryoichi came clean about everything. “Maybe you don’t remember, but you met him when you were a kid. I was walking you home after dinner. We saw something that made you very upset. I remember how hard you were crying. All I knew was that I couldn’t leave you there, so I took you to your Grandpa Sugawara’s apartment building and saw you walk through the gates. The next day, you didn’t remember a thing. You even asked me what was wrong with me. I was very scared and thought maybe you were in shock and forgot about it, but now I know you must have met Memory Man.”

Ryoichi tried to convince Maki with logic. “Maybe you think this was ancient history and since you don’t actually remember, it is no big deal. But don’t you find this horrifying? That someone could take something as important as memory from you with or without your consent? I am sorry I am rambling… but I just want to tell you everything before you decide to meet Memory Man.”

Ryoichi wasn’t sure he could convince Maki. “Yes, while I am very worried about you, on the other hand, if you have your memories taken away, I know I will feel repulsed, and scared…”

“Are you scared?” Maki asked. Ryoichi knew he had to tell her the truth if he hoped to convince her.

“I had this dream of you with him. He put his hand to your forehead. My heart was screaming at me to grab you and run, but I always wake up at this point. When I think about it, I must have seen the exact moment when your memory was erased.” Ryoichi finally told Maki what he had tried to keep from her for the last year. But wait… the original incident happened when Maki was 5 or 6. In the dream, Maki looked around 10 or 11. Did she met him twice? He paused to think.

“What do you know about this urban legend?” After being silent for so long, Maki suddenly asked.

“I just know from the internet. The meeting places, how you pass along the message, etc. Oh, and that Memory Man could be a tall, thin man… or a woman. Wearing a grey jacket.”

“And Memory Man will erase the memories of those people who joked around with the request, right? There are so many theories. ‘Memory Man eats your memory’, ‘You won’t remember your encounter with Memory Man’, ‘Once the memory is gone, it won’t come back’, ‘Memory Man cannot erase his own memory.’” Maki listed what she heard before.

Ryoichi was surprised. Of course he heard some of them, but Maki’s research was very detailed. So she was that serious about her search for Memory Man?

“Oh, that conversation? Even though I don’t remember, I knew what it was about. We heard my mom and dad talking right?” Maki said. Ryoichi stared at her. Maki smiled slightly and continued.

“Just like you said. My mom had an affair with my uncle. I found out about it when I was in junior high.” It dawned on Ryoichi - Maki tried to get her memory erased again at that time. “I knew my mom stopped the affair already and she gets along with my dad now. I just cannot look at her the same way even though I don’t blame her anymore. So I asked him to do it… He refused.”

“Refused…?” Maki nodded. “That was when he told me about the first incident.”

So Maki knew all along. She was just pretending. Ryoichi knew why she might hide the fact that she met Memory Man. He was just laughing at himself for foolishly thinking he could protect her.

“He said I was too young and he had no choice but to make me forget. But in the second time, I was already old enough to think for myself so he refused. He didn’t want to use his powers easily because it cannot be undone.” Ryoichi knew it was hopeless. Maki had already decided.

“Ryo-chan, you do remember.” Ryoichi looked baffled. “You just said you saw it in your dreams.”

“It’s true that memories will not coming back. He told me that second time.” Maki said.

Why would Memory Man tell Maki all this? Ryoichi was confused, but he only managed to ask, “You actually remember Memory Man?”

“He was my favourite person. Ryo-chan remembered him too.” Maki smiled sadly with tears in her eyes. “It was Grandpa Sugawara.”

Ryoichi had always thought things would be different had he walked her to her grandpa’s door. Turn out it wouldn’t have mattered.

“The last time Grandpa erased someone’s memory was 30 years before that night. When I asked him that second time, he refused. Shortly after, he died. I think I may have been the last one he used his powers on.”

“Then in my dream… that man with you, was that Grandpa Sugawara?”

“No… he was someone unimportant.” Maki said.

Why? Why was I trying to tell her to run? Ryoichi thought as he sank back on the bench. “I always thought he did something to me too…” Maki shook her head.

“No… it was me. Grandpa didn’t eat your memories. You have met Memory Man many times. You don’t remember?” Ryoichi was so shocked he couldn’t even nod.

“I took them just in case. The first time was a failure though; that’s why you keep having those dreams.” Maki looked like she gave up. “They said Memory Man only appears at dusk…well, I have school! And the long grey jacket? It is the school jacket. The bench story was around for a while, and the message board? I’m not sure how that got out, but I did take a few requests that way. I’ve met ICO, by the way. I also met the guy who worked at the flower shop in the hospital… I was getting worried since it looks like you have found Memory Man.”

“So, the Memory Man I have been looking for was…”

“Sorry, Ryo-chan.” Maki looked like she would break down and cry. Ryoichi didn’t know what to do. He was more stupid than he thought. He was worried about Maki trying to find Memory Man. She hadn’t been looking at all.

“I feel differently about my powers. I was given a gift and I should use it. That man you saw in your dream, Ryo-chan? That was my first client. Unfortunately you saw me, so I had to erase your memory. That was the first time. The second time was after you started your investigation into Kyoko-san’s incident. I really don’t want to erase the memory of someone I know… but my efforts were wasted anyway. You kept looking. I was going to do it again, but I was so afraid and delayed doing it.”

“You felt afraid?”

“Yes, I was afraid.” Then why did you do it? Ryoichi thought to himself. Maki interrupted his thoughts.

“If someone asked me for help and I have the power, then why shouldn’t I? That’s my life purpose. I know this is serious so I only erase what is necessary and no more.” Maki looked at Ryoichi as if she was begging him to understand.

“I am not afraid when I erase other people’s memory since I appear before them as Memory Man. But you are different. I am Kawai Maki in front of you. You know everything about me.” Ryoichi saw a glimpse of the Maki he knew; the one he felt compelled to protect. He also knew he had been useless.

“I don’t blame you. I know you had to do what you think you need to do. I just want you to think about it.” He knew she was hurting inside and thought she had no choice with her mission. He wanted to get through and help her see the other side.

“I know those people really wanted the memories to be gone. I agree with you. But some of those bad memories could eventually transform into fond memories. Or they could become the catalyst for something different. Those people could change their minds in a few years. Having these gaps could prevent them from doing what they were supposed to do in life.”

“Ryo-chan. Were you sad when Kyoko-san forgot about you?”

“It was painful but not enough for me to want to forget meeting her. It’s a choice. I am allowed to choose to remember, right?”

“I knew you would say that, Ryo-chan. I guess I am giving them a second chance. The slate is wiped clean. But is a second chance really useful?” Ryoichi was shocked to hear that coming from Memory Man.

“Kyoko-san is no longer afraid of the dark, but what if she gets attacked again? Then what I did would be pointless. Ando Nanami may have forgotten Takahara-sensei, but what if she meets another person she couldn’t live without? Kaname and Misao can try rebuilding their friendship. Maybe this time Misao will fall in love with a different boy. Or she falls in love with Kaname again and their friendship is over. Or maybe Kaname feels different this time? All these what if’s! I never felt confident I actually helped. And why do other people have this choice and I don’t?”

“Maki…”

“Because I am the Memory Man, I cannot erase my own memory. People can happily forget but I cannot. I have to bear their burdens each time I erase their memories. Even when the person I care about forget about our time together, I still have to remember.” Maki wiped her tears from her eyes. “Grandpa is gone! Is this my punishment?”

Ryoichi wished he could help her. “Perhaps you have done enough already. Don’t force yourself to continue. I know you have the power but you don’t have to use it, right? I know I am an idiot but I want to protect you. I don’t know what I can do so tell me? Do you really want to keep going with your mission? Let me help.” Ryoichi didn’t know what else to say. “Maki… don’t cry.” He pulled her into his arms and let her cry on his shoulders.

“No, Ryo-chan, I don’t need your protection. Really.” Ryoichi held Maki tighter. “Just once… can you like me?”

Ryoichi didn’t even have time to think about what she meant. He just saw a fog enveloping the surroundings and a white light broke through.

Epilogue

Yoshimori Ryoichi came to his senses and was surprised to see himself sitting at the park holding a sobbing girl in his embrace. He looked and saw his neighbour, a girl who was like his little sister.

“Maki?” Ryoichi had not seen Maki cry like that before. In his mind, she was always a sunny girl. “Maki, are you ok?” But Maki would not stop. “OK, OK…. Don’t cry… I don’t know what to do when you cry.” He didn’t know why, but he felt his heart breaking for her.

Maki was still sobbing and muttered something. Ryoichi thought he heard her say “I’m sorry.”

My comments

So that was kinda of sad, right? I suppose they could have gone with a happier ending but it will be a cop out. What do you think? Anyway, thanks for reading till the end. I wish I could be a bit more concise in the recap, but oh well.

#kiokuya #記憶屋 #novel summary #episode 4 #the end #yamada ryosuke #yoshine kyoko #renbutsu misako #sasaki kuranosuke #origami kyoka

12 notes · View notes

amythehybrid · 3 years

Text

House in the Hills

“Legend has it that ye who enters, shall never see the light of another day…”

Rose Richards scoffed as she walked by a group of fellow classmates finding their stories to be a complete nonsense. She ignored the obnoxious laughter and giggles, rolling her eyes knowing that nobody will care enough to notice.

Once again, it was the end of another school week and like every other, the popular kids in her year group were throwing a party.

She was never invited, and even if she had been, she did not understand the appeal.

She made her way out of the school building, eyes searching each corner and group of friends for her sister, Natalie. They would miss the bus if she didn’t find her soon and Rose was not looking forward to losing time, she could spend watching reruns of ‘Friends’.

She curled her lip in distaste when she finally caught sight of her sister and without hesitation, burst into a power march toward the pair- her sister, and the guy she was speaking with. Rose, with a baseless, burning passion, disliked Tyler Lysander. The most popular guy in their year group, he was simply put, annoying and stereotypical, as Rose would nicely put it.

So, what was he doing speaking to her sister?

“Hey, hey, Rosie!” Tyler greeted, grinning wide with a teasing smirk. He lifted a hand and waved the girl over, chuckling lightly when he caught the bold display of deep-set dislike Rose bore for him. She ignored the guilty smile of greeting Natalie shot her as though she had been caught doing something wrong.

Yes, naturally, Rose would assume associating oneself with the likes of Tyler Lysander was considered wrong. He was the boy fathers warned their daughters about.

“Screw you, Lysander! Why are you speaking to my sister?”

Tyler made a clicking sound in his throat while shaking his head. He lazily threw an arm around Natalie’s shoulder, discreetly drawing the semi-oblivious girl closer. Natalie kept her head lowered in a meek fashion, a blush tainting her cheeks.

“Now, now, Rosie. That’s why you have no friends.” he replied, knowing his insult angered the girl. He smirked noting how she clenched her fists at her sides, forcing her features to stay blank of emotion despite the small curl of her lip.

“I was just inviting Natalie to the party tonight. Down by the lake, you know. At the bottom of that hill all the locals are scared of?”

Rose rolled her eyes. She didn’t understand the fear locals had. It was a stupid urban legend the old folks told to keep idiot teenagers away from the lake.

Tyler’s expression suddenly fell in mock disappointment. “I’d invite you but…” He paused, his face lighting up with a smile Rose didn’t trust. “In fact, you can come if you’d like though I doubt anyone would appreciate your gloomy aura.”

“I’m shocked you even know what that word means, Lysander.” Rose snapped back. Tyler made a face of mock hurt, the amusement never once leaving his eyes. “Natalie can’t go and even if I wanted to go, it’d be a waste of time.”

Grabbing Natalie’s hand, Rose tugged her sister along behind her ignoring the quiet apology she heard her sending to the aggravating human she tried to put distance from. When next Tyler called out to them, Rose resisted the urge to march back and punch his lights out.

“Yo, Natalie! Text me if you make up your mind! And wear something cute!”

They boarded the bus, Natalie sitting beside her sister aware of the volatile mood the girl was in. She never understood this baseless hatred Rose held for Tyler. She thought he was sweet, but she knew better than to let her sister know so. It would only invite a scolding lecture on how much of a ‘no good’ he was.

Natalie didn’t get it. Why did her sister refuse to give people a chance? Why did she keep them away? Perhaps it was best to not ask questions for which there was no response.

“You’re not going!” Rose shouted after her sister. They’d gotten off the bus and were heading inside their home. One they shared with their parents. “Natalie! Did you hear me?” she shouted once more as they entered the home and Rose slammed the door shut.

Natalie grunted, hating how much of a mom her sister was beginning to sound. In fact, it would appear to be an insult to their own mother for she was more of a best friend.

Their shouting echoed throughout the house, bringing their mother out of her room to see what had the girls fighting. She came down the steps to find Natalie stopping halfway up the staircase while Rose stood at the bottom glaring up at her sister.

Natalie turned about, returning a glare of her own.

“You can’t make me do something I don’t want to, Rose! What’s wrong with me going out? Or is it because of Tyler?”

“Girls?” their mother questioned. Both girls ignored her, Rose slapping her palm against the staircase railing out of frustration.

“It’s not about you going out, Natalie! It’s about where you’re going and with who-”

“So, it is about Tyler!” Natalie huffed, and Rose rolled her eyes. Natalie gestured to herself, speaking in a defiant manner. “Listen, Rose. He likes me, that’s why he asked me to go with him. And you know what? I like him too, so I think I’ll go.”

Rose scoffed. “Not without mom and dad’s permission.”

Both girls averted their attention to the older woman in their presence, Natalie immediately taking to pleading with their mother to let her go. She demonstrated her deep desire to go out for the night, explaining that she wanted to know Tyler better. Their mother gestured her hands for her daughter to calm down.

“It’s alright, Natalie. You can go to the lake. But no drinking, and I expect you back no later than midnight.”

“Mom! Are you seriously letting her go? She’s a sophomore and that party is mostly for seniors and juniors.” Rose blurted, hoping to reason with her mother. The older woman shook her head while Natalie shot her sister a glare.

“Come on, Rosie. It’s just a little party. Maybe you should go too if you are so worried about Natalie.”

The girl in question shook her head, scoffing to boot the show of her disapproval. “Whatever. I’d rather drown than go anywhere near that party. And don’t call me Rosie.”

Tensions running high between both girls, there was nothing their mother could say as Rosie and Natalie huffed at one another and went off to their separate rooms. Natalie plugged in her speakers, letting the songs on her playlist block out the surrounding world while she locked her bedroom door and made her way around the space picking out an outfit and matching make-up.

She pulled out her phone and sent a quick message to her date, telling him that she would go. She sent him her address, and a few minutes later, her phone vibrated with a reply from Tyler.

Over in Rose’s room, she opted for a subtle approach to letting her anger simmer. She put in her earbuds and climbed out onto the awning roof where she stayed, listening to her music and watching episodes of ‘Friends’ until the sun had completely disappeared from the sky.

The house lights had come on and her bedroom was dark. Her stomach’s rumbling was what made her move, heading out of her room with dinner in mind. As she entered the corridor adjacent to the bedrooms, she saw her sister come out of hers, and immediately, Rose’s lip curled in irritation.

When had her sister become like this?

Natalie wore a yellow dress that fell to her things and a white over-all that was left open. Her hair was left to fall loosely around her shoulders, curled a little indicating that she had spent some time on her hair and putting on make-up.

Their eyes met and Natalie pulled up short expecting her sister to say something. But, Rose didn’t. At least, not at first. She simply rolled her eyes and scoffed, saying her last piece of warning as she started down the steps. Rose knew there was nothing more to say or do short of locking her sister inside her bedroom for the night.

“Don’t give in easily.”

Rose had her dinner in the kitchen. Her parents were elsewhere within the house, but Natalie had left before Rose had finished eating. Her ‘date’ had shown up to collect her, and typically, like Rose had expected, Tyler hadn’t gotten out of the car to approach the house.

Rose retreated to her room, spending the better part of the night watching episodes of ‘Friends’ deciding to put Natalie’s uncharacteristic rebellion out of mind.

Though, at midnight, she was still awake and kept checking the time. She paused her show to listen out for the approach of Tyler’s car, or even her sister coming in through the front door. Her light footfalls that indicated her ascend up the steps, or even the soft click of her bedroom door.

Rose finally fell asleep, but she didn’t do so peacefully. Her sleep was light, and she kept waking up to toss and turn at which point she would listen for movement throughout the house or she would rise to ‘use’ the bathroom.

By the time four o’clock in the morning had come and Rose found herself standing at the threshold of Natalie’s bedroom, staring into blank, dark space, the bed empty of it’s occupant, she could already sense that something dreadful was adrift. Panic was slowly setting in as one thousand questions ran through her mind.

What if something happened?

What if Tyler tried to take advantage of her? Natalie was only sixteen and her ‘date’ was a senior high schooler. Rose didn’t trust many students in her grade, let alone Tyler Lysander.

Why was she so worried?

Was it the party’s venue or was it truly all about Tyler? Rose didn’t like him at all and for an intensely personal reason.

In a flurry, she dashed back to her bedroom and grabbed up her phone, trying Natalie’s number. She tried at least five times before she was thrown into a sudden panic attack. She had started pacing her bedroom floor, thinking up the worst scenarios and plotting her next move.

She contemplated sneaking out and heading to the lake. Or even Tyler’s house. She contemplated calling Natalie’s friends on the hope that perhaps, one or two of them had been invited to the lake party. But, her third option wouldn’t work.

She only had the number of Natalie’s best friend and she’d never once called or texted. Rose took a deep breath and shook her head. She reached for her phone once more and tried the number for Natalie’s best friend.

It went to voicemail after ringing. Natalie’s friend was either asleep or also at the lake party.

“It’s fine. Natalie can take care of herself.” Rose repeated a few times over, taking deep puffs of air to calm her racing mind. Convinced she was simply overreacting, Rose climbed beneath the blankets and curled up trying to get some shut eye.

Little did she know, her panic hadn’t been for nothing.

The commotion came at the crack of noon. The sound of her father’s angered, irate tone rising above every other sound within and outside the house, traveling up the steps to slither past her shut bedroom door. Beneath the chaotic, deep voice, she barely heard the pleading, softer voice of her mother.

It drew her away and down the steps, into the living room where her parents were too busy arguing to notice that Rose had now taken a seat, perched where she would easily see them. Her parents rarely argued.

It was always frightening and strange when they did.

Rose took in her mother’s worried expression. The petite woman rubbed at her hands while sitting on the couch appearing meek before her hulking husband, while said man paced a hole into the living room floor, anxiously tapping keys on his phone before holding it to his ear.

Obviously trying to reach someone.

“This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t let her go to that stupid party!” her father bellowed, angrier than Rose would have expected. His muscles were tensed, and he appeared seconds away from chucking the phone at a wall.

“How was I supposed to know this would happen?” came her mother’s meek reply, voice shaking and moments away from bursting into tears. The woman’s husband scowled.

“Are you truly oblivious to what happens down at that lake? Drugs. Alcohol. Sex!” the man shouted, past the definition of angry now. His face contorted in vile dislike. “And to make matters worse, you let her leave with that Lysander kid!”

“I’m sorry.” Rose’s mother replied, barely above a whisper. Her voice lacked conviction and confidence in the face of her husband’s wrath. Once again, the man scowled.

“Rose!” he suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs. As loudly as his deep voice would allow him. He called her again, and not fearing the wrath of her father, Rose slowly emerged from her hiding place, ignoring the suspicious stare her father shot her.

“Did you know about this party?” the towering man asked his daughter who confidently approached him, though his tall height dwarfed her petite frame. Rose nodded, noting the manner he had sneered the nature of the ‘get-together’. Perhaps it was dislike of the ‘prohibited’ affair or that Natalie went with the one boy in their town her father absolutely disliked.

And for a personal reason. The same which Rose disliked Tyler.

“I tried to stop her. But she was pretty adamant she goes.”

Rose stood quietly as her father fussed and fumed, mumbling and cursing foully beneath his breath. The young girl gauged her mother’s reaction, wondering for a split second how her parents managed to make things work. They were opposites in a way.

Her father strict and firm handed. Reasonable and nice once mutual grounds were reached. Her mother was fiery and had a rebellious streak that even after so many years of motherhood, she hadn’t lost. Rose would easily say she was like her father. And Natalie, like their mother.

“I can try to find her.” Rose suggested, knowing well that their arguing commenced because Natalie hadn’t returned home. The young girl kept her ceaseless worry at bay, keeping quiet whilst her father projected and demonstrated exactly what she felt on the inside.

Uncertainty and fear.

Their town was small. It was rare for someone to go missing.

“Where would you suggest looking?” her father demanded, shooting her a firm stare that she took into stride. Rose shrugged.

“Tyler Lysander.”

Her suggestion sent the man into a frenzy, and they ended up in an argument. Rose argued that it was the best starting point since he would most likely be the one to have seen Natalie last. Her father argued that it was quite possibly the worst idea.

Rose didn’t care. Her sister was missing regardless of what the law said. It was unlike Natalie to pull a stunt like this despite her faintly rebellious nature. Her father’s rants had revealed he’d tried everyone he knew. The parents of Natalie’s friends, and even Natalie’s phone. He’d come up with nothing.

“I agree it’s a bad idea. God knows I’d rather anything else. But she went there with Lysander so that’s where I start.”

Her father halted, face red from controlled fury. He did not like the idea of Rose being within five yards of that boy. Middle school, freshman year of high school; all good. Sophomore year, absolute chaos. Junior year, a changed Rose Richards.

But he couldn’t argue. His daughter held a valid argument despite his strong disapproval. She was strongheaded like him.

“Fine. I’ll head down to the station and file a report.” her father instructed. He turned his furious stare onto his petite wife. “You’ll stay here in case Natalie magically shows up. We better pray she does or if something happens to her-”

“You’ll finally get your wish of hurting Lysander and his equally abominable kid?” Rose suggested to a finish, grinning smugly. Her father gave his signature smirk that Rose had come to inherit.

They split off on their separate ways. Her father to the station, and Rose to the Lysander residence while her mother stayed at home on the lookout for Natalie’s return.

Rose pushed down the feeling of certain dread as she approached the Lysander home. There had been a nagging voice at the back of her mind telling her something was incredibly wrong. It had been there since midnight and had left her paranoid. Rose had been shocked she’d managed to gain some sleep.

When Rose knocked on the front door of Tyler’s home and his mother answered, the lady’s expression quickly turned to shock. Rose Richards had been the last person she would expect to see on her doorstep and already, she sensed the foreboding nature of the girl’s visit.

Rose had not been the same girl after the incident in sophomore year of high school.

“Mrs. Lysander.” Rose greeted sweetly for her anger wasn’t directed toward the lady. “Is Tyler home?”

Mrs. Lysander nodded and let the young girl in. The lady led her up the steps toward Tyler’s room whilst she explained that he appeared skittish and jumpy on his return home. She complained too, that she hadn’t a clue on what to do with the company her son kept. Rose only nodded along, not bothered by Tyler or his mother’s problems. She only noted what was said about his uncharacteristic behaviour upon his return.

“Mrs. Lysander? What time did you say he got in?”

“Around three this morning.”

Rose was still awake that time. Futilely tossing and turning and pacing her bedroom floor.

Mrs. Lysander knocked on the door, and this she repeated, calling her son’s name four times. Yet, there was no answer. Until the woman grew fed up of her son’s silence and barged in.

Rose followed, pulling up short at the unruly, unkempt appearance of her nemesis. He was still fully dressed in his party attire of jeans, a stylish t-shirt and black and white Vans. But he was not asleep, rather hunched over in a dark corner of his room, knees drawn up to his chest and he rocked back and forth in a daze. Madness slowly setting in.

Rose’s heart thundered in her chest, the nagging voice echoing louder in her mind. Her paranoia grew.

Her greatest enemy was…spooked!

“He’s been that way since he got home. He refuses to speak to anyone.”

Rose nodded, pushing down the mounting fear that bubbled in her chest. “May I have a moment with him alone, Mrs. Lysander?”

The older woman nodded and quietly took her leave after shooting her son one more worried glance. Rose approached quietly and stooped down to Tyler’s eye level. She cared not for his mental health. God knows he cared little to nothing for hers.

“Where’s my sister?” Rose interrogated. A rough edge to her voice indicating her impatience, lack of sympathy toward Tyler, but carefully hiding the deep-set fear.

Time ticked away, silence ensuing. Tyler continuously rocked back and forth, his breathing coming in short, shallow puffs. Rose groaned in irritation, rolling her eyes as she did so. She repeated her question with more force, the strength of her tone startling Tyler out of his daze. The boy glanced up with confusion as if seeing her for the first time.

“Rosie?” he croaked.

Shoving away the supreme disgust she felt toward him, she asked her question once more. “Where is Natalie?” she gritted out.

Tyler’s expression suddenly contorted into what Rose would define as absolute terror. He gulped audibly, and his eyes went owlishly wide. His gaze misted and suddenly, Rose frowned at first when he burst out into tears.

Her heart wrenched in pain, but not for him.

Where was Natalie?

“I-I’m so…I’m really sorry…Rosie…” His voice was soft. Barely above a whisper and completely uncharacteristic of the confident, egotistical Tyler Lysander.

Rose’s anger mounted, and in a fit of rage she fell to her knees and grabbed Tyler by the collar of his shirt with both hands. She drew him nearer, hearing the audible gasp for he finally recognized the fury etched onto Rose’s pretty face.

“Where the hell is my sister, Lysander? I want details. No apologies.”

She recognized the fear that gripped him tightly as he stuttered his way through a vague explanation.

“They…they took her.” he whispered fearfully.

“Who? Where?”

Tyler paused, his misted gaze locking onto her angered one as his brows furrowed. Certain fear clouded his eyes as he could think of no worse fate.

“The people in the hills.”

“You think I’m playing around, Lysander? My sister’s missing and you’re trying to get a joke out of this-”

“I’m telling you the truth, Rosie!” Tyler shouted back, his voice cracking with the weight of his grief. “The stories are true!” He shook his head in a manner that reminded Rose of someone completely losing his mind. “I-I didn’t believe it…we…none of us did, Rosie. But it’s true. Someone grabbed her! I saw it! There’s someone in those hills by the lake!”

Rose shoved him away, getting to her feet. “I don’t have time for this bullshit!”

When she turned to leave, Tyler shot out a hand grabbing onto her wrist. He propelled himself up to his feet, his strength jerking the girl about as she tried to shove him off. He used the opportunity to take hold of her shoulders.

His tone, exasperated, and his expression troubled. “I’m not kidding, Rosie. You have to believe me.”

She thought of it for a moment, narrowing her gaze to him. “Fine. The person who took Natalie. What did they look like?”

Tyler shook his head. “I-I…I’m not sure. It was dark up there and our phone lights didn’t give enough to see. But there was a man. And he was tall.”

Our?

“You took Natalie up those hills? You said ‘our’ that time.”

“Me, a buddy of mine, and his girlfriend. I swear, Rosie. If I had known someone was up there, I’d never have encouraged it.”

Rose curled her lip, clenching her fists at her sides in controlled fury, battling the urge to physically fight the person before her. She resisted the urge to ask more unnecessary questions.

“Whatever. Since you were the last person to see my sister, you and I are going to get her back.”

“Y-You mean…go back to that hill?” Tyler asked cautiously, truly afraid of the answer. But by the anger and the determination written on Rose’s face, he knew she wasn’t lying. “I’m sorry, Rosie. I want to help…but I…I can’t-”

“No.” Rose muttered quietly. She approached Tyler, getting up in his personal space as she jabbed a finger into his chest. He took a step back, wincing painfully when she shoved his shoulder followed by another jab that brought about her verbal onslaught.

“Listen here, puss! My sister is missing. You took her there so that made her your responsibility.” Rose fumed, jabbing her finger into his shoulder harder this time, intent on causing some bruising. Kind in comparison to the scars he’d given her that she still struggled to heal. “If you’re too much of a wuss to man up and help me find the girl you lost, I will drag you there.”

Tyler curled away, his head lowered in fear and shame. Rose did not know the dangers she was dragging him back to.

“That’s kidnapping, Rosie.” he whispered softly, refusing to meet her stare for he knew the rage he’d find there.

“Just like Natalie was!” Rose yelled. She pushed his shoulder making him step back. Tyler winced. He was not used to this side of her. Even after sophomore year when she’d changed. She was usually quiet and resorted to quick comebacks and insults.

But he knew he’d gone overboard. He deserved every bit of her anger.

Fisting a hand in his shirt, Rose drew him nearer not one bit intimidated by his tall frame that dwarfed her. “We are going back to that hill to get Natalie. Meet me by the railway in an hour and while you’re at it, call your two friends who were there. Do not keep me waiting, Lysander.”

Rose checked her phone for the eighth time in five minutes. Anxiety gnawed at her mind, heightening her paranoia. It was already thirteen minutes past the agreed hour, and she stood near the old railway feeling more and more like an idiot with each passing second.

She had informed her parents of her plan. They did not like it, but she persisted that it was now or never. They couldn’t afford to wait for twenty-four hours or even forty-eight to pass by before the police decided to do something.

Her mother remained at home, her paranoia too, setting in as the day slowly ended. Her father had returned to the police station in hopes of making them listen. To get off their butts and do something because pulling a disappearing stunt was not Natalie’s style. Be she a teenager, her father was strict enough to ensure Natalie never pulled such gimmicks.

Those idiots better not have stood me up!

Rose stood near the railway with a backpack that carried a flashlight and batteries. A jacket should they find Natalie and she needed something to keep warm and sticking out of her backpack was the handle of a steel baseball bat.

She played softball for her school. She was known. But not for her athleticism in no short thanks to her nemesis and his undying need to see her miserable. The baseball bat was a gift from her father, and it had a few scratches from when she’d head down to the court and hit a few.

It was her prized possession. A symbol of her favourite hobby that could be easily used as weapon since she had no inkling as to what they may be walking into.

After another ten minutes or so had passed, each one grating on Rose’s nerves and heightening her irritation all the more, she finally caught sight of three figures crossing the railway tracks, making their way over.

She immediately recognized them. Tyler stood the tallest amongst the three with his dwarfing frame that reached just over six feet. She recognized the second boy, and without meaning to, rolled her eyes in mental agony.

Brad Wayland. Jerk number two. Flirt and womanizer by nature. All brawn and no brains except for when it came to football and picking up girls.

His girlfriend. Heather Holmes. Those two had a strange relationship. Neither were faithful but somehow, they made it work and had been together since freshman year.

They were both equally annoying and aggravating, coming in a close second to Tyler.

Great! I’m on a rescue mission with three of the most annoying people on Plant Earth!

But she would keep it civil and brave a show of gratitude if they found Natalie.

“What’s up, Rosie baby?” Brad greeted, grinning his signature smirk Rose was itching to knock off his face. Biting her tongue, she ignored his greeting as best she could until Heather spoke.

“For the record, this is like, insanely stupid.”

Rose’s civility snapped. “Like, I don’t care. If you’ve got a better idea, girly, I’m all ears.”

Heather scoffed and rolled her eyes muttering a ‘whatever’ under her breath.

“What’s with the bat, Rosie?” Tyler asked.

“We have no idea what we’re up against.” She stopped speaking, noting that the only person who came relatively prepared was herself. She narrowed her gaze on the annoying couple and her nemesis. “I see you three are prepared.”

Heather scoffed once more, shooting Rose a glare. “Get real, Richards! This is like, a stupid plan and like we should’ve like, let the cops handle this.”

Rose took a moment to comprehend that sentence, her confusion clearly shown on her face before she shook her head to rid away the horrid grammar of Heather’s statement.

“We don’t have time to waste, Holmes. Natalie was kidnapped and the police won’t do anything until at least forty-eight hours have passed. You three got us into this mess, you’re going to get us out of it.”

“Okay,” Brad started, and Rose could already tell she would need to restrain her dislike for the idiot more than usual. “But the woods are scary this time of day. And even scarier at night.”

Rose raised a well-shaped eyebrow, indicating that she was not afraid nor was she about to back out. And Brad realized this because he huffed, throwing an arm lazily around his girlfriend’s shoulder.

In silence, the group of four teenagers proceeded using the remaining daylight hours to their advantage. They walked the rest of the railway branching off to a section of the woodland that would take them to the lake.

The lake was a large expanse of water surrounded by trees; the shrubbery not thick enough for one to lose sense of direction. The woodland was quiet and as they approached the lake after almost an hour of trekking unclaimed territory, Rose pursed her lips when she caught sight of a few red plastic cups and cigarette butts littering the earthen floor.

She wondered about the party the night before. Had Natalie given in to peer pressure and consumed that vile liquid? Had she smoked one of those cigarette butts?

Rose peeked through the trees, noting that the sun was now significantly lower than it had been when they set off. If she checked correctly, they would have roughly one more hour of useful daylight before the trees and shrubbery melded together in dark, oppressing silhouettes that would surely blend into the equally overwhelming darkened sky.

They would have to make it to the top of the hill quickly. And then even faster if they found Natalie.

No…when!

When more minutes of silence passed by, Rose decided to break it with a question as more red cups and cigarette butts came into view. She cringed then when her gaze landed on a mint coloured lace bra lying on the roots of a tree.

And people wonder why I don’t party…

“Did Natalie drink last night? Or smoke?” she questioned. She sensed a change in energy from Tyler who strode quietly by her side, Heather and Brad not bothering to hide their annoyance with the question. Heather groaned, and her boyfriend chuckled.

“She had a beer or two.” Tyler answered hoping to put her mind at ease. “She didn’t smoke. I made sure.”

That made her feel better.

Not!

“You know, Richards,” Heather suddenly spoke up and Rose resisted the urge to scoff finding the sound of the girl’s voice to be particularly irritating this day. “How is it that you’re a senior but like, your sister’s so much more fun to hang around with? Then again, I am glad you didn’t show up. Your gloom would have like, ruined the entire affair.”

Brad snickered. Rose stopped in her tracks causing Heather to bump into her. Tyler turned about sensing the beginnings of a fight on the verge of breaking out and he came to stand behind Rose when she turned to face the infuriating girl. Arms at the ready to restrain her should it turn to a physical altercation.

He knew without thinking much of it that Rose was incredibly angry. With him. With Natalie. Possibly her mother for allowing Natalie to attend the lake party. And neither Heather nor Brad were making it easier for her.

Heather raised an eyebrow out of pure amusement catching the truly enraged glare housed on Rose’s pretty features. “What?”

“Natalie and I may have our differences but at the end of the day, she’s still my sister. My little sister.” She turned, shoving Tyler out of her path before glancing over her shoulder with a firm glare that left no room for imagination on how she truly felt toward them.

Brad chuckled in amusement. Heather scoffed and rolled her eyes. Tyler averted his gaze to the floor, hurt by the meaning behind that glare, and suddenly ashamed of his actions that led them all here.

“You three better pray we find her.”

“Or what?” Brad prodded. “You’ll batter us with that baseball bat?” He chuckled, his laugh that to Rose, sounded like a clucking chicken, grating even more on her nerves. Rose glanced over her shoulder with a sinister grin.

“It’s a large expanse of woodland, Wayland.” Her voice, though sarcastic, dripped with mystery.

Her comeback silenced them. Brad suddenly became troubled, cautiously watching the girl’s every movement although she, for now, led the group further past the lake. They were now approaching the foot of the hill that had inspired that urban legend about a mysterious figure that roamed the top half of the hill.

Legend had it that about two decades back, maybe more, a young girl had gone missing from her camping trip she’d had with friends. Her body was never found, and no trace of her whereabouts had surfaced. Local police chalked it up to the girl simply running off and leaving town.

In the years that followed, more mysterious disappearances of the same nature occurred. Young girl in her teen years, mysteriously vanishing from a group of friends. It was rare to hear about a young boy in his teen years disappearing in the same fashion. But there have been one or two cases.

“I-I didn’t believe it…we…none of us did…”

She thought about Tyler’s crazed ranting for a moment. Could it be that the legend wasn’t that? But that it was actually true? Was there someone up in those hills kidnapping teenagers when the opportunity presented itself?

The more she thought about it, the more daunting the reality became. No longer could she ignore the signs that were in front of her. The cases and stories. So many had gone missing and the point of disappearance…always around that lake. The victims were always the same age group.

Were the local police keeping the existence of a possible serial murderer under wraps? Or were they perhaps themselves, too afraid to scour the hill? Every other year or so, someone went missing.

Rose remembered the last case. A high school senior, Abigail Lyons. Went to the lake one Friday afternoon with some friends. The story said that she’d gone into the bushes to urinate but never returned.

Her heart pounding louder than ever, it was all she could hear. Her mouth went dry and her breathing suddenly turned shallow as she stopped once again. Peeking up through the trees, she scowled in distaste and certain dread as the sun hung extremely low in the sky, casting shadows and silhouetted frames around them.

Barely an hour of daylight left.

“How far again until we reach the spot where she was taken?” Her question was rushed, and the others could tell she was anxious as hell.

“It’s just further up the hill.” Tyler responded, gesturing to the large incline of earthen floor and shrubbery ahead of them.

Her heart skipped a beat, her breathing hitched. Shaking her head, she glanced up at the imposing dome-like mound and inhaled deeply. She was hoping that her father managed to get somewhere with convincing the precinct to do something for as they began the lengthy, tiresome ascend up the steep incline through bushes, around trees, and over uneven ground, the dread pooled and built in the pit of her stomach.

Her nerves tingled and chills broke out on her arms and along her back, the coldness of the night to come already settling in, growing harsher the higher they ascended. Small animals scampered by rousing a subtle reaction from the four out of fright. Whether they turned around to scan the area in search of a possible threat, leaped out of the way, gasped or squealed, it was beginning to give them all an adrenaline rush.

“Guys, this is getting ridiculous.” Brad suddenly said. “We should head back and let the cops handle this.”

Rose withheld a small smile noting his words were intentionally aimed toward her. But she also gathered by his tone that he was easily the most spooked among them all.

“My father’s taking care of that. What?” Rose returned, throwing a smirk over her shoulder. “Getting jumpy, Wayland?”

“You realize how stupid this entire thing is, right?” he fired.

Yes, she did. Four teenagers venturing into the woodland at night was risky business by itself. Add on the possibility that there was a serial killer running around the woods heightened the ‘danger’ factor. But she was driven enough to ignore the threats, possessing a frame of mind- no matter how frightened she was- to find Natalie against all obstacles.

“Well, what’s more idiotic? Righting your idiotic actions or the ones that led us here in the first place?” Rose shot back. Her question once again silenced them as they clambered up yet another earthen ledge. They continued to clamber up the next slope, their vision having adjusted somewhat to the darkness that was now engulfing them.

“What were you even doing up this way? Away from the party, anyhow?” she asked after a momentary bout of silence befell them. Her irritation mounted when none of the three decided to give a response. “I asked a question. Or are you too ashamed of your idiocy?”

“This is why nobody likes you.” Heather seethed quietly.

“Like I care if people have a problem with the truth. How about answering my question?”

“It was a dare.” Tyler started off quietly. “Some guys were trying to scare a few of the girls with the urban legend story. We didn’t believe it, so they dared us to come up this way. Next thing we knew…”

“Freaking idiots!” Rose swore softly, not at all caring how they took her words. They shouldn’t have been near the lake anyhow, especially after the disappearance of Abigail Lyons.

They came up over another earthen ledge and Rose suddenly came to a halt as she spotted a faint, orange light through the thicket of the trees farther in. “Is this it?” she asked.

Tyler didn’t give a verbal response, rather simply nodded.

“Well, we should go say hi.”

“Are you like, actually stupid?” Heather hissed from behind Rose. Said girl rolled her eyes.

“You got me here, thanks. If you’re too much of a wuss to go any further, by all means, leave.”

“Guys.” Tyler warned, seeing their physical struggle to keep their words at bay. He understood that Rose had every right to be angry. They got Natalie into this mess. She had been kidnapped because of their stupidity and giving in to peer pressure so that they’d be ‘cool’. It was only fair they helped the girl’s sister get her back.

Silently, they trudged forward, keeping their footfalls light. Paranoia of a madman serial killer running around the woodland and that they were closer than ever to the source of all the misery kept them exceedingly alert. Every chirp of a cricket or night bird, every owl’s hoot; each rustle of a tree leaf, and each snap of twig and crunch of fallen, dried up leaves and branches caught their hearing.

They shivered in the night’s cold, rubbing at their arms to keep the chills away. Both from the air and hoping to keep their fear at bay long enough to make it out. The closer they stepped; Heather felt a scream bubbling in her throat, her mind racing. Brad stuck closer to his girlfriend, using her as a shield against the coming danger they knew awaited them.

Tyler fidgeted next to Rose who mostly kept a neutral expression. But on the inside, everything was slowly crumbling from pent up terror. She gripped the backpack straps tighter until her knuckles were white. Taking a shaky breath, Rose stilled her movements, the four-man group coming to a halt as well.

Silence befell them.

Shuck! Shuck! Shuck!

The group frowned at the unfamiliar sound. The closest Rose would say it came to was dirt being shovelled and at that rather insidious thought, a gripping shiver stole up her spine, momentarily rooting her to the spot.

I have to find Natalie.

With a deep puff of air, she moved forward ignoring the quiet struggle of Heather and Brad behind her. They kept saying the same things she already knew.

It was a bad idea in every sense of the meaning. It was an incredibly stupid plan or lack thereof. But somebody had to find Natalie before Rose’s worst nightmare came true.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” came Tyler’s uncertain tone less than an inch away. His proximity scared her more than the continuous shucking sound. Rose nodded her head despite every fibre in her being telling her to do just the opposite.

Somebody needed to find Natalie and she wouldn’t wait on the ridiculous protocol of law enforcement. A killer doesn’t need forty-eight hours to kill an innocent victim. All they need were a few well-planned seconds.

The group slowed as they came around the bend, tiptoeing along the side of the cabin-like house that couldn’t have been home to more than one person. The light inside was on, as was the front porch, and the back porch, the dim, yellow light from the bulb illuminating the space around them but obscuring their vision further beyond that to where the sound was coming from.

Crouching low, the others followed Rose’s lead and remained out of sight except for Tyler who crawled around to her side in hopes of getting a glimpse of what had her squinting into the darkness.

Further out in a small clearing where the shucking sound originated, Rose’s vision adjusted after a few moments of focus. She made out the burly, tall figure of a man moving about in an uncharacteristic manner. He held a shovel in his hands and every few seconds he would bend down. The shuck would come again, then he would rise up and toss the dirt onto a mound less than a foot away.

Rose’s breath caught then, her stomach plummeting lower than dirt as she caught sight of a familiar pair of black flats. Legs. Fair and smooth. The tall figure blocked most of her vision but there was no mistaking it.

His legs like tree trunks firmly planted apart gave a sneak peak to the torn white over-all and yellow dress she had seen perfectly intact less than twenty-four hours ago. Her throat constricted painfully, and she quickly clasped a hand over her mouth to muffle any sob that threatened to give away their presence.

She shut her eyes, taking a shaky breath that did nothing to stop the tears that fell. Through blurred vision, she glanced over to Tyler who was rooted his spot, his face contorted in certain fear, and he appeared as pale as paper. It was like he’d seen ghost, or perhaps, something he wasn’t supposed to.

The man suddenly dropped the shovel with a dull clank! It drew their attention and with teary eyes, Rose peeked around the corner feeling sorrow, grief, and utter helplessness overwhelm her as the man stepped away. Tyler had fallen back, and out of sight for he would have been immediately spotted had he remained rooted at Rose’s side.

Rose slumped backward. Agony like never before consumed her and she clamped both hands down over her mouth, the image of her sister’s lifeless body, pale and bruised lying on the cold, hard dirt, creating a trauma in her mind. She felt trapped, as though she were being suffocated.

Something was holding her down and she struggled to fight it, her sobs coming muffled as she gave into the overwhelming sensation of pain and devastation.

It had to be that she was seeing things!

She refused to believe her eyes.

It couldn’t be Natalie…

She fought against the force that was pulling her away, taking a final peek at the girl’s body. What she had hoped was paranoia and delusional projections of her restless mind proved to be reality. There was no mistaking the brunette hair that was once curled to look presentable. Now damp, and scanty. The dress and over-all sported dirt stains, rips and blood.

The lifeless corpse was no other than her sister. Her little sister, Natalie Richards.

Her heart shattered, she kicked and fussed as strong arms suddenly wrapped around her waist and yanked her to her feet and away. In state of shock and agony, Rose barely registered that distance was being placed between her and the house where her sister’s body was about to be buried by a psycho.

Her intuition had been correct. A serial murderer living in the woods. Preying on innocent teenagers. Murdered her sister for some sick, twisted obsession.

When finally, she was let down near a tree, the faint glowing orange light some distance away, she fell to her knees and shrugged off her backpack. She leaned over, bracing her weight on her hands as her stomach unloaded itself.

The viscosity of the upchuck came bubbling up her throat and through her nostrils. She choked, gasping for air. Tears streamed down her face and she let every ounce of pain she’d withheld over the years come flowing out.

Natalie was gone.

A madman took her away.

And to think that the last time they’d spoken, it was in a fight over a stupid party!

In that moment, Rose hated everyone. Herself. Her mother. The man who had kidnapped and killer her sister. She hated Tyler Lysander for inviting Natalie to that stupid party. She hated her sister for being so foolish and accepting that ridiculous dare.

Pounding her fists against the earthen floor as the floodgates to her emotions were smashed through, she stifled down the painful scream that would no doubt give away their location. Her upchuck ceased and she was left a blubbering mess of sorrow and anger.

Rose registered over her hyperventilating and sobs, an argument happening less than a few yards away in hushed tones. The quiet of the night allowed her to catch snippets, her anger bubbling over at the cowardice and pretence she heard.

How dare they grieve when it was all of their fault?

Rose gathered her courage to stand and step forward but before she could open her mouth to say something, a twig snapped behind her and she was immediately grabbed from behind. A large hand slapped over her mouth and a trunk of an arm wrapped around her midsection lifting her clean off the ground. She kicked and screamed, her arms flailing wildly but the monstrosity of a man she knew was her sister’s killer, easily dodged all of her attacks.

In the midst of her terror, she wondered how they hadn’t seen or heard his approach. Big guy, with footfalls as light as a feather. Her mind’s reasoning.

“Tyler!” she tried screaming past the large hand that easily covered her nose and mouth. Once again, she felt herself being carried but in the opposite direction. Rose screamed, faintly registering the frantic screams coming from Tyler as the killer dragged her back to that house.

She saw Heather and Brad suddenly sprint away and she faintly heard Tyler screaming after them.

Rose’s instinct suddenly kicked in and she bit down on the man’s hand, cringing in disgust at the taste of dirt on her tongue. His grip loosened for all of a heartbeat, letting her fall to the ground. She turned about and lifted a foot with the intention to kick him where the sun didn’t shine vaguely catching sight of what he looked like.

Scraggily, and unkempt beard. Crazed eyes. Towering frame in all black. It was no wonder they hadn’t seen his approach. With clothing that dark in complete darkness, it would be difficult picking him apart from the silhouetted forms.

He would easily give her nightmares for years to come.

“Rosie!” she heard Tyler’s voice suddenly bellow from behind the man who turned at the approach of Tyler’s heavy, hurried footfalls. He’d broken into a run and Rose could see him wielding the steel baseball bat she’d brought along.

Adrenaline surged through her as she watched the man prepare to dodge Tyler’s attack. She stuck her foot out and kicked his lower back, shoving him forward. The sudden attack made him stumble for a moment long enough to throw him off focus. It was all the time Tyler needed to swing the bat with all the strength of his six-foot frame, assuming a stance to hit a home run.

He’d have to if they intended to get away!

He swung the bat as hard as he could, the impact vibrating through the bat and shocking his hands. He almost dropped it but quickly shook his hands out as the killer groaned and staggered. He wobbled side-to-side and shook his head.

Tyler’s lips curled to frown, and he lifted the bat once more and swung. It connected with the side of the man’s head just below his ears, the impact immediately disorienting him.

Neither teenager waited.

Rose scrambled to her feet and with one last look backwards, to the house where her sister’s lifeless body lay growing closer and decomposing with each passing moment, she ran around the man’s disoriented form. He had toppled to his knees and swung out a hand in an attempt to grab her again, but she evaded successfully.

“Come on!” Tyler urged, grabbed hold of Rose’s hand. Together, they burst into a sprint heading back the way they had come, down the earthen ledges, zigzagging through trees, sliding and stumbling their way through the darkness.

He gripped the bat tightly in one hand, and with the other, he clutched onto Rose’s like his life depended on it. They hauled ass over woodland territory, never once stopping as they approached the lake, sprinting past the banks and the litter left there from the night before.

Rose’s heart thundered in her chest. Between the adrenaline pumping through her veins, the need to lie down and scream her lungs out, and hovering on the edge of a mental breakdown, she had a difficult time keeping pace with Tyler’s long strides. Until she seemed to give up and he was practically pulling her along.

He didn’t stop even when they had broken out of the treeline back at the starting point of their mini mission. They ran across the old railway tracks, scrambling over the dilapidated wire fence that separated the rest of the town from the abandoned railway and the woodland.

When they stopped running, Rose collapsed to the concrete pavement, leaning against the red brick wall of a small diner. They were safe.

Back in town, with people milling about. There was no way the killer would pursue them.

It didn’t mean however, that they would be completely safe unless that man had been reported and arrested. He may live in the woods, but Rose would bet anything that at some point, he ventured down to dine in, or buy a few grocery items.

It was a small town.

Another wave of tears choked her, and she let it fall. Gasping for air, Rose allowed herself to freefall into the abyss of her breakdown. The air beside her stirred and the next second, she was pulled against a broad chest. Needing the comfort, she ignored that the person holding her was her nemesis, Tyler Lysander, and curled into him.

She cried her eyes out, faintly registering the soothing motion of Tyler’s hand rubbing at her back, and his string of continuous apologies.

She should hate him. She really should. Part of her wanted to. It wanted to cast all the blame on him for ignoring the stories. Ignoring the warnings to stay afar from the lake. But it wasn’t entirely his fault.

He couldn’t have known Natalie would be taken. He couldn’t have known for sure that the stories were true and that those mysterious disappearances were actually murders in disguise.

It was their fault.

They ignored the stories. The urban legend of the mysterious figure roaming the hill by the lake.

Anyone who enters, shall never again see the light of day.

And Natalie didn’t.

#short story #suspense #writers on tumblr #murder #mystery #teenagers

0 notes

jerseydeanne · 6 years

Link

There have been moments, little quiet moments, when I have begun to ask myself, who the heck does Meghan Markle think she is?

Don't all shout at once. Hear me out.

Yes, love her. Yes, adore her. Yes, accept and believe her to be a breath of fresh air blowing through the fusty hallways of Windsoralia.

And yet, after four official public appearances and leaked news of two 'secret' missions of mercy to console victims of the Grenfell fire, one can't help but wonder where all this is going.

It seems far, far too early for Meghan to go into full Diana mode and unfurl any fondly imagined royal superpowers. Or to start believing that she can change the lives of troubled citizens merely by bequeathing a megawatt smile and a consolation hug around their luckless shoulders.

However, that seems to be exactly what is happening.

It is just three months since the American celebrity and Prince Harry announced their engagement. With only one Sandringham royal Christmas under her pencil belt, she is barely a stitch in the tapestry of our nation's history.

Yet, already, she is behaving like a cross between Wilhelmina the Conqueror and Florence Nightingale.

In Edinburgh this week, St Meghan of Markle clasped people to her bosom as if the mere strength of her huggy-wugs could vanquish their problems.

Perhaps she doesn't mean to, but in public she frequently slips into glutinous actress mode, as if she were rather hammily playing herself in some future episode of TV'sThe Crown.

More from Jan Moir for the Daily Mail... McMad, McBad…and a hero who looked like he wouldn’t hurt a fly in his borscht…JAN MOIR reviews the finale of the eight-part BBC series 12/02/18 JAN MOIR: Lay off Trumpy! We’d NEVER mock a female leader about her looks…and women have a sisterly support group to get them through each hot flush 09/02/18 Don't call me an old misogynist - it's wrong and hurtful: John Humphrys tells JAN MOIR about a 'bruising' few weeks after coming under fire for joking about BBC gender pay gap03/02/18 Am I alone in worrying that Kate's clothes are turning Camilla-ish? JAN MOIR says the choices on the royals' tour were a new low 02/02/18 Why the ego got the cha-cha-chop! JAN MOIR on the sacking of Strictly's Brendan Cole and how dumping his fiancée led to the birth of the show's infamous curse31/01/18 Why IS Saturday night TV such a turn-off? As former Spice Girl Geri Horner launches yet another dire singing contest, JAN MOIR is left despairing29/01/18 Yes, men behave badly. But let's not get hysterical: JAN MOIR says she wasn't that outraged or shocked by the Presidents club scandal 26/01/18 JAN MOIR: I would take a statue of Mrs Thatcher over a suffragette any day19/01/18 JAN MOIR: A princess can't be a designer queen AND a woman at Marks & Spencer 12/01/18 VIEW FULL ARCHIVEIf only she could dial down the full beam of worried sympathy that strobes from her lovely eyes at every opportunity and give it a rest with the endless Lady Bountiful arm-pats, I think people would like her more.Let us discover for ourselves how caring and kind she is, instead of her spreading it on so thickly that we can hardly see past the sugary glaze. Too many layers of the custard of compassion on this particular royal trifle is going to make us all feel a little bit sick.It is nice that Meghan wants to 'reach out' to the British charity sector and use her fame to become a full-time philanthropist and concentrate on her humanitarian work.Yet there are people in her own family whom she hasn't reached out to in years, including her own father. With the best will in the world, it does put her one-gal task force for international healing and her undercover visits to mosques to console survivors under a slightly different, less rosy, light.Charity begins at home — or it should, even for putative royals.However, to find meaning and truth in the role of a royal spouse is a mighty and difficult task. Recent history is littered with casualties and examples, both good and bad.Brittle Wallis Simpson was a woman of her time, one who cared for little except her pugs, her prince, her jewels and herself.Prince Albert married not just a royal, but a head of state to boot, and, like Prince Philip a century later, found a way to make a difference through types of energetic philanthropy.Diana set the gold standard for empathetic royal wives who worked with spirit and style for good causes, while Fergie . . . em . . . did not.St Meghan would do well to note that the most successful royals keep their distance and their dignity. They embrace unfashionable causes, as well as headline-grabbing ones.They attend flag-raising ceremonies in freezing South Korea, like Princess Anne. They visit farming communities in Cumbria, like the Countess of Wessex. They don't need to be loved and adored. They just get on with it.The Queen would never hug a stranger, even a needy one. She keeps her gloves on, physically and metaphorically, which is one of the reasons why she has endured.Meghan's biggest gesture to date has been giving up her acting career so that she and her prince can save the planet together — or whatever it is that they want to do.So I don't think that she is a phoney. I do think she is marrying for love. And I believe she has a lot to offer this country.However, the royal kind of fame is like no other. It can easily corrupt and be corrupting, for it is not based on achievement or merit, but upon status alone.And having said previously that Meghan can't wear £56,000 dresses and expect people to love her as she doles out broth in a soup kitchen, I now wonder if she and Harry shouldn't smarten up, just a bit. In her urban-girl uniform of black trousers and coats, straggly-haired Meghan turns up on official royal business as if she were on her way to get coffees for the office. Joined by a tieless Harry, they crash around, high-fiving, cuddling, rapping to order and generally getting down with the kidz. One wonders who is advising this headstrong young couple and where their unconventional approach will lead.In the meantime, lovely St Meghan should put a little starch in her shirt and stop trying to be a legend before her time.Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5398179/Why-does-Meghan-Markle-need-huggy-wuggy.html#ixzz57ErSurUoFollow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

DailyMail on Facebook

#why does meghan markle need huggy wuggy

16 notes · View notes

queen-of-deans-booty · 6 years

Text

Tall Tales- Part 2

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 1,828

Warnings: Typical Supernatural violence, language, minor character death, blood, you know the usual, Gabriel feels, comedy, bitchy and whiny Winchester brothers (come on, you’ve all seen the episode)

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Supernatural. All credit goes to their respective owners. If you’re a junkie for this sort of thing, then a tag list is the right thing for you! If you want to be a Queen, I’ll add you to that list too! Any and all comments on these are appreciated. I really want to hear what you guys think about this one!

Feedback is the glue that holds my writing together.

Tags at the bottom

“Alright, Sam, how about you talk to those college students and Dean and I talk around? Maybe we can get something that you might not know.” You said, biting your lip.

“Yeah, sure, whatever you want, Y/N.” Sam said with a smile, going to do as he was told. You looked at Dean and chuckled, grabbing his hand.

“You know, you look so hot right now.” Dean said, whispering against your ear.

“You’re the one who picked this out for me. I just went along with it.” You said with a grin, showing off your tight shirt that had your breasts falling out of it, tight shorts that barely reached your mid-thigh and black boots which went up to below your knee.

“Damn, I don’t regret anything.” Dean said with a smirk, walking you over to you the bar.

“Okay, Dean, I would never leave the house wearing that and you know it. You just wished that were on me.” You said, stopping Dean from telling his story.

“What were you wearing then?” Dean asked, teasing you a little.

“Flannel and jeans with sneakers. Like I usually wear. Get the facts straight.” You said, looking over at Bobby who glared a bit at Dean. You guess that even though he knew you and Dean were together, that he didn’t like what he was hearing.

“Alright, fine,” Dean said, going back to his story.

You walked up to the bar with Dean, hand in hand with him. The bouncy bartender made her way over here, happy to talk to a man like Dean. You didn’t mind, after all, you trusted Dean with all your heart and knew he wouldn’t ever hurt you.

“What can I get for you two?” She asked with a smile.

“What’s a purple nurple?” Dean said. You giggled at the name, it sounding like a very bad porno movie.

“Why don’t you have a try? It’s delicious.” She said, already getting started on making the drink.

“Alright, give us two, please.” Dean said, looking at you.

“Why call it a purple nurple?” You asked.

“You’ll see when you drink it.” She said, not saying anything more than that. She quickly made the drinks and handed you each a shot glass. You picked it up, clanking your glass with Dean’s. You downed the shot, immediately feeling the effects.

“Wow, now I understand why it’s called that.” You said, feeling your nipples rise to attention as soon as the glass was empty.

“It looked like to me that you didn’t come here to try a purple nurple, though. So, what else can I do for you?” She asked, making you another drink.

“We heard about an urban legend here in this town. You’re the bartender so you hear all kinds of stories. What are some of them?” Dean asked, looking at her.

“I’m sorry, I can’t really concentrate. You’re just so hot.” She said, smirking. You then grabbed Dean’s face and pressed your lips to it, having enough of this. He kissed you back and the bartender left, knowing where she wasn’t wanted.

“Dean! What do you think you’re doing?” Sam said as he approached the bar.

“Sam, please, if you wouldn’t mind. Give us five minutes please. I would love to kiss my girlfriend.” Dean said, smooth and casual.

“Dean, this is a serious investigation. We don’t have time for any of your blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah Blah!” Sam continued to ramble but Dean wasn’t having any of it. He leaned in and kissed you again, making sure you would remember that he was there.

“Blah!!” Sam said loudly.

“Okay, you’re such a fucking liar. That is not how it happened at all. I don’t even sound like that!” Sam complained, glaring at Dean.

“That's what you sound like to me.” Dean said with a grin, not sorry he was pissing his brother off.

“Okay. What's going on with you two? You’re acting like an old married couple.” Bobby said, looking at the brothers.

“I told you you’ll get a kick out of this.” You said with a grin, leaning back on the bed.

“No, see married couples can get divorced. Me and him, we're like, uh, Siamese twins.” Dean said, getting up and walking over to the makeshift kitchen.

“It's conjoined twins!” Sam exclaimed.

“See what I mean?” Dean said, getting a beer from the fridge.

“Bobby, they’re always like this. You just don’t live with them and are by their sides constantly.” You said, knowing the reason they were like this. But you wanted Bobby to hear most of the story.

“So anyway. We figured it might be a haunting, so we went to check out the scene of the crime.” Sam said.

“Oh, so, are you telling it like how it really happened or the bullshit story you thought you saw?” Dean said.

“Shut the hell up and let me talk.” Sam said, getting right into the crime scene.

“Alright, this should be easy work. Only the janitor is left in here so we go in, we find what we need and we leave.” Sam said, looking at you and Dean.

“Stop staring at us like we’re animals, Sam.” You said with a roll of your eyes.

“I’m not. I just know how you can get with Dean.” Sam said with a shrug.

“Maybe you’re just jealous that I’m with Dean. Are you feeling lonely?” You said with a teasing smile.

“Alright, shut up. Let’s just go inside.” Sam said, walking inside the building first. You followed, looking around the empty place. The next thing you knew, the janitor was greeting you. You got a weird vibe from him and tried to ignore it but the closer you got, the stronger it got.

“Hi, we’re here to look at the wiring in the building. But mainly in the offices upstairs.” Sam said, shaking the man’s hand. The janitor shook Dean's and moved onto you. One touch from his hand, you gasped as your eyes glossed over.

Flashes of a man with huge ass wings was all you could see. You could tell he was an Angel but not just any Angel. He was much more powerful than this. You needed to tell Sam and Dean quick. But the janitor touched your shoulder as soon as he let go of your hand.

All you saw were sparkles that flitted across your vision and you couldn’t remember anything about what you saw.

“You okay?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, just can’t believe the history this town has.” You said, smiling at the janitor who seemed to be watching you closely.

“If you would follow me, please.” The janitor said, taking his hand off you and leading you upstairs to the professor’s office, the one that died.

“So, how long have you worked here?” Sam asked, walking into the office.

“I've been mopping this floor for six years,” The janitor said, turning on the light to the office. Sam immediately took out his EMF reader and the janitor saw, his eyes widening. “What the heck's that for?”

“Just to find a wire in the walls.” Sam lied easily.

“Huh. Wow. Not sure why you're wiring up this office. Not gonna do the professor much good.”

“Why is that?” You asked him, making eye contact with him.

“He’s dead.” The janitor said bluntly.

“Oh, wow, what happened?” Dean asked, as if he hadn’t heard the story.

“He went out that window. Right there. I was the one who found him.” You nodded and looked around the room, noticing there was a bowl of peanuts on the table. But before you could grab some and eat it, Dean beat you to it, literally stuffing his face full of them.

“Did you see it happen?” Sam asked, trying to make casual conversation.

“Nope. I just saw him come up here, and uh, well, he wasn’t alone.” The janitor said sheepishly. Dean continued to eat the nuts, not fazed by anything going on.

“Who was he with?” Dean said, his mouth full of the nuts, making his speech muffled. You looked over at Dean and cracked up laughing, loving how cute he was.

“Wow, all those nuts in your mouth… Can I have some? But I prefer two really big nuts that aren’t in that bowl.” You said with a smirk, hinting at something.

“Okay, hold the fuck up, since when do I talk like that? You’re making it sound like I’m addicted to sex. Is that really how you view me?” You asked Sam.

“I have no problem with you being addicted to sex. Not when it’s with me.” Dean said, winking as he drank his beer from the kitchen.

“Can we focus, please?” Bobby said with an eyeroll, not wanting to hear about his daughter’s sex life.

“Okay, but just one more thing, I didn’t eat that entire bowl, man. I only had one, maybe two!” Dean said, moving on to more pressing matters. You loved the Winchesters but lately, they’ve been fighting about the smallest of things. Yes, you know why this is happening but it did get annoying.

“Just let me tell it, okay?” Sam said, going right back where he left off.

“He was with a young lady. I told the cops about her when they got here but they never found her, I guess.” The janitor said, looking at Dean, moving his eyes to you. You felt like he was trying to read you, like, figure you out or something.

Like he knew more than he was letting on. But you just couldn’t put your finger on it which was weird since you usually could.

“So, you saw the girl go in but did you see her come back out?” Sam asked, grabbing the janitor’s attention away from you.

“Now that you mention it, no.”

“You ever see her before, around?”

“Well, not her.” The janitor said with a shrug. Didn’t he find it weird that some electricians were trying to play cop and asking him all these questions?

“What do you mean?” Dean asked, his voice still muffled from all the peanuts in his mouth. Sam glared at him but the janitor didn’t seem to mind.

“I don't mean to cast aspersions on a dead guy, but uh… Mister Morality here? He brought a lot of girls up here. Got more ass than a toilet seat.” Dean laughed heartedly at this but Sam shut him up with a glare. You giggled and the janitor grinned at you, glad he could make you laugh.

“One more thing. This building, it only has four stories, right?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“Just curious, is all.” Sam said, looking at you. If there were only four stories, that mean the legend about the girl jumping off the 6th floor was false. Dean still chewed happily, looking at you. You giggled and wiped the corner of his mouth. Any excuse to touch him.

The Queens:

@maddieburcham1 @ginamsmith @mogaruke @whit85-blog @inlovewithbja @spn67-sister @kdfrqqg @jarpadandjensenaremyheroes @roxyspearing @supercalifragilistic26 @mishamigose @cobrakai1967 @essie1876 @wishedworld @crispychrissy @laqueus-ludovicus @nostalgic-uncertainty @jerk-bitch-and-an-angel @potterhead1265 @starswirlblitz @untitled39887 @ta-n-ja @deans-fallen-angel-boy @scarletluvscas @notnaturalanahi @tahbehonest @stay-in--place @dreaminofdean @posiemax @donnaintx @mikey1822 @alexandriajanae4 @li-ssu @just-another-winchester @obsessivecompulsivespn @emoryhemsworth @newtospnfandom @mizzezm @goldenolaf25 @jessikared97

The Dean Beans:

@akshi8278 @mega-mrs-dean-winchester @winchesterandpie @spn-dean-and-sam-winchester @carribear31 @tacklesackles @oreosatmidnight @not-naturalfangirl @missselinakitty @iam-a-cutiepie @kristendansmith @milo-winchester-4ever @jensenackesl @codyshany316 @pheonyxstorm @helllonearth @juniorhuntersam @pouterpufftrain @ruprecht0420 @shut-ur-face-and-get-in-the-car @carriemichelle2012 @aubreystilinski

Series Rewrite Junkies:

@helllonearth @amyisabellal @deanwnchstr @caseykitten6 @quixoticcat @supernaturalblogging @notmoose45 @crowleysminion @mina22 @tahbehonest @hadleymcallister2177 @destielsangels @spnhybrid @oreosatmidnight @valerieshubin @seninjakitey @flyonlittlewinchester @aubreystilinski @rocketqueeens

57 notes · View notes

shirtlesssammy · 7 years

Text

Hollywood Babylon: 2x18 Recap

On a dark and unstormy night, at a cabin in the woods, a porch swing creaks ominously. With flashlight in hand, a woman walks around yelling for her friends. Nerves increasingly frayed, she hears a rustling from the woods. “Hello? Hello?!” Suddenly a hand grabs her from behind. She screams and turns to find her friend, Brody.

Panicked, he screams that Ashley and Todd are dead! The woman, Wendy, tells Brody to pull it together. They have to leave! Brody takes off. Wendy hears more rustling and the camera suddenly chases up behind her. She turns and garbles out a pitiful scream.

CUT!

Whew, it’s all just a movie, guys! The director comes out to talk to Wendy/Tara. Tara’s having a hard time finding her fright acting opposite a tennis ball. During the ten minute break Tara overhears one of the stagehands talking about strange things happening on the set-- it’s haunted! Later, Tara heads to a quiet corner of the stage to practice her scream. She hears a noise, walks a bit to some scaffolding, and finds the bloodied corpse of the stagehand! Cue REAL SCREAM!

The Winchester Boys are on vacation! They’re taking a tour of the Warner Brother’s backlot, and Dean couldn’t be happier. (It’s cool, Dean. I remember touring Universal and nerding out as well.)

During the tour they see the set of Gilmore Girls. (They might even see one of the stars, if they’re lucky! --did not get that the first time I watched it. Jared’s scared face is gold.)

Sam insists they bail on the tour so they take off and start wandering the backlot alone. Dean sees Matt Damon! (what a bean) It seems that Sam has a case but Dean just wants to enjoy a vacation. He also wants to help Sam take his mind off of Madison (whaa, that just happened in the previous episode. Sammy!) A Winchester is a Winchester though, and he wants to work to take his mind off of things.

Sam tells Dean about the possibly haunted set and dead crew member. Dean wonders if it’s like Poltergeist --and is severely offended when Sam doesn’t get that reference. Dean wonders about the victim, aside from his name -Frank Jaffey- Sam doesn’t have much. He does know that the actress, Tara Benchley, who found him, saw a vanishing figure. Dean is now 100% on board --he’s fan of her work (much like Dr. Sexy and Suzy, right Dean?)

They sneak on set to find one of the studio execs giving helpful tips to the director.

Bill Lumbergh Brad Redding calls Dean over, mistaking him for a PA. Dean’s confused at first and Sam covers for him. Dean catches on and is soon checking out the set while handing out smoothies from craft. Filming starts while he checks out the scaffolding for any EMF. He gets no readings. Sam and him reconvene next to craft services and while Dean has nothing to report on the case, he can’t stop waxing poetic about the plethora of food (it’s so funny, but then I’m reminded of the kid that often went without food so his little brother could eat --not the time, Boris!) Sam discovered that four people have died on the set over the years. Dean discovers an unoccupied Tara Benchley. He’s his awkward self at first but quickly turns on the confident charm. He asks her about the victim, she tells him about what happened, and then shows him a photo of the man. “Son of a bitch.” Dean recognizes the man!

Yep, Frank Jaffey isn’t real, and the man, hired for the day to stir up the fright levels on set, is a character actor that Dean knew from another film. They track him down. He spills everything.

Back to filming on set, one of the crew hears feedback with the sound. Brad continues to give his unsolicited advice about the film. “If the ghosts are in hell, how do they hear the chanting? I mean, what do they have, super-hearing?” he scoffs. He’s distracted with a call though and wanders off to take it. Once alone, he’s greeted by a woman that’s all black and white --with severe neck wounds. He doesn’t think they’ll read on camera though. She undresses -why?- and climbs the scaffolding --he follows. And ends up on the wrong end of a rope.

They keep filming! In their defense, they did have a moment of silence for him at breakfast. Dean has also fully embraced his new job, mic headset and all. Tara’s having a hard time accepting the premise of the movie. As the crew bickers about the absurdity of what ghosts would be afraid of, one of the crew, Walter, storms off in a huff. Sam checks in and gets PA!Dean, not hunter!Dean. Dean feels like part of the team (crying noise, crying noise). Sam converses with Dean while Dean converses with someone on his headset -GOLD. Dean has something to show Sam.

Dean and Sam head to a trailer to watch dailies (which he got from Cindy who has this on and off thing going on with Drew and oh my god Dean is adorable in this episode). They watch the video of the studio executive's death and Sam notices the ghost standing on the side of the room. “It’s like Three Men and a Baby all over again,” mutters Dean. He then has to fill Sam in on the whole urban legend he’s referencing. Sam mostly ignores Dean’s discussion of spirit photography in favor of squinting at the ghost on the screen. He’s seen her before.

The Winchesters resettle on set. Sam tries to drop his latest factoid about the latest ghost but keeps getting interrupted by happy PA Dean, the most adorable PA in all the land. The ghost was ‘30’s starlet Elise Drummond who got screwed over by studio brass and hung herself. Time to salt and burn, baby! The production wraps for the day so Sam and Dean head out in the misty graveyard. Dean bought a $5 map of famous graves and it was TOTALLY WORTH IT.

They dig up her grave to a montage. As always they are utter sticklers for digging perfectly rectangular graves. Salt. Lighter fluid. Book of matches. PHWOOMPH.

At the studio the producer chats on his cell phone when all the lights go out. He wanders through the fake woods of the set when he spots a creepy dude in the trees. The guy turns and his head is completely chopped up and bloody. A huge fan turns on and the producer is drawn inexorably into it. This can only end in one way: the blood cannon.

With the unfortunate producer a pile of chopped liver and spattered blood, we cut to a preview teaser for the movie, Hell Hazers II: the reckoning.

“From the producers of Cornfield Massacre, Monster Truck, and the director of Charlie’s Angels, Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle, and Hell Hazers…” “We must have brought them back. Back from Hell. Again.”

Sam ties the death-by-fan to the death of an electrician in the sixties. “These things don’t usually tag team,” Dean says.

“Maybe the spirits are trying to shut down the movie ‘cause they think it sucks,” Sam ponders later while lounging on a couch in one of the trailers watching dailies. In the film the actress begins to recite the summoning ritual from the book and Sam sits up and listens to the words. She’s reading a real necronomicon-level summoning ritual!

The Winchesters head to Marty’s office. They tell him that they read the script and they are just HUGE fans of it. They gush over the summoning rituals and authentic Enochian… “What, you mean that latin crap?” Ugh, Marty had nothing to do with that. It was Walter-the-PA who wrote all of that (who is, in fact, just the original writer who is contractually allowed to hang around set). Walter’s screenplay was all “wackadoo exposition” with no love interest so Marty had to hack it apart to get it to a usable state for the movie.

Cut to Dean and Sam reading Walter’s original script. It’s good, reports our dear, devoted reader Dean! “And it reads like a how-to manual on conjuration,” Sam says. It shows “motive and means” for Walter to be the one in control of the recent infestation of killer ghosts.

Walter meets up with Marty in the creepy woods of the set. Walter complains about the loss of his original script. “It was real,” he said. (You know. Truth. TRUTH.)

“We’re talking about ghosts, Walter. There’s no such thing.” Marty returns. Walter holds up a mysterious amulet and begins to chant. Choppy fan ghost shows up and begins to drag Marty towards the fan. Suddenly a shotgun roars out and fan ghost disappears.

“You are one hell of a PA,” Walter says.

Sam tells Walter that the jig is up. Bringing ghosts into the world to wreak bloody vengeance can backfire. Walter summons another ghost anyway, though. The room goes all Ghostbusters: Revenge of the Ghosts and they’re suddenly faced with three ghosts approaching menacingly. Sam, Dean, and Marty barricade themselves in the cabin.

“I can’t believe that ghosts are real,” Marty says breathlessly.

“What makes you say that?” Dean asks while loading his shotgun. Lol, Dean. Sam figures out that the talisman is controlling the ghosts and heads off to confront Walter. Dean and Marty hunker in the cabin, Marty holding up a phone to track for ghosts while Dean takes them out like targets at a carnival booth.

Sam confronts Walter, who dashes the talisman to the floor, breaking it. Sam warns him that he just freed the ghosts and they are gonna be pissed off at Walter! Walter is entirely unconcerned until he’s ripped down to the floor and torn into bloody shreds.

Back with the movie production, they’re hunting ghosts. With a shotgun. And a cell phone. Narrative exposition has been added to the movie to explain things like, why can you see ghosts in a phone? (Me: cry laughs this is the best.) Sam looks upon the production with disgust and heads off the set into the lot where Tara’s trailer is, uh, a-rockin’. Dean leaves Tara’s trailer with a satisfied grin.

“You’re one hell of a P.A.,” she says as she bids him farewell, wrapped only in a robe. Yeah, he is.

Boris: This episode is special to me because it was the first one that I remember thinking that this special little show isn’t just an X-Files redux. (Wow, it took me awhile to get into this show!) Dean was on vacation --and it shows. He is so (pre-hell) cocky and joyous about being on a film set. I feel like, when we discuss performing!Dean and how he has had to bury his true self for so long, it amazes me how close to the surface his true self is.

In Hollywood, Quotes Come True:

Now to the right here is Stars Hollow. It’s the setting for the television series Gilmore Girls. And if we’re lucky we might even catch one of the show’s stars.

Does this seem like swimming pool weather to you, Dean? I mean, it’s practically Canadian.

Who says horror has to be dark?

“What’s a PA?” “I think they’re kinda like slaves.”

What was it like working with Richard Moll?

If the ghosts are in hell, how do they hear the chanting? I mean, what do they have, super-hearing?

Why would a ghost be afraid of salt?

We all know what Jay and Brad wanted more than anything. And that was to see Hell Hazers II The Reckoning on screen in theaters all across America.

Dude, are you serious? ‘Cause I’m serious.

There’s an afterlife, alright. But mostly it’s a pain in the ass.

#spn recap #spn rewatch #hollywood babylon #spn 2x18 #dean winchester #sam winchester #supernatural season 2

28 notes · View notes