#How to Get Away with Murder Season 3 Episode 12

[g4rvez-r3id]

I’m Here, Now

Post Prison! Spencer Reid x Girlfriend!Fem Reader

Synopsis: Your boyfriend, Spencer gets released from prison and you’re his first stop after dealing with Cat Adams and her schemes. And all he wants to do is see you and love you.

Category: Smut, Fluff

Warnings: 18+ MDNI established relationship, prison arc, spoilers of season 12 of Criminal Minds, it’s a lil sad tbh but it only lasts for a second, reader’s in disbelief, spencer and reader being cutesy, crying, kissing, mentions of bruises, threats, sappy speeches, fluffy ending, lowkey not true to 12x22/13x01 so this could be an au! smut warnings: soft!dom spencer (firm believer here🙋‍♀️), a lil body worship from reader to spencer, oral sex (m receiving & reader receiving), facefucking, cum swallowing, “good girl”, riding, unprotected sex, mentions of masturbation, creampie, overstimulation, spencer lowkey being a munch- that should cover it 😃

Author’s Note: hey lovelies, i can’t stop writing smutty oneshots ahhhh i can’t help it, i just love my man 🤭 i hope y’all enjoy this because i’ve had my mind on prison arc reid bc i’m watching s12 rn and oooo he so fine in 12a and in 12b 😩 anyways hope y’all like this <3

You worried that maybe he’d never come back. Upon hearing he was in jail in Mexico, you worried you’d never see Spencer again.

If your past self could tell you that your boyfriend, Dr. Spencer Reid, who was a nerd at heart, who spent his free time playing chess and reading and watching Doctor Who with you under your fluffy blankets and wore mismatched socks because he believed it was good luck, that he would one day end up being framed and sent to prison, you would’ve laughed in your face.

You never would’ve expected this to happen. But then you heard why. He was framed for murdering a woman named Nadie Ramos, who was helping him get his mother medicine that seemed to calm her from her episodes. If there was anyone he would’ve risked everything for besides you, it was his mother.

And to be honest, you were a little mad at him for lying to you. He told you that he was going to Houston to talk to some of his mom’s doctors. You’d been together four years now and not once did he ever lie to you until now. When he got transferred to the Milburn Correctional Facility, due to overcrowding, he’d requested to see you and only you.

It wasn’t until Spencer wrote you a letter, practically begging you to come and see you. The first time you’d gone to see him, you actually didn’t even recognize him, skipping over him and almost staring at him in confusion when he walked over to the other side of your plexiglass.

And you tried to play it off like you expected him, even while looking like he did, but he knew deep down you didn’t recognize him. He chose not to acknowledge it but you both knew.

And you visited him frequently, until he decided to cut you from the visitor log with no warning. You were hurt, to say the least. And you ended up avoiding everyone after that. You even ignored the many fruit baskets Garcia kept sending over but you kept sending them back.

But then a miracle happened.

They proved his innocence. And he was out.

You would’ve found that out if you’d checked your phone but you spent the entire day in bed, away from society and sobbing at the fact that he was gone and he wasn’t here, comforting you like he did so well.

You hated him, you hated him for putting you in this position, for making you deal with the aftermath, for pushing you away. But you loved him. You would never stop loving him, no matter how much you hated him right now.

You’d been laying in bed, tossing and turning all day as the TV played some random sitcom you watched every now and again. And you’d heard something. A soft knock coming from your front door.

You almost missed it but it was faint. And you heard it. Choosing to finally get out of bed, you opened your room door and walked to the front door. You opened it without checking the peephole, because at this point you’d had enough and just wanted death to get you over with already.

But death may have stopped your heart only for a moment when you open the door.

Because standing there, in the suit he’d gotten arrested in when his bail was denied, his hair outgrown and his stubble framed nicely on his face — was your boyfriend, Spencer Reid, in the flesh.

You gasped softly as you backed away from the door and stared at him, almost as if you were disbelief. You’d had a dream like this before. Where he came back and promised he was here to stay. (But it was another one of God’s cruel jokes and you cried when you woke up the following day).

He walked in and closed the door right behind him, standing tall in front of you. You noticed the bruises on his face, how his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed and stared at you.

“Hi.” He said softly and all you can do is stare at him. “Am I dreaming?” You find yourself asking out loud and his heart breaks. He can see that you’re scared. Scared that if you go up to him, he’ll disappear like smoke. And he hates that.

“No.” Spencer shakes his head and he waits for you to approach him and you do, walking slowly towards him as the floorboard creaks beneath your socked feet.

He waits as you first grab his hands, and interlock your fingers together. When that seems not to be enough for you, your hands move to his face. You caress the sharp new grown stubble on his face and drag your index finger to his plump lips and stare into his hazel eyes and they’re full of wonder and love.

You don’t even register the tears until you hold him in your arms and you hold onto him for dear life. He holds you tightly in his arms as you find yourself wrapping around him like a koala and all he can do is hold you back. And it grounds him, you ground him.

Your head moves towards his and you kiss his lips, like you’ve longed to do for three months. And part of you still couldn’t believe this, that he was here, holding you like you were going to break.

You kiss him a few more times before you pull back and ask with tears in your eyes, “Are you okay?” Spencer nods toward your forehead, “I’m okay, now that I’m here.”

“You’re here, now.” You look him in the eyes as you say this and he nods at your words, repeating them to himself. “I’m here, now.” It’s as if he’s reminding himself that he’s here with you because he’s worried he’s gonna wake up any minute and he’ll be back in that cell. You weren’t the only one who had a hard time believing this was real.

Spencer’s lips catch yours and he pushes into the kiss and you get back on the ground, your hands (or mouth) not leaving him for a second and making their way up to his hair and pulling. You whine into his lips as he you pull him by his belt and walk backwards to your bedroom with him following you.

With your strength, you twirl the two of you around and straddle him as you continue to kiss him. You rock your hips into his growing bulge and he moans into your mouth and you smirk in the middle of the kiss.

You begin to unbutton his suit and successfully get his blazer off and now next is his dress shirt but he’s quick to grab your hands and you look at him with wide eyes.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” You ask, willing to put a stop to this if he wasn’t ready. “Nothing, I just…” Spencer looks down as he lets go of your hands and seemingly now growing insecure all of a sudden.

He stands up from the bed and you look up at him as he holds his arms over his stomach. “I just… I got hurt pretty bad in there. You’re gonna see some bruises. I just don’t want you to freak out. He admits and your heart breaks, “You don’t have to take your shirt off. Or we can just stop entirely and—”

Spencer shakes his head, “No, it’s okay. You’re gonna see them eventually.” With that, he begins to unbutton his dress shirt and you give him all the time in the world to do so, not wanting to rush this at all.

When he takes off his dress shirt successfully, you finally see it. He has bruises everywhere on his ribs and some near his belly button and on his stomach. Some are still in the process of healing with yellow and gray hues and some are purple and mucus green.

“Oh, my love…” You whisper to yourself as you stand up and you turns him around and find more on his back and there’s just too many of them. You find yourself tearing up but you know you need to keep it together for him. Who could hurt your sweet boy? Was this why he didn’t want you to see him anymore while he was still in there? How long did this go on for?

It’s then that you register the bruise near his eye. You thought that it was due to the lack of sleep he’d been getting and assumed it was the bags under his eyes he so often got but it was a bruise. How did you miss that when he walked in?

He almost wants to hide himself, like a turtle under its’ shell and you look down at his body. “Baby…” You start but he shakes his head. “I’m so sorry.”

He looks at you as you guide him towards the bed and he lays back and you go back to straddling him, but this time, you’re careful as you hover over him.

You kiss his lips before making your way down to his neck and then to his body and it takes a second for him to register that you’re not just kissing his body, you’re kissing the bruises.

He feels himself getting choked up as you kiss every visible one and his heart swells for you. What did he did to deserve you?

You begin to unbuckle his belt but he rests his elbows on the bed and looks down at you. “You—You don’t have to…” He trails off but you quickly shake your head. “I know. But I want to. It’s your first night back. This is about you tonight, baby.”

Spencer doesn’t interfere, just stares as you unbuckle his belt and pull out his cock through the hole in his underwear and it springs into action, dripping pre-cum from the head. “Oh, my sweet boy. You must be so pent up.”

You kiss the tip of his dick and he shuts his eyes tightly as if he’s trying to hold back from already cumming. You lick up his shaft and fit his cock inside your mouth and he curses to himself as he grips your bedsheets as tight as he can.

You notice this, grabbing his hand and interlocking your fingers together, as if you’re telling him and giving him permission to touch you as you bob your head up and down.

He takes this opportunity to caress your face as you take him into your mouth. He ties your hair into a makeshift ponytail as he pushes deeper onto his cock and even lifts his hips to ensure that you’re taking all of him until you’re gagging.

“Let me know if it’s too much, okay?” Spencer tells you and you nod to the best of your ability until you begins to fuck your throat, using your mouth for his pent up pleasure. “Fuck… God, you’re so good at that. Letting me fuck your throat like the good girl you are.”

His words could make you cum on the spot without him even laying a finger on you. He rarely cursed in your domestic setting but he did it often when you two were in bed.

All you can do is take it as deep as it can go in your mouth. He whines into the ceiling as he says your name until you feel his hot cum dribble down your throat and your nose is buried into his crotch as he holds you there and makes you take all his cum into your mouth.

He pants as he releases your head from his cock and you swallow the rest of his cum. He looks at you with worried eyes, concerned that maybe he’d gone too far. “I’m sorry, baby. Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” He asks, like he didn’t just cum into your mouth and call you a “good girl”.

You shake your head at him with a small smile. “That was just about the hottest thing you’ve ever done.” (And everything he did was always hot). He blushes and crooks a smile.

“Are you willing to keep going?” You ask him and he nods with an immediate answer, “Absolutely.” He’d never let you go to bed without making you cum at least twice.

You climb on top of him with a smirk and look deeply into his eyes. They’re filled with lust, love and adoration for you and for you only. “You’re so beautiful.” You say to him in a whisper but Spencer chuckles a bit, “I should be saying that to you.”

You look down as your pussy catches the tip of his cock and you sink down into him carefully. He moans at the feeling and you gasp. He fits perfectly.

“God, I missed you. Missed this…” Spencer catches his breath. “Perfect pussy.” You chuckle and looks into his eyes as you rock back and forth. “It was so lonely without you, Spencer.” You whine. “I missed you so much.”

You lean down as you kiss him on the lips. “Did you…” He pauses, not wanting to be crude even while he was inside of you. “While I was away?” It took a second to figure out what he was talking about. And then you realized that he was asking if you’d masturbated while he was away.

“A few times,” You admitted shyly, despite suffocating him with your pussy. “I thought about you every time. It just wasn’t the same. Missed your body.”

Spencer smiles darkly, “Maybe I should punish you for that.” He says, half-joking. You lean forward as you smirk, “I’d like to see you try.”

And without a second thought, it was as if a switch flipped as Spencer was quick to flip your bodies over and he hovers over you, both hands on either side of your head, gripping the pillows. “You really wanna test that theory?”

You bite your lip and smirk once more as you pull him in for another kiss and he glides himself into you and you gasp at the feeling of his dick inside of your pussy. It’d been such a long time since you felt him like this, here, in your arms. God, you love him.

He rocks his hips, thrusting deeply into your body as leans his head in your shoulder, mumbling sweet obscenities and how good your pussy feels and how responsive you were. He dreamt of the day he’d have you like this. And since being in prison, he longed for it more.

He reached down in between your legs as he found your clit without even looking down and staring deeply into your eyes and your moans reverberate through the walls as keeps his eyes on you and you only.

“Baby, I’m sorry, I need to cum— where? Where?” He asks and you shut your eyes tightly as you shout, “Inside! Oh, god, inside!”

He pushes himself hard into you as you finally cum, your legs shaking as you moan his name into the ceiling and he collapses on your body, still sheathed inside of you.

You both lay there, panting and reveling in the feeling of each other. Eventually, Spencer does pull out of you and you feel as he lowers himself, eyeing your pussy up close and you look down at him sleepily. “Baby, you don’t have to. This was about you.” You assure.

“Nonsense,” Spencer tells. “I need to clean up my mess and even the score, might as well kill two birds with one stone.” He jokes, diving face first into your pussy and you whimper at the contact he makes, especially with the way his stubble is rubbing against your thighs, cleaning his own cum out of your pussy and relishing in the way you both taste.

His mouth captures your clit and he twists his tongue around the bud in that delicious way you love and he moans into your pussy. “We taste so good together, baby. Cum again on my tongue, this time.”

You tug at his messy hair as you hold his head to you pussy and you use him, rocking your hips into his mouth. You feel as your legs shake once more and you let go of his head for him to take a breather.

That breather lasts only a second before he dives back in and you whine at the contact. “Spence… baby, I’m sen—sensitive.”

“You can take one more, baby. I know you can. You can cum again.” Spencer says, his pupils are blown as he looks at you and he’s commanding you to cum again. “Just one more, baby.”

You nod at him and Spencer grabs your hands. “Here,” He interlocks your fingers with his and somehow, the pleasure is so much and yet not at all as makes you cum for a third time tonight. If he could spend forever eating your pussy, he would.

You close your eyes for a moment and when you finally open them, he’s right next to you and holding you. (He’d cleaned you up properly with a warm rag and left your favorite snack and water bottle on the desk next to your bed whenever you were ready to wake up). You remembered the loving words he whispered to you as you drifted off into a heavy slumber.

And you’ve finally woken up. You look up at him, still in awe of him being here. You take the chance to check the time. It’s already 5am and the sun is still shy away from rising but it doesn’t matter. None of it matters because you have your boyfriend right next to you, holding you for dear life and loving you the way you deserve to be loved.

You worry that he’s still up, but you figure that after all those months in prison, maybe he has trouble sleeping every now and again. You find yourself holding him tighter as you look down at the bruise near your head. You can’t believe he was hurt. How did he manage to survive in there? You’re still wondering why he’d taken you off the visitor’s log.

“Spencer?” You ask and he looks down at you, your voice surprising him. “Yeah?” You sit up and look at him, face to face, swallowing the lump in your throat. “Why did you take me off the visitor’s list?” You decide to ask.

He’s about to respond and you don’t want to hear another lie. You’d been through plenty of those already. “I mean, I didn’t even want to see you at first and then you begged me to and then all of a sudden, I wasn’t allowed to. I feel like I have the right to know.”

“No, no, you do,” Spencer knows that much. He hates the fact that he’s lied to you and has forced you to deal with this when all you deserved was the best from him. He sits up next to you he knows he’s gonna need to tell you, even though he doesn’t want to.

“The last time after you came to visit me,” Spencer started. “I got cornered in my cell. A lot of the guys there were asking about you. And they said that it’d be a shame if something happened to you when you came to visit again.” You look down as he talks about it. “And I didn’t want to risk that. And I wanted to tell you, really, I did.” He grabs your hand assuringly. “But I didn’t have any way to. And I didn’t want you to get hurt. I would’ve died if something happened to you and I didn’t do everything in my power to stop it. I’m sorry it went down like it did.”

You shake your head. And you finally understand. Because if the roles were reversed, you would’ve taken him off the visitor’s list, too. If it meant protecting him. “You were just trying to protect me, I understand.”

“I just…” Spencer looks at you, holding your face in his hands. “I love you, so much.” He looks deeply into your eyes. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” He reveals and your eyes widen. “What?”

Spencer closes his eyes and holds his index finger up. “One second.” He stands up and grabs his blazer from off the floor and digs into one of the inside pockets and pulls out a red velvet box.

Your eyes widen as you cover your body with the sheet and he kneels down on one knee in his boxers and opens the velvet box to reveal a ring. “I didn’t want to do it like this but I’d rather do it now than wait for the right time to.” Your eyes glance down at the box for a mere second and then to the love of your life.

“I love you. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You make my days better, hell, you’ve made my life better. And no matter what we’ve gone through, you’ve stayed by my side and you never ran. I love that you sing off-key, I love that your nose twitches when you get mad, I love that you like… pineapple on pizza, oddly enough.” You chuckle at this. “I love everything about you. And I have no idea what I’ve done to deserve you. But… but true love, it fosters a connection that goes beyond the superficial. It's a bond that often involves understanding each other's core values, beliefs, and life goals. And you’ve made me believe in true love.“

You stare at him in disbelief as he continues, “Will you marry me?” You feel tears spring into your eyes as you nod vehemently, “Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes!” You smile widely and he smiles at you, slipping the ring onto your ring finger as you continue to mutter a million yeses.

When you finally get the ring on, you pull him in for another kiss and he holds you to his heart’s content. It wasn’t the way he envisioned it going, but with you, you knew you didn’t want big and bold ways of him saying he loved you and wanted to marry you, you were content with something small and sweet because it was coming from him and that was the biggest gift of all. You were one for grand gestures, you liked it just the way it was. It was perfect. He was perfect. And you’d spend the rest of your life reminding him he was.

So, you laid back in your bed with your fiancé and talked and talked about sweet nothings until the sun came up. And all of the ache you felt the night before, the pain you endured was long gone and now replaced with something beautiful and sweet.

[saramurphy]

Dan posted this video that gave us a HUGE peek into Martin's notes about episodes they're working on...

Screenshots (with about 90% ID of what's visible, bless his handwriting) under the cut! Fair warning, it's long, but there's a lot going on here, and it's so much to think about!

picture 1: ????? chicken head funnier

picture 2: (first page) Reactionator

? Speakers all over town People's phones Therapist Doof & Candace

Therapist thinks she is crazy but is tactful

The shrink is delusional ? ? exercise that is the catalyst for Cand. being delusional

Candace "It's A Wonderful Life" -- After actual bust C sees everyone doing much worse she feels sad

Family - I think you discuss it Cruise Ship - P&F Van/Doof Last chance to Candace A / Perry back

(second page) Doof's DEI W/A C's Therapist

Doof same therapist

Ferb is next a speech therapist

Doof trauma-dumping on therapist

Therapist "The real self-destruct button is in your head"

Therapist does ex(?)nemesis - therapist

Therapist sees - "WAIT, I GET IT, what Candace is doing gets taken away by what HE'S DOING--"

(note going down side of page) GUEST ON DOOFENPUSS

Doof ? regular ? ? - but she can't ? this because of C ? Confidential ALL DANVILLE Doof and Vanessa on cruise ALL CHARACTERS ? Reactionator blackmail secret I ever tell you w/Lindana whose solved mysteries

picture 3: (script on the table) (our first potential season 6 title?) PHINEAS AND FERB

"VANESSAY"

Written by Martin Olson & Olivia Olson

picture 4: Vanessay

Change tennis to playground

Roger & slushy guy not zapped

Rog. - reflects ray w/ his teeth - set up teeth first Doof: strong jaw -

Agent T thumbnotes "Up the chimney is a weird visual pun" Stacy: "You know we have a front door."

C & Stacy w/ambient sounds joke sequence - cut down?

Mono - "Four seasons of this show" Why did I ? ? ?

To Liv for Vanessay Playground - see how ? ? trap sets scene - a handled window box

Stacy: "Hey ? I ? ANIMAL NOISES!" CUT TO BLACK

Stacy pushes ? out of doorway

Dimin: after "Shorty" - No prize is worth this!

picture 5: T For Teen For Liv - SC 916 Perry leaps into air & does triple flip & lands ready to fight

Pitch n buttons for each

Exec note - Thurs - T For Teens 1:48 end of C/Stacy annual ? sudden cut to end ? w "napkins"

MEAP - PT2 S&P CONCERNS

(I cannot make this bit out to save my life. Martin what in the world my dude)

picture 6: Meap pt 2 - thumbnotes

22 to Meap - "Uh-uh! An ship ? us away!" (clumsy)

Fix pronunciation "St. Lois" joke C is shushed by Meap

Tidy up - don't have everyone say "Don't forget to flush"

C pressing red button to explode ? ship sucks

Brenda joke sexist "No one tracks you through the universe more than your wife"

picture 7: 501 PT1 Exec notes - bigger intro of Doof instead of him on yearbook 10:27 Buf. throw away Constitution Irving beat #2 too quick to nerd

Deconstructing thumbatic

Instead of "psychosis" "phantasma"

607 - Isa hair - 704 OWCA shredding SC

C feels good - "? ? that every day"

12 min: Viewers see The Murder Board

Biblio Blast anim. notes Perry incompetent - smashes into Doof's roof Cut down - plants surrounding/attacking Cut down Doof/Per table start w/Doof "We have to HIT SELF DESTRUCT"

picture 8: (page 1) song by the paver the wind makes love w/each other again

around us - it all seems so real meaning confounds us - cuz nothing's revealed we're SW in love w/each other again

Middle 1: From nothing we hustle Towards each other again Our love seems to circle Without any end

V3: The cloud of unknowing has such beautiful colors But where is it all going ? towards one another? we're SW - in love w/each other again

Middle 2: We seek out each other Every time we appear Sometimes we find another Before we disappear

INSTRUMENTAL W/DANCING SKELETON

(page 2) Middle 3: The breeze says to hug her And show how we feel Slowly healing each other Every turn of the wheel

Repeat V1: So basically - We're SW Along by the river We sit on a porch and The wind makes us shiver We're SW in love w/ each other again We're SW in love w/ each other again

JOSH - The paver of

picture 9: While Dance

says to hug her how we feel healing each other turn of the wheel

Repeat V1: (So basically)

We're SW Alone by the river We sit on the ? and The wind makes us shiver We're SW In love w/each other again

picture 10: Swampy

is trapped

back build something

element

State Triangle

"It's like the Berm[uda Triangle] totally different

(Teen lounge) & P&F build

too much like

Dan wants PLANE to

Doof is the ship

Jon said we turn strong where Doof is in the clouds - there's

picture 11: It's a whole new summer Perry (reblog if u cried)

Earthquake

Mom is laughing so hard she can't look

Staring contest - Try not to laugh

Candace has to be ? at Jeremy's larping tournament but she laughs

picture 12: Perry sick, "Can you take

Candace P&F canoe race

Laughtrack-inator Start ? - reveal Doof hits them w/a Doof keeps cranking it up

Doof rises wall of ? behind at ?

Laugh-inator Cut to surgeon heart

Norm: Good mg. sir Doof: But I programmed you to

picture 13: (this is another view of the page in picture 2, but this one reveals slightly more at the bottom, nothing too noteworthy added except for this)

LINDANA 80'S COP MOVIE - GUEST ON DOOFENPUS

[physalian]

On Writing a Compelling Fetch Quest, as told by TFP

Save for a single recap episode, season two of Transformers Prime is one long high-octane fetch quest, gunning for weapons and tools and eventually the keys to restoring Cybertron.

See this post where I’ve already gushed about this show but I just rewatched season 2 and it does absolutely everything right when so much of the tension could just come from the macguffin of the week.

Full Spoilers Ahead.

—

Season 2 begins with an amnesiac Optimus convinced he’s still best buds with “Megatronus” and that he’s still Orion Pax, factory reset to before he became a Prime with no knowledge of the war or Autobots or Decepticons. In this version of the lore, he was an archivist, the skills of which come into great use as he can decode ancient encryptions that Megatron’s had sitting locked in a vault and unable to crack for, seemingly, eons—unknowingly helping the enemy murder all his friends.

The information contained in this “Iacon Database” prompts the fetch quest that takes up the entire season. After the three part season debut (6 part if you count the 3 part season 1 finale as one long movie) where Team Prime ventures on their own fetch quest to restore Optimus’s memories, the board is nearly set. But first, a couple other episodes catching up with C-tier villains and bringing in some shiny new characters.

In these episodes, Megatron’s second-in-command, Starscream, who’s been rogue for quite some time, loses his ability to transform after trying to screw over Bumblebee. A “loose cannon” for Team Prime returns not quite as a main character, but more present than his lone episode in season 1, and Starscream’s replacement, Dreadwing, makes his debut. And, the other rogue character, Airachnid, is temporarily disposed of.

The board is now set: Autobots, Decepticons, and Starscream.

We begin at episode 11, where Megatron decides it’s a grand idea to infect his ship with zombie fuel to speed up some repairs, and the ship gains a life of its own, decoding the rest of the Iacon Database that Optimus left sitting behind, a job left to a different ‘Con, Soundwave, who’s no Optimus but doing his best. In that episode, the humans of Team Prime sneak aboard the wayward ship, steal the only four coordinates of the Fetch Quest that are available, and get the heck out of dodge.

Episodes 12-15: Four whole episodes occurring simultaneously, everyone available on both teams, every major player, Starscream included, all racing to these four locations to pick up either mystery weapons or tools of varying mass destruction. Each episode is intercut with dialogue and details from the other units, all coming to a head with the near-death of the Team Prime “Tank,” Bulkhead.

What’s in these four episodes is just a taste of the tension that the rest of the season will take on, kind of like a tournament arc pitting unlikely foes against each other over the MacGuffin of the day. My favorite is Wheeljack (robot cowboy samurai) and Ratchet (grumpy medic) vs Soundwave (aforementioned decrypter replacement who does not speak). The episode is visually gorgeous with a showdown on a cliff at sunset with the most beautiful golden hour for the fight (pictured above).

Every MacGuffin brings a new twist to the fight of their episode, of the four, 1 goes to the Bots, 1 goes to the Cons, 1 goes to Starscream, and 1 gets destroyed.

In the Wheeljack episode, Ratchet comes up with an idea to sneak a virus into Soundwave so they can steal the rest of the Iacon Database from the Cons, which proves a success.

Enter episodes 16-19, where we take a break from the pacing of the fetch quest to bring in another new character, Smokescreen, let Bulkhead heal up, let Wheeljack almost get murdered horrifically by giant bot beetles, and teach a little girl about how revenge does not bring peace. Oh and do away with the C-tier villains, they (almost) all die.

Episodes 20-23 are the last five coordinates for the quest: A fancy new sword to sell toys for Optimus in an absolutely badass episode where he cuts a whole mountain in half, and the 4 literal keys to restoring Cybertron.

The new tension comes from both making sure that Team Prime gets all four keys, and making sure that Megatron does not find out how important they are.

Team Prime gets 1, Megatron gets 1, Team Prime gets another, and then Starscream comes in out of nowhere to steal the 4th, and then sneaks into the base of Team Prime to steal the other 3.

I cannot remember the exact quote but after a yell of absolute anguish and frustration, Optimus collects himself enough to say: “The fate of our world now lies with Starscream, whatever his intention.”

Because, Starscream can’t do shit alone. He just has a very powerful bargaining tool to either buy back the Bots favor, or buy back his place with the Decepticons. Underscoring the importance of who has the keys is this: Whichever side restores Cybertron will have effectively won the war, able to then brand the other side officially as traitors, for a whole new reign of absolute authority. The stakes could not be higher.

Episode 24: The second and far superior flashback episode taking a look exclusively at Starscream’s role throughout the series and all his fabulous shenanigans, as Megatron puts him on trial to decide whether he should just kill his traitorous little SIC.

While these flashbacks are being displayed literally on a screen like they’re connected via HDMI cable, Dreadwing (Starscream’s interim replacement) finds out that not only did Starscream get his twin killed way back in season 1, but then raised his corpse and left the zombie wandering around the fifth dimension, and Megatron knew about it, and lied. (Dreadwing is a fantastic lawful evil character, this post is just ridiculously long already without giving everybody bios)

The episode ends with Dreadwing betraying his whole side to give Team Prime intel, and a magical MacGuffin hammer (that they initially lost in the earlier stages of the Fetch Quest) to level out the playing field, he then goes back to his team and monologues a bit too long before trying to kill Starscream himself (as Megatron still won’t) and gets murdered for his efforts, when he was absolutely right.

At this point, Starscream is back with the Decepticons, they have all they keys (but not yet the knowledge of how they work or where they go to), and they believe that they have a free shot to fly back to Cybertron as the Autobots don’t have any way to get there themselves.

Enter the finale: Episodes 25 and 26. We’re almost there.

The magic MacGuffin hammer Dreadwing gave the Bots can fix or craft almost anything (with limited uses) and they use it to make their wormhole portal into a much beefier version—a space bridge—to portal themselves to Cybertron with every single weapon they’ve collected over the course of the Fetch Quest in their arsenal.

This is a mission they’ll either win, or die trying, they have to steal back the keys and reach the lock before Megatron does, and Megatron just figured out where the lock is.

The Bots manage to do it all, get the keys, take out hoards of faceless minions in their way, they’re a the lock, all they have to do is turn it on.

When out of seemingly nowhere, Megatron executes his backup plan: The whole season, he’s had Soundwave quietly scoping out the Bots’ secret base, and the homes of their human allies. Due to a grave mistake on Ratchet’s part, those humans are not protected at the worst time possible, and they get kidnapped.

Megatron delivers an ultimatum: Cybertron, or three human children?

Rather controversially, Optimus chooses the children, but destroys the lock so Cybertron can’t be revived by either side.

Episode 26 then ends with the reveal that Megatron discovered the location of their base, and as they all scramble to different corners of the earth, Megatron nukes it, and Optimus with it.

—

What I think TFP does really well with the MacGuffins is that, by and large, they themselves are never the point of their episodes. The writers knew audiences wouldn’t be sated with just the objects themselves carrying the story, which is what every fetch quest story should be:

The MacGuffin itself does not mean shit to the audience, 9 times out of 10. It could be swapped out for something else and largely not impact its purpose in the story. What matters is what it means to everyone who wants it, and what they’re willing to do to get it.

In TFP's case, these MacGuffins cannot be replaced. Several show up more than once to give unique advantages to different fights or become incredibly useful 11th hour tools—the setup and payoff with them is fantastic.

Yes, some of these “relics” are dangerous weapons, but in the background of the whole season there is so much subtext. Optimus’s guilt and Megatron’s manipulations over what he did while he had no memory. Various rivalries between sides coming to a head. The Starscream wild card that continued to take everyone by surprise again and again. Optimus’s increasing impatience to finally end this war and set aside the rivalry to try and kill Megatron for real this time, several times.

Regardless of who had what item, the balance of power between both sides was shifting constantly. The Bots would get a slight advantage, and the Cons would match it immediately. The Cons would win a battle, but then infighting would cost them the next one. Optimus’s fancy sword was shattered the very next episode when Megatron made his own using a stolen hand of a dead Prime to power the magic creation hammer—a nice bit of commentary on mutually assured destruction. Megatron never would have gone that far if Optimus didn’t get his own uber powerful weapon first.

Nor was every battle over the MacGuffin-of-the-day the same. Different players, different environments, different rules at play depending on the power of the MacGuffin itself, or the ulterior motives of either side.

And there were consequences, too, as this series is pretty mature. Dreadwing dies pretty graphically, a different dead Bot gets turned into a ghoul and his (totally canon) husband loses his shit over seeing a filthy human wearing his metal skin around.

If you won’t watch this show because you think the franchise is lame, I can’t change your mind, but if ever there was an entry into the franchise that proved how good it could be—and there is a time and a place for the camp of G1—TFP would be it.

[thisbuildinghasfeelings]

Redemption Week Tag Game

Thank you for tagging me @lemonlyman-dotcom @ladytessa74 and @lonestar-s5countdown!

(1) Which 911 Lone Star character redemption moment is your favorite? (Feel free to interpret “redemption” as loosely as you like. This can include moments of forgiveness, moments characters proved themselves, moments characters learned from their mistakes, etc.)

As I wrote about here, I particularly love Owen's moments of redemption as he works to be a better father.

I also adore any and every moment where TK and Carlos overcome issues and grow as a couple. My favorite examples of that are 3x13 when Carlos calls Cooper and 4x12 when Carlos brings TK their lizard son.

(2) Is there a character you think deserved more of an on screen redemption moment than we got in the show?

I would have really liked to see more of this for Gabriel and his relationship with Carlos. Of course, the fact that they didn't quite manage to fully repair their relationship makes his death all the more tragic. I'm holding out hope that we'll still manage to dig into their relationship even a tiny bit more in season 5 as Carlos solves the murder.

(3) Is there a recurring (or even one-time guest) “villain” that you would like to see return with a redemption arc? Or if not, is there a “villain” you absolutely would not want to see get a redemption?

@ladytessa74 said Lorraine, and that's a great one, even though it wouldn't technically be a return. Really I just want more information about her!

I also wouldn't mind seeing Pearce again. It could be interesting to see how things could progress after the brief alliance that formed when he and Tommy had a common enemy in Paragon. I don't think Pearce will ever see eye to eye with the 126, so I think it could be really interesting to see an extension of that alliance. Maybe a situation where they were forced to work together towards a common goal.

(4) Are there any unresolved conflicts from the first four seasons that you wish were reconciled on screen?

My least favorite episode is 4x03 mostly because Carlos acts towards TK in a way that I think deserved an apology but we didn't get one. Just one little apology would have made the whole thing so much better for me! I have ultimately made my peace with it and imagined the necessary apologies myself, but seeing one on screen would have made things a lot easier.

(5) Which main character would you like to have a more developed backstory?

The character with the least backstory is definitely Nancy. I would love to see her get more developed! With a seemingly packed 12 episode season 5, I'm not sure how much hope I'm holding out for that, but I hope we'll at least get something.

However, I also want so much more Carlos. I know he's gotten a fair amount the last couple seasons, but there's a lot more I'd like to see. I particularly want to delve deeper into his relationship with his father. With Carlos solving his father's murder, I think it would be the perfect time to give us more of that!

I haven't kept close track of who's already done this, so I will leave an open tag and--apologies and just ignore it if you've already done this and I'm tagging you--

@pimento-playing-hopscotch @paperstorm @reyesstrand @reasonandfaithinharmony @the-126-family

@alrightbuckaroo @carlos-in-glasses @carlos-tk @chicgeekgirl89 @strandnreyes

@herefortarlos @nancys-braids @goodways @firstprince-history-huh

@she-walked-away @mrs-corrections-78 @happilylovingchaos @sapphic--kiwi

[andreanlee]

Richter going to Saint Domingue to live with Annette(the woman he loves) and Maria stays in Paris France with Juste:

People who want to hate on Richter for leaving with Annette at the end of Castlevania Nocturne Season 2 are petty & need to get over it!

Maria is a big girl & will do just fine on her own. Plus, she’s not by herself anyway having Juste with her as an adopted father/grandfather figure. Plus, it’s called character development. Maria needs to develop as a character without Richer around.

Maria is not the only person to have suffered something terrible.

Poor Richter suffered something terrible. Richter lived a happy life for 10 years of his life with his mother & already known how to use magic till he witnessed his mother be murdered in front of him(this causing him to loose his magic from a mental block) & then Olrox lets him go he has to leave the United States(and away from the vampire that murdered his mother in front of him) on a ship by himself for weeks & go live in France with two people(Tara & Maria) he has never met before but he gets to know them & live 9 years in their home & has a great life but he suffers from flashbacks & nightmares(from the trauma he suffered) at age 19(till he overcame his trauma in Season 1 Episode 6).

Richter has the right to be happy and walk his own path with Annette the woman he loves and Annette has the right to be happy with Richter the man she loves!!!

Also poor Annette suffered something terribly from being born in to slavery(on the island of Saint Domingue) & lived like that for 16 years of her life, at 6 or 7 years she witnessed her mother be murdered in front of her by her vampire slave master, she had no magic to protect herself till at 16 years when her divine magic awakened to protect her from being branded, then she runs for her life with dogs & vampires(one of them being Vaublanc her slave master) on horseback chasing her down till makes it to & hides, Edouard finds Annette hiding & scared to death yet Annette is still stuck on the same island(Saint Domingue) as her ex-slave master(Vaublanc) where she hides with the Maroons for 3 years of her life till they have a uprising against all the white slave owners & vampire slave owners on Saint Domingue & she try’s to kill Vaublanc(her ex-vampire slave master) but he escaped, then she finds out about Erzsebet & has to travel to France to find Richter(who her teacher told her to find) to defeat Erzsebet at age 19 & suffering from anger issues from the trauma she suffered(till she overcomes her trauma in Season 1 Episode 6).

In the Castlevania Game Lore Maria(at 12 years) is adopted in to the Belmont Clan(at the end of “Rambo Of Blood), Maria is 17 years & after “Symphony Of The Night”Richter disappears with Annette(after he passed the whip on to the Morris Clan). Maria is a big girl!!!!!!!!

In the Castlevania Nocturne Lore, Maria is 16 years & is adopted into the Belmont Clan by Juste(in Season 2 Episode 5 after Tara asked him to look after Maria), and in the last Episode Richter & Annette leave together to go live in Saint Domingue together(in Season 2 Episode 8). Maria is a girl!!!!!!!

Richter doesn’t need to be stuck up Maria’s butt at all!!!!!

Also the people who want to bring up how Richter said he’d stand by Tara & Maria(in episode 1 season 1) was also not in love with anyone at that point & was just involved with girls for a butty call & nothing more. He also had no life, identity, and purpose of his own and was just follower of whatever Tara & Maria said & told him to do. People do leave their home after they fall in love & get married. Also Richter is 19 years old & is an adult. Also Richter and Annette understand each other the most.

Also confirmation from the “Symphony Of The Night” game interview, Richter disappears with Annette in the game lore.

Was so happy to see Richter and Annette get the happy ending together that they deserved!!!

And was so happy that Netflix did not listen to the racist!!!

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

My memory is terrible so I wanted to do a breakdown of my stuff every once in a while. Might be monthly, might be whenever I feel like it.

BL - Currently Watching

7 Days Before Valentine [11/12] - Unlike some other shows, this one is actually getting better towards the end. I appreciate that Sunshine did some self reflection and became a better human being and I really enjoy the visuals here. Also, 7 days before valentine we will watch the finale, so that's neat.

Cherry Magic Th [7/12]– I like what the thai version is doing with the source material, I think they are being really smart and I'm so happy I got to watch the shopping date and the helicopter ride that were missing from the japanese live action.

Cherry Magic Anime [4/12]– I'm enjoying all the parallels way too much. Part of me wishes that it had stayed closer to the manga but since I get that also from Thailand, I can't complain.

Cooking Crush [9/12]– My expectations weren’t as low as maybe other people because I'm a OffGun fan but I am enjoying this show way more than I thought. It’s so refreshing to see good communication and well rounded characters that are given the space to work stuff out and be honest with each other. I feel for Samsee, cause, been there.

Dead Friend Forever [6/12]– this show continues to surprise me every week. I’m a big horror and slasher fan so for the premise alone I was gonna watch it. But I’m liking the way they chose to structure this story, moving from the slasher bit to the past at that moment was really smart. The visuals are so strong in this and I’m enjoying the communal murdering impulses towards the original friend group.

Ossan's Love Returns [3/12] - It’s chaos but the kind that only Japan can get away with for me. That season opener alone would’ve made me stop watching if it wasn’t for that. But the thing about these characters for me is that they get to be this ridiculous because it’s all grounded in such heart and kindness towards each other. It's a balancing act that only Japan can deliver at this level.

Playboyy [10/14] – I applaud the effort to make something new and out of the bl box, I think the show is trying to talk about interesting things and there are moments where the visuals are very strong. However, the acting is the weakest part of the whole thing and so I cannot connect to the characters, which leaves the whole experience kinda empty for me.

Although I Love You, and You? [3/10]- Japan my beloved. What’s there to say? Sakae is my new favourite boy and I’m really enjoying these two bridging the gap in their personalities.

The Sign [10/12]– Phaya and Tharn are delightful. Yai is the bestest boy ever. But there’s too many loose threads considering we only have 2 episodes left. There’s still to much going on and the investigation part of it just seems too disconnected for me to care. I really hope they're not counting on a special or a second season to wrap this up.

BL - Finished

Last Twilight – No need to repeat myself. here and here

Love for Love's Sake - What a wonderful surprise this was. Yeo Woon is one of the most adorable characters of all time and I seriously cannot handle it. From the beginning there was always a cloud over the whole story and I think in the end it all came together really well, to give us a happy ending that feels earned. Also really appreciated the way the story dealt with the triangle. Most of the time I hate them with a passion so I was really happy that Sang Won didn't just disappear and stayed in the group and kept teasing Yeo Woon. And now I'm just suppose to move on?

Night Dream – I liked the beginning a lot, but, as it’s becoming increasingly frequent, it dipped as it approached the end and although I liked how it finished I wasn’t a fan of the path to get there. Time skip once again not used well.

Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun - I have not seen the finale yet but I didn't want to wait so I might update this post when I watch it. However, Toki is my favourite boy, and I just want him to be happy.

VIP Only – Cute but ultimately forgettable.

Rose Watches OJBL

So this month I started my journey into older jbl stuff in order to have a bigger understanding of the landscape and what came before. With the help of the amazing @twig-tea I've started this journey with 2 films: Ai no Kotodama (2008) - Such a wonderful way to start this adventure. Really enjoyed this film. Without spoiling it, I understand that the beginning of the film might turn some people off of it but I think it's actually really smart and purposeful. I would definitely recommend it.

No Touching At All (2014) - Also really enjoyed this one. The direction is really interesting I thought. I feel it's all very intentional and it reflects very well the characters state of mind.

And because Cherry Magic opened the anime gates I also watched:

Given (2019) - This is SO GOOD. This show rewired my brain. Just now I was listening to THE SONG and I got emotional again. Every once in a while I enter this mindset where I feel like nothing that I watch can surprise me anymore. Then I watched this show. My thoughts after watching can be found here.

Not BL - Watched this month

The Killing Vote Taxi Driver 2 Vigilante Fermat no Ryori

Well, that's it I guess. Now I have to go and make some Love for Love's Sake gifs because I just can't move on and need to live there a little longer. Speaking of gifs, I'm always happy to take gif requests so let me know.

💜💜💜

[baiwu-jinji]

I'm so very late to the party but finally finished listening to TGCF audio drama season 1, love how intense the last two episodes are :3 Here are some incoherent thoughts about some of the episodes I haven't talked about:

Episode 12: It occurred to me when I'm listening to this episode that the ghosts of Ghost City are always so lively and bubbly, always laughing and flirting and teasing, when most of them must've had a tragic life story with unresolved misfortunes that caused them to turn into ghosts in the first place. Their high spirits feels incongruous with their tragic past, but maybe it's because they're happier as ghosts than as humans?

There's a ghost called 红粉骷髅 (literally "skeleton of beautiful woman") in this episode that finds afterlife much more liberating and satisfying than life itself, as she recites the following poem when she's dancing: "I danced for others in life, nobody buried my bones when I died; I sing for myself after death, my beauty moves the netherworld."

(The name 红粉骷髅 actually comes from a Buddhist story where the Bodhisattva Guanyin turns into a beautiful woman to make love to men but would suddenly turn into a skeleton in the process, scaring the men into realising that the most alluring beauty in the world is but ashes and bones and ghastly in death, and that they shouldn't give in to temptations.)

Episode 13: Hua Cheng tells Xie Lian that he doesn't look at the wishes of his believers and just throws them away because he doesn't care about being worshipped. This just shows the difference between Hua Cheng and Jun Wu: although they both desire power, Hua Cheng only wants power in himself and over his own fate, while Jun Wu wants power over others. The conversation between HC and XL is as follows:

HC: It's better to help yourself than ask the help of others. If you want to climb out of the abyss, what use is it to look to others? Others won't come to save you every time.

XL: That's why you need gods.

HC: But if everyone counts on the god, what about the god? Wouldn't the god get tired?

XL: But you must have many believers. If you turn a blind eye to their prayers, won't they consider you to be ineffectual?

HC: I didn't ask them to worship me, they kneeled before me without my permission. Besides, only those who happen to have their wishes granted would dare to talk about it - those who don't wouldn't dare to complain.

Episode 17: Xie Lian tells Lang Qianqiu that he named his sword technique which he uses to break up a clash by diverting all the harm to himself "wuming" (meaning "nameless") - a fitting name because the technique is about the negation of the self, and sacrificing oneself to endure it all. "Wuming" is also the name Hua Cheng took when he followed Xie Lian after the fall of Xianle and eventually sacrificed himself to protect Xie Lian.

Episode 18: When Xie Lian worries that telling Lang Qianqiu the truth would make Lang Qianqiu question everything XL taught him and cease to be the courageous and honourable person that he is, Hua Cheng asks XL to trust in LQQ's innate moral strength. I like what HC said to XL about LQQ:

"If you value him so much, then why can't you trust him? Trust that since he's the one you chose, he won't lose himself in hatred and will eventually do what he should do, even though he once wanted to destroy the whole world out of hate."

HC is asking XL to have faith in LQQ the same way that HC has always had faith in XL.

There's also something I wonder about the situation between Xie Lian and Lang Qianqiu. LQQ's parents were murdered by the resentful ghosts of the people of Xianle, and XL took the blame for the Gilded Banquet massacre because he didn't want LQQ to think that he tried to save those resentful ghosts in vain, that LQQ's good will towards the resentful ghosts was met with hatred and revenge. But has it occurred to XL that his own supposed "betrayal" would've hurt LQQ equally much? Would LQQ really feel better if instead of the resentful ghosts, it's his teacher whom he admired and respected so much that had betrayed him?

[whimsicallyenchantedrose]

Season 3 Rewatch Drabbles: 3x22 There's No Place Like Home (Part 2)

Summary:  A series of 100-500 word drabbles to accompany my    rewatch of season 3 of Once Upon a Time.  There will be a drabble–either a deleted scene, a “fix it” fic or a character musing for each episode of the season.  Focus will be on Emma, Henry, the Charmings and Killian–with an emphasis on Captain Swan’s epic love story.

Word Count: 493

Other Chapters: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (27) (28)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Notes: I knew there was no way I could stick to just one drabble an episode for the CS movie, so I didn't even try. There will be 2 drabbles for 3x21 and 4 for 3x22. They are all written, so the plan is to post one per day until they're all posted.

Note #2: Thanks to @jrob64 and @snowbellewells for the prompt!

She was in shock.  There was no other way to explain her current state of calm after what had just happened, after what she’d just witnessed. 

After escaping the Evil Queen’s cell, with her innocent prisoner in tow, Hook had filled her in on what she’d missed.  Snow White had sent them a way to get into the castle, but she hadn’t met back up with them, and they were concerned she’d been captured.

When they’d reached the large, circular window overlooking the courtyard, they discovered that their concerns were more than founded.

Emma would never forget the horror of looking down to see her mom tied to a stake, surrounded by wood and with the Evil Queen preparing to hurl a fireball in her direction.  She’d been desperate to move, to act, to do something to stop what was about to happen, but without her magic, she was completely powerless.

As the Evil Queen let the fireball fly, and as her mother’s writhing form was consumed, Hook pulled her to himself, and she clung to him.  Needing him, needing his comfort more than she ever had before.

They’d watched in horrified fascination as the fire quickly did its job, leaving nothing but ash in its wake.  She couldn’t look away.  As horrific as it was, she couldn’t look away.

Finally, as the guards and the Queen turned back toward the castle, Hook had reminded them that they would accomplish nothing by being captured themselves, and they’d stealthily left the castle, returning to the fire her dad and Killian had built while they waited.

“After my brother passed,” Killian said almost hesitantly once the two of them were again alone, “all I could do was relive that final, terrible moment. Don’t do that to yourself, love.  All we can do at times like these is to try to live in the here and now.”

She appreciated his attempts to help her through this, but it would take some time before she could close her eyes without seeing her mother murdered before her eyes and her completely powerless to stop it.

They had failed, and failed so profoundly, nothing could ever be right again.  Her mom was dead, and with her gone, Regina would never be defeated, the kingdom would never be saved, her dad would never have true love, her baby brother, who’d just been born, would never exist.

Would never exist.

Suddenly a ray of hope pierced her darkness.

“Here and now,” she said, brow furrowed.  “I’m still here.  How is that possible?  We saw her die, which means I would never be born.”

Killian’s eyes widened as the implications of her words hit him. “You should have faded from existence.”

“Exactly,” she said.

“Well then, perhaps–” he began slowly.

“She’s still alive!” Emma said, knowing that somehow, some way, against all odds it had to be true.  She hadn’t lost her mother after all, not yet anyway.  There was still hope!

NEXT CHAPTER->

[longlivefiction]

Jeremiah, and how he's so.. Jeremiah.

This is quite long, so get ready..

Never believed there's an insanity Jeremiah was scaping at all. more like putting inside a box his dark nature and closed the door. The gas was just a key for it. In simple terms, the gas changed nothing, didn't alterated his mind or gave extra things.

The problem with Jeremiah is that he was a contrasted character, on one had, he hated the idea of being ordinary:

- He was the smart kid of the circus who got away to go in a elite family.

- He was the guy who graduated of college at 13 or 17.

- He was the man who lived in a maze bunker during 6 years.

- He would be the man who made a revolution on the engineering science.

We all believed he was adopted by Wilde family, but maybe Wildes doesn't exist at all, and Jeremiah created Xander Wilde alias to completely separate of his family, for the sake of his megalomania: This, genius mastermind mysterious legendary figure behind the new era of evolment.

The problem is that precisasly in his desire to be special, he can't support the idea of be like Jerome cause that will means he's not unique at all. That's why he never allowed himself to be just as extravagant as Jerome.

I am sure Jeremiah killed alley cats, by beating them up or something, while believed Jerome was just a funny imaginative innocent kid, different to the weird exotic prodigical guy he was. When discovered that Jerome kill alley cats as well, Jeremiah just can't toleate it.

So he made up lies on him, betrayed him and sending to a path HE KNEW that would make him even worst and in the end causing Jerome to desire to hunt him.

Jerome admits that as a teenager he wanted to kill everything in sight, however, the fact is that Jeremiah left the circus at age 8, so even Jerome's murderous desires could very well be a consequence of Jeremiah's actions.

"Teenagers, am I right? Oh, I remember those days, you just want to kill everything you see."

- Jerome Valeska in season 3.

Until I know, teenage years starts at 12. Meaning Jerome suffered at least 5 years of abuse at that point.

Now, why I believe Jeremiah WANTED Jerome to get to him like they're are in some game or something?

Mandatory Brunch Meeting:

Jeremiah wanted Jerome to get to him, so he could capture him. So he deliberately endangered his uncle Zachary Trumble, and his boss Allan Heyes. For the first one knew about St Ignatius and the second one knew about the address of Ecco.

Once Jerome is captured, it can be seen by the condition of the room he is in that Jeremiah intended to starve his brother to death as he watched.

Let's be honest, the only reason Jerome could scaped was because Crane and Tech; see Jeremiah is SO narcisist that he believed that Jerome could be the only menace that mattered and valued the effort since he is his twin, do you get that?

That's entertainment:

Once Jim Gordon, Lucius Fox and Bruce Wayne arrives, with Gordon telling him the situation, even before, aware of the possible consecuences for Gotham people Jeremiah decided to stay, not like he cares on some few people suffering. Yeah, he didn't stop Jerome before and all, but in this case, was different cause Jer puted a conditional, he was the way to avoid mayhem.

Game's over, maybe he can try to kill Jerome next time.

Until Jeremiah Valeska meets Batman-

Yes, I didn't writted that wrong. He met BATMAN.

In the conversation he had with Bruce, about hope and fight fear, Jeremiah realized that was something inside Bruce that was comparable to the darkness he felt every day of his life, so mysterious and profundently violent that was like watching to the abysm. As we know, Batman manifistated to Bruce some episodes ago before, doing the bond between the bat and the man more strong. Is BATMAN who with Jeremiah felt in love with, just that he can't determ a propial name to Bruce's madness so he just interprates it as Bruce himself, not so far of reality.

He feels fascnination at encontering someone not only intellectually similar, that share his own utterly unbeatable conviction for his goals, and even shared the same level of madness he hiddes, a level of madness not even Jerome got after all those years.

This is how his obsession begings.

When Jerome's followers kill the polices upside the buildings, Jeremiah just look up indifferently, he cares a shit on people dying around him, and just show anger when Jerome calls him.

When Jerome brings him up on stage and proceeds to tell everything he went through because of his lies, Jeremiah rolls his eyes, not caring about the damage he caused.

Even with the excuse that Jerome is telling it in a humorous way, reacting so indifferently to a horrible situation for which one himself is perhaps directly responsible is still quite inhumane.

When Jerome shows the knife to Jeremiah, despite briefly having doubts, he screams in anger and attempts to kill him on the spot, despite having failed, the desire was there.

He doesn't even care about Jerome's death. In fact he "wipes his tears" only after Jim Gordon watches him approach the corpse of his brother, indicate that his sadness was just an image he showed to Gordon in order to avoid any suspicious of his previously mentioned crazy tendencies. The most near to a dissapoinment feeling is perphaps that he couldn't kill him by his own terms.

After recieve Jerome's special gas, Jeremiah listens a recording of Jerome while the gas is making effect, Jerome confess that his days were numbered, and at Jeremiah hears this, he gives a delighted smile.

[im-out-of-it]

part 2 of season 2, episode 8 continued “love is a devil” I CANT QUIT THINKING OF POOR ALEC

10. Luke: bitch shut up already

11. Luke is right- that is not clary and jace’s choice to make. they act like they’re doing what is right for the downworld. not telling them that Valentine has a sword that he plans to use to murder any downworlders that come near them is insanely messed up. they deserve to know so they can take precautions, shelter, like why should they expect the shadowhunters to save them? they only help downworlders when it serves their purpose and aids themselves

12. because let’s just have clary and jace assume that jace is that demon. “there’s no explanation” “it was a demon I never saw before” so if jace is this supposed demon, then shouldn’t he recognize himself? why doesn’t anyone find it odd that they’ve never seen jace turn into a demon the way Sebastian does? honestly clary and jace are so dumb and then they make Magnus and Luke look almost as dumb for believing them

13. Alec: sis can you stop

14. Alec: I’m not entertaining this, bye

15. aw max is here!!!!!!

16. LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL FUCKING SMILE

17. Alec is the proudest brother

18. I love how Izzy and Alec are all smiles and Maryse shows up and they look so vexed lmao (poor max knowing Robert won’t be at his ceremony)

19. THE FAMOUS EYE ROLL I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR WEEKS TO RIGHTFULLY POST AND THANK YOU FOR TELLING ME THE EPISODE BECAUSE HERE WE FINALLY ARE (an eye roll a day keeps the devil away!)

20. Alec and Izzy calling bullshit

21. the good old I was following orders. I remember that in history 😬

22. I know Maryse is really shifty and shitty in the beginning but honestly, she’s just hurting so much. and she does have tremendous growth throughout the show so that counts for something? and it’s not an excuse for how she treats Alec and Magnus. it just shows how much Alec and Izzy are like her that they hide their pain so they can get through the day. they aren’t as nasty as Maryse (well when they’re in a mood) but they hide their pain and sorrow often. I really don’t care about jace’s treatment because he hasn’t once actually tried to be there for Alec. and why is it that a parabatai bond is noticed, it’s always Alec noticing jace is hurt and never Alec? interesting, right?

23. but anyways, Maryse is in and Robert is out

24. CAN WE TALK ABOUT ALECS HAIR? it looks so fluffy and perfect

25. Max: I don’t care as long as you’re happy big brother

26. I love how all the lightwoods (max, Alec, Izzy, Maryse, Robert) are all so dramatic and extra 😭 MUST BE SOME GENE

see y’all later for part 3 and this one is going to be hella long and I’m not sorry THIS IS AN EXPERIENCE SO ENJOY IT

[fanfic-the-wish-your-heart-makes]

Revenge Can Hurt More Than the Person It's Aimed at - An Angsty Nygmobblepot x Reader Hurt/Comfort Fix-it Fic

Chapter 1: Late Messages and Phone Calls

(I made a cover for this, whaat? With text messages from the fic edited onto flip phones? Yes, I did 😄🤗)

Word count: 1757

Reader: gender-neutral (no pronouns)

Spoilers: season 3 episode 12 (& in later chapters for at least S03 E15) Stop reading here if you want to avoid the spoilers :)

Plot: After Ed left his position, seemingly due to Oswald's love for him, the mayor's left with no one but his other best friend, you, who comforts him as best as possible, all while Oswald tries not to lose you as well - or accidentally tell you that he's in love with not just Ed but you.

Meanwhile Ed hopes to destroy Oswald from within, making him doubt his own perception by playing evil tricks on him.

At least he tries to do so. There's still you, who he's kept in the dark so that he could hurt Oswald unexpectedly.

However, he'll soon ask himself whether it's worth seeing you hurt by Oswald's poor state.

Warnings: canon betrayal (including gaslighting & intimidation) & poor mental state, a lot of angst (Ed's hate for Oswald)

Author's note: I originally just wanted to write some comfort for Oswald for this episode and well, Ed needed to be there for the original hurt to be there, so I made it Nygmobs x reader 🥰

Also on AO3

_____________________________________

Ed had chosen not to tell you his plans. You would only confront Oswald, ask him whether he had truly killed Isabella, acceleratung the process and taking away from Oswald's suffering, and oh, how Ed wanted him to suffer!

He'd tell you in time, when he had captured Oswald. Once you knew that Oswald had killed her, you wouldn't like him anymore, and then Ed could take Oswald's life.

You'd be sadder about his betrayal of Ed than about his death. After all, Ed's relationship with Oswald's was just as good as yours to the mayor, so wouldn't your reaction be the same?

Ed didn't know for sure and it was plaguing him. He didn't want to hurt you.

Everyone you love gets hurt sooner or later, he heard a familiar voice inside his head whisper. It had been piping up more over these last weeks, at least more than it had when everything had been alright. When Oswald's concern had been a lie.

What a pretty lie it had been: spending time with his best friends, going on dates with Kris-Isabella, even before her, life had been like a daydream.

Not anymore. Oswald just had to go and destroy everything!

Ed balled his hands into fists. He had to be quiet, otherwise his whole plan might blow up.

Checking his muted phone one last time, he read your message from before again:

No, I won't be at the manor tonight. Why do you ask? Are you coming back?

Or just for a visit? You can call us anytime. Or just me.

Whatever it is that made you leave, I'm sure we can find a way to make things work.

No, we can't, he thought grimly, when a new message popped up that made his heart clench:

If this is about Isabella, it's okay too.

What is it about her? he thought alarmed. Did you know about her murder?!

A new message appeared:

Don't let what Oswald said bring you down. Even if you only knew her for a short time, it's alright to still grieve.

Did he still grieve? Ever since turning his ideas into plans he had thought about her less and less. All that was on his mind was his revenge, Oswald and you.

Thinking of: he started typing but then figured it would be best to wait until later. That way he could stall for time, make you expect less from him, only seeing the grieving boyfriend.

He was about to close his phone when he saw one last message:

Can we meet sometime? I want to make sure you're alright. Plus I haven't seen a friend for a long time.

He closed the phone. He hadn't seen you in too long indeed. And it was all Oswald's fault. He stood ready in the Van Dahl Mansion near the switch for his illusion. Oswald would pay.

Until the finale however, there would be many more a step.

For the ones tomorrow, he'd text you this evening. He was already thinking of the phrasing.

_________________

After Oswald's encounter with what he was sure was his late father's ghost, he wanted nothing more than to be held by the two people he loved the most.

Unfortunately he was so shaken that it took him a minute to even walk to the bathroom to splash water onto his face.

That didn't help much and so he just stood there, frozen on the spot for half an hour, both of his legs stiffened uncomfortably, until he finally had to move to shake the feeling back into them.

He dialled your number first, not wanting to alienate Ed and knowing that you had already been ready to comfort him in the last weeks, without even knowing why exactly he was so sad.

The only thing you knew was that it had to have to do with Ed, who had resigned from his position as chief of staff and left the manor to live elsewhere.

When you asked, Oswald had merely said that it didn't matter, that it was criminals' business you needn't worry about.

You worried about it. Just a few weeks ago, you had believed Edward, Oswald and you to be be an inseparable trio, but now it was weeks since you had last seen the brown-haired man.

Oswald worried as well. After calling you four times, he decided to ignore his fear of annoying Ed, and called him. Twice. Then he waited until the hour was early instead of late to call again. Ed would simply have to see it as the emergency that it was.

After all, reciprocating Oswald's feelings or not, Ed still treasured their friendship...didn't he?

He had looked so shocked when he had heard Oswald confess his love, his hand raised so defensively.

But then in the library..."You're my best friend as well, Oswald" resonated in his head. If only he was more than that.

_________________

As soon as Oswald had gone to the bathroom, Ed had quickly gotten himself and the paid actor out of the mansion, and texted you when he was alone again.

I'm free tomorrow but after that I'm not available at all. Can you keep the day free?

He knew for a fact that you could. Lately Oswald had been clearing your schedule so that he could be comforted by you at any time.

You responded soon after:

Yes, I have the day off

When are you free?

Ed replied immediately:

I don't know when I'll be free yet, but maybe early on. He'd try to choose a time that would keep you away from Oswald for as long as possible.

He could tell you tomorrow that he didn't have time in the morning. Or for lunch or in the afternoon and so on and so on. Most importantly: you wouldn't be there to support Oswald when Ed's plan to make him freak out on Margaret Hearst's live show came into action.

The phone ringing mere seconds after Ed texted you made him light up at seeing that you were obviously waiting for him to respond.

Ok, I could always wait for you.

Ed smiled at your eagerness to see him. Your meeting would be wholesome. Unlike Oswald's bad, selfish possessiveness.

Wonderful! I hope he can spare you for a few seconds, I've missed you ;) Ed typed with a similar jealousy, not realizing his own hypocrisy...and not thinking about the hope that wink would elicit in you.

_________________

A wink... Had Ed mistyped? Edward Nygma, the man who sometimes sent comically formal messages? The man who had once asked whether this was "an adequate symbol for philandering via text" when he had dated Isabella?

In the last days his texts had lacked any trace of humour. Maybe he was feeling better.

I probably shouldn't interpret anything into a single letter. Maybe he tried to write a smiley and missed.... but he'd told Oswald once that he tried to proofread all of his messages just in case. Maybe he hadn't been wearing his glasses...which he almost always wore. Maybe he was...maybe he had had tears in his eyes?

Your heart ached at the thought. Seeing him so heartbroken after Isabella's death was horrible, add to that not seeing him at all, not even receiving written riddles...

You felt with him...and yet at the same time there was that insistent piece of jealousy, which was questioning why he would think more about a dead woman he had known for little more than a week than about his two best friends.

Of course you understood that he wasn't merely mourning the librarian but also his chance at a new chance of love. So despite it not feeling right on first thought, you'd let him grieve for as long as it helped him.

Just because there was someone else in love with him didn't mean that he was considering to give them a chance. It would be selfish of you to assume that.

Even if you were almost certain that you weren't just assuming. Before he had met Isabella, you could have sworn that there had been something else than friendship between him, Oswald and you.

He'd give each of you compliments with a lot more admiration than necessary, throw admiring glances your ways and lean towards the two of you as if he was being pulled in by a magical force.

Perhaps you were just projecting your love for them onto him; maybe he had only been beaming with joy because he treasured this friendships, which you definitely did as well.

It could be that he only got so close because he didn't understand the idea of personal space...even if he had once made a very hurtful jab at a politician who had stepped too close during an argument.

Still, maybe he just didn't have any previous examples of good friendship to base his behavior on.

When you thought about these things individually, the chance of him having had a crush on Oswald or you didn't seem big and there was almost always an excuse, but adding all the looks, compliments, leans, touches, smiles and talk of fate together, you couldn't help but think about your secret hope: that he had been, maybe even was, in love with you and Oswald.

Then the day he had handed in his resignation, you had been afraid that you'd lose him, that it had maybe just been living together and that he'd forget about you once he no longer saw you.

Yet he proved you otherwise when he texted you after leaving the manor, explaining that he needed time away from anywhere he had been with Isabella and that he hoped you would be alright without him.

He asked a lot about that, about whether you were doing okay, whether he could do anything for you.

What he didn't ask about was Oswald, at least not beyond inquieries of how he was doing, which only proved to you that something bad had happened between them: otherwise Ed would have already heard from Oswald himself and Oswald wouldn't constantly ask you about Ed.

It seemed a hopeless case. You should let go of it already. He and Oswald didn't even talk anymore.

Just then your cellphone lit up. Ed had sent you a new message:

I've really missed you.

You could almost hear his voice, low and comforting.

I've missed you too, you wrote back. Oh, how you still loved him!

Missed you a *lot*, you added.

Author's note:

To be continued.

If you have any comfort regarding this episode and the ones before it, please share, seeing Oswald so down was very hard for me to watch and still hurts after writing this! 🥺😓

And of course let me know what you think of this, and let me know if you want to be tagged :)

Chapter 2->

[bereft-of-frogs]

Ok so I've definitely entered my 'blending headcanon and critique to make The Acolyte make sense to me' era because I loved enough of it to really want to be able to rewatch it, but I'm struggling with a few things, mostly about the ending. The first to tackle: what was up with Sol's sudden pivot into obsession with the vergence in the finale?

That's an easy fix: make Sol obsessed with the vergence from the start.

Ok, maybe not such an easy fix because this requires us living in the alternate universe where there is a secretly good 12 episode cut of the show that understands how to work in flashbacks as a B plot properly and not just dump them in two clumps without any framing device. (I can't believe my framing device theory wasn't real lol that seemed like such an easy setup.) We'd really need more of the flashback way earlier to avoid the mistake of introducing these big concepts in episode 7 of 8. (Bonus, imagine how much more devastating a betrayal Aniseya's death at Sol's hands would have been if we'd gotten more time with all of them on Brendok.)

Anyway yeah, in the secretly good 12 episode season, we're introduced pretty quickly to past!Sol and his main two character motivations: 1) his desire for a student (also sets up a good dark mirror with Qimir) and 2) his conviction that a vergence is what cause the resurgence of life post-hyperspace disaster, and these two motivations interplay with each other throughout the narrative. This would make Sol's relationship with Indara more interesting, if it brings them into conflict. Because Indara doesn't seem to be convinced the phenomenon is caused by a vergence (she says as much in the scene around the fire) and Sol disagrees with how she's handling Torbin's restlessness. (I've defended her in the past, I won't reiterate here, but see this post for my defense of Indara lol.) It makes sense too, given that he's the one that brings up the vergence in the first place, in that scene at the fire. And in the early parts of the present narrative, maybe we get an early throwaway line, in place of one of the 'we were stationed on Brendok', could be something like 'we were searching for something important...but that doesn't matter now' to signify it was something on Sol's mind but not give away the whole truth right away.

While the murder investigation, etc happens in the present, we're cutting back occasionally to the flashbacks, where Sol comes across the girls playing. I think Sol genuinely did feel both a connection to Osha and concern for their safety, so that's where motivation #1 (a padawan) starts to take precedence over motivation #2 (the vergence). But #2 is still there, coming up again in the first confrontation, after Indara asks about the girls' father and Sol starts to suspect they were created by the vergence. This could explain why he insisted on both girls being tested (at least in the episode 3 dialogue, that's cut from 7 for some reason). The interplay between these motivations would also explain why he rushes into the fortress when he senses Osha's distress, but the first words out of his mouth to Aniseya are to ask how the girls were created.

In the aftermath of the ensuing tragedy though, when faced with the guilt of killing Aniseya and choosing to save Osha over Mae, after his confrontation with Indara...he realizes he fucked up big time. He has to let go of his fixation on the vergence in order to make things right with Osha and focus entirely on motivation #1: raising and training her. And besides, there's no proof of the vergence remaining because the main evidence was the blood test proving they were the same consciousness, but without Mae it just looks like they mistakenly ran the sample twice or something. So he lets it go. He just focuses on Osha and buries all that stuff about Mae and the vergence down deep, as the darkness he never faces, and hopes it never comes up again.

And then Sol chills out even more! Ten years pass and he realizes he also made a mistake getting so emotionally attached to Osha and acting out of that possessive attachment. So when she decides to leave the Order, he lets her go with love! He matures and moves into a more stable position as a master, he becomes a teacher, he gets a padawan in the traditional way, everything seems good. I bet he felt a certain amount of relief. Guilt, yes, but after so long I bet it felt like it was all in the past and he's a different person now, what happened was sad and horrible but there's nothing to be done so he just focuses on being the best Jedi he can in the present.

Until of course, everything gets completely upended again by the revelation that Mae is not dead after all. She's alive and coming for revenge. There's definitely some of the 'oh shit I fucked up even more than I originally thought' panic, and freaking out that the Order is about to find out the truth of what Sol did, but also all the vergence stuff gets dragged up again. Because now he might be able to prove it. I think for a while Sol suppresses that thought, and really believes his actions during the investigation are motivated by good. He wants to capture Mae alive, he doesn't want another Jedi who might be willing to eliminate her to stop her because he genuinely wants to save her and find a way to make what happened right -- but he also needs her alive to prove she and Osha are one consciousness. He wants to warn Torbin and Kelnacca that Mae is coming for them -- but he also needs them to testify to the vergence on Brendok 16 years ago. Why else is Sol so insistent on talking to Torbin? If it was just a case of apprehending Mae, they don't need to talk, they just need to stake out the temple and wait to catch her in the act. What other subject would he be so certain Torbin would break the vow of silence for?

But then Khofar happens and goes so horribly wrong and so now Sol's in a full downward spiral, with even more blood on his hands. I don't think he really wants to hurt Mae in that final episode, but he's just cracking under the weight of all the deaths he's directly or indirectly responsible for, and he's left with nothing but the vergence. Everyone is dead and he feels he had a hand in all of it. He’s the last one alive, other than the twins, the last thing he can cling to is going back to the start, proving this vergence exists, because maybe then it will all mean something. And his unhinged behavior in the finale is the culmination of all that guilt and grief and being left with nothing but the obsession with the vergence beyond any rationality. (Until the real final culmination, when he comes back to himself for a moment at the end and tells Osha it's okay while she's killing him.)

I've still got some stuff to wildly invent explanation, like why the vergence was so important in the first place, what it actually was, why Koril was so scared of the Jedi finding out about it, but I think this helps me wrap my head around some stuff so I can rewatch the finale without being like 'huh?' I think this also fits with the duality themes, that Sol's motivations were never in balance, in the end he wasn't able to reconcile his obsession with the vergence and his genuine love for Osha and regret for what happened to Mae. I do suspect it would have (imo) worked better if they'd given some of Torbin's last minute 'we have to prove the vergence' motivation to Sol. Because the series as it stands, doesn't have much setup for that obsession with either of them, but for Torbin it has neither setup nor payoff, at least with Sol then it would connect to why he's scrambling to get them to Brendok in the finale. It also makes sense to me to sort of just re-order than scene in the forest to have Sol be the driving factor to getting them to go back to the fortress, especially because he ALSO thinks something is wrong. It's that double whammy motivation that leads them into the catastrophe. There are definitely still holes and this isn't so much a 'this is what I think the show was trying to do' and more a 'let me rearrange this into a shape that will allow me to watch lightsaber duels without thinking so much.'

ANYWAY tldr: introducing the vergence and making it a more significant part of Sol’s character arc much earlier would have solved a bunch of issues AND be a really compelling narrative where it combined and conflicted with his other main motivation, a genuine love and connection with Osha and deep regret for what he did to Mae and their mother. They just biffed it a bit by only bringing up the vergence in episode 7 of 8.

really tldr: I know I'm doing the 'every day Star Wars fans come on here and say some version of Star Wars would be so good if it was good' but I mean I've been doing that for like 25 years at this point and I find it fun so. Continuing. XD

[ncisfranchise-source]

NCIS: Origins is coming! And with the show, which will focus on the origins of one Leroy Jethro Gibbs (played by Mark Harmon in NCIS and Austin Stowell in NCIS: Origins), set to premiere on CBS on October 14, it's worth revisiting the question of what we already know of the backstory of such an iconic character. Gibbs was, after all, the lead character on NCIS for almost two decades. CBS might be launching a whole new show about his roots, but we already know a fair bit about him.

And what we know we learned over 19 seasons of NCIS. In NCIS: Origins we will meet Gibbs as a newly-minted NIS agent under the tutelage of Mike Franks (played by Muse Watson on NCIS and Kyle Schmid in Origins), a role he begins right after the death of his wife and daughter. But we've already met Franks and gotten the backstory on the murder of Gibbs's wife and daughter on NCIS. So, before NCIS: Origins digs deeper into the story of Gibbs, we've compiled a list of the episodes it might be a good idea to re-watch to get a sense of who the man really is.

"Yankee White" – Season 1, Episode 1

Sasha Alexander, Pauley Perrette, and David McCallum, NCIS Paramount+/Screengrab

The series' first episode, which follows the backdoor pilot on JAG, sees Gibbs basically explain to the audience what NCIS is about and why it's important, as the team investigates a mysterious death on Air Force One. It's also the episode that sets the groundwork for Gibbs' famous rules, which we're likely to revisit on NCIS: Origins. Among the famous rules are Rule #6: "Never say you're sorry," Rule #12 "Never date a coworker," Rule #18 "It's better to seek forgiveness than ask permission," and Rule #91 "When you decide to walk away, never look back."

"One Shot, One Kill" – Season 1, Episode 13

This Season 1 NCIS episode explores Gibbs' Marine Corps past, which is likely to be something NCIS: Origins explores much more deeply, particularly as the show picks up right after Gibbs has left the service and is just starting with NIS. In the hour, Gibbs goes undercover as a Marine recruiter while he tries to track down a sniper targeting Marine recruiters. Gibbs is a former U.S. Marine Corps Scout Sniper, and this NCIS episode is the first to really explore how his military service translates to his leadership at NCIS.

"Hiatus" Parts I & II – Season 3, Episodes 23 & 24

Perhaps the most important episodes in understanding the character of Gibbs, "Hiatus" Part I & II see the character survive a terrorist blast and relive moments from his past as he's unconscious. The episodes also serve as an introduction to a character who will play a central role in NCIS: Origins, Mike Franks, Gibb's mentor. He was played by Muse Watson on NCIS and will be played by Kyle Schmid in the prequel. "Hiatus" Part II is also the episode where we find out about the death of Gibbs' wife and daughter. NCIS: Origins is set to pick up right after their deaths.

"Requiem" – Season 5, Episode 2

Mark Harmon, NCIS Paramount+/Screengrab

It's not until Season 5 that we get to explore Gibbs's family again, in an episode where Gibbs helps a childhood friend of his daughter. The hour, which was meant to be the show's 100th episode, but ended up being the 101st, sees Gibbs hallucinate his wife and his daughter and get some closure by their reassurance that everything is fine. Of course, this is also the episode where Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) has to save him and said friend of his daughter from a sinking car, in one of the most action-packed moments in NCIS.

"Judgment Day" Parts I & II – Season 5, Episodes 18 & 19

Mike Franks returns to NCIS in "Judgment Day," which makes this two-parter another essential watch before NCIS: Origins premieres as a new, albeit younger, version of both Gibbs and Franks is introduced to audiences. The two-parter also sees the death of NCIS Director Jenny Shepard (Lauren Holly), who dies protecting Gibbs, and the first appearance of Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll), who is still in the role of Director in NCIS Season 22.

"Heartland" – Season 6, Episode 4

NCIS: Origins is set to introduce us to a younger version of Gibbs, and one of the biggest influences on him is his father, Jackson Gibbs, played on NCIS by Ralph Waite. "Heartland" introduces the character as Gibbs investigates an ambush that leaves one Marine dead and another one injured, as it turns out he shares a heartland – Stillwater, Pennsylvania – with the remaining victim. This episode establishes that Gibbs and his father haven't spoken in 16 years and reveals how Gibbs met his first wife, Shannon.

"Life Before His Eyes" – Season 9, Episode 14

Mark Harmon and Clare Carey, NCIS Paramount+/Screengrab

A life-or-death situation leads Gibbs to reflect on the most important moments in his life in this episode, which includes flashbacks to the character leaving home, joining the Marines, meeting his first wife, witnessing the birth of his daughter, fighting in Desert Storm, finding out his wife and daughter are dead, meeting Mike Franks, and becoming an NIS agent. If there's one episode you need to watch before NCIS: Origins, it's this one.

"Honor Thy Father" – Season 11, Episode 24

NCIS pays tribute to Ralph Waite, who passed away during NCIS's eleventh season, in an episode that sees Gibbs find out that his father died from a stroke and has him return to his hometown of Stillwater, Pennsylvania. The hour mostly focuses on Gibbs reminiscing about his past, with the episode revealing that when Gibbs was young, he built a small wooden boat with his dad that they named after his mother. NCIS: Origins is set to feature a younger version of Jackson Gibbs, played by Robert Taylor.

"The Arizona" – Season 17, Episode 20

Widely considered one of the most emotional NCIS episodes, "The Arizona" sees Gibbs help a 95-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor, played by Christopher Lloyd, verify his identity. This causes Gibbs to come to terms with his military service, at one point even confiding in McGee that when he came home after his service, he felt like half a person. Considering when NCIS: Origins picks up, this is surely something that will be revisited in the prequel.

"Great Wide Open" – Season 19, Episode 4

Mark Harmon, NCIS Paramount+/Screengrab

The last episode for Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS sees Gibbs follow a case to Alaska and then decide to stay there and enjoy the peace he's found – a peace he hasn't felt since his first wife Shannon and daughter Kelly died. It is, in many ways, the end of Gibbs' story, except it isn't. We will see, and hear, Mark Harmon again in NCIS: Origins. It's just that we will see him in the past, telling us the story of how he became the man we met.

[justinewt]

The Two-Horned Beast - THE 100 REWRITE Chapter Twenty-Five

[THE 100 MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Summary: Raven was saved but the group wasn't out of the woods just yet. They still had to find a way to really put an end to Alie. Thanks to a book written by the hand of the woman that made the AI, they found a new lead, a Grounder named Luna, who might be the key to all this.

Words: 4.8k

Warnings: The 100 season 3 spoilers (episode 12 "Demons"), fluff, some romance, guns, knives, blood, stabbing, attempted & actual murder

The sun had risen in the sky as they drove full speed across a field. They drove all night really, with Bellamy at the wheels. Clarke was at the front with him, and Michelle was sitting at the back with the others as they all began to plan out their next moves to stop Alie and her army of zombies. They had saved Raven from her grip, but the latter was far from being the only one that was being mind controlled. Michelle looked through the windshield, listening to the conversation with one ear, leaning forward on her lap. She was wondering about the situation in Polis. Her father was there, and she hoped he was safe. For the time being, they were headed for Arkadia. It was probably fine to return since Alie and her minions were trying to find them and they were far from the trading post already. 

“Becca’s journal is amazing.” Raven exclaimed, carefully flipping the pages of the old notebook. “At 26, she found a pathway to access a human mind. That same year, she had to lock up Alie, because her answer for what was wrong with the world was “too many people”. She was 27 when it launched the bombs.”

“What did she write about the Flame?” Clarke twisted on her seat, turning towards them.

“Alie 2.0. She saw it as a way to atone for her sins. She designed it to not just access a human mind, but to merge with one. It could never wipe us out, because it would be one of us. She put it in herself first. Altered her genes so her body wouldn’t reject the implant.”

“Bekka Pramheda, the first Commander.” Michelle glanced at Clarke. She nodded to herself before looking at the others, crossing the gaze of her best friend before she focused back on Raven. “The gene therapy made her blood black, didn’t it?”

“Yeah.” She said quietly, surprised that she knew this detail without having read the diary. She wasn’t the only one that was surprised.

“How did you know that?” Octavia enquired.

“Nightblood. That’s where it came from. Somehow it became hereditary. Luna has it. That’s why we have to find her. If she can access Alie-2…”

“She can tell us how to stop Alie-1.” Octavia said, concluding Clarke’s statement.

“Get back to the mind pathway.” Monty spoke, taking a closer look at the Flame. “If Alie uses it to upload our minds to the City of Light, then there’s a chance my mo’s still alive.”

“That depends on your definition of “alive”.” Raven’s words must have shattered his hopes, but he shot his mother. The woman’s body wasn’t alive anymore and whatever was left of her in the City of Light, wasn’t her. Seeing him like this made Michelle quite sad and it made her think how if her father happened to take the chip, she wasn’t sure she would have the guts to shoot if he put someone in danger. She hoped she would never have to kill him to save someone else because if her father, her only remaining parent, died by her own hand, she would never survivre it. Losing her mother broke her and she didn’t even see her pass away, so it would be the last straw. She would never recover from it.

“Eyes sharp. Weapons hot. We’re almost home.” Bellamy spoke up as they approached Arkadia’s grounds. He called for Harper and Miller over the radio, telling them they were a couple minutes away from camp, but no one replied. It wasn’t a good sign. Michelle straightened up, stretching her, craning forward to look through the windshield. She couldn’t see Arkadia just yet. They were still too far but once they saw it in the distance, and noticed the gates were wide open and there was no one in sight, they stopped the vehicle. Some of them got out with their weapons, walking alongside the car, Jasper standing up at the back, sticking out through the roof opening and Bellamy had left the wheel to Michelle. She wouldn't have minded coming outside with him, Clarke, Octavia, and Sinclair; she was a pretty good shot, but he had insisted that she stay inside the Rover. Her assumption turned out to be correct though, Alie and her minions had deserted the place, probably since last night. From inside the car, she couldn’t really hear what the others were saying but she heard Jasper note that no one was there to fix the gate. It was like a ghost town as they slowly progressed inside the camp.

“Maybe they saw the open gate and went in for Lincoln’s book.” Jasper added, talking about Miller and Harper. Bellamy was still trying to get a hold of them, but no one was responding. When she looked in the mirrors and saw her peers stopping in their tracks, she slowed the car and turned her head to Raven, sitting in the front seat next to her. She met her gaze and she understood they had stopped by the pool of blood that must have soaked the grounds ever since Lincoln was shot by Pike. She gulped and they continued on their way to get the grounder’s book. It was supposed to guide them to other Grounders that could help them to stop Alie, with all that nightblood stuff. As they approached the hangar, the doors opened and she drove in, opening the window and popping her head through, to hear what Bellamy was saying. He looked at her after telling Jasper to close the roof.

“Turn the Rover around. We may need to get outta here quickly.” She nodded and sat back into the driver’s seat, waiting for the others to get out from around the vehicle to turn the car around. The doors of the hangar closed shut behind them with a thud. As the group looked around the large room, she did as Bellamy asked and then jumped out of the car. Climbing up the small flight of stairs, she, Raven, and Monty joined the others around the table where a bunch of stuff was scattered, decks of cards, half-empty plates and drinks, as if people just got up and walked away, leaving everything behind to rot, without a second thought. “We’re in and out. Pack as much gear as you can into the Rover.”

“I’ll get the map.” Octavia left almost as quickly as she spoke. Jasper went along with her. As she watched them walk away, Michelle was reminded of the fact that her precious jacket was still lying somewhere in Bellamy’s room, and she wanted to get it back before they left camp again. She was about to mention it to Bellamy, parting her lips, turned towards him, when Raven came from behind her and spoke up.

“What’s the rush? They won’t be coming back.”

“How do you know?” Clarke asked.

“Alie’s mission is to chip everyone. It wouldn’t make sense to return to a place she already took.”

“It might make sense if there was someone in that place, you, who could tell us stuff like that.” Raven agreed with Sinclair’s point, and they all went in different directions. Only Michelle went after Bellamy and he looked over his shoulder, hearing her footsteps. She still wanted her jacket, even if she was wearing her father’s ever since the group parted ways with him, Pike, and the Grounders. He nodded at her request, and they walked through the door towards the inside of the Ring, heading for Bellamy’s room. The two of them walked inside the room and Michelle kind of looked around while Bellamy opened a wardrobe next to his bed. He let his gun hang to his side as he took the jacket from a hanger. She took off the large, black guards’ jacket that her father gave her so she wouldn’t be cold and put it down on the desk while he handed her vest to her.

“Thank you.” She said as she took and put it on, one sleeve after the other. Then, she picked up her father’s and put it back on. She noticed Bellamy watching her as she got dressed and she looked at him with a chuckle, the corner of her lip stretching into a smirk. “What?”

“Nothing.” He shook his head, looking away, and she took a step towards him, taking his hand, intertwining their fingers as they locked eyes. His eyes went down to her mouth for half a second and he cupped her face in his free hand, pressing his lips against hers. Their kiss grew more passionate as time went on and he let go of her hand to slip his fingers in her hair, at the back of her head. Her whole body felt like it was lit on fire when they broke their embrace, resting his forehead against her cheekbone. She was catching her breath, as if she had forgotten how to breathe properly and she heard Bellamy chuckle. She smiled, telling him not to laugh, playfully pushing him away, shaking her head and he caught her arms, pulling her back towards him into a hug and she wrapped her arms around him, warm under his jacket. She could feel him breathing in her hair while she rested her chin on his shoulder, closing her eyes. It was the first, real intimate moment that they had shared in many months and damn, how she had missed it. The words I love you, would take a little longer to be spoken out loud though.

“All right let’s go look around. We don’t know know how much time we have right now.” She broke the embrace and he nodded. They left together, exiting the Ring through the front door. She didn’t have a gun, so she remained behind Bellamy as he kicked open the door to the armory, holding his gun up in case he came face-to-face with someone. It was empty. She stepped in after him as he opened a mesh cupboard inside which they could see a bunch of automatic shotguns lined up. He checked the content of the boxes stored underneath. They were filled to the brim with bullets. He grabbed the radio at his belt and contacted the rest of the group still inside the hangar. 

“Everyone finish what you’re doing and meet us at the armory.”

“Why? What’s going on?” Clarke was the one to respond.

“You’ll see when you get there. We just got lucky.” While she told them they were on their way, Bellamy picked up a gun, filled a charger with bullets and gave it to Michelle. The latter started walking back and forth outside the door, looking around the camp, alert, and turned to Bellamy while they waited for the others to join them. Her mind was really making her do comparisons between what she now had with Bellamy and what she once had with Murphy. She didn’t want to keep thinking about both the relationships she had ever had but her conclusion was that the two were diametrically opposed. Maybe it was because she had grown since they first landed on the ground, and because Bellamy was a few years older, but their relationship had a much more mature feeling to it. The nature of their feelings for each other was very different from when she was with Murphy. When he left, she realized, even if he did love and care for her, she most likely loved him more than he did. She mentally shrugged, thinking it would have ended at some point but the fact that he just got up and left, with Jaha, it still bothered her. She shook the thought away when Clarke’s voice reached their ears. She was calling out their names weakly, panting and Bellamy caught her before she fell, giving her support so she could stand. “What is it? What’s going on?”

“Emerson.” It was just one word, well a name really, but the three of them were very much aware of what it meant. The guy from Mount Weather, who they thought they had gotten rid of already, was back, harder to kill than a cockroach. The trio then walked into the ring, with Bellamy and Michelle walking in front of Clarke, their heads tilted, eyes glued to the viewfinder lens, guns up, flashlights on.

“Where’s Monty?” Bellamy enquired.

“Emerson took him. Why?” She frowned, trying to understand what Emerson’s motivation was. He grabbed his radio and tried to make contact with his sister, stopping in their tracks.

“Octavia, can you hear me? Come in.”

“Jasper was with her.”

“Jasper, are you there? Say something.” The only answer they got was a static sound crackling on the other end.

“Maybe Emerson got them too.” Michelle said quietly. Clarke looked down, frowning, shaking her head.

��Miller, Harper, Bryan… This is all my fault. I let Emerson live.”

“What are you talking about?” Bellamy looked at Clarke, blinking in confusion before exchanging a glance with Michelle. She had no idea what she was talking about either, but their friend seemed preoccupied. Her eyes went from one to the other.

“In Polis. I had a chance to kill him, but I let him go.”

“Bellamy, what’s wrong?” Raven’s voice came over the radio, interrupting their conversation.

“Raven, are you okay? Where are you?” He immidietaly asked.

“Still in engineering. We’re fine.”

“Raven, listen to me. Emerson is here. Are the others with you?” Clarke spoke up, taking the radio after Bellamy handed it to her. Raven replied in the negative. She was alone with Sinclair. Clarke then gave them instructions to lock down the hangar bay and to not let anybody in but the three of them. They had yet to find their other friends, who were probably held somewhere by Emerson. They ran there but when they came at the door, shouting out the mechanic’s name, banging on the door, no one answered, and the hangar was plunged in the dark. They left, running around the ring to get to the other door. When they reached the large door from the outside, it was just opened slightly, leaving a thin thread of light penetrate inside. Slipping through the opening one after the other, the two childhoos best friends kneeled next to the lifeless body of Sinclair, lying on the ground, a large stain of blood on his t-shirt, and blood running down his mouth. His dead eyes stared right back at them, frozen, and empty. Clarke still went to check his pulse, but it was obviously too late. He was already gone. She closed his eyes. Michelle sighed and got up, her hands on the gun hanging across her shoulders, glancing around the hangar. Raven was nowhere to be seen.

“He took Raven.”

“We’re too late.” Bellamy added, but Clarke somehow disagreed. She turned her head to them.

“He didn’t kill Monty or Raven. He would’ve left their bodies. Michelle is right, he took them somewhere.”

“If you’re right, Octavia and the others are there, too. Where would he be taking them? They could be anywhere. How does he even know his way around?”

“He was here. You were in Mount Weather.” As she talked, Clarke was already thinking, and she came to the conclusion that the man that had them running around the compound looking for their friends, had taken them to the very airlock in which he had been detained before. It only made sense that he would lock them up in there. She snatched the radio from Bellamy’s belt. “Emerson. I know you’re listening. We need to talk.”

“I don’t need to do anything.” They heard grunts in the background, confirming that he did have their friends with him. Clarke had their back to them, facing the hangar’s door and Michelle and Bellamy looked at each other. “You should have killed me when you had the chance.”

“And now you’re here to kill me, is that it?”

“Something like that.”

“Then let my friends go.” She tried to bargain with him, offering to give herself over if he did what she asked. Of course, neither Michelle nor Bellamy wanted this to happen. She turned to them. “I know what I’m doing.” Michelle gave her a firm nod, trusting her, though this whole ordeal worried her.

“Come to the airlock. No weapons. Right now.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Bellamy stopped her as she walked away with a determined step. She was set on saving their friends and they didn’t disagree with this but neither of them wanted her to sacrifice herself.

“Look, when it’s over, take this to Luna. Promise me.” She took the Flame out of her pocket and handed it over to him. Her eyes went to Michelle who didn’t like the way she was talking about all this, as if she was going to die going to the airlock and there was nothing to do about it. She didn’t the decisiveness of this moment. Bellamy slightly squinted his eyes, shaking his head.

“No. You’re outta your mind your mind if you think we’re letting you do this alone.” Though she stayed quiet, used to go along with the flow of whatever Clarke wanted to do, Bellamy didn’t even think about it and included her in his statement, knowing that she was as much against this as he was. And in other circumstances, she would have sketched a smile, because he was right. Clarke glanced at Michelle before putting her gaze back on him.

“This is my fault. I’m not letting anyone else die for my mistake, okay? So take it!” She didn’t raise her voice, but her tone and gesture were strong and direct, urging him to take the flame from her hand.

“Are you through? I don’t know what happened between you and Emerson in Polis. But I do know that letting him kill you here today is a stupid plan.”

“You got a better one?” He pinched his lips and shrugged; his smirk tinged with sadness.

“You distract him, we shoot him.” Clarke let go of her original plan to just surrender herself to the mountain man and nodded to Bellamy’s proposition. She looked down at the flame while Bellamy stepped away. Now, they had to put the plan into motion, and hope it would go smoothly but what Emerson would do, and his reactions were out of their control. Clarke walked a few feet ahead of them, with Bellamy and Michelle with their guns right behind. They stood behind the corner, hidden in the shadows while she held up her hands and approached the airlock.

“I held up my part of the deal. Your turn. Let my friends go.”

“Tell Bellamy to show themselves first.” He must have seen Bellamy’s shadow, or he simply knew the girl would never actually come alone but they were both reminded that even though Michelle knew the man’s name and who he was, he probably didn’t even remember her, other than being that one Asian girl who was Clarke’s friend. She wasn’t even sure he remembered that she was one of those who basically got her thigh drilled into and almost died, if it weren’t for Clarke opened all exits of Mount Weather. The two gunsmen glanced at each other.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about...” She tried to lie, and he knew it. He grunted and Octavia let out a scream, prompting Bellamy to come out of hiding, telling Michelle to stay back with his eyes. She gave him a nod, standing her back to the wall to conceal herself better. He kept his gun ready to fire as he stepped into the hallway.

“Good. Now, take out the clip, throw it down the hall, put the gun down and get inside.”

“Please, you wanted me.” She tried to talk with him, but he wasn’t here to listen to her pleading. Surrending herself in exchange for her friends’ lives being spared, but something was off. He really wanted Bellamy to come into the airlock. The latter gave in, telling him to stop. Michelle didn’t know what Emerson was doing but she guessed that he must have been holding Octavia at gunpoint or something like that, for the young man to be this nervous. He did as order, took out the clip and kneeled, putting down his gun, along with the rest of his weapons, which included the two knives he had. He threw them away, making them slide down the hall and their course stopped right in front of Michelle. If it came down to it and using her gun was too dangerous, she would pick up one of the blades and use it against Emerson. It was clear that Bellamy took advantage of the fact the man was clueless about a third person being there. He then put his hands up in the air and walked towards the airlock, disappearing from Michelle's sight. She heard Emerson’s voice addressing Bellamy followed by Octavia grunting. Michelle was practically glued to the wall, taking deep, quiet breath, ready to step in. She clenched her jaw, hating the fact that she was blind to what was now happening, right around the corner. She listened to Emerson giving orders to Clarke, telling her to get down on her knees and put her hand behind her head. There were footsteps, certainly Emerson, followed by a beeping sound and the airlock door closing.

“No- You can do anything you want with me. Okay? Just let them go.” Hearing him grunt, Michelle peeked. Emerson was his back to her, holding Clarke the collar of her coat and pushing her towards the closed space. He put his arm around her neck, his handgun against her head, pressing her against the glass. Michelle then thought, using her gun would put Clarke’s life at risk, while using a much sneakier weapon such as Bellamy’s knives, would give her a bigger chance of neutralizing Emerson. She let go of her shotgun, letting it hang to her side and picked up both blades to her feet, holding the handles tightly. And she waited for the right opportunity to come out. Not knowing if he had his finger on the trigger didn’t help her determine when to act either and she couldn’t risk Emerson seeing her, it would fuck the whole plan up as well.

“You murdered 381 people. You took the lives of my children, my brother, my friends. Did you really think that I would be happy with just one life in return?” When she heard him step back, dragging Clarke with him, she took another look. The gun was now aimed towards the ceiling. He put his arm back around Clarke, right across her chest and used his free hand to uncover a glowing red button. She came out of hiding as he pressed it. A voice over PA announced that the airlock was being emptied of its oxygen. He looked to asphyxiate their friends. She took advantage of the loud, dull noise covering her steps and she rushed towards him, driving the blades of the daggers right into his skull with a grunt. A gunshot went off as he collapsed, dragging Clarke with him. She broke free from his grip and rushed to the airlock control panel to open the door. Michelle just then processed what she did and though she didn’t feel bad about it, she couldn’t help but stare at Emerson’s face, his empty eyes staring back at her. She realized her fingers were trembling, so she closed her hands into fists. The two knives looking like horns that had grown on the sides of his head. Clarke got up, stretching out her arms to reopen the airlock. Their friends inside weren’t exactly passed out but a little lightheaded from the lack of oxygen, breathing heavily, while the two were getting rid of Emerson. Michelle stepped over the man’s body, helped Clarke up. As she freed one of them, they helped free each other. Michelle went to untie Bellamy from the wall and frowned in frustration since her hands were still a bit shaky. She felt his gaze upon her.

“Are you okay?” He asked quietly.

“You’re the one that’s restrained. I’m fine.” He grabbed her hand and glanced over his shoulder at Emerson. She huffed, following his eyes, and stared at the dead body. The knives sticking out of his heads, a pool of blood all over the floor and trickles having flowed across his face. His eyeballs were hidden, covered with a red layer. It wasn’t the first she had had a deadly weapon in her hands, but it was the very first time that she stabbed someone this violently, in the head, and not just with one knife, but two at that. She didn’t have such a hard time shooting at people with a gun but using bladed weapons did shake her up a little. She didn’t even think, she just did it to save Clarke. Seeing that she was staring at Emerson, he stepped aside, blocking her view, making her look at him.

“You did it to save Clarke.”

“Yes, I know why I did it.” She pinched her lips, not reacting the way she would have wanted to. She answered abruptly when he was only trying to help her. But he understood and only looked at her with concern for her on his face. She locked eyes with Clarke and Octavia, who noticed them holding hands and the latter were surprised to say the least. They obviously didn’t expect to see their siblings together. The group then eventually walked outside, dragging Emerson’s body away. At nightfall, while they were putting things away, they saw Bellamy walk through the gate, carrying a large body wrapped in a body bag, in his arms.  Because of the weight of the body, his gait was a bit slowed down, and his steps were heavy, sinking into the mud. He put it on the ground and took a step back while Octavia fell to her knees. She raised her hand to uncover the head and hesitated for a moment before finally doing so. It was Lincoln.

Octavia's sobbing turned into hearbreaking wailing. The rest of them were all silently standing there. Michelle felt her pain, though it was not over the death of the same type of love, she had cried just as hard over her mother. It made her want to cry and she felt a tear had run down her cheek. She swiftly wiped it away. They built a pyre and put both Sinclair and Lincoln’s bodies on it. Raven went forth, saying her goodbyes to her former mentor and stepped back while Octavia lit the pyre, pronouncing words in trigedasleng. Your fight is over. They all repeated those words in unison. While Michelle said it for their two peers, her eyes rose to the starry night sky and her thoughts went to her mother and she stared at the fire, losing her gaze in the dance of flames until Octavia's voice rises above the loud crackling.

“It’s time to go. I’ll get the map.” Bellamy watched her walk away, swallowing harshly. As he turned back towards the fire, he felt a hand hold his and his eyes went down to his hand and then up to Michelle’s face before they both observed the fire for a moment. After a while, they all went to the hangar to put their things into the rover and get ready to leave. Clarke was putting the flame back in its box and Bellamy was carrying boxes of weapons into the back of the car. Michelle was next to her childhood friend. The three exchanged a nod as he walked past them.

“Hey, we’re leaving. Why aren’t you ready?” Bellamy asked Raven and Monty as the two approached.

“We’re not going with you.” She then said, being helped down by Monty. “I can barely walk, and my shoulder is killing me. But my brain’s all kinds of awesome.”

“She remembered that Alie downloaded herself into the Ark mainframe. If the code is still there, we might be able to find a back door.” Monty added.

“I’m guessing once you connect Alie-2 to Luna, we’ll need to access Alie-1 to take her down.”

“Miller.” Bellamy called to the young man in the background, with his boyfriend and Harper. He motioned towards the other two.

“I’ll keep ‘em safe.”

“I’ll keep them safe.” Harper said, repeating his words with a smile.

“How about you? It’s gonna be dangerous.” Bellamy turned his head to Jasper.

“You know me well. I’m in.” On his words, Bellamy walked off while Clarke and Michelle said goodbye to their friends. Octavia went directly inside the car. Clarke went to the front with Bellamy and Michelle joined Octavia, followed by Jasper. The humming noise of the engine starting sounded in the hangar as Raven shut the backdoor and they drove away. Next step was finding this Luna and find a way to get rid of Alie once and for all.

[To be continued…]  

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Published (02/24/2023) by Andrea

Taglist: @cathrin2405​ @kika64 @mirellef2001

[causetheturtle]

Thoughts while rewatching season 3 of Riverdale:

1. K why did Alice’s farm style slay so hard? Like she looked so great

2. Love how Archie is literally in this prison FOR FUCKING MURDER and still nobody is scared of him - they saw this man in his nice little shoes his rich girlfriend gave him and were like “yeah this man is ducking useless”

3. VERONICA STOP BUYING YOUR BOYFRIEND NICE THINGS WHILE HE’S IN PRISON! He’s just gonna get this shit stolen your dad was in jail how do you not know how a prison works?

4. It’s so sad that the normies got hold of the “epic highs and lows of high school football” line because it really is such a perfect Archie line - this man is naive and kind hearted enough to believe a game of football is all that’s needed to fix the structurally broken prison system but if you haven’t watched the show and don’t know anything about Archie then it’s obviously gonna seem ridiculous

5. Riverdale relationship drama is so funny cause it’s like “Betty had a stress related seizure due her mother and sister joining a cult and didn’t tell Jughead” or “Veronica isn’t sure of the best way to help Archie through his time in prison”

6. Kevin asking Moose if he’s embarrassed by him of course he is Kevin have you met yourself? Your literally the worst

7. Organising a musical number and cheerleading routine for her boyfriend while he plays a game of football in prison is actually the most normal reaction Veronica Lodge has ever had to any situation ever

8. Realising I talk about Riverdale the same way all of the G&G players talk about G&G

9. Imagine being an adult in Riverdale and hearing that a new bar opened up under Pop’s and going for a night out to check it out but you get there and it’s just a load of teenagers doing musical numbers and drinking mocktails

10. Why is FP’s immediate reaction to any situation ever to just grab his son’s face and yell at him? Begging for this man to have a normal non-abusive reaction to something just one time

11. Will never stop thinking about the Midnight Club. It was the first episode of Riverdale I really watched and it’s still one of my favourites. Like the way all of the parents tried so hard and came so close to breaking their moulds and forging their own paths but they never did and just fell into exactly what the world and the people around them wanted to be AND how their kids are all in the same situation now? The narrative, the cycles, the generational trauma! This episode has everything

12. Knowing now that Sheriff Keller actually WAS into guys the whole time and it was just that he didn’t want to be with Moose’s dad makes the whole situation so much funnier

13. The idea that they were all booking out the bunker for certain nights a week is so funny - like did they have physical a schedule? Who kept the schedule? Did it just sit in like the offices of the Blue and Gold?

14. I fucking love Archie and Josie together and have fully convinced myself that Josie is somehow California Women

15. It needs to be studied what exactly the Heathers episode did to my brain because that one episode of TV completely rewired my brain chemistry and changed the trajectory of my life

16. It’s so sad that the happiest Polly ever got to be was when she was part of a cult. It’s also sad how much everyone’s farm fashion went off cause they all looked so good during that era

17. It’s actually a miracle it took so long for Fangs to actually die there were so many attempts on his life

18. God Veronica running multiple businesses at age 16 and none of the Riverdale adults batting an eye and just respecting her as a business women will never not be funny to me

19. The plot twist that Alice was actually working undercover to take down the farm actually makes her being so awful to Betty make less sense. Sure, she was doing it for the greater good I guess but like she didn’t have to give away her college money or sell their fucking house leaving Betty with the options of homelessness or moving to a cult to get it done

20. FP maybe if you need to get your teenage son to regularly come and help you with your job as sheriff then you shouldn’t be doing it? Although on the other hand Jughead would’ve gone to those crime scenes anyway so like maybe it’s a good thing FP was there as adult supervision

21. GOD the cult break out and scavenger quest are such amazing finales for this season. Everyone nearly dies about ten times, Kevin and Fangs no longer have kidneys, the core four staggering through the woods in formal wear close to death together, Cheryl and Toni coming to save them all with the power of gangs and bows and arrows, it had literally everything you could want!

22. Love how Hal Cooper is canonically one of the worst serial killers ever and every woman he’s been with tells him this to his face

[the-queenoftrash]

Hi chat I don’t use tumblr that much but here’s a pinned post where I chronicle all the media I experience in 2025. Uhhhh… idk how to format tumblr posts. Come back in 2026 for good formatting.

January:

1. Secret Level:

It’s ok. The animation is very nice looking and that’s mostly what carries it throughout. It’s fun seeing all of these games adapted, I hope this encourages “real” adaptations. I’d watch more but wouldn’t be torn up if there wasn’t. Last episode was atrocious.

Rating: Pretty Advertisement/10

2. Another Crab’s Treasure:

I have no idea how this game stacks up to other soulslikes but I know that this game is phenomenal. Really engaging combat and a really well written story make this a great play. Off to a fantastic start with gaming this year.

Rating: Crabitalist hellscape/10

3. One Piece Fan Letter:

Took me forever to get to this but ahhh it was so cute. I loved this so much. The animation was beautiful and the story was everything I love about One Piece. I was pumping my fists and cheering every time something happened. Need more One Piece stories with non-strawhat main characters.

Rating: Please Read One Piece/10

4. Wicked Part 1:

Haven’t watched the musical or read the book, so I can’t speak for it as an adaptation, but I thought it was good! The songs weren’t especially catchy except for maybe the last one, but they were good for what they were. The characters were the real highlight and I’m excited to see where they go even if this was a serviceable endpoint for the most part.

Rating: What? Is She From Boston?/10

5. Knives Out:

This was a really fun take on a murder mystery paired with being fantastic in a bunch of other aspects. The dialogue is so good all the time and the actors really sell these over the top characters. Don’t wanna say too much cause it’s a mystery but good shit.

Rating: Only One Knife Was Taken Out in This Movie IIRC, False Advertising/10

6. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind:

I don’t really know what unique thing I could bring to this. It’s…. Peak…….

Rating: ITS FUCKING GHIBLI (kinda)/10

7. Squid Game 2:

It felt like it was largely a retread of season 1 for large swaths. They did some interesting things with it throughout that made me not regret watching it, but idk. It’s just, more squid game. They could’ve done a lot more I think, but I’ll be back for season 3 at least.

Rating: Player 120 THE GOAT/10

8. Spirited Away:

Breaking news: local girl thinks Spirited Away is goated. What?? Revolutionary take!! It’s almost like, it has beautiful animation and storytelling and music and everything.

Rating: ITS ALMOST LIKE EVERYONE LIKES THIS MOVIE/10

9. Gideon the Ninth:

The plot is a little slow for the vast majority, but it’s carried by the cast of characters being so fun to just watch exist. And when the plot is happening, it’s also great! The writing style is so good at balancing the serious and silly, and the audiobook voice acting just elevated it.

Rating: They Should Be Doing This to Me/10

February:

10. Castlevania Nocturne (Season 2):

This is definitely the most consistent season of Castlevania. It’s a little less interesting than previous seasons were with their themes, however it’s still really good and has things to think about. It’s also thankfully missing all the weird pacing issues the series has suffered since the beginning. From start to end this season was a very solid watch.

Rating: I Laughed Out Loud When Real Guy Robespierre Showed Up/10

11. Fire ‘N Ice:

Really simple, but fun puzzle game. The rules are easy to understand but very flexible to create a bunch of unique puzzles. Ignore the fact I had to use a guide sometimes…

Rating: I’m Fucking Stupid/10

12. Alan Wake Remastered:

Really fucking good. It feels a little bit weirdly paced at times, especially that final chapter, but it’s otherwise so good. The story is really interesting and the gameplay is good at creating tension although a bit simple. There’s a lot to love here even though it’s definitely not perfect and I’m now super eager to dive straight into the whole remedyverse for more.

Rating: My Name is Alan Wake and I’m a Writer/10

13. Flow:

This almost feels like a video game cutscene that got turned into a whole movie. Not that that’s a bad thing it’s just what I thought watching it lol. But yeah idk it was a cute movie, I enjoyed it. Not that much else I have on my mind afterwards.

Rating: mrow :3 /10

14. Slay the Princess - The Pristine Cut:

A beautifully done game. I absolutely loved seeing just how the game reacted to everything I did and I love how it felt cohesive despite that. It felt like the answers were sufficient to give me meaning while still not giving away the whole hand. It’s also just amazing aesthetically with some amazing voice work.

Rating: Do It For the Yuri/10

15. The Menu:

This movie could’ve very easily fallen into some traps that derail the quality. But thankfully it navigated around them and was a really good watch. The mix of a thriller with a lot of dry comedy worked really really well.

Rating: mmmm, yumy/10

16. Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part III: Rebellion:

An amazing character study and a very good sequel to the original show. I loved every minute of the movie and there was so much detail poured into everything in the movie and it was just damn fun to watch. It’s peak.

Rating: Homura Did Nothing Wrong/10

March:

17. Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake:

I wasn’t sure what they would do with it at first, but this is an outstanding sequel series to Adventure Time. It hits all the right notes, being distinct enough to stand out from the original while still being intrinsically tied to it in a way that enhances the story. It’s just… so peak….

Rating: She Just Like Me fr (Am Nothing Like Her)/10

18. Octodad: Dadliest Catch:

A really nice comedy game. Outside of one part in the secret level, it was never really frustrating at all, which I’m glad for cause it that lended to the physical comedy of the game. I do think it’s a little unfortunate that the writing never really matched the gameplays level of comedy, which is sort of the thing that drags it down for me. The cutscenes can rarely keep up with the whimsical comedy the game is trying for, but luckily it’s short enough to not overstay its welcome.

Rating: *Blub of Rating*/10

19. Firewatch:

This was a really good game. A short and sweet story presented in a really interesting way. Not really much to talk about that wouldn’t be spoilers, but yeah I think it did everything it was going for pretty well. Exploration never felt restrictive but I was never lost. Although the exploration maybe could’ve been a bit more interesting, idk.

Rating: Its kinda like YIIK if you think about it/10

20. Titanfall 2:

It’s a simple game all things considered, but a really damn good one. The gameplay is so tightly designed that just moving around is fun and even though the story is really basic, this is one of those games that just knows how to make a good set piece. And while I think it peaks midway through the game, it just keeps those set pieces coming. It’s almost like a playable theme park ride lol.

Rating: 👍/10

21. Severance:

I don’t think this is the best show like some people make it out to be but, yes, it is very very good. It’s just got such a unique vibe to it. It’s interesting and always feels like it’s doing something worthwhile and unique and insane. I think the only issue is that sometimes the pacing can be a bit stop and go. Like things will seem to start happening and then it’ll drag its feet on that plot point until later. But still, when it does pay off, it’s worth it.

Rating: Mysterious and Important/10

22. Bottoms:

This is. A movie. I think. I don’t really know what I just watched but it was peak. I would not be surprised if this entire thing was just a really long improv sketch (positive thing).

Rating: This Happened to Me/10

23. Pluto:

I feel a lot more conflicted than i really thought I would. I think there’s a lot of interesting stuff here but, something about it as a whole just isn’t clicking with me. I really don’t know what, there wasn’t really any specific moment that made me feel this way about it so I can’t really pinpoint exactly what’s off about it unfortunately </3

Rating: This is What I Imagine My Stuffed Animals Doing While I’m Gone/10

24. Lady of the Shard:

This was long enough that I think it should go on here but it was short and free enough that I don’t wanna say much. Really good! Read it!

Rating: gay gay homosexual gay/10

April:

25. Transformers One:

Never seen anything Transformers related before but I enjoyed this. It’s nothing revolutionary, but it’s very solid and landed everything it wanted to do well. The animation especially is peak, but I won’t lie and say I wasn’t oversold this movie lmao.

Rating: Every Transformer Catchline Drop Was Amazing/10

26. Invincible (Season 3):

I think this show continues to both be really good while also still not knowing how to spend its time efficiently. There’s a lot of good stuff here, I just wish things like episode 7 didn’t feel kind of skimmed over. Also episode 8 just felt like a repeat of season 1’s ending but much less interesting. Besides that though, the show still has a lot of really strong aspects.

Rating: Are You Sure?/10

27. Awaria:

Short, sweet, and gay. Feels like it’s become a bit of a theme! But yeah, the gameplay here is insanely fun. The last few levels were incredibly tough but I never got frustrated despite playing this in a compromised emotional state where I feel like I would’ve been frustrated if it wasn’t so damn fun. It’s peak.

Rating: I Wish This Was My Job/10

28. Dreams of Aether:

It’s! Warioware! Wow! They can’t really do many unique gimmicky ideas due to, what I’m assuming is, a want for multi platform releases, but there’s still a decent variety for its size. Also the final level is just an amazing premise.

Rating: WAAAHHH/10

29. We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie:

It’s more Katamari! And we love Katamari! I’m not too into chasing perfect scores and stuff in games most of the time, but I still had fun playing through it. Because we love Katamari! I’m glad the game wasn’t just content to keep it with the basic Katamari missions but also added a bunch of unique feeling levels and areas. 🩷

Rating: The King is Just Absolutely Wonderful!/10

30. ENA: Dream BBQ:

An amazing conversion of the series into a game. It continues to be an audio and visual treat to just take in everything. Hard to talk about the game without being brief or going into a huge analysis, so uh.. good :3

Rating: I AM DRATULA/10

31. Superliminal:

I don’t think it ever really reaches the heights of gameplay that it could have, but the art and visuals of the game more than make up for it. It’s really fun seeing what they pull out next even if it’s not the craziest brain teaser ever. Also very short and to the point, I think the game might be perfectly paced.

Rating: The Fire Alarms in My Dream Need to be Inspected/10

32. Rise of the Guardians:

I feel like this is a movie that’s working too hard to make a concept work rather than actually having something that works? Idk, it was fun but it kinda just felt like a weird mishmash of ideas.

Rating: Why Isn’t Jesus a Guardian/10

33. Metal Gear:

There were a few times that the game just felt a little bit too cryptic, but for the most part this was a really good time. The stealth is simple but effective. The layout is pretty straightforward besides the aforementioned times. It’s a good time and the simple story still provides some cool moments.

Rating: Who Was Fucking Naming These Guys?/10

34. ANTONBLAST:

This game is. So good. An outstanding platformer. It’s stylish, funny, has tight controls, creative levels, lots to dig into. It’s just about everything you’d want in a game wrapped up in an explosive and fast paced package. As a backer, it was everything I wanted and more.

Rating: Satan Can Get It/10

May:

35. Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition:

The best way to describe this game is that it’s like video game comfort food. It’s sweet and nothing gourmet but it’s filling and just reminds you of being a kid. Now is this completely good thing? Ehhhhh, I’d say no. You can definitely criticize a lot of this game. Was it fun and help me unwind anyway? Yeah.

Rating: Didn’t Play the Post Game lmao/10

36. The Great Muppet Caper:

I wish it leaned a little more into a mystery angle with its set up, but like. Whatever, it was really good lol. Constantly really funny and full of personality.

Rating: The Muppets Are My GOATS 🗣️/10

37. Shōgun:

Really enjoyed this one. It just looks really cool first of all. I can’t attest to its accuracy, but the way it portrays itself and the time period is just really cool. Beyond that it’s just really dense with a lot of interesting stuff going on, but never is hard to follow.

Rating: My Secret Heart is That I Really Want a Burrito rn tbh/10

38. Ne Zha:

A pretty good kids movie. It’s moves a little weirdly and i feel like the subtitles I watched were a little stilted, but overall I liked it despite those things. Things were compelling, it was funny besides a few fart jokes, and the action was really well done. I’ve heard the sequels improve so I’m excited.

Rating: I Really Should Read Some Mythology/10

39. Smiling Friends:

This show has such a good sense of humor. It doesn’t always land, but it moves fast enough that it doesn’t really matter. Also like that they knew how to do edgy humor without ever feeling actually bad. Idk, not much to say but pretty funny.

Rating: Season 3 Better Fucking Bring Back Tyler/10

40. Ico:

It’s a simple but effective game. I don’t really have much to say, but it’s simply a pleasant game to sit down with. Really vibey.

Rating: Should’ve Been Gayer/10

41. Look Back:

Beautiful. From the animation to the story it’s just amazing and deeply moving. Crying by the end.

Rating: 🥹/10

42. Kiki’s Delivery Service:

A fun movie with all the usual hallmarks of Ghibli. I don’t think I really have much unique to say, it was cute and really good.

Rating: Kiki is the First Strand Type Movie/10

43. The Penguin:

Some great character work in this show. Super engaging in how it uses all of them for both drama and comedy. I think my only real complaint is that the Arkham stuff is goofy, dated, and a little out of place, but otherwise I think it’s great.

Rating: Sofia Did Nothing Wrong/10

44. Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers:

Definitely the worst of the three Strive stories. It was rushed and clearly didn’t have all the animation resources it really needed, meaning for most of the time neither the story or action could really flourish. There’s also a string of really odd decisions with what characters are doing what. But the base of the story was strong enough to carry it through to being enjoyable and there were still some cool action scenes where it really counted. Kind of a mixed bag, but worthwhile enough as a watch for fans.

Rating: Average Day in US Politics/10

45. Star Wars: The Clones Wars (Chronological Episode Order):

This show is often really stupid and repetitive, but then it’ll randomly lock in and give fantastic prequel era stories. And as it goes on it locks in way more often, ending on a bang with its last handful of arcs. Also they got away with a lot more than I thought they’d be able to for a kids show on tv, making it still feel like it fits within Star Wars, which is good for how much it intends to expand upon this era in some aspects.

Rating: I’m Not Giving You the Satisfaction of Putting a Prequel Quote Here/10

> Queen of Trash: Break format

You begin to format your media post in a way that vaguely references a certain webcomic. You hate this! Turn it back! Don't do whatever you're about to do!

> QT: Review Homestuck

You totally abjure the fuck out of that idea.

No way are you going to review something as complex as Homestuck in this format! That’s way too much effort and would be silly!

> QT: Review Homestuck anyway

Who cares that you already broke the formatting for this stupid gag? No way are you reviewing Homestuck. You'll look so lame!

==＞

No! No! No! No! No! No!

> This is stupid

No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!

> Can you at least give it a rating?

Rating: No!/10

> Whatever, go back to watching stupid stuff

You think maybe you will. Actually you know what?

> QT: Review Con Air

47. Con Air:

This is an incredibly stupid movie with issues I could talk about for a really long time. It’s also cool as fuck. Just. So many fucking explosions. Awesome.

Rating: Y’all Got Good Writing? We Got Hype Moments and Aura/10

> Are you done?

Yes, you are done.

> Ok

You think you should resume normal format now.

> Are you sure you don’t wanna review Homestuck?

YES!

> Sigh

> QT: Resume previous format

48. Red Dead Redemption 2:

An absolutely stunning and fantastic game. I don’t really know if I could ever play another western video game, or hell even in any other medium, without feeling like it’s missing the spark this game had. Everything comes together beautifully. I think the one glaring issue this game has is that it has trouble restraining itself sometimes. It often feels the need to make everything more bombastic than it needs to be, leading to the truly big moments losing some impact. I think many parts of the game would have benefitted from more subtly in places and a closer marrying of the story to the open world. But beyond that, there’s just a beautiful draw to this game and riding on my horse in the world alone is an experience I wouldn’t trade away.

Rating: Yee. Haw./10

June:

49. FLCL:

Feels like watching the dreams of an artistically talented and romantically confused kid. Sort of hard to explain if you haven’t watched it, but you just kinda gotta go Fooly Cooly and it all makes sense. Yknow? Fooly Cooly.

Rating: Fooly Cooly, Fooly Cooly, Fooly Cooly, Fooly Cooly, Fooly Cooly, Fooly Cooly, Fooly Cooly, Fooly Cooly, Fooly Cooly, Fooly Cooly, Fooly Cooly, Fooly Cooly, Fooly Cooly, Fooly Cooly, Fooly Cooly,/10

50. Hundreds of Beavers:

The best way to describe the movie is it’s like watching your friend on a discord call fuck around in a video game. It’s not the funniest thing ever however it was super creative and made its nearly 2 hour runtime feel way shorter. The movie knows exactly how to build upon itself, so seeing what was next was always fun.

Rating: *silent mouthing of words*/10

51. Deltarune

This is. Maybe my new favorite game. Everything about is exactly what I wanted and something I didn’t know I wanted at the same time. 2026 can’t come fast enough.

Rating: 10/10

52. Hadestown (6/20/25 Broadway Showing):

I haven’t watched that many musicals, or even plays, so saying I was super impressed by this show’s style probably doesn’t mean all that much. However, I was super impressed and engrossed in the style, it followed the perfect line between a jazz song telling a story and acting out a story. Also just, some great music. I think my one complaint is I think they could’ve sold Orpheus’ journey into Hadestown better if they had some more time.

Rating: Our Hades Lowered His Voice in His First Appearance, Very Funny to Me/10

53. Stranger Things: The First Shadow (6/22/25 Broadway Showing):

I went in thinking “it probably won’t be great” and left thinking “hold up, his writing is this fire?” It fits straight into and expands upon the characters, but also feels made for the stage rather than being just put there. It feels like a couple of season 4 episodes, but elevated due to the great staging/effects. It’s just really fun to watch everything unfold due to all the presentation. Unfortunately, it has a major issue in that some parts (especially the horror sections) are just Way Too Loud. Unpleasantly loud in a way that does not feel intentional.

Rating: They Talk About Incest Like 5 Separate Times/10

54. Carole and Tuesday:

It’s pretty and it’s fun. I like the characters and the music was nice. The plot involving ai in creative spaces aged very well even though it was never really a focus. Overall it’s pretty uncomplicated though, even when it tries to dip into deeper political issues, but it accomplishes what it needs to.

Rating: Mars, the Planet, Forcefully Making Some People Non-Binary is the Best Plot Point/10

The Graveyard -

(Stuff that I’ve dropped throughout the year)

Sam & Max Hit the Road:

Really funny game, but I just watched a walkthrough cause the game just assumes you’re gonna do that anyway. Any time I was stuck and looked up the solution I wasn’t like “ohh I could’ve figured that out” I was “what the fuck in what universe would I have thought of that?”

Inside Job:

I really wanna like this, but it takes all its funny and interesting concepts and undercuts them by randomly yelling about dick and meth just to get an adult rating. Half of the jokes that are kind of funny get stale anyway cause they’re just references and within the 5 episodes I watched 2 of them repeated concepts from episodes before.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards:

it’s fine. It’s not bad but I’m just playing so many games and don’t really wanna be playing a kinda mid platformer at the moment.