#THE CACTUS EPISODE. THE PROPOSAL

[lesbianfakir]

Watching later steven universe is high key stressful for me because it reminds me of being a suicidal sixteen year old BUT I cannot express with words how foundational the “someday, somewhere, somehow, you’ll love again” melody was for my mental health

[helluvascribe]

Hazbin Hotel Season One Episode List (reordered/remastered by HelluvaScribe)

Hazbin Hotel (Helluva Scribe Remix) Season 1 Episode 1: “Overture��� (Focus: Charlie)

Charlie meets with Sera, Emily, Adam, and Lute at the Heaven Embassy to discuss her issue of Sinners being killed by the Exorcists who are both male and female in this version. Adam swears less and is more of a tragic villain than a sexist swearing jerk. Sera explains that Sinners are killed to balance out Hell’s overpopulation and worries that too many demons will rise against Heaven due to Roo’s influence. She realizes that Sinners and Hellborn who die become food for Roo, but not knowing how to stop the chaotic eldritch goddess from taking over all the worlds (who is watching Sera, Lilith, and Alastor also), she allows Adam to continue his killings to at least stop the overpopulation and satisfy her master Roo. But to Charlie, it appears that the angels want to instill fear and control them like Lucifer told her in her childhood. Sera explains that she doesn’t like seeing Charlie’s people killed but at the same time, it can be considered a freedom from their immortal suffering in Hell. Charlie then proposes to create a rehabilitation hotel to redeem Sinners, to get them to do behaviors opposite to their sins in life, this method would then weaken Roo and increase Heaven’s safety. Adam and Lute still hate all demons and Lucifer because of how they were raised, but with the persuasion of Emily, Sera is willing to give Charlie a chance. Sera gives Charlie six months to redeem a Sinner before the next Extermination. With more people going to Hell in the modern world, Roo becomes stronger, thus the Exorcists try to eliminate more demons who they suspect may be under her control (Sinner and Hellborn alike). The Hazbin Pilot continues after the meeting, Alastor, Husk, and Niffty enter and the hotel commercial is made. Song: “Chasing Rainbows”

Hazbin Hotel (Helluva Scribe Remix) Season 1 Episode 2: “Radio Killed The Video Star” (Focus: Sir Pentious and Vox)

Sir Pentious arrives at the hotel threatening to destroy it, but is defeated by Alastor. He is taken in by Charlie and she tries to do the clapping game, trust falls, and the no drugs roleplay, but Angel Dust and everyone thinks it’s stupid. Vox and Alastor get into a heated rap battle. After Vox loses the battle, Vox plans to use Sir Pentious as a spy to humiliate Charlie and the hotel on TV and it works. Charlie nearly gives up her hotel project, but Angel Dust catches Sir Pentious as a spy. Sir Pentious apologizes to Charlie and she forgives him, but he and everyone else don’t trust each other. Song: “Stayed Gone”

Hazbin Hotel (Helluva Scribe Remix) Season 1 Episode 3: “The Brain” (Focus: Baxter)

Baxter enters the hotel, creates his lab and plans to take over Hell, and sings about his backstory. He and Sir Pentious get into an argument over who’s the best inventor. Baxter later searches for cactus juice to use against his enemies, leading him to a desert. Charlie and friends go after him and after being tied up by outlaws, Baxter rescues them. Baxter unleashes a giant sea monster once they return to the hotel. Song: “Hell Domination”

Hazbin Hotel (Helluva Scribe Remix) Season 1 Episode 4: “World’s Fair” (Focus: Baxter, Sir Pentious)

Sir Pentious and Baxter argue over who is the better inventor. Charlie tries to curb Angel Dust and the client’s desires to use weapons. Only for a weapon’s expo to tempt them. Alastor’s shadows cause mischief, making Baxter and Sir Pentuous more angry at each other. They both sign up and during the sign up, Vox mocks Sir Pentious and tricks him into revealing the location of Angel Dust’s pet pig Fat Nuggets. Using the pig to bring Angel Dust and the hotel staff against each other, he sends Velvet to the hotel to steal the pig. The expo goes underway with contestants from all the Rings in a singing and weapon display acts including Helluva Boss inventors, judged by Carmilla Carmine the top weapon’s dealer. Sir Pentious is tempted by Vox to experiment his ray gun on the pig to win the contest and Vox’s approval but Sir Pentious nobly trips and works with Baxter to save Fat Nuggets and return him to Angel Dust. The crew return to the hotel on Baxter’s sea monster. Song: “Sir Pentious vs Baxter”

Hazbin Hotel (Helluva Scribe Remix) Season 1 Episode 5: “Hell’s Hyena” (Focus: Crymini, Husk, Angel Dust, Katie Killjoy/Tom Trench, Velvet)

(Crymini and Cherri Bomb cause trouble/vandalize the hotel – Husk takes her in, she talks with him at the bar several times. Crymini causes trouble as she sets fire to things and does graffiti on the walls and plays loud punk rock and metal at night…earning a bad review from Katie Killjoy, Tom Trench and Velvette as they do a surprise inspection on the hotel to try and ruin Charlie’s rep once again. Thankfully, Crymini scares them off and rips their papers.)

(Crymini, Angel, Charlie, Vaggie and Husk go to a carnival and Crymini is upset at Husk telling her what to do)

(Crymini runs off and shops with Loona and Octavia at Stylish Occult, becoming fast friends. Sadly, Loona and Octavia do not take her offer to check out the hotel yet.)

(Crymini later gets attacked by a rival hellhound gang, her hellhound group fights them off, but she gets terribly wounded. Her gang, all grown up, says “you’re on your own, we let you couch surf, but now we have better things to do than babysit.” This creates a flashback to Crymini being neglected/abused by her mortal parents, neglect at foster homes, her 90s hazing death, and almost being homeless like Loona but finding work in the porn model industry. Narrowly escaping the Hellhound gang (and an evil Valentino) she begs to stay at the hotel. Husk takes her in, and she lets out her feelings to Husk at the bar…they apologize and have their father-daughter moment, teaching her card tricks and sharing drinks. She, Husk, Angel Dust and Cherri Bomb get along, but she is more tense with Vaggie and Villa).

Hazbin Hotel (Helluva Scribe Remix) Season 1 Episode 6: “Masquerade” (Focus: Angel Dust, Husk, Valentino)

Charlie decides it’s time to put her ‘Princess’ status to use with Angel’s boss. Song: “Poison” In Part 2, Angel endures a rough day of work on the porn set. His abusive director feeds his drug habits and brings him down. After he returns home and suffers yet another rejection from Husk, he leaves and nearly gets himself into serious trouble, only saved by Husk intervening. The two have a more real conversation and a more solid friendship blossoms.” Songs: “Poison” and “Loser Baby” (no singing Angel in Loser Baby)

Hazbin Hotel (Helluva Scribe Remix) Season 1 Episode 7: “Angel In The Dust” (Focus: Angel Dust, Aracknis, Henroin, Valentino)

“Things get ugly when Angel Dust encounters his homophobic mafia boss father and his cynical brother Arackniss. It gets worse when a rival gang tries to attack the hotel with angelic weapons. Angel Dust has to confront his family and his past, making a decision to continue his redemption journey.”

Hazbin Hotel (Helluva Scribe Remix) Season 1 Episode 8: “I Wanna Be Loved By You” (Focus: Mimzy, Alastor, Charlie)

Mimzy, a rundown jazz club owner in debt, seeks refuge at the hotel. Her presence attracts loanshark collectors, who not only want their money back, but her blood. The Hazbin gang are forced to protect her from the collectors, despite her being a bit of a diva. Vox sends loan sharks after Mimzy.” Song: (1920s jazz Alastor Mimzy duet: “I Remember Now”)

Hazbin Hotel (Helluva Scribe Remix) Season 1 Episode 9: “The Helsa Hotel” (Focus: Charlie, Vaggie, Helsa, Sevaithan)

“Charlie runs into her old boyfriend and her princess rival at a dinner party/Baphomet Ball hosted by the Von Eldritch family. Part 2: When Helsa creates a rival hotel for the rich to outshine the Hazbin Hotel, Charlie must plan on bringing it down.”

Hazbin Hotel (Helluva Scribe Remix) Season 1 Episode 10: “Deadly Grace”

 “In this 2 part Episode, we learn of the origins of the Sinner Carmilla Carmine and Vaggie as a Sinner turned Exorcist turned demon. We see her ex-Exorcist life.”

Hazbin Hotel (Helluva Scribe Remix) Season 1 Episode 11: “Unholy Romance”

“Charlie is distraught after learning that Vaggie is an Exorcist. Vox uses the information to brainwash the demons of Hell against Charlie and her friends. Charlie must find a way to forgive and reconcile with Vaggie.” Song: ?

Hazbin Hotel (Helluva Scribe Remix) Season 1 Episode 12: “Cherri Bomb’s Away!”

Angel Dust’s reunion with Cherri Bomb gives him an opportunity to show how far he’s come.

Hazbin Hotel (Helluva Scribe Remix) Season 1 Episode 13: “Welcome to Heaven”

“Charlie goes to Heaven to try and prove that her clients are improving. Not having fully fixed their relationship, Vaggie becomes jealous when Charlie forms a bond with Emily. Since there was no proof of redemption, Sera allows Adam to continue the exterminations.”

Hazbin Hotel (Helluva Scribe Remix) Season 1 Episode 14: “Hello Rosie!”

Charlie and Alastor recruit demons to protect the hotel. Rosie reminds Charlie that her hotel is about redemption and she and Vaggie finally come back together.

Hazbin Hotel (Helluva Scribe Remix) Season 1 Episode 15: “The Show Must Go On”

Charlie and her team fight the Exorcists. Vaggie earns her wings after defeating Lute, Charlie fights Adam until Vaggie delivers the finishing blow. Lucifer arrives and helps the gang rebuild the hotel. Lute demands Lilith to go down and defeat the Hazbins. The Vees plan their next brainwashing/technology scheme while the Eldritch family is up to no good. Sir Pentious becomes an angel and Adam becomes a demon.

[paperstorm]

So I had a bad day at work and rewatched season 1 in a fit of pique and in the 1st episode - TK is just so sweet! He bought that awfully garish ring, he booked a table at a fancy restaurant and he was clearly nervous but also so looking forward to it and when Alex walks in he kisses him and sort of plonks his head on his shoulder. TK was so affectionate and probably a lovely and tender person and the whole thing with Alex and the relapse messed him up for a while. I almost think season 1 is TK finding himself again

No mate, this? This precious little bunny? This vibrant little forest nymph? This hopeful little cinnamon dusted pancake???? Pre-overdose TK is the softest most squishy dollop of marzipan on the entire planet of earth. He’s so excited to propose. He’s in love and he wants to be a husband. He doesn’t even realize that the dude doesn’t love him back because he’s so open and trusting and tender-hearted. The cactus man he becomes for the first few episodes of season one is such a massive trauma response. TK is NOT prickly and easily offended and cocky and argumentative, he is a soft little tulip who had his heart shattered and his addiction take over and he’s put his spikes up to protect himself while he heals but inside he is made of melted sugar. Husband TK who is actually loved back this time and is treasured and adored like he always deserved is gonna become such a little cupcake I just know it.

[harushinkai-daily]

Hey there, Appmon fandom! I usually try to do a little something extra for this blog on Haru’s birthday, and with July 1 falling on a Saturday this year, it seemed like the perfect time to host a party! And so, I would like to propose HARU’S BIRTHDAY WEEKEND, a fandom event spanning July 1 & July 2 that’s meant to be short, low-effort, and (most of all!) low-pressure. The only purpose of this event is to celebrate and connect as Appmon fans, and have fun! 

POSTING GUIDANCE

Any sort of Appmon-related posts are welcome: you can introduce yourself and why you enjoy Appmon, talk about your favorite character, show off your merch/plushie collection, plug your existing Appmon fanwork, create new Appmon fanwork, whatever! As long as you use the tag #HaruBirthdayWeekend (and the content is your own, is rated for general audiences, and is posted before July 3, 12 AM Eastern Time), I’ll reblog it here. Note that if your post includes links, you might want to mention @harushinkai-daily, just to make sure Tumblr doesn’t prevent me from seeing it!

Of course, I'll be reblogging fanwork related to Haru and his birthday as always, so if you were planning on creating something new along those lines anyway, no additional tagging is needed (meaning I’ll see it if it’s tagged as “appmon” or “haru shinkai”) :D

And if you want to participate but feel stuck for ideas on what to post about, here is a short list of prompts! You can do as many or as few as you want, in any order. 

🍅 What is your favorite Haru moment/episode? Alternately, what do you like about him as a character?

👾 What is your favorite episode of Appmon, and why?

💛 What are your favorite relationship(s) in the series? Can be Driver/Buddy partnership, family ties, platonic, romantic, or otherwise.

🎉 Any birthday headcanons for other Appmon characters? Dates, star signs, how they spend their day?

🎂 If you were designing a birthday cake for Haru (or another Appmon character), what would it look like?

✨ If you were going to assign crests to the AppDrivers, which ones would you pick?

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you at the party!

Your HaruShinkai-Daily mod,

@citrus-cactus

[novantinuum]

Pink Mode is a Stress Reaction

“When humans are in crisis, the brain releases the hormone cortisol. Your heart races, your muscles tense- I wonder if your body is reacting to a Gem equivalent of cortisol...”

For the record, I think Priyanka is right on the money with this hypothesis. From all we have seen in Steven Universe Future, every time Steven has been in this state, it’s because he’s experiencing something that either A) reminds him directly of past traumas, B) something that taps directly into his fear of abandonment, or C) a situation wherein he feels a lack of control.

The incident with Jasper? All of them. It’s both a physical reminder of the fights he’s had with her, he’s trapped underfoot, and it’s her words crushing him with the low blow of “you’re nothing without [your friends.]”

While fused with Amethyst as Smoky Quartz? At that moment, they were presented with a crisis where people’s lives were literally in danger. Reminders of past trauma. Lack of control.

Every time Steven turned pink in Volleyball? Reminders of past trauma with mentions of Pink Diamond, and him learning yet ANOTHER “sin of the past.” He also watches Pearl and Volleyball argue and tries to ask them to calm down, but they don’t listen to him at all- lack of control.

The fight with Bluebird? Steven nearly watched his own dad hurt by Gems he likely blamed himself for allowing to get too close. His dad’s life was risked by Gem stuff, again. Reminders of the zoo incident, anyone?

Lars and everyone else at the graduation? Absolutely fear of abandonment.

Prickly Pair, when he snaps back at the cactus? Lack of control. Arguing back and forth is stressing him the hell out.

In Dreams once again showed him reacting to reminders of past trauma, this time the Diamonds, and the injector, and mixed that all in with his fear of abandonment. Lack of control is also likely, as during one of the dreams he outright turned into a baby- perhaps a manifestation of helplessness- and Peridot implied that he was pink the whole time he was dreaming.

When he let Connie leave after the (gently) turned down proposal, it seems as if he couldn’t help but let that sink in as an overt rejection, and so- when he flops back and goes pink- fear of abandonment.

All throughout Growing Pains we see a vast and interconnected mixture of these causes. Steven’s constantly being reminded of the embarrassment and heartbreak of that proposal, the Gems are gone for the weekend, and he fears as if even his Dad doesn’t have the time to talk to him, which- when left to his own devices to stew in his own thoughts- causes him to downward spiral. 

He’s notably tense when Connie leaves the hospital room in this episode, if you notice... he panics when Dr. Maheswaran so much as raises her voice... he instinctively bubbles part of himself when she’s just trying to administer a reflex test. (A blatant example of hyperarousal, in fact- one of CPTSD’s many symptoms.) That’s only mentioning a few instances.

Considering all of this, I think it’s wholly reasonable at this point to postulate that pink mode flat out IS Steven’s unique hybrid way of reacting to new stressful situations. Early on, fan musing trended towards it being an anger mediated response, but I don’t believe it’s that at all anymore. I wholly believe that his pink mode is a fight-or-flight like stress reaction.

“You’ve been dealing with genuine threats from such a young age that your body is now responding to minor threats as if your life were in danger.”

That’s why Steven finds it so difficult to control when or how he slips into this state. It’s a reaction. It’s not something he’s consciously choosing. His gem is strongly influenced by his emotions, by how he feels, and so if he feels like his life has spiraled out of control? If he feels heart pounding terror as he’s reminded of something in the past? If he feels crushed by the weight of the fear that he’s just gonna be left behind by everyone he loves and holds dear again, left alone in his house, just like he always was as a kid for so long? Then he turns pink.

And he can suddenly run super, SUPER fast.

And he’s stronger.

And he’s subconsciously putting up walls to protect himself.

These are the same sort of instinctual gut reactions many of us have to stress when we’re caught in a bind, except in this case Steven is a hybrid with magic powers, so those reactions manifest in a far more extreme way. 

And for Steven to find a way to manage this stress reaction, and manage the lifelong impact of the childhood trauma he’s survived, really... the only long-term solution is him seeking therapy. On screen. Considering Crewniverse has already put in so much research on this topic, I’d expect nothing less from them.

[e350tb]

Steven Universe: Future

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately.

OPINIONS under the jump.

So it took me about eighteen or so months to realise this, but I’ve finally come to the conclusion that I don’t really like how SUF was handled.

I like episodes of SUF on their own; Bismuth Casual, Why So Blue, Guidance, the Pearl one (I forgot it’s name lmao), etc, etc, etc, but as a whole, I just feel like the way the arc is handled is... not the best?

I feel like I’m stepping on eggshells.

So there’s this TV Tropes page called ‘Diabolous ex Machina.’ To quote directly from the page, it’s ‘the introduction of an unexpected new event, character, ability, or object designed to ensure that things suddenly get much worse for the protagonists, much better for the villains, or both.‘ And a lot of SUF feels like it’s specifically designed to break Steven in a way that comes off a little contrived. Like, there’s nothing wrong with Lars deciding to go back to space, or Sadie’s band breaking up, or all the Cool Kids leaving town in one way or another; but it all happening on basically the same day is where it gets a little... yeah. And having the episode where Greg comes back to help Steven immediately followed by Mr. Universe, with basically no time for Steven and Greg to actually chill a bit, is also a bit contrived.

There’s also the fact that we never see Steven’s recovery after IAMM also grates at me. It sort of grants credence to the idea that SUF is kind of misery porn.

Now, a lot of this is probably because CN only gave the crew twenty episodes, but I still think it’s a legitimate criticism. (And we couldn’t get any Steven recovery episodes but we could have A Very Special Episode? I like AVSE but still.)

And a lot of the season relies on everyone in Steven’s support circle (with the exception of Connie) basically completely failing him; the gems failing to follow up on his mental state after the cactus incident, Greg completely failing to read the room when Steven’s angry in Mr. Universe, Peridot promising to stay with him and then disappearing off the face of the Earth until Everything’s Fine, so on, so on). Basically, if all you watched of SU was this, you’d be forgiven for thinking Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl were antagonists. The plot also kind of relies on Steven being an idiot at key moments; yes, Steven’s a romantic, but he’s not catastrophically stupid enough to propose to Connie (and I’ve said before that that episode makes Garnet look like a complete dick. Like, there’s no interpretation of Together Forever that doesn’t make Garnet look like a total douchecanoe.)

And then there’s Jasper.

Jasper is one of the best characters in the season, and in the end she was basically just a plot point to further Steven’s angst slide. She didn’t even really get a resolution. Her whole arc is just there to make Steven a murderer feel sad. It’s kind of a waste.

So yeah, I don’t really like SUF as a whole. And I’m okay with that.

Does this mean I think Rebecca Sugar is a hack? No, of course not! Just because I like a creator doesn’t mean I have to like everything they make. You want to see a real hack, look at Butch Hartman.

Does this mean I’m leaving the fandom? No, of course not, I love this world, warts and all. I can’t write Connverse in Amphibia.

I guess I’m just writing this to say I didn’t like the SUF ending, and that’s okay. And I took so long to tell myself that because I was scared of being less of a fan because of it, or being told I’m wrong. But now I care less about those sorts of things. I like things the way I like them.

Bismuth Casual still slaps though. Such a good episode.

[weareallstardustfallen]

empires recap - week of sept 18

the videos released from saturday, september 18 to friday, september 24 were:

-sausage's episode 31: he finds the elder guardians from fwhip and pixl's prank, kidnaps gem and scott with the help of joey, and builds a fighting arena with pearl

-shubble's episode 18, summarized by @aroallosupremacy: she works on her castle, deals with an accidental raid, and introduces the lore for her citizens

-fwhip's episode 22: he relocates his gunpowder to avoid thieves and discusses his plans for a vault, works with pixl to leave elder guardians in mythland, and builds a tinker's forge

-joel's episode 20: he builds a significant portion of his megabase, and plans to write a diss track on fwhip

-pearl's episode 8: she interacts with possessed!sausage, and builds a fighting arena with sausage

-joey's episode 20: he reacts to the new corrupted trees at his and fwhip's base, gains a new mount, and shows it to shubble

-sausage's episode 32: he confronts jimmy, distributes invitations to the fighting arena with pearl, and builds an embassy in pixandria

-joel's episode 21: he builds a new building, mezalean records, and writes and performs his diss track

detailed recaps under the cut!

sausage 31:

-sausage opens the video by stating that he thinks he’s probably around 85% corrupted -“there’s still a little bit of good inside me. for right now, though, we’ll see how it goes and how long that’s gonna last!” -he begins to talk about his plan to kidnap gem and scott, but is interrupted by mining fatigue from one of the elder guardians fwhip and pixl left; he kills the guardian and vows to figure out who put it there, asking mythland’s spies to help him do so -he brews some awkward splash potions, and brings them to the summoning circle; possessed sausage appears and converts them to splash potions of sleep -joey arrives, and they meet with xornoth to discuss the plan; it says to do what they like with gem but leave scott alive, as it’ll deal with him later and he’s part of a larger plan -they ambush gem and scott in rivendell and bring them to sausage’s dungeon, where they say that they know what the two are planning and start by demanding what gem is planning with the egg; she and scott say that it’s a baby and might not even hatch, but joey claims it isn’t worth the risk -gem tells sausage he isn’t a real wizard, and he kills her with the staff, followed by joey also killing her -they interrogate scott about his relation to xornoth, but decide they think he can go as he’s not as much of a danger; however, they change their mind when he says he’ll still banish xornoth -gem: “scott, maybe say less words” -they decide they have enough information and leave them in the dungeon, confident that they won’t escape; joey leaves -sausage gets bad omen from a pillager patrol and starts a raid at jimmy’s after killing the cow he was attempting to milk; possessed sausage appears briefly to comment on it and say that he’ll leave it for jimmy -he meets up with pearl to build the arena, and she comments on the corrupted tree which wasn’t there when they were building; he doesn’t know where it came from but thinks it’s probably xornoth and says he’ll blow it up later -mid-arena fight, possessed sausage appears, and pearl manages to kill him. shortly after respawning, he’s back to normal and has no memory of the end of the fight

shubble 18 (written by frog):

-Shubble builds her castle -She accidentally start a raid, though she manages to safely lock away her singular villager -She shows off her custom textured parrot, which looks like a woodpecker. -One of the pillagers manages to get into her mooshroom farm, but she successfully kills them while keeping some of the livestock alive. -She successfully defeats the raid, checking on the villager, who is still alive. -She asks the villager if he would like to be imbued with the spirits of the Undergrove. She stresses the fact that this is an optional change, and takes the villager’s actions to mean that they consent to this change. -She then ‘imbues the villager with a forest spirit’, using a nametag to change their skin to one that resembles a wooden golem. -She explains that the lore for her villagers and golems is that they are wood carvings that she imbues with forest spirits to give them life, bringing said spirits from the spirit plane into this plane. -The one villager that she had was a special case since Xornoth had summoned him for her to kill, which she had refused. -The villager, hilariously, ends up changing his job several times throughout the course of the episode. -Out of RP, Shelby comments on how it would be hilarious if Xornoth dressed as her for Halloween, since he seems to be obsessed with her. -She continues on building her castle. -She ends up accidentally using one of the two totems she gained from the raid, passing it off by saying she says she did this to attach her life to her kingdom symbolically.

fwhip 22:

-he decides that he needs to work more on protecting the grimlands, and starts by working on the mountain range -he talks with joey, who wants to know why there’s no corruption, and is offended when he says he composted it; joey claims it’s sacrilegious and kills him -he heads over to rivendell to build an embassy, hoping to retain some of his alliances -with that done, he relocates his gunpowder into his enderchest to avoid thieves, hoping to control the flow of gunpowder to xornoth’s supporters, but plans to build a vault to free up space in the enderchest -since it will be made out of copper, he meets up with pixlriffs, who explains that the corruption is damaged by copper; pixl also shows him the copper aging facility and gives him three and a half stacks of copper, but explains he now has his own supply when fwhip offers gunpowder to trade, and asks for information instead -pixl also shows him the farm he created from xornoth’s lava, and fwhip asks for his help on a heist; he agrees -fwhip: “you’re a fan of a heist, right?” -pix: “you had me at heist.” -fwhip describes his plan to bury elder guardians under mythland, and returns home to work on his stonemason population while they wait for sausage to log off -he provides blaze rods to pay for the copper, and goes with pix to find sponges; after some mishaps, they clear the sponge room and fwhip goes to dry out the rooms holding the elder guardians so that pixl can send them into the nether -they put an elder guardian in the blood well and another in sausage’s dungeon, but when attempting to put the third guardian underneath his iron form it dies, and they decide two is enough -he returns to the grimlands and begins creating a tinkerer’s forge, in order to build weapons and materials which can even the playing field between them and xornoth’s supporters -he takes advantage of the crystals xornoth left to use the lava as a power source for the forge, as well as getting more red glass since he’d been running low -he builds several towers to go near the forge and discusses his future plans to build an alchemical warehouse leading from the railroads that are connected to the forge -he starts work on a communal sugar cane paddy between his base and shubble’s to try and remedy his lack of sugar cane and provide a natural barrier between the two empires

joel 20:

-joel kills some horses for the intro, and explains he spent a long time gathering materials (and also broke a netherite shovel) -he decides to build the other half of the megabuild, which takes him three days irl, and finishes the other large towers -after cleaning up some missing trapdoors he shows it off with shaders and notes that the only major missing pieces are the walls and the central tower -before he can work on those, he plans on building a super-smelter -he comments on the corrupted trees and crystals from xornoth, but reaffirms that he doesn’t believe in the demon and therefore they aren’t actually there -he displays the creeper he’s trapped in a boat, wanda the watcher -joel says that because the demon’s not real, he needs to spice things up, and plans to write a diss track on fwhip with jimmy’s help, to which he agrees -to end the episode, he leaves pixl a note and some terracotta asking to arrange a meeting so he can get some copper

pearl 8:

-she notes that the beanstalk has grown, and partially absorbed one of the corruption tendrils, which she doesn’t think is good; she also plans to build on the beanstalk when it’s big enough -she decides to build a cactus farm, and notices the addition of the crystals -possessed sausage comes to welcome her to the dark alliance; she says she would like to play more games with xornoth and challenge it, but she doesn’t want to be evil -she tells him that he’s possessed and needs help; he denies it and says that it’s just his morning voice -he proposes the idea of a fighting arena, to which she agrees, but reminds him that she wants to challenge xornoth without being evil; when he threatens the others, she insists they’re not killing anyone -he again says it’s his morning voice and leaves while she tells him that she’s worried and she didn’t agree to killing people -sausage returns, this time unpossessed, and doesn’t remember being there the first time but he again says it was his morning voice, and deflects when she tries to ask about it -he agrees again to the idea of a fighting arena, but says he didn’t come up with it; he says “help” and flies off, and pearl says she needs to work on cultivating her plant in order to help him -she discusses sausage and again says she wants to fight, not be evil, and says she’ll pretend to be in the evil alliance to try and make him good again and help him fight the possession -they build the arena, and pearl comments on the fact that the corrupted tree doesn’t fit with the arena -they fight in the arena, and sausage is possessed mid-battle; when he does, the video takes on a red tint, which clears when she kills him; when he returns to normal, he doesn’t remember it, and she claims his bloodlust took over, and warns him to be careful -he mentions that he has scott and gem in his dungeon, and goes to check, but the cells are empty, and she wonders if she needs backup or if she could convince sausage to let them out

joey 20:

-he plans to kill jimmy for freeing gem and scott, and says he needs an army since sausage is his only ally -he’s found a spell to turn a horse into a terrifying creature, so he needs a horse -he sees that there’s been more corruption, and finds it beautiful, but he’s jealous that fwhip received more; he distracts himself by going to find a horse, but can’t find one -he notices the dragons at gem’s tower, and is angry that they’re there but says they spark a memory from a past life which he can’t quite recall -he bumps into scott, who says this is his village, and warns him away from hurting jimmy, but points him in the direction of horses -he finds a horse, and isn’t able to bring it down to xornoth’s den; he does tell xornoth he needs his magical abilities to convert the horse, and turns the horse into a raptor, and also plans to get more raptors once he has a place to keep them -he goes to the nether to get ancient debris, because scott insulted his bow for being basic, which he admits is true, and then remembers that netherite bows don’t exist; instead, he goes to ask xornoth for a better bow, which it provides -because scott isn’t online to show the bow to, he goes to show the raptor to shubble, intending to scare her; she denies any responsibility for the wolf spirit’s messages, which he clearly doesn’t believe

sausage 32:

-the episode opens on a flashback to 3 months prior and narration by an unnamed figure who refers to him as “our king” and discusses sausage’s destiny, and claims to have been making sure he followed the right path -sausage says he can’t take this much longer, and he’s losing track of time; he also says that his death will come sooner or later, and he’s learned to just deal with it -he decides to spare a wandering trader because they sold miniature tnt, but he’s briefly possessed and kills them; when he returns to normal he assumes they left -he takes food down to gem and scott, and discovers that they’re no longer there; he states revenge is coming -he feeds bubbles and the general, and learns jimmy freed the prisoners, and added more height to his wall; he says he’s going to snap and goes to the cod empire, where he explains some of the possession and how he started a raid, and jimmy demands he replace his villagers, which sausage agrees to -he is possessed, and confronts jimmy about releasing gem and scott and making his wall taller than sausage’s; jimmy says he wants the old sausage back, and sausage he’ll never see him back again before he tries to kill him and leaves villager heads on chains where his villagers were -he meets up with pearl to distribute invitations to the arena; first they go to fwhip, who threatens them with a bow and demands to know what they want. he and fwhip shoot each other a few times, and he listens to pearl’s pitch before he and pearl decide they should leave -they head to joey’s empire, and confirm they didn’t place the mushrooms that are everywhere and invite him to the arena. he agrees to come -they leave an invitation at gem’s tower, and sausage takes one of the swords on her wall despite pearl’s discouragement -they also leave an invitation for scott, and pearl again says they need to cure sausage: he says “one day this’ll be all over” -katherine, pixl, lizzie, joel, and jimmy are left invitations as well -they give shubble an invitation and initially claim it’s for a party, sausage mentions an underground betting ring he’s going to run and a “special guest” who they claim isn’t xornoth -he also asks her about the wolf spirit, who she says must not be one of the emperors -sausage hides gem’s sword in one of the barrels, and is briefly possessed- pearl has him drink milk in an attempt to cure it, which fails, and he again says normal sausage is gone -as revenge for the elder guardians, he builds an embassy uninvited in pixandria, which includes some kind of “special treat”

joel 21:

-joel decides not to work on the megabase, as he did a lot of it last episode -he goes to scare lizzie, which fails, and asks her for a line for the diss track -he says he wants to build a relaxing place to write it, and takes down one of the tentacles to make room for another building; it turns out to be a mezalean record shop -he does some terraforming and builds the record shop; he writes the diss track, and goes to meet with pixl for copper; he mentions that there’s a new building from sausage, which pix hadn’t noticed. there is a perpetual bell-ringing device inside, and pixl enters, but joel cuts there, saying that it’ll be better to watch pixl’s video -he makes “the demon’s worst nightmare” which is an efficiency 5 hoe, though he still insists the demon doesn’t exist and someone is trolling him -he and jimmy go to perform the diss track on fwhip, which is actually a “kiss” track instead, and they agree to kill scott together sometime; jimmy says he can’t because he and scott just became allies

[rplayford02]

Week 2 - Initial Thoughts

Can't speak for the rest of my group but I'm not a big fan of O.Henry's writing style so settling on an idea has been tricky. I don't generally enjoy stories this didactic or heavy handed in their message, overuse of exposition is a pet peeve, twists are kind of overrated - it's just not to my taste.

Having said that, after reading a couple of synopsises I managed to find a story that kind of intrigued me: 'The Cactus'.

---

Synopsis - A man comes back from his ex’s wedding remorseful of how their relationship ended. The brother of the bride sheds some light on the situation.

Initial thoughts:

Flashbacks to the relationship - perhaps from the main characters point of view, a biased, misremembered account of events, like an unreliable narrator

Idea of the cactus as a peculiar object which the narrative revolves around e.g like an episode of Inside No.9

Dysfunctional relationship, the protagonist has an ego problem, he’s too proud and this is his downfall

All the main characters are men, the women need to be less passive / have more agency in our adaptation

The misunderstanding revolves around language (the main character brags that he knows Spanish, he doesn’t, she responds to his proposal by sending a note in Spanish, he never receives the message) - how do we make this more cinematic? Maybe on-screen text?

Need to bring up to modern day and alter the locations to suit the time period/location e.g the characters meet to talk in a pub?

Could use a lot of close ups, make the cinematography experimental, led by sensory imagery, with lens distortion, unusual aspect ratio to enhance the whimsy in the story

Only 4 characters, could be narrowed down to 3 - Captain Carruthes and the Brother-of-the-Bride could be condensed into one character?

The name of Trysdale would be changed to something more current

Inspired by Wes Anderson - whimsical, ironic, a dry comedy (as opposed to a tragic drama, although it might still have notes of tragedy?)

Themes:

time / memory / reminiscing

plants e.g the cactus - reminds me of victorian flower language

miscommunication / language

narcissism / self-obsession / pride / vanity / ego

regret

The concept of responding to a proposal after a few days is outdated now so this plot point would need to be altered slightly

Could frame it as a story within a story? It feels like a story with a moral, it wraps up too nicely to be a straight forward drama, this world is different to the reality we recognise as our own therefore framing it with a story gives us more scope to have fun with it. Only question is who would be telling this story and why?

could use different aspect ratios, edit footage to look archival, or use actual archive

close ups of details e.g handwritten notes

could project 'memories' onto the characters face or explore similar experimental methods

how I'm currently imagining it (visually/stylistically/tonally)...

Deep focus, tableau style framing for the dialogue with cutaways to focus in on details - taking inspiration from the cinematography of Robert Yeoman (know for his work on Wes Anderson films) and Erik Wilson (specifically Submarine, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, and the HBO series Landscapers).

Ironic, dryly humorous with attention to detail. Use of slow tracking shots and quick edits inspired by Edgar Wright's earlier filmography.

[blonde-toddy]

Random and Not So Random thoughts while watching Bridgerton: Season 1, Episode 1

I'm supposed to dislike the Featherington mama, right? I mean, I rather enjoy tasteless and tactless at times.

And I'm supposed to like the Bridgerton family? Name of the show and all.

Ah, the "rebel" sister. Not predictable at all.

I would be mad as hell....getting my back scratched up by tree bark, and the son of a bitch fucking me looks down at his watch....then proceeds to hurry up! Even his footman is like "this mf."

Ok mama, shade your hoe ass son then.

All these white dresses. I could never. I am feeling the feathers in the hair though.

Gawd bless these poor Featherington girls. I can't be the only one who cringes when things are awful and embarrassing. And the Queen. She is not here for the shits. AT ALL.

And here's our heroine. Ok, Daphne! You got the seal of approval from the queen. All y'all did was curtsy and bow your head but I guess you did it the prettiest. What a fucking time to be alive.

Gossip papers are legit the regency gossip blog/podcast.

I'm getting Little Women vibes from Daphne and Eloise....but instead of Meg, Daphne has MAJOR Amy energy (SHE JUST DOES. I CAN'T EXPLAIN IT). Eloise is a Jo, which needs no explanation.

Diamond of the first water. That's how I want to be complimented going forward.

Aww Portia....your hating ass! And of course the wicked sisters are hateful to the heavier sister. She's not even really chunky or blemished for them to be acting like that. Penelope has a round face and a very clear complexion....but it's Hollywood so I digress.

Portia and her mean ass daughters are eating crow. All that hating and shit and now the country cousin is a baddie.

Oh excuse me. I'm pretty sure an orgasm just rode in on a horse.

Oh he's a brooding drunk Duke. Yummy poison. And I think we just met the real Queen in this universe. "Your regrets are denied." You going to her party mf! You gotta meet Daphne somehow. Shit. But leave the flask at home. I cannot.

Hoe ass Anthony. Poor Sienna.

'Thank you, next' is literally the perfect song for this scenario.

Oh great, Anthony's hoe ass is a cockblock too.

Yeah, Mama, he stresses me out as well!

All her brothers can't be hoes, surely.

Y'all can't duck the goat! Get in that ass Lady Danbury.

Oooh shit. Baby Bridgerton brother spotted the country cousin!

Well hello Duke! That damn swarm!

Daphne is done with your shit Anthony. She just wants to have some fun and find a husband!

Gawd, now this creepy fuck. You should have stayed with your hoe ass brother.

Aw she's shaking on his ass. "Adieu." MF!

But he's not having it!

Run Daphne! Right into the Duke. What a fucking meet cute.

Oh, he's a cocky mf! And she doesn't even know who tf he is. Golden.

Of course he knows her hoe ass brother.

Yeah, mf. That's his sister. You looking curious now. Here we go.

Oh she's low-key roasting him.....and I think he likes it.

*me singing "Look look look look back at you for what?" I'm not finishing that line. I would always look back at that specimen of a man right there though.

Damn hoe ass Anthony, the carriage ain't gonna turn into a fucking pumpkin. Let her have some fun! He irks the fucking piss out of me.

Oh great. He's here to do more blocking.

Marina got fans!

'Girls Like You' is also fitting for this scene .

Poor Daphne. This creepy fuck about to shoot his shot again.

Damn, Portia. Quit being hateful to Marina, shit. I'm trying to like you.

And here's Berbrooke's creepy ass.

Eloise tried to save her sister. She really did. At least Hyacinth is here.

Aww Penelope likes Colin, but Colin likes Marina. This is soapy, yet delicious.

Anthony, you're not just a hoe, but a dumb hoe. I told y'all Daphne gave me Amy vibes. Marriage is not a game for her. You better tell your dumb ass brother!

Anthony and Simon have excellent chemistry. I want to know more about their history and relationship. They've obviously been up to hoe shit together.

Oh Penelope your jealousy is showing.

Lord Featherington looks like creep and I don't trust him.

Yay Berbrooke, another creep I don't trust.

The Shade Queen and the Scheming Queen.

The plotsky thickens. Them ladies plotting and scheming and matchmaking.

I mean Marina is obviously tripping because there's not blood on her sheets. Secret pregnancy plot point? Maybe.

Inviting the Duke for dinner and seating him next to Daphne. Y'all are neither slick, nor subtle.

Francesca saying what we're all thinking. Yes honey he does have a presence about him. Eloise dropping facts. He is a rake. And it's hot.

That look. Don't look so repulsed, Daphne. That man fine. Plus he's amused by your attitude.

Ok lil banter. Daphne stays shading the fuck out of him on the low. He snapped back this time though.

And Anthony looking all concerned that they're talking. Bye hoe.

And the scheme is unraveling.

Also, I'm going to look up a Gooseberry Pie recipe.

Anthony, you're really irritating me with this controlling shit man. Get his ass Violet. This mf really thinks he runs shit. Crush him mama! Crush him!

He really went to fuck her one last time and then kicked her out. He's literally the worst! Fuck Anthony. Fuck him with a cactus.

The bloody corset marks are a very fine detail, indeed.

Penelope, you cutie. I like the pink!

This raggedy bitch! That's why Colin told you no, HEAUX!

The swarm.

Ok Duke and Daphne. I see y'all seeing each other from afar.

The maid spotted the non-blooded sheet. Now sheet gonna hit the fan.

*It's electric! Boogie woogie oogie!*

Damn it all to hell, Anthony. Just when I think you can't get worse, you fucking do! You really out here PROMISING Daphne to fucking Berbrooke. I get that the Duke is your fuckboy homie and all but this mf right here is straight up creep. Anthony.....sit on a cactus.

Aw Marina, you busted boo. All the clapback came with a slapback. There is a nuance to Portia I can't put my finger on. Its why I can't hate her even though she's been pretty awful.

Daphne trying to take a beat and this creepy fuck shows up! Oh he went full fucking creep mode. Is he really trying to force himself upon her?!

Have no fear, the Duke is near...trying to be captain save a hoe, but alas the hoe saved herself. Daphne knocked that mf clean out! And the Duke is impressed! This looks like the start of a beautiful situationship.

Daphne gotta blow this popsicle stand before someone catches her alone with 2 men. One according to the Duke. He's got funnies.

Did that mf just propose while unconscious? Berbrooke begone, shit!

Amy...I mean Daphne still dropping knowledge about the lack of options women in that era had. I rather like Daphne.

The Duke likes her better without all the fans. Hmm.

Oh here it is.

Yes pretend to be lovers. That always works out well. No one ever catches feelings.......said no one ever.

I mean y'all are hot and this is what I came here for, but still.

See, situationship.

They're convincing because they're only pretending to pretend. I cannot with these 2, already.

[aryan-sachdeva]

The Hauntings of the Central Ridge Forest,

Episode 4 Part two

So finally my term 1 board exams are over and here am I presenting a new blog on 𝗠𝗮𝗹𝗰𝗵𝗮 𝗠𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗹. I know that I had promised to release a new blog soon but these 2 months were hectic so really sorry for not fulfilling my promise. Let's begin. A bit about Malcha Mahal, also known as Wilayat Mahal , is a Tughlak era  hunting lodge next to the Delhi Earth Station 

Malcha Mahal was occupied by 2 members of a royal family of Oudh, Prince Riaz, and Princess Sakina, children of Princess Wilayat Mahal, the Begum of Oudh.

They lived in New Delhi Railway Station's first class waiting room for about eight years, after which the government offered them the Malcha Mahal, an erstwhile hunting lodge with no doors and electricity which they proposed to refurbish.

The renovation never happened, the family didn't mingle with outsiders and called ordinariness a sin. As years went by, Princess Wilayat Mahal grew despondent and finally succumbed to depression and took her own life by swallowing crushed diamonds in the year 1993. The children couldn’t bury her body and lived with her for 10 days. People had a belief that the Mahal had hidden treasures and hence, attacked it and even dug the Begum’s grave.

I'll come back to my experience so it was a pleasant morning in July when Angad and I decided to go to Malcha Mahal. As we were following the map the map guided us in a pretty suspicious turn. It was a small path leading towards the jungle the path had a weird silence but we being young and dumb still followed the path. After following the path for five minutes we were in the middle of the jungle where the nearest civilisation was the earth station. We were confused because Malcha Mahal was nowhere to be seen. We then asked the guard of the station to guide us toward the place he said to follow this path blocked by a barrier

The path was covered by Cactus on either of its sides and a site of the mahal could be seen from.

As we moved forward we saw a big structure with a big entrance and the same big circles from the previous blog on the entrance

As we climbed the broken stairs we could hear the noise of bats all around the place and the darkness of the place was already telling the story the place begin haunted.

As we were moving we kinda got lost inside the mahal as each part looked the same. I knew by a fact that there were four staircases to go to the top two wide and two small as papa had already been to the place before. But because of the dark, I could not figure out the wider staircase and started climbing the smaller staircase but I didn't know that I was gonna regret choosing the wrong way. As I climbed the staircase a bunch of bats flew from just the side of the narrow staircase. The bats were so close that they might have bitten me

We ran away as fast as we can then we stopped some boys of my age and then they guided us safely to the top by the wider staircase. But the view from the top was really beautiful.

So we sat at the ledge and decided to read the ghost stories about the place(trust me we did read the stories sitting in Malcha mahal). The stories go around the tragic death of Wilayat Mahal committing suicide by drinking ground-up diamond and her children lived with the body for 9 days. They didn't like any company and after some year the last living son of wilayat mahal was found dead in the living room of the palace.

Some believe in the story and some say that it's all a rumour. But I think that this place is quite creepy and could cause some illusions.

So thanks for reading

Until next time

Aryan Sachdeva

[rose-sunlight]

you and spencer have been dating for 2 years and in the episode ‘Demons’ you get shot in the neck instead of spencer and when you wake up in the hospital, the doctor come in telling you you’re pregnant, and afterwards spencer gives this big love speech and proposes to you in the end.

Hey! Sorry this took such a long time, but this was slightly difficult considering I couldn’t actually find 9x24 in my country, which sucked ass. I basically had to use a transcript, so it may seem off to you guys. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy!

RSVP: Marry Me?

Pairings: Spencer Reid x Reader, Platonic!BAU x Reader

Warnings: Blood, Getting Shot, 9x24 Spoilers, Angst, Pregnancy

Texas was hot. It wasn’t the smartest observation that Y/n could’ve taken on, not at this specific moment, but it was still a factual piece of data. Spencer loves factual pieces of data, he was always spouting random facts to her in their shared apartment, either in between romantic embraces or in the most sporadic of moments.

“Did you know the scientific term for brain freeze is “sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia?”

“If you cut down a cactus in Arizona, you’ll be penalized up to 25 years in jail. It is similar to cutting down a protected tree species!”

“Fun fact, Romeo and Juliet wasn’t an original piece, it was actually based on a poem called “The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet” that he changed the ending to because he didn’t like how most of the characters died. Romeo and Juliet was therefore a work of…what did you call it, Y/n, ‘fan fiction?””

“The youngest pope was actually 11 years old, so think about that the next time you call me a nerd for completing my undergrad at 16, Y/n”

“Did you know that 58 percent of Americans have called in sick at work when they weren't? And that 91 Percent lie regularly?”

Y/n would have to sigh and push him off her legs, keeping her hands rooted firmly in his hair still “No Spencer, we’re not calling in sick because of a statistic, get up.”

And he would oblige, standing up and putting on his shirt as he glared at Y/n jokingly, before she turned to get out of their bed, showering before work, the smell of coffee and bacon wafting through the house. Sure, boxes were still everywhere, and Y/n was convinced that half her shirts had gone missing from the move, and yes, there was probably a stray racoon in one of these boxes, but it felt like home. Their first home.

Y/n’s desperately wanted to be home right now. Texas, as she had already stated, was hot. It was hot and it wasn’t home, where she could lie in her own bed without sweating profusely, even though Spencer was a human heater most nights. She could even feel him now, his heat radiating as he held her close and tightly in his arms as he whispered sweet nothings into the top of her head. She would’ve smiled if she could’ve; right now, all she could focus on was gasping for her next breath.

Spencer had his arm pressed tightly to her neck, and was crying. Blake, now that Y/n focused more clearly, was screaming out for anyone to help. “We need a medic now!” She was yelling into her comms, “There’s too much blood!”

Oh, Y/n thought, that was her.

It became all too clear now, the Unsub, the bullet…the firearm pointed straight at Blake, with no one focused on her to warn her. She had jumped out of her cover at the last minute, attempting to help her fellow agent. She hadn’t even thought about Spencer, who had to drag her lifelessly away to find cover, and was now softly scolding her as she lay dying. She could remember her teammates calling out her last name, but only now was the fogginess of her mind lifting.

It was replaced by sheer, immense pain. The worst part was that she couldn’t cry, or breathe, to express the amount of earth-tearing pain she was in. Instead, all Y/n could do was lie on the floor uselessly as Spencer watched her bleed out in his arms.

He softly cupped her face, stroking it affectionately as she closed her eyes and opened them drowsily. “Hey. Hey, you’re doing great, alright?” Y/n let out a dopey smile, only half of her lips moving. “Yeah. You gotta stay right here, ok?”

Blake moved to check the blood pouring out of the wound, but wasn’t happy with the results. Y/n’s eyes closed for longer, and Blake was the one to take notice “Eyes on me, L/n,” She instructed “Eyes on me,” Her tone was firm, but you could tell she was panicked.

Y/n shut her eyes, and she could hear Blake calling out for someone “No, no. No.” She was crying, much more emotional than Blake usually was towards anyone on their team. “Ethan? Ethan!”

Everything went black, except for the red-hot fire around her, licking from her neck to her fingertips.

The next time Y/n came too, she was in an ambulance. Spencer had a hand wrapped around hers, and she could vaguely see Derek, sitting and having his wound treated to. There were no two other people she would want by her side at the moment. Spencer’s warm presence was anchoring her to this body, to this life, and Derek was doing much the same. But there were too many loud noises: one in particular was sending shocks through her body. It was loud, like a high-pitched dog whistle, the kind you could hear when your ears were still young, and didn’t know evil words of the world.

“The sound is like a teakettle. Do you hear it?”

Spencer looked up through tears “What?”

“Y/n” Derek softly said, but it was no use, her chest arched upwards, her body tensing as if she had been tazed. There was beeping, and everything seemed to rush. The EMT’s began to work on her, spitting fast words at each other. Spencer was smart, he knew what they meant: Y/n L/n was dying, right here In this ambulance, she was flatlining. He couldn’t stop his sobs.

“Y/n!” Derek cried out again, but the EMT that was patching him up pushed him back to a sitting position.

“Agent, you’ve got to sit back.”

Derek was frantic “You gotta help her, man.”

Spencer was muttering things to her, like she would hear him and wake up, immediately stop bleeding out. “Come on, now, baby, stay with me. I’m right here. Y/n!”

There was more beeping, and for a second, Derek was sure she was gone. “Y/n!”

The waiting room was sombre and quiet. Nothing felt right without her by their sides, cracking jokes and smiling with the widest smile she could. Her family had been told, but no one could get out. They all lived far away, far enough that travelling to the hospital where Y/n was fighting for her life was impossible. So, all that was left was the BAU, her chosen family, all in various states of unrest and upset. Derek had been taken to another room to be bandaged up, but he vowed he would not stay in the room long, and that he’d be with them in minutes. It had been an hour, and no news had come through the doors.

JJ walked through the door, tucking her phone back into her pocket and approaching Alex, who was sitting off by herself, hands grasping each other, still red with their teammates blood. JJ tried not to wince. “Anything yet?” She asked for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

“No.” Blake shortly replied. Her eyes were fixed on her hands.

“Y/n would have profiled like two people by now out of boredom. Maybe 3.” Garcia noted sadly. It was true, Y/n had a certain knack for profiling people based on appearance; the BAU ladies often took her out to bars just so she could pick out the good dates from the bad. Of course, they didn’t just bring her along for that—she was also a mean Karaoke partner.

This seemed to make Blake even sadder “It should have been me.”

JJ shook her head “Or me or any of us.”

“No,” She said, standing up to face the other Agent with unshed tears in her eyes “She pushed me out of the way. If she doesn't make it—”

Spencer stood up “I can’t listen to this.” He told them, moving towards the door. Rossi stood up too, blocking his exit by placing a handout.

“You can’t leave. She needs you here, and we can’t let you put up your walls right now. Sit down, kid.” He instructed, looking to Hotch for support. Hotch just nodded, patting the seat next to him. Spencer didn’t have the energy to protest, so he let himself sink down into the chair, wiping his eyes.

“She has to. Make it, I mean. She's just--she's too young.” Rossi said towards the other agents, who were looking guiltily towards their friend, who was sitting with his head in his hands, blood still on his clothes, face, hair, and hands. He was shaking like a leaf, his left leg bouncing erratically.

“Yeah, there's still things for her to do,” JJ said, sitting back down beside Garcia, “You know, she wants kids. Can you imagine Y/n as a mom?” JJ laughed softly

“I reckon she’d be a straight up soccer mom. Y’know, riding around in the Volvo, picking up little Timmy and Lorraine from practice?” Garcia joined in, smiling at the very picture of Y/n, one of her closest friends, and fairly guarded with her emotions, being a soccer mom. Then, she was overcome with emotions, spotting Spencer again, who’s jitters had calmed. He was thinking of the same things. “That'd be the luckiest kid in the world.”

“No doubt.” Rossi said with a smile, patting Spencer on the back as he did so.

Spencer’s sobs broke through the room’s silence, and everyone seemed to freeze. Their friend wasn’t usually so loud with his emotions, it seemed like whenever he cried, he cried silently. This was different; this was loud, and heart-wrenching. It was muffled behind his knuckle, which he was biting to keep from making noise. It wasn’t helping. JJ began to cry, too, and then his friends were all around him in a group hug. Whatever the outcome of the day would be, it was nice to know they would still be a family.

People came and went after that: there was still a case to solve. Although everyone wanted to focus on Y/n, there were young women being killed, and if they could save them too, then maybe everything could return to normal. Spencer, Blake, and Garcia were the only ones left.

“Agent” A doctor said as he approached the three agents as if he were approaching wild animals. Blake’s heart was in her mouth as she tried to keep herself composed. Garcia was latched onto Spencer, whose knees looked as if they would give out at any moment. As the doctor entered the room, he shot up, clasping a hand around his mouth.

Garcia held his hand tightly, speaking for him in a soft voice “How is she?”

“Incredibly lucky” He replied while Spencer let out a sigh of relief, wiping his eyes once more. The doctor still looked concerned though, so he let them continue speaking “Two millimetres to the right and the bullet would have torn through the carotid artery. It nicked some smaller vessels, but we've stopped the bleeding.”

“Oh, thank god,” Garcia sighed, placing a hand on her heart.

“Are you her partner?” The doctor glanced towards Spencer, who looked up and sniffed.

He nodded weakly “Uh…yes, yeah, I am.”

“Ok, great. Can we speak in private? Just through here.” The doctor said. Spencer gave a nervous glance to Garcia, who just nodded for him to go. “You could see her now, if you’d like, Agents.”

“Yeah, I will. I’ll keep her company, Spence.” Spencer nodded and made his way to the doctors office. It was a small office with surgical white walls, with one brown oak desk sitting in the middle o the room, the computer ancient and dusty.

“So, Agent Reid-”

“It’s…it’s Doctor.” Spencer corrected, feeling the pang in his heart when he realised it wasn’t Y/n correcting the man. The doctor nodded with a sympathetic smile, before typing something into his computer quickly.

“So, I can assure you that Agent L/n is as healthy as she could be. We ran all the tests we could to ensure her recovery was quick. However,” Spencer sucked in a harsh breath, shifting position in his seat, “when running a blood test to check for infections and see if her kidney functions were all good, well, we did notice…an irregularity. Her hCG levels are increasingly high, which does in fact indicate a pregnancy which has affected our duty of care.”

Spencer wanted to cry. He wanted to sob from a mix of elation and fear, but instead, he just blinked. He had so many thoughts about how he should react that he actually forgot to do so. The doctor was waiting for him to say something, but it was a few painful seconds before he could actually conjure a sentence. This was all wrong. Y/n was supposed to be here to find this out with him.

Spencer’s mouth was dry, and felt as if someone had force-fed him cotton. “Is…is it…?”

“We did extensive checks, both mom and baby are fine. She’s set to wake up in an hour or so—do you want a nurse to explain everything to her?”

Spencer paused before shaking his head “No…no, I’ll tell her.”

And so he does. Spencer walks into her private room, where Garcia has organised all her favourite things on the meal tray, and lets out a smile. Photos of the team and Y/n line the tray, along with trinkets from her favourite TV shows. Blake is to the side of the room on one of the uncomfortable chairs, her eyes constantly on Y/n’s form.

And then, Spencer only sees Y/n. She’s been propped up by one of the nurses on an endless amount of pillows, and her neck is tightly bandaged. One hand rests on her stomach, and the very thought sends a tingle down his spine. But she’s awake, and looking around the room at her friends. The doctors said she’d be asleep for another hour: clearly, they’d never met Y/n, who always exceeded expectations.

“Hey, Spencer, can you tell her she can go now, please?” Y/n raised a single finger to Blake, who had raised her head again with a soft smile “I'm ok, Alex. Go help the team. Spencer’s here, I’ll be fine!”

Blake stood up, patting her legs “All right. I'm out of here,” She said, turning to leave the room with one final statement, “I'm glad you're awake.”

“Thank you” Y/n said with a large smile, before wincing at the strain on her neck.

Garcia took note of his poorly concealed smile, but probably chalked it down to seeing his love awake and smiling back at him “You ok, Spencie?” She asked, before setting down one final trinket on the table.

“uh…yeah, yeah, I’m great, Garcia. Could you possibly get us some coffee?”

Garcia nodded and left the room. Truthfully, Spencer wasn’t thirsty, he just wanted to be alone with his favourite person, and his new favourite creation. He wanted to spout random facts he had learnt about pregnancy to Y/n, but he couldn’t bring himself to open his mouth. Even though she was awake, the seeds of doubt had already been sewn, and he was waiting for a drop in vitals, and the moment he’d have to say goodbye to the life he’d already built in his head. He had to make sure Y/n was alright.

Y/n was staring back at him fondly as Spencer stroked her cheek. “When this comes off, I'm gonna look just like Boris Karloff.” She said jokingly.

Spencer let out a small chuckle, “A little green makeup and you'll have the best Halloween mask ever.”

She went to get up out of bed, but Spencer placed a hand on her stomach to keep her down. “Everybody's fine. Don't worry.” He assured her

“I'm not. You’re the one that’s got that furrowed brow.”

“Just worried about you, that’s all. Hey, the doctor told me something before I got in here…” Y/n shifted again, fear hitting her in a wave—was there something wrong? She couldn’t help the dark spiral her mind was going towards. “Don’t worry, it’s…unexpected, definitely, but it’s something we both wanted.”

“Okay…Spence, you’re scaring me a little bit, what’s up?”

“The doctor found high levels of hCG in your blood.” He blurted out. Y/n placed a hand on her mouth, tears filling her eyes, “Don’t worry, though, the…the baby’s fine. They’re ok.”

“oh my god, Spencer,” Y/n was beyond emotional “I could’ve died and not known about it. I almost killed…”

Spencer placed a hand over hers, smiling softly and as reassuringly as possible. “You didn’t, though, and you didn’t know! Look, it wasn’t anyone’s fault—you’re alright, so is she!”

Y/n nodded “I know, but-wait, did you say she?”

“Well, technically, we all start as female, so yeah, she would be a she right now-”

Y/n let out a loud laugh “Spencer, I’ve known about her for thirty seconds, and you’ve already spouted a fact.” He blushed a bright red colour “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Spencer said, before bringing his hand to her midsection lovingly “And I love you too. In fact, I love you, Y/n, more than I thought I could ever love anyone. I’ve loved you since the day I first saw you enter the BAU, and I’ll love you until the day I die, because loving you…” he tried to swallow his emotion “loving you is the best possible thing I could ever do with my life…uhm, sorry, I’m add-libbing here, I didn’t bring a speech. I was going to do it when we got home yesterday, but…this all happened…I don’t even have the ring with me…”

“Spence…”

“So this isn’t the proposal. This isn’t, because I want to do it right, and…and you’re in a hospital bed, it just doesn’t feel right. So, this is more like a RSPV for a later date. So, Y/n L/n, when I ask you to marry me…”

Y/n’s voice was overcome with such emotion, it was almost like a different person. She smiled widely, not caring about the amount of pain she was in, or the safest amount painkillers they had given her, and nodded her head at the man in front of her, his frame bent over her bed, too afraid to sleep beside her in case she broke, “Spencer Reid, I will say yes.”

Their kiss was tender and full of promises.

When Garcia came back with the coffee, she took notice of how the couple was latched onto each other, eyes closed and a tangle of limbs. She noted how Spencer was finally sleeping, and how Y/n had one hand in his hair, and the other on her stomach, where her fingers interlocked with Reid’s. She smiled to herself, took a sip of her coffee, and placed the other down on the side, before turning off the main light and leaving the room. She had a serial killer to catch.

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[cecilspeaks]

168 - Secret Blotter

Life is 10 per cent what happens to you And 90 per cent false memories of what you think happened to you. Welcome to Night Vale.

In an effort to bring more transparency to the Sheriff’s Secret Police, a chronicle of one night’s dispatches will be released to the public. This action comes at the behest of the City Council, who voted unanimously on a resolution to ban plastic bags.

Now, OK, while those two things may not seem related, Sheriff Sam misunderstood the vote as a rallying cry against tyrannical surveillance and a personal threat, involving being thrown to the pit of vipers behind the bowling alley. Sheriff Sam, who has a paralyzing fear of vipers, proposed a compromise in which Secret Police dispatches would be temporarily divulged, so the public can get a better idea of what agency does and how tax dollars are being spent. A plan which was readily accepted by the Council, though they continued to roll their eyes and gnash their teeth and chant softly: [creepy voice] “Viper pit! Viper pit! Blessed be the viper pit!” Which is just how they express a “yay” vote on procedural issues.

As a result, Night Vale has its first ever police blotter. Let’s dig in. 9 o’clock PM. Missing person reported inside the Ralphs. Night manager on duty says employee went to stock some cases of Lime-A-Ritas in the new walk-in beer cave and never came out. Reporting officer thoroughly checked beer cave and confirmed it was deserted. Three cases of the beverage were left haphazardly in the middle of the floor, and a loading dolly had tipped over onto its side. Manager states employee originally brought in four cases. Manager added one missing case of Lime-A-Ritas to the report. When asked if this kind of thing has happened before, manager changed subject and asked if officer would like to look at some of the children’s drawing contest submissions. Officer was amenable to this request.

9:16 PM. Noise complaint. Dog barking in an unknown language annoying residents. Dirty white fur, human face. Gone when officer arrived on scene.

9:25 PM. Two underage residents attempted to sneak into an R-rated movie by pretending to be one tall person in a trench coat. When confronted by officer, they turned into a swarm of flies and dispersed.

10:01 PM. Noise complaint. A sound resembling television static was being emitted from a shower drain out in the Hefty Sycamore trailer park. When recorded and played backwards, it turned out to be a broadcast from a 1952 episode of the game show “Beat the Clock”, where contestants competed to see how many pieces they could smash a clock into. A plumber was called.

10:15 PM. A resident of Desert Creek searched for “easy tortellini recipes”, but none of them were easy enough. It was so late already, and they needed to get to bed soon, but they were also very hungry and needed to eat dinner first. They wanted something quick, but they also wanted a real dinner, not a false dinner like… cereal? They became hyperaware that the more they deliberated on what to make, the longer it was all taking. And factoring in the decision-making time on top of the meal prep time was becoming additionally stressful in relation to the desire to get to bed soon.

11:30 PM. A Coyote Corner’s swimming pool filled with blood and began swirling furiously in a counter-clockwise direction. Home owner appeared distressed. Officer advised home owner to drain pool.

11:31 PM. Multiple residents awoke in a cold sweat from the same dream. It wasn’t necessarily a nightmare, but it was definitely not pleasant. The only thing they could recall afterwards was that it was showing, and that there was a tree with seven limbs.

12:00 AM. Witches.

2:00 AM. That time of night when everything starts getting hazy. Were you headed to a crime? Checking a surveillance station? Listening to a wiretap? Going home? Returning to headquarters? Signalling an invisible helicopter? Sometimes you lose track. An old local legend comes into your mind, and you try to recall the details. It’s been so long since you heard it. You watch the headlights bounce along the dirt road ahead, and your eyes begin to play tricks on you, sensing movement in the dark margins where the light doesn’t penetrate. You turn off the lights and slow the vehicle. They weren’t tricks after all. There is movement here, a dark writhing mass entering the roadway. You are forced to stop the car. Eyes flesh open in the dark. Many sets of eyes. This isn’t part of a half-remembered legend. This is something very, very real.

More of the blotter soon. But first, let’s have a look at traffic. You’re hunting in a pack near the Old Highway. The smell of blood is in the air. Headlights bounce over the rise and your stomachs rumble. The moon flees behind the clouds and you fan out, along both sides of the road, moving parallel to it like a lazy river. The car approaches and slows. It shuts off its headlights, as you knew it would. Some of you push ahead to the car, blocking its path. Others move to the rear and others remain at the sides boxing it in. You converge, surrounding it more tightly the door opens, then closes again, the fleshy creature inside cursing softly. You hear a crackle of radio static, but you know it is inconsequential to you. You consume the metal shell first. There are explosions of air and the hiss of leaking fluids. Then the glass, crunchy and cool in your collective gullet. And finally, the screaming delicacy in the center, the cloth-wrapped package of meat and bone. There are other things afterward, less enjoyable, but consumable nonetheless. Papers and electronics, and the pleather, and cold French fries in the back. Nothing must remain. By the time the moon emerges from the clouds, the old highway will be deserted once more. This has been traffic.

And now a word from our sponsors. Today’s show is brought to you by TickTock. The only app that tells you exactly how long you have left to live. The sleek countdown display synchs easily with all of your devices, so that you can check your mortality at a glance. The premium edition provides additional details, such as manner and location of death, and updates to the minute, as you make different choices throughout your day. You’ll find yourself asking questions like, why did returning a library book just subtract 4 years from my life? How did leaving late for work change my final outcome from drowning in gulch to birds of prey? Why does it say “tomorrow” all of a sudden? [panicking] It must be some kind of glitch, right? OK, OK, I’ve updated the app but it still hasn’t changed. It still says “tomorrow”. I just got checked out by a doctor and they said I’m in great shape, I’m staying home from work, I’m not answering the door, I’ve closed the blinds and I’m sitting on the couch, surrounded by pillows, not moving, not even blinking, I’ve done everything dammit, EVERYTHING!!! WHY DOES IT STILL SAY “TOMORROW”???!! Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock. This has been a word from our sponsors.

Back to the Sheriff’s Secret Police blotter. 2:30 AM. Responded to an officer distress call on the Old Highway. No sign of officer or vehicle found. Must have been a false alarm.

3:15 AM. Nude man ranting in middle of old highway, carrying a case of alcoholic beverages. Identified as the night shift stocker at the Ralphs. Claims he entered the walk-in refrigerator at work, reached up to place the case of beverages on the shelf, and abruptly found himself in a network of ice caves. He eventually climbed up a snowy mountain where he met a robed figure he refers to as “The Oracle”. “The Oracle” foretold of a hungry darkness with a thousand eyes and urged that the portal must be cloooosed. The Ralphs employee also reported that “The Oracle” had slurred speech and seemed unsteady on its feet, and may have been inebriated. After this exchange, he then found himself standing in the Sand Wastes nude. He does not know where his clothes are. Officer escorted man back to the Ralphs to finish out his shift.

3:35 AM. Domestic disturbance. “He won’t stop practicing the flute!” a Cactus Bloom resident reported, indicating his dopplegänger who stood in the corner of the bedroom, staring unblinkingly at the wall and playing the same halting scale on a wooden flute. Officer advised resident to take a melatonin and try to get some sleep. “If he doesn’t stop, I can’t be held responsible!” the sleep-deprived resident threatened. “Sounds fair,” the officer agreed and left the premises.

4:00 AM. An alarm clock went off in Old Town. A woman attempted to get out of bed, but her cat walked sleepily onto her person and began purring, preventing her from rising. Her cat is elderly and the woman knows its number of purrs are finite and must be honored. Eventually, she put on coffee and took a shower. She used Herbal Solution shampoo for a lifelong dandruff condition, though she has not seen any improvement after years of using the products. She continues using it, because she likes the way it smells. It smells medicinal, like it’s helping, and it does tingle, like the label promises. The tingle means it’s working, the label says. So it must be working.

And now a break form the police blotter for some sports news. Night Vale High School – go Scorpions! – has added a concession stand to be used during sporting events. The parent-teacher association proudly unveiled the new stand at last week’s baseball game, dedicating the plywood structure to the memory of favorite AP auto shop teacher, Nick Teller. Teller reacted with confusion at this news, as he is still alive. “Oh, of co-, no, of course you are,” the PTA responded awkwardly, “but we just wanted to honor – your memory, as in what a great memory you have. You-you know how you’re really good at remembering stuff? We just wanted to, yeah uh, honor that,” the PTA went on, seemingly unable to stop explaining themselves, whilst standing in front of the dedication plaque, which featured several doves, a Celtic cross, and an image of clasped hands. Teller admitted he does have an excellent memory and is very honored. The following concessions are available at the Teller memorial stand: Special allowances, the granting of rights, the acceptance of certain things as truth, the yielding of certain other things as untruth. Also, RC Cola and popcorn.

Oh, which reminds me, we actually have another word from our sponsor, Royal Crown Cola. Invented by Ferdinand the 1st, king of Naples, who built a museum of mummies inside his palace to house the bodies of his slain enemies. “I am parched from building this museum of mummies,” he famously said, and the rest is history. RC Cola – the drink of ruthless monarchs.

In local news, I have the results of the Ralphs drawing contest. Local school children were encouraged to submit a drawing to the store this week, depicting their favorite Ralphs product. I’ll start with the runners up. The third place drawing comes to us from Ella Snider, a student from Night Vale Elementary, and it shows a large black scribbled mass with a lot of eyes on it, with the Ralphs building on fire in the background. Very creative, Ella!

The second place drawing comes from Jace McCoy, also from Night Vale Elementary, and this one also shows a black mass with many eyes and a big bright red splatter of blood across the page. Nice use of color, Jace!

And the grand price winner comes to us from Heather (Fathusam) [0:16:52] of Daggers Plunge Charter School. Her drawing features a beautiful black mass with lots of lovely eyes, and it’s holding a box of store brand frozen pizza rolls. Congratulations, Heather!

Back to the blotter. 4:01 AM. Distress call from the Ralphs. Upon arrival, officer was pulled into the manager’s office. The employee from the earlier incident was also present, huddled under a desk. Manager frantically indicated the surveillance window that looks out into the store, which he normally uses to spy on shoppers and report on what they are wearing for his Customer Fashion newsletter. Shelves of products were being knocked over and consumed by a vast dark nothingness. The back of the store then burst into flames. The manager implored the officer to quote, “Do something, please, or we’ll all be killed!” Officer used the intercom system to tell the nothingness to vacate the store immediately, and advised it of trespass and vandalism laws. The nothingness took the form of many dark shapes with many eyes. A tank of fresh seafood exploded and numerous shellfish were damaged. Officer advised the shapes that they were all under arrest. “Stop talking to it!” the manager cried and knocked the intercom mic out of the officer’s hand. Approximately 1000 eyes turned to look at the office window. Interesting. Well.

Let’s have a look at that weather.

[“Best Friends” by Curtains: https://curtains.bandcamp.com/]

4:35 AM. Situation escalated at the Ralphs. Officer, manager and employee embraced one another under the office desk amid the shattered glass of the surveillance window. The building trembled around them, products flew through the air, half the inventory was sucked into oblivion, and a great fire blazed, spreading to the bakery section. After doing an estimated 200,000 dollars worth of damage, the darkness and its many eyes entered the beer cave and did not come back out. Officer investigated the beer cave and found it to be empty. “You have to shut down the cave!” the Ralphs employee implored the manager. “That’s its doorway to our world!” The manager hedged and responded that a big heat wave was coming and if they hoped to recoup any of their losses, keeping the beer cave open was going to be instrumental to the store’s survival. “People will spend big on frosty cold beverages,” the manager responded. “Not to mention they’re gonna like standing around in there for a nice cool-down.” The employee wrapped his robe tightly around himself. Oh, the manager had lent him the robe, one of the many fashion items the manager kept in his collection, since the employee still didn’t know where his clothes had gone. “OK,” the employee said. He picked up a Lime-A-Rita and guzzled it down in one continuous gulp. Then he said, his voice already a little slurred: “I’ll have to try to shhhhtop it myself.” He ran into the beer cave and promptly vanished.

5:40 AM. Tree with seven limbs seen growing out of a hole in the vacant lot out back of the Ralphs. Snow observed on the branches, which melted off quickly as the sun rose.

5:45 AM. Real pretty sunrise.

Well, that concludes our Secret Police blotter. I dunno about the rest of you, but I personally feel a lot more safe and secure getting a closer look at what our Secret Police do. On behalf of Night Vale Community Radio, thank you for your service. I’m sure we will all rest a lot easier knowing that our fate is in your hands. Our sleeping bodies are under your watchful eye, and our every thought and action is being monitored for the greater good. As Secret Police mascot Barks Ennui always says: Stay tuned, stay, vigilant, report your neighbors. Woof. Woof.

Good night, Night Vale, Good night.

Today’s proverb: Six out of seven dentists have no idea where that seventh one disappeared to. Honest, they all have rock solid alibis and that blood could have belonged to anyone.

[hyperfixatinglove]

2, 4, 6 & 10 for Blazko & Murphy? :3

If someone tells you two that you make a cute couple, how do you both respond?

Blazko: He would chuckle if it’s someone on Kreisau Circle and be so proud if its his mother saying it. He would appreciate the sentiment, but not say anything in return, he’s most likely thinking how lucky he is to have someone like Fay. She on the other hand would be so flustered and have mute episode.

Murphy: He would crack a little smile about it, perhaps say heartfelt thank you if it’s someone like Cunningham or anyone from Silent Hill support group like Travis or Heather. When Sewell said it when Murphy had to return for a little while to Ryall before the cop was murdered he gave him one hell of a glare which Sewell just brushed off.

I would be a bit skeptical with Cunningham and Sewell, Cunningham makes me nervous and I know Sewell is up to no good. I would just nod and hide a little behind Murphy.

If it’s support group I’d smile widely and start jumping up and down and go on a rant like: “I know right! Murphy’s so cute and I’m cute so obviously we are cutest together I’m glad you think so too!”

When date night rolls around, are you going to a fancy candle-lit dinner, or are you staying home and watching the stars? Or something completely different that's special to you to guys? Who plans said date night? Is the other surprised?

Blazko: Blazko plans, he just gets an idea and boom there Fay goes along. She likes dancing to jazz the most and Blazko likes to add dinner after. ay sometimes asks to be taken to cinema so Blazko obliges. Fay gets accustomed to these dates as time goes on so she’s less surprised. She’s always surprised of when they go however.

Murphy: Murphy loves surprising me with candle lit dinners. I have a fic about this actually. We switch between dinners, dancing in our living room at night, cafes and bookstores for dates. Murphy plans dinners and cafes and I plan the dancing and bookstore visits. I’m always surprised because Murphy is good at keeping secrets. I’m not, he knows the signs of me being excited because I can get ill very badly if I get too excited.

Do you have a garden? If so, who takes care of it? Do you plant vegetables or flowers?

Blazko: We don’t have one. Neither Fay nor Blazko are ones or gardens or flowers. Fay thinks they’re nice to look at so sometimes Blazko brings bouquet that lasts a few days at most.

Murphy: Murphy has small garden indoors, on one of our wooden bookcases that’s empty due to us checking which books we want to keep every month (we would drown in them otherwise!). It’s not much of a garden rather than houseplants and couple roses. I picked the plants bu Murphy takes care of them, I once killed a cactus and I’m not killing his plant babies!

If you're married, who proposed? What are your rings like, if you wear any. What was the ceremony like?

Blazko: So you’ve seen this post right? I’m not going to change it I adore it too much,like yeah Fay doesn’t want to be center of attention and being on air for millions who just watched Engel die is her literal worst nightmare but Blazko’s proposal is so sweet and she absolutely utterly adores his words so of course she’s going to say yes and hug him. The rings are simple, hers is Blazko’s family heirloom from his mother and his ring is similar to it. The ceremony was small with friends since they have no family left.

Murphy: We aren’t married and won’t be. We decided its for the best,Murphy’s last marriage didn’t go so well and it would just open wounds to go all over again with the ceremony, preparations, the proposal.. I don’t need marriage in order to know how deeply he and I love each other. Living together and being in love is enough for us ♥

[wolainterns]

The O’odham Nation’s Opposition to the U.S.-Mexico Border

By: Elissa Prieto; Fall 2020 Border Security Intern

Border Wall 732 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/)

The Trump Administration’s continued efforts to construct new sections of the U.S.-Mexico Border Wall have been met by opposition from various Indigenous groups. The O’odham Nation, whose lands transcend the border from Arizona to Sonora, Mexico, has been significantly active in recent months. These protests, as well as the efforts by U.S. officials to quell them, have brought attention to how border wall construction is affecting this nation’s lands. If the Biden administration does not take the potential impact of the border wall into consideration, it will divide a people, permanently damage an ecological refuge, and endanger wildlife.

Protests by the O’odham Nation

On September 21, 2020, O’odham  protestors occupied a construction site on the Arizona-Mexico border in the Sonoran Desert. Temporarily halting the raising of steel panels, they prayed, chanted, and burned sage for five hours to protest the 30-foot wall the Trump administration ordered for construction through the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Located within their ancestral homeland, the intended wall construction was in an area they also consider sacred due the presence of burial and ceremonial grounds as well as the sacred Quitobaquito Springs.

Officials with the U.S. Border Patrol and National Park Service ordered the protestors to move. But after refusing the orders, the peaceful prayer circle was met with a disturbing use of force. The armed federal agents knocked the protestors to the ground and separated and threatened them with stun guns, all captured in a  filmed confrontation.

This episode is among many incidents in which federal agents acted against the wishes of Indigenous communities. Earlier in September, two O’odham protestors were arrested at a  demonstration near Quitobaquito Springs, a rare desert oasis and fragile ecosystem with diminished water levels resulting from the nearby extraction of groundwater for cement mixing. The detained women say they were  deposited in a private prison, chained, and denied access to a phone call or lawyer for almost 24 hours. The women now face  federal charges for entering a restricted area and violating a lawful order to leave the closed construction area. The manner in which Indigenous lands are being affected by construction illustrate why O’odham activists have resorted to protests to draw media attention and impede further harm.  

The Potential Impact of the U.S.-Mexico Border Wall

 These efforts to expand the U.S.-Mexico border wall carry the potential to negatively and permanently impact Indigenous lands, divide a border tribe, and imperil  wildlife and artifacts. These developments have been enabled by the Department of Homeland Security’s ability to waive federal laws, which would otherwise have limited or even impeded construction in some of these areas.     

The Trump administration has advanced the border wall project through bypassing the  Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act as well as with federal waivers. It has also been enabled to do so by a 1988 Supreme Court ruling that reduced the capability of Indigenous tribes to preserve sacred sites on federally controlled lands, including national parks. 

Besides being considered sacred by the O’odham Nation, the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument was deemed an international biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1976. A study predicted that construction of the wall has the capacity to  damage or even destroy more than 20 archaeological sites in the 517 square mile monument.

Additionally, this National Monument is located between the Tohono O’odham Reservation and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. The San Miguel Gate, which connects tribe members living in the United States and Mexico, runs the risk of being severed by the border wall. “It would be as if I walked into your home and felt like your home was not safe, but I want to build a wall right smack in the middle of your home and let me divide your family,”  said Verlon Jose, the O’odham tribal vice chairman. “It is putting a blockage into our way of life, into things that we’ve been doing for hundreds and hundreds of years. And when you interrupt those things, bad things happen.”

Jose also clarified that despite its opposition to the wall, the O’odham Nation has not maintained a complacent attitude towards border security. Over the past few years, they have annually dedicated more than  $3 million of their tribal  funds to securing the border. The nation has also collaborated with Border  Patrol, although an increased presence has led to tribal members complaining  of excessive stops with unnecessary questioning, cut fences, and roads eroded from frequent use. Members of the O’odham Nation have also used their own policing methods to combat human trafficking and drug smuggling.

In addition to the threats the border wall poses to Indigenous lands and wildlife, the O’odham Nation claims the Defense Department neglected to consult with it in accordance with federal requirements before allowing defense funds to be used to construct the wall on their property. Tribal Chairman Ned Norris Jr. said  Executive Order 13175, issued by Bill Clinton in 2000, maintains that agencies require “an accountable process to ensure meaningful and timely input by tribal officials in the development of regulatory policies that have tribal implications.” The government’s consultations with the tribe could have resulted in an approach that took the potential negative effects of border wall construction into account without bypassing federal regulations.

“For most Americans, they don’t feel any connection to these places and people. Indian communities and our issues are just abstractions,” said David  Martinez, an associate professor of American Indian studies at Arizona State University. When Notre Dame burned down, people from all across the world expressed their devastation and support for France. Millions felt an emotional connection to the building, even if they were not Catholic. “That kind of emotional connection is abundant in the case of the border issues for the Tohono O’odham” said Martinez. The comparable history and cultural significance of the sacred lands and monuments being damaged by border wall construction provides perspective to the emotional connection that has motivated Indigenous peoples to organize protests. However, limited media coverage and the government’s role in this situation has prevented them from receiving widespread support or concern.

Potential Solutions

As border wall construction continues, expanding communication and collaboration between government officials, Indigenous representatives, and scientists could provide approaches that take border security, the O’odham Nation, and wildlife into consideration. Verlon Jose said “I believe that working together we can do more. Technology is a key. Right now they’re proposing the integrated fixed tower- that’s a virtual wall that’s going to… be the eyes out there.” As technology continues to advance, more alternatives for border security could be implemented that would not divide a border tribe or inhibit the migratory flows of wildlife. It should also be noted that the humanitarian crisis at the border and privacy concerns are other issues to be taken into account by the Biden administration as it addresses border security

Organizations concerning wildlife have proposed economical improvements to technology. The exorbitant expense of physical barriers can limit the funding of effective border-security tools such as aircraft and patrol boats, furthering the appeal of high-tech alternatives.  The inclusion of equipment such as seismic detectors and radar can produce a more proficient virtual border wall that does not endanger border tribes or wildlife. “Unlike physical walls, such approaches have little wildlife impact,” said National Wildlife Federation President and CEO Collin O’Mara.  He also noted that more than 60 members of Congress have signed bipartisan legislation that would “ensure the most practical and effective technologies are deployed on the border, a win for wildlife and the nation. ”The incorporation of this technology should follow consultations and agreements with the O’odham Nation and border communities that take their concerns about surveillance into account.

This governmental support illustrates that an alternative path is possible. Continued border wall construction would continue harming several populations at an excessive cost, highlighting the need for modified action moving forward. Governmental collaboration with Indigenous groups, scientists, and wildlife activists could produce a future approach that is secure, ecologically sustainable, and where the legal rights and needs of all the individuals involved are acknowledged and respected. “When I grew up living near the U.S./Mexico border, the Tohono O’odham elders taught me that our sacred mountains and springs-as well as our most important spiritual ceremonies and pilgrimages-occur on both sides of the international boundary” said Verlon Jose. “They are important for the people, but according to our beliefs, they are also important for the health and well-being of the land itself. We must continue our traditional and religious practices to keep the world in balance.”

[arbazzu]

Clarifying my ideas (SU comic?)

Since SU ended, I really felt the will to make fan comics. I felt like I needed to kinda participate to that wonderful story. And even if nobody will read this I wanted to propose some ideas, just in case I get some returns, but yeah that probably won’t happen ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I had that idea of making a comic that would “add” episodes to Future? I mean, fan-episodes that would answer some questions, for example: -Where did Mean Lapis, Bluebird and Cactus Steven go -What are the Off Colors (and Emerald?) up to -What happened to Volleyball’s eye -What was in THE FREAKIN’CHEST, etc But yeah I feel like I should start with something simpler, cause otherwise I’m gonna panic due to the amount of work and give up (: So I guess I’m just gonna make a list of my idea (so those would be small comics, not huge sagas) -A comic about Nephrite, and what she’s up to since Change Your Mind -A comic about my original gem Sulphur, who would be an old terraformer friend of Lapis and who would come to Little Homeschool -A comic about Yellow and Blue Pearl, and their hypothetical fusion Green Pearl (I drew her several times :) Can’t come up with any other ideas rn so I guess that’s all Lemme hear what you’d like to see I you want to  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[dogcopter]

SUF Returns promo thoughts. Leak and promo spoilers

I don’t have it perfectly pieced together or anything but I think we’re getting two episodes out of that promo, max three. I may have it backwards in order but think it splits roughly between the proposal slash rejection & the car crash and CYM memories. Then maybe ends on a peak cliffhanger for the following weekend with everyone worried for him. trying to sort scenes based on subject and time of day. Really debating some of them

Episode A (Greg and Steven): falling from house, house falling on nightmare? (precedent to CYM dreams) Crashes the car and ends up with him and Greg in hospital. Triggered somehow to CYM flashbacks in hospital. Maybe Nightmare set in hospital = new PD dream memory triggered by CYM from last episode (hence the scale being off). Daytime Gems confront him about his "outbursts” and he runs out, leaving his things behind. comes home in evening to worried gems in rain hiding hand (corruption?)? Maybe scene with tape or whatever is glowing in that scene, possibly related to Rose/convo/CYM flashbacks?

Episode B (Connie and Steven): hospital nightmare? wakes up stll pink with torn sleeves and talks to Connie on phone in morning. Makes plans to see her. (maybe the boat scene? planning proposal?) Proposes to Connie in evening on cliff. after, upset again. (changes costume and runs back out to woods? nighttime tree punching and superspeed maybe?)

These two plus Cactus Steven are peak crisis for Steven’s closest loved ones seeing him lose control. I wonder what’s gonna happen in 13.