#the first one is because the story is moving too fast in a murder arc to really get silly with the bluhs

[thefastestclockintheuniverse]

Just to really drive home how good the DELICIOUS panel is, please regard my carefully curated collection of BLUH panels.

[whisperedmeg]

FLUORESCENT MERCY ―.✦ s.r. soft animal series ∘ part i

pairing: spencer reid x fem!nurse!reader

summary: spencer reid was never cut out for prison. under the buzz of the fluorescent overheads in the prison infirmary, spencer meets a nurse who sees beyond his inmate number.

genre: hurt/comfort, fluff

w/c: 7.7k (yikes sorry)

tags/warnings: s12 prison arc, mentions of drugs and murder, afab reader goes by she/her pronouns, flirting, banter, probably horribly inaccurate info on medical treatment and prison healthcare, mention of Alzheimer’s/schizophrenia, sadboy spencer, minor sexual tension, fluff, mentions of blood and other injury, spencer gets hurt a few times but he’s okay, reader lowkey kind of cyberstalks spencer but it’s fine she’s sweet

a/n: hello!! first time posting a fic on here eeeep. mostly writing this for myself more than anyone else tbh, but i hope anyone who stumbles upon this mouthful enjoys it. get to know me here. a few disclaimers: I am not a nurse!!! I have never worked in the correctional system or even been inside a prison before!!! there will probably be plenty of inaccuracies as to how that all works, and if that will bother you, this probably isn’t the fic for you and that’s okay. this is just for funsies :-) staying mostly true to the prison arc canon but with some tweaks for the sake of the story. story is told by reader from first person, very very minimal use of y/n (only when it’s absolutely necessary). again, i am very very brand new to posting fics on tumblr (+ writing for criminal minds in general) so I appreciate any and all interactions with this fic and any advice/feedback in my asks is always welcome! if you enjoy, please reblog! there’s really no other way for me to get this thing out there as a brand new blog, so that would mean the world to me 🤍

this is part of a series, but can be read as a stand-alone one shot!

series masterlist

Some days the air inside the infirmary felt heavier than others — thick with stale disinfectant and something harder to qualify. Grief, maybe. Danger, sometimes. Or resignation. Or just the ache of a hundred slow-moving lives, pressed up against metal and concrete.

I’d gotten used to it, mostly. That dull, pulsing ache. But occasionally I still caught myself pausing between tasks and wondering how I’d ended up here. Not in a bad way. Just… reflective. Being a nurse in a prison infirmary wasn’t the kind of job most little girls dreamed about, and it definitely wasn’t the kind of job that made first dates lean in with interest.

But I chose this. On purpose.

I’d seen what broken systems could do. I’d watched people be forgotten because it was easier that way. Being here meant I could be the person who didn’t look away. The person who treated people like people, even when the rest of the world pretended they were less than human.

I never used to picture myself here. Not in a place like this, anyway. But life doesn’t always move in straight lines, and I’ve learned not to fight the curves.

I became a nurse because I wanted to help. Not in some abstract, motivational quote-type of way, but in a way that matters. Out of school, I specialized in trauma for a while. Emergency room work in the city, night shift, a revolving door of chaos. At first, I loved the fast-paced and high-intensity nature of that environment, but I burned out quickly. When the opportunity came up to transfer into the correctional system, most of my colleagues looked at me like I was nuts for even considering it. But I didn’t flinch. People in here deserved care, too. Especially in here. No matter what they’d done to end up in prison.

There’s a different kind of urgency in prison nursing. You see a lot of pain that runs deeper than physical injury — shame, grief, resignation, embarrassment, numbness. Some inmates came in loud, either angry at the world or simply desperate to charm their way into extra pain medication or a reason to sit out of laundry duty. Others were quiet and looked right past you — or through you. Quiet because of shame or misery or as if the simple act of hearing their own voice could beckon danger to their feet. I didn’t blame them. The main goal for most was survival, plain and simple. And sometimes, simply surviving a place like this was hard enough.

—

He came in during the tail end of my shift one Wednesday — tall, hunched a little like he didn’t want to take up any more space than absolutely necessary, with curls still damp from the showers and a bloodied gauze pad pressed sloppily to the side of his left hand. A cut. Not bad, but deep enough to need attention. He sat perched on the edge of the cot like it might vanish under him if he moved too suddenly, his shoulders rounded and his head dipped down.

“Spencer Reid?” I asked to confirm his name, checking the file. He responded with the tiniest nod of acknowledgement, as if he forgot his muscles still worked. I lifted my eyes up from the paperwork to try to meet his, but they remained firmly trained down at his lap.

He was a new inmate, having just arrived at Millburn three days prior. Eerily quiet. Noticeably out of place. Something about his appearance didn’t seem to suit him, either. The patchy stubble peppering his jaw and the unruliness of his hair just looked off, and it was clear that he normally presented himself in a way that was much more cleaned up than this. It took me about 45 seconds to determine that the version of him before me wasn’t an accurate depiction of the man inside the jumpsuit.

My cursory read of his file was littered with red flags. Arrested in Mexico? Immediate FBI involvement? Last-minute switch from protective custody to gen pop upon arrival? Something seemed… strange, even for federal prison, where strangeness and corruption were the norm. I shook my head slightly, as if trying to literally clear my mind. Investigating or even knowing anything about his background at all wasn’t my job: I was here to provide medical care, so I turned off the instinctually curious part of my brain and got to work. “So. You cut your hand?”

He nodded once, barely lifting his eyes. “Library. Book spine split,” he replied. “There was a metal strip inside the binding. I wasn’t paying attention.”

His voice was soft but even, the kind of tone you could almost mistake for calm if you weren’t paying attention. He didn’t flinch when I took his hand, but I felt the muscles in his forearm and wrist pull taut like a wire. Clearly this man was uncomfortable with physical touch. I almost felt bad, but I couldn’t do my job without touching him, so I kept my hold.

“Sorry to hear that,” I said, trying to find that tone that falls somewhere between neutral and kind. “The prison library is supposed to be a safe place amongst all the chaos.”

The corner of his mouth twitched ever-so-slightly. Maybe a smile, maybe just a tic.

I cleaned the cut and wrapped it. His tension seemed to fade a bit as I worked, but it was replaced with something sadder — surprise at the genuine care I was showing him.

“Should heal up fine,” I told him. “Just try to keep it clean. If you notice any signs of infection like redness or fever, tell the guards you need to come back. Otherwise, I hope I don’t have to see you back here again. No more cuts, okay?”

He gave a polite nod, still not quite looking at me. “Thank you,” he murmured. He flicked his eyes up to me for a fleeting moment — brown, maybe? Hazel? Somewhere kind of golden in between? Before I could decipher the answer, he dropped his gaze back down to his lap.

And then he was gone, escorted out just as quickly as he’d come in.

It wasn’t anything remarkable. It was the type of patient interaction I’d normally forget before a shift was even over. But something about the way he’d sat so quietly, like he was trying not to leave even a speck of evidence of his existence, stayed with me.

Some inmates at Millburn talked too much. Some didn’t want to talk at all. Spencer Reid was the kind who seemed like he used to talk a lot, but had forgotten how.

—

My apartment was dark and quiet when I got home from work — just the low hum of the refrigerator and the occasional creak of the air vents as they settled into the night. I shrugged out of my scrubs, tossed them into the laundry basket, wrapped my robe around my body, and tied my hair up, my mind in a post-work fog. Some shifts clung to me longer than others. Today hadn’t been particularly bad, but I still felt the weight of it hanging somewhere behind my sternum. The longer I worked at Millburn, the heavier that weight seemed to get.

I microwaved a cup of leftover soup and curled up on the couch with my legs tucked beneath me, a blanket over my lap, and the TV playing something I wasn’t watching. My body was home, safe, comfortable. But my mind? My mind was somewhere else entirely.

The quiet, sad patient from the other day. Spencer Reid.

I hadn’t seen him again since I’d cleaned out that cut on his hand a few days ago, but for some unknown reason, he lingered in my head longer than most patients ever did. I’d told myself it was just professional curiosity understandably fueled by glaring abnormalities — that strange patchwork of mystery surrounding his intake file, the dissonance between the man and the setting. But if I was being honest with myself, I knew it was more than that.

It was the way he held himself like he was waiting to be punished for existing. The way his eyes, when they finally lifted, looked out from a place far deeper than the moment called for. The way he thanked me like my ounce of kindness caught him off guard.

One thing seemed clear: he didn’t belong there. I didn’t know what he’d done to end up in a federal penitentiary, but everything about him — the tone he used, the posture, the way he moved like someone used to quieter places — made it feel off. Not in the arrogant way that some white-collar criminals carried themselves, no — there was no smugness, no entitlement. Just… misalignment. Like he’d been suddenly dropped into a life that wasn’t his own.

I reached for my phone before I could talk myself out of it.

The search bar blinked at me, empty and expectant. I hesitated. It was a line I hadn’t crossed yet since I took the job at Millburn, but curiosity had always been a close cousin to empathy, and mine were tightly wound. So I typed his name into the search engine.

I was met with dozens of articles. Some recent — bold headlines about his arrest, drug and murder charges, extradition from Mexico, and a leaked photograph of him looking disoriented and bruised, eyes wide with something between confusion and betrayal. I learned he was awaiting trial, denied bail and remanded to federal custody.

I continued to scroll. Older articles populated the page — articles that painted a very different picture of the man in the photo. An FBI profiler with the Behavioral Analysis Unit out of Quantico. Over a decade of service. Genius-level IQ. Multiple PhDs. A polymath, one article said. Another quoted a journalist who referred to him as “a human encyclopedia with a badge.” I found footage of him from an old press conference, standing stiffly beside a blonde woman in a blazer, answering questions with a verbosity of language and a voice that sounded steadier, more self-assured than the quiet one I’d heard in the infirmary three days ago. I breezed through a few more articles, then I stopped scrolling.

I didn’t know what any of it meant, but I did know that the story in the recent headlines didn’t seem to line up with the man I’d met, the man who he appeared to have been prior to his arrest. That nagging feeling in my gut, the one I’d felt since his eyes first met mine, was still there.

I closed out of my phone and sat in the quiet a while longer, my vision blurred and out of focus, wondering what it must feel like to go from that kind of life — traveling around the country, solving impossible crimes, saving countless lives — to a place where everything is taken from you. To become the type of man that people only see as the charges on a rap sheet.

Whatever he’d done (or hadn’t done), he was still a person. But it was obvious to me that he no longer really felt like one.

I shut off the TV and let the darkness settle around me. I took a long, warm shower in an attempt to clear my head, but his name and his face still hovered around the hazy edges of my thoughts. I’d met a lot of inmates who wore guilt like a second skin. Spencer Reid didn’t. Whatever his story was, I had a feeling it hadn’t been fully told. And part of me — the quiet, stubborn part — wasn’t quite ready to let that go.

—

The second time I saw him, it was raining. Not the kind of rain that makes people pause at windows, but the kind that soaks the world in gray and turns everything sluggish.

Inside the infirmary, the ceiling buzzed faintly with humidity and fluorescent fatigue, and the consistent pitter-patter of rain against the barred windows made it easy to forget there was any world outside these walls at all. I was restocking gauze when I noticed his name on the intake log, two and a half weeks from his first visit.

Reid, Spencer. Mild cough. Lightheadedness. Possible fever.

My fingers paused over the clipboard, barely grazing the pen. I wasn’t sure what I expected — or why it mattered at all. He was just another patient. Just another inmate. Still, I felt something shift when I walked up to his cot. He was noticeably pale, a little drawn, like the weight of something invisible had pressed down on his bones. The weight of this place, of his situation.

“Hello again,” I said softly. “Guess we’re making this a habit. Thought I told you I didn’t want to see you back here?”

He looked up at that — actually looked up. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes stayed on mine for a beat longer than they had last time.

“I didn’t plan on it,” he said, voice quiet.

“I believe you.”

I moved through the usual steps: gloves on, vitals checked, a listen to his lungs. He wasn’t running a high fever, just something low-grade. His breath hitched slightly on the inhale, but there was no wheeze, no crackle. Probably viral. Should clear itself up in a week at most.

Still, he looked… frayed. Like someone who hadn’t slept properly in days. His hands were clean, but his nails were shorter than last time, bitten down. His face appeared sunken and his under eyes had a distinctly purple hue to them.

“Have you been sleeping?” I asked gently.

He tilted his head. “As much as possible. So, no.”

I didn’t push. Sometimes the answer wasn’t what mattered — it was how it was given.

We were quiet for a while as I documented the basics. I could feel his eyes drifting across the room, landing briefly on the supply shelves, the bulletin board, the sink. Avoiding mine, but not out of defiance. Out of caution, maybe. Or simple awkwardness. He coughed, and I handed him a paper cup filled with water.

“I read once,” he said suddenly, “that coughs often get worse when you’re trying not to think about them.”

I offered a small smile. “Sometimes trying not to think about something just leads you to focus on it even more. And thinking about a cough can trigger the reflex, even without physical cause. So I would say try not to think about it, but, you know…vicious cycle.”

His mouth twitched — a shadow of amusement, there and then gone. The air between us felt a little less still.

“You’re not what I would’ve expected from someone who works here,” he said after a moment.

I arched a brow, clipping my pen back onto my clipboard. “What did you expect?”

He shrugged. “Less… human.”

I offered him a small, empathetic smile. “Well,” I said after a beat, “lucky for you, I don’t know how to be anything else.”

I handed him some Tylenol and told him to keep hydrated. As I wrote out the discharge slip, I instructed him to come back if the fever feels like it isn’t breaking, and to try and get as much sleep as is possible in a place like this.

“Thanks,” he said before he left. Just like the time before, the word landed like he really meant it.

He walked up to the guard waiting for him, stepped out into the corridor, and was gone. I found myself wondering, again, who he really was — beneath the headlines, beneath the polyester prison uniform, beneath whatever pain had hollowed him out into a shell of who he used to be.

—

The infirmary was chaos.

Not the full-blown ER chaos of my past — just the slow, stomping, institutional kind. Raised voices, the occasional drop of blood, too many bandages unrolled across the counters. There had been some sort of fight in the cafeteria, supposedly over a stolen piece of cornbread. Or maybe a slur. Or a look. No one ever really knew for sure how these things started. By the time the inmates were dragged in — limping, cursing, sweating, sometimes screaming — it didn’t matter anyways.

I was elbow-deep in a butterfly bandage on one man’s eyebrow when I noticed him: Spencer, sitting quietly near the far wall.

He didn’t look as badly hurt as the others. His posture was too upright to suggest anything broken. He was holding a wad of gauze to his arm.

I clocked him on the low-priority end of the triage sheet: Laceration, superficial. Minor bleeding. Stable.

Sandra, the other nurse on duty, eventually crossed the room to him once we’d worked through the others. I could hear her asking him to remove the gauze.

“Clean cut,” she said. “Might need a few stitches.”

“I’ve had worse,” he replied, voice flat.

I was just finishing with discharge paperwork for a dislocated shoulder when I heard Sandra say, “We’ll get you patched up quick. Hang tight.” I glanced over, and he was already watching me. He quickly flicked his gaze to the floor.

“I’ve got that one Sandra,” I said over my shoulder, peeling off my gloves and tugging on a fresh pair. “Can you finish up this discharge for me?”

She raised a brow but didn’t question it, just nodded and switched places with me.

“Lucky me,” he murmured. It wasn’t quippy or sarcastic. It actually sounded genuine.

“You say that like you’re not sitting on a lumpy cot with your arm bleeding.”

He tilted his head, lifting his eyes to meet mine. “Well. Silver linings, I guess.”

I sat on the rolling stool beside him and started cleaning the wound. It wasn’t deep, but it ran a jagged path just beneath the curve of his bicep — a random flying lunch tray, I guessed. Wrong place, wrong time.

“You weren’t involved in the fight,” I said, phrasing it as more of a statement than a question.

“No,” he confirmed quietly. “Just passing by. I ducked too slow.”

I smiled without looking up. “Ah, classic mistake. You’ve got to learn to duck before the tray gets airborne.”

That actually got a laugh out of him — a soft, surprised sound, as if he hadn’t expected it from himself. He blinked down at me, momentarily disarmed. “You make jokes now?”

“Only in life-or-minor-laceration situations.”

The edges of his mouth twitched again. The usual shadow in his eyes was still there, but it seemed to thin out when he looked at me. A veil, instead of a wall.

“You’ve done this before,” he said as I threaded the suture needle.

“Stitches?” I asked. “Well, yeah. Hundreds of times.”

“No. I meant…this. Calming people down.”

I paused for just a second, then resumed. “Part of the job too, I guess.”

He didn’t reply, but his breathing had slowed. I worked quickly, neatly. The room was almost empty now. Just one CO near the door, arms crossed, barely paying attention. When I finished, I handed Spencer some gauze and medical tape. “You’ll want to keep this dry, at least for twenty-four hours. Try not to lift anything heavy. Or start any cafeteria fights.”

He shot me a shy, lopsided smile. “No promises.”

The guard called his name then — sharp, abrupt. Spencer stood, moving more slowly than necessary, tucking the gauze into the pocket of his jumpsuit. He looked down at me one last time, and for a second, neither of us said anything.

“Thanks, y/n.”

It was the first time he’d said my name. He must’ve read it on my badge, clipped to the pocket of my scrubs.

“You’re welcome, Spencer. Try not to need to come back if you can help it.”

He followed the guard out without looking back, but something lingered in the air after he left — the smell of antiseptic mixed with something warmer underneath, just a faint trace of something hard to name.

—

It had been a long morning — nothing dramatic, just a steady stream of minor injuries and chronic complaints. Small cuts that somehow still bled too much, headaches no amount of ibuprofen could touch, an older inmate who claimed chest pain every Tuesday at the same time he knew my shift started like clockwork. I was halfway through restocking the suture tray when a CO came in with another patient. I looked up and fought back a smile at who it was.

The new cut Spencer was sporting wasn’t too bad — a scrape along his forearm, probably from another cafeteria scuffle or a hallway shove — but it was deep enough to bring him back.

Fourth visit to the infirmary in the two months since he first arrived at Millburn. Enough visits that I didn’t need to check the intake clipboard to remember his name, or his face, or his voice.

Spencer sat in the same cot as last time, waiting quietly, hands folded like he was at a lecture instead of a prison clinic. When I walked over, he looked up and nodded in greeting. No smile this time, but not cold either.

“You again,” I said, slipping on gloves.

“Apparently I’m accident-prone.” His tone was deadpan, but there was a flicker of warmth behind it. He offered his arm without being asked.

The scrape was shallow, red around the edges but clean. I could’ve just sent him off with a bandage and a warning, but I didn’t. I pulled over the tray and got to work slowly, methodically cleaning the wound slower than I usually would.

After a moment, I said, “So, Spencer. If you’re going to be a repeat visitor, we might as well get to know one another.”

He looked up at me blankly, blinking.

“Where’d you grow up?” I asked.

He looked back down at his arm while I ran an alcohol pad across it. “Las Vegas.” He winced a little — whether at the words he was saying or the sting of the disinfectant, I wasn’t sure.

I nodded like I didn’t already know. Like I hadn’t read three different articles and an old symposium transcript with his name on it one night after my shift, sitting at my kitchen table in the dark.

“Have you always lived there?”

“No. My mom’s still there, but I moved away when I went to college and left permanently for work. I live here in DC now.”

“What kind of work?” I asked.

He hesitated, just for a second. There weren’t any other inmates in the infirmary, but he dropped his voice to a near-whisper. “I, uh, I’m with the FBI. Behavioral Analysis Unit. Or I was, at least.”

I kept my expression neutral. “That sounds intense.”

“It is.” A pause. “Interesting, though. Never boring. Lots of travel.”

I wiped the scrape clean, letting the silence stretch for a beat before I spoke again. “Do you miss it?”

Another pause, this one a little heavier. “Yeah,” he replied quietly.

He didn’t elaborate, and I didn’t push. Just taped down the bandage and asked, “What’d you study before the FBI?”

“Mathematics. And chemistry. And engineering.” He paused, then added, “Also psychology. Sociology. And philosophy, more recently.”

I looked up at him, eyes wide. “All of those?”

He gave a tiny shrug, like it wasn’t worth mentioning. “I finished my first PhD when I was seventeen.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Show-off,” I said with a breathy laugh.

That got a smile. A real one this time. He looked almost sheepish. “You?”

“What about me?” I asked, pausing my work on his arm to meet his eyes. Hazel in this light. Golden brown in others, definitely.

“Where’d you grow up?”

“Philadelphia,” I said. “Still have the accent when I’m tired or drunk, I’ve been told.”

He nodded like he could hear it already, even though I wasn’t sure I’d ever let it slip around him. “Did you always want to be a nurse?” he asked.

“No,” I admitted. “I never knew what I wanted to be when I was growing up. I actually started college as a literature major before I switched to nursing. I worked in the ER for a while before I ended up here. This job just kind of…fit.”

He didn’t ask what I meant by that. Most people didn’t. He just nodded again, like he understood anyway. “Do you like it?” he asked.

Somehow it felt like a bigger question than it was. “Sometimes,” I said with a quiet sigh. “Some days are harder than others.”

He looked at me for a long moment, and it oddly felt like he knew exactly how I was feeling, like he could see the way the job was wearing me down. Now it was my turn to feel intimidated by his gaze. I turned awkwardly to look at the clock then busied myself tidying up the tray, pretending that the eye contact didn’t linger.

“There you go,” I said, gently patting the gauze I’d taped to his arm. “Try to avoid any more cafeteria collisions, please.”

“I’ll do my best,” he murmured with a shy smirk. He stood when the CO came to collect him, but before he turned to go, he paused.

“Thanks. For this,” he said as he tilted his chin to his arm, “and for… treating me like a person. Just…thanks.”

It wasn’t just polite. It sounded like he meant it. Like it mattered to him, that I called him by name and asked about his life. “You’re welcome, Spencer.”

This time, he did smile at me before he left.

And this time, I watched him walk away a second longer than I meant to.

—

I’d barely clocked in when the alert came through: inmate altercation, multiple injuries, possible head trauma, ETA three minutes.

Not exactly an unusual start to a shift. Fights were as common as bad coffee at Millburn, and most days followed the same dull rhythm — triage, patch-up, repeat. But one name on the intake list made my pulse hiccup: Reid, Spencer. Stab wound to the thigh. Suspected concussion.

I barely looked up at first — just long enough to confirm it was him, sitting upright on the cot, jumpsuit leg soaked with blood and torn a little above the knee. He didn’t look scared, but he didn’t look fine, either. Sandra moved toward him with a clipboard, but I touched her arm before she could speak. “I’ve got this one.”

“Of course you want the cute one,” she grumbled under her breath, but then she just nodded and headed over to tend to another waiting inmate.

I crossed the room slowly, cataloging him: alert, steady breathing, pale but not shocky. His gaze wasn’t confused, just… disconnected. Like he’d already run the numbers in his head and decided exactly how bad it was and whether it had been worth it.

He turned his head when I got close. There was blood on his temple — superficial. The leg was worse. Deep, clean. Too clean for it to be the result of a chaotic brawl, which meant it wasn’t chaos. It was personal. And the angle of it appeared to be possibly self-inflicted. I wondered if he’d done it to himself in an attempt to get moved into solitary.

“Hey,” I said. “Rough day?”

Spencer gave me a humorless half-smile. “Story of my life lately.”

I pulled a stool beside his leg, gently peeling back the torn fabric to assess the wound. “You’ll need stitches. At least ten. You take a hit to the head, too?”

He hesitated. “Not really.”

I met his eyes. I hesitated too, then dropped my voice. “But you could say you did.”

He blinked. Just a flicker. I pressed on, quietly. “If you did, I’d have to put you on observation. Infirmary bed. Eight hours minimum. Away from the block.”

A beat of silence. Then a soft, “Yeah. I definitely got hit in the head.”

I nodded once, then clicked my pen and wrote it down. Possible concussion. It wasn’t a complete lie — not exactly. But it wasn’t about the protocol either.

As the infirmary quieted and the other inmates cycled through, I stitched his leg in silence. Sandra kept to the intake desk. I led Spencer to the far corner, away from the fluorescent overhead lights, and dimmed them slightly. I pulled a tray table between us and sat down across from him like we had all the time in the world.

“Brain games,” I said, gesturing to the shelf behind me. “Helps me assess cognitive function.”

“You’re making that up,” he said, almost smiling.

“Of course I am.” I smirked, setting up the chessboard. “You play?”

“I used to. Not as much anymore,” he said quietly.

We played in silence first, but slowly, words started to fill the spaces between our moves. He told me about his eidetic memory and the languages he could speak. I told him about my time working in the ER, about the burnout, about why I took this job. He mentioned someone named Gideon — an old friend, mentor maybe — who taught him to play. I lost three games in a row, and on the final checkmate, I groaned. “Let’s take a break.”

He nodded, then opened his mouth like he might say something else, but he didn’t. I waited. Sandra disappeared into the break room.

After a few seconds, I spoke. “Can I ask how you ended up here?” My voice stayed soft, careful. Not clinical — I wasn’t asking as his nurse.

His whole expression shifted, and he looked guarded. I regretted asking instantly. “Sorry. You don’t have to—”

“No, no. It’s okay. I want to tell you. I just don’t know where to start.”

“Start at the beginning,” I suggested with a shrug.

He looked away, pausing. He took a long breath, and for a moment before he spoke, I thought maybe he never would. “My mom,” he finally said. “She’s schizophrenic. And… about a year ago, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.”

The words knocked something loose in me. I felt it, sharp and instinctive. “I’m so sorry,” I said.

He blinked like he hadn’t expected sympathy. “Thanks. I didn’t really handle the diagnosis well. Started looking into treatments — trials, compounds, oils, anything that might help. I found a woman in Mexico making something that worked. Nothing illegal, but the specific compound isn’t FDA-approved. So I started traveling down there every few months, in secret.”

I watched his leg bounce slightly under the table. Not from pain, but from nerves.

“The last trip… someone drugged me. Planted narcotics in a car and somehow I ended up behind the wheel in the desert. The woman I’d been getting the medication from, Rosa — she was murdered. They blamed me. I was arrested. Framed. I know that probably sounds like what every guy in here says, but…it’s true. My team and I think it was a serial killer we arrested a few years back — he escaped custody last year.”

His voice got quieter as the story stretched out. Thinner, like it was costing him more and more to keep talking. “My team got me extradited back to the U.S. They helped find me a good lawyer. But I was remanded to custody without bail. So… here I am.”

I let it settle, allowing myself to feel the full weight of it. I’d read bits and pieces online, after that first cut I’d stitched months ago. But hearing it like this? It was different. Sadder, somehow. “I believe you,” I said softly.

He blinked. “Why?”

I tilted my head, considering. “Because…well, I’ve seen guilty. This isn’t it. Plus, if your team’s still backing you, that means something.”

He looked down, fiddling with a chess piece. “I think most people want to believe I’m guilty. That I snapped or something. It’s easier than believing the alternative.”

“Easier doesn’t mean truer,” I said simply.

He looked back up and smiled. It was small, but real. “Can we play something else now?”

We pulled out Scrabble, and the conversation drifted with it — books, places, bad camping trips. He laughed at my story about a raccoon stealing my breakfast, and the sound surprised both of us.

“I haven’t laughed in a while,” he said.

I poked the back of his Scrabble tile rack. “You’re welcome.”

Sometime during our third game, he asked: “Why aren’t you married?”

I blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You don’t wear a ring. I just assumed.”

I shrugged. “You first.”

He laughed quietly. Told me about his failed attempts at dating. The woman he lost at the hands of her stalker. The job that got in the way.

I gave him my version. How the hours I worked scared people off. How guys never seemed to call back after finding out I worked in a men’s prison. How I’d rather be alone than explain myself yet again to someone who wouldn’t get it.

“Honestly,” I said, “most men want someone who makes their life easier. Not darker.”

“That wouldn’t stop me,” he said quietly.

I stilled, the statement catching me off guard. I waited a moment to process what he’d said, to make sure I’d heard it correctly. “What?”

His cheeks flushed. “I mean, it…it wouldn’t stop me from wanting to know someone. If they worked here. If they were like you.”

“Like me?”

Spencer nodded. “Smart. Honest. Beautiful.” His voice cracked shyly on that last one. “Brave. A little scary.” He chuckled, then took a breath. “If they were you,” he finally clarified softly, his eyes awkwardly flicking down to the board before meeting mine again.

We didn’t move. Didn’t touch. But something shifted — a soft tilt in the air between us.

He swallowed hard. “That was inappropriate. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“Technically, yeah, it was inappropriate. But I’m not uncomfortable.” A moment passed. My knee brushed his under the table — light, accidental. “It was an unexpected comment, but it wasn’t unwelcome,” I finally added.

He paused for a few beats, absorbing what I’d said, the way I’d reacted, the brush of my knee. “Hypothetically,” he said, “if I got out of here… would you want to try meeting again? On the outside.”

I let the breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding leave me slowly. “Hypothetically… yeah. I’d like that. If you’re talking about a date, that is.”

He blinked, like he hadn’t expected that answer. “O-okay. Cool,” he stammered. A sheepish smile tugged at his lips. “Cool.”

I grinned. “So, Spencer. On this hypothetical date, what would we do?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he looked up, very seriously, and asked, “Are we flirting?” It looked as if his brain was mid-calculating risk and probability, like he couldn’t dare answer my question until I answered this one.

I stared back at him. “Do you want to be?”

He coughed, surprised I’d thrown the question back at him. “I…don’t not want to be. I just didn’t think you’d want to flirt with me.”

“I don’t usually flirt with inmates,” I said slowly. “I mean… I don’t ever.” I held his gaze. “You’re a special case.”

Spencer tilted his head slightly, watching me like he was trying to decode a particularly complicated puzzle. “Special how?”

I met his gaze, letting the moment stretch between us. “You’re…different. You don’t walk in here full of swagger or venom. You don’t talk down to anyone. You’re very attractive. You’re nice to me even when you don’t have any reason to want to be. You don’t…you don’t belong here.”

His throat worked as he swallowed, then glanced toward Sandra before returning his eyes to mine. “Some days I’m not sure where I belong anymore.” There was a quiet honesty in his voice that hollowed something out inside me. That sharp, aching awareness of how deeply alone someone could feel, even in a room full of people. Especially then.

I reached across the little table and nudged the corner of the Scrabble board closest to him with my fingertips. “Well, for the next few hours, you belong here. With me. Under ‘observation.’” I gave him a tiny, conspiratorial smile.

He smiled back, the edges of his lips tugging up in that crooked way I was beginning to associate with him. “You’re a very thorough observer.”

“It’s in the job description,” I said with a shrug. “Besides, I like to be sure.”

Spencer leaned forward a little, elbows the table, fingers laced together. “What are you sure of?”

I thought for a moment before responding. “I’m sure you didn’t do what they say you did. I’m sure you’re extremely intelligent. I’m sure you care about people more than you let on. And I’m sure that I haven’t looked forward to a shift like this in a very long time.”

Spencer looked down, like he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing, or didn’t know what to do with it. “You’re going to get in trouble for being nice to me.”

“I’m not being nice,” I said. “I’m being… honest. Besides, no one’s listening.”

We sat in silence for a moment, letting that word — honest — hang in the air. It meant something different here at Millburn. It was rare. Sometimes costly. But with Spencer, it didn’t feel dangerous.

Sandra’s voice cut through the stillness, calling out a question to me from the front desk. I stood, my hands brushing the front of my scrubs.

“I’ll be right back,” I told him, heading over to help.

When I returned a few minutes later, Spencer was still seated in the same spot, but his posture had shifted slightly — more relaxed, more open. He’d turned one of the Scrabble tiles over in his fingers, tracing it absently, as if lost in thought.

“You didn’t swap the tiles to cheat while I was gone, did you?” I teased as I sat back down.

He grinned, shaking his head. “I’m too much of a perfectionist. Cheating would ruin the whole point.”

“Good to know,” I murmured, reclaiming my spot across from him. “So. You never answered my question.”

He tilted his head.

“Hypothetical first date. What would we do?”

A small flicker of hesitation crossed his face — maybe uncertainty, maybe just the weight of imagining something he wasn’t sure he should allow himself to hope for. But then, he spoke.

“I’d take you to the planetarium,” he said. “They do these night shows on Thursdays. There’s music — actual curated playlists — and they project constellations onto the dome. You can lean back and look at the stars without all the city lights getting in the way.”

I blinked, caught off guard by how perfect that sounded.

“That’s…actually kind of dreamy,” I said.

He gave a small, bashful shrug. “It’s quiet. We wouldn’t have to talk unless you wanted to. And afterward, there’s a diner around the corner that makes really good pie. We could split a piece or two.”

“Pie and stars,” I said. “I could go for that.”

“I’ll remember,” he said quietly. “For after. If there is one.”

And just like that, the atmosphere shifted again — still soft, still tentative, but edged now with something more electric. Hope. A thread of connection thick enough to feel, even in a place that was never meant for anything tender.

The game slowed, and we didn’t look at the board as much. Our conversation stretched out between moves. I told him how I like old Hollywood movies and hiking when I could get out of the city. Spencer mentioned classical music, science fiction, the smell of bookstores. We sketched out a series of hypothetical first dates like kids killing time — a Sunday at the museum, a night at a trivia bar, a coffee place with mismatched mugs and not enough chairs.

“Do you always win at Scrabble?” I asked, knowing the hours had dwindled away.

“Almost always,” he said, then added with a smile, “Unless I get distracted.”

I raised a brow but said nothing. I thought for a moment, then carefully placed a series of ten tiles along the edge of the board in front of him — each one selected for the small score number etched into the corner. It spelled out gibberish, but it’s not the letters that mattered. When he looked up, I met his eyes.

“That’s a phone number,” I said softly, “not a word.”

He looked down at the tiles, then back up at me again, a soft smile curling at his lips.

“I figured you could try to remember it for when you get out.”

“I will,” he said, his knee brushing mine under the table again — this time, I knew it hadn’t been accidental.

Suddenly, the loud buzzer of the door cut through the atmosphere we’d been so perfectly curating. A CO walked in, indicating the end of Spencer's observation period. I stood up and walked to him. “I need a minute to finish the assessment, then he’s all yours.” The officer nodded then leaned against Sandra’s desk to make flirty small talk.

I padded back to Spencer and noticed the shift in his demeanor — he was scared. Sad, too, for this to end, but the fear in his eyes at the prospect of going back to his cell was evident.

I looked over my shoulder to make sure the guard was distracted, then placed a hand on his knee under the table. “I think I can help,” I said quietly. I stood and grabbed the assessment sheet, filling in my “findings.”

“Patient remains alert and oriented. Mild fatigue consistent with post-concussive recovery. Observation window uneventful. While current concussion symptoms appear mild and improving, patient is at increased vulnerability for subsequent severe head trauma.”

I paused, then lowered my pen, pressing the tip to the page just a little harder.

“Recommend reevaluation for protective custody placement based on frequency of injury and heightened vulnerability. History of recent trauma and exposure suggests increased risk of harm in general population. Further monitoring advised.”

I stared at the paper for a beat, listening to the low hum of the overhead lights. My eyes flicked up to Spencer, who looked at me with some confusion on his face, then back down to the sheet. The language was clinical, common, nothing dramatic. But I knew what it could do for him.

It wouldn’t get him out. But maybe it would give him a little more space. A little more safety. A little more time.

I signed my name at the bottom and flipped the file closed. I motioned for Spencer to get up. “Stay safe,” I said quietly, giving him a look only he could decipher before I waved to the CO to come over.

“Here’s my assessment for the warden,” I said as I handed the file to the CO. “Make sure he gets it tonight, please.” The officer nodded — I had good rapport with the COs here — and he led Spencer out. Spencer looked over his shoulder at me for just a moment, and I saw something deeper in his expression, something he hadn’t shown since I’d met him.

Hope.

—

A week after his concussion observation period, he came in holding his head like it hurt.

It was the first thing I noticed — the way his fingers pressed into his temple, his expression pulled tight in manufactured pain. I’d seen patients genuinely suffering from migraines, seen them blink and tense and wince and faint. This wasn’t that. This was a performance, and not a very good one. He should stick to his day job, I thought to myself. Not cut out to be an actor.

I stifled a giggle and walked up to his cot, looking up from my paperwork and smiling at him softly. “Hey. Back so soon?”

Spencer lowered himself onto the cot with a dramatic sigh, hand still braced against his forehead. “Migraine,” he said, wincing dramatically. “Started last night. Light sensitivity, nausea… the works.”

“Mmhmm,” I hummed, standing and reaching for the small penlight in my coat pocket. “You want to tell me why your pupils look perfectly normal and your blood pressure’s textbook perfect?”

He smiled, just barely. “I missed your voice.”

That stopped me cold. Just for a second, but long enough that I had to pretend to be very interested in the pulse oximeter in my hand.

“That’s…not usually a billable symptom,” I murmured.

He chuckled softly. It was the first time I’d heard him laugh like that. It was warm.

I stepped closer, wrapping the pulse oximeter around his finger even though I already knew what it would say. The tips of his fingers were cold, but his skin was soft. I held it a second longer than necessary, just watching the numbers rise on the tiny screen.

“Looks like you’ll live,” I said.

He tilted his head, looking at me more closely now, and the moment stretched between us — full of unspoken things that couldn’t be said in a place like this. His eyes scanned my face like he was memorizing it.

“I wanted to say thank you,” he said quietly. “For the report you wrote. The recommendation. I’m not stupid. I know that was you.”

I didn’t answer. I just looked down and reached for the thermometer instead. His hand was still resting on his thigh, twitching slightly like he wasn’t sure what to do with it.

“It was medically sound,” I said, voice low. “Repeated head trauma and high-stress environments can—”

He interrupted me with my name. Just my name, nothing else.

I swallowed.

I pretended to take his temperature, the plastic probe tucked beneath his tongue as if any of this still resembled medicine. My fingers grazed his jaw. When I pulled it back, I reached for his wrist to take his heart rate again, manually this time. My fingertips slid over his skin too gently, too deliberately.

The CO by the door shifted his weight with a faint grunt, and I blinked, heart jolting back into rhythm. I pulled my hand back and stepped away, jotting something on the clipboard that didn’t matter. “I’m prescribing you sleep. Go take a nap, FBI boy.”

He smirked at the nickname and stood slowly, like he didn’t want to. “Wasn’t really about the migraine,” he admitted, voice low but steady. “I just… I wanted to see you.”

The truth of it landed heavy between us, no performance, no pretending. Just honesty — stark and bare and strangely brave.

I felt the words settle into my chest like a secret I was glad to keep. I nodded, barely. “I know.”

He gave me a small, crooked smile — softer than the last, tinged with that same look in his eyes I saw last week - hope.

ᝰ.ᐟ

part ii.

[nightsunecilpse]

Now with the mention of Theia, I think it is a good time for theories. I have in the past talked about the Earth and Moon's strange relationship. Luna acts as Earth's white night and Earth treats Luna as a servant. In contrast to the other planets and Moons, they're unique as the other moons need their planet's protection. An argument can be made that Luna is protecting the Earthlings so of course his protectiveness is necessary. To that let me bring up the time Luna left Earth to orbit Mars to make him appreciate him. He only dropped out of the revolution because the death of all Earthlings meant killing Astrodude's family and destroying his friend's proudest achievement. All Luna wanted from the revolution was to be acknowledged and appreciated by his planet, his closest friend. He has built himself to accommodate Earth and is willing to throw himself in danger if it means his friend's safety. So what does the freaking picture have to do with this? Well, I want to expound on how far Luna has taken his defense on behalf of his planet.

The DSOTM was a character I was perplexed about. I thought maybe he was Luna's personified intrusive thoughts or his impulsive thoughts but that can't be it. DSOTM may appear to be Luna's more edgy side but evidence of him showing genuine care for Luna when he was neglected or when he was about to fall into Earth says otherwise. He isn't as edgy as he makes himself out to be and he's potentially as caring as his other side. Luna also does talk to him as if he's a different body and other characters can recognize he's different from Luna, so it's not just Luna's imagination. There's enough evidence to confirm Dark Side and Luna are completely different characters that share a body. Why though? It could be because Luna is tidily locked with Earth and in early formation, it created two sides of the moon. That'd be fine if it wasn't for the fact all the other bigger moons are also tidily locked with their planets and lack a dark side. It could be a creative choice as well but I think there's more to the story. After the collision with Earth and Theia, it left a pretty big mess but it gave the Earth the moon or moons.

The way the moon is thought to have developed was after a collision between two protoplanets 4.5 billion years ago. There were pieces flung from both planets into space and it didn't take long after for the moon to form. But it's thought while the moon was still solidifying another celestial body hit the young moon causing one side to be thinker. Luna was made from a mess and by trying to clear its obit destroyed this previous moon. Luna as a character, might have done this unintentionally or my favorite idea, Luna was just protecting his planet from another impact and used his own body to stop it. They say the moon did form pretty close to the Earth. Perhaps in a metaphorical sense, Luna was immediately attached to his planet and was willing to do anything for him. By the time Earth 2.0 woke up, he'd had only one moon and a lot of space debris around him. As it's implied Earth can't remember anything before the impact and he might have believed Luna came from the junk that floated around him like the other moons. So it's not a far stretch to say Earth didn't see how Luna was truly formed. He might not even know about Luna's dark side as it shows Luna shushing Dark side during his first speaking role or moving away from the planets to talk to him. It is a secret he keeps from his planet. However, if Planet X is the character we all know he is he could be the one to plant the next conflict for the arc after this one.

My prediction is planet x will twist how Luna sees his friendship with Earth. He may expose Luna for being a lunatic when it comes to his planet but it'll happen too fast for anyone to fully process it. Heck, X might pull out everyone's skeletons when it comes to collision. Such as Triton, the former dwarf planet, and the third-degree murder of Neptune's previous moons. This is only a theory though and we can all laugh at this when it's debunked. Whatever happens next, I can't wait.

[avionvadion]

How does el feel about the boys who did attempted murder in the main story? Riddle, Leona, Vil (technically Jamil cuz he yeeted Kalim and Octavinelle so they can freeze to death?)

I think El’s feelings on Riddle are pretty clear in the fic. El has MANY mixed feelings about Leona, because she wanted to be friends with him since he helped her but then he nearly killed her and then he actually sort of protects her during the dreams by keeping her in one place, so self-aware that he’s stopping her from wandering more memories and consequently preventing the curse from growing, so he’s helping her again, just like he did when they first met, and it’s frustrating. They also just recognize each other. They recognize each other’s depression. They recognize that they’re both so tired.

That’s the first thing Eleanora ever noticed about Leona, his exhausted eyes. Eleanora hides her depression better than Leona does (outwardly, at least, as she keeps most of her negative thoughts to herself, until she zones out and her “bad thoughts face” starts showing) because unlike Leona, Eleanora hasn’t completely given up. And seeing the horrors of his childhood, she’s witnessing how he became this way.

And she clocks why he’s doing what he is. That what he’s attempting during the Inter-dorm Tournament isn’t some actual clever scheme, but a last ditch effort, a final hurrah, before he cuts himself out of the pages of history. He’s so suicidal at this point it’s actually heartbreaking and it’s upsetting that most people diss on Book Two because it doesn’t properly explore that fact.

Leona and Eleanora have the MOST complicated relationship out of all the OB boys.

And, during Playful Land, he is also the only one who takes her warnings seriously and when she points out something is wrong (like the clouds are moving too fast) Leona immediately goes to check it out and takes charge, calling a group huddle and discussing the situation and how to handle it with Vil and Eleanora’s inputs.

Also, I believe I made this clear on many posts, but Eleanora absolutely hates Jamil and has the biggest most unforgiving grudge towards him. (Jamil lovers I promise I mean no ill will I just like making situations SO MUCH WORSE and the Scarabia arc has such prime material to do so) and he actually ends up getting a double edged blessing/curse from Malleus. (Not saying what it is yet mwahahahaha. It’s not really something bad, but definitely will be frustrating for Jamil when or if he ever figures it out)

Azul is forgiven, but just barely.

As for Vil, Vil has done the LEAST amount of harm to El during the battle. He’s also helped her out a few times before. I guess Vil and Eleanora have the third most complicated relationship??? Because he was there at Playful Land, seen El die, and yet cursed the Trey snacks without consulting her about it- which could have KILLED her if she ate them, which only further added to Vil’s stress because he’s realizing how illogically he’s thinking and how unlike himself he’s behaving and how he’s taking some of his frustration towards Neige on Eleanora because she has such a similar face to him and it’s obvious he’s not doing okay but he’s so used to bottling everything up he won’t talk to Eleanora or even Rook about it. Is very complicated.

But El isn’t mad at Vil for Overblotting, she’s just kinda sad. She doesn’t hold a grudge either (except about the Trey snacks, DO NOT TOUCH HER TREY SNACKS) because no one was severely hurt and they stopped Vil before any harm could actually come to Neige, and they KNOW he wasn’t in his right mind because as soon as they stopped him he became so damn horrified with himself, and was also one of the rare few who actually APOLOGIZED for everything.

So Vil is chill.

But YEAH. Is very complicated.

[itzr4v3n]

Shattered Mirror/Distorted AU

Might actually make a drawing for this one 🤔

Anyways, I don’t know what y’all expected with the name, but it’s probably a bit misleading, lol

The main idea with this one is that everyone has their personalities altered, “time traveller moves a rock. The timeline:” type shit. They’re basically a copy of their canon selfs, but reflected differently.

Logico: a bit too unserious for his own good, often makes jokes and laughs in serious situations (aka murder scenes), probably killed someone before with no regrets and would do it again.

Irratino: Somehow never in a good mood, always snaps at people or talks in a sarcastic tone, Logico loves to purposely rile him up and Irratino hates how he lets himself be affected

Their rival arc is definitely more defined and probably takes up more time than in canon. I haven’t settled on this one yet, but I was thinking that instead of a contact with God, Irratino actually fakes all his visions ‘n stuff and is just an extremely lucky charlatan. I don’t know if I should make Logico a believer instead, cuz opposites y’know? I have considered going a full 180° for Irratino and he has contact to Satan. … would that be too much?

Uh anyways, another character I’ve settled on is the Iron Tsar. Instead of being feared and also probably hated, he’s actually a pretty chill dude who gained support from his people through good means. Major Red’s motives obviously change too, because why overthrow a dude who isn’t problematic? Unless you’re some next level jealous.

But that’s pretty much all I got so for, I don’t handle other suspects as much as I do with the mentioned ones. Except Grayscale. I make content with him and I still don’t know what to do with him. Actually make him interesting? Have some weird ass hobby he talks about a little too often, but somehow never repeats a story?

I require ideas.

Mini rant under the cut, except I don’t know if I’m being dramatic or reasonable.

So a total of 25 people voted in the poll and I honestly expected more traction for the first post. It has been 24 hours and the only person who even interacted with the Swap AU post just fast-reblogged it.

And it’s not a case of people not seeing my post, because some people who came online later gained likes and or comments (nothing against the users who posted more recently tho).

Unless it is? Did my post not show up? Is it my turn to be shadowbanned?

I don’t know, for some reason it’s been occupying my mind the entire day. The low interaction isn’t the main issue, I almost always get very few notes anyways, but it’s the fact this was unexpected on my end that made me upset. The few other AU posts or crossover posts I’ve seen always had either long comments or discussions through reblogs. And then there’s me. Niente.

*sigh*

I don’t want to force anyone to interact with my shit, in fact I don’t expect myself to suddenly gain a ton of attention after this.

I just wanted to get that out.

k bai

[sillycicle]

mha oc!!!1!!11!!

hes so silly I love him so much and he doesn't even have an actual name yet 😭 I've had this guy rotting my mind since December when I last hyperfixated on mha and decided to finally give him an overhaul (hehe) and actually design him

Im about to start blabbering about his quirk and story so if you want to hear more just go ahead and read but be warned!1!1!!

His hero name is the Energy Hero: Starboy and his quirk is Light Energy Manipulation. He's able to manipulate light energy from the sun & other light sources, all having different effects when in use. As he uses his quirk more and more, his hair slowly starts turning more white. When he uses his ability his white hair also shines iridescent, like a rainbow.

His horns and tail come from his father, who had a quirk that simply gave him horns, a tail, and manipulation of his own energy. His mother had a quirk that would make her hair light up and glow like the sun - but thats all he was told by his adoptive parents, as he was abandoned alone on the street with no memory when he was five years old. He was told that his father was murdered, and his mother was missing, so he devotes himself to heroism in order to make sure nobody else leaves children and family alone of the street to defend for themselves.

Energy from the sun & stars: gives him his basic fighting style, which is creating waves, shields, weapons, transportation, and all around general use. Its similar to Denki's, but only a bit. If denki was able to refine and control his quirk w/out the use of support items, he'd be exactly like my oc lol.

He later figures out that energy from the sun & stars gives him a new ability as part of his Quirk Awakening: Lightspeed - this ability gives him the ability to move his position in time. There's two versions of this ability, Red Shift and Blue Shift - they rewind him and fast forward him respective to the color shift they match. Also it isn't time travel, its more just like??? If he fell off a building facing one way, when he uses lightspeed to rewind himself, he can move freely during his way back up, but he's still moving upwards??? Like he can turn around and face the way he wasn't before??? Hope that explains it. He can also use this ability on objects and people that he touches, but only for the duration of this ability in use.

This ability also has heavy drawbacks on him, and he regularly suffers from nosebleeds, head aches, and tremors after he uses it (he almost died from a nosebleed in class once bc Aizawa was tired of him leaving to go to the nurses. He never made him stay in class again lol). Similarly, is he uses this ability on other people more that regularly, they suffer the same conditions, just lessened. The first time he uses this power, his body is rewound an entire day as part of his drawbacks, but his body being rewound rarely happens after her begins to train with this power.

Energy from UV: He can turn invisible and things he touches invisible, kind of like Violet from the Incredibles. This ability is primarily used as an ultimate move.

Energy from Incandescent Light: sort of electric-like, similar to denki's, but he uses it less because its for difficult to harness and get enough incandescent energy for use. Also, incandescent energy is regularly mixed with his sun energy, so its kind of useless to try and seperate it.

He is involved with any arc involving the whole/most of the class like the USJ and Sports Fesival arcs. He is also involved with the Stain and Shie Hassaikai arcs, and maybe more as I continue to rewatch the show. He also plays a supporting role in the Two Heroes movie, and his own arc that happens because why wouldn't i give my main mha oc his own arc??? What???

During said Starboy arc, he has some shenanigans with a villain who basically has a quirk similar to (what i know of with my limited jjk knowledge) domain expansions. Also iida is a big part of this arc too bc he's my fav character why wouldn't i involve him in my main oc's arc??? What??? Anyways, Starboy and Iida literally dance to beat this villain lol. Also Starboy almost levels a 10th of a city ❤ After that, his right (your left) eye is permanently in a sunburst shape and he is semi-partially blind. He also has sunburst-like scars on his hands and forearms after this battle. His original character design had ties to AFO and stuff, but he was WAYYY to plot relevant and could've lowkey replaced Deku with his backstory alone lmao.

He's closest with Iida, Kirishima, Kamanari, and Sero. He's also pretty close with Shoji, Tokoyami, Ojiro, Hakegure, and Mina, but not as close as the aforementioned four.

Also the last photo is his winter costume =p

[lunarsilkscreen]

Kirito in SAO season 2

Kirito joins a new MMO with his cousin, and is still dealing with the habits he developed when he was actually fighting for his life in the previous game.

As such; He creates a Character with the [Fairy Type] That is chosen the least; for probably the best reasoning you could think of.

In the show, the Spriggan Fairies are masters of Illusions AND Treasure Seeking.

Yet, we only *see* Kirito activate his illusion ability one time; To scare away some PKers that were unfamiliar with Spriggans.

Because nobody picks that race. Because it's seen as one of the weakest.

And here's the tricky part; despite being told what the different fairy races do, even we as the viewers forget what Kirito 's Spriggan abilities are.

There's a reason for that; Usually because developers [ARE LIARS] and their [LORE]{IS RARELY GAME MECHANIC ACCURATE}

Which cause a lot of players to create a separation between Story Lore, In-game Lore, and Mechanical Lore. BUT I DIGRESS.

Kirito, also deeply familiar to In-game mechanics in *his* world figures two reasons to use the Spriggan. The first is because [Treasure Hunter] seems like a good way to get good loot *quickly* and to catch up to the endgame as fast as possible.

And not only that; likely believes that Magic Items {and trinkets or whatever} can be used to supplement starting-choice magics.

Which, is usually the case in MMOs and TableTops of *this* {our earth} world.

Yet what of his illusion ability?

Kirito still has trauma from dealing with other players who really were murderous. And that still pervades his thinking.

He's still developing his fighting style as if he will need to fight other players in another LifeAndDeath PvP session.

And so; he never actually turns his "Illusion Magic" off.

The entire time, especially when he fights against other players; he's using his [Illusion Magic] to obfuscate his movements, Like a Goddamn Displace Beast.

And that's how he becomes one of the Best fighters in Alfheim online near immediately; And why he was surprised when another player {in a later arc} can see through his moves. (Even if they *are* hardwired in like the SAO players were)

Because he not only has real reflexes, He's also psychically attacking his opponents through the illusion magic; which makes his opponents guard and parry against the wrong moves.

The only time we see this ability *not work* is when Kirito has trouble with the [Guardian Knights] of the [World Tree].

Which means that many other mobs were hard coded to fall for Spriggan Magic too. Except these boss mobs, who are effectively immune to all magics.

Something only Kirito would be able to note *immediately*.

The only time Kirito is caught off guard is when he stumbles fighting General Eugene. Who seems to be the first player character to see through Kirito's Spriggan Tricks.

And thinking he has the upper hand, promptly loses to Kirito's Dual-Weilding (Boosted by Spriggan Tricks)

I find it interesting that something that has such a big impact on the story AND Kirito's character can be so subtly forgotten.

And never talked about again.

Well ... That's beside Yuki and Eugene making subsequent appearances in places you wouldn't have expected.

[sixstepsaway]

right, so, here are my Thoughts about that whole thing now i've slept on it. probably won't be super coherent but here we go

i feel bad for stede. he got shoved, somehow, into the weird love interest role so many female characters find themselves in, where they are truly completed by a man and a romance not the things they've been striving for throughout the series so far. he's shown no sign of wanting to give up the pirate lifestyle he's just finally got back, and to accompany him giving that up with izzy's gorgeous "piracy is about family and somewhere to belong" speech from earlier just feels cruel. we joke about how episode 2 stede wouldn't care if lucius died but that changed, he got attached, his crew became his family. they were loyal to him and followed him even when they were just working at spanish jackie's for pennies. they respected him and loved him enough to let him talk them into letting ed back on board. this was, at least at this point in stede's arc, his happy ending. in fact, you can even argue he was happy without ed for a while at the start of this episode. his relationship with ed is important and it's icing on the cake, but it isn't something to complete him, or his only source of happiness -- nor should it be!!! and then for some reason ed shows back up, fishes up his leathers, kicks ass to save him, loses izzy and now they're leaving stede's ship and crew and found family to... run an inn made out of the world's shittiest fixer-upper? stede? stede twirly fancypants bonnett??? in that place? maybe at the end of a full run this might have felt like a good conclusion to his story, him realizing he wanted belonging, not necessarily to be a pirate, and maybe them bringing some of crew along to have their home somewhere safer and happier than the piracy they don't really enjoy but turn to because they have no other choice, but right now it just feels like... honestly like either he agreed to it to keep ed with him ("AITA for convincing my boyfriend to run an inn with me after leaving him two days ago because we were moving too fast? little backstory: this involved my boyfriend leaving everything in his life for me and no i did not apologize for running off to become a fisherman") or like, as i said up there, a matter of "actually all he needed was a BOYFRIEND all along" which... ngh. stede is more than his relationship.

idk why we bothered establishing that frenchie, jim and even archie were willing to put their lives on the line and lie to ed's murderous face to save izzy's life just for them to be stone-faced and have no feelings about his loss. like, okay, ed and he's stories are tied together and him dying in ed's arms makes more sense narratively than him dying in anyone else's, but also ed hadn't earned that and izzy deserved to die in the arms of someone who hadn't tried to kill him and shot him in the leg not to mention we went from fang's squishy hug and frenchie holding his hand to just... nothing? not a thing? roach, the ship's surgeon, did nothing to try and save him? it's just ed slapping his gunshot wound pathetically?

it strongly feels like they swapped izzy and ed's roles in his death scene sounds stupid but hear me out "you're my only family" would make so much more sense coming from izzy with ed dying in his arms. izzy's desperation to keep hold of ed, right down to accidentally pushing him down the kraken path at the end of season 1, being rooted in the feeling that ed is all he has in the world? ed responding that no, the crew love izzy. he's earned their love. he has a family outside of ed now, can't he see that? that makes so much more sense, considering izzy nearly died for them multiple times and spent the first few episodes trying to protect them and then being protected by them in kind he was their new unicorn!!! meanwhile ed said sorry to fang, izzy and lucius, and no one else has been shown to give any fucks about him since that whole thing, and like... rightly so? because he hadn't earned them back at all? and he fucked off on them too last episode lol dont forget he didnt JUST leave stede

we should have known better than to trust djenks when he broke jim and olu up for no reason ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ idk

nothing worth a damn happened this episode it was all running around and waving swords. idk how anyone got to where they were at the end. it was just poor writing.

the pacing has been off all season but they really shoved three episodes into one and hoped it'd work

i'm getting flashbacks to the timeless ~finale~ ugh

they spent so much time one ed's stupid fishing boat monologue instead of on ANYTHING ELSE

i ran out of thoughts

oh, here's another: the show walked a line between muppetry and things that were taken seriously lucius' finger, izzy's toes: serious ed getting bonked by a cannonball: emotionally serious, but not physically serious ed and stede both getting stabbed: not serious and what was treated as serious and what was treated as handwavy was dictated by what the storyline and the emotional needs were izzy getting shot to make it so they all had to run away yapping would have been hilarious, especially if he got back to the ship and went "nah eddie it's my left side, remember what i told you about the left? nothing important on the left" "your liver" <- roach, horrified but instead weird death scene because this was treated as physically serious, even though it...should not have been, really? and that is bothering me a lot too, because when lucius was thrown to his death, we looked at stede finding the crew on the island and went, "aha! lucius will be fine, because that's what the show logic is" and we were right, because the show had taught us that but that didn't extend to izzy for this and that's just weird

[ilovereadingandstuff]

BRIDON ARC REACTION!

Episode 5

WHY IS IT SOOO GAY?!?!??!

---

LSDJGSDLFG Not Lu guang controlling everything from the beggining I KNEW IT!!!

WHO THE FUCK TOLD YOU SO MUCH, LU GUANG??

WHO IS YOUR FATHER???

sldfgdfg makes me a little emotional the fact that this is supposedly the time when they established the set up with which we got to meet them back at season 1 episode 1...So cute how they discovered everything together...

Lu Guang keeping his promise as his life depends on it...GOD! Reaching Hua Cheng's devotion at face value, man

"No matter where you go, I will be there" RIGHT IN THE GUTS, MAN!! AAAGGH!! haven't felt this way since reading Heaven Official's Blessing...

>>>>>>But what troubles me the most right now is the fact Cheng Xiaoshi discovered his power diving alone, which means he knew since the very first time he dove how was the feeling when not being directed by LG or that he is capable of doing it alone...So why on Dou Dou's episode or those back from season 1, he acted like he didn't know that?

On both main seasons the timeline is so well constructed and the exploration in deep of his ability is amazing, but this detail right here in Bridon seems odd when i feel like in season 1 is like CXS is just getting to know a power he apparently has possessed and used it, at least, 3 years before season 1.

Understand that i'm boldy assuming that this timeline that Bridon is currently presenting is the same one that leads to season 1 and 2 events, because obviously working with another dive inside this one we're seeing, then this 'error' i saw would have a logical explanation...BUT i don't want to adventure furthermore confussion in my brain, so until I am told otherwise, I'll keep up the mentality of the same timeline that connects to season 1&2.

---

sorry, but TOGA??!?!?!

my girl be getting beaten in every universe WHY?!?!?!

i'm already emotional over this girl and i don't know a fucking thing about her neither her importance in the story TELL ME LINK CLICK YOU'RE NOT GOING TO KILL HER TOO!!!

CHENG XIAOSHI I LOOOOVE YOUUUUUUUUUU

Wasn't enough with the protagonists flirting every 5 seconds when NOT involved in a murder?

this scene could be read in so many ways if it weren't for the context.

this is so freaking violente i can't bear to see it...SHIT, MAN! poor girl, that's hard bullying right there Dx

Isn't it strange to find fresh blood on a women's bathroom in front of the sinks of a school??!!

THIS IS SOOOO AWESOME AND SO HILARIOUS AT THE SAME TIME!!!

love the simbolisms.

"they won't have a future" DAMN, SHIT, YOU'RE RIGHT!

CXS eyes are so expressive i'm in love with them.

HAHAHAHA CXS DYING IN FRONT TO THE TEST IS SO FREAKING FUNNY!!

Calculus? algebra and functions, that's exactly what i'm studying...come on, sweatheart!! it's true you probably studied something unrelated to matemathics AND you forget everything of school, BUT YOU CAN DO IT!!

DID HE JUST SWEAR AND THE SHOW MUTED IT?!?!?

I think the worts part of this is that the test IS IN ENGLISH. I forgot their not in China as usual, so obviously the language is going to be a problem.

NOT CXS EXPERT IN COPYING!! ASKJSDF HAHAH

THE FUCK YOU'RE SWEATING, LU GUANG?¡!!!! What were you doing???!! what it seems so suspiciously weird???

Why the professor is so handsome...why DOES HE LOOKS SO MUCH LIKE CXS???

sdlgf you're wife? you did a mistake? IS HIM CHENG WEIMIN???

hOLY shit those images...

CHENG XIAOSHI GETTING MAD, HOLY MOLY!!

FUCK! Cheng Xiaoshi is getting way to emotional over that girl...matching his own feelings, FUCK!

>>>>this line hit me so hard....Is it going to be like this when he finds out Lu Guang doing?

how much accurate this line could be? extraordinary

FUCK FFUCK

FUCK!!

Mr Cheng?!?!?! WHAT?!??!

AAH???

Lu Guang stopping cxs 'cuz he was getting railed up with his emotions??!?!

IT'S THAT ASSHOLE HIS FATHER!?!!?!?

that kid is Xia Fei or the heck??

Holy shit, man...

WHY DID THEY MOVE FROM IT SO FAST!!!

but seriously, Cheng Xiaoshi is handsome because HIS FATHER IS FREAKING GORGEOUS!!

LSKDJGDF "YOU LOOK TASTY"!!!

sldgf not Cheng Xiaoshi getting friendly with his future murderer

Vein is a total cannibal, I DO NOT HAVE ANY EVIDENCE BUT I DON'T HAVE ANY DOUBTS

Lu Guang is getting so fraking protective right now...

why is such a big deal the fire and all?? why that expression, Vein?

I need his eyeliner technique SO BAD

"no lunch is free" i swear i thought he was gonna ask them to pay their part of that meal, lsdkgjsdfg

"SERVE ME"???

WHAT???

[solarapplejuice]

what the fuck is going on in oshi no ko bruh ;n; (part 1)

155 spoilers / spoilers for all of the oshi no ko manga akasaka is scaring me maybe i just have too many rose-tinted memories of love is war but it feels so much more tightly written than whatever is going on in onk right now. the most recent chapter and really the entire 15 year lie arc feels like a bit of a letdown compared to what was being built up by this entire story.

my fuckin thesis is this: the final arc of this story reeks of akasaka not liking the story or the characters and wanting to get things over with. he insists on ending almost EVERY chapter with a cliffhanger instead of letting the story progress naturally, concluding core and fundamental parts of the story's plot in one to two chapters which denies them of further growth and speculation, the worst thing you can do to your fucking mystery novel. admittedly this is a pretty biased opinion but i will explain!

the recent chapter is the most emblematic of this because it's the perfect embodiment of why oshi no ko is so frustrating, because if i were to describe the narrative up until this point it sounds like it makes sense, but the way it was handled and the sheer SPEED at which it came out is what makes it bad. specifically in 154 and 155 we learn that kamiki just didn't think that ai actually loved him, but turns out she did and now he regrets killing her! and it turns out NINO also had involvement in ai's death and is maybe the actual villain.

none of this is necessarily bad and i actually really like the idea of nino being the true antagonist at the end of the tunnel. nino is just more compelling; she's ai's coworker and peer but can never be an equal to her because she wont let herself, because she wont let ai in, because she both looks up to ai as an idol to be loved and despises her as an entertainer to compete with. if we are to believe that 45510 is from her perspective, it makes this turn of events all the more tragic.

kamiki never playing a big part is also kind of expected. queer manga fan moment but i never thought the idea of ex bf being the killer was super compelling esp since you can see the "she never really loved me" coming from a mile away, so it's good to see it being played straight for AI's development. turns out that ai "lies are love" hoshino was just trying to protect him from the inevitable backlash of the world's top idol having a boyfriend and thought she was doing the best for her first relationship as a teenager who was forced to grow up too fast.

all of this is really cool, too bad it doesnt land like that in the story because it all gets resolved in one chapter! just because kamiki was the red herring doesn't mean that he should have been wasted like that, it would have been nice to see more conflict between him and the hoshino siblings, perhaps threatening other characters the way he has other idols. lets not forget that this dude is a serial killer who likes targeting women! we were waiting for him to try and pull something on say, kana or akane (i have FEELINGS about them and ill get to that). meanwhile all that would have been done to set nino up as the true villain in murder-mystery fashion is to just include 45510 as a part of the manga before the 15 year lie arc. it would be a one-off look into the horrors of the ways in which ai hoshino's would-be peers rejected her as an equal, later re-contextualized as the hiding-in-plain-sight motive and backstory for the villain and the entire plot as a whole.

we don't get any of that, instead we get aqua and ruby moving past kamiki so quickly that you almost get the sense that they knew more than the audience. which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but feels almost insulting considering how important he and the conspirators of ai hoshino's death have been so far. nino being reintroduced again is jarring since the setup with her intervening in kana's attempts to emulate her is not enough of a setup, and instead feels like they wanted to hamfist her in as an 11th hour threat.

and the problem is, pretty much every major narrative plot point in oshi no ko has been resolved like this and its a pattern that seems to not stop. it started when goro and sarina finally found each other, a moment that is so important and we've been waiting for a while, and it spiraled from there. aqua and ruby's incest will-they-wont-they was pretty much handwaved, the very fucking important and good conflict of ruby and kana's competition for success mirroring ai and nino was denied any sort of growth or possibility in the like three chapters they spent on it. it's just like, theres so many things that while they have been alluded to before, that's just it: theyve been ALLUDED to. the reasons for these conflicts to happen are there, but the conflicts never really got the chance to happen, instead it's just a character initiating the fight and the other character shutting them down a chapter later by being the bigger person or whatever, something that is jarring for a cast of characters defined by not simply bad communication but the BELIEF and CORE THEME that LYING IS LOVE! the very thesis that we're supposed to be constantly contending with, if it's true or not, and the reason that these conflicts drag out; because the characters lie, and sometimes those lies can make relationships worse instead of better for some illusion of stability. why are these characters all of a sudden excellent communicators when they historically haven't been, in a MYSTERY story where incomplete information and unresolved threads should be common place? the story ending soon is not an excuse for this to be happening! it doesn't feel like we're earning these conclusions, more like aka is forcefully shutting the lid on pandora's box and letting it blow up in our faces.

ill be making a second part of my thoughts since this is already so long but i also gotta talk about how akasaka did my girls kana and akane dirty.

[legion1227]

Spider-Man 2: Game Review. (Spoilers Below)

Wow….where to begin?

Immediately, right off the bat, this game has made the previous two harder to return to from a gameplay standpoint. Everything from the combat to traversing throughout New York is improved upon overall in this game from both Spider-Man (2018) and Spider-Man: Miles Morales. There's weight to every hit as you're fighting various goons and thugs, and the combos and special moves are impressive. The new ways to incapacitate enemies with gadgets, tech, venom powers, and the symbiote…crime fighting in New York is at a peak here.

The added feature of being able to control and switch back and forth between Peter Parker and Miles Morales, who both feel stellar to play with their unique set of skills, is insane and purely sublime. It's wild how the switch from playing Peter to Miles and vice versa is nearly instantaneous. The scope of the game is ambitious and pays off immensely. Visuals and combat are an absolute triumph for Insomniac, and they should be proud.

Story-wise, we have something engaging. The main story focuses on the Spider-men Peter and Miles. Peter is overwhelmed as he faces some of his most challenging villains in the game, including Kraven, Venom, Sandman, Lizard, and others. Meanwhile, his personal life is hectic in its own way as he tries to grapple with Aunt May's death in the first game, struggling to hold down another substantial job that's not being Spider-Man and being there for those he cares for, like his girlfriend Mary Jane and best friend, Harry Osborn. As for the other Spider-Man, Miles, he faces a similar issue to Peter as he tries to perform his Spider-Man duties after the loss of his father, Jefferson Davis, and basically tries his hardest at multiple points in the game not to straight up get revenge and kill the man responsible for his murder, Martin Li, A.K.A, Negative Man. On top of that, he has his own girl he's crushing on hard, a deaf graffiti artist named Hailey, and he tries hard on multiple occasions, though neglects a lot to work on an essay to help get him into an esteemed college.

Both Spider-Men have plenty on their plates in the main story, but even more so when you take into account the side missions, which are greatly improved upon from the previous two games. The story of the cult and Peter working with Yuri that ends with a tease of another classic Spider-Man villain for the next game towards the end of the story is exciting, the Mysterio challenges with Miles are a fun test of skill, and other missions are different enough to provide a variety of entertainment.

The game has nailed it in so many different apartments. The boss battles are solid, two side missions, one involving an old man reflecting on his long-departed wife, and the second, involving Howard, the homeless man who owns many pigeons, who appeared in the last two games, evoke the strongest emotions and are some of the best-written portions of the game, and swinging through New York has never been more fun. The animations and speed for swinging, the tricks you can perform mid-air, the ability to run along buildings, and the ability to fucking GLIDE have provided one of the best games ever in terms of traversing an open world. It's telling when you put a fast travel system into the game, and you don't ever use it because it's too fun to travel manually.

Do I have gripes with the game? Some. A couple things here that prevent the game from being a complete 5-star game. I mentioned earlier that both Spider-Men have plenty on their plate but truthfully, it feels more emphasized with Peter than with Miles. Peter's relationship with Mary Jane and Harry, and his arc with the Symbiote is more engaging than most of what Miles has going. Miles' most intriguing story, I believe, is his struggle not to snuff the life out of Negative Man, who robbed him of more time with his father. (Though I love Martin's arc from start to finish in this game, and I'm happy he survives to see the end and possibly better himself in the future). It feels the writers and developers gave a bit more of the good story bits to Peter than Miles.

I also don't like how a good chunk of iconic Spider-Man villains established and seen in previous games was murdered by Kraven. I understand adapting Kraven's last hunt needed to establish Kraven as a threat by terminating people that the Spider-Men have struggled with before, but it's a shame we won't see the return of fun, faithful portrayals of Electro, Shocker, Vulture, or Scorpion. However, by the end of the game, it seems to set up a return of Doc Ock and teases of Green Goblin, Carnage, and Chameleon for the third one, which should be a solid roster of villains. But I would've liked to see the return of the aforementioned ones even in minor roles for side missions.

Also, the Miles Morales original suit is ass.

Besides that, it's still an excellent game. Possibly GOTY material. In regards to games that came out in 2023, it's definitely my favorite. (And also the only game I played that came out this year but that's beside the point lmao). I look forward to future DLC, the next game in the series, and hopefully patches of little things in the future like changing the time of day. Overall, 4.5/5.

[soft-persephone]

Minx Season 2 Episode 7

(I apologize in advance for how long this is. However, I included markers by character.)

We have had two seasons of this show and even though there’s one more episode left, I’m gonna go ahead and call it it…..

One thing about Minx, the last three episodes are always going to be the best! This show climaxes like no other show I’ve watched before.

But my jaw is simply on the floor, more so than last week.

I always knew Constance was up to something, but as satisfying as being right is, at what cost!

I am in emotional turmoil!

But I’m moving too fast. I’ll come back to that later.

The mommy murder opening was insane!

But Doug and his bird? Hilarious.

No one takes nonsense as seriously as Jake Johnson does. I will always love that about him.

I’m guessing he has no name because everyone just calls him bird or the bird, but in my mind his name is Petey. It’s just a very birdy name.

Richie

Richie’s story arch is tied to his creativity and how he uses Minx to explore that. It’s not just his creativity, but an expression of himself, his sexuality, and his queerness.

At Bottom Dollar, Richie had complete creative control. Joyce didn’t care what these pictures looked like as long as she could write whatever articles she wanted.

But after their success and fame, Joyce is pushing back. She’s pushing more and more to have a say into the magazine. It is very much her magazine so she can do that, but she has a repertoire with Richie. He’s not some random employee, but a friend who’s been there since she started.

There is a right and wrong way to go about things.

Constance tells her about the rumor of gay readers and Joyce relents even though she believes that all kinds of people have the right to be buying and engaging in their magazine. However, Joyce respects and admires Constance, so she’ll be more open to doing what she suggests. If this idea was presented by literally anyone else, we would have gotten the regular Joyce Prigger pushback.

But back to Richie, he takes this opportunity to do what he wants. He does the bathhouse shoot. And I am proud of him for going after what he wants even though this is only going to result in backlash and a fight.

But that’s why we love this show!

The best scenes happen when these characters aren’t exactly on the same page, but we want them to be.

They all have the same goal of wanting to be a part of this magazine and wanting it to work for their careers and personal and professional desires. They can either do it together, or start stabbing each other in the back or disrespecting each other a long the way, like they’ve been doing all throughout season 2.

And when Richie takes away all of the Minx people and goes back into a creative space that probably shows why he probably picked up his camera in the first place, we finally see a glimpse into why he’s been acting the way he has. (If it hasn’t been obvious to some. This show has a lot of subtlety)

And the moment in the end when he photographs the police raid? Beautiful. Simply beautiful.

Shelly and Bambi

Shelly’s character arc has definitely been throwing me through a loop.

Clearly she can’t just cheat on her husband. She’s doubling down and recommitting to him, and then they became swingers?

Just what exactly is going on?

But her decision to come out to her husband completely??

What’s gonna happen now?!?!

Are they gonna get a divorcee? Is he going to be her beard? Is she gonna move to that college Joyce went to and be with professor Miram?

But overall the conversation she has with Bambi was one of the best scenes this episode.

It gives us more insight into Bambi than we’ve had so far and it’s amazing!

Bambi is such a dynamic character!

She’s fun and flirty and her one liners never fail to make me laugh, but it’s very easy to create an idea of who she is than actually dive into the character she actually might be, and the show playing with that idea that we have as an audience and showcasing that in this moment through Shelly is Brilliant!

I love good writing!😭

Because I don’t think we know a lot about Bambi either! All we know is that her and Shelly being together would mean a lot to us as an audience.

Shelly decided on her own that Bambi isn’t a good idea, and in her own way, maybe she’s right.

But it’s not fair to act like Bambi doesn’t have just as many feelings and thoughts about what happened between them.

Joyce and Constance

I’m not gonna lie.

I haven’t fully understood Joyce’s journey this season.

So she’s full of herself now? Is that supposed to be it?

However, I will do my best to bring out something. However, no one please hesitate to tell me off if you thought of something else! I really wanna talk to other people!!!

Joyce has always been a little insecure.

It was her biggest battle in season one. She chose to publish herself through a porn magazine and she couldn’t really handle the backlash or anything that came with it.

But in season two, she’s okay with it, but it’s starting to bleed into other factors of her life.

There are more eyes on her than before, and she now probably in a very deep down secret place, believes being unknown and overlooked was better.

There are more eyes on her than ever. She’s in Rolling Stone. People know who she is, but Joyce doesn’t actually know who she is or who she wants to be. She has idea of that, but her insecurity of herself, leaves her grasping at straws.

When Constance tells her to make sure the magazine isn’t too gay, she immediately ignored her own thoughts and desires out of some respect and admiration, but if it was Doug, she might not have let that happen. She would have pushed back.

When Constance Tells her she’s in control and every decision is hers, she doesn’t push back on Constance giving Tina the job even though she gave it to Doug. It’s safe to assume (maybe? Probably?), that Constance has only given Joyce an illusion of control.

However, if that’s true, it only works because she thinks Constance is her mentor.

And she is!

It’s beautiful to see a successful woman take Joyce under her wing. I don’t think there was any maliciousness or cold hearted business at play when it comes to their relationship.

I think Constance doesn’t want to see what happened to her happen to Joyce, but Constance doesn’t understand the friendship between all these people. She doesn’t understand that they have a bond that used to mean something to each other! That they still have in some ways! It’s just not as strong. Success, money, and fame have left them all a little distant, but I think in the finale, they will all reconnect with that bond and each other.

So when they have that final conversation by the fire, I think it finally sinks in for Joyce (or maybe not completely, but at least a little, ) that Constance might not know everything. That she might not be what she wanted from a mentor.

That she can’t rely on other people’s opinion of her and stand on her own ground a little.

Maybe this in addition to the conversation with her sister and that moment on the plane ,after she hooks up with that guy, will finally help Joyce come to terms with herself and stop relying on outward praise and attention from others.

Doug and Tina

Doug is on the Scneid!!

He said so himself.

It’s been loss after loss after loss.

Constance has taken almost everything from him, and even then she goes for literally everything.

She’s dissolving Bottom Dollar and she might take away Minx altogether!

His life’s work and his first golden ticket!

He confronts Tina and wow do they have a conversation…

Tina has been his secretary for 10 years! She helped him build Bottlm Dollar from the ground up!

And what does she have to show for it?

Nothing.

But a year and a few months with Constance (I’m making up the time skip. I didn’t do the actual math or go back and look at the episodes to figure it out, but let’s pretend!☺️)

And she has the biggest promotion of her life! She gets to go to Europe!

Doug is losing his entire life and the girl.

He might be able to stomach losing his job. He is a natural born hustler. He will dust himself off from this loss and find his next moneymaker. Lord knows this wouldn’t be his first time doing it.

But he can’t lose Tina too. Because she is everything. She gives his life the meaning. Tina is what is actually worth living for.

This will literally leave him with nothing, and it might crush him.

But Tina is getting her first glimpse at everything she’s ever hoped and dreamed for. And as a black woman in the 70s, she has to take it. That’s a no brainer!

After this episode I can’t help to think, that this offer from Constance is her thing. It’s what she’s been working her life towards.

However, she’s always wanted it during those ten years with Doug. She wanted him to give her that shiny life changing offer.

The only promotion he’s given her was to spite Joyce after she walked out on Minx after the talk show.

While she loves Doug, she can’t exactly trust him to put her first.

She’s broken her back, supported him when she knows he’s wrong, and given everything to make sure his thing works out.

But he can’t stand to see the tables turned for once.

I love Tina and Doug, I love the scenes where they smile at each other and they’re happy, where you can’t help but to think of all the ways they love each other.

However, there is something about angst that truly makes them come alive.

Idara and Jake bring out so much more from these two characters when they fight, and I want to see more!

I really hope the next episode doesn’t patch things up with a bandage and big bright bow and give us a 100% happy ending.

I want bottom dollar to be okay, and I want them to get the reigns of Minx from Constance. I also really want the relationship between Tina and Doug to build itself up to the couple they can be.

They are not on the same page. (I’ll make a post about that by itself later.)

This episode was truly something special. Everyone had their acting hats on and they were also in their bag!

I can’t wait to see how episode 8 somehow tops this one.

[legends-of-time]

Thorn Bush (Doctor Who Story)

Chapter 52: Aliens of London

Masterlist

Kathy hasn't just been lounging about blogging, creating false alibis for falsely accused murderers or dealing with stalkers, she's also been planning for future incidents, i.e. alien experts being killed by electronic ID cards because of the Slitheen. She has no idea whether she'll be let into the room of experts to stop them all wearing the IDs or whether they'll even listen to her, but she could do something to help. This is why she devised her own device that could absorb a really big electrical shock, drawing it from another source. A device that is a small, round sphere. It includes a few compartments that the TARDIS had previously allowed her to take (you never know when they might be needed).

The device is in her pocket when Kathy walks in to find Jackie screaming at the Ninth Doctor, who simply stands there with his arms crossed and an affronted look on his face as the mother berates him for his carelessness. Mickey lingers by, refusing to look at Rose, who's trying to talk to him, apologising. She doesn't see any police, though.

Mickey is the first one to see her and slumps in relief. "Thank God you're here." He says.

Rose turns to see who he's talking about. "Kathy!" She looks at the part Time Lord, part Human and part Apalapucian in desperation.

Her cry abruptly ends the weird standoff between Jackie and the Doctor. Rose wraps Kathy in a tight hug. Kathy blinks in surprise. Other than the Rose in her arms, the youngest she'd met the companion was Victorian Cardiff in 1869. She hadn't thought they were this close for hugs, but she isn't complaining.

"Yep. That would be me." Kathy says brightly. Rose pulls back, and Kathy shifts uncomfortably under everyone's gaze. She smiles nervously. "So, um... would anyone like some tea?"

Jackie gives her a tight but soft smile. "Thank you, sweetheart."

The Doctor turns on, eyes wide, voice low and accusatory. "You told them!"

Kathy doesn't flinch. She meets his stare with cool defiance. "Of course I did. Their daughter and girlfriend had vanished off the face of the earth with no explanation!"

The Doctor throws his hands up, pacing like a caged animal. "Fantastic! Because when the universe is falling apart, what I really need is Mum's number one priority being the kettle's on and have you eaten today?" His voice rises with every word. "Families! Constantly needing explanations and reassurance and—what? Cuddles? I don't do families!"

Jackie folds her arms tightly across her chest, jaw clenched. "You what?"

The Doctor rounds on her before he can stop himself, furious and flustered. "I said, I don't do families. They're a liability, always dragging behind or getting in the way—"

Jackie steps forward, bristling with fury. "Oh, really? You're the great and powerful Doctor, yeah? Above it all? Too important for the likes of us?"

The Doctor opens his mouth to respond, but she's already moving.

"You're a Doctor? Prove it. Stitch this, mate." She retorts harshly. Her hand arcs through the air and hits the Doctor square in the face in a fast, hard, and brutal fashion. The Doctor stumbles back some from the hit, making a noise in pain as he clutches his face.

Rose gasps. "Mum!" While Mickey snorts, nonverbal agreeing with Jackie's actions.

The Doctor is bent slightly, one hand braced against the wall, the other clamped over his nose. His eyes are wide with shock, not just at the pain, but at the sheer humanity of it all. Jackie glares at him, breathing hard. The Doctor—wounded pride, holding onto his bruised nose and all—doesn't say a word.

Kathy lets out a sigh. "It's fine, Rose. Look, he isn't going to press charges, so why don't the Doctor and I step out," She suggests. "You really need to talk to your boyfriend and your mother and sort things out, Rose. Come find us later. We'll just be on the roof."

Rose nods, understanding the message as Kathy drags the Doctor out of the flat and up the stairs, leading to the roof in silence.

——

Once they are up there, Kathy punches him in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" He cries, rubbing the spot where she had hit him.

"For messing up and taking Rose away from her home for a year and being rude to Jackie!" Kathy stands there with her hands on her hips. She knows she looks like she is scolding a small child.

The Doctor actually looks sheepish. "I hadn't meant to be gone a year."

Kathy glares at him. She knows there's a good chance that him being late in bringing Rose home is due to the TARDIS deciding when and where he's going to land, but he deserves the telling off for being rude and tactless when realising as well as giving Rose no prior warning.

"You really need to start learning to be on time, Doctor. It's going to get you into a lot of trouble one day." She warns him, knowing that it isn't going to be the last time that he either gets someone home late or is late to pick someone up.

"I said I was sorry." He replies, trying his best not to look at her and to just avoid that glare.

"You tell that to the mother I saw for the past year, not knowing where her daughter is." Kathy retorts.

"I am sorry. I didn't know."

"No, of course, you didn't know, because you didn't check." She tells him, taking a step forward and looking at his face. "Seriously, Doctor, you need to be a little bit more careful sometimes." She inspects his face, and although he had made a fuss of his nose, there is nothing. "Well, you're going to survive, this time. I'd watch out for a little bit of bruising, but nothing is broken."

"Kathy, I am truly sorry." Looking into his eyes, Kathy knows that he is being completely honest and that he is sorry. "Next time, I'll check. How does that sound?"

"Sounds like a start," Kathy replies, trying not to smile at him. She sits on the wall, her legs swinging lightly and leans forward to lean her elbows on her legs with a sigh. "Anyway, they need a little bit of space to sort things out. It will be all right in the end, mostly."

He sits down on the edge of the roof with Kathy beside him, looking at her curiously. "Am I going to get slapped any more today?" He asks, rubbing his jaw a little. "That mother of hers—"

"Her name's Jackie." She shrugs at him. "And I don't know. Maybe, maybe not, I'm not going to tell you." She is deliberately avoiding giving him a straight answer. "As my friend would say, spoilers."

Immediately, she sees a change in him. His curious look falls to annoyance. She's made him irritated with just one word alone: great.

"Is she as annoying as you?" The Doctor asks, a slight bite in his voice.

"Oh, no, of course not." Kathy bats her eyelashes. "She's much worse."

He looks a bit terrified for a moment, and she giggles. It's hilarious to see him terrified of the mere mention of the woman who'll be his wife, not that he knows.

"So, what have you been up to since I last saw you?" He asks her.

"Well, I had a stalker. A woman who's been following me around for a few decades or so." The Doctor's eyebrows shoot ho comically. "But I dealt with it."

The Doctor is about to reply when Rose appears on the roof. There is a bit of a sympathetic smile on her face as she looks at the Doctor.

"You all right?" He nods at her as she pulls herself up so that she is sitting next to Kathy.

"How are they?" Kathy asks her, knowing what is actually going to happen next.

"Mum's struggling and Mickey hates me," Rose laments with a groan, "but, God, it could've been way worse. Thank you for looking after them."

Kathy smiles kindly. "No problem."

The Doctor frowns, confused by the other name. "Who's Mickey?"

Kathy rolls her eyes. "The boyfriend."

"Oh... I thought his name was Ricky?"

God, here we go.

"No, it's Mickey." Rose retorts.

"Get it right." Kathy thwacks a hand on his upper arm, making him wince. The Doctor rolls his eyes and huffs.

"Anyway," Rose grimaces, turning to Kathy, "he told me about the alibi."

Kathy grimaces at the thought of the alibi in question, but thankfully, Rose moves on with the conversation.

"Anyway, that's the least of my problems cause Mum's never going to forgive me."

"She'll come around." Kathy tries to reassure her.

"And I missed a year. Was it good?"

"Middling." The Doctor answers.

"You're so useless."

"Tell me about it." Kathy quips with a grin.

The Doctor rolls his eyes at the pair of them and gives Kathy a little nudge with his elbow. "Well, if it's this much trouble, are you going to stay here now?"

Rose sighs. "I don't know. I can't do that to her again, though."

"Well, like I said, she's not coming with us." The Doctor tells her firmly, causing both Kathy and Rose to start laughing a little.

There is silence for a few moments before Rose breaks it. "She slapped you!" She says, looking at the Doctor while Kathy giggles a little more. She knows it won't be the last slap from someone's mother.

"Nine hundred years of time and space, and I've never been slapped by someone's mother." He whines.

"Your face." Rose chortles.

He looks at Rose. "It hurt!" The Doctor moans, touching his face where Rose's mother had actually slapped him.

"You deserved it." Kathy quips amusedly.

Rose calms down, noting his words. "When you say nine hundred years?"

"That's my age." The Doctor replies casually.

Kathy winces, knowing that this definitely isn't the case when you count all the many years of his life the Time Lords had wiped away.

"You're nine hundred years old," Rose repeats in disbelief.

"Yeah."

"I'm in my late 1400s," Kathy adds.

Rose splutters in shock. "My mum was right, that is one hell of an age gap." She jumps down from where she had been sitting, still in shock. "Every conversation with you two just goes mental. There's no one else I can talk to. I've seen all that stuff up there, the size of it, and I can't say a word." Kathy can't help but grin. She knows that more people know about it all than she realises. "Aliens and spaceships and things, and I'm the only person on planet Earth who knows they exist."

"Actually, that's all about to change in three... two... one," Kathy says, pointing across from them.

Just then, a loud horn honks out. It rings in their eardrums and rumbles the air around them. They all duck as a large alien spaceship flies close overhead. They can see a trailing cloud of black smoke coming from the back of the ship. It soars over them, going straight for the main city of London. They watch as it misses Tower Bridge, weaves around St Paul's, then, with a nasty backfire and a splutter that they can hear from where they stand on the roof, dives for the Thames, taking out the Clock Tower in the process. Big Ben chimes once in distress, and the spaceship crashes into the river. The Doctor, Kathy and Rose watch the plume of black smoke rise into the air on the horizon.

"Oh, that's just not fair." Rose breathes in disbelief at the sight. Awe-struck by the black smoke coming from the crash site.

Kathy quickly pulls her phone out of her pocket. "The universe is very rarely fair, Rose." She tells her, sending a quick text message to Jack.

All the Doctor can do is laugh. He is ecstatic that he had been there to witness it, to see a spaceship crash landing into the River Thames. He just can't help but smile and laugh, and enjoy himself.

The Doctor leaps to his feet, and Rose scrambles after him. "Come on!"

Kathy blinks. "Wait—"

"Come on." He laughs, delighted at the turn of events. He bends and scoops Kathy up, lifting her to her feet so swiftly that she stumbles. He grabs Rose's hand and then Kathy's, pulling them along in his wake. "Hurry up!"

"Wait, we can't– we need to stop for a sec!" Kathy asks, stumbling down the steps after them.

"A spaceship just crashed into the middle of London." The Doctor says with a grin, his entire face transformed – he looks like an excited child. "We can't wait! We need to look at it."

"We won't get anywhere near it." She points out, trying to get her feet under her.

Rose bounces along beside her, weaving through the people who have emerged from their flats to see what has happened. "But we've got the TARDIS." She says.

"Nope." The Doctor shakes his head. "Whole world's going to be on alert. Don't want anyone picking up the TARDIS and realising I'm here. You lot are going to have to figure this out on your own."

"So, how do you plan on getting close?" Rose asks as the Doctor drags Kathy down the stairwell. Rose is eager enough to move under her own steam.

"You've got two legs, haven't you, Rose Tyler?" He quips. "We're going to walk."

Kathy exhales sharply and finally pulls her hand free of the Doctor's grip. She grabs him by the back of his leather jacket, jerking him to a halt. He makes a little sound of surprise at being manhandled. His arms flail, but he manages to catch himself on the bannister that is. Kathy can see the moment he registers its strange stickiness.

"You're not listening." Her voice is firm but even. "The whole of London just saw a giant alien spaceship crash into the centre of the city. It takes twenty-five minutes to get there by tube. By the time we arrive, all the streets for at least a mile around will be shut down and blocked off. The police will be in place." Her eyes narrow slightly. "We. Won't. Get. Close."

The Doctor finally stops. He stares at her. "Oh."

"Yeah. Oh." Kathy rolls her eyes, flexing her hand where he gripped it a little too hard in his enthusiasm. She tries not to laugh at the fact that he now looks like a small child who has just been told he can't have dessert.

Rose glances between them. "Now what?"

"Now we go back upstairs and watch it like everyone else," Kathy replies, already starting up the stairs at a more sedate pace. "On the bloody TV."

The look on the Doctor's face is priceless, and Kathy laughs a little at it. He seems to be not only bemused but a little put off by the thought of having to watch the action unfold on the television.

——

They sit around the telly back in the Tyler flat. Rose was hounded by her mother once more as soon as they entered, being made to feel guilty, while Mickey had latched onto Kathy as well as sending distrustful looks in the Doctor's direction. The Time Lord ignores him and everyone else, eyes glued to the nonstop broadcast of the crash on the news. Kathy watches with milder curiosity. She already knows everything about what is happening and going to be said, though she does let out a small grin when the Doctor flicks the channel to the US news channel AMNN and Trinity Wells appears.

During all of this, a friend of Jackie's, Ru Chan, makes an appearance and doesn't waste any time laying into Rose and her heartless actions as Jackie hands out mugs of tea to everyone but the Doctor.

Kathy blocks out most of the conversation until she hears Ru remark, "You really broke your mother's heart, Rose." Ru shakes her head. "If it hadn't been for Kathy stepping in to look after her—when you should've—it would've been even worse."

Kathy winces at the way Rose's face contorts into jealousy. "Uh, I don't know about that."

Ru scoffs. "'Course ya do! You were her family when her so-called daughter went off gallivanting."

Kathy opens her mouth, hoping to explain to Rose that she is in no way trying to replace her or take Jackie away, when the Doctor snaps at them all.

"Oi! I'm trying to listen." The Doctor chides, getting rather fed up with all the noise in the background.

After a while, Jackie invites guests over to watch with them. The gathering is turning into a welcome home party for Rose, with wine and beer being served. As the day grew longer and more guests arrived, the news reported how a body had been recovered from the wreckage and is being taken away. People are going up to Kathy and happily greeting her as well as awkwardly side-eying her, Rose and Mickey, given the cheating allegations, and the startled, jealous look on Rose's face doesn't go away.

Kathy is relieved when she gets a call from Jack and quickly heads outside. She avoids leaning on the railing and looks out at the darkening sky as she answers the phone.

"Kathy, did you see the crash?" Jack immediately asks with no greeting.

Kathy raises an eyebrow even though he can't see her. "Yep, I saw the whole thing when I was standing on top of the roof of a block of flats." She informs him. "Hello to you too by the way."

She hears him let out a sigh. "Sorry, it's this whole crash landing thing. They've found a body and they're taking it to Albion Hospital. How am I meant to keep this contained when the whole world has seen it and is talking about it?" Jack asks. Kathy can understand why he is so stressed out now.

"Yeah, just watching all the excitement of a crashed spaceship on the telly." She tells him. "You'll think of something, Jack, you always do."

"I hope so. Yeah, Owen is there to examine the body. Tosh is giving me updates."

Or more like Tosh is covering for a hungover Owen, who is unable to do his job and is an example of the many times that Tosh steps in to save him.

Kathy doesn't tell Jack this and instead remarks, "But let me guess, Torchwood Three isn't being included in the likely gathering of alien experts?"

"No suck luck. Is the Doctor there with you?" Jack asks, his curiosity finally getting the better of him.

"Yeah, he's still in the flat watching the news. This is the Doctor before you met him, so don't even think about coming to find him, Jack." This is the Jack that is still waiting, waiting to confront the Time Lord for abandoning him.

"He's watching it on the news? He's not in the middle of it all? Wow, that's a first." Jack quips.

Kathy can't help but smile. "Hmm, for now. It won't last long, Jack, you know that. The Doctor hates to sit still, he can't resist, you wait, he'll get involved soon enough, I can guarantee it."

"Do you know all about this? Do you know exactly what is going on and what's going to happen?" Jack asks her curiously.

"No, of course not." Kathy lies. She grins, enjoying messing with him. "I have no idea what is going on. Honest."

There is silence on the other end for a few moments. "Now, why do I not believe you?"

Kathy giggles a little, knowing that Jack has already caught on to the fact that she isn't telling him the truth. "Spoilers."

"Yeah, well that figures. You and your spoilers."

Before Kathy has a chance to reply, the door to the Tylers' flat opens and the Doctor comes out. He looks like he is in a bit of a mood and a little flustered.

"Anyway, I have to go now, someone has just come out and he's looking a little grumpy." She tells Jack as the Doctor walks over to her.

"Okay, well take care of yourself." Jack demands.

Kathy can't help but chuckle. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Catch you later." She says, before ending the call.

"Was that Carlyle?" The Doctor asks her as she puts her phone back in her pocket.

It's not.

Kathy nods. "Yeah."

The door to the flat opens again, and Rose appears. "And where do you think you two are going?" She asks, looking at the Doctor and Kathy.

"Nowhere." The Doctor tells her quickly. "It's just a bit human in there for me. History just happened, and they're all talking about where you can buy Dodge top-up cards for half price. Kathy suggested we go off for a wander, that's all." He says, trying to sound as convincing as he can.

Rose crosses her arms and stares at him in suspicion. She glances at Kathy questioningly.

Kathy shrugs her shoulders. "Pretty sure I said no such thing. Why you lying, Doctor?" She smirks.

"Yeah? How do you know I'm lying?" The Doctor retorts to them.

"There's a spaceship on the Thames, and you're just 'wandering'," Rose replies doubtfully.

The Doctor shrugs noncommittally. "Nothing to do with me. It's not an invasion. That was a genuine crash landing. Angle of descent, colour of smoke, everything. It's perfect."

"Hmm, maybe a little too perfect," Kathy comments knowingly. The Doctor glances at her, seemingly catching onto her hint that the crash is not all that it seems.

"So..." Rose tries to understand what exactly he is up to.

"So maybe this is it. First contact. The day mankind officially comes into contact with an alien race. I'm not interfering because you've got to handle this on your own. That's when the human race finally grows up. Just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay. Now you can expand." The Doctor rambles enthusiastically. "You don't need me. Go and celebrate history. Spend some time with your mum." He turns back around, gesturing for Kathy to follow, heading off again.

Rose gives him a very sceptical look. "Promise you won't disappear?" She asks, clearly worried that he's going to just dump her there and not bother to go back for her.

"I won't let him," Kathy promises. "But maybe you need an incentive?" She looks pointedly at the Doctor, who sighs and nods.

He pats down his jacket and pulls out a key from one of his pockets. "Tell you what. TARDIS key. It's about time you had one. See you later." He quickly strides off.

"You better go after him. For your 'wander'." Rose tells her. "You know he's bound to get himself into trouble."

"That, or trouble finds him," Kathy replies. "I swear he's a magnet for it." She looks at the girl, giving her a reassuring smile. "Go back in with your mum." She holds out her own TARDIS key and knocks it against the one Rose holds. "See you later." She winks at the girl, then starts walking briskly to catch up with the Doctor.

——

Kathy catches up with the Doctor in the TARDIS. He is bouncing around the console, throwing switches and levers around to leave.

"You are such a liar," Kathy states, walking up to the console. She strokes it, leading to a happy hum coming from the TARDIS.

"I just want to investigate." The Doctor retorts. "I'm tired of just waiting around with those people. They're driving me bonkers. How can you stand being around the domesticity?"

Kathy shrugs. "I'm on a planet with them living day in and day out. Kind of used to it. Plus, there's still a bit of human in me." The Doctor huffs, and Kathy rolls her eyes fondly at him. "Anyway, it's not just that, you know something was wrong with that crash, too."

The Doctor ends up rolling his eyes at Kathy now. "Yes, all right, I'm interested. I want to go and take a look, what's so wrong about that?" He asks her.

"Nothing wrong with wanting to take a look, something wrong with lying to Rose. She's going to find out, you know, and she isn't going to be happy about it." Kathy warns him, sitting down while he dashes around the console. She knows that right now, outside of the blue box, Mickey has seen them, and he is going to tell Rose they have left.

"Are you telling me that you don't want to go and take a look?" The Doctor asks her, a frown on his face.

"What do you think?" She asks pointedly.

"It was perfect." He nods, thinking about the crash. "Too perfect. Too well-timed and placed. I mean hitting the Big Ben. How more obvious of a staged crash can you get?"

"Obviously. And that's why we're going to go look for that body they found." With that, Kathy quickly gets into gear and helps him fly the TARDIS. He looks at her, startled at first, before carrying on.

She grins as they run around the TARDIS, remembering where they are going and who they are going to see.

The Doctor notices. "What you smiling about?" He asks, just as they land.

Kathy quickly shakes her head. "Nothing, just thinking, you know." He rolls his eyes before dragging Kathy over to the doors with him, before yanking them open. "Oh look, we're in a cupboard." She mutters.

They both have to squeeze around the TARDIS and the stock that is in the storeroom the TARDIS has parked herself in. The Doctor pulls out his sonic screwdriver and sets to work on unlocking the door and getting them out of the cupboard that they are stuck in.

While the Doctor isn't looking, Kathy grabs a few bits from the shelves, things that she knows are going to be needed for a certain person. Unlike the Doctor, she is more prepared, even if that is just because she knows exactly what is happening and what will happen next.

Soon enough, the Doctor has the door open, and he walks out with Kathy slightly behind him. They both came face to face with a room filled with relaxing military guards, the Red Berets. They stare at each other in silence for a moment.

"Uh, hi?" Kathy greets awkwardly before the soldiers grab their weapons and point them at the pair.

The Doctor gives an embarrassed smile, not believing his situation. Kathy stands in the back, out of sight, holding a hand to her mouth as she muffles her giggling.

"Oh, shut up." She hears him speak in her mind. She sticks out her tongue at him.

They all whip their heads towards the screaming coming from outside the meeting room. The Doctor rushes around the guards, giving the orders for 'defence plan delta'. This indicates to the guards that he clearly holds upper authority. So, they all follow after him obediently, Kathy's hand in the Doctor's as he pulls her along. Eventually, they come into a mortuary where they find an open body cold chamber. Tosh is cowering by her desk. She has a cut on her head with a pan in her hand for defence. A trickle of blood runs down her forehead from a gash near her hairline.

"It's alive!" She cries as Kathy moves over towards her.

"Spread out. Tell the perimeter it's a lockdown." The Doctor orders.

"My God. It's still alive." Tosh repeats, speaking directly to Kathy.

Kathy gently crouches down next to her. "Hey, hey, Tosh. It'll be okay."

Kathy gets a confused look from the Doctor, who then has to shout at the soldiers to get them to move, while Kathy pulls a few things out of her pockets.

“Let me take a look at your head.” Kathy holds her silver sonic screwdriver steady, the red light glowing softly from its emitter as she scans the wound. She sees it’s only a surface injury.

"I swear it was dead, Kathy," Tosh says, trying to calm down while Kathy cleans up the cut on her head.

"Tosh, just calm down," Kathy tells her quietly, knowing that it is still in the room with them. "The Doctor will sort this out, won't you?" She says, turning to look at him.

He is still frowning at her, and there are clearly several questions running through his head, but now isn't the time to ask them. "Coma, shock, hibernation, anything. What does it look like?"

Before Tosh can answer, something shifts behind them – faint, as if of paper being moved on a desk – and the Doctor spins around.

"It's still in the room." He realises. Darting out into the hallway, he caught the attention of another soldier and beckoned them into the room.

"Be careful, Doctor. And don't let them hurt it." Kathy calls to him as he signals for some of the guards to come and stay with her and Tosh.

There's another clatter, and the Doctor gets down on his hands and knees, creeping around the edge of the table. The soldier has his gun at the ready.

From her place on the floor, Kathy can't see much of what's happening, but she hears first an oinking, and then the Doctor's voice saying, "Hello!" before the pig runs out from its hiding place, running on its hind legs towards the door and oinking madly. It's wearing a spacesuit and looking rather petrified.

The soldier raises his gun, the Doctor shouts, "Don't shoot!" and chases after it into the corridor with the soldier.

"I was told a certain Owen Harper was doing this," Kathy remarks to Tosh, smirking knowingly.

Tosh huffs a wet laugh. "God, don't tell Jack."

"I won't," Kathy reassures gently. "But you need to stop covering for him. It's his own fault for going out and getting drunk, isn't it? If he took his job more seriously, then he wouldn't miss out on all the fun." She finally finishes cleaning up the blood on her friend's head.

"You know I can't..." Tosh splutters.

Kathy smirks knowingly. "Mmmm... I bet this wasn't what you expected when you were thrown into covering for Owen."

Tosh laughs, "No..."

Before they can say anything else, they hear the gunshots ring out, the sound devastatingly loud even in the mortuary. Kathy lets out a sigh, knowing that the poor pig had been killed. There was no need for it, it wasn't a threat, and it wasn't hurting anyone, so there was no need to kill it.

Tosh pushes herself to her feet. Kathy holds her as the Doctor can be heard faintly shouting at the soldiers.

——

Another group of soldiers come back into the mortuary, led by the Doctor in the jacket, carrying the creature between them. Kathy presses her lips together so she doesn't start excoriating them for it. The Doctor is doing it enough for both of them, anyway.

"That's the problem, you have a gun in your hand and all you see is targets." The Doctor is saying while directing them to lay the creature back on the autopsy table. "No critical thinking, no thinking at all in fact, just point and shoot."

"Sir, our orders were—" One of them tries.

"Oh, orders, brilliant!" The Doctor interrupts furiously. "Where would we be without orders? Here's some: go tell your commander you just killed an innocent creature and destroyed the only evidence of what's going on here. I'm serious! Go on!"

The soldiers obey him, hurrying out of the room until it's only him, Kathy, Tosh, and the pig left.

"Autopsy? Yes or no?" The Doctor quickly questions Tosh.

"I took X-rays," Tosh says, looking a bit put out, and grabs them from the desk.

The Doctor looks at the X-rays for about a second, then hands them back to her. "Like I thought." He says. "Rest assured, Doctor Sato, the amateurs out there didn't kill the only evidence of first alien contact, just a dressed-up pig that never did anything to anybody."

Tosh blinks. "It's not an alien?"

"No," Kathy says. "Just your garden-variety pig probably picked off a farm in Yorkshire. Poor little guy."

"I just assumed that's what aliens look like," she says, which is kind of a lie, but Kathy isn't blaming Tosh for it, and it could've easily been a new species, "but you're saying it's an ordinary pig, from Earth."

"More like a mermaid." He says. "Victorian showmen used to draw the crowds by taking the skull of a cat, glueing it to a fish, and calling it a mermaid. Now, someone's taken a pig, opened up its brain, stuck bits on, then they've strapped it in that ship, made it dive bomb. It must've been terrified. They've taken this animal and turned it into a joke."

"So it's a fake, a pretend, like the mermaid," Tosh says, not noticing that the Doctor and Kathy are quietly slipping out of the room. "But the technology augmenting its brain, it's like nothing on Earth. It's alien. Aliens are faking aliens. But why would they do that?" Tosh turns around and finds the room empty. "Kathy? Doctor?" She quickly rushes into the corridor. "Kathy? Doctor?" The only sound that can be heard is the rough grinding and wheezing sound that brings up a gust of wind from nowhere. Tosh is left standing there on her own, with so many unanswered questions.

——

"How did you know that doctor back there?" The Doctor asks Kathy as the TARDIS takes them back to the Powell estate and back to where Rose is waiting for them.

"Uh, a friend of a friend," Kathy tells him nervously. She knows that the Doctor will never meet any of them from Torchwood, at least as far as she is aware, he doesn't. She hopes that he will leave it and not ask her any more questions about Tosh or, even worse, Jack. "Anyway, Rose has probably worked out that we've gone, and she is most likely waiting for us. You are in some big trouble if I'm right, mister."

The Doctor rolls his eyes at her. "Right, this is your all-knowing power talking, isn't it?" He says, taking a step towards her.

Kathy puts on an innocent face. "Might be or might just be an educated guess."

"Hmm, if you say so." It is clear that he doesn't exactly believe her, but Kathy is glad that he isn't going to push it. "Let's go grab Rose. After leaving her with Jackie and Ricky, she'll probably jump at the chance to leave." He grimaces. "Her mum's not gonna slap me again, is she? I've got a strict limit on domestics and that woman hits all of them in one go."

Kathy shakes her head with a laugh. "Not unless you give her reason to, like bring her daughter back a year late again."

The TARDIS lands, and the door slams open, and one very unhappy Rose comes barging in.

"All right, so I lied." He says quickly, looking at the scanner. "We went and had a look. But the whole crash landing's a fake. I thought so. Just too perfect." The Doctor rambles as Rose joins them both. "I mean, hitting Big Ben, come on. So I thought, let's go and have a look—"

"My mum's here," Rose warns as Mickey and Jackie slowly trickle in themselves. Mickey's face is a mixture of anger and shock, while Jackie is overwhelmed and tearful. Yeah, seems Kathy telling her that Rose has been travelling in a spaceship that's bigger on the inside hadn't quite hit home till now.

The Doctor turns and looks at the duo standing there. "Oh, that's just what I need. Don't you dare make this place domestic." He warns, clearly not happy.

"They thought she was dead, Doctor!" Mickey cries angrily, jabbing his finger in Rose's direction as he says, "I was a murder suspect because of you. If it weren't for Kathy, my life would've been ruined!"

"You see what I mean? Domestic." The Doctor scoffs.

"Right, that's enough from the pair of you." Kathy snaps as Rose runs off after her mother. God, she remembers how much she hates this back-and-forth between the two of them. "Can you boys just play nicely? Please?"

It really doesn't take that long for Rose to charge back in and up to the scanner, where the Doctor is still back to looking at it. "That was a real spaceship?" Her curiosity is definitely showing now.

"Yep," Kathy replies.

"So it's all a pack of lies? What is it then? Are they invading?" Rose is asking all the right questions, and it makes Kathy smile. She may be young, but Rose Tyler is certainly not stupid or useless.

Then Mickey puts his own thoughts forward. "Funny way to invade, putting the world on red alert." And that comment proves that he isn't as stupid as the Doctor likes to think he is either.

Kathy smiles at him while the Doctor answers, "Good point. So, what're they up to?"

"Well, if you ask me, there's really only one way to find out," Kathy says, getting everyone to look at her. "But since the Doctor is still worried about taking the TARDIS into battle, we might as well work out what we can from here."

This causes the Time Lord to jump into action. Soon, the Doctor's got a section of the grilled floor yanked up. He lies on the floor under the console as Kathy sits on the grill and helps him as best she can. There's only so much she can do right now. She's not sure if Jackie still calls the emergency helpline or not. She might have done it out of spite towards the Doctor. If not, then she'll have to encourage the Doctor to head to Downing Street soon.

"So, what're you doing down there?" Mickey asks, leaning against the console a little.

"Ricky..."

"No, it's Mickey. My name is Mickey." Mickey says in annoyance.

"No, it's Ricky." The Doctor repeats firmly.

"It's Mickey." Both Kathy and Mickey say together.

The Doctor scoffs a little, and Kathy just lets out a sigh. "You think you know your own name? How stupid are you?"

"Doctor, his name is Mickey, and Mickey, don't encourage him." Kathy snaps.

The Doctor rolls his eyes, mainly at Kathy. "If I was to tell you what I was doing to the controls of my frankly magnificent time ship, would you even begin to understand?"

Now Kathy rolls her eyes, she knows the Doctor is being a pain on purpose.

"I suppose not."

"Well, shut it then." The Doctor snaps.

Kathy watches as Mickey walks away and over to where Rose is standing. She knows the pair of them are going to have a little chat, so she decides to have a little chat with the Doctor.

"You need to start behaving yourself, mister." She warns him as he twists a few wires together. "Mickey has had a rough year. Everyone thought he had murdered Rose, even when they ruled him out, it followed him like a bad stench. He lost all his friends and the people on the estate terrorised him before and after."

He pulls his sonic screwdriver out from his mouth so that he can speak. "What are you sticking up for him for? Don't tell me all your time on earth has turned you domestic."

"How can I not be? And I stick up for him because Mickey is not an idiot. I don't care what you say, he isn't, and one day you'll see that." She knows she has to be firm with him because Kathy knows that particular regeneration of him is pretty stubborn. "And until that day, I will hit you every single time you call him Ricky, or an idiot. His name is Mickey, and he is not an idiot. Got it?"

The Doctor looks at her, a slight frown on his face. "Why are you defending him so much? What do you know?"

"I know that Mickey is a much better man than you think," Kathy tells him, not wanting to give anything away.

This time, he rolls his eyes before getting back to work, concentrating on what he is doing, with Kathy sitting there watching him.

"So, now that you've come back, are you going to stay?" Kathy hears Mickey ask.

Before Rose can answer, the Doctor interrupts. "Got it! Ha, ha. Patched in the radar, looped it back twelve hours so we can follow the flight of that spaceship." He tells them, getting up from where he was and rushing to the monitor, dragging Kathy along with him. Rose quickly leaves Mickey to join them. Kathy winces at his dejected face.

"Here we go, hold on. Come on." The Doctor has to tap the monitor a few times before it actually shows up on the screen. "That's the spaceship on its way to Earth, see? Except, hold on, see? The spaceship did a slingshot round the Earth before it landed."

"What does that mean?" Rose asks, looking between the pair.

Kathy smiles at her. "That spaceship came from Earth in the first place. It went up and then it came back down again." She explains.

The Doctor nods. "Whoever those aliens are, they haven't just arrived; they've been here for a while. The question is, what have they been doing? He instantly looks at Kathy, hopeful.

She winces, knowing he wants her to give him some clue. "Spoilers." Kathy sees him clench his jaw in irritation.

"That word." He suddenly snaps. "It just means you can't do anything. All that knowledge and you never seem to use it."

Kathy looks at him wide-eyed in surprise. The attack came from nowhere, though maybe it's been building up since they last saw each other. Some lingering resentment.

"Excuse me!" She exclaims. "It's not like I can just go spilling the beans, you know? Do you have any idea what could happen if I do? You're all like 'can't change the past, fixed points' etcetera until it's something you want." She jabs his arm. "You tell me off for helping, you tell me off for not helping. What the hell am I supposed to do, then, idiot?"

His anger quickly falls away, and he looks a little chastened as they both fall silent. Rose and Mickey both look impressed, and Kathy can't help but feel pleased that she's impressed the two of them.

Kathy shakes her head with a sigh. "Look, I can give you a hint." He looks at her curiously. "Maybe you should catch up on the news. I hear the Prime Minister is missing."

——

The Doctor starts searching through different Earth channels on the TARDIS scanner, looking for updates on the news about what is happening. Rose and Mickey walk up behind him, watching the news with him. Kathy slumps against the console, humming to herself as she waits for their time to leave.

Her mind stews over her next steps, how to minimise the death that will be happening. She wishes she could save everyone, but that would mean being split in multiple locations, and she's no Thirteenth Doctor during the Flux.

She clues back into the conversation when she hears Mickey say, "'Cause he's worked for them." He pronounces, sounding as if he believed he'd got one over the Doctor. "Yeah, don't think I sat on my backside for twelve months and only listened to what Kathy told me, Doctor." He sneers. "I read up on you. You look deep enough on the Internet... and in the history books, and there's his name. Followed by a list of the dead."

His words startle Kathy, and it makes her think. What if she has her own list? Has she become known in history if you look deep enough? She's always tried to save people if she can, but what if she's not doing enough? What if she's followed by not a list of people she couldn't save, like the Doctor, but a list of people she wouldn't save?

"That's nice. Good boy, Ricky." The Doctor's voice is cheerful. Too cheerful.

Kathy swiftly elbows him in the ribs and glares at him. She had warned him what would happen if he made fun of Mickey. He pouts and rubs the spot she hit.

"If you know them, why don't you go and help?" Rose questions.

"They wouldn't recognise me." The Doctor says dismissively. "I've changed a lot since the old days. Besides, the world's on a knife-edge. There's aliens out there – and fake aliens. I want to keep this alien out of the mix. I'm going undercover... and, eh, better keep the TARDIS out of sight. Ricky! You've got a car, you can do some driving!" He suggests.

Thwack.

"Ow!"

Mickey lets out a snort while Rose giggles. Kathy grins. She's totally not enjoying this.

"Where to?" Mickey asks as the Doctor starts bouncing around the console.

The Doctor heads down the ramp and over to the doors with Rose and Kathy following. "The roads are clearing. Let's go and have a look at that spaceship."

They walk out of the TARDIS and straight into a helicopter spotlight. It aims its spotlight at them, making the group squint from the blinding light. Police cars swarm the area around them. Military vehicles join seconds later. The authorities are shouting and commanding the group to stay put. Red Berets charge forward with their guns aimed at them.

"Mickey, quick, hide behind that dumpster over there," Kathy instructs, pointing to where the man needs to be. "Go. Now."

Mickey does not wait to be told twice. He takes off with guards chasing after him. Kathy knows he will find a good spot to hide and will be ready to play the part he is needed for.

Jackie comes running out of the flats, yelling for Rose. Clearly, despite Kathy's reassurances, Jackie Tyler had called a special helpline because she was concerned for her daughter and her dislike towards Rose's new friend. Some guards hold her back.

Kathy just lets out a sigh as more people surround them, guns being aimed at them. She isn't panicking; in fact, she looks more bored than anything else.

"Raise your hands above your head!" One of the guards barks. "You are under arrest!"

A grin slowly appears on the Doctor's face as they obey the command.

"Don't say it," Kathy warns, seeing the look in his eye.

He pauses, turns towards her ever so slightly, and looks her dead in the eye, a smirk appearing on his lips.

"Don't you dare..."

"Take me to your leader!" He cries cheerfully.

"Idiot!"

——

Soldiers force the Doctor, Rose, and Kathy into a police car. It is sort of cramped with all three of them, but they fit in. The car takes off, taking them to the same location as the other UNIT members. Downing Street.

Rose thinks of this as funny when the Doctor explains what is happening. Kathy remains silent, resting her head back and closing her eyes. She knows what is going to happen, and she is trying to think of a way to stop it; she has her device, but will it be enough? People are going to die, and she doesn't want that to happen. She is wondering what is going to happen to her, is she going to be left outside with Rose, or will they know who she is and let her in with the Doctor?

It doesn't take too much longer for them to arrive at Downing Street, cameras flashing the moment the car arrives and they step out. Kathy is doing a pretty good job of keeping her face hidden with her hair. She hurriedly pulls Rose along with her as the companion gawps at all the cameras. The Doctor mugs for the cameras.

The guards led them inside to where the Doctor was needed. They came into a large room filled with experts, waiting to find out what was going on. All gathered for alien information. Kathy only vaguely recalls some of the faces of the UNIT and government workers that she's dealt with over the years of working with Jack. Rose is just in awe while Kathy and the Doctor are both much more relaxed, and Kathy has to keep calm and relaxed when a woman that she recognises walks into the room.

"Ladies and gentlemen, can we convene?" Indra Ganesh, the junior secretary with the Ministry of Defence, calls, grasping everyone's attention. "Quickly as we can, please. It's this way on the right, and can I remind you ID cards are to be worn at all times." He approaches the Doctor and Kathy, ID cards in hand. "Here's your ID cards. I'm sorry, but your companion doesn't have clearance."

The Doctor looks at Kathy and Rose before turning back to Indra. "We don't go anywhere without her." He tells the man firmly, ready to stand his ground.

Indra lets out a sigh. "You're the code nine, not her." He said, nodding towards Rose. "I'm sorry, Doctor. It is the Doctor, isn't it? She'll have to stay outside."

"She's staying with us." The Doctor tells him even more firmly than before, while something turns over in Kathy's mind.

"Look, even I don't have clearance to go in there. I can't let her in and that's a fact." It is clear that Indra is getting slightly frustrated now.

Seeing the mulish expression staying firmly put on the Doctor's face, Kathy tugs his free arm sharply. "Look you go, I'll stay with her." She speaks up.

The Doctor turns to her, frowning while Rose looks like she's about to protest. "Why?" He asks.

"You've got to trust me." She says in his head as she tugs his ID card back over his head. "Get rid of that. Get as many people to take them off as possible, no matter how you do it. Oh!" She holds up the orb in her hand and offers it to him. "And take this. I don't know how to use it, but hopefully you will. You'll need it in there."

He removes his arm to hold the orb with both hands, running his fingers over it before returning his focused gaze to her. "Since I know you're up to something, I'll play along for now. But I think we'll need to discuss how, exactly, you got your hands on this later. I'll keep it close for now." He promises, discreetly tucking his ID card into the base of a nearby plant.

"You two are doing that head thing again," Rose complains, her nose scrunched up in frustration.

The Doctor rolls his eyes, and Kathy beams. "Great! Then Rose and I can have a nice chat with Harriet here." The woman abruptly looks at them from where she has been arguing with Indra Ganesh. The man is obviously at the end of his tether from trying to argue against the woman pushing herself into situations.

"Fine." The Doctor concedes. "You two, be careful, all right?"

"I'm always careful." Kathy teases.

"That's what I'm afraid of." He retorts with his classic smirk as he files into the room.

"How do you know me?" Harriet asks tentatively. Kathy doesn't blame her, she's seen a lot.

"The woman who's perfectly capable of looking after us," Kathy replies, turning to Indra, "so there'll be no need for security."

He seems to see this as a good idea, leaving the room. They walk out together from the room, with Harriet looking jumpy. Kathy knows this is from just witnessing General Asquith being murdered by the Slitheen family, the true aliens behind the events around them.

"Harriet Jones, MP, Flydale North." Harriet introduces herself quickly as they walk.

"I'm Kathy," Kathy says.

"Rose Tyler, ma'am," Rose says right after Kathy.

Harriet steers them into a quiet and vacant location of the building. She turns to them both, looking anxious. "This friend of yours, he's an expert, is that right? He know... he knows about aliens?" She asks. Her voice broke some, still horrified by what she saw.

"Yes, but so does she," Rose says, pointing to Kathy. Harriet starts to shake, finally giving in to her overwhelmed emotions and sobbing. The part Time Lord, part Human and part Apalapucian came up to Harriet, gently rubbing her shoulder.

"Hey, it's alright," Kathy speaks gently. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I already know what happened."

Harriet sniffs after some moments of sobbing, dabbing away her tears. "H–how... how do you know that?" She questions, confused as to how the brunette woman could possibly know something which had happened only moments before.

"I have a way of knowing things. And I'm here to help." Kathy says softly. She hugs Harriet. "I'm sorry you had to witness something like that."

Harriet pats her back, grateful. "I'm– I'm fine. We just need to hurry." She speaks quickly. "I have to at least show you what they've done."

Kathy turns to EmRose as they follow. "Well, Ms Tyler, we have an investigation on our hands."

Rose lets out a slight laugh despite being tense and worried about Harriet's outburst and links her arm with Kathy's.

——

Harriet directs them quickly to the Cabinet Room. She pulls out the body suit of Oliver Charles from the cupboard once they are inside the room. It flaps around uselessly onto the table when Harriet sets it down.

Rose stares at it in horror. "What is that?" She gasps.

"It's a body suit the real aliens use as a disguise," Kathy explains. "They kill the person and then use the skin for themselves. It's how they blend in." She turns, walking over to a nearby cupboard. She slowly opens it. The dead body of the Prime Minister falls forward. She catches it, gently setting it down on the ground. She sighs, hating that another person has died today. Just another person she had been unable to save. "And that's the Prime Minister."

"Oh God." Harriet breathes in horror. Both she and Rose walk over, looking at the body.

"Harriet, for crying out loud!" Indra Ganesh exclaims angrily, spotting them and charging into the room. "This has gone beyond a joke, you cannot just wander..." He sees the body and stumbles to a halt. "Oh my God. That's the prime minister!"

"Oh! Has someone been naughty?" A sickly sweet voice makes them all turn. A middle-aged blonde woman on the heavy side stands, blocking their exit. Margaret Blaine (Blon Fel-Fotch Passmer-Day Slitheen) gives them a very creepy, very menacing smile. She slowly shuts the door behind her, leaving them trapped in the room with her. Harriet looks at the new arrival fearfully, backing up with Rose. Kathy glares at Margaret. Indra glances at Margaret, looking back at the dead body of the Prime Minister.

"But– but that's impossible." Indra stammers, backing away with his eyes fixed on the body. "He left this afternoon. The Prime Minister left Downing Street, he was driven away!"

"And who told you that, hmm?" Margaret gives them a more evil smile. "Oh, that's right. It was me!"

Kathy cringes as Margaret reaches up to her hairline and begins to tug on an invisible zipper. A bright blue, electrical light spills out from the area behind the zip, filling the room with its bright colour as she slowly peels off her outer skin to reveal the large, green Slitheen body beneath. Letting it drop, she smirks at the expressions of horror on their faces, flexing her three long fingers in relief.

The true alien body was large. Not only in height but in weight as well. Incongruous large black eyes on a small baby face, and light green skin with long, sharp talons for hands. Altogether, Margaret looks cruel and frightening in her true form.

"That was so much more disgusting seeing it in person." Kathy breathes, wrinkling her nose. She glances at Indra and edges closer to the chairs, hoping to be able to use one to save him when Margaret goes after him. She hears an animalistic roar of delight and tenses, reaching out for the chair.

Margaret hisses at them, lifting a quick hand to Indra to grab and kill him. Kathy reacts without thinking. She grabs a nearby heavy wooden chair from the Cabinet conference table. She rushes in front of Indra and slams the chair right into the Slitheen. Margaret stumbles back from the hit, caught by surprise by it.

"Run!" Kathy screams to the people behind her. Harriet grabs Rose and Indra, rushing them around the other side of the table and towards the door. Margaret gains back her balance, knocking the chair right out of Kathy's hands.

The next instant, something impossibly tight is wrapped around Kathy's neck and squeezes before slamming her into the wall. All the air flies from Kathy's lungs as her fingers dig into the constricting hold, trying fruitlessly to free herself as Margaret gloats in triumph as she holds her opponent high in the air. Black creeps into the edges of Kathy's vision as she gasps for breath, fingers losing their strength.

"Kathy!" Rose cries out when she glances over her shoulder, seeing the part Time Lord, part Human and part Apalapucian being held up by the sharp claws of Margaret. Kathy struggles some, glaring at the Slitheen.

"You will die." Margaret spits out.

However, Margaret suddenly hisses, stumbling forward and releasing Kathy, who drops to the floor, drawing in the air with a grateful gasp. She looks up to see a furious Rose lowering a chair that she had apparently been holding above her head and had consequently slammed it into Margaret's back, just like what Kathy had done before.

The Slitheen goes to raise her sharp claws at Kathy again, ready to strike her down, when the whole collar starts to spark with electricity. Her entire body is enveloped with a dangerous light. Kathy knows this is the work of the Doctor, placing the electrified ID on the Slitheen below. It is her lucky moment to escape.

Rose runs forward and helps Kathy to quickly get up from the ground and run around the jerking Slitheen. But not before Margaret whips a clawed hand around, catching Kathy on her side and left arm. She cries out, falling against a wall. She feels hot-wet liquid running down her arm and her clothes on the side where the hit struck her.

Oh God.

"Kathy!" Comes Rose's fearful cry.

——

A/N: Please leave comments on how you're enjoying this story and what you think.

[natsukihappyhousehold]

Because I can't reply somehow (I don't know why my tumblr is weird with the replies) I want to add "how much Reinhard is down bad for Subaru in the now EOS LIM mobile game"

Sorry I'm dumping here 🙇

Even though the LIM story is not written by Tappei (they have their own scenario team), Tappei does supervise the script so he approves of all the routes in the game!

Arc 2: To get to Reinhard's route, Subaru needs to choose to go look for help and not watch over the mansion when he leaves (third loop). There's actually an option whether Subaru choose to scream out Reinhard's name in the middle of the street in the capital or not. If Subaru choose to call for Reinhard (raises brazenness point): Subaru: "Let me try it out. Help me, Rein--" Reinhard: "Hey, Subaru. Did you call me?" Subaru: "I haven't finished calling you, though?!" If Subaru choose not to call for Reinhard (raises knowledge point): Subaru: "No matter how extraordinary he is, there's no way he'll come just from me calling out his name. I'll steadily look--" Reinhard: "Hey, Subaru. Did you call me?" Subaru: "I didn't!! I was just thinking about you in my heart?!" Both options will lead to this: Subaru: "No matter how you slice it, your timing is too fast!" Reinhard: "I also didn't think that I'd meet with Subaru again so soon." Subaru: "…..Well, whatever." (the second option cracks me up because it lowkey tells the player that calling out for Reinhard is a stupid move lol)And this route you have Subaru being lugged around by Reinhard like a sack of rice lol

(also those conversations are voiced and Reinhard sounds so sweet because he's happy he can meet Subaru again lol)

Arc 3: the canon route is Subaru doesn't immediately seek for Reinhard's help in the first loop. In LIM, Subaru can choose to move around the capital to ask for help before setting out to Mathers' Mansion. At night, Subaru can go to Reinhard's mansion and asks for help. Like in canon, Reinhard already goes back to Astrea Territory along with Felt. This route is already locked because whether Subaru waits for Reinhard or he decides to go alone with Rem, Reinhard will arrive and offer his help. Even though Subaru doesn't know about the situation, Reinhard immediately agrees to help because it's probably dire enough for Subaru to ask for help. Reinhard: "--Did you call me?" Subaru: "Whoa!! Why?!" The Sword Saint who wasn’t supposed to return— Yet in the palm he held out was the small stone Subaru had kicked. Subaru: "I-I did call you...! But even if you could hear me just now, how sharp are your ears to rush here?!" Reinhard: "Just a coincidence. There's something that I want to check so I came back. And I found you two here." Subaru: "I-I see..." Also this convo: Subaru: "But you're Felt's knight, right?" Reinhard: "I see. But this is my own decision. If you're in trouble, that's plenty enough of a reason." Subaru: "Oh, thanks..." Reinhard: "Save your thanks until the problem is solved. This is a friend's request, so I'll do my utmost best." Iirc, Reinhard kills Petelgeuse' soul with his bare hands lol

Prisoner Number 459 Story: It's a branch of Prison King Subaru route. In that route, Rom-jii will visit Subaru to share some info about Subaru's imprisonment. We can ask Rom-jii to tell Reinhard to look for the mastermind behind the murder and the imprisonment. In the end, it ends with the hints that Subaru stops thinking difficult things and decided to leave everything to Reinhard lol (There are also voiced lines here--I like how kind Reinhard's "Good morning, Subaru. It looks like you sleep well." sounds like when he picks up Subaru from his prison cell.)

Idol Reinhard and baseball Reinhard. Subaru makes the clothes (plus the song for the idol one) for him. THANK YOU SUBARU!!!

Also Reinhard always going to Mathers' Mansion every year (2-3 times...) to give Subaru some New Years' Money (free pulls) lol. Reinhard acting like Subaru's older family member is cute.

With all the analysis going around about arc 3 - for better or worse - why hasn't anyone told me how fucking down Reinhard is for Subaru?!

As soon as they meet in the capital, Reinhard immediately tells him that he expected him to be there because he always makes the right choice and would protect Miss Emilia. And then when Julius arrives he tells him not to worry about Subaru's gaze because "he does it to analyze people." Where the hell does he get these conclusions from?! They only saw each other once a month ago, but I guess Subaru's Rizz was enough to reduce him to the same level as Rem!

I don't know what Tappei's goal was here, but as far as I'm concerned it just convinced me to be more interested in ReinSuba.

[sullustangin]

Spoilers Ahoy: Consular Thoughts

I’m doing a quickie consular story  re-playthrough, and ... I have thoughts, mainly about the companions.

I do like the overall story arc until Chapter 3 when everyone except the Selkath thinks going to Belsavis to make friends is a great idea.  Awakening an imprisoned army is a terrible idea.  This is sort of how I feel about my OC confronting Malgus alone in prison recently: I don’t have a choice not to be stupid, and I HATE that.  LS is “Gonna get new friends for the Republic” and DS is more like “Gonna get new friends to serve me.”  THESE GUYS ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS.  It’s a lot of risk and no guarantee of reward. I’d mark this as ‘a jump the shark’ moment. 

The Consular also has the inverse problem of the Bounty Hunter:  BH gets all the lighter companions first (Mako most of all) and then gets DS only at the end (death to Skadge).  Meanwhile, the consular gets a Hunt All The Things Uncle Lizard, Guy Who Literally Lives in the Basement with his Holo Girlfriend, and a politically inclined Murder!Noodle. Consular only gets LS Felix and LS Nadia as the last two companions, which results in some problems -- they’re also the romance options, which gives them the least amount of development in the vanilla game. 

To be fair, I think Felix Iresso is one of the least problematic guys in the SWTOR universe.  He’s so kriffin’ sweet.  He’s perfect for a young Jedi.  I totally think there was an attempt at a Jace/Satele parallel here. It’s not toxic and it’s well-paced... minus the fact that he doesn’t show up until Hoth.  Yes, I know what’s in his head...but he’s still a good person before and after the experience in Vanilla.  (I know how he was done dirty in his return -- poor sweet man.) 

For perspective, Hoth is when the smuggler gets their last companion, Guss Tuno.  Corso (f!smug romance option) was acquired in Chapter 1, and Risha (m!smug romance option 1) was acquired at Chapter 1′s end.  Akaavi was acquired in Chapter 2 after Balmorra (option 2).  Even then, Akaavi’s relationship feels better paced just by having her a whole planet early.  I know @swtorpadawan​ and others have commented on how fast the Nadia Grell romance is.  Pair that with her relative youth -- even with the consular being super young themselves, it still feels ‘yikes’, especially in the context you romance her.

I love and hate Qyzen.  He’s a great first companion, part of a cultural immersion experience for a young Jedi.  His hunting for the Scorekeeper works in contrast to the peace that the consular seeks to establish, and yet it does provide a path to that -- sometimes, you do have to fight for the 'greater good’ end result; compliance works for the enemy.   However, on a personal level, I have my political loyalties to Wookiees, and I would cheer for Bowdaar to kick his ass.

I do like Zenith, and not just because he’s voiced by Troy Baker.   There’s a very gritty, realist element to Zenith. After the hero moves on from a planet, what happens to it?  Great, Balmorra is liberated, but it doesn’t fix everything going on there. Should there be ‘necessary evils’ done in the name of politics and managing power? All of the war, death, and other baggage can screw a person up; I read Zenith as walking PTSD, having lived in a war zone all of his life (he was born 3 years after Jace and Satele reported the fall of Korriban, and Balmorra has been a mess since). Zenith is a great foil to a consular, regardless of alignment.  

...I have a really hard time justifying Tharan’s recruitment so early minus the fact he does fit on Nar Shaddaa better than anyone else.  I know the developers tried to keep all of the Pub and Imp players running on the same sets of planets in each chapter...but if there was ever an exception to be made, it should have been for the consular, because I feel like Tharan is taking up an important space that he really shouldn’t. He’s not actively evil, but he’s not a pleasant or honest person. Super skeevy vibes once Nadia joins the crew too.   I feel like a lot of time is spent on Tharan with not a lot of growth or character development to show for it.  I think I feel that way because there’s this weird ‘affair’ the consular is propositioned with early on -- it felt like filler from the start.  It’s not as well done as the Pierce one-night stand.  Some of his comp convos seem tacked on or “oh no we have to make more content for this guy.” 

Nadia’s acquisition as a companion hinges on certain late stage events, but I feel as if the romance would have felt ‘better’ if her father had let her go to be a padawan as soon as she manifested on Quesh.   Then, she could have grown up a little more before the later events and would have been on more equal footing and more familiar terms with the consular, romance or not. 

In sum, I think the consular’s personal story with the crew has great elements, but I feel like they got put together in the wrong order.  To me, companion order would be:  Qyzen, Felix (set him on Tatooine, the opposite temperature cesspit in the galaxy), Zenith, Nadia (on Quesh), and then... Tharan on Hoth because someone unloaded him there? or Belsavis for crimes related to unethical experiments?  Again, Tharan’s convos seem overstretched; the Vandrayk Generator could have really been done in two or three convos rather than the big thing it was in Chapters 2 and 3. 

[ruby-whistler]

The Prison Arc - a Complete Recap

[ /dsmp /rp - All of the people mentioned in this post are the characters, not the content creators behind them. TWs for mentions of fictional murder, abuse, torture, self-harm, and other canon-typical themes. ]

Watch the cut-down version of this recap here! The video doesn’t have all the details, but is well-edited and easier to watch.

Starting where we left off, after the Disc War finale, Dream reveals the last trick up his sleeve, the revival book. Seeing him as an active danger to the server, the people need a way to get rid of him in order to keep themselves and each other safe, but instead of killing him, they store him away for later use, also making the prison a Vault in a literal sense.

This is where the story of the prison seemingly begins, but - let’s rewind for a moment, because any and all information here is vital. What do we know about the prison? It was commissioned for 64 diamond blocks by Dream to be built by Awesamdude a day after Tommy was exiled. The prison was supposed to be inescapable, and hold a highly capable individual, yet allow visitors.

Getting back to the lore, a day after Dream arrives in the prison, Tommy goes to visit him. During this visit, Dream states that there is nothing to do in the cell besides watching the clock on the wall, and that he is planning on writing something in the books that were given to him. Tommy shows him how to spin the clock really fast, which Dream calls a new game. He says that he is doing well so far, that he gets fed raw potatoes and can write or “swim”. He goes on to jump into the lava that blocks off his cell, killing himself. Tommy teases him, Dream asking him to visit more as he is alone in the cell with no real interaction. He then argues that if he stays for a long while and gets better, he can be freed, however Tommy doesn’t agree. Dream then apologizes, presumably to convince Tommy he can be let go, and talks about feeling bad about things he lost during the Finale. Tommy gives him five books to write, saying it’s so that he can forgive him. After this exchange, Tommy asks who Dream misses the most, and Dream yells for Sam to make him leave.

Around this time, as he reveals later, Dream starts telling Sam about what he did to Tommy in exile, which leads to the Warden becoming increasingly fearful and especially hateful towards the prisoner.

Nine days later, BadBoyHalo decides to pay Dream a visit as well. Dream is slow to respond at first, commenting that BBH is the first visitor in a while. He says he’s doing good, and spins the clock, because apparently he burnt some of his books, and doesn’t write much anymore. Bad tries to be optimistic about his conditions, and Dream agrees in a very… unconvincing, tone of voice. (29:40 - 29:49)

He says that he gets potatoes, but they’re raw, so they’re not good food. Apparently, Sam has told him he couldn’t have any visitors for a few days, because he would try to get out. He concurs to Bad that he did bad things that got him locked up, and asks how Sapnap and George are doing - noting that they haven’t visited him yet. Bad tells him that Tommy has started a hotel, and about the Egg. Dream seems lethargic and preoccupied the entire time, spinning his clock - he says he’s named it, but doesn’t want to elaborate further. He gives Bad a note that says “thank you for visiting me badboyhalo!” and explains that his sentence is forever, which is later also confirmed by Sam, and goes on to talk more about the clock and how he “likes it halfway” it’s because c!Ranboo metaphorically is the clock-

He once again reiterates that there is not a lot for him to do, and that nearly no one has visited him. He reveals to BadBoyHalo that he sometimes does a “prank” where he’ll burn his clock, so that Sam has to come to replace it and he can see and say hi to him. After being asked whether or not he gets in trouble for it, he replies that Sam will sometimes deprive him of food as punishment, essentially starving him for his attempts at interaction, though Dream diminishes it and laughs about Sam reprimanding him. The Warden is planning to make an automated food dispenser so as to not have to come into the cell himself, which means even less interaction in essence. Despite all of this, he says that Sam is “treating him amazing” and that he’s happy. During the visit, he sniffles and coughs as he talks, voice low and void of energy.

BadBoyHalo wants to become a prison guard so that he can make the cell look nicer, perhaps giving Dream a potted plant and flower or two, as well as promising he’ll talk to George and Sapnap who Dream says he wants to visit him the most. He encourages him to look forward to better things, think positively, and - (42:03 - 42:20) As BBH freaks out, he explains that hurting himself this way is how he keeps himself entertained, setting himself on fire again. He says he wants to summon Bad into the cell by breaking a block when he becomes a guard, but goes back on this as it would potentially make Sam mad. Bad promises to visit with his friends, and leaves the cell.

He tells Sam that he needs to replace the clock, who refuses to, seeming frustrated with Dream’s antics. Bad tries to convince him to give it back, Sam saying it doesn’t matter whether Dream has it or not, although it’s basically one of Dream’s only sources of entertainment, and Bad tells him to give him one more clock as a compromise. Sam asks whether he… said anything, suspiciously enough? And Bad says they only talked a bit and that he jumped in the lava. Sam confirms he does that a lot and he thinks it’s for attention.

BadBoyHalo feels conflicted, to say the very least. (53:34-54:02 54:16-54:33 56:34-56:53 1:02:24-1:03:05)

That very same day, Ranboo has a strange hallucination-like nightmare about visiting Dream. However when he tries to visit again, Sam tells him that he visited not too long after Dream was first locked up, also bringing a memory book with him. Later, during the prison podcast with Techno, Dream himself mentions Ranboo and says that he “used to visit a lot” before stopping completely - this lines up with what Ranboo does afterwards, having Sam promise to never let him in again.

On February 7th, Dream dies in lava repeatedly on someone’s stream. This happens a couple of times throughout people’s time on the server, and seems to line up with Sam’s claim that he swims in lava pretty often.

Twenty-one days into Dream’s stay in the cell, Sapnap finally decides to visit. Dream stands mostly still and silent, holding the clock in his hand, and explains through books that he’s not talking because he’s on strike. He places the clock and spins it - Sam seems to have renamed it to “DO NOT BURN”. He tells Sapnap that he took too long, who responds that it took him a while because he felt hurt, but also says that Dream can talk to him if he wants to. Dream’s cell has had some of the obsidian changed out for crying obsidian as a security measure - Dream could’ve, and tried to, light a nether portal in the cell to escape. Sapnap tells him he needs to stay in the prison, because that is where he deserves to be - Dream burns his clock in response, insisting that he will get better and get out eventually. Sapnap threatens to kill him if he does - Dream simply tells him to deliver a message to Ranboo because he stopped visiting, a smiley face, which seems to trigger his enderwalk when received, and promises to stop throwing his clock away in return. Sapnap says he’ll visit more, and that he’ll tell George to visit him as well.

The next visit is nine days later, and is an attempt at getting closure. Tommy notes there’s a little hole on the prison roof when he goes to check up on it beforehand. (1:39-1:44). When Sam asks, Tommy says he thinks Dream is deserving of being locked up, but he highlights he doesn’t think he deserves death. He implies he could or might deserve torture though. (12:13-12:16). He says he’ll only ever visit Dream if he needs anyone revived from now on, calling it the only reason Dream’s still alive. Upon entering the cell, he notices some of the obsidian is now crying obsidian.

The first thing Dream tells Tommy is that he lost his clock since the last time he visited him. Tommy seems nervous, stumbling over his words. Dream eagerly tells Tommy he’s glad he came to visit him, that it’s been a while, and that he wishes he would visit him more. He says he likes having people visit him, that he likes just talking to them (23:46-23:49).

Tommy tells Dream this is his last visit. Dream argues that forever is a long time, asking why it is the last time. Tommy tells him he’s the pinnacle of villainy and that he wants to move on. He says he’s been suffering from success while Dream wasn’t there. Dream replies that he has been too, except without the success part, just suffering - Tommy says he had it coming. Dream nonchalantly replies with “yeah”. He goes on to say that maybe one day he could leave, saying he’s already been changing since he came. They talk about the crying obsidian, Tommy comparing the situation to exile, which devolves into an argument. He finds out that Dream burnt the books he was supposed to write, and that BadBoyHalo visited at some point. Dream asks him to visit again, but Tommy refuses, saying he’s terrible. Dream says that everyone thinks they’re in the right, and that he did bad things for good reasons (31:51-32:13) - Tommy refuses to listen to said reasons, listing Dream’s crimes again, and says he refuses to stress himself out by going to visit Dream any longer. Dream says he’s trying to change, promising to be better if he comes back, and Tommy says goodbye.

In that moment, explosions are heard going off in the distance. The two talk about it for a moment, before Tommy starts yelling for Sam. His name disappears and the Warden doesn’t answer as more TNT goes off, Tommy freaking out and Dream seeming to find it interesting.

Tommy starts begging Dream for a way out, and Dream tells him calmly that Sam is dealing with the security issue. Tommy doesn’t get it, so Dream explains that it means he could be stuck in there for a little bit, maybe even days. Tommy is getting desperate, Dream tells him he knows he signed a book, because he’s the one who wrote it, that said that if there’s a security issue, he can be in there for up to a week.

Tommy rambles about all the things he has to do that week and calls out for Phil. Dream suggests they break out together, but Tommy refuses this offer.

Dream gives Tommy some potatoes, who hits him and yells at him to explain, to which Dream yells back he has no idea what is going on as he’s locked in a room.

Tommy accuses Dream that he’s lying, saying it’s too perfectly timed to be a coincidence, calling him the monster of the server, saying he hasn’t changed, and Dream trying to convince him he did or he’s trying to. The two argue, Dream bringing up exile in the process, until Dream suggests to just deal with each other’s presence, not hit each other, and explains he’s happy to finally have company, Tommy panicking and saying he wants to hurt Dream. He takes the “thank you” books from the chests, as well as empty books and quills, and burns them despite Dream’s protests, telling him if Sam hears him panicking over the items, he’ll come back - Dream begs Tommy to just wait, panicked, and gives him potatoes.

After quite a bit of arguing and Tommy nearly punching Dream into the lava multiple times, Sam says the prison is on lockdown. Tommy is incredulous. Dream says it’s not that bad, that they have tons of time to bond, and after Tommy repeatedly calls him dumb and evil, Dream loses his cool, yelling that Tommy’s the one that’s being dumb. Tommy calms down as the realization sets in, and the stream ends.

The next time we see Dream and Tommy, the scene opens with Tommy running around the cell, making loud noises, and Dream sitting in the cauldron, writing. He’s frustrated and asks Tommy to be quiet - who looks at the cat that seems to have appeared in the cell, calling it annoying. Dream disagrees, saying it’s the best thing that’s happened to them - Tommy tries to repeatedly lead it away from its place on the chest, however the cat always comes back. He keeps asking Dream questions, punching the cat to which Dream stands in front of it, asking him to stop. Sam appears to give them potatoes. He asks Sam to let him out, who refuses as the security issue hasn’t been fixed yet. Tommy complains about not having enough food, to which Dream gives him some as well as Sam dispensing more into the cell. Tommy punches Dream away from the potatoes, also getting the clock. He tells Sam that this feels like exile, but worse, saying he’s claustrophobic - he refuses once again, and leaves the two alone. Dream says it’s not that bad - that he’s gotten used to the cell, that he’s happy to have company and a cat with him. He burns the clock, and after Tommy asks to be let out again, suggests they escape together - Tommy says no, punching the cat as Dream tries to stand in front of it to take the blow. He asks Dream if he loves it, killing it when he says that he does and wants it to stay after Tommy leaves. In response to this, Dream says that the cat was hope he could stay in the prison and be content, however now he’s even more motivated to escape and get his revenge on everybody who’s wronged him. He says he’s grown tired of Tommy’s whining about being in the same box he’s been locked in for a hundred times longer - Tommy tells him he will never get out, and Dream promises to never use the revive book on him or his friends. He says he’ll be freed someday, because the only way he’ll ever revive anyone, is if he’s let out - Tommy reveals he doesn’t think the revive book, the only reason people are keeping Dream alive, is real. They argue, Dream asking if the fact he can’t be killed because of the leverage he holds makes him some kind of god - Tommy disputes that he has said leverage, Dream killing him as a result to prove the point that his life still holds value because he can bring people back to life.

In the aftermath of this event, Sam reacts by saying he didn’t anticipate Dream actually killing Tommy - hence he never reached the cell in time. When Bad mocks him for this, he replies saying that he thought he had “broken the will out of him” to act up that way. He also reveals that Dream laughed when he started screaming at him - he says he can’t think of worse ways to punish him than he already does, not knowing what time it is, without the clock and with only raw potatoes as food.

After this happens, Sam leaves for an island that we see in Quackity’s lore later on. Quackity comes to visit him, only to rile him up and give him the idea to kill Dream in retaliation - however, when they arrive in the prison, Sam realizes that Tommy trusted him to keep Dream locked up and alive, and decides against it because of his duty and the revive book.

Two days after Tommy died, he was revived once again, with Dream asking him questions about death and the limbo, such as how long he’s been there, who he’s talked to, and what it felt like. He says he was scared it wouldn’t work, because he had never tried it before; Tommy details that being dead felt horrible, he’s talked to Wilbur and Mexican Dream although Schlatt, strangely enough, appeared to be asleep. He expresses signs of trauma when Dream punches him after being asked to do so, and has somewhat of a breakdown in the cell. Dream proclaims he is a god as he can revive people, and Tommy says Wilbur said horrible things to him while he was in limbo with him, and tried to get Dream to promise him that he would never bring him back, declaring Wilbur worse and more dangerous than Dream ever was - Dream refuses, saying he is the only one with the power to decide on that, and he thinks Wilbur hasn’t done anything that bad. He also suggests experimenting on Tommy to find out more about the afterlife, and perhaps even become unkillable. Tommy realizes Dream is the revive book, in essence, and there is no other way to get rid of it than to kill him, to make sure Wilbur stays dead forever. Dream invites him to kill him, however Tommy realizes he can’t, because then he’ll be stuck in the cell alone forever - Dream even walks into lava for him, all the while detailing the possible consequences of such an act.

Dream says that when Tommy gets out, he can tell everyone the revive book is real - that he wasn’t lying. He also says since he can kill everyone and bring them back, they’re his puppets - when Tommy asks him why he killed him, Dream says he wouldn’t listen to him, and hence he had to prove the legitimacy of the revive book to him. He says he’ll let Tommy go, and not kill him again, just so that Sam doesn’t cut off his visitors further or starve him again - but also promises to bring back Wilbur, with whose help he will escape.

After eight more days, Dream and Tommy are still stuck together within the room, Dream remarking that he’s starving, confirming Sam hasn’t come back to give either of them food during the time since Tommy’s revival. He lets Tommy keep his when he says he has only one, and the two bicker after Dream hits him. They’re bored, waiting for the Warden, and have no idea how much time has passed - Tommy burns his food in lava as they argue again, before Sam finally arrives, and Tommy is released. Tommy warns him to not allow Dream any visitors, saying he plans to escape, and that Techno owes him a favor. He also calls Sam inadequate to run the prison.

After this experience, both Ranboo and Tommy start plotting to kill Dream, so that he can’t “bring back the villains” of the past, present, and future, allowing them to rid the world of such dangerous individuals for good.

However, another person also ends up becoming interested in the powers of the revive book - and that person, is none other, than Quackity.

He doesn’t intend to destroy its powers for good, though. He persuades Sam into letting him bring weapons into the cell as a means of getting the revive book, taking away the last bit of power Dream has, and allowing them to take his final life. Sam agrees in the end, giving him better tools before he steps into the cell, including netherite weapons and shears. During the first visit, Dream comments he hasn’t had a clock in a while, Quackity saying the cell doesn’t look very comfortable. He goes on to talk about Dream’s loss of control since he got locked up, to which Dream asks if he came to gloat. Quackity brings up Tommy’s death, and Dream is interested in other people’s reactions. The topic goes back to the revive book, Dream asking again whether people knew it was real now, saying it’s good that they do. Quackity begins to ask that he gives it to him, but Dream refuses, saying he burnt it a long time ago and it is preserved only in the form of knowledge. Quackty takes out the weapons, and after the initial shock, Dream begins to frantically yell for Sam, not knowing the two are working together. Quackity promises to come torture him daily until he gets the revive book from him.

Around this time, the prison’s keycards are stolen by Ponk. Sam builds him a room, planning on killing him and then burning him with lava, beating and poisoning him until he gives them back, even though at this point they aren’t even functional. (4:05 - 4:24) Ponk tries to talk him out of it, saying that the prison is controlling him as much as the Egg would, and that he’s changed. (6:26 - 6:38) Sam ends up cutting off one of Ponk’s arms, successfully getting every last one of the defunct keycards back.

Later on, while BadBoyHalo and Antfrost are handing out invites to the Red Banquet on behalf of the Eggpire, Sam greets them holding a clock and gives them empty books & quills he claims to have confiscated from Dream.

In Quackity’s next lore video, we get confirmation that he has in fact been coming in daily to torture Dream, always escorted by Sam, using different tools and staining his shirt’s sleeves red.

Tommy finally decides to come and kill Dream, sneaking in with an invisibility potion while using Ghostbur as an alibi. The lava starts dropping, and Dream seems to run around the cell once, before coming to a stop at the center. Ghostbur yells excitedly when he finally spots Dream on the other side. He looks at Ghostbur, coming closer to the edge to wave at him, but stops waving when he spots Sam. He backs off slightly, breaking eye contact with Sam. Ghostbur and Tommy cross the lava, and Dream has his back turned on Ghostbur.

As soon as Tommy arrives at the cell, and before the netherite bars drop, he reveals the Axe of Peace. Sam yells at them to stop. Dream takes a step towards the entrance, Tommy immediately turns to him, trying to hit him. Dream backs off until he hits the wall, letting out a small “What?”. Tommy crosses the bridge while Ghostbur stays. Tommy and Sam argue, Dream interrupts, but Sam shuts him down, telling Ghostbur to get further away from him.

Dream pleads for Sam to let him out, who tells everyone to shut up, as Tommy is asking Ghostbur if he can reach Dream to kill him. Dream yells that he has a hostage. Sam answers that he’s just a ghost, while Dream stammers that Sam wouldn’t let another person die.

Tommy starts insulting Sam, calling him a horrible warden and telling him to kill Dream, and they start arguing again. (31:00-31:13, 33:50-33:58) Dream shows that he has the revive book in his hands. Ghostbur starts pleading for Tommy to help him. Tommy and Ghostbur count to ten, Sam telling them to shut up. After he shuts down a last request to set Dream free, he kills Ghostbur as the lava starts covering the entrance.

After well over two months of daily visits, a scene opens with Quackity showing Dream which weapon he will use that day, choosing an axe. Dream tries to take it off the item frame, however fails and only gets himself in trouble, with Quackity yelling at him while he cowers. He says it’s getting tiring, but that he needs to come in to remind him every day about everything he’s done or else he’ll forget, to which Dream promises he won’t. Quackity then proceeds to ask him questions about his involvement and relationship with Technoblade, and tells him to write a note, inviting him to visit. He refuses to say why, but promises to give Dream a week-long break if he obeys. Dream doesn’t trust him, continuing to question his motives. He tries to compromise, offering to write a note to Sapnap instead. Quackity goes on to threaten to kill him, saying he doesn’t care about the revival book, and that he likes hurting Dream, because in his eyes, he can never pay back the amount of evil Dream’s done to everyone on the server. He says not even Sam can help him, swinging his axe around and hitting Dream with a sword while he begs him to stop. In the end, Dream agrees to write the note for him.

Outside of the cell’s confines, Foolish proposes to Sam an idea to reform Dream through community service. This idea is shut down immediately.

MichaelMcChill, a new addition to the server, also tries to break him out a couple of times because - because he. Because he thinks he’s hot???

Interestingly enough, Quackity doesn’t have the note to give techno and just tells him to visit Dream verbally - Techno does, getting trapped in the cell in the process. And, well, in the end: (4:24 - 4:40)

That’s it for the recap!

Thank you.