#Casey did not understand the assignment

[murasakibonnet]

Sparring Match

April matching Casey’s (I speak in capital letters and two !’s) intensity.

Inspired by @ditzyblues’s art. She has the cooliest of art styles and so much soft!Casey content 🥰

I think we were robbed of April-Casey content and it genuinely bothered me so much that April called her Cassandra in the movie. Cassandra (‘my friends call me Casey’) Jones. 😤*confused hand-gestures* WHaT.

Bonus Doodle:

Pt. 2

[batsplat]

*falls to my knees* valentino read agassi's book omg

[onthewaytosomewhere]

✍️ and firstprince please and thank you!!

okay emily this got a lil bit of angst bleed-over form Ashleigh's fic and well that was not the plan but here we are lolz - but on the plus side yours is the fist done (as i bounce around between them all lolz)

also Morgan this is yours too i doubled up the prompts and went a bit longer lolz @suseagull04

can also be found on ao3 if ya'd rather

“Ugh!” Alex plops onto the couch next to Henry, turning to curl into his side.

“What’s wrong, love?”

“Stupid therapy assignment.”

“Oh? What did they assign for you?”

“Journaling.” The silence following Alex’s words tells him that Henry will be another on the list of people who don’t understand his frustration with this assignment.

“Okay, and why is that a bad thing?” Alex sighs and buries his head further into Henry’s shoulder; he just needs a moment to wallow before he has to hear another person tell him it won’t be as bad as he thinks; he’s already heard it from both June and Nora.  Henry runs a hand down his back, and Alex can feel some of the tension from the day being pulled away. He pulls back and sees an actual look of concern; he should have known Henry wouldn’t brush his concerns aside so quickly, but it’s been happening so much of his life.

“I just …” Alex trails off into a sigh, “I’m not a writer, not like you or June. I don’t know what journaling is going to do for me other than give me another thing to feel inferior about.”

“Oh, Alex, journaling isn’t about writing well. It’s about having another way to get out the thoughts in your head. It doesn’t have to be the next Casey McQuiston novel. It just has to help you get things out of your head and find a place to process them. But I happen to know that when you want to, you can write amazing words. I’ve read them when they’ve been written to me.”

“June said something similar to that, but it was a lot harsher and had no mention of our emails.” Alex chuckles.

“Well, she is a big sister. They’re known for their tough love and wanting to avoid discussing their brother’s love lives. Whereas I, the man who loves you, want to support you. Not that June doesn’t want to support you; siblings just do it in a different way.”

Alex does start journaling, and he finds the words come easier than he thought they would—he’s not writing a New York Times Bestseller, but his therapist has told him over and over that what he has is more than enough. Along with making him remind himself that he is enough.

He gets an idea a month in; his writing is coming so easily, and it’s made him realize how much he’s missed writing, especially writing things for Henry. He finds a fancy leather-bound journal and starts writing in it. It doesn’t replace his therapy journal. This one has a different purpose. He writes his thoughts and feelings about and for Henry in the new journal almost daily. He brings them both along to therapy and occasionally reads from the one that’s for Henry. The first time he does so, he asks his therapist as they’re wrapping up what she thinks of the writing in the book for Henry; he wants it to be perfect for him. She, of course, gives him homework to think about why Henry might think it was perfect even if the writing isn’t that of a published manuscript. He does think about it. He thinks about how getting something like it from Henry would feel, giving him another idea.

It's only a matter of weeks before Alex has the journal half-filled, and he’s sitting watching a movie with Henry when he pulls it out of the place he had stashed it. Alex hands it to Henry and watches him look at it, turning it over in his hands.

“This isn’t your therapy journal.”

“No, it’s not. But it definitely happened because of that. I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said when I started, about how we used to write to each other. So, I wrote to you. I filled the first half of this journal with things for you—my thoughts about you and my feelings for you. It’s all about you and how I feel about you.” Alex pauses, taking a moment to collect himself, watching Henry still looking at the journal in his hands. If Alex is honest, it’s a little nerve-wracking, but he waits for Henry to process what is in his hands.

Henry looks up at him finally, asking, “Why only half of it?” Henry’s voice is thick with emotion, and Alex wants to pull him into his arms, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t pull Henry into his arms, and he doesn’t run his hands through Henry’s hair, down his back in the way that they both use as a comfort.

Instead, he answers, “I was hoping you might want to take the other half. You can write whatever you want in it, of course. But I was hoping it could be something we could look back at later, a reminder of where we started, one that can’t be taken from us.”

“Oh, Alex.” Henry places the journal on the coffee table and turns to him. Alex is in arms before he’s fully turned to him. He feels the release of tension he didn’t even know he had in his shoulders. Henry kisses his lips, and Alex attempts to deepen the kiss, but Henry pulls away.”I love it, it’s a wonderful idea. More importantly, I love you.”

Alex can feel the moisture pooling in his eyes but smiles through it, “I love you, too.” He can’t wait to read what Henry adds to it.

[hermit-searching]

TMNTposting Raphael edition (Part 1):

I have a confession to make. I've been lying to you all...my fave......is actually Raphael 😂

When I was growing up watching TMNT Donatello was always my favorite turtle, mostly because I was kin assigned the smart, purple turtle when we did those playground roleplay things elementary school kids did in the early 2000s. But during my journey rewatching TMNT 87, and 03 I've grown so SO attached to Raphael it's silly.

This guy. This dude. He's probably one of the most misunderstood characters in universe (and kind of in fanon as well) besides Leonardo. Raphael, no matter which animated iteration, gets himself into trouble because of his terrible impulse control (Woah me fr), which is linked to his "anger issues" which admittedly he does kind of have, but there's so much more to unpack there than just "oh he angy".

Well, except 87 Raphael but he's special and I'll get to him later.

03 Raph definitely has the most obvious actual blind rage. Fourth episode into the entire series he goes into a blind rage and tries attacking Mikey with a metal table leg when he loses a sparring match against his orange younger brother. Except...he kinda actually doesn't. Yeah he gets mad, for sure he got really mad, but something to note about it is he actually goes into a dissociative state before he attacks Mikey, he immediately apologizes when he's lucid again, and he runs off to cool his head which leads to him meeting Casey and teaching the same lessons Splinter has told him to Casey Jones. (Honestly the besties ever. good for them). And the reason Raph gets so angry? It's not just that Mikey beats him, Mikey eggs him on the entire time. Like I mentioned in my Mikey post, 03 Mikey is an instigator, he's constantly pushing all of his brothers buttons because he thinks it's funny. He does it on purpose so he knows what's coming for him, when his brothers (usually Raph) finally snap. That's not to say that Raph should have beaten his brother with a table leg at all, because he still spends his time learning his lesson through trying to reign in Casey, but his anger was a little more, in lack of better terms, justified than some of the other Raph-Mikey blowouts we've seen (cough12cough).

03 Raph is actually just such a polite, sweet little guy. He has a heart of gold, and tries so hard to protect him family, even until his last breath. He'll help blind old ladies, he gives old clothes and blankets to the homeless, heck his instinct when he's in his last moments in Same as It Never Was was to crawl over to Leo in an attempt to protect his big brother.

This guy's biggest fear is being the one behind the Shredder mask, and hurting his family. Literally, he fears himself, and his anger. He's so, so much more than the family hot-head.

I love this guy so much. It's great watching him develop as a character and cope with his anger without having to dig into the same lesson all the time of "oooh Raph you're angry. Anger is bad Raphael. That's a no no Raphael."

Which is what bothers me so much about 2012 Raph. They spend so much time making a joke about his anger issues it's baffling it was a choice the writers made. Oh to be a fly on the wall when they made all the questionable writing choices in 2012. Like, you'll have moments where Splinter will straight up tell his son "you remind me of my evil not-brother who was the reason my wife died lolololol", and you'll have other moments where they're like "oh aha he ran away and quit the team for the 27th time. Silly Raphael." and I genuinely do not understand why they treat him like this? 2012 Raph, fundamentally, is still the same as other Raphael's. He's got the anger issues, he uses sais, he wears red, but the way they present his anger is just. Weird. They'll have him punch or swat at his brothers just for existing, and not acknowledge it at all, visual gags or whatever. And then they'll also go "ooga booga he's so bad and his anger is bad", and then force him to learn the "anger bad" lesson for the nth time....only to wipe it from his character development again.

Once again, this kid has a heart of gold. He's the turtle equivalent of a Disney Princess. He took care of a pet turtle for, presumably years. He cared for Spike a lot! And...then they just rip that away from him to create a new villain who tries to eliminate his brothers because he used to vent to his pet (being the one way Splinter told him was "healthy" with dealing with his anger). Which? Okay way to punish him for trying to deal with his anger in a way that wasn't beating the snot out of something. (also what the actual fuck was that 180 they did having Slash go "I've always admired you Leonardo"???? HUH???)

But...then you have Chompy. Arguably the only thing they have ever given 2012 Raph without violently ripping it away for laughs, or to teach him some kind of lesson. He does give Chompy back to Tokka for a moment but she gives him back realizing they're both super attached to each other and stuff. Having the moment of Raph admitting he cares about Chompy was so perfect because it finally had a moment where he felt like Raphael.

other beautiful moments from 2012 Raph:

-literally just barn arc.

-"angry Donnie you're so silly and funny and- oh wait Donnie stop-"

-when he gets smacked with a brick by 87 Raphael (sorry I still play favs)

Ok back to more lighthearted Raphposting.

Rise Raph is actually such a fun take on the character. It's so interesting to see him being put into the role usually reserved for Leonardo, being the oldest and being the leader. At first he seems pretty well put together, and different than the other Raphael but. Nope! He still rushes into danger like a kid at a busy intersection during rush hour. The difference being, he learns to reign in his impulse control ever so slightly because he's brothers are all arguably more unhinged than he is. Especially Donnie and Mikey.

His temper in Rise seems to take somewhat of an inspiration from 03, having him dissociate into a rage, though the tone of it is vastly different than 03. Which, I think is fine because Rise always had a lighter tone than 03, and 12. The intention of it is a lot different than turning 12 Ralph's issues into a silly haha, and throughout the series we see how the pressure of being the oldest weighs upon the guy, changing the tone of his issues as the series progressed.

The season finale four parter was genuinely good for Raph's character arc all things considered. Him finally cracking under the pressure only to learn his family will be there for him the way he's always been there for him is beautiful. Him being the one who sees Splinter's memories with his mom? Amazing. And the messed up thing? He sees protecting his family as his duty and purpose despite being a kid himself. Kinda like 03 Raph.

The movie also finally gave us that Leo-Raph dynamic older TMNT fans have craved from the series, but the roles are still reversed. With Raph still being responsible and wanting Leo to take things seriously while Leo does whatever he wants and has ✨impulsive sparkle✨. Getting to see Raph finally let loose and be a normal teenager again, joining in on the silly fun by the end of the movie..Mwah. thank you.

This post is getting long so I'll go into 87 Raphael in his own post. I have way too much to say about him I'm sorry..

[greyias]

I have made it through the pilot episode of my silly forgotten spy show from 2011! The yellow subtitles are super duper distracting, and sometimes cover up the actual subtitles when they start speaking in other languages. I persevere though! Beggars can't be choosers when it comes to nearly lost media.

Thoughts below the cut!

First up, apparently my memory lied to me right off the bat, and I had forgotten the show wasn't "four white guys", it was "three white guys" and the main character, Ricky Martinez, who is Puerto Rican. Whoops. My bad.

Okay first, since likely no one has seen this show, our cast:

Pictured: 4 wild and crazy guys, on a future adventure I've already forgotten

On the left, our main character, Ricky Martinez. The newbie. Again, the least white man here. A little baby. A sparkly eyed ingenue, who has always dreamed of being a spy.

Next up is Michael Dorset, played by Eric Close. He's the team leader! His personality is "dickishly controlling", I guess, but he somehow fades into the background in the pilot. But that's mostly because standing to the right of him...

...is Billy Collins, played by James Murray. My beloved, my baby boy, the inexplicably Scottish spy that works for the CIA(?). This is explained very quickly in that he used to be part of the British Secret Service, but then got deported (???) "on account of boyish mischief". To my recollection, this is the only explanation we ever get. He's just Scottish and he's there. Accept it.

And finally we have Casey Malick, aka "The Living Weapon". He's like if Elliot Spencer was extremely deadpan all the time. An average guy surrounded by supermodels for coworkers. He doesn't seem to mind.

Now that my oh-so descriptive introductions are out of the way. Onwards to the plot! After a very questionable historical narration of the CIA, it starts with our little fwesh faced, cherubic wannabe spy Ricky going to his first day at work! He's so excited to start his dream job, and I guess in this universe, if you get a job with the CIA you're actually allowed to tell your mommy, because she packed a lunch for him for his first big boy day at the office! (Who he apparently doesn't live with so did he make a pitstop on his way to work?). Unfortunately, the lovingly prepared Asopao De Pollo is quickly deemed a "suspicious liquid" and Ricky is detained as a suspected terrorist, because oopsie! The CIA accidentally merged their new hire list with the terrorist watchlist. AS YOU DO.

But that's all sorted out quickly enough, although I think lunch may have been ruined in the process, and our derring do protagonist marches onward to the office of the deputy director of the CIA to report for duty, only to be informed that he was laid off as of five minutes ago. WOMP WOMP. After giving a rousing speech about how obsessed he is with being a spy, the director, seeing the perfect patsy, basically assigns Ricky to be a tattletale on the team of troublemakers who are constantly irritating him.

So he immediately goes to meet/spy on his new coworkers, who introduce themselves to Ricky and the audience, and then when Ricky tries to bluff out his reason for being assigned to the team, SUDDENLY get called on a super duper urgent mission just a few blocks down (it's on American soil, but that's okay because they're rebelllllls), and they let Billy drive, which seems to be a mistake because he's either forgotten what side of the road to drive on, or thinks he's actually playing Grand Theft Auto. I started to try and count how many civilians he nearly plowed into as he literally DRIVES OVER SIDEWALKS and almost causes several accidents as they race to find... uh, I don't know. Somethingsomething plutonium. I should note, this isn't even ten minutes into the episode's runtime.

So the three senior spies chunk our poor fresh faced baby spy onto the road where he has to run down and climb into a moving vehicle to give an envelope to an operative who turns out to be Russian, and as understanding dawns on poor Ricky, he's thrown on his ass again into the street, where the little rascal senior spies pick him back up and are like "aw how sweet we got photos of that", because you know, spies. And blackmail. And the relentless hazing of the newbie begins.

Other things they do to this poor man in this episode alone include:

cockblocking him on a date (granted, it's a date with Michael, aka leader dude's ex wife)

trick him into making a toast with a drugged flask of whiskey

glue an earpiece to his eardrum(???)

send his unconscious form on a horse so he'll get kidnapped by the villains of the week (for reasons)

decide to wake him up by nearly shattering his eardrum with the sound of bagpipes

at the end of the episode they cockblock him again by waiting for him in the dark in his own house, just because

Anyway, plot of the week is rescuing a journalist who's been captured by... *heavy sigh* Sudanese rebels. Because while this wasn't made closer to 2001 post-9/11 reactionary, it's still, you know, close enough that we're still in that era of television. So they all commit a little grand larceny (although is it grand larceny if the money you "acquire" for a hostage exchange is counterfeit?), Ricky has to go get his vaccines, somewhere in this Billy actually tries to be friendly to him and give him advise, Ricky causally proposes bombing some potato farmers because the deputy director is trying to teach him about the viability of intel, and they have to fly coach, the HORROR, before we finally get to...

The Scene™.

The one scene that once I saw it again, made me vividly remember cringing as it aired back in 2011. Like, it wasn't great then, and it aged even more poorly... the scorpion scene. It's... it's... yeahhhhhh... I have a vague memory they didn't lean too heavily into the racist stereotyping later in the series, unless my memory just completely blanked all of that out. But yeah... it's not great. And CBS was like. SUPER proud of this scene. In all of the promotional trailers and lead up to the pilot airing, they include the 🦂 incident in a lot of them.

🦂 🦂 🦂 ANYWAY. Let's move on from that 🦂 🦂 🦂

Anyway, then the drugging incident above happens, which was done so Deputy Director who just won't spend any $$$ to authorize rescuing non-Americans needs a bonafide American in danger to send in the helicopters. Also there's like, at least a dozen rando hostages just to up the ante I guess. After being rudely woken up by bagpipes (courtesy of our resident inexplicable Scot, of course), the cavalry arrives! And Ricky gets super tazed in the process, because he didn't have enough going wrong in his life. Anyway they rescue the hostages, Ricky decides he wants to be part of this group of charming rascals and joins the team officially.

Thirteen years later, and writing all of that out, I truly question his sanity.

So how does the pilot hold up? Well, ahem, certain scenes aside... it's not so bad? I mean, all of the above does sound chaotic as fuck, but I mean, when you literally name your show CHAOS, I guess there's a little of that to be expected. And by the end of the episode, Billy at least starts to feel a little bad for them being unrelenting assholes to poor Ricky. Maybe this was why he was my favorite character back in the day (I mean, other than the fact that he's played by James Murray).

And now... onto the ratings!

Rating*: 🍸🍸🍸/5 Shaken Martinis. I subtracted an entire two points for the gd scorpion scene. CBS was way too proud of that in their marketing for this show.

* - I'm grading this show on a curve, considering it's been so neglected.

Idiot Spy Boyfriend Award: Since we have four lovely hunky spies to choose from, each episode I will give the following award to whoever acts the most like Theron Shan this time around. A completely bewildering metric for anyone who has not played SWTOR, but this is my blog and I make the rules. Today's winner is, of course, Billy, for needlessly playing GTA5 in traffic, nearly committing vehicular manslaughter about 15 times before I lost count, and also just… having a sound file of Scottish bagpipes at the ready???? Ricky, you do not get it for the 🦂, because that scene doesn't deserve to be rewarded. Try better next time.

Will there be a next time? I have no idea. I'm already wanting to rewatch the second episode, but we'll see if I have the spoons to do any more recapping.

[bulbabutt]

say what you will about bay april (and trust me, megan fox deserves so much better) at least she's proactive about looking into things and does things without the boys-hell she's the reason they're even alive in the first place, she saved splinter and the turts as a kid

doesn't erase vernon and mikey being constantly horny on main for her or that weird technique they force her to do to get info out of stockman in oots's opening segments but still, give her credit, she's strong-willed and has a sense of justice and tries to do what's right

hmmmmmmm ok. theres a lot to say about bayverse april. and i specifically avoided talking about movie aprils cuz it was going to get repetitive and long (like 1990 april is very similar to 87 and 07 april is basically 03 april)

but with bayverse, you're right, she is the central character in that movie who drives the plot. but thats because of the megan fox of it all, being that shes the biggest star there and also because bay had an obsession with her (to her detriment bad vibes all over the fucking place holy shit leave this woman alone) we're still framing aprils ass in the shot, still being creepy about her, despite the fact this movie is trying to be from her perspective (for more info on that aspect i think you just gotta watch lindsay ellis' "the framing of megan fox" video about transformers, because its the same shit here)

and just because its like 87 april (because this movie is pandering to 87 fans) doesnt mean theyre really add anything or even understand the concept of what makes 87 april good in the first place. like i said in my post about 87 april, what makes her great is that the turtles fall into her story, and that we are centred on the news room politics of it all. the human world the turtles interact with is her life.

(this got kinda long so its under a cut)

in this movie, we change the misogynistic boss burne thompson into: whoopi goldburgs burnadette thompson. which. hm, color and gender blind casting for burne thompson is. a way to do it i guess. (i do know whoopi is in this movie because she wanted to be in a turtles movie, no disrespect there) but it removes that core element of reporter april fighting her shitty boss. in this she's now just a regular reporter working at a normal news station, but also we're still giving her the girly aerobics story. so, who's decided that if her boss is a black woman? thats kind of fundamentally changing the implications of why shes stuck doing that job, its no longer because shes the woman reporter, and is now just because thats what shes been assigned. now its not her fighting sexism, its her just not wanting to do her job. a shitty one, but its no longer because of a sexist work place.

and then her story of being a reporter is she gets FIRED for being a BAD reporter, because shes crazily rambling about turtles to her boss with no real sources. which...87 april didnt do that, her point wasnt to find the turtles, it was to use her job to help them. the turtles are the secret, not the story. for a movie that likes pandering to 87 and nothing else, they missed this concept entirely

(side note that isnt important, when shes rambling to the roommate about them.... this movie panders enough to 87, why is the roommate not just named irma. shes only in that scene. seriously, it should have just been irma.)

and then. the vernon fenwick of it all........ why the fuck. did you do this. why make him the only character who believes her? oh sorry, not even believes her, simply THINKS SHES HOT. SO GOES ALONG WITH IT. i know they wanted to put casey jones in this movie, but then went NOOO that would be SILLY if the guy hanging out with her is casey (we want to save him for the seqeul) so lets make it another reporter. uh vernon. hes from the original! and thus we change vernon from being the rival reporter who hates her because shes a woman whos better at his job than him, into just: her creepy co reporter who has a crush on her. and since he's the co star here, she has to not tell him off for his bad behaviour. maybe he'll even get a date out of it!

(again, if she needed a sidekick, irma is right there, you put the other two here, why not irma)

and the choice to make her a part of the turtles origin story is, in my perspective, very much like my issue with 12 april's destined to be part of the story thing. shes part of this story because her dad created the turtles. yes, she saved the turtles and splinter, but its less of her own choice in the matter, its because she was the daughter of the man who made them. its the opposite of what i think makes her a good character in the franchise, someone who is hunting for a story and gets in too deep, and happens to be near enough by the turtles that they get her out.

like lets compare her to the april closest to her, 1990 april. thats an april who gets into the plot via going hunting for a story on her own. there's some kind of gang up to no good and she wants to get to the bottom of it. she does get to the bottom of it all on her own, she learns via interviewing immigrants that the foot is the organization behind it. shes doing something no one wants her to do, shes going against what her boss, and what cops think she should be doing, and the foot literally try to kill her because SHE is hunting for THEM. she ends up in turtle plot because raphael HAPPENS to be around when the foot find her. its HER story. the foot is after HER. the turtles in that movie end up losing splinter and then fighting the foot BECAUSE april was looking for them. THATS what makes her have agency in the story.

i do think a lot of you guys are missing my point here though (no offence!) so let me try to explain it better.

its not just about if we see april be a self sufficient character who's central to the plot, or even what her personality is like, its whether she exists in a real way outside of the men around her. its if her choices are important to the story. she doesnt need to have saved the turtles, know how to fight, kicked the shredder, or have been right about whatever story is going on. the question is: is she in the story because she did something on her own to get to it? is she a character who matters without the men in her life? can she stand on her own? do you care about her life? what are her aspirations, how is she trying to achieve them?

based on all that, i think 2014 april is in fact the weakest april. they're only making her seem like 1987 april because, and i dont know if ive said this anywhere yet, men who watched 87 when they were kids think shes hot. that is the only value a lot of people have placed on her. thats her legacy to a lot of people. its fucked up, and this movie doesnt do anything to dissuade you from thinking that.

sorry to go off on your ask, but bayverse (specifically the first one) really got no aspect of any tmnt thing correct. not april, not shredder, not splinter, not casey, and not the aspect of how these turtles are even ninja (i think everyone involved shouldn't be allowed to make another piece of media for putting that fucking ninjitsu book in the fucking sewer)

[lol-jackles]

Okay, maybe the Ackleses can conquer the industry with their understanding of PR. How did HBO senior executives decide that they could fix people's reactions to mediocre shows by using sock accounts to argue with people on Twitter? To make it even stupider, they also ticked off the poor underling they assigned the job, so much that he threw it into a court case over working conditions at the company. LMAO at these overpaid clowns.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/hbo-chief-casey-bloys-fake-twitter-accounts-1235634912/

Link. You mean social media can be used as a weapon?  You don't say?!

Like, is anyone really surprised?   My former colleagues were more mad that Boyd couldn’t be assed to make his own fake Twitter account but had to tell an underling to do it.  But I was, come on, most companies have a staffer or two doing sneaky social media things like this, pushing their narrative.  Hello, ever been on the Apple TV online discourse?  Apple has some good shows, but online discourse would make you think that they were already way out ahead of golden era HBO.   No doubt there are some dedicated Apple fans, but I find it hard to believe that level of devotion was natural.  And you know Amazon Prime does this, as they're the most desperate to have a cultural impactful show.

At least Mittens ran his own secret legendary Pierre Delecto account.  

Why this was news is because Bloys isn’t some newly jumped-up exec or business major in tv flailing with failing products. He’s a veteran producer who’s been extremely successful at HBO for a decade plus. Why is he so thin skinned and defensive? Why does he care so much when he’s been so successful?  While his excuse-explanation is having too much time on his hand during Covid sounds eye rolling, there is a grain of truth.  Remember when I said here and here that what previously didn't bother executives were bothering them during the pandemic lockdown.  It was why Misha suddenly scrambled to say (unprompted) three times that he and Jared got along and it was the fault of J2 fans for tainting his reputation, not because of his army of minions who lost what's left of their singe braincell over not getting canon-Destiel like he ambiguously promised for over a decade.

An assistant named Sully Temori, who is now suing HBO for wrongful termination, was given the task in June 2020 to write responses troll with  X account of Kelly Shepherd, a so-called mom and herbalist from Texas with 4 followers.  The troll targeted critics for being a middle aged white man who was “shitting on a show about women” i.e. The Nevers. Gee, those words sound familiar, right?  It's 80% of what SJW say online whenever they come across something they don't like and can't handle different opinions.

HBO is best TV brand with the most number of Emmy wins (just ignore that HBO has the most number of members in the TV academy).  So like in the article, people were surprised that a successful veteran executive would do this.  Except you see it all the time: celebrities, accomplished directors, and athletes going nuts on twitter replying to random accounts with 8 followers, "No @BigDickTerry6969, You're the one who SUCKS!!!".

One of my nieces is in the industry and doing well enough that she said if she ever gets famous enough, she will use some of the money to put guardrails in place to keep her from googling herself or reading twitter threads about her.  She also wants me to act like an addiction-recovery sponsor that she can call in the middle of the night with, "We just dropped a new episode and I really just want to know what people think, that's fine right? I just want honest feedback.".  And I will be, "No, you don't, you have to resist that urge. I want you to go outside and look stars, okay?"

Honestly, reading about Boyd's antics was like reading John Grisham's The Pelican Brief and The Firm and getting to the Big Bad reveal and end up having Big Disappointment staring back at you. Tom Cruise at least improved the movie adaptation of The Firm.

[lykaios2]

Hi, how are you?

Could you do a one shot rottmnt in which Donnie's daughter goes back to the past with Casey Jr and finds her parents alive? At first she tries to remain calm, wanting to focus on the mission, but after a few hours it becomes difficult, and ends up revealing who she is. The daughter was closer to her mother's human side, despite having slightly green skin and the same color as Donnie's eyes.

If you don't want to write this, that's fine, I understand! :)

omg

okay so uh I normally wouldn't do this but yours is a special case

I am splitting this request into two parts! it's been a while since you requested this and I wanted to give you at least something. also it's been a minute since I gave actual content to my followers

Like Father, Like Daughter: Part 1

In which Donatello's daughter travels back in time and has an unlikely run in with someone she never would expect.

Part 2 can be found here

The apocalypse. It was almost over. It was a hard fought battle, but the resistance, under the leadership of Leo and with the help of Mikey, were able to overcome the Kraang. That being said, plenty of sacrifices were still made in the process. Some were affected more than others...

Such was the case for Lily, Donatello's daughter. She bore a unique sort of pain, being the only child to come of the four turtles. She had lost her father at a young age to the Kraang. She was old enough to have shared many great memories with him, but not old enough to get the revenge she wanted.

In turn, she became the hardest working assistant in the resistance. If she couldn't help on the front lines, then she would have to help behind the scenes as much as possible. Every day she worked, moving things around, fixing things up, tending to the occasional patient in the med bay, helping cook meals if the chefs needed it. Everyone said she has the same work ethic as her father.

Casey was assigned as her "caretaker". It wasn't as much caretaking as it was making sure she didn't get into trouble. Lily's mom passed away when she was very young, so they couldn’t find anyone else to care for her. Casey wasn't much older than her, so to pass the time, Casey would often strike up conversations with her. They became good friends over time, eventually becoming side by side companions.Early one morning, Casey found Lily, working hard as per usual. He had always admired her incredible work ethic, but today was the day to return the favor for all the work she had done.

"Hey Lily, are you busy? Actually, I guess it doesn't matter. Come with me."

Lily looked up at him, confused. As Casey started to walk away, she had no choice but to follow. He led her through the hallways, slowly making their way to the less populated part of the base. When they stopped, they were in such a secluded spot that it was completely silent, something that never happened in the base, especially at this time of day.

"So, what did you bring me here for?"

Casey was very excited about what he was going to show Lily. He managed to keep his voice low, though, despite the increasing excitement he was feeling with each moment.

"I'm about to give you something very special. I proposed this idea at a meeting, and I was able to convince some people to have it made for you."

Casey proceeded to explain that everyone around the base had noticed how hard Lily worked. He said he proposed the idea of a gift, to thank her for all the work she had done. Everyone had agreed, and they all pitched ideas until they settled on the one he was about to reveal.

"Are you ready?"

Lily's expression showed a bit of concern, and she hesitantly agreed. She had no clue what she was about to receive. Casey asked her to close her eyes and wait. She did so, and when Casey told her open her eyes, in front of her was a large metal device.

"What...is this?"

"It's...a time traveling machine."

Her jaw dropped. She stood there in awe, now realizing what was in front of her. Casey waited for her to speak, and when she did, she was stumbling over her words, trying to find the right way to express herself.

"You- what? This is- but...how? I can't even...for me? When? I..."

She trailed off her words with a sigh. Casey just chuckled in response.

"I know it's a lot to take in. But I can answer all your questions later. For now, there's something specific I want to do."

Lily looked at him, intrigued, and waited for him to continue.

"You know how you've pretty much lived your whole life in the apocalypse?"

Lily nodded.

"Well, I'm going to take you back. To a time before the war. New York, 2020. I'd like to show you what life was before the apocalypse."

When the words reached her ears, she could hardly contain her excitement. She had heard many stories from everyone about life before the war. In her free time, she often imagined the things she would do if she had lived back then. Now, her dreams could come true.

"Step in. No time to lose, right?"

Lily nodded, barely able to keep her excitement under control. She slowly walked into the surprisingly spacious machine, and Casey followed. As he stepped inside, he began to work the machine's complex controls. When he was done, he turned to Lily.

"Are you ready?"

She nodded again, and Casey pushed a button. As he did, Lily immediately felt as if she had lost consciousness for a second, but then she came to. When she opened her eyes, she was still inside the machine. She turned to Casey, relieved that he was still there. Casey did the same, then proceeded to open the door of the machine.As he did, their eyes were greeted by lots of lights and noises. They stepped out onto the roof of a tall building overlooking New York.

"It...it worked! We're here! Oh my gosh...I can't believe this..."

Lily looked around. There was so much to take in. The noises; people, cars, music. The lights were so bright and colorful. All the buildings were so tall. She looked over the edge of the building, her mouth wide open in awe.

"So...you like what you see?"

"I love it! It's incredible! Everything I ever wished for and more!"

Casey chuckled as she continued to look over the skyline, enjoying the view.

"Come on, Lily. We don't have to just look. We can go places, you know? Do things."

She snapped out of her awestruck state, and followed Casey. He led her down a flight of stairs attached to the side of the building, and out into the streets.

Casey had come prepared, thankfully. He had brought some more casual clothes for them to wear, because he figured their outfits from the future would make them stand out quite a bit. They had changed before they time traveled.

"So, what do you want to do first? This is your trip."

"Oh, there's so much..."

Lily started reading off of mental list she kept in the back of her mind, which consisted of all the things she'd told herself she would do if she ever got the chance. Casey was a bit surprise by how prepared she was for this, but he nonetheless took everything unto consideration and made a quick itinerary.

"Before we set out, I must remind you. It's very crucial we keep out identity a secret, or we could have some problems."

Lily agreed, and they set off. They had lots to do. They tried new food. They went window shopping at all of the fancy clothes stores, even stopping every so often to try a few things on. They watched a movie at a theater. They even stopped at Times Square to watch a few performances.

Lily enjoyed all of it. She had dreamed of this for so long, and now it was a reality. Nothing could have gone wrong...

"Watch out! It's the Foot!"

Lily whipped her head around. She had heard that name before, and she knew it meant no good. She prepared herself to fight, with what minimal self defense she knew. A long time ago, she had begged and begged to Leo to be taught how to fight. Eventually, Leo gave in and taught her a few self defense techniques.

Before anything could happen, though, Casey took her arm and starting pulling her away. Confused, she asked what was going on.

"Don't worry. It's being dealt with."

"By who?"

"By the-"

Casey hesitated for a second. He knew who it was...it was the turtles. But could he really tell her that? I mean, what could happen if she met them? How would she react? How would they react? There were too many unknowable factors to consider.

"...By the police. Let them handle it. We shouldn't get involved."

Lily could tell something something was wrong but she kept her mouth shut for now. She didn't want to ruin her dream trip, after all. But curiosity got the better of her and she turned her head to try and see who it really was.

[bucketofbugz]

🧑‍🤝‍🧑🫵🧑‍🍳🍍🦸🏙️🏠🧫🦹😡☠️😍🐢🐱 (Overgrown specific)

hehe thank you for enabling me!!!

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 "Is April considered a sibling" This one I haven't decided yet. I prefer the idea of sibling April but also this April in particular kinda feels like that one person in a friend group that doesn't know how they got there and doesn't know how to leave.

🫵 "Who do you project onto the most" It's between Casey and Donnie, honestly.

🧑‍🍳 "Who is the best cook" Did a little spin and made Donnie the cook of the family!

🍍 "Who likes pineapple on pizza" Everyone but Raph. April introduces them to pizza, Casey introduces them to pineapple on pizza. Raph hates it she wants it to burn.

🦸 "Is Casey a vigilante" Not necessarily. Mostly he joins April and Jennika in "reporting" (livestreaming them talking about crimes and trying to figure it out). Casey wants to be a cop some day, but she also hates the corrupt system.

🏙️ "What is the main setting of your au" As the name suggests, the main setting of the au is the Overgrown! The ruins of what used to be New York before it had to be evacuated due to a nuclear radiation issue (almost the entire world was affected, but New York got it the worst). The Overgrown spreads into a couple different areas as well, but New York is the only state that literally is nothing but except for the area scientists have managed to clear out. The first gen of mutants was caused by this and were left when everything was evacuated. It eventually became a community. Torn between making it in the future or just having the Incident happen in the past.

🏠 "What is the lair like" The main sewer system (now unused and not running water) connects to a hideaway section considered the "lair" of the au. It runs into an old office building and also out into a more open area. The office building is mostly where the turtles hang out and sleep but they like being outside in the open area. It's kind of a communal area for the local mutants. They can't do it when investigations are happening though because, obviously, mutants wouldn't want to be seen by scientists.

🧫 "Were your turtles mutated intentionally or on accident" The Overgrown turtles were born mutants! Splinter and Shen were both born mutants with accidentally mutated parents from the nuclear stuff.

🦹 "Who is the main villain" Stockman and Bishop! Karai acts as a secondary antagonist but more in a "really annoyed with the main 3 humans and wants them to stop" way.

😡 "What is your villain's motivation" Seriously pure science. They want to understand the Overgrown and how it can still be so unlivable after 50-60 years. After discovering mutants they believe that they can get answers that way. They don't mean to be villains, but they really aren't ethical or moral in the way they go about things.

☠️ "Does anyone die in your au" Not technically. Few VERY near death experiences but nobody dies-dies.

😍 "Are there any romances in your au" Yes, but they aren't the main focus. Sheena and Jennika get together a bit into the au, I'm on the fence about making Rasey canon, and Donnie may or may not have a boyfriend-- who knows!! A few other relationships might happen but that's undecided.

🐢 "Are your turtles different species" Uh oh. YeAHHHH!!!! Unlike usually I didn't assign them any specific turtle species. Technically they aren't actually turtles??? They have the traits of turtles but that's just a weird mix of their rat/alligator genes from Splinter and Shen. Each of them has a different animal they're inspired by for small details! They still mostly look like turtles, though. Mikey's based on a flying squirrel, Leo's based on a chinchilla, Donnie's based on a horned lizard, and Raph's based on a bush viper! two rodents, two reptiles!

🐱 "Do any of your characters have pets" So far, I have given Mikey a pet! Bat/cat mutant (animal stayed animal) inspired by Klunk!

[ducknotinarow]

[2k12]

"Hey Raph, wanna play Seven Minutes in Hell with me?" Casey asks, "It's like Seven Minutes In Heaven but instead of makin' out, we jus' beat the shit outta each other."

| Muse interaction continued from [ here ]

When Raphael was refereed to often angry was always a trait that would be mentioned. Raphael just was a walking bad mood as he has heard Mikey joke about time to time. Not something he ever fully disagreed with either if anything he sometimes leaned into that fact. There was a sort of advantaged to it as well. Not so much that his brothers were scared of him (thank god for that, because it was a constant balancing act he had to trend) but they did to their own extents know the limit when it came to Raphael and how far they could get away with pushing it. Donnie seemed the most to think about it at least ever slipping up by mistake. Leo? well Leo liked to test that limit at times. Either because he was just bad at reading Raphael emotional state at the time. Mikey? was well Mikey meaning he knew the limit and like to jump rope with that line. But they all knew when Raphael was like how he was now? They should leave him alone.

But Casey? Casey wasn't one of his brothers for one. Casey was an odd exception, something about Casey just made it so easy for Casey to breech the walls Raph liked to keep up even around his family. Casey just had this ability? To get through the emotional brick walls Raph liked to hide behind. Thing is Casey didn't even have to really try. It was just easy to let Casey in mainly cause they didn't seem to notice those walls or give a shit. Raph kind of wasn't going to block out Casey, because Casey said so. It had been like that since the start. The fact Casey just seemed to get Raph.

But that didn't mean Casey was excluded from the same treatment. Casey just took it more personally if anything. Though in some regard Raph could maybe understand why Casey would. If he was in a better mood he would at least. Right now? He wasn't anywhere near a good mood. No he was pissed off. Grumbling to himself and annoyed to hell about everything going on. Not even Mikey was willing to touch a single one of the hot heads nerves in that moment.

Look somewhere in his mind he understood why Casey lied. But at the same time? Casey lied! And Yeah Raph felt like an idiot on how he called Casey out on said lie but ya know sometimes you get pissed off and you say stupid or in this case text stupid shit didn't change the fact that Casey did lie to him. Raphael thinks as he was slamming his knuckles into the punching back. Abusing the poor thing with each slam of his knuckles against the sand bag, he been doing this long enough that his knuckles were growing sore now. His brothers seeming to take the smart route and leaving him to be. Even Splinter seemed to find it best to leave his son alone right now.

"Stupid. fuckin' dumb, bitch" Raphael grumbled under his breath as he kept swinging his arms at the bag. Surprisingly, or maybe not it wasn't making him feel any better as he kept slamming his knuckles into the bag. In truth he was so mad he could feel the risk of tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. And it was kind of how he saw it wasn't him being mad right now. He was hurt. Which made him mad. One last hint against the punching bag was dished out before he reached out to grab it and stop it from rattling on the chain. Panting heavily. He leaned forward and let his forehead rest to the bag. Letting his eyes close as he tried to collect himself. "Like water over stone, like water over stone." He tries to repeat Splinter's advice like a mantra. And maybe it would have worked if Casey hadn't shown up.

In all fairness Raphael hadn't been responding to their text ever since he outed Casey's lie. Okay it wasn't fully a lie but he still skipped out some details on this school assignment that had him tied up for the week. So Raphael asked April and she told him the truth. At least someone bothered to tell him the truth! April looked a bit shocked that Raph didn't know and seemed to regret outing it but it wasn't her fault. Casey the one who decided not to tell Raph the truth. And fuck why did that sting so bad. Even as he tuned out his boyfriends voice. And started to walk away the second Casey got closer to him. The thing about a phone? he could leave it on his bed and ignore Casey's text. The thing about Casey? he could make it hard to be ignored in person. And no one was willing to get in between this mess. Smart on them A couple's scrabble should stay between them.

It had to look stupid though, Raphael walking around the lair keeping ahead of Casey turning left and right jumping over thing anything that prevented him from actually looking at Casey. Because he couldn't look at Casey he was still just so fucking hurt! and he hated that! He hated that Casey was able to hurt him like this he hated it because it was stupid he hated because it shouldn't be a big deal! so why was he so hurt! why was it a big deal! why couldn't Casey tell him about this? Sure Raph might still been well Raph about it but least Casey would have lied to him. He thinks thats why it hurts. Why he grew tried of nearly running away from Casey coming to a sudden stop at last.

"Fuck off!" He whips around to yell at Casey, "God ya like a fuckin' fly right now!" But guess Casey was just as fed up with Raph as he was with Casey right now.

"Hey Raph, wanna play Seven Minutes in Hell with me?"

"What?" was all the turtle could think to say, his expression dropping from the tight scowl to a more confused annoyance glare at best.

"It's like Seven Minutes In Heaven but instead of makin' out, we jus' beat the shit outta each other."

And there it was, that weird trait of Casey's at work. As Raphael sort of felt his emotions fade to the background for a moment. Despite how hard he kept the walls up Casey found a way to slip in again. Even if Raphael was still in his mood he found himself rolling his eyes and turning his shell on his boyfriend again. clicking his tongue against his teeth, to hide the laugh he wanted to let out just then. Not out of his mood getting better more at he found the suggestion stupid and laughable. But Casey wasn't getting to hear his laugh or see his smile. "You wouldn' even last a solid five in a closet with me. The only fuckin' advantage you ever have on me in a fight is ya got a bigger reach." and some other thing but he wasn't looking to compliment Casey in the moment.

In truth he was still feeling sore about this whole thing. Sighing as he did least look over his shoulder at Casey. He couldn't put anything to words he only knew how he felt. It just fucking sucked that he had to be mad at Casey. He didn't want to feel this way at all. But he did feel this way and he didn't know what to do about it. Hitting wasn't really working right now. "I don' wanna hit you" he dose least offers, which is a good sign on it's own. But if Casey thought that meant they were cool? "I still don' wanna see you though." Hmm that sounded bad.

He's not sure if this is helping at all. Turning to face Casey despite his remark about not wanting to see Casey. Arm crossed over in front of his plastron, keep as closed off as he could to Casey. He wants to voice it he dose. but..he can't. Tell Casey what? That he hurt his feelings? oh yeah real tough guy here getting his feelings hurt. Something about saying it thought is like admitting Casey has that power, to hurt Raphael. Not like abuse or anything just that something Casey can do can effect him in such a way. It makes him feel vulnerable and he hates that even more. How is he even met to explain that?

"I'm pissed off at ya still." yet he's willing to talk. Least it should come across that way seeing how he isn't putting Casey on ignore anymore.

[fashionbyf]

What’s Fake and what’s Real when everything can be Licensed?

The Pros and Cons of Storytelling when Design Dupes and Authenticity Exist in a Heritage Universe

Every time I am in Florence, I stop by the Gucci Garden. I still remember when it was the Gucci Museo and I revel in traveling through the halls and remembering what is used to be, as a museum, and seeing the differences now that it is a meditation on Gucci advertisements (or at least it was the last time I was there… time for another visit post- Alessandro Michele’s tenure!). One of my favorite rooms in the Gucci Garden is the Gucci Collectors Room, where shoes, clocks and butterflies, among other things, are piled in a room of mirrors, multiplied, and reproduced as far as the eye can see. On the right side of the room, one of seemingly a million on the shelves of Gucci shoes, are a pair of Gucci sneakers designed by Alessandro Michele with the word “FAKE” on one of them. Part of the Fake Not collection, in the context of the Gucci Garden and the Gucci Collectors’ room, the shoes are a canvas on which to paint theories and answers to questions about how we decide what is a fake, how we conceive of authenticity as a concept, and what role illicit takings, of intellectual property or of other creative practices or products, have on our understandings of what is real/fake, authentic/inauthentic, appropriated/shared or given.

A central shade of paint (if we continue with this artistic metaphor…) to use in these theories and answers is heritage, which includes the stories we share about the origins of a product like a “FAKE” Gucci shoe and the associations we have between these stories and other origin stories, other products, and other creative processes. In other words, thinking of the “FAKE” Gucci shoe as fake or real, authentic or inauthentic, depends very much on how much we know about the product and who has authorized its production, and what that has to do with the history and ideas behind the Gucci brand. What is fake and what is authentic has much to do with the stories we tell ourselves, the facts we use to inform those stories, and the role we assign to brands, communities, and individuals in those stories. And as brands increase their culture share  (in part by increasing their market share beyond their main product lines), the stories brands tell us about their various products and initiatives seems to be expanding our understanding of what is not a fake and, therefore, the breadth of what can be considered real or authentic. Counterintuitively, expanding the universe of possible collaborations through a norm of authenticity seems to be narrowing the world of fakes while, at the same time, undermining why we care about a fake in the first place.

The role of heritage storytelling to disrupt as much as reinforce traditional divides between what is fake or real in fashion has recently been on display in the Thierry Mugler H&M collection.  Casey Cadwaller, Mugler’s Creative Director, was quoted as saying, “We did some things with H&M that we can’t do at Mugler, to pavé the crystals on the Lycra really, really close together to make it really decadent and really beautiful—and for such great value.” At the same time, the collaboration builds on Mugler’s design DNA, with “signature Mugler looks, including several archive remakes.” Pieces in the Mugler x H&M collaboration are decidedly different from and yet the same as their haute couture counterparts created by the Mugler brand. What unites these two different products is their common origins, both from a storytelling point of view and an origin/producer point of view (and here I’m making a Dastar distinction- origin in a trademark sense versus origin in a copyright sense). Mugler may have licensed its MUGLER trademark to H&M and, if it has a copyright in any designs that are separable and original, may have also licensed those designs, although Caldwell’s close involvement and the dynamic identification of which designs to include suggests a more collaborative design services-like agreement as part of the collaboration, in addition to any rights created by the MUGLER x H&M logo. But what is fundamental to the success of the collaboration is not simply a recognition by consumers that MUGLER produced the MUGLER x H&M products alongside H&M, that MUGLER is the source of these products. Rather, what also matters is the story Caldwell and Mugler, together, tell- of an inclusive brand embarking on a design project that is a continuation of their house codes and DNA, rather than a “sell-out” or the production of a lesser, “less-real” line. This storytelling has been crucial to the success of collaborations between H&M and high fashion brands ever since Karl Lagerfeld broke ranks and created the first maastige line for H&M (see the legendary commercial here). Lagerfeld’s pronouncement that “It’s all about taste, if you are cheap, nothing helps” might have been the bell that tolled the advent of storytelling, curation and heritage as the differentiator between real fashion and fake fashion. What matters is not who is making the actual product but whether that product is embraced as part of a brand’s wider story, history, and values.

And this may be one reason why design dupes (or “superfakes” as they were recently termed) are both so popular and so dangerous. Superfakes are created in ways that are not authorized by a brand’s storytelling and are, at the same time, endorsed by members of communities who are the prime targets of that storytelling- the aspirational customer who, instead of waiting in line at H&M, buys a fake bag. If we don’t care about the story that surrounds the product, if we don’t care about all the intricacies that make that product belong, in our minds, to one brand over another, to an authentic world and not to an inauthentic or fake one, then what do we care about?

We might, in fact, only care about use, in all the pesky ways that that word communicates function over form, utility over meaning, and the tangible over the intangible. And if we only care about use then we might elide or overlook many of the foundational aspects of creation and storytelling that make that use possible in the first place. In other words, brands’ emphasis on storytelling to authenticate products made in collaboration with fast fashion brands like H&M might lead consumers to doubt the legitimacy of the story and feel that one Mugler cutout top is as good as the same cutout top made by another fast fashion producer without Mugler’s approval. Both products, in their sameness, can be used in the same way: like a bag and its superfake, both products can clothe the wearer and communicate an association with Mugler’s design aesthetic and values. But by emphasizing this particular use and its sameness, consumers also build a definition of use on the very parts of the storytelling they seek to abandon. Consumers’ particular use is built on the intangible symbolism and messages of the bag that are made and fundamentally shaped by storytelling, and the heritage universe, even an expansive one, in the first place.

And it is here that I take the liberty of digressing to the recent Warhol case and the different uses (and their purpose and character) at issue in the majority’s opinion (the licensing use, the use of “depicting Prince in a magazine commemorating his life and career”) and the dissent’s opinion (the appropriation use by Warhol, the first use that makes the choice of a Warhol over Goldsmith’s portrait one of conveying fundamentally different meanings about Prince and not just a choice to simply depict Prince). In disagreeing over whether the licensing of the Goldsmith photo and the Warhol photo shared the same objectives (and by extension, whether the Court would succeed in the “magazine business” or whether it should even take art historical references into account), the majority and the dissent are, in a world parallel to the fashion world - art- disagreeing over the role of the predicate use. In other words over the weight we should give to the story that precedes and informs the creation of works that can serve the same overarching uses. Much as we can see the magazine editors’ choice between the Goldsmith and the Warhol as one about serving a general purpose to commemorate Prince, so we can see consumers’ choice between a real and a fake bag as fundamentally about a general purpose of carrying items around or clothing themselves. But these choices, like the choice of a Goldsmith or a Warhol, are still predicated on the meanings and aesthetics of the work or the bag, as a first matter. The challenge is, when it seems as though any work and any logo can be licensed to serve any purpose the brand chooses, for any meaning the brand says, for any heritage story the brand tells, how can we differentiate the real from the fake, the authentic from the inauthentic, and the appropriated from the freely given?

It may be for this reason that the majority in Warhol turns away from art history books and art criticism to objectivity and to the facts culled from the magazine editors’ own choices. But art historians and critics are meant to find the facts and provide the objectivity on meaning that combats the slippery slope of meaning-making imagined by licensing. As Robin Givhan recently said in other words, being part of the fashion ecosystem can often compromise that objectivity and fact-finding. At its heart, the storytelling in heritage is supposed to be about objectivity and facts, and, as licensing increasingly becomes a part of the fashion heritage story, it might be particularly important to consider what role that objectivity and fact-finding can have for the benefit of real/fake and authentic/inauthentic fashion.

References and Further Reading

https://hypebeast.com/2020/10/gucci-fake-not-collection-lookbook

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2302696

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3206830

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4222455

https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/luxury/culture-is-the-new-luxury-golden-goose-ceo-unveils-strategy-for-brands-next-chapter/

https://www.businessoffashion.com/news/retail/hm-teams-with-mugler-for-latest-high-low-collaboration/

https://www.vogue.com/article/at-the-hm-mugler-show-a-powerful-display-of-fashion-music-and-community

https://www2.hm.com/en_us/life/culture/inside-h-m/mugler-hm-announcement.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/04/magazine/celine-chanel-gucci-superfake-handbags.html

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/539/23/#tab-opinion-1961287

Managing Fashion and Luxury Companies by Stefania Saviolo & Erica Corbellini

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-869_87ad.pdf

https://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/robin-givhan-on-the-state-of-fashion-criticism-in-2023#:~:text=GIVHAN%3A%20I%20think%20that%20journalists,to%20the%20tenets%20of%20journalism.

https://exhibitions.fitnyc.edu/faking-it/

Images:

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-869_87ad.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/04/magazine/celine-chanel-gucci-superfake-handbags.html

Gucci Garden © Felicia Caponigri

[jerzwriter]

🎂🍧 ☁️ for Kaycee, Casey and Zoe?

Hey there! Thanks for the ask! :) (My ADHD is AFLAME! lol)

🎂 BIRTHDAY CAKE - when is their birthday? do they like celebrating it?

Kaycee and Casey have the same DOB: July 26th. Zoe, her birthday, per canon, is about a month before the summer solstice, so roughly late May. But, I HC that they don't know her actual DOB because they were so little when they came to the Tower, so the Tower "assigned" a date.

Kaycee and Casey are all about their birthdays and feel it should be a week to a month-long celebration.

Zoe used to enjoy celebrating her birthday, even if she wanted to spend her 25th by going out to face zombies for the first time in her life lol But... her sister died later that day. I actually have a WIP about this, where she doesn't want to celebrate anymore. But Eli and her friends, and a special visitor, help her understand why she should. But - she changes the date - since they don't really know what it is, she doesn't want it to be the day Ana died.

🍧 SHAVED ICE - do they still have any objects from their childhood? what significance does it have to them? what would their reaction be if they lost it?

Kaycee and Casey, absolutely. I think they have photos, toys, some clothing, and other memorabilia. They have their old ice skates (a big thing to them), and I had an HC in DTI where Tobias restored the antique toy doctor's kit her grandfather gave her that was when she first thought of being a doctor. I may carry that into their HC.

Zoe, sadly, doesn't have anything. But, mostly, with Troy's help, she does get some objects that remind her of her childhood, and she cherishes them.

☁️ CLOUD - a soft headcanon

Kaycee: She wears a locket with a picture of Ethan at all times. When Emma is born, she adds her photo as well. It makes her feel like they're always with her. Sometimes she finds herself mindlessly touching it, and when she realizes it, she smiles.

Casey: She slept with her favorite big stuffed bunny right up until she moved in with Tobias. In fact, sometimes she snuck it into bed when she was living with Tobias. Eventually, it sits on a shelf in their room, but she gives it to Samantha when she's 4. It becomes her favorite, and she sleeps with it always, too.

Zoe: After she and Eli were together, she'd sometimes whisper a little lullaby to him after he was already asleep, and then she'd kiss his cheek. He overheard her one day and smiled but didn't let her know. Eventually, she caught him and was embarrassed. He asked why she did it, and she said she loved him and wanted to make him feel safe. After that, he'd ask her to do it before they went to sleep.

Thanks for the ask, dear! :)

[whoreadsnowadays]

FINALLY PART THREE TIME. I'm not answering the ask @squiddy-buddy sent bc I didn't actually end up adding the request part of the ask 😔 so that will have to be part four.

But for now !!!!!! ANGST.

-

Warnings; Mentions of stabbing and injury, a drawn out classic raph and leo fight, cussing,

( Familial ) 2012 ! Turtles + Splinter & Little Brother Reader

Part 1 - Shatter

Part 2 - Shatter the Mind

Part 3 - You're Here

Part 4 - Shatter the Innocence

-

Shatter the Heart

That evening Splinter took charge and assigned each brother, as well as himself, a shift to watch over you.

And none of them had enough energy to argue about their shift. So they just agreed and went off to bed, all too exhausted to do anything else.

Splinter took the first watch, agreeing to watch you overnight. He refused to make his sons lose sleep on purpose. Of course, it was silly to assume they'd be able to sleep very well after what they had seen. But he still wanted them to try and get some nonetheless.

And so he sat in front of you, having pulled one of Donatello's stools over to the cot you laid on.

He silently looked over your bandages, watching as you breathed slowly and shallowly.

He was contemplating many things. Part of him wanted to keep you from all missions from now on, and he was sure his other sons would agree. But that would crush you, figuratively, and he couldn't do that to you.

Of course this was assuming you even woke up. And with your condition, he was inclined to believe that you wouldn't make it.

So he watched your shallow breaths, silently mourning you as you laid deathly still.

Leo always came next. Coming in at five in the morning, and silently watching as Splinter stood himself up and walked out of Donnie's lab, no words exchanged between them.

Leo would then take Splinter's place, hands in his lap as he stared at the cot and not you, mind racing with the familiar thoughts that plagued him.

Then Raph would come in at around ten. Feeling his anger bubble near the surface as he quietly ranted to your unconscious form. He didn't know if you heard him, but some part of him hoped you did. Hoped you knew how much this was fucking with him, knew how much he cared and worried for you. God knows he wouldn't be able to tell you otherwise.

After Raph was Mikey, coming in at three, who would talk your ear off the whole time he was in there. He pretends you're just listening to his talking, pretends you're not out of commission right next to him. And he just talks and talks and talks.

Donnie always came in at eight. Walking around the lab and working on his various projects while still keeping a keen eye on your condition. He tries to approach the situation from a professional standpoint. Watching you like you were just a patient, and not his precious little brother. Occasionally though he'd break, leaning over the cot, his head in his hands as he sobs next to you, mumbling about how he's so sorry he wasn't there, how he wishes he could do more, anything to get you to understand how much he cared for you. You never responded, but he expected nothing else.

And finally, Splinter takes his place in the room again at midnight. The cycle starting back over.

It stayed like this for weeks. April and Casey being notified a few days in, and now they were over as often as they could be.

The tensions just got higher and higher as time went on and you continued to not wake up.

Two months in, on Mikey's watch, everything finally came to a head.

Leo was sat in the living room, silently reading through one of his comics, as Raph beat at the punching bag behind him.

There was an obvious tension, words that needed to be said and things that needed to be done.

The thick tension, the situation at hand, all combined with the loud smack of Raph's fists against the punching bag, made Leo's head spin. He huffed, putting down the comic he was no longer reading, to turn to look at his brother.

"Raph. Could you please quit the punching, I can barely think." His voice came out a little harsher than he wanted, more aggravated than he thought he was.

And Raph picked up on it instantly, turning to Leo with that familiar snarl.

"Oh I'm sorry Leo, here I'll quit punching for you." He growled out, before turning and kicking the bag as hard as he could, making Leo flinch in place.

"That's.." he sighed, turning himself comepletely to Raph. "That's not how I meant it-"

"Oh? Then how did you mean it Leo? What did you mean? Because I need this punching bag to let off steam, but if you want me to stop so bad I'd be happy to use your face instead." He growled, and Leo knew he'd hit one of his many nerves on accident.

"Raph.." He huffed, giving his brother a tired stare, and that seemed to set him off even more.

"No please Leo! Tell me what you meant! Tell me, because obviously I'm doing something you find just so annoying!"

Leo couldn't even get a word in, as Raph continued to speak, getting louder and louder as he finally let all the anger he's held in for two months spill out all at once.

"Not everything is about you Leo! We're not gonna walk on eggshells around you just because you're feeling shitty! Guess what? We're all feeling shitty! We all feel guilty and we're all trying to find ways to cope, this isn't all about you and you're dumb fucking anxiety!"

Raph stalked closer as he yelled, Leo staring down at the couch cushion in front of him. He felt his heart rate pick up, and his face flush as he clenched his fists in his lap. This was all too much. Too much.

Raph wasn't even hearing himself anymore, screaming and yelling just to scream and yell, taking every bottled up emotion out on his older brother, feeling his own heart rate skyrocket as he did so. Fuck this is too much. Too much.

"And I mean, what kind of fearless leader are you?! Freezing in place while our little brother was dying on the ground!" Raph screamed, right in front of the couch now. He was about to keep going, but Leo snapped his head up to look at him, a wild look in his big brother's eyes.

"Fuck off Raph!" He yelled right back, standing up on shaking legs. "Fuck off! What right do you have to say that when you ran off to fight Fishface while our brother was dying!" Leo wasn't one to scream when he was angry, sure he rose his voice, but never to the level he was at now.

Raph stepped back a bit, caught off guard as Leo continued throwing accusations at him, "You watched it happen didn’t you?! You watched Shredder cut open our baby brother! You're so fucking adamant that you'd make a better leader, why didn't you take charge huh? Why didn't you go and help him?! Why did you leave Mikey hanging?!"

"Why did you?!" Raph stepped forward again, standing up to Leo. "Why did you make Donnie take charge? Why'd it take him literally dragging you off the roof for you to even move on your own?!"

They both knew why. They had always known.

There was a long silence. The two boys standing in front of one another, both breathing heavy.

Both of them knew they were seconds away from teetering over the edge. What edge? Neither of them really knew, and they really weren't sure if they wanted to find out.

"Dudes.." A soft voice came from Donnie's lab, and the two of them whipped around to see Mikey in the doorway.

He looked like a wreck, red rimmed eyes and tear tracks down his face.

But he was smiling. Grinning even.

"He's up."

[plus-size-reader]

Curfew

Randy Meeks x Plus size!reader

Word Count: 3065 words

Warnings: none

Summary: The reader struggling when the curfew is put into place, but Randy has an idea that could make it a little better.

—————————————————————————————————

You were bored.

Woodsboro wasn’t a super happening place to begin with but now that the curfew was in place, it was even worse.

There was nothing to do, and with the additional stress that these recent murders had put on everyone, you were about to blow. The boys could see it, Tatum and Sidney could see it, and most important, Randy could see it.

It was only a matter of time before you absolutely lost it.

Your parents were taking this whole thing extra hard and basically had you on complete lockdown outside of attending school. They couldn’t imagine going through what Casey and Steve’s parents were going through right now, and they were scared.

Which was fair enough.

Everyone was scared right now, but you didn’t understand how putting you under house arrest was going to keep you any safer than you would be anywhere else. Casey was killed at home, after all?

If anything, you would be much safer in a group setting than you would be locked up in your house alone. Still, your parents had made themselves very clear where this topic was concerned. You were absolutely forbidden from attending Stu’s party, or any other party until the curfew was lifted.

It just made everything that much worse.

Parties, especially Stu’s parties, were one of the only things you were looking forward to as of late. Knowing that you couldn’t go to them was really starting to wear on you, and you were understandably let down by the whole thing.

...but it wasn’t just that.

Getting together with a big group of people, your age and ready to party, was an escape for you. With so much uncertainty going on and everything falling apart at the seams, you needed that normalcy to feel human again.

Not that you could really complain about that to anyone who could actually do something about it.

You knew that there was a very real danger out there and the only way to really be safe would be to stay inside your home where no one could get you but you just felt like your folks were taking it a little too seriously.

If everyone else was going to be out anyway, what different was it going to make, really? If anything, it made you a bigger target because you were one of the only people stuck in your house while everybody else was together.

To you, the logic was sound but to them, it was little more than a pathetic excuse to get out of the town’s mandated curfew.  

Which it kind of was, but you couldn’t help but feel like they were being unreasonable. You were a smart, responsible young woman and you weren’t going to take any stupid, unnecessary risks. You just wanted to maintain some level of normal life.

You were tired of being stuck at home like a rat in a cage, never allowed to go out and do anything. It was a stark contrast to how you normally were, with a thriving social life and active party presence.

It was almost as if you were dead too, not to be dramatic.

This was just hard on you, and they weren’t making it any easier. You had to rely on your friends, now more than ever, and they were basically cutting off any contact you had with them to lunch at school and quick phone conversations.

No one would have just taken that and been happy with it. Certainly not within your tight knit group of friends.

You sighed, fiddling with your pen as you tried to remember all the things you needed to get done when you got home. You knew well enough to know that if you didn’t write it down now, you would never remember it all.

With everything else on your mind, school seemed like the least of your worries.

You were so enthralled, in fact, tapping your pen away on the table that you didn’t even notice at first when Randy came up and sat down beside you, taking note of how unhappy you were about everything going on right now.

He couldn’t blame you.

The male at your side was perfectly aware of how excited you had been for the parties the recent nice weather was bound to bring, and equally as aware of how bummed you were that your parents had put a kibosh on the latest shindig before it even had a chance to begin.

“You okay?” he hummed, startling you just a bit when you looked up to see him already sitting at your side, but the racing in your chest calmed down just as quick. No one really knew who was responsible for all these terrible murders but you knew in your heart it wasn’t Randy.

You had known him all your life and even if he was a little strange, he was the sweetest guy in Woodsboro. He wasn’t some natural born killer or a sociopath on a killing spree.

“Honestly, if I have to think about this anymore, my brain might explode” you allowed, leaning slightly into his side to take some of the pressure off your aching, tight muscles as you kept focus on your schedule.

All this stress had to be bad for your body.

Tatum seemed to think so, at least, warning you that if you didn’t learn to decompress somehow you were going to go prematurely grey and get crows feet under your eyes. While you weren’t sure how much you trusted her endless cosmo knowledge, you certainly didn’t feel the greatest.

This was all just a lot for one person to juggle.

Randy could see that much.

He had been watching you all day, moping around that you wouldn’t be allowed to go to Stu’s party and worrying about a huge midterm you had to take for your english class that would physically make or break your grade.

You were spreading yourself way too thin. Luckily, he had an idea of just how he could help you feel a little bit better without breaking your parents' rules.

He just wasn’t so sure you’d go for it once you found out just what he had in mind.

“I was thinking, maybe you’d wanna come over to my place later? I have tonight off so we could watch a movie or something?” he offered, trying not to come across as painfully awkward as he felt. Randy was your friend, and usually could talk to you no problem but what he was proposing was different.

The two of you had never really hung out, just the two of you, before.

You nodded, not even looking up from your notebook as you scribbled something down in black ink, likely a reminder to do your calculus homework based on the way your brow knit together as you formed the letters.

You were preoccupied, too in your head to really consider what was going on but he certainly wasn’t.

Randy was aware of every little movement you made, from the way your nose scrunched up as you concentrated on making sure all the due dates and assignments were right on your calendar to the way your shoulder rested gently against his side.

“Who else did you invite? You know Tatum always complains about the movies you pick” you reminded, thinking over all the times the six of you had tried to watch movies together in the past. She got bored of psychological thrillers and grossed out at the gorey slashers.

She was much more of a Meg Ryan fan herself, constantly pulling for the cheesy romance flicks that made you want to ralph. You couldn’t put it past her to make Randy grab a couple of sappy videos too, just in case.

If she was going to be involved in movie night, you were sure you’d have to shoot down a few of those crappy comedies before you could watch anything worthwhile.

Randy sighed lightly, doing his best to keep you from noticing as he thought about what his next move was. Clearly, you’d missed the point of what he was asking entirely, not that he could blame you.

He had never really been good at asking out pretty girls, especially not ones he;d known since he was in elementary school, so this was new for him as well. He just sort of hoped that you would catch his drift early so he wouldn’t have to clarify out loud.

The last thing he wanted to do was put you on the spot and make you uncomfortable.

“Oh, I was actually hoping it could just be the two of us. I know it's no Stu Macher party but it could be fun” he shrugged, this time almost wishing a giant hole would open up from under him so that he didn’t have to have this conversation.

He wanted you to say yes, of course, more than anything but he just wasn’t sure if it was going to happen and if it wasn’t, he wanted to know early on.

At least then he could have some dignity in this whole thing.

You stopped writing for a second, letting the meaning of his words sink in as you sat there, your left leg bouncing up and down to try and keep up with the racing of your thoughts. It had been going nonstop since you sat down, but now, it was just resting against his.

Was Randy hitting on you?

Randy Meeks, your childhood best friend who had never once made a move on you aside from calling you pretty in your winter formal dress in middle school?

It didn't seem likely, but it was also hard to misinterpret his words. That was about as cut and dry as a date invite could be, and if it had been coming from anyone else, Tatum and Sid would have surely confirmed it for you if you asked.

Not that you could ask either of them right now.

“You wanna watch a movie tonight? Just you and me, at your house?” you clarified, setting your notebook down beside you without a second thought in favor of looking him in the eye.

He was uncertain for a second, trying to read any cues of how you were feeling about that from your own expression but found nothing there, so he nodded.

“Like a date?” you hummed, the words barely leaving your lips as you spoke them, feeling silly at having to clarify at all but you couldn’t help it. If he wasn’t meaning it in that way and you took it like that, you risked making an even bigger ass of yourself.

...but if he did, you needed to know that too.

There was a light blush on his freckled face as he considered his options before he nodded again, giving you all the information you needed. Randy was definitely hitting on you, now all you had to do was decide if you wanted to.

A movie could be fun.

You and Randy had watched a hundred movies together before, with you sometimes staying after hours at the video store while he closed to just see the ending of Frankenstein's bride that you loved so much.

Usually, there were more people there, Tatum and Stu at the very least, with Billy and Sid joining in when they saw fit, but it couldn’t be so different to just be the two of you.

You loved spending time with him, so doing so under the context of it being a date couldn’t possibly change that up so much. This was just Randy after all, it wasn’t like he was some guy you’d only just met or some creep Tatum thought it was okay to set you up with.

...and you were sure that your parents would agree to it.

Spending a few hours at Randy’s house was vastly different than going to some house party and out of all your friends, you knew that they trusted him the most. If he said you were there, they would believe him which would cut down on the third degree.

There really were no downsides.

Besides, if you were going to go out with any of your friends, it would be him, even if Billy or Stu did happen to be single. You and Randy just had a lot more in common and you knew that he would never put you in any danger.

You trusted him, and you liked him.

If he liked you too, it only made sense that you had a movie night together, just the two of you.

~

Getting your parents to agree to letting you spend a few hours at Randy’s house wasn’t as easy a sell as you thought it would be but by the time he came to pick you up, he managed to convince them that it would all be fine.

He wasn’t going to let anything happen to you, and in all honesty, they believed it.

Randy had never given them any reason not to trust him and at the end of the day, they came to the conclusion that you did have a little bit of a point. Knowing that you were somewhere with someone else made them feel a little bit better than if you were home alone.

It brought some amount of comfort to know that Randy would be there with you. Besides, your mother was just so thrilled that he’d finally asked you out on a date that you were sure she would have agreed to anything.

That was how you got here in the first place, walking down the familiar aisles of the video store with Randy as you searched for something to watch. Between the two of you, you had basically seen all the good horror films that they had available.

Not that knowing that was stopping either of you from picking up title after title, looking them over incredulously as you searched for the perfect thing.

Initially, Randy was just going to pick something up on the way to get you but decided that this would probably be more up your alley first. The video store was only open for a short time today due to the curfew but that was more than enough time for him to find exactly what he wanted.

After all, there wasn’t a title in the store that Randy didn’t know by heart. In fact, he had likely put them each right where they were, in each of their respective spots on the shelf. That was literally all he did all day when he did work.

“What about this one?” you suggested, holding up a pretty well loved copy of night of the living dead happily for his approval. It was a classic, one that you had each seen a dozen times, but because of that, it was quick to go into the basket.

Then, after scanning the few horror aisles one more time, Randy settled on what he always settled on and plucked a copy of Prom Night off the shelf.

At this point, you were sure he’d rented that specific video nineteen times by now but didn’t bother to point that out. You knew that it was one of his favorite movies of all time and if that was what he wanted to watch tonight, you weren’t going to argue.

All you really wanted to do was spend the night relaxing with your best friend, on what was technically also your first date. It was a little bit of pressure, more so than you were used to, but nothing that you couldn’t handle.

At the end of the day, you loved Randy and this was just something else you could do together.

“Alright, are you ready to go? I’ve got plenty of good snacks at the house for us to munch on too” he promised, fully aware of just how you liked your movie nights to go down. That was something else the two of you had in common.

You were very particular about your movies, especially horror movies.

It was something he could appreciate, along with your sense of humor and heart of gold. All in all, when Randy actually stopped to think about it, he wasn’t sure why he’d waited so long to ask you to do this in the first place.

This was going to be awesome.

~

Randy’s house was nice, of course, well put together every single time you had been there but you couldn't really focus too much on that.

Instead, you occupied yourself putting the tapes into the player while Randy made popcorn in the kitchen. It was kind of strange for a few moments, as you sat waiting for him to get back, looking around the living room under such new circumstances.

You have been here a hundred times before.

You had sat in this exact spot plenty of times but tonight, it was so different. You had only ever been here before as a friend, normally with all your other friends there to keep you company even when someone had to leave the room but not anymore.

Right now, you were waiting here as a girl on a date, a date with a guy you’d known your entire life.

It was just so strange how quickly everything had changed. Just this morning, you and Randy were little more than friends, and now, you couldn’t quite be sure what you were. Not that you had too much time to consider that before he was back.

“I bring gifts,” Randy grinned, plopping down beside you on the couch, swamping the coffee table with bags of chips and assorted boxes of candy before handing you the big bowl of popcorn. Clearly when he promised snacks, he wasn’t kidding.

You watched him do a onceover of the spread he’d provided before he ultimately decided that it was going to be fine.

“Perfect, just what we needed” you smiled, relaxing even further into the couch next to him, getting ready to start whatever it was that was going on between the two of you. It was new, uncharted territory for the both of you but it wasn’t looking too bad.

A copy of Prom Night and some popcorn with Randy was perhaps the only thing that could make this whole curfew thing worthwhile.

[flightlessangelwings]

Keep You Safe

Frankie Morales x gn!reader (no y/n)

Word count: 3.9k

Warnings: fluff, pining, mild angst, a shitty ex, a break in, brief panic attack (not overly detailed), protective!Frankie, bed sharing, happy ending

Notes: This sat drafted for weeks cause I just kept picking at it and I think I’m finally happy with it so I hope y’all enjoy it! Thanks to my wonderful partner @we-can-be-himbos​ for beta reading for me!

~

The little dive bar was full of noise and life. You stood around a high top with your brother, Santiago, and your shared friends Will, Benny, and Frankie. Technically Santi was your step brother; your parents married when you both were young, but you two grew up together and he never treated you like anything other than a sibling. He was always very protective of you and always looked after you even well into adulthood. The two of you even lived together in a shared little house since he was away a lot for his job.

You all gathered together because it was Santiago’s last night before he left for his deployment. It was always tradition before any of the guys left to have a night out as a send off, and you loved when you and the boys all got together. You were fond of the Miller brothers, but you had a special place in your heart for Frankie Morales. 

Frankie captivated you ever since the day you first met all those years ago. You hid it as best you could, but you couldn’t help the way your eyes lingered on him for just a moment too long or the way your heart flipped in your chest whenever he laughed. And whenever you weren’t looking, Frankie’s eyes trailed down your figure as he shifted in his boots. He always smirked at your effortless charm that drew him in from the get-go.

There was an undeniable attraction between you and Frankie, and the rest of the guys could definitely sense it. Yet, no one said anything. Perhaps no one wanted to be the one to tell Santiago that you were interested in his best friend. Or maybe they wanted you and Frankie to come together on your own without more than a gentle nudge from the rest of the group. 

But what no one knew was that you and Frankie did hook up once. It was a couple of months ago after a night out at the bar, much like this one, and Frankie had offered to take you home. Santi had already left with a random person he had been making eyes at all night and trusted your safety with Frankie. One thing led to another and you ended up naked in his bed after several orgasms. The two of you agreed to never mention that night again, although it was always on your mind.

You had no idea that it was always on Frankie’s mind as well.

Glasses clinked as you and the boys all cheered to Santiago’s health and wished him luck on his mission. He would be gone for several months: the longest he would be away. You all chattered and laughed as you shared memories of good times. Benny let out a loud cackle and rested his hand on your shoulder as you told an embarrassing story about Santiago from your childhood and Frankie couldn’t help the way he frowned slightly. He wasn’t a jealous person, but he wished that he could be so casual in his touches with you as the others were.

“Hey Fish,” Santiago’s voice shook Frankie from his thoughts, “Can I talk to you for a second?”

Frankie nodded as he finished his beer before he followed Santi to a quiet corner of the bar.

You watched the two men walk away with furrowed brows, “What's that about?” you asked as you took a sip of your drink.

“I bet he’s telling Fish to make sure Benny keeps his hands off of you,” Will joked, which made you burst into laughter as Benny gave him an exaggerated pout.

Santi and Frankie looked to be deep in conversation and they both had serious looks on their faces. You didn’t bother to try to eavesdrop, since the bar was too loud and you settled for just watching their interaction from a distance. But you were soon distracted when you felt another pair of eyes on you. A chill ran down your spine as you casually leaned back and tried to find the source.

On the other end of the bar you swore you saw Casey, your ex. His face disappeared into the crowd before you could be sure, but even just the thought made you uneasy. Things did not end well with Casey; he was very overbearing and made you uncomfortable with how possessive he was. Even after you ended your relationship with him, you found that he would pop up sometimes whenever you were out like he was following you. 

You shuffled closer to Will and Benny as you rejoined the conversation and tried to put your ex’s face out of your mind. The boys didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary and you convinced yourself that it was just your imagination as you put a soft smile back on your face.

The other two came back to the table within a few minutes, and you and Santi left the bar shortly after that. His flight was early the next morning and you wanted to get some sleep before you drove him to the airport. Even as you left with your brother, you still felt those ice cold eyes on you, but you didn’t say anything to Santiago.

Your little one story house you shared with your brother was cute and cozy, and was just enough for the two of you. You each had your own bedrooms and separate bathrooms, which was a must when you were house hunting. The car was quiet as he drove the two of you home, and though Santi usually pressed you about what was on your mind, he chose to stay quiet this time. 

“What time do we need to leave, Santi?” you asked though the wall as you got ready for bed.

“Six,” he shouted back.

Fuck, that was so early. But you always liked to be the one to take him to the airport whenever he left for assignments, so you sucked it up for one morning. You could always come right back home and go back to bed anyway. After you said your goodnights, you slipped into bed where you fell asleep quicker than you expected to with how full your head was.

But you didn’t stay asleep.

A loud bang at the front door jolted you awake and you scrambled out of bed to duck down onto the floor like your brother had taught you to. The noise must have woken Santiago up as well because you heard him shout your name as he told you to stay in your room. You heard an argument and you recognized the other voice anywhere: Casey. You gasped as you realized that was actually him at the bar and he must have followed you home.

You cracked your door open just enough to see into the living room where Santiago was locked in a heated argument with your ex. Panic raced through your veins as you fell back onto the floor. You didn’t even register that Santiago came back and was right in front of you. His hands were on your shoulders as he shook you gently to get you out of your head. It wasn’t until the third time he said your name that you came back to the present.

“Hey, hey,” Santi used as calming a voice as he could, “He’s gone.” He was just as frightened as you were, and he was ready to defend and protect you. Santi watched you in your relationship with him and he didn’t like the way the guy treated you at all. You were the only family he had left, and he would do anything for you, “You ok?”

You swallowed hard as you nodded weakly, “I’m ok,” you took in a big breath to steady yourself, “It was Casey wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” he grit his teeth, clearly annoyed, “But you’re ok,” he pulled you in for a hug, “We’re ok,” Santi repeated.

You trembled but your brother’s embrace was calming, and the two of you stayed like that for several minutes, “I don’t think I can go back to sleep now.”

He let out a short laugh, “Me either,” he broke away to take a look at your face, “How about some coffee?”

“I don’t wanna stay here…” your voice was weak.

Santi nodded in understanding, “There’s a 24 hour diner, how about we load up the car and go there?”

Instead of leaving at six in the morning, you and your brother walked out of the door around 4:30. Santi tossed his bags in the backseat and offered to drive, but you insisted you could. You needed something to focus your mind. The two of you were the only ones at the diner save for the couple of workers, and you sat at the booth in silence for some time with a pot of coffee on the table between you.

“Go to Frankie’s,” Santi finally broke the silence. He desperately wanted to do something to help you, but he had no idea what.

“What?” you barely heard his voice, too lost in your thoughts.

“I don’t want you home alone after I leave,” he explained, “Go to Frankie’s for now and tell him what happened.”

You winced, you didn’t want to have to relive what happened in your head as you told the story to someone else. Even if it was Frankie. “Alright…”

“Hey,” he laid a hand on top of where yours laid on the table to get you to meet his gaze, “You know I’d stay if I could.”

“I know,” you sighed. You were quiet again for a moment before you changed the subject with a question that had been on your mind, “What did you say to Frankie at the bar last night?”

Santi grinned, “I asked him to take care of you while I’m gone. Because I know he will.” Frankie was the person that he trusted the most, and Santi could tell how much he cared about you. Frankie even confided in him how much he didn’t like Casey and how much he worried for you. If anyone would do anything to protect his family while he was gone, it was Frankie. 

You frowned, “He told you we slept together didn’t he?”

“Nope,” the shit-eating grin that came across Santi’s face was priceless as he leaned back in the booth, “But you just did.”

You sighed dramatically as you buried your face in your hands and collapsed onto the table, “Dammit Santi…” but you also couldn’t help but giggle when you heard his laughter. 

As the sun started to rise on the horizon, the two of you decided to leave for the airport. The talk with your brother and the several pots of coffee helped to ease your nerves, but you still fell quiet again as you drove. Usually, the car ride to the airport was full of chatter, but not today. And Santi hated that he had to leave right after something like this happened, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Santiago bid you goodbye with a tight embrace as you dropped him off at the terminal, and he made you promise to go to Frankie’s. You assured him that you would go straight there, even if it was still ungodly early in the morning. As you watched him walk through the doors and disappear into the small crowd, your heart fluttered as you thought about your next destination. 

It wasn’t that you meant to avoid Frankie since the night you slept with him. You just didn’t know what to do from there, so you only hung out with him in a group with the guys. Of course, you ended up spending most of your time talking to him anyway. There was just something about Frankie that you could not stay away from, no matter how hard you tried.

The sun shone brightly in the sky for how early it was as you drove over to Frankie’s house. You held your breath as you knocked at his door and hoped that he wouldn’t be mad that you woke him up. But, your breath caught in your throat when he answered the door in nothing but a pair of sweatpants that hung how on his hips. You had seen him naked before, but the sight before you literally knocked the wind out of you.

You temporarily forgot about everything that had plagued your mind for the past couple hours as you stood awestruck at Frankie’s front door. It took you several moments to even notice the grimace on his face as you obviously had woken him up.

But Frankie wasn’t mad; he could never be mad at you. He said your name to snap you out of your thoughts, and he couldn’t help the small chuckle at the way you looked at him. If he was honest with himself, Frankie would have liked to ask you out on an actual date after you two hooked up. But, you came up with the arrangement to keep your relationship under wraps for now before he could. 

“What are you doing here so early?” he asked in a groggy voice, “Everything alright?”

“I’m sorry, I know it’s early,” a heavy sigh escaped your lips as the memories of earlier this morning flooded back, “Can… Can I come in?”

Frankie stepped aside and extended an arm to lead you in, “Of course,” he couldn’t hide the concern in his voice. Obviously something was wrong, and he immediately worried about you. “Did something happen? Everything good with Pope?”

You bit your lip and nodded, “Yeah, he’s on his flight. He’s good,” you sat down on Frankie’s couch and you couldn’t bring yourself to look him in the eyes as he gently sat down next to you.

His eyes bore into your figure as he asked the silent question in concern for you. Frankie carefully placed a hand on your thigh and gave it a soft squeeze to get you to look at him. The way he looked at you made you melt, and you couldn’t hold it back anymore.

“Casey came by early this morning,” you blurted out, “And he and Santi got into it.”

“What?!” Frankie immediately went on high alert as questions poured from his mouth and he wrapped his arms around you without a second thought.

“I’m ok, I’m ok,” you reassured him as you leaned into his embrace, “Santi told him off.” You felt Frankie tighten his grip on you and you swore you heard a growl from deep in his throat, “I just… I don’t know what to do now.” Frankie was the one person you confided to about how nervous Casey made you, and how you thought you had seen him pop up whenever you were out.

“You can stay here,” he said without hesitation, “As long as you want.”

You let out a deep breath. Frankie only had one bedroom, so that either meant you would share a bed with him or you would be just a few feet away on the couch. Either way, you knew what staying the night with him would most likely lead to, and though you wanted that more than anything else in the world, you were hesitant. You weren’t even sure why you were; obviously your brother was more than ok with the idea of you and Frankie together. Maybe you were too afraid to face your own feelings for him.

“I don’t want to impose,” you finally said, “Besides, I hate feeling like I’m scared out of my own house.”

Frankie was quiet for several moments. You were stronger than you gave yourself credit for, and you were stubborn to boot. Then, he had an idea, “How about this,” he started, “I’ll take you to get a new security system and an extra deadbolt for your door,” he stared at your for a moment before he told you the last part of his plan, “And I’ll stay over with you tonight.”

You didn’t need much time before you agreed to his plan, and you spent the entire day with Frankie. He packed himself an overnight bag and followed you in his car to your house to drop it off before he drove you to the store. He could tell that you were still uneasy, so he made a fun day of it and treated you to lunch as well.

The stresses of earlier in the morning melted away the longer you were with Frankie, and you were happy that you went to him. You had always felt comfortable with Frankie, even from the day you first met. And Frankie felt a connection and attraction to you right away as well. He would do anything to protect you, and he cared about you more than he could express with words. 

By the evening, Frankie had installed the new security system and extra locks and you had cooked him a big dinner as a thank you. As the two of you talked for hours, you felt more and more relaxed and the events of earlier this morning were pushed to the back of your mind. That was, until it came time to head to sleep.

“I’ll take the couch,” Frankie offered.

You stood in the living room as you fiddled with your fingers nervously. You didn’t want him to have to sleep on the couch, and you spoke before your mind caught up to your mouth, “Stay with me.”

Frankie stood dumbfounded as he stared at you, “What?”

“You… You can stay in my room. With me,” the last two words were just a whisper as you dropped your gaze down to the floor, “Please?”

A soft grin came across Frankie’s face; he couldn’t say no to you, especially when you asked like that, “Ok,” his voice was just as hushed as yours. 

The tension could be cut with a knife as the two of you settled into your bed. Luckily, it was big enough to fit you both, and as you laid on your side with your back to him, you found that you wanted nothing more than to turn over and nuzzle into his arms. And Frankie had to wrap his arms around his torso to keep from reaching out to you.

You didn’t know how long you laid next to Frankie, but you were sure he wasn’t asleep yet. Without a word, you gave in to your feelings and you rolled over and wrapped your arms around his waist and nuzzled into his back. You heard him gasp softly as he tensed for a moment before he also turned over so he could wrap his arms around you. Frankie pulled you in as close as he could and held you tightly and you smiled into his skin as you rested your head on his chest.

Everything felt right like this, and you would have fallen asleep if it weren’t for the way his heart pounded in his chest. You shifted so that you could look up at him, and the movement made him open his eyes. The two of you stared into each other’s eyes for several long moments before you hauled yourself up slowly and inched closer and closer to his face.

Frankie’s eyes never left yours, except to glance down at your lips once for a brief moment. He breathed your name as he gripped onto you tighter, as if he was afraid to let you go. Your eyes darted down to his own lips for a second before you closed the rest of the gap and placed a tender, soft kiss. He sighed into the kiss and held you as tightly as he possibly could.

He was about to deepen the kiss when a loud crash made both of you jump in surprise. There was a rattle and pounding at your front door, and you immediately panicked. Frankie, however, was quick to jump into action.

“You're ok, You’re ok,” he cupped your face and softened his expression for a moment, “Stay here. Lock your door,” he ordered before he grabbed something from his overnight bag and darted out of your bedroom.

Your hands shook as you did as you were told and quickly locked your door and scrambled back to the floor next to your bed. The sounds were muffled, but you could hear a fight just outside the door. Tears filled your eyes as you hoped that Frankie was ok, and your heart beat rapidly in your chest as you thought about how he did not hesitate for a second to jump in and protect you.

Then, everything got quiet and all you could hear was the sound of footsteps running away. You strained to listen and crawled over halfway to your door. You heard the sound of footsteps followed by running water from the sink before Frankie’s voice rang through the door.

“Baby, it’s me. It’s ok,” his voice was surprisingly calm and soothing, and you immediately jumped up and ran to unlock your bedroom door.

Frankie met you on the other side and you wrapped your arms around him and hugged him tightly. Your shoulders shook as you sobbed into his chest, and you let out a deep breath when he hugged you back just as tightly.

“Shhh, it’s ok. You’re ok,” he stroked your back in a soothing manner as he buried his face in the crook of your neck, “I got you. You’re safe.”

“Frankie…” you breathed as you pulled back enough to look at his face, “Are you ok?” you cupped his cheek with one hand as you clung to his shirt with the other.

He smiled at you, “I’m fine,” he paused as he just gazed into your eyes, “He tried to get away, but your neighbor heard us fight and came out to keep him down,” Frankie kept a tight grip on you as he spoke, “Casey won’t bother you ever again. I promise.”

“Thank you, Frankie,” your voice was so quiet that you weren’t sure if he heard you as you dropped the hand that cupped his cheek down to his chest. You were silent again as you stayed securely in his arms, “Frankie I…”

He cut you off with a chaste kiss. Unlike when you kissed him in your bed, this one was more intense and full of passion. It was a desperate kiss, as if he used it to make sure you were actually here and ok. Frankie did not regret beating your ex up for you; he’d do anything to keep you safe. He kissed you for what felt like hours before he finally broke away for air.

“I know baby,” he murmured against your lips, “Me too,” he kissed you again, much more slowly this time. You weren’t going anywhere this time, and he had all the time in the world now to be with you. 

“Pope gonna be ok with this?” he asked with a laugh when he broke away again.

“I’ll handle my brother,” you joined in his laughter, “But he’s ok with it, trust me.”

Frankie gave you a look that said you had explaining to do later, but for now he just wanted to enjoy and relish the time with you and keep you safe in his arms.

[squad3-sevcase]

I Know Your Heart (1) Pilot | Chicago Fire Fanfic

Summary: Becker Casey and the firefighters of Chicago’s Firehouse 51 deal with dangers of the job, personal relationships, and everyday life in and out of uniform. In the wake of Andrew Darden’s death, loyalties are tested; as tensions rise between Becker, her brother, and the rest of 51, she isn’t sure where the line is drawn.

Warnings: general Chicago Fire warnings apply. Read at your own discretion.

A/N: Repost of part one for my Chicago Fire fanfiction. It will be using some storylines from the show. Edited 14th November 2022.

Taglist: @campingmonkey @fullwattpadmusictree @marvelatthetwilight @deardelicatedamage

Being home was a breath of fresh air for Becker.

It had been a rough month following her return to work after an abrupt Leave of Absence, and upon learning of fellow firefighter and friend, Andy Darden's tragic death. Tensions, she noticed, were at an all-time high between her superior and best friend Kelly Severide ― Rescue Squad leader ― and her brother, Matt Casey. Becker hadn't been permitted to be on duty the day of Andy's death, but the grim faces of her colleagues when she asked after her friend's whereabouts upon the Company's return, told her all she needed to know and more. Kelly tearfully pulled his firefighter aside and informed her of Darden's fate; everything changed after that.

Becker took his death the hardest behind his wife, Heather, and Kelly. The Squad lieutenant and Darden had been best friends since kindergarten, his loss would stick with Kelly for a long time. Becker understands; Andy became a close friend and confidante after she was assigned to 51 upon graduating from the Academy. He showed her the ropes and treated her like another one of the guys while respecting that she was a woman in a male-dominated field, which she appreciated. She realized much later how greatly she missed him when she and Kelly found themselves reminiscing, recounting their favourite memories and sharing stories the other had yet to hear.

She sat at the long wooden table Squad often claimed for their own in the apparatus bay, idly sipping a mug of coffee that had since gone cold. Kelly sat quietly to her right. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, trying her best to relieve the pent-up pressure swimming deep in her gut. Waves of long, honey-blonde hair cascaded over her right shoulder, lazily framing the soft features of her heart-shaped face.

She hummed pensively and turned a page in her book, leaning back in her chair. Concentration evaded her efforts, the words all ran together a half hour ago, blurring before cerulean blue eyes, yet she refused to put it down. She felt antsy; a probationary period of one week was set to assess her mental and emotional status, Kelly's only condition for her official return. Reluctantly, Becker agreed.

“What's on your mind, Mini Casey?” Kelly looked up from his own book when Becker sighed heavily for the fifth time in two minutes.

“The usual, Severide.” And they left it at that.

“Hey, MC, you seen your brother around?” A burly voice called across the bay, and Becker groaned inwardly.

She was used to people thinking she always knew where Lieutenant Casey was or what he got up to. She spent most of her free time split between the two lieutenants. Lately, though, her brother's indifference made it difficult to be around him. Everyone did their best to steer clear. She supposed the same may be said of Kelly Severide, but at least he remained the same with her.

“Nope, sorry.” She turned her attention to Otis handing off his tour for a group of elementary kids to their newest candidate ― Peter Mills, the young man Joe Cruz showed around the station earlier.

“Who wants to try on a helmet?” Becker snorted back a laugh; the kids already sported their own plastic fire-red Station 51 helmets.

To Kelly she said, “Fifty bucks says Mills doesn't last the week without royally embarrassing himself.”

“Fifty?” he confirmed.

“Mmhm.”

“He looks all right, I give him two. Easiest money I've ever made,” he said with a grin, pulling a $50 bill from his wallet. Taking the $50 Becker laid on the table, he tucked it into the back of his book with his, he lost count of how many times they'd done that.

“So this is called a PASS alarm. Now, if a firefighter is totally still for more than 18 seconds, a loud alarm goes off until he moves again,” Mills informed the group. He donned his turnout gear and was demonstrating the various pieces of protective equipment.

“Why?” one of the boys asked.

“Well, if he's hurt or trapped, we'll know where to find him.” He triggered the alarm, and Becker smiled at the children's reactions. Then, he quickly shook the device until it shut off again. “That's loud.” He smiled. “See, this house is special because it has a Rescue Squad. Squad Three serves a big piece of the city. They're experts at water rescue, extraction, pretty much everything.”

Becker nudged Kelly with her shoulder, she saw his failed attempt to hide his smirk at being talked up to the group of eight-year-olds. They had a lot to be proud of, but their egos didn't need more inflating.

“Why aren't you with them?”

“Well, I mean, I plan to be. My father was a member of the Squad years ago.”

Becker was too engrossed in the candidate's explanation to notice when her brother joined the demonstration until his voice sounded from inside the doorway, “Mills, right?” Matt said, interrupting the tour. He gestured toward the table. “Last to show, first to go. That's the Rescue Squad.”

“You Truck guys do such a good job getting everything ready for us, why would we want to take that from you?” Kelly fired back, looking over his shoulder at his fellow lieutenant.

Becker blew a long puff of air out through pursed lips. “Here we go.”

Matt chuckled. “Kids, you should know they make the Rescue helmets extra big to fit their heads inside them.” His eyes briefly met Becker's. “No offence to my sister, of course.”

“Oh, of course,” she sneered.

“There are two types of firefighters,” Kelly continued flatly, “those who are on Squad, and those who wish they were on Squad.”

“Ooh,” mocked Matt.

“Bet I get an application from him by the end of the month,” Kelly challenged as the kids followed Mills for the rest of the tour.

Matt turned to leave. “He wants you, you can have him.”

Becker punched Kelly's shoulder, and he laughed.

“What? What'd I do?”

“This is why Cruz calls us Rescue Squad a-holes.”

As an alarm sounded off, the dispatcher's voice called out over the PA system: Pin-in accident. Columbus Drive bridge. Ambulance 61, Engine 51, Truck 81, Squad 3, Battalion 25.

Becker was grateful for the change in atmosphere. She crossed the bay in no time, leaving behind the tension between her brother and best friend, quickly slipping into her turnout gear, and climbing aboard 3. Dealing with the fallout between Lieutenants Casey and Severide would just have to wait.

On the ride over, she thought of all the ways her brother had changed. He stopped being her brother and became more of a bully, something she certainly wasn't used to. Everyone processed grief in their own way, she understood that much, but it felt different. She knew Matt blamed Kelly for Andy Darden's accident and blamed him for the death of a friend. But that explained little of his attitude toward her. What had she done to incur her brother's wrath?

“MC, what are we looking at?” the Squad lieutenant asked as they pulled up to the scene of the accident, startling Becker from her thoughts. This they had done a million times before; Becker's ability to quickly take everything in and assess the situation was the reason he begged her to transfer over to Squad. He recognized her as a valuable asset he couldn't afford to lose, and Becker guessed he enjoyed having her on his team even more as a way to stick it to her brother.

Becker and Kelly were off the rig before it came to a complete stop.

“Driver's door on the second vehicle is wedged shut, the rest probably are as well. Seatbelts will likely be jammed. We'll need the Jaws.” She sniffed the air. “Definite fuel leak. We need to get them out of there.”

Their strides were in perfect sync as they rounded the rig to the red car butted up against the rail. Becker surveyed the damage, she could tell as Matt got his hands on the vehicle that extracting the driver from the car would be an ordeal ― the door wouldn't budge, too smashed in from the wreckage. When Matt tried the handle to get the door open, it only confirmed what she told Kelly.

“Ma'am? Can you hear me?” Try as she might, Becker couldn't recall the last time she heard Matt speak with such a calm yet urgent gentleness to his voice. She remembered how good he was at his job, and how much she loved that he was her older brother.

The woman looked up at him, frightened. “My daughter― Madeline? Madeline! My little girl.”

Becker walked around the back of the car to the passenger side. “Get the Jaws!” she called to Kelly, and he gave a curt nod of understanding. She peered in the back passenger window where the little girl sat trapped inside the car. She smiled softly to help ease her fear. “Hey, Madeline. My name's Becker, we're gonna get you out of there.”

She moved out of the way as Gabriela Dawson arrives to take care of Madeline. The smell of fuel was heavy and choking, she heard someone confirm the leak and her heart plummetted in her chest. It wasn't the worst wreckage they'd ever been to, but she knew it was probably the scariest situation for a little girl to be in.

“Casey! Can you assess what we're looking at with the other vehicle?” Matt shouted over the chaos.

With one glance at the damage done, Becker knew the driver of the SUV was thrown from the car. She rushed to the railing and peered over the side. “Mouch! He's in the river!”

“Are you positive?” he questioned, not for lack of belief in Becker but for confirmation.

“Positive.” She pointed to the front of the vehicle. The windscreen was busted through from the inside, and the driver's seat was left vacant.

Mouch rounded the car and peered inside. His face paled. “Oh sh― Casey's right, he's in the water!”

“Who?” Chief Boden called back.

“The driver, he was ejected.”

The chief pointed to the rest of Rescue Squad 3. It was up to them to retrieve the victim from the icy depths of the river, hopefully in time to receive proper treatment. “We think we got one in the river. Go.”

“Severide!” There was an ache growing in Becker's bones that words failed to describe. She desperately wanted to jump in the water and search for the second driver but she understood it went against protocol. She was still on probation and has to follow Kelly's orders. She would do as told and put her skills elsewhere and pray to whoever was out there listening that Kelly and their men found him in time.

She scanned the river's surface, hoping for a glimpse of something that would signal to them where the driver went down, but it was no use. For all that Becker could do, the rest was up to the divers.

Kelly appeared at her side, geared up and ready to go. “Don't worry, I'm gonna find him.” He turned to the rest of his men. “All right, Husting and me are going. Capp and Hadley on RIT and run the line. Casey, on RIT.”

“Copy that.”

Becker's heartbeat thundered in her ears as Kelly climbed over the railing and began the descent to the water's icy depths. If anything happened to him and Husting, Capp and Hadley would go in first, and if anything happened to them, it was up to Becker to gather the others and proceed forward to find them. Kelly trusted her with his life, likewise, she trusted him. On duty, their friendship took a backseat to being partners on the Rescue Squad; Becker put her faith in Kelly's judgment as the leader of their team, the same way he put his faith in her as one of his firefighters. It was a give-and-take.

Frantically searching what she could see of the chilling darkness before her while Capp and Hadley lowered their men down to the water, it always felt like they weee operating on borrowed time. Never having enough of it until―

“Cancel the dive. No one is in the water,” the chief informed over the radio.

“You did great out there today. I'm proud of you.”

Becker wanted to smile, she wanted to say “thank you” and acknowledge that she rocked her first day back, but she couldn't. Truthfully, she needed to hear those words from her brother. While hearing them from the Squad leader meant more than she could express, she needed to know that Matt still had the same faith in her abilities now that he did when she joined the Academy seven years ago. She needed to know he still believed in her. His treatment of Squad over the last month ― and Becker simply because she was part of it, too ― isolated her from him in ways she never was before.

“Thanks, Severide.” She hopper off the rig behind Kelly as her brother moved away from Otis.

“You're staying on elevators, which makes you Otis. Sorry.”

“Hey. Guy in the water? How about a guy with his head up his ass?” Kelly called; a challenge.

“You handle your firefighters, I'll handle mine.”

“That's a good theory, Casey. How about giving it a try?”

Matt closed the gap between them in three full strides and stopped directly in front of Kelly. “Know what? I'm gettin' real tired of your bull, Severide.”

“I don't give a damn what you're tired of.”

Becker had had enough. She stood to the side watching the two men she loved most in the world square off with each other and she'd had enough. She didn't signup for that. She didn't sign up to feel like her world was falling out from under her feet with nowhere to land and no one to catch her. She twisted around to face her brother, and anger flashed in her dark stormy irises.

“Why are you being such a dick?”

“Excuse me?” Matt turned a surprised glare on his sister. She never spoke to him that way, especially not in front of the guys. “You want to try that again, MC?”

“Why are you being such a dick, Lieutenant? You've been walking around here barking orders for a month like you own the place, but turn around the next minute and it's like you'd give anything to be miles away from Squad. You pick fights with anyone who dares to cross your path. You're not the only one who lost someone that day. Maybe if you pulled your head out of your ass long enough to greet the sun, you would see that.”

“Easy, MC,” a warning.

Matt laughed dryly, taking slow deliberate steps toward his sister.

Becker refused to back down. “Who gave you the right to be judge, jury, and executioner, huh? I know you're angry, Casey, and you may be my superior. But I am still your sister. I don't deserve to be treated like shit just because you need someone to blame for Darden's death. Neither does Severide, and neither does Brian. That's right, Brian. Yeah, I know his name. I have from day one. What's your excuse?”

“Right. This what you call ‘handling your firefighters’, Severide?”

Kelly gently pushed Becker behind him. “She's just saying what we're all thinking, man.”

“Hey.” Their argument was interrupted by Chief Boden throwing a few hard punches at the bag hanging near the refrigerator. “I thought you all should know, I am gonna fight that dick, Olmstead, who slept with my wife in Saturday's Drop-A-Cop.” He threw a few more. “Or we could all just throw the gloves on right now, beat the hell out of each other. Maybe when the Mayor comes in Saturday that's what he sees. Truck versus Squad ― old as the CFD, so deal with it. We all lost Darden a month ago Friday. And that ain't changing. So maybe we should.”

Becker tried to swallow past the lump forming in her throat. She stepped around Kelly and moved past her brother, intentionally bumping into his shoulder as she headed into the station. On her way in, she heard the chief call out, “Casey, make it right,” and realized he was talking to the Truck lieutenant. She continued until she reached the locker room.