#I KNOW he could have recorded that MM episode for later | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bustyasianbeautiespod · 3 months

Text

Episode 88 Transcript: Does Sam Winchester Have Anything to Say to the People of the United States (and the Philippines)?

[intro guitar music]

G: Hello, it's Grey.

C: Hello, it's Crystal.

G: And this is Busty Asian Beauties, a Supernatural commentary podcast where I, someone who has seen this show many, many times...

C: And I, someone who only knows the show through social media, discuss every single episode of Supernatural from start to finish. Also, we are both Asian.

G: Both Asian! For today's episode, we will be discussing Season 5, Episode 6: "I Believe the Children Are Our Future," written by Daniel Loflin and Andrew Dabb, directed by Charles Beeson. Loflin/Dabb!

C: Yeah. Well, soon, they will do a terrible thing to us. [laughs]

G: When soon?

C: When's "Hammer of the Gods"?

G: Oh my god, you're right! It is- they are “Hammer of the Gods.” [C laughs]

C: Yeah, I mean, that is what I primarily think of them as.

G: They will do two episodes first before they do "Hammer of the Gods."

C: Okay. Alright. I'll work up to hating them, then. [G: Yeah.] We finally get a proper Sam mirror episode. It's been so long!

G: Literally. What if there was a mirror held up in front of San Winchester? [C: What if?] And it's so fun! You know what? I solemnly- I will say this. I'll put this on the record. This is a good Supernatural episode. [C: Mm.] Do you agree? Disagree? What are your thoughts?

C: Yeah. I think I generally liked it, but I think that some of the stuff they said wasn't making any sense, like, especially at the end.

G: Well, that's why I said it's a good Supernatural episode. [C laughs] Like, it's not a good- I think it could be a good episode, but I'm not going to make that stance. Like, I'm not gonna die on that hill. But I am gonna die on the hill of it being a good Supernatural episode. Like, it has all the makings of Supernatural. It's not, like, trying something new or different. It's just Supernatural as what it does, and it does a good job of it! I think it's a fine- it's a wonderful Supernatural episode!

C: He didn't even leave a note with his birth mom. Where did she go after that?

G: I have no idea. It is crazy that she was a person, and then turns-

C: Yeah, and then she gets possessed, and then she's just passed out in a chair for the rest of the episode.

G: She was a person, and her backstory is about how traumatizing it was to be possessed, and then at the end of the episode, she gets possessed, and then she is treated like every other person that was a vessel in Supernatural that isn't a main character. [C: Yup.] And it's like, well, mm.

C: Yeah, literally, it's like, "It was so terrible to be used only for my body, and I'm still dealing with the repercussions of that," and then at the end, they just treat her like a body as well. [G: Yeah.] Good job, writers.

G: And, like, they didn't even think about taking her to Bobby's as well or giving her a damn amulet? [C: Tattoo?] Yeah, I don't know. Giving her Bobby's hat? Like, you haven't thought of this?

C: [laughs] Exactly. Also- yeah, whatever, we'll get into it later. The conversation on the car made no sense. [laughs]

G: I completely zoned out in that part because I was like, "What the fuck are they talking about?"

C: "What the fuck are you talking about?" [laughs]

G: But okay. [laughs] "I wish Dad didn't tell us things when we were kids." What?? Okay.

C: "I wish, instead, he lied about how jacking off makes hair grow on your palms." [laughs] Like, no, you don't!

G: Well, first, what did you know about this episode before going in ?

C: Just so that this is gonna be with an Antichrist kid named Jesse, and Cas wants to kill him, [G: Feminist!] and then he just turns Cas into an action figure, [G: Also feminist.] and then Dean will ask if he can bring him back 'cause Cas is like, his friend.

G: "It's my buddy Cas." Yeah.

C: Yeah, "He's kind of a buddy of mine."

G: Ah, lovely! I think I've said this before, but this is another one of those episodes where Cas is in it, but also, like, not really.

C: Yeah. They do action figure him.

G: Like, he is in it. Yeah, they put him in the bank vault by turning him into an action figure. [C: Exactly.] And like, he is relevant, but also like, what I mean is in future seasons when he becomes more of a "there's a plot A/plot B happening in this episode, and he's plot B" kind of situation, or sometimes even plot A. And in the future, I would say, [laughs] I'm premonitioning that I would say that, "Oh, I miss when Cas was just like, in an episode that's just like, his role is just bullshit. He's just in there." [C: Uh-huh.] And because it adds to the vibe of the show that they just have this buddy that like, shows up sometimes, and it's no big deal. I mean, it is a big- you know what I mean, right? Like, it's no big deal to the show. Instead of like, every time he shows up, it has to be because of a big plot reason or a big character reason. And it makes the show feel smaller, makes the word feel smaller, because every time he's here, it has to be a big deal by the episode. And now it's like, "He's here. It's not that big of a deal." And that's wonderful to me! [laughs]

C: Uh-huh. Happy for you.

G: I would admit, though, for a substantial amount of time before he shows up- I mean, I knew he was gonna be here- I was just thinking, "When's Cas gonna show up? When's Cas gonna be here?" So I don't know. It's a double-edged sword.

G: Well, we start with the "Then" sequence that was so ominous. I was half-scared that Sam and Dean are gonna have a big fight again because it starts with "You chose a demon over your own brother!" [C laughs] and I was like, "I thought we were past this! I thought we were past this." We are. We are. In the episode, it's not, like, brought up. It's just- I don't even know why.

C: We're so past this that they're working as a team so hard that they refuse to split up, which I think is like, [laughs] a large issue during a lot of the episode.

G: Why? Why do you think so? They split up in the hospital. Sam went to a different floor, and Dean went to a different floor! [C laughs] That's splitting up.

C: I feel like one of them should have stayed with Jesse, [G: That's true.] and one of them so should have stayed with his mom or something. I feel like that would have solved most problems.

G: No, yeah, you're right. But they did split up! Don't peddle lies in this podcast.

C: Different floors of the hospital, I don't think counts. [G laughs] Split up as in different buildings, at the very least.

G: Well, okay, alright. But the ominous tone doesn't really continue into the episode. Actually, a substantial amount of the episode was light. Was like, trying to be funny. Yeah. So there was, I suppose, like, some idea that this could be- like, they bring up the trickster, blah blah blah. But you know it's not gonna be, like, that, because it's not in the "Then" sequence. [laughs]

C: They bring it up 'cause "Changing Channels" is coming, like, up so soon, they want to remind people about Gabriel, right?

G: You're right. When is "Changing Channels"? When do we change our channels?

C: I think it might be like, literally next.

G: Oh, it's 5.08. So it's near.

C: Okay, so in 2.

G: It's near, it's near. You're right, actually! That's true. "Then" sequence ends with Sam and Dean reconciling. Wow! "[dramatically] We're gonna go down fighting. We're just gonna grab onto whatever it's in front of us," and it's like, this could be from any episode. [C laughs] [C: It could be.] This could be literally from any fucking episode, but alright.

C: They say this constantly. Also, you didn't beat up this child, so I think you were lying?

G: I think Sam was lying.

C: Yeah, something to think about.

G: I think Sam is of the perspective that they're the good guys and they don't kill children because of that. [C laughing] But like, he also said that they would just grab onto whatever's in front of us, so.

C: Yeah, and then kick its ass. Soo yeah. Interesting, Sam. Interesting.

G: Yeah. Bit hypocritical from Sam Winchester.

C: What do you have to say to the people of the USAmerica about this?

G: And the Philippines, even.

C: And the Philippines. I guess nothing, 'cause it's not on Netflix for you guys.

G: Yeah! Can you- why? Put Supernatural on Netflix.

C: It's so that he wouldn't have to be liable for his lies to the people of the Philippines. [G laughs]

G: This is the real reason, the only reason. But it would be awfully convenient, and maybe we would even get it a Tagalog dub, on Netflix! so I don't have to hound whoever has ever worked in TV5 for the fucking Tagalog dub. Again, if you know any way that I can access that fucking dub, I want it very much. Thank you.

The episode starts. We've got, like, a young lady. She's going to be revealed to be babysitting in a while. Or, I don't know. Is it called babysitting if it's not a baby?

C: Yeah, it's still called babysitting.

G: Okay. This is like, really popular in the US. [C: Yeah.] Did you ever get one? Is that like, something for you?

C: No, I never got one.

G: Okay, it's like, a specific demographic. [laughs]

C: I always had a parent- Well, I think it's just like, how many of your parents work, what hours they work, [G: Ah.] how much money they make so they can get a babysitter. And then, I don't know. I think sometimes people will get a babysitter when they want to go on like, dates with their partner or something, and so they're leaving the kids alone at night? [G: Yeah.] It's also if your parents don't have friends that they can leave you with, I suppose. [laughs]

G: Yeah. Like, you just go to your aunt's house, or you go to your neighbor's house for the afternoon or whatever. She's babysitting, and she is, you know, she's brushing her hair while sitting in front of this television, very close to the TV, and she's watching and watching. And she is wearing a typical Supernatural outfit and in a typical Supernatural house with typical Supernatural lighting. And all I could think of was like, can you believe that she's not, like, "I'm in a Supernatural episode!" that it looks like this. Like, girl, be fucking for real right now. [C laughs] I can't believe people on television don't realize that they're on television! Like, bro, you're literally in Supernatural! Also, isn't it so odd that they just never change fashion styles in this show? [laughs] I mean, is it odd, or that's just how it is?

C: True. It's been a few years.

G: It's been a few years, and it will continue to be a few more years, and the look of the outfits will never change.

C: Really? No one changes their outfits? Wow!

G: No, I don't think so.

C: Maybe the costume department just bought like, things in bulk in, like, 2005, [both laugh] and they're just slowly working through it.

G: For real. Eventually, she hears, like, some rustling, some bustling, and she realizes that, oh, something's happening. She goes to the closet. She opens the closet door, and there's a kid there. And he's like- he has stuff in his head.

C: He's wearing one of those hats that's like, half of an arrow on each side, so it looks like it went through your head.

G: And he has a quote "bloody" face. And I didn't realize that this was a trick at first, so I was like, [C: Oh, I don't think you're supposed to.] yeah, I was like, "What an interesting turn of events that this girl is a serial killer!" [both laugh] 'Cause she opens it, and she's like, "Ugh, come on!" I was like, "Oh my god! She killed this kid! Wonderful!" [C: Yeah.] But no, she did not kill this kid.

C: No, she's gonna die instead. It's very sad.

G: Yeah. Very sad. [laughs] The child should have died? Is that what you're saying, Crystal? The child should have died?

C: Babysitters are often teens as well. I don't know how old she is. [G: This is true. Or is it?] She could be a child who died.

G: Why are you making a child watch over your child? And pay them to-

C: That's just how it is.

G: Just let them be by themselves, just like Jesse later. [C laughs]

C: Yeah, I mean, Jesse is a pretty good kid. Like, he may have caused many problems, but that wasn't on him.

G: [laughs] It literally isn't. But yeah, she tells the kid to go to bed, and then the kid is like, "Well, before I go to bed, can I touch your boob?" [C: Boo.] Or something like that. And I'm like, "Ugh. Annoying. But also, this kid will be traumatized to hell and back later, so."

C: Yeah, no, it's just an annoying thing to put in because I feel like the hot babysitter is, like, such a trope. [G: Overplayed trope.] Yeah, and it's overplayed. And I hope that it hasn't led to more babysitters getting sexually harassed, but it probably has if like, you're a young kid who doesn't know shit, and you're watching TV, and there's more hot babysitter tropes in front of you all the time. [G: Yeah.] So yeah, it's annoying for that reason.

G: He goes out, she stays downstairs, she continues brushing her hair. She sees something outside. She looks out the window. It's, you know, like, it's a whole thing. And then, when the family shows up, well, the mom and dad, she's like, on the couch, and she's sleeping, and the TV is all buzzy. And the dad is like, "Okay, don't wake up. I'm just going to get her home, or whatever."

C: Which implies that she can't drive, right? So she probably is a teen.

G: What is the driving age? Is it also 21?

C: 16.

G: What the fuck? Wait, so your drinking age is-

C: Some people get their licenses- Yeah, the drinking age is 21. Driving age is 16. And you're right. You can probably kill a lot more people by driving than by drinking.

G: Well, at least you're not gonna be drunk driving.

C: [laughs] That's true. Yeah, I guess the point is for you to get a few years of getting good at driving, so that when some people inevitably drunk drive, they'll be, like, better at it. [laughs]

G: Yeah, except you and I are never gonna- [laughs] you and I are never gonna drive ever, probably. Do you have a driver's license? You do-

C: I have a driver's license.

G: That's crazy! That is so against my perspective of you as a person! [C laughing]

The dad tries to wake her up. She's not waking. When he moves her head over, he feels it's wet, and so he puts his hand under the lamp. It's bloody! He turns her over fully, and her entire side of her head is clawed open. Wonderful, honestly! [C laughs] Like, it looks like it has sloughed off, and I think the visual effect is very nice.

C: [laughs] He ruins it by shouting, "Francine!" I think it's crazy that people are named Francine. Good for them.

G: Hey, Francine is a fine name!

C: Yeah, I think it's just from, like, a different decade in the US, but this woman is from a different-

G: It's not! I have many friends- I know many people my age named Fran-

C: I said US!

G: Okay, fine.

C: We are in the morgue, and Sam and Dean are being FBI agents. My god, does the transcript usually say "Dean and Sam" instead of "Sam and Dean"? Like, I saw that, and I was like, "Something's wrong with this." Has this been like, a pattern?

G: I think it depends. I'm not particularly sure, although the technical, correct way to do it is "Dean and Sam" because of the order of letters.

C: Wait, like, you're usually supposed to list it in alphabetical order?

G: I mean, I usually do, yeah. Well, when it's names, like, when it's two names like this-

C: Well, you said "technically correct." Like, what's the technicality?

G: I don't know. I don't know! Don't ask me those kinds of questions! [both laughing]

C: [laughing] But you just said! Okay.

G: Yeah, they do Led Zep names this episode, and you know what? [C: What?] I think it's better when I don't recognize the names. I think it's so annoying when I do. I'm like, "Shut the fuck up!" [laughs] [C: Real.] You think you're so clever, Robert Plant? Like, shut the fuck up, Sam.

C: "We're Agents Will and Wood."

G: [laughs] Yeah, exactly.

C: They're asking to see Amber, the babysitter's, body because apparently, something clawed through her skull. Apparently, the autopsy report that he emailed out this morning- [laughs] Sam said they had no bars so they didn't get it [G laughs] [G: No bars.]- is that they found one of her acrylic nails, which I did notice, they're very beautiful during the opening sequence - they found one of them lodged inside of her temporal lobe, [G: Truly a shame.] which means that she literally scratched her brains out, and this is something that is apparently technically possible. The doctor drops a little ableist line about, "Oh, like, the reason she did it was OCD or PCP, but it all spells crazy." Did they think this was like, funny?

G: I don't know, or, like, the doctor is like-

C: Is it that the doctor's an asshole? What are they trying to establish here?

G: Well, because we're supposed to think the doctor is stupid for saying this because we know that's not true, [C: Right.] I think.

C: So yeah. Alright. Okay. Well, I'm still looking with reproach. [G: Yeah.] And he says that it's probably like, something like a phantom itch where you just can't stop scratching. And then, yeah, that's the end of that scene. But Sam and Dean [laughs] both sort of scratch themselves a little because they are now finding itchiness within themselves.

G: I would say also that the director- like, the way this episode is directed, I quite like. There's one scene that is viciously bad [laughs]- I'll point it out later.

C: I think there's multiple scenes that have Robert Singer-worthy zooms or cuts. [G laughs]

G: But in general, I quite really like the way the episode is directed. Like, the way they pull out the body, and then the shots of Sam and Dean’s face, the shot of the hand missing the nail. Like, all of it does look quite cinematic, I believe. And it's like, one of those- this is one of those episodes where, like, in my head, again, when I think of, like, Supernatural aesthetics, I'm like, "Oh, that's one." Which is like- 'cause usually, those are Season 1 episodes when I think of it, right? Like, if you think of Supernatural aesthetic, you're thinking of Season 1, so this one- I don't know. It doesn't look like Season 1, but it has a vibe to it that I like. It's nice. I like this episode. Sometimes, I like episodes. Who'd have thunk? Well, I mean, everybody, because apparently I've liked [laughs] every single episode of Season 5 so far, so.

C: Yeah, you have.

G: So we go to the house that she was in when she died, and I was like, "Well, that's interesting [laughs] that they're interviewing these people and not other people." Like, I don't know

C: What people?

G: Like, her parents, I feel like that would be- But it's because they are suspecting the place, not the general- before. Or are they?

C: Yeah, I think if that you're thinking about ghosts and shit, then you assume [G: You are suspecting-] it's place-based.

G: Yeah. They're interviewing the family of the house she was in, and Sam prefaces the question with, "This may seem odd," which is- why did they not just do this every single time? Like, "Hey, we're going to be asking odd questions, but stick with us." I feel like that is going to make people more willing to be like, "Well, that's an odd question. Let me answer it," than fucking, "Um, so, does it smell weird in here?"

C: Sometimes it makes you like- prefacing it with "Uh, this might be weird" makes you, like, realize that things are weird faster, though? Like, maybe in the past, they were hoping that people would just answer questions without thinking about it much.

G: Yeah, okay. I just cannot stop thinking about the people that like, Sam and Dean interview as FBI agents, and they think that the FBI is on their case, but they're not. [C laughs] And like, for some people, that would be an incredibly devastating blow, I think.

C: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, they really don't circle back. Like, this kid is going to spend the rest of his life thinking that he killed his babysitter.

G: Yeah, 'cause she's dead, so she hasn't been restored.

C: Yeah, she's the only one who wasn't, like, brought back by Jesse.

G: Well, there was the guy who got electrocuted.

C: Oh, yeah. Two people. That kid and that retiree are both going through it.

G: And the ham. [C laughs]

C: And the ham! Jesse brings it back as a pig.

G: Yeah, exactly. Sam asks about cold spots or, like, strange smells, blah blah blah. Meanwhile, Dean is separated from Sam! [C laughs] and is like, walking around the house, looking at stuff.

C: In the open floor plan, so there's not even a door between them, yes. [G laughs]

G: Well, and Dean sees the kid, and he goes towards him and asks him about stuff, and he tries to connect. And I do find this interesting because, you know, usually, when they have kids, they do have Dean try to connect with the kid. I feel like earlier seasons, it was easier for him to do so. As he grows older, I think it becomes more difficult to the point of, when he's older, he's being made fun of kids more than [C: Good.] connecting with them.

C: I mean, also, like, he's an FBI agent here, right? [G: Yeah.] Like, in the past, he wasn't pretending to be an FBI agent when he was interviewing kids. Like, that puts up barriers between your ability to connect.

G: So what he does here is talks to the kid. He tries to connect with being like, "Oh, yeah, I had a babysitter. Not good."

C: Named Miss Chancy, which is also- it's an interesting name. I just feel like Francine and Miss Chancy are both, like, I don't know who came up with these names. [G: Yeah.] Someone's having like, a weird British face.

G: [laughs] Francine is not British. Francine- "Francine." How do you say it in a British accent so I can visualize? Frahncine.

C: I don't know.

G: See? It doesn't work.

C: I mean, Clara is Clahra in British. Like, they can- you can fuck with the vowels. [G: Francine.] Francine is French, though, so the British would not want it.

G: This is true, so see, it's not British. No one's having a British phase.

C: Yeah, fine. They're having a Europe [both] phase.

G: Dean asks if he saw anything strange that night, and the kid keeps on denying, keeps on denying. And Dean does something that is so threatening, which is he puts his hand on this kid's shoulder and goes, "I happen to know you're lying. Either you tell the truth, or I'm going to have to take you downtown," like, to the precinct is the implication, which is like crazy! [C: Bro.] I mean, the fact that he was like, "I'm gonna try to connect with this kid!" Doesn't work. "I'm going to fucking arrest you." [laughs] that is like, okay!

C: Yeah. I mean, this episode is the one where Dean completely fails at connecting to kids. 'Cause, like, the kid of the day is a Sam mirror, and he doesn't understand that. [G: Yeah.] So it's just a precursor to that.

G: There is something to me about how Sam, when he saw Jesse making-

C: Yeah, he went, "You are my mirror. I am your mirror. Let us hold hands."

G: No, when he saw Jesse making soup, he goes, "I used to make lunch or dinner for myself all the time." [C: Dinner.] 'Cause me, physical manifestation of Dean Winchester, as we have established, [C laughs] my first immediate thought was, "Oh, Dean used to make that for him and Sam." [C: No.] So I think, perhaps, that would also be Dean's like, reaction. But vs Sam-

C: I'm sure that Sam also made his own dinner.

G: No, no, no, no versus Sam- like, I'm sure it happened. But in terms of conceptualization of the past, like, it is fascinating to me that for Dean, which- this is something I completely made up in my head, so maybe it's not even true, but I think it is - [C: Yeah, we don't know what he's thinking.] he probably conceives it as him and Sam- him making something for Sam. Versus Sam, who conceives it as, like, by himself. "I'm making dinner for myself."

C: As in like, he didn't share with Dean? [laughs]

G: No, no, no. He probably remembers the stuff when it was just him more. And like, it's about the prevalent memory in your head of your childhood. And I was like, "That's interesting that Sam said that, and therefore betrays a prevalence of memory in his head." [C: Yeah.] Like, it's not about what actually happened, because again, I'm sure both things did happen. It's more of like, "What do you remember?" But that's for fucking later. Here, they go out, and Dean relays to Sam that the kid put itching powder on the hairbrush of the babysitter. [C: Yeah.] So that's crazy!

C: Why?

G: That's crazy.

C: I don't know. Kids just do things, I guess.

G: Yeah. Well, Dean did put that whoopee cushion.

C: A whoopee cushion is just like, an embarrassment thing. Itching powder is meant to cause you physical distress.

G: Yeah, this is true. This is true. That is one of the, I think, worst things you can do as a prank to someone. Like, in in terms of the general prank items that you can do. That's like, up there as like- because it lasts for a long time in theory. And if you have sensitive skin, it can do real, long damage for you. But whatever. This kid is going to be- again, this kid's kind of a dick, but [laughs] is also gonna be traumatized for the rest of his life, so.

G: They get a call, and they go to a hospital where a guy got electrocuted. [laughs] Because there's like, a retiree, like, an old man who they talk to. And he says he was joking around, he was feeling goofysilly, and he shook this guy's hand with a, like- What is this? Like, a little electric buzzer or something?

C: It's called a joy buzzer, it says, yeah.

G: Yeah. But what is it? It's supposed to give you a little shock, right?

C: Yeah, but there's no actual electricity. It just, like, moves around a lot, so, like, it feels like vibrations from a shock.

G: Oh. Why is it called joy buzzer?

C: 'Cause it causes you joy to buzz somebody. [laughs] That does sound like a vibrator, though.

G: Yeah, well, it does. And Sam and Dean are curious as to how this is. There's this scene where Dean puts on goggles, puts on gloves, puts on- like,makes a show of putting on safety gear, and then he holds the joy buzzer and then presses it into a piece of ham.

C: Sam also puts on the goggles and the safety gear!

G: [laughs] No! Does he really? [C laughs] That is so funny! They're cooking ham. They're cooking. He electrocutes this fucking ham, and it goes from completely uncooked- or, I don't know. Can a ham be completely uncooked? Don't you smoke that shit? How does ham work?

C: It is cured in some way. I don't know.

G: 'Cause ham can just be the cut, also, like, I think. Or is it specifically-

C: Well, there's cooked ham, and there's uncooked ham. [G laughs] So you're probably thinking about the cooked ham.

G: Yeah, well, it's an uncooked ham, and now it's cooked! Now they have a cooked ham. And Dean is like, "Wow, this thing doesn't even have batteries. It's not even supposed to do anything." And they're like, "Are we looking at cursed objects? What are we looking at? Is there a witch?" And throughout all this, Dean has pulled out a knife and is [laughs] eating the ham. And they make a point of it throughout the rest of this episode where he keeps on eating the ham, and the and Sam being like, "Eugh, Dean. Why are you eating the ham still?" Those two items don't come from the same place, like, they were not produced in the same place, but they come from the same store.

C: They're at this prank store. They're browsing. Dean picks up a whoopee cushion, which will come back later. They're under the impression that the owner is a powerful witch, so they question him. Dean buys the whoopee cushion, and it becomes clear that the owner is upset that kids don't really buy things here because they just care about "iPhones and those kissing vampire movies." Last episode, there was also like the "Millennials don't care about wax museums, but I'm gonna get them in through Paris Hilton," right? [G laughs] Like, sort of a streak of "kids these days on they damn phones."

G: Yeah. And are they being for real?

C: What?

G: Like, what is the show intending for this to be- again, like, same question you asked with the doctor earlier. Like, is this supposed to be like, "Haha! That's so true." or "Haha! That's so stupid."

C: I think it's like, "That's so true, but prank stores and wax museums are loser behavior." [G laughs] So it's funny that this person's complaining about it because of course an iPhone is better than a wax museum.

G: Yeah, and also kissing vampire movies.

C: Sam and Dan are sort of egging him on, like, "Oh, aren't you mad about that?" He's like, "Yeah, yeah! I am!" "Don't you hate them?" "Yeah, I do!" And then Dean goes, "So you're taking revenge with this!" and then he electrocutes a rubber chicken.

G: God. That place is gonna smell like fucking plastic forever.

C: Yeah. When a revenge brother meets a not revenge brother, this is the inevitable conclusion. But the chicken is a melted puddle. It's pretty nasty. And the guy, the owner, he's screaming. He's jumping back. He's like, "Oh my god, what the fuck!" So then, Sam is like, "Yeah, no, I don't think this guy is a witch," and Dean goes, "Sorry!" and then they go, with the whole rubber chicken still melted on the counter.

C: Now we are in a girl's bedroom. I don't think this child actress is very good, but she is a child actress, so I get it. She's just lost a tooth, and her dad is putting it under the pillow and telling her about the Tooth Fairy. And she goes, like, "So some freak is gonna come in my room while I'm sleeping and take my tooth? Sounds scary. No thank you."

G: She's so real for that.

C: After he falls asleep, she goes into his room and then hides her tooth under his pillow. Later in the night, somebody comes into the bedroom. It is the Tooth Fairy represented as like, a man with a beard wearing a pink tutu and sparkly wings. And he's being all menacing, and he has a pair of pliers, and he starts pulling out the dad's teeth. I have two questions about the Tooth Fairy. Okay, 'cause these are, like, what Jesse's parents told him, right? So like-

G: Yeah. So they were like, "Don't expect a coin because-"

C: Yeah, "The Tooth Fairy only wants alive teeth!" [laughs] Like, why would they say that? I don't know. These parents, like, we don't meet them, and, like, something is deeply wrong with them as people [laughs] based off of what happens this episode.

G: No, yeah. We don't ever meet them. And like, I don't know. It is fascinating, again, to me that like- I was gonna bring it up earlier. We don't meet the babysitter's parents. We meet the family that's already there for casting reasons, I suppose. And here, too, like, we never meet the parents, again, I think, for casting reasons.

C: I mean, we see them asleep in the bed. They had to cast somebody for it.

G: Yeah. But speaking lines are lot more expensive than somebody standing there or lying down there, I suppose.

C: But yeah, I don't know. It's confusing. And also, I don't know why the Tooth Fairy is portrayed like this, like, physically. 'Cause like, I think when we got to the part of the episode where like, Jesse's- I was watching this with Danica also. When we got to the part of the episode where Jesse was like, "Oh, that's what my parents said, like, the Tooth Fairy looks like."

G: Like, why did your parents say that?

C: Danica was like, "Oh, he's about to say something so homophobic," [laughs] but then they move on. [G: Yeah.] But like, I wonder if that was what the point was.

G: Oh, because fairy is a slur?

C: Yeah, like, if the dad was like, "Oh, fucking fairies" or something, you know, like- 'Cause typically, the Tooth Fairy is portrayed as a woman.

G: It could be like- Yeah, it could be like, if the dad's homophobic and calls gay people "fairies," that he just associates it-

C: Yeah, it's like, a guy with a beard, and he's like, "Oh, so that's what the Tooth Fairy looks like." Also, I don't know why I said "dad." Moms can be homophobic, too. #Equality.

G: [laughs] #Equality and feminism.

C: Yeah, I just feel like I've only heard "fairy" used by like, men. Like, I feel like- but like, yeah. Women can use slurs too. #Feminism.

G: I've only heard "fairy" used by Dean Winchester. [laughs]

C: Exactly!

G: Yeah. Guy's guy, that guy.

C: Yeah, yeah. I think, given that, like, Supernatural, the show, thinks that the sentence "fight the fairies" would immediately make you think of homophobia, like, maybe they were trying to go for something like that there, but they just didn't follow through entirely.

G: Well, thank god.

C: Because Jesse still has to love his parents or whatever.

G: Jesse still has to love his parents, and also, we're supposed to think he's like, a niceys kid with just misconceptions.

C: I don't think he's not niceys- Like, you could have misconceptions because your dad keeps saying "fairies." You don't have to be homophobic yourself.

G: Yeah, and also, it's not like, a homophobic-

C: Why did I say "dad" again? Your parent. [G laughing]

G: We are exposing our prejudices. Is that how you pronounce it? Prejudices. Prejudices? Whatever. We're exposing that here in this podcast episode.

C: This guy is still alive, but he's in the hospital, so Sam and Dean go interview him. Sam's doing his job, whereas Dean is being the most annoying guy you'll ever meet. He's flirting with a nurse, and like, he goes like, "I appreciate that, Nurse..." and then the transcript says that he reads her name tag. He does not just read her name tag. It is clipped, like,at her waist, and he picks it up, [G: Grabs it, yeah.] and like, pulls it towards him. Like, if anyone tried to do that, I would kill them, probably.

G: Yeah, but this person seems to be liking it.

C: Yeah. So maybe Dean's just picking up on signals or whatever.

G: Yeah. I mean, we've had this discussion wayyy back when we were still doing the per person Sam and Dean misogyny accounts. [C laughs] Can you believe that such a time has existed? What what an era in that point! Like, one time, we gave Sam 5 points, [C: Yeah.] and apparently, Samgirls were really mad at that. [C: Yeah.] So that's wonderful. [C: Wonderful!] My point here is we said, way back then, that flirting doesn't count. Well, it depends on the flirting.

C: Yeah, I don't think flirting counts, but yeah, I don't know. I just think that any flirting move that involves like [G: The office.] someone's name card at their waist, like, outside the door of like, a hospital room while they're working should just be toned down. But yeah.

G: Well, at least he doesn't try to hit her up again, just jacks off about it.

C: God. Why did they put that in? [G laughs]

G: What do you mean? Like, what do you mean? Is it a distasteful joke?

C: No, but it's like, 'cause it just doesn't really have a point to it. [G: Yeah.] It's not like later, they ask the kid, "And what did your parents tell you about jacking off?" [G laughs] 'Cause like, that wouldn't be appropriate. But, like, they did-

G: Yeah, it's for the comedy, it's for the LOLs. There's no nothing to, honestly.

C: Also, like, he didn't know when Sam was gonna get back. Do it in the bathroom, at least. I guess we don't know that he didn't do it in the bathroom [G: Well, we don't know.] but like, yeah. I don't know. I don't know.

G: Jacking off is fine! is my hot take. [both laugh] Even if it gives you hair on your palms.

C: I mean, it is fine. It's just an odd thing to put in for no reason.

G: It is an odd thing. [laughs] I'm just going to agree with everything you say and also disagree.

C: So after the flirting's over, he rejoins Sam. What Sam found out was that the Tooth Fairy that got this guy was 5'10, 350 pounds, had wings and a pink tutu, and got in without triggering any alarms. And it left 32 quarters underneath his pillow, one for each tooth. Slay! [G: That's pretty fun. That's pretty fun.] That's like, $8. And Dean says that he found out that there's some kids in the hospital with stomach ulcers from mixing pop rocks and coke, and then another guy's face "froze that way." And the way was like, a very silly face. Dean seems worried [overlapping] that it's gonna stick for him as well, yeah. Sam just doesn't really know how to put these together, and then Dean says that when he was a kid, he thought that sea monkeys were real. "I like, fully believed all the ads that they were like, basically people and shit." And Dean says, you know, like, maybe, like, the connection is that everything that's happened is a lie that kids believe. And Sam says, "Okay, so like, it's coming true. Whoever's doing this reshapes reality. Like, they have the power of a god, or a trickster," 'cause you know, he's on that Sabriel brain. [G, laughing: Yeah. So true. "Or maybe it's a kid. Who knows?"

G: We're back at the motel, and Sam is entering it with like, he's done research, whatever. See? They separated. [laughs] [C: Mm.] I'm going to be so annoying for the rest of this episode regarding that. Dean is eating a sandwich, again with the ham. And yeah, Sam was like, "Dude, really? Still with the ham?" And Dean goes, "We don't have a fridge!" At what point are we going to talk about that? We promised to talk about Sam's vegetarian situation.

C: He's not vegetarian yet.

G: Yeah. When it happens, when it happens, we promised to talk about it. With Dean, have we talked about it? Like, his relationship with food.

C: Yeah, we talked about it.

G: Okay, I mean, it's just, your typical talking point. [laughs] It's because there are stuff here in the podcast that-

G: I know it's a popular talking point in the fandom [C: Thing that people in the fandom talk about, but yeah.], but it does make me feel like, "Oh, well, let's just acknowledge it that that's something that happens, but let's not get into it, because all that's been said and done has been said and done." Although, do we have listeners that are not like, particularly in the fandom?

C: I'm sure we do.

G: Are you sure?

C: Yeah, some people came over from RubbishPod.

G: Yeah, if you if you are here and you're not in the fandom, why? and thank you. And if you're here from RubbishPod, hwy? [both] And thank you. [C: Yeah.] So Sam relays what he has found, which is that he put the incidents on a map, and they form a circle. And in the center of that circle is like, a house with a field. Why did he have to go out to do this?

C: Sam? [G: Yeah.] Well, he needed to get, like, a physical map of the town.

G: This is true. You're right! He could've just Google Maps-

C: I don't know if they had Google Maps yet.

G: Dean, as you said earlier, goes, "We're in the circle, aren't we? Because..." and then he raises his hand, and there's hair all over his palm because he jacked off!

G: They go to the farmhouse. There is truly godawful CGI in this scene. [C: Where?] Like, it looks so bad. The Impala, like, pulls up in front of a house, and the way it's shot is like, the house is so obviously- so obviously green screen. [C: Oh!] Did you not notice? It stuck out to me so bad. [C: No, I didn't.] And I was baffled, mortified, all the other adjectives about it.

C: I think I was still reeling from the the Dean masturbation joke. I was, you know, I was so emotionally distressed I didn't notice anything else. [laughs]

G: It is funny to me, because the whole time that they were walking towards it, I was just thinking, "How are they gonna cut away from this? How the fuck are they gonna cut away from this truly godawful scene?" And they did! Wonderful. Good for them. Yeah, they try to open the house, and Sam, like, picks the lock, but the door opens, and it's a little boy. Like, 9 years old is what they said, right?

C: How old is he supposed to be? Oh, is that what they said?

G: I think maybe 8 or something as such.

C: Who's telling their kids that jerking off makes hair grow on your palms when that kid is 8?

G: Oh, sorry. I watched a play earlier today, and the kid from that one was 8 years old. [laughs] This kid, I'm not sure. Probably 11. Probably older.

C: The conversation with Julia might say how long ago- Okay, he was born in 1998, the kid was, and this is too [both] 2009, so 11.

G: 11. Yeah. Just like-

C: Oh my god, just like Adam! [G: Just like Adam.] From Good Omens. I mean, there's a lot of, I think, Good Omens borrowing in this episode.

G: Oh, really? Can you name them?

C: No, I don't remember. [G laughs] I just remember having that thought.

G: So sad. You always need to bring your evidence. It's BABPod recordings. This is trial by fire.

C: That's true. It is.

G: He's a very- like, there is not an ounce of this kid that is not [laughs] aware of what's happening in his surroundings. Like, he's very like, "Okay, can I help you?" And Sam and Dean are like, "Hey, so what's your name?" And he's like, "Who wants to know? Can I see your ID?" And yeah. He's vigilant, is the term, about these things. [C: Yeah.] Which makes me wonder why. Like, is it, like, a social service thing? 'Cause he's obviously left alone a lot.

C: Yeah, probably. He shouldn't be left alone that much, so it's to prevent Child Protective Services from taking him away. Yeah, probably his parents trained him to do that.

G: And Dean even goes, at some point, like, "Come on, you can trust us. We're the authorities." Very threatening. Yeah, they eventually go in. The kid is boiling some soup. And Sam goes, "What's that?" [laughs] And Jesse realizes, just like us, that this is a stupid as fuck question, and he goes, "It's soup." [both laugh] But he says, "It's called soup," [C laughs] which is even funnier. Yeah. And he says, "You heat it up, and then you eat it." And Sam's like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But like, I used to make my own dinner too, when I was a kid." Oh, he's mirroring! He said, "I'll be your mirror." Jesse says, "Well, I'm not a kid," which, you know, Sam is immediately like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I know, I know." But he introduces himself as Robert. [laughs] Very fun.

C: I'm surprised that Sam got Robert Plant. Wouldn't Dean want that one?

G: Well, Robert Plant is the main vocalist, so probably Dean would want that. But Jimmy Page is, I would say, has a better- to me, he's a cooler guy to me. [laughs] [C: Okay.] So, I don't know. [laughing] And I am the physical manifestation of Dean Winchester.

C: Yeah. Or this is part of the "We have to work as a team." Dean's like, "[dramatically] You know what, Sam? This time, you can be Robert Plant!" It's nice that Sam has decided to mirror it up here. Like, he seems almost caught in the nostalgia sauce when like, Jesse reminds him that he's not a kid. [G: Yeah.] It's been a while since he's thought about his childhood, I feel like, just because the present moment is so intense.

G: The last time- Well, I mean he did think about his childhood in '21. 4.21. [C: Mm. This is true.] That's the reason, I think.

C: Eh, been a bit, but yeah.

G: Okay. Well, when has Dean thought about his childhood? Have we considered?

C: Who cares? [both laugh]

G: I care. I GAF. The thing is, Sam, I think, likes to think about his childhood, and Dean does not. [C: Does he?] It's probably complicated and often painful, but he does do it often, and we see him do it often. And it is- I cannot imagine a situation where Dean would, in his head- Like, I mean, I understand that like, it's not like Sam was choosing to do what was happening in 4.21, like, he wasn't choosing who to talk to, who will manifest as him and talk to him. But like, the fact that for him, it was a kid. Like, I cannot imagine any situation where Dean would- that Supernatural will that have that happen to Dean Winchester. Do you understand what I mean? Yeah.

C: Yeah, I mean, it's 'cause Sam as a kid had hopes and dreams, so there's something there.

G: Yeah. Versus Dean, that like- I think those hopes and dreams, no matter how much, you know, broken dreams, are they bad or are they something else, just like Bruce Springsteen -it's still something to look back on. Versus Dean, that I think has less of that as a child, and perhaps had a very miserable childhood, and even more so because he didn't have aspirations such as that. And so doesn't look back on it, like, a lot, though. A lot of the looking back that Dean does is like, he was already a pretty hefty teenager. [laughs] Hefty is such a funny word!

C: Hefty? What do you mean by hefty?

G: Like, he was already a grown teenager.

C: He's old, yeah, in "After School Special."

G: Because like, for me, teenagers are like, I feel like 13 to 15 is like, young- or like, 13-14 is young teenager, and maybe 15-18 is, like, older teenager. And he was already an older teenager in "Bad Boys," which is like, the big Dean Winchester's childhood episode, and he was already one also in-

C: [laughing] Played by a 25-year-old.

G: Played by a 25-year-old high school special. "After School Special." And, I mean, the shtriga episode, he was a kid there, but that's not a good flashback. Like, that wasn't him looking back with fondness to something or whatever. It was being reminded to him because of a case that, like, I think- in no situation would he rather remember it, you know? So yeah, I think those differences in how Sam and Dean viewed their childhood are interesting to me, and also it's so fun to me that I still remember the shtriga episode so well because of the "God, did John like leave them for bait?" thing. Yeah. [laughing] I don't recall literally any other monster on Supernatural, I think. Except for that one.

While Sam is looking- while Sam is connecting and mirroring, Dean is looking at like, the pictures on the fridge, and he, again, he sees the man with the wings and the tutu, and he's like, "Did you draw this?" And Jesse says, "It's the Tooth Fairy!" And Dean is like, "Oh, okay, so this is what you think the Tooth Fairy looks like, huh?"

C: Oh, wait, he says his dad told him about the Tooth Fairy, and that's probably why I kept saying "dad." [laughs] I'm not misogynistic.

G: [laughs] You are practicing equality.

C: Yeah.

G: Dean, is like, "Huh, okay." And Jesse goes, "What? Didn't your dad tell you about the Tooth Fairy?"

And Dean is like, “Ha! My dad told me different stories,” which comes up later in a big way. In a way that [C: Yeah.] I don't understand at all. [C: Not at all.] But alright. They start doing this thing where Dean would ask something that happened to those people, and Jesse would say what happened, so like, “Oh, what happens when you mix pop rocks and coke?” “Oh, you go to the hospital.” “Itching powder?” “You scratch your brains out!” and then Dean shows the thing, the joy vibrator. Was it the joy-

C: [laughs] The joy buzzer?

G: [laughs] The joy buzzer. And Jesse’s like, “Oh, you shouldn't do that. It can electrocute you,” and Dean says, “No, actually it can't. It's just a toy. It's harmless. It doesn't have batteries, it can’t shock you, see?” And then he [C: Literally insane.] buzzes Sam, and Sam was, of course, shocked by this.

C: In terms of his emotions. [G: Yeah.] But not physically.

G: [laughs] Not physically. And Dean is like, “See? I told you!”

C: In fact, the point is that he wasn’t shocked physically.

G: He wasn't physically shocked, but he had the shock, emotionally, of his life.

C: Of his life, yeah. And Dean presses it right to his chest, too. [G: Yeah, like, dude.] Bro, maybe do a finger, Sam can lose a finger if you're wrong. [G: Do a finger test for real.] You would murder him. I’m sure there’s a- do it to the fucking soup or something. But yeah, whatever.

G: Yeah. And yeah, as they're heading out, Sam is like, “Dude. What the hell?” Guess again. Dean’s like, “Well, I mean, I was right, though,” and he was.

C: Yeah. It’s fine when Sam does this, so I think for the sake of equality I need to be fine that Dean did this.

G: Yeah. #feminism.

C: [laughs] No, absolutely not. But yeah.

G: We need to stop joking about feminism. [laughs]

C: Yeah, it is a thing that we actually care about for real.

G: Yeah. Yeah, so they discuss, “Oh, everything he believes comes true, so what are they supposed to do?” “We're out of our depth,” blah blah blah. They need to investigate some more.

C: I just can't believe they figured out what was going on, and they just left instead of sitting the kid down and then being like, “Can you give us a list of everything your parents told you? And we'll tell you the truth.” Currently, they just corrected him on one thing. The next person to mix pop rocks and Coke is gonna die.

C: Anyway, in the motel, Sam comes in. He's been looking through records. He was adopted, and there's no listed father. But his biological mother is named Julia Wright, and she lives on the other side of the state. So they go there, and her house is kind of rundown. There's a No Trespassing sign, and when they ring the doorbell, the woman, Julia, does not open the door. She just tells them to go away. When they say that they’re FBI, she tells them to put their badges in the slot in the door first. [G: Yeah.] So yeah, clearly, very scared about something. And then when she finally opens the door, they say they have some questions about her son.

G: When she opens her door, there's so many locks to it, you hear she's unlocking everything, and it's like, click, click, click, click, click, click, which was a fun thing to- it's fun, the way they showcase it.

C: She denies having a son. But Sam says some more details about Jesse, and she's like, “Yeah, okay, what's up?” And Sam asks, “We were just wondering. Was it a normal pregnancy? Was there anything weird?” And she immediately starts running away from them and freaking out, and they follow her inside. And she starts throwing salt at them, but nothing happens, and she goes, “You're not demons?” And Dean says, “How do you know about demons?” So we get the backstory, and it's- I'm very sorry to this woman that this happened. She was possessed by a demon when she was younger, I guess 11 years ago, 12 years ago, and during that time, she was aware of everything that happened as the demon murdered people. Sam's quick to reassure her, like, “That wasn't you,” but it was still a terrible time for her. During that time, she picked up some information about demons. She knew that salt would hurt them, all that. It was in her head for 9 months, so she was possessed during the whole pregnancy and the whole birth. It was just a horrible time. But the demon was really happy to use her body to give birth to a child, but for a brief second, she was able to take control and poured a bunch of road salt down her throat, and it caused the demon to leave. And it left her with this baby that she sort of wanted to kill, but she didn't. She put him up for adoption. And Dean asks, “Who’s the father?” And she says, “I was a virgin,” which I guess means that there was no other physical human body involved in Jesse's creation, like [G: Yeah. It's the demon.] the demon was just able to do something. Yeah. I don't know, they show flashbacks of the pregnancy, too. So it's very- I don't know. You see her scream. It's all very disturbing, I suppose. She asks after Jesse, “Is he human,” and Dean goes, like, “His name is Jesse. He lives in Alliance, Nebraska, and he’s a good kid.” And then Sam and Dean just leave without telling her about anti-possession tattoos. [G: Literally!] They could have drawn one on her with a marker. That would have saved the whole situation, I think. Or devil's traps, or anything like that. Especially later, when Cas tells them like, “Oh, the demons are gonna be after this kid,” someone should have called her and told her something.

C: Danica and I often talk about how, like, if some hunters, if their only job was instead just to like, graffiti-tag places with, like, devil's traps and like, try to get anti-possession tattoos trending on TikTok, like, that would probably do way better than literally anything Sam and Dean do solo.

C: Dean says that they need help, and when they return to the motel, Cas is there! [G: Ah!] They called him.

G: He's so cute, too! He's so cute. He's extra cute this episode.

C: Yeah, it's to make up for the fact that all he does is be an asshole.

G: He tries to kill a kid, yeah.

C: [laughing] I was just thinking about him blaming Sam for the apocalypse, but you're right. He also tried to kill a kid. [laughs]

G: It is so funny, like, the entire time he was talking to Sam, I was like, "Rich for the guy who let Sam out."

C: Yeah, who opened the door! Like, come on. I mean, this is just the whole like, "Oh my god, Dean, you made me lose all my powers, 'cause you made me help you!" [laughs] Like, this is just him blaming everybody else for choices that he made and wanted to make. Though he didn't want to make the Sam choice to let him out of the room. [G: Yeah.] Cas says that "It's lucky that you found the boy 'cause we have to kill him." And Dean's like, "Cas." And Cas says that, you know, this child who's half demon and half human, is way more powerful than either. "You know him as the Antichrist." And then, you know, he sits down on the whoopee cushion, and it's just not particularly funny, but Dean goes like, "Who put that there?" [G laughs]

G: And Cas goes, "That was not me."

C: Okay, so you think this is funny.

G: Well, I think it's- I think they're cute. Like, the three of them. It's Team Free Will! Oh my god! It's Team Free Will.

C: It's true. It is Team Free Will.

G: And Cas tries to kill a kid. #TeamFreeWill!

C: Does try to kill a kid.He used his free will to try to kill a kid. Good for him. [both laugh] Wasn't this the scene where like, fucking Misha Collins was like, "I don't think this is, like, befitting of the dignity of an angel. [G laughs] I don't wanna do it."

G: Is that true?

C: Did I make that up? Maybe I made it up.

G: I don't think that's true. Maybe you thought it. Maybe [laughing] you're the physical manifestation of Misha Collins.

C: No, don't you dare say that! [G laughs] Jesse is not, like, Lucifer's son. He's just demon spawn, but also one of the devil's greatest weapons in the war against Heaven. And the demons are looking for him. Oh, this is the part. Dean says they lost him "because," and Cas says, "Because of the child's power, it hides him from both angels and demons. For now." And Dean says, "So, he's got like, a forcefield around him," and no! Dean, suspicion slides off him like whatever it is water slides off of. Know your lines better, bro! Soon, he's gonna get more powerful and more powerful until the demons notice him and "Lucifer twists him to his purpose. And then, with a word, he will destroy the host of Heaven." Cas goes, "We cannot allow that to happen." I thought we didn't really like the angels that much. Or at least Dean doesn't. But I guess Cas is an angel.

G: Because the angels here is Michael. So if it's Michael vs Lucifer-

C: Then vote third party! [laughs] But yeah, what's up?

G: If Lucifer is superpowered, then he could just easily defeat Michael. [C: Yeah, that's true.] Which means the Apocalypse would start earlier or whatever. I'm not sure the logic of this.

C: Yeah, I'm not certain. And then [laughs] Sam says the funniest line in the entire episode, like, I had to pause because I was laughing too hard. He goes, "Wait," and he stands up, and he goes, [both] "We're the good guys. We don't just... kill children." [both laugh]

G: Iconic!

C: Ha! Hahaha! Hahaha! Incredibly funny behavior. "We're the good guys" is such a funny- I just cannot imagine a scenario where I would say, "We're the good guys," or think "We're the good guys." It's just- whatever. You could just say, like, "I'm against killing children." You don't have to be like, "It's against my image as a good guy to kill a child." [laughs] Yeah, "I don't want to get canceled on Twitter over killing a child!" And Cas turns to him with a glare. He says, "A year ago, you would have done whatever it took to win this war." like, drinking demon blood, personally, not even doing anything to anyone else about it, is equivalent to killing an 11-year-old! And the thing is like, Sam was like, "I think Dean was right. I'm gonna turn back," like, the moment that he had to drink blood out of, like, a conscious, like, adult woman. Like, he would not have killed a child a year ago. Yeah. But Sam apparently is like, "This is a correct-"

G: Fair comparison, yeah.

C: 'Cause he just goes, "Things change." And, you know, tension is crackling non-sexually, sadly, and Dean sort of steps forward-

G: You think this is nonsexual tension? I was like, "When are they gonna hatefuck?"

C: You think it's sexual? Maybe it is. Maybe it is.

G: Maybe that's what makes them good in bed. [laughs]

C: Maybe it is! So Dean steps forward, and he sort of puts himself between them, and he puts a hand on Sam's arm, which I guess is, like, a nice sort of like- I can't tell if it's like a- I think it is probably a "I'm on Sam's side here" sort of gesture. So that's helpful. That's a that's a good turn of events. And he says, like, "We're not going to kill him. But we can't leave him here, either, so we'll take him to Bobby's. He'll know what to do." Can't they call Bobby and ask him what to do-

G: Right now? Literally.

C: - if Bobby will know what to do? And Cas goes, "You'll kidnap him?" which, like, literally. Like, literally. Good point.

G: He's like, "I can accept murder during children, but I draw the line at kidnapping them." [laughs] [C: Exactly.] And he literally does! He explains his reasoning too.

C: Yeah, he does. Good for him. Oh, Cas! In like, less than 10 years, you're gonna be such a good dad to the Antichrist Part 2.

G: Yeah, that is something that I thought about a lot this episode. Like, Jack. Like, this is the precursor to Jack. This is before Jack.

C: I miss Jack. I look forward to meeting them.

G: I do. I do miss Jack.

C: Cas, who has previously been using he/him pronouns mostly for Jesse, like, switches to [G: It, yeah.] it/its like, so fast, which I guess is just, you know, him trying to [G: Dehumanize.] convince them and also convince himself, yeah. He goes, "What's going on this time is what happens when this thing is happy. You cannot imagine what it will do when it's angry." And then he goes back to "him" where he goes like, "How will you hold him? With a thought, he could be halfway around the world." Foreshadowing! Dean starts with "So we-" but then Sam interrupts, and he goes, "So we tell him the truth. [G: Agh!] You say Jesse is destined to go dark side. Fine." Yeah. "So if we lay it all out for him: what he is, the Apocalypse, everything, he might make the right choice." Oh, Sam! Sam!

G: The thing about Sam is he thinks this is what happened with him, and he made the wrong choice. [C: Yeah.] But like, not everything was laid out for him!

C: Yeah, exactly. Like, he was not given the information. He was given false information on purpose from like, Cas [G: Yeah.] as well as, like, Ruby, and the rest of the angels.

G: And he was on the lookout, and he still got tricked.

C: Aw, Sam! It's a nice moment. But then, see, the thing is like, right, like, we said the point of it is that Sam says "We give him all the information" because the point is that Sam wasn't given all the information, but then Cas does the false equivalency thing again, and they don't seem to question it. At no point do they, like, actually make the connection that I thought they were trying to make, which is that Sam was not given all the information. [laughs] It's confusing. I don't know what they're going for, exactly.

G: Yeah. Well, Cas is being a hater is what they're going for.

C: Cas being a hater. Cas goes, "You didn't." Which, again, not the same situation at all. And he goes, "And I can't take that chance."

G: It is fun!

C: And then Cas immediately disappears.

G: It is fun that Cas doesn't have any pretenses about mirrors. Like, he knows exactly what Sam is doing here, and he's just like, "You're projecting." And he does it- you know, like, he does it- We've talked about how he always brings up John when he's talking to Dean, and he's talking about, like, God because he's like, "And that's the mirror in this situation!" Like, he loves to connect the dots, and he loves to be explicit about it. Good for him.

C: Yeah. Yeah. He'd be great at making parallels gifsets on Tumblr.

G: Literally! He should make AMVs. [both laugh]

C: Yeah. Cas can drop by. I'll show him how to use Vegas Pro 14.

G: I'll show him how to use Inshot. [both laugh]

G: So we go to Julia. She's just about to enter her house. Like, she has unlocked the doors and stuff, when suddenly, the mailman is in front of her. And she got surprised a bit. But this is obviously a guy she trusts, so she's like, "Oh, sorry I'm having a jittery day and all that." And the mailman is like, "Oh, yeah, that'll happen if you talk to the Winchesters," and it's like, "Ooh, this is a demon." And it is. And the mailman is saying like, "We've been watching you. You gave away the kid. We don't know where the kid was. But now we do, because the Winchesters told you blah blah blah. So now let's go to your kid." And then the demon possesses her. And oh, by the way, it's made explicit that this is the demon that was possessing her before.

C: Yeah. Yeah. It's quite bad. Like, they they do do a lot of the sexual assault imagery in the form of the possession, like, you know, he calls her "sweetheart," and he possesses her by bringing their mouths really, really close, so that the demon smoke can go into her mouth. It- yeah. Very sorry that this happened to her. [G: Yeah.] And again, I think it's fine that they did this. I think it's like, an interesting concept, and I think it makes sense to connect it to sexual assault. It's just that the fact that after this happens, like, she never gets to be conscious and speaking again. Like, that is the issue.

G: Yeah, like, I think it's interesting. Really. I really do. But-

C: I think it's a good plot. It's just that-

G: They don't follow through.

C: - they discard her immediately. Like, the narrative does.

G: Yeah. I feel like that is something this episode highly lacks. Like, I feel like a lot of stuff just don't have any good conclusion. [C: Yeah.] Like, Jesse is a good concept. Julia, good concept. Like, pretty much every- like, the case is a good concept. It's just all the followthroughs are like, "Okay, where are we now?" Cas. Cas doesn't even have like a, "Now I realize" portion. He's just like, "Okay, that's it. He's in Australia."

C: [laughs] 'Cause he didn't realize. He was like, "There's nothing we can do about it. I'd still kill that kid if I could!"

G: Yeah, he's like, "Ugh, dammit! I wanted to kill that kid so bad!" That was his realization.

C: Exactly.

G: Now we are at Jesse's house, and his parents are here now, but they're upstairs, asleep, and he's downstairs getting a fucking cup of water. And as he's walking out, [laughs] Cas appears, and he has his hand tucked away behind him. [both laugh] [C: So funny.] And I was like, "That's so cute! That's so cute." And then we-

C: Oh, you didn't know it was 'cause there was a knife?

G: And then we go have a shot of his back, and it's because he's holding a knife, and I was like, "Slay! Good for you, Castiel." [C: Good for him.] So he's like, "Oh, don't worry. Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you." Liar! Or maybe- Also, this is Ruby's knife.

C: Yes, yes, 'cause the kid is half demon.

G: So he stole it- [C: Yeah, he stole it.] Earlier, we see it on Dean, and the reason why I say this is because this was before they entered Jesse's house the first time. 'Cause it was just- the shot was just their bodies, right? So like, they're walking and walking, and somebody pulls aside his jacket, and you see the knife slung around his waist, and I was like, "Oh, that's so cool! Sam's carrying the knife, Sam's carrying the knife!" And then we pan up, and it's not Sam, it's Dean, and I was like, "Oh, okay. [C: Aw!] That's so sad." [laughs] But it also does mean that Cas stole it from Dean specifically, which is pretty funny to me. [C: Mm.] Well, he should have stolen it from Sam. [C: Should have.] Just another thing that he will never tell Sam about forever and ever. [both laugh] Yeah, maybe this is why Sam and Cas were never endgame. This is just not something they can get past.

C: The knife stealing that didn't happen?

G: No, you know what? The knife stealing that did not happen. They can never get past it. But also, like, [laughs] letting Sam out of that fucking room. [C: Yeah. That's fair.] It was the first betrayal.

Jesse calls for his mom and dad, but Cas is like, "Well, they're sleeping, and they won't be waking up anytime soon." [both laughing] God! To be fair- [laughing]

C: I love this guy.

G: To be fair, Cas looks apologetic, and he does say, "I'm sorry." He says, "I'm so [both] sowwy!" Sowwy! And then he raises his knife, and then, just as he is about to stab, Sam and Dean enter. And they ask, "Okay, is there a guy here with a trenchcoat?" And Jesse just points down, and there's a guy in a trenchcoat that's an action figure! [C: Fuck yeah.] And it's like, they really stylize this to hell and back. Like, the trenchcoat is so fluffy.

C: It's billowing, yeah. The face doesn't really look like Cas, though.

G: Yeah, I'll accept it. It's cute.

C: God bless.

C: Okay, so they're chatting now. Jesse asks Dean, "Was he-" like, Cas- "Was he your friend?" And Dean goes [G, laughing: And Dean denies it.], "No! No!"

G: [laughing] Just like Jesus. Denied like Jesus for fucking real.

C: Jesse goes like, "How did I do that?" And Dean starts off- like, Dean's strategy is just lying his entire ass off. And I think in certain situations, it would work. But because this is the Sam mirror episode, where it's like, you do have to tell this kid the truth, it doesn't eventually work out. [G: Yeah.] But at the beginning, Jesse seems kind of taken in by this story, where Dean says that he's a superhero-

G: Just like the X-Men.

C: "And Sam and I work for a secret government agency, so we're gonna take you to a hidden base in South Dakota, where you'll be trained to fight evil." Just like the X-men.

G: And also, he even says, "Bobby is in a wheelchair."

C: Bobby's in a wheelchair just like- Dr. X?

G: Yeah. That's the reference, right? [C: Yeah.] Or is it Magneto? I know nothing about the X-men.

C: I don't know. I think Danica said it was Dr. X or something. I'm gonna look it up.

G: Well, aren't they gay and dating?

C: Who?

G: Magneto and Dr. X. Yes or no. Let's answer this once and for all.

C: Oh, this is so horrible. I looked up "Dr. X images," and it's just porn. [both laughing] I fully should have foreseen this. Oh, okay.

G: It's Professor X!

C: Yeah, he's in a wheelchair. Professor X. I see.

G: Professor X x Magneto. Let's look it up. Are they in love?

C: I feel like we would know.

G: No, I'm pretty sure they're gay.

C: Like, for real?

G: Yeah. Oh, they're like, old besties. [laughs]

C: So, basically the same thing.

G: Yeah, they're old friends, just like, When Harry Met Sally.

C: Harry and Sally.

G: Yeah, okay, they're gay. We have decided once and for all. [C laughs] Congratulations to all Magneto x Professor X shippers.

C: And Dean says, "You'll be a hero. You'll save lives. You'll get the girl. Sounds like fun, right?" Dean Winchester-

G: Will say anything.

C: - What do you think that people want? I mean, maybe Jesse does want to get the girl, but I would not assume that that was a high priority for this 11-year-old who lives alone and all we know about him is that he thinks that itching powder will make you scratch your brains out. Yeah, Jesse, you know, again, seems to be taken in by this, but then suddenly, the demon who's possessing Julia, his birth mother, comes in.

G: Smashes open the door.

C: Flings Dean against the wall, yeah, flings Sam against the wall, says, "They're lying to you." and also tells Sam that like, under orders, it can't hurt him, but hurting Dean is encouraged. Slay. And Jesse yells, "Leave him alone!" The demon starts talking to him, saying that he has his father's eyes. Untrue. They're not completely black. [laughs] I don't know what you're talking about. The demon says, "I'm your mother." and "You're half human, half one of us." And Dean, who has completely given up the superhero gig, goes, "She means demons, Jesse!" The demon starts saying that the people who are Jesse's parents lied to him, and also probably don't love him because they leave him alone all day.

G: I mean, [laughs] they really do leave him alone all day.

C: Yeah, I wish- If we just had seen more interactions, I feel like we'd get a better handle on what kind of a parent-child relationship this is, and that would make more sense for Jesse's emotional journey, but we do not. [G: Yeah.] Alas. The demon says like, you know, "They lied about the Tooth Fairy and how your toys could hurt you and a bunch of other things. Everyone has lied to you, including Sam and Dean. They're not FBI agents, and you're not a superhero. Meanwhile you're powerful, and you can do anything you want. Everyone else treated you like a child, and they didn't trust you. But like, aren't you angry about that?"And Jesse causes, like, the fire in the fireplace to flare up, and the house is shaking. The demon says that Jesse should come with them and just start over in a world without lies. Which- isn't that something Jack does? [C: Yes.] Doesn't he make it so that no one can lie?

G: Exactly, yeah. [C: Yeah, yeah, I remember I read that.] He makes that a reality.

C: Yeah, so this really is the precursor to Jack.

G: God, and it's gonna be Season 13! It's gonna be so long!

C: So far in the future. The whole time, Dean's been yelling, like, "Hey, don't listen to her! Don't listen to her." And, you know, it's not working. But then, finally, Sam speaks, 'cause, again this is his mirror, and he goes, "She's right. We lied to you. But I'll tell you the truth. I just want to- tell-" [G laughs] And he's like, starting to get strangled by the demon. [G: Yeah.] But Jesse goes, [both] "Stop it. I want to hear what he has to say." Sam stands up, and he's very lovely. He apologizes for lying, he introduces himself properly. He says, "We hunt monsters," and then the demon just says, "Except when you are the monster, right, Sammy?" Completely unnecessary. Also, Dean did hunt him, honestly.

G: Yeah, what should be said here was, "Yeah. And that's why you're looking for this kid."

C: Yeah, like, "So you're gonna- So that's why you're gonna kill Jesse! Jesse, don't listen to him! He's gonna kill you!" Like, that's the obvious thing to say.

G: But they DGAF about that. I don't know. Some of the- again, some of the conclusions of this episode are mind-boggling.

C: Very strange, I agree. But Sam ignores the demon, and he says, "And that woman right there, her name is Julia, and she's your mother. But the thing inside of her is a demon." And, you know, the demon's still like, "He's not telling the truth. Don't listen to him." but Jesse forces the demon to sit down. And then Sam explains that there's a war between angels and demons, and Jesse is a part of it, and Jesse goes, "I'm just a kid."

G: Aw.

C: Aw. Were there times when you were a kid that you thought the sentence, "I'm just a kid," though? I feel like it's something that adults put on kids.

G: Yeah. Yes.

C: You have thought the sentence, "I'm just a kid?"

G: I think mostly when people say "That's just a kid" about other kids. And I'm like, "Well, me too!" So I don't know if this is an appropriate thing to think for Jesse, but it it seems to be something that has been on his head, like, being a kid and all that [C: Yeah, that's true.] because it was brought up earlier.

C: 'Cause, yeah, earlier, there was the whole like, "I'm not a kid" when Sam calls him a kid, and then the demon recently was like, "Everyone treated you like a kid." So yeah, I guess he has been chewing on that for a while, and he has landed on, "I am just a kid." Sam says, "You can go with her if you want. I can't stop you. No one can. But if you do, millions of people will die." And yeah, this is him just giving him the information and hoping that he'll make the right choice. It's nice. If this was an adult, they would have killed him by now, [G: Definitely.] but like, it is good to have different standards for adults and kids, I think. I just think that their standards for adults should be a little laxer as well. Jesse goes, "She said I was half-demon. Is that true?" And Supernatural, which cannot drop its biological determinism [laughs] for a single second, goes, "Yes, but you're half-human, too." Demons are also human. Like, they literally- [G: Yeah.] if we're gonna play on Supernatural's playing ground, demons were also human. I don't- whatever. It's fine. And also, obviously, just the biological determinism in general is dumb as fuck. Like, the only thing that the demon, like, "genetics" or whatever gave him was powers. It doesn't mean that you're an asshole automatically. [G: Yeah.] All of this was, like, created through trauma. He tells Jesse, like, "You can do the right thing, and you've got choices. But if you make the wrong ones, it will haunt you for the rest of your life." And Jesse goes, "You're trying to mirror me, aren't you?" [G, laughing: Yes. For real!] He goes, "Why are you telling me this?" And Sam says, "Yes, I'm trying to mirror you." 'cause he says, "Because I have to believe someone can make the right choice, even if I couldn't." You know what? Good for him. [G laughs] If him doing this is, like, helpful to Jesse, then there we go. [G: There we go!] Good for him. And Jesse thinks for a second, and then he demands that the demon possessing his birth mother gets out of her, and it does. And then Jesse is just standing there, and Dean goes like, "How'd you do that?" Jesse said, "I just did it." Dean goes, "Kid, you're awesome." He should have said, "Little boy? [both] Little boy?" [laughs] And yeah, Julia is passed out for the rest of the episode, as I've complained about multiple times, but I'll complain about it again. [G: Yeah.] What the fuck?

G: Yeah. Like, all we get from her is like, Jesse asking, "Is she gonna be all right?" And Dean being like, "Eventually." Which, like, let her speak for herself! [C: Yeah.] Give her a fucking tattoo!

C: Yeah. For real. Also, when Jesse leaves, is she gonna wake up in the house and the parents are gonna wake up with a note on Jesse's bed saying, like, "I left. Sorry." and there's this woman they've never met before- they're gonna think-

G: Maybe Castiel magicked her.

C: Yeah, maybe. I hope so. 'Cause they're gonna think that she killed him or some shit [G: Yeah.] when they find out how that its birth mother. They'll be like, "You kidnapped him, or you came back here to like, kill him or do something to him," and, like, she's gonna be miserable.

G: Dean is now holding [laughs] the Cas action figure. And yeah, he goes, to Jesse, “Well, the truth is, he's kind of a buddy of mine. Is there any way you could turn him back?” And Jesse just goes, “He tried to kill me.” And Dean [C: Like, for real.] goes, “Right. Well, he's a good guy. He was confused.” [both laughing] He literally says “He's just a little guy! He's a little guy!”

C: It’s his birthday, he’s just a little birthday boy!

G: Yeah, maybe this is Dean’s blorbo from his action figures set. What's that? "Well, I forgive him because he has anxiety and his dick is 10 inches long." So true. [C: Yeah, "and throbbing, and I want him to fuck me." Yeah.] Yeah. But only after Season 5. [laughs]

C: What's- Oh, yeah, because that's when Jimmy dies, yeah.

G: [laughs] Yeah, And then Dean finally gives up when Jesse says nothing. And he’s like, “Okay, well, it's been a long night. We'll talk about it next time.” [laughs] [C: Good.] It’s so funny! That is a buddy of his. Jesse asks, “What do we do now?” And Sam and Dean are saying, like, “We will get you somewhere safe.” Dean says, “You'll be handy in a fight, kid.” And Jesse goes, “What if I don't want to fight?” And Sam says, “Well, you're so powerful, and you're more powerful than anything we've ever seen. That makes you-” And Jesse goes, “I'm gonna really push the Sam mirroring this episode,” [C laughing] and he goes, “A freak?” And Sam’s like, “Well, to some people, but not to us. See, we're kind of freaks ourselves.” And then we see a shot of-

C: Don’t you dare- Dean cannot reclaim! [G laughs] Dean cannot reclaim. You do not get to give Dean the honorary freak card. Dean is not a freak. He would not self-identify as a freak, [G laughing] and he doesn't deserve to have the title "freak," given how he treats people that he views as freaks, and how he treated you when he viewed you as a freak. [G: Literally.] Wrong! Sam's allowed to be a freak, Dean is not. He is not part of this shit. Get him out of here.

G: Jesse is finally realizing the gravity of the situation, that he'll have to leave his family behind. And he says, “I don't want to,” but Sam says, “You’re gonna be putting them in danger, so.” And Dean mentions John, and he says, “Our dad, he would take us with him wherever he went, and he's dead now. A demon killed him.” What is [laughs] the throughline here?

C: 'Cause Jesse wants to take his parents with him?

G: I know, but the way this analogy is happening [C: Oh yeah, what’s the logic?] like, what is the logic behind it?

C: Yeah, 'cause Sam and Dean are the parents in this situation, [G: Yeah.] the people who are being brought along. So it's like, “Jesse, you'll die if you bring your parents with you”? What is this? [G: Yeah, but whatever.] Yeah, I think it's just being with your family and a group like that leaves any of you vulnerable, or whatever.

G: Yeah. But Jesse asks, “What should I do?” And Sam says, “We can't tell you. It's your choice. It's not fair. I know.” Jesse goes, “Well, I'm going to say goodbye to my parents.” So he goes.

C: Yeah. And not to Julia, not once.

G: He looks at his parents’ bed, and then he goes to his room, and then [laughs] he goes to fucking Australia. [both laughing]

C: He said, “I want to be Chase from House sooo bad.”

G: He literally said, “I'm gonna be Jesse Spencer.” Maybe this is Jesse Spencer's origin story!

C: Yeah, I would believe that Jesse's parents are- what? Like, far-right politicians? [G: Yeah.] Given all the bullshit they've been spouting at him, yeah.

G: Yeah, Sam is like, “Oh, he's been there so long. Let's go check on him.” [C: Yeah. Maybe he’s fireproof.] [both laugh] And they do. They enter the room, and the kid is gone, and Cas, who is now back to being not an action figure, goes, “He's gone.” Cas says he doesn't know where he is, he just vanished, and he put everyone in town who was still alive back together. And they notice this sign- I mean, they notice the note on the bed, which says, “I have to leave to keep my parents safe. Sowwy.” [laughs] And Cas says, “Well, we can't find him anymore, because he doesn't want to be found, so therefore we can’t.” They're driving out now, and Sam and Dean are having a conversation where Dean asks- [C: Which is just a worse version of the 1.18 conversation.] Yeah, I don't even know- Yeah. But Dean goes, “You think Jesse’s gonna be okay?” And Sam’s like, “Well, I hope so.” And Dean says, “We destroyed that kid's life by telling him the truth.”

C: Like, no, the lying was actually what caused all the problems. And also, you didn’t tell him the truth for most of it, it was the demon.

G: No, you know what this is a parallel to? It was telling Sam the truth about having monsters.

C: Yeah, which is also what 1.18 was sort of about.

G: Yeah. So, I don't know. Like, I see the throughline now that I think about it. Here's the conclusion Dean gets, 'cause Sam says, “We didn't have a choice, Dean,” and Dean says, “Yeah, but I'm starting to see why parents lie to their kids. You want them to believe that the worst thing out there is mixing pop rocks and coke, protect them from the real evil. [C: That doesn’t make any sense as a sentence.] You want them going to bed feeling safe. If that means lying to them, so be it. The more I think about it, the more I wish that Dad had lied to us.” And Sam goes, “Yeah, me, too.” And I don't know. It's just- is this the conclusion to the episode? It's very-

C: We need to know more about his parents- about Jesse’s parents, to know anything. It's good to say that, to lie about that shit? It's not, though! It literally caused people to die. And we have no proof that it's "hiding him from the real evil" or whatever.

G: Yeah, like, maybe he also knows about werewolves. Who fucking knows? [C: Yeah.] But the thing here- This is a fine conversation to have, in this episode even. [C: For this episode? Really?] But for the last scene of the episode? [C: Yeah.] This could be a conversation they maybe have-

C: This is an episode about telling the truth, and how lying caused the problems.

G: This could be something that's in the middle of the episode, you know, [C: Yes.] as they're processing it, they have this conversation, and it could be meaningful. It's just because it's at the very end. [C: Right.] It has no music. [C: So this is the takeaway.] It has no music. It continues on to the credits, no music, and it's like, they're trying to do something here, and it just doesn't work [C: It does not.] because this is not the place or time in the episode anymore to be having this discussion. [C: Right.] So, yeah.

G: Well, what did we think about this episode?

C: I think it was pretty good. [G: I think it was good.] It just didn't wrap things up very nicely. [G: Very niceys, yeah.] It failed at all that.

G: Failed at that. But otherwise, I think it's a fun episode. Or at least it was characteristic of what makes Supernatural enjoyable to watch on an episode-to-episode basis. Well, Best Line/Worst Line.

C: The line where Sam says, “So we tell him the truth," and all of that, and yeah, "If we lay it all out for him, he might make the right choice.” It's nice. Oh, Sam.

G: Well, I would put that also, but because you already put it, I'll just say, I like the "buddy of mine." “He's kind of a buddy of mine.” [C: That’s cute, yeah.] I think it's cute. I think it is cute. The worst line, I think the “Eventually.” When Jesse asked, “Is she gonna be okay?” and Dean says, “Eventually.” I hated that.

C: Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I think it is supposed to be a thing where Dean automatically wanted to say “Sure, yes.” But then he's like, “I'm gonna tell the truth and say 'eventually' instead,” but it's like, this should not be about how Dean deciding to tell the truth to Jesse. This is about Julia! but it's not, 'cause Daniel Loflin and Andrew Dabb just hate women so much. [G: Yeah.] Yeah, I agree with that one. That is my main issue with the eppysode.

G: Okay, well, what's our spreadsheets? Spread those sheets.

C: I feel like dropping the ball on Julia deserves like, a point. Like, not that many 'cause I don't think it's intrinsic. It's just the-

G: I think it's 2. I think it's intermingling with- between intrinsic and not. [C: Yeah, yeah.] Racism is 0. [C: Yes.] And homophobia, how would you like to read this?

C: The Tooth Fairy, I think, counts as a mix of transmisogyny and homophobia. I think if we had more clarity on exactly what was up, we would be able to better classify it.

G: Yeah. I think this kind of falls under my “Just because they have a character who is queer or presents as queer doesn't make it homophobic,” but I think I can safely say that this is supposed to be a funny thing.

C: I think we’re supposed to think that this character is so scary and weird [G: Yeah.] And it adds to the scariness and weirdness [G: Because it's weird, yeah.] because it’s a man wearing a tutu. A 1 makes sense. Great.

G: So how about our IMDb? Or IMDb guesses?

C: I need to not do such a bad job this time. This is a case of- “Fallen Idols” was low, but partly because I hated Paris Hilton. I think it's pretty good, and I feel like the concept would be interesting to people, but they might also find the Sam mirror stuff irritating because a lot of people don't like Sam right now. So I'm gonna put it below “Free to be You and Me.”

G: People do? I thought it was just me!

C: Okay, maybe just that one person.

G: [laughing] It was just me and that one IMDb reviewer.

C: Yeah. So okay, I'm gonna go 0.1 below “Free to be You and Me.” I'm gonna go with an 8.4.

G: I'm also actually going to go with an 8.4. But should I change it for some variety?

C: No, we can do the same thing as long as [G: Okay.] as long as you were thinking it beforehand. Yeah, it doesn't do anything for our competition, though.

G: Yeah, I'm still winning, I think.

C: Oh, definitely, I think.

G: Okay, let's see. Ha! It's an 8.5. We're both near.

C: Okay, okay. So I benchmarked it alright. That's good to know.

G: Yeah, people wish they revisited the concept later.

C: Yeah, 'cause it seems like Jesse could come back, they could run into him again.

G: Yeah, we never see Jesse again after all these years.

C: Or if there were more Antichrists created or something? Yeah.

G: Yeah. This one says that “the conversations with the kid were boring and a little cringey.” We have a Sam mirror hater in the house.

C: Yeah, they don't understand.

G: This one doesn't have many reviews.

C: Yeah. Yeah, no one’s saying shit.

G: To be fair, prior to this we had “Fallen Idols,” and prior to this we had “The End,” and prior to this we had “Free to be You and Me,” so you understand that those ones are going to be review-heavy, and this one probably isn’t.

C: This one says that “Cas is obviously confused, as Dean puts it. He is alone now, with no orders to guide him, and he must figure out how to manage on his own. But he's stumbling along the way” is how they characterize his decision to kill that kid. [G: Yeah.] I think Cas just really just did want to kill that kid. [laughs] I don't know if he was stumbling. I think he’s just a guy who wants to kill that kid.

G: Perhaps. I think Cas may just want to kill a kid. Any kid, really.

C: Yeah. Oh, and they're congratulating the actress for Julia for doing a really good job playing both the demon and Julia. That's true. I didn't even think about it as they're the same actors. They were very good.

G: There are performances that are very good on Supernatural in terms of possession, where I'm just like, “Oh, that's just a different actor.” [C: Yeah.] It's literally not. But this is one of them. Yeah, it was really good.

C: Yeah, no, that was good.

G: Yeah, so I think that’s it for this episode of Busty Asian Beauties. Next week, we will be discussing Season 5, Episode 7: "The Curious Case of Dean Winchester." Leave us a rating or a review wherever you get your podcasts.

C: Follow us on social media! We are on Tumblr at bustyasianbeautiespod.tumblr.com. Our official tag is #BABPod, B-A-B-POD. Thanks to everyone who's donated to our Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/bustyasianbeautiespod, which is where our outtakes live, and check out our merch at babpod.redbubble.com.

G: You can email us any feedback, comments, or inquiries at [email protected]. See you guys next time! [both] Bye!

[guitar music]

#transcript

0 notes

miraculouscontent · 3 years

Video

“Sentibubbler” summary? “Sentibubbler” salt?

Why not both at the same time?

Something a little experimental, though also somewhat reminiscent of some of my past videos. Calling it “summasalt” for now, based on the word “somersault” because this episode was an exercise of my patience.

It’s basically just me going through the episode with my usual episode summary, but salting along the way instead of making you guys read a wall of text without any images or clips or me making snarky comments.

(By the way, yes, I did in fact have caffeine before recording.)

script below for anyone who wants/needs it:

"Sentibubbler" begins with Marinette having food with the Cesaires and I already know this isn't real because Marinette is actually getting to interact with her best friend's family. That's only happened, like--when, two episodes of Season 2? [”Sapotis” and “Anansi”]

Marinette sees Trixx and points out how they're supposed to be a secret, and Alya asks why while calling Marinette "Ladybug." Marinette plays dumb but is told by Nino that everyone already knows her secret. Chloe is also there, chiding Marinette for her identity rule - it's not Marinette's rule but after "Reflekdoll" I've just gotten used to Marinette being blamed for things she didn't do - and Marinette goes to question Chloe's apperance when there's a knock on the balcony door. Alya invites Shadow Moth in and--[Shadow Moth has to duck to come inside]--huh, I thought Sole Crusher was seven episodes ago.

Anyway, now obviously, Marinette is just being ridiculous and overemotional as usual, because why would Marinette ever think that Alya would reveal any information to--["Feast"]--oh yeah, that's right.

Tikki doesn't transform Marinette and says that Marinette shouldn't have trusted Alya with her secret. Enter Chat Blanc, who says that they can be together now without any secrets. Not really sure what this episode is aiming for with the mixed message of "your identity rule sucks" but also "your fault for trusting someone instead of having a mental breakdown," but a’ight. Trixx also gets another dig in on Marinette for giving Alya the fox miraculous.

Marinette wakes up from her nightmare and panics, but Tikki reassures her that Alya is loyal. [”Chameleon”] Mm. Also, that kind of support might've been nice from Tikki literal seasons ago when Marinette could've used a confidant.

Wayzz - I swear, they've had eyelashes more often than not in this season - points out that Trixx is mischievous and Xuppu talks about Trixx being the cause of the Loch Ness monster rumors, which worries Marinette further. Marinette runs out in her pajamas and I can already predict that neither Tom nor Sabine are going to check on her later or care.

Marinette finds the Cesaires looking for something, their words vague enough for Marinette to think that they're talking about Trixx. Alya brushes Marinette off and tells her to help with looking instead of lecturing her.

Marlena makes a comment that reminds Marinette of her nightmare, only increasing Marinette's stress. A tarantula crawls up a ladle and Marinette freaks out when she sees it, which Marlena has a laugh at because Marinette's anxiety, fear, and panic is hilarious, guys!

This is my laughing face. [not a laughing face]

Nino exits, having been too afraid of the spider to leave the room, so Nora compares Marinette to him. Nino tries to play it cool, then changes the subject to point out Marinette's pajamas. Alya wonders aloud why Marinette showed up and Marinette tries to act casual, but Alya sees through it and states that she doesn't usually lose things when someone lends them to her.

I presume the exception is Marinette's trust. OH-HOOOOHHH, we'll get there.

Nora takes a jab at Alya for losing the spider and Marinette drags Alya away to talk. Nino tries to join but Alya states that it's between her and Marinette, which makes Nino sad.

Nino, does the phrase "guys' time" ring a bell by any chance?

Marinette is explaining her nightmare and is simply told to calm down by Alya, though Marinette is briefly startled by a phone ringing. Marinette puts together what she knows that Shadow Moth knows, including that Alya is Rena Rouge, adding on that Shadow Moth could steal the fox necklace if he figured out that Alya has it permanently. Alya reassures her that no one will ever know and Marinette states that this must include Chat Noir. Alya agrees and brings attention to the fanny pack around her waist, which Trixx has been hiding in, and Marinette has Trixx promise not to show up at the dining table like in her nightmare. Tikki tells Marinette that everything will be fine and Marinette admits that it was silly of her to worry, which it was! ...If you ignore all the anxiety, mental scarring, and constant pressure to be perfect or risk Paris lighting itself on fire, much like I presume they accidentally did with their original script for this episode.

Alya tells Marinette to trust her and also herself - I'll be sure to keep that in mind, Alya, thank you - then Alya loses her temper at the phone continuing to ring. She leaves to find an empty living room, then answers the phone only to hear Shadow Moth on the other line. Alya turns upon hearing Marinette scream to see that Marinette has been trapped in a bubble. Cue the reveal/return of the Bubbler, who is definitely Nino akumatized and not--like--a sentimonster, because the episode didn't spoil it at all with the title of Sentibub--

show, this is freaking embarrassing. Why even bother akumatizing someone when you can mold a sentimonster with the exact power you want?

At least they reveal it quickly, though that also means I have to live with the knowledge that Shadow Moth wINKED AT ALYA, NO.

Anyway, Shadow Moth tells Alya that he wants her to betray Ladybug. Marinette, meanwhile, is panicking over being unable to transform while in public, whereas Tikki remains calm and reassures her that Alya will figure something out and it's why Marinette gave Alya the fox miraculous in the first place.

Weird, I thought it was for the show to continuously validate Alya as a worthy choice for a confidant despite repeatedly covering up her sINS and so the show can push for more anxiety on Marinette's part while simultaneously not having to make a new hero model for Alya, which they would have to do if the realistic decision had been made to give Alya a different miraculous due to Shadow Moth knowing her identity as Rena Rouge.

Marinette texts Alya to inform her that the Bubbler is a sentimonster and so Rena can tell Chat not to use Cataclysm on him or the bubbles will burst due to the sentimonster's lack of control.

Hate to burst the show's bubble but Alya could literally see Nino up in the sky and they could see her; the bubbles are in viewing range. Did this even go through a quality check?

Alya goes to look at Marinette's text, but the phone is bubbled away by Sentibubbler. Marinette sees the phone floating by and panics, only to be reassured again to trust Alya and at this point I vaguely wondered if I was watching this episode on repeat. Tikki also adds that Alya has never let her down - [”Ladybug”] MMMM - and Marinette agrees, also certain that Chat Noir will show up soon.

Oh yeah, he exists. Oh no.

Cut to the Agreste mansion where Adrien is watching the news - dude, how is there never anything better on when you need to be told that there's an akuma? here, look, I'll show you [”Silencer” Lukabug clip] there, much better, see? - and it's pointed out that the bubbles are identical to the ones Bubbler had, yet Nino is in one of the bubbles. Adrien readies himself while Plagg is - for once - okay with leaving since his cheese isn't "edible" yet.

I feel like he should be a little more concerned about Marinette being in a bubble.

Meanwhile, Shadow Moth is explaining to Alya that Ladybug will come to give her the fox miraculous due to the bubbled people in the sky - plenty of other choices that aren't within breathing range of the obvious danger zone, but a'ight - and SentiBubbler will catch Ladybug. Alya brings up Chat Noir saving her but Shadow Moth states that she'll create an illusion of Ladybug and Rena to lure Chat Noir, who won't see Sentibubbler coming, at which point Rena will hand Shadow Moth her miraculous. He adds that her loved ones will only be returned once all three miraculouses are in his possession, though if she tries to warn the heroes then Sentibubbler will send the bubbles into space, too far for any hero to save them.

[clip of space power-ups] Hm.

Also, I would've just let her keep the miraculous as an extra bribe since he doesn't need the fox and she wouldn't have time to recharge anyway - at least to his knowledge - but that's just me.

Marinette is relieved that Alya still hasn't been captured--TIKKI, I KNOW, YOU'VE BEEN PARROTING THIS ALL EPISODE, I KNOW--but Marinette changes her tune when she sees Alya blindly calling out for Ladybug's help, unaware that Alya is buying time. Marinette laments the idea of transforming there and having using the rabbit to go back in time to reverse, as that's never a good thing (seconded), but gets the idea for Tikki to take her miraculous to someone else. Tikki rejects the idea, as the earrings won't go through the bubble, and Marinette realizes that Chat Noir is their only hope.

I mean, it was nice knowing them. Sure is interesting how Marinette has only been getting herself into these situations where she requires saving when the show needed to present Alya as a valid choice for a confidant.

Meanwhile, Chat Noir is leaving a message for Ladybug about the bubbles in the sky, saying that he'll wait for her; I already see where this is going and I don't like it.

Alya mutters to Trixx about how they need a plan to release Marinette. Through Alya Vision, we're shown Sentibubbler, a bowl of fruit, and the bathroom door. Alya tells Sentibubbler that she needs to go to the bathroom and - wow, we're really doing this, aren't we? - which Shadow Moth rejects. Shadow Moth is also on top of a building holding a coffee cup which honestly makes about as much sense as the rest of the episode, so whatever. Alya claims that she can't wait and that it'll be awkward for Ladybug to find her like that, which gets Shadow Moth to relent but also remind her of what's at stake if she tries anything. Alya states that she can't do anything without a miraculous anyway, then purposefully falls onto the table, concealing her long enough for her to transform and allowing an illusion of herself to go to the bathroom while she escapes. She detransforms in the twins' room and feeds Trixx with some grapes that she'd picked up.

Alya explains her plan to trick Shadow Moth and Sentibubbler since they don't know that she has a miraculous, though she also has to make sure that Chat won't ruin things. Rena then proceeds to call Chat Noir and claim that Ladybug wanted her to call him with her plan, but adds that it's a two-person plan and Chat himself isn't needed, so he needs to wait for further instructions. Chat demands that Ladybug call him to tell him herself, but Rena insists that she can't, as Ladybug is very busy. She warns him not to use Cataclysm if he sees the Bubbler, as he's a sentimonster, then promises to talk to him later before hanging up.

She uses Mirage again, making the Alya illusion reappear as well as creating a Ladybug. Chat Noir, infuriated at being left out, destroys part of a building with his baton. He then dismisses the action because Miraculous Ladybug will fix it.

Spoiler alert, it will, which is a very fascinating detail! I mean, I can't imagine another situation where a hero did something while there was an akuma going around and Miraculous Ladybug decided to help 'em out, but it just goes to show what happens when you're the writers' pet. Just look a little pitiful and they'll give you all the sympathy in the world.

By the way, didn't expect them to actually confirm my theory that Chat Noir does Chat Noir things because he knows that Miraculous Ladybug will fix it anyway, essentially allowing him to earn brownie points from Ladybug via sacrificing himself regardless of how it affects her mentally, yet here we are and I don't know whether to be sad, angry, disappointed, or a mixture of all three.

Chat Noir sees the Ladybug illusion jumping off and gives chase, refuses to stay where he is. Marinette, seeing that Rena Rouge's illusions are active, panics at the sight of Chat Noir, as the illusion will vanish if Chat touches it.

I like to imagine the immediate concern is the idea that Chat Noir will try to take Ladybug's hand while trying to flirt.

Anyway, Marinette flails inside the bubble in an attempt to reach Chat Noir, while illusion Alya and SentiBubbler get into position. Chat Noir watches what he perceives as Ladybug heading into the Cesaire house with Alya, but Marinette gets to him in order to tell him not to go anywhere. Chat complains about everyone telling him to stay put, but Marinette explains Rena's plan to him. Chat is skeptical of how she knows that, to which Marinette insists that she saw it from where she was. Chat Noir relents with a sigh and stays where he is.

SentiBubbler watches as the illusion of Alya and Ladybug talk to each other, Rena making it look like Ladybug is piecing together what happened and refusing to give Alya a miraculous ever again due to Shadow Moth knowing her identity. She claims that she'll find another holder and give them an even more powerful miraculous, which interests Shadow Moth and gets him to follow after the Ladybug illusion. Once Sentibubbler leaves as well, Chat sees this as his chance to stop the sentimonster, as the Ladybug illusion will vanish if it's touched. Marinette strokes his ego for the token love square moment of the episode, and Chat Noir fights SentiBubbler while Shadow Moth goes after the Ladybug illusion.

I'm noticing a real lack of tension in this episode. Once Alya has her plan, it's kind of a clean sweep from start to finish with no interference or unexpected roadblocks in the way. Even Shadow Moth following the Ladybug illusion goes fine, with Shadow Moth even punching a building thinking that Ladybug actually got away from him.

Dude, it's fine, Miraculous Ladybug will fix it, just put on your best sad face. Maybe Chat Noir gets it from you actually, is treatment from the writers a hereditary thing?

Sentibubbler and Chat Noir are still fighting. Shadow Moth shows up and Marinette tries to warn Chat, but Chat gets caught in a bubble and Marinette apologizes; she doesn't have anything to apologize for but after "Reflekdoll" I--wait I already did this.

Chat Noir uses Cataclysm to escape, only to get caught in another bubble. I'd just like to throw out there that this guy's a hero three seasons going and the love interest for the main character, yet his role in the episode has amounted to complaining about the authority of a hero Ladybug chose, throwing a property-destroying tantrum over being excluded, and wasting his power without a single thought which just got him captured again.

Chat, does the name "Syren" ring any bells by any chance? I'm just sayin', you could always quit. In fact, wasn't it you literally one episode ago saying that you understood if Ladybug couldn't always come get you? Then, after seeing the jump from "Glaciator" to "Frozer," I'm about as shocked as rubber.

Back with the competent one, Alya notes to Trixx that Rena Rouge can no longer be seen by Shadow Moth or else the jig is up. She transforms and texts Marinette to be ready, creating an illusion of Marinette that simultaneously hides the real version, allowing her to transform into Ladybug.

Chat Noir's bubble gets dragged down and Shadow Moth gets SentiBubbler to mute Chat Noir's bubble.

[clip from “Silencer” where Ladybug takes amusement in Chat being muted]

Ladybug uses Lucky Charm and receives a pot, her Lucky Vision spotting Shadow Moth's coffee cup, then SentiBubbler, then the tarantula trapped in a bubble. Ladybug deduces that the cup is the sentimonster's object, then pulls the horse miraculous out of her yoyo and unifies it with the ladybug--oh.

Oh my.

You know, it's times like this where I'm reminded that the show knows nothing about fashion... or girls... or good writing actually--there's just a lot of stuff they don't know.

Sentibubbler does a countdown, then starts sending the civilian bubbles up into the sky. Chat Noir is about to de-transform while PegaBug notices of Shadow Moth's two miraculous, up for grabbin'. She notes that she won't be able to catch everyone, so she forms a portal behind Shadow Moth and goes for the coffee cup first, thus putting her in control of SentiBubbler, who happily brings the bubbles back down at her command.

Shadow Moth erases SentiBubbler from existence though, causing everyone to fall, but Chat and PegaBug manage to catch them. PegaBug de-transforms and presents the Cesaires with the tarantula, which had been trapped inside the lucky charm. Ladybug and Chat Noir watch Shadow Moth escape and Ladybug laments that it could've been the end of Shadow Moth once and for all because it's not a Miraculous episode without Marinette being at fault or feeling guilty in some way! Chat Noir reassures her [*by “reassure,” I mean he might as well have said, “Well, you saved ME, so you did great!”] - wow, that's two token love square moments for the price of one episode, don't I feel spoiled - and Ladybug leaves to retrieve the tarantula's tank.

Rena Rouge is waiting for her and they hug, with Rena repeating that she doesn't lose something that someone gives her. Ladybug states that she never should've doubted the idea of giving Alya a miraculous and Imma just give you guys a counter real quick. [counter that shows that Tikki has complimented Alya four times, Alya has complimented herself/told Marinette to trust her thrice, and Marinette has said that she was wrong thrice]. Miraculous Ladybug is cast and everything returns to normal, with Alya explaining what she did and Marinette being relieved that Shadow Moth won't be going after her anymore. Alya confidently asks if she was smart and Marinette is happy to praise her, confirming it and stating that Alya is a real superhero and honestly? If the narrative wanted to marry Alya this badly, they should've just used some of the budget to buy a ring instead of projecting onto the other characters.

Then again, the apparent budget can't even afford a new hero model nor new akuma to a very noticeable degree, so I guess they're taking what they can get.

Alya praises Marinette as well for her work as PegaBug and they do a fistbump, thus ending the episode. There's also this ever-so-lovely post-episode scene with Gabriel and Nathalie where Gabriel laments the fact that Ladybug never makes mistakes which--I... has he even watched the series at all? Gabe, babe, Babriel Agreste, it's literally part of the show's formula that Marinette makes a mistake in every episode and she felt guilty like a minute ago over not yoinking your miraculouses when she had the chance, where have you been?

But, yeah, anyway, the episode.

Needless to say, not a fan. Like I said, the show seems so intent on immediately validating the choices they make with Alya in order to make her look like a better character. "Gang of Secrets" basically replaced her with someone different at the end of the episode, and the episode immediately afterwards in chronological order, "Mr. Pigeon 72," did everything it could to push Marinette out of her guardian position long enough for Alya to figure out the grimoire despite having zero onscreen experience with it, the episode even trapping Ladybug in a situation that forced Rena Rouge to come into play to validate that decision as well.

And now we have "SentiBubbler" here following immediately after "Optigami," desperate to reassure its audience that Alya is cool, smart, truthworthy, and that not needing to make a new model--sorry, I mean Alya continuing to have the fox--was a good decision. All the while, they continue pushing Alya's flaws under the rug [Note that it’s not even considered that Alya is even remotely at fault for Shadow Moth going after her specifically after her stunt in “Optigami” when no one else but Ladybug and Chat have ever given out a miraculous], hiding them instead of Alya actually acknowledging them, the only reason she did so in "Optigami" being the same as in "Gang of Secrets"; to make her look good while Marinette makes a big decision in their relationship.

The episode tries so hard to drill in this idea that Alya is a good friend who can be trusted, and I'm just not here for how much they try to hammer it in. Marinette's very real anxiety over Shadow Moth's power and ability to plan things is played off as her being silly instead of something to be concerned about, and instead of giving her a hug and trying to help her calm down - [clip from “Heart Hunter” of Luka hugging Marinette] I miss Luka - she's just told to trust and believe and hAVE fAiTh in Alya.

Shadow Moth is an adult; he has abilities that the teenage heroes don't. I'm not even saying that Marinette isn't overreacting [Basically, her concern about Shadow Moth is valid, especially after “Optigami” where her identity was almost found out], but she has anxiety and some obvious trauma over "Chat Blanc." I was already upset that Alya got a free pass to Marinette's identity, but the constant stressing over how much Marinette should trust her just doesn't affect me when I know Alya and I know the kind of stuff she's done that the show blatantly ignored in favor of pushing for her.

But okay, show, I'll give Alya the benefit of the doubt that she doesn't deserve. Let's say that she's turned a new leaf, and has become the reliable, trustworthy, and loyal partner that Marinette deserves. I'm sure that Alya has Marinette's back, and will never go behind said back in order to do something completely unsurprising and wholly indicative of the character I actually know her to be.

Especially not a mere three episodes later...

#MC's Videos #category: episode summaries #category: salt #video: critique #MC's Renders #render: persona #episode: Sentibubbler #((Definitely let me know what you guys think because I don't know if I should do this more or not.))#((Judging from what the response is will help me make a decision on it.))#((I know my editing could be a little better but my video editor has been physically fighting me lately.))#((Is there such a thing as TOO sassy/sarcastic?))#((idk if I'm actually funny or not so definitely lemme know if there was anything that particularly amused you guys))#((so I know in the future where your guys' sense of humor lies.))#((I don't really TRY to be funny I just do whatever comes to mind/is comfortable.))

639 notes · View notes

timextoxhajima · 3 years

Note

hi dana.. if it’s possible can i request some angsty wangsty based on niki la la lost you with eric🥺 and ughh i really love your writing like crazyyyyy

♥ title: la la lost you in april [also part of @sunlightwoo ‘s 12 Months I Loved You collaboration project]

♥ member: tbz eric

♥ genre: f2l, ex! eric x fem! reader, model! eric [SFW!]

♥ warnings: swearing, some mentions of sex [like, once i think]

♥ wc: 3.4k

♥ a/n: sis when i first heard the song I absolutely loved how you used 'angsty wangsty' so I hope this one does it for you the way you imagined it <3 [fyi i wrote it in like, a camcorder recording audio format which is something i’m trying out so please hmu on whether it’s difficult to read/understand!]

[REC: APRIL 2, 2019 - 6:39PM] SOLO LOG #1

Are you seeing this? This is the most beautiful sunset I’ve seen. I gotta get a shot of this-

Hey! Hey! I could help you take a picture with the sunset if you want to!

Oh! Would- Would you? That’d be great!

Of course!

...

Here. Is it alright?

Yeah, yeah, it’s cool! Thank you so much!

Are you recording something? Is it a- Are you vlogging? Are you a vlogger?

Yeah, no... I’m actually on a solo trip for a bit.

Oh, where are you from?

Just the next state.

Ah! You’re taking a break off... life then? I assume? Sorry if that came out weird.

No! No no! It’s alright! Yeah, I just needed a short break from... y’know, school and everything. My semester ended pretty early on so I took the chance to come out here and... see some new sights, meet some new people.

I get that. Well, for a start, what’s your name?

Oh, I’m y/n. Nice to meet you! And you?

I’m Eric.

[REC: APRIL 4, 2019 - 10:34PM] SOLO LOG #2

It is the 4th of April, 2019. I know, I know, I’m meant to do a daily vlog for all the 50 days I’m here but... it’s been... wow. Um... so I met Eric, the first day I touched down. The beach is just, about a 10 minute walk down and the sunsets are absolutely gorgeous. But uh... call me a fool and say that I’m living in the clouds but- what are the chances?

He’s funny, he’s such a great person to be around with y’know? Never a moment of like, awkwardness or stress and my God, look at me talking about a boy like that, though I met him 2 days ago.

...

Um, he’s a freelance model. For those freelance shoots by UNIQLO or Target or something and he complains about the pay sometimes, but he looks good infront of a camera, so he’s... actually the one who won at life, really.

I’m not seeing him soon because he’s got a shoot out of town and he’ll be back next week. But I did get his number and he’s been texting me since.

...

Wouldn’t it be funny if we end up together and then I have this whackass of a reel to show him? Jesus... I need to stop getting ahead of myself here. Freakin’ living in the clouds, aren’t I?

...

Anyway, I’m gonna go and see if I can get my weird projector shit up and working. See you.

[REC: APRIL 7, 2019 - 5:14AM] SOLO LOG #3

It is... 5am... uh, April 7th- and I was just binging FRIENDS through the night, waiting for the sunrise before I get some shut eye and then... Eric just asked me out. Oh my God! Um, he’s coming back this Thursday and I’ll go see him at the airport before we go get dinner.

It was really funny ‘cause he had to wake up early for a shoot today and so his day has just begun but mine’s coming to an end and I just- I’m rambling so much, it’s kinda- it’s kinda sad, isn’t it?

I think I’m too happy to sleep right now so I’m just gonna text him some more before the sun rises- oh! He replied!

...

Anyway, I’m gonna go and finish up this last episode before sleeping. Hopeful I can sleep. Bye!

[REC: APRIL 11, 2019 - 4:28PM] SOLO LOG #4

I am on my way out right now to go meet Eric at the airport, and I’m... it’d be an understatement to say that I’m excited. I know I’ve only known him for like, 2 days before he left but... I miss him. Is that possible? Missing someone despite knowing them for 2 days?

Anyway, I gotta go. Don’t wanna be late to see him.

[REC: APRIL 13, 2019 - 10:23AM] SOLO LOG #5

Oh! Is that what you had-

Yeah! It’s the same camera!

What are you vlogging for, actually? Like-

Nothing, really. It’s just for my own usage-

Wait, you didn’t like set that up last night while we-

Oh, God, no! Who do you think I am?

I don’t know, I mean, we’ve known each other for... is it two weeks-

Just under two weeks-

Jeez-

I know, I know, oh my God.

...

I don’t regret it though. Yeah, like- I don’t really go down to the beach that often in the first place and it just- it just so happened that you were there that day and I saw you struggling with this old thing-

I was not struggling!

Yeah you were!

I wasn’t-

I’m kidding! Gosh, you’re so cute.

...

Are you gonna have the camera recording while this carries on?

I forgot it was on-

One day we’re gonna accidentally make a sex tape-

Eric!

[REC: APRIL 17, 2019 - 1:15AM] SOLO LOG #6

-ould you pass me the hot water?

Mm? What?

The kettle over on the counter. Careful, it’s hot. Yeah, thanks.

Do you need help with-

It’s just instant noodles, sweet. Doubt I need a diploma for this. You’re recording again?

Yeah, does it bother you?

No, no, ‘course not. Though that means I can’t really do whatever I want to now.

What does that mea-

...

I can... still taste that bit of milk tea you had just now-

Could you tell it’s zero sugar?

I don’t think that matters, it’s still sweet and not great for your health to have that so much.

Aw, and yet you’re the one who suggested noodles at this timing, yeah?

You were hungry too!

...

Here, it’s done. Help me get the bowls?

Did you even wash these?

Yeah, I did. If you don’t trust me, you can run them under the water for a bit.

Mhm. Here.

If it’s not enough, we can call for Macs.

Y’know, I’ve never had Macs past midnight back at home.

What? Really? Well, when you get back in May, would you try?

Yeah, why not? Maybe I’ll do that when I’m back in school.

...

What date is it today?

April... hold on, um, 17. Careful, that’s hot.

...

When are you leaving again?

May 22.

Are you planning on coming back anytime soon after?

I don’t know. I have school to worry about and the only other time I can come back’s probably during winter break in November.

...

I won’t be around in November.

Mm? Why not?

I’m moving.

To where?

I’m not sure yet, but I need to move depending on whether I get it and where the shoot’s at.

Shoot? It’s a big project, huh?

Yeah, it’s- it’s a pretty big deal.

...

I’ll- Let me just go and...

[REC: APRIL 20, 2019 - 7:49PM] SOLO LOG #7

-idn’t have to!

No, c’mon! It’s such a great time to get this on camera! Come on, tell us what just happened!

Well, I just scored a huge model contract with Calvin Klein - in Manhattan.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I’m so fucking proud of you, oh my God! Can you believe it-

No, fuck off, I can’t either!

Oh! Calvin Klein!

...

I swear, you’re an angel sent to me-

Fuck off!

I’m serious! it’s so timely- I just can’t- I’m just so happy to have met you.

...

Well, you heard it first here, ladies and gentlemen. Eric Sohn is a new model for Calvin Klein - Manhattan.

[REC: APRIL 21, 2019 - 12:40PM] SOLO LOG #8

It is 12.40pm... April 21st, 2019. I’m finally back in my apartment after crashing at Eric’s for the last... 10 days? I think it was 10 days. My clothes were running out and I didn’t want to hike up his water bills so I just came back and- y’know did my own laundry.

...

Well, it’s- it’s been an absolute dream. The last thing I expected to... have, or meet? Here, is Eric. Um, but I know I’m probably going to regret this. Especially when May 22 comes. Uh... this is... it’s real bad. I mean, we’re great, y’know? But... it’s bad, because I know it’ll hurt. Like a bitch. When my time here is up, and I gotta go back to my reality, and Eric’s gotta stick to his.

We haven’t really talked about it. May. I don’t think he wants to, and I don’t think I want to either. 50 days is too short. Either that, or I shouldn’t have come here in the first place. I shouldn’t have gone to the beach that day, in that hour.

...

I just wish we had more time. I wish 24 hours were... maybe about 100 seconds more per minute. Does that make sense? 160 seconds per minute. Then again, I don’t think that’d solve my problem. I’ll still be on a ticking... time bomb.

...

I know I shouldn’t say this. I know I can’t. I know I can’t afford to. But... I... I love him. I love Eric. With every... bit of me. It’s so... disgustingly cliché, but I feel so... comfortable with him. There’s really nothing we’d fight about, and even if we disagreed on something, we’d play it off like a debate, then forget about it the next day.

...

I love him. I do. And I’m going to regret this later. Without a doubt.

...

[REC: APRIL 27, 2019 - 2:02AM] SOLO LOG #9

-ou can see the stars?

I don’t know, that’s why I’m trying, sweet.

...

Can you see them?

Yeah, maybe if I just turn this ISO- Oh! I can kinda see the North Star-

Oh! Yeah, you can! It’s really feint though.

Right.

It’s okay, we can just lay it down here-

On the grass? Will your camera be fine?

Yeah, yeah, or else you can just put in on top of my bag- here.

...

Here, can you see me? Am I in frame?

Yeah, you’re in frame.

Okay, great. Now get over here!

...

I can taste the smoothie you had just now.

Too sweet?

A little.

...

Oh my God! Put me down! Oh- not there! It’s ticklish- AHHHHH!

...

y/n, I have something to tell you.

Mm? What is it?

...

Hello? Earth to Eric?

I... I love you. So much... and I can’t bear to see you go in May.

Oh, Eric...

No, I- I don’t want you to stay- or even think about it, ‘cause, you have your priorities and I have mine y’know...

Mhm.

I just... I just wished we had more time.

I do too. I really do.

...

Eric?

Hm?

I love you too.

...

[REC: MAY 1, 2019 - 4:23AM] SOLO LOG #10

1st May. 4...30? Am? I believe. Um, Eric’s sound asleep in his bed and I couldn’t sleep so I decided to do a log.

...

I have... 3 weeks left. 4 weeks have gone past just like that, and I don’t know what to think about it. I came for a 50-day retreat. No stress, just myself and peace and quiet and tranquility and yet-

...

I- I don’t know if I can do this.

...

[REC: MAY 7, 2019 - 3:58PM] SOLO LOG #11

So, Eric’s in shoot right now and I’m on the way into the studio with some donuts and coffee to surprise him. I called his manager and asked if it was okay so- I’m pretty psyched to see his workspace.

...

Hi, I’m y/n, I’m here to visit Eric?

Ah, okay! Hold on, let me just get you signed in with the pass-

Count me in!

You sure? This Saturday at the prep-party?

Yeah- Oh!

Eric!

y/n! What are you doing here?

I wanted to surprise you. Am I... interrupting anything?

Oh, not at all!

You must be y/n! Eric’s told me so much about you!

Did he? And you are...?

I’m Chelsea! I’ve been attached to the same Calvin Klein contract he recently got, so you could say we’re colleagues!

Well, nice to meet you! Oh, right, these donuts and coffee are meant for you guys actually!

Oh! You’re too kind! Eric, you’re such a lucky man.

I know, she’s just... everything.

Anyway, thank you so much for these. I’ll bring them back down to the studio for the crew to share. But Eric’s pretty much done for the day actually, so you guys can leave if you want to!

Are you sure? Don’t you need help downstairs with the equipment?

No, no! It’s fine, there’re more than enough people downstairs. Go have your date, and maybe you can bring her along with you for the prep-party this weekend!

What’s the prep-party... preparing for?

Oh, you’re so adorable! It’s a prep-party for the end-of-May shoot we’re gonna have. it’s a collab with DAZED so it’s a pretty big project.

You never told me you were involved in a collab with DAZED.

I was gonna tell you today.

He has been pretty busy recently, maybe slipped his mind. Anyway, thank you so much for the donuts and I’ll hope to see you at the pier this Saturday, mm?

Yeah, sure. Thanks Chels.

No problem! It was so nice to meet you, y/n, I’ll see you Saturday!

Okay, bye!

Bye, Chelsea! It was nice to meet you!

Bye!

...

Sweet, why didn’t you tell me you were coming?

I wanted it to be a surprise. I thought you said you’d end pretty late?

The filming was cut short because the shots were better than expected so we ended early.

Oh, I wanted to film you while you were at work.

You have that on?

Yeah- why?

No, just wondering.

Are you uncomfortable?

No, no, it’s just... I really didn’t expect you to come to the studio.

...

[REC: MAY 11, 2019 - 11:12PM] SOLO LOG #12

It’s 11:12pm, 11th May, 2019. 11 days to departure.

...

I... saw... Chelsea and Eric... um, out by the garage-

...

Well, I guess... it looked like they were just... having a really good talk. Or something.

...

I left. I couldn’t watch it. So, I left without telling Eric. I did tell his boss that I wasn’t feeling well and I had to leave first.

...

I guess this is the part where I regret it, isn’t it? Um... I don’t know... how... I’m gonna explain this to him when I see him again. Which is supposed to be- um- the rest of the night. I was supposed to go back to his place with him and I’ll stay for the weekend before I come back to pack my things, so-

...

y/n, are you home?

...

shit.

y/n, I know you’re home. I heard you talking. Open the door, I need to talk to you.

...

[REC: MAY 12, 2019 - 2:00AM] SOLO LOG #13

...

I look like shit, don’t I? God, my eyes hurt like a bitch.

...

I don’t think I need to say what just happened for you to guess what just happened, right? This... says it all.

...

Fuck.

...

I shouldn’t have come here. How did- How did my retreat turn out- turn out like this?

...

This is- This is too much. Too much in too short... of a time.

...

I don’t think... I don’t think I can do it. Not anymore.

...

[REC: MAY 19, 2019 - 9:59AM] SOLO LOG #14

It’s May 19th, 2019, almost 10am. I just came back from a morning walk by the beach just to... reminisce a little before I leave on Wednesday.

...

I... haven’t seen Eric since the prep-party. I blocked him and I told him not to come over, though I think he has, like, a few times. I thought I heard someone come up to my door, but he never knocked.

...

So, this is how it ends, huh? A 50-day romance cut short like that. Into about, 40?

...

It’s crazy to think that I had... the experience of a whole relationship in 40 days. I definitely did not sign up for that when I booked this 50-day retreat.

...

It was fun while it lasted, though. It was. I don’t think I’d find anybody else like Eric, and I guess it just sucks that it had to end like that. Things happen, right? That aren’t... in our control.

...

[REC: MAY 21, 2019 - 8:07PM] SOLO LOG #15

May 21st. About 8pm. I leave in about 15 hours.

...

All my stuff’s packed. Definitely more things to bring home than I brought here. Half of these things were bought by Eric and given to me. I’m... actually not sure if I should bring them back.

...

I don’t- I just don’t think I’d have the heart to throw them away.

...

Nor look at them when I’m home.

...

Should I even bring this camera home? Maybe I should wipe your memory before I bring you home, hmm?

...

It feels like a dream, doesn’t it? Everything that’s happened. It feels like a fever dream. Maybe when I’m finally home, I’d wake up and it’d be the day I come here.

...

Maybe.

...

[REC: MAY 22, 2019 - 10:03AM] SOLO LOG #16

-ny more luggage?

Nope.

Alright then, I think you’re all set. You still have about an hour’s time before the gates are open so you can get a cup of coffee or something, yeah?

Okay, thank you!

Have a nice flight ma’am.

Thanks.

...

Good evening ma’am, can I check your boarding pass?

Yeah, sure.

...

Okay, you’re good to go. Have a safe flight.

Thank you!

...

[REC: MAY 22, 2019 - 11:34AM] SOLO LOG #17

It is about 11.30am and I’m on the flight, and here’s the view outside. Sky’s pretty clear and this thing says that the weather’s great so, it should be a smooth flight without turbulence.

...

This is it. This is really it.

...

Um-

Hi, ma’am, I’m gonna need you to keep your camcorder.

Oh! Yeah, sure, sure, sorry!

[REC: APRIL 2, 2020 - 12:48AM] ERIC LOG #1

Wow, this is... weird. How did you do this last year?

...

Um, hi. y/n. If you’re watching this then I’ve somehow managed to get this synced into your camera by some weird... bluetooth, iCloud shit that Felix helped me figure out.

...

It’s been a year. And... I just thought you should... see this, or hear me out, at least. I know we didn’t end on the best terms... and I’m sorry. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have yelled at you for being unreasonable for something that was... suspicious. I should’ve understood.

...

I should’ve been there. To see you off. And I’m sorry I didn’t. I... was scared, that I wouldn’t be able to let you go if I went to send you off. I was a coward. I still am.

...

But I do want you to know that... those 50 days were the best days of my life. Albeit it ended horribly, but nothing could... nothing- nothing will ever replace what happened last April.

...

I said I love you and... I still do. Every day I think about you and your smile and your voice and- and I cry to sleep... worrying that I’d forget how you sound like, or how you laugh and how... how you smell like. My bed smelt like you even after you left.

...

I just- I love you. And I miss you. And I’d do anything to go back to what we had. I’d do anything to get- to get you back.

...

I’m sorry.

...

the clip comes to an automatic stop. the white triangle slapped onto the screen, begging you to play it again. you look up from the screen, watching the famous calvin klein ad that hasn’t stopped playing in the last month.

he hasn’t changed one bit. not his hair, not his smile, not his voice.

it’s a bittersweet pot of memory stashed in the back of your head when the memories flood back. looking back down at the camera, you count back the days - it was synced just last night.

the pile of tissues by your thighs are carelessly huddled into the bin next to your feet, mentally berating yourself for going through the memory instead of formatting it.

you stand, fingers shutting the screen back onto its body with a soft click. the tv blacks out when you press the red button on its remote.

you’re halfway into your kitchen when there’s a knock at your door, and you immediately gasp, blinking rapidly.

“oh, it’s my fucking projector!”

rushing to the door, you don’t hesitate to get the door open.

and yet, like the heavens were providing you with all the light to stop you from doubting yourself, your lungs empty themselves like vacuums.

your heart stops.

your breathing stops.

“eric... what are you doing here?”

222 notes · View notes

cheri-translates · 4 years

Text

[CN] Victor’s Tender Regards Date (Eng Translation)

🍒 Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers for a date (心意之约) which has not been released in English servers! 🍒

[ This date was released in CN on 16 Sep 2020 ]

Dedicating this translation to @kshiro for her constant, wholesome support since the early days of this blog ❤️

The date begins with MC in the office on a summer afternoon, musing over the “Snail Mail” collaboration event officially commencing the next day

She finds the name of the company very familiar, but she just can’t remember why

After ending a call with Anna (who reveals that the event would be taking place in the same camellia garden as the one in Maze Date), she receives a message from Victor, who invites her to dinner

She heads over to the camellia garden, and spots a familiar figure:

Under the eaves not too far away, Victor is wearing a black shirt, facing the curtain of rain as though in a trance.

Water droplets follow the branches which curl around the carved balustrades. He lifts his head slightly, and his expression is nonchalant.

We’re separated by some distance, so I can’t clearly identify the flowers in the bouquet he’s holding. I can only see his handsome chin.

All of a sudden, he lifts his other hand gently. A water droplet pelts onto his palm, as though pulling him into the pattering rain.

Seeing this, I find myself subconsciously frozen in place.

Because of the enshrouding misty rain, the Victor before me appears warmer and more tender than usual.

Taking a deep breath, an idea surfaces in my mind. I blink slyly, then deliberately lower my umbrella.

I brisk walk across the puddles towards the stairs, covering myself with the umbrella, attempting to furtively skirt behind Victor--

Victor: What smart idea have you come up with this time?

MC: ...!

My eyes widen in shock. Victor stands in front of the stairs. The moment our eyes meet, resignation flashes across his face, and also a hint of mischievousness.

Victor: Is it very shocking for me to recognise you?

MC: I thought you were in a daze...

Victor: I was at first. But someone’s “style” is just too unique, and I couldn’t ignore it even if I wanted to.

While he speaks, a smile appears on Victor lips, and his eyebrows rise slightly.

MC: Yes yes yes, my “smart idea” is too childish.

With this proximity, I can finally see the bouquet in his hand clearly: pink camellia flowers which are in full bloom.

[Trivia] Pink camellias symbolise longing, desire, and unreserved love

MC: Are these flowers from the camellia garden? It’s so rare to see CEO Victor with a bouquet! Looks like your plans for this afternoon are very important.

While glancing at him, I raise my volume, deliberately adopting an official yet curious tone.

MC: I wonder who’s the lucky person to receive flowers from CEO Victor?

You thought Victor would counter with a “childish”, but all he does is hang a faint smile on his lips, quietly listening to everything I say.

Victor: I have nothing much in the afternoon. Though I have plans in the evening.

In the next second, the flowers are handed to me. Standing against the backdrop of the misty rain, Victor’s expression exudes tenderness.

Victor: I prepared this for a certain dummy.

Accepting the flowers, I burst into a grin.

MC: Come to think of it, what are you doing here? Are you looking for Curator Kim?

Victor brushes off the water droplets on my shoulder. Instead of giving me an answer, he tilts his head upwards and responds with a question.

Victor: Are you here at this time for the “Snail Mail” event?

MC: Mm. The event will officially begin tomorrow, so I’m here to check up on this place again.

Victor: Looks like you’ve been listening to what I say. At least in work, you’ve become more conscientious. Not bad. It’s a good thing.

I straighten up, eyes crinkling as I respond.

MC: Of course! I’ve always been a very serious and responsible producer.

I place a lot of emphasis on the word “always”, and mirth appears in Victor’s eyes.

Victor: Let’s go then. I have some time, so I’ll accompany you to have a look. And also see if there’s a correlation between the state of the venue and your self-praise.

They take a look around the garden, and Victor’s gaze lingers on mailboxes on the wall at the back:

Everyone who sends Future Mail can write down the exact time they wish for it to be sent - whether it be a month later, a year later, or five years later.

The staff would then add a heart-shaped postmark. After slipping it into the mailbox, it’d be considered as sending a “gift to the future”.

On the wall behind the mailboxes, numerous stamps form the words “Snail Mail”, as well as the small words on the bottom right: A gift to the future.

Noticing Victor’s gaze, I move closer to him with a joyful smile.

MC: Don’t you find the name of the theme very creative?

Victor: “A gift to the future”... did you come up with this?

My eyes light up, and I nod quickly.

Victor: I could tell it was your style the moment I heard it - flashy and without substance.

MC: ...how is it flashy and without substance?

MC: Do you still remember the special episode on “Feelings” from before? Actually, this theme was inspired by that episode. Giving gifts is a common way to express how one feels. But it’s not that easy to send a gift to the future. With Future Mail, the sender can convey their feelings and surprises in this gift to the other party across time.

Victor is silent for a while, an unreadable depth in his eyes.

Victor: ...I see. I can more or less understand today’s Future Mail.

MC: Huh?

I furrow my brows. Before I can clarify what he means, Victor has already walked closer to the wall, pointing at the words formed by the stamps.

Victor: Why did you use stamps to form the words?

MC: To complement the idea of “Future Mail”. Even though few people use stamps nowadays, I feel they better convey the idea of sending something. For example, this one! It might look unremarkable, but its journey is hardly normal.

I raise my head, pointing to a stamp at the corner with slightly yellowed edges.

MC: In a time before the development of communication technology, an elderly man, who was still a young boy at the time, pasted this stamp on a letter and sent it out.

MC: By the time the letter reached its destination, the elderly man had already proposed to the elderly woman. Because it was lost, it took a whole two years for the letter to arrive...

MC: Back then, the elderly man would never have guessed that this letter would go through an unexpected turn of events to become a gift to the future.

MC: How does that sound - from its form to its stories, they all tally with the theme of the event, don’t they?

Victor: The creativity is satisfactory. You did a lot of homework. No wonder you have the confidence to praise yourself.

Gaining his affirmation, satisfaction bubbles in my heart. Pulling on his hand, we walk to a table at a corner.

MC: If we’re talking about creativity, it doesn’t stop at the words formed using stamps!

Victor picks up the small, red lacquered crescent-shaped block, holding it on his palm.

Victor: You’re referring to this?

MC: Mm, poe divination is definitely considered creative!

[Trivia] Poe divination is a traditional Chinese divination method where a pair of crescent-shaped wooden or bamboo blocks is thrown on the ground, with the positions of the blocks determining the divine answer

Clearing my throat, I use my most serious and stern expression to explain this “creativity”

MC: After all, it’s sent to a future which is filled with uncertainty. So people will definitely struggle in deciding if they should send such a gift. At this point, the poe divination blocks will contain the answer.

Victor suddenly leans a little closer, tapping my forehead with a bent finger.

Victor: Are you sure you didn’t prepare it just because you like it?

MC: ...

MC: When faced with unknown circumstances and being unable to make a decision, many people will wish to borrow some help from “fate’s direction”.

MC: It’s been statistically proven!

Victor: ...you always have a reason for everything.

A gust of wind carrying water droplets courses in through the window. Victor turns his head to gaze outside the window. Beside the enclosed corridor, a small candy coloured shed is concealed behind the trees.

Victor: Is that shed also part of this “creativity”?

MC: Not only that. It’s the “secret weapon” of this event - a shed for Future Mail videos!

Victor ponders for a moment.

Victor: From what I understand from the words, it’s a gift where videos are sent at a scheduled time?

MC: That’s right. Even though letters and objects are more ceremonial in nature, videos could be even more vivid and interesting.

I suddenly think of something while speaking, and grip his sleeve.

MC: Victor, why don’t we give it a try first? I haven’t officially seen how a recording would look like.

Right after I finish speaking, Victor tilts his face downwards, his lips pursed together slightly. Seeing his expression, the answer I predicted is readied--

Victor: I’m not interested.

...as expected.

MC: Just a short two minutes of recording will do... it’s so meaningful!

I attempt to canvass my explanation. Before I can weave together what I prepared, a stranger’s voice pipes up.

Staff: Hello, may I know if you’re Miss MC?

Before us stands a young man who is dressed in the attire of an employee of the garden.

MC: I am. Is something the matter?

Staff: That’s great. We just discovered that there seems to be a few more decorations. Could you come take a look?

MC: Sure, I’ll be there immediately!

Watching as I immediately become enlivened, Victor speaks faintly.

Victor: I can see that you’re very invested in this event.

MC: As long as I’m doing something, I’ll give it my all. You were the one who taught me this.

I tilt my head cheekily, but Victor looks as though he’s deep in thought.

Victor: So... the reason why you took up this “Snail Mail” event was simply because of the program?

MC: Yes... should there be another reason?

Staring at him a little blankly, I have no idea what it could be.

Victor: Nothing. You should go ahead.

I walk towards the door, but hesitate and swivel my head around because of his words. Seeing that Victor is remaining silent, I turn back, deciding to complete the work on hand first.

Watching the girl’s back as she runs off, Victor’s gaze returns to the small shed not afar off. Mottled lights are cast onto his face, and his expression can’t be seen clearly.

After a while, he turns and walks towards the small shed.

By the time they leave the camellia garden, evening has begun to set in and the rain has stopped

MC thought Victor would bring her to Souvenir for dinner, but the car stops at his house instead

Thinking of how I’d get to enjoy Chef Victor’s “special dinner”, I place the bouquet on the coffee table and happily plop myself onto the sofa.

MC: Huff... I can finally have dinner. What should I order... With so many things I want to eat, it’s suddenly a little perplexing.

Seeing my slightly sly smile, Victor tosses a sweeping glance at me, then sits on the sofa as well.

Victor: Take your time to decide.

Victor: First, come here. Look at this. I received this in the morning.

From a gift box at the corner of the coffee table, Victor retrieves a sheet of paper which resembles an envelope. On the back of it, I think I see--

A heart-shaped postmark?!

I hurriedly straighten up, wanting to grab it from Victor’s hand. Apart from the letter, there seems to be an exquisite-looking, petite bottle...

MC: ...camellia essential oil?

The words slip out of my mouth.

After Victor and I visited the maze in the camellia garden back then, the staff gave us a bottle of camellia essential oil which was made in the garden.

As pre-opening guests, Victor and I were the first to walk out of the maze. And this bottle of essential oil was also their first unique gift.

This unique prize seemed to be telling me that no matter which direction I choose, as long as I keep moving forward, I’ll definitely be on the same path as Victor in the end.

Back then, I had “monopolised” this bottle of essential oil, which carried the sentiments I couldn’t say aloud.

MC: I remember hiding this bottle of essential oil once I got home. Why is it with you?

Victor: Are you sure? Think through it again.

Sensing Victor’s deep gaze, a forgotten memory surfaces in my mind...

[ flashback ]

A while after parting with Victor, a small shop brimming with warmth comes into view.

MC: “Snail Mail”... what does this mean?”

Filled with curiosity, I push the doors open and enter. With the staff’s explanation, I finally get the meaning of this shop’s Future Mail.

MC: It sounds really interesting - I’ll send him a gift then! What should I send?

Biting the pen cap, I stare at the white letter paper and suddenly see the bottle of essential oil, which is still causing undulating emotions in my heart...

[ end of flashback ]

Victor: Looks like you remember now.

When the faraway memory returns, I suddenly understand what Victor was referring to when he said “I see” after I had explained the theme earlier in the afternoon.

The sky gradually clears up after the rain, and the corners of Victor’s lips seem to be dyed with the warmth of sunset. He looks at the letter in his hand.

Victor: “To a certain ‘CEO Victor’ who always surprises me.”

Without warning, Victor actually starts reading out the contents of the letter! I subconsciously try to stop him.

MC: You’re not allowed to read it out!

As though he didn’t hear my objection, Victor continues reading in a composed manner.

Victor: “Even though you’re taciturn most of the time, and love criticising me mercilessly, you always bring me unexpected hope whenever I'm at my wit’s end...”

Hearing Victor’s unchanging tone of voice, this somewhat “public confession” causes me to turn completely red in the face.

MC: S-stop reading it!

I reach out to snatch the letter, but Victor simply raises his long arm, easily lifting it out of reach.

Victor: It’s a letter you wrote yourself. Why aren’t you letting me read it?

MC: ...just give it back to me!

Seizing an opening, I pounce forward fiercely, but am still not as fast as his sharp eyes and deft hands.

Abruptly losing my balance and slipping on my feet, I stumble towards Victor. Instinctively, I reach out to grab something to stabilise myself--

Rip--

Accompanying a soft sound, a button ends up in my hand. I lift my head in astonishment, only to be greeted by Victor’s suddenly loosened tie and bare skin...

It turns out that I accidentally tore off the button near his neckline!

Glancing at his chest, I subconsciously swallow the words I was planning to say. I stuff the button into his hand, then quietly huddle in a corner.

MC: ...here, the button.

Victor: Looks to me like the state of your cerebellum deserves to be re-assessed.

[Trivia] The cerebellum is the part of the brain responsible for a number of functions including motor skills such as balance, coordination, and posture :’D

MC: I didn’t do it on purpose!

MC: It’s your fault for reading the letter aloud.

Victor: Sophistry.

Thinking that Victor would continue with his criticisms, he unexpectedly sets the letter down, then retrieves the essential oil in the box.

Victor: Not reading the letter is fine. Tell me - why did you send this bottle of essential oil to me using Future Mail?

Victor turns his head towards a still-blushing me, as he unhurriedly tugs his neckline closed. I take the unopened bottle from him, and give it some thought.

MC: I didn't put in much thought back then. I was really happy when we were at the camellia garden together...

MC: And this bottle of essential oil seemed to be telling me--

MC: That no matter which direction I choose, you’ll definitely be the first, and the only person to walk the same path with me.

MC: The reason why I sent it using Future Mail was so that you’d re-experience the beautiful memories I did after a period of time, and feel how I felt.

After hearing this, Victor’s brows soften, and he looks to be in a pretty good mood.

Opening the bottle, I take a whiff. Even after such a long time, the fragrance of camellias is still clear and refreshing.

MC: Does essential oil have such a long shelf life? It’s not spoilt at all! Take a whiff - isn’t it still very fragrant?

Watching him arch his brows in objection, I purse my lips. Something occurs to me, and my eyes crinkle as I hold the bottle in front of him.

MC: Why don’t I sacrifice myself for a while! I’ve been so busy with this event that my neck and shoulders are sore. I wonder if I have the honour of troubling CEO Victor to give me a shoulder rub? We could also test if the essential oil is still effective.

Victor doesn’t take it, but shifts his gaze towards me.

Victor: ...you’re ordering me to give you a massage? The reason you found was very pompous. Are you sure you’re sacrificing yourself?

I smile, ignoring his protests and stuffing the bottle into his hands. Then, I lift my hair up, turning to the side to signal that he should hurry up.

A while later, along with a sigh, the cooling liquid is gently dripped onto my neck region.

Victor: You’re sitting so far away. It’s not my problem if its effectiveness is compromised.

I immediately scoot backwards, shifting slightly closer to him. Victor laughs like he’s in a good mood, gently encircling me into his chest.

Separated by the thin, see-through gauze material of my clothes, it’s as though his hand is directly on my skin, soaking it with the warmth of his palm. I subconsciously hold my breath.

Victor: Is this the place which feels uncomfortable?

MC: A little more to the left.

Victor: Here?

MC: Mm... around there.

Just as I prepare to doze off and properly enjoy this experience, the soft fingers suddenly move away. Victor shifts slightly, leaning close to my neck.

The searing breaths from his nose course through the air, descending on the nape of my neck like the quivering wings of a cicada. It feels warm and ticklish.

Victor: The fragrance isn’t bad. Looks like it still has effectiveness.

His baritone voice comes from behind me. He sets down the bottle, and finally kneads my neck gently.

Without realising it, the afterglow of dusk breaks through the earlier overcast, casting golden light spots across the bright and spacious living room.

Victor’s hand is still around my waist, and I relax, resting against his shoulder.

On the coffee table, the shadow cast by the bottle is drawn out by the setting sun. Looking at the bouquet of camellias and thinking about the chance encounter in the afternoon, my heart suddenly stirs.

MC: Victor, the reason you were there today... Was it because you received the gift, thought about how we went to the camellia garden before, and wanted to revisit it?

Victor: You’ve finally come around.

My lips curl up in satisfaction.

MC: When you first received the gift, did you feel astonished, surprised, and touched?

Victor: ...I received your fevered imagination.

Victor: But I was slightly touched.

Victor: Just like what you said in the afternoon, this gift cut across time and awakened past memories and feelings.

I lift my head. The world before me has shrunk infinitely, and can only accommodate his smiling eyes, and the tiny me reflected in them.

With such close proximity, the surroundings seem to be dyed with Victor’s unique scent, causing my heart to feel warm and contented.

Victor: Although Future Mail is uncommon, whether it’s Future Mail or express mail, they are all just mediums.

Victor: The feelings they contain - that's the important thing.

Victor: This unexpected gift... just like what you intended when you sent it, enables me to sense your feelings.

Victor: To me, that is its significance.

I blink, smiling with great happiness.

MC: Come to think of it, I also want to receive the feelings given to me from someone...

As the colours of the afterglow grow heavier, Victor’s side profile is layered with a soft halo.

Just when I think he has nothing more to say, Victor’s lips curve into a smile.

Victor: Perhaps you can look forward to it.

MC: Hm? Look forward to what?

With this, he stands up and heads into the kitchen. No matter how much I probe, he remains indifferent. Resigned, I have no choice but to give up.

The faint yellow light of the kitchen illuminates Victor’s shoulders. Basking in the warm halo, the air surrounding him is especially tender.

A month passes by quickly, and the Future Mail event is completed successfully.

On this early morning, I suddenly receive a package. When I remove the plastic covering, there’s an envelope with a heart-shaped postmark on top of the gift box.

My heartbeat stutters out of rhythm.

Carefully opening the box, I see a videotape and a photograph. Picking up the photograph, I’m greeted by familiar, bold handwriting:

“Looks like you should have received this Future Mail. Apart from supporting your event, I’m only going to do this once. This will not be repeated. The things I want to say to you are all in this videotape. It only belongs to you.”

Morning sunlight filters in through the curtains, illuminating the bedroom floor, and also gently illuminating my heart...

Calls: First // Second

#mlqc #mlqc cn #mlqc spoilers #mlqc victor #HE'S REALLY CHARMING #even his use of 782346 idioms in this date is charming #what a MAN

451 notes · View notes

ggukkiedae · 3 years

Text

❝𝕀𝕟 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕠𝕠𝕡❞

𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜:

⇢ Episodes 7-8

𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜:

⇢ conversations written in italics are spoken in english. requests and feedback are highly appreciated!

⇢ script form (name: lines) are the interviews

EPISODE 7

her first cut for the episode is in the kitchen of the upper house where hobi stops by and pats her head

“need help?” “i’m good, oppa. you can go ask jinnie or yoongi oppa if they need help!”

she’s silently moving around the kitchen while getting everything she needs to make tteokbokki and grilled chicken skewers

then she heard them say they were gonna cook fried chicken instead so she looks right into the camera

“maybe i should make rabokki instead?”

she works around hoseok and jungkook while they make the batter and prepares all her stuff starting with marinating her small pieces of chicken

eventually, she’s starting on her rabokki when jungkook comes in to make sauce

“need help, oppa?” “you know that good chicken sauce?” “i got you”

she started dictating stuff out loud for him to follow while simultaneously working on her own dishes

he stands next to her, heating up his saucepan on the spot next to her rabokki. she jumps when he loudly asks for ketchup

“you’re so loud” she laughed and passed the ketchup bottle

“don’t pretend you don’t get louder than this” “true. try this. is it good?” “i’ll try yours if you try mine”

the two maknaes were just trying each other’s food more than they should have at this point

once she put the cheese on her rabokki and covered it, she moved to putting her chicken pieces and chopped up bell peppers onto skewers

when she finished that, she turned off the stove and moved her skewers outside

she watched in amusement while the others panicked over the fried chicken. she was peacefully grilling her skewers

when they went to score the chicken, she called out to them “make sure to check the first two knes you fried, too”

Miya: The oppas… sometimes get a little excitable. Cooking with them is pretty amusing because they usually know what to do, but something happens and makes everyone a little jumpy. It’s actually quite funny. We did it, though. It worked!

cut to when they’re eating and she smiles

she’s sitting across from yoongi struggling to open her can of beer until yoongi opened it for her

“how can you still look like a baby when opening a can of beer?” “the tab hurts my fingers”

her skewers were finished quite quickly, and so was the rabokki

after they joked about an edm version of the in the soop song, she finished the remnants of her beer can and stood up

“does anyone want a cocktail?”

hoseok cheered for her “ooooh makdungie’s gonna make us an adult drink”

she laughed and took three bottles of soju before skipping over to the kitchen

she pulled a large clear bowl from the cabinet and dumped in a lot of ice quickly followed by the soju. she pulled a few scoops of what looked like strawberry ice cream and mixed it into the bowl of soju

she frowned realizing she couldn’t carry it but jungkook walked in

“i’ll carry that, go get us some glasses, mimi”

she grinned at jungkook then took 8 smaller glasses from the cupboards

“a sweet drink to counter all the salt and strong flavors”

she scooped some for everyone, and they did a cheers to it

“ooooh you made this well, aegi” taehyung’s wide eyes made her giggle

“i saw it online!”

by the end of the night, she was on hoseok’s lap and in an endless fit of giggles especially when they were teasing namjoon to make him dance

the next day you they show a clip of her empty bed with the words “makdungie is gone?” on the screen

then you see her sleeping beside jungkook

Miya: The oppas made it a rule to never let me sleep alone after drinking. I don’t really know why? Maybe it’s because I’m a little clingier, or I think it’s an alcohol poisoning thing or in case I get sick. It’s pretty sweet of them, honestly.

she wakes up mumbling nonsense when hoseok cuddles her and jungkook awake

“makdungie, jk” “[incoherable]”

she sits up straight away though and starts rubbing her eyes “hobi oppa?”

and hoseok uwus because cute tiny baby aksjdhf meanwhile jungkook is still knocked out. he cups her cheeks and squishes them

“time to wake up, yoon-ah. i’ll leave the other maknae to you. head to the upper house, alright?”

when hoseok left, she turned to jungkook’s sleeping form and poked him. he groaned, so she just sprawled herself across his stomach, making him grunt

“hobi oppa says we need to wake up and go to the upper house” “right now?” “mhmm”

next cut of them is yoonmi on jungkook’s back while they arrive at the upper house

“maknaes, could you two clean up and set up the table? and bring ten bowls too?” “okay”

once she finished, she walked over to the camper van and slid in next to yoongi. she closed her eyes again, making yoongi sleepily chuckle

you can see her again when they're eating breakfast. her eyes are half-closed, hair going everywhere while eating, so taehyung had to tie her hair into a bun for her

she disappears for a while after breakfast which leads to taehyung asking yoongi where she went

“knowing her, she’s probably with her guitar at the dock”

then the screen cuts to yoonmi actually sitting on the dock with her guitar and laptop out

she’s strumming random melodies until at some point she’s just playing waste it on me

there’s a mini time lapse of her before she decides to get up and go back into her room to nap

the screen shows her cuddling up to her plushies and hiding her entire body under her blanket

by the time it was 7, yoongi comes over to her room to wake her up

“hey, princess. if you don’t wake up now, you won’t be able to sleep later” “hmm” “wanna come sit with me while i work?” “mkay”

she sleepily let yoongi pull her back to the camper van

Yoongi: I’m not sure how, but I know when to check on her. I just thought maybe she’s still asleep, so I needed to wake her up so she can sleep at night. She sleeps in so much on free days, so j have to make sure she keeps as regular as a sleeping time she can get

the last clip you see of her is her hugging yoongi’s arm while they walk

EPISODE 8

she’s sitting across from yoongi with a sleepy smile on her face

“yoon-ah, put your hands up!”

she giggled and did as she was told while vibing with the elder. the screen’s caption read “yoon siblings are having fun”

hours later, she and yoongi are called for dinner

“the steak and pasta are good!” “thanks, makdungie”

they toasted for their last night there and she’s just mumbling off to jungkook about both the song for in the soop and another song she had been working on then yoongi came to let them hear the guide

jungkook then wraps himself around her because she feels cold and yoonmi just sits there unbothered. once she finished her food, both maknaes cuddled up to jin

she sits on the grass between jungkook and taehyung while holding her own firecrackers

“wah, this is really cool” “makdungie, look here”

hoseok was holding out his phone and taking pictures of her. she immediately smiled for him

jimin kept a hold on her when they tried the other types of firecrackers so she wouldn’t get too close

she was cheering when they lit the firecrackers “wah! pretty!”

they’re all gathered in the living room where she found herself in between namjoon and yoongi. you can see her zone out a little during their game

“i’m so confused” she laughed and went along with whatever was happening

the next day she woke up due to her phone ringing

“mm hello?” “...” “a little, yeah” “...” “it’s already 2pm?” “...” “alright” then she hung up

the captions just read “her brother woke her up by accident”

she spent a while staring at her wall while sitting up in bed until her door opens to reveal hoseok

“yoon-ah, time to—oh, you’re up” “good morning” “how long have you been awake?”

hoseok sat next to her which effectively made her lean her head on his shoulder “just now. yoonsungie oppa just called me about seollie”

“head up in a bit, okay?” “i’ll fix my stuff first”

she was quiet for most of lunch then went straight to the trampoline and does a few tricks and flips

“oh, they’re playing with water guns. that looks nice. oh, i should probably take a shower”

taehyung caught sight of her when she was walking off to the boathouse to get her stuff for her shower

“aegi, come give me a hug.”

he ran right for her making her squeal and laugh while running away from him. he eventually caught her in a hug and got her wet. she laughed and hugged him back before going to get ready to leave

Miya: It was nice. I feel like this is the least amount of work any of us had in the past seven years. It was a reminder to sit back and take a break every now and then. To you who is watching this, take a break. Whether it’s by yourself or with friends, take a break. It’ll be good for your body and your mind.

“is it just me, or did the staff suddenly bring in another car?” “i don’t know, mimi. maybe they want us by twos?”

she got into a car with jungkook and hooked her phone up to the aux. they looked at each other for a bit before she played the original version of euphoria, which was their duet they rolled down the windows and sang along

Recording In The Soop:

she sat next to yoongi while they waited for everyone to discuss what they wanted the lyrics to be

they were silently discussing something between themselves

eventually they had her go into the booth to record first

she was in a fit of giggles when they were instructing her “okay okay, i got it, let’s go”

she got it in one go and skipped back to everyone else. she settled herself next to yoongi again and watched the rest of the process

she cringed a little at namjoon’s narration but cheered “RM!”

she laughed when yoongi ran into the booth “oppa, i could have pressed the start for you”

she couldn’t help it and gave all controls to hoseok. she just kept laughing

when it came to the chorus bit, she and yoongi stayed outside to direct

“oppa, are we gonna make them record adlibs after the soop part?” “probably. you wanna try?” “hmm not really”

namjoon did his adlib and she just bursts out laughing because she didn’t expect it

jungkook kept making adlibs so she laughs and pokes him with her foot “oppa, you better record one”

then it was jungkook’s turn. she snorted “this is gonna be something”

then he actually did it and she just falls out of her chair laughing which just made everyone laugh harder while jimin helped her up

but he fell, too, and cue harder laughter

“oh my god, i can’t”

once they finish jungkook’s adlibs she just “can we get jimin oppa and jinnie oppa to record the main line for the soop part?”

the rest of recording was going well with a whole lot more laughter until yoongi checked everything

“jungkook, yoonmi, get in for harmonies”

she follows jungkook inside while everyone leaves

“what do you two want to do?” “i was thinking we’ll do layers to the soop part” “oh, oppa same. you do the main, i’ll do the higher?”

they recorder the layers smoothly and yoongi clapped for them “good work, kids”

#yoonmi.inthesoop #bts 8th member #bts female member #bts female addition #miya #yoonmi #kim yoonmi

73 notes · View notes

argumentl · 3 years

Text

The Freedom of Expression Ep 53 - Trying the pot shaped Baumkuchen

K: Hi, this is Dir en grey's Kaoru with this week's episode of The Freedom of Expression. Joe san, Tasai san, welcome.

T: This..*looks at large box on desk*

K: There's an impressive presence here. I feel a bit squshed.

J: Absolutely!

K: What do you think this is?

T: What is it?

J: This is...what is it? It has a red ribbon on it.

K: Yeh, just seeing this, its like....

T: Like a christmas present, with a wooden box.

J: Is the box made of wood?

K: Well, do you remember that story we did before... the antiques in the showcase, that you had to look twice to see what they really were?

J: Oh yes, that story! We did that a while ago.

T: The Baumkuchen?

J: The Baumkuchen! There's no Baumkuchen in Nishinari! That one.

K: Yep, its the pot type.

J: The pot. Its here!

T: The price is quite high, right?

K: I think so.

J: Ehh, where was this place again?

T: Was it Sakura Shinmachi?

J: Sakura Shinmachi? Oh yes, Sakura Shinmachi.

K: 'Baumkuchen Villon'

J: Villon san! We're doing this now?

K: Lets open it up and have a look, then we can eat it.

J: Yes please, I love sweet stuff!

K: You do, don't you?

J: Yes.

K: Can I open this?

T: There are some wet tissues here.

K: Ah, I'll use one of those.

J: Yes, disinfect first. If this didn't have a red ribbon on it, I would have thought Kam was dead or something. Just at a glance, haha.

Kami: Kami is dead? Its cause I'm a Nishinari god. I don't recognize Baumkuchen.

J: Yeah

T: ???*1

J: Can Kami see us, he probably can't from up there?

Kami: I can see you.

K: Im gonna open it.

J: Yehy. Im so happy. I really am! This is the real deal!

K: Wow, amazing! I can't tilt it to show you, but there's something written on here.

J: Oh, there is...Baumkuchen. Ah, this is so exciting. I remember from the news story that there were various types, but this is massive.

*Kaoru lifts lid off box*

T, J: Oh!

Kami: You're good at opening it.

T: Good at opening it, haha. He's watching. Ah! I can smell it!

K: *Looking in box* Oh!...I can't see it yet.

J, T: Ahhh, haha.

J: Of course.

*K picks card out of box*

J: Ah, the shop's name is written on it. Western confectionary, Villon.

K: I can kind of see it a bit now.

J: Can you? How are you gonna get it out? Is pulling it out the only way?

K: Hm, like this? *pulls on inner plastic*

T: Hahaha

J: I'll support the box. I'll put my hand here.

K: I'll get rid of all this cushioning first.

T: Hand the rubbish over to me.

J: I'll support the box. If this goes wrong Im gonna scream....Are you gonna pull it out?

K: I guess so.

J: Right, cause theres no place to break the box apart. You'll have to pull it up. Get ready to see Kaoru pulling up this Baumkuchen, everyone.

K: Is this ok?

J: There's no other way to do it.

K: Isn't it written on the card how to open it?

T: You must have to pull it out.

J: Yeah.

Kami: Its like, however you look at it, its a Baumkuchen where you can only see the ribbon.

J: Yeah. Does it say how to get it out of the box?

K: No...

J: You sound like you might cry, haha.

K: It doesn't say.

J: You're just gonna have to pull it out.

T: Lets do it.

*K pulls cake out of box*

T, J: Woah!

Kami: Woah!

J: Incredible! This is totally amazing! What is this..?

Kami: Amazing!

J: Awesome! Its massive! How many portions is it??

Kami: Is this Baumkuchen?

J: Yes, it is. Well, the most important thing is the taste, right? How do you cut it?

T: I wanna look at it a bit longer.

K: I'll open the plastic.

J: Yes, lets do that first. Lets get everything off it.

K: Its pretty difficult to get this off.

J: Yeah, how do you get it off without breaking the cake?

K: Right...without breaking it..

J: Kaoru, use your dexterity.

K: Nah, its gonna break.

*K tears plastic*

J, T: Ohhh

T: Ah, but...

K: Ah, its working *continues tearing*

T: Oh, but I still can't tell....Oh, like that?

J: Yeah, that works.

K: Like, there is a platform at the bottom, but its kind of off centre.

J: Oh yes, its facing this way, its not centered.

T: This looks exactly like a pot, from the side.

J: If it was in a shop window, you'd think it was a pot. Even at home, you'd think it was a pot. It looks like one from any angle. This store makes regular sweets too, right?

K: Yeah, I think so, its not just this.

Kami: How do they make it?

J: Yeah, Im just having a look in the leaflet, but it doesn't say how they make it. I don't think it said in the article before either....Ah! Its open! It says they use special eggs to make it though.

Kami: Ah, it looks great.

J: Ah, it does look great. Can I take a photo?

T: Here it is!

K: Its really difficult to move it though. Can.I just leave it on here?

J: Yeah. Thats the safest way to do it.

K: It seems a waste to cut it.

J: Yeah, ???*2

K: It seems a waste.

J: How exactly are you gonna cut it though?

K: Hm, how should I?

T: This will show your personality.

K: Should we try to cut it in the most interesting way we can?

J: Ah, yeah, for the show.

K: It wouldn't be that interesting to just cut the top off, would it?

J: Right.

T: How about straight down from the top?

K: Ah, like this? Then we can see the layers on the inside.

T: Yeh yeh, I wanna see that.

J: Yeh, almost like disecting the cake.

K: Lets do that.

J: Ok, lets do it.

K: Can I get the knife?

T: You're gonna do it?

K: Here we go....There are people recording this on their phones *points to off camera*.

T: Yeah, I will too *gets phone out*

J: Just in case.

K: *cutting* Ah, its cutting easily. *To Tasai recording* Yeah, the viewers can't see this bit, so send over what you recorded later....Hang on a sec.

J: What is it? Did it get harder?

K: This part is more dense. Can you pass me a tissue?

J: Do you have to support the top?

T: Do we have any tissues that aren't wet tissues?

K: Ok, I'll use this fork.

J: I wonder why people order this type of thing? Do they use it for parties, or something?

*Kaoru making the second cut *

J: Ahh, how is this gonna turn out?!

K: Yeah, I wonder how this is gonna work.

J: Is it just gonna break apart after you finish cutting?....Oh, amazing!

K: Can you put a plate here? What should I do next?

J: Ah, the piece is already falling out!

T: I'll give you another plate.

K: Ah, this is really difficult! ...Should I like... *motions cutting it in half horizontally* ..I'm just gonna have to grab it with my hand.

J: Yeah, you'll have to. You did clean your hands before.

*K pulls out piece*

J: Ohh, amazing!

K: Ok, I'll put the knife here.

J: Wow, the top section is trembling. Look at the inside. Should we move the rest out of the way?

K: Hm, what should we do? I'll turn it round so everyone can see.

J: It looks so nice cut open.

T: Ahh, great.

Kami: You are good at cutting.

J: Kami said you're good at this.

K: Good at what?

J: He said you're good at cutting. He's complimenting you. Ok, should we try eating it.

K: I'll cut the bits that my hands havn't touched, and then we can eat those bits.

J: Ahh, Im looking forward to this. It looks delicious.

K: I'll just put this here.

J: How many portions is a regular Baumkuchen?

K: Yeh.

J: Which is the best bit? I get the feeling the end section might be good.

K: I don't know really.

J: Ah, is that bit crispy? Its like we're filming a regular ???*

T: ???*3

Kami: Where was the shop again?

J: Sakura Shinmachi.

T: Yeah, Villon in Sakura Shinmachi.

J: Ah, it looks delicious. Thats the thing, its made to look like a pot, but Baumkuchen is also usually really delicious. It says here they use really fresh eggs. As to why it has such a deep flavour, its because they use fresh eggs. Eggs from chickens fed a specific diet.

T: Ehh. By the way, how much did this cost again?

*K hands piece to J*

J: Oh, thank you! Ok, should we try it? This looks so good! Isn't it really yellow?

T: Oh, yeah.

J: Ah, it smells good.

T: Which part is this piece from?

K: I don't know.

T: I wanna make it into a puzzle, like fit the pieces back in, haha.

J:*takes fork* Ok lets eat! Sorry Kami, you can only watch.

Kami: Its nice for you.

J: Kami is this the first time you've seen people eating Baumkuchen?

Kami: Yeah. But I've got alcohol.

T: Im gonna try the outside 'pot' bit.

*everyone eating*

J: Mm

K: It tastes good.

J: Mmm.

T: The outside bit smells good.

J: You could just go on and on eating this.

T: Yeah.

J: The shape is unique, but the taste is like a really simple Baumkuchen, its delicious.

Kami: Is it sweet?

T: Its really good, Kami.

*K passes pieces from the neck of the pot out*

J: Ah, from the neck.

T: Its from up here, right?

J: Yeah. Ah, this bit from the top tastes really good. How to describe it..?

K: Its a bit like bread.

J: Yeah, its a lot like bread. Its Baumkuchen, but the top but is closer to bread.

T: Yeah, its well cooked.

J: Its so nice.

K: Its impossible to finish this.

J: Yeah, its impossible between four people.

T: It probably serves about ten people.

J: We are living in times where we can't have parties and stuff..but when we can again, then...

K: Well, you could have it at home, share it with your grandma and grandad.

J: Oh, yeah, that would be good. Ahh, this is great.

T: Its pretty interesting.

K: So this would originally be like a tall cylinder shape..they've probably just shaved some of it off here to make this shape, right?

J: I guess so.

T: I wonder...

J: How did they?

K: Or did they like brush it on?

T: Well, maybe they put a lot thin layers on this bit and put it on more thickly on the other bit.

K: But ???4 *points to horizontal surface of pot*

J: Oh yes, thats right.

T: Joe san!

J: Ha, I don't know.

K: Don't you think it was originally the same thickness all the way up, then shaped down?

T: Well, yeah, you can see that bit, its cooked like that.

J: Yeah, cause Baumkuchen is made on a long bar, and usually sliced up. But if they shaved it into shape while it was still on the bar..

K: Yeah, like when you make pottery, shave it down while turning the bar around. Thats what it seems like to me.

T: ???*5

J: Yeah, its baked.

K: Yeh, its like that at the top too.

T: Oh, ok.

K: Hahaha

J: You agree now, right. Well, if the store staff who made this are watching, please write in the comments how its made.

*On screen note with close up of cake: They emphasized this idea, but it appears to be totally wrong*

T: Its nice, isn't it?

J: Yes, I enjoyed it. Thank you.

K: This was a very 'youtube' type idea.

J: Yeah, but this was the biggest expense of the show so far.

T: Hahaha

J: So please give us some views everyone, haha.

T: Yeah.

K: Ok, lets finish here this week.

J: Thanks for the meal!

K: It was delicious.

J: It was.

K: Thank you very much.

Kami: I didn't eat annny!

*1,2,3,4,5 Couldn't catch/figure out.

To top page

#dir en grey #the freedom of expression #tfoe #kaoru #薫 #baumkuchen

13 notes · View notes

itsclydebitches · 4 years

Text

RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Amity”

Welcome back, everyone! I hated this episode.

As in, I’m nominating “Amity” for the Most Stupid Episode of RWBY award. Was there some cool action? Yes. Good Penny development? Mm hmm. Some surprise cameos in the Maya Engine? You know it. Was all of it almost entirely undermined by the sheer number of times I went, “Wait, what?” over the course of twenty minutes?

Sadly, yes.

But let’s start at the beginning.

We get a gorgeous opening shot of Amity Tower and, aesthetics aside, my first thought was, “There’s no one around to protect it?” I mean, this was Ironwood’s super secret project. Watts just tried to sabotage it a few hours ago. Prior to the reveal that Amity wasn’t finished (cough), Team RWBY was trying to convince Ironwood to give calling others a chance, but you’re telling me after all that there’s not a single guard there? Pietro, Maria, and Penny just waltzed up without any problems? The only reason it might be abandoned—yes, even with a grimm attack looming—is if it was useless. Because remember, it was supposed to be useless. Unfinished. Not worth protecting in its current state because its current state is non-operational. That would have explained why Ironwood would leave it undefended, yet as we’ve known since the premiere, Amity was apparently finished by magic at some point, leaving the question of why it’s unguarded (or why Ironwood wouldn’t want to use it himself for something) up in the air. Pun not intended.

So these three have free rein to do whatever they want and what they want to do is, apparently, blow up the dust mine. Love that we spent an entire volume worrying about dwindling resources! I’d find the sacrifice justifiable under the circumstances if this Amity plan weren’t so foolish. Also, I’m not going to pretend that I know anything about explosives and whether providing that kind of “thrust” would actually work, but in this case I think RWBY’s sci-fi/fantasy status gives it a pass.

Penny, however, isn’t so sure. “Dad? This… does not seem like a very good idea.” Yeah. Pietro gives a short speech about good ideas not necessarily being best ideas, which would have been a great perspective to adopt for the series’ massive Ironwood arc, not a three minute solution to a problem I didn’t even know existed until now.

Pietro also weirdly teleports during this scene? He’s talking to Penny outside of the tower, tinkering with things, and then the next sentence he’s suddenly deep inside it. I mean, based on the dialogue this sentence could have come later, but it doesn’t read that way given that they were just chatting. It feels like a continuous conversation. He was outside one second, now he’s not.

During all this Maria is doing… something with a mech. That she got from who knows where. I really don’t know what the point of this was besides a very brief airship fight, but I’m just happy Maria is doing something. In fact, she’ll do far more later in the episode—we’ll get to that—so congratulations, RWBY, we can officially ignore half of your Maria square on the bingo card. Keep her alive for the next nine episodes and you’re golden.

Our trio has the message ready to go which they recorded… when? Sometime before everyone split based on the fact that Ruby is standing in the Happy Huntress’ hideout. This episode throws out a LOT of information that seems to come out of nowhere and doesn’t hold up well in terms of timing. Or, you know, general sense. Take, for example, the next exchange between Penny and Pietro. She wants to stay here in case no one is able to come help Atlas and Pietro panics about her staying with them, heavily implying that they’re leaving leaving. Once they go up they can’t come back down because otherwise… why not just send out the message, land, and then Penny goes off again to help? Later in the episode landing seems inevitable and then it seems planned for—what, are Pietro and Maria just going to hang up there forever? So what’s the conflict here?

Specifically, what’s the conflict for Penny? Amity should just be a quick side mission she completes before heading back into battle. Why does she care about doing what’s essentially an errand while Ruby nurses Nora back to health? She’s not missing anything. I’m having a hard time understanding why she’s acting like getting the message out means she’s removed from the fight indefinitely. Pietro, however, makes a little more sense if we read it simply as him not wanting Penny to be involved in the fight, period. As we see later, he fears for her safety and will do everything he can to keep her here with him, safe: “I’m your father. I’m telling you, you belong on Amity.”

Penny gives a sad “Yes, sir” and Maria chides Pietro with, “Don’t you think Penny has had enough people telling her what to do?”

Oh boy. There’s so much wrong with this line. The general demonization of ever following orders, even when those orders are sound. The comparison between Ironwood’s new villainy/his “bootlickers” (“Yes, sir”) and a father’s justifiable fear. Ignoring that Ruby has also been giving orders and no one is reminding her that Penny is an autonomous person capable of deciding things for herself. Where was this sort of chiding when she took away Penny’s scroll and spoke for her to Ironwood?

So Penny, of course, flies up and I guess provides them with the launch sequence or something? She sort of perks up and makes tech noises, then the tower is ready to go. Just like that.

Pietro makes a joke about not having time to install seatbelts.

Funny, shouldn’t there be safety measures for the people operating the tower? If the tower was finished and ready to go? 🙃

Everything is going to plan until Cinder shows up, melting a giant hole while Neo pilots the airship through it. So she came! Too bad she’s not going to achieve anything. Despite the stowaways, the bomb Penny left goes off and the dust mine explodes in a massive cloud of color, sending Amity up into the sky. This pops up on Ironwood’s feed and he gives an ominous “It’s time.”

For the first minute or so no one can move due to the pressure and Cinder takes the time to taunt Penny some, saying she expected her friends to be here and, since they’re not, she’s just “a tool to be used.” While she lashes verbally she also summons a massive number of swords. When they’re able to fight Penny is briefly overwhelmed…

…Until Maria comes to her aid!

“Get away from her, you bitch!”

That was great. If anyone other than Tyrian was going to curse, you know it had to be our snarky grandma. So I’m cheering, watching Maria make use of her (acquired off screen) tech to help, despite the fact that she’s too old to fight anymore and—

Wait.

Okay, here’s my problem with this battle. First of all, Cinder’s group should have decimated them. This is an experienced Maiden (see: Raven fight) with a grimm arm vs. a girl who only got the powers a few hours ago. I know a few weeks back I mentioned how insanely powerful Penny is in theory, but that was before she was nearly taken out by the Ace Ops. You know, the group who was all knocked unconscious by a bunch of half-trained, exhausted teenagers. So the comparisons here don’t make Penny look too good. More importantly—because Cinder doesn’t have a great track record anymore either—she’s backed by ‘I was kicking a Maiden’s ass before she whipped out her magic’ Neo and ‘I can make anyone see anything and I just mentioned last episode that I’ve been working on this semblance’ Emerald. They are a power team. Who is Penny backed by? A non-combat scientist and a woman who stopped fighting years ago.

Right?

I have no problem with Maria being powerful. In fact, after her Grimm Reaper reveal I had hoped we’d see her fight, both to give the group a power to aspire to—here’s what a fully trained huntress with experience looks like. This is what our personal inspiration and a huntress beloved by the world looks like—and to have an older fighter providing diversity. Sure, there’s Ozpin, but he reincarnates into young bodies. Maria is a Mexican coded, disabled, old as balls fighter and that’s AWESOME. Problem is… she never fought. She hobbles around with her cane, using it in a way Ozpin never used his, implying that she really needs it. She’s not spry anymore. Every time there’s a battle she’s in an airship or other tech, providing help through the use of an assistive device. She never offers to train anyone. We never see her accompanying a group—like JNOR—to provide extra protection. During the grimm attack Maria exchanges a fearful look with Pietro and then presumably hides in his shop off screen. Why has the story been ignoring Maria when she can fight like this? How can she fight like this when we haven’t seen her throw so much as a punch since we met her?

I mean, this is Neo! Neo. One of the most powerful, non-Maiden fighters we’ve seen to date. She took out Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Oscar without breaking a sweat, but a few minutes with Maria has her collapsed on the ground?

Something is very wrong with this fight. Either the writing nerfed Neo to allow Maria to win, or the writing has been pushing one of the most powerful characters off screen, relegating her to comic relief. Maria should be insanely powerful given her Grimm Reaper status. I had come to accept that she was powerful and, like people in real life, simply lost that with age. Now, the story suddenly reveals that this was never the case.

During all this Emerald helps Neo one (1) time, despite presumably standing there watching the entire fight. Before it begins Neo randomly decides to turn into Ruby, but then has dropped the illusion by the time we return. Maria is laughing like a loon for the first half of the battle. The only reason she (briefly) looses is because she gets distracted. Then Penny K.O.’s Neo’s aura with a single blast.

See, this is why I rarely enjoy the fights anymore. Beyond that fact that I thought some of it was rather lackluster compared to our Penny vs. Ace Ops fight, it just doesn’t make sense. There’s moment after moment that has me scratching my head and if you’re going, “Huh?” at the screen the whole time, it’s pretty hard to get immersed in the story.

During all this they reach the necessary altitude to broadcast, but it won’t go through because of a “stabilizer fail.” You mean the giant hole that Cinder blew in the side of the tower?

Never mind that everyone except Penny should be dead by now. How are they breathing up there? It’s like if someone blew a hole in your airplane and everyone just went about their tasks as usual.

You’ve gotta input the code, Penny.

I joke, but Pietro does start desperately typing. I guess because stabilizers might be fixed with a code or something? Anything is possible in this show.

It’s the Penny vs. Cinder fight that I’m bored with though. At least before Cinder manages to nearly the powers. I think part of it is because we already got this fight last volume, partly because they don’t do much that we haven’t seen from them both before: Penny flies around a lot, Cinder tosses variously summoned weapons, etc. Details I did appreciate though were the return of Cinder’s arrows and the fact that she didn’t let Penny lead her from Amity for long. Look at our villain making a smart decision!! Love that.

Cinder starts destroying the tower instead and Penny asks why she’d want to serve Salem. “I don’t serve anyone and you wouldn’t either if you weren’t built that way!” Penny looks sadly down at Pietro and for one horrible moment I thought the story would actually have her buy into that nonsense, but then Penny rallies and announces that she chooses when to fight because she wants to protect those she loves.

Penny has some really great moments here. What’s less great is the setup for them. I mean… why is Pietro in danger? Penny is clearly trying to keep the top portion of the tower from collapsing after Cinder’s attack, but you’re telling me the tech-obsessed scientist hasn’t put flight capabilities into his chair? That’s not how he got way up high on the outside of the tower, it was just a random hatch or something? When every piece of tech in RWBY serves triple-duty, the Atlas tech mastermind hasn’t included the one thing in his massive chair that would save him here? It’s all very… “Really?” Especially when Cinder is smart enough to realize that Penny cares about the tower, but not realize she cares more about her dad. Just grab Pietro and threaten him, demanding that Penny stand down so Cinder can grab the powers. Penny, horrified by her father’s potential death (and ambivalent about having this responsibility in the first place) lets her. Something other than this weird setup of destroying the platform itself.

Penny’s scream though is fantastic. Kudos to Taylor for that moment. So yeah, Cinder starts taking the power—did she get a bit then, like with Amber?—before Penny rallies and knocks her off. From then on Cinder doesn’t stand a chance. Emerald reappears to provide assistance in the form of an illusion, except that Penny’s tech allows her to see through it with ease. The real Cinder is marked with ‘Danger’ and Penny takes her out easily once Cinder doesn’t think she needs to dodge anymore.

I should be feeling something considering that Penny just won a battle against the woman who orchestrated her murder volumes back, in the exact same place where she died… but I’m not. Penny’s resurrection was shrugged off. Amity was used for joke license parties. I’m endlessly confused about what message RT is aiming for in regards to Penny’s autonomy (a real girl, but hackable) and this fight has been a collection of power ups, power downs, or skills just conveniently not working. What improvements has Emerald made to her semblance? This is everything we’ve seen from her before. When did we establish that Penny’s android nature makes her immune to techniques of this nature? I don’t mind that she is immune—in fact, it’s a cool skill to give her—I just wish this sort of stuff didn’t suddenly appear in the story only when the plot most needs it to. Or, to be more charitable, it would be a cool reveal if the rest of the fight held up better. I don’t mind a, “Hell yeah, Penny had the trump card she needed to win!” if the whole scene wasn’t Team Cinder being oddly weak the whole time. The most they manage to do is escape via Emerald threatening to fill the tower with holes from her gun… after the tower has had a hole blown through it, shot with flaming arrows, and had two of the beams keeping it in place melted. The most Cinder accomplishes here is unintentionally putting Penny in a position where she falls when she’s hacked. That’s it.

The villains should have won. Not just because of the team dynamics making victory a very likely outcome, but because allowing the group to successfully get their message out was one of the worst things RWBY has done to date.

Gimme just a moment to get there.

Amity is drifting back down, out of the range they need to send the broadcast, so Penny offers to “hold Amity in place” until the message is done. Pietro freaks out… why? He starts to say “Even just the temperature out there—” implying that the cold and altitude can kill Penny, except she fought Cinder outside no problem. Literally minutes ago. Hell, Cinder was fine outside and she’s not an android.

There’s that massive hole letting the atmosphere in too. I’m so confused by these conflicts that randomly appear and, as such, I can’t take the emotion attached to them seriously. How can I be invested in Pietro’s worry about this killing Penny and Penny offering to sacrifice herself when I don’t understand why it’s dangerous to begin with?

And it is treated like a sacrifice. Penny tells him that she’s trying to “live her life,” kisses Pietro as a sort of goodbye, and spends a few moments enjoying the beauty of the night sky.

She’s acting like she’s about to die and yet none of this comes across as particularly dangerous. Indeed, Penny pushes Amity for as long as Ruby’s message needs her to and then, presumably, would have come back inside, a-okay, if she hadn’t been hacked. This is like that Parks and Rec moment:

Except it’s treated seriously. Penny is doing something mundane based on what we’ve seen her do before and the fact that this cold/pressure isn’t negatively impacting anyone else who experiences it, let alone the android. So why is the story trying to convince me that this is a death sentence?

Combine this with Penny’s origins: she was built to “save the world.” That’s why Pietro created her, to fight these exact sort of battles. So why is he so resistant to her doing just that? I’m not saying he can’t change his mind and grow to love her as more than a tool—in fact, their relationship is one of the few things I’m enjoying about this volume—I just wish we’d seen how that came about. When did Pietro move from building Ironwood a weapon to having a daughter? Back in Volume 3 he was on Ironwood’s side about Penny not having friends or going out because it was too dangerous for someone like her. She has secrets to maintain and responsibilities to prep for because she was, first and foremost, created for a specific task. We get an inkling through is admission that he can’t bear to see her die again that Penny’s first destruction really changed his view of her, but all of that happened off screen. We had a whole volume with Pietro prior to this where we might have watched him struggle with his new understanding of Penny as his child, rather than dumping this on us literal seconds before she engages in this non-sacrifice. We know almost nothing about Pietro except what tiny scraps we’ve been told, so dramatic lines like, “I don’t care about the big picture, I care about my daughter!”—while wonderful—appear to come out of nowhere in regards to his development. It’s jarring. Early RWBY presented Pietro as a morally ambiguous scientist aligned with Ironwood, then he suddenly became a scientist who loved his creation in Volume 7, the scientist who betrayed Ironwood, then Volume 8 has Penny dropping “Dad” left and right and Pietro willing to throw away helping a kingdom for her sake. When did all these changes happen? Where’s the progression?

Also, I hope people understand that this is why the world needs someone like Ironwood. Is it heartwarming that Pietro wants to ditch their plan at the last second for the sake of his daughter? Hell yeah. Is that good for the millions of other people who would like their own family members to survive this war too? Nope. “I don’t care about the big picture,” while human and great characterization, is dangerous when the rest of the world depends on you. Whoever runs this show doesn’t have the luxury of saving their preferred, individual life at the expense of everyone else.

So Penny goes out and gets Amity high enough for Ruby’s recording to start, complete with her acting funny-awkward for the first few seconds.

The cameos we get throughout this? Excellent. The speech itself? Rather horrifying. So the good: we get glimpses of everyone else in this show that the story has essentially left behind. Saphron, Terra, and Whitley start things off.

(Interesting that Whitely went to his father’s office rather than his room...)

Sun and Neptune (even though that “Dude” again messes with tone).

Ilia getting a call from Ghira.

The group sitting with a recovering Nora while Ruby watches her own words with the most ridiculous expression.

Tai, desperate not to lose the one link to his daughters he’s seen in years. (Side note: I’m not interested in any of the Tai hate. He’s still at home because the writers don’t know what to do with him and because Ruby literally ran away. Are people made at Ghira and Kali for not running after their daughter too? No, because they’re minor characters that the story needed to sideline.)

Tyrian, sitting beside a very pleased looking Salem...

(Love that she’s petting him.)

Even the shop dude!

Oh yeah, and MOTHERFUCKING GLYNDA.

I’m thrilled to see her. In the sense that I love getting her in the new engine, but I’m salty that she’s unlikely to become an important part of the story again. In fact, there are so many characters at this point that she shouldn’t be re-incorporated, just because that would bloat the cast even more. That… and did they really have to give her massive cleavage? The darker glasses are fine—even if I personally found them a bit distracting compared to her original lenses—but seriously, why does a woman always reappear with even bigger breasts?

At this point everything in RWBY has a sour taste attached to it because it’s been handled so badly for so many years. It’s only now, watching them do many of the things I wanted them to do volumes ago, that I realize how badly they’ve played themselves. RT messed up so many core aspects that when they re-appear they can’t hope to provide the same sort of enjoyment we would have gotten if they’d never been dropped and/or messed up to begin with.

Case in point: Ruby’s speech. I’m not going to cover the stupidity of telling the world about Salem because I’ve already talked about that to death on my blog, but I do want to add that Ruby managed to accomplish that dubious task in the absolute worst way possible. I need a list for this one.

So, about RWBY ruining core parts of its story? We had a whole volume about how horrifying learning about Salem’s immortality was, something we never resolved because the cast randomly went from thinking they’d entered a doomed war to being #confident about how they’ll win. But at the very least they’ll be careful and considerate when they tell others that very demoralizing info, right? Ha. Ruby never even uses the term “immortal.” She mentions Salem being around for “centuries”—which, remember, was info the group also had but never put two and two together—and then says that “Just because she can’t be destroyed doesn’t mean she can’t be beaten.” What does that mean to people who have never heard of Salem before now? Ruby doesn’t even explain who she is! What’s a “force” in this context? A person? An entity? Endless grimm? She gives the people nothing here.

Alongside just casually dropping that Salem has been around for “centuries,” Ruby says that she is “a force we’ve faced before,” as if the world has ever had to deal with an outright attack from her. No, Ruby. They haven’t faced this before. That’s the point.

“I know the idea of Maidens and Relics seems crazy”—does she even mention them before this?? I don’t think she does. Ruby just name dropped two things and never bothered to explain wtf they were.

Also, great job telling the whole world, filled with bad guys not already aligned with Salem, that there are two powerful, mystery things out there that they can now start hunting down. That’s why Ozpin decided to keep the Maidens quiet in the first place. He says in Volume 3 that people were killing them when they knew they existed.

She tells everyone that Glynda and Theodore can vouch for all this information, just casually dropping that responsibility into their lap. I mean, can you even IMAGINE being Glynda right now? This kid you taught for one year heads back home after your school falls, you lose touch with the inner circle after Ozpin dies, and then said kid suddenly appears on every scroll and TV in Remnant, telling the entire world that YOU, personally, can explain to them the things you’ve helped keep hidden for a good portion of your adult life. You are one of two people they can now turn to for answers. If I were Glynda I would be furious.

She also says that Theodore and Glynda “might even be able to organize a way to fight back” RUBY. WHAT DO YOU THINK THE INNER CIRCLE WAS? A KNITTING CLUB? WHAT ELSE HAS OZPIN BEEN DOING FOR A THOUSAND YEARS EXCEPT “ORGANIZING A WAY TO FIGHT BACK”?

“But, sadly, General Ironwood can no longer be trusted.” Wow. That’s one hell of a simplified take to give to a world already working under the incorrect assumption that Atlas caused the Fall of Beacon, an assumption Ruby admitted was wrong to Cordovin. So let’s unite the world except for this one leader, right? So much for practicing what you preach.

“If she was really unstoppable she wouldn’t have acted with such caution before now.” Oh boy, that’s risking a lot on Ruby’s interpretation of Salem’s motives. After eight years even we, the audience, don’t know why Salem didn’t attack until now, so where did Ruby get the idea that it must be because she fears them? That’s not the real explanation based on how happy Salem looks while hearing the message. When did Ruby even think about this? Outside of Nora’s realization that maybe someone other than Ozpin could beat her, we haven’t seen the group discuss Salem at all, but now Ruby thinks she has everything figured out? I honestly want her to explain her thought process here. Does she think Ozpin was mistaken about the immortality business and if he’d just had the guts to unite everyone and attack her, Salem would have been defeated lifetimes ago?

(Funny how that was Ironwood’s plan...)

Ruby ends with another call to band together because “That’s how we’ll win!” complete with smiling energy.

With the exception of the cameos I hated every moment of this. The unclear reason why Ruby thinks bringing the world together is the answer in the face of how badly that’s gone each and every time others have done it, Amity magically becoming available for them to use, her dropping in random beliefs we’ve never seen her express before, turning the whole world against Ironwood, failing to actually explain any of this… I mean, imagine you’re in Remnant’s place for a second:

This child (looking entirely unprepared) suddenly hacks every device and tells you that the most powerful kingdom in the world is under attack. Who is attacking it? It’s someone you’re familiar with! But not really. It’s Salem. Who’s Salem? I won’t say, but she’s responsible for every bad thing from the White Fang to the grimm themselves. Those Relics and Maidens, those are real crazy sounding, huh? Oh, I forgot to say what they are? Nm that’s not important. Talk to my old teacher and someone I’ve never met if you’re confused. What is important is that we all come together. Except Ironwood. I don’t trust him. But I expect you all to trust everyone else, including me! Because we can totally win against this “force” I haven’t defined. You should help us. In whatever non-specific way you choose. Should you come to Atlas and save us all from the confusingly explained attack we’re under? Fight an immortal enemy somehow, with the forces you don’t have, cross who knows how many miles in under a day? I don’t know. You all can figure the preparations part out :)

If I were watching I would, at best, think this was a prank. At worst I’d be panicking over a whole lot of scary information, none of which I understand. Which in this world brings grimm.

Ruby should, in an internally consistent story, have just caused a massive number of attacks across the globe. She should be responsible for the biggest mass grimm death Remnant has ever seen. In fact, that’s my final hope for the series. I want the world to lose its mind at this confusing, terrifying announcement, from rioting in the streets to grimm swarming major cities. Ruby is left dumbfounded at the destruction she’s caused. No one can—or will—come to assist Atlas. The Kingdom falls, taking plenty of civilians with it. Ozpin escapes and is finally allowed his anger, wanting to know how the safety measures he spent lifetimes building were undone by her in one profoundly stupid move. Ironwood (if he’s still alive) coldly tells them that they could have left and saved who and what they had at the time. Ren is proven right.

I need this story to decimate our heroes, humble them, and then let them rebuild. Teach Ruby something and let her grow from it, making up for her mistakes as she goes. Because for two and a half seasons now we’ve watched this girl commit one horrible act after another—whether it’s attacking allies or unintentionally giving the world the most damaging message possible—and something needs to come out of all that.

Can’t say I’m too hopeful of seeing that though :/

The rest of the episode isn’t any better. Ironwood continues his stupidity streak by trusting Watts to do the hack himself. I really can’t believe this is what his character has been reduced to. Granted, it appears as if Watts really did do what he was asked, it’s just that none of them could have known Penny would be outside of Amity and at the height of an airplane when her systems went offline. That trust does, however, allow Watts to nab Ironwood’s crushed scroll before he’s taken back to his cell. Because, you know, at this point Ironwood is so stupid he just chucks personal tech at a villain and thinks nothing of it.

Also... all this happens before the jail scene last episode when Watts was returned, but after Ruby’s group gets to the Schnee manor. The bingo board is getting another check.

Ironwood says that “It seems Polendina’s proxy trick worked.” So Pietro deliberately built Penny with this kill switch (for lack of a better word) embedded? In this villain!Ironwood world, is the story ever going to acknowledge that Pietro is far from innocent, having helped to create and support all the things people hate about how Ironwood (supposedly) interacts with Penny?

Penny’s hack doesn’t take until Ruby’s message is complete, because of course it doesn’t.

Yang’s group is all excited—“That was the broadcast!”—despite not having a signal last episode. If they can use their scrolls at the outpost, why didn’t they call for help?

Penny then says “I love you” to Pietro before she—maybe?—falls to her second death. I don’t know. This absolutely deserves a longer rant because either Penny was resurrected for a brief, narratively meaningless existence before dying again, or we’re expected to believe that she’s falling far and fast enough to become a meteor, but will turn out just fine. Perhaps the show will forget that Pietro said he couldn’t rebuild her again. I pretty much expect it at this point.

(Either that, or Pietro will sacrifice himself for Penny. Coming at it from a father-daughter relationship, I like the idea. As a black man dying for his white daughter in a show notorious for how it has handled its race allegory... ehhhh.)

Then, we end this episode with “a river of grimm.”

????????????????????

What?

Seriously, am I the only one who laughed during that moment? It sounds ridiculous. What does that even mean, “a river of grimm”? Did Salem expand her territory somehow? Is this the same grimm soup she makes them out of? What, can she just cover the whole world with grimm making goo now? Out of everything that could have been coming out of the ice, THAT’S what we end on?

I think this episode may have broken me lol. There was so much that I knew I was meant to be invested in, so many moments trying their hardest to be emotionally compelling… and only the tinniest slivers of it worked. I want to care about Penny falling. I want to care (more) about an unexpected Glynda appearance. I want to be cheering for Ruby’s message getting out, but it’s all just so badly done. I ended this episode feeling like I had watched a RWBY parody rather than an episode. Like for funsies someone had pulled together the most ridiculous ideas they could think of, like:

The villains come and then immediately leave again, like in Fury Road except in this case that’s not the point of the story.

Super powerful fighter gets her ass kicked by laughing grandma.

Nonsensical sacrifice going on but give it just a hint of ~real~ emotion.

Huge reveal for the rest of the world but the message with be near incomprehensible.

Toss in random characters we haven’t seen in years, people love that.

End the episode with grimm soup flowing towards the kingdom.

It honestly feels like someone set out to write an absurd episode, but then gave it just enough artistry that the viewer finishing the vid goes, “Why am I actually invested in this omg lol.” Except when that’s your canon we’ve got a problem.

I don’t know. At this point RWBY is so broken I can’t even articulate everything that’s continually going wrong when we get an episode like this one. For anyone who may have missed it, we’ve got two more episodes before a six week hiatus and frankly I’m glad. Mostly because I obviously want our crew to have the time they need to keep their sanity intact during the hell that is 2020 and the likely hell that will be 2021, also because that will give them time to spruce up the second half of the volume… but there’s also a part of me that’s just glad for a break. There are still pieces in RWBY I enjoy (like the Hound, or dad!Pietro, always Ozpin) and I love writing these recaps, but it says a lot about the writing that I hear we won’t get RWBY for two solid months and I am, at best, indifferent. Can’t mess up what you don’t air, right? 😂

Man, this bingo card… it’s getting three marks today. “Two day timeline wreaks havoc on continuity,” “Needless episode cliffhanger” (grimm river??), and “The team gets Amity up and running.” Yet we somehow STILL don’t have a bingo. Amazing.

Alright, I’m done. If you enjoyed this episode, bless you. I’m really glad. Please enjoy it for the both of us. And pray for us all over the next two weeks 💜

[Ko-Fi]

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #mymetas #rwby recaps

121 notes · View notes

aer-in-wanderland · 3 years

Photo

구미호뎐 | Tale of the Nine Tailed - Lee Dong Wook’s Early Christmas VLIVE 2020.12.23 TotNT Talk

In which Lee Dong Wook talks about the series finale, deleted scenes, behind the scenes, and what TotNT means to him.

This Year as Lee Yeon [1:16:20~]

The final ‘2′ is: ‘This Year as Lee Yeon.’ Yes, that’s right. Well, truly this year, after Wook Talk* wrapped, I lived as Lee Yeon for nearly the full year. As of this week, it's been.. What is it? Three weeks since Tale of the Nine Tailed wrapped, right? Still, to think three weeks have already passed…

At first, after it ended, for about one or two weeks, I was continuously listless; after it finished airing. But filming actually wrapped a while before then, so for nearly about a month, over a month, I've felt a bit empty, yes. And heartsick... (sigh) So, this year I lived as Lee Yeon. I received a lot of love, yes. And got to experience many new things; there were a lot of enjoyable things, yes.

Humans really are like that. We're forgetful creatures, aren't we? While we were filming, it was intense and exhausting. I would think, ‘Gosh, when are we ever going to finish? Seriously, when are we going to film all of this?’ But now that we've actually wrapped, now that a month and three weeks have already passed since we finished filming... (nods) Now that I'm able to calmly look back on things, ‘It was fun,’ ‘It was enjoyable,’ ‘We really had a great time of it. We really worked hard.’ These are the things that have stayed with me the most.

[*Note: This is the nickname for Lee Dong Wook’s 2019 talk show.]

Lee Dong Wook’s Affection for TotNT [1:18:18~]

[Reading the live chat] Do I have a lot of love for Tale of the Nine Tailed?

Yes. Most likely, of everyone in the world, I probably have the most love for Tale of the Nine Tailed. Of course, the fans of our drama that loved it, and my fans that loved me, probably have a lot of love for it as well, but it's possible that I love TotNT even more than our director and writer, yes. (nods)

(Sigh) Since there's so much that went on behind the scenes that I can't even begin to tell you about... (nods)

There's... Lee Seung Hwan, among Lee Seung Hwan hyung's songs, among Lee Seung Hwan sunbae's songs, there's one called ‘Even if I Write A Poem with Tears’ (눈물로 시를 써도). In the lyrics there's a line that goes, ‘A letter torn up for having far too many circumstances [to convey] / Do you know the meaning of that?’ Right now, that's precisely how I feel. There are so many circumstances, and since they're not all things I'm able to tell you about.. (nods) Yes, well, in any case, I believe of everyone in the world, I have the most love for Tale of the Nine Tailed.

Sense of Responsibility [1:19:51~]

Tale of the Nine Tailed is... to me it was one of the dramas in which I had a large burden, a lot of responsibility to bear; in which an immense amount rested on my shoulders. From the very beginning, the director, the writer, and I spent quite a lot of time preparing just the three of us. Mm...so, while I'm only saying this now, before we even began, from the very start, I began this project with the feeling that, whether the drama succeeded or failed, I would have to bear the full responsibility for that. (nods) It was a drama, and a character, that I felt that much responsibility, that much affection for.

So, yeah, we spent seven months filming, and the broadcast, too, ended well.

The Final Scene [1:21:10~]

There are an awful lot of questions about the final scene. ‘At the end, is he a gumiho or a human?’

Honestly, I hadn't thought that that was something to be that shocked about. ‘They'll just think of this as a bonus cut.’ ‘Whether he's become a gumiho, or he's human but his powers remained, Lee Yeon will continue to eliminate the demons (ak’gwi) of this world, and Ji Ah will be with him, encouraging him and lending him strength.’ I thought people would think of it as just that much of a bonus cut, but, ‘He's become human,’ ‘He's a gumiho,’ ‘He lied to Ji Ah,’ ‘He deceived everyone.’ There was so much talk going around. So, ‘Ah, this.. I may have been somewhat mistaken.’ I did think that, yes.

But that wasn't necessarily a decision made solely by the writer and director. My opinion is reflected in that as well, so, well, since it's all over and done with at this point, rather than blaming or not blaming someone, I think it would be best if we all just laid it to rest, yes.

Six Years Later [1:22:37~]

Rather, I thought the focus would be on the happy ending: ‘Lee Yeon returned. And so, he and Ji Ah became a happy family.’ (nods) And, there is a bit more to it than that, actually, yes.

Originally, hmm... We don't know if we'll be able to do the commentary [for the director's cut Blu-ray] or not, but if it turns out we do, we'll talk about these sort of.. yes, we'll talk about these things, so..

To tell you a little bit up front, originally, in the scene at the park where I meet Rang-ie, that boy who is like a reborn Rang-ie, that's six years later, according to the script. As to why we didn't add that '6 years later' in as a chyron... If we had, our environment would have needed to change completely. At the very least, the smartphones Lee Yeon and Ji Ah use; their car, like, the cars driving about on the roads, all these sorts of surrounding items; the house we live in - so, well, that would be a set, wouldn't it? - all those things would have had to have changed, but we didn't have the time needed to physically make those changes. And, honestly, none of us know what sort of smartphones we'll be using in six years, do we? What car models will be released six years from now, how people will dress and go about six years from now. So, in wanting to keep true to those details, we thought it might be fine to just leave it at, ‘some amount of time had passed,’ and go with that. But now, well, thinking about it now, if we'd just added in the chyron, I think maybe it might have been easier for you all to understand, yes.

Daughter [1:24:33~]

And, ah, there was really a lot [of talk] about that. That's...of course, we, since that scene itself was deleted it's only natural that you all wouldn't know, but, ‘Lee Yeon and Ji Ah have a daughter.’

So, well, there were these photos of this child actress going about [the internet], but.. she's not our daughter. (laughs) She's just.. As to what that deleted scene was, it was a scene in which Ji Ah and I happily enjoy a picnic, just the two of us, at the park. I’d made delicious kimbap...

And then, the little girl just passes by.. So, to put it simply, that little girl was an extra. But then, somehow, that scene ended up being deleted, and with all the curiosity over the ending, that just snowballed until people started saying, ‘That little girl was our daughter,’ ‘They had a daughter, but they didn't show her to us,’ that sort of talk was all over.

But, yes. (laughs) That's not the case. Well, for this, since there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding, I thought I might set the record straight for you just this once, yes.

[Reading the live chat] Yes, she's not our daughter! (laughs) She's a child actress who, yes, just came briefly to act as an extra for us.

Lee Yeon’s Thread Rings [1:26:08~]

Oh! The thread rings, yes. I said in my previous VLIVE that, yes, that the color of the thread rings was of no consequence. They’re just one of Lee Yeon’s accessories that I had come up with from the very beginning. But after I began wearing the couple ring I no longer wore them. Also, in episode 16, when I return from the River of Three Crossings as a human, at that time too I’m not wearing the thread rings. But...well, after the 6 year time jump that only I know about, I’m wearing them again. The thread rings.

So they were actually a mark just for me that symbolized my abilities. I regained my abilities, and so, at the end, in the bonus cut as well, I’m once again wearing those rings, as always. So that was what I was referring to when I said that. But at that time, the broadcast was still ongoing, so I wasn’t able to explain these sort of specifics; the meaning of the thread rings.

But that’s something that nobody knows. I’m the only one who knows that. The director, the writer, nobody else will know that. Because it’s something that I came up with all on my own, a detail I made all on my own, so that’s probably something that nobody knows. It was something that only I knew, yes.

‘Missing’ Behind the Scenes Footage [1:27:43~]

Well, I'm aware that there are a lot of other things you're curious about too. Regarding Tale of the Nine Tailed. But, well, I can't just go into each and every one of them here.

Ah, right! The.. ‘The kiss scene, the bed scene, why was there no BTS footage of that?’ I heard that people have been saying this, but.. (chuckles, sighs). Yes, there's a bit more to the story there as well.

So the thing is... that was the production team being considerate of us. They were being considerate of me and Bo Ah-ssi. As to why, it's because, before being actors, we're people. Of course, as part of acting we act out those sort of scenes, but there are times when we feel self-conscious. If a camera that isn't ours, another camera like a BTS camera or a still camera is filming that, the people who are taking that footage, those photos, are a bit, yes. They're hesitating for our sake. ‘Ah, is it okay for me to film this right now? To capture this?’ ‘Is this not, in some way, inconsiderate towards them?’ ‘Am I interfering with the filming of this important scene?’ Well, from that line of reasoning, they were being considerate of us.

But, also... It was something that I wanted. “I would like it if you didn't film the BTS for these sorts of scenes.” This goes for me as well, but also, the actress could feel even more self-conscious and uncomfortable, so. Well, it was that sort of thing, yes. It wasn’t as if we were filming some sort of x-rated scene with a lot of exposure or anything, but - I'm sure many of you are aware - when it comes to those sorts of specialized scenes, only the essential crew remain while everyone else goes outside, yes. They vacate the space. But, well, we also did that when we filmed these sorts of scenes. So you can just think of it in that context. Of course, I know that wasn’t what you meant when you said you were curious about the behind-the-scenes [for these scenes] but, (laughs) well, I'd I appreciate it if you understood, yes.

Behind the Scenes Story? [1:29:52~]

Tale of the Nine Tailed behind the scenes [stories]... There are so many. Yes. But, well, honestly, it's not as if each and every last one is coming to mind right now. My thoughts are all jumbled.

Inviting Questions [1:30:35~]

Since we're on the subject of Tale of the Nine Tailed, if you’ll send me some of the questions you had about TotNT, I'll take a look and answer a few. Using this time. That would be, yes, I think that would be best.

Iconic Scenes [1:31:03~]

[Reading the live chat] Iconic Tale of the Nine Tailed scenes?

Oh, I can't pick one. Iconic scenes, iconic lines, anecdotes that stuck with me, I can't pick these sorts of things. There were just so so many. Yes, so much happened. And well, yes, so many memories are coming to mind that I can't pick just one. (nods) That's a bit... I'd appreciate if you would understand.

But I’ll say this: from beginning to end, there wasn't a single scene, a single cut, that wasn't precious to me. Truly. (nods) Yes. Because I gave my all to the creation of every scene; because I had to take responsibility for more than I ever have in any other drama, all of it is precious, and all of it has stayed with me.

The First Scene Filmed [1:32:00~]

[Reading the live chat] The first scene we filmed?

The first scene we filmed was the one where, in episode 1, after exterminating Yeo Nui at the wedding hall, I'm sitting in the park and, yes. He's revealed later as Soo Oh. The scene in the park I filmed with that kid, that was the first scene we filmed.

(Sigh) But that day, there was a high wind warning. A high wind warning. The wind was blowing really hard, and even though it was mid-April, even wearing a long parka, it was cold. On top of that, our hair and clothes were being blown about, so even though it wasn't such a difficult scene, it took a long time to film.

So, although it was our first day filming, we really had a hard time of it, and it took a long time, and, conversely, it helped me adjust quickly [to what filming TotNT would be like]. It was that sort of scene. (chuckles)

The Red Umbrella [1:32:59~]

[Reading the live chat] You want to own the umbrella?

Ah, the umbrella. (chuckles) The umbrella. It's expensive. Yes. That's, but, as I mentioned previously, promotional items aren't something I can do anything about...

Wirework [1:33:31~]

[Reading the live chat] Did the wires hurt?

Ah, they hurt a bit at first. They hurt a bit at first but, later, after doing wirework for about seven months, I got used to them. (nods) Later on, doing wirework action was a bit fun. Well, that is, the people rigging the wires, our stunt team, must have had a hard time of it, but for me.. (laughs) I sort of enjoyed it later on. It was fun. I mean, moving about mid-air is something that, frankly, we can't normally do, isn't it? Flying about like this for a long period of time.. (nods) Later on it got really fun.

Imoogi SFX Makeup [1:34:50~]

[Checks the live chat and laughs] Hahaha Was the Imoogi makeup a sticker?

That's (laughter) that's really, really expensive special effects makeup. It takes an hour to do that (nods, laughs again). Yes, it's not a sticker. It's special effects makeup. Specialists in our country who are extremely good at special effects makeup came and took an hour each time to painstakingly apply that makeup.

[Checking the live chat] The questions are going by so fast. Hold on a second.

The Scene in which LDW Cried the Most [1:35:46~]

[Reading the live chat] Ah, the scene in which I cried the most?

Ah~ The scene in which I write a letter to Ji Ah. Mm....In that scene where I write a letter to Ji Ah......I really did cry a lot, yes.

And.... A scene where I cried when I wasn’t originally supposed to was...that, when I leave a video message for Rang-ie. Originally, crying there wasn't in the script. But, without even meaning to, tears came.

Ah, so, if you watch that scene again... The part where I go, ‘This message will explode in 10 seconds... I'm kidding. I just wanted to try saying that,’ and end the video, the camera draws back from me, like this. But I suddenly start crying, and sob. So this camera draws back, and stops. Originally it was supposed to zoom all the way out, but it stops, and goes back in a little bit, about this far. They used a camera rig to film it like this, but.. That’s how I remember it, yes. If you try watching that [scene] once more, you'll see. Yes. They were tears that hadn't originally been planned on.

Lee Yeon’s ‘Profession’ [1:37:51~]

[Reading the live chat] Haha After he's restored, will Lee Yeon really be a stay-at-home husband while living off rent money?

(Nods) He probably will, yes. (chuckles, nods) Lee Yeon has so much money that I don't think he'd bother working. And, I think he would focus all of his strength on protecting Ji Ah.

The Video Messages [1:38: 31~]

[Reading the live chat] In the final episode, in the scenes where Rang-ie and I cry while looking at each other’s video messages, were we really watching each other cry?

Yes. Rang-ie [Kim Beom] and I both actually recorded those messages on our phones. We really recorded them, and we each filmed while watching the video the other had recorded. So we really did watch them, and we really did cry. (nods)

Who Has More Money? [1:39:18~]

[Reading the live chat] (chuckles) ‘I heard that Lee Rang has more money than Lee Yeon~?’

Ah, it seems this was something Rang-ie said. (nods) That could be. I think that’s entirely possible.

[Note: This is a reference to something Kim Beom said in his Instagram LIVE]

End of TotNT Question Time [1:39:56~]

[Reading the live chat] I'm looking for a question I might be able to answer...but...nothing is really jumping out at me.

Hmmm Hmmm... Yes, well, it seems like I'll have to wrap up talking about Tale of the Nine Tailed here, yes. I had wanted to answer more of your questions but...yes. I'm not seeing the sort of question I might be able to answer for you. Well, in any case, thank you so, so much for loving Tale of the Nine Tailed, and for liking it so much even now.

Drama Memorabilia [1:42:12~]

[Reading the live chat] Oh! ‘Did you ever want to own any of the outfits you wore while filming a drama?’

Oh this one, yes. I can answer this one. While filming a drama, key items, things that are associated with me, like outfits, I have them. Yes. Ah... I think I have an item from just about every [project] at home, yes. So, come to think of it, hmm...from Goblin, you know, that grim reaper...uh...costume? From the fedora down to the shoes - the suit, shirt, shoes, fedora; I have all of them. Just as they were. The coat, yes. So I have my reaper costume kept nicely at home, just as it was. And when I was filming Life, the name tag I wore around my neck all the time, that, ‘Ye Jin Woo,’ yes, that, ‘Emergency Medical and Health Services, Ye Jin Woo’ name tag is also at home. It's hanging on the fridge. And that, when I filmed Partner some years ago, at that time, I had a nameplate that read, ‘Lawyer Lee Tae Jo.’ That nameplate is at home, too. So I always keep at least one prop, one item that's associated with me that contains memories.

I also have my grim reaper [death] list at home, even now. That list is really something that no one else will have. Yes. I'm definitely the only person in the world who has one. (chuckles) No, it's just, this is just another anecdote but, right around when we were nearly done filming Goblin, the staff had kind of made a lot of those lists, so there were extras. And they kept asking me to sign them. (laughs) But, originally, you're not supposed to write your name on there, right? You only, you know, write the names of people who are going to pass on, so I was like, ‘Even though I know this..is not the real thing, is it really all right for me to, ah, sign this?’ (laughs) Later I was like, ‘No, no I can't sign this,’ and turned them away. There was that anecdote. (laughs)

Oh, and that, that umbrella sheath that Yeon-ie wore everywhere. You know that umbrella sheath he wore like this? That's... I made that. I designed it. Should I have brought that today to show you? Well, later, if there's an opportunity. But even though I only ever wore the black one on screen, there was actually another one that was brown. So I had those made out of high-quality leather, very expensively, yes, two of them. Yes, it was my idea. It was an idea my styling team and I came up with. ‘Since he's always carrying that umbrella about, rather than carrying it in-hand, what if I tried wearing it over my shoulder?’ I thought. So we had them made, and when I mentioned it to the director he said, ‘Oh, that sounds interesting,’ ..yes. Naturally, I have those. Those too, as you'd expect, are in my possession. And... [Reading the chat] Yes, I designed them, yes. I paid for them myself.

And, oh. The umbrella that you all wanted so much. That umbrella, and the sa'ingeom, yes. I have them both. (nods) Ah, I should have brought them today. How much you all must have wanted to see them. I didn't think of it, I'm sorry. That umbrella case, the brown one that never aired, the umbrella, and the sa'ingeom, I have all of them. Later, if there's an opportunity, it'd be nice if I could give you a good look at them. Yes, well, from small things like the name tag to my reaper costume, these sorts of things, yes.

[Reading the live chat] You’re envious, aren't you? Yes (laughs) Yes, well, anyway.

~~~

For anyone interested, you can find excerpts from Lee Dong Wook’s earlier TotNT VLIVE that I translated here, here, and here.

#tale of the nine tailed #totnt #lee dong wook #king #구미호뎐 #이동욱 #vlive #20201223 #behind the scenes #bts #ldw is the true mvp of totnt #and I'm not just talking about this #he assumed a lot of responsibility and had a lot of creative input #way more than would be considered normal #gif cr: remm

77 notes · View notes

lils-writes-stuff · 4 years

Text

All That Remains

Spencer Reid x reader

summary: it’s the readers first day back on the job and the case has a huge plot twist

warning: normal criminal minds things, angst, sadness, gore, fun stuff

A/N: based on season 8 episode episode 14

“Oh my god, okay I know I’ve seen it before, but the ring is just so beautiful on you,” Penelope gushed as she held Y/N’s that adorned her new engagement ring.

The women of the BAU gathered around her on her first day back to admire the ring. Of course, JJ and Penelope had seen it at least once before, but it was a whole different experience seeing it on her hand.

It had been a total of three weeks since Y/N was discharged from the hospital and she was so excited to get back to work. She couldn’t deal with leave again and since she was fine mentally, all she had to do was wait until she was fine physically.

Spencer tended to her needs every waking moment he was home, much to her detest. He even thought about having her call her mother to stay with her until she was completely healed, but he revoked his idea when she gave him a not-so-loving look. But she was grateful none the less for his love and care for her. She was concerned about him though, sure she was stabbed, but he was the one kidnapped. After Spencer’s psych evaluation, he was deemed fit to go back to work. Y/N was very jealous when he got to go back.

“Thank you,” Y/N blushed as her hand moved to Blake to look at the ring.

“He really did a good job of picking it out,” she declared as she examined the ring.

“Who knew Spence had such good taste?” JJ remarked, making the other women laugh.

Spencer heard the last of the conversation and naturally gave his actual reasoning for his choice. “It actually has nothing to do with taste, I made a decision by averaging all of her jewelry together and using an equation to evaluate which rings--”

JJ coughed making Spencer stop. “Spence, I was joking, you did a great job.”

“Right,” Spencer smiled sheepishly.

“It’s okay, Bubs, I think it was really cool how you chose it,” Y/N reassured the man’s insecurities.

He smiled at the compliment and then turned to Rossi as his voice was heard coming down the steps.

“Okay, okay, I know I saw it at the hospital that day, but you have to let me see it again,” Rossi spoke quickly as he came over to look at the ring again.

Y/N laughed and held out her hand for him to see.

“It’s very you, Y/N,” Rossi commented as he looked at the ring. “Congratulations you two, again.”

“Thanks Rossi,” Spencer smiled at the man gratefully.

“Hey, you know what we should do?” JJ asked, gaining the attention of the rest of them. “We should have an engagement party!”

“Oh my gosh that is a great idea!” Penelope exclaimed, bouncing on her toes happily. “We can have little cupcakes made with rings and all the fun stuff.”

“And I’ll host it,” Rossi said happily, turning to the couple who were just watching the plan being made.

“Oh, Rossi, you don’t have to-”

“No, no, I insist, it’ll be a great time!” Rossi cut Y/N off from her protest.

Y/N turned her head to look at Spencer, wanting his input on the idea. Spencer simply shrugged, muttering a ‘why not’. The both of them knew he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“Okay, sure, that’d be fun,” Y/N agreed with a smile.

“Excellent,” Rossi said with a nod.

“Guys,” Hotch said, nodding to the round table room.

-------------

“911 what’s your emergency?” The operator’s voice spook.

A pause then an inaudible mutter.

“Hello? What’s your emergency?”

“They’re gone,” The man on the other line responded. “My girls are gone. I need your help.”

“When you say girls, do you mean your daughters?”

“Yes.”

“All right, I need you to stay on the line, sir. Please confirm where you’re calling from.”

“1721 Hillcrest Drive, this can’t be happening.”

“What’s your name, sir?”

“Bruce. Bruce Morrison.”

“How old are your daughters, Mr. Morrison?”

“Thirteen and Seventeen.”

“When was the last time you saw them?”

“They went to bed around 9:30. No, wait, it was Monday. Sarah has a study group, so it was more like 10:00.”

“Sir, today is Wednesday. You haven’t seen them since Monday?”

“No. No, that can’t be right.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but it is. The police have been alerted, sir, and they’re on their way.”

“That call came in an hour ago,” Hotch said, stopping the recording.

The rest of the team sat in stunned silence as they listened to the message.

“How does a single father lose his teenage daughters for thirty-six hours?” JJ asked in disbelief.

“He doesn’t,” Rossi shook his head.

“His girls are gone,” Blake repeated the phrasing of Bruce on the phone.

“Yeah, that’s strange, he didn’t blame anyone,” Y/N pointed, agreeing with Blake’s silent question.

“And he doesn’t use any buzzwords first responders are trained to hear,” Derek added. “He never says missing, abducted, runaway.”

“Maybe that’s what they did, though. Maybe they ran away,” Penelope perked up. She didn’t like to hear the call, let alone have this happening in the first place, she was hoping for a better outcome then what everyone was thinking.

“There’s no history of that,” Rossi argued sadly.

“The likelihood of a stranger abduction in a neighborhood like this is rare. I’ve counted seven turns from the entrance to their driveway,” Spencer announced as he looked down at the map on the table. “No one just stumbled onto the house.”

“And where’s the mother? Could this be a parental child abduction?” Y/N asked, turning her head from Spencer to Hotch.

“Uh, doubtful,” Hotch sighed. “Exactly one year ago today, he made this call.”

With one click on the remote, another 911 call came up. The call was almost exactly the same as the one they had just listened to. Same phrasing, same tone, just replacing ‘girls’ with ‘wife’.

“She’d also been missing for two days before he contacted authorities, and she’s never been found,” Hotch said, stopping the recording.

“This man is either the victim of a serial offender, or he is one,” Rossi said.

“Please tell me this guy’s in custody?” Derek asked with irritation.

“The Salisbury police are at his home, and they’ve been there since the call came in,” Hotch answered.

“There are hard copies and tablet copies of both case files on the plane,” Penelope announced. “It’s a short flight to the eastern shore. There’ll be more when you land.”

The team gathered up all that they had on the round table and made their way to the plane.

-----------

“Bruce and Judy Morrison were well-liked and active in the community,” Y/N said as she looked over the files they had received on the plane.

Spencer sat down beside her, placing a cup of tea on the table.

She smiled and mouthed a thank you which he replied doing the same thing.

“Yeah, all signs point to them living a quiet life,” JJ agreed as she flipped through her own file.

“He’s a writer and a professor, and it looks like she got into real estate a few years ago,” Derek added as his eyes scanned over a page.

“ ‘02, before the market crashed,” Rossi established as he looked at the date.

“Well, ten years later, Judy had an affair with a co-worker. A Jeff Godwin?” JJ’s voice went off in question as she read the name.

“That was discovered in the investigation, but never made it in the papers,” Blake said, leaning in her chair so she could look at JJ.

“Bruce Morrison was a prime suspect, but they never found any evidence, and the affair wasn’t deemed enough of a motive,” Hotch clarified. “The university’s put him on sabbatical since then.”

“He’s been writing forever, and he’s been teaching since 1985,” JJ added, flipping through the pages of the file. “Transcript says he was grief-stricken and couldn’t handle the pressure.”

“Not many people could,” Rossi bargained. “The odds of this event striking the same family on the same day must be a million to one.”

“Mm, close enough,” Spencer hummed, not arguing with the statistic.

“Judy inherited money from her family, and it’s in a trust fund for the girls,” Blake assessed.

“Oh, jeez, please don’t tell me he got rid of his wife for money,” Y/N shook her head.

“Uh, bank records indicate he hasn’t touched the funds, despite the depleting supplemental income from the university,” Spencer eased the worry.

“Yeah, but it could be a combo platter. Revenge and profit,” Rossi argued.

“His wife cheated, and he retaliated in anger, that might not be a surprise, but that doesn’t explain why he would harm his own children,” Derek added, confusion evident in his voice.

------------

“The oldest daughter Sarah had a 4.0 GPA, but she didn’t apply to a single college back east,” Spencer began as he read from the page in the file in his lap. “She got accepted to Stanford early admission. Maybe her father saw going that far away as a form of betrayal.”

“The second one in a year,” Rossi’s voice posed over the phone. “First his wife of twenty-seven years fools around and then probably threatens to end the marriage. A year later, the daughter can’t wait to leave.”

“Abandonment could be the common denominator,” Blake agreed from her seat beside Y/N in the back of the SUV with Derek and Spencer.

“There is another possibility,” Derek interrupted. “Maybe Bruce Morrison didn’t do it. Did the family have any enemies?”

“The only person that could remotely be an enemy would be Jeff Godwin,” Y/N answered, her own mind forming possible theories.

“Mm, looks like he had a pretty solid alibi the night Judy went missing,” JJ’s voice said through the phone. “He was wining and dining with his own wife at a local restaurant.”

“So the only viable suspect back then was the same one we have now,” Blake said.

“All the answers are in that house,” Hotch said as they turned the final corner and came up to the house of the Morrisons.

The front yard was filled with locals as one SUV pulled into the driveway and the other pulled along the side of the street. The doors of the cars echoed shut as they exited the vehicles and walked up to the detective who was waiting for them on the front porch.

“Marty Friedman. Thanks for making the trip,” the detective said as Hotch and Rossi approached him first. “I’ve got search and rescue combing the woods and the Choptank and Wicomico rivers. We’re dredging all the way from here to the Chesapeake. I’m not letting this guy get away with this again.”

“Has he said why he took a day to call?” Y/N posed the question everyone had been wondering. Her hands were stuffed in the pockets of her navy coat from the cool air.

Friedman scoffed. “Claims he doesn’t remember,” he looked back to the window where Bruce was standing, inspecting the new visitors. “He’s been glued to his computer, maybe he needs new material for a novel.”

“We’ll work alongside your team if that’s alright,” Hotch said to Friedman.

“Whatever you need,” he responded with a nod.

The team followed the detective into the house. Y/N looked at Bruce as he eyed down Hotch as they walked into the house.

“Everyone take a room,” Hotch ordered and the team split up and walked amongst the house.

“Looks like Katie stayed in a lot,” Spencer assessed as he and Y/N looked over the young girl’s room. “She has her schedule of when she was gonna try new recipes.”

Spencer flipped through the colorful pages of the book with different recipes and fun sketches.

“She seems like a really sweet girl,” Y/N sighed as she looked through a journal. She then turned to her desk and pointed out some of the things she noticed. “Her charger’s here, but her phone is not.”

“Maybe it’s with her?” Spencer posed.

“Maybe, I’ll have Garcia track it,” Y/N said, pulling her phone out of her pocket.

“It’ll only work if it’s on,” Spencer reminded her.

“It’s worth a try though,” Y/N looked up to Spencer with sad eyes. Of course, her first case back had to do with kids, just her luck.

“If the girls had access to a phone and they were okay, they would have called for help by now,” Spencer said, giving her the same sad eyes she gave him.

Y/N’s thumb stopped typing, she knew he was right, but that guilty feeling in her didn’t want her to.

“Y/N.” Spencer’s hands reached for hers that held her phone. “You okay?”

“Yeah, it’s just-” she let out a shaky breath with a groan- “it’s just my luck that my first case back has to do with kids.”

Spencer looked down sadly, knowing the pain she was feeling.

“But it’s okay, it’s just because it’s the first case, ripping off the bandaid, you know? I’ll get back to being able to carpmentalizing it any second.” She shook her hands out after setting down her phone and the journal she was holding.

Spencer gave her the look. The look that said it’s okay to take a second, it’s okay to talk to me, it’s okay to not be ready all just yet.

“Stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“Stop being so understanding,” she laughed and pointed her finger at him. “I’m fine, I really am, it’s just gonna take a sec to get into the swing of things again.”

“Okay,” he smiled, reaching for her hand,and pulling her into a loving hug that made her heart melt.

-------------

Y/N’s eyes scanned over the box in the basement of the Morrison house. Shelf after shelf filled with buckets and old memorabilia of Judy.

“Wow,” Spencer mused as he walked closer to Y/N from his side of the room. “She had a lot of hobbies before she started selling real estate.”

“Yeah, family projects it looks like,” Y/N nodded. She turned to the shelf she had just been looking at boxes being held on it. “Devoted mom.”

On the boxes were dates written under the label ‘quilts’. The dates went all the way back to 1998, the years Sarah Morrison was born.

“You ready, Reid?” Derek’s voice called from up the stairs.

“Yeah,” Spencer echoed back. “You good?” He asked, turning to Y/N.

She nodded and he turned to head up the stairs.

Her eyes scanned over the boxes again, looking at the only one that was labeled with a name. On the box, it read; ‘Quilts, 1999-200, Katie’. Y/N made sure to keep that in mind for anything in the future and turned up the stairs to follow Spencer.

---------

“So what do you think?” Blake asked, turning to Y/N and Rossi, exiting Sarah’s room. The sobs of Bruce echoed down the hall after Hotch told him they had just found the body of Katie in a river. Sarah had still yet to be found.

“He’s sober, so this is raw emotion,” Rossi answered as the three walked down the hallway. “He lost his legs when Hotch told him.”

“The tears could be guilt as much as grief,” Y/N whispered as a reminder.

“Because that’s what we’re supposed to do when given that news,” Blake said as they rounded the corner and filed down the stairs. “I don’t mean to sound so cynical, but the man writes fiction.”

Y/N and Rossi nodded as they came to the last set of stairs. At the bottom stood Hotch and JJ, who had just gotten off the phone with Derek and Spencer who were at the scene.

“Any sign of Sarah?” Y/N asked, hopeful for a good answer.

“Maybe she’s still out there,” JJ said, just as hopeful as Y/N for a good report from the people on the phone.

“Doubtful, unless she’s found shelter,” Rossi acknowledged as they walked the final steps of the stairs. “It’s supposed to be in the twenties tonight.”

“Now that we’ve got Katie’s body, we should run scenarios for what really happened Monday night,” Blake said.

Hotch hung up his phone and looked up to the group around him. “That was the lab. Bruce definitely fired a gun at some point, there’s residue on the sheets and on the boots.”

Y/N sighed, not wanting to hear that news. “We need to get him to the station.”

The five of them turned as they heard the creaking of the floorboards behind them. At the top of the stairs stood Bruce, hearing the whole conversation.

-------------

“Alright thanks, Spence,” Y/N said, hanging up her phone and turning to Hotch. “That was Reid. He said Katie had skin built up under her nails. They’re on their way back from the M.E. right now.”

“We need to look for defensive wounds on him,” Hotch nodded, leaving the bullpen and entering into the interrogation room.

Y/N walked closer to the one-way window and watched as Hotch entered the room.

“Mr. Morrison, I need to ask you to roll up your sleeves,” Hotch ordered Bruce.

“What?” Bruce asked, turning his head sharply to look at Hotch.

“Please.”

Bruce sighed and rolled up his sleeve on his right arm, revealing small but numerous cuts on his forearm.

“I saw these in the shower this morning when I woke up,” Bruce said sadly, not making eye contact with Hotch. “I have no idea how I got them.”

“Did they happen during the fight?” Hotch asked, referring to the fit a neighbor had told them he heard.

“It wasn’t a fight, it was just parenting,” Bruce tried to explain. “Did the detective tell you about Jeff Godwin? You should talk to him.”

Hotch raised a brow in question at the man.

“He still coaches Sarah’s soccer team, even though it’s ridiculous.”

“Every time I ask you a question, you have this habit of deflecting attention onto someone else,” Hotch remarked, making Bruce become quiet.

Y/N rolled her shoulders, standing up straight as she watched Bruce’s body language, trying to decipher his emotions and behavior. When he stayed unresponsive, Y/N took that as the end of the interview and walked out of the room into the break room.

“Wonder Woman,” Derek greeted the woman as she walked in.

She let out a huff as a greeting back, clearly annoyed with everything that Bruce was saying. “Bruce Morrison wants us to talk to Jeff Godwin.”

“Convenient, since he just walked in,” Spencer said as he walked over to the two by the coffee station.

“Great just what he wanted,” Y/N sighed, moving into the spot next to Derek as he finished making his coffee.

As he moved over for Y/N to make her coffee, he picked up his phone that began to ring.

“Hey, Blake,” Derek answered as he stepped away from the coffee bar.

Y/N poured some creamer into the cup as she listened to Derek on the phone.

“Morgan, we need you to find Jeff Godwin,” Blake’s voice echoed through the phone.

“She isn’t the only one he thinks that,” Y/N sighed, taking a sip of her coffee.

“Uh, he just walked in,” Derek responded, turning to look through the window to Jeff Godwin who was standing in a room to the side of them.

“He did?” Blake mused.

“Says he heard we found Katie, and he’s worried about Sarah,” Derek said, relaying the conversation that Y/N had not heard yet.

“He also texted Sarah the night she went missing and then deleted the text.” Blake’s information made the three’s faces contort in shock and look to Jeff. “It looks like they texted a lot.”

“Really?” Derek said, some anger boiling inside him as he watched Jeff. Without having Blake respond, he hung up the phone and nodded for Y/N to come with him.

“Mr. Godwin,” Y/N greeted as she and Derek entered the room he was in.

“Mr. Godwin, why did you feel it was appropriate to regularly text a seventeen-year-old girl?” Derek asked, getting straight to the point.

“I-I’ve known those girls for a long time-” Jeff shook his head- “Way before anything happened between me and their mother.”

Y/N and Derek’s faces stayed unresponsive, waiting for him to get to the actual intent of why he was texting a teen.

“Look, I coach Sarah.”

“And you didn’t think to request a different team, you know, considering the circumstances?” Y/N asked, her hand not holding her coffee gesturing as she spoke.

“No,” Jeff shrugged. “My daughter plays on that team.”

Once again, Derek and Y/N stayed unresponsive.

“Look, Sarah reached out to me Monday night- God knows she needs a father figure--”

“Maybe the man her mother had an affair with…” Derek began taking a step closer to Jeff.

Y/N took a step also, becoming even with Derek. “Might not be the best person for that,” Y/N finished the statement.

Derek nodded in agreement.

“Look-” Jeff took a step of his own- “I just came in here because I had heard about Katie and I was worried about Sarah. Don’t treat me like a criminal.”

“Sarah deleted texts that the two of you shared,” Y/N said, turning her head to the side. “The same day she disappeared. Now that’s a little suspicious, don’t you agree, Morgan?”

“Mm-hmm,” Derek hummed in response.

“Hey- wait, okay,” Jeff stumbled, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “They’re all here. We agreed to meet in the parking lot of the convenience store on route 113.”

He turned his phone, showing the texts to Y/N and Derek. Derek took the phone from the man’s hand, putting it between the two of them so they could read it.

“Is this a regular thing for you?” Derek asked as he read the texts.

“Well, we’ve met there a couple of times recently, when she was really scared about what was happening with her and her dad,” Jeff responded.

“What was happening?” Y/N asked.

Jeff took in a deep breath, almost like he was afraid to tell them. “Bruce gets...violent when he drinks, and it’s been getting worse.”

Derek and Y/N turned their heads, silently saying for him to elaborate more on the topic.

Jeff let out a breath through his nose. “Sarah had every reason to be terrified. I mean look what happened.”

Derek and Y/N nodded, handing Jeff his phone back and heading out of the room. When they walked out, they were greeted with the whole team now, including Penelope on a video call.

“Is everyone there?” Penelope asked prompting Hotch to nod. “Um, this call came in on Monday.”

Before she continued, Hotch walked over to the door of the conference room and closed it.

“It was made on Katie’s cell, which is still M.I.A., the only 800 number she called was the local abuse hotline. She called there a few times in the last couple of months,” Penelope explained, pressing play on the recording. JJ turned up the TV volume.

“My name is Katie Morrison, I called last week,” Katie’s voice rang through the speaker.

“Yes, Katie, I remember you,” the operator on the other line responded.

“He’s at it again. He’s just going crazy. He’s really drunk.”

“Katie, are you safe?”

“Yes, hold on.”

“Hi, it’s Sarah,” Sarah’s voice came into the call. “We’re okay. I can handle this.”

“Girl’s open the door,” Bruce’s voice yelled next. “Katie, open the door.”

The sound of loud banging was heard next, making Y/N squeezing her eyes shut.

“I said open the door!”

When the recording stopped, Y/N opened her eyes and watched as Hotch asked to have the recording sent to his phone and took Rossi to the interrogation room holding Bruce.

-----------

Y/N watched through the glass as Bruce began to remember the night as the call was played to him. As it ended, he slammed his hand on the table, repeating the same words he said in the call. He looked up to the glass, on his side being a mirror so he was looking at himself.

He walked closer to it, his demeanor changing slightly as he looked at himself.

What surprised everyone behind the glass was what he said next.

“Oh my god, what a pathetic little cry baby.”

The rest of the team that was behind the glass looked at each other in confusion, continuing to listen to the man as he spoke.

“Ugh,” Bruce rubbed his eyes. “I was always right about you, huh?”

He was still talking to himself in the mirror. He then turned around, a smug smirk playing on his face as he looked at Rossi and Hotch.

“So you got old Bruce-y in a cage, huh?”

Rossi and Hotch didn’t respond, still trying to decipher who this was and what was happening.

“You think that’s gonna help?” Bruce walked around the two agents and back over to his chair. “It’s only gonna make him hide longer.”

When he reached the chair, he faced the two men again. “What do you wanna know?”

Rossi and Hotch stayed quiet again, not sure what to do.

When they didn’t give him a response, the man spoke again. “I’m gonna have to tell you ‘cause the baby’s got his pacifier.”

“Where’s Sarah?” Hotch finally asked a question.

“She’s learning a lesson,” the man responded with a shrug.

“What did you do to them?” Hotch asked.

In a mocking tone, the man responded, “What did you do to them?”

Not amused, Hotch and Rossi glared at him.

“I scared them that’s all. They need it,” he sighed.

“Why?”

“Because they’re spoiled, ungrateful little bitches who walk all over him any chance they get,” he responded.

“Wow,” Y/N whispered in amazement at the response.

“What happened to Bruce?” Hotch asked the question everyone had been wondering.

“He’s hiding, of course,” the man responded. “See… when he can’t handle it, I save his ass. Bruce’s problem is...he can’t handle anything.”

--------------

“So Bruce said Katie baked cookies Monday night,” JJ said, turning away from the board as Rossi and Friedman entered the room. “We found them in the kitchen, so that’s true.”

“And two of Sarah’s friends confirmed she never made it to her study group,” Blake continued, her voice slightly muffled from her cheek being pressed against her hand.

“And that’s because Jeff Godwin was in the parking lot with her from 8:15 to 9:30,” Derek added.

“And the girls called the hotline at 9:58,” Spencer finished the timeline.

“Detective, have your officers found either gun?” Hotch asked as detective Friedman walked up to the board to look at the post-it notes on it.

“No, but we’ve increased the search given where Katie’s body was found,” Friedman replied.

“Okay so, we’ve got residue, but we don’t know which gun or where it is now,” Derek said, his eyes trained on the floor.

“Okay, look,” Y/N said, raising her hands to stop anyone from talking. “Whoever that was in there said he wanted to scare them, not hurt them.”

“Katie was beaten over the head in the middle of nowhere,” Blake reminded her.

“You’re right,” Y/N gestured to her. “The altar could have lost his temper, or it could have been a horrible accident.”

“But getting the girls out of the house was planned. He said he wanted to scare them and had a gun to do it,” Rossi said.

“And then, he drove them somewhere,” Derek continued. “Bruce’s car had the same mud on the driver’s side floor that he had on his boots, but there wasn’t any in the backseat. SO three people drove somewhere, but only he came back.”

“And the DNA coming back from under Katie’s nails will tell us what we already know-- That Bruce Morrison did this. SO can I arrest him now?” Friedman said, antsy to put cuffs on the man he felt was responsible.

“Detective, you have sufficient evidence to make the arrest, but we still don’t have Sarah,” Hotch told him, eyes glaring at the man.

“Give us an hour, and maybe, he’ll tell us where she is,” Y/N said, an idea in her head forming.

“It's your call, but he could still help us,” Hotch said.

Friedman sighed. “Okay. One hour.”

So the team began their work, and they had to work fast.

“There’s no way for us to confirm a D.I.D. diagnosis yet, but we do know he has chronic alcoholism, Which can and has gone hand in hand with it,” Spencer explained to the team that was scattered amongst the conference room. “The interesting thing is his liver and pancreas wouldn’t have survived thirty years of that kind of abuse, so there must have been years where he’s gotten help.”

“He was in a program,” Blake shrugged.

“Eh, it would have to be more than that,” Spencer replied then turned to Y/N who had Penelope on the line. “Garcia, has he ever been on medication to help curb his drinking?”

“All I’ve got is a yearly physical, and that is it,” Penelope replied.

“D.I.D. usually stems from a history of sexual abuse,” Blake said slowly, hoping to give something to Penelope to help her.

“Okay, well, I’ve got nothing like that,” Penelope said. “All I have on Bruce Morrison is that his mother died when he was ten-”

“There’s your abandonment issue,” Rossi remarked.

“And he was raised by a single alcoholic father, and there’s no evidence of any prescriptions.”

“I mean, they look like the perfect family,” Spencer said, opening the file with family photos in it.

“Yeah, but she would have had to know about his drinking before they got married,” Y/N said as she peered over at the photos Spencer was holding. “So maybe, she helped manage him and kept his problem a secret.”

“She could have been the one that got the prescription,” Spencer’s lightbulb went off. “Garcia, can you run her medical history?”

“Yeah, hold on…”

They waited about twenty seconds before her voice was heard again.

“Okay, disulfiram. Am I saying that right? It’s for chronic alcoholism. She had a 90-day supply delivered four times a year for as long as I can tell. And it stopped coming a few months ago.”

“It makes you just feel nauseous if you drink,” Spencer explained the effects of the medicine.

“But she isn’t the one who had the drinking problem, he is. Garcia, who canceled it?” Derek asked the woman on the phone.

“Please hold while I dig.” She hung up the phone.

“Could that be the trigger? He goes after his daughters now that he’s off his meds?” Blake turned to look at Y/N and Spencer when she asked her questions.

Y/N’s eyes panned up to the TV that showed Hotch talking to Bruce. Then to Jeff Godwin in the other room. “That instability could work for us.”

She set her plan into action. Y/N had Derek get Jeff Godwin and bring him into the interrogation room with Bruce in it.

“Hey, I- I didn’t- Hey, look I didn’t agree to this,” Jeff stumbled as he came face to face with Bruce sitting in the interrogation room.

“Well, we’re looking for Sarah, and you’re the last ones to see her alive,” Y/N said, leaning on the metal table.

“Look, like I told you guys earlier, I had nothing to do with this. And Sarah’s afraid of him.” He pointed at Bruce when he spoke of him.

“You wanna tell us about your relationship with Sarah?” Y/N asked, moving her hands in a circular motion as she spoke.

“I don’t have one,” Jeff replied, after a pregnant pause.

Y/N’s eyebrows furrowed. “Huh, that’s strange. Why do you text her all the time then?”

At her words, Bruce sat up straighter, jaw clenching as he looked at a frightened Jeff.

“Jeff, come on, it’s not that big of a leap,” Y/N spoke nonchalantly. “Couldn’t have Judy anymore so you thought... Why not? Sarah looks just like her mom.”

Her words angered Bruce just like she thought they would. He pushed himself out of his chair and leaped for Jeff, but Derek intercepted him before he could touch him.

“I’m gonna kill that son of a bitch!” Bruce exclaimed as Derek pushed him back.

“Get him out! Get him out now,” Derek commanded the guard in the room to take Jeff out.

Once Derek had calmed Bruce (now his altar) down, he walked out of the room, leaving Y/N there standing on the other side of the table.

“Judy was gonna leave my boy for that scumbag,” the altar said, pointing to the door Jeff had exited.

“What’s your name?” Y/N asked as she watched the altar's body language.

“What’s your name?”

Y/N scoffed at his retort. “I’m Y/N, and you,” she nodded, her arms crossed as she stood tall.

“My name is Johnny, and I need a cigarette, Y/N,” Johnny placed his hands on his hips.

“Well, I might be able to help you out there, even though I don’t condone smoking, but I’m sure you’re stressed.” Y/N began to walk back and forth across the room.

“Oh, I’m not,” Johnny shook his head. “I just want a smoke.”

“Johnny,” Y/N scolded at the lie. “Come on. I know these teenage girls stress you out, no matter what you say.”

Johnny lifted his head up, a smug smirk as he looked at Y/N.

“How do you deal with it?” She continued her questions in hopes they would get him to tell her where Sarah was. “Do you like to, um...go out and shoot something?”

Johnny’s head cocked to the side and he shrugged. “Sometimes, but I don’t get much of a chance to do that.”

Y/N raised her brows in fake surprise. “Oh! I thought you did have a chance recently?”

Johnny chuckled and didn’t respond.

Y/N smirked at his none response and let out her own chuckle. “I think you did.”

Johnny’s head dropped as he continued to laugh.

“Now, you know, I’m just- I’m curious,” she laughed then pointed to the door with her thumb. “Then I’ll go get you a cancerous cigarette.”

Johnny smiled and gestured towards Y/N. “I like you, Y/N.”

Oh, that’ll make Spencer’s blood pressure go up, Y/N thought to herself.

“So…” Y/N trailed off, walking back and forth again as she changed the subject. “You took the girls somewhere to scare them...somewhere quiet, isolated…” She watched his reactions to what she said carefully. “Near the water?”

That got him to respond.

“I didn’t do anything but scare ‘em.”

“Oh, of course not.”

Johnny crossed his arms and came closer to Y/N as she stood in a dominant stance across the room.

“Do you have a place by the river?”

Johnny ignored the question. “Mm, pretty, and smart.”

Y/N gave him daring eyes, demanding an actual answer to her question.

“It’s not my place,” Johnny shook his head. “It’s not anybody’s place anymore.”

Y/N turned her head for him to elaborate more.

“I’ve taken them out there before, but this time…” He leaned forward, closer to Y/N this time (almost in her face) and whispered, “I got their attention.”

Y/N stepped back, nodding her head and nodded towards the guard to open the door.

“How about that cigarette now?”

“Not gonna let you pour cancer into Bruce’s lungs.”

The door closed behind her after she spoke and she could hear the tantrum Johnny was having. When she entered the bullpen, she saw Spencer standing in front of the glass. Arms crossed and lips pursed.

“Bub,” she whispered, gaining his attention. “You good?”

“Mm-hm, yep,” he nodded turning to her. “Just uh, you know, it was a little difficult not jumping through the glass to strangle him when he looked at you.”

Y/N chucked, her head dropping as she took a step closer to him.

“Spence, you and I both know that he wouldn’t have walked out of that room if he got closer to me.”

Spencer laughed as she pushed up on her toes to place a kiss on his cheek. He grabbed her left hand and brought it up to his lips, kissing the spot right beside her ring.

------------

That night, in the pouring, freezing rain, JJ and Derek found Sarah in the woods. She had a black eye and some cuts but she was okay.

Y/N had gone to the hospital to talk to Sarah with JJ. Letting her know what she would have to do and it was okay to back out.

Sarah seemed like a genuinely sweet girl and she took a liking to Y/N as she cried. When the three of them entered the precinct, JJ took her into the interrogation room, while Y/N stayed in the bullpen with the rest of the team.

“I have a bad feeling,” Y/N whispered as her stomach turned, something was off.

“What about?” Spencer whispered back.

“I’m not sure yet…”

As Sarah sat down, her two hands clasped together reached across the table for Bruce’s. His cuffed wrists stayed together as he held her hands.

“I’m so sorry,” Bruce said, eyes spilling with tears.

“Dad, you need help,” Sarah said softly.

Bruce let out a breath and nodded.

His eyes went up to the cuts and bruises on Sarah’s face and sucked in a sharp breath. “Did I do that?”

Sarah nodded and let a few more tears slip.

“I’m sorry,” Bruce apologized genuinely again. “I’m so sorry.”

Y/N stomach turned again, this time out of sadness. Instinctively, she reached for Spencer’s hand, needing a reassurement, and to know it would all be okay. He grabbed her hand, lacing their fingers together for a second, and squeezed it.

“What can I do?” Bruce asked Sarah, pleading agony in his voice.

“They say that if you tell them where mom is, this will all just-”

“But I don’t know. You know I don’t know,” Bruce cut her off.

“She didn’t just disappear, Dad,” Sarah sobbed.

When Bruce didn’t respond, only letting out a breathy sob, Sarah let out another crying accusation.

“Oh God, you killed her too didn’t you?”

“No, no, I didn’t,” Bruce shook his head.

“How am I supposed to believe you?” Sarah sobbed and started pointing to the marking Bruce, or rather Johnny left. “This--this is what you’ve done.”

Bruce just looked at the injuries sadly.

“You have hurt us all for a long time,” Sarah continued, her voice giving out at the end. She stood up from the table and began to exit the room with JJ.

Bruce pleaded with her to not go, but she didn’t listen and just left the room.

----------

Y/N walked with Sarah into her home, the mood of the house much different now compared to earlier in the day. The rain had died down from earlier, but it was still falling on the roof hard enough so it could be heard in the house. Sarah had an FBI jacket wrapped around her and Y/N had her signature navy petticoat tied around her waist.

“You cold?” Y/N asked, noting how Sarah wrapped her arms around herself.

“Yeah, a bit, the thermostats right there,” she pointed to the machine down the hall.

Y/N walked down the hall, turning up the temperature, and looked back to Sarah. “Should warm up soon.”

Sarah stood, staring at the floor as Y/N walked closer to her.

“You think you can sleep?”

“Yeah, I want to shower first,” Sarah pointed up the stairs.

Y/N nodded in surprise. “Okay. Uh… you sure you’ll be okay up there?”

The reason why Y/N asked this was because, after her brother died, she wouldn’t even enter that side of the house for months. So it confused her as to how she would be able to go upstairs and be okay.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Sarah said reassuringly.

Hesitantly, Y/N nodded, her bad gut feeling coming back. “Okay, um, I’m gonna make us some tea, that sound good?”

“That’d be really nice, thanks.” And with that, Sarah made her way up the stairs.

Y/N nodded, letting her reassuring fake smile fall once Sarah was out of sight. Her eyes panned over to the table in the hall that adorned family photos. Behind it was a quilt she assumed their mother made.

The sound of her text messages startled her. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at the text from Spencer.

All good?

“Oh Spencer, you always know when somethings up,” Y/N whispered to herself and replied with ‘not sure’.

About five minutes later, after Y/N had finished with the tea, she made her way to the dining room and set the cups down. Her phone went off again, this time a call.

When she pulled it out of her pocket, Spencer’s name lit up the screen.

“Hey,” she answered, her voice hushed.

“What’s wrong?” Spencer asked, worry clear in his voice.

Y/N sat down at the head of the table and let out a breath. “I don’t know, I’m not sure, but the feeling is back again. She’s just...too casual and almost cold since we got here.”

“It could be the shock,” Spencer replied.

“Yeah, I know, but she’s composed at the same time,” Y/N said, trying to explain Sarah’s behavior. “She has not mentioned Katie to me even once since we got here. I couldn’t go to the side of the house that my brother stayed in after he died.”

“She does have a point,” JJ’s voice said through the phone. “When my sister died, I couldn’t even walk into my house, let alone past her room.”

“Well, what do you think, Y/N, Sarah pulled it off?” Blake’s voice asked.

“It may be a possibility,” Y/N shrugged.

“It’s a very detailed plan,” Blake commented.

“What, she knew about her father’s condition and took advantage of it?” Spencer asked as his voice rushed as he spoke.

“She set up character witnesses like Jeff Godwin...to back up her fear,” Derek’s voice said, piecing together a theory. “She even got her little sister to make calls to a hotline. She manipulated us from the minute we found her.”

“Her writing suggested no empathy and no real emotional connection to the family,” Blake said, recalling the writing she had read earlier that day.

“Psychopathic tendencies,” Spencer remarked.

“Her wounds are more than superficial, but they could be self-inflicted, right, Y/N?” JJ asked the woman on the phone.

Out of the corner of her eye, Y/N saw Sarah enter the room.

“Baby, I know, I’m sorry I can’t be there for the dinner tonight,” Y/N said, quickly coming up with a cover for why she was on the phone. “But London and Jackson are there until Friday and I promise I will make it up to you when I get back.”

Y/N then turned to look at Sarah, acknowledging her presence. “You okay? I didn’t hear the shower.”

“Yeah, I just wanted my tea,” Sarah pointed to the cup on the table.

“Oh, I was gonna bring it to you, but it should be ready,” Y/N stood up and handed her the cup.

“Yeah, I’m still here,” she said, wanting to let them know she was okay.

“We’ll be right there, stay on the phone,” Spencer said quickly as Y/N assumed he was running out of the precinct.

“Baby, I gotta go,” she said and hung up the phone, watching as Sarah walked away.

When Y/N heard the water running, she walked down to the basement, remembering the tub she saw earlier. She took her flashlight connected to her holster out and walked down the stairs. When she reached the floor she walked straight over to the tubs of quilts, specifically the one with Katie’s name.

She pulled it off the shelf and moved it over to an empty table next to it. As she filed through all the blankets, she came across a real estate binder. When she opened it and flipped through the pages, she heard a gun click behind her.

“Why did you have to come down here?”

Sarah’s voice rang in the quiet of the basement.

Cautiously, Y/N turned around to look at her. In Sarah’s hand was the second gun they had been looking for.

“We’ve been looking for that.”

“It’s an old house, I know the best hiding places,” she shrugged. “But you, what do you think you know?”

“You put everything that went missing with your mother inside this box,” Y/N nodded to the box beside her. “1999.”

“Maybe my dad did it?”

“No,” Y/N spoke before she could even finish. “No, you chose this box because it’s the year Katie was born and everything changed.”

Sarah’s face formed a snarl as Y/N spoke.

“She was your little sister.”

“Katie ruined everything-” she took the last step so now she was level with Y/N- “and my mother let her.”

“Your mother loved you,” Y/N protested.

“Well, she loved Katie more,” Sarah seethed.

Y/N and Sarah stood in silence for a second.

“I should’ve cried for Katie,” Sarah scoffed. “I guess there are some things I just can’t fake.”

Carefully, Y/N’s hand reached for the gun on her belt, something she really didn’t want to have to do.

“You won’t do it,” Sarah said, taking another step closer.

“You need to back up- now.” Y/N’s voice was stern as she commanded the young girl.

“I can say my trauma kicked in,” Sarah explained. “PTSD.”

Her face then formed into fear, “I saw you with the gun, and I didn’t know what else to do!”

Then her face went back to normal.

Truly, Y/N was kinda impressed. “You thought of everything.”

Then, by the grace of whatever is out there, footsteps were heard coming down the stairs.

“Sarah put the gun down,” Derek said softly as he came up behind her.

“No, no, you don’t understand. She has a gun, she was going to hurt me,” Sarah used her plea.

“No, no, Sarah, It’s okay,” Derek reassured her. As he put his gun down, Spencer lifted his up and pointed it at her.

“Listen to me,” Derek said, holstering his gun. “I understand. It’s okay, Sarah. She wasn’t going to hurt you. I know you’ve been through enough. All right? I get it.”

Sarah let out a fake sob as Derek placed his hand on her shoulder. “Sarah, you’re safe now, okay?”

Sarah nodded and turned to Derek. “Okay, thank you.”

As soon as Derek pulled the gun out of Sarah’s hands, Spencer came up from behind her and cuffed her.

“What are you doing?!” She exclaimed as the cuffs came down on her wrists.

“You’re a smart girl, Sarah. Figure it out,” Derek said, taking Sarah out of Spencer's hands and led her up the stairs.

Sarah tried to plead as Derek took her up the stairs.

Y/N turned back to the book she had been looking at, opening to a page that held trophies from Sarah’s mom.

“February fourth, the day Judy went missing,” Y/N said as she read the date above the necklace.

“Trophies,” Spencer said as he got closer to Y/N. “If the detective Friedman had ever found it, she would have pinned it all on Bruce.”

“Damn, it’s almost impressive,” Y/N whispered as she closed the boom and brought it up as evidence.

------------

“The guests of honor!” Rossi exclaimed as Y/N and Spencer walked into his home.

The two chuckled and walked closer to Rossi to hug him. Rossi grabbed each of their faces, kissing them both on the cheeks.

“Dave, thank you so much for this,” Y/N said, taking Spencer’s hand as she thanked the man.

“Well, it’s the least I could do,” Rossi smiled, then turned and pointed to the room holding his own personal bar. “And I heard that there’s a special someone here to see you, Y/N.”

Y/N raised a brow in confusion then looked to Spencer, who had a smirk on his face.

“Remember the other day when you had to cover on the phone, and said something about London and Jackson coming to visit,” he beamed at the smile that formed on Y/N’s face as she put the pieces together.

“Shut up!” She laughed and rushed into the room, her best friend standing with her own boyfriend next to Derek, laughing about something. “London!”

When she heard her name, the dark-headed woman turned around and saw Y/N. “Y/N!”

The two met in the middle and hugged tightly, having missed each other so much.

“Oh my god, let me see it,” London said, pulling away from the hug so she could look at Y/N’s ring. “Oh, it’s beautiful.”

“I know,” Y/N sighed as London held her hand still.

“Now I just wonder when Jackson will give me one of those,” London laughed as her boyfriend came up next to her.

“Okay, no need to be hostile,” the green-eyed man said as he wrapped an arm around London’s waist. “Congratulations, Y/N.”

“Thank you, Dr. Avery,” she responded diplomatically.

“And to you too, Dr. Reid,” Jackson said, tipping his wine glass to Spencer as he walked up to the three, grabbing Y/N’s hand.

“Thank you,” Spencer smiled at the man.

The four of them had all hung out before. After another case the team had in Seattle, Spencer and Y/N stayed an extra day to hang out with London and Jackson. Y/N and laughed, making a comment about how she was the only one in the group who wasn’t a doctor.

“So how was your last case?” London asked. She loved to hear about cases and she repeatedly told Y/N that the team was the real life Scooby-Doo gang.

“A plot twist to say the least,” Y/N laughed, not wanting to go into detail. “I’m just glad it’s the weekend, and I’m just keeping my fingers crossed we don’t get called in.”

“I know that feeling,” Jackson agreed with a laugh.

Then, Hotch’s phone ringing was heard from across the room.

“No, not tonight,” Y/N groaned, throwing her head back. “One night, can serial killers just chill out for one night.”

Those who heard her comment laughed, but then Hotch reassured her worries.

“Don’t worry Y/N, that was Jessica, telling me Jack finished his homework.”

“Oh thank goodness.”

The night went on, Rossi had hired a catering service so the dinner was all little finger foods. Due to the cold weather, Rossi had made a dance floor in the bar room. Clearing out the tables that were in the middle of the room and leaving room for everyone to dance.

There was laughter heard all night as everyone danced and sang obnoxiously loud to the 90’s rock. It was a perfect surreal moment that made Y/N so happy. As she danced with Spencer, she pulled herself closer to him and whispered to him.

“I wish every night was like this.”

“It will be,” Spencer whispered back, placing a kiss on the shell of her ear as he spoke. “This is how we’ll spend every night we’re married, dancing, singing, and laughing until we can’t breathe.”

Y/N smiled, turning her head to place her lips on his. This kiss was meant to be a peck, but Spencer held the small of her back closer and let their lips dance together longer.

She giggled as she pulled away from him as Derek yelled “Get a room!” as he danced with a very drunk Penelope.

“I think I like the idea of us dancing till sunrise.”

Tag List (let me know if you want to be added!!):

@throughparisallthroughrome @word-scribbless @nintendumbfuck @confused-and-really-hungry @andiebeaword @itsarayofsunshine @baby-i-am-fireproof @abitofeverythinggg @nanocoool @marceline-is-my-spirit-animal @fancyfaucet @im-a-raging-gay @atletino @mo-whore @peterparkersdestiny @bandsandjill @mbowles23-blog @sarcasm-n-insomnia @citrussirus @nerual222 @april-14-blog @reidloversisforever @heavenlyholland @justawildmarebae @sana-li @thesailbells @l0ve-0f-my-life @spencer101reid @spencersdolore @delicateprunecashpony @sader12345678 @dashlilymark @mysticalmagicmoon @onebigfangirlworld @saturn-mp4 @hurricanejjareau @thatweirdo466 @angryknightstatesmantrash @nograciass @danandphilfan6 @la-vie-en-amour1 @squirrellover1967 @reidswords @skyirates @spideyspencer @harrypressman @justine-en @absolutelynotsophie @dr-reid-ismyspiritanimal @mailikestruecrimetoomuch @dadchi-oya @marley1773 @lashtonandmalumsbaby @jesus-christ-ashtons-arms @lulurose17 @flowers-in-fields @multifandombb @aimzonicles97 @criminaly-supernatural @aperrywilliams @n1ghtsh4d3-67 @thatsonezesty13 @maya0819 @chaoticsteverogers @brendon-phan-stuff @cityofolympus @sungieeeeeee @notsofruitiesmoothie @cassiopeiaathena @voguekristens @fandomlover4091 @criminalminds-and-cookies @marcyag @goofyfaith7 @typical-lingling @fallingforfics @spycemilk @spencers-sass @yuurisassonice @kmc217 @daiiybuugle @caswinchester2000 @yomama-umbridge @falcon-arrows

#spencer reid imagine #spencer reid #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid smut #spencer reid x reader #Criminal Minds #criminal minds meme #criminal minds imagine #criminal mids fic #aaron hotchner #Aaron Hotch Hotchner #derek morgan imagine #derek morgan #best years series

363 notes · View notes

heartofether · 3 years

Text

Episode 15 - Elderberries TRANSCRIPT

[You can listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts, or go to our “Listen” page if you’re on desktop.]

AUTOMATED VOICE

[LOWER-PITCHED AND SLOWER THAN NORMAL] Please state your message.

[THEME SONG PLAYS.]

VAL

Three-eyed Frog Presents: The Heart of Ether.

[THEME SONG FADES TO A STOP.]

[PHONE BEEP.]

[INT. THE POPPY GARDEN MOTEL, AGENT MAY AND JUNES’ ROOM, EARLY MORNING.]

AGENT JUNE

Oh, is it on? I dunno how this recording device works. Would have been, like, ten times easier to just record on our phones, but, eh.

Anyways, it’s just me right now, which means I get to do all the talking. Guess I should, I dunno, talk about the mission? Daughtler?

Oh! I know. There’s this candy store downtown that displays massive gummy bears in the window, only it’s so hot outside that the bears have started melting. It’s some mix of disturbing, but also hilarious? Seriously, those bears look so sad, I can’t help but laugh.

Let’s see. Say, what’s that stupid thing he always says? [DRAMATICALLY MOCKING AGENT MAY] This is Operation Saturn, phase 1.2. Conducted by Agents May and June. All recordings are property of the—

[AS AGENT JUNE TALKS, THE DOOR IS HEARD OPENING AND CLOSING. THERE ARE FOOTSTEPS AS AGENT MAY WALKS IN.]

AGENT MAY

Here’s your coffee.

AGENT JUNE

Much obliged! Oh, you got it with oat milk, right?

AGENT MAY

[SLIGHTLY BITTER] It cost extra, but yes.

AGENT JUNE

Aw, hell yeah.

[AGENT JUNE TAKES HIS DRINK.]

AGENT MAY

I’ve never understood the excitement behind alternative milks.

AGENT JUNE

Hey, I’m lactose intolerant. Not that that would stop me from consuming dairy in most scenarios, but oat milk hits, alright? You should give it a shot.

AGENT MAY

I don’t put milk in my coffee, just sugar.

AGENT JUNE

Mm. Gross.

AGENT MAY

[HE HUFFS A SIGH.] Well, I’ll stop judging your coffee order if you stop judging mine.

AGENT JUNE

I’ll agree to that, sure.

[HE TAKES A SIP, THEN] See anything of note in the coffeeshop?

AGENT MAY

[UNCOMFORTABLY] Maybe. There was this girl sitting at a table. She was wearing all-black, which is strange considering the weather.

AGENT JUNE

Uh, ever heard of fashion? Dude, you literally wear a suit every day! No wonder you overheat. I mean, why do you think I skip the blazer?

AGENT MAY

[IRRITATED] At least I wear my tie correctly.

AGENT JUNE

I leave it undone on purpose, alright? It’s a statement.

AGENT MAY

Do you know how to tie a tie?

AGENT JUNE

[DEFENSIVE] Yes!

[AN UNCOMFORTABLY LONG PAUSE.]

AGENT JUNE

So, there was this girl in the coffeeshop.

AGENT MAY

She seemed fairly young. Must have been in either high school or college. She was staring at me over her laptop the whole time. Like she was, I don’t know, stalking prey. It was like her eyes were knives, and she was trying to carve my flesh off.

AGENT JUNE

So, she defo wasn’t just idly looking or whatever. Like, you’re pretty sure she was thinking about killing you?

AGENT MAY

Well, there’s no way I can know for certain, now, is there?

[A BEAT.] She was wearing a black fabric surgical mask, though.

[A TENSE PAUSE.]

AGENT JUNE

Do you think she was—?

AGENT MAY

I can’t say for sure.

AGENT JUNE

I mean, it might have been an accessory, but we’re in Daughtler, Washington—

AGENT MAY

I’m not going back there to check. Okay? If we see her again, maybe we can consider interviewing her, but I don’t feel comfortable going back to see her.

AGENT JUNE

[UNDERSTANDING] Alright.

[AGENT MAY SIGHS.]

AGENT JUNE

[CONT.] Alright. I won’t force you.

AGENT MAY

I—I appreciate that.

[THERE'S A PAUSE.]

AGENT JUNE

Uh, how’d you sleep?

AGENT MAY

About as well as I could in a car seat.

AGENT JUNE

Okay, I can’t just keep letting you sleep in the car. It was kind of funny at first, but now I just— [HIS SENTENCE TRAILS OFF IN VAGUE STUTTERS.]

AGENT MAY

[BEAT.] Well?

AGENT JUNE

I feel bad! Alright? I mean, look at me, I have this whole room to myself, and meanwhile, my partner is sleeping in a company vehicle that may or may not have bloodstains in the backseat.

[BEAT, THEN] Actually, I’d love to talk about those weird dark stains later, because uh, what, but I’ll let it slide for now. It’s still gotta be super uncomfortable, though.

AGENT MAY

We could always take turns.

AGENT JUNE

No, what I’m saying is I don’t think either of us have to sleep in the car! There has got to be a better solution.

AGENT MAY

The Foundation already declined giving us a second room, or trying to transfer us to a larger one. Trust me, I tried.

AGENT JUNE

Dammit.

[A LONG PAUSE.]

AGENT JUNE

It's king-sized, you know.

[ANOTHER LONG PAUSE.]

AGENT MAY

Do you think the motel has spare blankets? I think I could try sleeping on the floor.

[THOUGH UNSEEN, AGENT JUNE LOOKS INTO THE CAMERA LIKE HE’S IN THE OFFICE.]

AGENT MAY

…I’ll go down and ask later.

AGENT JUNE

Good idea.

[A BEAT. THERE'S SUIT RUSTLING AS AGENT MAY CHECKS HIS WATCH.]

AGENT MAY

We should head out soon.

AGENT JUNE

You’re really glued to that watch of yours, huh?

AGENT MAY

Excuse me?

AGENT JUNE

Not that it’s bad, you just check it a lot. I don’t really know what watch etiquette is, but I think you look at it more than most people do. I’ve also noticed you tend to look at it more around specific times? Is there a reason, or—?

AGENT MAY

[MORE SERIOUS THAN THE CONVERSATION WARRANTS] It’s none of your business. Perhaps I simply prefer to keep on schedule. Let’s go.

AGENT JUNE

[SLIGHTLY CONFUSED] Oh, um, okay. Sorry. [UNDER HIS BREATH] Jeez. Let me just—

[PHONE BEEP.]

[RECORDING ENDS.]

[ANOTHER BEEP.]

[INT. THE OPEN EYES BOOKSTORE BACKROOM, EARLY, EARLY MORNING.]

HOLLY

Are you recording?

PHOEBE

Yes, yes, I am.

HOLLY

Kind of weird to be doing this so early in the morning.

PHOEBE

I’m sorry, I know it’s super early. Night just felt…well, it felt more dangerous, I guess? Even Grandma Doe recommended not doing it too late. I wanted to get it done before the shop opened, though.

HOLLY

Oh no, I don’t mind. I guess people usually just consider night to be “the witching hour.”

PHOEBE

This isn’t really witchcraft, though, is it?

HOLLY

Guess not. Most modern witchcraft is a lot more…chill, I guess?

PHOEBE

Right. [A BEAT.] Do you think it’s really a good idea to be doing this in the back room?

HOLLY

Well, it’s not like we have anywhere else. It’d be super shady if we did it right outside, and your forestry friend would be pissed if we went out into the woods to do it.

PHOEBE

[NERVOUS] There’s so much paper, though. I mean, we could easily set the whole thing alight. My apartment’s really small, I know, but maybe we could—?

HOLLY

Don’t worry about it. We did a pretty good job clearing stuff out to make space, I think. It should be fine, I mean, a lot of the most flammable stuff either got moved out or shoved against the wall.

Besides, didn’t she say that it might be good to do it here for like, symbolic purposes?

PHOEBE

Yeah. Yeah, I guess you’re right. [SHE CHUCKLES.] Maybe this will finally give me incentive to organize everything.

HOLLY

[SHE LAUGHS, SOMEWHAT NERVOUSLY.] If this works, then hopefully you’ll be able to do that anyways.

PHOEBE

That’s true, yes. I, um, guess we should get started. Can you read the directions?

HOLLY

Of course.

[HOLLY IS HEARD UNFOLDING A PIECE OF PAPER.]

HOLLY

[READING] The purpose of all of this is energy. You are lighting fire to produce energy. You are grinding berries and eating them to produce it as well. Ether functions under this key desire for vitality. If you can understand this simple principle, this keen need it has, it will treat you much more kindly.

By designing this ritual for you, my hope is that it will spell out as clear as day to Ether what you are trying to achieve. It rarely gives people what they want, rather it gives what it sees fit for them. You must steer it in the correct direction, or else it will choose a different fate for you.

These instructions are similar to what Valencia and I did, as well as symbolic for what you hope to achieve. However, nobody has ever developed an exact science for how these rituals function. We may only rely on guesswork and hope. While I would like to develop more specific procedures and instructions, I do not know if I ever will. Perhaps that could be your task.

[BREAKING READING] Could I skip her whole monologue? We already read it, and I don’t think it’s important in-the-moment.

PHOEBE

Sure.

HOLLY

Cool.

[SHE FLIPS THE PAPER.]

HOLLY

Materials needed: Yarn or string to create a casting circle. Some people use salt, but it produces an awful mess. Several circles of yarn around you and your workspace will work just fine.

PHOEBE

We did that already.

HOLLY

Yup. [READING AGAIN] Three white candles with words carved into them. It does not matter what the words are, they simply have to be legible and completely cover the candle. No numbers. I just wrote out song lyrics on that one.

PHOEBE

Oh, that’s neat! I, um, did poems I like.

HOLLY

Cute. [A BEAT.] A lighter or match of some kind. Someplace to safely burn paper—we got a metal bin, so we’re good. Did you turn off the smoke alarm?

PHOEBE

I did, yeah.

HOLLY

Let’s hope the place doesn’t burn down, then. [CHUCKLE, THEN] I’m joking, I promise. It should be fine. [SHE CLEARS HER THROAT.]

A book—you will be tearing out each individual page, so to save time, I suggest a children’s book. A bowl or container of some kind. Elderberries, I recommend you cook them beforehand, but make sure none of them are pre-mashed. Something to mash the elderberries with. Finally, a few drops of your blood, or something to draw blood with. That’s what the sewing needle is for, right? You sure you don’t want a blade? I have a pocket knife.

PHOEBE

[UNCOMFORTABLE] I get nervous around knives, but thank you for the offer.

Oh—actually, I wanted to ask, um, where did you find elderberries? I couldn’t find them anywhere.

HOLLY

I asked the bartender down the street.

PHOEBE

Huh.

HOLLY

Yeah, they make all sorts of weird cocktails. Are you ready? Once we start, we can’t stop until it’s complete.

PHOEBE

[WITH WEIGHT, NERVOUS, BUT DETERMINED] I’m ready.

HOLLY

Okay.

[HOLLY FLIPS THE PAPER AGAIN. THERE’S A PAUSE.]

HOLLY

Phoebe?

PHOEBE

Yeah?

HOLLY

Whatever happens, I—we’ll be okay, alright? No matter what. I’ll make sure of it, I swear.

PHOEBE

[TENDERLY] Thank you.

[THERE’S A PAUSE AS THEY ARE HEARD KISSING. HOLLY TAKES A DEEP BREATH.]

HOLLY

Create a circle around— Okay, we already did that. Um, Start by lighting the candles.

[PHOEBE IS HEARD LIGHTING A MATCH AND LIGHTING ALL THREE CANDLES.]

HOLLY

Tear each individual piece of paper out of the book. One by one, burn each piece of paper using fire from the candles. Once you have burned each page, burn the cover. Do not attempt to put any of the fires out. This tedious process shows care and dedication. The blood in later steps is there for a similar purpose.

[PHOEBE IS HEARD TEARING PAGES OUT OF A CHILDREN’S BOOK AND LIGHTING THEM ON FIRE. THERE’S A LONG PAUSE AS SHE DOES SO.]

PHOEBE

Good thing this book only has twenty pages. [A BEAT.] What’s next?

[PHOEBE IS STILL TEARING PAPER IN THE BACKGROUND, AND THE BURNING SFX GOES ON FOR SOME TIME.]

HOLLY

Uh—place your elderberries in the bowl and begin mashing them in a clockwise motion. As you do this, speak out loud and ask Ether to grant you knowledge and the ability to see what others do not. There should be no misunderstanding in what you are trying to achieve, and if you have garnered Ether’s attention, it should have already decided what it shall do with you. [MUTTERS] Fuckin’ weird.

[PHOEBE CEASES HER PAGE-TEARING.]

PHOEBE

The book is done. Pass me the spice grinder with the berries?

[HOLLY PASSES PHOEBE THE SPICE GRINDER.]

PHOEBE

Thank you.

[PHOEBE IS HEARD GRINDING THE ELDERBERRIES.]

PHOEBE

[WHISPERING TO HERSELF] Ether, um, whoever or whatever you are, if you are listening to me, please grant me knowledge. Grant me the power to see what others do not. Let me see and know everything.

[THERE IS A RINGING HEARD IN THE BACKGROUND AS HOLLY SPEAKS.]

HOLLY

If this works, the words on the candle should begin to—holy—God!

[HOLLY STUMBLES BACK.]

PHOEBE

Glow?

HOLLY

[FREAKING OUT] Yup? Uh—they’re actually glowing, what the—

PHOEBE

[OVERLAPPING] What’s next?

HOLLY

Sorry, sorry. [SHE RUFFLES THE PAPER IN HER HAND.] Mix a few drops of your blood into the elderberries.

PHOEBE

Pass me the sewing needle.

[HOLLY PASSES PHOEBE THE NEEDLE. SHE PRICKS HER FINGER.]

PHOEBE

[UNDER HER BREATH] Ow.

[SHE LETS A FEW DROPS COME OUT, SUCKS ON HER FINGER BRIEFLY, THEN MIXES HER BLOOD IN.]

HOLLY

Drink the elderberry mash. You must consume every bit of it, or at least as much as you can.

PHOEBE

[GROWING IN A MIX OF PANIC AND EXCITEMENT] This is it—I mean—wait, I’m about to consume my blood, that’s weird, but—this is really it.

HOLLY

[ENCOURAGING] You can do it.

[PHOEBE IS HEARD DRINKING THE ELDERBERRY MASH. THERE IS A PAUSE.]

HOLLY

If successful, the candles will—

[THE CANDLES ARE HEARD EXTINGUISHING.]

HOLLY

…blow out.

PHOEBE

[SLIGHTLY SICK] I think I got it all.

HOLLY

How do you feel? Is—has anything changed?

PHOEBE

I feel…I feel like there’s a part of me that was never there before. Like, my internal self expands farther out than my physical self, like I’m floating, it’s—I need to go lie down.

HOLLY

I’ll take you upstairs. It worked, though?

PHOEBE

I think it did. I mean, Grandma Doe said I would feel some sort of immediate change, but the rest of it would trickle in slowly. I feel different, though.

HOLLY

[SLOWLY, CAUTIOUS] Does this mean you’re not human anymore?

PHOEBE

[A BEAT.] I haven’t thought about that. I mean, I think I might just kind of be human plus? I’m not sure. Grandma Doe was still mortal, after all—she felt pain, she got ill—her mind was just super advanced. Does that make me inhuman?

HOLLY

I…I don’t think so. I think you just have mind powers or whatever.

PHOEBE

I’ll think about it later. I’m just going to try to get some sleep before the shop opens.

HOLLY

You don’t even have to open today, you know. People will understand if you just say you’re ill. Or I could run it for today, since there’s usually less traction on weekdays.

PHOEBE

[SINCERE] Thank you.

HOLLY

Of course.

PHOEBE

[SHE SIGHS.] Okay, time to—

[PHONE BEEP.]

[RECORDING ENDS.]

[ANOTHER PHONE BEEP.]

[INT. IRENE’S HOUSE, MIDDAY.]

IRENE

I just got home from work. Apparently, Phoebe did that ritual early this morning. It went well, from what Holly told me, though Phoebe’s been taking the day off to rest.

Oh, and they also posted that advert on the bulletin board yesterday. You know, for someone to develop Valencia’s film.

That’s not important right now. You know what is important?

This morning, at work, I opened up a folder on my computer and guess what was in it? A new audio recording where there shouldn’t be one. Guess the technological gods have decided to be generous today.

I decided to wait until I got off to listen to it. It’s dated shortly after the incident, so I think it might be important.

Besides, work has been…well, different, since the Spread. I haven’t told Carol or Aden that’s what it’s called, though. The whole incident brought us closer together, but I think that’s a double-edged sword. They know me well enough, now, I think they can tell I’m hiding something. Aden definitely knows I am—I mean, what I told him was pretty cryptic, but Carol I think just…knows. She’s just like that. [SCOFF] Maybe that’s part of her motherly instincts.

Right, that’s beside the point. Back to the recording.

Here goes nothing.

[IRENE CLICKS ON THE FILE.]

[PHONE BEEP.]

[INT. DRIVING, LATE AT NIGHT.]

[THERE IS THE AMBIANCE OF DRIVING DOWN A DESOLATE FOREST ROAD AS THEY TALK.]

UNKNOWN GIRL

Does it work?

ROSE

I believe so.

UNKNOWN GIRL

[SHE SNORTS.] About as well as a cheap cell phone from Walmart could, I imagine?

ROSE

It just has to be able to record and make emergency calls. I’m not too worried about it. Thank you, again. Really, I owe you.

UNKNOWN GIRL

Hey, I didn’t buy it. I just walked into the store and handed your money to the guy behind the counter. It’s not a big deal.

[DULLY SKEPTICAL] You’re trying pretty hard to cover up your tracks, you know. Destroying your phone, not wanting to be seen in public to go get a new one, only paying in cash. Almost makes it sound like you’re a criminal or something.

ROSE

[FRANTIC] I’m not! I swear, I’m not.

UNKNOWN GIRL

No need to get defensive. Look, I get it. We all have reasons to want to disappear. I’m surely in no position to judge.

You know, I know we haven’t known each other for long, but I feel like we might actually have a lot in common.

ROSE

Why is that?

UNKNOWN GIRL

We both don’t know where we’re going, or why.

ROSE

[UNDER HER BREATH] Oh, I know why.

UNKNOWN GIRL

So you do have a reason?

ROSE

It’s not a big deal.

UNKNOWN GIRL

Your secret’s safe with me, you know.

ROSE

It’s nothing. Really. Just…do you have to know or—?

UNKNOWN GIRL

Well, do I have any reason to?

ROSE

No, but do you even have a reason to be helping me?

UNKNOWN GIRL

[DEADPAN] What can I say? I’m a generous soul.

[A BEAT.] Say, why did you want something to record with, anyways?

ROSE

I, um—it’s stupid.

UNKNOWN GIRL

Try me.

ROSE

It’s—well. I guess I don’t want to be forgotten? I want some way for people to find out what happened to me when…if…you know. There’s…if something does happen to me, there’s at least one person who deserves to know.

UNKNOWN GIRL

You think you’re going to get yourself killed?

ROSE

I don’t know. I suppose it’s better to be safe than sorry?

UNKNOWN GIRL

But you have someone you know will want to listen. [CONNECTING THE DOTS] You weren’t a loner before you left, were you? You left someone important behind, and now you feel bad. You owe them an explanation.

ROSE

[UNCOMFORTABLY] Yes. Right. I guess.

[A BEAT.] I don’t want to talk about this anymore.

UNKNOWN GIRL

Who did you abandon?

ROSE

[RAISING HER VOICE SLIGHTLY] I said I’m done.

UNKNOWN GIRL

Alright, alright.

[A BEAT.] If it makes you feel better, I’ll let you prod at me a bit.

ROSE

[HESITANT] Where did you get your name? Wednesday is such a unique name, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it outside of stories.

WEDNESDAY [UNKNOWN GIRL]

It’s certainly no ‘Mary,’ is it?

ROSE

I mean, obviously. My name’s pretty basic.

WEDNESDAY

I actually chose it after I left home. Not like that, just never liked the name my parents gave me. Kept the last name ‘White,’ though. It has a ring to it.

ROSE

Was there a reason for it, or did it just sound nice?

WEDNESDAY

When people meet someone with a weird name, that tends to be the thing that most grabs their attention. “I met a girl named after a day of the week today, isn’t that bizarre?” I didn’t want to be remembered for anything I didn’t want people to see. If one thing was going to stick with them, it would be my name, but not quite the face that goes with it. Just the girl with an odd name.

ROSE

So you want to be forgotten?

WEDNESDAY

Not forgotten, but I want control over the memory of me. I want to fade away into obscurity, but not obscure enough that it’s suspicious.

ROSE

[KIND OF UNCOMFORTABLE] You’ve thought about this a lot.

WEDNESDAY

When you’re like me, you have to.

ROSE

Wh—what does that—

WEDNESDAY

[OVERLAPPING] Do you need me to stop at the gas station up ahead?

[THERE’S A SLIGHTLY TOO LONG PAUSE.]

ROSE

Um, yeah, I have to—

[PHONE BEEP.]

[RECORDING ENDS.]

[INT. IRENE’S HOUSE, EARLY EVENING, THE SAME DAY.]

[THERE’S A LONG PAUSE.]

IRENE

[STILL PROCESSING IT AS SHE SPEAKS.] Okay. Okay! This is definitely a start. A great start, actually!

Okay, let’s see, uh—after you ran away, you destroyed your phone—no wonder the police couldn’t track it—and then you went with some person named Wednesday.

That’s definitely a start. If I can figure out where Wednesday—White, was it?—yeah, Wednesday White. I know Wednesday probably isn’t her legal name, but I might still be able to find her somewhere. If I can find Wednesday White, I might have a good shot at finding you. That’s great news!

[A SLIGHTLY TOO LONG PAUSE.]

IRENE

[HER ENTHUSIASM DYING] I don’t trust Wednesday, though.

[A BEAT.] Okay, maybe I shouldn’t be so skeptical. I mean, you’re not an idiot, Rose. You wouldn’t hitch hike with just any random stranger. Would you? Doesn’t even seem like you gave her your real name, she called you ‘Mary.’

[SHE HUFFS A SIGH.] Maybe I’m just being defensive. Still, she seemed off, didn’t she? That whole thing she said about her name just kind of rubbed me the wrong way. She prodded a lot, too. Almost as if she wanted to make you uncomfortable.

I could be reading into it too much. I guess I won’t know until I find her. Hopefully, she didn’t fade into obscurity too much. There’s gotta be some record of her existence online. If I’m lucky, she might be on social media or something. Who knows? Lots of time has passed.

[A PAUSE, THEN, SOFTLY] That person, you—were you recording for me? You wanted me to know you hadn’t abandoned me on purpose. [HURT] And here I was, thinking you would just leave without reason. That you had betrayed me in some way. I’m—Rose, I’m so sorry—

[JUST AS SHE SAYS “SORRY,” HER PHONE BEGINS VIBRATING. SHE PICKS IT UP.]

IRENE

[SKEPTICAL] There’s an unknown number calling me.

[SHE ANSWERS.]

IRENE

Hello?

CALLER

Hello? Is this the person who posted an ad outside of Open Eyes Bookstore?

IRENE

Oh! Um, yeah, that’s me. Wow, I didn’t expect to hear from someone so fast.

CALLER

I’m an observant person. I like to make my rounds throughout the town. You’ll never know what you’ll find, after all. Or who.

Anyways, you have some film that needs to be developed, right? Well, it just so happens to be your lucky day, because I have a dark room.

IRENE

That’s fantastic. I can pay you however much you want, just—

CALLER

[OVERLAPPING] Oh, that won’t be necessary. I’m studying photography, so the experience is payment enough. No worries!

IRENE

That’s very kind of you, thank you.

CALLER

Of course!

Oh, where are my manners? My name is Sadie. Sadie Creed. And you are…?

IRENE

Irene.

SADIE

Irene! How cute. Where do you want me to pick up your film?

IRENE

Um, I’m sorry if this sounds rude, but I would prefer to meet out in the open? Is that a problem?

SADIE

Not at all. How about Lemongrass Park?

IRENE

That’s actually perfect, yeah.

SADIE

Great! I’m happy to meet you tomorrow night at 8:00, if that time works for you? I know that’s a bit late, but I work at the candy shop until then.

IRENE

That should be fine, yeah.

SADIE

Looking forward to it! Pleasure doing business with you, Irene. Bye-bye!

[SADIE HANGS UP.]

IRENE

Huh. Well, I guess that solves that.

Time to go find Wednesday White.

[PHONE BEEP.]

[RECORDING ENDS.]

AUTOMATED VOICE

Today's quote is: A wave of grass engraves upon the stone: ‘There is more than one good way to drown.’

Sylvia Plath in "Epitaph in Three Parts," 1955.

[OUTRO MUSIC AND CREDITS PLAY.]

MICRO-COSMOS PROMOTIONAL AD [written by Jesse Smith]

[THERE ARE STATIC NOISES.]

ATHENA

This is Communications Athena Romero of OEC #0137-F recording from a… still, unknown location on the infant planet Ophiuchus-22. Though I have my… well, rational, doubts, something in me feels as though this transmission might actually be reaching someone. Might just be desperation, though. Most likely just desperation. Regardless. We would appreciate any and all OC representatives or employees, or individuals otherwise receiving this transmission, to please send a response. We have been recording mandatory and otherwise necessary emergency chronicling logs for days now. Please.

[WE HEAR MILES'S FOOTSTEPS APPROACH.]

MILES

(distant) Athena, are you sending out another transmission? They’re not going to-

[C41 APPEARS WITH THEIR USUAL PING.]

C41

Shhh, let her do her thing, Miles. She needs to set her character up correctly for the new listeners that are hearing this promotional advertisement.

MILES

The new— what?

C41

What?

MILES

What are you talking about?

FELIX

I believe what Cal is doing is called “breaking the fourth wall,” my friend.

MILES

Breaking the what now?

C41

Oh, just forget about it.

[MILES GROANS; WE HEAR ALEX APPROACH.]

ALEX

What about a promotional advertisement?

ATHENA

Guys, could you… [SIGHS] I am trying to finish this log, so could you please give me a moment?

ALEX

Sorry, Starshine, I just got a little caught up in the whole “self-aware and breaking the fourth wall” thing.

ATHENA

It’s… fine.

C41

If I were you, Athena, I would close your log out by telling the listener to tune in to Micro-Cosmos: A Science Fiction Podcast, wherever you get your podcasts! The show is created by a crew of LGBTQ+ people, and features strange infant planets, brief romantic scenes before epic tragedy, cool sci-fi terminology, and adorably talented AI units, like myself!

ATHENA

Micro-?

C41

More information on the show can be found on its website: “microcospod.space”, OR its Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, or TikTok, which all have the handle “@microcospod.”

MILES

… uh huh.

[THE CREW SITS IN SILENCE FOR A SECOND.]

C41

That’s just what I would say, though.

MILES

… Cal, we really need to figure out what is going on with this new phase of yours.

#heart of ether transcripts

5 notes · View notes

eyrieofsynapses · 3 years

Text

so today I just watched the first episode of Almost Paradise! And I’ve gotta say, I am impressed. I already had it on my watchlist but I was planning to wait to watch it for a while until I could let Eliot fade a bit from memory, just so I wouldn’t automatically think of him while watching Kane. But I ran into an article this weekend about how it was filmed in the Philippines and the details of that, and my curiosity was piqued considerably more, so I figured... why not?

(I also started White Collar this weekend and that was very enjoyable, but that’s a post for another day.)

Anyway, my brain’s buzzing now, so have some first impressions and reactions, plus initial meta-analysis because I am intrigued. In hindsight I probably should have recorded first impressions while I was watching, but I’ll do my best to remember the bits that stuck out. Warning for... exceedingly long post.

ooo, okay, so he’s got a medical condition. I faaaaintly remember reading about this in the summary but I didn’t pay much attention to that, oops.

telling a guy played by Chris Kane not to get his heartrate up! that’s definitely gonna happen. definitely. one hundred percent. not like this guy loves fighting or anything

(also tbh the joke about, ah, sexual dysfunction admittedly left a sour taste in my mouth, because I do not go for that kind of thing, but... this is Devlin and Kane, so I’m trusting, based off Leverage experience, that they aren’t gonna be too inappropriate. [In hindsight there are actually interesting meta reasons for this so the sour taste has dissipated somewhat.])

this poor doctor. she’s so done with him.

...he’s definitely not gonna pay attention to the monitor is he

that journal’s gonna get zero use oop

(I was duly impressed when he actually did use it later)

huh, liking how we immediately dive into the effect tourism has had on the Philippines. so we’re getting some commentary here too? I can deal with that

...wow. bad shop. eek

I’m sorry but I am loving the touch with the floorboards and such breaking beneath Alex. the look on his face is just perfect

and the monitor goes off! for tbh the last reason I expected it to first go off for, excellent

MOTORCYLE? did they give him a motorcycle?!

awww no it’s the baddies who have the motorcycle :(

hmm this should be interesting. loving the look of this leader guy tho

--aaaand good asthetic guy is dead! with an ice pick! creepy and creative!

bar. no way this could go wrong

internal battle! understandable that Alex wants out, buuuuuuut if he’s anything like I suspect he is--

--yup, picking a fight, with a damn pool cue--

--not picking a fight?

...picking a fight. by being friendly. *sigh*

yuuuuuuuup. that’s definitely good for your heart

badass fighting scene! with a pool cue, that’s a new one! love seeing Kane take ordinary objects and turn them into fighting tools

(ngl this had Eliot vibes. that said I am thrilled to see how damn good these fight scenes are and this is making me even more excited for Redemption)

aaaaaaaaaand oh fuck this was a police setup. which. I actually did not see coming, huh

ahahah they’re pissed! because he messed up their bust? or because he just saved their asses?

...probably technically the former but I suspect the latter is also true

refusing to get Involved being foreshadowed by his indecision earlier! of course he’s going to get Involved anyway, only question is how

“hitter” I SEE YOU. I SEE YOU AND YOUR REFERENCES. I SEE YOU DEVLIN AND KANE

pfffffffffffFFFFFT the meditation, oh gods

that voice. oh Alex.

I genuinely cannot tell if this is him actually trying or if this is him begrudgingly making an attempt because he has to

lacquering(?) the doors, which, hey, actually look pretty nice--this place is gonna look good when it’s done isn’t iii--

oh fuck Alex is being attacked

(this is definitely something to be concerned about. yes. totally. not like we haven’t already seen him take down a bunch of guys.)

with a garrot! this is definitely totally not how he’s gonna get Involved

oh my gods the detail with the paint. nothing says Competent like getting irritated at how the baddie interrupted your house restoration

hehehehe Involved

oooh, hmm, he thinks they sent the guy after him? what kind of corruption has Alex faced? I mean it’s not an unreasonable fear, but jeez, it sounds like this has happened to him before. doesn’t say much good about the DEA...

huh, this is a level of disturbed I haven’t seen from Kane before. which, granted, I have only seen him in Leverage, but I’ve never seen him pull this out before. the voice crack is an excellent touch

also, worth noting, Alex is definitely a notable level of... hmm, paranoid? this is just a tad bit frantic, though that’s understandable from a guy who almost got killed while in the middle of an attempted meditation

oh god being cocky in the middle of a briefing. poor Kai

--being cocky and competence porn! of course he takes the watch and turns it into a lesson

...he must be a hell of a teacher

(also, bonus points for actually using the journal. maybe he’s taking this health thing more seriously than I thought he would?)

may I repeat: COMPETENCE PORN

uh-huh, you’re so not involved, definitely, Alex, not like you’re gonna get pulled straight into this or anything

Ernesto is just watching to see how things play out, Kai is... trying to do things the right way, and Alex...

...Alex gives precisely zero fucks. buddy you are so not subtle

right, walking straight into the lion’s den! radiating confidence! terrifying

this is a disturbing level of truth he’s sharing for this lie. I mean, best lies are crafted from truth, but... jeez

hm. so is Alex also a “I don’t like guns” type guy?

(probably not for the same reasons as Eliot doesn’t [his is definitely more in the “they make it too easy to kill” department whereas I would guess Alex has either more tactical or PTSD reasons], but, hmm. this is something to watch for)

(did they know they were bringing back Leverage when they set up Almost Paradise? I’m genuinely wondering if they didn’t write some Eliot traits into Alex specifically bc they knew Kane missed playing him)

this is a fantastically confident level of grifting--what exactly did he do in the DEA, precisely?

...ah. cool asthetic guy. stuffed in the freezer. gotta admit, I definitely didn’t see that one coming. creepy!

(and it looks like you actually managed to shake Alex a little, hah)

aaaaaand in the meantime we have Kai following his advice! in an... interesting way. hm.

(surprisingly this does not annoy me that much in hindsight. not sure why)

and understandably, this does not go over well! except, oh, fuck, DEA guy. this ain’t gonna be good

...worse. worse than I thought. what happened to you, Alex? former partner? whaaat

“attacks”?

this gonna be the typical “traumatized white dude has Anger Attacks” type thing?

honestly I immediately went “probably not” given how it was handled in Leverage. wasn’t sure though. but that does leave the question of what sort of attacks? it doesn’t seem like it’d be meltdowns, so what does that leave?

hmmm. DEA guy is an Ass. we Do Not Like him. I’ve known Alex for less than half an hour but you do not do that to him. you do not use trauma against your guy, Jerkface.

cutting a deal? this should be interesting

...well shit. I. am sincerely hoping Kai isn’t about to walk in on anything too bad

this definitely isn’t gonna be a fight though, that I called right off the bat

--bottles. dammit

oh, Christ. attempted OD or just drunk?

just drunk! good! well, very Not Good, but better than the other thing

pffffft dunking him in the water and then him going straight back to the water when he sees her, that is both absolutely hilarious and deeply concerning

aaand I’m agreeing with Kai but also, poor guy just got confronted with a hell of a lot of things that would raise his trau--

...mm. yeah. that’d be it.

...I. was. not expecting that much backstory info straight off. holy cow, Alex. that is. messed up. someone get this man a hug

“one of the guys that cared too much”

(...like you?)

(or is that why you won’t let yourself care now?)

fuck, there was a lot more to that boat scene than I thought. ow

partner who betrayed him like that? I’m just. gods.

Trust Issues is definitely gonna be a Thing isn’t it

can we just take a second to appreciate how Christian Kane is playing the absolute hell out of this character

aaaand Kai brings him back to the city for a Heartwarming Reminder of why he was in the game! this is very tropey but it is, as John Rogers has pointed out, an instance of the “well-worn writing tool” rather than feeling cheesy!

holy crap Kai has lost. a lot of people. oh man

ahahahaha classic “why did you bring me here?” line! you know why, Alex. you know why

oh, and Ernesto gets a chance to help him out! I’m already enjoying this so much

awww and Kai shows up to help encourage him! with coffee! supportive friend and very obvious but honestly okay love interest! good!!!

(what the heck is with Devlin and his crew and sticking Kane with two besties? based on Ernesto’s dynamic with him I’m guessing this isn’t gonna be an OT3 but. I am loving the trend)

“I’m gonna regret this in the morning” pfft

huh, working with the DEA agents. not like he’s gonna go off script or anything. that’s totally not gonna happen is it

hehe irritated look while they’re putting on the mic. he is so very unimpressed

--”little episodes”--episodes?

moment of appreciation for the un-forced-feeling diversity in these police squads

“how’s the anxiety?” I’m sorry what

hold up, when we say “episodes”--are we talking panic attacks? does Alex have actual goddamn anxiety?

...actually with PTSD? that would make complete sense. I am... intrigued. I am really hoping that that’s the case, actually, because having seen how well they handled Parker and her PTSD in Leverage (as well as Nate’s and Eliot’s) I have a lot of faith that they could pull that off really well, actually. That would be good.

ppFFFT TAKING OFF THE WIRES RIGHT OFF THE BAT

wait what. you’re telling them everything? what’s your game here?

“get that frikkin gun outta my face!” yup, not a fan of guns! no disarming though? huh

(also can we just. appreciate how Kane manages to make “frikkin” sound just as much like the cuss it’s replacing?)

(LET ALEX SAY FUCK)

oh. OH

hi Ernesto! hi Kai! I see what y’all doing

ohhhhhhhhhh Alex you goddamn genius. Getting rid of all of the drugs so there’s no way the precise thing he was claiming to be doing can happen. I like this

THE MEDITATION COMING ON ON THE RECORDING I CAN’T--OH MY GODS

Alex please tell me you know how to disarm a gun. please. guns are not effective at that distance

OH. OH I DID NOT SEE KAI COMING.

got ‘em! murder confession, how did I not see that coming? good stuff

Kai can fight!

KAI CAN FUCKING FIGHT WOW

I am very much appreciating Kai right now

also is that a FLYING KICK from Ernesto?

they better give these people more fight scenes

aaaaand straight into the water, oh god. I’m assuming this was a choice made because Alex is familiar with this territory? ...I do not think I want to know where Alex learned to fight underwater.

(I really really really want to know.)

how the fuck has your monitor not gone off by now Alex

choking him out underwater, okay, wow

what size are your lungs? this is long

extra kudos for excellent underwater filming and wow I am hoping the actors actually came up for air

(this is also unreasonably beautiful for a scene where you’re choking out a drug lord. the water is so pretty)

Evil DEA guy (no I am not going to learn his name, he doesn’t deserve it) is gonna be Alex’s Agent Sterling, isn’t he? this should be interesting

heh, police chief is taking his side! good stuff, good stuff

(it is very nice to see Alex getting some people in his corner after knowing what hell the DEA put him through)

Alex has fallen so damn hard for Kai. this is very very adorable actually

awww he’s really getting into fixing up the shop, isn’t he? I’m sincerely looking forward to seeing how he gets this up and going, it really looks like he’s enjoying himself

somehow I am starting to wonder if the cocky “oh yeah I’m opening up a gift shop how exciting huh” thing at the start wasn’t... actually genuine. he... is enjoying this, isn’t he? good. very good

I am unreasonably invested in this man’s wellbeing for one episode in

!!!!!!!!! HE GETS HIS PARADE

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

giving him his reason to keep going! yes! yessss

oh Alex you are attached now. you are very attached. good luck my dude and don’t let the trust issues get in the way

this is a good show. this is a heckin awesome show.

also, side note, it is SO PRETTY

I am just loving loving loving all of the scenery. competence porn AND landscape and city porn. beautiful. perfection. excellent

...that was. much longer than I anticipated oops

anyway, conclusion: hot damn this is a fun show! I am very excited to keep watching this. Alex officially has my heart, even if he’s a bit of a cocky bastard sometimes. Kane is fucking hilarious. (More reasons to be excited for Redemption!) Kai and Ernesto also have my heart, and I am extremely interested to see their character development.

Honestly, the beauty is surprising. I didn’t expect to just enjoy how pretty it is. The blues of the ocean, the intense tropical colors, even the run-down gift shop--there’s such a gorgeous aesthetic to it all. If I wasn’t already invested in the characters and plot, I’d be invested for that alone.

So... I have some thoughts on Alex and the show structure.

He’s obviously very disillusioned. There’s a lot of nods to the idea of war--he’s commonly referring to himself as a soldier, as a veteran, maybe as a casualty. I’m gonna take a totally wild guess here and say this show is going to be focused on the drug issues in the Philippines. (Wow, Synapse, how the heck’d you guess that?) I do find describing the war on drugs as a war, and going into the terminology that comes with it, very appropriate, and I like how this show is actively calling this to attention rather than using it as a convenient plot. They’re actually addressing the issue and discussing its impact. And given how overlooked certain aspects of the impact of the drug war on the Philippines is, this is a good choice, especially in order to alert American viewers to the issue. I’m curious to see how they handle that.

Again, interesting drawing parallels to war, too, and comparing it against the likes of WWI and Vietnam. It really gives that sense of weight to the issue and defines a vital aspect of it: the impact of the war on drugs on the people involved. It emphasizes that the people who are fighting it suffer consequences and PTSD just as a soldier in the field does, and it also emphasizes, with Kai, that it isn’t just the people actively fighting who bear the consequences. It’s also the people on the sidelines--it’s the families, the people on the streets by the gunfights, the economical impact, etcetera.

But there’s also an element to Alex’s character that automatically makes him relatable to a lot of people... and it has nothing to do with the PTSD, nothing to do with the war on drugs, nothing really to do with the main issues. It is, simply, the intense hopelessness and depression that comes with trying to make a difference. In his case it’s making a difference on a severe worldwide issue. But the vast majority, if not all, of Almost Paradise’s audience should be able to relate to a feeling of never doing enough. And there’s certainly a large section of that group who can relate to being part of a fight that never seems to end. Doesn’t matter what you’re doing--if it’s driven at helping, it rarely ever feels like you ever do enough. But the advice given is excellent. One of the best things to do, when you’re feeling hopeless over this, is to focus on and take deep joy in the impact you do make.

Alex is an expression of a frustration that a lot of people deal with. This, I think, is one of the reasons why he instantly drew me--and presumably the rest of the audience--in (outside of a fantastic actor and great humor). He’s relatable. He’s something that most people can see a part of themselves in.

Anyway, symbolism and real-world talk aside, this is just... fun. It’s genuine fun. We’re covering rough issues, but there’s a lot of well-written tropes in here too that are written in that way that makes them enjoyable to relive rather than painful. The humor is delightful and plentiful. There’s a lot of beautiful feel-good moments. I’m suspecting this’ll be a comfort show, and I am perfectly all right with that.

Onto the next episode!

#Almost Paradise #Almost Paradise spoilers #Almost Paradise 1x01 #reaction post #christian kane #(please please please let these be the right tags)#synapse reacts #this is a new thing!#hopefully y'all like the new thing!#even though I am exceedingly long-winded #I mean this is basically the equivalent of me yelling into the void #but I need SOME void to yell into #so this might as well be it #and perhaps someone'll get a kick out of it #so why not?

12 notes · View notes

snapitseventeen · 4 years

Text

horanghae | ksy | fluff, crack

anon: ok since u asked for it... kd but a vlive scenario where fans started asking about soonyoung's relationship with u like how you guys started, facts and all that then you'd just get in the shot just to argue your side of the story and all... sorry if it's confusing 👉👈 it's alright if you think it's too much just wanted to see more of your works 💟

ofc baby 😙 and you weren’t confusing at all hehe, i love kwon soonyoung ugh making this made me smile big u-fucking-wus

summary: you see a notification in your phone pop up that your boyfriend was hosting a vlive, of course like the supportive partner you are, you decided to click and watch it.

side note, idols dating is ~normal~ in this oneshot because I said so

genre: fluff, crack

word count: 1.9k _______________________________________________________

Your POV

You yawned, mindlessly paying attention to the cup of coffee that you were currently brewing in the kitchen. A ping from your phone caught your attention, a notification on V-Live that your boyfriend was streaming. Immediately, you clicked on the app, letting the live load and play in the background while you did your morning routine and got ready.

“Hello Carats~”

You smiled as your boyfriend’s glowing face showed up on screen. With the way his hair was hidden by his hat, you could tell that the boys just finished practice for their recent comeback. You were actually on your way to go see him, after you woke up a little bit more of course.

Although you had to admit, it was hard productively getting ready when you kept watching your boyfriend on screen and listen to him chat. Somehow—after 30 minutes—you were in your car and driving to your boyfriend’s company building. __________

“Any funny episodes during filming?” Soonyoung read aloud one of the comments. He hummed, thinking to himself, “Filming Coups hyung’s car scene was really funny for some reason, I don’t know. It’s one of those, you had to have been there moments. His acting was just...wow, you all thought so too, right?”

Soonyoung scrolled through more comments and chattered off, eyes darting to the time and back to the camera every once in a while. He was debating whether he should text you to see if you’ve woken up, you were like a rock when it came to sleep.

How’s y/n, Hoshi oppa?

The boy smiled at the mention of you in one of the comments, “y/n’s doing good, we’re supposed to go on a date later, but I don’t know if they’re awake yet,”

As if a switch went off, the comments went crazy asking about you and about your relationship. Soonyoung beamed, his mouth running like a motor as he chattered about you. “How long have me and y/n been dating? About a year now if I remember correctly-hey of course I know our anniversary, c’mon Carats, what do you take me for?”

Soonyoung whined as an influx of comments started clowning him, “When was our first kiss, hmm what are you guys thinking? It was after our first win for Fear, we invited y/n over for our dinner celebration and I was so hyped up on adrenaline, I just grabbed y/n’s face and kissed em. They had the cutest look of surprise, I’ll never forget it. I’m so manly right?”

“y/n was literally so red, what are you talking about hyung?” Mingyu scoffed from the side, but off camera. He and Wonwoo were on the other side of the room working on lyrics for a new song, when Soonyoung came in and started his live. “You embarrassed the life out of ‘em.”

“That’s why it was unforgettable,” Soonyoung winked waving off to the two rappers who were snickering. “How did you and y/n meet? Ah! I actually met y/n through Seungkwan, it’s a bit crazy—eh not that crazy,” he laughed, “y/n’s one of Seungkwan’s friends from Jeju and they came to one of our concerts during the Diamond Edge tour. Seungkwan-ie introduced us to y/n afterwards and what can I say? it was love at first sight.”

“Eyy don’t lie,” Wonwoo said. The dancer gave him a slight grimace, “we all know y/n was totally crushing on Jun when we first met-”

“Hey! This is my v-live!” Soonyoung whined as Wonwoo approached his set-up. He put his arm around Soonyoung’s shoulders as he waved to the camera, “We tease Hoshi and y/n about it all the time, Hoshi was so obvious about his interest in y/n though, he somehow convinced ‘em to fall for him”

“What do you mean convinced?” Soonyoung said shocked hitting his friend’s arm, “y/n was totally into me too! They were the first one to confess—stop interrupting my live, go back to writing!”

Wonwoo laughed as he went back to his work, leaving Soonyoung alone in the frame. The boy went back to talking with the fans and answering questions, “How did the members react when we first started dating? The guys were clapping when I told them-”

“It’s because they were literally pining over each other for a year!”

“We were really busy! I didn’t know if I had time to commit to a relationship. But you know, I’m glad I took the risk. And after y/n confessed, I just knew I had to cuff,” He smiled, “and it honestly isn’t that bad, we see each other pretty often, especially during breaks. The hardest part is when we go on tours, I miss y/n basically as soon as we leave and we’re apart for at least months.”

You walked into the room mere moments later, a frown on your face as you approached your boyfriend, “Hey! Stop telling the fans that I confessed to you first, you liar!”

The three boys emerged in laughter at your comment as Soonyoung pulled a chair over and grabbed your hand, motioning for you to take a seat. You pointed a finger to the camera, “Don’t listen to Hoshi, everyone. He’s the one that confessed to me first, he was crying too-”

“I was not crying! I was sweating because of practice,” The boy said defensively as he put his arm around your chair, “Okay fine, I confessed to y/n first. Did I ever tell you what pushed me into confessing?”

You shook your head, turning to face him. He let out a small smile at the memory, “Jihoon-ah Woozi-was the one that sort of made me realize that I should tell you. I was in a bit of a slump at the time, with choreographing and everything. My mind was just a mess and I had a bad day in the recording studio. He literally starting yelling at me and saying, just man up and tell y/n that you like them! He also said a bunch of other stuff but I’m censoring it,” He teased, “We talked about it for two hours.”

“I should thank Jihoon-ie then,” You chuckled squeezing his cheeks together with one of your hands. “You were pretty stressed at that time, Soon.”

“Yeah, but after we got together, all my inspiration came back.” He grinned quickly pecking your cheek. You smiled, your cheeks heating up at his words.

“Ah you guys are so cute, it’s gross.” Wonwoo called from the side making you both laugh. Soonyoung started reading through the comments again, chatting easily with the fans. “Mm babe, there’s a question for you—what’s it like dating Hoshi oppa?”

You hummed, crossing your arms together as if in deep thought, “Dating Hoshi oppa? It’s never boring, especially with all his members around. Soonyoung’s a great boyfriend, he always knows how to make me smile, even if I’ve had a rough day. He never lets me go to sleep without telling me that he’s thinking of me. Yeah...he’s sweet, I wouldn’t ask for anyone else—even if he’s annoying sometimes.”

The boy scrunched his face at your ending, poking your side in retaliation, making you jolt in surprise. You hit his chest playfully, whining that you were ticklish. Soonyoung grinned, saying a quick apology, before putting his arm around you again. “Alright answer one more question and then we’re going to say goodbye so we can eat some food.”

You nodded, your eyes trained on the flood of comments passing through the screen. “y/n, what’s your favorite thing about Hoshi oppa?”

“Hey, I didn’t see that one-”

“It was there babe, trust me.” He said cheekily as he squeezed your waist. You gave your boyfriend a look of disbelief, but answered regardless, “Hm, there’s a lot, but my favorite thing would have to be his eyes. When you look into Soonyoung’s eyes, you can see everything. His passion, energy, mischief, love, everything. It’s easy to get lost in.”

“It’s that tiger gaze,” He said proudly, making you scoff. “Soon, you ruined the mood!”

“Babe, did I lie?” Soonyoung asked making you roll your eyes. He smiled sweetly pulling you in for a hug, “Say it once y/n, please?”

“No,” you said, immediately knowing what he was asking you to do. He whined, shaking your body childishly, “C’mon, the fans want to hear it, do it for Carats if not for me.”

You grimaced at him, rubbing your temples as you sighed, “horanghae.”

Your boyfriend smiled in victory, cooing his catchphrase before you both said your goodbyes and ended the live. Soonyoung grinned, giving you a proper kiss hello. “I missed you,”

“I missed you too,” You said softly, leaning into his embrace. He hummed, nuzzling his face into your hair, finding comfort in your scent. “You guys saw each other two days ago.”

“Being a bitter single is an ugly color, Wonwoo.” You quipped jokingly as you both stood and approached the two rappers to give them greeting hugs. The four of you exchanged some light conversation before you and Soonyoung bid your goodbyes, “Where do you want to go eat, Soon? Japanese?”

“You know me so well, babe.” He said fondly, kissing the back of your hand. “Let me take a shower first? I’m still gross from practice.”

You nodded as you started your car, already driving in the direction of your apartment. The ride back was content, both of you loudly singing along to whatever was playing on the radio. You complained at Soonyoung every now and then, his hand that was on your thigh moving too much that you were afraid he would accidentally hit the wheel and cause your car to swerve. He only smiled, daringly leaning over to press a kiss on your cheek whenever you scolded him. “Hm, you’re in a good mood baby, practice went well?”

He nodded excitedly, “Our last run throughs went perfectly, I can’t wait for you and the fans to see it on stage, well...on the television.”

You chuckled and brought his hand up to your lips, smooching the back of it cutely, “I’m sure it’s going to be great as always, you work so hard all the time Soon-ie, I’m proud of you.”

Your boyfriend smiled squeezing your hand, the rest of the ride to your apartment in good spirits. You waited patiently as Soonyoung went to take a shower, scrolling through your social media feed as you sat comfortably on your couch. Too caught up in watching a funny tik tok, you barely registered Soonyoung taking a seat next to you, wrapping his arms around your waist as he buried his face in your neck.

Now refreshed, he smelled of citrus and flowers, the scent pleasantly filling your nose. You grinned and cuddled into him, sharing the view of your phone so that you two watched the tik toks together. “Are you hungry Soon-ie? We can still make it to the Japanese place for the lunch special.”

He nodded, kissing the side of your neck, “In a minute, let me hold you for a little longer.”

“Hey,” You said after a beat of silence. You poked his side, laughing as he jolted up in surprise, “don’t you lie to your fans about our relationship again, huh? it was a two way street!”

“I know,” He giggled, pecking your cheek, “You’re just so cute when you’re worked up.”

“Mean, you confessed to me first! I’m going to talk shit about you with Jihoon if you do it again,” You threatened lightly, the boy only hugging you tighter. “He’ll gladly talk shit with you anyway, but yes babe. I confessed to you first, I was way in love with you first, hm you happy?”

“Well...” You said quietly, “I’m equally in love with you now.”

“I know,” Soonyoung hummed, “I love you too y/n. Let’s eat?”

You nodded with a smile, getting up and reaching your hand out to pull him off the couch, “Let’s eat.” ______________________________________

a/n I’m sorry this was so late bb! I flew home from Florida and I literally just kept pushing this off but I hope you like this little oneshot w our fav furry uwu <3

7-23-20

#our favorite furry agenda #kwon soonyoung #request #horanghae uwu #soonyoung #hoshi #soonyoung fluff #soonyoung fic #soonyoung au #hoshi fluff #hoshi scenarios #hoshi au #soonyoung scenarios #seventeen #seventeen au #seventeen scenarios #seventeen fluff #svt

83 notes · View notes

soveryanon · 3 years

Text

Reviewing time for MAG191!

- Martin and Jon were sleeping together, or close to each other… Not a surprise, but eh, it’s the first time we heard them sleep!

(Sound-wise, I heard the bag jostle on multiple occasions when Martin was moving – including when he jolted awake. Does it mean he was sleeping with the bag on, ready to run away with Jon in case of sudden danger…?)

- Sobbing a bit about Martin’s bad dreams – he also had those back at the Cabin, at the beginning of the season, and Jon had pointed out, back then, that he couldn’t really sleep:

(MAG161) MARTIN: You should get some sleep. [CREAKING SOUND] ARCHIVIST: I… [SIGH] can’t. I–I–I can’t, I–I don’t think I do anymore… “Sleep”. [EXHALE] How long’s it been, now? MARTIN: I don’t know. It’s not like there are days to count anymore. All the clocks have stopped, and… [DISTANT HOWL] ARCHIVIST: Well, I haven’t yet. I get… tired, but it doesn’t feel the same. [WOODEN CREAKING SOUND] Probably for the best. Sleep doesn’t look… pleasant. MARTIN: Nnno, it’s… it’s not. ARCHIVIST: I couldn’t wake you. […] MARTIN: Well, just as well I don’t remember my dreams. ARCHIVIST: I do. MARTIN: Uh– What? ARCHIVIST: They… I see most of the suffering around here. When it’s quiet, it just… it’s like… I can see it, like I’m watching all of it.

(MAG191) [SOME AGITATION MOVEMENTS, AND MARTIN AWAKES WITH A START] MARTIN: … eh, eh, EH! Eh! [BAG JOSTLING] … Wh… [LOUD BREATHS] … Jon? [TURNS OVER TO CHECK] [SURPRISED] Ah, argh! Stop it! Jon! [THE ARCHIVIST WAKES UP] ARCHIVIST: [MUZZILY] Mm, what? What? […] Bad dream? MARTIN: Is there any other kind? ARCHIVIST: Fair.

That was a bittersweet throwback… Is it because of the overall anxiety? Is it because it’s another way the Fears prey on people? Jon introduced the domains as “nightmares”, at first – it’s quite interesting that actual nightmares still exist in a place that is semi-protected from the rest of the world.

With the parallel with the Cabin, I’m once again wondering whether the tunnels are a kind of domain on their own, and feeding from people in a different way…? We seem to be getting the same situation of Martin suffering from nightmares while Jon doesn’t sleep normally, and back then, they hadn’t been aware (at first) that the Cabin was actually trapping them and preying on them…

- First time Martin mentioned that he’s aware of Jon’s dreams, I think?

(MAG191) MARTIN: Speaking of, how are your dreams? [INHALE] I know they used to be… y’know, complicated. ARCHIVIST: I don’t know. I don’t really remember them anymore. Honestly, it’s not… really even sleep these days? I can only do it when I’m disconnected from… well, everything, and i–it’s more like… You know that feeling when you’re right on the edge of falling asleep? Not quite dreaming but not aware of stuff either? MARTIN: Huh! So, like, standby mode then? ARCHIVIST: [SOFT LAUGH] I suppose!

He was aware that Jess Tyrell was seeing Jon in her dreams, but I don’t recall any mention of Jon’s own dreams – Daisy and Jon had discussed about it and Basira knew it would happen with Floyd, but Martin hadn’t been around in season 4. Did Jon explain it to him when they eloped to Scotland (or at some point during season 5), or did Martin listen to Elias’s tape from MAG120 describing Jon’s dreams?

I had wondered about Jon’s victims and dreams in season 5, too! We’ve seen with Jordan that having given Jon a statement didn’t give them a special status in the apocalypse, nor did it get them stuck all together in a specific domain – Jordan was stuck in a Corruption one, for example. (Is it because technically, in the apocalypse, everyone is beheld by Jon in a way?)

- Rare confirmation of something being visibly off with Jon and having to do with eyes!

(MAG191) MARTIN: It’s fine, I was… I was just startled. ARCHIVIST: Hm…? MARTIN: We’ve not been many places you can sleep, so I– ARCHIVIST: So, what? MARTIN: You were sleeping with your eyes open again. ARCHIVIST: Ah… Right. MARTIN: [SIGH] J–just… took me by surprise. […] Oh, you’d… just completely conk out. Eyes open, obviously, ‘cos god forbid the creepy ever stops entirely, heh! But– ARCHIVIST: Thank you. MARTIN: –you’d… just be dead to the world. I actually got a bit worried, once or twice, but… you always woke up fine. … You said you didn’t dream. You sounded pretty happy about it too. ARCHIVIST: I imagine I was…!

So, Jon keeps his eyes open when sleeping, used to also do that at Salesa’s… so even with his connection with The Eye cut, a few oddities remain.

The description of Jon as in “standby” with his eyes open is a tinyyy bit terrifying indeed (doll just waiting to move again?), and probably very sad for Martin… after Jon’s “coma” following season 3, when his heart wasn’t beating. Since we’ve heard Martin beg for Jon to wake up (and he did admit that he felt like he had lost “everything” back then), there is something absolutely heartwrenching in the idea of Martin seeing Jon unmoving, and probably thinking Jon has died or is gone in a way, again…? (We’ve heard with the beginning of the episode that Martin’s reaction was to panic over it, indeed ;;)

- Aaah, Jon asking again about details of what happened at Upton House was so precious and sad…

(MAG181) [STATIC RISES] ARCHIVIST: Ah… Pity. MARTIN: What? ARCHIVIST: It’s, uh… It’s going away. That… peace; the, the safety, the memory of ignorance… MARTIN: That’s… [INHALE] Yeah, I guess that makes sense. [STATIC FADES] Do you… remember any of it? Wha–what Salesa said? Annabelle? ARCHIVIST: Some. I–I think. It’s, uh… Do you mind filling me in? MARTIN: Wait, you need me to tell you something for once? ARCHIVIST: I guess so! It’s, uh… It’s gone. Like a dream. … What was it like? MARTIN: … [SIGH] Nice. It was… It was really nice.

(MAG191) ARCHIVIST: … What was I like at Salesa’s?

And it’s nice that Jon asked Martin information about Upton to be able to make the comparison with the tunnels. There is a form of trust, asking Martin to recall those things?

- And the concept of ~remembering~ was Martin’s cue to confirm that Celia was indeed Lynne!

(MAG191) MARTIN: [FAINT CHUCKLE] … Hey, I… [BAG JOSTLING] I meant to ask. Do you recognise that woman, Celia? ARCHIVIST: Hum… no, I, I don’t… think so – why? MARTIN: I… I’d swear she gave a statement once. ARCHIVIST: What statement? I don’t… remember anything. Wh… Not down here at least.

Later, the episode answered a question I got at this point: given Jon’s inability to remember Lynne at all, did it mean that Jon hadn’t listened to her statement, or that he had trouble remembering because of the tunnels interfering with his connection with The Eye? But later, Jon did remember about MAG053’s statement, so it really does sound like he hadn’t listened to Lynne’s statement at all and couldn’t remember it through mundane means (while he might have been able to “know” about her if he had been outside, without the tunnels’ protection). It’s curious, since season 3 had made a point that Jon was listening to “all he tapes” including recordings by the other assistants:

(MAG113) MARTIN: I mean… it wasn’t actually paranoia, though, was it? Because, they were out to get you. ARCHIVIST: I suppose that they were. MELANIE: Wasn’t a great time back here, either. ARCHIVIST: Oh, god, Melanie, of course. I’m… I’m sorry. If I’d known that Ivy Meadows was– MELANIE: What?! You’d have told me? Let me learn from one of your statements instead of from Elias? I don’t see that changing anything. ARCHIVIST: Even so, I… am… I’m sorry.

(MAG114) TIM: … You listened to it, then? My statement. ARCHIVIST: I listened to all the tapes. I, I had no idea how much of a… a mess I left this place in, I–I–I’m sorry. TIM: Bit of an invasion of privacy. ARCHIVIST: I assume that’s a joke?

(MAG117) ARCHIVIST: I’m making a decision. I trust them. All of them. E–except Elias, obviously, that’s not–, I mean… I’ve listened to the tapes. [DRY CHUCKLE] I’ve listened to the tape! I–I know what they talk about behind my back, how much they’ve… suffered, because of… [INHALE] this place… because of me. … God. Poor Melanie…

Was it because Lynne’s tape was mislabelled (since Martin thought it was probably a fake story)? Was it because something hid that specific tape from Jon…?

Additional detail: at that point in time (MAG100), it means that Martin couldn’t tell whether live statements were true or not! Sasha hadn’t sounded surprised when Jon had told her he could feel whether some were “real” ones or not, back in MAG039, but it’s interesting that in season 3, Elias had basically given over the statements-reading over to the assistants “to make up for the shortfall”, and yet they were apparently still unable to evaluate whether it was a real statement or not. (They did feel the consequences, however! Martin and Melanie commented about the toll it took on them.)

- Martin’s summary of Lynne’s statement, though.

(MAG191) MARTIN: It was… [MUMBLES SOMETHING SOFTLY] … I thought she was making stuff up! Heh! I gave her some money. ARCHIVIST: Why? MARTIN: Sh–she asked. ARCHIVIST: R–right.

We know, Martin. We know, it was so painful to listen to.

(MAG100) LYNNE: I mean, just, just, my friend Gav said that, y’know, you guys… you need stories, and you need people to come forward, so… MARTIN: Yeah, yeah… LYNNE: And you… kind of… You pay up people for their ghost stories, so… MARTIN: Oh! Er, ah… [NERVOUS CHUCKLE] I, I think there might be a bit of a, er, er, mis–miscommunication here– LYNNE: Oh! Oh, right, okay. MARTIN: Yeah. Yeah… We don’t actually, um… er, we don’t pay for, pay for statements. LYNNE: Right. MARTIN: This is, this is more, a, er, documenting process than… er, we don’t use these for, um, for stuff outside of– LYNNE: Okay. MARTIN: –r–r–records. Ahh. I’m really sorry. Er… LYNNE: Oh. I mean, I mean, that’s why I– Er, no, y’know, okay, but that’s fine. [MOMENTS OF EMBARRASSED MUMBLINGS] MARTIN: Er… Um… Y’know what… Sorry. Um. Let’s see what I’ve got… [MOURNFUL SOUNDS OF MARTIN’S LOOSE CHANGE] I mean, I’ve got… I mean… get a coffee, I… LYNNE: Y’know what? You’re, you’re all right. MARTIN: No, no, please, please? I… LYNNE: Oh, all right. MARTIN: Y’know, er… LYNNE: Thanks, thanks. MARTIN: … like, like a macchiato, or… LYNNE: Mm. MARTIN: I mean, maybe not that much. LYNNE: Okay, so, um… Just the way out… [TRANSFER OF COINS] MARTIN: Yeah. LYNNE: … The way I came in? MARTIN: Yeah, please. If that’s… yeah.

I love that Jon sounded at an absolute loss about Martin’s summary of the situation. (Also, Martin: she didn’t really ask. You were made aware of the misunderstanding, and you offered the money to make up for it.)

- Indeed, Celia/Lynne has lost her memory and didn’t sound like she had recognised Martin:

(MAG190) CELIA: Sorry. We haven’t been introduced. You are…? GEORGIE: Oh, hum, of course. Sorry. This is… ARCHIVIST: Jonathan. Jon. Sims. MARTIN: Uh, Martin. Hello, eh! GEORGIE: And… this is Laverne. LAVERNE: Good to meet you. GEORGIE: And Celia. MARTIN: [PUZZLED] “Celia”? CELIA: Probably. The, hum… place I was trapped in, they took my name, I never got it back. But, I like Celia, so… yeah! Celia it is. MARTIN: Uh… H–hello… Celia…!

(MAG191) ARCHIVIST: … Do you think she remembers? MARTIN: I, I mean… she doesn’t seem to remember her own name, so… I’m guessing… no? ARCHIVIST: You could ask! MARTIN: Well, no, that’d just be weird, I mean– [SOFT WOODEN KNOCKING ON A DOOR, TWO KNOCKS] Hello?

And I can’t pinpoint whether that will lead to something more or not! Is it just a point that domains can impact people even after they’ve been liberated from them? Is it because her tape will resurface? Is it because Lynne’s statement was especially plot-relevant somehow? (The fire ghost woman she had spotted obviously put Agnes to mind… except Agnes didn’t die and never lived (as far as we know) in Clapton, where Lynne had spotted the ghost – and she wasn’t pursued by said ghost after moving out, so it sounded like it was tied to her old flat…)

- There has been so much knocking since Jon&Martin joined the tunnels! It feels a bit like it’s compensating for the rest of season 5 – previously, most of the episodes were taking place in Jon’s office, so there was knocking here and there… but not that much in season 5, except with Helen.

On the one hand: it’s ~polite to knock~. On the other hand: it’s a bit anxiety-inducing, both because knocking around Jon is a perpetual reminder of Mr Spider and because it feels like it would be soooo easy for one of the others to eavesdrop on Jon&Martin’s conversations, and what would they think of it? Would they deem Jon&Martin dangerous?

- Speaking of survivors having been deeply affected by the domains… ouft, Unnamed.

(MAG191) MARTIN: I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Martin, this is Jon. [RUSTLING AND SOUNDS OF BAG OPENING AS THEY START MOVING AROUND] ARCHIVIST: Hello. UNNAMED: [SUSPICIOUS] Right… MARTIN: And you are…? UNNAMED: [FIRMLY] No! MARTIN: “No”? A–as in your name’s No? UNNAMED: No, as in “you don’t get to know my name”. I’m not stupid. ARCHIVIST: Is that so? UNNAMED: Names are how they see you. They’re how they find you in the files. You can hide all you want, but if they know your name… they can see you. And take you away. ARCHIVIST: I see. UNNAMED: I tell people my name, then maybe they learn it. Then they come for all of us. You shouldn’t have told me yours, I keep telling the others! Only the prophet names are safe.

So: still applying the logic of the domains she had been trapped in to the rest of the world. I’ve seen a lot of speculation about it, but I don’t feel like her description matched the Archives that much – it could be anything else, really? Her description was a bit reminiscent of Spiral stuff (MAG065: “The angles cut me when I try to think.”) and, overall, the Archives never seemed to have a huge focus on “names” as instruments of power over people (+ Laverne has been the oldest of the survivors: if the others who had been lost had indeed been taken back through their names, she would have exerted caution too)… So mostly, I saw Unnamed’s story and behaviour as another demonstration of how the survivors cope, after these traumatic events – in this case, still applying the logic of her domain, even after escaping it, to the point of hiding parts of herself to others.

;; Still worried about the cultist bits towards Georgie&Melanie: everyone seems to be projecting what they want and hope for from them… and it’s clearly unsustainable.

- Unnamed and Jon snapping at each other about their understanding of how things work huuuurt, but was also scratching an itch:

(MAG191) ARCHIVIST: That’s not how it works! MARTIN: [WARNING] Jon… ARCHIVIST: What? She’s talking complete rubbish! UNNAMED: Have you been there, then? Have you fled through the endless cabinets, the… the labels that cut you? The things that “put you in your place”? ARCHIVIST: No… UNNAMED: So you don’t know! ARCHIVIST: But I’ve seen it! I know it. UNNAMED: Oh, you “know it”, do you? Did it bleed you? ARCHIVIST: No, but that’s not actually– UNNAMED: Then you don’t know it. And you’re not getting my name. ARCHIVIST: … Fine. … Sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.

It was very “early series Jon” to argue like this! The difference between Jon being able to “see” and “know”… but Unnamed accusing him of not truly understanding it, because he had not experienced it like she did, was a nice touch? We’re used to seeing Jon as the Archivist, who goes through other people’s experiences and experiences their fears, but I’m not sure it’s still something he fundamentally does in season 5; he witnesses, he understands, he feeds from the pain, but is it a terror he experiences as such, does Beholding still feeds from Jon’s vicarious process? Is it the same understanding and experience, between Jon who knows and feeds from it, and from someone who was actively tortured by it and still has to suffer from the effects of it? And regardless of the answers: I do understand Unnamed’s annoyance that someone who admitted he had not been trapped in her domain would know about how bad it was, when she still had to deal with the consequences and lasting ptsd afterwards.

- I love how Unnamed was a bit brusque, refused the social niceties of exchanging names… and wasn’t especially mean overall. It was just one thing she feared, and one thing to respect about her. She offered food and explained how things worked!

(MAG191) UNNAMED: [SIGH] Would you like some food? We have… tins. And biscuits. Although the biscuits are really old. MARTIN: What’s in the “tins”? UNNAMED: Food. MARTIN: [IRRITATED] What food? UNNAMED: Depends. Most of the labels are gone! Yesterday, I got black beans. MARTIN: Oh, right. And that’s… good? UNNAMED: Mm–hmm! […] Are you coming? MARTIN: Yes, yes! Lead the way… you? UNNAMED: Of course.

And she warned them about the biscuits. Those ones were from Leitner’s stash, probably?

- The little panic when Jon heard that Georgie&Melanie were “gone”… Though it had already been pointed out that they tended to isolate for a while.

(MAG190) CELIA: [SIGH] [ANXIOUS] I don’t like it. They’ve been gone too long. LAVERNE: They’re fine. Sometimes they take a while. It’s hardly the longest they’ve been gone, is it? […] Besides! You know that they sometimes go to a side tunnel for “private contemplation”. I think it’s sweet. CELIA: [PETULANT] They can contemplate privately here…! LAVERNE: Can they? There’s not exactly many doors down here. CELIA: No, I guess… […] MELANIE: [SIGH] It’s why we head out so much. Sometimes we actually are scouting, or gathering, but half the time… I just need to get away. [INHALE] If I didn’t have Georgie, I think I might just snap and beat them all to death…

(MAG191) ARCHIVIST: [INHALE] So… Georgie and Melanie, a–are they…? UNNAMED: They’re gone. ARCHIVIST: Wh…? UNNAMED: Out. They, they often go out. Sometimes they bring people back, but usually they just… go, for a while.

Melanie needing her Alone Time, uh.

- Still with that vocabulary of Georgie&Melanie having their own “path”…

(Season 5 Act III Trailer) UNNAMED: They haven’t been gone long. ARUN: You know they walk the path. No harm can come to them. CELIA: I know, I just… I…! [FRUSTRATED SIGH]

(MAG190) LAVERNE: Celia… just trust them. “They walk this world above the nightmare. It will not take them.”

(MAG191) MARTIN: O…kay, eh! Do you know when they’ll be back? UNNAMED: No. They walk their own path.

- I wonder what is up with Jon…

(MAG189) ARCHIVIST: [BROKENLY] I do not, I– … I’m just feeling a little bit woozy, all right? I–I can’t quite think straight, like at, hum… Oh, M–Martin, y–you remember?

(MAG190) GEORGIE: Martin said you knew everything now. ARCHIVIST: Not everything. [INHALE] Between the tunnels, and your and Melanie’s… position relative to The Eye… I’m a bit in the dark, here. […] GEORGIE: Look. We’re all tired, and you still seem a little… disoriented by the tunnels. Let’s get some rest. We can talk about next moves tomorrow.

(MAG191) ARCHIVIST: Any chance you could bring me something back? I’m… feeling a little bit shaky. MARTIN: Do you need to make a statement? ARCHIVIST: Actually… no, I… I haven’t since we got down here…! I suppose it must be the tunnels. Nice to be a bit more… in control, although… it does feel… odd.

Was Martin’s question about the need to “make a statement” the right one? In season 5, Jon “makes statement” indeed: they pour out like an excess, because he’s surrounded by suffering and has to do this to not be overwhelmed. But Jon saying he feels “shaky”, being weak and tired… actually sounds like his old withdrawal symptoms when he needed to read or take a statement – not “make”. Is it what he would theoretically need, right now…? Or will the mundane food do the trick…? I’m still wondering whether he’s actually feeding from people’s fears of being thrown back into their domains, at the moment…

It’s also the second time that Jon mentioned feeling more “in control”, although in an absolutely different situation:

(MAG164) MARTIN: You’ve been knowing a lot lately. ARCHIVIST: … Yes. MARTIN: A lot more than you used to. ARCHIVIST: Y… [SIGH] Yeah. And it, it feels more… deliberate. L–like I have more control now.

Back at the start of the season, because he was more powerful; right now, because he has less access to his powers.

- Progress! Martin accepted the likelihood of beans, this time.

(MAG190) MARTIN: Oh, food, eh! What’s on the menu? LAVERNE: Cold baked beans. MARTIN: … Maybe later.

(MAG191) UNNAMED: Depends. Most of the labels are gone! Yesterday, I got black beans. MARTIN: Oh, right. And that’s… good? UNNAMED: Mm–hmm!

- I’m DELIGHTED that Arun and Martin met alone, what a DISASTER! Also, another tape recorder spawning and clicking on on its own, and it was explicitly said that Arun was bringing that one with him (it’s sometimes unclear who is carrying them). It was kinda cute that Arun identified the strange new object as potentially belonging to the strange newcomers.

That whole exchange *screams*

(MAG191) ARUN: [INHALE] Uh… Martin? MARTIN: Yeah? Oh, s–sorry, I, I… didn’t catch you name. ARUN: Arun. MARTIN: Hi, Arun. What’s up? ARUN: Sorry, ju–, hum, just, hum… did you lose a tape recorder? I found this… Oh… Huh. MARTIN: Yeah, it wasn’t on when you found it, right? ARUN: No, uh… MARTIN: [SLIGHT CHUCKLE] ARUN: Is it yours? I haven’t seen it before, I thought it might be. MARTIN: Kind of, I guess? They follow us around a bit. ARUN: … Really? MARTIN: Oh, y–you don’t need to worry! It’s been happening for ages, b–before the world changed, even. You can just ignore them. ARUN: Since before the end? MARTIN: Yeah, it’s… it’s kind of a long story.

Big reminder that the tape recorders have been following Jon&Martin around for a while, that it’s not normal (although they’ve long got used to it). With this scene, and Jon pointing out to Georgie that yes, the tape recorders were mostly invested in him and Martin last episode, it feels like we’re getting close to an answer about what they are and why they record some things and not others?

- I like how, yeah, Arun was plain annoying from the start and clearly the most vocal about the cult aspect… but also not stupid:

(MAG191) MARTIN: Yeah, it’s… it’s kind of a long story. Ask the prophets, if you want, they’ll explain. [MARTIN TURNS AND STEPS AWAY] ARUN: You don’t believe in them, do you? In their power? MARTIN: I… knew them in the old days. ARUN: So did Laverne…! MARTIN: Yeah, I, I realise that, just– … Look, it’s complicated, okay? It’s just a big pile of stuff that no-one understands. ARUN: [POINTEDLY] I understand they are able to walk through this world without fear or danger. MARTIN: [EXHALES HIS IRRITATION] ARUN: I understand they saved us.

He did pick up on Martin not being convinced, and as Laverne had pointed out… the cult seems to be a way to make sense of the world; their only personal gain, with it, is to not give up to despair. Obvious, it’s bad to project and to pour their hopes into Melanie&Georgie, to delude themselves about their powers and pseudo-significance! But fundamentally, it’s about hurt and broken people trying to cling to something that gives them hope, and which is constructed on a few lies. It’s just sad.

- Kudos to Martin for sensing that anything he could say would potentially backfire, though.

(MAG191) MARTIN: Ask the prophets, if you want, they’ll explain. […] Look, you, you should really talk to them about it, okay? I… don’t want to say the wrong thing.

But really, that was the WORST possible interaction ever.

(MAG191) MARTIN: [NOISES OF DISBELIEF] Okay! Well… You’re rude. ARUN: I’m a poet. I speak the truth! MARTIN: Yeah? Well… your truth is rude!

Martin, until now identified as ~the poet~, and likely not ever thinking he was saying the truth. (I do wonder whether Arun was absolutely serious about it… or actually playful about it?)

Overall, it was awful, I loved it, and it also hurt since Arun was insufferable and at the same time kiiiinda made a few potentially accurate points about Jon&Martin – from their behaviour, it does sound like they’ve been looking down on the survivors for their beliefs:

(MAG190) MELANIE: [INHALE] If I didn’t have Georgie, I think I might just snap and beat them all to death… MARTIN: Sounds like they’d probably thank you for your wisdom, if you did that. MELANIE: [CHUCKLE] … Stop. We shouldn’t talk about them like this, they, they are good people. MARTIN: Sure. MELANIE: It’s just… hard not to look down on people when they put you up on a pedestal like that!

(MAG191) ARUN: I know you look at us like we’re idiots. MARTIN: [SNORT] ARUN: You pity us…! MARTIN: That’s not true. ARUN: Liar!

Plainly, because Jon&Martin didn’t like it. And it’s understandable! But still. It’s just people who’ve been hurt, all around.

- At the very least, Arun had a point when he questioned what Jon&Martin were, why they had come, why the tape recorders were specifically following them:

(MAG191) ARUN: Liar! [RAISED VOICE] Who are you? MARTIN: [EXASPERATED SIGH] ARUN: Just appearing from nowhere with… phantom tape recorders just scuttling in your wake? Why are you here?

I’m eyeing a LOT that description of the tape recorders as “scuttling”, which has been a very spidery term in the series………………… (Ghost spiders, ghost spiders.)

- Congrats to Martin for getting another tape recorder.

(MAG191) MARTIN: [AGITATED] We’re here to save the world! Okay? Right? If you want more than that… go ask your prophets, okay? Now just… give me that…! [GRABS RECORDER] [CLICK.]

Accumulating a collection by himself, uh?

- I don’t know what to expect from the cultists/survivors! I feel like right now, they do fulfil a clear role and make a few points: they show us how the domains impacted and wounded normal people, and how these traumatised people interact with the world afterwards. Some have lost parts of themselves and are constantly anxious (Celia). Some are a bit paranoid, still apply the logic of domains to the world even if it means hiding parts of themselves from others (Unnamed). Some resort to religious beliefs, trying to find meaning and leaders afterwards (Arun). It wouldn’t have been this powerful if Jon had described these reactions as hypotheticals, or if Melanie&Georgie had described the people they had saved – we indeed needed to see the survivors themselves, a few of their own thoughts and behaviours, to truly appreciate it.

It could be serving as a glimpse at what would/will happen to the world if Jon&Martin manage to banish the Fears – it wouldn’t be a reset, people would still remember and feel the consequences of the terrible things they have suffered from. It could also be preparing something on a lower scale, the survivors panicking and turning on Jon&Martin, taking a risk and actually dooming them all… but I don’t know, I’m feeling that one less and less? I do feel the tension, it sure feels like something is ready to snap, but the tension itself serves a few purposes already (showing how Jon&Martin have some trouble interacting with other people, how it’s hard for everyone since they’re all carrying heavy baggage). What I’m expecting is that Melanie&Georgie might finally admit that they lied about the vision, but I’m not even sure that this would lead to something absolutely awful? (Outside of the survivors being crushed.)

(- What I’m especially curious about, re:Arun… is that he’s the only one of the four from the trailer who hasn’t spilled anything about the kind of place he was trapped in. Celia had her name taken from her (and apparently a few bits of herself); Laverne was in a Spiral maze; Unnamed was in a place that was forcing her to try and fit where she couldn’t fit. But as of now, we know nothing about Arun’s experience: it’s also why I’m pretty willing to give him the benefits of the doubt, and not expect something actively malicious or sinister from him – mostly expecting him to be another wounded person trying to cope.)

- Martin brought back “TinsTM” /o/ Martin immediately summarising the general feeling:

(MAG191) (MAG191) [DOOR OPENS] ARCHIVIST: Any sign of them? [TINS ARE PLACED DOWN] MARTIN: No, but… the others say it’s pretty normal for them to be gone this long. ARCHIVIST: Right… [CUTLERY SOUNDS] MARTIN: That said, the, uh… “locals” are getting restless. ARCHIVIST: Mm. MARTIN: I–I get the impression our welcome isn’t exactly… unconditional.

… was giving the impression that yep, next episode, they’ll try to leave already, that they can’t really stay any longer.

- Worried about Jon’s state, since he was already feeling fuzzy although they had juuuust arrived. Martin found that it was comparatively better than at Salesa’s, but at the same time, they have just arrived in the tunnels…

(MAG191) MARTIN: How’s the, uh… fuzziness? ARCHIVIST: … It’s alright. Comes and goes. MARTIN: Yeah, you don’t seem as bad as you were at Salesa’s. Hopefully you won’t forget everything as soon as you leave the tunnels…! ARCHIVIST: I don’t… think I will, it was worse there. Though, you know, obviously… MARTIN: You– ARCHIVIST: I– MARTIN&ARCHIVIST: –don’t remember…! [SILENCE]

Jon&Martin being intimate and ending the sentence, almost like it’s a joke… ;w;

- That’s indeed a lot of pressure:

(MAG191) ARCHIVIST: So, what do you think? You reckon they’re going to help? MARTIN: [INHALE] I mean… they’ve got to, right? You, you’re basically humanity’s only hope! [CHUCKLE] ARCHIVIST: Oh, I mean… Okay, hum… [NERVOUS CHUCKLE] I hadn’t really… MARTIN: Oh, so–sorry! That’s probably a bit too much pressure, yeah? ARCHIVIST: A, a bit?

And SOB, because it reminded me of The Unknowing and the subsequent crushing realisations:

(MAG093) GEORGIE: Jonathan Sims, are you trying to save the world? ARCHIVIST: I… Yeah. I… I guess I am.

(MAG117) ARCHIVIST: So, I–I guess… some time in the next few days, I go on a… [NERVOUS CHUCKLE] commando mission to blow up a wax museum. … It’s not exactly what I was expecting. Fro–from an archiving job.

(MAG126) ARCHIVIST: … I remembered Gertrude’s notebook; we found it alongside the plastic explosives, but it rather got lost amongst the business of… [SIGH] saving the world at the cost of two lives…

(MAG150) ARCHIVIST: What about The Unknowing? We, we saved the world! MELANIE: Did we? I… I mean, I–I think it was the right thing to do, but how many people were killed to do it? We, we weren’t even a neutral party; we did it as agents of The Eye, because Elias told us to.

The last few times Jon had thought he was the only one able to save the world, it turned out that the world wouldn’t have been destroyed in the first place – the rituals wouldn’t have worked. It might still be a bit hard to even try to believe that they can save the world, now…

- Aouch that in the middle of uncertainties, Jon was at least sure of Georgie’s thought-process:

(MAG191) ARCHIVIST: I don’t know. [INHALE] I know how Georgie gets about people in her care. If she thinks helping us will endanger them… MARTIN: [INHALE] Yeah. Melanie too. ARCHIVIST: Mm.

… because he was familiar with both sides of it. Georgie had been ride-or-die with him when she sheltered him in season 3, protecting him from the police; she also rejected him when she identified him as a potential danger. And right now, Jon isn’t in her care anymore, unlike the survivors, so… he can guess whom she would prioritise.

- So the tunnels have changed again!

(MAG191) MARTIN: … And you’re sure we can’t… find the way up on our own? ARCHIVIST: Probably not. [INHALE] I’m cut off down here, and the layout seems… different to before.

Jon had mentioned multiple times that he had trouble orientating himself in the tunnels, that his connection was dimmed:

(MAG114) BASIRA: Don’t think either of us like it down here. ARCHIVIST: Uh, well, no, me neither. Feels… DAISY: Empty. ARCHIVIST: Yeah.

(MAG152) ARCHIVIST: … I’ve been wondering what they were doing down here. Though they must have been down here for… weeks, months maybe; spreading, growing. They could have spread all the way through these tunnels, but they didn’t. They didn’t find Leitner down here, didn’t find… Gertrude’s body. Didn’t find… whatever else is here. HELEN: It is a maze. One of the reasons I like it. ARCHIVIST: Mm. [SILENCE] … I can’t see things properly here. I thought it was just me, something interfering with my connection to The Eye, but… I’m wondering. Maybe it affects everything else. Like this place is some kind of… “universal blind spot”. Everyone gets lost, down here.

So it’s not a surprise that it’s still the case.

- YIKES about the fact that The Eye had been calling for Jon?!

(MAG191) MARTIN: The Eye isn’t, like… calling you, or something? ARCHIVIST: Oh, no i–it is. But I can’t get a… clear reading on it down here, i–it’s kind of maddening, actually? Like… being on a street you almost remember but… can’t find on a map.

Jon, you hadn’t said!! Was it a thing since MAG162, when Jon decided to leave the cabin?

(MAG162) ARCHIVIST: “This place wishes to be our tomb. But The Eye does not wish that. No. [STATIC RISES] The Eye wishes instead that it be my chrysalis. [WOODEN CREAKING SOUND] It is time that I emerge…” […] No, no, lo–look… I, I–I was listening, and I–I was filled with this… hatred. This anger; I–I wanted to leave, and hunt down Elias, a–and…! MARTIN: W–wow, okay… ARCHIVIST: But, when I thought it… the–there was… [WOODEN CREAKING SOUND] There was something else. Th–this place, it… it didn’t want me, it… [WOODEN CREAKING SOUND] didn’t want us to go.

I’m having feelings over Jon exposing it as a very background thing, that he’s apparently been fighting/resisting without making it obvious. Jon…

(And: is it The Eye? Or is it……… Elias……………… since he had “called” for Jon to allow him to reach the Panopticon………. and Fanshawe’s letter had also “called” to Jon in MAG127………)

- So Jon&Martin need a guide in the tunnels; Laverne already had gone to have a look at the “stairs” according to the trailer (and Melanie&Georgie will decide to help at the end of the episode)… I wonder who will guide them, since there are multiple candidates?

- Screaming in Archivists.

(MAG191) ARCHIVIST: Yeah, but… [SIGH] Without a guide, we could be wandering a long time. And apparently, there are things wandering about there as well that… might put up some resistance. MARTIN: Yeah. Laverne mentioned. Do you know what they are? ARCHIVIST: Yep! [INHALE] They’re, hum… They’re Archivists. MARTIN: … Come again?

* GODSDAMNIT.

* Zombies. We’re getting basically zombies in the tunnels.

* Martin’s reaction was Me.

* I’m not absolutely sure that the Archivists = Watchers mentioned in the trailer? The way they had been introduced, the Watchers sounded more like guardians, or at least stationary:

(Season 5 Act III Trailer) LAVERNE: No. But… there were more watchers. CELIA: What do you mean “more”? There’s two, one each side! LAVERNE: Not anymore. I didn’t get a good look, but… there must have been four, or five.

But here Jon describes the Archivists as “wandering”. Have they begun to move around with his arrival, or are those two different things?

- The lore!! We’re getting lore!!

(MAG191) ARCHIVIST: Did you ever listen to Gertrude’s interview with, uh, Sergeant Heller? MARTIN: Oh, pff…! That’s a blast from the past. Uh… I think so? Uh… World War Two, right? Under Alexandria? Saw some monster with a wei– … ARCHIVIST: Mm–hmm. MARTIN: … eye. Right. ARCHIVIST: I’m not the first Archivist. Not by a long way. Most of the others died like Gertrude, but some… lingered. And, well… let’s just say I’m not the only one that feels the Panopticon calling.

* It’s interesting that Martin could remember this tape since… it was one from Jon’s hidden stash in season 2 (since he was hiding from his “official” tapes that he had a deal with Basira and was investigating Gertrude’s murder through her, and later Daisy). It’s not new, since Martin had told Daisy in MAG142 that he had listened to her statement about her colleague who disappeared into the Coffin (MAG061’s), and that one had been given when Daisy brought one of Gertrude’s tapes to Jon – so that recording would have gone in the secret stash too. Still, interesting to hear that Martin did get his hands on all these unofficial tapes at some point? Jon, you didn’t hide them well.

* Martin, you have a good memory!

* ;; So Gertrude had been right about the creature being an old Archivist…

(MAG053) GERTRUDE: Regardless, I have further follow-up of my own to do. My biggest concern right now is whatever creature Mr Heller encountered down there. It was… 56 years ago. But if it’s still alive, I should be careful. What was it? A guardian of some sort or perhaps… perhaps it too was… once an Archivist.

* Gertrude had blown that place up:

(MAG053) GERTRUDE: And… did you replace the grate? WALTER: The– The– The– the what? GERTRUDE: The bronze grate, over the entrance to the Archive. Did you replace it when you fled? WALTER: Oh, yeah, yes… Yes, I think I did. […] GERTRUDE: Thank you, Walter. Now. Uh, I– I need to check some maps with you, but I don’t think we need that on tape. Are you all right here for now? […] ARCHIVIST: Mr Heller died from a stroke in 2004, making follow-up on this tape… difficult. I’ve found a news article from March 1998, six months after this statement was taken. It reports an explosion in Alexandria, which destroyed several buildings in the vicinity of Pompey’s Pillar, and killed 17 people. Official investigation determined it to be a gas mains explosion, but… I wonder. Gertrude Robinson is not who I thought she was.

So unless that “only” sealed the creature into its underground hideout, that one Archivist from Alexandria was likely killed/destroyed and not part of the party here. (Think about it, you linger for centuries and centuries, and you fail to survive for the last twenty years before the apocalypse. Close call!)

* I wonder if the guardian of Johann von Würtemberg’s tomb also came to the Institute, or if it had been neutralised…

* Jonah had mentioned that the “Archivist” role was an old one…

(MAG160, Jonah Magnus) “You see, the role of Archivist has been part of The Beholding for as far back as my research can go. This isn’t uncommon for the Powers: most of the beliefs around them are guesswork and fallible human interpretation, but there are certain… throughlines and consistencies that can be spotted, regardless of the trappings.”

And I still wonder: how come this one is working roughly the same? With the avatars we’ve met, their powers manifested mostly how they felt they should; but Jon didn’t know anything about it, and yet ended up with the same powers as Gertrude (compulsion, the dreams) as part of the function, and that’s something rather unique? Elias’s Beholding powers are extremely different, and were tailored to his own experience with the Panopticon, for example; avatars of The Eye are not fundamentally Archivists. How does one become an “Archivist”?

- I can’t believe that YET AGAIN, these lines from Elias found a way to feel even crueller:

(MAG092) ELIAS: … You’re worried about ending up like that thing, lurking in the dirt under the streets of Alexandria? Don’t be. Just do what you need to do, and you’ll be fine. Understood?

Because: as an Archivist, barring premature death, Jon would have absolutely ended up like that creature. But the point was for Jon to not be like the other ones – and to indeed be Elias’s “Archives”, serving for his ritual… and thus leading to Jon’s different status in the apocalypse.

- I think this is the first time since MAG160 that Jon has identified himself as an “Archivist”? In season 4, he was using the title when introducing the statement (“Jonathan Sims, the Archivist.”) but, due to the nature of the statements in season 5, it’s not something we’ve been hearing anymore. He’s been called various titles by other avatars, but didn’t use it himself… and it’s a bit reassuring that he’s still including himself amongst the “Archivists”, and NOT presenting himself as an “Archive” – like Jonah had described him in his letter. (MAG160: “Because the thing about the Archivist is that… well: it’s a bit of a misnomer. It might, perhaps, be better named “the Archive”. Because you do not administer and preserve the records of fear, Jon – you are a record of fear. Both in mind, as you walk the shuddering dread of each statement; and in body, as the Powers each leave their mark upon you. You are a living chronicle of terror.”)

- é_è Martin finally asking the question that he had begun to ask at Upton House…

(MAG181) MARTIN: Yeah, but if… [INHALE] If you’re that connected, that… dependent, what happens if we actually, y’know, do manage to– ARCHIVIST: We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, I just need us to be moving on. MARTIN: Hm…

(MAG186) ALSO MARTIN: I’m saying there aren’t any easy solutions. We have no idea what’s going to happen. Even if we make it to the tower, we don’t know there’ll be a fix. And if by some miracle there is, we both know the price will be awful. […] Jon’s as bad as we are. He wouldn’t let it happen. MARTIN: It’s not his decision. ALSO MARTIN: Fine. So flip that round, then. What are you going to do when he tries to sacrifice himself, because you know he’s going to try? MARTIN: I don’t know all right? [SIGH] I don’t know. ALSO MARTIN: And that’s okay for now, but I just want us to have thought about this stuff properly before it comes up. Because even if that’s not it, chances are it’ll be something else you don’t want to do, and we need to make a proper choice. We can’t just react out of shame or fear or whatever.

(MAG191) MARTIN: … Jon. If… When we defeat The Eye, the Fears… What happens to you? [SILENCE] ARCHIVIST: Nothing good. I think it depends on what actually happens. If we figure out a way to defeat them, banish them somehow, kick them out of our reality and back to where they came from, I might… survive? I think I’d stay more or less like this; w–weaker, but fundamentally… still an avatar in a world where the Fears are… once again lurking on the edges. MARTIN: … But I assume that’s the best case scenario? ARCHIVIST: Depends on your point of view, I guess. In the long term all we’d have done is… bought some more time. … If, however, we… find a way to destroy or, uh… eliminate the Powers… I’m not going to be okay. There’s… too much of me that’s part of The Eye now. I don’t… know what would be left of me without it. Maybe I just… die. Maybe I survive, but I–I lose… something. My identity? My mind? My… memories? I don’t know.

* I like that Jon still pointed out to Martin that what he wanted to label as the “best case scenario” (where Jon could still manage through statements like before) would still be horrible depending on the person answering: Jon had just exposed that it would be a world like before… so still a world with people getting hurt and losing loved ones. (And it would also be a world where the apocalypse already happened once: there could be other Jonahs ready to pursue it again.)

* I would eliminate this possibility from the get-go since Jon had already pointed out at the start of the season that the place where the Fears came from didn’t exist anymore:

(MAG164) MARTIN: Can we turn the world back? [STATIC RISES, STRONG] ARCHIVIST: Wow! Hum… I–if the Fears are removed, yes; but they–they can’t be destroyed while there are still… people to fear them; th–then they can’t be banished back to the space where they came from, it’s not… there anymore, I… Oh! Uh…

So. Aouch. Not getting that.

* Jon admitting for the first time that successfully dealing with the Fears will cause his degradation/disappearance huuuurt but I’m glad he has said it and shared the thought T___T We were suspecting that it could happen, I mostly wanted Jon&Martin to communicate about it and not be taken by surprise if it were to happen…

* I’m especially glad, in a way, that Jon has thought about what he could lose and reached the conclusion that it would probably affect what makes him “him”, and especially his memories. It’s something he might have been wondering about since Upton House? (I sure have been wondering about it since Upton House, so I’m glad that he also thought about it, although it’s heartbreaking…)

- So much fabric rustling this episode, so many hugs…

(MAG191) [FABRIC RUSTLES AS THEY EMBRACE] MARTIN: [LONG EXHALE]

- Cries again for Jon having understood that there was a risk that Martin would want to preserve Jon even to the point of keeping the world doomed…

(MAG191) ARCHIVIST: Martin, when the time comes, I need you to promise me that you won’t try to stop me. MARTIN: … I promise. I love you, Jon. ARCHIVIST: [FOND HUFF] I love you too. MARTIN: But I’m not going to doom the world over it. ARCHIVIST: … Thank you.

And I’m not 100% sure whether or not Martin was absolutely sincere. Technically, he did point out that his own limit would be specifically drawing the line at having to pull the trigger:

(MAG186) MARTIN: [GRIMLY] Tea. Please. [FLASK IS UNSCREWED AGAIN] [TEA SOUNDS ENSUE] So. This price. What do you think? Are we going to have to kill Jon? ALSO MARTIN: … I don’t know, because you don’t know. But… it seems like something we should at least consider. MARTIN: … I… have thought about it, and… I won’t. I, I don’t think I could…! ALSO MARTIN: Mmhmm. MARTIN: But anything else? Any other price? I’ll pay it. ALSO MARTIN: Even dying? MARTIN: Yeah! ALSO MARTIN: Jon’s as bad as we are. He wouldn’t let it happen.

… not necessarily at the whole concept of Jon having to die. So, Martin wasn’t contradicting what he had previously said, technically.

It was also good that Martin got to check about Jon’s intentions, since he had been explained, at some point, how Jon tends to do risky “heroic” things as a form of self-harm:

(MAG142) DAISY: And of course, for Jon, there’s survivor’s guilt in there, too. He thinks he’s not human. Makes him very… self-destructive. MARTIN: Yeah, well. We’ve all had trauma. DAISY: And everyone’s changed.

(MAG191) MARTIN: [INHALE] And you have to promise me that you’re going to do everything in your power to live. That you’re not going to… sacrifice yourself at the first opportunity, just because you feel guilty about what happened. ARCHIVIST: [BREATH] … I promise. MARTIN: [EXHALE] Good.

So it was extremely valid of Martin to make sure that Jon wouldn’t try to sacrifice himself as a punishment – not anymore.

(I’m noting that they haven’t discussed the possibility where they wouldn’t manage anything. We know that Martin made his decision in MAG186, that he would ask Jon to kill him, to stop feeding from people in his domain. But he’s yet to talk to Jon about that…)

- THAT WAS INDEED SUPER HEAVY…

(MAG191) MARTIN: … God, I hate these conversations. ARCHIVIST: Yeah…! [INHALE] Heavy stuff. [LONG EXHALE] MARTIN: I miss small talk. ARCHIVIST: We could talk about the weather for a bit, i–if you like? MARTIN: [SNORT] Bit difficult underground. ARCHIVIST: True. In that case I might… see if I can get a bit more sleep. Rest up a bit before, uh… you know. MARTIN: Sure. ARCHIVIST: Wake me if they get back? MARTIN: Of course.

Please, go back to talking about poetry or something too ;w;

So, as we left them in the episode: Jon was gathering his strength… and for once, Martin was watching over him.

I’M IN PRE-EMPTIVE PAIN. I know it’s going to end horribly, but aaaaaah ;; Jon laying down the futures he has envisioned for himself, and none of them being good… Jon having to think about the possibility that he could be wasting away and losing himself… it was just incredibly sad? ;;

- Fourth sequence, and given how the dialogue sound level was consistent: it sounded like the tape recorder was physically on Melanie or Georgie, not on the bench itself? There was no variation from the moment they were walking to the moment they sat. It’s interesting that, now, the tape recorders are able to spy on them – even though this is far from the first time they go outside, yet the recorders hadn’t listened in on them for the entire season until now…

- Apocalyptic London soundscaping! It had felt like a while – we only heard it in MAG188 and MAG189, but that was two months ago. I like when some places become immediately recognisable through the sound effects, like Beholding!London or the tunnels’ echo? Back in the days, I was extremely fond of the clock ticking in the background indicating Elias’s office.

(MAG191) [CLICK–] [FOOTSTEPS AND CANE TAPS AS MELANIE AND GEORGIE ARE ABOVE GROUND; URBAN DRONE SOUNDS ABOUND] MELANIE: I do wonder how healthy it is. Going to see him like that. GEORGIE: I know, but… it helps me. I think. MELANIE: It certainly sounded pretty nasty. GEORGIE: Well, it didn’t look too much better.

When Melanie&Georgie were mentioned to be out, I had not thought it would be for the Admiral ;; I had assumed it was to get some Alone Time and discuss the recent changes with Jon&Martin’s arrival, or to stock up on supplies since the group has become bigger – though in this case, their little trip outside served multiple purposes. Somehow, I had assumed that the Admiral’s domain would be a bit hard to access or even removed from London, since Georgie had mentioned she only went to see him occasionally (MAG190: “I go to see him sometimes. I think he’s happy, in his way. But, hum… It’s hard to see him like that. He didn’t even know I was there.”), but on the other hand, Jon had pointed out that there were micro-domains in London that weren’t pure Beholding (MAG188: “It’s the seat of The Eye…! The other powers have small enclaves within in, but… it’s going to be a lot.”). There is something very touching in the fact that Jon&Martin brought change (their mere presence, the fact that they have powers and are on a quest to try to stop this, the tape recorders following them) and Georgie went to see the Admiral again, as if clinging to a companion, a familiar presence… even though he has also changed a great deal?

- I love that Melanie asked the right questions about the bench.

(MAG191) GEORGIE: Uh, there’s a, a bench here, to your left. Do you mind? [DRONE FLYING] MELANIE: Unoccupied? GEORGIE: For now. Come on. MELANIE: Sure.

Big Extinction Couch flashbacks.

(MAG175) MARTIN: You know what? [FOOTSTEPS STOP] I am sitting down. ARCHIVIST: [CHUCKLE] Are you… sure, that thing is… That’s not in great shape. MARTIN: Neither am I. I have been on my feet for a literally uncountable amount of time. [FOOTSTEPS] [BAG JOSTLING] [SHUFFLING] [CREAKING, WITH DAMP SPLOSHES] MARTIN: Mmhph… ARCHIVIST: [CLIPPED] How is it? MARTIN: … Great…! It’s great. [WET SQUEAK] Lovely couch.

^We know how awful places to sit can be since the Change.

- Apart from the brief moment Melanie found Georgie at the end of MAG149, this was the first time we hear them talk by themselves and for themselves, and I’m grateful for that! It helped to see how they normally interact: asking questions about themselves and their own actions and situations, expressing their own thoughts aloud, bouncing ideas and feelings around… And I love that we can feel that they indeed know each other well at this point, with Melanie picking up right away on the fact that Georgie was actually upset:

(MAG191) MELANIE: Everything’s a bit… shit. Isn’t it? GEORGIE: Not everything. [DRONE FLYING] MELANIE: … How did he look? GEORGIE: He’s happy, I think. Does that… Does that make him evil? MELANIE: It makes him a cat. GEORGIE: And, I mean… sure it’s not a great look for Battersea but, watching it… it’s just the gorier bits of a nature documentary on repeat. MELANIE: There’s nothing natural about this, though. GEORGIE: … No. [SILENCE] MELANIE: We could still pull him out. Y’know, like, like the others. GEORGIE: No, no… It… it hurts to see him like that, but… he’s safer there. If we took him, we’d just be putting him in danger. We might even be putting the others in danger from him.

* Melanie going straight at it with the Admiral – because “not everything” being shit still means, in their situation, that most things are, and they had just gone out to allow Georgie to take a look at her fluffball.

* Georgie’s question about whether the Admiral was “evil” was a bit heartwrenching… because it’s how she had referred to an End avatar with Oliver:

(MAG121) OLIVER: Oh…. Uh, right. H–have I upset you, miss? GEORGIE: [INTERRUPTING] No, you just remind me of someone. OLIVER: Aaah, I’m sorry. Were they– GEORGIE: Evil. Yes.

Georgie having a black and white view of morality and trouble cataloguing the Admiral within that system…

* I like how Melanie’s overall dryness also allows her to be firm and rational about a few things? It’s a case where we can understand why Georgie is upset (her companion is terrorising others and feeding from their fears, while he used to be her domesticated pet), but Melanie’s reminder is also noteworthy – is the Admiral even able of moral reasoning? Listen to Season 4’s Q&A for Jonny’s stance on the subject.

* (And I love that it settles on: he’s still a cat, acting as a cat, and enjoying being a predator. Doesn’t make him evil. But the circumstances in themselves have “nothing natural” about them, and that’s still their main problem.)

* ;; That was a nice echo to Jon mentioning earlier in the episode how Georgie is with “people in her care”: right now, there is still the group of predators to protect, so as much Georgie might love the Admiral… still a risk. Same thing as with Jon before, and Georgie trying to get him out in order to protect Melanie.

- Was that a frigging reference to the Giant Crab That Lives Under The Archives meme.

(MAG191) MELANIE: [SIGH] You’re not still going on about that… dream of a giant, murderous tunnel-cat, are you? GEORGIE: [CHUCKLE] MELANIE: You know you’re not actually a prophet, hon?

Because it sure sounded like it. (Also, Georgie’s dreams are cool.)

Once again, I’m super happy that we heard Georgie and Melanie interact mundanely!! Because they sound like an old married couple, too, now! The little endearing “hon” and tender needling while reminding Georgie that no, her dreams are not prophetic and they don’t know what would truly happen if they brought the Admiral back with them. I also like that it wasn’t one-sided and that both were able to contextualise in order to comfort the other at different point:

(MAG191) GEORGIE: And it’s not like the tunnels have gotten any safer with them hanging around. MELANIE: It just feels crap, you know? Doing nothing. GEORGIE: We’re surviving. And… trying to help others do the same. That’s not nothing. MELANIE: True. Even if it feels like it sometimes.

Melanie reminding Georgie that the Admiral is a cat by nature, Georgie reminding Melanie that “surviving” is still something (and a lot, given the current world). It was also a nice view of their respective personal weak spots – Georgie, the companion she lost; Melanie, her frustration at perceiving herself as useless and static at the moment.

- Loving the transition from the Admiral to Jon.

(MAG191) GEORGIE: [SIGH] I still care about him, you know. But… getting involved will only make things worse. MELANIE: We’d better still be talking about the Admiral. GEORGIE: [INHALE] Jon’s… doing his best.

Jon Is A Cat. (And Melanie absolutely understands that, since she understood the transition.)

- I love that both Melanie and Georgie are absolutely aware that no, Jon didn’t want the apocalypse to happen and shouldn’t be held responsible for it…

(MAG190) GEORGIE: … Melanie reckons you’re the reason… all this happened, whole apocalypse thing. ARCHIVIST: [INHALE] She’s… not wrong. GEORGIE: [LONG EXHALATION] ARCHIVIST: I was… the catalyst, I–I didn’t… Elias– Jonah Magnus used me. GEORGIE: Well, obviously. Even Melanie doesn’t think you’d have been stupid enough to do this on purpose.

(MAG191) GEORGIE: It’s not his fault…! It’s not like he wanted it to happen. [DRONE FLYING] MELANIE: I know that! Right? I know. I know, but the… the truth is, I just don’t like him. I never have, and I am sick of people acting like I should feel so super-sympathetic towards him, just because he’s had a rough time of it. I’ve had a rough time of it from the second I met him! We all have! And he doesn’t– GEORGIE: Oh, honey… [SIGH] MELANIE: … Okay. I can still hate him, even if I don’t, y’know, blame him but… [FRUSTRATED EXHALE]

But also!! That Melanie!! Doesn’t like him! That Melanie is allowed to dislike him for her own reasons! I love that she’s allowed to feel that, to remind us that things also went downhill for her, and that she’s not presenting it as a competition in misery? Jon is our main character, we’ve witnessed his hurdles and only got a glimpse of the others’, so I appreciate the reminders that they’re the main characters of their own stories.

Still! My heart sobs a bit because I also like the concept of Melanie&Jon as potential friends (they were absolute nerds together in MAG076), and Melanie had offered the possibility at the end of season 4 (MAG157: “It’s, it’s okay. He’s… welcome. As a friend. But that’s it.”)… but once again, circumstances aren’t ideal and it’s a bit of a “things could have been different” in another universe, probably? Or even in this one, if Melanie had a chance to keep working on herself and her self-hate? (And, for little details as to why she could be annoyed at Jon at the moment: Jon haaaas been kind of an ass around her since they reunited – teasing about the cult while it was an obvious tender spot for Melanie wasn’t super sensitive of him. It’s Jon’s sense of humour! But it doesn’t have to work with everyone.)

- Aouch, I had mused and joked about Jon&Melanie’s common points (matching shoulder scars! Dating Georgie! Very passionate in their own fields about the supernatural! Jon pointing out that he also knew how it is to be looked down on by peers! Both tending to go it alone and to rely on themselves, having a hard time trusting, clamming up when they’re hurt!), but Melanie’s acknowledgement of it was heartbreaking:

(MAG191) GEORGIE: You know… you’re actually quite similar. MELANIE: Well, then at least I hate consistently. GEORGIE: … You should really talk to Laverne about that. MELANIE: Oh, trust me, it came up. Day one, I think. GEORGIE: [SAD SOUND OF UNDERSTANDING]

MELANIE ;___; It breaks my heart but also wow, I’m grateful for that punch, and super happy that she is aware of it, of how she works, that it ALREADY came up in therapy, right away… (I wonder if Melanie’s self-hatred came up in therapy right away, or specifically the fact that she was projecting her self-hatred on Jon. I’m cackling again at Laverne suddenly realising that Jon was “the” Jon Sims, as in Melanie’s old boss.)

- I LOVE MELANIE!! I love how she made it clear that 1°) yes, she’s aware that Jon didn’t doom the world on purpose or willingly, 2°) no, she still doesn’t like him, 3°) yes, she still thinks it would be the right thing to help him and offer him support. She’s allowed to have her personal feelings, to stick to them, but also to be rational about it and see that they need to collaborate if they hope to achieve something. And I love how it evolves into a conversation about what they could offer, concretely?

(MAG191) MELANIE: But all that said… we should still help them. GEORGIE: What could we even do for them if Jon’s some kind of… all-knowing demigod? MELANIE: Not down there. Martin says they can’t find a way up into the Institute. GEORGIE: Too risky. I told you about the things down near the stairs, right? MELANIE: I, uh, yeah.

Melanie is already aware of Jon’s weak spot, that he can’t know in the tunnels, and that they need help to reach the Institute!

I’mmm a bit curious about the logistics of things: first, it’s likely but not absolutely confirmed that the “Watchers” guarding the stairs are the Archivists Jon mentioned (notably, the first were described as if they are static, while Jon mentioned that the Archivists move around); second, I’m a bit curious about which stairs are the stairs that are alluded to (and where they lead):

(Season 5 Act III trailer) LAVERNE: I, uh… I got a bit too close to the stairs, yesterday.

(MAG191) GEORGIE: Too risky. I told you about the things down near the stairs, right?

It’s “down”: does that mean the Watchers are stationed at the bottom of the stairs, and the stairs are going up? It feels like the option that makes the most sense considering they are in the tunnels – and we know that the trapdoor in the Archives leading down to the tunnels was hiding stairs (Jon described them as such in MAG041). So it could be that set of stairs, leading up to the Archives. Another tiny possibility is that those stairs… are actually going down, deeper into the tunnels: towards where the Panopticon used to be? (It’s mostly that I tend to automatically picture said stairs as going “up”, back to the Institute/what is now the Panopstitute… but technically, this hasn’t been said any of the multiple times these stairs were mentioned. And we know that the tunnels had multiple levels, going deeper and deeper.)

… Whether the Watchers are the Archivists or those are two different things, though, I feel like Georgie’s wording was indeed reenforcing the idea that the Watchers were what caught and snatched back the survivors they had managed to free:

(Season 5 Act III trailer) LAVERNE: I, uh… I got a bit too close to the stairs, yesterday. [ANXIOUS NOISES] UNNAMED: [SHARPLY] Seriously? Did they see you? LAVERNE: No. But… there were more watchers. CELIA: What do you mean “more”? There’s two, one each side! LAVERNE: Not anymore. I didn’t get a good look, but… there must have been four, or five. […] ARUN: Have faith! The prophets shall protect us. UNNAMED: [SNORT] Like they protected Song and Christopher? LAVERNE: Hm. ARUN: That was our fault! UNNAMED: Uh–huh! ARUN: We became arrogant, attracted attention. They’re the Chosen, they’re not all-powerful.

(MAG190) GEORGIE: … There are seven with us now. [SIGH] It used to be more. A lot more. But, hum… we got greedy. Pulled too many out. We… attracted attention. And… well, now there are seven.

(MAG191) GEORGIE: Too risky. I told you about the things down near the stairs, right? MELANIE: I, uh, yeah. GEORGIE: We can’t afford to attract their attention.

They lost people because they “attracted attention”…

- I! love! Melanie!

(MAG191) GEORGIE: We can’t afford to attract their attention. MELANIE: … You’re doing it again. GEORGIE: [FRUSTRATED] Argh! MELANIE: Look, you–you’ve been doing so much better recently. I, I know it’s really hard to judge risk without a, a sense of fear– GEORGIE: But I am still… overcompensating. MELANIE: Well, I mean, not, not necessarily? It is dangerous. But…

I love that she bluntly pointed out to Georgie that she was “overcompensating” again, and given Georgie’s reaction, that she’s aware that she tends to do that, that she agrees about it, that she knows it’s not a good thing, and that she’s trying to work on it! Once again, it was really super cool to see Melanie&Georgie interact like this, because we could see they were familiar with each other’s way of thinking, of their own potential spirals, and are able to quickly put a stop to them.

And it makes so much sense for Georgie! It’s not a big reveal, it’s something we could feel: we knew she couldn’t feel fear, she had pointed out herself that she tended to be cautious to make up for her lack of fear:

(MAG094) GEORGIE: Since that day, I’ve never been able to feel afraid. My fear’s just… gone. I’m not foolhardy. I can still recognise danger, and I understand the likelihood of harm, but actual fear? Simply not something I experience anymore. And I’ve never been able to figure out if it was cauterised, or… if it was stolen.

But it’s so nice to see it acknowledged as a fallible adaptive strategy, still potentially hurtful for Georgie and the people around her. It also adds some flavour to how she behaved with Jon in season 4, trying to rationalise why she wanted to cut ties with him after having tangible proof that he was entangled with and surrounded by danger?

- I love Melanie ;___;

(MAG191) MELANIE: But… I, I don’t see another way out of this? And, and I don’t intend to spend the rest of eternity sleeping in a tunnel playing “mystery tin”…! GEORGIE: … Not even if it was just the two of us? MELANIE: [SIGH] Oh, okay… Y–yes. Well… maybe… [INHALE] I, I could handle that for a bit. But if there’s even a small chance we could put things back?

It was such a contrast with Salesa: Melanie unhappy with her situation, agreeing that it could easily be more agreeable (if she were to be alone with Georgie)… but also firm on the fact that their current life (and their options for how to lead it) is not enough. Salesa chose to keep living in his own little bubble, protected and safe, even if it’s a solitary life and has its shares of misery (Salesa probably wouldn’t be drinking alone in the morning if he was as happy as he claimed, and he knew his future, at some point, would be to die, either at Annabelle’s hands or by ending his life himself). Melanie and Georgie have the same kind of security, are more or less in the same situation (they could keep going like this, sheltered from most of the horrors), but are taking an absolutely different stance.

- I also like the tiny note about the fact they have “always” been involved…

(MAG191) GEORGIE: … [INHALE] You’re right. I know you’re right. I just hate getting involved…! MELANIE: We’ve always been involved. Right? GEORGIE: Yeah…

Because: on a personal level, they did encounter the Fears even before meeting Jon (Georgie in her first year of uni, Melanie during one of her recordings). They were both marked by Fears before any dealing with the Institute. And even before that, well… the Fears were already around? Have been around for centuries, maybe the beginning of times? And right now, it’s more explicitly everyone’s problem.

- Feelings about Melanie and agency…

(MAG106) ELIAS: Whatever I’m planning needs to be stopped! Even if it costs a few lives. Including your own. MELANIE: Well, that’s n–not even– ELIAS: A rationalisation, of course. A lie, about your own selfishness, that you would rather be dead than trapped without the self-determination you prize so highly.

(MAG117) MELANIE: But I’m still fighting. [SCOFF] For all the good it’s done me! Still stuck, still miserable, still… angry. [CHUCKLE] New traumas, but they hurt just like the old ones…!

(MAG150) MELANIE: I didn’t say I was going to quit. I said: I’m not going to do my job. No researching; no filing; no… field trips. Nothing that is going to help the Institute in any way. I’ll still be around, I just…

(MAG155) MELANIE: No, Jon. I’m going to do it. [BREATH] I’m quitting.

(MAG191) MELANIE: A–a–at least now it’s on our terms! This way, you can get back to podcasting about monsters… GEORGIE: [CHUCKLE] MELANIE: … rather than hiding from them.

It had been pointed out multiple times that Melanie valued her agency! I’m so glad that she’s conscious that this is her way to take it back, while the Change had once again dispossessed her of it ;w;

- GEORGIE, I CARE YOU.

(MAG191) GEORGIE: Urgh! Don’t. I was just… thinking about that yesterday. How much I legitimately miss those shitty ad reads. You know, everything happened just as I was recording one? MELANIE: Oh, god, yeah! Hum, what was it, uh… GEORGIE: [PODCASTER VOICE] “Slaughterville…” MELANIE: [HAPPILY] Yes! GEORGIE: “The Town of a Thousand Corpses”! MELANIE: [CHUCKLES] GEORGIE: Some god-awful true crime thing based in a, a Colorado town where there were meant to be like… three serial killers or something. MELANIE: Jesus. GEORGIE: I was so proud of the script I did for it as well! I thought I’d really nailed that schlocky pulp vibe without it being super obvious that I was making fun of them.

That’s indeed a thought: what were you doing when the world ended? At least, we know for Georgie, and it’s hilarious =D I love how she acknowledges her shitty ads – and that she makes them sound terrible on purpose.

(What’s with Georgie and Slaughter-related content, though? The WTG episode that had been released had already been Slaughter-y, given Jon’s comment in MAG125…)

(Genuine avatars sending their ads to Georgie to advertise their activities, and Georgie finding the stuff they do ridiculous…)

- That’s a lot of people Doing Things For An Audience, recently. Arun reading books or his own creations; Georgie reminiscing about her podcast and toying with the possibility of performing in front of the others; the tape recorders spying on everyone…

- Harsh return to reality with Arun’s creations, but also, very valid reminder and concern:

(MAG191) MELANIE: … Come on. We’d better head back. It’s… probably not a great idea leaving that lot with Jon and Martin unsupervised.

Indeed, the other survivors are nooot meshing super-well with Jon&Martin. (But Melanie&Georgie being in the mix is not a guarantee that things will calm down ;;)

- And so, we got their final decision!

(MAG191) MELANIE: So… we help them? GEORGIE: Well… We’re not going up the tower, but… yeah. I want my cat back. [CANE TAPPING AS THEY WALK OFF]

Indeed helping/providing assistance, but not going with them! And Georgie’s conclusion was BADASS and VALID – that’s indeed the only way for her to get the right conditions to get the Admiral back.

Given that they mentioned it, I’m assuming that they will bring Jon&Martin to the stairs with the Watchers? Or perhaps Laverne will? Would they work as a distraction, would they be even noticed by the Watchers…?

- General musing:

* She’s not joined with the group yet, but as an alternative to enter the Panopstitute… there might be Basira, too? She was inside of the building when the Change happened, and left without any problem. Jon said that right now, she had inherited Daisy’s ability to ~carve her way~ through others’ domains: would it allow her to enter the Panopstitute in the same way?

* We still don’t know what is Jon’s domain exactly – only that Jon&Martin were heading to it during their journey. Is it the Panopstitute? The Archives? Beholding itself at this point?

* I really wonder how Jon will interact with other Archivists… would they feel like he’s just one of them? Would they feel like he’s special even amongst them? Would they attack him because he’s full of stories (and akin to an “Archive”)? … How are they currently fed, exactly? Do they observe the domains outside, or do they have to rip stories out of people? Was it what happened to the survivors that Melanie&Georgie lost…?

Nine episodes left ;_;

MAG192’s title makes me think of two Big Meanings that could allude to various things. Domains’ rulers (Basira?), “Archivist” lore, statement from an Archivist? Elias, Rosie? Or something that is already slated to be happening (Annabelle implied to Martin they would see each other again soon-ish, when they left Upton house)? It’s been two episodes in a row without a “statement” in some form (which only happened as part of the climax in previous seasons), it feels so strange, too…

#tma liveblog #mag191 #tma season 5 #tma spoilers/#long post/#the magnus archives

11 notes · View notes

maladaptive-ninja-returns · 4 years

Text

It’s The Avengers (03x04)

Loki x Reader Avengers The Office AU (Slowwwwww Burn)

Season 3 Episode 04: She Who Seduces

Series Summary: Living in the Avengers facility post-apocalypse in a better timeline Tony Stark has decided to capture every moment by pulling The Office on the Avengers. All of housemates are pretty used to the idea except for you, who had just come here to finish her degree, and the newest member- Loki.

Warnings: wow! lots of stuff you guys want but at the same time aren’t gettin’ any

Word Count: It’s a weird feeling to be tagged as an essential worker, but not be made to feel like an essential worker? I mean I feel I’m not one. But if I am being forced out of my house, being exposed to the possibility of catching the virus, being ignored by corporate, media and the govt as humans, I have to wonder why am I even sitting here. I get the doctors and nurses and no amount of verbal praise can even come close to what they are doing right now. But if me and my colleagues have be ignored and made to work at large, I’d rather we do it from the safety of our homes, man. (Just when I had started to get better on my own)

MASTERLIST in bio, darlings. Tags are open (check bio)

The camera focused on a blue egg the colour of sky lying in the dirt, zooming in on it a little before jolting back as the egg moved. The camera did the entire cycle once again before a fluff hand tried to smack that egg like a cat curious about this unexplained cute atrocity in front of them.

“Lulu!” a voice called from somewhere in the distance in the midst of a mixture of all sorts of noises- like the ones experienced in your neighbourhood local market. But the camera did not budge till it recorded the sky egg crack bit by bit before a pair of blue eyes popped out on a little white head. Those gorgeous cute eyes looked at the camera, blinking out of coordination before looking at the little golden fuzzy arm slowly coming towards its head. Blinking again- this time with curiosity- the blue eyes froze on that snail-paced extension of a husk behind the camera before a tiny void opened under those innocent eyes to take that husk arm into it and bite down with an audible crunch.

Javier’s camera swiftly turned to Lulu’s cries, finding him far behind in the crowd of aliens trying to knock something away from his arm.

The little husk- screaming and howling like a little dog in pain- was rescued by pale fingers catching hold of the round head that was too stubborn to let go. A little squeeze and those surprisingly vicious teeth let go, breaking the remnants of the eggshells to let out white paws attached to the tiniest legs.

“Scram,” Loki ordered the white alien- who ran away as quickly as possible- before turning towards Lulu, “what were you trying to do with that beast? Have it for breakfast?”

Lulu chirped, nodding before slumping a little into the ground.

“Yeah, good luck with that while you’re in Y/N’s care,” he stated, getting and turning to look at the judgmental zoom Javier’s camera threw on him. “What. You want her to keep another alien as a pet?”

“Guys, I found a restaurant,” your voice called out of the frame, making Loki look in your direction, “OH MY GOD YOU GUYS! THERE ARE REAL LIFE SAILOR SOLDIERS IN HERE!!”

Loki looked at the camera, ageing a thousand years more. “Please tell me it’s not one of those mangas she keeps talking about.”

When Javier spelt it out for him from behind the camera, Loki’s eyes closed and he let out the heaviest sigh he possibly could

Loki: *with a very serious face* the prospect of me having died before being teleported here does not seem so bad. It looks fantastic now. *camera zooms in on his face while you scream in delight in the background, “I’m sitting with real-life Sailor Soldiers!! Aaaahhhh-”*

The Lounge

"Where's Stark?"

One camera panned in on Bucky's face as he came out of the dorm with bed hair while the other looked at a mildly surprised Scott drinking orange juice from a crystal wine glass.

"He said he'll come in twenty. He's gone for his weekly therapy session," Scott replied, swirling the juice in his glass with his pinky out while observing Bucky from head to toe. "You should try that sometimes. It's really good."

Bucky sat down on the sofa with a stare filled with judgemental questions in Scott's direction. "Me? Therapy? That stuff's for looneys."

Scott furrowed his brows at Bucky, pause all moments for a second before bringing the glass ever so slowly to his lips. "Okay, Boomer."

"What?"

Bucky: I don’t need therapy. *mocks a laugh* Shuri made me better than ever in Wakanda. All I need is exercise, healthy food in my stomach and a good amount of sleep. *nods in satisfaction*

*camera zooms out to reveal Scott sitting next to him, shaking his head lightly in mild disbelief*

Scott: *softly* Now I know where that attitude in this present world comes from.

Bucky: *turns to look at Scott* *shifts uncomfortably in his seat while shifting his gaze between the camera and Scott*

*silence erodes the room before Bucky finally breaks*

Why are you looking at me like that? I haven’t killed anyone recently.

Scott: *furrows brows in confusion* what?

Bucky: *stops mid-way and looks away from Scott towards the camera* Nothing

Scott: I never said about killing anyone. *pitch grows higher with every word* Bucky, I never said about killing anyone. Bucky, did you kill someone?

Bucky: *shakes his head with disinterest* mm-mm.

Scott: *mouth opens wide in disbelief* *hands go into his hair on his head* OH MY GOD YOU KILLED SOMEONE!!!

Bucky: NO! I DID N-

Fifteen Minutes Later

Bucky: *softly* So I’ve decided after...a lot of thinking that I should go talk to a...a therapist.

Scott: *nods and smiles at the camera like an encouraging wife*

Bucky: *gives a forceful smile*

Scott: And I too will be going to see a therapist.

Bucky: *nods* *presses lips*

Bucky and Scott: *look at the door, forcing the camera to turn and land on a somewhat irritated Natasha glaring at them from outside the door with arms crossed across her chest*

Back In The Lounge

Wanda walked into the living room space where Bruce was working on some calculations on his laptop while another camera discreetly caught Bucky and Scott giving each other the stink eye.

"You should take a break, Bruce," Wanda stressed while placing a mug of hot tea on his table. Bruce half-looked at the mug before turning back to it, pulling it close and smelling it. "Since when do we drink so much tea?"

Wanda shrugged. "Since Loki and Y/N came into our lives?" She was unsure but that's what all things pointed at. Bruce went with it too.

He rubbed his eyes and shut his laptop. "Yeah, I guess we can take a break." He yawns and gets up. "Loki seems to have everything under control anyway, so…"

Wanda seemed to wince very quietly, her expressions showing no surety in Bruce’s words; or a reflection of an upset stomach.

“I mean, Y/N is being a levelheaded person too. It’s not all Loki.”

A scoff came from the other side of the room where Bucky stood, all eyes and camera turning to stare at him, his crumbling confident posture trying to display reason. “I mean...she hasn’t been to space before. She does not know what’s out there as well as Loki.”

“So, what you are trying to say is she won’t be able to survive if it wasn’t for Loki?” Scott stretched his words to make sure Bucky heard every single one of them.

“Of course she wouldn’t survive out there. She is a kid.” A very sweaty Clint walked into the lounge and went straight for the orange juice inside the fridge. The camera caught the muted gasps coming out of Wanda and Scott for the men in the room not having much faith in your survival skills.

“So are you,” a very sweaty Natasha acknowledged Clint’s words as she grabbed the juice bottle from Clint’s hand, “but you survived the Infinity War without your family. Oh, wait. You didn’t really survive. You just turned into a whiny little bitch and started killing the first thing you saw.”

Wanda looked at the camera with her eyes wide and her lips pressed tightly to stop her from screaming at the burn. Bruce, on the other hand, whispered ‘oh shit’ and tried to disappear in his mug. Scott sipped his juice like the best tea he had been served in a long time, all the while smirking like a content goofball.

“That was so below the belt, Nat,” Clint protested, his hands resting on his hips as he watched her gulp down half the bottle of juice before handing Clint the rest and smacking her lips in satisfaction. “Y/N is in outer space with a frost giant. And so is Javier. But I don’t hear any of you mention him in this conversation when it comes to surviving on one's own?”

“Javier is a-”

Bruce paused before finishing his sentence as he realised the error of his words right before they came out. “Nice guy?” He finally breathed out, his lungs not being able to take the torture. “He is also in danger, of course. That is a given. I was in danger too when I was stuck in space. Thor can vouch for me.”

Thor: *standing on a cliff while the Asgardians celebrate in the background around a fire* *yells over the sound of waves crashing in on the rocks below* BRUCE WAS SO MUCH FUN ON SAKAAR! WE HAD DRINKS AND DANCES AND SO MANY GIRLS OGLING AT HIM! OF COURSE, THAT WAS WHEN HE WAS THE HULK. WHEN HE WAS BACK TO BEING A BORING OLD SCIENTIST ALL HE SPOKE WAS OF HIS PHDS AND HIS HOW MUCH THIS ONE GUY HERE WAS ALL OVER HIM! I THINK HE LIKED IT. HIM! HE LIKED HIM. IF THIS IDIOT WASN’T STUCK ON BORING OLD NAT THEN I WAS BETTING ON THEM DOIN’ IT. YEAH!!! *pauses and smiles his widest smile* *blinks into an invisible void in the distance* PLEASE DON’T TELL NATASHA I CALLED HER BORING. OR-OR OLD.

Bruce gulped where he sat. “Maybe he can’t vouch for me. He was too trippy throughout his trip to space anyways. Maybe the lack of oxygen did it to him.”

The silence grew uncomfortable by the second as he exchanged a look with a camera while Clint just shook his head and let out a defeated “dude”.

Space Place

“Hey, where’s Loki?” you asked Javier while Lulu climbed up the bar stool in the small inn right by the farmer’s market that you had just passed. “Right behind you?” you looked past Javier before walking towards the way he had come- “but he’s not he-”

Your words were cut short by something you saw from the window, forcing the camera to shift on seeing the concern cloud your face towards the scene outside the window. Outside, four buffed up aliens stood surrounding Loki while he raised his hands a little like a white flag.

Instinct took over and you stepped out of the inn but stopped on the porch as Loki yelled, “No! Do not come any closer!” without making eye contact.

One of the buff guys did step closer, his face breathing down right into Loki’s. And Loki? He chuckled at the alien. “One more inch and I think we’ll be kissing, Kronk.”

Kronk the big boulder looking guy hissed at him. “You stepped on the wrong planet, Silvertongue. Hudon wants your head or your body. And he will make sure you pay up your dues.”

Loki tried to increase the distance between him and Kronk, moving back a little; enough to stop smelling his breath on him. “Wow. Looks like someone had a lot of raw Siluji fish today. Hehe. And I thought Hudon was on Myscul. Anyways. How about I talk to Hudon and offer him something that he cannot refuse. And both of us can get back to our respective business.” No matter how much he smiled, Loki did not seem to be getting through that guy.

“Hudon does not want to talk to you. He knows how you work, trickster. He will cut his ears off before he listens to you.”

Loki wanted to contradict the guy but shut his lips to be on the better side of this guy. “Okay. Fine. I will meet him in two hours then? I’ll even bring some good sushi for you.” Loki started to walk away from them when one of Kronk’s men caught hold of him and slapped black handcuffs onto his wrists.

“You are coming with us, traitor.”

The camera recorded Loki being dragged away in broad daylight while no one even batted an eye at the incident. You walked to the end of the porch- the end close enough to watch Loki being taken away as his brows reflected concern in your direction before disappearing behind the nearest stall of berries.

“Javi,” you uttered softly, your eyes still looking for Loki, “I think Loki’s in trouble. Oh, God. I think we are in trouble.”

The Foreigner’s Inn

The camera settled on the window sill and a pair of hands moved away to reveal Javier sitting back in the seat of the corner table far away from the bustle of the inn. You sat opposite him, nervously biting your nails and moving your leg under the table while Lulu sat right in the middle, facing the camera, drinking some green concoction you bought him with a few talons from the ones Loki handed you once you had landed on this planet. Javier’s blue eyes scrutinised the place before coming back to you. He tapped your hand for attention before signing something.

“Yeah,” you acknowledged with a nod, “a plan. We need to come up with a plan to save Loki. But we don’t know where they took him. Oh, shi-should we have followed them? Ah fuck! Now, we won’t know where they went. Maybe we should ask someone. But we don’t know what kind of guy Hudon is. What if he’s got eyes everywhere? Then if we ask someone about him, we’ll be the ones walking right into the lion’s den. And we’ll be the ones who will need saving. Okay okay okay okay okay okay. Right right right right right right.”

Javier knocked the table to get your spiralling conscience back to him, directing you to stop, breathe in and breathe out. And you did, pausing for a moment before things got worse in your head. “Right. We need to think this with a clear head. Um...what would Mr Stark tell us to do.”

With your back straight you looked right at Javier. “He would say stop, take a breather. Make sure that you are safe first. It’s fine to worry about Loki but he is a great strategist. He will definitely find a way out of trouble. But that does not mean we do not go look for him. No one gets left behind. Not even that ugly gourd. Help is always around. All you need to do is ask. And never forget that I love you no matter what. Now go save that son of a bitch.”

Javier stared blankly for a second before breaking into silent applause. “So, we need to find something or someone that can give information about that guy holding Loki. Where can we get someone who would know that and help us, complete strangers?”

Lulu, who, all this time had been swinging his bushy bottom from the chair, suddenly stopped, put the drink from his hand on the table and pressed his belly with a click.

[Hippie Sabotage’s Righteous starts playing]

Lulu got down from his chair and moved towards the door of the inn. You called after him but he did not stop and so you and Javier followed with the camera.

Lulu’s camera took in the boots stepping into the inn first. Then the ripped pants, going up to the open shirt revealing perfect abs. Then came those familiar faces carrying their smouldering looks with them still.

Javi’s camera recorded your expression of surprise followed by a hint of something schemy going on in those eyes. A smile was all that you gave them though. “Never thought I would see you guys again.”

The camera swerved to the rainbow k-pop donning shades that were being taken off as slowly as possible. White turned to look at you, the smoulder still holding strong on his face. “And leave you to fend for yourself, princess. Not on my watch.”

You: Yeah *mildly disgusted* I forgot how clingy he is.

“I need your help.”

Sky jumped where he stood and clapped his hand before slipping behind Mauve and blushing.

“Loki’s in trouble. I need to help him es-”

“Say no more,” White whispered while bringing his pale finger on your lips, which you smacked away. “But before we go on the adventure together, my beautiful princess, I urge you to imagine going on another adventure. Just you. And me. And planets with no one but us.”

“And me,” came a faint whisper from behind Mauve.

“Oh, my G-is there anyone of you who is a normal one?”

“I don’t know about normal,” Green came forward and tucked at the edges of his shirt, “but I can take him away from you and help you save your…”

You waited for him to finish his sentence.

“Boyfriend?” he sounded as unsure as the uneasy lines on his face. Before you could say anything to contradict him, White gasped and Sky whimpered. “Boyfriend! He is your boyfriend?! Oh my stars,” White cried, “what are the odds that fate made us meet when you were already someone else’s.”

You stood there, blinking, questioning whether it would be a good decision to tell him the truth. “So, because I have a boyfriend, you will stop pursuing me?”

Sky sniffled, White sighed in defeat and Orange clicked his tongue at the lost opportunity. “I am a creature of code. I would never even think pretty thoughts about someone else’s queen,” he assured with a weak vibration in his voice.

“Cool,” you exclaimed, “Loki is my boyfriend! And I am Y/N, hi. And you are…”

“Call us whatever you like,” Green replied with a smile. “We don’t have names. Just voice notes as a way of identification. Now, let’s get to work.”

“Oh my God,” Mauve groaned audibly and rolled his eyes under those shades, “finally. She definitely needs that work.”

You and the cameras looked at you, wondering what was so wrong to have blunt judgement thrown at you out of nowhere. “Why would I need work?”

Green gestured to you to move up the stairs of the inn with them. “You mentioned Loki being captured by the alien named Hudon.”

“Never mentioned that.”

“He is a classic brute,” Green continued, like he never heard you, as you walked next to him while Lulu got himself lifted into your arms, “who owns all the brothels of this base. He trades in creatures who can exploit their own bodies for what he pays them. The fact that Loki was taken away by his men points at the possibility of trade between them gone wrong.”

You gasped at the sudden revelation that was dawning upon you. “Wait. So, that could mean he wants payback from Loki. Does he want payback in...in cash or...in kind?”

Green’s eyes reflected sympathy for your situation. “Let’s hope, for you and Loki, that it is cash.”

“But wouldn’t that mean he has to sell his body?!”

Green nodded. Lulu’s camera caught White murmuring to Violet, “do you think that furry thing is their child?”

“We have something that might help you. And for that-” he stopped in front of a door of one room at the far end of the corridor, twisting the knob and clicking it open for you to enter- “we would need your help.”

“Okay,” you nodded before confusion took over your face and Lulu purred while rubbing against your shoulder, “what kind of help.”

Mauve sighed loudly, pushing you away- gently- to enter the room first. “We would need your help to do something about the drab that you humans call fashion on your planet,” he nearly puked while looking at your clothes.

“Hey! This shirt is really comfortable. So are these leggings and boots!”

Mauve screwed his face at you. “Oh, they better be! Because that hue-combination is a disaster,” he stressed.

You felt your head go back a little. "Just because I don't have much interest in fashion, I'm gonna let that pass. But I am pretty sure the Queer Eye won't stand for that insult."

"The Queer Eye would've made you into a walking weapon had they been in your vicinity darling," Mauve mentioned matter-of-factly and walked towards the lone dresser and dragged out the chair before tapping it. "Now sit your ass down and let me show you how it's done while Mr Green fills you in about everything."

You looked at Green. He nodded jovially. White on the other hand went and plopped on the bed. Violet went and splayed himself on the sofa, Red went for the window sill to go and brood there. Sky took the foot of the bed and made himself comfortable to look at you for the next two hours. Orange took off his shirt and trousers and went into the bathroom.

"Hey, Lulu," White called out from the bed, "put on a sexy getting-ready song."

Lulu got up on the dresser and pressed his stomach to play Rachel Bloom’s Sexy Getting Ready Song.

“Wait. Hold on,” you called out, making Mauve and Green stop in their tracks and Lulu pausing the song, “I...I gotta poop. Please get that orange pervert out of there?”

Hudon’s Whorehouse

A hush, beginning from the entrance, fell as the eyes followed the figure. A sweet yet strong melody seemed to follow that black-clad creature, stirring both fear and excitement in the witnesses; who completely missed the two companions walking on its either side.

Never feel too good in crowds With folks around when they're playing

The clack of those pointed heels seemed to be a pound at the doors of the devil himself and every minion that walked in the path she walked, only stopping in the room fit for a queen; nothing less. A seat was taken on the gold-framed sofa, legs spread in comfort and defiance of the one in charge, arms rested on the armrest while popping a grape in the mouth with lips painted red as the blood that flowed in her veins.

A creature with the body of a human- except for the extra pair of hands- and the head of a furry with antlers entered the hall, sitting opposite you. “Welcome to the house of Hudon!” he greeted, the gold on his antlers jingling like bells on Rudolph, “the finest whorehouse you would find in this system.”

“I will evaluate the ‘fine’ myself, Hudon,” you stated quite indifferently, your attention taken by a golden strawberry resting in your fingers, “how old is this rotten blasphemy.”

The anthems of rape, culture loud Crude and proud creatures baying

It was easy to get that accent on your tongue. The tone was smooth enough to show not much effort was being put to talk while the words were spoken like a dagger stabbing the listener with every breath.”

Hudon directed his men to take those old fruits away and to replace them with new ones. But you had already lost interest in them. Sitting straight up, you let your arms go back on the headrest, your suit jacket revealing the skin underneath, the acne on your chest from the sweat and dust revealing itself in full glory. Hudon nearly feels himself blackout with the sheer audacity of a human woman walk into his house and sit there as a client while making him- the one who runs the sex business- make him feel things that were quite transparent in his gaze.

All I've ever done is hide From our times when you're near me

“Here I am, out on a vacation from my boring home, looking for some fun and adventure when someone suggests to me your name and business,” you mutter loud enough for him to hear. “Hudon the hoarder. The one who has everything you can ask for. Anything out of your fantasy. You name it, he has it for you.”

“I do,” he agreed with a smile, interrupted just as he is about to start listing his merchandise.

“Oh, but I don’t think you do, Hudon.” You leaned forward, your legs still spread apart in those black trousers, your frame bent enough to reveal more and still reveal nothing at all, making Hudon’s eyes linger there far longer than he expected them to. “I don’t think you do. What could you possibly have that could seem human enough for my taste and yet not human at all, Hudon? What could you possibly have that could meet my demands, unlike the men on my planet? One who is not meant to be ruled and yet-” your voice turned to a whisper, and Hudon’s eyes were stuck on the hypnotising moment of your lips under that netted veil covering your smokey eyes- “he bends under my commands like a good dog because he knows he will get a treat if he behaves.”

Hudon gulped and blinked.

Honey, when you kill the lights and kiss my eyes I feel like a person for a moment of my life

“I am not here to have some cheap fun, Hudon. Nor some sloppy seconds. I want a challenge that I can smother between my thighs, making him question how he ended up there, under me. And then make him question how he can get under me, again.”

A silence proceeded your laced words. A long lingering silence which would have stretched even more had one of Hudon’s men not brought that shook fur-face back to the present.

“I I I I I think I have the perfect specimen for you, miss…”

“Lady. Lady...Morticia Addams,” you declared, blinking at Javier’s camera.

You: *cringing* I did not think this part through. But I did come up with a nice personality? *does a weak thumbs up*

“I will send for him immediately, Lady Morticia,” Hudon declared, getting and taking a bow, “and if he is not able to satisfy you, I will humbly present myself to you as a sacrifice.”

You: *deadpan* Pervert.

“If your specimen does not satisfy me, then mark my words, Hudon, you won’t find any piece of him in your excuse of a brothel.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied with a weak voice, walking out and scolding his guards to get him ‘Silvertongue’.

You noticed the two guards still in the hall by the door, looking at you and your companions. Javier moved from his place by the fireplace to the door, to let the tiny camera- courtesy of the rainbow k-pop- strapped to his chest take in the patient steps of the man of the hour; at the same time, directing with his hands to Lulu to resume his score.

But you don't know what hell you put me through To have someone kiss the skin that crawls from you

Loki, bare-chested and in chains, was walked towards your hall with four guards- two on front and two on back. This was the first time any of the cameras had seen so much of his bare skin. Neither had they seen so many muscles on that body that seemed so lean on the outside with the clothes on. The raven hairs snaked around his shoulders while his eyes were set at the goal in front of him: you. And if you did not know any better you would have thought those peach curtains were flying right and left to get a one-touch, one whiff of that God.

To feel your weight in arms I'd never use It's the god that heroin prays to

You almost choked on the juice you were offered on seeing Loki like that- in just his pants. Like a healthy supermodel straight out of a pin-up hidden in your childhood drawer. Quickly recovering and changing into the persona created for this place you leaned back on the sofa to admire the view when all five men came to a halt in front of you.

It feels good, girl, it feels good It feels good, girl, it feels good

“Hm,” you muttered, your eyes going up and down an apparently tight-jawed Loki, “decent. Where did you catch this fish?”

“Caught him fresh in the market today,” Hudon’s henchman answered, surprisingly in an Australian accent, “owed our master for quite some time. Will finally pay his debts now.”

It feels good, girl, it feels good Oh, to be alone with you

The laugh that came out of the prude was murky. You got up and nonchalantly waved your hand to make the guards stand away from the merch, letting you get a good three-sixty view. Loki could feel your eyes on him even when you stood behind him, carefully studying these marks on an otherwise flawless skin that ran all over his back and some did on arms, right down his wrist.

A wave of emotion washed over you on seeing them, which you hastily veiled for the sharp eyes lurking in the background. Clearing your throat, you took out your silver hair stick from the bun at the back and walked to face the frost giant.

There are questions I can't ask Now, at last, the worst is over

“Sit,” you commanded.

Loki’s eyes grew dark. The camera recorded the silent change of roles for a quick moment before Loki finally obeyed, getting down on his knees.

See the way you hold yourself Reel against your body's borders

You took a step to his side before looking at the guards still standing there. “What. You want in on the show as well?” Your raised-up brow was judging them hard at this moment.

The guards stood there looking at each other before one of them finally spilt. “We are not allowed to leave him alone with you till you sign the contract and make the payment.”

“Hm. Well, if that is the case-” you took another step to stand right behind Loki- “I will inspect this...merchandise before I make the payment.”

I know that you hate this place Not a trace of me would argue

The hair stick in your hand made its first contact with the bare skin on Loki’s back, promptly making his muscles move underneath that pale skin. A smile found its way to your lips. “Sensitive to touch, I see. I prefer virgin skin.” You dragged stick all the way from one end of those shoulder scales in the back to the other, taking light steps to move towards the front.

The camera zoomed in on the shadow of something brewing inside Loki’s eyes while his lips stretched ever so slightly with a thought only he knew. The stick came to the collar bone, travelling up his neck to land right below his chin, lifting it up to watch your tongue in between your teeth, peeking out for a look.

Honey, we should run away, oh, someday Our baby and her momma And the damaged love she made

“Say, boy,” you asked softly, letting the stick dig into that chin to raise it up further, “what does that mouth do.”

A chuckle rose in Loki’s chest and burst out to close his eyes before they could look at you in a new light. “They do things you wouldn’t want to know.”

But I don't know what else that I would do Than try to kiss the skin that crawls from you

Questioning- or pretending to question- his audacity you responded with a sly ‘uh-huh’ before getting down on one knee, letting both your arms rest on the other. “Well, it better-” your voice grew duskier by the minute while that thin stick landed on his lips, circling them- “do things unspeakable. Otherwise-” you gently pushed the stick in his mouth, and he took it in, wrapping his tongue around it- “what is the point of that pretty pretty mouth.”

Then feel your weight in arms I'd never use It's the god that heroin prays to

Javier could not help but record the drooling and uncomfortable faces of the guards standing by the door, half of them looking at each other, other half stuck on the hypnotic movements happening between the two of you; all of them standing with their hands hiding their bulges in those leather pants.