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sintowinemily · 2 years

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You're Somebody Else

You're Somebody Else: Case One

(Season 3 - 2007)

5.7k words

summary: spencer reid meets dr. katrina edwards while in boston for a case. he knows her, better than he knows herself, and because of this he knows she is hiding her real identity from everyone.

warnings: canon-typical violence, mentions of murder, rape, torture, abuse, child abuse (all involving the case and not the characters). angst. third person.

author's note: i'm so excited for this fic. this case is just setting the scene.

Formal Introductions

“Agent Hotchner, welcome to Boston. I’m Special Agent Madeleine Atwood. I head the violent sex crimes unit here and will be running point on the investigation. Glad to have you here.” Atwood offers her hand to Agent Hotchner, who shakes it and nods.

“No need to thank us. These are Agents Prentiss, Jareau, Morgan, Rossi, and Dr. Reid.” Hotch points to each member of his team, all but Reid shakes Atwood’s hand.

“Ah, another Doctor. My second, Dr. Katrina Edwards will be out here to brief you any moment. She’s wrapping up a meeting with our adjoining human trafficking division. I’m running point, but she’ll be on the ground with you. She’ll show you to the office we’ve reserved for you, please use her as much as you need.” Atwood smiles and looks behind her to an office with floor to ceiling windows, behind which the team spot Dr. Edwards explaining details of the map set up behind her.

“Thanks.” Hotch says shortly but smiles at Atwood none the less. At this, she leaves the team to hover at the forefront of the office.

Boston FBI Field Office’s Violent Sex Crime and Human Trafficking division oversaw all serial rape, extreme sex crime and human trafficking in the United States and were often called to travel across the continental states in the same manner as the BAU. They had all been well acquainted with Atwood’s predecessor, who had worked closely with Jason Gideon, and David Rossi in the decades before. Both teams were an asset to the bureau, so if Boston Sex Crime needed a BAU consultation, they knew the case was serious.

Atwood lights raps her knuckles against the glass of the office in which Dr. Edwards in conducting her meeting, bowing her head back to gesture to the team. Edwards notices and curtly nods to the men in the room, excusing herself.

What the team, nor Atwood noticed, was how Spencer Reid spotted the girl, and positioned himself behind Derek to be obscured from her view.

“I’m Dr. Katrina Edwards. But please, call me Trina, everyone does.” Trina introduces herself to the team, shaking hands with Hotch. The first thought to enter all their minds was her age. She looked at ages with Spencer, twenty-six, and had already made her way up the ranks to be deputy in a division which battled with the BAU as the Bureau’s most important asset.

“Well as I live and breathe, Trina Johnson.” Derek steps forwards and envelopes Trina into a hug. Trina cringes at the use of her maiden name.

“You two know each other?” Hotch asks, raising his eyebrow. Emily and JJ look to each other, there’s only one way Derek could know a girl who looked like that.

“Yeah, worked a case in New York together. Our first years at the Bureau. It’s been a while.” Derek squeezes her shoulder and smiles.

“Derek was the first agent not to be a complete ass about letting me head a stake-out. I was twenty-one.” Trina smiles, her eyes coming back to meet Hotch. “Come with me, I’ll show you where to set up.”

“I bet that’s not all he did in New York.” Emily whispers to JJ, Spencer feels his stomach drop. This would be a long case.

“Agent Atwood said we could use you as we pleased.” Hotch asks inquisitively. “What does she mean by that?”

Trina smiles, she hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting Aaron Hotchner yet, but she knew he was all business. “My specialty is psycho-linguistics. I am essentially a human lie detector.”

“That’s right, Gideon wanted you for a specialist interrogation team. My apologies.” Hotch nods, the name he recognised now catching up to him. “Your resumé was extremely impressive. One to watch out for Reid.”

Spencer ignores this comment and continues to set up the map on the bulletin board to begin the geographical profile. As little interaction with Katrina Edwards as possible.

“It was a hard offer to turn down. But I needed to stay in Boston.”

“You from here?” Emily’s turn to question the young agent.

“My whole life, got my first PhD from Harvard so I didn’t have to move away.” She smiles.

“Not many people would say Harvard was such a burdensome option.”

“No, it definitely wasn’t burdensome.” She quips back.

Derek looks up from his files, “I thought you were from Philly?”

“I was born there, moved here pretty young. Both of my parents are from Massachusetts, it was the right decision I guess.” Trina feels a bead of sweat fall down her face, she’s a bad liar.

“Makes sense. You get married Johnson, I thought I would have a hold on you forever?” Derek smirks, now that Hotch has left the room to call Penelope, he has his chance to ask the more pressing questions.

“Widowed.” She replies curtly.

“I’m sorry.” Emily responds quickly, this makes Spencer look up – their eyes meet for only a second before they both look away.

“We were only married six months. My college sweetheart, he was killed in action.”

“Where was he posted?” Derek asks sympathetically.

“Afghanistan.” It’s now Derek’s turn to apologise for her loss.

“Did he go to Harvard too?” JJ asks, she knows loss and she knows it’s best to talk about the things Trina would want to remember.

“Princeton.”

“Damn girl, where else did you got school?”

“Yale, Dartmouth.” She lists.

“How many PhD’s do you have?

“Four.” She smiles, her greatest accomplishment.

“Hotch is right, you are impressive. Watch out Reid, you’re not the only genius in the room.” Derek laughs, giving Reid a devilish grin.

“I’m not worried.” He replies without turning around.

Spencer knows he’s behaving like an ass. His teammates reactions to his short remarks and lack of interest in the impressive agent makes it clear he is not being subtle. He didn’t realise that he was angry until she mentioned her academic accolades. Because he knows this girl. He knows her better than he knows anyone else in this room, and she did not attend Yale or Dartmouth. And her name is not Katrina Edwards.

The Case

“Okay. Agent Atwood was right; this is going to have to be an all hands-on deck situation.” Hotch runs his hands over his face as he sits at the head of the table. His team, Atwood and Edwards sit around him, elbows deep in paperwork. “We’ll need everyone’s expertise here. There are letters, a messy geo-profile, and an obsessive nature I will need you three to focus all of your efforts on. Work together, if necessary, just get it done.” He gestures towards Trina, Derek and Spencer who sit at the opposite end of the table in that order.

The case was one of the worst the BAU had seen. The bodies of nine women had been found, brutally sexually assaulted and sodomised, each of their limbs had been burned almost to desecration, along with their bodies were letters. Each of the letters seemingly having been written by the victim, with no apparent intended recipient and no logical prose. The manner in which the bodies had been found was obsessive and methodical. Each woman was found in identical clothing, tied to a tree in Culter Park, eye-lids and tongue removed, with a brand behind the left ear.

“JJ, I need you to help Agent Atwood to interview victim’s families. We have a lot of grieving family members waiting out there and any strand of information they can give us will be able to help.”

“Prentiss, Rossi and I will begin to make our way through Cutler Park, at the dump sites.” Hotch stood and JJ, Emily, Dave, and Atwood followed closely behind, leaving Derek, Trina, and Spencer in the office space alone.

Trina felt her stomach fall as she looked at the two men who shared her space. She considers excusing herself to work in her office alone but knows how important this case was to both team’s reputations and her own personal afflictions would have to wait. The three work for about an hour in silence, Derek scores stressfully through the paperwork, writing notes in margins, coming up with anything that could deduce a logical profile. Trina manages through letters, aiming to find any connection between the victim’s vernaculars, while Spencer uses Penelope on the phone to pinpoint each dump site in Cutler Park via coordinates.

Once Derek excuses himself to make a call, the tension in the room is at a high. The two agents can barely stand to be within breathing distance of each other, knowing everything about one another while knowing nothing at the same time. Spencer has taken smaller maps of Cutler Park, and of Boston, to find connections between dump sites and the last-seen locations, and is sitting at the opposite end of the table to Trina. She uses this time to watch him peer at the maps with furious tenacity, she watches the way his fingers move and how he tucks his hair behind his ears to avoid it getting in his eyes while he works. He has changed so much, without changing at all.

“Do you need help?” She offers, she was always the first to break their code of silence after an argument. Maybe this could help now, eight years later. He ignores her, so she tries again. “I know Boston better than you do; I could help you find a link?”

“I’ve lived here too.” She nods, MIT.

“I know, but that was years ago.”

“Eidetic memory.” He doesn’t look up to meet her eyes.

“Spencer, I’m only offering to help you. This is a tough case for everyone, it’s been six years since you lived in Boston, I’m offering insight.” Her frustration is evident in her tone, he jerks his head up and she can immediately spot the anger in his eyes. She may have pushed too far, she should have left him to work alone.

“Katie, I don’t need your help.”

“Wow kid.” Derek walks into the room at exactly the wrong moment. “I know you’re stressed but at least get her name right.” He hands Trina a coffee, which she smiles back at him for gratefully. She is grateful for the drink, but perhaps not as grateful as she is for the bliss of ignorance.

“Right, yeah. Sorry.” Spencer replies, but she knows he could not be further from sorry.

The tension builds throughout the day. Cutler Park is six hundred acres and the team spend hours trekking through to the dump sites. Derek joins JJ in interviewing victims, hoping to gain more insight into victimology before he can attempt to piece together the obsessive nature of the unsubs profile. This leaves Spencer and Trina alone in the office again. Trina, who is now no longer putting up with Spencer’s stubbornness, has set up her own map to work her own geographical profile – the letters would have to wait until family interviews were over, or until Garcia could get them emails and text messages to compare vocabulary. Spencer, who is clearly very stubborn, hasn’t looked in her direction once and so, until this exact moment, hasn’t noticed that she has gone over his head and completely re-done the geographical profile.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Geo-profiling.” She responds curtly, ignoring the angry voice to her left. Two could play at this game, she didn’t look at him.

“It’s not even your specialty.”

“And linguistics isn’t yours, but you read the letters.”

“I know enough about linguistics to do so.”

“And I’m second in command at one of the most important hubs for human trafficking in the western world, I know how to geo-profile.” She snaps her head to look at him, and is surprised that for a split second, all she sees in his eyes are hurt. And all she feels is guilt.

The two explode into a heated argument, both shouting at each other not particularly caring for who hears. What they’re arguing about is not important, but what is, is that both Hotch and Atwood appear in front of the large office windows to witness this. This was not an argument between two professionals disagreeing, albeit in an unprofessional manner, and both the senior agents knew it. Derek looks to Hotch on his left, as if to defend Spencer until he hears it again, the name Katie.

While Hotch and Atwood berate Trina and Spencer for their lack of professionalism, neither mention the nuances of what they witnessed to their team, or to each other. Derek, who watches on at each move they make, doesn’t mention the name he heard to anyone, although he really wants to. In his efforts to scope out the odd feeling he had while watching Trina and Spencer, who had been moved to opposite ends of the room to one another, and ordered to stick to their own task, he noticed something else. There was another agent who watched Trina with a specificity he couldn’t put his finger on, Dave.

“Okay guys. I’m going to need everyone’s undivided attention. This bastard has been out there for weeks and has no hesitation at carrying on. I want you to listen to the profile, take careful notes and don’t be afraid to ask for clarity. I do not want anything messing up this investigation.” Atwood calls to her department, a sea of field agents gather in the bullpen of the office, eagerly looking to the agents from Quantico for answers.

“This is a preliminary profile, but for now it should help everyone to get a better idea of narrowing down the search.” JJ begins, “this is under no circumstances, to be given to the media.”

“The unsub is a white man, in his mid- to late-twenties.” Emily starts, “he is physically fit, perhaps even imposingly so. And he most likely has a physical job which gives him access to industrial equipment that he has used to fashion his own torture devices.”

“After further conversation with the ME, it appears the unsub has used varying torture methods on these victims, such as the rack, but the only one consistent is the burning of the limbs. This is his favourite, and we should expect to find this on any future victims. Our technical analyst is monitoring any possible reports of similar signatures in the tri-state area, and is currently looking to see if there could be any previous victims in the continental US that we may have missed.” Dave continues.

“The victims are all white, brunette, and well-educated. These women are most certainly a surrogate for someone the unsub feels has wronged him in the past. Victimology is fairly consistent, all victims were living in Cambridge and Somerville, or studying in the area.” Hotch adds. “Our technical analyst at Quantico is also narrowing down potential victims in this area who would meet our unsubs requirement.”

“What we do know is that the letters were written by our victims, under an unbelievable amount of duress. However, the words are not theirs. After looking at journals, emails, and text messages it is clear this is not wording the victims would have used, even in their final moments. Not only that, but the only common factor in each letter was the mention of a brother. While these letters are written more like journal entries, reflective and with no clear intended recipient, each mentions a brother. All our victims were only children. When narrowing down our suspect list, we should look at young men with a younger sister, maybe she died, maybe she ran away. Either way, the sister will be increasingly important to his arrest and his interrogation.” Trina finishes. Atwood thanks her team for their time, and the scurry to desktops or to canvas the streets.

Spencer couldn’t come up with a comprehensive geographical profile. The points of abduction didn’t correlate to each other, or to the dump site. He watches as Trina brings out her own map and explains her geo-profile to Hotch and Atwood, who nod and thank her for the extra work.

“Can I see?” He asks meekly.

“Sure.” She responds, handing him the map and walking away. He follows her to an office with Dr. Katrina Edwards on the door. Every wall of the office is covered in bookshelves, at a glance he can see this is where she keeps her prized first editions, the security of an FBI office probably better than her own apartment. He wonders if she still lives in Cambridge.

“Edwards.” He reads the name from the door.

“Spencer don’t-“ She interrupts him, holding a hand out as if to physically silence his words. He walks in and closes the door, continuing anyway.

“That was your grandmother’s maiden name, why did you say you were married?”

“I was.”

“Sure.” He can’t help but be angry, she moved to the other side of the country and just moved on. Just like that, she got married and Spencer can’t even seem to look at another girl.

“You can’t do this.”

“Do what?”

“You know what.”

“Do I?” He had always been difficult. She raised her eyebrow at him, a gesture he knew all too well meant he should not push her. “I worked it out, if that’s what you were wondering.”

“When?”

“When Derek told the story of knowing you in New York. That was years ago.”

“So today?”

“You could have told me.”

“No, that would go against the very fabric of how the system works. I could not tell you.”

“So, I won’t be getting an apology any time soon.”

“What would I possibly need to apologise for?” Spencer storms out at this. Trina sits at her desk, with her head in her hands, wondering how on earth they managed to get here. She just hoped she wouldn’t be having a similar conversation with Agent Rossi.

Harvard Summer Camp

Fourteen years earlier

At twelve years old, Spencer Reid knew he would be no social butterfly. He had graduated high school before he had even had his first kiss and was wading through options for college. It seemed every prestigious school in the country was offering him a full ride, and despite his mother’s condition, he was desperate to get as far away from Las Vegas as possible. His high school counsellor had suggested going to Harvard’s Summer School, even if Harvard wasn’t on his shortlist. It was a rigorous programme, and he was likely to meet other gifted students his age, who understood him and the experience he had had.

Unsurprisingly, the Las Vegas public school guidance counsellor had been wrong. As Spencer walked through the dormitories and looked around at the other freshly graduated high school seniors, he could only see tall seventeen and eighteen year olds who looked at the twelve year old boy-genius as if he had two heads.

That was until he met Katie Miller, a Boston native who had turned twelve that February, and had graduated all the same. They had been introduced on their third day at summer camp (what Spencer’s mom liked to call it to make him view the whole experience as fun), it hadn’t taken Harvard long to notice they should probably ensure the only truly gifted students befriended each other. Katie had an IQ of 186 – one point less than Spencer – and had already been accepted to study a history degree at Harvard after the summer, he was unsure why she was even there in the first place.

“Did your parents make you come too?” She asked him, interrupting the silent lunches they had been having for two days.

“What?” He looked up, awkwardly, kids didn’t speak to him much, much less girls.

“My parent’s made me come. I was home-schooled until senior year, they thought I needed to make some friends. Apparently, your mom being your best friend isn’t as cool as it used to be.” She laughs at her own comment, Spencer knew he talked like a grown-up, but she talked like she had been alive for decades longer than she had.

“My mom is my best friend too.” He admits, smiling weakly at her.

“Hey! I knew they forced us to hang out for a reason. Do you want my pudding?” She offers him the pudding cup, and he nods taking it from her.

After the end of the seven weeks, Spencer felt as if he had known Katie forever. She didn’t stay in the dormitories like everyone else, since her parents lived in Cambridge, so she invited him over for dinner every night. She was the only person he had ever lost at chess to, and he could listen to her babble on about the Salem Witch Trials for hours. Mainly because she never once interrupted him when he babbled on about physics. After the third week of camp, he had called his mom and told her he wanted to go to MIT for his first degree, engineering. Explaining how at home he felt in Boston and how MIT was just the most logical decision to make. He made as many excuses and reasons for wanting to attend that particular college as he could, but really he knew Katie would be in Boston when September rolled around, and he knew he needed to be as near his new friend as he could.

They made a promise to each other on the final night of camp, before Spencer was due to fly back to Las Vegas, that they would always attend college in the same city, or at least the same state, so they could be there for each other. Katie understood everything about Spencer, she understood how hard it was to be the smartest kid in the room, for your peers to ridicule you, or use you to pass a test. Katie understood how lonely he was, and how lucky they were for finding friendship in each other. What Katie didn’t understand was how hard it was for Spencer to see her with her parents, happily married and doting on Katie all day – her mom wasn’t as clever as his mom, he had thought to himself, she was a music teacher. But her mom didn’t have episodes, her mom noticed if she was home even three minutes later than expected. And her mom doted on Spencer the same, even writing to his mother to assure her that Mrs Miller would take him under her wing during his studies, promising Diana that she would take care of him. Spencer had already begun blocking out memories of his father, at night he liked to imagine Mr Miller was his dad – a primary care physician, who was kind and gentle, and didn’t mind losing Scrabble to two genius kids. Mr Miller drove Spencer to and from the dormitories every night for dinner and reminded him every week that it was okay for him to be homesick. Spencer envied Katie, but not more than the niggling feeling he had to always be around her, if not just for her friendship, but to feel like he belonged to a simple family.

The Arrest

“How come she gets to use the big guns?” Spencer exclaimed to JJ as he walked into the bullpen of the Boston office, watching as Derek, Rossi, Hotch and Trina were putting on their vests and loading up their MP4 guns.

“Edwards was a SWAT agent at the New York field office for two years before she transferred here. Apparently, she’s a pretty great shot.” JJ explained, shrugging as the two watched on.

“What is she? Five two?” Spencer pretended like he didn’t already know the answer.

“Come on Spence, don’t be jealous because she gets to be in the field, and you don’t.” He hears Emily walk up behind him.

“I’m not.”

“Sure.” JJ laughs, Spencer still sore from barely making it into the field, exceptions had to be made ultimately.

They had used the profile to narrow down a suspect list to a Jason Richards, a twenty-six year old construction worker who had been separated from his sister when they were entered into the foster care system as children. His sister had committed suicide, but not before pressing charges for historic sexual abuse at the hands of her older brother. These murders, these rapes, were his way of punishing her all over again. The fake journal entries had been his tool to not only psychologically torture his victims, but to play out a fantasy in which his sister forgave him for what he had done, and realised they were meant to be together. His love map had been skewed and it had turned him into a sick, and extremely dangerous man.

Garcia had sleuthed through his records and alerted the team to his mass hoard of very large guns, Hotch had to call in a favour from the brass to get authorisation for more intimidating weapons, however had ordered his team not to use them – they were for show only. Because Trina had the most experience in SWAT and tactical arrests, Atwood had allowed her into the field on this occasion.

“If it makes you feel any better Spencer,” Emily turned to him. “Apparently Atwood doesn’t let her into the field often, she’s more of a logistics manager.”

“Why not? If she was on the SWAT team?” JJ asks. Spencer wonders the same thing, he knew many things about Trina, and despite his complaining he knew she would certainly be able to hold her own in the takedown of an unsub.

“Something must have happened since she came back to Boston.” Emily shrugged, not usually one to invade other people’s business. Spencer watched as the small, innocent girl he once knew heaved a gun almost as big as her over her shoulder and followed Derek Morgan into the elevator.

He came to a realisation. It didn’t matter what had happened eight years ago in California, it didn’t matter that there was a turning feeling in his stomach every time he looked at her, it didn’t matter because she had married a military man, and clearly had history with Derek. She would never look at him in the way she once had, he was not man enough for her, he wasn’t even authorised to use the big guns.

The arrest team had returned victorious, the unsub had been cuffed and taken to holding, no shots were necessary. The case had been closed much sooner than either team had expected, and Madeleine offered to take the BAU out for drinks. Hotch was quick to accept, not itching to return to paperwork or an empty house.

The BAU met Madeleine and Trina at a bar not far from their hotel. It was a classy establishment, much less grinding and much more professionals unwinding for the day, that did not stop Derek Morgan from pulling Katrina onto a makeshift dancefloor and ignoring Spencer’s glum stares as he twirled her around.

After a few drinks and lots of getting to know one another, Hotch pulled Trina aside. “This may seem like an odd request, and I know you’re not interested in transferring out of Boston.” This piqued Trina’s interest. “But I would like to know if you would be willing to be a reserve for an interview team?”

“What would that entail?” She asked, genuinely curious.

“We conduct many interviews with serial killers and other offenders to help broaden our knowledge for future profiles, and for our database. I was hoping you would be willing for me to have your number so I could call you in for interviews or interrogations in which your linguistics expertise would be useful.”

“Doesn’t Dr. Reid have linguistics training?”

“He does, but I’ve read your thesis, I’ve even sat in on one of your academy lectures on psycholinguistics and deception. You are the best. We would only call you in when necessary and they wouldn’t be long trips, no more travelling that you’re already used to.”

“I would like that very much, Agent Hotchner.”

“Hotch, please.” She smile at his request, having heard Derek call him by this nickname and knowing this was a term of endearment for his team. “I’ll have Garcia contact you tomorrow for your information. You can always change your mind.” He reminds Trina, lightly squeezing the top of her arm before returning to Emily’s side at the bar.

Trina stands alone at the side of the room for a moment, she had desperately wanted that BAU position Gideon had offered her years before, but she couldn’t be away from Boston, not after her parents died, not after what her family had to endure here.

“He just got divorced.” Trina turned to see Spencer, swaying slightly from a tequila shot she had seen Derek force him to do.

“I don’t understand.” She was genuinely confused as to why Spencer was informing her of this.

“Just in case you were looking for husband number two.” He shrugged, as if this comment was nonchalant, as if it didn’t mean anything. She had forgotten how cruel he could be when he was angry or upset. Trina looked at him, mouth agape, trying to find any piece of the boy she once knew.

“How dare you.”

“Come on, married? College sweetheart? You didn’t date anyone in college, I know, I was there.”

“I met Ben at Princeton.”

“Oh, I see. So, you leave me in California and immediately get married?”

“I didn’t leave you in California.”

“We agreed to stay in the same state.”

“When we were twelve. I couldn’t turn down Princeton, you know I couldn’t. I met Ben my last semester there, he was a film studies major and he didn’t care about how many PhD’s I had, or he had. Or what my IQ was, or how many books we had read between us. He didn’t care about all the things you only cared about. He cared about everything you didn’t. Spencer. You were my best friend, and that won’t ever change, but don’t you dare talk about him again.” Trina was furious, her ears were burning, and she could feel her face turn red. Spencer was deflated, and she could tell he genuinely had misread the situation. She also felt guilty, she knew this was confusing, and she knew she couldn’t tell him the truth.

“Why can’t you just tell me what happened?”

“You said you guessed.”

“About witness protection, not why you were in it.”

Trina storms out of the bar, the door slams so loudly you can hear it over the music. Madeleine assures Hotch that Trina lives nearby, she could hail a cab or even walk quite safely; plus, she is skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Hotch looks around the bar to find Spencer standing where he had left Trina, looking guilty and bewildered. He sighs and approaches his young team member.

“Why don’t you make sure she gets home safe?”

“Why?”

“Because clearly, you’ve pissed her off. At least see her into a cab.” Spencer reluctantly followed Trina out of the club, knowing there was no point in arguing with Hotch about this.

He jogged down the street to catch up to her, “Hey, wait up.”

“Spencer, I’m not in the mood to have this argument. Please, go back to your hotel. We’ll never have to work together again.”

“We will if you take the interview position.” He replies shrugging, she looks at him questioningly. “I do a lot of the interviews as well. You’re not the only genius in this room.” He tries to make her laugh, he almost succeeds. “Let me walk you home.”

“Why?”

“I told your dad I always would.” She lets their eyes meet when she hears his reply. Her father had loved Spencer and would tease her relentlessly that they would get married one day. When the pair moved to California, he had made Spencer promise to always make sure he walked her home safely, no matter how old they got. “I guess I haven’t really held up my end of the agreement.” He tries to make her laugh again.

“That isn’t your fault.” She sighs, they walk in tandem. It’s warm in Boston this evening, and it reminded her of her childhood walking through Cambridge like this.

“I didn’t say it was. But maybe I should have tried harder, maybe if I had tried harder, we would still be friends.”

“You know that’s not true.” She gives him a weak smile; she figures it wouldn’t take long before he started to make excuses for what she did.

Spencer seemed to accept this answer, and the pair walk in silence back to her apartment, which was only a few blocks away. Spencer gazes up at the building before turning to face Trina, who was looking back at him fondly. This is how she remembered him.

“I’m sorry.” He says quietly.

“What for?”

“The past few days, this case. Seeing you again, and not being able to talk to you like Morgan could. It wasn’t fair. But I shouldn’t have lashed out at you.” She takes his hand in hers.

“You know. When I saw you, I knew it was you immediately, you haven’t changed at all,” she ignores his protests that he had in fact grown 6 six inches and changed his hair since they had last seen each other. “I wanted to hug you; it killed me that I couldn’t.”

“It did?”

“Yes. But you know that Madeleine and your team can’t know we know each other. I’d have to get transferred out of Boston, maybe even have to leave the FBI completely.”

“I know.” He looks down, he knows this was too to be true. “We can’t be friends.”

“No, we can’t.”

#dr spencer reid #spencer reid fluff #Spencer reid #Spencer reid angst #Spencer reid x oc #Spencer reid x female!oc #Spencer reid x reader #Spencer reid x y/n #Spencer reid x you #Spencer reid fanfic #Spencer reid one shot #Spencer reid blurb #criminal minds #bau #matthew gray gubler #mgg

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whosscruffylooking · 3 years

Text

The Purest Things-Something There

Warnings: Mentions of murder. Canon-typical violence.

Word Count: 2.5k

a/n: i am so beyond sorry that it has taken this long to get another chapter out. this doesn’t follow my post schedule that i had previously given, but hopefully this can be a good place holder till later this week.

The Purest Things Masterlist

May 2008

Bookend: "It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent." -Madeleine Albright

"There's no way I'm doing that," you rebuttal, "Hotch? Tell them it's a ridiculous idea." He stays silent, but his mouth twitches slightly.

Oh, you son of a-

"Richards is a classic narcissist. The challenge of facing a tough, fearless, and intelligent woman will give him his high. Narcissists are drawn to goal-oriented women, women who are resilient, adaptable, yet decisive. Show him that you are a good listener, but don't praise him."

"Think of him like a wild animal," Spencer adds, "You don't feed zoo animals because they are unpredictable. Remember, narcissists have an extraordinary sense of self, and when you praise his ego, you enable his unstable and feeble mind. He doesn't hear praise; he hears how much better he is than you. If you don't feed the beast, he won't have the stamina to combat your confidence later."

"Once you disarm him, I'll come in and challenge his confidence," Hotch concludes.

Could you have said that less attractively? That would have been more helpful.

Aaron cheekily smirks as if reading your mind but quickly looks away. You wish you didn't blush so fast-that you had some sense to keep your emotions to yourself. In a second, your cheeks are rosy, and you are convinced that everyone in the room can perceive your feelings as if you wrote them on little notes and passed them around.

You grunt and roll your eyes, "I hate all of you."

Derek snaps his fingers at you, "Lose the jacket."

"All men are pigs," you spit while removing your blazer, leaving you in a fitted tank top and your tight-legged jeans that hug your curves in all of the right places.

Derek wolf whistles at you, and you hurl your jacket at him. Aaron lets his eyes slide up and down your body, his gaze lasting longer than it should. He swears that as you stride into the interrogation room, your hips swing a bit farther side to side than usual. It is the very action that radiates courage, a mind coupled perfectly with itself and the world around it, concentrated and solemn.

Typically, Hotch would divert the task of adulating a narcissist to Prentiss, but he knows if anyone can take command of someone's attention, it's you. How does he know? Because you captivate him far more often than he cares to admit, defying his very being with every interaction. You are a secret weapon that he wants to keep concealed until you can allow your talents to shine genuinely. Aaron knows that now is your moment. ++++ "What is it that I am being accused of? Fraud? Embezzling?" The sharp-dressed businessman questions; his gaze is straying further below your eyes than you care for.

Pig.

You throw a file down on the medal table, and it slides across, stopping right in front of the man, successfully redirecting his stare somewhere other than your chest.

"Try murder."

His eyes widen, "You're joking. Come on, where are the hidden cameras? I'm ready for you to yell candid camera now! I am Milton Richards, for god's sake!"

"I don't know!" You shrug your shoulders. "Why don't you explain this to me, Mr. Richards. I'm just as confused as you are. What reason could a successful, charming, handsome, wealthy business mogul like yourself possibly have to kill someone?"

"Oh please," Richards scoffs, "This isn't an interrogation. You've already pegged me as guilty."

"I don't agree, but you have the right to feel how you feel."

He purses his lips, leaning as far away from you as physically possible while handcuffed to the table.

"Milton, why did you try to escape a moving vehicle when my team apprehended you?"

"Just felt like it, I guess," he shrugs mockingly.

"So, something just randomly compelled you to flee the custody of a federal agent?"

Richards leers at you. You stand up and walk around the table, leaning down next to him, "I get it. I do. You're a suave, wealthy, and ruthless business tyrant. You have to cover your tracks-do what it takes to survive."

He raises his eyebrow, turning to face you, your faces mere inches from each other. I got you now.

"Trust me. I know probably better than anyone what it takes to maintain a position you fought your entire life for. I'm a woman; I had to claw my way into the F.B.I. Do you think it's easy being surrounded by a team filled with uncontrolled testosterone? Womanhood requires balls; I see you keep your balls in your pants, cool, cool. Mine are on my chest, up top. As you've so duly noticed."

His eyes flicker to the aforementioned area, and you restrain yourself from gagging.

"And you know what, Richards? I use them every day of my life. Because in my line of business, sometimes I have to take the backdoor to get things done. Why do I get the sense that you were the same way before you became Mr. Wolf of Wall Street? How else does a kid who grew up in the projects become a multi-millionaire mogul by 27?"

"We both know what the other is capable of. C'mon, let's show each other a bit of respect here. No games, let's be upfront with each other," you appeal. ++++ Aaron watches as you work the room like it is your stage. You play the part perfectly. He admires your ability to absorb things and then responded rather than immediately react to douse firey circumstances rather than add to the flames.

Derek finds himself next to Aaron, smugly observing Aaron's visible fascination with you.

"She's fantastic, Hotch," Derek beams with pride. Hotch holds his breath behind pursed lips in an attempt to barricade himself from the feelings of foolish jealousy he feels creeping up.

I know she is. I think I recognize it a little too well.

Aaron knows that Derek will be scrutinizing his reaction to the commendation and refrains from responding.

Of course, Derek reads this lack of a reaction as a response itself. And he finds it strangely amusing. ++++ "Here's what I think happened," you twirl your finger around the manilla file, "I think you were having some money troubles and your top investors caught onto your little games. When you sat down, you volunteered the crimes fraud and embezzlement as reasons you assumed we brought you into custody. You listed them like they are apparent reasons for us to charge you. Those are two areas you are clearly willing to take the fall for and have cause to oblige by."

Opening the file, a photograph is revealed within of a murder victim. Richards shifts uncomfortably in his seat, stifling a cough.

"Do you know this man?"

"N-no," he claims as his eyes flutter from the photo to his hands.

Surprised by his blatant tell, you glance back at the two-way mirror.

Turning back to the suspect with a newfound spark in your eyes, you press harder, "Strike one. Try again."

"Excuse me?"

"The man in the image is Walter Barone, the C.E.O. of Jameson Whitely Associates...your accounting firm. Your company was going bankrupt, Milton. There was nowhere left for you to turn. So, do you want to try that again? This time, answer my questions directly and honestly."

"Walt had a reserve saved for me worth $5 million. Last week when I approached him about dipping into the fund to keep the company afloat, he withheld it. I wouldn't kill him for it, though."

"Well, see, that's the problem here, Milton. When he was found, that little reserve of yours was nowhere to be found. Naturally, you can assume where my mind goes when I try and put two and two together, right?"

"I told you," he says, clearly provoked by your accusation, "I wouldn't...didn't kill him."

"Wasn't it you, in your book, right? Who said, 'It's surprising what a man will do when properly motivated?' I don't know about you, but losing everything you'd ever worked for and having your one saving grace held from you seems like pretty good motivation."

Silence. "Oh, come on, Milton, now is not the time to act so arrogant!"

He slams his fists on the table; you abstain from being startled in an attempt to show him no fear.

Wild animals can smell fear.

"Arrogant, huh? Why don't you step up and prove me wrong? Prove you're better than me. You despise me for being successful; I despise you for your assumption that you could waltz in here like a tramp and seduce me into giving myself up. What? Too harsh? I'm not sure you and I are even the same species."

Hotch bursts into the room, and you quickly signal for him to stand down. I've got this.

He gives you a prideful wink. I know you do.

Somehow Aaron being in the room gives you that last little push to conclude this grand performance of yours. Slowly, you begin clapping dramatically for his little one-person comedy act. He certainly knows how to play the fool.

"Is that a dare? Challenge accepted. Your entire life, you have suffered from a disease... a fragile ego. You have built these walls of detachment so that you can conveniently solicit status to hide your true, weak self. You lash out because you feel it compensates for your insecurities."

"The truth is, despite being at the top of the corporate chain, every day you lead the life of a loser. You are willing to destroy people psychically, emotionally, and mentally. And you view that as a cause for celebration. You are the embodiment of a loser and abject failure."

Hotch touches the small of your back; you shiver at the sudden warmth that fills your body in reaction to it. He hands you a piece of paper, one that seals Richards' conviction.

"Milton Richards, you are under arrest for the murder of Walter Barone, Hank Simmons, Frankie Lisbon, and Jillian Ryder."

Hotch motions for you to do the honors.

"By all means, lead the way."

Holding yourself proud and tall, you waltz over to Milton and hoist him out of his chair. Inclining your lips to his ear, you tell him contemptuously, "You lose." ++++ "Way to go, superstar! You had us all on the edge of our seats," Derek says, wrapping his muscular arms around you. You breathe in his cologne and savor the sensation of being in his arms.

Since the day you met Morgan, you've felt a draw to him. Not in a romantic way, though you proudly admit he is hands-down one of the most gorgeous men to set foot on earth. He gives you the feeling of safety, warmth, and brotherly love. His hugs rejuvenate you after a long day of work, and you see to it that neither of you leaves the office without receiving your signature embraces.

Aaron observes you and Derek's shared embrace from the shelter of his office. Before he can comprehend his movements, his legs carry him to the terrace overlooking the bullpen.

What do you think you're doing, Hotch? Pull yourself together. They’re friends. Just like you and her are.

Dismissing his inner voice of reason, he calls out to you, "Y/L/N. See me in my office."

You grimace at his tone of voice but abide by his request.

Derek chuckles, "Green is not that man's color."

"What?" You turn to him, confused.

"Goodnight, superstar."

"Night, handsome," you blow him a kiss, trying to brush his comment out of your mind. ++++ "You summoned?"

Aaron's whiskey-colored eyes meet yours. The tempo of your heart quickens like a metronome.

"You did a phenomenal job in there."

"I've learned from the best." You. I've learned from you.

He clears his throat, "Those things you said...a-about the men on this team. Is that how you truly feel?"

Shocked by his willingness to believe such a misleading statement, you gasp and close the distance between the two of you.

You must have some nerve to believe that I would ever view you as anything other than the most upstanding man I've ever met.

"Aaron, what I said in there is further than the truth than I would have liked to have strayed. In fact, it was with you that I finally felt equal as a human being-like someone recognized me for my intellect and self-worth. A woman can't acquire that regardless of how 'equal' this world claims to be."

Aaron finds himself lost in your eyes, absorbing every meaning behind your words.

"It was a freeing feeling having someone I respect so highly show me similar respect."

No. Don't stop talking. Please. Hotch blushes at his inner monologue, incapable of comprehending precisely what kind of influence you hold on him.

"Anyway," you laugh, brushing away a strand of hair that had fallen in your face, "Sorry for my little tangent."

"No," Hotch interjects firmly, "Never apologize for expressing your feelings. I assured you last year that I'll always be available as a sounding board for you. That offer still stands."

Your gaze softens as you study him, his intentions, his mannerisms. He notices your pupils dilate, and it commences a chain reaction within his veins. To him, it's not the fact that you radiate beauty on the outside. Sure, you are physically fit and put in the effort to maintain your appearance. Naturally, that would be why someone like Derek Morgan would have you on his radar.

But, Aaron has gradually grown accustomed to the kindness that you seem to reserve just for him. He sees the differences between how you act around the team versus when you step inside his office or are alone in the car with him, even the way your confidence elevates when he walks into the interrogation room.

These differences aren't unique to just you, though. Aaron notices the same changes in himself when he is around you. Never did he expect to go home from work and lie in bed thinking about the way your eyes strayed on his for a moment too long, or how as he completed paperwork at his desk, he'd replay in his mind a cheesy joke you told the team. He knows how you like your coffee from observing you in the break room one too many times.

One cream, two sugars.

Your laughter warms his body from the inside out. When you talk about your favorite comic book with Prentiss and Morgan, the twinkle in your eye never fails to bring a smile to his face. He knows that you hate getting out of the car when it rains because your perfectly straightened hair that you spent god knows how long on will undoubtedly curl.

His changes were less evident on the outside. But, he knew that deep down, there is something there that wasn't there before.

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mimiatmidnight · 3 years

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Predictions on Baby Girl Sussex?

I’m FREEEEEEEE from finals and ready to chat with you all once again! Thank you all for being so patient, I’m so excited to dive into all your questions and give them the novel-length responses they deserve 😉

I’m assuming you mean name predictions haha, cause the only other thing I can think of to predict would be her birthday (for the record, I’ll go ahead and put my sister’s birthday, June 10th, for no reason other than I predicted my own birthday, April 26th, for Archie!). But I love talking about baby names (as you can see by the length of this post 😅), so let’s get into it.

So I fully expect to be completely taken aback by their pick. Like not even on the same planet as my predictions. Cause that’s just how those two roll lmao. But IF they’re staying in the same theme as Archie’s name, I’m expecting something that’s also short, possibly nickname-y, kind of dusty and vintage, but with a whimsical charm, just like Archie’s. I am still operating with the assumption that she will one day be Princess (whether or not that actually happens, of course, remains to be seen), so I’m trying to keep that title in mind. And also, given that name meanings appear to hold significance to them, I tried to at least somewhat keep meanings in mind. So, in no particular order:

Eloise

“Healthy; wide”

French, English

I am SO charmed by this name. If I hadn’t already decided on Elliott for my future son’s name, this name would be right at the top of my future daughter’s list. I just thinks it’s so delightfully playful yet still timeless and classic. It gives easy and pretty nicknames with Ellie and Ella, or even Lizzy (possibly to honor her great-grandmother?). “Archie and Eloise” sounds so perfect and natural to me, without sounding kitschy or too over the top with the matching. “Princess Eloise” is so deliciously perfect, it just fits together like a puzzle piece.

Eleanor

Unknown meaning

English, French

Eleanor hits almost all the same beats I mentioned above for Eloise, even down to the lovely Ellie/Ella nicknames. It’s even more royal than Eloise, with such heady associations as the legendary Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (not to mention the American Queen, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt!). Eloise is closer to my heart, but I’d be thrilled with Eleanor as well.

Greta

“Pearl”; diminutive of Margaret

German

This one’s quite old-fashioned, but I think it’s so charming and would make an adorable name on a little girl. And fun fact, the name Meghan comes from a nickname for Margaret, which is why both those names as well as Greta all mean “Pearl.” So this would be a perfect way to honor little girl’s mama in a more subtle way.

Poppy

“Red flower”

Latin, English

Spunky yet sweet. Pays tribute to her mother’s homeland of California, while also sounding very at home in her father’s homeland of the UK. A flower name in honor of her mama’s own mama. This scarlet name would be even more perfect if the Ginger Avenger manages to make himself another little Gingette. And as I said to one of my anons the other day, “Princess Poppy” is so screeching cute I might actually combust if I think about it too much, so let’s move on.

Lea

“Meadow; weary”

English

To be totally honest, this one is mostly just because I’ve been addicted to listening to “Lea” by TOTO on repeat lately. Although “Princess Lea” might be a bit too . . . you know. Stor Wors. Even though the sci-fi princess pronounces her name differently, I think they’ll probably still want to avoid that association. Still, that song is heavenly and the name goes with all my criteria so I’m putting it in anyways.

Hazel

“Hazelnut tree”

English

Another nature name, one that I’m sure our favorite Earth Mama will enjoy ;) It’s newly popular, but in my opinion still retains that distinctive and whimsical uniqueness of a name that’s much further on the fringe than Hazel actually is. I can just picture a little hazel-eyed princess running barefoot around her gorgeous backyard, wild hair all spread out as she lays underneath a hazelnut tree. Ugh, so cute.

Etta

“Estate ruler”; feminine diminutive of Henry

English, Scottish

I suppose in response to Archie’s middle name Harrison, I’ve seen some Squaddies predict Henrietta for his little sister. And um . . . that is not a favorite of mine 😅 But if Harry wants to add his brand to his second little munchkin as well, why not Henrietta’s much more sleek and dynamic offshoot, Etta? It's got that old school feel, with also a spark of liveliness. I also love that it ties to their Black ancestry through one of the most legendary Queens of American Soul Music, Etta James.

Maeve

“She who intoxicates”

Irish

Incredibly endearing with a rich history. For my own personal use, this safer option might actually be called upon for my future daughter if I never manage to work up the courage to use my actual long-time Irish favorite, Saoirse. But for Harry and Meghan, I can’t really see them using this one. Still, I felt like I needed an M name to cover all my bases, and this is one of the few that I like. Some other honorable “M”entions (get it?) include Maisie, Melody, and Madeleine (thank you to my lovely anon for this one!).

Francesca

“From France; free man”; variation of Frances

Italian

I haven’t really mentioned middle names here, mostly because this post is long enough already and middle name combos just add a whole other level of crazy. But given the enormous legacy of her grandmother, I am extremely torn on whether Baby Girl will be getting a name in her honor. If her parents so choose, Diana’s middle name Frances, or even it’s more ornately feminine variation, Francesca, would be lovely honors for the little princess to carry. If they do end up honoring Diana, I’d expect it to be in Baby Girl’s middle name.

Violet

“Purple”

Latin, English

One last flower name for Earth Mama Meghan. Violet was my top pick for Archie when he was still the mysterious Baby Sussex, but though it has since fallen from my top spot, it still is a lovely, classic name of inarguable feminine grace, yet with an underlying core of strength and fortitude. I feel like Violet is a woman who ties her hair back with a soft velvet bow, but then hitches up her skirts, draws her sword, and shows the battlefield who’s boss. I just love the duality of this name, and I think it would be a lovely gift for a little girl.

Alice

“Noble”

German

Vintage, classic, girly, and solidly royal, this name calls to mind white rabbits and looking glasses. Once again, on a personal note, this might be an option for my future daughter if I chicken out on trying to get everyone to pronounce Alicia correctly. I love that name in the Spanish pronunciation, “Ah-lee-see-ah,” but I find the Anglicized “Ah-lee-sha” to be dreadful and I wouldn’t want to burden my girl with a lifetime of corrections. Anyways, Alice is just as elegant, if not quite as ornate, and in any case is much more likely for our British-American princess. Plus, what a stunning pair of name meanings to gift these two siblings: “Brave” Archie and “Noble” Alice. They sound straight out of an Arthurian legend. (Plus, how cute would “Archie and Alice” sound!)

Honorable Mentions Cause I Need To Wrap This Shit Up:

Evie/Edie (both follow all the E names I wrote about above, and Edie in particular is a modern name full of moxie that would be a great nickname for the older, traditional Edith)

Lily (yet another flower name, and I just like the sound of this one)

Spencer (another possible route to honoring Granny Diana, yet maintaining a much more modern and spunky taste than Frances, while also being less direct)

Clara (of Nutcracker fame, adding here mostly because I think I’d melt if I heard this in Harry’s voice and accent)

Lucy (same vibes as Alice and Clara)

Ivy (cute, simple, girly nature name, but unfortunately already in use by the daughter of Meghan’s close friend Jessica Mulroney)

Zoe (I have absolutely no personal connection to this name, but for some reason it just now randomly popped into my head as something they might choose, so here ya go)

So yeah! Sorry this was so long, but it was super fun! Thank you for sending in this great question. I’d love to hear all your guys’ name predictions, dream picks, and wild card guesses!

#meghan markle #prince harry #baby sussex 2.0 #royal fandom #the princess of montecito #baby names #markle & spencer #the munchkins of montecito

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yeonchi · 3 years

Text

Kisekae Insights #17: Angelina Ballerina

It’s about time I started the second run of Kisekae Insights after taking a break for the past few months. My objective is to hopefully cover Gokaiger, Decade and Soulbound this year, but there are some things that I need to cover before that because they are needed in order to understand certain aspects.

Like Fifi and Roary, Angelina Ballerina was implemented early on in my personal project and the characters continue to play big roles to this day. At the time, I was playing Warriors Orochi 2 on the PSP, which introduced me to the characters of the Samurai Warriors series. As a result, some of these guys got Japanese warrior names whereas the rest got Chinese warrior names.

In case you haven’t noticed, yes, I have (predominately) used the CGI-animated sequel, The Next Steps, in this project. Watching the sequel was how I got into this series a decade ago; while I have heard about the original 2D-animated series, it never really appealed to me, which is why I prefer this version over that. And look, I know there are people who don’t like the sequel for various reasons, but you are free to have your opinion as long as you respect the opinions of others. Don’t worry, characters from the original series have been implemented as well.

Setting the record straight (voice actors)

I’m putting this list before the break because this is really important. Here are the characters’ voice actors for the UK and US versions of The Next Steps:

Angelina Mouseling: Charlotte Spencer (UK/US)

Alice Nimbletoes: Rachael Louise Miller (UK)/Naomi McDonald (US)

Marco Quesillo: Louis Williams (UK)/Jules de Jongh (US)

Gracie: Charlie Cameron (UK)/Jo Wyatt (US)

Viki/Vici: Emily Dormer (UK)/Jules de Jongh (US)

AJ/AZ: Lizzie Waterworth (UK)/Larissa Murray (US)

Ms Mimi: Larissa Murray (US)

Maurice Mouseling: Simon Mattacks (UK/US)

Matilda Mouseling: Emma Tate (UK/US)

Polly Mouseling: Leah Zabari (UK/US)

Mrs Thimble: Beverly Klein (UK/US)

Alright, time to rant about the English dubs of this series. See, because the characters of this series are not credited under their voice actors, it can be hard to exactly determine who voiced who (a pain I know all too well in regards to Sea Princesses). On top of that, because there are different English voices for the US and the UK (because they don’t want American kids to end up speaking with British accents or vice versa), it can be easy to miss things or mess them up. Some US voice actors are based in the UK, which can throw things off as well.

Just as there are UK-produced children’s shows that get redubbed for the US, there are US-produced children’s shows that get redubbed for the UK (particularly on Nick Jr). In Australia, we tend to get the “original” version of the dub depending on where the show (or its source materials) originated – if it originally came from the UK, then we get the UK dub, but if it originally came from the US, we get the US dub. In the case of Angelina Ballerina, we get the UK dub and as such, I implemented the series with the assumption that the characters would speak as they did in the UK dub. As such, Marco and Gracie don’t speak in Hispanic or French accents.

Due to my initial ignorance and lack of information, I ended up crediting the characters’ US voice actors for Marco, Gracie and Ms Mimi instead of their UK voice actors. Even worse, I thought Naomi Wilkinson voiced Angelina until a friend of mine tweeted her years ago and confirmed that she didn’t voice Angelina. Also, the really funny thing is that there are people who unironically believed that Hilary Duff and Justin Bieber voiced Viki and AZ in the series. If only we all knew this one simple rule: If an actor isn’t credited in the series/episode, then they didn’t have a role in the series/episode. I did manage to work out the UK voice actors for the other characters, but why Alice’s voice actor was different in both versions despite her voice sounding similar I’ll never understand.

For some reason, I have been unable to find out who Ms Mimi’s UK voice actor is because nobody in the credits has owned up to voicing her. However, if I really had to guess, I would say that Emma Tate voiced her because even though the Scottish accent threw me off, she sounds a bit like Matilda (Angelina’s mum). As for Marco and Gracie’s UK voice actors, Louis Williams and Charlie Cameron, trying to find resumes or records of their past work has been impossible so I wasn’t able to find any proof, but I eventually did. Louis William’s LinkedIn profile mentions that he voiced Marco (he’s an English teacher in Japan now, shock of all shocks) and while Charlie Cameron doesn’t have a site or official profile of her own (why), I managed to link her roles for Dark Souls and Poppy Cat on IMDb to BTVA.

In the Moushouden Series, I ended up “recasting” Marco and Ms Mimi while keeping Gracie’s voice actor the same. Marco and Ms Mimi played major roles in my stories and I needed credits for them. “Getting” Louis Williams to “reprise” his role would have been impossible because he’s not an actor anymore, though it wouldn’t have been a big problem if I had found out earlier that he voiced Marco. Likewise, if I had managed to guess Ms Mimi’s UK voice actor earlier, then maybe I wouldn’t have needed to keep scratching my head all these years.

What’s in a name?

There has been quite a bit of speculation regarding the characters’ middle and last names, and I say “speculation” because there don’t seem to be any official sources that confirm it or the only official sources available can’t be accessed from the Wayback Archive because Adobe Flash is dead. Though the names were on the Wikipedia page at some stage, the only place where they exist now is on a poorly-maintained wiki of the series on Fandom. It is possible that Angelina and Alice’s middle and last names can be backed up because they were in the original series, but even then, I’m unable to do that due to lack of information (seriously, even the official website redirects to Mattel’s website, the absolute sellouts). So please take these names with a grain of salt:

Angelina Jeanette Mouseling

Alice Bridgette Nimbletoes

Marco Fernando Quesillo

Grace Madeleine “Gracie” le Chateau

Viktoria Andrea “Viki” Whiskerson

Adrian Zander James “A.Z.” Smithers (even though an official PDF from PBS WNET13 states that A.Z. stands for “Adam Zachariah”)

Mimi Jane Squigglytail

Maurice Rupert Mouseling

Matilda Felicity Mouseling

Polly Anne Mouseling

Harriet Cecily Thimble

Other stuff before I begin

In late 2015, there was talk of Angelina Ballerina getting relaunched in 2017 by Mattel and 9 Story Media Group. By 2017, however, nothing really came of it, or at least nothing significant that we could see. 9 Story currently have the distribution rights to both the 2D and CGI series, clips and episodes have been uploaded on the official Angelina Ballerina YouTube channel (a mix of UK and US versions, with Brazilian Portuguese and Latin American Spanish dubs on other channels) and the original books created by Katharine Holabird have been republished in the past two years.

Not seeing anything in 2017 has allowed Angelina Ballerina’s involvement in my personal project to flourish, but only time will tell whether anything else will come of this so-called relaunch. This series would probably have gone down the path of Fabio Yabu and Sea Princesses if it wasn’t so well-known all around the world.

The 9 Story pages show that there are some specials for the series. While the 2D series does have three specials, I could only find two movies in the CGI series that are fully original stories and not just episode compilations, namely The Shining Star Trophy and Dreams Do Come True. They don’t seem to be available on YouTube and the only online versions I could find use the US voices, meaning that a UK dub of these movies is unknown.

If you follow Gail Chord Schuler/Gabrielle Chana/The Church of Gail online, you might know that there is a Satanic Jesuit villain named Angelina Ballerina, depicted as a woman modelling a ballerina costume with wings. Rest assured that she is NOT the Angelina we all know and love, as Gail confirms in the comments of one of her videos (though there is a chance that trolls could have fed her that information).

All About Angelina

As I stated in #12, Maurice and the Takeda Army of Mouseland were in conflict with the Salacians before the Dimensional Merge. Because the time in their world, AB-561, was running faster compared to other worlds, they ended up on our Earth in 2009. In both timelines, Angelina and her family and friends became Hiroki and Parker’s comrades. In the first timeline, Angelina had an adventure with the Third Doctor. The second timeline is where things get detailed.

Before the Archangel Tunnel System was activated, there was no other way to get to Chipping Cheddar from Hong Kong, so when the Takeda Army were brought to this world, they had to do what they could to survive. Eventually, they ended up being controlled by another local army and used as their mascots. When Parker went to them to seek an alliance, he discovered this and helped the Takeda Army escape, which led them to pledge their allegiance to Parker.

Over the next two years, Parker and Hiroki became great friends with the Takeda Army’s officers. In 2010, Ms Mimi became disillusioned with Parker when she realised that he only seemed to care about fighting and enjoying himself on the battlefield. When the JIMPS were formed, Ms Mimi began to side with them as she saw Minnie and the others as the better strategists, but she had a newfound respect for Parker when he made peace with Minnie following their battle against each other.

When Squid Girl turns Minnie against Parker, however, Ms Mimi sides with the former again and a split occurs within the Takeda. Ms Mimi became one of the Sanada Army’s commanders while Gracie, AJ and Viki surrendered to the Sanada. Angelina was the first officer Parker found after being separated from Hiroki. Her family was being guarded by Alice and Marco before Parker arrives with reinforcements from the Date Army.

Months after Parker’s death and resurrection, the Sanada Army finally fell. Ms Mimi and the Takeda defectors rejoin their former comrades; Ms Mimi finally admits that she was a fool who never really understood Parker because she believed in loyalty and discipline.

With Parker’s army disbanded and the Flowertots returning home, the Takeda became the only close friends Hiroki had left. They supported him in his fight against Girl Power and the Teiro Army, so much so that they were willing to accept him in their ranks if he decided to leave his secondary school army. Ultimately, Hiroki declined their offer and became a ronin.

The Next Step

The Takeda Army eventually managed to resettle in Mouseland which was transported to Shizuoka Prefecture between the Archangel Tunnels to the Shikoku region and Cardiff. The Takeda Army had no significant relevance in 2013, but Angelina and her family attended Hiroki and Akari’s wedding, which was held in Chipping Cheddar (Kikugawa).

In 2014, the Takeda Army rose back to significance again as a result of events in real life (see #16). Following the Battle of Mikatagahara and Akari’s betrayal of Hiroki, Angelina joined the Doctor (again) as his companion. Later that year, Maurice would attempt another expedition to Kyōto when Girl Power forces stationed around Nagashino Castle in Nagoya would block his army’s path. When the Doctor arrives with Hiroki and Angelina, Hiroki gathers up some reinforcements before the Takeda Army splits up into three groups; one group defending the main camp, one group laying siege to the castle and one group attacking Girl Power forces stationed in nearby Shitaragahara. Despite the Takeda suffering severe casualties at the hands of the superior Girl Power army, Hiroki charges into Nagashino Castle alone and fights the enemy commanders before leaving his drones to crash into the castle keep.

Soon after, Angelina would participate in prototype testing for the Superhero Project, becoming the Pink Samurai Ranger alongside the Doctor and his other companions as they fought Girl Power in a parallel world. Following that adventure, Angelina would be summoned back by her father upon hearing word that Girl Power were preparing for an all-out siege on Yokohama. The Takeda Army allied with their old enemies, the Salacian (Uesugi) Army as they fought at Sekigahara and Ōsaka Castle. After the world was destroyed and restored, the Takeda were one of the armies that helped UNIT defend Yokohama from Girl Power.

Though Angelina stopped being the Doctor’s companion after 2014, she would regain that role again in 2017 when she and Alice officially joined the Superhero Project. Angelina and Marco make a cameo appearance in the Series 10 premiere as a couple and that’s the only time their relationship is brought up (I think that ship was hinted at in the series but not explicitly shown).

Having been selected, Angelina and Alice joined the Gokaigers as GokaiPink and GokaiGreen respectively. Their fighting styles were adapted to fit with their characters and the original Gokaiger footage; on top of predominately wielding guns, GokaiPink incorporates ballet into her fighting while GokaiGreen clumsily incorporates gymnastics which she makes up for with stealth and trickery.

As for the rest of the mouselings, they were hired by BOARD to become Kamen Riders as follows:

Kamen Rider Blade – Marco

Kamen Rider Garren – AJ

Kamen Rider Leangle – Viki

Kamen Rider Glaive – Ms Mimi

Kamen Rider Larc – Gracie

Kamen Rider Lance – Polly

Although not as significant compared to Fifi and Roary, the mouselings do play a significant role in the project. As with many obscure series I’ve encountered, finding accurate information is a daunting task. Though I have managed to find information that I haven’t been able to find in the past, there are times where I am still unable to do so, which results in me having to speculate missing information (usually by observation) that may or may not be correct. This is not so much a problem in Angelina Ballerina compared to Sea Princesses, but regardless, it’s better to have every piece of information confirmed than have even one piece of speculated information.

#kisekae insights #angelina ballerina

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sloshed-cinema · 3 years

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What Lies Beneath (2000)

For being a film that includes a geneticist character, this film certainly shows its DNA. Above all else, this is Robert Zemeckis’ push to make a Hitchcock film. It’s equal parts Rear Window, Vertigo, and Psycho. While the supernatural elements exceed what Hitchcock might consider acceptable in most of his efforts, What Lies Beneath does trade in themes and ideas the thriller maestro fixated upon. After obsessing over a troubled couple living next door, ex-cellist Claire fears that Mary Feur has been murdered by her husband. When this belief falls apart, her fear and paranoia turn inward. She becomes her own Scottie Ferguson à la Vertigo, splitting her own identity as Judy Barton and Madeleine Elster, becoming the personage she is seeking out. The film carries Hitchcock’s sensibilities forward, equal parts measured and breathless, albeit with more early ‘00s jump scares. But this film’s roots run deeper than just that. What Lies Beneath owes debts to the bathtub anxiety of Diabolique, the kooky mediums and ooky spooky spirits of Poltergeist, and a even dash of The Terminator in Norman Spencer’s seemingly indestructible killer. Hell, they even had the gall to name him Norman. I get the reference, Bobby Z.

THE RULES

SIP

Someone asks how Michelle Pfeiffer is doing.

Harrison Ford works on or mentions his paper.

A bathtub appears in a scene.

Harrison Ford is wearing a college T-shirt.

Objects move on their own.

BIG DRINK

Electrical problems in the house.

Pfeiffer’s eye color changes.

Unflattering bathtub angles.

#drinking games #what lies beneath #horror #horror & thriller #crime #harrison ford #michelle pfeiffer #robert zemeckis #hitchcock

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empiregalaxy · 5 years

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Leaving Tumblr

Dear Tumblr,

The cliche goes 'this is a hard post to write.' Well, it's not. This is very easy to write. I'm leaving Tumblr, and you should too. Here's why.

I joined this social media site in 2012, as I was drawn to discussing films. Soon, I got into 'fandoms', mainly Buffy The Vampire Slayer and A Song Of Ice And Fire. For the first few years, there was no problem. Well, except one. Let's call her 'MN.' MN and I met on Yahoo Answers, and we shared private e-mails. I felt safe around her, and I confided in her some of my secrets. She helped me when a Tumblr user were sending sexually crass messages to me. During a time when my social life was falling apart, she helped me. Then one day, she stopped talking to me. She didn't block or unfollow me, but she pretended that I didn't exist. No replies to my friendly comments (she'd reply to everyone else).

At the time, I thought I did something wrong. But now I realise she was a coward who didn't have the guts to tell me that she no longer wanted to be my friend. That's the thing about Tumblr. It's full of cowards, who lack the intellectual or moral ability to confront their 'friends.' And when you mention that, they convince you that the problem lies with you.

So I moved away from the film fandom.

During the next few years, I get more involved in the ASOIAF fandom, particularly the Arya Stark section. And yeah, I was an SJW (vomit!). I would write posts about Arya, how sucky the Sansa fandom was. But overtime, I saw a shift. What started as simple, light-hearted bashing of Sansa fans turned sinister. They 'controlled' the fandom and the mods at ASOIAF university. Looking back it, I want to tell them that Arya and Sansa are both fictional characters. They aren't real. But the Sansa fans you were bashing and calling names, spreading lies about? They are. I often say that 'Tumblr treats real people like fictional characters, and fictional characters like real people.' It's true. All of these characters that you care about... they aren't real. And people don't have to treat them like they are.

So I 'defect' from the Arya fandom. And oh boy did they turn on me. Some are more slower than others, and they tell me that the reason why they didn't block me immediately was because 'they didn't want to hurt my feelings.' That's utter bullshit. They did it because they were scared of the fallout. They were cowards. But once they did block me, they'd post lies about me. That I was a stalker. That I was a bad person. I was open slather once they decided that I was no longer one of them. That's the thing about Tumblr: it's tribal. People think there actions are morally justified, if the person receiving them is 'bad.' Everything about me was insulted, even my gifsets.

A user who was particularly vicious was Marie. She and I were mutuals for well over 18 months. But she'd call me a bad person, a creep, mentally ill, an evil Reylo or whatever. Worse, was that these Arya stans were discussing me on Twitter. When I exposed them, I only had my closest mutuals at the time supporting me. (I had over 2,000 followers. Only 3 bothered to ask if I was okay). Users I never heard of suddenly had 'hot takes' about me.

Lies were spread about me, non stop. I realised that not only was this behaviour permitted on Tumblr, but it was actively rewarded.

And it was all over a FUCKING FICTIONAL CHARACTER.

This happened in 2016, which involved Brexit and the presidental election of Donald Trump. Look, I believe in free speech. I don't care if you are for or against them. Personally, I despise the European Union and if I were American, yeah, I could have voted Republican. But that's irrelevant. Tumblr users were so unhappy with those results, that anyone who did like Trump and Farage were labelled all the awful names in the book. Racist. Sexist. Nazi. Not only did this teach me that Tumblr users have no idea what those words mean, but that they are willing to use them liberally in order to gain power. Looking back at it, I'm glad Trump won. I'm glad Brexit happened. Not only because of politics, but it meant that you guys LOST. You better get used to that feeling, because if you continue to treat people the way you treated me, that feeling will soon be the only thing you know.

A common misconception in the media is that Tumblr users act like 'SJWs' because they are young and ignorant. I mean, sure. But Tumblr users act like SJWs because they are fundamentally, cultish in nature and adhere to a hideous morality. I study Modern History, and a big part of that is empathy. What motivates someone to join the SS? Or run a gulag? Or torture someone? I manage to answer those questions, with relative ease. But I still have no idea why Tumblr users are so nasty and stupid. Like, none of you know shit about anything.

The breaking point, when I realised 'we are all fucked' was when neo-Nazi Richard Spencer got punched. Look, I disagree with EVERYTHING Antifa and the Alt-right do. Celebrating any form of political violence leads to a nasty path. One day you are celebrating some one getting punched, and the next, you are cheering people getting slaughtered. People should never be CELEBRATED for violence. There is no moral justification for it. And you guys are too stupid to figure out that once all the 'Nazis' are gone, you are next to be sent to the gulag. You see yourself as distributing justice, but never receiving punishment. And oh, that is going to hurt you long term.

I would subtely mention why Spencer getting punched was wrong. But people on Tumblr were saying 'if anyone doesn't support Antifa, they should get punched too.' That's utter tyranny, and its something a Nazi would do. Since 2017, the countless violence by AntiFa is astounding. And Tumblr cheers it on like its a fucking joke. Like the real world is a theatre, and we are all patrons in the globe. Well, I've got news for you. The world doesn't exist for your pleasure. People don't have to act in certain ways to make you happy. The universe is not a 'safe space.' And you have the arrogant audacity to think you can bully it into changing.

Worse, was that I was fearful to speak out against it. That's utter evil. I understood the meaning of the term 'self-censorship' and since then, have become a free speech advocate.

Of course, no letter about leaving Tumblr would be complete without mentioning Lindsay. Oh Lindsay. We were friends for 2 years, and then I said a historical fact (that the Nazis persecuted people beyond Jewish people) and she flipped out. She blocked me, sent me anon hate, and told all the Reylos to block me. And you know what? Alot did. I was put on hit and block lists.

Now, anyone who has studied World War II history knows that I am right. But because Tumblr is contrived of people who can't put Austria on a map, I was attacked and slandered. Lindsay would try to bully my friends into blocking me. They obviously refused. But Lindsay probably does the same shit to other people. Good thing she's a boring basic bitch with no personality, who has the charisma of a rock, because people with her mindset can really hurt people. She'll probably call me a 'Holocaust revisionist' for making fun of her.

I honestly don't care what she thinks of me. I don't care what Marie thinks of me. They will probably interpret me leaving Tumblr as a victory of sorts. And yeah, I'm gone from Tumblr. But I'm not gone from this world. I will continue to live, to write, to create, to argue. I know I matter. I know I'm a good person capable of a positive impact. I am not what you think I am, and I never will be.

You will always have the knowledge that I am out there, being me, being different and weird, and changing the world. Whilst you, are stuck on a computer screen, bullying people who think differently than you.

That's a bloody victory for me, and a sore loss for you. Although I am leaving, I will not delete this blog. I want people to comb through it, and study it. And learn. See my flaws, and know that it possible to leave Tumblr, and still have a good fucking life.

Goodbye Tumblr. Madeleine.

PS: I will say that the Sansa fandom and (some) parts of the Reylo fandom has been kind to me. It's sad to leave, because I will miss them. If you are one of them and you'd like to maintain contact, send me an e-mail at [email protected] and I'll give you my Facebook, Twitter or personal e-mail.

#i am done caring about this shitty place

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lizzybeth1986 · 5 years

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Quick Thoughts on TRH Book 1 Chapter 4

• Hello guys! I’m trying to finish this early because I’m shifting house (not too far from where I’m already living, and closer to kiddo’s nursery! 😁). Fingers crossed I can finish it prior to us shifting.

• Before I begin, I feel I must apologize for neglecting to place a trigger warning for discussing infertility, considering I posted screenshots of Hana’s scene referencing that last chapter and spoke at length about it. The people who have discussed it on my posts have been unfailingly kind and sensitive in their approach to speaking about it, and I failed to display the same sensitivity. I will make sure I don’t repeat that mistake in the future.

Content Warning: The end of this QT will feature a discussion on last week’s Hana scene in the doctor’s office, so TW for discussions on infertility.

• Screenshot Credits:

@pixieferry for Hana + the Abhirio YouTube channel

@thefirstcourtesan + the BizzysChoices YouTube channel for Drake

@boneandfur + Abhirio YouTube channel for Maxwell

• I’m also halfway through a QT for Book 1 Chapter 5. Thought I’d revisit the original series while I was at it. What do you guys think?? If you’re interested do mention if you want to be tagged! You can check out my QTs for the first four chapters from my Masterlist, linked on my bio 😀

• Short chapter, this. I’m pretty sure all the deep digging into history etc will happen idk in Texas. Coz Texas is where Drake’s maternal home is and this entire series - TRR Book 2 onwards - has just been a massive Drake’s-ass-kissing exercise for the writers, let’s be honest. But at least right now, we will get a feel of what the rivals who want to corner us into an alliance look like, sound like, and want.

• Title: Courting Crowns

Does this chapter alone need an alternative title? Does it really?? You might as well rename the entire series no, since just one LI seems to matter. Call it The Grumpy Commoner’s Pub Trail instead (@callmetippytumbles came up with this phrase in an ask on Lily Spencer once).

• I know I sound bitter but how else do you expect me to sound when the writers are THIS blatant about their favouritism. And tbh they’ve been doing that Book 2 onwards.

• So the chapter begins where we left off - the MC meets up with all the LIs in the solarium. They confirm that the people responsible were the paparazzi, and the angle they’re trying to spin is that the Queen of Cordonia/Duchess of Valtoria is an irresponsible woman who is somehow magically pregnant (even in a Hana playthrough!) AND being careless. Thank you Cordonian paps, I’m sure you know my body better than I do.

• Madeleine speaks of doing “damage control” while Bertrand “gallavants away” to Texas as if we were never busy doing damage control for her during the Unity Tour.

• LMAO @ all the responses to “I’ll show them how serious I am about producing an heir”. Especially the Maxwell MC 😅

(Screenshots: @pixieferry for Hana, @boneandfur for Maxwell and BizzysChoices YouTube channel for Drake)

• Liam we know that shy retiring gentleman act is the biggest sham there is. I’ve read your diamond scene.

• Alright so now we prep for the Ball. MC will oversee party arrangements, Drake will check with Mara on security, Hana will help with decor, and Maxwell will make sure there is plenty of bubblyyyy, wiggly letters and all. No idea what Liam is doing. Mysterious King things, I suppose.

• It’s now the night of the Ball and Hana (thank God) is helping us get ready, having already gotten ready herself first. What’s interesting (and not in a good way) is WHAT she’s wearing:

To your left is a screenshot from my playthrough, where Hana is wearing her beloved handmade traditional outfit. To your right is a screenshot from a playthrough @thefirstcourtesan did, in which Hana wears the understated LBD she wore for the MC’s bachelorette in Vegas (whether she was the bride or not). The interesting bit is that I bought the scene where Hana got her outfit back, and @thefirstcourtesan didn’t do it for that particular playthrough.

What’s more, is that I noticed in the previous book…that while the outfit on the left was an option during her wedding, it definitely wasn’t an option for the final ball in Book 3 if you didn’t pay to secretly take it from Lorelei - Hana pretty much chooses her costume gala flower gown in that case.

Are you telling me that if I don’t buy to get her own handmade outfit back, you’ve basically taken it out of her hands???

I’ll get into why this could actually be so messed up later.

• Even if Hana doesn’t have this particular outfit, why does she have to go for something so toned-down?? This is something she last wore (by default) to a bachelorette party! Why couldn’t they choose to put her in her Costume Gala gown instead? That would have worked for such a huge formal ball. At the very least it would have worked better than her LBD.

•

Not gonna lie, this annoyed me a fair bit. One, could it really have been that hard to do some of the work for this, MC? Like I said in my previous QT, the MC still doesn’t seem to take much effort to read up or ask questions about what’s going on, however powerful a figure she is. Two, I am done, done, with how much work Hana has to be doing on the MC’s behalf without getting much credit in return. She’s been doing this since Book 1. In the first two books I could somewhat understand - the MC was new, she had no idea where to begin looking, Bertrand and Maxwell weren’t exactly the most efficient support system to integrating into Cordonian society, everything was unfamiliar. That’s now not the case. She is a powerful, influential figure who has all the resources possible to understand the situation if she really wanted to. But she is still waiting on people to spoonfeed the information to her, and a friend like Hana tends to get very, very little in return.

• When I first saw this scene on my Liam playthrough, I was wondering how the Hana equivalent would look. I mean, she was dealt with a pretty heavy emotional blow the previous day. Would it still weigh on her? Would the MC check in to find out how she was doing?

Nothing of the sort happened. It was the same scene, except perhaps for a reference to Hana being a duchess. So I thought, well, maybe since it’s a heavy conversation, they’ll probably integrate it into the diamond scene, right? After all, I’d just seen a Drake scene that dealt with his reasons for agreeing to Liam’s request. Surely Hana would be given a similar courtesy?

• Okay so Hana’s research yields these results regarding our guests:

- King Bradshaw and Queen Isabella of Auvernal: Bradshaw is the kind who likes to get his way, apparently, and Isabella likes people with a sense of humour.

- Queen Amalas of Monterisso: is mysterious. That is all.

- Other Leaders: from distant countries, basically just coming to the part to have a good time.

• I think this is interesting in terms of the sheer variety of people we’re needing to handle in one party alone. All of them with different personalities, aims and agendas. Unlike Cordonia, which operates on particular codes of conduct that we are now used to, we have to pick up the subtle cues Hana gives us to figure out what works for which royal. We’re definitely being kept on our toes this chapter, and I like when that happens.

•

Ooo blingy. Very nice. Green and gold is an amazing combination, the applique on the gown is beautiful, the illusion neckline is nice, and I like seeing small pearls weaved into such a fancy outfit! Honestly we should have had something similar to this in Fydelia last book, rather than being expected to waltz in that green minidress. The only downer is that Hana’s free outfit COULD have been just as opulent but they opted to dress her down instead. And that’s not the first time they force her to dress down for occasions where she could dress like a star.

• The guys are dressed up for the occasion too. Liam in his official outfit with the medals and sash, Drake in his grey suit, Maxwell in his formal black suit sans tie. Only if you’re with Hana, do you not see your LI in their full regalia at the stairs (since we already took a good look at her at the boutique). Whichever LI you are married to (if male), you will greet at the stairs, entering the hall with them.

• Following your entry, you and your LI split up to meet and talk to your guests separately. There’s not a lot we see of our LIs’ interactions, as this chapter is mostly focussed on the MC’s first impression of these royals.

•

So you have three characters established as the most powerful (Bradshaw and Isabella, and Amalas. I recognize the sprite for Amalas as being similar-ish to Vasquez’s girlfriend in The Senior, but with different hair and styling. I read somewhere that Bradshaw’s sprite is also from another character in another series?), one character that’s there as a nod to another series (Princess Marguerite from The Heist: Monaco, who I like to believe is living her best life and happily romancing Miranda), and the other ‘distant kingdom’ characters for which they used sprites from other books (Erin from HSS, Khaan from PM, and Scarlett from VoS).

• Rather than going chronologically, I’m going to first go from the royals that were added more for extra flavour and a party atmosphere, to the royals the narrative actually focuses on:

- King Eirik: Very easily to please. Just remember the guy’s name. I’m not exactly sure he’s used to that (or Khaan Mousavi is on the run from Eros again and wants to make sure the MC won’t suss out who he really is).

- Lerato and Lesidi: So you can choose to please either sister, because each of them have different opinions on what matters. (I’m guessing Scarlett decided to give her brother in Washington some tough competition. “You’re contesting for a Senate seat? Well sucks to be you because I’m going make myself a goddamn princess!!” At the very least I know she upgraded from Tanner). Lerato can’t stand Constantine (like normal people), and is appreciative of efforts that better the lives of Cordonians. Lesidi is younger (you’re supposed to be in school Erin!!) and really just loves a good party. So as long as you move away from the chest-beating “Cordonia’s strength” response, and opt for either a noble cause or just plain good fun, your royal reputation will be fine.

(Honestly the least PB can do is replace Scarlett’s S necklace with something else if she’s just going to be a convenient sprite. Or give all her doppelgangers S names, idk).

- Marguerite: She is an out-and-out romantic and that’s definitely the vibe they’re going for here. She’s also amazing and sweet with the MC, unconditionally offering friendship and advice. You don’t get reputation points with her since she’s lovely to you anyway, but you do get to ask her what her opinion is on either Bradshaw and Isabella, you and your LI as a couple, or the other royals. The answer to the first question seems the most important, hinting at a future role perhaps. She warns us to be careful around them.

- Bradshaw and Isabella: The approach for these two is interesting. I hated the characters (esp Bradshaw, which I’m sure was what the narrative wants me to be doing) and their acting like I’m PANTING to marry off my unborn child to one of their twins - but the overall scene with them I found interesting. Bradshaw seems to operate on extremes - either you grovel in front of him or you aggressively push back, he likes both approaches. He doesn’t seem to have an appreciation for diplomacy and would you fight with him rather than give him a neutral response. Isabella likes seeing a sense of humour in people, and seems to enjoy it if you tell her that “when no one’s trying to kill me, this place isn’t so bad”. In any case, the only way to keep up with both is to take turns choosing answers that will interest them. I found the guessing quite challenging and fun, not so much the insinuations that I would arrange my child’s marriage before they’re even conceived.

- Amalas: Perhaps the most intriguing, and that’s probably on purpose. They’re clearly highlighting her as the underdog in this court, the mysterious Queen no one knows about (although the Black Widow reference does hint at her at least being suspected of killing her husband? Since the female black widow spider is famous for eating the male after mating). She makes a persuasive case about how Monterisso and Cordonia are “cut from the same cloth”, are both small (how many climates and landscapes does Monterisso have) countries with amazing wealth, that Auvernal wants to push into an unequal alliance with the promise of their military prowess. Amalas’ suggestion is to join hands so they can find strength together and push back against the kind of intimidation Bradshaw is showing them.

• Queen Eleanor was from Auvernal? So Liam is half-Cordonian and half-Auvernese? That must be interesting. I wonder if we will possibly see more about these foreign relations during Constantine’s time and what it must have been like. Also why do I hear practically nothing about Constantine from this exchange? They mention Eleanor, but refer to only her - especially when they’re talking about her hospitality and treating them with respect. There’s nothing much to make out of it yet (though you have at least one other person openly expressing a negative view of him), but it’s an interesting point to note nonetheless.

• QUEEN ESTHER NOW HAS A NEW CORGI!!! Since the first was named Joy, I thought I’d name the lady corgi Hope xD

• I know the narrative is writing Amalas as this mysterious, seductive figure (it’s working on me, okay! 🙈) the underdog and the cool person that everyone wants to know and be friends with - but all said and done, she advocates these bizarre ideas to make kids have betrothals on their cribs too. She’s just a little more persuasive and a little less heavy-handed about it. So I have my doubts still.

• It’s also kind of interesting that there is no specified sex given for Amalas’ child? Is customization possible for both her child and ours?

•

(Screenshots: Abhirio’s YouTube channel for Hana and Maxwell, BizzysChoices YouTube channel for Drake)

Aww @ all the LIs’ reactions to the new corgi!

• So…the MC comes out of these interactions with multiple nobles and royals either exhausted, frustrated or worried, and the LI comforts her in whatever way they can, reassuring her that things will go well. She can either feel majorly annoyed about having to deal with so much royalty, be weirded out by the kind of attention the baby she hasn’t even (possibly) conceived yet is getting, or she’s afraid the alliances won’t happen. Either way, the LI is there to help her, and suggests they sneak out and spend a little time together before dealing with the guests again.

• The basic format for this scene is very, very similar for three LIs: Liam, Hana and Maxwell. The MC agrees to sneak out, the LI takes her to the bedroom (or in Liam’s case, they have an tiny extra scene where Princess Marguerite is passing them while they’re making out in the corridor). They begin a fun, sexy game of their choosing, which the MC enjoys and which eventually leads to them sleeping together. This is followed by a short conversation after which the LI and MC go back to the hall.

This is the breakdown for each LI:

- Liam: After almost being caught red-handed making out in the corridor by Princess Marguerite, Liam and his wife make it to the bedroom. Liam plays Twenty Questions with her, quizzing her on details about the rulers she met. For each answer she gets right, he gives her a kiss (well…he kisses her even otherwise because she is impossible to resist). Once they’ve slept together, the couple then briefly discuss both their honeymoon period and then the decision they will need to make regarding alliances. The last bit is spoken about in an extremely vague manner.

- Maxwell: Immediately after the MC accepts, the two enter their bedroom and begin to do a little roleplay. Maxwell pretends he came into the bar where the MC worked alone, and that she isn’t a waitress (the player gets to choose her role: a spy, a museum curator or a jewel thief). Once they’ve slept together, they chat a little before going back to the guests, and one of the things the MC can opt to mention is that Maxwell “will be a great dad” even if he’s a fun uncle type. Oh, like that conversation Maxwell and his MC never got to have back on their honeymoon? 🤔

- Hana: Immediately after the MC accepts, the two enter their bedroom and do what the MC calls “an ice-cream strip game”. Either one has to taste an ice cream and correctly guess the flavour, and if they don’t get it right, they have to shed an item of their clothing. This includes fun flavours like bubblegum, rum-and-raisin and lemon sorbet. Hana then heats things up by running a little ice cream down the MC’s neck instead of letting her taste. Once they’ve slept together, the couple chat for a bit, after which the MC thanks Hana for everything she’s been doing for her. Hana is sweet and humble and the MC can optionally tell her how incredible she is but somehow the events of the previous day never come up (again, more on this later).

(Screenshots: @pixieferry for Hana and @boneandfur for Maxwell)

• HOWEVER, not only is the format of Drake’s diamond scene different, but so is the location! Drake’s diamond scene begins with the couple wanting a moment alone - the MC even takes a bottle along and there is some light hearted teasing about how he isn’t the only person in the relationship who drinks. This is followed by a four minute long makeout scene somewhere in the foyer (to give you an idea of how much time that took - Liam’s corresponding makeout scene lasts barely a minute), and the MC - to get them real privacy - takes him to that HUGE kinda dilapidated area that we once took Hana to, in Book 3…presumably to ravish each other and then watch the sunset. Which is exactly what they do.

Shortly after this, Drake and the MC enjoy the sight of the sun setting, and then discuss their future and one important aspect of Drake’s past - his changing attitudes towards nobility. The MC at this point gets to ASK him why he agreed to Liam’s proposal. He has this to say:

(Screenshot from @thefirstcourtesan)

I mean…that moment wasn’t exactly OOC only for Drake. Hana and Maxwell pretty much would have had the same questions too, but there hardly are even given the space to ask those questions. Yet somehow the team had the time and the energy to delve into just one character?

Drake gets to expand on what seeing Savannah’s family makes him feel. Drake gets to speak about his loyalty to his friend and his changing attitude to the nobility. He is lauded by the public and the press for doing and saying the bare minimum. And now, he gets an LI scene that allows him to speak at length, while the other LIs are restricted to maybe a few lines.

• I really do feel conflicted about Drake’s big scene about his loyalty to his best friend,and his issues about nobility, happening in an undercroft where Hana was once supposed to have her own big scene about family and selfhood, last book - one that we never got. Because the writers didn’t care enough.

• We now return to the Ball, and after mingling for a while, the MC gets to see what almost everyone else is doing.

King Bradshaw is bemused by Maxwell’s love for dance offs and desire to be a court jester (I know Brad but that’s basically what the writers reduced him to).

Kiara LOVES Queen Amalas’ pantsuit because it is “elegant, yet bold” and a pleased Amalas tells Kiara she should try wearing one (I’d love to see how that looks honestly 😃).

Marguerite is talking to Drake and Hana. Drake isn’t very happy that someone besides him is monopolizing this conversation and Hana is LOVING IT (same, sis, saaaaame).

•

@ Drake: This is literally your life now. You knew you would have to deal with a press meet last chapter and you knew there would be a goddamned ball where you’d have to do networking this chapter. Be prepared from now on and stop complaining, Jesus.

@ Hana: I love it when Hana trolls people, and I feel it she doesn’t get to do it often enough. Remember her impressions of Drake in Fydelia during Unity Tour. They should let her do one for everyone in the group. Please let Hana troll people more. Let her troll all of Cordonia!!

• The night winds down, and we get to see who we have impressed and who we haven’t. As I’ve mentioned earlier, Isabella’s attitude towards you hinges on your sense of humour, Bradshaw on your ability to push back and fight for what you want. Amalas on your uniqueness and that je ne sais quoi feel that seems to set you apart from the others. The other royals on different aspects: either your ambition and desire to serve the people, or the ability to let loose and have a good time! We get to know all of this on their way to the door.

• I’m glad Olivia didn’t show up here. Can you imagine just how mad she’d get if she heard all this nonsense about having marriage alliances done before these children were even born?? She’d suffered in a situation very much like that, and I think she’d be damned to let what happened to her happen to another kid. You’d need to hold her back from using an axe against these people.

• Whatever the outcome is, the MC expresses her worries to the LI, the LI comforts her and then suggests they make a road trip to America since Savannah and Bertrand are getting married there (another trip…seriously??? Please for the love of God just stay in the country/duchy and properly RULE it for once!!).

• Next set of chapters is clearly going to be taken over by the Walker family, and we’ll talk and hear about nothing else for the next couple of weeks.

General Thoughts:

• …why is no one asking where the paparazzi came from? Our paps? Their paps? Which magazine was it. Why are you so intent on making your characters look so stupid PB. They’re so stupid. My head hurts.

• Why are they saying I was in a hot tub I never saw a hot tub in that villa.

• I know some questions should be unanswered for future plot…but…you don’t think a SINGLE person would be wondering who sent them in the first place? Considering the last time photos of us were taken without our consent it was pretty much from someone who had an agenda?

• So…over the weekend I tried to do a fail playthrough of my own for Book 1 (I was dying guys I was dying. So much secondhand embarrassment. How did I survive that 😭). And since I was doing this so soon after I finished this chapter, I kinda ended up making parallels between Queen Regina’s first meeting with the suitors in Chapter 5 there, and how especially the Bradshaw/Isabella/Amalas meetings went here.

I remember distinctively that displaying a “sense of humour” was actively discouraged (Regina even says “fools use laughter to cover up their own ignorance” in the same tea party), and how highly qualities like stoicism and diplomacy are held in esteem. Bradshaw and Isabella are the antithesis to that (Bradshaw also shows slight similarities with Regina in terms of liking a challenge. During the croquet game in Book 1, Regina makes it clear that she “detests those who don’t have the stomach to stand up to me”. Bradshaw, too, seems to have more respect for an MC who stands up to him…but in perhaps a more patronizing way)

Interestingly, if the press has labelled you “Mystery Woman” in Book 1, Regina points out that “no one can remain a mystery long when they’re a public servant and must attend to the people”. Yet it is almost impossible for Hana - whose research skills are clearly on another level - to find any information about Queen Amalas.

• Tbh I kinda love that shift. By branching out and navigating through the landscape not just in but around Cordonia, the MC gets a broader view of what politics is like around this area. She gets to read the other person’s cues and behaviour, compare it with the information she has been given, and make an informed decision on what would work right with them. I hated the overall presumptuousness from the main players, but I definitely enjoyed the dynamics.

• I wonder if we will see Regina again at some point! I'm doing my Book 1 playthrough and she's kinda growing on me this time.

• The diamond scene was good on its own…until I started checking the other routes. And that’s been the case more and more often with TRR. You start out thinking “great, a nice love scene with teasing and seduction and your LI showing you just how good they are in bed, with some tender moments afterwards”. Then you look at other playthroughs and realize (if you’re a Liam stan) that their scenes were shorter and there was less to talk about. THEN you look at a playthrough like Drake’s…and find a completely different backdrop, a completely different format and an issue that his fans were complaining about being addressed. In detail. I’m a Liam stan, there is at least a little more I know I’m going to get (besides my LI being happy and not making stupid decisions in a playthrough where he is single). Hana and Maxwell get practically nothing, the writers aren’t even pretending to scrape the bottom of the barrel to give them content.

• If they’d really bothered to even this out, they could have used the end of these scenes to answer important questions. Liam could maybe tell us exactly what his experience of dealing with these kings and queens have been like, since he has had more experience with them in terms of diplomatic relations. He could speak about how it feels to have these sort of powerful, invasive figures make constant demands on him, and how that would weigh on him. After all these are the kinds of people he might have had to work with ever since Leo abdicated. Or what about Maxwell? In the livestream the writers claimed that he “grew into fatherhood”…How? Where? Why was this journey not worth showing? This diamond scene could have focused on what his turning point into that growth was, especially since Drake got that space to talk about it.

• I got two very, very bitter reminders of that horrid scene they gave Hana in Book 3 Chapter 15, in this chapter itself. One was - as I told you - the fact that if you didn’t buy this scene (that wasn’t even worth TWO diamonds, much less the 15 you could spend on it), her handmade outfit disappears after the wedding. She doesn’t have it as an option for the ball in the finale, she can’t wear it this chapter and is instead made to dress herself in a very muted style (which honestly kind of reminds me of how she was constantly treated like the “wedding planner” or “bridesmaid” rather than the bride, at her own damn wedding).

I assumed, this entire time, that even if you didn’t get the outfit in Book 3…the improved relationship with Lorelei shortly after would mean she’d get her dress back (since the reason she had to take away Hana’s clothes from her didn’t even exist anymore). Why would a Hana who HAS this outfit (at least up until the wedding) be coded as no longer owning it or considering to wear it if you didn’t buy that scene? I see no reason why it would be around and she’d not want to wear it. Her love for that outfit wouldn’t lessen just because she wasn’t running all around Valtoria to retrieve it.

So what should I assume? That Hana and her parents maybe made peace with each other but Lorelei still took her most precious item of clothing anyway? And now Hana doesn’t even get to wear it now for special occasions to represent her other home? She has to opt for an outfit she wore for a bachelorette while her wife/friend is (optionally) dressed to the nines? Just so you can stroke your ego about how this shitty diamond scene from the last book will now be of some use?

I mean…just the fact that getting back together with her parents but not getting stuff that is HERS back…I don’t even know what to say.

• TW: I speak about Hana’s scene with the doctor from last chapter again here.

• The other reminder of what a trainwreck that scene was, was definitely Drake’s diamond scene, which takes place in the same secret spot. If you didn’t buy the scene, then this was a place the MC just discovered, and if you did, she mentions seeing this place with Hana. I recall, while buying this scene, waiting and waiting for Hana to say more about that grandmother who made her dress with her, or about how her views on her parents have changed…or literally anything. But nothing much actually happened rather than a very shallow conversation and a kiss if you were her fiancée. Now in the same spot, I see Drake get a special scene with special dialogues exploring facets of his journey (and by now I’ve completely lost count of the number of times I’ve seen this happen). In the meantime, Hana gets a scene where her MC does the barest minimum - saying ‘thank you’ for all the preparations Hana’s been making the last few days. Which brings me to my next point.

• You can’t expect me to believe that two women who love each other, and who are supposed to have supported each other through difficult situations (this is true for Hana, and for the MC on the few occasions the story allowed her to)…would simply return to normal? After receiving the kind of news Hana got in the previous chapter??? That the woman going through this painful experience wouldn’t struggle with it? That her partner would not bother to check on her? (and at no point does the MC do so in this chapter). One could always argue that perhaps they could leave such a discussion for future chapters…but, as I said in detail the previous QT, the writing team has had a track record of choosing to never address very serious issues related to Hana’s own story, to the point where they were on the verge of encouraging a possible romance with someone who harmed her in her single playthroughs. If they were able to make Drake’s scene so different, why couldn’t they do the same to Hana considering her own, self-confessed, emotional state last chapter in her playthrough? Instead in that particular scene, she thanks her for everything, even referencing the same doctor’s appointment where they got this news - and it sounds patronizing considering the fact that Hana’s pain is (again!!) seen as not important even to speak about. Why couldn’t the MC at least ask after her and see how she’s feeling, and comfort her in this scene?

And if that wasn’t going to happen - why force that situation on Hana at all??

• One thing we need to keep in mind is that even when one DOES NOT want children, being told that you don’t even have that choice, or option, can be painful and in many cases traumatizing as well. I had two incredible reblogs last chapter that spoke about this in detail, from people who experienced similar situations, and I feel that unless a writer is ready to commit to that storyline and route, unless they’re prepared to write it sensitively rather than brush it under the carpet, they should not place that character in that situation. This is extremely offensive given their track record.

• This is why, when they say bullshit like “oh we would have preferred to do separate books for each LI but ended up with no choice but one book” (I’m paraphrasing), I find it so hard to believe the team. No one was forcing them to create the issues for Hana that they did. Those were narrative choices they made…and when you make such choices it’s YOUR responsibility to resolve them properly, otherwise don’t go there! Don’t have Madeleine bully her - or Olivia still mock her after they’ve become friends - if you’re simply going to allow these white (let’s never forget this. The white women in this book get away with all kinds of bullshit) women to get away with it with little-to-no pushback from Hana herself. Don’t force her into an emotionally abusive parent-child relationship if your only resolution for that is they say sorry a couple times and still have the same toxic expectations of her. Don’t rob her of her choice to physically carry a child if in the next chapter you will force her to act like nothing happened. I doubt ANY of these writers would care enough to actually write separate routes/books for anyone other than the LI they’ve always been pandering to.

• Apparently 3 writers in the team claim they would date Hana. Mmhmm. Sure. I can so see that in the way you write her, team TRH, I can so see that.

• I…love some of the characters in this series, and they’re the reason I’m still sticking around and trying to make these write-ups. But I won’t lie that it is exhausting, and frustrating, to keep highlighting these issues and barely be heard - and if the series keeps this up…I might not be able tho sustain the energy to keep writing these. I hope that doesn’t happen…but it is a very real possibility and I think I should let you guys know in case things do go that way.

• Fingers crossed that doesn’t happen - but if it does, I’ll still be working on my Book 1 QTs (my failplay brought up some insights that I found interesting!) and there’s plenty of fanfic ideas that I’d love to get back into. Let’s see how things turn out!

#long post #the royal heir #anti the royal heir #trh quick thoughts #trh qts #infertility tw #bullying tw

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ao3feed-destiel · 5 years

Text

Tales of the City

Read it on AO3 here!http://bit.ly/2Zp0Fht

by Robin Lee (maydaysmusings)

Who? A ragtag team of misfits When? 2019 Where? San Francisco, California

This story is inspired by the Netflix adaptation of Tales of the City, hence the title, with elements borrowed from the mini-series.

No copyright infringement intended.

Words: 885, Chapters: 2/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Supernatural, House M.D., Psych, Galavant (TV), Criminal Minds (US TV)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage

Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi

Characters: Gabriel (Supernatural), Sam Winchester, Castiel, Dean Winchester, Amelia Novak, Shawn Spencer, Spencer Reid, Derek Morgan, Burton 'Gus' Guster, Penelope Garcia, Charlie Bradbury, Meg Masters, Carlton Lassiter, Greg House, James Wilson (House M.D.), Benny Lafitte, Garth Fitzgerald IV, Balthazar (Supernatural), Emily Prentiss, Gareth (Galavant), Richard (Galavant), Ellen Harvelle, Bobby Singer, Jo Harvelle, John Winchester (mentioned only), Mary Winchester (Mentioned Only), Chuck Shurley, Becky Rosen, Anna Milton, Henry Spencer, Madeleine Spencer, Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Jessica Moore (mentioned only), Ruby (Mentioned Only), Lisa Braeden (mentioned only), Diana Reid, Danny Wilson

Relationships: Gabriel/Sam Winchester, Castiel/Dean Winchester, Past Castiel/Amelia Novak - Relationship, Spencer Reid/Original Female Character(s), Penelope Garcia/Charlie Bradbury, Carlton Lassiter/Shawn Spencer, Greg House/James Wilson, Balthazar/Emily Prentiss, Gareth/Richard (Galavant), Meg Masters/Original Male Character(s), Garth Fitzgerald IV/Benny Lafitte, Derek Morgan/Burton 'Gus' Guster, Jo Harvelle/Anna Milton, Ellen Harvelle/Bobby Singer, Past Chuck Shurley/Original Female Character(s), Becky Rosen/Chuck Shurley, Past Henry Spencer/Madeleine Spencer, Past Gabriel/Original Male Character(s), Past Sam Winchester/Jessica Moore, past Sam Winchester/Ruby, past Dean Winchester/Lisa Braeden

Additional Tags: Angst, Crossover, Violence, Aftermath of Violence, Past Violence, Fluff, Smut, Humor, Historical References, LGBTQ Themes, LGBTQ Character, Hate Crimes, Hate Speech, Sex, Alternate Universe, Trans Character, Kink, Explicit Sexual Content, Past Sexual Abuse, Past Domestic Violence, Past Relationship(s), Past Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Character Death, Past Torture, Past Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism

Link: http://bit.ly/2Zp0Fht

#ao3feed #ao3feed destiel #destiel

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ao3feed-galavant · 5 years

Text

Tales of the City

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2Zp0Fht

by Robin Lee (maydaysmusings)

Who? A ragtag team of misfits When? 2019 Where? San Francisco, California

This story is inspired by the Netflix adaptation of Tales of the City, hence the title, with elements borrowed from the mini-series.

No copyright infringement intended.

Words: 265, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Supernatural, House M.D., Psych, Galavant (TV), Criminal Minds (US TV)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage

Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2Zp0Fht

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #galavant

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arrowheadedbitch · 4 months

Text

Okay, I just spent, like over two hours talking about how a Leanna Firestone song (Tourniquet) is perfect for Shawn and I'll be damned if I don't make a post out of it so here we go, buckle up

Okay first of all, here's the song

Enjoy, it is VERY good

So let's get into this, yeah?

This includes my suicide attempt hc that I mentioned in a previous post in it

I have been listening to this song on loop and it's making me go just a touch feral

"You can get a new car, but you can't forget the way it sounds or feels to crash

High speed impact

Normally the first person I'd call was my dad"

But im imagining that hc/story we were talking about yesterday, so change the words tooooo.....🥁🥁🥁

"You can get a new car, but you can't forget the way it sounds or feels to crash

High speed impact

ALL BECAUSE THE FIRST PERSON I callED was my dad" AUDHDBJEHEJSJDJEJ

But, later on, I realised that the song ACTUALLY says "NO POLICE, the first person I called was my dad" NOT normally, which hits different in this context but doesn't actually change much

And like, him yelling it in front of everyoneeeee

Henry is THERE

They're all like....what do you mean by that...

He will not elaborate but now they know that apparently something bad happened to him because he called his dad?

"Shawn, what are you talking about"

Shawn does the dramatic "I said something I shouldn't have" hand over mouth clasp

He freezes, he stumbles over his words, then he makes a run for it

Everyone is just standing there confused as hell

It's such a not shawn thing to yell out and do tho that even Henry is slightly concerned

Or maybe just confused

Or offended at the implication that he somehow hurt shawn so bad with some random phonecall

And now there are a bunch of people needling him to tell them about wtf he was talking about

Pressuring him to tell them about this traumatic event

ESPECIALLY Gus, who would normally be in the loop about something like this so he's extremely concerned and maybe even a little hurt that Shawn won't tell him

Even Henry, who usually doesn't give a shit about this kind of thing, is trying to get it out of him

He mostly just wants to know what the hell shawn is blaming him for this time lol

But he doesn't get how serious this is

None of them do, that's why they keep trying to get it out of him

They just assume it's another one of those silly things he always has going on, not, yknow....SUICIDE

Not even his mom knows, maybe they'd try to call his mom bc he tells her pretty much everything and find out she ALSO doesn't know

Then they're like....Gus doesn't know......his mom doesn't know.....holy shit maybe this is serious

"Some people die before they're dead!

Building collapse, pressure outweighs the pain

I don't feel sad

I don't feel ANYTHING

Only will when the blood returns

But I'd rather be numb then know how bad I'm hurt"

Someone save my boy

He is emotionally constipated

His mom also might fly down to figure out what's happening after she gets that call

So now literally EVERYONE is bugging him about this

Poor Shawn, there's even a THERAPIST needling him about this traumatic event now 😭😭😭

And everybody wants to know

At this pace he's gonna become a hermit so he doesn't have to tell anyone 😭😭😭😭

"So, I'll keep the tourniquet on

I'll block it out and off

Cuz I don't need anyone

I don't need anyone

I don't need anyone at all

If I keep the tourniquet on"

I think all of this would lead to Shawn blowing up on then, maybe he'd say something that accidentally gives away more of what happened but I don't think he'll be able to bring himself to actually say out loud what happened, at least not to them

Because, well, emotional constipation, anyone?

He wouldn't talk about his feelings at gun point

"Maybe we always start

Back where we end

Don't know if I'm God

Or if I'm sisyphus"

But maybe change to

"I try to act like God

But I'm just sisyphus"

Or something similar

Now, to get into a SECOND POINT ABOUT THE SAME SONG HAHA!

So, this first part has been about Shawn saying the stuff in the song or just really good lines that he would relate to

But this next part is more of an....application for all of this

Imagine with me, if you will

Shawn does a few artsy stuff like....drawing that he doesn't really like to show off a lot, so imagine this,

/Shawn would totally be a good songwriter/

Imagine he wrote a few songs as more of like journal/vent things and he never wants them to see the light of day

This is while him and Jules are together btw

So, Juliet finds out about the songs, he tries to brush them off bc he doesn't like to think about them and he doesn't want her to see them, that kind of thing, but she reads it as insecurity

This is the same woman who went around Lassies back to plan him a birthday party and accidentally invited a bunch of criminals, so, I don't think it's that big a stretch that she would try to do something to make him feel better about his music and go behind his back a little to do it so she can *surprise* him

She grabs the first complete song she can get her hands on, maybe glances through it but makes the mistake of not reading it thoroughly and submits it to a song writing competition, if it loses, Shawn will never know, if it wins, boom! Boost in his self esteem about his songs!

A win-win plan, really

And the song she grabbed was the Shawn version of Tourniquet we've been talking about, obviously

Yeah, it's *her* turn to do something for *him* with good intentions that ends up being awful, she's not gonna be in the doghouse for this one...she's going straight to the pound

The prize for winning the contest? Well, a celebrity sings it of course!

And...well Juliet may have overlooked that it's sung.....on live television...

All classic song writing prizes, maybe you can win a record deal and a bunch of money too or whatever

Not that Shawn would care about any of that

Anyways, her and Shawn go to the place where they're announcing the winners, you know? Big party. Shawn doesn't know what it's about but he's having fun, probably solving a case here too!

But then he wins....

It's the big finale, announce the winner and sing the song on stage and on camera

"And, this song will be our grand finale! The winning song of the song writing contest will be revealed and sung!" So the singer gets on stage and Shawn is all smiles until he hears "And this song is...🥁🥁🥁 Tourniquet by Shawn Spencer!"

And Shawn is going through all the stages of grief, he turns to Jules all "What the fuck did you do" (Perhaps first time she hears him legit cuss??) [Ty Luka]

And suddenly Juliet realises that she should have read the lyrics a bit closer before submitting it

It's the first time she's seen him ANGRY because he is about to get angry

They get in an argument, Shawn storms off, she feels bad

But, the song was on LIVE TELEVISION

Everyone saw it! Everyone HEARD them attribute it to him!

And they don't know he wasn't in on it! They have no reason to believe he's upset about winning!

So, when he shows up at the station, everyone is trying to talk to him about it!

It's AWFUL

Gus is asking about it, but he stopped pretty quick when he noticed how pissed Shawn seemed about it

Henry's been calling him

He's been not answering, obviously

Juliet tries to talk it out with shawn but he's not having it right now, "Shawn, I-"

"You, shut up, you are in the /pound/!"

"*gasp* the pound?"🥺😢

"THE POUND"

And Lassie was gonna give him a hard time and ask questions but he saw that interaction and realised that he shouldn't touch this with a five foot fucking pole

The precinct feels oddly tense today because well....no one's ever seen SHAWN SPENCER so ANGRY

Or really angry at all

He really powers through solving this case and is actually pretty scary the whole time and he won't talk to Jules, they are not in speaking terms right now

Anything that he would normally go to Jules about, he goes to Carlton and acts like she's not even there while he gets Lassiter to do whatever it is he needs

No fun nicknames either, but what really hits? When he HAS to address jules.....he calls her Detective O'hara

So she REALLY knows she's in trouble

Obviously she's gonna do anything she can to make it better, we know Jules

So she asks around for advice on what she should do

Talks to anyone who will listen really, Lassie, Gus, she even goes to Henry

[Side note, I've been imagining she heard the song, like it was playing all throughout so they could hear it a little muffled from the spot they were arguing at, but she probably missed a good chunk because of the arguing and talking, though her not having heard it would be a really interesting turn to take! She doesn't know what was wrong with the song, only the aftermath, that could be interesting]

Anyway, she gets mostly the same advice, let Shawn cool down and then work it out

But, since she talked to Henry, he now knows that not only did Shawn not submit that song, he's pissed that it played at all

Which will affect the way he treats Shawn when they inevitably talk later

Instead of thinking Shawn did this to get back at him, he knows these were private thoughts that were shared against his will, so he'll be a little less defensive and accusatory

Gus doesn't know what exactly the song was about, but he gets to be the most in the know since he's the only person Shawn is really actually talking to right now

A lot of ranting to Gus about this, of course

Lassie has the least know of the situation because an angry shawn is a startlingly untalkative shawn

Shawn takes a week or two to stop being so completely pissed

He talks to Henry at some point, they probably have a moment or something, but he won't tell anyone what the song was meant to be about

Eventually he calms down enough to let Jules talk to him again and she gets to apologize profusely and work her way off the shit list

And now everyone knows about the depth to shawns character that he didn't want them to know about so he'll just have to slowly chip away at that by going back to being the town idiot as usual

Maybe he agrees to sell his songs as long as his name doesn't go on any of them, I dunno

Everything goes back to normal...eventually, but it takes...a while

So shawn ends it just as emotionally constipated as before but now everyone KNOWS he's emotionally constipated

Everyone gets to go "holy shit, this kid actually has emotional depth?!?!??"

And Henry gets to sit and wonder what he did to Shawn that was a "crash", what phone call? What did he do?

And Yeah, most of them forget probably

But also, there's that inkling of.......is he really okay?

Always in the back of his friends minds

Because

They /heard/ the song

Juliet goes over board trying to make up for it in a way that's so endearing shawn can't help but smile

And forgive her, but only after the third pineapple/hj

Gus is a little concerned but he knows Shawn doesn't want to talk about it so he let's it go

Lassie tries not to pry but he's still feeling kind of awkward about it (what is he supposed to do in this situation? Anything? Should he even care? Should be be on O'Hara's side because they're friends? Shawn's side because he was the one wronged? Anyone's side at all? Should he say something? Welp, he just won't do anything, maybe)

Buzz has no idea what's going on but did try to comfort Shawn a few times and it was sweet

Buzz never knows what's going on with the main four but we love him anyway

Henry has the song on loop trying to figure out what he did and if there's something he should do or say about it

And someone should definitely get Shawn a therapist but they don't

And the whole song is soooooo about his dad

So about his dad it hurts

Tho Gus is a little offended at the "I don't need anyone" part and he makes sure his thoughts on that are known

"I spend every night

With the TV on

I can't bear to be

Alone with my own thoughts"

And now you guys won't be able to stop thinking about this either, MUAHAHAHAHA

To the people who talked to me on discord, thank you!

@mores0 @storm-cloud-lightning

And also @j-snapdragon who joined right at the end

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italianartsociety · 7 years

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Guest Contributor Exhibition Review: Love in Venice at the New York Public Library

Venice has always been a mysterious and cunning lady, from her ancient origin stories (in competition with Rome), to her annual marriage to the sea (offering profitable international trade). Depictions of that history abounded in print during the Renaissance and beyond, and the wonderful New York Public Library Love in Venice exhibition is a celebration of a culture and a place as well as of its famously erudite courtesan subculture.

Enchanting and artfully installed to evoke the light that famously drew artists to the city, Love in Venice is free to the public and will be on view at the Stephen A. Schwartzman building through August 26. Coyly lifting the veil on many aspects of Venetian life, it offers a dazzling array of books, prints and ephemera from across the special collections. Tucked into a stately first floor gallery amid mirrors and mask-like decorative accents are some 60 books, prints and even letters, each worthy of close investigation. The elegant wall cases with book cradles superimposed over a richly-patterned paper enliven the viewing experience and heighten the sense of intimacy already so central to the show. The reflective backdrop of several niches, enlarged details of prints, and handful of colored vistas and genre scenes also heighten the overall theatricality, much in keeping with the carnivalesque reputation of the region. Perhaps the most bravura performance is the letter admonishing Lord Byron for his faithlessness over a mere two weeks of absence, which was penned by an Italian mistress in high dudgeon from Venice. Nonetheless, she is, in her way, still looking forward to seeing him again! Lighthearted prints of Giacomo Casanova’s conquests make a nearby appearance as well.

This reviewer has long relished visiting the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints, and Photographs to scrutinize one of the rarest items now on view. But there are many printed treasures on view in addition to this series of flap prints showing Venetian courtesans plying their trade (they reveal no nudity, only undergarments, tall “chopine” shoes, and canoodling couples in gondolas). Perhaps the most unique opportunity is seeing the pairing of the worship of Priapus woodcut from the 1499 Italian Renaissance fever dream of a book, Aldus Manutius’s Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. It is displayed in two examples, one printed on paper and another on luxurious vellum. Even better, the pairing shows how its suggestive content has forced a scandalized viewer’s hand. One copy is censored (with a key central detail scratched or perhaps, rubbed out), while the other, (a relatively rare survival), displays the god of fertility with his manhood fully erect.

But not all is fun and games, as the self-made image of Venice depended on harsh standards of beauty and sartorial splendor little seen elsewhere. Costume studies and parodies, and even didactic views of women (courtesans? noblewomen?) studiously bleaching their hair are all part of the fabric of Venetian life. The complicated coiffures on view in Giacomo Franco's lovely engravings also took time to sculpt, not to mention a skilled labor force. In an era when all clothes were effectively custom couture, keeping up with fashion required the equivalent of a small army for a well-heeled woman, regardless of the company she kept (or which kept her).

Love in Venice bears revisiting, and savoring, but don’t miss the tiny Arents Tobacco Collection cigarette card in full color chromolithography, which was printed in the United States. It shows the Venetian Doge performing the maritime wedding, and suggests how widely this ritual identified Venice into the late 19th century. It also demonstrates the impressive research and deep sleuthing of Madeleine Viljoen,Curator of Prints and the Spencer Collection, throughout the New York Public Library’s extraordinary special collections. The results make for a heady combination of potent, entertaining, and very beautiful evocations of an enduringly mythical Venice.

Suzanne Karr Schmidt George Amos Poole III Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts The Newberry Library

Alexander de Fabris after Pietro Bertelli, etching of "Venetian Courtesan" with skirt flap, from Diversar[um] Nationvm Habitus, ca. 1600. (Courtesy of the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, Spencer Collection, New York Public Library).

Supplemental photos by the author.

#love in venice #new york public library #venice #prints #rare books #hypernotomachia poliphili #exhibition review #guest contributor

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citizenscreen · 7 years

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I was having a conversation with another classic movie fan who has a particular admiration for Alfred Hitchcock. The number two came up in regards to the director’s Shadow of a Doubt, his personal favorite and one of mine as well. I didn’t think much of the number two when mentioned because anyone who enjoys Hitchcock movies knows – or has noticed – the importance of two (or duality) as a theme element. For instance, “the wrong man” theme that permeates many of his films suggests – at the very least – that most people have at their core the possibility of a dark side in addition to the good. Also, the numerous spies that play a part in many Hitchcock stories are – by definition – employing at least two sides of their personalities. Then there’s the in-your-face duality prevalent in Vertigo (1958) and Shadow of a Doubt’s own Uncle Charlie playing good guy while in actuality he’s a murdering scoundrel…and so forth. I think you get the picture. There are many examples of Hitchcock dualities.

The “twos” my friend referred to weren’t part of the duality theme, however. Or at least not only. What he meant was the actual presence of the number two or a noticeable mention of two or illustration of two throughout Shadow of a Doubt. Naturally that piqued my curiosity so I took another look at the movie, doing a double-take at every mention or illustration of two. What I found rather surprised me.

Here’s a brief Shadow of a Doubt refresher:

Charles Oakley loses the two men that are following him and suddenly decides to visit his sister Emma and her family in Santa Rosa, CA. Uncle Charlie, as his favorite niece and namesake, Charlie calls him, is a charming man who promises to break the monotony of life in Santa Rosa as young woman sees it. Unfortunately, what Uncle Charlie brings is murder and darkness to the otherwise idyllic small town. It is young Charlie, who has enjoyed a special bond with her uncle all of her life, who comes to recognize his crimes and becomes a hero in the process in a story told with dark humor, gorgeous imagery and singular precision by Sir Alfred Hitchcock.

Shadow of a Doubt Cast:

Teresa Wright as “Young Charlie” Newton

Joseph Cotten as Charles “Uncle Charlie” Oakley

Henry Travers as Joseph Newton

Patricia Collinge as Emma Newton

Macdonald Carey as Detective Jack Graham

Wallace Ford as Detective Fred Saunders

Hume Cronyn as Herbie Hawkins

Edna May Wonacott as Ann Newton

Charles Bates as Roger Newton

Irving Bacon as Station Master

If you prefer not to have the ending to Shadow of a Doubt spoiled you have two options – stop reading now or stop reading…NOW.

Twos in Shadow of a Doubt

There are two men looking for Uncle Charlie as announced by the landlord of the building where Charles Oakley temporarily resides at the onset of the story.

Two men following Charles

When Charles Oakley calls the postal union to send a telegram to his sister about his visit the only number you see him dialing is the two on the rotary phone.

There are two Charlies.

Elder and younger Charlies meet at the train station

The mother of the younger Charlie and sister of the elder Charlie is named Emma, a name with a double letter. Emma was also Hitchcock’s mother’s name, by the way, and she died during the making of Shadow of a Doubt.

Two Charlies and an Emma

The younger sister in the Newton family’s name is Ann, a name with a double letter. The bank manager’s name – where Mr. Newton (young Charlie’s father) works – is named Mr. Green and a Mrs. Green and a Mrs. Potter visit the bank while Charles Oakley is there to open an account. There is also a Mrs. Phillips in the movie. Young Charlie and Detective Graham go to dinner at the Gunnery Grill and Dr. and Mrs. Harry play cards with Alfred Hitchcock during his cameo in this picture.

Hitch is seen as a passenger with the killer hand on the train playing cards with Dr. and Mrs. Harry

Ann is an avid reader who boasts of reading two books per week.

Ann answers the phone with book in hand

When Uncle Charlie settles into young Charlie’s room in the Newton home he looks out the window to the idyllic neighborhood and there sees two women talking. In a later scene we see two women (maybe the same ones) walking past the Newton house.

Uncle Charlie gives his sister Emma two gifts.

Doubt The family gathers around Emma to see the DOUBLE picture frame (with two pictures) she got from Charles as a gift along with the fur shawl she’s wearing.

Uncle Charles’ gift to young Charlie is a ring with two sets of initials engraved on it.

Most of the characters in Shadow of a Doubt have last names with two syllables, including the two aliases used by Charles Oakley as he tries to evade law enforcement – Mr. Spencer, an alias based on his mother’s maiden name, is used at the beginning and he is Mr. Otis on the train ride toward Santa Rosa.

Two strangers want to interview the Newton family for an article and the man with the camera (luckily) carries two rolls of film with him. Although these two strangers are the same two detectives who have been following Charles Oakley since the beginning of the movie, it’s interesting that “two strangers” is how they are referred to by Emma. This mirrors how the landlady had referred to the two men earlier.

In this lobby card we see Uncle Charlie asking for the roll of film from one of the men because he doesn’t want to be photographed. Interestingly, the man has TWO rolls of film.

Young Charlie wears a jacket/cape with two large buttons when she goes to the train station to greet Uncle Charlie. I wouldn’t have thought twice about that if she is not seen later wearing two bird brooches. She wears the brooches to the library to which she goes in a hurry, scurrying past a clock tower at an angle where two clocks are visible.

The latest Merry Widow murder victim had two names as young Charlie reads in the newspaper, “Mrs. Bruce Matthewson, the former musical comedy star, known to audiences at the beginning of this century as ‘the beautiful Thelma Schenley.'”

Uncle Charlie takes young Charlie to a bar called the Til-Two Club to talk about the young woman’s suspicions. The young waitress, a former schoolmate of young Charlie, has been working at the Til-Two for two weeks. Uncle Charlie orders a double brandy.

Young Charlie is followed by her uncle. He catches up with her in front of the Til-Two where the two talk.

The Charlies with the waitress who has worked at the Til-Two for two weeks

Young Charlie missed detective Graham when he stopped by her house two times looking for her.

We find out that “The trailing detectives are after two men” either of which may be the Merry Widow Murderer. During a conversation with young Charlie, Detective Saunders mentions to her that they should know which of the two men is the killer in a wire arriving in two hours.

Once young Charlie is convinced her uncle is a murderer he tries to kill her two times before the final showdown. Once on the stairs of the Newton home and again by locking her in the garage with the car ignition on.

Luckily for young Charlie family friend, Herbie was passing by when Uncle Charlie locked her in the garage.

There are two train scenes in the movie, Charles Oakley’s arrival and Charles Oakley’s departure.

Joe and Herbie, two friends who like to talk about the perfect murder, have two such conversations in the movie.

Discussing murder in detail twice in the movie.

Charlie has two girlfriends she runs into two times in the movie.

Young Charlie runs into two girlfriends twice – here she is accompanied by Det. Jack Graham (Macdonald Carey)

Shadow of a Doubt features two garage scenes and two dinner table scenes. The latter statistic took me by surprise because these scenes are so vital to the film it seems like there are more of them.

Dinner – where families bond

Mirror images/double shots – can you ignore the mirror images of the two Charlies as two sides of the same person? Maybe? In the following two images from the beginning of the movie we see the Charlies in each of their respective rooms with people speaking to them from the doorway.

Then we have the Charlies as two menacing figures illustrated in two similar images at different points in the story with one Charlie posing a threat to the other – both standing at the doorway to the Newton house from different perspectives.

Finally, it takes two trains to bring Uncle Charlie to justice.

It take two trains

I’ve dedicated several posts to Mr. Hitchcock on this blog either as commentaries on his work in general or on specific movies. The one thing that I invariably mention is his attention to detail and the fact that Hitchcock left nothing to chance. Nothing. So while several of the twos included on the above list may seem silly I think there’s something to this number two matter. And who knows how many I may have missed?! What can all the twos mean beyond the duality theme? Are they just subtle ways to bring home that message? At the very least these twos play on our psyche, don’t they? What do you think? Is all of this a dual figment of my imagination? Or are they coincidences?

PS – When Uncle Charlie knocks over the water glass at dinner – he uses two fingers to do so.