#NO I KNEW HIS DEATH WAS AN INSIDE JOKE BUT EPISODE NINE?????

[doobydoobydoowau]

NED STARK DIED???????

[mikrowrites]

fate goes p.4

marc spector x avatar!reader

summary: steven gets a look back on marc and y/n’s relationship; taweret introduces an old friend (takes place during episode 5)

warnings: angst, death, some fluff and slice of life, fighting, language, lots of tears in this one, EPISODE 4 & 5 SPOILERS

shait: god/dess of fate and destiny

“fate goes as ever fate must

fate is the only one that’s just and i trust

fate goes as ever fate must

ashes to ashes

dust to dust” -fate goes, the ninth hour

Steven ran into another room, slamming the door shut. He was reeling from the horror and trauma he had witnessed, trying to sift through Marc’s memories while trying to desperately balance the scales. 

He looked up, however, and was shocked to see he stood in the entrance of a coffee shop, bright and welcoming with soft music echoing through the room. The whirring of machines and clinking of coffee mugs sounded through the shop, Steven cautiously stepping forwards. 

“This is where I met her.” 

Steven turned to see Marc looking almost wistfully around the coffee shop, the man looking tired and depleted. Steven furrowed his eyebrows in confusion before he turned and saw her. 

She was younger, her hair in a braid and a pair of glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. He focus was on a laptop, surrounded by books and anatomy diagrams. To Steven she seemed almost akin to a stranger. 

To Marc, she was ethereal. 

Suddenly, she looked up from her laptop as Marc--in the memory that is--spoke to her. “Hey. Is this table free?”

“Sure.” she politely smiled, moving some of her books free for the man to sit. 

“Studying?” He asked. 

She nodded. “I have an examination for a placement at a local hospital, I want to be perfect.”

“You’re a med student?” Marc asked. 

She nodded with a smile. “Yeah. I love it.”

He smiled back at her, taking a sip of his cup. He tapped a pile of flashcards near her. “My name’s Marc. Need a study partner?”

“Y/n.” she grinned ear to ear. “I’d love that.”

Steven felt a soft smile grace his lips, the real Marc stepping next to him. “I don’t know why I sat next to her or said a single thing. I just... I did. She’d laugh at me mispronouncing terms, I’d laugh at her little jokes and cute remarks. She was one of the only good things I’ve ever had... I think she is the only good thing I’ve ever had.”

Steven’s face softened, watching as Marc stepped forwards, going through another door. He followed. 

They were now in a familiar living room, Marc’s expression hurtful as he came to a stop in front of the couch. Steven heard sorrowful wailing and choking sobs coming from the room, stepping inside to see the memory clearly, he face falling as he witnessed the sight. 

Y/n was hysterical in Marc’s arms, her fingers gripping the fabric of his shirt as she cried forcefully and loudly into his chest. A few words would escape her mouth: “They’re all dead”, “I couldn’t do anything”, “She was only nine”. 

Marc was gently rubbing her back with his palm, whispering sweet nothings and reassurances into her ear, his face not visible due to how he laid his head on her shoulder. They were tangled into each other, sitting on the floor of the living room of the couch were Marc held her, letting her release her hurt into him. 

“This was the night the little girl died.” Marc spoke to Steven, his eyes fixed on the two lovers holding each other like a lifeline. “The night she chose to quit.”

“And you helped cause the fire, yeah?” Steven cautiously asked. 

Marc’s face took on a painful look of remorse. “Yeah. I helped cause the fire.”

Steven recalled when they stepped through the room of people Marc had killed, how there had been dozens of people and families, the way the man had stopped in front of the body of a little girl. 

“How could I tell her? She was in so much pain. I wish I had known then why, that she knew when they would die, that she had to hold that on her shoulders.” Marc sighed. 

Steven turned to see another open door, walking down the hall to step into it. 

It was a bedroom, with the very beginnings of the morning light streaming through the window. What Steven noticed, however, was Marc asleep in the bed, with the sheets on the right side pulled open and empty. The man began to stir, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. 

His hand reached out to the right side, the man freezing when it was empty. “Y/n?” he lightly grumbled, sitting up. Marc’s eyebrows were knitted in confusion, sitting up and looking around. The apartment was eerily quiet. “Y/n?” he called out. 

Steven watched Marc throw the covers off, standing up and walking out of the room for a minute, before suddenly he was running back in, almost frantic. He was panicked, rushing over to the closet and throwing the door open, standing before a half-empty wardrobe. 

“No...” Marc gasped, his eyes wide. “No, no, no, shit, no!”

The man threw open every drawer in the room, seeing it void of half of the belongings in it, Marc stepping backwards with his hands on his head, his breathing picking up as a tear ran down his cheek. 

“This is when she left...” Steven spoke aloud, realizing the memory he was seeing. “This is after she read your fate.”

Suddenly Marc fell to his knees, letting out an animalistic shout as he heaved in heavy breaths, recollecting himself to dial her number and call. The time the phone rang was painful. 

Steven wouldn’t forget the horror on Marc’s face as he heard a song echo from in the nightstand, the man turning and opening it to see her phone ringing and buzzing in the drawer. 

“Every day I wake up, then I start to break up

lonely is a man without love

Every day I start out, then I cry my heart out

lonely is a man without love.”

Marc stood incredulously looking at the phone. The contact that came up was “Marc <3″ with a blurry photo of him laughing while she kissed his cheek, a candid one of her friends took of them at a work party years ago. Marc stood silently until the music of the ringtone stopped playing, and in return a familiar melodic voice echoed from his phone, causing the man to squeeze his eyes shut. 

“Hey, this is Y/n! I can’t get to the phone right now, please leave a message and I’ll get back to ya! Bye!”

Steven stepped out of the room to see Marc leaning against the hallway wall, back in the psych ward. He looked up at the sight of Steven, sighing. “Y/n’s dad, I think, taught her that the best way to escape a situation was to leave with no trace. So she did that her whole life. And now, I can’t even blame her.”

After some time and more delving into the memories, suddenly the two were back on the boat, watching as Taweret looked off the side of the boat frantically. 

“Taweret, what’s going on?” Steven asked as they saw soul after soul being cast down. 

“Fear is spreading in the upper world.” Taweret replied.

“Unbalanced souls are being judged or condemned to the sands before their time.” Suddenly a new voice spoke, both men turning to it. There stood a god with a serpent’s tail, arms crossed and anger radiating from them. “Their fates are being changed against what they should.”

“Boys, meet my old friend Shait.” Taweret gestured, before turning back to the edge of the ship. “Oh, this is bad. This is evil.”

“Shait?” Marc responded, stepping towards the god. “You’re who Y/n serves, aren’t you? Where is she, is she okay?”

Shait was silent, ignoring Marc’s question and continuing. “That man is casting the fates I have decided aside.”

“Harrow.” Marc uttered, his mind rushing with thoughts of Y/n and what the man might’ve done to her, maybe even had killed her. He couldn’t bear that thought. 

“You see, this is why we have to go back.” Steven exclaimed. 

Taweret frowned. “Even if I could send you back up there, you’d be just returning to a body with a bullet in it. You wouldn’t be able to heal.”

“Can you send word to Y/n?” Steven asked Shait now. “Please. Help us free Khonshu.”

“Are you sure you want to be with Khonshu again?” Taweret asked. “Seems like you really want to get away from him.”

“I did,” Marc confessed. “but this is our only shot. It’s the way it’s gotta be.”

Steven looked between the two gods. “Please, Taweret, Shait, you have to help us. Please.”

Shait and Taweret looked between each other, Shait nodding quietly. They turned to Marc. “For my avatar, you have my help.”

“What the heck?” Taweret shrugged. “Osiris is not going to like this, but his gate is the only path back.”

“Osiris hasn’t liked anything for hundreds of years, he’ll get over it.” Shait grumbled, casting a wink at the two men as Taweret went to begin steering the ship. The two men stumbled as the ship quickly turned, Shait grasping the backs of both their shirts to keep them standing. 

“Go back inside! You don’t have long.” Taweret shouted. “Get those Scales balanced.”

“Go, do this for my avatar. She needs you.” Shait commanded, releasing them as Steven ran for the door. 

Marc nodded to the god. “Thank you.”

The god nodded back, as Marc ran to the door with Steven, the two entering. 

When they would return to the ship, Shait would be gone, nowhere to be seen.

And the scales would be unbalanced. 

Then Marc would stand in the Field of Reeds wanting nothing more than Y/n’s sweet comfort she brought to him. 

But he was alone. 

tag list: @1950schick @obnoxioussmiley @rosaren2498

[takeachanceontoday]

New Test Muse

Name: Kenneth Andrew James McCormick Nickame: Ken, Kenny Age: 20  / Height: 5′2″  Sexuality: Panro note(s): @nurturing-starlight was who gave me my icons. I cannot be assed to watch the show (I dislike the art style & I dislike satire) so Kenny may end up OOC. I have however, studied the wikia extensively.

Kenny McCormick is best known in the show for his recurring death in nearly every episode of the first five seasons, often followed by some variant of "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" and "You bastards!" from his friends Stan and Kyle, respectively. The gag has many precedents, going back at least as far as the regular cry, "You rotten swine! You've deaded me!" by Bluebottle voiced by Peter Sellers in "The Goon Show" in 1951. In the first few episodes, Kyle said the entire phrase. Later on, it varied, depending on who killed Kenny.

Kenny has died and come back over 103 times in the franchise (86 in the series, to date, two in the early animated shorts, six in other authorized TV parodies, six times in the video game, and twice in the movie).

He has also been killed nine different ways in the opening sequence. Kenny's most recent death was in Season Fifteen episode, "The Poor Kid" when he is mauled by a Giant Reptilian Bird. Kenny died in almost all the episodes until the writers killed him off permanently in the fifth season, in "Kenny Dies", but he returned at the end of the next season's finale, "Red Sleigh Down", remarking that he has "just been over there" (pointing off-screen).

Although he does not appear in "A Ladder to Heaven", "The Biggest Douche in the Universe", "The Death Camp of Tolerance", or "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers", he technically is in them, as Cartman mixed his ashes with milk and drank it, causing his soul to be trapped inside of him. By the sixth season, Matt and Trey got rid of the practice of killing him in every episode; they got tired of the joke. The reason why Kenny died continuously was given in an interview with Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who stated vaguely that it was because Kenny is poor. Kenny is always resurrected for the next episode, although the explanations for his reappearance varied. In "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", it is explained that his soul returns to his mother, takes to another body, is reborn, and then grows to be 8 or 9 years old in record time (and somehow retaining physical appearance and memories), while another simply had Kenny magically reappearing out of thin air in the second part of the two-part episode "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" after he was run over by a train in the first. The most recent explanation comes from the episode "Mysterion Rises", in which Kenny himself reveals he is unable to stay dead and always wakes up in bed eventually, while nobody else remembers his death. However, in the next episode, "Coon vs. Coon & Friends", it is confirmed that, while he may wake up in his bed, it is indeed his mother that gives birth to him every time. Kenny's "immortality" may be connected with the Cult of Cthulhu, as Carol mutters under her breath, "I knew we should have never gone to those cult meetings."

[rendevousz]

niagara falls of blood?

avengers x fem!teen!reader

summary: pretty much what the title is, you on your period

warnings: your moodswings ig

word count: 2765

"rise and shine, y/n!" you hear an annoying voice sing just as the lights flickered on. you grumbled something inaudible, hiding underneath your blanket to shield yourself from the brightness that steve just brought upon your room.

"y/n/n, come on. wakey-wakey!" you groan, feeling super unmotivated to train today. you even felt like punching steve in his perfect-looking face just for waking you up at the crack ass of dawn. this was unusual because you loved jogs before the sun came up and trainings before it hit noon.

"steve, if you don't shut the hell up right now, i'm gonna push you into that lake beside our usual jogging route."

"jeez, y/n, woke up on the wrong side or what?" he teases, finally leaving once he saw you were already sitting up. you groggily walked to the bathroom to wash your face and brush your teeth before changing into your workout clothes.

"no!" you whine when you saw that you were on your period. that's why you were in a crappy mood when steve woke you up. you begrudgingly dressed up after putting on a pad, grabbing a small towel on the way out.

like you did every morning, you were gonna go on a run with steve, bucky and sam. while you loved running, you hated how steve and bucky "cheated" —as you and sam liked to call it— with their super soldier staminas. that was why you loved having sam there. not only was he great company but he was also moral support because you two would always be hilariously overtook by steve and bucky multiple times. but that didn't matter because you two would always be completely immersed in your conversations every time.

but not today though. you already knew today was going to be different. you had gotten a bad start to the day with steve's and your usual morning routine which somehow annoyed you this one time. and having to run around with your cramps definitely didn't help lighten your mood.

"kid, you okay?" sam asks from your right side. you'd been silent throughout the whole run and sam knew something was up when you didn't laugh at his jokes like how you usually would. "just cramps. they're hurting a lot so i'm probably gonna skip training today." you explain and he slowed down his pace causing you to slow down too since you always had to run side by side.

"y/n/n, you should probably stop now if you're having cramps. it might make it worse—i think? i don't know, actually. i don't know how periods work but i know cramps hurt a lot so i think you should stop. yeah, you should stop." his rambling speech made you feel a bit better now knowing he wants you to take care of yourself. "you know what? yeah, i think i'm gonna go. sorry i have to leave you with the two cheaters."

he smiled at you, telling you not to worry about it. you were touched and your mood significantly brightened but before you could reply him, rhythmic footsteps echoed from a distance from behind you two and you knew what was coming.

"on your left."

before steve and bucky could just pass by peacefully like they did the past nine times, you managed to throw a punch to steve's side, effectively slowing him down when he stumbled and then completely stopped. "what gives, y/n?!" bucky then stopped too, wanting to know what was up.

"that's for this morning." you glared at him and he looked at you in confusion, holding onto his side where you punched him. though you were significantly smaller than he was—than any of them were, really—, you could definitely throw a punch. speaking of punch, you gave him another on his other side and he flinched, giving you an incredulous look, one that resembled betrayal.

"and that's for being a cheater." you narrowed your eyes at him. "oN yOuR LeFt." you mocked him, rolling your eyes before ultimately leaving the trio to walk back to the tower. they looked at your fading figure and exchanged looks with each other in confusion. "what...what just happened?"

"y/n's on her period so we gotta be careful with her." sam explained and steve being steve, his cheeks tinted slight pink as the thought slightly embarrassed him.

"period? you mean the niagra falls of blood," bucky states, taking a long sip out his water bottle. sam rolled his eyes at this but nodded anyways. "also, she doesn't want training today so unless any of you have a death wish, don't call her down for anything other than for food, got it?"

"yes, sir."

"got it."

-

"you do it,"

"i don't want to, you do it."

"can one of you just do it? why don't you guys want to wake y/n up?" nat stopped bucky and steve's little argument as she turned away from the stove for a bit. "you two love waking her up and carrying her down to eat. what happened?"

"womanhood happened," steve mumbled bitterly, rubbing his sides where you hit him this morning. apparently you had hit him hard enough to bruise a little. nat rolled her eyes in realisation. "period?"

"no, no, not period. satan's montly ritual inside of y/n. you should've seen her this morning, nat. it was like she was possessed!" steve exaggerates. "okay, let's not be dramatic here," bucky rolls his eyes at his best friend. steve only looked at him with fear in his eyes and bucky sighs. "fine, i'll do it. but if i don't return, tell sam he still can't have my snacks. no one can have my snacks."

nat only shakes her head before turning back to the stove to finish cooking lunch.

meanwhile, bucky was making his way up to your room. deep down he was scared to face you after your episode in the morning. "y/n/n? doll, it's lunch." he spoke when he entered your room. he melted when he saw you all snuggled up in bed, asleep, hugging your life-sized teddy bear that tony gifted you last christmas.

"doll? time to eat," he whispered, gently shaking you awake. you slowly opened your eyes to see bucky sitting on your bed, trying to wake you up from your nap. "what time is it?" you asked, rubbing your eyes, your lips jutting out subconsciously. bucky internally cooed at how adorable you looked. "it's afternoon, you skipped breakfast so nat wants you to eat lunch." he tells you.

"tell her i'm sleepy," you said, adjusting yourself back under the blanket. "y/n/n, you gotta eat. nat's gonna kill me if i go back down there without you." he shakes you again and you look up at him with you doe eyes. "then don't go back down. cuddle me, jamesie!" you pouted, giving him your best sad puppy look.

he had a brief internal battle with himself before losing and giving in, slipping next to you and hugging you, providing you warmth that even your blanket couldn't provide. bucky knew nat would have his head but how could he say no to that adorable face? and you using his real name? ultimate weakness.

soon, you were back asleep, cuddling up to him. he smiled down at you, loving how peaceful you seemed when you were sleeping. and before he knew it, he too fell asleep.

-

"what's taking him so long?" nat huffed and steve's jaw dropped slightly, looking at her in worry. "who's telling sam he can't have bucky's snacks?"

"don't be ridiculous, steve. go get them or i'm telling sam he can't have your snacks too." steve sighs, getting up from the barstool and making his way up to your room.

safe to say he was expecting pretty much anything but the sight of you and bucky asleep, cuddled up to each other. steve's lips jutted out and he cooed at you both. he snapped a quick picture before approaching you two, sitting on your bed beside your sleeping figure.

"y/n/n? sweetie, you need to eat." he says softly as he shook you awake. the shaking seemed to wake bucky up too and when your eyes fluttered open, steve smiled down at you. "bubba? it's lunch," he looks over at bucky in disappointment for having fallen asleep when he had a task. bucky only shrugs his shoulders as if saying 'hey man, i had no choice'.

"stevie?" you groaned out and he smiled. "come on, let's go have lunch, nat is waiting downstairs." he tries to get you to sit up but you resist. "come sleep, stevie," you pulled the same trick you did with bucky and it's no surprise the blond super-soldier fell for it too. everyone had a soft spot for you.

steve laid next to you and you're then sandwiched between two super-soldiers, already falling back asleep in just seconds.

"you know nat's gonna kill us, right buck?"

"then let her try. we can use y/n/n to get out of it. i mean, can you even recall the last time anyone said no to that adorable face?"

"sam says no to her sometimes."

"yeah but he always ends up feeling bad so,"

"okay yeah, you're right."

"that's exactly why we're stuck in this situation, right dear ol' stevie? so i say we just sleep and if nat tries to scold us, we'll technically be under y/n/n's protection because nat won't scream in our faces in front of her."

"good call. night, buck."

"night, steve."

-

"i can't believe i sent two super-soldier idiots to go wake up y/n on her period. i didn't think they meant it literally when they were afraid they weren't gonna come back." nat paces around the kitchen and wanda watches in amusement. it had been almost a whole hour since bucky was sent to get you and thirty minutes since steve was sent to do so too and both men hadn't returned with you for lunch.

"do you really think y/n/n is having a temper tantrum or something and those idiots are caught in the middle of it?" nat asks and wanda shook her head. "i doubt. y/n can get a little cranky but only if provoked. y/n on her period is overall a sweetheart like she always is. maybe steve was being annoying this morning. i mean, he always is annoying during morning jogs because he always has to announce when he overtakes us." wanda rolls her eyes at the fact.

"okay, you know what? come with me to get them. i mean with our joint forces, there's no way we're going to get sucked into whatever those idiots did. let's go,"

nat didn't give the younger woman a chance to reply before she's storming upstairs to your room and wanda had no choice but to rush along.

-

"well? are we going to wake them up or what?" wanda asks nat, not taking her eyes off the adorable sight she was met with right as she entered your room.

"i want to get mad at steve and bucky for not waking her up because she hasn't eaten yet but somehow i can't." nat states, looking like she's having an existential crisis.

"well, no lunch for these three, i guess. they better have dinner though or i'm actually going to get mad. let's go, wands." nat closes your door, but not before snapping a pic of you three cuddled up and sending it to the group chat.

nat: [attached photo]

peter: OMG SHE LOOKS SO TINY AND ADORABLE SQUISHED IN BETWEEN THOSE TWO 🥺🥺🥺

tony: IS THAT SAFE? CAN MY BABY EVEN BREATHE PROPERLY?????? NAT WHY ARE YOU JUST LETTING IT HAPPEN

wanda: stark, she's fine

thor: aw, i hope lady y/n gets all the rest she needs. she looks peaceful 🥰

clint: wait no fair i wanna cuddle her too 🥺😭

sam: dang it does this mean i still can't have bucky's snacks

bucky: stay away from my snacks.

-

"look who finally decided to show." you hear tony tease when you finally came down to dinner.

after waking up an hour prior, you woke up the two super-soldiers sandwiching you by pushing them off your bed. they couldn't even be mad at you when you had burst out in contagious laughter at your own stunt, before leaving to let you wash up.

"how are you feeling, sweetie?" bruce asks you as you sat in between him and tony on the dining table. "i'm good, bruce, why do you ask?"

"we've been hearin' a lot about you today, cupcake." tony winks at you before continuing to eat his food. you pout at him. "bad things?"

"no, no, no, not bad things, never bad things. you're the sweetest little cupcake and everyone loves you. now eat your food," tony pretends to make an angry face at you and you listen to him, smiling as you do so.

after dinner, you decided to lounge in the common room for a bit to watch tv and thor, clint, wanda and sam decide to join you.

"what are we watching?" sam asks as he plops down next to you on the couch. "i don't know, i'm kinda in the mood to watch my little pony." you quipped happily. "my little pony? that stupid ponies cartoon where the purple unicorn has magic and becomes a princess?"

"it's not stupid," you muttered under your breath, suddenly getting upset that he thought my little pony was stupid. "if you guys don't want to watch, i guess we can watch whatever you want." you told the rest who were already seated, a sad expression on your face.

"bubs! of course we want to watch it! right, sam?" wanda glares at sam as she asked him through gritted teeth. "y–yes! yes, we'll watch my little pony!" he replies quickly. "okay!" you cheer, leaning back against the couch as you turned the show on.

after an episode was done, you seemed to have gotten the others hooked on it because they asked for another episode. well, except for sam because he decided one episode was enough and it was time to sleep so he left.

"okay," you giggled, happy that they liked the show. "but i'm going to go get my snacks first." you walked to the kitchen to quickly get your bag of pretzels from the pantry. you were pretty sure it was the period moodswings that were causing your emotions to be all over the place because you cried. you cried because you were so excited to go get your snacks, only to find that it had been stolen.

you trudged back into the living room with a tear-stained face and wanda immediately stands up. "bubs, what's wrong?" she held both your shoulders as she looked down at you. you hiccup. "i–i think pete took my pretzel sticks." you pouted to try keep the incoming tears at bay but they managed to drop anyways.

"i'll kill him," clint stands up, hands held out in a fighting stance. "how dare he steal y/n/n's snacks." wanda rolls her eyes at his antics and gives him a look that tells him to back down.

"lady y/n," thor calls from his spot on the couch. you turn to him. "i have a stash of poptarts if you want?" he offered and as kind as his intentions were, you only wanted your pretzel sticks. you dropped down to the floor, staring silently into nothing.

"y/n," clint places a hand on your shoulder, trying to get you to get up but you didn't. you looked up at him with a small pout and glossy eyes and he cracked. "alright, thor, come with me to the grocery store. we're getting y/n/n's snacks,"

thor immediately gets up, following clint out the door. you couldn't believe that the avengers' own archer and god of thunder were willing to go out just to buy you snacks.

twenty minutes later, they came back with bags of different snacks but most importantly, your pretzel sticks. you ran to them, giving them the biggest hug you could give, prompting chuckles and hair ruffles from them. "anything for you, kiddo."

despite having just gotten your snack, you fell asleep ten minutes into the next episode and thor goes to carry you back to your room. he sets you down gently on your bed, pulling your blanket up so that you were warm.

"sleep well, lady y/n." he kisses the side of your head before leaving. and sleep well you did because you had an awesome family take care of you.

taglist <3

@amourtentiaa

[legends-of-apex]

‘The Day He Didn’t’

Robbie Reyes/Ghost Rider x Reader (angst, fluff)

Word count: 5,100

Rating: T (tw for death and grief, brief suggestiveness)

Summary: *Spoilers for Agents of SHIELD season 4* You, an agent of SHIELD and long-time resident of the Reyes household, deal with the fallout from Robbie’s “death” in episode 8. This fic mainly explores the relationship you had with Robbie and how you come to terms with his death whilst trying to take care of Gabe in his absence. Based on this request for anon. Reader is described as female.

Author’s note: I’m so sorry in advance to anyone who reads this as there so much angst! Some fluff sprinkled in there as well but mainly angst! Hope you guys enjoy it all the same! Please feel free to let me know what you think ☺️

“Cariña?” You stopped dead in your tracks, almost dropping the bundle of paperwork in your arms at the sound of the nickname only one person in the world had for you. You turned to see Robbie walking towards you with Mack and Daisy, “What are you doing here?” he asked, surprise evident on his face despite knowing your profession. The only reason he didn't have many apprehensions about helping out SHIELD in the first place was because you worked for them so he figured they couldn’t be all bad.

“I work here.” You blinked just to make sure you weren’t seeing things, “What on Earth are you doing here?”

Worry instantly seeped into your pores, and knowing it would, he took your hand in his, silently telling you everything was alright as his thumb smoothly dragged over your knuckles. He’d always avoided the authorities like the plague and you worried he’d been captured for all he’d been doing as Ghost Rider recently but given the lack of hostility towards him from the others in the halls, you guessed he wasn’t some escaped prisoner and was working with your team.

“This is your civilian boyfriend from east LA?” Daisy asked, never putting two and two together. To her credit, there were probably thousands of mechanics living in east LA and that was all you’d told her about him for fear she’d go snooping. What were the chances your boyfriend would be the one guy with a flaming head that she’d been tracking down?

They left you alone to talk and the very first thing he did was wrap you up in his arms. You were due home from SHIELD that evening. Having been away for a little over a week, he’d missed you terribly. Gabe had too although he’d never admit it. You sighed into his arms and placed a kiss on his cheek, unable to hug him back due to all the paperwork you carried.

Home had come to you rather than the other way around today, it seems.

“You know when I said I wasn’t worried about you working for SHIELD?” He grinned, “I’d like to officially retract that statement. The shit you guys have to deal with here is crazy.”

“Oh, you mean the guys with flaming heads and stuff?” You joked.

“It’s the ‘and stuff’ that has me worried now that I’ve seen it firsthand.” Your worlds weren’t so different after all and that worried him just because he knew how dangerous it was. You could take care of yourself, of that he was certain, but he never thought for a minute that you were dealing with the likes of him at your nine to five. Given how little you were legally allowed to tell him, he never asked and you never told.

“Oh please, I’m hardly ever in the field.” You assured, not wanting to worry him. What neither of you did was easy or safe but at least you got paid for what you did, he just got tired, “SHIELD is as safe as spy agencies come.”

Three days later Robbie was dead.

You quit SHIELD on the spot in favour of returning home to his little brother Gabe. Not only had the most important person in the world to him just died but the very reason for his demise was their uncle Eli.

You’d lived with him and Gabe for years, since Eli got sent to prison. Gabe had just lost the use of his legs and Robbie became the sole provider for the two of them. They needed you. And you needed them, and a place to stay. You got Eli’s old room. He didn’t mind, if anything he was glad the boys had someone looking out for them in his absence even if you spent half the week at work with SHIELD.

Robbie and Gabe still shared a room at the time despite their age but that didn’t last all too long once you moved in. Soon Gabe was sick of his brother’s late nights and when winter rolled around and the gas bill got too expensive, you were freezing in that room on your own. With the portable heater in Gabe’s room and Robbie sleeping in with you most nights anyway, it was the cold that finally pushed him out of sharing with his brother and into sharing with you.

Even though you’d been living with them for months, you and Robbie only really said you’d move in together once he shared a room with you. He kept your heart and your body feeling warm and safe. He was so endlessly, hopelessly warm in both body and mind despite everything. But it was when you moved in together that you started to notice something more than the trauma of what happened to him and Gabe that one night was bothering him. There was something very, very wrong with Robbie.

You even saw it in his eyes sometimes. The pain. The fire.

One night as you sat straddling his lap, gazing down at him with your hands braced against his strong chest, talking about what happened with Eli of all things when his eyes changed. They took on a molten orange hue. It wasn’t the first time you’d seen it but it was the first time you’d not been otherwise too… occupied…to mention it.

“Your eyes-” you started but you had no idea what else to say. Suddenly the permanent smell of burn made sense and the late nights he said he spent at Canello’s despite the lack of extra income. The Ghost Rider had been all over local news channels. He’d been targeting the same gang that shot up the car with Robbie and Gabe inside. White supremacist gangs too.

His panicked eyes searched your face, desperate for any indication of what you were thinking. His thumbs rubbed circles into the outside of your thighs as you stared at the pillow beside his head, gaze unfocused before you finally swallowed and locked your eyes with his.

“Are you...” You didn’t need to say anymore, he saw the realisation on your face and he nodded immediately. He wasn’t able to voice the answer, far too paralysed with fear as to what your reaction would be but he was done hiding this from you. To his surprise, you flung your arms around his neck and squeezed him so tight it hurt.

You wouldn’t tell Gabe, you wouldn’t tell the cops or SHIELD and most importantly of all, you weren’t going to leave him because of it.

Since then it seemed like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, made his steps a little lighter. The late nights he was out hunting were spent with you worrying about him since then, despite him assuring you that as long as that demon was in him he literally couldn’t die.

Most of the time you waited up for him so you could check him over and make sure he was okay, make sure his mind could ease and return to earth after the spike in adrenaline that came with the Rider taking over for a few hours. Although sometimes he was out so late that sleep took you despite your best efforts.

On one such night, he heard a soft mumblr of his name in the darkness of your bedroom, your voice quiet and strained with sleep. He felt his heart ache with the longing that laced it.

He crouched down at the foot of the bed so you could see that he was alright, that he was home, “Yeah cariña, I’m here.” He replied in a half-whisper, careful not to wake you up any more than you already were. He leant down to press a kiss to your forehead and recoiled at the temperature of your skin, “You’re freezing?”.

The heating got switched off again, but he didn’t need to know that right now. You made sure Gabe had the portable heater and a few extra blankets, knowing you’d have all the heat you needed once Robbie got home. “Got all the heat I need right here,” You tapped his chest softly. He was so inhumanly warm thanks to the hellfire bubbling within. Too warm for you to hold him for long in the scorching summer, but the perfect temperature for when the nights grew cold.

The moment he lay down beside you he was tugging you towards him, enveloping your body with his as much as he could. You nuzzled your face into his chest, clinging on to the fabric of his shirt. He tucked the covers in around your body before bringing his arm to rest across you, letting his fingers run a trail across your back.

“That better?” He asked and you nodded, finally able to exhale a breath at being a comfortable temperature.

“Yeah baby, thank you. Much better now you’re here.” His entire being radiated comfort, “Rough night? You look exhausted.” He truly did. Heavy bags hung beneath his eyes and he seemed like he could barely keep his eyes open.

“I am. But it always makes me feel better knowing I get to come home to you after.” He pressed a kiss to the bridge of your nose, eliciting a giggle, “You comfy?” He asked and you nodded, “Good cause I ain’t moving till well past midday tomorrow.”

“And skip your favourite meal of the day?” You questioned all whilst settling down further into the mattress beneath you, eyes heavy with sleep.

“Baby, the only breakfast I need is nestled right between your thighs.” He was so close to sleep just then that you weren’t sure he even knew half of what he was saying.

You laughed, but your tone quickly sobered, “I was worried about you,” you hadn’t heard him come in. You only realised he was home when you woke up to the faint smell of burnt material filling your nostrils as it often did when he was around.

“You don’t gotta worry about me. You know I’ll always come back to you and Gabe.”

You hummed in agreement, “You better….”

“I will.” He affirmed, pressing his lips to your forehead, closing his eyes for the night as he did.

To his credit, he did come back to you night after night, day after day until the one day he didn’t.

All you could do was watch in horror as his own uncle impaled him with spikes of solid carbon. You had seen the look on his face when it happened. He knew exactly what he had to do but it meant breaking his promise to you and to Gabe but Ghost Rider did it for him anyway. At the very least it was quick for both he and Eli, at least he hadn’t suffered.

“He doesn’t even have a grave!” Gabe was in hysterics when you told him. Although the look on your face when you came through the door that day was telling enough of what happened. No body and no death records meant no grave. Nothing to remember him by except for the people who knew him and the emptiness in that house in his wake.

“Why don’t we go make one then, huh?” You offered.

That’s how the tiny wooden cross made its way into the back garden. A sharpened end so it sank into the ground right next to another one for Eli. It wasn’t much. But it was something and it seemed to make Gabe feel better about not being able to bury them. He prayed in front of it sometimes. Religion was big in their family but he’d never really cared for it until now, knowing their parents would be rolling in their graves with Robbie not having a grave or even a body to bury properly.

Both graves were adorned with marigolds. You brought Gabe to the market each week to buy more so the scent stayed fresh. He said they were usually reserved for Dia de los Muertos, the smell and vibrant orange colour was used to bring the souls of the dead towards an altar or a grave, but he said it couldn’t hurt to leave them there whilst the flowers were in season.

The only family he had left was gone in one fell swoop. Robbie always said he dreaded the day they’d have to bury Eli and add him to the list of family Gabe lost. The thought that he’d be on that list and added to the altar alongside his parents never even crossed his mind.

Despite everything, Gabriel decided to keep going to school and you couldn’t have been prouder of him for it. And you still helped him with homework, despite some of it already seeming like it was beyond you due to how advanced the content he was learning was. You helped him out with essays a lot as he struggled with those the most. Math and science were his true favourites, business too.

You sat at the kitchen table reading over an essay he needed help with as you often did. Although now there was no Robbie to come in from work and press a kiss to your head, or your neck if Gabe was out of the room. There was no one to mess up the neat part in Gabe’s hair or steal a chip from his plate. No comforting roar of the Dodge Charger as he pulled into the drive or rustling of the shopping bags or takeout that he’d bring home. No one to coax you into his lap or out for a drive to nowhere after dinner when Gabe went to his room to game with his online friends.

You missed him. You felt the loss of him in every sense of the word. Like there was a hole in your lives and that house.

It hit you hard sometimes and then the tears would leak. There was really nothing you could do to stop it. Gabe was the same although it was usually on weekends when they’d have spent the most time together that he got the most upset. That’s when he truly felt the loss. Robbie used to take him to a nearby arcade on Saturday mornings and they’d maybe catch a movie after, forever making sure that Gabe got the childhood he never had.

“I miss him. I miss him so much.”

“I know, Gabe. I know.” You’d pet over his hair as soaked the material of your shirt with his tears. And as much as it pained you to hear it, you were always glad he cried. In fact, you encouraged him to. It was healthy and Christ did that kid have a lot to cry about. You’d never forget the way he cried when you told him what happened. He hiccuped in both grief for his brother and uncle and the prospect that he was now well and truly alone. He didn’t expect you to stay with him, he didn’t think you’d want to so when you told him that you’d stay in what was now legally his house so long as he wanted you to, he cried even harder. Neither of you had to be alone and you’d been looking after one another ever since.

These days he made a point of always hugging you goodnight, something he never really did before. And you knew that it was because he was afraid of losing you too. You might not have been family but you’d always treated each other as if you were. Now you bonded over your shared grief of losing Robbie. He was still just a kid and you didn’t put any more strain on him than he already had but he often insisted on making breakfast or dinner, lunch sometimes too so you had something good to eat at work. Meanwhile, you worked to keep the lights on, took him to school or his friend’s house, helped with homework and generally kept his spirits up.

You even went to a parent-teacher meeting with him once. He’d very sheepishly asked if you could come and said it was borderline hilarious the number of guardians he’d had come in his dead parent’s place. First uncle Eli, then Robbie and now you. A few of his teachers remembered his brother well despite him leaving the school a solid eight years prior. His English teacher said she nearly quit when she learned there was another Reyes child who’d be passing through the school as if Robbie hadn’t already nearly given her a stroke in previous years. She said he wasn’t disruptive, in fact, he was so respectful and polite that she could almost overlook the fact that he’d miss class constantly in favour of beating the shit out of the kids who bullied others or working rather than doing schoolwork.

“If I had a nickel for every note I had to send home to his Uncle, I could afford to live somewhere way less shitty than here.” She probably didn’t realise that he had to work because Eli couldn’t afford to take care of them by himself, or why he dropped out at seventeen to work full-time so he could make sure Gabe wouldn’t have to.

Those parent-teacher meetings were a drag. But it was good to know that despite everything, Gabe was still doing well and still on track for a scholarship or two.

You adored Gabe.

For all his rolling over your toes when he went off in a huff or the days where it was difficult being responsible for your dead boyfriend’s little brother. But you loved him like he was your own little brother, and tried to love him just as Robbie did.

It was his eyes that sometimes got the better of you though. He’d say good morning and produce a plate of food for you, brown eyes beaming with the morning dew. And those eyes, the same as his brother’s in colour and size, would crush you and force the memories of all times you’d gazed into those similar pools right to the surface. Gabe never could understand why you got so upset, sometimes seemingly completely at random, and you didn’t have the heart to tell him it was because he had his brother’s eyes. That the sight of his likeness was enough to turn your composure to dust.

Part of you missed working for SHIELD too. You missed your friends and the good work you did at your job. You didn't, however, miss the uniform. But even seeing the logo now just reminded you of that day. Being a civilian with a civilian job was so strange to you. There was no dealing with aliens or anything nearly as threatening on the day to day but some small part of you missed it.

Mack, Daisy and Coulson came around sometimes. Mack mainly came to check over the Charger but his face was a friendly one and you were always glad to see it. Coulson and Daisy usually came bearing groceries and news of how things were at SHIELD, with Coulson still trying to convince you to re-join after you quit on the spot when Eli and Robbie died.

“How’s Gabe?” Daisy asked, knowing he wouldn’t let her ask him herself. He blamed her partially for Robbie’s death having warned her not to get his brother mixed up in anything so dangerous as SHIELD. He hadn’t known then what his brother did at night but even now he still won’t look her in the eyes.

“He’s good. Somehow still on track for Harvard if he keeps his grades up. He’s even got a girlfriend now.” You told her and she smiled, “I think he’s trying to distract himself, keep himself busy so he doesn’t have to come to terms with the fact that he’s gone. Either that or he’s just putting on a brave face.”

Then she’d ask you the same thing she did every time she came to visit, “Are you doing okay?” and every time, you gave a weak “I will be,” in reply.

“Are you sleeping?”

“No, not really.” You were trying, truly you were. But every time you closed your eyes all you saw was the bright flash of orange that took him from you and every time you opened them you just saw the cold sheets at his side of the bed. When you did eventually get some sleep it was almost always whilst clinging to one of his old shirts on which his scent still lingered. You wouldn’t dare wear more than one or two for fear that you’d one day need to wash them all so you just cycled through his shirts until the smell on each one faded. It was the only way you could ever get to sleep.

Money was of course an issue and you received very little help from any authorities other than SHIELD due to the unorthodox nature of the situation. You weren’t a widow as you were never married and you couldn’t really be classed as Gabe’s guardian because of his age and your non-relation to him. But you’d sooner be damned than let him fall into the foster system. You’d do anything for that kid.

“SHIELD’s gone legit now. We can get you good lawyers.” Coulson said.

“Even with good lawyers, I don’t know how you’re going to sell the fact that the kid wants his dead brother’s girlfriend to be his legal guardian. Robbie doesn’t even have a death certificate.” Coulson’s heart was in the right place, it always was. But sometimes his optimism was misplaced.

Daisy’s eyes brightened, “We can forge one but Gabe would need to sign-“ you cut her off.

“No.” You stopped her from saying another word about it, “I’m not about to make him sign his own brother’s death certificate. He’s been through enough.”

It was a few weeks later when you heard a single creak in the floorboards at your bedroom doorway that was loud enough to wake you from what little sleep you had managed to get. It didn’t sound like Gabe’s wheelchair and he didn’t have any friends over so you were immediately on edge.

It smelt like something was burning, the air thick and bristled. You rolled out of bed immediately for fear that the house was on fire but then you saw a silhouette taking up most of the doorway. Based on the outline, it was a person and you stared for a second, just a second, before grabbing hold of the baseball bat at your bedside and making a move. When the shadow took one step inside your room, a hand outstretched towards you as the moonlight illuminated his features, you faltered and let the bat fall to the floor

“Robbie?” Shit, you must’ve been dreaming again. But you didn’t care.

You reached for him regardless, breath hitching when you touched something solid. You flattened your palm out on the centre of his chest where his jacket hung open, feeling the warmth and hellfire that bubbled within. His hand came to cover yours then and you looked up to see those brown eyes you’d gazed into so often and loved so dearly now damp and threatening to spill over with tears.

“I’m so sorry-“ he started but you engulfed him in a hug the second he opened his mouth. At that moment you couldn’t care less about why he wasn’t there, only that at that moment he was. You threw your arms around his neck when the tears started.

With a heave, he lifted your knees around his waist and carried you to the bedside where he sat with you in his lap.

He’d thought for so long about what to say and now that he finally had the chance, he told you everything. He told you about Eli, about the book of dark magic he’d read and been corrupted by was still around somewhere. How when he died, he clawed his way through hell. Literally. To get back to you. The demon inside him fought through hell to get back to that book and destroy it for good, he’d had the reigns fully in hell. Robbie was reduced to a passenger in his own body down there. Months without being able to live in his own skin.

“I can’t stay,” He told you, swallowing thickly, “He wants to take that book back.”

“Back?” You asked, already knowing full well what he meant. You just didn’t want it to be true.

He nodded solemnly as his jaw clenched, “To Hell.”

You held his cheek, searching his eyes. For what you didn’t know. Any indication he was kidding maybe? You didn’t find any. Instead, you only found pain and sadness. Guilt too.

“He said I can say goodbye to you and Gabe,” his voice cracked, “Then I have to go.”

He was lucky the demon allowed him that much of a privilege. It was only because the entire time he’d been in hell he had to deal with Robbie’s worrying, his longing nagging at the back of his mind. It was a courtesy only because he didn’t want to deal with that again.

“The thought of coming back to you has been the only damn thing that’s kept my heart beating. I would do anything to stay with you for good but I made a deal and he won’t let me stay until that book is gone.”

The last thing he wanted to do was give you false hope. He didn’t want you waiting up for him as you often did or putting your life on pause waiting for him to return when he had no idea when that would be. You deserved more and he wanted you to have that, even if it meant he might not have a place in your life when he did eventually return from the land of the dead. It wouldn’t be fair of him to expect that from you and so he never did.

He had that look in his eye he got when he was about to do something stupidly self-sacrificial for someone else’s sake and you weren’t about to hear it. Not now. You had a vague idea of what he wanted to say, that he never really deserved you in the first place and that he was sorry for all the pain he’d put you through, that he wouldn’t be upset when he got back if you chose to move on. But you knew he was damned and the risks and pain that came with it. And as much as he would never accept it, he was worth the pain.

You held him for as long as he could stay, knowing he was on borrowed time.

“Gabe’s got a girlfriend now. He finally made a move on Janet’s sister.” He blinked at you in awe, a smile spreading across his face, “You might wanna give him the talk before you go if you haven’t already.” As much as you loved that kid there was no way that was a conversation you were about to have with him.

He smiled wide at that and shook his head, “Already taken care of, chica.” They’d had that conversation far too early if he was being honest.

You held each other for what wasn’t nearly long enough to make up for the months apart. There was so much you both wanted to say and so little time to do it. You didn’t even know where to start, neither did he. So you just lay there in each other’s arms for as long as you could or until the demon got antsy.

You knocked on Gabe’s bedroom door and received a definitely still asleep reply.

“There’s someone here to see you.” You stood in his doorway, Robbie at your side waiting for Gabe’s eyes to open. When they did, he beamed and shouted in delight. You left them to it, not wanting to impose.

You waited in the living room, playing with the keys to the Dodge Charger in your fingers. When Robbie finally emerged from Gabe’s room, his eyes wet with hastily wiped tears, he made a beeline for you once more. “Thank you,” He kissed your forehead and tugged you as close to him as he could, “For everything you’ve done for Gabe. And for me.”

“He’s family and so are you.” You mumbled. He dragged a palm over his face again, wiping his tears.

“Gabe said I’m to ask you to marry me when I get back. To make you officially a Reyes.” You looked to him in question, “I told him that it was entirely your decision cause I’d marry you in a heartbeat. And it’s bold of him to assume you’d take my name.”

“Kid’s got some bold assumptions for sure.” You played coy, there was no way he was getting an answer out of you that easily. You knew he wasn’t asking you anyways, just telling you what Gabe had said.

“I’ll take that as a maybe.” He laughed. The prospect of marriage would never be a question for the two of you, it would always be a conversation. Something you’d decide on together.

“Take it as an order to get your ass back here and find out.” You smiled and kissed his cheek, “I love you. Please come back in one piece.”

“I love you too, Cariña. Take care of yourself,” he closed your fingers over the keys to the Dodge Charger so they were safely caged in your hand, “and my baby.”

Oh, you’d take care of his baby alright.

With one last bone crushing hug and a kiss, he was gone again. And for the first time in months, you felt whole. Even if he was going back to suffer, to trudge his way through Hell once he got ahold of that book. The promise that he’d return to you for good this time was one you knew he’d keep, no matter how long it took him to do so.

It was enough for you and it was enough for Gabe too.

The next time Daisy visited she said it’d probably be the last for a while. She and the team were in hiding from the authorities. She said she didn’t have the time to explain.

“You okay?” She asked as she usually did, knowing Robbie had been back to you before going to help them get that book back so he could bring it down to Hell.

“I will be,” you replied, and for the first time in a while you meant it.

Tagging (the horni for Ghost Rider squad): @icy-spicy @spring-soldier

[dessiekarma]

My Harem is Entirely Bad Boy Types (Kirisaki Daiichi x Reader) Pt. 12

Chapter 12: This Will NOT End Like Every Other Harem Anime; We Want an Answer!

 (Y/N) smiled at the younger male who continuously made quite the show of staring at her. It would come as no surprise where he got the habit from, as the man sitting on the opposite couch didn’t do a much subtler job at gawking.

 “You’re not as hot as big bro made you seem.” The kid drolled out bluntly before flopping onto the couch and pulling out a Nintendo switch.

 “You rude little shit!” Hara exclaimed making his way into the room with a bottle of water. Just as quickly as the water was shoved into (Y/N)’s hand was the Switch pulled from the kid and held several feet over his head.

 “Triggered much!? Gimme my stuff! Oww!” The kid stopped taunting as an older woman delivered a smack onto his head.

 “Cut it out! Be nice to our lovely guest and don’t ruin this for your brother.” The woman hissed at her youngest son before smiling brightly at (Y/N). “Sorry my baby lacks some social graces much like I’m sure you’ve noticed with Kazuya.”

 “Mooooother please.” The lavender haired male groaned before dropping the switch onto his little brother’s face and sitting next to (Y/N).

 “I’m just teasing, sweetheart, she knows that. Do you need anything? Water, snacks, dinner?” The woman said being just a bit too generous and eager-sounding.

 “No, that’s okay Kazu-chan just brought me a bottle.”

 “Kazu-chan?” The woman smiled even wider, if that was possible and delivered little excited smacks onto her husband’s arm.

 “Darling, I think you might be scaring the poor girl.”

 “Says you, old man. You’ve been staring at her since she walked in the door.” Hara rolled his eyes, pulling the water bottle away from (Y/N)’s lips and taking a drink.

 “Ahh my son is right! I apologize, my wife may be a little excited to meet a girlfriend of Kazuya’s. We are just not used to him bringing girls home.”

 “Yea at least not ones that still have their clothes on.” His brother muttered quietly, sticking his tongue out at his brother death-glaring him.

 “Dad, ma, I already told you she’s not my girlfriend just my team manager.”

 “Sure bro, that why you never shut up about her?”

 “Ight imma beat his ass.” Hara stood up quickly and the preteen curled in on himself. Attempting to diffuse the situation (Y/N) took quick notice of the t-shirt the kid was wearing.

 “Hey cool shirt! Ochako is best girl, am I right?!”

 The kid instantly unraveled himself and sat straight up.

 “You like bnha?”

 “Hell yeah, it’s so cool! Lemillion is everything.”

 “Oh my god, did you see the new episode!?”

 “Surprisingly, I haven’t started the latest season yet.”

 “WHAT!? Well you have to watch it like right now!”

 “Are you offering?”

 “You’ll watch anime with me?” The kid now had a clear sparkle in his eyes as he jumped off the couch and pulled the girl up by the arm.

 Hara rolled his eyes as his weeb brother ran off with his equally weeb friend. Turning to his parents he could see the questioning in their eyes. Clearly wanting to know why he was bringing home a pretty beaten up girl at nine pm to meet them.

 “Look, you know how I mentioned having a female friend who was getting picked on? Well it’s gotten worse…much worse. She doesn’t feel okay going home right now and I didn’t want her to be alone. I offered for her to stay here.”

 Both his mom and dad looked at him blankly. The silence in the room was heavy.

 “I mean, please? Or is it okay if I stayed at a hotel with her?”

 The older woman suddenly shook her head, looking shocked. She turned to her equally flabbergasted husband.

 “Wait, honey, are you ASKING us?”

 “Well yeah. So, can she stay here for a bit?”

 “Of course she can.” His father responded still sounding a bit astonished.

 “Thanks. I’m gonna take a shower.”

 The two parents watched as their son made his way out of the room.

 “I can’t believe Kazuya actually asked our permission for something.”

 “Do you think it’s because of the girl? I think I like her already!”

 “What if he screws it up?”

 “Well…we still have two other single sons!”

~~~~~

 “Hey my mom sent me in here to clear out a pest problem.” Hara said nonchalantly bursting into the guest bedroom.

 (Y/N) jumped like a cat, startled by her friend’s abrupt entry.

 “I could have been changing or something!”

 “And? Come on, my eyesight is shit anyway.”

 “Not the point! Besides what pest problem?”

 Hara leaned against the wall and pulled open the nightstand to reveal a baby monitor. Talking into it he grew a shit eating grin.

 “What exactly were you hoping to hear through this you little perv!?”

 “Why don’t you mind your business you jerk!” A voice crackled through the monitor.

 (Y/N) couldn’t help but chuckle just a bit as Hara flung the device out the window.

 “You watched anime with that loser. That’s like third base in that kid’s eyes and you’re basically his girlfriend now.”

 “I’m flattered but I don’t think I can travel to America from prison.”

 The young girl tried to ignore the loud sigh that came from her friend. She knew that Hara was probably the one who disagreed the loudest with her decision to leave Japan. Flopping back onto the king size bed, (Y/N) wasn’t fazed when she felt Hara flop down beside her.

 A comfortable silence washed over the two. It went on for so long that (Y/N) was almost sure that she was seconds away from falling asleep. That’s why when Hara finally spoke, she easily chucked it up as her dreaming or hearing things.

 “(Y/N)?”

 “Hmm?”

 “If I told you I loved you…would you stay?”

 “If you told me you loved me would you even mean it?”

 “When have I ever shown myself to be someone who doesn’t say what they mean?”

 (Y/N) finally opened her eyes and turned her head. Instantly she was swept into the whirl-wind of Hara’s fantasy eyes. There was no playfulness in his face nor hidden joke. She waited for a punchline that never came.

 “Love is a strong word. Not even any of the other guys used that word.”

 “Because none of the other guys have enough experience to identify. And even those who do are too stubborn to admit it.”

 “And you’re not stubborn?”

 “I am. But right now all my stubbornness is focused on convincing you not to leave. Please? I’d take care of you. I wouldn’t let Mei, or your mother or grandfather so much as look at you if you didn’t want them to.”

 “But you know my plans.”

 “And you can accomplish them here. I would help and I’m sure my parents would literally bend over backwards to give you anything they could. Don’t you worry about leaving us? Worry that you’d miss us? Miss me?”

 “Of course. But it wouldn’t be forever…I just don’t know for how long it would be. But wow ‘love’ really?”

 “Yeah seriously. I’ve had more flings than I can count and a good number of girlfriends to boot. I know what infatuation feels like. I know what sexual desire feels like. Attraction, crushes, curiosity. I’ve felt all that before, but I never felt this one. I’d say the only thing left is love. Of course not that it means anything with you leaving.”

 “It doesn’t mean nothing.”

 “Don’t give me that shit. Do I seem like the type of guy to promise to wait for you however long it takes?”

 “Do I seem like the type of girl who would expect you to?”

 The silence came again this time feeling only a bit awkward.

 “I mean of course I’d fuck other girls while you were away. But uhh in terms of love…. A shitty guy like me? I wouldn’t have such great karma, to meet another girl. So I suppose no matter when you’d come back…”

 His voice trailed off and (Y/N) smiled at the thought of what he was trying to say. Feeling more comfortable than she had in days, the girl let her eyes close heavily and drifted to sleep.

~~~~~

 “She doesn’t wanna fucking see you and you have about one second to get the hell out of this gym before I turn you inside out.”

 Hara and (Y/N) looked at each other, hearing Yamazaki’s voice boom from outside the gym. She knew deep down what to expect and had come to terms that she would have to face everything head on before leaving.

 Filling her lungs with air, (Y/N) pushed open the door and was met with not just Ryo, but the entire Touou basketball team.

 Her ex looked like shit and maybe she was wrong for saying that she couldn’t bring herself to feel bad for him right now. Before she could even open her mouth to get a word out, Momoi was speaking up.

 “Please (Y/N), you really need to give Ryo a chance and listen to what he has to say!”

 “Huh you know I am really just tired of people telling me what I ‘have’ to do. But let’s say I’m willing to talk to ANY of you, what is there to say? Or actually should I get Mei in here, so you don’t have to rehash anything to her?” (Y/N) sarcastically retorted.

 “That’s not how it even happened! If you would let him explain you would understand that he wasn’t trying to tell that girl, he was talking to us and she overheard.” Wakamatsu called out loudly and almost accusingly, causing (Y/N) to scoff.

 “And if you would remove your head from that far up your ass you would understand how that only makes it worse. I’d give less of a shit how someone talks about me to my enemies then how they talk about me to my friends.” The young woman finally turned to eye up her ex. “What did I ever do to you for you to go and tell them the most personal thing that was between us?”

 “I was angry and…you moved on so fas-”

 “Fast? You think that was fast? You think months of me feeling like shit, of wondering where I went wrong, of thinking maybe I made the mistake…isn’t enough? How long was I supposed to hate my life for you to feel better about yourself?”

 “You know that’s not what I meant. You chose strangers over me, how was I supposed to feel about that?”

 “NO! I was never going to choose. YOU made me choose. I wanted to be a part of a team again but I wanted you too. You didn’t let me have both. Don’t resent me when you turned yourself into an option.”

 “I was worried about you! All of us were, don’t you get that? You had a tough enough time at Too and knowing your personal situation, we didn’t know how things were going to go for you at some rich kid school. The you go and befriend literally the only people we warned you about…It’s like you do it on purpose!

 “Do what on purpose?”

 “Cause problems for yourself! Then I hear you were attacked last night when even Aomine has told you to stay away from Haizaki and instead of just being quiet you have to always instigate. It’s like every bad thing that happens to you is becau-”

 “You need to stop talking.” A gruff voice came from behind the smaller male.

 (Y/N) was shaking with anger and tears at this point but forced her glare away from Ryo to look at Aomine.

 “You came because you wanted to apologize but all that’s come out of your mouth is bullshit.”

 “Sakurai, regardless of what you think I didn’t choose a lot of this. I didn’t ask to be born into a manipulative and abusive family, I didn’t ask to be born at all. I didn’t ask for Haizaki to attack me or any of the guys that have in the past. And I definitely didn’t ask for you to come here an insult me and my team. When you’re ready to actually apologize I’ll be willing to listen. Until then get out of my face.”

 Sakurai looked like he wanted to burst into tears, but he blinked his eyes harshly. Nodding gently he took a deep breath.

 “I still love you, you know. And I don’t know why I can say it all the time but had a hard time right now…I really am sorry more than you probably believe. I was so busy on trying to get the chance to talk to you at all that I didn’t think about what I was going to say. I’ll get it right next time, I promise.”

 “Now that you got your chance to give your sob story, you can go.” Hanamiya waved off the entire team before turning around and walking into the locker room.

 With nothing left to say each team turned and walked off, one side out of the gym and the other following their captain. Only two remained under the net.

 “Thanks for calling Sakurai out on his shit.” (Y/N) smiled softly at Aomine who didn’t have a readable expression.

 “It was annoying me plus I didn’t even want to be here.”

 “How did they manage to convince you?”

 “Told me it was a scrimmage. I’d be willing to play anyone who managed to piss off Tetsuya.”

 “Sorry to disappoint.”

 “I have a question though.”

 “Shoot.”

 “You’ve fucked all of them right?”

 “Aomine! How could you ask me that!?  I thought you were on my side!”

 “Calm down. I didn’t know there was a side to pick here. But you were the one who always hassled me with anime facts I didn’t want. And if anything stuck in my head it was big tiddy 2d girls and ”

 “Harem.” Both said at the same time.

 “We both said we weren’t pulling any weak bullshit if we ever found ourselves in the center of a harem. We were gonna use harem privileges to get laid. So, come on tell me some numbers. No details! I just want a body count. All five?”

 (Y/N) face grew red as she remembered all the times, she sat on the sidelines watching her boyfriend play basketball and rambled off to his less than participating teammate. To be fair she always assumed Aomine was asleep unless they started talking ecchi.

 “NO!”

 “No you won’t tell me or not all of them? At least 3?”

 “Look if it was any more than one, these guys would have ‘School Days’-ed my ass by now.”

 “I have no idea what the anime reference is but I can get the subtext that you did cash in your protagonist card once.” Aomine had a smirk on his face as he continued to tease his old teammate.

 The girl felt her face burn red but nodded her head in agreement.

 “Do they know you still love Ryo?” (Y/N)’s head shot up which made Aomine let out a cross between a scoff and a chuckle. “Even if you do love one of these assholes, even if its not the one you totally banged…you love Ryo too. Word of advice: don’t give up anyone you can’t imagine NOT being in your life 3 years down the road. Cutting ties with someone sometimes doesn’t have regret that hits you until you see them tied to someone else.”

 “Sounds like that’s coming from experience.”

 “Does it? Well even more of a reason to hear me out. I would say I’d see you around but something tells me I won’t…that right?”

 (Y/N) nodded at her surprisingly perceptive friend.

 “Good luck then.”

 “So, is it really true then?” A soft voice rang from behind the girl as the tan male closed the door to the gym. (Y/N) didn’t have to turn to know it was Yamazaki.

 “That I still love Ryo? Well-”

 “No, not that. We all know you do, I don’t think you’ve ever gone a week without talking about him. That’s the reason none of us have actually kicked his ass, y’know? I meant is it true that you love someone from this team?”

 (Y/N) turned around and for the first time in a while she made complete eye contact with the ginger haired male.

 “Yeah…at least I thought I did.”

 “You thought?”

 “Seems pretty horrible to love anyone if I’m not completely over my ex, doesn't it?”

 …

 “That wasn’t a jab at you, Zaki.”

 “No, that okay. There’s nothing you could say to me that I don’t deserve at this point. Not that I’m trying to throw myself a pity party or make you feel guilty for me feeling guilty or…ugh why is it so hard to talk to you!?”

 “You think I’m hard to talk to?”

 “I didn’t mean it in a bad way or anything! I just mea-”

 (Y/N) took a step closer to her friend and attempted to shift a piece of hair behind her ears only for Yamazaki to take a microstep back. Her eyes scrutinized him more before tucking the hair away.

 “Mei hasn’t been kind to you ever, has she?”

 “Why did you bring her up?”

 “You flinched away from me right now.”

 “No I didn’t!” His voice practically boomed before he seemed to realize the volume.

 “I know we’ve always just talked about her as your bitch ex and joked about how crazy she was. We only took her seriously when she came after me…but she’s been awful to you for a long time, right? Emotionally, verbally…physically?”

 Yamazaki’s eyes went almost as dead as Furuhashi’s. He didn’t like what she was implying, that he was some kind of victim. He especially didn’t like hearing that shit from her. She was the one who was abused, in every way a person can be.

  So what if his girlfriend said things that hurt his feelings sometimes?

 Was someone supposed to feel sorry for him because she screamed at him for little things in public, in front of his friends?

  What right did he have to get sympathy for his 5 foot nothing girlfriend slapping him now and again?

 His thoughts were cut off when he simultaneously felt a tear run from one of his eyes and felt (Y/N) wrap her arms around his waist to embrace him.

 “I’m so sorry that we, your friends, didn’t notice. And even when we did…all we did was joke about your crazy ex instead of helping you. We heard her yell and threaten you…abuse you. We would hear all her manipulation and the guys heard more than I ever did. I’m sorry we didn’t stop her from hurting you too.”

 “Don’t apologize to me! I don’t deserve it! Abuse or not, it doesn’t excuse any of the choices I made!”

 “No, it doesn’t. But that doesn’t mean you retroactively deserve any of what she put you through. You apologized to me and I can’t forget what happened, but I forgive you.”

 “I never meant to hurt you! I was just jealous because I barely had a chance to start with and then to think that you had all this experience and I only had Mei. I didn’t know how anyone besides her could ever see anything in me and it seemed like everything was working against me. And I know I don’t act like it but…I love you (Y/N)!”

 A loud throat clearing drew the attention of both teens. The rest of the team had emerged from the lockeroom, all clearly having heard the confession. (Y/N) turned and smiled at the guys widely.

 “Ready to play?”

 “No.” Seto said firmly. “We can’t put it off anymore. I think it goes without saying that everyone in this room is aware of their feelings for you. I don’t think any of us will fight each other over you.”

 “Shit I’ll take any of you right here right now.” Hara scoffed.

 “BUT…I do think we deserve an answer.”

 (Y/N) looked between all the faces of her team before taking in a deep breath.

~~~~~

 A knock at the door had the girl jumping from her skin. Shoving her suitcase under her bed, (Y/N) quickly walked to the entrance of her guest house and opened the door slowly.

 She was expecting her mother or grandfather. Hell, she was even expecting one of the guys.

 Ryo, instead, stood in her doorway trembling slightly. As quickly as she opened the door, the boy gave a deep bow.

 “I’m so sorry! For everything…I have a lot I want to say. That is…if you’ll give me the chance to say it.”

 (Y/N) looked between her ex and her room where the packing still needed to be done. Opening the door widely, she waved him inside.

(Author’s Note: Talking about Yamazaki being abused is NOT supposed to be a plot element I pulled out my ass to get him back in everyone’s good graces. I have always written Mei with the intent that she be read as an abusive girlfriend because she IS.

Take care of your male friends too, never assume they are okay just because they are bigger or louder or stronger. His backstory is NOT his redemption, his actions for this chapter and the last are him working his way there. His backstory just gives us some insight on his character and why he does some of the things he does.)

[ace-aro-fandroid]

I wrote a (parody) Star Trek episode

I guess this counts as my first fanfic. I wrote a Deep Space Nine Lwaxana Troi parody episode. It’s too long, it’s pure fucking genius, you should read it, and I’d like it to be performed, thank you.

(The station is bustling. The Klingon Parade is happening today and people are arriving from everywhere. At Quark's, Quark is trying to sell vaping devices to some Klingon children.)

QUARK: Will news articles come out in a few months about how these are mysteriously killing people? Maybe. But right here, in the glorious now, you can look like an Luranian mist-breather! Capitalism reigns!

KLINGON BOY 1: Get out of our faces, Ferengi petaQ! My father says you're nothing more than a peddler of flim-flam! You have no honor!

(The children beat him to death, but Odo is here. Odo pulls the blood-drenched Klingons off of Quark, who has five broken arms. But he is saved.)

QUARK: Oh, what a relief to see you, Constable! I was beginning to think I'd never -

ODO: HHHHRMPH!

(Odo ignores him and walks slowly towards the camera, past Quark, who trails off. Quark shrugs and heads back to the bar. Odo s t a r e s i n t o t h e d i s t a n c e.)

(O'Brien is drinking alone. Kira and Jadzia talk nearby. Jadzia is vaping.)

KIRA: I can't believe you bought one of those.

JADZIA: I like it.

KIRA: Haha. You know, It might be deadly.

JADZIA: Deadly can be fun.

KIRA: Ferengi are terrible.

JADZIA: Terrible can be fun.

KIRA: Haha. Aren't you a woman?

JADZIA: Aren't I?

O'BRIEN (in the middle of a drink, spitting synthale all over the table): Well, Quark certainly owes you one, doesn't he?

ODO (shaken out of some reverie): What?

O'BRIEN: You alright, Constable?

ODO: I am extremely edgy on principle, but... recently I've found myself being... even edgier...

O'BRIEN: I can't say I blame you. I'd feel the same way in your shoes.

ODO: Is that some sort of joke, Chief? I thought I told you these aren't REAL SHOES.

O'BRIEN: No, I just mean... Oh, no one's told you...

ODO (curmudgeonly): Told me WHAT.

(Lwaxana enters the Promenade. It's Lwaxana time. Patrons begin to flee.)

LWAXANA: I HAVE ARRIVED AND I AM LWAXANA TROI, (daughter of the Fifth House, holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed). NEW WIG. SPARKLES. I'M HERE TO READ MINDS AND FUCK CURMUDGEONS AND I'M ALL DONE READING MINDS

(Odo stares at Lwaxana in horror, long musical sting, opening credits play)

(Back in the Promenade, Lwaxana has wrapped herself around Odo)

LWAXANA: You are sad, aren't you? Sad man. Tell me why you're sad.

ODO: Madam Ambassador -

LWAXANA: No worries. You don't have to speak for the next three days. I will interrupt everything you say.

O'BRIEN: Um, I've just remembered I have to go take Molly to therapy. Keiko and I tried to decide on a family movie last night and they say the damage may last for a lifetime.

KIRA and JADZIA: Haha we should go too.

ODO: But -

KIRA and JADZIA: Hahahahahahahahaha

(they and their significant glances exit)

(Quark has approached.)

QUARK: Madam ambassador, aren't you looking lovely tonight?

LWAXANA: Yes, I am but you are ugly.

QUARK: Haha, brilliant. Do you want to buy this?

LWAXANA: No.

QUARK: I promise you. You'll love it.

(His earnestness is irritating, but intriguing.)

LWAXANA: Okay fine what is it?

(Odo has one second to be relieved as Quark leads Lwaxana over to the bar.)

SISKO (over commbadge): Sisko to Odo.

ODO: Go ahead, Commander.

SISKO: You're needed in the infirmary.

ODO: On my way.

(In the Infirmary, everyone is dying of Vape Fever.)

BASHIR: I don't have an explanation for it. Except that I know all the symptoms and exactly what could have caused it.

SISKO: What could have caused it?

BASHIR: These vaping devices are made of some kind of weird metal. It has traces of xyphilonium, a Cardassian material.

SISKO: You mean everyone has been vaping xyphilonium?

BASHIR: It appears so.

SISKO: Good thing I told Jake not to vape and he certainly listened to me. Who could have done this?

ODO: Well my sources gave me information that hasn't made sense until now. It seems someone has been ripping parts out of the station's hull. Quark must be using the station's hull to make vaping devices.

SISKO: Go tell him that is very dangerous, but don't arrest him or anything.

(Back in Quark's)

LWAXANA: I KNEW YOU'D COME BACK. Look what I bought from Quark.

(She clamps something around Odo's arm)

LWAXANA: It's a manacle that works on changelings! Now you can never escape me! This is charming! I am well-balanced!

ODO: Wait... this is made of xyphilonium too. QUARK!

QUARK: Yes?

ODO: Exactly how much of your merchandise is made out of the hull of the station??

QUARK: Well, all of it, of course! I didn't think it would be a problem.

(An explosion rocks the station. The lights go out.)

(In Ops)

KIRA: I'm getting reports that 3,000 people have been blown out into space. The hull integrity of the station is at negative 5 percent. If we don't do something soon, we'll all be torn to shreds!

SISKO: I need answers, people!

JADZIA: I have an answer. It's science-y and it takes longer to say than to do.

KIRA: That won't work. This station is Cardassian and it sucks!

JADZIA: Well what about this?

O'BRIEN: Yes and if we add something else it will work. I can help. I have to open this dangerous computer panel to do it. Don't tell Keiko.

BASHIR: Keiko is unhappy.

O'BRIEN: Shut up!

SISKO: Let's get to work!

(In Quark's. The lights are out. Quark is rushing drinks around to weeping customers.)

ROM: Brother, we don't have enough synthale without the replicators. Maybe we should suggest other drinks to our customers?

(Quark lights Rom on fire.)

LWAXANA: Tell me about your problems. You are edgier than usual.

ODO: I am not.

LWAXANA: But of course you are! I can always tell.

ODO: Yes I am sad.

LWAXANA: You know, Odo, in retrospect, I should not have manacled you to me.

ODO: I agree.

LWAXANA: And the real reason I came here is that I am also having a crisis. Good thing you were here.

(an emotional moment (?))

SISKO: Sisko to Odo.

ODO: Go ahead Commander.

SISKO: The station is about to explode. Evacuate everyone. You have five seconds.

(They begin the evacuation. It is the third one this week.)

(In Ops)

JADZIA: It's not working.

O'BRIEN: Dammit!

KIRA: 200 more people have suffocated without life support!

(Garak has appeared)

KIRA: Garak! What are you doing here?

GARAK: Well I thought this thing I knew might be of some help. I could have offered it sooner but I was.......

GARAK: ...

GARAK: ...

GARAK: ...

GARAK: ...hemming some pants.

SISKO: And you think this thing will work.

GARAK: Commander, if it didn't, I wouldn't be much of a...

GARAK: ...

GARAK: ...

BASHIR: Garak!

GARAK: ... tailor, would I?

SISKO: Well, do it!

GARAK: Right away!

(Outside shot of the station. Sisko voice-over)

SISKO: Thankfully everything is fine now, just in time for the Klingon Parade. Good thing, too, because I have to throw the opening pitch in the Klingon baseball game. Next time there's an inside shot of the station everything will look exactly as it always does.

(Inside shot of the station. He's right!)

(At Airlock 3.)

ODO: Well, you are leaving.

LWAXANA: I am, but you will always love me. I'll be back.

(It is a threat. She will be back.)

ODO: Thank you for telling me about your crisis, Madam Ambassador.

LWAXANA: Of course! That's what I'm here for!

(she winks, then kisses Odo, winks again, and leaves. Odo looks bewildered)

QUARK: Well, good thing everything turned out alright!

ODO: You almost murdered everyone on the station!!

QUARK: Almost.

(Everyone in the Promenade chuckles. Oh, Quark. You scamp. Everything is fine and Quark is not arrested.)

♫ BUH BUH BUH BUUUUUUH BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH BUH BUH BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH ♫

[aion-rsa]

Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1 Finale Easter Eggs & References

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This Star Trek: Lower Decks article contains MAJOR spoilers for the Season 1 finale.

In terms of references, if “No Small Parts” was the only episode of Star Trek you’d ever seen, you would have been given a crash course on the entire franchise. Seriously, if you wanted to explain to someone, very quickly, what Star Trek was about, it would probably be easier to just have them watch the 26-minutes of the Star Trek: Lower Decks finale, “No Small Parts.” The Easter eggs and references start with The Original Series and end up with a big shout-out to the TNG movies, the infamous Enterprise finale, and one officially licensed Star Trek toy that is somehow now canon.

Beta III and Landru 

The episode opens with the USS Cerritos in orbit of Beta III, the planet from the TOS episode “The Return of the Archons.” In that episode, people all worshiped a bizarre god called Landru, but Kirk and Spock determined that Landru was a computer. Landru encouraged people to go nuts once a day during something called “The Red Hour,” which is kind of like the Trek version of The Purge. Ben Stiller also named his production company “The Red Hour,” a fact which he discussed at length in the first episode of the new Star Trek podcast, The Pod Directive, which is co-hosted by Tawny Newsome, better known to Lower Decks fans as the voice of Beckett Mariner. 

Wondering about the word “return” in the episode “Return of the Archons?” Well, the titular Archons were actually humans from an Earth ship called the Archon. The people of Beta III were actually waiting for “the return of the Archons,” meaning, humans from Earth. So, with the Cerritos back at this planet, this is the third time the “Archons” have returned. 

Kirk and Spock from TAS 

On Ransom’s padd, when he’s talking about Kirk and Spock figuring out that Landru “was a computer,” we see an image of Kirk and Spock, exactly as they appeared in Star Trek: The Animated Series in 1973 and 1974. This is the first time that exact animated series depictions of Trek characters have appeared in another Trek series.

Don’t make me paradox you into destroying yourself!

Captain Freeman’s threat to Landru references one of Kirk’s famous talking-a-computer-to-death speeches at the end of the same episode, “Return of the Archons.” Kirk also famously talked other AIs to death in “The Changeling” and “I, Mudd.” 

“TOS Era”

Ransom says it’s “always weird visiting planets from the TOS era.” Freeman naturally questions him on this, and he explains it’s what he calls the 2260s because it was filled with “Those Old Scientists,” or TOS. Obviously, the joke here is that “TOS” is what fans have been calling Star Trek: The Original Series, since, well, there’s been a Next Generation or TNG. 

“A Gamester of Triskelion or whatever” 

Freeman says she never wants people to get taken advantage of by “a gamester of triskelion.” This references the TOS episode “The Gamesters of Triskelion,” who are revealed to be talking brains who make bets using a currency known as “quatloos.” 

Captain Freeman Day

Boimler mentions that the Cerritos has a “Captain Freeman Day,” which references Captain Picard Day from the TNG episode, “The Pegasus.” This is the third time in 2020 that a new Trek series has referenced Captain Picard Day. In the first episode of Picard — “Remembrance” — Jean-Luc revisited the Captain Picard Day banner. And, in Episode 5 of Lower Decks, Captain Picard Day was also referenced outright.

Exocomp

The robot named Peanut Hamper is an Excocomp, a type of sentient artificial life first seen in the TNG episode “The Quality of Life.” In that episode, the Exocomps were recognized as being sentient in 2369. Lower Decks happens in 2380, so it seems like a lot has happened since then. “The Quality of Life” was also directed by Jonathan Frakes, who, spoiler alert, appears in this episode of Lower Decks. 

Wesley Crusher worked with his mom!

Mariner tries to deflect accusations of nepotism by pointing out that “Wesley Crusher worked with his mom!” This is true! In TNG, Wesley Crusher became an acting ensign on the Enterprise while his mother was a member of the senior staff. Both Crushers were often in staff meetings together! Notably, this episode also ends with Riker and Troi and the USS Titan. Riker and Troi are married and serve together as Captain and ship’s Counselor. 

Wolf 359 was an inside job

Mariner’s bad one-time-date tells her “Wolf 359 was an inside job.” This joke is hilarious, but you can also kind of see why people in Starfleet might believe it. After all, the guy who destroyed most of the Starfleet ships at Wolf 359 was Picard, who had been assimilated by the Borg in “The Best of Both Worlds.” Semantically, because the Borg stole knowledge from Picard’s mind and used him to take down Starfleet, they had inside information. 

As he’s leaving, Conspiracy Theory Guy says “Changelings aren’t real, the Dominion War didn’t happen!” This references the Dominion War in Deep Space Nine, which was mostly perpetrated by the shape-shifting race of aliens called The Founders but more commonly called, Changelings. 

Kalla system and the Pakleds

The faked distress call in this episode comes from the Kalla system. This references the TNG episode “Firstborn,” in which the Kalla system is mentioned as a place the Pakleds hang out. 

However, the Pakleds themselves only appeared in one TNG episode ever, “The Samaritan Snare.” As Boimler and Freeman point out, people thought they were a joke back then, too, but it turns out, they’re not anymore!

Apparently, people eat salmon on First Contact Day

Ransom says the Pakled ship is carving up the Cerritos like a “First Contact Day salmon.” First Contact Day references the First Contact, where the Vulcans first formally landed on Earth and met humans. Why would people eat salmon on First Contact Day? Well, First Contact happened in Montana, so maybe, just maybe, there were salmon there? 

Mariner’s contraband

We knew in Lower Decks episode 1, that Mariner had hidden various outlawed items throughout the ship. But, in this scene, we see way more of it. Here’s a breakdown of Mariner’s stuff.

A Tribble from “The Trouble With Tribbles” et al. Mariner later says she uses it for “personal reasons.”

A fencing foil. This references Sulu fighting with a sword like this in “The Naked Time.” It also references Mariner telling Boimler that he could become a “sword guy” in the first Lower Decks episode, “Second Contact.”

A bottle of Klingon Bloodwine

A Klingon Bat’leth

And…a “Spock” helmet. This helmet is based on a toy from the ‘70s produced by AHI. For years, fans have pointed out the helmet has nothing to do with Spock or Star Trek, despite the fact that it was sold as a real Star Trek toy. Ethan Peck jokingly unboxed one of these vintage Spock helmets in December 2019 on StarTrek.com. The fact that Marnier has one of these helmets as “contraband,” seems to imply the Spock helmet is canon. Other than Xon, this Easter egg might be Lower Deck’s deepest, deepest cut. 

Peanut Hamper’s Refusal to Help

When Peanut Hamper the Exocomp says she’ll “pass” on helping save the ship, Tendi says “What about the needs of the many?” This references Spock’s famous axiom from The Wrath of Khan: “The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few…or the one.”

USS Titan entrance

Although Riker’s USS Titan has been referenced several times on Lower Decks, and one officer even found himself transferred there in Episode 6, this is the first time we actually get to see Riker’s Luna-class starship in action. The way the Titan looks matches with its appearance on the covers of non-canon novels, as does its register number: NCC-80102. In 2379, Riker became the captain of the Titan and Troi, the ship’s counselor.

RED ALERT!

Riker says RED ALERT twice in these Titan scenes. Once when the ship makes its big entrance, and again when he says “We’re still at Red Alert!” This references Riker’s habit for saying “RED ALERT” really, really loud on TNG.

Riker’s first officer seems to be the same species as Linus from Star Trek: Discovery

The alien in the First Officer’s chair looks very much like the Saurian (lizard person) Linus from Star Trek: Discovery. In theory, “Saurians” have been in canon for a long time — Bones and Kirk drank Saurian brandy in TOS, and a Saurian was a prominent background character in The Motion Picture.

Romulan Ale

Mariner says that Riker is “flush with Romulan Ale.” Although Lower Decks referenced Romulan Whiskey in its first episode, this is the first reference to Romulan Ale. In Nemesis, Riker and Troi had Romulan Ale served at their wedding. So, Troi saying “We’ll talk about this,” might reference the idea that she had assumed that all the Romulan Ale had already been drunk.

Starship refit

Captain Freeman insists that she doesn’t want the Cerritos to have cosmetic changes, saying “I hate it when a ship gets repaired and comes out looking all-Sovereign-class.” This references the idea that the original TOS Enterprise looked very different after its refit in The Motion Picture. But, more specifically, it references the Sovereign-class USS Enterprise-E, the ship that replaced the Enterprise-D in Star Trek: First Contact.

Jax’s Death

Jax is the security chief of the USS Cerritos and unexpectedly dies in the first season of a new Star Trek show. This could reference Tasha Yar — the security chief of the Enterprise — who died in the first season of TNG. Jax’s funeral echo’s Spock’s funeral in The Wrath of Khan, but also, Airiam’s funeral in the Star Trek: Discovery episode “The Red Angel.”

Riker calls Carol Freeman his cha’dich

Like Mariner calling Boimler his “cha’dich,” in “Second Contact,” Riker calls Freeman — Mariner’s mom — the same thing. “Cha’dich” is a Klingon term that means someone is basically someone’s loyal assistant, who does their fighting for them. Picard was Worf’s “cha’dich” in the TNG episode “Sins of the Father.”

We don’t use money anymore

Riker tells Mariner “Why don’t you buy me a drink!” Mariner replies “We don’t use money anymore.” This references the fact that most people in the Federation don’t use money. Kirk says something very similar in The Voyage Home when Dr. Taylor says: “Don’t tell me you don’t use money in the 23rd century,” to which Kirk replies, “Well, we don’t!”

Tulgana IV

The planet the Titan is headed for at the very end of the episode is Tulgana IV. This is the same planet Boimler and Mariner visited in the second Lower Decks episode, “Envoys.” 

Boimler has a picture of Jack Ransom in his new quarters?

It really looks like that Boimler has a round photo of Ransom in a place of honor in his new quarters. This is hilarious and weird. Does Boimler think Ransom actually was his friend?

Armus 

Mariner is so angry that Boimler left the ship without telling her that she says: “I’m going to feed you to an Armus!” This references the oil-slick alien Armus from the TNG episode “Skin of Evil.” Again, this is the creature who killed Tasha Yar.

Riker is still obsessed with the NX-01 Enterprise

Riker says he is late to the bridge because “I was watching the first Enterprise on the holodeck, You know Archer and those guys.” This references the infamous finale of Enterprise called “These Are the Voyages…” which is framed as Riker interacting in a holodeck simulation that recreates the final mission of the NX-01 Enterprise. 

Little Risa and the Little Horga’hn

Riker and Troi talk about visiting “Little Risa” on Tulgana IV, which prompts Troi to ask if “we should bring the little Horga’hn.” This references a statue called the Horga’hn which you’re supposed to display openly on Risa if you want to well…get busy. In TNG’s “Captain’s Holiday,” Riker tricked Picard into picking up a statue.

Oh the Jazz

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Riker’s warp speed catchphrase is: “Give me warp in the factor of 5, 6, 7, 8!” He snaps and counts down to this like he’s getting ready to play jazz. Troi says “Oh the Jazz,” which seems to reference her annoyance with this obsession. In “Second Chances,” Troi mocks Riker for being unable to play a certain trombone solo correctly on a song called “Nightbird.” Riker’s interest in playing jazz, specifically the trombone, started with the episode “11001001.” Most recently, Riker was listening to jazz in the Picard episode “Nepenthe,” when Jean-Luc showed up at his house. And now that Lower Decks has put Boimler on the USS Titan, it seems very, very likely that we’ll be hearing more of Riker’s jazz trombone playing in season 2. Hit it!

The post Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1 Finale Easter Eggs & References appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[talesofafangirlwithadvr]

February Picks

And just like that another month is coming to a close. I can’t believe how fast it has gone by. I’ve continued watching some favorites from last month and am sad some have come to an end. Meanwhile a bunch of shows came back from their winter hiatus, so it was a lot of fun getting back into their story-lines again.

Be prepared for spoilers once again...

SANDITON

Masterpiece’s Sanditon ended this past Sunday, here in the states, and I am jumping on the campaign that we need a season 2! It can’t end like that with so many open ended story-lines (okay maybe just one or two, but still we deserve more). 

Who would have guessed that Esther would become one of my favorite characters in this series and that’s mainly thanks to her well written character development. From the “villain” in episode 1 she grew into so much more and was such a complex character. I really enjoyed watching her story unfold. I am SO HAPPY she married Babington and his speech to her about living side by side, knowing he loves her more and just wants to see her happy. Wow....Goals. I want to see this relationship progress even more (if that’s possible) with a season 2. Speaking of things I want to see: Will Sanditon be rebuilt and how long will it take? Will there be an alternative allowing Sidney to be with Charlotte? Major twist there as their relationship doesn’t end with a happily ever after (very un-Austen like for the main protagonists). When he returned at the end stopping Charlotte’s carriage, I seriously thought he would have said he broke up his engagement, but alas. The previous episode I really wanted them together (thanks to Sidney’s speech to Charlotte when he told her his ex-fiance left and how Charlotte makes him a better person *melts* and of course their dancing scene the episode prior was amazing). In the early parts of the season, while I knew Charlotte and Sidney would be a thing-eventually, I couldn’t help but have a soft spot for Young Stringer’s character and my appreciation never truly left. I felt he was paired well with Charlotte. Such a tragic ending for him. He wanted to better himself (much like the Parker brothers) but after his father’s death he no longer will. Throughout the series, I enjoyed Miss Lambe’s character, but I agree with many reviews that I was reading that her character was kind of dropped at the end. I’m curious what her reaction will be when she finds out about SIdney’s engagement...

Thank you again, Andrew Davies. I was not expecting to like this adaptation so much.    

ZOEY’S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST

The best way to describe one of NBC’s latest shows is that I feel happy and in a good mood whenever I finish an episode. (And then I’m immediately upset that I have to wait a week for the next one. I watch them too fast.) I’ve heard many people compare it to Glee and while I could definitely understand that I keep getting drawn back to Abc’s short lived Eli Stone. There Eli (played by Jonny Lee Miller) could hear people around him sing and dance, which helped him solve upcoming law cases. In this show he was experiencing a brain tumor, but so far Zoey seems all clear. Instead, a freak accident while she is getting an MRI scan and listening to music, allows for her to hear people sing (and perform) their innermost feelings. There’s still some logistics to discover like what Zoey looks like when she watches these performances (does she move around or look like she’s just staring into the air. I might be thinking into this too much...I know). We just recently found out that sometimes she can speak to others as they are happening. Each time she hears someone sing she is meant to help them with something in their life. It could be a family member, co worker, friend, or like this past week her boss. While there’s one major problem (that she has to fix), there are often multiple songs in one episode which I really enjoy. The cast is also very strong, both musically and as actors. I can’t wait to see where the rest of the season is headed!

TO ALL THE BOYS P.S. I STILL LOVE YOU

When the first film was released on Netflix about 2 years ago, I was instantly a fan. I was unfamiliar with the book, but quickly added to my TBR list. (My to read list is extremely long, so I still haven’t gotten to it. Story of my life.) I really enjoyed watching Lara Jean experience the results of having her secretive love letters distributed to her past crushes. I was definitely Team Peter and Lara by the end of the film. They were adorable. The sequel was released earlier this month and I kind of forgot about it. It felt like we had been preparing for the sequel for a bit and then I must have been watching too much Disney Plus to miss the trailer. Watching P.S. I still love you, I just missed the original film. There were parts I liked and I was a big fan of John Ambrose (and of course Jordan Fisher because he’s great), but overall I felt like much didn’t happen. Also, Lara and Peter’s relationship kind of bothered me in parts. I understand that for both of them this was the first time they were in this kind of relationship and could feel awkward about certain things (like the Valentine’s singing-gram or writing an original poem). The main part I did like about them was towards the end when he arrived at the retirement home. I don’t say this often, but I have no want to re-watch it any time soon.   

VIOLETTA SEASON 1

Speaking of Disney Plus....

In a quick month and a half I have successfully watched ALL 80 episodes of season 1 of Violetta. I feel so accomplished and know the withdrawal will happen very soon. (I just finished last night and I’ve been listening to the music a lot recently). I’m so upset that season 2 has not be released on Disney Plus yet. I thought it would be by now because the streaming service has been up for a good amount of months and this show was so popular around the world. Unfortunately, I have not been lucky with my Google searches for when they’ll release it and no luck with YouTube either (no English caption options). I’ve been hearing that season 2 is really great because season 1 did a nice job of establishing these characters and now we get to see more story-lines. I will miss the students and teachers at the Studio as well the home-life at the Castillo’s house. Throughout 80 episodes it’s understandable to love and hate several characters as you’re with them for a good amount of time. For some people it was a roller coaster, but there were a good amount that I liked pretty consistently. I am a fan of Violetta and Leon and they had some super cute moments. I think it was about episode 35 where I truly felt like connection. When Tomas left the love triangle for a bit I actually grew to like him and would often joke how he never smiled and had a Tomas face. I really liked You Mix and the introduction of Frederico. Some great songs came out of that section like Ven y Canta and Tienes el Talento, but my favorite is definitely Ser Mejor. And of course, I will always have love for Pablo. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m going to miss reading subtitles (I really do feel like I know more Spanish now). Definitely check out this show if you want something drama filled and funny at the same time. 

LEGACIES

I know I dedicated a whole post to Chris Wood’s return as Kai Parker on Legacies. (See the article here:https://talesofafangirlwithadvr.tumblr.com/post/190761328673/omg-legacies-2x12) But I still had to include it in this wrap up because once again Legacies is doing a great job this season. I was so excited to see it when it came back from the mid-season hiatus. Since the return of Wood it has gotten more of a TVD vibe than usual, which is great. I haven’t watched the last episode, but have seen a clip of Kai masquerading at the school. I am going to be very interested to see for how long he hangs around and how long it takes for them to discover him AND how Josie handles the evil inside of her. 

BROOKLYN NINE NINE

Thank goodness this show got renewed (and picked up from NBC). When it started a couple of weeks ago, I was reminded how much I missed it. I can’t get over that this is already the second season on NBC. As usual the hi-jinks of the Nine Nine have been entertaining to watch. The Jimmy Jab games were great. I loved how Hitchcock was so desperate to win that he was taking Scully’s array of pills. What an ending with Debbie! Did not think she could be capable of that. I can’t wait to see the outcome next episode. I’m so excited for a Santiago-Peralta baby. It was a great episode when they were hiding it from Charles and Adrian returned. I’ve seen the movie Memento and it is great! It was hilarious each time he was like, ‘I don’t know what that is’ and then saying ‘Finding Dory’ solved everything. I am so happy that this show was suggested for me to watch and fill my Office and Parks and Rec void. Whenever a new episode’s on the DVR I can’t wait to watch it.      

LEGENDS OF TOMORROW

And last, but certainly not least, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow has once again not disappointed me this season (I know it’s still early, but I’m optimistic). It started at the end of January following the events of Crisis and I liked how this season transitioned with all the changes (the major one being the introduction of Zari’s brother). I am really happy to see her again though and how she is having these flashes of her old life on board the Wave-rider. I can’t wait to see that reveal happen (especially because as of right now only Nate knows the ‘truth’). I love seeing Ava as a permanent part of the Legends crew and as stepping in as Captain when Sara was away. She is a great addition and I like how quirky she is since we first met her. Her and Sara are perfect. I also love Ray and Nora. Nora as a fairy godmother is fantastic. One of my favorite episodes was the one with the 80s dance. Her role in all of that was great and her realization with what she can provide for these kids. I feel like this is going to be the reason Ray leaves the Legends. I remember seeing Brandon Routh’s Instagram Post about leaving the show and this feels like the reason he will. I hope that isn’t for a while though because I am going to miss him a lot. 

Until March!   

[huntertales]

Part Four: Hard Pill To Swallow. (I Think I’m Gonna Like It Here S09E01)

Episode Summary: The Winchesters are left in a frantic state after the reader collapses, setting off a chain reaction of events with deadly consequences. Out of desperation, Dean sends out a prayer and meets an angel named Ezekiel, both of them make a unorthodox benefiting both parties while the reader fights for her life. Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader Episode Warning: Heavy angst, mentions of childbirth, stillbirth aftermath, character death(s), hints of depression. Word Count: 4,331.

Previous Part | Supernatural Rewrite Masterlist

This wasn’t supposed to be the way things ended up. It might have been your body walking out of the hospital, making it appear you were back to normal once again. However there was someone else hitching a ride. A mutual benefit for both if things went according to plan. The question lingering on the Winchesters mind was how you were going to handle the news the person healing up your inside was an angel. They were fixing up your damaged organs while you walked around doing everyday tasks, while you were on a hunt. It was more than just an invasion of privacy. This was something you had to deal with your entire life. You always had another passenger in your own body. And the first and only time you were an angel’s meat suit the experience left a bitter memory behind. 

Back when the apocalypse was nipping at your heels, you promised Lucifer your own body to have instead of his original vessel, Sam. You thought you could somehow find a way to save the day before it was too late. Instead the situation veered into a direction worse than you imagined. Sam knew the feeling of being a passenger in your own skin, capable of nothing more than watching as your own hands kill the people you love. Maybe that’s why he was so against this. 

Sam knew that Ezekiel wasn’t Lucifer. There was no angel like the devil himself. But they weren’t exactly kind to the three of you since you knew them. He couldn’t fully trust the angel like Dean had. Ezekiel wasn’t doing this at the kindness of his own heart. Possessing your body meant he could heal himself as well from the fall. It would be a mutual benefit for both parties. The younger man was left wondering what the angel said to you in order for you to have said yes. He most likely tricked you. A harmless way to take control. Ezekial told the boys that he wanted to help mankind. 

"So?" Dean asked the angel after a few minutes of walking out of the hospital with not much trouble. Ezekial had been in your body for the past fifteen minutes after he left his old vessel lying in your bed. He was examining the damage inside of your body, figuring out the extent of what needed to be done. Dean didn't like the silence. This was his last shot at getting you better and on the mend. "How's it looking in there?"

"Not good." The boys knew that it was you speaking, but it was the angel who was in control. He gave them a brief overview of the things that he needed to fix. Sam noticed the angel used a calm, softlike tone when he spoke. It was nothing like you. "There is much work to be done."

"Yeah, but she's gonna wake up, right?" Sam asked the angel. 

“She will.” The angel responded 

"So, when she does—what, is she gonna feel you inside, triaging her spleen?" Dean tried to figure out what the whole deal was and how this was going to work. You were most likely going to have lots of questions. A lot of hostility and anger towards him for what he decided to do. 

“She will not feel me, no.” Ezekial said. “There is no reason for Y/N to know I'm in here at all.” 

“You’re joking. No, this is too big.” Sam protested the angel’s idea. “She has a right to know.” 

“And what will she do if you tell her that she is possessed by an angel?” The angel asked him.

Dean stopped walking when he noticed that Ezekial did as well. The older man thought about the answer for a second, wondering what kind of excuse would be good enough for what he had done. Dean knew his choices that he made were going to lead to things he didn't want to think about. You were going to eat him alive and claw his eyes out for what he had done. But he didn't regret the choices he made. It was how it had to be. "Well, she'll have to understand."

“And if she does not?” Ezekial wondered. Dean fell silent from the lack of a concrete answer he could give the angel. The situation was more fragile than if one of the boys had gotten hurt and it was him who was healing them. There was more personal damage done to your body than Ezekial could heal. “Without her acceptance, Y/N can eject me at any time, especially with me being so weak. And if Y/N does eject me, she will die.” 

Sam wasn't going to make any promises about keeping this a secret. He didn't want any of this to happen in the first place. But there was no turning back now. He looked over to his brother, wondering what was going to be his big plan. It was Dean's idea to do this, it was going to be his call. Dean was apprehensive about keeping you in the dark. He had done this once before with you when you were still a half demon and working for Crowley. It was a messy situation that ended with you in the hospital. He hated doing this to you. But it had to be. He shook his head in defeat.

“Then we keep it a secret for now. Or until Y/N’s well enough that she doesn’t need an angelic pacemaker.” Dean decided to compromise with the situation. He let out a heavy sigh and wiped his face with his hands. “Or I find a way to tell her what happened. I…” He looked to the hospital  and felt the familiar heaviness on his chest return. “As for her being in the hospital, I have to tell her the truth. I can’t lie to her. She deserves to know.” 

“I can erase it all, if you like.” Ezekial suggested a plan to try and soften the blow. “She will not remember any of the past two days. And as for her pregnancy...I can block out the memories.”

“You can’t just erase six months worth of stuff. That’s not fair. We can’t act like she didn’t just lose a child.” Sam quickly jumped into the conversation before his brother could do something stupid. “She has a right to know.” 

"If I may suggest, we can still tell her." Ezekial proposed a way to tell the truth, just not admitting all the details. The boys knew the guilt would eat you up inside for the things you had done, what kind of danger you put your baby through. You would take all the blame, think about it constantly until you droze yourself mad. Losing a child when you were so close to giving birth would break you. Instead of ripping off the bandaid and forcing you to face the truth, the angel suggested something to...soften the blow. "I can repress the memories from her mind. Make her believe she had no idea she was pregnant at all. If you understand what I mean."

The boys slowly nodded their heads. But it didn’t mean they agreed right away to the plan. Both of them were left wondering what the right thing to do was. They were making so many decisions for you. The least they could do was at least grieve for a life that once was. What could have been. Dean felt his jaw tighten at the last choice he was forced to make. He kept telling himself he really wasn’t lying to you. He was protecting you. He shut his eyes and slowly nodded his head, giving the angel permission one last time to do what needed to be done.

+ + +

The aftermath was going to be the hardest. Dean was warned about it when he got the news about his child’s passing from the doctor. Leaving the hospital without the little person you had been anticipating for nine months to make their arrival. Even if they came a little early, medicine had advanced so much that sometimes babies got fighting chances. Other times...they were taken away from their parents. For no reason at all other than genetics. Sometimes the body couldn’t handle carrying a baby to full term. Sometimes there was no reason at all. You were left with a pile of questions and no shovel to help. But that was life. Try to make sense of what it all means, why certain things happen. All you do is drive yourself mad. Dean learned to accept the tragedies in his life. 

Sam didn’t say a single word to his brother after the three of them piled up into the Impala and drove off, acting as if nothing happened at all. Before they pulled out of the parking garage Dean looked into the rear view to see that you were passed out in the backseat after Ezekial announced he was going to work. You would eventually rise from a slumber, having not a single clue what happened. Most of the day slipped away into the night, and you still hadn’t woken up yet. The boys checked on you every so often to see that you were still breathing. And while you were each time, you still didn't give any sign that you were going to wake up.

Dean decided to stop for gas in the middle of Pennsylvania when he noticed the tank was starting to get dangerously low. It gave the boys a chance to stretch their legs and enjoy a bit of fresh air after being stuck inside a hospital for two days straight, forced to smell the chemicals they used to clean the place. Your eyelids began to slowly flutter open when you began to come back into consciousness, the real you. You laid against the backseat door with your head pressed against the glass, the angel you were familiar with from the countless times you fell asleep from pure exhaustion. 

You slowly emerged from what like a deep slumber, the kind where you didn’t move for hours, leaving your muscles feeling tense. You managed to lift your head up from the window and wince from the cramp you got. Rubbing the muscle in some sort attempt to ease the pain, you looked around to see the Impala was parked in a gas station from the looks of it. You peeked out the back window to take a glance around when you noticed the boys were in the front seat. Sam was leaning against the hood with his back to you while Dean paid for gas with a stolen credit card. You saw their lips moving and hear their muffled voices, but you couldn’t make out a single word they were saying. From their expressions they seemed stressed out. Exhausted. 

You reached a hand for the door and opened it up, swinging your legs out and pushing yourself up to your feet for the first time in what felt like forever. It felt good to stretch your body out from sitting in the car. Your body felt sore all over the place. You blamed it on from being stuck in the car. Slamming the car door shut, you found it odd when you noticed the boys jumped slightly at the unexpected noise. You greeted them with a smile from their reaction of seeing you and around for the first time 

"Where are we?" You asked them, looking around at the gas station you were at. There was no soul around here except for the three of you. You had to move slowly from the stiff muscles and aches in your body from sitting in the same position for so long. You glanced down at your watch to see that it was a little past midnight. 

"Y/N?" Dean spoke your name in what sounded like a slight nervous tone of voice. You glanced back up at him from how he was acting. You slowly nodded your head, wondering what was going on with him. "How are you feeling?"

“Tired.” You admitted to them. You had to lean against the side of the car when you felt the ache in your legs starting to grow worse. “Feels like I’ve been sleeping a week.” 

“Try a day. The pills that the doctor gave you really wore you out.” Dean said. You furrowed your brow slightly in confusion at the mention of something you had no recollection of. If you ended up in the hospital, you had a feeling you would remember. "I bet the past couple of days have been a bit of a blur."

“I guess. I mean,” You crossed your arms over your chest in discomfort and shrugged your shoulders. You tried to wrap your head around the fact that you tried your hardest to remember the past two days, but you had no idea how you ended up here. “What happened?”

“What do you remember?” Sam asked you. 

“The church. Feeling awful. Even when I stopped doing the trials...I got this abdominal pain. It felt like cramps. But ten times worse.” You managed to piece together just enough memories to figure out what happened. And yet not enough to fill in the missing gaps of time over the past forty-eight hours. All of it felt like a blur. “I remember the angels falling. That’s it. But...how—why were we at the hospital? And why does it look like you two were in a fight?”

You finally noticed the bruises on the boys’ face underneath the floresignt lights from above. You stepped forward to expect the busted lip Dean and bruised cheek along with Sam's black eye. Both of them looked like they had gotten into it with someone. You winced at how painful they must have been. The boys didn’t show any signs they were bothered by it. 

“It’s nothing, sweetheart.” Dean tried to ease your worried mind off of him. He grabbed ahold of your wrist when you tried to touch his bottom lip to inspect the damage. You looked over at him when he didn’t answer your question. However you noticed his expression shifted slightly, like he wasn’t telling you everything. He was afraid to. 

“We need to tell you something.” Sam suddenly spoke up out of nowhere. You turned your head to look in his direction when you heard the urgency in his voice. He opened up his mouth to tell you what had been rattling in his brain over the past couple of days. Before the man could get a single word out, Dean talked over him, stopping him from doing that he would regret. 

"Maybe something like this should be discussed later." Dean suggested to his brother in a hardening tone of voice. He thought the setting all of you were in was a little too inappropriate and out in the open like this to discuss such things. 

Sam tossed his brother a dirty glare, the mind that showed more than what he was saying. “She has a right to know.”

“Know what?” You asked them. You looked back and forth between the boys to find some sort of clue to the news Sam wanted to break to you. You felt your stomach beginning to clench in nervousness from how they were acting all of a sudden. Both of them wanted to tell you, but neither one of them could say the words. Even the younger Winchester found himself growing mute. “Seriously. Did something happen to me? Whatever it is, just tell me.”

Dean let out a sigh from the corner he was put into without much of a choice. You stared at him with that face of yours that was filled with concern at the damage you had done. He knew at some point he was going to have to have this discussion. He hoped by the time he got to the bunker he would have figured out a perfect way to break the news to you. But there would be no perfect way to do it. What he was going to tell you was like ripping off a bandaid. It was going to hurt in the moment. After a while the pain would subside and turn into a dull ache.

"After...After you stopped doing the trials, you collapsed." Dean decided to take small steps to the version of the situation they had agreed on. Leading with the truth seemed like a good direction to go in. And while every part of him wanted to continue, Dean pressed his lips together to keep that from happening. He couldn't break your heart. But even given you the fabricated truth, the kind where it was supposed to soften the blow, still hurt like it did when he was told himself. "You kept complaining that you were in a lot of pain."

You stared at the man intently from what he was saying, from the look on your face, you vaguely remembered the situation. However what was foggy was the reason why you ended up in the hospital. And what caused the pain. "The doctor might have thought you had..." Dean suddenly found himself unable to say the word. He felt his stomach tense up, almost like he was going to be sick to his stomach.  He'd been saying it for the past forty-eight hours like it was nothing. But when it came to telling the one person who deserved to know, he clammed up. You raised your brow and gave him a slightly impatient look, wondering what he was trying to say. You expected just about anything to come out his mouth. But what you heard wasn't something you came up on your own. "He said that you had a miscarriage, Y/N.” 

"What?" You felt your lips stretch into a smile at the words that you heard come from Dean's mouth. For a few seconds nothing made sense to you. The word felt so strange to you and yet so heavy. You slowly moved your gaze away from him and to a spot in the near darkness of the empty road ahead. That wasn't possible. You began to frantically think about more to what you were told. 

Miscarriage meant you were pregnant. And pregnancy meant you were carrying a baby. A baby that was no longer. You thought back to what you remembered from being at the church. How you felt after you stopped doing the trials. For a moment you felt perfectly fine..and the next you had the worst abdominal pains. It felt like menstrual cramps, but ten times worse. And the blood. You remembered the spot of red blood just below the zipper of your jeans. After that...nothing but a blank memory you couldn't reach.

"How..." You gnawed on the flesh inside of your cheek with your teeth. You looked at the boys for a second before you quickly turned away, suddenly feeling like you couldn't look them in the eye. You felt ashamed. Guilty. Your breathing began to turn deeper, more shallow and rapid as the reality began sinking in. "How...how?”

How did you not know? How did you let this happen? They were just a few questions you asked yourself. Your voice dropped to a whisper as your eyes fell back to the concrete. Your mind wracked itself with trying to figure out how you didn't figure out the symptoms sooner. Your body had been going through changes for the three months that it took to complete them. It was hard to tell what was normal and what wasn't. Did you ignore the warning signs? Maybe there was none at all. You had so many questions. So much emotions you could feel bubbling to the surface. You quickly wiped away the tears from your eyes when you felt them accidentally slip out. Now was not the time to cry.  

"You didn't know, sweetheart. None of us could have." Dean finally spoke up after seeing you take the news. Somehow the lie slipped right off his tongue without a problem. A small part of him knew telling you this was wrong. You deserved to know the whole truth. But if you did, then more would come out. And everything he had done would slowly unravel. "The doctor said you were a little over six weeks."

"How is that possible?" You knew better than anyone the trials took a lot out of you. Mentally and psychically. You body was going through changes, most likely that was why you missed a few important symptoms. What had you baffled was how you found the time. It had been a while since you and Dean had an intimate moment together. You awkwardly looked over at Sam from what you were discussing. The conception of your unborn baby. "We haven't exactly...you know. And I would've known if I was late."

"My guess it was after you came back from Purgatory. Remember?" Dean managed to make up an excuse that wasn't a complete and total lie. The both of you did share a night together that was more than just cuddling. Sort of like a victory for what you managed to do. Either way, the memory didn't bring up a warm and tingly feeling to you. You shake your head in anger. "Look whatever happened...whatever the reason, this wasn't your fault. These things just happen."

"I know. I know. It's just..." You were pregnant. For six weeks your body had been preparing and growing a new life. And for whatever reason, if it was because of the trials, maybe a medical reason, they were gone. You lost a lot of people in your life. But losing a life that was part yours...it hurts worse. Because it was someone that could have been. And it was gone. "I know it was only a month. But it still hurts. I don't know why."

"It will for a while. But it wasn't your fault, Y/N. You need to remember that." Dean told you. You forced yourself to look at the man directly in the eye. You had been carrying his unborn child. Until you weren't. You tried to find any trace of sadness in his eyes. Maybe a sense of anger for what you had done. But he seemed strangely calm. Or he was giving you the best poker face of all. "I meant what I said at the church. Nothing will ever change Sammy's or my mind about you. You're capable of anything, Y/N."

The church. You vividly remembered how you gotten over the eight hours while you pumped Crowley full of your blood. You had gone delirious to the point of saying things that didn't make sense Telling deep dark fears about yourself that you thought were long gone. You took on the burden of doing the trials to prove Dean that life didn't have to end in death...and for another reason. You tried to think of what it was, but your mind was drawing a blank. Through the months and changes, you ended up feeling like the trials was the only way to purify yourself from the demon blood you thought was still in your body. You went on about how you hurt the people you love. You kept telling yourself this was the right thing to do. You felt your jaw tighten at the irony. 

In all honesty you couldn't have known you were pregnant. You inhaled a deep breath and told yourself something your mother might have heard often. These things happen. It could have been worse. Women go full term and they lose their child. A routine check up to see their little fetus and there's no heartbeat. You lost your child when they were nothing more than a bunch of cells with a heartbeat. Hell, maybe this was the universe of telling you that getting pregnant was a bad idea. You admitted to Dean last year that you weren't opposed to the chance of having a family of your own. It was like your desire to have a barely normal life. For people like you it wasn't possible. You could never raise a child. 

Not when the sky was raining angels and hell's doors were still open. Your life was constantly on the line. Women who weren't like you deserve to feel grief. You wanted kids. You wanted a lot of things. But you weren't like most. Nobody deserved to have you as a parent. 

"Are you gonna be okay, Y/N?" Sam's voice broke your concentration away from your thoughts. You glanced up at the man to see he was giving you a sympathy expression, the ends of his lips stretched into a small smile. Even if you could see the sadness in his eyes. The man wanted a normal life more than anything. You felt the knife in your heart twist more and more. You slowly nodded your head. "It's gonna be alright. We'll get through this." 

"I know, Sammy. It's just...It's a lot to take in." You mumbled. You knew the loss was a shock to both of the boys. Much as you wanted to talk more about this, you didn't have the luxury right now to deal with your emotions. You do what you always did; shove them down and pretend like they didn't exist. "Last thing I remember was the angels falling out of the sky. What's the deal with that?"

"We know much as you. It started right after we left the church." Sam said. He let out a heavy sigh from the trouble all of you had to deal with. Thousands of angels wandering the earth. One of them crawling around in his best friend’s skin. And you had no clue. "Which means we've got that crap on our hands." 

“You know what that means.”

“We’ve got work to do.” 

Rewrite Taglist:

@deansquirreljerkwinchester // @everything-i-tried-was-taken // @starswirlblitz // @supernaturalismydrug // @we-are-band-sexuals // @angiewinchestercas // @kaylinfayezink  // @owhatshername1 // @kgbrenner  // @cleo-is-my-doggy // @eeyore1988 // @dakota-dream // @lilylovelyxo // @timetravelingginger // @holahellohialoha //   @quicksilver123456 // @natashacamillas //@lexi-anastasia //@kaylinfayezink //  @deanwnchstr @albot-eh // @rashinyx2002 // @shellybeans //  @icantfindacreativeurl //  @becs-bunker // @oreosatmidnight // @bands-and-shietz // @fabulousmustachesonapolarbear // @clarewinchester // @releasethekracko // @alex-zeppelin // @mega-mrs-dean-winchester // @theskytraveler // @notmoose94 //@assassinofmasyaf // @caswinchester2000 // @savannah-m-99 // @sunlight-dean // @strayrosesbloom // @that-slytherin-over-there // @1000roughdrafts // @its-medeanwinchester // @simplyhemmings

Message me if you would like to be added!

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 168

The announcement of the Cell Games has sent the entire world into a panic.    Even these giant dinosaurs are fleeing in terror.    What I don’t understand is where everyone thinks they can run to.   Cell said he was going to kill them all.

Oolong proposes they use the spaceship at Bulma’s house to flee into outer space.   Fuck you, Oolong. 

Downstairs, Krillin flips out and tries to rush out to fight Cell right now, because he feels so guilty about allowing Cell to become perfect.    Yeah!  We don’t need to wait nine days!   Let’s have the Cell Games TONIGHT.    

But Master Roshi forbids him to throw his life away on a battle he can’t win.  Instead, he tells him to wait for the Cell Games if he intends to fight at all.   I like the way this scene is written.   We all know Krillin doesn’t have a chance, because he already fought Perfect Cell and couldn’t do anything to him.    But Krilin feels like he has to die trying because this is the only way for him to atone for his mistake.      And Roshi gets that, even if he doesn’t agree, so his compromise is to ask Krillin to wait ten days before restoring his honor, when he’ll have the best possible chance of surviving the effort.

By contrast, I think Yamcha’s already accepted that he just can’t participate in this battle.  He’s gonna go, and maybe help if he can, but after he saw Cell blow up that town after his announcement, Yamcha knows he’s out of his league.    Krilln knows it too, but for him, not fighting Cell isn’t an option.    He can’t live in this world knowing he has to share it with the monster who swallowed 18.  

Up on Kami’s Lookout, everyone is waiting in line for the next turn in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.   Well, not Tien, since he doesn’t think a year in the chamber will do him enough good to beat Cell.  I think he just hasn’t left this place since Goku brought him here the day before.    But Piccolo plans to use the HTC, and Vegeta and Trunks plan to go in again.  

Vegeta agrees to let Piccolo have the next turn, but then he wants the remaining eight days for himself.   That sounds like a pretty good idea.    One day in the chamber was enough for Vegeta to leapfrog the androids and Semiperfect Cell, so imagine how much stronger he’d be if he trained for eight more years.    The problem is that you can’t spend that much time in the chamber.    After 48 hours, the door vanishes, and you can never return to Earth.   

So let’s talk about that for a minute, because Dragon Ball Super really ignored that rule.  I think Goku and Vegeta used the HTC on at least three separate occasions in that show, even though Vegeta used up all of his 48 hours in this arc.    To be fair, the Fusion Saga demonstrated that it was possible to escape the HTC dimension without a door, so maybe that was how Vegeta got around it.   Still, I think it kind of sucks a lot of value out of the concept when you can just re-use it as often as you please.   As much as Vegeta used the chamber in DBS, he never seemed to get that much stronger.  Also, it’s just kind of shitty to have the main characters cheat an extra year of training in whenever they get in over their heads.      I’m pretty sure that’s why Toriyama invented this 48 hour limit in the first place.

So why did he introduce the chamber at all then?    I feel like it works in the Cell Sagas because it serves as a secret weapon the Z-Fighters can use to counter all of Cell’s secret advantages.   This whole conflict has been about superior intel.   Gero spied on Goku for years, hoping to collect enough data to design a superior warrior.    To that end, his plan depended upon his ability to project how strong Goku would be at a certain point in the future.  But Goku turned Super Saiyan on Namek, and Gero had no idea.    Goku also got a warning from Future Trunks, so Gero’s projections were further thrown out of whack.    But Gero had reinforcements, and that surprised Goku’s team.   So Goku busts out the Time Chamber as a way to close the gap.    By training in there, where time moves at a different pace, they could power up beyond what Dr. Gero could have anticipated.    That’s why it works in this story.    It levels the playing field.  

In the Buu Sagas, they only reintroduce the Time Chamber to illustrate that it won’t be very helpful this time around.  But Dragon Ball Super never worried about whether a gimmick actually helps a story.    They just used the Time Chamber so they could reference the DBZ episodes that used the Time Chamber.    It was never about telling a story there, it was about reminding fans of something they already knew about.  

The bigger question I have is how the 48-hour rule works.    Let’s say Piccolo and Vegeta go in the Time Chamber together.    Vegeta’s already used it for 25 hours, while I assume Piccolo has never been in there before.   So after 23 hours, are they both trapped inside?    Is there some magic where Piccolo can use the door but Vegeta can’t?   And how is that reflected in the outside world?   Could Goku not enter the chamber after Vegeta maxed out his alotted time?   

Anyway, Goku and Gohan finally come out, and they’re actually a few hours early.    They sense Cell, Vegeta, and Trunks are all still alive, so they wonder what’s been going on.    But before they get a recap, Goku needs to take care of something important first............................................

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Goku really needs to eat something first, you guys!    BWAH?   The whole world’s in danger and all he can think about is foooooood?    What’s with this guy?    What a hilarious and unexpected thing for a hero to say, it’s very clever.   No, this gag hasn’t been run into the ground.   

It’s not that I have a problem with Goku eating a bunch.   It’s actually very relaxing to watch him eat.   The sound effects are just very, very soothing.    All the dishes clinking, the piles of rice, the stacks of bowls.   I just don’t like how they keep making a joke of this.    As Goku explains, they had food in the chamber, but Mr. Popo’s a better cook than either of them, so this is a better experience.    Is that so wrong?  

Oh, incidentally, they’ve been in Super Saiyan mode the entire time, and Vegeta wonders how and why they managed to do this.    Up to now, it would be very taxing for a Super Saiyan to just hold the form for long periods of time, and they’d be too restless to sit down for a leisurely meal. 

Meanwhile, more panicky Earthlings are trying to flee the cities.    The one little girl is on a train, and she starts getting excited about something she sees out the window.   Her mom wonders what it is...

It’s Cell.

Yeah, me too, kid.   Cell’s awesome.

Fortunately for the train passengers, Cell doesn’t bother with them, but the line of cars waiting at the railroad crossing.    He chucks a car into the traffic just to be a dick.  

And it explodes, because anime.   This episode actually has two exploding cars in it, which is kind of nuts when you think about it.   

This is from earlier in the episode, but this guy just drove into an alley and hit another driver who had the same idea.     I guess they both had a crate of dynamite in their back seats?

Back at Capsule Corp, Bulma’s taking a look at Android 16′s programming, and the code documentation has an awesome picture of Super Saiyan Goku punching Frieza.    Pretty sure that shouldn’t be in 16′s memory banks, seeing as how Gero never had any spy robots on Namek to record that moment.

The big irony is that 16 has no human parts at all, so he was created with nothing else but a program that boils down to “10 Kill Son Goku, 20 Goto 10″, and yet somehow he made the leap to defending the other androids from Cell, and befriending small animals like birds and Krillin.    The best thing is that DBZ still has a long way to go, so we’ll have plenty of episodes to explore the emergence of 16′s soul, and what that says about the nature of artificial intelligence.    Right?   You’re shaking your head, why are you doing that?

Back at the Lookout, Goku seems interested in the Cell Games idea.   I mean, he was expecting to fight Cell anyway, or possibly Vegeta if he ended up winning, so all Cell has really done is set a date for the battle.   

  Popo gives Goku his classic outfit, and Trunks is all “You don’t have to wear that.” and Goku’s like “I get to wear this, Trunks.”

As for Gohan, he asks Piccolo to give him new clothes resembling Piccolo’s outfit, since he first trained under him.    One Clothes Beam later...

Fuck yeah.    It’s time for the Cell Games Saga, dammit.   No more of this bowl cut Gohan.   No more cosplaying as Vegeta.    It’s time to rock and roll.

Vegeta ask Goku if he thinks he can beat Cell, but Goku hasn’t seen him in Perfect Form yet, so he decides to check him out.   So he just teleports straight to him and they have a talk.  

Goku’s not too impressed with the ring, or maybe it’s more accurate to say that he doesn’t find it all that impressive that Cell believes it will decide the fate of the world.   For as much as Goku enjoys battle, he doesn’t see it as something more than what it is.   He just wants to mix it up with Cell.   If that’s a friendly match or a fight to the death, or the lynchpin to the safety of the cosmos, that’s beside the point.  

Goku asks him about his perfect form, and there’s this cool black and white montage of Cell’s life story.    It’s pretty sweet. 

Anyway, Goku tells him not to kill anyone until the fight.   Cell doesn’t actually agree to that, but what’s Goku going to do about it?  

So Goku teleports back, and he freely admits that Cell’s a lot stronger than he expected, and that Celll would probably win if they fought.    Well, that’s no big deal, because they still have several days to prepare, so Goku can just go back in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber for another year.

But Goku declines.    As far as he’s concerned, he and Gohan are all finished training in the chamber.   I guess that figures, since they came out early.   

And that sets up the big question for this arc.    If Goku believes Cell is stronger than himself, why is he so relaxed about this upcoming battle?   Why won’t he train to close the gap?   What does he know that no one else does?  

[animebw]

Binge-Watching: Gintama, Episodes 327-328

Wow, what an amazing arc this was. In which Utsuro’s endgame is laid bare, the new world rises from the ashes, and I look forward to this show’s final chapter.

Endgame

I’ll admit, I’m a little dizzy going into this post. It’s been about five hours since Kagura’s apotheosis into godhood made mincemeat of my brains and splattered them across the pavement, and I’m still half-shaking from withdrawal. How the hell do you come down from a high that high? I certainly haven’t completely recovered yet. But the show must go on, as they say, and as much as I would just love to live inside the colossal soul-enriching cheer that was the climax to her emotional development over the course of the show, the story is far from over. Though this time, the end is closer in sight than it’s ever been; these two episodes mainly serve as a welcome cooldown after the emotional magnitude of those last few, but their clear secondary purpose is to set up what feels like the endgame of the entire damn show, putting the pieces in place and filling in the cracks in the lore to give us the necessary context for the upcoming final showdown. We’re sucking in a massive breath after enduring the Battle at Rakuyo, the penultimate moment of stillness before the final, furious storm of the next 39 episodes.

Wow. Only thirty-nine episodes left. Have we really come that far? Has it really been that long since Gintoki first smashed his parfait in an angry cat person’s face? Since Kagura first got involved in a gang war between men of chiseled chins? Since Shinpachi first... wore his glasses (sorry, I had to)? Has this journey of laughter and tears, amazement and shock, wonder and joy, really taken me this far already? Are we truly just one Death Note length away from bidding this show good-bye? It still doesn’t feel real. Like I’ll wake up tomorrow to find another massive 200 episode block of Odd Jobs nonsense waiting for me to devour. The idea that a show this massive, this wonderful, this constantly inventive and fresh could actually end feels like a practical joke (one the show itself has pulled many times before, naturally). I have no idea how I’ll bid this series goodbye. I don’t know if I ever will. But I’ll find a way. I didn’t just experience the most transcendent emotional climax this show has ever offered me to give up so easily. Somehow or other, I’ll make it to the end. And I’ll appreciate every last dwindling moment this masterpiece has to offer me.

So let’s get our underpants ready for the final showdown. And in paradoxically predictable fashion, the guidance to prepare us for the end comes from the place we least expect.

The First Student

Oboro’s been a fascinating character ever since he first showed up as the Death-Dealer of Heaven to try and drag Gintoki’s demons back to the front of his mind in the Pinky Promise arc. He’s a man seemingly defined by hopelessness, seeking to purge all enemies in his path with the righteous knowledge that they were doomed the moment they took up swords against the heavens. His moral compass, as twisted as it was, stood as among the more rigidly honorable villains in Gintama’s pantheon, striking back against his foes with the moral certainty of his convictions. Still, it’s clear there had to be more to him than that. This is Gintama, after all; no character with this much screen time is ever as simple as first impressions would lead you to believe. But I don’t think I ever could have guessed what was truly driving this dealer of death’s mission: a devotion to the same teacher who raised the targets of his assassination.

Yes, it turns out Oboro knew the Utsuro who broke away from his role as executioner and sought to raise a new generation of samurai. He know Yoshida Shoyo. In fact, he was his first student! Granted a fraction of his immortal blood as penance for the slaughter of his hometown as a child, Oboro grew to trust the man who seemed to be growing weary of his life as a killer. He was privy to the Shoyo who desired to leave this life of death behind and start a school raising better champions than he turned out to be. And when he finally made a break for it, away from the Nakaru assassins that he led, Oboro was close behind. He wanted to join this school, to find a new path through life than the darkness he had been left with. Back then, he still had hope. He still wanted to believe in a world where people were not bound my their losses and failures. He wanted to believe in his master’s dream, so much so that he sacrificed his chance to be with him, returning to the Nakaru to help Shoyo escape. He wanted to believe it was right.

And then as time passed, he actually saw that dream come to fruition. Shoyo’s school flourishing, him walking side by side with the lost children he saved to discover their own lives. But not Oboro. Not the first student who never got the chance to run away, who was forced to betray his master’s teachings and learn to kill to stay alive and thrive in this dangerous world. And in his jealousy, he lashed out and sent Shoyo to his doom, killing the man who escaped him in hopes of bringing him back. It was his decision that led to Shoyo’s head flying from the strike of Gintoki’s sword, his blood that still runs through his veins, even as it grows ever dimmer. His master’s legacy, betrayed to the end. Yoshida Shoyo is dead and gone, and Oboro’s failure to accept that loss, led him down an increasingly dark path of hopelessness and slaughter.

Until now.

Because Shoyo’s legacy remains alive. It lives in the four students who carry it on, the juniors who Oboro would have loved to call his classmates. It’s only fitting that it’s Takasugi, the man who only recently returned to his teacher’s loving arms, who puts an end to his first and final project. In him, and all the rest, Oboro sees the samurai he could never be, the warriors with the strength and courage to fight through despair and find a new world for themselves and everyone they care about. He sees the hope he lost all those eons ago, and the chance to finally make things right. So with his dying breaths, passing away and leaving his master alone once more, he finally shares his knowledge with the brothers he might have had in another life: the knowledge of who the man they called their master truly was.

Utsuro’s Death Wish

Utsuro’s life has been defined by hatred. Ever since he was a child, he was ostracised, ridiculed, slaughtered again and again by panicked townspeople hoping to destroy his terrifying immortality. Eternal life was never a blessing for him; it was always a curse. There’s a very telling callback to the moment he first meets Gintoki in the field of corpses, commenting that the boy is too innocent to be called a devil. Because he knows firsthand what it’s like to be seen as a monster, with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. And with nowhere to hide, his mind reacted the only way it could to defend him: split personalities, each one taking on life in a different manner to deal with the cruelty of the world. All working together to slaughter the humans who made their life miserable. All except Yoshida Shoyo, the personality born of the conscience that Utsuro could never quite squash. Who took control and used his tenuous time as the leading force in his body to run away and start a school, to train students who might one day have the power to end him for good. And when Shoyo died by Gintoki’s sword, he really and truly died, crushed by a united Utsuro who dragged his shattered psyche back into one in defiance of the hope his splintered half strived for. Yoshida Shoyo is truly dead; the man who raised the Joi four is no more, lost in the madness of the monster who birthed him.

And now, Utsuro is determined to finally bring an end to his miserable life the only way he knows how: destroy the source of the Altano that powers him. Because just as Kouka wasted away once she left the shell of the world that housed her own power, should the planet powering Utsuro shatter in turn, then perhaps he may find death just the same. The one problem? The planet in question is Earth. And Utsuro just hijacked the evil Amanto elder council’s Altano-controlling powers to blow up a lot of energy reserves across the galaxy and bring the full wrath of the entire universe down on Earth, in hopes that destroying it will destroy the Tendoshu’s power. Jesus fucking Christ. I’ve seen suicide gambits before, but starting an intergalactic war just to strip your immortality away is a new level of chaotic insanity. How broken must he have to be to go to such lengths? How hopeless must he feel to see genocide as his only possible route to salvation? Well, he’s had countless lifetimes to break enough for such a drastic action; what a monkey’s paw immortality always turns out to be.

This is the endgame we’re building towards. Utsuro seeks to destroy Earth, and he’s unlisted an unwitting intergalactic coalition to do so. And the only ones with a chance to stop him are the students he himself raised for that very purpose. It’s going to be a brutal battle for these four to finally put the past to rest.

But at least they won’t have to do it alone.

Rays of Hope

Because in the end, Gintoki, Takasugi, Katsura, and Sakamoto are far from Earth’s last hope. Shoyo’s legacy doesn’t just live on in them; it exists in everyone they’ve inspired in turn, all the countless friends they’ve made who would be happy to fight and die by the sides of the samurai carving out a new world. It exists in Oboro, finally finding his peace with the fellow students he always wanted. It exists in Takasugi, reborn from blood and hope to carry his senpai to his final resting place. It exists in the Kihetai who fought by his side and pulled him back from the brink, in Katsura’s army of loyal Joi rebels, in the Shinsengumi who are still off somewhere building an army to fight against the corrupt regime, in Mutsu’s devotion to the man who gave her a second chance at life. It even exists in Kamui, leaving a flower on his mother’s grave before wandering into the distance, ready for the first time to doubt himself, lose his way, and find the kind of samurai he wants to be.

And, of course, it exists in Kagura and Shinpachi, two remarkably moronic kids with the best father they could possibly ask for. How fantastic is it to see Umibozu finally acknowledge that his daughter deserves to live the life she chooses, after their massive spat back almost 300 full episodes ago? To see her in turn put her trust in the family she restored to fight with the family she’s become a part of when the time comes? There are endless rays of hope across the universe now, illuminating the darkness in every forgotten crack, shining together in one brilliant sun that will never fade away. If this is the final challenge they must face, then so be it. Something tells me their light is stronger than any darkness Utsuro could conjure up. And with Umibozu starting to pick up on a way to finally put this immortal soldier in the grave without sacrificing billions of lives, even he may one day find that light comforting.

We end this arc much where we first began all those episodes ago: an Earth in peril, a sky full of alien ships, an uneasy future just over the horizon. The old, long-forgotten episode intro sequence has come full circle in the show’s final hours. But one thing’s different this time: the spirit of the samurai remains unblemished. It shines like a supernova in a million rays of light, all standing together in the wake of a single, silver soul. The new world that Gintoki has been fighting for all this time is here, and it is brighter than ever. So stand together, everyone. Save your home. And let the universe see the kind of samurai you want to be.

Welcome to the end, Gintama. Here’s looking forward to how you bring it home.

Odds and Ends

-OH THANK GOD HE’S STILL ALIVE

-Man, I hope we see more of Mutsu and Umibozu interacting in the present, because their dynamic really does fascinate me.

-Sadaharu remains the best boy.

-”In Odd Jobs, asking for paid leave is just as good as asking for death!” akjdhsdka HOLY SHIT THANK YOU FOR BREAKING THE TENSION GIN-SAN

-”Just apply some aloe and they’ll grow right back!” I... sure.

-”See? They grew back!” WHAT THE SHIT UMIBOZU I LOVE YOU

-”Nothing anyone says is going to surprise me anymore.” AGREED.

Beginning of the end, folks. What a time to be alive. See you all next time!

[yalenayxrdeen]

Killjoys 4.07

We need to talk about how Johnny’s greatest fear is abandonment more than losing the ones he loves to death. I think Dutch and D’av leaving him to pursue other things in life (not saying this would actually happen) scares him more than the prospect of them dying on him. My theory is that he, as a natural problem solver, can figure out how to save them from dying which allows him to have some baseline level of control over the situation, but he has no control in whether or not those closest to him suddenly want nothing to do with him.

This fear stems from childhood for him, from when D’av left him alone with his abusive Dad, because to John while things might be tough with those he loves, he’ll always know that they’d be a hell of a lot tougher without his people around him. That’s why I think last season he left on his own after Pawter died as a way to punish himself since he knew Dutch and his brother would provide comfort and try to ease his pain and he wanted to hurt himself emotionally as much as he could. You see it manifest in this episode as Johnny is so fixated on D’av leaving them although he ultimately makes a joke out of it and chooses to go with Dutch, I know it secretly eats him up on the inside and he wonders when she’s gonna leave him, too.

With our girl Dutch, she’s never had control over anything in life which is why she ran away from Khlyen. Her greatest fear is having what small bit of self-sovereignty and power over her own decisions she’s managed to gain ripped away from her. Yet every season, more shit is piled up on her, there’s always another fire and everyone tells her to go put it out without asking how much water she has left to do it. That angry outburst we saw in the cryopod was 100% warranted and a long fucking time coming imo, Dutch has no life outside of saving other people all the time and it’s a thankless job jumping from one crisis to another. I mean, do we even know what her hopes and dreams are besides surviving on her own? She runs away to regain control and Johnny tries to pull her and D’av in tighter to keep it.

They both have the same deepest darkest fear, it just manifests differently and I find it fascinating.

Sidenote:

— I’m assuming Dutch’s mother was the last of her line since there are nine families not ten now, but what happens when she returns to Qresh eventually? The Nine aren’t just going to welcome her with open arms. Also, Delle has known Dutch’s real surname for like two seasons now and has never thought to bring up that she’s from old Qreshi royalty once? Smells kinda fishy to me.

[mycasandstarrs]

SPN 10x13: “Halt & Catch Fire”

Oh, I would never get in a car with a tipsy driver.

“Um, Billy, I don’t think this is the way to Taco Town.”

“What do you know? Your phone’s 3G.”

What a burn.

“Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promises” by the Avett Brothers.

“It’s freezing. Can you please turn off the air?”

“It’s not on.”

Shit.

“Janet, get out of the truck.”

“Um, how does she know my name?”

Who cares, get out!!

“Destination dead ahead.” hardy har har.

RIP Billy. Drove off a cliff.

Wha-?

“What did Cas say?”

“Uh, good news, bad news. Bad news – he discovered riverboat gambling.”

lol. Never took Cas for a gambler.

Alright, lets chill with Dean checking out college girls.

Nirvana shout outs. Nice.

“The air went full blast even though it wasn’t on and the radio went crazy and so did Trini.”

“And Trini is?”

“Ah, you have to excuse my partner. When it comes to technology, he’s a little behind. Uh…he just learned how to poke on Facebook.”

“Uh, um, Trini is the nav app we were using. It – It’s like a talking map. You’re Gen X. Right.”

Pfft.

“Okay, so Trini and everything else in the truck went all ‘Christine’.”

“Who’s Christine?”

“It’s a Gen X thing.”

Bazongo.

“Did Billy have any enemies? Anybody who might have had a beef with him?”

“Maybe his brother Joey. They fought all the time. It’s so sad. They never got to set it right.”

“Because Billy died.”

“No. Joey did. In Afghanistan.”

Possible ghost...

“Did Billy happen to have anything of his brother’s on him when he died? Uh, dog tags, a hat, something?”

“Just his pickup.”

“So the truck belonged to Joey?”

“Yeah. It was his pride and joy. Billy got it when he died, and, you know, it’s a thing.”

Oh, they know.

“So – so what’s a thing?”

“You know, the truck thing. You honor the deceased by driving their truck. Sam, they wrote a whole country song about it.”

Really, Sam? (Tho I think now he knows about the “thing”, considering I heard that the Impala won’t be driven by Sam while Dean is gone.) [After S14 premiere edit: what I heard was a bunch of baloney.]

You’re so petty, Dean.

A buttload of ectoplasm.

“Alright, so big brother didn’t get along with little brother, was pissed that he was driving his baby. I get it.”

“What are you saying? If you died and I drove your car, you’d kill me?”

That technically already happened, and Dean didn’t kill you for putting an iPod jack in the car.

The teen lingo just....embarrasses me.

That’s not even good lighting for a selfie.

810.

RIP Julie. Strangled with a computer power cord.

STOP WITH THE CHECKING OUT OF GIRLS.

Delilah.

“Everyone knew Billy. He was the President of Sigma Theta Delta.”

“STD?”

Pfft.

Taking full advantage of a college cafeteria.

“Nothing ever really gets deleted from the Internet. You knew that, right?”

“...Yeah.”

What would Dean hide...

“What’s 810?”

“Uh, it’s a… I don’t know. Maybe it’s a date.”

“Maybe it’s a time of day. Or an area code.”

Or a house number...

810 Down’s Drive.

Aww no, those are perfectly good flowers.

“My husband was killed in a car accident here nine months ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Our condolences.”

“Thank you. We were newlyweds. Never even made it to our first anniversary.”

That’s pretty damn tragic.

“Forgive me, but did you notice anything… weird after your husband’s death. Any strange disturbances or…?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

Yeah you do, you liar.

“Andrew Silver, 29-year old Spencer High School teacher killed in fatal accident. Uh, car burst into flames. Silver’s body was burned beyond recognition. And he is believed to have been killed upon impact.” Not exactly.

Delilah’s starting to panic.

“Delilah, stop. I’m serious. You better keep your mouth shut or you’re gonna have a lot more than a curse to worry about.” What are you gonna do about it?

“Work, Breed, Consume” by Against Empire.

8:10.

“Lower the tunes, brah! Trying to study.” lmao at the “brah”.

RIP Kyle. Death by decibel.

Better start fessing up, Delilah.

“Look we know you’re the one leaving the flowers. So, why don’t you just tell us what happened the night of Andrew Silver’s accident?”

“Uh…”

“Delilah, please. This is the third death in five days. Who knows who’s gonna be next.”

Her.

The “accident” as it actually happened.

“Take Me to Church” by Hozier.

How is everyone on their damn phone???

That is god awful.

‘Hey, you’re not calling the cops. 'Cause I already have a D.U.I., and if they find out I’m driving on a suspended license, I’m going to jail.” Billy was a piece of garbage.

So this episode is basically Supernatural’s take on “I Know What You Did Last Summer”, right down to the names Julie and Billy.

“You know, this might be a Shocker situation. The paper said that he died from a collision, but Deliliah says that he died from electrocution. So maybe that’s how he’s surfing. He’s using the power lines as a conduit.” Very close there, Dean-o.

How considerate.

“I stay up all night studying. Mostly to avoid the nightmares. My mom’s thrilled with my GPA, but I’m just… miserable.” It’s fueled by trauma. Yikes.

“It’s pretty crazy to obsess over someone you’ve never met.” You’re fucking telling me.

Delilah’s a good kid.

“Dean, Andrew’s not using power lines to move. He’s using Wi-Fi.” ding ding ding.

Turning off the WIFI on a college campus would cause mass panic, especially if they’re in exam times. 

Andrew’s coming.

Delilah’s gonna have to buy a new laptop, TV, and phone.

“Uh, I’m so sorry to bother you Mrs. Silver, but I have an emergency and I really need your help. Now this is gonna sound strange…”

“It’s my husband, isn’t it? Come in.”

Cutting right to the chase.

“It wasn’t too long after the accident that Andrew started contacting me.”

“Contacting you how?”

“Online. At first I thought it was a joke, that someone was playing a cruel joke on a grieving widow. But Andrew knew things, things that only he and I would know – inside jokes, the code to our alarm, my obsession with Lifetime movies. It was then that I knew I had my husband back, even if it was just online.”

I don’t blame her. She lost him too soon, she just wanted more time with him.

“When the kids at the college started dying, I thought it might be Andrew. But what was I supposed to do? Call the cops and tell them the ghost of my dead husband was picking off co-eds? But mostly, I just didn’t want to face the truth. Because I knew it was revenge that brought him back, and if I tried to stop him, that he might go away. And I didn’t want to lose my husband again.” 

Even when he’s not really your husband anymore?

Who the hell left their cellphone in the basement???

Dean texted Sam.

Smart of them to have Corey talk to Andrew.

Bye bye for good, Andrew.

Like I said, Delilah’s a good kid.

“I’m done trying to find a cure, Sammy.”

“Dean, Cas is so close.”

“To what? We don’t even know if there is a cure. So far, we’ve got nothing. We have found nothing at the Men of Letters library. Metatron may or may not know something. And maybe Cas is on to something with Cain.”

But he is!

“No, I’m not just gonna give up. I appreciate the effort, okay? I do. But the answer is not out there. It’s with me. I need to be the one calling the shots here, okay? I can’t keep waking up every morning with this false hope. I got to know where I stand. Otherwise, I’m gonna lose my freakin’ mind. So I’m gonna fight it til I can’t fight it anymore. And when all is said and done… I’ll go down swinging.”

Sam silently entering panic mode.

[enbouton]

Better Call Saul Rewatch, Part 6/30: Down In The Gutter

Five-O (Season 1, Episode 6)

Written by Gordon Smith / Directed by Adam Bernstein

“Five-O” is the episode I always think about whenever someone raises the issue of watching Better Call Saul without having seen Breaking Bad. I believe it stands on its own. You don’t need to know Mike Ehrmantraut to understand this quietly devastating portrait of a grieving father. Yet if you do know Mike— tough, stoic, unbreakable Mike— it cuts so much deeper. We joke about Mike being expressionless, but Jonathan Banks is one of the most expressive, sensitive performers on the show. He just does it all very subtly. It’s a murmur rather than a shout.

The opening sequence, too, is very quiet, very low-key and deliberate. The train pulls in. Mike gets off. He sits in the building, waiting. He eyes the restrooms. Stacey arrives, and visibly hesitates before going to hug him. Mike goes into the ladies’ room and retrieves a maxi pad, which he uses to bandage a bullet wound in his left shoulder. In his white undershirt he stands out sharply against the tiles. There’s a cold, bleached quality to the lighting. These are close, intimate shots of a lonely person doing something very solitary.

In a dusty back yard scattered with toys, Mike pushes Kaylee on a swing, keeping his left arm by his side. Stacey hangs back, looking uncertain. One of the many quietly jarring things about this episode is her visible discomfort with Mike. Back when we first encountered Stacey and Kaylee in Breaking Bad, Jonathan Banks decided that Kaylee was his granddaughter but her mother was not his daughter, and that whatever had turned Mike to the dark side, so to speak, had something to do with his son. Now we’re getting it. And it’s awful.

There’s very little open grieving in this episode. There’s a lot of stillness and silence, a lot of negative space. That’s where Mike and Stacey’s loss lives, as if it’s too great to fit anywhere else. Stacey says that she’s doing okay— “adjusting”— and that Kaylee still asks where Daddy is. The blocking here emphasises distance. Mike is barely visible in Stacey’s frame, and she’s pushed to the extreme edge of his.

Stacey asks him how long he’ll be in town; he says indefinitely. Seeming very vulnerable, he says that he’s “better”. He’s back, he’s solid. (When was Mike ever not solid?) Stacey’s response is tepid; throughout the episode she approaches Mike with a mixture of fear and resolve, knowing there’s more to the story than he’s telling her, yet afraid of what it might be. She says that in the weeks before Matty died, he wasn’t himself. Mike denies having noticed, although Stacey has clearly hit on something. There’s something very, very sad about the way he says “he seemed okay”.

We learn that a few days before Matty died, Stacey woke up in the early hours to hear him talking on the phone with great intensity. Mike denies, again, that it was him at the other end. Stacey, her arms folded across her chest, pointedly says it’s getting late.

In the cab, Mike notices he’s bleeding through his shirt, and ends up on an examination table as a shady vet sutures his wound. He asks Mike if he’s new in town, and says he knows people who could get him some work. “I am not looking for that kind of work,” Mike says, stiffly donning his jacket. He steps out of frame, the camera moves into the darkness behind the vet’s back, and suddenly we’re behind another person entirely, in an interrogation room, in the present. The detectives from the previous episode, Abbasi and Sanders, try the “we just have a couple of questions” tactic on Mike, who sits stone-faced and says nothing but the word “lawyer”.

Jimmy breezes in in his Matlock linen with a cup of coffee. (He’s in this episode for maybe five minutes; I admire the show’s willingness to bench its protagonist in order to tell a supporting character’s story.) Mike outlines his plan: he wants Jimmy to spill the coffee on Abbasi after the interview so that Mike can lift his notebook. Jimmy seems less bothered by the idea itself than by Mike’s assumption that he’ll do it; affronted, he insists he’s going to behave like an “honest-to-God licensed law-abiding attorney”. That’s another tally mark for the People Telling Jimmy Who He Is column. (He does, in the end, spill the coffee.)

Abbasi outlines the situation: about nine months ago, Matt Ehrmantraut, his partner Hoffmann, and Sgt. Fensky responded to a shots-fired call. (The way Jimmy looks at Mike as he realises they’re all talking about Matt in the past tense is touching.) They were ambushed, and Matt didn’t make it out. Three months ago, Hoffmann and Fensky turned up dead as well, and the detectives have nothing to go on. Mike admits that he saw them at a bar on the night they died, but can’t say any more than that. Dialogue implies that Mike drank heavily after he lost his son.

At home, Mike flips through the notebook, looking troubled by what he finds. One page is a rough timeline of the night Hoffman and Fensky died. Another page references multiple late-night phone calls between Hoffman, Fensky and Matt up until Matt’s death. A third page reads, in part:

… Ehrmantraut killed.

1 week later, Mike E. retires

3 months later, Stacey E. moves to ABQ

3 months later, Fensky and Hoffmann ...

Brimming with anger, Mike goes to Stacey and asks her if she called the cops. She admits that she did, after Hoffmann and Fensky were found dead; she thinks that whoever killed Matt could have killed them too. Mike can’t stand the idea that Stacey might have told the cops that Matt was dirty, but she says she only told them that she found money in the lining of an old suitcase after they moved. She never told Mike because she was afraid of what it’d do to him. Less fearful and more aggrieved now, she continues: “And you wouldn’t talk to me. Every night you were drinking yourself unconscious like you were the only one who lost him.”

To Stacey, whether Matt was dirty or clean would make no difference; she’d still love him, he’d still be gone. But just the idea that she thinks he might have been dirty is intolerable to Mike. He’s struggling to contain his emotions, and when Stacey presses him on the matter of the phone call, he explodes. It’s the angriest we’ve ever seen him. “He wasn’t dirty. God damn you, you get that through your head! My son wasn’t dirty.”

In flashback, in Philadelphia, Mike quietly breaks into a police cruiser outside a raucous bar. Inside, he sits grimacing with an empty glass, seemingly very drunk. Two uniformed cops acknowledge him. He wanders over to them, hugs them, and mumbles “I know. I know it was you.” The same cops manhandle him into their car as he staggers home after closing; one of them takes his gun. In the back seat, he seems to dig himself deeper: “You killed him. You killed Matty. And you killed him for nothing.”

Hoffmann and Fensky drive to a remote area, climb out, and discuss shooting Mike and making it look like a suicide. “Smart,” comes a clear voice from behind them— and the camera swings around to frame Mike between them, his gun drawn. “It’s what I would’ve done if I were you.” And then he shoots them both. Fensky, wounded, tries to crawl away. Mike looks down at him and shoots him in the head.

There’s nothing triumphant about this sequence. Nothing heroic. It’s all grief. It’s cold and hollow and awful. We might admire Mike’s cleverness or respect his motive, but when those shots stop echoing, Matty will still be dead. Mike is framed in a wide shot picking up the shell casings and walking away, small and alone.

Back in the present, Mike, having calmed down in his car, tells Stacey what actually happened. Matt wasn’t dirty; he was. All his colleagues were. That was just how it worked. They all took bribes and kickbacks and because they were all doing it they knew they were safe. But Matt wouldn’t. When Hoffmann offered to cut him in, he agonised. He went to Mike, wanting to do the right thing and report them to Internal Affairs. Was Matt killed for turning on his partners, then? No. It was worse.

MIKE: No, no. I told him… You know what a cop fears most? More than getting shot, more than anything. Prison. Getting locked up with everybody you put away. You threaten a cop with that, you make him dangerous. And that’s what I told him. I talked sense. No one was getting hurt. But if you go to the IA, if you even look like you’re going… He had a wife. A kid. Responsibilities. ‘Take the money, do something good with it.’ I tried. I tried. But he wouldn’t listen. My boy was stubborn. My boy was strong. And he was gonna get himself killed. So I told him… I told him I did it too. That I was like Hoffman, getting by. And that’s what you heard that night. Me talking him down, him kicking and screaming until the fight went out of him. He put me up on a pedestal. And I had to show him that I was down in the gutter with the rest of them. Broke my boy. I broke my boy. He went to Hoffman, he took the money, but he hesitated. Even looking like you’re doing the right thing… to those two, that meant that he wasn’t solid, that he couldn’t be trusted. I got Matty to take the money. And they killed him two days later. He was the strongest person that I ever knew. He’d have never done it, not even to save himself. I was the only one. I was the only one who could get him to debase himself like that. And it was for nothing. I made him lesser. I made him like me. And the bastards killed him anyway.

Mike's voice is breaking and his eyes are full of tears. There’s only one question left for Stacey: if Hoffmann and Fensky killed Matty, who killed them? “You know what happened,” Mike says, turning to face her, opening himself up to her judgment. “The question is... can you live with it?”

You get the sense that he’s only confirming the suspicion that kindled in her as soon as Matt’s partners turned up dead and Mike fled to Albuquerque. Now Stacey’s wariness around Mike makes sense. Her father-in-law, Kaylee’s beloved grandfather, killed two men in cold blood to avenge his son. Can she live with it?

Misc.

According to Sanders and Abbasi, Mike worked for the PPD for nearly 30 years.

During the first interview, Mike looks especially disdainful when Abbasi asks him for a little fraternal cooperation, “you know, cop to cop”. 

The shooting was filmed at the Albuquerque Rail Yards; both BrBa and BCS have used this location several times to represent various different places. It’s the site of one of Mike and Jesse’s pickups in “Shotgun”, and Mike meets Nacho there in “Gloves Off”. In real life, it’s in the Barelas neighbourhood just south of downtown.

Timeline: the present-day scenes take place in late June or early July, 2002. The events shown in flashback took place about three months prior, so late March or early April.

Music

"It Came Out Of The Sky” by Creedence Clearwater Revival (1969), playing in the bar as Mike breaks into the cruiser

“Hold On Loosely” by 38 Special (1981), playing in the bar as Mike eyes Hoffman and Fensky

References

Five-O or 5-0 is a slang term for police, apparently originating from the show Hawaii Five-O.

“Say hello to Barney Fife,” one of the detectives quips, referring to Mike; Barney Fife was a deputy sheriff on The Andy Griffith Show, which starred the actor who would later play Matlock.

As far as I can tell, “Juan Valdez bump-and-dump” is a reference to a character used since 1958 to advertise Colombian coffee. 

< PREVIOUS EPISODE: ALPINE SHEPHERD BOY > NEXT EPISODE: BINGO

[queen-of-deans-booty]

Tall Tales- Part 1

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 1,981

Warnings: Typical Supernatural violence, language, minor character death, blood, you know the usual, Gabriel feels, comedy, bitchy and whiny Winchester brothers (come on, you’ve all seen the episode)

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Supernatural. All credit goes to their respective owners. If you’re a junkie for this sort of thing, then a tag list is the right thing for you! If you want to be a Queen, I’ll add you to that list too! Any and all comments on these are appreciated. I really want to hear what you guys think about this one!

Feedback is the glue that holds my writing together.

Tags at the bottom

Times have been tough. Times have been going by very slowly and you haven’t taken a case where you haven’t gotten through it in a breeze. Sure, you would have challenging obstacles in your way but you usually overcame them easily with the help of the Winchesters.

However, this case, you didn’t know how to figure it out and even Sam Fucking-I’m-So-Smart Winchester doesn’t even know what to think of it. You’ve been stuck in this town, watching and waiting as people died. No one was getting any younger and you had no idea what it was.

Okay, that was a lie, you knew what it was but only until the last minute. Sam and Dean had no clue what it was and as much as you hated spending another minute in this town, they’ve been bickering every second of the day, fighting over this case and it was hilarious.

You’ve called Bobby over to try and help them, seeing as they were going out of their minds on this one. You sat on one of the beds, watching as Dean messily ate chilly cheese fries on the other bed, listening to music on a radio. You looked over at Sam to see him tiredly rubbing his temples as he stared at a book.

You would tell them what this was and then you could be on your merry way but a) it was so damn fun to watch them this way (yes, horrible, you know) and b) you missed Bobby and wanted him over here so you could have someone else to talk to other than the married couple you lived with.

“Dude. You mind not eating those on my bed?” Sam said, looking at Dean who just grinned. You looked over at him, his face messy and his fingers. It took all your strength not to go over there and lick the mess off him. But you had to be professional.

“No, I don’t mind,” Dean said with a grin, eating some more food. “How’s research going?”

“You know how it's going? Slow. You know how it would go a heck of a lot faster? If I had my computer.” Sam said, sending accusing glares towards his brother.

“Sam, he didn’t touch your laptop. I was with him that whole day and we were nowhere near it.” You said, looking at Sam.

“He did touch it. You just weren’t paying attention.” Sam said with another glare to you.

“Sam, I always pay attention to Dean. I mean, have you seen him?” You said with a smile, looking over at Dean.

“Yeah, Sammy, have you seen me? I’m attractive as hell and women can’t resist my charm.” Dean said, winking at you.

“Can you turn that down please?” Sam said, changing the topic. The music was getting annoying since all Dean ever plays was rock music. You loved the man so much but would it kill him to switch it up a little?

“Yeah, absolutely.” Dean said, turning the radio up even louder.

“You know what? Maybe, uh, maybe you should just go somewhere for a while.” Sam said loudly, his voice overpowering the music. Dean snapped and shut the radio off, glaring at his brother.

“Hey, I'd love to. That's a great idea. Unfortunately, my car's all screwed to hell.” Dean said, accusing his brother of something he didn’t do. This was entertaining and maybe you might come clean and give up but you really wanted to see where this was going. You needed Bobby here soon. You hoped he would show up quickly.

“I told you, Dean, I had nothing to do with that.” Sam argued. Dean was about to yell back at him but there came a swift knock on the door. You shot out of bed and walked over to the door, looking at the brothers.

“Boys, that’s Bobby. Okay? Can you two behave for one second?” You teased with a smirk.

“Shut up.” Sam grumbled as you pulled open the door.

“Bobby! I’m so glad you’re here.” You said pulling him into a hug. You’ve noticed him acting more soft toward you, always trying to make you happy but with the brothers, he expected more of them, make them tougher.

It was also like that with John.

“It’s good to see you again.” Bobby said with a smile, hugging you back.

“Come in.” You said after you pulled away. You shut the door when he was in and went back to the bed where you were before.

“Thank god you're here.” Deans aid, standing up and wiping his hands on his jeans to “clean” them.

“So, um, what didn't you want to talk to me on the phone about?” Bobby asked, taking a seat at the table with Sam.

“You’re going to love this.” You said with a grin.

“It's this job we're working. We weren't sure you'd believe us.” Sam started off.

“Have you met me? I can believe a lot of things.”

“Yeah, we believe you but we’ve never seen anything like this before. Not even close.” Dean said, sitting back down on the bed again.

“We thought we could use some fresh eyes.” Sam said.

“Well, why don't you begin at the beginning?” Bobby asked, looking at you.

“Don’t look at me, as much as I would love for you to hear the correct way things happened, I’m sure that Sam and Dean’s versions of this story will be much more interesting than what I can provide you with and after the week we had, I’m pretty sure I need some laughter.”

“Hey, I think our versions will be the same, I mean, we experienced the same thing, right?” Dean asked you.

“We’ll see.” You winked at him.

“So, it all started when we caught wind of an obit. See, a professor took a nosedive from a fourth story window, only there's a campus legend that the building's haunted. So, we pretexted as reporters from the local paper.” Sam started off, telling his version of the story.

“So, you question the people while Dean and I hit up the bar. Think you can manage this without us, Sammy?” You said as you walked into the bar. It was late at night and you needed to unwind.

“Seriously, Y/N, you’re just going to boss me around?” Sam asked, looking at you.

“Fine, if it makes you feel better, I’ll come with you but I’m not promising I’ll stay the entire time. Dean’s more interesting than you.” You said to Sam, grabbing Dean’s face. You pressed your lips to his, kissing his feverishly and passionately, right in front of Sam.

Dean smirked and kissed you back, pulling you in close, his hands sliding to your ass.

“Seriously, guys, come on.” Sam complained. Dean pulled away and winked at you, taking his hands off you.

“Save a seat for me.” You said with a wink, putting your hands on his chest.

“Oh, you know I will. I’ll save the whole damn bar for you.” Dean said. Sam rolled his eyes and grabbed your shoulders, pushing you to the table with the people you were going to talk with.

“Buzzkill.” You muttered, sitting down after giving the man and woman a smile. Sam was going to be doing all the talking since you didn’t want to and he agreed, saying how he was the better talker than you or Dean.

“So, you knew the professor?” Sam said, after introducing him and you to the couple. He placed a recorder down, making the whole reporter façade look real.

“Yeah, we both had him for Ethics and Morality.” The man, Curtis, said.

“Yeah, so, why do you think he did it?” Sam asked.

“Who knows? I mean, he was tenured had a wife and kids. His book is like a really big deal. Then again, who's to say it was suicide?” Jen, the girl, said, leaning in conspiratorially.

“Jen, come on.” Curtis said with an eye roll.

“What else could it be?” Sam asked.

“Well, you know about Crawford Hall?” Curtis said as if he should know it.

“No, I don’t, actually.”

“It’s a bunch of shit, actually. It’s a total urban legend,” Jen cut in, dismissing it. “Legend goes, Heather's mom went to school here, and she knew this girl who had an affair with some professor. He broke it off with this girl and she jumped out of the window and killed herself.”

“You know the girl’s name?” Sam asked.

“No, but they say she jumped from room 669. Get it? If you turn the nine upside down?” Jen said, snickering at the joke. You rolled your eyes at the immaturity levels coming from them. “Anyway, now she haunts the building and anyone who sees her, they don’t live to tell the tale.”

You got bored of this interrogation and slid your eyes over to Dean who sat at the bar, chatting up the female bartender. You hated seeing him with other women and your blood boiled at the sight of this.  

“Excuse me, Sammy.” You said, getting up and marching over to the bartender. You didn’t say a word, except grab Dean’s face and smash your lips to his. He was taken aback, yes, but he didn’t deny your lips. He kissed you back, the bartender rolling her eyes and walking away.

“Whoa, sweetheart, why so passionate?” Dean said after he pulled away.

“You know I get so jealous when I see you talking with other women.” You said, sliding into the seat next to his.

“Well, it’s a good thing you’re here. I just got us some purple nurples.” Dean said with a chuckle. You started cracking up at the name, looking at the dark liquid inside the tiny cups. Dean grinned and slid you one of them and you took a chance and down the shot, feeling the effect right away.

“Wow, that’s strong alcohol. More!” You said with a huge grin. Dean got the bartender to get you more glasses and soon, you drank half the bar, laughing up a storm with Dean. But the buzzkill had to swoop in and damage the day.

“Dean. Y/N, what are you drinking?” Sam asked, looking at the purple-blue liquid.

“I have no idea but I think they’re called purple nurples?” Dean said, burping. You busted out laughing and looked at Sam.

“That name though.” You said while laughing.

“Okay, well listen. I think maybe we should go check out the professor's office.” Sam said, dismissing the fact that you two were drunk as hell.

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no I can't right now, I've got some feisty little wildcat on the hook, I'm about to – zzzzp – reel her in. I'll introduce you.” Dean said, putting an arm around your shoulder.

“Dean, I already know who this is,” Sam said with an eyeroll.

“Whoa, hold the phone right there,” You said, interrupting story time. “One, I do not get that jealous. I do have self-control you know and two, I do not get that shitfaced on a case.”

“Yeah, plus, that’s not how it happened.” Dean said, glaring at Sam.

“No? So, you never drank a purple nurple?” Sam said with a serious face but you couldn’t handle it. You cracked up laughing at the name, rolling over on the bed.

“That name still gets to me.” You giggled, sitting up.

“Okay, fine, I may have done that but I don't say things like ‘feisty little wildcat’. And I wouldn’t have been so drunk as to introduce you to my own girlfriend who you live with.” Dean said with an eyeroll.

“Then how did it happen?” Sam asked, crossing his arms.

“Alright, while you were talking with those two kids, Y/N and I were talking with the bartender about some local ghost stories.” Dean said, starting to tell his version of the story.

The Queens:

@maddieburcham1 @ginamsmith  @mogaruke @whit85-blog @inlovewithbja @spn67-sister @kdfrqqg @jarpadandjensenaremyheroes @roxyspearing @supercalifragilistic26 @mishamigose @cobrakai1967  @essie1876 @wishedworld @crispychrissy @laqueus-ludovicus @nostalgic-uncertainty @jerk-bitch-and-an-angel @potterhead1265 @starswirlblitz @untitled39887 @ta-n-ja @deans-fallen-angel-boy @scarletluvscas @notnaturalanahi @tahbehonest @stay-in--place @dreaminofdean @posiemax @donnaintx @mikey1822 @alexandriajanae4 @li-ssu @just-another-winchester @obsessivecompulsivespn @emoryhemsworth @newtospnfandom @mizzezm @goldenolaf25

The Dean Beans:

@akshi8278 @mega-mrs-dean-winchester  @winchesterandpie @spn-dean-and-sam-winchester @carribear31 @tacklesackles @oreosatmidnight @not-naturalfangirl @missselinakitty @iam-a-cutiepie  @kristendansmith @milo-winchester-4ever @jensenackesl @codyshany316 @pheonyxstorm @helllonearth @juniorhuntersam @pouterpufftrain @ruprecht0420 @shut-ur-face-and-get-in-the-car @carriemichelle2012 @aubreystilinski

Series Rewrite Junkies:

@helllonearth @amyisabellal @deanwnchstr @caseykitten6 @quixoticcat @supernaturalblogging @notmoose45 @crowleysminion @mina22 @tahbehonest @hadleymcallister2177 @destielsangels @spnhybrid @oreosatmidnight @valerieshubin @seninjakitey @flyonlittlewinchester  @aubreystilinski