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justmypartner · 4 years

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Make it Work: Chapter 1

Summary: When offered a permanent position with the FBI, Hailey agrees to take it under one condition: Jay comes too. As their personal lives and work lives begin to change, the two partners find it increasingly difficult to navigate their complex relationship and manage their feelings for one another. *Picks up at the 8x03 bar scene.

Writer’s Note: I’m so excited to share my first multi-chapter fic. I really enjoyed Hailey’s FBI episode and how seamlessly she was able to adapt to that world, so I thought it would be fun to explore how Jay might fit into that world and how different the adjustment may be for him. When writing the first chapter I was really inspired by the song (what i wish just one person would say to me) by Lany, because I felt like it fit Jay’s perspective perfectly. As much as our guy loves Hailey, he was always going to put her wishes above his own. That’s what the song is all about, so you can see a few lines inspired by the song sprinkled throughout the chapter (the title is also taken from the song). Please enjoy Chapter 1 of Make it Work!

Read on AO3 or below

“Alright. Let’s do this, rip the bandaid off. What did the FBI offer you?” Jay said straightly, trying to hide the worry that coursed throughout his entire body.

Earlier that day he had discovered the FBI had Hailey on their radar, and he hadn’t stopped thinking about it since. After what went down with his last partner, simply hearing someone say “FBI” left a bad taste in his mouth. He wouldn’t openly admit it, but he was worried about Hailey taking the offer. Ever since she had returned from New York, she had been fairly quiet about how it went. Her feelings seemed indifferent, but part of him had to wonder why she would hide the fact that they were sending her job offers. He hated the idea of being left alone again, but ultimately he just wanted what was best for her, even if that meant moving thousands of miles away.

Jay had been seeing Hailey differently for a while. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly when his feelings shifted, but he knew things were different. If anyone asked, she was his partner and his best friend, but he knew deep down that she was more than that. There were even a handful of moments when he almost told her how he felt but Jay, never a man of openly expressing his feelings, failed to get a single word out every time. He had fought those feelings for so long, keeping them hidden deep in the depths of his closed-off heart, but her time away in New York proved this impossible. He had picked her up from the airport when she got back in Chicago, and the second he saw her he couldn’t deny the way she set his heart aflame. So, hearing that the FBI was trying to steal her away permanently was messing with his head. He had sat on his concern all day, but his patience was running thin.

“Mm okay. Joint level task-force, with the HIG, all interrogations, all high-level targets,” she told him, a slight smirk on her face as she awaited his reaction.

“Sure.. Sure, sure, sure, yeah, that sounds awesome,” he said sarcastically as she chuckled. “Is it good pay?” He asked her, a sense of defeat in his voice.

“Great pay. Honestly made me a little embarrassed about what we get paid,” she said with a smile. This was not what he was hoping for, but he pressed forward.

“Well, you’d probably be really good at it,” he responded, feigning support as the words killed him inside. He knew she would be good at it, there was no doubt in his mind. The job sounded perfect for her, but he just hated where it was and what it could mean for them.

“Yeah,” she muttered, pausing briefly and looking out the window as if her next words were lingering somewhere outside and she was trying to find them. “Yeah, I hope so because I told them I would take it,” she finally said, her eyes slowly traveling back to his. The smile on her face was replaced by a look of sincerity. He felt his heart drop into his stomach as he clenched his jaw, trying to conceal the myriad of emotions consuming him.

“Well, I.. I’m happy for you,” he said unconvincingly before bringing his glass back to his mouth, taking a large swig of his drink. He couldn’t look her in the eye because he knew she’d be able to read right through him. So, he focused on the bottom of his glass, fingers fidgeting with the rim waiting for her to say something.

“Yeah, well I should be saying the same to you,” she told him. With this, he raised his eyes back up to meet hers and returned her words with a raised brow, sending a questioning look her way.

“I told them I wasn’t going anywhere without my partner, so they took a look at your file and they were very impressed by your background. They said if you’re good enough for me to bargain with, you must be worth having on their team,” she paused briefly and he watched her swallow hard before her next words. “Jay the offer is extended to the both of us.. that is if it is something you’re interested in,” she said, tilting her head to the side as she tried to read his reaction.

A moment of what felt like his world falling apart was now being strung back together with a sliver of hope for the two of them. Being a fed was never in any of Jay’s plans. In fact, he always found himself carrying an unwarranted detestation for them that made those government positions sound completely unappealing. He never imagined he’d be willing to give up Chicago, let alone his position in Intelligence, especially for a job with the feds, but if it meant being with Hailey he was going to consider it. Romantically or not he knew he needed her in his life and as he told her not too long ago, he would follow her anywhere.

“I- wha- I-“ he stuttered out, not being able to form a coherent word.

“Look, I know it is a lot to ask of you. I know it may not seem fair of me to offer you up like that without asking first, but the way I figured it, we’re good at our jobs and we’re good together. I mean new job, new city, it all sounded so crazy to me at first. I’ve never pictured myself anywhere outside of CPD, but then I took a step back and realized what it could mean big picture. My time in New York, the cases I was working, they showed me just how big and bad this world can be. I mean I was chasing after dudes that make guys like Darius Walker look like frickin saints. The whole time I just kept thinking, I could really see myself doing this every day. I felt fulfilled in a way I hadn’t in years, but every night I’d go home, especially after the bad ones, and I felt like something was missing. Then one night after a really bad one I was sitting in my hotel room, wallowing in the heaviness of that day and my phone rang. It was you calling to check up because you had a bad case too and you needed whatever this thing is between us that always seems to work. That’s when I realized what it was that was missing. It was you,” she shrugged, the corners of her mouth curling up in a shameful smile.

“Hailey..” Jay said as his eyes glossed over with tears. He sat there silently, looking into the endless depth of her eyes and hoping the right words would come to him. His thoughts were jumbled and he was having trouble grounding himself in reality. The whiplash of thinking he was losing the most important person in his life to hearing her tell him her life wasn’t complete without him left him in a state of disorient. He was relieved when she continued on before he had the chance to stumble over words once more.

“Look Jay, I don’t expect you to have an answer now. I just needed to tell you where I’m coming from so you’d have a full perspective to guide your decision. I know leaving Chicago, leaving our family at the 21st wouldn’t be easy, but I feel like this opportunity is something worth pursuing. I also think it’s something that would be made easier if we did it together,” she admitted, finishing her piece.

Her words echoed in his head as he seriously thought through the opportunity. Jay was wired to be a cop, to right wrongs, help victims find justice, and chase the highs of dangerous cases. He found his life’s purpose doing just that, starting in the Rangers and leading to his spot in Intelligence. He appreciated the fulfillment his work in Intelligence brought him, but what if he could do that on a much larger scale - with her by his side no less. All of a sudden he was picturing a life in New York and working at the FBI. He felt like it could make sense and it caught him by surprise, but it seemed clear.

“Do you remember when the unit was under siege and we thought it was the end of Intelligence? We had just gotten back from that major bust and we were talking about what would happen if we got shut down.. where we would go. Do you remember what I said to you?” He asked her, his newfound clarity allowed him to string a coherent thought together. She nodded in response.

“You told me you’re going where I go and that it’s hard to find a good partner,” she said softly, her eyes staying locked with his.

“I meant it then, and I mean it now. I’ve spent my whole life fighting to help people, and I like to think we’ve done some really great things in Intelligence. You were right when you said we’re good together, and if this job means we can make an even bigger difference than the one we do now, I’m all in,” he said, causing a big smile to form across her face.

“Yeah?”

“Hell yeah. I mean I’d like to know more about the position and everything, but if you say it’s worth it, then I trust you.. we’ll make it work. Plus, our thing just isn’t the same over the phone. You’d be lost without me,” he told her with a cheeky smile, eliciting an eye roll from her.

“Yeah, you mean you’d be lost without me,” she responded, standing from her chair to grab her coat. Jay laughed and took the check before rising to put his coat on as well. As they made their way to the door, Jay turned to face Hailey as a concerned look overcame his face.

“Wait- have you planned on how we’re going to tell Voight about this?” He asked. She returned his question with an expression matching his.

“Uh ah, I didn’t get that far. I didn’t think you would actually agree to be honest.”

“Come on, we’ve built a pretty strong partnership here, at least part of you had to think there was a chance I’d say yes,” he told her.

“Yeah, no I wasn’t thinking about that. I was thinking the fact that it’s a job with the feds and the idea of having to wear a suit everyday would have left no room for consideration,” she said with a chuckle. She pushed her body against the door, grimacing at the sudden sensation of the cold Chicago wind against her face, leaving a suspended Jay stood in the doorway.

“Suit.. everyday.. I-“ he said upon realizing that part of the job he hadn’t considered.

“Woah, woah, woah, you already said yes, no turning back now,” she teased. He groaned and dragged his feet out the door to join her in the cold. They walked shoulder to shoulder down the street in a comfortable silence.

“That doesn’t sound so bad you know,” she said, breaking through the silence as they reached their cars. She turned to face him, her eyes carrying a glimmer he hadn’t noticed before.

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

“Getting to see you in a suit every day,” she said confidently before realizing the coy nature of the statement and bashfully looking away. Jay could feel the heat rush to his face despite the chilling wind blowing against him. He smiled down at his feet, hoping if she could notice the redness of his cheeks, she accounted it to the cold. There was a long pause before he brought his eyes back up to hers once again.

“See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” she said, placing a hand on his chest lightly before passing him to get into her car.

Jay wasn’t sure where their future was going or what direction it would take them, but he knew as long as she was in his life, he was set. His eyes followed her as she got in her car and started the engine. She gave him a small wave before pulling out into the street. Yet again there he was suppressing his feelings for his partner, but this time it felt worth it. A lot in their lives was about to change, he didn’t need to add the heaviness of his feelings to the mix. He was anxious about what was to come, but he ultimately felt content with his decision.

#upstead #jay x hailey #hailey x jay #jay halstead #hailey upton #chicago pd #upstead fic

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apparentlynotreallyfinnish · 5 years

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Experiments - Part 6

If you want to read the earlier parts, the easiest way is to head to Ao3.

Experiments on Ao3

---

Rhett would’ve lied if he said he wasn’t worried when he drove into work on Monday. They hadn’t spoken since Saturday evening. It was entirely possible that Link would want to act like nothing had happened. Rhett wasn’t exactly sure what he would do if that was Link’s wish. Honor it? Possibly. That would be the right thing to do.

But he had to try at least. Because after last night’s investigation, Rhett had barely had any sleep. He’d spent half of the night tossing and turning and the other half barely sleeping, waking up sweaty and breathless, chasing the dreams where Link had been naked against him.

Rhett grabbed his uneaten breakfast sandwich from the passenger seat before walking briskly through the building. He stopped at their office door, hand hovering in the air, trying to psyche himself up for a grumpy or—in the worst case—cold Link.

“Morning,” he announced, as he walked in. Link jerked at the false perkiness in Rhett’s voice and his brows furrowed a bit. Rhett cringed internally. What the hell was that?!

“Morning…?” Link replied, looking slightly confused.

He was sitting on the couch, laptop in his lap, but as soon as Rhett stepped further inside, he closed it with a determined click and patted the cushion beside him. “Wanna come and sit with me for a bit?”

He didn’t sound mad or standoffish or in any way out of the ordinary. He just sounded like Link. But as he waited for Rhett to answer, his bottom lip got sucked between his teeth and worry flashed across his face. Rhett was still trying to acclimate to this unexpected version of him when he rushed to continue.

“You don’t have to! You can sit somewhere else if y—”

“Sorry,” Rhett muttered, finally getting his legs to move. He set his backpack down and sat on the couch, leaving a few inches of space between them. Link gave him a small smile and tucked his hands between his knees.

“No, I’m sorry,” Link said, staring at his legs.

“About?” Rhett asked, turning to look at him. Link glanced at him but his gaze quickly returned back to his knees.

“I shoulda stayed. On Saturday. You obviously needed to talk and I just…” Link sighed and got back to worrying his lip.

“Hey, it’s not a big deal. I get it. It was… an uncomfortable situation for you,” Rhett said, reaching towards Link to pat him on the shoulder. Link flinched and Rhett’s stomach sank before his hand did. He doesn’t want me to touch him.

“No, not uncomfortable!” Link said quickly, seemingly sensing Rhett’s mood shift. His hand landed on Rhett’s thigh and squeezed lightly. “I was— I just needed a moment. To process.”

Rhett nodded, trying very hard to ignore Link’s fingers inches away from his cock. “And?”

“And… what?” Link asked slowly, staring at his own hand—or was he staring at Rhett’s crotch?

“You processed. What do you think now?”

“Oh!” Link’s head whipped up and there was a faint blush on his cheeks. “Umm… I don’t know?” he said, eyes searching for an answer from the wall in front of them. “It was…”

“Awkward?” Rhett offered with a small smile. Link shrugged.

“A little bit. At first. But… oh man, I’m definitely bi. Like no question about that,” Link said with a sheepish smile. His deepening blush made Rhett’s cheeks puff up. A knot he hadn’t known was inside him loosened at Link’s words.

“So it was good? Experiment successful?”

Rhett needed Link to say it. He needed confirmation that it hadn’t just been him that had experienced something spectacular that night.

Link was staring at him, eyes heavy-lidded and lips slightly parted. Was he thinking about that night? Was he thinking about Rhett’s cock inside his mouth? Rhett’s stomach tightened and he chased away the memories before they could flood his mind and incapacitate him.

“Yeah,” Link finally sighed. “It was really, really good.”

Shit, okay. This is good. There’s a chance. Rhett’s leg started to bounce against the floor. Ask him!

“So, um…”

“Yeah?” Link said eagerly, leaning towards him almost imperceptibly.

“Did you talk to Christy?”

“I did. Did you talk to Jessie?”

“Yup.”

They glanced at each other and as if caught, turned away at the same time. The color of Rhett’s cheeks was slowly starting to match Link’s.

“Link…”

Rhett had planned on what he wanted to say. He’d even practiced it a few times in front of the mirror last night, garnering delighted laughter and a tight hug from his wife.

If you need to explore this side of yourself more, I’m willing to help you.

That was the gist of it at least. Now the words were gone, erased from Rhett’s mind by Link’s words and his hand, still resting on Rhett’s leg. So, instead of his rehearsed, fairly neutral speech he said:

“Do you want me to fuck you?”

Link’s eyes widened and his hand slipped away.

“I mean—!” Rhett hurried to add but realized there wasn’t anything else to say. That was it. It might have come out a bit crude, but it was what he’d wanted to ask.

Link stared at him, jaw slack for a moment more, but then a smile ripped across his face. He doubled over and laughter filled the room.

“What?” Rhett snapped, his face hot and his armpits sweaty. Link just kept laughing. Rhett got up, stomped to his desk and sat down with a huff.

“Oh, gosh. Oh, no,” Link croaked, still folded over himself, wiping away the tears. “Don’t be mad. I didn’t— I’m not laughing at you.”

“Uh-huh. Seems plausible,” Rhett muttered and scowled at him.

“Well, okay, I kinda am. But! No, wait. It’s only because I had this whole speech…”

Rhett perked up at the last word.

“…where I was gonna ask you if you were willing to do another experiment with me and I had all these things I was going to say. And then you—” Link paused to gasp for air. “You come along with can I fuck you?”

“I didn’t—!” Rhett shot up and turned towards Link, ready to go to war over semantics, but Link just waved his hand placatingly.

“You know what I mean.” He took another deep breath, finally getting his laughter under control.

“Yeah, Rhett,” he said, softer now. “I want you to fuck me.”

Rhett froze. A wave of heat rushed through his body and settled between his legs. Link was still sitting, looking up at him with tear-glistened eyes and a smile so vulnerable Rhett’s knees almost buckled.

“For real?” he whispered. Link got up, wiped his palms onto his jeans and walked up to him. Rhett watched, wide-eyed and bewildered when Link got on one knee in front of him. Rhett’s hand was snatched and pressed between two slightly clammy palms.

“Rhett James McLaughlin,” Link started voice trembling with emotion, staring up at Rhett.

The inside of Rhett’s head turned into a wind tunnel. He couldn’t form even the simplest of thoughts.

But then a playful, little smirk appeared on Link’s face and he continued. “Will you pop my cherry?”

Rhett snorted. Link’s face lit up with the widest of smiles and he poked out his tongue and winked at Rhett. Rhett pulled his hand away and punched him on the shoulder.

“Get up, you dweeb,” Rhett muttered, laughter bubbling up in his chest. “We have an episode to film.”

————

“You know what’s funny?”

“What?” Rhett asked, staring at his laptop, engrossed in an email he’d just received.

“I expected it to be bad. That it would taste weird.”

“What would?” Rhett asked absentmindedly. He was barely listening.

“You.”

It was like mental whiplash; Rhett’s mind dislodged itself and clicked back into place, purging all other thoughts from his brain. He stared at Link with raised eyebrows and a mouth turned into an almost perfect circle. Link was blushing fiercely, but there was a playful twinkle in his eyes. He was doing this on purpose; he was trying to get a reaction out of Rhett.

“Oh,” was all Rhett managed to get out. Link rubbed his neck—which was the same deep shade of red as his face—and continued:

“But you tasted freaking amazing. Like… I think I could get addicted to it.”

What Rhett heard was “I could get addicted to you”.

God, I want that, he thought, suddenly aching all over. I’d leave this Earth as the happiest man in existence if you did that to me again and again…

He didn’t say his thought out loud, though. Instead, he coughed, plastered a teasing smirk on his face and said: “Is that so?” He leaned back on the couch, spreading his legs just enough for Link to notice and lifted his hands behind his head. Two can play at this game.

Link’s eyes widened and he quickly turned to look back at his laptop. The blush in his cheeks grew angry-red and blotchy.

“I mean, ha! Not really. I was just... surprised,” Link mumbled and started tapping on his keyboard with such force that Rhett was worried about it breaking.

“Anyway, forget I said anything. Back to work,” Link said and threw a quick, imploring glance at Rhett.

But Rhett couldn’t get back to work. Honestly, the last nine days had been difficult on that front. After Link’s “proposal” they hadn’t talked about the sleepover other than to figure out when it could happen. Rhett had been silently glad that the following weekend had already been booked for both of them. He hadn’t wanted to seem too eager to get into Link’s pants. And due to some other weekend plans later in the month, the Saturday two weeks after their first experiment was chosen, more out of necessity than want. The plan had been quickly approved by their wives and the date was set.

That had been the easy bit. The hard part was spending two weeks in the same space as the man he was scheduled to fuck.

Concentrating on work was a bit difficult when Rhett’s mind was either filled with the memory of Link’s mouth on him or with the fantasies of his mouth on Link—not to mention other parts of his body that very enthusiastically wanted to be both on and in Link. So, Rhett spent his time watching him.

Like right now. He watched that slender neck slowly turning from red to pink, watched the tight curve of his lips move as he mumbled words under his breath, watched his delicate fingers sweeping across the keyboard. For nine long days, Rhett had been a good boy. And nine days was apparently one day too long.

The need in him was like a beast rising from hibernation. It roared to life, setting Rhett’s insides on fire and turning off the filter in his brain that separated work and… the other things.

“You know…” he started, straightening his arm on the back of the couch, effectively wrapping it around Link’s shoulders. Link glanced at him with an arched brow.

“It’s a bit unfair I didn’t get to keep my promise.”

“Promise?” Link asked, voice hoarse before swallowing visibly.

“That I’d return the favor. That I’d suck you off.”

Link’s eyes unfocused and Rhett watched his pupils dilate. He moved his hand so that his fingers brushed softly against Link’s shoulder. Link shivered, twisted away from the touch and shot up from the couch.

“That’s not— You don’t…” he stammered, chest rising and falling quickly. He was tugging on the hem of his t-shirt as if that could hide the unmistakable bulge in his pants.

Hmm. That didn’t take much… Rhett licked his lips as his own cock started to awaken. He didn’t do it on purpose, but to Link, it probably seemed like he did. Link’s gaze flitted to his lips. He took a step back and scowled at Rhett.

“We’re at work,” he hissed, looking more than scandalized. Rhett shrugged.

“It’s late. There’s barely anyone else in the office. Also, the door locks…”

“Rhett,” Link whined and grabbed a fistful of his own hair, glancing at the door that was ajar and then back at Rhett. He looked torn and Rhett hated himself a little because it just made him harder.

He got up from the couch and walked to Link, crowding him, moving them both towards the door. Link’s back slammed against it, clicking it closed behind him. He was staring up at Rhett, hands shakily pressed on his chest. A small whimper fell from his lips when Rhett bent down and nosed under Link’s ear, smelling his sweet, manly scent and breathing in his warmth. The full-body shivers his closeness drew from Link almost made him moan.

“You wanna lock that door?” he murmured into Link’s ear, lips brushing against the shell of it.

“What about—?” Link gasped with a shaky voice. “W—we… Don’t you think we should talk with—?”

“Jessie is fine with this. Christy is fine with this. They literally suggested that we spend a night together.”

“But…”

“If you want me to stop, I will,” Rhett said and stepped back, giving Link literal room to think. “But if you want me to go on…” Rhett nodded towards the lock.

Link’s hand moved torturously slowly to fumble for the lock. The sound of it clicking to place made Rhett’s cock jump excitedly, and he rushed forwards to press his lips onto Link’s flushed skin right below his ear. Rhett wedged his thigh between Link’s legs and Link’s body met him greedily, rutting his erection against Rhett’s leg.

A soft touch of Link’s palm against Rhett’s neck almost sent him tumbling towards Link’s parted lips but he was thwarted by Link pushing him away again.

“Rhett,” Link said, paused to swallow, still clearly at least somewhat unsure. “You don’t have to do this. I know I kinda tricked you into making that promise. I wasn’t serious. I didn’t think you’d actually—”

Rhett’s hand slipped between them, taking the place of his thigh, and palmed Link’s hardness through his jeans. Link’s voice fell away and his eyes flitted closed. Rhett did his best to wrap around Link’s shaft through the fabric.

God, he’s a big boy…

Rhett took a deep breath and paused to listen to his body’s reaction. Even though touching Link had been basically the only thing in his mind for the last week and a change, he still expected some level of resistance. A minor freak out. Some part of his mind or body saying ‘no, this is not for us’. But there was nothing. Just the roaring need to fill his mouth with Link. To taste him. To make him lose his mind a little bit, like he’d done to Rhett.

“A-aa-aah,” Link moaned shakily as Rhett continued to work his cock through his pants.

“You think I’d do this if I didn’t want to?” Rhett asked, huffing out a low chuckle.

“But you’re not—”

“Into guys?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s just call this an experiment,” Rhett said and got down on his knees.

#Appa writes fic #rhink #rhink fic #experiments fic #part 6 #ns*w #ish #mythical wives #mentioned #Jessie mclaughlin #Christy Neal

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actuallylorelaigilmore · 4 years

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I actually really liked the ending of the new episode. At this point, the Penelope and Schneider ship doesn’t seem to be going anywhere (even though Avery’s lack of appearances kinda gets my hopes up A LITTLE), so if Max is Penelope’s endgame, then I’m happy because they were a great couple, they loved each other, and he actually spent time with her family. They brought out the best in each other too. Plus, I wanna see Penelope be with someone great. It makes me sad to see her so lonely.

Hi anon!! Thank you so much for messaging me, I’ve been waiting since last night for somebody else to have seen the ep so I could discuss it. :)

I agree that Alvareider is clearly not canon right now, not that I expected it to be–and I’ve said all along that Max is my favorite of Penelope’s love interests so far, so if he were endgame I’d be happy for her about that. I’m not upset about either of those things specifically. (Though everybody knows my heart lies with Pen/Schneider and always will. That’s what fanfic is for.)

What upset me about the end, once I’d sorted through my feelings and could explain them, is that S4′s focus on Max has been giving me emotional whiplash because it casts S2 and S3 in a different light if that’s where the show is going now.

My understanding of their S2 breakup was that they were both sad but understood they wanted different things and were just therefore incompatible. My understanding of the S3 finale was that seeing him made Penelope sad because she wished they could have worked out, but she knew their differences were insurmountable and so she chose to focus on her happiness whether she found love again after that or not.

But now in S4, it turns out Penelope never really stopped thinking about him and she misses him so much that she thinks their breakup was a mistake. Does that mean she felt that way at the wedding when she saw him, even though her speech at the end was all optimistic about her future going it alone? Does that mean when we rewatch S2 now we’re supposed to be on Lydia’s side of their fight when she tells Pen she shouldn’t have broken up with him, because even Penelope will think so later? If she and Max are endgame, then his appearance in S3 finally makes more sense to me, but it also means different things.

Besides that, I just have the same problem with their reunion that I did with the Avery/Schneider reunion, no matter how cute the actors are together. It’s LITERALLY the same problem. So I don’t know if maybe I’m the weird one, for not seeing how ‘missing someone a lot’ is all you need to get back together, whatever your reasons for breaking up…but I don’t get it.

We don’t know exactly what caused the Avery/Schneider breakup, though we know his drinking was involved, so maybe we can guess that his reestablished sobriety will help them repair things. But it’s not like we see any of that, so ‘they were miserable without each other’ was their onscreen reason for reuniting, and it didn’t make sense to me that we were now supposed to expect them to work.

With Penelope and Max, we KNOW the exact reason why they broke up, and it’s a binary incompatibility. He wants to raise kids with someone or he doesn’t. She wants to raise more kids, with him this time, or she doesn’t. Has he changed his mind? Has she? If not, how is their relationship going to last beyond that happy ‘I missed you so much’ reunion? Even if they explain it later, the not explaining it before they oh-so-romantically get back together meant I was watching that scene going ‘wtf this doesn’t make sense’ instead of ‘oh yay look how happy she is.’ Because if they still have a built in end date with divergent futures, Penelope is just going to be brokenhearted again later.

If they’re able to work it out, great! Her whole family–Schneider included–loves him, he’s a genuinely good guy, and he really always did make her happy. I could see them being endgame. But I have a hard time being emotionally invested in relationships when we don’t get to see them actually work through problems. When she went off her meds and stood up Max and his parents, we saw her explain things and realize she didn’t have to hide that part of her from himself–that’s the sort of exchange between them that made me like Max!

I’m on the ace spectrum so maybe that’s why I don’t understand ‘time to sidestep our problems and just skip to being together again because we hated being apart’ but it’ll never make sense to me as a person or as a viewer, because I enjoy seeing people deal with their problems, and model conflict resolution, especially in adult relationships. And especially on ODAAT, which is usually so direct and full of communication rather than romance cliches. (Don’t get me wrong, romance cliches can be fun too! Where I expect to find them.)

tl;dr Max is great but which of them changed dreams so now they can be endgame? And why wouldn’t they tell us that before staging the reunion?

#don't mind me i'm just over here nitpicking at s4 because some parts of it feel so different from s3 #i poke my favorite show with a stick that's how i show my love #odaat #one day at a time #spoilers #penelope alvarez #max ferraro #penelope x max #schneider x avery #penelope x schneider #anons are love #replies #long post #(kinda)

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faunusrights · 4 years

Text

OFFAL HUNT REMASTERED LIVEBLOG // CHAPTER 21

IN THIS EPISODE OF MURPHY IS SO VERY SLEEPY BUT THE UPDATE SCHEDULE TAKES NO PRISONERS (FOR THE MOMENT):

“So it’s true,” she wheezed between grit fangs—“that bitch really does have you on a leash.”

KINKY,

me: okay lemme refresh on what happened last chapter-- me: /remembers me: oh yeah! yeah that SUCKED,

lets us continue on the journey of deep and immense sadness with glynda ‘clown shoes’ goodwitch!!!!!!!! here we go here we go

It took a while to pry back the jaws of her soul and wrench herself out of them.

ooh i rly like the context change here. before glynda was kinda falling back into her soul as a way of just Getting On With Shit or protecting herself, but now it’s framed in a fun new way of please can i get out of here now. good job glynda. look at u GROUNDING YRSELF like a CHAMP who should have been in a TKO LIKE FIVE ROUNDS AGO--

What did that mean? Had she asked Cinder about Ochre? Glynda struggled to recall, but the memories swirled like clouded ink in her skull.

i still love the continuation of glynda’s Mysterious Messages To Herself. she leads such a thrilling life of ‘did i write that’ and ‘did i do that’ and ‘what does any of this mean’

Hating herself, Glynda found she couldn’t remember.

and also a less thrilling life of the squeaky clown shoes variety. glynda PLEASE

She had to know: was anything Cinder had given her real?

the YOU and the US,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, the DESTINY. dw babe im sure cinder Has Never Told A Lie, Even Once In Her Life, On Account Of Being A Very Open And Honest Person,

Had she been abandoned? Cinder had been unhappy when she left. Angry, maybe. Angry enough to take her leave for good? Or had she always planned to?

i love watching glynda slowly become kind of,,,,,,,,,,,, more aware of herself in relation to other people? sometimes she still Moves or Does w/o rly thinking it thru, but we’ve got quite a change from, like, early chapters of glynda where she was barrelling along with VERY little disregard for both actions AND consequences,,, but look at her now!!!!!!! using her whole ass BRAIN. im proud of her.

When she tried to dismiss this first fear, another one was waiting underneath: had something happened to Cinder?

In her attempts to keep Glynda’s soul from smothering them both, Cinder had been quite willing to converse over the phone with her—even if her texts were short and snippy, she usually at least responded, to avoid backlash. Did she not care anymore? Or—

Or was she unable to?

/leans in, like, uncomfortably close to the microphone

glynda darling i do Not mean 2 worry u but yr (future) gf is currently grieving, pissed beyond belief, and also

/checks notes

failing her way into becoming strawberry jam

But, surprisingly, there was another half to Glynda now: one that worried, despite facts, that Cinder was in danger. That Cinder might need her.

GO AND GET THE GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The light caught in every golden thread of her crown emblem, embroidered with diligent precision. But something else caught her eye: the midnight black surrounding it had a sheen to it. Subtle red ducked through the fabric, glittering like burnished stars in a distant night sky: fire Dust.

The flash of a memory: Cinder’s face when Glynda had complained that her last cape had been burned.

This cape would not burn.

okay so no lie i cant read this bit without my eyes starting to water abt just how GOOD this section is and i have cried TOO MANY TIMES over this fic ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! T H A N K Y O U F O R T H E F O O D !

CINDER MADE IT FIREPROOF. SHE DIDNT HAVE TO. SHE DIDNT NEED TO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BUT THE SYMBOLISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IS U N R E A L. I AM CRYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

GO GET THE GIRL YOU MORON

Glynda didn’t know what to do.

Glynda dialed Winter.

and i am INSTANTLY launched back into the comedy that is glynda goodwitch’s life at large THANKS FOR THE WHIPLASH

“No, I mean… I was awful to you the last time we spoke. I know I was. I keep thinking about it. I’m so sorry, I just… Don’t have anyone else to go to right now. I don’t know who else I’d call.” It was horrible to admit. Loneliness had never shamed her before because her soul had held it at bay. Now it made her sick. “I’m safe. If you don’t want to talk to me…”

LOOK AT THIS CHARACTER GROWTH,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, GLYNDA!!!!!!!! YR DOIN SO WELL BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVERYONE COME LOOK AT HER THINKING WITH HER M I N D.

“I lashed out at you, Professor Goodwitch. That wasn’t right of me. I should have known that you weren’t truly to blame for what you said. I know Cinder. She’s manipulative. She twists the world and makes you think she’s a different person than who she really is. I blamed you in the moment, but Cinder Fall is truly the person at fault for making you believe that I would try to hurt you. I shouldn’t have raised my voice or said the things I did.”

/rubs face

like winter needs to be in this fic and og was bereft not having her actually take up 30% of the space as she DESERVES, but god i forgot that shes a whole Thing and winter please just. shush. for a moment. for a second. ilusm. but please shut up.

Glynda was pacing, her Scroll levitating near her.

side note but casual uses of glyndas semblance is one of my fav things i love seeing it. glynda ‘look mom no hands’ goodwitch out here,

Glynda closed her eyes. The tactile recollection of cats arching, bristling, and spitting. Backed into corners. “Maybe she was panicking. I don’t know.”

i dont rly have much to say here other than continuing to enjoy Cinder As Cat, the ongoing metaphor. glyndas just gonna pick her up the scruff of the neck eventually and we will ALL b thankful.

ughghghgb im not gonna copy paste this whole convo w/ winter because this is a liveblog not a shitty projection of the fic on the side wall of a bowling alley, BUT GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD glynda is so WORRIED,,,,,,,,,,, past glynda is befuddled. bemused. why does future glynda Feel so much. but future glynda is FEELING and i love her. das yr gf yr worried abt. DAS HER,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and also yr other gf winter too but like that’s a long-con sort of egg to hatch,

While it had been some time now since Glynda had been in a proper fight, she expected no trouble. This wasn’t Cinder—ergo: this wasn’t a real threat to her. Still, she would bide her time and hold her silence, if only for the chance of getting a hint of what was going on.

This wasn’t Cinder—ergo: this wasn’t a real threat to her.

LADS,,,, LADIES,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, BEANS,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, IS IT GAY,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, TO SEE YR RIVAL AS YR ONLY REAL THREAT,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

The group crossed the room as one unit, guns aloft and eyes peeled, determined to not be ambushed.

Glynda intended to ambush them regardless.

i dont like 2 say when an au gets a character so right that all other interpretations aren’t valid, but.......................... offal hunt gets glynda so right that all other interpretations aren’t valid, and thats that, on that,

One left. Glynda didn’t hesitate. She had been built to fight Grimm; far stronger, far quicker, far more bestial foes than these. She was herself a blade, sharpened far too fine for these intruders.

sounds hot

“Are they...alive?”

Glynda didn’t pause to check.

“Professor? Are they alive?”

glynda: fuck them kids

“How will you get to her?” Winter asked.

“I always find her in the end,” Glynda answered.

hrm,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, i wonder if that’s foreshadowing something

Her soul was churning inside her, longing for solace, for Cinder. She could picture the way like a burning trail in her mind’s eye; that bright-yellow tether between herself and Cinder, that pathway between their souls that she had tread so many times before. It always led her to Cinder.

HRM,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I WONDER,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

“Good luck, Glynda.”

“Thank you,” she said again, pausing under the streetlights. “But I won’t need luck. I’ll find her.”

FELLAS,

what a good chapter!!!!!!!!!!! also i cried. BUT I HAD A REAL GOOD TIME. I CAN IMAGINE THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE LESS OF A GOOD TIME, BUT FOR NOW, I WILL ENJOY THE MENTAL IMAGE OF GLYNDA’S BICEPS AND HER FUTURE WEDDING ALSO,

#rwby #offal hunt #liveblog

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tessatechaitea · 4 years

Text

Justice League #2 (1987)

I didn't know Orgazmo was in this comic book.

Once again, I'm surprised by how quickly an old comic book I read years ago gets to some of the stories I think of as major story arcs. These pseudo-Marvel heroes on the cover are the precursor to The Extremists whom I remember as major antagonists to this team. I don't know if The Extremists appear any time soon though. First, the Justice League have to deal with these peaceniks. Only after they've become allies with Blue Jay and Bald Thor and Brown Scarlet Witch do the Extremists finally come to destroy Earth. The issue begins with Kevin Maguire going, "Look at these lips. You like these lips and this mouth. Well, you're gonna get lots of them! Even Maxwell Lord gets some lovely pouty face slugs!"

I'm sorry for referring to lips as "face slugs."

Batman's main goal is to get to the bottom of how Doctor Light became a member of his League. He'd already hired Black Canary so why would he need another woman in the group? Isn't a ratio of eight men to one woman good enough?! I'm counting Oberon in the number of men just to make it seem even more lopsided. Although Doctor Fate has already ditched (and will become a woman soon anyway, right?!) so, not including Oberon, that makes the ratio six to one! Getting better! Plus add Doctor Light since she was on the cover and has somehow forced her way in, a ratio of six to two! That's three to one if you reduce it! Which is practically one to one if you squint and put your fingers in your ears and go, "Nyah nyah nyah! Everything is already equal! Why are women fighting for more than they already have?!" Anyway, my point was: Fucking Batman. What a monster!

I wouldn't think a sleeveless vest with a wacky collar layered on top of a turtle neck with elbow length white gloves would look so cool!

I prefer to concentrate on Guy's outfit rather than his misogyny and lack of intelligence and terrible haircut. In this issue is an advert for the all new Dr. Fate four issue mini-series by Giffen and DeMatteis. So that solves the mystery of why he was sort of included in the first issue. He was basically a commercial. Jack Ryder's gossip television show has been trying to portray the new Justice League in a negative light because that's the kind of reporting that gets eyeballs and raises revenue. Maybe if people's lives weren't so boring, they wouldn't eat up all that hot take drama shit from people like Jack Ryder and Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham. I suppose I shouldn't wonder how rational people watch that shit because most people, rational or not, are just looking for somebody to repeat their inner views back to them. And Fox News has honed that ability to a razor edge. Sometimes I imagine Sean Hannity doesn't believe the stupid shit he comes up with but then I remember my high school and college friend Soy Rakelson and I think, "Oh yeah. He actually believes that shit."

I recently found this letter by Soy from our college paper. It's been in my head since 1994 when I could not fucking believe he wrote it. Poor, poor discriminated Soy, self-declared "Defender of Western Civilization."

One small note about Soy: maybe a month or two after Trump became president, he quietly disappeared from Facebook for good. I won't speculate on why but I suppose if I spent some time trying, I'd probably come up with his actual reasoning. After Guy throws another tantrum that has to be quelled by Batman, Doctor Fate gets a scene of his own! I guess he didn't completely disappear from the comic book. At least not yet. Although, if Doctor Fate sticks around for a dozen or more issues, I'm going to feel even more shitty than I already feel about my memory. Doctor Fate visits some purple haired guy who sees everything as gray and warns him to take back up his destiny. I don't know who it is. The only purple haired character I remember is Pariah. But what is his destiny other than to watch worlds burn? Also, he has other selves across the world reaching into people's souls. Is he Jim Corrigan? I have no idea! Meanwhile, Blue Jay, Wandjina, and Silver Sorceress (whose costume is brown), from Earth-Marvel-Parodies (or some other new world, I suppose. In 1987, there was just one Earth left, right?), are busy dismantling Bialya's nuclear arsenal. Bialya is one of DC's evil countries. Sometimes you don't want to write a story that exists in a gray world; you just want pure black and white, good and evil. When that's the case, you have the heroes battle Bialyans! Blue Jay and friends are here to rid the Earth of all their nuclear weapons so as to save it from the fate that befell their homeworld. The leader of Bialya sees an opportunity for mischief and power and the destruction of America, so he greets them with open arms. Rumaan Harjavti, the leader of Bialya, teams up with Blue Jay and Friends to help guide them to other nations who have nuclear weapons that need to be disposed of. The first country he sends them to is Israel. Probably because it's close by and not because he has ulterior racist motives. Guy Gardner hears the news and is thrilled because he gets a boner imagining a world where only Ronald Reagan has control over a nuclear arsenal.

When he first mentioned Ronnie, I thought it was a mistake. I forgot how old this comic book is!

Batman is all, "We're going to stop these peaceniks from making the world a safer place!" Because if there's one story that can't be told enough it's the one where we all learn a lesson about how the ends do not justify the means, no matter how amazing the ends will be and how messy the means are. I suppose the ends justify the means if the means are compassionately thought out and done with respect for all parties' opinions! So maybe sometimes the ends justify the means? Or does the statement not work that way because the point is that you can't just make that blanket statement. Like, do you murder five million people to save one little girl's life? Probably not! Or do I have it completely wrong and everybody thinks the ends do justify the means? Anyway, Batman doesn't think world peace should be achieved through the destruction of other people's dangerous property. It's basically the same story that season one of Stargirl just told. The Injustice Society of America wants to make the world a leftist dreamscape but at the cost of 25 million lives or something. And the Justice Society is all, "Well, we really like your manifesto. We agree with all of these points. But maybe the cost is too high?" So in the end, I was left supporting the Injustice Society of America because I guess I believe the ends do justify the means?! Also, I'm fairly certain I don't like a quarter of the population so good riddance? But also maybe the entire season of Stargirl was some sort of anti-leftist parable about how you have to let people come to their own decisions about saving the world because forcing them to get on board is rude and it's better if climate change destroys the world than to force one person to believe that manmade climate change is an actual thing? I had philosophical whiplash by the end of Stargirl season one. One character is all, "Murder is wrong!" and then goes and murders somebody and another character is all "I need revenge because this monster killed my parents!" and then he gets all merciful and lets Solomon Grundy go so he can kill other parents and the Injustice Society is all, "We'll kill indiscriminately to make the world a better place for our rich white kids!" and then their all, "A lot of rich white people's kids are going to die from our plan but that's okay because they're not ours." Also, the worst part of the show, the part of the show that I cannot forgive, is how they introduced us to Doctor Mid-Nite's sad owl back at the abandoned JSA headquarters and Luke Wilson is all, "Yeah, he's just waiting for Doctor Mid-Nite to return. It's sad, right? He just hangs out here alone super sad." And then Beth becomes the new Doctor Mid-Nite and you keep expecting the owl to befriend her but the owl never appears, ever again. Every episode, when the sad owl didn't appear onscreen, I was reminded of the sad owl. So every minute of every episode, I kept thinking, "Is the owl going to befriend Beth now?" And nothing. The season ends with the sad owl still super sad and all alone and fuck the writers and showrunners for that. I suppose they couldn't afford a CGI owl after ejaculating all of their CGI money on the five minute Solomon Grundy fight. I just digressed so much I need to take a shower.

Guy and I are in 99.5% agreement about the dismantling of nuclear weapons. That last bit is where he thinks the U.S.A. should get to keep theirs.

Everybody treats Guy Gardner like his argument isn't even worth listening to but they're all wrong! They're just treating him like a dumb jerk! Sure, I agree that the Justice League just can't take it upon themselves to rid the world of all nuclear weapons. I mean, do I?! Hmm. I'm not so sure I do agree with that! If Superman really cared about Earth, shouldn't he martyr himself by becoming the biggest criminal in the history of the entire world by destroying all nuclear weapons against the will of every nation that has them?! There are plenty of other planets in the DCU that he could go live on after becoming a giant Earth menace! Can't he even make that small sacrifice for the safety of his homeworld?! And if his actions cause some kind of horrible repercussions that cause the world to spiral into chaos, he can probably just blame Batman. Silver But Really Brown Sorceress questions if what they're doing is right. Bald Thor says, "In the end they'll thank us. And even if they don't, at least they'll be alive to hate us." See?! That's what I just said about Superman! He should totally take that bullet! That was not a tasteless George Reeves joke and even if somebody read it that way, it's been like a hundred years since his death! Blue Jay and Friends tell each other their origin story as they remember how their world was destroyed by nuclear weapons and how they decided to interfere with everybody else's lives because of it. I think their origin was supposed to make me see their side of things and feel empathy for them but it totally made me rethink their position and now I totally think they need to be stopped. Because I was fine when I thought the argument was "Destroy all nuclear weapons to save Earth." But I dislike the argument, "Something bad happened to me and now I have to make sure it never happens to anybody else no matter how annoying I make myself!" It's like when somebody's dumb kid gets hit by a bus while riding their bike and then they have to get a law passed making it illegal for busses to run over kids and to name the law after their kid and to get politicians who support the law because it doesn't really change anything (being that busses running over kids was probably already frowned upon if not illegal) but it's good press and makes it look like they're doing something. Then after the dumb law is passed, the parents of the dumb kid can say things like, "My baby didn't die in vain!" Even if that's totally untrue and their baby did die in vain and the law never actually makes the world a better place at all. Guy rushes in to stop Blue Jay and Friends all alone but fails because writers can't reward brash arrogant heroes who are mostly just big jerks. It would be unseemly.

So far, I've liked the bits with Captain Marvel but I'm still weirded out that he's a little boy in a grown man's muscular body.

Blue Jay and Friends fly into Bialyan airspace and the Justice League have to back off. But they'll get another chance to stop Blue Jay and Friends next issue when Blue Jay and Friends try to disarm Russia! Justice League #2 Rating: B+. It gets too complicated when super heroes bump up against the wall of political conflicts. When Batman points out that the Justice League can't chase Blue Jay and Friends into Bialyan airspace without creating an international incident, some readers might start questioning how super heroes can act even within the borders of one specific country! Surely every time they commit their vigilantism, they're creating a domestic incident! Don't make me start asking questions about the fundamental nature of masked people doing whatever the fuck they think is justice without the consent of any kind of laws or political powers, comic book! This is too heady for my tastes! I guess the whole point is to eventually have the Justice League backed by the United Nations so that the reader can think, "Okay, right. So they have the authority to do whatever they want now if I'm willing to believe the United Nations has any real authority at all!" And then the reader goes on to prove the moon landing never happened and that Project Cloverleaf rains human excrement down on our heads on a daily basis for some kind of Nazi experimentation.

#Justice League #DC Comics #DC #Keith Giffen #J.M. DeMatteis #Kevin Maguire

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starlight-ascension · 4 years

Text

My friend who live sent the reactions to Fresh is now watching Heartcatch. I have been waiting months for this and I bet you have too.

For episodes 31 through 34, I will be doing the direct, unedited copy-paste that I did when I posted the reactions to Setsuna’s arc.

☾━━━━༺☾❀☽༻━━━━☽ ☾━━━━༺☾❀☽༻━━━━☽ ☾━━━━༺☾❀☽༻━━━━☽

EPISODE 31

Imma watch episode 31 now

Well, this is an exciting start!

WOOP!!!!

Cure Blossom: "Your withered heart flower has been used! Return to your former self!" Desertrian: *confusion*

"Same thing, over and over again!" Is this lampshading or--

Welp, that's the end of that fight. New record for earliest time in an episode for a fight to end! Unless I'm forgetting some older episodes that also started with a fight and finished quickly. But I THINK that this one is a new record.

"A flower can be this beautiful?" 0_0

Ooooh, is this showing possibility for redemption???? don't answer that

Theme song time!

Fly on the tree

Oh, hey Yuri!!

caught "Yuri-san" when overhearing (and not looking at of course) the title [context: when she started fresh, i advised her to close her eyes when the title card pops up because of spoiler titles being very common]

So these flowers are called amaryllis. They really are nice aren't they

Ooh, echoing footsteps. And dang, won't even let the fairies so much as touch her now

Aw, Potpourri doesn't look too happy about the rejected hug

"We can't procrastinate until the last second like what happened to summer homework." Learned her lesson with that and hung onto it. Good for her. Wish I could say the same for myself, but... :-/

they have their heads hung with their faces cast in shadow

Oh! :-D :-D Well that's awesome!

"Let's have Momoka-san come as a special guest!" Are...are you guys sure about that? Welp, okay. Wait she's gonna ask Yuri too????

I mean...she's not wrong

This should be interesting

Wait, who's THIS

They have glowy glasses

"Mr. 2nd place"? 2nd place in what?

Saintani. Interesting how if you take out the "I"s and the first "N" you get Satan XD Oh dang that guys is a fast typer

Next test?

The shiny wobbly eyes from Yuri after Tsubomi says the theme is "A New Myself"

...Look at all the staaarrrs (*o*) (*o*) (*o*)

OH FRICK

HOLY FRICK HOLY FRICK

Talking to Dune again. Hmm.

"I've got them in my palms already." You liar.

"Maybe I should go on a journey?" Ooooh, a journey? THIS should be good

*both her teammates look at her* *Cobraja's face mask cleanly peels off*"What's wrong with you?" "Is it love? But you can't fall in love with me. I'm too pretty for you."

Oh hello Dark Precure. Haven't seen YOU in awhile...

Dark Bracelet?

"When you use this, the Desertrian will turn dark, bad, and violent immediately." What????????

JFKHNFIONGIJORGNWRJKNWRJGBERNJGKLRBNGJKISBNINJUKBGWRJLGHWRJOGBHJOGRWNBGOIWRBGIOFNHJRKLGNSFJKGBNSWOGIRUWBNEOUINGRWBRWGIOWRBGORUWBGOUJRWUGBNERJBGURWNJGNRWGJRWLBNJORWGHNRWIJGRWNG

SASORINA, NO!!!!1!

D~= D~= D~= D~= D~=

Wait, Yuri...LOST her Heart Flower???

Oh...

"But do you want your fairy to stay like this?" Stay like...what... Wait, is she talking about...

Yeah. I'm sure if she can start to heal again it'll come back.

*sings like Gumball and Darwin* Do do do do do!` Commercial break!

Well THAT was a mood whiplash

They're out in their pajamas? XD and Itsuki's fully dressed and bright-eyed without hairs sticking out or anything

Mm. Yeah. Maybe give her a bit of time.

XD fairies inching along the ground like caterpillars XD XD XD XD XD XD

Saintani's exaggerated "NAAAANIIII?!?!?!?!" XD XD XD XD XD !!

"I'm losing my conviction..." Okay, the way he sounds just...sad, saying this, not even frustrated or anything. Hmm. And Sasorina's walking up.

Yuri?

!!!!

Well frick she got him. And this time she has the Dark Bracelet...

Transformation time!

YEAH! WOOP! YEAAAH!

"A loser should just give up. Just accept that and go crazy." FRICK NO THEY SHOULDN'T! Y--wait, I'm realizing this could be like a parallel? To Yuri? Because Sasorina called her a loser reminding her of the fight she lost? And if Saintani shouldn't give up just because he keeps losing than Yuri shouldn't give up either and--

But, like, also the thing he keeps "losing" at is...studying? And as satisfying as it must be to come in first there, though second does mean he still came ahead of lots and lots of people, competing isn't really the point of studying, is it? the point is to learn and stuff. Right?

Yessss Blossom! Preach!

Oh no

No, no, NO--

NO !!!!!!

STOP STOP STOP

There's gotta be SOME way to stop this before it's too late--!!!!

REHIOGBHRWIOGWHRBGIOURWBGOIURW

GHWRJOIGBRWOUGBHROUGRWBNGJRWNGIJRWNGJWONGWIOGHEWIONGRWEOGNWR

WHAT ARE THE FAIRIES DOING

Come on guys, come on, you can get out of those things...

YES!!!! Y E S ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

"So annoying, the bonds of Precure! I'll defeat you next time!" she says as she hangs upside down in a tree

"Someone said this in my dream. 'What's important is climbing right back up when you're down, a strong heart.'" she's right you know. And you could take that advice yourself Yuri.

Wait, SPINACH?

Twerk-and-poop time

Chartreuse. Nice.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 ToT ToT ToT ToT ToT ToT ToT !!!!!!

end theme!

EPISODE 32

And we start with Cure Blossom and Cure Marine punching evil monkeys! And Cure Sunshine exploding them! WOO!!!

What...what is going ON

It looks totally EPIC but like WHAT is going ON =~O

HNDUFOBEWIOGBRWIOGBRNGJOLNOUGSJKLBGSIOBRWIOGWBJWHBRWJUHWEOIHWUOHWIOGHWOUGHNHJSBJKDSNUJBUGRWBGOIUWBGRWIOJNDSJKGBSNDJHKGNSGUIWBGUIWGEWUREWOUGBHJFKBNSJKSBDG

SERIOUSLY FLASH BACK RIGHT NOW

Wait was this a vision her grandma had of the future darkest moment in the climax before they save everything?

Why we zooming in on her necklace

Theme song time!

Gotta wonder what Sabaaku's face looks like under that mask...

Coppe-sama is large and fluffy <3

Hmm. Yeah, keeping on fighting Desertrians under the effects of the Dark Bracelet could be challenging to say the very least. And the stakes have definitely been raised.

"And then we remembered that Cure Flower had some really awesome powers!" OOOOH like what!

Heartcatch Mirage? What is THAT

"It's a mysterious item that gives the Precure unlimited power."

Unlimited power...mm. In my experience with media that sort of things doesn't come without some kind of price...

Oh wow I was hoping we'd get a glimpse of what she looked like as Cure Flower

Dune was a menacing-looking dark glowing giant with long flowing hair a claw fingers and stuff? The small glimpses of him we've seen had him looking like a teenager. Maybe this is him at full power and he's currently not at full power?

Oh wOw

Precure Palace?

I'm a little uneasy about this idea, but the Desert Messengers ARE getting stronger and there don't seem to be any other options.

A terrible test? Ohhh THIS should be good... OOOOH ENCHANTED TREE DOOR

Yes, go with them Yuri!

(*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*)(*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"The palace of Dune, the King of the Desert Messengers, draws near." What ??

(*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The place is really beautiful

Welp, transformation time I guess

I remember it took me awhile at first to stop expecting them to say "freshly picked" before their cure names

Treasure hunt

"It's too high up!" Y'all can give yourself glowy capes that make you fly, remember? If you fall you can just do that... except for Yuri I mean... *awkward pause* wELP imma just keep watching

Wha-- Ohhh it's the Heart Tree!

"Just like that time." Huh?

"The Heart Tree comes to watch over the test to receive the Heartcatch Mirage." Ohhh. Cool! I wondered why it was here.

Flashback!...Oh... Oh wow...The inside of the palace is pretty too

HDJSHFJRHGEJORJUGH That's...not really her, is it

Defeat her?

*sings like Gumball and Darwin* Do do do do do! Commercial break!

You've got this, guys!

So there WERE generations of precure before Cure Flower (I forget if we'd learned this for certain already or not, only that there were none between Cure Flower and Cure Moonlight)

"I do not wish to fight you too, Tsubomi, even if this is only a test." </3 <3

Him? Who's--? *jaw drops at the sight of the rose petals* =~O =~O =~O =~O =~O =~O !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Harsh way of saying it...but I mean, she's not wrong.

And, I have wondered why he appears like this. Why he has the rose-petal powers and everything.

Yeah, why IS he here in the Precure palace... And they seriously call him "mysterious hot guy" or "hot guy"

You can do this, guys!!!!

*pours more goldfish crackers* YES GO GO YOU CAN DO IT

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

YES YES YES YEAH

WOOP!!!!!!!!!!!!

Coppe-sama! I knew they were magical doppelgangers of some kind

wait WHAT IT WAS COPPE-SAMA THE WHOLE TIME NDJSLFHDSJFHJUBURHJURHGJUHJUHRUJHHJKDLSHFIOW

"Another lost love"? Somecreature who looked exactly like your grandpa?

=~D

*sings* You gOtta take the UpgrAyAyAyAyADE! Gotta take the UpgrAyAyAyADE--

(*O*)(*O*) (*O*) (*O*) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought I saw something like this in the eyecatch...

Yeah! She could! (and she will if the opening and the eyecatch are anything to go off of)

*screams into pillow*

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

*collapses backward grinning ear to ear and laughing*

☾EPISODE 33☽

Cool start

Flashback!

"I...I didn't do much to help you." I mean, you're part of the reason they actually ended up going to do this...

"You girls overcame the test with your strong bonds of friendship." Mm. Yeah. True. They did that together themselves without her help.

"So very different from I, who fought alone."

Are you sure it's impossible? I mean, it's okay if you're not READY yet either way but like, IS it?

"Use it and see my Heart Flower!" Ohhhh, right, that

Oh...

Cologne? THAT'S her fairy's name?

Wait, was that Cologne talking just now??????

Theme song time!

How did her dad know about the Heart Tree though...

Upperclassman? They have school? I mean, I probably shouldn't be surprised... And Cologne's voice did sound older and less cutesy, if that was Cologne earlier

Where WAS Cologne then...also how did Cure Moonlight know Shypre and Coffret

=~O

NO NO DON'T TELL ME HE--???

D~= D~= D~= D~= D~= D~= D~=

*sobs*

*sobs rainbows when Erika hugs Yuri and they all tell her they heard about Cologne and all* ToT ToT ToT ToT ToT ToT <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

"We want to bring back your Heart Flower! One more time!" "We want to be the source of your power!" *crying rainbows all over the place*

Ooh, they designed clothes for Yuri? Let's see 'em! Ooooh! :-D

Oh hey Coppe-sama

GLOWY HEART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They all drop down and Potpourri's the only one who doesn't know when to stop and just hits the ground XD

What happened?

Oh hey there's Dark Precure

IT'S GLOWINGGGG

*sings like Gumball and Darwin* Do do do do do! Commercial break!

Among the cacti

Cologne!!!

So they call the container of Heart Seeds the Heart Pot. For some reason I can't help but think of... Chamber pots

"Tell Cologne your feelings"?

That sound...

Aaaand yyep it's Dark Precure

It stopped glowing?

Transformation time!

"Where is Tsukkikage Yuri?" Ho ho ho, wouldn't YOU like to know

"Too bad! She's not here anymore!"

Cologne! :-D

He's a ghost

"Thanks to Cure Blossom and Cure Marine gathering the Heart Seeds, I can stay like this"

It wasn't your fault, Yuri ;^; </3 <3 <3

"You've been working too hard by yourself"

OHHHHHHH ='-O So there was a point when Cure Moonlight WAS offered the option of having teammates but she didn't think she needed them... And she was so, so wrong

ToT ToT ToT ToT ToT <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 </3 <3 <3

"You didn't want to hurt anyone. You only wanted to take the pain yourself."

=~O =~O =~O !!! ToT ToT ToT ToT </3 <3 </3 <3 </3 <3

"Accept yourself, Moonlight. Accept your kindness and our sympathies towards your partners." *sobbing rainbows all over the place*

So she CAN be a precure again now?? ='~D ='~D ='~D Do iiiiiiiiit

OH FRICK

Totally forgot in the midst of that feelsfest

YEEESSS GO GIRLS DO IT FOR YURI

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS I LOVE THE SHINING POWER FORTISSIMO

VDSHFVGSYFBEVWIUJERHGOIERJGEIGHJIOGHJRIOGEHRNIERHGJLKSHNIKG

D~= !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do it Yuri!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*)

(*O*)(*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*)(*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TRANSFORMATION TIME TRANSFORMATION TIME

HEART SEED RESTORED!!!!!!!!!!!

YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS THIS TRANSFORMATION SCENE IS EPIC!!!!

THEY'RE GONNA END IT LIKE THAT????

next episode NOW

EPISODE 34

And we start by replaying that awesomeness!!!!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I just held down the E key for almost the whole henshin

Skip the theme song

Guess we're getting to THAT part of the series now

The expression on Dark Precure's face as it cuts back and forth between closeups like that is PRICELESS

This extended flashback of THAT day is just...wow

Seriously though in present day I absolutely LOVE seeing Dark Precure be this SHOOK XD You didn't think you actually just killed her now did you

YEEEEEEEESSSSS GO GO GO GO GO

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

WOOWOOWOOWOOYEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Oh hey these three are here now

WOOHOOOOOOOO

Cure Moonglight effortlessly slapping his cards away with one hand like that YES

HOLY FRICK HOLY FRICK

This entire fight so far has been HDSOUNOIUJRGPIBOUBFNJKLNGRIGBNRWOUGBWRGOUHRWNFGJKSNGJKSNGHIOERJLWHSFOJNSAKLFNWSJKLGNSJKLFSHGJRWLOBHRWIOGNRWJKLGDNSJKNGIOWRBGNRWIOGBNRWIORNBSGIORWBIWRKGBNRWILRWNGIKWNGIOHNRW and it looks like it's only getting started

"The Dark Bracelet isn't just for powering up Desertrians. They also give us power!" Yyyeah, I guessed that after seeing Cobraja use it like that without having a Desertrian in this fight

Sasorina used mega-braid of power! Kumojacky used insta-sword! WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I love the clashing good guy bad guy power explosions!!!

"A beautiful one like you, Sunshine, is most fit to be my partner." *le disgust*

CRITICAL HIT

D~= !!!!!!!

MORE critical hits!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SILVER FORTE WAVE VS DARK FORTE WAVE YES YES YES YES

"Dark Precure! Why do you hate me so?!" I was kinda wondering about that too. She does seem to have some serious vendetta against Cure Moonlight specifically.

"You are...You are me, that's why!" ...What????????????????????

"As long as you remain the moon's light, I remain the moon's darkness!" "When darkness swallows the light, the moon becomes one!" That answers and raises questions at the same time

You've got this, Moonlight! Get up!

Ooooh, is that gonna be a catchphrase??

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GO GO GO GO GO YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO THIS IS TOTALLY EPIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

*sings like Gumabll and Darwin sped up* Dododododo!Commercialbreak!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

what? What's THIS?...Dark Precure? There was this purpley glow going up around her and then she fell over and fizzled lightning? ...Is that just what it's like when she's beaten?

Oh hey Sabaaku

"You're Dark Precure's..." Dark Precure's what? Dad? Creator? Pet mongoose?

Cure Blossom!!

*shakes head in disapproval at Sasorina* I was so enjoying the possibility of a heel-face-turn imminent for you. But, welp...

WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOWOOWOOWOO

HA HAAAA YYYES XD

Kumojacky's attack exploding in his face so he flies into the water fountain

XD WOOP

GO CURE MOONLIGHT GO YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

XD And now the other cures finish it off!

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It's official... ...the gang's all here.

WOOP

The sun rises and all the water is gold now...

This isn't a school day, right? 'Cause y'all got no sleep all night...

Her heart flower's already reviving!

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 (-: (-: (-:

What just happened? He's still there, right? Just can't be seen now...

"You are a true crybaby, you know?" XD

the others crying too <3 :'-)

Yep. That was definitely a lot

I'm...gonna guess there's a yes coming for Yuri being their fashion model

Yep!

"Who do you think I am! I can tell her measurements without even taking them!" Wait, really?

XD Erika scuttling around like a crab

While Yuri stands there with a poker face

SHE DID IT?

End theme!

#long post

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ezm-imagines · 5 years

Text

truth or dare - peter parker x reader

Pairing: Peter Parker x reader

Word Count: 2.5k

Summary: Liz is having a party, thus the classic game breaks out. But when Peter gets asked a too personal question, you decide to step in.

--------------

“You’re no fun, Y/N,” Liz huffed as you poured yourself a soda.

“Excuse you, I’m plenty of fun. I just don’t feel like awkwardly walking around a party full of a hundred people I’ve never met.” You could already hear the commotion coming from the other side of the house and it sounded like your worst nightmare.

“I can introduce you!” she insisted, “Please?”

You put a hand on her shoulder, “Liz, no. Thank you for trying, but I’m perfectly happy sitting up in your room watching Netflix.”

“Yeah, but—”

The doorbell rang, and Liz sighed.

“Fine,” she grabbed the drink she’d set down and turned to leave, “But you’ll regret it, Y/N!” she called over her shoulder as she left the room.

"I'm sure I will!" you teased.

You chuckled as you grabbed a cookie from a dessert tray, popping it in your mouth. You loved your cousin, you really did, and you were really glad that she was the one you got to stay with while your parents were out of town this week, but you really weren’t in the mood to go to her party full of students from a school you didn’t go to.

You heard the kitchen door reopen behind you and scoffed, “Liz, I told you, I don’t—“

You turned around and froze as you found not Liz but someone else.

A boy.

A very cute boy.

You swallowed, “Oh... Hi."

Real smooth Y/N.

“Hi,” he choked back. A beat of silence. “I— I came in here to... I was just— I wanted to—”

Finally, he just gave up with a huff and shook the loose ice in his drink to explain it.

You giggled. Okay, maybe you weren’t the only one totally caught off guard by the other's presence.

“What’s your poison?” you questioned, moving around to the back of the drink counter so he could see all the choices.

He stepped forward, meeting you at the opposite side of the counter and clearing his throat, “I- I’m kind of a Pepsi person, I guess... The classics, ya know?”

You scoffed with a giggle, “Ew, you are so wrong.”

He raised an eyebrow at you, “Oh? So, what- what do you have, then?”

“Dr. Pepper,” you teased, holding it up, “The superior drink.”

You took a sip with a smile as he chuckled at you. Oh, fuck, you adored that sound.

He pushed the Pepsi liter out of the way and went for the Dr. Pepper, “Fine, but I’m trusting you.”

You smiled to yourself as he poured it, then took a tentative sip.

“Mm,” he nodded, giving it a long taste, “Well, it’s not terrible...”

You chuckled and clinked your Solo Cup to his, “I’ll accept that, cheers.”

He laughed and you bit your lip to hide your grin.

“So... what are you doing in here?” He asked, “Hiding from the crowd?”

You laughed, “Less hiding, more waiting for it to end.”

He furrowed his brow.

“I’m Liz’ cousin. I’m staying with her for the weekend. Although she failed to mention she was going to casually invite over her entire school tonight.”

He chuckled, "Small thing to forget about, huh?”

“You could say that.”

“So... are you planning to join in?”

“Nah,” you shrugged off, “I’m knee deep in the middle of a TV show rewatch that needs my full attention.”

“Oh, what show?”

“Brooklyn 99. Basically the best show on earth.”

“Ah, I see,” he laughed, “Well, if it were any other show, I’d totally suggest you come hang out with the rest of us...” He looked over at you in a small, expectant way that made you realize that was his subtle way of asking you to the party. To see him.

You opened your mouth to reply but were cut off before you could even make a sound.

“Peter!” a voice which you assumed to be Li’z friend MJ called from down the hallway, “Get your butt out here; your assistance is required!”

The boy— Peter, you assumed— blinked before pointing backwards toward the hallway, “Oh, I— I guess I better... go then...”

“Yeah,” you nodded.

He didn’t break his eyes from yours as he took backwards steps out of the kitchen.

That is, he kept eye contact until bumping into the counter, sending the tray of cookies spinning toward the ground. But before you could even try to catch it, he’d already reached out and snatched it from the air, sliding it back on the counter like it was nothing. He looked back over to see the shocked expression on your face as you blinked, still trying to catch up with how quickly he’d done that.

He rubbed a hand on the back of his neck, “Yeah, hah, reflexes are kinda my specialty I guess.”

This sputtering, nervous idiot seemed anything but agile; you found yourself smiling at the irony of it. What a dork. What a fucking adorable, agile dork. Oh, God, I’m so fucked.

“Peter!” MJ called again, much more annoyed this time.

“I should... probably... yeah,” he spun around and began heading out of the kitchen.

“I’ll catch you later,” you called after him.

He turned and gave you one last, long smile, before disappearing out of the doorway.

You smiled to yourself, pleased with your interaction. Maybe you could ask Liz for his number later, oh wait-

“Oh, wait, Peter!”

He was back in the doorway in an instant, "Yeah?"

You laughed at his immediacy, “I just wanted to say: I’m Y/N, by the way. In case you wanted to know.”

“Y/N,” he repeated to himself with a smile, “I like it. It suits you.”

“Thanks.”

He gave you one last smile, before a quick nod, and then he was gone again.

You exhaled with a laugh, attempting in vain to slow your racing heartbeat as you headed back towards the stairs.

~~~

“At your service,” you smiled, jumping to the last step in front of Liz.

She took your hand, “Come on, it’s in here.” She led you to a large pile of punch and chips that someone must’ve knocked to the ground in the kitchen. You knew it probably wasn’t Peter, but the image in your mind of him knocking all this over was enough to put a smile on your face.

“Dad will kill me if this stains the floor,” Liz frowned, ripping a few paper towels and kneeling to start cleaning.

“Well, you’ve called the right person. My house has entirely white carpets; I’m basically a master of cleaning at this point.”

“Well, get your ‘master’ ass down here and help, then!”

You laughed before joining her on the ground to help.

The two of you scrubbed for a few minutes, luckily finding the red punch coming up easily.

The noise to the party had gotten considerably louder than it was when you had been down in the kitchen an hour or two earlier. Just as you were finishing, a large group of the party whooped at once.

“What’s going on in there?” you chuckled, throwing the last paper towel into the trash.

“I think they’re playing Truth or Dare. They had just started when I left to clean this up.”

“‘Truth or Dare?’ Are we ten?”

She shrugged, “We were bored! Besides, clearly it’s a good game if everyone’s screaming like that.” She threw her own paper towel away before grabbing your hand, “Come on, let’s go see.”

You knew you should probably put up an argument as to why you should just go back up to her room and finish your episode of Brooklyn 99, but if you were honest, you desperately wanted to see that Peter boy again. You enjoyed the show obviously, but after you’d gone up to watch it after meeting him, he had been all you could think about. To be honest, you were glad to have an excuse to join the party, and to hopefully run into him again.

So, you let her drag you down the hall to the living room without a complaint.

Your eyes widened as you entered the room to find a group of at least sixty people squished into a circle, all yelling and laughing with roarous volumes.

You covered your mouth with a giggle as one boy was wearing a pair of boxers on his head, another wearing nothing but boxers.

Clearly they’d all been having fun out here.

“Alright, my turn!” One boy called out, extending a pointer finger as he scanned the crowd for a victim, “Truth or dare...”

Everyone was waiting to hear who he would call on, until suddenly his finger stopped and he announced, “Peter.”

You gasped quietly as your eyes immediately found the boy you’d been talking to from before, his eyes wide with worry at whatever this boy would make him do. You gathered they probably weren’t very good friends. You also gathered that this other boy was probably a massive asshole.

“Uh, I... truth, I guess,” he stuttered.

The asshole narrowed his eyes, thinking of something. He laughed as an idea clearly sparked into his head, “Penis Parker, are you a virgin?”

The boy blinked, swallowing awkwardly.

“Flash, come on,” MJ called out, “Not cool, dude.”

“What? He picked truth. It’s just a question after all.”

“I...” Peter hesitated.

“I bet you’ve never even had a girlfriend. Or even kissed a girl!”

You looked to Liz who had her brow furrowed with pity. Clearly everyone was not a big fan of this Flash kid. Your estimation of his character was only being proven more accurate by the minute.

“Alright,” you whispered to her, “I’m gonna say something, don’t contradict me.”

“What?” She whispered back.

“Well, he just needs someone to play his girlfriend, right?”

“Well, ye- but... what??”

You turned away from Liz.

“He does have a girlfriend,” you announced over Flash’s continuing taunts.

Everyone’s eyes snapped to you and you felt like you had whiplash from the sudden attention. You swallowed.

“What?” Flash asked.

“Yeah, yeah, we—” your eyes flickered to Peter, who was looking at you with eyes as wide as saucers. You gave him a slight glare, hopefully sending him the message that he was Not Helping.

He seemed to get the message though, clearing his throat and closing his ajar mouth.

“Yeah, well, kinda,” you continued, “We’re not like full-on boyfriend and girlfriend, but we’ve been on a few dates and we’re just seeing where it goes. It’s still pretty new.”

All the eyes in the room turned back to Peter for confirmation and you exhaled, grateful to have the attention back off of you.

“Yeah, yeah...” Peter agreed, simply, clearly uneasy with all the eyes on him again.

“Then how’d you meet?” Flash pressed, “I’ve never seen you before.”

“Liz introduced us.”

Everyone turned to Liz beside you.

“Uh,” she looked to you, “Actually, yeah, I had been thinking about introducing you two for months,” she said slowly, giving you a curious look that made you realize she was actually being honest. That made you smile. Liz knew you well enough to know that you would’ve like Peter. “So, then I finally just... set them up together... last... week.” Liz coughed.

You could almost laugh. Liz and Peter were terrible at this.

“Yup. And that’s how it started. Great, now that’s answered, next question!” You rushed.

Peter was just staring at you, still in shock from what had just happened.

“‘s your turn buddy,” MJ knocked his elbow softly, helping you out by pushing the game away from this topic.

“Oh! Oh, yeah, um, right. Sorry...” he hesitated for a moment before looking back at you, “Y/N?”

You blinked. He was asking you?? What was he trying to do???

“T- truth?” Your eyes flickered to Liz, trying to see if she knew where he was going with this.

“You said we’ve been on a few dates but we aren’t boyfriend/girlfriend yet. Would... would you like to be?”

Your eyes widened and you stood up straighter with surprise, looking around with a breathy laugh.

“Oooooooooh,” the room cooed.

You were looking between Liz and Peter and even MJ, still shocked by the question.

Liz knocked your shoulder, “Well, answer him Y/N!” she whispered.

You looked back to Peter, who was looking at you with hope and nerves and fuck it was adorable.

“Yeah,” you answered finally- honestly.

The whole room cheered and whooped, and you covered your face with your hands with a breathy laugh, embarrassed at the fact that fifty strangers had just witnessed your romantic life play out before them all.

Jesus Christ.

Once the room quieted down, you hurriedly gave MJ a dare and fled the room as soon as it was her turn to ask someone else. God, this is why I don’t go to parties ever.

It was only when you returned to the solace of the empty kitchen that you felt like you could catch your breath finally.

"That was quite the show," Liz laughed, following right behind you.

"Shut up," you groaned.

"Okay, seriously though, spill: what was all that about? Why on earth would you do that for a stranger?"

"I don't know! He seemed nice! Anyone would've done it..."

Liz put a hand on her hip.

Yeah. You’d never been able to get a lie past Liz in your life.

"Fine," you looked away, "He and I might've... talked for a little while in the kitchen."

"'Talked?'" She raised one eyebrow.

You crossed your arms, "Fine, there maybe was a teensy bit of flirting..."

Liz squealed, "I knew it! Oh my god, Y/N, I can't believe it. He was literally the reason I wanted you to come to the party! I knew you two would totally hit it off! He is so your type."

"Oh, shut up," you laughed, knocking her playfully.

"And, if I know Peter, you are totally his type, too."

You smiled to yourself, "Really?"

"Oh, completely. He was just saying last week how--"

"Hey."

You two turned to the kitchen doorway to find the boy in question himself.

"Oh, dang, I just realized," Liz said suddenly, not even bothering to hide how obviously fake her excuse was about to be, "I promised MJ that I was going to be in the living room at this exact minute..." she looked at the clock, "11:17. Yup, on the dot. That's my cue."

You rolled your eyes as she nodded a goodbye for Peter and sped towards the hallway. She stopped once she was behind him and gave you a dramatic thumbs up. You shook your head with a smile, as Peter turned around only to catch her running away.

"Sorry about that," you laughed, "She can be a little... dramatic."

"I think I'm the one who should apologize," Peter rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm sorry you got all wrapped up in that..."

"I'm not," you replied, a soft smile tugging at your lips.

His eyebrows rose slightly in surprise.

"So, you got a turn to ask me truth or dare, but I never got a turn to ask you," you changed the subject, sliding up to sit on the island counter he was standing next to, "I think I'm due."

"Oh, are you?" He chuckled, moving to stand in front of you.

"Yup. So, truth or dare?"

"We are not playing this game again..."

"Truth or dare?"

Peter closed his eyes and sighed, "Alright, whatever, truth."

You hesitated for a moment, staring into his beautiful dark eyes as they focused back on you, "Was it true?"

He furrowed his brow, "Was what true?"

"Was it true what that guy... Flash, or whatever... was saying? You've never kissed anyone?"

His eyes fell from your gaze and he pulled at his sleeve a little, "Umm... I...” he sighed, relenting, “Yeah, it... is."

You smiled a little, before reaching forward and taking his hand in yours, "Okay."

His eyes met yours again, large and hopeful. Your smile grew a little wider, mirroring him, and you watched as his eyes fell to your lips.

"Truth or dare?" he mumbled.

You scanned his eyes for a moment before grinning, "Dare."

"Kiss me."

You froze for a moment, your lungs unmoving like they didn’t know how to function, like they’d never even learned.

He swayed closer to you, and you hesitated for a moment before just leaning in and capturing his lips against yours.

It was short- an exhilarating peck to test the waters, the two of you pulling back pretty quickly.

You both stared at each other breathlessly, before he leaned back in and kissed you again. You smiled against his lips, moving your hand into his hair and moving yourself closer to him to-

You gasped in surprise as you lost your balance from the edge of the counter and tipped off.

Peter spun over, his arms catching you effortlessly before any part of you could even graze the ground. You giggled, wrapping your hands around his neck for support.

“Like I said,” he smiled down at you, “Good reflexes.”

You grinned as he leaned down to kiss you again.

Yeah, Brooklyn 99 could toooootally wait.

--------------

BONUS:

"Damnit!” A voice surprised you, taking you out of the kiss. You separated, looking over to see who had interrupted you.

You frowned when you saw it was that asshole Flash guy again.

"I was positive you two were lying about being a couple," Flash grumbled as he grabbed a handful of cookies from the tray and stomped back out, "Fuck you, Parker, you always ruin everything."

--------------

Thanks for reading!! If you liked it please comment and reblog!! <3

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agent-yolk-writes · 5 years

Text

Friends Like You and Us - Venom!Reader - Ch. 6

I really gotta post this after I updated it on AO3 goddamn

In today’s episode: The gang puts too much thought into planning, you have terrible codenames, and you wonder if the circus is in town.

Don’t forget to reblog so others can see it! If you want something featured, don’t be afraid to drop an ask. We’re almost around the halfway point and it’s all downhill from here. Get your thoughts in now or forever hold your peace,

AO3 Version | Masterlist (TBD)

After scrambling to figure out a plan and translating interdimensional slang, the plan goes as follows:

1. You enter the building with Ham in a backpack. Peni has hooked all of you guys with little telecommunicators that can fit into your ear. They look like they can be passed off as the cool new earbuds you’ve seen your classmates wearing.

1a. Peni, SP//dr, and Noir will be outside as backup should anything happen along the way.

2. Get through the guards by showing your ID, which indicates a trusted employee of the building, Mary, has granted an outsider, you, permission to enter the building and their individual office. That’s it, that’s your only access.

3. While you do what your aunt asked you, Ham goes in the vents and finds a way into the Alchemax section upstairs. There he’ll find anything that could help figure out what happened to Spider-Man.

From there, depending on the situation, it could go two ways.

4a. Ham retraces his footsteps in the vents and gets back to your aunt’s office.

4b. If Ham needs to be recovered, you’ll “accidentally” stumble into Alchemax, claim you’re trying to find the bathroom, to retrieve Ham and any data he managed to recover.

5. Leave without raising any suspicions, if possible.

A simple plan in five or so steps. You’re taking the usual subway route to her office with Ham squished inside your mini backpack. It’s uncertain what Peni and Noir are doing above ground, but you could imagine them hopping between buildings in a cool montage like that cool cartoon of those ninja lizards. Thankfully this cart was almost packed to the brim, so no one can see, Ham included, tendrils wrapping around your hand and giving a comforting squeeze as if someone was actually holding your hand.

You got this. We believe in you.

I...I dunno. It sounded too easy in my apartment.

We can handle anything that comes our way.

“I sure hope so.” You muttered, glancing at the people close by to see if they’re looking at you. Swinging your bag around so it’s hanging in the front, you subtly zipped open the bag to look at the cartoony companion. At the sign of first light, he hisses at the sudden stimulation by squinting his eyes for a few seconds.

“Are we there yet?” He asks, a bit bored.

You glanced over at the display showing how many stops are left. “Not for another stop or so. How are you feeling in there?”

Ham sighs at the response. “I knew I should’ve brought something to read.” He pulls out a sleeping mask and puts it over his eyes.

“It’s either this or waste SP//dr’s fuel but doing about three trips back and forth.” You could feel some glances over your way, so you lower your voice a bit. “Anyone with a phone is going to post it on Twitter and we really don’t want that. Especially if it’s going to be on Insider Edition tonight.”

Your communicator buzzes to life, even with all the concrete around you.

“Actually, it’s powered by the psychic link between me and my spider friend in the suit.” Peni corrected you.

“There’s a spider...in the suit?” You said with genuine surprise.

“Hey now, you didn’t ask.” Well, she has a point there. “Oh heads up, here comes your stop.” As if on cue, the overhead speaker announces your stop. It doesn’t help your heart kicking up a notch in anticipation. A thousand scenarios are running through your head as you tried not to give Ham a whiplash putting your bag in its proper place. You even straighten out your blouse as you exited the subway train. Despite only being bonded for a week, it felt strange wearing clothes outside of your symbiote. All there’s left is to pray to your not-so empty head that everything can and will go right for a simple infiltration.

“This is Black Spider. I’m in position.”

“Spider Pig here. Let’s get this show running.”

“Mecha Spider is ready when you are!”

“This is Classic Spider, cruising for a bruising on the bench.”

…

You should’ve opposed to using codenames. This is an in and out, not an actual heist. If anything, you could’ve at least used different spiders to call each other by. It’d make sense if you refer to yourself as, for example, Black Widow rather than Black Spider. In the end, it’s all apples to pears.

Taking a deep breath, you pulled on the ID card you knew was on you just to make sure it's really there. It doesn’t go bad for another year, so they can’t stop you by saying it’s expired. If one of your aunt’s coworkers spotted you, then the suspicious glares from security will weaken. They swap floors every six months or so for security purposes. You haven’t been in the building proper since...ten months ago. Hopefully, that retired Sergeant got mobilized to the main floor. If he got moved to Alchemax, then you’ll have to pray for Ham’s safety-

Said spider-pig poked his head out. “What about my safety?”

“Nothing.” With Venom’s help, your arm pushed your smuggled package back into your back of the cramped bag. With Venom’s sixth sense you can almost feel Peni and Noir staring down from the roof of a neighboring building. “Let’s go.” With a shaky step, you begin your ascent up the stairs and entered the revolving door.

To your left, you see the guest desks and the CCTVs in an open room behind the woman at the desk. She had her head down, so she’s probably on her phone. Directly in front of you is the series of elevators being guarded by a single security guard, a glorified elevator worker if anything. You vaguely remember him, but it might not be the same vice versa. Through the handful of people coming in and out, you make your move to the first elevator open.

Your aunt’s workplace is one of the higher floors, so it’s going to be a while in this metal death trap. It became empty quicker than you expected, not that you don’t mind.

“What’s your status Black Spider, Spider Pig?” Peni said through the communicator.

“Entering the building was a success, no complications so far.” You whispered back. You try not to stare at the camera you know is staring at you in the corner. ”Pretty much going to be a smooth ride up.” Was the last thing you said before said smooth ride came to a halt at a different floor.

Oh no, someone else is coming up.

If you don’t make eye contact and shuffle to the side, maybe they won’t-

“Oh look, it’s you.” Oh no, it’s her.

You forced your eyes to look at one and only Stacy Adams from your school. She’s a senior, just a year above you. She’s one of the most popular people in your school and like every high school movie out there, she thinks she’s the queen of the institution. The only reason she could be here is that senior intern experience your school offers where seniors spend three of the five day school week learning. To your chagrin, it looks like today is one of those days.

She hates your guts for some reason. You couldn’t recall what you did to piss her off. Maybe she got jealous of you a guy that just so happens to be a friend of your friend. You did, however, ate her boyfriend aka the top varsity football player bound for Ohio State, so there’s that. In your defense, he attacked you.

We should eat her as well.

Shush, you.

You eyed the security camera in the corner.

Not yet.

“Hey, Stacy...weird meeting you here, huh?” You mustered up whatever you can to pretend you’re happy to see her.

“It’s weird meeting you here.” She shoots back. “Should I report you for skipping school to trespass?”

“Unlike your daddy’s money, I actually know people here.” You replied before you could process it. So much for putting up a fake front.

Stacy, of course, wasn’t having it. “You don’t need to know people if they’re hiring a fucking clown.”

“A fucking clown? Oh wait, is that who you’re seeing after Kyle basically ghosted you? Wooow Stacy, how faithfu-“ You didn’t get a chance to finish it when a handmade sharp contact with your cheek. You weren’t sure if the sting was from the palm or the sharp nails she raked across your skin for extra damage.

Your heart was beating so loud in your ears. Whether it was Venom’s boiling rage or your own, it almost affected the next step you were about to do. If it wasn’t for Peni bringing you back to Earth with, “-ck Spider, is everything alright in there?” in your ear, you would be deep in bloodshed.

Instead, you calmly removed your earpiece and stuffed it into your bag. You hope she notices the unhuman bend of your arm.

“Look, I don’t have time for you.” You said lowly, voice borderline a growl. “I’m going to do my thing, you’re gonna do your thing, and then you’ll continue to pop your gum loudly every time I even blink in your direction. Got it?”

Stacy stares at you like you grew two heads on the spot. Your cheek tickles a bit as Venom heals the scratch marks.

She started sputtering some nonsense to try and get something in before the elevator finally slowed down to your aunt’s floor. Time to finally get out of this cramped box.

But first…

As you took a step out of the elevator, you couldn’t help but turn around to face her one last time.

“Oh, by the way…” You said with a growing devious grin. “Kyle’s brain was absolutely delicious.” Venom couldn’t help but join in at the last second, but it got the results that you wanted. Stacy tried charging at you but the closing doors were quicker. You could hear her banging at the door all the way up. Ah, you’ll remember the face she made. You wonder if her boyfriend had that same expression.

Ham decided to pop his head out once you used your aunt’s card to get into the bathroom. He had a sponge lodged into his ears that managed to take out by pulling it out of one ear with a comical pop. You’re too

“Geez, took you long enough. Thought the catfight was gonna take foreeeever.” He complained.

“Well sorry for having enemies, I guess.” You replied as you readjusted your communicator. “This is Black Spider. Um...Sorry that I went AWOL there. Bumped into a rather unpleasant classmate of mine in the elevator.”

“About time! Thought about going in there thinking you croaked.” Noir’s voice crackled through his mic.

“Weren’t you able to hear anything from Ham’s mic?”

Peni answered your question with, “The microphone is designed to cancel out any background noise so whoever’s talking into it can be heard. You’ll never find anything better for noise cancellation!”

The wonders of the future could not be thanked enough.

You pushed Ham’s head back in the bag at the sound of the bathroom door unlocking for someone else. This is your cue to leave and head to your aunt’s office.

The first phase of the plan is now successful. Now that the second part is about to be achieved, you’re looking forward to the idea of getting away without being caught. Well, you almost did, but that doesn’t count in your books.

It should be smooth sailing from here, right?

...Right?

#spiderverse #spidersona #x reader #spiderman into the spiderverse #spiderman into the spiderverse x reader #spiderman into the spiderverse & reader #spiderverse x reader #venom x reader #venom & reader #venom symbiote x reader #venom symbiote & reader #venom/reader #venom symbiote/reader #reader insert #my writing #friends like you and us

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harryandmolly · 5 years

Text

The Emancipation of Ginny ~ 9

summary: shawn and ginny could’ve ruined everything six months ago, and sticking together despite their past could make or break them now as ginny stays on as his personal assistant. but what happens on tour doesn’t stay on tour.

warnings: Language, easter eggs, The Bodyguard soundtrack

WC: 5.8k

Ginny stands, lips pursed, outside the door. After a moment and a little huff of breath, she jabs her elbow into Andrew’s side. He flinches and grunts, pushing his glasses up his nose. He looks over at her, exhaustion reaching into the fine lines of his face.

“You go in,” Ginny insists, raising her eyebrows.

Andrew frowns. “You go in. You’re his assistant.”

“You’re his manager,” Ginny shoots back.

“Exactly. Managers don’t go fishing popstars out of their girlfriends’ apartments. That has assistant written all over it.”

Ginny balks. “Where was that in my contract?”

Andrew opens his mouth to make another snarky comment when the door swings in, creaking on overpainted hinges. They both fall silent. Shawn stands just inside, blank faced and a little frazzled. When he got all their texts about waiting for him downstairs, he didn’t think they were actually impatient enough to be waiting on Sara’s stoop. But there they are, looking irritable, sleepy and a little guilty. He cracks a sheepish smile.

“Sorry, guys.” He reaches up and smoothes the collar of his button-up. He looks to Ginny. Her eyes are bright and warm despite the early hour. He smiles when he sees them.

She smiles back. “You have lipstick on your ear.”

She turns on her heel and bounces down the steps. She doesn’t look back when she opens the door to the cab and gets in. Andrew claps him on the shoulder with a grating sigh.

“Time to go.”

Shawn and Ginny have made a sport of surviving long flights. They’re both talkers, which helps. They can talk for hours and not get bored of each other. But more than that, they’re experienced flyers. They know exactly how much Benadryl to take at the exact right time to be knocked out for as long as an overnight flight will last. They know exactly how many Netflix episodes of a certain show to download before they’ll get bored of the same thing and move on. They’re professionals at entertaining each other and themselves.

Shawn doesn’t know what to expect when he buckles into his first class seat next to her on the flight from JFK to LAX. He just ostensibly spent most of their whirlwind festival weekend in Manhattan shacked up with Sara. He practically has whiplash. He imagines Ginny might feel the same.

He glances over at her. She’s got her head buried in her backpack at her feet, looking for something. He drums his fingers on his knees, waiting for her to resurface. When she doesn’t, he clears his throat.

“Lost something?” he prompts.

Ginny sits up and blows some curls out of her face. She grunts.

“Can’t find my book. Must’ve put it in my checked bag.”

She sounds flummoxed, and he would be too if he didn’t already know exactly where The Book is.

The Book is 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson. It’s Ginny’s favorite. She keeps a paperback copy with her in every carry-on on every flight she’s ever taken. Shawn knows it almost as well as she does from when she used to read it to help him fall asleep.

Shawn grins, happy to feel useful. He shoves his hand into the bag at his feet and pulls out the well-worn, dogeared, cracked-spined paperback. He puts it in her hands.

“You left it in the snack bag we took to soundcheck in the park. I put it in my backpack before we left.”

Ginny sighs, relieved. She smiles and snuggles back into her seat, hugging the book to her chest.

“Dunno what I’d do if I ever lost it.”

Shawn nods in understanding. “It’s your good luck charm. The plane would probably crash or something.”

Ginny looks startled at the idea. Shawn snorts a chuckle. The sound makes Ginny laugh. They both snicker until a flight attendant passes to check their seat positions. The plane begins to taxi.

Ginny gazes out the window. Her heart feels a little lighter in her chest when the plane ascends through the clouds. She’s never much liked New York. Leaving now, exchanging overcast, seeping humidity for browning palm fronds in the dry, California sun feels like what the doctor ordered.

She flips open the book to her ironically-chosen faded Twilight bookmark. She clears her throat and chuckles at the passage in front of her.

“I get a little romantic about the old Empire State. Just looking at it makes me want to play some Frank Sinatra tunes and sway a little. I have a crush on a building. I'd been in there several times but never to work. I always knew there were offices in there but the fact never penetrated, really. You don't work in the Empire State Building. You propose in the Empire State Building. You sneak a flask up there and raise a toast to the whole city of New York.”

Shawn sits back and listens to Ginny read. He lifts a corner of his mouth sleepily when she finishes.

“You hate New York.”

Ginny shrugs. “I don’t hate New York. I think New York is a sad attempt at what London has already perfected. I don’t know why they try.”

Shawn laughs. “You’ll be home again soon during the time off next week. You can drink tea and eat biscuits and sit in the rain all you want. You don’t have to think about New York again for a while.”

Ginny’s smile is wistful. She’ll be happy not to think about New York or anyone in it for a while.

Shawn catnaps with curls over his eyes and his face turned toward her for about an hour. When he wakes up, Ginny’s rereading the part where her fictional counterpart Ginny falls asleep and wakes up disoriented in Richard’s flat. It’s not a particularly loaded or meaningful section of the novel, but Ginny found herself seeking it out anyway. She finds solace in reading about someone who’s surrounded by love and family but remains confused and somehow unfulfilled.

She logs into the United Airlines WiFi and checks her posting on YouTube. She has a few new comments -- some trolls, some complimentary. She plugs in her headphones and watches it again. When it ends, she watches it again.

She’s chewing her cheek and staring at her phone when Shawn’s eyes flutter open. He smiles at the sight of her and her focused face.

“Whatcha lookin’ at, Gin?”

He has raspy morning voice. Ginny looks over. Her nose wiggles, shivering her septum ring with it.

“Just browsing,” she lies smoothly. Shawn nods and sits up in his seat. He picks up the bag of pretzels resting on his tray table and drops it on hers.

“Oh god, thank you,” she mutters, opening the bag ravenously like she’s been waiting all day to eat his pretzels. He closes his eyes.

“Can I ask you something?”

His eyes open. His heart begins to race for no real reason other than that he knows her and knows she doesn’t preface questions very often. Ginny always just asks.

“Yeah?”

“Do you think everything happens for a reason?”

Shawn’s quiet. He aims his gaze down at his lap and swipes his tongue over his front teeth.

“I guess I want to think that,” he answers finally.

He braves a glance at her. She’s looking out the window.

“Me too,” she whispers, “Sometimes I just want to know what the fucking plan is though.”

Shawn is somewhat startled by her sudden philosophical detour. He clears his throat. His hand twitches at his side.

He could sit here and guess what she could mean -- is she thinking about him? Is she thinking about her music? Is she thinking about just… everything?

He decides since she’s not wading further into the conversation, it’s not for him to know right now.

He garbles out an unsatisfactory ‘I know what you mean’ and tries not to watch her as she falls asleep. As she drifts off, he holds her book in his big hands and whispers the words until her breathing evens.

Ginny’s never been more grateful for so much noise.

Piled in a blacked-out Escalade on the way to some bar in Silver Lake, smashed between her fellow crew mates, the noise in the car is finally enough to block out the noise in her head that’s been raging for weeks. She’s a few swigs of whiskey in, courtesy of the flask in Ziggy’s jacket. The lightness of her head and the hollowness of her body give her a floating sensation so delicious that she hasn’t noticed Shawn spending most of the evening quiet and texting Sara.

She’s gotten good at not noticing anything that has to do with Sara, including Shawn’s repeated pleas to Andrew to find another weekend to get back to New York.

The liquor helps.

The music cuts out suddenly. Ginny’s bleary eyes focus past Mike’s head to Andrew in the front seat. His finger hovers over the stereo system and his other hand holds his phone to his ear. The car goes respectfully quiet until Andrew hangs up. He looks back at their expectant faces.

“There’s a ton of paps outside. Jake’s gonna get out first, let venue security know, get us some help.”

Ginny pieces together the fact that Jake is in the car ahead of them, Shawn’s car, the one stopped in front of the bar. She can see the way the paps swarm the vehicle like vultures. She makes a face. Mike laughs and elbows her. She elbows back.

After the first car empties, they pull up to replace it. Ginny’s relaxed heartbeat stirs up a little faster. The doors are thrown open. The clicks of the cameras, the flashes reverberating around them, the shouts of the photographers, they replace the comforting noise Ginny was basking in moments ago. They set her teeth on edge.

One by one, the occupants of the car filter out onto the sidewalk, engulfed in paparazzi that are not well controlled by the flimsy venue security team. Ginny comes out last. She focuses on the back of Mike’s head until her vision is obscured by the kaleidoscoping shapes the flashes leave behind in her eyes.

She winces and pulls back. She stands there, head down, trying to ignore the rising wave of tension lapping at her hips. She wants to crawl back inside the car. She wants to go home.

She attempts to lift her head and look around. She’s unstable on her feet and falters, knocking into a photographer who knocks her back. Ginny grunts, stumbling, grabbing the car to keep from tipping off the curb. Her heel slips. She’s heading for a fall that probably wouldn’t really hurt anything more than her pride. But she doesn’t fall.

A long, firm arm sweeps around her waist and hauls her upright against a similarly built chest. She swallows and locks up her throat to scream until she catches a whiff of his cologne. She releases her rasping breath all at once, a relieved sigh. She drapes an arm up around his neck and lets him help her off the side of the car.

“Can you guys please, please move?” Shawn all but barks. Even when he’s pissed, which she can hear he clearly is, he’s polite.

With the help of Jake, Shawn keeps his arm fastened around Ginny, leading her inside amidst the even louder screams because oh my god, he’s holding a girl, these photos are gonna sell big.

His fingers dig into her flesh so firmly she’s sure she’ll wake up with bruises. He’s practically dragging her because her body’s not exactly cooperative right now. In the back of her mind, she wonders exactly how pissed Jake will be that the venue was so ill-prepared.

She focuses on Shawn’s voice once they’re through the door.

“Gin?”

It’s clear and anxious and panted at her through her hair. She lifts her head and turns to look at him. His eyes are wide. His lips are parted with heavy breaths. His gaze flickers between her eyes and her lips. She locks her jaw and closes her eyes until she can convince herself not to kiss him. It takes a good few seconds.

“I’m ok,” she finally spits out. She drops her arm from around his neck. She steps back.

“I’m sorry.”

Shawn shakes his head. “No, don’t-- I mean… there’s nothing to be sorry for. I’m sorry. I’m sorry this is so fucking crazy.”

Ginny looks around. The team is gathered, watching them carefully like middle schoolers gathering around playground drama. She feels heat rise to her face and smoothes her sweaty palms down the front of her jeans. Andrew and Jake are having very stern words with who she guesses are the venue managers. Andrew’s eyes dart to hers every few seconds like he thinks she’ll collapse in Shawn’s arms at any moment.

She clears her throat. She’s not that fragile.

“Thanks for the assist, Prince Charming,” she laughs a little shakily, patting his arm in a way that’s a little too friendly, a little too casual. She turns to join Mike and Zubin as they wade into the crowded see-and-be-seen-style bar.

“No problem,” Shawn murmurs a little self-consciously, shoving his hands in his pockets and following.

The good noise is back and Ginny loves it.

Good noise, like Zubin and Mike chanting “shots! Shots! Shots!” every time they see a server pass with a tray of them. Good noise, like Shawn attempting to sing badly along to a very weird but hilarious remix of “Stronger” by Christina Aguilera (he still sounded great). Good noise, like Teddy Geiger screaming “HEY GINNY BABY” right in her ear.

Ginny leaps out of her seat despite having had a couple more drinks since they arrived. Ginny loves her team, even kind of likes feeling like the rose amongst the thorns being a woman amongst all the many men, but Teddy’s squeal in her hair feels like a life preserver when she didn’t even realize she was in deep water.

Teddy insists she needs a drink and hauls Ginny off to the bar. Even with her head in the clouds, Ginny knows what Teddy wants.

They lean into a corner beside the counter, propped up against the wall with their drinks. Teddy eyes her suspiciously.

“So,” she begins, “What do we think of Sara?”

Ginny turns her nose up delicately. “I haven’t met her.”

Teddy smirks. “I bet he hasn’t said a single fuckin’ word to you.”

Ginny laughs. Teddy might know Shawn almost as well as she does. She’s not threatened by it. In fact, it’s handy. Sometimes she needs similar perspective when she can’t trust her own judgment.

“I guess I’ll know it’s really serious when he starts talking to me about her. I don’t think he’ll say anything until he knows she’s not going anywhere,” Ginny muses, glancing off into space.

Teddy pokes Ginny in the chin and makes a pouty face. “And if that’s what happens?”

Ginny’s lips come together from the corners the way they do when she has a secret. Teddy grins conspiratorially.

“You know I love Shawn,” Ginny begins diplomatically.

“But,” Teddy interjects, lifting her eyebrows.

“But, I can’t trail around behind him forcing him to spit out his gum and making sure his laundry gets done forever. He’s my best friend. He won’t stay my best friend if I don’t grow just like he gets to.”

Teddy nods solemnly. Wise, impressive words, given how toasted she is.

Teddy reaches out, squeezes her arm with a wink. “You need any help with that, you call me. Women helping women, and all that.”

Ginny nods and watches Teddy cast off across the bar back to Emily and her friends.

And two hours later, Shawn is pouring her into the backseat of a hired car, praying she doesn’t yack up.

“C’mon, Gin, you’re not allowed to take that with you,” Shawn insists, trying to loosen her empty tumbler from her nimble fingers. She’s giggling madly and squirming away from him.

Shawn’s never seen her like this. She’s always the mom drunk, ready to snap into sobriety when she needs to. This time, she’s the tricky drunk.

Finally, he does get the glass away and tucked into Andrew’s hand. Thankfully, the paps are gone. It’s late. Shawn’s long past ready to head back to the hotel, but Ginny and the rest of his team still had wilding to do. He played along, fought through his exhaustion because he’s still on New York time and has stayed on it so he can spend more time texting Sara on her schedule, but it’s past 2am and Shawn is done.

Shawn keeps an arm around Ginny’s waist as she trips into the elevator to head up the stairs. Her head is bobbing, her eyes are starting to close. Shawn groans.

“Nope, no, Gin, no. You can’t fall asleep on me in the hallway. We’re almost there, c’mon. Where’s your room key?”

Ginny blearily blinks at him. She has no idea what he’s talking about. He sighs.

He looks her over. She’s not carrying a bag. Her phone is in his pocket. She has virtually nowhere to hide a key. He bites his tongue and glances over her shoulder to see a rectangular shape pressed against one of the back pockets of her ridiculously tight jeans. He blinks quickly, grunts, and slips his fingers into the pocket to fish it out. Ginny just giggles again. He ignores his stupid, slightly tipsy body’s reaction to the sound and opens her door.

Ginny flings herself inside and drops backwards onto the bed, legs flailing, curls crashing against the pillow. Shawn grins and sets her keycard down on the dresser, hovering awkwardly.

“Wan’ watch a movie, love?” she coos half into a pillow, waving her hand toward the remote on her nightstand. He shakes his head and steps further into the room, assessing. He sees a line of small water bottles by the TV and cracks one open, walking toward the bed.

“Can you sit up for me?”

Ginny cranks herself to a seated position, supported by the headboard. She lifts her feet into his lap and takes the proffered bottle.

As she sips, he carefully unbuckles her strappy platform sandals and smiles when she wiggles her toes at him like she’s waving.

“Miss you,” she mumbles. He looks up.

Her eyes are closed. She drank about half the bottle, which is likely all he’ll get out of her. She’s sniffing gently, rubbing at her piercing, head drooping.

“I’m right here, Gin,” he whispers, squeezing around her ankle.

“No,” she sighs, sounding resigned, “Like we used to be. Used to tell me everything.”

His breath and words are stuck in his chest. He chokes on his voice.

She lifts her head, rolls it back against the headboard to look at him. Her gaze is hazy but unwavering. He feels naked, caught in it like this.

“I know you’re writing a song about me.”

He flinches.

“Wh… what?”

She shrugs. “It’s either about me or her but I think it’s about me cause you’ve been working on it since before you met her, if it’s the same one.”

Her reasoning is sound in a way that tells Shawn she didn’t just come up with this theory. Her drunk brain didn’t do this. She concocted this theory sober, drunk brain is just the one voicing it.

Shawn has a few answers lined up -- I’ve written songs about you before, this doesn’t have to be a big deal and we shouldn’t be talking about this, among others. He doesn’t get to say them before she turns a suspicious shade of green and starts blinking quickly.

Shawn winces. “Gonna puke?”

She nods vigorously.

He helps her up, shuffles her to the bathroom and holds back her hair while she vomits into the toilet. He sits patiently, massaging his fingers against her scalp. He waits with her while she brushes her teeth. He helps fish out her scarf and watches her wrap her hair into a pineapple, fixes it when her still-uncooperative fingers make a hash of it. He tucks her in, places a trash bin beside her bed and sleeps in the armchair.

When she wakes up, it’s to eggs benedict from room service and a text from Shawn reminding her to drink more water. She smiles, calls Hannah and eats breakfast in bed.

Her breakfast high doesn’t last long.

Andrew calls her on his way back from a meeting and tells her to check her social media. Everywhere, from JustJared to People to fan accounts, are the pap shots from the night before. Shawn gripping Ginny so tight around her hip that she remembers to check her skin for bruises (she does have a couple that match the spread of his fingers). Shawn nearly carrying her into the bar. Ginny looking up at Shawn like a goddamn damsel in distress.

The thing is, she doesn’t look drunk. She just looks scared. Shawn has the hard furrow of skin between his eyebrows that sets in when he’s pissed but trying to keep his cool. Ginny is clinging to him.

She sets her clenching jaw and turns off her phone. She chucks it into the pile of throw pillows Shawn made when he tucked her in last night. She closes her eyes.

@Tasteyshawn: but liiiiiike y’all look at the way he’s looking at her he is straight up in love #boyfriend!shawn

@shawndarhimes: omfg can u believe #shinny my actual otp omfg omfg

@shawncometobrazil98: ahhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ITS FINALLY HAPPENING #shinny

@happyrosyshawn: guys, the most important thing is that he’s happy. You can clearly see he loves her. So treat her with respect. Shawn would be so upset if people started hating Ginny. And let’s face it, look at them together. They’re endgame.

Endgame. Endgame. Endgame.

The word’s been circling his head all morning, scraping at his tender skin, tearing at his healing heart. His teeth are on edge. His body temperature feels like it’s up by ten degrees. He keeps running his fingers through his hair, tugging at the ends like he does when he needs to ground himself.

Endgame. Endgame.

How the hell would they know? They’re just pictures. These girls, his fans, he loves them, but they can’t know. They don’t know. They can’t pretend to know who he’s meant to be with. But he can’t shake the fucking feeling that they’re right. He hasn’t felt this bone-deep panic since that night on the plane when Ginny was lying on his chest and everything was absolutely, perfectly ok until it wasn’t.

Endgame.

He glances at his phone. He swipes past the messages from Andrew and fumbles for his phone app. He knows what he has to do now.

Calling Sara

Sara took herself to brunch today.

She woke up, checked social media and put her phone on airplane mode five minutes later with a tight feeling in her chest.

She stood, checked herself over in the mirror, completed her most elaborate version of her multistep Korean skincare routine, put on a dress she got on sale last year at Nordstrom Rack and walks all the way to Sarabeth’s.

It’s Sunday. It’s hot as balls, so all of Manhattan smells like garbage, but it’s nearly empty. At least this part is. Everyone that lives in this neighborhood is in the Hamptons this weekend soaking up the sun on a beach like god intended. Not Sara. Sara slathered herself in SPF 80+ just to walk out the door. The only sun she’s getting is what gets reflected off the skyscrapers.

She sits in the puddle of sweat under an umbrella. She’s the only one on the patio. She smells Hawaiian Tropic and the vodka in her bloody mary. She orders the crab cake benedict from the smiley red-headed waitress with the spring in her step and the Neverland tattoo on her forearm.

When she has enough bloody mary in her system to stomach turning her phone back on, she has a text and missed call from Shawn, which she expected. He’s asking for a call.

His voice is a little high pitched and frantic at first. He explains he doesn’t know what she’s thinking right now, he doesn’t know if she’s mad or sad or hurt or scared, but he just wants to talk. He wanted to hear her voice.

“I’m not mad, Shawn.”

And it’s true. She has no trouble saying it out loud because it’s true. She isn’t mad at all. She knows very well he didn’t fuck his assistant last night. He’s just not that kind of guy.

She’s not just his assistant, though. She’s been around him enough to know Ginny is Shawn’s best friend. He says the words differently when referring to Ginny than when he’s talking about Brian or Niall or the other guys from Toronto. He says best friend -- she sees the word in italics in her head when he says them. She can feel the gravity. He takes her friendship more seriously than almost any other relationship in his life.

Sara doesn’t read comments. She knows better. She knew better even before she started dating a popstar. But she doesn’t have to read them to know what they’ll say. They’ll say finally, together at last, Shawn and Ginny, as they were always meant to be. Probably less eloquently than that because, well, comments sections. And do you know what? She can’t even be mad about that. Because she and Shawn do nothing but jump through hoops to keep their relationship a secret. Sara designed it that way. She asked for that.

So no, she’s not mad. She can’t be mad.

But her entire body stings.

“Listen,” she begins, clearing her throat. She looks out at the horses hauling carriages of tourists around Central Park and back down at her empty plate, “I don’t suspect anything. I don’t think anything. I don’t know you well, but I know you didn’t do that. You don’t owe me an explanation, as far as I’m concerned.”

She takes a deep breath and continues, “At this point, I don’t think either of us is comfortable with this being the kind of relationship where we have to answer to each other for things like that. We’re not there yet. We’re just… easy, right?”

Ginny sits back in her chair. Her smile is warm and flat like the beer sitting on her coaster. She’s not drinking tonight, but a Dos Equis was put in front of her anyway. She’s ignoring it just like she’s ignoring everyone’s weird glances from the past week since the night at the bar and the subsequent pictures.

The day after the photos, Andrew had another sit down chat with Shawn and Ginny about public boundaries. This time, as Ginny cast sidelong glances at him, Shawn didn’t even flinch. He agreed easily. Space is a good idea.

So space she gave him. It wasn’t just in front of the cameras, though. They’ve been actively avoiding anything that has to do with the other unless it’s work related. And when a paradigm like that shifts within the team, everyone notices. Everyone stares. Everyone talks.

Despite her desire to drink away the feeling of the eyes on her, Ginny sits up straight and grins, watching Andrew croon his way through a rendition of “Hallelujah” that Ginny tried to convince him was an awful choice for a karaoke tune but Andrew insisted anyway. Shawn is at the next table, knees bouncing. He looks down at his phone every 15 seconds or so. Not that Ginny’s counting.

Andrew takes a bow. Ginny howls, trying to outdo the squalling yells from Geoff and Mike and Zubin. Shawn claps and laughs like he doesn’t even hear them.

Andrew plops himself down in the chair across from Ginny. His eyes are glassy from one too many tequila sunrises. She smirks.

“Well done, boss.”

“I think you can do better,” he laughs.

“I’m sure I can, but I don’t feel like it tonight.”

Andrew’s eyebrows raise. She’s never once turned down an opportunity to perform. When Shawn is caught behind for soundcheck, she gets onstage and plays and sings for them until he gets there.

“I already put your name in, Gin.”

And so he did. The DJ calls her name over the din, welcoming her to the stage. She swallows and feels her face heat. There are those eyes again. She shakes her head, insisting someone else can have her turn. No one wants it. They want to see Ginny sing.

Over a rousing chant of her name, Ginny rises to her feet. She avoids Shawn’s curious glance and ascends, ducking over the side of the stage to the DJ to request her song.

She makes herself comfortable under the spotlight. She can’t see anyone. Her heart rate calms. It’s just a stage. It’s just a song. This is what Ginny knows, this is where she shines.

The music begins. A few cheering calls go up when the tinkling, synthy 90s keyboard tune rises, but she recognizes the shift of the room, too. It happens every time she sings Whitney, because no one ever expects a random woman at a karaoke bar to be able to do it justice.

Ginny closes her eyes. She wraps her fingers around her mic and leans into the feeling of perfect aloneness she feels on stage. The audience is out of sight, out of mind -- if she can’t see them, they can’t see her. And if they can’t see her, if those eyes are finally gone, she can just feel.

She wets her lips and feels goosebumps prick up down the length of her arms at the tinny snap of the horns that precede the vocals dropping in for the first verse.

Ginny takes a deep breath. She smoothes a hand down the mic stand and back up, leaving her eyes closed under the hot pulse of the house lights as she starts to sing.

Share my life, take me for what I am

Cause I’ll never change all my colors for you

Take my love, I’ll never ask for too much

Just all that you are, and everything that you do

Ginny’s warm, weathered-heart voice glides over the softness of Whitney’s words. It’s effortless and sweet, despite the sting she feels in every pore of her body.

The tempo starts to pick up. The music rises in perfect 90s power ballad style. Ginny’s voice firms up with it, deepens and hardens as she resigns herself to the exposure.

It’s just a stage. It’s just a song.

I don’t really need to look very much further

I don’t want to have to go where you don’t follow

I will hold it back again, this passion inside

Can’t run from myself, there’s nowhere to hide

It’s on the last rising, vibrato-shaken note of the pre-chorus that the rest of the audience joins her team in their certainty that Ginny can handle some Whitney. They show their support with some whoops and hollers.

Don’t make me close one more door

I don’t want to hurt anymore

Stay in my arms if you dare

Or must I imagine you there

Don’t walk away from me

I have nothing, nothing, nothing

If I don’t have you

Ginny opens her eyes. She sees shifting black shapes before her. She reaches for them as her voice carries, strong and nimble, just as she is. She lifts the mic from the stand and works the stage to the delight of her invisible audience.

She can’t see them, she doesn’t want to see them, but they can see her, whether she likes it or not.

They see the way she stretches and pulls at every word like she wrote them herself. They can see from the clench of her shut eyes and the strain of her throat that she’s never sung this song this way before. She’s never felt it like this before.

Andrew looks away, closes his eyes for fear of letting the tears fall. He can’t bear to watch, but listening is one of the true privileges of his years of friendship with Ginny. He bobs his head and tries to keep his cool.

Zubin and Mike exchange a glance, but otherwise don’t take their eyes off her. Geoff sips at his beer and stays quiet, sniffling to himself. Ziggy is mesmerized, rocking in his chair, nodding to the beat, eyes wide as saucers. Cez looks between Andrew and Geoff, chewing the inside of his lip as his chest grows tight. Jake and Josiah, each sitting beside Shawn, fight not to stare at him.

Ginny’s voice soars into the final repetition of the chorus. Andrew winces at the now raucous cheering of the audience that he knows Ginny can’t even hear. She returns to the stand and stretches her arms out like she intends to take flight.

Don’t make me close one more door,

I don’t want to hurt anymore

Stay in my arms if you dare

Or must I imagine you there

Don’t walk away from me

She shakes her head, shoves her hands into her hair and wails.

Don’t you dare walk away from me

I have nothing, nothing, nothing

If I don’t have you

Her voice grows quiet. Her arms fall limp to hang on the mic stand by the tips of her fingers. Her shoulders sink, hunching with exhaustion from the strength of her release. As she coos through Whitney’s last winding vocal runs, matching them with ease, Andrew scrubs at his cheeks, rubbing the wetness on the thighs of his jeans. He sees from the corner of his eye that he’s not alone in this.

When Ginny’s voice fades out, she swallows. The club is nearly in a riot. The DJ has gotten up onto the stage behind her to cheer with the rest of the unwitting barflies. She blinks, eyes and throat dry, body numb as she watches a very tall figure open the door of the bar to exit.

She doesn’t have to check his seat. She knows him down to the silhouette.

She stands in the center of the stage, wetting her lips, letting the applause slide off her and hit the floor. She watches the door shut, Shawn on the other side. It’s a full minute before the cheering dies down enough for the DJ to announce the next name.

Ginny steps down, walking past the curious, adoring eyes of new fans. She slips back into her seat like she never left. She doesn’t look at the empty one he left.

She looks down into her amber glass and traces her fingers around the condensation trails.

She feels the eyes again, so she closes hers and waits for them to look away.

I’d love to blame watching Endgame for a second time last night for the angstiness of this but the truth is, it’s been planned since I came up with the premise. Buy me a Ko-fi (linked on main page) anyway?

Taglist: @smallerinfinities @the-claire-bitch-project @achinglyshawn @infiniteshawn @mendesoft @singanddreamanyway @alone-in-madness @abigfatmess @shawnitsmutual @awkwardfangirl2014 @september-lace @thotfulalena @sinplisticshawn @rollingxstone @yslsaint @randi-eve @sauveteen @fallmoreinlove @voguemnds

#shawn mendes #shawn mendes fanfic #shawn mendes fan fic #shawn mendes fanfiction #shawn mendes fan fiction #shawn peter raul mendes #shawn mendes fic #shawn mendes angst #shawn mendes series

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steve0discusses · 6 years

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Yugioh S3 Ep 11 pt 2: Seto Discovers Vulture Capitalism

Where were we on this arc that ended up being hella longer than I thought it would be? Oh yeah, Last we left the crew, Tristan’s body, now possessed by Nezbitt, was just racing away with Mokuba. This kid gets abducted so often, it’s never occurred to me that anyone in this show would think this is weird. So, when Noah showed up to intervene with actual common sense it was a good bit of whiplash for me.

It’s like the same whiplash I got back when Noah attempted to forfeit a rigged game (for the first time in this entire series). Like I get that Noah is the villain, but how is the evil kid way better at this common sense thing than...a lot of people who’ve been on this show? Not that Noah’s always smart, of course, he still doesn’t seem totally with it on a lot of things (like interior design, which we will get to in a sec) but wow. Noah actually called out this entire show with “Really? Mokuba? Again?”

And so you know what that means? We get to see Noah’s sweet pad in this VR world where Noah could have created anything. Literally anything. To start, he made himself a fireplace with a tiny tiny stack of wood (pretty sure Noah might not know how fires work) and...some sort of...curse on the mantle.

Maybe the mantle couldn’t read the typeface that Noah wanted to use on the mantle?

The rest of the room is just this. Just this.

You know what this no-walls aesthetic SUPER reminds me of?

Pocket Camp. Like this just looks like a Pocket Camp set up to me. In fact...I’m pretty sure I can make almost this exact room in Pocket Camp.

Noah’s just inviting Mokuba over with the bare minimum of ugly ass furniture he needs to have a person over at his campsite he pretends is a house while he waits patiently for the real version of Animal Crossing to come to Switch.

Leichter has an accent that is very old-fashioned Americana and doesn’t wholly make sense in the context of him living in urban Japan, like there’s a whole story there I’d be curious about. But most likely, they were probably trying to cover up the fact that they were using the same 5 voice actors by having him pull out the Clark Gable impression.

And then Seto did not use a Blue Eyes as his deck Master. Instead he used....this guy.

This is a lot of guy to take in. I...I don’t like it.

During this duel we get a Seto Kaiba flashback--and it’s an honest flashback this time, no clones are going to show up and reenact this performance, this is just a straight up flashback.

We’re transported back to Gozoboro’s long buffet table. He really, really loves this thing. It’s like the only place he and his kids ever seem to hang out. Surprised Mokuba and Seto don’t need glasses after squinting so hard to see their own Father for so many years. Also surprised Mokuba and Seto even know what their Dad looks like up close.

Anyways, he sits down at the table and shouts really loudly so it can reach the other side of the room.

Also, just gonna bring this up, we’ve only seen one other guy obsessed with long tables--let me do some digging to a S1 cap, one sec:

Maybe this is just what evil Dads who wear Salmon do? They get hella long tables to seat their 0 friends and just sit at one of the ends and monologue until something important happens. I mean y’all know how much I love this storyboarder but boy they have a thing for villains and long tables.

Anyways, back to Season 3.

(bro’s telling me he does not know about Thoroughly Modern Millie and like can you believe neither Hulu or Netflix has that musical? I mean that musical is problematic as hell, as is all Broadway but maybe I want to watch some 1920′s dancing.)

Anyways, cue Gozaboro shuffling in a comedically large pile of money on a very small pushcart. About 1,099,520,000.00 Yen’s worth. But the show will simplify it for the Americans.

This episode of Yugioh was made around 2002, and this just followed the .com bubble bursting in California. (and before that happened, it was preceded by a recession in Japan that affected the .com bubble quite a bit) For those here who were not born yet and do not remember this happening, this was like, pretty horrifying. I grew up in the Bay where 90% of everyone still works in tech, so I remember that after the bubble burst there were kids in our school who’s parents used to have great salaries and a steady income, who suddenly had to pick up shifts at Starbucks to get back on their feet.

So, it’s interesting that we have this kid’s show basically showing us point blank what Vulture Capitalism is and how it works. You’d think this business stuff would normally go over kid’s heads, but at the time, I think a lot of kids wanted to know what happened to their families but maybe didn’t understand it?

So Kaiba is gonna get into investing all of a sudden, which is kind of weird, mostly because it involved no playing cards. Also because this happened:

Yeah, what? He’s apparently not even adopted yet, which means Seto could still turn around and tell the News that he beat Gozaboro in a match but, I guess that old threat has aged out.

It’s inferred that Seto’s been living here like for several years now. You’d think this guy would list some dependents just for the tax cuts, but nah, Gozaboro just shoved these two into the gigantic 5000 sq ft closet under the stairs of his huge mansion and forgot about them for a couple years.

So, armed with money that is printed on single Yen bills and being pushed around Kaiba in a little tiny cart, Seto has to formulate a plan. Problem is, his business skills include a.) beating up other orphans b.) doing math pretty good and c.) playing cards.

When Seto is like “I don’t care what the company sells, just get me a company to buy” that’s like a straight reference to the .com bubble, but minus the complicated stock market stuff.

For the kid’s in the room that don’t know a thing about this era, tech companies were being created en masse, and because the internet was new and exciting, all of their worth was in their stock rather than in their products--if they even had a product. Mostly they just had big overreaching ideas they were pretty sure would make them all millionaires. But the product didn’t really matter since no one ever reads any numbers when all they plan to do is turn around and immediately sell anyway. They just assumed that if they put on the pressure, they would drive up the value, and would sell before anyone figured out it was all worthless.

This actually worked for so many years, up until people at the top all started demanding real money from the people at the bottom, much like how Seto needed 100 million dollars ASAP from an unsuspecting...whatever company this was. Vulture Capitalism at it’s finest, expecting exponential and unrealistic growth from any company, and if, the growth isn’t met, just selling the whole damn thing after driving every employee to the hospital for overwork.

Now, normally Vulture Capitalism is only if an investor buys a struggling company intending to sell directly afterwards, but since Seto made them struggle like immediately after purchasing, I think we can still call this that.

(And we still do this to this day, PS, we’ve learned nothing from the .com crash.)

This really bad child’s outfit is my favorite Mokuba outfit. I mean...it’s so bad. No wonder Mokuba was picked on so often as a child, wow. He’s like a late-80′s news anchor.

Also, I have NO idea how Seto got any money back so quickly. That doesn’t...totally make sense. But, this is a kid’s show and we have to simplify this whole thing into a sensible package. I mean there’s way more to the whole .com problem but...this show wasn’t literally doing a .com...just a really heavy reference to it.

And much like how people valued stock more than what companies actually were, Seto’s value was a lot of the same. His worth to his Father wasn’t that of a son, it was entirely held up in potential dollar signs. To Gozaboro, Seto's nothing more than a small company he’ll extort straight into...a more emotional type of bankruptcy. Framed alongside the .com crash, this is sort of like, ah, I see what you’re doing, Yugioh. The way Seto was screwing this company was the same way he was already screwed. It’s basically all he knows, and it is a lot of heavy handed foreshadowing.

Anyway, Seto destroyed a company with 10 mill, which is nothing compared to the amount of money vulture capitalists toss around nowadays.

The Big 5 may have honestly done a better job raising Kaiba than Gozoburo since this guy acted as an advisor rather than a boss, but it’s a very, very low bar these boys have set and so far, very few adults have met it. All you have to do is just try and not kill them and you’re already better than all of Kaiba’s father figures.

With the exception of Roland, of course. Youknow, other than Grandpa, Roland is like the only good Dad on this show. Never thought Roland would look like such a shining star. Man, Roland better not screw everyone over or I will be so disappointed in him.

Anyways, the Yugi crew found a fully fueled truck from Soviet Era Russia buried in one of those warehouses.

They censor so much stuff that gives away that Yugioh is from another country, and they kept in the 3-wheeler pickup? As if any North American child would have any idea what they’re looking at right now? Maybe they just assumed we’d think it was sci-fi?

Also, then this happened?

...OK then.

Not sure how Satellite Laser works outside the context of VR. But, at least here in the VR Zone, we can send a Satellite Laser into space because...Space exists here? In VR?

This world is weirdly very small but also very big at the same time. It’s like Katamari.

Anyway, that’s all for this episode, next episode we find out if Kaiba will hack a laser for the second time in this series. Also we find out if Joey can jump a sonic-the-hedgehog broken highway with a 3-wheeled European-as-hell Pickup Truck.

Also...close enough?

Pocket camp really needs more yellow sleeveless puff jackets.

And here’s a link to read the recaps in Chrono order from Ep1 S1

#yugioh #photo recap #recap #S3 Ep11 #Seto Kaiba #Gozoboro kaiba #wait I have been spelling his name wrong this entire time?#damn it #mokuba #yugi muto #a lot of stock trading #so much stock trading for a kid's show dang #You kids like STOCKS?#I like how Yugioh's hot take on capitalism is now every millennials hot take on capitalism #Noah #Tristan's possessed body

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itsclydebitches · 6 years

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RWBY Recaps: Vol. 5 “Welcome to Haven”

This is a re-posting from Oct. 14th, 2017 in an effort to get all my recaps fully on tumblr. Thanks!

The day has arrived! After nearly eight months we finally have a new RWBY episode and I am fully prepared to dive into reviewing it (alongside my recaps of the earlier material). Obvious spoilers ahead for those behind on the series or who don't have a Rooster Teeth account for first access.

To start, I should mention that we also have a Yang short that aired pretty much alongside the new episode, in which Yang is helping Ruby to train in hand-to-hand before she leaves for Beacon. I've heard a lot of complaints about this short already--that Rooster Teeth waited too long to post it, that by focusing on a flashback they're ignoring present!Yang's disability and PTSD--but for all that the short still provides an excellent little glimpse into the sisters' pre-Beacon lives, along with the expected, kick-ass fight scene. This short does raise a number of questions though, or plot holes if we're being uncharitable. Chronologically we know that Ruby is already incredibly strong at this point and has excellent control over her semblance, yet a simple tumble into the grass knocks her out for a number of minutes? I also find it highly suspect that Ruby is that dependent on Crescent Rose to fight--she says herself she's useless against the Grimm without it--yet over the course of the following years she does nothing to better herself in hand-to-hand. Seeing Yang in the jaws of a Grimm should have been a wake up call...but it wasn't. I honestly hope this comes back to haunt Ruby at some point. That she'll get a "You can't rely on Crescent Rose" talking to in the same way Yang got a "You can't rely on your semblance" talk from Tai. Otherwise this short does little to further either sisters' characterization.

Regardless, onto the episode itself. I watched it in my local Starbucks (too impatient to wait until I got home) and just five minutes in a stranger interrupted, apologizing, but asking if this was the new Volume because he was so excited for its premiere. Shockingly, I didn't entirely share his enthusiasm, if only because ever since Volume Three I've feared that RWBY will become too dark for my taste, losing that adorable, humorous spark that initially drew me to it.

I shouldn't have doubted Rooster Teeth. Just as Volume Four opens with happy bickering among the new team RNJR (or is it JNRR?), Volume Five opens with Ruby, Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Qrow making light of their dangerous trip to Haven. "We were fine," Ruby insists, "Only one of us almost died"--with a sly look at Qrow. For me these moments are crucial to the series, as they not only read as authentic (humor is a powerful tool in the face of trauma), but they keep the series from becoming overburdened with angst.

The team's walk through the "scenic route" gives everyone time to recap the basic plot of Volume 4 and then Qrow heaves open doors to reveal our first good look at Haven.

It certainly seems to live up to its name. Interestingly (or simply due to financial/time constraints) Rooster Teeth opted to paint still images of the city's inhabitants with the 'camera' moving across them, rather than actually animating everyone. It works though, giving viewers the feeling that we're looking upon an intricate painting.

Ruby exclaims that "This is amazing!," drools over the weaponry--alright, so not everything has changed--and says that they'll be going "up," literally to Professor Lionheart's office and metaphorically in luck. The narrative uses that moment though to pull up until we reach Weiss' airship, still in the process of escaping her father. Though Weiss isn't given much time in the premiere, this short scene showcases her rapid character development. Where once she might have snubbed her nose at being stuck with an 'underling,' now Weiss speaks openly and respectfully to her pilot, admitting that she doesn't want to be a burden to anyone.

It's during this admission that they pick up a distress signal from another ship, one being attacked by Grimm. Weiss of course wants to stop and help, but the pilot reminds her that they're trying to keep a low profile and if they picked up the call, someone else will have too. They keep going and I'm left a little on the fence about this decision. The pilot's logic is sound, but there's also the issue of the bystander effect--we don't actually know if Weiss left those people to die or not. It's a moment that emphasizes that there are no good choices in war.

Then again, for all we know Episode Two might pick up on the airship, with Weiss demanding that they turn back. We'll have to see.

Back in Haven, Ruby wipes a tear away upon reaching their destination. Jokes aside, they've been through so much to get there and it's nice to see some genuine emotion. There's then a rapid change of mood as the group notices just how empty the school is and, with weapons drawn, they kick in Professor Lionheart's door expecting the worst.

...instead all they do is give poor Lionheart a heart attack. He just lost track of time and forgot to meet them out front. Whoops.

Qrow still calls him out on the lack of security and though Lionheart explains it away with a lot of discussion regarding James, the council, and the distribution of Huntsmen/Huntresses in a time of war, his excuses ring a little false. Indeed, by the end of the scene we'll see him speaking to a holographic 'W' on his desk, presumably Arthur Watts, who was briefly in contact with Lionheart in "No Safe Haven." Looks like he's gone full dark side, or at the very least is being blackmailed.

Before that though we learn a LOT about these relics we keep hearing about. Apparently the chamber each relic resides in can only be accessed by their corresponding Maiden--which seems to put a damper on the "Ozpin's cane is a relic" theory. Why have this security measure and then not make use of it? Did Ozpin (as the presumed Wizard) simply think that he was powerful enough to protect it on his own? Despite losing to Cinder? I'm inclined to think not, especially given the cavalier way the cane is handled between Qrow and Oscar. There's no doubt importance to Ozpin's weapon, but I'm no longer 100% convinced that it's a relic. (Even if I’m still headcanoning as such.)

We also learn each of the Maiden's... themes? Powers? For lack of a better word. Winter is the Maiden of creation, Summer the Maiden of destruction (an uncommon reversal there), Spring is knowledge, and Fall is choice. This puts a whole new dimension on Pyrrha's almost ascension as the Fall Maiden, given the complicated choices involved. Though Ozpin told her firmly not to fight and offered as much free will as a rock and a hard place would allow, a background as both a celebrity and a Huntress ensured that Pyrrha experienced the most pressure to conform and do what's (supposedly) best for others--even at the expense of herself.

Cinder is our latest Fall Maiden. Winter and Summer are still unknown, but Spring apparently skipped out on her duties a decade past...and is now in Raven's hands. What does a bunch of bandits want with a Maiden? We're not sure yet, but Qrow is eager to mount a full attack to get her back. Only Lionheart's (evil and biased) logic keeps him from rushing off. No doubt our team will take things into their own hands once they realize whose thumb Lionheart is under. The essence behind "Damn the council, we'll do it ourselves!" is common in most fantasy/action series. From Harry Potter to Korra we always have that moment when the rag-tag team has to step outside of the bureaucracy and actually get shit done. The trick is continually making sure that the council--or whatever else we’re dealing with--is actually corrupt/in the wrong.

Elsewhere Blake is dealing with the fallout of her own character short. Things are kept a little murky: Who exactly are these people beyond White Fang members? Who's side is Ilia on? It doesn't seem to matter much. The important bit is that Ilia tells Blake to leave now and she responds with a curt, "You're going to have to make me." So unless Ilia succeeds, it sounds like Blake won't be catching up with the rest of the team anytime soon. A pity.

Yang is also off on her own. I must admit that Rooster Teeth had me fooled. Based on last Volume's conversation with Tai and the fact that Yang's short focuses on how she'll "Always have [Ruby's] back," cutting to her determined expression as she continues driving her motorcycle in the present day, I fully expected Yang to be meeting up with Team RNJR. Instead she's looking for her mom. No doubt though everyone will come together if Qrow and the kids go after Raven themselves. Until then Yang is poised to get info from a sleazy asshole who likes to hit on underage girls.

The episode's climax though is in Oscar's return. We jump "back" to a scene we got at the end of Volume 4, wherein the chronology smooths out to show us when exactly Oscar found Qrow in that bar. "It's good to see you again, Oz" was appropriately heartfelt--and raises more questions about why Qrow of all the inner circle knows so much about Ozpin's power. (A shipper heart can't get too hopeful, can it?) After a cut Oscar shows up on the kids' doorstep, asking for Ruby Rose... and we get more emotional whiplash as that line is reframed not as an, "I know everything" moment but an, "I brought your drunk as a skunk uncle back" moment. Qrow is adorable in this scene, happily wasted as he mutters about how he finally found Ozpin. Ruby's anger that her comic reading time was interrupted dissipates as Oscar freely admits, "You know me as Professor Ozpin."

I'm very glad he came right out and said it. I wasn't looking forward to a whole Volume of wondering when the gang will find out the truth. Perhaps the most fascinating moment though is when Oscar, seemingly instinctually, says to Ruby,

"You have silver eyes."

There are three ways of explaining this line, far as I can tell:

Ozpin tells Oscar to say that. Unlikely. We don't see Oscar pausing or talking to himself, and why be cryptic when they're going to admit who they are two seconds later?

Oscar himself recognizes silver eyes. Possible, even if he is just a farm boy. Perhaps he's heard stories?

Ozpin's knowledge/personality is beginning to become accessible to Oscar. This has been my theory from the start. As I'll discuss more in-depth in my Volume 4 recaps, Ozpin as an entity still exists and presumably this isn't the first time he's changed bodies, implying that the headmaster we know has survived for who knows how many decades. The implication of this is he either somewhat merges with or entirely overwrites the personality of his host. I’m not hoping for the latter--a rather dark side to his semblance--but if so it might already be starting. Oscar's "You have silver eyes" might be a bit of Ozpin creeping into his reactions.

We'll have to wait to find out. This premiere was, for the most part, surprisingly joyful, but we can't expect that to last for long. Our new intro says it straight out: "Things looking bleak and they're bound to get worse."

Best to fasten your seat belts.

Other Details of Note

The pilot's "Sorry, kid" to Weiss. Yes, please remind the audience that these are still children. People tend to forget that.

Qrow's constantly hunched back. I don't recall this from previous Volumes. This might be something Rooster Teeth is only now capable of with the new animation style, but regardless it's a wonderful little detail.

"That poor girl ripped to pieces" and Ruby's tiny gasp. Glad to see everyone hasn't completely forgotten about Penny. I'm also interested in whether the rest of the world didn't notice that Penny was a robot or if they're just that accepting of machines with souls as "real girls."

Qrow--"I quit teaching for a reason." Did a good job training Ruby though!

Using the Maidens' titles in place of their names is both good for the show's mystery and appropriately dehumanizing.

I'm surprised that no one responded to Ren's hope that they can reclaim the Spring Maiden in a more peaceful manner. In fact, he's not in the rest of that scene's shots, to the extent that I wondered if he was using his semblance for some reason. I hope that they'll return to this. We've had very little exploration of fighting-obsessed Huntsmen/Huntresses finding non-violent solutions to their problems and it might add some actual conflict to the group. They get along incredibly well for four teenagers traveling the world together.

Qrow tells Lionheart to keep in touch, as if we all don't know how terrible he is at contacting the rest of his super-secret team. Way to be a hypocrite, Qrow.

Sun and Blake's dad can finally agree on something! Drinks all around.

Yang's hand briefly shaking after her first "fight" since she lost her arm as well as the call-back joke to her times in Junior's bar. Most characters had little call-back moments and it was wonderful to see in a premiere.

#rwby #mymetas #RWBY Recaps

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thatgirlonstage · 6 years

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Hi, idk if you've watched season 7 yet, but as the originator of the "Sam Holt and the Galaxy Garrison are Evil" theory, how do you feel about the way they were portrayed?

[Sam Holt Is Evil theory]

Oh, I’ve seen Season 7 all right. I watched it the day it dropped. It’s WHY I’ve been on a Voltron hiatus.

Fair warning: this post is long, and I’m wearing an analysis hat, not my “here to have a good time” hat. It’s not wank per se, but, uh. I haven’t thought the writing in Voltron is the BEST lately, so it’s not really favorable analysis.

Let me be clear that I knew full well in S5 that the Sam Holt Is Evil theory was dead, I wasn’t still waiting for a reveal or anything like that. I was not judging the S7 Garrison against my theory. That said… I still like my idea better.

The strength of the evil!Sam theory always rested on two things: 1. the fact that Sam was, without explanation, getting deliberately less attention than Matt in Pidge’s quest to find her family, and 2. the way it would lead into the narratively inevitable attack on Earth. For the first point, I think we can now conclude that the creators knew they wanted to use him as a bargaining chip against Pidge/the Voltron team, so they simply shunted him aside until he became useful to the plot. In the end, it was just lazy writing. The second point is a little bit harder to discuss directly, because I came up with the possibility of evil!Sam way back before S3 had even aired. Obviously, a lot has changed - suddenly pulling a “the Garrison was evil the whole time!!!!” in S7 would have been major whiplash and totally unjustified. But the reason I say I still like my idea better, is because we could have built towards the conflict on Earth more smoothly and with more rising tension if we used Sam as a nexus. We could even have still sprung “Earth is in danger” as a surprise on the Paladins, using Sam/the Galra/the Garrison’s perspective to inform the audience of what’s happening while keeping the Paladins oblivious and us biting our fingernails in anxiety as a result (unless the goal was that the attack on Earth would be a surprise for the audience too, but… anyone with a lick of sense for foreshadowing could see an eventual “Earth is in danger” plot coming from S1 and certainly from the end of S6, plus they aired Sam’s distress message in the trailer, so they shot themselves in the foot pretty thoroughly from the word go if that was the idea).

Except for Sam, we didn’t go into S7 with any investment in any of the Garrison characters, so suddenly cutting to two whole episodes with ONLY them made the whole thing drag. Plus, we knew where it ended up, so those episodes just felt like the story ground to a halt for forty minutes. Sam didn’t really develop or change at all, and except for Veronica all of the new characters were pretty much just 2D cutouts. They were given a trait - the angry one, the quiet one, the socially awkward mathy (let’s be frank: coded autistic) one - and left at that. I didn’t care if any of the Garrison team died, because I don’t know shit about them. Actually, the only character that I felt did get some complexity (again, aside from Veronica) was Iverson. I liked him in this season, I liked that they showed he may be a gruff army general but he’s willing to recognize when he’s mistaken or in over his head, that he’s not a NICE person but he might be a GOOD person (I took his character in a similar-ish direction in my fic Written in Sand, so maybe I’m biased, but that feels like the right characterization for him to me). If we’d started to build a connection back to the Garrison earlier in the show, or even, discard my theory, if we’d even just seeded in some of the flashbacks earlier and shown more of the Garrison team, I think I would’ve cared a lot more about them.

Veronica is a well-written character, I like her. The difference is, I think, she’s clearly a character the writers came up with and the Garrison became the vehicle for including her in the story, rather than writing out a plot line and rolling out stock characters to populate it, which is what the rest of the Garrison team feels like.

Okay, now the elephant in the room: Admiral Sanda. She’s the show’s conclusion to the tropes I was reading when I came up with the evil!Sam theory. There was always going to be danger from within the Garrison; from the perspective of raising stakes, it just makes sense. And, I’m going to be honest: I detest Admiral Sanda. I detest that they tried to give her a last minute redemption, I detest that she was the trigger for the climax of the season. She’s very much another cardboard cutout - the hardline army general who thinks they know best and makes the wrong call so the day has to be saved by the plucky youngsters who still believe in hope. Nothing about what she did was surprising - I’m pretty sure when they “revealed” she’d sold them out to Sendak I just yelled at the screen “NO FUCKING DUH” because they’d been telegraphing that since her introduction. It’s not a twist so much as it is the writers using her to increase the danger against the Paladins, when it feels like Sendak should have been enough of a threat on his own. And her redemption moment is so hollow and pointless because… well, fuck, as much as I hate the guy, at least with Snape you’ve got SOME kind of investment in him by the time he dies just because you’ve gotten to know him. Even if that investment is vehemently hating his guts. I don’t know a blessed THING about Admiral Sanda except that she’s a hardline army general who thinks she knows best and made the wrong call. Does she have friends? Family? How old is she? What was her childhood like? Crucially, WHY does she think that making a deal with Sendak is the only way to protect the Earth, when to all appearances literally everyone else has decided to trust Sam and Voltron?

We the audience come to the show with a certain meta understanding of how these kinds of stories will go. We know Voltron will win. We don’t know exactly how, or how long it will take, or what sacrifices might be made, but darkness never falls over the land completely. Sauron was never going to win, Voldemort was always going to be defeated, summer was always going to return to Narnia. So characters like Admiral Sandra have to be dealt with carefully, because we the audience know they will be proven wrong. We may be able to distantly understand their position, but if we’re expected to empathize with her or find her decision difficult, we need MORE than a superficial “what if Voltron can’t win?” as justification for her actions, because we know the answer is “but they will.” As it stands, she just looks like an idiot for believing Sendak. The reason why I liked Sam as the traitor is because it brings personal stakes into it - even if we must make him hold the idiot ball to make it work (and I would argue we wouldn’t have had to, if we’d taken more time to explore WHY the Garrison might side with the Galra), it’s still affecting. Imagine Sanda’s death scene, and replace her with Sam. Suddenly it’s fucking gut-wrenching, right? (Not to mention making Sam a much more complicated character than he ended up being. Sam is... fine, he’s just kind of bland).

I guess tl;dr I found the Garrison sections dragged because they didn’t take the time to properly introduce and build up to the characters that suddenly took center stage for a significant chunk of the season, while the whole idea behind the Sam Holt Is Evil theory was that narratively, it could’ve brilliantly brought Earth and the Garrison back into the story as important forces and build up to the ultimate confrontation on the Paladins’ home planet without actually having to go back to Earth, at least not immediately. I liked Veronica because she felt like a full realized character, but no one else did (except Iverson a little bit).

As a sidebar, evil!Sam/Garrison was built on the assumption that the Garrison already knew something about the Galra at the very least by the time that Shiro turned up back on Earth - and I think the reveal that they really were just ignorant the whole time leaves plot holes, but if I start to go down the “let’s talk about the plot holes in Voltron” path we’re going to be here for a week.

#answers #voltron #voltron meta #sam holt is evil theory #sam holt #also this isn't relevant to your question but #don't you love how we went from pidge's main motivation being finding matt #to matt just fully disappearing for almost two entire seasons #and from sam being shunted aside for no goddamn reason #to sam just randomly becoming the protagonist with no hook #i know write good so characters much development wow #okay that bit was wank #yellowmagicalgirl

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almaasi · 6 years

Text

reaction post typed while watching SPN 13x22 “Exodus”

“WATCH THIS SHOW” they said. “IT’LL BE FUN” they said. cue me being very stressed out for two hours straight

02:38pm

am i looking forward to this, with absolute confidence that nothing terrible and unfortunate will happen because it’s the deadly duo writing this and it’s near the end of the season and last episode was the whiplashiest of whiplashes? NOPE

am i gonna watch it anyway? .......yeah

hopes: nobody we care about dies

02:43

I DID NOT WANT THIS RECAP

SAMMY DID NOT DESERVE THAT

but also i still haven’t seen a captioned giftset of the moment cas said to dean “dean, he’s gone, we can’t save him”

‘cause wow as far as destiel moments go, that’s a heck of a lot of trust for dean, and a heck of a lot of concern and care on cas’ part

02:46

lucifer: your name is jack

jack: and yours is lucifer

i don’t even know why i laughed but i did??? i don’t think that was meant to be funny

02:48

lucifer: don’t you think that’s his choice?

cas: no

the abusive dad vs protective family saga continues

also i just realised for MONTHS/years? i’ve been using the 24-hour clock on my laptop and didn’t even notice how much i didn’t like it until just now, and i just changed it, and AAH THIS IS BETTER IT SAYS 02:49 INSTEAD OF 14:49 AND I DON’T ACCIDENTALLY TYPE 4:49 WHEN WRITING THESE POSTS

actually in terms of abusive parents vs protective families (expanding on what i said last week), i kinda feel like right now the writers are kinda toning down how bad it can be. lucifer’s so chill about this, kinda, and i’ve known families whose estranged parent is almost a perfect match for lucifer’s behaviour here:

they’ll offer the kid an incredible gift without telling the other parent(s), something the kid can’t refuse because of how badly they want/need it, and the parents can’t refuse without being the bad guy(s), and the whole family then becomes eternally indebted to the abusive parent and is obliged to give them money/time/rights with their child, with the threat of violence, property destroyed, access to said property removed, or instigated legal proceedings if they refuse.

plus the kid is often too young or innocent to understand, they just see an extra parent who gives them nice things, and for a kid from a broken home with not enough to go around, they don’t see the downside, and they maybe never see the threat their parents are under. or they’re physically or mentally abused by their parent(s), but think it’s okay because the parent(s) “apologises” or bribes them with nice things. or if the protective parent(s) try and keep them away from the abusive parent, the kid sees themselves as being deprived of that parent’s love

long story short, people can be shitty, and lucifer probably has the potential to be much worse than just standing around and having a casual discussion

i feel like the extended winchester family verbally defending jack is not gonna be enough, and lucifer’s gonna wanna take back sam, and destroy more while he’s at it

like an “if i can’t have it, nobody can have it” sort of thing

03:03

eyyy felicia day is in the credits

03:04

hug!!!!!!!!!!!

nawww the lil tiny nuzzle dean does with his chin before pulling away

03:07

YEAH MARY YOU PUNCH THE DEVIL IN THE FACE

!!!

AGAIN!!!

cas kinda looked like he was expecting that

03:09

i was busy admiring how mary’s hair was perfectly curly

and then by the next shot it was all limp and sad

if the weather was humid i guess it melted the curl between takes

but also MARY WHAT THE HELL

YOU DON’T WANNA ABANDON ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE AU

BUT WHAT ABOUT YOUR SMOL NEEDY HERO CHILDREN

??????

i mean i get it bUT ALSO NO I DON’T

also my face is >:| because they cut to cas and lucifer in the middle of mary and dean having a super important conversation

usually it’s not jarring but THAT WAS JARRING

eehh the deadly duo trademark is all over this

03:15

sam: mom doesn’t wanna leave these people.

sam: ...

sam: so let’s take ‘em with us

YEAH NOW THAT’S A PLAN

MUCH BETTER

take charlie and bobby too okay please

..........aw man now i said that, i get the terrible feeling that one or both of them is gonna go out in a blaze of glory instead, or stay on the sinking ship for no good reason other than because the writers don’t know what else to do with them

edit: i mean there’s still next episode.... (best case, they all survive and get storylines next season)

03:20

see all the stuff lucifer is telling jack is true, and it does remove the blame from the CONCEPT of lucifer

but the personality is lucifer is BAD AND ABUSIVE

like you don’t have to commit horrible crimes to be a bad person to be around

he corrupts the will of others, he tortures them emotionally, he manipulates them

none of those things are first-degree murder, or the great oppression of the entire human race, but they are Bad Things For A Father To Be

03:23

lucifer: i have done bad things, but i just want the opportunity to get better. doesn’t everybody? don’t you?

i actually feel sick ‘cause this is sooooooo very very dangerous

cas was right, talking to lucifer is bad

yeah, he says all the right things. anyone could give him the benefit of the doubt, and perhaps say sure, lucifer’s changed ‘cause he has a kid now, but he PROVED in bringing sam back to life that he hasn’t changed

and not just because of the “i’mma bring jack a gift he can’t refuse thing”, but the “i’mma kill sam again if he doesn’t agree to this” thing

lucifer is a manipulative, blackmailing, flaming trash baby and jack needs better. lucifer might treat jack himself with genuine love, but he’ll destroy everyone and everything around him in doing so

03:28

also? i relate so hard to the fact dean, sam, and cas all see and know the real lucifer, and lucifer’s putting on a show for jack

i think the people i’ve personally felt the least safe around in the past, especially growing up, are the people who are perfectly sweet when you’re in company and then become bullies as soon as the adults/parents/protectors are out of earshot

and there’s no way to prove to your protectors that you’re being hurt because all they see is “a nice person” or “ohh they’re such a sweetie”

i mean it’s the other way around for team free will and jack, where tfw see the real thing and jack sees the perfect angel but yeah

03:42

ketch: take the b&o railroad......straight to hell

good line tbh

03:43

angel to ketch: i’ve sent for an expert in these matters

probably gonna be other ketch

03:44

WHOA DARK CAS

WAY BETTER

he has a twitchy hamster face

where does misha get these ideas

i kinda wanna draw whiskers on dark!cas ???

03:46

THE FACT DEAN CAN GIVE CAS INSTRUCTIONS JUST BY FLUTTERING HIS EYELASHES

and the way he moves his eyes is so soft and gentle and subtle too

it makes my heart feel a thing tbh

even though cas is torturing someone

ugh nonverbal communication is so sexy

03:52

DARK CAS IS GERMAN ?????

and there’s........something misha-like in his smile?? that’s weird

03:54

I AM INTENSELY UNCOMFORTABLE

his two different eyes are cool though

maybe it’s just a trick of the light, or a very subtle contact lens

03:55

fuck yeah that coat

but why is he german, other than clearly being a nazi-inspired character

is it just me or is this legitimately the scariest of all misha’s characters

i want to run away and hide

actually i kinda wanna cry

03:59

that’s better

GOOD CAS, PLZ DESTROY NAZI CAS

04:02

ketch: “well helloo~”

ketch: “are you... actually saving me? about bloody time”

gayyyyyyyy

biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

also maybe definitely a destiel parallel from that time cas beat dean up to stop him saying yes to micheal

04:05

um?????

that smile when real!cas dragged the blade down dark!cas throat ?????

04:08

jack’s like LET ME DO THE THING EVERYONE’S BEEN TRYING TO DO FOR MONTHS/YEARS

IN ONE HOUR

04:11

fuck yeah mary

lookin all swish at the back of the war bus

04:12

????????????????????

??????????????????????????????????

hOW DID THEY GET THE BUS THROUGH THE TUNNEL THAT HAD THE VAMPIRES IN

DID THEY TAKE THE MOUNTAIN ROUTE THAT WOULD’VE TAKEN SEVERAL DAYS???

WHAT???????????????????

04:16

MY HEART IS POUNDING

C’MON EVERYONE YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

04:17

mary, bobby, ketch, charlie, jack are safe!!!! SAVE EVERYONE!!! QUICK QUICK

NOBODY LEFT BEHIND PLEASE

except lucifer maybe

except that would probably be bad in the long run

CAS IS SAFE

YAH C;MON!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH I’M SO STRESSED RN

fuckin feel like i’m trying to pull ducklings one by one through a fence before a dog gets them FUCK

/sobs to self

04:19

I;M GONBA HEVA FUCKING HEART ATACK FUHF

04:20

WHY IS IT ALWAYS THE BLACK GUY

DO THESE WRITERS LIKE.. HAVE A FETISH FOR DEAD BLACK PEOPLE

WHAT THE FUCK IS THEIR PROBLEM

AND THE CAMERA ALWAYS LINGERS MORE WHEN IT’S THESE WRITERS I’M PRETTY SURE??? someone do a test, go find all the dead black people and check which writers/editors/directors leave the camera lingering for longest

istg these writers do it more often and for longer

04:24

aw MAAAAN :C

dean’s “gaBE nO” though. :c :c :c

04:26

everyone except gabe :c :c :c

(and no lucifer...........like i said, great now, baaaaaad in the long run)

04:29

nobody mentions cas but he’s still there, looking all pretty and being a good, wholesome bean

04:30

SEE? BAD

VERY BAD

04:33pm

it ends

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh man that was

........a lot

overall a good ‘un but STILL VERY STRESSFUL

i need a nice calming shower after that, i smell like !!!!!anxiety!!!!

9/10, loses a point JUST BECAUSE OF HOW STRESSFUL IT WAS TO WATCH. THIS WAS NOT FUN AT ALL

BUT STILL GOOD??

I DUNNO MAN I JUST WANT A SHOW WITH THESE EXACT CHARACTERS JUST HANGING AROUND AND BEING NICE TO EACH OTHER AND FALLING IN LOVE AND HEALING EACH OTHER EMOTIONALLY AND PHYSICALLY AND BAKING CAKES AND RAISING CHILDREN

to be fair though, my endless almost-what-i-wanted-but-not-quite dissatisfaction with this show keeps driving me to write 81+ fanfics where nice things happen

win-win????

but this show would still be better with dean/cas cuddles let’s be real

#Elmie watches things #13x22 #exodus #season 13 #spn spoilers #deadly duo #post of postiness

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jaelyn96 · 7 years

Link

“Fallen” is probably the weakest episode of Chicago P.D.’s fifth season while “Care Under Fire” is certainly the strongest. The show’s new approach to dealing with real world issues falls somewhat flat in “Fallen”, as the full extent of what is really happening is only revealed in the last ten minutes. Also, the character-centric aspect is almost an afterthought, as the episode barely reveals any new information about Upton. “Care Under Fire” is essentially the complete opposite, with the series diving further into Halstead and his past trauma. Prior to this episode, we knew very little about his time overseas, but Jesse Lee Stoffer gives another outstanding performance. It feels slightly weird to review these two episodes together, just due to the difference in storytelling, acting, and writing. It’s almost as if these are two different shows rather than consecutive episodes. So let’s dive in and get started. The case of the week is pretty basic stuff in “Fallen.” Quinton Kane is suspected of killing a family of three, but Intelligence can’t definitively connect Kane to the crime. Then when Sergeant Sean McGrady, who was assisting Intelligence with the triple homicide, also ends up dead, Kane is once again a key suspect. Despite Kane appearing to having a credible alibi, his blood was found on McGrady’s gun. Fast forward through some good old fashioned police work and an intense standoff, and the bad guy is finally arrested. Case closed. Let’s go get drinks at Molly’s, right? Not quite. While the Chicago Police Department was having a hard time making an case stick against Kane, he was arrested a few months prior for an alleged DUI, so his blood was in evidence, yet one of the vials is conveniently missing. As we previously learned, McGrady was a constant gambler and even stole money from a charity. As Alderman Ray Price posits McGrady knew he was about to be exposed, so he frames Kane for his own suicide, allowing McGrady to go out a hero and his family to collect his pension. And Kane’s alibi? Well, the surveillance video has magically disappeared. So what exactly is the lesson here? It looks like Chicago P.D. tries to address the concept of whether the ends ultimately justify the means. In this case, it is ethical to frame a known murderer for a crime he didn’t commit. While the series poses a good question, it fails in its execution as the big reveal of McGrady committing suicide and framing Kane is only discovered in the final minutes. The audience doesn’t really have time to dissect the issue as they’re too busy recovering from the whiplash. It’s a shame because this would have been a strong problem to tackle if done correctly, but the end result is just a mess. I was really looking forward to this episode and learning more about Upton, but all that was really revealed was an ambiguous past with McGrady. We learned pretty early in the episode Upton previously worked with McGrady, but there was some sort of underlying tension between the two of them that was never really clarified. There duo apparently had some undisclosed differences in the past, with Upton telling Halstead McGrady was always looking for some sort of angle. After some initial awkwardness along with Halstead being a third wheel, Upton and McGrady were supposed to meet up later to talk about the case. However, things take a sharp right turn when McGrady ends up dead, allegedly having been killed by Kane, with Upton getting chewed out by Voight and others for not being with McGrady when he was shot. It’s not until the truth about McGrady’s suicide comes to light, or rather Voight’s attention, that he apologizes to Upton, explaining the two of them need to get on the same page: they either disclose it or take it to the grave. Upton, understandably, is having a hard time burying this as everyone will remember McGrady as a hero when he reportedly gambled away his savings, cheated on his wife, and tried to sabotage her career. Now would be the time to raise your hand if you’re as confused as I was. Where did those last two allegations come from? There had been no mention of McGrady’s infidelity or sabotaging Upton’s career until that point. Was there some scene that was cut or a reference I didn’t get alluding to those actions? The only thing that seems to make sense, and I may be way off, is that Upton was the one having an affair with McGrady, and it ended badly, thus explaining why she was constantly passed over for promotions. Of course, if this is the case, then there was barely enough information given to viewers to allow them to infer this. We barely know Upton any better or how she got her detective shield. All we know is she had a difficult relationship, either personal or professional, with McGrady, and that’s about it. If this episode was supposed to make me care for Upton, then it failed miserably as my feelings for her haven’t really changed. And then we get to Voight and Price, who after the events of “Reform” appeared to have reached an understanding. The pair even seemed somewhat friendly in their initial interactions in “Fallen.” However, things hit the fan when Voight finds out Price has been communicating with Kane. Price had reached out to some of Kane’s associates, trying to get Kane to surrender peacefully. Voight, being his usual cheery explosive self, doesn’t react well to this, reminding Price this is a police operation and Kane will be taken down their way. Yet Price has to remind Voight that Kane, who claims he’s innocent, won’t come in “their way,” as Kane could end up dead just from blinking the wrong way. From what I’ve seen I’m really enjoying the character of Price. Not only is Wendell Pierce perfectly cast, but Price is already a highly-developed character after only appearing in two episodes. He generally does care for the residents in his ward, but he also has a political agenda. As we see by the end of the episode, Price correctly theorizes that Kane was framed but agrees to keep silent. Granted, the prospect of another “banger” taking Kane’s place who will understand the wisdom of “investing” in Price’s ward is a plus, but the fact that Voight now owes him takes the cake. The dynamic between Price and Voight has been fun to watch because they it’s a game of give and take. While they have separate agendas, both see the benefit of helping, or not standing in the other’s way, from time to time. Neither one of them can be considered truly moral characters, but they do have good intentions. I’ve enjoyed this dynamic much more than the constant back and forth between Voight and Woods, which always ends with them at each other’s throats. Voight and Price are sometimes on the same side and other times on different ones; it’s never the same or predictable, which makes it interesting to watch. Speaking of Woods, we had the “big” reveal with him and Ruzek reveal at the end. I use quotations because it just felt expected and out of nowhere, if that makes any sense. After the red herring of Antonio potentially working with Woods, I assumed the show would try to get someone from Intelligence to turn on Voight, but it just felt like lazy writing with the Ruzek reveal. We saw that Ruzek was dodging phone calls from an alleged one night stand named Mia, but then all of a sudden it’s revealed that Ruzek has been dodging Woods’ calls. It turns out that Ruzek’s sister got arrested for an alleged DUI with his nephew in the backseat, and Ruzek tried to cover it up, except the audience never saw Ruzek try to make his sister’s arrest go away or even knew he had a sister to begin with. However, apparently Woods somehow found out and is now blackmailing Ruzek to spy on Voight and Intelligence. It doesn’t surprise me that Woods would force Ruzek to give him intel or that Ruzek covered it up. What really bothers me is that this came out of nowhere. There was no build up or payoff; it just felt like it was added in after the writers realized they needed someone to be a mole for Woods. I understand that Ruzek is in a tough spot, and he doesn’t want to betray Voight or Intelligence but feels like there is no other choice. It’s just that his sister and nephew and this coverup conjured out of the blue. It would have made more sense for Woods to somehow have gotten the video recording of Ruzek from the season premiere and threatened to hold that over his head. The video may not have had serious consequences, but if it was released to the public, I imagine it could be another public relations nightmare. Woods could have threatened to make an example out of Ruzek and fire or suspend him to appease the public. That may have been a slight stretch, but it would have made more sense than this nonsense. I’m assuming we’re supposed to suspend our disbelief, but I’m having a hard time as it just seems like poor writing. I mean was it ever mentioned Ruzek even had a sister to begin with? And this awfully executed storyline continues in “Care Under Fire.” The episode opens with Ruzek’s very real sister and nephew, but we barely spend any time with them, making it hard to connect with these characters. Sure, Ruzek is stuck between a rock and a hard place, having to decide whether to spy on Intelligence or risk ending his career, but he can’t play both sides forever. He claims he didn’t have an opportunity to plant the bug but copied a video of Halstead punching a civilian. Ruzek thinks this will be enough to satisfy Woods, and then he’ll be free and clear. He can go back to work like nothing ever happened and play dumb when Voight takes some heat for Halstead’s actions. If only it were that simple. Woods isn’t going to let Ruzek off the hook for a single video file; he’s going to keep Ruzek there until he has more than enough evidence to bury Voight. Ruzek should have assumed this wouldn’t be over that easily. He should have gone to Voight in the first place and explained the situation. While Voight can be a loose cannon, we’ve seen him have his team’s back time and time again. He and Ruzek could have worked together to come up with a solution, but now it’s too late. And now we get to the good stuff, and by good stuff I mean Halstead. From the start of the episode, it’s clear something is going on with him. From sleeping at the police station, having some sort of nightmare and listening to the scanner to find some sort of high-risk situation, the alarm has been sounded; Jay Halstead is in trouble. Responding to the scene, Halstead finds himself in the middle of a possible homicide, which eventually turns out to be a botched kidnapping. A three-man crew kidnapped a boy, but his nanny got caught in crossfire and ended up dead. Thanks to one of Dawson’s confidential informants, Intelligence is able to identify one of the men as Luis Vega, but the team can’t bring Vega in on what they have and the odds of him talking aren’t great. So Halstead pitches he go undercover, and after little resistance from the team, Voight agrees to give Halstead’s idea a shot. Can someone explain to me why team thinks this is a good idea? Yes, Halstead has had success going undercover before, but something’s been off ever since “Reform,” when he inadvertently shot the little girl. The guilt over that is obviously weighing on him, but no one beside Upton seems to notice anything is wrong. While she doesn’t stop him from going undercover, she at least asks if everything’s all right, despite Halstead’s lie. Everyone seems to take Halstead at his word that he’s all right, but he really should have had to sit down with a therapist. I’m not sure if this is actual procedure, but other police dramas usually have an officer get mandatory counseling following a shooting. We’ve seen Voight in therapy this season, so why not have Halstead give it a try? Halstead, or his alter ego “Ryan,” tries to ingratiate himself into both Luis and Camila’s, by default, lives. Despite a slow start at the bar, “Ryan” eventually wins Luis over by coming to Luis’ rescue in a staged bar fight. Of course, things don’t go according to plan as “Ryan” ends up punching a civilian, yet another example of why Halstead should take some time off. The two end up bonding over their shared military experiences, and “Ryan” tries to finagle an in with Luis’ employer, claiming his job sucks. Despite Luis’ initial reluctance, he eventually comes around after he and “Ryan” spend some quality drinking and talking about death. “Ryan” ends up telling Luis about the eight-year-old girl who he unintentionally killed. Despite “Ryan” claiming this happened while he served overseas, the details surrounding the incident (i.e. the bullet hitting a combatant, then traveling through a door and going into the girl) are a clear reference to the events of “Reform.” “Ryan” talks about how he still has nightmares about it, leading viewers to wonder if that’s what Halstead’s bad dream was about at the beginning of the episode? Whether it’s Luis and “Ryan” commiserating over their time in the military or the free drugs “Ryan” gives Luis (let’s be real, it’s most likely the free opioids), Luis caves and agrees to set “Ryan” up his private security boss, allowing Intelligence to identify the two other members of the kidnapping ring. That would have been good enough for most officers, but Halstead wants to stay undercover, trying to get Luis to use him for their current job. If Halstead were in his right mind and wanted to follow through, I wouldn’t begrudge him, but he’s not exactly stable at the moment, and this is a big risk. It’s like he’s looking for dangerous situations to put himself in, like he can’t help himself. It’s very disconcerting because I’m afraid he’s only going to fall further down the rabbit hole. While the leader of the kidnapping ring doesn’t want to use “Ryan” at first, he realizes he doesn’t exactly have another option but still isn’t thrilled with the idea. “Ryan” has to twist Luis’ arm a bit but when he “finds” out the job is actually a kidnapping, “Ryan” is ready to back out. Despite Luis’ assurances that this is simple, “Ryan” pleads with Luis, trying to convince him this is anything but. “Ryan” tells Luis that they have to stop it, that he can’t carry another kid. This is especially telling just how heavily the little girl’s death from “Reform” weighs on him. We knew Halstead felt guilty, but that one line shows he holds himself entirely responsible for what happened. Even though there were circumstances out of his control and other factors involved, in his mind, he is the reason the girl died. It’s as if he just shot her point blank, and he can’t go through that again. At first, we’re not sure if “Ryan” got through to Luis, but in the end, Luis tries to do the right thing, even though he still winds up dead. Watching Halstead try to perform CPR on Luis just about broke my heart because even though Halstead was undercover, he really did connect with that guy. They had been through similar circumstances and difficulties, both having a hard time adjusting when they got back from overseas. If things had gone differently for Halstead, he may have ended up in a situation like Luis. Do I think Halstead would kidnap a child and hold him or her for ransom? No, but I do think under different circumstances, Halstead may have ended up in a bad place, getting high and performing less than admirable jobs for money. I think Halstead saw some of himself in Luis, which may explain his determination in trying to prevent Luis from going through with the kidnapping and ransom. Ever since Lindsay has been gone, Halstead has been struggling and looking for someone to connect to. He inadvertently found that with Luis and, by extension, Camila. I’m not exactly sure what to make of Camila. I thought she would just be a one-off character, but it seems like she may be sticking around, and I have mixed feelings. From the start, there was sparks between “Ryan” and Camila, although it wasn’t exactly clear if Halstead was acting or not. As we saw in this episode, he’s a smooth talker, getting out of snooping through her mail and showing up to Luis’ under the guise of meeting Camila. “Ryan” could have just played coy the entire time, flirting and being his charming self, yet he let Camila in. He told her that when he came back he spent seven months drinking, smoking, screwing, and fighting. He said that a person never really comes back all the way after being in a warzone, they just sort of fill up what’s missing with something else, like Lindsay. We’ve seen how hard Halstead has taken their breakup, but it never really occurred to me until now, just how much he relied on that relationship. Yes, he loved Lindsay, but he also needed her to fill that void. His plan to propose makes a lot more sense, as he was desperate to get her back in his life. Again, I’m not disputing that Halstead loved Lindsay, but I just never really noticed how codependent he was. And now it seems Halstead has transferred that dependency onto Camila. He bared his soul to a person he just met, revealing pieces of himself that even prompted Upton to ask if any of it was true. This is made all the more evident when “Ryan” stops by Camila’s after Luis dies and he doesn’t tell her his real name or he’s a cop or he was there when Luis dies; he just keeps on pretending to be “Ryan.” Why? Well, being “Ryan” is probably easier than being Halstead right now, but he also doesn’t want to lose his only human connection he thinks he has. I doubt Camila would be flirting or kissing him if she knew “Ryan” was an undercover police officer who was tasked with brining her brother to justice and put his life in danger. No, Halstead is in a dark place, and pretending to be “Ryan” won’t end well for him. So hit the comments below to let me know what you thought of the episodes. Are you more invested in Upton as a character? How long before Intelligence finds out what Ruzek has been up to? Just how far will Halstead fall? Comment: have we really seen the how lindsay leaving affected Halstead? Credit: spoilertv

#Jesse Lee soffer #linstead #Chicago pd #fu jason beghe

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