coldvenom

[vagrantstory]

It's been awhile since i've drawn them 😭🤲🏽

[iightbringer]

gil grissom is inexplicably hot and we the people must accept that

[theoxenfree]

BOUNTY

hot gunslinging outlaw x reader | 2.7k

following your bitter mother's death, you come to learn that you're the illegitimate child of the most powerful man in san-am, soon to come into a vast inheritance as he is on his deathbed. what you anticipate to be an uneventful train across the country comes to a screeching halt when a mysterious man boards and tells you there's a substantial bounty on your head.

warnings; multiple mentions of death, brief blood mention, some graphic details, kidnapping, roughly proofread, post-apocalyptic setting, neo-western, reposted from old blog 2kmps

this is a concept piece for a larger project. please offer feedback to the questions at the end + reblog!! it really helps out with the project development and honing in on what y'all wanna see in the finished story!

Mother died a week before the lawyer showed up on your doorstep with an inheritance letter and half-hearted condolences for your absentee father’s poor prognosis. A day after that, your life was stowed into a pair of suitcases and a heavier hard case that you barely justified bringing aboard the train. In three weeks and three layovers, you would be across the continent in St. Corpus, the industrial heart of San-Am, where your father awaited you on his deathbed.

Horace Grissom had fathered a new age of industry and outward expansion in lands once believed to be sprawling metropolises centuries long gone. They had been left behind as skeletons of steel and rust from a time of global war, reclaimed in totality by the roots of elder trees, the decay of salt and sea, the precarious will of mountains, and the great sinkholes and corrosion of sand and time.

Traces of that old world had survived thanks in part to the rigorous efforts of archaeologists and conservationists at the University of San-Am in Grimerise. With each new discovery, opportunistic vultures like your father blotted their pens to their tongues to their pocketbooks and readied themselves to own the patent of it like history had a price and could only belong to them. Indeed, anything could be bought, because with those fragments of history, he built the San-Am Continental Railroad which crossed through each of the five territories and was considered the premier way to travel.

You were never allowed to ask questions about Horace under Mother’s roof as the very mention of his name would set her ablaze in some pettish, garrulous tantrum that, oftentimes, ended with you going to bed before dusk without dinner until the next day. She loved that bitterness up until the very moment she died, clawing your clothes, your skin, her nightgown, her own throat because she couldn't breathe and there was nothing you could do to save her from succumbing.

“Go in peace, Mother.” you said, kissing the back of her sun-speckled hand even as she tried digging her nails into your face. “I love you.”

She did not waste peacefully, nor did she end by staring up rapturously at the ceiling as though something else waited for her beyond it. Mother passed in blood, vomit, excrement, and all her hatred while you bade her farewell and considered who was best to call to have her body carted away to burn with all the others that had also succumbed that day. You made sure to label that as the cause of death on the official paperwork.

After that, you had made quick work of piling all of her things into boxes to be incinerated as well, certified the house was safe and in a liveable state (besides her old mattress, which was the first thing you disposed of because of the smell) for another family to move into.

Once all of that had been finished and you gained the time to rest, you got a knock at your door, a bald, sinewy man with a round hat claiming to be Joseph Whitwald—estate planning lawyer, he made sure to specify more than once—and that you needed to leave post haste to your father's estate in St. Corpus before he perished.

“You have significant placement in his will, illegitimate or not. This is what he wanted, this is what shall be done,” said Whitwald assuredly as he rooted through the pockets of his pants and white suit vest for something. He found it and made a sound and a flourish, revealing to you a red ticket. “Take this. It's for one of the elite cabins in first class. Your father wanted you to have the best amenities that the San-Am Continental has to offer.”

Even with such luxuries available to you with the sound of a bell on string, you eventually found yourself exchanging tickets with a young woman traveling solo for the first time. She went red in the eyes, asserted her appreciation, and scooped you into a hug before taking the ticket and her belongings to the first car.

The passenger car was considerably noisier with children running amok, drunks and musicians belting tunes while dancing in the center aisle—doing poorly to keep their balance as the train navigated the terrain beneath the rails, and ladies in bustles and fashionable blouses screaming like hens over fresh gossip. The stewards were frustrated that they couldn't get their trolleys through all the bodies, whereas some passengers let their stomachs roar through their mouths as they assailed anyone nearby (especially the poor lads just trying to deliver food) with complaints.

You liked everything happening around you; it was a good distraction from the way life had twisted your arm behind your back. The cacophony of laughter and anger felt like home, a comfortable companion to sit there with you on the empty, thinly padded benches while you stared uselessly at the inheritance papers—uncomprehending.

A gasp shot up your throat and made you bite your tongue as you were launched forward onto the adjacent bench (also empty) when the train suddenly began to slow—brakes engaged with such quickness that the wood beams under your feet vibrated up through your soles into your bones and teeth and skull until you became lightheaded and collapsed back into your seat.

The squeal and grind of steel worsened your confusion, turned the fuzz in your head into dull drumming—aches that pulsed to a beat you couldn't figure out, but it deadened the screams all around you and bodies hitting the floorboards in thunderous heaps.

And then, there was silence.

The other passengers kept their voices low as they climbed back into their seats, children were smothered deep into their mother’s bosoms as they wept, and no one dared to investigate what had brought the train to such a violent stop.

“Mummy, what's happening?” asked a girl from the benches behind you. She couldn't have been older than ten, from the sound of her. “Mummy, why—”

“Lottie!” the mother hissed at her daughter, “Shhh! Say nothing else, child.”

From a few seats away, closer to the front, you recognized the gruff, muddled voice from one of the drunkards who had been dancing in the aisle a while ago. Now, he had a bloody nose and a nasty knot growing on his forehead.

“What the hell is the big idea of them scarin’ the piss outta us like this? Do you see my face? They gonna do somethin’ to fix it?” he complained, then swigged liquor from a flask he had smuggled on. “I should go up there and give ‘em a piece of my mind. Bastards.”

“Peace, friend,” soothed a musician with an unfamiliar accent and stringed instrument. “Don't be hasty. I'm sure there’s a good reason why they had to stop. Let them find a solution, we’re just here for the ride.”

Just as the chatter was rising up again, commotion from the first class car stifled it hard, prompting some folks to abandon their seats near the door separating the cars to crowd into the rear. You were tempted to flee with them, join their pack so if they were going to find a way off the train, you'd be mixed up in their stampede and have a better chance to get away.

Except, you simply packed away your inheritance paperwork and sat there with your chin tucked to the collarbone, the visor of your baseball cap pulled lower over your sunglasses to seem as nondescript as possible. Meanwhile, the sounds from first class grew intense; glass shattered, passengers screamed and shuffled around, something you knew to be true because you felt the floor rumble under your feet again.

And then, the passenger car door slid open without the ferocity you had expected. The door scraped along its metal rail, allowing the body to pass through in heavy, languid steps. You paced your breaths to hear it all; the boots and clinking spurs striking wood with dull thuds, a baritone hum that you were convinced you could feel reverberate in your own chest as it came closer, the scuff of thick fabric and creaking leather.

You waited for it all to pass, to move on like a slow-moving rain cloud amidst a humid summer day, but it stopped at you instead. The tips of the man's boots were within view, as were slithers of tattered, black fabric from a long duster that fell short of his shins.

And then, there was the barrel of a gun. The breaths you had been holding shivered out of you, cold dread sank deep into your stomach and bones as the gun flicked upward a few times.

You obeyed and raised your head up to look at the man—tall, broad-shouldered, a rugged face with dark features mostly obscured by the shadow of his wide rim.

He tilted his head, gun higher as he flicked it down and you understood that to mean to take off your sunglasses. When you did so, offering him a full view of your face, his lips lifted crookedly into a half-smile.

“Well then,” he took the bench adjacent to you before holding something up to your head, seemingly a piece of paper, and shifted his gaze between you and it just twice. “Aren't you something special? Found you, darlin’.”

“What?” you frowned. “Found me?”

“Yeah, the resemblance is uncanny. You're definitely his kid. It's all in the eyes, really.” He said, turning the paper around to reveal a photograph of a man who you did share an eerie likeness to. It was the sameness in the eyes—the color and shape and emotion they evoked through a simple still image. “Horace Grissom had an illegitimate kid a long time ago. Turns out, not everyone is so pleased for that to become public knowledge. Turns out, someone wants you to bite the ground.”

“I've done nothing wrong!” you bristled.

He settled on the bench and hiked an arm up across the back of it. “That's usually how it goes, hun. Puttin’ holes in types like you really ain't my favorite thing to do. You'd be surprised how many people get put in your exact situation. Well, eh, not quite. ‘Cause not everyone is Horace Grissom’s kid.”

“Who hired you?” you demanded.

His lopsided smile remained. “Can't tell you that, darlin’. Confidentiality an’ all that.”

“So, then, you're a bounty hunter?” At this point, you weren't sure if you were trying to stave off an inevitability, or he had just riled you up that badly. “How much are you getting?”

“Enough to live the high-life for quite a while, I'd say.” He continued, “but I ain't no bounty hunter. Them folks gotta play by rulebooks an’ a bunch of codes and whatever. Not my thing.”

“A criminal, then,” you said. “An outlaw.”

He shifted the rim of his hat away from his eyes and leaned towards a pillar of golden, midmorning sunlight that came in through the window. “Sure, if that's what'll make you feel better about this entire thing.”

You could actually see him now—the contrast between the ambery hue in his rich complexion and pale green of his eyes. His skin had some weather to it, enough to prove that he had seen the worst of every season for years on end without it wearing him thin, along with thoroughly kempt hair on his face and loose waves that draped slightly beyond his shoulders.

“I…” the longer he stared at you, the less you were able to think. That was ridiculous considering you had survived the soul-crushing burden of engineering school and all of the personalities therein. “I can offer you something better than what you were hired for.”

He did a fast sweep of the colossal heaps of fabric hanging from your frame, a style you preferred to keep eyes off of you on the best and worst of days. It didn't do much to deter him as it did others.

“Oh, yeah? Whaddya got, hun?”

You lifted your shoulders and stacked your bones right. “I've got a vast inheritance that I'm not interested in. Horace is dying and I’m in his will to receive half his properties, along with his shares in the San-Am Continental Railway and Subsidiaries. If you can get me to St. Corpus, you can have the inheritance—every last gris.”

A shrill whistle echoed around your head, tuneful and mocking. The sound of it whittled your confidence back down to nothing, filling the space of your throat with a vise that you couldn't seem to swallow around. That same great unease you had felt before weaseled around in your chest, coiled your ribs and then plunged straight down into your gut.

“Good offer, but it ain't on the table.” The way he spoke was easy and slow, a thick drawl that suited every bit of him up to even now. He acted as though he weren't essentially holding a gun to your head, threatening your life in the name of money—or something else. “Gris is always good to have lyin’ around, but, honey, it don't really mean a lot to a man like me. Why, then, d’ya think I take on work like this? Why do ya think I trek halfway across the five territories time and time again? What really keeps a man goin’ out here in this godforsaken place?”

You felt yourself shrink in your seat as he leaned forward over his thighs, coming closer still like he had a secret to keep. “It's for the thrill. The hunt. The challenge of it all. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't actively seek out men to shoot or… nice types like you, but part of the fun is trackin’ down, the other part is just havin’ a chat—just like this.”

Then, he had the picture of Horace held out to you between two fingers. “Tell ya what, I see that hard case you brought aboard. I know what it is, but I want you to offer me somethin’ more interesting than a bunch of gris.”

You scrunched the photograph against your palm once you had it, hoping the sweat off your skin would ruin his face and make the ink run, but looked to the aforementioned hard case instead.

It was made of a hard plastic shell with strips of rubber outlining the odd shape of the thing. Inside was your handheld welding gun—one of many—that you had decided to bring along for little reason besides thinking it could be of use at some point during your time away. It wouldn't be enough to handle larger jobs such as the ones you were accustomed to in the workshop back in Grimerise, but it could fix a wagon or two, glue some pipes together, and do some damage if need be.

“C’mon, darlin’, sell yourself to me.” he pressed, gesturing his impatience with winding fingers. “What do you do for a living, huh?”

“I'm an engineer,” you continued hastily, “I-I can solder, weld, braze, cut, and saw. I can do anything if I have the right equipment.”

In turn, he asked, “Does that mean you can cut open a safe?”

“If you give me what I need, I can do anything.” you said.

A new sort of look overcame his features, one of great fondness and admiration that made the green of his eyes take on the milky luster of jade. You had the hope that this unique softness would gain you freedom from a shallow, empty death; a chance to go forward to seize the assets sworn to you by a man you'd never known.

His hands came forward to take your wrists, the weight of them first heavy and then cold as a pair of handcuffs were locked around you, knocking bone when you lunged back into your seat and fought against them.

“I've got myself quite boon!” In the next moment, he had hauled you up across his shoulder, retrieved both your suitcases, and called one of the stewards to carry your welding gun after him. “Time to go. Gotta introduce you to the crew and get ya settled in.”

“Wait, I don't even know your name!” you shouted and thrashed from shoulder.

He grinned. “Jericho, darlin’.”

a/n: thank you for reading, and hopefully (pls 🥹) reblogging this first concept piece! let me give you a little bit of background before launching into questions:

this entire idea came to be after reading/watching trigun, watching fallout prime, playing fallout 4, and prior playing my time at sandrock. setting-wise, I imagine the story will have some similarities between all of these things while putting mainly my own spin on the sci-fi western genre.

I intend for this project to be around 90k-100k by the time it is completed and will be the longest piece of writing I've done to date. additionally, I am building the entire world from the ground up and genuinely hoping to execute an extremely immersive reading experience! it is currently in the brainstorming and rough outlining stage, but I am making polls and asking for feedback to help move the process along.

I'd like to up to 2-3 additional concept pieces bc the scale of this project is so large. which concept piece would you like to see next, first? 1) an intimate moment sitting around the fire with jericho 2) jericho teaching mc how to shoot and gets very, very close.

currently, what is your impression of jericho's character? what could I do to improve upon him?

would you prefer for this story to be streamlined w/ the main focus on mc reaching st. corpus + theirs and jericho's romance? or, would you like prev mentioned + detailed character arcs of the other characters in jericho's crew?

this story is neo-western, but is definitely an adventure and epic at heart. is there anything in particular you'd be interested in seeing me write for a story like this? different areas around the continent? creatures? cultures? spend some extra time in st. corpus?

[candlelightreader]

I was just listening to the DVD commentary on the Snakes episode and I know Grissom and Sara's scene (the only scene they're present in this Nick-centric ep) is big--obviously shipper nirvana--but the commentary by George Eads and the rest (I think one of the writers and either a director or producer) added so much weight that I'd never considered before!

So, Eads remarks on how Sara is the only one who ever talks to Grissom that way. This is, as she really dials up the husky, soft voice she adopts with Grissom. Eads also observes that Grissom is always himself with her, i.e. more of a nerd and rather stripped bare in a way he never is with anyone else. They all make comments on how emotional the scene is and how revealing it is of their relationship because, as always, Sara is 'putting it [her attraction and ongoing interest] out there'. She is never shy about wanting him. (I really need to transcribe the commentaries.)

But Eads keeps coming back to the idea that Grissom is more Grissom or is more himself with her than with any of the others. I'd add that it is not only the fact of their professional position that makes him freeze with her--I think Grissom is talking about himself when he asserts that some men are intimidated by beauty.

You know what magic, Grissom!

Anyways, something I hadn't thought of is that Grissom almost says something back, such as "Let’s go to dinner." But, of course, Sara overtalks and halts his momentum such as it were. But even more, it made me realize how pivotal this scene is, even compared to the Nesting Dolls reveal of her childhood trauma, because this is the moment when Grissom knows 100% that he isn't too late. The flirting takes on a different dimension after this. The looks become more meaningful.

This is especially significant when you consider that ealier in the season, the writers and producers are talking about the explicit intro of Sofia as a romantic interest for Grissom. She was there to create tension and her chemistry with Grissom was very much not subtext. So the decision to make 'this thing' with Sara more solid in the presence of this new love interest adds to the dynamic more than ever. Because the chemistry with Sofia is too easy and too simple. He's too smooth with her. He knows what to say to her at a given moment, because he has no interest in Sofia romantically and doesn't feel threatened by her. She really is just a colleague he doesn't hate. Ultimately, Sofia doesn't leave him speechless the way Sara does. He is not 'himself' when he is with her. Sara, on the other hand, always renders him vulnerable, which of course is why he distanced himself from her in season three, as he realized in four.

And we can see how Sara's effect on him is unique when looking at his other love interests: he does have speechless moments with Terri but by the end, no so much--perhaps there is a sense that while he is attracted intellectually, and somewhat sexually, there is no sentiment after all. With Heather, he never is at a loss for words, which leaves me to lean towards the notion that he was indeed never involved with her romantically--but, perhaps, it is her who makes him discover that sex without love makes him sad whether through conversation or more... In other words, grissom is typically putting on an air with other people. He's fully insulated against them and can act out the persona of an assured, curated Grissom, the bossman, the tin man, the nerd, the professor, the mentor, the father figure, etc.

But with Sara, he is exposed.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

"You keep asking questions and posing situations, and I keep thinking of my father: A man whose sink had on it one big bar of durable, good soap. And that bar of soap was used for cleaning, shaving, and brushing his teeth. It worked fine; it was fast; it was economical. He could then get on with his day. I think we clutter our minds and our lives in a way people would have liked for my father to clutter his toilet. There is too much clutter and too much thinking and too much devising. I think you need to be true to your work and your friends--these should be small circles. People who have too many friends tend to have too few ideas, I find, and they cover up their disappointment with parties and chatter and movement. Focus on working well and being there for you, your work, and your friends. One bar of soap. Taught me a lot."

~ Katharine Hepburn (Interview with James Grissom,1990)

[Thanks Ian Sanders]

[coping-via-clint-eastwood]

Happy Father's Day, Gilbert Grissom 💙

[quiltofstars]

The constellation of Cassiopeia // Junseong Yu

Read below the cut to learn more about the stars that make up the "W" shape of Cassiopeia!

Cassiopeia is named after the mythological Queen Cassiopeia of Ethiopia. As the story goes, she and her husband, Cepheus, were the parents of Andromeda. Cassiopeia boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than the Nereids, Poseidon's daughters. This enraged Poseidon who sent the sea monster Cetus to ravage the lands of Ethiopia as punishment. Cepheus, being a A+ father, asked the oracles what he should do to rid his land of this monster, and they told him to offer Andromeda up to Cetus. These two parents chained their daughter to the cliff face and waited for Cetus to eat Andromeda. Thankfully, Perseus happened to swing by and rescued Andromeda. To immortalize this story, Zeus put all of these people up in the sky as constellations.

In order of brightness, from brightest to dimmest:

Schedar (α Cassiopeiae) is named after the Arabic word şadr meaning "breast", marking its position as the heart of Queen Cassiopeia. Schedar is a solitary red giant star about 228 light years away.

Caph (β Cassiopeiae) is named after the Arabic word kaf meaning "palm" and marks the hand of Cassiopeia. Caph is a yellow-white giant star about 55 light years away.

Navi (γ Cassiopeiae) is named after American astronaut Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom who flew on Gemini 3 and tragically lost his life in Apollo 1. Navi is his middle name spelled backwards. Navi is a quadruple star system. The primary is a blue-white subgiant star about 550 light years away.

Ruchbah (δ Cassiopeiae) is named after the Arabic word rukbah meaning "knee", although why it is called that is unknown. Ruchbah is a binary system with the primary being a blue-white subgiant about 100 light years away.

Segin (ε Cassiopeiae) is a bad transcription of the word seginus, the traditional name for γ Boötis, although the origin of that name is uncertain. Segin is a solitary blue star about 470 light years away.

Use this annotated image to help find all the stars in this image!

[lilcathsmith]

CSI (Halloween edition)

It's the grave shift Halloween party (as organised by Hodges, of course), what costumes have the team chosen?

- Grissom: despite many attempts of getting out of it, decided to go as William Kirby (also known as "The Father of Entomology"). He didn't put too much effort into his costume, a simple coat and bow tie, and although he tried to deny it, kind of enjoyed the party.

- Catherine: Catwoman or Wonder Woman

- Nick: Zombie Cowboy

- Warrick: classic horror movie villain e.g. Freddy Kreuger (he grew up watching all of the classic horror films, even if he was too young to)

- Greg: (early season) stereotypical 00s goth (later season Greg) Peaky Blinders-esque gang/mod member

- Sara: butterfly (definitely no connection to Grissoms costume... nothing over the top, just some simple wings and maybe a little masquerade-esque mask)

- Morgan: fairy (again, just some cute wings and a little dress)

- Hodges: would want to do a duo costume with Grissom (Sherlock and Watson, obviously) but after Grissom says no, he just decides to go... as Grissom

- Brass: cop (no costume, just shows up in his suit and badge)

- Doc Robbins and Dave: Dr Frankenstein and Igor (or generic Mad Doctor and patient/victim)

- Henry, Wendy, Archie and Mandy: Ghostbusters (Wendy would be Venkman and somehow I feel Henry would end up as one of the Ghosts, specifically the marshmallow man)

- Russell: literally just a dead body (... a D.B), he would tie a tag around his wrist and either Finn or Caitlin would do some face paint to make him look "dead"

- Finn: pirate (sexy pirate, of course, i don't know why, it just feels right)

What do you think? Reblog with your ideas (pictures under the cut)

[addictedtostorytelling]

Hi! I love your meta and how beautifully you write about GSR, I would like to know what you think about this, do you think Grissom and Sara would have been good parents? Why do you think the show didn’t allowed them to have a geek baby?

hi, anon!

thank you for your kind words!

i have got a big, ol' meta that covers my thoughts on potential gsr parenthood here, if you're interested.

i also have another big, ol' meta that specifically covers my thoughts on how they would have reacted to experiencing an unplanned pregnancy during their "secret dating" phase in s5-s6 here, if you're interested in that one, as well.

the tl;dr version is that while i think grissom and sara would be kickass parents were that particular life choice one they ever decided to make together, i also don't think they would necessarily ever be likely to make that particular life choice together, just given their respective characters and backgrounds.

grissom is—prior to his retirement—highly career-driven, meaning he might not want to put his focus on parenthood rather than work. he likewise has some pretty sizeable hang-ups regarding his own capacity to nurture and be unselfish, his age, his social deficits, etc., all of which might cause him to question his potential fitness as a father.

there's a line from another show i love from a character facing down the prospect of first-time fatherhood that i can absolutely see grissom saying (in so many words): "if, for nine months, you're hearing how this is gonna change your life, and ‘you've never loved anything like this’ and ‘my god, the love!’ and ‘nothing is gonna be important anymore’—it just never felt to me like i was someone who had the capacity for those feelings. plus, you know, i-i like what's important to me. i want it to stay important. i wanna be able to do it well."

meanwhile, sara has her own considerable hang-ups regarding how she was raised, her family and personal history of mental illness, her social deficits, etc. that might cause her to feel similarly unequipped for motherhood. she is also in her twenties and thirties—i.e., prime childbearing years—very career-minded, like grissom, so she might not be inclined to step away (even temporarily) to have a kid.

maybe if grissom and sara were to experience an unplanned pregnancy at some point, they would (under very specific circumstances) consider the possibility of having a child. ditto for maybe a one-in-a-million type scenario where they encountered a kid in the system who needed fostering or adopting.

however, i think nine times out of ten, they'd opt not to have a kid—and especially not if "nature never came to bear" or if one was never put directly into their paths.

that said, since i personally find the idea of them as parents very intriguing—the issue is one that pushes a lot of fun character buttons for both of them, butting up against their hopes and fears and senses of self in some very complicated and interesting ways—i have written a big, ol' geek!baby fic, where they find themselves dealing with an unplanned pregnancy in an au version of s8.

i call it the happy accidentsverse, and if you're interested, you can read that fic series here.

as for the issue of why the show never pursued a "grissom and sara have a kid" storyline in canon, i think there are probably multiple reasons why they didn't.

more discussion after the "keep reading," if you're interested.

__

to my mind, probably the biggest reason why we never saw a "grissom and sara have a kid" storyline in canon is that, particularly in the earlier seasons of the show, the showrunners tried not to focus too much on the characters' home lives.

though they would show the occasional "off the clock" scene here or there or every once in a while toss in some kind of love interest- or family-centric story beat, anthony zuiker and co. wanted the majority of the show's focus to be on the job—on the cases the csis investigated, the goings-on at the lab and in the field, the team's interactions with each other as colleagues, the team's interactions with other law enforcement professionals and people they met in connection to their cases, in the politics of the department, etc.

they were much stricter about this policy even than other procedurals of the time.

that's why we saw so little of grissom and sara's romantic relationship actually play out on screen—because tptb never intended to offer us anything more than just a small window into their personal lives outside of their careers.

and while of course grissom and sara having a kid (whether through sara getting pregnant or them deciding to foster and/or adopt) would definitely affect their working lives and could allow for some interesting storylines centered around the lab and in the field—for example, how might sara deal with the physical and emotional requirements of her incredibly demanding job while pregnant?, how might grissom and sara have to change their workaholic habits if they were to try to become foster or adoptive parents?, how might having a kid in the mix affect both grissom and sara's willingness to face the dangers inherent in their profession?, would becoming parents change the way they responded to certain cases?, etc.—that kind of storyline, just by its nature, would also probably require the show to spend more time at home with grissom and sara than the showrunners and writers ever really intended to.

narratively speaking, catherine having a school-aged kid to start out the show is one thing, while grissom and sara having a newborn or a brand new foster kid and becoming first-time parents would be something else entirely.

in catherine's case, her being a mom to an older kid from the get-go is a much more lowkey deal, not only because a kid at that age can mostly exist in an off-screen capacity except for in episodes where her presence is plot-relevant but also because it's an already-established fact.

catherine is a mother—and an experienced mother, at that—from the very first time we meet her; it's part of both her personal and professional identities from day #1. the baseline is there. there are no questions about it. no big blanks to fill in. she's already made the life-changing decisions. she's already entrenched in that role.

the same would not be true if grissom and sara were to have a kid.

because they were "first timers" (and especially because they had seemingly never aspired to parenthood previously), the show would have to answer questions with them—depict grissom and sara making the huge, life-altering decisions; reckoning with big emotions; figuring stuff out; working through their fears and hang-ups; adjusting to a monumental change in their lives; drawing together in new ways; changing and developing as characters and as a couple; establishing new patterns; etc.

the groundwork would need to be laid where the audience could see it being laid in real time, you know?

and laying that groundwork would require showing lots of private conversations between grissom and sara, trips to the ob's office or talks with the social worker, painting the nursery or putting up a swing set, making childcare arrangements, changing their lifestyle, etc.

my sense is that tptb never really wanted to go there.

that much focus on grissom and sara's home life would have been too distracting—too much of a serialized personal storyline that required attention in every episode, regardless of the "case of the day"—for their tastes.

now.

in theory, the "keep the focus on the job, not the home" rule is one tptb could have considered breaking, had they really wanted to.

after all, it was just a production choice, not actually any kind of hard and fast rule, so if they'd decided they wanted to go the "grissom and sara have a kid" route, they could have done so.

there's always the old flannery o'connor maxim: "it's always wrong of course to say that you can't do this or you can't do that in fiction. you can do anything you can get away with, but nobody has ever gotten away with much."

however, another reason why i think they never chose to go the geek!baby route, beyond the "it goes against our sense of what our show is actually about" thing, is that, frankly, within the universe of the show itself, the timing for grissom and sara was never right.

grissom and sara don't even get together as a committed couple until s5/s6, so, barring a major deviation from what is now canon, they likely could not have had a child at any point prior to 2005/2006, just to start out with.

then their relationship remains a secret until the end of s7/beginning of s8, meaning that between 2006-2007, they're definitely not looking to have a kid and probably would be pretty averse to having one even were they to experience an unplanned pregnancy, just given the potential fallout where their jobs are concerned.

they would have to "come out" as a couple, and one or both of them might end up getting fired over it.

fast forward, and between s8 and s9, sara experiences a mental health crisis that eventually culminates with her moving away from vegas for the better part of two years from 2008 to 2009 while grissom remains behind—and by the time she's stable and moves back to vegas circa 2009/2010, grissom is then living abroad, and they're only seeing each other once a month via transatlantic commute.

back in the day, when sara first turned up in s10, i know there was some internet scuttlebutt that maybe at some point it would be revealed that in-between the events of episode 09x10 "one to go" (when last we'd seen them) and episode 10x01 "family affair" (when sara returns to vegas to "temp"), grissom and sara had had a "secret honeymoon baby."

however, such a revelation was never made—timeline-wise, it would have been a tight fit anyhow, as, within the universe of the show, episode 09x10 "one to go" takes place in january '09 and episode 10x01 "family affair" takes place in september '09—and neither did grissom and sara ever have a kid at any subsequent point.

with sara living in the states and grissom not, the likelihood that they would ever decide to expand their family steadily diminished as s10, s11, and s12 rolled on, both because they were getting older and because their marriage eventually ended up on the rocks.

cue the whole divorce debacle of s13, a few solid years of misery and loneliness in the interim, and by the time grissom and sara get back together/remarried in 2015, sara is forty-four years old and probably peri- or even full-on menopausal, and she and grissom are living a nomadic seafaring lifestyle, so the likelihood of them either having a biological child or fostering/adopting is incredibly low.

again, there was some speculation among fans—based on previous comments from showrunner anthony zuiker regarding his ideas for grissom and sara's post-"immortality" life at sea—that when the reboot rolled around, we would eventually get a "in the six years since we last saw them, grissom and sara have had a kid" reveal.

no dice, though.

s1 of csi: vegas ran its course with no secret boat babies anywhere.

all of the above being the case, there just weren't even that many points during the show's run when it would have made logistical sense for grissom and sara to have children together.

they were always either in a state of having to keep their relationship a secret for the sake of their careers or else of living apart from each other, and by the time they finally got all their shit together and were living in the same place on a full-time basis, sara was nearing the end of her prime childbearing years and they were living the kind of lifestyle where fostering/adoption would be next to impossible.

narratively-speaking, parenthood just was never in the cards for them.

of course, it's worth stating, the writers could have maybe swung a geek!baby storyline in the later seasons had they wanted to if they had just made the choice to move grissom back to vegas along with sara between s10 and s15. he wouldn't even have had to appear on-screen. sara would have just needed to reference him occasionally in dialogue and be shown to take phone calls from him at times, a "i'm meeting grissom for our first ultrasound appointment" here, a "he's been at home painting the nursery all morning. he put little ladybugs up the walls" there. they could have done a whole pregnancy storyline that way, and it would have given sara something to do during seasons when she is otherwise criminally underutilized. then maybe if they were lucky, they could have gotten billy to come back for a guest spot when it came time for the baby to be born. but, alas, such a storyline would have required them to imply depth, which is something they had no idea how to do.

—which brings us to the last big reason why i think the showrunners never had grissom and sara have children:

because, ultimately, they just never felt it was right for the characters.

as stated above, both grissom and sara have plenty of reasons, both individually and as a couple, based on their backgrounds and predilections and development, why they might never choose to pursue parenthood.

while there are certain very particular scenarios were i can imagine they might set those reasons aside, overcome their hang-ups and fears, and decide to "go for it" re: having kids, i also think it would take a lot of narrative work to get them there—that thread would be something the writers would have had to really develop, requiring more than a few "acts of god" and major plot interventions to make the idea seem feasible.

they could have done it if they really wanted to.

but in the end, i think they didn't feel any compelling need.

grissom and sara have been an unconventional couple from the get-go, and their development has been circuitous and unstraightforward. there have been many setbacks for them along the way and strange turns. they've definitely not done everything "by the book."

for them to have a somewhat "untraditional" happy ending—at least by primetime, network early 00s flagship couple tv standards—makes a good amount of sense.

they're not the "white picket fence, 2.5 kids, and a dog" norman rockwell family, and i think tptb are very okay with that outcome.

they like the image of this middle-aged couple that found immense fulfillment in each other and in their shared work (whether as csis or conservationists) and never felt the need to look outside of those things in order to be happy.

that's not to say they might not have written things differently had some of the production realities of the show been different along the way—like, say jorja fox had never left the show during s8 and grissom and sara had been able to get married in vegas as planned while both still working at the lab or that billy had come back to the show with jorja between s10 and s15; maybe in those cases, they might have eventually decided to go for the geek!baby storyline after all—however, all things as they were, i think they were generally pretty comfortable with how things ended up in regards to grissom and sara remaining childless.

they had explored the notion of "csis as parents" as much as they cared to with catherine, warrick, and russell.

they didn't want to go there with grissom and sara.

and who knows? maybe there were other outside factors that influenced their decision to that end, like actor preferences or the difficulty of including infant actors in a complicated production such as theirs, etc.

suffice it to say, i think the showrunners' decision to keep grissom and sara childless was probably a multifaceted one.

the good news is, regardless of how things turned out in canon, we as fans can always play around with the geek!baby concept as much as we want to and in as many different permutations as we like.

i certainly have a lot of fun in my accidentsverse, imagining grissom and sara facing both the challenges and rewards of parenthood, and i know a lot of other fan authors who have their own takes on that idea, as well.

anyway.

rambling now.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

[vorchagirl]

Valentine's Day Fic Ideas

Cerys x Reyes - They get caught in the badlands during a storm and have to take shelter in a save. Smut happens.

Harry x Cerys - Set prior to her meeting Reyes, just after her fathers death. It's when she comes onto him and he knocks her back ... but with regret and many feels.

Subject Zero Kaidan x Pandora - A steamy little hookup on a mission when they separate from the rest of the team while exploring a derelict freighter and Kaidan decides he wants to fuck Pandora - but silently because they're on open comms. It becomes a game where he tries to make her moan.

Gina x Kaidan - Post-war: Gina pays a visit to Kaidan at Grissom academy and they have a little fun on his teacher desk.

[bodexjames]

INTRODUCING...Bode James.

STATS:

Nicknames: B, Bod, BJ.

Character Age:  41

Neighborhood: South Hills

Occupation: FBI Agent

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Birthday: February 28th, 1983

Faceclaim: Ricky Whittle

Hometown: Wilmington, NC.

Years of Residence: Born and raised until he joined the FBI at 32, just arrived back to town

Pinterest Board /

Character Inspiration: Angel (Buffy The Vampire Slayer), Stefan Salvatore (The Vampire Diaries), Derek Morgan (Criminal Minds), Gil Grissom (CSI), Poe Dameron (Star Wars)

tldr;

Schizophrenia TW, Murder TW, Kidnapping mentions TW, gun injury TW.

-- BODE JAMES was born and raised in Wilmington. With a father that was a truck driver and a mother who struggled with her mental condition, Bode helped raised his younger brother, LT when his mother was institutionalized when Bode was fifteen. As someone who loves responsibility, Bode thrived in UNCW, where he studied Criminal Justice and Sociology and eventually became a professor. While there, he began investigating the case of a missing persons by himself and somehow ended up consulting in the actual case with the FBI. They couldn't find the missing person until it was too late but that got him an offer to join the team at Quantico, VA. Three years ago, Bode got shot on the arm while on the job and was forced to take a sabbatical, he spent it at Wilmington, but returned back to work as soon as he could. Now he's back in town because his dather is very sick, but we'll be helping the local police with multiple cases, including the recent disappearances.

READ BELOW for fun facts, biography, possible connections.

random facts

is a car aficionado, and owns one too many

cannot start his day without going on a run

despite the badge, bode is more of an scholar than he's a cop

doesn't drink any type of alcohol, but smokes socially

would do anything for his loved ones

his philosophy is saving people before getting justice

has been injured at work a handful of times, the last time made him consider leaving his job

will probably be overdressed for most occasions

doesn't know how to sleep more than four hours a night

is so clumsy that he sucks at any sport that isn't running

biography

Born and raised in Wilmington as the older son of his parents, and LT’s brother. 

Their dad was a truck driver and their mother the owner of a paranormal shop in town.

Bode was unlucky enough to be older when his mother’s mental condition began deteriorating and she was diagnosed with schizophrenia, which meant that he had to see it all; how much it changed their lives, how a shop that used to make him so happy became a place that he dreaded. 

With his father never around, it was fourteen-year old Bode who made sure his mother took her pills, who made pancakes for LT before school and walked him to daycare. He found refuge in books and comfort in knowing that, at least, LT wasn’t dealing with this alone.

But one day, Bode arrived home from school and found his mother trying to drown his younger brother, LT. At fifteen and four years old, the brothers hid and locked themselves in a room until help finally arrived.

It wasn’t like much changed after their mother was institutionalized since Bode had been taking care of everything while his father worked. But that event was still a turning point for him, because now he knew that it would have to be the three of them making things work, all while missing his mother. 

His teenage years were easy enough, he helped his father, he helped LT, he went to school and had a solid group of friends who made everything worth it, and also worked at Rizzo’s Diner for several years, even after he started his college classes. 

Although he’d once related to his mother with her curiosity for the paranormal and occult, after her diagnosis, Bode started to believe that he could have helped her, had he had the right tools. He enrolled in UNCW, getting a full-ride scholarship and with the intentions to study Psychology. It was at this age that he developed an interest in true crime instead.

A year after starting college, Bode changed his major to Criminal Justice and his minor to Sociology. In a lot of ways, this made him feel closer to his mother, almost as if understanding her condition could help him figure her out.

It was after he graduated and then finished his Master’s degree in Psychology that he found himself teaching in his alma mater. Bode actually loved his job, adored being able to not only provide students with the knowledge he possessed, but also to give them advice in general. It felt like teaching ticked off several of the boxes for a job that made him happy.

When he was thirty-two, a local missing’s person case was what made him reconsider his calling. A teenage girl went missing and local authorities hadn’t been able to find her. Bode had already been doing some sleuthing himself, providing tips to the local PD. But the FBI took over the investigation and somehow, after talking to one of the agents in charge, Bode became a consultant for the case. They fought tooth and nail for weeks, but when they found her, there was no saving her. 

Bode didn’t know what to do with himself, after everything they’d done, it wasn’t enough. He was destroyed, inconsolable. A month later, the FBI sent him a letter, offering him a position in their Behavioral Analysis Unit. 

Walking away from home, more specifically, from his brother was the hardest thing that he could have done, but something that Bode knew that he had to do for himself. He knew he would find his way back home eventually, but for now, he thought it was important to help where he really could help.

Bode has lived in VA for the past nine years, covering multiple cases and suspects. He loves his job, despite how hard it can be and the things that he sees and despite how haunting some of the cases can be, he thinks it’s all worth it. 

During the past nine years, Bode visits home on any holiday that he can and takes all his vacation days off to visit his family and his friends. Most of his life is in Quantico, but his heart remains in Wilmington somehow.

Three years ago, Bode took a sabbatical year after a particularly hard case that earned him a bullet in his arm and with a few months of recovery. But really what hurt most was how much it affected him emotionally. He eventually was able to return back to work in VA, but is now returning home after finding out that his father is very sick and plans to stay for long enough to help his family.

He will be covering a few local cases during his stay, including helping out local police and authorities with the situation regarding the Mayor’s and all the disappearances surrounding the previous people in that position.  

possible connections

friends, childhood friends, fwb, hook ups, one night stands, enemies, rivals, drinking buddies, partners in crime, love interests, anything you can think of that your character can fit into his life!

[sushisempai]

This is a scene that I am 100% certain is canon in the CSI universe and takes place somewhere between "It Was a Very Good Year" and "Ghosts of the Past." I feel like this explains all the subtle interactions and makes them better.

Open the cut for an adorable Morganders/Grody moment that is living rent free in my brain. Yes, I know I'm late to the party. Don't care!

"It's no Frank's but it's not bad." She said quietly. She wasn't sure she was ready to go home and go to bed yet. The sun was well and truly up and it didn't feel like sleep was coming.

Morgan followed Nick out of the dinner and exchanged pleasantries as he headed to his car, a literal doggie bag in his hand. She stopped at the curb and felt, more than saw Greg step out behind her.

"Yeah." Greg mumbled a response. She turned and looked at him. he had one hand in his pocket, the other on the back of his neck and his eyes were on his shoes. He glanced up quickly then back down as he said. "Morgan... the other day you said..." He looked up to watch Nick pulling away with a wave.

"The best is yet to come?" She finished. His eyes came back to her.

"Yeah, that. Do you know the rest of that song?"

"I do." She smiled to herself and nodded.

He huffed a nervous laugh, somewhere between excitement and fear. "I did not realize how much I wanted you to say that and at the same time..." His eyes went on his toes again as he engaged in a nervous little dance.

She was fairly certain he was incapable of being still when he wasn't holding scientific instruments.

"At the same time?" There was something she wasn't saying.

"At the same time... I don't want to mess this up." He gestured between the two of them.

"So don't? If it doesn't work out I promise to still be your friend." She gave him a flirty smile that barely hid her growing anxiety.

"You weren't here when Grissom and Sara... When Ecklie... when he found out they were together he was pissed and said Sara couldn't be supervised by Gris. The thing is by then they had been together for months and they kept it quiet. It only came out because this psycho serial Gris was chasing took Sara. She would have drowned if he hadn't been on the case." He paused a moment and then said more quietly "Though them dating was the reason she was taken... I guess it's a chicken and egg thing... But the point is, I don't want them to split us up. I love working with you. You're my partner. I want to have your back."

"Greg, that is really sweet, and a little macho, but I get it." Her head swayed as she though a bit. "First, you're not my boss, so we'd could be find on the same shift. But I don't want a different partner either. So we go on a date or something; that's no one's business but ours. Let's worry about anything else if and when we need to."

"You couldn't tell your Dad. I don't want to ask that of you." Even as his words were discouraging there was a cautious hope in his tone and their eyes met.

Before she could stop herself she blurted "My sex life is not my father's business." in a mildly irritated tone. Greg smirked and raised an eyebrow as she felt her face turned heat. "I mean, that is also a problem for another day. Aren't you putting the cart before the horse. Nothing has even happened yet."

His smile grew. "Yet?"

She thought she might be on fire her face was so warm. She chewed her lower lip thoughtfully then smiled and raised and eyebrow as she stepped a little bit closer to him. "Yet."

Her advance seemed to be the permission he needed and he pulled her close and kissed her as hard as she kissed him back. His arms found their way around her waist and she looped hers around his neck pulling him down to her.

Cue the song "This Kiss" by Faith Hill as they share a clearly very passionate kiss for a good 30 seconds or so.

A wolf whistle was followed by Finn's voice "Get a room!" Greg and Morgan flew apart both red faced and breathless. "You guys forgot I went to the restroom didn't you. It's about time."

"Could you maybe not tell anyone about..." Greg trailed off, his eyes flicked to Morgan as if worried she'd be angry at his statement but she just laughed a little breathlessly.

"Of course! Well, actually, can I tell Nick? He owes me so much money." she paused thoughtfully. "And Henry. He had next week in the pool." They stared at her for a moment before she laughed. "Just kidding. About Henry at least. But don't worry. Your secrets safe with me, kids." She winked at Morgan and headed for her car.

Morgan started laughed more and Greg met her eyes with a grin and a chuckle. "So, I don't know about you, but I'm not going to get any sleep for a while now." She chuckled and shook her head. "Someone gave me this great Sinatra album recently. Could I interest you in some coffee and music."

"Sinatra, huh? I heard you make good coffee." She said taking his arm and turning them both towards the parking lot. She hummed quietly the tune of the best is yet to come...

Greg finished the words softly. "come the day you're mine..."

[lullabiesandgoodbyes]

Some random considerations while rewatching CSI:

My sister and I used to call Grissom Grissoma [with an heavy portuguese accent]. The thought still makes me smile. 😊

Sara might not have the smoothest attitude overall, but she was rude once to both Willows and Ecklie and they were already out for her head - yet, no one except for Grissom and later Greg even dared to ask her why, or at least if there was something going on. Geez...

I mostly remember Ecklie as Morgan's dad in later seasons. Forgot he used to be a major ass.

I really miss wacked kid Greg from early seaons. I'm all for character's growth, don't get me wrong, and he certainly matured along with his age and new responsabilities, but... There was this episode where he was left particularly shaken by the surviving burned woman and Sofia Curtis said something along the lines: "I've heard you used to be pretty funny. Don't lose that." Can't help but to feel the horrors of the job eventually won him over.

Just for once, it would be nice to see a working divorced-later-widowed mother raising a teenage daughter who does not act out because mom doesn't spend enough time at home. Sometimes, teenage girls just understand someone has to keep the family afloat.

I still can't believe we're going to loose Warrick like that. 😟

Nick is there. Nick is always there.

I love Jim Brass, I really do. That's a man who really honors his badge and always stays inside the right lines of his job. Not sure why they always have to be revealed as cheaters, though. Ellie might have had her reasons to accuse him of being a bad father, but he never gave up on her, ever. Knowing how their arc will eventually end actually breaks my heart.

Turns out Hodges has always been a pain in the ass.

I knew about Cam Tucker and Carole Hudson before, but what is Marshall Ericksen doing at the lab??! 🤣🤣

Oh look, it's that cop who will (much) later be revealed to be dirty... 😟 Stokes always tries to learn some more Spanish around him.

Doc Robbins is da bomb. 😎

[mrbensonmum]

TV Shows - CSI: Las Vegas VII

I had to take a little writing break because my wrists were starting to feel the strain from all the writing (I have to write a lot for uni, and I also need to fill up my own page). But of course, I didn't stop watching CSI: Las Vegas, and that's why we're already in the middle of Season Four!

You can tell by now that the characters have become very well-established and developed. Many of them don't seem as young and inexperienced anymore, and that even applies to Greg. I find him the most interesting here because he has developed to the point where he's even taken out into the field, and we know that he'll soon leave the lab and go into the field. He hasn't left behind his outgoing nature but has used it to progress. His exceptional knowledge about various things also comes in handy!

Nick and Sara are now applying for a higher CSI class, and they are overshadowed by Catherine, as Grissom assigns her an important case. She brings in Greg, which further frustrates Nick and Sara. However, by the end of this episode, you can see that, due to past episodes, it's no longer just a team here but rather friends in a somewhat familial relationship (even their time together during breaks or after cases shows this). Because it's patched up, you understand why it was Catherine and why she brought in Greg. (Nick and Sara have another story connecting them, but that's more related to the actors, but more on that later!)

At the beginning, it was still a bit rough, and sometimes even a bit rough when switching between cases. But this is absolutely not criticism at this point, just an observation. Because this has also been ironed out more and more, and you always switch at just the right moment, so one case doesn't "wear out," and you have to immediately deal with the other one. As a viewer, you're always kept on your toes, which is good because with crime series that handle only one case, this can sometimes be very exhausting over the intended 45 minutes. This danger rarely exists here.

One of the big mysteries of the series has now also been revealed; we know who Catherine's father is. The casino mogul Sam Brown! Catherine found this out about Greg with a not entirely legal DNA investigation, and of course, Sam Brown immediately tried to bribe her after being acquitted of a murder case. I vaguely remember that there's still a lot to happen here, and I'm curious how the gaps in my memories will be filled. Don't worry, otherwise, I won't get on any Catherine rage train today. Since the episode with her ex-husband and daughter, she has been reformed, and you can see that in her character, which is calmer and even more grounded. Although there are still outbursts sometimes, but that's human!

What we're increasingly seeing now is the famous CSI effect. I've worked with people in the lab for a long time, and it's fascinating what you notice in such a series. It starts with the absolutely wrong use of gloves because when you wear them and work with materials, you absolutely don't touch anything else and don't even touch your hair; it would all contaminate. Then also the quick processing of analyses through various devices, including DNA comparisons. Yes, the operation of the devices is okay, and the devices are real, but everything is very much accelerated, which of course also happens in terms of storytelling. But normally, such analyses would take much longer than shown here. What's really interesting is the many reports that this was actually demanded in the real world by law enforcement agencies because, as you could see here, it's possible. There are also statistics showing that the number of students enrolled in scientific studies has increased. This shows what power and impact such a series can have when it's well done.

I'm considering whether I should also make a post about the music. I wanted to do that with Dr. House, but then I forgot. Because the individual pieces chosen are really good, plus then some scores contribute a lot to the mood of the series and to individual scenes.

Oh, come on, here's a little preview. In the first season and in the famous roller coaster scene of Grissom (the end of season one), you can hear this song, and as far as series go, it's one of my absolute favorites.

[candlelightreader]

Been binging early seasons of CSI on Pluto and it's funny how much Grissom was an AH to the staff back then. But it really comes to a head in Random Acts of Violence.

Grissom acts like he's this all powerful objective being. The fact that, at the end, he tells Warrick that Warrick was wrong and made things even worse is not only cold, but erroneous!

Grissom should've taken W off the case as soon as he found out he knew the victim's father. And defense attorney worth anything would immediately disqualify the CSI's findings. Anyone with any objectivity would've seen this coming and would've know W would get too personally involved. Grissom, as the supervisor, should've taken him off the case before it got out of hand! It is Grissom's fault, not W's, that it spiralled out of control and got a poor father to attack a man he held responsible.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

"There always was a lot to criticize about Lee [Strasberg] and there always will be. He was a controversial figure, a combative, opinionated man with whom I often had disagreements. But I respected him greatly, and he was a wonderful teacher. He was destructive with some students, but I don't think you're going to find a teacher who wasn't. I'm sure you can find some people who think I'm a real bastard.

"Lee is criticized most because he had movie stars in the classes, and I think it's a bogus grudge to hold against him. Talented actors from acting classes often become movie stars, and movie stars frequently need help in performing their roles. I don't think Lee betrayed any obligation he had to art--whatever that is or should be--by agreeing to train and improve some famous people.

"He took the most heat because of his nurturing of Marilyn Monroe, and I have to say she had talent; she had potential. Marilyn was torn apart by so many forces in her life that she could not become the actress she and Lee wanted her to be, but I can't fault Lee for taking her on. And one of the great qualities of Lee's was his empathy and care for certain people, and I can't fault him for trying, very valiantly, to be some kind of father figure to Marilyn.

"I always recommend to people who ask about Lee--and they always do--to focus on his work, his teachings, and that's where the heart of the man will be found."

--Arthur Penn/Interview with James Grissom/2006

(Follies of God)