#gary's history just makes me so sad?

[not-poignant]

Daily excerpt from chapter 56 of Underline the Black:

James loved to sing hair metal, and what was worse, he'd turned Jon Bon Jovi into one of Gary's favourite singers in the process.  That night, The Blind Bilbies had picked Summer Nights from Grease for Gary and James to sing together, and given James all the parts that Sandi sang, and it was terrible. James wasn’t a sopranist, Gary wasn’t a singer. They'd all ended up in tears laughing over it, and Everett - who played violin and guitar - had filmed the whole thing on his phone.  But at the end, Gary and James had looked at each other, high on the feeling of a night well-spent, Gary so in love it hurt, feeling dizzyingly special, and James looking at him like he'd hung the moon, and they'd heard the sound of a camera shutter and turned to see Everett with the fancy camera he used for all the band promo photos.  'For the wedding,' Everett said, grinning. 'Disgustingly cute, for real though.'  For the wedding. 

[sillybond]

As a send of here's my compilation of every detail/gag or pretty much everything that I loved about the Fionna and Cake finale.

First off, the lighthearded stuff.

First of all. That's Hunter!!! We finally get to see HW gender-swapped counterpart's design. Gotta say I love that they kept it the same, it does feel like it could fit anyone.

Talking about him, I LOVE that they are finally adding him to the gang. I didn't expect him to be so prevalent in the finale, but I couldn't be happier! It seems like the crew has finnaly learned to apreciate HW and they are inserting her (even if it's Hunter) whenever they can.

All the raw emotion of the lich would have been unheard of at any other point in AT's history. The depression and hopelessnes, such human emotions were amazing to explore in him. He poses himself as a "ceesless weel" a god-like beeing of pure destruction, but even he neels when he realices it was all for nothing.

For some time I theorized that Golb (and subsequently Golbetty) was, in fact, Scarabs and Prismo's Boss. Kind of like a ultimate deity, high up on the pantheon. But seeing how Scarab adresses her in such a careles way, emphasizing that she should "stay out of this" made me think about the real power dinamic between thees two. And thus, of the whole multiverse bureocracy.

This tittle card rips me apart. It's briming with thematic importance. But I feel so many emotions simply beacuse it says cheers, it's like a send-off, a happy cheerfull goodbye to all of us who enjoyed this show. It made me tear up a bit when I first saw it.

For thoose who aren't aware Pawn Swan's was created by Steven Wolfhard after CAWM alongside the pup kingdom. He has in his tumblr a gigantic amount of lore about it. I'm sooo happy they finally got to use his ideas and designs. Many of the pups seen all trought Shermy and Beth's sequence were in his drawings too. So go check that out!

I'm a complete sucker for happy endings and THIS was PERFECTION. I simply connot describe how much I obsolutely LOVE that they are able to comunicate and talk. it's just perfect, this show has me spoiled-rotten.

In pure Marceline fashion Marshal tries playing another song. And Gary is soo into this man it's unreal

But, also in pure Marceline fashion, he gets interupted. It kind of reminded me about Marceline's song to Bonny in Obsidian. But it's kind of the oposite outcome, Scarab isn't affected by it at all while Glorbo is finaly delt with.

Talking about Simon being happy. I'm just so glad that he has been able to reconect with Astrid!!! This man is such a DAD, I love him :,)

Before Fionna's world was finaly canonized we can see that it really just amounts to the city. Which makes sense because if you are trying to put a whole world in a dude's head, you are going to have to cut some stuff out.

Anyways, after they are made legit we can see that the city has expanded! And I also assume that now there's not only a city, but a whole world too!!

This really came as a surprise honeslty, but a welcomed one at that. I assume that since Jay agrees to stay in the city, even if it's not forever, Farmworld Finn must be fine. It doesn't make any sense for him to drop his 4 little brothers just to screw around in another universe.

The only sad part is that, since we don't see neither PB nor Marcy in the tank that means they are probably dead. In the end it does seem like they took eachothers life, together.

Now onto the heavy stuff!

"This is the world we want to fight for. The Scarab is kind of invincible. But we won't give up. If we die, we'll die together, as ourselves"

This cuts deep. At this moment Fionna was ready to die. She acknowledges that she had tried everything she could and that, in a way, it was her fault. But she also understands that this is what it is. And she's ready to depart. In what she thought were her last moments she found happines in thoose and that around her. Magic or not, they were all together, and that's what mattered.

"We made our choices. We could have made better ones, but I don't have any regrets. You were a wonderful experience"

We knew Simon had wronged Betty. She had put away everything for him. He didn't do it on porpuse, but he recognised he could have been more thoughtful. In the end, while Simon acknowledges his mistakes Betty doesn't demonise neither him nor the relationship that came bacuse of it. It's a very sentimental, heartfelt conclusion.

As humans we often try to make our best to navigate life. But with all the choices in front of us it's very hard to get it right. A lot of time might have to pass before we truly see how wrong we were. We realize that we hurt people, and that things didn't have to be this way. But once we acknowledge this we can finaly move on. At this moment, Simon realizes that it's okay to fail but, unfortunetly, we can't go back. We have to live with it and it can't prevent us from moving forward.

In the end all we can do is have compassion for ourselves, and for each other.

That was pretty much all of the details and highlights for me. There's some other ones but they are kind of too obvious to point out.

Thanks a lot for reading the whole thing! It means a lot :)

[bi-bard]

Mission - Gary "Eggsy" Unwin Imagine (Kingsman)

Title: Mission

Pairing: Gary "Eggsy" Unwin X Reader

Word Count: 1,058 words

Warning(s): argument

Summary: Eggsy is met with a familiar face when he begins the process of joining the Kingsman. That familiar face is ready for the pieces they so careful put in place to completely fall apart.

Author's Note: I found the first two films for free, so I spent my Sunday watching those. This was caused by those.

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

It looked bad.

It looked really, really bad.

No matter how I looked at the situation. It all just looked bad.

Eggsy's clearly confused face when he saw me was going to tip off Merlin. I had been trained to handle questioning. But if it was Merlin asking about this specifically, I don't know how well I would be able to hide the truth.

But when Eggsy's face shifted, I felt my heart drop. He looked angry. Angry and confused and sad. I kept facing forward. Reacting to him in any way would tip Merlin off even more. I couldn't afford that.

I had taken a lot of pride in becoming a Kingsman.

Most people would, but mine was just a bit different. It was rare that I felt like I was good at something, but this... this I was good at. I was a damn natural at it.

And then, Eggsy had quite literally stumbled into my life.

A roadblock. An interruption.

I planned on completely forgetting him after we first met.

But we just kept meeting.

I kept a low profile in a place that was apparently close to where Eggsy and his mom were staying. We bumped into each other everywhere. The shop and the pub and just walking around. Like someone was constantly twisting our paths and making it inevitable that we had to meet.

The first time Eggsy asked me out, I refused.

I tried to play it off. Be light-hearted about the whole event. I did like him, but I had a few variables to account for. I truly believed that it was for the best.

And then, he kept asking.

He tried to do the same thing that I was. Play it cool and light-hearted. But he was persistent. Annoyingly persistent.

It was about a month before I finally agreed to join him for a drink.

The rest was history.

A very carefully hidden history, might I add.

I spent so long working my ass off to hide my work with the Kingsman from Eggsy and hide Eggsy from the Kingsman. I wasn't an idiot. I knew very well that what I was doing was dangerous and against the rules of the Kingsman. I just thought that I could handle it. I could juggle all of it without getting caught.

But Eggsy had to end up in the tunning for Lancelot's place. Of course.

And now, I was here, attempting to stare him and the other future recruits down without showing an ounce of emotion.

Needless to say, I almost sprinted away once the task was over.

"Hey!"

Well, I tried.

"Hey!" Eggsy repeated as he grabbed my arm. I yanked myself away, more out of instinct than anything else. "We need to talk."

I froze for a moment before sighing and nodding toward a room that was off to the side. Eggsy followed me.

"I can explain everything," I said.

"I'd quite like that," he replied. "Please, explain to me why you never bothered to tell me that you were a secret agent."

"I couldn't."

"After months? I didn't deserve to know after how long we've been together? How long we've known each other?"

I didn't have an explanation. I never thought that I was gonna need one. I should've been better prepared.

"What was I then?" he snapped. "I was a mission, right? Were you just getting information for Harry-"

"Will you keep your damn voice down-"

"Why," he asked. "Are you embarrassed? Or was I some secret mission? Tell me, did you get grossed out every time we kissed-"

I stepped forward and slapped my hand over his mouth, my other hand grabbing the back of his head.

"Shut up," I muttered.

He glared at me.

"Will you stop shouting if I move my hand away?"

He glared at me again for a couple of moments before finally nodding.

I pulled my hands away and held them up for a few moments as I stepped back.

"You weren't a mission," I explained. "Quite the opposite, actually. Eggsy, you were a risk."

"Well, that makes it better-"

"I could lose my position here," I stopped him. "You aren't supposed to have relationships when you're a part of this group. It's... It's high risk and secret. It's just not meant to happen. Being with you..."

"You did it despite the job, not because of it?"

I nodded. "The only thing I lied to you about was my job. Everything else... everything I felt... that was all real. Every last part of it."

He didn't speak for a moment.

I looked down, opting to play with my fingers instead of looking at him.

His shoes came into my line of sight. I looked back at him.

"Was it worth it," he asked. "Being with me, I mean. Was the risk worth it?"

I let a smile cross my lips. It felt like every memory and emotion that I had experienced with him flew to the forefront of my mind. All of them hitting me at once. Not in a bad way. Not even close.

"Every second of it," I said.

There was a pause as a smirk grew on his face.

"Every second," Eggsy repeated. "Is that right?"

"Don't get cocky about it," I muttered.

"Cocky? Me? Never."

I rolled my eyes but was still smiling.

"So... can we-"

"Not here," I stopped him as he went to lean in. He furrowed his eyebrows. "I... I really can't lose this job. It's the one thing I've been properly good at."

"Alright..."

"Survive the tasks and we'll plan from there," I promised.

"How long will that take exactly?"

"I can't tell you that... first because I'm not supposed to and second because you will hate the answer."

Eggsy seemed to deflate in front of me.

"I'm sorry... I never thought this would happen. I really have no idea what to do about any of this."

"It's alright," he shook his head, reaching out to touch my hand. "I can wait."

"You sure," I asked.

He nodded. "It'll be worth every second."

I scoffed as he spun around on his heels and started walking away.

I tilted my head back a bit and mumbled toward the ceiling, "Dear... whatever entity is out there... please don't get him killed...

"I quite like this one."

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

Navigation Guide

What I Write For

Some Original Characters

[animentality]

Have you seen Oppenheimer, and if so, should I see it? I, knowing nothing about the movie, just sorta assumed it was either history-related or historical fiction and never learned anything about it or mustered up the give-a-damn to give it a shot (I am not a history buff).

You know...

I saw it...and I generally liked it...but I honestly think that it was kind of messy.

Like here's the thing about historical fiction...most people are not atomic bomb/Oppenheimer experts.

So they don't know most of this stuff by heart.

They remember shit like the Manhatten project and they know jfk and they know truman. They know America dropped atomic bombs on Japan.

But oppenheimer the movie like...throws so much shit at you, without even bothering to give you the context?

Like I say this as someone who has a decent knowledge of American history...there were some parts that were so obscure historically and politically that I honestly didn't know why the fuck I should care.

They would shout out names nonstop, referring to real life people, but these names have no context. Then they'd continue to expound upon the politics of these names...but why would we know who Patton George Lucas and Terry Yasolfis Mayweather and Gary Frederick Friedman are, especially if they were not presidents, senators, or governors?

Like these are random ass administrative assholes and forgotten military figures and obscure political jackals, who weren't well known because they never achieved high offices...

And they were from fifty fucking years ago?

Why would the average film watcher know them unless they fucking studied up?

See I like historical fiction, but it has to make me care!! Give me context!!! Tell me who these people are and show me through drama!!! That's why we're watching a MOVIE and not a documentary or reading a Wikipedia article.

And the main problem is that the movie is 3 hours long and absolutely NOWHERE in it does it EVER give us a fucking year, a location, or even a damn university.

It just throws you at Oppenheimer and says this asshole is sad and he has a lot of sex and he's inventing a bomb.

And it's like...I did enjoy it, when I understood it...but it doesn't let you breathe much.

Like the parts that are great are the parts where you can figure out what's happening.

Oh look they're blowing shit up in the desert.

Or the endless cheating subplots. Or the politics of the classroom and the socialist tendencies right at the height of the McCarthy era.

That stuff was fun.

But the parts that are bad are like...Cillian Murphy talking very quickly about a military prick that he hates while the board that's reviewing his security clearance is talking about people that we never see on screen, who are literally just floating names to memorize.

It was like a pop quiz movie sometimes, and I found that off-putting.

It also flashes between time periods quickly and without easy transitions, just hard cuts, which can be really confusing and odd.

So I would recommend you not see it in theaters if you're not a history buff. Or specifically, a fan of world war 2 and Oppenheimer and know everything about atomic bombs.

Watch it at home so you can Google who Heisenberg is.

[seal-berry]

the fionna and cake ending reminds me of this article

sorry but u show golbetty being capable of so much and simon literally was gonna thank her for eating him but nooo we have to get a "emotionally well adjusted grounded" end about taking your lumps and not having a chaos god wife. god forbid women do anything. also the double standard with marshall and gary's romance i was not fond of-- u are telling me in all possible universes marshall and gary are healthy enough to have a happy ending and simon and betty arent? Because thats what youre saying when you frame all of this in a multiverse story.

the plot selectively gives easy outs like golbetty being happy to pop fionna and cakes world out of his head miraculously but we cant have petrigrof because one time simon didnt get on a bus. golbetty shows fionna a dream that sets her straight-- oh yeah, magic WOULD suck! this example world that is much worse than the original f&c world has shown me the light!! dont worry fionna, the threat of losing the world you took for granted and up until now it was implied you were barely making ends meet in will show you that your fantasy and dream were Bad. But cake can stay magic, because thats a metaphor for self identity and not a metaphor for telling a 20-something to grow up! simon stands there and explains what he learned to the audience just in case u didnt Get the Message about Toxic Codependency tm. it was the perfect setup for a dramatic universe breaking love story but instead we get simon being put basically back where we thought he was before the first eps of fionna and cake revealed he wasnt doing well. and that whole show they didnt budget a single scene for simon and our marceline to like. talk. 10 20-plus-minute AT episodes-- what we have been asking for for years-- and in the whole set we get the convo in ep 2 and thats all.

anyways i didnt like the ending because a message that boils down to "suck it up, reality is good enough, dont throw it all away for your god gf again thats the best ending we prommy" is a real swing and a miss in year of our lord 2023. personally throwing it all away for a hot god gf is probably the most self care thing one could do.

thats the line the world of adventure time winds up drawing, that so many things are possible, but this isnt. idk it feels like a slap in the face to have a quick tropey gay romance threaded between a romance that has such a rich setup and history from season 5 get ripped apart from the second there was a "mistake" in their meet cute moment.

anyways sorry i just felt like it was a cheap ending that was very much up on its high horse when the issue that breaks up simon and betty was only really deliberately written in the past 4 episodes. of a romance arc that has lasted since season 5. if u really wanted to go there they couldve made different choices from episode 1 that wouldve left me agreeing that this is a good end, but right now it feels very unsatisfying.

the conclusion is just that betty had infinite power and decided she did not want simon by her side. sad and boring, just like real life!

[mrsbsmooth]

I can't believe that they're going to make s1-3 unavailable to play!! Like that is genuinely making me sad, s2 is hands down the best one and it's what got me into the game in the first place.. But since it's so buggy I've only played it all the way through like three times, thinking there was time to do it later 😭

I guess I'll just go back and do one last play through for Bobby 💔

I’m so devastated about it honestly. The bugs have gotten so much worse recently and it’s so incredibly frustrating.

There literally isn’t enough time to screen record every single route and that is DEVASTATING.

We might never see the Jakub route again. No Arjun, or Carl, does anyone know what Felix says? What about Gary, what did he say in episode XYZ- gone.

New players will start this game and not understand the foot jokes. They won’t know about Cherrygate or Operation Nope or Shiny Demon, about Bon Happy Eat ot Bra Sisters or GOSSIP SNEEZING.

I feel like our entire fandom’s history is being erased. It’s fucking devestating.

I’m actually aching over it. And they’ve only given us two weeks.

Two. Weeks.

Sorry but it’s making me so sad

[lokiinmediasideblog]

If i was in the marvel fandom in 2012 i would've been a major loki hater ngl. I started to warm up in the dark world. I know its controversial but i liked him in Ragnarok but then they killed him in infinity war im sfill mad abt

I like Loki a lot, and I liked him least in Avengers (2012). I watched the movies out of order at first (A1> T:TDW> Thor 1). I enjoyed him a lot in the Avengers, I was drawn to him because he's fun, but he also gave me second-hand embarrassment because he was just so arrogant yet got his ass handed to him(And I didn't know the backstory). I didn't think about Loki for a long time, until I watched T:TDW, where I fell head-over-heels for him. Without Loki, that movie would have felt like watching paint dry, so I felt especially grateful to Loki for that. That eventually got me to finally watch Thor 1. LOL. I enjoyed him in Ragnarok a lot, as well, and shipped him with Valkyrie, but I was not in the MCU fandom at the time (I was in another fandom). I am also still mad about Loki being killed off like that in IW!!!! Let's mourn!

Bear in mind I am biased towards antagonists and villains while reading this. This is my history of how I ended up obsessed with Marvel's Loki. And I am not sure if I should tag this post as "anti Thor" because I mention my extreme dislike of Thor from the past (and reasons). But I mention at the very end he grew on me. It's up to you if you keep reading.

The first time I saw Marvel's Loki, it was on a Hulk v. Thor cartoon on Netflix. Loki looks like an evil DILF in there. And Hela is a hot giant goth lady. I remember I googled norse mythology for the first time because up until then, I had thought "Son of the Mask" made up Loki, and I wanted to learn more about Hela (Hel). And I learned about Sleipnir and how hilarious myth!Loki was.

I found cartoon Thor annoying because he felt too perfect, and that's the kind of character that grates my nerves. And he survived thanks to a kiss from Amora, ugh, that's so dumb. I didn't go to watch Thor (2011) for the longest time because Thor just annoyed me because he felt too perfect and Gary Stu-ish in that cartoon.

And the comics I read at the time, specifically for Loki, made me dislike Thor more because they were like "Thor is the FUCKING BEST! AND ALL THESE SCANTILY CLAD WOMEN WANT TO FUCK HIM. BLEH BLEH. "(I was reading some omnibus by Matt Fraction on readcomicsonline). But I was more of a lurker in fandom, with no tumblr account, so I didn't express it.

And it annoyed me that some Marvel re-tellings of the myths (think it was Ages of Thunder) substituted Loki's cleverness (that saved him in the myths) for Thor being merciful or coming to the rescue. And they'd make Loki not only much eviler, but also dumber than in the myths when scheming and wprd-play is supposed to be his thing. Like, let Loki have something! You don't even have to write it because the myth you're adapting is there already! And ugh. Like no offense to anyone, but I don't really feel bad over Loki being so popular because those comics that existed for 5-6 decades annoyed the fuck out of me.

Also, at the time, a bunch of comic book nerds and dudebros would lose their shit over Loki's popularity. And Loki would be the subject of really fucked up homophobic jokes in parodies (*cough* The Key of Awesome).

Thor started growing on me in Ragnarok, IW (coolest Thor), and EG (EG!Thor is my fave because he's just so sad and I love sad men). And he was actually not Gary Stu-ish in Thor 1, I just didn't appreciate it at the time (unlike in other Marvel media). So I definitely like MCU!Thor way more than in many of his comics runs.

I also feel like I have different Thor and Loki preferences than most of the fandom, because I was a lurker and didn't interact with the fandom until 2022 and then making this blog, thanks to the Loki series bringing back my Loki phase.

[mochimiyaas]

🪐 hello! i am back from oppenheimer. prepare for spoilers.

every time he had an anxiety attack or envisioned the A-bomb,, i had one too. hhhh i wanted to clap my hands over my ears, shut my eyes, and run out of the theater screaming.

there was also the nudity?? like the writers were like, "yes. oppenheimer was a womanizer. but this is a historical movie. um. how about we put the "porn without plot" trope?" coulda showed it another way. the nudity scenes were so so awkward. i don't mind nudity in movies; don't get me wrongfjdjdj just . if it's awkwardly done,,, it's such a turn-off for me aaaa

plot-wise,,, it is so sad?? and kinda confusing?? i get he had a rough life with the whole deposition. but ?????? maybe i just see it that way bc i was expecting something like dunkirk or darkest hour. not . *waves hands towards oppenheimer* (imitation game was kinda the same deal; the fact it was moreso about the person rather than the history of how the enigma code was broken and the device used to crack it,,,,,,, bit of a letdown. my mistake for raising the bar for my hopes and expectations for both movies too high.)

lots of cool actors that appeared either briefly or not. uh gary oldman played harry truman (recognized him from darkest hour). florence pugh!! cillian murphy, ofc. OMG! RAMI MALEK AND ROBERT DOWNEY JR. had to do a double take when i realized he played strauss lmao matt damon, emily blunt, tony goldwyn, kenneth branagh, christopher denham, gregory jbara, jason clark, james d'arcy, jack quaid, dane dehaan!!!!! oh! and tim dekay from i think??? white collar? lmao i got whiplash seeing so many people from things like argo, white collar, blue bloods, dunkirk, scandal, hawkeye and black widow (florence pugh), peaky blinders, devil wears prada and a quiet place (emilyblunt), bourne movies and interstellar (matt damon), zero dark thirty. it was wild!!

LASTLY,,,,, contrary to all my criticism, a piece of me did enjoy oppenheimer. from a history buff's pov aka. mine,, it was hella interesting learning the history and science and politics surrounding the bomb making process. also emily blunt's performance was the cherry on top! holy shit! my favorite scene is where it is her character's turn to be interviewed and kitty keeps turning the prosecutor's questions right back at him. the way she took no shit! get me a woman like kitty oppenheimer!! also it was so so cool how they did the scenes for strauss in black and white but the scenes with oppenheimer in color. really liked that! music score was kinda?? good?? probs?? would only listen to one or two tracks tho.

anyway. would i go see oppenheimer again? not really. no. what would i rate it? hm........... 6?? out of 10 stars. i take two off for the confusing way they did the plot and two more off for the nudity. if you're not a history buff like me and will enjoy oppenheimer solely as a movie,,,, then maybe? you'll like it. if ur a history buff like me,,, probably?? not then? go give it a try, anyway, tho, if u can!

[historyhermann]

A blue-skinned wizard and the library on the bowels of a spaceship

The Librarian worrying about his library in episode 11, "Ragnabook: Part One"

In the past, I reviewed the Australian animated series, Prisoner Zero, mentioning an old, frail character, named the librarian (voiced by Gary Martin) has a library buried deep inside of a spaceship called the Rogue, how he has magical powers, and his interactions with the story's protagonists, even though his appearance fulfills usual librarian stereotypes, although he once was younger. I am glad to report that apart from his appearance in the episode "Librarian" (the show's sixth episode) the library first appears as a flashback in the episode "Schism" (episode 8) and there are two other episodes specifically focused on the library: "Ragnabook: Part One" and "Ragnabook: Part Two." Unfortunately, while the Librarian becomes a main character, the library does not appear in episode 9, nor in episodes 12-26, almost half the show! So, that's a damn shame. Anyway, I'd still like to highlight the three episodes I didn't focus on in my last post and talk about the value of libraries, and librarians, which are emphasized in the episodes.

Let's start with the episode "Schism." Tag and Prisoner Zero go through the library on the ship in hopes of changing time back to its usual course. The librarian helps him (Prisoner Zero) regain his memory. There is then a final scene in the library at the end of the episode. This serves as a major part of the episode. I would include the images in this post from that episode, but I don't want to make this post too image-heavy, as I used to do in some of my early posts on this blog, so I'm trying to be mindful of that. Instead, I'll probably add the images to my newsletter. With that, I'd like to focus on the episodes "Ragnabook: Part One" and "Ragnabook: Part Two." The thing that made me so sad about this was the piles of books we see here (and in other episodes in the series). Those books should be properly organized, rather than just be in piles. How can anyone find the books or access them when they are in these piles? That is never answered, of course.

We then get to the episode "Ragnabook: Part One." A monster escapes from the "forbidden section" of the library; they (Zero, Tag, and Jem) all go down to the library and find it in a bad shape, with every room a dangerous place with the monster on the loose; the librarian tells Tag that libraries aren't just for storing books but for retaining information in all its forms (artifacts, public records, images, living creatures). The monster attacks them all and only has one purpose: to rewrite history and to know all knowledge; Tag and Jem travel into the forbidden section to help defeat the monster. Zero fights off books with a book insider the monster which wants to destroy the universe. It turns out that the monster is a living, thinking book from the "dark times" which documented the achievements of victors. The librarian is exhausted by caring for his library for thousands of years, fighting off people/intruders in the process. Later, the books try to attack Tag and Jem and eat them, like cookbooks. The fact that the Librarian is exhausted by his duties (as he says explicitly) is the first time I've seen librarian burnout in a show, whether live-action or animation. As Jade Geary and Brittany Hickey wrote, in the publication In The Library with the Lead Pipe, "librarians need to be able to openly discuss burnout and know that they are not alone in dealing with it" and noted that even with the "overwhelming number of librarians who have experienced burnout, it is not a topic...mentioned in lectures or assigned readings in library school" even though the profession is "rife with burnout."

Jem in the library in the episode "Ragnabook: Part One," worrying about the monster. Tag, Zero, and the Librarian are in the background. This is NOT a way to organize books. Librarians are bound to organize books correctly and in an accessible way, not in literal book piles. Lazy choice by animators here.

In the episode "Ragnabook: Part Two," the Librarian continues to fight the monster with Zero, while Tag and Jem try another way, going through different rooms of the library. The Librarian says there is power in knowledge and that it should not be destroyed. He also tells how he became the librarian, started his life, and wanted to make his "mark on history." He built the library from his mind, apparently. Zero says that the library was even more incredible back in its heyday but the Librarian got old. Zero notes that a library is not redundant with all these stories, plays, and so on. Zero says that he just needs new visitors, noting that members of his crew are patrons who go to the library to explore "endless possibilities" in the books. Zero later pleads with the librarian to remember his past, who recorded the truth in his books; he shared stories of the library across the cosmos, leaving it open to everyone! Jenn says the best thing in libraries is books, although this implies that libraries are only books, which is wrong. Sadly, the whole library is destroyed so the librarian has to start over. That sucks. For some reason, the producers of this show never feature an episode where he rebuilds the library. BOO!

Let's analyze this librarian. He is definitely providing "the highest level of service" to library users, along with  "appropriate and usefully organized resources," as mentioned in the ALA Code of Ethics. He is also providing access to information, supporting people in their information sharing (by making the library open to everyone in the cosmos) per the short version of the IFLA Code of Ethics. This is despite the fact that he considered ownership over the library, which is why I called it a personal library. He, and Zero, make clear what Moya M. Mason pointed out in a 1990s article: "Libraries are repositories for humanity's knowledge; they are our past, our present, and our future. They are much more than storehouses for books, and include many other forms of data." That is something that animation should make more clear in the future. I'm not sure he has to endure any ethical dilemmas, however. Even so, the library is shown as an important institution and its value is emphasized.

In 2017, Sadie Trombetta, a freelance writer and book reviewer, of Bustle listed seven reasons why she believed that libraries are essential:

They offer free educational resources to everyone.

Libraries are safe refuges for the homeless and underserved populations.

They help boost local economies

They play an important role in English language learning.

Libraries make communities healthier.

They preserve history, and more importantly, truth.

Libraries help connect communities.

In this animation, since the library is on I'd say that #1, #6, and #7 are most relevant, but so is, perhaps, #5. I'd like to end this post with one of my favorite parts, from the episode "Ragnabook: Part Two" which shows patrons from the cosmos in the library on the Rogue:

With that, this post comes to a close.

© 2021 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Library Review and Wayback Machine.

[kyle-reviews]

Forrest Gump Review

Forrest Gump takes me way back in time. Lots of memories kept flushing back into my mind as I was rewatching the movie; meanwhile I try to stay as unbiased as possible. "Forrest Gump", a film immortalized in cinematic history, holds a special place in my heart. It's a tapestry of emotions from director Robert Zemeckis, woven with threads of humor, sadness, and the sweet simplicity of its central character, Forrest Gump. Throughout the film, Forrest's story is interspersed with historical events as a testament to the human spirit's resilience and perseverance.

The movie resonated with me on multiple levels. The character of Forrest Gump, despite his intellectual limitations, is a beacon of kindness, love, and unwavering loyalty. His love for Jenny, his childhood friend, is a testament to his steadfastness. I like how, despite being such a simple character, he ends up being lovable and relatable because of his personality traits and Tom Hanks' excellent acting. There are many reasons to love Forrest. Jenny's tumultuous life doesn't matter to Forrest, because he loves her unconditionally. A second reason is that the film's depiction of historical events from Forrest's perspective offers a unique perspective on American history. From the Vitnam War to the Watergate scandal, Forrest's involvement in these events adds an additional layer of depth to the story and of course his character. Its exploration of destiny and perseverance, encapsulated in the iconic line "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get," hooked me and took me back to the time when I had no idea what to expect from life when I was leaving my family and moving to a foreign country. As played by Gary Sinise, Lieutenant Dan Taylor is also a fascinating character, since it's a compelling exploration of a man grappling with the aftermath of war and his subsequent transformation.

The film techniques employed by Zemeckis significantly enhanced my viewing experience. The seamless integration of Forrest into vintage footage, complemented with the use of so many simple and not overdone visual effects, created a believable narrative that Forrest was indeed a part of these historical events. The film's soundtrack, featuring iconic songs from the respective eras, also helped immerse me into the story. Especially the recurring feather motif, symbolizing destiny and chance, added a layer of visual symbolism to the story and truly enhanced the narrative.

One thing to remember is that despite its unbelievably high IMDB rating, the movie is not without its flaws. The character of Jenny while integral to the narrative often felt like a tool used to advance the plot; Jenny's character arc served mostly as a catalyst and push for Forrest's growth. Her character, marred by trauma and self-destructive tendencies, deserved more nuanced exploration. Additionally, the film's portrayal of certain historical events, while engaging, often oversimplified complex issues, offering a somewhat sanitized version of history.

I would rate "Forrest Gump" a solid 8.5 out of 10. Aside from its weaknesses, the film's strengths, particularly the performances by Tom Hanks and Gary Sinise, the original and simplicity in the film techniques used, and the engaging narrative, make it a memorable cinematic experience and is enough to give you goosebumps when it ends. It's a story about hope and resilience in the face of adversity, just like the protaganist Forrest. One significant take from the movie would be: “Life, much like a box of chocolates, is full of surprises, and it is our response to these surprises that defines us.”

And that’s why it deserves 8.5/10 :)

[gaycey-sketchit]

(Gary anon) Still kicking myself for somehow missing both shows [and the manga], but fans kept it alive passed their final airings that I didn't mind too much. Just missed out on some of the fandom history, some of it being gone forever. (Sometimes the age of the audience may explain a bit of it of why it happens, but I think often see kids have more patience. xD) And maintain a sense of anonymity while doing so. To everyone, he's just a small, silly white dog making games.

.

(Part 2) (After hearing the horror stories, it's sad seeing some potential newcomers second-guess the career choice they wanted to pursue) Making your creations your career or an extra way to make some money is not inherently bad; but you gotta be aware of how your workload could affect your spark or even mental health. People often wonder how a creator can come to resent what they made; if you ever created and done it for a long while, you'll run into that feeling at some point.

(Part 3) The challenge is NOT to experience it frequently. (Early 2000s internet was a lawless land when it came to trying to find stuff; ironic how it's easier to do that today but at cost of everything being restricted and exclusive, for better or worse) For what its worth, the concept works better with games. Just for absurdity of having the weirdest crossovers somehow mesh really well or be a dumpster fire.

(Part 4) (Not sure if I shared before; the talk Gary gives Ash about Sinnoh. Not the postcard, though it still applies. After Pikachu vs Electivire, while the tone of the dub music is somewhat similar to the sub, it's still distinctly different. Skip to 2:00, note the violins: / wat ch? v = q yZ1seuA4_k ) Mm-hmm, they deserve a battle that feels more them and showcase how much these two have grown and influenced each other. And again, it's been 20 years since the Johto one.

(Part 5) (I generally don't mind the leaks. We know how most of the PWC battles will end, it's just HOW they're done. Though I'm still debating on whether I want to know if Ash or Leon wins. All I want is the matchups for the battle) In before Leon somehow surprises us.

Yeah, at least the fandom is still thriving all these years later.

True, true.

Yeah, that's impressive too. Like, I think photos of him exist? But in my head he'll always be that little white dog.

Yeah, it's really unfortunate.

Oh, for sure. I respect people who manage to make a career out of their art and do it without their mental health suffering, but that is simply not the path for me.

Yeah, the internet used to be... really different than it is now, in a lot of ways. Some changes have definitely been more positive than others.

True--like, one of the most entertaining things about Smash is the eclectic roster leading to scenarios like an Animal Crossing villager duking it out with Solid Snake.

Ooh thanks for the link! After having watched that bit a couple times to take in the details... yeah.

For sure. Wow, it really has been twenty years. They are long overdue for another really good battle.

Yeah--it's easy enough to guess what most of the results will be, how we get to those results is the important part. But personally I do not want the outcome of Ash vs Leon spoiled, I need to see how that goes myself. (Partly to make up for not being there for Ash becoming the champion of Alola a few years back--I heard about that very significant event from Twitter, I want to actually witness this one.)

He could! We'll see how things go. It's uhh the Friday after this coming one that episodes start airing again I'm pretty sure? Excited to see how things unfold from there!

[upthewitchypunx]

PBW Witch Shop & Zine Distro

The PBW Witch Shop is a curated selection of witchcraft and magic related zines, books, pin-back buttons, tarot cards and more.

We focus on traditional and folkloric witchcraft, animism, chaos magic, secular witchcraft, magical herbs and plants, queer witchcraft, tarot & Divination, witchcraft & magic in politics, history, culture, and social & racial justice,  and aspects of non-Wiccan forms of witchcraft, magic, and paganism.

Pre-Covid the Portland Button Works primarily made custom pinback button. Selling zines and books was secondary and more of a hobby for me to share things I’d like to read. Right now our business is pivoting to focus on books and zines that people can read in the comfort and safety of their own homes. Some items are from well known witchcraft and occult publisher and some are titles from small publishers with interesting items I don’t see in other shops but I’m excited to elevate.

Not everyone has income to buy books right now, we totally understand that, but I would love it if you were able to reblog this post or share Portland Button Works and PBW Witch Shop with your friends.

If you have been looking for a book about something specific, or if you think something would be a good fit for our catalog, get in touch. We can order almost any book in print, even if it isn’t witchcraft or magic related.

With that being said, here are some categories of items we carry:

Some good books to get you started studying witchcraft:

Grovedaughter Witchery by Bree NicGarran

Making Magic by Briana Saussy

Magical Power for Beginners- How to Raise & Send Energy for Spells That Work by Deborah Lipp

Weave The Liminal by Laura Tempest Zakroff

Some creative books to help build your witch craft practice:

Spellcrafting- Strengthen the Power of your Craft by Creating and Casting Your Own Unique Spells by Arin Murphy-Hiscock

D.I.Y. Magic -a Strange & Whimsical Guide to Creativity by Anthony Alvarado

Psychic Witch- a Metaphysical Guide to Meditation, Magick, & Manifestation by Mat Auryn

Urban Magick by Diana Rajchel

Standing and Not Falling - a Sorcerous Primer in Thirteen Moons by Lee Morgan

Tarot Books

Queering the Tarot by Cassandra Snow

Tarot for Troubled Times by Shaheen Miro & Theresa Reed

Modern Tarot by Michelle Tea

Tarot Decks

Next World Tarot (regular and pocket sized)

Science Tarot

Rider-Waite-Coleman Smith Regular sized and Mini sized

Crow Tarot

Modern Witch Tarot

Cat Tarot

Check out the tarot and divination books in our catalog and also check out tarot and divination decks in our catalog here.

Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine

Advanced Magick for Beginners by Alan Chapman

Chaos Protocols by Gordon White

Hands on Chaos Magic by Andrieh Vitimus 

Liber Null & Psychonaut by Peter Carroll

Other books in the Chaos Magic section

Anthologies: Becoming Dangerous: Witchy Femmes, Queer Conjurers, and Magical Rebels, Bringing Race to the Table: Exploring Racism in the Pagan Community, Shades of Ritual: Minority Voices in Practice

Magical Resistance: Witchcraft Activism by David Salisbury, Magic for the Resistance by Michael Hughes, Revolutionary Witchcraft by Sarah Lyons

Witches and Feminist Perspectives: Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici, Witches, Midwives and Nurses by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English , Witches Sluts Feminists by Kristen J. Sollee

Pagan Anti-Capitalism: Pagan Anarchism True to the Earth: Pagain Political Thology by Kadmus, All That is Sacred is Profaned: A Pagan Guide to Marxism by Ryhd Wildermuth, A Pagan Anti-Capitalist Primer

Queer Witchcraft: Witchcraft and the Gay Counter Culture, Sapphomanteion a Lesbian Oracle, Queering the Tarot

Check out the Witchcraft Culture and History and Witchcraft Politics and Resistance sections of our website.

Green Witchcraft: The Green Witch by Arin Murray-Hiscock, Green Witchcraft by Paige Vanderbeck

Plants and Herbs: Under the Witching Tree by Corinne Boyer, Under the Bramble Arch by Corinne Boyer

The Poison Path: Veneficuim: Magic, Witchcraft and the Poison Path by Daniel Schulke, Pharmo/Gnonsis: Plant Teachers and the Poison Path by Dale Pendell , Plants of the Devil by Corinne Boyer

Witchy Crafts: Pestlework: a Book of Magical Powders and Oils by Bree NicGarran, Sew Witchy by Rachel Henderson, Sigil Witchery by Lara Tempest Zakroff

Other books in our Plants, Herbs, and Magical Crafts section

Books on Atheopaganism

Godless Paganism (anthology)

Atheopaganism by Mark Green

Other Pagan Perspectives

Jailbreaking the Goddess: A Radical Revisioning of Feminist Spirituality by Lasara Firefix Allen

The Wakeful World: Anismism, Mind, and the Self in Nature by Emma Restall Orr

Circling the Star by Anthony Rella

All That Is Sacred is Profaned: A Pagan Guide to Marxism by Rhyd Wildermuth

All Other Pagan books

Traditional Witchcraft: A Cornish Book of Ways by Gemma Gary

A Deed Without A Name: Unearthing the Legacy of Traditional Witchcraft by Lee Morgan

Crooked Path: An Introduction to Traditional Witchcraft by Keldon

Backwoods Witchcraft by Jake Richards

Besom Stand and Sword A Guide to Traditional Witchcraft the Six-Fold Path the Hidden Landscape by Christopher Orapello & Tara Love Maguire

Southern Cunning: Folkloric Witchcraft in the American South by Aaron Oberon

Folk Witchcraft by

The Flame in the Cauldron by Orion Foxwood

Craft of the Untamed by Roger Horne

Check out the rest of the books in our Traditional & Folkloric Witchcraft Section

What are zines? Small independently made magazine and pamphlets filled with stories and unique ideas that you won’t find from major publishers!

Some topics you will find in zines we carry are Secular Witchcraft, the fantastic Fiddler’s Green Pamphlets and lots of zine on the places where Politics, Paganism, and Witchcraft intersect.

Check out all of our witchy zines here.

Other Stuff

witchy buttons

 magnets and hand mirrors

We carry more than just witchy books.

Here are some of the other titles we carry:

You Were Born For This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance by Chani Nicholas

When Language Runs Dry: An Anthology for People with Chronic Pain and their Allies

What is Gender Nihilism?

Be Gay Do Crime by The Mary Nardini Gang

Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher

You Black Friend by Ben Passmore

Learning Good Consent an Anthology edited by Cindy Crabb

How To Talk To Your Cat about Gun Safety and Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism and Other Dangers that Threaten Their Nine Lives

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Honoring your Ancestors by Mallorie Vaudoise

Do-it-Your Self Guide to Fighting the Big Motherfucking Sad by Adam Gnade

Yes, I’m Flagging: Queer Flagging 101 by Archie Bongiovanni

Full online catalog of books, zines, buttons and more can be found at PortlandButtonWorks.com and the PBW Witch Shop can be found here.

All items are shipped from Portland, Oregon in plain packaging or United States Postal Service Flat Rate envelopes or boxes with the return address as Portland Button Works. We ship daily and most order come with small fun gifts of buttons or magnets.

Thank you so much for supporting your local witch!

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

1. Are death gods like a class lower than Olympian gods? Minthe says that Hades can buy all the suits in the world and still stink of death and Apollo refers to Thanatos as Poor Man’s Heremes and also reeks of death. Do they smell bad, or do people just hate them for existing? You’d think they’d be a little more fear controlling death/underworld

2. for the person saying "come on, persephone being a self insert isn't bad" completely misses the point.  As a young writer I used to have self inserts until I realized that my favoritism overshadowed the narrative and didn't allow for my characters to experience consequences or be in the wrong.  This is how creator's pets get made, and no one likes those because they ruin the story and take away attention from other (more interesting) characters!  (1/2) 

We are clearly seeing this in LO.  Persephone is essentially a perfect little goddess who keeps getting powers, is probably going to be revealed as one of the strongest goddesses, and her issues (sans the two giant ones we know what it is) almost never personally affect her.  No one gets angry at her in a meaningful way unless the narrative wants us to demonize them, and when they suddenly "see the light" and go to her side, they're rewarded!  THAT'S why persephone as a S.I is bad

3. Ok. I think Daphene and Thanatos are the best ship. I would read this story...also,Thanatos is the grim reaper...how metal would be if he take down LO Apollo and LO Hades? Yes, I'm aware this would be impossible in the.original myths but HEY why not? RS is not caring for the source material

4. RS’s writing is such a mess of contradictions between actuality and intent it’s hilarious: 1) Hades is supposed to be seen as a good guy yet is portrayed as a tyrant who somehow still manages to be a Gary Stu. 2) Persephone is simultaneously overpowered (fertility goddess powers) and powerless (is just a college kid) to the point where she’s viewed as a spoiled rich brat living consequence-free and destitute young woman left with no options but to marry to get out of trouble 

3) Artemis is supposed to represent a separatist feminist yet is depicted as foolish, British and out of the loop for humorous effect by the poss poor excuse of a comic which calls itself ‘a feminist feeling’. 4) The lack of time skips coupled with RS’s need to give HxP as many ‘cute’ moments as possible makes the comic’s progress feel slow for the reader when it’s actually progressing at breakneck speed if you go by the character’s timeframe. 

5) Wants to treat SA with nuance and sensitivity (RS almost manages to do it at first) but then uses Persephone’s rape as trauma porn, a means for pushing her closer to Hades while reminding the reader of his differences from Apollo and a means of furthering the side plots (Artemis’s descent into depressed confusion, Eros and Psyche’s romance, Hera’s quest to get the mains together).

5. i genuinely do not want to see whatever reason rachel thinks up to have zeus and demeter not like each other because it's either going to be a "shock" incest twist (unlikely) or it's going to be something akin to how she made apollo to persephone and maybe zeus stole her "fertility" and thats why she couldnt have persephone naturally and why demeter isnt a fertility goddess but persephone is. like no writing choice is good in this so i guess brace for the worst from her in this regard.

6. i honestly get sad looking at old LO art because not only is all the charm gone, but the colors also got way worse. hades used to be this subdued, rich dark blue with icy blue hair while persephone was a nice shade of pastel pink with magenta hair, but now theyre all one shade of neon. there used to be choices put into the art but now its just lazy. like hades looks like a blue highlighter, and persephone like her personality is only one nauseatingly bright shade and thats it 😞

7. i feel like if at least the writing in LO was good the art would excusable, you know what i mean? and the same can be said in reverse, but both are just so bad (or was never good to begin with) that it just seems inexcusable? like at least put effort into one, not half assing at best for both.

8. i mean for all we know bc thats how how psyche normally looks the braids are just a nymph disguise that basically pops away once shes human looking again. regardless the whole thing is nasty once you think about it and idk what we expected from a white woman to begin with. she thinks persephone revolving her whole world and being dependent on hades is feminist and making a canon bi god a r//pist is groundbreaking too like ....

9. lets add to the psyche is black-coded discourse: anyone want to mention how nasty it is she was literally sold off to a WHITE MAN for eros to save her from (ignoring the fact he proceeded to lie to her while having a sexual relationship), made her loving parents into abusive assholes, and psyche just happens to be the only character who is illiterate despite being a princess? the whole thing reeks of internalized racism on rachel's part, and her now giving her braids kinda makes it worse, tbh. 

-----FP Spoilers-----

10. Is it me? Or in the fast past episode were they showed one of the muses Polymnia (or Polyhymnia)  they mixed her with Clio??? Because Zeus calls her "the goddess/muse of history" but Polymnia is acutally the muse of hymns, CLIO is the muse of history, how did they get that wrong? Her name literally means "a lot of hymns"! And why is there a muse in this??? Even she says that she shouldn't be there because she doesn't work in anything similar to law, did Zeus really asked her to make a POEM in a TRAIAL??? For what exactly? Make Persephone look bad?

[ontheoddoccasioniwritestuff]

The Sight of You (Spencer Reid x Reader)

Summary: Spencer’s disturbing dreams about his childhood bring him back to Las Vegas to face two of his childhood’s greatest enemies: his estranged father and his ex best friend.

AN: it’s a friends to enemies to lovers fic! Set in the episode “Memoriam” 4x07

Content Warnings: usual Criminal Minds stuff, mentions of child death, childhood trauma, descriptions of a dead body. Let me know if I missed anything!

Despite seeing Spencer around Pre-k, Y/N did not trot over to talk to him with their brightly coloured rucksack swinging vigorously and violently behind them. They walked faster instead once their parents had dropped them off. Spencer did his best to catch up to Y/N but lost them around the corner in the sea of students seeking their next class. He was meant to be one of them. Adjusting his glasses as they slipped down his nose, Spencer noted that he needed a new prescription before entering his own class and preparing to focus on a subject he was already well-versed in.

It was lunch time when Spencer finally found Y/N. They were sitting at the furthest end of the table in the canteen. But Y/N cowered away from him, his shoulders drawn up defensively.

“Are you OK, Y/N?” Spencer asked before getting to what was more significant to him: “Do you know when you will be free to play again?”

The next sentence out of Y/N’s mouth stung like a nettle. They stood up, their face contorted in their fit, and they pushed Spencer hard on the shoulders.

“Go away! I can’t look at you! You make me feel sick, you and your family!” They cried.

They went silent when Spencer was laughed at by those who heard what was said. Just grabbed their lunch and moved away, leaving Spencer spellbound in the middle of the canteen, heartbroken and with a new opening for a potential chess partner. Maybe that man they saw last week at the park would be kind enough to join him again.

But there was no replacement for Y/N, who now never said a word when they caught a glimpse of Spencer being bullied – only dithering about on the spot before fleeing the scene moments before a teacher would show up.

Spencer was hurt; that hurt warped into hatred when he was next out with his mother and father. They were at the shopping mall and had just bought Spencer his new glasses. Going down the escalator, he saw Y/N. They were smiling and skipping between their parents, a new pair of shoes shiny on their feet.

The second they spotted the Reids, Y/N ducked behind their parents. Spencer could still see their face: brow furrowed, eyes squinting, hands shaking now that nothing was holding them. Their parents didn’t seem to notice. They kept talking and walking even as Y/N stopped in time with the Reids stepping off the escalator.

Sudden footsteps running away was what dragged the public’s attention to a suddenly absent child.

“Y/N!” The parents called out as they chased after the four-year-old. They were quick past the Reids, not stopping to say ‘hello’.

Spencer kept his eyes trained after Y/N’s fleeing form, right until his mother’s face came into view. Diana looked saddened; she too was staring after the L/Ns. Turned to his father. William was composed but his eyes were turned down and watering.

For making his parents react like that to their mere presence, Spencer despised Y/N.

---> ---> ---> ---> ---> 

 The burning hatred from adolescence staled once Spencer reached adulthood. The protective nature that spawned from it for his mother remained.

Which is why, when Diana Reid casually mentioned Y/N when asked about Riley Jenkins, Spencer froze up.

“You remember Y/N?” He said stiffly.

Diana didn’t notice her son’s change in tone, “Of course, you two were opposites but you got on so well. So sad what happened to them.”

The first guess was that she was referring Y/N’s repeated attempts at running away before Reid cut contact with neighbourhood gossip at age fourteen. He didn’t bother with a second attempt to understand what his mother meant.

“I don’t care about Y/N. I want to know if you remember Riley.”

“And I told you: Riley was a boy you made up.”

“No, Mom, he was a real boy who lived in our neighbourhood, and somebody killed him. And, I don't know, I think-- I think that dad might have had something to do with it.”

“He was real?”

“Yes. And...”

“He was on that little league team, too.”

 ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

The whole case was surreal - “case” being a very loose term.

When they got into his office, Spencer thought that perhaps things might simmer down a little. Unfortunately, as soon as his father spoke about their history of similarity in appearance, Spencer’s usual comfort of statistics and facts on the elderly and pets failed to conceal his abandonment issues.

William Reid was clearly affected by Spencer’s accusations, calling the idea of fitting the profile thus being Riley’s killer “absurd”. Furthermore, he was confrontational when asked for access to his files and demanded a warrant. Coupled with Lou Jenkins’ absolute certainty that William was not involved in Riley’s murder and Penelope asking him “you sure about this?” concerning invading the aforementioned files, Spencer was very close to snapping.

“I really wish people would stop asking me that.”

Then there was the envelope posted beneath his motel room door. Suspicious timing aside, there was a brand-new suspect basically handed over on a silver platter. One Gary Michaels whom Spencer couldn’t remember him but he couldn’t be sure that he didn’t know him. Uncertainty being the feeling he hated the most.

This man could fit the profile; his previous of exposing himself to a minor was a precursor to molestation. But that wasn’t what Spencer wanted to hear from the shady file slipped to direct his attention away from William.

Garcia reported back about his father’s drives, “No kiddie porn, no membership to illicit websites, no dubious emails, no chat room history.”

“What about his finances?”

Hotch joined the conversation, “We went back ten years. No questionable transactions that we can find.”

Spencer sighed while Emily decided to crack a joke: “Well, he did buy a ticket to see Celine Dion six months ago, but I think we can overlook that.”

“He’s smart. Is it possible he kept things under the table?” Spencer persisted.

“Well, of course,” Hotch answered, “But from what we can tell, Reid, he doesn’t fit the profile.”

“We can tell you other things about him, if you want to know.”

A peace offering on behalf of Emily. Clearly she had improved after her night out and subsequent hangover. Spencer gave the go-ahead and Emily listed her profile:

“He's a workaholic, he actually logs more hours than we do. He makes decent money, but he doesn't spend a lot of it. He has a modest house. He drives a hybrid. He doesn't travel much. He stays away from the casinos. Um, and according to his veterinary bills, he has a very sick cat.”

“He appears to spend most of his free time alone,” Hotch added, “He goes to the movies a lot, and he reads. And from his collection of first editions, it seems his favourite author is-”

Spencer interrupted his boss, “Isaac Asimov, I remember that one.” He pressed his lips together. They were right; William Reid did not fit the profile.

Garcia piped up once more, “He does have one other major interest. On his home computer, he's archived, like, a ka-jillion things on one common subject.”

“What?”

“You, kiddo. He's got, like, everything that's been published online. Every article you've been quoted in, pieces you've written for behavioural science journals, He even has a copy of your dissertation.”

“He's keeping tabs on you,” Rossi said, That's saying something.”

But Spencer smoothly dismissed this attempt to make excuses for his father, “Yeah, he googled me. That makes up for everything. I'm going to get some air.”

 ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

After getting said air, Spencer went to the local bar and began playing an computerised poker game. His paying attention was only to distract himself, clear his head with something he knew he could control. And thankfully, a chance interaction with a lady at the bar spawned the inspiration for a sporadic hypnosis session.

Doctor Jan Mohikian allowed them a session. Reminded of the limitations that a four-year old’s memory could provide, not including the bias he already had as a son and a profiler, Spencer lay on the couch. His feet hung over the end so that his head could be comfortable in a pillow. There was no time for self-consciousness with Rossi in the room observing. He closed his eyes and felt his hand be placed upon Doctor Mohikian’s body.

She spoke low and calmingly, “I want you to hold my wrist in your left hand. And if you should feel any fear, I want you to squeeze, do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Go back to the night you were just telling me about. You're at home, in your room. You can't sleep because your parents are arguing.”

 ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

 His eyes were closed still, but the couch shifted into a bed. His bed. A floor below, the faint shouting between his mother and father was heard. There was someone else there too. A child wailing, and it wasn’t him.

Suddenly his father was at his side, touching his arm, saying, “I know you’re awake. Daddy loves you; you know that?”

Spencer didn’t want to be there, and then it was the following morning.

Putting his glasses, the room fell into focus. His mother was there, she didn’t see him because she was too busy looking out the window. Her body language told him that this was not a meltdown, but what she saw was distressing. She’d been crying. As she walked away into the house, she hid her face as if she knew Spencer was watching and she wanted to hide her reaction from him.

Spencer ran to the window the second Diana had left the room.

His father was in the back garden and burning clothes. A bloody shirt, a tiny cardigan, landed on top of the pile already set alight.

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and wake.”

 ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

 And Spencer was shocked out of the scene, back to the doctor’s couch and gripping her wrist with an iron grip. Rossi was by his side, bringing him back to peace with his voice.

 ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

 Derek was clearly disturbed that Spencer was very set on his father being a paedophilic murderer as much as he had been that Spencer was taking something that was said after his mother’s fit seriously. He continued however to assist with Rossi in Spencer’s investigation.

As if everything else hadn’t been hard enough, the captain took some time to agree to holding William Reid in custody. Finally, he settled for twenty-four hours. William was as resistant to the questions as he had been upon the initial reunion. All he could say was that he didn’t hurt Riley. Spencer wore him down, getting him to drop the Gary Michaels bomb plus the threat that he “didn’t want to go down that road”.

Garcia’s search of Gary Michaels’ DNA on the databases brought to light that their suspect was dead. Buried across state lines, beat over the head with a pipe or bat, and the body was discovered in 2001.

“Maybe it wasn’t Riley’s blood on the clothes he was burning.” Derek was about to hang up when Garcia began to speak again, a new discovery ready for her team.

“Also, Todd found something in your father’s finances. There was a standing order for a therapist, specifically a child therapist from 1985 to 1995. I thought it was for Spencer, but William left when you were twelve, and these sessions continue irregularly after he left you!”

“Who was the patient?”

“One Y/N L/N. Local to North Vegas, born 1980 to Shelly and Finley L/N.”

Both Rossi and Derek looked away from the phone to Spencer and he knew. He knew he’d have to face another villain from the past – like a knight in one of Y/N’s stories.

“Still alive?”

“Yep, already pulling up an address. There’s a lot of short leases attached to this name. Lucky for you, they keep going back to live with their parents.”

Spencer wasn’t entirely sure that he could handle two bitter reunions in one day.

“We’ll send off the fingerprint while we visit Y/N. They could have been a potential victim of Michaels before he died. They might know something.”

 ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

It was a normal home in a normal neighbourhood. Spencer had never visited Y/N’s house. Their play-dates were always at the park.

“Hello, Mr L/N,” held up their badges, “I’m Agent Derek Morgan, this is Agent David Rossi and Doctor Spencer Reid. May we come in and ask you some questions?”

“Sure. My wife is uh out at work at the moment,” Finley opened the door wider and stepped aside for the trio to enter, “I’m the house husband as it were.”

Looking about the kitchen, Spencer spied several photos of an adult Y/N but very few of them as a toddler and even less as a teenager.

“You have a child, Mr L/N?” Rossi asked.

“All grown up now, Y/N,” Finley smiled with a nod. Then he squinted at Spencer, “You’re not related to William Reid by chance, are you?”

Masking his bitterness, Spencer said shortly, “He’s my father.”

Finley seemed in awe at the prospect, so Derek redirected the conversation back to the matter at hand, “What was Y/N like as a child?”

Nodding still, like a bobble head, Finley looked weary at the notion, “Troubled. They were very young when they withdrew into themselves. Used to run away from home a lot. I don’t know what happened, but Y/N never told us.” He then jumped to protect his child’s reputation at present, “They’re doing better now, went to therapy and they’re doing very well for themselves.”

“I’m glad to hear.” Rossi replied.

Finley continued his defence of Y/N, “They’re a published author, they write fantasy things for kids and young adults. We’re very proud of them.”

“Did Y/N know Riley Jenkins when they were a child?”

“Riley Jenkins, that’s Lou’s kid who died, right?” Finley sought confirmation and, when he had it, he spoke, “Not personally. I think they might have played at the park once or twice. Before he died, Y/N would play with anyone. But you… you know that.” And Finley gestured to Spencer, much to his disgust.

“Is Y/N in the area?” Spencer asked briskly.

“Well, they’re due for a visit in a few hours. They went on holiday.”

“They still live with you?”

“A month ago, they got a new flat in the city. But they’ve got their own room here, for whenever they need it.”

“May we see it?”

The wallpaper was barely visible beneath exam revision notes, posters of Fresh sheets on the bed and the clear space on the floor were the only tidy things about the place. It was a haven of organised clutter.

A chess set caught Spencer’s eye. It sat upon the windowsill, recently dusted. The pieces were not that of a classic set; each was painted prettily but with enough error to indicate it was a personal touch.

“You and Y/N were close then?” Derek was holding up a photo album. Upon inspection, the photograph the page was open on was of Spencer and Y/N dressed up for Halloween as Doctor Frankenstein and the Monster respectively – accurate to the book of course.

“Yeah, ‘were’,” Spencer turned back to the chess set. He didn’t bother to ask when his friends had figured out he knew Y/N.

Rossi decided to further test the waters, “You think that Y/N could have killed Riley?”

“Of course not. A four-year-old couldn’t kidnap, tie up, rape, and kill a boy their own age. No violent history that indicates they would ever do something like this. Do I think that Y/N knows something about what happened and my father is trying to keep them quiet? Yes.”

Rossi moved beside Spencer, picking up the knight. Except it wasn’t a knight. It was a wizard of some kind in purple robes.

“We’ll stay up here for a bit then go down once Y/N’s inside and settled,” He gestured with the knight to the window. Spencer blanched as he spied a cab at the end of the driveway. The trunk was open and someone was retrieving a suitcase from within.

Y/N appeared around the corner, waving off the cab and turning to the house. Mr L/N appeared on the drive and they met in the middle for a hug. Over Mr L/N’s shoulder, Spencer could see that Y/N had grown into their chubby childhood features. They looked genuinely happy.

He would have to go through with it, but he didn’t have to like it. And he couldn’t go hide in the bathroom like with his father.

The trio plodded down the stairs when the sound of the front door closing was replaced with a joyous gathering in the kitchen. It all changed when Y/N went to take off their jacket and caught sight of the three FBI agents standing in the doorway. Taking out his badge, Rossi led the way.

“Hello, Y/N, I’m Agent David Rossi, this is Agent Derek Morgan, and Doctor Spencer Reid. We’re looking into the death of Riley Jenkins, and we were hoping to ask you some questions.”

To the naked eye, very little changed about Y/N’s appearance. To the three profilers, there was a visceral reaction: Y/N’s right hand started trembling, the hard swallow, the dropping of their gaze from Spencer to the floor.

“OK,” They said, a great deal quieter than they had been with their father.

Rossi sat next to Y/N at the dinner table. Derek was beside Rossi; Spencer stayed standing. Mr L/N stayed in the kitchen, at Y/N’s request.

“Can you tell us what you remember about Riley?” Rossi began.

“Not very much, I don’t really remember much about school.”

“Oh, you don’t?” Spencer blurted, “Well, I do.”

Derek glanced back at him with a look that just screamed “shut the hell up”. It seemed to cut down Y/N’s resolve, their jaw quivering.

“Sorry, can you give me a moment?” They stood up quick, the chair legs scraping loudly against the floor as they walked just as fast to the kitchen. Through the open door, Rossi, Derek, and Spencer watched Y/N grab a glass from the open dishwasher. The water from the tap hit the bottom of the glass harsh, crashing out like a wave of the ocean hitting a cliff. Y/N didn’t seem to care. Their hand dripped water onto the surface as they chugged back some of the drink before returning to the table with a topped-up glass.

“Are you alright?” Rossi inquired, leaning closer to Y/N.

They answered wearily, “Fine, just feeling woozy.”

“You’re a writer?”

“Yeah, you’re a writer too. My mom reads your stuff before bed.”

“Bit of an odd nightcap,” Rossi said with a little chuckle.

Y/N shared that smile for the briefest of moments, replying “You’re telling me.”

From their pocket, they pulled out some painkillers, popping them back with a slug of water then speaking again. “I remember Riley was smaller than me. Still figuring out coordination, but he liked to play chase. I know he was killed; I didn’t find out how until I looked into it last year.”

“Why did you look into it?” Rossi gently probed.

Y/N rubbed two fingers back and forth across their head as they spoke, “I was back here, I felt sick so I went for a walk in the park, and I just remembered him tripping over while trying to tag me. No one ever told me what happened, just that he had to go away. I wanted to know what happened to him.”

“Are you sick often?” Derek asked suddenly, his voice soft to match Rossi. Spencer grimaced at the treatment Y/N was receiving but said nothing.

“Headaches and stomach aches mostly.”

“You get them whenever you come home?”

“I do. Figured I was allergic to something but never figured out what.”

That would have to be a very quick response, like a dog allergy. And coincidental, seeing as the symptoms didn’t start until they saw Spencer.

“Y/N?” called their father, “Can you come here a moment please?”

“May I?”

“Of course,” said Derek and Y/N was out of the room. Derek pivoted in his chair to include Spencer in his theory, “I think they know something, but they don’t know they know it. I think they repressed this memory like you did, Spencer. We should take him to the therapist, see if we can jog his memory.”

“You can’t be serious,” Spencer covered his face with his hands, dragging them down with irritation.

Derek was persistent though, “Spencer, like it or not, Y/N’s linked to this investigation. Put aside your differences for a moment, please.”

Spencer all but squawked, “Put aside my differences?”

“You have brought a lot of bias to this case. Let us at least pursue this lead.”

“Sorry,” Y/N interrupted Spencer’s retort, sitting back at the table, “He needed someone to get unhook the loft door. Mom usually does it.”

“That’s alright.” Rossi waved a hand dismissively. Once Y/N accepted that, he moved in with Derek’s suggestion, “You know, some people have strong physical reactions to memories, trauma. Maybe you’re not getting sick. You’re rejecting something.”

“Rejecting?” repeated Y/N. There was no doubt in their voice, more cautious curiosity.

Derek nodded, “A memory, repressing it, and your body has linked the physical responses to your home. We think it has something to do with this case, and we’d like to see if we can retrieve any memories you might have. Would you be alright to come with us?”

“Yeah,” said Y/N, though they didn’t sound too certain, “Yeah sure.”

The resigned, too tired look on their face, and Spencer felt a tug in his chest. A longing to see Y/N smile like they had when they first entered the house. He’d rather hate someone who was happy than someone who suffered the same as him.

Leaving the house, Spencer took a deep breath of fresh air.

“Spencer?”

He ignored Y/N’s voice for a moment, but he couldn’t disregard Y/N standing in front of him and speaking again, “Spencer, can we talk please?”

“I’m busy,” He said, already walking off as he pretended to call someone, “Hey Garcia.”

 ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

 “Hold onto my hand, use it as an anchor, and squeeze when you feel fear.” Doctor Mohikian accepted Y/N’s hand on her wrist and their silence nod as they lay back on the same couch Spencer had been just hours before.

“I want you to think back to your childhood, back to when you were five. You’re at the park, your parents are on a bench watching nearby to keep you safe. What do you see?”

“Spencer Reid.”

Derek and Rossi glanced at Spencer, who did not react. They kept quiet so that Y/N could immerse themselves in the hypnosis.

“What’s he doing?” Doctor Mohikian continued.

“Teaching me chess.”

 ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

Sat on opposite sides of the table, Spencer and Y/N’s eyes were glued to the chess pieces that were neatly organised between them. Spencer was thinking strategy. He could not say the same for his companion Y/N. They reached a hand out and hovered over the pieces before finally selecting their last knight.

Their tongue clicked as Y/N trotted the piece on the spot.

“What’s this one again?”

“The knight,” Spencer recited, “It moves two spaces up, down, left or right, and another step perpendicular to the first direction.”

“Brave creatures riding into battle,” Y/N narrated before continuing their clip-clopping to its new position, “Pawns in the game of war.”

Spencer didn’t understand how they were coming up with this whilst playing. Well, actually, he did. Because Y/N was clearly not playing to win. They were playing for the best possible story.

“Where do you think this story will end?” Y/N asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You’re lying,” said Y/N, pushing back the sleeves of their white cardigan, “Come on, you can tell me, with your magic powers.”

“It’s not magic. It’s logic.”

“That’s magic to me,”

Narrowing his eyes, Spencer decided that he should give his friend the information they sought: “I see checkmate in fifteen moves.”

“See? Magic! The gift of sight!” crowed Y/N, clapping their hands together. The cardigan sleeves fell back in place as they did so. Spencer felt his cheeks heat up; he dropped his head so he could smile in privacy while Y/N began to decide their next move.

“How’s your mommy today?”

Shrugging, Spencer said, “Better than normal. But that means a bad day is around the corner.”

Y/N nodded solemnly. “Do you want another ice cream? I got more birthday money.”

“No thank you.” Spencer moved the piece but was immediately intercepted by Y/N, “You’re getting better.”

“Fank you.”

“You’ll have to wait longer to beat me though.” And he snatched Y/N’s knight away, just as planned and much to Y/N’s dismay.

A new voice from their left spoke, “Hey you’re pretty good.”

 ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

 Y/N’s grip tightened on Doctor Mohikian’s wrist, “Someone’s with us.”

“Who do you see?” Doctor Mohikian asked patiently.

“A man. He’s asking us if he can watch us play, listen to the story.”

“Do you want him to stay?”

“No,” Y/N flinched, “But Spencer keeps talking to him. The man won’t go away.”

“It’s OK, it’s OK, you’re safe, Y/N.”

Y/N flinched again, this time letting out a whimper, “He’s on the floor.”

“Spencer is?”

“No, the man.”

“What’s he doing on the floor?”

“He’s,” Y/N began panting, their face tensing and body jerking, “I can’t get to him. There’s glass in the way and the ground is shaking.”

“Y/N.”

“I can’t look, I’ll be sick! Whenever I see them, sick.”

“OK, you’re going to wake up in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!”

Their eyes snapped open with the click of the fingers and Y/N leapt out of Doctor Mohikian’s couch. Their head aimed over the bin by the door and they retched. Nothing came up but their stomach continued to squeeze up

Spencer fidgeted in his seat, trying his best not to look at Y/N. The choice words of the session, three in particular, wrapped around his head.

“Floor”.

Y/N had seen Gary Michaels inside, somewhere that wasn’t the park.

“Glass”.

A window, Y/N was watching what Gary Michaels was doing.

“Sick”.

“Go away! I can’t look at you! You make me feel sick, you and your family!”

“Them”.

It wasn’t just Michaels in the room alone. They had been a witness to his murder.

Derek’s movement to help Y/N took Spencer out of his analysis. Sweaty, Y/N was led back to the couch, the bin between their legs, head lolling forward. Spencer tried to move beside them for questioning, but Y/N winced and began heaving again. He felt that ache in his chest again. He was causing this and nothing he could do would change that. Not until they both knew what happened to Riley and Y/N got help through it.

“What did you see, Y/N?” Derek asked as he replaced Spencer’s spot beside them.

With watering eyes, Y/N looked at Spencer, “The man we played with, he was on the floor. His head – thank you.” They accepted the water from Doctor Mohikian, gulping some back, “It was smashed in.”

The three agents left the room, Doctor Mohikian following after Y/N left to get some air.

“It’s logical to assume that Y/N tied that sickness, that repulsion because of what they thought they saw your mother be involved with, to you and your family,” Doctor Mohikian evaluated.

Interrupting again, Spencer stammered his way through his analysis, “That’s why they avoided me. They associated me with being ill. It’s probably also why they ran away so much; they had to get away from this horrible feeling they had associated with their home.”

Doctor Mohikian shook her head, “We won’t be able to use this in court, I told you when we started.”

Derek’s phone started to ring. As he answered, Spencer somehow managed to slip away for long enough to find Y/N. They were leaning against the ramp’s railing in front of the practice, their body lifting and slumping with each deep breath they took. Against his better judgement, he moved toward them.

“Y/N? Can I have your number?”

The breathing slowed again.

“I need it to call you with an update on the situation as soon as we get one.”

Without looking up, Y/N pulled out their phone and handed it over to Spencer. He punched his number in a new contact, using this time to gather the courage to maybe say something else. The hurt and pain went beyond him now. Y/N was suffering and had been much longer than he had.

“Thank you, Y/N,” Spencer said quietly, hoping that his didn’t add to the illness, “I hope you feel better soon.”

Their head still down, Y/N croaked, “You too, Spencer.”

“Spencer, get over here! We got a match on a print on Michaels’ body!”

 ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

“What makes you think Gary Michaels killed your boy?”

“He admitted it,” Lou Jenkins said, as monotonous as he had been for the last fifteen minutes of the interrogation.

Derek’s quickfire was on Jenkins instantly, “You beat a guy with a baseball bat, he's going to admit to a lot of things. How do you know he was the right guy?”

“I know. He approached another kid in the neighbourhood.”

“And how do you know that?

“I was told by a concerned party.”

“Who? Another parent?”

Jenkins leant back in his chair, “That's all I'm going to say on the subject.”

“Who was it?” Spencer suddenly spoke up.

Caught off guard at his interjection, Jenkins awkwardly parroted himself, “I told you that's all I'm going to say on the sub—"

Reid slammed his hands on the table, getting right up in Lou’s face, “Who was it?”

The door opened, Detective Hyde appeared, “Agent Reid?”

“Do not interfere with this interrogation, detective,” shouted Spencer, “This is not your case anymore!”

Once again, he was cut off. This time, by the arrival of his own mother, Diana, and her admission of guilt: “Spencer, it was me”.

  ---> ---> ---> ---> ---> 

  Of all the things this case had brought him, Spencer least expected to be sitting in a room with his mother and father together for the first time in years. To have Diana explain to him how she was involved in a child’s murder was also up there with the unthinkable.

But he stayed quiet and listened to her confession.

The reveal that she had seen Gary Michaels playing chess with him and Y/N, that she and got a feeling that something was wrong before anything had even happened, opened the story. Lou Jenkins’ involvement was next on the menu. Two days after the chess game, he drove Diana to Michaels’ house, disclosed his history of child abuse, and demanded she leave while he went into the house.

Upon reaching the point where she entered the house, Diana struggled with her words. William reached over and took her hand.

She described seeing Lou with the bat, standing over the body, slipping in the pool of blood, finding Y/N standing in the window and their face, their little face as innocent as the white cardigan that covered their shoulders and absorbed the blood from Diana’s hands as she shook their shoulders.

“And the rest... It's all dark after that.”

William continued for her. Diana came home and brought Y/N with her. Eventually he came to understand what had happened and decided that nobody could ever know.

“You were burning her bloody clothes,” Spencer concluded.

His father nodded, “But the knowing, you can't burn that away. It changes everything.”

“You paid for Y/N to go to therapy.”

William didn’t seem surprised that Spencer knew this, going straight into explaining: “They went into a dissociative fugue state after seeing what Lou had done. When Diana brought them home, they were just stiff. I asked them for their home number, to call their parents, but they started screaming and throwing up. We had to take them to the police station.” He mopped his brow with a handkerchief, “They needed help, but their parents couldn’t afford it. And they didn’t know what had happened. I couldn’t drag another person into this, Spencer.”

“Is this why you left?”

“I tried to keep us together, Spencer. I swear to you, but the weight of that knowledge, it was too much.”

“You could have come back. Could have started over.”

“I didn't know how to take care of you anymore. When I lost that confidence, there was no going back. What's done is done.”

“At least now you know the truth,” Diana made an effort to smile at her son

Choking on his words and the overwhelming remorse he felt, Spencer refused to look at his parents any longer, “I was wrong about everything. I'm sorry.”

And William said something that Spencer had been waiting for, for a long time, “I am, too, Spencer.”

  ---> ---> ---> ---> ---> 

  All of this was repeated when Spencer walked with Y/N through their old park the following day. Filling the final gaps in the memory would hopefully bring some respite to them both. Or at least maybe something to start the recovery process, easing Y/N’s sickness and Spencer’s pain.

“I’m sorry for my behaviour during this case,” Spencer sniffed, “When you said we made you sick, back when we were four, I thought you had seen my mom during one of her episodes and thought she was a freak, like everyone else.”

That stopped Y/N in their tracks, their hands coming up to cover their mouth, their eyes misty, “Oh Spencer, I’m sorry too, I’m so, so sorry I caused you so much pain.”

Spencer’s hands rushed up as if to create belated damage control, “It’s ok! I hurt you too. I made you sick.”

“That wasn’t your fault though.”

“It wasn’t yours either. We were kids.”

Almost pedantic, stropping, like a child again, Y/N moaned, “It’s all been such a waste. We could have been friends all this time!”

“We can be friends now,” Spencer pushed his hands down into his pockets to stop them flailing about anymore. His sentence was phrased more like a question.

One that Y/N gladly answered, “I would like really that.”

Sitting in the reply for a moment, Spencer followed up on his concerns, “How are you feeling? I mean, are you feeling sick again?”

“A bit, but I can handle it.”

Spencer could not see any changes in their behaviour from the day before. So obviously they were lying about that. But he didn’t protest. The lie meant Y/N wanted to stay with him, which was good - Spencer wanted that too.

They kept walking, only in silence for half a minute before Spencer broke it again, “I read your books last night.”

“Yeah?”

“‘The Siege of the Lost Faiths’ in Rogue’s Mask, that was our first game of chess.”

“It had by far the best narrative,” Y/N dragged their shoe a little on the grass before coming to a stop, “Do you still play?”

“All the time.”

They nodded over to where the old chess tables still stood, “Fancy a game before you go?”

Spencer grinned, “Just promise that this is the only setting where we’ll be on conflicting sides from now on.”

“Promise.”

Brushing the debris from the table, they both took their places opposite each other. From Y/N’s bag was revealed a box, spilling their painted chess pieces across the board. Remembering how they had stood in Y/N’s room, Spencer helped to set up the match. They took their seats opposite one another. Y/N was the green side, Spencer the purple.

Spencer moved first. After a second’s deliberation, Y/n moved their pawn.

“Isn’t there a story with this one?” Spencer said, an implicated teasing in his tone despite his shyness.

With an equally bashful eye roll, Y/N started their new story, “First begins the battle with the royals on both sides sending intrepid messengers to meet and pass along their deeds.”

Spencer took Y/N’s pawn. As he lifted their piece away, he spoke quietly, “One not as intrepid as the other.”

A gasp dropped from Y/N’s smile. He had never joined in the narrative telling before, always too taken up in the match to invest in whatever story they spun. 

“He’s not a coward,” They said, still smiling, much to Spencer’s delight, “Prisoner’s dilemma, he just couldn’t trust the other with his life.”

“Did they know each other before this battle?”

“Yes,” Y/N moved a knight across, stealing Spencer’s pawn, “They were brothers who once shared a crib and now they share a grave.”

Throughout the game, Y/N continued the story with Spencer asking questions just to hear them talk more. The maturity of the stories had grown just as Y/N’s voice had. They knuckled their eyes a few times, but they didn’t complain about the headache.

“I know what endings you like,” Spencer moved his rook, “Checkmate in five.”

Y/N didn’t seem to mind that little dig, “This’ll have to be a short story instead then.”

Spencer’s next sentence got away from him, trailing off the closer he got to the end of it, “You could write an anthology series, if we see each other again and play more games.”

Where Spencer’s voice disappeared, Y/N’s returned with invigoration, “That’s not a half bad idea, Spencer.”

The checkmate never came. Y/N diverted the ending into a draw.

“A peace treaty has been forged by the survivors, because too many lives have been lost to justify this violence anymore. If only they realised sooner that no blood had to be shed for peace to rule the lands.” And they smiled at Spencer, clearly chuffed as they leaned back in their chair, “Bit of an upgrade from the horse noises, I’ll say.”

Spencer rotated the purple knight – the illusionist – between his thumb and forefinger, “I liked the horse noises.”

“You should have said during the match! I’d recreate them, for you.”

One by one, the pieces were placed back into their box until the last piece remained in Spencer’s palm: the knight or Soren the Illusionist, distractions and deceptions but he loved the tricks that delighted most of all. Just like Spencer with his magic tricks but a little to the left. The character was always one of Y/N’s favourites. Some solace away from the pain of thinking of who he was based on.

Y/N pushed Spencer’s hand away, closes his fist around it, “Keep him. He was made with you in mind anyway.”

The information sank in and Spencer’s nose wrinkled with the little smile on his face as he cupped the little Illusionist, “I’m Soren?”

Nodding, Y/N confirmed, “You’re Soren.”

“But what about your set though?”

“I can always make and paint another knight,” and Y/N tilted the piece upside down in Spencer’s hand, revealing the signature on the underside, “You and him are the originals, it’s only fair you stay together.”

In a moment of pure instinct and nostalgia, Spencer clicked his tongue as he twisted Soren in time with the noise. Y/N let out a burst of laughter that dragged the air out of Spencer’s chest.

“Hey, do you wanna get dinner tonight?” He said, running out of breath very quickly as a result.

It had a similar effect on Y/N, “I thought you – don’t you have to get back to Virginia?”

“I have time for dinner. For you.”

  ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

 The bookstore was packed but the breath of the patrons was held as one. All eyes were watching the mini stage where a crouching figure lifted their head up slowly. A jump as the tension broke with the figure leaping up to their feet with a bang.

Y/N pushed up the brim of their cap. Snatching a deep green hoodie from the purple trunk – silver constellations painted on the sides – they swung it over their back before picking up the page where they had left off.

“Nasima looked up at Mason and said, ‘Well that was just unnecessary.’”

A burst of laughter shot through the pre-teens in the front row, spreading to the adolescents sitting further back who had grown up with the author’s other works, finally reaching the adults at the back where Spencer was fiddling with his cane. He adjusted the sleeve of his costume absentmindedly. He was just like everyone else in the room: captivated by how Y/N was so immersed in their reading.

They had just mimed kicking down a door, plus sound effects from their mouth. Swapping back and forth between the two conflicting characters arguing with one another, changing between the hoodie and the cap with every other line of dialogue and taking both off for the role of the narrator, it was certainly a workout.

An exaggerated breath was drawn into Y/N’s lungs, flopping over in a melodramatic state, which caused another laugh in the audience.

Spencer’s nose scrunched up as he grinned. He knew this was part of the scene; he’d seen Y/N rehearse this story in their sitting room. It was so much better to share this with an audience, for their reactions to fuel Y/N’s energy.

Y/N finished the short story A Battle of Bent Truths with a flourish, leaving the rest of the anthology for their audience to read in their own time. The kids were up on their feet first. Some of them were jumping up and down as they applauded with the rest of the shop. Y/N gave a big grin as they bowed, sweeping their cap off for extra drama.

There was a book signing and a photographer that followed, and Spencer waited patiently at the end of the queue, thankful that the store allowed him to bring a chair along with him. He was happy to entertain his godson and friends with a few tricks to pass the time.

“Another one please!” Henry jumped up and down when Spencer revealed his card.

A minor commotion arose by the photographer’s backdrop. There was a teenager was crying; she was clutching her copy of Untold Tales of Human Nature. Y/N was holding their shoulders, rubbing gently and speaking softly. Only half paying attention to his next trick, Spencer kept an eye on Y/N as they hugged the teenager, looking near tears themselves.

“Spencer?” J.J tapped him on the shoulder and Spencer realised that Henry was looking a little mad to have lost his godfather’s attention so easily.

“Sorry, Henry, can you pick another card please?”

When they reached the front of the queue, JJ went up first and took Henry and his pals up to see Y/N. They instantly recognised JJ and welcomed her with a tight hug. Henry was delighted to see his favourite babysitter and show them off to his school friends, boasting that they had read to him before today.

“They read me bits for bedtime, Mommy!”

“I know!” JJ tickled his cheek, “I read them to you too.”

“Who do you like better?”

“Mommy,”

Y/N gasped, dropping to their knees which made Spencer wince, “Henry, you wound me!”

Rossi approach next, knowing that once Spencer got to Y/N, they would not be left alone.

“You really know how to captivate an audience,” He kissed them on both cheeks, “Though don’t take offence if I don’t use the same tricks at my readings.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it! Thank you for coming.”

Y/N then caught Spencer’s eye and began meandering over to him with a smile they were desperately trying to stifle. Spencer rose from his chair, meeting Y/N in the middle.

“Hi, Spencer.”

With his free arm, Spencer flaunted his cloak, “Who is Spencer? I’m Soren the Illusionist!”

Giggles from his godson, his godson’s gang, his co-workers and friends, they almost caused Y/N to lose their composure. They held on just long enough to continue the banter.

“Oh, forgive me, you look so much like my boyfriend.”

“Hmmm, he must be very handsome,”

And Y/N burst into peals of laughter, waving their hands about, “OK, stop, stop, stop, I can’t.”

“Hey!” Spencer pretended to take offence, pouting as Y/N brought him into a hug.

“Don’t worry,” They kissed his cheek between giggles, “You are so very handsome.”

“To think you were once sick at the sight of me.”

[sharpe-lances]

7.08 Paranoid Android

i don’t think i’m gonna be able to organize my thoughts about the episode and put them into words??? like it was so good and it was a great midseason premiere. the only thing i didn’t like about it is that robo!avalance didn’t kiss haha jk unless,,

INTRO

HOW WONDERFUL WAS THIS INTRO?!?! i like the quotation marks they had in their names 😂😂😂 probably nodding to the fact that they thought they were the real legends lmao (also i liked sara’s narration at the beginning)

EVIL!GIDEON

evil!gideon is so sick like she programmed the robo!legends to believe that they’re the real legends and the ones they’re going after are the robo ones who are evil 😭😭 she’s really the mastermind of them all with the help, of course, of dr. sharpe

DR. SHARPE

at first i thought she was the most evil of them all, with all her manipulations and secrets. i thought she was time mistress!ava who got thrown out to the temporal zone but it turned out she was also a robot.

ranking the robo!legends on the evil scale, dr. sharpe is most definitely just below gideon. she knew about gideon’s plans and she was okay with it???? she literally said, “don’t you see? we can’t die.” she’s all about protecting the timeline no matter what (kinda like our s3 agent sharpe but not quite)

again, jes’ acting was superb !! (everyone’s actings were). i don’t know if dr. sharpe was actually written as such, but the way jes portrayed dr. sharpe as an emotionless android, with her monotonous voice and poker face, was so good.

ROBO!LEGENDS

i never thought robo!behrad would be so fond of violence. he’s a total opposite of our behrad. he even competes with spooner about guns and fights with her over who gets to shoot the target. like when he wanted to avenge zari, he wanted to shoot people.

on the other hand, spooner’s love for guns and shooting was only amplified lmao.

I LOVED ROBO!ZARI AND ROBO!ASTRA SO MUCH. i missed seeing them together bc they have a really good dynamic even with their robot counterparts.

zari and her stress ball???? hilarious. zari hacking with one hand while holding her stress ball in the other??? hot. also, the way she called gideon ‘gidget’ 😂 maybe gideon left it in her programming bc she secretly liked it lol. i also never expected that she’d double-cross sara and get manipulated easily by evil!gideon (it kinda made me sad) but at least we got lots of sara and zari interaction, even if it’s with z 2.0.

astra caring for the timeline by saying the people needed to die the way they did in the original timeline???? unexpected. astra in this episode was basically serving looks while quarterbacking and betting on how sara would kill the doctor lmao.

gary this episode was just him going to a buffet 😂😂😂😭😭😭

nate and his “red ain’t good” and his hilariously ginormous arms and his incessant need of punching or kicking people 😂😂 the way he was programmed, like he was all body and no brains, was so funny along with the fact that he didn’t care about history as much as our nate did lol. plus, he speaks very funny 😭😭😭 tho his beard is very sexy

lastly, but definitely not the least, robo!sara killed me with her white canary suit and her other outfit. the ponytail???? the knee-high boots???? like omg my heart couldn’t handle it. the part where she pretended to be asleep during surgery and stayed silent the whole time through the pain reminded me of our assassin!sara 🥺😭 and the fact that she started to question everything she was doing to preserve the timeline just proves how much of a good person our sara really is (because, you know, the androids were programmed after our legends’ personalities). however, robo!assassin!sara was very hot though ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

they really were programmed differently by evil!gideon. she turned them into murderous psychos in the guise of fixing the timeline and protecting history and that was so twisted of her 😭 7.03 has a whole new meaning now and makes so much more sense because it showed that after everything our gideon has been through with our legends, they created a special bond that made our gideon a lot more than just an AI whose primary purpose is to serve the timeline. (maybe rip’s program has somehow helped but i believe it was mostly due to the family they created through time)

i initially thought that the robo!legends were gonna side with sara after dr. sharpe told them the truth but instead they laughed it off and didn’t even give it a second thought. i think the path they’re going with the robo!legends is that they’ll probably become self-aware and question their actions and have existential crises as the season goes and our legends are gonna help them sort themselves out??? (if this is what will happen, i hope our ava and gideon have big roles to play, seeing as they’re more familiar with being programmed and could relate more to them). and maybe then robo!avalance would get together 😏😏 i could only hope lol.

also, i’m looking forward to when our legends find out about the existence of robo!legends and how they will react. i just wanna see our legends fighting their robo counterparts. it would be so cool.

SOME MORE THOUGHTS

i seriously believed at first that robo!avalance were secretly dating because how the hell do you explain those meaningful looks™️??? and the sexual tension™️???? oh god

my s7 eps ranking!!

7.07

7.08

7.04

7.01

7.03

7.05

7.02

7.06

also,, i’m waiting for all the robo!avalance fics to come. can’t wait 😆 the “sorry to interrupt, doc” line really got me eidosjaaoakaj

[ravenadottir]

cmm

one last time, because i hope i never have to talk about this again. wanna know how tragic it was to wake up in the morning and spend a solid thirty minutes on today's episodes?

i'll tell you... through bullet points... SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO THROUGH IT.

🚨🚨 SPOILER ALERT! 🚨🚨

sooooooo... episode 9, filler. @bobby-mckenzie called it yesterday, and yes, oh, yes it was. not even a good filler, 'cause if episode 9 was a snack, it would be yogurt. (shout out to elladine for this reference).

next we have the confirmations fusebox thought it was important to address, such as:

- gary bleaches his hair. my whole trauma is clear, thank you so much for the observation. i would've died of curiosity if you hadn't confirmed it. except WE ALL KNEW IT, and it was the one fun thing to banter about, so thanks ? no "good effort" medals for you.

- rocco has a big dick. i don't know what to tell you except... yay? for chelsea? my mc is not bouncing on that so why should i care??? what do you want me to do with this information? next time i replay s2, look him up and down and go "rocco... NICE COCK." ?? that's... weird that they felt the need to put this out there.

- lucas actually planning a van/bike trip with rocco. I'M REALLY GLAD THIS IS THE LAST TIME I SEE LUCAS NOT BEING LUCAS.

- MAYO LOG, 'BON HAPPY EAT' AND PEOPLE SAYING BILL SOUNDS LIKE GARY. I- PLEASE. i'm ✨disgusted✨

- gary misspelling a word that's so fucking obvious and common? really going out of your way and reinforcing the working class stereotype here, fusebox. they really grabbed gary by the tiddies and said "you're not gary, you're his dumb cousin, barry."

- rahim in fact brought the horse for his chad character, and you know what?? WE DIDN'T EVEN GET TO SEE THE DAMN HORSE. i repeat, THEY COULDN'T DRAW THE HORSE! do i understand how he knew about the murder mystery? no, i do not. am i gonna play it back to remember? NO ❤, I SIMPLY DO NOT CARE. CONSISTENCY LEFT THE BUILDING OVER A YEAR AGO, and i'm about to as well.

- "love on the prairie", by hannah GODDAMN griffiths??? can you be more obvious? IT'S A MIRACLE HOMEGIRL GOT TO WRITE A WHOLE GODDMAN BOOK OVER WHAT... 5 HOURS SHE WAS IN THERE? moving on.

- hannah got a surname but not... noah? carl? henrik? kassam? ibrahim? hope? priya? lottie? marisol? like- THANKS, I'LL MAKE SURE TO MAKE A FULL-ON FANFIC AND MOODBOARD WITH THIS PIECE OF SHIT INFORMATION. i'm sorry, i'm getting aggressive again, but it really tickles the pits of hell inside of me that we got her surname and not anyone else's. good for the... 3 hannah stans that are with her i guess??? 🗣 AND SHE WASN'T EVEN THERE!!!!!

- oh yeah, marisol was the killer in mine. i really tricked myself into believing this wasn't gonna be a "BLUE'S CLUES" children's detective club, and the nail thing was gonna be a ✨MISDIRECT✨. my bad. i will bring zero expectations with me next time.

- again. if this whole special was to finalize some plotlines the players needed to be unvailed, why didn't all the characters get surnames? THERE'S NO REASON FOR THAT.

ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS 'WOW'.

did i leave something untouched? i think so, because married mc's get some consequences if they cheated?

not if you're single tho. nothing interesting happens if you chose to bed someone. which is weird that i banged gary but didn't get a scene with him ?? like, nothing ??

besides that, that's all it happened. which means this whole special could've been resumed within FIVE episodes. not ten! five was more than enough.

did the single mc get a cool scene with chelsea at the end? one that i actually pictured it could be chelsea and mc in the finale of season 2 if mc is single? yes, i did. was it worth it? NO. it was the only consistent thing on chelsea so far, and for that, i... thank ... you? I DON'T. THE WHOLE THING WAS A WASTE OF MY TIME AND ENERGY.

but if you wanna see it, here it is. they laugh a lot and made me think there was some funny oregano in the drinks, but eventually they got to tell each other how special they are to one another. it was actually nice, but that's the only cumpliment i have.

this would've been perfect on afterparty if mc stole the money and was single. here? "you can always count on chelsea" should've happened back then, when mc needed a shoulder to lean on, but i digress!

i was also disappointed thinking these creepy pictures could mean something, and they were the house owner's, which would turn out to be someone importnat, but hey, I GUESS I SET MYSELF TO FAILURE EXPECTING THE BARE MINIMUM.

the only thing i truly thought about chelsea and how she's treated by men was confirmed but i can't give props to them because... RANDOM? OBVIOUS? HAS BEEN SAID BEFORE?

IN CONCLUSION:

i'm honestly sad that they felt the need to ruin all these characters for us, just so they would have a small money grab. like-

STOP INVESTING ENERGY AND RESOURCES ON SPECIALS THAT DO NOTHING FOR THEM. PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU. FOCUS ON THE NEW SEASON AND PLEASE, STOP WITH THE SPIN-OFFS.

milking this season just so you wouldn't do them justice?? no one asked for this. no one asked for yet another piece, if you can call it that, that just doesn't bring anything to the table. they ruined a good thing and for what?

like-

this is the type of thing people remember hating but can't remember the reasoning behind said hatred. you know why? THE WHOLE THING WAS BUSTED.

and the fact that they had zero care for female li's?? henrik? carl? hope? the actual history about the others? the whole mystery was so forced and unfunny how obvious it was.

no other new layers on anything except for disgusting foods chelsea made??

fusebox really out here saying they put some effort into this.