#he's just having fun with it and it's great especially coming off the previous episodes where he's been grieving for jadzia

[kitkatt0430]

Benjamin Sisko is an amazing man, but it's still hilarious that so many people to fixate on him as their personal rival.

Dukat, Eddington, and Solok are the most notable three. And all three all wind up completely changing their personalities to revolve around one-upping Sisko and he winds up beating them anyway.

After Dukat destroys his career, he re-fashions himself into what is essentially the Emissary of the Pah-Wraiths. He's always been fixated on Sisko to some degree, but the final season takes it up to eleven.

Eddington becomes fed up with his career and projects his frustrations on to Sisko, re-imagining their relationship to be one where he's the noble criminal and Sisko the evil, relentless enforcer. But reality was never going to conform to his imaginings.

Solok, the Vulcan who was so obsessed with one-upping Sisko that he also developed an obsession with baseball. He drags his crew into it. He taunts Ben with it, makes things personal in a way the other two can't. In part because Solok is so incredibly petty. The other two are so grandiose in their methods, but Solok takes the petty route every time.

[luveline]

𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 | 𝐚𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐞𝐫

when internet trolls poke fun at your appearance while working on a case, hotch is there to make you feel better. fem!reader, 3k

tw cyberbullying, poor eating habits, criminal minds typical violence

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

You're not a media liaison or anything close, but with JJ off for maternity leave and Penelope in Quantico, there's a face needed for the press announcement on TV, and you offer to step in. 

You aren't particularly eager to do it, but Hotch doesn't have the time or wherewithal and such a high intensity case, not while Spencer is at half-mast, migraines rendering him ineffective and stubborn. You're trying to keep the ship sailing smoothly, doing your part of the profiling while juggling media and supporting the police sergeant that's heading the tip line.

You're not expecting to become a joke. After a red-eye, three sleepless nights trying to find a missing woman in Oklahoma —the domestic violence capital— and a full day without something to eat, you're aware you don't look your best, but you aren't sure what that has to do with your missing person. 

The FBI — fugly bitches International. #FindDanaLangley

Damn, are they not letting those agents sleep or what? She looks terrible ! 

she should be less worried about Dana Langley and more concerned with the dead woman in the mirror, ew 

hope theu find her just so they stop putting this creature on TV #FindDanaLangley

"Well," you murmur, wondering if it would be inappropriate to burst into tears, "these aren't especially helpful." 

Derek looks at you, his gaze measured, and you know he's not sure how to react to you or what's happening. He settles on his usual loving encouragement, because he's a very good friend. 

"Don't listen to all that," he says, throwing his arm around your shoulder, "those trolls wouldn't know beautiful if it hit them in the face. But we could always try it?" 

You sink into his hold, needing the reassurance even if you wish you didn't. "No hitting," you say, covering your mouth to hide a large and possibly fugly yawn. Your head is racing with regurgitated insults. "It doesn't matter, Derek. Promise. We have bigger stuff to deal with." 

The door opens and Hotch and Emily step inside, Rossi just behind them. You're thinking Hotch is going to agree with your sentiment, no time for comfort when a woman's life is at stake, so you move away from Morgan to sit in front of your laptop again. 

"Is something wrong?" Hotch asks. 

You meet his eyes just long enough to smile at him. "Nothing. What did Amandla have to say?" 

Emily retells the alibi of Dana's ex-girlfriend and is clearly suspicious but without proof, you're forced as a team to move on to the next lead. Spencer returns shortly afterward and you try to brainstorm your next step. 

It's Penelope that pulls through. "You asked me to cross reference the neighbours at Dana's previous address with people crossing state lines, right, after that one guy ended up being kinda icky? Well I did that, and nothing came up, which was–" 

"Garcia," Hotch interrupts. 

"Right. Long story short, one of the neighbours recently had an extreme falling out with Icky Guy after a years long friendship, his name is Justin Mantova, he has extreme PTSD with documented episodes of confused aggression, and he's been seen coming in and out of a storage unit in Paseo Storage Solutions for the past four days." 

"Address?" Hotch asks. 

"Already sent to your phones." 

"Thank you, Pen," you say. 

"Just go catch the bad guy, pretty girl," she says. 

Ah, so she's seen the tweets too. You frown rather than smile, reminded again of what's been said and wishing you could be anywhere else. 

You get your wish and forget all about personal grievances for a while, concerned with the safe location and extraction of Dana Langley. The operation is clean, and she's hurt but has a great chance at a full recovery. It's quick, it's professional. 

You're falling asleep in the SUV on the way back. Hotch at the wheel, Spencer in the backseat, you rub your eyes from the passenger side and try not to look suspiciously morose, but it's impossible. Hotch is too good at his job. 

"Are you sure everything's okay?" he asks. With Spencer's window open and the wind whipping, it's hard to hear him. 

"Hm?" 

"Is everything okay?" 

"I'm just tired." You don't look at him. It's rude of you, but if what they've said is true —you'd seen the photographs, and you looked tired, sure, but you still looked like you. "Just tired," you say again. You snap your mouth closed when your voice wobbles. 

Hotch is regularly too sweet on you. Most of the team say it's a crush. Emily calls it 'character development. Whatever it is, he's nice to you. He warmed up to you near immediately when you first joined the team, and he's been as welcoming months later as he was in your first week. 

Maybe he feels sorry for me, you think, submerging yourself inch by inch into self pity. 

The three of you regroup with the others at the police station to pen immediate recounts of what happened before you can forget, tying up loose ends. 

Finally you're able to go back to the hotel. Another half an hour and you're in the lobby.

"We'll go home in the morning. Nine AM flight, meet in the lobby at eight thirty," Hotch says. "Get some rest." 

You disband. They've squeezed you in all over the place, and you're lucky enough to be next to the elevator on the second floor. Hotch is the third floor, and everyone else the sixth, so you say goodbye to your colleagues and exit the elevator, stepping onto the second floor with a parting smile.

You can't know it, but Hotch notices the way your smile falls before the doors have well and truly closed. Your shoulders slump in defeat. 

You trudge into your room and don't bother turning on the lights. The door closes behind you and the mask you'd been holding up starts to crack. You put your laptop in the closet despite temptation to boot it up, knowing no good can come of looking at the tip hashtag again. 

You head into the bathroom to pee, and you're confronted with your appearance as you wash your hands. 

You stare at yourself. 

You look tired. 

Tears well as you look at yourself. You're not those things those people said. You're pretty, and when you smile everyone knows it. There's nothing so beautiful as a smile. You can't summon one, but you know it's the truth. 

Or, it should be. 

A single tear falls down your cheek, quickly followed by a second, and a third from the other eye. You ignore them, tracing the line of your bottom lip, the texture of your skin on your cheeks, the slight sunken effect of your under eyes. 

A knock makes you flinch. "Fuck," you say, wiping your cheek with the back of a hand, twisting on the spot like looking into your room might reveal whoever it is at the door. Probably one of your team. "Hello?" you call. 

"It's me. It's Hotch. I know it's after hours, but I wanted to speak with you."

Whatever reassurance he has to give might actually make this all much worse. You don't want any pity from anybody, you just want today to be over. Still, you wiggle your toes into the plush hotel carpeting, debating only for a moment about the pros and cons of pretending to be asleep. 

"Hey," you say, opening the door. You wipe your eyes and hope he takes it for a tired gesture rather than a method of hiding the glassy sheen at your waterline. "Hi, Hotch, how are you feeling?" 

"Fine. Tired. Thank you for asking." 

"Do you want to come in?" you ask. 

"Please." 

Hotch follows you into your room. There's an armchair across from the bed next to a desk and an old TV sitting atop it. Your suitcase is still open on your bed, your pyjamas crumpled in the shell. You close it before Hotch can see. That's another thing to add to your list: being a slob. 

"It's very clean in here," he says. 

You startle. "What?" 

"It's clean, considering how long we've been here. Have you ever seen Spencer's room at the end of a case?" he asks. 

"No, is it bad?" 

"It's like a paper hurricane."

You look down at your knees, hyper aware of his gaze on your face, tired of feeling uneasy in your skin. 

"I wanted to say thank you for doing the press release yesterday. You did an amazing job. It's something to be proud of." 

Of course he's talking about the press release, the one thing you need to not think about. 

"Did Derek tell you?" you ask. 

"Tell me what?" he asks, voice sharpening.

You look up. Hotch is a picture of concern, professionalism slightly off centre. 

"Nothing." 

"Something's been bothering you. Something Derek should've told me, I'm guessing." 

You chew over your words. "Uh. Hotch, it's really nothing, it's a hiccup. The press release, I…" You really don't want to have to say it. The words get stuck at the back of your throat.

He leans forward. "What?" 

"I looked sick. On TV. I looked really unwell, and it– it actually–" Why are you stammering? What's wrong with you? You laugh and it's not your laugh but it's better than your nonsense stuttering. "Sorry. On the press release, I didn't look my best, and it was a hot topic. That's what I thought Derek told you about. But I don't need anyone feeling sorry for me, Hotch." 

"I don't feel sorry for you." 

You wince, "No, of course not." 

"Two seconds," he says, putting his hand forward in the air between you. "A hot topic? I don't understand." He looks genuinely apologetic. 

"The tip line got clogged up with comments about my appearance," you say. You phrase it as a professional error rather than the embarrassing event it represents in your personal life.

His lips curl downward. "Saying you looked tired." 

"Saying I looked unagreeable." 

"As a friend," he says, tone softening, "could you tell me what they said?" 

Heat blooms in your cheeks and behind your eyes, your throat aching as you scratch at a nonexistent itch in the crook of your elbow. "Um. Well, there was a lot of them, and they weren't all about me, but the ones I saw, they seemed to think I needed more sleep. That I–" 

Hitch rarely interrupts, but something in your voice must impel him. "What did they say?" he asks again. 

"That I looked like a creature. That they hoped Miss Langley would be found, so that they didn't have to see my face on TV again. Hotch," you say, your throat sounding as tight as it feels, "it was pretty bad, but it really doesn't matter." 

"I think it matters if it's upset you," he says. 

He has the warmest voice when he wants it to be, so dulcet, almost melodic. You'd think it was a practised phrase, but he speaks freely. 

"It didn't," you lie. 

Pointless in your line of work and automatic anyways. Hotch doesn't deny you the safety of your untruth, but he doesn't entertain it, either. 

"You're beautiful when you're tired," he says. 

You don't mean to, but you hold your breath. The silence that follows his remark is deafening. 

"You're beautiful," he says, again, as though you could've missed it the first time. "Regrettably, you're very tired, but you don't look any less pretty. Don't think what was sent in to the tip line has any merit." 

"Are you saying that as my friend or my boss?" you ask. It's meant to be a joke that lightens the mood. 

"Neither," Hotch says.

You gawp, and then falter. "Why…" 

Hotch is close enough to offer a hand, and you're feeling stupid enough to take it. He squeezes tenderly, looking you straight in the eye. "I'm sorry about what's being said. I had no idea. We can pull the video, and the tipline should stop now Dana's been found, but it doesn't erase what's already happened. I'm so sorry. It's not right, and it's not fair." 

"It's a hard job, right?" you ask.

His hand is so so big, and not as soft as you'd pictured. It doesn't make a difference, not when he's touching you like you might shatter. 

"That's not the job," he says.

"It's silly to care, though. About what other people think." 

"I hope you care about what I think. The merit of an opinion comes from the person, and the relationship you have with them. Anyone who knew you would know that you're beautiful." 

"Inside that counts," you say, not fully comforted, but trying to give him an out. 

"You're beautiful on the outside," he says, giving your hand a small shake. "You're an amazing woman, of course. But I, for one, enjoyed seeing your face on TV."

You try not to smile too hard, directing your gaze at your joined hands lest he get a read on you.

Hotch must know how you feel about him. He'd be an awful profiler if he didn't. You fawn when you're around him even now, months down the line from your very first meeting when you were sure your heart would ricochet from your chest, the intensity of your instant crush like nothing you'd felt, not even as a schoolgirl. He'd been tall, striking, classically handsome and completely unaware of the fact. Now he's sitting across from you and he doesn't seem so tall, nor so striking. His caring side shines like a gem. It's blinding, and it really does make you feel better. 

"I cried in the bathroom," you confess, rubbing your thumb against his in minute, near imperceptible circles. "I wish it didn't matter to me, how I looked. I know I was doing something important, and there wasn't time to freshen up. Maybe I should've just asked somebody else." 

"You did it perfectly. You were perfect. No one else could have delivered the profile to the public that professionally, and that astutely." 

Hotch stands up, and you don't know what to do. You decide to look up at him just as he takes your face into his hands. 

"No crying in bathrooms, okay? It would… it breaks my heart thinking about it. You come to me."  

Such a dramatic statement, yet Hoch lays it out like it's an unquestionable truth. No bravado, only a sincerity that makes your throat hurt. His frown slides back into place as his palms warm your cheeks. 

"You're so busy, I could never," you say, shaking your head. 

"Time and place, sure, but. I will always try to make time for you. I hope you know that by now." 

You nod dazedly. Hotch's hands drag with a pressure down to your neck, your shoulders, leaving tingling skin in their wake. He looks at you and time stretches, a few seconds pulled out of order. It's his closeness, and his affectionate, empathetic smile. 

You nod again. 

He relaxes. 

"Try and get some rest, okay? You need to take care of yourself. I know it's hard to ignore how you feel, I know today was hard, but you're one of the strongest people I've ever met. I have faith in you." He gives your shoulder a final squeeze. "Are you alright?" 

"Yeah," you say. It comes out much more quietly than intended.

"Rest, honey. Call me if you're upset again. I mean it." 

He smooths your cheek with the back of his forefinger and you wonder if this is some weird fantasy. Hotch makes for the door, and you know for sure it's real when he says, "And no more caffeine tonight." 

"No more caffeine," you agree. 

He doesn't realise he's twice as bad as a coffee. Your heart races all by itself, his phantom touch on your cheek. 

—

"Hi, beautiful," Derek says. 

"There's the girl of the hour," Rossi says. 

You roll your arm in a bow, eyes stinging from the bright lobby lights but otherwise quite happy. Hotch called you beautiful last night. Hotch called you honey. People on the Internet who have nothing better to do thought you looked gross, but Hotch thinks you're pretty. It's hard to focus on the negative with a positive that good. 

"Good morning, my favourite boys," you say sweetly. 

Spencer looks up from his book. "Hey." 

"You didn't say hello," you say, "you excluded yourself." 

Spencer frowns and goes back to his book. You offer him a mini cookie from your pocket and he perks up, better when you whisper, "You know you're my favourite, Reid." 

"We all know that's a lie," Emily says, rolling her small suitcase to your left and nearly trampling your foot. 

"Unfortunately so," Rossi agrees. 

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about." 

"Hotch looks chipper this morning, doesn't he?" Derek asks, nodding. You follow his nod too quickly and give yourself away, earning a scattered round of laughter from your tired team. "Got you."

"Laugh it up," you say. You're on a high that can't be killed, even with their collective teasing. 

"Why are we laughing?" Hotch asks from behind you. 

You jump half out of your skin. 

"We were laughing at Y/N's swift observational skills, but we spoke too soon," Emily says.

Hotch takes a moment to smile at you. "Hey, you look a little more rested. Feeling better?" 

A flush rises to your cheeks. "Much," you say, sounding foreign to your own ears. 

Hotch gives a pleased nod and clasps your shoulder gently before manoeuvring around you. "Let me go see where JJ is." 

He walks around the lobby corner and into the hotel restaurant. You have your face in your hands before he's gone, harassed by quiet whistles and giggling. 

"She's so embarrassed!" Rossi cheers, like a proud dad. "How hopeless, young love." 

"Someone please shut him up," you beg, rubbing your aching eyes. It's an excuse to hide your smile a moment longer. 

"Are you still tired?" Spencer asks. "You look tired."

"She does not," Derek says severely. 

You raise your head with a smile. Tired or not, Hotch thinks you're beautiful. He liked seeing you on TV. You lavish the memory.

"I'm genuinely exhausted," you say eventually, a smile stretching from cheek to cheek as you stand tall again.

"I want whatever kind of tired you're feeling," JJ says as she arrives, Hotch a step behind her. 

You meet his eyes. You think he might not acknowledge what's been said between you —it wasn't strictly professional to have held your face in his hands like that, after all— and the beginnings of disappointment creep in, until he stands at your side, his fingertips brushing yours. It cannot be accidental. 

"She wears it well, doesn't she?" he asks the group. He gives no time for an answer. "Everyone ready?" 

You practically vibrate your way to the SUV. Not a bad case, as they go. 

 ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

thank you for reading, so much! I hope you enjoyed! if you did and you have the time, please consider reblogging cos it makes me happy <3

[hotdaemondtargaryen]

TOM GLYNN-CARNEY INTERVIEWED BY HOLLYWOOD REPORTER MAGAZINE.

WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO READING THIS GRUESOME TURN OF EVENTS WHEN YOU FIRST LEARNED ABOUT IT?

"I knew it was coming."

"When it was coming, I wasn’t aware."

"But my immediate reaction was about how it came together by our amazing writers with this sort of amazing, theatrical, rousing, terrifying, unpredictable craftsmanship that I was very happy to be on the receiving end of."

FIRST LOOKING BACK ON EPISODE FOUR, WHILE IT SEEMED PRETTY OBVIOUS TO THE VIEWER, I'M WONDERING WHAT DO YOU THINK WAS GOING THROUGH AEGON'S MIND WHEN HE GOT ON SUNFYRE AND WENT CHARGING INTO THE BATTLE?

"He’d been a bit backed into a corner by all the things that have accumulated over time with being king, where his worst fears and insecurities were coming into plain sight and becoming true."

"He felt weak, and he was seen as weak, and kind of useless — with what Alicent (Olivia Cooke) had said to him (“Do nothing”) in his chamber, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back."

And he was just resigned: “I don’t have any option, I’ve got to prove myself in some way.”

"But you know, being the way he is, and not being an actual warrior with that sort of fearless courage that other people have, he had to numb himself and so he got blind drunk and jumped on a dragon."

HOW DO YOU THINK HE FELT ABOUT AEMOND'S BETRAYAL? IT SEEMED LIKE IT WAS CLEAR? I DID WONDER IF AEGON WAS TRULY SURPRISED...

"I think the moment of recognition was the fact that the fireball was coming at it."

"I don’t think he had time to think that he’s done this on purpose."

"If those thoughts are to come off, they will probably come later."

"As a viewer, I’m still unsure."

"I want people to make up their own minds."

THERE'S AN ARGUMENT TO BE MADE THAT SINCE THE BATTLE, AS DISASTROUS AS IT WAS, WAS EVENTUALLY WON, THAT HE SAVED THE DAY? AEGON THE HERO? OR NO.

"You’ve got to take them where you can get them."

"Yeah, he’s a hero."

WHAT'S THE PROSTHETIC PROCESS LIKE FOR YOU MOVING FORWARD?

"Long."

"Very detailed."

"I got to know my amazing hair and makeup team very well."

"I also got to know myself very well."

HOW DO YOU MEAN?

"The amount of time I was spending in that chair with those people in my own thoughts…. But yeah, [the prosthetics] really influences and informs my performance."

"It sort of instructs me how to move now."

"How you breathe, how you speak changes."

"I have a piece inside my mouth that I asked for to sort of distort my speech."

"So all this is great because it makes me feel like we’ve made a shift."

"Aegon has to have changed after this."

"We’re going to find a difference in him and and allow that to continue and [impact] his decisions and have a new approach to life."

YOU'VE MENTIONED CHANGING HOW HE MOVES. IN A PREVIOUS INTERVIEW YOU MENTIONED HOW AEGON USED TO MOVE DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU DO. WHAT WAS THAT DIFFERENCE?

"He’s a little bit more hunched."

"He is a bit narrower."

"I feel it’s a bit weak and more weaselly."

IS IT WEIRDLY MORE FUN TO PLAY HIM AS NOW? BECAUSE THIS IS GOING TO BE SO MUCH MORE THEATRICAL, IN A WAY.

"Yeah! It feels like we’ve transitioned from Richard II to Richard III, if that makes any sense to you."

"Almost like a level up — though on paper, obviously, it’s a level down."

"I think what he loses physically he gains emotionally and mentally."

"I’m trying to see it like that."

THERE'S OBVIOUSLY A PARALLEL THERE TO HOW VISERYS WAS AT THE END, INFIRM AND GHOULISH. DID THAT INFORM YOUR PROCESS AT ALL?

"I mean, it’s just fraught with danger, isn’t it?"

"Having a crown on your head."

"Something nasty is going to happen to you at some point."

"Isn’t it being not having my crown on yet?"

"There’s definitely a Viserys comparison, especially toward his final days and in bed."

"No quality of life whatsoever."

"It was only weeks, months before his dad was in that same position and in that same bed."

LET'S SAY HIS FATE WASN'T LITERALLY WRITTEN. WHAT, IDEALLY, WOULD YOU WANT FOR YOUR AEGON'S FATE?

"I want it to be, in an ideal world, for there to be an opportunity to prove himself and make decisions that he has made — not somebody else who thinks they know better."

"To carve out his own path as king."

"And then just see if he fucks it up as much as people think he might."

"I’d like to give him the space and the time to work it out."

"It’s a dangerous request because they could go horribly wrong."

"I think people underestimate him."

I FOUND IT INTERESTING THAT NOT ONE PERSON SAT BY HIS BEDSIDE OR HELD HIS HAND OR TRIED TO COMFORT HIM IN ANY WAY — AT LEAST NOT IN THIS EPISODE. SEEMS PRETTY HARSH.

"It’s desperately, desperately sad."

"Aegon is a boy in a man’s body and all he’s ever wanted is to be shown love and made to feel seen or not judged."

"All these things that he’s done in the past that have given him a reputation, I believe he’s felt that any attention is good attention."

"Unfortunately, he’s made a name for himself now — people kind of want to keep their distance and they see him as a poisoned chalice."

"At the end of the day, he’s a product of his history."

"He hasn’t had the emotional intelligence to be able to deal with that in a healthy way and move forward from it."

"Back then, therapy wasn’t really a thing, was it?"

"He’s been left to his own devices."

[itsmarsss]

Scandalous [Blitzø x Fem!Succubus!Reader x Stolas] (Helluva Boss) pt. 9 - If I Had a Nickel

pt 1 | pt. 2 | pt. 3 | pt. 4 | pt. 5 | 1st bonus | pt. 6 | pt. 7 | pt. 8

Getting into a weird three-way situation with an imp and a succubus isn’t exactly considered classy, Stolas.

If Blitzø had a nickel for every ex of one his friends’ he’d fucked he’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice, right?

Word count: 6,117

Warnings: since it’s something concubi need to survive, having sex with humans for that need is not considered cheating between them in of itself. doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel shitty. you’ll get this when you get to it. this takes place during spring broken but I’ve already said do not take the shows timeline as entirely the same as my own lol. Spring broken will have happened after Exes and Ohhs but Exes and Ohhs will have happened before Ozzie’s in this fic. Kind of sexual/physical assault of Moxxie (same that happens in the episode, nothing graphic or anything), pretty tense chapter, Verosika is very much a bitch here but don’t worry abt it.

If you were to say so yourself, things have been pretty okay the past few weeks, which is a great freaking accomplishment, especially with Spring Break coming up.

Apart from being emotionally hard, considering the... well, the memories tied to it, Spring Break just makes you anxious, more than ever now that you actually had access to the human world during it with Stolas’ Grimoire.

… Which is the exact concern Ozzie expressed during the last sleepover you had at his place the previous week.

But you got this under control.

Of course, you'd still be careful, planning on staying in the office more often until you could find yourself less nervous about going up, and you made sure to tell him that.

Besides, there's plenty things more fun and more important for you to think of. You've been hanging out with Blitzø a lot these days, and you were actually having fun with the ‘trade’ with Stolas that you were now an official part of. You and Milllie managed to keep the weekly sleepover nights pretty consistent, Loona hasn't been in such a terrible mood lately and, therefore, Moxxie has been significantly calmer, too. You'd even managed to be sooo brave and keep yourself calm enough to make small talk with Fizz when Ozzie left the two of you alone for a few minutes in one your nights over at their place. Hey, maybe next week you can ask him a question, even!

Not much, admittedly, but progress nonetheless. Befriending your best friend's boyfriend is a little nerve-wrecking, especially when he’s so wary of the fact that you’re the only demon in hell with the power to confirm the rumors about them are real and have shit hit the fan for them.

You even- wait.

You recognize the song the very second it starts playing, taking you out of your thoughts and glancing at Blitzø as he turns the volume all the way up.

“You were the spicy little demon with the bleach blonde hair-“ you sing along with the car radio, holding an imaginary microphone to yourself before holding it to Blitzø.

“F-fiending for some- uhh- yeah, when I caught your stare!” Blitzø tries to sing along into it as he drives and you laugh at his attempt to sing the lyrics, already knowing he'd get most of them somewhat wrong, before leaning towards him so you can both sing into the imaginary mic together.

“Thought it might be love- but what?”

“But you went too far! Fucked all my friends and-“ Blitzø’s eyes widen so much they might as well fall off their sockets. “Holy shit-“ He steers the wheel so violently everyone thrashes around in the car, everyone in the backseat falling over each other and pushes the brakes forcefully, making the car come to a stop abruptly and he immediately proceeds to shove his head through the open window to yell at whoever it was that, as you could see now, had parked in his designated parking space. “Oh, you suck for life, do ya?”

He even goes through the trouble of fumbling to grab a megaphone he apparently kept in the glove compartment for... situations like this? Well, something like that. He continues yelling out insults until the sight of who comes out of the car makes him stop speaking completely.

It’s a hard task making Blitzø shut his mouth, you gotta give her that.

“Oh, shit. Verosika.” You state out loud, but it's more to yourself than anything. What's weird is that Blitzø says the exact same thing, the exact same time.

"Oh, shit. Verosika?” He asks, and you figure it's more to himself than anything as well. He turns to face you for a moment, blinking a few times before speaking. “You know her?”

“Uhhh…. “ So much for things being good lately. You want to stall as much as you can, you want to vanish from where you were, you want the floor to swallow you whole never to be seen again. The most you can do about all of that is trying to sink down on your seat so she doesn't see you, but it’s no use, really. She pops her bubblegum and grins at you. She already has.

“Blitzo.”

“I should have known you’d be here. I could smell fish from miles, which is odd, because I believe the nearest ocean is-” he pushes himself so far out the window he ends up falling face-first to the floor, but gets up as quick as he can just so he can finish his insult. “Three rings down!”

“And I should’ve known you’d be here when I heard the amber alerts.”

“Oh, yeah? I’m surprised they let your fat ass out of rehab.” She was in rehab? Again? “I can see you're still a drunken whore, clutching onto that beelzejuice bottle like its the last cock in hell!”

“They let me out because I’m still famous. And rehab is for sad, loser washups. So… your sister says hi. You wanna come out now, y/n? I'm sure you're familiar with the subject."

You sigh, deciding it’s better to confront her right now than to let her say too much, and so you get out of the car, walking towards where her and Blitzø stood. “Hi.”

“Hi? That’s all you have to say?”

“What do you want me to say?”

“For starters, what the fuck is going on, maybe?”

“What do you mean?”

“Getting with my fucking ex? Now that’s low even for you.”

“Your ex? Who's your ex?”

“Oh so you didn't know I dated him, that’s totally not why you’re here with him right now. Right.”

“You dated her?”

“Yeah, we dated for a while,” Blitzø shrugs. Oh, no.

“Yeah, until he ran off leaving me to pay for the hotel room, stole my car and-” Blitzø joins in, finishing word for word what she had to say, like he'd heard the speech a million times before. You don't doubt he has. “-run three rings to wrath and max my credit cards on shitty horse-riding lessons!”

“Goddamit, whore, you will not let that go!”

“You… did that?”

“What, you gonna crucify me for it? How the fuck do you even know each other? Were you friends or something?"

“I- uh-”

“We dated too. Unfortunately.” Verosika spits out.

Blitzø turns to face you. “Wait what? You dated my ex?”

“Well I definitely dated her first. That tattoo was not there,” you point at the tattooed heart with Blitzø’s name crossed out inside of it, and Verosika instantly covers it with her coat.

“That’s true. Until… well, I’ll let the slut tell you what she did,” she tells Blitzø before smiling at you. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I'm doing a bit of freelance for one of the infinitely more successful companies in the building, and they wanted to have me come in this week to lead their team during Spring Break. Hey, maybe you wanna come too? Oh, wait, I forgot you’re on the big guy’s watchlist. Maybe he can give you a pemission slip?"

You avoid her gaze, feeling smaller than ever at the dig. She laughs at your reaction.

Blitzø interferes. “Well I don't know what that fucking means. But you said a week? No, no, you are not parking here for a fucking week.”

“Aw, you mad, Blitzø? Choke on a sandpaper cock.” She walks away flipping him off, and he chases after her.

You stay right where you are.

Blitzø follows suit behind her and threatens to call HR lest she parks somewhere else, which understandably sends all three of them into a laughing fit at the ridiculousness of the thought. Verosika snaps her fingers signaling to whoever her guard hound she’s parading around is to go, both exiting the parking lot.

As soon as they're gone, Loona barges out of the van. “You guys know Verosika Mayday?”

“Oh, yeah, her, yeah, we dated.”

“Yeah. Same.”

“Wait. You both dated Verosika Mayday?”

"Apparently."

“Ha! Now that’s karma.”

“Shut up, Moxxie,” Blitzø tells him.

“Was it before or after she became a popstar?” Millie asks.

“Sir. You dated a popstar?”

“Okay, why are you all acting like thats such a shock? Where's all that negative energy for y/n?”

“Hello? It’s Verosika Mayday.” Loona says, in a tone that's meant to shove it in his face that what they're trying to say is obvious.

“It’s… you.” Millie adds.

“I just- I mean, y/n is understandable. But you? Was she suffering some form of brain damage?”

“Okay, look, you are all making this into a way bigger deal than it needs to be. I don't pry into your stupid personal lives.”

A chorus of different ways to tell him he does, all the time, erupts from the three, you even joining in with a “dude, yeah you do.”

“What was sex with her like?” Millie asks you, and you feel like you’re going to short-circuit. This is not something you want to get into right now.

“Millie!” Moxxie exclaims before you can even say anything in return.

“What? She’s a popstar! You'd wanna know what sex with Michael Crawford was like.”

Moxxie opens his mouth to dispute her but stops himself. “Touché.”

“So, tell me later?” Millie asks you.

“Just drop it!" Blitzø exclaims. "Millie, find a temporary spot for that truck, okay?” He throws the keys to her. “Looney, Moxxie, Y/n, let’s go handle this shit.”

You take the elevator, and Loona begins to nervously pull on her hair. “Do you think they saw me? Fuck, I did my makeup shitty today.”

“Oh, you look perfect, Looney! Like alwaysss” Blitzø tells her, and she rolls her eyes.

“Shut up da- Blitz.” She shoves him away.

“You look great, Loons. Not coming from your dad.”

“Ugh, don’t say ‘dad’,” Loona complains, storming off, presumably to the office, but bumps into the hellhound Verosika had been with in the parking lot, who you assume is her bodyguard.

Loona stutters as she tries to apologize for bumping into him, clearly flustered, and hey, you get why.

Blitzø notices it too, though, and immediately goes into protective dad mode, throwing himself between the two. “Aww, big man, where’s yout bitch bag of an employer?”

The bodyguard doesn’t seem amused by Blitzø’s try at being intimidating, a bored-as-ever look on his face. “She’s in her office. There wasn’t room on the second floor, so they rented one here on this one,” he explained, pointing at the door….

The door right across from the I.M.P. office.

Great. Awesome. Fucking fantastic.

“Oh, come on!” Blitzø exclaims, frustrated as well.

The guy laughs and shrugs before walking out. “Sorry, man.”

“Oh, no, you don’t, bitch,” Blitzø mumbles under his breath, eyes trained on Verosika’s door.

Moxxie chimes in. “Sir! How about you let me go in and try to reason with her? You two clearly have a history with her, but I’ll be immune to her insults! I don’t really listen to what’s classified as ‘pop genre’ music, so her status to me is-”

“Moxxie, shut the fuck up and go,” Blitzø interrups, and Moxxie goes on his way, entering the office. Through the blurred glass wall, you could make out the silhouette of Verosika and two other concubi.

From outside, it’s still possible to hear what he says to her, and it is pitiful. “Hello Ms…. Verosika, was it? I work for IMP and it is actually rather important for us to retain the singular parking space we were assigned, because-”

One of the concubi interrupts him, and you swear you find the voice familiar. “Aw, look at the little one! He’s got a little bowtie!”

“Please don’t condescend me, ma’am. I’m-”

An incubus pops out of nowhere, offering to do something you can’t quite make out to him.

“A… kind offer, but… I’m married.”

Verosika leans down to Moxxie’s level. “Hey, why don’t you send a little message from me back to your limp-dick boss and his new girlfriend?”

Oh fuck, oh fuck-

They’re on him in a second, the true forms showing through the blurred glass as silhouettes..

“Shit, Moxxie!”

“Moxxie, don’t let her access any of your holes!” Blitzø yells at him.

“We should go inside!” You tell him, but it’s a mere second before Moxxie’s thrown out the door. You help him get up, and you can’t help but worry if he’s okay. “Mox?”

“I- I gotta go lie down, now,” he tells you, walking into the I.M.P. office.

For a second, Blitzø looks worried about him too. And then that’s replaced with anger. “Oh, this won’t stand!” He screams, kicking open the door to Verosika’s new office and promptly yelling at her. “Alright, cunt, that’s it! If you’re gonna be shitty to my employees, then I challenge you to a fucking…challenge! Fuck, I said that twice.”

“Is this imp boy starting a demon duel?” Fuck. It’s Izabeth. That’s why the voice was familiar. You remember being her friend too. Now she glanced at you as you stood by the door like you were nothing.

All of them did.

“I think he is!” Verosika replies, seemingly excited. “What’s the game, then, Blitzo?” Of course she insisted in calling him that, too.

“Every year you STD spreaders go up topside for easy picking while Spring Break is a prime time for crime of all kind.” You know he says it to hurt her, but his words hurt you too. Does he think that about you, too? Is that how he sees you? Is that how they all see you? There’s not much time to dwell on that just then. He keeps on. “So I bet you succu-bitches can’t fuck as many people as we can off by the end of the day.”

They all laugh at him, and, yeah, you would too if you were in their place, probably.

When Blitzø doesnt back down, she leans down to be at face-level with him. “Oh, you’re serious? Well, then we’re gonna talk rules.”

“Rules? You fuck and we kill why would we need rules?”

“Her.” She points at you with a gloved claw, and your eyes widen. “She can’t seduce anyone to lure them to be killed.”

“What? That’s bullshit!”

“Hey, I’m only making things fair! Seducing the humans is our thing. And you wouldn’t believe how good she is at that. There would be none left for us, would there?” she grins.

“Oh fuck you, Verosika,” you say, tired of the witty remarks about the past you so desperately wanted to bury.

“Bet you still would if I let you.” She leans down to face Blitzø once again. “Fair?”

“Okay. We don’t need that anyway.”

“Alright then. Game on, bitch.”

[. . .]

Blitzø manages a whole two seconds of silence as you walk to the office before he just has to say something. “So. Ya wanna tell me what that whole thing was about?”

“What do you mean?”

“The way she was acting super shady and talking shit about you? She said she’d let you explain what you did to her and that’s saying something cause when it comes to me? Oh she looooves talking about what I did to her.”

“I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“Huh. I’ll get it out of you somehow. But. Apparently you were like some sort of human seducing machine is what I hear? Why do we take so little advantage of that?”

“Cause we don’t need to. I’m an assassin now. I kill. I don’t need to seduce anyone to do that.”

“Okay! Okay, geez. Whatever. But don’t think I forgot whatever that was about you being on some “big guy’s watchlist”.”

You wish he would.

The two of you are the last ones to enter the meeting room, and you take a seat next to Loona as Blitzø stands in front of the big white board with stupid shit drawn all over it.

“Alright, shut your assholes! Here’s how we’re gonna do this shit.” He pulls out a drawing of yourselves, seemingly out of nowhere, and points to it as if it explained everything, when in reality it was pretty much indecipherable. “First, we find a fuck ton of clients. We portal up. We have our fun murder time as per usual. We pile all the bodies into a big fucking canoe. We push said canoe into some water. We light it on fire to attract the sharks and eagles and maybe a goose too, fuck it. They come and eat the bodies, we win the bet, we rub it in that sloppy bitch’s drunken whore-ass face, do you have any questions?”

“A canoe?” You ask.

“Why do we have to light them on fire?” Millie follows.

“Uh, yeah, why was that nonsense?”

“That one wasn’t a question.”

“That wasn’t a plan.”

“I’m sorry, that was a flawless presentation of what we should do, Mox, it’s not my fault you got a smooth little brain upstairs.”

“A what, now?”

“I’m calling you slow, Moxxie. God, why don’t you learn to take criticism, you talentless baby fucked troll?”

Moxxie climbs up to stand on the table, fuming. “Why don’t you take an art class?”

“Why don’t you see how expensive they are?” Blitzø yells back, pulling on the collar of Moxxie’s dress shirt.

“Hey, is there a way I can come with you guys this time?” Loona questions, nonchalant, interrupting whatever it was that was happening between the two and making everyone turn to look at her.

“Absolutely not, I forbid it. Not gonna happen. Sorry, sweetie, Spring Break is no place for young, vulnerable goth girls. You know the kind of freaks up there who drool all over you!”

“Just let the girl go, Blitzø,” you tell him, and he gives you a dirty look.

“Yeah, Blitz! I can blend in with humans easy enough. Just let me tag along!”

“Wait. Say that again.”

“I can… blend in with humans?”

“Do you have a human disguise?” Millie asks her, and you stop to think of it too. Since when has that been going on? Everyone’s seen yours plenty enough, even though you didn’t use it every single time you went up. How did you somehow miss the fact that Loona had a disguise of her own?

“Yeah, don’t all of you? I’ve seen y/n’s.”

The three share looks between each other, similar looks of deer caught in headlights.

“Wait. Are you the only one who has one?” Loona asks you.

“Well, yeah.”

“The three dickheads have been screwing around on Earth this whole fucking time without human disguises? And you’ve been letting them?”

“Hey how’s that my fault? Not like I can conjure disguises for them.”

“Hey now, we have to focus here! New plan. Y/n’s not allowed to use her human disguise cause apparently she’s this huge human awe-ing machine or something. But they didn’t say we couldn’t use Looney’s. Looney, you can help lure the humans to us and we’ll take care of the rest. Real simple, yeah?”

“Wait what’s that about a human aweing machine?” Moxxie questions.

“Unimportant,” you reply.

“How about the new plan, then?” Blitzø asks.

“Flawless logic,” Millie says.

“I think you’re missing the biggest issue, sir. Isn’t it crucial to have a client who demands enough kills to win this bet? We aren’t just going up to massacre!”

Moxxie has a point. But, surprisingly, it seems Blitzø has thought of that already.

“I got that covered.”

Blitzø takes out a blank piece of paper, scribbling away on it with the markers you bought him for his birthday a few months prior. After finishing whatever it was he was doing with it, he takes you all outside, revealing the handmade flyer as he glued it to a lamppost just outside the building.

Spring break

Victim

50% off!!

It even had a drawing of his very happy doodle-self beside a decapitated person and, naturally, various horse drawings scattered around the page that had nothing to do with anything. As charming as it was, there was really no way this single tiny flyer could attract anyone, let alone enough clients to have you win the bet with Verosika.

“Now, we wait.”

Moxxie voices thoughts similar to yours. “Sir, there is no way we are going to get enough clients by the end of the day with one poorly spelled, bad-grammar flyer!”

It takes less than a single minute for the street to be packed with people waiting in line in front of it.

Blitzø opens a cocky grin, laughing at Moxxie and elbowing his side before walking up to the first few people in line. “Now, who’s first?”

Okay, maybe he had this under control, after all. Huh.

[. . .]

Satan, Spring Break was… the exact same.

It was the absolute same as it ever had been, down to the thick, thick scent of hormones, sweat and bodily fluids mixed with sunscreen and a hint of weed, up to the obnoxiously loud music and even more obnoxiously loud people.

As annoying as it was to think of it now,, Spring Break did serve you a great deal in the past. Easiest, quickest way to human sex you’d ever encountered. The weeks of Spring Break could be enough to saciate a concubus’ need to go up for a long time if you were smart about it.

They were supposed to be enough, at least.

It’s been quite a few years since you’ve been up on Earth during this time of the year. Ozzie would not be pleased to hear about it, and he’d probably still go on and on about how irresponsible and careless you were being, but if you could get through this, and you truly felt you could, then maybe you could make him proud, too. Happy for you, even.

Well. Nothing like a little murder to get your mind off of things these past couple years. What’s some more?

“Now, remember, we can’t be seen, alright? And loose shots will likely cause a panic, so Loona can help with leading targets to a better spot to off ‘em. You got thhe, Looney?”

Loona takes a sniff at the piece of paper before nodding, standing up to change into her human disguise. Blitzø beams at her appearance.

“Oh, Looney, look at you, you look downright awful! I am so proud. Now fetch!” He points to the packed beach, and she does as said.

Luring the humans was going rather easily with Loona’s help. Blitzø wasn’t wrong, they were all over her. All it took was a look and a ‘come here’ motion, and she could take them wherever she needed: dark alleys where Blitzø could blow their heads off with a gun as she leaned back and watched, by the bridge where Millie could push them to their death and Moxxie could take care of the body, by some hidden corner where you could behead them… yeah, things were going pretty okay, and you had nine kills in no time.

Blitzø was just bragging about it to no one in particular when her voice came on.

“Alright, Spring Breakers! Y’all ready to get fucked up and make som ebitching bad choices?” Verosika announces from up on the stage, where she stood in her human disguise while huge pink-colored screens read ‘fuck you blitzo’ on them in block letters all around her.

“Fuck, she’s gonna sing. We’re not gona stand a chance,” you say, more to yourself than anyone else.

And that’s exactly what she does. “This is your final boarding call. All aboard.”

Pack your bags

Sun’s out

Take a vacay, babe

Take it straight to bonetown

V-time, free time, baby, relax

Self-care, no hair, brazilian wax

Hornt-up, succu-bus to the beach

Catch some rays while catching some D

It takes less than a whole minute for all the concubi she’d come up to earth with to find themselves busy with one, two or more humans each. Which makes up more than the total kills up until now.

“Goddamnit, that bitch started her goadish mating call! Now she’s gonna win all these sex maniacs, we gotta pick things up, guys.”

You nod in agreement, motioning to a guy throwing up beside you. “How about him?”

“Is he on the list, Looney?” Blitzø asks, but she’s… distracted. Of course, it’s pretty clear what’s going on.

“Yeah. Yeah I think so,” she replies, and it doesn’t reassure you at all, not when her whole undivided attention is trained on the Vortex guy who you have to admit looks pretty hot in his human disguise. And hey, he looked human but he wasn’t human, so you wonder if it would- no. Fuck, no. You’re not here for anything other than killing the targets in the list.

Loona’s reply seems enough for Blitzø, who grabs an axe from who-the-fuck-knows-where and quite literally slices the man in half after getting asked if he’s a leprechaun. “Alright, Looney, c’mon, who’s next? Looney? Loon- Looney? Where’s my baby?”

Blitzø immediately panics as he can’t find her where she just was a second ago, and you grab him by the shoulders to turn him in her direction as she walks up to talk to Vortex, making to take care of disposing of the leprechaun guy’s corpse with Millie’s help as Blitzø just stares for a moment before following her.

Pack your bags

Sun’s out

Take a vacay, babe

Take it straight to bonetown

Verosika takes a swig out of a flask before yelling out “now, who wants a piece of this?” and throwing it to the audience. The liquid ends up spilled into many people’s drinks as it flies through the air before landing on the ocean water, and it takes about three seconds for your suspicions about what was in the flask to be proven right as you notice the way people are acting now- that sure as shit wasn’t just alcohol..

You and Millie find Moxxie after you’re done, and he’s watching Blitzø pathetically try to cockblock Loona. He sighs. “Aaaan, we’ve lost him. It’s looking like it’s up to us to handle this list. You wanna make sure he doesn’t blow our cover?” He asks you, and you sigh in annoyance.

“Not like I get to want anything.” You stand up regardless, making your way to where the three stood while Millie and Moxxie began their speed-run (speed-kill?) of the target list.

“What, I can’t have a break?” Is the first thing you hear from the conversation, coming from Loona.

You immediately interrupt, scolding Blitzø. “Blitz you need to get the fuck out of here you’re gonna get us into shit!”

“That’s exactly what I just said!” Loona tells you.

“That is exactly what she just said, actually,” Vortex comments and you ignore it.

“A break? We have a parking spot on the line!” Blitzø yells back, and you know he’s actually being protective of her but pretending it’s about something else.

Vortex decides to tell him off too. “Hey, dude, why dont you chill out?”

“Why don’t you stay out of it? ‘Kay? This is our business.” He holds up another one of his doodles with his tail for a second. “Literally.”

Loona growls in frustration at him. “Fuck, Blitz! Why can’t you stay out of my face for, like, five minutes?”

“Because I adopted you! And that should mean something!” He turns his back to her, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly.

“Oh, what does it matter? You’re not my real dad. I was almost eighteen!”

“It still counts!”

“Well, it shouldn’t!”

“Loon-” you try to stop her. You know her well enough to know she’ll feel bad for saying whatever she’s saying right now, but it’s no use.

“No! I didn’t need him then and I don’t need him now. You hear that, Blitz? I. Don’t. Need. You!” She’s the one to turn her back to him this time, and he looks back at her with tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

“Okay, look, I know that hurt, but you can’t be out here, Blitz.”

“But- but Looney-”

“She just wants to talk to a cute guy without getting embarrassed. Let her be normal. She doesn’t mean it.”

“Oh how are you so fucking sure, huh? You keep secrets.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” You ask him as you shove him away from the large group of people.

“Yeah I said it. You’re a- you’re a secret keeper! Who are you to know if people mean what they say?”

“Blitz, if this is about what Verosika said-”

“Oh but it is! It is about what Verosika said! Or what she didn’t say actually. Do we even know you?”

“My life before you is none of your fucking business- fuck.” you lose track of what you were going to yell at him when you see Moxxie get thrown in the air, getting exposed to a few people around where he lands on the sand. Blitzø’s eyes follow yours.

“Ah! Oh, my god, it’s a fucking possum!” A woman exclaims, pointing at Moxxie, to which he curses under his breath before some guy grabs him from the ground and shoves him into a beer cooler, immediately throwing it around in the air with Moxxie inside.

“Come on, we gotta go help Mox out,” you tell Blitzø.

“Ya hear that, Looney? I’m gonna go kill something. You enjoy your break!” He childishly yells to her.

You find Moxxie at the same time as Millie does. Pulls the cooler’s lid open and he falls out of it, clearly drunk off his mind from the beer. She stands over him and he calls out her name excitedly from where he lies on the sand. “Millie! Hi. Hey. Hey, where did you get four heads? I wanna kiss ‘em!” He makes grabby hands and a kissy face at her, to which she just smiles in return at the drunken state he’s in. It’s sweet, actually.

“Come on, Mox,” she mumbles before helping him stand up. He’s so wasted he needs to lean on her to keep himself standing.

“You guys okay?” Blitzø asks her.

“Yeah, we-” Millie starts, but is interrupted by… well…

“Ooh! Fish!” Moxxie exclaims, giggling, as he points to the huge, monstrous creature that rose out of the ocean, killing everything in it’s way out of the water and causing panic to overcome everyone in the beach, resulting in a screaming, bloody mess all over.

Personally, that’s not the word you’s use for it, but sure. A fish.

The fish captures Moxxie with its gross, gigantic tongue, pulling him towards itself before attempting to swallow the imp. Fuck.

Millie shares a look with you before promptly killing a man, stealing the glass bottle he held and improvising a molotov cocktail, throwing it at the creature and stunning it enough to fall back in the shallow part of the water. “Kill the rest of ‘em! Go!” She yells out to you and Blitzø, which is enough for you to trust her to solve the situation on her own.

You and Blitzø resume to killing whoever more you could identify as targets, a harder task now that they were panicking and running around in a frenzy, but you manage to get about six before Millie’s done, cutting the creature’s tongue off as it held Moxxie and sending him flying over towards Blitzø, where Blitzø, who manages to catch him in his arms, making one of the targets shocked enough for you to put a bullet though their head.

Millie finally begins to walk up to where you are after killing the monster, chest heaving with heavy breaths and spitting a little blood on the sand, but otherwise okay.

“Is Mox alright?” Is the very first thing she asks.

“Oh, yeah, he’s fine! Way to show off, Mills!” Blitzø yells, and she smiles. You give her a fist bump as she approaches you before she grabs a giggling Moxxie off of Blitzø’s arms, and she can’t help but laugh herself.

“This is funny. I’m soooooo drinky.”

She squeezes him tight and you smile at the interaction.

You only get so much smiling time when Verosika’s around.

“Blitzø.” She calls, and you all turn to see her standing with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Oh, perfect! That must be the whores!” He quips.

“I only see two whores around here and they’re right in front of me.”

“Hey you watch your filthy fucking mouth.”

“That was handled rather… obviously, don’t you think?”

Millie picks up Verosika’s flask form the sand, holding it up before throwing it to her. “I don’t think this belongs to any of us. Would be a shame if anyone found out you guys were behind a giant monster fish in the human world.”

“Yeah y/n here could tell the big Oz himself. He wouldn’t be very thrilled, don’t ya think?” Blitzø is quick to threaten.

“Ha! She should be more worried about him finding out she’s up here right now.”

“Go fuck yourself. He’s not the boss of me. He’s the boss of you, though, isn’t he?”

Moxxie laughs obnoxiously. “Oh, Satan! You got yourself fucked!”

“Yeah, well, you three nasty-ass gremlins will be in shit for not being in disguises." She turns to face you, a bitter, hostile grin taking over her features. "And you! Your little friend already took your crystal privileges away. You wanna be a bigger disappointment?"

“Don't act like you fucking know him."

Moxxie falls over face-first onto the sand between you. “A human called me a possum. I am not a possum!” He slurs out.

“Hold on, crystal privileges?" Blitzø questions you.

It's Verosika who answers, though. “She not tell you about it?" She lets out a laugh. "Doesn’t shock me.”

Fuck. “Verosika-”

“You little fucks never wondered why she doesn't have one?”

“What do you mean? She gets one from Ozzie when she needs it like all of you freaks-" Blitzø immediately defends.

“Oh, Blitzo, you really are fucking stupid, aren't you?" She interrupts him. "She used to have one."

No. “Ver, come on-”

“Don't! Call me that. No. You're gonna hear me say what you did." She turns back to Blitzø, the same rage in her eyes as when she recalled all the ways he'd wronged her in the past, earlier that day. "Your little girlfriend here was forbidden from coming up to Earth without Ozzie’s permission for years.”

“What?” Millie asks, and it seems accidental that she says it out loud.

“Yeah. Sorry-ass had to be babysat every time she had to come up. On a watchlist like a freakin' criminal, cause, well- she kind of is." She eyes you up and down before she spits out "I'm surprised you can even be here right now. Congratulations.”

“Well duh? Of course she's a criminal. That's kind of what we do.”

“Oh, Blitzo, the killing thing you guys do is adorable. But no one bats an eye at a little murder, it's Hell. No, she broke demon law." And, then, the final threat of a carefully blocked out, written-over past, coming to haunt you in the form of her. "You wanna tell them your record time or should I?”

“You have no fucking right-”

“I have every right! I have every right. It was five months, two weeks and two days. You know how pathetic that is?"

“That supposed to mean something, bitch?” Millie growls, protective.

“Other than her being a whore, no,” Verosika shrugs.

“What does that even mean?” Moxxie asks her.

“She stayed up here for five months, two weeks and two days straight once when we were dating. I was worried sick, we fucking lived together too. And then I find out she’s been up here fucking whatever human that came into her line of sight instead of coming back home.”

“I’m- it’s not-”

“‘It’s not what you think, Ver, I swear!’” She mocks. “Boo-fucking-hoo! Now she’s on a watchlist cause Asmodeus for some fucking reason liked her enough to just be worried instead of actually punishing her.”

“I wasn’t in my right mind, you have no fucking-” fuck, you’re voice is trembling now.

“Save it, bitch.”

Blitzø notices your discomfort, deciding it’s better to go home and solve whatever this mess was there. He walks up to Verosika. “Look. We keep this pathetic little b-movie scene on the down low and you let us use the parking space. She doesn’t tell her lusty bff about what you did and everyone lives happily ever after. Deal?”

“Fine,” Verosika says through gritted teeth. “But I hate you.”

“Don’t care. We fucking won!”

[. . .]

“So… you don’t have to talk about it, but… please talk about it. What was that?” Millie asks you, careful.

You sigh. Maybe this time there’s no running from it.

A/N: genuinely don’t even know of this is good vut alas! we’re so back! sorry for the long wait lol love y’all

[trekmupf]

"We're all mad here" 🐇👸🔫🐯

Pro

The famous massage intro

Sulu and McCoy taking a lovely little walk together

Sulu is such a botany nerd; I love these small character moments

McCoy thinking he's loosing his last marbles

Spock literally thinking that humans go on shore leave to run up and down meadows like dogs

The way Kirk smiles when he thinks Bones is pranking him is lovely

Kirk's facial journey when he realizes McCoy and Spock played him

The first time Kirk calls McCoy Bones

The way the running is filmed and the way they run – and boy do they run in this episode

Sulu, gun enthusiast

The easy friendship between Kirk and McCoy- the way they joke and laugh with each other is so beautiful

McCoy is so beautiful in this episode, I could screenshot every second. He smiles so much and is so at ease, I mean

Continuing what we know from E3 Kirk wasn't the super cool Bro at the academy but actually the bookworm people bullied

Kirk saying that Ruth hasn't aged a day since they last were together ages ago, and the actress being the same age as Shatner when we see her... canon Kirk being into older woman okay.

McCoy rolled a natural 20 on charisma

me @ yeoman Borrows being super into McCoy's flirting: same girl same

Also I actually like that for once McCoy is the one having a little romance and getting to flirt / be desired, which is rare (because he's older and not the leading man; Tumblr, of course, disagrees)

every time the tiger is on screen I remember that Shatner literally wanted to fight it and it makes me laugh

fake character death trope! (also Bones is a beautiful corpse)

Spock like no offence lady, I'm to gay for this, Spock out

“Did you have fun guys?” “Yes we did Mr Spock” wink emoji implied, like you guys know it sounds like you had group sex right

the setting and scenery is beautiful and a nice change

the score underlines the whimsy and lightness of the episode

the premise is so silly but works well. I miss episodes like this on modern TV, just some downtime with no large scale danger, war or plot, just silly crew shenanigans that gives us more time to spend with our guys

sometimes Sci-fi has great special effects, and sometimes they just hold an antenna really close to the camera and call it a day and I love that

I'm Yeoman Borrows; Look at him being all happy

Con

McCoy's death has no lasting impact on anyone, it's just a short time plot device and then gets shelved for more adventure / silly time; Even though he does come back, I wish it wouldn't have been so trivialized here

weird wind chime sound effects of the planet

Finnegan as a character is super obnoxious and too over the top (which is saying something in the episode with Alice in wonderland)

especially the second confrontation takes ages, especially as we now have more pressing matters in the narrative

treatment of yeoman Borrows (We already know weird things are going on based on what McCoy saw, yet Kirk doesn't believe her and shows zero empathy towards her distress), also her main purpose is damsel in distress

Kirk is a bit slow to unravel the mystery and almost stupid at times? It might be excused by him using the opportunity to let go of his responsibility and being with Angela / letting out his anger with Finnegan

the amount of references and jumping between visions is too jumbled and all over the place, which is why the pacing is off. some bits are so short, they'd better be cut (Rodriguez side adventure) and some just go on (Finnegan)

Counter: Shirt rip Kirk

Quote: "You've got your problems, I've got mine. But he's got ours, plus his, plus 430 other people" - McCoy about Kirk Moment: Opening Scene, where Kirk thinks Spock is massaging him and being super uncomfortable when its a female crew member

Summary: Silly and light episode with no deeper meaning but some great character moments, funny scenes and further development of the interpersonal relationships

In another universe this is a classical painting

Previous Episode - Next Episode - All TOS Reviews

[coraniaid]

Who’s your favorite season villain from btvs?

Ultimately I think it's hard to look beyond the trio of Angel / Spike / Drusilla, thanks to the combination of:

The deeply personal connection that Angel has with Buffy herself

The fact that all three characters are just a lot of fun to watch when they're on screen (and the fact that they all get to bounce off of each other in interesting ways)

The fact that, for the most part, they feel like they're pitched at the right threat level to be credible as more than just the monster-of-the-week but not something utterly impossible for Buffy to hope to fight

The fact that Spike and Drusilla's introduction to the show feels like a natural evolution of the lore the show had established by this point, something that later arc villains would increasingly struggle with

The fact that they're actually vampires in a show that is supposedly all about a girl who fights vampires

Second favorite season villain is the Mayor (especially once Faith changes sides); I have to dock him a couple of points though because he doesn't really get to share much screen time with Buffy directly and his big decades-long plan is ... uh, pretty silly.

I think both Glory and the Master can be a lot of fun, but both suffer quite a bit from not really having anyone else to play off of (Darla's only in three episodes and isn't really Darla yet so he only really has the Anointed One; Glory just has her not very interesting minions until The Gift). Dark Willow has the personal connections with Buffy but isn't really around long enough to feel like a proper season villain; the Trio are conceptually really interesting but the show thinks their antics are a lot funnier than they are and the joke gets old very fast; the First Evil is ultimately, I think, a bad choice for a season villain for a number of reasons but still had a lot of untapped potential (and her run through all the previous villains at the end of Lessons is pretty cool).

The only season villain I don't think works at all is Adam (and, because of the way he's introduced, neither do the Initiative and Maggie Walsh -- I think the Initiative as a concept was already kind of shaky, but the way Walsh is perfunctorily killed off just before she gets to really be the villain is particularly frustrating). The one episode in which I think Adam works at all is Restless, by which point he's already dead.

But the Fanged Four (minus one) ... yeah, I think they're great. I love that all three of them get to be "the" season villain for at least one episode too. Somebody should write a Season 7 AU fic where Drusilla comes back and gets to be the Big Bad again (oh, right, I was going to do that...).

[autisticstevenuniverse]

Rating Every Nu Who Episode: Season 14

The Star Beast: 9/10 DONNA'S BACK!! And I love Rose, and I love that they found a way for it to be ok after all, and I love that the cute sweet innocent beastie was evil. Loses one point though because Rose should not be named Rose because (1) that's confusing and (2) after all the deal with the Doctor needing to move on to current companions, really?

Wild Blue Yonder: 10/10 creepy af and I love that Donna immediately broke everything through coffee. Thought about taking off a point for making me watch through my fingers, but I think that is actually a testament to how good it is.

The Giggle: 9/10 so weird and funny and horrifying and silly! Love that they seem to have realized that if they pile any more trauma on this character he won't be able to function, so he needs to heal a bit. Just a point off because the original Toymaker episode is lost to time.

The Church on Ruby Road: 9/10 I love everything about this episode, especially the impromptu musical number, but it does lose a point for the literal baby-eating goblins because come on guys, really?

Space Babies: 8/10 I'm not as obsessed with this episode as the others this season but I thought it was so, so sweet.

The Devil's Chord: 9/10 loved everything about the plot but it didn't feel like they did enough with the 60's setting. Did enjoy the Maestro SO much and the musical number at the end was great.

Boom: 10/10 perfect use of plot and characters without changing setting hardly at all. Great commentary on war and capitalism etc.

73 Yards: 7/10 because it was a Blink-level setup that I didn't feel paid off very well, with no answers or hints of answers in the end.

Dot and Bubble: 15/10 holy shit. The racism commentary in a way talking about young people on social media instead of old white guys in charge or a distant, historical context. The layers to it. The way you realize after the fact some of the things that could be dismissed definitely having to do with the Doctor's race. The bright and poppy aesthetic. Them literally preferring to die than to let a Black man save them. His confusing mix of anger and pain at this new experience. Instant favorite episode.

Rogue: 10/10 NOW the Doctor has it in him to be gay. He just had to go to therapy first lol. Too bad Rogue immediately vanished. Can't wait for him to come back. Also the cosplay theme was so clever and fun.

The Legend of Ruby Sunday: 7/10 it was fine. Just fine. I liked a lot of it, but it was much less exciting than the previous several.

Empire of Death: 9/10 I really loved it, from Fifteen screaming at the death of the universe to falling back into patterns of blaming himself to the peek at the emptiness it all caused. It loses a point because I wanted a lot more answers about Ruby, the 4th wall breaks, etc, but only one because I trust we'll get those next season.

Bonus Character Rating

Fourteen: 10/10 I love that he's like Ten but not the same, and that he finally gets some recovery time.

Fifteen: 10/10 he is NEW and DIFFERENT but still definitively the Doctor. He is so expressive and so much fun and clearly still traumatized but better than he was.

Ruby: 8/10 not the best companion ever, but she is sweet and fun and I like her.

[marvelstars]

X-MEN 97 EP 10 REVIEW

Loved this episode, as Beau said this felt healing and it didn´t dissapoint. That said I agree the series peaked on Ep 5 but for me this doesnt mean this was a bad episode at all.

Highlights for me:

Rogue beating Bastion into a pulp over Remy´s memory "remember it"

Scott and Morph being there for Logan.

Nightcrawler praying with Charles and Magneto.

Cable oppening to Jean and Scott about his childhood and their farewell.

Storm simply laughing at Phoenix appareance, just like her sister to save them all at the nick of time from the prime sentinels.

Morph making fun of Sinister

Charles remembering he is supposed to have a degree on psycology and having a therapy session with Magnus instead of leaving him in a coma, not gonna lie, this always pissed me off in the original FA, him having regrets post fact and remembering Magneto only made me feel more mad at him, so seeing him this way helped me remember why I liked his character, especially considering what has been done to him in current comics.

The first people Magneto remembers are Rogue, who is right there on Asteroid M and his children Lorna, Pietro and Wanda as well as his parents.They help him center himself in his humanity, just wish this series tackled Magda and Anya as well. Talking openly about his sense of isolation over not having an actual family and fully feeling himself part of the X-men now was great, I don´t think even in comics this has been tackled with quite the same intensity.

I personally don´t think Magneto at this point or Rogue see each other in a romantic sense, Rogue more than Magneto´s lover this season, has been more like an honest friend who could understand where he was coming from but also tell him when he was being a jerk so even if they tackle AoA, I don´t see them being end game, their relationship is more like an AU but this doesn´t mean they don´t trust or appreciate the other pov.

Just "Magneto is alive" moment.

Cyclops bad ass leadership moment in which he hoped to understand and help Bastion, supported by Storm and X-men, following the logic of the dream. Bastion reaching out to them.

Just all the cameos. Captain America, Iron Man, Peter, MJ, Cloak, Dagger, Psylocke, Omega Red to name a few, I just missed another cameo by Doctor Doom

This Ep effectively closed up previous plot points and showed what to expect of season two

Gambit will come back as death but I am almost sure this won´t last long. My guess is that Storm, Logan and Morph were selected by Apocalypse to be his current horsemen.

This kind of fun and expectative is something that has been missing for a long time in comics and I am very happy to see XM 97 feels like a fresh take of old stories.

This looks as well as if S2 is tackling different X-men teams, one in the future, another in the present and another in the past. My guess is that it was Apocalypse the one who used time manipulation to take them to different spaces in time.

That comment by Apocalypse "My children, so much death" made me remember current comics Apocalypse, so I expect him to gain new nuances in the series, just like Bastion did.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Glad you liked the submission, as I have more on the Aware of Abuse AU!

I think it would be really interesting to reflect on how this situation would be kind of a drawn out grapple for Marinette. This is in no way salt and I think if it was written she'd both warrant having hear grievances hear, but also could definitely come off as a bit antagonistic, or at least wary.

(Exactly how hostile she defaulted to with Chloe tended to oscillate episode to episode so ya know how it be)

Marinette would have the easiest time getting close with Kagami. She has no history like with Chloe & no baggage, IE friendship with Chloe, like Adrien. Tomoe is not someone Marinette admires and its much easier to see abuse in the physicals side. While she'd struggle to see it more in the verbal or negligence side; or otherwise be able to rationalize the negative behaviors such as over protectiveness.

Meanwhile Adrien would be tied a lot closer to Chloe going into school as she'd be being less overtly antagonistic or vain. Plus, they'd have a much stronger "We need each other to keep from falling back into old patterns and to survive" mentality.

Plus Adrien would be a bit more overtly snarky and less respectful to authority or stuff like Gabriel's fashion shows. He still is very nice and super wants to be liked by everyone all the time, but it'd be a lot easier for her to see the negatives in his behavior.

Chloe meanwhile would probably rankle and outright frustrate her the most. Not just because she'd still be hard to get along with in general, or because she still is not against ignoring rules or disrespecting authority figures. But because...

No clue what your religious views may or may not be, but have you heard those talks of "Catholic guilt" and the idea of needing to suffer, do penance, ETC before one can be redeemed?

Marinette wouldn't strictly think or want that, but there would be a part of her that would sort of... Well resent that Chloe is seemingly just choosing to change and not even necessarily enough.

That is to say, Chloe might still rudely reject Sabrina's cookies out of hand but then instantly walk it back and have some.

But more in that she's suffered no defeat, she's not been taken from her previous luxurious circumstances, she hasn't seemingly lost anything and even more she'd not even be overtly contrite.

That is to say, Chloe wouldn't be doing stuff akin to the Lady Luck AU (Nothing against it, great fic!) where she'd frequently reflect on how much of a 'fuck up' she was. Or or say stuff like, "I know I was a bitch but I am trying to be better". Or feel guilt in the "I can't even be mad they assume the worst of me cos I probably would have done X."

She's just choosing to be different and on some level its deeply unsatisfying and even frustrating.

(Where is the arc, the climax, the catharsis!?)

Especially if some people roll with it or let her get away with it when she starts falling into old habits.

Marinette doesn't want Chloe to suffer or beg forgiveness or hate herself she doesn't. She just doesn't understand why now? Why at all? Why because of her friend? Why because of how she was treated and not how she treated others?

Why couldn't she care enough about hurting Marinette to change!?

That I think would be the lynch-pin and one that is, from Marinette's perspective, as well as others in and out of universe entirely sympathetic, she was hurt after all.

But in that same vain Chloe's an abused child lashing out due to trauma and taught such terrible lessons she sometimes couldn't process that she wasn't doing 'right'.

Marinette's been hurt, and that would need to be properly addressed. But it wouldn't need to happen in a self recriminating manner necessarily.

Not that I don't love those, self hating characters rife with issues are fun to explore. It is just that I think it'd be interesting to explore both, changing as a person, and a "Bad" victim getting help before they actually even start processing over much how others might warrant reoperations.

Does that make sense?

The story "restorative Justice" sort of dips into this from a different middle ground angle and most stuff by Generalluxun often have elements of it too.

Oh yeah no it's.

Marinette doesn't understand why Chloé is Like That™ in the first place, so she can't fathom her wanting to change.

From Mari's perspective, Chloé's life is pretty perfect. She's beautiful, she's rich. She can do whatever she wants whenever she wants and always gets her way through money or influence. She's always bragging about how she's so much better than everyone. Clearly her parents must adore her because they spoil her with gifts and never tell her 'no'. Any 'hardships' are just minor inconveniences that Chloé brought upon herself by being mean.

So why would Chloé choose to change? If it's not broke, don't fix it. Chloé's life is Perfect™, why would she do something to make it different?

It's not that she wants Chloé to suffer, or thinks that she /should/ suffer. She just doesn't understand why someone with a Perfect Life™ would change without going through some kind of suffering that forces introspection.

[honeyjars-sims]

Episode 33: New Ventures

Seth and Reese were finally turning one and the DiMarcos were ready to celebrate! Lucy and Christopher couldn't believe their boys were growing so fast. It seemed like just yesterday that they were preparing to bring them home. Now they were beginning to walk and talk.

Lucy was thrilled with the wonderful job Kaylynn had done putting the party together. As she’d requested, it wasn’t too over the top but everything looked great and ran smoothly.

The food truck arrived just in time to feed their hungry guests, and there were plenty of age-appropriate activities for the kids to enjoy while the adults mingled.

Everyone was having a great time, and Kaylynn seemed to be quite proud of what she pulled off.

“You should do this for a living,” Lucy told her. Kaylynn laughed it off. “No, I’m serious,” Lucy continued. “Maybe not just kids’ birthday parties, but anniversary parties or even weddings.”

Lucy pointed out all of the connections Kaylynn had around the community, how skilled she was at planning things, and most importantly, how much she enjoyed helping out other people.

Kaylynn’s eyes grew wide.

“You’re totally right!” she exclaimed. “I loved putting this all together, and if I become an event planner, I can have some control over when and how often I work.” She thanked Lucy and went to find Matt to tell him about Lucy's great idea.

Later the boys had their birthday cupcakes and got more on their faces than in their mouths. They had so much fun that they passed out in their high chairs when they finished.

After Lucy and Christopher got the boys all cleaned up, Lucy spotted Damien walking toward her. She’d extended an invitation to her boss but hadn’t expected him to actually show.

She introduced him to Christopher and the boys and before long, the conversation predictably turned to work.

Damien told Lucy that seeing the new projects being developed and how they’d been received had reignited his passion for the company.

“I’ve had a lot of ideas about how I want to continue with the expansion of the company,” he said. “But I’d be remiss not to get your input given the work you’ve put in so far. Are you interested in becoming the Coordinating Producer for my new production company?" He was quick to assure her that the promotion would come with a pay increase.

Lucy couldn’t turn down a challenge, especially if it meant some actual collaboration with someone as accomplished as Damien. She was happy to accept the offer, but she asked for one small favor.

"Can I hire an assistant?"

Damien was happy to oblige her request, but he had one more surprise in store for her.

"I think I found the perfect name for the production company, but I wanted to get the okay from you first. How do you feel about Sunny Side Productions?"

Lucy was thrilled with the idea. They both felt the moniker was perfect for the new venture. They had just began discussing adding new members to the team before they were interrupted by Matt and Kaylynn.

“Sorry to leave so soon, but–” Kaylynn began.

Matt interrupted her by shouting, “IT’S BABY TIME! WOO!”

Kaylynn smiled and continued, “My water just broke.”  Lucy promised she’d forgive them for dipping out early to bring a new life into the world. 

Previous | Beginning | Next

[scoobydoodean]

I've been thinking about your meta about 5.16 as a Zach manipulation. It reminded me of the theory that the Ash scene is Dean's 3rd heaven room. It has Dean's coolest friends, Ash and Pam, and they reassure him they don't blame him for their deaths. Ash persuades him you can hack heaven and have fun with it; Pamela tells him heaven is great. All this propaganda for a special Dean heaven as a final reward for being Michael's meatsuit, like the angels later promise Adam will see his mum?

Pam does hit Dean and say "That's for getting me killed" in that scene. Ash is cool with being dead though, and Pam ends up saying heaven is a better place. I actually think Pam throwing in a dose of guilt then cooling it with the balm of heaven being a real paradise is perhaps more indicative of potential manipulations in play than her telling Dean she didn't blame him would be, because two primary component of Dean's motivations when running off to say "Yes" end up being 1) Minimize the destruction of the earth (i.e., the harm to others) 2) The weight of guilt over what happens if he's wrong—if they can't find a way to win, and then when EVERYONE dies (like what Zachariah showed Dean in "The End") Dean thinks it'll all be on him—it'll all be his fault that the world burned.

Bringing Pam back in 5.16 is interesting, because Dean's lowest point in season 4 was arguably "On The Head of A Pin", and that episode opened with Dean talking about Pam's death the previous episode.

SAM What's your problem? DEAN Pamela didn't want anything to do with this and we dragged her back into it, Sam. SAM She knew what was at stake. DEAN Oh yeah. Saving the world. And we're doing such a damn good job of it. SAM Dean— DEAN I'm tired of burying friends, Sam. SAM Look, we catch a fresh trail— DEAN And we follow it, I know. Like I said, I'm just—I'm just getting tired.

The episode closed with Dean saying that if HE was supposed to stop the apocalypse, "You guys are screwed". He followed that up by saying these burdens were too big, overwhelmed to the point of tears.

So bringing Pam back recalls a lot of negative emotions and a sense of deep hopelessness. Pam basically functions as a voice to remind Dean that he isn't qualified to stop the apocalypse. It's too big and he isn't strong enough. He'll fail (he's already been blamed for failing to stop Sam at the end of season 4 repeatedly). People he cares about will get hurt/die (and already have, like Pam and Ellen and Jo). Pam is also a reminder of risk. No matter what plan Team Free Will might come up with, it'll be risky—and Pam was the collateral damage of one of Dean's risky plans. Contrast this with how Pam represents heaven as a peaceful certainty. "No matter what happens, everyone will come here and it'll all be okay". So Dean might as well stop fighting, stop torturing himself, stop hand-wringing, and give in.

I also think that's a great point about Ash making heaven feel more "real" by giving the possibility of hacking it. All of this feels like a direct attempt to refute 4.22 when Dean fought with Cas in the beautiful room and said life on earth was better than heaven because it's real—that he'd take the pain and the guilt because it was a lot better than being some Stepford bitch in paradise. Pam says it doesn't matter if it's fake, and Ash represents being able to be in heaven without being a Stepford bitch. And the thing is, I wouldn't be surprised if Zachariah overheard that fight between Dean and Cas in 4.22 (especially based on how immediately he appeared to try and stop Cas when Cas returned to help Dean escape). If Zachariah overheard that, he'd know it was a defining aspect of not just Dean's but Cas's reasons for rebellion as well. Convincing Dean to abandon this perception of heaven as a false paradise would not only weaken Dean's resistance, but also weaken his bond with Cas as well by making Cas feel betrayed (which is exactly what ends up happening). 5.16 attempted to weaken Dean's resistance, but 5.13 through 5.16 were also all about weakening the unity of the family as a whole, starting all the way back with John and Mary, working through Sam and Dean's relationship with Bobby, Sam and Dean's relationship with one another, and then Dean and Cas's relationship.

What Pam says reeks of heavenly manipulations already (how does Pam know all of these details about Dean being a vessel anyway?) but Zachariah's influence also seems likely based on how Sam and Dean get inside the Roadhouse, and then what happens the moment they leave. What gets them into the Roadhouse is Zachariah "looking" for them in the woods. It's obvious he knows exactly where they are, but he appears to toy with them for no reason. He keeps popping up in front of them everywhere they run, until they bump right into Ash who leads them away. Sam and Dean are meant to believe they'd escaped Zachariah's awareness of their location by following Ash, but we immediately know that can't be true, because the moment they leave the Roadhouse they immediately fall right into Zachariah's most overt trap inside the old Winchester family house, and inside that trap, Zachariah confronts Dean with a completely fake Mary—so why wouldn't he have lead them to a completely fake Pam and Ash?

[fanstuffrantings]

Alright I've watched the whole season so I'm going to mention things I did and didn't like about Hazbin hotel

Likes

I've never been the biggest angel dust fan but I enjoyed how he was handled. I think the decision to have him bond with husk and husk just be able to see through everyone's facades was smart

Husk and mimzy were always my favorite designs from way back when and after the pilot I really wanted to see more of husk since he had no screen time so I enjoyed his plot. Hope season 2 gives us more of his backstory as an overlord.

I liked mimzy's inclusion, wish she stayed longer but I understand why she didn't.

The overlords and their disputes were a lot of fun, vox vs Alastor was something that kept me wanting to watch. Very interested to see where alastor goes.

Nifty consistently had some of the funniest lines to me. I feel like they balanced her screen time well.

Vaggie and Charlie were cute in the screentime they got together

The music was great.

The decision in the rewrite to make Vaggie fully nonhuman was smart. I remember Viv originally had her being from the 80s but the choice of making her an angel who fell I did like a lot.

Sir pentious was a fun addition.

Those bits of Alastor's true demon form coming out were amazing. Favorite animation moments.

Generally I enjoyed the show for what it was. I can name more but just know largely I liked a lot of it. Way more than I expected.

Dislikes

I didn't really care for Adam. Not an "oh he's horrible I hate him" more that I just didn't find him to be a compelling antagonist.

I don't understand why all the angels were so shocked their weapons could harm each other when they seemed to be aware of it when vaggie got her eye gouged. I feel like they could've written that plot point better (like they're aware but just keep the knowledge hidden and make sure no angelic metal makes it to hell, like why does Adam seem more annoyed than shocked when he finds a dead angel.)

Sir Pentious death feels like it happened too soon. It didn't hit as hard as someone like Husk, Angel, or Vaggie's would have because we just didn't get as much time with him as most of the cast. I don't even remember them focusing on his backstory at all (I'm aware he's been redeemed and will return, but for those moments of thinking he was dead it just didn't feel as impactful as it could've)

I wish for characters like Alastor they'd leaned into making their costumes look more like the times they were from. His hair and his coat feel so modern.

I wish they'd had more episodes for character development/time. 6 months happening over an 8 episode period is too fast. Especially because (again) they killed off a hotel character.

Continuing the previous point, more episodes could've introduced us to more characters like Cherrybomb. Characters who know the main cast but opt not to stay in the hotel. So that the final battle would've felt a bit bigger/more tense with a bunch of characters we know on the line.

This one is more personal preference: I wish they'd gone more horrific with true forms. Charlie is fully not human, give us a beastial form for her.

People have mentioned it before, but they really should've axed Alastor's connection to Voodoo in the rewrite.

I once again want to say: largely I enjoyed the show. I went into it as a person who was a massive fan of vivziepop between 2015-2017. I wasn't the biggest fan of the humor in Helluva boss but liked the hazbin crew so I wanted to give it a shot and it was so much better than I expected. I just had some parts I didn't personally like.

[onlymurdersintheafterparty]

OMITB S4:E1 "Once Upon a Time in the West" Recap

The show is finally back! We no longer have to deal with Tobin, Loretta is back, and we've got a star studded cast of guest stars. I can't wait to see what's in store for this season. I'm bummed we only get one episode to kick off the season instead of two but I'm hopeful that means there's going to be a lot of twists, drama, and etc to get through in due time. Time to dive into the first episode.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Our favorite trio is recording their final episode of their newest season on Ben Glenroy when the power briefly goes out. To celebrate the end of yet another season they decide to go to Charles' place for a nightcap and Charles remembers Sazz never came back. On the way to the apartment Oliver mentions a cold case and I can't help but wonder if this is foreshadowing for next season 👀 Anyways they go into Charles' apartment and find the wine but there's no body!

Mabel being the clever woman she is spots blood spatter on the stove but I don't think she realizes yet what it is. Or does she and assumes it was a cooking accident? As the camera zooms out we realize that the trio has yet to notice the gunshot hole in the kitchen window. The fact that the body is missing is such an interesting concept because how do you solve a murder with no body or proof just the window and the stove if that?

And they don't even know it's a murder because whoever killed Sazz and haphazardly cleaned up the scene texted Charles the next day impersonating her and stating that she had to go be a double for Bakula in LA. So I think it's safe to assume the killer is one of the new characters in LA. Speaking of LA, a mysterious Bev Melon who has kept contacting the trio has invited them to come visit because Paramount wants to make a movie based off of their podcast. How convenient that "Sazz" is in LA and now the trio is as well. I'll be confused though if that whistling keeps happening to Charles even across the country.

When they get to LA and meet Bev, she's disrespectful as hell when describing their personalities. Oliver is the one she wants to strangle or hug, Charles is the un-fun uncle with a turtle face, and Mabel is a millennial with no job, no house, and basically a failure. Charles leaning across the table to give his folded note was hilarious, especially when Oliver tried to help him up only for the number to say 4 🤣 While it rolls off Charles and Oliver's backs, Mabel is offended and rightfully so. It's only one episode so far but Selena is doing a great job at showing this side of Mabel. You can really see her shrink into herself and that she's less confident than she was in the previous seasons.

Because Mabel doesn't yet want to sign away her life rights, there's a party that evening which will give her a chance to reconsider. But before then, you know the cast has to explore LA. Driven by Charles' old chauffeur in his limo, we see the trio standing in the sunroof while driving down a street lined with palm trees, In-N-Out Burger food and drinks in hand. Side note: I miss In In-N-Out Burger so bad. Their animal style fries are my favorite! But I digress.

Charles mentions that Sazz's apartment is located in one of the places on the tour so they make a detour to see if she's home. There is a stack of unopened mail and packages outside her door which is odd considering the text message said that she was in LA. How can she be in the city but her house deserted? Thankfully Charles picks up on this but tries his best not to worry and be fun to prove he's not the unfunny uncle.

The party is as awkward as you'd expect but with some fun moments. Loretta shows up and she and Oliver talk about their future and if Oliver will move to LA to be with her. It's a complex decision that I don't expect to be answered anytime soon. Charles is still worried about Sazz and Mabel just looks like she doesn't even want to be there.

We discover the actors playing the trio are Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria, and Zach Galifianakis. None of the trio vibe with their counterparts. Eva tries too hard to be young and hip with Mabel, Zach is rude and dismissive to Oliver, and Eugene bores Charles with his impressions. Plus again, the Sazz disappearance is concerning. Seeing someone in a hat and trench coat, Charles follows them and the person is revealed to be Bakula. When asked about the body double work, Bakula reveals that Sazz never showed. Now the warning signs are fully going off in Charles' head. But wait! Things get even more weird because Charles gets a call from Lester that they couldn't get the window changed out that day. The same window that no one has noticed has a whole bullet hole through it. So that's where the whistling came from.

Howard got a new dog named Gravy because he can no longer adopt cats from the shelter and this is an interesting development because Gravy used to be a working dog. We don't know what job but I assume some sort of police work because when Gravy entered the middle of the kitchen where Sazz's body was she would not stop howling. So either a cadaver dog or maybe one used to sniff out certain substances? The killer could have messed with something in Charles' apartment that is causing that ringing that he's experiencing. We'll find out soon enough by episode 9 or 10. Ok it turns out that we won't have to wait because it's not Gravy it's Gravey because she is in fact a cadaver dog! I was right!

When the trio returns to New York, Howard brings over Gravey who searches the apartment and follows the trail up to the incinerator that was labeled out of order. When they go into the incinerator room and check what was recently incinerated all they find in the ashes is the replacement joints that Sazz received in Bulgaria. And the fake Sazz finally drops the act and texts back "Not your fucking friend" meaning we're dealing with a cold killer and one with a grudge against Charles for whatever reason.

I think this is honestly the saddest death in the series because this is someone that they all knew and was a good friend to Charles. He knew something was wrong just not what, and now his fears have been confirmed in the worst way. Not only did they kill her but they incinerated her too which is just so cruel to me that they'd dispose of her like that. It also makes me wonder what she had on her body that they didn't want to be discovered because a note can be thrown away but another thing such as a birthmark or tattoo can not. All I can say is that Charles is a very good friend for not only worrying about Sazz but going out of his way to find out where she went and I'm sorry for his loss. He'll be devastated when he realizes he was the target.

They really came out swinging with this first episode and I really hope they keep the momentum going because if so, it's shaping up to be the best season yet.

[m1xieup]

spoliers for Nevermore episode 80!!!!!! (Read at your own risk)

Ok so first of all…. So much happened. I for one am filled with immeasurable joy due to this episode (though I am still awaiting Duke to come back from the wall). We got some character development, Lenore standing up for herself/her friends and refusing to be a pawn in this game, we got some actual Will content outside of Montresor, and possibly some new characters! All of this is incredibly exciting to me! Now I must warn you that I am a Will enjoyer and this post is mainly about my thoughts/theories about him, though I will say the development for everyone was great and I’m so excited to see how they evolve. I will tell you that even though I predicted they may go to Will, I still didn’t think it would happen-he is a side character after all, no matter how much I enjoy him. It was so nice to see him just being his silly self outside of Montrashsor. He seems like a sweet kid caught up in the wrong crowd. However my main reason for posting this is to discuss where he may go in the future.

this conflict is going to change the dynamic of both groups immensely. Lenore’s group may be more cautious and reserved, but I think Annabel’s may fracture. Prospero is loyal to her, but Ada her other devotee is now dating Monty, and may be more loyal to him. Morella won’t want to stay with Annabels group when she learns what they did to Duke, so she’ll probably leave. Monty may start shit with Annabel and may make a power play especially if he passes this off as her plan, and claims he could do better (this is assuming Duke is rescued which I sincerely hope he is). Ada would most likely support him, so Annabel needs to be really careful with how she does things going forward.

Ok so what about Will? He doesn’t really have a choice as far as he’s concerned Lenore could and would murder him so he has to help her. This puts him in a difficult place, as he technically would have betrayed his team by helping to free Duke. So I have a couple ideas about how his arc (which I think he’ll get one! Which makes me very happy ) could go

He stays with Annabel’s group and possibly faces punishment or harm for betraying them (you can’t tell me Monty would not be incredibly pissed at him, and he is not above hurting people that care for him)

he joins Lenore’s group (this is a little unlikely as Idk if they would accept him in after what he did to Duke even if Eulalie and Berenice seem to have some sympathy for him, however it would be very fun and in my opinion Will deserves better friends so it would make me happy)

he goes on his own (idk if he could make it on his own but it’s a possibility)

he dies/gets killed/is eliminated (this sort of goes with the previous but I also wouldn’t put Monty above murdering him if he felt Will betrayed him) [this would make me sad and I hope it doesn’t happen, near death is fine though I can handle angst]

He could join up with another group all together (this is somewhat based on my theory that the 3 guys we saw in the background are going to be somewhat important going forward) basically my theory is that he could join up with three guys we see as a 3rd party or in conjunction with one of the others. ((I also just think it’d be both hilarious and in character for Will to find someone else to latch onto and lackey for))

all in all a fantastic update! I’m so excited to learn more about/get a Will character arc, and I’m excited to see how he grows (change for the better, I believe in you!) I’m sooooo interested to see how these new faces interact with the others and to learn more about them as well. I am eating up Lenore’s arc, and I am so excited to see how this shift in dynamic with Annabel changes things! These are my general thoughts and opinions/theories! I’d love to hear yours fellow fast-passers (or those that read this when it come out fully)! Thank you for sticking with my insane ramblings (I’m so normal about Nevermore I swear) and have a wonderful day/night!

[enpr-ss]

Limited life blogging!

BRO WHATS WITH BOOGEYKILL? It’s only been 10 minutes??? Scott??? BDUBS???? WHAT IS HAPPENING??? SKIZZ AGAIN??? On brand for Bdubs to do it to the guy that just got killed. Within 1 minute of the choosing. I can’t I’m crying so hard right now. It’s not even a clever play anymore this is just hilarious. Skizz’s heartfelt speech while Joel and Jimmy are dying in the background. This ain’t about them. Joel bringing Boat Boys over into this. No wonder Etho replaced him with a cow. And of course Etho taunts him back about Jimmy replacing him, and of course he kills the cow. They’re referencing ALL the previous series. So many things are happening at the start. Wow. Everyone is just trying to ally with Etho. Everyone really be dying in pairs. Skizz again. They just can’t keep a cow alive. WHO TNTED THE COWS LOOOOOL?!?! Everyone is dropping like flies.

The complete U-turn once the vexes come out and then the hilarious cutscene back to the meeting room. Everyone REALLY wants Etho’s tnt. “Come here Bdubs…I need an easy boogey kill and it doesn’t get easier than you.” Bdubs never let go of the deadweight allegations lol. Etho and his tnt tree farms. Skizz and Bdubs slap fight lol. Bad boys going out of bounds lol. Joel’s deadpan threat of making himself yellow to get Etho back. Truly another wizard moment. Etho is so happy about his tnt. How many redstone geniuses does it take to craft a power rail. And of all people, it’s Skizz that makes them. Wait why did Grian afk? And why is Bdubs so clingy to Etho? HOW HAS SCAR MISSED WITH THE TNT MINECARTS SO MANY TIMES?!? How is everyone dying so much. WHAT IS HAPPENING?? BDUBS WAS THE THIEF ALL ALONG!! And of course the trap didn’t get him. Also what is causing the timer to glitch? Was it a bubblevator tnt? Also rip Tango’s tower. I wonder if there’s anyone who hasn’t died yet. Grian slain by PUFFERFISH??? HE WAS SO CAREFUL, WAS ANTICIPATING IT, AND STILL DIED TO THE CREEPER LOL. TORCHES LOL. Bdubs heckling him lol.

Etho with the banana code again. Tango and Etho making fun of Skizz’ incredibly obvious plan. Huh Etho’s rping the deadbeat dad a lot. Especially by making Scar and Bdubs turn on each other. HALF A HEART??? Every green has a yellow going after them for lols. “Off you go Joel!! Oh I fell - thank you. You saved me! You saved Joel so that I can kill you!” WHAT A SCENE!!! HE LANDED IN THE MLG. HE WASNT EVEN BOOGEY!! TOO GOOD TO BE SCRIPTED. What is happening. How did Martyn hit the ground he was in WATER. Impulse still the luckiest bastard ever. Etho trying to have a moment with Joel. Wait where was Martyn hiding?? Yes Etho what a great idea. Pull the tnt minecarts towards you. SCOTT’S PERFECT TIMING BEHIND THEM. HE JUST WATCHED THE TNT MINECART SLOWLY ROLL IN HIS DIRECTION LOL. SKIZZ NEARLY DIED SWIMMING AND TANGO HAS TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR HIM LOL. Triple kill!!! Skynet, the mob farm, and pretty much unlimited deaths were the best things to ever happen to this server. Was Etho's mob farm just supplying the entire server for tnt? “I’m impressed Etho, that’s possibly the best work you’ve ever done.” “Thank you Cleo. Also that was so mean” LOL “Not overrated… his skills were from back in the day” and Bdubs defending Etho’s redstone when they’re talking about his pvp skills. HE CALLED HIMSELF WASHED UP AHHAHAAHAH. Omg this scene is ICONIC. Etho just envisioning all the trash talk in his comments. THUMBNAIL IS ONE WORD LOL. Bdubs behaving exactly like an ethogirl in the comments making everything worst. YOUTUBE IN GENERAL LOL. What an episode.

The clocker RP is so good. Babysitting and also bullying Bdubs. Etho loves his tnt. And him just listening on Jimmy’s streamer talk. Ah they went after their wheat because of bread bridge. And his bridge too. This family dinner rp is too real omg. “I like that she’s quiet.” Omg. “Well this is nice” after the tnt gets placed down. OH DID HE CUT OUT THE ABSENT FATHER ROAST?!?!? They’re ACTUALLY playing fetch chicken with the tnt minecart. I can’t believe this. “Little bit of a baby throw” this is real incomprehensible family games right here. The trust exercise with the useless redstone torch. TWO?!? LOL THEY BLEW THEMSELVES UP AS EXPECTED. CLASSIC. WHAT DID THEY THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?! “You dropped the ball.” BRO.

Watching the clip compilation ep 6 by Molecoid. Has the no thumbnail and the intro LOL. He compared Skizz and Scar’s abs….. why. ZombieGem absolutely roasting Etho. “Why would I ever listen to you?” A scar trap lol. “Why are you saying re in front of it?” LOL Joel and Jimmy are so desperate. Impulse is so bad at lying. HE DIDNT EVEN HIDE HIS STASIS CHAMBER AND SCAR FOUND IT AND KILLED HIM IMMEDIATELY. He resets it and Scar gets him again. Why would he reset it right there. HE DIES TO HIS OWN TRAP LOL. Martyn witnessing the downtime of Etho and seeing him turn red is such a lucky find. Wait how did Bdubs survive that end crystal. Just as he’s warning Etho from the family dinner too. ZOMBIEGEM ABSOLUTELY ROLLED HIM OMG. HE BARELY EVEN TRIED SHE LITERALLY BROKE HIS SHIELD WITH SWORE CRITS AND ENDED IT. HE GOT LIKE 2 HITS IN AND THEY WERENT EVEN CRITS. DIDNT EVEN BREAK HER SHIELD. “Wrench of a wife” LOL. SHE WASNT EVEN USING HER SHIELD. SHE UPHILL SWORDED HIM WHEN HE HAD A DIAMOND AXE. SHE WAS ON TWO HEARTS AND SHE STILL HIT HIM LIKE 10 TIMES AND KILLED HIM AGAIN. OH MY GOD HE IS WASHED.

“Yeah I lost my audio” he says over clips of him getting absolutely demolished by the clockers LOL. What a significant look between Grian and Etho. Wow things really have changed this series. Etho doesn’t even pretend to not be the boogey. HE PULLED THE “YOURE ADOPTED” CARD OOOOOOH 1v3s without pregapping; 1/4 the damage was from his own firework, dies to lag from Grian while Scott cleans up. Classic. Quad kill!! Of course people trapped spawn. That firework through the waterfall kill on Jimmy was pretty cool.

Classic Jimmy Trying to get Scott again with the fishing rod slow tnt minecarts. Joel died to glass in the water??? LOL. Etho just hitting every single block and taking fall damage at the worst time possible. HE KEEPS OPENING VC LOL. Bdubs trying to mediate between Scar and Etho lol. HE FELL OFF, CLUTCHED, OFFHANDS HIS AXE AND USES A PICK, AND THEN DIES TO A SKELETON. HES WASHED. AND THEN A WOLF STOLE HIS KILL LOOOOOL. Bdubs taking pity on him. This is such an iconic moment but Skizz’ skin is killing me. “You’re a standup guy. I appreciate you, I love everything about you. I just wish you were better at this game.” AND AXE CRITS SKIZZ LIKE THAT. BRUTAL. EXECUTES HIM WHILE LAUGHING. Skizz’s ghostly “Me too” is also great. What an ending.

He finally got a tnt minecart kill! “Tango this is Minecraft. Why don’t you have blocks?” Pearls game was rigged to kill all three. Etho was smart enough to pick the house that had its undersides all blown up lol. IMPULSE FINALLY GETS A END CRYSTAL KILL!!! BEAUTIFUL. Scar with the excellent sword names. Etho got Grian!!! Etho’s just all by himself, in the sky, talking to ghosts. Oh you can shoot into the border now? How many times did Etho kill Grian?? With the fireworks through water each time as well??? And Scar cheering on Etho in the chat. ETHO HAD TO PROMPT GRIAN TO ENACT THE LOYALTY SWORD LOL!!! FANDOM LIED TO ME!!!! I thought it was a secret low key thing that would only appear at the beginning and end and would be Grian initiated but no!!!! Grian is so happy to live out his dreams of being rescued and partnered with Etho. He’s so time hungry omg. Turning immediately on Pearl. Giving a fair 1v1 to Pearl was very kind of him. He’s still washed though. He died to fall damage just like Grian lol. Half his health gone to his own firework too. He pinned the fluffing comment HAHA

[hanarium]

Bai Yu Reviews #3 : Take Us Home (龙城) - END

Full Review: 36/36 watched

What is it about?

Family trying to figure out their way in life despite the outside and inner troubles . More slice of life than a romance, although romance does appear. Heavy focus on family and obligation to family.

Bai Yu's role?

Main, middle brother Zheng Xijue

Is it worth watching?

Yes, but it's not for everyone. Gets heavy at times. Details and minor spoilers under the cut.

After the review of the first half of the show, I was ready to be disappointed further, and yet, to my great surprise, right after episode 18 the entire drama took off.

Things got progressively worse, especially when it comes to Dongni and her issues, but pretty much everyone from the main cast got a moment to shine and at least try to tackle their problems and hang ups, while the crisises kept on coming.

The focus on parenting, on the role and responsibility of a parent when it comes to a child (and the other way round), is definitely one of the strongest points Take Us Home makes, and discusses at length. Different models of parenthood, different approaches and effects it has on kids, are coordinated well with what was shown in the first part of the show.

Here, a scene from the last two episodes comes to mind, that is the talk between Dongni and Xuebi, regarding the degree to which a parent should sacrifice for their kids and how it affects said kids. The answer is particularly resonant in modern times - an unhappy parent is very likely to make their child unhappy too, despite their best intentions. No one can grow up sane while feeling they are a burden someone has to sacrifice for, day after day.

Zhao Zhao's plotline is probably the most painful one, but it leads to a very mature discussion of hope and the price for it - Zheng Xijue's idealistic belief in shielding people from truth just to sustain their hope and will to live, is constrasted with Doctor Chen's pragmatism and rather realistic belief that it's foolish to waste resources on lies that do not bring any real change.

There is also the prevailing question of - do you want to save her? Or just feel better about yourself because you tried?

This arc doesn't offer any easy answers, although it seems that the script sides more with Xijue here, considering the 'ghost talks' both Xijue and Doctor Chen have at some point, explaining their reasoning and feelings to those who are long gone.

Doctor Chen is an interesting character in his own right - from an idealist and true altruist he changed into a loner, unwilling or unable to let anyone close because of the hurt he suffered. Him and Zheng Xijue are natural foils for each other and each scene with them both present is a personal favourite of mine. Again - patterns that are repeated shape who the characters are, and it's requires them to work on themselves to overcome them. Some manage to, some don't.

Although most of the attention, especially when it comes to the dramatic and hurtful events, is centred on Zheng Xijue and Dongni, Nanyin's plotline of growing into herself and her relationship is done very well too - it is a nice counterbalance to the stormy lives of her older siblings, but it's not naive or insignifcant. Nanyin, taking strength from the support and love she received from her family, is able to fight back against her in-laws and to decide for her own how her life and future will look like. In the sea of hard choices and inescapable misery, her arc is the shining, hopeful beacon, despite the troubles she faces.

And here is the main reason why this review is so positive while the previous one was less than: the balance. The second half finally shows us moments of respite, shows us the characters smiling, hanging out, having fun, without just the dire circumstances pushing them into each other. Of course, they are still supporting one another throughout all the bad luck, but the also have the time to finally just be.

Gone is also the feeling of stagnation - first things get much worse, the spiral changes into a head-dive, but it only makes watching the Zheng siblings crawl back up, one step at a time, all the more satisfying.

They actually have to put on some work to be better and I must say, it's a joy to see them put in the effort.

However.

The one who changes the least in the end, is Zheng Xijue. Instead of him learning to set some boundaries and learning to give some things and people up, it's his surroundings that come to a conclusion that he is perfect as he is and it's their job to learn how to accept him and support him in his self-sacrificial act, because they all profitted from his sacrifices and were able to be so happy exactly because he was there to be their stepping stone.

It might be a bit of a reach here, but I find it interesting that everyone is at their best when he stops being a person and starts being a concept - with Xijue in jail, his entire family adapts almost a religious 'Xijue wouldn't want you to do that, he wouldn't want you to suffer like that' approach, which benefits them ("Xijue already suffered for it, you can't waste it, so do what you want") but doesn't really address how much this state of things costs him.

Aunt Lin does say at some point that he was bound to blow up and hit someone because he got so used to bottling everything up, yet this idea doesn't come back. Even Jiang Yi, Zheng Xijue's girlfriend who from the very beginning had very good reasons to be unhappy with his choices, finally gets 'converted' into understanding that this is how it should be and that her role in life is to be there for him whenever his goodness breaks him up too much. Local Jesus spotted, everyone.

Joking aside - I am not certain whether the show wanted it that way, or if it's just my reading of it, but I believe that while the drama has a good ending overall, Zheng Xijue is the only character who actually loses in the end. He doesn't leave his pattern after all, he even gets it enforced and encouraged from the outside, and for me? That's a bad ending. I like those, so it's additional plus from me, but for those who find themselves in Xijue's circumstances and want to be inspired by watching how he overcomes them... Well, he doesn't.

Who is it for? Definitely for those who like Bai Yu's acting, he does a marvellous job here, especially in the second part where he has something more to show than sad smiles and tears. This man can suffer, let me tell you that. For the lovers of slice of life, family dramas, flawed characters trying their best to become better, and for those who like to be reminded that no matter how hard the circumstances are, there is always hope for it to get better tomorrow.

Who it isn't for? People who don't like too much suffering, and those who don't enjoy their protagonists display toxic behaviour towards their loved ones. From what I gather, the drama also loses quite a lot of the content when it comes to Longcheng itself and the problems of industrialism that are present in the novels - they are only hinted at in the drama and don't lead anywhere. Also: it's definitely not for those who dislike characters being dramatic and irrational at times - while realistic, it can get sometimes frustrating, because how naive can you get???

Overall, I enjoyed it a lot, even cried a bit in the right moments, so personally, I do recommend it both to Bai Yu fans and to people who enjoy the topics this drama touches upon. It's very well-acted and beautifully shot, the ost also grows on you as you watch (although some songs get repeated so often that making a drinking game out of them would kill some livers)