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crimsonheart01 · 2 years

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Sunday May 22, 2022

This weekend got away from me, so it’s a day late but here’s this weeks round up!!

If you read any of the stories on this list, please make sure to show love to the authors by liking and reblogging their content!

A reminder to everyone that my blog houses 21+ content. This post isn’t any different. I’m not adding in the specific tags or warnings for each rec here but know that they can house adult content as well.

✨ If you are under 21, please DNI.✨

1. Drunk Text by @kteague

Pairing: Frankie “Catfish” Morales x Fem!Reader

This was so lovely and so sweet and fluffy that I read it thrice. The adoration that Frankie has and the picture of him waking up the next morning? Ugh all of it was the best. Plus Santi out here baiting Frankie out but in the best way.

2. This Roommates Drabble by @forever-rogue

Pairing: Frankie “Catfish” Morales x Fem!Reader

Listen, having someone else put cream/sunscreen on you is a for sure way to secure kisses! I loved the bashful Benny and the light teasing he gave Frankie afterwards. The mutual pining and both hiding their attraction to each other, chef’s kiss!

3. Lavenders Blue by @writeforfandoms

Pairing: Javi G x Fem!Reader

HELLO! I DID NOT KNOW I NEEDED TO READ A CINDERLLA AU THIS WEEK. Also, Lucia, you sly dog, you. Setting everything up and then following through on keeping them together. Lucia was the perfect fairy godmother. Javi being exceptionally sweet and adoring. Using learned tactics to find his way to her then explaining to her how he would never actually do anything criminal was so adorable. Ugh, I loved it.

4. venus, planet of love by @peterthepark

Pairing: Steven Grant x Fem!Reader

Wow, just wow. This was perfect. The symbolism. This is a work of art on it’s own, nevermind how utterly perfect Steven and the reader are. Sneaking into a museum, the pining, Marc being pushy and Khonshu being his dry self. Ugh I loved this. Truly, I did.

5. Whiskey’s Sugar by @absurdthirst

Pairing: Agent Whiskey/Jack Daniels x Fem!Reader

JESUS THIS ONE GOT ME IN THE FUCKING FEELS. I KNEW HOW IT WOULD END BUT I DIDN’T WANT TO KNOW, YOU KNOW? This was a rollercoaster of all emotions and even though I cried, I’m still happy I got to read it. Whiskey deserves the world, and so does his sugar. This was heartbreakingly beautiful.

6. why don’t you by @queenofthefaceless

Pairing: Javier Peña x Fem!Reader

It’s sundress season y’all and this was a good way to christen the season. That little held tilt in the gif was all I kept picturing throughout this whole fic. It really set the tone and Javi being absolutely feral by the end? YES PLEASE!!!! Back alley car sex is now on my bucket list hahahaha

7. Sansana by @foxilayde

Pairing: Poe Dameron x Fem!Reader

I don’t think I’ve ever needed anything more! This was amazing! The chemistry between Lex and Poe?!??? Please, it’s too good. TOO GOOD! The absolute denial that Lex is in? Even more perfect. I love how Poe is rolling with it without complaint but uses it to his advantage. He knows what the life is about and he isn’t trying to exploit anything. His little deal at the end though? And Lex’s conditions. Amazing!! Staying true to both their characters while also having fun, gawd this was amazing!!!

8. Stranger at My Gate by @leslie-lyman

Pairing: Pero Tovar x Fem!Reader

This was a classic! First and foremost, Aunt Moira, I need more of her. Always. What cheeky witch she was. The beautiful world building within this is amazing. You captured each of their gifts and explained them amazingly. Also those however many hours where they can’t understand each other????? THE PINING THE ATTRACTION THE SPARKS!!! When he catches her before she falls???? Babes, I could read this story 8000 times and never tire from it. Whew, this was amazing!

9. An Impractical Time by @clydesducktape

Pairing: Pero Tovar x Fem!Reader

A HARRY POTTER AU???? Babes, you’re after my heart here with this one. Two of my favourite things put together??? Ahhhhhhhhh also ngl I literally howled with laughter at the reader noting how bad he smelled. I loved the realism in that, because of course he was grimy and sweaty and hadn’t bathed in however long it was. It was a sign of the times and I loved the way you put it in here. Also Pero being overly concerned with his reputation through the ages and your foreshadowing of why there isn’t much more written about him! I loved all of it! I love how she’s honest and upfront with him but friendly and approachable. OH AND THAT SCENE WHERE HE TRIES TO CAST A SPELL FOR HER AND SHE GUIDES HIS HAND THROUGH THE MOVEMENTS!!!!! Wheeeewwwww!!!!

#crims fic recs #may 22 2022 #pero tovar #poe dameron #steven grant #javier pena #javier peña #javi g #frankie morales #frankie catfish morales

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bytheangell · 2 years

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It’s Nice to Be Wanted

Prompt: A: It’s nice to be wanted! B: Not by the law! (For the @thehuntersmoondiscord scavenger hunt MagnusBot prompt challenge!)

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Simon has to admit that this is all pretty exciting. It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions, and not one of those new, smooth steel rollercoasters, either - one of those original, rickety wooden ones that should probably be condemned by now for the whiplash they give you after jostling around and nearly throwing you out of your seat with every bump.

It all starts when Simon, uh, loses track of some time. And by losing track of some time, he means blacked out for a good chunk of the night, which ends up being a very important part of the night to know what happened. Simon definitely thought he killed someone, but it turns out that someone else - Quinn - killed the mundane and tried to let Simon take the fall. It was a horrifying period of time, to think himself capable of actual cold-blooded murder, and a surprising relief to be assured that he was not capable of it after all.

…unless it’s self-defense because he did just kill Quinn, after all.

Lots of ups and downs.

“I just need to meet with Raphael to see if he’ll be willing to Encanto Ollie,” Luke says. “I hate it, the last thing I want to do is mess with her mind, but it’s the only thing I can think of to get you in the clear.”

“I’ll go!” Simon offers, already making his way toward the door. He feels terrible - this is all his fault, after all. Well, no, it’s mostly Quinn’s fault for getting him drunk on plasma and then killing a girl, except Quinn isn’t here to feel guilty and Simon is. The least he can do is be the one to persuade Raphael to help, or maybe even work up the vampire mojo to Encanto Ollie himself.

“You,” Luke says, and Simon can hear him putting on his most authoritative dad-slash-cop voice. “Are going to stay right here. You can’t just go running around the city right now, you’re wanted.”

Simon knows this is serious, but he can’t help the small smile that tugs at the corners of his lips. “It’s nice to be wanted,” Simon jokes because humor is his best (and only) self-defense mechanism.

“Not by the law!” Luke exclaims, exasperated. “And also not by the vampires, and some Shadowhunters, and probably half the werewolves still. You need to lay low.”

Simon huffs. “Fine. Just hurry back, alright? I want to get this over with.”

“You and me both, kid,” Luke sighs. He’s halfway to the door when he turns back around to look at Simon. “Listen, I know things are tough right now, but it’s going to be alright. We’re going to sort this out and give you a place to lay low until the heat dies down.”

“That’s the most cop-like sentence you’ve ever said to me,” Simon observes.

“Yeah, well, this is the most criminal-like trouble you’ve ever been in,” Luke quips back. “And it better be the last.”

Simon sighs. “I don’t like this any more than you, alright? No more false murder confessions from me, I swear.” Simon holds three fingers up in a ‘scouts honor’ sign as if that would prove his seriousness on the matter. “Just hurry back?”

“I will,” Luke promises, and Simon watches him vanish through the doorway, left only to wait and hope this entire disaster is about to come to an end so he can go back to his life as normally as possible.

#simon lewis #luke garroway #shadowhunters #hmdiscord

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cassurrjoybell-30 · 8 months

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Bonding with the Enemy - Chapter 10

*Warning Adult Content*

Shouldn't Have Said That

Laying on the floor, Darren squeezed his eyes shut and put all of his brain power into blocking out Jasper.

Upon returning, the young Alpha had ranted about being ignored by his mate before going to bed.

Darren at first wanted to say something snarky about how arrogant he was being, yet he didn't want to draw attention to himself and figured he could wait till later to bring it up.

Checking the time, he realized the screen on the clock read 5:00 A.M.

Groaning, Darren rolled over and tried even harder to shove the presence out of his mind.

Whatever Jasper was doing, it was really straining the Rogues Collar.

If this was how bad it was with the collar on, Darren could only imagine how much stronger it'd be if he ever removed it.

Praying that the Alpha didn't somehow discover a way to track him, he managed to get at least one hour of sleep.

The next day, Jasper got out of bed bright and early, leaving Darren laying on the floor in misery.

He had a massive headache that throbbed against the backs of his eyes and head.

He wasn't looking forward to enduring this in the car all day.

Jasper didn't say a word as he quickly dressed and left the room.

Darren momentarily considered if he should slip out of town and leave the missing kids to the authorities but then he remembered that he was also under suspicion and running would definitely make him look bad.

Plus there was probably some sort of criminal offense he'd be charged with if he tried to leave before getting cleared.

Realizing he didn't have many options, he decided to just keep doing what he was doing and head downstairs for breakfast.

Once again he found Liam, Mary, Garret and Jasper sitting at the table.

Still uncomfortable in the Alpha's home, he took the seat farthest away from everyone as usual.

"Garret told us what happened," Mary was saying to Jasper.

"Trust me, she's just nervous. Heaven knows I was when I found out I was bonded to an Alpha."

She turned and put a loving hand over Liam's.

The man smiled fondly back at her.

"But she blocked me out all night," Jasper huffed, pushing a few strips of bacon around on his plate.

"Why would she do that? We could at least meet and talk about it before she decides to reject me."

Garret pitched in.

"I'm sure she's not rejecting you. It's like Mom said. She's probably nervous since you're in line to be the next Alpha. Put yourself in her shoes. What if she's not sure that she's fit to help lead the pack?"

"That's right," Mary agreed.

"That was my first concern. I actually tried to hide from Liam at first but of course he tracked me down and assured me that I had nothing to worry about."

"But I can't track her," Jasper pounded the table.

"I can sense her but I don't know where she is and when I try to find her, it's like she completely blocks the bond."

"That's impossible," Liam spoke for the first time, his face serious.

"The only way a bond can be blocked would be if someone was using some form of ability or artifact to do so."

Darren gulped.

With a sigh, Jasper ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

"Maybe. I could sense that she was pretty powerful. That's probably it."

This conversation was a rollercoaster of emotions for Darren.

He was nervous about being discovered, frustrated that everyone kept trying to encourage Jasper and angry that the man wouldn't accept being rejected.

He wanted to say something but Darren knew his temper would flare and he'd most likely say something he shouldn't.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Jasper pounded the table again.

"But that doesn't excuse avoiding me," he grit.

"I can sense her presence constantly, so it's not like I can just ignore her. Why wouldn't she want to talk at least? I just want to know why she doesn't want me."

"You ever think that maybe it's someone you know?" Darren spoke up before he could stop himself.

The arrogance this guy was showing had grated his last nerve and while he had wanted to stay out of it, someone had to be the voice of reason.

As usual, everyone around Jasper was being encouraging and acting like he could do no wrong, so of course he would think he had some sort of right over whoever he was bonded with.

Darren needed to set the record straight.

Jasper glanced at him, confused.

"Of course. I know everyone in the pack."

"So what are the chances that it's someone you treated like shit back in school?" Darren interrupted.

That caused the younger Alpha to pause.

"I wasn't that bad."

"OH REALLY?" Darren asked skeptically.

"So you're saying you never asked another student to be your slave? Or called anyone names? Or attacked them after school JUST BECAUSE THEY WOULDN'T TALK TO YOU?"

"Darren," Liam shouted, causing a new force to bore down onto the collar.

His Alpha presence was not enough to stop Darren from his current rant though and he persevered.

"I'm just saying, if I found out I was bonded to my old bully, I would have skipped town the instant I felt the connection."

"Do you know who she is?" Jasper suddenly asked, a look of shock crossing his face.

Darren instantly shut his trap, realizing he said too much like he knew he would but it was too late.

Jasper jumped out of his chair and approached the rogue.

"Is that why she's avoiding me? Because I did something bad to her back in school? Who was it? Tell me," he said, putting his hands on Darren's shoulder and bore into him with a manic expression.

"Even if I did know, I think it's the victims right to make the first move. Not the abusers," Darren growled.

Jasper's face twisted in unknown ways and Darren couldn't read his emotions anymore as he fell to his knees.

Garret and Liam jumped from their chairs and were instantly by Jasper's side, helping him up.

Darren then watched as the two nearly dragged the man off into another room.

Mary followed the three, looking panicked and unsure of how to help.

This left Darren sitting at the table by himself.

He twiddled his thumbs, remorseless, then helped himself to some breakfast.

It wasn't until he decided to check in on everyone in the living room that he realized something was amiss.

Jasper's face was now blank as he sat on the couch, with Garret and Mary sitting on either side rubbing his back.

He also spotted Liam pacing the room and talking urgently on the phone.

Darren wanted to ask what was going on but he knew this was probably his fault and he didn't want to draw attention to himself, so he stood awkwardly in the entryway until Garret noticed.

"I don't think you'll be going out today," he said.

"What's going on? Is he really that shocked over what I said?" Darren braved to ask.

"Yes and no," Liam replied as he put his phone away.

"A mate bond is extremely powerful. To be rejected is one thing but to cause harm to your bonded partner is much more dangerous. It goes against our nature as mates. Suggesting that Jasper hurt the woman he's been bonded to has caused him to go into shock. I don't think it'll be a good idea for him to do his usual run around town today. He'll be staying home."

The Alpha's poker face returned as he faced Darren.

"And I think it'd be best if you stay upstairs for a bit."

He wasn't showing it but it was clear that Liam didn't like that Darren had caused this.

How was Darren supposed to know he'd break Jasper so easily?

If he had known, he'd have done it a lot sooner.

Not feeling the least bit guilty, he nodded in agreement and tried to leave, only to hear Gerrit and Mary yelp in surprise as Jasper suddenly leapt off the couch towards the rogue.

Darren barely turned in time to find the man just inches away from his face.

"You'll tell her I'm not like that anymore, right?" he asked desperately.

Darren glanced at the others who were watching with worried expressions.

Jasper still had a manic, almost insane look on his face as he waited for a response.

Darren could be forgiving.

He could say something like 'oh sure, you've been great' but that'd be a lie.

Darren wasn't the sort of person who would say something nice to a known asshole.

It was just as hypocritical as going to a rapists funeral and only saying good things out of 'respect'.

He refused.

"You mean tell her that you didn't make me sleep on the floor and threaten me the first night I stayed here? Or that you didn't ever rough handle me down the hall? Or maybe lie and say you actually apologized for what you did to ME back in school?" he spat.

"No. I think she has every right to know just what kind of person you really are."

And with that, he stomped upstairs towards Jasper's room and slammed the door.

It was a bit awkward since this was Jasper's room and he knew the guy would have to return.

Unfortunately it wasn't like Darren had his own room to lock himself in.

Luckily no one followed him.

So, to pass the time, he went through his things for a bit, regretting leaving his phone in his aunts back yard.

He wanted to barrow a phone so he could ask Sophie to drop it off but everyone was probably pissed at him now, so that was out of the question.

At some point in the day he started hearing people coming over to visit.

Glancing out the window, he saw that a doctor had arrived to examine Jasper.

After he left, Beth and Kenny arrived, along with a few other people he didn't know.

As a matter of fact, it seemed like Jasper's entire fan club was visiting.

The smell of food wafted up from the kitchen and Darren knew that Mary was probably preparing lunch for all their visitors.

His stomach growled hungrily.

A knock at the door caught his attention as he tried to ignore the tempting smells.

A moment later, in walked Garret.

He nodded towards Darren.

"Hey, I thought I'd check on you."

Darren stared at him for a moment, not having expected anyone to bother visiting him.

After all, this drama was his fault.

"I'm fine," he eventually replied.

Gerrit glanced back into the hallway as he rubbed his neck.

"Right, well, I just wanted to make sure. I know it might seem like they're upset but my parents are usually pretty understanding. I mean, we all know what Jasper was like back in school so I don't blame you for being hard on him."

Darren huffed and turned away.

If they had known then they should have done something about it.

After a moment of silence, the bed dipped as Gerrit sat beside him and continued.

"Look, I want you to know that I'm not mad at least. I've always known that Jasper can be bull headed when he wants something and my parents had a habit of handing him everything like it was no big deal. Once he gets over this, maybe it'll serve as a good learning point."

Their conversation was interrupted by Darren's belly as it growled loudly, cutting the tension and causing Gerrit to laugh.

"Maybe you should come down and grab some food?"

Darren hesitated.

He knew there were a lot of people visiting now and he had no idea who any of them were.

Plus he hated large gatherings in general.

Between their distaste for rogues and the potential that at least one of them was being haunted, he thought it might be best to stay upstairs but another growl from his stomach encouraged him to suck it up, so he agreed.

Back in the living room, Jasper was still sitting on the couch as though he hadn't moved an inch since that morning.

A few of his friends were standing around, some patting his back, others speaking encouragingly.

Garret nudged Darren and explained that it was Liam's idea to surround him with supportive people to try and snap him out of his current stupor.

Then a familiar face blocked his view.

"YOU DID THIS," Kenny snarled from across the room, spotting the rogue and pointing him out like he was Phoenix Wright.

All heads snapped in Darren's direction.

Before Darren had a chance to react, the Beta was right in his face, fist pulled back and ready to swing.

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peralta-guaranteed · 3 years

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good trope or bad trope: one of them waking up from surgery or something and being so high on drugs they forget they're together and the other has to explain it

good trope GOOD trope good trope! and this was probably just a question but I couldn't resiiiist

-*-

It's kind of sad to think about the fact that Amy is already used to monitors beeping in a cold hospital room around her squad and, mostly, around her partner. They've been in so many horrible situations, so many little moments where she's had to worry about them, that today she's almost glad she doesn't have to. Jake's surgery had neither been scheduled nor planned, and there had been a whole lot of panic leading up to it when she drove him to the hospital wincing in pain, his arms clutched around his lower stomach, but the doctor's told her they came in early enough for it to be a more routine procedure rather than an emergency. And now his appendix was out, and he would be hurting and healing for a while, but the trepidation about that is nowhere close to the fear she's used to feeling while sitting in these uncomfortable hospital chairs, wondering when the person in the bed next to her would wake up. The last time she'd been in this position, Rosa was hooked up to so many many more machines, and she looked like a bad wax figurine of herself, all pale and stiff.

Jake looks almost fine, no breathing mask or tube down his nostril, just a little beeping heart monitor and some infusion in his arm. The nurse told her he'd be waking up soon when she lead her into the room, and that they could probably go home later that evening already.

(She also told her that he'd been one of the more amusing patients she'd had under anesthesia, which was not a surprise, and that he'd been asking for her every time he groggily opened his eyes for just a few seconds, which was not a surprise either.)

He blinks awake slowly, eyes darting around the room as if to figure out where he is, before they land on her and stay stuck, his forehead creasing in confusion for a second before he grins.

"Heyyyy, it'sa Santiago!" He tries in a croaky voice, and Amy reaches for the cup of ice water the nurse brought in to hand it to him. He's shaky, but he can handle it alone, she notes almost subconsciously - she remembers enough moments where she's had to feed him ice chips instead because he could barely move his arms.

"Hey." She answers with a softer smile as he gulps down almost the whole cup - considering he still hates water, he must really need it. "How are you feeling?"

"Oh, just splendid, thanks." He quips before trying to sit up more and wincing, the stitches in his stomach upset. "What the hell did I do this time to end up here?"

"What?"

"I mean, I don't remember a chase or a fight, but it sure feels like I took a knife to the stomach or something?"

They look at each other, equally confused, before Amy shakes her head.

"You dont remember-? It wasn't a work thing, Jake, your appendix almost burst."

"Ah dang. That's not even a cool story for a new scar." He sighs as he leans back a bit against the pillow and carefully palms the space where she knows the skin is going to be light pink and rougher than usual from now on. "Sorry they made you wait around for my stupid ass to recover, or is the squad at least taking turns?"

She stares at him, her mind racing, and it seems to make him nervous. He's still trying to go for that usual grin, but his eyes are darting around, sticking to parts of her without looking directly into her eyes, and she can see he's getting fidgety. Mixing that with what he's saying, and the way he's saying it - his voice is different, somehow, more - guarded, or distant, it's hard to explain, but she only remembers it from a long time ago - makes her suddenly realise.

He's been given some very heavy duty painkillers and narcotics, she hears the nurse's voice in her head, so he might be disoriented or confused for quite a while. It shows differently in lots of people, so I can't tell you what to expect, but he'll be back to normal once it passes through his system.

He doesn't remember, she thinks. He doesn't remember... a lot.

"Jake." She gets his nervous attention back, trying to school her voice into something calm and friendly, instead of the equally nervous and somewhat excited giggle she wants to let out so bad. "I think you're still working through your medication. Can you tell me what the last thing you remember is?"

He leans back again and stares at the ceiling, and it's hard to read the emotions on his face.

"Just... regular work stuff, to be honest. Nothing big."

"Okay, then what is the last big thing you can think of?"

"Uh." He swallows, and Amy refills his water cup, but he doesn't take it. "I, uh, I remember Hoytsman kidnapping me." He laughs a short laugh, obviously trying to make it seem lighter than it ever was, but that's not the only reason Amy feels her heart jump.

His mind is stuck before their relationship. After Sofia left him. He thinks he's woken up after being injured at work, and there's no one there waiting for him except for a work partner who he's been trying so hard to pretend he doesn't like anymore, and for whom he obviously has to play the "I'm okay!" role still.

"Wow. Uh. Okay." She babbles, trying to find a way to be gentle and not confuse him any more. "Then, uh, I guess, well, your medication should pass soon, I think, and you'll remember more, so don't worry-"

"Amy." He's staring at her when she finally looks up, and notes her shorter hair, her far more comfortable outfit than the pantsuits he sees her wear at work, and even while high on drugs it's not that hard for him to put two and two together. "How much am I missing?"

"Quite a lot." She finally admits, but drops her look down into her lap, to her folded hands, and she unconsciously covers her wedding ring before he can see it. "A few years."

"Years?!" He squeals while leaning forward and then groans, because that has definitely upset his wound.

"It's okay, the nurse said it would happen." She quickly tries to calm him. "It's - you'll remember when the anaesthetic passes properly, so it's alright."

"Alright, yeah." He nods and finally settles into the pillow again, as silence envelops them for a few awkward moments, in which Amy's mind races through all the things he's missing right now.

"Okay." He interrupts her sad little mental storybook of their life's drama. "Let's play a game until then, huh? I call it 'Shock&Tell'."

"Jake-"

"It's easy, you'll get the rules. Basically, you tell me stuff I don't know right now and see how shocked you can get me."

"That's not funny-"

"Oh, I think it is. I know how much you like to have me speechless." He grins at her, and she can't resist.

"Title of your sex tape."

"Amy Santiago!" He gasps with a laugh, but there's hesitation in his eyes, and she remembers they weren't exactly at a flirting stage back where he is right now. "For that alone, you have to play a round with me."

"I can't think of anything shocking at the moment." She lies, and he sees right through her.

"Okay, then tell me the worst thing you think happens to me in those years, and the best. From your opinion."

She sighs and stares at her hands again, but she knows he won't let up - he's not gotten any less obnoxious from back then to now.

"Alright. The worst thing. You went to jail." She states, matter of fact, and watches his eyes practically bulge out of his head.

"Holy shi- WhAT?! Like, for a crime? Or-what-did I-what?!"

"You were innocent!" She says as fast as she can, and watches him deflate only a little.

"I sure fucking hope so! But still, what- how- why- ?"

"You and Rosa were framed by a criminally corrupt cop. It took us a few months to get evidence against her and have her sentenced instead."

"A few months." He whispers and stares at his hands, scrunching up the blanket he's wrapped in.

"You weren't alone." Her voice is soft and calm now, seeing him in such a state of unrest, and it takes all she has not to pull him into a hug - it'd probably both confuse and actually hurt him right now, given the stitches. "I mean, you were alone in prison, but we- the squad - we were all fighting for you and Rosa, and Charles and I visited you, and we- I- we never gave up on you."

He smiles, soft and a little broken, but he nods, as if that was something he'd always expect.

"Okay, now the best thing. Because lemme tell you, Santiago, you have to make up for that suckerpunch."

She smiles much wider now, almost grins as she leans forward to finally reach for his hand, entangling their fingers (to which he goes along almost automatically) and feeling her rings clink against the one on his. Jake's eyes are frozen on her hand in his, where he can see a shiny wedding band over what is clearly his Nana's old engagement ring, and he's barely breathing.

"Oh my god." He whispers a moment later, squeezing her hand almost painfully tight as he looks at her again, and she's still smiling.

"We're married?"

"Yeah."

"To- to each other?"

"Yeah, you doofus." She laughs.

"I'm- I'm your husband." He whispers again. "Even thought I went to jail?!"

"Well", she still laughs softly at the absolute shine in his eyes, the awe on his face. "You proposed after that. But I would've married you before, anyway." I would've married you before a lot of things you don't remember, she thinks but doesn't dare say, for fear he'll ask about those other things.

"You're my wife." He says, still stunned, and she nods. "We're married."

She nods again, and watches as the confused awe on his face turns into an almost relieved joy, and his bottom lip trembles as tears start rolling down his cheeks.

"Jake..." She whispers in turn now, her free hand (that is not currently being gripped by both of his) cupping his face and wiping away some of the tears that keep flowing.

"You're happy?" He asks with trepidation in his voice, and Amy wonders if the emotional rollercoaster is another side-effect of his medicine or just his lowered inhibitions. "I'm a good husband?"

"I couldn't wish for a better husband. You make me very happy." She's almost close to tears now herself. "I love you so much."

He gasps at that, and pulls her still gripped hand up to his face, pulling her closer to him in the process.

"I love you, Amy." is his answer, and she realises he means it, even with all the things he doesn't remember, all the things he doesn't know yet. "I love you so much. I can't believe I get to marry you."

His tears have calmed down a little by now, and she fixes her awkward pose of leaning forward and having both arms reach for his face by climbing up onto the bed with him, as he lowers their hands and looks at her with stars in his eyes and so much love on his face, she can't resist to pass the last few inches and kiss him.

His eyes are still closed when she pulls back and touches her forehead to his, and he's whispering again.

"Wow."

"Well, that's certainly an appreciated reaction." She giggles.

"Don't tell me I don't react like that every time you kiss me, because there's no way I'll believe that."

"Yeah." She smiles again as he opens his eyes and smiles back. "Yeah, you kinda do."

And just to prove it, she kisses him again.

#B99 #Brooklyn 99 #Peraltiago #Jake Peralta #Amy Santiago #my writing #ficlet

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erazonpo3 · 3 years

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WOWM

so What Once Was Mine came out and I read it.

My General Thoughts are that this book was something of a rollercoaster but in like a pop up carnival with dubious safety regulations and diseases in the DIY log flume water kind of way. I had some fun reading it but I also feel like I picked up a rash.

If you're like me and you enjoy picking a book apart for morsels of interesting concepts then you might enjoy it, if you think holy shit why the fuck is a literal real historical serial killer in this book I need to see this then you might enjoy it, if you care about engaging plots and character beats then you probably won't.

If you want to ask me anything specific go ahead, but otherwise for more in depth thoughts: spoilers ahead

Basic Summary of the Plot

Okay so here's the deal. The story has the framing device of two siblings in a cancer ward, where one tells the other a story. I'll get into that later, but that's how it starts. Our actual story starts with a pretty long prologue: We learn that the King & Queen got the Moonflower thinking it was the Sunflower, Rapunzel was born with silver hair, and then baby Rapunzel kills a maid who accidentally hurt her when brushing her hair.

Oh, by the way, Max is a human man named Justin Tregsburg. Yeah.

Anyway, the royal family puts out feelers for legit witches who can safely take care of Rapunzel because the baby is too dangerous, and Gothel shows up to take her away. Queen Arianna visits Rapunzel once (but is only allowed to watch through a peephole) and decides watching another woman raise her child is too painful and throws herself into restoring the kingdom's orphanages instead.

Now we're in the present. Rapunzel is nineteen and she wants to go and see the lanterns (a mourning tradition of the Dead princess in this story). She tries to argue with Gothel but gets shut down, and Gothel makes her kill a chicken to prove the point that she can't go outside because she's too dangerous. However we as the audience already know Gothel plans to sell Rapunzel off as a bride or a servant or a weapon to some other nobles, because she's evil.

Also by the way Gothel still has access to our Sundrop Flower and is using it to live forever that's just a thing that happens in the background.

When Gothel is gone Rapunzel watches as a man (Flynn) stores a satchel in a tree outside of her tower, and that motivates her to leave the tower for the first time. Then she goes back inside the tower with her prize of a crown, and a skink she found and named Pascal. Rapunezl and Gothel have another spat, and Rapunzel decides she will run off to see the lanterns and she will find Flynn and make him her guide.

She ends up at the Snuggly Duckling and she doesn't find Flynn but she does find Gina, a young career criminal girl looking to break the glass ceiling. Gina agrees to help her find Flynn. They find Flynn, and he agrees to help guide Rapunzel to see the floating lanterns for a split reward of the crown with Gina.

The Snuggly Duckling gets burned down by Countess Bathory (yes that Elizabeth Bathory) and the Pub Thugs are pissed about it and also they're helping Rapunzel even though she didn't sing the I've Got A Dream song don't worry about it. We learn that the nobles that wanted to buy Rapunzel are now hunting her down so she can go to auction.

Gina takes them to her adopted mother's cottage. Gina's mother is a white witch, who goes by the name of Goodwife. She doesn't get an actual name she's just The Goodwife. Anyhow, the cottage is a magic safe space (for now) and Goodwife teaches Rapunzel that her hair isn't inherently evil and may not even be all that deadly! Rapunzel learns that her hair has other powers too, like the ability to turn skink Pascal into a sentient Chameleon. Yeah.

Also Goodwife tells Rapunzel she's the dead princess but this isn't like, an immediate call to action. Not a lot happens until we get this story's version of the Mother Knows Best Reprise where Gothel finds Rapunzel again but has to flee, but this Rapunzel has a bigger support network and isn't buying it. Flynn and Gina decide the safest course of action is to bring Rapunzel to the castle, but along the way she gets kidnapped by the Countess.

Gothel is pissed because she still wants the money for Rapunzel, so she rallies the armies of all the opposing bidders. Flynn and Gina convince Max the Man to send for his troops, and he joins them in going to the enemy castle. Flynn tries to sneak in, gets caught, and meanwhile there's a bloody battle out the front between the noble armies. Max jumps into the fray, Gina turns around and rallies the Pub Thugs.

Rapunzel uses her shrinking magic (!) to disappear half the castle and escape with Eugene, and the Pub Thugs arrive and basically end the battle. The Captain is dying but it's okay! Rapunzel turns him into a horse :) Also Rapunzel sees Gothel and tells her to fuck off.

The story ends with a tearful reunion between Rapunzel and her parents, Eugene and Gina are implied to be biological siblings, and things are good but of course in direct parallel to Cass Gina leaves at the end to become an adventurer. The end.

(There are a few other smaller plot beats, but you get the idea.)

MY THOTS

So here are my thoughts™.

Framing Device

I'll just state that I didn't like that the story was told via the vehicle of an older brother telling his 16 year old sister a different version of the Tangled Movie in a cancer ward. From what I've heard it also isn't normal for the Twisted Tales series to use a framing device for the AUs either.

I sympathise with the author's personal story, of course I do. That doesn't mean I'm stirred with compassion every time the flow of the story is interrupted to remind you to be sad because this is a story being told to a girl sick with cancer. It feels more than a little tragedy-porny rather than emotionally touching, and maybe that's because I'm too burnt out on real life tragedy to waste emotional energy on fictional cancer patients but we don't need to do Fault In Our Stars discourse again.

Real World References

This story goes heavy with Real World references. And another issue with the framing device as above is that you do feel like this is a story being told by someone namedropping every historical figure they know which makes it harder to get into the story.

There's like... a lot of references to Christianity, particularly in the prologue. There's a priest that thinks Rapunzel's hair is the work of the Devil or whatever. It's a lot. The Patriarchy is a thing. And that's not even getting into the Countess. I put it very succinctly in my notes so I'll paste it here:

I wish she’d just been an OC who could exist to chew scenery because the fact that she was a literal historical serial killer is super. Off putting. Like, she could have been an obvious reference to Bathory, but it feels like Miku Binder Hamilton levels of uncomfortable to me.

I miss Lady D.

Which basically sums up my problem with trying to take the setting of Tangled and put it somewhere in the Real World and somewhere on the Timeline. Who thought this was a good idea.

Misc. Thoughts

So, I used the five highlighter colours my ipad allows to organise my thoughts and organised them accordingly: Yellow for out of place IRL references, Blue for worldbuilding/character points that aren't plot relevant but still interesting, Pink for when something I find personally amusing happens, Purple for when the story feels like it's trying to 1-up the movie in some kind of way and Green for Heterosexual Nonsense. I'll touch on those last two in the Character sections but be prepared.

Also: for a book about giving Rapunzel killer hair, her hair isn't very dangerous. I wanted to see Rapunzel kill someone, and I'm disappointed that I didn't.

Characters

I'll do a deep dive into my thoughts about the characters before wrapping it up. I'm starting with Gina because she's honestly the easiest to get through.

Gina

Gina is a new character introduced for the story. She's a young woman trying to make it as a career criminal but keeps hitting that glass ceiling. So here's the down low, for all those who want to know: Gina is basically Cass, only not really. She's implied to be Eugene's biological sister, as previously mentioned, but you can imagine she's Cass the entire way through without breaking your immersion because if you imagined Cass if she were adopted by a Goodwitch rather than the Captain and had a looser, more wilderness survivor than trainee guard upbringing then you get Gina.

I liked Gina! I think she's fun as her own character too, and her best moments are when she's interacting with her mother Goody Goodwife, and she of course picks up a natural sibling rivalry with Eugene, but I was disappointed with how little she really bonded with Rapunzel because she needed to make room for Eugene and Rapunzel's romance.

Rapunzel

Okay, here's our protagonist. There's a notable effort to make Rapunzel more active in her destiny and whatever, and sometimes it works but sometimes it doesn't. I was worried they'd try to go full butt-kicking girlboss with her but I was pleasantly surprised that Rapunzel was pretty useless in most scenes, genuinely love to see it.

With a more intimate look into Rapunzel's psyche through the medium of prose, we see Rapunzel really questioning Gothel's behaviour even before she leaves the tower, and while I appreciate that she can develop her own cynicism I feel it starts unnecessarily early. This is my purple colour; the movie needs to be "fixed" by showing the readers that this Rapunzel is quicker to distrust Gothel. She's also quicker to hatch a plan to go outside of the tower on her own, and she makes a plan to make Flynn her guide for the lanterns even though he never stumbles upon her in the tower- and even though she has a perfectly rational reason not to trust him which is that he is a stranger and a Wanted Thief.

In the moments where it does work is when Rapunzel is surrounded by her new support network: Flynn, Goodwife and Gina, who encourage her to question Gothel's sincerity, and Rapunzel comes up with her own defences for Gothel so that she can poke through them herself.

I have some other thoughts about Rapunzel's hair and her powers, like how the story provides the interesting concept that her hair gets different powers with the different phases of the moon, but a lot of the powers are uhhh stupid and also I feel like it really robs the story of the whole gripping conflict of "Yes I'm Rapunzel Yes my hair kills people what of it".

In as far as just Rapunzel herself though, she still felt pretty in character nonetheless, and maybe that's all I can ask.

Flynn Rider / Eugene Fitzherbert

My boy I am so sorry. They neutered my boy.

Long story short: Eugene in this story is the sexy lamp. He contributes nothing to the plot except to be there for Rapunzel to drool over. And of course because he won't get any character development, he starts from the very beginning as a sweet soft boi with none of the Flynn Rider characterisation from the movie because we don't have time for that, he needs to be husband material stat.

His whole character is the colour green for Heterosexual Nonsense.

So, here's the problem. In the movie, there's not a lot of time for ~friendship~ between Rapunzel and Eugene because they kind of immediately see each other as a romantic prospect. And whatever, it's a movie and there's only so much time. But this book had the opportunity to take things a bit slower and instead chooses to make Rapunzel get jealous whenever Eugene and Gina interact and for her to be constantly wishing he was holding her hand.

Say what you will about Lost Lagoon, but it tells a good romance story just by virtue of not intending to be a romance story, because the author is trying to convey a strong bond between Rapunzel and Cassandra without using "and they kiss" as a cheatcode. What Once Was Mine says "he was a boy, she was a girl, could it be any more obvious?" and leaves it at that.

Now as for how this all pertains to Eugene's character? Well, it just robs him of any flavour. In the movie there's a clear distinction between Flynn and Eugene, when we learn Eugene's real name about halfway through. We see a clear difference between the Flynn we knew- kind of an asshole, wanated to drop Rapunzel off at the Snuggly Duckling and get rid of her- and Eugene, who is sincere and chooses Rapunzel as his New Dream in opposition to his Old Dream of living alone on an island with a bunch of money.

This version of Eugene is basically Eugene all the way through, because the plot doesn't really need Eugene there but he has to be there because it's a Tangled AU so there's no Rapunzel rescuing Flynn from the guards and healing his hand scene, he just loves her immediately and that's that. They have a little spat at one point but it's cleared up later and not because they actually communicate but because they kiss.

Rapunzel only learns Eugene's real name at the very end of the story, and gives a speech about how Eugene is the real him, but it's just so flat because 'Flynn' has been sincere this whole time? Anyway he does nothing of value for the entire story except be there for Rapunzel to lust after. Eugene I'm so sorry.

Gothel

Gothel's sort of the Big Bad and is characterised as an abusive asshole, the usual. I wish there were a bit more nuance to her character but then again in this story she's not just being passively evil- taking care of Rapunzel for selfish reasons but nevertheless maintaining the status quo- she's being actively evil in trying to sell Rapunzel off.

It's notably funny that Gothel sees the Countess Bathory and is like "what the fuck".

Anyway Gothel in this story also feels very weak in part because this Rapunzel is more critical and in part because this Rapunzel has a new support network. It's for that reason the Mother Knows Best Reprise scene doesn't really work, because the original has Gothel pit Rapunzel against Eugene, whereas she can't do that here so it remains a Gothel vs Rapunzel thing.

She gets a boring death as an epilogue addendum that someone rips out the Sundrop flower, which tbh? lame. It would be a lot more fun if it were open ended but I am also preferential to Rapunzel actually using her killer hair to kill someone. Please

Captain Justin Tregsburg

It's Max. He was a human but then he got turned into a horse. what the fuck you guys

#how did you spend your day

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suituuup · 3 years

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pieces - chapter ten

Five years ago, Chloe dropped off the face of the Earth. Beca didn’t expect to see her again dancing in a strip club, out of all places.

rated: E (drug use and emotional abuse in early chapters)

ao3 link

The knock at the door made Chloe jolt.

Aubrey was here, and Chloe was a nervous wreck. Even if Aubrey had shown nothing but support in the texts they had exchanged over the last couple of months, Chloe was bracing herself for judgment. It had become her default setting over the last couple of years, to always expect people to think the worst of her.

It turned out Aubrey couldn’t make it for dinner that weekend and instead offered lunch on the following Monday, so Beca was currently at work. Meeting her alone made Chloe even more nervous; Beca had become her rock, her lifeline over the past couple of months, and someone Chloe actually trusted, and she would have been more comfortable with her being present.

She wiped her hands on her apron and padded to the door, sucking in one last deep breath before pulling it open. Her friend looked the same as Chloe remembered her, except for her hairstyle, which evolved into a neat bob and matched the lawyer persona well.

“Hey Chlo,” Aubrey greeted softly, eyes soft and smile shy.

“Hi,” Chloe breathed out when she remembered she should say something, blinking.

Before Chloe could step aside, Aubrey stepped forward and pulled Chloe into a loose hug. Chloe’s first reaction was to tense for a brief moment, eventually wrapping her arms around Aubrey’s back, in turn, her shoulders relaxing as she exhaled.

“Thanks for having me over,” Aubrey said as she backed away.

Chloe nodded with a small smile and took a step back to let Aubrey through. “Come on in. I uh-- I made chicken pasta. Do you still like that?”

Cooking had been one of the activities Chloe had rekindled with since finishing rehab. Following a recipe was a good distraction from her cravings.

“I do. Sounds yummy.”

“You-- you’ve been here before, I imagine?” Chloe asked as she shut and locked the door behind them, leading Aubrey to the main room.

Aubrey shrugged off her jacket. “A few times, yes. I think the last time was for Beca’s birthday last September.”

Chloe nodded once more, then remembered her manners. “Can I offer you anything to drink?” She asked as she padded to the fridge. “We have water, flat or sparkling, coke and fanta.”

“Sparkling water is good,” Aubrey said as she perched herself on a stool, resting her chin over her propped-up hand. “How’s it been living with Beca?”

“Good,” Chloe replied as she reached for two water glasses in the cupboards, the water bottle in her other hand. “She’s been really amazing with trying to make me feel at home. It’s weird though because I can’t pay rent or groceries. I still feel like I’m taking advantage of her generosity.”

Aubrey hummed. “I get that. But you’re not. Beca wouldn’t offer all those things if she felt like you were taking advantage. And we all know you’re not. You’re getting back on your feet and could use all the help you can get, which I’m sure Beca is happy to give.”

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded. She uncapped the bottle and poured some water into both drinks.

“How have you been feeling otherwise?” Aubrey questioned then.

Chloe shrugged, breaking eye-contact. “It’s been a real rollercoaster, to be honest. Somedays I feel fine, other days it feels like I’m drowning. If it weren’t for Beca’s support or--” The baby, which she had yet to tell Aubrey about. She swallowed, forcing herself to meet her friend’s gaze. “A few days before the end of rehab, I found out that I was pregnant.”

Aubrey blinked twice in slow succession, much like Beca had done. “You are? I mean--”

“I’m keeping it,” Chloe cleared up before Aubrey could attempt to reword her question. “I know it probably sounds crazy and irresponsible given my situation and who the father is, I--”

“I think you’re going to make an amazing mom, Chlo,” Aubrey murmured before Chloe could finish. “And yes, your situation is tricky right now, but it won’t forever be that way. And the father might be a dick whose balls should be fed to wolves, but you and I both know that a baby sharing your genes can’t be evil.” She tilted her head to the side. “Are you going to tell him?”

Chloe froze. She hadn’t dared broach the subject with her therapist for fear of her telling a judge, and she didn’t know what she was allowed or not allowed to do. “Do I… have to? I mean, legally?”

Aubrey shook her head. “No, you don’t have any obligations to. The father’s name on the birth certificate can be left blank, and that means Marco will have no rights over the child.”

Chloe nibbled on her bottom lip as she processed that information. “What if he finds out? Can he get custody?”

“He’ll have to submit a petition to the court through a lawyer in order to have a DNA test done,” Aubrey explained. “After that, a judge decides if he has the right to have custody, but I really don’t see how he could, given his track record. I had a friend at the precinct look him up, and he’s been convicted several times for drug dealing and violence.”

Relief swept over Chloe upon hearing that. The thought of Marco having any influence on that child gave her nightmares. “Okay. Good.” She cleared her throat when her brain caught up with the rest of Aubrey’s sentence. “I didn’t know he was a criminal.” But she wasn’t surprised, now. “I wouldn’t have-- he was really good to me at the beginning, and by the time his true personality surfaced, I had nowhere to go.”

“He was toxic,” Aubrey said as she nodded. “A manipulator. He probably loved the hell out of you at first, bombarded you with sweet messages and calls and flattery? And little by little, the connection faded and you started to feel meaningless? Unworthy?”

Chloe could only nod faintly, because Aubrey had just put into words what her relationship with Marco felt like, without Chloe telling her any of that stuff.

“I come across so many people with the same profile in my job, and the victims, men or women, always blame themselves. But they shouldn’t. You shouldn’t.”

Her therapist had already told Chloe that many times, but Chloe’s default thinking made it hard to grasp that. Being with Marco felt like chaos reigned in her head, her emotions, her body, her life, and he found a way to make her believe it was her own fault.

Chloe mustered a soft smile, feeling more than ready to stop talking about that for now. “Should we eat?”

The conversation thankfully transitioned to easier subjects. Chloe caught up on the last six years of Aubrey’s life, feeling a little lighter and more at ease around her friend now that it was clear Aubrey held no grudge or judgment towards Chloe for cutting her out of her life. They found themselves reminiscing about their college days, two hours zipping by without Chloe once thinking about her cravings.

“I’m just a call away, alright?” Aubrey said as she slid her jacket back on. “And if you ever want to come to Boston for a weekend, I have two guest bedrooms.”

A genuine smile spread across Chloe’s lips as she nodded. “I’d love that.” Chloe was the one to initiate the hug this time, letting it linger. “Thank you for coming down, Bree.”

Aubrey smiled back. “It was my pleasure. See you soon, Chloe.”

Bean’s thirteen-week-check-up took place the following day. Chloe was set on having as many tests done as possible at this stage, with an NT scan to help assess the baby’s risk of having complications such as Down syndrome, other chromosomal abnormalities, and major congenital heart problems, as well as full blood work to rule out cystic fibrosis and Tay-Sachs.

Bean passed their scan with flying colors, much to her relief. The heartbeat was strong, and

Bean’s features were unmistakably human this time around; Chloe could make out Bean’s head and their nose and the round belly and tiny feet.

She went home with three pictures, and Beca insisted one should go up on the fridge.

The following month was punctuated with more therapy, NA meetings, and the visit to Oregon. Chloe felt more at home in Beca’s apartment with each passing day, though she tried her best to stay out of the way whenever Sarah was over.

On the day of their departure, Chloe was beyond grateful Beca agreed to come with her, as telling her parents the truth felt incredibly daunting.

They landed in Portland a little after four that Thursday, renting a car to drive the two hours to Newport, where Chloe’s childhood home was located. As Beca parked the car in her parents’ driveway, Chloe was rooted to her seat with nerves.

Beca’s hand on her leg snapped her out of it. “Hey.” Chloe turned her head to the left, meeting Beca’s soft eyes. “Breathe. In and out.”

Nodding, Chloe inhaled deeply through her nose and released the air through her mouth, closing her eyes. She reached for the door handle next and stepped out, swallowing thickly as she let her leaned legs carry her to the front door. She pressed the doorbell and stepped back, instinctively reaching for Beca’s hand.

Her mom appeared on the other side a handful of seconds later, and she engulfed Chloe into a hug before Chloe could even utter anything.

“Hi mom,” she croaked out, her eyes fluttering shut as she released Beca’s hand to hug her back tightly, basking into the instant comfort being in her mom’s arms brought her.

Alice pulled away but kept Chloe at arms’ length, her gaze sweeping over her features. “It’s so good to see you, baby.” Her focus shifted to Beca, and she embraced her next, keeping it a bit shorter. They had met each other before when her parents flew to Atlanta for Chloe’s graduation. “Welcome to our home, Beca.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Beale.”

Chloe’s mom glared playfully, tutting. “It’s Alice to you. Come on inside.”

They stepped into the house, a smell Chloe knew well drifting from the kitchen: her dad’s famous lasagna, Chloe’s favorite.

“Hey Chlobear,” her dad greeted as soon as they rounded the corner, smile bright and eyes sparkling as he sat in his electric wheelchair by the couch.

Tears pricked behind Chloe’s eyes, and she crossed the distance between them, bending down to hug him. His working arm drifted up to snake around her back. “Hi, Dad,” she whispered, emotions trapping her voice in her throat. “I’m so happy to see you.”

“Me too, sweetheart,” he murmured, his own voice wavering. “I made your favorite. Well, your mom made your favorite under my supervision, ‘cause she would have messed it up otherwise.”

“Hey,” Chloe’s mom objected, drawing a chuckle from both Chloe and her dad.

Chloe straightened, hitching her thumb over her shoulder. “You remember Beca, right?”

“Of course I do,” Mike confirmed as he made his chair go forward, then extended his hand. “How are you, Beca?”

“Hello Mr. Beale,” Beca greeted, shaking his head. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“You, too. And it’s Mike. No Mr. Beale around this house.”

Beca laughed, nodding. “Got it, Mike.”

“I hope you guys are hungry, we’ve made enough food to last us until next month,” Mike commented as he moved towards the table.

After freshening up, she and Beca sat at the table just as Alice pulled the lasagna out from the oven, then grabbed the salad and the wine bottle from the counter.

“Wine, Beca?” She asked, holding up the bottle.

“I’m good, thanks, though.”

Chloe glanced at her. “You can have some if you want.”

Beca shook her head, smiling softly as she unfolded her napkin and draped it across her lap. “I’m okay, I promise. Water’s fine.”

Chloe caught her parents sharing a confused look over the exchange, and she cleared her throat, knowing it was probably best to get this over with. “Mom, you should probably sit down.”

Concern creased a frown on Alice’s forehead as she set the bottle down and lowered herself next to Chloe’s dad. “What’s going on, Chloe?”

Chloe took a deep breath, and she felt Beca’s hand cover her own under the table. She flipped hers over and wrapped her fingers around Beca’s, grateful for the grounding contact. “I um--” she swallowed, unable to figure out where to start even though she had practiced her speech countless times leading up to their visit.

Shame and guilt rushed through her, digging their claws into her heart and lungs, making it harder to breathe.

“Chloe,” her mother’s voice pierced through the buzzing in Chloe’s ears. Chloe looked up from her plate, finding soft eyes. “Whatever it is, you can tell us.”

Chloe closed her eyes and sucked in a sharp breath, forcing herself to own up to her situation by looking at her parents while she spoke. “I have a drug problem. Had. I’m--I’m in recovery. I got out of rehab a couple of months ago.”

A heavy silence settled over the room as Mike and Alice processed the news. Chloe felt like bolting out of the house as she watched her dad swallow thickly, and her mom’s jaw-dropping. She felt a squeeze to her hand and remembered to breathe.

“Oh Chloe,” her mom whispered and got up to sit in the vacant chair on the other side of Chloe, taking her other hand as she tilted her head to the side. “How long have you been struggling?”

Chloe cleared her throat. “About five years. I never-- I never graduated from vet school. I dropped out.”

Her father frowned, his mouth moving wordlessly for a few beats. “But-- the money you gave us for my treatment every month?”

“I was a stripper,” Chloe admitted quietly. “That’s how I got introduced to cocaine. How I met Marco. How I... made so much money.” She was hit by an array of emotions -- shame, fear, and somehow, relief -- right then, and a sob burst out from her throat before she could reign it in. “I’m s-sorry I lied to you for so long.” She released Beca’s hand to cover her mouth, her body shaking as she crumbled under the weight of her feelings.

She didn’t fight it when her mom pulled her into her arms, rubbing her back in slow circles and whispering reassuring words into her ear. “It’s okay, sweetie. Breathe. We love you. No matter what.”

It took a few minutes for Chloe to be able to get her breathing under control, straightening when she did and taking the tissue Beca offered her.

“You must have a lot of questions,” she murmured, licking her dry lips. She still had the baby bomb to drop, but one thing at a time. Thankfully she wasn’t showing that much yet, and her large hoodie kept her small bump concealed.

“Thank you for telling us,” her father murmured, and Chloe saw him wipe a tear away when she looked up. “I can’t imagine how hard that must be, as for deciding to seek help.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t do it before. I was ashamed and lost and--” she shrugged. “I wasn’t myself.”

“How are you feeling now?” Her mom asked softly, pushing Chloe’s hair behind her ear. “You said it’s been two months since rehab?”

Chloe nodded, sniffling. “Ups and downs. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Beca. She’s the one who encouraged me to get help, who paid for rehab, continued paying for your treatment, and I’ve been staying at her place while I get back on my feet.”

Both her parents’ focus shifted to Beca, gratitude swirling in their eyes.

“She’s been incredibly strong and responsible,” Beca said, smiling softly. “Hasn’t missed a therapy session or NA meeting since getting out of rehab.”

“And this Marco…” her dad trailed off in a questioning tone.

“He’s out of my life. He wasn’t a good person, but I failed to realize that.”

“More like he hid it well,” Beca corrected gently. Chloe met her eyes. “Remember what Aubrey and your therapist said about how you didn’t have to blame yourself for that?”

Chloe nodded. “Right.”

“Did he… hurt you?” Mike asked next, a tremor in his voice as he seemed to brace himself for the answer.

“Not physically.” It wasn’t exactly the truth, but Chloe didn’t think that slap was worth mentioning. “Just… emotionally. He knew how to get into my head, and the drugs didn’t help. They have this funny way of having you believe whatever it wants you to. Logic and reason no longer existed for me when I was at my lowest. I was ashamed of lying to you every time we spoke on the phone, but the paranoia over you not wanting to talk to me again if I told you was stronger.”

She was sure her dad had a lot more questions and probably wondered if his treatment and their financial problems pushed Chloe into taking that job, but he remained silent, clearly mulling everything over.

“We could tell you looked tired every time we called, but we never…” Alice trailed off, shaking her head as a few tears rolled down her cheeks when she blinked. “I’m so sorry.”

“No,” Chloe croaked out, having feared this: her parents blaming themselves. Her heart felt incredibly heavy as she sandwiched her mom’s hand between her own, glancing at her dad briefly. “I don’t want you guys to feel guilty and think that you should have noticed. I hid it well, especially the first few years. Then it sort of derailed, that’s why I stopped visiting. Please don’t apologize.”

“Did you take that job because you felt like you had to help us?” Her dad asked, just as Chloe had predicted. “With my treatment?”

Chloe took a deep breath. “I took it because NYC was expensive and I was struggling a bit with rent. And when your health worsened, I asked for more shifts to help out.” She didn’t want to get into what she was asked to do for more money. She couldn’t. Her dad would be eaten away by guilt if he knew how much of a toll working in the VIP room took on her. The whole truth would hurt him more than a small lie. “It’s when I started doing drugs that everything fell apart. It’s not on you, dad. I promise.”

Mike swallowed and ran his hand over his face as he visibly tried to keep a hold on his emotions. “You’re my daughter, you shouldn’t have had to provide for me, or to put yourself first.”

“Dad, please,” Chloe whispered, feeling her throat shrinking. “I wanted to help. I just… made bad choices and met the wrong people. It’s not your fault.” Her eyes found her dad’s. “Please tell me you believe that?”

Her father remained silent for a stretch as he stared at her. He eventually offered a faint nod, but Chloe wasn’t sure if he was being honest.

Her mom reached up to wipe her tears away, sniffling. “What… what can we do to help you through your recovery?”

“Being part of my support system, like you unknowingly have since I got out of rehab,” Chloe murmured with a small smile. “And dealing with more of my visits,” she added, knowing they would both be all for that.

“You are always welcome to move back here, Chlo. For as long as you want,” she offered.

“I…” she cleared the rising lump in her throat as she briefly glanced down to her lap. “There’s something else that I need to tell you.” Another deep breath. “I’m four months pregnant. With Marco’s baby. But he’s not going to be involved. I’m going to raise them on my own.”

There. Everything she was ready to share was out there in the open, and Chloe felt incredibly lighter, despite her heartbeat picking up as her parents once again fell silent. She really couldn’t blame them, after everything she had just dumped on them.

“I know it’s a lot,” she added, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “And I know my decision to keep it might come across as strange, but I couldn’t get rid of it, and this baby is giving my life purpose again because I want to be a better person for them.”

“I think you are incredibly brave,” Alice said after a little while, reaching out to catch a tear falling on Chloe’s cheek with the side of her pointer finger. “And I’m failing to find words to express how proud of you I am.”

Chloe sniffled, wiping her nose with the back of her hand as her gaze met her dad’s once more. She could tell he needed more time to work through everything, and maybe they could talk about it some more the next day, once he had slept over it.

“That kid is going to be the most spoiled grandchild of all Newport,” he joked with a soft smile, his words loosening the nerves in Chloe’s stomach.

Chloe released a watery giggle. “I love you guys.”

“We love you, too, Chlobear,” her dad murmured, and after embracing her mom tightly, Chloe stood up and rounded the table to hug her dad.

They eventually dug into dinner, the conversation shifting to the baby, whether it was okay, what the risks there were, when was her due date... Her parents offered to turn the office into a nursery if Chloe wanted to move back in with them, to which Chloe answered that she would think about it. She had been concerned about how much the pregnancy and having a newborn baby around would affect Beca’s life and her relationship with Sarah, and this would be another alternative to which Chloe needed to give some serious thought.

Chloe and Beca headed upstairs shortly after dinner, both feeling exhausted as their mind and body were three hours ahead. After showing Beca to the guest room, Chloe changed into her pajamas and washed up for bed, knocking on Beca’s door on her way back to her own bedroom.

She pushed it open upon hearing a soft come in, finding Beca lying on top of the comforter, already changed in her sleeping wear.

“You okay?” She asked, smiling as Chloe sat down on the edge of the mattress. “That went pretty well.”

“Yeah, I…” she swallowed, shaking her head in leftover awe. “I have amazing parents. I didn’t think they would be so understanding.”

“Of course they’re amazing. They raised you.”

Chloe bowed her head as blush bloomed in her cheeks. She cleared her throat. “I think my dad is a bit shaken up and part of him feels to blame, but I’m hoping he and I can talk some more tomorrow.”

Beca nodded. “Yeah. I think that’s a good idea.”

Chloe let out a small sigh, and she reached out to squeeze Beca’s hand. “Thanks again for coming here with me.”

“Not a problem. I’m hoping you’ll show me around the town at some point, take me to your favorite spots.”

“We can definitely do that tomorrow,” Chloe agreed, her smile genuine. “Goodnight, Bec.”

“Night Chloe. Night Bean.”

#bechloe #beca mitchell #chloe beale #pieces

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ftstorm · 3 years

Text

My take on 5x10

Welp, that was a big one!

You know, before going into this episode I reminded myself this was the first episode of a new era, the first episode completely made by the new team.

So with that in mind my expectations were "Okay, let's see what they've got."

And oh boy did they surprise me.

DISCLAIMER: this text post is long af, not kidding.

1. THE INTRO SCENE.

You guys have no idea how glad I am that we got Mac doing a usual MacGyvering in his house. It's been ages since they implemented this format of showing his dynamics outside Phoenix and around his house.

I wasn't worried about the proposal thing at all. Guys, you have to accept that MacRiley was always going to happen after that 4x04 episode.

There was also the fact that this was the intro scene (usually the most important plot issues happen in the outro scene), Bozer's weird reaction and the melancholic audio cue.

If that proposal was happening, they would've made it more uplifting.

(I gotta say that watching Monica Marcer and the official MacGyver account making damage control in Twitter 3mins into the episode was a funny experience)

So my initial questions about Mac wanting to propose were: "what are his motivations?" and "how is this not going to work out by the end of the episode?"

The second question we got the answer later on. The first question remains unanswered. If we take on Mac's words, he says:

Mac: Unexpected, I know, I know. But that's why I like about it. You know ever since I lost my dad and Jack I've been thinking about the bigger picture. A commitment to make things work it's exactly what Desi and I need. A grand romantic gesture. *cue melancholic music*

Here we're presented with a bunch of things worth analysing, in my opinion.

He's trying to see the "bigger picture" which, for me, it means he's trying to tackle down different issues from his life with one specific, efficient action [the proposal]. Those issues being:

> his current romantic relationship: make is aware they have an inconsistent relationship > his performance at work: he needs balance between his personal affairs and his work, which is based on saving the world in a daily basis and for that he needs to be focused. > dealing with his past losses: to my understanding, saying "ever isn I lost my dad and Jac I've been thinking about the bigger picture" means that he doesn't want hopelessness to take over him, he wants to keep on moving and being proactive about his life.

So... you have to understand that in some sort of way, this proposal thing is a signal that Mac is healing. In some sort of way, if you were in Mac's shoes you would see that it was a positive thing for him. A step forward.

The thing is, we [the audience] have an extended understanding of the situation and we know that an engagement would be an incredibly rushed decision.

As well as it is that Mac's trying to move forward, he obviously hasn't been able to pinpoint the true issue behind his relationship with Desi. He isn't wrong about them lacking in the commitment department, but forcing the relationship to scalate isn't the right move. He should be asking himself: "Why are we avoiding commitment?"

And that's when he'd find out that they have very deep and important trust and communication issues.

~~~~

2. Moving on. MURDOC.

Russ: I can process it more efficiently by having it all spread out ahead me, you know. I reckon see the bigger picture at once.

This is when I realized that the episode was centered on this whole "bigger picture" idea. Russ struggles to see the full picture until the very end and Mac finds out that he hasn't been seeing the full picture of his life at all by the end of the episode.

Fast forward, the team's in Mexico, Riley knows about the ring already and she has already had the talk with Bozer in which she refers to her feelings for Mac in a past tense.

Then Murdoc appears.

And as if the episode wasn't already a rollercoaster after Mac's reveal, now Murdoc shows up to put everything upside down.

First I gotta say, man Dastmalchian is SUCH A GOOD MURDOC. Excellent actor. The way he delivers his lines, his facial expressions, all of it make an original and very entertaining Murdoc.

He always gives me such a Andrew Scott's Moriarty vibes and I love it.

Secondly, his dynamic with Andrews: *cheff kiss*

I loved how Andrews was so over Murdoc's theatrics, to the point his facial expression screamed "Why did I even reclute this guy" LOL.

Back to the story.

This is something I was hoping it wouldn't happen but at the same time I don't see another way it could've happened which is the explanation behind Murdoc's escape and how Phoenix didn't know about it.

Because what they told us is that the FBI didn't let them in on Murdoc's escape, right? Does that imply that the FBI has a corrupt agent in charge? Does it imply that the order of not letting Phoenix in came from above? Maybe someone with higher clearence than Matty? A politician? Governement conspiracy?

It smells like plot hole, tbh. I feel like the Murdoc's escape is a classic "it is what it is". We'll see if they come back to this in later episodes.

~~~~

3. BIG SECRET REVEAL 1.

By now we're at the point of the rollercoaster where you're going up and up and up. Your tension building more and more as you're getting close to the drop.

Bozer and Riley's audio was the drop.

You know, during this scene I jumped from my seat, closed my eyes, cringed, squealed, my heart accelarated, forgot how to breathe...

As a person who is a little bit bipolar when it comes to romance (I can be very shy about it or very outspoken about it) that scene made me SO UNCOMFORTABLE.

Imagine having your feelings exposed not only to the person you have feelings for but also his girlfriend who happens to be your friend, your boss and the criminal that's threatening to kill hundreds of people.

I was like: "Not like this!!"

And Mac's reaction didn't help because of the lack of it. I don't know what I expected but his slightly monotone reaction broke my heart.

Thankfully, I've recovered since then and I don't mind that it happened that way.

Still, imagine how suffocating it must've been for Riley. That idea was what made me so uncomfortable and I think that's what they were going for. They wanted to make it as straightforward and awkward as possible.

But it doesn't end there. It's followed by Mac revealing the ring to Desi (and Riley). Mac's in "fuck it" mood and Desi kinda panics.

Little side note here, using GUM and a DIAMOND to break a bullet proof glass... BIG YES. That's an intrinsic MacGyverism.

~~~~

4. BIG SECRET REVEAL 2.

Then we get a breather from this drama by introducing another drama, Leanna's death.

Bozer's reaction to the news was heartbreaking for my already heartbroken heart.

I have my suspicions as to why they decided to kill her... The other episode completely made by the new team was the Quarantine one (5x06). During that episode Mac and Bozer bond over Bozer's pain. After learning about Bozer's mom, Mac chooses to share a piece of his own pain with him.

So, hear me out, I think they writers are planning to help Mac process his own grief THROUGH Bozer's grief. Keep in mind that we still have a Bozer centered episode coming up.

This is just a theory. I may be wrong, but I think it may be right too.

Back to the episode.

Once again we see a three dimensional Russ. He does something accordingly to his own judgement thinking it's the right decision [hiding Leanna's death], he realizes he screwed up, he gives Bozer a very heartfelt apology about it.

Henry's acting talent shone with this narrative. Actually, most of the actors had the chance to shine THANKS to the NARRATIVE. Murdoc, Andrews, Desi, Mac, Russ and Bozer... they all had their highlight moments (I'll talk about Riley later).

Parenthesis here... THE NARRATIVE HAS RETURNED THEIR SOULS TO OUR DEAR CHARACTERS!

WOW, they aren't brooding, angry, sad or whiny ALL THE EFFIN TIME. ABOUT TIME!

~~~~

5. LAST ACT.

For the third or fouth time in this episode my heart broke again when Mac was friendly towards Riley, after she explained herself. It really felt like he was friendzoning her.

But here's something to point out. Riley visibly relaxed when he reacted that way. What does that tell us?

> She had been so tense up until that point. Imo, she's on the defensive now. You can even see it in her wardrobe, make up and hairstyle choices. They're very contrasting to Riley's most vulnerable moments in this show (like when Audrey broke up with her).

Riley has had a year to sort out her feelings. We see in this episode that she spoke about them in a past tense. Whether she achieved it or not is unknown. We just know that she has at least tried to move on.

> She was mostly afraid of ruining her close relationship with Mac (who's her only family, along with Bozer) and her friendship (?) with Desi. We've seen it over and over again: Riley DID NOT WANT to get in the middle of them.

Keep that in mind as we go in the last scene.

It took me a while to figure out a possible thread of thought inside Mac's mind. Why did he look at the ring and decided to go to Riley's house? It really didn't make sense to me.

One moment he was thinking about his proposal and somehow that lead to him having the necessity to know if Riley still had feelings for him? Why??

My theory is that he went to her apartment for permission.

His question was a way of asking Riley for permission to propose to Desi. It was a way of reassuring himself that proposing was still the right decision.

In a way, he could also be fishing for an excuse to not do it [the proposal].

Because now he has doubts. He's confused, unsure.

Mac asks:

Mac: Hiding your emotions and letting it pass. Did it go away?

What could her answer have been? Here I wanna go back again to Riley being emotionally defensive, added her strong desire of not wanting to be in the middle of Mac and Desi's relationship.

I think she would've said "Yes, it worked."

Because it also lines up with my idea that the love triangle has changed from "Riley's a better match for Mac" to "Mac needs to win Riley's heart".

Riley's done her job. She worked out her feelings. Now it's time for Mac to sort out his humongously messed up internal self and reignite her spark. That's what I think.

Also, if anyone has any idea on how the song that played in that scene relates with the moment please share it with me because I don't really understand the song choice lol.

~~~~

6. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Desi. I'm not sure what's going on in her mind. She seemed stressed out by the ring, very serious about Riley, lenient with Mac... I'm really not sure.

My guess would be that she doesn't want that type of commitment but she wants to be with Mac yet she can't ignore Riley so does that mean she has to end it with Mac? That's the thought process she may have had? Idk...

I'm glad they let her be mature about it, with no overreactions, no whining, no blaming, nothing of that style that we're used to see in her.

I'm also glad about that moment when she defeats Murdoc and Andrews. THAT'S HOW YOU WRITE A TOUGH DESI. It was filmed with such a gracefulness and elegance. I liked it.

From a MacDesi point of view, she's probably being open minded and giving him space and waiting for him to come back to her... but somehow I got the vibe that she's actually... running away?

Lastly but no less important.

THE HISPANIC REPRESANTION OMG. RUSS SPEAKING SPANISH AND THAT CUMBIA MUSIC FILLED MY HEART WITH SO MUCH PRIDE!!! :')

#MacGyver #review #long post #finally finished it #macgyver meta #my meta

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doomonfilm · 3 years

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Ranking : Darren Aronofsky (1969-present)

Of the multitudes of New York directors that have made a splash on the film scene over the decades, one of the modern day creatives I put on a pedestal is Brooklyn’s own Darren Aronofsky. Right out the gate he introduced the world to what he called “hip-hop editing”, a frantic and pattern-based editing style that gave his films a fresh, bold look. With almost 25 years in the business under his belt, it doesn’t appear that Aronofsky is planning on hanging things up any time soon, so why not look at take a look back at the films in his canon and rank them for the hell of it?

7. The Wrestler (2008) Perhaps the most down to earth of the Darren Aronofsky films, it’s a bit tough putting it at the bottom of his film list. He takes a very grounded and sobering approach to the examination of falling short of personal dreams and fractured relationships between parents and children, which gives Mickey Rourke the proper tools and space needed for a moving performance. That being said, when a magician like Darren Aronofsky has shown you monumental feats of movie magic, sometimes a card trick is underwhelming by comparison, no matter how well executed.

6. Noah (2014) Turning the Biblical tale of Noah into a post-apocalyptic big budget thriller may seem a bit strange on paper, but leave it to Darren Aronofsky to make such an ambitious idea actually work. Russell Crowe brings the goods as a spiritually conflicted, faith-driven Noah in a landscape that Aronofsky gets a chance to flex his visual muscle on, using vivid time lapse photography and color alteration to great effect. Ideas presented in The Fountain receive refinement, and we get a glimpse at ideas that would reemerge in mother!, making Noah an interesting middle-point for the Aronofsky canon.

5. Black Swan (2010) Outside of Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan is probably the strongest Aronofsky film in terms of ensemble performance. Turning a story about the drive and dedication it takes to succeed in a discipline like ballet into a symbol-heavy allegorical remix of The Ugly Duckling narrative works well in the hands of Aronofsky, as he handles his narrative and characters with care and emotion rather than exploiting them with sensationalism and catty behavior. For a film with a mostly grounded story, the visual flourishes are stunning in their uniqueness from the methods Aronofsky normally uses, and for this boldness alone, it deserves attention and praise.

4. Pi (1998) This brilliant, stunning debut film reimagined what a psychological thriller could be, taking a deceptively complex idea which, at its root, is a concept so simple that it is easy to apply to our daily stimulus. As a result, we are taken into one of the most vivid black and white worlds committed to film since the expressionist films of the 1920s, with an influx of technology that was already outdated by the time of production serving as the visual equivalent to Max’s obsession and madness with unlocking the secret code. From the Stock Market to the Torah, and all points in-between, Pi takes viewers on a rollercoaster thrill ride that doesn’t let up until the credits roll.

3. The Fountain (2006) When this film was released, I went to see it strictly off of the name recognition of Darren Aronofsky, but based on the promotional materials, I misread it as a Hugh Jackman time-traveler story. I was in no way, shape or form prepared for the visceral emotion, the inconceivable grandness of the love story, or the mind-blowing esoteric resolution that ties the film together. Aronofsky’s trademark “hip-hop editing” is pushed to its creative limits, with mirroring and repetitive cuts and shot sequences used as connections through space-time, all the while keeping two souls tethered together through the vastness of experience. For anyone who has been hesitant to see The Fountain based on the fact that it looks and feels different from what you’d expect in an Aronofsky film, do yourself a favor and check it out... and prepare to be moved.

2. Requiem for a Dream (2000) Pi may have put people on notice in regards to Darren Aronofsky, but Requiem for a Dream left no question that he was a genius in regards to filmmaking. Not since Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas had a novelization of such harrowing experiences been adapted to the screen with such preciseness and unchecked energy, as Requiem for a Dream successfully covered the umbrella of addiction, be it to Schedule 1 narcotics, the opioid epidemic, or even material and carnal desires. The film stood as the world’s proper introduction to Aronofsky’s “hip-hop editing” style I’ve mentioned previously, and I will go to my grave believing that Marlon Wayans not being recognized for any acting awards in regards to his performance in this film was criminal, not to mention Ellen Burstyn’s loss to Julia Roberts at the 2001 Academy Awards for Best Actress. Plain and simple, for nearly 20 years, this film stood as Aronofsky’s greatest achievement... but suddenly, near the end of the 2010s, a new challenger arrived to take its rightful place at the top of the list.

1. mother! (2017) After the divisive release of Noah, Aronofsky could have found a simple story to tell, but instead, it seems that he invoked all of his creative, symbolic, faith-based and romantic energy, manifesting it into the powerfully poetic film that is mother! From the opening to the closing bookends, mother! is full of ruminations on fame, unconditional love, protecting what you hold valuable to you and the process of trying to turn a relationship into a family, but it finds itself enriched by more symbolic and indirect ruminations on religion, war, exploitation and the way that humans treat the Earth in general. Everyone involved in this film leaves their heart, sweat, blood and tears on the screen, including Jennifer Lawrence in a career-defining role and show of vulnerability. For a director that continuously surprises and thrills me, I did not think that his most powerful shock to my system would be his latest, but hopefully, it’s an indicator that Darren Aronofsky still has miles to go on his journey before it’s all said and done.

#ChiefDoomsday #DOOMonFILM #DarrenAronofsky #Pi #RequiemForADream #TheFountain #TheWrestler #BlackSwan #Noah #Mother!

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travel-hopefully · 3 years

Text

A collective post of everything I watched on Netflix in 2020

I finally found the watch history function on Netflix which I wanted in order to reminisce over the TV/film I watched over the last year, including the good and the bad. I’ve included a little round-up of my thoughts for each, as lockdown has got me with plenty of time on my hands. If anyone has watched any of the below feel free to give me a message- happy to discuss anything!

Travelers (season 3) - this was an unforgettable show with some great characters and definitely put me through hell (in a good way), I am a David x Marcy shipper for sure!

IT Crowd (season 4 & 5) - my favourite comedy show ever, and I mean the UK version

Explained (random episodes) - interesting bite-sized episodes on a variety of topics

Sherlock (season 3 & 4) - it kinda went downhill from season 4...and doesn’t help that there is no season 5 in sight

Unforgettable - must be pretty forgettable cause I couldn’t remember watching, a typical revenge plot romp I think

The Mind, Explained - same as for Explained above, except more pyshcological

You (season 2) - binge-worthy! I love to hate Joe Goldberg.

Don’t F**k with Cats - wow, this was disturbing but so gripping.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle - geniunely a good remake and rather amusing

Sex, Explained - as for Explained but a little more intriguing ;)

The Stranger (season 1) - full of suspense and a good binge watch but ultimately full of plot holes with an unsatisfying conclusion

Gavin & Stacey (season 3) - a classic which I only started watching in 2019

Sex Education (all of it) - comedy gold!

Unbelievable (limited series) - very harrowing, an emotional rollercoaster based on a real-life rape case

Atypical (all of it) - light-hearted and fun to binge

The Sinner (season 1) - it was okay... wasn’t spectacular compared to other similar dramas I’ve seen

Love Is Blind (season 1) - cringey but satisfying

In the Shadow of the Moon - I hardly remember this one :)

Dunkirk - a stand-out historical movie

The Stepfather - typical killer stepfather plot but rather enjoyable

The Super - an interesting premise, but not that super

Saw VI - all gore not much plot

Doctor Who (random episodes) - no words needed :D

Louis Theroux and Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends (random episodes) - I love his style of interviewing - what a man!

The Revenant - a lot of... well, not much

Nightcrawler - it was decent, but something was missing which I couldn’t put my finger on

How To Get Away With Murder (seasons 1-5) - probably my biggest new watch of the year, a rollercoaster of suspense, drama and murder, another season to go...

Ocean’s Eleven - fun but cheesey

Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare - creepy faces and an interesting ending

Eli - it started one way then went another, I wasn’t convinced

Star Trek (2009) - I couldn’t really get into this one...

In the Tall Grass - a lot of running around in grass

Bloodride (season 1) - i loved this, a quirky idea, i binged it

Apostle - intense, a satisfying religious cult horror

The Platform - great idea, not sure on the ending

What Keeps You Alive - what happened in this one again?

History 101 - didn’t watch many episodes :P

The Prodigy - a decent child possession horror

Into the Night (season 1) - really enjoyed this, a highlight of the year for me, hoping for a season 2

It - pretty chilling and creepy, but a tad cheesey

Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - the first one has a brilliant dinosaur fight scene, the second one has too many plot holes and inconsistencies to take seriously

Knowing - a Nicholas Cage sci-fi/apocalpytic classic, pretty decent

Stranger Things (random episodes) - i tried to get my bf into the show but sadly he still isn’t much of a TV fan

Miranda (random episodes) - such fun!

Black Mirror (seasons 1 & 2) - another one i introduced the bf to, i got a bit further with him on this one, the very first episode being the highlight

The Last House on the Left - a decent remake, but nothing outstanding

Dark (season 3) - this, my friends, is one of the greatest shows of all time. want a timey-wimey story where everything is connected and has an amazingly satisfying conclusion? this is the show for you!

The Silence - a bad ‘A Quiet Place’

Geostorm - i’m a fan of disaster movies but this one wasn’t in the same league as some of the greats

Panic Room - a mum and kid hides in the panic room when a group of thugs break into the house, it was enjoyable but not all that memorable

Prisoners - a very long film with some enjoyable parts but overall unsatisfying

Girl on the Third Floor - it was okay, i can’t remember much of it

The Woods (season 1) - another Harlan Coben adaptation- not as good as ‘Safe’ or ‘The Stranger’ but still a gripping thriller

Time Trap - a fun time-travel film with some interesting turns of events

72 Dangerous/Cutest Animals (random episodes) - just ‘cause i love animals

Slasher (all of it) - some very gory deaths, especially in season 3. quite disturbing but keeps the suspense up throughout.

2012 - a guilty pleasure of mine, realistic or not

Kingsman: The Secret Service - a fun spy film, will be looking to watch the second one soon

Blackfish - this was harrowing, it really made me think, but overall i’m on the side of tilikum

Unsolved Mysteries (season 1 & 2) - watching some of these my jaw dropped, love theorising on this kind of stuff

Down to Earth with Zac Efron (season 1) - Zac is great in this, he seems so chill and literally ‘down to earth’

The Call - I love this film, seen it 3 times now

Contagion - very relatable right now, interesting to see the parallels with todays situation

Next in Fashion (season 1) - i didn’t get too far with this, i found it a little superficial

Searching - another of those internet web-cam based films. decent but not memorable.

Non-stop - another Nicholas Cage classic, this time a suspense thriller

Freaks - as the title suggests this one was rather weird, i didn’t quite gel with it

The Perfection - wow, that was an experience. definitely memorable, even if some characters make questionable decisions...

Extraction - not usually a fan of action-type thrillers, but i actually enjoyed this one, plus it has Chris Hemsworth in it!

Line of Duty (season 2) - full of suspense, a great build-up in the first 5 episodes, but the way they tied it up really grated on me

Insidious - watched this one with my sister. a genuinely good horror film on rewatch with an amazing cliff-hanger

A Quiet Place - another one watched with my sister. labelled a horror but its more sci-fi, either way its a classic. bring on the second film!

The Dark Tower - disappointing mostly.

Gladiator - i’d never seen this before and now i understand the hype- what an epic movie!

Criminal UK (season 2) - didn’t disappoint following the exceptional first season

Venom - a fun comedic marvel film, definitely need to watch more from Marvel in the next year- i need an order to watch them in as don’t know where to start

Our Planet (season 1) - chill David Attenborough to put on in the background

The Equalizer - a great action revenge thriller plot with a badass Denzel

Merlin (random episodes) - who doesn’t love a trip down memory lane with some nostalgic bbc merlin?

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) - pretty scary remake

The Witcher (season 1) - rewatched in order to familiarise myself again before season 2 - i didn’t realise how funny the show was until this time round, gotta love Jaskier!

American Murder: The Family Next Door - this was haunting

The Haunting of Bly Manor - phenomenal, emotional, creepy, heartbreaking - i much preferred it to Hill House

Abducted in Plain Sight - seriously, how naive are the parents in this? i could have a rant for hours about this!

The End of the F***ing World (seasons 1 & 2) - very bingeable, Alyssa makes me laugh too much, i love how relatable the show is

Fractured - didn’t expect much from this consipiracy-type film but it kept me guessing right till the end

The Ripper (limited series) - very intriguing, but the mysogyny in this was shocking

Inconceivable - a typical mother looking for her baby revenge plot but still entertaining

The Midnight Sky - i’d heard rave reviews for this but was disappointed by a lacklustre plot which was sacrificed for award-winning cinematography

Killer Women with Piers Morgan (season 2) - a pyschological interview series which looks into the mind of murderers, rather interesting

May the Devil Take You - scarier and jumpier than i thought it would be!

So 2020 obviously gave me a lot of time to watch a s**t load of stuff and looking back at it i feel like i got a decent amount of my watch-list ticked off! And obviously this is not including shows watched on other media so there’s that too (a special shout-out to the William Hartnell era of Doctor Who which I watched this year on BritBox). In all, 2020 has definitely introduced me to a few new fandoms and progressed my love for others.

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tweedlydumbtweedlydoo · 4 years

Text

Mistake: Rafe Cameron x reader (pt. 5)

Summary: You, a pogue and Rafe Cameron, a kook are friends of benefits, secretly of course. But what happens when you get pregnant?

Pairings: former rafe cameron x reader // currently John B x reader (wonder how long teehee)

**MISTAKE MASTERLIST**

A/N: I named this Mistake, so it would be easier to list on my masterlist! Hope you guys are holding on because this is the beginning of a rollercoaster of emotions.

A/N: I hit 1000 followers last night. It was a happy thing to wake up to this morning. I know I say this all the time but I truly mean it from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU SO SO MUCH. When I got back into writing months ago, I never thought I would make it this far or that any one would even read my writings, but you guys have proven me wrong. Thank you to everyone who follows, likes, reblogs, comments, or just lurks on my page. lol I love you guys so much. You ALL are beautiful human beings <3

Tag list is at the end. Let me know if you want to be added xx

OBX Tag list

Criminal Minds Tag list

The Vampire Diaires/The Originals Tag list

Supernatural Tag list

All of my works Tag list

**MASTERLIST**

Requests: OPEN {CLOSED}

I am currently taking requests for:

The Vampire Diaries/The Originals

Elijah Mikaelson

Damon Salvatore

Criminal Minds:

Spencer Reid

Derek Morgan

Supernatural (I’m only up to season 2, so please don’t request something with spoilers)**

Sam Winchester

Dean Winchester

Outer Banks (Netflix):

John B Routledge

JJ Maybank

Rafe Cameron

********************************************************************************************NOT MY GIF, CREDIT TO OWNERS

Instead of getting ice cream, the two of you agreed to go on the date. So, John B went home to shower and get ready and you did the same. Just as you were about to dry your hair, a knock sounded on your door. John B never knocks and he’s early.

“coming!” You call out, walking toward the door. When you open it, Rafe’s standing there with a small bouquet of flowers.

He scratches the back of his neck and gives you a smile, “Hey.”

“Hey…” You glance over his shoulder and then back at him, “What are you doing here?”

He motions inside and you nod, opening the door wider and stepping out of the way before closing it behind him.

“I wanted to bring you these to apologize for the other night proposing like I did. I also wanted to see if you’d go to the Midsummer’s party with me?” He set the flowers on your counter and faces you.

“Midsummer’s party? I’m a pogue I can’t go to that. That’s for you guys.”

He shakes his head, “I want you to go as my date. You can meet my family properly. It’ll be fun.”

You bite your lip, “I don’t know Rafe.”

“Please? I want you to go with me as my date. I don’t want to take someone else.” He takes your hands in his, “I want you by my side, walking in. It’s kind of a big deal for us. My dad’s the guest of honor.”

“When is it?”

“This weekend.”

You shake your head, “I don’t have anything fancy enough to wear, Rafe.”

“I’ll take you shopping. We can go Friday after your doctor appointment. Spend the afternoon on the mainland like we used too; lunch and shopping, on me?” His eyes are pleading, “Please?”

You finally nod, agreeing, “Okay. Fine.” You’d actually completely forgot about your appointment. Good thing Rafe remembered.

“I’ll pick you up at 10 Friday morning?”

“What time is my appointment again?” You pour some water in a vase and set the flowers down in it, setting it on the kitchen table.

“uh...” He pulls his phone out, checking the calendar, “It’s at 11, but they said they wanted us there at 10:30 for paperwork.” He shows you his phone, pointing to the appointment.

You look at him, impressed, “You’ve got a calendar?”

His cheeks flush pink, “I didn’t want to miss anything. I put it in the calendar when they told us at the hospital. It’s obviously a good thing I did because you didn’t remember.”

You laugh and nod, “I’m pretty sure I was on pain meds when they told me so, I’m off the hook for that one.”

He chuckles, “you were pretty out of it. Anyways, I’m heading to play golf at the club, so I’ll see you Friday morning?”

“10 o clock sharp.”

He smiles, “Bye.” Before stepping out and closing the door behind him.

An hour later there was another knock at the door. You looked in the mirror and fluffed your hair before heading toward the door. There stood John B in one of his nicer shirts and one single flower.

You smiled at the sight, “Hi.”

“Hey.” He hands you the flower, “Saw this on the side on the side of the road and I know how much you love them.”

You put the flower to your nose, “You know me so well.”

“So, I have the whole evening planned.” He holds his arm out to you, “Shall we get going?”

You giggle, grabbing your purse and loop your arm with his, “Yes we shall.”

He leads you to the van, opening the door for you and helping you inside. He closes the door and rounds the van to get in the driver side.

You slip on your seat belt as he starts the van.

He pulls into the driveway of the chateau and you look over at him, “John B what do you have planned?”

He gives you a smirk, “You’ll see.” He hops out of the van and leads you out to the dock. Inside his boat is a cooler, blanket and a small basket. “We are going to have dinner on the water tonight. I know how much you love the sunsets on the water.”

You smile and look up at him, “Sounds amazing.”

He steps over into the boat and then holds his hand out for you, which you take, and he helps you step over into the boat. He starts the boat as you slip your shoes off and put them in your bag, tying your hair back. He makes his way down the boat, untying it from the dock and then pushes from the dock. As he takes his seat, you go to your usual spot there in front of him and sit down.

He drives around through the marsh a little before picking the perfect spot to watch the sunset over the water.

You stand to go help him with the anchor, but he stops you, “No ma’am. I’ll do it.”

You laugh and sit back down, “Okay, captain.”

He drops the anchor and makes sure it’s secure, “There. Now we can eat.” He jumps down off the front of the boat and lays the blanket out before taking a seat and patting the spot next to him.

You jump up from your seat and sit next to him, “So what’s on the menu?”

He smiles sheepishly, “Nothing fancy but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”

“Please tell me it isn’t the same bread JJ ate the other day with the mold on it?” You scrunch up your nose in disgust.

He chuckles, shaking his head, “No. I went out and bought new bread.”

You nod, laughing, “Okay good.”

The two of you enjoyed your meal, talking and laughing. The sun began to set over the water and gave off an orange glow. He’d fixed himself against the boat and let you slip next to him, head on his chest.

“Y/n?” He asks.

“Yes?” You tilt your head to look up at him.

His finger traces shapes on your back, “Do I have a chance? I mean with you?”

You look down for a second, gathering your thoughts and then look back up at him, “Yeah. Maybe.”

“So if I wanted to..” His finger goes under your chin, “If I wanted to kiss you, you wouldn’t pull away?”

You glanced at his lips, then back at his eyes, shaking your head, “I won’t pull away.”

Slowly the two of you met and your lips connect. This wasn’t like the first time you two had kissed. He’d caught you off guard in the worst moment but this. This wasn’t unexpected. You were ready for it and to be honest, you didn’t want it to stop.

His hand moves to your cheek and you sit up, hands going into his hair as you swing your legs over his lap, straddling him. His body sits up a little, hands in your hair then hands at your back, pulling you closer to him. Your hands are in his hair and at his neck. You didn’t want him to pull away.

He slowly lays you back down on the blanket and hovers over you. Your hands tug at his shirt and he pulls back a little. Both of your lips are red and swollen and breathing heavily, “Are you sure?”

You nod, “I’m sure.” and pull him back in for another hungry kiss. You two make love right there on the blanket as the sun sets slowly behind you.

You don’t remember falling asleep but the sound of a phone ringing and the sun rising above you are what woke you up. You groan and try to move, but something’s holding you there. When you open your eyes, you’re met with John B’s face. His mouth slightly opened. You gently traced marks on his bare chest, “John B…” You whispered and began peppering his chest with kisses.

He slowly stirs, pulling you closer to him, “Well good morning..” He smirks.

“Good morning.” You smile, kissing him, “Your phone is going off.”

He groans, “It’s not important. Lay back down.” He says as you try to get up.

“I have to see who it is.” You laugh, pulling away from his body and slipping on his shirt, grabbing his phone from the small compartment at the wheel, “It’s JJ.” You say walking back over to him and handing it to him. You start picking up the clothes and then take a seat next to him.

“Hello?”

“John B! Where the hell are you man? We had plans to go fishing. We’re all waiting here at the dock for you!”

He groans, running his hand over his face, “Shit, JJ I completely forgot. We’ll be there soon.”

“We? Who’s we? Are you with-”

“Bye JJ!” He quickly hangs up, both of you bursting into laughter.

“Oops.” You laugh, handing him his boxers and shorts. Leaning over you press a kiss to his lips, “We better head back.”

He pulls you onto his chest and kisses you, “They can wait a few more minutes.” Let’s just say it was longer than a few more minutes.

The two of you managed to finally pull away from each other and get dressed. You had tried giving John B back his shirt, but he shook his head, “Looks better on you.” So, he went shirtless.

As he drove the boat, you sat on his leg, fiddling with his hair. You could see the pogues waiting on the dock at the Chateau as you drove up.

“is that y/n?” Kie asked as you guys got closer, pushing her glasses down on her nose.

“Holy shit! Dude!” JJ laughed when he realized it was you on his lap and in his shirt, “No fucking way.”

“So, this happened?” Pope asks, grabbing the edge of the boat as John B drifts in, holding it while Kie and JJ stepped in, then jumping in his self.

“Nice one dude!” JJ says, holding his hand out for a high five.

You roll your eyes and John B slaps it away.

“Okay we forgive you for being late.” Pope says, taking a seat.

Kie raises an eyebrow at you and you get up from John B’s lap and go to sit next to Kie to give her all the details.

“That sounds so romantic!” Kie gushed.

You giggle and nod, “It really was. I mean the night was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for a better first date with John B.”

“So, I take it you have your answer then? You’re picking John B?” Kie asks, looking at the front of the boat to make sure the boys weren’t listening. They were focused on fishing.

Biting your lip, you look at John B. He laughed at something Pope said and glanced back over his shoulder at you, flashing a smile. You returned the smile and then looked at Kie, nodding, “He’s it for me.”

As you guys made your way through marina, another boat passed by. You were seated on John B’s lap as he drove, his arm wrapped around your hip.

“I think that’s Topper and Sarah.” JJ says, “That boat is like 50 grand. easy.”

“It is a nice boat.” Pope adds. “Guess that’s what you can drop 50 grand on when you’re a kook.”

You watched as Sarah tilted her sunglasses at you two, shaking her head before turning her attention back to Topper. “What was that about?” You ask, looking at John B.

“Not sure. No telling with the kook princess. Maybe she’s just jealous of us or something.” He gives your hip a squeeze and kisses your shoulder.

You nod but can’t help but look back at the boat as they passed by. Was it because of Rafe or something else?

Obx taglist: @emmalvei-blog , @tregua-oca , @weirdbiwitch , @losers-club6 , @treestarrrrrrrr , @omgwhattheeven , @normatural , @lreincarnationl , @laurenron , @junkiemuppettxx , @beth-winchester21 , @divcrdown , @timotaychalabae , @moose-squirrel-asstiel , @tangledinsparkles , @prejudic3 , @lanarichards5 @ilikealotofpeople-younotsomuch , @fratboystark , @nas-marie-loves-u , @sunwardsss , @annedub , @jellyfishbeansontoast , @turtlee-says-rawr, @fanficscuziranout , @wellthathappened2 , @write-from-the-heart , @louisolos , @outrbank , @sunset-d-rive , @family-buisnes

*if your name is crossed out, tumblr is being stupid and won’t let me tag you :(

All my works tag list: @blossomreed

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bittersweetmelxdy · 4 years

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ooh yay! I’m the anon who asked if you had done Gavin’s 5th footage, I was kind of wondering if you could write a his POV? bc I feel like when MC told him she was going to a prison to interview convicts he flipped

I had to reread the 5th Footage, and I agree Gavin in canon was surprisingly okay with it. But here you go, hope you like it x

Title: the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach Pairing: Gavin x MC Words: 2,066

From the moment you and your team decided to cover the serial killer that had recently been captured by the police, and he had agreed to your proposal of an interview, you knew that the hardest challenge was yet to come. Gavin wasn’t an overprotective boyfriend, but he was definitely a protective one.

You psyched yourself up all the way back to Gavin’s apartment, holding a couple bags of groceries in your hand as you walked. Hoping to soften Gavin first by cooking him a nutritious, heartfelt meal before you asked for his help. With Gavin’s occupation there was no way you could possibly sneak into the prison to have the interview without him knowing, even if he wasn’t on shift, you had a sneaking suspicion that Gavin would still find out where you had gone. Plus, the bedrock of a healthy and lasting relationship was trust, and even from the start you had never planned to be dishonest with Gavin. Reaching his front door, you placed the bags on the floor, fishing out a silver key to unlock it and step into his apartment. You sighed, reaching into a drawer to pull out the apron you kept in Gavin’s apartment and you quickly set yourself to work, first prepping the vegetables and washing the rice. Within the next hour the cold, clean apartment was soon filled with the various fragrant aromas of the plethora of dishes you were preparing.

Later when Gavin tiredly made his way into the apartment, dragging himself over to the front door, and slots the key into the front heaving a heavy sigh to expel the tiredness from his figure. It had been a long day, from the sheer amount of criminals that passed though the precinct, the time on patrol, and the hours he spent writing police reports and reviewing case files for ongoing investigations, Gavin truly felt that his energy had been completely depleted after his day. His day was also made worse by the lack of his beloved girlfriend in his day, with you in meetings all day and him seemingly on the constant go, neither of you had even been able to even pass a message on to the other, apart from your ritual ‘good morning’ text. Even now, with how late Gavin had finished his shift, he sadly realised that not only was it too late to go see you as you’d probably be getting ready for bed, but also he was just too tired to make his way over to your apartment. He sighed, knowing that even though his place was fully stocked with a multitude of instant noodles, there was no way he had the energy to make anything and he knew he would probably just take a shower and crash for the night. However, much to his surprise instead of the usual silence, what greeted him was the fragrant aromas of home cooked food and the soft humming of yours dancing on the air. Gavin divested himself of his jacket and took off his shoes silently, padding softly towards the kitchen, where he leaned against the doorframe and enjoyed the show.

You were dancing around the room, twirling in your sock covered feet as you sang along to the soft music drifting from your phone speakers. Gavin’s eyes softened as he watched your ponytail sway with your movements and when you paused to check on the pot on the stove, he couldn’t help but come closer to you, your presence had always been enchanting to him but now in the soft lighting of the kitchen, you looked ethereal to him. You were startled on a few seconds, feeling another person’s arms snake their way around your waist. Recognising the clean scent behind you, you sighed contentedly and leaned back into the embrace, Gavin inwardly preened at how you melted in his presence.

“Well, this is a surprise.” Gavin said, pressing a kiss to your temple and then rested his chin on your shoulder.

“A nice surprise?” you question, glancing at him.

“Yeah.” Gavin breathed, and you smiled at the praise before lifting a teaspoon for Gavin to taste, after his nod of approval you turned off the stove and then you both reluctantly detached from each other, so you could place the dishes on the table, whilst Gavin gathered the plates and the cutlery.

The two of you sat down and after a while of soft munching, Gavin noticed that every couple of seconds you would look at him shyly, as if gauging his demeanour. He rolled his eyes playfully, starting to laugh as he wondered as to what was going through your mind, and then reached out and rubbed your hair affectionately, his calloused fingers a sharp contrast to the soft tresses of your hair.

“Okay, what do you want to ask me?” he asked, raising his eyebrow at you.

“What?” you elongated the word, trying to play it off.

Gavin just looked at you, smirking, and you sighed, deciding to just come clean.

“Don’t be mad, okay?” you put down your cutlery, knowing your appetite was definitely gone.

“Depends on what you ask me.” Gavin smiled and helped you gather the dishes to take to the sink.

You both washed the dishes in silence, Gavin deciding not to push you to make you uncomfortable. He was perfectly content to wait until you were ready to ask him, as he was always ready to listen. Instead he stood by you, drying each of the dishes after you had finished stacking them neatly on the counter beside the dish rack. He watched your minute expressional changes as you washed the dishes, keeping his expression calm as he didn’t want to scare you. You always reminded him of a hedgehog at times, and if he wasn’t careful, he’d cause you to raise you spikes at him. When you suddenly paused after the last bowl, Gavin paused too reaching over to lay his warm hands upon your smaller trembling ones, your hands still covered on in the soapy water. A couple seconds passed, and just before Gavin decided to push you a little and ask, you opened your mouth first.

“What would do if I wanted to do a crime interview.?” You blurted out quickly, biting your lip in nervousness, and Gavin’s blood chilled.

Gavin’s hands stilled, and you immediately felt guilty, he then dried his hands and left the kitchen in silence. You turned off the tap, dried your hands and quickly followed, stopping in his living room as you watched him pace back and forth in his living room. You furrowed your brows waiting, as you knew he was trying to gather his thoughts as he didn’t want to yell at you.

Gavin had no idea what you were thinking, it wasn’t that he didn’t believe in your ability, he was your biggest supporter, but this... he felt like he couldn’t. Gavin had seen prison, he’d done prison interviews before, and he had seen hardened criminals, but that was something he didn’t want YOU to see. You weren’t as innocent as you were before the Black Swan incident, but since prison wasn’t just a place anyone could walk into and Gavin wasn’t sure you knew what you were getting into. Plus, Gavin would beat himself up if anything happened to you whilst you were there, and if he was honest the only person he’d trust, other than himself, to protect you was Eli and he had nothing to do with the Loveland Police Force, so that wasn’t an option. He mentally ran through the recent cases that had had arrests made, and a sickening realisation hit him as he remember the serial killer they had recently arrested, and hoping he was wrong he ventured to ask.

“Does this have anything to do with the serial killer that was recently caught?” he asked.

“Well...”

“Does. It?” Gavin gritted his teeth as he spoke, still holding hope he was wrong.

“Yeah...” you looked off to the side, feeling uncomfortable under his glare.

Gavin forcibly exhaled, and then walked towards you, stopping a few inches in front of you and simply offering you his hand. Knowing Gavin would never do anything to hurt you intentionally, you placed your hand in his without hesitation, and Gavin led you over to the couch and both of you sat down. He knew this was going to happen, you had the annoyingly admirable habit of having a hands-on approach to as many of the projects your company was in charge of as possible.

“What is your impression of serial killers?” he asked tiredly, figuring he might as well just find out.

You deliberated for a bit, “Ummmm... I’ve seen ‘Silence of the Lambs’ once during uni.” you admitted.

Gavin sighed, dragging his hand down his face, obviously it was not the same thing, not only was the movie played up at some aspects for shock value, but watching a movie about a serial killer in the comfort of your own home, and sitting in the same room as an actual serial killer were vastly different things.

“But that’s why I brought it up.” your hands rested on his forearm, “Since I’ve never done a crime interview, can you come with me?”

“You promise you won’t go without me?” Gavin turned to look at you.

“I think I’d be too scared to.” you admitted.

Gavin then took his arm from your hold, and then drew you into his embrace as he put his hand around your waist, before leaning back exhausted by the rollercoaster of emotions he had just been on. He had to admit he felt the relief of your request, knowing that you had wanted to ask him for help, and glad that you had at least thought that part through. However, he still felt the apprehension of letting you walk into the prison, even if he’d be by your side the entire time. You rested your head on his chest, listening to his racing heartbeat still feeling bad.

“Sorry, Gavin.” you apologised sincerely.

“No, it’s okay Love, I’d feel worse if you didn’t tell me.” he admitted, resting his hand on his stomach, drumming it tunelessly and rhythmically, allowing the monotonous action to calm him down, and recentre after the scare you just gave him.

You reached over and interlaced your fingers with his, the gentle action causing Gavin to look back at you with a soft smile and he breathed in the summery scent of your hair, squeezing them lightly, “I was always planning to tell you. I know, no more running into danger without letting you know.” you smiled up at him, fishing for praise.

Gavin pressed a kiss to your forehead as a reward, praising you gently, “Glad you learned something from when we dealt with Black Swan.”

“Yeah, I’m so much smarter now, aren’t I?”

“...”

“Gavin!” you sat up and looked at him offended as he laughed boyishly at you, before pulling you back down into his embrace.

“I’m joking, I’m joking. My girl is the smartest person I know.” he placated you, the effect ruined by the mirth in his eyes and the laughter still shaking his figure, you rolled your eyes playfully and snuggled back into him.

“Thanks Gavin,” you responded sarcastically, before finishing sincerely, “but really, thank you for not getting too mad.”

“Well I’ll be with you the whole time so I’ll be able to protect you.” he smiled, leaning his head down against yours, a releasing a yawn, the exhaustion of the day catching up with him.

“You tired?” you asked, and Gavin shook his head, but you knew he was just making excuses because he didn’t want you to leave, so you huffed a laugh and continued, “I only have to go in the office after lunch so...”

“You can stay the night?” he asked, his tired tone lifted with hope.

“Yeah, I can stay.” you stood up, and pulled Gavin up by his hand.

Gavin offered you a lopsided smile, hands resting lightly on your hips, and then after flexing his hands once, he detached from you making his way to the bathroom to take a much-needed shower after his day. Content to know that you’d be staying the night, and his heart jumped knowing that you'd be able to fall asleep in each other’s arms.

#mlqc scenarios #mlqc gavin #mlqc haku #mlqc bai qi #mlqc #mr love queen's choice #mr love gavin #mr love haku #mr love bai qi #love and producer #koi to producer #evol x love

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roguesandsaviors · 3 years

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Top 10 movies

I like a lot of movies, and a lot of BAD movies but actually putting together a list wasn't as simple as I thought it was going to be.

1) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: I could and probably should expand this into the three separate movies but I never watch them as stand alone. They are always together (and always extended). If I am forced, I would say whole RotK is my favorite book, FotR is probably my favorite movie.

2) Sherlock Holmes (2009): I think this was the first movie I saw as an adult multiple times in theaters. It holds the record at 8 viewings. While I enjoyed RDJ as Iron Man, this was what really kick-started my life for him.

3) Hamlet (1996): Showing a little more of my nerdy side with this. I was that odd kid that loved Shakespeare from a young age. What Kenneth Branagh does with the material is nothing sort of astounding. The movie is a masterpiece. I get it's ridiculously long but I do believe it stands as the only unabridged version of the play still.

4) Hacksaw Ridge: A lot of war movies have an emotional rollercoaster but sitting through this? It was like a 15 round title fight. Masterfully told from start to finish. It hits home even more to know that Mr. Doss had felt like a movie didn't need to be made about what he did at the Battle of Okinawa.

5) 1917: There are no words. Literally everything about this film, down to the smallest detail, is mind-blowing. The scenes, the cinematography, the script, the acting. Just holy shit. I would say it is one of the best war movies of all time.

6) Beneath Hill 60: This is a lesser known war movie but I would say it fits right at the top of the list. It's the story of the 1st Australian Tunneling company during WWI and their effort to tunnel under German lines on the Western Front. It's a screenplay adapted off of the diary of the Captain himself. While it doesn't have the typical action of a war movie (though there is some), the storytelling is top notch and the suspense makes you never want to look away.

7) Fury: I would have had this on the list whether I liked Jon or not. Another fantastic war movie that used the last legit Panzer from that era. Complete geek out moment finding that out. It's got that gritty, harsh reality of war and what it puts those that serve through that is needed to make in my opinion a good war movie. It's not about the actions but the people at the center. The effects are fantastic and I know that they went as authentic as they could for it.

8) The Dark Knight: Personally, I think this is the superhero movies of all superhero movies. Forget DC vs Marvel. It is just a straight up fantastic movie that hits on all the points. Ledger's Joker will never be rivaled. The right amount of insane with the right amount of criminal mastermind. The feeling of Dent losing his faith. The struggle of Bruce on whether to compromise his morals or not. It's just well done.

9) David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet: David Attenborough was one of the many influences on my life as a young person interested in science and conservation. This documentary was inspiring. Even in his 90s, the man is sharp as a tack and lays out legitimate concerns in a thoughtful and thought provoking way. His legacy is one that will always be remembered and this documentary always ends up moving me.

10) Jane: Again, similar to the above. Jane Goodall is a force to be reckoned with and the documentary of her life is moving and powerful. She is another who has worked tirelessly and without the need for thanks to make this world a better place for all who inhabit it and it would do us all well to remember that.

#answered asks #anna hawk

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bluesakura007 · 3 years

Text

Undeniable - Chapter 4: Khan’s Past - Khan Noonien Singh x OC

Summary: After storming off following the start of her feud with Bones and Spock, Zinalya seeks comfort with the man who said feud revolves around in the first place, during which he divulges the story of his origins and how he ended up being awoken in the 23rd century.

Warnings: Roughly about half of this chapter is angst, and it includes mentions of the deaths of a parent and a friend.

Zinalya was almost flying down the corridors and then onto the ground floor via a turbolift, filled with her now released anger at Dr. McCoy. He had no right to be telling her how she was allowed to feel about someone, and her blood additionally boiled at the recollection of what she’d walked in to hear Spock saying earlier on before that, about how her plan to get Khan sent away with an exile sentence and go with him - and she guessed that the former also meant this about her feelings for the latter in the first place - would bring disrepute to Starfleet.

According to Bones, he and the others were trying to help her, but she felt in the back of her mind that this was a lie, as he and Spock clearly didn’t actually care about what she wanted or how she felt because she was obviously the only one out of the three of them who could be bothered to look past Khan’s exterior for what lay underneath. This reminded her of a phrase she’d heard of once: “If you look for the good in people, you’ll find it.”

She was thankful for the fact that Scotty and Chekov were supportive of her wanting to leave with him - further proof to her that, as always, they were good friends - and she knew that while Kirk, Carol, Sulu and Uhura were remaining neutral and hadn’t picked either side of the argument, this could have been worse, due to the fact that one of these two sides they could have picked was to shut down and oppose her plan entirely, like Spock and McCoy.

In spite of her annoyance at this latter pair, though, she felt the same kind of twinge as she had during her sarcastic remark to Spock when she’d walked in and heard him, which was guilt for the hostile moments of her behaviour just now. Especially for the particular moment when she slapped Bones. But this was only a temporary twinge as, with another surge of her blood boiling, she remembered that, effectively, they’d disregarded her viewpoints in the conversation and insisted on wanting to keep her away from the man she liked.

Within another few seconds, she’d arrived at the place where she’d been heading as soon as she stormed out. The room where Khan was being held in another cell.

The retinal and fingerprint scanners outside this room both recognised that she was indeed lieutenant-commander Zinalya Hamilton and allowed her to enter as a result.

What she immediately noticed upon doing so was that apart from a few guards near to the door on the outer side, there were none inside the room itself, which she initially found to be a relief because of her wanting to speak alone with him until she found out why: to her right, in the corner of the ceiling above her, was a tiny, spherical-shaped black glass object which could only be noticed if you put in effort thanks to this size. It hardly took a detective to deduce that it was meant to be some kind of security camera.

"Did you mean it?"

She was suddenly snapped out of looking up at the camera by a certain deep and English-accented voice from in front of where she was standing. There he was, in a cell with a large floor-length glass window not unlike that of his previous cell onboard the Enterprise. Even the colouring of the room as a whole was very similar, except this one was slightly more like grey with a blue tint as opposed to pure white. "Sorry, what?" She turned her head back to facing where he was sitting at the back of his cell, looking at her with an owllike unwavering gaze, during which she found her anger from a minute ago fading.

"Did you mean what you said earlier in the courtroom, Miss Hamilton?" The sound of Khan’s voice still gave her shivers despite the amount of times she’d already heard it. "When you declared that you have romantic feelings for me?"

"I did, yeah." She nodded her head and simultaneously walked closer towards the cell. It took that little fraction of less time compared to on the Enterprise due to the room being marginally smaller than this ship’s brig. He now once again had the same look on his face that he’d had before, when she’d made this announcement he was referring to: a little dash of curiosity and slight skepticism but predominantly feeling touched by what she said. "Why do you have those feelings?"

Zinalya chuckled to herself. "I’m obviously not going to catch a break from that question anytime soon." When she saw his aforementioned expression change into one of mild confusion, she elaborated, "Commander Spock asked me the same thing just now."

"And what did you say to him?" Another one of those subtle outward expression shifts happened, this time her sensing slight dislike from Khan towards this half Vulcan first officer.

"I told him that I’m not entirely sure why, but it was partially because I felt like you’d been through an emotional rollercoaster, with all the admiral Marcus business." Zinalya replied, hesitant to bring up this subject. She and Khan were now standing right in front of each other, only about a foot apart on either side of the cell’s glass.

He momentarily laughed to himself through closed lips and craned his head to the side, looking down at the floor. "I take it I’d be right in presuming he and your other colleagues tried to convince you that the way you see me is a mistake?"

"Spock and Dr. McCoy did." Responded the half human-half Trill. "But not all of them were like that; the others haven’t taken a side but ensign Chekov and Mr. Scott are being supportive of it."

"You seem to trust those two a great deal."

"They’re my closest friends." Her inner sensation of gratitude and relief at their support swung into action again, because she remembered that this meant she was at least not fully alone in her plan and in that day’s developments.

Khan looked back up towards her, seeming as if he himself had just experienced a memory recollection of his own. He paused for a beat, and then spoke again, "I’d like you to know I feel the same way, Miss Hamilton; I find you endearing in return."

It was a surprise to her ears, because, after all, she was hoping that her emotions would indeed be reciprocated by him but the prospect of it actually, really happening was unexpected, so now it was her turn to pose the question, "Why?"

"Because from the people who I met and interacted with on your Enterprise, you appeared to be the only one who didn’t dismiss me as a mere criminal." Answered Khan, whose eyes she thought were like that of a snake due to the brightness of his light turquoise eyes, which made his pupils, at some moments, look as if they were slitted.

She’d additionally used this time where they were in front of each other to mentally take in and properly admire every edge of his tall body and his immaculate black hair. "You only came to speak to me a few times, but during those instances I noticed that you behaved kindly towards me. Apart from this reason however I’m not certain myself: I like you in return for a reason that I can’t put my finger on either."

Zinalya thought to herself deeply about this weirdly complex concept of attraction. "Maybe we’re not supposed to understand why we’ve got feelings for each other. Do you believe in destiny?"

"It depends on the specific context." Said Khan.

"Well I think the bigger reason could be because it’s pre-destined and it literally is what’s meant to happen."

Khan nodded his head, slowly and gracefully, in understanding of this theory. "If we are pre-destined to be together as you say, then I think I should be fully honest with you - I should tell you about how it all began. The events that ultimately led to my revival last year and everything that followed."

"Okay." There came her own nod again. "I do know that at one point back in the 20th century you were a world leader, the head of a large empire, but that's all I know about you, so I would like to learn more." She sat down on the floor in front of the glass, anticipating that what was about to follow might take some time.

Khan quietly took a breath and he, too, sat down, the right side of his body leaning lightly against the glass. "The first four years of my life were rather peaceful - most of the memories I had from back that far became vague over time so I had to find out later on by doing my own research, but I lived during those first years in India, with my mother." He began. "Her name was Dr. Sarina Kaur, a biochemist who had, around that time, been carrying out experiments and investigations into asexual reproduction."

"Asexual reproduction? Like how plants and some insects have children without having to...?" She trailed off at the end, realising how awkward the rest of her sentence was going to be.

"Yes." Khan, luckily, answered what she was trying to query without her having to put in this ending. "I found out when I did my own exploration into the four early years that I was apparently conceived by her via artificial insemination. And it was entirely artificial - she'd managed to perfect her theory of creating a human child from a single parent without the need for a donor of any kind, dubbed the Chrysalis Project. I was born in the year 1970, so this was quite a notable scientific achievement for the time." Zinalya was still listening intently, while he continued, now with a feeling of poignancy shown upon his face, "I was initially conceived as another one of her experiments, which is why she gave me minor changes and enhancements in my DNA that created my different eye colour and accent and my light skin tone, allegedly whilst I was still in utero, as well as a small mental enhancement allowing me to recall early memories more easily. But I still remember clearly that once I’d been born, she was the kindest and most loving person I had ever known."

"She sounds like she was a really sweet woman. I think I would've liked to meet her if she was still around today." The lieutenant-commander opined with a gentle smile, knowing in her mind that based on how long ago the 1970s were, Sarina would have been long gone by that time.

"She was. When I was still very young, she had a pet dog named Cinder, a border collie I believe; he had already reached old age when I was born and he died when I was two years old, but before then it was just me, Cinder and my mother together in New Delhi as a family. And then one day, another two years later, I found out that she died, as well."

"What happened to her?"

"Something went wrong at her laboratory. It caused a fire which she was killed by as she tried to escape." He said. "I'd been out that day, playing in the streets with some of the other children who lived nearby. Her parents lived in Kolkata, meaning there was no one close enough to take care of me, so I spent the next year living on those streets. The first few days I spent moving from place to place with my blanket in my hands and I spent most of those nights crying until I cried myself to sleep." Zinalya felt her chest tighten at the sight of the wistful look in his eyes. "Until I met another boy, Tanvir Acharya. He was three years older than me and was also an orphan on the streets, and was the leader of a small group of others which he allowed me to join. Me and him became friends to the point where we both considered each other as a brother figure, but a year on, we and the rest of the group were taken, among numerous other orphans, for experimentation."

"Is that what made you into an Augment? What gave you all your abilities?"

"It was - there was a total of twenty-four boys including myself and fifteen girls who were subjected to genetic engineering over the course of several years, for the purpose of eventually becoming living weapons. Seven years after our capture, in 1982, Tanvir and I devised a plan to escape and then later come back in the hopes of liberating the others in addition, and we both ran off in different directions. I made it to the Gobi Desert before I was found by Dr. Heisen, the director of the eugenics project responsible for our augmentations, and was recaptured and returned to the research facility by the use of a neural inhibitor in my body, which doubled as a tracking beacon. All thirty-nine of us had each been implanted with one for controlling us with pain if need be." The wistful expression began to gradually amplify itself. "After I was returned, I discovered that Tanvir had also been recaptured, but the use of his own inhibitor had killed him: he was born with a heart defect which was never treated, so the electric shocks from his inhibitor had stopped his heart from beating."

He remembered how truly awful he’d felt at this moment way back when - a twelve year old boy holding the corpse of his best friend, his older brother figure, in his arms and entering back into what he did during those first few lonely nights on the New Delhi streets, which was crying his eyes out.

"Oh god..." Said Zinalya.

"Three more years on from then, I successfully removed my own inhibitor and those of the others and killed Heisen myself." He moved on from this particular part of the story before he lost himself in the memory, hissing the sentence with a small edge of aggression in his tone. "From there, we escaped and gradually released other eugenics subjects in various countries across the world, and I imagine the rest is familiar to you."

"You set up your empire in the early 1990s and ruled over half of Earth." She confirmed. "Before you escaped the planet with seventy-two other Augments later."

"It was our belief that the rest of the human race couldn’t properly look after itself. Myself and a few others infiltrated world governments in 1990 and established our own, leading to the beginning of the Eugenics Wars in 1992. It was during this time when I did my research into the finer details of my origins, and one of the other things I eventually uncovered was my mother's naming process for me: I was named Khan after one of her grandfathers, she gave me my surname after the 15th century poet Singh el Bashir, and my middle name was after Noonien Prasad, her boyfriend who died from lung cancer while she was pregnant with me. We were attacked during my reign that followed by the non-Augment governments and threatened with nuclear weaponry, but I refused to retaliate with my own."

"I remember; you told me once on the Enterprise that yours was one of the few Augment governments where there wasn’t anything like genocide or the other worst parts of a dictatorship." Zinalya, who was currently leaning the back of her own body against the glass, stretched her legs out so that she was sitting with them in front of her and craned her head around to look at him. "You had the threat of total destruction over you and you still stood your ground without using the same weapons..."

"At one point, me and my own followers were also attacked by another Augment leader, although as you can see I was the one who won the battle." She could see his eyes becoming misty at this point. "But my leadership still almost cost me everyone I knew throughout this last year. In 1996, we were forced to flee to Australia and board a sleeper ship which we christened the SS Botany Bay, and then came Marcus' discovery of us." A tear slid ever so slowly down out of his left eye while the other one was still welling up. "If it is destiny which has brought me here to you in this time, then it must have a perverse way of thinking. I'm not certain whether or not I should be thankful for those circumstances."

"I'm so sorry." The security chief was finding his tears to be contagious. "I wish me and the others knew what was going on - he was manipulating you and threatening to take away every person you had left who mattered to you, and we did nothing..."

"You mustn't blame yourself, Zinalya." Khan turned to face her slightly more, and then came the tear from his right eye to match the one on his left cheek. "I'm sorry that I've gotten us into this current situation." He placed his index and middle fingertips from his left hand onto the surface of his side of the glass to indicate what he meant: they were separated from each other by nothing more than a thin material, and faced with the uncertainty of whether they'd be allowed to go into exile together or be well and truly separated indefinitely.

She gently shook her head and did the same with that of her right hand, turning her position herself to make it so that it was the left side of her body up against the glass instead of her back, as it had been previously. "It's okay. I know half your life's been hard - you didn't deserve those deaths of Tanvir or your mum, Khan. You didn't deserve any of the bad things that happened to you at all."

Hers were somewhat more free-flowing compared to his, but Khan and Zin just let their tears stream out in each other's company. The former shifted his position again in terms of how his head was inclined, which now made it look to anyone seeing it from in front of or behind them like they were leaning into each other with her head on his shoulder and his own head on the top of hers. They sat there for a while, in a silence laced with unspoken tenderness between them.

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