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latibvles · 2 years

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SAD, BEAUTIFUL, TRAGIC.

beautiful magic // what it means to depart

in which daisy clarke learns the finality of goodbye.

WARNINGS: none unless softcore angst counts 🤭

SUMMARY: on the eve of Ronald’s departure for Camp Shelby, Mississippi, something seems to shift between Daisy and himself as they say their goodbyes.

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⠀

Their street is quiet, as it usually is at this hour. Downstairs she can hear her mother’s faint humming — and the crackling of the radio as her father likely listens to updates about the war. Here, in her tiny room on the second floor, she rubs her thumb over James’ letter and tries to envision what it must be like from the descriptions he gives her.

“You’d hate it here, Dais,” is what he so eloquently wrote down. Complaints about waking up before the sun’s even up, the bland food of Boot Camp, and that underlying message of it’s everything I imagined it to be. She isn’t quite sure if he hates it or loves it — he goes from complaining about the P.T to boasting about his apparent “deadly aim.” Not quite sure whether he’s feeling good or bad, she scribbles down several different phrases of encouragement that don’t lean one way or another — she has a feeling her mother will be doing the same, although with much more prose, and probably with a better assessment of how to respond.

Just a few weeks ago her brother shipped out, her mother snot-nosed and sniffling as he encompassed the two of them in a tight embrace, kissing their mother’s hair and muttering sweet reassurances of his safe return. Apparently, she’s only ever cried like that once before, upon her father’s return from the Great War all those years ago. Neither Daisy nor James had been born yet, but according to their aunt Marie — she probably could’ve flooded the whole of New England.

She traces her thumb over her brother’s signature wistfully — trying to imagine what boot camp would be like, when a cry of her name disrupts her from the dream she was concocting.

“Daisy! Ronnie’s here to see you!”

She perks up at the name, as if her ears might’ve played a trick on her. But she’s certain she heard ‘Ronnie’ and so she tentatively sets the letter to the side, rising to her feet.

Ronald Speirs had been a friend of her brother’s for quite some time — since elementary. And he’d always been kind to her, letting her join in on the games they’d play as children despite James’ protests, acting as a secondary shield in high school against the boys who would pester her when her brother couldn’t be there. A good friend, but even then it was strange for him to be stopping by at such a late hour. Not that she necessarily minded, but the brief thought that something happened with one of his sisters or his mother crosses her mind, and she’s putting on her slippers a bit quicker before making her way downstairs, stopping halfway.

Her mother stands there in her silk robe, exchanging words with the man in the doorway. Ron’s in a checkered shirt and jeans, sleeves rolled up to the elbows and hair falling messily over the side of his forehead. He takes notice of her as soon as the stairs make an unflattering creak, hazel eyes flitting to meet her stare. She waves, he smiles, and her mother turns to look at her.

“Ah, there you are dear.” She quickly moves to the side as Daisy makes her way down the rest of the stairwell towards the door.

“Hi Ron,” Daisy greets, watching as her mother leaves the room with a soft ‘It was good to see you’ pointed at Ronnie, and he returns it with an equally soft ‘You too, Mrs. Clarke’ before shifting his attention fully to her. Whether he meant to or not, he always had a sort of intense stare — she’d gotten used to it. “Did you need something?” she asks with a raised brow. Ronnie pauses, looking her over, then glancing to the side.

“Walk with me?”

“At ten at night?”

He grins now, slightly amused at her question.

“Your parents trust me, don’t they?” Daisy chuckles and shakes her head, rolling her eyes as she steps out the door. Trust was an understatement. If he didn’t have a perfectly fine father of his own, she’s near certain her own would take him in as a second son. Ronnie shuts the door gently behind her before turning on his heel and beginning to walk down the sidewalk.

The night is cool, but not freezing. The sky above is clear, she can make out the crescent moon in the sky. James always called it the toenail moon. There’s a thick silence between the two as they walk, and she can tell by the way Ronnie looks at her, before looking ahead that he wants to say something. So Daisy shifts her gaze to meet him, giving him the go-ahead. He looks like such a boy right now — hands in his pockets, shoulders squared. But he meets her stare regardless.

“I uh… ship out tomorrow.” Daisy nods at that, pursing her lips momentarily.

“You do,” is her reply. “You and Jimmy got a lot of nerve, leaving me to console your forlorn mommas like some kinda shrink,” she jests, and the laugh that Ronnie lets out is breathy, less confident than what she’s used to from him. “I don’t mind though, I’ll look after her when I can.” He nods at that, letting out a pleased hum.

“Thanks, Dais.”

“Don’t mention it. Just remember to write when you can, think it’ll make it easier.”

“For her or for you?” He quips, and Daisy swiftly goes to sock him in the arm. He laughs, she rolls her eyes and shakes her head as he rubs his arm, but she knows she didn’t hit him especially hard. “You could’ve just said for my mom. No reason to attack me.”

“Guess I felt like starting your combat training early,” She retorts and he laughs with a roll of his own eyes. “So what, you drag me out here to fall to your knees and propose? Some promise about being married after the war?” He arches a brow.

“That happen a lot?” There’s an expression she doesn’t quite recognize on his face. His brows are furrowed and his lips tug into something of a frown. She pays little mind to it, shrugging indifferently.

“Only once. You remember that boy I was seeing back in high school, Arthur Morris? Fell to his knee after Sunday service,” He’s staring at her in silence, probably expecting her to elaborate, so she does. “I said no though, obviously. I’m not big on the whole… ‘I promise I’ll be back. Wait for me,’ thing. My mom was so torn up during the first war, and our dad hadn’t even proposed yet. Can’t imagine the kind of stress that comes with being a bride-to-be,” Daisy brings her hand to her chin, stroking it pensively as she turns to look him over. “Though if you are keen on letting me in on your army benefits, I’m not entirely opposed.”

Ronnie rolls his eyes, that unclear expression dissipating as he shakes his head lightly at her suggestion.

“You really know how to make a fella feel special. I’m surprised you aren’t already waiting on some guy’s return from the front.” She doesn’t dignify his sarcasm with a response, and his smile only grows as a result. He then reaches up to scratch at the back of his head. “But no, I’m not proposing. Ring got lost in the mail, you know how it is, I just… wanted to know you’d be there. When I leave.”

Daisy notes how he stares up at the sky, pointedly away from her watchful gaze. For a moment, she forgets. Forgets that he’s twenty-one now, and he’s been out of school for quite some time. That he works a steady job, probably was looking for someone to settle down with before Pearl Harbor. He looks like a boy trying to muster the courage to ask a girl to junior prom, and the thought warms her, stemming from her chest to the top of her head and tips of her toes. Her smile shifts from a teasing toothy grin to something softer.

“Of course I will. Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Ron.” He looks down at her again, and nods.

“Good.”

Their walk is quieter after that, devoid of tension as they pass by the places they’ve known all their lives. The candy shop James practically lived in, the dental office where Ronald watched him try to woo the receptionist. The scattered spots that Ronald would slip behind to sneak a smoke back when they were in high school, but Daisy always found him, refusing to snitch on his “unsavory habit” as her mother calls it. She hates the smell of tobacco.

By the time they circle back to her house, it’s nearing twelve, but the lights are still on on the first floor so she can assume her parents must’ve waited up for her. She turns around and opens up her arms to Ron, who walks into them and allows her to throw her arms around his neck, giving him a squeeze. She feels his arms wrap around her middle to pull her in, and his fingers grip at her sweater in a way that makes her want to ask a question — but she isn’t sure what she exactly wants to ask, so she says nothing instead.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” Daisy reminds him, and he grunts out his confirmation into her hair, his nose buried for a moment in her own dark tresses. They release, she squeezes his forearms once, before turning on her heel with a soft “See you, Ronnie.” before stepping through the door.

⠀

She promised herself that she wouldn’t cry, so she doesn’t, watching as his sisters press kisses to his cheeks, his brother musses up his hair to which Ronald gives him a half-hearted glare before the older one is pulling him into his side for a tight squeeze. Around them, people are sniffling and clapping the backs of boys waiting for the train to roll in to take them away. Daisy stands, quiet and patient with her parents, waiting for Ronnie to approach when he sees fit.

When that time comes, he’s looking at her father, and she watches as her father reaches over to squeeze his shoulder gently.

“It’s going to be a wild ride out there,” he says, and she watches as her father’s eyes crinkle at the corners from his smile. “But I know you and Jimmy’ll be just fine.” Ronald gives him something of a polite smile, as they exchange words that Daisy is only really half-listening to. Probably something about her father’s recollection of his own time in Europe, and she reaches to give her mother’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

Whenever her father talked about the War, her mother always got emotional.

Then Ron turns and talks to her mother. It’s much more emotional, more ‘we’re so proud of you’ and housewife tips to ensure he remains clean at boot camp. That gets a giggle out of Daisy, as if making sure he had clean underwear would be his biggest issue.

Finally, he turns and looks at her, as her parents go to talk with his parents. She waves, he smiles.

“So you won’t forget to write, right?” she asks. He nods, reaching out to grab her hand for a moment and giving it a small squeeze.

“I won’t. Promise.” He parrots. He looks back to where their parents are. “You’ll be okay? With… them?” She snorts, nodding and squeezing his hand back.

“Yes. Now they’ll have all the time in the world to pick apart my plans after I’m done with nursing school. What fun,” He chuckles at her sarcasm, shaking his head slightly. Then the train sounds, a long, loud whistle reverberating through the station. Her smile falters as she feels the lump in her throat form. “Guess this is it, huh?”

Ron’s eyes flit down to her hand in his, runs his thumb over her knuckles in a meticulous motion.

“Yeah. Guess so,” Hazel eyes flit back up to meet her brown ones, staring into her with some type of newfound determination. “Daisy I—”

Choooooo!

He cringes at the whistle, before sighing and looking back one last time, before pulling her towards him with the occupied hand. He leans down and presses a kiss to her cheek.

She feels the ghost of his breath as he pulls away, releasing her hand.

“I’ll see you soon, Dais. Take care of yourself.”

She can’t say anything, not trusting her voice, so she just nods, and he gives her something of a sad smile as he turns, slinging his bag over his shoulder to board the train that would take him miles and miles away from his family, from home, from her.

She doesn’t know why, but the warmth he leaves behind lingers, and she’s never felt so helpless as when she watches the train pull out alongside her family and his.

As it picks up speed, taking off into some place she’s never been before, she can only mutter two words under her breath. And it feels like damnation to even say them.

“Bye, Ronnie.”

#band of brothers #ron speirs #ronald speirs #hbo war fic #band of brothers fic #ronald speirs x oc #ronald speirs x ofc #ron speirs x reader #// as a little treat .. the prologue-ish ??#// there are a lot of points in their past I wanna write out #// this is the only one that’s like … required reading ( for now h #fic // sad beautiful tragic

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strangerthings4theories · 3 years

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The Star Trek Connection: Proof For Mirror Russia (And Mirror Billy)

If you haven’t read my post “If Billy Is Alive, Where Is He,” please check it out before you proceed! Thank you.

In my last post, I laid out a story for you.

We’re going to find out the Russia we saw at the end of S3, and the one where Hopper is a prisoner, is not our Russia. It’s a Russia in an alternate universe. In this universe, Billy survived Starcourt but fell into the hands of the Russians. [...] Hopper and Billy learn of each others’ presence in Kamchatka. They also learn there’s a Gate that will take them through the Upside Down to the Prime Universe. Together, they concoct a plan to escape, but something goes wrong, and Billy is forced to leave Hopper behind.

At first glance, you might’ve thought I pulled that story completely out of my ass. But I didn’t. I built it from Stranger Things canon - the actual show, AND a special book, The Hawkins Middle School/High School Yearbook.

The yearbook is a treasure trove of clues that I will use multiple times in my meta. For our purposes here, I’ll focus on a letter from Mr. Clarke that you can find in the middle school section.

Y’all remember the scene in S1 where the boys ask Mr. Clarke for an explanation of the Upside Down? Well, he opens with a very interesting statement:

“You guys have been thinking about Hugh Everett’s many worlds interpretation, haven’t you?”

“Well basically,” he continues, “there are parallel universes, just like our world, but just... infinite variations of it. Which means there’s a world out there where none of this tragic stuff ever happened.”

*raising my eyebrows in Billy dying at Starcourt was the definition of a tragedy*

(He goes on to explain interdimensional travel by using the analogy of an acrobat and a flea. That’s not terribly important to us at the moment, so just lay it aside for now.)

In his yearbook letter, Mr. Clarke tells us more about the many worlds interpretation. In my opinion, he also tells us exactly how Billy is going to come back.

I’ll quote the letter here in full:

Boys, I was thinking about your interdimensional travel question a little more. Like I said, if our dimension is a tightrope, then we are like acrobats who can only move forward and backward on it. Something smaller, like a flea, could actually go around the rope and enter another dimension. Simply put, this has to do with energy, mass, and GRAVITY. Have you heard about string theory? It's a physics framework that accounts for other dimensions. Superstring theory says there are 10 dimensions. The bosonic theory claims 26 dimensions! It's pretty radical stuff. There was an interesting article about this in OMNI last year. (Maybe June?) If I can find it, I'll give it to you. If not, the public library probably has it on microfilm. Until we do have enough energy to blow open rifts in the space time continuum, you can always watch "Mirror, Mirror." It's not my favorite Star Trek episode, but it's a good one. Live long and study! Mr. Clarke

When I first read the letter, I freaked out. The Duffers are handing us two massive clues. With a wink and a nod, they’re saying, “Hey, you should probably look for that OMNI issue, huh? And watch that episode of Star Trek.”

So I did. ;) I’ll deal with the OMNI issue in another post. For now, we’ll focus on the Star Trek episode.

The episode Mr. Clarke names, “Mirror, Mirror,” is the episode that establishes Star Trek’s long-running tradition of exploring mirror universes.

A transporter malfunction caused by an ion storm sends Kirk and his away team into a parallel universe. The Enterprise still exists here, but the Federation is a militaristic empire styled after the Soviet Union (!!!). The team have to hide their true identities until they can find their way back to the prime universe.

(Meanwhile, their mirror selves have landed on the “normal” Enterprise. In other words, Kirk and his team have switched places with their doppelgangers (!!!). *COUGHING SO LOUDLY I NEARLY HACK UP A LUNG*)

This is a common theme in Star Trek's mirror universe stories. Often, they explore ideas like, “What if the Klingons won the war?” Or, “What if the Borg was wiping out the Federation?” I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds an awful lot like wondering, “What if America lost WW2?” Or, “What if Russia was the supreme superpower in the ‘80s, not the US?” Or, “What if Russia opened a Gate to the Upside Down, captured Demogorgons, and started breeding an army of them?”

The possibilities are endless, constrained only by the demands of the story.

(^ me trying to wrap my mind around the possibilities)

Okay! Well, in that case, let’s review a few demands of Stranger Things’ story. By demands, I mean developments that:

(1) account for foreshadowing; (2) pay off narrative setups; (3) hold to the show’s established story structure; (4) explore the show’s themes; (5) move character arcs forward in a compelling way; (6) track with what we already know about S4, and (7) make for damn good TV.

Demands Of The Story

Hopper is alive and imprisoned in Russia. He’s trying to figure out a way to get home.

Billy is alive and free to continue his arc, which is incomplete.

Billy does not lose his character development from S3. He was still possessed by the Mind Flayer, forced to do horrible things, and brought back by El’s compassion. (This is, of course, open for debate; there are any number of points in the latter half of the season where Billy’s story could’ve diverged. But, in my opinion, Starcourt is the most compelling and logical place, with Billy standing up to the Mind Flayer and surviving.)

Billy is in Russia with Hopper. This accounts for Billy’s “American” foreshadowing.

Billy still has his superpowers (superstrength, invulnerability). This accounts for the “Billy as superhero” foreshadowing.

Billy continues to be compared to the Demogorgon in cinematography and plot choices. (This demand is particularly interesting to me, considering we’ve already been told a number of things about the Russians’ treatment of Demogorgons. They’re transporting them in cages; holding them in cells; controlling them with cattle prods; training them to do the Russians’ bidding, and “feeding” other prisoners to them.)

Billy and Hopper develop a father/son bond in Kamchatka. (I’ll write a post about this soon.)

Billy returns to the Prime Universe through the Upside Down. This tracks with the symbolism and themes of the show: the Upside Down is the ocean, and Billy is the lord of the ocean; the Upside Down is the underworld, and Billy is the god-king who dies and rises again.

Billy shows up in the Byers’ new town around the episode 3 mark and tells them Hopper’s alive. This accounts for multiple instances of foreshadowing and holds to the show’s preferred story structure. (In each season of Stranger Things, without fail, a big Upside-Down-related twist happens at the climax of episode 3. Most importantly, it always has to do with our heroes. In S1, Will’s dead “body” is discovered. In S2, Will is possessed by the Mind Flayer. In S3, Billy and El meet, and the Mind Flayer realizes she’s the one He’s looking for. In S4... Billy emerges from the Upside Down when everyone thought he was dead.)

Amazingly, when we use the Star Trek episode “Mirror, Mirror” as a baseline, we can EASILY come up with a story that satisfies these demands.

In Star Trek...

Kirk and his away team get transported to an alternate universe. They know they’re not supposed to be there, and they have to hide their identities while they figure out how to get back.

In Stranger Things...

Hopper escapes through the Gate and emerges in Mirror Russia. He knows he’s not supposed to be there, and he has to hide his identity while he figures out how to get back.

In Star Trek...

Kirk meets an alternate version of Spock. Spock is native to this universe and doesn’t know anything about the one Kirk came from.

In Stranger Things...

Hopper meets an alternate version of Billy. Billy is native to this universe and doesn’t know anything about the one Hopper came from. Here, he survived Starcourt, but was captured by the Russians, who found his superpowers intriguing and took him to Kamchatka.

In Star Trek...

Kirk forms a bond with Mirror Spock.

In Stranger Things...

Hopper forms a bond with Mirror Billy.

In Star Trek...

A wormhole to the Prime Universe is open, but it’s closing and time is running out. In the away team’s efforts to escape, there’s always a danger that one or more of them will be left behind. Spock helps them escape.

In Stranger Things...

A Gate to the Upside Down is open, but it’s not stable. Billy and Hopper collude to escape, but something goes wrong, and they get separated. The Gate closes behind Billy, trapping Hopper in Mirror Russia.

Do I think the story will unfold exactly like this? No, it’s just one possibility. But hot damn, I find it really compelling, and it accounts for so. fucking. much. that I’m just-- *GESTURES AND FLAILS WILDLY*

Y’all, if you take away anything from my ramblings here, it should be this:

The Duffers have built alternate universes into the show, and they’ve signaled that they’re using Star Trek for inspiration.

And in the multiverse, are you ever really dead?

(The answer is no. Just ask Schrödinger’s cat.)

»»————-　✼　————-««

P.S. I hinted that the Russians’ treatment of Billy would echo their treatment of Demogorgons. I’m currently writing a oneshot about that :3 I’ll post it in full when it’s done.

Lips twitching, Billy pads quietly across the arena. The prisoner yanks at his chains again, jabbering in frantic Russian. When Billy's shadow falls over him, he breaks down in sobs, collapsing against the column.

Billy studies the man up close. Beneath the prison grime, his skin looks as smooth as a baby's. Blond fuzz along his jawline hints at a downy beard struggling to grow.

He's young. Younger than Billy. A boy.

The boy whimpers and screws his eyes shut. Billy's hand flashes out, seizing the crown of his head, gently forcing it back. The boy looks at him, wide blue eyes glistening in the light. Tear trails cut through the grime on his cheeks.

Hardening his jaw, Billy glances at the observation window.

“Demonstrate!” orders the voice in Russian, more impatiently this time.

Billy turns back to the boy. Slowly, he leans in.

“I'm not going to hurt you,” he murmurs. “Just stay very still.”

The boy doesn't understand. He's trembling now. The sour smell of piss hits Billy in the nose.

Billy rests one hand on the boy's shoulder, the other on his upper arm. The kid is emaciated from prison - barely any muscle left. It'd be so easy to crack him open like a drumstick.

Billy breathes in... breathes out...

»»————-　✼　————-««

The “Billy Is Alive” Meta Series

#billy hargrove #billy hargrove is alive #billy hargrove meta #stranger things theory #stranger things 4 #stranger things analysis #stranger things meta #billy is alive meta #stranger things #stranger things 2 #stranger things 3 #ohbillyboy #jim hopper #billy is schrodinger's cat #star trek #james kirk #spock #the demogorgon

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writer-room · 3 years

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Siblings: Chapter Four

AO3

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Summary: The Bats reflect on how their thoughts about siblings have changed over the years. Some opinions stayed, others didn't.

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Tim didn’t know how to feel about being an only child.

He didn’t think about it all that often, there weren’t many kids he talked to at school who mentioned their siblings all that frequently. And, in some parts, he didn’t mind it so much.

The kids who did talk about siblings complained, whether their siblings were older or younger. There were those who said their sibling took up more of their parents attention, which was something Tim was already lacking in. Some said that they never had any time to themselves, something that Tim had an overabundance in, but still cherished. Others said that the accomplishments, and failures, of their siblings reflected onto them, making their parents expect more or less of them. Tim couldn’t afford that either. His parents already didn’t think much of him, he didn’t need it to be any less. And if they wanted more, he worried he wouldn’t be able to meet their expectations.

And yet…

Sometimes he liked the idea of someone else in that empty mansion. Someone to talk to when the rooms felt too large, when the loneliness was suffocating him. He liked the thought of sharing his recent theories, photos, and the like with someone. Wondered if he could go on for as long as he wanted without being interrupted.

Maybe they’d be someone who didn’t call him by a name that wasn’t his, then feign forgetting. Who didn’t treat his binders like they were assaulting their eyes. Who didn’t scrutinize his every movement for faking.

That’d be nice, he thinks.

But there were pros and cons, he reasons. And for all he knows, if he had a sibling, they could’ve been just like his parents. Or they could’ve been kinder. Not like he’d ever know.

He had more important things to worry about than hypotheticals and wishes.

“Before you scold me, know that I took a five hour nap earlier today and I’m only getting a snack.”

Steph and Duke blinked at him from the doorway to the kitchen, their expressions a sharp contrast between exasperated and concerned, respectively.

“Wow, five hours?” Steph snarked. “That’s a new record. Are you dying?”

“Not yet,” Tim said, opening the fridge. “Give it a few weeks and I’m sure you’ll see rumors of my tragic defeat at the hands of, I dunno, Flamingo.”

“There’s a supervillain named Flamingo?” Duke exclaimed, staring at Steph incredulously.

“Oh, yeah, it’s a whole thing.” She nodded. “He had a scuffle with Jay and his kid a while back.”

“Jason has a kid?”

“Why are you up, anyway?” Tim talked right over him. “Duke I understand, he’s the disgraced child of the sun. But you patrol at the same time as every other nocturnal person in this house.”

“Hey-”

“I actually had to pretend to have a normal sleep schedule, my mom was getting worried and I didn’t want her finding me sneaking in with my full Spoiler getup on.” Steph explained tiredly. “I’m still trying to recover.”

“Tragic,” Tim hummed, pulling out a container holding a ham sandwich.

“The only thing that's tragic is your outfit.” Steph snorted, looking him up and down.

Tim blinked, looking down at himself. His outfit consisted of a pair of knockoff Batman shorts, knee-high pastel dinosaur socks, and a long red robe that absolutely did not belong to him hanging loosely off him, exposing countless scars littering his body.

“I look awesome,” Tim said, popping the lid off the container.

“Damian’s gonna start asking what battles you got your scars from again,” Steph tutted, striding further into the kitchen with a confused Duke following her. “Know that I will not be on your side when Dick notices and gets worried.”

“I’m more worried about Dami seeing this one,” He said, brushing the robe back slightly to reveal a poorly stitched surgical scar on his upper abdomen. “Because then he’s going to ask what happened, and then I’m gonna have to tell him that's where my spleen used to be, and then he's going to be reminded that oh, yeah, his brother has a missing spleen, and then he’s going to be treating everything like its diseased-”

“Does...he keep forgetting you lost your spleen?” Duke blinked, concerned. “I feel like that’d be something you were kinda always aware of…”

“Eh, everyone's worried about a different scar whenever they see ‘em.” He shrugged, glancing down as he traced over one of the surgery scars along his chest. “Which is frankly a little rude. I earned this right to be shirt free.”

“Hell yeah you did,” Steph grinned before her eyes dropped to the sandwich Tim was attempting to eat. “Isn’t that Cullen’s?”

“He didn’t label it, therefore it’s mine.” Tim said simply.

“Harper’s gonna kill you,” Duke warned warily.

“Only if she catches me,” He said, taking a bite of the sandwich. “Why’re you guys here, anyway? Grabbing a snack?”

“Lookin’ for Babs,” Steph said, hands in her pockets. “Someone on Twitter started a war about which Batgirl was better, and Babs will probably get a kick out of being remembered as the ‘missing Batgirl.’”

“Oh she’ll be pissed about being remembered that way.” Tim agreed, shoving the rest of the sandwich in his mouth. “Babs will see it in five minutes or less, though. Swear she has a sixth sense for whenever someone mildly associated with the Bats is mentioned.” He mumbled.

“You wanna hijack the thread before she finds it?” He suggested.

“Hijack it?” Duke echoed.

“We’re gonna yell about random stuff that doesn’t contribute to the conversation until all hell breaks loose.” Steph explained, already pulling out her phone. “Tim?”

“How do you feel about discussing why the sun lightens hair, but darkens skin?” Tim suggested, leaving the container on the counter as he brushed by Steph.

“You just want to piss off someone from Metropolis.”

“It’s law as a Bat that I have to torment Superman whenever I possibly can.” Tim shrugged.

“Does that include me?” Duke blinked. “Because I personally think tormenting Superman is a bad idea.”

“Clark wouldn’t hurt a fly,”

“Yeah, but he’ll give me the face of disappointment and I don’t think I can live with that.” Duke protested.

“He can barely even manage--where are you going?” Steph looked up, only now realizing Tim was leaving the kitchen.

“I’m starting the mayhem on the big screens.” Tim grinned, looking back over his shoulder.

“Please don’t tell me he’s going to use Twitter on the bat computer,” Duke sighed.

“He’s totally going to use the bat computer,” Steph smiled, following after him. “C’mon! It’s initiation time.”

“Do you guys just call every weird thing you do initiation?” Duke called, hurrying behind them. “Because I’ve been told I’m part of an initiation five times in the last week.”

“You’re stuck in initiation until this becomes the norm,” Steph said cheerfully.

“Of course,” Duke muttered.

Tim’s robe billowed behind him like an amateur cape as he wandered towards the door leading towards the steps into the Batcave. He threw open the door, the sound of it slamming echoing and startling the bats on the ceiling.

“Jesus!”

Harper jumped from the swivel chair in front of the computer, wide-eyed as she blinked up at the trio at the top of the stairs.

“Hey, Harps,” Steph greeted, hopping onto the stairs railing and sliding down. “We’re here to cause problems on Twitter.”

“Oh, well, in that case, by all means.” Harper snarked, getting up and grandly gesturing to the countless screens. “Not like I was using it for actual work.”

“Were you using it?” Tim asked, pointedly glaring at Steph to keep his recent adventure to the kitchen quiet.

“...looking for tasers to modify count as work, right?” She said after a moment.

“Technically,” Tim nodded, ignoring Steph’s smug look that absolutely signified she was going to blackmail him later. “But you can just use Dick’s old escrima sticks. He goes through a pair every two or three weeks, but most still work pretty well, he’s just too lazy to fix them.”

“Sweet,” Harper grinned. She then paused, taking in Tim’s appearance as he slid into the seat she was previously occupying.

“Why do you look like you’re auditioning to be the pretty girl who dies in a low-budget slasher?”

“First of all, how dare you assume I wouldn’t be the first one to die for representation points,” Tim said, pointing an accusatory finger at her. “Second of all, it’s called having fashion, and also being allowed to do whatever I want.”

“You have terrible fashion sense,” Harper snorted, crossing her arms as Steph and Duke came up beside her. “But fair, I can respect that.”

“See?” Tim said, looking at Steph. “Some people can afford to not be rude.”

“Keep talking and I’ll lose more blackmail material,” Steph calmly threatened.

Harper glanced between the two, to which Tim quietly, and quickly, turned back to the screen and ignored the both of them. Harper raised a brow but didn’t comment. Tim made a mental note to sneak into one of Jason’s unused safe houses after this was over. Steph couldn’t keep quiet for the life of her.

“What are you starting, anyway?” Harper asked, crossing her arms and leaning on the back of Tim’s chair. “A sob story about the Opportunity rover?”

“Another day,” Tim promised, opening up Twitter on the countless screens. He opened another one on the other half of the computer, which Steph quickly stood at and got her own Twitter set up. “Right now, we’re questioning how the sun makes hair lighter, but skin darker. And we’re dragging Clark into it.”

“If anyone asks, I had no part in this.” Duke said, watching the two typing with a frown. “Initiation doesn't include learning how to taunt Superman, right?”

“Eh, we can settle for you becoming close with a Kryptonian,” Steph shrugged. “Dick and Bruce share Clark, Jay’s got Bizarro, Cass and I got Kara, Babs I think counts with her, too, Damian’s got Jon, and Tim has Kon.” She listed off. “Harper and Cullen took the ‘bully Superman’ route without befriending any of his family, which is a coward's way out, so you can take, I dunno, does Chris still exist in this timeline?”

“I can call in a favor from Bart to reset the timeline again so he exists.” Tim said with a casual shrug, pulling up the thread arguing about the Batgirls.

“I’m sorry, what--”

“Finding Kryptonians who aren’t already taken is hard!” Harper protested, talking over Duke. “And Clark likes you guys being friends with his family. The only issue he has is Damian getting testy and Tim making heart eyes at Kon every five minutes.”

“I do not!” Tim squawked, whirling around in the chair to glare at the traitors he dared call family. In his head. Family in his head.

“You do,” Steph and Harper chorused.

“I’ve met Kon for less than twenty minutes and even I know.” Harper added. “I’m sure Duke knew.”

“I...yeah…” Duke coughed into his fist and turned away. “But in my defense, the gossip around here is practically shouted down the halls twice a week.”

“You were subjected to Dick having another crisis about Jay dating Kory for two months, weren’t you?” Steph said, trying to hide a snicker.

“There were so many things I didn’t want to know,” Duke whispered, face horror-stricken.

“Eh, at least Jay hasn’t brought up Talia around Dami yet.” Tim shrugged. “At that point, it’s better to just vacate the premises.”

“Wait--”

“Point is, you either befriend the Kryptonian or you torment them. That’s the rules.” Tim talked over him again, scrolling down the thread and boredly looking over the arguments. “You ready, Steph?”

“As I’ll ever be,” She grinned, giving a thumbs up. “How long till Babs notices and takes this whole thing down?”

“Few more minutes, tops.” Tim shrugged, already typing. “You two wanna give any input?” He asked, glancing behind him to Harper and Duke.

“Ask if Kryptonian skin can be used as extreme sunscreen,” Harper suggested. “That’ll rile him up.”

“Now I’m just curious if it can,” Tim said, but obediently began making his comment.

“You could just...ask?” Duke tried, clearly not taking in any of what was happening.

“Nah, Kon’s half human, I don’t think it works the exact same.” Tim shook his head, not looking back. “Kara would destroy me if I tried, Bizarro has the same problem, Jon wouldn’t know, and Clark would start telling Bruce he’s worried I’m deranged again.”

“Aren’t you?” Duke raised a brow.

“Only if I feel like it,”

“And when he forgets to sleep for ninety-eight hours.” Steph spoke up.

Tim rolled his eyes, tuning out his siblings as they continued to talk. He posted his comment before sparing a peek back at them, currently throwing off ideas to their hijacking plan like it was an everyday occurrence. Well, to Steph and Harper at least. But, to Duke’s credit, he appeared to be getting more used to it on prodding from his...sisters? Hard to tell, Steph was her own classification of family member. They were some weird choices for family, at least.

Tim watched them for a moment before turning back to making another comment on the logistics of sunscreen, a smile on his face.

He couldn’t find it in him to complain. Too much, at least.

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superman86to99 · 4 years

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Superman #84 (December 1993)

Superman takes a short Paris vacation! Like, one day short. What's the worst that could happen?

Oh, man.

So, for the past few issues, we've been hearing about children being abducted in Metropolis. Now we see that they're being kept inside a giant toy house by some creepy bald man in Quasimodo clothes who seems to be obsessed with toys -- a "Man of Toys," if you will. Side note: no wonder the children haven't been found... all the articles about them are just gibberish! (See clip below.)

The kidnapper thinks that these kids' parents don't deserve them, and that they're much better off here, in an underground hideout with a man who threatens to starve them if they don't play with him. (And I do mean literally play, with action figures and stuff.) Meanwhile, as these children cry for help, Superman is having the time of his life. While helping move a stranded ship with some huge-ass chains, Superman spots a sunken galleon with a treasure chest inside and fantasizes about keeping the booty...

...before turning it over to the authorities anyway, the big boy scout. Then, he wakes up Lois at 6 AM and tells her they should go to Paris right now, which usually means your significant other is having a mental breakdown, but in this case they can actually do it. And so, after deciding that he deserves to use his powers for fun every once in a while, Superman and Lois drop everything and fly to France with super-speed for the rest of the day/issue.

Anyway: back to the child abduction! Cat Grant and her son Adam attend a Halloween party at Adam's school, but there's a disturbed weirdo in a hideous costume lurking among the crowd. Yes, I'm talking about Jimmy Olsen in his Turtle Boy suit.

Shortly after that, a guy in a dinosaur costume (see, all the creeps are dressed as reptiles) lures Adam out of the party with the promise of "superb video games." What child could resist that? Of course, that turns out to be the kidnapper and Adam ends up in his hideout along with the rest of the missing children and, worst of all, not a single "Lextendo" console.

The kidnapper gets angry at Adam when he refers to the toys at the hideout as "old-fashioned junk" (he was REALLY looking forward to those video games), and even angrier when Adam tries to free the other kids. Adam is brave and puts up a good fight, but...

And those were Adam Morgan's final words. "Uh-oh."

Next, we have a pretty harrowing scene of Detective Turpin letting Cat know Adam’s body was found, and Jimmy and Perry White taking her to the morgue to identify the body (most people probably wouldn't bring their former boss to something like that, but Perry sadly knows more than most about losing a kid). As for Lois and Clark, they were gone so long that the Daily Planet had time to print a headline about the murders. The issue ends when the lovebirds walk into the office smiling like two people who just spent the night fooling around in Paris... only to feel like jackasses when they find out what happened.

To be continued!

Character-Watch:

And that's it for little Adam Morgan who, unlike the also tragically diseased Jerry White, didn't even get any post-death appearances. Adam went from a little kid scared of Superman, to a huge brat, to a character who was approaching likeability as of last week. That's why I hate it when DC kills off young characters like Adam or Liam Harper: in long-form storytelling, children represent potential. Look at how much Wally West or Dick Grayson evolved over the years compared to their mentors! Sure, there's a huge probability that Adam would have ended up disappearing from comics for 25 years anyway, but who knows, maybe we'd now know him as Teen Gangbuster or something. GangbusTEEN.

This issue also represents a turning point for the kidnapper, who is never named or seen clearly in the story itself but I don't think I'm shocking anyone by spoiling the fact that he's Toyman (it's in the cover, for one thing). In his last two appearances before this storyline, Toyman helped Superman save some kids from Sleez and looked genuinely sad to learn about Superman's death, so this is a pretty dramatic change for the character. We'll find out why he went from big softy to child killer in Superman #85 (but don't get your hopes up).

Plotline-Watch:

The most disturbing part of the issue, all things considered, is still the part where Toyman climbs into a giant crib and hugs a huge stuffed bunny. Look at serial killer Tommy Pickles here:

Don Sparrow says: “Even with the upgrade, Toyman is still just a man in a suit, a common complaint about Superman’s rogues gallery.” Funny you should say that, because I JUST shared an old Wizard interview in our Twitter in which Dan Jurgens talks about how Doomsday came out of his frustration with the fact that most Superman villains are dudes in suits (plus other interesting tidbits from the era, like how it was actually Roger Stern’s idea to bring back Hank Henshaw, so check out that link!).

Don again: “The entire Superman storyline of this issue feels like filler. Diving for buried treasure and soaring off to Paris -- it all feels like wasted time next to the Adam storyline.” I have a theory that the entire ship sequence is there as an excuse to put Superman in those big chains and make that Spawn joke (which I didn’t get until now, since I’ve always read this issue in Spanish).

Superman says that pulling that big ship was "a little easier than expected" -- that's either another hint that there's something going on with Superman's powers since he came back, or a subtle dig at the state of American ship manufacturing.

Another adorable "window tap" scene for the books, and this is the sexiest one so far. Is it me or has Jurgens started copying more than just Teri Hatcher's hairdo from Lois & Clark? (For anyone who thinks Lois has gotten implants, I refer you to this clip.)

While in Paris, Lois asks Clark if he's ever wondered what would happen if his rocket had landed in other countries. Don: “Clark’s conversation with Lois sounds like a bunch of concepts for Elseworlds stories. We eventually would see a Russian Superman, and a British Superman, but not yet the French Superman. (Hire us, DC!)” Yep, got my French Superman pitch ready, Jim Lee. Or just let us do Russian Superman again, since Red Son wasn’t even the first time you published that idea.

Don once more: “Another thing that makes no sense about the ‘new’ Toyman is his resentment of technological toys—when in previous appearances he himself had deadly high-tech toys to vex Superman over the years.” I especially resent his hatred of video game consoles. Incidentally, I wonder what types of games are available for Adam’s beloved Lextendo. Star Lex 64? Mega Man Lex? Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles & Lex?

No one is more upset at Lois and Clark for going AWOL than Whit. NO ONE. He's so furious that his usually grey mustache turned black.

Patreon-Watch:

As always, shout out to our patrons, Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Samuel Doran, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush and Raphael Fischer! Last month’s exclusive Patreon article was about the recently unearthed sequel to Superman 64 for the PlayStation, featuring Metallo, Parasite, and Lois looking even hotter than in this issue:

Hot damn. Find out more at https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99!

And believe it or not, Don Sparrow has even more to say about this issue. Read his section after the jump:

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

I should start off my section with a big caveat: I flat out hate this issue. There were several weird decisions made in the post-Death-and-Return era (most of them along the same lines of making the Superman titles more grim-and-gritty), and this story was one of the worst of them. My theory is that, despite the praise and record-breaking sales of the Death and Return storyline, the Superman creative team felt pressure to have more extreme storylines, perhaps in response to the wildly successful Image books coming out at the time. Between this story, and the upcoming “Spilled Blood” storyline, the Super books take a hard—but temporary--turn into more violent and upsetting storytelling—even though these stories are by the same writers as the previous few years. While death has always been a part of comics, and Superman comics was no exception, there is a jarring glibness and unfeeling toward the way violence is handled in these pages that is quite different from the stories that preceded it. It’s made all the more jarring by the fact that well-established personalities suddenly veer wildly out of character, Toyman chief among them.

We start with the cover, and while it is technically well-drawn (by the familiar team of Jurgens and Breeding) it’s also a very upsetting visual. I think they should have gone with the pieta type pose with Adam and Superman, OR the scary badass bowie-knife Toyman (who apparently has a Cheshire cat smile now) but not both. But the cover is a good hint at the tonal dissonance of the comic within.

We open with a splash of the now-extreme 90s looking Toyman, with his serial killer shaved head and spooky cloak, ignoring the pleas of hungry kids he has locked up in a tiny jail cell for days at a time (if that sentence doesn’t ring alarm bells for how wrong this is for a Superman story, I don’t know what will). For much of the issue Toyman’s eyes are obscured by glare on his lenses, further de-humanizing a character who was once one of Superman’s more empathetic bad guys.

We cut to Superman tugboating a huge tanker with giant chains and it’s a cool visual (one repeated in the Batman V Superman film). It feels especially out of place to focus on, given how upsetting this issue is otherwise, but throughout the whole comic, Lois is drawn smoking hot, especially on the two page spread on pages 9-10.

The scenes depicting the actual murder, while still wildly out of place in a Superman comic, are well done, and give a real sense of darkness and menace, which I suppose is the intent. Perhaps my least favourite visual is the Big Bird stuffie, silently bearing witness to what’s about to occur.

The edges of the panels on get more slashy and off-kilter (to me, looking very much like the layouts more typically seen in Image comics of the day) and I suppose I appreciate the restraint of how little Dan Jurgens shows of the death of a child, showing only a bloody slash on a black background. This is still a pretty baroque image for a Superman comic, but certainly less violent than it could be, given what is happening.

Cat Grant’s silent horror is well staged, and powerful in its way. Lastly, Clark Kent bending in sorrow and regret is a powerful image.

While this issue is handled marginally better, and more maturely than other comics on the shelf at this time, I still believe it is one of the biggest mistakes of the era. Giving a long-established character an unceremonious death for shock value is gross on its own, but making it a child definitely crosses a line for me. Making it worse is that, while the Toyman is a criminal and a killer, he has shown in past issues (a similar kidnapping storyline involving Sleez) that he genuinely cares for the well-being of children. So for a long-time reader, this also felt like a betrayal of a long-established, fully developed character. Adding to the ugliness of this is that Adam dies heroically, trying to free the children who have been caged, unfed, for days, but even in that regard, he fails. The headline at the end of the issue confirms all the children are dead. Adam’s death did not buy the other kids enough time to get away. It was all for nothing. Had Adam died, but the other children lived, maybe this issue wouldn’t leave quite as bad a taste. [Max: It’s weird because it’s all told in a way where it’s told in a way where it would make sense, narratively and within the story universe, that the other kids survived, but then it’s almost casually revealed that nope, they died too. A scene of one of the kids relaying Adam’s heroism to Cat in a future issue would have gone a long way.]

Superman doesn’t come off well in these pages, either. It’s honestly the type of story they should just stay away from, because the more you think about all the calamity that is going on around the clock, the less defensible the whole Clark Kent persona becomes. Superman carving out time to romance his fiancée directly led to the preventable deaths of innocent children—how do you come back from that?

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

I’m always looking for hints that perhaps Jimmy or Perry know Superman’s secret identity deep down, and Jimmy’s anger at Lois and Clark on their return to the Daily Planet offices would seem to give that theory some credence, as he’s as angry at them as if he knew Clark really were Superman. Either that, or he’s ticked that it fell to him, and none of them to escort Cat into the morgue. [Max: Has this issue finally converted you to the “Jimmy is terrible” side now, Don?]

I don’t think I’m the only one who disliked the new Toyman—SPOILERS BE HERE: years later, in Action Comics #865, Geoff Johns retconned this whole story, reverting Schott into the criminal who over-relates to kids, rather than the child-killer of this story. Apparently the infantile Schott, who speaks to “Mother” a la Norman Bates, is a robot so lifelike it fools even Superman, and the “Mother” he’s constantly replying to was the real Winslow Schott trying to recall the malfunctioning robot. [Max: That’s one Geoff Johns retcon I really didn’t mind, even if it felt kind of derivative of his similar “all the Brainiacs are robots made by the real Brainiac” reveal.]

#superman #dan jurgens #josef rubinstein #toyman #cat grant #adam morgan #dan turpin #whit #gangbusteen #super luthor fighter ii turbo championship edition

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omgbigfluffwriting · 3 years

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When You’re Gone Chapter 1

[Gabriella's POV]

I never expected to have my childhood best friend be my Criminology Professor. It seems kind of weird but whatever. I don't exactly remember my childhood and early teen memories thanks to the car accident that nearly took my life in the year before my last at high school. I decided to go to college to earn my bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice at 30 and I was on my last year at age 34. That day I was determined to be early. When I was a child, according to my best friend Spencer Reid, he usually described me as a chicken with its head cut off due to my spacing out. He never meant it to be cruel, just a matter of fact. Criminology was my second class of the day, after English. Professor Clarke was supposed to be teaching it and nobody took it seriously... at least those who weren't studying Criminal Law like I was. However, when I walked into the classroom...I didn't see the middle-aged woman I knew to be Professor Clarke. Standing at the whiteboard was a tall, skinny man, with shoulder length messy brown hair wearing black slacks with a purple vest, lilac dress shirt and white tie. His converse shoes made him look younger than he was. Somehow, he seemed familiar. There were a few girls already present in the room. I took my seat next to a girl in blue named Ruby Darley. We introduced ourselves and Ruby whispered, "What do you want to bet that most of these girls are not studying Criminal Law?" "Hm, let me get back to you on that." I whispered back. "Wait, why do you ask?" I asked. "Wait until the professor turns around." Ruby said with a grin. I raised my eyebrow at her. By this time the classroom was full. The professor turned around and looked at all of us. He had large hazel eyes which looked brown, honey brown to be exact and looked like he should be a model, rather than a college professor. "Good morning, I am Dr. Spencer Reid and welcome to Criminology. Professor Clarke needed to step away, so I am covering for her this semester." He started handing out our copies of the class syllabus as he continued talking. His name tickled my memory but I'd had an accident in my junior year of high school that I almost died from so my childhood memories and early teen years were pretty fuzzy. When he got to me, he handed me the syllabus but his eyes narrowed. I raised my eyebrow at him, hoping I wasn't being rude. Apparently, I didn't have what he was looking for, because he continued to hand out syllabuses. "What was that about?" Ruby whispered to me. I shrugged as Doctor Reid went back to the front of the class. He took attendance and his voice was a little strange when he called out my name. "Present," I say as I doodle on my writing notebook. Dr. Reid thoughtfully nodded and wrote something down on his piece of paper. --- [Spencer's POV] After class, I wanted to call Gabby up and see why she didn't recognize me. But she slipped out before I had the chance. So I found myself contacting Garcia to do a search for the girl I loved. "You've reached the all-knowing BAU Oracle." Garcia said. "Hi Garcia do you have a moment?" I asked. I heard Garcia snort. "For you, 187, I have all the time in the world." Garcia joked. "What do you need Doc?" I take a deep breath. I hope that wherever she is, she's happy. "I need you to look up someone for me. Her name is Gabriella Chambers, born May 19th 1984." I heard Garcia's fingers type rapidly. "It says here that she's living in Washington D.C. right now and attending the university that you're teaching at, Boy Wonder." Garcia reported. "Her grades are impeccable. I'm not going to lie, I'm impressed,187." Garcia's voice sounded impressed with Gabby's grades. I was impressed myself since she had always struggled with Math during childhood. I nodded. Then, realizing she can’t see me: "Could you dig into her medical records? She should have recognized me today." I asked. Garcia made a noise of assent and typed even more. I was about to hang up when she said, "Oh my God. She was involved in a car accident her junior year of high school and nearly died. As a result, she has extreme retrograde amnesia and the doctors don't expect her childhood and early teen memories to return." I felt a rock fall to the pit of my stomach. So all the memories I shared with her were just gone, like they never happened? What about that pact we made when she was 7 and I was 10, if we were both over 30 and unwed that we'd marry each other? Did she truly not remember our first kiss when I was 16? "You're in love with her." Garcia cut into my reverie. "I'm sorry 187. I didn't think... well if you can't get her memories to return, there's always a blank slate you can start with." Tears fell down my face. I did not want to start afresh with her. Yet I may have to. I start putting away my things in order to get ready to leave when the door opened and Gabby walked in. She approached me cautiously, testing the waters. "I'm sorry, Dr. Reid, but you seem awfully familiar to me and I can't place meeting you anywhere." I could work with 'awfully familiar'! "Actually . . . we were childhood friends." I said and pulled the picture of us when she was 7 out of my messenger bag for proof. I was pushing her on a swing in the picture. "I don't remember." She said sadly and handed the picture of us back to me. "I was in an accident and have problems with my long term memories." I bit my lip. "Would you like to come back to my apartment with me? I have the letters you wrote me before we lost contact." I offered but she shook her head. "No, it's okay. I just wanted to know why you were so familiar." She said. "I'll see you tomorrow." And then she was gone. ---- [Gabby's POV] I rushed home. There was no way in hell that I'd known Dr. Reid during the period of time that I was missing... I dug out what I called my photography box. On the top was the very same picture that Dr. Reid had shown me. It must have been a favorite of mine. I was astonished to find a handful of pictures that contained the two of us and a bunch of letters tied with a length of ribbon. My mother had saved every letter he'd written me. The letters indicated that we were close, probably close enough to eventually fall in love with the other. I could see me doing that. Dr. Reid was attractive, definitely my type. I was so engrossed in the letters that if the knock on my door hadn't been as loud as it was, I would have missed it. "Coming." I set my almost finished bundle of Dr. Reid's letters on top of my bed and answered the door. Dr. Reid was standing on my doorstep. "I'm just a few doors down from you but . . . here." Dr. Reid handed me a second bundle that's tied with a baby blue ribbon. Mine was tied with a hot pink ribbon. "Okay I'll get these back..." I started. "Keep them. I have an eidetic memory, so I can recall them whenever I want. See you tomorrow." He started to walk away but I caught his arm in time. He turned to look at me. "I have the letters you wrote to me." I say. "You seem so... painfully different from when you wrote those letters. Tell me what happened?" He starts to consider it but then freezes. "It'll be best for you to remain my student. I'll see you tomorrow, Ms. Chambers." He said and yanked his arm from my grasp. I gasped at the unspoken consequence, that if I can't do that, then I should drop his class. "Why are you being so cold?" I call after him. He doesn't answer. --- [Spencer's POV] I had to blink back tears as I head back to my own apartment. It's best for her if I remain Dr. Spencer Reid in her eyes. She'll be safer when I return to the BAU after my reinstatement requirements are met. The moment I get into my apartment, I truly crumble to the floor and let go. It feels like I've lost the two women I have ever loved to tragic fates - Maeve because she was murdered and Gabby because of a car accident. Technically, I didn't lose Gabby, she was still alive but the amnesia was worse than death in my opinion. I wondered what had made her lose such a big amount of her long-term memories. I had been such an integral part of her childhood... It would be better to keep my distance and let her marry someone else who can keep her safe from the monsters I face on a daily basis. --- [Spencer's POV] The next morning I walked into the Criminology class to see that Gabby was the first student in the classroom, going over an assignment I had handed out yesterday for homework. She looked up and then looked back down at the paper. "Need help?" I asked her. She shook her head. I wandered over to her desk. The classroom was empty and I owed her an explanation about my behavior last night. "Look," I murmured. "Last night was a..." "Disaster seems like a good word for it," Gabby said, looking up sternly and giving me a pissed look. I sighed. "The thing is, I'm trying to protect you." She looked up at me with impatience. "Have you ever heard of the Behavioral Analysis Unit?" I asked, looking at her. "Who hasn't?" Gabby asked. "They're the nation's elite at criminal profiling." I nod. "I'm part of that unit. I've put countless criminals away who would love to hurt you to get to me. It's safer for you if we keep the relationship to that of teacher and student." I admitted, not for the first time. "Safer..." Gabby snorted. "Dr. Reid, I read all of your letters that you sent me before my accident last night. There's no way in hell that I'll believe you're capable of staying at a teacher/student relationship with me." The door opened and I returned to the front, clearly pissed off. Ruby Darley walked in as I faced the whiteboard to hide my expression, furiously writing. "Wow, Dr. Reid looks pissed. Did one of those girls proposition him?" I wanted to turn around and tell Ms. Darley I could hear her but considering the argument Gabby and I just had, it wasn't a good idea. "No, Dr. Reid's mad at me." I hear Gabby say as she opened her notebook. "You didn't!" Ms. Darley said in shock. "Quite frankly, I didn't have you pegged as one of the girls who would actually go and f**k a professor for the hell of it." "I didn't proposition him," Gabby says through her teeth. "It was over something else." I now turned around and said, "Ms. Darley, what occurred between Ms. Chambers and I is quite naturally between us. If she chooses to tell you, she may but please refrain from making comments like that." I resume my writing but still listened in. The girls changed the subject. "I can't believe that assignment Professor Callaghan gave us today for English," Ruby complained. "Well, we are reading Anne of Avonlea." I hear Gabby say with a snort. "I went through the papers my mom saved from my elementary school days." I wonder if she's saying this for my benefit... "There was this boy I had a crush on. I wrote him a letter based on the Anne books." "Did you ever give it to him?" Ruby asked. "No, I was too shy to give him the letter in that instance," Gabby says. I'd never thought of her being shy. "So what's going on between you and Dr. Reid?" I kind of wanted to know myself, so I listened. "Childhood friends and I don't remember him," Gabby answered a bit tersely. "He was acting like a jackass last night." I raised an eyebrow at her comment. "So would you?" Ruby asked. I wondered what Ruby was asking Gabby. Some sort of nonverbal exchange must've happened because I heard, "Hell no!" I turned around and raised an eyebrow at the two women. Ruby wrote something down and passed it to Gabby. "C'mon, he's clearly listening and I don't feel like explaining myself." She hissed. "It's a yes or no question, Gabby." Ruby said, giving her a look. "Drop *it* !" Gabby hissed again as I was just about to come over to their table to see what was written on the paper sitting between them like a high school teacher. "You're not getting out of answering." Ruby says as she puts the note away and the classroom fills.

#Criminal Minds Fanfic #dr. spencer reid smut #dr. spencer reid x fem!oc

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ravenbell-exchange · 4 years

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Here come the prompts!

These are for all of us to use, so please feel free to peruse, reblog, explore, comment, and be generally delightful. Everyone will be receiving their assigned prompts later today, but remember that we are writing two stories each: one from the assigned prompts, and one from this list. You are free to pick anything apart from stuff you yourself prompted. There haven’t been any Dear Author letters I’ve spotted so far, so I’ve included some additional crossover prompts from people here, just for ease of reference. You absolutely don’t have to pick them - there’s just there in case you want them!

If you didn’t sign up for this challenge, but want to use any of the prompts below to write a fic – go for it! As long as you make sure to credit where you got the prompt from, you are very welcome to play with us.

Now, without further ado:

Url: @autobot

Prompt 1: Sports AU: Bellamy and Raven flirt while their respective teams yell at them to get their head in the game.

Prompt 2: Delinquent Winter: It's snowing, so the delinquents decide to start a snowball fight. Raven and Bellamy really go at each other. Bellamy ends up getting a cut on his lip from an icy snowball, and Raven decides to remedy that with a kiss.

Prompt 3: Season 7: This is pretty vague but just anything with the relationship Bellamy/Raven/Doucette, with Bellamy having had separate relationships with the other two in the past.

Prompt 4 (optional variation on 1): HP AU: Bellamy and Raven flirt while their respective Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Quidditch teams yell at them to get their head in the game.

Things they don’t want to find in the fic you write for them: Momma didn't raise no wussy "N/A"

Also: Have seen all 7 seasons.

Url: @growlereish

Prompt 1: post mount weather road trip. monty, miller, lincoln, gina, octavia, harper welcome to come too. maybe they find a bunch of cars and the delinquents take off into the sunset together. maybe it's just bellamy and raven exploring the world together.

Prompt 2: au where they're on a sports team together. any sport, the sport is not important, it's about the Team As Family and the Narratives

Prompt 3: fantasy au or canon + fantasy elements

Prompt 4: relationship negotiation / exploration

Prompt 5: anything from the expansive list of likes on my dear creator letter: https://growlery.dreamwidth.org/11097.html

Things they don’t want to find in the fic you write for them: somnophilia; humiliation, especially as a kink; d/s that's about punishment; discussion of diets/nutrition plans/exercise regimens/body maintenance/weight management/etc

Also: Have seen up to + including 3x08

Url: @kinetic-elaboration

Prompt 1: High school AU: Bellamy and Raven are exes, but Raven is still good friends with Octavia, so they still see each other all the time

Prompt 2: Bellamy/Raven/Gina negotiating/figuring out a poly relationship in Arkadia pre-S3

Prompt 3: Braven + First real, heavy snow on the ground (canon or canon-divergent AU)

Prompt 4: Librarian!Bellamy and Mechanic!Raven

Prompt 5: Modern AU: Bellamy, Raven, and author's choice other delinquents living in a cramped apartment together; Raven and Bellamy are either struggling with UST or in a secret relationship or FWB arrangement

Things they don’t want to find in the fic you write for them: pregnancy/kid fic of any sort; side/background Minty, Marper, or Clexa; explicit sex (implied/fade to black/generically described is ok); character bashing of any kind

Also: Have seen season 1-4 (really do not want to write/read anything related to the timeskip on, please!). I'm not really into the Grounders generally; I love the delinquents; I headcanon Raven as bisexual but Bellamy as straight.

Url: @justbecauseyoubelievesomething

Prompt 1: Sci-fi/Space AU where Bellamy and Raven serve on the same ship; (fr)enemies to lovers with lots of angst along the way! Time loop/travel or interdimensional travel shenanigans would be appreciated as well!

Prompt 2: Dark Fairytale/Fantasy AU; very dark, stormy, foresty vibes; one of them is some sort of mythical creature, maybe even ruler of other mythical creatures; dark forbidden romance; for lots of bonus angst, one of them can be a magical creature hunter and reveal themselves at the end!

Prompt 3: Canonverse Ark AU; Bellamy and Raven meet as adults on the Ark because they both join the same secret revolutionary group planning to overthrow Alpha Station; other Delinquents can definitely make appearances!

Prompt 4: Modern AU; one of the two is driving through a small town trying to get home for Christmas when their car breaks down and they are forced to take it to the town's only mechanic; they snark at each other before the mechanic invites the stranded party to Christmas dinner; found family; fluff; basically you're typical Hallmark-esque set-up.

Prompt 5: Any setting! Bellamy and Raven are rivals in some sort of extreme sport (or if set in canonverse can be something like spacewalking). They're constantly pushing each other to their limits trying to beat each other, until Raven permanently injures her leg. She becomes very bitter during her recovery until she realizes that Bellamy isn't competing anymore and confronts him. Maybe feelings come out right away or maybe it takes them a while to get around to realizing it, but lots of angst and hurt/comfort during the build-up!

Things they don’t want to find in the fic you write for them: Explicit smut; pregnancy/kid fic; incest; student/teacher; character bashing of any other characters

Also: Have seen seasons 1-6 and the first half of season 7.

Url: @ravenbells

Prompt 1: Raven discovering and enjoying the fact that Bellamy is a huge history nerd (can be canon, modern or some kind of fantasy/sci-fi setting).

Prompt 2: Modern AU. Raven is sharing a flat with friends, but one of them has to move out because of Reasons, and Bellamy rents the freed up room. Doesn’t have to be set in the US if you don’t want to, I don’t care that it’s an American show.

Prompt 3: Grounder AU, but set in the past. Bellamy and Raven were children when the nukes that caused the Ark to stay in space for generations went off. Now they are they first generation of survivors who have to build a life in a world without technology.

Prompt 4: Steampunk AU. Can be traditional Victorian-aesthetic steampunk, but if you want to lift your visuals from any other time period, be my guest. I’m going to love anything you do.

Prompt 5: Bellamy and Raven are exes who get back together (can be canon or any AU setting you can imagine).

Things they don’t want to find in the fic you write for them: Graphic violence

Also: Have only seen the first 2 seasons, please have mercy. If you want to incorporate the characters playing DnD into any of the stories, be my guest - just putting this in here because I know some people in the group love it (Bellamy would play a paladin, fight me), but if you’re not into this stuff, absolutely don’t feel obliged.

Url: shortitude @ AO3

Prompt 1: Modern coffee-shop AU where they meet because both of them has a Specific Table they like to sit at and usually their schedules do not coincide, but then because of fate (someone's wi-fi broke, there's plumbing work happening at home, etc) they have to go to the coffee shop and their table is taken, as are all the others. Luckily, the traitor who took their Specific Table is willing to share it, just for today. (And then every day after.) Friends to Lovers is preferred over Instant Attraction in this one. Even open-ended works. (Please, no pandemic.)

Prompt 2: Canon-based AU: Give me cottagecore survival to replace the weird plots that happened to this show after s2. The idea of the Delinquents settling in a village, life moving on, peace being brokered, etc etc. In the middle of it all, Bellamy and Raven rely on each other to rebuild, and fall in love. A lot.

Prompt 3: Five times Bellamy tried to show his love for Raven and failed, and one time she finally got the point. Oblivious That People Might Love Her!Raven is my tragic and problematic fave. A bonus: competence kink. Acceptable: any form of AU; I am not a stickler for canon.

Prompt 4 (optional): Pacific Rim AU; veteran Jaeger pilot gets pulled back into action because of a need to pull off a last fight against the apocalypse/alien invasion, drifts unexpectedly with the supermouthy, supersmart, very capable engineer/mechanic. Add as many characters from The 100 as you'd like into this, but I am very much more into the wholesome survival of all of them than I am about everyone except Braven dying.

Things they don’t want to find in the fic you write for them: Bellarke content if the Braven content is just a way for Bellamy to "get over" Clarke, be it failed relationship or unrequited one.

Also: Have seen season 1 and Season 2 in full; vaguely familiar with STUFF about how they ended up in space, and nothing beyond that because I literally don't care.

#blayesnetwork #ravenbell #braven #bellamy x raven #bellamy blake #raven reyes

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Best Movies Coming to Netflix in May 2021

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Movies are slowly coming back to life at the cinemas. You can see it with each glowing report about a Godzilla vs. Kong or Mortal Kombat doing solid business. And for those with more discerning tastes, films like In the Heights and Those Who Wish Me Dead are definitely going to make their release dates.

Nonetheless, there are many who are understandably not ready to go back to theaters (or have yet to get an HBO Max subscription). Thus Netflix remains an old reliable option. While the Netflix movie selection can be narrow, each month offers some worthwhile gems to revisit or even discover. And May has a surprisingly robust group of Hollywood films from the last 40 years coming to the streaming service on May 1. Here are the best ones.

Back to the Future (1985)

Great Scott! Back to the Future is coming to Netflix. As one of the most beloved films of the 1980s—if not ever—it’s doubtful we need to explain in great detail why this is exciting news. From its star-making turn by Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly to the grand musical score by Alan Silvestri, everything about this movie justworks. Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale’s script is like a Swiss watch in precision, paying off every single setup in the film’s first act when Marty commandeers a time machine made by Doc Brown (a lovable Christopher Lloyd) and accidentally travels from 1985 to 1955… to meet his parents as teenagers!

More time has passed since the movie’s release than the once massive generational gap between the film’s primarily ‘50s setting and 1985. Yet it still plays as a timeless story about family, time travel, and manure. Large piles of manure. By the way, the rest of the Back to the Future trilogy is coming to Netflix, too.

Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (2009)

Forget about all the “sad” dog movies of the last decade where canines have funny voiceover narrations and then die on repeat. Hachi: A Dog’s Tale is a very bitter, bittersweet dog’s journey based on a harder truth. A remake of the 1980s Japanese film, Hachikō Monogatari, this American movie is based on the real events surrounding Hachikō, an Akita dog who lived in 1920s Japan. Every day Hachikō would run to the train station, awaiting his master’s return from work. One day, after a fatal stroke, his master never returned. Yet for another 10 years, the dog would escape its various new owners and spend the afternoon waiting at the station.

Directed by The Cider House Rules’ Lasse Hallström, Hachi captures this anecdote about a dog’s loyalty with grace and genuine sweetness. But you’re not going to get through it dry-eyed.

The Land Before Time (1988)

Before it birthed a string of straight-to-video movies meant to babysit pint-sized millennials, the original Land Before Time was a generational touchstone for childhoods in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Overseen by Don Bluth at the height of his talent, and in partnership with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, The Land Before Time is a marvel in animation from the period before Disney Animation’s renaissance. It follows an assortment of baby dinosaurs, including a recently orphaned “longneck” named Littlefoot, after a horrible earthquake has rained devastation on all the isolated herbivores. But together they may just find salvation in a land called the Great Valley.

Essentially a dinosaur road movie for children, to the modern eye it’s told with a surprisingly delicate sensitivity. There is no fourth-wall breaking humor and sideways smirks here. It’s a very earnest fairytale captured in the lost art of hand-drawn animation.

The Lovely Bones (2009)

Based on Alice Sebold’s 2002 bestselling book of the same name, The Lovely Bones has a tough premise: a teen girl is raped and murdered, and goes to heaven where she watches her loved ones attempt to process and move on after her disappearance. The debut novel was not only very popular, but generally well-received for its treatment of trauma, sexual assault, and grief.

The movie, directed by Peter Jackson and starring Saoirse Ronan, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, and Stanley Tucci, among others… was not as well received, fairly criticized for its prioritization of CGI heavenly visuals over a nuanced, character-driven story. You may wonder, then, why we’re recommending a movie that wasn’t great? Because The Lovely Bones is a fascinating watch for those interested in the limits of adaptation and, in particular, how a great filmmaker with expansive resources (including a very talented cast) can fail if they’re not the right person for the job.

Mystic River (2003)

As one of Clint Eastwood’s best films as director, Mystic River was the first cinematic adaptation of a Dennis Lehane novel, and the author’s hardboiled vision of Boston’s tragically seedy underbelly is well realized here. As much about the hard luck community on the South Side as the story of three men, it nonetheless tracks how neighborhood lives intersect.

We meet three boyhood friends in the movie’s unnerving opening and then jump to their bitter middle age. Oe of them, reformed gangster Jimmy (Sean Penn), has a daughter who’s been found murdered in a gutter. His onetime pal Sean (Kevin Bacon), now a detective, swears he’ll figure out who the killer is, and both men’s estranged acquaintance Dave (Tim Robbins) knows more than he’s letting on. All three’s fates are interlinked in this operatic passion play about the traumas we keep hidden until we’re drowning in regret.

Notting Hill (1999)

Though Four Weddings and a Funeral might have put writer Richard Curtis and star Hugh Grant on the map as the kings of ‘90s British romance, Notting Hill is arguably their true pinnacle. Grant plays a foppish bookshop owner who happens to meet the most famous actress in the world, Anna Scott (played by Julia Roberts who might just have been the most famous actress in the world at that time) when she stumbles into his shop.

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From the sympathy brownie competition, the junket where Grant’s William Thacker has to pretend to be a journalist from Horse & Hound, and Rhys Ifans in his pants, there are plenty of funny, moving moments. But it’s the two montage scenes—a walk through Notting Hill as seasons change to Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine,” and the final montage to Elvis Costello’s “She”—that would melt the hardest of hearts. Rom-com perfection.

Scarface (1983)

Reviews were not initially kind to Scarface, director Brian de Palma’s explosive three-hour remake of the 1932 gangster classic starring Paul Muni (that in turn was based on a novel which loosely chronicled the rise of Al Capone). Written by Oliver Stone and starring Al Pacino as psychopathic Cuban refugee-turned-drug-kingpin Tony Montana, the 1983 film was excoriated by critics for its relentlessly graphic violence, excessive foul language, and over-the-top performances, especially by its leading man. But critics at the time missed the point: Scarface was a reflection of its time—the hedonistic, greed-driven, cocaine-fueled ‘80s—and was appropriately and utterly crazed as a result.

The film did mark the moment when Pacino transitioned from intense, thoughtful character actor to (mostly) histrionic circus barker, but he leaves it all on the field and his mania drives the fast-paced film to its epic, bloodsoaked, and unbelievable (in all aspects of the word) conclusion. As a metaphor for the insane decade of excess that birthed it, Scarface is riveting, breathless, occasionally shocking and often unintentionally hilarious. It’s the gangster movie on coke.

State of Play (2009)

Kevin Macdonald’s remake of a British miniseries by the same name turned out to be a strong thriller in its own right. With a whip smart script by Tony Gilroy and Billy Ray, this movie doubles as both an enjoyable investigative procedural and a love letter to journalism just as newspapers were beginning to die out in the 2000s. Russell Crowe plays Cal McAffrey in the film, the last of the old school guard of reporters, but his ethics will be challenged when the congressman with a dead young woman on his staff turns out to be his old college buddy (Ben Affleck). Rachel McAdams also stars as a young blogger who learns the thrill of chasing a story that takes more than an afternoon to research. Helen Mirren, Robin Wright, and Jeff Daniels also star.

The Whole Nine Yards (2000)

Remember when they made comedies for adults? The Whole Nine Yards is one such anomaly. Really a buddy film about a suicidal dentist (Matthew Perry) and a gangster living under a phony alias who moves in next door (Bruce Willis in one of his last truly charming performances), this giggles and gangsters laugher is a secretly delightful ensemble movie with a deep bench of talent. Indeed, Kevin Pollack, Amanda Peet, Nastsha Henstridge, and Michael Clarke Duncan, as the cuddliest gangster you’ll ever see punch your protagonist in the balls until he’s pissing blood, all get to shine. With a twisty plot, it’s an R-rated throwback to the type of screwball shenanigans that were once Hollywood’s bread and butter.

Zombieland (2009)

It’s rare when calling something the second best zombie comedy ever made is high praise, but in a horror subgenre that also includes Shaun of the Dead, this is high praise for Zombieland. As an R-rated teen comedy, one suspects the filmmakers almost lucked into the absurdly talented cast they assembled with Emma Stone, Jessie Eisenberg, and Woody Harrelson. In the years since this movie’s release, all three were nominated for Oscars (Stone even won one), but in ’09 they’re just having a blast with this goofy stoner hybrid about a dysfunctional makeshift family having fun during the zombie apocalypse.

Also, it features arguably the greatest comedy cameo ever conceived. If you haven’t seen it, I’m not going to spoil it for you here either…

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alexsfictionaddiction · 4 years

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10 of the best pandemic novels

It’s an understatement to say that the world as we know it has changed insurmountably over the last few weeks. We’re apart from our loved ones, most of our summer plans have been cancelled and we’re faced with more uncertainty than ever before. Pandemics and plagues have been present in horror, sci-fi and post-apocalyptic books for decades and they’ve always seemed to be exactly that. Abandoned cities, fast-acting deadly diseases and epic efforts for survival are things that happen in different worlds to our own but of course, they’ve never reflected reality more than they do right now.

I’ve been using this time to research and read a bunch of books that deal with pandemics and I wanted to share 10 of the very best of them with you. I completely understand if you’re trying to avoid these kinds of reads at the moment to limit anxiety or simply to escape. That’s why I also have a list of feel-good reads especially for you!

1. The Stand by Stephen King

The Stand is a book you’ll see on every pandemic fiction list because it is widely considered to be King’s masterpiece. The virus is really just the beginning of this enormous tome as its proceeded by ominous dreams, the inevitable end of days and the very real eternal battle between good and evil -perhaps not unlike some of your recent political discussions? Typical of a King novel, it’s populated by a huge cast of morally complex, tragic characters and there is an overwhelming sense of dread from the very first chapter. Expect a harrowing atmospheric read that will stay with you for a long time.

2. The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey

Essentially, it’s a zombie book but it’s also so much more than that. Set in a world where ‘hungries’ roam the wastelands, a select group of infected but high-functioning children are contained in a special facility. Amongst a ruthless scientist, a kindly teacher and a wary sergeant, child genius Melanie’s story will become one that haunts you in the middle of the night. It’s a classic page-turning thriller that isn’t an exact reflection of our current world but there are some eerie likenesses that will have you questioning who the real monsters are.

3. Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

Station Eleven is so full of believable situations and characters that I could easily see the end of the Earth looking exactly like this huge sprawling landscape, dotted with towns populated by small groups of suspicious, scared people. It chiefly follows five principal characters -seasoned Hollywood actor Arthur Leander who dies on stage during a production of King Lear, his incredibly talented but unappreciated first wife Miranda, his oldest friend Clark, Jeevan Chaudhary who tried to save him and Kirsten, one of Arthur’s child co-stars whose life has been shaped by the events of that fateful night. It’s a beautifully written, expertly constructed book that explores loss, resilience and the heartbreaking notion of desperately trying to hold on to the past. You’ll want several boxes of tissues for this one!

4. The Fireman by Joe Hill

Ok, so the virus in this one isn’t QUITE like COVID-19 but the intense fear, teetering sanity and unexpected small rays of hope aren’t unlike our current set of feels. Dragonscale marks its host with black and gold and burns them up from the inside causing them to eventually spontaneously combust and no one appears to be safe from this horrifying end. We follow pregnant nurse Harper who bears the ominous marks but is desperate to live long enough to give birth and the mystery of the Fireman -an afflicted man who has somehow learned to control the fire within him. It’s a very original premise and although it’s another beast of a book at over 700 pages, it will have you gripped from the very first page.

5. The Book of M by Peng Shepherd

There’s something about memory that feels so precious to me. It may be because in a normal functioning brain, it’s the only thing that constantly keeps us company and therefore, in some ways it’s like an old friend. The Book of M features a virus where shadows have begun to disappear, leaving their humans with a strange new power but also with a rapidly deteriorating memory. Following Ory and Max -two halves of a couple who have been torn apart by the prospect of heartbreak- we meet a bunch of wonderful characters on a journey to New Orleans, where sanctuary reportedly awaits. I stayed up late to finish it because I became so invested in getting these characters back together but I was left completely thrown and sobbing my eyes out by the very cruel twist at the end. Yeah... brace yourself!

6. The Last Town On Earth by Thomas Mullen

Set in 1918 in Washington state, this story follows a small quarantined town trying to stave off the Spanish influenza. The effects of financial instability on the community, the fear of the unknown and the erratic actions of a panicked mind will definitely seem familiar in our current world. It’s an enclosed domestic drama with a lot of social history, tear-jerking moments and a truly explosive ending. I’m delighted that I discovered this emotional hidden gem!

7. Skin by Liam Brown

Skin describes a world with an extreme version of a COVID-esque virus. Everyone must completely isolate from everyone else including the people they live with and can only communicate from separate bedrooms via technology. But then our protagonist Angela spots a man outside without any protective gear on and he doesn’t even seem to be slightly sick. Full of intrigue, complex characters and a twist in the tale, it’s a fast read with a lot to say about contemporary society via a wry cynical voice.

8. Severance by Ling Ma

Candace Chen is a routine-loving millennial who turns ghost city photo-blogger when the deadly Shen Fever sweeps New York. Joining an eclectic band of survivors on a trek to a supposed sanctuary, she is harboring a secret of epic proportions. Things get progressively darker as the group begins to develop a cult-like dynamic and the seemingly self-elected ‘leader’ Bob becomes increasingly tyrannical. The sudden jolt out of ordinary life and the making and breaking of human relationships in times of hardship mixed with a touch of satire makes for a thoroughly entertaining, topical read.

9. Wilder Girls by Rory Power

I love a good boarding school novel and this is possibly the darkest, most unique one I’ve ever read. The Tox has left multiple pupils at Raxter School For Girls with deformities and they’re now waiting patiently for a cure. But then Hetty’s best friend Byatt goes missing and suspicion heightens as to what’s really happening on the remote island. I couldn’t shake the feeling of doom for the entire time and there was such a heavy gloomy atmosphere that seeps through the pages. There was a lot of buzz around this book on YA Twitter when it was released late last year and it’s definitely worth all of the hype!

10. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

This impeccably strange, enchanting novel is a little glimpse into some of the weirder rooms of Atwood’s mind. Snowman lives in a tree on a deserted beach and spends his days foraging for scraps and mourning his best friend Crake and the woman he loved, the enigmatic Oryx. He seems to be the only human left but somehow he has become a prophet-esque figure to the beautiful, ethereal Children of Crake. The actual virus doesn't appear until the final 50 pages but we see the effects of it from the very beginning, so I was pretty eager to find out exactly what had happened, which kept the pages turning. Although it is funny in places and exceptionally thought-provoking, there is a lot of disturbing content to be aware of including animal experimentation and child trafficking and sexual abuse. It’s a horrifying window into a possible future if extreme capitalism and the fast advances in genetic engineering were ever to meet in a head-on collision.

#pandemic fiction #dystopian #sci-fi #horror #books #bookworm #recommendations #book recommendations

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saint-francis-rpg · 4 years

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Til Now...

Makenna Black may have been a spoiled brat. Scratch that, she was definitely a spoiled brat, the kind that Veruca Salt would admire. She was the apple of her parents eyes growing up in her Westerchester County hometown. She knew very early that people, especially girls, needed a leader and not many people could step up to be that leader. But Makenna knew that it was what she was meant to do. It’s why she never felt bad about tearing her classmates down when they rocked Juicy Couture sweats and UGG boots, it’s why she absolutely felt it was necessary to fuck someone’s boyfriend if they’d disrespected her. The world was hers for the taking and it would make her life easier if people caught on quicker.

Mak didn’t have some tragic background or irrelevant sob story to put in her wikipedia page (she didn’t like to brag about it or anything), she was the way she was because she could be. Who was gonna stop her? Clarke was too nice to care if Mak was a bitch, though they’d had a few fights throughout their friendship. Alexa was just as venomous as she and they thrived on each others bitchy natures. And the boys? Well, she didn’t like to quote pop princess’ a lot but Taylor Swift wasn’t wrong when she famously sang “boys only want love if it’s torture.” She’d been playing hard to get for as long as she could remember. Which was hard when you had a healthy libido and the guys who fell in love with her had early noughties A&F bodies. Not that any of it mattered anymore, what happens in high school stays in high school and Mak’s was on the other side of the country. Getting into SFU was easy, as she expected it to be considering her parents donated a building in the family name. Unlike some currently under investigation wealthy people, the Blacks didn’t go through a person to get their daughter into school, they just donated. The old money way.

New town, new attitude, right? Of course not, that was something you hoped for if you were at the bottom of the pyramid. For Makenna, it meant another student body to tame and another roster to fill. Luckily, she had her best friend Clarke by her side for the first time since middle school and she knew her sweet nature would mellow out Mak’s cunt side. But surprisingly, Mak wasn’t the one being a messy hoe this time around, it was Clarke. When her best friend confessed about her hook ups with Javier, Mak felt protective yet conflicted. She only wanted the best for Clarke but Alexa had already asked her to keep an eye on her boyfriend. She’d decided twice to keep Clarke and Javi’s secret, the first from when it actually happened and the second time when Alexa asked about it. But then that idiot had decided to fall in love (with someone else thank god) and Alexa up and decided that it would be better if she transferred to SFU to get her man back. Mak respected it but it put her in a position that she didn’t think she’d ever be in. A battle of loyalties that, in a way, she’d already picked a side for.

Yes, Mak had lied to one of her best friends. Yes, she was currently trying to keep a few other “alpha” bitches in their place. Yes, she was absolutely going to sleep with Damien Harmon. But could she end up friendless, title less and boyfriend less all before junior year?

FC is Maddison Jaizani and she is OPEN

#maddison jaizani #nancy drew #roleplay #university rpg #the clique #massie block #students #open f

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mysterylover123 · 5 years

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My Top 10 Christmas Episodes

mysterylover123

Everyone has a favorite Christmas Episode. That time of year from your favorite shows where the characters celebrate the holidays along with you, usually accompanied by big changes in their lives, gaudy decorations, and creative traditions. I’ve included my top 10 here, along with some honorable mentions. I’ve excluded Christmases I liked from book/film/comic book series, thought I think in 2 years time there will be a grand new edition to the list (aka My Hero Academia). Hope you all like them and have a Merry Christmas!

#10. Futurama “Xmas Story” Airdate: 12/19/1999

I don’t broadcast it much, but I love classic Futurama. This little gem of a Christmas episode - sorry, X-mas episode - is a common staple of “Best Christmas Episode” lists, and for good reason. It’s one of those “dark” Christmas stories, featuring a murderous Santa Claus robot, Fry dealing with being 1000 years in the future where his old traditions have died, and some good bonding moments among the cast of Planet Express. I particularly like the “gift of the Magi” joke with Amy and Hermes, and the Harold Lloyd reference with Fry on the clock tower.

#9. X-Men Evolution “On Angel’s Wings” Airdate: 12/15/2001

X-Men Evolution is a nostalgic favorite of mine - my introduction to the X-men in high school, the first show I ever read fanfiction for, etc. It’s Christmas episode has a very warm feeling to it, a rare dip into sentimentality for the show. It deals with Scott and Rogue going to recruit Angel for the X-Men while the others are home for the holidays, and clashing with Magneto in their attempts to do so. I’m always down for an episode focused on Rogue, and her bond with Scott over being the X-Men without families to go home to is great. The little montage that ends the episode always puts a smile on my face.

#8. The Simpsons “Holidays of Future Passed” Airdate: 12/11/2011

I heard this one was thought of as a potential series finale for The Simpsons, as a bit of closure for their premiere (another christmas Episode, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open fire”, which I like but find a little too ‘early Simpsons’ to make the list.). Honestly, I wish it had been. Modern Simpsons is generally such a mess, it would’ve been nice to see it get such a dignified end in Season 23. This one is a great little trip to the future of the family, and it really feels like a nice vision of what could become of them somewhere down the line. I like that this one gives Homer a chance to be a good grandad, and a bonding moment between Lisa and Bart. I hope this is where they really do end up.

#7. Frasier “Frasier Grinch” Airdate: 12/19/1995

Frasier is the only show that ended up landing 2 Christmas episodes in my Top 10. And I felt I still had to cut a few of them that could’ve made the list easily. This series really had a knack for the Christmas episode. My 2nd favorite, obviously, is this little offering from Season 3, which deals with Frasier trying to get Freddy gifts in time for the holiday when the ones he ordered got misdirected. It ends up touching on an aspect of the holidays I wish would get covered a little more often: when you buy others Christmas gifts, are you getting them what they actually want, or just what you think they should want? Overbearing Frasier has made this blunder, and the episode helps him learn that lesson. Though as usual Niles steals the show. Niles in a toy store trying out a doofy hat is more than worth the #7 spot.

#6. Friends “The One with the Christmas in Tulsa” Airdate: 12/12/2002

Friends has a lot of Christmastime episodes, but most of them are just kinda coincidentally set around the holidays. Only a few stand out as actual “Christmas Episodes”. While I enjoy “Holiday Armadillo”’s comedy and “Creepy Holiday card”’s sentimentality, my standout favorite is this one, the last Christmas episode they did, perhaps because Chandler and Monica are my favorites on the show and their romance is the OTP. This one deals with Chandler away from home, working on Christmas at a job he hates and being separated from Monica. Through some clips and a bit of soul searching, he decides to finally quit the job he hates and pursue something he wants to do. It’s a great example of how to do a clip show/Christmas episode well, move characters forward, and remind us of why we love these two together.

#5. Buffy “Amends” Airdate: 12/15/1998

This one would probably be higher if there wasn’t so much Bangel melodrama in the last 10 minutes (sorry fans, I really hate Bangel). But the rest of it is more than good enough to put Buffy’s sole Christmas episode at #5 for me. What I love the most about this one is, well, the ‘amends’ of the title. Xander starts making up for 3 seasons of douchebaggery by being a good friend. Willow makes up with Oz. Buffy makes up with Faith. That latter one puts the biggest smile on my face of the bunch; it’s bittersweet, given what happens, but when Faith shows up on Buffy’s doorstep with presents for her and Joyce, my small Grinch heart grows three sizes each time. Definitely a must-watch.

#4. Parks and Recreation “Christmas Scandal” Airdate: 12/10/2009

Parks and Rec has 3 Christmas episodes and they’re all pretty good. I debated between this one and “Ron and Diane”, but since that one is more about Ron’s award ceremony, I decided to go with Season 2′s. This one is a very “Parks and Rec” kinda Christmas, dealing with Leslie getting involved in a dumb sex scandal, the Parks department putting on a “Winter wonderland” on Lot 48, some dating drama about Ann and Leslie and their boyfriends (At this point, since Ben and Chris weren’t around yet, Mark and Dave), and a very cute hug between a pre-marriage April and Andy. The biggest win in this one is the sheer Christmas atmosphere. It practically glows off the screen.

#3. How I Met Your Mother “False Positive” Airdate: 12/13/2010

HIMYM is another one with a lot of candidates, but “False Positive” really stands out to me as something special. It’s essentially an “It’s a wonderful life”-style story (as they’re going to see the movie) where Lily’s false positive pregnancy test inspires the friend group to each choose the more responsible path in life of their two choices, only to chicken out when the false part of the title is revealed. The way the episode ends is absolutely spectacular, a standout moment to me among the series’ many strong character moments, and leads to strong development for all around going forward. Definitely a highlight of HIMYM’s 6th season, and an episode full of Christmas imagery, soul-searching, and classic plotlines.

#2. Frasier “The Fight Before Christmas” Airdate: 12/16/1999

My favorite Frasier Christmas episode feels like it combines a little bit of everything that makes the other ones good: a KACL office Christmas party with a whacky theme (we finally see it instead of having it going on in the background!), Frasier being pompous about Christmas celebrations and ending up karmically punished for it, a comedic scenario which crafts a comedy of errors, Martin’s decorating. In many ways though, the highlight of this one is how deftly it handles the romance reveal from the previous episode between Niles and Daphne. in the midst of all the crappy Christmas rom coms, it’s easy to forget how strong a good Christmas set romance can be, and the moment of tension as Daphne tries to reject Niles but just can’t quite do it is a standout for me. Definitely my favorite of Frasier’s 8 xmas episodes.

Hon. Mentions: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, Batman Christmas with the Joker and Holiday Knights, Frasier Perspectives on Christmas, Parks and Rec Ron and Diane, HIMYM How Lily Stole Christmas.

#1. Smallville “Lexmas” Airdate: 12/8/2005

This one isn’t just a Christmas episode. It’s pretty much the Ultimate Christmas episode. Where to begin? A fancy Christmas party jam-packed with colorful decor. Superman - Clark - delivering presents as Santa for the Daily Planet. Clark talking/saving a depressed mall Santa (or is he real?) from committing suicide with an emotional heart to heart. Sweet family Christmas celebrations (right before tragedy strike in the next episode). But of course, the real highlight of this one is Lex’s Alternate Reality fantasy. After getting shot, the titular Luthor has a vision of what his life could be like if he did the right thing, essentially an “It’s a Wonderful Life” style alternate reality. However, that reality ends in tragedy, and the tragic twist of the episode is that instead of leading the Grinch’s heart to grow, the Christmas dream only serves to help solidify Luthor’s fall to the dark side. It is certainly juxtaposed with enough holiday magic and hope to offset that depressing ending, but I will admit to liking a bit of subversion in my stories now and then. Everything Christmas episodes could have is jam-packed into this episode.

#futurama #smallville #x-men evolution #the simpsons #frasier #friends #Buffy The Vampire Slayer #how i met your mother #Parks and Recreation #xmas story #on angel's wings #holidays of future passed #frasier grinch #the one with the christmas in tulsa #amends #christmas scandal #false positive #the fight before christmas #lexmas

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ecfandom · 5 years

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Polis 433 Ch. 13 Preview

I’m sorry for the wait!!

***

“Do you have someone to pick you up tomorrow?” Clarke asked as she kept herself busy folding Lexa’s jeans and shirt. Her mind circled endlessly around their conversation in the chamber, the feeling of Lexa’s hand in hers, Lexa’s palm cradling her cheek, and the terrible story behind the burn scars eclipsing Lexa’s hand and wrist. That story had lingered in the back of her mind ever since she’d read about it, eating at her in a mixture of guilt at having read something so intimate about Lexa’s past, and sorrow at the physical and emotional pain she knew Lexa must have endured. Seeing the tangible evidence of what’d happened to Lexa, feeling the scarred skin beneath her touch, had left her feeling strange, sad and just generally out of sorts. She was not, however, too self absorbed to notice Lexa’s lack of a response. She smiled when she walked over to Lexa’s bed with her folded clothes and found Lexa nearly half asleep.

“Hey,” she said softly, and combed her fingers through Lexa’s hair. “Sleepy?”

Lexa cracked open an eye and grinned. She nodded, lulled by Clarke’s fingers in her hair and the warming blankets on top of her. “You spoil me,” she murmured, gazing at Clarke with so much affection, Clarke quickly looked away, distracting herself with Lexa’s clothes once more. She had never been looked at the way Lexa looked at her. It was too much--piercing and knowing, and worst of all, so very gentle.

“I told you,” Clarke said, wanting to clear the lump in her throat, “friendship with me has its perks.”

“If I recall, I’m not the one who needs the convincing.”

Clarke flushed and good-naturedly tousled Lexa’s hair in retaliation. “Don’t tease.”

“I would never,” Lexa swore, her brow furrowing in mock seriousness. Clarke rolled her eyes, and her hand stilled in Lexa’s hair. Her smile fell, and before Lexa could ask if she was okay, she slipped her hand to Lexa’s cheek, feeling the skin there with the back of her hand.

“You’re a little warm,” Clarke murmured, searching Lexa’s eyes for any signs of distress. “Do you feel okay?”

“Fine. More than fine,” Lexa said with a wink that had a hot, red blush racing up Clarke’s throat.

Taryn clearing her throat from the doorway had Clarke nearly jumping back as Taryn strode into the room with a guitless grin.

“Sorry, was I interrupting something?”

“Fuck off,” Lexa groaned with a laugh, rolling her eyes at Taryn’s knowing smile.

“That’s no way to talk to your doctor.”

“Remind me again how I got stuck with you as my doctor?”

“Oh, I think it was when I shoved a needle into you arm and administered the Epi that re-started your heart and saved your life, you ungrateful jerk. Maybe next time I’ll let you code a little longer.”

“Hey,” Clarke snapped, “that’s not funny.”

“Only joking,” Taryn said, raising her hands in surrender. “How are we feeling, Lexa?”

“Ready to get out of here.”

“Yeah, you’ve been saying that since you woke up in here a week ago.”

“Well, the sentiment remains. You’re still discharging me tomorrow, right?”

“Sure,” Taryn said with a shrug. “If your system behaves overnight, I don’t see why not.”

“It will. I want to be out for the game. I was just inviting Clarke when you so rudely interrupted.”

Clarke laughed incredulously. “No you weren’t.”

“Well, I was about to.” Lexa reached out and grabbed the front of the scrubs Clarke had changed into before Lexa’s treatment, and gave her a little tug. Clarke tried to hold back a smile as she let herself be pulled back to Lexa’s bedside, blushing furthermore and rolling her eyes as Taryn watched on, her arms crossed, and an amused grin on her face.

“Go with me,” Lexa murmured. “I’ve got four tickets. I promised one to Taryn’s sister-in-law, but I have two left over. Bring Ellie. It’ll be fun. Popcorn, hotdogs...come on. It’s the best.”

“What game are we talking about?” Clarke asked, removing Lexa’s hand from her scrubs and placing it back on Lexa’s lap with an amused pat.

“Polis Patriots,” Taryn filled, “minor-league baseball.”

“Oh,” Clarke said with a frown. “I don’t remember that being a thing when I was little.”

At Lexa’s silent plea for help, Taryn continued. “They moved from Juneau a couple of years ago. You should come. We all go. My sister-in-law, Paxton, just got back in town. You can meet her if you haven’t already. My girls are coming with Ella too. I’m sure Lily would love to see Ellie.”

Clarke looked from Taryn to Lexa, endeared by the look of hope on Lexa’s face. “When is it?”

“Wednesday. Do you work?” Lexa asked.

Clarke held back a grin at Lexa’s hopeful eyes. “In the morning.”

“Perfect. It’s not until seven. Come on,” Lexa said, “it’ll be fun.”

Clarke sighed, patting Lexa’s hand. “You’re lucky you’re cute when you’re oxygen drunk.”

“You’ll go?”

“If you’re sure you don’t want to give those tickets to someone else.”

Lexa scoffed. “Who else would I give them to? You know Ellie’s my number one.”

***

Clarke felt like an idiot walking through the hospital with the wide grin on her face, but despite what she tried, it wasn’t going anywhere, even after she picked-up Ellie from the peds wing with a full diaper and sugar crash. With a fresh new diaper, and a snack from the cafeteria to bring her blood sugar back up, her happy, chatty toddler had returned full force. As they often were, Ellie’s hands were relentless as they worked their way over Clarke’s hair and face, played with the necklace Clarke wore, and toyed with the pen light in her chest pocket, all the while talking a mile a minute in gibberish Clarke could only half understand.

“Mommy,” she asked, patting Clarke’s cheek for emphasis.

“Yes, Love?” She gently pulled Ellie’s hand away and settled it between them, hiking Ellie up further onto her hip as Ellie squirmed around in her arms.

“I want see Wexa.”

“She’s resting right now. We can see her some other time.”

“No, now!”

“Ellie,” Clarke said, a gentle warning in her voice, “no yelling.”

“But want Wexa now, Mommy.”

“I know, baby. We’ll see her soon. We’re going to go to a baseball game with her.”

“What’s that?”

“Baseball? It’s a sport. Like when we kick the ball in the backyard and play soccer.”

“Soccer!” Ellie squealed, delighted by the thought of one of her favorite past times.

Clarke laughed and gave Ellie a fond squeeze. She was so in love with her baby’s joy and energy. Ellie had an insatiable propensity for new ways to have fun, and Clarke often marveled at and admired her spirit. Call her biased, but Ellie was a tiny bundle of perfection she would never get enough of. She kissed Ellie’s cheek and took in her wonderful baby smell, hoping never to forget the little moments like these, so often lost in the chaos of her busy life.

She still had her nose pressed to Ellie’s hair when a figure rounded the hallway at nearly a jog and side-stepped just in time to avoid a collision.

“Oh, Clarke, jesus, I’m sorry,” Abby said, one hand over her chest, the other clasping her daughter’s shoulder, steadying them both.

“I forgot how fast you walk down these hallways,” Clarke said with a chuckle, slightly breathless from the scare.

“Sorry, Love, it’s a bad habit. And oh my goodness, there’s my favorite little munchkin in the whole wide world,” Abby cooed, taking Ellie into her arms when her granddaughter shouted her name and leaned towards her. “What are you two doing here?” She asked Clarke. “I didn’t think you were on today.”

“I’m not, I…” Clarke said, then paused, suddenly confronted by the fact that she would have to tell her mother about Lexa, or she would have to lie--something she hadn’t done to her mother since she was a teenager. “I was visiting a friend,” she said, deciding on the safe middle road.

“Is everything okay? Raven? Octavia?”

“God no, it’s not them. I would have said so at the start.”

“Oh,” Abby said, then grinned. “A secret friend, then?”

“Mom, don’t start.”

“Don’t start!” Ellie echoed, her brow furrowing into a comically deep frown. “Don’t start, gammie!”

“What? What am I starting? Huh? Come on,” Abby teased, bouncing Ellie until she was giggling and burrowing her smiling face into Abby’s neck. “So it is a secret friend,” Abby then said, turning her attention back towards Clarke. “Is it a...special friend?”

“Mom, I’m not in high school anymore. Please, spare me.”

“Fine,” Abby said, giving an exaggerated sigh. ��Don’t tell me any of the fun details then, I’ll subsist on the same old, stale hospital gossip.”

Clarke laughed and rolled her eyes. “You’re the chief of surgery, you’re not supposed to be listening to that garbage.”

“Darn right, I’m not. The things I hear...it’d make even the devil’s cheeks burn!”

Clarke felt her stomach suddenly flip at the thought of her mother hearing any of the common rumors that circulated the hospital halls, always having to do with who was fucking who in the on-call rooms. She cleared her throat. “Just in case it was already apparent, I’d just like to state for the record that nothing that you hear around here pertains to me. And if you do hear my name, it’s a lie.”

“Don’t I know it,” Abby said with a sigh. “Your love life is tragic, my dear.”

“Mom!”

“Speaking of--”

“No, we’re not speaking of—”

“--that strapping, young firefighter from your Memorial Day bar-b-q is here. Did you know?”

“I…” Clarke said, already fumbling over that word alone.

“Of course you did. I’m guessing that’s your secret, special friend.”

Clarke groaned, then smiled in embarrassment at the look it drew from one of the nurses standing outside a nearby room. Clarke had grown up at this hospital, spending more after-school hours here than in her own home. The hospital hallways of Polis Memorial were practically her living room, the cafeteria her dining room. She’d had more personal conversations with her mother here than anywhere else. It was almost comical.

“Oh for the love of...not you too,” Clarke said, leaning up against the wall to avoid a technician pushing a portable x-ray machine.

Abby grinned and handed Ellie back to her daughter. “Just promise me you’ll let yourself have some fun.”

“Mom.”

“A date or two would be nice.”

“Mom!”

“Alright, alright.” Abby threw up her hands in defeat, then fondly stroked Ellie’s cheek and booped her on the nose. “Grandma's leaving. I mean it, Clarke. Please try to relax.”

Clarke sighed. “I will do my best.”

“Good. I’ll see you for dinner tomorrow night, yes?” Abby asked over her shoulder, already halfway down the hall.

Clarke threw her a thumbs up in response and turned and walked the other way. “The women in my life are crazy,” she muttered to Ellie, who simply beamed at her and nodded.

#polis 433 #ffau #clexa au #clexa #clexa fanfiction

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douxreviews · 5 years

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The 100 - ‘What You Take With You’ Review

"Things are about to get weird."

Aren't things always getting weird??

If you showed up this week like I did thinking we were getting a filler episode, I hope you held on to your hat. We went for a ride.

The episode does remarkably well juggling multiple plot threads and character points of view. Even within each sect the performances are layered and felt on more than one front. That's not easy to do. I mean I was even starting to feel something for Josephine at one point.

Pike: "The path to the future goes through the past, Miss Blake. Psychology 101. We are what we've done and what's been done to us. I'll ask you again. Who are you now, Miss Blake? Your brother's sister or the monster who would have watched him die in this very arena?"

I really hate that she's still widely labeled by other people (brother's sister, monster, girl under the floor, Blodreina...) but the first order of business is Octavia's redemption. Not that she's redeemed herself with anyone really, but acknowledging that she wants it is at least a start. I've been looking forward to watching her let her walls down for weeks now and secretly hoping that it wasn't a sloppy after school special. I wasn't disappointed. Taking her back to the moment that she decided to kill Pike in cold-blooded revenge and not one of the 97 tragic things that happened to her was genius, if you ask me.

Pike said that we are what we've done and what's been done to us. For Octavia, killing Pike was maybe the only choice she ever made on her own. Being stuck under the floor or forced to fight to the death for your people or watching the love of your life die (just to name a few) were all traumatic events that shaped who she is, but she more or less had no wiggle room in the corners that she was backed into. Killing Pike, though, that was a calculated decision. He saved her life and fought along side her looking for his own redemption and Octavia made the decision to end his life. Going back to that moment and seeing Blodreina as Pike and Pike as Lincoln, she was able to make peace with the fact that he, Pike, was a person that (maybe) deserved to live just like Lincoln was and her mother was and she is now.

Everyone deserves a second chance and when she made the decision to take his away, that was when Blodreina was really born. When she gave into the violence and anger, that was the moment she had control over and could have made a different choice. I never liked Pike and was glad to see that mustache-twirling villain get the boot, or axe as it were, but something about that being the moment that Octavia needed to redo in her mind resonates with me. If Lincoln had shown up to whisper sweet encouragement in her ear, it wouldn't have played as well. If her mom had shown up to give her a pep talk, it wouldn't have carried the same weight. But Pike pointing out the moment she became the dictator that she never wanted to be and Octavia being able to figuratively prove that she would make a different choice was really beautiful. Love love love. You go girl.

For whatever it's worth, I was mildly thrown off for a while thinking that because Octavia lived under the floor that she wouldn't have taken earth skills with Pike so it was grating my nerves that he was being so teachery with her. Later I remembered a flashback episode where he was brushing up the OG 100 before they got shipped to the ground and felt better about it, but it's not a great sign to be distracted so easily.

The next order of business is Abby and Kane and the case of the missing bottle of ooze consciouses.

Indra: "On the Ark, you floated people for stealing food. On the ground, my people cheered as children fought to the death to lead us. Is this so much worse?" Marcus: "Yes, lives have been lost in the worshiping of false gods before, more than can be counted. But if we let it stand when we could stop it, then our new world would be no different than the one we left behind."

I love that we didn't listen to Abby and Raven whine about what a stellar moral compass Kane is just for him to show up and embrace this new body-snatcher reality. I love that he, like so many others, recognized that taking peoples lives is downright rude and unlike Gabriel and that other mechanic prime dude (Striker?), he didn't ignore his skeevy inclinations and keep his consolation body prize. More than all of that though, I was so, so happy to see Indra back with us and very happy that these two bffs got to have once last powwow. And how on point was it that she was barely fazed by yet another ridiculous turn of events. I mean she and Kane did live through cannibalism and cage-fighting to the death. I can see how this could've easily been written off as just one more atrocity on the list. Not on Kane's watch!

I appreciate that three-way conversation hammering home why they can't stand for this. Why it can't be weighed against other horrible things and why it's important to stand up now and push back. Be the good guys. Do better. Now that he's gone, though, who is going to make sure that the next thing gets addressed and not simply added to the list? I don't love the idea that everyone that puts their money where their mouth is on the moral high ground finds themselves dead. I prefer a little levity in my TV.

RIP, Kane. Again.

Josephine: "My father was a fool for letting you people stay. All that time spent building a sanctuary for the human race, and he destroys it because of the most human thing of all – love."

Was letting them stay really the big mistake here? Because my money would've been on the attempted murder of Clarke Griffin. If Russell hadn't let them stay, they would've taken Sanctum by force, right?

And while I'm harping on unreliable characters, there was the moment that Josie seemed genuinely upset at the thought of seeing Gabriel and taken aback at Bellamy's declaration to Clarke. Why? She had to wonder if Gabriel was still alive somewhere in the weird woods and Bellamy didn't say anything that he hadn't already said. And Josephine is a master manipulator.

My love for the dynamic duo that is Clarke and Bellamy knows no bounds. They were part of this episode together for such a tiny speck of time, but I still lived for it.

Solid 3 out of 4 ghosts of massacres past

Bits and pieces

Do we know what was in Octavia's green box? Any guesses?

There was something particularly heart-wrenching about Octavia being chained to the fighting pit that she created. It made me think of all the time she spent under the floor and confined to that tiny room practically chained to the wall there as well. Marie G. played it very, very well. It was my favorite choice in a very well acted scene.

Octavia had to make a choice between a red box and a green box. Red is the color of blood and violence and anger. Green is the color or nature and renewal and peace. In the pit there was a small green light surrounded by a lot of red smoky light. Blodreina has a lot of red blood on her hands. The woods have a lot of greenery going on. Was the swirly green too? Is any of this relevant? Also, do I have to start calling the swirly the anomaly?

Kane came completely full circle floating himself to save humanity. When we met him, he was mercilessly floating people – also to save the human race.

Exceptionally lovely that Indra gave Kane the SpaceKru and Grounder sendoff. Her whole thing got me in the feelings. Much more than Abby snotting on the glass. Why am I so annoyed with Abby? Even Raven is cutting her slack.

Kane: "Everything is wrong."

Kane: "I am not one of the sheep you raised to follow you into oblivion." Wow.

We're all meant to blindly accept that Kane needed to be holding the serum to get it to fly into space, right? Okay. Okay, fine.

Josephine: "I’ve been in love with Gabriel for 236 years, the last 70 of which he’s been trying to kill me. You know, relationships."

Bellamy: "When the people we care about are in trouble, then we do what has to be done."

Bellamy: "I won't let you die."

Are TPTB going to do anything with the Children of Gabriel?? They're so one-note.

Gabriel: "Things are about to get weird."

---

Laure Mack

#The 100 #Clarke Griffin #Bellamy Blake #Octavia Blake #Raven Reyes #Marcus Kane #John Murphy #The 100 Reviews #Doux Reviews #TV Reviews

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kinetic-elaboration · 5 years

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October 18: A Bellarke AU Pt. 1

I’ve been playing around in my head with the plot of a Modern Master of Hestviken Bellarke AU because… I have no shame, I guess. I’ve been writing fanfic too long; I can’t help but think can I make an au of this every time I encounter something I like. Plus, I think it would be interesting to imagine what a modern setting would do to this narrative, which is so defined by the medieval era in which it is set. And while reading, especially the early parts, I couldn’t help thinking that this love story between Olav and Ingunn, which is epic but also plagued by bad luck and long separations, and which is based on this unquestioned inevitability, is not dissimilar to Bellarke’s love, in a twisted sort of way. Also Olav somewhat reminds me of Bellamy--taciturn and occasionally prone to violence, especially in his youth; with a tragic family backstory; constantly searching for home and family; fatherless; racked with guilt--even if Ingunn doesn’t remind me really at all of Clarke. Which just makes an au more challenging!

To be clear, I would never actually write this. It would be too hard and too long and would bring me no particular benefits, and I’d rather work on any number of other long and complex writing projects instead. Hypothetically. Since I’m not, in fact, actually working on those other projects either but that just underlines my point. This is just an outline for fun.

At the start, Bellamy and Clarke are neighbors, but Bellamy spends so much time at the Griffins’ that he’s almost their surrogate son. He obviously can’t literally be her foster-brother or her betrothed from the age of seven but they have something akin to the early relationship between Olav and Ingunn: a deep sense that they will always be there for each other, that they are each other’s most important person, and that all future plans and dreams must include the other. Bellamy does have a parent or guardian of some sort--it would be simplest to say his mother, Aurora, as in the show. But for some reason or another she is rarely around, unreliable.

Bellamy doesn’t know much about his father, but the few stories he does have hint that the paternal side of his family might be quite rich and/or important. Some of the stories are almost like tall tales to him, and he’s not sure, by the time he’s in high school, what is real, what he was really told, and what he’s just made up himself. He even has some very vague memories, but he’s not sure if they might be dreams. He feels strongly the lack of deep family bonds in his life. The Griffins are the closest he has to that, closer than his own mother, but they are not actually his parents/family and he knows it.

The Griffins are wealthier than the Blakes, though for some inexplicable reason they all live in the same neighborhood lol--maybe they’re like back-to-back neighbors--and Clarke’s parents are rather laissez-faire with her. I don’t know what, if anything, would be the equivalent of the Mattias misfortune in the book, or if that’s even necessary. Instead of Clarke’s parents being wracked by anger and shame, they might just be busy with their jobs (perhaps Abby has an important role in local government?) and so Clarke has free time and free agency to do basically whatever. And of course Bellamy’s mother is generally absent, so he is also rather alone. And this bonds them closer together.

The main action starts when Clarke and Bellamy are seventeen, the summer after their junior year of high school. They take a journey together that is the equivalent of the trip to Hamar to get the axe fixed: a road trip, taken without parents’ permission or knowledge, for some personal purpose, which bonds them even closer. This is also the point where they first start to feel a real attraction to each other, where their friendship starts to edge into romance. (They’re a little old to be seeing each other as adults, rather than as children, for the first time, but that’s okay--they’ve been sibling-y friends for a while.) The purpose of the road trip: to fix or retrieve something valuable of Bellamy’s--perhaps something that relates to his missing, mythic father. Maybe his father gave him a watch (a reference to the show canon, although transferring the watch from Clarke to Bellamy) and it’s stopped working and he wants it fixed. Could be something else, I’m not attached to any one idea, only that it has to be Bellamy’s possession and Clarke has to invite herself along for the trip. They go to the nearest city, have an adventure that takes longer than intended, consider spending the night in the city, but ultimately decide to go home, and arrive very late, maybe even pre-dawn. The tension between them is high, but they also fully expect that the Griffins--who were out of town when Bellarke left but are supposed to be back by now--are going to be pissed.

Except that they aren’t. Two events happen at this point. One is the arrival of Wells--the Arnvid character, an old family friend--the Jahas and the Griffins going way back--who has been away at college because he’s, I don’t know, about two years older. The second event has something to do with Clarke’s parents. They are not yet back; they left Clarke a message but her phone died and she only hears it when they get back. Maybe Abby is preparing to run for Mayor, or is running, and something big has happened with her campaign, and this has kept her and Jake away. She’s just gotten a big endorsement, perhaps. And it will be announced at a big fundraising dinner that weekend. Wells is a little bit wary about all of this. His dad is the former Mayor, now working as a private attorney again, and he, Wells, knows how hard the job is, and that the political situation in Arkadia is not good. Factions, perhaps. Unrest. It’s a modern day town, not a medieval empire, so idek but something threatening is lurking.

Bellamy and Clarke, who were so-close to an official Getting Together Moment, have now been effectively cockblocked by Wells and political conversation. So nothing happens, except that Wells and Bellamy both end up staying the night.

#the year 2019 #2019: writing thoughts #bellarke #bellarke modern medieval au

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kootenaygoon · 5 years

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So,

At first, I was nervous about tackling news stories.

I knew the stakes from my summers at the Whitehorse Star, had seen how small fuck-ups could have large consequences. Telling someone else’s story is a huge privilege, a power you have over them, and it can be intoxicating. But if you do it wrong, you will hear about it. I preferred the lighter elements of the job, like taking pictures at the Pride Parade or typing up an exhaustive feature on the Capitol Theatre’s production of Chicago. I was a hype machine, excitedly Photoshopping my images and then sprawling back in my desk chair with the newly printed paper’s pages flung open to reveal my handiwork. I floated through the summer of 2014 high on the experience of it all, letting myself fall in love with each new artist I interviewed.

Some people believed the proliferation of artists in the Nelson area was thanks to the town being situated on a bed of magical quartz, but I figured it was more a case of kindreds being attracted to one another. People were looking for a life less ordinary, far from the city. Most locals had some sort of regular job and then spent the remainder of their time investing in creative endeavours, whether that meant painting a mural, starting a food truck or playing in an 80s cover band called Val Kilmer and the New Coke. I started learning the names of local authors, meeting up with poet Tom Wayman and short story writer Myler Wilkenson. I wrote a feature about a photographer named Ryan Oakley who had crowd-funded a book called Humans of Nelson, based on the viral hit Humans of New York. It featured daily portraits of people he met during his lunch breaks, along with a pithy quote that captured their essence. One young singer named Anilah had just landed her Enya-esque tracks on some TV show, a spoken word poet named Magpie Ulysses was releasing a chapbook and a popular saxophonist named Clinton Swanson was playing relentless gigs around town. I giddily funnelled their stories on to Facebook and Twitter, where I obsessively watched the engagement numbers climb. Within a month or two our web presence had exploded, and pretty soon Calvin was bragging that we had the best social media numbers in the Kootenays.

But every now and then, things got dark. The first heavy story that landed on my desk involved a quartet of teenagers who had gone missing the day before I arrived in town. It was eventually discovered that they’d commandeered a canoe and gone adventuring right into a windstorm on Slocan Lake—a body of water so enormous it almost looks like the ocean in places. Authorities were able to recover the canoe pretty quickly, and found a young girl near death. Though they rushed her to medical services, she died in the hospital. There was no trace of the others, three dudes ranging in age from late teens to early twenties. The grief was heavy in the community, and right away I felt it settle in my chest — a clenched fist of empathy. I interviewed the RCMP as they conducted a large-scale search, checking in each day to hear if there was anything to report. At one point it looked like they were going to call it off, but then the families hired a husband-wife duo from the U.S. who had a submersible specially designed for these sorts of retrievals. Within a few days they’d located the boys, down in the darkness, and dragged them back up into the light. I shuddered when I thought of how they must’ve looked after that long underwater, after being cradled to the surface with a claw. The people I interviewed talked about the closure that brought to the families, and I quoted various people silver lining it, but it was the sort of tragedy that was so random it felt cruel on a cosmic level. Like a deity reaching down from heaven to smudge out a few people with his thumb.

“We cannot presume what happened. Our best speculation is misadventure. It wasn’t a very big canoe,” RCMP officer Darryl Little told me.

“It was more of a swift water canoe than a lake canoe. There wasn’t much space below the gunnels and we figure the wind came up and that was it.”

During those weeks I kept running into people who knew the kids, and saw the impact plain on their heartbroken faces. One woman burst into tears while I was renewing my car insurance. I decided to interview the school district psychologist, Dr. Todd Kettner, to get his insights into the community’s grief process. We met at Lakeside Park and shot a video of him sitting on a park bench, calling out the provincial government and Premier Christy Clark. They had docked his pay during the teacher’s strike, right while he was in the midst of putting in overtime to coordinate a critical incident crisis management plan for the Slocan community. He was the only psychologist for the district, which according to him was chronically under-funded. For him it wasn’t about the dollars they took off his cheque, it was the overall neglect rural schools were receiving that really set him off. In an online open letter that went viral around the province he laid out some of the routine cases he was dealing with from day to day, underlining the ways the community was failing to support students with mental health issues.

“I was awakened Sunday morning by a phone call informing me that a student at one of the 21 schools I’m responsible for was on life support in ICU after an accidental drug overdose,” he wrote.

“Monday morning, while continuing to support the staff at the school where the hospitalized student learns, a dedicated and caring school administrator and I were informed that we were needed at another school to help the staff there prepare to gently inform their students that their classmates’ parent had been killed in a tragic accident.”

Kettner was eventually reimbursed for his pay cut, but didn’t see any change at an institutional level. At the end of the day he was still doing his job the best way he could in seemingly impossible circumstances. In the newsroom Tamara filled me in on the realities of SD8, and the issues were deeply systemic. The whole system was cash-starved because the undeclared income of the cannabis industry meant that, on paper, it was the poorest district in the province. The local high school was past capacity, there were multiple elementary schools that should have been demolished years ago, and sitting through board meetings meant hearing about financial snafus of the highest order.

“Those school board meetings, Will? Worst part of my job, easy. You wouldn’t believe how boring they are. All the ‘motion to accept this’ and ‘motion to accept that’. Makes me want to blow my brains out,” she said.

“The key is, you have to get to know the trustees, the superintendent. Once you have them as a connection, they can pretty much talk you through anything.”

“You think the strike will last much longer?”

“Shit, I don’t know. Those teachers are pissed, and they’re not going to back down.”

Around this time I came to an instinctive conclusion about the type of reporter I wanted to be: not aloof, or unfeeling, but the type that engages to an almost scary degree. If I was going to write a story, I wanted to understand it on a far deeper level than I needed for the paper, I wanted to be the guy in town that was the ultimate expert on that topic — right down to its human nuances.

The story commanding my most fervid attention was the trial of Andrew Stevenson, the bank robber that Cass had told me about. Calvin, Tamara and I spent a good half an hour scouring through Facebook trying to find a photo of him and his co-accused, Krista Kalmikoff, so we could have something to illustrate Greg’s stories about the court hearings. We were unsuccessful. The guy was being charged with seven robberies over the course of about six months, of both banks and pharmacies. The NPD had identified addiction as the driving force behind the crimes, and had been able to predict the exact day of his last robbery: April 25, 2014. In my free time I interrogated anyone who knew anything about what happened, picking up scraps of information here and there. A drunk woman at a party described seeing him come careening out of the bank’s parking lot on a bike, cutting in front of city hall and hurtling down towards the lake as cops sprinted after him. I wanted, so badly, to know what this guy looked like. Calvin sent me down to the court to get a shot of him walking in handcuffed—a goon shot—but then it turned out he was appearing by video link. Foiled!

As I got to know the NPD cops, attending one of their award ceremonies, I met a soft-spoken sergeant named Nate Holt. He had thickly muscled arms, a neatly trimmed blond beard and spiky hair that was nearly white. Not only was he holding an award for bravery, he was also one of the guys who was at the bridge that day, with Andrew Stevenson's stolen money raining down from the tree like confetti. I pictured the bank robber squirming on the rocks, trying to crawl away, while they descended on him like blue wraiths. The thing about Nate was you could feel the toll his work took on him, and you could see it in the way he carried himself. He was piggy-backing a lot of sadness. One suicidal dude came at him with a butcher knife and Nate didn’t even pull his gun. No, he got close enough to tackle him in a bear-hug, wrestle the knife out of his grip and save both of their lives. Sometimes I thought about those two men, rolling on the Baker Street sidewalk in that guy’s blood, while shocked residents looked on. I couldn’t believe that someone could have an experience like that and return to work the next day. But that’s exactly what he did.

Before Paisley moved into our new place, Muppet and I got a few days of lackadaisical meandering. I took her to Kaslo May Days with me, slaloming along the highway up Kootenay Lake in a state of giddy bliss, thinking yes I think I made the right decision while I gazed out at the water. I spotted a weird gargoyle sculpture on top of a house on Front Street, and wondered to myself what the deal was there. I spent a lot of time wandering through parks with my camera, approaching strangers and asking to take their photos. Cass would later jokingly call these spreads “All the people Will met at the park the other day”. Eventually I decided I had to see this bridge Andrew Stevenson jumped off, so I got on the highway out to Castlegar and went looking for it. We turned off the highway and followed a switch-back down to the Columbia River, just a few kilometres up from a massive hydroelectric dam. I parked at one end of the bridge and walked Muppet out across the dusty concrete to the middle so we could see the spot it happened. It was a clear, sunny afternoon, and I eventually identified the small cedar he’d attempted to jump into. Below was nothing but a rocky slope to the river, twenty feet further on. This was where it all ended for him, after evading the cops six times. Maybe it was the new pot I was smoking, or maybe it was something else, but I was feeling an electric need to understand this story. I’d been struggling for years on a novel that wasn’t coming along, partially because I was finding it difficult to invent new parts of the narrative, but here was a true fucking story that I could actually throw my weight into. I stood there for a long time, while cars rocketed by in the distance and wind hurtled through the canyon. The air smelled delicious.

I stood there drinking a Slurpee while Muppet panted happily.

The Kootenay Goon

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