#the directors cut will stay in the vault

[versescaaa]

another one from the vault

[foxes-that-run]

Death by a thousand cuts

DBATC is about missing an ex-love. Taylor told Elvis Duran and Ellen she wrote it after watching the film, “Someone Great”. She said her work was becoming less autobiographical (ala Folklore). The director said Clean had helped her through the break up that inspired the film. Lovely, except the film and song are not similar.

However, the film title “Someone Great” is very similar to “Something Great” a Haylor song Harry Styles wrote with Gary Lightbody for 1D. Lightbody worked on Red at the same time. Unlike the film, “Something Great” is referenced in DBATC, a clever clue that this song is about Harry.

Lyrics

[Chorus] Saying goodbye is death by a thousand cuts Flashbacks waking me up I get drunk, but it's not enough ’Cause the morning comes and you're not my baby I look through the windows of this love Even though we boarded them up Chandelier's still flickering here ’Cause I can't pretend it's okay when it's not It's death by a thousand cuts

DBATC is about being reminded of a lost love causing small heartbreaks over and over again.

Taylor has flashbacks to a love is in Red. While lots of Red is about Harry the song was written before they met. Red is a key reference for the Lover Album though and Daylight, which is about Harry. She also says he comes back in flashes in the IKYWT video intro.

Taylor also sings about getting drunk to forget Harry in Cruel Summer and Hits Different. Harry sings of getting drunk to be able to talk to Taylor in Fine Line, Satellite and has in interviews also.

The imagery of boarded up windows and chandelier flickering is a lovely phrasing for still having a flame for a past love. This Love also refers to a flickering light inside.

[Verse] I dress to kill my time, I take the long way home I ask the traffic lights if it'll be alright They say, "I don't know" And what once was ours is no one's now I see you everywhere, the only thing we share Is this small town You said it was a great love, one for the ages But if the story’s over, why am I still writing pages?

'Take the long way home' is a reference to Wish You Would. Harry and Taylor live close in NY, WYW was in LA (both since sold) and London! I don’t wanna live forever: “Now I'm in a cab, I tell 'em where your place is”

'What was once ours is no one’s now' breaks my heart, the whole world was part of their relationship, but now it’s not even theirs :(

You said it was a great love is a reference to Something Great.

Still writing pages is similar to a line in New Years Day where she implored him to not read the last page. One of the 1989 TV Vault Tracks also refers to their love as a book.

[Bridge] My heart, my hips, my body, my love Tryna find a part of me that you didn't touch Gave up on me like I was a bad drug Now I'm searching for signs in a haunted club Our songs, our films, united we stand Our country, guess it was a lawless land Quiet my fears with the touch of your hand Paper cut stings from our paper-thin plans My time, my wine, my spirit, my trust Tryna find a part of me you didn't take up Gave you too much, but it wasn't enough But I'll be alright, it's just a thousand cuts

the line about touching her whole life is interesting line because Harry is unique in staying friends with Taylor after breaking up and sharing music.

In Meet me in the Hallway, he likened getting over Taylor to a heroin addiction, saying “gotta get better / give me some morphine.” Taylor did the same in Clean.

Searching a haunted club is a reference to Hits different and Ready for it?

“Our songs/films/united” to me is referring to their shared passions, and how much they have in common.

Our country is not a literal country. Taylor and Harry have referred to each other, their circle and industry as a town. I read the lawless land is similar to “no rules in breakable heaven” in Cruel Summer.

In New Years Day Harry squeezed her hand in a taxi to assure her, this quieting her fears.

The paper cuts refers to Something Great: “The script was written and I could not change a thing / I want to rip it all to shreds and start again” Something great is about a belief that one day they’d be together again. Together with the NYD reference she is saying she feel stung by not being back together.

[Outro] I take the long way home I ask the traffic lights if it'll be alright They say, "I don't know"

Taylor ends the song with driving around, thinking of the lost love and looking for clues anywhere, even traffic lights, it’s such a lonely line to end on

Fine Line also ends with Harry declaring “we’ll be alright”

[stardewnoodles]

Writer Redundancies (Nega Scott x Neil Nordegraf) - 1/?

It's not every day that the way to fix your writer's block surely descends not from the sky, but ascends from hell.

As usual, link above, I'd appreciate if you say if you like it or not, but if you prefer the tumblr format, here it is:

Until the 1950’s, film rolls mass produced and shown over the globe had a major risk of starting a fire big enough to burn down an entire theater. They had a dirty little chemical attached to it that helped make the film, called nitrate. At the time (Neil assumes), it probably wasn’t common knowledge how flammable nitrate was. Movies kept rolling and films kept burning. July 9, 1937 marks the day that 20th Century Fox’s vault of film rolls in New Jersey caught on fire from the nitrate from decay and higher than expected temperatures. This wasn’t the first, or the last, time something similar to this tragedy happened. However, Neil admits, there’s an awesome spectacle to a film shriveling in the heat. The picture’s color distorts first, followed by rapid deterioration. The picture turns to ash after numerous holes chew through a horrified director’s pride and joy. Then the whole roll combusts. This scene is distinctly familiar to Neil, who’s watched it happen every night since the day he turned 18 two years, three months, 1 day, and 7 hours ago. He hates remembering his birth date. The nightmare is predictable, because it always starts the same way, but it doesn’t make it any less gut-wrenching. A projector on a plastic table with one leg supported by a cut open tennis ball cuts to memories of times he could’ve earned the success and recognition he so desperately sought out, but fails to hit the mark and is instead seen as a lazy idiot. The youngest was his child prodigy days in middle school. The oldest, only two months ago. His script was a fake, his writing skills were fake, and his “prodigal talent” is in the gutter. Neil puts his head in his hands and rocks back and forth. Very rarely is the footage soothing. This sucks. 300 movies, 300 rolls of film Neil knows by heart. He wonders whether “Rushmore” or “Bottle Rocket” will blow up first; they’ve been the most dormant over the last 293 days. 

The floor is tiled the same way the psychiatry ward was, preferring the sloppy, bland white design with dots of random colors over something cool like the rugs of an arcade. The walls are orange for now, before they turn gray and black from the burn damage. Neil clutches his side. Neil hasn’t seen either of his parents since college started, and he intends to keep it that way after winter break. A locked black door he’s never been able to open sits behind him. It’s the only means of escape, despite it never opening. Freddy Krueger couldn’t make something this messed up in his own head. Neil tugs at his hospital gown and sighs. The Burning Room. It’s a fitting name Neil gave the endless nightmare for its atonement by fire. If he’s gotten this far in life while still being, as Scott says, “totally retarded and a bit of a bum”, then the next 20, 30, 40 years will be no different. No future awaits a person but the one they make for themselves? That’s terrifying. A single mistake or terrible argument burns the bridges that had been built for years. Neil can’t accept this. The door stays locked. The projector catches on fire first, an unexpected plot twist. A fond memory of his childhood–watching his father beat The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time –disintegrates. 

Being burnt alive doesn’t get old, like the stunning CGI of The Matrix . Neil scrambles back from the projector, wiping the sweat from his brows. One of the more eccentric patients took everyone by surprise when he raided the kitchen during Fried Chicken Friday and caught it on fire before he was restrained. The projector and the mountain high piles of film rolls explode at the same time into a wall of flames. The walls are marked black and thick smoke covers the room. Neil covers his mouth with the gown. Sweat drips down his neck. He squeezes his eyes shut and starts slamming his fist against the door. He doesn’t want to be here, he shouldn’t be here, but he did this to himself. The fire doesn’t haunt Neil because it was an over the top, insane experience that permanently scarred him. It haunts him because, in this dark, back alley of his mind, he wishes the on-site firefighters (who happened to be inspecting something completely different) hadn’t pulled him out of the fire. Ten months and nine days until he was released after that day, including the days in surgery. It launches Neil into a panic whenever he sees 109 across the street on a mailbox, on a baseball player’s back, anywhere where it could be lurking. Neil wonders if he ever truly left the flames calling to him in sonorous voices. He questions, as the flames rise and grab at his feet, if the Burning Room is meant to be his real home. 

Neil jumps at the banging coming from the other side of the black door. Unsure of what to do, Neil braces himself, falling back to the flames, the only familiarity now present, licking at his large burn mark underneath the gown. His right side is hot to the touch while he coughs uncontrollably from the amount of smoke building up in the room. The door’s sturdy hinges loosen with each loud thump. Neil ducks out of the way when the door is sent flying into the fire once the lock is broken. A darkness with no end lies beyond the open frame, along with a set of red eyes boring into his poor excuse of a soul. The shadows come alive. A figure walks into the Burning Room, dusting off his parka. The hair, the shirt, the look on his face, it’s unmistakable. 

"Scott?” Neil asks. The figure shakes his head. On second thought, it would make sense. When he grins at Neil, fangs protrude from his teeth. His gray shirt has the same heart and “SP” Scott had on his green one, but backwards. The parka hangs down to his thighs, with black jeans covering up the rest of his body. On his ears, two circular loops are pinched to the top of his ear, while a small button is lodged into the earlobe. A black collar with silver spikes is snug on his neck. His skin looks as if it has walked through smoke and ash hundreds of times over. The eyes scare Neil the most. There's evil lying behind them, a downward spiral of anger and hate. “Weird. You still look just like him.” Neil looks down to see that his hospital gown has caught on fire. “Oh. That sucks.” The supposedly-not-Scott rips the gown with a swipe of his claws and lets it fall, leaving Neil completely nude and at the mercy of the flames. He’s so confused by the presence of another person in his dreams that it doesn’t seem to bother him. Before Neil could say anything else, the imposter grabs his arm and leads him out of the Burning Room to the darkness. They walk for some time until Neil can’t smell the smoke. The place he was trapped in is now a mere speck of flickering light on the horizon, just like himself. Even though there’s no light, Neil can see the imposter without any problem. “Who are you?” Neil tries again. Still he gets no response. The shadow Scott crouches down and runs a finger against Neil’s burn mark. His skin, still hot, gets goosebumps from the ice-cold touch tracing up his right ankle, then his thigh, and then to his waist. It ends right above his waist with the poorly drawn “picture” of a mountain range. The weed he smokes every day helps block out the shame thrashing and burning in Neil’s head whenever the burn mark flares up. Meanwhile, the imposter’s touch numbs the pain, perhaps even soothing it.

“Does this mean we can make out?” “I don’t think your pillow gave its consent for that, Neil. Hey, Fruit Loops or Lucky Charms with a banana for breakfast? I’m going to the store today so we don’t have to sink as low as Scott did with his meals.” Stephen Stills is at the door to Neil’s room, doing his routine morning stretches. Thank god they don’t have to share a bed like Wallace and Scott; Neil is always thankful to Stephen for allowing him to crash at his lovely abode when he’s not at college. 

“Oh. I’m awake.” Neil stares at the ceiling, debating whether to hit a joint or not for the rest of the morning. “Lucky Charms.” “You got it, Neil.” Once Stephen knocks on the door and leaves, Neil closes the door to use the mirror attached to it. He lifts his shirt, examining the burn mark under it. When he touches it, it feels like snow has been rubbed against it. The cold touch is still there. Neil shivers. He rubs his burnt side. 

“Who are you?” Neil can’t decide whether the question is aimed at the Scott that is everything Scott isn’t or himself. 

[the-pacifier]

U.S. Navy SEAL Lieutenant Shane Wolfe is assigned to rescue Howard Plummer, a man working on a top-secret government project, from a group of Serbian rebels. Shane and his team successfully get Plummer off an enemy boat. However, while boarding the helicopter to escape, the team is attacked by the enemy. Plummer is killed, and Shane spends two months in the hospital. At the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland Shane's commanding officer, Captain Bill Fawcett, explains that he has been assigned to escort Plummer's widow, Julie, to Zürich, where Plummer's safety deposit box has been discovered to retrieve the contents. Meanwhile, Shane has been assigned to stay at the Plummer residence in Bethesda, to search for the secret project called GHOST and look after the family's five children: Zoe, Seth, Lulu, Peter, and baby Tyler. The kids prove to be difficult to handle, even with the help of nanny Helga, who quits when one of Zoe and Seth's pranks intended for Shane goes wrong. Shane eventually begins to discover the children's problems and resolve them, gaining their trust after saving them when their house was attacked by ninjas.

Later, the school's vice principal, Duane Murney, informs Shane that Seth has cut and dyed his hair, has a Nazi armband in his locker, and has skipped every wrestling practice for a month. At home, Seth tells Shane he only joined the wrestling team because of his father. After Seth sneaks out of the house, Shane follows him to the town theater, where he learns that Seth has secretly joined an amateur production of The Sound of Music. The director quits as he believes the show will be a failure. Shane volunteers to take charge of the show, take care of the house, give Zoe driving lessons in the family minivan and teach Lulu and her fellow Firefly Scouts martial arts to defend themselves against rival boy scouts.

As Seth quits the wrestling team, Shane challenges Murney to a wrestling match in front of the entire school, which he easily wins despite Murney's show of bluster. The Firefly Scouts uses the skill Shane taught to beat the rival boy scouts. Zoe and Shane share stories of their fathers, both of whom died in similar circumstances. They are interrupted by a phone call from Julie, who has figured out the password "My Angel", retrieved a two-prong key from the box and is on her way home. The kids immediately plan a "Welcome Home" party. That evening, Shane discovers a secret vault underneath the garage, which requires exactly the type of key that Julie and Bill retrieved to open. When Bill and Julie arrive home, he and Shane go to the garage, where Shane says he is rethinking his career. Two armed ninjas arrive and pull off their masks, revealing themselves as the Chuns - the Plummers' North Korean neighbors. Suddenly, Bill knocks out Shane, revealing himself to be a double agent. Mr. Chun binds, gags, and guards the children while Bill and Mrs. Chun take Julie down to the vault. They open the door, but a dangerous security system prevents them from proceeding.

The children escape and awake Shane, who sends the kids to get the police while he goes to the vault to help Julie. Mr. Chun follows them in Bill's car. With Zoe at the wheel, the kids force him to crash. Shane gets past the security system using the dance Howard had used to make Peter go to sleep each night. Julie knocks out Mrs. Chun, and Shane's voice activates the final vault, knocking out Bill with the door. By then, the children have lured a large crowd of police to the house. Mr. Chun arrives and holds all of them at gunpoint. Shane notices the school principal and his love interest Claire Fletcher right behind him, having followed the chase when she saw it pass by the school. Shane distracts Mr. Chun with the help of Mr. Plummer's family pet duck Gary, and Claire knocks him unconscious.

With Bill and the Chuns arrested, Shane and the Plummers say their goodbyes, and Shane and Claire kiss. At Seth's performance, it is revealed that Shane has retired from the Navy and joined the school staff as the new wrestling coach. Murney, dressed as a nun, also performs in the play, singing "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" off-key.

[mrcrowblargs]

Act 3 SO MANY SIDEQUESTS... I kinda feel like I'm treading water in regards to the plot but it's still fun. And so is sitting on the Book Throne

I love cheeky bits like this

Spoilers under cut!

Clowning around

Finishing the toys sidequest was so bugged, I had to do the fight like 3 times because I kept getting friggin arrested aaaa

Astarion stranded on a roof like the scared feral kitty he is

Sure I'll just lockpick the vault--nevermind. I was highly amused at lockpicking all the smaller vaults beyond, and the bank director being like "WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? Oh what's the point do whatever you fucking want. Might as well give you the keys" lmao

Meeting Araj again. Good seeing Astarion stand up for himself now! And Aldrich. I did not take up her offer.

Looted this Elegant Armour from the vaults, I prefer the Dark Justiciar armour in appearance but can't deny the freaking vampire collar on this one is fitting for Astarion lmao

I wanted to do the Avenge the Drowned quest to get the Wavemother's Robe but seems that's gonna run into some big plot stuff soooooo I slept on it and got attacked by Astarion's siblings at night yay! The battle was definitely helped along by that Daylight is now actual sunlight!!!! but christ I nearly roasted them because I thought the spell would be concentration and could end it if they got under 20... I just got lucky and managed to do them in with melee attacks.

Aaannnd then it's into Cazador's mansion. it's creeping me out! I explored the top areas and its just.... too easy. It's neat getting Astarion's like, tour of the place. His voice actor is so good, just like, little bits of fear breaking through his voice when he's talking.

Vampire Spawn of the Year Awards lmao. Found another diary that referred to Astarion as a "brat" so I guess he might've acted out a lot or just been a diva even under Cazador's thrall. He has said he was Cazador's "favourite" and his siblings would suffer more without him taking Cazador's attention. Siblings mostly seem in awe that he got out, and urge him to stay out. Buuuut he wants revenge, and he wants the ritual even at the cost of his siblings.

I left off at the elevator, part of me is tempted to leave to get a long rest in, the other part wants to stay and do it one go like a proper dungeon crawl. And I guess treating the situation urgent... they say the ascension will be tonight, Astarion is a missing piece but there was a journal saying Cazador attempted a backup piece or something so better get down there!

[harryfeatgaga]

i think the circus themed video will stay hidden in the vault with the lights up directors cut :(

WHY WOULD YOU SPEAK

[demifiendrsa]

Sony Interactive Entertainment has unveiled a first look at the lineup of games that will be available on the new PlayStation Plus, which will launch on May 23, 2022 in Asian markets excluding Japan, June 1, 2022 in Japan, June 13, 2022 in the Americas, and June 22, 2022 in Europe.

Titles available on the service may vary by local market, and some may not be available to stream until after launch (but will be available to download and play).

Latest details

■ Monthly Games

Available with PlayStation Plus Essential, Extra, and Premium / Deluxe.

In any PlayStation Plus plan you choose, you’ll get the same benefits that are currently available today for PlayStation Plus members. We have yet to announce the monthly games for June, but stay tuned to PlayStation Blog.

■ PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 Titles

Available with PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium / Deluxe.

We’re focused on adding high-quality titles into the PlayStation Plus service for players to enjoy. We’re pleased to share a selection of the content that will be available for PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium / Deluxe plans.

PlayStation.com will be updated with the game list when it launches in your region.

PlayStation Studios Titles

*PlayStation 5

Death Stranding Director’s Cut (Kojima Productions)

Demon’s Souls (Bluepoint Games)

Destruction AllStars (Lucid Games)

Ghost Of Tsushima Director’s Cut (Sucker Punch)

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Insomniac Games)

Returnal (Housemarque)

*PlayStation 4

Alienation (Housemarque)

Bloodborne (FromSoftware)

Concrete Genie (Pixelopus)

Days Gone (Bend Studio)

Dead Nation Apocalypse Edition (Housemarque)

Death Stranding (Kojima Productions)

Everybody’s Golf (JAPAN Studio)

Ghost Of Tsushima Director’s Cut (Sucker Punch)

God of War (Santa Monica Studio)

Gravity Rush 2 (JAPAN Studio)

Gravity Rush Remastered (JAPAN Studio)

Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games)

inFAMOUS: First Light (Sucker Punch)

inFAMOUS: Second Son (Sucker Punch)

Knack (Japan Studio)

LittleBigPlanet 3 (Sumo Digital)

LocoRoco Remastered (Japan Studio)

LocoRoco 2 Remastered (Japan Studio)

Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games)

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Insomniac Games)

Matterfall (Housemarque)

MediEvil (Other Ocean)

Patapon Remastered (JAPAN Studio)

Patapon 2 Remastered (JAPAN Studio)

Resogun (Housemarque)

Shadow of the Colossus (JAPAN Studio)

Tearaway Unfolded (Media Molecule)

The Last Guardian (JAPAN Studio)

The Last of Us Remastered (Naughty Dog)

The Last of Us: Left Behind (Naughty Dog)

Until Dawn (Supermassive Games)

Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection (Naughty Dog)

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog)

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (Naughty Dog)

WipEout Omega Collection (Clever Beans and Creative Vault Studios)

Third-Party Titles

*PlayStation 5

The Artful Escape (Annapurna Interactive)

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Ubisoft)

Control: Ultimate Edition (505 Games)

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Square Enix)

Mortal Kombat 11 (WB Games)

NBA 2K22 (2K Games)

*PlayStation 4

The Artful Escape (Annapurna Interactive)

Ashen (Annapurna Interactive)

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Ubisoft)

Celeste (Maddy Makes Games)

Child of Light (Ubisoft)

Cities: Skylines (Paradox Interactive)

Control: Ultimate Edition (505 Games)

The Crew 2 (Ubisoft)

Dead Cells (Motion Twin)

Far Cry 3 Remastered (Ubisoft)

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (Ubisoft)

Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft)

Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition (Square Enix)

For Honor (Ubisoft)

Hollow Knight (Team Cherry)

Legendary Fishing (Ubisoft)

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Square Enix)

Mortal Kombat 11 (WB Games)

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 (Bandai Namco Entertainment)

NBA 2K22 (2K Games)

Outer Wilds (Annapurna Interactive)

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Risk: Urban Assault (Ubisoft)

Resident Evil (Capcom)

Soulcalibur VI (Bandai Namco Entertainment)

South Park: The Fractured but Whole (Ubisoft)

South Park: The Stick of Truth (Ubisoft)

Starlink: Battle for Atlas (Ubisoft)

STEEP (Ubisoft)

The Crew (Ubisoft)

The Division (Ubisoft)

Trackmania Turbo (Ubisoft)

Transference (Ubisoft)

Trials Fusion

Trials of the Blood Dragon (Ubisoft)

Trials Rising (Ubisoft)

Valiant Hearts: The Great War (Ubisoft)

Watch Dogs (Ubisoft)

ZOMBI (Ubisoft)

*PlayStation VR

Eagle Flight (Ubisoft)

Space Junkie (Ubisoft)

Star Trek: Bridge Crew (Ubisoft)

Werewolves Within (Ubisoft)

(Ubisoft titles are available as part of Ubisoft+ Classics, a curated selection of popular and classic titles for PlayStation Plus. It will launch with 27 titles and grow to 50 titles by the end of 2022.)

■ Classic Games Catalog Titles

Available with PlayStation Plus Premium / Deluxe.

PlayStation Plus Premium / Deluxe members will have a selection of popular classic games to play, with some titles that will show improved frame rates and higher-quality resolution compared to their original launch versions. For select original PlayStation and PSP classic games, members will also enjoy a new user interface with menus that allow you to save your game at any time, or even rewind the game if you want a do-over.

Also, players who have previously purchased the digital version of games from the original PlayStation and PSP generation will not have to make a separate purchase or sign up to PlayStation Plus to play these titles on PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5. When these titles are released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, players can head to PlayStation Store and download a version for the consoles at no extra cost if they already own the digital version of the title. Some of the titles will also be available for individual purchase.

Additionally, some remastered classics from previous console generations will be added to the PlayStation Plus Premium / Deluxe plan. Below is an early look at a selection of games that will be available.

PlayStation Studios Titles

*PlayStation

Ape Escape (JAPAN Studio)

Hot Shots Golf (JAPAN Studio)

I.Q. Intelligent Qube (JAPAN Studio)

Jumping Flash! (JAPAN Studio)

Syphon Filter (Bend Studio)

*PlayStation 2

Ape Escape 2 (JAPAN Studio)

Arc The Lad: Twilight of the Spirits (JAPAN Studio)

Dark Cloud (JAPAN Studio)

Dark Cloud 2 (JAPAN Studio)

FantaVision (SIE)

Hot Shots Tennis (JAPAN Studio)

Jak II (Naughty Dog)

Jak 3 (Naughty Dog)

Jak X: Combat Racing (Naughty Dog)

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (Naughty Dog)

Rogue Galaxy (JAPAN Studio)

Siren (JAPAN Studio)

Wild Arms 3 (SIE)

*PSP

Super Stardust Portable (Housemarque)

Third-Party Titles

*PlayStation

Mr. Driller (Bandai Namco Entertainment)

Tekken 2 (Bandai Namco Entertainment)

Worms World Party (Bandai Namco Entertainment)

Worms Armageddon (Bandai Namco Entertainment)

*PlayStation 4 Remasters

Baja: Edge of Control HD (THQ Nordic)

Bioshock Remastered (2K Games)

Borderlands: The Handsome Collection (2K Games)

Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition (Gearbox Publishing)

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning (THQ Nordic)

LEGO Harry Potter Collection (WB Games)

■ PlayStation 3 Titles (via Streaming)

Available with PlayStation Plus Premium.

The new PlayStation Plus will offer PlayStation 3 games to stream and play on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. These are original, non-remastered versions of PlayStation 3 games and are available to PlayStation Plus Premium members where cloud streaming is available.

Here is an early look at the selection of original PlayStation 3 games available.

PlayStation Studios Titles

Crash Commando (Creative Vault Studios)

Demon’s Souls (From Software)

echochrome (JAPAN Studio)

Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds (JAPAN Studio)

Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational (JAPAN Studio)

Ico (JAPAN Studio)

inFAMOUS (Sucker Punch)

inFAMOUS 2 (Sucker Punch)

inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood (Sucker Punch)

LocoRoco Cocoreccho! (JAPAN Studio)

MotorStorm Apocalypse (Evolution Studios)

MotorStorm RC (Evolution Studios)

Puppeteer (JAPAN Studio)

rain (JAPAN Studio)

Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty (Insomniac Games)

Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time (Insomniac Games)

Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus (Insomniac Games)

Resistance 3 (Insomniac Games)

Super Stardust HD (Housemarque)

Tokyo Jungle (JAPAN Studio)

When Vikings Attack (Clever Beans)

Third-Party Titles

Asura’s Wrath (Capcom)

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (Konami)

Devil May Cry HD Collection (Capcom)

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (Bandai Namco Entertainment)

F.E.A.R. (WB Games)

Lost Planet 2 (Capcom)

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (Koei Tecmo Entertainment)

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare (Rockstar Games)

■ Time-Limited Game Trials

Available with PlayStation Plus Premium / Deluxe.

The time-limited game trial benefit will enable you to try select games before you buy. After downloading a trial of the full game, you can play it for two hours for most games—the playtime counter only counts while you are in the game. It’s a great way to try games before you decide to buy, and any trophies and game save data from the trial period will carry-forward if you purchase the game.

Here are some of the titles that will be part of the time-limited game trials.

PlayStation Studios Titles

*PlayStation 5

Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games)

Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection (Naughty Dog)

*PlayStation 4

Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games)

Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection (Naughty Dog)

Third-Party Titles

*PlayStation 5

Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt RED)

Farming Simulator 22 (Giants Software)

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands (2K Games)

WWE 2K22 (2K Games)

*PlayStation 4

Farming Simulator 22 (Giants Software)

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands (2K Games)

WWE 2K22 (2K Games)

New Games Added Regularly

The games available in our PlayStation Plus games catalog will continue to refresh and evolve over time, so there is always something new to play.

PlayStation Plus Essential – A monthly refresh will occur on the first Tuesday of the month for the PlayStation Plus Essential plan (and both higher tiers), with new PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games added to the service—same as what PlayStation Plus members get today.

PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium / Deluxe – An additional monthly refresh will occur in the middle of each month with new games across the PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium/Deluxe plans. The number of games refreshed will vary per month.

Trailer

[sparkledfirecracker]

For writer meta asks - 1 & 3 please. 😘

I must compliment you on the talent to pick out the questions with the longest answers 🤣

1. Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

Current projects, do you have a minute? I’m currently working on multiple projects.

Viking Freezy, the second chapter is written, but I’ve handed it over to a mutual to be mean and give me a brutal opinion as I feel like it’s missing something. Freezy is horrible and reader has been picked out to marry him, but her heart is with Curtis. I love this story, because all the rage I’ve felt during a particular period of time is pumped into this short series (5 chapters total when I finish it). It’s difficult going back to it, but it’s almost finished on paper, just needs editing.

Mob Freezy, I’m late to my own challenge, what else is new 🤣. He’s a little softer and he’s set his eyes and mind on something he can’t have. Of course he doesn’t listen and we’ll have to find out if his cousin won’t hang him up in his own warehouse. What don’t I love about this story? It brought me one of my closest online friendships when one door closed and another opened. Teacup and Freezy would’ve never seen the light of day of it wasn’t for @wakingbeauty. He’s soft, mean, cute and possessive. I truly love it, plus he’s part of the family of mayhem, which makes things even more interesting 😆

Another challenge entry, also late, but I had good reason for this one. Diner!Bucky, it’s almost finished, I just need to write out the smut. I don’t want to say too many things about this one, as I want most of it to be a surprise, but I can admit that @rebel-stardust will be popping my Bucky Barnes cherry with this story. I’m terrified to publish this one as I’ve never written anything for Bucky before. But it’s a wip that deserves daylight, it’s been in my vault of wips for over a year now and finally gained purpose because of a challenge.

Resort CEO Andy, the first chapter is also almost finished and for the first time in a very long time I’m going to make a deadline for a challenge. He’s the director/CEO of the fitness resort and he’s got his work cut out for him with the rugrats working for him. We’ve already met Curtis and Johnny thank to @chase-your-dreams-away. But we’ll find out what Andy does on and off business hours himself soon.

A cheesy Jake Jensen story, also another that needs finishing for my own challenge 🤣. Jake is obsessed with reader and is a total geek about it too and reader loves to play games with him. There’s nothing Jake wouldn’t do for her. Colin had to take one for the team and be mean, but it had to happen otherwise Jake wouldn’t get his shot.

The last one is something I hopefully can do and start posting this year during December. It’s a fun way of celebrating my birthday month, but I’m not revealing what it is yet, as I might have to hold on to it for another year. The process is long and I’m struggling with coming up with a few things 🤣.

Mean!Lloyd who is a Harvard Football player, he’s absolutely despicable. It’s an enemies staying enemies story, no happy ending on the romance front. Mean was my monthly theme this month, but I’m loving where it’s going. Just need to finish editing the intro to the story and sort out the sloppy blowjob and steamy live stream in order for it to be finished.

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

There are two scenes for my Family Affairs series. It’s a brutal torture scene and a drug bust, I have it in mind, and I’ve attempted to write one of those, but it’s fighting me. There’s so many elements and people in these scenes it’s hard to figure out who goes where and why.

So naturally I’m resorting to watching The Sopranos, The Godfather, Sons of Anarchy, Mayans M.C., Goodfellas, Mickey Blue Eyes, etc. to give me some inspiration.

[mel-the-fangirl]

Wildest Dreams

Henry Cavill x Reader (inspired by the Taylor Swift song and music video)

Part Two: The Grand Illusion

Words: 2,418

Hey Cavillry! Sorry this took so long, I just have so many ideas and it’s not exactly the best idea to start them all at the same time, huh? Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this part, don’t forget to read part one! Also, side note, I finished Night Hunter and I reaaaaally enjoyed it, I think I’ll be writing a Walter fic in the near future??

fic taglist: @andromedasstarship​, @januarystears​, @inlovewithhisblueeyes​, @legendarywizarddetective, @summersong69​

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"Cut! Beautiful work!" your director, John, rose from his seat and turned to you, "Miss Producer, what do you say? Can we pack up and finally see our families?" 

"You know what, Johnny?" you surveyed the tired faces of the crew and smiled at them, "Let's go home." 

Hats were thrown into the air and cheers erupted throughout your crew. Months of ungodly call times and extremely close encounters with the savanna’s more untamed residents have finally come to an end.

“Before we go,” you stepped on top of a crate to address everyone, “I’d like to say a few words. Thank you to everyone who has been present throughout the past months…”

Henry watched you from afar, leaning on one of the transport vehicles with his arms crossed. It wasn’t a secret that the two of you had formed a relationship during your time there. Nights spent in each other’s rooms, hands in your hair, clothes strewn on the floor, whispered conversations about dreams unrealised.

It was dangerous, how much he felt for you. Just seeing you now, commanding the room with the kind of charisma and charm only you had, a pang settled in his heart. But he couldn’t dwell on it for long.

You squealed giddily and propelled yourself into Henry's strong arms. Never have you seen anyone look so ruggedly handsome in just a t-shirt and safari pants.

Your thumb caressed his stubbled cheek and pressed a tender kiss onto his lips, one that wasn't for the cameras.

They could write pages and pages of love songs based on the way he looked at you and that alone. You flourished underneath his loving gaze, feeling like you were walking on air.

"Go on and get dressed, darling. I've got one last surprise before we go home." he kissed you once more, winked, then returned to his trailer

Your cheeks were sufficiently flushed. Before we go home he said. 

Did he mean it that way? Surely he didn’t. It hadn’t even crossed your mind how things would be like when you returned to America, was it so terrible that you were imagining houses with white picket fences?

Goodness, this was nothing like you. You straightened your blouse and marched over to your own trailer, trying to shake it off.

A few outfit deliberations later, you settled on a lovely pale blue palazzo jumpsuit, a matching headscarf, your signature white oval-framed sunglasses which you made popular, as far as you were concerned, and vibrant red lipstick.

You met Henry in a clearing not too far away from where you were staying. 

"Well, well!" you marveled at the imposing aircraft in the middle of the field and you marveled even more intently at your handsome pilot,

"Just how did you manage this?"

He scooped you up in his arms and you decided that from then on, your favourite scent and view would be Henry in his leather aviator jacket. 

"Darling, I figure I can manage just about anything just as long as it's for you."

“You flatter me, Mr. Cavill.”

Henry stepped away from you, propped a foot up on the little lift and held a hand out for you to take, “Shall we, gorgeous?”

“We shall.” you took his hand and let him help you into your seat

“Ready?” Henry asked from his seat behind you, rubbing your shoulder with a gloved hand

You placed your hand on his and shot a thumbs up in the air, enthusiastic as ever.

“That’s my girl.” he chuckled, guiding the plane down the makeshift runway

Once safely in the air, you reveled in its warmth caressing your cheeks, the deafening roar of the engines downsized to a somewhat pleasant hum. Would it be inappropriate to shut your eyes for a bit? In an open plane a few hundred feet above ground?

“Y/N, down there! How marvelous!”

The sound of Henry’s voice snapped you back to the present and when you opened your eyes, your breath hitched in your throat.

You supposed flying was something you would never get used to. The clear sky was a shade of blue you couldn’t even begin to comprehend, the clouds were white and wispy and you longed to reach out your hand and feel them.

"Down there, Y/N!" Henry urged you again

Once you did as he said, you realised why.

Below you, racing across the vast, sun-drenched grass was a pack of lions. The joy you felt was indescribable, seeing these powerful creatures roaming free, untouched and undisturbed by human intervention.

"Incredible.” you breathed, looking back at Henry 

Once Henry had landed the plane, rather flawlessly, you'd say, a car was already waiting to bring you to the lodge where he had arranged for you to stay.

“I do admire an organised man.” you complimented breathily, batting your eyelashes at him for theatrics

“Alright, alright.”

His tone was dismissive but you were sure you could see the blush spreading on his cheeks. Henry bent down and swept you off your feet, carrying you bridal-style towards your ride.

"This is just glorious!" you took off your headscarf and shook your hair out as you waltzed around your suite

It was a stark contrast to the suites you usually took up residence in. Gone were the stuffy imitation French furniture and tacky wallpaper, in its place was rich, dark wood you were positive you wouldn't find anywhere else and a clean white canopy bed with cozy earthy neutral toned cushions, you thought everything was simply ethereal, but the cherry on top was undoubtedly the view from your balcony.

You stepped on, the gentle sunlight soaking into your bare feet and filling you with a kind of vigour and appetite for life completely different from the one you felt when you were doing your job. You surveyed the scenery ahead, rays of afternoon sunshine peeking through the tall branches of trees that resembled something from another world.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Henry’s deep voice materialised in your ear, his hands resting on your hips

“Absolutely.” you replied, twirling around to place your lips on his

Heat rose to your cheeks and further down south as your tongues met, quick and electric and delicious, then firmer, more determined. You broke away for a fraction of a second, taking it all in.

If there was anything your life has taught you thus far, it was the heavy handed importance of hard work and resilience, nothing else would get you very far. You didn’t believe in luck.

But as you stood there surrounded by all the beauty nature had to offer, Henry cradling your face with nothing short of devotion and admiration in his eyes, it was hard not to change your mind.

“Henry?”

“Yes?”

“I think I may be falling in love with you.”

He looked absolutely stunned and to be honest, you were as well. This was uncharted territory for you. The number of flirtations and affairs you’ve had throughout your time in Tinseltown was much more than the tabloids could even guess but they were just that and nothing more.

But with Henry?

Before you could even anxiously retract what you had just said in fear of rejection, Henry pulled you towards him and pressed his lips firmly to yours. Somehow, everything he had failed to say was imbued in each searing kiss, each squeeze on your hips.

Nothing much was said for the rest of the day and well into the night.

The morning after, you found yourselves on a nature hike. Having heard from locals of a magnificent waterfall nearby. The pair of you trekked your way through the rocky crest of the waterfall, your finish line was a series of boulders, each one stacked by increasing height. You wanted to get to the biggest one, you were positive the view was spectacular from up there. 

“Darling, are you sure you’d want to-”

“Oh, don’t be such a killjoy, Henry!” you yelled, slipping away from his grasp and vaulting over a rock

“Be careful, Y/N, Jesus!” he yelped, nearly losing his balance

Your laughter cascaded down with the rushing water. You ignored how your muscles were beginning to strain with the effort of climbing each boulder as carefully as you could but you got the job done, overlooking the glittering water below and the surrounding wildlife.

“God, this place is beautiful.” you marveled just as Henry finally joined you at the top

“How in God’s name did you get up here so fast?” Henry panted, placing his hands on his knees in an effort to catch his breath

“Well, maybe all of those muscles are purely for decoration.” you commented, unashamedly appreciating his physique as he glistened with sweat

He arched his brow at you, seemingly perfecting your trademark move. “Oh, is that so?”

You squealed as he hoisted you into his arms, then in a display of strength, lifted you over his shoulder.

“Purely for decoration, eh?” he laughed, descending from the boulder with you still draped over his shoulder

"Put me down this instant!" you chortled, all arms and legs as he waded deeper into the warm water

"Sorry, what was that? I can't hear you." 

"I said, put me down!" you firmly clamped your teeth down on a portion of his back

"Ow! Okay, okay. Hold on."

Henry set you down in the water gently, keeping his hand on your hips, looking at you mirthfully.

"Madame Y/L/N," he tutted, shaking his head, "Did you just bite me? Not very ladylike one would say." 

"Oh, boo hoo." you stuck your tongue out at him

“Getting cheeky are we?” Henry lunged at you, causing water to splash everywhere

You dodged just in time, appearing behind him and lifting yourself onto his back. He secured your legs and began to run as fast as the water would let him.

“Ride, my noble steed! Ride!” you yelled into the wind

There was nothing on the face of this earth that could ever make you feel as you did in that moment ever again, you were sure of it. At that moment, you were the happiest you have ever been in your entire life. That feeling would never be replicated.

You swam and horsed around for as long as your muscles would let you, when they finally ached too much, you found yourselves on the tallest boulder again. The sun had just begun to dip into the horizon, setting the sky ablaze in a million different colours.

No words could even begin to do justice to the miracle before you. Henry held you tighter in his arms and pressed an earnest kiss to your temple, you felt his shoulders fall as he let out a heavy sigh.

“What’s going on in that head of yours?” you asked, turning around to face him

The perfect happiness you felt just seconds before evaporated as you set eyes on his crestfallen expression. You lifted his chin up with a finger and offered him an encouraging smile, “What’s the matter, my love?”

He had no answer for you at first, turning away to gaze pensively at the sunset. All you could do was admire the way the shadows highlighted his strong jawline, you traced over it with your finger.

“Y/N,” Henry began, “Our time here together, it’s been the greatest of my life,”

Oh, thank God. You thought it was going to be something horrible!

“I feel the exact same way, Henry. It’s been heaven.” you reached forward and hugged him with all you had

You expected him to hug you back as he always does, but this time, he detached your arms from him, That’s when you had the sinking feeling that your relief may have been a bit premature.

“Please. I must tell you something. And as I say this, I beg of you to remember how happy we were here, how much we understand each other and enjoy one another’s company.”

Despite the fact that this was the most serious you have ever seen him, you still didn’t catch on to the fact that something was about to go very wrong.

"Now, come on, darling!” you chirped, “It can't be that bad! We can manage anything as long as we're together, can't we?" you stared into his eyes for any hint of reciprocation

When you found none, your heart began to pound against your chest. The silence that followed was unbearable, it was like waiting for your turn at the gallows but when he finally said what he wanted to say, you might have actually preferred the silence.

"I'm engaged to be married. And she is pregnant. With my child."

His words felt like a bucket of ice poured over your bare skin. You shot up and stared at him in utter disbelief. 

“If this is your idea of a joke…” your feeble attempt at denial was met with a shake of his head

He had the audacity to look ashamed. Ashamed! The nerve.

This certainly was not your first brush with a situation like this. It was foolish of you to have thought of this dalliance as different from all the other ones. Men were all the same. It didn’t matter how longingly they looked at you or how many godforsaken times they brushed your hair tenderly from your face, they all wanted the same thing.

Jesus, was it always so damn cold here?

You wrapped your arms tightly around yourself, feeling much too exposed in your bathing suit. Henry stood up and made a move to put his arms around you.

“I’m alright, thank you.” you said curtly, stepping away from him

His arms fell to his sides in an instant and he looked to you pleadingly, “Y/N, please. I never meant to hurt you, it is the last thing I wanted. It isn’t what you think.”

“I think!” you interjected, your voice becoming shrill as the usual string of overused lines flowed from his heavenly mouth. “I think you are quite the actor, Mr. Cavill and it has been a pleasure to see your methods up close.”

With that, you climbed down the rocks as fast as you could without hurting yourself and took off in the direction of your lodge. You ignored Henry calling out your name, you ignored the rough tree branches leaving scratches on your arms, and most of all, you ignored how the illusion of you and Henry shattered into a million pieces.

[tis-archer]

Dangerous Territory

TW: death, blood etc read at your own risk pls

“Drop yours first, Officer,” came the calm voice and Athena’s left eyebrow rose slightly. He clearly wasn’t afraid to die, so she took a shot at him and it ricocheted off of what she assumed was a bulletproof vest. Her eyes widened when they raised their guns and the first man shot one of her officers in the leg. Officer Davis dropped to the ground, screaming and holding onto his now bleeding leg.

“Alright, alright,” said Athena as she placed her gun on the ground and put her hands up, “No one else has to get hurt, okay?”

“That depends entirely on the lot of you, Now, get on the ground,” the man told her and she took a breath, still rooted to her spot.

“Look--”

“Get on the fucking ground!” He shouted and everyone immediately dropped to the floor. Athena followed suit with her hands still up until she was forced harshly down by one of the men. He put his knee in her back and she let out a strangled breath as he crushed her.

“Don’t make me shoot anyone else, Officer. I seriously wanted to do this without any bloodshed but if you push me, I will,” his tone was filled with nothing but venom and tears immediately sprang to Athena’s eyes. She was terrified and the previous man still hadn’t gotten off of her.

A few minutes later, the man got up and she breathed out, her lungs filling with air. She looked over at the terrified faces of her co-workers. She felt sick for bringing them into the bank but the dispatch had assured them that the situation could easily be handled. She didn’t blame the dispatch because no one knew what kind of men were in the bank. Athena just prayed no one else got shot.

Meanwhile, LAFD arrived on the scene after hearing Maddie ask for assistance from Dispatch, saying that none of the officers had checked in. When Station 118 got there, there were dozens of police cars and a SWAT truck on the scene. Bobby immediately walked over to the Director of the FBI with his team behind him.

“Director,” said Bobby as he and his team approached the man and Bobby shook his hand, “Captain Bobby Nash with the 118, how can we help?”

When he heard the man’s last name, Director Simmons looked over at the man with a worried expression on his face. It was clear that Bobby hadn’t been informed that his wife was inside with dangerous gunmen and he really hated to be the bearer of bad news, he didn’t want the fire Captain to go into the building guns-a-blazing.

“Captain,” Simmons started, “You have to promise me that you’ll do your job to the best of your ability despite the circumstances. Because if I can’t trust you to do that, I will make you and your team leave, understood?”

Bobby wanted to argue, to tell the man that he was a professional and he always did his job no matter what. He was a first responder, but instead he nodded, giving the man his word.

“There are about eight officers in there right now, the gunmen don’t seem to be letting them go anytime soon,” he paused, turning his body to fully face Bobby, “Sergeant Grant is among the officers being held hostage.”

Bobby jerked forward a little like he had been pushed from behind, his eyes widened as the breath completely left his lungs. He reached out to grab someone and ended up grabbing Buck’s shoulder to steady himself. His hands started shaking and his lip trembled as he tried his hardest not to cry.

“Wh-what do we do? What do we do?” He asked as he looked at his team. He felt like his heart was being ripped from his chest cavity. His better half, the second half of his soul, the light in his once darkened world was being held at gunpoint and no one was doing anything.

“Captain Nash, right now there is nothing we can do, okay? We have to let this play out. I understand that there is someone in there that you care for but--”

Bobby cut him off with a sharp gasp, “She’s not just someone I care for, Director. Athena is my everything, she is my wife, the love of my life. I don’t--what are we supposed to do? Because we can’t just sit here, we can’t just wait.”

“With all due respect, I have been through this a hundred times. We can’t go in there shooting them, one of the officers could be shot. We don’t know how dangerous they are yet and until we get a better understanding of what we’re dealing with, you need to stand down.”

Bobby breathed out, “But--”

“Stand. Down,” Simmons emphasized and walked away from Bobby to speak to the SWAT director.

In the bank, Athena and her officers had each been handcuffed side by side to the nearby poles that separated the lines. The metal was digging into Athena’s wrists, forcing tears to drip from her eyes as she looked towards the doors. Her thoughts went to her children, her beautiful children that still needed their mother, then she thought of Bobby, her wonderful husband who would for sure fall off the wagon without her. She wanted to believe that he was stronger than she gave him credit for and he was, but he continuously told her that he wouldn’t be alive without her, that he wouldn’t be able to go on if he lost her. She didn’t know what to do, for the first time in her entire 30 year career, she didn’t know how to get out of this one.

“Listen!” one of her officers shouted, Officer Jefferson.

“Jefferson,” Athena hissed, “Shut up!”

“There are probably hundreds of officers out there, alright? They aren’t gonna let you get away with this!” his voice was shaky, he was scared.

“Jefferson, please, for the love of God, shut the hell up!” Athena’s voice cracked slightly as she shouted at the man she’d known for a few years.

“I’d listen to her, Jefferson,” said the leader.

Jefferson shook his head, “No! You can’t just keep us here! You won’t get away with this so just let us go--” he was silenced for good by a single shot to the back of his head. Blood splattered across Athena’s face as she flinched. Jefferson was sitting right next to her, causing her face to be covered in the thick red liquid. She faintly heard the screams of the others as Jefferson’s body slumped forward. She couldn’t scream, or move, she was stuck in her spot.

Outside, everyone heard the gunshot, causing Bobby to try to race into the bank but Hen, Eddie, Chimney and Buck forced him backwards as tears ran down his cheeks. He kept fighting them, screaming for them to let him go but they had a tight grip on him, not wanting to lose their Captain to stupidity. None of them would ever know how he felt in that moment and they never wanted to but they knew what Athena would want, so they held onto him.

“Bobby, you cannot go in there!” Hen shouted, “You know that!”

“He-Hen, Athena is in there… she’s… the gunshot… Athena is in there!”

Hen wrapped her arms around Bobby’s shoulders, “I know, Bobby. I know but going in there right now will get her killed so please, just stay right here with me. Athena isn’t going to die, she is smart and resilient. She’s gonna make it back to you and the kids, but she can’t do that if you get hurt.”

Bobby finally calmed down as he turned his head to look at his wife’s best friend. Hen knew Athena, knew the Athena she was before he met her, so he’d listen to her because Henrietta Wilson always had their best interests at heart. He wrapped his arms around his friend who squeezed him in response.

“I don’t want her to die, Hen,” he whispered and she kissed the top of his head.

“Me neither,” she whispered back.

“Now,” said the leader, “Anyone else wanna eat a bullet?” He asked and no one replied, “Great,” he turned to his team as they discussed escape routes and how they’d get away with all the money from the vault.

With their backs turned, Athena allowed herself to cry. She looked at Jefferson’s still body and she wanted to throw up. She had told him, begged him to stop talking but she hated herself for not being able to do more. For getting them stuck there in the first place.

Simmons and the director of the SWAT team finally came up with a plan to extract the officers from inside and end this whole thing. They discussed sending a team through the opening in the roof, sending a team in through the back, and having a team surround the front. They instructed the other police officers to follow a team to a location, calling for two helicopters in case they tried to escape. He told the two fire stations to be ready in case anyone inside was hurt.

“Director,” Bobby called, walking over to speak to the man in private, “I know seeing me break down probably wasn’t a very good first impression.”

Simmons snorted, “You’re going through a lot, Bobby. I get it.”

Bobby nodded slowly, “I want to go in with a team.”

Simmons raised an eyebrow, “Excuse me?”

Bobby took a deep breath and released it through his nose, “I know I’m not trained for stuff like this, I get that. But, Athena is my wife, Director. She is the reason I’m still breathing and I need my face to be the one she sees first. I can do this, just let me. Let me save her.”

Simmons had serious reservations, it was against the rules, the law even. He didn’t know why Bobby would ask to do such a ridiculous thing but he thought back to his own wife and kids and he knew that at the end of everyday, Bobby was just a man, a husband, a father, a friend. He was more than just a Captain or a co-worker. He had heard a lot of Athena, how great of an officer she was, how talented and steadfast. He heard many stories of her over the years and knew she was one the world couldn’t lose.

“Alright,” said Simmons and Bobby’s eyes widened in surprise. Simmons pointed a finger at him, “But you stick very close to a SWAT member. Don’t you go off trying to be your own hero. You wanna get Sergeant Grant out of there alive, listen to everything they say.”

Bobby thanked him, tears gathering in his eyes. He went to walk away when Simmons grabbed his arm, stopping him.

“Don’t you dare make me regret this, Nash.”

Bobby nodded and went to join a team.

Athena never regretted much in her life, except what happened to Emmitt Washington, but in that moment she regretted not telling her family how much she loved them, how much they meant to her. She regretted not telling Henrietta and Michael that she appreciated their friendship, telling Buck that she admired his strength, telling Eddie he was doing an amazing job raising Christopher, and telling Chimney and Maddie that she was proud of how much they’d grown together. She regretted not always jumping into her husband’s arms with her legs around his waist and kissing him like it was the last time. For all she knew last night was the last time. She closed her eyes and prayed.

Athena’s eyes snapped open when she heard a choking noise and she looked over to see Officer Garcia being choked by a different gunman. Officer Garcia was one of the youngest people there, she had a two year old daughter and a husband at home. Athena felt her heart drop into her stomach.

“No!” She shouted without thinking, “Stop it, don’t hurt her!”

The man stopped and everyone looked at her.

“She’s just a kid,” Athena said, her voice cracking so she cleared her throat, “You’ve already killed one of us, please just leave her alone.”

The man who had been choking Garcia rushed over to her and grabbed her by the hair at the back of her head and yanked her head back so that her face was tilted up to his, causing Athena to whimper slightly at the pain.

“I’ve had about enough of you, bitch!” He shouted, “You say one more thing and you’ll regret it!”

Athena looked at his face and hated the burning of tears at the back of her eyes from him tugging so harshly at her hair, “You can do whatever you want to me,” she managed to get out, “Just leave the rest of them alone.”

“Oh, how noble. Just for that I’m gonna kill another one.”

He let her go and stood up as she shouted at him, trying to grab at his ankle but he turned and kicked her in the side of the head, causing her to fall over onto her side, the cuffs slicing deeper into her skin. She saw stars and then she heard the sound of a gunshot and a few screams. Tears flew down her face but she didn’t have the strength to get up and see who had just been murdered. She remained on the ground, silently praying that God would have mercy on her and they’d just kill her.

“This is the police! Let those officers go and come out with your hands up!”

“Fuck!” the leader exclaimed, “We need that extraction van, now!” The others raced around the bank while the officers felt hope swelling in their chests. Officer Garcia looked over at her Sergeant, who was still laying on the ground and she wasn’t moving.

“We won’t ask again!”

Next thing anyone knew, smoke bombs exploded in the room and all anyone saw was white smoke. They all coughed as SWAT members came up to them, snapping their cuffs off. Silencers went off and bodies dropped as the gunmen were being overpowered. Bobby fought his way through the smoke in search of his wife. He stumbled into Officer Rose who looked at him with wide eyes.

“You have to save, Athena! She’s over there!” The woman pointed to a figure laying on the ground. Bobby rushed over to her and saw the blood on her face.

“Oh my God, Athena! Athena, can you hear me?” He was slapping her cheeks but her eyes wouldn’t open. He prayed hard in his head to the highest being that his wife would be okay. He put one arm underneath her legs and the other across waist as he lifted her in his arms. Athena’s head lolled to the side as she groaned and her eyes slowly opened. Soon, she was staring into her husband’s terrified face.

“Bobby, you came for me,” she whispered before she went limp in his arms. Bobby ran out the exact way they came, making sure that the SWAT could handle the rest on their own. He ran around to the front, screaming that he needed help. He told them that he didn’t know where the blood was coming from as they placed her on a gurney. He hopped in the back of the ambulance, keeping his eyes on his wife while holding her hand. He felt like he couldn’t breathe, like he was under water but she needed him to be strong, he knew that.

A few hours later, Athena groaned and Bobby’s head snapped up to look at her. She tried to move but felt strong hands push her gently onto the bed.

“Relax, baby, you’re okay. You’re safe now,” came Bobby’s voice and Athena’s eyes flew open. She looked over at her husband and burst into tears. Bobby quickly joined her on the bed and held her as she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. She was sobbing into his shirt, soaking the front with her tears.

“I thought I was gonna die,” she said and her voice cracked, breaking Bobby’s heart, “They killed him!” She cried, “They shot him right in front of me and I-I couldn’t…” she let out a shaky breath.

“Shhh,” Bobby said soothingly while rubbing her back, “You need to rest, Athena. I promise I’ll be here when you wake up and we can talk about anything you need to. For now, close your eyes and rest.”

A few seconds rolled by before she responded, “Will you still hold me?” Her small voice asked and he kissed her forehead for a few seconds before tears gathered in his eyes.

“I will hold you until my last breath, baby. I love you so much.”

She took a breath, breathing in his scent and letting it surround her, “I love you,” she whispered, “Thanks for coming to get me.”

Bobby placed his hand on her beating heart as tears rolled down his face. He looked up to the ceiling silently thanking whomever was listening that the love of his life was safe, “Always.”

[cristobalrios]

//I told @procrastinatorproject I would type up the transcript for the La Sirena segment of the Set Me Up special feature on the Picard DVD since it’s not out yet in other countries besides the US, so here it is. Since Tumblr doesn’t like links much for showing up in the tags, I’ll link in a reblog to the post I had of some crappy pictures (taken from my phone because I couldn’t screencap the proper way) as well as the longer conversation we had about some of it. I’ll try to get some other screencaps (on my phone still, unfortunately) later. A lot of the information is similar to and occasionally word-for-word what is in the “Take a Tour of La Sirena” video, there is a bit more information there, so. The transcript is under the cut:

For @mappinglasirena

Transcript for the La Sirena Segment for the Set Me Up Special Feature on the Third Disc of the Star Trek: Picard Season 1 Blu-ray

Told by Todd Cherniawsky (Production Designer)

Introduction:

“The design and build of La Sirena, first off, was quite fast-tracked because we were waiting for the hard definitions of what the ship needed to encompass for the whole season, as far as the space requirements. Who would have staterooms? Would we need an engine room? Was there a medlab? Was there a science lab? Where did they eat? We knew we would need all of, or a combination of some of those spaces. So very early on, we pushed the idea that we build La Sirena almost like a warehouse; A warehouse inside a sound stage. So this two-story undefined spaceship was nothing but open hull.”

Upper Deck

Engine room/transporter room/main open space on the Upper Deck:

“We’re here in the belly, in the central, kind of, vault of La Sirena [Showing the large open space on the Upper Deck with the transporter pad and the engine]. Essentially, it evolved like you would with any kind of cargo ship, is that we started to retrofit it with certain bits of Federation technology. So the holo-stateroom that Picard stays in, Rios’s stateroom, all the other staterooms and his ready room [Showing the conference room-like area he calls the “ready room” where Raffi and Rios talk to Narek in Et In Arcadia Ego Part II], are all kind of Federation technology, basically Federation containers, staterooms that he’s essentially kludged back into an otherwise open warehouse ship.

Warp core [Pointing to the circler display of the warp core towards the back]. The idea was to try to bring some type of lighting effect that would reflect the state of the ship’s speed and power. So, working with Phil Lanyon (the director of photography), very closely, to come up with a lighting instrument that was very helpful for his lighting crew that provided everything that he needed to color temperature, etc., and then we integrated it into the set. And eventually, this becomes a bit of a focus for a handful of scenes.”

Lighting:

“I mean, we have close to 500 lighting fixtures spread out over the entire ship. And everything’s on the dimmer board. So there’s a lot of quick flexibility. It’s not to say that specials don’t need to be brought out occasionally, but for the most part, everything can be done with all available built-in lighting.”

Bridge/“Flight Deck”:

“La Sirena’s flight deck consists of three main seats, like very traditional, kind of Federation issue vehicle. There’s a captain, NavCom, weapons/pilot. Then we’ve retrofitted through the season two additional standing terminals that would also act as kind of ancillary weapons or engineering systems. By the end of the season, we added two more chairs to accommodate the full ensemble.”

Lower Deck

Sickbay/Science Lab, called the Medbay/Science Lab:

“We’re on the underside of La Sirena, on the lower level. In the lab, medbay, this set is pretty much like Swiss cheese, but because of the structural need of having a lot of steel, carrying the larger deck up above, everything wilds out (“Wild Wall” – a movable wall designed and built into the set that is removed for shooting) in a kind of difficult way. So having all the built-in lighting allows us to not have to wild the walls very often and keep moving very, very fast.”

Mess Hall, referred to as a “Canteen Area” or “Common Room”:

“The common room evolved as we realized that we needed a gathering point for our cast. The storyline was evolving, so we realized that this was going to be a bus along the way. This made complete sense to turn into a canteen area. We’ve got two working replicators and then, as well, a dedicated beverage synthesizer.”

Ship Crashed on Coppelius:

“Once La Sirena crashes on Coppelius, we needed to get our cast in and out, so our characters end up going back out through the lower part of one of our vista windows into this badlands-like area. This is probably one of my favorite sets, generally, obviously is the spaceship, but this little 20-foot-by-20-foot area of this foam scenery might be my favorite, because it really feels like you’re shooting a Star Trek episode. You’re on an alien planet, and you don’t have enough stage space, and you’re kind of tight into it, and you try to do something kind of funky and alien-like, it still looks like Earth. It’s one of those fun moments where when we walked in the first morning it was lit, and we were kind of done with it, I think everyone felt that, yeah, we were shooting a good old Star Trek episode.”

[thesevenseraphs]

DESTINY 2 DEV UPDATE - REWARDS

Hey everybody,

My name is Joe Blackburn, and I’m the Assistant Game Director on Destiny 2. If your free time looks anything like mine, you’ve been spending a lot of it on Europa over the past few weeks. Some of you may know me from my previous Bungie life when I worked with the raid team and on Season of Opulence. I'm back thanks to a revive from Luke and team as we work together to create a Destiny 2 future that we’re all excited about. Today I want to spend some time with you on a subject that is near and dear to every Destiny 2 player’s heart: rewards.

There’s a thing I ask a lot around the virtual office, “How are we making every Season the best time to jump back into Destiny?” Destiny is a very large and complex game, and while this is what also makes it a game we love, we want Destiny 2 to continue to evolve, to be a world with momentum.

Introducing Infusion Caps is part of addressing this, a way to make sure that the overall number of rewards Guardians need to care about in order to be competitive in Destiny isn’t prohibitive. It is also a way to continue evolving each season’s meta, while at the same time making sure players still have a ton of options when choosing what they want to bring into the next challenge. Our goal from the beginning with Infusion Caps is to improve and keep Destiny 2 fresh over time - what we’re most looking forward to is how this system will introduce innovation to the season-over-season meta, how creative builds from the community will shine, and how we can continue to deliver more unique hand-crafted gear that aligns with the world narrative and where the universe is going.

While we still are hard at work on improvements to how we rotate gear out of the Destiny Power ecosystem (what gear you can infuse to max Power), there were a few clear-cut misses with our first rollout.

The initial reward pool with this release was just too small.

It's frustrating to be playing Destiny and see another player use a weapon that is no longer obtainable in game.

I’m going to spend a lot of time talking rewards, but before we deep dive, let's get the TL;DR out there. These are the big commitments we’re making today.

With each season in Year 4, Destiny 2 will grow the overall Power ecosystem for weapons.

With very few exceptions, all weapons you can take to the Power cap should still be earnable in game.

Future annual releases will contain more new weapons to collect than Beyond Light or Shadowkeep.

GROWING THE POWER ECOSYSTEM

With Beyond Light we took on the huge challenge of rebuilding our technology from the ground up. One of the benefits of this was improving the speeds with which we could make and update Destiny. You’ve already seen some of those gains since launch, with updates such as buffing the Legendary engram coming in much faster than we’ve been able to do in the past. But Season 13 will be here in just a couple of months (very soon in the world of Destiny development), so let's talk about how we are continuing to leverage our technology to act with agility.

Season 13 is the first chance for us to prove our commitment to growing the overall Power ecosystem with each release in Year 4. We want to make sure that, with each new season, there are more weapons to take with you to tackle that Nightfall Ordeal or Master Bunker E15 than there were before.

While I won’t be spoiling what new stuff you’ll be able to chase in our next season, I did want to touch on a few changes we’ve made to the reward offering specifically based on what we’ve seen in Beyond Light.

In Season 13, we’re adding six new Legendary weapons to our ritual activities, two each for strikes, Gambit, and Crucible.

In addition to the weapons above, Nightfall strikes are getting three unique weapons, with The Palindrome, The Swarm, and Shadow Price all making their Destiny 2 debuts. If you’re brave enough to take on Grandmaster Nightfalls, you will be also able to earn Adept versions of these weapons.

KEEPING CURRENT

Season 13 not only represents the start of our commitment to growing the Power ecosystem, but it also is an opportunity for us to improve how we can keep Destiny accessible to new players. New Guardians are essential to the health of our community and, as with our investment in features like the “New Light” introduction on the Cosmodrome, we must also invest in making sure the reward structure of Destiny is approachable to everyone.

In a recent patch, we added the Season 10 and 11 weapons to the world drop pool and we removed the Season 9 weapons. This was important for a few reasons.

We want to make sure that players have a way to earn all Power-relevant weaponry in the live game. If a group of new Guardians is just getting into Grandmaster Nightfalls and they see guides on YouTube involving Warmind Cells, we need to provide a path for them to participate.

At the same time, we don’t want to be clogging up the reward streams with weapons that are about to exit the Power ecosystem. So anything that’s only going to be around for a few more months shouldn’t be something a player can accidentally obtain.

In Season 13 we will continue to allow all players to gain Season 11 and Season 12 weapons in the world drop pool while Season 10 weapons will be obtainable through a more prescriptive source. This means that Legendary engrams will no longer reward these soon-to-expire weapons. If you want to chase a specific piece of soon-to-be-capped loot, you’ll find it with the Gunsmith. This is all part of our larger commitment to making sure that players can always earn anything they might need to take on challenging activities. That said, this will require a few exceptions and some updates to the live game.

As far as exceptions, we don’t plan on adding methods for players to acquire holiday weapons like the Braytech Werewolf outside of participating in those yearly celebrations. For updates, this does mean in Season 13 we will be adding limited time quest weapons like Felwinter’s Lie, Whisper of the Worm, and Outbreak Perfected to the Exotic Kiosk in the Tower.

QUALITY AND QUANTITY

After covering things we’d like to change, I want to spend some time talking about what must stay the same. Destiny is a game built on exciting rewards. From Bastion to IKELOS_SMG_V1.0.2 to Falling Guillotine, the rewards over the last twelve months have continued to evolve the way Guardians play the game. In Beyond Light, I believe the Rewards Team nailed it again with incredible new Legendary perks like Recombination, Thresh, Chain Reaction, and Reconstruction. Alongside these perks came what I believe is one of the best lineups of Exotic weapons and armor in Destiny history.

But where we succeeded in quality, we failed in quantity. Even as Season 12, the Deep Stone Crypt, and the full breadth of Europa weapons came online, the total count of weapons in Beyond Light is lower than we want. So, we’re making the commitment now that our future annual releases will have more weapon rewards than Beyond Light or Shadowkeep.

There’s no way for us to make more rewards at Destiny’s standards and still maintain the health of our current team, therefore we’re going to reinforce the Rewards Team with more talent that will allow us to deliver quality and quantity in the future. Molding someone new into a master Destiny gunsmith takes time. This isn’t going to be a change that the community will feel next week, but it does put our best foot forward as we step towards The Witch Queen and Lightfall.

PREHEATING THE OVEN

Increasing the Reward Team’s size is one of our long-term initiatives, but it is not the only upgrade to our gear rotation plan that we want to get into the oven. We envision a better solution for how armor intersects with Infusion Caps. The personality of armor comes from mods right now, so gaining a new piece of armor often means just trying to find a piece of armor that replicates the stat allocation you already have on a piece in your vault. While we are not ready to talk concretely about armor plans right now, we do want to get more gameplay novelty on armor itself so that looting a piece of armor in a new season has the potential to change the way you play.

Expect to hear more about armor and other holistic upgrades to the way gear rotates in and out of the Power ecosystem as we harden plans in the new year.

And that new year will be here before you know it. A big chunk of the team will be taking some hard-earned time off to rest and relax ahead of coming back to the studio and diving into 2021. We have a lot of work to do and, while I’m looking forward to the break, I also can’t wait to get to work on some of the huge stuff we’ve got coming in the new year. Without spoiling too much, here’s a brief teaser of some of the things that are on their way in Destiny 2, Year 4:

Transmog will be coming with Season 14. More details to come. (See work-in-progress screen captures, below. Not final, may change!)

DDOS protection for Destiny 2 players on all consoles will be coming in Season 13.

The Vault of Glass raid returns.

Crossplay is coming in 2021.

Two strikes (Fallen S.A.B.E.R. and Devil’s Lair) are coming to Destiny 2 in Season 13.

Legendary and Master Lost Sector rotation will be expanded to include the Lost Sectors on the Moon in Season 13, and there will be new three new pieces of Exotic armor to chase.

RETURNING TO ORBIT

Now that I’ve ranted longer than a raid leader on Val Ca'uor, let’s wrap this thing up. 2020 has been a hard year for so many folks out there, and I hope that Beyond Light has been able to be a bright spot over the past couple of weeks. Playing Destiny 2 alongside you helps keep us going. We’re going to keep our ears and eyes open for more feedback as we continue towards 2021. I hope your holiday treats you well and can’t wait to share more Destiny with you in the new year.

Thanks for your time,

Joe

[tk9336]

My Curatorial Internship at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago!

I began my Curatorial Internship on 6/7/21 bright and early as I drove my first day waking up at 5AM as I live in Wauconda, IL a northwest suburb of Chicago. MSI is in the heart of downtown Chicago, so the drive is usually an hour and half accounting for traffic. That sucked big time, so I took the train for the rest of my time so far. Luckily I only have to be in the office Monday/Tuesday which is bittersweet: my train ticket is $10 a day, parking at Barrington Station is $3.50 daily but what kicks my wallet in the teeth if my Lyft bill, usually around $50 from Ogilvie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago to MSI and back. Thankfully my internship is paid thanks to Studio Institute which is my sponsor, a grant MSI received and SI how I found out about the position for the summer. I thought I would be working with a team of interns since this is a big project I am a part of, but believe it or not I am the sole Curatorial intern! It felt good to know that I did well in my interview and it wasn’t just a hunch, and to have the honor of being the sole recipient! Its been a number of years since there was a curatorial intern and with this in mind I knew I was going to work hard to pay them back for their faith in me. I do not say this lightly, as I am 28 years old now and opportunities like this I have learned are not offered to just any one off the street.

The Project? MSI is digitizing roughly 1,000 artifacts to be shown online on their website (COVID was a strong motivator for this as it hit Museums all over the world. They are passionate about reaching their audience!) Collections has over 35,000 artifacts to keep track of, and all it’s history is just written or printed in a large Accession’s Archive, and there is digital archive to work with. I am going to help with what I am assigned with gaining invaluable professional research experience, with a strong focus as well in writing for labels and anything else that is thrown my way! I am also making this blog conjunction for my school, Loyola University Chicago of which helped me get this position. This will be a long post, so buckle in as I share my weeks to bring you, and me up to date for next week, 7/19/21!

Week 1: 6/7-11/2021 | This position is 4 days a week, for a total of 28 hours. Part-time. My round-trip however with commuting turns a 7 hour work day into a 12 hour day from when I wake up until I drive home from Barrington Station. Thankfully the two days I work from home is a bit easier on commuting from upstairs to downstairs!

Monday: HR/Orientation/Introduction to Collections by Alexis, the talent manager at MSI. Your standard job introduction, but my first at a Museum.

Tuesday: In-depth Museum tour/explaining the research and writing work I would be doing/assisting Kathleen (Collections Director) in the vault*(storage, vault sounds cooler) cataloging.

Wednesday: Photographing Bike exhibit for transcription/beginning research work on first Accessions project on Firefighting artifacts by find corresponding files in Accessions archive, reading the materials in each folder to find relevant material to write in description about the item to put online. I scan the documents I find relevant, so that I can do that additional research and writing at home. This will be the plan going forward (research/cataloging the vault on Monday and Tuesdays) but there are plans to have me assist on additional projects and duties within the department and MSI as a whole.

Thursday: With the information gathered from scanning documents from each accessions folder, then at home I can look over each stapled bunch of materials of each item and then add bullet points of relevant information in a word document. That can then be shared with the Director, Curator and assistant curator to help them use the most relevant materials to weave the labels needed to put online for this historic artifacts.

Week 2: 6/14/18/2021 | Fridays are not included as that’s when I attend Zoom meetings with the program directors and liaison for Studio Institute which has over 40 interns around the country in Museums across the United States. I won’t lie... I got the best assignment in my opinion! This was tailor made for me! As an older student I am FULLY aware of what a incredible privilege it is to be paid to do something you truly love down to your bones.

Monday: I start at 9:15 but my train was late to unforeseen circumstances. I emailed my supervisor I would be in a hour later than usual and she appreciated the heads up. I continued pulling folders from the accessions archive, then scanning relevant materials. I would then staple the gathered materials and kept my work in order to mirror the worksheet log I was given for the artifacts in the fire fighting exhibit.

Tuesday: Getting in at my normal time I continued, and finished the worksheet log I was given for the Fire Fighting exhibit. I now have a large amount of material to review on my days working from home to provide bulleted points of relevant material that will assist the Collections team create the labels needed when selected materials are uploaded online. I would do five files at a time to stay organized and not bite off more than I could and get "lost in the sauce" as we would say in the Army. That way, a steady rhythm was established and I could better gauge my time per batch.

Wednesday: I worked from home continuing my task of added bulleted information points on artifacts. I am assuming that the items that have a extensive amount of reference materials will be those making the cut to be uploaded online once the project gets to that point. Made up the hour lost on Monday due to my train out of Barrington, IL running late.

Thursday: Still grinding away by going through the research materials I assembled from the archives in MSI to add bulleted points of relevant information on artifacts to make the lives of the Director, Curator, and assistant easier allowing them to focus on more advanced research and other duties.

Week 3: 6/21-25/2021

Monday: Continued transcription of the Fire Fighting Exhibit. Nearly finished with it. Working from home is getting better as I am getting a better pace of work and less distractions.

Tuesday: I was able to get some opportunities for front-facing guest interaction and educations as I gave my first MSI tour. Two individuals from my organization, the 501st Legion, came down from Green Bay for a Chicago vacation. They had seen my positive posts about being at MSI and wanted to come see it for themselves. I asked Dr. Saridakis if I could learn how to give a tour on my own, to which she agreed. In my inaugural tour I took them around the great hall's exhibits, being careful to focus on items of which I had some background in to better give a small education on the artifacts. My strength is in the Hall of Transportation in which houses the Spitfire, Stuka and new Boeing 727. On the floor I pointed out the Millburn and Tesla electric cars as well. After going at what seemed a quick pace, we made our way over to the Hall of Bicycles, and weaved back to the floor. I took them to U-505 which is my strongest exhibit. Military history is my focus, and I don't ever tire of going to see U-505. In the most surprise to my guests, they were granted a behind the scenes walk-through of Collections in which Dr. Saridakis kindly donated her time to open the vault for us. She accompanied me, but gave me the reigns to get a feel for my first guided walk-through of Collections which is a duty all in the department should be familiar, and comfortable doing. I feel I did well for my first time, and gained experience in doing the same for the following day for a larger, planned tour by mHub. I took my guests out to lunch where my supervisors did a few weeks ago. It ran over time, so I'll make up the hour later at home.

Wednesday: Today was the day of the big planned of tour by Chicago tech company, mHub. My supervisor was not available in the morning so I filled out some other documents and found other work to do until she came in. This was sorting through the former archivist's boxes of files and articles looking for relevant materials that would be of use to the registrar. I had been doing this the day before as well before my guests came in at 11AM. There was a A LOT of material, but there was plenty of relevant stuff, including a complete file on the cars, and motorcycles in the MSI collection which included a recent appraisal of each item in inventory. I found the motorcycles of interest and made copies for myself to be of use on future behind the scenes tours (you pick a handful of items scattered at various checkpoints to engage with guests about. There just isn't enough time to go row by row.) mHub was scheduled for 3:30, but didn't not come until 4ish. My recent work with the fire fighting artifacts proved critically relevant as one of the guests was working on technology for fire fighters to pull up a 3D schematic on a app to see where the beams, and wiring is without them having to hack through the walls to find it. He was very much interested in the various fire fighting artifacts and thankfully I was a part of his group throughout the tour. Exhibitions engineer Jeff brought out two 1930's Ediphones, and while he was setting up I had a lengthy chat with him regarding his duties and responsibilities at MSI which proved insightful.

Thursday:  I wasn't as productive today as I wanted to be in part to some distractions in my personal life. I will make this time up on Saturday. Continued work on transcription of relevant facts to the fire fighting exhibit

Saturday: I finally finished the fire fighting exhibit items and look forward to trying my hand at writing short labels based on returning to the material I have. This label writing experience will be invaluable in such a professional capacity. It will be nice to have this skills honed, refined and on a professional level. I trudged the remaining artifacts, and put more time off the clock to finish so I can begin on my favorite exhibit, U505 on Monday!

Week 4: 6/28-7/2/2021

Monday: I came in and had my weekly 10AM meeting with Voula, and moved onto U-505/WWII items. Same as with the fire exhibit, finding files in the accession archive, scanning relevant materials to take home for work at home.

Tuesday: I continued scanning, and gather materials. At 1:00 PM I took photos of all the labels in the U-505 exhibit for transcription by one of the volunteers, Mary. I then at 2:30 I worked with Director McCarthy cataloguing some more artifact ranks in storage. At 4:10PM I asked if I could get a photo handling a textile artifact for both the experience of doing so and seeing one of U-505's flags not only in person, but to carefully handle, and touch. Director McCarthy and Dr. Saridakis both kindly indulged my request and it was a truly awesome experience for me. I also learned that there is a later train than I usually take. That bit of info is helpful just in case I ever miss the 5 o'clock train out of Chicago back to my home train station of Barrington, IL!

Wednesday: As I did with the firefighting exhibit and items, I continued bulleting down relevant facts and information. I created a new word doc just as I done previously with the Fire Fighting artifacts.

Thursday: Continued transcription. I look forward to trying my hand at writing some labels and short descriptions. I still can barely believe I am being paid to work on items I already love learning about. 

Saturday: Made up 1 hour from Thursday.

Week 5: 7/5-9/2021

Monday: Unpaid holiday for MSI employees. I am going to work half a day today so I only have to work 4 hours later in the week to make up for today. I am going to look over my U505/WWII artifacts and see if any really stand out as candidates for getting labels and descriptions.

Tuesday: I came in Tuesday and had my weekly meeting with Voula. Since the program is half-way over at this point the decision for now is for me to focus on the U-505/WWII artifacts and to also focus on writing a few labels for some of the Fire Fighting exhibit artifacts. I also took photos of all the labels in the U-505 and will transcribe that exhibit to it is available in a word doc to be transferred to the digital site - one day. I then worked with Kathleen in storage to continue cataloging artifacts, in three hours we nearly inputted over 200 artifacts.

Wednesday: I came in and got to work on transcription since there are no more additional accession files to pull and scan. MSI has just brought on a new assistant curator for a year to help with the digitization of the archives and storage. It is a daunting task! But one that will streamline Collections at MSI and make pulling artifacts extremely easy and hopefully foster some excitement from the public online to see items that otherwise sit in a dark, temperature controlled room. I also had the honor of getting to write a pitch to put up a "pop up" U-505 exhibit up in downtown. That was very exciting to me, along with the confidence gained because of the trust to do that. I wrote a few drafts to which the Director edited down. Very happy to be useful with a project that is extremely relevant to my interests.

Thursday: Continued transcription of the U-505 exhibit and writing a few labels that will then be edited by the Curator. Being directly involved in what the public will learn from a artifact is very cool to me. Improving on working remotely, efficiently - making a decision right away in the morning after a shower to begin work is a great guard against procrastination and working late to fairly submit the hours for the day. A regular schedule when self set and stuck to is extremely effective. 

Saturday: Continued work on the U-505 items from home.

Week 6: 7/12-16/2021

Monday: I started working right away after waking up. I want to finish my transcription of the U-505 exhibit which includes every wall panel, all artifacts and everything else in between. I went past midnight and just hit a stride, "in the zone, so to speak."

Tuesday: I worked through the night while on a roll. I didn't look at the clock, I just kept going! Reminded me of the old all-nighters I used to pull. I was excited to be finally complete with this project. I took it upon myself to transcribe the entire exhibit since it only existed on the walls and printed material. With it digitized this will be a tremendous help to the department. I finished it and even double checked Flickr for any photos I may have missed taking myself. I only missed only small panel, but all quotes, stories, artifacts... everything came to a 50 page, 20,000 word document. I look forward to seeing Voula's reaction when I print it out tomorrow! I also made a copy of just the artifacts for MSI so when they want to put some online they'll know what is theirs outright. In my previous job I worked 10 hour shifts so this felt familiar, I enjoy doing four 10-hour days to hit 40 back then and enjoy 3-day weekends. This is less hours, but I am grateful none-the-less to have the time to use for other projects, books and hobbies.

Wednesday: Voula's reaction to the massive transcription was great. I also placed the document in SharePoint so that anyone in Collections can access it. I am sure it will be a great aid in the future when a quick reference is needed for U-505. Today was also the MSI Employee picnic which was great. I took a couple pictures and video. Sodexo made me a Angus half pound burger which was great. I sat by myself since I came after our intern/departmental MSI zoom meeting held by Talent so we could learn how MSI is a collaborative effort and chat with the heads of other departments which was cool. I followed and email Mike Welsh to set up a tour of what Construction and Grounds does around the Museum. Most folks went to the picnic at noon, and our meeting didn't conclude until 1:10PM. Thankfully though Voula stayed a little after and we chatted at the table I was at. MSI redid the Smart Home area and it's a very nice shaded, little park. Definitely never been there before as a guest. Very cool to be a part of the "in-crowd." I took a longer lunch to take it all in.

Thursday: Since I busted my butt Monday into Tuesday and enjoyed yesterday I only had to do two hours today. I sat in the other half of the MSI intern/departmental Zoom meeting which featured Collections/Exhibitions and HR. I had the best chat with Exhibitions and the public relations managers. I will send emails to follow up with both of them as I find their work fascinating, and might as well - only here for a short time and it be an absolute waste to not take utter advantage of it. I cleaned up some of my Word documents and doubled check for syntax errors.

Thats it! You, and me, are now all up to date! I will continue to make weekly postings until its conclusion! I will also add some photos in the following posts, this is a long post so stay tuned, it will be less dense.

[blue-mood-blue]

Oooooh, @ruffboijuliaburnsides, an interesting thought. So interesting that I wrote entirely too many words.

~~~

It begins with a mistake.

The new world, their chosen world, feels so much like home - for the first time in years, they feel safe. They let their guards down. Barry and Taako go out scouting, and Barry drags a bloodied, barely-alive Taako back into the Starblaster hours later.

Lup is the only one who recognizes the magic. I had to, Barry explains. I thought he was going to die. We can’t… we can’t stay here without Taako.

She agrees: the possibility is unthinkable.

When Lup can’t take it anymore, when she can’t let another person die because of her creation, Taako goes with her. He’s a lich, now; she’s not leading him into danger the way she would’ve been otherwise, she thinks, and she wants her brother with her. Of course I’m going with you, Taako says when she asks. You wouldn’t really leave me behind, would you?

She doesn’t see Cyrus reach out for her. She doesn’t see Taako get in the way. She does see Taako fall, and traps Cyrus in his own vault while her brother dies across the room. When she runs close, trying to wake him because this isn’t how it’s supposed to happen, he isn’t supposed to be a lich for the rest of their lives, what kind of life would that be - her staff opens without her permission, and in a rush of sparks her brother is gone.

Lup doesn’t know what to do. She didn’t think of this possibility, doesn’t know how to get him out, and she stumbles from the cave and home towards help; Barry will help her find answers. She doesn’t make it that far before her mind dissolves into static.

~~~

Lup doesn’t know how she managed the patience to stay with the caravans for so long; the travel is nice, and the not being alone is better, but she can’t shake the sense that she should be doing more. The restless energy makes her pace at the edges of camp in the evenings and ride too hard and too fast in the daylight. When she finds the first adventuring group to attach herself to, it’s almost a relief to match their punishing speed.

(It’s still not quite right, and she taps the tip of her umbrella against the ash around the campfire restlessly. There’s somewhere else. Something else. But when she’s thanked by the people she’s helped, something anxious in her chest settles just a little.)

Barry is a nice change of pace, for the few days she knows him. They’re thrown together by chance, guarding the same wagon, and Lup recognizes a familiar restlessness in him almost as soon as they strike up a conversation. He’s calmer than she is, and it makes them a good fit. For the first time in a long time, Lup considers the possibility that, eventually, she might want something else for herself. She thinks she could like spending more time with him. She could be happy.

And so of course, their time is cut short.

Magnus Burnsides almost takes her out with an axe the first time he meets her. “Sorry,” he says, with a grin on his face that’s miles away from sorry. “I thought you were a gerblin!”

Lup blinks at him. “Do you need your eyes checked, or just another blow to the head?” The horses are dead, she notes, and so are a couple of actual gerblins. No one she was traveling with is in sight, so she has to entertain the possibility that they’ve all been killed. She must have been knocked out, and she’s angry with herself for the moment of weakness.

“That won’t do any good,” Merle says knowingly. “Nothing up there but loose change and rustic hospitality.”

“And vehicle proficiency!” Magnus proudly proclaims before it occurs to him to be offended. “...wait.”

Despite a very bad day, Lup finds it in her to laugh.

~~~

Barry sees her expression from across the glass - a hurt that goes so deep, that she doesn’t even understand. He wonders if she knows where her brother is. He doesn’t think so; if she knew what she was missing, she wouldn’t smile so easily.

Not for the first time, or the last, Barry thinks of the desperate moment Taako became a lich. It wasn’t like it was with him and Lup. It wasn’t planned - the spell was cobbled together with barely an anchor. If he was pushed, could Taako have stayed stable? Or was he already irretrievably gone?

Even while it hurts to find her alone, Barry is relieved to see her. At least she’s still okay, he thinks, and he knows Taako would feel the same if he was there.

Barry turns away from the last of his family.

~~~

They’re a team. It’s not something Lup expected to have. There was no cooperation beyond survival in the caravans, no loyalty in her family, no stability among the adventuring groups. She doesn’t know what to make of the arrangement - whether she should hold it close or at arms length.

But she can’t help the bonds that start to form.

She has fun with Magnus and Merle. Somehow they’re always on the same wavelength - they understand each other’s weird jokes and personality quirks. They fit together, if that makes any sense - and it doesn’t, they’re wildly different people, but that doesn’t seem to matter. The only other time Lup has had such an easy time getting to know someone was Barry, and she hopes this friendship isn’t headed in the same direction. It would be nice, if her luck could hold just this once.

Lup wouldn’t give up working for the BoB for anything, though. This job, finally, feels right. Besides Madam Director, Lup is the one most adamant that the relics need to be found as soon as possible.

“It just makes sense,” she says when the Director rewards her eagerness with a strange look. “You don’t even have to sell me on the pitch. ‘Destroying incredibly dangerous weapons that no one should have?’ Yeah, of course I’m on board.”

Lup doesn’t know why, but the Director doesn’t seem happy with her answer.

~~~

Leon asks Lup a few times where she picked up the umbrella. Magnus and Merle seem curious, too - and on one memorable occasion, the red robe following them asked her, sadly, if there was a reason she clung to it. Her answer is always some variation of the same thing: she doesn’t remember when or how, it was probably an old possession of her aunt’s that she’d taken with her for sentimental reasons.

Lup doesn’t know if she believes her own story. It doesn’t feel like that long, somehow, and if she’d carried it around all that time, its quirks shouldn’t still catch her by surprise. The boring truth is, she just doesn’t remember.

The umbrella is a useful piece of work, at least, when it’s not bugging out or having a mind of its own. Sometimes it seems to get its own idea about what Lup needs, like the time it sabotaged the race by switching out two battlewagons’ wheels while they were moving. Sometimes it changes the color of her clothes without warning, or turns her bedspread into a different material. It doesn’t seem malicious as much as stubborn and unpredictable.

There are times, though, when she catches sight of the umbrella from the corner of her eye or sees it by her side, and she can’t shake a feeling of dread. Something’s wrong, her mind supplies, with no apparent excuse for the thought. This umbrella did something horrible and I witnessed it. I have to do something. I have to DO something.

Ridiculous, really. It’s an umbrella. What could it have done?

~~~

The reaper seems to think she’s a lich, and it’s more than Lup can reasonably be expected to deal with in a day when the day includes a mutating lab and a rogue BoB agent trying (and succeeding) at raising the dead. A lich, really? When the fuck, pray tell, has she had time to become a lich? It seems like something she’d remember, the way all three of them would remember the repeated deaths he also tries to pin on them.

“You sure you didn’t just lose track of your actual bounty and think, hey, those three are conveniently the same number of death criminals I’m supposed to bring in today, I’ll just grab them instead.”

Kravitz, who is several steps beyond losing his patience, summons an enormous book. “I have your names! They’re written right here! I should be asking you where -” static “- is, but I wouldn’t expect you to turn in your own -” static, and Lup frowns for a moment before shaking off the concern.

“Sounds like a you problem, my dude.”

The encounter ends on an uneasy truce - Kravitz would pretend he hadn’t seen any of them if they would just stop dying and stop committing death crimes. It was the very least they could do, he told them, to make his life easier. Please. And for a few months, they keep their promise easily.

Lup expects him, when they get back from Refuge. He’s sitting on the couch and Lup sighs, sitting next to him with her umbrella perched on the armrest. “Maybe I am a lich,” she says, and Kravitz raises an eyebrow. “I thought I knew everything about me, but now…” But now, maybe someone is still keeping secrets. Lup doesn’t know what the gaps in her memory mean. She doesn’t know why the chalice couldn’t see everything when it dug around in her head for her regrets - and maybe it was right, maybe it wouldn’t have been too late for Barry if she’d moved a little faster… but then she’d seen what was going to happen almost like she could predict it, and it seemed so inevitable and she was so, suddenly tired… - but she worries. She doesn’t like being made into a liar.

“I didn’t come to take you in. I wanted an explanation for the death count.”

Lup nods. “Yeah, I can give you that. But can we make a deal, first? If it turns out you can’t forgive whatever I am, if you have to take me in… can you give me enough time to clean up this mess, at least? I need time to fix this.” She has to see it happen herself, and she doesn’t know why. Personal satisfaction? Maybe.

Kravitz nods. “I can agree to that.”

~~~

Lup watches the liches carve pieces of her friends away, and she wants to scream. She isn’t that. She isn’t them. She doesn’t know what reason she would ever have for making herself like them, even as she wishes she had a fraction of their power so she could spare her friends. She hates the choice they’re forcing Magnus to make.

“Let me take the penalty,” Lup says while Magnus stares blankly at the wheel and considers his potential loss. “Come on, Mags - what can they take from me that’s as bad as that? That’s Julia, that’s a part of her. You need to keep her.”

It’s his revenge, really, but still. It’s a piece of his wife, of her history, that he would never have back. Magnus doesn’t even nod before Lup reaches for the wheel again, watches it spin and spin…

And land on something new.

“Ah,” Lydia says, “I hope you’re not terribly attached to your possessions.”

“I can’t imagine she is,” Edward adds, “You heard that noble sentiment. Why, this might even be too easy.”

They want the umbrella. Something in Lup’s heart tears in two. She doesn’t want to let go.

But that’s stupid, isn’t it? What’s the worth of an object when it’s placed against the memory of family?

She stands, frozen, for several long moments. And then she gives it to them.

The umbrastaff is not complacent in Lydia’s grasp; it moves and twitches around like a thing possessed, and Lup steps closer to Magnus before she’s tempted to grab it back. Lydia twirls it, grinning and giggling, and the game continues.

It’s not until the catwalk that Lup realizes she wasn’t very far off the mark, thinking that the staff has a mind of its own. It’s certainly not Lydia who raises the umbrella and points it at Edward while his back is turned; Lup can see her arm shake as she struggles to lower it, but the umbrella is perfectly still. Lup almost recognizes the expression on Lydia’s face.

Then there’s a flash of light and… feathers. Black feathers, slowly falling back to the ground, and no more Edward. Lydia screams.

~~~

Lydia’s rage burns herself and everything around her; there’s no more lich, no more Wonderland, no more feathers.

No more umbrastaff.

He doesn’t have much time, but his last-minute plans have always been some of his best - improvisation has saved his ass countless times already. Sparking life a firework and barely in one piece, he reaches for the tiny tear in reality that is rapidly closing. He tugs, forcing the gap down and down, and peeks through - there, in the waves, is a man struggling to stay afloat.

“How about another deal, my dude? Don’t reap me the minute I touch you, keep me stable for about, oh, few hours until all of this shit is dealt with, and I’ll get you out of there.”

Kravitz grabs for his hand, and he grins. Close enough to a handshake for him.

When it’s just the two of them sitting in the Felicity Wilds, holding hands to keep the sparking lich in check, Kravitz gives him a searching look. “Do the two of you make deals with death often? Because it seems to come startlingly naturally to you both.”

“Only when we have to.” Taako grins. “What’s your name, thug?”

~~~

How could she forget about Taako?

The thought rocks through her, and everything shifts. They’d always been together - passed around by family, in the caravans, in school, on the Starblaster - and to the end, they’d gone down fighting together. Even after everything changed, she’d never let go; she could reach for the handle of the staff as easily has she’d reached for his hand in younger years.

And now that she knows enough to know she was never alone, Lup is alone again.

There is no countdown. There are no accusations. What there is instead, is silence. Lucretia explains, and reasons, and Lup doesn’t answer.

There’s nothing to say.

~~~

She finds him hand-in-hand with death, sparking like a malfunctioning piece of machinery and grinning widely. They’re on the glass of Phandolin - what used to be Phandolin, and what used to be glass, she notes, because it’s all a clear, blue gemstone now.

Lup runs to Taako, and this time she isn’t too late. Taako lets go of Kravitz and leans on her instead, and even if she can’t really feel him, she would swear the solid weight of him is in her arms. “Missed you,” she whispers.

“Didn’t go anywhere, you dummy.”

Lup laughs, and looks up at the sky. “I have to fix this. I have to finish what we started.”

Taako squeezes her one more time, and lets go. “I’ll be here when you get back.”

[crackedoutgiraffe]

To the Moon and Back

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15

A/N: Chapter 16

When you regained consciousness, you were greeted by Morgan who was standing over you. You could tell he was talking to you, but you couldn’t make out what he was saying. There was a ringing noise in your ear, it was nauseating. Morgan gestured for someone to come over to you. You looked around and saw panic. Everyone was running around. There were three SWAT agents that you could see, they too were laying on the ground. Hotch came over to help you too.The ringing was starting to go down, you could hear sirens and vaguely what Hotch was saying. 

“Where’s Emily?” you asked Hotch. 

He looked around for a second, “I think Morgan went to find her. Are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine,” you stood up. You looked around at the chaos and saw Rossi exiting the MCC. You hobbled over there, “What the hell happened?”

“They set off a bomb,” Rossi pointed out the obvious.

“But where did they go? They weren’t going to kill themselves,” you clarified.

“I’ll worry about that, you get your leg looked at,” he walked toward Hotch who was waiting for Morgan and Emily to come out. Your leg had been cut in the explosion, but you had so much adrenaline you couldn’t feel it.

You limped over to a paramedic who bandaged your leg. When he was done, you went to see if there was anything you could help with. Hotch and Strauss were briefing some cops on what they needed to do. Rossi was talking to reporters. You found Garcia, who was listening in on what Hotch and Strauss were saying. You went and stood next to her. After listening for a few minutes you went back to wandering around. A few moments later you saw an SUV pulling up to the scene, so you went over to see who it was. 

Spencer jumped out and rushed over to you, “Y/N, thank goodness you’re okay,” he pulled you into a hug. When he let go of you he noticed how dirty your vest was and the bandage around your leg. “How close were you to the blast?”

“Pretty close,” your leg still hurt, but it was enough to bother you. 

He looked around for a few seconds, “I have to go and talk to Hotch.”

“I’ll come with you,” you volunteered. He didn’t protest, but you knew he didn’t like you being in danger. You both walked to find your boss who was looking over maps on the hood of a police car. 

“Y/N, are you feeling better?” He pointed at the bandage on your leg.

“I am, thank you sir.”

“Alright, let’s get to work,” Hotch turned around and started rearranging the maps. “Morgan and JJ said that the blast created a hole between the underground vaults and these tunnels.”

“You know, most of these older banks are made of granite or limestone for longevity,” Reid pointed out.

“So she knew to use a combination of C-4 and semtex to open her escape route,” Hotch emphasized.

“The tunnels let out at multiple points running west. She could still be underground,” you added.

“I know. This is what she does. She probably waited till the last minute to exit. She wants to see all this chaos,” Hotch sighed.

“We need to find the tunnel exit closest to the bank,” Reid confirmed.

“Looks like it's two blocks here, just outside the perimeter,” Hotch pointed at the maps.

“Should we head over there?” you asked.

“No, JJ and Morgan are going to be there soon,” Hotch finished and walked back to the MCC. You and Reid followed him inside. Garcia and Kevin were working through the footage. Rossi and Strauss were talking in the corner, Hotch went over to join them. Prentiss came in right after the three of you. After a few minutes, Reid’s phone started to ring. He answered it and just said yes over and over again before hanging up. 

“That was JJ,” Reid out his phone back in his pocket. “she and Morgan said the unsubs were in an alley northwest of the perimeter. 

“Yeah, this footage confirms it. Ok, I can see two figures in the car. Please tell me one of them is Will,” Garcia pulled up footage of a black SUV. 

“See how she's turned. It's like she's keeping an eye on someone in the back,” Hotch pointed out.

“Does this mean Will's in the car?” Garcia asked.

“There's somebody back there,” Rossi sighed.

“What's the license plate?” Reid asked.

Garcia enhanced the image, “that's weird. They're government tags.” 

“Federal or district?” Reid probed.

“Federal,” Garcia added.

“Well, they're either stolen or forged,” Reid stood up straight. 

“Who the hell are these people?” Garcia sighed.

“They set up roadblocks in the district from 66 to Dulles,” Strauss added.

“Wait. So we're looking for a black SUV with its sirens on. That's gonna stand out,” Kevin joked.

“Will's with them. I found his wallet,” JJ said as she and Morgan entered the MCC.

“It benefits them to keep Will alive,” Hotch did his best to comfort her.

“They must have a safe house set up,” Morgan added.

“Whoever their outside man is, that's where they're heading now. But where?” you asked.

“What's their end game?” JJ added.

“There's no logical reason. They want to create panic,” Rossi reasoned.

“She's struck all over the world, which says she might not be American, but her ideology certainly speaks to Washington. Whatever point she and her partner are making, it's important that D. C.'s the setting,” Reid explained.

“The brothers were from Philadelphia. The other partner might be homegrown as well,” Prentiss noted.

“Homeland's sending over a list of possibilities,” Strauss tried to be helpful.

“They're not on anyone's list,” Hotch sighed.

“Then how do we find them?” Strauss snapped.

“We find the common denominators between all 14 robberies and we go from there,” Hotch explained 

“So she's our only answer,” you pointed at the woman on the screen.

“For now,” Hotch was getting angrier.

“I'll call Easter at Interpol again. Now that there's been an explosion, he might have some ideas,” Prentiss left the MCC.

“I have to call the director,” Strauss followed her out.

Morgan’s phone started to ring, “Yeah, ok, thank you.” He hung up. “That was the lab. Semtex and C-4 like we thought. Red, blue, yellow wires in each, and an old phone as a detonator.”

“How old is the phone?” you asked. 

“10 years,” Morgan sighed.

“That's specific and rare,” Reid added.

“Ridiculously,” Morgan laughed. 

“Well, has anyone seen it before?” Hotch asked.

“It was last seen in a number of bombings in Chad,” Morgan continued.

“For a signature that specific, they must have been there to learn it,” you added.

Prentiss reentered the MCC, “Did Easter have any insight?” Hotch asked. 

“A woman they called Lady X stole a sedan from Scotland Yard 8 years ago. The investigation concluded she was a trained assassin. She disappeared,” she explained.

“So Lady X and Queen of Diamonds is the same person?” Rossi questioned.

“It sounds like it,” Prentiss continued.

“Garcia, look at assassination attempts around the civil unrest in Chad,” Hotch ordered.

“If she was a hired gun, she was likely taking orders from someone,” Reid pointed out

“Maybe she's still working for the same guy now and he's still pulling the strings,” you continued.

“Or maybe she's found her equal,” Hotch proposed.

“Their obsession with killing and domination has culminated in what we've seen today,” Prentiss noted.

“Getting off on the disaster they've created. Classic symphorophiliacs,” Reid mentioned.

“Then this isn't over,” Hotch sighed.

“Far from it,” Rossi concurred.

“No. Now that they've gotten away with this, where are they gonna strike next?” Hotch asked.

A cop entered the MCC, “We have reports of an EMT being shot, cameras show your people.”

“Rossi, JJ, you two go check it out,” Hotch instructed. The pair left swiftly. “Prentiss, Morgan, and Reid, look back at what we know and see if you can figure out where the next attack is going to be,” they all nodded and got ready to leave. “Y/N stay here and help Garcia and Kevin.” Hotch made a quick exit after that.

“Kevin, what have you got?” you got off of the counter you were sitting on.

“Just going through…” Kevin replied, his eyes never leaving the screen.

“They did that on purpose, right? I mean, we saw everything until they had Will,” Garcia frantically went through the hours of footage.

“Well, they made a mistake,” you noted. “Leaving the cameras on gave us much more information than they realized. What time did the 911 text come in?”  

“9:23” Kevin said as he scrambled back to the beginning of the footage.

“The bank opened at 9:00. Let's go back to the beginning. I need you both on this,” you felt useless, all Hotch wanted you to do was sit here and watch Garcia and Kevin.

“Y/N, I think I’ve got something. The explosion was a distraction so they could escape. Watch. Allow me to fast-forward. All right, here's where Chris started shooting hostages. The fella next to him didn't even flinch. Doesn't even break a sweat,” Kevin pointed at the gruesome footage on his screen.

“We know he's ex-military, but still... His name is Matthew Downs. That's what he told Rossi and he wasn't lying. History shows dishonorable discharge from USMC in '04,” Garcia info-dumped his history.

“Ok, do me a favor. Keep going. To where Will walks in. Ok, now watch him. And then... Look at her. Her partner was in there the whole time, just not in the way that we thought. They shot this whole thing like a home movie,” you pointed out all of the little things in their body language.

“He could have been killed,” Garcia addressed.

“No, she wouldn't let that happen,” you corrected.

“What the hell are they doing?” Kevin asked.

“It's all part of their plan. They've created scenarios that are practically impossible to survive. When they make it, it's the ultimate high. Like an adrenaline junkie,” you explained. “Let me call Hotch,” you grabbed your phone and dialed your boss’s number. “Hey Hotch. We’re looking for one of the hostages, Matthew Downs.”

“Let me ask around really quick,” you could hear indistinct chatter on the other side. “Nobody can find Matthew Downs. ERT said that he helped them, then he disappeared.”

“That’s her partner,” you got excited that you could be helpful.

“Thank you, Y/N. Prentiss, Morgan, and Reid are walking the bank again, why don’t you help them out?” He hung up. You quickly left the MCC and made your way to the, now destroyed, bank entrance. 

You worked your way over the rumble and closer to Spencer. “So why didn't they take all the money?” Spencer asked.

“They were a man down and they had to get out in a hurry,” you answered.

“But for her, today was less about the money and more about the spectacle,” Prentiss corrected.

“Everything they've said and done was for a reason,” Morgan noted. “But what doesn't make any sense is she switched the negotiation demand. Chris wanted to go to Switzerland. She changed it to Chad.”

“They also requested a private plane, but no mention of a pilot,” you remembered. Reid held out his hand and helped you over a large pile of rubble.

“Guys, if you think about it, even the dates mean something. In 2004, while she was wreaking havoc abroad, he was dishonorably discharged. Then in 2008, they likely met in Chad. And now this in 2012,” Spence pointed out.

“Ok, so is it a coincidence that those are all election years and they attacked D. C.? Maybe this is a political statement,” Morgan asked.

“No. It's more personal than that. It's their story,” Prentiss looked like a light bulb went off in her head. 

“What?” Morgan was still confused

“All of the details are a part of their story,” Prentiss explained. “We need to talk to Garcia.” 

Everyone scrambled out of the building and to the MCC to find out what idea Pentiss had. When you got there, Strauss and Hotch were already looking over Kevin’s and Garcia’s shoulder. “Their timeline suggests they were both destructive before they met.”

“So we're talking about ex-military turning on their country,” Strauss clarified.

“It's rare, but soldiers become disenfranchised no matter what the nationality. And if he met someone like-minded at that time, there'd be no stopping them,” Emily deduced. 

“So you're thinking they met during the civil unrest in Chad in '08,” Hotch connected the dots.

“Yeah, and one or both of them are pilots,” Reid added.

“So if Garcia concentrates on that region, specifically weapons running in and out of Libya, there's a good chance we'll find their paths crossed,” Prentiss continued.

“Ok, multiple entries into Libya for a private pilot named Matthew Downs in '08, but I don't have her name,” Garcia deciphered the information popping up on the screen.

“Well, because she had aliases. It's the only way to stay a ghost. Here's the thing-- they are a couple. Regardless of what we believe of them, they will celebrate themselves and their connection. Is there anything that happened on this date in Chad?” Prentiss explained.

“Oh, you are good, Emily Prentiss. But this news is not. Yes, there were multiple explosions on this date in '08,” Garcia found. 

“Where were the most casualties?” Hotch asked.

“At a church-- no, no, a train,” Garcia quickly discovered.

“Semtex and C-4?” Morgan asked

“Yep,” Garcia finished.

“Are trains still arriving at Union Station?” Hotch asked Strauss.

“Yes, but only the authorities are allowed in,” Strauss explained.

“That's why they needed Will,” Hotch noted. “Prentiss, Morgan, you’re with me.” The three of them left the MCC, followed by Strauss.

“So what’s up with you two?” you asked Garcia and Kevin.

“What do you mean?” Kevin inquired.

“Yeah, what happened between you two?” Spence joined you in your interrogation.

Garcia turned around and rolled her eyes at the two of you, “Why do you want to know so bad?”

“Because you two were a cute couple,” you explained. 

“I was planning on proposing to her, but she said that she wasn’t ready to get married,” Kevin confessed.

“That’s it?” you scoffed. “You two broke up because you didn’t want to get married and he did?”

“What’s so hard to believe about that?” Garcia asked.

“It’s just so stupid,” you laughed. “Garcia, you may not want to get married now, but you will eventually. And Kevin, just wait. You are not losing anything by waiting,” they turned to look at each other. “It’s obvious that you two still love each other,” you shrugged your shoulders at how oblivious they were.

“Let’s talk later,” Garcia placed her hand on Kevin’s knee. “Now for our turn to interrogate.”

“Garcia, I’m not hiding anything,” you kept your body language so calm that even Reid didn’t know you were lying.

She scoffed and turned to face Spencer who was a lot more nervous than you, “Dr. Reid, is there anything you would like to say.”

“No,” He tried his best to lie to her.

“How long have you two been dating?” She bluntly asked.

Reid looked at you for your approval, you nodded, “four months,” he blurted out.

“FOUR MONTHS!” Garcia jumped out of her chair, “You kept this from me for four months?” All you could do was laugh at her surprise. Reid reached over and grabbed your hand.

“Did we hide it that well?” Reid asked.

“I mean,” she finally calmed down, “we all knew something was up, but we didn’t know that.”

“I’d say we did a pretty good job,” you gave Spence a high-five.

“Does anyone else know?” She asked.

“I don’t think so,” you giggled. Garcia made you talk about your relationship until Hotch and the team got back. “How did it go?” you asked Hotch when he walked in.

“Good. We got Downs, Prentiss defused a bomb, and JJ, Will, and Henry are all safe,” he was really sweaty. “Will has to go to the hospital so JJ and Rossi are going with him, but we’re good to head back to Quantico.” Everyone grabbed their stuff and piled into the SUVs. When you arrived at Quantico everyone got settled into their desks. 

“The convention's still happening tomorrow if you want to go,” Reid stopped Garcia as she walked past her desk.

“That whole city on the brink of destruction thing kind of took the wind out of my sails, you know?” She shrugged.

“That'll do it every time,” Prentiss quipped.

“We didn't finish the inspection,” Morgan pointed out.

“No need,” Prentiss sighed

“What happened?” Reid asked.

“Um, there is a horizontal crack in the foundation. It just weakens the entire base that the house is sitting on,” she explained.

“Yeah. That does not sound good,” you acknowledged.

“So, our unsub is Izzy Rogers,” Strauss came and handed Morgan a file. “She'll be charged with multiple counts domestically, and our international counterparts will have their turn with her. She will never see the light of day. I just thought you'd like to know that. Agent Morgan, a word?” She and Morgan walked far enough away that you couldn’t hear what she was saying, she seemed to be smiling though.

“Hang on, let me check,” Hotch came out of his office, on the phone. “Oh, wait, she's here. Erin, don't go anywhere. Dave wants to know if everyone is free tomorrow night?”

“Well, it depends on if he's buying. Then I'm definitely in,” Morgan chuckled.

“Yeah, me, too,” you raised your hand.

“You hear that? We're in,” Hotch turned back to his office.

***

You spent the night at Reid’s, it was the first time you two had slept in the same bed. You went back to your apartment at around 5 to get ready for Rossi’s. He had told you to dress pretty fancy. You put on a red dress (Sherri Hill # 53097), curled your hair, and did your makeup. You went to pick Reid up at 7. The party was absolutely beautiful. When you got there, everyone was mingling and drinking. JJ and Will showed up with their son. She was none the wiser that she was actually at her wedding. Rossi had pulled out all the stops, he had caterers, lights, and a dance floor. You stood by and watched Reid show Henry a magic trick. He was so cute when he was playing with kids. You thought he was going to be a great father one day.

At around 8, Rossi asked for everyone to gather around the aisle. Will was standing at the altar with Henry by his side. JJ glided down the aisle with her mom. She looked beautiful. When she reached Will, Reid grabbed your hand and you put your head on his shoulder. After the ceremony, everyone sat at a table and Rossi gave a toast. You all ate dinner and were ready to party. The first song to play was ‘Try to Remember’ by the Brothers Four. Everyone slow-danced with their date, including you and Reid. While you were dancing, You put your head on his chest. He kissed the top of your head, “I love you,” he whispered. This was the first time he said that to you.

You lifted your head off of his chest,“I love you too,” he pulled you in for a kiss. You could feel eyes on you from every direction. When you were done, there were hoots and cheers from everyone there. 

“It’s about time, pretty boy,” Morgan came and pat Reid on the back.

“It’s been four months,” Redi exclaimed. Everyone looked at you with the same shock that Garcia had the day before.

“Great, now I owe Garcia $20,” Morgan scoffed. Rossi played some more upbeat music and you took turns dancing with all the guys and the three ladies on your team. Everyone had so much fun and it wasn’t hard to see why. Everyone shared plenty of laughs. Reid drove you home that night, as you had been drinking. You went to bed that night knowing that you and Reid loved each other. You were going to marry him, you had your heart set on it.

[latenightcinephile]

#701, ‘Olympia’, dir. Leni Riefenstahl, 1938.

This is a very, very difficult film to write about. It’s tempting to write it off as simple propaganda, or to examine its failings as a documentary, and there are many people who have taken this approach to Olympia in the past. It’s often cited as the first film of an Olympic Games (although it isn’t), as a glorification of Hitler (more on that later), and as a dull repetition of sporting events (it most assuredly is not that, either).

The thing is, I quite admire Olympia, both as a documentary and as a piece of art. I think that Riefenstahl’s artistic prowess is often denigrated because she is perceived, rightly or wrongly, as the mouthpiece of the Nazi regime. But I’m inclined to agree with Taylor Downing’s argument that Olympia is not the result of a concerted propaganda effort. As Downing points out, if Riefenstahl had set out to make propaganda, a very different film would be the result. It’s hard to deny that Olympia is a colossal work of art, made in political circumstances that make it unsettling to admire. But I think admiration is the only appropriate response to the film.

(Most of my details come from Downing’s book on the film for the British Film Institute. If you’re interested in the processes involved in making Olympia, I highly recommend it. I’ll try not to steal too liberally from Downing’s ideas here.)

I’ll point out from the very start that just because Olympia wasn’t the result of a conscious attempt to propagandise, that doesn’t mean it isn’t propaganda by itself. Any film made under the rigours of the Nazi regime is going to reflect the values of that regime, both deliberately at the hands of various political actors and socially through the ideologies that Riefenstahl replicates uncritically. On a base level, the film shows no more footage of, or deference to, Adolf Hitler than any documentary about the Olympics would show to the leader of the host country. In fact, the film sets the record straight about some of Hitler’s rumoured excesses - he didn’t, as popular myth has it, use the opening ceremony to make a political or self-aggrandising speech, he just announced the games open, as was expected of him.

On a deeper level, though, the film is quite happy to ‘bread and circuses’ its way out of some of the worst types of propaganda. In Olympia, the 1936 Olympics are an opportunity to show a games unparalleled in history. These games, and the film about them, are only possible through the benevolent patronage of Hitler’s government. Riefenstahl was certainly talented at drawing further funds from the regime to make her films, and at dodging the restrictions imposed upon her by government factions that wanted her under their thumbs. But the people she made this film for were not stupid, and they were not blindly throwing money at her for no purpose. They knew the soft power a film like Olympia could have, and the kind of goodwill and mythology that it could foster.

Riefenstahl uses this kind of mythologising to represent the Berlin Games as the apotheosis of a long history. The first section of the film opens with the lighting of the Olympic flame, after some protracted and dignified shots of Greek ruins. Visiting the actual ceremony, Riefenstahl was somewhat distressed by the presence of the crowds ruining the profundity of the moment she had in mind. So she did what she would do frequently during the production of the film: she restaged it. The more grave footage she recorded for this event draws the lighting of the flame back into the depths of history, making the idea of a lineage from Berlin back to ancient Greece almost literal.

Riefenstahl has no qualms about restaging events throughout Olympia: she brings back the entire cast of the men’s pole vault finals to reshoot their contest the next day, and she films divers and marathon runners during training to get unusual angles and extra footage (in many of these shots, you can tell because the stands of the stadia are suddenly empty). At her request, the American athlete Glen Morris stayed several days after the games finished and helped her recreate events. Most directors these days would have some concern about using this type of footage - indeed, taking footage out of context is one of the main things we think of when considering the propaganda toolbox - but Riefenstahl was dedicated to creating a complete retelling of the Olympics and resorted to these measures when filming the original events was impossible. Beyond this she also wanted to create a film that was interesting on its own terms. Some of these restagings enabled her and her team of cinematographers to access viewpoints that would be impossible in actual competition, because the large cameras would actually impede the running of the events.

That said, there are some limits on what she was willing to do, and finding these limits tells us for sure that she was not interested in making direct propaganda at this point. Much has been made of Hitler’s refusal to congratulate Jesse Owens for his spectacular performances during the games, but Riefenstahl has no such compunctions. She’s fascinated with the movement of the athletes, the American champions especially, and doesn’t pay any less attention to Owens because of his race. (Side note: there’s a troubling undercurrent throughout Riefenstahl’s career of fetishising the black body, and it might be on display here. Either way, it’s interesting to note the love-hate relationships fascist regimes have with many different things.)

It’s also clear that Riefenstahl is enthusiastic about being able to tell an actual story, beyond simply relying on metaphor. Triumph of the Will is cinematically innovative, but it doesn’t have a story that she can draw on. The Olympic Games, however, have a set of narratives that Riefenstahl can refer back to: narratives of winning and losing, using a sporting contest as a representation of a wider cultural struggle, or the pastoral origins of ‘sport’. In this last regard, the openings of both halves of the film feature depictions of the classical ideal of sport: naked athletes performing aesthetically-pleasing activities in the open air, and a community spirit built around these activities.

Riefenstahl goes further, creating new narratives to activate otherwise boring events. Some of the running races, including Lovelock’s sub-four-minute mile and the British victory in the men’s relay, are shown in a single shot taken from the upper tiers of the stadium, letting the natural rhythms come forward. For the diving events, though, Riefenstahl abandons any sense of naturalism and breaks the events into components of an avant-garde mosaic, playing shots in reverse, cutting back and forth across the line of action so it appears divers are leaping towards each other, and filming so closely that there is no sense of where the ground is. Whatever Riefenstahl’s political leanings in making the film, she is clearly dedicated to making each element of the film as interesting as it can be,

The technical aspects of this film are truly admirable. During the process of filming, Riefenstahl’s team developed entirely new techniques of filming, dug pits next to tracks to get good shots of athletes’ faces during competition, relied on five different sizes of camera, strapped small cameras to runners, and devised a camera that could film above and below water. They borrowed an airship from the Luftwaffe. The rushes were reviewed each day, totalling about two hundred cans of film every day of the games. In addition, with the exception of Hitler’s opening speech, every single piece of sound in the film was dubbed in post-production. As Downing points, out, this would be a mammoth task with modern technology, but in 1936, every ten-minute reel of film had to be mixed in real time, from start to finish, and then processed for a day before you could even tell what the result would be like. The engineers invented several entirely new sets of audio filters to reduce ambient sound, and did this during post-production. The entire final mix took two months of twelve-hour days to complete. It practically invented the genre of the sports documentary. If this had been done under any other circumstances, it would be hailed as the greatest production in history. Instead, its reputation collapsed under the weight of history. Nobody wants to like a film made by the Nazis - no matter how innovative and interesting it is, it is permanently a smokescreen to put a happy face on an appalling and destructive regime.

I have been asked if a film like Olympia could be made today. I think the answer to that depends on whether you’re looking at the film as a sports documentary or a propaganda film. Pretty much every sports documentary since Olympia has used this toolbox, so in a very real sense, this film has been made today, many times, and has often claimed innovations that Olympia made as their own innovations. As far as propaganda goes, though, I don’t think you’d need to make this film. Olympia has a very subtle hand - its statements about the superiority of the Nazi regime are implicit rather than explicit. Contemporary regimes, though, have found that you can just say that kind of thing explicitly and it will often be accepted. I also think there are very few regimes that would bother to go to this kind of expense for a film.

Riefenstahl’s complicity with the Nazis has often been hotly debated, and I think the most likely explanation of her stance is this: she wanted to make films, and the Nazis wanted films made. That she was either unwilling or unable to deny their patronage, or that she actively embraced their beliefs, is perhaps the harshest truth. She was given the opportunity to be an innovative filmmaker. All she had to do was climb into the lion’s mouth, and her films would be remembered.

She climbed in. The lion made no promises about how or why she’d be memorable.